Wow! For the first time since 2002, the Miami Dolphins are 3-0 to start a season. A great comeback victory yesterday over the Atlanta Falcons, 27-23 did the trick. Ryan Tannehill’s second touchdown pass of the day, a one-yarder to rookie TE Dion Sims with 38 seconds left in the contest was the difference. The Fins fell behind quickly, 10-0, and again, 20-10 before rookie kicker Caleb Sturgis connected on a 50-yard field goal and Tannehill connected on an 18-yard TD pass with Brian Hartline to tie the game at 20-20. Matt Bryant gave Atlanta a 23-20 lead with 11:39 left in the game with a 33-yard field goal, but later missed a 35-yarder with 4:46 left to give Miami the ball back. Tannehill directed the game-winning drive, his first in his young career, a 13-play, 75-yard work of art that sent the 70,660 faithful fans in attendance into a frenzy. Great win for the Fins, especially since the Falcons out-gained them, 377 yards to 285. The Falcons had 24 first downs to the Dolphins’ 16, and they also dominated the time of possession, 37:09 to 22.51. The Falcons also sacked Tannehill five times, while the Dolphins didn’t get to Matt Ryan at all. Tannehill still has a lot to learn, but he shows the potential to be among the great QB’s in the league. It doesn’t get any easier next week, as the Fins will travel to New Orleans for a Monday Night game against the Saints, who are also off to a 3-0 start.
Here’s more from yesterday’s game:
Here are the results from the rest of this week’s games. My picks are highlighted in YELLOW:
THURSDAY
Kansas City 26 Philadelphia 16
YESTERDAY
Cincinnati 34 Green Bay 30
Carolina 38 NY Giants 0
Cleveland 31 Minnesota 27
Miami 27 Atlanta 23
Chicago 40 Pittsburgh 23
Dallas 31 St. Louis 7
Tennessee 20 San Diego 17
New England 23 Tampa Bay 3
New Orleans 31 Arizona 7
Detroit 27 Washington 20
Baltimore 30 Houston 9
NY Jets 27 Buffalo 20
Indianapolis 27 San Francisco 7
Seattle 45 Jacksonville 17
MONDAY
Oakland @ Denver -16 8:30 pm ESPN *
Payton Manning leads a Broncos offense that has averaged 45 points and 463 yards in their first two games. Denver’s defense has only allowed 86 yards per game and they should have a field day teeing off on Oakland QB Terrell Pryor. Denver will miss LT Ryan Clady, as the three-time Pro Bowler will be out the rest of the season. The Oakland defense is tied for the NFL lead in sacks with nine, so this will be a good test for the revamped Bronco offensive line. Sixteen points is a HUGE amount of points, especially for a game against a division opponent. I’m still going to pick the Broncos and give the 16 points.
Here are all the details and capsules of all the games in Week 3:
I’m 4-2 so far this week, with tonight’s Monday Night extravaganza between the Raiders and the Broncos. Let's be honest: Did anyone out there see Carolina beating the tar out of the NY Giants? How about the Browns beating the Vikings? Still, not a bad week so far.
vs the Spread Straight Up Season Total
WEEK 1 3-2-1 4-2 ----- -----
WEEK 2 5-2 7-0 8-4-1 11-2
WEEK 3 4-2 4-2 12-4-1 15-2
Here’s ESPN’s NFL Nation Blog, with more news from all around the league:
Of course, we can all continue to sleep at night, knowing full well that Aaron Hernandez remains in jail, where he belongs.
Let’s go out to the ballparks.
The Marlins are relegated to playing spoiler, and they did just that yesterday. After losing to the Nats on Friday night, the Saturday game in Washington was rained out and the teams played a doubleheader yesterday. The Marlins eliminated the Nationals from the NL East pennant race, beating them in the first game of the twin bill, 4-2. Giancarlo Stanton and Christian Yelich both homered and Tom Koehler got the win, with Steve Chisek tying a Marlins team record, converting his 27th consecutive save opportunity, joining Todd Jones at the top of the list. Jones did it in 2005. Chisek now has 32 saves overall this season. Stanton’s homer was his 24th of the season, Yelich’s blast was his fourth. The win clinched the NL East for the Atlanta Braves and clinched a playoff spot for the St. Louis Cardinals. In the second game, Chris Coghlan’s second error of the game allowed the winning run to score in the bottom of the ninth inning, as the Nats beat the Marlins 5-4. Justin Ruggiano hit his 18th homer of the year for the Fish in the loss.
The Marlins will close out the regular season with six games at home this week, taking on the Phillies on Monday, Tuesday, and Wednesday, and will face the Detroit Tigers in a three-game weekend series. Here are the probable pitchers for the series against Philadelphia:
TONIGHT Roy Halladay vs Nathan Eovaldi 7:10 pm
TUESDAY Zach Miner vs Hederson Alvarez 7:10 pm
WEDNESDAY Cole Hamels vs Brad Hand 7:10 pm
Although most baseball fans in South Florida are looking forward to seeing the Tigers and old friends Miguel Cabrera, Anibal Sanchez, and Omar Infante here next weekend, don’t count Detroit manager Jim Leyland among those happy people:
The Marlins are still the worst offensive team in the majors, and one of the worst in major league history. The Fish have been held to three runs or less 97 times this season, and their record in those 97 games is 18-79. Taking it one step further,
When scoring three runs in a game - 7-18
When scoring two runs in a game - 9-20
When scoring one run in a game - 2-23
Of course, they lead the majors in getting shutout, having been blanked 18 times so far this season.
The Marlins are still at the bottom of the list in runs scored this season in MLB, scoring only 499 runs in their 156 games, an obscene 3.19 runs per contest. Here is the complete list of the bottom-dwellers:
TEAM W-L Runs
Marlins 57-99 499
White Sox 61-94 579
Padres 72-83 580
Cubs 65-91 593
Phillies 71-84 595
Twins 65-90 595
In contrast, the Boston Red Sox (95-62) lead MLB with 812 runs scored.
Here are the capsules and summaries from all the games in the majors yesterday.
Today’s games around the majors,
Here is the complete, month-by-month 2014 schedule for the Marlins:
Great finish this season as we race towards the playoffs.
In the American League, the Boston Red Sox and the Oakland A’s have already clinched the AL East and AL West respectively. Detroit leads the Central by 5 games with 6 games to play, so that division is basically done as well. The Wild Card is another story. Tampa Bay has a half-game lead over Cleveland for the top spot, with the Texas Rangers one and a half games behind the Indians. Kansas City is 3 1/2 games back of the second wild card spot, while the Yankees and the Orioles are pretty much done for the year, sitting 4 and 4 1/2 games back, respectively.
Over in the National League, congratulations to Fredi Gonzalez and the Atlanta Braves, who clinched their first NL East division title since 2009. The Dodgers already clinched the NL West, and the only division that is yet to be decided is the Central, where the Cardinals lead both the Pittsburgh Pirates and the Cincinnati Reds by 2 games. The Pirates and the Reds will face each other in the Wild Card playoff game, as they lead the Washington Nationals by 5 games, with only six games to play. The Cardinals’ six remaining games are all at home: 3 against the Nationals, and 3 against the Cubs. The Pirates travel to Chicago to take on the Cubs, and will then hook up with the Reds in Cincinnati. The Reds are also at home for their remaining six games, three with the Mets, before their series with the Pirates.
In other baseball news, the Yankees lost yesterday, but gave Mariano Rivera a wonderful tribute before his last game in Yankee Stadium:
The Phillies remove the word interim from Ryne Sandberg’s title:
The Boston Red Sox honor Yaz:
The Detroit Tigers are considering using Jhonny Peralta in left field when he comes back from his suspension. On his best day, Peralta doesn’t come close to being the shortstop that Jose Iglesias is. By the way, the Tigers have done this before before getting to the post season. I’m old enough to remember Mickey Stanley.
Here are the up-to-the-minute standings in MLB:
Here are the individual league leaders in MLB:
TODAY’S TRIVIA QUESTION: The Detroit Tigers are poised for another run at a world series this year, and they will be here in Miami to face the Marlins in a three-game series next weekend. Before Max Scherzer this year, and Justin Verlander in 2011, who was the last Detroit Tiger pitcher to win 20 games in a season? The answer comes later, alligator.
The University of Miami covered the spread against their “opponent” on saturday, beating Savannah State 77-7. The Herald’s Manny Navarro and Susan Miller Degnan have the latest scoop from the University of Miami:
FIU went up to Louisville this past Saturday, and the Panthers were thoroughly embarrassed by Louisville, 72-0. The loss was so bad that FIU asked the officials to use a running clock for most of the second half of the game to end the misery quickly. This was confirmed by Louisville coach Charlie Strong, but denied after the game by FIU head coach Ron Turner. It wasn’t bad enough to lose like that, but then Turner basically called Charlie Strong a liar after he (Turner) denied asking for the running clock.
Remember, FIU beat this Louisville team two seasons ago, and last year, they played them very tough and had a 14-7 lead before FIU QB Jake Medlock suffered a foot injury. The Panthers fell behind 28-14, and made it interesting, losing 28-21.
Go ahead . . . tell me again why Mario Cristobal was fired.
FIU will have a bye week this week, and the bye week is favored to beat FIU by 22 points. FIU’s next game will be on the road, in Hattiesburg, on Saturday, October 5th, against the Golden Eagles of Southern Mississippi.
The bye week may give Allegiant Air, the charter company of choice for FIU travel, repair all their MD-80 planes. Their entire fleet of MD-80s, which are from the 1970’s and 1980’s, was grounded on Friday due to mechanical problems with the airplanes. The airline said that everything should be “back to normal” by the end of the month. Here is the report from CNN:
I've been on those planes. Chartering an airplane from Allegiant is pretty much the equivalent of renting a car from Rent-a-Wreck. Not a good way to save a few dollars, if you ask me.
There is also a huge possibility that the situation at FIU regarding future changes will continue to just get worse and worse during the bye week and the time leading up to the next game. It will get ugly.
Here’s the latest from FIU:
Here’s the latest from Tallahassee and FSU:
From Gainesville and the University of Florida:
Here are the NCAA Football rankings for this week and they include Florida State (#8), Miami (#15), and Florida (#20).
Here is the complete results in College Football for week 4:
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I’m selling three lots totaling a little over five acres in the beautiful North Carolina mountains, overlooking the New River, a quick 35-minute drive from Boone and Blowing Rock. Click here to see some photos and feel free to contact me if you have any questions:
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THE ANSWER TO TODAY’S TRIVIA QUESTION: The Detroit Tigers are poised for another run at a world series this year, and they will be here in Miami to face the Marlins in a three-game series next weekend. Before Max Scherzer this year, and Justin Verlander in 2011, who was the last Detroit Tiger pitcher to win 20 games in a season?
Bill Gullickson, who went 20-9 back in 1991. Betcha you didn’t remember that name.
Behave yourselves, and always remember that tomorrow will bring us a brand new day.
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