NFL Beatpaths: Week 4

Very interesting graph this week, showing just how much parity there is this year. It seems like the Lombardi trophy is totally up for grabs for anyone... except the Rams and Bengals -- they just suck.

Check out more about Beatpaths!

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Sports Blog Family Reunion

After listening to a co-workers description of her family reunion yesterday, it got me wondering whether everyone's family had the same types of people that hers and mine has. Here are the some of the standard types, and with some Sports Blogs that fit the mold.

Crazy Uncle Ray


Ray will freak you out every once in a while, but he always is the life of the party until he gets too many beverages in him. These blogs definitely fit the mold:

Cuzoogle
Epic Carnival
Tirico Suave
The World of Isaac

That Hot 2nd Cousin


She usually shows up in her swimsuit, and she is also probably found on one of these Girls and Sports blogs.

On 205th
Hot Clicks
Sports By Brooks
Busted Coverage

Gramps


Gramps is always good for telling you a great story and has all the experience in the world. Whenever you're bored, these blogs always come through with the goods.

Hugging Harold Reynolds
The Big Lead
Awful Announcing

Aunt Lily


These are the great women in your family who know how to run the option, can shoot the three, and also probably make the best nachos ever.

And One
Women Like Sports
Women Watching Football

The New Baby


These always get fawned over by some, and completely ignored by others. Aren't they so cute... they'll be grown up before we know it.

NESW Sports
My Sports Rumors
Blue Workhorse

Which family member are you? Choose one of the above, or create your own!

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Week 4 NFL Power Rankings

Check out the 2009 Week 4 NFL Power Rankings here.

#1	Cowboys	1	1	1	1	1	1.0
#2	Giants	3	2	2	2	4	2.6
#3	Eagles	2	4	5	4	3	3.6
#4	Steelers	7	6	3	5	5	5.2
#5	Broncos	4	3	9	6	6	5.6
#6	Titans	5	10	7	7	2	6.2
#7	Packers	6	9	4	8	10	7.4
#8	Bills	8	8	11	3	8	7.6
#9	Colts	10	7	8	10	11	9.2
#10	Chargers	13	5	14	13	7	10.4
#11	Patriots	16	14	6	14	9	11.8
#12	Panthers	18	15	10	9	12	12.8
#13	Saints	11	12	12	15	17	13.4
#14	Jaguars	14	13	17	12	13	13.8
#15	Bucs	15	11	20	11	16	14.6
#16	Cardinals	17	20	13	18	15	16.6
#17	Ravens	9	16	24	16	18	16.6
#18	Skins	21	17	19	17	14	16.6
#19	Vikings	12	18	21	19	19	17.6
#20	Bears	19	21	15	20	25	17.8
#21	Jets	22	22	16	21	21	20.0
#22	Browns	20	27	22	29	19	23.4
#23	Seahawks	26	19	27	25	23	24.0
#24	Niners	29	23	25	24	20	24.2
#25	Texans	28	26	18	26	24	24.4
#26	Falcons	25	24	29	22	22	24.4
#27	Dolphins	23	30	30	23	24	26.0
#28	Bengals	24	29	23	27	29	26.4
#29	Dolphins	27	25	26	28	28	26.8
#30	Lions	31	32	28	30	30	30.2
#31	Chiefs	32	28	32	31	31	30.8
#32	Rams	30	31	31	32	32	31.2

It looks to me like the Cowboys and Eagles are the cream of the crop, and until the Giants play Philadelphia, I'll just have to like a bitter Patriots fan. Which I still am.

My Sports Rumors on the same issue: "Eagles fans will cry that the Giants should not be ranked ahead of them, I say why not? Yes, the birds have had a tougher road, but should that be held against the Giants? No. They're 3-0, Birds 2-1 that keeps them ahead of the divisional rivals. The schedule evens out by the end of the season and both sides will have played those same teams. But for now the Super Bowl Champs get the edge, as they are, ummm, defending Super Bowl Champs and have showed minimal signs of giving that up.

The Blue Workhorse on its current coaching duties: "At this time, Al Davis has not told me that I am not the head coach of the Oakland Raiders. Therefore, I will be conducting my daily activities as though I am the head coach of the Oakland Raiders."

Isaac on the Kitty Cats: "A little over two years ago, the Lions let Dick Jauron finish the Steve Mariucci debacle. The players respected Jauron and though he was extremely bland in his press conferences, he knew his football. But the Lions organization wasn't having any of it and wanted to clean out and bring in their guy. Apparently, Jauron's success as a head coach in the NFL wasn't enough for them. Fast forward two years and Jauron has established the Bills as one of the better teams in the AFC and more than likely, the favorite for the AFC East division. The Lions, well, they have won 10 games since Jauron's departure... Sad."

The Sports Dollar comments on that team from St. Louis: "Are the Rams the worst team in the history of the NFL? Is it also possible to have that many stars on offense, yet be this bad? Ok, well let's say that they aren't the worst in the NFL because we are leaving that title to the Lions, but they are sure as hell making a case for it. I mean seriously, who benches their quarterback for Trent Green?"

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The Office: Sports Edition

With the new season of The Office kicking off tomorrow night on NBC, we thought we'd put together our own "Sports Office", using the original characters as inspiration.

Jim -- Chris Cooley
The coolest guy in the office meets perhaps the coolest guy in sports. Both are pranksters and love having fun at work.

Pam -- Mrs. Chris Cooley
Of course Jim has to get the hottest girl, in this case a former cheerleader, unlike Pam.

Michael -- Al Davis
Has kind of lost it, but still thinks that he knows what he is doing. Has a semi-irrational hatred of Lane Kiffin.

Toby -- Lane Kiffin
Has a tough job in a tough company, and has to deal with a crazy boss who hates his guts. Both are leaving their present jobs, although I'm not sure if Kiffin has plans to go to Costa Rica.

Dwight -- Shaquille O'Neal
They both think that they are cops, as well as talking way too much. Both get the job done pretty well though, Shaq on the court, Dwight in sales.

You might also like:
NFL QB Anagrams
NFL Beatpaths
Steve Carrell as Donaghy

Creed -- Julio Franco
Dude is like 56 years old or something.

Angela -- Ashley Harkleroad
Seems like a prude, but if you wait a while, you see things like appearances in Playboy or making out with an ex-boyfriend after you just got engaged.

Meredith -- Adam Jones
He likes to drink, she likes to drink. He likes drive recklessly, she likes to get by cars. He likes strippers, she likes to strip. Close enough for us.

Ryan -- Martina Hingis
Prodigy at a young age. Went further than anyone thought. Struggled after some time at the top. Coke problem.

Well, we got you started, finish out the list and come up with your best sports figures for Darryl, Phyllis, Jan, Kelly, Oscar, and anyone else we missed. Send it to us using the comment form below.

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NFL Beatpaths: Week Three

If you've never heard of "beatpaths" before, prepare to have your eyes opened. Beatpaths.com is a fascinating resource for NFL junkies that are looking to see how teams stack up against each other, especially when they haven't had a head-to-head matchup. How does it work? If team A has beaten team B, and team B has beaten team C, then team A has a beatpath to team C, even if they haven’t played each other. That's the quick and dirty explantion -- check out the Beatpath website for more information, especially about "beatloops".

Here is the graph for week 3: check out the NFC Beast along with the poor showing for the AFC in general. An example of how to read the graph: The Giants have beat the Redskins, who beat the Cardinals, who beat the Dolphins. The Giants are shown to be better than the Dolphins, even though they haven't played yet.



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NFL Draft Stock Report 3.0

Stock Exploding
Tyson Jackson (DL)-- LSU and SenDerrick Marks (DL) -- Auburn
These two big-uns have really shown that they belong at the top of the DL heap along with Fili Moala.

Stock Rising
Shonn Greene (RB), Bryan Bulaga (OL) -- Iowa Hawkeyes
These two, with Greene running and Bulaga blocking, have lit up defenses this year. They have surpassed 100 yards in each game so far this year.

Stock Falling
Lesean McCoy (RB) -- Pittsburgh Panthers
"Shady" put the ball on the ground twice during their close win on Saturday and looked like the third best running back most of the time, behind his teamate Howlings and Shonn Grene.

Stock Plummeting
Chris Wells (RB) -- Ohio State
This doesn't bode well for the rest of the year, running backs that can't stay healthy aren't worth too much unless they are AP.

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Joey Porter, Anthony Smith: Tale of the Tape

Name: Anthony Smith
Height: 6'1"
Weight: 200
Mouth: Pretty Dang Big
Quote: "Yeah, I can guarantee a win."
Team: Pittsburgh Steelers
Predictions: Pittsburgh over New England
Game Performance: 2 Tackles, and got burned like bunsen twice (L 34-13)
Conclusion: Learn from Joey young one.


Name: Joey Porter
Height: 6'3"
Weight: 255
Mouth: Freaking Huge
Quote:"If it's not Tom Brady it shouldn't be that hard."
Team: Miami Dolphin
Predictions: Miami over New England
Game Performance: 6 tackles, 3 sacks, 1 forced fumble (Won 38-13)
Conclusion: That's how you back up your mouth.

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Patriots Week 3: Three Up, Three Down

Three Up
Ellis Hobbs-- Ellis had some great returns that put the offense into great positions and also played solid defense. Hobbs limited Ten Ginn Jr. to just a few yards after catch on multiple quick throws.

Stephen Gostkowski-- He is still perfect on the season for field goals, and continues to give the opponent poor starting position on kickoffs. Gostkowski has boomed over half of his kicks in for touchbacks.

Mrs. NE Patriots Draft-- Nobody else played that well, so I'm giving the third "up" to the wife for rocking the Wes Welker jersey and supporting the Pats.

Three Down
Patriots Offense-- The offensive line couldn't block, Matt Cassel wasn't decisive, and Randy Moss showed some bad signs by quitting on a couple plays. A very rough day going against a defense that got lit up by the Cardinals a week earlier.

Patriots Defense-- Evidently, the Patriots would have gotten worked by the Arkansas Razorbacks last year. The entire defense looked very slow and had a lot of trouble tackling Ronnie Brown and company and covering stalwarts like Greg Camarillo.

Patriots Coaching-- Either the players didn't execute well, or the Patriots Coaching staff made some poor adjustments. The Dolphins also played pretty well.

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Patriots Inactives: Week Three

QB Matt Gutierrez
LB Shawn Crable
LB Eric Alexander
RB Laurence Maroney
RB Kyle Eckel
WR Kelley Washington
OL Dan Connolly
OT Wesley Britt

Notes:
Lamont Jordan will play, and Sammy Morris will start the game.
Terrence Wheatley is active, after not playing last week in New York.
Sam Aiken will be asked to pick up the slack for Kelley Washington on special teams today.


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Charlie Weis a Cheater?

What now? Laptopgate?

According to our friends at the World of Isaac, Charlie Weis is being accused of cheating by the Michigan State Spartans. A computer was confiscated by NCAA Officials from the Notre Dame coaching box during the first half of the Spartans win on Saturday.

Weis states that "an intern" must have brought it in to the box on accident. Unfortunately, Charlie Weis's ties to the Patriots won't be helping his case out much, or New England's for that matter. Say it ain't so...

The big question though is, what was on the computer that was so important?

• Different formations to lose yards from
• How to schedule service academies tutorial
  
• How to win without someone named Brady
• Directions to heal a busted-up knee
  
• Lots of recipes for halftime
  
• Brady Quinn "Photos"
• Death Star Plans

Anything else?


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Patriots Injury Report: Week 3

Here is the Week 3 Patriots Injury report. Losing Lamont Jordan would be a huge blow to the Patriots, as he really electrified their running game against the Jets. Let's hope that the Patriots running back depth helps out.

Doubtful:
RB LaMont Jordan (DNP–foot)
WR Kelley Washington (DNP–ankle)

Questionable:
RB Laurence Maroney (limited participation–shoulder)
LB Eric Alexander (limited participation–calf)

Probable:
NT Vince Wilfork (full participation–back)

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Week 3 NFL Power Rankings

#1	Cowboys	1	1	1	1	1	1.0
#2	Steelers	3	2	3	4	2	2.8
#3	Giants	5	3	2	3	3	3.2
#4	Packers	4	9	4	2	6	5.0
#5	Patriots	2	6	6	10	4	5.6
#6	Eagles	7	5	5	7	9	6.6
#7	Colts	16	4	8	6	5	7.8
#8	Broncos	6	8	9	9	7	7.8
#9	Panthers	10	7	10	5	11	8.6
#10	Titans	8	12	7	11	8	9.2
#11	Bills	11	10	11	8	10	10.0
#12	Saints	9	11	12	12	14	11.6
#13	Cardinals	14	15	13	13	15	14.0
#14	Chargers	17	13	14	17	12	14.6
#15	Bears	15	17	15	14	18	15.8
#16	Jaguars	18	16	17	18	13	16.4
#17	Bucs	12	14	20	16	21	16.6
#18	Jets	19	18	16	15	16	16.8
#19	Vikings	21	20	21	21	17	20.0
#20	Browns	20	19	22	22	19	20.4
#21	Ravens	11	22	24	20	25	20.4
#22	Redskins	27	21	19	19	20	21.2
#23	Texans	23	24	18	25	24	22.8
#24	Niners	26	25	25	23	23	24.4
#25	Seahawks	31	23	27	24	22	25.4
#26	Falcons	22	27	29	26	26	26.0
#27	Bengals	24	29	23	27	30	26.6
#28	Raiders	28	26	26	32	28	28.0
#29	Dolphins	25	30	30	29	27	28.2
#30	Lions	29	32	28	30	29	29.6
#31	Chiefs	30	28	32	31	32	30.6
#32	Rams	32	31	31	32	31	31.4

We feel like the rumors of the demise of the New England Patriots were greatly exaggerated. Plenty of flak was thrown in our general direction following our decision to put the Brady-less Pats at #2 last week, but we feel pretty good about it right now.

The Sports Dollar on the Broncos: "It really pains me to talk about them in any sort of positive manor. I was of course forced as a child to watch almost all of their games growing up in Montana and also forced to watch "Horsemaster" Elway whine, get fat, and sell cars. But hey, I guess they are still winning right?"

The Blue Workhorse on the Broncos: "We love what Shanahan is doing in Denver and Jauron is doing in Buffalo. Shanahan's gutsy call to go for two shows the confidence he has in Jay Cutler and the offensive squad. We hope both Shanahan and Jauron get to enjoy the 2008 postseason. Oh yeah, Heisman hates Brett Favre more than any player he has ever hated in his life."

Isaac on the career of T-Jack: "There are 32 starting NFL quarterbacks....I think we can all agree that while they may not be the 32 best at their position in the world, its pretty darn close. There may be a stray backup or a stud college qb or even the rare Arena league quarterback thats better. Which brings to me to Tavaris Jackson... If I had to pick 75 quarterbacks both from college and the pros, I don't think I would even glance in his direction. In fact, if I had some flatulence, I would probably let one go right in his face...I think its time the Vikings just said, ok, let's get some strippers, put them on a boat in Lake Minnetonka and let Tavaris Jackson disease himself to death. Hell, he can even call Daunte up so he can show him how its done..."

My Sports Rumors on who the dominant division in the NFL is: "Is there any doubt left that the NFC Easts are the NFL Beasts? The only question I have is if the offenses in Dallas and Philly stumble in a playoff game can those defenses carry them? Not quite sure. Big Blue on the other hand just keeps chugging alone no matter who that defense loses."

Go to Week 4 NFL Power Rankings

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NFL Draft Stock Report 2.0

The all Ohio St. versus USC version:

Stock Exploding
Brian Cushing- Cushing looked great on Saturday, delivering big hits time after time. He read the plays early and covered as well as he tackled.

Stock Rising
Rey Maualuga- If you had any doubts that Rey Rey was amazing, those were surely disspelled after seeing him romp for a Pick-Six.

Stock Falling
James Laurinaitis- One of the knocks on Animal Jr. is that once he gets blocked, he stays blocked. That was very evident against the powerful USC offense.

Stock Plummeting
The OSU QB not named Pryor- Todd B was pretty awful, and any chance of him being more than a late-round pick seem to be gone.

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Patriots Week Two: Three Up, Three Down

Three Up

Lamont Jordan-
This Raiders castoff was a beast for the Patriots, filling in for the injured Laurence Maroney. Jordan averaged over 5 yards per carry, and made tons of key first downs to keep the clock moving.

Ellis Hobbs-
The second great game in a row for Hobbs, as he had two great deflections and some solid coverage all day long. He has really blossomed in Asante's absence.

Richard Seymour-
The beast is back. Finally healthy, Seymour set up camp in the Jets backfield on Sunday, blowing up three plays before they even started.

Three Down

Laurence Maroney-
Injured again, Maroney was hesitant while running against the Jets. Lamont Jordan looked much better.

Rodney Harrison-
Rodney missed some tackles throughout the day and got picked on the lone touchdown by New York. Not the best day for Harrison.

Tight Ends-
The blocking was atrocious out of this unit. It contributed to at least two of the sacks in the third quarter, and they weren't open too much in the passing game either.

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Patriots Inactives: Week Two

Here are the Patriots inactives against the Jets. A few surprises in that Gary Guyton is still active over 3rd-Rounder Shawn Crable, as well as Jonathan Wilhite over 2nd-Rounder Terrence Wheatley. Jabar Gaffney is in the lineup despite his head injury.

WR Sam Aiken
LB Eric Alexander
OT Wesley Britt
C/G Dan Connolly
OLB Shawn Crable
TE Benjamin Watson
CB Terrence Wheatley
QB Matt Gutierrez -- third QB

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Josh McDaniels Looking Over Shoulder

Patriots Offensive Coordinator Josh McDaniels is a worried man. After seeing Tom Brady, quarterback for the New England Patriots, go down with a torn left ACL and MCL in Week 1, he knew he was in for a long year. When Charlie Weis, former Patriots OC, suffered an identical injury on Saturday, McDaniels became concerned. "This has been a crazy couple of days. I haven't slept a bit", McDaniels intimated to sources inside the Patriots.

The young Patriots coach has prepared some elaborate defenses during this weeks game. Armed security guards will flank McDaniels' left knee on each side, while Rodney Harrison and Tedy Bruschi are escorting him off the field.

Conspiracy theories abound, even though there are is only one known connection between the two injuries. According to league security, one could detect a faint smell of brimstone in the air at each location.

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Great Gambling Moment
Patriots Opening Day

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Great Moment in Gambling History

We were watching the Iowa Hawkeyes play the Iowa State Cyclones yesterday at beautiful Kinnick Stadium in Iowa City. We were enjoying the game, and specifically looking at some Hawkeye linemen, both defensive and offensive, for NFL Draft purposes. What we happened to see was one of the greatest gambling moments ever. Check out a list of other recent examples below.

The line for the game had the Hawkeyes giving 13 points to the visiting Cyclones. With a 17-3 lead, and having just stopped the Cyclones on 4th and Goal, the Hawkeyes took over at their own four. After a few QB sneaks, there was about 40 seconds left and it was 4th down.

The Hawks didn't punt though. Fearing a punt return or block, followed by an onside kick attempt, the Hawkeyes instead elected to have the punter run the ball out the back of the endzone, thus giving the Cyclones two points for a safety, and compulsive gamblers around the United States either heartache or joy.

Ouch.

Here are some other great ones:

• Sasha Vujacic hitting a meaningless three to give the Lakers a 100-92 victory to cover the 7.5 point line during the 2008 playoffs.
• Chris Duhon's magical shot for the Dukies, drawing the game to a 79-78 finish, covering the spread against UCONN in 2004.
• Texas A&M QB connects on a 33-yard TD reception with 5 seconds left in their 2007 game against Miami, bringing the total to 34-17, when the line was at 46.5.
  

What was your greatest gambling moment -- good or bad?

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NFL QB Anagrams
Jump to Conclusions: NFL Style
Underrated Dance Teams

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Patriots Injury Report: Week 2

It's a weird Patriots Injury Report, as the Patriots have nobody labeled as OUT, DOUBTFUL, or PROBABLE. The following players are listed as questionable:

WR Sam Aiken (knee–limited participation in practice)
LB Eric Alexander (calf–limited participation in practice)
WR Jabar Gaffney (knee–limited participation in practice)
CB Lewis Sanders (head–limited participation in practice)
TE Ben Watson (knee–limited participation in practice)

Absent from the list is Randy Moss, whose back injury was a small concern earlier this week, holding him out of parts of a few practices. Alexander's absence would probably mean Shawn Crable getting some action, after being a healthy scratch in Week 1.

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NFL QB Anagrams

After watching the classic Simpsons episode where Lisa comes up with "Jeremy's Iron" as an anagram for "Jeremy Irons", I decided to do some anagrams for some of the NFL's Quarterbacks. This is what we came up with.

1. Vincent Young -- Conveying Nut
This guy is a little out there...

2. Tony Romo -- Toy Moron
Jessica Simpson fits perfectly here.

3. Matt Cassel -- Calms State
Hopefully he can calm Patriot Nation again on Sunday.

4. Peyton Manning -- Yep, Not Manning
Not yet anyway, he looked lost Week 1.

5. Kyle Orton -- Loony Trek
Has someone that backed up Rex Grossman?! ever looked so good?

6. Aaron Rodgers -- Earns Roar, Dog
Looks like he'll be earning lost of roars from the Lambeau crowd.

7. Matt Ryan -- My Tantra
Atlanta is drooling over this kid

8. Matt Leinart -- It Arm Talent
Sure as heck isn't Brain Talent

9. Matt Hasselbeck -- Sets back Helmet
I wouldn't go out there with those receivers

10. Marc Bulger -- Calm Burger
He is like fresh meat behind the Rams line.

11. Brian Griese -- Ages Brinier
Jeff Garcia is in a real pickle.

Come up with your own and post it below.

You might also like:
Jump to Conclusions
NFL Draft Stock Report

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Week 2 NFL Power Rankings

Week 3 NFL Power Rankings

You probably expected the Patriots to still be on top for me, and while I still think that the Patriots will make the playoffs and have a shot at winning the Superbowl, they are no longer the favorite. How 'bout them Cowboys! I feel dirty.

The Sports Dollar tells us why he chose the 'boys. "The Dallas Cowboys may seem like an obvious choice for #1, and that's fine. Who else would you put there? Everyone else in the league looked horrible compared to expectations except for my least favorite team with my least favorite player. They completely dominated the Browns in every facet to the game. The best part? They stopped playing Roy Williams in the nickel! Guaranteed Super Bowl victory?"

World of Isaac on da Bears... "I know a lot of people praise Lovie Smith as one of the best coaches in the NFL. But, if Kyle Orton has any success this year, shouldn't Smith be chastised for benching him for Rex Grossman? I mean, I realize that Orton has the worst Pornstar stache this side of Jeff Kent, but Rex Grossman sucks. Everybody knew it except the Bears organization."

My Sports Rumors thinks that the Seahawks aren't for realsies. I'll let Paul explain. "Seattle Seahawks - This team is a freaking fraud!! A FRAUD I TELL YA!!! I too bought the preseason media hype and gave them a #8 ranking in my first poll, even thou my prediction was 6-10 for the season. Well I'll tell you now they drop big time with me because they are a joke. A joke that keeps getting worse with each additional injury. Holmgren - take off the headset and retire with dignity. I won't hate ya for leaving midseason, just get away from that mess!" Just to clarify, Paul doesn't think the Seahawks will perform very well this year.

Blue Workhorse on his Atlanta Falcons... "And as I said before the season, my Falcons won't be the worst team in the league this season like many of you other prognosticators believed. They are going to win 5 games or so, while the Rams may not get to 3."

#1	Cowboys	1	1	1	1	1	1.0
#2	Steelers	4	2	5	3	2	3.2
#3	Eagles	3	3	7	2	7	4.4
#4	Giants	7	5	4	6	3	5
#5	Colts	8	4	3	14	5	6.8
#6	Patriots	2	8	8	15	4	7.4
#7	Chargers	10	6	2	16	9	8.6
#8	Jaguars	6	7	9	17	8	9.4
#9	Saints	9	9	10	8	11	9.4
#10	Packers	11	13	13	5	6	9.6
#11	Titans	12	19	6	7	10	10.8
#12	Panthers	15	10	19	9	12	13.0
#13	Broncos	5	15	23	13	13	13.8
#14	Jets	14	11	14	11	19	13.8
#15	Bears	13	12	20	4	21	14
#16	Bills	16	14	15	10	16	14.2
#17	Browns	22	18	12	19	15	17.2
#18	Vikings	20	20	22	18	14	18.8
#19	Seahawks	17	23	21	20	17	19.6
#20	Cardinals	23	16	17	25	18	19.8
#21	Texans	19	25	11	27	20	20.4
#22	Bucs	18	24	18	24	22	21.2
#23	Ravens	26	22	24	12	25	21.8
#24	Falcons	21	17	31	21	23	22.6
#25	Redskins	24	21	25	23	24	23.4
#26	Bengals	25	29	16	28	29	25.4
#27	Dolphins	27	30	30	22	27	27.2
#28	Niners	31	27	27	30	26	28.2
#29	Chiefs	28	28	32	26	30	28.8
#30	Rams	32	26	29	29	31	29.4
#31	Lions	30	32	26	31	28	29.4
#32	Raiders	29	31	28	32	32	30.4

You might also like:
Jump to Conclusions: NFL Style
NFL Draft Prospect Stock Report

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Patriots Opening Day: Storming the Cassel

Our view from section 301 wasn't the best I've ever had at a football game, but the people we're great. We had Tommy G, a true Patriots fan in front of us, and lots of people hitting up their cellphones to try and get Cassel on their fantasy teams at halftime. I've never heard such a disgusting sound as an entire stadium gasping.



The mood immediately changed after Cassel's 98-yard drive. We even heard a few "Tom Who?" shouts, even though they had probably had way too many $7.50 beverages. We were surprised by how many people left early, but the end of the game was very exciting. As we were eventually chased out of the stadium by security, we knew we'd be coming back soon.

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Brady's Injury, Matt Gutierrez Signed by Patriots

Tom Brady has an MCL tear as well as the previously reported ACL tear. There is no cartilage damage, however, which leads doctors to believe that Brady will have surgery within a month, waiting for the MCL to heal first. Brady's prognosis still looks like a nine-month rehab stint.

According to ESPN, Matt Gutierrez has been signed to the practice squad for your New England Patriots. He was released during the cutdown to the final 53-man roster, with current starter Matt Cassel getting the nod over Gutierrez. Expect him to be active for Sunday's game against the New York Jets. Does anyone know who their quarterback is?

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Patriots Opening Day: Pregame

Check out Part One of Patriots Opening Day.

We started the morning off at, where else, Dunkin' Donuts. We tailgated a bit with some new friends from Worcester, and then headed off to pay the $40 at General Parking. Nothing like a "small regular" to get your blood flowing.


Patriot Place is just plain amazing. This is a shot of the interior of the new Patriots Pro Shop. Due to us getting there at the exact right time, we were the first people to enter, and were met with a nice ovation. Very cool place, and a must for your Patriots gameday apparel needs. The Patriots Hall of Fame upstairs wasn't ready for the public yet, but will be amazing when it is. The snowplow from the snow game will be a big hit.

The CBS scene was also pretty cool. The setup is real nice, being able to watch vintage CBS shows as well as football highlights and DIRECTV NFL Sunday Ticket. We weren't very impressed with the food, as their isn't much of a selection yet.

A view of Patriot Place from our seats up in section 301 as the game was about to begin. It would be a game that would forever change the future of the Patriots 2008 season.

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NFL Jump to Conclusions Week

Well, Week 1 of the NFL Season is over and it is now time for everyone to jump to conclusions, a la Tom Smykowsi from Office Space. You just witnessed a little over 6% of the season. Did you know whether "300" or "Dark Knight" was going to be awesome after eight minutes?

Not every team that lost badly this week is going to be terrible. Not every team that won impressively is going to the Superbowl. Some guys will step up for injured stars, and some other players will get injured later.Based on some of the projections we've read already, here are ten conclusions we jumped to for this 2009 NFL campaign.

1. The Patriots will finish 1-15, with a peg-legged Tom Brady signing on as a QB coach next year.

2. Vince Young will be in a padded room by Week 12.

3. Michael Turner's 2800 yard season will shatter all the records.

4. The Chargers will finish with 32 players on IR, with Nate Kaeding playing TE, K, and CB by the end of the year.

5. The 15-1 Cowboys will face the 15-1 Steelers in the "Superbowl of the Century."

6. The Jets will release Mike Nugent and sign another WR, as they don't need kickers.

7. Bernard Pollard will be the UFC Middleweight champion.

8. The Colts will release Peyton Manning.

9. Jimmy Traina, Andy Gray, and the rest of the Extra Mustard crew will post about Women's Tennis. A lot.

10. MVP and Rookie of the Year Matt Ryan will continue to wow the Atlanta natives by putting Pepsi out of business, convincing Lebron to come to Atlanta, and not killing domesticated animals.

What conclusions are you jumping to already?

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NFL Draft Stock Report

Stock Exploding
Mark Sanchez, Southern Cal -- Still a junior, Sanchez is showing that he might be ready to play in the NFL. Squaring off against Malcolm Jenkins and James Lauranaitis will show us more about Sanchez's ability.

Stock Up
Marshawn Gilyard, Cincinnati -- Although he's a bit bigger at 6'1", Gilyard is following in Desean Jackson's footsteps, trying to parlay some impressive returns and a some good receiver skills into a first-day pick.

Stock Down
Chris Wells, Ohio State -- Although we doubt that many teams are moving him down their draft board, foot injuries tend to lead to other foot injuries. Let's hope he gets back on the field soon.

Stock Tanking
Pat White, West Virginia -- Although they were small in the first place, his dreams of ever being a QB in the NFL are officially over. Having trouble getting the offense out of poor play-calls doomed the Mountaineers. White still shows some promise as a WR prospect, a la Antwan Randle-El.

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Patriots Week One: Three Up, Three Down

Three Up

Matt Cassel
If he keeps stringing up 100+ QB ratings, I think New England will be just fine. Cassel has strengths that Belichick and McDaniels will tailor the Patriots gameplan towards.

Jerod Mayo
Six solo tackles is what the stat sheet says, but no visible mistakes for a rookie in Belichick's defense is wonderful. Look for Mayo to start making big plays soon.

Ellis Hobbs
A great kickoff return, some big hits, and a crucial interception all add up to a monster day from Ellis Hobbs the third. The former Iowa St. Cyclone running back is still refining his cornerback game, and the improvement is visible.

Three Down

Patriots Crowd
Maybe it was Tom Brady's injury, but other than the final four plays of the game, the crowd was pretty dead. We were expecting a lot more on third down.

Kevin Faulk
If Kevin Faulk is in the game, Bernard Pollard never makes it to Tom Brady's knee. We believe in forgive and forget, but we hope you enjoyed your fun Kevin.

Sammy Morris
Morris had a strong running day, but was awful on blitz pickup, allowing the Chiefs to hammer Matt Cassel after Tom Brady had already been taken out.

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Patriots Opening Day: Prologue

My trip to Boston along with Mrs. NE Patriots Draft was an incredible experience. Here are a few non-football highlights from our foray into the Hub.

We walked the entire Freedom Trail on Saturday, stopping at the Union Oyster House for some Boston scrod, oysters, cherrystones, and shrimp. The Old North church was an incredible sight, along with the USS Constitution and the Old South Meeting House. After climbing on the orange line close to Bunker Hill we were exhausted, but walking in the footsteps of our founding fathers was quite worth it.


That's a huge lobster sitting on a bed of steamers and mussels that the fine folks at Legal Sea Foods provided for me Friday night. While Boston, and New England in general, does seafood a thousand times better than my native Iowa, our sweet corn puts this yellow stuff to shame.

Bonfire, located in the Park Plaza where we stayed, provided us with the most unique dish of our vacation. Mrs. NE Patriots Draft ordered the hailbut, which came with foie gras, dandelion greens, roasted stone fruit, blue corn pancakes, and popcorn. It was incredible, and put my Kobe beef to shame. A nice glass of Veuve Clicquot washed everything down nicely, helping to prepare us for gameday.

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Tom Brady to IR: Knee Injury Will End Season

Bill Belichick has confirmed that Tom Brady will miss the remainder of the season and be placed on IR. Brady will have surgery on his left knee "whenever the doctor schedules it" according to the Patriots coach. His return status is unknown.

Matt Cassel will be the starter against the New York Jets, and it is unclear who will be backing him up in addition to Kevin O'Connell. Matt Gutierrez, Tim Rattay, and Chris Simms have been linked to the Patriots, although there haven't been any contract talks as of yet.

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Back from Boston

We're back from an incredible weekend in Boston that saw us experience quite a range of emotions. From an incredibly fun vacation, to Tom Brady laying on the ground, Matt Cassel taking us from the shadow of our goalpost, and finally the defense stepping up and sealing the victory.We'll be back over the next few days with a three-part look at our wonderful weekend, including plenty of pictures.
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NE Patriots Draft at Opening Day

Posting will be sparse to non-existent for the next few days, as the NE Patriots Draft crew is shipping off to Boston for the Patriots vs. Chiefs game. We'll be back on Monday with a recap off our experience.

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Patriots Injury Report - Week 1

Patriots Injury Report Week 3

And so it begins. The Patriots have released their first injury report of the season, and lo and behold, Tom Brady is on the list. It's good news though, as he is listed as fully participating in practice. Almost as important as who is on the list, is who is not. Wes Welker and Brandon Meriweather, who were both nursing injuries during the preseason, are thankfully absent from the injury report.

Did Not Participate in Practice
WR Sam Aiken (knee)
OL Dan Connolly (knee)
DL Le Kevin Smith (knee)
TE Ben Watson (knee)

Limited Participation in Practice
G/C Russ Hochstein (groin)

Full Participation in Practice
QB Tom Brady (shoulder/foot)

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Spanish Teachers Protest Ocho Cinco

More after the jump...

When Chad Johnson legally changed his name to Chad Ocho Cinco to reflect the 85 on the back of his jersey, he didn't figure that he would instantly be making thousands of enemies nationwide. Aaron Carlson, Spanish teacher from Kearney, Nebraska explains: "Chad's little prank is making it difficult for us to effectively teach numbers. Students think that we are teaching them wrong because this clown can't use a dictionary."

Why is Carlson, and many other Spanish teachers so upset? "Ocho cinco" actually means "eight-five", while "ochenta cinco" or "ochenta y cinco" would be the correct formations of 85 in Spanish.

"I really don't care, you cant stop me either way," related Ocho Cinco. "Maybe next year I'll go with Acht Fünf. That's some German right there."

Due to a torn labrum it is uncertain when Ocho Cinco will be sporting the new jersey on the field. Ocho Cinco has said he hopes to play this weekend against the Baltimore Ravens. Any time will be too soon for Mr. Carlson. "I can only hope he's out for at least 4 weeks. We'll be done with 2-digit numbers by then."

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Sports Blog NFL Power Rankings: Week Zero

Week 2 NFL Power Rankings coming tomorrow!

We already thought that the Giants would be bad, and losing Osi Umenyiora didn't help at all. We've moved them down to #20, even after they beat the Patriots 19-14 in the silly season. We can't wait for an 18 game regular season and a 2 game exhibition slate. Save the whole "bitter Patriot fan" comments. We know that we are bitter.

The Sports Dollar is thirsty: "I'm drinking the Kool-Aid of the Eagles and it feels a little awkward. Supposedly the choke artist McNabb is back in full force and health, Westbrook is a beast and possible MVP candidate, and the Cowboys just had another major injury at WR. This could be a sneak attack year for Philly out in the NFC East, so look out!"

My Sports Rumors on the other New York team: "Jets fans are pretty special and at times you have to wonder if they're smarter than a fifth grader. So in honor of Jeff Foxworthy (cue his voice), You might be a front runner, if you own a Brett Favre Jets jersey. All the Jets fans feel they are contenders now--even many media outlets are boosting them in their rankings. We're not--they only move up ONE spot from their pre-training camp ranking. Get ready for bandwagon jumping in Week 2 when Favre airmails some balls to the Pat defense in front of the home crowd."

The Blue Workhorse also highlighted the Jets, although they took the other side: "Adding future Hall-of-Fame QB Brett Favre helps the Jets jump 12 spots on our list." At least they had them at #31 before.

World of Isaac on the Lions restoring the roar: "The Lions finished the preseason 4-0. The last time the Lions won 4 games in a row, well, let me think now.... I bonged my first beer at age 15, so it was definitely before that . I touched my first pair of boobies when I was 10, so I think before then too. I think I was in the third grade.....yea, around there....so what does that make me 8 or something? Hmm? Anyways, there you have it. The last time the Lions won 4 games in a row I was a prepubescent pervert who hadn't drank a beer or touched any boobies.... For any normal blogger, that would just be called 'last week.'"

Here are the pre-preseason rankings.

#1	Patriots	1	5	1	5	1	2.6
#2	Jaguars	2	1	6	3	4	3.2
#3	Cowboys	3	3	4	7	2	3.8
#4	Chargers	9	2	2	1	5	3.8
#5	Colts	4	4	3	13	3	5.4
#6	Steelers	6	6	7	8	7	6.8
#7	Eagles	7	9	13	2	12	8.6
#8	Vikings	5	8	15	14	6	9.6
#9	Seahawks	13	10	8	10	9	10.0
#10	Saints	10	7	14	6	15	10.4
#11	Giants	20	11	5	11	8	11.0
#12	Browns	8	14	10	30	10	14.4
#13	Texans	12	19	12	15	14	14.4
#14	Packers	15	13	19	16	11	14.8
#15	Redskins	11	16	17	17	17	15.6
#16	Titans	24	15	9	19	13	16.0
#17	Bucs	21	21	11	12	21	17.2
#18	Cardinals	17	22	22	9	16	17.2
#19	Bills	14	12	18	20	24	17.6
#20	Broncos	16	20	21	24	18	19.8
#21	Bengals	19	18	16	27	20	20.0
#22	Lions	18	31	26	4	23	20.4
#23	Panthers	22	24	23	18	22	21.8
#24	Ravens	27	17	25	21	29	23.8
#25	Jets	25	27	20	32	19	24.6
#26	Rams	23	23	27	23	28	24.8
#27	Niners	26	26	28	28	26	26.8
#28	Bears	30	25	30	25	25	27.0
#29	Raiders	28	30	24	26	27	27.0
#30	Chiefs	29	28	29	22	32	28.0
#31	Dolphins	32	29	31	29	30	30.2
#32	Falcons	31	32	32	31	31	31.4

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Pats Sign Deltha O'Neal

Update: The Patriots have signed Deltha O'Neal to a 1-year contract.

According to Sirius NFL Radio, the Patriots are hosting former Cincinnati Bengal CB Deltha O'Neal today in Foxborough. The former Pro-Bowl corner recorded 10 interceptions during the 2005 NFL campaign, tying Ty Law for the league lead. In 2007, O'Neal recorded 52 tackles and snagged one pick. O'Neal was a first-round pick out of California for the Denver Broncos. Coach Bill Belichick on the signing:

"He is a very athletic corner, good ball skills, pretty big guy who goes up and plays a lot of press coverage, has done that in the past. Physical player. Good tackler. Good interceptor. Returner. We've seen the back of his jersey on that a couple of times."

If this is a signing to provide depth to a thin defensive backfield, O'Neal would be great. If he is ready, we'd love to see Terrence Wheatley start the process of becoming the next great Patriots cornerback.

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