BRUINS GO DOWN IN THE SOUTH

The Bruins started the season 7-2-0, and are since 5-6-2. Offensive inconsistency has been the primary culprit for this mediocrity. At the start of the season, there were several forwards (plus Chara) that were red hot. Those hot streaks have cooled down, and now the Bruins have to work desperately for goals. And when they do score, it seems to be more luck than skill.

Not having Krejci and Savard is a big factor. But there really are too many non-scoring forwards on the roster. And last night in Atlanta, Boychuk, Seidenberg, and Chara were the Bruins' leading shooters. Three defensemen, outshooting all other forwards. That shouldn't happen.

Hopefully, when Krejci and Savard return, the goals will also return. Even then, those two are playmakers, not play-finishers. I fear the inconsistency will remain.

For now, the Bruins have to be more disciplined on defense. They're not scoring, but their defensive lapses in the neutral zone make their offensive issues so much worse. They've got to play smarter, and try to get through the offensive droughts without allowing 3 or 4 goals. They've got to find ways to win 1-0 and 2-1. Though, that doesn't frequently happen in the NHL these days.

They're at Philadelphia Wednesday night, and the Flyers are likely the best team they've faced this season. Perhaps that will inspire some focus.

Photo Credits:
AP Photo

BRADY GOBBLES LIONS FOR THANKSGIVING DINNER

The QB Rating stat, like all statistics, is imperfect. It doesn't, by itself, truly measure how great a quarterback's game/season/career is. But Tom Brady's maximum 158.3 from Thursday's win over the Lions is one time when the QB Rating is spot on.

After struggling to generate a rhythm in the first half, Brady spent the second half dissecting the Lions' defense. He was helped by some big defensive plays, which gave the Pats very good field position. And a 79 yard hook-up with Branch, which was as much the receivers' running as it was Brady's throwing.



And unlike against the Colts, the Patriots' offense maintained their assault. The defense was giving the ball back to Brady, and Brady spread it around to Welker, Gronkowski, and Branch. He added to the Patriots' lead, and what was a back-and-forth 24-24 game to start the 4th, very quickly turned into a slaughter.

I'm not going to dance in the streets for a win over a 2-9 Detroit team. Then again, the Patriots have continually struggled to make in-game adjustments. On offense, and also on defense, they figured out what Detroit was doing, figured out how to defeat it, and applied those adjustments with remarkable success.



Some of the nice looking numbers from the game: Tom Brady was 21/27, completing his last 10 pass attempts, for 341 yards, 4 touchdowns, and the afore-mentioned maximum 158.3 QB Rating.

Branch only caught 3 passes, but for 113 yards and 2 scores. Welker caught 8 passes for 90, and 2 touchdowns. 7 different Patriots caught passes (3 tight-ends, 2 backs, and only 2 WRs). BJG Ellis only ran for 59 yards, but averaged 4.9 per carry, and scored twice.



And how good has Devin McCourty been this season? He's no "shut-down corner," but he's done well in coverage, is a sure tackler, and has a nose for the football. He's a playmaker. Something the Patriots defense has been lacking for a few years.

The Patriots have an extended week to eat Lion leftovers, and prepare for the Jets, who come to town next Monday night. That's a fairly significant game.

Photo Credits:
AP Photo

TIGERS OUTBID THE RED SOX

It's a good thing the Tigers weren't also trying to buy Liverpool. In case you haven't heard, the word is that the Tigers have signed Victor Martinez to a 4 year, $50 million deal. I guess that was too much of a commitment for the Red Sox, who once signed JD Drew to a 5 year, $70 million deal. The Sox once spent $51 million just to talk to Matsuzaka. They once gave Mike Lowell a 4 year, $60 million deal. They extended Josh Beckett's deal by 4 years for $68 million. They signed Lackey to a 5 year, $82.5 million deal.

They also just spent nearly half a billion on a soccer team that is over $400 million in debt. But $50 million for a consistent hitting catcher was too much. That was just too much of a commitment for the Red Sox.

I'm tired of hearing John Henry, Tom Werner, and Larry Luchino come on WEEI and pat themselves on the backs for spending the second most money in baseball, for spending their budget. Maybe it's time to raise the budget, guys. The Sox spent the second most last year, and had the 10th overall record. So maybe they should realize "we made some big contract mistakes." And instead of not spending, they could help alleviate those mistakes by spending a little more.

I don't expect them to outbid the Yankees for Cliff Lee. But I do expect them to not lose quality free agents to the Detroit fucking Tigers. Detroit, like every other team in baseball, is looking to improve. The Sox are content to be "contenders." Even though, they're not contenders, not in the AL East.

The Sox owners are not interested in winning. At least, not in baseball anymore. They want to win Premier League titles, and FA Cups. They're bored with the Red Sox. They had our fun, and now they've moved on.

And every bullshit, propaganda explanation we get from the Globe, or from WEEI, or from the Front Office itself, will only piss me off further. How come nobody asks how much the Sox made in 2010? How much was their profit. We KNOW that their payroll was on budget. And they just made a major purchase, so they must have some funds lying around.

I don't care if the Sox have a payroll of $60 million, or $300 million. I WANT THEM TO WIN. I understand that owners can't spend more than they make. But you know what, don't take the profits you make from our team, then use it to buy a second-rate, collapsing soccer team in England. Henry, Werner, and Luchino aren't from here, so they might not realize that we don't like the British here. Maybe we should fill Fenway with water and pour tea in it.

Good luck in Detroit, Victor. The Tigers obviously care more about winning than the Red Sox.

BRUINS ELECTROCUTED

After winning 3 straight against subpar opponents, the Bruins have faltered against a pair of quality teams. They mounted a nice comeback Saturday night to salvage a point against the Kings, but still found themselves down 3-0. That happened again last night, except for the comeback part.

I hate Claude Julien and his "style" of play. He's too static, and that can be seen on the ice. The players don't react and independently adapt to what the opposition does. The Lightning owned the neutral zone with their 1-3-1 alignment, and the Bruins did little to change that.

Under Julien, the Bruins struggle whenever their opponents do anything that isn't standard.

And the Lightning didn't do much standard last night. They're fast, aggressive, deceptive, and always moving forward. I don't recall seeing a Lightning defenseman gather the puck in his zone, wait behind his net for a change, pass to the other defenseman, and continue with a basic A-B-C breakout. Instead, they skated. They pushed.

Rask got another hard luck loss. And while the defensive play of the Bruins was unfortunate, their lack of offense was the real killer. The box score credits the Bruins with 27 shots. I don't remember about 20 of them.

Thankfully, the Bruins will be in Miami Wednesday night to play the lowly Panthers. The B's crushed them 4-0 last week.

Photo Credit:
AP Photo

JUST LIKE OLD TIMES

I remember the days when the Patriots absolutely owned the Colts. The National Sports Media would drool over Peyton Manning's regular season numbers, then they'd come to Gillette and get pummeled. Since then, the Colts have had the better of the rivalry. They'd won 5 of the last 6, and quite often in dramatic/painful fashion.



That was close to happening again last night. Too close. At times, the Patriots defense allowed some big plays. But they also made big plays, intercepting Manning 3 times. Peyton entered the game having thrown a mere 4 picks all season. He nearly doubled his total in one night of work.



The fact of the matter is the Patriots only scored 10 points in the second half, after putting up 21 in the first. At the beginning of the 4th, they were held to a field goal after driving to the Indianapolis 7. After Indy made it 31-21, the Pats went 3 and out, only taking 40 seconds off the clock. At 31-28, the Pats had a 4 play drive.

We can lament the defense all we want, but they are who they are. They're young, athletic, and inexperienced. If you put them in front of a guy like Manning for long enough, they'll get picked apart.

The offense, however, has experience, has talent, has multiple facets. It simply has to do better at the end of games. It's funny to hear everyone ripping the defense after they collected 3 turnovers and the offense did nothing in the 4th quarter.

But in this NFL, wins are priceless. If I were a Jet fan, I'd be criticizing my team for barely winning game after game. There's no elite team in the League. There's no "balanced" team out there that's very good in all phases of the game.

The Patriots have a very short week before heading to Detroit to play on Thanksgiving. This has trap game written all over it, as it's sandwiched between the Colts and the Jets. Hopefully the Patriots learned some lessons in Cleveland.



Photo Credits:
Getty Images
AP Photo

UUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUU

Milan Lucic scored a hat-trick last night, which gives him 10 on the season. That surpasses his total for all of 09-10, and he's got more than a good chance at beating his career best of 17 set the season prior. Yet he wasn't the top performer of the night. Tuukka Rask stopped 41 shots en route to a shutout, and his first win of the season.

For good chunks of this game, the Panthers were just a bit better than the Bruins. The Panthers also had 10 minutes worth of Power Play time. Tuukka kept the game even, then kept it at 1-0 for about 30 minutes, waiting for Lucic to explode.



The big difference for Lucic this season has been his skating. He's moving around, getting to pucks, crashing the net. That's how he scored all 3 of his goals (it was a "natural hat-trick" by the way, which means he scored all three in a row, uninterrupted by another player's scoring), by getting himself in position to make plays.

He's also developed a nice in-stride shot. His goals are rarely pretty, but they're never ugly. Being with a guy like Nathan Horton seems to help too. He had an assist on all three of Lucic's goals.

Lucic stands at +12, with 10 goals, and 7 assists. He's only amassed 18 penalty minutes, but that's because he's using his strength to make productive plays, not to send messages. Shawn Thornton can do that quite well.



The Bruins have won 3 straight, but they've hardly faced world-class opposition. Florida have the 5th worst record in the NHL, and the Devils are 3rd worst. The Rangers are tied for 15th in the League.

But wins are wins, hat-tricks are hat-tricks, and shutouts are shutouts. The LA Kings (5th best record) come to town Saturday night.

Photo Credits:
AP Photo

LET BELTRE GO, BUT KEEP VICTOR

There are rumors that Adrian Beltre has been offered a 5 year deal by the Oakland Athletics worth $64 million. The Sox would be fools to match this. Beltre is only 31, but his career is an up and down roller coaster of inconsistency. And he's known for having a big year when his contract is up, only to fall off the next season.

Victor Martinez turns 32 in a few weeks, and he plays a more physically demanding position than Beltre, and he doesn't play it very well. His 2010 campaign wasn't as productive as Beltre's, but it's just one year in a steady stream of consistent performances. He'll hit .280 to .300, with an OBP between .340 and .380, and slug between .460 and .500. Because of this offensive reliability, Victor Martinez is worth a 5 year deal.

Martinez will not catch forever, and should be moved to 1B and/or DH. But he can catch for a year until Ortiz's contract runs out, then move to DH. He's a better hitter when not catching anyway. In the meantime, the Sox can find a more permanent solution to their catching situation.

And that's the other big difference between Beltre and Martinez. The Sox can lose Beltre, then trade for or sign another good corner infielder to replace his production. That's not going to happen very easily at catcher.

Beltre's not worth any deal longer than 3 years. Victor Martinez, due to his consistency, and the immediate lack of depth at his position, is.

TIMMY > HENRY

This was one of the more boring games of the season. Both the Bruins and Rangers play very defensive styles. "Positional," was the word that best describes it. And if not for breakaway goals from Seguin and Recchi, this game goes the other way. Also, without another Vezinian performance from Tim Thomas, this game goes the other way.

I don't like how Julien is playing Seguin. Lining him with Paille and Thornton is a misuse of talent. Give him two or three shifts with Lucic and Horton. I'd also love to see Seguin and Recchi on the same line. The Bruins are without centers, and it's a good opportunity to move Seguin around as he learns how to be an NHL center. Don't put him on a line with Paille (45 career goals) and Thornton (18 career goals).

I also didn't like how the Bruins played when they went up 3-1. The Rangers became more aggressive on the forecheck, and once again, this baffled the Bruins. Eventually, the turnovers turned into a goal.

The Bruins' Power-Play is now 2 for 19 since Krejci left the lineup. As much as that demonstrates Krejci's cleverness, it also shows a severe lack of offensive talent and wherewithal on this team. Role-players like Jordan Caron and Daniel Paille and even Patrice Bergeron are supposed to be the complimentary pieces to the puzzle, not the core components.

Bruins host the Panthers tonight.

Photo Credit:
AP Photo