VINTAGE 2007

Did it feel like 2007 yesterday at Gillette Stadium? Wes Welker catching 13 passes, Randy Moss hauling in 3 scores. The defense taking advantage of a one dimensional opposing offense. It was a nice bit of '07 that was replayed in Foxborough yesterday afternoon.

I'm not going to go nuts over a win against the strictly mediocre Jaguars. But the Patriots looked 100 times better Sunday than they did in Buffalo. Drives were finished (so long as Maroney wasn't the closer), and points were scored. This makes the defense's job much easier.

The Patriots clinched the AFC East title. It doesn't seem like a big deal anymore, as this is the 7th time in 9 years that the Pats have won the division. Ho hum, right? Well, the Patriots had 5 total divisional titles BEFORE 2001. And 7 since. This is the dawning of the age of Aquarius.

Wes Welker's 13 receptions helped extend his franchise record to 122 receptions. He won't break Marvin Harrison's single-season record of 145, but 122 catches in only 13 games played is nothing short of inhuman.



Randy Moss supporters can rally this week, and point to another brilliant performance. But to me, his outstanding work only proves that he occasionally quits on his team. With the Patriots, at least, he's able to reapply himself. And that's excellent. But his great games only help demonstrate his major flaws.



The Pats are currently the #3 seed in the AFC, and would host the 8-7 Ravens in the Wild Card round. But Baltimore is tied with a total of five (5) teams at 8-7. It's a traffic-jam for the Wild Card spot.

Patriots @ Houston (one of those 8-7 teams) next week.

Source:
ESPN

Photo Credits:
AP Photo

NO PIERCE? NO PROBLEM?

Without Paul Pierce, and on the road (at Christmas), the Boston Celtics took on and defeated the Orlando Magic 86-77.

Rajon Rondo nearly had a triple-double, with 17 points, 13 rebounds, and 8 assists. Tony Allen filled in more than adequately for Pierce, contributing 16. Ray Allen had 18. Garnett had 10, Rasheed 11 off the bench.

The Celtics' defense held Orlando to 77. The 2nd quarter was sheer dominance, as the C's won the period by a 20-8 margin. The Magic average 101.2 points per game. Not surprisingly, the Celtics have the best team defense in the NBA, allowing an average of 92.0 per game.

They're now 1-1 against Orlando, 1-0 against Cleveland, and have the best record in the Eastern Conference by 1 game.

More good news, KG isn't expected to miss any time after taking a nasty tumble in the 4th.

Celtics @ Golden State late night tonight.

Sources:
ESPN
Boston Globe

Photo Credit:
AP Photo/Phelan M. Ebenhack

ONCE AGAIN, THE BRUINS STRUGGLE WITH A 3 GOAL LEAD

It's happened so many times the last two years. The Bruins go up by 3 goals, and THEN my worrying starts. Why? Because this might be one of the worst 3-goal-lead teams in hockey history.

A 6-4 win, and you expect some back and forth. But the Bruins never trailed in this game, and led the game for 40:16 straight. Then you look at a guy like Patrice Bergeron, who had a goal and 2 assists, yet was -1.

Atlanta has some offensive talent, but when you go up 3-0 in 68 seconds in the mid-1st, the game should be a laugher. There's no such thing as prevent hockey, but you can play a high percentage, low risk game. Or you can choose to be more aggressive. A 3 goal cushion gives you this allowance.

The Bruins get 3 goal leads then seem to want to run out the clock. That is impossible in hockey. It takes 1 second to score. Everyone who saw D3: The Mighty Ducks knows that all too well.



It was nice to see the Bruins turn things back on, and re-extend their lead from 3-2 to 5-2. But it only allowed them to once again make things too close.

Wins are nice, and they're what the Bruins need to get to the next level, but they also need to mature and play a full 60 minutes of hockey, even if they go up 3 goals.

Bruins @ Panthers Sunday evening (5pm). Florida right now is tied for 8th in the Eastern Conference.

Source:
ESPN

Photo Credit:
AP Photo/Michael Dwyer

COLLEGE BOWL PICKS/PREVIEWS: PART III

Picks and previews for this weekend's bowl games.

Saturday 12/26 - 1:00PM - ESPN
Little Caesars Bowl - Detroit, MI
Marshall Thundering Herd vs. Ohio Bobcats
Marshall was 4-4 in the C-USA. That doesn't bode well for them here. U-Ohio is about 100 miles closer to Detroit than Marshall is, so not much edge there. But I'll give the MAC runners-up credit enough to beat a poor C-USA side. Ohio wins here.



Saturday 12/26 - 4:30PM - ESPN
Meineke Car Care Bowl - Charlotte, NC
#17 Pitt Panthers vs. UNC Tar Heels
The ACC needs to prove something in their bowl games. They can start right here. Pittsburgh was extremely close to a BCS bid, but I think they'll react more despondently, rather than playing hard with something to prove. UNC wins what is essentially a home game.



Saturday 12/26 - 8:00PM - ESPN
Emerald Bowl - San Francisco, CA
BC Eagles vs. #24 USC Trojans
Excited yet? I am. And I know BC will lose. USC is extremely talented, just poorly coached and inexperienced. BC struggled on the road, and this will essentially be a USC home game. I remember going to Monterey, California a year ago, a mere 120 miles from San Fran, and there are USC fans, bumper stickers, flags, banners, shirts, jerseys everywhere. BC will lose, but it's nice to be seen.



Sunday 12/27 - 8:30PM - ESPN
Music City Bowl - Nashville, TN
Kentucky Wildcats vs. Clemson Tigers
It's a relatively short 3 and a half hour drive from Lexington to Nashville, so this is close to a home game for UK. They've been here before, and will be here again. Their best win was against Auburn, but they also lost to the likes of Mississippi State. Clemson has CJ Spiller, who was screwed out of a Heisman nomination. Clemson will avenge their loss to the SEC's Gamecocks and take care of the Wildcats.



More previews on Monday. Merry Christmas!!!

BRODEUR REGISTERS 104TH SHUTOUT

This blog rarely salutes the players on teams west of I-91, and particularly avoids honoring anyone that plays for teams in the Tri-State Area. But Martin Brodeur is good enough to surpass all that sectionalism.

He stopped all 35 shots in Pittsburgh last night, propelling the Devils to a 4-0 victory. It was 104th career shutout, which puts him on top of the all-time leaderboard, passing Terry Sawchuck.

I've been fortunate enough to see Brodeur play a few times, most recently in November. It's fun watching him play. He positions himself so well for the upcoming play, he makes most saves look easy. But he also makes the twisting contortionist stops.



Then there's his ability to handle the puck. He has 33 career assists, and 1 goal.



Everytime I talk about Brodeur, I feel like I have to list his major accomplishments. so here they are:

Most all-time wins (580)
Most shutouts (104)
8th best GAA all-time, best active (2.20)
3rd most saves all-time, most active (23,748)
9 time All-Star
93-94 Calder Trophy (rookie of the year)
4 time Jennings Trophy winner (lowest GAA)
4 time Vezina Trophy winner (best goalie)
3 time Stanley Cup winner
2002 Olympic Gold Medal (5 games, 4-0-1 record, 1.80 GAA)

YANKEES STUFFING THEIR STOCKINGS

The Yankees have completed their trade for Javier Vazquez today. Vazquez was 15-10 with a 2.87 ERA for the Braves last year. After struggling with the Yankees in '04, Vazquez has won 62 games in 5 seasons elsewhere.

It's not earth-shattering news, but it does give the Yankees rotation something it lacked: depth. Vazquez fits nicely as a #4 starter for them, which they literally did not have last year.



Red Sox Nation is about to panic. After New York won it all, we as fans were desperate to close the void with the Yankees. But that talent gap has merely widened.

The Sox have added John Lackey, giving their own rotation depth, but they missed out on Halladay, and left-field is still a looming question mark. The Sox made a sideways kind of deal (not an upgrade or downgrade), replacing Alex Gonzalez with Marco Scutaro at short-stop. The Sox line-up, as of now, looks like this:

1. CF Ellsbury
2. 2B Pedroia
3. C Martinez (who hits better as a 1B)
4. 1B Youkilis
5. DH Ortiz (hit .238 last year)
6. 3B Lowell (coming off surgery)
7. RF Drew (we all know the on-and-off love affair he has with the DL)
8. SS Scutaro
9. LF Mike Cameron

Not exactly murderer's row. Parts of it are more like Send in the Clowns.

Meanwhile, the World Champion Yankees have added Granderson and Vazquez.

This is what Theo meant by a "Bridge Season." It's going to be a long, cold off-season, Sox fans.



Sources:
Bloomberg
ESPN
Baseball-Reference.com

HOW HARD IS IT TO RECRUIT AT USC?

Imagine being the head coach of USC football, and traveling the country to recruit athletes. How do you mess that up?

You go to Ohio and tell some kid that it never gets colder than 50 degrees.

You go to Texas and tell some kid that USC is on national TV almost every week.

You go to Florida and tell some kid that USC goes to BCS Bowls, and Trojans go on to the NFL.

You go to northern California and tell some kid that USC is the 2nd biggest sports team in LA, behind only the Lakers.

You go to New Jersey and tell some kid that he'll have classmates like this:



With all this incentive to attend USC, why do the Trojans need to bend and break the rules?

USC's Joe McKnight, who rushed for 1,014 yards on 164 attempts, hasn't made the trip up to San Francisco with his team. He was spotted driving an expensive SUV, which he claims belongs to his girlfriend, but the lease is owned by an LA businessman. This is what's known as a "friend of the program."

I think every major program in the country has "anomalies" like this. It's next to impossible to completely police this kind of stuff. And this certainly doesn't seem to be sanctioned by USC itself. But still, it's so easy to recruit guys to go there, it's funny that they also need loaner SUVs too.

TIMMY!!!

Tim Thomas has 8 wins this season. And 4 shutouts. That speaks to how good he's been, and how inconsistent the Bruins have been for him. Ryan Miller and Ilya Bryzgalov are the only other goalies in the NHL with 4 shutouts. Miller has 20 wins, Bryzgalov has 19. Tim Thomas has 8. Can you say statistical anomaly?



Timmy got some help in this one. Boychuck gets an assist on this shutout. Wideman returned and had a very good outing. And scoring 2 goals was the biggest help of all.

The Bruins didn't commit any stupid penalties and leave themselves shorthanded. It wasn't until 18:31 into the 3rd that the Bruins committed any penalty at all, and it was part of double-matching-minors. Yesterday, I stressed how much silly penalties can handicap an offense. I'm glad the Bruins were listening.

It was nice to see some variety between the Bruins' goals. Bergeron got his off a rebound, which came about due to a strong forecheck. Sturm got his on a breakaway, keyed by Chara and Savard.

Bergeron and Sturm, who combined for 15 goals last season, have already amassed 19 between them. Sturm's 10 lead the team, and Bergeron's 9 are 2nd best. I know the offense has struggled, and some might argue that Phil Kessel is sorely missed, but the scoring from these two guys have helped fill the offensive void left by Kessel.

It was a big road win against a key divisional opponent, and the Bruins are now 3-0 against Ottawa. 3 points from this 3 game trip is a decent result.

The Bruins engage the Southern Division for a few games, hosting Atlanta on Wednesday, then travelling to play the Panthers and Lightning, then back up to Boston to once again host Atlanta.

Source:
ESPN

Photo Credit:
AP Photo/The Canadian Press, Sean Kilpatrick