KRAMER BEATS BRUINS

Mike Richards' OT goal ended what was one of the most entertaining hockey games you'll get this side of the postseason. I was glad to see the Bruins pick up their energy levels, compared to their display against the Islanders last week. Some things did bug the hell out of me, though.

Look, this team will struggle to score goals. I've come to terms with that and so should you. They'll flat-out miss open nets, they'll bobble passes, they'll air on shots. I'm fine with that. It's not fun, but these guys are who they are.

However, when struggling offensive players like Ryder and Wheeler continually make negative defensive plays, I feel like throwing up in my mouth. These two made some horrendous plays with the puck all night. In a few short seconds, Ryder turned the puck over twice in the neutral zone (Savard got it back for him so he could lose it again), which eventually led to Philadelphia's 1st goal. And if not for Thomas, Wheeler would have been responsible for more permanent damage, too.

Savard also played his part in both Philly goals. He got a bit too aggressive hunting the puck after Ryder lost it, which allowed a Philly 2-on-2 rush to turn into a 3-on-2, and a goal. Savard also made a no-look backpass to nobody, thinking Seidenberg had cycled over to his side of the ice. This led to Richards' rush, which turned into a 3-on-1, and a goal.

But with Savard, you can attribute these mistakes to rust. And he's also going to contribute to the offense at some point. Ryder and Wheeler? They can't afford to make big mistakes. Rather, the Bruins can't afford to have them make big mistakes.

So the Bruins lost, but they did get a point from a high quality Philadelphia team. They showed some good fight, skated well, and for the most part played a good defensive game.

Oh, and how dirty are the Flyers?



They're not tough when they do stuff like that, they're cowardly. Turn your back and they hit you, legal or not. They play prison shower hockey. Thankfully, McQuaid returned to the game and seemed unhurt.

Bruins at Sabres Thursday night.

Photo Credit:
AP Photo

THE NIGHT CHICAGO DIED

I was wrong about the Bears and the weather being something to worry about. The Patriots seemed to thrive in the snow, while the Bears wallowed in it. The Pats became the first team in the NFL to clinch a playoff berth, and took huge strides toward winning the AFC East.

Since halftime on Thanksgiving, the Patriots have outscored their opponents 116-17. That's simply staggering.

Last night, Brady had a few tipped passes that could have been intercepted, and a few field goals could have easily been touchdown drives. But I'm nit-picking. You just have to sit back and say that over the last 10 quarters, the Patriots have played amazing football.



Brady threw for a season high 369 yards, in the snow, in the wind.

Wes Welker is back to 100%. We were all worried that without Moss, he'd struggle. His 8 receptions for 115 yards disputes that notion. He's caught 36 passes in the last 5 games, and is back to being a favorite target of Brady.

Branch is the other favorite target. He also had 8 catches, for 151 yards and a TD. He's caught 4 TD passes in the last 3 games.



The most important thing the Patriots did last night was protect the football. 35 rushing carries, 27 receptions, 3 returns, and 0 fumbles. In weather like that, it's very impressive. BJG Ellis hasn't fumbled in his NFL career. Nor did he fumble in college. I can't find his high school stats, but I doubt he was a fumbling machine back in St. Augustine HS (New Orleans).



On defense, the Pats were all over the Bears. They held them to 185 total yards, and only 47 on the ground. They hauled in two picks, and recovered two fumbles. The Bears were only 3/8 on 3rd downs, so even when Chicago held onto the ball, they struggled to move it. The defense was a big reason why the Patriots dominated time of possession 39:41 to 20:19. That's essentially 2 to 1.



The Bears are fraudulent. The Patriots are currently the best team in the NFL. With the Jets getting "tripped up" by Miami, they now have a stranglehold on the division. They can clinch the AFC East, as well as a 1st round bye, with a win, and a Jet loss next week.

The Packers come to town on Sunday night, possibly without Aaron Rodgers. Though Green Bay does have the #1 scoring defense in the League, and the weather may once again be dicey.

Photo Credits:
AP Photo

WHY I'M WORRIED ABOUT THE PATS/BEARS GAME

"Worried" might be too strong a word. But I'm not brushing this game off, as most people seem to be doing. The Bears are 9-3. The past few weeks, Jay Cutler has played within himself and his abilities. Their defense has allowed the 3rd fewest points in the NFL. They have the 2nd best run defense, and a decent pass defense.

They're not a stunning team, but they're solid. They're no pushovers, they're no "frauds" as some have claimed.

Plus the game is in Chicago. And the weather there Sunday evening will be quite bad. Temperatures below 20 degrees, snowy, windy. We've seen Brady excel in those conditions, but with that weather, anything can happen to the football.

The Patriots are 2nd in turnover differential. And since 2001, they're 79-3 when they win the turnover battle. In other words, protecting the football is of paramount importance to the Patriots.

So I think the Patriots will win, of course, but I don't think the Bears are "frauds" that will be "exposed" on Sunday. They're a solid team, and they've won 9 games for a reason.

BRUINS BEAT WORST TEAM IN NHL

Normally, I'd criticize the Bruins for not utterly destroying a team as bad as the Islanders. Let's be honest, though. You don't need 100% effort or execution to beat that team. They're just awful, and actually kind of sad to watch. Thankfully, the Bruins beat them.

Milan Lucic scored his 14th and 15th goals in this game. Like pretty much all of his goals this season, they were hardly highlight reel snipes. But I like what he's been doing. He seems to have learned how to be a better player from his teammates. His puck-handling is better, perhaps learning from Krejci. His defensive play is better, thank you very much Mr. Bergeron. And like Mark Recchi, he now has an instinct to put himself in the right place at the right time. And that positional awareness is why he has 15 goals.

The second Bruins goal was a shorthanded score from Brad Marchand, his 4th, and 3rd shorty of the year. He's been a very nice addition to that 4th line, which plays so often in key situations, it can hardly be called a 4th line.

Andrew Ference had one of his better games of the season. His pass found Ryder in the high slot, giving the Bruins a 3-1 lead. And he also set the events leading to Marchand's goal into motion by winning a battle in the corner. He and McQuaid will need to play well the next few weeks, with Stuart out of the lineup.

It was nice to see Rask get a win. He played well, and it was refreshing to see him get his second victory of the season, even though he deserves a few more than that. And how relaxing is it to give the best goalie in the world a night off, and get to put the likes of Rask in there?

I'm calling the next 8 days Exam Week for the Bruins, because they've got some games that will test them, and allow us to gaage how good they really are. Here's what's coming up:

Saturday 12/11 - vs. Philadelphia
Wednesday 12/15 - @ Buffalo
Thursday 12/16 - @ Montreal
Saturday 12/18 - vs. Washington

There's games against the 2nd, 3rd, and 4th best records in the NHL in an 8 day stretch, along with a divisional road game squeezed in. Not easy.

Photo Credit:
AP Photo

SOX STEAL CRAWFORD

You've got to hand it to the owners of the Red Sox. They've figured this market out. They know that we, as a fanbase, are clamoring for drastic improvements to the team. They know that after a "bridge season," we wanted some big splashes.

The Sox have (reportedly) signed Carl Crawford to a 7 year deal worth $142 million. Last year, Crawford was 9th in the AL with a .307 average, and 2nd with 47 stolen bases. He won a Gold Glove and a Silver Slugger Award. He was thought by many (including myself) to be the best position player free agent out there.

As someone who has never been sold on Jacoby Ellsbury, I really love this acquisition. Crawford is a better fielder, with much better range. He's also a slightly better hitter, with a proven track-record.

Let's tone down the exuberance a bit, though. Crawford is very good. That 9th place batting average, though, comes with the 20th best OBP (.364), which was a career high. His .337 career OBP doesn't impress me much. So maybe $20+ million per year is a bit much?

Think about it. He's now the 7th highest paid player in the game. Who are the 6 guys ahead of him? Alex Rodriguez, Ryan Howard, CC Sabathia, Joe Mauer, Johan Santana, and Mark Teixeira. Those are some pretty good players. Is Crawford as good as these guys? I don't think so.

There's also a few too many lefties in the Sox lineup now. That's nit-picking, but it's a fact.

So I'm happy the Sox signed Crawford. The lineup could look like this:

1. CF Crawford
2. 2B Pedroia
3. 1B Gonzalez
4. 3B Youkilis
5. DH Ortiz
6. RF Drew
7. LF Ellsbury
8. SS Scutaro
9. C Varitek

It looks like a real lineup now. I'm still not sold on the pitching, and therefore not sold on the Sox. But maybe the offense is getting good enough that the pitching can stink in a few regular season games, and the team will still win. Emphasis on "regular season," because games like that are exceedingly rare in the playoffs.

RECCHING CREW

While watching the 3rd period, when the Bruins were trailing 2-1, I was going to mention in my recap how Mark Recchi hasn't done much for the offense this year. And how that entire line of Recchi-Bergeron-Wheeler was comprised of non-scorers. And just like every other time I've dared to doubt Recchi, he reminds us that senior citizens, although slow and dangerous behind the wheel, can still serve a purpose.

Recchi's tip-in goal was the culmination of a well-executed comeback. A comeback that was sparked by a Buffalo turnover of Favre-ish proportions which gave Horton a gift goal, and a comeback made possible by Tim Thomas, who also got a one-punch TKO on Patrick Kaleta.



Thomas caught the charging Kaleta flush with a left jab. He also made 28 Saves, including a ridiculous poke-check in the OT that allowed the game to continue.

Nathan Horton has returned as a goal scoring threat. He's scored twice in the last 2 games, and has 4 points in the last 3. At the start of the season, his quick release, and his best-on-the-team accuracy helped propel the Bruins to an 11-5-1 (8 goals, 10 assists in that period) record. And since his drought began on November 20th, the Bruins went 3-3-2 (1 goal, 1 assist for Horton).

Thursday night, the Bruins host the Islanders, who a firm grip on the NHL's worst record, so hopefully the B's can take advantage. Because after that, there's a tough stretch of games.

Photo Credits:
AP Photo

PATRIOTS CRUCIFY JETS

It's very difficult to beat the Patriots in Foxborough. It's very difficult to beat them twice in a year. And it's very difficult to beat them as well as they've been playing. Since that farce in Cleveland, they've amassed 160 points in 4 games.

I'll be honest, I didn't see much of the game, as I was very busy doing security at the Stadium. But I could tell from the crowd's reactions, from the glimpses of play I caught, from the box score, and from the play-by-play, that this was utter domination.

The Patriots are the best team in the AFC East. And if power rankings mattered, I'd lobby for them to be #1 in the NFL.

The last time these teams met, the game featured Tom Brady forcing the ball to Randy Moss. Mistakes, miscues, complete failures. That didn't happen last night. The Patriots have a diverse arsenal of weapons, and they're finally using them. Their offense without Moss is much more difficult to stop. It's unpredictable. Only 11 of Brady's 21 completions were to WRs.

How can you defend against a passing attack that can go in any direction, directed by Tom Brady? He's going to find an open man somewhere.

And now the defense is making big plays. This is really starting to come together.

But it's a long season left. The Patriots have to travel to Chicago and play the 9-3 Bears. Don't dismiss Chicago. 9-3 is 9-3 is 9-3. But it'll be a fun week, and what noise, if any, does come from the Meadowlands, will be quite enjoyable.

Photo Credit:
AP Photo

BC TO PLAY IN SAN FRANCISCO

Once again, BC will make the trip to San Francisco, this time to play in the Kraft Fight Hunger Bowl. They'll once again face a quality opponent, this time in #15 Nevada. The Wolfpack are 12-1, their only loss coming at Hawaii. They were the ones who beat Boise State.

Oh, and San Francisco is about 220 miles from Reno. So, don't expect BC to be the favorites in this once. Then again, I think the Eagles' defense might prevent utter humiliation. And if BC do somehow find a way to win, it'll be a nice cap to a forgettable season. Though, that's wishful thinking.

BC football has gotten to the point that they're expected to make bowl games, even when having off years. That's good. But they've been stuck in this rut, cycling through the same low-level ACC affiliated bowls, for some time now. Can the program move forward, and contend for those higher games, like the Chick-fil-A and Champs Sports Bowl?

I doubt it, at least in the foreseeable future. And down the road in Storrs, the UConn Huskies are going to a BCS Bowl. They won the big game at the end of the year, which BC has failed to do in years past. And winners get the glory.

The game will be played in the Giants' homefield of AT&T Park on January 9, at 9.