MATSUZAKA, TESTAVERDE, PROSPECTS, HANLEY RAMIREZ

The Sox bid to negotiate with Matsuzaka was $51.1 million. A large amount, nearly $10 million over the next highest bidder, the New York Yankees. A large amount, but certainly recoverable if we expand The Nation to Japan.

The Patriots signed 43 year old Heisman winner Vinny Testaverde the other day. The Pats had been going with 2 quarterbacks as opposed to the normal 3 with Troy Brown as an emergency 3rd option. This probably is not an indictment on the play of Tom Brady. The Patriots report no health problem with him or backup Matt Cassell. Vinny will be 3rd on the QB depth chart so Cassell will not be behind his 4th Heisman winning QB on a depth chart (the other 3 are Matt Leinart, Carson Palmer, and Doug Flutie).

The Patriots released their injury report for their upcoming game at Green Bay. S Rodney Harrison is out. Cornerback Asante Samuel and DB Eugene Wilson are questionable. Daniel Graham, Richard Seymour, Ty Warren, Stephen Neal, and Ellis Hobbs are questionable. For what seems to be the 50th game in a row, Brady was listed as probably with a shoulder injury.

At Gillette Stadium, the removal of grass has begun. It will be replaced by field turf by the game against Chicago on the 26th. The much maligned field in Foxborough was the focus of NFL reviews for several years, and became a hot topic in the Boston sports media after players were seen stumbling and slipping on what is essentially dirt/mud painted green.

Despite the departure of Anibel Sanchez, Hanley Ramirez, and Andy Marte last season, there is no need to worry too much about the Red Sox farm system or the products it will soon be giving to the big club in Boston. The Red Sox 2006 draft by many to be the best in baseball. The Sox farm system fared very well, with AA Portland winning the Eastern League Championship, and the Rookie level GCL Red Sox claiming the best record in the league as well as the championship.

In minor league news, the Red Sox will be moving their Advanced A development from Wilmington in the Carolina League to Lancaster in the California League. Lancaster, CA is about 70 miles north of LA so really bored Sox fans in Southern California can go watch some of the team's future prospects.

In 2007, the Red Sox will have a great deal of talent in AAA Pawtucket and AA Portland that will be close to breaking into the Majors, or will be by the time late-season call ups come by. Delcarmen, and Hansen obviously need a little bit of polishing before being considered truly dependable MLB relievers, but they definitely show the signs of talent needed to do the job. Dustin Pedroia could get a chance to play with the Sox in the infield, depending on what off-season moves we make.

Right now the prospect to watch is Jacob Ellsbury. He'll probably start 2007 in Portland. He was drafted in 2005 and plays center-field. In Advanced A Wilmington he hit .299 last year, and hit .308 in AA Portland when he was promoted. He's been compared to Johnny Damon with speed and defensive prowess. He doesn't have much power, but he gets on base. He had a .387 OBP with the Sea Dogs last year.

Speaking of Sox prospects. Anyone in Red Sox Nation that bitches about Hanley Ramirez should probably be slapped. When we traded him, along with Anibel Sanchez, to Florida for Mike Lowell and Josh Beckett, most fans were all for it. After one year, fans are now criticizing Theo and the Sox for a move that they praised. It doesn't work that way.

Furthermore, it's been one friggin' season!!! Yes, Hanley won NL Rookie of the Year, yes he had a good year, yes our short-stop was an offensive black hole, but it's been one year! He had a solid year and won a nice award. Will that continue? I don't know. But let's not react like we traded the next Babe Ruth here.

MATSUZAKA!!!!!

The Boston Red Sox have acquired exclusive negotiating rights for Japanese pitcher Daisuke Matsuzaka. The fee for these rights is still undisclosed, but is rumored to be in the neighborhood of between $42 million and $50 million. The fee will not be paid if the Red Sox and Matsuzaka fail to come to a deal. Any deal for him would probably be around 4 years and $50 million.

Is this wise?

Yes.

Spending $100 million on an individual player is a lot, but this player is different. Not only is he a young potential Ace pitcher, he adds marketability to the Red Sox in Japan. The $50 million negotiating fee could easily be paid for and then some within a few years if the Sox are able to expand their brand sufficiently in Japan.

There is some speculation that this is a ploy by the Red Sox, bidding a massive amount of money in order to prevent other teams from signing Matsuzaka. This is highly doubtful. However, I'm sure part of the Red Sox thought process included the fact that if a deal cannot be struck with the pitcher, the $50 million fee is waived and nobody else will get Matsuzaka for at least a year.

By posting the winning bid, the Sox will also placate millions of disappointed fans who were upset at the Red Sox for collapsing last season. Players stopped playing, some seemed to stop trying, and the team made no deals at the deadline. Spending $50 million to talk with Matsuzaka and agent Scott Boras will alleviate fan's concerns that the team isn't trying hard enough to win.

MATSUZAKA SWEEPSTAKES

The most publicized and sought after free agent pitcher this year is Daisuke Matsuzaka. Teams have already sent their bids to Major League Baseball, which will forward the top bid to the Seibu Lions for the rights to negotiate with Matsuzaka and agent Scott Boras. The Lions can then agree to decline or accept the bid. The winning bid will be announced on Tuesday, and that team will have 30 days with which to negotiate a contract with the Japanese pitcher. If no deal is made, he will return to the Seibu Lions next season.

The teams most interested are said to be the Cubs, Yankees, Red Sox, Rangers, and Mets. All of these teams want/need pitching, and all have deep pockets. There are some reports that the Angels also submitted a bid.

The two conflicting reports traversing the internet are that the Rangers placed the top bid, and that the Red Sox placed the top bid. According to the rumor mills around the world wide web, the Sox bid is said to be in the $45 million neighborhood.

This sounds ludicrously high, but it would be a fair price to pay considering that money could very well be coming back in additional revenues from the Japanese market. Also, if we can't come to a deal with Matsuzaka, the fee will be returned to the Sox. No muss, no fuss.

KEITH FOULKES OFF
The Red Sox and former closer Keith Foulke, who recorded the final out of the 2004 World Series, have officially parted ways. The Red Sox, for some reason, offered to renew Foulke's $3.75 million option, but Foulke opted out. According to Foulke's agent, the pitcher wants to spend more time closer to home, which is in Arizona.

For all the BS that when on between Foulke and a lot of the fans here in Red Sox Nation, we cannot forget that he was one of the biggest reasons why we were able to win the World Series in 2004.

In the '04 playoffs, he had 3 saves, and a win. He allowed 1 earned run in 14 innings pitched. He threw in all 4 World Series games.

But it was time to move on. In the past two years he's been plagued by injuries and difficulty to recover from them. We needed a better option out of the bullpen.

Foulke is the 41st member of the 2004 Red Sox to leave the team. Two of them returned (Kapler and Mirabelli). Nevertheless, the historic World Series winning Red Sox team has been completely disbursed across the baseball world. Only 11 members of that team are still with the Sox, with the futures of Trot Nixon, Gabe Kapler, Doug Mirabelli, and Manny Ramirez up in the air.

JD DREW A POSSIBLE REPLACEMENT FOR CT NIXON
With JD Drew opting out of his final three years with the Dodgers, he's become a very viable option to play right field for the Red Sox next season. The soon to be 31 year old lefty hit .283 for LA last year, along with 20 homers and 100 RBI. His OBP was .393, but he did strike out 106 times.

He could be a solid hitter for us next season with emphasis on could. Drew is a guy who was very highly touted when he first came up with St. Louis, but he never exploded into the superstar many believed he would be. All in all, he has been very solid over his career, but he's struggled with consistency. His average fluctuates from as low as .252 in 2002 to as high as .323 in 2001. He hit 31 homers in 2004, but he is usually in the high teens, low twenties in homeruns. His post-season stats are also less than remarkable.

He's a slightly above average hitter who seems to have never hit his potential. In other words, he's Trot Nixon. This means he could be a good replacement for Trot, but it'd be nice if the Sox tried to upgrade this position considering the lack of total offense we had in 2006. Also, he's not going to be cheap. He turned down an option that guaranteed him $33 million over 3 years. What do you think he'll be asking for in free agency?

We spent $7.5 million on Trot last year and the now consistently injury ridden Nixon didn't give us much production when he was playing. Of course "he was a Dirt Dog," "he was tough," "he had that football mentality," and all that other meaningless, moronic crap that some sports fans seem to like more than contributing to victory. JD Drew could also be tough, and a "gamer," but he'll be an expensive one. Essentially, we'd be increasing the amount of money we spend on right field, which we were already overpaying for, for someone to probably give us similar production. That just doesn't make sense, especially considering how much we lacked in offensive production last year.

RANDOM STUFF
Both Manny Ramirez and David Ortiz won Silver Slugger Awards. It is Manny's 9th Silver Slugger Award, and David Ortiz's 3rd. The Silver Slugger goes to the best hitter at each position.
The Red Sox have released the full 2007 Spring Training Schedule. It can be seen Here.

The Sox will play 34 total games, 32 in the Grapefruit League, 1 against Boston College, and 1 against Northeastern. They will have 17 home games (including March 12th against the Yankees), 15 games played elsewhere in Florida, and 2 games played at Citizens Bank Park in Philadelphia to end Spring Training. Thankfully, there will be no players missing time with the team due to International duty.

The Red Sox also released a tentative schedule for the 2007 regular season. It can be seen here. The Sox start the season off in Kansas City on April 2, have their home opener on April 10th against Seattle, have their first divisional game at Toronto on April 17th, and play the Yankees for the first time on April 20th in Fenway. For interleague play, the Sox will visit Arizona, Atlanta, and San Diego. They'll host San Francisco and Colorado.

WE'RE NOW 1 GAME AHEAD IN THE AFC EAST

What a Godawful shitty game played by the New England Patriots. It used to be that after we lost a game, we'd kill the next team on the schedule. Instead, this team looked demoralized, and beaten before they even took the field.

When you put up over 300 yards of offense, you think that your team would score more than 1 touchdown and 14 points. But the Patriots offense was start and sputter all day long.

It started on the first drive. The Pats drove into Jets territory, but failed to get 1st downs and were forced to punt.

After a 3 and out, the Pats had control of the field position battle. Hochstein was called for holding then the Pats failed to convert on 3rd and 13. After the punt, the Jets drove into our territory and took control of the field position.

We then drove all the way down to the 4, thanks in large part to a 50 yard run from Dillon, his longest since 2002. We could even get a first down without getting a touchdown. Maroney was then stuffed for a loss of 1, and Brady was sacked for a loss of 8. The Pats were forced to settle for 3.

Before last week's game against Indy, we had been a really proficient red zone team. We had one of the best scoring and touchdown percentages in the NFL. Lately, we've been folding in the red zone and that is a sure fire way to lose football games.

On the first play of the jets ensuing drive, Artrell Hawkins picked the ball off. Things seemed to be going very well for the Pats. Up 3-0 with the ball back at their 44, we had a chance to start running away with the game. Brady hit Caldwell for 10. Then he hit Gabriel for 22 which got the ball to the Jets 24, then Gabriel fumbled. This was the same type of crap we saw last week. We'd get a huge opportunity on a turnover or a defensive stop, then give the ball right back.

The Jets capitalized on their opportunity with a long, well-orchestrated drive that reminded me of the 2001 Patriots. 16 plays, over 9 minutes of possession, and it ended in a touchdown. After the Pennington interception, the Jets had a good chance to go up at least 6-0 or maybe even 10-0. Instead, they turned over the ball, allowed a long drive and fell behind 7-3.

The Patriots benefited immensely on their next drive from an unnecessary roughness penalty that negated a Brady interception that was really a very poorly thrown ball. They moved the ball all the way down to the Jets 11, but fell a yard short of getting a 1st down and were forced to kick a field goal from the 3 yard line. Nice to get points before the half ends, but if you get the ball to the 11, you have to punch it into the end zone. Still, we were only down 1 point.

In the 2nd half, the Pats allowed yet another massive kickoff return, this one a 62 yarder that gave the jets the ball at our 38. The Jets weren't able to do much, but were able to pooch punt the ball and down it at our 4.

We were able to get the ball out of our own red zone and punt to the jets 25, which is a good result for a drive that starts on your own 4. The jets had another methodical, short passing, short running drive and were able to kick a field goal to go up 10-6.

The Pats had a 26 yard pass play on the ensuing drive negated by a formation penalty on Caldwell. They were able to get the ball to the Jets 32, but after an incomplete and back-to-back sacks, they were forced to punt, and it went into the end zone.

We can't afford to allow sacks. We usually don't allow too many. But in this game, we allowed 4 and that's just inexcusable. We went from close to field goal range to a difficult punt in two plays.

We forced the Jets to punt and got the ball back on the 20. Dillon ran for 13, then for 2. On 2nd and 8, Brady threw a shitty pass that was picked off by the Jets. We're not used to seeing this from Brady, but he's thrown some really dumb passes this season. He almost seems to be trying to force completions, which just isn't good whatsoever. This was a monstrous pick, too. We gave the Jets an opportunity to go up by a touchdown with a field goal, to go up by 2 scores with a touchdown with minimal time left in the 4th quarter.

The Jets, of course, scored a touchdown. There was now 4:45 left and the Patriots needed a miraculous two scores.

Thanks to a 36 yard kickoff return from Maroney, the Pats had good field position. He hit Gaffney for 33 yards, then Brown for 15, then Caldwell for 15 and a touchdown. 4 plays, 61 yards, 0:31 off the clock. Nearly a perfect drive.

We were forced to try for 2 and we got it as Brady hit Caldwell.

The Pats defense needed to come up with some sort of stand. There was 4:03 on the clock and we still needed a field goal to tie. But the defense didn't come up with a stop soon enough. We had to burn through timeouts and got the ball in poor field position with only 1:08 on the clock.

For some reason, we didn't spike the ball until there was only 0:10 on the clock. We moved the ball down the field nicely and quickly, but we didn't stop the frigging clock. We got down to the Jet 46 with only 0:10 on the clock. We basically could only run one play. It HAD to be about 17 yards or so, and it HAD to be near the sidelines, and it HAD to take less than 0:09. We allowed a sack and the game was over.

We only had 26 rushing attempts and were forced to throw the run out. We got down inside the Jets 10 yard line twice but only got field goals. Brady had a moronic interception that changed the game immensely. Gabriel had a huge fumble that took a lot of our momentum away. The defense struggled to force 3 and outs, and struggled to pressure Pennington. We looked extremely vulnerable to the short dump passes. We hardly ever forced the Jets into 3rd and long situations. We allowed a lot of 1st and 2nd down yardage. Those short pass plays really add up.

Meanwhile, on offense, we racked up 377 yards of total offense, but only got 1 touchdown. That's indicative of consistency problems, which we had a great deal of. 4 sacks and 2 turnovers don't help much either, and not being in charge of the field position battle also was a problem for us. It seemed like we were always facing 3rd and longs. We were forced to attempt 4th down conversions thrice. We converted all three, but good offenses don't face those situations.

First back-to-back loss since 2002, first loss to the Jets since 2002. All three of our losses have come in Gillette Stadium, which used to be a fortress for us. Last time we had more than three home losses was 2000.

We need to do a lot of work. We need to adjust the offensive game plan, big time.

PATRIOTS POINT SHAVING A BIT TOO OBVIOUS

Have you ever seen the Patriots play a game that poorly since the infamous 31-0 route in Buffalo? I don't think I have. Nevertheless, we nearly won the day. We were handed this victory over the undefeated Colts on a silver platter several times, but each time we messed it up.

The Colts did their part, too. They gave us the ball on several occasions, and even Adam Vinatieri missed a few field goals. Can I just say that I'm glad that this game didn't come down to an AV4 field goal that he made, because otherwise the reactionary, simple-minded morons in New England would instantly blame the loss on the loss of Vinatieri, instead of blaming the entire team for the loss. Thank God we won't have to suffer through that maelstrom of morons.

We had this game. We had this game at any time we wanted to take it. But we didn't. It wasn't that we couldn't, we just didn't. We didn't execute. We F'ed up and they got away.

To paraphrase Denny Green, the Colts are who we thought they were.

As upsetting as it is to lose a game you easily could have won, I'm going to be optimistic here. We lost, but if we had played just a little bit better, we would have beaten a team that is now 8-0. I don't think this game will be the only meeting between the Colts and Pats this season. And from what we all saw on Sunday night, they look very, VERY beatable.

Let's get down to the nitty gritty.

On the first drive of the game, we started off in the wrong direction. Dillon was stuffed for a loss of 2, then Caldwell was called for offensive PI. On 2nd and 21, Dillon ran for 10, then Brady hit Watson for 15 and a 1st down. Brady hit Jackson for 9, then Maroney ran for 12. It looked as though the Colts defense was already dissected and waiting for us to chop them up on the field.

After a false start, Maroney ran for 6, then Dillon for 7, then Dillon for 4 more and a 1st down. Then, something strange happened. We were at the Indy 34, we had a 1st down and we were in total control of the Colts defense. The entire playbook was open. For some reason we decided to throw deep, and into coverage. We weren't desperate enough to do that. We weren't in a position in which we needed to be that aggressive. We could have handed off to Maroney, or thrown a mid-length route for 8 to 12 yards. Nope. We decided to try and hit the end zone. Maybe Belichick wanted to keep the safeties back so the run would continue to work. That's about the only reason I can conceive of to call that play. Brady threw deep to Gabriel, but it wasn't caught by Gabriel, it was caught by the Colts. What seemed to be a sure scoring drive ended with the Colts gaining possession at their 32.

After two incompletes and a false start, the Colts were facing 3rd and 15. We put good pressure on Manning and Colvin almost got to him. But Peyton got the ball off and hit Harrisson for 44 yards and a huge 1st down. The Colts eventually put the ball in the end zone to go up 7-0.

We got the ball back but then the mysterious penalties started. Fourteen year veteran Troy Brown got a 15 yard taunting penalty. This was because.....ummmm...he said something mean to a Colts player. And we all know how sensitive those guys are. You can't touch them, or even say mean things because they are quite fragile and delicate.

Anyway, on 3rd and 20, Brady hit Gabriel for 39 yards. At the end of the 1st quarter, Brady hit Faulk on 4th and 3 for 14 yards and a massive 1st down. Dillon took two shots at the end zone and got in on the second try. 7-7 game.

The Colts got the ball back and easily drove downfield for 7 points and retook a 7 point lead.

The Patriots responded with their own struggle free touchdown drive to tie it at 14-14.

The Pats kicked off and allowed a 70 yard return. Then they committed a PI penalty and the Colts had the ball at our 7 without a single successful offensive play ran. Then we stopped Adai in the backfield for a loss of 1. Then Seau sacked Manning for a loss of 9. So now the Colts were facing 3rd and goal from their 17.

Manning attempted a pass to the end zone that was picked off by Samuel. But, the Colts receiver ran into Samuel downfield. You see, when the Colts are on the field, you can't touch them, even if they run into you. You have to let them run by you, then you can try to cover them. They need a lot of help and a lot of encouragement. In fact, if it's a jump ball, not only should the defensive back avoid making a play for the ball, he should whisper words of encouragement into the ears of the sensitive Colts receiver. They need special help and care and love. Asante Samuel should have known that by standing downfield in the perfect spot to defend against the route the receiver was running, he was being mean to the Colts. Asante should have gotten out of his way instead of allowing himself to get run into by the receiver. The ref was totally justified in throwing a penalty flag for Samuel's outlandish behavior. Imagine, a defensive back in the NFL being mean and not doing everything in his power to help the receiver catch the ball.

End of sarcasm.

The call on Samuel was BS, in my opinion. He was standing there, got run into, then made a play for the ball. Isn't that good pass coverage? The drive should have ended there with the Patriots getting the ball at the 20. Instead, the Colts got a fresh set of downs and were able to kick a field goal.

Afterwards, Brady and the offense had a chance to get some points to end the half, but that drive ended in a misguided throw into triple coverage on Ben Watson.

Here's a few reasons why you don't throw into triple coverage:
1. The pass has to be dead on perfect, a bit off in any direction is probably an INT
2. If a pass is a jump ball pass, the defense has three guys against your one, bad odds for your guy catching it, great odds of it getting picked
3. Even if you do throw a perfect pass, the receiver MUST catch it. If he bobbles it into the air, it will probably be a pick.
4. If the pass is picked, the defender already has two blockers with him and can have a big-time runback, maybe even all the way to the end zone

The Colts got the ball to start the second half. Immediately, Manning hit Harrisson for 36 yards. After Adai got 2 and Manning threw an incomplete, the Pats stopped the Colts on 3rd down. Until the refs threw a flag. They called Vrabel for illegal contact downfield. Replays showed that Vrabel glanced a Colts receiver, but within the 5 yard hit zone. Maybe the refs meant to call it on someone else. Regardless, Vrabel didn't do anything wrong, and it didn't seem as though any other Patriot did.

After a gift 1st down, Wayne fumbled. The ball sat on the ground, waiting for someone to grab it. Nobody did. It was knocked out of bounds by the Colts so they retained possession. Eventually, Vinatieri tried a field goal but missed.

So the Pats had 1st and 10 on their 27, down 17-14 with plenty of time. Then Dillon fumbled. The play was reviewed and the recovery touchdown was called back. The Colts were unable to do anything with the ball despite great field position. Colvin had a huge sack that knocked Indy out of field goal range. The fumble wasn't totally game changing, but it did run another minute off the clock, and resulted in a -16 change of field position for the Pats.

The next drive was confusing. Brady hit Brown for a nice 12 yard gain. Dillon was stuffed for a loss of 1. On 2nd and 11, the Patriots attempted a fake reverse screen. Why? Of all the plays in the playbook, why that one. Both the passing game and the running game were working for us. On 2nd and 11, we could have handed the ball off or thrown a mid-range pass to try to make it 3rd and manageable, not 3rd and long. The Colts defense was weak, but they were also very fast. They eat up plays that take time developing like screens. The fake reverse aspect of the screen was also a bit too much. I think Bellichick was trying too hard to outcoach the Colts.

The play didn't work. On 3rd and 11, Brady was flushed out of the pocket and ran for 9 yards, still shy of the 1st down marker. We punted.

The Colts scored on the next drive thanks to an amazing grab by Harrisson. Not much you could do about that play. But now it was 24-14, and the clock was ticking.

The Pats, thanks in large part to a pass interference call on Indy, were able to drive to the Colts 31 yard line. They were then stopped. Gostkowski attempted a 49 yarder and hit it to make it a 24-17 game.

On the kickoff, Artrell Hawkins made a great special teams play and stripped Wilkins during his return. The Pats got the ball on the Indy 46 and seemed to have a great deal of momentum with them.

We drove all the way to the 16, but were stopped in the red zone, something which hasn't happened much this season. Gostkowski attempted a 36 yarder but kicked it terribly wide right.

The Colts got the ball back and the 4th quarter started. Troy Brown had an absolutely stupid penalty on 3rd and 7 that gave Indy an automatic 1st down. The Colts drove all the way to the 30. Then Chad Scott picked off Manning at the 14 yard line and returned the ball all the way to near midfield.

Huge opportunity for the Patriots. Still only a 7 point game, with 13:16 on the clock. Then Brady threw a ball through the defensive line. It was tipped at the line, and a Colts defender was the one who caught it.

The Colts got the ball back and didn't really move it much with the exception of one 16 yard pass play and a stupid, yet still ticky-tacky flag on Roosevelt Colvin. Vinatieri hit the 31 yard field goal to make it a 27-17 game.

Brady hit Gabriel for 6, Faulk ran a draw up the middle for 10, Maroney ran left for 17, Brown caught a 6 yard pass, then Watson a 5 yard pass and all of a sudden the Pats were on the Indy 15. A PI penalty got them to the 10.

We ran Faulk again on 1st and goal from the 10, but were only able to get 2. I don't know why we weren't using Dillon in this situation. Brady threw incomplete to Thomas on 2nd and goal. On 3rd and goal, Brady threw to Faulk, who was on the 2, but Faulk dropped it. He might have been able to dive into the end zone, he might not have been. Either way, you can go for it on 4th and goal on the 1 or 2 yard line. The Pats settled for a field goal. Not the end of the world, but time was running short.

The Colts drove the ball downfield, but Vinatieri missed a game clinching field goal. We still had a chance. We didn't have any timeouts, but we still had 1:55 on the clock to work with. Brady hit Watson for 25 down the left. We had about 90 seconds to go 39 yards, certainly doable. Brady threw over the middle short to Faulk who once again dropped the ball. The throw wasn't absolutely perfect, it was a tad high, but it hit both of Faulk's hands and he couldn't haul it in. But Cato June was able to. The INT sealed the victory for Indianapolis.

In my opinion, we lost this game on so many levels. The Colts played better than us, but they weren't a more talented team than us. We turned the ball over 5 times. We made some horrendous errors in play calling, and stupid penalties. We also had our fair share of ticky tacky calls against us. Also, did anyone else notice that Ty Warren was getting held on every single pass rush? We didn't score in the red zone enough, we missed a field goal, we allowed a big return on special teams, so many big mistakes and little mistakes. We didn't have that confident stride. We were playing like one of the other 31 teams in the League, we weren't playing like the Patriots.

But I'm hopeful. Indy did not look unbeatable. We rattled Manning and forced some mistakes, we just failed to capitalize on them and we made far too many mistakes of our own. We didn't run the ball enough, especially not Dillon. We had 33 rushing attempts out of 68 offensive plays. Dillon only got 13 carries, but as the power rusher, I think he should have gotten somewhere around 20.

The defense looked good despite allowing so many points. To be fair, they were up against a Colts offense that is stacked. They were often playing in poor field position. The Colts average starting position was at their 37, but that average includes them starting at the 3 after a Brady INT to end the 1st half. Take that drive out and they averaged starting at their 40. One the other hand, we averaged starting out on the 34. The Colts started drives in our territory 3 times, we only had 1 start in Indy territory. The time of possession was split pretty much 50/50 with the Colts having it 1:12 less than us.

We were supposed to dominate time of possession, and starting field position, and the turnover department. We failed to do all three. We played like crap and deserved to lose. But I don't think we'll play that badly again this season.

Ironically, it was mostly the veterans who played poorly. Faulk with 2 dropped balls, Brown with a stupid penalty, Brady with 4 picks, and Dillon with the fumble.

We'll get them in December if we get our minds focused properly.

BC=BIG CHOKE ONCE MORE

Is anybody truly surprised anymore when Boston College loses the big game it should win? Is anyone shocked when they blow coverages, throw picks in the end zone, allow 81 yard rushes, fail to stay at home on end arounds, fumble after picking up a huge first down, or generally screw up big time in any way? Is anyone taken aback when they do this in football, or basketball, or hockey? If you are, you're a sucker.

BC is limited in recruiting because unlike most other schools, they have academic standards. Places like The U, or Virginia Tech do not. But this wasn't a game in which the Eagles were simply a less talented team. The Eagles beat themselves in this one.

The eagles has 430 yards of total offense, but they also threw 2 interceptions, had 70 penalty yards, and only averaged 1.1 yards per carry on the ground. Matt Ryan was 40 for 57 for 402 yards, but he only completed one TD pass. The other two times he hit a man in the end zone, they were wearing black and gold.

The first major BC mistake came about halfway through the 2nd quarter. Wake had possession of the ball at the Eagle 46. Nate Morton went on a deep route and was dropped off in coverage by BOTH the safety and the corner, instead of just one or the other. This left him wide open in the middle of the field with reservations for 6, and a Wake Forest TD to take the lead.

On the very next drive, BC drove the ball from their 27 all the way down to the Wake Forest 30. They were close to field goal range, but on 3rd and 13, Matt Ryan threw a poorly decided upon pass into the end zone where it was picked off by Wake Forest to end the drive.

In the 3rd quarter, BC gave up an 81 yard TD run early on that put them in the hole 21-7. The eagles got the score to 21-14 with a Ryan TD run on 4th and goal.

BC had three drives in the 4th quarter. The first ended with a missed field goal. The second one ended with an LV Whitworth fumble. The third ended with a Matt Ryan TD. Wake Forest held on to win 21-14.

BC is now a 2 loss team in the ACC Atlantic Division, which all but ends their hopes of a division title. They lost to NC State, and Wake Forest. Both of these games were games BC should have won.

Maryland and WFU are now both 4-1 in the ACC. In order for BC to win the ACC Atlantic, they have to win their remaining 3 Conference games (Duke, Maryland, at Miami), and hope Maryland beats WFU. If WFU loses to Maryland AND loses another conference game (they also play Virginia Tech and FSU), and we beat Maryland, we'll still win the division. But now we are no longer in control of our own destiny, and we have nobody to blame but ourselves.

BEST DEFENSE IN BASEBALL GETS 0 GOLD GLOVES

The Red Sox finished 2006 with a team fielding percentage of .989. They had the highest team fielding percentage in the Majors. They only made 66 errors, which was the fewest in baseball by 14 and the lowest in the AL by 18.

Alex Gonzalez only had 111 games at short-stop, but lack of time at a position hasn't stopped Gold Glove voters before (See: Rafael Palmeiro). He had the best fielding percentage among short-stops with at least 30 games at the position at .985. The Gold Glove winner, Derek Jeter, was at .975. Gonzo had 7 errors to Jeter's 15. Gonzo got slightly more chances than jeter per game at 4.28 to Jeter's 4.07 which indicates better range. We all saw what Gonzo did defensively this season, and it was amazing. He deserved the Gold Glove.

Mike Lowell tied GG winner Eric Chavez for fielding percentage at .987. But Chavez got the nod for another Gold Glove.

Mark Loretta finished close to Mark Grudzelanik in fielding percentage, but the Royal got the award.

I just find it odd that as a team the Sox had a great fielding percentage, and the entire infield had very good defensive years, but no player received recognition for this.

David Ortiz also got snubbed for the Hank Aaron Award by Derek Jeter. This was despite his 54 homers and 137 RBI. Both led the AL. Jeter had a much better average, but he knocked in 90 runs in the best lineup in baseball. Ortiz also had the most total bases with 355.

The Red Sox do not have a representative on the MLB All-Star team currently playing Japanese League All-Stars in Japan.

While over in Japan, MLB has announced that they'd like to start the 2008 regular season in China. The NFL has already announced a pre-season game in The People's Republic and MLB's following suit is a good idea. China is a massive market and a potential pool of talent that MLB could use. MLB already opened the door to China in the WBC when they let China field a team even though it had little chance of even winning a game (they were outscored 30-6 in their 3 games).

WAKEFIELD'S OPTION PICKED UP

The Red Sox picked up the $4 million option for pitcher Tim Wakefield. Wakefield turned 40 this season, but will be back for his 13th season with the Red Sox, by far the longest anyone on the 2007 roster will have been with the team.

Trot Nixon, Gabe Kapler, Alex Gonzalez, Mark Loretta, and Doug Mirabelli have filed for free agency.

Early lines out of Vegas have the Patriots favored by 3 points for the upcoming clash with the undefeated Colts.