Give him a break!

So I look at the paper Monday morning after the Skin's lost to Panthers and all I saw was reporters bashing John Beck and his performance. Really?! This is his first pro game since 2007, give him a break; you all were all gung-ho about Rex even after he threw tons of interceptions. Just give the guy a chance to find his groove; he's been out of the league for four years. To the team as a whole, they are falling apart at the seams. Players on the defense and the offense are dropping like flies. I don't remember them all but one notable one is Moss. He's expected to be out 3-4 weeks with a hand injury. Nooo! Not now! We need you since Cooley's out and Fred Davis.

The Steelers won but since I didn't see the game and don't live in a place where they write about them, I really don't have anything interesting to say about it. One thing is that Big Ben is at the top if the league for passing yards this week.

The Pats had the week off.


The New Orleans Saints are either really lucky or really good. I think it's both when you win 62-7 over a team you played two years ago in the Super Bowl. Drew Brees threw for 5 touchdown passes. That is just ridiculous. Sixty-two points are possible but if you are the losing team then your defense stinks big time. You may want to work on that this week, Colts, just an idea. (But you may want to do it).

In the wonderful (but brutal) world of hockey: The Capital's captain was injured in yesterday's practice. He fell at the far end of the rink and got a cut on his forehead. He left to have it looked at but returned to finish practice. Mike Green was also was injured recently, why must players get injured when they finally start getting back into the swing of things? Goalie Michal Neuvirth has returned to the ice after bruising his right foot.


That is all for now. Enjoy sports this week and always.

Injuries plague the league

Oh, just as I thought this was going to be a good year in football the plague returns to claim more players. This plague I'm talking about is the yearly plague of injuries that starts happening at about this time of year. You've never noticed it?! Well, it could be that the team you like just got lucky in years past or you just don't see things like I do. I'll just list them all:

To start this year it's not only players. Sean Payton, head coach of the New Orleans Saints, has a torn MCL and fractured the tibia in his left leg. It all happened when Payton got his leg pinned under Saints tight end Jimmy Graham after he was tackled. He underwent surgery yesterday and should be able to return to work on Wednesday but it will take at least 3-6 months to recover fully.

Rams QB Sam Bradford suffered a high ankle sprain in Sunday's game. He's in a walking boot and there's a big question mark over his head for this week's game against the Cowboys.

Raiders QB Jason Campbell under went surgery to repair his broken collar bone. This injury will put him out for the rest of the season.

The Steelers removed safety Troy Polamalu from Sunday's game because of concussion-like symptoms. Really now? See, they should have used duct tape.

The Skins have lots of injuries this week, unfortunately on of those hurt is Chris Cooley. He broke a finger in Sunday's game against the Eagles. This could be season ending for him. Left guard Kory Lichtensteiger is out for the season with bad knee injury. Finally, Trent Williams suffered a high ankle sprain.

There were many other injuries but these seem to me the most important.

To end this pain filled post some good news. The Capitals have started 5-0 in the first time in their history.

I was right!

Well, it seems I was right, Rex Grossman does throw too many interceptions (today he had four). He was pulled from the game today and John Beck came in to score the only touchdown for the Skins. For a team like the Skins who haven't been able to pull out a win in the final quarter, when they're down 20-0, it's basically over. If the gap had been more like 10-0 there might have been a chance that they could win but not when it's 20-0 most way through the first half. Oh, one highlight of the game was that Gano got his longest recorded field goal in this game. Not bad for someone they said was fading fast. Final Score: Eagles 20, Skins 13.

In the world of Pittsburgh football, it was a good game. Winning this game puts them at 4-2 this year and has proved that they can work with what they have. By working with they have, I'm talking about the defense line. To me they still need to work out the kinks. I'm just about tired of saying that but it's true. One more game with a good performance will prove to me that they have figured it all out. Final Score: Pittsburgh17-Jacksonville 13.

I watched the end of the Pats game and didn't enjoyed it that much. It was 13-13 when I came in but the Cowboys got the ball and scored a field goal making it 16-13. Then there was some back and forth (not good in the fourth quarter with 7 minutes left) but finally the Pats got the ball and held on tight. Brady and Company marched the football up the field to score a touchdown with less than a minute left. The Cowboys got the ball back with 45 second left, the possiblity for a score but only with a Hale Mary. It just didn't form. The Pats final drive touchdown stood strong and the Patriots won over the Cowboys. Final Score: 20-16

Well, there are my thoughts on this week's games (<- please take note of the fourth word).

Sid the Kid

Well the Caps seem to be on a good roll with four wins (three if those have been won in overtime/shot-out) under their belts and have been playing consistently. Before the game Thursday against the Pittsburgh Penguins there was some good news, Sidney Crosby was cleared for physical contact that afternoon; for those who don't speak sport it means he can participate in all the training (drills, runs, etc, etc.) during practice. Since he's been cleared, he should be able to play in games soon. I don't care that he's on in of my least favorite teams in the league, I am glad that he's on his way back to good health and that we already played them once this season.

On to tonight's game: we held off the Senators for a 2-1 win at home. To all you who doubt that Ovie is one of the best in the league well.... (oh I'm so going to enjoy this) scoring goals isn't everything in the NHL. Helping others on your team score and opening up opportunities is good, too. He's still one of the the greatest (hence the Great 8 nickname).


Cool fact: The Green Bay Packers are named after the meat packers in the area and Green Bay is the smallest city with an NFL team. 

Yes it was a good week.

First off, I need to answer a question.  The question is which of these teams (Patriots, Steelers, and Redskins) will be able to rally and meet their preseason expectations or were they not as good as we thought at the start of the season? (From JH) Weelll, I believe that all of them have proved themselves to a degree. To start, the Redskins are on top of their division and are 3-1 (I am not joking about this). The Steelers seem to be stuck in a up and down pattern. Why, you ask, because they lose then win and win then lose. It's just a little annoying. But if they work hard and play well they could toss this pattern out the door. The Pats are running like a team that's played together for years, not weeks (they do have a large handful of rookies and new players on the roster). One thing I would say they could work on is getting some of the high attitude players (like Ochocinco and Haynesworth, although they seem to be getting better) on being less attitude-y.


So to recap on the games that happened yesterday:
The Pats won against the Jets. But to me the offense seemed to play with the Jets; letting them get close but just out of reach. Final score 30-21.
The Steelers won in a nice clean style yesterday. Since I didn't see the game or any of the highlights that's all I'll say. Final score 38-17.


It's a wonderful time of year when hockey and football happen at the same time (which is most of the football season, FYI). The Capitals are doing pretty good considering that last year they stunk in overtime and shot-outs games but this year they have been good. And Mr. Neuvirth started in net for the Caps (here is where I do a little dance around the room).  He, to me, is the better of the two goalies. He's younger and has a faster reaction time making him the better goalie.
Oh yeah, the Bruins are doing well too.

I'll have a brief post later this week about Sidney Crosby and how he's doing.

Cold weather=Hockey

So I am just about ready to start a party. Hockey is back and I think with new guys and vets both working well together on the Capitals, well, we may just have a good team this year. I'm not saying that in past years they haven't been good... but they stink in the postseason. I mean how hard is it to keep doing what you were doing before the play-offs?? It can't be that hard.

To football, if the Redskins play the same way they did against the Rams yesterday all season they would have a good season. BUT (don't get your hope up) only good. Rex is throwing interceptions and incomplete passes, but everything else is working like a fine tuned machine. The Orakpo/Kerrigan pairing at outside linebacker is going to be a large dish of trouble for who ever the QB in the pocket is. It's like 'Ok, I have the football, who's open.... AAAHHHHHHHHH!!'  then get's sacked by two trains at full force.

For Pittsburgh fans it was a hard game to watch. We lost by the same score that the Skins won by (17-10). The D-fence took FOREVER to get going and poor Ben; he may be big but even he can only take so much of a beating before he starts giving in. Being 2-2 is not a bad record but it could be better.

The Patriots have come back nicely from the loss to the Bills last week. That is partly do to the fact that Jason Campbell was so nice as to give over the football in New England's end zone. I know it's not good to brag but... We are baaack and we wooon.

In baseball, when people don't think I hate the Yankees as much as I say I do, they just have to read this. I want those vile Yankees beaten soo bad that they will be ashamed of it and lose all their arrogance.

Fun fact: RFK Stadium lines up with the Capital and Washington Monument. Cool right?