Sunday, November 27, 2011

NFL Sunday

Quick thoughts:
1) Jets vs. Bills - Reddie Jackson is on IR for Buffalo. The Jets offense is stagnant. Sanchez seems hurt and Tomlinson is injured. This will be a low scoring game. Final Score will be Jets 24 Bills 20 at the most.

2) Falcons vs. Vikings - Adrian Peterson is out of the game. The Falcons are playing at home in a game that they need to win and should win based on Petersons abscense. Final Score will be Falcons 27 Vikiings 18 at the most.

3) Eagles vs. Patriots - Both teams have a myriad of injuries on offense and defense. The game is in Philadelphia. The Eagles have the potential to go on a roll. However, the Patrios pressure Vince Young with Andre Carter and will outscore the Eagles. Final Score will be at least Patriots 28 Eagles 21.

Wednesday, November 23, 2011

Buffalo Wild Wings. Wings. Beer. Revenge.

The Buffalo Sabres play the Boston Bruins at First Niagra Center, ha, in Buffalo this evening at 7pm.

The Sabres played the Bruins 11 days ago in Boston. Typically, this would not be a big-deal since both teams are in the same division. On November 12th however, Bruins brusing forward Milan Lucic ran into Buffalo and All- American goalie from Michigan State Ryan Miller. Miller got a concussion from the run-in and his teammates did almost nothing in response, according to Hockeys unwritten rules. His teammates did knock Lucic into the boards after the play so this point has been over-blown by the Boston media. Never the less this game has the potential to be penalty filled and violent. We will see. Alot of these grudge matches hyped up the local media do not meet expectations.

The two teams are tied with 24 points each. The winner of this game will be one win up on the other no matter who wins the physical battle.

WEEI is reporting that Tim Thomas is not playing tonight. Tuukka Rask will get the start. The Bruins win 4-2 with an empty net goal.

Hail Mary

Boston College is scheduled to play the University of Miami in the Orange Bowl on ABC Friday at 3:30pm.

The Hurricanes have highly recruited talent and coaching. Jacory Harris and Al Golden personify the Hurricanes talent and superiority on the football field. However, the Hurricanes are 6-5 this year and have been playing this season despite potential NCAA sanctions pertaining to booster Nevin Shapiro. Shapiro glommed onto athletes at Miami and provided them with millions of dollars in improper benefits over several years. On account of these issues the University has elected not to play in a bowl game this year. The team has not lived up to its potential and should have a better record.

Boston College has been dealing with its own issues related to player attrition, injuries, sub-par coaching, and not playing as well as it is capable. BC lost Senior S Dominic LeGrande and Junior DB Ugo Ukpara because of attrition. The seconday is leaning heavily on Donnie Fletcher. The Eagles lost ACC all-time yardage leader in RB Montel Harris at the end of last year and he played only sparingly at the beginning of the season. Coach Spaziani was a career assistant until 2 years ago. He has had difficulty managing the team from the Heach Coach position. His inexperience has lead the team to a 3-7 record. The Eagles had the opportunity and should have beat Northwestern and Duke early in the year. Those wins would have given the team a 5-5 record and would have made this game critical to the school reaching a 14 straight bowl game.

Essentially, this game is the bowl game for both schools. Since both teams have failed to live up to expectations this game has the potential to be close. I forsee BC playing well on defense. They will be led, of course, by Luke Kuechly. However, DE Max Holloway from FL and RB Tahj Kimble from FL will be playing in relativley familiar surroundings. Holloway and Kimble have been playing well the last couple of weeks and seem to be making a push to be the leaders of the team in 2012-13. Al Golden and the overall Miami talent level will keep the Hurricanes competitive in the game whether or not they truly care about the outcome. The weather is predicted to be beautiful. Boston College will come up with 3 FG's and 2 TD's(from good field postiion provided by the D). Miami will score 3 TD's(one on special teams).

Final Score: 23-21 Boston College

Sunday, November 20, 2011

Giants vs.Eagles Sunday Night Football forecast

The Philadelphia Eagles play the New York Giants at Metlife Stadium in New Jersey tonight. The stadium known by the fans of its other tennant as Jetlife Stadium.

The Eagles are Vick-less. They have Vince Young starting at QB.

The Giants have the best pass rush in football and will dominate Philadelphia's offense. It is a great game for Mark Herzlich to make his first start at linebacker because there will be relatively no pressure on him. This is also a game where Mathias Kiwanuka can use his speed to help stop the Eagles screen passing game. I foresee a good game from Kiwi.

The Giants offense is missing Amhad Bradshaw. They have not had his services for weeks and are 2-1 without him. The Giants offense will continue to produce as it has for the last 3-4 weeks. The Giants O-line will create some good room for Brandon Jacobs to run a little and give Eli Manning time to throw the ball to his TE's down the field.

The final score of the game will be 27-19 Giants at the most.

Wednesday, November 16, 2011

Green and Gold beats Maroon and Gold

My prediction for this weekends Notre Dame v. Boston College football game is that the game will be awesome to watch but poorly played:
BC offensive line has its best game of the year. They pass protect and run block well. They played well against NC State. Rettig is average, he runs for a TD and throws an INT. Watch out for a deep playaction pass off a fake handoff to Amidon. I am convinced that we continuosly ran the handoff plays to Amidon against NC State for this purpose. The running backs run for a TD and fumble one that lets ND score an easy TD.

The defense plays its best game of the year. The Dline will knock Rees out of the game. Keuchly will get thrown on alot in the first half. If Kelly is smart he comes out in a 3 WR, 1 TE set and forces Keuchly to cover their TE. Then they throw over the top of him. He will get an INT in the second and take it back for a long run. When ND goes to the run in the second half Keuchly gets his 10 tackles. Donnie Fletcher will cover Floyd better than anyone has all year. Floyd will still have 1 TD.

It comes down to kicking. Our punter will give us good field position but our offense will not capitalize to the extent they should. Our D will hold ND to 2 TD's but their kicker wins the game w 4 FG's. ND wins 26-17.

We kick their ass in hockey the night before.

Sunday, November 6, 2011

New York State of Mind

NFL watchers in New England will have a New York State of Mind today. I hear New York and my stomach bubbles.

The Jets play the Bills at 1pm in Buffalo. The Giants play the Patriots at 4pm in Foxborough.

The Fox Network, always fair and balanced, is showing the Buccaneers and the Saints at 1pm in NO.

The Jets and Bills score will be at least 23-22. Sanchez and Fitzpatrick are both decent quaterbacks but I think one of them will throw an interception in the second half that will decide the game.

The Giants and Patriots score will not be more than 32-20. The Patriots will want to start the game fast on offense but the Giants strength is in the pass rush. The Patriot offense will be average by its' standards today. The Giants are missing A.Bradshaw, my boy Hakeem Nix, and Bass. The Giants offense will be limited by injuries.

The Buccaneers and Saints game will be interesting. The Saints lost last week and they lost to the Bucs a few weeks ago . . . possibly looking forward to the game today and because Sean Payton may be in disarray. He had knee surgery recently and had some issues with pain killers a couple years ago. The Saints win at home because they want payback against a decent division rival.

Saturday, November 5, 2011

SEC Saturday

Halloween, All Saints Day, and All Souls Day have all come and gone. Everyone is looking forward to Thanksgiving, Christmas, and New Years Eve. Before these holidays arrive there is a something of holiday today for college football fans because Lousiana State University is playing University of Alabama in Tuscaloosa. LSU is ranked number one in the human polls and the computer rankngs. Alabama is ranked number two in the human polls and computer rankings.

CBS is broadcasting the game and ESPN Game Day is in Tuscaloosa. The game has been hyped up by the media. The two head coaches seem to be doing more interviews and commentary than usual.

ESPN is saying that 7 first round NFL Draft picks will be taking part in the game tonight. Additionally, Chris Fowler claims that 35 players from the two teams will be drafted by the NFL.

The winner of this game will have a great chance of making the BCS Championship game. The loser of this game still has a decent chance of making the championship game(if Oregon beats Stanford and Oklahoma State loses to either Oklahoma or the Big 12 Championship game)which goes to show that these are by far the two best teams in college football. Personally, a loss in this game(if the loser wins its remaining games) should not keep that team out of the championship game.

That being said I am not predicting a winner. I am only predicting a final score. The final score will be 23-17. Here are keys to the game and the game strategy that I expect to see.

Keys:
1) LSU and Alabama will both be psyched up beyond belief. There will be alot of those Ray Lewis like rain dances by both teams at the outset. However, Alabama will be more emotional because of the tornado that destroyed Tuscaloosa/Birmingham and because they are ranked NUMBER 2. Nick Saban will definitly be using this fact in his pregame speech. So, LSU has to withstand the initial emotion of Alabama and use it to their advantage. They can do it by using misdirection on offense to throw off the Bama linebackers Highsmith and Upshaw who I expect will be very emotional and boarderline out of control, especially Upshaw.
2)The Quarterbacks- I expect LSU to blitz McCarron alot and try to hit him early to knock him off his game. Alabama should try to do the same thing. Hitting and sacking the opposing QB in the first quarter is the most underrated aspect of football. The winner of this game will have negatively affected the opposing quarteback the most.
3)Referees- These teams are as evenly matched as can be. They essentially have the same strengths and weaknesses. Crummy or shady calls in this game will have a huge impact. Fair officiating will be critical. I can forsee a big kick return being called back for a marginal block in the back etc.

Arkansas will beat South Carolina 30-20.

Friday, November 4, 2011

Good Call

If the O-Line can protect Rettig at all then we will score 14 points at the most. I get the feeling Rettig could get knocked out of this game with an injury early. FSU D-line will be smelling blood.

Hopefully Shinksie remembers to line up under center when his number is called.

Final 38-9 . . . FSU