I'm glad that the Dallas Cowboys and the Philadelphia Eagles play in the same division, because twice a year I get to bash one of these teams for losing to the other. But not this week. Let's start off with the Philadelphia Eagles. The Eagles blew another 4th quarter lead on Sunday leading to many grumblings about Andy Reid's coaching future and Michael Vick's ineptitude at the QB position. The Flying Cheese Steaks was playing a pretty decent game until the 4th when someone told them that they only needed to play for 45 minutes. The wheels came off after that. The Lions clawed their way back (pun absolutely intended) and beat the Eagles in OT which then led to Lions' HC Jim Schwartz's really unusual display of celebration. Let's take a look at the stat sheet though. Michael Vick looked pretty average yesterday (28/46, 311 yards, 2 TD, 2 INT, 9 carries/59 yards). By no means good. Just average. Let's face it, the defense still can't accept the fact that a Wide-9 look in the NFL doesn't work. The re-worked 3-3-5 defense only works for college programs like West Virginia, where the offense can score enough points to offset the chunks of real estate and points the defense gives up. Sorry, Juan Castillo. Stick to the 4-3 like everyone else. Now I have to give credit where credit is due. The Lions did what they needed to do to win. They found the Eagles' defense's weakness (which is evidently playing the 4th quarter) and exposed it. If the Eagles want to win, Michael Vick doesn't need to be throwing the ball more that 30 times per game. Let the run game grind out the W. Yesterday, Ronald Reagan was somewhere "up there" watching the game and screamed, "There they go again." Thankfully for them, the Cheese Steaks are off next week, but they need to regroup, because they play the now 5-0 Falcons on the 28th. They could just mail it in, however...
We now go from Philly to their division rival and my and everyone's hatable losers, The Dallas Cowgir...boys. This game wasn't nearly as bad as it looked. The Raven's D was as porous as a bucket with a hole on both ends, but Tony Romo's interception and Les Miles-like clock management at the end of the game proved to be fatal. Let us fast forward to the last 28 second of the game. Tony Romo completes a pass to Dez Bryant to put them 1 yard out of Dan Bailey's career long FG. Jason Garrett and Tony Romo let the clock wind all the way down to :04!!!!! Seriously? If the convert the first down, game over, but 'hold it right there'. They couldn't figure out what to do. Romo and the rest of the offense didn't move until the time out was called. Then Dan Bailey did what recent Cowboy kickers have done (I'm looking at you, Shaun Suisham)...miss it wide left to win the game! I think this is going to be another sub-par year for the Cowboys. Romo will get his extension, only because Jerry Jones' financial mind has left the building, but Jason Garrett will be fired and they will go with "someone who better exemplifies the Cowboy's winning way." No one will be selected, because who in that organization can define "winning way?"
Now we shift to the only sport that really seems to matter right now: Baseball. It's October and we all know what that means...PLAYOFFS!!!! I'll get you caught up to speed. In the A.L. The Yankees beat the Orioles to advance, because the O's didn't take the Yankees to extra innings in every game. The Tigers beat the Athletics to put a cap on Oakland's stellar season. The Cardinals advanced as the Nationals' decision to sht down Strasberg came back to bite them as they were within inches of advancing, but fell apart in Game 5. Finally, it seems that Dusty Baker's tenure in Cincinnati is over. After having the best record in baseball going into the playoffs, the Reds had a can opened up on them by the Giants.
And here we are. The Yankees are on the verge of the verge of going home. After losing the Yankee captain, Derek Jeter, the Yanks look in disarray. They were holding their own and even came back from a 4-0 deficit to tie Game 1 in the ninth. Then disaster struck. Jeter fractured his ankle making a play on a grounder from Jhonny Peralta. He went down, winced and could barely make the pitch to 2nd base. The Yankees lost Game 1 6-4 in extra innings. Game 2 was a different story. A-rod's slump must be highly contagious because the Yankees were 4-hit in the second game of the series. tiger's pitcher Anibal Sanchez went 7 innings, gave up 3 hits, 3 walked and struck out 7 as former Yankee reliever Phil Coke shut the door to put the Yankees close to the brink. I think this one is over before it really got started. the series heads back to Detroit where it looks like the Tigers will close it out to advance to The Show.
Now to the other side. The Cardinals to a 1-0 series lead against the the San Francisco Giants last night after Giants' starter Madison Bumgarner virtually sold the farm during his short outing last night. In 3 2/3 innings, Bumgarner gave up 6 runs (2 HR) on 8 hits, walked 1 and struck out 2. However, the Cardinals didn't fare too well early on, either. Lance Lynn worked 3 2/3 innings and gave up 4 ER on 5 hits. The real story was the bullpen work from both teams. Both 'pens went a combined 10 2/3 innings of 2-hit ball with 9 K's. The offenses were served up beach balls in the first few innings, but were held in check after the starters were lifted. The Giants (R. Vogelsong) and Cardinals (C. Carpenter) go tonight in what is sure to be an interesting match up. Giants win tonight to tie it up.
The performance of the week has to go to Austrian dare-devil Felix Baumgartner. After years of preparation, Baumgartner jumped out of a specially designed capsule from 128,000 feet/24 miles up in the air. He reached speeds on Mach 1.24, broke the sound barrier and parachuted safely into the Arizona desert. Well done, Felix.
Until next week.
WHO DAT!
-Kenny "Mo"
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