Sports Club: Season 4, Week 14 preview

Bills Unfair Schedule??

This week the Buffalo Bills have talked to the league about the unfair schedule that they've been assigned, or so they say. Bills President and CEO Russ Brandon spoke out this week on a local radio program about the Bills schedule:

We lead the league in amount of games coming off of extra time or a bye week. It is a very, very tough job what they have in scheduling with all the different things that go into the formula and the stadium commitments and TV schedules, but it's certainly something that needs to be addressed.

Brandon continued on:

 We certainly have talked to the league about this because it's been disappointing where teams are coming off a bye or a long week,This (Sunday) is the second time we're playing the Jets coming off a Thursday night game and now we're playing them coming off a bye.

The league hasn't made a comment on the matter, but please allow me.Through 10 weeks the Bills are 3-7. 7 of the first 10 came against an opponent on regular rest. In those 6 games, the Bills are 2-5 and 2-2 at home. The remaining 3 games the Bills faced two teams coming off bye week and one week where a team had a Thursday game, all away from the familiar confines of Ralph Wilson Stadium. Bills went 1-2 in those 3 games, winning by 2 against Miami, and losing by 7 and 18 to the Jets and Saints respectively. In the two losses Buffalo allowed an average of almost 450 yards a game, while only gaining 313.5.

3 of the Bills next 6 games will come against opponents. The only game of those that the Bills have a little advantage is the Atlanta game. Atlanta does have the Thursday game the week before, but it's also the same week that Buffalo has a bye. Atlanta, actually is 2nd in the league with 4 such games (either bye week or thursday night game the week before). Buffalo is riding a 3 game losing streak going into this week against the Jets, who are coming off a, wait for it, Bye. If I were Mr. Brandon, I'd wait to see what this young team can do in their remaining 6 games before making a complaint to the league office.

Mike Vick 2.0?

For a QB that amassed over 6000 passing yards, 57 td's, & a passer efficiency rating of 144, graduating from college and entering in the NFL draft should have been a step towards a bright future. Unfortunately for Ohio State's Terrelle Pryor, the cloud of allegations he left under, over shadowed anything about his draft stock. For many college quarterbacks that are physical freaks, the speed and strength of NFL players seem to overwhelm them in the first couple of years. For Pryor, this was also the case. He admits that his athletic ability, lends itself to feelings of superiority. Before his professional career, he was constantly outperforming his opponents on just talent alone. His mind-set and playing style didn't transfer over to the NFL very well, where gifted athletes don't always outperform master tacticians. For the first two years of Pryor's NFL career, he sat on the bench as he tried to understand the game, it's pace, and how to make the "smart" play rather than the "big" play. The Raiders QB admitted that his first two seasons he spent on the bench simply "trying to understand how to play quarterback in the NFL." Those years as a back up seemed to be paying off for Terrelle. With Pryor admitting he is trying to give the team "that spark and enthusiasm our locker room needs", he has set himself on a path to becoming Oakland's solidified starter.  In 8 games this season he is averaging over 250 all-purpose yards and a completion rating of almost 60%. For anyone who is a Denver, New England, or New Orleans fan, these numbers will be scoffed at. But for Raiders fans, having a constant QB, is something they haven't had in years. This is a team that has only had one 2500yd passer since Kerry Collins in '05. A team that hasn't had a winning record, yet alone made the playoffs, since their SB loss in 2002. A team that has seen little success since the Gruden, Gannon days of the late 90's & early 2000's. For the Oakland Raiders fan base, all they can ask for is for some hope. Pryor might not be one of the top QB's in the league, but week in and week out, he definitely gives his team a chance to win.

Big Offense in the Big Easy

Sunday night two division leaders in the NFL met in New Orleans. The NFC East leading Cowboys come in off the back of a last minute win against the Minnesota Vikings. The Saints, coming in, were 1-2 in their last 3 games. Including a loss to the resurgence New York Jets team that ran all over the Saints to a tune of nearly 200 rushing yards. For the Cowboys, you could clearly see that the game plan was to hand the ball off to a healthy Murray as much as possible. While facing a New Orleans secondary that is giving up  less than 200yds passing per game, the Dallas passing game struggled to get going early. With Romo going 3-9 in the 1st half, they needed the defense to step up and hold one of the NFL's most explosive offenses to a premium in points. The Saints, however, had a different plan. At half time the score was already 38-10 with no sign of changing in the 2nd half. The Cowboys took a giant shot to their already injury crippled defense when starting MLB Sean Lee went down with an apparent hamstring injury. The fact that DeMarcus Ware was playing on 1 leg didn't hurt either. New Orleans took full advantage of this by amassing a record setting 40 first downs on their way to a 49-17 route. As impressive as the offense looked Sunday night, Brees was 34/41, 392yds, and 4td's, the story all year has been the revamped defense that has stepped on the field. With Rob Ryan at the helm, the Cowboys were held to only 193yds. Tony Romo had little choice of passing targets as they doubled Dez all night an played tight bump coverage on all pro TE Jason Witten. With Romo only completing 4 passes to his WR core, Dallas was never truly in this game after the first quarter. For the Saints, the road just gets harder from here on out. Their final 7 games, they will face 4 games against playoff teams. Don't forget the Nov 21st game against division rival Atlanta Falcons either. As for the Cowboys, after their bye next week, they will face opponents in 5 of their last 6 games who's offense, either rushing or passing, is in the top ten in the NFL. For a team that is leading their division and has hopes of a playoff run, their defense has to vastly improve in the next two weeks.

Game Highlights

Giant win for the G-men

Ahmad Bradshaw got furious at himself, and took it out on the Cleveland Browns.Bradshaw fumbled on the first play from scrimmage, setting up a Cleveland touchdown. After that, he was unstoppable, surpassing his yardage on the ground for the season with a career-best 200 yards in a 41-27 victory Sunday. The Giants are 9-0 in games he has rushed for 100 yards or more. The passing game was there, too. Victor Cruz made a career-best three touchdown catches. Eli Manning hit Cruz for scores of 3, 7 and 28 yards, prompting Cruz's trademark salsa in the end zone after each touchdown. New York (3-2) also forced three turnovers, including Chase Blackburn's interception in the end zone midway in the fourth quarter to clinch it. That led to rookie David Wilson's first NFL touchdown, a 40-yard scamper, which Wilson celebrated with a flip in the end zone.The Browns are 0-5 for the first time since their return season to the NFL in 1999 and have lost 11 straight dating back to last season, matching the franchise record. Their inexperience as the league's youngest team could not be offset by the skills of third overall draft pick Trent Richardson, who ran for a touchdown for the fourth straight game.

Ravens D, is all they need

The Baltimore Ravens' hallmark for the better part of a decade has been defense. It's what has carried them to countless victories, playoff appearances and Super Bowl glory. Ray Lewis, Ed Reed and the rest of the guys in black and purple showed up at Arrowhead Stadium on Sunday. They shut down Jamaal Charles and the rest of the Chiefs' offense in the second half, and made a big fourth-quarter stand to depart Kansas City with a 9-6 victory. The Ravens had the NFL's second-ranked offense through the first four weeks of the season, but it faltered against an inspired Kansas City defense. Ray Rice ran for 101 yards, but Joe Flacco had just 187 yards passing and was picked off once. Matt Cassel threw for just 92 yards, was intercepted twice and credited with two lost fumbles before leaving in the fourth quarter with what the Chiefs described as a head injury. Charles had 140 yards rushing, but only 15 in the second half, when the game was to be decided. Kansas City has now committed 19 turnovers through its 1^st 5 games, the most in history since the New Orleans Saints had 21 of them to start the 1997 season. Quinn, who was 3 of 3 for 32 yards passing on his only series, was greeted by applause from Kansas City fans when he entered the game. Quinn led the Chiefs downfield in the fourth quarter, but a pass interference penalty by Dexter McCluster negated what would have been a go-ahead touchdown pass to Dwayne Bowe. After the Chiefs' late field goal, Baltimore took over. Flacco scrambled for 16 yards on third-and-15 with a couple minutes left in the game, and Rice plunged for another first down with just over a minute remaining to help run out the clock.

Colts Trot Over Pack

All Chuck Pagano asked the Indianapolis Colts to do was focus on football. Andrew Luck and Reggie Wayne did that -- and a little more to honor their ailing coach. With his career-best 362-yard passing effort Sunday, Andrew Luck set a Colts rookie QB record. The 18-point comeback also was the best by a rookie quarterback since Matthew Stafford led a 21-point rally for the Lions vs. the Browns in 1999.

Interim coach Bruce Arians, nicknamed BA, acknowledged he was fighting back tears when he spoke to reporters. From the sounds of it, so were Luck and Wayne. The sometimes emotional team owner, Jim Irsay, sniffled as he spoke inside a silent locker room before dashing off to the hospital where Pagano is undergoing treatment for leukemia. Wayne finished with 13 receptions for a career-high 212 yards -- the second-highest total in Colts history behind Hall of Famer Raymond Berry in 1957. It was a wild finish to an emotionally-charged week in Indy. Green Bay (2-3) had a chance to force overtime with a 51-yard field goal. But Mason Crosby's attempt went left with 3 seconds to go, setting off an emotional celebration on the Colts' sideline. In the second half, the Colts dominated. Luck threw an 8-yard TD pass to Dwayne Allen and set up Adam Vinatieri for a 50-yard field goal to make it 21-13 midway through the third quarter. He then ran it in from 3 yards out with 18 seconds left in the third quarter to get the Colts within 21-19.With the clock ticking down, Luck converted two third-down passes to Wayne, then scrambled for a third third-down conversion before, fittingly, spotting Wayne for the go-ahead score.

Dolphins Swim Past Bengals

Two blown leads, two overtime losses. The Miami Dolphins had become masters of last-minute misery in their past two games, finding creative ways to give 'em way. An easy interception let them finally finish one off. Reshad Jones picked off Andy Dalton's overthrown pass at midfield with 1:22 left on Sunday, preserving a 17-13 victory over the Cincinnati Bengals that ended back-to-back weeks of heartbreak for Miami. "We had two tough weeks leading up to this one," rookie quarterback Ryan Tannehill said. "Guys really talked all week about how we've got to finish. We were two plays away from having a winning record." Miami (2-3) had led at halftime before losing to the New York Jets and Arizona in overtime. The last one really stung, Tannehill had a fumble that helped the Cardinals tie it, then an interception in overtime that set up a 24-21 defeat. The Bengals (3-2) had a chance to make them sweat another one out, but blew it. Mike Nugent missed a 42-yard field goal try with 3 minutes left, his first miss of the season. The Bengals never got anything going consistently on offense. Dalton was only 26 of 43 for 234 yards with 2 interceptions and 3 sacks against a defense that came in ranked No. 1 in the league against the run. Bengals running back Bernard Scott had a 29-yard run in the first quarter, the longest allowed by the Dolphins this season. He hurt his left knee in the first half and didn't return. Scott tore his ACL, and will be out the remainder of the season.

Cardinals Wings Get Clipped

After capping the St. Louis Rams' opening drive with a touchdown pass to Kendricks, Bradford endured an 0-for-12 slump that included Patrick Peterson's interception in the end zone on a pass tossed up for grabs under heavy pressure. No worries, The Rams' defense saw to that. "Those guys played outstanding," Bradford said after the Rams knocked off the Arizona Cardinals 17-3 on Thursday night. "They've played great all year and they have kept us in a lot of games." Bradford busted out of his funk with a 51-yard touchdown pass to rookie Chris Givens for a 14 point cushion, and Robert Quinn had three of the Rams' nine sacks on Kolb to keep the Cardinals in check. Arizona (4-1) scored at least 20 points in each of its 1st 4 games, but had no luck containing a pass rush that had totaled just 6 sacks on the year, and got stopped twice inside the 20 in the final minutes. Kolb got his helmet knocked off twice on hits, once after getting popped in the jaw. "I'm all right," Kolb said. "I'm glad we've got the weekend to heal up, mentally and physically." The Rams totaled 2 victories last year but so far have executed a quick turnaround under new coach Jeff Fisher. They're 3-0 at home for the first time since 2003, and they're above .500 for the first time since they were 4-3 on Nov. 4, 2006. Bradford finished 7 for 21 for 141 yards, the second-lowest total of his career. He threw for 126 yards against Tampa Bay his rookie year in 2010. Before the second TD pass, he had been 3 for 16 overall for just 25 yards, often missing on his receivers by a lot. Undoubtedly, he missed Danny Amendola, sidelined in the second quarter with a right shoulder injury on a diving attempt that was initially ruled a 22-yard catch for a first down but overturned after the Cardinals challenged. Arizona's loss leaves Atlanta and Houston as the only remaining unbeaten teams. The loss was only the Cardinals' third in 14 games since starting the 2011 season 1-6.

Atlanta worst Sports City?

After reading a column written by Rob Parker from espnnewyork.com, a lot of Atlanta fans are enraged by his words. As you should be if you're a true Atlanta sports fan. I watch at least 80% of Braves games, and get an ESPN update sent to my phone when I can't watch. Same with the Falcons. Not really a huge fan of the NBA, but watch and take pride in the Hawks when they play. I was a huge Thrashers fan. One who went to as many games as I could. Living a good hour away from the arena, and not making a ton of money, you can Imagine why I didn't go to every single one. However, I agree to a certain extent. Having this conversation several times with my other co-hosts being a true Atlanta fan, one who lives and dies with the whistle.There are a considerable amount of fair weather fans in Atlanta. But then again you hear stories of your friends grandparents who would sit in front of the radio with their Braves hat on and listen to Skip Carrey and Pete Van Weiren call every Braves game. Or the Father or grandfather who would wake up his son, or grandson early on a Sunday morning so they can go Tailgate at the Dome. The Passion is here Rob, I assure you that, but with the amount of people in the Metro Atlanta area (5 million) compared to New York (19 Million) I can understand why you see no passion.

You say the Braves didn't sell out playoff games, in the 2011 MLB playoffs, the Yankees didn't sell out a single playoff game. You say the Falcons don't deserve a playoff win because of their fan base? Well you clearly didn't do all your research sir, and were only doing it for attention. So Falcons fans, if we are to beat the Giants at Met Life Stadium (Which by the way as of Saturday night, still was not sold out), we should Rise Up and Say a big Screw You  to Rob Parker.

Colts 2011 draft outlook

Going into this draft with the #1 pick locked up, the Colts look to be taking Andrew Luck, the QB out of Stanford. Unfortunately Indy's problems go deeper then just there field captain. Look for the Colts to go either RB or DL in the 2nd or 3rd round depending on who's available. Lamar Miller, a RB out of Miami, & Brandon Thompson, a 6'2 304lb DT out of Clemson, Could be on Indy's radar if they fall to the 2nd round. With a youg WR core & young OL I don't see the Colts putting to much emphasis in these draft on those positions. Although the offense couldn't score this year, the defense, ranking 28th overall, needs the majority of the overhaul. Look in the later rounds for the Colts to add some depth to the secondary. Brandan Bishop from NC St, Brian Peters from Northwestern, Dexter McCoil from Tulsa, & Josh Bush will all be on there shortlist for DB in this draft. Although Andrew Luck is the sexy pick in this years draft, look for the Colts to go heavy on the defensive side for this draft.

We're Baaaack!!!!

Well everyone, I know there are a lot of you out there that won't watch the NFL this year because you think they're greedy and all that stuff...Wait..what am I saying? The NFL is America's favorite sport and people will still watch regardless.

The NFLPA voted Monday to approve the new CBA the owners have proposed which means we have football back in the fall. No games were missed (minus the preseason Hall of Fame game being cancelled). Players will report to camps this coming weekend. Which camps they show up to is the real question. Free Agency is going to be rushed this year so stick with us. We'll try to keep up with all the free agency buzz and keep it updated as much as possible, if not here, our facebook page or our twitter page @sportsclubNFL. But for now here's a few things that have gone on since Monday.

First order of business the NFL has reported that they're reimbursing their employees for time missed. Which is the right thing to do if you ask me. As far as players on the move or staying put here's what I've seen so far.

• Mark Herzlich, former BC standout who is a cancer survivor (great story by the way), has signed with the Giants.
• Speaking of the Giants, there are rumors out there saying that they're interested in bringing back newly freed WR Plaxico Burress.
• Seahawks have informed QB Matt Hasselbeck that they will release him with the signing of QB Tavaris Jackson.
• Sticking with the Seahawks another rumor floating around is that Seattle is looking at possibly bringing in QB Matt Leinart to round out its QB's.
• Some Shocking players being released:
• RB Marion Barber-Cowboys
• RB Willis McGahee-Ravens
• LB Tully Banta-Cain-Patriots
• Former Pro Bowl RG Leonard Davis-Cowboys
• Colts: RB Mike Hart, TE's Gijon Robinson and Tom Santi, DB's Jamie Silva and Mike Richardson.
• WR Roy Williams-Cowboys
• P Josh Bidwell-Redskins

That's it for now guys. We'll keep on it and try to keep everyone informed. Keep watching, listening, tweeting and like us on FB.

Billy