Monday, November 22, 2004
TWINS THOUGHTS (Ford Wins Award)
MONDAY MORNING SMORGASBORD
Good Monday morning! Today, I will be discussing a number of topics ranging from baseball to football to thoughts on that ugly basketball incident from Friday night. There will be no new entry tomorrow, except to update the NFL picks, unless there is some major news to report on. Then on Wednesday, we will wrap up Justin Ahern's Top 100s list with a look at the Top 200 overall players of all time. For those of you new to this site, or if you have not seen these lists yet, here are the positional Top 100s. If you would like some background on the process used to develop this report and ranking, please click here.
All-Time Top 100s: First Basemen
All-Time Top 100s: Second Basemen
All-Time Top 100s: Third Basemen
All-Time Top 100s: Left Fielders
If you have any questions for me, or if you have any questions for Justin, please e-mail me, and I will be sure to forward your thoughts to him.
And again, before we get to the rest of our topics for today, BrentNet has updated his Top 100 Hip-Hop songs lists with his Top 25 songs. I have to admit, there are a number of these songs that even I haven't heard of, but it is fun to see the names and the songs, and then think about how I would rank the songs, or if I would have chosen a different song from particular artists. Check the lists out here:
Part 1 - Songs 100-76
Part 2 - Songs 75-51
Part 3 - Songs 50-26
Part 4 - Songs 25-1 (Not sure when this list will be complete, keep checking back)
First things first, Congratulations to Lew Ford for winning an award! Certainly deserves it. For those curious, the Lowell Spinners are a Class A affiliate of the Boston Red Sox.
Ford was named this year's winner of the Dick Berardino Lowell Spinners Alumni Award, presented to a former Spinners' player who has displayed tremendous coachability, determination, dedication and a passionate work ethic to reach the major leagues.
The Arizona Fall League season is complete. Seven Twins prospects were able to play in the league. Teams are only allowed six, but as we all know, Jason Kubel played in just one game before massively injuring his knee. Kevin West replaced him. As you all know, I am a big fan of following the Twins minor league system, even coming up with my own Top 25 Twins Prospects List. I think that Twins officials have to be thrilled with how their players performed against many of the other top prospects in baseball. Here is a quick rundown:
Jason Bartlett - SS - Now that the Twins have officially lost Cristian Guzman to the Washington Nationals, they have to make a determination of what to do at SS. I am happy that Jason Bartlett played so well in Arizona, maybe letting team officials see that he is the right guy for the Twins job next season! In 17 games, he hit .397/.457/.507 with four doubles, two triples, 12 RBI and six stolen bases. He did have four errors in those games, which is the question with him.
Rob Bowen - C - Playing in the Fall League for the fourth season, Bowen actually didn’t play too terribly there. In 18 games, he hit .250/.338/.333 with three doubles, a triple and 8 RBI. He had two errors behind the plate.
Kevin West - OF - If not for Kubel’s incredible 2004 season, Kevin West would clearly have been the Twins minor league offensive player of the year. I was very happy to see him replace Kubel following his injury. I was more happy to see how well he performed. He hit .340/.400/.528 with three doubles, two triples, a home run and 13 RBI. In 15 games in the OF, he had two errors.
Scott Baker - RHP - Baker was the Twins minor league pitcher of the year as he moved from Class A to AAA. He proved his ability in Arizona. He started seven games and was 0-1 with a 3.68 ERA. In 29.1 innings, he gave up 32 hits and walked seven while striking out 29.
Jesse Crain - RHP - Crain is an incredible arm who helped the Twins the last two months of the season. In 11 appearances in the Fall League, Crain went 1-0 with a 2.08 ERA. In 13 innings, he allowed 10 hits and walked four while striking out 14.
JD Durbin - RHP - The Real Deal got a September call-up after mid-season arm surgery. He did alright, but showed that he does still have some work to do. In Arizona, he went 1-1 with a 4.56 ERA in six starts. In 25 2/3 innings, he allowed 21 hits and walked 10 while striking out 29. But his numbers don’t really matter right now. He threw a lot of changeups, the pitch he and the Twins believe he needs to work on to be a starter. But, he was also clocked at 100 mph a couple of times! The pitching package that is JD Durbin is something that Twins fans should be excited about!
TWINS SIGN TYNER
Last week, the Twins signed veteran OF Jason Tyner to a minor league contract. My initial reaction to the signing was the Tyner, a light-hitting lefty, might be brought in as a possible contender for the Twins 5th outfield spot (assuming that the Twins still trade Jacque Jones). It would be a battle between Tyner, Michael Ryan and Todd Dunwoody. Each has some big league experience. Each comes cheap, which we know is big for the Twins.
A little history on Tyner for those of you who are unaware of him. He was an All-American CF out of Texas A&M where he put up some great numbers. He became the New York Mets first round pick, 21st overall, in 1998. He continued to hit throughout the minor leagues and made his major league debut with the Mets in June of 2000. He played 13 games with the Mets before being traded to Tampa Bay with Paul Wilson for Bubba Trammell and Rick White. In 2001, he played in 105 games for the Rays and hit .280/.311/.326. He went from the Rays to their AAA Affiliate Durham the next two seasons frequently. Last year, he played for the Indians AAA Affiliate in Buffalo. Tyner has above average range for an outfielder because of his great speed, but I don’t think I would consider him a great outfielder. He also doesn’t have much of an arm.
So, I’m sure he was looking for an organization that might give him the opportunity to get back to the big leagues. From 2000-2003, Tyner played in 245 big league games. He has hit .257/.294/.299 with 21 doubles and six triples. You will notice he has no home runs. In 2004, he hit one home run at AAA. It was his first home run since Little League. He didn’t hit any in the minors, in college or in high school. So, we won’t be getting a power hitter. But he also can steal a lot of bases. In seven minor league seasons, Tyner has hit .309.
So, this isn’t a huge signing, but Tyner could spend some time with the Twins next season. If not, he will be a positive in CF for the Rochester Redwings.
TRIVIA - Which current Twins player was a walk-on at Texas A&M and was told to go to a junior college because he was not going to beat out Jason Tyner for playing time? E-mail me with your guesses.
The Wolves had just one game over the weekend and were able to pick up another win, this time against the still winless New Orleans Hornets. The hero for the Wolves was none other than Eddie Griffin. He scored 23 points on 10-14 shooting, including 3-4 from three-point range. Kevin Garnett had 20 points (on 8-12 from the field), 12 rebounds and 5 assists, but he is fighting a shoulder injury now. Sam Cassell had 20 points on 5 assists. Fred Hoiberg was huge in the win as well, knocking down a couple of big three-pointers on his way to 15 points. They were important because both Latrell Sprewell and Trenton Hassell struggled offensively.
This week, the Wolves play a bunch of games. Tonight they play the revamped Dallas Mavericks. Out are Steve Nash, Antwain Jamison and Eduardo Najera, but they have been replaced by Jason Terry, Jerry Stackhouse and 1st round pick out of Wisconsin Devin Harris. Tuesday, the Wolves will be back home to play Ray Allen, Rashard Lewis and the Seattle Supersonics. Thursday, they travel to Indiana and play the Pacers without Ron Artest, Stephen Jackson and Jermaine O'Neal. Then they come home Friday night to play the talented Memphis Grizzlies led by Pao Gasol, Shane Battier and Jason Williams, not to mention Stromile Swift, one of the league's best athletes!
So, after playing just twice in the last eight days, the Wolves will now play four games in five nights and five games in seven days! Doesn't make sense, but such is the NBA season, I guess.
For some quotes from Wolves players on the situation in Detroit, see below.
Any thoughts on the Wolves, please e-mail me.
This could be a big topic. I fully expect plenty of discussion on it. Did you see what happened in The Palace at Auburn Hills near the end (which proved to be the end) of the Indiana Pacers win over the Detroit Pistons? I actually didn’t see it live. A friend of mine called me and told me that I really needed to see it. So, while watching my movies, I had TV2 on ESPN, hoping to see "highlights" of the altercation.
To set the stage, the Pacers were nearing the end of a big win against the World Champs. It was an emotional game throughout. With under a minute left, Detroit’s Ben Wallace went in for a basket and was fouled hard by Ron Artest. In the foul, Artest hit Wallace in the head. Wallace took exception and pushed Artest. It led to an on-court altercation between the two teams. As the fight was ending, Artest was actually reclined on the scorer’s table, staying out of it.
And then it happened, a moronic, drunk Pistons’ fan threw a full cup of beer at Artest. It hit him in the chest. Artest leapt up and went into the stands and was swinging at the people near the person that threw the beer. Others came in to control Artest. Teammate Stephen Jackson went into the stands to defend his teammate and threw more punches. Jermaine O’Neal was held back from going into the stands but clearly he wanted to as well. Ben Wallace actually came to the defense of Artest (think about that!).
As Artest and Jackson came back to the floor, other unruly Pistons fans came onto the court, at Artest, ready to fight. Artest hit that guy and knocked him down. He was pulled more to the middle of the field, where security was keeping more "fans" away from him. Jermaine O’Neal went after the guy who went after Artest, on the court, and hit him.
All told, it was an ugly and incredibly unfortunate situation. First, I am going to give my thoughts on the riot, and then I will get into the player’s suspensions and comment on those.
My initial reaction to the situation was that the players were going to be made out to be the bad guys, as they always are in such situations. The fact that Ron Artest was involved gave everyone a scapegoat. I knew instantly that he would be made to be the bad guy because of his previous situations. Now, the hard foul on Artest happens all the time in the NBA. To me, he maybe deserved a technical foul, or even a flagrant foul, but Wallace’s reaction is what really caused the on-court fight.
There are a lot of people who see Ron Artest and don't like him. There are a lot of people who don't like the NBA, whether they actually watch it or not. This is a situation that those particular people will see on SportsCenter and make the worst out of it. They will continue to badmouth the league, and not just about Artest, or the riot, but they will make a lot of general comments about the NBA that really are not true. You think I'm making an assumption, but just listen to people talk about this, or talk about the NBA in general. You will hear these kinds of things.
Now, the fight was just quieting down when the fan threw the beer at Artest. Now, please, don’t think that I am defending what Ron Artest did. He absolutely should control his emotions and stayed out of the stands. There needs to be a line that the players can not cross, and clearly Artest crossed it. But I have to say that I can not blame him. I can’t say that I would have reacted any differently. The fans absolutely deserve the majority of the blame in this situation. Let the players take care of the fight on the court. Let them fight. But the fans can not be throwing objects at players. Who here wouldn’t have reacted the same way Artest did? Who would have had the moral ability not to want to do exactly what Artest did? Sure, he makes $5.5 million a season to play basketball. Does that make him anything more than human (ok, a rich human). NBA players deal with a lot of taunting from fans. And unlike other sports, the fans are nestled right in with the players. Look at LA where Jack Nicholson sits right on the court next to the opponent’s bench. It was really just a matter of time before something like this happens.
Now, Artest is going to be the name talked about in this situation. But others were involved too. Stephen Jackson saw his teammate in the stands with multiple fans around him, not to take his picture but to hurt him. Jackson defended his teammate by going into the crowd. Sure, maybe he didn’t need to throw a punch and should have just played peacemaker, but again, put yourself in the situation. Jermaine O’Neal was held back from going up there or else he would have defended Artest as well. And those are the kinds of teammates I would want. I wouldn’t want teammates the sat on the sideline and watched as people were trying to hurt me. If I’m Pacers coach Rick Carlisle, I’m in a tough spot because he has to be happy that these guys will defend each other. And again, let’s not forget that the Pistons’ Rasheed Wallace was also defending the fellow NBA players, not his hometown fans.
Now, all of the above was bad, and really makes the players look bad. But then how many fans came onto the court for the purpose of causing something? A lot! Now, players should not go into the stands, but fans should never go on the court. In my opinion, once a fan comes on the floor and is clearly there to do wrong, they’re fair game to anything that would happen in a regular NBA fight. When the fan came to Artest with his hands up and talking to him, I say Artest had every right to defend himself. When Jermaine O’Neal came over and hit the guy, he too had that right! I was impressed by Artest’s and the other’s restraint as more fans were coming at them. I was impressed that nothing happened after a chair was thrown at the players.
Basically, the city of Detroit should be completely embarrassed at this point. Yes, I realize that it was the actions of a few dozen people, so to classify the whole city of Detroit as hoodlums is not fair. But hey, all of these players will be thought of that way, won’t they? And, if we’re being completely honest, this could become a racial issue, and it probably already has. If that is the case, that is a problem! Let me just say this. If I’m out with a bunch of my friends and one of my friends gets into a fight and people are doing damage to him and the situation is out of control, I hope I act like Stephen Jackson. I hope I act like Jermaine O’Neal!
Yesterday, commissioner David Stern did what he had to do. He had to make a statement that players can not, under any situation, go into the stands and get into altercations with the fans. The extent of the suspension is my problem. Ron Artest was suspended for the rest of the season (72 games). Stephen Jackson was suspended for 30 games. Jermaine O’Neal was suspended for 25 games. Anthony Johnson was suspended five games. The Pistons’ Ben Wallace was suspended 6 games. A few other players were suspended a game a piece. All suspensions are without pay so Artest loses out on almost $5 million, O’Neal will lose $4.4 million and Jackson will lose $1.7 million.
Now, I fully expected the those players to get suspended. It is certainly deserved. And Stern needed to be, umm… stern. I knew Artest would get the biggest suspension because he was the player who went into the stands first, but also because of his checkered past. I do realize that something major needed to be done, but I do believe that the suspensions are very excessive.
What length of suspensions would I have given? How about this? Ron Artest gets 30 games. Stephen Jackson gets 20 games. Jermaine O'Neal gets 15 games. Even those suspensions would be huge, especially in comparison to previous NBA suspensions. Yet, they are not excessive, and they do not completely affect an entire team and cities chances to compete.
At what point does the NBA (meaning David Stern) have to back up his players. I am sure that the Player’s Association will appeal the suspensions and they absolutely should! And I hope that players around the league are not afraid to speak up in favor of their fellow players! As the fans should be able to go to a game and enjoy it and be safe, so should the players. They are entertainers and should not fear being attacked by fans. It just should not happen! And that is essentially what happened.
Fans pay good money to watch the game. They pay to attend and be entertained. The have the right to scream and yell and cheer, and although I believe it is poor, they have the right to boo. The DO NOT have the right to go on the court. They DO NOT have the right to throw objects of any kind at a player.
It is clearly an unfortunate situation, one that the league, the players involved, the teams and the city of Detroit should be incredibly ashamed of. But the right thing needs to be done to put this past us!
I’m sure you have plenty of comments on this situation and maybe even on my thoughts on it and the penalties invoked. I may have to have a mailbag on this and other issues later in the week, so please feel free to e-mail me and make your thoughts known.
Here are a few quotes from the Timberwolves:
Flip Saunders -
"This is our sanctuary down here (on the court). And that's yours (the seats)."
Wally Szczerbiak -
"It's kind of the unwritten rule, you can't go into the stands no matter what happens."
Kevin Garnett -
"I couldn't believe what I was seeing. I hate that situation had to happen, but as players you have to protect yourself and your teammate. At the same time, it should never have got to that. Sometimes fans overstep the boundary. We're men, too."
"You get caught in a situation where you do jump the rail, now it's not basketball player and fan. It's man on man. That's a whole other story. You've got to help your teammate. That's your brother. I understand how the Indiana Pacers were sticking together. I just hate when it turns into something else. It's a basketball game, not a bar fight."
Sam Cassell -
"We're human. We've got to protect ourselves. If a fan throws something on you, you've got to protect your honor. I don't want to be the bad guy with my comment. The NBA will make the adjustments. They'll take some money out of people's pockets."
Mark Madsen -
"I think this game is great because the fans can be right up, close and personal. This is one incident that so many different factors came in to cause," he said. "I sure hope the fans, the players and the coaches maintain that close relationship."
VIKINGS 22, LIONS 19
What a terrible game if you’re a Vikings fan! In the first half, the special teams allowed Eddie Drummond to score on the opening kickoff, the defense made an anemic Detroit offense look really good, it made Kevin Jones look like an All-Pro even though Joey Harrington still wasn’t able to complete many passes, and even the offense did very little after scoring on their first drive. The second half didn’t start out any better. The offense didn’t do much. The defense didn’t really stop much. Onterrio Smith was tackled in the end zone for the lone points of the 3rd quarter. The Vikings were down 19-7 heading into the fourth quarter.
But then, it seemed, the switch went on. I don’t know if it was including Moe Williams more in the offense. I don’t know if the defense finally decided to be good. Lance Johnstone had three second half sacks. I just don’t know what exactly happened. Nate Burleson caught a 6 yards TD pass early in the 4th quarter to cut the lead to just six. For some reason, Coach Tice decided to go for two, instead of just kicking the field goal. Did it matter if the team was down by four or five? They got the conversion and cut the lead to 19-15. When Moe Williams dove into the end zone with five and a half minutes to go, the Vikings had a 22-19 lead to hold onto. (The first lead the team has had since beating Tennessee a month earlier.)
The defense started playing well at that time, putting pressure on Harrington. When Antoine Winfield intercepted a pass in the final minute, the game was over and the Vikings had their sixth win. So, for as bad as the team played for three quarters, it really doesn’t matter because in the end, the Vikings got the win. Sometimes it doesn’t matter how ugly the win is, just that the team adds a number to the Win column. Games in the NFC North will not be easy. These teams know each other well. They know tendencies. There are rivalries. Even in years where the Vikings are good and the Bears or Lions were bad, the scores generally were close when they played. So, I don’t think we should look too much into the score of the game.
That said, this is not a good team. This is not a team that will get to the Super Bowl. The defense is just too bad! Yes, I still believe that the team can beat any team in the league. However, I don’t think that they can in the playoffs because their defensive weaknesses will be made bigger by good teams. We can hope still, right? Randy Moss will be back, and will be added to the improved Nate Burleson and Jermaine Wiggins who Culpepper now has complete confidence in.
The running game has actually been somewhat frustrating of late. It was actually at its best when it really had just one option. When Mewelde Moore would get 20-25 carries a game, he was great. This splitting carries between Michael Bennett and Onterrio Smith is great in principle, but in reality, a running back needs repetitions. So, at some point, they are going to have to pick one of those two and go with him and actually use the other for breathers.
This is a good team. It isn’t a great team. They can still win the division and get to the playoffs, but don’t expect too much. I do think that Mike Tice is fine as coach. I do think that having Randy Moss back will be huge. I think that defensive coordinator Ted Cottrell is a great defensive coach. I think that the organization needs to keep him and let the players get used to his system over time!
What are your thoughts on the Vikings? E-mail me.
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Baltimore 30, Dallas 10 -
Since this is a baseball site, I should mention that the Cowboys finally went to Drew Henson. He fumbled on his first play, but later led the team to a TD in the last minute of the game, going 6-6 for 47 yards. But the Cowboys are really bad! I mean, the Ravens offense is really bad and they put up 30! Kyle Boller threw for over 200 yards again, and 2 TDs. He completed passes to eight different receivers and was good, even after Jamal Lewis left the game to injury in the first quarter.
Buffalo 37, St. Louis 17 -
The Bills Rian Lindell kicked a field goal near the end of the first half to tie the score at 17. The Bills then went on to score 20 consecutive second half points to destroy the Rams. After doing very little in the first half, Willis McGahee showed up in the second half and recorded 100 yards on the ground. Drew Bledsoe found Mark Campbell for three TDs in the game as well. Marshall Faulk had 13 rushes for 6 yards on the game!
Carolina 35, Arizona 10 -
Stephen Davis. Deshon Foster. Brad Hoover. Well, every year, there is a game when Nick Goings gets his chance for the Panthers and takes advantage of it. 22 rushes. 118 yards. 3 Touchdowns. 3 receptions. 21 yards. Not a bad day! And Muhsin Muhammad had another big day with 121 yards and two TDs. For the Cardinals, Larry Fitzgerald continues to play well. He had 92 yards and a TD. Anquan Bolden and Fred Jones each had over 70 yards receiving as well, with Shawn King starting as Arizona’s QB.
Indianapolis 41, Chicago 10 -
Peyton Manning only threw for 211 yards yesterday. But he still threw four TD passes. Two went to Reggie Wayne, who accounted for 106 yards on his six catches. Edgerrin James finally was given a chance to do something and he certainly did. 204 yards rushing on 23 carries and a touchdown! The much-maligned Colts defense recorded four sacks, recovered three fumbles and intercepted two passes. Not bad! But then you have to remember that they were playing against those Chicago Bears!
Pittsburgh 19, Cincinnati 14 -
Carson Palmer accounted for three first-half touchdowns. Two went to Bengals receivers, and one was a 14 yard interception return by James Farrior, of the Steelers. And of course, Ben Roethlisberger, who is now 8-0 as a starter, will likely be given all the credit. Fact is, that Steelers defense is tough! And, a full-strength Jerome Bettis is still good. He had his third straight 100+ rushing yards game. But then, Roethlisberger didn’t really make any mistakes either. He was 15-20 for just 138 yards and a TD. But no interceptions (we won’t mention the lost fumble). It’s all about team in the NFL, as it should be, and like the Patriots, the Steelers are equally balanced.
NY Jets 10, Cleveland 7 -
Wow! What a boring game this must have been! The Jets had 235 total yards. The Browns had 216. Jeff Garcia threw a TD pass to Aaron Shea, but threw for just 88 yards. Quincy Carter threw for 115 yards but was also sacked six times. The Browns scored seven in the first half. The Jets scored their ten in the second half. From a fantasy perspective, the Jets’ Justin McCareins had 70 yards receiving and a TD. For the Jets, Curtis Martin led the way with 87 yards rushing.
Tennessee 18, Jacksonville 15 -
Antwain Smith is back, replacing the injured Chris Brown in the Titans lineup. He rushed for 94 yards and a touchdown that gave the Titans a win. Steve McNair was back as the starter for Tennessee and was 18-30 for 209 yards and a TD. Fred Taylor rushed for over 100 yards for the Jaguars.
Denver 34, New Orleans 13 -
Reuben Droughns had another big game. He rushed 28 times for 166 yards and a touchdown. Jake Plummer had another solid, efficient day. He was 19-29 for 224 yards, two touchdowns and no turnovers. Aaron Brooks had a great fantasy stat line, but mainly because he had to throw the ball 60 times. He threw for 377 yards, but just one touchdown. He also threw three picks. Dante Stallworth actually accounted for something for once! He had 10 catches for 122 yards and a TD. Needing to pass, Deuce McAllister had just 42 yards receiving yards, but he caught 11 passes for another 87 yards.
Tampa Bay 35, San Francisco 3 -
The 49ers apparently are THAT bad. Why? Because, the Buccaneers are really terrible, and they lit up the ‘9ers! Michael Pittman led the way with 101 yards rushing and 2 TDs. Brian Griese was 15-21 with 210 yards and 2 TDs. Both touchdowns were to Joe Jurevicious, who you just have to be happy for!
San Diego 23, Oakland 17-
Ladanian Tomlinson had a huge game to lead the Chargers to the win. Drew Brees has been carrying the team of late, and was good again yesterday throwing for 225 yards and a TD (to Antonio Gates, of course). But Tomlinson carried the ball 38 times for 165 yards and a touchdown! Kerry Collins was actually pretty good for the Raiders too. He threw for over 200 yards and two TDs.
Seattle 24, Miami 17
Olindo Mare kicked a field goal with 2:30 to go in the game to tie the score. The Seahawks got the ball and went three-and-out. So, the Dolphins got the ball with less than two minutes to go and a chance to win. After a first down, AJ Feeley threw a ball that was intercepted by the Seahawks’ Michael Boulware who returned it 63 yards for the game-winning touchdown. The Dolphins got the ball back, but on the first play, Feeley was sacked and fumbled, essentially ending the game. Shawn Alexander rushed for 96 yards and a touchdown. Jerry Rice was the beneficiary of Trent Dilfer starting in the place of the injured Matt Hasselbeck. Rice caught three passes for 86 yards, including a 56 yarder and a 21-yard touchdown.
Atlanta 14, NY Giants 10 -
Eli Manning’s first career start was full of ups and downs. He really struggled throughout the game, but was really hurt by frequent dropped passes by Giants receivers. He was just 17-37 for 162 yards and threw two bad interceptions. But he did connect with Jeremy Shockey for his first career TD pass. He almost led the team back to tie or even win the game, but the Giants fell short. The Falcons were led by Michael Vick. He was just 12-20 for 114 yards passing, but had two TDs to Alge Crumpler and no interceptions. He also led the Falcons in rushing with 104 yards on 15 carries. Tiki Barber did have another 100 yard rushing game, more impressive since he sat a few series with an apparent head injury.
Philadelphia 28, Washington 6
Clinging to a 7-6 lead at halftime, the Eagles scored 21 unanswered points in the second half. Brian Westbrook, when healthy, has been racking up rushing and receiving yards. Yesterday, he rushed for 63 yards and caught five passes for another 42 yards, and he finally got in the end zone, with two TD catches! Terrell Owens had just two catches for 24 yards, but did get in the end zone once. Donovan McNabb led the Eagles by going 18-26 for 222 yards and four TDs. Hey, even Todd Pinkston caught five balls for 106 yards! The Redskins just couldn’t get anything offensively. Clinton Portis only rushed for 37 yards.
Green Bay 16, Houston 13
Brett Favre did it again, leading the Packers from ten down at halftime to a last second Ryan Longwell field goal giving the Packers the win, and keeping them atop the NFL North. Ahman Green was out of the game early with an injury. Favre was 33-50 for 383 yards and a TD. Donald Driver was his primary receiver catching ten balls for 148 yards and the TD. For the Texans, David Carr was great in the first half, but not good in the second. And, how good is Andre Johnson!?
Any thoughts on the NFL, please e-mail me.
Wow! We've got some really good football pickers here! And no, certainly not me! But with everyone picking the Patriots to beat the Chiefs tonight, we know that we will have seven 'winners' this week. That's right, seven out of twelve got 12 out of 15 games right so far! That's pretty good! Missy Olson (who has now tied Michael Brasel for tops in the league standings), Ben Jacobs, Aaron Gleeman, John Bonnes, Michael Labuda, David Bloom and Vic Quick each went 12-3 this week!
So, let's see who picked whom this week:
WEEK 11
Seth Stohs Melissa Olson Ben Jacobs Aaron Gleeman John Bonnes Ryan Maus SethSpeaks.net SethSpeaks.net Hardball Times Aaron's BB Blog Twins Geek Twins Chatter Detroit @ Minnesota Vikings Vikings Vikings Vikings Vikings Vikings Denver @ New Orleans Saints Broncos Broncos Saints Broncos Saints San Francisco @ Tampa Bay Buccs Buccs Buccs Buccs Buccs Buccs Arizona @ Carolina Cardinals Cardinals Cardinals Panthers Cardinals Cardinals Tennessee @ Jacksonville Jaguars Jaguars Jaguars Titans Titans Jaguars Dallas @ Baltimore Ravens Ravens Ravens Ravens Ravens Ravens St. Louis @ Buffalo Rams Rams Bills Rams Bills Rams Indianapolis @ Chicago Colts Colts Colts Colts Colts Colts Pittsburgh @ Cincinnati Steelers Steelers Steelers Steelers Steelers Steelers NY Jets @ Cleveland Browns Jets Jets Browns Browns Browns San Diego @ Oakland Chargers Chargers Chargers Chargers Chargers Chargers Miami @ Seattle Seahawks Seahawks Seahawks Seahawks Seahawks Seahawks Atlanta @ NY Giants Falcons Falcons Falcons Falcons Falcons Falcons Washington @ Philadelphia Eagles Eagles Eagles Eagles Eagles Eagles Green Bay @ Houston Packers Packers Texans Packers Texans Packers New England @ Kansas City Patriots Patriots Patriots Patriots Patriots Patriots Michael Labuda David Bergner David Bloom Vic Quick Mike Brasel Jeremy Kovash ChiSox Daily Baseball Savant Ya Gotta Believe KDUH-Sports FFB Guru Wolf Lake Mgr Detroit @ Minnesota Vikings Vikings Vikings Vikings Vikings Lions Denver @ New Orleans Saints Broncos Saints Broncos Broncos Broncos San Francisco @ Tampa Bay Buccs Buccs Buccs Buccs Buccs Buccs Arizona @ Carolina Panthers Panthers Cardinals Cardinals Cardinals Cardinals Tennessee @ Jacksonville Jaguars Jaguars Titans Jaguars Jaguars Jaguars Dallas @ Baltimore Ravens Ravens Ravens Ravens Ravens Ravens St. Louis @ Buffalo Bills Bills Rams Rams Rams Rams Indianapolis @ Chicago Colts Colts Colts Colts Colts Colts Pittsburgh @ Cincinnati Steelers Steelers Steelers Steelers Steelers Steelers NY Jets @ Cleveland Jets Browns Jets Jets Browns Jets San Diego @ Oakland Chargers Chargers Chargers Chargers Chargers Chargers Miami @ Seattle Seahawks Seahawks Seahawks Seahawks Seahawks Seahawks Atlanta @ NY Giants Giants Giants Falcons Falcons Falcons Giants Washington @ Philadelphia Eagles Eagles Eagles Eagles Eagles Eagles Green Bay @ Houston Packers Texans Packers Packers Texans Texans New England @ Kansas City Patriots Patriots Patriots Patriots Patriots Patriots
That's it for today. Please feel free to let me know what you think. Have yourself a great week!
If you have any questions, comments or ideas for future topics, please e-mail me.