Mass The *New* Official Boston Sports Thread

Injury reports for game v. Bills

RB LaMont Jordan was held out of practice yesterday and today, but remains questionable for the game Sunday. Notably for the Bills, DE Aaron Schobel, who usually gives Light and Brady fits, has been ruled out for this one.

 

Michael Felger's report card for game v. Bills

The O-line were the stars of this one, as they did everything they were asked to, blocking for the running game and protecting Cassel. Short week coming up, as the Jets come in Thursday night.

 

This week's power ranking's round-up...

ESPN: #7
CBS SportsLine: #6
Fox Sports: #7
Sports Illustrated: #6
Football Outsiders: #20
Cold, Hard Football Facts: #6
ESPN SportsNation: #6

Both Tim Graham at ESPN and Pete Prisco at CBS have noted the improvement of QB Matt Cassel, with Graham calling him a legit NFL starter. Football Outsiders noted in their DVOA intro that 16 teams, a full half of the league, have either a 6-3 or a 5-4 record, meaning some good teams record-wise had to fall into the bottom half of the DVOA rankings. The Patriots do so mostly because of the bad losses to the Chargers and Dolphins.

 

Today's injury reports

Today's reports are akin to those normally issued on Friday because the game is tomorrow night. A couple of items for the Patriots: RB Sammy Morris (knee) is questionable (upgraded from the doubtful of last Friday), and LB Adalius Thomas has not officially been placed on IR, though it's been widely reported that he had to undergo surgery to repair his broken forearm.

 

Michael Felger's report card for game v. Jets

Felger thought that Belichick oversold Randy Moss's performance in the game, and the receivers only received a C+ as a group because of what Felger thought was generally uninspired play by Moss. However, most of the blame for the loss went to the secondary (a D- grade), which allowed Jets TE Dustin Keller to run loose all night.

 

A sophomore season that saw him win both the American League Gold Glove and Silver Slugger at second base culminated for Dustin Pedroia today by being named the American League's Most Valuable Player, becoming the first Red Sox player to win the award since Mo Vaughn in 1995.

 

Red Sox traded So-So, er I mean Co-Co Crisp to KC for relief pitcher Ramon Ramirez

 

This week's power rankings round-up...

ESPN: #10
CBS SportsLine: #10
Fox Sports: #10
Sports Illustrated: #8
Football Outsiders: #21
Cold, Hard Football Facts: #9
ESPN SportsNation: #10

Has there been a bigger game in November in recent Patriots history than this week's game in Miami? The winners could be tied with the Jets (who play the unbeaten Titans this week) atop the AFC East; the losers could be watching the playoffs on TV.

 

Friday's injury reports

A couple of key defensive players, LB Tedy Bruschi (knee) and DL Richard Seymour (toe), are questionable for Sunday's game. The Dolphins, as in the last meeting, reported no injuries, and the player they put on today's report, TE David Martin, was only on it because he was excused from practice for non-injury reasons.

 

Michael Felger's report card for game @ Dolphins

Matt Cassel was clearly the star of this game, garnering an A+ grade, but he had help, as the receivers, D-line, and coaches also received grades in the A range. The secondary continues to have problems, reflected by Felger's D- grade for the game.

 

This week's power rankings round-up...

ESPN: #8
CBS SportsLine: #8
Fox Sports: #10
Sports Illustrated: #5*
Football Outsiders: #18
Cold, Hard Football Facts: #8
ESPN SportsNation: #7

* Sports Illustrated NFL writer Don Banks did SI's power ranking this week in place of Dr. Z.

The Patriots have taken a big jump near the middle of the pack in Football Outsiders' DVOA ratings, largely on Matt Cassel's recent performances. The defense will have to get better, however, for the Patriots to have any chance in the playoffs, assuming they make it in.

 

Michael Felger's report card for game v. Steelers

Felger didn't see much to like in this one, as the positional groups got mostly Cs and Ds, but the running backs (especially Kevin Faulk) showed up, receiving an A- grade from Felger. The special teams got the lone F, largely on poor kick coverage and Gostkowski's miss from 27 yards. It was so hard to find 3 "Ups" on the Patriots that Felger gave an "Up" to the Steelers' fans for sticking out the game until the very end even in the bad weather.

 

Power rankings round-up...

ESPN: #11
CBS SportsLine: #11
Fox Sports: #13
Sports Illustrated: #8
Football Outsiders: #21
Cold, Hard Football Facts: #11
ESPN SportsNation: #11

After the loss to the Steelers, the Patriots are fighting for their playoff lives, but the good news is that the schedule is pretty easy the rest of the way, with only the Arizona Cardinals (a home date for the Patriots) considered playoff contenders. Their best hope may be to catch the Jets for the division, as 5 losses in the conference does not bode well for a wild card spot.

In other Patriots news, the NFL announced that the Patriots will play a game next year on Oct. 25 against the Tampa Bay Buccaneers at Wembley Stadium in London, which will count as a home game for the Buccs. The bye week will follow the London game. Wes Welker was back on the practice field today after taking the now-infamous Ryan Clark shot in Sunday's game against the Steelers, and the team re-signed LB Rosevelt Colvin.

In Red Sox news, 2B Dustin Pedroia, fresh off of his MVP season, signed a 6-year, $40.5M contract with an $11M club option for 2015.

 

Need any more proof that Celtics point guard Rajon Rondo is becoming a star, at least in Boston? How about his first triple-double (16 pts., 13 rebounds, 17 assists) last night against the Pacers?

 

Reading through the sports news yesterday before logging off, there was a very strong possibility that LB Junior Seau could be back in a Patriots uniform today. The Patriots have had recent injuries in the linebacker corps (Adalius Thomas, Pierre Woods), so Seau's addition could serve to provide depth there.

 

Friday's injury reports

Notably for the Seahawks, starting QB Matt Hasselbeck is doubtful for Sunday due to a back problem he suffered in the Hawks' Thanksgiving Day loss to the Cowboys.

The Patriots, as I mentioned the possibility of earlier, signed LB Junior Seau, and placed OLB Adalius Thomas (forearm) on injured reserve to clear a roster spot for Seau.

 

Michael Felger's report card for game @ Seahawks

Felger made it quite clear in his open that he thought Wes Welker was the star of this game, and that he only needs to play for a decade and win a few rings to invite comparisons to Troy Brown. While Felger thought the defense as a whole was pedestrian, he did give an "Up" to S Brandon Meriweather for the game-sealing blitz.

 

Power rankings round-up...

ESPN: #10
CBS SportsLine: #15
Fox Sports: #13
Sports Illustrated: #9
Football Outsiders: #21
Cold, Hard Football Facts: #10
ESPN SportsNation: #12

Hard to tell if the "experts" think the Patriots are playoff contenders now or are on the outside looking in. Don Banks of SI said he had a theory that Bill Belichick prefers coaching in this type of season with all of the problems, but Banks admits he could be "full of hooey," as well.

In what could turn out to be a blow to the Patriots' playoff chances, Greg Cassel, father of QB Matt Cassel, passed away last night, and Matt Cassel's status for Sunday's game in Oakland is uncertain.

 

We've kind of taken them for granted after the championship, but this season's edition of the Celtics are off to the best start (21-2) in franchise history (even last season's Celtics won only 20 before losing their third game) after last night's thumping of the Wizards in Washington. The New Orleans Hornets come into Boston for another nationally-televised game tonight. James Posey, one of the key men off the bench for last season's Celtics, will receive his NBA championship ring before the game.

 

According to a report I saw on WEEI.com, Red Sox reliever Hideki Okajima ran in, and finished (in about 6 hours, 8 minutes) this weekend's Honolulu Marathon. The report said that Oki didn't start training for the race until the end of the Red Sox season.

 

Michael Felger's report card for game @ Raiders

Pretty good grades all around, for the most part (though the secondary and special teams got C-level grades), but most of the credit went to the running backs, as the #1 and #2 backs (Sammy Morris and LaMont Jordan) both averaged over 8 yards per carry.

 

My Raiders are in a sad state right now. I expected this game to be a blowout. It is amazing that 'professionals' can go out there are not even put effort in. See the first half of that game. Second half Raiders put out some younger players.

Raiders have lacked any sort of effort for weeks. Well since the information leak regarding a list of high paid underachievers on the roster whom are going to be cut, one of them already cut (DeAngelo Hall).

The #1 overall pick last year, JaMarcus Russell, is absolutely lost on the field. He has no idea what he is doing. His numbers only looked respectable because of the Patriots pour passing defense.

No one even bothered to keep an account of where Welker was on the field and Asomugha should have covered Moss the whole game regardless of what side of the field he was on.

Got to give it up to a real coach like Belichick who can motivate his guys to play hard regardless who he has on the field.

 

This week's power rankings round-up...

ESPN: #9
CBS SportsLine: #14
Fox Sports: #11
Sports Illustrated: #12
Football Outsiders: #20
Cold, Hard Football Facts: #11
ESPN SportsNation: #9

It's this simple: the Patriots must win out and get help to make the playoffs. If they win the division, they get a home playoff game, likely against the bottom wild card team in the AFC. The Dolphins and Jets have one more game against each other, next week at the Meadowlands.

 

Michael Felger's report card for game v. Cardinals

All As for the Patriots this week. The only "down" in this one was given to the Cardinals, whom Felger told to "go back to that dome in the sun."

 

Anyone else disturbed by the amount of money the Yankees are spending in free agency, namely for C.C. Sabathia, A.J. Burnett, and now Mark Teixeira, whom the Red Sox were reportedly after?