Pats able to keep up with hype!

The feeling I had about the Patriots before today's game was not a good one. I had questions. How well could the defense function without Richard Seymour and Rodney Harrison? Is Asante Samuel in regular season condition after his hold out throughout most of training camp. Would Tom Brady's new fatherly duties throw him off his game? What can we expect from a Randy Moss injured for the entire preseason? Would the preseason problems with the offensive line protecting Brady come back to haunt them in the opener?

I had questions and this game had answers.

The defense held the Jets offense to a meager 14 points despite creating no turnovers whatsoever and were swarming around Chad Pennington all game. Tom Brady's performance was untouchable as he tore up the Jets secondary to the tune of 22/28, 297 yards, 2 TD's and no interceptions. Randy Moss really got the chance to showcase what he could do on the field as he posted 183 yards on 9 receptions and a Touchdown. The amount of time Tom Brady was allowed to sit in the pocket was incredible. He could've set up a lawn chair and had a read of the Sunday Paper with the time the Jets D-Line gave him.

The only question that remains is the rushing game. Despite an impressive opening drive for Laurence Maroney, he quickly became ineffective shortly after and Brady went to the air to move the football. Even with this setback, Maroney and Morris gave some encouraging signs and were able to grind out tough yards when they needed them in short yardage situations.

The Jets were hands down flattened by a better prepared and more talented team, however, I don't think the Jets are done. Chad Pennington showed some true grit trying to walk off a potentially serious injury and hobbling back onto the field to help the Jets score one of their only two touchdowns before sitting once the game became a lost cause. I get the feeling the Patriots are going to be making many of the teams on their schedule look like non-playoff teams this year. If the Jets can sort out some of the issues they're working through they could be a real threat later in the season.

Elsewhere in the League
Plenty of surprises in the opening week. Pittsburgh made a strong statement in it's first time in a long time without Bill Cowher by pounding the lowly Browns. If the Browns don't right the ship Romeo Crennel will probably be looking for a new job at the end of this season. The Packers put up an impressive win over the much heralded Eagles. More time is needed to tell if Favre really does have another year in him or if Donovan McNabb doesn't. There was some speculation about how the Vick-less Falcons would do this year. Some felt that Vick was the most overhyped and overrated Quarterback in the NFL and that the dropoff from losing Vick would be minor. The beating they took at the hands of the Vikings would seem to suggest otherwise. San Diego won a defensive battle against the Bears holding them to 3 points all game in a 14-3 win. It will be interesting to see how the Chargers handle the revamped Patriots offense.

BC outclasses NC State 37-17

The question this game left me with was "Is BC that good or is NC State that bad?". It's always going to be some combination of the two, but I was leaning more towards the latter. Tom O'Brien decided to stick with quarterback Harrison Beck after the dismal performance in the Wolfpack's opening game of the season against UCF. Beck wouldn't show much improvement against a razor sharp BC secondary. Beck was making risky passes all day long and managed to put up 321 yards and went 26/50 on the day, but his haphazard decision making cost him as BC picked him off 5 times, not to mention Harrison's lost fumble. A mishandled snap by the NC State punter deep in NC State territory gave the Eagles the go ahead touchdown. Giving up 7 turnovers can make it difficult to win ball games.

The BC offense seemed to be upside down today with Matt Ryan being limited to 15/34 and 142 yards, a big difference from the impressive 32/52 and 408 yards he posted against Wake Forest last week. The biggest difference seemed to be with the receivers. Missed routes, dropped passes and a lack of open receivers held back the Boston College passing game. The Boston College run game which had looked so ineffective against Wake Forest managed to put itself together as Andre Callender had a breakout game with 158 yards on 18 carries and 2 TD's including a breakout run downfield for 69 yards.

BC gets it's first real test as they head down to Atlanta to take on #21 Georgia Tech and try to improve to 3-0 in the ACC. The Yellow Jackets put up an impressive 33-3 win over the overhyped Irish in week 1 and pounded on Samford this weekend. If the Eagles defense can continue to create turnovers and the offense is firing on all cylinders next weekend they could definitely beat the Yellow Jackets and become a solid fixture in the top 25.

Michigan continues it's downward spiral from their preseason hype as they were manhandled by the unranked Oregon ducks 39-7 in the worst loss for the program since 1968....oh how the mighty have fallen in the rankings.

This was a rough weekend for the ACC as Miami was routed by the Sooners, VT proved it couldn't hang tough with a real national title contender as they were destroyed by LSU and Florida State put up an unconvincing win against UAB. It seems the ACC's 3 most prominent football programs are again having down years. Again the less heralded programs like BC, Georgia Tech, Clemson and Wake Forest seem to be gaining the credibility for the ACC. If the ACC fails to put up a real contender in a BCS bowl this year it's automatic bid could be in jeopardy.

Clay Bucholz No-No's the O's

Personally, I am just astounded by this kid's accomplishment. In his second Major League start he throws a no hitter? Unbelievable. I figured between this and the Appalachian St. over Michigan game in the same day SportsCenter would explode. What I found especially impressive was how dominant Clay looked throughout the no hitter with Dustin Pedroia making the only defensively impressive play. Jason Varitek should also get alot of the credit for this gem as he more than likely called this whole game for the rookie up from Pawtucket. The big question now is whether or not Clay has secured himself a permanent spot on the roster. How do you send a kid who's 2-0 with a No-Hitter to his credit back down to the minors? I looking forward to the contribution this kid will provide to the Red Sox starting rotation. He sure made Phil Hughes and Joba Chamberlain look like second rate prospects.

BC stumbles ass backwards into win against "ACC Champs" Wake Forest 38-28

So how about that Michigan-Appalachian State game? I honestly think this is one of the biggest upsets in college football history if not the very biggest. My local Pop Warner team could bury Appalachian. The only question before this game was whether or not the Michigan score would break triple digits. I think Rocky got better odds against Apollo Creed. The Wolverines were number 5 in the country and considered national title contenders yesterday, today they'll be lucky to stay in the top 25. Oh well, all the more room for other teams to move up..speaking of which....

So how do you get mad at an offense that puts up 38 points? When the opposing defense scores two touchdowns off of sloppy turnovers, including the opening play of the season. Soon it was 14-0 after the Demon Deacons stormed down the field to put up 7 more. It was at about this time that I nearly turned off the TV in disgust and began mourning the decision to place Jagodzinski as the head coach. But Matt Ryan righted the ship and put up 5 Touchdowns as the running game struggled to establish itself all game. Dejuan Tribble carried the Eagles to a victory kicking and screaming by posting 3 interceptions, 2 of which came in the Red Zone. Pretty easy to come back when the opposing offense can't stay on the field and they rely on their defense to put up half the points. BC has set the tone with the first conference win in the ACC, but this game was extremely sloppy on offense and led me to believe that if somebody's going to put BC in the end zone it's going to be Matt Ryan and supporting a one dimensional offense is no cake walk. The Eagles will welcome our turncoat former head coach Tom O'Brien with his new look NC State wolfpack to Alumni Stadium and look to improve to 2-0 in conference play.

Yankees fall apart in Detroit finale in 16-0 rout

If you have to go into the Bronx for a series late in the season, this is the way to do it. 8 Games up on the Yankees, they've just lost 3 of 4 to the Tigers ending in Mike Mussina getting lit up and pulled after 3 innings of work. The Yankee bullpen didn't fare much better and Justin Verlander posted a shutout on the usually explosive Yankee offense. The Yankees limp into the Bronx still in wild card contention thanks to Seattle's 3 game losing streak. The Rocket choked in the opener of the series giving up 6 runs over 5 innings, the bullpen had to cover the remaining 5 2/3 before the lead was blown in the 11th. Tonight the Yankee bullpen had to eat the remaining 5 innings Mussina left them. The Red Sox had an off day today and walk into Yankee stadium with the best record in baseball and coming off of one of the biggest routs in baseball history as they destroyed the White Sox in Chicago to sweep a four game series and outscored them 46-7. The sox are red hot and the Yankees are ice cold, seems like the perfect conditions to finally KO the Yankees' AL East ambitions.

The Great Chicago Fire of 2007

Fortunately for the Chicago fans, at this point in the year they've already dropped the White Sox in favor of the cubs and didn't have to witness the incredible beating they took at the hands of the Red Sox in this four game series. The consistently inconsistent Sox offense seemed to finally be clicking all throughout this series as they lit up the White Sox pitching staff for 46 Runs over 4 games. FORTY-SIX! In the meantime the Yankees struggled with the Angels and the Tigers and the AL East lead is back to a robust 7.5 Games. I can't think of a better way to roll into the Bronx with a chance to put the Yankees out of the AL East race for good and possibly set them back in the Wild Card.

Takin' Care of Business...

The sox put up two quality games against the Rays as the Yankees dropped their first two to the Angels in dramatic fashion.

Tim Wakefield continued to confound the Devil Ray whippersnappers with his knuckleball and Kevin Cash filled in admirably for the injured Doug Mirabelli. It's nice to see that the sox have found somebody in the organization besides Mirabelli who can catch the knuckleball without a dozen passed balls per game. Seeing the sox getting to Scott Kazmir early and often was also a nice touch as he typically pitches so well against the Red Sox. There really isn't much to complain about from the first game, they did everything well on both sides of the ball and cruised to an expected victory.

The second game the Red Sox again put up another strong performance offensively, but raised some concerns about Jon Lester. What really killed me about Lester's performance was the walks and homeruns. He gave up 4 walks over 5 1/3, one was of no consequence, two would be brought home by a subsequent home run and the last would buy him an early ticket out of this game. If he's giving up walks and then giving up homeruns when the pressure is on it could be bad news against an offensive powerhouse like the Yankees. Manny Delcarmen is still struggling to regain his form from earlier this season and seemed to be having some control issues when he hit a batter and walked a batter to bring Okajima into the game. Declarmen hasn't had any Gagne level screw ups, but hasn't looked all that sharp lately either. Papelbon looked really dominant in the last four outs of the game striking out the first three batters he faced and getting the last out on a popup. I think alot of people were expecting a second half drop off by Papelbon like they had seen in previous years, but Paps looks as though he hasn't lost a beat. In August he's had 8 appearances, allowed one hit, walked 3 and struck out 14 batters.

Tonight Dice-K goes for the sweep. The Rays have won two games against the Sox all year, both were in Dice-K's last two starts against the DRays. His first loss was a tough luck loss leaving a tight 1-0 game in the 7th inning before Manny Delcarmen gave up back to back homers to give the Rays a substantial lead. In his last start he fell apart in the third inning against the Rays and left the game after six innings with a 6-0 defecit. Hopefully Dice-K can turn it around tonight with a win.