My Sports Wheels......

Yeah, the Rangers aren't playing that well right now and the Red Sox have been one of the best teams in baseball the last month. I really like some of the Rangers players and think they'll contend for the playoffs in 2010.

First, that Packers defense is very good. There's no shame in having problems blocking those guys and I thought the line played pretty well on Sunday.

Second, I wouldn't say the receivers are good. Average maybe. Their best receiver is still learning how to be a receiver. On at least 4 different times, the receivers broke off their routes. I was driving home from church and after Cutler threw that first pick, Hub Arkush reported that the Bears receivers broke off the route 3 straight times. They just can't do that. I can't remember which receiver it was, but on the last pick, he broke off his route again. The receivers need to run their routes and trust that their QB will get them the ball where they need to have it. Beyond that, Cutler's going to have to play better and I think he will.

The Packers have some very good players and I thought the Bears D played great until that last big play. BTW, what was Vasher doing on the field at the end of the game? Even with Urlacher being out, I think the defense will be fine.

Take heart, Willie, I still think the Bears will be good this year.

 

Hosting the Steelers and traveling to Seattle, Chicago could end up with an 0-3 start. Since the salary cap started about 15 years ago, if I recall correctly, 78 teams have started 0-3 and only 2 have made the playoffs and they both lost in the first round.

 

Ok, maybe I spoke too soon about the Packers D after the Bungles hung 31 on them.

2nd best pickup this season for the Bears? Rod Marinelli. He stinks as a head coach, but he's got the D line playing pretty well. This D line isn't going to remind anybody of Dent, McMichael or Hampton, but they're playing pretty well. Great win against one of the best teams in the league.

 

I dunno. The Bengals led 31-21 with less than two to play, and Green Bay came back and made it interesting. That Bengals defense I told you all to keep an eye on? Sacked Rogers five times today. That RB I told you to watch? 141 yds. The boys have some holes, but I don't think anyone should take them lightly.

That said, I fully expect now a 5-11 season. Why? Because I root for them. As such, that's why anyone who talks about their sports wheels coming off their teams needs to walk a mile in my shoes. I root for the Reds, Bengals, Predators, and Volunteers. Sometimes the therapy does help.

 

The only thing that should surprise anybody is that it took this long for the Bungles* to have a good defense. Marvin Lewis was a defensive coordinator. Why did it take so long to have a good defense?

Stupid Cedric Benson. Couldn't get out of his own way in Chicago and hangs 141 on the Packers. Yes, I'm bitter.

I'll ask about the Reds in a different thread, because it's about time the Dusty Baker Experience ended in Cincinnati, isn't it?

The Vols didn't look bad against Florida, did they? The expectation was a 30 point blowout, but it was fairly close. OTOH, I never had the feeling that Tennessee was going to win. I thought Lane Kiffin was going to be a complete disaster as a head coach. Maybe he won't be.


*contractually obligated to call them the Bungles.

 

My wheels fell off some time ago

Browns...I'm not even going to go there...

Indians...supposed to contend for the division this year...trade half the team away for basically a jock strap. Years of futility on the horizon.

Cavs...supposed to win the NBA Finals last year...didn't even make it to the Finals

Ohio State...continue to melt down against ranked teams

:BangHead:

 

Two words...Mike Brown. (that answer works for almost anything wrong with the Bengals).

Yes. I know the injury bug bit hard after a quick start, and I don't know if anyone could've caught the Cards, but that said, I think he has one more year (dunno if he deserves that) before Jocketty has enough. Too much fundamentally wrong with this team, although getting rid of Encarnacion improved the fundamentals drastically. I wonder if P coach Dick Pohl will be around after Oct 5.

I'm out of time, but I'd love to share my thoughts on this....more to come.....

 

The most important signing this winter will be Dave Duncan. Peter Pascarelli on ESPN's Baseball Today podcast said that Duncan is not happy with the Cardinals organization, including how they traded his son. He also said that the Cardinals pitchers have resigned themselves to the fact that Duncan won't be there in 2010. Teams will be lining up to hire him.

 

I have prayed.....okay, almost prayed...that the Reds could lure him away from St. Louis. Short of the Reds getting LaRussa, this would be the best hire Jocketty could get. Would it solve the Reds' woes entirely? No, but it would help. They're going to have to get a RH bat (I don't think Rolen is a long-term answer) and prove that Bruce can do what everyone thought he can. If Duncan goes to the Queen City, and you bring back that entire staff, I don't see how the Reds can't become a contender in rather short order providing everyone stays healthy. Someone can remind Aaron Harang that he is in fact Aaron Harang. Bailey can improve. Johnny and Edinson will likely have the winter off, and Arroyo can still deal. Don't be surprised if Coco doesn't get dealt and the Reds turn Masset into a closer, using Coco's freed cash to go out and get a bat from the RH side of the dish. At this point, I'd say turn Owings into an OF. He swings a great bat. He's the odd man out in the rotation unless you deal Bronson or Aaron, but what would you get now? Willie Taveras wouldn't fetch a bucket of shag balls on the market. And with Stubbs and Dickerson fighting it out, who cares? SS will be a bigger question, as Yanish will have to hit better or else he's just a glove. But given the alternative, I'd take .220 and send Gonzo going. Rolen, Janish, Phillips, Votto.....that's solid now that I think about it. What do you do behind the plate? And you still have Gomes in the OF (can you believe the Reds paid little more than half a mil for this guy) with not enough spots to share.

Going to be fun to watch the off season with the Reds. Of course, I say that every winter thanks to what happened the previous summer.

 

Let me check my contract, but I think I'm required to hijack sports threads. :wavey:

No, no we don't. So bitter.

Oh, don't misunderstand me. The Bears are an average, at best, O-line, but with the QB they have, that might be good enough. Everybody wants the O-line the Viqueens or Jints have.

A good QB makes the entire team, including the defense, better. I guarantee that the Bears lose the Steelers game if Orton's still the QB.

I only question where he was for the Green Bay game. I'm not that concerned about his running in the Steelers game, because not even Chris Johnson could run against them.

You're not the only one. I picked them to win the West, but the difference is that I'm not a Rangers fan.


It seems crazy to say that the Bears saved their season with the Steelers win, but I listened to Chicago sports radio after the Green Bay game and the fans were ready to jump off the ledge after 1 game. If Cutler doesn't play like he did against the Steelers, I really think the fanbase would have turned on him already.

I don't really know who we thought we were fooling, but I heard Chicago sports radio personalities and listeners say things like, "We're better with Cutler. We're not thinking Super Bowl, but we know we're better." Who did we think we're fooling? If you listened to the mass hysteria from the Bears fanbase after the Green Bay game, then you know the fans were thinking Super Bowl. I can tell you first-hand that there is no way on Earth that any Bears fan thought the Bears were going to the Super Bowl with Kyle Orton as QB. Whether Bears fans want to admit it or not, the expectations, unfair or not, were there. We secretly tried to say something different, but the hand-wringing after week 1 told the story.

 

Yeah, it's Titans around here, and I guarantee you don't get the same passion out of Titans fans that you do Cowboys or Bears fans. Fans around here care more about the Volunteers than they do the Titans.

I was a Grossman fan until he continually fumbled snaps, even in the Super Bowl. How are you a Super Bowl QB who fumbles snaps?