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NFL - Week Four Preview

The beginning of October signals that football is in full swing as the NFL gears up for Week Four.
There are just three (count 'em) teams that are undefeated, which shows that parity is rearing it's head unusually early this season.
After this weekend, there may be only one team still undefeated ... The Green Bay Packers.
On the other hand, five teams still are winless, including the Kansas City Chiefs and Indianapolis Colts.
The Chiefs play host to the Minnesota Vikings (also 0-3) on Sunday afternoon, while the Colts play at Tampa Bay on Monday Night Football. ESPN has to be cringing knowing the Colts, without Peyton Manning, will be the marquee game this week.
There are some big matchups in Week Four, with perhaps none bigger than the New England Patriots playing on the road against the resurgent Oakland Raiders. These two teams DO NOT like each other and there has been a great history in this series going way back to 1976 when the Raiders, on their way to a Super Bowl title, were the beneficiaries of a referee's controversial call against the "Cinderella" Pats in the playoffs.
Fast forward 25 years later when the infamous Tom Brady "tuck rule" came into play as the Patriots received the benefit of a controversial call to oust the Raiders in the post-season on their way to a Super Bowl title.

Without further adieu, here is a look at the action coming up this weekend, with predictions to follow.

Detroit (3-0) at Dallas (2-1) - The Lions are looking to go to 4-0 for the first time since 1980 when they face these Cowboys, who needed six field goals to win on Monday Night Football last week. This game could be decided by a field goal as well.

Washington (2-1) at St. Louis (0-3) - The Rams host the Redskins looking for their first win of the season. An 0-4 start for most teams would be lethal as far as playoff hopes, but the Rams play in the woeful NFC West. But this game still is a MUST WIN for the Rams.

Minnesota (0-3) at Kansas City (0-3) - The loser of this game will fall out of the playoff picture while the winner will be just another also ran.

Carolina (1-2) at Chicago (1-2) - The Bears need this one, but the young Panthers are inspired by rookie quarterback Cam Newton and Head Coach Ron Rivera, who would just love to stick it to the Bears.

Pittsburgh (2-1) at Houston (2-1) - All the hype about the Texans after their fast start will be for not if they lose to the Steelers and drop to break even.

New Orleans (2-1) at Jacksonville (1-2) - The Saints appear to have their house in order after two big offensive outputs while the Jags struggle to score points. This game could turn into a laugher.

San Francisco (2-1) at Philadelphia (1-2) - All the attention this weekend will be on the Phillies in the baseball playoffs, so look for the Eagles to soar in this one.

Tennessee (2-1) at Cleveland (2-1) - Will either of these teams score at least 20 points in this game?

Buffalo (3-0) at Cincinnati (1-2) - The Bills lead the league in scoring and their defense does just enough to help them get by. The Bengals are awful on offense, but pretty decent on defense... upset alert!

NY Giants (2-1) at Arizona (1-2) - Toss up in this one. Cardinals need to win to keep pace with the 49ers while Giants need to do same in NFC East.

Atlanta (1-2) at Seattle (1-2) - The Falcons have to get it going or they will be left in the dust of the Saints and Bucs in the NFC South.

Miami (0-3) at San Diego (2-1) - The Dolphins may be playing for Head Coach Tony Sporano's job. Not a good thing for the Chargers, who have struggled on OFFENSE so far this season. How about it Philip Rivers?

New England (2-1) at Oakland (2-1) - The Raiders and the Patriots ... enough said.

Denver (1-2) at Green Bay (3-0) - The mismatch of the week... Packers roll!

NY Jets (2-1) at Baltimore (2-1) - The Ravens face the Jets and loud mouth Coach Rex Ryan on home turf, where their QB, Joe Flacco plays much better than on the road. The Ravens should win this one.

Indianapolis (0-3) at Tampa Bay (2-1) - The Colts are going with Curtis Painter at quarterback as they face the "no name" Buccaneers on Monday Night Football. Hey, Hey Tampa Bay!
Bucs roll in this one.

Heftyinfo Picks for Week Four (Home Teams listed in BOLD)

Dallas over Detroit
St. Louis over Washington
Minnesota over Kansas City
Chicago over Carolina
Pittsburgh over Houston
New Orleans over Jacksonville
Philadelphia over San Francisco
Cleveland over Tennessee
Cincinnati over Buffalo
NY Giants over Arizona
Atlanta over Seattle
San Diego over Miami
New England over Oakland
Green Bay over Denver
Baltimore over NY Jets
Tampa Bay over Indianapolis

Last week's Record: 11-5

SEASON RECORD: 33-15

2011 Major League Baseball Post-Season Previews

After the exciting finish to the 2011 Major League Baseball season last night, what more can be expected now that the post-season has finally arrived?
 The Tampa Bay Rays staged perhaps the greatest comeback ever when they toppled the New York Yankees, 8-7 in 12 innings when Evan Longoria drilled his second home run of the game just inside the left field foul pole.
The Yankees had a commanding 7-0 lead in the eighth inning, but Manager Joe Girardi elected to go with bullpen by committee in the late innings rather than using closer Mariano Rivera.
While all that was happening in Florida, the Boston Red Sox completed their September swoon as they choked away a nine-game lead in the Wild Card chase in the final month of the season.
The Baltimore Orioles scored twice in the bottom of the ninth inning against Bosox closer Jonathan Papelbon to win the game.
Over in the National League, the St. Louis Cardinals completed their incredible September comeback as well as they beat the Houston Astros, 8-0 while the Atlanta Braves squandered a 3-0 lead in the late innings and eventually lost to the Philadelphia Phillies, 4-3 in 13 innings to knock the Braves out of the post-season.
The Braves enjoyed a eight and a half game lead in early September in the Wild Card chase, but like Boston in the AL, they also choked away the lead and now find themselves on the outside looking in as the post-season gets started this weekend.

Here is a look at the teams involved in the 2011 Major League Baseball Post-Season with capsule previews and predictions for the World Series to follow ...

 In the National League, the Philadelphia Phillies, who had baseball's best record (102-60) in the 2011 season, will face the wild card team, the St. Louis Cardinals while the Milwaukee Brewers, winners of the NL Central division, take on the Arizona Diamondbacks, who were a huge surprise this season in winning the NL West.

The American League will feature the wild card Tampa Bay Rays taking on the AL West division champions, the Texas Rangers in the Division Series while the New York Yankees face the AL Central champs, the Detroit Tigers, who have been one of the hottest teams in baseball down the stretch, going 30-9 to run away with their division.

PHILLIES vs. CARDINALS - Look for the Phillies to win the series in four games, even though the Cardinals took the season series from Philly, 6-3.
In the post-season, it is all about pitching and there is none better than the "Fantastic Four" the Phillies trot out to the mound with Roy Halladay, Cole Hamels, Cliff Lee and Roy Oswalt.
St. Louis counters with Chris Carpenter, Jake Westbrook, Jaime Garcia and Kyle Lohse for their rotation. Fernando Salas is the closer for the Redbirds while the Phillies will rely on Ryan Madson to close things out in the post-season.

BREWERS vs. DIAMONDBACKS - The Brewers will have the edge as the "home team" in this series against the upstart D-Backs, led by feisty manager Kirk Gibson.
The Brewers are slugging team with good pitching and a solid bullpen to boot.
Prince Fielder leads the way for the "Brew Crew" along with slugging outfielder Ryan Braun, who both topped the 30-home run mark in the 2011 season. Yovani Gallardo and Zach Greinke provide a one-two punch for the Brewers' staff and have Francisco Rodriguez and John Axford in the bullpen.
Arizona has a combination of speed and timely hitting to provide for their offense, including Justin Upton, who slammed over 30 home runs and topped the 20-stolen base mark as well. Ian Kennedy is the staff ace and J.J. Putz had a great season in the closer role for the D-Backs.
Take the Brewers in four games to advance to the National League Championship Series.

YANKEES vs. TIGERS - With another AL East division title under their belts, the Yankees face the red hot Tigers, who ran away down the stretch in the AL Central and have the best pitcher in baseball this year in Justin Verlander.
The Yankees have C.C. Sabathia, Ivan Nova, A.J. Burnett and probably Freddy Garcia to round out their playoff pitching rotation. After Verlander, the Tigers feature Brad Penny, Rick Porcello, Doug Fister and Max Scherzer on the mound.
The bullpens are decent and the closers are simply awesome with Mariano Rivera (the all-time saves leader) in the Yankees' pen and Jose Valverde, who was perfect in 49 save situations this season.
Score this series for the Detroit Tigers in five games as they continue on their roll toward the World Series.

RAYS vs. RANGERS - These two teams went five games last year in the ALDS with Texas eventually winning and moving onto the World Series, where they lost to the San Francisco Giants.
C. J. Wilson and Derek Holland lead the way for the Rangers pitching staff while big boppers Ian Kinsler, Josh Hamilton, Adrian Beltre and Nelson Cruz pace the offense.
The Rays are on a huge roll having overcome the Red Sox in September and will ride the "Wild Card Wave" as far as they can in October.
Evan Longoria, B.J. Upton, Ben Zobrist, Casey Kotchman  and veteran Johnny Damon lead the way in the lineup while the pitching staff of David Price, James Shields, Jeremy Hellickson and Jeff Niemann and closer Kyle Farnsworth will be counted on heavily against the Rangers.
The Rays and Rangers both have been hot and this series should go the distance once again with the Rays prevailing this time around.

From there, Heftyinfo is picking the Detroit Tigers and Philadelphia Phillies in the World Series with the Phillies winning it all.

Play Ball!

Who Increased The Debt?

Here is some interesting information from the U.S. Treasury Department.
So the next time some right wing talking pundit tries to blame the Obama Administration and the Democratic party for the increase of the U.S. debt, whip this out on them.

ENOUGH SAID!

NFL - Week Three Review

Can anyone stop the Buffalo Bills?
Apparently not even the New England Patriots, who jumped out to a 21-0 second quarter lead, can stop the magic in upstate New York through the first three weeks of the 2011 NFL season. Buffalo also made NFL history by becoming the first team to overcome a deficit of 18 points or more in two consecutive games.
The Bills rallied to win 34-31 as Rian Lindell nailed a 28-yard field goal as time expired. Patriots quarterback Tom Brady (387 yards passing and four TD passes) was intercepted four times by the Bills' defense, including a 27-yard return for touchdown by Drayton Florence that put Buffalo ahead 31-24 in the final quarter.
Bills' QB Ryan Fitzpatrick passed for 369 yards with two touchdowns and two picks to help the team improve to 3-0 and first place in the rugged AFC East.
The Bills are alone on top because of their win over New England coupled with the Oakland Raiders punishing 34-24 win over the New York Jets (2-1) at the Oakland Coliseum.
The Raiders rode the legs of Heftyinfo NFL Player of the Week Darren McFadden, who rushed for 171 yards, including a 70-yard TD scamper that paced the win for the Raiders. Oakland rumbled for 234 yards on the ground as they topped the Jets and improved to 2-1.

Raiders' RB Darren McFadden scored two TD in Oakland's win over the New York Jets.

The San Diego Chargers kept pace with Oakland in the AFC West with a 20-17 home win over Kansas City, thanks in large part to the defense that kept the Chiefs under wraps all game long, limiting them to 252 total yards in offense.
Ryan Mathews ran for two scores while rushing for 98 yards to pace the offense. Chargers' QB Philip Rivers struggled with two more interceptions and no touchdown passes while throwing for 266 yards.
The Baltimore Ravens bounced back from a disappointing loss last week by crushing the host St. Louis Rams, 37-7 behind a huge game by rookie wide receiver Torrey Smith, who hauled in five passes for 152 yards and three touchdowns. Ravens' QB Joe Flacco threw for 389 yards and the Ravens put up a team record 553 yards in total offense.
The Detroit Lions stayed undefeated with a come from behind 26-23 overtime win in Minnesota as the Vikings blew a double digit lead in the second half for the third straight week.
Lions' QB Matthew Stafford (378 passing yards) hooked up with wide receiver Calvin Johnson twice for touchdowns to lead the comeback from a 20-0 halftime deficit.
In perhaps the most exciting game of the day, the New Orleans Saints knocked off the visiting Houston Texans, 40-33 as QB Drew Brees had three TD passes and threw for 370 yards while Houston's Matt Schaub passed for 373 yards and three scores as well.
The two teams combined for 930 yards in total offense and there were five lead changes in the game, including three in the final seven minutes of the game.
The Green Bay Packers systematically beat the Chicago Bears, 27-17 in Soldier Field behind Aaron Rodgers' three TD passes to tight end Jermichael Finley.
Tampa Bay defeated the visiting Atlanta Falcons 16-13 while holding Falcons' running back Michael Turner to just 20 yards rushing in the defensive struggle.
 The Carolina Panthers beat the Jacksonville Jaguars, 16-10 in a downpour in Carolina as QB Cam Newton did not pass for over 400 yards for the first time this season.
The Seattle Seahawks beat visiting Arizona 13-10 in a yawner in the great Northwest as Cardinals' QB Kevin Kolb threw an interception in the final minute as they were driving for the tying (or go-ahead) score.
San Francisco beat Cincinnati 13-8 on the road as running back Kendall Hunter scored the game's only touchdown.
Cleveland won at home over the Miami Dolphins, 17-16 as Browns' QB Colt McCoy hit Mohammed Massaqoui with the game winning 14-yard touchdown pass with 41 seconds left to play.  The Dolphins are 0-3 and the rumors are starting to fly that Miami Head Coach Tony Sporano's job may be on the line.
The Tennessee Titans held off the visiting Denver Broncos, 17-14 to improve to 2-1 as Titans' QB Matt Hasselbeck threw two TD passes and had 311 yards through the air to offset Broncos' QB Kyle Orton's two touchdown strikes. Tennessee top wideout, Kenny Britt, was lost for the rest of the 2011 season with torn knee ligaments.
In the Sunday Night game, the Indianapolis Colts gave the visiting Pittsburgh Steelers all they could handle before the Steelers eventually won the game, 23-20 on a 38-yard field goal by Shaun Suisham in the final seconds.
Pittsburgh QB Ben Roethlisberger (pictured left) passed for 364 yards and connected with wide receiver Mike Wallace for a 81-yard TD play to open the scoring. Each team scored a defensive touchdown in the game on fumble returns.
Colts' starting quarterback Kerry Collins left the game with a concussion and Curtis Painter took over and led the Colts on a game tying drive in the fourth quarter before the finishing kick by Suisham.
The Dallas Cowboys got six field goals from rookie kicker Dan Bailey, including a 40-yarder with less than two minutes remaining in regulation to edge the visiting Washington Redskins, 18-16 on Monday Night Football.

College Football Top Ten

The Heftyinfo College Football Top Ten (Week ending September 24)


1. Oklahoma (3-0)
2. Alabama (4-0)
3. LSU (4-0)
4. Stanford (3-0)
5. Wisconsin (4-0)
6. Boise State (3-0)
7. Oklahoma State (4-0)
8. Nebraska (4-0)
9. South Carolina (4-0)
10. Virginia Tech (4-0)