Month: March 2010 (Page 32 of 59)

      Did the Jets make a lateral move by signing Tomlinson?

      March 15, 2010 /

      Quick question: At this point in their careers, what does LaDainian Tomlinson bring to the field that Thomas Jones doesn’t? “Not much” would be my answer, but apparently the Jets know something I don’t.

      Over the weekend, the Jets inked Tomlinson to a two-year, $5.2 million offer. This comes on the heels of them declining to match Kansas City’s two-year, $5 million offer to Jones. If both backs were are being counted on to be a complement to Shonn Greene, why wouldn’t the Jets just hang onto Jones, who by the way, is coming off a more productive season than Tomlinson?

      Granted, the Jets released Jones because he’ll turn 32 in August, which makes him 10 months older than Tomlinson. But the dreaded age for a running back is 30 and Tomlinson has already shown signs of wearing down so really, what’s a 10-month difference at this point? Until his tired legs failed him late in the year, Jones was a highly productive back in 2010. Tomlinson looked tired virtually all season.

      The Jets may have successfully beat out the Vikings by signing Tomlinson, but they seemed to have made a lateral move.


      Photo from fOTOGLIF

      NFL

      Joe Lunardi gets 64 of 65 right

      March 14, 2010 /

      A quick look at Joe Lunardi’s final Bracketology shows that he picked 64 of 65 teams correctly, missing only the Florida Gators, who as a #10 seed were fairly safe as far as getting into the tournament. Lunardi had Illinois getting the final at-large bid, but the Gators got it instead.

      I feel for Mississippi State, who just missed an automatic bid by losing to Kentucky in overtime. They beat Florida and Vanderbilt in the SEC tournament, but bad road losses to Rider, Alabama and Auburn apparently did them in.

      See the full bracket here.

      If you need help filling out your bracket, be sure to check back Monday afternoon for my full set of picks.

      College Basketball

      Browns give up on Quinn, trade former first rounder to Broncos for Hillis

      March 14, 2010 /

      Jay Glazer of FOXSports.com reports that the Broncos have acquired quarterback Brady Quinn from the Browns in exchange for fullback Peyton Hillis and two conditional draft picks. Glazer doesn’t provide any details outside of that, so it it’s unknown at this point what round the two draft picks are for.

      Even though his dream was to be a Brown, this is a good situation for Quinn. In Denver, he’ll have the opportunity to run the exact same offense that he ran at Notre Dame, although he’ll have to beat out Tom Brandstater and Chris Simms to earn the right to backup Kyle Orton. Still, if he proves that he can run Josh McDaniels’ offense, he still has a chance to become a regular starter in this league.

      As for the Browns, the recent signing of Jake Delhomme virtually secured a one-way ticket for Quinn out of Cleveland. Mike Holmgren hasn’t made his desire to upgrade the Browns’ quarterback position a secret and now Delhomme will battle Seneca Wallace for the team’s starting job.

      It is still unclear at this point whether or not Holmgren will draft a quarterback in April. Neither Delhomme nor Wallace has long-term upside, so Holmgren will eventually have to add a young QB to the mix at some point. But that doesn’t necessarily mean that he’ll do it in April’s draft. He may have his eye on a potential free agent or believe that the quarterback class in 2011 is a stronger crop than the 2010 class. Who knows at this point.

      I wrote more about the Browns’ quarterback situation this morning. You can read the post by clicking here.

      Update: The Browns also traded Kamerion Wimbley to the Raiders for undisclosed draft compensation.


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      NFL

      Kentucky nips Mississippi State in OT

      March 14, 2010 /

      The Bulldogs were one-tenth of one second away from locking up an NCAA bid. They were up three with under ten seconds to play, so they elected to foul Kentucky’s Eric Bledsoe so the Wildcats wouldn’t have an opportunity to tie the game with a three. He made the first free throw and Kentucky rebounded the intentional miss. John Wall badly missed a long jumper to tie it, but DeMarcus Cousins was there to put in the game-tying bucket as time expired.

      With the way Kentucky celebrated after the basket — remember, they only tied the game, they didn’t win it — I thought they might lay an egg in overtime, but Wall hit a leaning three-pointer to give the Wildcats a five-point cushion, and eventually won 75-74.

      For a guy who posted 17 points, nine assists, eight rebounds and five steals, it sure didn’t seem like Wall played all that well. Aside from the leaning three, he missed three shots in crunch time and turned the ball over once. In fact, he should have had another turnover in overtime when he took three steps on an attempted layup that was called a goaltend. It’s going to be interesting to see how he performs in the clutch as the NCAA Tournament wears on.

      For the Bulldogs, it sure seems like they should get a tourney bid. They played Kentucky very tough during the regular season and in a hostile environment in the conference tournament. The Bulldogs’ fate may lie in Minnesota’s hands. If the Gophers lay an egg against Ohio State, Mississippi State could get their bid. There’s also a chance that the committee will knock Virginia Tech, Wake Forest or even Utah State out for disappointing play down the stretch.

      College Basketball

      Why Minnesota or Mississippi State won’t make the cut

      March 14, 2010 /

      It looks like at least one good team is going to be left out of the NCAA Tournament. Since Houston upset UTEP in the C-USA final and New Mexico St. beat Utah St. in the WAC final, there are two at-large bids that are no longer available to the teams on the bubble, so fans of Virginia Tech, Minnesota, Mississippi State, Florida, Illinois, Ole Miss and Seton Hall will be pulling out their hair on Sunday hoping that their team gets a bid.

      In fact, I’d go so far as to say that the final two slots are down to three teams — Virginia Tech, Minnesota and Mississippi State. I’m not a bracketologist or anything, but watching Lunardi’s page and knowing that Minnesota and Mississippi State are the only two teams still alive on his bubble, and it seems pretty clear that the Gophers’ and Bulldogs’ conference tourney runs have certainly worked in their favor.

      Minnesota blew out a very good Purdue team yesterday and Mississippi State nipped a solid Vanderbilt squad. Minnesota’s numbers are better and if both teams lose today, it looks like the Gophers will get the nod. But if the Bulldogs can upset Kentucky, even if Minnesota beats Ohio State, Mississippi State will make the tournament via automatic bid. In fact, if both teams win, Virginia Tech’s poor performance in the ACC tournament will probably come back to haunt them.

      Since Utah St. and UTEP are very likely to get bids, it looks like the window is just about closed for Florida, Illinois, Ole Miss and Seton Hall, who can’t help their case today.

      But every year, the committee comes out of left field with a pick that nobody was expecting. Fans are focused on late-season performance while the committee says it looks at the “whole body of work,” which can result in a team getting something of a surprise bid.

      So there is hope…just don’t get your hopes up.

      College Basketball

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