Category: External Sports (Page 437 of 821)

      Asante Samuel complains to refs while Austin Collie lays motionless on the field

      November 7, 2010 /
      PHILADELPHIA - DECEMBER 15: Asante Samuel #22 of the Philadelphia Eagles celebrates with Quintin Mikell #27 and Trent Cole #58 after an interception for a touchdown against the Cleveland Browns on December 15, 2008 at Lincoln Financial Field in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. (Photo by Jim McIsaac/Getty Images)

      Football is an emotional game and emotions are bound to come out following big plays, nasty hits or yes, when players feel that an official missed a call.

      But to watch Asante Samuel dance around the field in disgust over a call that a ref made during the Colts-Eagles game as Indianapolis receiver Austin Collie lay motionless on the field was, for lack of a better word, unfortunate.

      Collie had been knocked unconscious after three Eagles defenders sandwiched him following a reception (or what was perceived to be a reception) late in the second quarter. As trainers attended to Collie, Samuel began hopping up and down in protest of the call (either the unnecessary roughness penalty that had been drawn or the call of an incomplete pass when it looked like Collie had secured the catch and then fumbled, which resulted in a recovery by Philadelphia).

      I realize that helmet-to-helmet hits are a sore subject between the players and the league right now, but Samuel could have handled the situation with more class. There was Collie lying motionless on the ground and Samuel picked that moment to bitch at the official. I wonder how he would have felt if one of the Falcons players did that while his teammate DeSean Jackson was knocked out following a big collision a couple of weeks ago. Again, emotions come out in football but Samuel should have held his in check right before Collie was carried off the field on a stretcher. There were more important things at hand than whether or not the official got the call right.

      Hopefully the reports on Collie will be positive. I’ll update this post when I hear more.

      Update: Collie is said to be “sitting up and responsive” in the Colts’ locker room, which is great news.

      External Sports, NFL

      Bucs may not be the best in the NFC, but they continue to compete

      November 7, 2010 /

      I didn’t believe Raheem Morris when he said the Bucs were the best team in the NFC. I don’t even think he believes that the Bucs are the best team in the NFC.

      But if they play every week as hard as they did in Atlanta on Sunday, then they’re going to stay in the thick of things in the conference.

      The Falcons beat their division foes 27-21 to take sole possession of first place in the NFC South, but it wasn’t without a couple of close calls. After Atlanta took a 27-14 lead late in the third quarter on a Matt Bryant 41-yard field goal, Michael Spurlock returned the following kickoff for an 89-yard touchdown to cut the Falcons’ lead to 27-21. Tampa Bay’s defense then shut down Atlanta’s offense after a failed onsides kick and following a Josh Freeman interception in the fourth quarter.

      But in the end, the Falcons’ defense saved the day by stopping LeGarrette Blount on 4th-and-1 from the Atlanta 2-yard line. Blount thought he had picked up the first down, but it was clear that he was stopped short and with the Bucs out of timeouts, the Falcons were able to run out the rest of the clock (roughly two minutes) after picking up a first down.

      Sunday showed that the Bucs are moving in the right direction but they also still have a ways to go – especially Freeman. He made a couple of great throws in crucial moments during the game, but he threw an interception after locking onto receiver Mike Williams early in the fourth quarter and he also mismanaged the play clock (not totally his fault, as the Bucs were having issues getting the play into him) on Tampa’s final drive. Because of that, Morris had to call the team’s last time out and therefore wasn’t able to challenge Blount’s play on 4th-and-1. (The call probably could have stood anyway, but it would have been nice had the Bucs been able to challenge.) It’s games like these that remind fans that Freeman is a talented kid but he’s just that – a kid. He should continue to get better though.

      Tampa’s run defense needs to improve as well. Atlanta is going to get its yards on the ground with Michael Turner and Jason Snelling, but the Bucs need to improve in that area if they’re going to compete down the stretch. The Falcons rushed for 130 yards and because of that, they controlled the game throughout (even the Bucs gave them a couple of scares in the second half).

      That said, Morris has something brewing in Tampa. He has his team believing that they can win every week and even though they’re often dominated in terms of time of possession and total yards, they’re rarely dominated on the scoreboard (where it counts). They produce some big plays and have that gnat-like ability to hang around late in games.

      Maybe they’ll hang around all year, too.

      External Sports, NFL

      Behind McCoy and Hillis, Browns shock Patriots

      November 7, 2010 /
      TAMPA, FL - SEPTEMBER 12: Rookie quarterback Colt McCoy of the Cleveland Browns warms up just prior to the start of the game against the Tampa Bay Buccaneers at Raymond James Stadium on September 12, 2010 in Tampa, Florida. (Photo by J. Meric/Getty Images)

      It figures doesn’t it? Colt McCoy wasn’t the top quarterback prospect in April’s draft and compared to Sam Bradford and Jimmy Clausen (the two quarterbacks that were taken ahead of him), he may have been the most limited (according to the so-called experts, at least) too.

      But in just three starts, McCoy has already exceeded expectations in Cleveland. He held his own against the Steelers in his first career start, he played error-free ball in a win over the Saints and then, in his best game to date, he helped the Browns pull off a shocking 34-14 victory over the Patriots on Sunday.

      McCoy completed 14-of-19 passes for 174 yards and he also rushed for a 16-yard score in the third quarter to give the Browns a 24-7 lead. Those numbers wouldn’t be impressive for say Peyton Manning or Drew Brees, but for a rookie third-round pick making only his third start of his career, they’re impressive. He also got a ton of help from Peyton Hillis, who rushed for 184 yards and two touchdowns on 29 carries. He also once again flashed his playmaking ability as a pass-catcher while hauling in three passes for 36 yards.

      The Patriots made their fair share of mistakes, but this loss was no fluke. They were outplayed, outcoached and outsmarted, as Cleveland’s coaching staff went to their bag of tricks again early in order to build a 10-point lead. I’m not going to say that the Browns will suddenly jump back into the playoff picture after beating the Saints and Patriots in back-to-back games, but it makes you wonder if they’re heading in the right direction. McCoy has looked good, the defense has steadily improved over the last three seasons and Hillis may have been the steal of the offseason. What a player.

      And how sweet was this win for Eric Mangini? You know every time he beats Bill Belichick he has to be thinking to himself, “Stick that where the sun don’t shine, a-hole.” Mangini has deserved the criticism that he’s gotten over the years but when Mike Holmgren was hired, he was relieved of many of his day-to-day operations so that he could focus on coaching and he’s responded well. I personally don’t think he’s the answer, but you can’t complain about the recent results.

      As for the Patriots – they were caught with their pants down. They thought they could roll into Cleveland and the Browns would lay down for them because they were 6-1. They got a reminder that teams can’t take weeks off in the NFL.

      External Sports, NFL

      Boise State drops another spot in the polls as TCU moves up; Alabama plummets

      November 7, 2010 /

      No real big surprises in today’s USA Today/ESPN coaches poll, as the top two remained the same — Oregon and Auburn — and TCU moved up to No. 3 after a dismantling of Utah.

      Boise State, of course, was the victim of TCU’s rise, even after a dominating win over a pretty good Hawaii team. But that shouldn’t surprise you. Last week, Auburn jumped Boise State after a win over a bad Ole Miss team, so the fact that TCU jumped the Broncos after perhaps the most impressive performance of the season shouldn’t come as a shock. In fact, I really don’t have a problem with this jump. TCU has played a better schedule thus far than Boise State, and absolutely dominated it much in the same way Boise has dominated its schedule. This was an exclamation point win for the Horned Frogs, and if voters believed TCU was the better team, there was no better time than now to make that move.

      The top two in the BCS standings should remain the same, but I’d expect the gap between Auburn and TCU at 2 and 3 to close. First off, the Horned Frogs moved up in the coaches poll, and I’ll guess they’ll do the same in the Harris Poll. Plus the computers will likely close the gap as Auburn played Chattanooga and TCU played what was the No. 5 team in the BCS standings.

      The best news for TCU and Boise State, however, had to be Alabama’s loss. There’s a good chance that the Tide were the only one-loss team capable of jumping over them into the national title game. I don’t know all the tie-breaker rules off-hand, but I believe LSU needs Auburn to lose each of its next two games in order to get into the SEC championship game. So if Alabama beats Auburn in the Iron Bowl, that will open up a spot for either TCU or Boise State.

      I doubt a win over a three-loss SEC East champion would be enough for voters to vault Auburn back into the game. And even though it’s happened before, I can’t imagine an 11-1 LSU team that didn’t even play in its conference title game would jump the unbeatens. It wouldn’t be unprecedented — see Nebraska in 2001 — but it would be borderline criminal. Then again, that pretty much fits right in line with the BCS.

      College Football, External Sports

      « Older posts Newer posts »

      © 2026 The Scores Report – The National Sports Blog

      Theme by Anders Noren — Up ↑