Iowa subdued Michigan on Saturday night and turned the college football world upside down. 1. The College Football was turned upside down on Saturday when Michigan, Clemson and Washington all lost. It’ll be interesting to see which way the committee goes tonight. 2. The beneficiary of Saturday’s chaos is Penn State. The Nittany Lions control their own destiny. If they win out, they go to the Big Ten Championship game….
Week 10 was awesome! There were several great games. If ratings are down this week, I’ll be shocked. Especially now that the election is over. 1. The Packers are toast. I don’t care how bad the NFC North is. They have too many injuries to overcome on defense and the offense is inconsistent. Mike McCarthy is in trouble. 2. The Rams and Jets set football back about 30 years yesterday….
Game Rewind: The Patriots lost a back and forth affair to the Seattle Seahawks 31-24 last night at Gillette Stadium. The Patriots had their chances to win the game but costly turnovers and the defense’s inability to get off the field on third down cost them the game. Here are five observations from last night’s game. 1. The Defense Was Awful: The Patriots played their worst game of the season…
Storyline: The Seattle Seahawks visit Gillette Stadium for the first time since Pete Carroll was hired in 2010. It’s Carroll’s first trip to Foxboro since he was fired by the Patriots after the 1999 season. Here are my five keys to the game. 1. Pass Pro: The Patriots offensive line needs to consistently block Michael Bennett and Cliff Avril in pass protection. They cannot allow them to collapse the pocket,…
Week 10 features some good money games. It’s a good week to play the favorite. There are several quality road favorites you can bet on. 11/13 1:00 ET At Jacksonville -2.5 Houston 42 -$150 +$130: The Texans as a -2.5 point road favorite. I’m taking them in this game. Despite their offensive struggles on the road, I like the Texans today against Jacksonville’s porous defense. 11/13 1:00 ET At Carolina…
Week 9 featured several teams on a bye including the Patriots. The week was highlighted by a big win by the Ravens and an ugly home loss for the Packers. 1. The Ravens finally snapped their four game losing streak with an ugly 21-14 win over the Steelers. The defense once again played well but the Ravens offense still leaves a lot to be desired. 2. Another week, another loss…
Everett and Central Catholic will once again meet in the playoffs. 1.Central Catholic and Everett will feature two of the most explosive spread offenses in the state but it will also be a battle of two of the best coaches in the state in Chuck Adamopoulos and John DiBiaso. Games like this are close and usually determined by which team wins the turnover battle and plays the best defense. This…
By Michael Vallee -Shipping Out of Boston: Against Buffalo the Patriots defense, once again, employed their bend-but-don’t-break philosophy, or in this case, bend-and-let-the-opposition-shoot-themselves-in-the-foot. They allowed 376 total yards, but just 17 points until a garbage time touchdown put the Bills at 25. To most observers New England’s defense appeared to give another good but not great performance, similar to the previous seven games of the season. Belichick, however, was reportedly…
By Mike Vallee The majority of Patriots games I write about and analyze are consumed from the comfort of my couch or the friendly confines of Gillette Stadium but this week three of my friends and I decided to go behind enemy lines and head out for a little football road trip to the jewel of Lake Erie: Buffalo, New York. The Trip: Nothing like starting your weekend with a…
The Patriots trading linebacker Jaime Collins shouldn’t come as a surprise to anyone. Bill Belichick made a series of moves over the past few months that added linebacker depth but were also signs that the team was ready to move on from Collins. Belichick signed former Chicago Bears linebacker Shea McClellin in the spring, traded for linebacker Barkevious Mingo and just last week traded for linebacker Kyle Van Noy….