The Quiet King: Henrik Lundqvist’s Playoff Brilliance
Showing posts with label henrik lundqvist. Show all posts
Showing posts with label henrik lundqvist. Show all posts
Tuesday, May 20, 2014
Tuesday, January 3, 2012
Brayden Schenn's Breakout Overshadowed by King Henrik
Yesterday's Winter Classic at Citizens Bank Park was just about all the NHL could have asked for. It featured two major media and hockey markets with a heated rivalry among two teams atop the standings, star players coming through for their respective teams, a fast-paced game with very few whistles and even a potential game-tying penalty shot with 20 seconds left in regulation.
The result notwithstanding, it was one hell of a good hockey game. When it was all said and done the real difference in the outcome was goaltending, and 100 times out of 100 if the game comes down to the goalies, the Rangers will come out ahead. Henrik Lundqvist is a superstar and played like it yesterday, while Sergei Bobrovsky looked every bit like the green sophomore in net that he is. All the while, the man who was supposed to be to Philadelphia what Lundqvist is to the Rangers was left out in the cold with a .890 save percentage and 3.01 goals against average.
No matter what the official stars of the game tally tells you, it was Lundqvist who was the best player on the ice. With all due respect to Mike Rupp and his improbable two goals, King Henrik is the man who kept the game tied in the first period despite the Flyers taking it to the Rangers. He's the guy who thwarted 34 shots and made the game-clinching save on Danny Briere's late penalty shot. And he's the guy who came up with huge save after huge save whereas Bobrovsky let in one — arguably two — soft, back-breaking goals. The man is a certified superstar in net, something the Flyers have lacked in what seems like forever. Ilya Bryzgalov was supposed to change all of that. Instead, he wasn't even on the ice in the league's marquee regular season spectacle.
However, as painful as the outcome was and as annoying as the reemergence of the annual Philadelphia goaltending controversy is, there was one particularly big bright spot for the Flyers in rookie Brayden Schenn.
Not only did Schenn score his first NHL goal and register his first point as a Flyer, but the lynchpin of the Mike Richards trade was arguably the best forward on the ice from the opening draw to the final horn.
Yes, Claude Giroux was his brilliant self, scoring an absolutely filthy goal, but when Jaromir Jagr left late in the first period with a groin strain, Giroux — like the Flyers' attack in general — wasn't quite the same.
However, Schenn shined all game long. Besides his goal, Schenn also provided something the Flyers have been lacking since Keith Primeau's career was cut short: excellent work in the faceoff circle. For the game, Schenn won 12 of 16 draws, and a couple of those losses came as a result of his wingers failing to get to the puck. It was nice to see someone dominate in the faceoff circle for a change.
Schenn also seemed to be everywhere, whether it was backchecking hard to negate a Ranger, throwing his weight around or making things happen in the offensive zone. In my opinion, he was the best skater on the ice period, playing without question his best game as a Flyer. In fact, Schenn was playing so well that I think Peter Laviolette did himself and his team a disservice by not playing him enough in the third period.
When Jagr went down, I think Schenn should have been given a little more ice time with Giroux given the way he was playing. It just seemed like he earned it. I was really impressed with the kid yesterday and can see why so many people are so high on him.
Of course, it was all for naught. After taking that 2-0 in the second behind goals by Schenn and Giroux, the complexion of the game changed when Mike Rupp scored just 30 seconds after Claude to cut the lead in half. From then on, the Rangers simply played smarter hockey, made fewer mistakes, blocked more shots and got outstanding play from Lundqvist.
Rupp improbably scored again, this time on a bad-angle shot that snuck between Bob's arm and body — an absolutely terrible goal to surrender, especially in a game of this magnitude. Just a few minutes later, Bobrovsky was left hung out to dry when Giroux lost his man, who turned out to be Brad Richards. Richards calmly buried what became the game-winner.
The thing that's most frustrating about the loss isn't that Lundqvist played out of his mind to stone the Flyers. Goaltenders the caliber of Henrik are going to steal games from time to time — that's why they're the best of the best. The most frustrating thing, at least to me, is that the difference came in the little things.
Overall, the Flyers had a nice game in the faceoff circle, but they couldn't win the crucial ones in the third period. Mental lapses in their own zone resulted in sloppy turnovers and the game-winning goal, where the Rangers barely turned the puck over at all. The Rangers' defensemen blocked shooting lanes all game long as the Flyers at times backed off and allowed the Rangers to shoot — not the best strategy when your goaltender is letting very save-able shots go through. That's what makes the loss so damn annoying. Yes, Lundqvist was great and certainly helped steal the show, but the little things made just as much of a difference.
The good news is the Flyers can correct those little things, at least to some degree. With so many youngsters on the team, they're bound to get better and make fewer mistakes as the season wears on. And as shaky as the goaltending has been at times, I think Ilya Bryzgalov has been taking a little more heat than he deserves.
No question about it, his numbers are terrible. But a lot of that was due to a bad start, and in his most recent struggles, he's been left hung out to dry quite a bit by his defense. Given his track record and the presumed better play by the defense after adjusting to life without Chris Pronger, you have to figure the Flyers are going to get better in their own zone, both in defense and goaltending.
Of course, none of that helps take the sting away from yesterday's hard-fought 3-2 loss, falling two more points behind the Rangers to make it a four-point cushion for New York instead of pulling even.
As for the Eagles and Penn State … I'll have more on their disastrous, embarrassing seasons at some point. Maybe. But to be perfectly honest, I'm more excited for the Duke-Temple game I'm attending tomorrow night than anything football-related right now.
The result notwithstanding, it was one hell of a good hockey game. When it was all said and done the real difference in the outcome was goaltending, and 100 times out of 100 if the game comes down to the goalies, the Rangers will come out ahead. Henrik Lundqvist is a superstar and played like it yesterday, while Sergei Bobrovsky looked every bit like the green sophomore in net that he is. All the while, the man who was supposed to be to Philadelphia what Lundqvist is to the Rangers was left out in the cold with a .890 save percentage and 3.01 goals against average.
No matter what the official stars of the game tally tells you, it was Lundqvist who was the best player on the ice. With all due respect to Mike Rupp and his improbable two goals, King Henrik is the man who kept the game tied in the first period despite the Flyers taking it to the Rangers. He's the guy who thwarted 34 shots and made the game-clinching save on Danny Briere's late penalty shot. And he's the guy who came up with huge save after huge save whereas Bobrovsky let in one — arguably two — soft, back-breaking goals. The man is a certified superstar in net, something the Flyers have lacked in what seems like forever. Ilya Bryzgalov was supposed to change all of that. Instead, he wasn't even on the ice in the league's marquee regular season spectacle.
However, as painful as the outcome was and as annoying as the reemergence of the annual Philadelphia goaltending controversy is, there was one particularly big bright spot for the Flyers in rookie Brayden Schenn.
Not only did Schenn score his first NHL goal and register his first point as a Flyer, but the lynchpin of the Mike Richards trade was arguably the best forward on the ice from the opening draw to the final horn.
Yes, Claude Giroux was his brilliant self, scoring an absolutely filthy goal, but when Jaromir Jagr left late in the first period with a groin strain, Giroux — like the Flyers' attack in general — wasn't quite the same.
However, Schenn shined all game long. Besides his goal, Schenn also provided something the Flyers have been lacking since Keith Primeau's career was cut short: excellent work in the faceoff circle. For the game, Schenn won 12 of 16 draws, and a couple of those losses came as a result of his wingers failing to get to the puck. It was nice to see someone dominate in the faceoff circle for a change.
Schenn also seemed to be everywhere, whether it was backchecking hard to negate a Ranger, throwing his weight around or making things happen in the offensive zone. In my opinion, he was the best skater on the ice period, playing without question his best game as a Flyer. In fact, Schenn was playing so well that I think Peter Laviolette did himself and his team a disservice by not playing him enough in the third period.
When Jagr went down, I think Schenn should have been given a little more ice time with Giroux given the way he was playing. It just seemed like he earned it. I was really impressed with the kid yesterday and can see why so many people are so high on him.
Of course, it was all for naught. After taking that 2-0 in the second behind goals by Schenn and Giroux, the complexion of the game changed when Mike Rupp scored just 30 seconds after Claude to cut the lead in half. From then on, the Rangers simply played smarter hockey, made fewer mistakes, blocked more shots and got outstanding play from Lundqvist.
Rupp improbably scored again, this time on a bad-angle shot that snuck between Bob's arm and body — an absolutely terrible goal to surrender, especially in a game of this magnitude. Just a few minutes later, Bobrovsky was left hung out to dry when Giroux lost his man, who turned out to be Brad Richards. Richards calmly buried what became the game-winner.
The thing that's most frustrating about the loss isn't that Lundqvist played out of his mind to stone the Flyers. Goaltenders the caliber of Henrik are going to steal games from time to time — that's why they're the best of the best. The most frustrating thing, at least to me, is that the difference came in the little things.
Overall, the Flyers had a nice game in the faceoff circle, but they couldn't win the crucial ones in the third period. Mental lapses in their own zone resulted in sloppy turnovers and the game-winning goal, where the Rangers barely turned the puck over at all. The Rangers' defensemen blocked shooting lanes all game long as the Flyers at times backed off and allowed the Rangers to shoot — not the best strategy when your goaltender is letting very save-able shots go through. That's what makes the loss so damn annoying. Yes, Lundqvist was great and certainly helped steal the show, but the little things made just as much of a difference.
The good news is the Flyers can correct those little things, at least to some degree. With so many youngsters on the team, they're bound to get better and make fewer mistakes as the season wears on. And as shaky as the goaltending has been at times, I think Ilya Bryzgalov has been taking a little more heat than he deserves.
No question about it, his numbers are terrible. But a lot of that was due to a bad start, and in his most recent struggles, he's been left hung out to dry quite a bit by his defense. Given his track record and the presumed better play by the defense after adjusting to life without Chris Pronger, you have to figure the Flyers are going to get better in their own zone, both in defense and goaltending.
Of course, none of that helps take the sting away from yesterday's hard-fought 3-2 loss, falling two more points behind the Rangers to make it a four-point cushion for New York instead of pulling even.
As for the Eagles and Penn State … I'll have more on their disastrous, embarrassing seasons at some point. Maybe. But to be perfectly honest, I'm more excited for the Duke-Temple game I'm attending tomorrow night than anything football-related right now.
Wednesday, April 14, 2010
So You're Telling Me There's a Chance
On Friday, I implored the Flyers not to flush the entire season down the drain in the most horrifying fashion, by losing twice to the New York Rangers. They did their damnedest to give me a heart attack, but ultimately, in dramatic fashion, they got in. But they sure as shit didn't make it easy on themselves, or me for that matter.
In the first of the final two meetings of the season, both against the Rangers, I was pumped as could be when Mike Richards stole a pass, went in on the breakaway and beat Henrik Lundqvist to give the Flyers a lead just 40 seconds in. Then I departed for my softball game with my roommate and silver fox, listening on the ride. Halfway into the ride, we hear Chris Drury score, and just minutes after that, Jody freakin Shelley scores his first goal of the entire season — in game 81 — to give the Rangers the lead. Fuck. Ing. Gay. Chris Therien was lambasting Richards on the goal, discussing how he gave up on the play after the stick was knocked out of his hands the draw in the biggest game of the entire season. He was just giving it to Richards. Not a smart play by the captain, that's for sure.
Periodically throughout our game, which didn't end so well either, we get updates: 3-1 Rangers, 3-2, tied, 4-3 Rangers. We listened to the ending and when the final seconds ticked away, I was certain the Flyers were on their way to ending their season. A 4-3 loss to the Rangers gave New York all the confidence in the world and the Flyers still searching. To add to the tension, both the Canadiens and Bruins won Saturday, meaning the final playoff spot was really on the line Sunday. The Flyers and Rangers both entered with 86 points. Winner moves on, loser goes home.
Again on Sunday I had some baseball to attend to, which got done just in time for the start of the Flyers game. We listened in the car as Jody freakin Shelley scored again to give the Rangers a 1-0 lead in the first. What the fuck? The guy hadn't scored a goal all season long, then in the last two games, he gets a goal in each against the Flyers with a playoff berth on the line. It's the guy's 11th year in the NHL, and he's now scored a total of 16 goals. Ridiculous.
But not as ridiculous as the play of Lundqvist. The Flyers outshot the Rangers 18-4 in the first period, yet trailed 1-0. Then they fired 12 more shots at Henrik in the 2nd, still nothing. The Flyers were dominating, outshooting New York 30-13 after two periods of play, but they just couldn't get the puck by Lundqvist. The guy is amazing, and he was playing amazing. It looked like he was primed to steal this one for the Rangers and send New York to playoffs.
As luck would have it, after getting some food and continuing our ride, we got to silver fox's house as the third period got under way. Despite the score, it was more than evident who the better team was. The Flyers were swarming the puck, attacking the zone with speed, firing shots from all angles; they were in complete control. But there was still the matter of that pesky goaltender. No matter how hard the Flyers tried, they couldn't get the puck past Lundqvist. It was incredibly frustrating, for the team to be playing so well but a netminder keeping them at bay, especially since it's something we aren't accustomed to seeing from our goaltenders here in Philadelphia. But then finally, on the power play, Matt Carle scored his biggest goal of his Flyer career, perhaps of his entire life:
It was poetic justice at its finest. Carle was having a fantastic game, playing smart, sound defense and jumping up into the play at every opportunity. He looked like the player that began the season on a phenomenal tear, not the one who has played as inconsistently as this team. When he deposited that backhander in the back of the net, I jumped up for joy, screaming, yelling, pounding the couch with my fist. The wall of Lundqvist had shown a crack. Now it was there for the taking.
Until the clock wound down the game was still tied. It had taken the Flyers nearly 47 minutes to get one by Lundqvist, now they had to manage to get another by him in 5 minutes or it was on to the dreaded shootout. I suddenly didn't like the Flyers' chances. Despite dominating from start to finish, despite outshooting the Rangers 45-23 through three periods of play, I was nervous. Beyond nervous. And when the game finally went to a shootout, I gave the Flyers about a -75 percent chance of winning. I mean, the Rangers had Lundqvist in net, the goaltender who had just stoned the Flyers on 46 of their 47 shots, a guy who thrives in the shootout, while the Flyers had a shaky, unproven Brian Boucher and a slew of shooters who don't exactly thrive in the shootout format.
Then, this happened:
Danny Briere started it off with an absolutely absurd move that even Henrik the great couldn't stop. I don't think I've ever seen a player's hands move so fast at the end of that move. It was a thing of beauty, and I started screaming, "FUCK YEAH, DANNY!!!!! FUCK YEAH!!!!" And when Boosh stopped Erik Christensen, suddenly I felt good again. Richards a was up, and he had already scored on a semi-breakaway against Lundqvist on Friday night and then scored on him again to tie that game before ultimately losing. It was the captain's time to step up and move his team on. But he didn't, putting forth a pretty porous effort if you ask me.
To make matters worse, P.A. Parenteau beat Boucher on a shot that should have been stopped. It wasn't even a remotely impressive shot, Boucher got his glove on it, and he was as upset as anyone when it fluttered in. Yikes. The tension was building yet again. I was certain the Flyers were going to go with Jeff Carter, even with him far from 100 percent, because he's the team's best goal-scorer. But Peter Laviolette threw me a curveball by sending out Claude Giroux, and the moment he did, I had a great feeling about it. After all, the guy is my favorite Flyer. And Claude did not let me down, ripping one right through Lundqvist to put the Flyers ahead 2-1 in the shootout.
It all came down to this, Olli "Frankenstein" Jokinen one on one with Brian Boucher. Advantage Boucher, who went on to do funky chicken dance of some sort.
And with the victory, the Flyers didn't just secure a spot in the playoffs, they didn't just end the Rangers' season after giving them hope, but they wound up with the most favorable match-up possible for the first round. Yes, by securing that wild victory Sunday, the Flyers earned the 7th seed, meaning they'll take on the Devils in the first round. While taking on the No. 2 seed with historic Flyer foil and Hall-of-Fame bound goaltender Martin Brodeur in net is never an ideal situation, the Flyers couldn't have asked for a better scenario given the circumstances.
This season, the Flyers went 5-1 against New Jersey, seemingly flipping the script on a division rival that has owned them the past two decades, spearheaded by Brodeur in net. But this year it was the Flyers getting the best of Brodeur. In those six games, the Flyers scored 20 goals, 19 of them coming in the five wins, outscoring the Devils 20-10 overall and 19-6 in their wins. Brodeur started all six for Jersey, and his play was uneven. The Flyers defeated Brodeur 5-2 on 27 shots in the first meeting, then won 3-2 with Brodeur stopping 32 of 35 shots. In the lone loss, the Flyers fired just 23 shots at the Jersey goaltender, losing 4-1. Then the Flyers came back from a 2-0 hole to win 3-2 in back to back games. And in the final meeting of the season, the Flyers trounced the Devils 5-1, chasing Brodeur from net after he surrendered four goals on 19 shots. In those six games Brodeur's save percentage is a paltry .878, even worse if you take out the lone victory (.865).
It hasn't been a stellar year for Brodeur against the Flyers. This, of course, doesn't mean all that much come tonight, when the Flyers kick off the playoffs in New Jersey. Brodeur is notoriously awesome in the playoffs usually, and the Devils aren't simply a team dependent on their goaltending anymore. With players like Ilya Kovalchuk, Zach Parise and Travis Zajac, this team can score as well. It won't be an easy match-up. But given the way the season series went, the Flyers couldn't have asked for a better situation. It's not likely that a No. 7 will defeat a No. 2, but there's definitely a chance.
In the first of the final two meetings of the season, both against the Rangers, I was pumped as could be when Mike Richards stole a pass, went in on the breakaway and beat Henrik Lundqvist to give the Flyers a lead just 40 seconds in. Then I departed for my softball game with my roommate and silver fox, listening on the ride. Halfway into the ride, we hear Chris Drury score, and just minutes after that, Jody freakin Shelley scores his first goal of the entire season — in game 81 — to give the Rangers the lead. Fuck. Ing. Gay. Chris Therien was lambasting Richards on the goal, discussing how he gave up on the play after the stick was knocked out of his hands the draw in the biggest game of the entire season. He was just giving it to Richards. Not a smart play by the captain, that's for sure.
Periodically throughout our game, which didn't end so well either, we get updates: 3-1 Rangers, 3-2, tied, 4-3 Rangers. We listened to the ending and when the final seconds ticked away, I was certain the Flyers were on their way to ending their season. A 4-3 loss to the Rangers gave New York all the confidence in the world and the Flyers still searching. To add to the tension, both the Canadiens and Bruins won Saturday, meaning the final playoff spot was really on the line Sunday. The Flyers and Rangers both entered with 86 points. Winner moves on, loser goes home.
Again on Sunday I had some baseball to attend to, which got done just in time for the start of the Flyers game. We listened in the car as Jody freakin Shelley scored again to give the Rangers a 1-0 lead in the first. What the fuck? The guy hadn't scored a goal all season long, then in the last two games, he gets a goal in each against the Flyers with a playoff berth on the line. It's the guy's 11th year in the NHL, and he's now scored a total of 16 goals. Ridiculous.
But not as ridiculous as the play of Lundqvist. The Flyers outshot the Rangers 18-4 in the first period, yet trailed 1-0. Then they fired 12 more shots at Henrik in the 2nd, still nothing. The Flyers were dominating, outshooting New York 30-13 after two periods of play, but they just couldn't get the puck by Lundqvist. The guy is amazing, and he was playing amazing. It looked like he was primed to steal this one for the Rangers and send New York to playoffs.
As luck would have it, after getting some food and continuing our ride, we got to silver fox's house as the third period got under way. Despite the score, it was more than evident who the better team was. The Flyers were swarming the puck, attacking the zone with speed, firing shots from all angles; they were in complete control. But there was still the matter of that pesky goaltender. No matter how hard the Flyers tried, they couldn't get the puck past Lundqvist. It was incredibly frustrating, for the team to be playing so well but a netminder keeping them at bay, especially since it's something we aren't accustomed to seeing from our goaltenders here in Philadelphia. But then finally, on the power play, Matt Carle scored his biggest goal of his Flyer career, perhaps of his entire life:
It was poetic justice at its finest. Carle was having a fantastic game, playing smart, sound defense and jumping up into the play at every opportunity. He looked like the player that began the season on a phenomenal tear, not the one who has played as inconsistently as this team. When he deposited that backhander in the back of the net, I jumped up for joy, screaming, yelling, pounding the couch with my fist. The wall of Lundqvist had shown a crack. Now it was there for the taking.
Until the clock wound down the game was still tied. It had taken the Flyers nearly 47 minutes to get one by Lundqvist, now they had to manage to get another by him in 5 minutes or it was on to the dreaded shootout. I suddenly didn't like the Flyers' chances. Despite dominating from start to finish, despite outshooting the Rangers 45-23 through three periods of play, I was nervous. Beyond nervous. And when the game finally went to a shootout, I gave the Flyers about a -75 percent chance of winning. I mean, the Rangers had Lundqvist in net, the goaltender who had just stoned the Flyers on 46 of their 47 shots, a guy who thrives in the shootout, while the Flyers had a shaky, unproven Brian Boucher and a slew of shooters who don't exactly thrive in the shootout format.
Then, this happened:
Danny Briere started it off with an absolutely absurd move that even Henrik the great couldn't stop. I don't think I've ever seen a player's hands move so fast at the end of that move. It was a thing of beauty, and I started screaming, "FUCK YEAH, DANNY!!!!! FUCK YEAH!!!!" And when Boosh stopped Erik Christensen, suddenly I felt good again. Richards a was up, and he had already scored on a semi-breakaway against Lundqvist on Friday night and then scored on him again to tie that game before ultimately losing. It was the captain's time to step up and move his team on. But he didn't, putting forth a pretty porous effort if you ask me.
To make matters worse, P.A. Parenteau beat Boucher on a shot that should have been stopped. It wasn't even a remotely impressive shot, Boucher got his glove on it, and he was as upset as anyone when it fluttered in. Yikes. The tension was building yet again. I was certain the Flyers were going to go with Jeff Carter, even with him far from 100 percent, because he's the team's best goal-scorer. But Peter Laviolette threw me a curveball by sending out Claude Giroux, and the moment he did, I had a great feeling about it. After all, the guy is my favorite Flyer. And Claude did not let me down, ripping one right through Lundqvist to put the Flyers ahead 2-1 in the shootout.
It all came down to this, Olli "Frankenstein" Jokinen one on one with Brian Boucher. Advantage Boucher, who went on to do funky chicken dance of some sort.
And with the victory, the Flyers didn't just secure a spot in the playoffs, they didn't just end the Rangers' season after giving them hope, but they wound up with the most favorable match-up possible for the first round. Yes, by securing that wild victory Sunday, the Flyers earned the 7th seed, meaning they'll take on the Devils in the first round. While taking on the No. 2 seed with historic Flyer foil and Hall-of-Fame bound goaltender Martin Brodeur in net is never an ideal situation, the Flyers couldn't have asked for a better scenario given the circumstances.
This season, the Flyers went 5-1 against New Jersey, seemingly flipping the script on a division rival that has owned them the past two decades, spearheaded by Brodeur in net. But this year it was the Flyers getting the best of Brodeur. In those six games, the Flyers scored 20 goals, 19 of them coming in the five wins, outscoring the Devils 20-10 overall and 19-6 in their wins. Brodeur started all six for Jersey, and his play was uneven. The Flyers defeated Brodeur 5-2 on 27 shots in the first meeting, then won 3-2 with Brodeur stopping 32 of 35 shots. In the lone loss, the Flyers fired just 23 shots at the Jersey goaltender, losing 4-1. Then the Flyers came back from a 2-0 hole to win 3-2 in back to back games. And in the final meeting of the season, the Flyers trounced the Devils 5-1, chasing Brodeur from net after he surrendered four goals on 19 shots. In those six games Brodeur's save percentage is a paltry .878, even worse if you take out the lone victory (.865).
It hasn't been a stellar year for Brodeur against the Flyers. This, of course, doesn't mean all that much come tonight, when the Flyers kick off the playoffs in New Jersey. Brodeur is notoriously awesome in the playoffs usually, and the Devils aren't simply a team dependent on their goaltending anymore. With players like Ilya Kovalchuk, Zach Parise and Travis Zajac, this team can score as well. It won't be an easy match-up. But given the way the season series went, the Flyers couldn't have asked for a better situation. It's not likely that a No. 7 will defeat a No. 2, but there's definitely a chance.
Monday, December 21, 2009
Not Quite Snowed In
Not sure if you heard, but we got quite a bit of snow this weekend in Philadelphia. Something in the range of 23 inches.
With word of the storm rolling in and plenty of sports on to watch, I stayed in Friday night and watched as the Sixers somehow defeated the Celtics 98-97 to end their 11-game winning streak. In Boston. I know, I was stunned too. I called it a night relatively early and got set for what I anticipated would be a long day of laying on the couch and watching sports. The snow was falling at a rapid rates, the roads quickly deteriorating and my house nice and warm. As I headed down the stairs around 11 a.m., still in a post-wakeup haze, Adam EatShit tells me he has two extra tickets to the Flyers-Rangers game at 1 and asks if I'd like to go. Of course I said yes, and uncle jellyfish gladly accepted the other free ticket. We hardly knew what we were getting ourselves into.
The two of us trekked to the el, watching as the snow piled up with no end in sight. But once we got word that the game was still on, there was no turning back. To Broad and Pattison it was. Truth be told, the worst of it had yet to hit, so it wasn't all that bad on our way there. But it quickly turned bad once we entered the Wachovia Center. It was a sparse crowd due to the weather, so we did upgrade our seats down low, but immediately as we entered the building, Chris Drury put the Rangers up 1-0. We were still walking to our seats thanks to a slow-running SEPTA, so we missed it, but that didn't change the fact the Flyers were down 1-0 already to another struggling team. Not good.
Minutes later, the Flyers went on the power play and set up. Claude Giroux got the puck to Simon Gagne on the boards near the circle, and uncle jellyfish quickly said, "Get it back to the point." As the pass was on its way, you could clearly see a great shooting lane and traffic in front, so naturally, as thousands of other fans in the building did, I yelled, "Shoot it!" Pronger gladly obliged and found the back of the net, tie game.
A few minutes after that, Arkansas Fred called me and asked if I wanted to go the Eagles game on Sunday. I gladly accepted. The funny thing is, earlier in the day, uncle jellyfish told me how before he left to meet at my house for the Flyers game, a buddy of his called and asked him to go to the Eagles game too. Both of us woke up on Saturday with no tickets to anything and no plans, and then we both wound up going to not only the Flyers game, but the Eagles game as well. It was kind of eery to say the least.
The two of us then watched as the Flyers completely and utterly dominated … but couldn't find the back of the net. It's become an alarming trend for a team that scored so many goals last season and was scoring at an awesome clip early this year. Meanwhile, the Rangers throw some garbage at the net and scored their second goal, and the Flyers trailed 2-1 heading into the third despite the fact they were controlling the game. That's annoying.
Still, even with Henrik Lundqvist and the team's scoring slump, it felt like the Flyers were on the verge of exploding. I predicted a 4-2 Flyers victory, with the final goal coming via empty net. I was dead wrong. The Flyers played their best period of the game in the 3rd, outshooting the Rangers 16-5 and pretty much keeping the entire play in the Rangers' zone, but nothing. Lundqvist was just too good, making saves any way possible. With his glove, his stick, his leg, even his face.
So despite outplaying the Rangers the entire game, despite outshooting New York 37-24, the Flyers still lost 2-1, falling to 14th in the East. Pathetic. Once again, Chris Pronger was the best player for the Flyers, playing sound defense and scoring the team's only goal. While I'm thrilled with his play this season, it would be nice to be able to say someone else actually played better than him on this team for once. But that just hasn't been happening. The forwards aren't scoring or forechecking enough, though they did get in on the forecheck pretty strong Saturday, and something just isn't right. Meanwhile, just about everything was right for Lundqvist. While Pronger was the best player for the Flyers on Saturday, Lundqvist was the best player period. He stopped 36 of Philadelphia's 37 shots and never once looked out of position. He stole the game for the Rangers.
To be fair though, he was giving up plenty of fat rebounds, but the Flyers, as they have been for two months now, were a step slow in getting there or couldn't find the net when they needed to. It's really a troubling trend — a team with so much offensive potential not scoring any goals. Something needs to be done, but I really don't know what else the Flyers can do. Despite the fact I was never a John Stevens fan, he did all he could to try and spark the team: change the lines, take away some ice time, etc. None of that worked, so the Flyers canned him. Peter Laviolette has also tried just about everything in the book, reuniting players who used to play together regularly, juggling the defense pairings, double shifting players, everything. Still nothing. I honestly think the only thing that can wake these guys at this point is to make a trade or sit a prominent player as a healthy scratch. Those are about the only two things the Flyers haven't tried, and nothing else seems to be working. This team is too talented and too much was expected for them to be sitting in 14th place in the East 34 games into the season.
Anyway, after the game, uncle jellyfish and I caught a ride back with Adam EatShit, who sat with us most of the game. The walk to his car was just brutal. As bearable as the walk to the el was on our way to the game, the shorter walk to the car after the game was equally unbearable. The wind was whipping, the temperature was well below freezing and the snow was still falling. I felt like my face was going to fall off. I was completely frozen. Then there was still the proposition of driving back to our house and getting there safely. Adam insisted to us that his car was a beast in the snow and would make it no problem, but with the roads a complete mess and the snow still falling, it was going to be interesting. Despite a few slips and slides, we made it back in one piece, but it was pretty much at the point that the roads were undrivable. I knew they were calling for a storm, but I didn't expect this. The snow would not relent. It was piling up by the inches, and my car was quickly buried in snow.
Again, I had no intention of braving the elements a second time, not after seeing cars stuck, the roads covered and unplowed, and the storm continuing. I stayed in again on Saturday and just watched sports, specifically watching the Cowboys somehow manage to not only win a game in December, but do it in New Orleans against the previously undefeated Saints. I was shocked. And I watched the Sixers lose to the Clippers at home a night after defeating the best team in the conference on the road, but I'll get to the Sixers in another post later today.
Point is, I was resting up and preparing myself for a long, cold day/night outside Sunday. I woke up some time around 11 and relaxed. When I finally went downstairs and looked outside, I was amazed. There was two feet of snow on the ground and not a single plow had been run down Girard Avenue. The roads in our neighborhood were a complete mess. Every car was snowed in, people were getting stuck left and right and driving looked ominous at best. If you wanted to get anywhere, or park anywhere, you had to plan a good 20-minute shoveling job just to dig yourself out of your parking spot or to dig yourself a spot to pull in to. With its tight budget, the city seemed to have no interest in even attempting to use its funds to clear the streets. That was fun.
I was all set to hop on the subway and meet Arkansas Fred down at the Linc. Adam EatShit had other plans. Since his car fared so well the day before in the snow, he decided to drive again. While the streets all around us were a mess, he heard that 95 and most of the main roads were cleared and good to go. Works for me. So he, his girlfriend and I ventured out to pick up uncle jellyfish, and we headed on down to the stadium with no problems. That is, until we actually were all set to go in.
After walking around a while waiting for Arkansas Fred, I went to go meet him. It was after 3 and the lines to get in were outrageously long. The Eagles had failed to clear the snow quick enough, so the gates weren't open yet. It was a shitshow, probably the worst clusterfuck I've ever seen down there for an Eagles game. The city and the Eagles knew this storm was coming, knew there was going to be tons of snow to remove, and the NFL even moved the start time back three-plus hours for them to adequately get the game in with no problems. Yet the Eagles and the city were still unprepared. In fact, when we got in, there were sections around midfield where the seats weren't even cleared of snow. Literally a few sections on each side were still completely covered in snow. Pathetic. Thankfully, our seats were cleared and we made it in well before kickoff. I would have been pissed otherwise.
Garbed in four pairs of socks, boots, a T-shirt, two hooded sweatshirts, a winter jacket, a winter hat and three pairs of pants, I was ready. Evidently, so were the Eagles. Quintin Demps, who should be the full-time kick returner so long as he is healthy just like he was last season (fuck Macho Harris), returned the opening kickoff 48 yards. Five plays later, Donovan McNabb hooked up with DeSean Jackson for a 19-yard touchdown, 7-0 Eagles. They never looked back, and you all saw the game, so I won't go with a play-by-play breakdown, but there are a few things I'd like to touch upon.
First and foremost, god damn, DeSean Jackson is a star. No two ways about it. For the second straight week, he was the difference in the game. Following up his beautiful performance against the Giants, DeSean had 6 catches for 140 yards and the aforementioned touchdown, and a 59-yarder that he could have taken to the house had McNabb led him a little more.
I think we can officially say DeSean is unstoppable. With all the weapons the Eagles have, he will get open one way or another, and he will make big plays. He is a certifiable stud, and while his receiving numbers aren't up there with the likes of the Giants' Steve Smith, you can sure as hell bet any Giants fan, or any fan of any team for that matter, would give up a boatload to have DeSean. He may not make the Pro Bowl after missing some games, but he should. He's the most explosive player in the division, and without question one of the most dynamic players in the entire league. How did this guy drop to the second round again?
Seriously, how? The Eagles even drafted Trevor Laws before him. The same Trevor Laws who has been inactive the past two weeks. What I'm saying is, DeSean was the biggest steal of his draft class. Glad the Eagles were the ones who nabbed him.
Second, sweet mother of god has Leonard Weaver won this city over in a short period of time, and rightfully so. Rarely has a fullback gotten this much attention anywhere, let alone in Philadelphia, but I think it's safe to say that Weaver has become the most beloved offensive player on this team besides DeSean. The fans can't get enough of him, and for good reason. He is the exact player this team has been missing — a big, bruising, versatile back. He can level people blocking, whether it's leading the way for LeSean McCoy or protecting McNabb's back. He can run with the ball like a tailback, catch like a wide receiver and make plays like a smaller, quicker player. Take one look at Leonard Weaver and the word athlete probably doesn't come to mind. But make no mistake, Leonard Weaver is a freakish athlete trapped in a fullback's body. And he's been incredibly valuable for this team.
Yesterday, he battered his way for 52 yards on 17 carries, softening up a very physical San Francisco defense. That allowed LeSean McCoy to average 5.3 yards a carry, gaining 48 yards on his 9 touches, and gave McNabb and the receivers plenty of room for them to wrack up 306 yards through the air, even in the frigid temperatures. What a great, understated signing.
Third, what in the hell is going on with coaches these days? Seriously. In the first quarter, with your team up 7-3, four points, you go for it on 4th-and-1 at your own 29-yard line? Really? What in the hell could the logic have possibly been. That was one of the worst go for it calls I've ever seen. I know all about the stats and the logic behind teams going for it and how statistically speaking, teams should go for it on fourth down more often. But sometimes it just makes absolutely no sense to do it, no matter how short of a distance you have to go to pick up the first down. That was one of those instances.
The Eagles were leading 7-3 in the first quarter. The 49ers had done nothing on offense since their first drive of the game. The defense was playing great. And you were leading. And it was the first quarter. And, on 3rd-and-1, you were just stuffed. Under no circumstance do you want to even remotely take the chance of giving the Niners a really short field, put them in field goal position without even gaining any offensive yards, yet the Eagles did anyway. This is not a team that you are confident will pick up those short-yardage situations, even after they've improved greatly. And sure enough, Leonard Weaver got stuffed, and the Niners got the ball. Dumb, dumb call. There is no way to defend it. None. I don't care what the statistics say, it was a horrible call. Luckily, Sheldon Brown is the man, forcing a fumble that was recovered by his cornerback mate Asante Samuel.
And that brings me to my next point. Sheldon Brown is this team's best defensive player, plain and simple. While Asante is a fine player in his own right and wracks up the interceptions (he got another one yesterday), Sheldon is a better player. There, I said it. For starters, he is a great tackler. Just ask Reggie Bush.
The man lays the wood and rarely ever misses a tackle. Asante, for all his INTs, kills you with missed tackles. Secondly, he makes a ton of great plays. This season alone, he has 5 picks, 152 returns yards off those picks, a touchdown and yesterday's forced fumble. He has 48 tackles, and more tips and breakups than you can count, such as the great tip in yesterday's game that almost turned into an interception by Quintin Mikell, who, oh by the way, actually did get a pick, finally not dropping the ball, and then almost came down in bounds on said tip by Brown. All I know is Sheldon is the leader of this defense, its best player, and it's time he got his due. The guy has played at a Pro Bowl level most of his career. This season, he finally deserves the chance to go. Because for the all the interceptions and great returns Lito Sheppard made to get to his Pro Bowls and Asante Samuel makes to get to his Pro Bowls, Sheldon is a better, more sound, more reliable player. I'd love to see him in Miami, one way or the other.
Oh, and Sean Jones, who friend of the site Spencer096 from Major League Jerk told me was a steal of a signing by the Eagles, sucks. Horribly. After hearing such a glowing endorsement from a guy who certainly knows his football, I was amped to see what Sean Jones could do. And in his first few weeks starting, he played very well. But the past few weeks, he's been awful, making a mockery of the safety position. Hell, his whiff against the Giants made Asante Samuel laugh, and yesterday, he missed Frank Gore so badly that I don't even think you could call what he did an attempt at a tackle. It was more like a person with vertigo trying to regain their balance on a rocking ship. I was embarrassed for him. Time to get him off the field and put 15-yard personal foul Quintin Demps out there for good. He may hit you in the helmet illegally, but at least he'll bring you down.
But Jones did have a nice game on special teams, making two great tackles. Not sure why he can't do that playing safety, but I've seen enough. Strictly special teams for you, Sean Jones.
All in all, good performance by the Birds. They won their fifth straight game, clinched a playoff berth and handled an inferior team, even if it wasn't the prettiest of performances. The snow was flying throughout the game, as people were pelting each other and the field, but the game went on with pretty much no terrible incidents. And to warm ourselves up after freezing our balls off at the Linc, Adam EatShit, his girlfriend, uncle jellyfish and I made an impromptu trip to Tacconelli's and dined on the most amazing pizza in the world.
So while the snow may have kept my car under wraps, it hardly kept me snowed in. Not even 23 inches of snow could prevent me from going to a Flyers game, Eagles game and Tacconelli's. That's how every weekend should go.
With word of the storm rolling in and plenty of sports on to watch, I stayed in Friday night and watched as the Sixers somehow defeated the Celtics 98-97 to end their 11-game winning streak. In Boston. I know, I was stunned too. I called it a night relatively early and got set for what I anticipated would be a long day of laying on the couch and watching sports. The snow was falling at a rapid rates, the roads quickly deteriorating and my house nice and warm. As I headed down the stairs around 11 a.m., still in a post-wakeup haze, Adam EatShit tells me he has two extra tickets to the Flyers-Rangers game at 1 and asks if I'd like to go. Of course I said yes, and uncle jellyfish gladly accepted the other free ticket. We hardly knew what we were getting ourselves into.
The two of us trekked to the el, watching as the snow piled up with no end in sight. But once we got word that the game was still on, there was no turning back. To Broad and Pattison it was. Truth be told, the worst of it had yet to hit, so it wasn't all that bad on our way there. But it quickly turned bad once we entered the Wachovia Center. It was a sparse crowd due to the weather, so we did upgrade our seats down low, but immediately as we entered the building, Chris Drury put the Rangers up 1-0. We were still walking to our seats thanks to a slow-running SEPTA, so we missed it, but that didn't change the fact the Flyers were down 1-0 already to another struggling team. Not good.
Minutes later, the Flyers went on the power play and set up. Claude Giroux got the puck to Simon Gagne on the boards near the circle, and uncle jellyfish quickly said, "Get it back to the point." As the pass was on its way, you could clearly see a great shooting lane and traffic in front, so naturally, as thousands of other fans in the building did, I yelled, "Shoot it!" Pronger gladly obliged and found the back of the net, tie game.
A few minutes after that, Arkansas Fred called me and asked if I wanted to go the Eagles game on Sunday. I gladly accepted. The funny thing is, earlier in the day, uncle jellyfish told me how before he left to meet at my house for the Flyers game, a buddy of his called and asked him to go to the Eagles game too. Both of us woke up on Saturday with no tickets to anything and no plans, and then we both wound up going to not only the Flyers game, but the Eagles game as well. It was kind of eery to say the least.
The two of us then watched as the Flyers completely and utterly dominated … but couldn't find the back of the net. It's become an alarming trend for a team that scored so many goals last season and was scoring at an awesome clip early this year. Meanwhile, the Rangers throw some garbage at the net and scored their second goal, and the Flyers trailed 2-1 heading into the third despite the fact they were controlling the game. That's annoying.
Still, even with Henrik Lundqvist and the team's scoring slump, it felt like the Flyers were on the verge of exploding. I predicted a 4-2 Flyers victory, with the final goal coming via empty net. I was dead wrong. The Flyers played their best period of the game in the 3rd, outshooting the Rangers 16-5 and pretty much keeping the entire play in the Rangers' zone, but nothing. Lundqvist was just too good, making saves any way possible. With his glove, his stick, his leg, even his face.
So despite outplaying the Rangers the entire game, despite outshooting New York 37-24, the Flyers still lost 2-1, falling to 14th in the East. Pathetic. Once again, Chris Pronger was the best player for the Flyers, playing sound defense and scoring the team's only goal. While I'm thrilled with his play this season, it would be nice to be able to say someone else actually played better than him on this team for once. But that just hasn't been happening. The forwards aren't scoring or forechecking enough, though they did get in on the forecheck pretty strong Saturday, and something just isn't right. Meanwhile, just about everything was right for Lundqvist. While Pronger was the best player for the Flyers on Saturday, Lundqvist was the best player period. He stopped 36 of Philadelphia's 37 shots and never once looked out of position. He stole the game for the Rangers.
To be fair though, he was giving up plenty of fat rebounds, but the Flyers, as they have been for two months now, were a step slow in getting there or couldn't find the net when they needed to. It's really a troubling trend — a team with so much offensive potential not scoring any goals. Something needs to be done, but I really don't know what else the Flyers can do. Despite the fact I was never a John Stevens fan, he did all he could to try and spark the team: change the lines, take away some ice time, etc. None of that worked, so the Flyers canned him. Peter Laviolette has also tried just about everything in the book, reuniting players who used to play together regularly, juggling the defense pairings, double shifting players, everything. Still nothing. I honestly think the only thing that can wake these guys at this point is to make a trade or sit a prominent player as a healthy scratch. Those are about the only two things the Flyers haven't tried, and nothing else seems to be working. This team is too talented and too much was expected for them to be sitting in 14th place in the East 34 games into the season.
Anyway, after the game, uncle jellyfish and I caught a ride back with Adam EatShit, who sat with us most of the game. The walk to his car was just brutal. As bearable as the walk to the el was on our way to the game, the shorter walk to the car after the game was equally unbearable. The wind was whipping, the temperature was well below freezing and the snow was still falling. I felt like my face was going to fall off. I was completely frozen. Then there was still the proposition of driving back to our house and getting there safely. Adam insisted to us that his car was a beast in the snow and would make it no problem, but with the roads a complete mess and the snow still falling, it was going to be interesting. Despite a few slips and slides, we made it back in one piece, but it was pretty much at the point that the roads were undrivable. I knew they were calling for a storm, but I didn't expect this. The snow would not relent. It was piling up by the inches, and my car was quickly buried in snow.
Again, I had no intention of braving the elements a second time, not after seeing cars stuck, the roads covered and unplowed, and the storm continuing. I stayed in again on Saturday and just watched sports, specifically watching the Cowboys somehow manage to not only win a game in December, but do it in New Orleans against the previously undefeated Saints. I was shocked. And I watched the Sixers lose to the Clippers at home a night after defeating the best team in the conference on the road, but I'll get to the Sixers in another post later today.
Point is, I was resting up and preparing myself for a long, cold day/night outside Sunday. I woke up some time around 11 and relaxed. When I finally went downstairs and looked outside, I was amazed. There was two feet of snow on the ground and not a single plow had been run down Girard Avenue. The roads in our neighborhood were a complete mess. Every car was snowed in, people were getting stuck left and right and driving looked ominous at best. If you wanted to get anywhere, or park anywhere, you had to plan a good 20-minute shoveling job just to dig yourself out of your parking spot or to dig yourself a spot to pull in to. With its tight budget, the city seemed to have no interest in even attempting to use its funds to clear the streets. That was fun.
I was all set to hop on the subway and meet Arkansas Fred down at the Linc. Adam EatShit had other plans. Since his car fared so well the day before in the snow, he decided to drive again. While the streets all around us were a mess, he heard that 95 and most of the main roads were cleared and good to go. Works for me. So he, his girlfriend and I ventured out to pick up uncle jellyfish, and we headed on down to the stadium with no problems. That is, until we actually were all set to go in.
After walking around a while waiting for Arkansas Fred, I went to go meet him. It was after 3 and the lines to get in were outrageously long. The Eagles had failed to clear the snow quick enough, so the gates weren't open yet. It was a shitshow, probably the worst clusterfuck I've ever seen down there for an Eagles game. The city and the Eagles knew this storm was coming, knew there was going to be tons of snow to remove, and the NFL even moved the start time back three-plus hours for them to adequately get the game in with no problems. Yet the Eagles and the city were still unprepared. In fact, when we got in, there were sections around midfield where the seats weren't even cleared of snow. Literally a few sections on each side were still completely covered in snow. Pathetic. Thankfully, our seats were cleared and we made it in well before kickoff. I would have been pissed otherwise.
Garbed in four pairs of socks, boots, a T-shirt, two hooded sweatshirts, a winter jacket, a winter hat and three pairs of pants, I was ready. Evidently, so were the Eagles. Quintin Demps, who should be the full-time kick returner so long as he is healthy just like he was last season (fuck Macho Harris), returned the opening kickoff 48 yards. Five plays later, Donovan McNabb hooked up with DeSean Jackson for a 19-yard touchdown, 7-0 Eagles. They never looked back, and you all saw the game, so I won't go with a play-by-play breakdown, but there are a few things I'd like to touch upon.
First and foremost, god damn, DeSean Jackson is a star. No two ways about it. For the second straight week, he was the difference in the game. Following up his beautiful performance against the Giants, DeSean had 6 catches for 140 yards and the aforementioned touchdown, and a 59-yarder that he could have taken to the house had McNabb led him a little more.
I think we can officially say DeSean is unstoppable. With all the weapons the Eagles have, he will get open one way or another, and he will make big plays. He is a certifiable stud, and while his receiving numbers aren't up there with the likes of the Giants' Steve Smith, you can sure as hell bet any Giants fan, or any fan of any team for that matter, would give up a boatload to have DeSean. He may not make the Pro Bowl after missing some games, but he should. He's the most explosive player in the division, and without question one of the most dynamic players in the entire league. How did this guy drop to the second round again?
Seriously, how? The Eagles even drafted Trevor Laws before him. The same Trevor Laws who has been inactive the past two weeks. What I'm saying is, DeSean was the biggest steal of his draft class. Glad the Eagles were the ones who nabbed him.
Second, sweet mother of god has Leonard Weaver won this city over in a short period of time, and rightfully so. Rarely has a fullback gotten this much attention anywhere, let alone in Philadelphia, but I think it's safe to say that Weaver has become the most beloved offensive player on this team besides DeSean. The fans can't get enough of him, and for good reason. He is the exact player this team has been missing — a big, bruising, versatile back. He can level people blocking, whether it's leading the way for LeSean McCoy or protecting McNabb's back. He can run with the ball like a tailback, catch like a wide receiver and make plays like a smaller, quicker player. Take one look at Leonard Weaver and the word athlete probably doesn't come to mind. But make no mistake, Leonard Weaver is a freakish athlete trapped in a fullback's body. And he's been incredibly valuable for this team.
Yesterday, he battered his way for 52 yards on 17 carries, softening up a very physical San Francisco defense. That allowed LeSean McCoy to average 5.3 yards a carry, gaining 48 yards on his 9 touches, and gave McNabb and the receivers plenty of room for them to wrack up 306 yards through the air, even in the frigid temperatures. What a great, understated signing.
Third, what in the hell is going on with coaches these days? Seriously. In the first quarter, with your team up 7-3, four points, you go for it on 4th-and-1 at your own 29-yard line? Really? What in the hell could the logic have possibly been. That was one of the worst go for it calls I've ever seen. I know all about the stats and the logic behind teams going for it and how statistically speaking, teams should go for it on fourth down more often. But sometimes it just makes absolutely no sense to do it, no matter how short of a distance you have to go to pick up the first down. That was one of those instances.
The Eagles were leading 7-3 in the first quarter. The 49ers had done nothing on offense since their first drive of the game. The defense was playing great. And you were leading. And it was the first quarter. And, on 3rd-and-1, you were just stuffed. Under no circumstance do you want to even remotely take the chance of giving the Niners a really short field, put them in field goal position without even gaining any offensive yards, yet the Eagles did anyway. This is not a team that you are confident will pick up those short-yardage situations, even after they've improved greatly. And sure enough, Leonard Weaver got stuffed, and the Niners got the ball. Dumb, dumb call. There is no way to defend it. None. I don't care what the statistics say, it was a horrible call. Luckily, Sheldon Brown is the man, forcing a fumble that was recovered by his cornerback mate Asante Samuel.
And that brings me to my next point. Sheldon Brown is this team's best defensive player, plain and simple. While Asante is a fine player in his own right and wracks up the interceptions (he got another one yesterday), Sheldon is a better player. There, I said it. For starters, he is a great tackler. Just ask Reggie Bush.
The man lays the wood and rarely ever misses a tackle. Asante, for all his INTs, kills you with missed tackles. Secondly, he makes a ton of great plays. This season alone, he has 5 picks, 152 returns yards off those picks, a touchdown and yesterday's forced fumble. He has 48 tackles, and more tips and breakups than you can count, such as the great tip in yesterday's game that almost turned into an interception by Quintin Mikell, who, oh by the way, actually did get a pick, finally not dropping the ball, and then almost came down in bounds on said tip by Brown. All I know is Sheldon is the leader of this defense, its best player, and it's time he got his due. The guy has played at a Pro Bowl level most of his career. This season, he finally deserves the chance to go. Because for the all the interceptions and great returns Lito Sheppard made to get to his Pro Bowls and Asante Samuel makes to get to his Pro Bowls, Sheldon is a better, more sound, more reliable player. I'd love to see him in Miami, one way or the other.
Oh, and Sean Jones, who friend of the site Spencer096 from Major League Jerk told me was a steal of a signing by the Eagles, sucks. Horribly. After hearing such a glowing endorsement from a guy who certainly knows his football, I was amped to see what Sean Jones could do. And in his first few weeks starting, he played very well. But the past few weeks, he's been awful, making a mockery of the safety position. Hell, his whiff against the Giants made Asante Samuel laugh, and yesterday, he missed Frank Gore so badly that I don't even think you could call what he did an attempt at a tackle. It was more like a person with vertigo trying to regain their balance on a rocking ship. I was embarrassed for him. Time to get him off the field and put 15-yard personal foul Quintin Demps out there for good. He may hit you in the helmet illegally, but at least he'll bring you down.
But Jones did have a nice game on special teams, making two great tackles. Not sure why he can't do that playing safety, but I've seen enough. Strictly special teams for you, Sean Jones.
All in all, good performance by the Birds. They won their fifth straight game, clinched a playoff berth and handled an inferior team, even if it wasn't the prettiest of performances. The snow was flying throughout the game, as people were pelting each other and the field, but the game went on with pretty much no terrible incidents. And to warm ourselves up after freezing our balls off at the Linc, Adam EatShit, his girlfriend, uncle jellyfish and I made an impromptu trip to Tacconelli's and dined on the most amazing pizza in the world.
So while the snow may have kept my car under wraps, it hardly kept me snowed in. Not even 23 inches of snow could prevent me from going to a Flyers game, Eagles game and Tacconelli's. That's how every weekend should go.
Thursday, April 23, 2009
Links, in Honor of Dikembe Mutombo Mpolondo Mukamba Jean-Jacque Wamutombo
This year, the Rockets became one of my favorite teams in the NBA because they signed Brent Barry, got Ron Artest and, of course, had Dikembe Mutombo.
When the Sixers first traded Theo Ratliff for Dikembe Mutombo in 2001, I was devastated, angry and upset. Not because I had any problems with Dikembe, in fact, quite the contrary, after all, his pure joy when his 8th-seeded Nuggets toppled Shawn Kemp, Gary Payton and the top-seeded Sonics was just an awesome sight, but I was/am a HUGE Theo Ratliff fan. But it turns out, the trade was brilliant, as Mutombo helped lead the Sixers to the NBA Finals with his incredible defense and tremendous rebounding, and the big guy really grew on me. He really, truly did.
Dikembe Mutombo is the best defensive center I've ever seen play, and by all accounts, he is the nicest, funniest guy in the NBA. And he truly has his priorities straight, helping out his impoverished homeland and doing good deeds all over the place. Sure, I remember in 2002 when every time he touched the ball in the Sixers-Celtics first-round playoff series the entire Wachovia Center let out a collective, "NOOOOOOOOOO!!!!" because of his clunky hands and awkward offense, but I also remember a warrior and a great teammate. I'm going to miss Dikembe and all his hilarious antics, Cookie Monster voice and incredible defense. All the best to you, Dikembe. Now on to the links …
-Go to TrueHoop and read everything, especially the awesome coverage of Dikembe's retirement here.
-Praise Jeebus, Navorro Bowman only got a slap on the wrist.
Yeah, Rubin, that rose is nice and all, but you got any weed?
Now please, Navorro, no more smokey smokey, OK? Wait till you get to the NFL for that.
-Chauncey Billups and the Nuggets are doing work, son:
Back in the day, somewhere around 7th, 8th, 9th grade, my friends and I used to have these ongoing jokes about Vinny Testaverde, Yancey Thigpen and yes, Chauncey Billups where we'd make these weird hand motions when referencing them for no apparent reason. I'm not sure why we did it, why it involved those three guys or exactly how it started, but we were pretty committed to it. Clearly, my friends and I were weird kids.
-Jeremy Tyler, considered the best high school big man in the country, is leaving HIGH SCHOOL early to play professionally overseas.
Some of the details:
Tyler told the Times that he's making the move because he's too focused on getting better at basketball to spend time hitting the books, adding that "people look to college for more off-the-court stuff versus being in the gym and getting better."
…
The 17-year-old Tyler left San Diego High School before finishing his junior year, but he says he'll try to get his diploma by taking classes online. He also says he's ready to spend two years in Spain before returning in June of 2011 for the NBA draft.
Tyler told the Times of his European excursion, "It will help me get better and grow up."
First Brandon Jennings, now Tyler. This, my friends, is awesome. I certainly don't want a lot of players to go overseas, preventing me from watching the future players of the NBA before they get there, but leaving high school, and the books, behind to get paid, that's freakin great. I wish I could have done something like that. School is for fools kids. I would know, I graduated from college in just four short years and now get paid dick to work for the man. When I grow up, I want to be just like Jeremy Tyler.
-A first-round exit is not good enough, and neither is the status quo:
Fans focus on results and look for reasons for those results. The easy targets when a hockey team disappoints are the goaltender and the head coach.
Marty Biron has played well in this series. He has not won a game by himself, as Fleury did Tuesday or as Biron did a couple of times in last year's playoffs. But it would be a stretch to blame Biron, a soon-to-be free agent, for what has happened in this series.
Stevens is a tougher call. The Flyers were stunningly flat in Game 1. That is the players' fault, but responsibility for a performance like that tends to fall on the coach. And then there is the simple truth that coaches are not exactly permanent fixtures in the NHL.
Look at the Penguins. They won their series against the Flyers last year, advanced to the Stanley Cup Finals, and then replaced their head coach in the middle of this season. It is an unforgiving business, but there's little reason to believe changing coaches would accomplish anything.
The Flyers are a good team, but the results say they are not as good as Pittsburgh. That was true last spring, and it appears to be just as true this spring.
-Domo rightly questions Maurice Evans' decision to enter the draft.
Sometime late Saturday afternoon or early evening, NFL commissioner Roger Goodell will walk to the podium at Radio City Music Hall and announce that a Penn State defensive end has been selected in the first round of the draft.
Eight months ago, most people figured that defensive end would be Maurice Evans. He was coming off an outstanding sophomore season in which he registered 12 1/2 sacks and 21 1/2 tackles for losses and forced five fumbles. He was All-Big Ten. The world was his oyster.
Then, last September, everything went to hell. Police were called to a noisy party at a State College apartment shared by Evans and teammate Abe Koroma. The cops found marijuana in the bedrooms of both players.
…
It's perfectly understandable why Maybin decided to pass on his final year of eligibility and declare for the draft. Evans' decision to do the same, though, is a little bit more mystifying.
…
His position coach - Lions defensive-line coach Larry Johnson - basically told Evans that he should stay in school for 1 more year. He advised him to return to Happy Valley, put up the kind of numbers he put up as a sophomore, and improve his draft stock.
Basically, if Evans' marijuana incident wasn't proof enough of how stupid he is, his decision to go pro certainly drove that point home. The guy is an idiot, and it pains me to write that because Mo Evans is one of my favorite players from Penn State. He was an absolute beast in 2007, and if he came back this year, he'd be the best player on the defensive line and with a bounceback season like 2007, he would have vaulted to the upper half of the draft. Now he's going to be a late-round pick with no guarantees. What a moron.
-The Yankees, despite a bevy of empty seats down low, are already planning to raise ticket prices next year. Brilliant. Simply brilliant.
-MJD takes Sports Illustrated to task for it's "apology" to B.J. Raji.
-I hate Ohio State, but this old hit is too awesome not to post:
-Stephen Curry is going pro.
-Shanoff's take on Jeremy Tyler. Very well said.
-Scottie Reynolds is declaring for the draft, but he won't hire an agent.
That's a good idea, because, uh, Scottie is not ready for the NBA at all. He should come back to Villanova, work on his consistency and try to turn himself into a first-round draft pick, because he sure as shit isn't a first-rounder this year.
-Breaking down Pedro Feliz's hot start at the dish.
-Honestly, no need to cover those up:
For the record, if you haven't been watching the NHL playoffs beyond just the Flyers-Penguins series, you're missing out. Typically this time of year I spend much more time watching the NBA playoffs, but this year, I've been watching more hockey than ever, and it's awesome. Last night's Chicago-Calgary game was incredible, and the end of the Rangers-Caps game was epic. Watching Alex Ovechkin is one of the most incredible things in the world, even when his team loses. His goal last night was sick:
He shoots the puck so hard that it's nearly impossible to even see. And the most impressive thing is how deadly accurate he is. The guy barely ever misses the net. Makes me even more disgusted with how many times the Flyers do miss the cage. But Ovechkin, even in all his dominate glory in the third period, couldn't best Henrik Lundqvist, who was incredible.
Anyway, the Flyers will try to stave off elimination in Pittsburgh tonight. This has the potential to be the worse thing ever. The Pens are up 3-1, the Rangers are up 3-1, the Devils are tied 2-2, and Boston already swept. If the Devils win, and with the Rangers and Pens all but wrapping things up, the remaining teams in the Eastern Conference playoffs would go like this: Pittsburgh, New York, Boston and New Jersey. There is nothing that could possibly be worse than that. I mean, I'd be forced to root for a team from Boston to represent the East, and God knows I don't want to do that. It would be a lot easier if the Flyers decided to just do the impossible and win three straight already.
When the Sixers first traded Theo Ratliff for Dikembe Mutombo in 2001, I was devastated, angry and upset. Not because I had any problems with Dikembe, in fact, quite the contrary, after all, his pure joy when his 8th-seeded Nuggets toppled Shawn Kemp, Gary Payton and the top-seeded Sonics was just an awesome sight, but I was/am a HUGE Theo Ratliff fan. But it turns out, the trade was brilliant, as Mutombo helped lead the Sixers to the NBA Finals with his incredible defense and tremendous rebounding, and the big guy really grew on me. He really, truly did.
Dikembe Mutombo is the best defensive center I've ever seen play, and by all accounts, he is the nicest, funniest guy in the NBA. And he truly has his priorities straight, helping out his impoverished homeland and doing good deeds all over the place. Sure, I remember in 2002 when every time he touched the ball in the Sixers-Celtics first-round playoff series the entire Wachovia Center let out a collective, "NOOOOOOOOOO!!!!" because of his clunky hands and awkward offense, but I also remember a warrior and a great teammate. I'm going to miss Dikembe and all his hilarious antics, Cookie Monster voice and incredible defense. All the best to you, Dikembe. Now on to the links …
-Go to TrueHoop and read everything, especially the awesome coverage of Dikembe's retirement here.
-Praise Jeebus, Navorro Bowman only got a slap on the wrist.
Yeah, Rubin, that rose is nice and all, but you got any weed?
Now please, Navorro, no more smokey smokey, OK? Wait till you get to the NFL for that.
-Chauncey Billups and the Nuggets are doing work, son:
Back in the day, somewhere around 7th, 8th, 9th grade, my friends and I used to have these ongoing jokes about Vinny Testaverde, Yancey Thigpen and yes, Chauncey Billups where we'd make these weird hand motions when referencing them for no apparent reason. I'm not sure why we did it, why it involved those three guys or exactly how it started, but we were pretty committed to it. Clearly, my friends and I were weird kids.
-Jeremy Tyler, considered the best high school big man in the country, is leaving HIGH SCHOOL early to play professionally overseas.
Some of the details:
Tyler told the Times that he's making the move because he's too focused on getting better at basketball to spend time hitting the books, adding that "people look to college for more off-the-court stuff versus being in the gym and getting better."
…
The 17-year-old Tyler left San Diego High School before finishing his junior year, but he says he'll try to get his diploma by taking classes online. He also says he's ready to spend two years in Spain before returning in June of 2011 for the NBA draft.
Tyler told the Times of his European excursion, "It will help me get better and grow up."
First Brandon Jennings, now Tyler. This, my friends, is awesome. I certainly don't want a lot of players to go overseas, preventing me from watching the future players of the NBA before they get there, but leaving high school, and the books, behind to get paid, that's freakin great. I wish I could have done something like that. School is for fools kids. I would know, I graduated from college in just four short years and now get paid dick to work for the man. When I grow up, I want to be just like Jeremy Tyler.
-A first-round exit is not good enough, and neither is the status quo:
Fans focus on results and look for reasons for those results. The easy targets when a hockey team disappoints are the goaltender and the head coach.
Marty Biron has played well in this series. He has not won a game by himself, as Fleury did Tuesday or as Biron did a couple of times in last year's playoffs. But it would be a stretch to blame Biron, a soon-to-be free agent, for what has happened in this series.
Stevens is a tougher call. The Flyers were stunningly flat in Game 1. That is the players' fault, but responsibility for a performance like that tends to fall on the coach. And then there is the simple truth that coaches are not exactly permanent fixtures in the NHL.
Look at the Penguins. They won their series against the Flyers last year, advanced to the Stanley Cup Finals, and then replaced their head coach in the middle of this season. It is an unforgiving business, but there's little reason to believe changing coaches would accomplish anything.
The Flyers are a good team, but the results say they are not as good as Pittsburgh. That was true last spring, and it appears to be just as true this spring.
-Domo rightly questions Maurice Evans' decision to enter the draft.
Sometime late Saturday afternoon or early evening, NFL commissioner Roger Goodell will walk to the podium at Radio City Music Hall and announce that a Penn State defensive end has been selected in the first round of the draft.
Eight months ago, most people figured that defensive end would be Maurice Evans. He was coming off an outstanding sophomore season in which he registered 12 1/2 sacks and 21 1/2 tackles for losses and forced five fumbles. He was All-Big Ten. The world was his oyster.
Then, last September, everything went to hell. Police were called to a noisy party at a State College apartment shared by Evans and teammate Abe Koroma. The cops found marijuana in the bedrooms of both players.
…
It's perfectly understandable why Maybin decided to pass on his final year of eligibility and declare for the draft. Evans' decision to do the same, though, is a little bit more mystifying.
…
His position coach - Lions defensive-line coach Larry Johnson - basically told Evans that he should stay in school for 1 more year. He advised him to return to Happy Valley, put up the kind of numbers he put up as a sophomore, and improve his draft stock.
Basically, if Evans' marijuana incident wasn't proof enough of how stupid he is, his decision to go pro certainly drove that point home. The guy is an idiot, and it pains me to write that because Mo Evans is one of my favorite players from Penn State. He was an absolute beast in 2007, and if he came back this year, he'd be the best player on the defensive line and with a bounceback season like 2007, he would have vaulted to the upper half of the draft. Now he's going to be a late-round pick with no guarantees. What a moron.
-The Yankees, despite a bevy of empty seats down low, are already planning to raise ticket prices next year. Brilliant. Simply brilliant.
-MJD takes Sports Illustrated to task for it's "apology" to B.J. Raji.
-I hate Ohio State, but this old hit is too awesome not to post:
-Stephen Curry is going pro.
-Shanoff's take on Jeremy Tyler. Very well said.
-Scottie Reynolds is declaring for the draft, but he won't hire an agent.
That's a good idea, because, uh, Scottie is not ready for the NBA at all. He should come back to Villanova, work on his consistency and try to turn himself into a first-round draft pick, because he sure as shit isn't a first-rounder this year.
-Breaking down Pedro Feliz's hot start at the dish.
-Honestly, no need to cover those up:
For the record, if you haven't been watching the NHL playoffs beyond just the Flyers-Penguins series, you're missing out. Typically this time of year I spend much more time watching the NBA playoffs, but this year, I've been watching more hockey than ever, and it's awesome. Last night's Chicago-Calgary game was incredible, and the end of the Rangers-Caps game was epic. Watching Alex Ovechkin is one of the most incredible things in the world, even when his team loses. His goal last night was sick:
He shoots the puck so hard that it's nearly impossible to even see. And the most impressive thing is how deadly accurate he is. The guy barely ever misses the net. Makes me even more disgusted with how many times the Flyers do miss the cage. But Ovechkin, even in all his dominate glory in the third period, couldn't best Henrik Lundqvist, who was incredible.
Anyway, the Flyers will try to stave off elimination in Pittsburgh tonight. This has the potential to be the worse thing ever. The Pens are up 3-1, the Rangers are up 3-1, the Devils are tied 2-2, and Boston already swept. If the Devils win, and with the Rangers and Pens all but wrapping things up, the remaining teams in the Eastern Conference playoffs would go like this: Pittsburgh, New York, Boston and New Jersey. There is nothing that could possibly be worse than that. I mean, I'd be forced to root for a team from Boston to represent the East, and God knows I don't want to do that. It would be a lot easier if the Flyers decided to just do the impossible and win three straight already.
Friday, April 10, 2009
The Battle of Stupid Team Names
Last night, the Rangers and Flyers battled it out, ultimately with the Rangers edging the Flyers 2-1 to clinch a playoff birth, thanks in large part to this bullshit first goal:
Apparently you're allowed to just push goaltenders into the net in New York, and the referees are allowed to swallow their whistles when a goalie has the puck covered in the crease for a full five seconds so the Rangers can push the goalie and the puck in the net … but I digress.
The real question about last night's contest is, who has a worse team name, the Flyers or the Rangers? Honestly, when you think about it, they are both absolutely awful. Just look at the definition of each word. A ranger is: 1. the keeper of a British royal park or forest; 2. one that ranges; 3. one of a body of organized armed men who range over a region especially to enforce the law or a solider specially trained in close-range fighting and in raiding tactics. OK, so the last one sounds respectable enough, but the first thing that comes to mind when you hear the word "ranger" is either The Lone Ranger or Ranger Smith.
The Lone Ranger looks like an even gayer version of Gay Zoro, and Ranger Smith was the foil to Yogi's adventures, essentially nothing but a joke. Plus, a ranger is like a cop. Who want's to be called the New York Police or the New York Cops? Sounds terrible.
Not that the Flyers are any better. A flyer is a variant of the word flier, but per AP Style, flyer is used in reference trains and buses, such as The Western Flyer, while flier is the term for a handbill or aviator. That means, the Philadelphia Flyers are essentially the Philadelphia Greyhound Buses.
Better than SEPTA I guess, but still an awful name. Oh, or maybe we're the Philadelphia Wagons, such as the Radio Flyer.
Wagons are cool I guess. They sure as shit were fun as a kid. But still, dreadful name. But which is worse? The Rangers or Flyers? I say it's a push. They both suck. Kind of like the inconsistent officiating last night.
For instance, there were numerous offsides calls missed last night on both ends, and the Rangers got away with a blatant elbow on Darroll Powe and blatant high stick on Andrew Alberts, where he was cut, negating what should have been a 4-minute penalty. And the Flyers got away with a few takedowns and holds as well, providing a truly horrendously called game.
Don Van Massenhoven, mustache and all, was a complete joke last night and a disgrace to the NHL.
But to be fair, Van Massenhoven wasn't the reason the Flyers lost the game, even if he did spot the Rangers a bullshit goal. Henrik Lundqvist was. Honestly, the Flyers didn't play bad at all last night. In fact, with the exception of the final three minutes, the Flyers were plain better than the Rangers. That was clearly evident by their 38 shots to the Rangers' 31, and a plethora of golden scoring chances.
However, the Rangers had the best player on the ice last night, hands down. Henrik, after a shaky start where he was fighting off the puck, leaving rebounds and dropping shots, righted himself in a hurry and played spectacular, stopping 37 shots, many of which were great scoring chances. And the save he made on Daniel Carcillo was out of this world:
That was just insane. And it was just one of many great save by Lundqvist. He was on top of his game yesterday, and he stole a victory for the Rangers.
I will say, for the Flyers' part, Daniel Carcillo had another excellent game, flying all over the ice, hitting people and generating a lot of scoring chances. Looks like he's finally beginning to get comfortable, and he and Darroll Powe provide a nice spark for the team. However, the Flyers still are playing too sloppy, misfiring on passes routinely, failing to get the puck deep, and last night, they passed up entirely too many opportunities to fire the puck on the power play. The Rangers are the top penalty-killing team in the NHL. When you get a chance to shoot against them, you have to take it. The Flylers tried to get too cute, and they had some awful power plays as a result.
Overall though, if the Flyers bring that sort of effort, and just get a little crisper on their passing and defensive coverage, they'll be fine. Hopefully they can exact some revenge on Sunday, when I'll be there with a few Rangers fans. Yeah, it's gonna be rough.
Apparently you're allowed to just push goaltenders into the net in New York, and the referees are allowed to swallow their whistles when a goalie has the puck covered in the crease for a full five seconds so the Rangers can push the goalie and the puck in the net … but I digress.
The real question about last night's contest is, who has a worse team name, the Flyers or the Rangers? Honestly, when you think about it, they are both absolutely awful. Just look at the definition of each word. A ranger is: 1. the keeper of a British royal park or forest; 2. one that ranges; 3. one of a body of organized armed men who range over a region especially to enforce the law or a solider specially trained in close-range fighting and in raiding tactics. OK, so the last one sounds respectable enough, but the first thing that comes to mind when you hear the word "ranger" is either The Lone Ranger or Ranger Smith.
The Lone Ranger looks like an even gayer version of Gay Zoro, and Ranger Smith was the foil to Yogi's adventures, essentially nothing but a joke. Plus, a ranger is like a cop. Who want's to be called the New York Police or the New York Cops? Sounds terrible.
Not that the Flyers are any better. A flyer is a variant of the word flier, but per AP Style, flyer is used in reference trains and buses, such as The Western Flyer, while flier is the term for a handbill or aviator. That means, the Philadelphia Flyers are essentially the Philadelphia Greyhound Buses.
Better than SEPTA I guess, but still an awful name. Oh, or maybe we're the Philadelphia Wagons, such as the Radio Flyer.
Wagons are cool I guess. They sure as shit were fun as a kid. But still, dreadful name. But which is worse? The Rangers or Flyers? I say it's a push. They both suck. Kind of like the inconsistent officiating last night.
For instance, there were numerous offsides calls missed last night on both ends, and the Rangers got away with a blatant elbow on Darroll Powe and blatant high stick on Andrew Alberts, where he was cut, negating what should have been a 4-minute penalty. And the Flyers got away with a few takedowns and holds as well, providing a truly horrendously called game.
Don Van Massenhoven, mustache and all, was a complete joke last night and a disgrace to the NHL.
But to be fair, Van Massenhoven wasn't the reason the Flyers lost the game, even if he did spot the Rangers a bullshit goal. Henrik Lundqvist was. Honestly, the Flyers didn't play bad at all last night. In fact, with the exception of the final three minutes, the Flyers were plain better than the Rangers. That was clearly evident by their 38 shots to the Rangers' 31, and a plethora of golden scoring chances.
However, the Rangers had the best player on the ice last night, hands down. Henrik, after a shaky start where he was fighting off the puck, leaving rebounds and dropping shots, righted himself in a hurry and played spectacular, stopping 37 shots, many of which were great scoring chances. And the save he made on Daniel Carcillo was out of this world:
That was just insane. And it was just one of many great save by Lundqvist. He was on top of his game yesterday, and he stole a victory for the Rangers.
I will say, for the Flyers' part, Daniel Carcillo had another excellent game, flying all over the ice, hitting people and generating a lot of scoring chances. Looks like he's finally beginning to get comfortable, and he and Darroll Powe provide a nice spark for the team. However, the Flyers still are playing too sloppy, misfiring on passes routinely, failing to get the puck deep, and last night, they passed up entirely too many opportunities to fire the puck on the power play. The Rangers are the top penalty-killing team in the NHL. When you get a chance to shoot against them, you have to take it. The Flylers tried to get too cute, and they had some awful power plays as a result.
Overall though, if the Flyers bring that sort of effort, and just get a little crisper on their passing and defensive coverage, they'll be fine. Hopefully they can exact some revenge on Sunday, when I'll be there with a few Rangers fans. Yeah, it's gonna be rough.
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)
