Devils win again over Tampa

The New Jersey Devils grabbed their 4th win in a row and went above .500 for the first time all season with a 3-2 win over the Lightning at the Tangerine Bowl in Tampa.
Brian Gionta's two second period goals (6 and 7) gave the Devils a 2-1 lead,while David Clarkson's goal later in the period (2) was the game winner as the Lightning cut the lead to 3-2 in the 3rd period.
Zach Parise assisted on both Gionta goals,1 full strength with the other a power play goal.
Patrik Elias missed the game with flu symptoms for the second game in a row.
The Devils seem to be putting things together a bit,as it seems that Brent Sutter has made the call to merge his offensive system with the Devils past system to take better advantage of the talent on the roster.
Marty Brodeur continues his excellent play and added another win to his total on the "march to Roy".
The Devils take a few days off before returning to action on Wednesday at the Rock vs the Dallas Stars.

The 6-4 Cleveland Browns can take a huge step towards the playoffs today in Cleveland vs the Houston Texans.
A win would move the Browns two games ahead of Houston in the wild card race and give them a tiebreaker over the Texans.
This should be a shootout,especially with corner Eric Wright out of the game,which leaves the Browns short handed in the secondary against a passing team.
Looks like a wild one.........
Our Pick:Browns 38-31

The 6-4 Seattle Seahawks travel to St.Louis for a game against the Rams.
The Seahawks hold a one game lead over the Cardinals for first place in the NFC West and need to win keep the lead.
Mo Morris will play again for the injured Shaun Alexander and should continue his excellent play in Alexander's absence.
The Hawks defense should control the Rams in this one.
Our Pick:Seahawks 28-14.

Bullpen Notes

One reader wants to know why we don't give the Miami Hurricanes coverage.
Simple-We don't want to,but just this once..
Congrats to Miami for their tremendous 5-7 season.

Seriously though,We do have some thought on why Miami and Florida State seem to be on the downslide.
With the state of Florida adding 4 Division I football teams over the last decade (South Florida,Central Florida,Florida International and Florida Atlantic) looks to me that these schools are taking away from the traditional powers depth.
Think about it,if each of those schools take 3 players that would have went to Miami or FSU in the past,the depth is affected.
That doesn't explain why Florida is still solid though,but the SEC always has a tradition edge in football over the bloated ACC.

The Post Gazette says that the Pirates are interested in Battlin' Bob's favorite hurler Matt Clement and the Buccos claim they are not shopping Jason Bay or Jack Wilson.
I can see keeping Wilson after the release of Cesar Izturis last week,but no way do we believe that Bay is not involved in talks.
The P-G says Cleveland,as we wrote in the past,is an ardent suitor.
As far as Clement goes-all for it,IF the cost is a cheap,short and incentive based contract.

Photo Credits
Gionta-AP Photo
Helmets-helmet Project