Boxing Challenge

The Boxing Challenge rolls on into December with R.L.Malpica and I all tied up in points.

This weekend ,we go to a three fight HBO card from Brooklyn and a former champion fighting in Montreal.

Middleweights.12 rds
David Lemieux vs Gabriel Rosado

R.L.:Lemieux KO 6
TRS: Rosado KO 10

Junior Welterweights.10 rds
Thomas Dulorme vs Hank Lundy

R.L: Dulorme unanimous decision
TRS;Lundy unanimous decision

Middleweights.10 rds
James De La Rosa vs Hugo Centeno
R.L: De La Rosa KO 8
TRS:Centeno Unanimous decision

Lt Heavyweights.12 rds
Jean Pascal vs Roberto Bolonti
Both:Pascal unanimous decision

With three of the four fights being picked differently-one of us could give themselves a sizable lead with just a few weeks to go...

Rapping the Raptors 105-91

The Cleveland Cavaliers won their sixth game in a row 105-91 by avenging a loss to the Toronto Raptors in Toronto.
LeBron James scored 24 points and dished off for 13 assists while Tristan Thompson and Kevin Love each notched a double double in points and rebounds,
The now 11-7 Cavaliers visit Brooklyn on Monday.

Swashbucklings

1) The Cavaliers have not lost since that debacle against the Raptors and even though these six wins have had their erratic moments,I can see the signs of how strong this team could be.
They still need a few parts,but things are starting to mesh and even if it isn't always for 48 minutes...

2) Tristan Thompson showed off what he is capable of with his 21 points and 14 boards.
Thompson is never going to be an all-star,but he is very capable of being the best off the bench big man in the league..

3) James Jones rarely plays,but he got a few minutes off the bench late in the first half and delivered
two long three pointers.
Jones fits "Boobie Gibson" role that might disappear for long stretches of the regular season,but could be huge in playoff time..

4) LeBron James is usually pretty great,but last night,he was dazzling with the passing of the basketball.
Some of the James passes were astounding and showed why I've always thought of him as more Magic Johnson than Michael Jordan,..

5)  Mike Miller missed the game with a concussion and will have to go through the leagues concussion protocol.
Miller was just beginning to get more playing time,so this was a bad time for Miller to have a problem....

Pigskin Picking Machine

The PPM continues with College Championship week along with the pro game as well.

College
Big 10
Wisconsin over Ohio State 28-20

MAC
Northern Illinois over Bowling Green 42-34

Mountain West
Boise State over Fresno State 44-23

Pac 10
Oregon over Arizona 45-35

SEC
Alabama over Missouri 34-13

ACC
Florida State over Georgia Tech 28-21

Pro
Colts over Browns 31-17
Saints over Panthers 35-23

Game of the Week
Seahawks over Eagles 24-20

Last Week;7-3
Overall: 79-30

Devils tear up Leafs 5-3

A battered and shorthanded New Jersey Devils team on a losing streak managed to glide into Toronto and snap that string with a 5-3 win over the Maple Leafs with a little bit of that thing known as goal scoring.
Five different Devils lit the lamp for New Jersey in the victory-Mike Cammalleri (11 Power Play),Adam Henrique (7),Eric Gelinas (3 Power Play),Steve Bernier (2) and Stephen Gionta (1).
The Devils get a day off before hosting Washington on Saturday.
Coverage unlikely for that with the Big 10 title game against that one on time.

Hell Raisers

1) For all of the criticism that Peter DeBoer receives (much of it deserved),he hasn't lost his team yet.
The effort against Pittsburgh and then this win against Toronto was as gutsy as they come when you consider all things.
This team is depleted and has every right to be a bit down and yet the effort ( if not always the results) is still there.
I'm not a DeBoer fan,but you have to give him that.

2) Stephen Gionta wasn't going to be sure to play until the morning skate with a bad foot after taking a shot off it in Pittsburgh.
The diminutive winger did however and scored his first goal on the season state sheet.
The fourth line was their energy line for the Devils and set a tone that I thought gave the team a good evening...

3) Jon Merrill returned to the lineup and quickly added two assists.
The DeBoer favorite had missed a long stretch and of all the young defensemen,I believe he has the most well rounded game.

4) The Devils were already beaten up,but missed three players that were active in Pittsburgh.
Jaromir Jagr and Adam Larsson had the flu and Patrik Elias had a grr grroin injury.
The team managed to overcome those losses and hopefully will get the flu bug out of the locker room.


5) Steve Bernier was part of that fourth line that I mentioned with a goal and assist.
Bernier is a favorite of mine and I always like to see him do well...

6) Five assists on the night from the blue line and that's a good thing because that means puck movement and shots from the outside,both of which this team does not do enough of at times.
The Devils ,as noted in the past,are developing this corps of young defensemen on the fly and when they can get even half of the offensive production that they had in this game,the team is surprisingly effective..

Back later with a conference title weekend PPM...

Browns try Hoyer one more time

Mike Pettine and the Cleveland Browns had a decision to be made
entering this week's game against the Indianapolis Colts and it was one that had the potential to influence the 7-5 Browns season.

With a clump of teams in contention for wild card spots,every game is of importance and with the arm of Andrew Luck and his high scoring Colts coming to Cleveland,the Browns found themselves in a quandary.
Do they stick with the erratic arm and play of the veteran Brian Hoyer and gamble that he can recover from his month long funk?
Or is it time for first round pick Johnny Manziel,who led the Browns to their only touchdown in a losing effort last week against the Buffalo Bills?

The Pro-Hoyer argument-
The player that led the Browns to their surprising 7-5 record.
Veteran leadership.
Player that is more prepared to start and knows the offense best.
Need to know whether the Browns are sure about re-signing him at season's end.

The Pro-Manziel argument
Led the Browns to their only TD in Buffalo.
Much more zip on his passes and opens up the deep ball more.
Adds some excitement to the offense and the creativity out of the pocket..
Time to see what the Browns have in their first round pick and do they need to look yet again for a young QB.

As much as the pros are influencing,the cons are as well.
For Brian Hoyer,they are pretty straight forward.
Has played poorly over the last month and his passes are often far too inaccurate for a starting quarterback.

For Johnny Manziel
Questions on preparation on and off the field.
Does the team follow the rookie?

Mike Pettine chose Brian Hoyer and I agree with the decision-to a degree.
Once you make the decision that Johnny Manziel is the guy,you cannot go back to Brian Hoyer.
Therefore,you want to make sure that the "guy" isn't Brian Hoyer before you make that move.
On the field considerations only would make me go Manziel and I don't believe that Hoyer is going to magically turn his game around this week against Indianapolis.
However,he deserves one final chance to try before the team shunts him aside for good.....

The Browns placed Miles Austin on injured reserve after Austin injured a kidney against the Bills.
That's a loss,but look for Andrew Hawkins and Taylor Gabriel's targets to go up against the Colts.
The Browns also signed running back Shaun Droughn formerly of the Chiefs to a contract to add some back depth.
That is a need with Isaiah Crowell being questionable with an injury issue for this week,Terrence West being less than reliable with the football and Glenn Winston being untested along with the release of Ben Tate.
Running back has went from a strength to a position with plenty of questions in just a few weeks....

In other news,the Cavaliers released Will Cherry and added veteran A.J. Price.
Price isn't quite what I was looking for in a backup point guard,but he is a veteran,which is what I would like to see the Cavaliers have behind the often brittle Kyrie Irving.....

Penned in Pittsburgh-Penguins nip Devils 1-0

The battered and at times shorthanded New Jersey Devils hung in there in a rugged and physical battle in Pittsburgh against one of the league's better teams in the Penguins,but Evgeni Malkin scored the the only goal of the game in the third period and Pittsburgh grabbed the 1-0 win.
Cory Schneider finished the night with 22 saves,many of them excellent ones.
The Devils continued their standings freefall with their fifth straight loss and will be back on Thursday vs Toronto...

Hell Raisers

1) For whatever I would do differently with Peter DeBoer and some of the talent on this team-I would not question the effort on this night.
I get tired of hearing DeBoer remind me of former Browns coach Pat Shurmur after a loss with a mid numbing drone  of "We battled",but on this night,they did and their effort deserves respect...

2) Extremely cheap shot by Pittsburgh's Robert Bortuzzo to the head of Jaromir Jagr in the second period and ended Jagr's evening early.
It's the kind of hit that might not have been a penalty 20 years ago,but in this day and age of rules changes along with concussion issues that are illegal.
The Devils asked the referee why not a five minute major penalty-which was truly deserved and the answer was "we didn't see it".
The tape saw it and Bortuzzo will certainly hear from the league soon...

3) Loved the Jordin Tootoo comments in the locker room on Bortuzzo that if he had been on the ice,there would have been retribution and that he'll remember the number for the next game between these teams (Dec 29th by the way).
The Devils don't have enough of that type of fire....

4) Cory Schneider was fine in net.
Schneider knocked away a few odd man rushes and a shorthanded chance with no defensive help and the Malkin goal was off a backhand and he received no defensive help on the shot either.
No problems giving Schneider kudos for the quality of his game...

5) The Devils lost three players in the game-all forwards and forced the team to run just nine forwards.
Stephen Gionta,Patrik Elias and Jaromir Jagr all were removed from the game and I have no word on their injuries and status for Toronto.
Look for at least one forward (likely Reid Boucher) to be a emergency recall from Albany...

6) Scott Gomez saw lots of action in his Devils return,but as with the rest of the team,failed to dent the scoreboard.
With the current injuries on the Devils roster,I'm not against giving Gomez a try,but expecting him to be a answer after seven less than distinguished seasons is asking a lot....

Browns bounced in Buffalo 26-10,Manziel Debuts

The Cleveland Browns laid another huge egg when they needed to win in Buffalo as the Bills bullied them in the second half for a 26-10 Buffalo win.
In a game not exactly filled with offensive highlights,Johnny Manziel rushed for the only Cleveland touchdown off the bench in the fourth quarter.
The now 7-5 Browns will be home for the next two weeks against division leaders Indianapolis and then Cincinnati.

Brownie Bits

1) Brian Hoyer was deservedly benched for Johnny Manziel.
Hoyer threw two interceptions,but it could have been even more had Bill defenders held onto the ball.
The move was a long time in coming and Manziel certainly added a little bit of excitement to a team that badly needed it..

2) That said,I'm not sure that starting Manziel is the answer next week against the Colts.
Once you make the move to start Johnny Manziel,he is the guy.
You cannot flip back and forth with a young quarterback and if that is the plan,I'd rather see Hoyer next week.
You want to give Brian Hoyer one last chance? Fine,as long as when Johnny Manziel goes in-he stays in.

3) Terrence West is disappointing.
West rushed for more yards yesterday than Isaiah Crowell,but 18 of his 32 yards came on the last play of the game when the Bills just played out the string.,
West's fumble that Jerry Hughes scored a touchdown on swung the game to Buffalo and even though Mike Pettine claimed the fumble was "inexcusable" West still would play later in the game.

4) Josh Gordon caught seven balls for 75 yards,but there was still some miscommunications with the quarterbacks (especially Brian Hoyer) and the team still seems reluctant to send him deep.
I'd think that the deep ball would open things up a bit,but perhaps the coaching staff's mistrust of Brian Hoyer throwing deep comes into play there.

5) Buffalo's Aaron Williams head first spear of Gary Barnidge in the first quarter sent Barnidge to the bench with a rib injury and surprisingly no penalty called.
Count on the league hitting Williams with a fine after the game is reviewed.

6) Johnny Manziel may not be the answer to the Browns problems,but one thing is certain-the rap on his arm strength is unfair.
Manziel was throwing darts and the throws he made on the scoring drive were the type that Brian Hoyer doesn't make.
Manziel might not make it big,but it won't be because of his arm...

7) Manziel's other drive ended with the "same old Browns" roll of the eyes as on 4th and 6,Miles Austin ran a five yard route and was tackled shy of the first down.
Does anyone have stats on how many times that has happened in the last 15 years?
Answer-No and too many to count.

8) The one bright spot on the day was Joe Haden,
Haden had an interception,a block of a Buffalo field goal try,some batted down passes and held talented Sammy Watkins to three catches and just 13 yards on the day.
Haden is in the zone right now and looks to have plenty of challenges ahead of him with T.Y.Hilton and A.J. Green to cover in the next two games.

9) Wish I could say the same for the Browns anchor on offense as Joe Thomas struggled with Mario Williams as he was beaten several times and called for holding three times (some declined by Buffalo).
Could be just a bad matchup,but Williams certainly had his way with Thomas...

10) The defense did not play badly and held Buffalo to just one touchdown.
Yes,Buffalo added three field goals and Jim Leonhard made a great interception in the end zone to foil another threat,but all and all,this was a very solid defensive effort-I was pleased with them...

11) I winced when the Bills thrust the dagger into the heart of the Browns on a third down that Cleveland had to have a stop on with a catch and run for 40 plus yards to tight end and former Browns Marquis Gray.
Gray can do so many things that I was in favor of keeping him around,but he was an early cut by the Browns in camp.

12) This was a huge loss.I figure 10-6 will get you into the playoffs,9-7 could go either way.
A win over the Bills would have allowed the Browns to go 2-2 to get to 10-6.
Now they have to go 3-1.
My guess? It's unlikely....