Lightning doesn't strike twice-Chargers beat Browns 19-10

Photo Credit:Cleveland Plain Dealer

Lightning didn't strike twice as the only team that the 2016 Cleveland Browns defeated made sure that they weren't the 2017 victim as the Los Angeles (Nee' San Diego) Chargers struggled to a 19-10 win over the Cleveland Browns in Carson, California.
DeShone Kizer hit David Njoku with a 28 yard pass two minutes before the end of the first half for the only Browns touchdown that gave the Browns the lead for most of those two minutes before former Brown Travis Coons gave the Chargers a 9-7 halftime lead with a 22 yard field goal on the final play of the first half.
The now 0-12 Browns host Green Bay next Sunday in the Packers final game with Brett Hundley at quarterback before the return of Aaron Rodgers.

Brownie Bits

1) The return of Josh Gordon was somewhat of a mixed success.
Gordon did not miss a beat with his speed and athleticism and he looked really good with four catches for eighty yards with one sure to be touchdown overthrown by DeShone Kizer.
All and all, a excellent first game back.

2) Considering all of that, I thought either the play calling or DeShone Kizer locked in too much on Gordon (eleven targets) much like Brian Hoyer did during the last Gordon return.
I get that he is a number one receiver, but the Browns still need to move the ball around and not lock on Gordon.

3) There may be one more question to wonder about is it possible that the Browns could try to feature Gordon as much as possible in order to build his possible trade value?
That may be reading far too much into this, but I would not be surprised that should Sashi Brown be retained that Gordon might be moved for draft picks considering his past and ability.

4) I thought the Browns would be able to run the football against the worst run defense in the league and they did-by average four yards a carry.
The bad news is they only ran the ball 22 times and every time the Browns had some rhythm, they started throwing again.

Photo Credit:Cleveland Plain Dealer

It would be interesting to see what would happen if the Browns would try to run the ball and now with an elite pass catcher like Josh Gordon to open up the field what would happen with four games to go.

5) The play of the game as the Browns were driving down 19-10 on the Charger 15 with a third down,
DeShone Kizer gets stripped by Joey Bosa, fumbles-ball game.
I know I've drummed the Browns don't take Ohio State players in the draft, but this is yet another one that bites them.
I'm a big Joey Bosa fan and love the pass rush and high motor that he brings to the field and I understand the Browns not taking him after the trade down in the 2016 draft, but he's the type of disruptive presence that the Browns hope to get from Myles Garrett.

6) David Njoku finished with the Browns only touchdown and caught five passes for 74 yards.
Njoku down the seam might be the biggest beneficiary of Josh Gordon.
Njoku was drafted as a raw talent and has been erratic in his rookie season, but on occasion, you can see the athletic ability that might make him an impact tight end in this league.

7) Corey Coleman was supposed to thrive as the number two receiver with the arrival of Josh Gordon.
Instead, he disappeared as he didn't catch a pass of his four targets and disappeared from the offense with nary a whimper.

8) The defense bent but seldom broke as they only allowed one touchdown out of six Charger drives inside the Cleveland 20.
Keep in mind that this was a Charger team that scored 54 two weeks ago against Buffalo and 28 on Thanksgiving against Dallas, so this wasn't playing the 49ers.
Good all-around game for the defense.

9) The star was Joe Schobert, who finished with seven solo tackles, a forced fumble, a sack and two tackles for loss.
Schobert is rolling up big numbers for you fantasy IDP players out there and reminds me a lot of Zach Thomas, an old school tackling middle linebacker that can play in passing situations as well.

10) DeShone Kizer is running out of excuses for his problems hitting his receivers.
The accuracy problems continued with even more weapons than he has had all season.
It is the problems with accuracy that has haunted Browns quarterbacks for years and it doesn't look like Kizer is going to be the player that solves that issue.

11) The other player on the Charger defense that played well?
Desmond King, a rookie corner from Iowa that made six tackles, had a sack of Kizer among three hits of him, two tackles for loss and made plays on special teams as a kick returner with a 44 yard returner.
Longtime readers may remember how high I was on King coming out of Iowa and King was a Charger pick in round five!
The player the Browns picked ahead of King hasn't played all season due to injury (Howard Wilson of Houston, whom I also liked), so the jury is still out on that player, but King looks like another missed Brown draft pick.

12) The Chargers wore the royal blue uniforms from the Dan Fouts era, which looked OK, but they wore blue pants with them rather than the gold pants used back then.
The gold would have added a better look, I think, but no matter what they used, they wouldn't have been as good looking as the classic 60's powder blue, which is almost universally loved and the hard-headed Chargers refuse to use full time.

Remaining games in the chase to a win
Green Bay 6-6
Baltimore 7-5
at Chicago 3-9
at Pittsburgh 9-2 (plays tonight)

Boxing Challenge: Ali upsets Cotto

The Boxing Challenge continued in Madison Square Garden as the supposed goodbye to Miguel Cotto ended badly for Cotto and his fans as heavy underdog Sadam Ali moved up from welterweight to stun Cotto and lift his WBO junior middleweight title via a close but unanimous decision.
Ali was the quicker fighter but surprisingly was the harder puncher as he hurt Cotto in the second round and won the final four rounds on my card, which had Ali as a 115-113 winner.
Cotto injured his biceps in the seventh round and that may have cost him the fight, but clearly, Cotto is getting out at the right time and I would hope to see him stick to his retirement claim.
As for Ali, I'm not sure how he stacks up against the other top 154 pounders and I would rank him fourth among the four champions at junior middleweight.

In the co-feature, the less said the better as Rey Vargas won every round on my card and won a unanimous decision over Oscar Negrete, whose best move was to use headbutts from the Tony Atlas school, to retain his WBC junior featherweight title via unanimous decision.
HBO's fights have slipped off late and this fight is a prime example of this.

Ramon Malpica and I each added two points for the Vargas win and none for Ali's upset of Cotto.
The Challenge is now 185-169.

Buckeyes OutBadger Bucky- Win Big 10 27-21!

The Ohio State Buckeyes defeated the Wisconsin Badgers at what they do best-run the ball and shut down the opposing team's offense as the Buckeyes rushed for 238 yards and held spectacular freshman Jonathan Taylor to just forty as it was Ohio State claiming the Big Ten Championship in Indianapolis 27-21.
J.K.Dobbins rushed for 174 yards on just 17 carries while J.T, Barrett threw for two scores and ran for another in a game that was deceiving by its score but was not decided until the final minutes of the game.
The new conference champions finish 11-2 in the regular season and will await the decision to see if they will enter the playoff or head to a New Year's Day Bowl instead...

Olentangy Offerings

1) The playoff.
Before I begin, the announcement is within an hour of this writing, so it's likely that this might not be posted until after the decision is released.
If that's the case, I'll add an Editor's Note.
I won't complain either way the decision is rendered because I think both sides have a reasonable argument.
OSU has two losses to Alabama's one, Ohio State has two top four, three top twelve wins and another top 25 win (at the time they played those teams) to Alabama's two top twenty-five.
Ohio State won their conference, Alabama failed to make their conference title game.
Ohio State's loss to Iowa is a bad one, Alabama doesn't have many good wins.
That's the decision: Which is more important? The number of good wins or the inexplicable loss?
I can see both sides.

2) Here is the problem: You have two teams with huge national brands and fan bases, so consider that a wash.
I think it's fair to say that if Ohio State's resume' was compared with Alabama's, but instead of Alabama, it was South Carolina- It would be clear who would get in.
Conversely, if the Buckeye record was Iowa's and it was Alabama with their season- It would be clear who would get in.
It's a tough call with two powerhouse schools with huge tradition, large fan bases and a massive amount of eyes that each bring to watch on television.

Editor's Note: Ohio State is fifth and is likely headed to the Fiesta Bowl and USC.

3) To the game. I give J.T. Barrett tons of credit for being a true warrior and playing through a knee injury that was operated on six days before the game.
More courage than I would have for sure, but even though those kudos were well deserved, J.T. Barrett still didn't play that well.
Barrett interceptions set up both of the Wisconsin touchdowns (one a pick six, the other a bad pass that gave Bucky the ball for a very short field) and he missed two wide open receivers that would have been touchdowns as well.
Kudos for fortitude, but you can make an argument that Barrett shouldn't have been on the field for his own health and you can make another argument that the Buckeyes could have been better off with Barrett not being on the field.

4) J.K. Dobbins was the best Buckeye on the offensive side and the only surprising part of the evening for Dobbins was that Wisconsin caught him from behind twice on long runs.
Dobbins may not have the numbers of Wisconsin's Jonathan Taylor on the season, splitting time with Mike Weber helps there, but he certainly is Taylor's equal as a back and should be the star of next season's offense.

5) Jonathan Taylor was a complete non-factor in this one with only 41 yards on 15 carries and his longest run was just seven yards.
Wisconsin has always been a ground-based team and it didn't take a genius to figure out that the way to defeat the Badgers was to make Alex Hornibrook beat them.
Taylor's a very good back, but against really good teams, Wisconsin has to rely on a quarterback that usually is not of top ten caliber.

6) J.T. Barrett was helped by his receivers with the catch and run.

Parris Campbell's score was a five yard pass and fifty yard run and the bomb to Terry McLaurin was well thrown and McLaurin pulled away from the Badger defensive back.
The difference in speed and athleticism was glaring between the OSU receivers and the Badgers defensive backs.

7) The defensive star had to be Jerome Baker, who was all over the field including a run from across the field sack of Alex Hornibrook and finished with 12 solo tackles with two of those for a loss.
Baker has had a little bit of a disappointing year, but wow what a performance last night.

8) Denzel Ward's first-half interception not only kept Wisconsin off the board with a high wire act to stay inbounds, he showed the type of talent that is going to make him a top twenty pick in the draft.
Yet another powerhouse Buckeye defensive back off the factory line.

9) Never seen anything like the delay for the torn up Field Turf after the only offensive Wisconsin touchdown.
Give the turf repairman lots of credit for a stressful fix in front of lord knows how many people watching live and on television.

10) In closing.I've often been critical of J.T. Barrett and even in this post, but in this win, Barrett removed the name of Art Schlichter as the winningest QB at Ohio State.
For removing that stain alone, credit to Barrett.

Back today and tomorrow with Miguel Cotto's upset loss, the Browns only visit to the West Coast and maybe some thoughts on the Buckeyes omission from the Final Four.

15 College Football Games that should be happening! 11-15

Today on conference championship
Saturday, I wanted to start our three-part series on games in college football that should be happening, but are not on a consistent basis.

A few parameters:
First, some of these games are actually scheduled or even have happened in the last year or so.
However, our argument is that they should be on schedules every year or at least every other year and either home and home or at a neutral site that would make sense.

Second, there are some schools that either are playing would be rivals already or simply don't have a suitable school in line to play, but some have multiples that would make sense.
For the purposes of this series, a school can be only used twice on the list.

11) Arkansas vs Arkansas State
A rivalry that has the potential to be a great one, but has never happened because of a long-standing policy by the Razorbacks to refuse to play in-state opponents in any sport.
The Red Wolves have become a perennial powerhouse in the Sun Belt with a parade of coaches that move up to the next level with success such as Gus Malzahn, Bryan Harsin, Hugh Freeze, and their current coach Blake Anderson is likely to join that list soon.
Arkansas is a small state that could gain by these two teams playing each other and I get the Razorbacks would have more to lose in the short term, but in the long run, this game could be a huge help to both schools.
Added bonus points, if they play the game in the above pictured (somewhat ) neutral field in Little Rock!

12) Cincinnati vs Louisville
These two schools have played each other often through the years, 53 times in fact, and played for a trophy as well- the Keg of Nails.
These teams moved together through four conferences through the years, building a great rivalry with the cities connected by I-71 and it ended by one thing-conference realignment.
Both the Bearcats and Cardinals tried to get into the ACC after the Big East breakup (the football schools formed the American Athletic with the basketball schools staying in the Big East), but only Louisville managed to get there and the series was last played in 2013 in the last season before the Cardinals joined the ACC.
I know Louisville has one rivalry in non-conference play (Kentucky), but Cincinnati doesn't- this one really needs to return...

13) Akron-Youngstown State
The only all smaller school game on the list, these teams used to be heated rivals from nearby cities and also played for a trophy- the Steel Tire incorporating the two manufacturing items that the cities were known for.
There is, even more reason for heat between the schools dating back to the late '90s (the last game between the two was 1995) when Youngstown State applied for MAC membership and was denied in favor of Marshall ( who left after a few years) and Buffalo.
Perception is that Akron and Kent State were involved to keep 1-AA Youngstown State from moving to D-I for recruiting reasons adds to the discontent and the resulting decision by the MAC to refuse to have their schools play road games at 1-AA schools to keep 1-AA schools from appearing to be at the same level killed the series.
Either with YSU in Division One or not (and there really isn't a lot of difference between the MAC and the better 1-AA schools other than depth), these teams should be playing each other.

14) Arizona-New Mexico
The neighboring Wildcats and the Lobos hooked it up every year for the Kit Carson Rifle from 1920-77 until Arizona joined the then Pac 10.
The two have played just six times (two of the six were bowl games) since then, most recently a 45-37 Arizona win in the 2015 New Mexico Bowl, haven't played in the regular season since 2008 and neither appear on each other's schedule in the future.
This article tells more about the history of the rivalry that was and should be again.
Each though has options for a cool non-conference rivalry if they REALLY don't want to play each other.
Arizona could establish a series against San Diego State (recruiting hotbed) or UNLV (neighboring state), while New Mexico could try Arizona State or go to their state to the east and try Texas Tech or even better- former WAC rival UTEP in what could be a fun series of games.

15) Tennessee-Virginia Tech
The Vols and the Hokies played just last year inside the Bristol Motor Speedway and it was a huge success.
I'm not sure if the speedway would want to make this an annual thing, but it would be a great thing to have these two play a schedule where every three years, each team gets a home game and Bristol gets the third game.
Bristol is halfway between both schools, neither has a non-conference rival (VT had rivals become conference games when they joined the ACC and they do have a game with West Virginia, but I have other plans for the Mountaineers later), it boosts the power rating with a Power five team every year.
This works all the way around...

These games just missed, so here are some honorable mention games in no particular order
Miami vs Florida- They do play each other every few years and it seems possible they could play even more in the future.

Nebraska-Colorado- Former Big 8/12 rivals renew a rivalry that was quite torrid in the Bill McCartney years in Boulder.

Notre Dame-Purdue- The battle for the Shillelagh Trophy was a casualty of the Irish's deal with the ACC to play five ACC opponents a year.

California-San Jose State or Fresno State-  Cal played San Jose all the time from 1962-1996, but the northern California schools haven't played since despite being just 45 minutes away from each other.
Fresno State is under three hours away, but yet have only played the Golden Bears three times and if they played now, it would be quite interesting with former Cal coach Jeff Tedford turning the Bulldog program around.

Houston-TCU- Former SWC rivals and former group of five bullies (TCU formerly, Houston currently) from the two biggest cities in Texas (TCU is in Fort Worth, but I'll still count it!) would make an interesting series and could incorporate their games against SMU into some type of three-game series for a trophy...

I'll have the Big Ten title game coverage later and look for part two of this later this week!

Boxing Challenge

The boxing challenge enters the final month of the year with my lead over Ramon Malpica standing at 183-167.

This weekend is just a two bout card on HBO and one up against the Big 10 title game, so it's unlikely I'll be watching either of these live unless the game is an absolute blowout.

The main event has Miguel Cotto is his supposed "farewell" (this is boxing-if you have big fights to make, you are rarely truly retired) defending his WBO junior middleweight title in his second fight in a row against a smaller and outgunned opponent this time in Sadam Ali
Ali is best known for being the number one contender (despite having only one decent win over Luis Abregu) and getting knocked out by Jessie Vargas before his title shot.
That was at welterweight and this is seven pounds higher as Cotto, as he did in his last fight against Yoshihiro Kamegai, is stacking the deck against the smaller Ali.

Rey Vargas defends his WBC junior featherweight belt against Oscar Negrete, who is undefeated against less than world class opponents.
Vargas has looked sharp in his last two fights, winning the title on the road against Gavin McDonnell and a defense against Ronny Rios in August...

WBO Junior Middleweight Title. 12 Rds
Miguel Cotto vs Sadam Ali
R.L: Cotto Unanimous Decision
TRS: Cotto KO 8

WBC Junior Featherweight Title.12 Rds
Rey Vargas vs Oscar Negrete
Both: Vargas Unanimous Decision

PPM-Championship Week Edition

It's league championship Saturday in college football, so I'll be picking every league title game.

Last Week: 7-6
Overall:104-48

College

Pac 12 Title
USC 26 Stanford 23

American Title
Central Florida 44 Memphis 28
MAC Title
Toledo 39 Akron 26

Conference USA Title
Florida Atlantic 34 North Texas 20

Big 12 Title
Oklahoma 23 TCU 14

SEC Title
Auburn 24 Georgia 21

Mountain West Title
Boise State 38 Fresno State 34

ACC Title
Clemson 38 Miami 20

Big 10 Title
Ohio State 24 Wisconsin 21

NFL
Chargers over Browns 28-13
Saints over Panthers 30-24

Games of the Week
Eagles over Seahawks 29-23
Falcons over Vikings 34-28

Devils trade for Sami Vatanen,trade Adam Henrique

Photo by Kevin Sullivan, Orange County Register/SCNG)

The New Jersey Devils apparently are taking their surprisingly fast start to heart (only one point out of first place in the Metropolitan Division) and they are also taking a bad performance in their last game against Florida seriously as the Devils swung a deal to gain a possible impact player at the position that they need most and even though the Devils greatest position of depth was at forward, the player going to a new team is one that the fan base won't be happy about- one that you know in particular...

The Devils acquired defenseman Sami Vatanen and a conditional future third-round pick in exchange for forward Adam Henrique, minor leaguer Joseph Blandisi, and the Devils third-rounder in the 2018 draft.
That's right Adam Henrique.
As in Rachel's Adam Henrique.

I'll get to the hockey part of the trade shortly, but Rachel doesn't know as I type this, and I know she's going to take it hard.
It's part of following sports, players are transient by nature, and players come and go, but when you give your heart to a player for the first time as Rachel did Henrique, it is a blow and it's a big one.
I remember the Toby Harrah for Buddy Bell trade and how it hit me.
I was half as old as Rachel, but the first time is the first time no matter how old you are.
It always is tough and it gets a little better the more you go through it, but the hurt from that first time never goes away...
Sometimes the best you can do is say you are sorry, give a hug, and hope the hurt goes away.
I'd hate to see her dislike Vatanen for this- he's a fine player who didn't ask to be traded for her favorite player...

As for Vatanen, the Devils are acquiring just what they needed entering the season, a young offensive-minded defenseman who can play the power play with a right-handed shot.
Vatanen recently came back from off-season shoulder surgery and in fifteen games for the Ducks has one goal and three assists.
Vatanen had three goals and twenty-one assists in 71 games last season and a career-high in goals (12) came in 2014-15.
The Ducks were looked at all during the summer as a possible trading partner with the Devils since the biggest need for New Jersey was the spot that Anaheim had in surplus.
Vatanen is easily a top-four defenseman for the Devils and arguably becomes their best defenseman upon arrival in Colorado (The Devils are in Denver for tomorrow's game).
The 26-year-old Finnish product is a clear upgrade for the team's blueliners and we'll be glad to have him, I'm sure.

As is usual in pro sports, you generally have to give quality to gain it and Adam Henrique has been a player that has been very popular in New Jersey with fans and was active in the community.
The 27-year-old will be best remembered for his goal in the playoffs vs the New York Rangers that eliminated the Rangers and sent the Devils to the Stanley Cup Finals in their last visit to the playoffs to date.
Henrique was always an effort player, but he had gotten off to a slow start this season with just four goals and ten assists and with plenty of depth in New Jersey and with Anaheim suffering from injuries to their top two centers (Ryan Getzlaff and Ryan Kesler), Henrique will have every opportunity to step right into the Ducks lineup with critical minutes.

Joseph Blandisi spent this season with Binghamton and seemed to fall between the cracks in the Devils system.
Blandisi too should have a chance to start over with a team in desperate current need at forward

In summary -I like the trade on the ice.
Sami Vatanen instantly upgrades the defense and adds some pop from the blue line that the Devils lacked and Adam Henrique was part of a strong bunch of forwards that the team hopes can be replaced.
Look for Pavel Zacha to be given the first chance to slide into Henrique's role.

Off the ice-it hurts.
Adam Henrique was very gracious to Rachel when she was able to meet him and it was Henrique who locked her in as a Devils fan.
Henrique will always be fondly remembered by Devils fans and I'm sad to see him go, despite that it might be better for his career.

I might have more on this later.
Rachel-I'm so so sorry  :(