UVA
Virginia did what it needed to do against Eastern Michigan and picked up its third win of the season while snapping a three-game losing streak. It wasn't always pretty, however. Two of the touchdowns were special teams touchdowns and another came on a very short field after a Chase Minnifield interception. The final score was 48-21, but it felt like a closer game than that. The run defense was absolutely awful, allowing 290 rushing yards. That's a big cause for concern moving forward. If we are going to scratch out an ACC win or two, we will need to be better on defense, and especially run defense. I am less concerned about the future of the offense. If we stick with Marc Verica for the rest of 2010, I think he will be serviceable for the rest of the year against lower-tier ACC teams. He has done well when playing teams with slower defenses. He has not fared well this year against defenses loaded with athletes (see our first three ACC games). Our run game has had its bright moments and Keith Payne is a special player when he gets going. I like Morgan Moses on the offensive line and the overall development of the line as a whole has been solid. The offense is already putting up lots of points on bad teams, which is more than can be said for last year's offense, which put up 14, 13, and 17 points against William & Mary, Maryland, and Duke, respectively. Once we get a couple good recruits on the offensive side of the ball and get a three-star or better quarterback developing under center, I see the offensive ship being righted and headed in the right direction. The defense could use more work, maybe a change in staff. We'll just have to wait and see. Going from a 3-4 to 4-3 alignment could take time to get used to for the players, but Mike London thought the talent was more suited to a 4-3. It just doesn't look like that right now. Right now, it looks like we have mediocre talent and, I don't really like to say it, but Al Groh was able to mold that talent into a respectable defense the past few years, one that kept us in games when our offense stank, which was most of the time. The win was a breath of fresh air, but now the Cavaliers have to get ready for another ACC home tilt this weekend against a Miami team which pounded UNC 33-10.
DALLAS
Everything that could go wrong has gone wrong this year for Dallas. Instead of 3-3 or 4-2, which the Cowboys could easily be right now, they sit at 1-5 and basically out of the playoff picture. They were spotted a 10-0 lead last night, and still got blown out of the water by the Giants. 41-35 is not indicative of the way the game felt. Tony Romo broke his collar bone, and is out 6-8 weeks at a minimum. As he said after either the Tennessee or Minnesota game, he is snake-bitten this season, and it truly looks like that now. It might be a good idea to not bring him back for the rest of the year. No need to rush him back and get him reinjured when we are out of the playoffs. I think it's time to start thinking about coaching changes, draft picks, and offseason acquisitions, in that order. I think it's obvious that Wade Phillips has got to go. His defense isn't even playing well anymore. I'm 50-50 on Jason Garrett. Except for some bad luck, the offense has done pretty well this season. I love Dez Bryant, and the emergence of Roy Williams as a contributor has been surprising. The offensive line needs shuffling. Mostly though, we need to get a coach in there that is disciplined, someone between the demeanor of Wade and Bill Parcells. Someone that can smooth out our rough edges and mold us into winners. Analysts still say we have some of the best talent in football, so it's time we start acting like it and playing like it.
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NBA SEASON TIPS OFF
Now for a complete change of pace. The NBA regular season tips off tonight with three games: Suns at Blazers, Rockets at Lakers, and, the marquee matchup, Celtics at Heat. LeBron finally makes his regular-season debut with Miami tonight. The New Big 3 vs. The Old Big 3. Shaq on another new team as the Big Shamrock, which is what I think he's calling himself. On night one of the season, this could be a preview of the Eastern Conference Finals and it should be fun to watch.
Virginia did what it needed to do against Eastern Michigan and picked up its third win of the season while snapping a three-game losing streak. It wasn't always pretty, however. Two of the touchdowns were special teams touchdowns and another came on a very short field after a Chase Minnifield interception. The final score was 48-21, but it felt like a closer game than that. The run defense was absolutely awful, allowing 290 rushing yards. That's a big cause for concern moving forward. If we are going to scratch out an ACC win or two, we will need to be better on defense, and especially run defense. I am less concerned about the future of the offense. If we stick with Marc Verica for the rest of 2010, I think he will be serviceable for the rest of the year against lower-tier ACC teams. He has done well when playing teams with slower defenses. He has not fared well this year against defenses loaded with athletes (see our first three ACC games). Our run game has had its bright moments and Keith Payne is a special player when he gets going. I like Morgan Moses on the offensive line and the overall development of the line as a whole has been solid. The offense is already putting up lots of points on bad teams, which is more than can be said for last year's offense, which put up 14, 13, and 17 points against William & Mary, Maryland, and Duke, respectively. Once we get a couple good recruits on the offensive side of the ball and get a three-star or better quarterback developing under center, I see the offensive ship being righted and headed in the right direction. The defense could use more work, maybe a change in staff. We'll just have to wait and see. Going from a 3-4 to 4-3 alignment could take time to get used to for the players, but Mike London thought the talent was more suited to a 4-3. It just doesn't look like that right now. Right now, it looks like we have mediocre talent and, I don't really like to say it, but Al Groh was able to mold that talent into a respectable defense the past few years, one that kept us in games when our offense stank, which was most of the time. The win was a breath of fresh air, but now the Cavaliers have to get ready for another ACC home tilt this weekend against a Miami team which pounded UNC 33-10.
DALLAS
Everything that could go wrong has gone wrong this year for Dallas. Instead of 3-3 or 4-2, which the Cowboys could easily be right now, they sit at 1-5 and basically out of the playoff picture. They were spotted a 10-0 lead last night, and still got blown out of the water by the Giants. 41-35 is not indicative of the way the game felt. Tony Romo broke his collar bone, and is out 6-8 weeks at a minimum. As he said after either the Tennessee or Minnesota game, he is snake-bitten this season, and it truly looks like that now. It might be a good idea to not bring him back for the rest of the year. No need to rush him back and get him reinjured when we are out of the playoffs. I think it's time to start thinking about coaching changes, draft picks, and offseason acquisitions, in that order. I think it's obvious that Wade Phillips has got to go. His defense isn't even playing well anymore. I'm 50-50 on Jason Garrett. Except for some bad luck, the offense has done pretty well this season. I love Dez Bryant, and the emergence of Roy Williams as a contributor has been surprising. The offensive line needs shuffling. Mostly though, we need to get a coach in there that is disciplined, someone between the demeanor of Wade and Bill Parcells. Someone that can smooth out our rough edges and mold us into winners. Analysts still say we have some of the best talent in football, so it's time we start acting like it and playing like it.
----------------------------------------------------------
NBA SEASON TIPS OFF
Now for a complete change of pace. The NBA regular season tips off tonight with three games: Suns at Blazers, Rockets at Lakers, and, the marquee matchup, Celtics at Heat. LeBron finally makes his regular-season debut with Miami tonight. The New Big 3 vs. The Old Big 3. Shaq on another new team as the Big Shamrock, which is what I think he's calling himself. On night one of the season, this could be a preview of the Eastern Conference Finals and it should be fun to watch.
he should call himself the big "Shaqrock"
ReplyDeleteit might be that, i dont know. i think ive heard so many. and sportscenter had that poll where people could vote on his new name.
ReplyDelete