NFL Wild Card Weekend Set To Kick Off

Well the weekend has finally arrived. After a long 17 game season the playoffs for the National Football League has arrived and is ready to go. We had nail bitters at the end of the regular season to get us to where we are, and now the playoffs are set to kick off. For being the top seeds in the conferences, the Denver Broncos, New England Patriots, Seattle Seahawks and Carolina Panthers all have the opening round bye for the post season. With that being said, here are the matchups for the opening round of the 2014 NFL Playoffs

Saturday 1/4/13
Kansas City Chiefs (11-5) vs. Indianapolis Colts (11-5) 4:35PM NBC
Both teams come into this matchup at Lucas Oil Stadium with the exact same 11-5 record. Indianapolis is the only AFC South team to make the playoffs, winning the division, while the Chiefs come in as the Wild Card Winner. These two teams met earlier this season, out at Arrowhead Stadium in Week 16, a game which the Colts won 23-7, something that isn't very easy to do. These two teams have met three times before in the playoffs, with the Colts winning all three of the previous meetings.

Kansas City dominated during the first half of the year, going 9-0 but fell off in the 2nd half, closing out the year 2-5 after the bye. The Colts are coming in on a 3 game winning streak. Both teams seem to be going in opposite directions. Indy is heating up and the Chiefs are slipping just a little bit.  Kansas City has been slipping a little but will want revenge for their loss at home in week 16. KC Will make a game of it but Indy is going to take it by a field goal. Colts move on to the divisional round.

New Orleans Saints (11-5) vs. Philadelphia Eagles (10-6) 8:10PM NBC
This will be the 3rd all time meeting in the playoffs between these two clubs, with each team winning one game apiece. Both teams have turned in interesting seasons. Philly started off to a 1-3 start, but pulled it together under Chip Kelly and came away with a 10-6 season and a division title. Meanwhile the Saints finished the year 11-5, finishing 2nd in the NFC South. What makes the Saints season so interesting is that all 5 of their losses this season have come on the road, finishing 3-5 on the road.

Heading into this game at Lincoln Financial Field, its going to be interesting from a Saints perspective, as to which Saints team will show up, the one that dominates at home, or the team that can't seem to get it together on the road. The Saints prowless on offense at home has been well documented, as is their lack of said offense on the road. The way I look at it if the Saints want any chance to win this ball game they have to shut down the NFL's best rusher, LeSahwn McCoy and the top ranked Eagles running game. Sure Nick Foles has had good days at Quarterback, I'm not taking that away from him by any means. Foles I think will have a decent game. But if the Saints shut down the Eagles run game and can protect the football it is their game to win. They also have to shake of the stigma of not being able to play in cold weather, which they should be able to do. It's going to be a good ball game, very low scoring, but the Saints take it and move on to the divisional round next week.

Sunday 1/5/14
San Diego Chargers (9-7) vs. Cincinnati Bengals (11-5) 1:05PM CBS
This is the 2nd time ever that these two teams have met in the playoffs, with the Bengals beating the Chargers 27-7 in the 1981 playoffs. This year they have already faced off, during week 13, a week in which saw Cincinnati come away with the win, on the road, 17-10. Now San Diego is going to want revenge for the loss. San Diego is coming into this contest riding a four game winning streak, while Cincy has won four out of their last five games. So both teams are coming in hot.

This will be a highly contested game, featuring two clubs who finished top ten in the NFL in passing this season. The difference though is that the Bengals have the 3rd best defense in all of the league, while the Chargers have the 23rd ranked defense in the NFL. Sure Philip Rivers is going to make a game out of it, but Andy Dalton and the Bengals are going to be too much for him, as Cincinnati rolls right on to the next round.

San Francisco 49ers (12-4) vs. Green Bay Packers (8-7-1) 4:25PM FOX
This will be probably the most entertaining game of the entire weekend. This will be the 4th ever meeting between the 49ers and Packers in the playoffs, with each team winning two games, including the 49ers win last year by a 45-31 score. The two teams met at the start of this season, a game in which the 49ers won 34-28. The 49ers are coming in on a 6 game winning streak, while the Packers are coming off the division win against the Bears the last week of the season.

Green Bay has struggled the last few weeks but with Aaron Rogers back in the mix the Packers look like their old selves again. Only problem is the Packers defense isn't that great, espically without Clay Matthews, who might miss the game with a broken thumb. 49ers have been good this year, and will continue that play rolling right past the Packers in the opening round.

So there you have with the preview of wild card weekend!

USA Announces Hockey Roster For Sochi Olympics

The announcement was made yesterday in Detroit after the Winter Classic. Team USA has there rosters set for men's and women's hockey for the Winter Olympics that will take place in Sochi Russia next month. There were some surprise snubs for this Olympic roster for the Men, being passed up for a variety of reasons. So before we get into some of the noted snubs, lets take a look at the roster for the United States at the Olympics.

Forwards:
#42 David Backes (Blues)
#23 Dustin Brown (Kings)
#24 Ryan Callahan (Rangers)
#88 Patrick Kane (Blackhawks)
#17 Ryan Kesler (Canucks)
#81 Phil Kessel (Maple Leafs)
#74 T.J. Oshie (Blues)
#61 Max Pacioretty (Canadiens)
#9 Zach Parise (Wild)
#8 Joe Pavelski (Sharks)
#26 Paul Stastny (Avalanche)
#21 Derek Stepan (Rangers)
#21 James Van Riemsdyk (Maple Leafs)
#26 Blake Wheeler (Jets)

Defenseman:
#74 John Carlson (Capitals)
#27 Justin Faulk (Hurricanes)
#4 Cam Fowler (Ducks)
#7 Paul Martin (Penguins)
#27 Ryan McDonagh (Rangers)
#44 Brooks Orpik (Penguins)
#22 Kevin Shattenkirk (Blues)
#20 Ryan Suter (Wild)

Goalies:
#35 Jimmy Howard (Red Wings)
#30 Ryan Miller (Sabres)
#32 Jonathan Quick (Kings)

There you have your Team USA Men's Hockey Roster for the Sochi Olympics. Of course there are going to be a few players who got the short end of the stick if you will. Goaltending was a good call on all three netminders. Miller has the experience from playing 4 years ago in Vancouver. So does Quick, although he didn't get to play sitting behind Miller and Tim Thomas on the depth chart. Howard is the new guy and should do quite well at the international level.

Defense saw a few good players get the shaft. Dustin Byfuglien, Keith Yandle, Erik Johnson and Jack Johnson were left out. Both Johnsons were on the team in 2010 but where left off the roster. Despite being 3rd amongst American born defenseman in scoring with 27 points, Yandle was left out in the cold. As for Byfuglien, he's a unique kind of player, able to play both forward and defense. He’s also a versatile weapon on the power play. No American defenseman has more points this season (29), but Byfuglien also has a minus-11 rating and there are questions about his defensive game skating ability on international ice. Same thing can be said for Yandle too.

Finally we look at the forwards. The top forwards not on the 25-man roster are Bobby Ryan, Brandon Dubinsky, Kyle Okposo and Jason Pominville. Ryan and Pominville are third and fourth in goals among American players this season with 18 and 17, while Okposo is second in points with 40. Dubinsky and Nick Bonino are the top centers not to make the team. Ryan, Okposo and Pominville are not considered to have elite skating ability, which clearly looks like a component the management team valued when picking the wings and could be a factor on the larger international ice surface. Those three are also do not kill penalties for their NHL clubs. Plus Pominville wasn't even invited to the camp, over the summer, in the first place so you knew right there he wasn't going to make the team. I know both Okposo and Ryan are putting up great numbers this year in the NHL, but because they both play wing, the US club is so deep at that position already that somebody had to take the fall and right now it's Ryan and Okposo. Granted this could all change between now and the Olympics, say if somebody gets hurts, so we could have somebody else step in. BUt this is the roster that America is taking to Russia to play hockey!

Best And Worst Of NFL Week 16

With one week left to go in the regular season, things are starting to really heat up in the NFL playoff picture. Some teams have already clinched playoff spots, like Denver, New England, Cincinnati, Indianapolis and Kansas City in the AFC. Also we have Seattle, Carolina and San Fransisco locking up playoff spots i9n the NFC. But this is still leading to some intrigue as to who gets into the playoffs. Can Miami hold down the last AFC playoff spot with Pittsburgh, Baltimore and San Diego breathing down their necks? Can Dallas and Philadelphia really hold on to their division leads and make the playoffs? Can Dallas get in and be a success without their starting quarterback? A lot of those questions will be answered next week. But first things first. There was some great action in the NFL in week 16 to get us where we are right now. Here's what we got for some of the best and worst from week 16 in the NFL.

Best:
Tony Romo, Quarterback Dallas Cowboys
It appears as if this was Romo's last great run with Dallas this season. Just one week after the bigtime collapse against the Packers, the Cowboys quarterback played the hero in Dallas’ 24-23 win over the Redskins. Romo came back from a third quarter pick to orchestrate his 23rd game-winning drive since 2006, rolling out to find DeMarco Murray on a 10-yard touchdown pass on fourth down with 1:06 left in the game. The late-game heroics gave Romo one final game to write his role in this Cowboys season, as Dallas hosts Philadelphia to decide the NFC East champion in Week 17. But there could be the problem. Romo hurt his back late in the game in the win on Sunday, and it was revealed yesterday that Romo's injury could keep him out for the rest of this season. Will that have a big effect on Dallas on Sunday when they play for the NFC East Title? Only time will tell. But if this was Romo's last start of the year, it really isn't all that bad a way to go out.

Worst:
Offensive Line Miami Dolphins
Miami could have locked it up. They had the playoff spot all but set, that was until they stepped on the field to play the Buffalo Bills on Sunday. The ongoing problems with the Dolphins offensive line hadn't really affected the team all that much until this week. The Dolphins line was just bad this week, as the Buffalo defense absolutely dismantled the Dolphins front five (and potentially the team’s playoff hopes), generating seven sacks and 10 QB hits in Buffalo’s 19-0 win. For the Dolphins to hang on and pull this out, they have to have a better effort on Sunday when they host the New York Jets with the playoffs on the line.

Best:
Paytion Manning, Quarterback Denver Broncos
It has been talked about and debated about for a long time now. Is Payton Manning one of the greatest quarterbacks ever? His performance this year is certainly making a strong case for it. The future Hall of Famer all but clinched his fifth career MVP award, setting a single-season record for passing touchdowns by throwing his 51st late in the Broncos’ 37-13 win over the Texans. Manning’s 400-yard game also put him over 5000 yards for the first season in his 16-year career as Denver clinched the AFC West and a first-round bye. Not a bad day. Not a bad,or season for that matter, at all.

Worst:
Alex Smith, Quarterback Kansas City Chiefs
We already knew that the Chiefs had locked up a playoff spot, and they were still in the hunt for the division title. They WERE in the hunt for the division title. KC had to beat Indy to keep those hopes alive, but by turning the ball over four times made that almost impossible. Alex Smith was to blame for some of it, as he committed three of those errors in Kansas City’s 23-7 loss, throwing two interceptions and losing a fumble in a game that saw him complete 16 of 29 passes for 153 yards and no touchdowns. Smith, who entered the game with a 23 touchdowns and only six interceptions, put up a 41.3 quarterback rating for the contest, his worst mark of the season. The Chiefs are still a playoff team, that is already a given. But the one day Smith has an off performance it costs KC the Division title.

Best:
Thomas Davis, Linebacker Carolina Panthers
There were plenty of great individual performances in Carolina’s 17-13 win over NFC South rival New Orleans, but the Panthers linebacker set an impressive tone early. Davis intercepted a Drew Brees pass late in the second quarter with the Panthers down 6-0. DeAngelo Williams ran for a 43-yard touchdown on the next play, giving the Panthers a 7-6 lead heading into halftime. Davis, who has come back from three ACL surgeries, finished with nine tackles as Carolina took control of the division heading into Week 17. This win pretty much locked up the division title for Carolina, and Davis was a big reason for that happening.

Worst:
Matthew Stafford, Quarterback Detroit Lions
Here's a quarterback who's been having a rough last couple of weeks. First off he had a bad performance against the Ravens on Monday Night Football. Now the pressure was on the Lions’ franchise quarterback to pull out a win versus the Giants to save his team’s season (and potentially head coach Jim Schwartz’s job). Up 20-13 late in the fourth quarter, Stafford forced a throw to Joseph Fauria which was intercepted for a touchdown by Will Hill. After a Giants fumble in overtime set the table for a potential game-winning drive for Stafford, the Lions offense went three and out as Josh Brown won the game for New York on a 45-yard field goal the following series. this is a bigtime falling from grace for Stafford and the Lions. Detroit still has a very slim chance to make the playoffs, but they have to play a near perfect ballgame against Minnesota if they hope to make the playoffs

Best:
Daryl Washington, Linebacker Arizona Cardinals
How good was the Arizona defense in their team’s 17-10 win over the Seahawks? The Cardinals became the first team to beat the Seahawks in Seattle since Week 16 in 2011. They did so in spite of Carson Palmer’s four interceptions, holding Russell Wilson to 11 of 27 passes for 108 yards with a touchdown and a pick. The Pro Bowl linebacker was the standout of the Cardinals’ D Sunday, making four tackles, a sack and hitting Wilson three times as Arizona repeatedly kept the Seattle offense off the field.

Worst:
Nick Perry and Don Barclay Lineman Green Bay Packers
A crazy game in Lambeau Field between the Steelers and Packers could have gone any number of ways, but two crucial penalties ended up swinging it for Pittsburgh. Perry’s encroachment penalty on a Shaun Suisham field goal attempt with the game tied at 31 with less than two minutes to play gave the Steelers a new set of downs, setting up a Le’Veon Bell rushing touchdown. After a 70-yard kickoff return allowed the Packers to drive to the Pittsburgh 1 with 20 seconds remaining, the Packers’ tackle Barclay jumped offsides on a running play, forcing a 10 second run off and giving the Packers only one more attempt at a game-tying touchdown, which failed.

Best:
LeGarrette Blunt, Running Back New England Patriots
The Patriots back took on the heft of his team’s running game, rushing 16 times for 76yards and two touchdowns in New England’s 41-7 win over Baltimore. Blount punctuated his second score by mimicking the Ray Lewis dance, which is probably a little too belated of a response to the Ravens’ AFC Championship win last January.

Worst:
Dennis Allen, Head Coach Oakland Raiders
The Raiders coach certainly didn’t help plead his case to save his job Sunday with the Raiders’ 26-13 loss to San Diego. The defeat was bad enough, but the fact that Oakland committed 12 penalties in it certainly doesn’t bode well for the second year coach, as the team dropped to 4-11. Jon Gruden might expect an exploratory call shortly.

So that's what we have for week 16. By this time next week we will have our playoff scenarios set and will be ready to rock on the full launch to the Super Bowl at MetLife Stadium

A Very Merry Christmas

From all of us here at Solly on Sports to all of you, I would like to wish you all a very merry Christmas and a very happy and healthy holiday season. And in the spirit of Christmas I would like to present the following videos.

First up is a longtime favorite of mine, the 12 Days of Rick Jeanneret:


Next up, and not to be outdone, it's the 12 Days of Mike Lange:


And finally I present the 12 Days of Hockey:


So from all of us to all of you have a very Merry Christmas and a very happy and healthy holiday season!

What's Wrong With The New York Islanders?

It's been a pretty rough go of it for the New York Islanders through the first almost three months of the season. Right now, as we get close to Christmas, the Islanders are 2nd to last in the Eastern Conference, with 9 wins and 25 points. The only other team in the conference that is worse than the Islanders is the Buffalo Sabres, as they have the exact same number of wins, 9, but 4 less overtime games than the Islanders.

Things haven't gone right for the Islanders over the last almost two months, with their last win in regulation coming on November 12th at home vs. the Nashville Predators. Since that win, the Islanders have won only twice in the last 16 games and both of those wins came in shootouts (11/16 vs. DET, 12/10  @ SJ). Sure the Islanders have been dealing with injuries, every hockey team has them to deal with. But there's more to it than that as to why the Islanders have been struggling. And lets start from the goaltending out.

The netminders have been doing OK at best. They aren't good, I'd go so far as to say they have looked average at best this year. Even that has been a bit of a stretch. Evgeni Nabokov had to deal with a groin injury and missed a month, but when he has played, he has looked below par from a season ago. Kevin Poulin hasn't been much better. I mean sure he has shown flashes that he can hang in the big leagues, but he has also shown at times that he doesn't look like a big league goalie. Andres Nilsson has look good in the playing time he has gotten this season. That's the best I can say for the goaltending this year.

Now for the defense. With a combination of them and how average the goalies have been, the Islanders have allowed the 2nd most goals against per game in the league, with the Edmonton Oilers the only club that's worse than them. Lubomir Visnovsky, the Islanders best defenseman, has played in only 8 games, missing time due to a concussion. So the bulk of the work load has fallen onto the shoulders of Travis Hamonic and Andrew MacDonald. They have done an OK job, but that's about it. Don't get me wrong they are good hockey players, but if they were on any solid, contending hockey teams like Chicago or Pittsburgh, those two guys would be a third defense pair not your top pair. The Islanders are using rookies and a bunch of throw away guys from other teams. That really can't happen if the Islanders expect to be a playoff team. The defense has to play better and get better.

Next is the scoring. Sure John Tavares is leading the team in all offensive catagories, that is what you expect from your best player. Tomas Vanek has done pretty well since coming to the Islanders in that trade. Frans Nielsen and Kyle Okposo have been playing pretty well this year. The rest of the forwards though have been a bit of a disappointment. Think about it, Michael Grabner has 2 goals on the year, both of which were scored in the season opener, and he hasn't scored a goal since. He went 25 games without registering a point before getting an assist last night. Same thing with Josh Bailey who went 12 games without a point before last night. This was a big concern coming into the year on offense, not having the consistent secondary scoring. Sure enough that is what has happened to the team this year.

Finally we come to question the effort and the coaching. More often than not the Islanders haven't played a full 60 minute hockey game. It happened quite a bit at the beginning of the season, but over the last month or so it hasn't been there. The full game effort just hasn't shown up. And coaching isn't much better. i know most of the players like Jack Cappuano, but I'm sorry I think he's a little soft as a coach. He just doesn't show much fire on the bench, and teams at times need the coach to show a little more emotion on the bench, as it will get their players more into the game.

How can the Islanders fix these problems? Well coaching, I can't really explain it at the moment. Scoring, the Islanders just have to play relaxed and get pucks on net. Don't worry about trying to make the perfect play just shoot the puck on goal, it will eventually go in. Defensively, the Islanders need to do a better job of picking up their assignments in their own end. There have been too many times where players from opposing teams have been left open in front of the Islanders net to do with what they will with the puck. The Islanders defense has got to do better at picking a man up.

If the Islanders don't start getting their game together, they they will have another very high draft picki in this years draft.

Best And Worst Of NFL Week 15

Week 15 has come and gone in the NFL and things are looking up in the league. The Playoff picture has gotten a little bit clearer this week, with both New York teams, the Giants and Jets, being eliminated from playoff contention. It's become pretty well known that the NFL has turned into the best reality show on television week in and week out. We saw some interesting things go down among quarterbacks this week too. Matt Flynn, Kellen Clemens, Ryan Tannehill and Matt Cassel beat Tony Romo, Drew Brees, Tom Brady and Nick Foles respectively on Sunday afternoon. Playoff consequences be darned, four of the league’s elite quarterbacks played some of their worst football when it mattered most as Seattle and Carolina proved to be the only elite teams to go out and perform as expected. So with all that in mind, lets take a look at the best and worst from Week 15 in the NFL season.

Best:
Jamaal Charles, Running Back Kansas City Chiefs
Charles went into beast mode this week and in a very big way. Charles helped project his team into the postseason by scoring five touchdowns in Kansas City’s 56-31 win over Oakland. Charles was mostly deadly as a receiver coming out of the backfield, hauling in eight catches for 195 yards and four touchdowns, three of which were over 39 yards. He also gained 20 yards and a touchdown on eight carries. Charles could have tied Gale Sayers’ 48-year-old single-game touchdown record with one more score, but Kansas City ended up giving most of the team’s fourth-quarter carries to rookie Knile Davis. The 195 yards Charles had tied him with DeShaun Jackson for the most yards in a single game this week. So yeah he was in a big time groove.

Worst:
Tony Romo, Quarterback Dallas Cowboys
Here's a guy whIo just can't seem to get it done when it counts around this time of year. I'm gonna cut Romo a little bit of slack, because the guy is only human and can't do everything. It’s not Romo's fault that his defense couldn’t stop the Packers from scoring on five consecutive second-half possessions or that his team’s playcallers opted to throw the ball on second down while leading with just over two minutes remaining. But ultimately the Cowboys’ $108 million man is the one on the hook for throwing the crucial interception to Sam Shields that allowed the Packers to craft a scoring drive that brought them from a 26-3 halftime deficit to a 37-36 lead with just 1:34 remaining in the game. There was still enough time for Romo to get the Cowboys into field goal range to salvage a win, but he threw another pick, this time to Tramon Williams on the second play of the Cowboys’ final drive to seal the Dallas collapse.

Best:
Ryan Tannehill, Quarterback Miami Dolphins
This guy has shown a great deal of maturity for a 2nd year quarterback. He is a big reason that the Miami Dolphins are still hanging around in the playoff picture in the AFC. And not only that but Tannehill did something not too many can claim. He out-Brady’d Tom Brady, leading a nine-play, 60 yard drive late in the fourth quarter that ended with a 14-yard touchdown pass to Marcus Thigpen with 1:15 remaining to give the Dolphins a 24-20 lead over the Patriots. Brady was able to get his team to the Dolphins’ 2 on the next drive before throwing a fourth-down pick with two seconds left to seal the win for Miami and Tannehill, who was 25-37 for 312 yards, three touchdowns and zero interceptions. Yes he is a big reason indeed that the Finns are still very much in the hunt.

Worst:
Eli Manning, Quarterback New York Giants
Here's a guy who's having a bad, bad year. The number 10 jersey, “aw shucks” facial expressions and throwing motion resemble the quarterback who won two Super Bowls for the Giants, but Manning’s play this season has been a horrific exhibit that has to make fans at MetLife Stadium wonder if the old Eli is gone for good. Manning threw a career-high five interceptions – three hurled into tight coverage – in the Seahawks’ 23-0 shutout of the Giants. That brings Manning’s season total to a league-leading 25. While you can blame his offensive line and receivers for some of his misfortune, Manning has to be with fellow NFC East quarterback Robert Griffin III in hoping the next two weeks go by as quickly as possible. He has been playing like a rookie, and Manning has been anything but. He has got to get it together for next season, because facts are this year is a lost cause for Big Blue.

Best:
Zack Bowman, Cornerback Chicago Bears
With All-Pro Charles Tillman on injured reserve, the Bears needed the veteran cornerback to step up and he certainly did in Chicago’s 38-31 win over the Browns. Bowman cut in front of tight end Jordan Cameron for a second quarter interception and then grabbed his second pick of the day early in the third quarter, returning it for a 43-yard touchdown to give the Bears their first lead of the game at 17-10. We all know the Bears have a good defense, one of the reasons they are always a threat to contend in the NFC.

Worst:
Mike Shanahan, Head Coach Washington Redskins
If there is any coach that is going to be shown the door at the end of the season, it's Mike Shanahan. Kirk Cousins made his coach’s decision to bench Robert Griffin III look somewhat defensible by throwing for 381 yards and three touchdowns in the Redskins’ 27-26 loss to Atlanta. Not helping the coach potentially keep his job was his team’s sloppy play, which included seven turnovers, and his failed decision to attempt a two-point conversion to win the game with 18 seconds left in the game. In a game of two 3-10 teams, it wasn’t a terrible call, but the execution certainly didn’t make the coach look any better. Neither did his postgame press conference, which Shanahan abruptly walked out of after being asked a question about team information leaking to the media. His time looks to be up in the nations capital.

Best:
Matt Cassel and Matt Asiata, Minnesota Vikings
Here we got a Vikings team that doesn't have too many stars on their ball club. Of course they have the best running back in the game in Adrian Peterson, but he wasn't dressed and in the lineup for the team Sunday. Who needs healthy offensive starters? Minnesota got a combined six touchdowns from Cassel and Asiata, a third-string back who came into the team’s 48-30 win over Philadelphia with three career carries. In what ended up as a serious indictment of the potentially playoff-bound Eagles’ defense, Cassel, who held onto the quarterback job despite Christian Ponder being cleared following a Week 13 concussion, completed 26 of 35 passes for 382 yards, two touchdowns (along with one on the ground) and an interception while Asiata grinded out three touchdowns despite gaining only 51 yards on 30 carries. It wasn’t exactly Adrian Peterson-esque, but the Vikings put enough points on the board to put a potential crimp in Philly’s postseason plans. Even though the Vikings look out of it, they still put up a good performance Sunday.

Worst:
Santonio Holmes, Wide Receiver New York Jets
For once, this Jet player isn't Geno Smith. In fact it's the teams best receiver Santonio Holmes. Homes called out the Panthers secondary as the Carolina defense’s “weakest link” earlier in the week. If that’s the case, Holmes must not be a very strong receiver as he exited the Jets’ 30-20 loss with just two catches for 14 yards. In addition to the receiver’s meager numbers, Carolina cornerback Captain Munnerlyn jumped a slant pass intended for Holmes and took it back for a 41-yard touchdown nearly halfway through the fourth quarter. Jets quarterback Geno Smith attempted to throw three passes Holmes’ way on the following series, with all of them falling incomplete. Yeah Santonio good job there buddy. If you gonna run your mouth like that, at least have a good enough game to back it up, which you sure as hell didn't do. Thanks for making an ass out of yourself.

Best:
Justin Tucker, Kicker Baltimore Ravens
Thanks to his clutch kick near the end of regulation, the Ravens were able to eliminate the Jets from Playoff contention. Tucker hit a franchise record 61 yard Field Goal near the end of regulation to give the Ravens a 18-16 win over the Detroit Lions. During the game, Tucker became the first NFL kicker to kick a field goal in the 20's, 30's, 40's, 50's, and 60's in the same game. Tucker's 61 yard field goal also set the NFL record for longest field goal in a domed stadium. Yeah he was in a groove on Monday Night Football.

Worst:
Garrett Hartley, Kicker New Orleans Saints
Trailing by 11 with 1:51 left in the game against St. Louis, the Saints would have needed to recover an onsides kick and score a touchdown with a two-point conversion to force overtime after a kicking a 26-yard chip shot field goal on 4th and 4. The easy part ended up being too complicated for Hartley, who sailed the attempt wide left, essentially sealing his team’s upset loss.

Oswego State Women's Hockey First Half Recap

With the 2013 portion of the schedule in the books, the Oswego State Women's Hockey team is off to the best start in school history! After the year the team had a season ago, making the playoffs with a short roster, head coach Diane Dillon now has a full roster to work with, and it has payed off in a big way.

The season started with a bang, with Oswego hosting its own tournament. The Oswego Hockey Classic was a big success and saw Oswego come away with their first two wins of the season. The season started with a 5-0 win over New England College, as Olivia Boersen scored twice and we saw the first career goals for Bridget Hamlin, Erika Truschke and Ashley Lyman. Catherine Cote got the first win and shutout of the season. In fact, Lyman (1G 2A), Truschke (1G 1A) and Boersen (2G) had the big days offensively. Oswego followed it up with a dramatic 3-2 overtime win over Castelton College in the finals of the classic. Leslie Jarvis and Mady Paul scored the goals in regulation and Megan Hagg proved to be the hero in Overtime, giving Oswego the victory.

Oswego then took the act on the road for the first time this season, with a pair of games in Potsdam against the Bears. This road trip turned out to be a rough one for the Lakers, coming away with a loss and a tie. The first game saw Kendall Appelbaum (1st career goal) and Bridget Hamlin provide the offense, but it wasn't enough as Oswego suffered their first loss of the year 3-2. The team responded better the next day, coming away with a 1-1 tie, with Bridget Hamlin scoring the only goal of the game for Oswego.

Oswego would rebound from this in their next homestand, when the Neuman Knights came to the shores of Lake Ontario. Oswego took the first game again in dramatic fashion, with a 2-1 overtime victory. Megan Hagg scored the tying goal late in regulation, then helped set up the winner scored by Emma Smetaniuk in overtime. Melissa Seamont got the other assist on the goal, with it giving her the program record for career assists with 32. Oswego followed that up with a 3-0 shutout of Neuman, where Melissa Seamont scored twice, and Alexa Aramburu scored her first career goal. The two goals by Seamont increased her career point total to 51, which put her as the new career leader in points for Oswego State. Catherine Cote got the shutout, her 2nd of the year. Next up for the Lakers was a road trip to Chatam University to play the Cougars down in Pittsburgh. Oswego kept their fine play going, not only winning both games against the Cougars, but they won them by a combined score of 7-0. First up was a 4-0 win which saw Catherine Cote get the shutout for the 2nd straight game, and saw Melissa Seamont score twice to go along with goals from Olivia Boersen and Megan Hagg. The Next night saw Tori Trovato get her first start, win and shutout of the season. Providing the scoring in this one would be Leslie Jarvis, Emma Smetaniuk and Alexa Aramburu.

Oswego's luck would run out right before thanksgiving, in a road game in Hamilton. Oswego couldn't hold a lead and fell 2-1, a game in which Olivia Boersen score the lone Lakers goal. Oswego would bounce back quite nicely to close out the first half of the season. It was a weekend series at home against SUNY Canton, and Oswego found their scoring touch once again. First up was a 3-1 win by the Lakers, which saw Ashley Lyman, Bridget Hamlin and Melissa Seamont provide the scoring punch in the win. The final game in the first half of the year saw the Oswego offense explode for six goals in a 6-1 win. Oswego got goals from Bailee Goodon (who scored twice), Kendall Applebaum (who also scored twice), Bridget Hamlin and Ashley Lyman. With that win, Oswego closed out the 1st half of the season with an 8-2-1 record, the best start in program history!

Scoring has been pretty balanced for this hockey team this year. Melissa Seamont and Bridget Hamlin are tied for the team lead in goals with 5 each, Megan Hagg leads the team in assists with 5, and Melissa Seamont Megan Hagg and Olivia Boersen are each tied with 8 points to lead the team in scoring. Melissa Seamont now has 32 assists and 54 points in her career, and we still have half a season left to go. Both of those numbers are now school records. The previous record for career assists had been 31, held by Jillian Bergeron, and the previous record for career points had been 50 held by Kelly Collins.  The goaltending has been split up pretty well among the netminders. Catherine Cote has taken the bulk of the load in net, going 5-2-0 with a 1.00 GAA and a .940 SV% and 3 shutouts. Bridget Smith has seen time in three games this year, going 2-0-1 with a 1.28 GAA and a .938 SV %. Tori Trovanto has one start, winning it and getting a shutout.

The 2nd half of the season will be an interesting one for Oswego. They will have to take on the likes of St. Norbert (road), Buffalo State (road), Elmira (home), Stevenson (home), Cortland (home), Utica (one home one road) and finally Plattsburgh senior weekend.

(Photo provided by Oswego State Athletics)