Week 8 went well for me in our group picks as I won the week with a 10-4 record. Dan the Man was 8-6 while Schaumburg Stu was 7-7. Mr. Fantasy had a sub .500 week at 6-8. Overall Dan the Man is in the lead at 72-47. Mr. Fantasy is in 2nd at 69-50. I am a game behind him in 3rd at 68-51 while Schaumburg Stu is in the cellar at 63-54, Will have to see what Week 9 has in store for us.
I was very disappointed to see that NASCAR has suspended Matt Kenseth for the next 2 races for the incident Sunday in which it appears that Kenseth wrecked Joey Logano intentionally. Don’t forget that Logano spun Kenseth out a couple of races ago and pretty much eliminated him from The Chase. Logano wasn’t penalized for what he did, but Kenseth gets 2 races for getting even. .Moments after the ruling was issued, Joe Gibbs Racing announced that Kenseth would appeal the penalty. NASCAR announced it would expedite the appeals process and the National Motorsports Appeals Panel has set the appeal for Thursday morning at 9 am est in Concord, North Carolina. Very rarely are these penalties are rarely overturned or even altered; so I expect this to be upheld and for Kenseth to have to sit the next 2 races. Kenseth and Logano wrecked on Lap 454 of the Goody’s Headache Relief Shot 500, with Kenseth’s No. 20 entry making heavy contact with Logano’s Team Penske No. 22 Ford. The collision carried both cars into the Turn 1 wall, severely damaging both. The run-in was the latest chapter in escalating tensions between the two rivals during the Chase for the NASCAR Sprint Cup playoffs. Though Kenseth attempted to blame the crash on a deflated tire or mechanical issue, the altercation was widely perceived to be retaliation for hard racing between the two in recent weeks.
Logano now finds himself 8th out of 8 drivers 38 points behind leader Jeff Gordon and 28 points out of the Top 4 where he’ll have to be to move to the championship round. Logano has this week at the Texas Motor Speedway (AAA Texas 500) and next week at the Phoenix International Raceway (Quicken Loans Race for Heroes 500) to get into the Top 4. A win at either track will advance Logano automatically into the championship race. The season ends Sunday, November 22nd with the Ford Ecoboost 400 at Homestead-Miami Speedway. Does Logano have t get a win in one of these next 2 races to advance? or can he point his way back into the Top 4?
Has there been a more disappointing team in the NFL this season than the 3-5 Indianapolis Colts? The frightening thing is the fact that the Colts are actually tied for 1st place in the AFC South with the Houston Texans. Now someone is always going to end up losing there job when a team that was expected to be good isn’t and yesterday the Colts fired offensive coordinator Pep Hamilton. The team’s associate head coach Rob Chudzinski will assume Hamilton’s job. Will see what Chudzinski tries to do differently with the Colts offense, but it’s not the best week for him to take that unit over. Indianapolis plays host to what may be the best defense in the NFL as the undefeated (7-0) Denver Broncos come to town. Denver is giving up 89.3 rushing yards per game good for 4th in the NFL. They lead the lead in least passing yards given up at 171.9 yards per game and total yards given up at 261.1 per game. Indianapolis ranks 24th in rushing and 14th in passing; so what will the Colts have for the Denver defense. Luck has struggled this season completing 54.9% of his passes this season. Luck has 13 touchdown passes and 12 interceptions; he has also been sacked 14 times this season. There have been reports that Luck is playing with fractured ribs. Now it would be difficult for the fully healthy Andrew Luck to put up big numbers against this Broncos defense. How is an Andrew Luck playing hurt going to do against that defense.
The injuries really piled up in Week 8 of the NFL season and some key players where lost for the season. The Pittsburgh Steelers lost running back Le’Veon Bell for the season with a knee injury. Baltimore Ravens wide receiver Steve Smith torn his Achilles and is done for the season. The San Francisco 49ers where already missing #1 running back Carlos Hyde last week when his back up veteran Reggie Bush torn his ACL and was lost for the season when he slipped on the concrete out of bounds on Sunday. There was also Seattle Seahawks wide receiver Ricardo Lockette. While covering a punt Lockette was blocked by Jeff Heath of the Dallas Cowboys. Lockette laid motionless on the field for quite a while before being carted off. Lockette ended up wit a concussion and a sore neck. Detroit Lions wide receiver injured an ankle making a catch Sunday against the Kansas City Chiefs in the London game. Johnson left with about 10 minutes to go in the game and didn’t return. New Orleans Saints running back Khiry Robinson was carted off the field during his teams game against the New York Giants. It was reported that Robinson has a broken leg and will miss the rest of the season. Also in that game Giants tight end Larry Donnell injured his neck. The Chicago Bears lost wide receiver Eddie Royal and running back Matt Forte with knee injuries. Forte has been ruled out for Week 9; there;s no report on Royal yet. The New York Jets had both of their quarterbacks get banged up against the Oakland raiders last Sunday. Ryan Fitzpatrick left the game with what turned out to be torn ligament in his left (non-throwing) hand. Geno Smith came into relieve Fitzpatrick and he had to leave the game with injuries to his left shoulder and abdomen. I’m sure a lot of these injuries have fantasy owners scrambling to find players.
Connor McDavid was the #1 pick in last years NHL draft by the Edmonton Oilers. Last night McDavid suffered a broke collarbone in the Oilers 4-2 win over the Philadelphia Flyers. The Flyers were leading 2-1 with 1:44 remaining in the second period when McDavid had a partial short-handed breakaway. Philadelphia defenseman Michael Del Zotto and Brandon Manning met McDavid on his way to the net and all 3 fell awkwardly to the ice and went crashing into the boards. McDavid left the ice favouring his left shoulder. He was seen wearing a sling in the hallway behind the dressing room and did not return for the third period. Being that it’s the NHL all Edmonton’s coach Todd McLellan said “He’s got an upper-body injury that is going to keep him out long term,” it was later reported that McDavid had a broken collarbone. While Edmonton wasn’t expected to be a playoff team this season it’s tough to lose your top rookie who has been playing well. McDavid was off to a solid start for the Oilers, registering 12 points in his first 12 games and was named the rookie of the month for October.
You can listen to the Sports Time Radio podcast on BlogTalkRadio.com
You can follow me on Twitter @Burketime
Sports Time Radio 