Posts Tagged ‘Andrew Luck’

Let’s call it the day before Thanksgiving

Posted: November 23, 2016 by Sports Time Radio in Auto Racing, NASCAR, sports
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Week 11 in the NFL ended with the Oakland Raiders getting past the Houston Texans 27-20 on Monday night.  That game also wrapped up our picks for the week; so here’s how we did. Dan the Man and Mr. Fantasy tied for the top spot with a record of 11-3. Schaumburg Stu was a game behind at 10-4 and my belief in the Green Bay Packers out me in the cellar at 9-5. On the season Schaumburg Stu is holding onto 1st place with an overall record of 102-59. Dan the Man is 2nd overall at 96-65. Mr. Fantasy is 3rd at 92-69 and I am bringing up the rear with an overall record of 87-74. Let’s see if my luck turns around in Week 12.

While we’re on Week 12 being that tomorrow there are three games on the schedule. The day kicks off with the Minnesota Vikings at the Detroit Lions. Both these teams are 6-4 and tied  for 1st place in the NFC North. Kickoff is scheduled for 11:30 a.m. c.s.t. The middle game is the Washington Redskins at the Dallas Cowboys. The Cowboys are 9-1 and in 1st place in the NFC East while the Redskins are 6-3-1. Kickoff is scheduled for 3:30 p.m. c.s.t. The third and final Thanksgiving day games is the Pittsburgh Steelers at the Indianapolis Colts. The Steelers are 5-5 and are tied with the Baltimore Ravens for 1st place in the AFC North. The Colts are also 5-5 and are one game behind the AFC South leading Houston Texans. Kickoff for this game is scheduled for 7:30 p.m. c.s.t. The games are spread out over three networks. CBS has the first game, FOX has the second game and NBC will carry the night game.

There where quite a few injuries in Week 11. The first one that will come up is in Thursday nights Steelers/Colts game. Andrew Luck is in the NFL’s concussion protocol and as of now hasn’t been cleared to play yet. Luck didn’t practice yesterday and there’s no word on if he’ll practice today. Luck is in serious jeopardy of missing the game against Pittsburgh. It looks as though Jay Cutler’s season could be over. It’s being reported that Cutler has a torn labrum in his throwing shoulder. Reports are Cutler will get a second opinion and hope for a different result. The Cincinnati Bengals placed Giovani Bernard on season ending injured reserve. Bernard torn his ACL during the Bengals final drive of Sunday’s loss to the Buffalo Bills. The Bengals also lost wide receiver A.J. Green on the second play of Sunday’s game with a hamstring injury. It was originally reported that Green had a torn hamstring, but I don’t believe that’s been confirmed as MRI results haven’t been released. It’s looking like Green will miss this week’s game against the Baltimore Ravens. San Francisco 49ers safety Eric Reid torn his bicep Sunday and has been placed on injured reserve. Reid has already had surgery and has said the procedure went well. Obviously Reid is done for the season. Another injury that might impact one of tomorrow’s game. Minnesota wide receiver Stefon Diggs missed practice Tuesday with a knee injury. Diggs is the Vikings leader in receptions with 67, targets with 87 and yards with 747. The Vikings broke there four game losing streak last week and Diggs led the team with 6 receptions. It’s looking like Diggs will play tomorrow, but if you have him in fantasy watch the injury report.

I’m always a little confuse when the people who report on the NBA try to say who the best team is when we’re all of 15 or so games into the season. If you just go by record the Los Angeles Clippers are the best team at 13-2. How many people out there are confident enough to say that the Clippers will win the NBA title when the season is over. The teams I think most people expect to meet in the NBA finals are right behind the Clippers. The Golden State Warriors are 12-2 and the Cleveland Cavaliers are 10-2. The only other team in the NBA with double digit wins right now are the San Antonio Spurs who are 11-3. It won’t be long until we see how the Clippers match up with the Cavaliers and the Warriors. On December 1st the Clippers are in Cleveland to take on the Cavaliers and then on December 7th the Clippers will play host to Golden State. When it’s this early in the season these games don’t mean a ton, but it will be good to see how the Clippers due against the expected top teams in the NBA.

You’ll notice the only Easter Conference team listed above are the Cavaliers. Is there another team in the Eastern Conference that you see challenging the Cavaliers for a spot in the NBA finals. The Atlanta Hawks and Chicago Bulls have 9 wins and the Charlotte Hornets, Toronto Raptors and Boston Celtics each have 8 wins. Now those five teams all seem pretty equal, but will or are at of them capable of knocking off Cleveland in a seven game playoff series. The Cavaliers first loss of the season was at home to the Hawks, but would Atlanta be able to repeat this in a playoff series. Even though we’re this early in the season it looks as the road is paved for the Cavaliers to make the NBA finals barring a huge upset.

The 2016 NASCAR season wrapped up with the Ford EcoBoost 400 at Homestead-Miami Speedway. The Chase for the Sprint Cup was also down to four drivers as Jimmie Johnson, Kyle Busch, Joey Logano and Carl Edwards where the guys looking to win the title. Edwards led the most laps (47) out of the four, but during a late restart Edwards tried to block Logano from making a pass and the two touched. Edwards got the worst of the collision as he went into the wall and was knocked out of the race. Edwards finished 34th. After the wreck Logano managed to find his back to the front of the pack and was right there in the end with Busch and Johnson. In the end Johnson took the lead with three laps to go and survived a late restart to claim his 7th Sprint Cup title. Logano finished 4th and Busch came home 6th. Johnson 7th title win ties him with “The King” Richard Petty and Dale Earnhardt Sr. for the most titles won by a driver in his career. Johnson last title came in 2013, but he won five seasons in a row from 2006 to 2010. Is there an 8th title in Johnson’s future? He’ll start his defense of his latest title in February at the Daytona 500.

You can listen to Sports Time Radio live on BlogTalkRadio.com and you can find the podcast any time you want at TuneIn.com

You can find me on Twitter @Burketime

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Let’s call it Wednesday

Posted: November 11, 2015 by Sports Time Radio in baseball, basketball, fantasy, football
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Yesterday New York Attorney General Eric Schneiderman announced that daily fantasy sites FanDuel and DraftKings are to be considered illegal gambling in his state. Both sites have been asked to stop accepting wagers from New York residents. Here’s the statement that FanDuel released. “Fantasy sports is a game of skill and legal under New York State law,” FanDuel said in a statement. “This is a politician telling hundreds of thousands of New Yorkers they are not allowed to play a game they love and share with friends, family, coworkers and players across the country. The game has been played — legally — in New York for years and years, but after the Attorney General realized he could now get himself some press coverage, he decided a game that has been around for a long, long time is suddenly now not legal. We have operated openly and lawfully in New York for several years. The only thing that changed today is the Attorney General’s mind.” DraftKings also released a statement; “We are very disappointed that New York Attorney General Eric Schneiderman took such hasty action today, particularly since he did not take any time to understand our business or why daily fantasy sports are clearly a game of skill,” DraftKings said in a statement. “We strongly disagree with the reasoning in his opinion and will examine and vigorously pursue all legal options available to ensure our over half a million customers in New York State can continue to play the fantasy sports games they love. “We continue to see a number of other officials, including Senator [Joe] Negron in Florida, Representative [Mike] Zalewski in Illinois and the Federal Trade Commission, take a reasoned, informed and measured approach to the daily fantasy sports business. We hope this trend continues along with due consideration for over 56 million sports fans across the country who enjoy playing fantasy sports. We remain committed to working with all relevant authorities to ensure that our industry operates in a manner that is transparent and fair for all consumers. “New York’s actions today are an unfortunate example of a state government stifling innovation, technology and entrepreneurship and acting without full and fair consideration of the interests of consumers.”  In October, the Nevada Gaming Control Board and the state’s attorney general ruled that daily fantasy meets the definition of sports gambling and requires a license to operate within the state. Both companies immediately stopped doing business in Nevada. Both companies were virtually free from scrutiny until this fall, when they flooded the TV market with advertising at the start of the football season. The scrutiny escalated when Ethan Haskell, a DraftKings employee, won $350,000 by finishing in second place in an NFL contest on FanDuel. Although a third-party investigation commissioned by DraftKings found Haskell did not have proprietary information to pick his winning lineup, the revelation that employees could play daily fantasy for money caught many off guard, including MLB, a DraftKings investor. Plenty of other states have been active in figuring out the future of daily fantasy. Last month, a representative in Illinois put forth the first daily fantasy regulation bill, and officials from New Jersey and Pennsylvania held hearings on daily fantasy sports this week. A federal grand jury has convened in Florida, according to multiple legal sources. Arizona, Iowa, Louisiana, Montana and Washington prohibit fantasy sports for money. Several additional states do not allow some forms of daily fantasy.

Week 9 in the NFL is in the books. Dan the Man and Mr. Fantasy tied at 7-6 while Schaumburg Stu and I finished at 6-7 for the week. On the season Dan the Man is in the lead at 79-53. Mr. Fantasy is in 2nd with a record of 76-56. I am currently in 3rd place with a record of 74-58 while Schaumburg Stu is in the cellar with a record of 71-61. Let’s see if Week 10 goes better for us.

I had the Indianapolis Colts going to the Super Bowl out of the AFC this season. The Colts are 4-5, but are in 1st place in the AFC South. Now it looked like they might be on the right track with a 27-24 win over the Denver Broncos. It was the Broncos 1st loss of the season. So just as it seemed like the Colts could be turning things around it was announced that Andrew Luck will be out 2 to 6 weeks with a lacerated kidney and a partial tear of an abdominal muscle. It hasn’t been the best of seasons for Luck as he was sidelined with a shoulder injury earlier in the year and has reportedly been playing with broken ribs in recent weeks. Luck isn’t expected to need surgery and some reports are saying the Colts expect him t be out a month. With Luck out Matthew Hasselback takes over as the starting quarterback for Indianapolis. Hasselback started Week 4 and Week 5 while Luck was out with his shoulder injury and won both of those games. If Luck is out 6 weeks he would return for the final game of the regular season against the Tennessee Titans. If it is the 6 week time period that Luck will be out Hasselback will quarterback the Colts against the Atlanta Falcons, Tampa Bay Buccaneers, Pittsburgh Steelers, Jacksonville Jaquars, Houston Texans and Miami Dolphins. Luckily for the Colts they are probably in the weakest division in the NFL; so Hasselback should be able to keep them in playoff contention while Luck is out.

The Miami Heat sent James Ennis and Mario Chalmers to the Memphis Grizzlies for Beno Udrih and Jarnell Stokes. It was the earliest trade in the NBA since 2008. Miami was able to dump a little salary in the deal as Chalmers makes $4.3 million a season while Udrih makes $2.17 million. Stokes and Ennis have identical 1-year veteran’s minimum deals. Stokes deal is fully guaranteed while Ennis and the Heat reworked his contract before the season; so he has a partial guarantee. Memphis has gotten off to a 3-4 start and there was some concern which helped this deal move along this early in the season.

Baseball’s General Mangers are meeting this week, but nothing major has come out of these meetings except a bunch of rumors. There has been one minor trade as the Minnesota Twins sent catcher Chris Herrmann to the Arizona Diamondbacks for minor league 1st baseman Daniel Palka. What may have been the biggest news that came out this week is that St. Louis Cardinals starting pitcher Lance Lynn will under go Tommy John surgery and will miss the entire 2016 season. Let’s see if all these rumors turn into some deals or if we’ll have to wait for something to happen.

You can listen to the Sports Time Radio podcast on BlogTalkRadio.com

You can follow me on Twitter @Burketime

Let’s call it Wednesday

Posted: November 4, 2015 by Sports Time Radio in Auto Racing, fantasy, football, hockey
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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

How was your Week?

Posted: November 22, 2014 by Sports Time Radio in basketball, football, sports, Uncategorized
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11/22/14

Last week we took a look at some fantasy player who have been disappointing so far this football season. So after 11 weeks let’s take a look at players who have been surprises or have out performed were they were ranked to start the season. I’m using the pre-seasons rankings from our Yahoo! fantasy football league entitled Next Year is Here 13. At quarterback Philip Rivers of the San Diego Chargers was ranked at 100 to start the season. Going into Week 12 Rivers is ranked in the 19th position among all NFL players. Pittsburgh Steelers quarterback Ben Roethlisberger was ranked at 94th to start the season and right now Roethlisberger is the 6th rated player in the NFL. As hard as it is to believe Andrew Luck of the Indianapolis Colts was rated as the 59th player coming into the season. Right now Luck is the #1 overall player in our league. Looking at running backs Justin Forsett of the Baltimore Raves was ranked as the 190th player coming into the season. If you took a chance on Forsett it’s paid off for you as he is right now the 32nd ranked player. Chris Ivory was ranked at 134th coming into the season, but has moved into 61st place right now. Denard Robinson wasn’t even the starter for the Jacksonville Jaguars to start the season. Since Robinson was just going to be the 3rd down change of pace back he was ranked at 212nd to start the season. If you drafted him or found him on your waiver wire Robinson has helped your team as going into Week 12 he’s ranked as the 93rd best player. Looking at the wide receivers. Jeremy Maclin was coming off of an injury and you had to wonder if he’d be the guy in the Philadelphia Eagles offense. With some questions coming into the 2014 season Macklin was rated at 68th overall. Macklin has stayed healthy and is rated in the 18th spot right now. Mohamed Sanu of the Cincinnati Bengals wouldn’t be considered the top wide receiver on his team; that would be A.J. Green, but Sanu is still a quality fantasy player. Sanu started the season ranked at 178th, but has moved himself into the 53rd overall spot. A lot of fantasy players stayed away from Baltimore Ravens wide receiver Steve Smith Sr. thinking he might not have much left. Smith started the season ranked at 149th and even though he has cooled off a little bit the last couple weeks he’s still ranked at 62nd though Week 11. There are few elite tight ends in fantasy football and if you’ve listened to the Sports Time Radio podcast you know that the league I’m using for rankings is also the league where we have to start 2 tight ends a week. While Rob Gronkowski of the New England Patriots is the highest ranked tight end at 20th you could’ve found some guys to help out your fantasy team. Larry Donnell of the New York Giants started the season being ranked in the 203rd position. Going into Week 12, Donnell has moved into the 75th spot for the season. Coby Fleener of the Indianapolis Colts started the season 2 spots behind Donnell in the 205th spot and Fleener is also in a 2 tight end system with Dwayne Allen. Fleener is now ranked 84th and with Allen out injured and possible missing some games Fleener’s ranking could continue to go up. It can be tough to invest in any Oakland Raiders when it comes to fantasy football but tight end Mychal Rivera has been solid. Rivera started the season with a ranking of 246th but he’s been coming on in the last few weeks and is now ranked at 144th. I don’t know if you can be surprised by a kicker n fantasy football but there are some guys who have moved up in the rankings from where they started. Stephen Gostkowski of the New England Patriots started the season ranked 196th, but has moved up to 79th in the rankings. Adam Vinatieri of the Indianapolis Colts started the season ranked 202nd and is now ranked 91st. Shaun Suisham of the Pittsburgh Steelers started the season ranked 235th and is now ranked at 145th. When it comes to Defense?Special Teams there are a few that have moved up the rankings from where they started out. The Philadelphia Eagles started the season ranked at 191st overall, but have moved up to 54th overall with the season they’ve had. The Miami Dolphins where in the 194th position overall to start the season and right now the Dolphins are 81st overall. The Arizona Cardinals were ranked in the 200th spot to start off the season. Going into Week 12 Arizona is ranked at 109th. Hopefully you where able to draft these guys or trade for them or even find them on your waiver wire, but they’re some of the biggest movers up from where they started the season. We’ll see where they all end up by the end of the season.

Are you buying the Toronto Raptors? The Raptors are off to a 10-2 start to this NBA season after making the playoffs last season. DeMar DeRozan is averaging 20 points a game to lead the Raptors in scoring while Kyle Lowry is handing out 5.8 assists per game and adding 18.4 points per game. Jonas Valanciunas is the Raptors leading rebounder averaging 8.1 boards a game and is adding 11.4 points per game. Guard Lou Williams is also scoring 11.5 points per game for Toronto. The Raptors defeated the Milwaukee Bucks 124-83 on Friday night in the first game of back to back games for them, Tonight; Saturday they have a match up with the Cleveland Cavaliers (5-6); in Cleveland. Obviously 12 games into a season is too early to tell where a team will end up, but there are times where a hot start can carry a team through a season even an 82 game season like the NBA. With the NBA’s Eastern conference like it is would it be a big surprise if Toronto re[resents the Eastern conference in the NBA finals.

Is tonight the night for the Philadelphia 76ers to get their first win of the NBA season? The 76ers are 0-12 after losing 122-96 to the Phoenix Suns last night (Friday) at home. Tonight the 76ers go to New York to play the 3-10 and struggling Knicks. On Thursday’s podcast you might have heard Jerry Hoover mention how upset he’d be if the Knicks lose this game. Dan the Man also has a rooting interest in the Knicks but this could be the 76ers shot to get that 1st win. If the 76ers don’t get that win tonight then when. After tonight’s game against the Knicks the 76ers have the Portland Trails Blazers (9-3) on November 24th. The Brooklyn Nets (5-7) on November 26th. The Dallas Mavericks (10-3) on November 26th. The San Antonio Spurs (8-4) on December 1st and the Minnesota Timberwolves (3-8) on December 3rd. Even on the road the 76ers have a chance tonight against the Knicks and if you’re a 76ers fan you have to ask yourself; if not tonight then when?

You can find Sports Time Radio on BlogTalk Radio and you can find me on Twitter @Burketime.

So how was your week?