2-4-15
What other question did you think we’d be starting with today. Why didn’t they run the football? The New England Patriots came back from 10 points down to beat the Seattle Seahawks 28-24. It looked like Seattle was on it’s way to a game winning touchdown with 2nd down and the ball on the one yard line, but for whatever reason the Seahawks decided to throw the football instead of hand it off to Marshawn Lynch and New England intercepted it to seal the victory. Lynch had scored earlier in the game on a three yard run as part of his 24 carry, 102 yard rushing game. Now I’ve heard the argument that Lynch only scored once from the one yard line during the season on five carries. Lynch had 280 carries on the season; so those five carries are a very, very small sample size to use that as the reason. The Seahawks talked about clock management and wanting to get three plays while they where at the one yard line instead of two rushing plays. Those are two of the stupidest reasons to not give the ball to one of the top running backs in the NFL with two chances from the one yard line to win the Super Bowl. If you’re into conspiracies there is the reason that the Seahawks and the NFL didn’t want Lynch to be the one to score because he’d be a top choice for MVP and they didn’t want him to win that award. I know that’s quite a reach for a reason, but I’ve heard that mentioned by more than a few people. Give Malcolm Butler credit; he took a big chance and it paid off for him. You also have to give quite a bit of credit to the Patriots offense as they where able to come back and take the lead against a defense that most people think is the best in the NFL. New England may have dinked and dunked it’s way to a win, but it was a Super Bowl win. I’m going to go on record right now and say that this loss affect the Seahawks through next season and I wouldn’t be surprised if they miss the playoffs next season or just sneak in as a wild card team, but I would be very surprised to see them in the Super Bowl after in 2016.
On the Sunday edition of Sports Time Radio I had Mr. Fantasy tell us where he would put his money if he was wagering on some of the Super Bowl prop bets. Here’s how he ended up doing. On Tom Brady’s prop bets where 262 1/2 passing yards; Mr. Fantasy took the under Brady had 328 passing yards, LOSS. Pass attempts over/under 35 1/2, Mr. Fantasy took the under Brady attempted 50 passes, LOSS. Passes completed over/under 24 1/2 Mr. Fantasy took the under, Brady completed 37 passes, LOSS. Rush yards over/under 5 1/2 Mr. Fantasy took the under Brady ran for -3 yards, WIN. Let’s look at his Rob Gronkowski prop bets. Receiving yards was set at over/under 74 1/2 yards, Mr. Fantasy took the over. Gronkowski went for 68 yards, LOSS. Catches was over/under 6 1/2, Mr. Fantasy took the over. Gronkowski caught 6 (six) passes in the game, LOSS. Longest catch was over/under 24 1/2 yards, Mr. Fantasy took the under. Gronkowski’s longest catch was for 22 yards, WIN. It’s a good thing Mr. Fantasy isn’t a betting man.
I caught just the end of a crawler report on television that said free agent pitcher James Shields would sign with a team by the end of the week, but I didn’t see which teams it is and looking for more information no team name has surfaced. Shields has said that he’d prefer to play on the West coast, but the San Francisco Giants passed on him earlier to bring back Jake Peavey. The Los Angeles Dodgers have signed Brett Anderson and Brandon McCarthy this off-season. I know Anderson has been injury prone; so would the Dodgers sign Shields and use Anderson as insurance or a 6th starter. While the Arizona Dianmondbacks could use Shields I have a feeling they’re not going to make that move. They seem to be in more rebuilding mode than signing a top free agent type of mode. Maybe it’s the San Diego Padres who land Shields. The Padres have made big moves this off-season and adding a pitcher like Shields would be another big step towards contending in 2015. The Padres have a solid starting rotation, but would have no problem at all finding a spot for Shields in that rotation. It’s never been said if Shields preferred the American League or the National League; so maybe the Los Angeles Angels of Anaheim are the place Shields lands. While the Angels starting rotation looks solid it has three young pitchers in it; so a veteran like Shields might be a good fit their. It would be a big, big surprise if the Oakland A’s end up being the team that Shields signs with. The A’s have made quite a few moves this off-season and this would be an off the radar type of signing for them. Are the Seattle Mariners considered on the West coast? If they are this is also a good landing spot for Shields. Seattle is another team that is hoping for two young guys to come through in their rotation; so adding a Shields would push back some of the expectations on the younger guys.
I was a little surprised to see Kyle Kendrick end up signing with the Colorado Rockies. I thought Kendrick might be a good fit for a contender as a 4th or 5th starter, but he didn’t draw a lot of interest on the free agent market. Kendrick is just 30 years old and has proved to be an innings eater type of starting pitcher for today’s game. Kendrick has only been on the disabled list once in his eight year career. He’s won 10 or more games the last three seasons for some bad Philadelphia Phillies teams. The Rockies got Kendrick for one year at $5.5 million dollars.
Tonight (Wednesday) on Sports Time Radio will be talking with Brian K. Patterson from House of Houston then on Friday night will talk with Dylan Smith from Chowder and Champions and also on Friday will have Billy Brost from Yanks go Yard and Friars on Base To listen to these shows and any other archived editions click here Sports Time Radio.
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