An 18 Game Season?

Right now, I'm currently pregnant with a food baby. I've never been to The Melting Pot before, but let me tell you....wow! I honestly don't think I've ever been this full in my life. Despite being this full, I knew I had to lay down some bloggin' tonight.

I think Packers expert from KFAN, Dave Sinykan said it best, 'Whoever had 2nd quarter of Week 1 of the Justin Harrell gets knocked out for the season pool, wins'. Obviously, I'm just delaying the inevitable by mentioning Justin Harrell but the big Packer news is that starting running back Ryan Grant will be out for the rest of the season after suffering a severe ankle injury. He will require surgery to repair damaged ligaments in his ankle/lower leg and will be on crutches for 10-12 weeks. Grant has been a starter since Week 9 of the 2007 season where the Packers lost to the New York Giants in the NFC Championship game. He has not missed a game in his Packer career.

This is a significant blow to a team that many projected to go to the Super Bowl, and to be honest, its an injury to my favorite Green Bay Packer. You just hate to see anyone of that caliber to go down. As much as I hate the Minnesota Vikings, I don't wish season ending injuries upon anyone.

So, in a span of one day Kris Jenkins, Ryan Grant and (more than likely) Bob Sanders have been lost for the season, which brings me to the title of this blog: The NFL CANNOT BE SERIOUS into thinking that this game should have two additional games added to the regular season schedule. Look at the two other guys I mentioned. Kris Jenkins, tore his ACL in the same knee and was out for the year last season, and tore the ACL in his other knee in 2005. Bob Sanders has played in 47 games, but has missed 48 games due to injury. Players are constantly being rested in Weeks 15, 16 and 17. A huge example of that last year is Wes Welker with the New England Patriots, tore his ACL on the final game of last season.

Injuries are expected with this sport, I think we all understand that. No other sport has a regular 'Weekly Injury Report' like the NFL does, that should be enough to say that these guys are at constant risk of being hurt, and they want to increase that risk by adding more games? I think its ridiculous.

Obviously this is the upset Packer fan in me venting over the fact that we just lost our Pro Bowl running back. I do think Brandon Jackson will do a great job replacing him. He was drafted to be the future, he was there before Grant was signed and he has shown his skills on several runs over the last couple of years. We'll be finding out if B-Jack has what it takes!

Other NFL news...what a pathetic effort by the Dallas Cowboys against the Redskins. Baltimore and the New York Jets have fantastic defenses, but both offenses are a question mark and how about those Kansas City Chiefs? They have a fantastic array of coaches a good young QB and RB, and that defense was fantastic vs. San Diego.

The Minnesota Twins beat up on the Chicago White Sox tonight...increasing their division lead to 7 games and lowering the magic number to 12. I'm going to say the Twins will win this division, if they took one from the Sox its all but over. Good luck to them the rest of the way!

Check out an all new Jakey and The Ace Show tomorrow night at 9pm/CT. C-Mac Co-Hosts with me and we'll talk more about the Ryan Grant injury. Dave Sinykan might join us...check us out at www.blogtalkradio.com/jakeyandtheace or our dial in number is 917-388-4635.

Have a great night!

-Ace

NFL Week 1 Thoughts

Well, what an interesting first week of NFL action full of close games, controversy and long ass field goal attempts! I'm a huge fan of the NFL RedZone! I've had the great pleasure of interviewing the studio host Scott Hanson on The Jakey and The Ace Show. He truly does a phenomenal job of working 6+ hours with only a two minute bathroom break. Scott told me that there is truly no better job in the world than deciding what we get to watch on the RedZone, and he and the producers do a magnificent job from hopping from one close game to another. Again, huge props to Scott Hanson, NFL Network and NFL RedZone for making me enjoy my Sunday so much more!

I'll dabble on a few games, and then end with my thoughts on the Packers vs. Eagles.

Arizona beat St. Louis in what last year, would of been a dominant performance by Kurt Warner and company turned into a sloppy game on both sides by the Derek Anderson led offense. Anderson was not at fault, in fact, I think he played well despite fumbling twice and losing one. I started Tim Hightower in fantasy this week and he did a great Adrian Peterson impression by putting the ball on the carpet twice and losing them both. Arizona is a very lucky 1-0.

Houston beat Indianapolis for only the 2nd time in franchise history in what should be one of the better divisions in football this year. I love Houston. I have them in the AFC Title game. How about Arian Foster?? The undrafted 2nd year back beat out Steve Slaton to become the starter and what does he do on his first career start? 33 carries, 231 yards and 3 touchdowns. That boy came out ballin' today! I know he wasn't drafted until later in most fantasy drafts, but whoever took him will not leave him out of the starting lineup at all this year.

Chicago beats Detroit in a controversial finish. I personally think that neither of these teams will contend for a division title, but what a garbage call at the end of the game. Calvin Johnson catches a 'Touchdown' in the back of the endzone and pulls it in with one hand, rolls over and loses it. I don't like this call at all. They say that an inch of the ball can cross the goal line and its a TD, you can touch the orange pylon and its a TD, but you cant fall backwards with possession and when you roll over and lose the ball its not a TD? Unbelievable. The Lions were robbed.

In other games I really don't want to talk about:

Miami over Buffalo

Tennessee over Oakland

New England over Cincinnati

New York Giants over Carolina

Pittsburgh over Atlanta in OT

Cleveland over Tampa Bay

Jacksonville over Denver

Seattle over San Fransisco

So, Green Bay beat Philadelphia in a game that the hyped Packer offense didn't really live up to it. Aaron Rodgers said after the game he didn't like his performance at all and will improve it next week vs. Buffalo at Lambeau. Aaron threw 2 picks which is uncharacteristic from him after only throwing 7 in 2009. Clay Matthews is a freakin' stud. He can flat out play ball. I've been high on him ever since he really broke out vs. Minnesota on Monday Night Football last season. I won't forget him just ripping the ball from Adrian Peterson midrun. Aside from Michael Vick running circles around the defense, I wasn't too disappointed in their play. Thankfully, they don't play any more Michael Vick's the rest of the season. Ryan Grant sprained his ankle in what coach Mike McCarthy called 'a pretty good sprain that might keep him out Week 2'. I think Ryan will be fine, just shut him down for a week or two. Here's a guy who hasn't been hurt virtually his entire career, I think Brandon Jackson filled in just fine, and should play well against Buffalo.

NFC North Standings (with next weeks opponent in parentheses)

Green Bay 1-0 (Buffalo)

Chicago 1-0 (@ Dallas)

Detroit 0-1 (Philadelphia)

Minnesota 0-1 (Miami)

How about those Minnesota Twins today? I completely forgot about the game today! Winners 6-2 over Cleveland with the franchises 4000th win in history! The Twins improve to 85-58 and have a 6 game lead over the White Sox heading into a HUGE series at US Cellular Field in the South Side of Chicago. The Twins Magic number is 14. After this series it could be reduced to 8. I'll be frank, actually I'm Cory (rimshot), the White Sox NEED TO SWEEP THE TWINS if they have ANY shot of winning this division. If the Twins take 2, I think the division will be wrapped up by the middle of the following week. You couldn't ask for better starters for this series either:

Tuesday: Fransisco Liriano vs. Jon Danks

Wednesday: Brian Duensing vs. Gavin Floyd

Thursday: Carl Pavano vs. Mark Buehrle

My prediction: The Twins wrap up the division on Tuesday, September 21st vs. Cleveland. I only say that because I'm going to the game with C-Mac.

I'll toss another blog down tomorrow night and recap the Dallas/Washington, Kansas City/San Diego and Baltimore/NY Jets game.

-Ace

The Blog is Back...NFL Thoughts and Random Nonsense

Well, I haven't done this in a long time...almost a year to be exact. So much has changed since my last blog. I'm employed now, again by another bank...I don't ride any Stagecoaches....but I do represent the USA quite well....if you catch my drift.

I figure I should knock out some of these blogs on a regular basis, which I intend on doing, what with the success of The Jakey and The Ace Show on blogtalkradio.com. The show will be expanding from its regular Wednesday Night timeslot at 9:00pm/CT to start at 8:00pm/CT and go until 10:00pm/CT. The first hour will be fantastic, we're calling it The Ace @ 8 and I couldn't ask for two better co-hosts in C-Mac and DaneZone. I know the sports conversations will be incredible and our guests in the sporting world will also be off the charts!

Where to start? I was less than thrilled by the performance of both teams on the Thursday night opener. If you'd have told me the Vikings would put up 9 points against the Saints and the Saints would only put up 14, I would of thought you were insane. The Minnesota passing game was very shaky, at best. I'm not sure if its a matter of Brett Favre getting settled, Brett really missing Sidney Rice or Brett simply doesn't have it anymore. Two of his passes to Schiancoe were pretty good, but the rest of the game is shaky at best. I'm sure we'll see tomorrow how the Dolphins do, but they should be considerably better from their 7-9 showing last year. If the Vikings play that way in their home opener at Mall of America Field on the 19th, then they might have a bit of a problem on their hands.

Onto, my personal favorite football team, the Green Bay Packers. They open against Kevin Kolb and the Philadelphia Eagles tomorrow at 3:15. If you read all the websites, all the publications and listen to all the experts, you might as well just give the Pack the Lombardi Trophy. Do I think the Packers will be a playoff team? Absolutely. Do I think they will go to the NFC Title Game? Yes. The Super Bowl? Maybe. (Keep in mind, I did pick Green Bay over Indianapolis) You can't argue with the fact that Green Bay has an amazing offense. Aaron Rodgers had a great 2009, fantastic pre-season and should have would could be an MVP season. Ryan Grant didn't put the ball on the ground once last year and should have a 1200 yard/10 TD season. If their offensive line can protect A-Rodge, then they should be in great shape. Their question mark is obviously their defense. It was ranked 2nd last seasons, but honestly, rankings don't mean anything when you allow 51 points to Arizona in the playoffs. If their defensive backs can step up and remain healthy, again, should be in great shape.

How about those Minnesota Twins? 83-58, 5 games up on the ChiSox. At worst, they start their three game set next Tuesday night up 3 games. If you'd have told me that in the beginning of July, I'd have thought you were nuts. There's been no hotter team than the Twins since the All Star Break. Frankie and Duensing are going to be two awesome starters in the playoffs. Which Pavano will show up? Or will the bats show up for him when he starts? How comfortable will you feel when our staff goes Frankie, Pavano, Duensing and then Baker/Slowey? Man, if we draw the Rays and get home field advantage, I'm very confident in saying I smell the first ALCS trip for the Twins since 2002.

Watched the 4th quarter of the Gophers/South Dakota game. I don't care what you say, if Tim Brewster comes out saying how good of a team South Dakota was, I'll be sick to my stomach. This is a team that put up 220 yards and 7 points against UCF last week, and then they put up 41 points against the Gophers? Ridiculous. I swear, if there were two more Dakotas, Coach Brew and his squad would find a way to lose to them too. Good luck against USC next week, If I were the fans that go to the game, I'd plan on selling my tickets on Stubhub and catching the Twins/Oakland game at 12:10. I bet the Twins put up more on the scoreboard than the Gophers do.

That's all I can ramble about right now. I'll be back pretty frequently until the very first Ace @ 8 on Wednesday, September 22nd at 8pm/CT!

-Ace