Cut Throat Bay

Judy Garland famously said in her role as Dorothy in The Wizard of Oz that theres no place like home. The Toronto Argonauts would likely take issue with that sentiment. On Friday night, the Argos lost a close one to the Calgary Stampeders at the Rogers Centre by a final score of 23-20. The loss extended the Argos franchise record home losing streak to ten consecutive games, while dropping their overall record on the CFL season to 2-6. Calgary evened their record at 4-4 with the victory.

Calgary hasnt done well in Toronto in recent years, having lost eight of their last ten heading into this contest. For that reason, Henry Burris was happy with the victory despite the Argos recent struggles on their own field:

“Rogers Centre has never been a fun place for us to play. We’ve had some tough games here against some hard-hitting Argos teams. This team has been through a lot and with the belief we have in one another, we were able to fight back and respond when it really counted.”

Toronto could have tied the game, but Argos coach Bart Andrus kept the offense on the field for a last ditch effort to score a touchdown rather than go for the tie.

Placekicker Justin Medlock has only missed one field goal attempt all year, and Andrus is already hearing some criticism of this decision:

“I’ll take the heat on the call to not kick the field goal. The distance bothered me. That was my worry. The 57-yarder against Winnipeg came with the roof open. I just wasn’t comfortable with it.”

Medlock all but second guessed his coach as he expressed his wish for a shot at the game tying field goal:

“I definitely thought I could’ve made it but never got the chance. Maybe I should’ve run on to the field. I hit the crossbar in practice from 60 yards out.”

Calgary has won both games against Toronto this season, beating the Argos 44-9 at McMahon Stadium earlier this season. Stamps coach/GM John Hufnagel was particularly pleased with his team’s effort on the road:

“If it was going to be a close game I wanted our defence on the field at the end to protect the lead and that’s what happened. I think it’s really a big step for this football team. I’m very pleased with the defence, I’m very pleased with the offence in the second half when they had to answer points . . . we got the momentum back each and every time.”

Next up , Calgary will host Edmonton on Labour Day, and the teams will rematch in Edmonton four days later. Toronto and Hamilton will go at it in their traditional Labour Day tilt, with the first game of the set at Hamilton and the rematch back at the Rogers Centre in Toronto.

Ross Everett is a widely published freelance writer and respected authority on football betting. His writing has appeared on a variety of sports sites including sports news and sportsbook directory sites. He lives in Northern Nevada with three Jack Russell Terriers and an emu. He is currently working on an autobiography of former interior secretary James Watt.

The New Orleans Saints used a 14 point fourth quarter to defeat the Indianapolis Colts 31-17 on Sunday to win their first Superbowl in franchise history. Drew Brees broke open a tight game midway through the final quarter with his touchdown pass to Jeremy Shockey, and Tracy Porter scored on a 74 yard interception return as the Colts were driving on the next series to secure the victory. Brees completed 32 passes in the game, tying New England’s Tom Brady for the all time record in that category.

After enthusiasts had come in early on the favored Colts, a good deal of buyback on the Saints had pushed the line to -4′ and the New Orleans backers were enriched by their team’s outright victory. The underdog has now covered three straight Superbowls and taken the money in five of the last seven games. The 48 points scored stayed well under the posted total of 57, which was the highest over/under number in Superbowl history. Five of the last six Superbowls have now played UNDER the total.

In his postgame interview, Brees gave much of the credit to the city of New Orleans:

“We play for so much more than ourselves. We played for our city. We played for the entire Gulf Coast region. We played for the entire Who Dat nation that has been behind us every step of the way. It means everything. We’re here because of their strength and everything they fought through here the last few years. They’ve given us so much support, so we owe it all to our fans.”

“Just to think of the road we’ve all traveled, the adversity we’ve all faced. It’s unbelievable. I mean, are you kidding me? Four years ago, whoever thought this would be happening? Eighty-five percent of the city was under water. Most people left not knowing if New Orleans would ever come back, or if the organization would ever come back. We just all looked at one another and said, ‘We’re going to rebuild together. We are going to lean on each other.’ That’s what we’ve done the last four years and this is the culmination in all that belief.”

Peyton Manning had little to say after the game particularly about the decisive interception return:

“Made a great play. Made a great play. Corner made a heck of a play. Certainly disappointing, very disappointing. Disappointing.”

Saints’ coach Sean Payton made a bold call at the beginning of the second half when he called for an onside kick. New Orleans recovered and linebacker Jonathan Casalis suggested it was a game changing play:

“We were really excited when he made the call. That changed everything.”

Payton explained the unorthodox decision:

“We’re going to be aggressive. We’d seen the onside kick all week and guys executed it well. It turned out to be a big change of possession.”

The city of New Orleans will celebrate their team’s victory with a parade. With Mardi Gras celebrations already scheduled to begin shortly thereafter, it could be quite some time before New Orleans returns to business as usual.

Ross Everett is a freelance sports writer and highly respected authority on football betting. His writing has appeared on a variety of sports sites including sportsbooks and sportsbook directory sites. He lives in Southern Nevada with three Jack Russell Terriers and an emu. He is currently working on an autobiography of former interior secretary James Watt.

Sunday’s game between the New England Patriots and Tampa Bay Buccaneers was played in an unusual venue, but produced the expected result. In the NFL’s third regular season game in London, England the Patriots showed the Wembley Stadium crowd why they’re among the league’s best as they methodically dismantled the Bucs en route to a 35-7 victory. Oddly, it took a trans-Atlantic trip for the Pats to get their first road win of the season-the Bucs were ‘officially’ the home team in the contest. New England QB Tom Brady threw for 308 yards and 3 touchdowns, though was picked off twice in the workmanlike victory.

The Patriots easily covered the pointspread as -15′ ‘road’ favorites, and improved their record against the number to 4-3 on the season. The Bucs have struggled almost as badly against the NFL pointspread as they have straight up, and slipped to 1-6 versus the money. The 42 combined points scored went UNDER the posted total of 44′.

Afterwards, Pats’ QB Brady said that he’s enjoying the trip to England-as well as the victory:

“I’m feeling great. I keep rolling. That’s two wins in a row. We went out there and put two touchdowns on the board there in the second half. We had plenty of distractions coming over here, but everybody was really energized. To get the win and fly home and have a bye week off is just great.”

NFL football is still a big deal in soccer mad England, and over 80,000 fans jammed the stadium for the game. League commissioner Roger Goodell has stated that he’d like to see multiple regular season games held in London, with a possibility of the city eventually receiving an NFL franchise. Even a superstar like Tom Brady wasn’t quite used to the rock star like treatment he received in England:

“All the flashbulbs were going off there before the kickoff. They went on for about 10 minutes, which you don’t see in the States too often. I think it’s a privilege to come over here and get to enjoy this type of experience. It will probably never happen again for us, so we’ll retire 1-0 internationally.”

Even low key coach Bill Belichick was pleased with the experience:

“It’s a great way to end this week. It’s been an enjoyable couple days here and glad we could end it on a positive note.”

And even in Europe, Bucs’ first year coach Raheem Morris continued to sound like a man in over his head as he made his weekly excuse filled post game comments:

“Tom, he’s the guy that changed the game. He’s the guy you worry about constantly. When you have a great quarterback like that, that’s what he does and that’s what he will do for you.”

The Bucs have now lost 11 straight games, their longest losing streak since a NFL record 26 game losing run in’76-77. Welsh boxer Joe Calzaghe served as honorary captain of Tampa Bay, and they could have done worse than to put a real fighter in the lineup on this day. As Brady noted, New England will have a bye next week as will Tampa Bay.

Ross Everett is a widely published freelance sports writer and highly respected authority on baseball betting. His writing has appeared on a variety of sports sites including sportsbooks and sportsbook directory sites. He lives in Northern Nevada with three Jack Russell Terriers and an emu. He is currently working on an autobiography of former interior secretary James Watt.

The Denver Broncos are for real. The NFL’s most surprising undefeated team certainly answered any remaining doubters on Monday Night Football as they used a fourth quarter surge to put away the San Diego Chargers 34-23. Denver upped their record to 6-0 while San Diego dropped to 2-3. Broncos’ QB Kyle Orton had another solid, mistake free game as he passed for 229 yards and two touchdowns with no interceptions. Denver’s special teams also excelled, with Eddie Royal becoming only the 11th player in NFL history to return a punt and a kickoff for touchdowns in the same game.

NFL football sports betting fans that backed the Broncos as +3 road underdogs were rewarded with the outright victory and Denver continued their season opening undefeated run against the pointspread (now 6-0 ATS). The Chargers, meanwhile, have only covered one of their five games this season. The 57 points scored went OVER the posted total of 44′.

Royal was virtually untouched on both of his kick returns, a first quarter 93 yard kickoff return and a second quarter 71 yard punt return. After the game, he gave credit to his blockers:

“Man, it was a great feeling. The guys did a great job of blocking. I’ve got to give them a lot of credit. They opened up the seams and it was a home run.”

Despite the rarity of his feat, he said he wasn’t surprised that he turned the trick:

“You’ve got to believe it can happen before you do it. I’ve got a lot of faith in the guys in front of me, so I wasn’t surprised.”

Broncos coach Josh McDaniels also praised Royal’s blockers:

“I think our guys did a great job of blocking and giving Eddie a chance to get started.”

While losing coach Norv Turner lamented his team’s poor kick coverage:

“It doesn’t matter who you are playing; you give up two big returns on a punt and a kickoff and it makes it tough”

Chargers’ QB Phillip Rivers talked about the loss and the team’s slow start to the 2009 NFL season:

“It’s going to be tough. We have to get over this one quick or we’ll find ourselves in trouble in Kansas City because it’s a short week.”

Denver will get a week off to enjoy their 6-0 start before returning to action on November 1 at Baltimore. The following week they’ll host the defending Superbowl champion Pittsburgh Steelers on Monday Night Football before traveling to Washington, DC to face the Redskins. San Diego will play at Kansas City this weekend with the Chargers a -5 road favorite and the total set at 44.

Ross Everett is a freelance sports writer and noted authority on World Cup soccer betting. His writing has appeared on a variety of sports sites including sportsbooks and betting odds sites. He lives in Northern Nevada with three Jack Russell Terriers and an emu. He is currently working on an autobiography of former energy secretary Donald Hodell.

The New York Giants have made a huge financial commitment to quarterback Eli Manning by offering him a six year, $97.5 million contract extension. Manning will earn just over $15 million a year, and $35 million of the contract is guaranteed. Should Manning play through the end of his contract hell be a Giant until 2015, meaning there’s a decent chance hell play his entire career with the team.

Manning will earn roughly $200,000 per season more than Oakland Raiders cornerback Nnamdi Asomugha who agreed to a 3 year, $45 million contract earlier this summer. Though the full term of his deal makes him the leagues highest paid player hell earn less this year than the Carolina Panthers Julius Peppers and the Cincinnati Bengals QB Carson Palmer, each of whom will pull down slightly more than $16 million.

While Manning and his agent have been tight lipped in the media about the deal, Giants GM Jerry Reese spoke in glowing terms of his teams $97.5 million investment:

“He is a franchise quarterback. He has done everything we asked him to do. He has come in, taken a lot of flak from you guys in the media and he just keeps going. He does what we ask him on the field and he does what we ask him to do off the field. He is a good football player.”

Reese also dismissed concern that the huge contract commitment would put additional pressure on Manning:

“He is used to that. He won’t get more pressure than he already has in this market. He knows how to handle pressure and he has done it before. I don’t expect to see any difference in his attitude and his work ethic. He works hard. He expects a lot from himself. He knows what his role here is with us and we expect him to continue it for a long time.”

Manning definitely has a number of qualities that justify this level of investment. Hes produced on the field, leading the Giants to a Superbowl championship and four straight postseason appearances. He also became the first Giant QB in history to throw for 3,000 yards and 20+ touchdowns in four consecutive seasons. Hes also shown a great deal of durability, starting 71 consecutive games”the third longest streak in the NFL.

The new deal will kick in with the 2009-2010 season. Manning will earn just over $9 million this season, the final year of his rookie contract.

Ross Everett is a freelance sports writer and highly respected authority on football betting. His writing has appeared on a variety of sports sites including sports news and sportsbook directory sites. He lives in Northern Nevada with three Jack Russell Terriers and a kangaroo. He is currently working on an autobiography of former energy secretary Donald Hodell.