Sportzine/Hot Club

 

WAITING FOR GRONK AND REINFORCEMENTS           SEPTEMBER 17, 2013
Driller Killer, young Matthew and I witnessed the wretched and wrenching win over the hated J-E-T-S. Wins don’t get much uglier. A TD (Thompkins’ ‘catch’) is overturned just before half and the 43-yard field goal is missed. 13-3 at half. I thought the missed 3 might prove large later. It almost did.

Back on June 25th, I wrote: “The Pats will have to rely on passes to backs like Vereen and the running game to offset this huge loss of firepower. This may be the year that the Defense will step up and win some games in which the Pats don’t score a lot of points. If Tom Brady, Bill Belichick and Josh McDaniels find a way to produce scores from this group, they deserve the Hall.”

The defense was the difference in this win. The offense never scored in the 2nd half. Shut out. The Jets defense is good but not that good. However the Pats Defense rose up after the Jets closed to 13-10 at 5:08 of the 3rd quarter. From that point on, the Jets had 5 possessions. They went 3 and out on two of them and the Pats had 3 interceptions on the other three (Talib, Dennard, Talib).

In the Bills game, the Defense had no sacks and 4 QB hits. In this game, the D had 4 sacks (Jones 2, Kelly, Buchanan) and 9 QB hits (Jones 3, Buchanan 2, Kelly, Wilfork, Ninkovich and Hightower). That’s an improvement, especially against the Jets OL. The D was not as good against the run (129 yards) with Ivory (52 yards on 12 carries) and Powell (48 yards on 13 carries) regularly gouging out chunks of real estate.

Any Patriots fan would shudder at the thought of what would have happened had NE played a powerhouse team (say Peyton/Broncos or Ryan/Falcons. The Broncos will come later (11/24) but the Falcons are right around the corner (9/29 at Atlanta).

The Pats have time to recover some walking wounded before then. Gronkowski would be huge (pun intended). What was noticeable vs. the Jets was that the Pats lacked a back to receive a screen pass and a tight end to catch a ball. They had no TE catches and were using LT Solder as a blocking TE with Cannon replacing him. A return by Zach Sudfeld would help, as would a healthy Leon Washington. The latter is perfect for those halfback passes that can go for big yardage. Washington was targeted once (0 catch) and 1 carry. Plus Washington could return punts and minimize risk to Edelman, the only veteran end.

The Kiddie Korps will have to step up. While Dobson and Thompkins took turns missing balls, they were open much of the time, including on some long passes. Better routes and better hands (Biletnikoff stick’em?) would have produced more points. Fans thought it
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was going to be easy when the first pass to Dobson went for a TD. He was targeted 9 more times and caught 2. Thompson was targeted 7 times with 2 catches. Josh Boyce did not play (probable injury). If they don’t get better, the offense suffers until Gronk is back.

Next up is Tampa Bay, which found a way to lose to the Jets and then New Orleans at home. The Buccaneers will be desperate for a win. The good news is that QB Josh Freeman is struggling. One wag already suggested that rookie Mike Glennon might be QB soon. It is fortunate that the Pats scrimmaged TB and played them in pre-season.

Coach Belichick will have a plan and maybe more bodies to execute it and Tampa Bay.

E-MAIL
Jim: Group with a hit 50's to 00's --> Impressions (Also considered - Kingston Trio. The Stones 60 - 00's, but not 50s. Another guess for the group... The Clancy Brothers?
B Shea
Some good guesses re the quiz but incorrect. Two of my compatriots at the Hot Club whom I saw last nite were also stymied. No one has the answer yet (No one got it). – Z
Agree with your thoughts on giving up Iglesias to acquire Peavy, especially with the questionable health of Buchholz.  That said, it sure is tough to see Iglesias on the Sportscenter Web Gems every other night.
Andrew J. Wright
Andrew,
Iglesias is the best SS I've ever seen come thru Pawtucket. He would make a highlight reel play every game. He is the best at getting to Texas Leaguers.
Peavy will allow the BoSox to avoid using the Dumpster or Doubront as starters in the playoffs. And he's a bulldog.
The Sox knew they had Bogaerts to play SS as well as Deven Marrero. However neither will be as good defensively as Iglesias. -   Z

Jim,                                                                                                                                Cal Worthington (and his dog "Spot") just passed away at the age of 92; a SSC icon and immortalized by Johnny Carson in many a skit.                                            
Sox close out their season, I think, at Coors Field.  It will be deserted by Rockies fans and I think that Red Sox fans will dominate the stands. Catch a flight and you'll have your choice of seats; meet'cha there.
It's Broncos time in D-Town and nothing, but nothing, supercedes the Donkeys. Me?  I'm gonna get tickets for the Avalanche/Canadiens game on November 2nd...Patrick Roy coaches against his hall of fame franchise for the first time!!!!   THAT alone will be worth the price of getting in.  There will be Frogs all over the Pepsi Center that night; charter flights from Montreal and Quebec Province with drunken canucks.   What a show!!!                                   Bill LaPlante                                                                                                               Yes I saw that obit re Cal Worthington: Come on down to Cal's Corral. Whenever I visited LA, you always saw his ads.
By the time the BoSox play the Rockies, the lineup will include mostly PawSox and Portland players. Good!
The Broncos will be very tough this year and now have Wes Welker. They play in Foxboro this season.
Would definitely root for the Avalanche over Montreal. BTW, did you see that the Bruins signed Subban's brother who is a goalie?   -   Z

BULLETS                                                                                                                ● With 11 games left, the Red Sox are 92-59. The Athletics have 62 losses and the Tigers 63. It’s a fine balance between resting key players and winning enough games to get home field advantage. That would be a huge asset for the BoSox as they have the best home record in the AL at 50-25. Only the Atlanta Braves (52-22) have a better home record (this one is for Braves’ fan ‘Section 8’ Ted).
● The Pats have scored 36 points and given up 31. The Bears are the only other team with a 2-0 record and a smaller differential at 55 PF and 51 PA.

● The NFL’s biggest differential: Denver (vs. Ravens and Giants) at 90 PF and 50 PA. The Giants have given up the most points 77 followed by Washington at 71. Seattle has given up the least: 10 (vs. Carolina and SF). KC is next with 18 (Jags and Cowboys).

● In the Sports Illustrated of 9/16, Albert Chen has an article called Wizards Like Oz. The Braves’ Andrelton Simmons is compared to Ozzie Smith, but it is mentioned that one scout said that the only shortstops better defensively than Jose Iglesias were Ozzie Smith and Omar Vizquel. Chen says that Tiger teammates call Iglesias Candelita or Little Fire. 

● In the same SI comes the figure 25, which is the number of runs the Yankees scored (8,8,9) against the Red Sox last week. It is the first time NY has scored 8 or more runs in 3 consecutive games without a win.

● The New York Times (9/17) has a story The Speed Limit (by Barry Bearak) about pitchers who throw with the greatest velocity and the injury risk factor (as the Mets’ Matt Harvey just learned). The article states that 46 MLB pitchers are averaging 95 mph and above. The Reds’ Aroldis Chapman has thrown 17 of the 20 fastest pitches recorded since 2008 by Pitch F/X (installed in all 30 MLB parks). The fastest:105.1 by Chapman. 

● Congratulations to the PawSox for winning their division and then beating Rochester in the playoffs. The Durham Bulls (Tampa Bay) beat them for the IL championship. The Bulls are playing the Omaha Storm Chasers (PCL champion) for the AAA championship.

● According to Kevin Paul Dupont (Globe – 9/15), Buffalo’s football team is called the ‘Bills’ because ‘Billy’ is slang for a male bison (Bet Buffalo Steve knew this). 

● Ben Rohrbach (weei.com – 9/17) noted that the Celtics saved $21M on the 3 years left on Doc Rivers’ contract. They are paying Brad Stevens $22M for 6 years.
     Sportzine is also available at jimdawsonsports.com (Thanks to Buffalo Steve)


        THE HOT CLUB
WHERE HEARTS ARE ON FIRE
       BUT IT’S NEVER TOO HOT
  FOR THE DEVIL MAY CARE 
 575 South Water Street, Prov.    







THE HOT CLUB
The Hot Club as Hotel California: Good to see Patti Quimby at the HC last Friday. She was excited about her new job. She had also been to the recent Graham Nash gig at Cranston’s Park Theatre. Patti said that while Nash was good, he tended to be way too political in his presentation. Our House is a very, very fine House.

And who else was in the House but Bags who was accompanied by a female friend. I introduced myself to her and she said her name was Joyce. Bags warned her not to say anything to me as I write the Hot Club section. Joyce said to Bags, “Oh you mean like that you’ve got a date? That should be on the front page.”

Charlie Clancy said that BoSox fans should honor Mariano Rivera in the same classy manner that the closer has always carried himself. Charlie said that if he could have been at Fenway for the tribute to Mariano, he would have tipped his cap to the great reliever.  

Mike Module brought up the subject of AL Manager of the Year. Mike reminded us that he had been saying early on that it should go to the BoSox’s John Farrell. I suggested that Cleveland’s Terry ‘Tito’ Francona deserved to be in the mix. Mike added that the Yankees’ Joe Girardi deserved consideration for holding together that team. I agreed with the Module that John Farrell deserves the honor. He lost two closers (Hanrahan and Bailey) and his best lefty reliever (Miller), and the Red Sox have the best record in MLB.

I was explaining to Pal Al about how our cat Foggy captured a vole while we were on Swans Island. I told Al that a vole is like a field mouse. Just then the Masked Marvel appeared and pointed out that a vole is different from a mouse in that it has almost no tail. A Wikipedia check shows that voles are sometimes called meadow mice or field mice.

Kelley knows that I really enjoyed the Bohemian Pilsener that her boyfriend Sean Larkin brewed up for Narragansett as a limited edition (8.6% alcohol). So Kelley showed me on her smart phone that Narragansett was coming out with the Bohemian Pilsener in 16 oz (5.2%) 6 packs. I found that University Heights had it. The latest from Kelley is that it will be on tap at the Hot Club soon. They had it in cans last week. Try it you might like it.

LAST WEEK’S QUIZ
The only music group to have a hit song in Billboard’s Hot 100 in 6 consecutive decades (’50’s, ’60’s, ’70’s, ’80’s, ’90’s and ’00’s) was the Isley Brothers.
THIS WEEK’S QUIZ 
This great performer did a duet with Jimi Hendrix, backed up Elton John on early songs, sang with Richard Carpenter and even recorded a song with the Pet Shop Boys. Name?