SZ675
BY
JIM DAWSON
DECEMBER
4, 2017
PATRIOTS
Yesterday
I saw something that I don’t recall a Patriot player ever doing.
Rob Gronkowski, upset at the officiating, jumped on Bills’
cornerback (Tré Davious
White). This was not only dumb, but a poor example of Gronkowski’s
anger management.
Gronkowski
will probably be suspended one or two games. You can be sure that
coach Bill Belichick will have much to say to Gronkowski. Belichick
had to apologize to Bills coach Sean McDermott during the post-game
handshake. Can’t remember Belichick ever having to apologize for
one of his player’s actions before.
And
when Gronkowski does come back, I wouldn’t be surprised if
Belichick sat out Gronk for part of the game.
The
incident spoiled a good team effort in beating a fired up Bills team
that held the Patriots without a TD in the first half and constantly
frustrated Tom Brady and crew. When’s the last time you recall
Brady screaming epithets at offensive coordinator Josh McDaniels?
Offensive indeed.
In
the 1st half, Brady was only 8 for 14 for 82 yards and was
sacked 3 times. The Bills would not sack Brady in the 2nd
half. Brady ended up 21 of 30 so missed three 2nd half.
Brady
calmed down in the 2nd half as he masterfully mixed passes
and runs to take away the aggression of the Bills. The Pats had piled
up 130 yards rushing in the 1st half, but had only a 9-3
lead.
NE
had a total of 191 yards rushing, so only 61 yards of it came in the
2nd half. The Pats made those yards count as Burkhead had 2 rushing
TDs and Dion Lewis contributed to the strong running. Shaq Mason at
RG, RT Cam Fleming and Gronk supplied some of the blocking that
sprung Burkhead and Lewis. Fleming, filling in for Marcus Cannon and
LaAdrian Waddle, did a decent job.
My
notes (and Gamebook) show that LT Nate Solder didn’t have a great
day giving up a couple sacks and committing a dumb penalty when
Brandin Cooks made good yardage on an end around. Solder also had a
motion penalty. Joe Thuney gave up 2 hits on TB.
The
Patriots defense came through with 4 sacks and 9 QB hits. David
Harris, playing better of late, had 1.5 sacks as did recently added
LB and ex-Bill Eric Lee. Lee had the game of his life with an
interception, the 1.5 sacks, a deflected pass and tackle for a loss.
Malcom Brown had .5 a sack and Kyle Van Noy .5 a sack (but was
injured again).
The
Patriots were running short of linebackers so they played Eric Lee at
LE. They also started with 5 defensive backs to compensate.
There
were some key plays. Alan Branch forced the center into QB Tyrod
Taylor in the red zone and Lee intercepted.
James
White was a yard short on the second 2nd half TD drive and
the ref gave them the 1st down. Brady ran a quick run by
Burkhead before the Bills could challenge the spot.
WR
Bernard Reedy, Jr., just added, was back for two punts. One went out
of bounds, on the other he made 11 yards. He could be a big help
spelling the oft-injured Amendola.
Malcolm
Butler may also be in Belichick’s dog house as his holding call
negated a 3rd down sack by Malcom Brown and gave the Bills
a 1st down. He came out the next play.
Gronk
was having a fantastic game (9 catches on 11 targets for 147 yards).
The ball he stole from White was amazing. Plus his blocking. And then
Gronkowski lost his mind. Ian Rapoport just announced that Gronk was
suspended for 1 game.
BULLETS
• Richard
Flinn of the Naval Academy Preparatory School emailed a great story:
in 1963, Army was scheduled to play Navy in football on Nov. 30. When
President John F. Kennedy was assassinated, there was talk of not
playing the game. Jackie Kennedy thought it should be played since
the President loved the game. Eventually it was played on Dec. 7, the
anniversary of Pearl Harbor. Navy won 21-15 with Roger Staubach at
QB. Staubach won the Heisman Trophy that year. Thanks, Richard.
• Congratulations
to the URI Rams who beat the PC Friars 75-68. URI
played great defense forcing the Friars into 14 turnovers in the 1st
half, good for 19 points. Yet PC got within 3 twice late in the game,
but a poor shot by Diallo and Cartwright’s
missed 1 and 1 helped seal their doom. Cartwright
was 1 for 7 (2 pts.). PC was 10 of 21 from the line.
• Thought
it’d take Jimmy Garoppolo at least a game to get into gear. Nope!
Led the 49ers down the field at Chicago for the winning FG by ex-Bear
Robbie Gould. Garoppolo, from the Chicago area, was 26 of 37, 1 INT
for 293 yards, almost 200 more than the opposing QB Mitchell Trubisky
(12 of 15 but for 102 yards).
• If
you saw any of Saturday’s big football games, hope you saw Central
Florida’s win over Memphis 62-55 in 2 overtimes. The two teams were
the highest scoring in Div. 1.
• The
Bruins are starting to get back their walking wounded and are playing
better, having won 6 of 7. Unfortunately their rivals, the Canadiens,
just won their 5th straight.
• The
Globe’s Ben Volin (12/3) noted that the NFL Players Coalition
leadership kicked Colin Kaepernick out and then got the NFL to
allocate $89 million for social
justice organizations over 7 years. Volin says that’s about
$250,000 a year per owner. SF’s
Eric Reid and others quit
the Coalition
when leader Malcolm Jenkins asked him to stop protesting the
national anthem.
Oh and the Players Association has to match the owners’ donation
and the NFL gets to say where the $ goes.
• Don’t
forget to vote for the Rock n’ Roll Hall of Fame. The site is
rockhall.com/vote
You
only have until tomorrow (Dec
5).
We
want Dire Straits in.
EMAIL
My
guesstimate for the jukebox is Chicago 1943.
Roger
Boudreau
Good
guesses, Rog but not correct-a-mundo. You'll be
surprised at the answers. - Z
Jukebox
huh? How about Detroit 1920? Seems like Detroit would be a
place that might have happened.
Just a guess.
Garry Gillett
Good
try on the quiz but no, not Detroit and not 1920. - Z
Jim,
good
issue this week. Quiz guess....Definitely
guessing here .......1935 in Chicago.
Bruce
Irwin
Bruce,
nice
stab at it, but no on both counts - Z
23
November 1889 - The first ‘Nickel-in-the-Slot’ (jukebox) was
placed in service in the Palais Royal saloon in San Francisco,
California. Juke, at the time, was a slang word for a disorderly
house or house of ill repute. The unit, developed by Louis Glass,
contained an Edison tinfoil phonograph with four listening tubes.
There was a coin slot for each tube. 5 cents bought a few minutes of
music. The contraption took in $1,000 in six months!
The
Wizard
Good
job, Wiz, that pretty much explains it. I saw a reference in the
ProJo on Today
in History and thought it’d be a good trivia question, especially
how far back it went. There was also this site
https://www.wired.com/2007/11/dayintech-1123/
- Z
THE
HOT CLUB
So
FootJoy is talking to the Bear, Fleet Feet Pete, Pal Al and myself
when he brings up ‘the sock on the doorknob’.We look at each
other in bewilderment. We haven’t heard of that and don’t know
what it means. FootJoy was very surprised and asked three different
Hot Club bartenders if they knew what it meant. All did. Then we
hailed Brock so that FootJoy could ask him if he knew what a sock on
a doorknob meant. Brock said, “Someone doesn’t know how to get
dressed.”
Do
you know what ‘the sock on a doorknob’ means?
Later
I told the Motley Crew (FootJoy, the Bear, Fleet Feet Pete, and Pal
Al) that ESPN will have a ‘30 on 30’ show with Bill Belichick and
Bill Parcells reminiscing. Should be must see sports TV.
Overheard
at the Hot Club after a conversation about IQ’s: Needs an EQ.
What’s an EQ? Emotional Quotient.
The
rumor mill has it that the RI Yacht Club will double its dues after
the New Year. Will Yachters revolt?
LAST
ISSUE’S TRIVIA ANSWER
So
last time, I asked when the first jukebox debuted and in what city.
The answers are 1889 and San Francisco. The Wizard knew it, as did
Matt Dawson (in person). In addition to Wiz’ answer (see email),
Wikipedia
notes that one of the first jukeboxes as we know it resulted when, in
1918, Hobart C. Niblack patented an apparatus that automatically
changed records, leading to one of the first selective jukeboxes
being introduced in 1927 by the Automated
Musical Instrument
Company, later known as AMI.
THIS
ISSUE’S QUIZ
This
great performer was virtually abandoned by his father, survived an
assassination attempt, then a year later was diagnosed with cancer
from which he died 4 years later. His musical influence is felt to
this day. He is in the Rock ‘n’ Roll Hall of Fame. His birthday
is a national holiday in his homeland. Name?
Sportzine
is available at jimdawsonsports.com thanks to Buffalo Steve Lenz
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