Sports. Period. Weekend Preview

Is Joe Flacco Ready for Sunday?

Recently, there has been a lot of controversy due to teammate safety Ed Reed's comment about Joe Flacco's performance last Sunday against the Houston Texans.

Reed said on national radio this week that his quarterback, Joe Flacco, "looked rattled" during their victory over the Houston Texans and that it "just didn't look like he a hold of the offense." Those comments were addressed to ESPN on Thursday.

"My teammates, I think and know they understand me as a player and as a teammate." Reed said. "I don't think they would take anything out of context what I said. If they do, it's got to be motivation to prove me wrong."

Flacco has a great opportunity to prove Reed wrong by stepping up against the Patriot's defense this Sunday—mainly their secondary because this seems to be the most vulnerable point of that defense. Flacco and the Ravens play at New England this Sunday and hope to stop Brady and their hot playoff run.

Was Tim Tebow Underestimated?

Thousands of fans screamed in pure excitement as Bronco's quarterback Tim Tebow threw an 80 yard TD pass to wideout Demaryius Thomas on the first play of overtime.

The heavily favored Pittsburgh Steelers lost to the Broncos because they underestimated Tebow. With the Bronco's first overall rushing offense in the league, the Steelers dared Tebow to throw it deep—and he connected. Tebow finished with 316 yards passing against a pass defense that allowed only 171.9 yards during the regular season. After not allowing one pass yard in the first quarter, the Steeler's defense could not stop Tebow the rest of the game in single coverage.

After Pittsburgh rallied to tie the game in regulation, the Broncos won the toss and quickly won the game by catching the Steelers guessing once again. On the first play of scrimmage in overtime, the Steelers loaded the box and assumed the Broncos were going to rush the ball—think again.

Tebow made a play-action fake drawing in all defenders, which created enough space on a deep slant for wideout Demaryius Thomas to receive the pass. Thomas caught the ball at the Denver 40, stiff-armed cornerback Ike Taylor and outran everyone to the endzone for the game winning score.

The Steeler's were caught completely off guard as their season came to a end, but makes this team wonder if they should have approached playing Tebow in a different way. Only three words can come to mind—"It's Tebow time!" 

Wild Card Saturday Review

I will review the two wild card playoff games that are taking place today, once they have ended!

So stay tuned!

Sports. Period. Weekend Preview!

Jeff Fisher Interviews with Rams

Former Tennessee Titans coach Jeff Fisher is interviewing with the Saint Louis Rams after meeting with the Miami Dolphins.

Unlike the Ram's former head coach Steve Spagnuolo, who held a record of 10-38, Steve Fisher offers plenty of head coaching experience who has an overall record of 142-120 and has coached four seasons with 12 wins or more.

Fisher has the option to either coach for the Dolphins or the Rams, and seems to be leaning towards the Rams coaching position due to better benefits. The Rams organization has a franchise-caliber quarterback in Sam Bradford and the No. 2 overall pick in the NFL draft, which only calls for more improvement and success in the near future. But the Dolphins have more money to offer Fisher, so his final decision is still unknown.

Fisher has coached for the Titans for 16 seasons before being fired in January of 2011. It will be interesting to see which team Fisher will coach for, and how successful he will be with this new franchise.

Grizzlies' Zach Randolph has torn MCL

Memphis Grizzlies forward Zach Randolph has a torn MCL and is said to miss at least six to eight weeks.

If the Grizzlies hope to build off their momentum from their strong playoff run last season, they will need to do it without the help of Randolph and his 14.8 ppg and 7.5 rpg. He tore his MCL in the first quarter of the Grizzlies' 104-64 loss at Chicago as he knocked knees with teammate O.J. Mayo.

The Grizzlies have been 1-1 since Randolph has been injured with the loss at Chicago and the win against Sacramento on Tuesday night. With the absence of Randolph's strong presence offensively and defensively, the team has looked upon center Marc Gasol and guard Rudy Gay to help lead the team.

Gay has been plagued with a shoulder injury since the last three months of last season and is still in the process of recovering to his full potential. He leads the team with 15.2 ppg, but is still in a shooting slump making only 6 of 23 shots in the past two games before performing well against Sacramento scoring 23 points on 10 of 16 shooting.

"This is a great opportunity for a team to show their character, show what their made of, show their mental toughness because I don't think you can have success or growth without some kind of adversity," Head coach Lionel Hollins said.

NBA Starts Voting for All-Star Game

Just 11 days into the season, voting has begun for the NBA All-Star game.

The ballot was announced Wednesday in Orlando, Fla., which is where the All-Star will be played this season on Feb. 26. Because the NBA season started late due to the 5 month lockout, voting has begun only 5 games into the season.

Fans can now begin voting up to 10 players per day through www.nba.com or by texting the player's last name to 6-9-6-2-2. The All-Star results will be announced Feb. 2 on TNT prior to a doubleheader. Although voting for the All-Star Game is inevitable during the new season, it still seems too early to decide who are the best players in the NBA in 2012.

The 2012 votes for the NBA All-Star Game will result in being more of a popularity contest, than which player truly deserves it because of their talent and devotion to the team. What are your thoughts?

Manu Ginobili to Undergo Hand Surgery

San Antonio Spurs guard Manu Ginobili will have surgery on his broken left hand and is expected to miss at least two months of play.

Ginobili said Wednesday he will have a plate screwed onto his shooting hand Thursday, and that he is not thrilled about the injury and recovery process. Ginobili broke his fifth metacarpal during the second quarter against the Minnesota Timberwolves on Monday night.

Ginobili broke his hand Monday night against Minnesota,
causing concern for Spurs fans.

Ginobili injured his shooting hand during the fifth game of the season when he fouled Anthony Tolliver as he was attempting a jumpshot. Before his injury, Ginobili was averaging 17.4 ppg and has now forced forward Tim Duncan to take over as the team's offensive centerpiece. It is unknown if Duncan, who turns 36 in April, will be able to lead the team successfully due to his questionable durability and aging body.

Because of Ginobili's absence, Gary Neal is now being put into rotation ahead of schedule after he had his appendix removed during training camp. Neal clearly has not had enough time to recover one hundred percent from the surgery, but it is a risk head coach Gregg Popovich is willing to take.

"We figured we might as well go ahead and throw him in to the fire," Popovich said.

Andy Reid to Stay with the Eagles

Andy Reid, head coach of the Philadelphia Eagles, will coach at least one more year with the franchise.

Eagles chairman Jeffrey Lurie said Reid will return for his 14th season to coach the Eagles, though he is open to changes throughout the coaching staff. Lurie expressed his disappointment with the Eagles overall record at 8-8 (.500 W) and said it was unacceptable.

"This was, without question, the most disappointing season since I've owned the team," Lurie said. "It's completely unacceptable."

Head coach Andy Reid with quarterback Michael Vick.

The Eagles were favored to reach the Super Bowl and were also known as the "Dream Team," but fell short. They went 1-4 to start the season and were 4-8 before finishing the season with four consecutive wins against non-playoff teams.


While Reid has two remaining years on his contract, Lurie said he doesn't plan on extending it at this point in time. Reid has an overall record of 136-90-1, but has still failed to win a Super Bowl with the Eagles. Do the Eagles truly have what it takes to be the true  "Dream Team?"

More Coaching Candidates for Jags

It has been reported that the Jacksonville Jaguars are in pursuit for their next head coach. The organization will be interviewing Atlanta Falcons offensive coordinator Mike Murlarkey and his counterpart from the New York Jets, Brian Schottenheimer.

ESPN Insider Adam Schefter has said that the Jaguars will also interview New England Patriots OC Bill O'Brien, along with Denver Broncos OC Mike McCoy. The interim coach for the Jaguars Mel Tucker will be interviewed as well as Carolina Panthers OC Rob Chudzinski.

Nearly all the men listed come from an offensive background, which means the Jaguars seem to be leaning toward more of an offensive approach opposed to the past two head coaches of the Jags—Tom Coughlin and Jack Del Rio.

New NBA Commercial

The NBA can make some funky commercials

Big Things are Coming.

Yates Ready to Play this Saturday?

Despite the fact that Houston Texans quarterback T.J. Yates left the game last Sunday against the Titans with a shoulder injury, it appears that Yates will be ready to play next Saturday against the Cincinnati Bengals in the franchise's first playoff game.

It is said that Yates suffered a separated shoulder, but should not affect his play tremendously. He went 4-4 for 47 yards on a TD drive after suffering the injury on the first play, proving that the injury is not as drastic as it seems.

The injury was related with Yate's non-throwing shoulder, and all sources Sunday said Yates could have returned to the game but decided it was not necessary.

The Texans are currently on a three-game losing streak entering the playoffs, but hope to earn a W when it counts the most.

Adelman not Ready to Start Rubio

Ricky Rubio of the Minnesota Timberwolves has played well throughout the first four games of the 2012 NBA season, but coach Rick Adelman still has no plans to start Rubio.

Adelman says he is still evaluating the team and Rubio will have his minutes, but that these things happen over time. As of right now, the Timberwolves are just trying to acquire a winning record.

As of right now, Luke Ridnour is the starting point guard and will continue to maintain that position until Adelman decides to make a change.

Rubio is averaging 9.5 ppg, 7.3 apg and 4.3 rpg in his rookie season in the NBA. With more positive play, it may be inevitable that Rubio will become the starting point guard for the Timberwolves—only time will tell.

Lebron James and Longtime Girlfriend now Engaged

Lebron James with his fiancee Savannah
Brinson

Miami Heat's Lebron James and his longtime girlfriend Savannah Brinson are now engaged. James got down on one knee Saturday night to propose to his high school sweetheart at a party celebrating both New Year's Eve and his 27th birthday which was this past Friday. James and Brinson are the parents of two sons and have decided it was time to take the final step in their relationship. No wedding date has been announced. James and the Heat remain undefeated and play the Charlotte Bobcats on Sunday in hope to keep the winning streak alive.

Falcons Sign Tony Gonzales to a One-Year Extension

Tony Gonzales signs a one year $7 million extension.

The Falcons have announced that they have signed tight end Tony Gonzales a one-year extension worth $7 million. According to a league source, Gonzales's contract was set to expire at the end of the 2011 season, so it was imperative another deal was created. Ever since Gonzales was traded from the Chiefs to the Falcons he has scored 19 touchdowns with his 232 receptions. Gonzales trails only Jerry Rice on the all time NFL receptions list with 1,148 catches, and has a total of 95 touchdown catches. He has seven touchdown receptions on the year, and will be interesting to see how much energy and durability Gonzales will have left for yet another season.