Exit Sandman

Exit light.  

Enter night 

Take my hand.  

We're off to never never-land

When the lyrics to Metallica's Enter Sandman blared through the speakers at Yankee Stadium it was lights out for the opposing team.  The entrance music accompanied the arrival of Mariano Rivera - the greatest closer that ever lived.

Rivera's career began with the Yankees nearly two decades ago, back in 1995.  After failing through 10 unimpressive starts in the rotation, he was moved to the bullpen where he flourished.  After serving as the setup man to John Wetteland on the Yankees championship team in '96, Rivera moved into the closer role the following season and started a run of dominance that had never been seen in that role before.

Starting pitchers generally need several quality pitches to keep hitters off balance over the course of an outing, where they are likely to see the same hitters multiple times.  Rivera only really has one great pitch.  As a reliever, that's all he ever needed.  That devastating cut fastball has haunted the dreams of many hitters over the years and you could build a cabin out of the spare wood that remains from the number of bats he's broken over the years.  With a sharp break similar to a slider, but the speed of a fastball, the cutter can be a very effective pitch, but nobody has thrown it as effectively as Rivera.  It's often been suggested that Mo's cutter is one of the most unhittable pitches the game of baseball has ever seen.

Things I Noticed: Week 3

Since the postseason expanded to 12 teams in 1990, only three teams have ever made the playoffs after starting 0-3.  Nobody has done it since the Buffalo Bills in 1998.  That's bad news for the Giants, Redskins, Vikings, Bucs, Steelers, and Jaguars.  Two of those teams made the postseason last year, which goes to show the level of parody that the NFL is so proud of.

Here are some things I noticed this week:

• After 14 seasons in Philadelphia, Andy Reid was fired from his position as coach of the Eagles after a disappointing season.  On the night that the Eagles retired the number of former QB Donovan McNabb, Reid had his revenge against his former team, as the new coach of the Chiefs led his team to a 3-0 start by beating the Eagles.  
• The Chiefs are the 6th team since 1970 to start the season 3-0 following a season where they won
  
  two games or fewer.  The previous 5 teams to do it failed to make the playoffs.  Great start for Kansas City, but they are going against history if they plan on making the postseason.
• Michael Vick has always been open about how much he respects Reid and how appreciative he is for helping to restart his career.  So how does he thank his former coach?  With turnovers!  Lots of them! The Eagles turned the ball over 5 times, including 3 by Vick (2 INTs, 1 Fumble).  Damaris Johnson muffed a punt return that gave the Chiefs the ball at the Eagles 8 yard line, setting up a quick field goal to give them the early lead.  A pick-six thrown by Vick pushed the lead to 10 less than four minutes into the game.  Any ugly start never got much better.  One of the other turnovers came on a botched snap where the center snapped the ball and it bounced off the arm of the offensive lineman beside him. The ball was loose before Vick ever had a chance to get his hands on it!  I'm not sure I've ever seen that before.

Things I Noticed: Week 2

It's still early in the season, but for teams coming off a loss in their opener, a win in Week 2 could be vital for saving their season.  Since the playoffs expanded to it's current format in 1990, teams that have started the season 0-2 have gone on to make the postseason only 11.6% of the time.  You can recover from a poor start and still make the playoffs, or even win a Super Bowl (as the 2001 Patriots and 2007 Giants have shown), but the odds are stacked against you.  Already we've seen two teams from last year's postseason drop to 0-2, which could open the door for new teams to step in to the postseason picture.

Meanwhile, teams that have started 2-0 since 1990 have gone on to make the postseason 63% of the time, which is great news for 8 teams.

Here are some things I noticed this week:

• The game in New England Thursday night was a sloppy mess long before the heavy rains came.  The
  
  offense for both teams looked ugly, but it's only the Jets that we expect that from.  For the Patriots, it was a very uncharacteristic performance.  64 plays and only 232 total yards.  More punts (11) than first downs (9).  4 for 18 on third downs.  That's not the type of offense New England is used to. Then again, the talent at Tom Brady's disposal isn't what he's used to either.  We know about the off-season losses and Rob Gronkowski is still recovering from surgery, but Danny Amendola was out too.  Plus Shane Vereen is going to be out at least 8 games after wrist surgery. That doesn't leave Brady with much to work with.
• Amendola reportedly has suffered torn adductor muscles in his hip that may require surgery.  He's also received conflicting reports about a possible sports hernia, which could keep him out of action for about a month. 
• Aaron Dobson's first career catch went for a 39 yard TD on the opening drive, but it was all down hill from there.  The rookie receiver repeatedly dropped passes and botched routes.  Until he turns things around, he'll now be referred to as Aaron "Dropson."  Kenbrell Thompkins wasn't any better, failing to get his hands under the ball on a TD catch that was overturned after replay.  The rookies combined for only 5 catches on 17 targets and often left Brady steaming from their mistakes.
• The Pats weren't the only ones making mistakes on offense, as the Jets had their fair share of drops too.  Between the two teams, they may have lost more yardage due to dropped passes than they gained through the air on completions!
• Geno Smith played well enough to keep his team in the game through three quarters, before falling apart in the end.  It seemed he was too anxious to put together a game winning drive that he ended up making too many mistakes.  Three of the Jets four drives in the fourth quarter ended with Smith throwing an interception.  Never a good sign when your best drive of the quarter is a three and out that ends with a punt.
• On Smith's first INT, the Jets were in field goal range to tie the game.  Smith would have been better off trying to make a run for it to try to pick up a first down or even just just throwing the ball away.  Instead, he tried to force the ball into tight coverage and paid with a turnover.  
• The Jets looked to send a message to Tampa Bay to show them how a real team takes a cheap shot at a player out of bounds.  You wait until the game has already been decided, not when the penalty can cost you the game!  Nick Mangold dove at the knees of Aqib Talib after the Patriots corner had stepped out of bounds following his game sealing interception.  That prompted a scuffle between the teams that led to multiple penalties against the Jets and two of their players getting ejected.  So now those players may receive fines and possible suspensions... so I guess that did hurt the Jets.

Things I Noticed: Week 1

We're back with another season of football, where I'll once again be re-capping each week with some thoughts on each game.  A re-match of last year's playoff match-up between the Ravens and Broncos kicks off the season Thursday night.  Denver is looking to avenge a humiliating loss that helped pave the path for the Ravens to become the eventual Super Bowl Champions.  The bad blood between these two AFC contenders spilled into the off-season, when a botched contract restructuring led to the Ravens stealing Elvis Dumervill.  With tensions sure to be running high, what better way to start the year!

• The pre-game show includes a video of NFL legends representing every team counting down to the start of the game, while the song Final Countdown blares through the speakers.  Of course, once the countdown ends, it's announced the game is actually going to be delayed due to lighting storms in the area.  So what exactly were we counting down to?  Not to worry, the season will begin tonight! Eventually....  
• Ok, so after a 33 min delay, plus a few extra minutes while the Ravens casually strolled out on to the field... plus their mandatory five minute warm up... wow, it's 9:15 already and we're just getting started?!
• There was some concern that the Broncos could get off to a slow start this year due to a declining
  
  defense.  Not only did they lose Dumervill, but they are still missing Von Miller (6 game suspension) and Champ Bailey (injury).  That's their three best defensive players from last season!  Scratch those concerns, as Peyton Manning has ensured that the Broncos explosive offense will more than make up for any defensive decline.
• Manning had a career night - 462 yards and a record tying 7 passing TDs!  Let me reiterate that for emphasis.  The four time MVP just had the best game of his life!  
• Wes Welker didn't wait long to entrench himself as a key cog in the offense for his new team, hauling in a team high 9 catches for 67 yards and two scores.  He is now the only player to ever catch a TD pass from both Peyton Manning and Tom Brady.  Of course given Manning's huge game, Welker couldn't have been the only one getting in on the fun.  Demaryious Thomas (161 yards, 2 TDs) had a huge game, mostly due to catching a 78 yard TD pass in garbage time.  Then there was 3rd year TE Julious Thomas, who entered the game with 1 career catch for a meager 5 yards.  He has quickly become the new sleeper TE that will send fantasy owners frantically to the waiver wire to scoop him up after his 110 yard, 2 TD breakout performance.  We know Manning likes his TE's, but who saw this coming?
• Dallas Clark dropped what should have been a walk in TD just before halftime to force Baltimore to settle for a FG, so his former Colts teammate is still Peyton's favorite TE!
• The turning point in the game came early in the third quarter, when Welker was credited with a catch for 10 yards on a 3rd and 9 play.  Replay clearly showed the ball hitting the ground for an incomplete pass, but John Harbaugh never bothered to challenge the call.  Maybe he'll blame the Broncos hurry up offense for not giving him enough time to ponder the decision.  On the very next play, Manning found Demaryious Thomas for a 34 yard gain down the left sideline.  Two plays later the Broncos would be in the end zone with their first lead of the game.