College of Sports Media Game of the Night:

It’s the second straight edition of Thursday night football as the Miami Dolphins (4-5) are in Carolina to take on the Panthers (4-5). These teams are very similar. They have the same record, they love to run the ball and they play punishing defence. Also both teams are coming off big wins in week 10. Miami jumped out to a big lead over the Tampa Bay Buccaneers and held on at the end to win 25-23. The Dolphins got a balanced running attack from explosive backs Ricky Williams and Ronnie Brown. Williams ran for over a hundred and Brown had 82 and a touchdown. What makes this duo so tough is that they’re good in a conventional offence and even deadlier in the wildcat formation. Yesterday the Dolphins were dealt some bad news. Brown is gone for the rest of the season with a foot injury. It’s the second time in three seasons he has dealt with an injury that cost him the remainder of the season. Brown is the focal point in Miami’s wildcat so it will be interesting to see how they adapt. Rookie Lex Hilliard takes his spot in the line up. Carolina is another team that relies on two very good running backs. The Panthers beat their division rivals Atlanta Falcons last week 28-19 thanks to the running of DeAngelo Williams and Jonathan Stewart. This duo combined for 174 yards on the ground and Stewart had two touchdowns. Carolina also got a boast from the return of 14-year veteran receiver Muhsin Muhammad. Atlanta chose to double team wide out Steve Smith, so Muhammad had single coverage for most of the game and pulled in 6 catches for 91 yards. It’s a toss up who’s going to win this game, but one thing is for sure – if you like the ground game, this is one game you won’t want to miss.

We’re entering Week Eight in the National Football League, and already there have been seven teams that have sent more than one quarterback under centre. Buffalo, Miami, Philadelphia, Detroit, and St. Louis have needed to make changes due to injury. In Miami, the shoulder injury suffered by Chad Pennington just brought the Chad Henne era to a start sooner than anticipated. Philadelphia, and St. Louis have gone back to their original starters, while Detroit will send Matt Stafford back out as soon as possible. Buffalo has an interesting decision to make with Trent Edwards when he recovers from a concussion, seeing as Ryan Fitzpatrick is 2-0. But it’s more interesting to look at the teams that have changed starters in hopes to turn their seasons around.

In Cleveland, Brady Quinn was given only two weeks by head coach Eric Mangini before he was pulled in favour of Derek Anderson. Anderson’s been far from capable of handling the job – two touchdowns, seven interceptions, and a 43.8 completion percentage. How is he still the starter? Well, I’ve been critical of Eric Mangini in the past, and I see no other person to blame for this move. There’s the conspiracy theory that owner Randy Lerner doesn’t want to pay the $11 million bonus due to Quinn if he plays 70% of the snaps, but winning has to take prescendence in the NFL. Quinn should be the starter, but it doesn’t look like he’ll be given another chance in Cleveland.

The Tennessee Titans announced today that Vince Young will take over for Kerry Collins, giving him a second tenure as a starting quarterback. With the Titans’ season pretty much over at 0-6, why not see if Young has anything left in the tank? Plus, it gives owner Bud Adams an opportunity to watch Young and find out whether or not he can lead this team in the future. His rookie contract carries a $7.5 million base salary in 2010, so if Young’s not the guy, then you can expect him to be given his walking papers next year.

And then there’s the Tampa Bay Buccaneers. In the 2008 draft, they drafted Josh Johnson in the fifth round as a developmental quarterback. Onto the 2009 draft, and the Bucs decided to take Kansas State’s Josh Freeman with the 17th pick. And then they signed Byron Leftwich in the offseason to compete with Luke McCown as starting quarterback. McCown was released, Leftwich was benched after three games for Johnson, and now he’s been given the hook for Freeman. Normally, I’m all for teams seeing what they have in first round quarterbacks, but in this case, it’s way too early. Johnson is only 23 himself, and by allowing him to start for the rest of the season they could have increased his trade value, or opened up a competition between he and Freeman next offseason. Freeman is going to struggle on this terrible team, and his confidence will take a huge beating with the complete lack of offensive weapons in Tampa. Johnson was the way to go for the remainder of the year in Tampa, and rookie coach Raheem Morris is making a big mistake by giving up on a 23 year old quarterback already.

Of course there’s still the teams that should make a switch but haven’t (hello Oakland and Carolina), but that just opens up an entirely different can of worms.

TWO POINT CONVERSION

- the Chicago Bears owe a big thanks to the people who made their schedule. There’s no better remedy for a struggling defence than facing the Cleveland Browns (well, maybe facing JaMarcus Russell)

- Rex Ryan stopped the Wildcat last season when he was with Baltimore, but good luck to him stopping it this weekend. The Jets are currently the league’s 22nd rush defence, and are without their best run player in nose tackle in Kris Jenkins. Recipe for disaster

The NFL’s key game this week appears to be one of the worst matchups on the Week Seven schedule. With the New England Patriots and Tampa Bay Buccaneers set to square off in London, England, football fans seem to have very different opinions on the worth of an overseas NFL game.

For the detractors of such a game, the principal reason is simple: the league shouldn’t be focused on expanding its game in Europe. There are markets in North America that seem far more feasible to house a National Football League franchise, so why not give them a taste of some game action? It’s widely speculated that Los Angeles will have a team again before too long, and of course, there’s Toronto. I’ll come back to T.O. in a little bit.

In addition to the potentially scarce market, the NFL lacks a key component that Major League Baseball, the National Basketball Association and the National Hockey League all possess – international star power. MLB plays games at the beginning of the season in Asia, because there are a plethora of Asian players in the majors right now, most notably Ichiro Suzuki. The NBA is expanding into the Chinese market, but they have Yao Ming. And then there’s the NHL, with dozens of players hailing from Europe and Russia. The NFL does not possess this quality. The closest thing the NFL might have would probably be Tom Brady.

But even with some factors against playing these annual games in England, the NFL would be stupid not to explore the possibilities. The bottom line is, these games make money. Europe is a sports-crazed society much like North America, they just don’t have the exposure to the NFL. Sure, NFL Europe wasn’t a success. But maybe if the NFL placed something other than a minor league system across the Atlantic, it just might work. With this year’s game in particular, there are very strategic reasons for the Pats and Bucs to be there. The Patriots are probably the most globally recognized NFL franchise due to their success this decade, while the Buccaneers owner, Malcolm Glazer, happens to own Manchester United – the most valuable sports franchise in the world according to Forbes Magazine. Bringing these two teams covers fans who may wish to see the Patriots, as well as satisfying Glazer for his commitment to the league.

Then there’s the difference between this international NFL game compared to the one coming up December 3 at the Rogers Centre. These games couldn’t be more opposite. The NFL spends millions marketing this game both in England and North America, yet puts almost no focus on what will be the second annual Toronto game. It once again boils down to money. The Patriots/Buccaneers game sold out in six minutes. I just checked ticket availability for the Jets/Bills, and could have bought four tickets in a row, field level, 15 rows back. The price of the tickets? I’ll leave that out for now to prevent vomiting.

The bottom line is that the NFL will/should continue its endeavors across the Atlantic as long as they are profitable. There’s too much untapped money in the European sporting market for the NFL to ignore, and it wouldn’t surprise me if Commissioner Roger Goodell’s claims of potential expansion to Europe within 10-15 years become a reality. At the end of the day, it’s all about making money. And that is something the National Football League does quite well.

TWO POINT CONVERSION

- whoever made the NFL schedule this year must love the Indianapolis Colts. Two bye weeks in a row? Sorry, the second one actually says “at St. Louis”. It’s easy to get those two confused right now

- alright Minnesota, amaze me. You’ve played three road games – against Cleveland, Detroit and St. Louis. Only one of your games hasn’t been in a dome (Cleveland). Against solid teams (Green Bay, San Francisco, Baltimore), your average margin of victory is only four points – and those were home games. Have fun at Heinz Field against Pittsburgh

After the Detroit Lions set the bar with a winless season, one logical question comes up – can it happen again? After four weeks of football there are five winless teams, but are any of them bad enough to keep playing at such a low level that they’d be forever linked to the 2008 Lions? Well, let’s have a look.

TENNESSEE TITANS

Of the five winless teams, they’re easily the best. They’re one year removed from being the best team in the league, but their stout defence from a year ago has apparently decided not to show up this season. Sure they’re missing defensive coordinator Jim Schwartz (now head coach of the Lions), and All-Pro defensive tackle Albert Haynesworth (signed with Washington), but giving up 37 points to Jacksonville? Ouch. However, the Titans are too good to go winless. They play the Bills at home in Week 10, and get another winless team, the St. Louis Rams, at home in Week 14.

Chance to go winless: 1%

CLEVELAND BROWNS

Here’s a defence that sits last in the league allowing over 400 yards a game. And Eric Mangini was a defensive coordinator. How this man is allowed to run two teams into the ground in a two year span is beyond me. I’ll give the Browns credit, they gave Cincinnati a scare last week. And they get Buffalo this weekend, as well as Detroit, Kansas City and Oakland later in their schedule. The Dawg Pound should get a win this season, no matter how ugly it is.

Chance to go winless: 25%

KANSAS CITY CHIEFS

Scott Pioli certainly looks like a genius now, doesn’t he? The well respected former Patriots Vice President of Player Personnel has assembled quite the roster in Kansas City. Matt Cassell for $63 million? A 3-4 defensive end (Tyson Jackson) with the third overall pick? Bringing in Todd Haley as head coach, who looked like a genius in Arizona as offensive coordinator because of the weapons he had there, is not looking like a strong move either. The Chiefs almost had the Raiders in Week 2, only to let JaMarcus Russell beat them. JaMarcus Russell beat the Chiefs (let that one sink in for a minute). They’re lucky however, they get to play Buffalo and Cleveland back-to-back at Arrowhead in December. There’s no way they can lose both of those…. can they?

Chance to go winless: 55%

ST. LOUIS RAMS

From the ‘Greatest Show on Turf’, to this in just a decade. They currently have the 30th ranked offence, and there’s not too many things to look forward to in the Gateway to the Midwest. When Kyle Boller is taking snaps for your team, maybe it’s time to look at next year’s crop of quarterbacks. However, they have one saving grace that may prevent them from going undefeated – the Detroit Lions. Week 8, at Ford Field, these two juggernauts will go head to head. For the Rams, that may be their only shot at victory this year.

Chance to go winless: 75%

TAMPA BAY BUCCANEERS

Now this is a team that worries me. After three weeks, they switched quarterbacks. They have a 32 year old head coach who was in charge of their defensive backs last season. What they don’t have, is a lot of talent. Their offense currently sits 27th in the league, and their defence is 31st, allowing just under 400 yards a game. I don’t see any easy wins on their schedule, but they do have the struggling Panthers coming to Raymond James Stadium next weekend.

Chance to go winless: 85%

TWO POINT CONVERSION

- if you’re trading a 26 year old former Pro Bowl receiver, and the second listed item coming back to you is a “key special teams player”, how do you still run a franchise? I’d love for Eric Mangini and George Kokinis to justify that one to me. Braylon Edwards was a plague on the Browns, but you’ve got to get back more than that

- most people are saying the game of the week is New England at Denver. I beg to differ. Give me Atlanta at San Fransisco any day. Two up-and-coming teams with fiery, defensive minded coaches – should make for a great game