College of Sports Media Game of the Night:

It’s turkey day across the border and that means one thing: a full plate of NFL football. Three games on the docket today. The Green Bay Packers (6-4) take their show on the road as their in the Motor City to take on the Detroit Lions (2-8). Both teams are coming off big week 10 wins, but both got are dealing with some serious injuries. The Pack dumped the 49ers 30-24 and in the process lost both defensive end Aaron Kampman and corner back Al Harris for the season. Kampman leads the team in sacks and Harris is a great cover corner. The Lions beat the Browns 38-37 i n the final seconds of their game. Quarterback Matt Stafford dislocated his shoulder at the end of the game, but he’s toughing it out and will be behind centre today. Who knows how effective he will be.

Next up the Oakland Raiders(3-7) are in Dallas to take on the Cowboys (7-3). At first glance this one looks like it’ll be one-sided. Oakland is coming off a monster win over the AFC North leading Cincinnati Bengals last week and the Cowboys have struggled mightally on offence. The Raiders finally benched JaMarcus Russell and gave Bruce Gradkowski the starters job. He responded with two touchdown passes, including a last second score leading to the upset win. Over the last two weeks the Cowboys offence has been less then effective. Over the last two weeks the ‘Boys have scored two touchdowns. If they don’t get things together they may end up being the turkey in a Raider’s feast.

The last game is probably the best as the New York Giants (6-4) battle the Denver Broncos (6-4). Both teams limp into this one. Denver has lost four straight and they got pummeled 32-3 last week by the San Diego Chargers. New York has dropped four of five and needed overtime to beat the Atlanta Falcons 34-31. The Giants come into this one banged-up, on three days rest and have to play in the mile-high air. If Denver can take advantage they just might end their skid.

Forget Deion Sanders. A current player has taken over the title of “Primetime”. Unfortunately for this player, it’s for all the wrong reasons.

Jay Cutler has played in three primetime games so far for the Chicago Bears, and each start has been forgettable for the man who was supposed to be Chicago’s football saviour.  It all began in Week One, when the Bears faced off against NFC North rival Green Bay at Lambeau Field. Cutler, in his Chicago debut, tossed four interceptions to a new-look Packers defence, and the Bears fell 21-15.  Skip ahead to Week Six, and Cutler was at it again, this time tossing two picks at the Georgia Dome as the Bears fell 21-14 to the Atlanta Falcons. And then there was last night. On the NFL’s first Thursday-nighter of the year, Cutler throws five interceptions, and the Bears can’t even muster a touchdown in a 10-6 loss to the San Francisco 49ers.

If you ask anyone watching those games, the Bears were the better team on the field. Not to say they were perfect, but Chicago could and should have come away with those wins. In those three games, Cutler has thrown three touchdowns and 11 interceptions. That ratio won’t even cut it in Cleveland. In Chicago’s non-primetime games, Cutler has 11 TD’s and six interceptions – three of which came trying to play catch-up against the Bengals in Week Seven.

In a discussion last night with some friends, I was asked if I’d rather have Kyle Orton at the helm, or Jay Cutler. It took me less than a second to answer: Cutler. The difference is simple. Jay Cutler can win you games, and he can lose you games (see Exhibit C – Week Ten vs. the 49ers). Kyle Orton can play games. He doesn’t win a game on his own, he doesn’t lose one for you – he just plays.

Any fan of the Chicago Bears has every right to be livid after watching last night’s game. Cutler tried to force the ball into too many dicey areas, and he was burned (picked off by a nose tackle? You’ve got to be kidding me). But before they go calling for General Manager Jerry Angelo’s head for making the move to get Cutler, consider watching the Denver Broncos passing attack. If Kyle Orton throws a ball over 20 yards, I’ll be amazed.

Chicago still has two more primetime games to go – next week versus Philadelphia Sunday night, and Week 16 versus Minnesota for the Monday nighter. For his sake, I hope Jay Cutler is able to handle himself a little better and cut down on the INT’s. If not, we may be looking at the NFL record holder for most interceptions in a season.

TWO POINT CONVERSION

- I don’t care if you hate both teams with a passion – watch the Bengals at Steelers Sunday afternoon. It will be the tough AFC North matchup the Ravens were supposed to give the Bengals last week

- ESPN’s John Clayton took a real chance when he predicted his Super Bowl match up earlier this week: New Orleans vs. Indianapolis. Wow, thanks for that John. Anyone can take the two undefeated teams and schedule them for the big game. Me? Right now I like the Steelers to play the Vikings

College of Sports Media Game of the Night:

From 1981 to 1993 the Toronto Maple Leafs and Chicago Blackhawks were in the Norris Division and one-time bitter rivals. Tonight in the Windy City the Leafs and ‘Hawks renew the rivalry. Toronto is coming off a tough home loss to the Minnesota Wild. Before that the Leafs had collected points in seven straight including a Saturday night win over the Detroit Red Wings. Much can be attributed to the play of first-time Leafs Phil Kessel and Jonas Gustavsson. Although Kessel was shut out in his first game, he’s scored two goals and added two assists over the last three games. Over nines games, Gustavsson has a 2.77 GAA and a .912 save percentage. More importantly he’s earned the confidence of the players in front of him, making many of the tough stops. Chicago’s won two straight at home and looks to make it three tonight. The Blackhawks have benefited from the return of their captain Jonathan Toews. Toews missed two weeks with a concussion and since his return he’s registered points in both games. Chicago is sitting a top the Central Division in the West. They’re one point ahead of the Red Wings.

With Week Nine in the NFL almost behind us, I’m left wondering yet again how teams fighting for playoff positions can come out so flat. I’m going to leave San Francisco and the New York Giants out of this (today), and focus on Baltimore, and the pathetic NFC North tandem of Chicago and Green Bay.

Last week Baltimore completely dominated Denver, handing them their first loss of the season, a 30-7 drubbing. Yesterday they traveled to Cincinnati to exact some revenge for a narrow Week Five loss to the Bengals. Yet what ensued was 60 minutes of lifeless football – with the Ravens not even mustering their score until the fourth quarter. Cincy was up 14-0 nothing before the Ravens even knew what was happening, and they were able to set it to cruise control for the rest of the game. Joe Flacco was dreadful, going 18-32 for 195 yards and two picks, and Bengals’ corners Leon Hall and Johnathan Joseph had his receivers blanketed all day. Forgot the Ravens competing in the AFC North – they’ll be lucky to make the playoffs if they keep showing as little fire as they did Sunday afternoon.

When Tommie Harris missed Chicago’s Week Seven game against the Bengals, the Bears were pasted 45-10. I said it then, without Harris and Brian Urlacher in the middle of the defence, the Bears are useless. Well, just four plays into yesterday’s tilt with the Arizona Cardinals, Harris had a brain cramp and punched guard Deuce Lutui in the face – immediate ejection. Arizona went on to score on its first sixpossessions, en route to a 41-21 cake walk. Head Coach of the Bears Lovie Smith took over defensive play-calling permanently at the beginning of the season. After yesterday’s debacle, it’s amazing the Bears haven’t pulled a Daniel Snyder and stripped him of the responsibility. Jay Cutler and the offence tried, but they just couldn’t keep up. The Bears are a complete mess right now, and sit three games back of Minnesota in the NFC North. And just think Bears fans, the team doesn’t own its top two draft picks in 2010.

And then there’s Green Bay. I don’t care how composed Josh Freeman looked/played in his debut – you do not lose to the 2009 Tampa Bay Buccaneers. No team in the NFL should have lost to this years’ Bucs, they’re simply terrible. But Green Bay, attempting to keep pace in the NFC North, allows a rookie quarterback to toss three touchdowns and lead his team to victory, even after they’d taken a 7-0 lead under three minutes into the game. Let’s just hope the Packers didn’t make people in Tampa all superstitious - or else we may be in for more of the creamsicle jerseys.

TWO POINT CONVERSION

- how can people consider New Orleans a better team than Indianapolis? New Orleans was down 24 points at half to Miami two weeks ago, and down 14-0 in the first quarter to Carolina yesterday. If they even try that in the playoffs, they’re going to get bounced by a team that knows how to finish

- I know Eli Manning and Ben Roethlisberger have both won the Superbowl, and they’re both good-to-great players, but Philip Rivers is the best quarterback from the 2004 draft class. Week in, week out he’s simply outstanding, and watching his game-winning, last-minute drive against the Giants was a thing of beauty

College of Sports Media Game of the Night:

There’s no baseball game tonight. In the NHL there are no Canadian teams in action. The NFL leaves Friday night for high school and college football. So what does that leave us with….CFL Friday night football. More importantly they’re rivalry games which are always more fun to watch. The early game has the Hamilton Ti-Cats making the trip down the QEW to take on the Toronto Argonauts. In the past this series has been lop-sided in the Argos favor, but this season the Argos are absolutely terrible. Since bringing in former Tennessee Titan offensive assistant Bart Andrus and allowed the first time CFL-er to call his own plays the teams offence has been – offensive. Not having a reliable quarterback or core of receivers do not help the matter. The defence has played well, but they spend far too much time on the field and in that situation it’s only a matter of time before the opposing team scores. On the other hand the Ti-Cats have gotten better. Granted they’ve lost four in a row, but they’re 6-9 on the season and tied for second with the Winnipeg Blue Bombers in the East. You also have to remember the Steel-town Tabbies haven’t sniffed the playoffs in five years.

In the late game it’s another provincial showdown as the Edmonton Eskimos battle the Stampeders in Calgary. Calgary sits in second place in the West with an 8-6 record. Edmonton (7-8)  is only three points behind, but are currently occupying the bottom spot in the conference. A win today for the Stamps and they clinch a post-season spot. This will be the fourth team these teams have met this season and so far Calgary has won two of three games. Both teams feature potent offences. Eskimo’s QB Ricky Ray is second in the league with 4097 passing yards and 20 touchdowns. Calgary’s Henry Burris is right behind him. Burris has thrown for just under 4000 yards and 19 touchdowns. On defence, Calgary has the clear advantage. The Stampeders are second in the league in points allowed (25.3) and turnover differential (+7).

Are you panicking? No, really. Three games in, have the alarm bells started to ring? When the Blue Jays were on their tear early on, where you ready to annoint them playoff bound? When a guy hits a homerun or scores a goal in game one of the season, do you project their season totals???? I mean really.

We Toronto Sports fans take a lot of shit. Some of it is deserved. Most of it is fabricated in attempt to sell papers (who reads em) or radio ads(who listens)… Listening and looking around this town, you would think the Maple Leafs are this years version of the Detroit Lions. Wholly smokes folks, it’s 3 stinking games. It’s three games with how many new faces? Get a grip.

The good news, I think is that most of the hysteria is media generated. No one I know has hit the panic button yet. It is way too early for that. With all due respect, those who call in to Leafs talk aren’t, in my mind anyways representative of Leafs fans. Seriously, do you know anyone who calls in to those shows? That is not to say that people don’t…It’s just that the notion that those who do are speaking for the larger group is bunk. I mean the larger group doesn’t think that the guy from Maple is bang on when he suggested the Jamal Mayers for a first round draft pick.

So, is it the media who creates hysteria and the fans feed off of it, or are fans really panicked as has been suggested. I am not buying that it is the fans. I don’t see it, I don’t hear it and it makes no sense. It makes about as much sense as the Bruce Garrioch Ron Wilson story today.

Look, this is really simple. If the Leafs are any worse than they were last year when the season ends and lottery positions are finalized, Brian Burke is going to have some explaining to do. If the Boston Bruins are on the podium with the Maple Leafs pick things have gone dramatically astray. If this team regresses after the overhaul the lineup has undergone, something is amiss. It’s really that simple. To reach that conclusion after game 3?????????? I am sorry. We aren’t, collectively anyways, that dumb are we???????

I certainly hope not. Saturday could be ugly by the way. If the same Leafs team shows up that did against Ottawa, Pittsburgh may have a field day.

Chins up leafs nation. It’s a long haul, and we’ve only just begun.

College of Sports Media Game of the Night:

With only three games remaining for most teams in baseball it’s tough to ignore what’s happening in the AL Central. The Detroit Tigers still have a two game lead over the Minnesota Twins. So if the Tigers win and the Twins lose tonight the division title and final playoff spot would be claimed by Detroit. Both teams are at home. Detroit welcomes the Chicago White Sox, while Minnesota hosts the Kansas City Royals.

If baseball is not your thing you can always turn to hockey. The NHL season kicked off last night. Tonight the two teams that battled for the Stanley Cup last season are in action, just not against each other. The Detroit Red Wings are on the road tonight, a long way away from Detroit. They’re in Sweden to take on the St Louis Blues. Even though there are more Swedes on Detroit, St Louis is the home team. The Red Wings lost a little depth over the off season and hope that Henrik Zetterberg, Pavel Datsyuk and Nicklas Lidstrom have enough in the tank to lead the winged wheel back to a third straight final series. The defending champs, the Pittsburgh Penguins, open their season at home as they battle the New York Rangers. Pittsburgh lost some depth at the blue line, but with superstars like Sidney Crosby and Evgeni Malkin leading the team the Pens should be a lock for postseason play.

Here are the lineups for the shows at noon:

College of Sports Media Game of the Night:

Two teams are in must win positions tonight and for one of them a win may not be enough. The Minnesota Twins and Atlanta Braves have battled valiantly for a chance at a playoff spot, but it may be all for not. The Twins dropped game three of their four game series last night with the Detroit Tigers. That puts Detroit three games up on Minnesota with four to play. If Detroit wins they claim the AL Central title and the remaining AL playoff spot. So the Twins need to win just to keep a float. Minnesota hopes tonight’s starter Scott Baker (14-9) can channel his inner John Travolta so the Twins season keeps ‘Staying Alive’. Detroit counters with Nate Robinson (2-2).

For the Braves they not only need to win tonight, but they also need a Colorado Rockies lose. Colorado has a four game lead over Atlanta in the NL wild card race with four to play. The Rockies play the Milwaukee Brewers this afternoon, so Atlanta may be out of it before they even start their game with the Washington Nationals. Tommy Hanson (11-4) starts for the Braves. Garrett Mock (3-10) goes for the Nats.

TSM NOTE: Of course it’s also opening night in the NHL and our Toronto Maple Leafs take on the rival HABS. The time for talk is over. Let’s see how good Burke’s boys really are.

Yet another interesting day in the wonderful world of the NFL. First and foremost, congratulations to the Detroit Lions’… fans. You’ve been waiting almost two calendar years for win, so kudos for sticking with the team. Now, onto the action.

THE GOOD

The Denver Broncos are 3-0. That is not a typo. At the beginning of the year, I didn’t expect this team to win three games in total, so Josh McDaniels deserves to be left alone… for  a little while. Sure they’ve topped the Bengals, but the Browns and Raiders? Not exactly talented squads. Their next five games: Dallas, New England, San Diego, Baltimore, Pittsburgh. Good luck with that. But for now, well done Denver.

The New York Jets answered my challenge, and moved to 3-0 with a win over the Tennessee Titans. After blowing a 14 point lead, the Jets rebounded and held the Titans scoreless for the final 26 minutes. Rex Ryan, you should have been a head coach well before this year.

THE BAD

There’s no question as to which injury is hurting its team the most – the Pittsburgh Steelers need Troy Polamalu. They look completely lost on defence (side note: which defence has allowed the fewest points this year? The Denver Broncos’ stop unit). I’m not writing the Steelers off by any means, they’re still too talented to miss the playoffs, but they need to make some adjustments now.

Another person answered my challenge, quarterback JaMarcus Russell. He completed 57% of his passes this afternoon – to go with 61 yards passing and two picks. Come on JaMarcus, give Al Davis something other than a guy who looks bigger than some of his offensive lineman.

A funny point to the Raiders’ performance – on Yahoo Sports’ website, the top performer from Oakland was running back Michael Bush… with six rushes for 20 yards.

THE UGLY

Washington Redskins – and I’ll leave it at that.

Dear Seattle Seahawks; never do that again. I’m not talking about the close loss to Chicago, but their disgusting excuse for jerseys Sunday afternoon. If you haven’t had a chance to see them, check out the team’s website. I’ve never seen a team look that bad, and I played houseleague sports.

TWO POINT CONVERSION

- it’s a toss up for my pick for best team in the league right now, Ravens or Giants

- I’m sick of all the Brett Favre stories, but he earned it this time. What a throw to crush the 49ers

Here are the lineups for the shows at noon:

On Baseball Show:
Mike Wilner hosting today:

TBA

On Leafs Lunch:
12:40 – Dave Poulin – VP of Hockey Operations

College of Sports Media Game of the Night:
Who would have thought that conversations about the top spot in the CFL East would include the Hamilton Ti-Cats? Well that is exactly the case when the Tabbies (2-1) sharpen their claws for their game tonight with the hometown and undefeated Montreal Alouettes (3-0). Hamilton’s defence will be in tough trying to stop one of the most potent offences in the league led by savvy vet Anthony Calvillo. Montreal is averaging over 43 points per game and have outscored their opponents 133-53 in their first three games. The Ti-Cats defence is the best in the league against the pass. Defensive coordinator Greg Marshall has his incredibly young defence playing loose and having fun. On the other side of the ball Quiton Porter gets the start behind the centre, despite the last weeks come-from-behind victory led by former Blue Bomber Kevin Glenn.