Bleacher Report - Articles by JOCKlife Sports

Carmelo Anthony Out Three to Four Weeks

JOCKlife Sports — Tue, 06 Jan 2009 10:25:30 -0500

At the 9:44 mark in the third quarter of last night’s matchup between the Denver Nuggets and Indiana Pacers at the Pepsi Center, Carmelo Anthony injured his right hand.

After a visit to a Denver-based hand specialist, Dr. Carlton Clinkscales, it was determined that Nuggets F Carmelo Anthony has a non-displaced third metacarpal fracture in his shooting hand. This will sideline the All-Star up to four weeks, but his shooting hand should be healed enough to play within three weeks.

On Tuesday, the team said that Anthony would be fitted for a removable splint after breaking a bone in his right hand. It occurred in a victory over the Indiana Pacers the night before.

Anthony was injured early in the third quarter when Pacers center Jeff Foster swatted at the ball, catching part of Anthony's hand.

Anthony continued to play despite numbness in the hand, scoring 21 points before leaving late in the fourth quarter of a 135-115 win.

The Denver Nuggets are off to the best start in franchise history at 24-12, and in the middle of a franchise-record seven-game home stand. The Nuggets hold a two-game lead over the Portland Trailblazers and a two-and-a-half game lead over the Utah Jazz in the Western Conference's Northwest Division.

Chauncey Billups has brought much-needed veteran leadership to Denver, and hopefully it will be enough to keep the Nuggets performing at a high level while Anthony is sidelined. Expect Denver swingman Renaldo Balkman to see more of the court in Melo’s absence.

Drew Brees Named AP Offensive Player of the Year

JOCKlife Sports — Tue, 06 Jan 2009 10:19:31 -0500

In a year in which the New Orleans Saints did not make the postseason, quarterback Drew Brees should give the city of New Orleans something to cheer about with his Associated Press Offensive Player of the Year Award.

This NFL season, the New Orleans Saints quarterback, in total yards alone, was a dominant factor. So it comes as no surprise that Brees with his 5,069 total yards was named AP Offensive Player of the Year.

Though Brees did not lead the Saints to the postseason, and the quarterback was 15 yards shy of the record owned by the legendary Dan Marino, his numbers were still impressive for the season. He is only the second NFL passer to throw for over 5,000 yards in a season.

“The only reason I still even think about it is because I know how much it would have meant to the offensive line and the skill position guys,” Brees said.

“Those guys were 10 times more upset than I was about not getting the record. I just feel like they really, especially down the stretch, looked at that as something that, for all the heartache and all the ups and downs we had this season that was something they hang their hats on.”

It was a record that looked likely to fall, needing only 16 more yards towards the end of the season finale, but Brees will have to give it another shot some other time. Brees' regular season performance earned him the award though his team did not make the postseason, and it comes well deserved.

He earned 22 votes in balloting from a nationwide panel of 50 NFL sportswriters and broadcasters. He beat out a great duo in Indianapolis Colts Peyton Manning, voted Most Valuable Player for the third time, and Minnesota Vikings running back Adrian Peterson.

“I don’t come out from week to week and say I have to throw for 300,” Brees said. “I don’t think about that. It’s really about what I can do to help this team win.”

In two of his last three games, Brees threw for over 250 yards.

“Certainly in this offense, being the quarterback, you’re in the driver’s seat. You have the opportunity to control every play and have it in your hands,” Brees said. “Every play is about me making good decisions and putting it in a guy’s hands who is open or our playmakers working to their strengths. That’s my job.”

The Saints spent most of the regular season without key figures like running back Reggie Bush, wide receiver Marques Colston, and tight end Jeremy Shockey. With them, Brees might have broken Marino’s record and led his team to the postseason, but injuries are part of the game.

“Each year I’ve gotten better, especially over the last five years,” Brees said. “When I go back to 2004 in San Diego, every year I feel so much more comfortable. I really feel like I’ve refined my routine and continued to find what works for me.”

Sulaiman Folarin is the editor of JOCKlife.com. He can be reached at sly@jocklife.com

Washington Redskins' Fred Smoot Wins Chris Cooley's Fantasy League

JOCKlife Sports — Tue, 06 Jan 2009 06:50:23 -0500

When Chris Cooley had a group of Washington Redskins players and their friends at his house for his NFL Fantasy Draft, he had no idea he would have competition, especially since he had to teach the teammates how to play fantasy.

The thought of athletes not playing fantasy sports was questionable to him. Cooley walks into arenas regularly with fans chanting "you are on my fantasy," so that got him pumped for it, but surprisingly he lost to Fred Smoot.

Smoot’s well-selected DC Lumber Company won by a marginal three points. Cooley probably never thought he would lose, and not with that number of points. “I felt confident going into the game that I was going to go home with the trophy,” Cooley said. “I mean, who expects Tampa Bay to score -3 points at home against the Chargers? That just doesn't happen.”

Smoot picked some good players like Larry Johnson, Brett Favre, and Steve Smith. Cooley reminded him that Carolina's wide receiver Smith was missing the first two games of the season. Smoot responded, “It doesn’t matter, the next 14 they gonna feel his wrath.” They did, as Smith finished his 14-game season with 1,421 receiving yards, third behind Andre Johnson and Larry Fitzgerald.

Smoot felt the pick of Atlanta Falcons quarterback Matt Ryan wouldn’t matter. “Matt Ryan, he’s just a pair of shoes,” Smoot said. Who would have thought a rookie would lead the resurrection of the Falcons?

Well, Ryan turned out to be more than that, winning the AP NFL Offensive Rookie of the Year and leading the Atlanta Falcons to a wild card loss over the weekend against the Cardinals in Arizona.

At the beginning of the season, Redskins tight end Chris Cooley had to explain to nine players from the NFL what Fantasy Football is. “No one knew what it was,” Cooley said. At the end of the season, he didn't walk away with the trophy—his teammate and cornerback did.

Sulaiman Folarin is the editor of JOCKlife.com. He can be reached at sly@jocklife.com

Tonight’s Bowl Game: Fiesta Bowl —Texas Longhorns Vs. Ohio State Buckeyes

JOCKlife Sports — Mon, 05 Jan 2009 10:56:20 -0500

The 2009 Fiesta Bowl was once considered a defacto national championship game of sorts, but after the upset of Alabama by undefeated Utah in the Sugar Bowl, Texas might steal some of Utah’s votes with a win and Ohio State may create quite an end of the year stir with a victory in Tempe, AZ.

Texas (11-1) appeared to be the one team that got snubbed during the bowl selection process, but with the Cotton and Sugar bowl results, many will wonder if it was Utah that got snubbed from the national title game.

The Longhorns’ lone defeat of the season came to a Texas Tech Red Raiders squad that jumped to an early lead against Ole Miss in the Cotton Bowl, but quickly squandered that and any thought of the Big 12 being the best conference in the country this season. One of the Longhorns’ “quality” wins came against an Oklahoma State team that was shredded by Oregon and its quarterback in the Holiday Bowl.

Utah on the other hand has nothing but wins against TCU, BYU, Oregon State, Michigan and Alabama as these raise some serious questions as to who the real national champion will be this season.

The Mountain West can easily be considered one of the top conferences in the nation preceded by the SEC and Big XII and preceded by the Pac 10 and Big Ten.

Nonetheless, when Texas and Ohio State square off in Tempe tonight in the Tostitos Fiesta Bowl, both teams will be playing to win the game.

“It’s time for us to put behind all the BCS stuff and move forward and look forward to a great game,” Texas head coach Mack Brown said. “The BCS doesn’t satisfy everybody. We’ve been on the positive side of it a few times. We’ve been on the negative side a few times.”

The third-ranked Longhorns are a predominant favorite in the match-up of two schools with plenty of boosters and blue chip recruits. Heisman finalist and quarterback Colt McCoy leads an explosive offense setting school records of 3,445 passing yards and 32 TDs this season. McCoy also set an NCAA record for completion percentage for a season with an astounding 77.6 mark. If that wasn’t enough, McCoy also led the Longhorns in rushing with 576 yards and is second on the team with 10 rushing touchdowns.

Needless to say, the Longhorns go as McCoy does. “He’s been the heart of our offense,” Brown said. “He means to this team what Vince Young meant to the one in 2005. I can’t imagine a player that means more to his team than Colt does to ours.”

The Buckeyes are used to the big stage and facing the best of the best come bowl time. They will be playing in their seventh BCS bowl in the 11-year history of the system, which ties USC and Oklahoma for the most appearances. The Buckeyes were outplayed in their last two BCS bowls and they are hoping not to make it three in a row.

“To be honest, we don’t try to think about it too much,” star linebacker James Laurinaitis stated. “We’re going to get asked that question over and over and over until you win one of those games.”

True freshman quarterback Terrelle Pryor will try to buck the trend against the Longhorns. Pryor has been very efficient in his first year removed from high school completing 62.2 percent of his passes, which accounted for 1,158 yards and 12 touchdowns.

Pryor’s only loss came at the Horseshoe versus Penn State who got beat up in the Rose Bowl versus USC. Most of Pryor’s success tonight may stem from his legs. Pryor has 553 rushing yards along with five scores this season.

The defenses in this game are both very good as both are in the top 20 in scoring defenses nationally. Ohio State is at 13.1 points per game and Texas is at 18.6. The edge in total defense does lie with the Buckeyes as they were eighth nationally allowing 279.3 yards per game and the Longhorns were 50th at 339.9. That large discrepancy in total yards allowed may be due to the fact that Texas has such a quick-strike offense that their defense saw plenty of the field.

This is the third meeting between the two schools all-time which all came in the last four seasons. They split the first two meetings. Texas is 1-0 all-time in the Fiesta bowl whereas Texas is 4-1.

Patrick Brougham is a contributor for JOCKlife.com, he can be reached at patrickbrougham@live.com