LITTLE BLINN COLLEGE OF BRENHAM TX NATIONAL CHAMPS

Top ranked Ntln Jr. CC Blinn Bucs beat 2nd ranked Pearl River (Miss.) CC 19-6 last night to claim the national championship, the 3rd time they've done so in the last 11 years, & the first for coach Brad Franchione, son of Texas A&M head coach Dennis. Led by the nations top ranked defense & All American cornerback Ryan Mouton, they limited the opponents to 53 yds rushing on 31 attempts. The offense, led by another All American, tailback Bernard Scott, who came into the game leading the nation w/ 1892 yds, controlled the clock w/ 194 yds rushing, 193 & 1 TD by Scott. We got some boys in Texas who can play the game.

DeMECO RYANS AFC DEFENSIVE PLAYER OF THE WEEK

Go back to one of my very first blogs posted in late Aug during the beginning of presea & you'll find my early prediction that this kid would be our defensive player of the year AND by years end would be in the top 3 def rookies of the year. Well, I didn't give the dude enough credit apparently. If theres another rook in the NFL having a better year on D, I sure am not aware of him. Sunday vs Raiders he became the first player in the entire NFL this season to record double digit tackles (15), a sack, forced fumble, fumble recovered (different plays), & along with it had 3 passes defended/broken up. On top of that, the rookie has called all the plays on D since the first game of the season. In his college days at Bama his teammates called him "the little general." He may have solidified his place in the pro bowl w/ Sundays performance - a feat almost unheard of in the NFL for a rook playing on a losing team. The man is a STUD, & you heard it first from Da PROFF.

DaPROFF'S PICK OF THE WEEK - AFTER FALLIN TO 8-2, DOES ANYONE REALLY CARE?!

I refuse to go on an unbelieveable 2 game losing streak & so does P. Manning. He won't let his team lose 2 in a row all year, thats un-Manning(esque). The Jags are up & down of late & their UP week was last week in a win at Miami. Colts have to have home field in the playoffs to have a chance of beating the Chargers who have 3 of their last 4 games at home. I'm taking the Colts to win in a high scoring game. The Jags have averaged 24+ points in last 3 games against the Dolphins, Bills & Giants, so they should put up those kind of numbers against the Colts D. If I WERE to place a second bet this week, it would be to take the over on the 44. ( But I'm not ).

I said last week AFTER my loss of taking the under on the Texans game w/ Buffalo that Petey Faggins wouldn't let me down, & he still did, well kinda. His 1st qtr fumble return for a TD again sealed my fate. Isn't it ironic that both of my losses came on taking the under on the Texans who are ranked 15th in scoring in the AFC? I've learned something new this year, I WILL NOT, ever take the under on the Texans again as I found myself yelling to Petey to fall down during his scamper to the end zone. I gladly accepted the loss for the Texans sake, & hey, on the bright side, I still have a shot at the O/U of 5 1/2 wins on the season for a big $20, & I'm still up $300. on the year. But who cares anyway?

STROS TRADING WILLIE T ???? YOUR KIDDING ME !!!

Talking about knocking me over with a feather. I know ya gotta give up something to get pitching, but damn, this kid along w/ Berkman & Oswalt are our future!! As far as potential growth, I believe this young man has more than anyone else on our club. He's a .300 hitter w/ 40+ steals a year in the making - matter of fact, mark it down for THIS coming year. When he first came up, he was driving the ball into the ground & still had more infield hits than anyone is MLB. Now, he's smoothed his swing & is just becoming a good line drive hitter & will get stronger this off season raising his doubles/triples. His knock is BB's vs strikeouts which is very common for a new player, especially for those jumping from AA to the biggies. My gripe w/ Garner last year was not leaving him in the leadoff spot consistatly & not letting him steal more often. Ya gotta give a rook time in one slot, the same I said about Kubes moving Mario around from DE to tackle in the first 3 games, it's just too much for the young guys to adjust to. Garner refused to let him go w/ 1 out & Berkman hitting except in hit & run situations. Bad move. I'd posted earlier that they need an old timer like Lou Brock to come in & coach this kid on leading off first base/reading pitchers. Every single attempt I saw last year where he was thrown out was just by a whisker - another half-step lead & he was safe. He's has the ability to be the consumate leadoff man, & he has already .made himself into the consumate center fielder

TONY ROMO THE BEST UNDRAFTED PLAYER IN THE NFL ?

I realize this might be a bit premature, but yes, so far I think so. Have you ever seen a pro QB who grins/laughs so much while on the field? I haven't, the kid enjoys the game. Consider that since taking over the starting QB job, he ranks #1 in the entire NFL in - 1). QB rating 110.8 { 2nd place Manning 100.2} 2). Avg gain per pass 9.20 { 2nd place D. Brees 8.38 w/ Manning @ 7.82 } 3). TD passes per att. 7.2% { 2nd Manning 5.5, while Brees ranks #7 }

Now consider he gets sacked once every 22.5 pass attempts - Manning 31.6 - Brees 41.0......

And, oh, for you D. Carr detractors, he's getting sacked once every 11.7 passes, the least ratio in his 4 previous seasons - by a long shot!!! So get off D. Carrs ass.........

SAINTS THE MOST OVER RATED TEAM IN THE NFC?

I think so. Tied w/ Dallas & Seattle for the 2nd best record in the NFC at 7 wins w/ 4 losses, they have scored only 35 points more than their D has given up in 11 games for a per game avg of 3.2 points. In addition they give up 140 avg yds rushing per game ranking next to last among the 16 teams. Now consider that their offense is ranked #1 overall in the NFC w/ 402 T. yds gained per game meaning their offense is on the field sustaining drives while the D rests. Look for the 49's/ F. Gore to give them all they can handle today. The 7 point spread is about right, but I think the O/U of 45 is high.

DaPROFF'S SECOND PICK OF THE WEEK

Yeah I know, totally out of character for me to bet twice in one week, but since I got lucky on thurs. game, I'm going for $100. or a break even week. My 1 loss for the year was taking the under on the Texans/Bengals when Petey Faggins got burned for 2 - 83 yd 1st qtr TD passes.
Petey won't let me down this week, so I'm taking the 36 1/2 under on the Texans again vs. the lowly but up & coming Raiders, because of the recent play of their D, which now ranks an unbelieveable 5th in the AFC despite still averaging giving up 133 yds rushing per game. Over the last 7 games, they have averaged giving up only 10 points per game while having played NFL power teams San Diego, KC, & the Broncos twice. Considering Carr has a grand total of 1 TD pass in the last 5 games, we're missing 3 origional starting O-linemen, & couldn't run the ball even when they were in the starting lineup, I don't see the Texans scoring more than 13 points, which means the Raider offense has to score 24 for me to lose. Look for Carr to go down at least 4 times today - D. Burgess 8 1/2 sacks, W. Sapp 6 will get more hits than P. Rose did in his entire career. Ok, maybe that's a mild stretch. I'll be keying on the O-line new starting rooks (C) D. Hodgon # 55 & (Rt. Tkle) Caveman Winston # 73.

YAO MING SELECTED AS WESTERN CONFERENCE PLAYER OF THE MONTH

Back on Nov 6, I predicted that this would be the year that we would hear sports bigwigs announcing on TV that the RRockets are now Yaos' team, not McGradys'. And I took a little ribbing from a couple of blog readers around town - ok, fella beer swilling buddies at "the joint."
The very next day of my post, sports writer of the Houston Chronicle R. Justice write "This is Traceys' team & always will be." That very night before a Rockets game Charles Barkley & Kenny Smith announces the exact same words, as if they'd read the article as I'm sure they did, 'cause neither of them are intelligent enough to come up w/ such a unique/bold statement on their own. Ok, everybody has their opinion, & my opinion is that BOTH of them are BY FAR the absolute worst NBA commentators/analyist on TV today. Almost exactly 1 month to the day of my post, Yao is selected as player of the month for the Western Conference while averaging 25.7 points to McGradys" 18.7, an almost exact reversal from this time last year. Tracey is now RUNNING our team as he should be, averaging a career high of almost 8 assists per game, while saving his 10 year old NBA legs by passing to Yao vs continueous driving to the hoop. The Rockets are off to their best start of the season since 1995, which coincidentally was the last time a Rocket won the same dubious honor, my man "The Dream." Is it also coincidental that this was the same year they won their last NBA playoff game?

BENGALS 13 RAVENS 7 Da PROFF 8 & 1

Ok, so I'm better at predicting football than I am cold fronts, which didn't hit till the 4th Qtr. Bengals D has been playing real good lately, w/ Ravens D, I thought this probably would be low scoring & I got lucky again. I'll take luck along w/ a little skill anyday - it's got me up $350. on the year.

If anyone else likes to plunk a little cash down on long shots like I do sometimes, check out the odds of Cowboys vs. Chargers meeting in the Super Bowl. Been meaning to do it myself, but just haven't so far. If your gonna do it, now is the time. Most analyst are picking Bears/Colts. I don't have much confidence in Grossman in that big of a game even w/ home field advantage. Cowboys have already proven their D can handle Manning on a giving Sunday, course this one will be at Indy instead of the "big D", but hey, if it was so easy to predict, you wouldn't get the good odds. If it's 8-1 or better, I'd place the bet. If someone has time to look it up, shoot me a line, I'm getting curious.

DaPROFF'S PICK OF THE WEEK

Ok, boys & girls time to get back on another roll toward the season ending stretch run. Big storm approaching Cincy tonight, O/U is 43 1/2 take the under. Cincy is favored by 3 in this game & I wanted to take the Ravens to cover, but in these windy/snowy/slick conditions, I figure the under is a slightly better bet.

Da PROFF A MISERABLE 7 - 1 ON THE YEAR

Opponents have taken note of my boy MLB'er D. Ryans & now doing everything they can to get an O-lineman/Back on him to chip & the Cat still came up w/ 13 tackles I think. Kubes didn't take my suggestion by throwing over the middle to TE O. Daniels in the crease. Probably didn't matter, you can't win in the NFL if ya can't run & we CAN'T run.

I took a week off after the loss - but same could be said for the Texans offense. Much ballyhooing going on in H-town about replacing Carr. I dunno guys, like I told a dude after the game, I watched him in 2 of his last games in college & recall thinking if we could put a good O-line in front of this kid, he'll be alright. He shredded the opposing teams D. If Kubes doesn't make the O-line a priorty in off season, I'm about to give up.

My prediction before the season that rook Rt. Tkle. "Caveman" Winston would replace Z. Weigert has proved true even though it was because of injury. Best thing that could happen to the O-line for next season. Now, C. M. Flanagan has bruised ribs & hopefully Kubes will use this excuse to play Rook D. Hodgon & give these kids the reps they need to finish the season. In my opinion, Weigert & Flanagan are decent bench/rotation players for next year. It's a cryin shame mamouth Rook Lt. tkle 352# C. Spenser went down w/ broken leg. Look for Texans to concentrate on both G positions during off season - big time vets w/ mass would help. To borrow a phrase from Crass - we need "earth movers."