Archives January 2012

No Lebron James? No Dwayne Wade? No problem!

Thursday’s TNT game between the Miami Heat and Atlanta Hawks ended up being an entertaining triple overtime affair, with the Heat prevailing 116-109.

However, the highlight of the evening came early on during the first quarter of the game when TNT’s crew of Charles Barkley, Reggie Miller and Kevin Harlan failed to realize they were still on the air!

In the process, Charles Barkley calls Weight Watchers a scam (He’s a spokesman for Weight Watchers), and Sir Charles, Kevin Harlan, and Reggie Miller go back and forth about how painful it is to watch the Atlanta Hawks play basketball. Classic!

Matt Ryan, and his Atlanta Falcons take flight to New Meadowlands Stadium set for battle against the New York Giants in hopes that the saying; “third times a charm,” comes to fruition. Matty-Ice, won’t have to rescind the nick-name, but failing Sunday and regressing to 0-3 in his playoff career might alter the meaning just a bit.

The stage was set early in the week when Giants defensive lineman, Justin Tuck labeled the Falcons front “dirt bags,” for their excessive play through, and after the whistle. But, whatever got into Atlanta’s offensive line has paid dividends. Labeled the weak link early on after surrendering 13 sacks to Chicago, Philadelphia, and Tampa Bay to start the season, Atlanta finished in fine fashion ranking 6th in sacks allowed with 26. Something has to give here, as the Giants rank 3rd in the NFL with 48 sacks. Whichever unit wins this battle, likely ends up victorious in war.

My true number makes the New York Giants -1.25, so the current line (-3) is inflated after a nationally televised thrashing of their NFC East rival, Dallas Cowboys in a win or go home situation. One outfit I speak with has Atlanta circled, but there’s no rush to show their hand early with New York getting a majority of public money, and an expected influx of recreational bettors lining up at the windows fiending for playoff action this weekend. The recipe for Falcons success is simple, FEED THE HORSE! When Michael Turner has 21+ touches, Atlanta is 28-2 — and the Giants have issues stopping the run, allowing 4.5 yards per attempt (ranked 23rd).

The total is different story, sharp bettors gobbled up a key number in 49 early, sending it down to 47 where it currently resides. My true number is 45, so there was value moving on the opening number with a playoff atmosphere to boot. The move was also to get ahead of potentially poor weather elements forecasted for Sunday. However; If the weather holds, expect this number to tick back up close to where it opened with the aforementioned increase in public betting for the playoffs. The Under is 6-1 the last 7 times New York and Atlanta has squared off.

THINGS TO NOTE:

* New York Giants have not won a home playoff game since the 2000-2001 NFC Championship when they drubbed the Minnesota Vikings 41-0.

* The road team has covered 8 straight in this series.

The 73rd overall pick in the 1997 NFL Draft is saying; “No Mas” after 15 illustrious seasons. Jason Taylor spent 13 of those seasons helping the Miami Dolphins wreak havoc on any, and all opposing offenses.

Taylor, ranks 6th all-time in NFL history with 139.5 quarterback sacks, and was the NFL active leader before hanging it up on Sunday.

Jason had one last mission before calling it quits, though — and that was helping his Dolphins eliminate their long time rival, New York Jets from playoff contention. Gang-Green came to town pissed off in a must win situation, but Miami sent them back home empty handed, winning 19-17 with large contributions from J.T.

After the game, Taylor was awarded the game ball — and after that, he rewarded us with a memorable locker room farewell speech.