Staying out of the Basement and Canada Dry!

The Jets and Vikings of course played a game on Monday Night Football that pretty much defined the season thus far for the Vikings. Yet I can't help but feel that there is something missing from the Vikings team. Meanwhile the Cowboys who face these same Vikings this coming Sunday are in the same danger of being practically in the NFC basement and that is being 1-4.
As I so often do, let's take a look at the numbers shall we, specifically the numbers of Mark Sanchez, Brett Favre, and Tony Romo. Maybe even Max Hall's numbers if I can actually bring myself to do it just to show you some QB numbers and comparisons.

Passing

Arizona	Comp	Att	Yds	Pct	Y/A	Sack	YdsL	TD	Int	Rating
Max Hall	17	27	168	63.0	6.2	4	21	0	1	65.0

Minnesota	Comp	Att	Yds	Pct	Y/A	Sack	YdsL	TD	Int	Rating
Brett Favre	14	34	264	41.2	7.8	4	24	3	1	85.9

New York	Comp	Att	Yds	Pct	Y/A	Sack	YdsL	TD	Int	Rating
Mark Sanchez	21	44	191	47.7	4.3	2	18	0	0	59.9

Dallas	Comp	Att	Yds	Pct	Y/A	Sack	YdsL	TD	Int	Rating
Tony Romo	31	46	406	67.4	8.8	6	36	3	3	89.6

If you look at all of these QB's but Sanchez they all have one thing in common, interceptions. If you also look at these numbers all four ratings combined isn't even a C+ grade. All four were also sacked at least two times, yet if you want to say that Sanchez or Hall are elite you got another thing coming. While it is true that both the Jets and Cardinals won their games neither QB for the winning clubs threw a touchdown pass. What does this mean you might ask?

It means that I would take Romo, Favre, or any other QB except maybe Aaron Rodgers before taking either one of these guys. While Max Hall and Mark Sanchez come from good quarterback schools they couldn't even carry Carson Palmer or Steve Young's jock straps let alone lead their teams to a Super Bowl. This is why it is so important for the Vikings and Cowboys this weekend. We'll find out not only who is going to avoid the basement with the 49ers, but we'll also find out if one QB needs to retire, or if the other just needs to be cut.

Meanwhile my personal top story is the Texas Rangers. Not only did the Rangers win the American League Divisional Series for the first time ever last night, but they did it with class and fundamentals. They also did something I thought they would never do. Throw ginger ale instead of champagne around.

Rangers Outfielder Josh Hamilton after clinching the American League Western Division did not participate due to his previous problems with drugs and alcohol. Hamilton spent the night in the training room. Yet last night with some class all of a sudden as I was watching this game everyone was holding plastic bottles instead of expensive glass ones.

“The guys really doused me good,” Hamilton said after the celebrations had calmed down a bit. “They gave me a lot of hugs and congratulations.” Fitting for a guy and a team with a history of so much heartache. I don't necessarily want to go through all of either heartache or break for that matter, but what has been the classiest thing I've ever seen an owner do is Nolan Ryan after seeing this celebration said, "Nice Going." Looking straight at Hamilton.

Hoarding for ______________?

First of all I wanted to send a shout out to a fellow sports fan who if I remember correctly is more of a basketball fan and a pretty darn good basketball player at that. Devin Paul this one is for you. Thanks for reading. Now on with the show.

If you are a fan of the NFL, Yahoo, or any news outlet by now I am sure you have all heard that one Randy Moss formerly of the Vikings, Raiders, and now Patriots is headed back to Minnesota where he started it all. The Patriots announced that they had traded the 32-year-old for a third round pick. It was speculated that after Monday's Patriot win over the Dolphins that Moss would be traded since he didn't have a catch in the game. Moss has only caught 9 catches for the entire season thus far.

Of course when I first heard this all I could think of was Thanksgiving 1998 when the then rookie lit up the Cowboys for three touchdowns. Sour turkey that year anyone? Well I can't really say sour turkey was served that year because we went to some sort of stupid French place in California for dinner. This place was so bad that homeless people wouldn't except their money or their food. Gandhi himself had more to eat that year.

Then of course as I usually do I came to my senses and realized that if I were a Patriots fan I would be pretty upset by this trade. Bill Belichick is doing what he has done in the past. What is he doing? Well two things come to mind. One, they are hoarding draft picks for no good reason. They have two picks in the 1st, 2nd, 3rd, and 4th rounds of the draft all next year. Even if they get decent talent from the upcoming this is a win now sort of league. Also I don't think the Patriots management has considered that their might be a lockout next season as well. Fans of course want to win now, coaches on other teams want to win now, but apparently not the Patriots. I guess winning the Super Bowl in 2001, 2003, 2004 and losing in 2007 is good enough for them.

Second, they are dumping salary which keeps Robert Kraft their owner from spending money on good players, but he's also not putting the best product on the field. I hate to break it to you guys but there's only one Tom Brady on your team and the rest of your picks can't all be Tom Brady. Brady is a talent yes, but he just got lucky back in 2001. If Drew Bledsoe didn't get hurt that year than Brady would probably not have won that first Super Bowl ring until 2003.

Oh yeah, let's not forget the Vikings. Brett Favre wanted a deep play receiver and he got one. That's another story of course.

I can't help of course going into Bill Belichick's past shall we. I'll need my Delorean for this trip again.

1993 - As Head coach of the Browns, releases beloved Bernie Kosar.

1996 - After a 5-11 season in Cleveland resigned and re-joined Bill Parcells. The Browns also moved to Baltimore without him and won a Super Bowl in 2000.

1999 - After being handpicked by Bill Parcells to replace him as head coach of the Jets resigned after only being on the job a few days.

2000 - Hired as Patriots head coach.

2001 - Won Super Bowl with Tom Brady after benching Pro-Bowler Drew Bledsoe. Belichick later traded Bledsoe to Buffalo.

2003 - Won Super Bowl again with Brady at Quarterback

2004 - Won Super Bowl for third time in four years.

2007 - Acquired all-pro wide-receiver Randy Moss. Yet lost Super Bowl after undefeated regular season 16-0.

2009 - Trades all-pro Richard Seymour for draft picks.

2010 - Trades all-pro Randy Moss for draft picks

I ran out of plutonium so I wasn't able to go into the future and see how this all plays out. I can tell you though to my knowledge the last time a big offensive player got either traded or released during a season by Belichick this happened.




I just hope for the Patriots sake they don't become the Patriots of old and not only start wearing the old logo again, but I also hope that their fans have gotten used to their teams doing well at the beginning of a century. Red Sox anyone?



* Randy Moss picture from (Greg M. Copper/US Presswire) Other graphics have been linked to their sources.