2. Kansas City
3. Denver
4. San Diego
5. Seattle
2. Baltimore
3. Pittsburgh
4. Cincinnati
5. Jacksonville
6. Cleveland
2. Miami
3. Buffalo
4. NY Jets
5. New England
Oakland d. Baltimore
2. Kansas City
3. Denver
Baltimore d. Kansas City
2. Tampa Bay
3. Minnesota
4. Detroit
5. Chicago
2. Philadelphia
3. Washington
4. Arizona
5. Dallas
2. St.Louis
3. Atlanta
4. San Francisco
5. Carolina
Green Bay d. NY Giants
2. St.Louis
3. Atlanta
St.Louis d. Tampa Bay
Offensive Player of the Year: Brett Favre, GB
Defensive Player of the Year: LeRoi Glover, NO
Offensive Rookie of the Year: Marvin Minnis, KC
Defensive Rookie of the Year: Fred Smoot, Wash
NFC Rushing Champion: Ricky Williams, NO
AFC Rushing Champion: Edgerrin James, Ind
I picked the Raiders to beat the Bucs in the SB last year, so I'm sticking to my guns. I also said WR Tim Brown would be the MVP in that game, so he's due to prove me right this season.
Yes, the Packers in the Bowl may be a reach, but QB Brett Favre is still by far the best QB in the league and the defense is solid. Ex-Husker RB Ahman Green will continue to impress as the Pack surprise many to reach the Bowl.
Jon Gruden is the best coach in the NFL, as I said all of last season. After last year's embarrassing loss to the Ravens (no thanks to Saraguisa's sumo splash on QB Rich Gannon) he will lead the silver & black to the promised land. It's almost a shame this team added Rice, because attention will be taken away from Gruden, which is very unfortunate. Also, don't be mistaken, Brown is currently so much better than Rice it's not even comparable.
He referred to Miami RB Clinton Portis as "Quentin Portis" and Virginia Tech's new starting QB Grant Noel as "Grant Knowell." Expert, eh?
2. Oregon -- Yeah, it was closer than it should have been, but by avoiding the early upset that killed them last year, the Ducks are in great shape.
3. Fresno St. -- Absolutely destroyed my Rose Bowl prediction in one swift blow. Everyone is on the bandwagon now, so I'll stay off it. They'll lose at Wisconsin next week.
4. UCLA -- RB DeShaun Foster is a stud. If WR Bryan Poli-Dixon finds his game, the Beavers will have company atop the Pac 10.
5. LSU -- Throttled Tulane. Look for the Tigers in Atlanta in mid-December.
2. Tennessee -- Offense looked like garbage. DT Henderson and co. will have to carry this team into the Swamp...and carry out the dead teammates afterwards.
3. Mississippi St. -- Allowing 10 points to Memphis (and it should have been more) makes the vaunted defense not all it's cracked up to be. And the offense just plain blows, outside TBs Miller and Walker and FB Griffith.
2. Texas -- Played rather poorly despite 41-7 win. Why is the best QB on the team on the bench? The offensive line was swiss cheese...
3. Florida St. -- Trailed 6-3 at Duke until the middle of the 2nd quarter...need I say more?
4. Florida -- Beat up on a good Marshall team, but come on, like the Swamp had nothing to do with it? If that game is played up north, it's about a 35-24 game.
August 18, 2001. At 64-58, the Minnesota Twins sit 4.5 games behind the Cleveland Indians in the AL Central. If any Twins fan was told this would be the situation back in Spring Training, every single one of them would burst with excitement and disbelief. Instead, many fans of the team with the smallest payroll in baseball (myself obviously included) do not share the first emotion, but they do share the latter: disbelief. Just a month ago the Twins held a five (yes, FIVE) game lead on the Cleveland Indians and newly-acquired Tribe pitcher John Rocker could not get anyone out. Now, a 9.5 game swing later, the Tribe are cruising in first and not looking back. While Rocker still has his struggles, the pitching staff as a whole has improved and the lineup is the deadliest in baseball.
The Twins, meanwhile, have sputtered, crashed, and are currently burning. It all started on July 12. Minnesota at Milwaukee. SS Cristian Guzman leaves the game with a sore shoulder. He would not play again until August 17. At the time, the Twins had won 9 of 10 and were threatening to start pulling away from Cleveland. But the clock had struck midnight.
July 30, 2001. Twins GM Terry Ryan pulls the trigger on a deal that sent RF Matt Lawton (he of the .396 OBP) to the New York Mets for P Rick Reed. Twins fans were shocked that Lawton, the Twins best player the last three years and key element of the "Soul Patrol" outfield (with CF Torii Hunter and LF Jacque Jones), was traded, but felt that Ryan was surely putting the finishing touches on a deal that would bring OF Shannon Stewart or OF Dmitri Young from the Blue Jays or Reds, respectively. No such deal occured on July 31. Terry Ryan loses his job security (or at least, he should have). The Twins offense has been pathetic since. Rick Reed has allowed 38 hits in 15 IP as a Twin. He is 1-2 with an ERA well over 5.
But the experts said that while the Twins did trade the soul of their offense and were missing the heart (Guzman), the pitching depth of Radke-Milton-Mays-Reed would carry them to the postseason through a weak schedule in the last 2+ months of the season. Twins fans were hopeful these "experts" were right, but the Twins could not buy a hit with runners in scoring position, including a dismal 0-for-12 performance in such situations against Cleveland in early August. Add the fact that the pitching, which was supposed to have been solidified with the Reed acquisition, has been nothing short of atrocious since the deadline, with the staff's ERA rising almost a full run in the second half of the season.
The Twins had a great shot to get back first place when they met Cleveland in a three game set at the Jake last week, and through some rare clutch hitting, the Twins scored four 9th inning runs and took a 7-4 lead in the first game of the series to the bottom half. Enter the Grim Reaper. CP LaTroy Hawkins, who had been remarkable in the first three months of the season, continued his slow and painful demise by giving up three runs and recording only two outs. The Indians would win in the 11th inning and go on to rather easily sweep the series.
And then there's those damn Devil Rays. With all that was going wrong in August, the Twins at least had seven games with the Rays on the schedule. Oops. As of August 17, the Twins are 0-5 in those games and only two of them have even been close.
So it's been one hell of a ride. The Twins gave more than anyone could have possibly expected. Manager Tom Kelly has done a remarkable job, and despite the occassional I-will-start-every bench player-possible-game, he is more than deserving of the AL Manager of the Year award. The Twins will be back almost completely in tact for the 2002 campaign, but it will be much more difficult since they won't be able to sneak up on anyone.
And they still have to play the Devil Rays.
--Just watching Lindros play for the first time in a year and a half will be exciting, but throw in the Rangers several encounters with the Flyers and Devils (whose Scott Stevens is responsible for Big E's Concussion #6) and there will be plenty of head hunting going on. Jagr, meanwhile, is rejuvenated and will give people a reason to watch the Caps play, something that even G Olaf Kolzig could never pull off. Jagr should net 120 points in his sleep.
2. The Dominator in the Motor City
--G Dominik Hasek bids adieu to Buffalo and says hello to Detroit. The Wings got older in the offseason, but anytime the Dominator is in your net you've got a shot at the Cup.
3. The Free Agency Flurry
--C Pierre Turgeon is a Star. RW Brett Hull is a Red Wing. C Jeremy Roenick is a Flyer. W Luc Robitaille is a Red Wing. C Doug Weight is a Blue. W Donald Audette is also a Star. Which acquisitions will pay off and which ones will be total busts?
4. Mario's First Full Season Back
--Only (ex-)teammate Jagr outscored Mario after his return last Dec.27, but now Lemieux is without Jagr for the first time since 1991. How will he react?
Stars
Wild
From the Associated Press
ST. PAUL, Minn. (AP) -- Manny Fernandez made 24 saves to shut out his former team and the expansion Minnesota Wild beat the Dallas Stars 6-0 Sunday for their most lopsided victory.
Darby Hendrickson scored twice for the Wild.
A record crowd of 18,834 watched the Stars return to the state where they played until the franchise moved in 1993.
It was Fernandez's second shutout this season, and the first time the Stars had been blanked since a 1-0 loss at Carolina on Nov. 20, 1999.
Fernandez was with Dallas last season as Ed Belfour's backup.
The Wild scored twice in less than a minute in the first period. Jeff Nielsen made it 1-0 with a slap shot from the top of the left faceoff circle. On the next shift, Ladislav Benysek's low shot from along the boards hit the stick of Wild forward Marian Gaborik and deflected into the upper right corner of the net with 10 minutes gone.
Dallas failed to convert four power plays in the second period, and trailed 4-0 after 40 minutes of play.
Minnesota's Peter Bartos scored 11:42 into the second period, intercepting Brett Hull's clearing attempt and firing it into the upper left corner of the goal.
Two minutes later, Belfour attempted to clear the puck himself, but it was picked off by Minnesota's Antti Laaksonen behind the net. With Belfour out of position, Laaksonen passed to Hendrickson, who tapped the puck into an empty net.
Hendrickson and Lubomir Sekeras added third-period goals.
Despite all the scoring, Minnesota continued to struggle on the power play. The Wild went 0-for-6 Sunday in man-advantage situations and have failed to score on 38 consecutive power plays, dating to a 4-1 loss at San Jose on Nov. 28.
Game notes
Belfour made 22 saves for the Stars. ... Former Minnesota Gov. Arne Carlson, who led a task force to get NHL hockey back after the Stars moved to Texas in 1993, dropped the ceremonial first puck before the game. ... It was the Wild's 17th straight sellout, tying Nashville for the record by an expansion team.