Injury Strikes Patriots DB...again

We learned today that Chad Scott is out of the season with what sounds like an ACL. Apparently he wasn't contacted, but injured his knee nonetheless and had to be carted off the field. Clearly the Patriots Super Bowl hopes weren't resting on the shoulders of Chad Scott, but it does definitely hurt their depth. Apparently Scott had a great offseason and had been working with the first unit in camp. When you couple his injury with the fact that Asante Samuel might sit out the year, things aren't looking great in the defensive backfield. Right now the starters at corner project as Ellis Hobbes and Randall Gay. Supposedly Gay had his best offseason as a pro and is fully healthy, so I think they're OK at the starters. However, you have to assume someone will miss some time during the year, and right now the backups are basically Tory James and Mike Richardson (6th rd pick). To be honest I hope neither of these guys sees the field as a primary corner. Given the circumstances, it seems like brandon meriweather may have been a great pick this year, because if he's ready he can either play corner and bolster the depth there, or he can play safety if Harrison or Wilson misses time, which is likely. Good thing Meriweather (pictured below) is fast, and a brute.

Big 10 becomes Big 12?

ESPN.com released a story that the Big 10 might be considering expansion - to 12. They link this primarily to the Big 10 tv network and the idea that 12 teams would be better for the network, especially if you could split it into 2 divisions with a playoff at the end of the year. It all sounds nice, but I'm a little skeptical. I'm not saying it won't happen, because BC, VT and UM going from Big East to ACC happened, but I'm just not sure who it would be this time. Anyway, here are some schools I would see as schools the Big 10 might try to lure, and why I think they might or might not be good choices in no particular order:

1. Pitt - Like Penn St., Pitt is in Western PA so maybe because it's close enough to the Midwest, is a big public uni, and has a solid football program and a high class basketball program, it seems like it would be a logical choice to be poached.

2. WVU - Morgantown is roughly as far west as Pittsburgh, and would really benefit I think from a move to the big 10. Lately they've dominated the somewhat weak Big East in football, and it seems like there would be a $$ incentive to move to the big 10. Less chance of the automatic BCS bid I suppose, but matchups like WVU - Michigan, WVU - OSU etc. would be sure to bring money in the form of TV and ticket sales.

3. Louisville - Sort of the same case as WVU here, Louisville is virtually in the Mid-west and as a top football program in the Big East would really see increased competition and the likelihood of primetime games by moving to the big 10.

4. Iowa St. - I'm less zealous on this one, because (correct me if I'm wrong) I feel like Big XII football is pretty big time, maybe a slight step below the big 10, but not much - so I don't know what they would have to gain. They're not gaining and in-state rivalry because they already play Iowa anyway.

5. Missouri - Again, makes sense geographically but I think they'd feel about the same way as Iowa St. feels. There would have to be a significant monetary incentive it seems like.

6. Other SEC and Big XII - Of course it would be a major coup to be able to poach a team like Oklahoma, Tennesee, Arkansas or Kentucky and I doubt it would happen, but they should be considered.

Anyway, like I said I'm skeptical that this would happen, but the idea of WVU and UL or WVU and Pitt joining the Big 10 is pretty spectacular. The Big 10 would really benefit in football but in basketball too, and fringe teams like Northwestern and IU in football would be less of a factor because every season you'd have something like 7 current powerhouses competing: OSU, Mich, Wisc, Penn St., Iowa, WVU/Lousiville and then you'd always have the good years where MSU, Minnesota, Illinois, NW, IU and Purdue would be competitive.

A whine of a good vintage

Apparently a few months ago, Shaun Phillips whined on Rome is Burning about the New England Patriots, saying he has a grudge and has circled the game on his calendar. First of all, wahhhh. Second of all, the Patriots' rivals if anyone are the Colts, not the Bolts, so circle away - they don't really care. Third of all, the Patriots don't circle games on their calendar, they're veterans. They prepare the same way every week and treat every game with equal concern. News flash to Phillips, beating the Patriots is worth one win (even though maybe it should be more due to degree of difficulty) just like every other game, it just shows that the Chargers are a young and inexperienced team that they're holding a grudge over not being able to seal the deal with home field. Sour grapes Shaun, better luck next year.

NFL Notes

• ESPN has a Patriots preview that there's not much to take issue with, the Pats are elite and Scouts Inc. knows it. Also the pats signed Chad Brown, which registers about a 1.83 on my whelm scale.
• They also have an article with Special Teams rankings which is semi-bogus. I don't see how Tennessee stays that high with no Pacman.
• Anyone taken a look at the Jets schedule? As much as I love the job Mangini did last year with about 1.5 above average skill players and a QB with an undulating dinglearm, it's not happening this year. I'd say there's a min of 4 and a max of 10 wins here with my personal prediciton being about 7-9. I'd be very impressed if they go 9-7.

Pre-season NFL Power Rankings

"Dave H" at the all-encompassing football blog unveiled his power rankings but did it in a tier-format in respect to the likelihood that teams will makes the playoffs. I liked the idea of this format, just not the rankings, so here are mine, divided by conference. The NFL is pretty hard to predict because teams can go from "worst to first" and it's hard to see it coming, but this is my guess at the moment. AFC I think is a little more clear-cut, whereas it's unclear in the NFC whether a team like SF is ready to make the leap, and it's also hard to sort out tiers 3+4 where I see a lot of teams being pretty bad, I just don't know how bad.


AFC

Tier 1: Playoff Locks

1. New England Patriots
2. Indianapolis Colts
3. Baltimore Ravnes
4. San Diego Chargers

Tier 2: Playoff Probables

5. Denver Broncos
6. Pittsburgh Steelers
7. Cincinnatti Bengals
8. Jacksonville Jaguars

Tier 3: Playoffs Possible

9. Kansas City Chiefs
10. Miami Dolphins
11. New York Jets
12. Tennessee Titans

Tier 4: Playoffs would be surprising

13. Buffalo Bills
14. Cleveland Browns
15. Houston Texans
16. Oakland Raiders

NFC

Tier 1: Playoff Locks

1. Chicago Bears
2. Dallas Cowboys
3. New Orleans Saints
4. Seattle Seahawks

Tier 2: Playoff Probables

5. Philadelphia Eagles
6. Carolina Panthers
7. San Francisco 49ers
8. St. Louis Rams

Tier 3: Playoffs Possible

9. Minnesota Vikings
10. Tampa Bay Buccaneers
11.Washington Redskins
12. Arizona Cardinals

Tier 4: Playoffs would be surprising

13. New York Giants
14. Green Bay Packers
15. Atlanta Falcons
16. Detroit Lions

Tuesday ESPN links

• Short and lacking in detail, but nonetheless amazing story about a Rugby player who had a tooth in his head, and by head I don't mean mouth, I mean forehead.
• Delightful story about how Yi's Chinese team will block his move to the Bucks. It's nearly unfathomable how Larry Harris thought it would be a good idea to draft Yi when it was patently clear that he and his "people" did not want him to play for Milwaukee. It's not like Yi was by far the best talent on the board at 6 so they had to take him despite the risk that they might have to trade him, there were many other good options at 6 such as Brandan Wright, Corey Brewer etc. I really hope the Bucks are forced to trade him, and because other teams know this they refuse to offer much of anything in return and the Bucks end up getting screwed. Nothing against Milwaukee, I just think Harris should be punished for the boneheaded pick.
• Blue Ribbon Yearbook is exhibiting a healthy amount of zeal for the Boston College Eagles in its predictions of Conference rankings, but not for the Wisconsin Badgers.
• Finally, for those who didn't get to watch it, Brian Windhorst has a pretty good Summer League round-up with a few words about each of the first rounders, not much to disagree with him on here.

Speaking of contracts.....

ESPN.com has a great poll right now which asks, "Was Roger Clemens' seventh start (5.1 IP, 5 H, 5 ER, 2K, L vs. Devil Rays) worth a pro-rated $840,909 salary? Great question ESPN, I'll vote no. The only good thing about roger clemens' contract is that it's one year long, other than that it's miserable.

P.S. - Does anyone remember Roger's pathetic frosted tips? The picture above is such gold, the idea of Roger clemens trying to look suave and sophisticated is hilarious.

In other news, the US Men's Under 20 soccer team was finally defeated in the U20 world cup this afternoon. Very disappointing game as the US dominated for the first 30 minutes jumping out to a 1-0 lead and after that wasn't really the same until extra time where they had a boatload of chances but couldn't find the equalizer and lost 2-1. Still, this team is infinitely more fun to watch than the Senior team, at least they have some creative players, most notably adu. The US senior team could really use some of those ball skills and creativity.

Big Baby News - Third quarter of their summer league game he has a double double and about 5 blocks, looks like he was a total steal at 35 so far. Look for him to play a role for the Celtics this year similar to Paul Millsap's role on the Jazz.