Would Tom Brady make a difference at this point?

I know it's kind of a silly question, but after putting up a 30-51 400 yard, 3 TD no INT performance (with 60 rushing yards just because) on a really good defense, what else can Matt Cassel do at this point? The team still lost on Thursday and wouldn't even make the playoffs if the season ended today. In an earlier post I mentioned how the injuries were once again piling up for New England. Combine that with a defense that is almost last in passing TDs given up and the amount of quality teams in the AFC, the Pats, even with a 6-4 record might be headed for a disappointing end to their season. Miami squeaking out a crappy win against Oakland on Sunday didn't help matters either. Speaking of the Dolphins, they host the Patriots this Sunday. It's been a while since a late November Miami/New England matchup actually meant something. Here's a helpful tip to Belichick and the boys: if Miami is lined up in the wild cat, RONNIE BROWN IS GOING TO RUN THE BALL. You're welcome. (How they failed to adjust to that at halftime is just crazy.)

The rest of New England's schedule has the Steelers and the Cardinals at Gillette and road games in Seattle, Oakland and Buffalo. They need to win at least four of those and the playoffs still aren't guaranteed. Meanwhile, the current leaders of the AFC East are the damn Jets who just so happed to be in Tennessee this week. Collins vs. Favre, catch it! Old bastards...

Stupid panda jerk. Making me look like an idiot!

Whenever I start Cotchery, Favre NEVER throws him the ball. In the two games I didn't start him? 14 catches 187 yards and 1 TD. Anyway, after the Titans, New York still has to travel to San Francisco and Seattle. They have home games against Denver, Buffalo and Miami. We could be getting into crazy tie break territory when all is said and done. Buffalo has really dropped of the face of the earth and that loss last night might have sealed their fate.

Switching topics now to the NBA. Every team has played at least ten games and now and looking at the standings, there are very few surprises so far. The Knicks (vomit) are currently 6-4 and Mike D'Antoni has expertly swept all the drama under the rug and has his team playing halfway decent basketball. I love how he just isn't playing Marbury, the type of dude who exemplifies the NBA thug stereotype. He's also the type of dude that will seriously just sit on the bench all year and collect his TWENTY ONE MILLION DOLLARS. What a joke. New York does play Boston tonight however. Just ask Atlanta what happens to your momentum when you play the Celtics. (quick note: Garnett has been suspended for tonight's game. Leon starting anyone?)

How about Dwight Howard's 30 point 19 rebound 10 block performance last week? Can you imagine if he could hit his free throws? The Shaq parallels eerily continue... Oh and I like how he's already talking about the dunk contest.

The rookies have been playing some good ball too. Rose, Beasley and Mayo are all putting up some big numbers with guys like Jason Thompson, Luc Mbah a Moute and Marc Gasol all seriously contributing to their respective teams.

And if having your team start 3-7 isn't bad enough, how about charges of insider trading? I like Mark Cuban more often than not (especially how he constantly brings up how poor the officiating is) but what is a billionaire doing worrying about losing $750,000? Sure I would take several hundred Jack Bauer kicks to the balls for that kind of cake but c'mon Mark. Guess you won't be buying those Cubs now huh?

Oh and congrats to little Dusty P for winning the AL MVP Award. Laser show indeed.

Checking in with Leon and the C's

Tonight marks the first time that the Celtics will face the Hawks since their riveting/blood pressure raising first round playoff series last season. Sooooo much trash talk in a series that went down to the wire. Don't think Paul Pierce has forgotten when brash Al Horford got all up in his grill-piece. Dude was a rookie! Flash forward to our current situation. Boston is 7-1 right now coming off huge wins against Detroit and Toronto. And check this: Atlanta has a better record. They are 6-0. They even beat the Hornets at New Orleans. However, they just played a close game in Chicago last night and are without "The Box Score Superstar" Josh Smith. And all of the Celtics' wins in the aforementioned 7 game clash, were at the TD Banknorth Garden. Should be a good one. Look for more of the same where Atlanta's youth and athleticism keeps them in the game until Boston's skill and experience allows them to pull away in the fourth. Plus, the Hawks' bench is pretty slim.

Meanwhile, Leon's last two games haven't been eye popping statistically, but not everyone can score 41 points every night. One quirky thing to note: Monday's game against the Raptors was the first game where Leon didn't have at least 3 personal fouls. He actually had none. Hey, just throwin' it out there... Contractually (not really) we have to look at his PT. In the eight games so far, there have only been two that Leon hasn't played at least 17 minutes. Doc has been sticking with a nine man rotation of the usual starters complimented by Leon(17.5 mpg), Tony Allen(20.9 mpg), Eddie House(16.8 mpg) and Big Baby(16.5 mpg). I can't get too mad at that but I think as the season goes on, Leon's minutes will go up simply due to the wear and tear of an 82 game season on a guy who just played in his 1000th game.

Fun NBA Fact: The Western Conference has more teams under .500 (8) than the Eastern Conference (6).

The NBA: Where only watching Lakers, Clippers, Blazers and Nuggets games Happens!

Yeah, I could throw Utah and Phoenix in there too and I know the season is basically 5 games old, but after watching the Lakers rip off a 22-0 run against the Clip last night, I realized I'm pretty stuck as far as my options go. Things could get old kinda quick. And now that Seattle had their team ripped away from them, that's another potential game I am missing out on. (Not that they are any good.) Plus I don't get home from work until 7:00 PT at the earliest. I guess I'm going to have to get used to seeing Ricky Davis go 3-14 from the field, Greg Oden sitting on the bench, and Chauncey Billups being a boring ass dude in Iverson's place.

On the other hand, it's 78 degrees here right now.

Moving on. Back in the world of the man they call The Show, Leon had a strong first half last night with 11 points and 4 rebounds. The Celtics won again improving to 4-1. And although he didn't score in the second half, he drew multiple fouls on both sides of the ball. Just for fun he threw in a steal and an assist. He played a total of 18 minutes which is right on par with his season average. Not only that, but every game that he's played 18 minutes or more, he's scored in double figures. Good stuff. Boston will play Milwaukee on Friday and then have a sweet showdown with the Pistons and AI. (If Billups takes his damn physical by then.)

Speaking of schedules, what's the deal? There have only been two days so far when there's been a full slate of games. Tonight for instance? Two games. This past Tuesday? Three games. I don't recall things starting out so slowly. The Lakers play one game this week. ONE! It almost still feels like the damn preseason here. And while we're at it, here are some other NBA related questions I got kickin' around in the old brizain:

-Will the refereeing get any better in the wake of the Donaghy fiasco?

-Will Lebron get to the NBA Finals and if so, will his poor clutch free throw shooting cost him team the Championship?

-Will Larry Brown quit after 15 games? 10?

-Will Yao and Tracy McGrady play more than 55 games each?

-Will Gilbert Arenas play at all?

-Will any of the Celtics' Big Three get serious MVP consideration?

-Will the Knicks manage to not embarrass themselves?

-Will Al Jefferson get voted into the All-Star Game?

-Will the Heat make the playoffs?

-Will the Iverson/Billups trade be the biggest of the year?

-Will the Spurs win more than 50 games?

-Will any team besides the Hornets and Lakers make the Western Conference Finals?

and...

-Will Leon Powe average more than 20 minutes a game? Doc?

Heading back East (aka It's so Cold in the D...)

After a short stay in Denver, Allen Iverson is going back to the Eastern Conference. In a trade that will be confirmed shortly, AI will be sent to Detroit (UGH!) for Chauncey Billups and Antonio McDyess. Whether or not Joe Dumars is just blowing up the nucleus for the sake of doing it or whether he saw what the Celtics did and wanted to try and keep up, Iverson (in the last year of his contract) can still score the basketball. He won't average 33 a season anymore, but his numbers are still fairly impressive. Also keep in mind that he played in every game last year. One of the main complaints about Iverson's game is that he doesn't pass the ball. Well, he averaged over 7 assists in each of the last 4 regular seasons. Not too shabby.

I'm not sure how much better this makes Detroit overall because it was a essentially a three team race in the East before this trade anyway. The same question will arise on whether or not AI can coexist with Rip Hamilton just like the question was asked if AI could coexist with Carmelo. We'll have to wait and see on that one. The trade will help the Nuggets too, but again, this isn't enough to put them into the elite of the West. Just like getting Shaq wasn't enough to push Phoenix into the next level. One thing is for sure though. Blockbuster trades three games into the year are pretty kick ass. I'm sure David Stern is smiling since sports fans are still coming down off the World Series and the NFL season is in full crazy swing.