"They made play after play," Twins man

Nick Saban, head coach of the University of Alabama Crimson Tide said in a recent interview "success is not a continuum". So true. It is one thing to create a winning football team, and another to keep it winning. Each and every week it changes. The NFL creates a unique interest of not who is "the best", but much more who is "the best this week". I cant believe the Dallas Cowboys gave up 40 first downs and 625 yards of offence to the Saints. I didnt think they would win and logic says the Saints would move the ball. But 40 first downs? At first I didnt believe what I thought I was hearing and when I saw it in print I figured it was a misprint. But it is the truth - 40 first downs allowed which is 10 per quarter. Are there reasons for what has to be classified as a major breakdown? Yes and they are genuine. Just like last year the Cowboys cant stay healthy. Of the 12 starters that were to be every-play players, only four now remain. On offence your absolute key component is the quarterback and on defence if you lose one particular player, its not as easy to define as it affects everything. When Dallas lost Sean Lee at the middle linebacker position they fell apart. It truly shows the value of Lee in that you dont know what you have until its gone. I honestly believe that in modern football it is not the best team that wins as much as its the team that can stay the healthiest the longest or get healthy at the right time that wins. When Dallas started the season their defensive line was DeMarcus Ware, Jay Ratliff, Jason Hatcher and Anthony Spencer. All that remains is Ware who is not 100 per cent. With 6 games left Dallas has a winnable schedule but confidence through this bye week must be low. 40 first downs, an NFL record is an amazing accomplishment for the Saints and an amazing concern for the Dallas Cowboys. On Incognito So Richie Incognito spoke and I dont buy it and wish it would go away. I was fortunate to play five years of Division I football against excellent competition. 12 years of pro football in both leagues and Im finishing my 15th year following football as closely as I can for TSN. I have never heard any player say what Incognito said to Martin in a private message. I have heard plenty of moments involving threats, race and every possible subject. But they were in the heat of the game or more often practice and they were very short bursts and completely within the reality of the intensity of the game. I dont buy it. I do feel, as many others so, that the analogy of this was a domestic situation gone public but for those who may think this is the norm, it is not. The locker room can be a rough place but it also is an intelligent place. Both extremes can exist at any given moment. Jonathan Martin should not have left the Dolphins and I sense he has had enough of football and thats okay. But the source is Incognito, and the reality is his values and personality are abrasive. That is putting it mildly. Roaring Lions In Detroit the Lions are in control of the NFC North. Green Bay has to wait for Aaron Rodgers, Chicago has lost twice to Detroit this season already and the Vikings are re-building. And there is a discussion that Calvin Johnson should be the NFL MVP in 2013. I have no problem with that. Sometimes in football its very easy to define why you win or lose. On offence if you can keep both safeties off the line of scrimmage because you have a receiver so good that you must play deep coverage you are going to move the ball with a good or even average running back. Detroit has that with Johnson and now Reggie Bush. Many talk about the physical gifts of Calvin Johnson, but theres not enough talk about the fact he is a very good receiver. Pattern runner. Catches everything. Blocks effectively. His value to Detroit is that he influences even the best NFL defences which does make him a viable MVP candidate. More Than Their Record I was watching the Monday Night Football game and thinking that that was a pretty good 1-8 Tampa Bay Buccaneer team. I often talk about opportunity in football. Recognizing it is Step 1 and taking advantage of it is Step 2. Often it is about players that dont but when it comes to Bucs quarterback Mike Glennon, you know that he is. Jon Gruden had the perfect comparison when he connected him to Joe Flacco but Glennon at this point may have a better arc. His throws are, well, pretty. They look good. Fast, hard, accurate and parallel to the ground when needed. Glennon is going to put on a bit more weight, continue to lead and establish himself this year as the present and the future of the Bucs. Carl Nicks is one of the best guards in football. When he played beside Donald Penn the Bucs had the best left side in football but now Penn is injured and you cant see it happen. I know many have said fire head coach Greg Schiano and it is an easy argument. But now I say wait and play the season out. Heart of the Eagles In Philadelphia the future is Nick Foles. Sixteen touchdown passes and one interception for a quarterback in his second year is not luck. It is understanding offences and directing everyone. Understanding defences and reacting correctly to all of them. Philadelphia has exceptional speed and this is without Jeremy Maclin so with that speed you must have a good deep ball thrower with time. Foles is an excellent deep ball thrower and left tackle Jason Peters and No. 1 pick Lane Johnson will provide the time. The NFC is a wide open division. Both the Redskins and Giants at 3-6 have to win all seven of their remaining games to get to 10. The Cowboys and Eagles are 5-5 and need to win five of six to get to 10. The NFC East easily could be represented by an 8-8 team or may I say a team with a losing record. All that aside, the Philadelphia Eagles have the inside lane in the race for the NFC East crown. The Real Deal And finally the Carolina Panthers are for real. There are two key games in their future. The first is Dec. 8 at New Orleans and the other is Dec. 22 when they host New Orleans. The unknown was after four wins over weaker teams like Minnesota, Tampa Bay, St. Louis and Atlanta, how would they play in San Francisco with the 49ers coming off the bye? A 10-9 road victory over Colin Kaepernick and company proves that Carolina is indeed for real. Sergei Nemchinov Jersey . Sterling was banned for life and fined US$2.5 million by the NBA on Tuesday for racist comments the league says he made in a recorded conversation. Nash, who plays for the rival L.A. 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In a passionate defence of himself and the London clubs medical staff, the Portuguese coach rebuked the "incompetent people" who have attacked Tottenham for allowing Lloris to continue playing after being briefly knocked unconscious against Everton on Sunday.TORONTO -- Ken Hitchcock has a theory on how to deal with his team not scoring a lot of goals. "Just not talk about it," he said. "Talk about something else." Thats the approach the Stanley Cup-winning coach is taking with his St. Louis Blues, who have gone through a mini scoring slump. Of course they still lead the Western Conference, which is based on large part on being one of the NHLs stingiest defensive teams. "Ive always believed, like a lot of coaches, if youre not scoring, talk about checking. If you check better, youre going to get more chances," Hitchcock said Monday at Air Canada Centre. "The structure of our game, were just going to weather the storm. The structure of our game has got to stay solid like it is right now, and then well weather it and well come out on the other side fine." An 82-game regular season is a totally different animal than the Olympics, but a similar philosophy guided Team Canada to gold. Worries about a lack of offence from star forwards -- at least externally -- lasted well into the playoff round, but those were quieted by dominant play on the puck. "Its about controlling the hockey game. And you dont control the hockey game with offence, you control it with checking," said Hitchcock, who was one of Mike Babcocks assistants in Sochi. "We were tied or leading by one goal -- we werent concerned with the way we were playing that we werent scoring. It doesnt matter if youre leading 5-4 going into the third period or 1-0 as long as you have the lead youre in good shape." Like with Canada, Hitchcock said he feels comfortable seeing the Blues checking well because it means theyre "committed to the right things." One of those things hes proud of is that for a couple of games in a row St. Louis has displayed a high work standard. To Hitchcock, thats a bigger deal -- the way the Blues play -- than having ann offence thats always rolling or a power play thats constantly clicking at a high rate.dddddddddddd As far as special teams go, hes more concerned about the penalty kill and what that could mean come playoff time. "Ive seen a lot of (teams) who have had bad power plays do really well in the playoffs, but Ive never seen any team play worth a damn if you cant kill penalties," Hitchcock said. "Its more on can you kill the penalty at the right time because you can live with poor power plays and still win hockey games. But you cant survive if you cant kill penalties because your whole game falls apart, youre nervous, youre uptight, you panic and weve got to be great killing penalties." That would also follow Canadas blueprint. The gold-medal-winning Canadians converted on just 16.67 per cent of their power plays in six games, middle of the pack in the tournament, yet led the Olympics with a 93.75 per cent penalty-killing rate, giving up one goal on 16 chances. Hitchcock, though, must guide the Blues through choppier waters than Canada endured at the Olympics. Sixteen playoff victories are required to win the Stanley Cup, and most of those wont be by large margins. Perhaps thats one way the Blues balance plays in their favour. The have no one player in the top 35 in the league in scoring, but 10 with at least 30 points, led by Alex Steen and T.J. Oshies 54. St. Louis isnt built on scoring, which means they could be built to withstand droughts like this. "Youre going to go through stages where youre not scoring, and youre still going to have to win hockey games," Hitchcock said. "If youve got to win for a week or 10 days, youve got to win 1-0, 2-1, youve got to do it until you get back engaged where youre going to score again." Until then, the Blues are happy to talk about -- and execute on -- checking well and frustrating opponents in the process. ' ' '