Category: Uncategorized

By Morris Phillips

For three quarters the granite-built pecking order in the NFC West looked like it was scheduled for a remodel.  But in the fourth quarter, the status quo reappeared in a big way.

The Cardinals and 49ers were engaged a tense battle through three quarters with Arizona actually leading 7-6 early and trailing just 22-20 after three quarters, but then the 49ers scooped up a couple of orphaned footballs—one late in the third quarter with the Cardinals driving and another in the fourth—to race away with a 32-20 win.

“I think we’re just playing 49er football and that’s something that we add to our game is just turnovers, turnovers, turnovers,” NaVorro Bowman said.  “It’s starting to pan out for us.”

“There’s nothing to take from ‘about coming close’ or any of that stuff. We were here to win.  We had the game in our hand.”

The 49ers and Cardinals entered with identical 3-2 records as the NFC champs have been somewhat disappointing and Arizona a bit of a surprise.  Coming into the season, the 49ers and Seahawks were tabbed the NFC’s best Super Bowl bets and the class of the division with the Cardinals and Rams hoping to show improvement.  But on Sunday, the Seahawks trailed at the half at home to Tennessee and the 49ers were locked up with Arizona.  Had those trends continued, the NFC West could have fallen into a three-way tie at the top with the Seahawks, 49ers and Cardinals all at 4-2.

But then the Cardinals started shooting themselves in the foot, starting with an unlikely candidate in All-Pro receiver Larry Fitzgerald.  With Arizona driving late in the third quarter trailing by just two, Fitzgerald coughed it up after a short gain and 49ers’ safety Eric Reid was there to scoop it up at the 49ers’ 11-yard line.

“I’m not going to sleep at all,” Fitzgerald said. “I let my team down in that situation.  I wish I could take it back.”

The 49ers got a huge first half with Vernon Davis (7 catches, 171 yards, 2 touchdowns) and Colin Kaepernick authoring big plays, but the 49ers bogged down in a scoreless third quarter.  But Fitzgerald’s gaffe got the wheels churning again for San Francisco.  The 49ers capped an 18-play drive that took nearly 10 minutes off the clock with Kendall Hunter running it in from six yards out.  The lengthy drive put the 49ers in the driver seat and frustrated the Cardinals as witnessed by safety Tyrann Mathieu’s penalty on the play for slamming Hunter three steps after he entered the end zone.

Needing a response, Arizona got careless again.  Just two plays later, Alfonso Smith fumbled and Bowman emerged from a pile with the ball at the Arizona 31 yard-line.

The 49ers used Smith’s fumble to add the final field goal, coming with four minutes remaining.

Arizona’s Calais Campbell suffered a back injury late in the fourth quarter and was carted off the field on a stretcher.  No official word on his injury was available at press time, but he did have movement in his extremities and he told his teammates that were around him at the time that he thought he would be fine.

The 49ers travel to Nashville next Sunday for a meeting with the Titans at 1:05pm EST. 

 

 

 

By Morris Phillips

The last thing the young, injury-plagued Cal Bears needed to see on Saturday night was another high scoring opponent, but that’s exactly what they got in 11^th-ranked UCLA, averaging 48 points a game.

But this time, the Bears managed to put up some defensive resistance,, it just did not take hold until after the Bruins had established a 17-0 lead early in the second quarter.  From that point, the Bears came up with a brief rally, but saw their normally capable offense short circuit in a 37-10 loss.

“I thought defensively we played well enough at times to give us a chance to win,” Coach Sonny Dykes said.  “There’s obviously a lot of ways for us to get better, but I thought defensively those guys improved.”

UCLA’s Jim Mora had to face a different interpretation of the ballgame from the Los Angeles press, which felt the Bruins appeared rusty with big games with Stanford and Oregon on the horizon.  But Mora did have ammunition on his side in the final stats that were overwhelmingly in favor of the Bruins and quarterback Brett Hundley.

“The guy passed for 410 yards; that pretty good,” Mora said.  “So I’m going to focus on that.  If you want to focus on the missed throws in the end zone, you go ahead and do that.  Tonight it is all about 410 yards, and 37-10 win over Cal.”

From Cal’s perspective, the Bears avoided further embarrassment in Dykes’ first season that now finds them at 1-5, 0-3 in the Pac-12.  As the losses and injuries mount, the UCLA effort showed that the Bears aren’t ready to pack it in, even as their numbers dwindle.

“The guys that are going to play are expected to do their job,” linebacker Hardy Nickerson said.  “That’s what it boils down to.  If a starter goes down, the backup is expected to be just as good as the starter.”

To prevent being exposed defensively, the Bears loaded up to stop the Bruins on the ground, and it worked.  UCLA rushed for just 78 yards, couldn’t convert half of their third-down opportunities (7 for15) and then saw their receivers and Hundley miss on some potentially-big plays in the second half.

The UCLA shortcomings left an opening for Cal who responded with a Vincenzo D”Amato field goal and a Daniel Lasco touchdown run in the second quarter to narrow the Bruins lead to 17-10 in the second quarter.  But before the Bears could announce themselves back, Hundley led the Bruins on a eight-play drive that put UCLA up 14 at the half, culminating with Thomas Duarte’s 27-yard touchdown catch.

Cal quarterback Jared Goff has managed to put together some impressive numbers under trying conditions, but that didn’t continue Saturday.  Goff missed several throws and finished with just 215 yards passing, while completing 26 of 43.  Khalif Muhammad saw action in the absence of injured Brendan Bigelow and provided support on the ground with 14 carries for 64 yards.  But Goff couldn’t capitalize, missing throws and failing to make big plays down field with Bryce Treggs and Chris Harper. 

The Bears can capture their first win over a Division I opponent in over a year next Saturday night at Memorial Stadium when Oregon State (5-1, 3-0) visits.

 

 

 

By Daniel Dullum
Saturday, October 12, 2013

Utah claimed its most significant football victory since joining the Pac-12 Conference three years ago, upsetting No. 5 Stanford 27-21, snapping the Cardinal’s 13-game undefeated streak.

It was the first time in Utes history that they defeated a top-five team at Rice-Eccles Stadium in Salt Lake City. The Utes (4-2 overall, 1-2 Pac-12) upended No. 4 Alabama in the 2009 Sugar Bowl.

Devon Cajuste snared a touchdown pass from Kevin Hogan with 9:22 left in the fourth quarter, pulling the Cardinal to within 27-21. But Stanford was unable to complete the comback.

With one minute remaining in the game, Hogan led the Cardinal (5-1, 3-1) down to the Utah 6-yard-line. Hogan threw an incomplete pass on third down, and overthrew Cajuste on fourth down. From there, it took a couple of kneel downs for Utah to run out the clock.

Utah quarterback Travis Wilson threw a pair of touchdown passes while completing 23 of 34 passes for 234 yards.

Dres Anderson scored twice for the Utes. He caught a 51-yard TD pass from Wilson and scored again on a 3-yard run. Bubba Poole led the Utes with 111 rushing yards while catching seven passes for 75 yards.

Karl Williams snared a 4-yard TD pass from Wilson on Utah’s opening drive.

Ty Montgomery returned a kickoff 100 yards for one of the Stanford touchdowns.

The Cardinal return home next Saturday to host UCLA. Kickoff is at 3:30 p.m.

(subject Stanford football)

(TAGS: Stanford,football,Pac-12,Utah)

Phillip Torres

October 12, 2013

Sports Radio Service

SAN JOSE-The San Jose Sharks (5-0) hosted the Ottawa Senators (1-1-2) on Saturday night at the SAP Center in San Jose. The Sharks returned from a road trip where they improved to 4-0 on the season only to stay undefeated after a 3-2 victory over the Senators to get to a great 5-0 record to start the 2013 NHL Season.

San Jose’s rookie sensation Tomas Hertl got the Sharks on the scoreboard early with a goal 55 seconds into the game. The goal was Hertl’s seventh of the season. The goal was assisted by Dan Boyle and Brent Burns.

Ottawa answered back late in the opening period. Zack Smith found the net for the first time this year as he scored his first goal of the season at the 15:21 mark. The score was assisted by Chris Phillips and Colin Greening. The goal tied the game up at 1-1

Bobby Ryan put the Senators on top for their first lead of the game with his second goal of the season. Ryan placed the puck perfectly into the top right corner of the net past Sharks goaltender Antti Niemi. The goal came on a power play, assisted by Jason Spezza and Patrick Wiercioch at 18:31. Ottawa gained the 2-1 advantage and carried it into the first intermission.

Patrick Marleau tied the game up at two goals apiece with his fourth of the season at 16:12 in the second period. Matt Irwin and Joe Pavellski assisted on the power play goal. Marleau’s back handed goal that came off of a deflection and into the top left corner of the net tied him for 83rd all time on the all time scoring list for goals. It was his 408th career goal. The score tied him with Ray Ferraro.

San Jose regained the lead at the 7:08 mark in the third and final period. Burns put the Sharks in front 3-2 with a goal with just one second remaining on the power play. The goal was Burns’ third of season, and it was assisted by Captain Joe Thornton and Matt Nieto. Burns nailed in the slap shot right in front of the net.

In desperation to avoid the loss, the Senators pulled their goalie with 1:15 left to play in regulation. The strategy did not prevail as the Sharks held on for the 3-2 win. The sellout crowd of 17, 562 had the SAP Center rocking all night long.

The San Jose Sharks will hit the road for the next two games as they will play the undefeated St. Louis Blues on Tuesday night, and then travel to Dallas to take on the Dallas Stars on Thursday.

Phillip Torres covers the San Jose Sharks for Sportsradioservice.com

By Daniel Dullum
Thursday, October 10, 2013

After struggling throughout most of the 2013 regular season, Detroit pitcher Justin Verlander has more than made up for it in the postseason.

In the decisive game five of the American League Divisional Series, Verlander tossed eight innings of shutout ball, scattered two hits and dominated Oakland in a 3-0 Tigers victory before 46,359 at the O.co Coliseum.

While Detroit moves on the American League Championship Series against Boston, the Athletics again endure a disappointing end to their season. It’s the third year in a row that Detroit has ended the A’s season.

Oakland has lost nine of its last 10 postseason series, dating back to the 1990 World Series. The A’s last postseason series win came in the 2006 ALDS against Minnesota.

The second-guessers will likely be out in force, questioning the wisdom of A’s Manager Bob Melvin for his decision to start rookie Sonny Gray (0-1) instead of veteran 18-game winner Bartolo Colon. Gray surrendered a two-run homer to Miguel Cabrera and three earned runs overall in his six-plus innings of work.

Addressing the media following the game, Melvin explained, “(Gray) pitched fine tonight. He basically just gives up the home run to Cabrera. When you don’t score a run and only get a couple of hits, you know you have to be perfect.”

While Gray wasn’t his sharpest, it was one of Verlander’s finest outings of what was an off-season for the former Cy Young Award winner. The veteran hurler gave up singles to Josh Lowrie and Yoenis Cespedes, walked one, and struck out 10 over eight innings.

Joaquin Benoit, the Tigers’ closer by default, continued to excel in that role, tossing a scoreless ninth for his second save of the postseason. With two on, he retired Seth Smith on a fly ball to close out the series.

A’s relievers Dan Otero, Sean Doolittle and Grant Balfour shut out Detroit over the last four innings, but the A’s offense never got on track.

The injury-hobbled Cabrera hit his two-run bomb in the fourth inning, his first round-tripper since Sept. 17. With the home run, Cabrera has hit safely in all 29 of his career postseason games – the longest such streak in Tigers history, exceeding 18 by Hall of Fame slugger Hank Greenberg (all in World Series play).

It was nearly one year ago that Verlander tossed a complete-game and shutout over Oakland in the same ballyard to end Oakland’s 2012 season.

Verlander’s playoff mastery over the Athletics has now taken on historic proportions. His consecutive scoreless inning streak against the A’s has reached 30 – the longest such streak by any starter in major league history.

Hall of Fame pitcher Christy Mathewson, who tossed 28 consecutive scoreless World Series innings for the New York Giants against the Philadelphia Athletics, held the previous mark.

Ultimately, in this ALDS, it came down to pitching as it often does. Over the five games, A’s hitters struck out 57 times, setting an LDS record. Coco Crisp was Oakland’s top hitter in the ALDS, going 7-for-18 (.388) with two doubles, one triple, two RBI and four runs scored.

At the other end of that spectrum, Brandon Moss fanned 13 times, setting an Athletics record for a postseason series in that category. Moss broke the previous mark of 12, set by Josh Reddick last year.

When the ALCS opens Saturday, it marks the first time the Red Sox and Tigers have ever met in postseason play since divisional play began in 1969.

(subject Oakland Athletics)

(TAGS: Oakland Athletics,Detroit Tigers,ALDS,Justin Verlander)

http://sports.yahoo.com/photos/verlander-sends-tigers-past-game-photo-040528698–mlb.html

by David Zizmor

SANTA CLARA–The 49ers who improved with a big win over the Houston Texans last Sunday they have another home game coming up against the Arizona Cardinals and this should be a good game. Arizona has not been great this year but their sitting there pretty right now with the 49ers at 3-2. The Cardinals while they’ve had their struggles the last year adding quarterback Carson Palmer has helped them.

They at least have a semi competent offense something that you could not say about them last year when they kind of had a carousel going on with their quarterbacks. Last week Arizona won 22-6 against Carolina they flexed their muscles on defense and did a really good job and here they come into San Francisco looking not too bad their on a two game winning streak.

You have to worry a little bit because Arizona might be coming in feeling a little confident because they’re obviously familiar with the 49ers so their not going to be surprised by anything they throw at them. The 49ers can’t take this team lightly and sure the 49ers have had some success against the Cards the last several years. Nevertheless you can’t rest on your laurels you have to focus on who your playing and right now and it’s the Cardinals.

What the 49ers have going for them is their offense which is finally starting to pick up some steam, they’re playing well in the running game, the offensive line is blocking really well and what they really need to do is improve their passing game it’s going to be tough against Arizona. Arizona has a very good one of the best cornerbacks in the league in Patrick Peterson, Tyrann Mathieu the Honeybadger is doing a good job as a rookie, they have Darnell Docket on that offensive line, Calais Campbell is also very good, their defense is not going to roll over and let the 49ers run all over them.

They’re going to have something to say and let’s face it if you watch these Niners-Cardinals games in the last couple of years they’ve been very, very physical. Arizona’s offense is still underwhelming I did mention before Palmer is an improvement over the quarterack play from last year. Everybody in the Bay Area who watches Palmer play for the Raiders last season knows that while Palmer is competent he does have a tendency to make mistakes at the worse possible moments.

Palmer is a guy who will throw an interception at the worst possible moment or could lose the ball with a big hit and for the 49ers one thing they know if they hit Palmer it could really rattle him but lately the Arizona offensive line has been horrid add to that the fact that Arizona hasn’t had any semblance of a running game and that means the 49ers can really focus on pass rushing Palmer and wreck havoc on him.

That’s probably going to be the difference when you can focus on one half of the offense and not the other and not worry about the other that makes it a whole lot easier for a defense. The fact that the 49ers are already a good running defense to begin with means their not going to be worried about giving up big chunks of yardage on the ground. The 49ers running game has been very good in the last couple of weeks they do what they want to get the passing game going a little bit better.

Daivd Zizmor is covering the NFL for Sportstalk Radio