tonytalkssports My Take on Sports, particularly the Yankees, Maple Leafs and Browns

Tuesday’s Thoughts

While wondering when Ryan Miller will be a Detroit Red Wing, here's what else is on my mind this morning:

* The Maple Leafs face-off against the Phoenix Coyotes tonight at the Air Canada Center and they will have their hands full. The Coyotes have been playing very well and have received excellent goaltending from Mike Smith. The Leafs wish they could receive good goaltending. While Ben Scrivens saved the game against St.Louis, he let in a weak goal against Ottawa on Saturday which ended up being the game winner. I can't see the Leafs surviving the rest of November if they don't acquire a veteran goalie. With the uncertainty around James Reimer, there is no way they can make the playoffs with the current pair of Scrivens and Jonas Gustavsson. Scrivens needs to play more in the AHL and Gustavsson make be along the lines of another Swedish goaltender: Mikael Tellqvist.

* I really don't care what Pat Shurmur and certain Cleveland media have to say, not trying a pass with 1st and goal from the 8 yard line with just over 3 minutes left was a "playing not to lose" strategy. Wouldn't it really be a boost to the offense and particularly to Colt McCoy if he was able to throw a TD which proved to be the winner??? With the bounty of tight ends this team has, why didn't they line-up tight fake a hand off and throw a pass to Ben Watson?? Watson has been a tremendous acquistion by the Browns and has been rock solid. One of Colt McCoy's strengths coming out of college was that he was a heady intelligent quarterback who knew how to win. If no one is open, you throw the ball away, something I'm sure McCoy did at Texas.

* Watched the Browns Red Zone last night and couldn't agree more with a caller who said that Doug Dieken should run for political office because he is the master of spin. Dieken was a tremendous offensive lineman in the 70's and early 80's and has been the Browns radio color commentator since 1984. Dieken hardly ever criticizes the Browns and last night was defending Shurmur's decision to not try a pass down near the goal line. His point was that the Browns were trying to take time off the clock to leave less time for the Rams to try to score. But the problem with that is all the Rams would have needed to win the game would have been a field goal. There is no guarantee that the Browns defense would have held the Rams out of field goal range. A touchdown by the Browns would have made the score 19-13 and the Rams would have needed to score a touchdown. Sorry Doug, but I don't buy it.

* I agree with Tony Grossi 100%, if you can't score a touchdown in the red zone you seriously have to question the quarterback. As I've stated before, I want to see Colt McCoy succeed but I'm not sure that he's the guy to lead this team to the playoffs let alone the Super Bowl.

* I'm really having a hard time understanding how the Penn State AD and their VP for Business Services are still on the school's payroll and the fact that Penn State is paying their legal bills. The Board of Trustees fired Joe Paterno and the University President but leave these two guys on the payroll??? Aren't they the two guys that explicitly heard from Mike McQueary what was going on in the shower in 2002?? Aren't they both being charged with perjury??? For the record, Paterno was not charged with perjury.

* Mike Francesa and many others are beating the drum that Paterno had total control over what went on at Penn State. He controlled everything. Next thing we are going to hear is that Paterno was responsible for the JFK assassination, Watergate, 9/11 and Hurricane Irene.

* Watching the Bob Costas interview with Jerry Sandusky just confirms for me that he is a sick individual.

* The Buffalo Bills bandwagon got a whole lot lighter after their 44-7 blowout loss at the hands of the Dallas Cowboys. As Bills coach Chad Gailey said they are pretenders. While Ryan Fitzpatrick is a nice story, he is not a franchise quarterback. The defense was lit up big time and the turnovers which they lived off of early in the season have not been created. Unfortunately, the Bills will win enough games to be out of the top 15 for the 2012 NFL Draft.

* Sunday night I heard Mike Schoop and the Bulldog and they were going on and on about what a bust C.J. Spiller is. While he very well may be a bust, was that really the reason why the Bills got buried in Dallas?? The Spiller pick reminds me of when they drafted Willis McGahee instead of getting help where they needed it. In both instances, they had established running backs in Fred Jackson (Spiller) and Travis Henry (McGahee). By the way, I heard the interview that these two geniuses had with Stevie Johnson and it is apparent that Schoop has a man crush on Johnson.

* The furor over Milan Lucic's hit on Ryan Miller made for great radio. There has been plenty of criticism of the Sabres and all of it is right on the money. I have watched a lot of hockey on all levels: youth, high school, college and pro and it is an unwritten rule that if your goalie gets hit you go after the guy who did it. If I was a Sabres fan I would be totally disgusted particularly when you hear Paul "Two-Ton" Hamilton say that there was no one on the Sabres who would want to fight Lucic for fear that they would get whipped. Are you kidding me??? As Mike Milbury said last night, its not how many you win, its how many you are in particularly as it relates to standing up for a teammate.

* Mr. Tough-Guy Paul Gaustad is a total puke. He was on the ice when the Lucic hit occurred and did nothing. Two-Ton Hamilton was spewing that he was being held up by Zdeno Chara but replays show that he was near Nathan Horton. Whether it was Horton or Chara, why didn't this tough guy start something with either one of them. Then he has the audacity to say that it was embarassing that they did nothing. Lindy Ruff's line that "Paul was on the ice" was a classic. Of course last night against a smaller Montreal Canadiens team, Gaustad was throwing his weight around taking 3 penalties while he was at it. It was also interesting that toward the end of the overtime period he was jawing with Tomas Plekanec who is considerably smaller than the big bad tough guy Gaustad.

Lindy Ruff and Darcy Reiger's whining to the league illustrates what the Sabres are: a bunch of cry babies who don't have the ability to man up against the Bruins and Flyers of the world. The league was absolutely right in not suspending Lucic. Miller was out near the top of the circle when he was hit. Lucic was given a penalty and that's all that was deserved. Being a Leaf fan, I understand about my starting goaltender being knocked out with a concussion. What Ruff and Reiger should be concerned about is their team's total lack of guts.

And finally, I heard the interview with Howard Simon and Two-Ton Hamilton on Sunday morning. Two-Ton was gagging and clearing his throat. It was borderline disgusting and hilarious at the same time. I wonder how many Sam Adams Two-Ton consumed before he left Boston??