Sports Talk | The New Hampshire Real Estate Golfer

New England Patriots vs the Baltimore Ravens

January 22, 2012 By Jay McGillicuddy Leave a Comment

photo by Kaitlin Waldron

This is what every football fan waits for, Championship Sunday. This is when the AFC and the NFC battle to see who will represent their respective conference in the Super Bowl.

New England Patriots

Today at 3:00 PM the 14-3 New England Patriots take on the 13-4 Baltimore Ravens. This will be a pound and ground type of game as the Ravens who have the number two run defense and the Pats have the 31st worst pass defense.

In order for the Ravens to win they will need to get to Tom Brady and put him on his back early in the game. They need to stop his passing attack as he has weapons that can ground and pound with the best of teams. He has two book ends that can destroy you. You can double team one of them but the other will kill you. These book ends are Rob Gronkowski and Aaron Hernandez.

In the run game the Pats have Ben Jarvus Green-Ellis (the law firm) He has never fumbled the ball in his career, I just hope I didn’t jinx him. Ben Jarvus will need to put his head down and move quickly through that tough Ravens front defensive line in order to open up the secondary. I hope Stevan Ridley gets to play as he has some decent speed and can run to the outside. He had 4 rushes for 21 yards against Denver so lets hope he can have a break out game. Look for Danny Woodhead to weave and bob in and around the defensive line. Wes Welker and Deion Branch are two other scrappy wide receivers who have proven they are winners.

On the linebackers the Pats will need a big game from Jerod Mayo, Dane Fletcher and Brandon Spikes to stop the run. The secondary is the teams weakest link. Patrick Chung and Devon McCourty will need to play the game of their lives to stop Smith and Bouldin. The Pats pass rush will need to be effective as it was last week against the Broncos.

photo by Bob Carney Photography

Baltimore Ravens

The Baltimore Ravens will need to give Ray Rice some nice blocks along the Pats defensive front line to open big holes for Rice like they did in 2009. The Pats will need to get to Flacco like the Steelers did in this photo taken by my good online friend Bob Carney, Bob is an avid Steeler fan like I am a Pats fan. Too bad the Steelers got Tebowed.

Ray Lewis and Ed Reed lead the defense this week in Ed Reed’s biggest game as a pro. Reed was not a member of the Ravens Championship team in 2000-2001 season. Pats head coach Bill Belichick LOVES Ed Reed. I think he will be hampered today with his sprained ankle. As great as Ray Lewis is he has slowed up a bit and the Pats will take advantage of that as they work the middle of the field with Wes Welker and their book end tight ends.

I look for rookie Torrey Smith to have a good day as the Pats almost drafted him this year. Anquan Boldin has lost a step or two and he could factor in this game as well. Watch the Ravens front line defense especially Haloti Ngata as he tries to stuff the run. Terrell Suggs is another big play player as he has no respect at all for Tom Brady .

My Bold Prediction is that the New England Patriots will defeat the Baltimore Ravens 31-20.

Filed Under: Sports Talk Tagged With: aaron hernandez, baltimore ravens, ed reed, joe flacco, New England Patriots, ray lewis, ray rice, rob gronkowski, Tom Brady, wes welker

Denver Broncos vs New England Patriots

January 14, 2012 By Jay McGillicuddy 4 Comments

photo by Kaitlin Waldron

Tonight at 8:00 PM the 13-3 New England Patriots will kick off against the 9-8 Denver Broncos in the AFC Divisional round of the NFL Playoffs. Denver’s shocking victory last week over the injured and battered Pittsburgh Steelers earned them the right to come to Foxboro to take on the Patriots.

Denver will need to get off to a quick start like they did in Week 15 by running the ball down the Pats throat. Tebow will need to play better than he did against the Steelers if he hopes to have a chance to beat the high powered Pats. The Broncos also must not turn the ball over like they did at home. The Broncos Linebacker Von Miller and Defensive End Elvis Dumerville will need to pressure Tom Brady and force him out of the protective pocket that he loves to hang out in. If the Broncos can rattle Brady early and put points on the board at the same time then the Broncos may make it a close game.

The Pats will need to get off to a very fast start as opposed to the last few weeks of the regular season when they found themselves having to come from behind in order to win. In the playoffs you are one and done if you lose. I see the Pats winning the coin toss once again and deferring to the second half. This gives them the ball to start the second half. This also allows them to try and control the clock at the end of the first half to try and score going into halftime.

The Pats need to come out and start strong at defense and stop Tebow on their first possession. If the Pats can do that look for the Pats to go to an upbeat fast pace offensive march down the field. If the Pats can jump out to an early lead I think Tebow’s inexperience will force him to pass a lot and that is not his strong point.

The Pats have a losing record against the Broncos and I think the Pats will win big tonight, 38-17 and then the Pats will be at home against the winner of Sunday’s game between the Baltimore Ravens and the Houston Texans. I would love to see the Texans win that game. The Ravens are undefeated at home this year and are amongst the elite defenses in NFL history.

***UPDATE***

Patriots win 45-10

They lost the coin toss. They started off very fast and kept Dumerville and Miller off of Brady.

Brady breaks the record for most TD’s in a half in the Playoffs.

Filed Under: Sports Talk Tagged With: Denver Broncos, Elvis dumervile, New England Patriots, Tim Tebow, Tom Brady, von miller

New England Patriots vs the Denver Broncos

December 18, 2011 By Jay McGillicuddy 2 Comments

NE Patriots

Patriots vs Broncos

The New England Patriots travel to Denver to take on the red hot Denver Broncos led by the polarizing Tim Tebow. Tim has led his team to 6 straight victories and has a 7-1 record this year for the Broncos after taking over for Kyle Orton. Tebow has led the Broncos to 4 fourth quarter comeback victories after playing sub par football for the first 3 quarters.

Why is Tim Tebow so polarizing?

Good question. I guess it’s because he wears his faith on his sleeve. He praises God openly on the field and has shown nothing but great leadership through out this winning streak. He doesn’t get emotional like a Tom Brady and gets in your face if you mess up. Tebow will pat you on the back and tell you not to worry about it. Laid back kind of QB.

What do the Patriots need to do to beat Denver today?

One, they will need to stop the run by McGahee who seems to have been rejuvenated here in Denver. Also, Tebow will scramble and is a bull when he runs for his life by opposing linemen. He is a big dude who resembles a tight end and is hard to bring down. I look to see Tebow doing a lot of scrambling today and the Pats will need to contain him. They don’t want Tebow to run ram shod over them all afternoon.

Two, While the Pats are on offense they will need to protect Brady especially his blind side. Defensive End Elvis Dumervil and Von Miller are two players to keep and eye on and hopefully we won’t hear their names a lot. Another Pats nemesis has been Champ Bailey.

Three, Tom Brady and the Pats will need to score early and score often. If they can build an early lead lets say they get up 21-3 early this will force Tebow to throw the ball more and hopefully will give the Pats Kyle Arrington and Devon McCourtey chances to pick Tebow off.

The Patriots have the worst secondary in the league and quite possibly the worst passing defense in league history. Yes, league history. They are pathetic against the pass and they usually play zone so they give up a lot of yards but when it comes down to the opponents getting inside the Red Zone they shut them down. They have a bend but don’t break mentality.

Who cares how may yards you give up as long as they don’t score Touchdowns.

Look to see Brady go to his tight ends and Wes Welker a lot today. Deion Branch will be out and the Pats will need to have Danny Woodhead pound for some big yardage along with Ben Jarvis Green Ellis. Brady and Belichick are 1-5 against the Broncos and playing in Mile High this game may be a little too close for comfort.

My Prediction-

The Tim Tebow phenomenon will come to a grinding halt and the Pats will win big 38 – 13.

Patriots win 41 to 23

Filed Under: Sports Talk Tagged With: Denver Broncos, New England Patriots, Tim Tebow, Tom Brady

New England Patrots vs. the Indianapolis Colts.

November 21, 2010 By Jay McGillicuddy 2 Comments

photo by Keith Allison/Flickr

This afternoon at 4:15PM the N.E. Patriots will take on the Indianapolis Colts at Gillette Stadium in an epic AFC match up of two of the NFL’s most prolific offenses in the last 10 years.

Tom Brady vs Peyton Manning is a match up of two future Hall of Fame QB’s whose statistics are rivaled by few.

I love statistics and let’s take a look at this years stats between the two.

Tom Brady has a slight edge over Peyton Manning in pass completion percentage 64.5 vs 64.2. They rank 6th and 7th in the league.

Tom Brady ranks 11th in total yards with 2,176 and Peyton Manning ranks 3rd with 2,633.

Brady has 17 Touchdown passes and Manning has 16 so far this year. Both have thrown 4 interceptions.

Colts have a slew of injuries and the Pats are fairly healthy. The biggest challenge today will be if the Pats can get to Manning before he slings it down field. This will be a big test for the Pats secondary as they are very young.

I have a feeling Matt Light and Sebastian Vollmer will have their hands full with Dwight Freeney and Robert Mathis today. Two bookends that can reek havoc in the backfield. How many sacks will these two giants get today?

With Joseph Addai out I wonder if his replacement Donald Brown will run ram-shod over the Pats. In years past it always seems the replacement backs usually kill the Pats.

I look to see the Pats have a great game today on the ground and in the air. Last year they should have won in Indy but the infamous 4th and 2 play ended their chances. Brady seems to be working on all four cylinders and I look for him to have another great game. Last week was awesome but Big Ben is no Peyton Manning and the secondary is going to need to play lights out if the expect to keep the Colts in check.

I love our two tight ends in Aaron Fernandez and ~~Steve~~ Rob Gronkowski who both can catch and run in the open field. Veteran Alge Crumpler has done a great job in helping these rookies become 1st year phenoms.

Wes Welker and Deion Branch should have great games today as well and Ben Jarvis Green Ellis should run right up the gut of the Colts defense for big yards. Danny Woodhead, who is the smallest running back I can remember, is one tough cookie. Would love to see him do some damage.

Pats need a big victory here as it looks like the Jets will be victorious as well.

Pats 35 Colts 31

Filed Under: Sports Talk Tagged With: Indianapolis Colts, New England Patriots

Penn State vs Michigan Football Weekend

October 24, 2008 By Jay McGillicuddy 2 Comments

Monika and I were invited to the Penn State vs Michigan football game this year on October 18th by our good camping friends Bill and Nada Marth. Bill and Nada are season ticket holders and they invited us down last year to the Ohio State game and Penn State got whooped.

They felt bad for us and I think that’s why they invited us back. I have always enjoyed college football and Penn State and Michigan have been two teams I have always followed over the years.

Being in Happy Valley at State College, Pennsylvania is a great time as we saw over a 1,000 campers tailgating a few days before the big game. The part I love the most is watching the student body cheer for their team as they all wear white and they call it a white out. It is pretty impressive what a sight. I also enjoy their cheer. The student body yells out “We are” and the rest of the fans follow with “Penn State”.

This was a great game for Penn State fans as they were ranked number 3 in the country coming into this game only behind Alabama and Texas. At the end they didn’t disappoint their fans.

The first half was all Michigan as they stormed out to a 17-14 lead and then the second half Penn State put a whooping on Michigan by shutting them out and scoring 39 unanswered points between the 2nd quarter and the final few minutes.

This Saturday Penn State travels to Ohio State to take on the mighty Buckeyes who are ranked number 9 in the country and will have home field advantage. Ohio State walloped Penn State at Penn State last year so Penn State will look to revenge that loss and stay on top of the polls.

Penn State will need to come out at the start of the game like they did at the second half of the game against Michigan if they have any chance of winning.

This will be a great game.

Filed Under: Sports Talk Tagged With: happy valley, michigan football, ohio state buckeyes, penn state football, state college pennsylvania

Mount Washington Hotel and Golf Course

October 5, 2008 By Jay McGillicuddy Leave a Comment

Monika and I arrived Sunday September 21st around 10:00 am at the hotel and after I unloaded all our luggage Monika dropped me off at the Golf Course. They have just finished a large makeover of the front nine. The management at the Mount Washington found the original Donald Ross plans and they built a few more holes and reworked a few more on the front nine.

They did a nice job and one thing to remember is don’t roll a ball near a sand trap as they have grown the rough quite long and it is pretty gnarly if your ball lands there. The greens were in great shape and the fairways were decent as well.

The course is not that long and not that difficult. It’s a fun course to play and I always enjoy playing there. The last two times I have played there in tournaments we have finished 2nd this year and 1st a few years ago. It’s always a great feeling to win.

But, remember it’s not all about winning it’ sjust a lot of fun to just be out there playing.

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