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The Tennessee Titans defeated the Chicago Bears 21-14 at Soldier Field on the Chicago lakefront. The Titans increased their record to 9-0 and remain the only unbeaten team in the NFL. The Bears scored the 1st and final touchdowns of the game – the problem was, they didn’t score any other points in between. Rex Grossman, starting in place of the injured Kyle Orton, had a mediocre game against one of the NFL’s best defenses. He completed 20 of 37 passes for 173 yards. He threw one touchdown pass and one interception and also scored a rushing touchdown. Bears Running Back Matt Forte had a spectacular game – 20 rushes for 72 yards and 7 receptions for 54 yards including a 5-yard pass from Grossman for the game’s 1st touchdown.

The Bears defense kept the NFL’s best rushing attack in check throughout the game. LenDale White had only 14 yards rushing, but did score the game winning touchdown in the 4th quarter. Chris Johnson had only 7 yards rushing and was held out of the end zone. The Bears’ focus on the run allowed Titans’ Quarterback Kerry Collins to have his best passing game of the season. Collins completed 30 of 41 passes for 289 yards and 2 touchdowns. He did not throw an interception.

The Bears fell to 5-4 and are in a 1st place tie with the Minnesota Vikings, who defeated the Green Bay Packers 28-27. The Bears travel to Lambeau Field on Sunday to take on Aaron Rodgers and the Packers in a must-win game for the Bears.

The Denver Broncos defeated the Cleveland Browns 34-30 in the first Thursday Night Football Game of the 2008-9 NFL season. Jay Cutler rallied the Broncos from a 13-point 2nd half deficit with 3 touchdown passes in the 4th quarter to give the Broncos the much needed road win. Cutler completed only 24 of his 42 pass attempts, but finished the game with 447 passing yards, 3 touchdown passes and 1 interception – good for a 107.9 passer rating.

Browns Quarterback Brady Quinn, the former standout Quarterback for the University of Notre Dame, made a sparkling NFL debut for the Browns. Quinn hit Tight End Kellen Winslow for two 1st half touchdowns and led the Browns on 2 other 1st half scoring drives that gave the Browns a 20-10 halftime lead. Quinn completed 23 of 35 passes, threw 2 touchdown passes and had no turnovers – good for a 104.3 passer rating. Quinn and Winslow quickly developed a great feel for each other, combining for 10 catches and 111 yards, the longest of which went for 30 yards.

The Browns defensive collapse spoiled Quinn’s debut. The Browns defense gave up twenty-four 2nd half, including the game-winning 11-yard touchdown pass from Cutler to Brandon Marshall with 1:14 left in the contest.

Quinn will now have some extra time to learn the offense in preparation for the Monday Night Football road game at Buffalo on November 17th. Quinn will make his MNF debut as the whole nation will get to check out his skills on the western New York lakefront.

It’s just “Manny Being Manny” – I’ve heard that quote used so often over the last few years after a “Manny occurrence”. For those of you who don’t know what a “Manny occurrence” is, just ask his teammates in Cleveland and Boston. Whether it be misplaying an easy fly, not running hard to 1st base after an easy ground ball or fly out, faking an injury to skip games, or complaining that he wasn’t getting paid enough, Manny has had a long list of “Manny occurrences” over his productive 15-year career in the big leagues. Ramirez is coming off of an 8-year, $160 million contract with the Red Sox. At 36, he is looking to get paid in what will likely be his last free agent contract. His shark agent Scott Boras is seeking a 5-6 year offer at a dollar amount close to the $27.5 million per year amount that the New York Yankees are paying Alex Rodriguez. He’ll have plenty of suitors – the New York Yankees, Los Angeles Dodgers, Los Angeles Angels of Anaheim, the New York Mets. Will he get what he wants? Not likely. But at the end of the day, Manny is going to get paid this off-season, financial crisis or not.

Ramirez’s current team, the Los Angeles Dodgers, has already made him an offer. The terms were not disclosed, but Dodgers GM Ned Colletti has said that the offer was very competitive and would put him just below Alex Rodriguez in terms of per year salary.

Manny Ramirez is one of the most prolific right-handed hitters of all-time. He may even be the best right-handed hitter of our generation. Some career stats – 527 home runs; 1725 RBI’s; 1444 runs scored; a .314 batting average; a .593 slugging percentage; and an unbelievable 1.004 OPS. Ramirez has also played well when it mattered most – in the post-season. He has played in the post-season 10 times – 5 times with the Indians from 1995 through 1999, 4 times with the Red Sox from 2003 through 2007 and 1 time with the Dodgers in 2008. Over those 10 post-seasons, Ramirez has accumulated the most home runs of any player in MLB history – 28. He has driven in 74 runs, scored 64 runs and walked 70 times. Ramirez has a .286 career post-season batting average, a .396 on-base percentage and a .550 slugging percentage. He helped the Red Sox win World Series in 2004 and 2007.

Do his numbers justify the crazy deal he is about to sign? Without a doubt.

Does he deserve it? No, because of his lack respect for the game.

We should know where Manny lands during the next few weeks, and then we’ll be ready to see or hear about the next “Manny occurrence”.

The San Diego Padres are shopping ace starter Jake Peavy, and after numerous discussions with several teams, GM Kevin Towers has announced that he has narrowed the focus down to 3 NL teams. While he did not name the 3 teams, it is widely believed that the list includes the Atlanta Braves and the Chicago Cubs, and one of either the Houston Astros, St. Louis Cardinals and Los Angeles Dodgers.

The Braves are considered to be the front-runner to land Peavy. The Braves have the deepest talent of the teams in consideration, and the Braves have made a strong push to make the trade for Peavy in order to get back into the NL East race.

The Cubs have a combination of MLB and minor league prospects to offer the Padres. Pitcher Sean Marshall, Infielder Ronny Cedeno and Outfielder Feliz Pie have already played in numerous MLB games and could be made part of a package that the Cubs send to the Padres. The tricky part for the Cubs is the ongoing negotiations that the Cubs are having with their most reliable 2007 starter, free agent Ryan Dempster. It is unclear if the Cubs would make the trade for Peavy if they intend to sign Dempster too. On the other hand, a rotation of Carlos Zambrano, Peavy, Dempster, Ted Lilly and Rich Harden would arguably be the best rotation in all of baseball. With the Cubs qualifying for post-season play 2 years in a row, but going winless in the playoffs, the Cubs might just be desperate enough to unload good young talent to win now.

It is widely believed that the Astros, Dodgers and Cardinals do not have the talent to compete with what the Braves and Cubs have to offer, so the inclusion of these teams on the “list” could be a ploy used by the Padres to increase the chips thrown in by the Cubs or Braves.

It’s November, so let the “hot stove” fun begin!

It’s official – Brady Quinn will finally get his 1st NFL start for the Cleveland Browns when the team hosts the Denver Broncos at Browns Stadium on Thursday night. Quinn replaces Derek Anderson who has been largely ineffective this year after having a break-out year in 2007. After Anderson’s solid 2007 performances that nearly led the Browns into the playoffs, the Browns locked up Anderson with a long-term contract. 2008 has been a different story for Anderson, however, as the team has struggled under his direction. Anderson is completing less than 50% of his passes and has 9 touchdowns against 7 interceptions. He has a 68.9 passer rating.

Brady Quinn only played in 1 game during his rookie season in 2007. In that game, he completed 3 of 8 passes and led the team on a field goal drive. He has yet to play in a game and will only have 3 days and 1 practice to get ready for the Broncos on Thursday night football. The one good thing – the Broncos have one of the worst defenses in the NFL. The Broncos have given up 30 or more points in 4 of their 8 games this year, and they are only 1-2 on the road. Given those stats, Quinn could be in for a big game on Thursday.

The Browns move to replace Anderson with Brady is an interesting one. Many critics feel that the Browns’ poor play can’t all fall on Anderson’s shoulders. Free agent wide receiver Donte Stallworth has been hampered by injuries all season long, Braylon Edwards leads the NFL in dropped passes and tight end Kellen Winslow has not been the same threat this season as he was last, and he was recently suspended for a game by the team. The Browns now have two high-priced quarterbacks on their roster, and if Quinn struggles in his first few games, at the helm, then what does the team do? It will be interesting to see how the hometown Quinn responds. He will certainly feel a lot of pressure from his family and friends to turn the team around quickly, so he will need to stay as focused and patient as possible. If he tries to force things and attempt to do too much, it could spell disaster on the NFL level. Stay tuned Thursday night – will the initial cheers for Brady Quinn still be heard at the end of the night on the Cleveland lakefront, or will we be hearing “Derek-Derek-Derek” chants after another Browns loss?

The Nuggets traded Allen Iverson to Detroit for Chauncey Billups, top reserve Antonio McDyess and project Cheikh Samb.

It looks like Tennessee’s dismal 3-6 start to the 2008 NCAA college football season has cost long-time head coach Phillip Fulmer his job. After the 27-6 drubbing suffered at South Carolina on Saturday, the Vols fell to 1-5 in the SEC. At a press conference on Monday, November 3rd, Fulmer announced that he was accepting the university’s request that he step down at the end of the season. Another words – he is being forced out before he’s ready to leave. Fulmer was visibly choked up during the press conference and it will be a shame to see Fulmer go. It is a rare thing these days to see a coach stay at a University for a long period of time. Joe Paterno at Penn State and Bobby Bowden at Florida State are exceptions to the rule. There is always a “win now” mentality at the collegiate level in order to satisfy alumni and boosters alike. To think that many have been calling for Joe Pa’s ouster at Penn State for years, and he now has them on the verge of playing for the National Championship in the BCS Championship Game at the Orange Bowl in January 2009.

Fulmer was the Vols head coach for the past 17 years. He has a 150-51 record at Tennessee and he coached the team to the National Championship in 1998.

The Atlanta Falcons defeated the Oakland Raiders 24-0 on Sunday in front of a half-filled crowd at McAfee Stadium in Oakland. The score alone doesn’t even begin to come close to describing how poorly the Raiders played on the field. The Raiders gained just 77 total yards of offense, the lowest yardage total for a Raiders team since the team gained only 58 yards in a loss to the San Diego Chargers in 1961. The Raiders gained only 3 first downs – the 1st of which came after the Falcons had recorded 23 first downs. Raiders Quarterback JaMarcus Russell had a 19.0 passer rating – completing only 6 passes for 10 yards (4 sacks for 21 lost yards knocked the passing yards down to 10) with 1 interception.

The only positive for the Raiders? – the defense held the Falcons scoreless in the 2nd half.

On the Falcons side, the Falcons defense recorded its first shutout since the 2002 season. The Falcons also set a franchise record for fewest yards allowed in a game (the previous record was 78 yards allowed in a 1977 win over the Tampa Bay Buccaneers). The Falcons offense scored on its 1st 4 possessions of the game – taking a 24-0 halftime lead. Quarterback Matt Ryan threw for 220 yards and 2 touchdowns. Running Back Michael Turner added 139 yards rushing on 39 carries and Running Back Jerious Norwood pitched in 63 yards rushing and a 12-yard touchdown gallop.

The Falcons are now 5-3 and in 3rd place in the NFC South. The Falcons host the New Orleans Saints in an important intra-division Week 10 battle. The Raiders are 2-6 and in 3rd place in the AFC West. The Raiders look to rebound against the Carolina Panthers in Week 10.

The Tennessee Titans remained unbeaten on the season at 8-0 with a 19-16 overtime victory over the Green Bay Packers. Rod Bironas’ 41-yard field goal in overtime was the difference. The game was a defensive battle through and through. Each team scored only 1 touchdown (the Titans on a 3-yard run by Chris Johnson and the Packers on a 5-yard touchdown pass from Aaron Rodgers to Donald Driver). Bironas kicked 4 field goals for the Titans, while Mason Crosby kicked 3 field goals for the Packers. The Titans still sit atop the AFC South with a 4-game lead over the Indianapolis Colts (who defeated the New England Patriots 18-15). The Packers are tied for 2nd in the NFC North with the Minnesota Vikings, and are 1 game behind the Detroit Lions who defeated the Detroit Lions 27-23 at Soldier Field.

The New York Giants kept pace with the Titans with a convincing 35-14 win over the Dallas Cowboys at Giants Stadium. The Giants opened up a 21-7 halftime lead and ended up cruising to a 21-point win. Giants Quarterback Eli Manning threw for 147 yards and 3 touchdowns, while Brandon Jacobs and Derrick Ward each had rushing touchdowns in the 2nd half to preserve the win. The Giants defense was outstanding once again with 3 interceptions, 1 fumble recovery and 4 sacks. The Giants stand atop the NFC East with a 7-1 record. They have a 1 game lead over the Washington Redskins who play on Monday Night Football against the Pittsburgh Steelers. The Cowboys fell to 5-4 and are in the last place in the NFC East.