Tuesday, September 21, 2010

R.I. high school football poll Week 2

Rogers, on the strength of its 34-32 victory over Burrillville on Saturday, made the biggest jump of local teams in the poll this week, moving up four spots to No. 16.
Portsmouth, which is 2-0, is now ranked No. 4, and Middletown bumped up two spots to No. 11.

This week, there's a few big showdowns. In Division III, Middletown plays No. 14 Narragansett, while Portsmouth hosts No. 5 La Salle. Rogers, meanwhile, hosts Lincoln.

Team Points Last year
1. Hendricken (7) 216 1t
2. East Providence (4) 211 1t
3. Barrington 192 6
4. Portsmouth 186 5
5. La Salle 166 3
6. Johnston 147 7
7. Cranston West 138 4
8. Mount Hope 133 8
9. Woonsocket 125 10
10. Cranston East 111 9
11. Middletown 102 13
12. Moses Brown 92 14
13. Toll Gate 72 18
14. Narragansett 55 NR
15. Shea 52 16
16. Rogers 44 20
17. Coventry 44 11
18. Central 38 NR
19. Chariho 36 NR
20. South Kingstown 29 17

Dropped from poll: Westerly (12), Ponaganset (15), Burrillville (19).
Also receiving votes: Tolman 26, Lincoln 25, Westerly 25, Exeter-West Greenwich 20, Ponaganset 10, Burrillville 6, West Warwick 2, Cumberland 1.

Monday, September 20, 2010

After halftime, not much went right

Looking only at the numbers, it appears New England Patriots quarterback Tom Brady had a pretty good day Sunday against the Jets. He was 20-for-36 for 248 yards with two touchdowns. But in reality, he had a good half.

He hit his favorite targets - Wes Welker and Randy Moss - for touchdowns (Moss made a ridiculous one-handed grab for a 34-yard score) and the Patriots seemingly moved the ball at will in taking a 14-10 edge into the break.

But Brady turned the ball over three times after halftime, throwing two interceptions and fumbling on a critical drive deep in New York territory. Of those 248 yards, only 69 came in the third and fourth quarters, and none to Moss despite a number of passes thrown his way. Furthermore, Welker was non-existent in the second half.

"We couldn't do anything in the second half," Brady said. "We had a hard time gaining yards. We didn't do anything on third down. We couldn't gain anything on first or second down. We couldn't run it. We couldn't throw it.

"We just sucked. That's what it comes down to."

Hit the nail on the head there.

Mark Sanchez, Brady's counterpart at quarterback, had his coming out party (yeah, I know it's his second season and he's played in an AFC title game). He completed a career-high 21 passes for 220 yards and three scores.

The New England defense, which stood tall against the Bengals in Week 1, couldn't gain its footing against the Jets. They gave up tons of yards on the ground to LaDainian Tomlinson and, when they got into the red zone, the defensive backfield was defenseless.

It's only one game in a long season, but this loss doesn't bode well for the Pats, who must go back and take a long look in the mirror.