Philadelphia is not the greatest city to live in for sports fans, but the Phillies are about to change that. With the recent success of rookie left fielder and first baseman Rhys Hoskins, hitting 18 home runs in 47 games (he started out on a streak of 11 homers in 18 games), Philadelphia is excited for their chances next season in the 2018 year.
No, Philly won’t come close to reaching the playoffs in this 2017 season, in fact they have a 64-95 record, are 32 games out of first place in the National League East Division, are the second-worst team in the National League, just ahead of the San Francisco Giants, and are the third worst team in all of baseball, ahead of San Fran and the Detroit Tigers. What part of this dictates that they’ll even come at all close to the second Wild Card team? Well, they’ve got some exciting young players. Hoskins, for one, not only has the best bat, the best attitude to how to treat the game as he said in late August, “You’re just trying to win a game to start a series.” That’s what players learn from a young age; that the game is not about one good player, it’s about every player playing the best they can to help their team win, something the Phillies will be doing a lot of starting next year. Shortstop J.P. Crawford and catcher Jorge Alfaro have already been in the Majors for the team, Mickey Moniak is the top outfielder in their farm system and Sixto Sanchez is the rising star who will undoubtedly be the spark this dismal Major League pitching staff needs in their ranks. That’s just a few of the young players who, without a doubt, will be the answers to this Philadelphia baseball dilemma. Crawford made exactly zero errors in his time in the Majors. With the strong batting that the Phillies have, they need that type of player in the outfield. Alfaro is the far better batsman; he batted .304 in the Majors, 13 runs batted in, four home runs and 31 hits. A good-hitting catcher always was a rarity in baseball history and Alfaro has proved himself to be that. Moniak is listed as the number one prospect for the Phillies by MLB.com and advanced two Classes in less than half a season. The Phillies are in desperate need of players who can advance, adapt, learn and improve quickly because if they want to be good again, and soon, they want those guys in the Major Leagues. Lastly, the main problem that has helped destroy the standings of Philly is their pitching staff. By the same list of prospects, Sanchez is ranked as the best pitching prospect in their organization. On the same team as Moniak, the Lakewood BlueClaws, Sanchez went 5-3 in 13 starts, had a 2.41 earned run average, gave up only one home run, had an 0.817 walks and hits per innings pitched average and struck out 64 batters. Jesse A. Cook “Philadelphia Phillies Freedom” September 29, 2017
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The Cincinnati Bengals lost 20-0 to the Baltimore Ravens yesterday which puts them in position to make history. Since 2003, no team has made the playoffs after losing in shutout on Opening Day. What happened in 2003, though?
On September 7, 2003, Drew Bledsoe’s Buffalo Bills took on their quarterback’s former team, Tom Brady’s New England Patriots. Passing for 230 yards and one touchdown, alongside 89 yards rushing and two touchdowns from Travis Henry, the Bills scored 31 points. Brady passed for 123 yards and alongside Kevin Faulk’s 62 yard rushing game and Larry Center’s 36 yard rushing game, the Patriots scored a whopping zero points. On the next day, Donovan McNabb’s Philadelphia Eagles faced off with Brad Johnson’s Tampa Bay Buccaneers. Johnson passed for 238 yards with two touchdowns for a 17 point total for the Buccs. McNabb passed for 148 yards and no touchdowns for a zero point total. On September 10, 2017, Joe Flacco’s Baltimore Ravens and Andy Dalton’s Cincinnati Bengals met at Paul Brown Stadium for Opening Day. Flacco passed for a measly 121 yards, but was helped by impressive rushing games from Terrance West, 80 yards, and Javorius Allen, 71 yards, for a 20 point game. Despite passing for 170 yards, Dalton threw four interceptions, got little help from the rushing game and relied on A.J. Green to do most of the work on the receiving end, leading Cincy to a zero point day. What makes the September 7, 2003 shutouts of New England and Philadelphia so special and how does it relate to yesterday’s atrocity in Cincy? Well, the matchups in the Conference Finals that year were the Indianapolis Colts versus the New England Patriots and the Carolina Panthers versus the Philadelphia Eagles. Granted, the Panthers held Philly to a field goal, it was a better day for the Pats. Brady and his team kept Peyton Manning’s Colts at bay and with a final score of 24-14, after starting the year off by being shutout, the New England Patriots were off to their second Super Bowl in three years. They defeated Jake Delhomme’s Panthers 32-29 on a last second field goal by Adam Vinatieri. Again, how does this connect to the Bengals? Well, first of all, all three teams were shutout on Opening Day by an unthreatening squadron. So WHAT? Tons of teams have been shutout on opening day by another bad team and missed the playoffs since then, what makes the Jungle so different? Being different is not the distinction, what gives Cincinnati hope is that they are similar to New England and Philadelphia. The 2016 Bengals and the 2003 Patriots and Eagles have a lot in common. The reason I’m using the 2016 team is because I only have the stats from one game of the 2017 season. In ‘03, New England rushed for 1607 yards, got about 3.4 yards per rush, passed for 3432, completed about 59.6% of their passes, got about 10.73 yards per completion, earned 294 first downs, passed for 23 touchdowns and ran for nine. In ‘03, Philadelphia rushed for 2015 yards, got about 4.83 yards per rush, passed for 3020, completed about 57.6% of their passes, got about 10.82 yards per completion, earned 302 first downs, passed for 17 touchdowns and ran for 23. In ‘16, Cincinnati rushed for 1769 yards, got about 3.96 yards per rush, passed for 3942, completed about 64.7% of their passes, got about 10.83 yards per completion, earned 341 first downs, passed for 18 touchdowns and ran for 17. What do these stats show? They show that all three teams had a strong run game that could go for big yards. They also were able to rely on their receivers when needed. All three teams kept their rushing yards per attempt number pretty high, between three and five yards per attempt. That means that if any of these three teams rushed on first, second and third down, they’d move the chains before setting up the special teams squads for fourth down. The passing numbers were fantastic for all three. Recording 10+ yards per completion with completion percentages over even just 50% is incredibly impressive! That means that, on an average drive, if they missed on first and even second down, too, they’d still be favored to get a first down if they passed again on third! Sure, the past 14 years dictate that getting shutout on Opening Day is not a good omen, but those were all teams that weren’t any good the year before, either. The Jungle narrowly missed the playoffs last season, but their numbers were still slightly better than the last two teams’ numbers were when they got shutout in Week One and still made the postseason. “Cincinnati is in for history-Parts One, Two, Three and Four” (it was originally only four parts, but this, “Cincinnati is in for history-Part Five, the bonus track,” is, as mentioned in the title, a bonus track) are chock-full of stats clearly indicating how the remaining 15 games of the 2017-18 NFL season will go Cincinnati’s way. Also, as a parting piece, please remember the events that transpired 16 years ago today, 9/11. On September 11, 2001 two hijacked planes, American Airlines Flight 11 and United Airlines Flight 175, crashed into the Twin Towers, New York City, New York, killing 2763 people, one hijacked plane, American Airlines Flight 77, crashed into the Pentagon, Arlington, Virginia, killing 189 people, and one hijacked plane, United Airlines Flight 93, originally aimed to crash into the White House, Washington D.C., crashed into the ground outside of Shanksville, Pennsylvania, killing 44 people. Never forget. Jesse A. Cook “Cincinnati Is In For History-Part Five, The Bonus Track” September 11, 2017 The Cincinnati Bengals and the Baltimore Ravens will open their seasons today in Cincinnati at 1:00 pm Eastern Standard Time. This game will mark the start of a historic season for Cincinnati. Of course, every great season starts with a great game.
Neither Cincinnati, nor Baltimore made the playoffs last year, but the better will definitely be proven in the game to the Bengals. Both in offense and defense they are superior. The Ravens have gone straight downhill since they beat the San Francisco 49ers in Super Bowl XLVII (Super Bowl 47) back at the tail-end of the 2012-13 season (save for their AFC Championship Game loss on a missed field goal by Billy Cundiff to the New England Patriots at the end of the 2014-15 season). In the first piece of this series on how the Bengals will have a great year, “Cincinnati is in for history-Part One,” I talked about the promise of their new rookie running back, Joe Mixon. In the second installment of this series, I discussed the improvement of the Jungle’s defense, “Cincinnati is in for history-Part Two.” In the third episode, “Cincinnati is in for history-Part Three,” I discussed how Cincinnati’s offense will be, to quote Mixon, “electrifying.” This is “Cincinnati is in for history-Part Four:” this is the final chapter of this 4-part showcase. This is about the season opener versus Baltimore and how this will be an easy victory for Cincy. Starting with the quarterback matchup, Andy Dalton outplayed Joe Flacco last season. While Flacco barely passed him in passing yards and touchdowns thrown, Flacco attempted over over 100 more passes, threw seven more interceptions, gained fewer net yardage gains per pass attempt and passed for fewer yards per play. What this indicates is that, not only is Dalton a superior quarterback, who converts more first downs, but that Baltimore is not capable of running as many successful rushing plays as Cincinnati. That brings me to my next point: the Cincinnati backfield is great and they make Baltimore’s look like dirt. Baltimore rushed for 1463 yards, ten touchdowns and only 79 first downs. Cincinnati rushed for 1769 yards, 17 touchdowns and they moved the chains 100 times. As far as defense goes, Cincinnati excelled there, as well. Cincinnati made 17 interceptions, forced six fumbles, recovered 13, 321 tackles assisted, had 33 sacks and 623 tackles. Baltimore had only one more pick, six more forced fumbles and eight more fumbles recovered, but they had 24 fewer tackles assisted, two fewer sacks and 41 fewer sacks. The final factor is the receiving end of the passing game. The receiving game is basically the same as the passing end of it. Flacco moves the chains less due to how he tries for more attempts for less yardage because the coaching staff has no confidence in the run game, but Dalton moves the chains more by throwing less times for more distance to his stars in A.J. Green, Brandon LaFell, Tyler Eifert and Tyler Boyd (and, this year, rookie John Ross), and letting Jeremy Hill and Giovani Bernard (and, this year, rookie Mixon) take the ball themselves half the time for the rushing side of play. Last season, Baltimore and Cincinnati played each other twice resulting in a 1-1 season series tie. The Ravens won the first game in Week 12 at home 19-14 and the Bengals took the second matchup in the Queen City 27-10 in Week 17, the last game for either team of the 2016-17 season. Cincy won by a bigger deficit, which pretty definitively proves, alongside the difference in stats and strategy, that the Bengals will start the 2017-18 season on a good note with an easy Week One victory. With that, concludes this four-part series of articles. The Bengals are set for life at running back, with Mixon, their defense is a brand-new set of skillful players and attitudes, their offense is off the charts amazing and they’ll have an easy start to the new season. Jesse A. Cook “Cincinnati Is In For History-Part Four” September 10, 2017 The Cincinnati Bengals’ offense year-in and year-out is always impressive, but this year, they will unleash fire and fury like the world has never seen. No, I’m not making fun of the United States of America’s President Donald Trump’s remarks about possible nuclear war with Kim Jong Un’s North Korea, but I am predicting what A.J. Green and Andy Dalton’s offense will be capable of this year.
Bengals’ third-string quarterback Jeff Driskel said, “I love the culture. It’s a culture that expects to win, it’s a culture that really roots for each other and rallies together.” Driskel is right that Cincinnati expects to win and they do this because of their incredible offense. Driskel continued by saying, “I think it’s a talented group, I think it’s a group that has a lot of upside and a group that plays well together, so, I’m excited for those guys and I know they’ll be ready once the season gets rolling and everything gets set in stone.” Once Sunday comes around for their game against the Baltimore Ravens at 1:00 pm Eastern Standard Time at Paul Brown Stadium in Cincinnati, Ohio, they’ll have most of the pieces that will make their offense great. They have a star-studded starting quarterback in Dalton, wide receivers in Green, Tyler Boyd and Brandon LaFell and a threefold nightmare for the defense at running back in Jeremy Hill, Giovani Bernard and rookie Joe Mixon. In the first installment of this Cincinnati-centered series of articles, I talked about how helpful Mixon will be this year and I discussed in the second piece of this series how there are some positives the Bengals’ defensive end, as well. Now, I’m onto how the Bengals’ offense is awesome. Despite missing rookie wide receiver John Ross due to injury for Weeks One and Two, the Jungle will be off to the races for another playoff appearance, maybe a bye week in the postseason and maybe, finally, a postseason victory. As Mixon said, “This will be electrifying.” First of all, Dalton had a great year last year, despite missing the playoffs: he passed for 4206 yards, 18 touchdowns and only eight interceptions. With a beefed up set of running backs, that also gives him the option of handing the ball off to this newfound speed. As always, Green is projected to be one of the best wide receivers in the NFL; his fantasy ranking was ninth in the entire league. The six year veteran is a six-time Pro Bowler and last year, in his ten games, he caught for 964 yards, four touchdowns and he caught 66% of the passes thrown to him. His contemporary, LaFell, is a bit of sleeper player, as well. As the secondary target for Dalton (behind, first, Green, then Boyd, LaFell caught for 862 yards, six touchdowns and he caught 60% of the passes thrown to him. The third piece of the Cincy wide receiver trio, Boyd, is a budding star, who hopes to conquer the league alongside Green, LaFell and, eventually, Ross. Last year, the rookie Boyd caught for 603 yards, one touchdown and he caught 68% of the passes thrown to him. Ross, though he’ll miss Weeks One and Two versus the Baltimore Ravens and the Houston Texans, respectively, is sure to play a big role this season in the Jungle’s success. In his final year at Washington, Ross caught for 1150 yards, 17 touchdowns and he averaged 14.2 yards per reception. That’s a first down and then some everytime he catches the ball; Dalton’s got a brand-new, very promising target, now. Eifert, the tight end, is the factor that not only uses finesse, but just, mere brute strength. The tank known as “Matchup Monster,” in only eight games last year, caught for 394 yards, 5 touchdowns and 13.6 yards per reception. Most of those plays are ones where he muscles out the last six yards or where he muscles his way through defending arms to catch the football. The running game, as mentioned in “Cincinnati is in for history-Part One” will be exciting. With the leadership of Hill and the mixture of Bernard and Mixon. The final chapter of this series of articles, “Cincinnati is in for history-Part Four,” will come out early tomorrow. It’s a preview for Opening Day against the Ravens and things are looking up for Cincinnati. Jesse A. Cook “Cincinnati Is In For History-Part Three” September 9, 2017 The Cincinnati Bengals are in for possibly the franchise’s greatest season of all-time. “Despite all of the talent on that side of the field, their success depends solely on one word, discipline,” said Dennis Clausen of RotoBaller.com. “Though the team is loaded with some very, very talented players, numerous penalties and “dirty” play has hindered the overall success of the team.”
What Clausen said is true, while the Bengals’ defense is stock-full of talent, discipline always was fatal to the success of the team. In Part One of this Bengals’ Outlook Series of articles, I discussed how rookie Joe Mixon will be an impressive factor in Cincinnati’s playoff run and I’ll talk about the rest of the offense in tomorrow’s third chapter of the series, but in this piece, I’ll discuss the positives of this defense’s possibilities. Yes, Vontaze Burfict, Adam “Pac-Man” Jones and Dre Kirkpatrick have not shown the best character in their careers as Bengals. Burfict and Jones cost the Bengals’ their first playoff win in over two decades back in their 18-16 Wild Card loss to their rival Pittsburgh Steelers due to personal fouls (punching wide receiver Antonio Brown) in the 2015-16 season. Burfict and Kirkpatrick instigated fights with the New England Patriots’ tight end Rob Gronkowski last year in their Week Six 35-17 loss. Sounds dismal, right? You can’t forget about their undeniable skill, though: Burfict had 73 tackles, 28 tackle assists and had a 47 yard interception return, Jones had 54 tackles and 12 tackle assists and Kirkpatrick had 35 tackles, 11 tackle assists, three interceptions and a 21 yard interception return. Both Burfict and Jones are suspended to start the season. Jones will only miss Week One, but Burfict will miss the first three games. This does not sound like a good start for Jungle, but it may be a blessing in disguise. The team is without their two worst troublemakers for a short while, they do keep Kirkpatrick, one of their best defenders, and all three players now know that the league will no longer tolerate their misanthropic transgressions. In terms of skill, the team also acquired linebacker Kevin Minter and defensive end Jordan Willis. Minter was with the Arizona Cardinals last year and Willis was drafted in the Third Round out of Kansas State back in April. Minter was quiet in his first season, but has accumulated 171 tackles over his last three years (he’s only had a four-year career). Last year, Minter had 59 tackles, 22 tackle assists and 3.5 sacks. Willis will be a rookie this year and his preseason looked promising: he had seven tackles, five tackle assists, four sacks and one forced fumble. At Kansas State, over four years he had 74 tackles, 39 tackle assists, 25.5 sacks and two fumble recoveries. Despite the attitude, the Bengals’ mercurial defenders are learning their lesson. They also acquired the factors to complete their defense’s abilities apart from discipline. Read tomorrow for a preview of the Bengals’ ever-promising offense in “Cincinnati is in for history-Part Three.” Jesse A. Cook “Cincinnati Is In For History-Part Two” September 8, 2017 The Cincinnati Bengals endured many struggles in the past years, but they are in for history this time around. Despite the injury of rookie wide receiver John Ross, which will cause him to miss the first two games, the Jungle is looking at ending their unfortunate streak of playoff losses. Yes, you heard it here first, the Cincinnati Bengals will win a playoff game.
I know it sounds crazy, but there is proof: firstly, Emile Pierce of FanSided.com says that “After reloading with a ton of youth, speed and power, the sky’s the limit.” That’s true, Ross’s contribution will definitely prove helpful to his 14 games, but his rookie running back teammate, Joe Mixon is the bigger story. Though he’s third on the depth chart for Cincy, alternating as backup with Giovani Bernard and back to Jeremy Hill, fans are without-a-doubt excited. Head coach Marvin Lewis is one of those fans and he said, “His personality, his work ethic, how he comes and approaches practice every day,” Lewis said about Mixon. “from the very first rookie camp here in Cincinnati, you felt that, but you aren’t sure because it’s a very limited exposure. Now that’s a day-to-day thing with the ups and downs in camp — being tired, being asked to run and finish every play. He likes to do that. He likes to run down that field like he is scoring a touchdown, and we are going to give him a lot of opportunities to do that.” With that type of enthusiasm from the head coach, Mixon is sure to be at the top of his game, soon enough. Of course, Jeremy Hill had a noteworthy season last year; he rushed for 839 yards and nine touchdowns with no fumbles, averaging 3.8 yards per attempt in 15 games. Although Jason Marcum of SBNation Bengals, otherwise known as CincyJungle.com, said, “that doesn't mean this hierarchy can't change as the season goes on, especially if Mixon continues to impress. It just means you need to be patient.” In his two years at Big 12 Oklahoma State he played 25 games, rushed for 2027 yards, rushed for 17 touchdowns and averaged 6.8 yards per carry. Granted, the difference of skill between the NFL and NCAA Football is immense, averaging 1013.5 yards per season is no small task; even the Bengals top running back, Hill, didn’t reach 850 yards last year. Read tomorrow for the sequel to this article concerning the Cincinnati defense. While it held the team back in the past, paired with the usual success of the Jungle’s offense, the team could turn this year into a record year. Jesse A. Cook “Cincinnati Is In For History-Part One” September 7, 2017 |
AuthorJesse Cook: High school junior. Does play-by-play for the Sharon Varsity Eagles softball, soccer, volleyball, basketball, and football teams. Fanatic of the Boston and Cincinnati teams in the Big Four sports. Designs graphics of athletes, politicians, and musicians at Picsart.com. Archives
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