Cincinnati Bengals: The Future Has Come

Though Thursday night’s 34-10 demolition of the Atlanta Falcons was a preseason game loosely coached for evaluating players in bulk, the Cincinnati Bengals showed that the future may have already come for this young team.

The once elite AFC North is now a diminishing division. Despite the acquisition of coveted defensive end Elvis Dumervil, the Baltimore Ravens has lost eight starters from their Super Bowl winning team, including defensive and emotional leaders Ray Lewis and Ed Reed.

The Pittsburgh Steelers have began slowly losing key players while proving inconsistent and struggling to stay out of trouble off the field. In Cleveland, the Browns will be undergoing yet another “rebuilding” year.

Right now, the AFC North is at its most vulnerable state with the usual threats in Baltimore and Pittsburgh fading.

In his third NFL season, Andy Dalton will be looking to lead the Bengals to their fourth straight playoff berth, and potentially their first first-round bye since the 1988 AFC Champion season. As a second round draft pick in the recent era of big time first round quarterbacks, Dalton has quietly become one of football’s next great quarterbacks.

After his standout rookie season, Dalton avoided a sophomore slump last year by bettering all of his stats, except for interceptions, rushing yards, and fumbles. This season, Dalton will have already played two full campaigns and will be looking to takeover a questionable division as a dominant quarterback.

Dalton will once again be armed with fellow 2011 Draft Class member, A.J. Green. Since they debuted together, Green and Dalton have been evolving into one of the league’s best quarterback/ receiver tandems. In their rookie season, Green and Dalton set records for completions and passing yards between a rookie quarterback and wide receiver.

Like Dalton, Green is returning from a second season where he was able to improve most of his stat categories. Green enters 2013 with already two 1,000 yards receiving season and eighteen career touchdowns.

The Bengal offense will not be one dimensional and just Green.

Gradually, Cincy has put together a stellar young squad. At the other wide receiver, the Bengals have Mohamed Sanu in his second season out of Rutgers. In just eight games last year, Sanu had four touchdowns. This will likely be Sanu’s first season as is already projected to be a starter.

At tight end, the Bengals will have depth and size. Cincinnati will have a pair of 250+ pound tight ends, with 6’5” Jermaine Gresham and 6’6” Tyler Eifert.

Eifert was just drafted out of Notre Dame in this year’s draft after a standout season with the BCS runner-ups where he average almost fourteen yards per carry. Gresham is the projected starter after averaging twelve yards per reception last season.

Dalton and Green might not be the only young duo on the Bengals With their size and ability, this tight end duo of Gresham and Eifert can develop into the Patriots of old with Rob Gronkowski and Aaron Hernandez.

In the backfield, Dalton will have BenJarvus Green-Ellis in shis econd season with the Bengals. Green-Ellis broke out with the Patriots in 2010 and 2011 where he rushed for 24 touchdowns in two seasons. Last season with the Bengals, Green-Ellis fell off a bit with six touchdowns but still provides a dynamic presence in the backfield.

The defense will be returning most of their top performers from last season including middle linebacker Rey Maualauga. Maualauga will be in his third year as the team’s middle linebacker. Last season, Maualauga recorded a career high in total tackles with 122.

The Bengals will have a very experienced secondary with eleven year veteran Terrence Newman and seven year veterans Leon Hall and Reggie Nelson. Last season, these three combined for seven interceptions while providing a strong veteran’s presence and experience.

Carlos Dunlap will once again be the defense’s lead pass rusher. In his three seasons out of Florida, Dunlap already has 20 sacks, including a 9.5 sack rookie campaign.

For the Bengals, their young offense is catching up to their seasoned defense’s experience and they will be in a position to take the AFC North crown in a weak division.

Unlike the Broncos and Patriots, there is no pressure of running out of time. As a young team, the Bengals will have many more seasons to win. Because the future has come, this year may be one of those seasons.

How Biogenesis Will Affect the Playoff Races

With Monday’s punishments announced for the players involved in Anthony Bosch’s biogenesis clinic, 2013’s playoff races may be slightly altered. Although most of the players connected to biogenesis are less than role players, some teams will be tasked to endure the season’s final two months without impact players and All-Stars who were an integral part of their first half lineups.

Two teams whose quest for October will lack 2013 All-Stars are the Texas Rangers and Detroit Tigers. The Tigers lost their shortstop, Jhonny Peralta, while Texas will move forward without their main catalyst, right fielder Nelson Cruz.

In the Rangers’ first season without Josh Hamilton and Michael Young, one of their offense’s few reliable assets was Cruz. Understandably, Cruz was having his best statistical season prior to his suspension. Through 108 games, Cruz was on pace for career highs in homeruns and qualifying batting average.

Cruz led the Rangers in homeruns with 27, RBI with 76, and walks with 35. Aging third baseman Adrian Beltre will be the Rangers’ main offensive force for the remainder of the season. Beltre leads every major offensive category that Cruz didn’t.

Two players who the Rangers will need to perform for hopes at keeping up with the surging Athletics are catcher A.J. Pierzynski and second baseman Ian Kinsler. Both players have missed over 20 games already and will need to stay in the lineup and perform like their old selves for Texas to have a chance at getting back to fall baseball.

Unlike the Rangers, Detroit probably will not even feel or notice Peralta’s absence despite his All-Star season with a .305 average. Detroit still has the reigning Triple Crown winner, Miguel Cabrera, along with his counterpart, Prince Fielder.

Thus far in 2013, Cabrera is posting a legitimate bid for a repeat at the Triple Crown with a league leading .359 average and 105 RBI along with a second best 33 homeruns. Fielder has provided an additional 80 RBI and 17 homeruns.

Like Cruz, Peralta was also having one of his best seasons. Peralta’s .305 average was a career high and was on pace for his most homeruns since 2008. Despite this revival to his eleven year career, Peralta is a minor subtraction from an already very deep and experienced lineup loaded with Cabrera and Fielder as well as seasoned veterans Torii Hunter and Victor Martinez.

The Tigers had prepared for Peralta’s suspension when they addressed his potential vacancy at the Trade Deadlne. Detroit acquired Jose Iglesias from the Red Sox in a three team trade with the White Sox that saw the departures of Avisail Garcia and Brayan Villareal.

Iglesias is a defensive minded shortstop, but showed signs of strong offensive production earlier this season.

Even if Peralta’s absence downgraded the offense, the Tigers’ starting rotations is still one of the league’s most talented staffs with the 17-1 Max Scherzer, 10-5 Doug Fister, and perennial Cy Young candidate 12-8 Justin Verlander.

The Tigers have the pitching and enough offense to make the playoffs and hold off the threatening Indians without Peralta. In Arlington, the outcome does look as promising. Texas will fatally miss Cruz’s power in their efforts to stop the Athletics if other players fail to stay productive and on the field.

By suspending the players involved with biogenesis, baseball hoped to retain the integrity of the game and keep an untainted playoff race. These suspensions have altered the playoff race and punished more than just the players, but also their teams. Seeing the way their teams needed them, after failing to make the playoffs, could be the best punishment of all for the players and perhaps an added incentive in the future to stay clean.

McCarron Will Be Looking for Even More Hardware

It seems a team not located in Miami is highly favored to capture a threepeat in 2014 as the preseason coaches poll names the two time defending champion Alabama Crimson Tide the nation’s number one team. Coming off a complete demolition of Notre Dame in this year’s BCS National Championship, Nick Saban’s squad will be back and perhaps better than ever.

Though they have lost nine starters, including first round picks cornerback Dee Milliner and offensive linemen Chance Warmack and D.J. Fluker, Alabama is returning one of college football’s most experienced and decorated players ever, in AJ McCarron. The Heisman-less McCarron has led the Tide to two championships in his two years as a starter for a career record of 24-2.

Like Mario Chalmers of the Miami Heat, McCarron has lived in the shadows of his distinguished and celebrated teammates. McCarron, a quarterback, and Chalmers, a point guard, drive the motor behind their championship winning teams, but find themselves out of the limelight.

No matter how many times Chalmers sets up the offense, Dwayne Wade will always get the praise for the made three pointer. Regardless of how well McCarron reads the defense and calls an audible that results in an Trent Richardson touchdown, fans will only recognize Richardson’s skill as a rusher.

Chalmers probably will never have the chance to shine due to the cap-breaking talent on his team, however McCarron might be able to this season.

McCarron’s offenses in his first two seasons as a starter revolved around a primary running back, Trent Richardson in 2011 and Eddie Lacy in 2012. Since McCarron’s sophomore season, Richardson and Lacy had combined to rush for 3001 yards and 38 touchdowns. Both Richardson and Lacy were drafted after their breakout seasons in Tuscaloosa.

This season, Lacy’s former counterpart, sophomore T.J. Yeldon, a 1,000 yard rusher, will likely be McCarron’s primary back. Yeldon is more versatile as a receiver than Lacy, which will give McCarron more opportunities to throw the ball rather than hand it off.

As a senior quarterback with a versatile yet young backfield and experienced receivers, McCarron can finally put emphasis on his passing game. McCarron will be armed with his top two receivers from 2012, Amari Cooper and Kevin Norwood. This dynamic tandem led the national champions in yards, receptions, and touchdowns.

As a freshman, Cooper was the Tide’s lone 1000 yard receiver last season.

Alabama is also adding a highly touted recruiting class of receivers, including the nation’s second ranked tight end, O.J. Howard, as well as wide receiver Ruben Foster who ESPN ranks 25^th overall.

With McCarron’s experience along with his stellar weapons on offense, he can make a strong case for the Heisman Trophy. Despite his storied career and the award’s infamy for being given mainly to quarterbacks, McCarron has never even been nominated for the prestigious award. However, this can be his year.

In an offseason of controversy surrounding the reigning Heisman winner as a freshman, Johnny Manziel of Texas A&M, McCarron may be the early favorite in his senior year. McCarron will face his Manning Quarterback Camp roommate and fellow preseason Heisman candidate in College Station on September 14 in a rematch of Alabama’s only loss of 2012.

Even with two championships, McCarron made the almost unprecedented decision to return to college for his senior year and bypass the NFL Draft. There is something that McCarron want that he does not already have.

A Heisman. A perfect season.

In recent years, the Alabama offense had been dominated by a premier running back. McCarron will have another talented back this season in Yeldon, however considering all of his other assets on offense, it may finally be McCarron’s time to get more publicity than his girlfriend, Katherine Webb.

There is no question that Alabama is the early favorite to finish 2013 where they started, at number one. The Tide will likely win the championship and complete the threepeat before the Heat do, which would make McCarron a Heisman away from matching, if not bettering, Tim Tebow’s illustrious college career. 

A Crucial Time for Cardinals

Just inside the final two months of the season, the St. Louis Cardinals are finding themselves in a position not to familiar to the eleven time champions: doubt.

The division rival and competing Pittsburgh Pirates have hosted the Cardinals for a five game set that may serve as a deciding factor for the NL Central title. Pittsburgh has won the first four games, including a double-header sweep on Tuesday. The Pirates have outscored the Cardinals 22-7 so far this series.

Losing both ends of Tuesday’s double dip was not even the worst part of the day for the Cardinals. In the second game, National League MVP candidate Yadier Molina left in the third inning with a knee injury. Molina’s MRI would later reveal knee inflammation which landed him on the 15 day DL.

Before his injury, Molina had put together arguably the best season of his eleven year career. The National League’s starting catcher for the All-Star Game, Molina was batting .330 with an unusually high 54 RBI.

2.5 games out of first place and without their biggest asset for at least the next two weeks, the aging Cardinals are riding a five game losing streak and are tasked with keeping pace with the much younger and scrappy Pirates.

If Molina can return on time, he should be available for the final game of the Pirates/Cardinals series occurring from August 13-15 in St. Louis. Until their next meeting with the Pirates, the Cardinals will venture through a difficult segment of their schedule without their best player.

After tonight’s concluding game of this rare five game series, the Cardinals will travel to Cincinnati for a three game series with the 60-49 yet third place Reds. While in Cincinnati, the Cardinals pitching staff will be tasked with containing the Reds’ power threats in Jay Bruce, Joey Votto, Shin-Soo Choo, and Brandon Philips who combine for 65 homeruns.

Following the Reds series, the Cardinals will return home to face the National League’s hottest team, the Los Angeles Dodgers. Though at home, this series will still be a test for the Cardinals as they encounter the explosive Dodger lineup who have the MLB’s best team average in July.

Without Molina, St. Louis can potentially face the impressive tandem of the 10-6 and ERA leading Clayton Kershaw and 8-3 Zach Greinke in the Dodger series and the 10-4 Mike Leake versus the Reds.

After meeting the Dodgers, the Cardinals will have somewhat of an easier matchup as they face off with the longtime foe Chicago Cubs.

Even without their All-Star closer, Jason Grilli, Pittsburgh has a much easier schedule before their next meeting with the Cardinals. The next three series for the Pirates will be against sub-.500 teams. The Pirates are slated to play the miserable last place Marlins in between two sets with the 51-58 Colorado Rockies.

Pittsburgh has it so good these next two weeks that when they play the Marlins, they will not even have to visit the hideous Marlins Park.

When the Pirates arrive in St. Louis for another crucial meeting, the standings could be determined by much more than 2.5 games. Although the Cardinals have the fifth best record in the major leagues, these next two weeks without Yadier Molina could be detrimental to their season.

The Cardinals will still have a strong team without Molina but they will be losing one of the lineup’s main catalysts. There will be added pressure on the aging bodies of Matt Holliday and Carlos Beltran for Molina’s leadership and production while more emphasis will be placed on Matt Carpenter for Molina’s reliability.

In recent years, it was the Pirates who fell apart at this time of the year due to injuries and slumping bats, however the tables may turn.

Depending on how this next stretch goes for the Cardinals could help Molina’s campaign for MVP. Unlike the Heisman Award in college football the MLB does not grant the award to the best player, but rather to the player who was the most valuable to his team, thus the name Most Valuable Player. If the Cardinals struggle without their elite backstop, it will prove his worth as the most valuable player on the team.

A Nostalgic Weekend for the Yankees

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This weekend’s story could not get any better for Yankee fans. Serving at least as a temporary distraction, the Bronx Bombers were able to relive their glory years of the late 1990s and early 2000s for a little while.

That era of Yankee baseball may have been one of the single greatest dynasties in sports history, along with another great chapter in the team’s legacy, the 1920s and 1930s where the Babe Ruth led Murderer’s Row went to six World Series in twelve years, winning three.

For the first time since the mid 1960s to early 1970s championship drought, the Yankees are facing a true crisis. Teams in the AL East are younger and more talented, as the Yankees are running out of their normal luck in finding high risk/high reward free agents, as well as time with ageless wonders and franchise cornerstones, Derek Jeter and Mariano Rivera approaching retirement.

While the team is unraveling, the status of the 275 million dollar third baseman, (No, that is not a hyperbole.) Alex Rodriguez, is indefinite. Rodriguez, who admitted his steroid use in 2009, is among the players accused of involvement in Anthony Bosch’s biogenesis clinic, facing a potential suspension or lifetime ban from baseball.

After a week tainted by the Yankee front office taking disassociating themselves from the same player they signed for ten years in 2007 to a new extreme by falsely placing him on the disabled list, Yankee fans had a taste of their rich past to forget about the scandals and decline of their team.

This weekend began with the midseason trade for former Yankee Alfonso Soriano from the Cubs. Soriano was acquired to help spark an outdated, fragile, and sluggish Yankee lineup. Before the trade, Soriano had hit eight homeruns in the month of July, one more than the Yankees, as a team.

While a Yankee, Soriano was part of four World Series teams, including two championships. Before the 2004 season, Soriano had been traded from the Yankees to the Texas Rangers for Alex Rodriguez.

Soriano’s best season in the pinstripes, 2002, may have been the best of his fourteen year career. In 2002, Soriano hit 39 homeruns and drove in 104 runs while hitting .300 for the only time in his career. Though he may be well passed 2002, Soriano can still provide the offense with that same explosive production while providing fans with his attendance for a blast from the past.

Less than 48 hours after Soriano’s arrival in the Bronx for the weekend series against the Tampa Bay Rays, two other iconic Yankees made their return to The Stadium.

Longtime Yankee captain and shortstop Derek Jeter returned to the Yankees lineup from another stint on the disabled list on the day his former teammate, Hideki Matsui, retired and was honored with his own bobblehead day.

This was Jeter’s second return of the month after reinjuring himself in his first game off the DL on July 11. A perennial and classic Yankee with five rings, Jeter experienced his best seasons during that dynastic era in the Bronx.

In the 1999 World Series winning season, Jeter hit .349 with a 24 homeruns uncharacteristic to a shortstop. Jeter would also excel in 2000 where he was awarded the unprecedented combination of both All-Star Game MVP and World Series MVP.

Matsui joined the Yankees in 2003 after an already illustrious career in Japan. A two time All-Star, “Godzilla” was part of one World Series team in 2008 where he batted .615 with three homeruns and eight RBI, earning him Series MVP.

What could be more Hollywood for the class act Jeter to return with Matsui in attendance and being honored?

Homering on the first pitch of his first at bat.

Jeter’s homerun was the first for the Yankees in nine games, making his presence known immediately. After a 2-4 performance by Jeter, Tinseltown would return for this throwback as Soriano slated his fourth hit of the day, a walkoff to give the Yankees a much-needed victory.

Now as the scriptwriters and film crews have left Yankee Stadium, there still are those same issues lurking with the Steinbrenners, Brian Cashman, and Joe Girardi.

The feel good movie is now more of a melodrama.

What will happen with A-Rod? How can we keep up with the Red Sox, Orioles, and Rays? What are we going to do when Mo and Derek leave? Can Soriano meet our expectations and perform like before?

For the Yankees, this weekend full of feel good memories of yesteryear served as a suitable distraction, however moving forward the Pinstripes may never be the same.

All was not well for the Yankees of the early 2000s yesterday, former Yankee star Tino Martinez resigned as Marlins hitting coach after numerous complaints and accusations on his “tough” approach.