titan_uranus

Wallace is going to have to play a lot better if you're going to make it from here. You have to bank the wins against Philly, NYG and Minnesota in the next three weeks. Can't afford to drop those. The last five games include road trips to Detroit, Dallas and Chicago, alternating with what appear easier games against Pittsburgh and Atlanta at home. Bank the upcoming three with Wallace, then go 2-3 in the final five and you'll end up 10-6. Probably won't be enough for the division the way it's heading, nor for a wild card I don't think. So you have to convert at least one of those three tough road games. No Rodgers = no chance. If Rodgers makes it back in time for the Detroit game, and helps you pull our one or two of those three road games, you should be right. Sweeping Detroit will help you too.

Nice win by your boys in prime time! Interesting move though, when Ponder went down you went to Cassel and not Freeman. I wonder how that will affect the rest of your year, given you seem to have banked on Ponder. Washington is such a shadow of 2012. They're in a weak division, sure, but if the Cowboys beat the Saints they're three games back with 7 to play which is dangerous territory. They were 3-6 last year though, and rounded out the year with 7-0, so I guess it's possible.

Siddle, Harris, Johnson and Hilfenhaus are all being rested from next week's Shield games in preparation for the first Test. http://www.theage.com.au/sport/cricket/pacemen-put-on-ice-for-ashes-20131107-2x499.html If we have to resort to Hilfenhaus this series, then we're stuffed.

Bailey out for 34, didn't add to his overnight score. Disappointing. Meanwhile Cowan continues, now on 75. Warner's up to 60 off 52. Rain in Hobart preventing Doolan from getting out there and having another shot at the Test side.

Warner showing his 'grit' with 28* off 21 and 6 fours. I suspect he's a given for the first Test, though I would prefer him never to play Test cricket again, so it probably doesn't matter. Siddle with the early wicket of Maddinson is a good sign; he's been a bit out of form so far this season, and we're no chance in the Ashes if he's not taking wickets. If Cowan goes on to make a century, I wonder whether that will change the selectors' minds? I doubt it, I feel like he'd need to make successive big scores because his cards appear stamped, but at least he'll be in form if we need back up.

He's in the side because he has talent, there aren't many decent batsmen going around in Australia at the moment, and CA is desperate for Australian cricket to have 'stars' to attract kids and the like. Grit isn't everything, which is why Cowan's Test days look numbered. But Warner doesn't have it. He's not the kind of batsman to just bunker down in the face of strong bowling, he doesn't have that lion-hearted fighting spirit. That's not him. His runs come from big shots and dominating bowlers.

Indy has its flaws, absolutely, but they're going to make the playoffs and when it comes down to it, you have to be able to beat the best. Indy has shown it can lift its game when required to match the best. Of course, KC and Denver will get their turns when they play each other, and KC will get Indy later too, so we'll be able to make better comparisons then.

England 0/310. Carberry 145*. Cook 154*. New opening pair confirmed, you'd have thought. Root to bat at 6. Cutting, Copeland, Henriques, Holland, Maxwell = all lacklustre. Meanwhile Victoria is 7/196, Rogers a valiant 87* whilst the rest struggle. Lyon's taken just the one wicket so far (I hate this media crap about a 'bowl off' between Lyon and Ahmed. Lyon is better. Ahmed hasn't done nearly enough yet to be included. Selecting him on the back of one innings where he took a six-for is exactly the kind of haphazard selecting we shouldn't be engaging in).

Rogers has dropped the anchor, as they say, in the match against NSW. 26* off 127. White made 48 before getting out, Quiney just 6. Victoria now 4/100. Carberry opened with Cook in the England XI v Australia A game. 0/164. Bowlers include Jon Holland, who got hit around for 25 off his 4 overs. Silk and Cosgrove doing well to have Tasmania 0/109, against bowling including Ryan Harris. What rubbish. He's got nothing but a desire to be flashy and the ability to hit sixes. I couldn't imagine a worse number 3 choice, to be honest. Cowan has 'grit and a real fighting spirit'. So does Rogers. Warner is at the other end of the spectrum.

Some perspective on the good sides, courtesy of Tuesday Morning Quarterback: Undefeated Kansas City and stats-a-palooza Denver each have only one victory over a team with a winning record, in both cases shaky 5-4 Dallas. Cincinnati has a quality win over New England, but also three losses; Chicago has a quality win over Cincinnati, but also three losses; Green Bay is 1-3 against other winning teams; Detroit 2-2 against other winning teams. Seattle beat the 49ers but lost to Indianapolis, making the Seahawks 1-1 in authentic games. San Francisco 1-2 against top teams. New England has just one quality victory, over New Orleans, which in turn has just one victory over a winning team. For authentic accomplishments, so far Indianapolis is tops (3-0, having beaten SF, Seattle and Denver). Carolina is on a 4-0 streak -- over teams with a combined 6-27 record. The Chiefs haven't faced a starting quarterback since September. Opposition quarterbacks in Kansas City's past five games have been second string, second string, second string, third string and fourth string. ​

What I meant is that, if his back is playing up, the extra rest he'd get by batting at 5 would do him good.

Incredibly soft schedule. Eagles, Giants, Vikings, Falcons, Steelers don't pose a huge threat (though I guess Eagles in their Week 9 form might be a bit tougher). That just leaves games against the Lions, Cowboys and Bears, all of which are road games and much tougher assignments. Having said that, at 5-3 they'll need to pick up all those easy games to get 10 wins. Lions and Bears also have 5 wins each, so the competition in NFC North is definitely on.

Not sure how long Rodgers is out for, but if he's out then Green Bay's playoff chances are surely in big trouble. With Stafford and Megatron in awesome form, winning NFC North is going to be tough (especially if the Bears can win games with McCown at QB). Today's result means that, if the playoffs were now, GB wouldn't be in them. Detroit wins NFC North, and Carolina beats out GB (and Chicago) in the tiebreaker for the second wild card (based on conference record). If we assume that Seattle/SF and Denver/KC make up the first WC in both conferences, the battles for the 6th and final playoff spot on both sides is really heating up. Going to be a massive finish to the season.

Is there anyone in Australia who can actually bat at 3? Watson can't. Smith can't. Khawaja cant. Clarke can, but shouldn't (back). I don't think Bailey can either. Maybe Doolan gets a game for this reason. 28 years old, so not as young as we might have hoped for, but still could get a decent few years out of him, and he is made for 3.

Looks as though Kubiak will be fine. Meanwhile the Colts came back from a 21-3 deficit to win the game, with the Texans' kicker missing a field goal on the final play of the game to force OT (his third missed FG of the game). Huge win for the Colts, keeps them two games clear of Tennessee (sounds ridiculous, but a loss would have only meant the Titans would be back one game!).

Provided we can call Melbourne a 'professional football team', this is fantastic. There's always reason to hope.

I've always been a fan of his. He's doing everything right. With Watson potentially out, that's two spots in the top six we need to fill. Bailey takes one, but the other one is up for grabs. Doolan's century helps him, as does Faulkner's ODI form. White needs to keep making runs, maybe with a wicket or two here or there, to ensure he stays in selectors' minds. At some point this Ashes questions are going to be asked about most of our top 6, spots may appear.

Bucs led Seattle 21-0. After the Jets beat the Saints and the Eagles put up 7 touchdowns today, I thought maybe they were a chance. Nope. Seattle wins 24-21 in OT after Marshawn Lynch dominates their OT drive. Biggest ever comeback for Seattle. They're not playing well but their next two games are at Atlanta and the Vikings. Meanwhile, Jets beat the Saints (wtf) and the Eagles put 49 points up against the Raiders (wtf). Redskins over the Chargers too, which really helps the Jets in their search for a Wild Card. Chiefs will be undefeated going into their SNF game with the Broncos. Huge. And now Cleveland beats Baltimore for the first time in six years. They're 2 back in AFC North.

If Watson misses the first Test due to his hamstring, you have to wonder whether sending him out to bat was the right thing. Regardless, Indian cricket hit a new low when Dhawan mocked Watson's limp. India's young crickets are, without exception, a bunch of petulant brats (Dhawan, Kohli, Raina). Puts the wonderful attitudes of Tendulkar, Dravid and Laxman to shame. No. Six batsmen. One keeper. Four bowlers. Great innings from him (fastest Australian ODI century I think) but that was a small ground where most batsmen were finding the fence with ease.

How many injuries this season! I feel like the number of injuries isn't correlative to the size of the sport, just feels like far too many players going down. It's just the one 15-minute period in the regular season. If there's no score after 15 minutes it's a tie. Of all the ways to lose, to be sacked (just, mind you) is one of the worst, surely. Came about because of the drop on the previous Bengals possession. Had Sanu held that catch, they'd have been close enough to go for the FG. Big result, that. Miami has games left against Tampa Bay and Pittsburgh, plus two games against the Jets, and the Bills as well. The division is not completely out of the question if New England stutters a tad, otherwise a wild card is achievable. As for Cincy, they've still got the Ravens twice, plus the Chargers and the Colts, so the door is open for the Ravens to snatch the division off them I guess.

Rohit Sharma - wow. Australian bowling - not so wow. Brisbane and Melbourne. You're right, though. These pitches are made for Tremlett, who dominated when he played last time, and Broad. Tough for us all round. Timely from Doolan, with Shane Watson injuring his hamstring - no surprise with that one. If we rate Watson as highly as we appear to, he shouldn't be bowling meaningless overs in an ODI in India three weeks before the Ashes starts. In other scores, Cowan made just 4, Lyon took three wickets but it wasn't enough to stop Tasmania, Marcus North took WA to a draw by batting out the fourth day for 118* off 314, Marsh made just 4, Cameron White backed up his 83 and 61 with the bat by taking 4 fourth-innings wickets, Ahmed couldn't get a single one, Trott and (surprise surprise) Bell made 100s too. White a sneaky chance for a Test spot this summer if he keeps it up. Domestic form right now has him right up there, and if he's taking wickets too, you never know, what with Australia's penchant for 'all-rounders'.

Clarke should bat at 5, especially if his back is playing up. More rest. I'd put Bailey at 4, with Smith at 6. Smith's more suited to 6, plays spin well enough. Bailey's got a good enough technique to bat at 4. In order to win, we can't afford to regress from our platform from the winter. By that I mean, we have to keep Cook and Trott quiet, Root the same. To go the next step, we then have to work out how to get Bell out and how to play Anderson's swing.

Agreed, I think that'll be the side. The third paceman is an issue - I don't rate Johnson with the red ball at all. His current form is white-ball stuff, which he's more suited to. Short spells, bursts of fire and bounce and pace. Major psychological issues with the English batsmen too. Having said that, if not Johnson then who? Bollinger did just take a six-for, but I'd rather go with Johnson if Dougie's the only other option. Hazlewood's not taking enough wickets. Hasting's isn't good enough. Coulter-Nile is thereabouts but again, wouldn't put him much in front of Hastings. Ben Hilfenhaus is another option but he's had one good summer his entire career (two years ago v India's awful batsmen). Bird, Starc, Pattinson and Cummins are the future of Australian fast bowling. Such an enormous pity (and problem) that they're all out for the summer.

Impressive. 6/68 in the end. Doesn't help Lyon when he hasn't taken a wicket for NSW today, either. I'd still give Lyon the start though, he's done enough by now to earn his spot, Ahmed needs more than one innings. Other performances today: Bollinger took a 6-for (sneaky chance for the third seamer's spot behind Harris and Siddle?), Cowan made just 24, Doolan 56, Khawaja made just 8, Shaun Marsh 42, Agar just the 1, Siddle just 1 wicket. Meanwhile at tea in the WA Chairman's XI v England XI, WA is 1/221. England's bowling attack includes Jimmy Anderson, Chris Tremlett, Steve Finn and Boyd Rankin, the latter three of whom are competing for their third paceman's spot.

Indeed. Hard to believe I forgot. Another big innings, another step towards taking the number 6 spot.