Milan Lucic Suspended For One Game (Tonight), Bruins Recall Kampfer, Caron

Well Bruins haters who claim that the Black and Gold are "above the law" for their various borderline hits should be pleased today, as the NHL announced that they are suspending Milan Lucic one game (tonight vs. Montreal) for his hit on Flyers winger Zac Rinaldo.

Lucic, who has only been suspended once before, for his crosscheck to the face of Maxim Lapierre boarded Rinaldo during Saturday's 6-0 rout of the Broad St. Bullies, sparking a brawl that saw Nathan Horton dropping the gloves. Lucic was later served a five-minute major and a ten-minute major which ended his day prematurely.

It is unclear if Lucic will appeal the suspension.

Lucic, who has 24 points in 31 games this season, recently came under fire for railroading Sabres goalie Ryan Miller back on November 12. He was not suspended for the hit, which drew sharp criticism from Buffalo head coach Lindy Ruff as well as the usual suspects of Bruins haters (shout out to Pat Hickey at the Montreal Gazette).

On first glance and subsequent replays, I didn't see a major problem with the hit, but I guess sending a message to a now repeat offender like Lucic is what discipline czar Shanahan is going for. At least it's only one game.

In other Bruins news, the team has announced that they have recalled Steven Kampfer and Jordan Caron once again, after sending them down to Providence on Saturday. It was a measure taken to give the healthy scratches some game action.

Gregory Campbell (foot) looks like he could be a go versus Montreal tonight, as he was one of nine bruins who participated in the Bruins morning skate. He will likely be a game-time decision.

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From The Department Of Depressing News: Andre Carter Is Done For The Season

Ryan and I both alluded to it in our game recaps from yesterday's Patriots-Broncos game but now, we will write something which I'm sure New England won't confirm until after it has happened (if at all): defensive end Andre Carter is done for the season with a quad injury.

Carter's agent (as good a source as any) was quoted as saying that the left quad injury will require surgery. Then Carter tweeted "Thank you for showing me and my family support this season. It's been a blast. Wouldn't change it for anything."

As I said last night, this is a very serious injury for the Patriots defense which we all know is the worst in the NFL in terms of yardage given up per game. Carter was New England's best free agent pickup this offseason (light years ahead of Albert Haynesworth or Chad Johnson); he had 52 tackles, 10 sacks, two forced fumbles and one pass defensed through the first 13 games and looked poised to make the Pro Bowl and more importantly be a vital member of a playoff team (something he rarely experienced in his stellar career).

With 22 tackles, nine sacks, two forced fumbles, one fumble recovery and one pass defensed, Mark Anderson is the player that will be used most to replace Carter's pass rush pressure. In a bigger role yesterday, Anderson delivered with his best game of the season (2 sacks, forced fumble, fumble recovery). The Patriots will need him to provide consistent pressure to keep quarterbacks honest. Otherwise, as usual, quarterbacks will have plenty of time to pick apart the Patriots piss poor secondary.

Rookie Markell Carter has languished all season on the practice squad so it's time to activate him and see if the raw but talented guy from a small school can do anything to help this team in the 2011 NFL playoffs when they will play better quarterbacks and better squads.

UPDATE 12/19: A source says Carter could be moved to IR as soon as Tuesday.

UPDATE 12/20: Carter went on IR today with "a leg injury" and the Pats signed defensive lineman Cedric McKinley to the practice squad. They still have a spot open on the 53-man roster with only five days before their game against Miami on Saturday at Gillette Stadium.

In a somewhat surprising move, defensive end Eric Moore was released today. Another sign that Markell Carter will be added to the roster.

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I Literally Have No Idea What To Expect From The Patriots Anymore

Yesterday was a strange day in the NFL, with the Jets getting blown out by the Eagles, the Packers losing their first game to the Chiefs (?) and the Colts winning their first game against a team trying to make the playoffs (Titans). Yet the Patriots, and more specifically their defense, was possibly the strangest development.

I can't recall a game this season where the Patriots' defense was alternately atrocious and dominant over a single 60-minute effort. The Patriots were straight up brutal on defense to start the game, allowing Tim Tebow to lead the Broncos down the field mostly on the ground, staking the Broncos to a 13-7 lead at the end of the first quarter.

At this point it looked like the Pats couldn't stop anyone, the coverage sucked, the tackling sucked and the pass rush sucked. For one week, Tebow and the Broncos actually started the game on fire as opposed to the fourth quarter awakening we have all grown accustomed to seeing.

My new-found faith in Tebow aside, he didn't really do much in the first quarter, riding an insanely effective running game up and down the field. Tebow's shining moment came at the end of their first drive, when he scrambled under pressure, shedding a Rob Ninkovich tackle before barreling into the end zone, sending the fans at Mile High into a brief frenzy.

The game turned around in the second quarter, when the Patriots forced two fumbles and capitalized on a muffed punt, turning three turnovers into 13 points and headed into the locker room up 27-16.

Aaron Hernandez stepped up in a major way all game long and Tom Brady became the second quarterback in NFL history to throw 35 or more touchdowns in consecutive years.

The second half became more of a beatdown than I had anticipated headed into the game. After Andre Carter went down with a quad injury that will require surgery, the Patriots' defense held up their end of the bargain, clamping down on the Broncos offense and figuring out their schemes. Mark Anderson was huge in relief of Carter, racking up two sacks, forcing a fumble and recovering the fumble as well.

Overall it was a solid win for the Pats, who clinched the AFC East (again), however I have no idea what this team is made of. Do they have the talent on offense to make it to the Super Bowl? Of course they do, they lead the AFC in scoring offense and are third overall in the NFL (behind Green Bay and New Orleans). But the defense? Holy shit. If they play like they did in the first half against any playoff team, it will be tough for them to advance past the first round.

Brady and the offense was brilliant once again but as we have seen in recent years, they have a hard time translating regular season success into playoff victories. In order for this team to reach that next level, which we all think they can, they need to be more reliable on defense and give Brady more room for error. Do I think their defense is as bad as they looked early on yesterday? No, but I don't think that they are as good as they looked in quarters 2-4 either.

With Brady's window of greatness closing, Belichick better conjure up some magic in the next few weeks if he wants to bring home a fourth Lombardi trophy to Gillette Stadium.

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Another Season, Another AFC East Title (9th in 11 seasons) As Patriots Top Broncos 41-23

The hardest thing to achieve in the NFL is consistency. For that alone, the New England Patriots need to be lauded as they picked up their ninth AFC East title in the last 11 seasons (third in a row, 8th in the last 9 seasons) with a 41-23 win (their sixth straight) over the Broncos this afternoon at Sports Authority Field at Mile High.

New England (11-3) was able to knock off the NFL's flavor of the month, Denver (8-6), who had won six games in a row before today. I'll dare to call it the Pats biggest win of the season thus far, given the hype and the fact that nobody in the NFL besides the Packers was hotter than the Broncos.

It is certainly easy to pick holes in the Patriots terrible defense but in a season like this, where there is no dominant team in the AFC, they have as good a shot as any to reach the Super Bowl based on their superb offense, quarterback and head coach.

Broncos quarterback/messiah/global icon Tim Tebow (11 of 22, 194 yards passing; 12 rushes, 93 yards, 2 TDs) was slowed down when the Patriots figured out the obvious solution to stopping him: building up a big lead, which forces him to throw the ball (not his strong suit).

The fact that John Fox is the Broncos head coach means that they'll never outcoach any other team. Talk about riding Tebow's coattails, Fox is the luckiest guy in the country that he gets to coach him and therefore has kept his job. Other than the one random Super Bowl appearance with the Panthers, what has Fox ever done? He's another bozo in a league full of them.

Also, Denver was careless with the ball, they fumbled three times and the Patriots converted those into 13 points.

After a very shaky start, trailing 16-7 early in the second quarter, New England was able to run off a 34-7 run to close it out and win the division (the Jets also lost although all the Pats had to do was take care of their own business).

The only negative that tempers this win is the fact that defensive end Andre Carter left on the last play of the first quarter with a knee injury and early reports seem to indicate that the Pats defensive MVP (an oxymoron) is done for the season.

If that's true, it's a huge blow to their Super Bowl hopes since he's their only real pass rusher. However, Mark Anderson (3 tackles, 2 sacks) continues to quietly have a nice season and he'll be counted on for much bigger things if Carter is out. Likewise, rookie Markell Carter will probably be activated from the practice squad.

Denver's defensive gameplan was clearly to limit Wes Welker (4 catches, 41 yards) and Rob Gronkowski (4 catches, 53 yards). They were successful at doing that but unfortunately they forgot about Aaron Hernandez (9 catches, 129 yards, TD), who set career-highs in catches and yards.

Demaryius Thomas (7 catches, 116 yards) was Denver's only effective option in the passing game while Patriots rookie running back Stevan Ridley (11 carries, 65 yards) came back out of hiding after not seeing much of the field for months. Strange considering he's been New England's most explosive running back for most of the season.

Besides a highlight reel sack on Brady in garbage time by Elvis Dumervil (2 tackles, 2 QB hits), him and Von Miller (1 tackle for loss) were completely held in check by New England's offensive line.

On a day when some truly wacky things happened around the NFL: Colts win, Packers lose, Reggie Bush ran for over 200 yards, it was fitting that Chad Johnson caught his first touchdown of the season.

Denver marched right down the field on the opening drive with Tebow running it in from nine yards out. That basically caused Twitter, ESPN and the Internet to simultaneously crash. Former Patriot Lonie Paxton's bad snap caused Denver to have no chance on the point after.

Tom Brady (23 of 34, 320 yards, 2 TDs, 0 INTs) went to work and tied it up with a 33-yard strike to Johnson, who was wide open. Stephen Gostkowski's point after made it 7-6 New England.

Lance Ball (11 carries, 64 yards) put the Broncos ahead 13-7 with a 32-yard touchdown run later in the first quarter.

Matt Prater's 26-yard field goal early in the second quarter gave Denver its biggest lead at 16-7 but from there, the Patriots woke up and the Broncos had no answer for anything they did.

Brady found Hernandez for a 1-yard touchdown which cut it to 16-14 Denver. On the next play, Ron Brace (remember that bum?) forced a Ball fumble that Rob Ninkovich recovered. New England's offense was stuffed in the red zone and they settled for a 21-yard field goal by Gostkowski. However, the Pats led 17-16 and they would never trail again.

Three plays later, Anderson forced a fumble by Tebow and recovered it. Brady and Co. were able to take advantage of it as he scored on a quarterback sneak. Brady put the cherry on top with a Gronk spike.

Quan Cosby was in a giving mood, it being the holiday season and all, so he fumbled on a punt deep in Denver's territory. No idea why he fielded it but Dane Fletcher was happy to pounce on it. Gostkowski's 34-yard field goal on the next play gave the Patriots a 27-16 halftime lead that truthfully felt like stealing.

Surprisingly, the Broncos barely showed a pulse in the second half after living off improbable fourth quarter comebacks during their absurd last two months. Danny Woodhead had a pretty 10-yard touchdown run in the third quarter, Tebow added a 2-yard touchdown run in the fourth quarter and BenJarvus Green-Ellis closed it out with a 1-yard run.

We will watch Sunday Night Football tonight (Ravens vs. Chargers) and Monday Night Football (Niners vs. Steelers) tomorrow night in hopes that both AFC contenders will fall. The fraud Texans lost earlier today so it looks like a three-team race between the Patriots, Steelers and Ravens for that coveted top seed in the AFC playoffs.

No more road games in the regular season for New England. They host Miami on Christmas Eve then Buffalo on New Year's Day. Two more weeks and then things will really get interesting as the 2011 NFL playoffs roll around.

UPDATE 12/19: The Ravens got blown out last night by the Chargers and ditto for the Steelers tonight against the Niners which means your New England Patriots are in the driver's seat for the No. 1 seed in the AFC. They are one game ahead of Houston, Baltimore and Pittsburgh with two games remaining; win out and they lock it all up. Wow.

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Take That 24/7: Bruins Embarrass The Flyers 6-0 In Philadelphia

For Boston Bruins fans disappointed that the team isn't featured on HBO's wonderful 24/7 this season (Rangers-Flyers), they can take solace in the fact that Boston's 6-0 beating they threw against host Philadelphia this afternoon should guarantee that they get some face time next Wednesday night on HBO.

A showdown between the top two teams in the Eastern Conference never materialized at the Wells Fargo Center since the Bruins (21-9-1) hung four on Mr. Universe, Flyers (20-8-3) goaltender Ilya Bryzgalov in the first period.

It was basically 40 minutes of extended garbage time after that as Boston added a goal in the second period and third period to skate away with a very impressive road victory, their fourth consecutive win overall.

Tim Thomas (31 saves; 15-5-0) picked up his 30th career shutout with a through performance between the pipes which was juxtaposed with Bryzgalov's (15 saves, 5 goals allowed) nightmare that mercifully ended early in the second period.

With its top two players-defenseman Chris Pronger and NHL leading scorer Claude Giroux-sidelined with injuries, the Flyers were rudderless. 12 Bruins had points and six different players scored, led by Rich Peverley (3 assists), Joe Corvo (2 assists) and Tyler Seguin (1 goal, 1 assist).

Before the fans had even sat down with Yuengling in one hand and cheesesteak in the other, Benoit Pouliot (5th of the season) made it 1-0 only 27 seconds into the game. He tipped it in off a great feed from Peverley.

Daniel Paille (6th of the season, tying his goal output from last season) doubled the lead at 2:50 after following up a rebound. Dennis Seidenberg and Corvo had the assists.

Zdeno Chara (7th of the season) scored the first of Boston's three power-play goals at 8:08, from David Krejci and Peverley. Chara's blast from the point came only a few minutes after he got into a fight with Jody Shelley.

Milan Lucic (11th of the season) closed out the incredible first period for the Bruins with another power-play goal, at 17:10 from Corvo and Seguin.

As the game got out of hand, Philadelphia resorted to its usual tactics-starting fights-but while that might work against some weaker teams (ie. most Canadian squads), the Bruins relish the chance to get into a couple scraps. Johnny Boychuk stuck up for Brad Marchand (and received a 10-minute misconduct in the process) as he fought Scott Hartnell.

The last two goals for Boston will hopefully propel two of its coldest offensive players. Nathan Horton (9th of the season) had the final power-play goal, at 7:06 from Chara (completing the Gordie Howe hat trick-1 fight, 1 goal, 1 assist) and Peverley. Bryzgalov's juicy rebound to Horton signaled the end for everyone's favorite wacky Russian.

Lucic got a game misconduct late in the second for checking from behind. It was a dumb decision that could cost him a game (suspension) or a fine.

Seguin (team-leading 14th of the season) ended the rout with a tally at 12:12 of the third period past backup goaltender Sergei Bobrovsky. Marchand and Andrew Ference had the assists.

Marchand was the third and final Bruin to get a misconduct late in the third period.

This sets up another big rivalry game on Monday night as the Canadiens-fresh off firing their head coach Jacques Martin this morning-visit TD Garden. So far, Montreal owns the season series 2-1 but Boston won the last game 1-0 on Nov. 21 at the Bell Centre (the game Thomas stole).

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Jeff Green Out For The 2011-12 Season Following Heart Surgery

If you follow Twitter as closely as I do and you like the Boston Celtics, I'm sure you had a similar feeling like I did this past week as the news about forward Jeff Green became more and more vague.

As he was held out of more practices and scrimmages, you had to know something very serious was up to sideline one of their top younger players not to mention the key to their bench this season. I also thought he was poised for a breakout season after struggling so badly after coming over from Oklahoma City last season in the ill-fated Kendick Perkins trade.

Today, the team announced that Green has an aortic aneurysm and he'll miss the entire 2011-12 season after he has heart surgery on January 9, 2012.

This is no time to make cheap jokes since the Celtics are the same franchise that suffered through the tragic death of Reggie Lewis in the 1990s. As the situation with Green dragged on, I had a bad feeling that he either had a disease or some heart condition that they had just found out about.

The good news is that he reportedly should be able to resume his career in the 2012-13 season. Fellow NBA players Etan Thomas and Ronny Turiaf both resumed their careers the next season after open-heart surgery.

Boston recently signed him to a one-year, $9 million deal so they'll obviously try to get out of that by consulting the NBA. I've already read that it will be voided since he didn't pass a team physical during training camp.

"While we are saddened that Jeff will not be able to play this season, the most important thing is his health, and we were fortunate to have access to an amazing team of specialists to evaluate Jeff's case," Celtics president of basketball operations Danny Ainge said. "The entire Celtics family supports Jeff during this difficult time in his career."

At $77 million even without Green, the Celts will only be able to offer veteran's minimum contracts to possible replacements to Green, no exceptions left. The scariest aspect is that Marquis Daniels and Sasha Pavlovic are now the primary backups for Paul Pierce and Ray Allen.

The preseason kicks off tomorrow vs. Toronto and the regular season beginning on Christmas-a week from tomorrow at Madison Square Garden against the Knicks.

I think I speak for everyone when I say get well soon Jeff. There are many things more important than basketball, hope you can have a normal life very soon.

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Source: Patriots Extend Jerod Mayo's Contract For Five More Years

ESPN's Adam Schefter was the first this morning to report that the New England Patriots and linebacker Jerod Mayo have agreed to a five-year contract extension.

This is good news considering that Mayo is still only 25-years-old which means he is likely just coming into the prime of his playing career.

After missing two games in October with a MCL (knee) injury, the former University of Tennessee star still ranks third on the Pats with 68 tackles (44 solo, 24 assists). He's also had three passes defensed and forced a fumble.

The most promising aspect of his game has been his playmaking ability, something New England desperately lacks on defense. In each of the last two games (wins over Indy and Washington), Mayo has stepped up with critical fourth-quarter interceptions (fittingly the first two of his career).

Mayo's best season so far in his four-year career was in 2010. He was an All-Pro after racking up 175 tackles total (114 solo, 61 assists) with three fumble recoveries, two sacks and a forced fumble. He also went to his first Pro Bowl for that fine season.

Moving forward, I think it's obvious that to get the most out of Mayo, the Patriots need to surround him with more talent in the linebacker corps. That means less undrafted bums like Dane Fletcher and Gary Guyton and more guys like Brandon Spikes.

Mayo has been a good player, he was the AP's defensive rookie of the year in 2008 and he's lived up to his lofty draft spot (1st round, 10th overall).

When he has more talent around him, it'll be easier to have him be more aggressive. For now, I think the Patriots deploy him more to clean up others mistakes (which there are always an abundance of).

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