Don’t Look Now: 11/20/2006

Don’t look now but…

 Is there any question that LaDanian Tomlinson is the best player in the NFL right now?  Tomlinson’s four touchdowns last night against the Broncos puts him at 22 for the season a mere six shy of the 28 Shaun Alexander scored to set the record last season.  Tomlinson is currently on pace for 35 TDs which would shatter Alexander’s record and at the pace Tomlinson has scored 19 TDs over the past six games it is not out of the question that he approach 40 before the season is out.  Tomlinson has bolted past Peyton Manning in the race for the league’s MVP Award.

Philip Rivers is emerging as one of the best young quarterbacks in the league right now.  His coming out party came at the expense of the Bengals last week rallying the Chargers from a 28-7 halftime deficit to defeat the Bengals.  He struggled a bit in the early going against the Broncos this week but he pulled it together to rally the Chargers from a 24-7 3rd quarter deficit for yet another thrilling victory.  With each passing Chargers victory the decision to trade Manning for Rivers and two picks that amounted to Shawn Merriman and Nate Keading is turning out to be a steal for the Chargers given that Eli Manning continues to struggle in New York.  To think this is the second time in recent history that the Chargers dealt out of the number one selection to take someone of percieved lesser value and it paid off royally for them.  Remember when the Chargers passed on the ballyhooed Micheal Vick and traded down in favor of LaDanian Tomlinson?  Ask Falcons fans who got the better end of that deal.

Don’t be surprised if Phillip Rivers’ alma mater has a new head football coach next year.  The Wolfpack continued its decension to the bottom of the ACC Standings by losing another game that appeared winnable on paper to North Carolina.  After back-to-back thrilling victories against Boston College and Florida State the ‘Pack appeared poised to make a serious run at the ACC title this year only to have the wheels fall off the cart and lose the next six games.  The ‘Pack currently stand at 3-8 and with its season finale looming against a vastly improved East Carolina squad a 3-9 season seems imminent.  This does not bode well for a coach whose team was expected to go bowling this year and appeared poised to be a serious threat in conference play.

The Cubs finally spent some dough on a signficant free agent signing.  Too bad they are, in all likelihood, overspending on Alfonso Soriano.  They expect him to play Center Field next year and given that he was barely servicable in Left Field this seems to be a bit of a mistake for a team looking to win now.  Does Soriano really deserve $17 plus million per season?  This is, after all, a guy who does not hit particularly well in the clutch (.261 Avg. and .425 Slg. in Close/Late situations over the past three years) nor does he hit particularly well with runners in scoring position (.240/.441).  On top of that post season resume is nothing to swoon over either.  Soriano has never emerged as that superstar caliber player whom you can build a lineup around or count on to carry an offense.  When I am paying a guy that much money I expect him to be able to hit in any situation.  Ultimately the Cubs won’t be a serious World Series contender unless they find more pitching so I don’t know how big of an impact this is going to have for the Cubs.  One would think that after watching the Cardinals and Tigers get to the World Series due in large part to getting big time pitching performances and playing sound defense that teams would realize the Yankees approach of trying to put a thumper at every spot does not work without the arms to back it up.

It is still early but the Magic and Cavaliers appear to emerging as the teams to beat in the NBA’s Eastern Conference.

 I like the makeup of the Magic.  Dwight Howard is going to be a beast in the low post for years to come and Jameer Nelson is a budding star in the league and once Grant Hill’s contract comes off of the payroll this summer the Magic are going to have plenty of cash to spend on what should be a pretty deep free agent market.  However, there are a few things that concern me a bit about the Magic.  First is that nobody has emerged as the go-to scorer.  Grant Hill currently leads the team at 16.1 points per game and given his history of injuries one has to think that the Magic would rather see Howard step into this role.  Secondly, is they are turning the ball over 19 times a game which is too many for a team if it means to contend come May.  Thirdly, they really need Jameer Nelson to step up as the primary distributor of the ball.  His assists total of 3.8 per game is far too low for it to be leading the team.

 I am not sure if I am sold on the Cavs just yet.  If they don’t start getting scoring from someone other than LeBron they are going to be in trouble when going up against teams that can keep LeBron in check to a degree.  The Cavs may also run into trouble against teams have a legit low post presence given that Ilgauskas is barely giving them 20 minutes per game in the early going.

 How much do the Grizzlies miss Pao Gasol?  They have started the year a paltry 1-8 without him.  Mike Fratello has to know that things are not going well when Chucky Atkins is your leading scorer.