There were several reports earlier this year and even into the beginning of the season about teams contacting former Patriots running back Corey Dillon about playing for them.

Well it seems that after Patriots running back Sammy Morris went down with a chest injury in the Dallas game, Dillon started to work out with a trainer near his California home in case the Patriots were to call. Over the last few weeks several of Dillon’s former New England teammates have called him encouraging him to come out of retirement.

“When Sammy Morris went down, the phone calls from his teammates intensified,” said Steve Feldman, Dillon’s agent. “I think he felt a real twinge towards his teammates. We’ve had calls all season from teams and the only team he would even consider coming back for was the Patriots.”

Feldman added that Dillon would not be looking to play beyond this season and is just looking to assist his teammates in a time of need.

For now the interest seems to just be on Dillon’s side but I wouldn’t be surprised with this week being the Patriots bye week if he heard from the New England staff about a potential return. Dillon makes a lot of sense in that he knows the system, what’s expected of the players, Laurence Maroney loves him and he was well liked by his teammates despite having a reputation as a troublemaker during his time with the Cincinnati Bengals.

When Dillon retired after 10 seasons he ranked 14th all-time on the NFL’s rushing list. In 2004, his first season in New England, he ran for a career high 1,635 yards and won his only Super Bowl ring.

Somehow I missed this on Sunday morning, probably because it was a 5 page story and I only read the first two pages (Yes I know, lesson learned) from the Boston Globe.

If Alex Rodriguez could handpick the team he plays for, Boston might well be No. 1 on his list. According to a source who has talked to Rodriguez recently, he’d love to play for the Sox because he thinks they can win multiple championships. Meanwhile, agent Scott Boras has been pleasantly surprised with the early interest in Rodriguez. “Several teams have expressed an interest and there have been a couple of surprise teams I never expected to hear from,” he said. Boras would not reveal any names (one of the surprise teams is thought to be the Marlins). Asked whether A-Rod would be OK shifting to shortstop, Boras said, “I haven’t really discussed that with Alex yet. I will if there’s a need to.” Whither the Yankees? “That’s something I will keep between Brian Cashman and myself,” Boras said. “I’m not making any more comments about the Yankees.”

I wonder if Alex regrets that trade to the Red Sox not working out. I can’t say I do because we still have Manny. All I can say about this is PLEASE GOD NO!!!!!!!!!!!!

 

With the Patriots sitting at 9-0 and having just beaten the consensus second best team in the NFL is there anyone who can beat them?  Is a perfect 16-0 regular season out of the question?  They have next week off for the bye and then they come back for the final seven games of the year. Three on the road and four at “The Razor.”  So take a look, make a vote and let us know.

Your choices are:

• at Buffalo
• vs Philadelphia
• at Baltimore
• vs Pittsburgh
• vs NY Jets
• vs Miami
• at NY Giants
• no one, they’ll go unbeaten

You can vote in the new Sox & Dawgs poll,it’s in the left hand column.

The Result

It was far from pretty and it was far from the blow outs we’ve seen all year but in a match up of the NFL’s two best teams the New England Patriots came from ten points down in the fourth quarter to beat the defending Super Bowl Champion Indianapolis Colts, 24-20 at the RCA Dome in Indianapolis IN. They are now 9-0, while the Colts are 7-1.

If any Patriots fan says there was never any doubt they’re lying. These games between these two teams are always good and we were treated to a great game today.

Since he took over for an injured Drew Bledsoe in 2001, Tom Brady has now led the Patriots on game winning drives in the 4th quarter or overtime 25 times. That is the most in the NFL in that time period.

As I said in the preview that this is far from the end for the losing team. The Colts are a great team as we all just witnessed and there’s no doubt in my mind that these two teams will play for a trip to Super Bowl XLII.

Enjoy the week off Patriots fans there is a lot more work to be done.

Scoring Plays

1^st Quarter

• IND – Vinatieri 21 yard FG – 3-0 Colts

2^nd Quarter

• NE – Brady 4 yard pass to Moss – kick good – 7-3 Patriots
• IND – Vinatieri 25 yard FG – 7-6 Patriots
• IND – Addai 73 yard run – kick good – 13-7 Colts

3^rd Quarter

• NE – Gostkowski 34 yard FG – 13-10 Colts

4^th Quarter

• IND – Manning 1 yard run – kick good – 20-10 Colts
• NE – Brady 3 yard pass to Welker – kick good – Colts 20-17
• NE – Brady 13 yard pass to Faulk – kick good – Patriots 24-20

Offensive Players of the Game

Patriots QB Tom Brady was 21 of 32 for 255 yards, 3 TD’s and 2 INT’s

Colts RB Joe Addai had 26 carries for 112 yards, 5 catches for 114 yards and TD

Defensive Player of the Game

Patriots safety Rodney Harrison had 6 tackles and an INT

Turning Point(s) of the Game

Jarvis Green pressures Peyton Manning forcing a fumble recovered by Rosevelt Colvin with 2:30 left to play.

Wes Welker makes a first down catch at the two minute warning to seal the win.

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After missing most of the first half with foul trouble, sophomore Jerome Dyson scored 20 of his 27 points in the second half as the Huskies trounced Bryant 100-65 in front of 8,563 at the Hartford Civic Center. Stanley Robinson decided he would help out as he scored 13 points and pulled down 8 rebounds. Jeff Adrien added 9 points and 10 rebounds for the Huskies as well.

Bryant is in their first year of transition from Div. II to Div. I and will start play in the Northeast Conference in 2012. It was evident their smaller size would prove to be a huge factor in this exhibition game as they were outrebounded 50-32. UConn pulled down 13 offensive rebounds leading to 23-0 in second chance points.

Bryant had 33 fouls in the game and they sent UConn to the line 46 times. The Huskies converted 31 of those for a shooting percentage of 67% from the free throw line. As I said last year, that is not going to win ball games in the Big East.

It was a good game for the Huskies as they got to see how they would fare against a smaller team, something they will probably encounter during the season. This allowed the Huskies to run some 3 guard sets in which they executed very well. They were also able to work on their defensive trapping and that led to 17 turnovers for Bryant. Lucky for UConn that the 17 turnovers they committed didn’t hurt them. But again, they will need to work on that as the season approaches.

I know it was just an exhibition game but a crowd of just over 8500 is weak. I wonder if they were thinking of maybe putting the curtains up in the upper levels of the Hartford Civic Center.

UConn will now begin their regular season play on Wednesday night when they take on Morgan State in the first round of the 2K Sports Colleges Hoops Classic at 7 PM on ESPNU. Ohio Valley faces Buffalo in the opener at 4 PM. The two winners will meet on Thursday night at 9 PM on ESPNU for the right to go the semifinals at the Mecca of college basketball, Madison Square Garden.

I will have a look at the 2007-08 Huskies on Wednesday before their opener.

Boxscore

Recently I added tailgating info including recipes to the Patriots weekly game previews. With that in mind I thought it would be good to share my favorite recipe. This was passed down to me by a friend who was a firefighter, and if anyone knows how to cook and how to enjoy food believe me it’s firefighters. He got it from a firehouse cookbook he bought about 15 years ago.

Without further adieu I bring you:

Firehouse Ribs

Country style pork ribs (6 lbs.) is what the recipe calls for but you can use any type of pork or chicken even as it’s all in the sauce.

This will yield more sauce than you need for a smaller batch of ribs but never fear you can save it or you can cut the contents back. I usually just make it as it is and save it.

• 1 cup ketchup
• ¼ cup rose` wine
• 2 tbs. soy sauce
• 2 tbs. maple syrup
• 2 tbs. lemon juice
• 2 tbs. brown sugar
• 1 tsp. dijon mustard

Preheat the oven to 400 degrees.

Arrange the ribs in a baking dish coated in non-stick spray.

In a bowl combine all the ingredients and mix thoroughly. With a basting brush coat the ribs with sauce and back for 30 minutes then lower the oven temperature to 350 and bake for an hour. Turn and baste ribs every 15 minutes while cooking.

The best part of this recipe is you can also cook the ribs (or chicken) on the grill, which makes it great for tailgating. These are guaranteed to be a hit. I’ve had people who don’t like to eat pork love this recipe.

The worst part of the recipe is no matter what it comes in contact with you will need a jackhammer to clean. Over the years I stopped using my Pyrex baking dishes and cook the ribs (or chicken) in a disposable foil baking pans you can buy at any supermarket or Wal-Mart. It’s well worth the little extra for the foil pans because even with the non-stick spray on the dish it’s still tough to clean.

Back in August, Steve gave you a list of potential free agents and explained how free agency works. This year, players will have until November 12th to file for free agency. The teams who have players who file for free agency, can talk with their free agents up until Nov 12th. Starting November 13th, any team can contact the list of free agents.

Here is the list of the free agents as of November 4th. I will update this daily if any more players file for free agency.

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I found this over at Awful Announcing so OMDQ gets all the credit but I figured I would pass it along here as it pertains to the Red Sox.

The National Baseball Hall of Fame and Museum has posted 200 candidates for the 2008 Ford C. Frick Award for major contributions to baseball. Some of the past winners include Vin Scully, former Red Sox announcer Curt Cowdy, Jack Buck, Ernie Harwell, Joe Garagiola, Marty Brennaman, Bob Uecker and Jerry Coleman.

Fans get to vote for three candidates all through November and the list will be paired to ten on December 5th. Among the nominees for 2008 are:

Joe Buck, Tim McCarver, Joe Morgan, Chip and Skip Caray, Tom Cheek, Phil Rizzuto, Dizzy Dean, Joe Nuxhall, Jim Kaat, former WFSB-TV (Hartford) sports director Ted Leitner, former ESPN anchor and CT native George Grande, Tony Kubek, Ron Santo and Jose Mota.

Those on the list with ties to the Red Sox include:

Jon Miller, Ned Martin, Ken Coleman, Bob Starr, Jim Woods, Joe Castiglione, Jerry Trupiano, Bob Kurtz, Bob Montgomery, Sean McDonough, Dave O’Brien and Jerry Remy.

Talk about a team with a great broadcast legacy. My only question is what no Glenn Geffner?

UConn in the NBA returns again this year as I will show you how the former UConn men’s players did in the NBA for the previous week. You can see their entire stats by clicking on their names to the left in the stats.

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