Thrashers Game Report - 11/22/08

Blue Jackets 2 - Thrashers 0

Dull as a butterknife

Come to think of it, that butter knife is more exciting than the Thrashers contest. Who would have thought I'd have more fun blowing, raking and bagging leaves for 4.5 hours than I had for 2.5 hours in Philips Arena.

Boxscore

Dull-lights

Columbus is the type of team that generally gives the Thrashers fits. Even though the rest of the league can take take advantage of their relatively thin offensive talent, the Thrashers have trouble moving against a team that plays defense first and can put up a wall at the blueline forcing a team to dump and chance. With little forecheck and out of sync passing, the Thrashers were doomed from the outset. In the end, the Thrashers made more mistakes than the Blue Jackets and the Jackets converted the Thrashers' mistake into the winning goal. An empty net goal with less than 90 seconds finally wrapped it up.

Thrashers simply couldn't generate many scoring chances. Whenever they reach the Jackets zone, there were too many bodies for the offense to deal with. When they tried to dump the puck, rarely would the Thrashers get their first and hardly ever won the battles for the puck in the offensive zone. In the end the Thrashers had only 14 shots and that simply isn't going to win many NHL games.

Things could have been worse for the Thrashers but Pavelec had another strong game in goal. Nothing spectacular but very solid. Columbus's only goal was the result of a Thrasher turnover that turned into a close shot attempt with wide rebound that Nash easily buried in the net.

Passing and shooting looked particular out of sync for the Thrashers on this night. I stopped counting the number of times the Thrashers wound up for a shot only to miss the puck, shoot wide or worse. Kovy had a horrible game offensively, missing on most his shot attempts and looking frustrated by the sufficating Columbus defense. Only a brief stretch of the third period featured any significant Thrasher opportunities.

A 5 game winning streak was ended a week ago and now the Thrashers have a 3 game losing streak. The frustrating inconsistencies continue. This team cannot afford to play at any less than 100% and expect to win. Last nights effort was far less than 100%.

Sitting up top is an adventure every time. I never really know what I'm going to get. This particular night featured a loud-month drunk girl who would put most sailors to shame. The worst of it came when she tried for nearly half a period to get a wave going. Fortunately, most of the fans were with me in denying her this particular pleasure.

The season is almost a quarter over but I'm waiting for the 25 game mark for a progress report. Here's hoping they get another winning streak going soon.

Broncos Game Report - 11/16/08

Broncos 24 - Falcons 20

What a treat it is to finally see the Broncos in person once again. I hadn't see them in person since the opening game in St. Louis a few seasons ago and they hadn't played in my home town since 1997. It is a hell of lot more fun to yell at the stadium than from the comfort of my home. This was also the first time I was able to bring my daughter to a Bronco game and she certainly got to see a good one.

I ponied up some big bucks for some nice tickets at the 45 yard 21 rows behind the Bronco bench. While the crowd was slow to arrive, I got there early enough to watch warmups and make certain I was in my seat for kickoff. Last time I went to the Dome for a Bronco game, Sharpe caught a long bomb before I could get to my seat and I was only a couple minutes late.

There were plenty of Bronco fans in attendance but it was nice to see the Dome filled with Falcon fans. I've always said if they can create a winning tradition, Atlantans WILL support it. Football is huge in these parts but the populace won't tolerate a loser. Call it bandwagon if you like. Personally, I think they are lot of smart ticket buyers. Why pay for crap.

Falcon fans were very gracious and friendly. Plenty of nice discussion and only an occassional good natured barb. They were congradulatory in defeat and recognized the Broncos good play. I always try to handle this sort of situation with class. If one does I think one can have a good time in any stadium, with possible exception to raiderland.

I quickly noticed no Champ Bailey at warmups. Not too shocking. Also noticed several players go over and talk to Elam including Cutler, Shanahan and Prater. Bly had a talk with Foxworth as well.

Nice to see the Broncos come out strong and force a quick punt by the Falcons. Set the tone for the day.

On the Broncos first possession it was obvious they were going to attack things a little different. Without an experienced, in-shape, tailback they needed to find other ways to the move the ball. Short passes, end arounds and reverses took the place of a running game and setup the rest of the game. Finishing off with a TD on the first drive was huge.

I was a bit disappointed to see the Falcons have continued success converting on 3rd down. 95% of the time the DBs were giving 12 yard cushions on 3 & 5. Far too easy to pickup first downs and I could see the completion ahead of time on every single one. When they did play press coverage (most often on 1st and 2nd down) they had better coverage.

Falcons kept trying to run outside and defense did a great job of stringing it out. Why the Falcons didn't run up the middle more was a mystery. That the 2nd string linebackers contained one of the best rushing offenses should be applauded. I was VERY fearful of MichaelTurner coming into the contest.

I was very surprised that the Falcons worked on Bly more than Paymah. Thank goodness for that.

It hurt seeing Elam lining up for the other side. Hard to root against the guy but I did my best. He may not have the strongest leg anymore but he is still as reliable as ever. It doesn't matter if you can pound them from 50+ if you can't hit inside the uprights from49. :-)

I was disappointed the Broncos couldn't turn the Ryan interception into 7 after marching down the field. Touchdowns are going to be tough down close until they can find a back to pound it inside. Surprised they went with Pope over Hillis on this drive.

Royal's contribution cannot be understated. The field position he got on kickoff returns was huge. So close to busting a couple. I'm pretty sure Shanahan would rather someone else return kicks but with Royal's performance it is going to be hard to take him out of that role.

Great to see Cutler be a little smarter with the ball. He took a lot of heat the last couple weeks, much of it earned. On this day he made only one poor decision. Plus he had a nice block to help gain an extra 5 yards.

I'm still looking for more pressure from the DL. A lot of vanilla defense in this game but Ryan faced pressure on only limited occassions. Much better job of tackling by the team as whole.

A couple other interesting observations:

- Marshall spent all his sideline time seated on the Gatorade table, not the bench. I don't see this as a negative but maybe a touch of "look at me, I'm different".

- For all those that need passion from the coaches, Rick Dennison has plenty. I honestly think it is time he gets some credit for bringing the young OL around so quick.

Two road wins in come from behind fashion are great. Seeing San Diego sputter and lose again is fine. However, there is a long way to go. Broncos cannot overlook the Raiders who still can play good defense. Chances of getting a wildcard look remote although a win against the Jets in two weeks would improve those chances. San Diego's home tilt against Indy Sunday night is huge. A 3 game lead will probably be too much to overcome. I still don't expect a Super Bowl out of this team and really don't expect any playoff success. However, I think it would be nice to get this group TO the playoffs and be able to build on that experience in the future. Its a tough road to hoe but if the defense can solidify a bit and some players can get healthy it is still possible.

Brasstown Bald / Wagon Trail Hike

Off to the mountains again, this time to climb to the highest point in Georgia, Brasstown Bald. While I'd been to this particular area of North Georgia on numerous occassions, I'd never been to the top of the mountain.

This particular hike was two distinct hikes. First, the hike to the top of Brasstown Bald was moderately steep climb .6 miles up a tar path. Numerous people were sharing the trail and many others took the shuttle bus to the top. At the top was a nice tower presenting expansive views of the surrounding mountains, valleys and waterways. Not too exciting of a hike but worth the trip for the nice view which was highlighted by the bright fall colors.

The wagon trail was the second part of the hike and very easy overall. Much less travelled, I saw only 3 other people during my 2 hours on it. It does have some nice ambience due to the variety of the trees, nice granite walls and one really nice vista.