Monday Morning Quick Hitters

Well...maybe Bill "Yoda" Belichick knows what he is doing after all. Matt Cassel's 1st NFL start looked a whole lot like one of the 1st few games that one Tom Brady took over for Drew Bledsoe in 2001, lots of running, lots of screens and lots of short dump offs and take 1 shot down the field just to stretch the D. Cassel didn't turn the ball over and was a fairly efficient 16 - 23 for 165 yards. Lamont Jordan gave the running game a boost in the 2nd half, pounding his former team for 62 yrds in 11 carries. The Pats beat the Jets 19 - 10.

The Chicago Bears choked up a lead and a game against the Carolina Panthers 20 - 17.

The Oakland Raiders, who may be minus a head coach today, beat the KC Chiefs 23 - 8.

The New York Giants totally stomped on the St Louis Rams 41 - 13.

The Colts barely slipped by the Minnesota Vikings with a late FG 18-15.

Backup QB Kerry Collins and rookie RB Chris Johnson led the Tennessee Titans to a big 24 - 7 win over the Cincinnati Bengals.

The Redskins D picked off Drew Brees 2 times and Jason Campbell finally got Jim Zorn's offense to edge out the New Orleans Saints 29 - 24.

Trent Edwards has a strong game as the Buffalo Bills outlast the Jacksonville Jags 20 - 16.

JT O'Sullivan gets sacked 8 times, but still throws for over 300 yrds and leads the 49ers to a 33 - 30 win over the Seattle Seahawks.

The Tampa Bay Bucs bring Matt Ryan and the Atlanta Falcons back to Earth with a 24 - 9 win in Tampa.

The Arizona Cardinals and Anquan Boldin sliced and diced the Miami Dolphins 31 - 10.

The San Diego Chargers got a little robbed as the Denver Broncos went for 2 and won the game 39 - 38.

In the nightcap, not exactly the way the NFL drew it up, The Pittsburgh Steelers limped to a 10 - 6 win over the Cleveland Browns.

Jon Lester looked like an ace once again, helping the Sox beat the Toronto Blue Jays 4 - 3. The Sox took 3 of 4 against the Jays and head to Tampa 1 game back of the Rays.

The New York Yankees did the Red Sox a favor by beating up on the Tampa Bay Rays 8 - 4.

NL Central leading Chicago Cubs sure got a game out of Carlos Zambrano. With the game moved to Miller Park in Milwaukee, Zambrano threw the Cubs 1st no hitter in 36 years, beating the Astros 5 - 0.

The Milwaukee Brewers fall continued as the Philadelphia Phillies finished off a sweep of the Brewers with a 7 - 3 win. The win propelled Philadelphia to a tie with the Brew Crew for the Wild Card lead.

The Minnesota Twins dropped another game in the standings, losing to the Baltimore Orioles 7 - 3.

The LA Dodgers lose to the Colorado Rockies 1 - 0 in 10 innings, but still remain 4 1/2 games up on the Arizona Diamondbacks.