One Alex was out, one Alex returned.

The Ovechkin-less Washington Capitals behind a 4 point night from returning Alexander Semin pounded the Florida Panthers 6-2 last night.  It was Semin’s first game in 7 games due to a wrist injury.  Semin tallied 2 goals and 2 assists to lead the Capitals offensive onslaught.

The Caps dominated the night from start to finish, minus the last two minutes where the Capitals defense decided to get lazy, exposing Semyon Varlamov to a flurry of Panther shots that broke the shutout bid for the young net minder.

The Capitals chased Florida goalie Scott Clemmensen early in the first period, scoring twice on Clemmensen within 76 seconds of one another.  Young back up Alexander Salak didn’t fare much better, getting hammered for 4 goals on the night.  The Caps offense put up 44 shot son gao and the Panther penalized themselves to death, with 12 penalties and43 total penalty minutes.

The first Caps goal came half way through the first period on a nasty slapper from Semin.  It was assisted by Brooks Laich.  It was Semin’s 10th of the season.  The 2nd goal of the first period was scored by Tomas Fleischmann, who took a juicy rebound left by Clemmensen and ended a personal goal scoring drought of 7 games and that tally chased Clemmensen to the bench.  Caps out shot the Panthers in the first period by a whopping 18-6 in a period completely dominated by the Caps.

Matt Bradley opened the scoring early in the second period scoring the Caps first short handed goal of the season.  It was Bradley’s 5th goal of the year, tying his total all of last season.  Less than three minutes later, Nicklas Backstrom scored on the Washington power play to make it 4-0.  Alexander Semin picked up the assist on a complete fake out pass that worked against the young  Salak.  The pass was across the front of the net in a path created by Brooks Laich, pushing Ballard out of the way.   It was perfect execution from face off to goal.   Caps and Panthers each put up 13 shots on the net in the second period.

Brendan Morisonn added his 9th goal of the season on the Washington power play early in the third period.  Morisonn’s goal was assisted by Semin and Mike Green.  Washington’s final goal also came via power play by Semin, his 11th of the year.  Washington was on the power play much of the third period because of really dumb Florida penalties.  Most of that was resultant from losing the cool because of the large deficit.  Varlamov gave up 2 goal in the final 3 minutes after the Washington defense decided to check out early.

Varlamov stopped 24 of 26 shots to improve to 11-1-2, the best winning percentage in the NHL.

Special Teams:

Washington converted 3 of 12 power play opportunities to goals.  It was the first time this season the Caps scored 3 goals on the PP.  I thought they did a pretty nice job keeping the puck in the power play zone, effectively controlling the power play well.  The Caps penalty kill unit was even better, killing all 5 Florida opportunities.  The Caps also scored their first short handed goal from the PK, thanks to a Matt Bradley slapper.

Multi-Point Scorers:

Brooks Laich, 2 assists

Brendan Morisonn, 1 goal, 2 assists

Alexander Semin, 2 goals, 2 assists

DCPSR Player of the Game:  ALEXANDER SEMIN

Notes:

*  Capitals are the only team in the NHL to maintain a perfect record against their own division rivals.  With the win over Florida, Caps move to 6-0 against the Southeast Division.

*  Capitals are 3-0 against Florida this season.  They have out scored the Panthers 17-7 and the Panther have not even been graced at all with the presence of Alexander Ovechkin.

*  After facing Jose Theodore every game last season, the Panthers for three game this year have come against Semyon Varlamov.  They can’t be liking this.

*  Dave Steckel failed to score again last night, leaving him the only Washington forward without a goal.  He was 9/16 on faceoffs.  Fleischmann was 3-4 on face offs, Backstrom was 6/12, and Morisonn was 3/6.

*  Nicklas Backstrom has 3 goals and 4 points in his last 2 games.

*  Eric Fehr added an assist last night, extending his scoring streak to 5 straight games.

*  Matt Bradley’s short hand goal was the first of the season for the Caps and the second of Bradley’s career.

*  Brendan Morrison’s 3 point night was his first since March 15, 2008.

Early in the week the 3^rd ranked team in the nation, the Texas Longhorns, conquered the CBE classic with wins over the Iowa Hawkeyes and the Pittsburg Panthers but as they keep winning, we already face the question: How good are the Longhorns?

Because of the schedule Texas won’t battle a ranked team before December the 19^th when they play North Carolina on Cowboys Stadium. They will maintain the #3 spot this week and can be even higher next one because the Spartans will face the Tar Heels on the ACC/Big Ten challenge and who knows what will happen there. What’s safe to say is that both teams ahead of them ran through big opponents. Michigan State beat Gonzaga and Kansas beat Memphis on ESPN’s marathon day.

On the CBE Classic, Texas just out talented Iowa and Pitt.

From the game against Iowa we conclude that the Hawkeyes will see better days on the horizon and that Texas haven’t been tested yet. Because of the way the Hawkeyes are built, they caused the Longhorns some problem. Because of the ball rotation, Texas help defended in the first half. They fixed that in the locker room and all of a sudden, the Hawkeyes couldn’t score because none of their Guards could beat Pittman and Damion James who finished with 3 blocks each. Except for junk time, Iowa was only 8 deep and as time progressed they warned out.

From the game against Pitt we conclude that the Longhorns do have a deep team. With Varez Ward leaving early on the game, J’Covan Brown was more than capable to do the job and they’ll need him more than ever now that Ward is most likely done for the season. Led by Damion James in both points and minutes, Texas ran over Pitt on the second half and never looked back. The Panthers are still trying to figure out a way to replace DeJuan Blair, so we can consider them a team in transition.

In these first four games of the season we have been able to see that the Longhorns can easily be a Final Four team. Their defense is amazing, Jordan Hamilton is a very nice shooter and Pittman’s game is evolving however without watching them play against top 25 competition, it’s tough to see their problems. Expectations around this team are high but we don’t know how they are going to behave when they face the Gonzagas, Xaviers, Villanovas, Daytons or Butlers of the world and until that date maybe they shouldn’t be number 3 in the nation.

Check More At: Basketball Outsider

Carolina Panthers 28, Atlanta Falcons 19

Atlanta record 5-4

A Painful day in Charlotte

The Falcons took on Carolina Sunday with hopes of keeping pace with the New Orleans Saints; Matt Ryan entered the game hoping to mitigate some of the slump he’s been suffering through against a team he’s already beaten once this season, and looked good doing it; Michael Turner looked to stay hot, building off of his strong performances against the Saints and the Redskins.

Unfortunately, all failed at all counts.

The Falcons dropped the game, pulling within 2 late in the game before a missed field goal and a late interception ended their chances, giving the Panthers an opportunity to tack on another touchdown, sealing the game. Matt Ryan looked shaky more often than solid, and gave up 2 interceptions. Michael Turner spent the 1^st quarter demolishing the Panthers’ run defense before leaving the game with an ankle injury early in the 2^nd quarter. Instead of moving to 6-3, keeping pace with every team in the playoff hunt, they exited Charlotte a more pedestrian 5-4, looking shaky and hurt.

Matty Ice (?)

For the entirety of the 2008 season, Matt Ryan gave up just 11 interceptions. His second interception on Sunday put him at 12, just 9 games into the season. For the last 3 games, his QB passer rating has been less than stellar in the toilet. Matt Ryan would be the first to tell you that his issues are solely his, but his team and coaches will say quite the opposite. In a way, both sides are correct.

Ryan has a bad case of “happy feet” right now, and it is affecting all of his mechanics and decision making. Since his multi-sack game in Dallas, he seems to have no faith in his offensive line, and he is quick to scramble out of the pocket. Even in the pocket, he’s dancing about, and in both cases, he is unable to plant his feet and throw an accurate pass. When he’s scrambling out of the pocket, he’s making hurried decisions without being able to see the whole field, and even when he’s completing his passes, they are to a check-down receiver, and often not as productive as other open plays could be. Some of this is a hyper-focus on Tony Gonzalez, but much of it is being overly rushed, whether for real or in his head.

The feeling of being rushed, however, lies with his offensive line and backfield blockers. For 4 games, they seemed invincible, keeping Matty on his feet all game. But that all came crashing down in Dallas, when he was sacked 4 times. Since then, even when teams weren’t rushing, or even making it past the front 5, he has acted as though he hears feet charging in on him. The line has played well, though, not giving up a sack on Sunday, and hopefully, that will go a long way towards rebuilding Matt’s confidence.

One irony, it seems, is the better the Falcons’ run game has been, the worse the passing has been. I’m looking forward to a game where they pull both aspects of the game together.

Turner Down, But Not Out

Michael Turner unleashed a brutal attack on Sunday, racking up 111 rushing yards on just 9 (!) carries before some galoot on the Panthers squad landed on his ankle, spraining it. Initial reports suggest that his injury is a high ankle sprain, which can be pretty devastating to the lower-leg ligaments, but Michael Turner seems to think that’s not the case. He suggested that the idea of him playing against the Giants this upcoming Sunday should not be ruled out, though I am not quite that optimistic. He has been working out diligently, and the damage may not be as bad as initially thought, but with Jason Snelling playing well, I can’t imagine Mike Smith risking the remainder of Turner’s season by bringing him back too early.

Other Questions

Much has been made about Matt’s struggles and Michael’s injury, but one glaring problem in Sunday’s game was the total lack of a pass rush. John Abraham hasn’t been a factor as of late, leaving Jonathan Babineaux and Kroy Biermann to get the lion’s share of the plays, but even they couldn’t get through to harass Jake Delhomme. Jake had all day in the pocket to pick apart this secondary, and given the youth and inexperience of our defensive backfield, that could have been worse than it was. The defense as a whole looked mediocre, but not awful.

What about Jason Elam? Admittedly, had he not missed a couple of field goals early in the season, and even an extra point, we wouldn’t be making much out of this miss, but the really worrisome things about this miss was how out of sync all of the cogs in the play seemed. I’d expect Smitty to have them all in the film room examining this one for most of the week.

One more thing, on the play calling: early in the game, when Turner was proving to be unstoppable, why did we spend 3 downs in the red zone throwing the ball? Why, when something is working so well, would we mess with that. If a player is hot, keep the ball in his hands.

Moving On

The Falcons will now take a 5-4 record into New York to battle the beleaguered Giants (also 5-4), who are desperately trying to end a 4-game slide. They find themselves trailing the Cowboys in the NFC-East, and tied with the Eagles, and will be hosting one of their major competitors in the wild card race. History is on the Falcons’ side, fortunately, as in the match-up between the Falcons and Giants, the team on the road has a 12-game win streak going on. The last time the hosting team won was back in 1979, when the Giants topped the Falcons.

The winner of this game will move to a respectable 6-4, the loser will slide to a disappointing 5-5, considering that after 5 games this season, the Falcons were 4-1 and the Giants remained undefeated. The Giants don’t look great right now, and their rush defense is suspect, so, it what will likely be Jason Snelling’s first start, he should have some opportunity to earn some respect. The outcome of this game will be greatly determined by whether or not the defensive line can disrupt the Giants offense, whether the defensive backfield can match up against the Giants’ young receiving corps, and if Matt Ryan can live up to his cool nickname.

Falcons at Giants, Sunday, 1pm

Atlanta Falcons at Carolina Panthers

Atlanta record: 5-3

On To the Second Half

The Atlanta Falcons are 5-3, more than halfway to a winning season. They are right in the thick of things, playoff-wise. And now, they’re in Carolina to start the second half of the season, hopefully in the same manner the first half began, with a solid win.

Here’s a few quick hits on how the Falcons can defeat the Panthers

• Contain DeAngelo Williams. Don’t be fooled by his knee injury. He’s playing today, and anytime he’s on the field, he’s a threat. Don’t let him turn the corners. Either stay in front of him and keep him running horizontally until he runs out of room, or else, force him to the inside and close off the lanes. Williams, and to and extent, Jonathan Stewart, are the most dangerous weapons the Panthers have, and should be treated with a great deal of respect.

• Keep Turner churning. Michael Turner has topped 150 yards rushing for 2 weeks in a row, and keeping that going today will greatly improve the Falcons’ chances. Sam Baker is out today, so Will Svitek will get a chance to prove himself, and aiding in springing Turner from the backfield will say a lot about him. It is also worth mentioning that Jerious Norwood is out once again today, but Jason Snelling is back. Aaron Stecker has been released, so that might bode well for Norwood’s return soon.

• Keep it up on defense. This defense, though not great, is playing a whole lot better than anticipated in the preseason, and they have been doing a good job forcing turnovers. If they are able to force a couple early, it is likely that Delhomme will go back to his old ways of throwing to the wrong colors. Also, don’t forget about Steve Smith. Nothing about his statistics are particularly memorable, but he has demonstrated time and time again in the past that he can do some damage, and we don’t want the team he gets hot against.

It’s nearly kickoff, so I’ll have more after the game.

Washington Redskins – 17, Atlanta Falcons – 31

Falcons Record – 5-3

The Wrap

Michael Turner came out hot again, following his strong performance in N.O. with a 166-yard 2-TD game in the Georgia Dome hosting the Redskins. Tony Gonzalez snagged another touchdown and extended his games-with-a-catch streak to a whopping 139. Matty Ice threw 17 completions for 24 attempts (70.8%), deliverer of Tony G.’s TD, and Tye Hill snagged his first interception as a Falcon, returning it for his first career touchdown. Much went right for the Falcons on Sunday at a time when they definitely needed it.

Not all was roses, though. Matt Ryan did throw a pick in an otherwise solid performance, one that really looked like he misread the defense. The error didn’t seem to weigh heavily on him, as he continued to move the ball around the field, and the pressure was off for a majority of the game, with Hill’s pick-6 putting the Birds up 14-0 early, and Turner running around, over and through just about everyone on the Redskins’ defense. Speaking of defense, it took ours all of the 3^rd quarter to adjust to the Redskins’ revamped 2^nd-half offense, making this a much closer game than it should have been. According to Curtis Lofton, “We came out relaxed coming out of the first half. We just have to continue to play hard.” Well said.

The stud of the game will go to Jonathan Babineaux, who, after playing extremely well all season, came out ready to do some damage, sacking Redskins’ QB Jason Campbell 2.5 times (sharing one sack with John Abraham). He also amassed 10 tackles, making him the one-man wrecking ball driving the defense on Sunday, on a record-matching performance by the team.

The Mid-Point

The Falcons pulled a winning 1^st-half of the season, sitting at 5-3 going into the back stretch. The 2^nd -half certainly presents its own challenges, beginning with back-to-back games on the road. The Falcons still remain unbeaten at home, and will benefit from a 3-game stint on their home turf following their 2-week road trip, then go out, then in, then back out of town to complete the regular season. They are trailing the Saints by 3 games at the halfway point, but are right in the thick of things for a wild card playoff berth, mixing it up with the Giants, Eagles and Cowboys (whichever 2 of the 3 that do not win the NFC-East). Their first challenge will be a trip to Carolina to take on the 3-5 Panthers, who are desperately trying to recover from a terrible start in a year they were expected to repeat as NFC-South champions.

The Fine

Mike Smith was handed his sentence today by the NFL for his “scuffle” with Redskins malcontent DeAngelo Hall: reportedly $15,000. He responded by saying, “I want to reiterate that I’m always going to have my players’ backs and I’m going to take care of them.” He also stated that he didn’t disagree with the ruling made by the NFL.

I can’t really say I’m surprised by this fine, and the NFL is making a business of keeping their image clean, but can you blame him? MeAngelo Hall, despite claiming he was just there to protect his teammate, arrived on the Falcons sideline after LaRon Landry had already returned to the field. He was there looking for trouble, and Mike Smith was happy to give him a preview of what was in store for him if he didn’t head back to his sidelines. Mike Smith certainly wasn’t blameless, but he decided to err on the side of his team, and I can totally respect that, as can every member of his team. Hall, however, walks away without so much as a scolding (other than the one given him by the Falcons’ head coach), and continues to whine about how he was mistreated and had hands put on him. Thomas Dimitroff made a great move out of the gate shipping that waste of talent off to the Raiders, who dumped him just 8 games into the season. Grow up, DeAngelo.

Additionally, strength and conditioning coach Jeff Fish was hit with $2,500 for his role in the near-melee, and Albert Haynesworth and LaRon Landry also received fines (Haynesworth for the late shove after even Hall felt like it was a good time to leave, and Landry for the late hit during game play).

Milestones

Added: 1 win, 1 win-in-a-row, 135 passing yards, 181 rushing yards, 1 passing TD (T. Gonzalez), 2 rushing TD’s (M. Turner [2]), 1 score 24 points in a game (Falcons 31), 5 sacks, 1 defensive TD (T. Hill), 1 hold an opponent to 20 points in a game (Redskins 17)

At the halfway point, here’s where our boys stand compared to the milestones:

The Days Ahead

The Falcons head to Carolina to face off against DeAngelo Williams, Jonathan Stewart and some other guys. The Falcons’ run defense will be put to the test, as will their ability to play on the road. It’s an important game as they continue to chase the Saints for the division lead, and a Panthers win would bring them up to just one game behind the Falcons. This is the point in the season where playoff teams begin to buckle down and play sharp, because any misstep can be devastating.

Falcons at Carolina, Sunday, 1pm

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