The Montreal Alouettes withstood a tough challenge from the Saskatchewan Roughriders to win their 7th game of the season by a 34-25 margin. Montreal remained atop the CFL with a 7-1 record, while the Roughriders slipped to 4-4. Als rookie QB Chris Leak scored the winning points, flawlessly converting on a third down goal line situation that also happened to be the first play of his CFL career.

After the game, Leak recounted his high pressure introduction to CFL football:

“It’s a about trust – that’s the number one thing. I’m just happy for the opportunity to earn the trust of the coaches and my teammates.”

The Alouettes swept the season series from Saskatchewan, having won 43-10 in Regina in early July. Saskatchewan has only won twice in their past eleven trips to Montreal.

The Roughriders held the edge in most of the statistical categories, but were undone by turnovers and a failure to cash in on drives deep into Als territory. Saskatchewan starting QB Darian Durant willingly accepted the blame for the loss, but Riders coach Ken Miller said in his postgame comments that there was plenty of responsibility to go around:

“It’s a team game and the fault doesn’t lie with any individual. Darian played probably his best. He turned the ball over three times, but he made plays with his feet and was a leader for us. I’m really proud of the way the men battled, but our team still needs to be tuned up some.”

Durants favorite target on the day was Weston Dressler, who caught eight passes for 179 yards and after the game gave a glass half full assessment of his teams performance:

“We were in it until the end. I think we showed we can complete with the best team in the league and I think we just have to keep working at it. We’re really close to being a great football team.”

Both teams will enjoy a bye next weekend, with Montreal returning to action on Friday, September 4th as they travel to Vancouver to play the BC Lions. The two teams will rematch at Montreals Molson Stadium the following week. Saskatchewan will return to action on Sunday, September 6th as they host the Winnipeg Blue Bombers.

Ross Everett is a freelance writer and respected authority on baseball betting. His writing has appeared on a variety of sports sites including sportsbooks and sportsbook directory sites. He lives in Las Vegas with three Jack Russell Terriers and a kangaroo. He is currently working on an autobiography of former interior secretary James Watt.

Canadian football · Canadian sports · CFL · football · pro football · Recreation & Sports · Sports

The Pittsburgh Steelers used a 17 point fourth quarter outburst to break open a close game and send the Arizona Cardinals to defeat by a 20-10 score in a NFL preseason rematch of this years Superbowl. The two teams traded first half field goals and played a scoreless third quarter before Pittsburgh turned up the offense late in the game.

NFL bettors who favored the defending Superbowl champions in this matchup cashed their tickets as the Steelers covered as -3 home favorites.

The big catalyst for the Steelers offense was undrafted rookie Issac Redman out of Bowie State. The big short yardage back had already impressed the Pittsburgh coaching staff in practice, but he knew that he had to take advantage of the opportunities to demonstrate his skills in a game situation:

“This team prides itself on being able to find those free agents that are capable of playing. Hopefully I can be that next free agent. I knew I had to make an impression, or I might not even make it to the first preseason game.”

Both teams played their starting quarterbacks for only two offensive series. The Steelers Ben Roethlisberger was pleased with his performance:

“Overall, without looking at film, I think it was OK. I think we had a couple of plays with a few breakdowns, but it just felt good to go against somebody other than your own guys.”

Arizonas Kurt Warner was satisfied with his performance, but noted that the first preseason game had come up on him quickly:

“I felt like we moved the ball and did what we wanted to. It seems like this game came pretty quick. When we were in the locker room, we were thinking, `Man, it is here already.’ ”

The star receivers for each team–Arizonas Larry Fitzgerald and Pittsburghs Superbowl MVP Santonio Holmes–each caught a single pass in a couple of series of action.

Arizona will take on the San Diego Chargers at home next Saturday night, while the Steelers will travel to Washington, DC to play the Redskins. Pittsburgh will open the NFL regular season on Thursday, September 10th as they host the Tennessee Titans. Arizona will kick of their campaign on Sunday, September 13th at home against the San Francisco 49ers.

Ross Everett is a widely published freelance writer and respected authority on soccer betting. His writing has appeared on a variety of sports sites including sportsbooks and sportsbook directory sites. He lives in Northern Nevada with three Jack Russell Terriers and an emu. He is currently working on an autobiography of former interior secretary James Watt.

football · NFL · NFL football · NFL football games · pro football · Recreation & Sports · Sports

Redshirt freshman quarterback B.J. Daniels threw for three touchdowns and the South Florida Bulls used a tenacious defensive effort to upset visiting West Virginia 30-19 on Friday night. Daniels threw for 232 yards and rushed for 104, compiling more yardage individually than West Virginia amassed as a team. Both teams are now 6-2 on the season.

College football betting aficionados who took the Bulls as +3 home underdogs cashed their tickets with the outright victory. Despite their 6-2 record, West Virginia dropped to 2-5 against the spread in their lined games this season while South Florida evened their college football pointspread record at 3-3 in their lined contests. The 49 combined points barely managed to go OVER the posted total of 47′. Both teams have trended toward the OVER this season, with South Florida going OVER in 4 of 6 lined games and West Virginia OVER in 5 of 7.

Daniels had this rebuke for his team’s doubters after the victory:

“I guess a lot of people doubted us and thought we were going to go down the same patch we did the last two years. That was a lot of garbage that our team didn’t listen to.”

The Bulls’ defense limited West Virginia running back Noel Devine to just 42 yards-well under his-0 per game average. South Florida coach Jim Leavitt talked about his team’s priority of stopping Devine:

“We talked a lot about him. We didn’t want to let him get outside — we wanted to keep him hemmed up inside. … He’s such a great back. If he gets out, he’s gone.”

West Virginia coach Bill Stewart didn’t fault his team’s effort in the loss:

“There’s some young hurting guys in there, both physically and mentally. And they should be. That was a hard-fought game. I cannot fault our effort.”

West Virginia safety Robert Sands suggested that no one that the team had faced this season prepared them for the fast and athletic Daniels:

“We haven’t seen a guy like that this year, but at the same time that’s no excuse for our defense. We’ve still got to go out there and make plays. He broke contain too many times, and he burned us.”

South Florida will now have a bye week before playing at Rutgers on Thursday, November 12. They’ll return home to host Louisville and Miami the following two Saturdays. West Virginia will host Louisville next Saturday before playing at Cincinnati the following Friday.

Ross Everett is a widely published freelance writer and noted authority on sports betting odds comparison. He writing has appeared on a variety of sports sites including sportsbooks and betting odds portal sites. He lives in Southern Nevada with three Jack Russell Terriers and an emu. He is currently working on an autobiography of former energy secretary Donald Hodell.

college football · football · gambling · hobbies · recreation · Recreation & Sports · Sports

In a victory for the highlight reels, Brett Favre completed a 32 yard touchdown pass to Greg Lewis with 2 seconds remaining in the game to lift the Minnesota Vikings to a dramatic 27-24 come from behind victory over the San Francisco 49ers. It was the 43rd time in his career that The Gunslinger had pulled out a victory when his team is tied or trailing in the fourth quarter. The rapidly improving 49ers dropped their first game of the year in heartbreaking fashion, while the Vikings remained undefeated at 3-0.

While the Vikings may have won the game on the scoreboard, the Niners took the decision where it really matters. San Francisco rewarded NFL betting devotees with their third pointspread cover in three games this season, cashing tickets as +6 road underdogs. It was the Vikings first setback to the spread against two victories this season. The 51 combined points scored went OVER the posted total of 39.

Favre commented on the victory after the game:

“It’s hard to even recall all of ‘em. This one was pretty special.

The game winning touchdown pass into the back corner of the endzone was upheld by video review. Niners cornerback Nate Clemens said this was a hard setback to take:

“I’ve had some hard losses. This is just another one for the list. We just have to keep chopping away.”

Greg Lewis, who caught Favres game winning touchdown pass, said that the entire offense was fired up on the final drive:

“The offensive line was fired up. Adrian was fired up, and the receivers were fired up. And Brett fell right in. He was fired up, too, like: ‘We’re going to get this done And that’s the attitude that we took out there on the field.”

In his postgame comments, Vikings coach Greg Childress commended the cool confidence of his veteran quarterback:

“He’s been in many, many, many, many situations like that so it never hurts you to have a veteran like him going down the field.”

In the Niners locker room, coach Mike Singletary could be overheard giving his team a tough love pep talk:

“You have nothing to be looking at the floor for! You didn’t steal anything! You didn’t do anything wrong! OK? We’re going to get better! We’re going to get there! We will see them again in the playoffs, all right? You hold your head up!”

The 49ers will return home to host the St. Louis Rams next Sunday. That game is currently off the board due to the questionable status of Niners running back Frank Gore who left the game with an ankle injury. Theyll host the Atlanta Falcons the following week before a bye week. Minnesota will host the Green Bay Packers on Monday Night Football next week. The Vikings are a -3 home favorite in that contest. Theyll play at St. Louis the following weekend before returning home to host the Baltimore Ravens on 10/18.

Ross Everett is a freelance sports writer and respected authority on soccer betting. His writing has appeared on a variety of sports sites including sports news and sportsbook directory sites. He lives in Las Vegas, Nevada with three Jack Russell Terriers and an emu. He is currently working on an autobiography of former interior secretary James Watt.

football · NFL football · pro football · pro sports · recreation · Recreation & Sports · Sports

Rumors of the New England Patriots demise are clearly premature. Two weeks after being thoroughly outplayed by the New York Jets, the Pats have won two straight and on Sunday ended the Baltimore Ravens undefeated start to the NFL season with a 27-21 victory. They needed a little luck along the way”usually sure handed receiver Mark Clayton dropped a wide open fourth down pass in the final minute to kill a potential game winning drive deep in New England territory. Both teams are now 3-1 on the season.

The Patriots got the NFL pointspread victory as well, covering as -2 home favorites. It was Baltimore’s first ATS setback on the season, while New England evened their pointspread record at 2-2. The 48 points scored barely exceeded the posted total of 45. The Ravens have now gone OVER in three of four games this season, while the Patriots evened their NFL over/under record at 2-2.

After the contest, Clayton didnt make any excuses about his rare miscue:

“Flat out drop. It was a perfect ball. Joe put it on the money. To not come up with it is tough. It cost us the game.”

Ravens safety Ed Reed said it should have never gotten to that point, blaming the officials for giving the team bad spots:

“The spots were terrible.

Defensive stalwart Ray Lewis complained about what he felt were inappropriate roughing the passer penalties:

Without totally going off the wall here, it is embarrassing to the game. Brady is good enough to make his own plays, let him make the play.”

Pats running back Sammy Morris was glad to have come out on top of the tough battle:

“We thought we had them down, but they started coming back. It was just one of those tough slugfests.”

New England coach Bill Belichick shared those sentiments:

“That was quite a finish,” . Stop them on fourth down twice in the fourth quarter, that’s when you’ve got to be there. Luckily, we were.”

Despite the victory, Pats safety Brandon Meriweather wasnt happy with the performance of the New England defense:

“We gave up too many big plays and couldn’t get off the field on third down. We did a lot of things that good defenses don’t do.”

The Patriots will face another tough challenge from an undefeated team this Sunday as they travel to Denver to face the surprising Broncos. New England is a -3 road favorite with the total set at 41. Theyll return home the following week for a game against the Tennessee Titans before traveling to Tampa Bay to face the Bucs on October 25th. The Ravens will host the Cincinnati Bengals this Sunday, with Baltimore a -9 home favorite. The total in the game has been set at 42. Baltimore will travel to Minnesota to face the Vikings the following week before a bye week.

Ross Everett is a widely published freelance writer and respected authority on baseball betting. His writing has appeared on a variety of sports sites including sports news and sportsbook directory sites. He lives in Las Vegas with three Jack Russell Terriers and an emu. He is currently working on an autobiography of former energy secretary Donald Hodell.

football · National Football League · NFL football · pro football · pro sports · recreation · Recreation & Sports · Sports

After two straight wins gave the BC Lions hope that they’d turned the corner on the CFL season, they’re officially back at square one. The Winnipeg Blue Bombers Fred Reid torched the BC Lions defense all night long, and his career performance helped his team earn a lopsided 37-10 victory at Vancouver on Friday night. Reid ran for 260 yards on 26 carries and scored two touchdown passes in the blowout victory that left both teams with identical 3-5 records.

After the contest, Reid gave credit to his offensive line:

“Just about every play I was in the secondary. I have to give props to the O-line. They opened some big holes tonight. Before I knew it, I was in the secondary. You know how the DBs are, they don’t really want to tackle back there.”

“We had some good play calling that caught them off guard and some new schemes that they weren’t prepared for. We just executed. It gives us something to build on going in the bye week.”

Winnipeg QB Michael Bishop praised his running backs effort:

“Fred left it on the field today. To have a guy like that can carry the ball, and do the things he did today, it was amazing. ”

“A lot of people were saying it was a make-or-break game for us. We didn’t want to go into the bye with another loss. “We went in with style and class and have something to build on.”

BC linebacker JoJuan Armour was embarrassed for the part he played in allowing the blowout:

“They lined up and kicked our ass. That’s the bottom line. It’s embarrassing. I’m embarrassed for my performance and I apologize to my team. There was no excuse for it.”

Reid broke the previous Winnipeg franchise record of 249 set by Blaise Bryant in 1994. He finished just 27 yards short of the CFL single-game rushing record of 287 yards set over 40 years ago.

Lions coach Wally Buono is concerned about his teams mindset after the blowout:

“I’m more concerned about the collective psyche of the team after that. It’s hard to take. I was shocked. I was very, very disappointed.”

British Columbia, now has a bye week before they face a home and home series against the CFL leading Montreal Alouettes. The Blue Bombers will also enjoy a week off before a pair of back to back games against the Saskatchewan Roughriders.

Ross Everett is a freelance sports writer and respected authority on football betting. His writing has appeared on a variety of sports sites including sports news and sportsbook directory sites. He lives in Las Vegas, Nevada with three Jack Russell Terriers and a kangaroo. He is currently working on an autobiography of former energy secretary Donald Hodell.

CFL football · football · recreation · Recreation & Sports · Sports

The Denver Broncos are for real. The NFL’s most surprising undefeated team certainly answered any remaining doubters on Monday Night Football as they used a fourth quarter surge to put away the San Diego Chargers 34-23. Denver upped their record to 6-0 while San Diego dropped to 2-3. Broncos’ QB Kyle Orton had another solid, mistake free game as he passed for 229 yards and two touchdowns with no interceptions. Denver’s special teams also excelled, with Eddie Royal becoming only the 11th player in NFL history to return a punt and a kickoff for touchdowns in the same game.

NFL football sports betting fans that backed the Broncos as +3 road underdogs were rewarded with the outright victory and Denver continued their season opening undefeated run against the pointspread (now 6-0 ATS). The Chargers, meanwhile, have only covered one of their five games this season. The 57 points scored went OVER the posted total of 44′.

Royal was virtually untouched on both of his kick returns, a first quarter 93 yard kickoff return and a second quarter 71 yard punt return. After the game, he gave credit to his blockers:

“Man, it was a great feeling. The guys did a great job of blocking. I’ve got to give them a lot of credit. They opened up the seams and it was a home run.”

Despite the rarity of his feat, he said he wasn’t surprised that he turned the trick:

“You’ve got to believe it can happen before you do it. I’ve got a lot of faith in the guys in front of me, so I wasn’t surprised.”

Broncos coach Josh McDaniels also praised Royal’s blockers:

“I think our guys did a great job of blocking and giving Eddie a chance to get started.”

While losing coach Norv Turner lamented his team’s poor kick coverage:

“It doesn’t matter who you are playing; you give up two big returns on a punt and a kickoff and it makes it tough”

Chargers’ QB Phillip Rivers talked about the loss and the team’s slow start to the 2009 NFL season:

“It’s going to be tough. We have to get over this one quick or we’ll find ourselves in trouble in Kansas City because it’s a short week.”

Denver will get a week off to enjoy their 6-0 start before returning to action on November 1 at Baltimore. The following week they’ll host the defending Superbowl champion Pittsburgh Steelers on Monday Night Football before traveling to Washington, DC to face the Redskins. San Diego will play at Kansas City this weekend with the Chargers a -5 road favorite and the total set at 44. They’ll return home to face their hated rivals, the Oakland Raiders, on November 1 before a road game against the New York Giants the following Sunday.

Ross Everett is a widely published freelance writer and respected authority on World Cup soccer betting. His writing has appeared on a variety of sports sites including sportsbooks and betting odds sites. He lives in Northern Nevada with three Jack Russell Terriers and a kangaroo. He is currently working on an autobiography of former energy secretary Donald Hodell.

football · hobbies · NFL · recreation · Recreation & Sports · Sports

Kyle Orton’s debut as the Denver Broncos starting QB didn’t go quite as planned. Orton, who was acquired from Chicago in the off-season, threw interceptions on each of his first three offensive series. San Francisco’s offense did just enough to eke out a 17-16 NFL preseason victory before their home fans.

The good news for Orton is that despite his three interceptions Broncos coach Josh McDaniels remained steadfast in his support. Orton appeared thankful of this fact in his postgame comments:

“That’s great. That’s certainly what you need in this league is the support of your coach. I’m not worried about it. I’ve got a lot of confidence in myself. I think my team has a lot of confidence in me. … I don’t want to make those decisions and throw three interceptions.”

Its been a rough start to Ortons tenure in Denver”he was even booed during a public scrimmage after throwing an interception.

McDaniels put Orton’s struggles and the loss into perspective:

“I feel very confident in where we’re at. There’s no reason to start tailspinning into this and that when we’ve only had one preseason game.”

San Franciscos rapidly improving defense made life miserable for Orton all afternoon. Even when he got decent pass protection, they were able to disrupt the passing lanes. Niners’ cornerback Nate Clemens in particular was a huge factor, hauling in one of Ortons three miscues. After the game he commented on the play:

“I saw the route and played my responsibility and he threw it. I like seeing all of our defensive backs get interceptions and just making plays because we’re game breakers.”

The Niners have yet to name a starting quarterback and both Shaun Hill and Alex Smith played solid, if unspectacular, football. Hill spoke of his first preseason action:

“We were able to move the ball and we had a big conversion on third down. That last sack kind of hurt us. That was completely on me. The offensive line did a great job out there. So I’d like to have that play back and I feel like we could have gotten seven out of that.”

Smith was just excited to be back on the field after missing the entire 2008 season due to injury:

“Obviously, I was raring to go when I got out there. It’s been a long time for me, so I was pretty amped up.”

Denver will head to the Pacific Northwest for a game against the Seattle Seahawks next Saturday night. San Francisco, meanwhile, will host their local rivals the Oakland Raiders. The Broncos open the NFL regular season on Sunday, September 13th against the Bengals at Cincinnati. San Francisco will get the regular season underway on the same day as they head to Tempe, Arizona to face the Arizona Cardinals.

Ross Everett is a freelance sports writer and respected authority on football betting. His writing has appeared on a variety of sports sites including sports news and sportsbook directory sites. He lives in Southern Nevada with three Jack Russell Terriers and an emu. He is currently working on an autobiography of former interior secretary James Watt.

football · NFL · NFL football · pro football · Recreation & Sports · Sports

The English Premier League season is only a couple of weeks old, but newly promoted Burnley has already pulled off what may be the biggest upset of the season in all of European soccer. In their first home game at the top level of English soccer in 33 years, Robbie Blake scored early in the game and Burnley held on to upset reigning league champions Manchester United before 20,000 jubilant fans.

The Clarets were putting good pressure on Man U goaltender Ben Foster early in the game, and Blake made their effort pay at the 18 minute mark when he scored on a near post volley. That was the only score of the game, despite the best efforts of the visitors who seemingly awoke from their slumber at this point and began to put the pressure on the Burnley upstarts.

Still, Burnley would hold the advantage on the big scoreboard at the end of the game thanks to the steady play of their netminder Brian Jensen who withstood the Man U onslaught to preserve the historic victory. Jensens biggest save came on a penalty shot by Michael Carrick just before halftime. Afterwards, Burnley manager Owen Coyle commended Man U general Sir Alex Ferguson with his graciousness in defeat:

“Sir Alex dealt with defeat in the gracious manner I would expect of someone like that. He is the best manager in world football and I still expect Manchester United to be champions.”

Burnley has been the favorite to be relegated back to the Champions League, and they looked like they didnt belong after a 2-0 opening game loss to Stoke City. Coyle addressed the teams critics in his postgame comments:

“One or two have already written us off. I am not surprised about that. When you look at the financial side, we will have to produce every week. Outside this club, everybody looked at our first five games and expected we would be on zero points. We were disappointed on Saturday and we needed to be brave this time. Now we have a massive game on Sunday against Everton, although whatever happens we are three points better off than we were at this stage in the Championship last season.”

Sir Alex Ferguson conceded that his team didnt play well, but wasnt about to minimize Burnleys victory:

“It was a bad performance considering the chances and possession we had. Maybe if we had got the penalty just before half time it would have made a difference but in saying that we were too frivolous with the chances we had. It has been a long time out of the top flight for them and you cannot deny them their victory.”

Burnley will host Everton this weekend, while Manchester United will try to get back on the winning track on the road against Wigan at DW Stadium.

Ross Everett is a widely published freelance sports writer and respected authority on football betting. His writing has appeared on a variety of sports sites including sportsbooks and sportsbook directory sites. He lives in Southern Nevada with three Jack Russell Terriers and a kangaroo. He is currently working on an autobiography of former energy secretary Donald Hodell.

English Premier League · English Soccer · English Sports · Europe Soccer · football · Pro Soccer · Recreation & Sports · soccer · Sports

While not a vintage performance by their lofty standards, the University of Southern California Trojans overcame a number of mistakes to make big plays when they counted to prevail in a come from behind victory over Ohio State. Stafon Johnson capped a late game drive by scoring the game winning touchdown with just over a minute remaining as the Trojans won by a final score of 18-15. It was the first time the Trojans held the lead since early in the first quarter. The USC victory moved their record on the college football season to 2-0, while the Buckeyes dropped to 1-1.

Ohio State did cash tickets for college football bettors, however, covering the spread as a +7 home underdog. USC won and covered last year, but the pointspread setback this year dropped the Trojans to a still impressive 13-5 ATS against the Big Ten conference since 1992. It was also only the second non-cover by a USC team in a non conference game in their last ten opportunities.

19 year old freshman Matt Barkley engineered the game winning touchdown drive. After the game, he spoke of the Trojan tradition of victory:

“We’re Trojans. That’s what we do. This is what we dreamed of, coming back like this. Doesn’t matter where we are in the score. We found a way. I love this.”

Tailback Joe McKnight sarcastically dismissed suggestions that Barkley was rattled by a tenacious and stifling Buckeye defense:

“He was scared, really. No, he came in with the same composure he had the whole game. He was calm. He made plays.”

USC coach Pete Carroll commended Barkleys composure in such an intense and challenging environment:

“He’s not 19. He’s our quarterback. I’m not worried about how old he is. Numbers mean nothing.”

Ohio State linebacker Greg Rolle said his defense was playing at a very high level”until the final drive:

“It’s very frustrating, but we knew eventually they’d make plays. The last drive was heartbreaking. Give McKnight lots of credit on that last drive, he was good. The last drive was definitely, you go back and you think about, and you think about how close you came to winning.

Ohio State will travel to Toledo for a non-conference game before starting their Big 10 schedule at home against Illinois. USC now faces three straight Pac 10 games, starting next weekend on the road at the University of Washington. Theyll return home the following weekend for a game against Washington State before heading to Northern California the next Saturday for a tough challenge against the University of California.

Ross Everett is a widely published widely published freelance sports writer and highly respected authority on baseball betting. His writing has appeared on a variety of sports sites including sportsbooks and sportsbook directory sites. He lives in Southern Nevada with three Jack Russell Terriers and a kangaroo. He is currently working on an autobiography of former energy secretary Donald Hodell.

college football · college sports · football · recreation · Recreation & Sports · Sports