12/02/2008 - Houston, TX (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - Steve Slaton was ready for prime time with 130 yards on the ground and two touchdowns, and the Houston Texans opened up the offense in their first-ever Monday Night Football appearance, leading to a 30-17 victory over Jacksonville.
Mario Williams, the defensive end taken ahead of Reggie Bush in the 2006 NFL draft, also played up to the spotlight with three sacks and a forced fumble. Sage Rosenfels was an efficient 14-of-24 for 200 yards with one touchdown and one interception for the Texans (5-7), who also got 75 yards receiving and a touchdown from top target Andre Johnson.
The Jaguars' rushing duo of Fred Taylor and Maurice Jones-Drew combined for 116 yards and a Taylor touchdown on 21 carries. David Garrard piled up most of his passing stats late in the contest, completing 25-of-35 attempts for 287 yards with one touchdown and an interception.
Matt Jones caught a game-high eight passes for 104 yards for Jacksonville (4-8), which began the season with high expectations only to drop into the AFC South basement with the loss.
The Texans marched 69 yards on six plays to paydirt on their opening possession. Rosenfels' deep ball followed 15-, 7- and 4-yard bursts by Slaton. Johnson came back to the football on a deep in, turned cornerback Rashean Mathis around and sprinted to the left sideline and into the end zone for a 31-yard score.
Mathis responded with an interception of Rosenfels on Houston's next drive, but Garrard gave the football right back as his pass intended for Jerry Porter was intercepted.
Houston took advantage with a seven-play march that ended with Kris Brown's right foot adding three points to the scoreboard. Rosenfels found Owen Daniels for 14 yards early in the drive, but the Jaguars defense held and Brown was true from 38 yards away.
Josh Scobee misfired wide right from 43 yards away early in the second stanza and the teams exchanged punts for the remainder of the half.
Jacoby Jones' 28-yard punt return set up Houston's first second-half series at the Jaguars 38-yard line. The Texans didn't pick up a first down, but Brown drilled a 50-yard field goal attempt through the uprights for a 13-0 lead.
Jacksonville finally got on the scoreboard thanks to a time-consuming, 12-play march. Garrard's 17-yard strike to Matt Jones highlighted a mostly dink-and- dunk drive that took up 6:43 of game time. The march stalled in the red zone, and Scobee connected from 29 yards out.
Curiously, Jags head coach Jack Del Rio tried to maintain the momentum with an onsides kick, but it failed, setting the Texans up with great field position. Brown's 20-yard field goal and a 16-3 lead were the result of Del Rio's gamble.
Jacksonville typified its season the rest of the way. It marched to the Texans five-yard line early in the fourth, even converting a 4th-and-2 attempt deep in Houston territory. However, on 4th-and-goal, Garrard was tripped by an offensive lineman's leg, got up and heaved a desperation attempt into the end zone that fell to the turf. On the play, the slot receiver fell down and Matt Jones was jammed at the line of scrimmage and stopped running his route.
Garrard was sacked by Williams and fumbled as the game clock ticked under five minutes. Slaton slashed off right guard for a seven-yard score on the first play after the turnover for a 23-3 margin.
Each team reached the end zone in garbage time. Taylor capped a 73-yard march with a four-yard burst with 2:14 left, then Slaton had a shifty 40-yard run that started off guard and ended in a foot race down the right sideline for the score.
Jacksonville scored again, after totaling just three points over the first 57- plus minutes. Reggie Williams cradled in an 18-yard scoring pass from Garrard for the final margin.
Game Notes
The Jaguars star cornerback Mathis left the game at halftime with a sprained right knee and did not return...Reggie Williams caught five passes for 55 yards in defeat...The game marked the first Monday Night game in Houston since the Oilers hosted the Giants on November 21, 1994 -- the debut for Houston's interim head coach Jeff Fisher, who is now the NFL's longest-serving head coach with the 11-1 Tennessee Titans..Slaton's performance pushed him to 904 rushing yards on the season and into 10th place in the league, just behind San Francisco's Frank Gore and ahead of Green Bay's Ryan Grant...Each team ran for 126 yards, and Jacksonville actually outgained Houston, 388-326.
<< Avs use big second period and then hold off Wild
St. Paul, MN (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - Paul Stastny had two goals and an assist, and
capped a Colorado scoring binge with the eventual game-winner late in a four-
goal second period as the Avalanche topped the Minnesota Wild, 6-5, at Xcel
Energy
<< A's don't offer arbitration to Thomas
Oakland, CA (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - The Oakland Athletics declined to offer salary
arbitration to any of their four free agents, including designated hitter
Frank Thomas.
Left-handed pitcher Alan Embree, right-handed pitcher Keith Fou
<< Thabeet dominates as No. 2 UConn rolls past Delaware State
Storrs, CT (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - Hasheem Thabeet had 10 points, 17 rebounds and
four blocked shots, as second-ranked Connecticut rolled past Delaware
State,
79-49.
Gavin Edwards scored 17 points in a reserve role, Jerome Dyson netted 15
<< Hossa, Red Wings slip past Anaheim
Detroit, MI (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - Marian Hossa's goal early in the third period
sent Detroit over Anaheim, 2-1, at Joe Louis Arena.
Johan Franzen provided the other goal for the Red Wings, who have won two of
three and improved to 16-4-4
Toronto rallies past Kings >>
Los Angeles, CA (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - Matt Stajan and Mikhail Grabovski scored
power play goals 81 seconds apart early in the third period, rallying Toronto
to a 3-1 win over the Los Angeles Kings.
Jeff Finger added an empty-net goal and V
Mariners' Ibanez offered arbitration >>
Seattle, WA (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - Seattle Mariners left fielder Raul Ibanez
was offered salary arbitration by the team prior to Monday night's midnight
(et) deadline.
"With the deadline tonight, offering Raul arbitration keeps all of o
Phillies pass on arbitration for Burrell, Moyer >>
Philadelphia, PA (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - The Pat Burrell era in Philadelphia took
one step toward its possible conclusion after the World Series champion
Phillies balked at offering he and 16-game winner Jamie Moyer arbitration
prior t
Mets' Perez offered arbitration >>
Flushing, NY (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - New York Mets pitcher Oliver Perez was offered
salary arbitration prior to the midnight (et) deadline Monday night.
The 27-year-old left-hander has until the conclusion of Sunday to accept the
arbitration of
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Brandon Roy Favorite to Win 2007 NBA Rookie of the Year
Portland TrailBlazer’s guard, Brandon Roy, is MySportsbook.com’s overwhelming favorite to win the NBA Rookie of the Year odds.
Despite missing 20 games due to an injury earlier this season, Roy has definitely put up the best numbers of his 1st year peers. In 32 games, Roy is averaging 15.3 PPG, 4.2 boards and 3.5 assists in over 33 minutes of play per game. While most rookies breakdown as the season progresses (see Morrison), Roy is only getting stronger as his playing time and scoring average has increased each month.
With 30 or so games left in the regular season, Roy isn’t a lock for the award by any means. Other rookies are putting together some pretty impressive campaigns and a few could give Roy a run for the award with increased playing time. Heading the list is first pick, Andrea Bargnani of the Toronto Raptors. Even though he has started only two games all season, Bargnani is averaging 10.3 PPPG while shooting 35% from deep.
Randy Foye of the Minnesota Timberwolves could be set to give Roy the best competition NBA Rookie of the Year betting lines. With the benching of Mike James, Foye looks like he could be the starter in the T-Wolves backcourt for the rest of the season. So far, Foye has averaged 9 PPG and 2.4 assists in just under 21 minutes per game. With his new role of starter, Foye’s numbers will definitely increase. In his first game as the new starting guard this past Sunday, Foye had 10 points; five rebounds and 8 assists. More importantly, he logged 34 minutes of playing time; his third highest run of the season.
Adam Morrison, of the Charlotte Bobcats, was the favorite early on in the season after averaging 15+ PPG through the first month of the season. Ever since his torrid start, Morrison’s point production has declined each month. This really isn’t surprising, considering at 6’8” he only weighs 205 lbs. Obviously he will need to hit the weights big time during the off-season in order to keep from breaking down in the future.
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