Weekend Wake Up: A Broken Hand, A Breakout, and Breaking Up the Bucs and ‘Boys?

Loveless Game. Minnesota’s Kevin Love may be one of the NBA’s better tweeters, but he may have to do that one-handed for a while after fracturing a bone in his left hand in a preseason game on Friday. He’ll be out for about six weeks, which might be enough time to start delving into how unfortunate the T’Wolves have been of late.

Run Around You. Neither Pittsburgh nor Rutgers should be mistaken for a Big East contender after Pitt’s 24-17 win on Friday. The Panthers let the Scarlet Knights stick around all night, only to see the folks from Piscataway muff a comeback chance with a fumble on a fourth down of a potentially game-tying drive. But pint-size freshman speedster Dion Lewis had 180 yards and two scores on the ground for Pitt, and did the sort of cutting usually reserved for surgeons so often and so smoothly that some Rutgers defenders may need to consult medical professionals. Even the Big East hater might want to circle November 27th, because that’s when Lewis and West Virginia’s magical mighty mite, Noel Devine, get to take turns dazzling viewers.

No Gaines, More Pain For Bucs. Sure, it’s worth acknowledging Tampa Bay trading Gaines Adams to Chicago for the surrender signal a winless team seems to be sending, for the tacit admission that Adams was not worth the fourth pick in the 2007 NFL Draft, or the hope that the Bears’ Rod Marinelli can rejuvenate Adams’ career in the Windy City. But, really, any action that allows “Stylez G. White likely will fill the opening in the lineup when the Bucs face the Carolina Panthers on Sunday” to exist as a truthful statement should be known for that side effect, and little else.

Drama? In Dallas? No Way! The Trenches has a post that affirms Jerry Jones’ support for Wade Phillips as the Dallas Cowboys’ coach at least through the end of this season. But Jones also cited the New York Giants’ decision to keep Tom Coughlin in 2007 as a reason to retain Phillips, which seems to suggest that would be the model he wants to follow. It’s probably not going to happen.

Though both the ‘07 Giants and ‘09 Cowboys were 3-2 after five weeks, the Giants were on a three-game winning streak that would turn into a six-week stretch of Ws and had beaten a team that would go on the playoffs. Dallas has beaten Tampa Bay, Carolina, and Kansas City, and gets Atlanta, Seattle, Philadelphia and Green Bay in order after their bye this week. 3-6 looks very possible, and if that mark isn’t bad enough to prompt a return to his words, Jones may be able to eat his words by Thanksgiving should the ‘Boys lose to the moribund Redskins on the Sunday prior. Were I Wade Phillips, I would not be extending my leases on anything in the Dallas-Fort Worth area.

↵