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11/19/2008 - Tampa, FL (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - The Tampa Bay Buccaneers placed running back Earnest Graham and rookie linebacker Geno Hayes on injured reserve Wednesday, ending their seasons.
The Bucs also signed running back Noah Herron and linebacker Matt McCoy on Wednesday.
Graham suffered a right ankle injury in Sunday's 19-13 win over the Minnesota Vikings. The five-year veteran was hurt on his first carry of the game and had to be helped to the sideline. Graham had also been nursing a knee injury in the week leading up to the game.
Graham and Warrick Dunn had split the running back duties this season, so Dunn will probably see more carries as a result of the injury. Graham leads the team with 563 yards and four touchdowns, while Dunn has chipped in 476 yards and one score.
Former first-round draft pick Carnell "Cadillac" Williams is also an option for the Bucs. Williams was activated off the physically unable to perform list early last week and has not played an NFL game since September 30, 2007 when he suffered a torn patellar tendon in a contest against Carolina. He returned to practice late last month after an arduous recovery and rehab.
Herron played in five games for the Packers in 2005 after they signed him off Pittsburgh's practice squad. He returned and played in all 16 games in 2006, but missed last season after suffering a knee injury. The Northwestern product has rushed for 273 yards and three touchdowns on 85 carries in his career, and has 29 receptions for 211 yards and two scores.
Hayes, a sixth-round pick out of Florida State, has eight tackles on defense and seven special teams tackles. He also blocked a punt and returned it for a touchdown in Tampa Bay's 27-3 win over Carolina on October 12.
McCoy, a fourth-year veteran who has also played with the Philadelphia Eagles and New Orleans Saints, was released in October by the Bucs.
The 7-3 Buccaneers travel to Detroit to play the 0-10 Lions on Sunday.
<< Mavs face banged-up Rockets in Houston
(Sportsbook Betting Lines) - The Dallas Mavericks will try to extend their season high
winning streak to three games when they close out a three-game road trip
tonight against the Southwest Division-rival Houston Rockets.
Dallas is 2-0 so far on the t
<< Bulls resume trek at Portland
(Sportsbook Betting Lines) - The Chicago Bulls continue a torturous seven-game road
swing Wednesday when they face the Portland Trail Blazers at the Rose Garden.
The Bulls fell to 0-4 away from home this season when Los Angeles' Pau Gasol
score
<< Sixers bring win streak to Minnesota
(Sportsbook Betting Lines) - The Philadelphia 76ers shoot for their fourth consecutive
win Wednesday when they visit the Twin Cities to take on the reeling Minnesota
Timberwolves.
Second-year star Thaddeus Young scored 23 points and Samuel Dalembe
<< Kings take on Hornets in Big Easy
(Sportsbook Betting Lines) - The Sacramento Kings wrap up a quick two-game road trip
Wednesday when they head to the Big Easy to face off with the New Orleans
Hornets.
Memphis' Rudy Gay scored 22 points and grabbed eight rebounds, as
LPGA announces 2009 schedule >>
West Palm Beach, FL (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - The 2009 LPGA Tour schedule was
released by tour commissioner Carolyn F. Bivens on Wednesday and there is
plenty of change coming next year.
The tour released the dates of 31 official eve
Mariners pick A's bench coach Wakamatsu as manager >>
Seattle, WA (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - The Seattle Mariners named former Oakland
Athletics bench coach Don Wakamatsu their new manager on Wednesday.
The hiring was the first major decision for new Mariners general manager Jack
Zduriencik, th
NCAA announces future Final Four sites >>
Indianapolis, IN (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - The NCAA Division I men's basketball
committee has announced five selections as hosts for the Final Four starting
in 2012 and running through 2016.
New Orleans, Atlanta, Dallas-Arlington-Fort Wo
Wolf Pack loan Murray to Charlotte >>
Hartford, CT (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - The Hartford Wolf Pack loaned defenseman Chris
Murray to its ECHL affiliate, the Charlotte Checkers, the American Hockey
League club announced.
A second-year pro out of the University of New Hampshire, Mu
Two playoff teams from 2007 take center stage on the NFL Network Sunday night in a Week 2 NFL betting match-up when the (0-1) New England Patriots betting head south to Florida for a contest with the (1-0) Tampa Bay Buccaneers.
New England HC Bill Belichick couldn’t care less about the way his team plays in the preseason. With a chance to tie last week’s game with the Baltimore Ravens betting, He elected to go for the two-point conversion and outright victory. The conversion failed, and the Pats ended up falling to the Ravens by a 16-15 final count.
New England rolled off twelve unanswered points to give it a chance at securing the victory, but it never threatened to cover the 3.5-point spread. NFL bettors saw this one coming, as they bet the Ravens down from +6 to +3.5 as the week progressed. QB Tom Brady didn’t take part in the Patriots first preseason clash, but could see action this weekend.
His three replacements all put up embarrassing numbers. They went a combined 17 for 33, and threw three interceptions and no touchdowns. The New England defense was encouraging, as they held the Ravens to 2/12 third down conversions and surrendered just ten first downs. That ‘D’ should be bolstered with the addition of former Bucs and Denver Broncos betting safety John Lynch, who could make his Patriots debut on Sunday against his former mates.
HC Jon Gruden had to be impressed with the way his Bucs played on both sides of the ball in their dominating 17-6 victory over the Miami Dolphins in Week 1’s NFL pre-season betting action. Bucs bettors were quite happy with the effort, as they made a mockery of the fact that they were underdogs in the game.
The logjam at the quarterback position didn’t get any easier to separate for Gruden, as all four of his QBs had positive experiences in the first exhibition of 2008. The four combined to complete 28 of their 40 passes for 204 yards and a touchdown, and that was without starting QB Jeff Garcia in the lineup.
RB Michael Bennett had 19 carries and four receptions, totaling 90 yards and a touchdown. Expect to see more of Bennett, Kenneth Darby, and Earnest Graham, as they all compete for playing time with Warrick Dunn in the backfield this season. Defensively, the Bucs recorded four sacks and held the Fins offense in check all day.
First round draft pick Aqib Talib was impressive in the secondary, recording a tackle and two pass defenses in his debut. Don’t be surprised to see Talib in the starting lineup opposite Ronde Barber for the Bucs in ’08.
The betting trends suggest that NFL bettors should be backing the Bucs in this intra-conference exhibition.
These two teams hooked up last year in Tampa Bay, with the Bucs winning that game 13-10. The Buccaneers have only lost one preseason game at home dating back to the beginning of the ’05 preseason. The Patriots have had a mixed bag of results in their recent exhibitions. They have gone 2-2 ATS and SU each of the last three years.
New England currently sits as modest 1-point favorites in this preseason showdown with the ‘total’ now sitting at 34.5.
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In the wake of the news that the 49ers have signed receiver Michael Crabtree after an extended holdout, there has been not a hint of the dollars to be paid to Crabtree.
And since this means that his agent hasn't leaked the numbers, it means that his agent feels no specific motivation to do so.
Possibly because his agent isn't all that thrilled to have his name on the deal.
So the numbers will come from sources other than Crabtree's agent. And we've gotten our mitts into them.
Per a league source, Crabtree has signed a six-year, $32 million contract. (The total includes guaranteed money, base salaries, and the one-time incentive based on achieving minimum playing time.)
The deal also includes $17 million in guaranteed money.
As reported elsewhere, the deal can void to five years based on performance triggers, wiping out a final year base salary of $4 million. But they won't be easily reached.
The source tells us that, in his first four seasons (including 2009), Crabtree must either qualify for two Pro Bowls, or he must qualify for one Pro Bowl in one year and he must participate in 80 percent of the offensive snaps in a separate year in which the team makes the playoffs.
In other words, if in 2010 he qualifies for the Pro Bowl and the team makes the playoffs and he participates in 80 percent of the snaps, he'll still need to make it to the Pro Bowl or achieve the 80-percent/playoffs in another season.
Since the chances of Crabtree making the Pro Bowl or participating in 80 percent of the offensive snaps this year is roughly zero percent, he'll have three years to get it done.
And it won't be easy. Frankly, he'll be hard pressed to make it to one Pro Bowl in three years with the likes of Larry Fitzgerald, Calvin Johnson, Anquan Boldin, Steve Smith, the other Steve Smith, Hakeem Nicks, DeSean Jackson, Johnny Knox, Percy Harvin, Greg Jennings, Roddy White, T.J. Houshmandzadeh in the same conference for sportsbook betting.
So, by all appearances, it's a six-year deal. And at $17 million in guaranteed money, the per-year guarantee is a tepid $2.83 million per year.
There's another problem with the deal -- it has no mid-tier incentive package. Instead, the additional $8 million that Crabtree can earn (pushing the max value to six years, $40 million) requires the kind of unrealistic, mega-star performances that no rookie is likely to ever achieve.
So while the contract paid to Packers defensive tackle B.J. Raji covers five years and pays $22.5 million, he has the ability (if he's a solid player) to make up the difference between his base deal and Crabtree's five-year, $28 million haul via the mid-tier incentive package in Raji's deal.
And unless Crabtree meets the performance thresholds necessary to void the sixth year, he'll be stuck under contract for another year at a base salary of only $4 million.
There's one other area of concern with the deal. Crabtree, per the source, received no option bonus. Instead, he has significant money tied to a fairly new device known as a "discretionary salary advance," which unlike an opition bonus is subject to forfeiture if Crabtree decides in a year or two that he wants to hold out for a better deal. (We're also told that the 49ers have included language that would make certain escalators subject to forfeiture, too.)
Meanwhile, the deal falls well short of the mark for which Crabtree and agent Eugene Parker were aiming -- the five-year, $38.25 million contract paid by the Raiders to receiver Darrius Heyward-Bey, the seventh overall pick in the draft.
Even if Crabtree successfully voids the final year, he'll make more than $2 million per year less on average than Heyward-Bey.
Thus, as we explained earlier in the day, this is a deal that Crabtree could have done in July, which would have given him a much better chance of making a contribution to the 49ers during his rookie year.
So while the final outcome can be described as win-win, the broader view suggests that it's really a lose-lose situation.
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