Cassel leaves team to be with family

New England QB Matt Cassel's status for this Sunday against Oakland is in doubt after the death of his father.

Cassel has left the team who are currently training in San Jose and will travel to Southern California to be with his grieving family.

Cassel has had a fantastic season so far throwing 14 touchdowns and only 10 interceptions in his first starting season in the NFL. His poise in the pocket has improved with every game and he is now looking every bit an NFL starting quarterback.

Losing Cassel against Oakland would be yet another blow to an already depleted Patriots team. Although Oakland are only 3-10 it is a must win game for New England who are tied at the top of the division with the Jets and the Dolphins.

If Cassel can't play on Sunday then rookie Kevin O'Connell out of San Diego State will step in as his replacement. The rookie has four career NFL passes, all of which came against Miami in the week 3 blowout loss.

Stallions Wednesday

Going into the Christmas break the Staffordshire Stallions stand in the same place they did last year; with a perfect record (3-0) and looking increasingly dominant in their division.

After their game against Leicester Longhorns was postponed the Stallions can enjoy the break and look forward to the next game against Nottingham Outlaws when they return.

The Stallions went into the season with everything to prove after their success last year. They won every game in the regular season, a feat no other Stallions team had done, and continued to march through the playoffs.

After a come from behind victory against the Newcastle Raiders the Stallions played the Southampton Stags in the University Championship Game. The Stags proved too strong on the day thanks to their running attack; the Stallions lost 54-20.

Coming into the new season the Stallions were full of confidence despite losing a lot of starters, even head coach Ant Charles was optimistic claiming the current team to be the second best Stallions he had coached. However, a preseason matchup against the Birmingham Lions showed the Stallions they had a long way to go if they hoped to emulate last year.

Two weeks later, on the 16th of November, the Stallions regular season was underway with their first game against the Huddersfield Hawks. The sceptics were no where to be seen as the Stallions notched up a half century and completely shut the Hawks offence out of the game.

Stallions’ record breaking running back Edem Goka scored three touchdowns and rushed for over 200 yards. Rookie running back Jonny Gibson showed his worth with two trips to the endzone. Quarterback Ben Rowan and all round utility player George Furlonge capped the game with a touchdown each. The Stallions moved to 1-0.

Cornerback Dean Czyz said: “Ed was unstoppable; he’s added another dimension to his game this year.”

On a rainy Sunday afternoon the Stallions played the Derby Braves in what was predicted to be a tough game for both teams.

It took until the third quarter for the Stallions to grab the game by the throat but two touchdowns from Goka and another by Furlonge put the game out of the reach of Derby going into the fourth quarter. Another shutout from the defence finished a great day for the Stallions. Staffs now stood at 2-0.

Loughborough. Every year the Aces are playoff contenders but three years without a win against the Stallions had Loughborough pumped up for this game; the unexpected departure from the team added another emotional element into the game, one the Stallions hoped wouldn’t prove too strong.

It was the Stallions who proved too strong on the day. Staffs aggressive offence line of Pete Buckley, Graham Fellows, Rob Pickerill, Phil Slater, Pete Crawley and Chris Ward stuffed the Aces running attack and Loughborough’s passing game stuttered with two interceptions from Czyz and Mike Osunsina.

Two more rushing touchdowns for Goka and two receiving scores from James Walker, who finished the game with two catches for 85 yards including a 75 yard touchdown, put the game beyond the Aces, the game finished 31-8 to the Stallions. The Stallions now sat atop the division with a 3-0 record.

With four more games after Christmas Czyz said: “I’m really excited about this year as I think we can go all the way with the mentality the team has.

With all the confidence and ability this year the sky is the limit for the Staffordshire Stallions.

AFC East Roundup Week 13

Three teams now occupy the top spot of the AFC East with with only four weeks left of the season.

The Jets, Patriots and the Jets all own a 8-5 record and all have the potential to be playing football in January.

The Patriots beat the Seahawks 24-21 at Qwest Field thanks to some fourth quarter come back heroics from the Matt Cassel led Patriots offence. For the full game report check out my blog post from the 8th December.

The Jets fell 24-14 to a struggling 49ers team. 49ers QB Shaun Hill continued his great form with two touchdown passes to Bryant Johnson and Frank Gore. The Jets recent poor run of form continued as Brett Favre didn't throw a touchdown and Thomas Jones only rushed for 56 yards.

In the other game the Bills played the Dolphins. One touchdown pass from Pennington was all the 'Phins needed to claim their eighth win of the season as they beat the Bills 16-3. 70 yards rushing from Ronnie Brown and 70 yards receiving from Davone Bess helped Miami towards the playoffs.

With three games left and a potential division winning game between Miami and New York in the final week of the season the Patriots need to beat Oakland to keep up in the division title race.