In Arizona, the Cardinals lose Tyrann Mathieu for the year with a ACL and LCL knee injury. Custom Boston Red Sox Jerseys . In Carolina, the Panthers lose Jonathan Stewart with an MCL knee injury. But the most devastating season-ender was Rob Gronkowski and his ACL and MCL knee injury with the New England Patriots. The Patriots will rebound somehow to remain competitive but being competitive and winning in the playoffs are two different tests. Players get injured but for Gronkowski, this is difficult to comprehend and accept. On the positive side, he is a young, fourth-year player and youth and the ability to heal effectively do go together. On the negative, for a young player, Gronkowski has an old body of football battles. Two back surgeries at the University of Arizona, missing his senior year, three arm surgeries over three years with New England and now a major knee surgery that, as we have learned by watching RG3, takes more than six months to recover from. His biggest battle to get back will be that he has to do this on his own and often all alone. Football rehabilitation is not a team sport, it is an individual challenge that you have to look at as a job at which to excel and a time commitment that ends an off-season of enjoyment. Every now and then, I get a streak of jealousy over the amount of money pro football players make and how fast, but then I lose that when I consider how short of a career it is and how fast the injuries can compound. In Cleveland, the most talked about player this week will be Browns defensive back TJ Ward because he is the weapon that took out Gronkowski. Yes, he could have make the tackle higher around the hips but would have probably bounced off the hips and Gronkowski would have made another five yards. Or he could tackled him around the shoulders and been taken for 10 yards trying to wrestle the 66" 260 lbs tight end to the ground. Ward is listed at 510" and 200lbs so it was his only choice to take the legs. If he didnt, he would have been criticized and graded down the next morning in the review of the game. The more negative grades you have, the less significance you have in value. No choice for Ward at that moment in time. Pivotal Discussion I dont know who the best quarterback is in NFL football but of the top four that have won Super Bowls, here is what I think. Tom Brady is the best pressure quarterback in football and has exceptional leadership qualities. What he has been able to do with extreme limitations of time is second to none. With two minutes to go on your own 20-yard line and needing a touchdown, Tom Brady is the best. Peyton Manning is #1 in terms of preparation and in-game adjustment. So many times the best offensive possession for Denver is the first one as that becomes the first points scored in the game. Then as the game moves on, Manning figures it out. What he figures out I am not sure but so many times, the second half is dominated by Denver no matter what has happened in the first half. Nobody can run their offence like Manning. Drew Brees has the best footwork and awareness. Cris Collinsworth showed on Sunday Night Football how Brees goes from one opportunity to another downfield, not only in the game but in the pre-game. Later, it was visually demonstrated how polished and precise his footwork and throwing motion work together. Pocket awareness is having the ability to feel a pass rush but not see it. Some quarterbacks never get it; Brees has mastered it. No one has a better arm or a more relaxed demeanor on the field than Aaron Rodgers. If there is anxiety inside Rodgers in the middle of a game, I dont see it. It amazes me how composed and relaxed he remains from play to play. Confidence yes, ability yes but also a gift of knowing or having the skill to focus on what is important and dismiss what is not in any given moment. And with that gift, he has the most accurate and velocity intense arm. If ARodgers comes back for the Dallas game, everything will change for the Packers. Overall, I pick Aaron Rodgers as my number 1 quarterback. Capital Demise In Washington, you can see the end coming. I dont think players give up on a team, coach or year. The competition for an NFL job is too heavy and everything is on video to be re-evaluated all off-season over and over and over. But I do think players play with different intensity levels depending on weather, opposition, one-on-one competition and free agency. When you give up a run for a touchdown, a pass for a touchdown, a punt for a touchdown and a kick return for a touchdown, there is something deeply wrong. The value of a coach is how the players respond and the Washington Redskins did not. You cant fire 53 players, only the boss. Time To Sit In Denver, I hope the Broncos sit Wes Welker until the playoffs. Within one month, he has been diagnosed with two concussions and both on the same type of pattern, a crossing route in between the hash marks about 10 yards downfield. Thats linebacker territory. Also, I guess the conversation about Peyton Mannings ability to play effectively is cold weather is over. Four touchdowns and 397 yards answered that question against Tennessee . Tough To Watch Finally, the Monday Night Football game was painful to watch for two reasons. First, it was brutally cold and by the fourth quarter, everybody was ready to go home; in the stands, on the field, everybody. Secondly, it was tough to watch the slow but consistent disintegration of the Dallas defence. Salary cap limitations have been a good thing for football as it forces competitive balance but when mismanaged, you see weakness in personnel that is normally depth players who will never be starters. That has caught up to the Cowboys. They can still win the NFC East when they face the Eagles in Philadelphia on December 29, but by no means is it a sure thing based on Monday night. Rick Porcello Red Sox Jersey . DeGrom outpitched Jake Peavy in a tantalizing hitless duel that carried into the seventh inning Saturday night before the New York Mets broke loose and beat the San Francisco Giants 4-2. Carlton Fisk Red Sox Jersey . Im very excited about the playoffs, particularly in the Western Conference with amazing match-ups, as well as the wonderful local story in the Toronto Raptors. It should be a blast. Here are my predictions, but based upon my lousy prognostications during the NCAA Tournament, you might be better off going the other way on some of mine - particularly with the Raptors, who I hope and pray are able to win an incredibly difficult match-up. http://www.redsoxapparelsshop.com/fred-lynn-jersey-c-17/ . And former Maple Leafs coach Ron Wilson certainly knows his pain. "Its pretty hard to coach there without allowing some of these things to kind of affect you," Wilson told TSN Hockey Insider Pierre LeBrun in his ESPN.The Toronto Blue Jays continued their busy offseason, adding Canadian content to boot, by acquiring an everyday outfielder while sending a starting pitcher to Seattle. Numbers Game breaks down the deal bringing Michael Saunders to Toronto. The Blue Jays Get: OF Michael Saunders Saunders, 28, from Victoria, B.C., is an athletic outfielder who has been making strides offensively and was productive, when healthy, in 2014. Shoulder and oblique injuries contributed to Saunders playing 78 games last season, but posted a career-best .273 batting average and .791 OPS while playing home games at Safeco Field, a decidedly pitcher-friendly park. There was some good fortune at play for Saunders, as he had a .327 batting average on balls in play, notably higher than his career mark of .290 without much change in the distribution of types of balls (ground ball, line drive, fly ball) he hit. What worked in Saunders favour is that, for the first time in his career, he had positive results against both fastballs and sliders. He also exhibited better plate discipline and making more contact than hed shown previously in his career. Saunders will provide some lefthanded power, benefitting from a move to a hitter-friendly ball park, and potentially decent speed as the Blue Jays everyday left fielder. Thats a position he hasnt played a whole lot in recent seasons, but hes been an effective right-fielder (below average in centre field) for the Mariners, so left field shouldnt present too much difficulty. Over the past three seasons, Saunders has accumulated 5.3 Wins Above Replacement (per Fan Graphs), which ranks 75th among outfielders in that span, though many have played more than the 349 games which Saunders has played in the past three years. Saunders, who earned $2.3-million in 2014, is arbitration eligible and is projected (by MLB Trade Rumors) to get $2.9-million in arbitration for next season, not an unreasonable price for a starting outfielder. Its also a whole lot less than the Blue Jays would have to pay if they were to retain last years left fielder, Melky Cabrera. With Happ departing, the Blue Jays are looking at a rotation that should include veterans R.A. Dickey and Mark Buehhrle, Marcus Stroman, Drew Hutchison and perhaps Aaron Sanchez. Bobby Doerr Red Sox Jersey. . Thats leaning a lot on young arms, so it wouldnt come as a shock if the Jays seek out additional depth, but if Sanchez is inserted into the rotation, the expectation would have to be that his performance would easily surpass Happs 2014 contribution. The Mariners Get: LHP J.A. Happ Happ is a 32-year-old southpaw coming off a decent, but not overpowering, season. Thats who he is. In 30 games last season (26 starts), Happ was 11-11 with a 4.22 ERA and 1.34 WHIP, striking out 133 in 158 innings; fine back-of-the-rotation numbers. He had a 1.3 fWAR, the fourth time in the past five years that his WAR fell between one and two. Happ did allow a career-high 22 home runs last season and that rate should decrease with a move to Seattle. What is notable about Happs performance from last season is that hes added some velocity to his fastball, up to an average speed of 92.7 MPH; two years ago, it was at 90.5 MPH. The added velocity altered Happs approach. He threw more fastballs, fewer sliders, more curves and fewer change-ups. His breaking an off-speed stuff wasnt terrible effective last year, but the fastball was and it allowed Happ to hold down a spot in the rotation. Happ could be a solid No. 5 starter for the Mariners, and stands to benefit from pitching at Safeco Field so his numbers could improve. He will be a free agent at the end of next season, after making $6.7-million in 2015. The Mariners, having recently signed Nelson Cruz, could afford to move Saunders to acquire pitching, but now that they have Happ, the question remains what the Mariners will do with the rest of their staff. Beyond Felix Hernandez and Hisashi Iwakuma, the Mariners have room for a couple of prospects - say two of James Paxton, Taijuan Walker and Roenis Elias - to fit in the rotation ahead of Happ. Verdict: This is another deal thats easy to like for the Blue Jays. Its not that Saunders is assuredly going to be a star, but he could be an inexpensive regular outfielder who costs less and has more upside than the No. 5 starter that they traded to get him. Scott Cullen can be reached at scott.cullen@bellmedia.ca Cheap Hockey Blackhawks Jerseys Cheap Hockey Avalanche Jerseys Cheap Hockey Stars Jerseys Cheap Hockey Wild Jerseys Cheap Hockey Predators Jerseys Cheap Hockey Blues Jerseys Cheap Hockey Jets Jerseys Cheap Hockey Ducks Jerseys Cheap Hockey Coyotes Jerseys Cheap Hockey Flames Jerseys Cheap Hockey Oilers Jerseys Cheap Hockey Kings Jerseys Cheap Hockey Sharks Jerseys Cheap Hockey Canucks Jerseys Cheap Hockey Golden Knights Jerseys Hockey Team Canada Jerseys ' ' '