Welcome to Tuesday’s Morning Mashup. For the latest news, start at our WEEI.com home page or click here for the top stories from our news wire.
TUESDAY’S BROADCAST HIGHLIGHTS:
NHL: Senators at Bruins, 7 p.m. (NESN)
NHL: Predators at Blues, 8 p.m. (NBCSN)
College hockey: Providence vs. Boston College, 4:05 p.m. (WEEI-AM)
NBA: Bucks at Thunder, 8 p.m. (NBATV)
College basketball: Tulane at Memphis, 1 p.m. (ESPNU)
College basketball: Temple at Cincinnati, 3 p.m. (ESPN2)
College basketball: Texas Southern at Baylor, 3 p.m. (ESPNU)
College basketball: Liberty at Notre Dame, 5 p.m. (ESPNU)
College basketball: SMU at Tulsa, 5 p.m. (ESPN2)
College basketball: Florida State at Florida, 7 p.m. (ESPN2)
College basketball: Wake Forest at LSU, 7 p.m. (ESPNU)
College basketball: Purdue at Wisconsin, 7 p.m. (Big Ten Network)
College basketball: UConn at Texas, 9 p.m. (ESPN2)
College basketball: UC Irvine at Kansas, 9 p.m. (ESPNU)
College basketball: Michigan State at Iowa, 9 p.m. (Big Ten Network)
College football: Armed Forces Bowl, Air Force vs. California, 2 p.m. (ESPN)
College football: Russell Athletic Bowl, North Carolina vs. Baylor, 5:30 p.m. (ESPN2)
College football: Texas Bowl, Texas Tech vs. LSU, 9 p.m. (ESPN)
Soccer: Premier League, Manchester City at Leicester City, 2:45 p.m. (NBCSN)
AROUND THE WEB:
Broncos players celebrate after recovering AJ McCarron’s fumble in overtime Monday night. (Dustin Bradford/Getty Images)
— One play Monday had a dramatic effect on the Bengals’ postseason hopes. Not only did AJ McCarron’s overtime fumble cap off a 20-17 loss to the Broncos, the quarterback was injured on the play.
McCarron, who has started since Andy Dalton went down with a thumb injury three weeks ago, was scheduled to have an MRI on his left wrist Tuesday. He had his wrist and hand taped after the game.
On the play, McCarron was in the shotgun and took his eyes off the center when the ball was snapped. DeMarcus Ware recovered the ball for the Broncos.
“It was my fault. I told the team that,” McCarron said. “I looked up to see the coverage and the snap caught me by surprise.”
Kicker Brandon McManus, who shanked a 45-yard attempt at the end of regulation, hit a 37-yarder in OT as the Broncos improved to 11-4 and moved past the Bengals (also 11-4) for the second seed in the AFC. Cincinnati could have moved ahead of the Patriots into the top spot with a win. Now the Bengals are unlikely to get a first-round bye.
“We knew what we have in front of us, an opportunity to get the bye,” Bengals defensive end Carlos Dunlap said. “It is what it is now. Now we’re going to move on.”
The Broncos, who were in danger of missing the playoffs after losing two consecutive games, clinched a postseason berth.
“There’s an old saying: ‘It’s not how you start, it’s how you finish,’ ” Broncos quarterback Brock Osweiler said after Denver rallied from a 14-0 deficit. “And this team finished great tonight.”
— Another video has surfaced of Johnny Manziel partying, one month after he assured the team he would not continue to be a distraction off the field, and coach Mike Pettine said he planned to speak with the second-year quarterback if necessary.
Manziel was demoted from starter to third string after last month’s incident, in which he was videotaped partying in Austin, Texas, during the Browns’ bye week. Pettine said then there would be “harsh” repercussions if Manziel, who spent 73 days in a rehab facility in the offseason, violated the team’s trust again.
“Any time there’s something with our players that casts them potentially in a bad light, whether it’s Johnny or any of our other guys, it’s certainly a concern,” Pettine said on a conference call Monday. “I’m sure I’ll see it and have a discussion with him about it. These circumstances are different from the incident that occurred before. I’m just not going to go into a ton of detail with it until I get a little bit more information about it, but it’s something that I’m sure privately we’ll discuss if it needs to be discussed.”
Added Pettine: “It falls back into not micromanaging personal lives, and it’s very public unfortunately. The thing that’s disappointing is how public it becomes and it’s something with all of our players we’re going to sit down with them before they get out of here and talk about where they are personally, where they are professionally, and certainly Johnny will be no exception.”
Manziel set a record for a Browns quarterback when he rushed for 108 yards in Sunday’s 17-13 loss to the Chiefs. It was his third straight start.
— Rex Ryan‘s first season as coach of the Bills is one week from being finished, and on Monday he acknowledged he should not have bragged so much during the preseason, because now people look at this year as a disappointment.
In August, Ryan said: “I know it’s been 15 years since the Bills made the playoffs. Well get ready, man, we’re going. We are going. . . . My message to our team is to get ready. Start preparing now. Start preparing that we’re going to be playing games in January.”
On Monday, Ryan told Buffalo radio station WGR 550 that he accepts some responsibility for putting such high expectations on the team, which started strong but now is 7-8.
“We just didn’t produce the wins I thought we would,” he said (via the New York Daily News). “The thing that kind of gives this team a black eye when we’re looking at it, is that I let my mouth get ahead of everything. And I think if I would have come in there and just said, ‘Hey, we’re going to compete’ and do all that stuff, maybe we wouldn’t have such a bad feeling about this team.”
ON THIS DAY TRIVIA (answer below): On Dec. 29, 2007, the Patriots completed the first 16-0 regular season in NFL history with a 38-35 victory over the Giants. Tom Brady threw two touchdown passes to Randy Moss to break the NFL record for touchdown passes (50) and receptions (23) by an individual. Which other Patriot scored two touchdowns that day?
QUOTE OF THE DAY: “No, I’m not offended at all. We had a situation in Denver this year where we got the ball [in overtime] and we didn’t do anything with it. We kicked it to them on a short field. Like I said, we haven’t exactly inspired our coach to throw our offense out there to say, ‘Go score a touchdown and win the game.’ So I don’t blame him. If we were playing a lot better offensively I’m sure his decision would have been different. But if we’re not doing much as an offense, that’s just the way it goes.” — Tom Brady, during his weekly Monday morning appearance on WEEI, discussing Bill Belichick’s decision to kick the ball at the start of overtime
STAT OF THE DAY: 18 — Consecutive home wins by the Spurs this season, after Monday’s 101-95 victory over the Timberwolves, making them the third Western Conference team in NBA history to open a season 18-0 at home
‘NET RESULTS (mobile users, check the website to see the videos): After going scoreless for most of the first half, Warriors star Steph Curry explodes for 17 points in just over three minutes against the Kings.
The Spurs mascot catches a bat that was flying around the arena before Monday’s game.
TRIVIA ANSWER: Running back Laurence Maroney, on a 6-yard run in the third quarter and a 5-yard run in the fourth
SOOTHING SOUNDS: The late Rick Danko, best known for his work with The Band, was born on this day in 1942.
