Pekovic and Martin combined for 39 points midway through the third quarter. T

What is going on with our starting quarterbacks? Over the last two weeks, four starters have gone down, and two are probably lost for the season. Two weeks ago, the Lions lost Travis Lulay in Ottawa when he suffered the fourth injury of his career on the same shoulder late in the game. In the Banjo Bowl between Saskatchewan and Winnipeg, the Riders Darian Durant took a legal hit from Bryant Turner and is gone for the season with an elbow injury. A week later, Drew Willy of the Bombers was running the ball and he was rolled on by a Lions D-linmen when tackled and suffered a shoulder injury, the severity of which has not yet been released by the Bombers. And finally in Calgary, Bo Levi Mitchell was hit by Shea Emry and has ankle and knee injuries, and according to the latest reports, will be week-to-week. Four starters, four stars gone and in the case of two of them, likely for the season. Now the question is, are all these injuries to star quarterbacks just a case of bad luck/coincidence or is there a reason for them? There is no question that defences are winning this year and the strength of the defences has been the front sevens which has to be factored in to the QB injury discussion. However, Lulay has a history of the shoulder issues, and was involved in a strange play where the ball slipped out of his hand as he was trying to throw. When he scrambled to recover the fumble, the shoulder buckled again. Durant was in the act of throwing when he was hit, and like Lulay, it was a strange play but for a different reason. On Durants injury, the official tried to blow the play dead but no one heard it and the play continued. More on that later. Drew Willy was injured in BC when he was tackled trying to run the ball, which is a very different situation to that of Lulay or Durant, but similar to how Mitchell was hurt. Mitchell was scrambling for a first down and was trying to go down in a crouch position when he was hit by Shea Emry. Two QBs hit in the act of trying to throw, and two in the act of running, which means there is no specific trend or reason that connects all four. Lulay and Durant were situations that could happen on any passing play; they were vulnerable in the pocket, got hit legally and were injured. It happens. However, Willy and Mitchell are injuries that could have been avoided. It is certainly not the quarterbacks fault, because they are caught in the middle between being tough, team-first guys that will do anything for the first down, and being smart and picking up what they can and then protecting themselves. Everyone admires and raves about the QB that puts it all on the line for the first down, but what is the cost? Coaches have said that they cant take the fight in the dog out of their leaders who want to do what ever it takes, but maybe its time they try and tame that dog just a bit. The quarterback is the player that gives the entire team hope; if he isnt capable, hope is lost. Now all wins are important, and football players are wired to give it all on every play but if Calgary or Winnipeg dont get the first down in Week 10 of the regular season, are their seasons lost? Obviously not, the franchise players are taking too many risks in the game today. Maybe its time that coaches start saying to their star QBs "run if you want but NEVER take a hit you dont have to take! " Lets be clear, this is not a critique on Willy or Mitchell. Everyone admires their courage and leadership abilities, but the risk when a quarterback elects to take a hit rather than hook slide for an extra yard or two outweighs the reward in the regular season. Coaches hold players out of the lineup when they are injured and begging to go back before they are ready. Its time those same coaches start instructing their franchise players to avoid taking unnecessary hits! Now to the Durant hit. According to the head of officials Glen Johnson, the correct protocol was carried out by the crew in the Banjo Bowl. One ref tried to blow the play dead by blasting his whistle four times. However no one, including the other officials on the field and all 24 players, heard it due to the unbelievable crowd noise in Winnipegs new Investors Group Field. Johnson has since reminded all the officials to be as animated as they can when trying to stop the play once the ball has been snapped and to make sure that one officials whistle is backed up by the rest of the crew. However, there will be no discipline handed out to any of the officiating crew because there was really no mistake made, which is the right decision. Also, good for Riders offensive guard Dan Clark who was beat on the play but didnt try to use the whistle issue as an excuse. Right after the game in front of a sea of cameras and microphones, he said he didnt hear any whistle and he just got beat. That couldnt have been easy when an excuse was on the tee for him. That is a sign of true character. Wholesale Nike Free . -- Aaron Rodgers looked fine on the practice field Thursday. Cheap Nike Free China .com) - Houston Texans interim head coach Wade Phillips confirmed Monday that starting quarterback Case Keenum sustained a sprained right thumb during Sundays 25-3 loss in Indianapolis. http://www.cheapnikefree.net/ . If Vettel wins at Suzuka on Sunday, and his nearest rival Fernando Alonso finishes worse than eighth, the German driver will join his compatriot Michael Schumacher and Argentine Juan-Manuel Fangio as the only men to win four consecutive titles. Discount Nike Free .com) - John Wall supplied 24 points and 11 assists in leading the Washington Wizards to a 102-91 win over the New York Knicks on Christmas Day. Cheap Nike Free Sale . The Union looked to have grabbed a big win in the 88th minute when Amobi Okugo finally put the hosts in front. But a terrible giveaway by Union goalkeeper Rais Mbolhi handed Earnshaw the equalizer in the second minute of stoppage time, keeping the Union two points back of fifth-place Red Bull New York for the final playoff spot in the Eastern Conference.MINNEAPOLIS -- The struggling Minnesota Timberwolves finally got to blow off some steam. Nikola Pekovic had 27 points and 14 rebounds in three quarters and the Timberwolves blasted the Utah Jazz, 98-72 on Saturday night. Kevin Love had 18 points, 13 rebounds and five assists, and Kevin Martin scored 20 points to help the Wolves snap a three-game losing streak that included losses to Sacramento and Toronto. The Wolves scored 28 points off 16 Utah turnovers and outscored the Jazz 50-18 in the paint for a much-needed blowout. Alec Burks scored 18 points for the Jazz, who trailed by as many as 36 points and shot 28.8 per cent, the worst shooting night in franchise history. Derrick Favours had eight points and 10 boards, but was just 3 for 10 from the field. The Timberwolves hit a season-low three games under .500 with a dispiriting loss in Toronto on Friday night, and a season that started with playoff aspirations was threatening to be done in by a lack of team chemistry and an inability to win close games. They are 0-11 this season in games decided by four points or less, but also lead the league in games in which theyve led by at least 30 points (10). The Jazz were playing again without leading scorer Gordon Hayward, who was out with a strained left hip flexor. And theyve never missed him more. The Jazz missed 20 of their first 26 shots against the team with the worst field goal percentage defence in the league. With just under nine minutes to play in the first half, Favours went up for a dunk but didnt make it high enough and was rejected by the rim. He grabbed the ball, wentt straight up again, and missed another dunk off the back iron.dddddddddddd Incredibly, it only got worse from there. The Jazz made two field goals in the entirety of their nine-point second quarter and went into halftime trailing by 28 points. They went 8 for 39 in the first two quarters, just 20.5 per cent, and managed a season-low 23 points, the second-lowest scoring half for a Wolves opponent in franchise history. How bad was it? Pekovic and Martin combined for 39 points midway through the third quarter. The Jazz had 37. The Timberwolves werent exactly on fire, either. They shot 44 per cent in the first half and missed eight of 19 free throws. But if any team needed a gimme like this one, it was the Wolves. They had lost four of their previous five games to fall to 11th in the Western Conference and were fighting discord in the locker room and plummeting confidence on the court. That all changed on Saturday night, with Love and Pekovic rough-housing on the sideline, Martin playing with an aggression that hasnt been seen for a few weeks and Ricky Rubio playing with a hop in his step and a smile on his face for the first time in a month. Rubio had six points, nine assists and eight rebounds in 26 minutes. Promising rookie Trey Burke had just nine points on 2-for-10 shooting for Utah. NOTES: The Jazzs previous franchise low for field goal percentage was 29.3 per cent against New York on Nov. 14, 2005. ... Love hit a 3-pointer in the first quarter that moved him past Wally Szczerbiak for second on the franchises career list. ... The teams meet again in Utah on Tuesday. ' ' '