From A to Z - Christmas Day Edition - From Adrian Peterson to Zaza Pachulia

Here's a rundown on the last couple days from A to Z.

A is for Adrian Peterson. 2011 has just not been a good year for the Minnesota Vikings. Peterson reportedly suffered tears to the ACL and MCL in his left knee Saturday meaning the star running back may be out for the next 9 months. The Vikings also saw their rookie quarterback Christian Ponder knocked out of Saturday's game against Washington after suffering a hit to the head just one play after Peterson's injury. Even without Peterson and Ponder the Vikings still managed to pull out a 33-26 win, just their third win of the year. Peterson finishes the year with 970 rushing yards and 13 total touchdowns. Toby Gerhart will handle the primary responsibilities in Minnesota's backfield the rest of the way.

Photo Credit: bleacherreport.com

B is for Boxing Day matches. Boxing Day, aka the Day after Christmas, is a big one for soccer games over in the Premier League. Tomorrow's slate features Clint Demspey and Fulham taking on Chelsea, Manchester United hosting Wigan Athletic, Tim Howard and Everton taking on Sunderland, Brad Guzan and Aston Villa facing off against Stoke City and Manchester City traveling to play West Bromwich Albion.

Photo Credit: guardian.co.uk

C is for Cam Newton. I'll be honest, I didn't think Cam Newton would ever be this good, let alone this good as a rookie. Newton broke Peyton Manning's rookie record of 3739 passing yards yesterday and became one of just five rookie quarterbacks to throw 20 touchdown passes in a season. Newton accounted for 236 total yards and 4 touchdowns in Carolina's 48-16 win over Tampa Bay yesterday. On the year, Newton has 3893 passing yards, 20 passing touchdowns, 674 rushing yards, 14 rushing touchdowns and has a 27 yard reception. Hard to make a better case for anyone else winning the Offensive Rookie of the Year Award. Newton will try to become the first rookie ever to eclipse 4000 passing yards on New Year's Day against the Saints.

Photo Credit: salon.com

D is for the Detroit Lions. The Lions are going to the playoffs! For the first time since 1999 when they were quarterbacked by Gus Frerotte and... Charlie Batch? Man, that guy's been around forever... Anyhow, for the first time since 1999, the Lions are going to be in the postseason following their 38-10 win over the Chargers yesterday. The Lions now have ten wins making this the first time since 1995 that they've been able to reach double digits. To put into perspective just how long ago that was, that team still had Barry Sanders. Interestingly enough the Lions still have the same kicker though. 41 year old Jason Hanson has been the Lions kicker since his debut in 1994.

Photo Credit: fannation.com

E is for Eddie House. The 33 year old House is teamless after getting waived by the Heat before today's game against the Mavericks. House appeared in 56 games for Miami during last year's regular season and averaged  6.5 points while connecting on 68 of 175 3-pointers (38.9%). During the playoffs, House made just 7 appearances scoring 11 points - 9 of those in Game 6 of the NBA Finals. In lieu of House, who had arthroscopic knee surgery in early November, the Heat kept rookies Terrel Harris (Oklahoma State) and Mickell Gladness (Alabama A&M). In his 11 year NBA career, House has spent time with the Heat, Clippers, Bucks, Kings, Bobcats, Suns, Nets, Celtics and Knicks. He won a title with the Celtics in 2008.

Photo Credit: zimbio.com

Fis for Fantasy Football. The 2011 Drydock League Champion won't be crowned until the conclusion of the Monday Night Game between the Saints and Falcons. I've got a 46.5 point lead heading into MNF thanks to a huge contribution from my latest waiver wire wonder Kahlil Bell (16 points), but all I've got left is Julio Jones, while Cumbo - the 1 seed - still has John Kasay, Curtis Lofton, and most importantly Jimmy Graham. Cumbo is still looking for his first ever Drydock League Title, while if I can pull this out, it will be my first since 2004. Fingers crossed!

G is for the Green Bay Packers. It's official. The road to the Super Bowl is going through Green Bay in the NFC. The Packers won their league best 14th game of the year tonight knocking off the banged up Bears by a score of 35-21. Aaron Rodgers threw five touchdown passes giving him 45 on the year. The favorite for this year's MVP award has only thrown 6 interceptions.

Photo Credit: cleveland.com

H is for the Hawaii Bowl. Southern Miss's Austin Davis threw a 4 yard touchdown pass to Kevin Bolden late in the 4th quarter to lead the Golden Eagles to a 24-17 win over Nevada in the Sheraton Hawaii Bowl. The win was a school record 12th this year for Southern Miss who just a few weeks ago won the Conference USA title by defeating previously unbeaten Houston and knocking the Cougars out of the BCS. Nevada running back Lampford Mark had 183 rushing yards and a pair of touchdowns in a losing effort. Conference USA improves to 2-0 in bowls this year, while the WAC falls to 0-3.

Photo Credit: usatoday.com

I is for the Independence Bowl. The Big 12 and ACC will both make their first appearance in this year's bowl season as Missouri (7-5) takes on North Carolina (7-5) tomorrow in Shreveport, Louisiana. This will be Missouri's last game as a member of the Big 12 as they will be headed to the SEC along with Texas A&M next season.

Photo Credit: http://triad.news14.com

J is for Joe Webb. Yesterday was a pretty good day for the former UAB Blazer. Webb, who came into the game after Ponder's injury at the start of the second half, completed 4 of 5 passes for 84 yards and a pair of touchdowns and also ran for 34 yards and a score. Webb's play helped Minnesota pull out a back and forth contest with Washington 33-26 for just their third win of the year. A 6th round pick in 2010, Webb has done a little bit of everything for the Vikings this year racking up 176 passing yards and 3 touchdowns, 152 rushing yards with 2 more touchdowns and he's even caught a pass and returned a kick.

Photo Credit: upi.com

K is for Kobe Bryant. Kobe was diagnosed with a torn lunotriquetral ligament in his right wrist after falling hard in Monday's game against the Clippers. While he turned the ball over 8 times against the Bulls tonight, the rest of his stat line didn't resemble that of a guy with a serious wrist injury: 28 points, 7 rebounds, 6 assists and 2 steals. It still wasn't enough for the Lakers though as Derrick Rose and the Bulls pulled out an 88-87 win. Chicago trailed 85-77 with 1:58 to play before closing the game with an 11-3 run. Derrick Rose hit the game winning shot with 4 seconds to play and then Luol Deng blocked Kobe's shot at the buzzer to seal the win. Rose led the Bulls with 22 points.

Photo Credit: courses.rad.washington.edu

L is for LeBron James. The Heat made a statement today with a blowout win over the new-look Mavericks in a rematch of last year's finals. The Mavs enter the 2011-12 season without Tyson Chandler (Knicks), Caron Butler (Clippers), JJ Barea (Wolves) and DeShawn Steveson (Nets) having replaced them with Lamar Odom, Vince Carter and Delonte West. I don't know that this new grouping won't work, but it sure didn't work today. The 105-94 final score doesn't come close to telling the story in this one. The Mavs had to outscore the Heat 29-8 in the 4th quarter just to make it an 11 point game. LeBron scored 37 points, grabbed 10 rebounds and had 6 assists and Dwayne Wade chipped in 26 as the Heat cruised to an opening night win exacting some revenge on the Mavericks. Miami outrebounded Dallas 51-31 and held the Mavs to under 40% shooting. Not a good sign if you're anti-Heat like I am.

Photo Credit: zimbio.com

M is for Madison Square Garden, the site of the kickoff of the 2011-12 NBA season. Carmelo Anthony hit two free throws with 16 seconds to play to snap a 104-104 tie and the Celtics missed a pair of shots in the closing seconds giving the Knicks a 106-104 win in the season opener. Anthony finished with a game high 37 points while Rajon Rondo led the Celtics with 31 points, 5 rebounds, 5 steals and 13 assists. Boston clearly missed Paul Pierce in this one as his replacement Sasha Pavlovic went scoreless in 15 minutes while committing 4 fouls. The Knicks were swept in last year's regular season and in the postseason by the Celtics going a combined 0-8. It was New York's first win over Boston since April 2010.

Photo Credit: zimbio.com

N is for NFC East. The NFC East division title is going to be decided on the final day of the season. With the Giants beating the Jets and Dallas losing to the Eagles, the Dallas-New York matchup on New Year's Day will now be for all the marbles. If it's anything like the Week 14 match between the two sides we'll be in for a treat. That game saw 71 points scored and the Giants rally back from a 12 point 4th quarter deficit for a 37-34 win.

O is for One Thousand Yards. Reggie Bush ran for 113 yards against New England yesterday bringing his season total on the year to 1086. It marked the first time in Bush's six year NFL career that he has eclipsed the 1000 yard plateau. His previous high was 581 yards in 2007. This has been Bush's most productive season as a runner since he ran for 1740 yards and 16 touchdowns as a junior at USC before entering the NFL draft.

Photo Credit: bleacherreport.com

P is for Peace... Metta World Peace... I'm not sure I'll ever get used to that.

Photo Credit: zimbio.com

Q is for Quarterback. Drew Brees is just 305 yards away from history heading into Monday Night's NFC South Division showdown with the Atlanta Falcons. Dan Marino's 27 year old record for single season passing yards could be history a little over 24 hour from now. Brees, one of just two quarterbacks in NFL history to eclipse 5000 yards (5069 in 2008), threw for 322 yards and a pair of touchdowns the last time these two teams met.

Photo Credit: zimbio.com

R is for Romo. The Dallas quarterback left Saturday's game with the Eagles in the first quarter after suffering a bad bruise to his throwing hand. The Cowboys remain optimistic that because the hand is not broken, he'll still be able to play in next weekend's showdown with the Giants. Stephen McGee came in in relief of Romo and completed 24 of 38 passes for 182 yards and a touchdown, but the Eagles still won 20-7.

Photo Credit: bleacherreport.com

S is for Steelers. Charlie Batch makes his second appearance in this week's A to Z having led the Steelers to a 27-0 victory over the Rams yesterday. With Big Ben sidelined with a bad ankle, Batch got the start under center and was an efficient 15 of 22 for 208 yards. The Steeler running game took care of the rest amassing 169 yards and 3 touchdowns while averaging 6 yards a carry. While the Steelers have clinched a playoff berth, their ability to win the division and clinch a first round bye will require outside help. The Steelers need to beat the Browns on New Year's Day and have the Ravens lose in Cincinnati to the Bengals.

Photo Credit: topics.gannett.com

T is for the Thunder. The kids from Oklahoma City continue to come into their own starting the 2011-12 season with an impressive 97-89 win over the Orlando Magic. While a lot of teams this year are dealing with issues concerning their depth, or integrating new players into their systems, the Thunder return all 10 rotation players and had everything working tonight. Kevin Durant led the way with 30 points, while Russell Westbrook chipped in 14 and James Harden had 19 off the bench. Dwight Howard was held to just 11 points, but had 15 rebounds in a losing effort.

Photo Credit: zimbio.com

U is for USA Roster. Jurgen Klinsmann has announced his 20 man camp roster for the USA's upcoming friendlies against Venezuela and Panama. The roster largely features MLS players (18/20) and only boasts 5 players with double digit appearances. With only 8 National Team goals between the 20 players, this is a great opportunity for some of the fringe guys to make an impression on Klinsmann as we get ready for World Cup Qualifying.

V is for Victor Cruuuuuuuuuuz! There's a saying: If you're gonna talk the talk, you've gotta walk the walk. In the leadup to yesterday's Giants-Jets game, Giants wide receiver Victor Cruz contended Jets All-Pro cornerback Darrelle Revis has “had to earn his money this year” because “teams aren’t really scared anymore” of him. Well, the former receiver made sure to back up his words on the field yesterday highlighted by a 99 yard touchdown reception in the Giants' 29-14 win. Cruz finished with 3 catches for 164 yards.

Photo Credit: usatoday.com

W is for Wagons. As in nobody circles the wagons like the Buffalo Bills. Just ask Tim Tebow. Buffalo's defense picked Tebow off 4 times and returned a pair of them for touchdowns in the 4th quarter and the Bills routed the Broncos 40-14. Before yesterday's game, Tebow had only been picked off twice all season and now the Broncos find themselves losers of two straight after reeling off six straight wins. Additionally, with Oakland pulling out an overtime win against Kansas City, Denver now finds themselves tied atop the AFC West with the Raiders. Denver still holds the tiebreaker edge over Oakland so they control their own destiny with a home game against the Chiefs on New Year's Day. The Raiders meanwhile host the Chargers in what for them has become a must win game.

Photo Credit: nbcsports.msnbc.com

X is for Xavier. The 15th ranked Musketeers finally got back into the win column for the first time since their brawl-marred win against Cincinnati with an 87-77 victory over Southern Illinois. Following the Cincinnati game, the Musketeers had dropped 3 straight losing games to Oral Roberts, Long Beach State and Hawaii. So much for 'Zip 'em up.'

Photo Credit: bleacherreport.com

Y is for Yorvit Torrealba. The Texas Rangers catcher struck an umpire in the face after striking out in a Venezuelan League Game on Friday. There's no word yet on what type of punishment Torrealba will face from either the Venezuelan League or the Rangers. Torrealba hit .273 for Texas last year, his first season with the Rangers.

Z is for Zaza Pachulia. The 6'11" Georgian is back with the Atlanta Hawks this year. Which is funny since he's not from Georgia the state. He's from Georgia the country. The Hawks open up their season against the Nets on Tuesday.

Photo Credit: nbaarena.com