Welcome to Eric’s Sports Shorts…

It’s just one of those opinionated days, but how long will the Arizona Diamondbacks stick around in the baseball postseason. Just when you thought their biggest loss was the $40 million-plus they’re losing in team operations, and then comes the blow of losing all-star leftfielder Luis Gonzalez for the rest of the season with a separated shoulder and ligament damage.

There is no beating around the bush here, plain and simple; this is a devastating loss for the Diamondbacks. To be this close to postseason and lose their top hitter will have an enormous affect this postseason.

Gonzalez, who had the winning hit in Game 7 of last year’s World Series, wasn’t producing the whopping numbers he had last season of 57 home runs and 142 runs batted in, but he still was the team leader this season with 28 homers and 103 RBI. Not many teams can take a loss of their best hitter and have continued success, and for the Diamondbacks they will fall in that category.

All along, many have said this team has ridden the arms of Randy Johnson and Curt Schilling to their success. That is partly true, but only partly because in the end a team still needs an offense and, most importantly, an offensive catalyst to lead the team. Gonzalez was the Diamondbacks offensive gun and without him they’ll being shooting blanks in the postseason.

Johnson and Schilling are baseball’s version of a WWE tag team championship combo, but the loss of Gonzalez has now placed a greater burden on their shoulders. Johnson has continued his dominance throughout the season with a 23-5 record and a 2.40 ERA and is probably the leader for the National League Cy Young Award. Schilling, on the other hand, has pitched great almost all season; he too has an outstanding record of 23-6 with a 3.20 ERA. Problem with Schilling is in his last five starts he’s 2-2 while giving up 19 earned runs, six home runs and seeing his earned run average jump over 30 points.

It maybe too early to count them out, but those numbers don’t lie, the loss of Gonzalez and the possible wearing down of Schilling could mean a quick exit for the Diamondbacks in this year’s playoffs.

Speaking of quick exits, I’m beginning to think that "The Greatest Show on Turf" has exited stage left already only three games into NFL season. Granted the St. Louis Rams offense haven’t necessarily played cream puffs on the defensive side of the ball in the Denver Broncos, New York Giants and the Tampa Bay Buccaneers, but there’s a definite carry over from last year’s Super Bowl that’s playing in the minds of the Rams.

The NFL nowadays is a league of quick change and how quickly have the mighty fallen in St. Louis. The loss to the Buccaneers Monday just puts the stamp on the troubles the Rams have faced early this season from Kurt Warner’s four interceptions to Marshall Faulk’s nine yards rushing and more disturbingly his neck injury.

It’s really too early to make a call on this one because teams can fall in a rut out of the gate and have enough time to make up ground, even in a 16-game NFL schedule there’s enough time to improve. But, the Rams improvement has to start this week against the Dallas Cowboys because with games coming up against the San Francisco 49ers and the Oakland Raiders that Cowboys game maybe the only gimme they have in a while.

History is also working against them, since the AFL/NFL merger only five teams that started out 0-3 went on to make the playoffs — the last being the 1998 Buffalo Bills.

Questions the Rams need to ask themselves are did they lose that edge that made them so good the last three years, did they lose too many character players through free agent losses or has Mike Martz just run the team into the ground with his complicated system. The Rams still have the talent with Warner, Faulk, Isaac Bruce and Torry Holt, but do they still have the passion to win? We’ll see in week four.

Speaking of week four of the NFL season, let’s see what undefeated teams are most likely to remain unblemished in the loss column.

Miami Dolphins — they may have the toughest test playing the Kansas City Chiefs. Despite the Chiefs 1-2 record they’ve been lighting up the scoreboard and Priest Holmes has been a mad man running the ball so far this season. But, Miami has a mad man of their own in Ricky Williams, and he may be the difference in a game that will prove tough in a hostile environment like Kansas City. Williams will get his yardage, but I like Kansas City in this game.

New England Patriots and the San Diego Chargers — The battle of the unbeatens, barring a tie, there will at least be one team undefeated in the NFL after this weekend’s games. The Chargers have given up the least points per game so far this season, but I expect that average to take a hit this week. The Patriots are a steamroller of a team right now averaging 38 points a game and it’s tough to see them getting shut down anytime soon. Tom Brady as every week goes by reminds me more and more of Joe Montana and this week’s game will be no different — I like the Patriots to win.

Oakland Raiders — Oakland is a solid club on both sides of the ball, but I doubt they’ll be as pass happy against the Tennessee Titans as they were against the Pittsburgh Steelers. The Titans will give them trouble with the passing of Steve McNair and the running of Eddie George, but expect Sam Adams to plug that middle and Rich Gannon to be successful through the air to lead the Raiders to their third win after a bye week.

Denver Broncos — OK, they beat the 49ers, the Rams, and the Bills and now they play the Baltimore Ravens, who have averaged just three points per game thus far this season. Let’s just say there will be at least two undefeated teams after this weekend.

New Orleans Saints — After a great comeback against the Chicago Bears, there’s always a possibility for a let down, especially against the Detroit Lions. The Lions showed some heart against Green Bay and it looks like Joey Harrington is going to be a good one, but that is still a few years away. The Saints lead by quarterback Aaron Brooks and running back Deuce McAllister will slay the Lions.

Carolina Panthers — I give them credit, they have shown some moxey early this season after a horrible year last season and are doing it with a 900-year old relic of a quarterback in Rodney Peete – Good Lord, Rodney Peete! Still, good things generally come to an end and it will come to an end this weekend in Green Bay for the Panthers.

Speaking of things coming to an end, let’s move on to the Army football team and the hopes that their early three-game losing skid will end this weekend against Southern Mississippi. Southern Miss may not kill you offensively like in the days of Brett Favre, but they will kill in other ways, especially on the defensive side of the ball.

The key for Army is ball control and try to create turnovers; in last weekend’s game against Louisville they created a great turnover that lead to six on junior Ryan Kent’s 88-yard fumble return for a touchdown. It’s plays like those that they need more of to progress as a team as they start hitting their conference schedule hard.

I won’t promise victory this weekend for the Black Knights, but I expect this weekend’s game to be closer than the games against Rutgers and Louisville. Southern Miss is coming off a 20-7 loss to Alabama after starting out 3-0. Southern Miss will be a formable opponent and it will be a tough one to win, especially with the Black Knights starting their third starting quarterback this season in sophomore Matt Silva — but I’ll be out there to watch as I hope you will be too. Go Army and have a great sporting weekend!