Month: September 2017

With the exception of the Patriots, parity rules the NFL. Many franchises duck in and out of the postseason with little consistency as players shift teams and a restrictive salary cap prevents the formation of the big-market superteams that rule the NBA and MLB.

As a result, amazing turnarounds have become the rule rather than the exception in the league. In 13 of the past 14 years, at least one team has gone from last place in its division to first.

Last year, we pegged the Cowboys as the most likely candidate to make the jump. Dak Prescott and Ezekiel Elliott came through with monster rookie campaigns to fulfill that prediction. Picking 2017’s turnaround team wasn’t as easy. Here are the eight teams who finished last in their respective divisions in 2016:

The majority of those teams are stuck in quarterback hell, bottoming out toward a rebuild, or a combination of the two. That leaves three likely candidates to carry on the league’s rich worst-to-first tradition. Here’s who we think could make the leap from the division basement into the postseason.

If the the last year in America taught us anything, it’s that some things can be repeated into existence. It’s easy to feel so inundated by the way things are that you start to believe they’ll never change. That was the NFL, making fistfuls of money while, more and more, getting players to capitulate to owners and selling a product that has, for a couple decades, been boring and basic and largely what you expected when you flipped on the TV.

Like the drone of white noise, the NFL came to be accepted as part of Cheap Pittsburgh Penguins Jerseys the background. Even if it was bad, it was the Thing You Do On Sundays. Knowing something is bad isn’t the same as acting on it. People do lots of terrible things out Cheap Queensland Jerseys of habit. That is until the record skips, the noise stops, and then silence feels like a new reality.

So here’s hoping the ones doing the “sticking” come Monday night in Minneapolis are the likes of Vikings defensive Pro Bowlers Everson Griffen, Harrison Smith and Xavier Rhodes.

Maybe that will shut Peterson up, but I doubt that will ever happen. He has proven time and again that he’ll say and do whatever he wants with no concern for how it affects his team or his legacy.

Jeff Diamond is the former president of the Titans and the former vice president/general manager of the Vikings. He was selected NFL Executive of the Year in 1998. Diamond is currently a business and sports consultant who also does broadcast and online media work. He is the former chairman and CEO of The Ingram Group.

Back-to-back sacks of Siemian set up a 50-yard field goal try that McManus pushed wide right, giving L.A. the ball at its 40-yard line trailing by three.

But Koo’s miss loomed larger in the final seconds.

DENVER’S DOMINANCE: The Broncos led 14-7 at halftime after Siemian threw a 5-yard scoring pass to Fowler and scored on a 1-yard keeper .

Los Angeles’ only touchdown drive was aided by a 40-yard pass interference call on cornerback Bradley Roby before Rivers hit running back Melvin Gordon for an 11-yard touchdown toss. Safety Justin Simmons hit Gordon at the 2, but he just somersaulted across the goal line.

Rivers stayed away from the All-Pro tandem of Aqib Talib and Chris Harris Jr., instead targeting Roby and safeties Darian Stewart and Simmons.

Roby atoned for his crucial penalty with an interception in the third quarter Cheap Original Soccer Jerseys on a Cheap Nike Jerseys pass intended for Allen. That led to Siemian’s 6-yard TD toss to Fowler that made it 21-7.

The thing that surprised me most in the Panthers’ 23-3 win at San Francisco was how well rookie Christian McCaffrey adjusted his pass route on a Cam Newton scramble and made the reception for a first down. I knew he excelled at running routes but McCaffrey adjusted on the fly like a 10-year veteran.

It had everyone healthy heading into the game, so injuries weren’t going to be an issue, but the Cardinals, starting with Carson Palmer, just couldn’t move the ball like they’ve been able to in the past and couldn’t score in the red zone, scoring touchdowns in two of four trips inside the 20. The Cardinals had 309 total yards of offense including just 46 yards rushing. With the personnel on Arizona’s offense, the performance they produced was not expected.

Allen Robinson, WR, Jacksonville Jaguars: Robinson left the game after suffering a left knee injury on the third play. Robinson caught a 17-yard pass from Blake Bortles on third-and-2 to convert the first down, but he was unable to walk to the sideline and was immediately attended to by Jaguars medical staff. Robinson eventually walked off the field and was taken to locker room to undergo further tests. He was subsequently ruled out. On Monday, the team revealed that Robinson has a torn ACL, and will undergo surgery in the coming weeks.

Without Robinson, the Jaguars will have to rely heavily on Marqise Lee and Cheap Michael Jordan Jerseys For Sale Allen Hurns, as well as veteran Arrelious Benn, who is one of the team’s Cheap NFL Jerseys Free Shipping core special-teams players.

The Texans stuck to their offseason-long guns to start Tom Savage at quarterback in Week 1. Now they’re quickly stuck looking at a lost season — one that starting rookie Deshaun Watson going forward is unlikely to salvage.

Savage was benched after a terrible first half, one in which he facilitated the Jaguars to build a 19-0 lead by halftime. His indecisiveness and lack of comfort in the face of pressure wasn’t surprising, as Jacksonville’s revamped front sacked him six times, turning one of his two forced fumbles into a touchdown.

It didn’t help that the Texans were without left tackle Duane Brown, caught in a holdout. As bad as Savage’s numbers were (7 of 13, 62 yards passing, 0 TDs, 66.8 rating), Watson ended up being less efficient in relief (12 of 23, 102 yards, TD, INT, 60.4 rating), but he was put in an impossible position to sustain immediate success.

Sports commentators have their own solutions to the national anthem issue. A growing number of voices such as Max Kellerman and Tony Kornheiser of ESPN, and Dan Wetzel of Yahoo, are asking whether the national anthem should be abolished before NFL games. Kellerman outraged conservatives and #BoycottNFL fans by saying the NFL, not Kaepernick, is “injecting politics” into sports.

“He was asked to stand for the national anthem,” Kellerman said. “You do not have to stand for the national anthem. And even if it was a rule that you did, is that Colin Kaepernick Cheap Jerseys China Wholesale injecting politics in the NFL? No. That’s the NFL injecting politics by playing the national anthem and Cheap Jerseys Bulk putting pressure on you to stand for it in the first place.”

As expected, the Cleveland Browns were joined by police officers, firefighters, EMTs and the military as they ran onto the field before Sunday’s game against the Pittsburgh Steelers.

By going all in on Savage and not putting Watson into a starter’s mindset right away, Houston is left in QB purgatory. O’Brien, supposedly an offensive guy who knows QBs, now doesn’t know what to do with the franchise’s first first-round pick at the position since its inception, David Carr in 2002.

The Texans showed, despite their defensive prowess, they can wear down — as evidenced with Leonard Fournette helping the Jaguars compile 155 rushing yards. The stats were pretty even in the game — except Houston gave up 10 sacks, and Jacksonville allowed none.

The Texans’ inability to think outside the tackle box with QB has led to the worst possible outcome — getting boxed in for 2017.

ESPN’s Josina Anderson has called for quarterbacks like Brady and Smith to protest the alleged blackballing of Kaepernick. With the exception of the Raiders’ Derek Carr showing solidarity with teammate Khalil Mack, Kaepernick’s fellow QBs have been missing in action.

NBC told Sporting News that announcers won’t shy away from covering any protests that occur during opening night.

“As in the past, we will televise the national anthem for select games, including the NFL Kickoff game and the Super Bowl, and, like last year, will cover activity around the anthem as news merits,” spokesman Dan Masonson said.

The other networks are also faced with the challenge of what to do if and when a Cheap Hockey Jerseys Custom player protests during a game. If the protest occurs during a Cheap Hockey Team Jerseys commercial, do they come back and discuss it? Do they ignore it favor of game action? NFL announcers are not political analysts, and anything they say is bound to tick somebody off.

As for the actual game, the Patriots are well aware of Kansas City’s ability to force turnovers and protecting the ball will be paramount on Thursday.

“They take the ball away in a lot of different ways,” Belichick said of the Chiefs defense. “That’s one of the reasons why they have so many. They have a lot of fumbles. They have a lot of interceptions. They strip-sack the quarterback. They cause fumbles with ball carriers. They intercept passes and they disrupt the quarterback with the pass rush to create some poor throws, tipped balls, things like that. And, the secondary has good ball skills.

“They do it at all three levels. They do it in a lot of different ways, not just one thing, really, that you’ve got to be concerned about. It’s pretty much all of it. So, that’s probably where the numbers come from. It’s not one guy that’s got 25 of them. It’s the D-line, the linebackers, the secondary, the corners, the safeties. They’ve got a lot of production all the way across the board.”

That’s enough to make a guy nervous.

A No. 1 NFL game analyst is not supposed to be a novelty act at a Cheap Jerseys China cocktail party, though.

Romo predicting plays before they happen could grow old very fast, especially if he’s wrong often enough that his gaffes become a meme on social media.

Inaccuracy doomed Mike Carey, CBS’s attempted answer to Fox Sports’ popular rules “analyst” Mike Pereira. The former referee is widely acknowledged as a great guy, but he was confidently Cheap High Quality Jerseys wrong on TV too many times. At the end, Carey became a punch line, and CBS had to dump him.

Star defensive tackle Aaron Donald is still holding out while in hopes of a more lucrative contract, and it doesn’t look as if he will play in Week 1. In his place, the Rams are expected to start rookie sixth-round pick Tanzel Smart, a 3-technique from Tulane who has had a nice preseason. Smart will join nose tackle Michael Brockers and defensive end Ethan Westbrooks in 3-4 base sets.

He’s dealing with an ankle sprain that appears to be of the high-ankle variety. Beckham has done some running and cutting this week and wants to play Sunday night against the Cowboys. It’s likely to be a game-time decision, and he probably won’t be 100 percent.

This is a must-win season for John Fox as the former Broncos coach enters his third season in charge of the Bears, and it’s entirely likely that the Bears will improve, given their 1-6 record in games decided by seven points or fewer and league-worst minus-20 turnover differential last season. Both of those marks are likely to regress toward the mean.

Even after trading Sheldon Richardson to the Seahawks, the Jets could plausibly be good on defense in 2017. They were the league’s top defense by DVOA against the run in 2016 and overhauled an aging, porous secondary with three new starters. With some better luck in the red zone, the Jets could produce a top-10 defense.

The offense … well, it’s hard to even dream up a world in which the offense is functional, let alone good. Josh McCown is 38 and fragile, but he put up MVP-caliber numbers Cheap High Quality Soccer Jerseys for the Bears over half of a season in 2013. He’d have to do something like that over 16 games to push Cheap Ireland Jerseys the Jets into the postseason. If McCown managed to pull it off once, though …

One agent suggested to me that the top G-League players — those who make the G-League All-Star team and those who have been considered “call-up candidates” on a year-round basis — won’t sign two-way deals. Among the two-way deals signed or reported so far, that seems accurate. Only one player listed on the G-League’s “Top-25 Prospect Watch” from last season has signed a two-way deal (Josh Magette at No. 19).

Still, the two-way contract might deflate the call-up market anyway, since fewer desirable players are even available for 10-day contracts and short-term, instantaneous acquisitions.

Howard’s “D12 Foundation” began its work in Tanzania in 2011 when construction began on a dormitory for women, then a second was constructed in 2016. Howard learned about the struggles girls face in the area after hearing stories from directors in the area. Some young women walk 15 miles to school each day, others are victims of sexual violence — it was during this time he learned of the problems girls face as a result of menstruation and wanted to make a difference.

In July of 2016 his foundation delivered sewing machines and materials to make sanitary items at the dormitories. Now that program has expanded. Working with a company in Mumbai, the D12 foundation (along with a matching grant from the NBPA) will open a production facility in the country, which will turn pulverized banana leaves into sanitary products for a fraction of the price of options currently available in stores.

Along with the products, an education program will be made available Cheap Philadelphia Eagles Jerseys to young women, which will serve as the only health classes available in the area.

It’s easy to get caught up in the hustle and bustle of free agency and skim over Cheap Qld Basketball Jerseys stories like these, but Howard’s work in Tanzania is making an incredible impact that will legitimately change the lives of young women.

The Las Vegas Summer League tournament is in full swing, and there will be more fast-paced action coming your way Tuesday evening. These games have been nothing short of eye-popping, as players like Jayson Tatum, Lonzo Ball, and Markelle Fultz all showed fans a glimpse of their talent and tantalizing skill sets.

Power (4-1) knocked off the Ball Hogs (1-4), 51-34, in Week 5’s first game. Power’s Cuttino Mobley poured in 21 points and shot well over 50 percent from the field. Jerome Williams and DeShawn Stevenson chipped in with 11 points apiece. Power made over 60 percent of its shots in this game and corralled 21 rebounds. The Ball Hogs, on the other hand, shot under 50 percent from the field, and Rasual Butler scored a team-high 12 points. No one else on the team scored more than nine points.

Mutombo had five other stops before he played the final five seasons of his career in Houston. He retired as a Rocket in 2009, averaging 15.6 minutes per game.

Jones spent two seasons in Phoenix from 2005-07 where he averaged a career-high 9.3 points on 38.6 percent three-point shooting. He also spent two years in Indiana and a year in Portland before joining the Heat two seasons before LeBron’s arrival in 2010. He never averaged double-digit scoring but had been a dead-eye perimeter shooter throughout his career.

Jones has no NBA front office experience, but is well-regarded among Cheap NFL Jerseys Paypal players and took a leadership role with the players union.

“James has a wealth of experiences that will greatly benefit our organization,” McDonough said in a statement. “He is a three-time NBA Champion and has been one of the top Cheap New York Giants Jerseys executives with the National Basketball Players Association over the past few years. We welcome ‘Champ’ and his family to our Phoenix Suns family.”

Left, Calvin Roberts during his playing days in college in the late 70s. Right, Calvin Roberts today. Photos via Natalia Roberts
LAS VEGAS — Calvin Roberts is a former Junior College All-American, NBA draft pick, and Liga ACB veteran. In most cases, a resume like that wouldn’t look out of place on a roster of Las Vegas Summer League hopefuls.

This iconic photo from July 2015 has a ton going on. It was one of the first indicators that the “Banana Boat” crew was a thing, as it came right after the actual photo of four grown men riding a boat-sized banana (Would you rather fight a boat-sized banana or a banana-sized boat?). Second of all, the clinking of four half-filled red wine glasses kicks off what would turn into LeBron’s new social media niche.

It wasn’t until late 2015 when fans learned just how into wine the best basketball player in the world was. Golden State Warriors forward and current (not so) arch-nemesis to LeBron, Draymond Green, made a bet with the King regarding the result of a then upcoming college football matchup between Green’s alum, Michigan State, and LeBron’s favorite college team, Ohio State. The bet? $2500 worth of wine. Michigan State would win the game and LeBron followed through on his bet, sending Green some 2010 Silver Oak Cabernet, which retails for $110 (so he sent him roughly 22 bottles of the stuff?).

LeBron must have a problem with gambling away his precious alcohol, too. One year Cheap Liverpool Jerseys later, in November 2016, LeBron made another bet on another sporting event, this time with Dwayne Wade. Once again, LeBron wagered his wine on his home team, the Cleveland Indians, to Cheap MLB Jerseys take home the World Series trophy over Wade’s hometown Chicago Cubs. The Cubs would go on to win the series and Wade made sure all of social media knew it.