Month: September 2017

Bears LB Jerrell Freeman says he played 55 plays with torn pec

September 26, 2017

Talk about playing with pain.

Authentic Mens Joe Staley Jersey Bears linebacker Jerrell Freeman said via social media on Thursday that he played 55 snaps last Sunday with the torn pectoral muscle that landed him on injured reserve Tuesday.

Freeman’s message on his Instagram account said he tore the muscle on the first play of the Bears’ 23-17 loss to the Falcons, yet he remained in the game and, in fact, led Chicago in tackles with 10.

Oh, and he suffered a concussion, too.

Though i didn’t know tearing my pec the first play of the game or getting a concussion was part of it haha I do know that God always has a plan! he wrote, in part, in his post.

Game Womens Lee Smith Jersey The Bears have said Freeman’s pectoral injury will require surgery.

Second-year linebacker Nick Kwiatkoski is expected to replace Freeman, the Bears’ leading tackler last season with 110, against the Buccaneers on Sunday.

Here’s a sampling of quotes from those who did (and did not) participate in these demonstrations.

Mike Tomlin, Pittsburgh Steelers coach: I really think that more than anything it minimized it as a distraction for us and once we came to that determination it was business as usual. The big thing is that we remain united. This game of football is a unique one and we’re all blessed to be a part of it. … We will not be divided by this, we’ve got a group of men in there that come from different socio-economic backgrounds, races, creeds, ethnicities, religions and so forth. That’s football. That’s a lot of team sports. But because of our position we get drug into bullshit to be quite honest with you. Some have opinions, some don’t. We wanted to protect those who don’t and we wanted to protect those who do. We came here to play a football game today, and that was our intention. Tomlin and Steelers coaches stood on the sideline for the national anthem while all but one player stood in the tunnel.

The biggest surprise of the NFL season (so far) for each team

September 24, 2017

Week 1 of the 2017 NFL season didn’t go exactly as planned. The defending champion New England Patriots gave up 21 fourth-quarter points to lose to the Kansas City Chiefs in last Thursday’s season opener. Three days later, the NFC champion Atlanta Falcons needed to withstand a last-minute drive from a rebuilding Chicago Bears team to avoid a similarly embarrassing fate.

The surprises stretched beyond the two teams who played in Super Bowl 51. AFC South champion Houston lost to AFC South basement-dweller Jacksonville after the Jaguars rung up 10 sacks on two different ineffective Texan quarterbacks. The Rams, one season after scoring a league-low 14 points per game last fall, dropped more points than anyone else in the NFL by scoring 46 against an inept Colts team.

It may be a different time in the NFC West after going from a power with Seattle and San Francisco to a power with Seattle and Arizona; now you have one team too young to compete, one team that may be too old, and the Seahawks may get their franchise quarterback killed.
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Elite Youth Markus Golden Jersey Through two games, Siemian has completed 14 of 20 passes on third down, good for 70 percent. All 14 of those completed passes have resulted in a first down or touchdown (four touchdowns). That’s extremely efficient. If you break it down further, he’s 6-of-7 on third downs with 4-6 yards to go and 3-of-4 on with 7-10 yards. So while there aren’t many third-and-long situations — because the run game is back and averaging 159 yards a game so far — it’s still impressive.

At some point this season, the Chiefs will enter the final minutes of the fourth quarter with either too many timeouts or not enough, and when they lose by one score, Reid will be the only person who isn’t miffed.

Saints erased their own field goal, only to kick it again from the same spot. It actually made sense.

September 22, 2017

The Saints and Patriots matchup has been gassed up this week because of the quarterback matchup between Tom Brady and Drew Brees. However, it’s also a good coaching matchup between Bill Belichick and Sean Payton.

Payton showed why in the second quarter. The Saints were facing a fourth-and-8 on the Patriots 16 and attempting a field goal. The kick was good, but the Patriots’ Jonathan Jones jumped offside. The Saints took the penalty, making it a fourth-and-3.

The offense lined up and tried to draw the Patriots offside, which they nearly did:

Instead, the Saints took a delay of game, and ended up kicking a field goal again. Wil Lutz made it, and it ended up being the same result.

While the play didn’t work, it was a great move by Payton and the Saints to attempt that. It nearly worked, and while it didn’t, they still got points out of it.

Detroit’s offense looks like it’ll be a high-scoring machine again, even with the backfield struggling. Ameer Abdullah was held to 30 yards on 15 carries, getting no room against the Cardinals’ front seven. Stafford will likely have to air it out again, but he’ll have a much tougher matchup with the Giants’ defense.

New York held Dak Prescott to 268 yards and didn’t let Ezekiel Elliott find the end zone. The defense did everything it had to, making the offensive collapse even more frustrating. Beckham being back should help, but if Manning doesn’t show signs of life then the Giants’ season could go south in a hurry. Teams that start off 0-2 have an extremely slim chance of making the playoffs, so the Giants should have an increased sense of urgency in their home opener.
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How did Rams’ Sean McVay become the NFL’s youngest coach?

September 20, 2017

Sean McVay was hired by the Los Angeles Rams in January, less than two weeks before his 31st birthday. A 30-year-old head coach topped the record for the youngest in NFL history — a mark that was previously held by Lane Kiffin, the former coach of the Oakland Raiders who was hired a few months before his 32nd birthday.

The Rams are a young team. With an average player age of 25.09 years, the Rams have the second-youngest roster in the league, according to Philly Voice. McVay is younger than two players on the Rams roster: 32-year-old center John Sullivan and 35-year-old offensive tackle Andrew Whitworth.

Limited Kids Bobby Hull Jersey Whitworth spent the last 11 years of his NFL career with the Cincinnati Bengals before joining the Rams in March. But he said he wasn’t fazed by the youth of his new head coach.

Age kind of goes out the window when you hear him speak, Whitworth told Jason La Canfora of CBS Sports in August. And he handles himself in a way that you realize quickly that he’s a guy who is so sharp and ahead of the game and you give him that instant respect.

Watson relieved Tom Savage in the second half of Sunday’s 29-7 loss to the Jacksonville Jaguars after Savage and the offense struggled to move the ball. Savage was 7-of-13 for 62 yards and was sacked six times. Watson did not fare much better, going 12-of-23 for 102 yards with a touchdown and an interception.

Limited Kids Jimmy Vesey Jersey Watson did, though, lead the Texans down the field on his first NFL drive, throwing a 4-yard scoring pass to DeAndre Hopkins for the Texans’ only points of their opener.

Savage has been the Texans’ starting quarterback since they traded Brock Osweiler in March, even after Houston moved up in the first round to draft Watson. O’Brien said on Monday that although Savage took the majority of the snaps with the starting offense during training camp, Watson took a large portion, as well.

It’s easy to dismiss Jay Cutler from fantasy relevance, but doing so would be foolhardy.

September 19, 2017

In 2015, Cutler posted his highest QB rating of his career (92.3) running Adam Gase’s offense. He competed that season with limited resources at wide receiver as Alshon Jeffery played just nine games. Marquess Wilson was second among wide receivers on the Chicago Bears that season with just 467 receiving yards. With Gase now the Miami Dolphins’ head coach and Jarvis Landry and DeVante Parker at wide receiver, Cutler is poised to have a solid season.

Limited Youth Stephen Tulloch Jersey So far, McAdoo’s offense is worth less than that in 2017.

The coach asked for the blame Monday night, but then he placed full culpability for the fourth-and-goal, delay-of-game flag squarely on Eli Manning’s shoulder pads.

Sloppy quarterback play, McAdoo said of the penalty that turned a touchdown attempt into a field goal. Although Manning later admitted that the quarterback is always at fault on delay-of-game calls, McAdoo didn’t need to fire that spiral into the back of a two-time Super Bowl MVP who is usually among the league leaders in all accountability metrics.

Youth Jameis Winston Jersey Bottom line: McAdoo did not have his team ready to start the season. Cast as credible contenders, the Giants were outclassed by the Cowboys on the road last week and by the Lions at home on Monday. They have the same record as their tanking co-tenants, the New York Jets, and they’re the only team in the NFC East that isn’t 1-1.

We talk about playing complete, complementary football, McAdoo said. By no stretch of the imagination did we get that done tonight.

Oregon looked like it might eclipse that output against Nebraska.

September 17, 2017

Vernon Butler Kids Jersey Smith turned in his best high-volume passing performance as a Chief (28 of 35, 368 yards passing, four TDs, 148.6 rating). It marked only the sixth time in four-plus seasons with Kansas City, including playoffs, that he’s thrown for 300-plus yards in a game.

Hunt accounted for 98 of those passing yards and half of those scores as part of a record-setting rookie debut, totaling 246 yards from scrimmage. The RB’s 78-yard TD catch and run was preceded by receiver Tyreek Hill speeding by the Patriots’ secondary for a similar, 78-yard TD.

Johnny Gaudreau Kids Jersey In the past, with go-to tight end Travis Kelce bottled up — as he was Thursday with former top wideout Jeremy Maclin no longer on the team — Smith would have been lost in a dinking and dunking haze, capped by the conservative play-calling of coach Andy Reid.

A week after scoring 77 points in a win over Southern Utah, Oregon looked like it might eclipse that output against Nebraska. The Ducks led 42-14 at halftime and were well on their way to another blowout win.

But in a shocking result, Oregon was held scoreless the entire second half while allowing the Cornhuskers to put up 21 points. The Ducks would miss a field goal and turn it over twice after halftime, with the second turnover setting up Nebraska’s final score. Mikale Wilbon’s touchdown with less than 3 minutes left gave the Cornhuskers the backdoor cover, making Oregon -10.5 a losing bet.

Lions punter Kasey Redfern has torn ACL, MCL in kicking leg

September 13, 2017

Detroit Lions punter Kasey Redfern tore the ACL, MCL and part of the patellar tendon in his kicking leg Sunday in the team’s 35-23 win over Arizona, according to a source.

The news was first reported by the Detroit Free Press.

“He was not able to be at the walk-through that we had at the end of (Tuesday’s practice), but he’s really been at everything else,” Garrett said. “Last week, when he went up to New York prior to the Houston game that we were supposed to play, he missed those days, but other than that he’s been here and doing everything we’ve asked him to do, and he’s done an excellent job in his preparation.”

As for Payton, he also downplayed the altercation and denied any implications that the conversation was built on anger.

“Listen, I’ll tell you if we were in a heated exchange,” Payton said. “… None that I can recall, and I am being honest.”

Peterson’s return to Minnesota was spoiled as his former team held him to just 18 yards on six carries. He had also expected a warm welcome by Vikings fans, but instead received more boos than applause.

In comparison, roughly one-third of the league’s head coaches (10 of 32) are in either their second or third go-arounds. Fourteen of the previous 20 Super Bowl winners were coached by somebody who falls under that category, including the past four champions in New England (Belichick), Denver (Gary Kubiak) and Seattle (Pete Carroll).

The only multi-time general manager in that 20-season span with final say over personnel moves was Bill Polian with the 2006 Colts.
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Titans make retired player with ALS one of their captains

September 12, 2017

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Tim Shaw’s presence with the Titans will continue into 2017 as he was named as one of the team’s six captains.

Shaw, a special teams performer and linebacker for the Titans from 2010-12, was diagnosed with ALS in 2014.

It is real special for Tim to be with us, Titans captain Wesley Woodyard said, via the team’s website. Nobody knows how many days you have on this earth, and him battling ALS, it shows the courage he has to keep going on. It is amazing to have him around and we cherish him.

Other Titans captains include quarterback Marcus Mariota, tight end Delanie Walker, linebacker Brian Orakpo and defensive lineman Jurrell Casey.

A fifth-round pick by the Panthers in 2007, Shaw also played for the Jaguars and Bears before finishing his career with three seasons in Tennessee.

Mike Singletary Authentic Jersey Shaw currently has a book out titled Blitz Your Life: Stories from an NFL and ALS Warrior.

Hunt was being drafted 35th on average (ADP: 36.5) in the seven-day period leading into Thursday’s kickoff, but by Sunday’s kickoff, his ADP for the seven-day period leading into the day had risen to 19.1 and 16th overall.

Tarik Cohen, RB, Chicago Bears: Though his 13 total touches were fewer than those of any of the four other running backs with at least 20 PPR fantasy points, Cohen made them count, with 25.3 PPR and 17.3 non-PPR fantasy points. The former earned him a place within the top 20 performances since 1950 in an NFL debut. Cohen had runs of 46 and 15 yards as well as a 19-yard touchdown reception that in the fourth quarter drew the Bears within three points of the visiting Atlanta Falcons, flashing the kind of shiftiness that earned him the nickname The Human Joystick during his days at North Carolina A&T. He is available in 97.7 percent of ESPN leagues and will be one of the top adds in PPR formats entering Week 2 — and rightfully so.

Eddie Lacy unsure of Lambeau Leap, doesn’t want to get pushed back down

September 11, 2017

Eddie Lacy scored 29 touchdowns while a member of the Packers and 16 of those came at Lambeau Field.

When the Seahawks meet the Packers in Green Bay Grant Hill Womens Jersey on Sunday, the new Seattle running back is not sure if he’ll attempt a Lambeau Leap if he scores a touchdown against his former team.

“I don’t want to get pushed back down,” Lacy told reporters Thursday.

Lacy, 26, was a second-round pick of the Packers K.J. Wright Jersey in the 2013 NFL Draft. The former Alabama running back said he’s looking forward to facing his former team, but admitted it will be different being on the visitors’ sideline.

“We have worked closely with the Massachusetts Attorney General’s office in their review of fantasy sports, including their issuance of the first set of consumer protection regulations for our industry, which we were pleased to comply with since their inception in 2016, ” FanDuel spokesperson Justine Sacco said in a statement.

“Over the last two years, the attorney general’s office has done an excellent job of working to fully understand DraftKings, our business and the fantasy sports industry,” DraftKings’ Tim Parilla said in a statement.

“That expertise informed the Massachusetts regulations which have now become the national model for common sense, consumer-focused fantasy sports regulations.”

The New York Attorney General’s office had also filed a suit against the companies, and reached a settlement last October that totaled $12 million.

The Browns have not been a double-digit favorite in any game since the 2007 season.

September 8, 2017

The Jets are 8-point underdogs at Buffalo in the season opener. With a bad performance, Salmons said the Jets could easily be 17-point underdogs in Week 2 at Oakland and potentially 10-point underdogs at Cleveland in Week 5.

The Browns have not been a double-digit favorite in any game since the 2007 season.

The Jets are at New England in Week 17, which may temper the spread depending on how meaningful the game is for the Patriots. Otherwise, Salmons said the Jets could end up being 28-point underdogs against New England.
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The Atlanta Falcons were 28-point underdogs to Johnny Unitas and the Baltimore Colts in 1968, marking the largest point spread in the Super Bowl era, according to ESPN Stats & Information.

Steve Loomis, president of the Cleveland Police Patrolmen’s Association, cited his service in the U.S. Navy when he told WKYC-TV he was astounded that Browns management knew of the protests but allowed it to occur.

Browns players linked arms while standing in a line together during the national anthem before Saturday night’s preseason game against the Bucs, a day after team legend Jim Brown stressed unity to them when addressing societal issues.
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A dozen Browns players knelt in a circle to pray during the national anthem before Monday night’s preseason game. Several other players stood nearby and put their hands on a kneeling teammate’s shoulder.

I am not going to participate or work with management that allows their players to disrespect the flag and the national anthem, Loomis said.