Sports

[Spurt]

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@teganslaw wrote:

The Pro Bowl skills challenge is tonight 7:00 EST on ESPN. I like watching this and also like the Pro Bowl. I get to see the best players highlight their talents.

I thought that Jim Harbaugh was sure to get the HC job. Maybe he was too expensive or wasn't a good fit for the team. 

The Colts DB/safeties coach Alan Williams left for  a coaching job in Chicago. What's with the interest in Chicago? Eberflus goes and they all follow him. He seems to have been recruiting others. 

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@teganslaw 

I was unable to watch the Pro-Bowl Skills Challenge on Thursday (I was busy watching my Spur's lose 😫), but the NFL Network re-ran the Skills Challenge on Friday so I got to see it..... I loved the guy in the "catch challenge" from the Bills that stood on the hood on the truck and as a tribute to the Bill's "Mafia" fan base he jumped off and smashed the table....LOL.....

Yep, Russ showed he's recovered from his injury and is the same ole Russ......And saw that Capt Kirk was another QB on hand....I remember when he was with the Redskins and was in the Dodge Ball game he really took it seriously.....he didnt last long this time....

WOW the cold front with the 25 degree weather even hit Las Vegas ....

[teganslaw]

The Colts hired Raiders' DC Gus Bradley for their DC. Bradley has largely run a 4-3 defense, the same as Eberflus. Bradley has been praised by other coaches for personality and his talent as coordinator. 

The only negative thing was that he didn't do well as a head coach. That wasn't a good fit.

From what I've read, this sounds like a good hiring, and I'm interested to see how it works out in Indy. 

[Spurt]

@teganslaw @gardenman @sunshine45 @stevieb @Caaareful Shopper  

This is just too funny and I'm a bit embarrassed....When the AAF League emerged I posted how I had had it with all these minor league football  leagues (we've had 11 in all) and I wouldnt be going to any games or following the team..I was so disinterested I guess I didnt even pay attention to the name....I think I saw a glimpse of the logo (a tribute to the defenders of the Alamo) and knew it was part of this AAF League (Alliance of American Football) SA had the league's top attendance btw.....Come to find out the nickname was the COMMANDERS....🤣🤣🤣🤣  Someone on Twitter said that Danny stole our old nickname and hashtag..(#takecommand)...🤣🤣...BUT at least the SA logo showed more imagination and creativity.....Now it doesnt change my mind about the name....but it shows how far  removed I was from this league and team....🤣🤣🤣

Gee I wonder if "commanders" is still trademarked even though the league is still defunct....hmmmmm.....🤔 wouldnt that be something if my city could sue Danny....or is this a sign the team IS moving to my city.....🤔(J/K of course.... but then again ya never know)....I told you'all the name sounded like one from the 

minor leagues little did I know.....🤣🤣

Here's the note from Twitter:

Commanders is strange and new. It is generic and bland.

The logo is boring and the mascot is ‘under construction’.

The hashtag (#takecommand) is recycled from the now-defunct AAF San Antonio Commanders team.

Even the uniforms, which we had been promised in advance would be “tough”, leave a lot to be desired.

[gardenman]

Gus Bradley was a finalist for the head coaching job with the Eagles back in 2013. Chip Kelly had turned down the job and it was about to be given to Bradley when Chip Kelly had a rethink and decided to take the job. Gus Bradley had just flown into town on Jeff Lurie's private jet to take the job when word came down that Chip Kelly had changed his mind. Gus was thanked for coming then flown back to his home. He's a good, solid defensive coach. You can't really judge any head coach by what happened to them in Jacksonville. That's where head coaching careers go to die. 

The Raiders are doing the NFC East a favor by stealing one of the few competent coaches from the Giants. The Giant's former DC Patrick Graham is now the DC for the Raiders. That creates one more problem for the new Giants' coach Brian Daboll to solve. It's good for everyone else in the NFC East though. The replacement likely won't be as good as Graham.

Jim Harbaugh says he'll never consider coaching in the NFL again. Well, at least not until next year. He really wants to win a Super Bowl and it's hard to do that in college. Much of what he's saying now is to help in recruiting kids. If the right job offer came along in the NFL, he'd jump at it.

The Texans and Dolphins both seem to be a bit adrift in their head coaching searches. The Texans seem to have it narrowed down to Jon Gannon and Josh McCown. Maybe they should toss a coin or play rock, paper, scissors, to decide. The Dolphins are still waiting for second interviews with a couple of guys. (Sure, no need to rush or anything.) They're waiting on second interviews with Mike McDaniel of the Niners and Kellen Moore of the Cowboys. Their new head coach is likely to be one of those two. 

The Saints head coaching search is largely composed of the who's who list of head coaching prospects. If they're a hot prospect, the Saints are interviewing them. Their only out-of-left-field name is their own special team's coordinator Darren Rizzi. They know him already, so he has that in his favor.

We should see those last three vacancies fill this coming week. If I was betting, I'd say the Texans go with Josh McCown. It really feels like they're trying to talk themselves into hiring him despite his lack of coaching experience. I'd like to see the Dolphins hire Kellen Moore just to weaken the Cowboys. (Though a new OC could improve things down there.) 

Whoever takes the Saints' job needs a long, fully guaranteed contract, as they're in a bad way right now. They've been in "win now" mode for several years and that's put them in a bad spot now. Way over the cap, not much to build around, and they're kind of missing that QB guy. Yeah. The odds of any coach going in there and being successful right away is near zero. It's a tear down and rebuild job and they're not fun.

[stevieb]

@Spurt  Humorous about the SA Commanders. One of the reasons claimed that they didn't select other names was concerns about them being owned by other entitites. Serve them right if they learned this one was too. But the biggest laugh of all was seeing little Danny Boy and his beloved modeling the new togs. EIther too cheap or too ego driven to hire professional models, one supposes. Oh and by the way, it appears the team colors, long burgundy and gold, have now been expanded to include black. 

[Spurt]

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@stevieb wrote:

@Spurt  Humorous about the SA Commanders. One of the reasons claimed that they didn't select other names was concerns about them being owned by other entitites. Serve them right if they learned this one was too. But the biggest laugh of all was seeing little Danny Boy and his beloved modeling the new togs. EIther too cheap or too ego driven to hire professional models, one supposes. Oh and by the way, it appears the team colors, long burgundy and gold, have now been expanded to include black. 

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@stevieb 

Yep, it looks like Danny is in the money saving mode, and with his escapades exposed and an additional investigation in store it looks like he's gonna need it to give his lawyers LOTS of money to save his hide rather than spend it on professionals to take on the new logo and mascot job.....He probably could have gotten better ideas and designs paying some Elementary School kids🙄 and then there's his ego, why go for the fan favorite, maybe its just me thinking that...SHEESH! 

[Caaareful Shopper]

@Spurt   I cannot stand that Napoleon-complexed Dan Snyder, never could.  He's setting himself up to get sued for a myriad of things.  Go figure.

But, as I said before, I don't mind the new name at all.  It's not my team.

One of the few times in recent years I'm glad I'm a diehard, forever NY Giants fan.  Not much to get excited about, but I'll take DaBoll over Judge any day of the week.

[gardenman]

@Caaareful Shopper 

The Giants upgraded at head coach. Joe Judge was not a good choice. Brian Daboll is an improvement. Losing DC Patrick Graham will hurt the Giants. Daboll needs to get a great QB coach and OC and lock them in for three or four years. Whether they try to rehab Daniel Jones or build a new QB, they need stability on offense. Daboll has to decide if he wants to try and fix Jones (if he's fixable) or use one of their two first-round picks on a kid QB.

The money says they draft a kid so he's cheap for five years. If you keep Daniel Jones you have to decide on the fifth-year option ($22 million) for him in 2023 and then what? The franchise tag is too high for a QB like Jones. How do you negotiate a new contract for him? Who's his comparable in the league? He'll want franchise QB money of $35-$45 million a year. Given his performance to date, he's more of a $5-$12 million a year guy. There's quite a difference in value there. If you can't bridge that gap, he'll test free agency and likely be gone.

They'll keep Jones this year unless someone asks for him in a trade as it would cost them more to cut him than keep him. I don't see them keeping him in 2023 unless he shows a lot this year. Use him this year as a bridge QB as you train up a kid QB then flush him next year.

[teganslaw]

Pro Bowl today at 3:00 est on ESPN and ABC. Justin Herbert and Kirk Cousins (replacing Aaron Rodgers) will start. 

I plan on watching. The rules are more relaxed and the players seem to have fun. Jonathon Taylor is starting RB and it will be interesting to see how well he does. Quenton Nelson is the only Colt who pulled out due to injuries. Titans Rodger Saffold is replacing him. 

Josh Allen was invited but he declined because he needed to rest. Said that the past couple weeks took a toll on him physically. 

The Bengals will be considered the home team and the Rams the road team despite playing in L.A. Every year the home team rotates between the AFC and NFC. Last year was the NFC, so it's the other's turn this time for home team.

[gardenman]

There's a joke making the rounds that the NFL is upset about a home team having an advantage in the Super Bowl two years in a row, so to prevent that from happening in the future all Super Bowls will be played in Dallas where they know the home team won't be in the game. Ouch!

Doug Pederson had his first presser yesterday and warned that it won't be an easy fix in Jacksonville. He's right in some ways. They should get to the six-win mark in 2022. They could get as many as eight to ten. They have games against the Giants, Broncos, Texans (2), Jets, Lions, and Commanders that are all toss-ups at worst. Their other winnable games, if things go right, would include the Cowboys (depending on who they lose in free agency), Eagles (if they slip), Raiders (new coach, who knows how they'll play), and the Colts (who knows how Wentz will do if he's even still their QB.) Likely losses are the Chiefs, Chargers, Titans, and Ravens. Getting six wins is not too hard in that group of games with some minor improvements. Getting as many as ten isn't out of the question. I would put the floor at six and the ceiling at ten wins though.

The key for Doug is to not mess up Trevor Lawrence. Build the kid up, don't mess the kid up. Put the right coaches around him and help the kid grow. Look at whatever you did wrong with Wentz and fix that. Screw up another young kid QB and you won't get a third chance.

I'll probably watch the Pro Bowl for a bit today. They had Darius Slay miked up the other day and he was having fun at practice. I'm not sure he's ever not having fun. He's busy recruiting players to come join him in Philly and seems pretty good at it also.