Sports

[Spurt]

Redskins Pre-Season Schedule--

Week 1 (Aug. 8 to Aug. 12): @ Cleveland Browns

Week 2 (Aug. 15 to Aug. 19): vs. Cincinnati Bengals

Week 3 (Aug. 22. to Aug. 25): @ Atlanta Falcons

Week 4 (Aug. 29): vs. Baltimore Ravens

[Spurt]

So what do ya think.....

Cowboy's Lawrence is having surgery today....a minimum of at least 4 months is required for recovery.....that means he is likely to miss all of pre-season but he says he will be ready for the start of the season......At what the Cowboys paid him he'd better be.....

Get your popcorn ready

QB Dak Prescott is up next up for the Cowboys....... should be interesting.....

[gardenman]

Back, neck, and shoulder surgery are tricky surgeries. You can never be sure of the outcome. An annoyingly high percentage of the time the first surgery fails and needs to be repeated. Rehab can take longer than anticipated. It's a bold gamble waiting three plus months longer than necessary for the surgery.

Lawrence won't be up to full strength, since he'll be doing limited lifting after the surgery. It'll be interesting to see how effective he is this year.

The Cowboys have lots of interesting contracts coming up. Amari Cooper, Dak, Elliott, Byron Jones, and more. It's going to get very expensive. Their stars and scrubs approach will be tested. They'll really need to get lucky with the draft and undrafted free agents. Their approach forces holes in their lineup that opposing teams will exploit. Unless they get very lucky with kids, they'll have issues fielding a team without gaping holes. Weaknesses get exposed and exploited. It's going to be interesting to watch.

[gardenman]

The Giants are continuing to confuse and confound NFL watchers. Their signing Golden Tate to a four year $37.5 million dollar deal seemed odd when they already had a productive slot receiver in Sterling Sheppard, but maybe they were looking to the future as Sheppard's contract expired after the 2019 season? Nope! They're now resigning Sheppard to a four year $41 million deal. So, they've now got two very expensive slot receivers signed for the next four years. Why? God only knows. You typically only have one slot receiver on the field at a time because there's typically only one slot available.

A typical NFL formation has five offensive linemen, the quarterback, two wide receivers, a runningback, a tight end (or two) and a slot receiver (if there's only one tight end.) Using two slot receivers at the same time would require benching the tight end or runningback. Do you take Saquon Barkley off the field? Evan Engram? No. So, why do you need two highly paid slot receivers? If you go with two slot receivers you take away support from the offensive line. With no runningback or tight end to chip a defensive end, or pick up a blitzer, you're leaving your quarterback exposed.

The Giants are doing some very strange things these days. Are they implementing some form of a run and gun offense to get the ball out early? Flood the field with receivers and leave the quarterback exposed? I don't really understand what they're doing. The Golden Tate signing was odd, but with Sheppard's deal expiring, it made some sense. Now they're also resigning Sheppard. I don't really know what they're doing these days.

[teganslaw]

Reports were saying that Sterling Sheppard was all but gone because of his contract expiring. Is there a chance that Engram will be moving on? Gettleman had said earlier that they have a plan. I guess we're seeing the plan in action. 

The Colts normally use two TE's in a game. That seems to  work for them. I don't know of any other team that uses TE's like that. There must be some, although I'm not familiar with all the teams strategies. 

[teganslaw]

No surprise: A class action suit was filed against the AAF, charging breach of contract and fraud. The suit started by two former AAF players, defendents are Tom Dundon and co-founder Charlie Ebersol.

They're seeking compensatory pay for damages, both physical and mental, health care costs, etc. The also listed that the founders mentioned they were supportive of the" long term health of the league". I don't know exact about that, since many thought that it was short term only. It will be interesting to see how this plays out. Maybe they'll end up settling out of court.

[Spurt]

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@teganslaw wrote:

No surprise: A class action suit was filed against the AAF, charging breach of contract and fraud. The suit started by two former AAF players, defendents are Tom Dundon and co-founder Charlie Ebersol.

They're seeking compensatory pay for damages, both physical and mental, health care costs, etc. The also listed that the founders mentioned they were supportive of the" long term health of the league". I don't know exact about that, since many thought that it was short term only. It will be interesting to see how this plays out. Maybe they'll end up settling out of court.

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@teganslaw 

Something was fishy with this league....they had said they had enough money for the league to at least for 3 yrs....but they almost ran out of money in the second week .....some say Dundon was all about the AAP, some deny that....It sounds like some investors didn't materialize that they had hoped for......I feel sorry for the playes, especially the injured ones.....and coaches 

Johnny Manziel twitted to players not to sue:

"If you’re an AAF player and the league does dissolve. The last check you got will be the last one that you get. No lawsuit or anything else will get you your bread. Save your money and keep your head up. It’s the only choice at this point unless something drastic happens"

[Spurt]

@gardenman 

What the Giants are doing doesnt make sense...even my sister, the NY Giant fan, couldnt understand why they overpaid for slot receivers...she thought the Giants were going to more of a ground and pound game plan with Barkely....

[gardenman]

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@Spurt wrote:

@gardenman 

What the Giants are doing doesnt make sense...even my sister, the NY Giant fan, couldnt understand why they overpaid for slot receivers...she thought the Giants were going to more of a ground and pound game plan with Barkely....

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It is interesting, I'll give them that. With $37.5 million for Tate and $41 million for Sheppard over four years, they've got nearly $20 million a year tied up in slot receivers, which is way, way more than anyone else in the league. (The $37.5 million and $41 million add up to $78.5 million over four years or $19.6+ million a year. That's a lot of money.)

A ground and pound approach would typically include two tight ends for extra blocking at the point of attack. That's not why you sign two slot receivers to nearly $20 million a year.

You can make a decent argument that the two best Giants players are Evan Engram, their tight end, and Saquon Barkley, their runningback, but if they put two slot receivers on the field simultaneously, one of those guys has to get benched.

The Giants insist they have a plan, but it sure doesn't look like it from here. If they go to a two slot receiver look, then they need to bench either their tight end or runningback. With just eleven players on offense and five of them o-linemen, one QB, two outside receivers, and two slot receivers, that just leaves one slot open. I would assume that would be Barkley, but why bench Engram?

Are they assuming Tate or Sheppard can move outside and play an outside receiver position? Maybe. Slot receivers have a different skill set though. They're generally slot receivers because that's what their skillset is ideally suited to do. Slot receivers are generally the smaller, shifty guys who get open quickly, right in the quarterback's line of sight, making it an easy completion for him.

Outside receivers have to be able to stress the corners and get a bigger cushion as the ball has to stay in the air longer to get to them. Throwing the ball straight down the field ten yards is pretty easy for any QB. Standing on the left hashmark and throwing the ball to an outside receiver on the right hand side of the field, down the field, can require throwing the ball fifty yards or more, which gives the DB's time to break on the ball. Five times as long to react in fact.

The Giants will be an interesting team to watch this season.

[gardenman]

There's lots of chatter in the national press about the Eagles moving up in the draft. Some have them moving up into the top five. I don't buy it. I think the Eagles prefer a high volume of draft picks they can develop. Would they move up a few slots to get a guy they really want who'll be gone if they wait? Maybe, but not if they have to give up a lot.

Howie Roseman has filled every roster hole and it's tough to find any spot where any rookie would earn a starting slot right now. Even a Nick Bosa would have a hard time beating out Derek Barnett or Brandon Graham for a starting defensive end slot right now. He'd be a heck of a rotational piece and eventually assume a starting role, but for now, he'd be a backup. The Eagles are more looking at developmental pieces they can build a future with rather than a plug and play player. It's a good spot to be in for the Eagles.

If you can get a young defensive lineman who will need a year or two to be ready to be a starter, it's a good pick. If you can get a young linebacker who'll excel on special teams and evolve into a starter, it's a good pick. Maybe a young safety, or a runningback like a Bryce Love coming off an injury who'll likely be largely red-shirted for a year could be a good pick. A good offensive lineman who needs a bit of polishing could be a good pick. I just don't see the Eagles jumping way up in the draft without a huge hole to fill. I could see them trading back for more picks however.

There really aren't any gaping holes on the Eagles right now where any rookie would automatically be slotted in. Everyone would have to earn a roster spot and that's not always such an easy thing to do. I think all the national chatter about the Eagles making a big move up is fake.