Sports

[PARedbird]

@Spurt - LOL Spurt, I'll definitely hit him up with that next time!  I try to remain calm as if he knows he can get me, he'll continue with more stuff!  I have to remember to call his team the Cowgirls!  LOL!  

[Spurt]

@PARedbird 

Well things are changing, I dont know how this impacts the company you work for but the Spur's arena is changing from the AT&T Center to The Frost Bank Center effective sometime in August ...as AT&T's sponsorship expired! .....Perhaps AT&T is paying too much to Jerry Jones so they cant afford to sponsor both the Cowboys stadium and also the Spurs arena too..........................

Thats neat that employee gets to meet the players, and I hope he gets to meet Wemby!  Much like my NFL Washington team fans are pumped up for the season....its Wemby mania, but I too hope they give the young guy a chance to develop!

[Spurt]

@PARedbird 

Although we all get along very nicely here, I know how it is to be harrassed by the "enemy"....even though some Cowboy fans have jumped off the bandwagon, there are still plenty around to harass fans of other NFC East teams here in SA and at my work!

I remember way back when my Redskins lost to the Raiders in the Super Bowl and a lot of the Cowboy fans at my work left sympathy cards on my desk.....Hey, I told them at least my team MADE THE SUPER BOWL!!!🙄

Oh well, I told the Cowboy fans they keep my wit sharp and make me stay informed on whats going on in the NFL....including their team......

There was a dear sweet guy who was the only male in our entire department for awhile so he really got "the business"....but he had a great sense of humor too....He used to tell me whenever your team beats the Cowboys thats your "Super Bowl".....sadly he passed away from Covid at the start of the pandemic....because of covid mandates we couldnt even go pay our respects to him and his family at his funeral....it was limited to only 10 relatives....SO SAD! But I will always remember him! 

[gardenman]

Hall of Fame Game tonight! Real, live, honest-to-goodness football (of a sort) is back! Yea! It won't be the most impressive football we've ever seen, but it's better than none.

The Eagles return to practice today and it appears they've decided to unleash the running backs as receivers this year. Getting D'Andre Swift may be a big reason why. Kenny Gainwell is also a very good receiver out of the backfield. Rashaad Penny said in an interview the other day that he's never seen so many pass routes for running backs as the Eagles have installed. With wide receivers AJ Brown and Devonta Smith pulling coverage deep and tight end Dallas Goedert eating up the middle-of-the-field defenders, there's a void for a good pass-catching RB to get loose. Teams have to decide if Hurts running the ball is a bigger threat than a back catching the ball. They can't stop everything. Part of the reason Miles Sander was allowed to test free agency was he had developed stone hands and dropped a lot of passes.

So far, no major injuries for the Eagles. I hope that continues. Jalen Hurts has been impressing his local critics as he's thrown no interceptions through the four days of practices so far. Marcus Mariota has thrown a few too many interceptions so far. Could he be playing his way off the roster? I've been hearing decent things about the kid Tanner McKee. They say he's looking better every day. Quarterback Ian Book has largely disappeared from the reporting, but I'm guessing that's not a bad thing. If he was throwing a ton of interceptions someone would have commented on it. He seems to be just cruising along without drawing undue attention one way or another.

[Spurt]

@gardenman @teganslaw @PARedbird 

In the whatever happened to dept:

Former NFL QB and Texas A&M star Johnny Manziel is opening up a sports a bar up near the university, It’ll be called “Johnny Manziel’s Money Bar” based on his celebration that he did during his football playing days.

Ive never seen Ron so happy and smiling in these press conferences....it seems he's happy this year because he "only" has to coach........

If y'all get chance give a listen to the in depth interview with Terry McLaurin on Ryan's Clarks "Pivot Podcast" (and I mean  in depth---we learn a lot about him)---GREAT STUFF!!!

@gardenman 

Your "friend" Kay Adams is visiting my team today for her Up & Adams show!  She did a really good interview with Sam Howell he really opened up and answered some fun personal questions......She's a good interviewer!

[gardenman]

@Spurt 

Kay is a good interviewer. She's good at getting guys to drop their guard and open up to her.

It'll be interesting to see how long Ron Rivera's good mood lasts. They have a decent shot at getting off to a 2-0 start with games against Arizona and Denver. That could pretty quickly slip to 2-2 with the next two games against the Bills and Eagles. I don't really have a feel for how the Bears will be this year. The Commanders should beat Atlanta. So, 3-3 or 4-2 at that point. Then the Giants, Eagles, Patriots, Seahawks, and Giants again. The Eagles are better. The rest? Eh. We'll have to see. Dallas and Miami could be handfuls. The Rams and Jets? Who knows? The Niners and Cowboys to wrap things up aren't good matchups, but one or both could have a playoff berth locked up and be playing reserves by then.

Six to eight wins seem likely. Likely losses would be the Eagles (twice), Bills, Dolphins, Cowboys (maybe twice, it depends on their playoff status), and the Niners (again depends on their playoff status.) Twelve wins wouldn't be out of the question. Likely wins would be Arizona, Atlanta, and the Rams. A whole lot of games are in the "hard to predict" category. The Jets and Broncos have really good QBs, or guys who once were really good QBs. The Bears might be really good, or not. At Seattle is never easy, but which Geno Smith is the real Geno Smith? The one we saw last year or the one we saw in the previous ten seasons.

This feels like a roller coaster season for the Commanders to me. A good start. Then a bit of a stumble. Then a rebound. Then another stumble. Up and down all season long. If Sam Howell is "the guy" there could be more ups. If he's not, there could be more downs. If I was betting, I'd set the floor at six wins and the ceiling at twelve. (Ten might be a pretty safe bet for the ceiling also.)

[teganslaw]

I just watched the podcast with Terry McLaurin. He's an interesting person. I've always liked him and I got to know even more. Thanks for the info. 

[Spurt]

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@gardenman wrote:

@Spurt 

Kay is a good interviewer. She's good at getting guys to drop their guard and open up to her.

It'll be interesting to see how long Ron Rivera's good mood lasts. They have a decent shot at getting off to a 2-0 start with games against Arizona and Denver. That could pretty quickly slip to 2-2 with the next two games against the Bills and Eagles. I don't really have a feel for how the Bears will be this year. The Commanders should beat Atlanta. So, 3-3 or 4-2 at that point. Then the Giants, Eagles, Patriots, Seahawks, and Giants again. The Eagles are better. The rest? Eh. We'll have to see. Dallas and Miami could be handfuls. The Rams and Jets? Who knows? The Niners and Cowboys to wrap things up aren't good matchups, but one or both could have a playoff berth locked up and be playing reserves by then.

Six to eight wins seem likely. Likely losses would be the Eagles (twice), Bills, Dolphins, Cowboys (maybe twice, it depends on their playoff status), and the Niners (again depends on their playoff status.) Twelve wins wouldn't be out of the question. Likely wins would be Arizona, Atlanta, and the Rams. A whole lot of games are in the "hard to predict" category. The Jets and Broncos have really good QBs, or guys who once were really good QBs. The Bears might be really good, or not. At Seattle is never easy, but which Geno Smith is the real Geno Smith? The one we saw last year or the one we saw in the previous ten seasons.

This feels like a roller coaster season for the Commanders to me. A good start. Then a bit of a stumble. Then a rebound. Then another stumble. Up and down all season long. If Sam Howell is "the guy" there could be more ups. If he's not, there could be more downs. If I was betting, I'd set the floor at six wins and the ceiling at twelve. (Ten might be a pretty safe bet for the ceiling also.)

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@gardenman 

Yep, Kay's a good interviewer and doesnt just ask the usual cliche questions either....she's creative.....

What I can gather from the training camp Podcasts and on site reporting is that our Defense is gonna be GOOD, could be REALLY REALLY GOOD and that will help the team in practice with the offense too.  The D needs to get some turnovers which could help Sam with shorter field position to enable the offense to score! 

[Spurt]

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@teganslaw wrote:

I just watched the podcast with Terry McLaurin. He's an interesting person. I've always liked him and I got to know even more. Thanks for the info. 

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@teganslaw 

I really like Terry and learned a lot about him from that interview.....Great guy and a great player too! Ryan Clark said that was their Podcast's best interview ever!

[Spurt]

Well this isnt good news for my Washington NFL team---DT David Bada tore his triceps in practice on Wednesday. He is undergoing further evaluation, but the nature of the injury means he’s looking at an extended absence. Bada was Washington's International Pathway Player, he had previously played on the German football team.  After spending time on Washington's Practice Squad, last year he finally made the active roster and had two tackles, but now with this injury it looks like he will be out for awhile.

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College football players you better behave yourself even while in college:

The 2023 version of the Personal Conduct Policy includes language that opens the door to the possibility of imposing discipline on a player for conduct that happened before he joined the NFL. That amounts to a dramatic change to the prior Personal Conduct Policy.

“Nothing in this Policy should be read to limit the league’s authority to investigate or discipline potential Policy violations alleged to have occurred before a player is under contract or Draft-eligible,” the new version of the policy declares.  The next player who arrives at the NFL with specific off-field misconduct could indeed be suspended, even if the behavior pre-dates the moment he becomes an NFL employee.  (my comment: This could possibly impact players Jerry Jones seems to drawn to.....)