Sports

[Spurt]

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@PARedbird wrote:

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@Spurt wrote:

@PARedbird @gardenman 

Shades of the Eagle's AJ Brown......Wemby was mocked by the Denver Nugget's Nikola Jokic for bringing a book to the NBA All Star Game, Wemby said he always reads before each game!!!! Ignore him Wemby, reading is fundamental to being an intelligent person!!!  The names of the books he's reading were not given!

On Sports Overtime David and Don really got into it....They were responding on Dak Prescott's recent comments....

"I feel like we compete with the Eagles and beat them, for the most part, when we play them. I don't want to say 'check the record' when they're the guys holding the trophy right now, so credit to them. They earned it and they deserve it, by all means, but yea, we're very close. It's our turn, and it's on us."......

Checking the record....since 2022 the Eagles have won 4 and the Cowboys 3 games.....

David whined how everyone should give Schottenheimer a chance....Dak wasn't healthy last season, they need a running back and they need to fill other positions, sign Micah Parsons, they can be a 10 win team, not a 4 win team like people are predicting.....Don countered they don't have the cap space to rebuild, no they will be in the 6 or 7 win category. The Cowboy fans will buy into Jerry's hype that they are a Super Bowl contender and they aren't.  The Eagles and Washington are better teams! David countered, oh Jayden Daniels just like all the hype for CJ Stroud and look what happened to him .....Don said Daniels is better....Richard was more focused on MLB Spring Training but added SARCASTICALLY, David, the Cowboys are "all in", quoting Jerry last year, and Richard laughed....David is just IN DENIAL!!!

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@Spurt - as far as that Nikola goes, maybe he should pick up and book and read!  He might learn something instead of being an idiot and mocking Wemby!  Just unreal!  

As far as David goes, the more I read on him with the Cowboys, the more he looks like an idiot too!  Why doesn't someone suggest to him that since he's such a huge Cowboy lover, he should see if Jerry will hire him for his media person!  He'd be good for that job since he buys into everything Jerry says!  And that comment about Jayden?  Are you kidding me  Unreal!!   Good for Don for getting all over him too!  

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@PARedbird 

David is off the deep end when it comes to the Cowboys....

[gardenman]

The Cowboys will likely be in that 4-10 win window for quite a while. Four as a floor and ten as a ceiling. They've got a top-ten receiver in Ceedee Lamb and a top-five defender in Parsons, but not much else. Dak is a top fifteen or so QB. Players win championships and they just don't have enough good players. You can take away a top receiver by doubling him. You can defeat a good defender by running or throwing away from him. If he's not near the ball he can't make a play.

You need a lot more balance than the Cowboys have. You need more depth. You need a lot of good players instead of just a couple of great players. This isn't a great free agent class to up the talent on any team. There are very few "star" players in this class. There are quite a few good players, but are they substantially better than what you have now? 

And a lot of teams are going to overpay for guys this year simply because so many teams have a lot of cap space. If five teams with a lot of space all want a guy, someone will overpay to get him.

A guy who might get overpaid this year is Josh Sweat. He's a good edge rusher but he had just eight sacks this year playing with one of the best d-lines in football. If he goes somewhere to be "the guy" and they don't have good players around him, he could be doubled every play and not produce much. He's in a good system right now where Jalen Carter absorbs the double teams and Sweat can go off on a single offensive lineman. If he lands on a roster where the offense can focus on him, he'll have a hard time. Someone will likely pay him to be "the guy" and he probably won't be able to meet their expectations. 

When the preseason publications come out, probably half will have the Cowboys in the Super Bowl after the 2025 season. They always do. And they're always wrong. If you're ranking the NFC teams right now, the Eagles are at the top. The Lions, Packers, Rams, Niners, Commanders, and Seahawks are up there pretty high. The Vikings depend on their QB situation. The Cowboys, Bears (assuming their kid QB improves), Cards, Falcons, and Bucs are in the next tier. The bottom tier has the Giants, Saints, and Panthers. The Panthers could move up. They've got a decent amount of talent on the roster. They just don't play like they do.

[Spurt]

Here's some bad news....be prepared to dish out more money for NFL Sunday afternoon games......Even though the Christmas game broadcasts were a disaster with Netflix not being able to handle the large volume of viewers, they now want in on the NFL Sunday afternoon games....Which would mean adding yet another subscription.....

The Sunday afternoon games belong currently to CBS and Fox. Fox acquired the NFC package from CBS in 1994, and CBS snatched the AFC package from NBC in 1998. The current broadcast deals run through 2033. The league has the right to pull the plug on the deals four years early, and it likely will. 

[Spurt]

OH THAT JERRY JONES....

Cowboys owner Jerry Jone's civil assault lawsuit pending against him delayed again. The case previously was due to begin on March 3, but now scheduled for August 11th.

The woman alleges that Jones “kissed her on the mouth and forcibly grabbed her without her consent” during a Cowboys home game on September 16, 2018. The lawsuit was originally filed in 2020. The case had been set for trial on March 18, 2024 before being bumped to March 2025.

Per the latest article about the case, Jones has submitted an affidavit explaining that he does not recall meeting the woman. In the document, he also calls the allegations “categorically false.”

The affidavit apparently was issued in an effort to keep Jones from submitting to deposition testimony regarding the accusations. It’s unclear whether it did the trick. Even if he claims he doesn’t recall the events central to the case, it’s fair and proper to determine what he does and doesn’t remember from the day in question. The Cowboys beat the Giants that day, 20-13.

It’s also fair to pose questions as to whether Jones has a habit of randomly kissing strangers (or anyone) on the mouth before, during, or after games. We’re not saying he does, but there’s far more to this case than whether he recalls meeting, and kissing, one specific person who was ultimately feisty enough to sue over it.

Ultimately, the case will come down to the credibility of the alleged victim. If Jones has no recollection of meeting the woman, he wouldn’t have any recollection of kissing her. And if he says he never kisses anyone at any time during games, he opens the door to evidence that might rebut this claim.

So, no, he shouldn’t be exempt from deposition testimony. And, yes, there are things he could say beyond “I never met her” that may be relevant to the case.

[gardenman]

There are enough people around Jerry at games and enough cameras on him that it should be pretty easy to sort out who's telling the truth. I'd be surprised if he went anywhere without some security around him. He mostly watches games from his luxury box and I doubt that a random person made their way into there to be kissed by him. And is being kissed and grabbed grounds for a massive lawsuit these days? Eh. I don't know. It feels like a money grab to me, but we'll see what the evidence shows. Interesting that she says "grabbed" and not groped in the suit. Grabbed? By the hand/wrist? Shoulder? I'm assuming not a place remotely private or it would have been groped instead of grabbed. One of the drawbacks of having a lot of money is that a lot of people want it.

[LavernLuvsShoes]

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@Spurt wrote:

Here's some bad news....be prepared to dish out more money for NFL Sunday afternoon games...

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UGH!!! 

[Spurt]

• Washington finalized their coaching staff by hiring the grandson of the late legendary NFL coach and broadcaster John Madden. Jesse Madden will serve as Washington's offensive quality control coach in his first NFL job. Jesse spent the previous four years as a backup at Michigan, first as a quarterback and then as a defensive back. And YES he plays Madden ....

Washington also hired Brian Schneider as an assistant special teams coach. He spent 2022-23 in charge of San Francisco's special teams, a position he held in Seattle from 2010-20.

[gardenman]

The Eagles have now lost three coaches to the Saints. Kellen Moore (offensive coordinator) left and now Doug Nussmeier (QB coach) and TJ Paganetti (run game/asst o-line coach) have left. No word yet on any replacements. Doug Pederson and Frank Reich are mentioned as possible additions, but Frank Riech just bought a big house ($3.5 million) in NC so maybe he's giving up coaching? 

The Eagles tend to slide in new coaches without telling anyone so they could already have hired the replacements and we just don't know it yet. Whoever the next OC is will be walking into a pretty good situation with this roster to play with. It's a stacked roster now with lots of kids in the pipeline.

No franchise tags have been used yet, but Tee Higgins is likely to be tagged. Sam Darnold could get the tag, if the Vikings want to keep him for $40+ million this year. After his last two games, I'm not sure they want to keep him. At least not at $40+ million for a year. Going from a $5 million cap hit to a $40 million cap hit is a pretty big swing for the Vikings when they have the kid (McCarthy) waiting in the wings. That's $40 million of players they could sign to help McCarthy or $40 million for Darnold who might get beaten out by the kid in camp and spend the year on the bench. I suspect they'll hope the rest of the league gets scared off by Darnold's last two games and they can keep him for less than the tag number.

The Steelers reportedly have some interest in Daniel Jones. Eh, okay. He might be better off going someplace where they build QBs though. The Steelers tend to more destroy QBs than build them. Maybe they've learned? Maybe they've changed? I could see him doing better going to the Rams under McVay, though while he's regarded as an offensive mastermind, he gave up on Goff after Goff took them to the Super Bowl, so who knows? When you give up on a guy you drafted first overall and who took you to the Super Bowl it may be a sign you're not the most QB-friendly place. 

There's lots of chatter of the Rams moving on from Stafford this year. Stafford's had some elbow issues in recent years and his arm may be about to fall off. (Not literally, but figuratively.) He could be heading to Tommy John surgery soon and the Rams may want him gone before it gets to that point. Let someone else pay him while he gets his elbow rebuilt. Teams typically do preseason MRIs on guys with injury histories and they likely have several years of MRIs on Stafford's elbow. If they see a progressive thinning of his ulnar collateral ligament, it might be time to let another team experience the joy of watching your QB undergo Tommy John surgery after tearing the ligament.

How ironic would it be for the Steelers to end up trading back for Kenny Pickett. "You know, we've been thinking..." Terry Bradshaw still thinks trading Pickett was a huge mistake. Pickett's been pretty good as the Eagles' backup. You can win with Pickett. He's not Mahomes, but he's good enough. And frankly, there aren't a lot of "good enough" QBs in the league.

The Raiders' hunt for a QB will be interesting to monitor. Tom Brady is reportedly heading up the search for "the guy." I could see Brady having some interest in Tanner McKee. Tanner's an old-school pocket QB, much like Brady was. Brady knows you can win with that type of QB in the right system. Everyone wants the dual threat QBs these days, but an old-fashioned pocket passer can still win games. Draftniks say that McKee would have been a high first-round pick if he'd come out twenty years ago when pocket passers were the rage. He slipped way down since they're now out of fashion. 

Travis Kelce could end up getting cut by the Chiefs if he doesn't retire. His cap hit and his production don't line up these days. If he doesn't retire the Chiefs would probably prefer to keep him around, just not at his current cap hit. He's due a big roster bonus around March 15th, so a restructure would need to take place before then. If he opts to keep playing and wants his current deal kept intact, he could be cut loose. We'll find out pretty soon. March 15th isn't that far away.

[PARedbird]

@gardenman - I follow the Eagles on FB and just popped up that they names Kevin Patullo as the new Offensive Coordinator.  

I hope this is a good call for internal promotion, if you want to call it that?  

[gardenman]

It's good for continuity. You have someone who knows the players and system. Parks Frazier was hired as pass game coordinator. No word on QB coach yet. Lane Johnson seems happy with the choices