Sports

[gardenman]

@Spurt 

Those first two games for the Cowboys could easily have them 0-2. Nick Sirianni will have the Eagles fired up for week three. An Eagles win then would leave the Cowboys 0-3 and in big trouble. 

It's not a great year to be Mike McCarthy. He's got an aging o-line. An iffy defense (at best.) A pretty tough opening stretch in the schedule. An owner who thinks the team should never lose a game.

Julio Jones would have done nothing to help the Cowboys. He's arguably a step down from CeeDee Lamb and Amari Cooper.

[teganslaw]

NFC East teams take notice: WR Michael Gallup says about the Cowboys that he "doesn't see anyone stopping us." He sounds very confident or is just saying that to get attention. 

Most analysts are excited about Julio Jones going to Tennessee. Some are even talking about Super Bowl. That's reaching: having Julio didn't help Atlanta win Super Bowls, why would Tennessee be different?  One of the Colts' goals this year should be to sweep the Titans. I would be happy to see that. 

[Spurt]

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@teganslaw wrote:

NFC East teams take notice: WR Michael Gallup says about the Cowboys that he "doesn't see anyone stopping us." He sounds very confident or is just saying that to get attention. 

Most analysts are excited about Julio Jones going to Tennessee. Some are even talking about Super Bowl. That's reaching: having Julio didn't help Atlanta win Super Bowls, why would Tennessee be different?  One of the Colts' goals this year should be to sweep the Titans. I would be happy to see that. 

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@teganslaw 

Well TEGAN Gallup is just another typical braggart also known as a Dallas Cowboy Player....😄😄😄  Our Local sport's team team did an interview with Cowboy WR CeCe Lamb and he said as much...and also mentioned his "get your popcorn ready" bracelet....🙄

You make great points about Julio....I dont get why all the media is all of a sudden so on fire about Julio when he's missed so much time due to injuries and didnt really bring a Super Bowl to the Falcons.....I'd be taking a more "let's wait and see" approach.....SMH!!!

Speaking of Super Bowls the Bucs just gave Bruce Arians and FM Jason Licht new contracts....

Arians now has a Coach of the Year award with the Colts, a Coach of the Year award with the Cardinals and a Super Bowl ring with the Buccaneers to his credit. He’s building himself a Hall of Fame résumé.

Jason Licht has been GM with the Bucs since 2014, and although it took until his seventh season for him to make the playoffs, the Bucs’ patience with him has paid off with an impressive roster that won the Super Bowl last year and has all the key contributors back this year.

[gardenman]

The Bucs are going to be a handful this year. The schedule maker made life pretty easy for them too. The Cowboys, Falcons, Rams, Patriots, Dolphins, Eagles, Bears, and Saints in the first eight games. How many losses do you see there? One? Two? Maybe none? Then they have their bye and the WFT, Giants, Colts, Falcons, Bills, Saints, Panthers, Jets, and Panthers again. It's hard to find more than the or four possible losses in their schedule. If they stay healthy and don't regress a lot, they should be very, very good.

When you look at the NFC South the Bucs look like the dominant team. The Saints without Brees and the players they had to cut loose due to their cap will likely be struggling. The Sam Darnold reclamation project in Carolina is very much boom or bust, and I think a lot of people are betting on it being bust. The Falcons were 4-12 last year and I don't think they're vastly improved. The Bucs should just start making their playoff plans now. They've even got good backup QB options in rookie Kyle Trask, Blaine Gabbert, and Ryan Griffin. 

Aaron Rodgers is continuing to play hardball in Green Bay. He's not showing up for the mandatory minicamp. The team brass will get a good feel for what they have in Jordan Love in the minicamp. Rodgers has all of the leverage in this game. He's made more than enough money so the fines don't matter to him. If Jordan Love looks great, the Green Bay staff may be more willing to let Rodgers leave. If not, they'll be in a real bind. They can't bully Rodgers into coming back. It'll be fun to see how that all plays out. Denver is just sitting there waiting to pounce when Green Bay finally decides to move him.

[gardenman]

Any of the Eagles' kids who hung around Philly are getting a nice taste of what training camp will be like. We had three days in a row of the mid-nineties with 55%-65% humidity. Today should be a bit cooler as storms roll in later today, but the morning is already 84 with high humidity. Every year the Eagles get kids from Texas and Florida who think they know heat and humidity. Then they melt when a warm spell rolls in here. 

The Eagles have just one kid left to sign and that's Landon Dickerson, our second-round pick. Rookie contracts are largely all pre-agreed upon these days thanks to the new CBA, but sometimes little things hold things up. I expect he'll get signed pretty quickly. 

[teganslaw]

I've always liked Aaron Rodgers, but the situation in Green Bay is getting out of hand. Rodgers won't attend minicamp. Just what is he trying to accomplish by holding out? If he's that unhappy in Green Bay, maybe he should retire. Neither side is winning, something has to give. It might be in the best interests of both sides to let Rodgers go, and move on with Jordan Love. There is no point in staying with Rodgers if he's going to sit out the whole season. I'm sure the rest of the NFC North would like to see him out of the division. 

[gardenman]

Aaron Rodgers told the Packers back in January he wasn't playing for them again. He did it privately so they could make the best possible deal. They did nothing. Just before the draft, he went public when he realized they weren't going to let him go.

He still wants to play football, just not in Green Bay. Like anyone, he can quit his job, which is pretty much what he's done. Unlike normal people, he can't just get a new job playing football on his own. The Packers have to trade him or release him in order for him to play elsewhere. 

The only leverage the Packers have is fining him and keeping him under contract. Rodgers can simply sit out the year, or years if need be until they relent and let him go. They can't make him play for them, but they can make it so he can't play for anyone else.

As a general rule, you really don't want someone on your team who truly doesn't want to be there. The Eagles moved Carson Wentz because he didn't want to be in Philly any longer. The Falcons moved Julio because he didn't want to be in Atlanta anymore.

The Packers can't win this fight. Rodgers holds all of the cards. The fines are inconsequential to him. He likely makes enough from his investments in a week to pay the fines for a full year. By letting this go past the draft they hurt their ability to optimize their return. If they'd offered Aaron Rodgers up before the draft, they'd have gotten multiple first-round picks and maybe even that first overall pick. If you're Jacksonville or the Jets, do you draft a kid or take the reigning league MVP?

If the Packers trade Rodgers now, wherever he goes becomes a possible/likely playoff team. Any draft pick they get for him then starts at around pick 20. Not great. Do they hold him all year and then trade him to whoever has the first pick in next year's draft? That might be their best option at this point. 

[Spurt]

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@gardenman wrote:

Any of the Eagles' kids who hung around Philly are getting a nice taste of what training camp will be like. We had three days in a row of the mid-nineties with 55%-65% humidity. Today should be a bit cooler as storms roll in later today, but the morning is already 84 with high humidity. Every year the Eagles get kids from Texas and Florida who think they know heat and humidity. Then they melt when a warm spell rolls in here. 

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@gardenman 

We would LOVE LOVE LOVE 55%-65% humidity, with all the rain we've had over the last couple months and moisture from the Gulf we have 85% humidity, 81 right now with highs expected in the low to mid 90's this week----no need to book a spa here just go outside 🥵.....We call it Saunantonio....    Some parts of Texas have more of a dry heat and are a lot less humid then others....  (the Dallas and North Texas, and West Texas is dry heat, while Houston and East Texas have the WORST humidity).....  But yep, we've visited relatives over the summer in the Northeast and the humidity was awful....especially their small town flanked by a couple rivers...And even in the Adirondack Mountains couldnt escape the humidity...and what was really bad most places there dont have A/C due to their short summer seasons🥵...... We visited Disney World a few years ago and FL's humidity was really awful...

Well it looks like Rivera is very pleased with the WR Group....and some tough decisions are looming when roster cuts will be made....  

The O-line is working on technique.....Rivera is looking for things like footwork and hand position from the offensive line during this time when contact is limited. 

  And QB Heinicke continues to have a good showing, on one play he scrambled to keep a play alive, and Antonio Gandy-Golden was there in the end zone to make the catch. He got a couple of pats on the helmet from Logan Thomas and Sam Cosmi for it too.  And Cam Sims made a really impressive catch from Heinicke. He came back into coverage to haul it in.

Speaking of QB's this is too funny---😄

And friends joined in....

[Spurt]

[Spurt]

They say these two tweets summarize Ryan Fitzpatrick....BUT remember folks, this is the first time Ryan has been formally introduced to Mr. Chase Young.(Young chose to pass on voluntary OTAs)...Chase didnt miss a beat and was right back where he left off, he got right in Ryan's face and had to put the breaks on since there's no contact......