Sports

[Spurt]

This is a flat out crazy comment from big mouth Stephen A. Smith---Never gonna happen, but fun to daydream about.....

In a recent episode of “First Take,” Smith said the Washington Football Team, is the ideal landing spot for disgruntled Green Bay quarterback Aaron Rodgers.

“Believe it or not, I am with the Washington Football Team,” Smith said when asked where Rodgers should want to go. “Even though it is absolutely disgraceful they don’t have a name, I love all the moves that they’ve made on the executive level with Jason Wright, Julie Donaldson and others.”  

Smith went on to name some of Washington’s top offensive weapons like Terry McLaurin, J.D. McKissic, Logan Thomas and Antonio Gibson as to reasons why Washington would be perfect for Rodgers.

Smith isn’t the first person to suggest Rodgers to Washington. Earlier this week it was All-Pro CB Richard Sherman who liked Rodgers’ fit with the WFT.

[gardenman]

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@Spurt wrote:

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@gardenman wrote:

Josh Doctson is a free agent again as the Jets have cut him loose. He may be about done in the league now.

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@gardenman 

Scot McCloughan drafted Doctson in the first round for the Redskins in 2016...Garcon and D.Jack were in the final year of their contract, and Doctson was slotted to fill in the gap as a starter for the 2017 season....But he turned out to be a bust--very inconsistent! He went on as a journey man, 3 teams in 5 years....since he couldnt even make it on the Jets, looks like his NFL career is over!

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Yeah, he never even took the field for the Jets. He opted out last year and they apparently had seen enough that they just let him go. With teams having signed free agent wide receivers and drafted kids, there's not a lot of holes left in the league. He's probably going to have to hope a team gets devastated with injuries in the season and needs a guy to get a job now. I don't see him ending up in anyone's camp. He's got to keep himself in shape and ready to go, so when attrition strikes he's ready to fill a void. He's put himself in a bad spot. The Jets didn't help him any by waiting until now to cut him loose. 

Guys like him and Alshon Jeffrey will be lurking there waiting for a hole to develop. By the way, Mark Schlereth was on a local podcast the other day and talking about an Eagles game he broadcast and how Jeffrey had apparently retired but not told anyone prior to that game as he did nothing in the game. Not a good reputation to have gotten on Jeffrey's part. He didn't like Wentz, but when you don't play hard because you don't like the QB it only hurts you. 

Speaking of Wentz, Frank Reich said that the drafting of Hurts wasn't Wentz's problem and he's right. It was guys like Alshon and Malcolm Jenkins leaking stuff to the media and backstabbing Wentz that were the problems. When you have players on your team actively trying to sabotage the QB, it never ends well. Frank Reich knows what happened and I'm pretty sure he won't let it happen in Indy. I expect big things from Wentz there for the next decade or more.

[Spurt]

@gardenman @yellowrose @teganslaw 

Here's some interesting reading to while away some time since the NFL draft is over and as we await OTAs and Training Camp....

WORLDS MOST VALUABLE SPORTS TEAMS 2021

The average value of the 50 most valuable sports teams has jumped 9.9% from last year, to $3.4 billion, up 55% from five years ago. The Dallas Cowboys once again claim the top spot with a valuation of $5.7 billion, followed by the New York Yankees at $5.25 billion. The NBA’s New York Knicks round out the top three at $5 billion. European soccer clubs Barcelona and Real Madrid, each with a valuation just above $4.7 billion, nudged the NBA’s Los Angeles Lakers and Golden State Warriors out of the top five. 

It’s not just the games they play that are bringing those returns. The billionaire owners, have proved they are adept at finding ways to minie dollars for value. Take Cowboys owner Jerry Jones (net worth: $8.8 billion). He bought the franchise in 1989 for $150 million and has since added a number of big-ticket amenities, including a modern stadium stacked with luxury boxes, a new corporate headquarters and practice facility called The Star, a merchandising business and licensing arrangement with the NFL, and an equity stake in the stadium management company Legends, as well as investments in e-sports and a platform built to support youth sports. The team delivered operating profits of $425 million on revenue of $980 million in the 2019 season, record results for the franchise. 

https://www.forbes.com/sites/mikeozanian/2021/05/07/worlds-most-valuable-sports-teams-2021/?sh=318d8...

Dallas Cowboys #1

NY Giants #9

WFT #19

Eagles #21

Colts #37

[gardenman]

Aaron Rodgers to the WFT makes sense for the WFT as he'd be a vast, and I mean vast, improvement over Fitzpatrick. But the cost would be insane. The Packers won't want him in the NFC. The WFT would have to win a bidding war against the Broncos to get him and I'm not sure they could win a bidding war against the Broncos. Elway would likely give the Packers a child or two of his to get Rodgers. Whatever the WFT offered, Elway would top it. I think the WFT management knows that also and just wouldn't get involved. If the Broncos get Watson first, then the WFT might take a stab at Rodgers, but with the Broncos still needing a QB, they're going to outbid everyone else for Rodgers if he becomes available. 

[gardenman]

In a somewhat promising sign for the Eagles offense, we now have three of the last five SEC Offensive Players of the Year on our roster. Jalen Hurts was the SEC Offensive Player of the Year in 2016. Kerryon Johnson in 2017. And Davonte Smith in 2020. Joe Burrow won the award in 2019 and Tua in 2018, but the Eagles have the rest of the guys who won in the last five years. That could be a promising sign. The SEC tends to turn out some good offensive players. 

The schedule release is coming on Wednesday and the Giants are campaigning to play the Eagles in week one. They're the teensiest miffed that we didn't try to win our season finale against the WFT which would have given the Giants the NFC East crown instead of the WFT. Then the swap of picks with the Cowboys to sneak ahead of them and grab Davonte Smith didn't make them any happier. In their minds, they could have won the Super Bowl if only we'd beaten the WFT. (They would have gotten killed very, very early on in the playoffs had they made the playoffs, so that's crazy, but whatever.)

If I was an NFC East opponent, I'd rather play the Eagles later in the season when you know what to expect. There's no film on this coaching staff and what they're going to do. You're going in blind for the first three or four weeks. You don't know what formations they'll use, what personnel groups they'll use, what tendencies they have. They'll be a blank slate for the first few weeks until some film is available. The Eagles will have film on all three NFC East opponents, so they'll know what to expect, but the rest of the NFC East won't have film on the Eagles and will be going in blind.

You can prepare for just about anything an opponent will do if you have some idea of what they'll be doing. When you don't know what they'll be doing, life gets more challenging. With no film at all to prepare to face the Eagles, early-season opponents will be at a big disadvantage. That's a big advantage for the Eagles though. We should be able to catch a few early opponents out of position and with the wrong personnel on the field. Defensive coordinators are apt to play conservatively until they figure out what the Eagles are doing. Offensive coordinators can't exploit holes in our defense if they don't know where they are.

The three preseason games won't be a help to our opponents as the Eagles will go very vanilla in those games. Why show your opponents what you're planning to do? The focus of those three games will be on communication and evaluating players. Make sure the coaches know how to get the plays in on time and then figure out which players are better in games than on the practice field and vice versa. Some guys shine in practice then melt away in games. Some guys excel in games but stink in practice. Use the preseason games to figure out which are which.

A game one matchup with the Eagles could be a problem for the Giants. The Eagles should still have an impressive pass rush. The Giants don't have an impressive o-line. Daniel Jones tends to fumble or throw interceptions rather frequently, and won't know where rushers are coming from, or which defender is covering which receiver. He won't know the Eagles zone drops in a zone defense and could end up throwing the ball right to an Eagles defender who's not where Daniel Jones expects the guy to be. I wouldn't be so anxious to play the Eagles in week one if it were me. By week four or five, you should have a good book on the Eagles and have a better chance of beating them. In week one, it's a big gamble.

[teganslaw]

The Giants probably would have lost to Tampa in the wild card, so I don't think it matters  that they didn't win the NFC East. They still got Kadarius Toney, so it's not like they lost out completely. I think they're just whining too much.

I'm looking forward to playing Jacksonville this season. I want to see how good Trevor Lawrence really is. The NFL is much different than college. Lawrence will have to face Leonard, Nelson and DeBuckner. Jacksonville had a good draft, so will the team protect Lawrence? 

Also, we should know what is going on with the Texans by then. 

[gardenman]

It'll be an adjustment for Lawrence, but he's got some good pieces around him already. I would expect him to do much as Joe Burrow did last year. You'll see flashes and know he's going to be really good, but he'll make the occasional really bad mistake. I would put Jacksonville in that four to six wins category. We don't really know how Trevor Lawrence will react to losing. He's 29-0 in college and won 41 straight in high school. Now Jacksonville only won one game last year, so they should improve on that but by how much? 

You can argue they were "losing for Lawrence" last year and not really playing to win, so they may be better than the 1-15 record they posted. We'll find out pretty quickly. 

I think the Titans and Colts are still the class of the AFC South.  The Jags should be moving up while the Texans are in a freefall. I could see the Texans going 0-16 this year. Losing can sap a guy's confidence pretty quickly and the one thing we don't know about Lawrence is how he handles a losing streak. He's never had one. Will it eat him alive? Will he take it in stride and "git em next week?" We'll find out. (Unless he goes 16-0 which is pretty unlikely.)

I would think a 6-11 record is about the best you could expect from the Jags. They should beat Houston (twice), the Jets, the Broncos, (assuming they don't land Rodgers,) maybe the Dolphins and Patriots. That would be six wins. Do I see them beating the Colts, Titans, Bills, Cards, Falcons, Niners, Rams, Seahawks, or Bengals? Probably not. (Maybe the Falcons, maybe the Niners.) If they pulled off those two and the other six they'd end up at eight wins. That's pretty darn optimistic in my opinion though.

[Spurt]

@gardenman @teganslaw @yellowrose 

The rivalry amongst the NFC East teams is intense and there's, no love lost between the teams front offices and the fans either....

Remember years ago they tried to break up the Division---move Dallas to the NFC West (creating a more visible rivalry between the Cowboys and 49ers)   There was  also rumors of moving the St. Louis CARDINALS with Minnesota, Chicago, the Packers and Detroit –(central time zone), but they stood pat. In 2002 the NFL did a realignment 8 divisions 4 teams each, the Cardinals who had moved to Arizona moved to the NFC West. The NFC East was kept with the Redskins, Giants, Eagles, and Cowboys even though the Boyz are the only team in the central time zone since great rivalaries had developed amongst the teams and it made for good games and good ratings.... 

As everyone knows, sadly over the years; the NFC East teams have fallen from contention....there were a few break throughs--the Eagles won the Super Bowl in 2018...and the Giants in 2008 and 2012....as for the Cowboys they havent been in a Super Bowl since 1996, and for Washington 1992.....  And lately all the teams have taken a nose dive in the standings and rankings with the Division Leader going to the playoffs with a 7-9 record....😄...YEP PITIFUL!!! It will be interesting to see what happens in 2021....get your popcorn ready....

But actually as the season progressed the WFT showed much progress thanks in part to the D line!!! Even with virtually NO OFFENSE to speak of (the O line was okay and the only weapon was McLaurin--(even the best RB Gibson was hurt and missed games) -the team had to go with an out of control rookie QB who was later cut and an immobile veteran QB, and then grabbing a rusty FA from his college exams and throwing him into the Wild Card game against a team that would end up being the Super Bowl Champs... The score was respectable Tampa won 31 to 23 (an 8 point difference)..... gee if my WFT had more of an offense...🤔....And Washington continues to rebuild with their 2021 draft and FA signings and added to an already good defense, and adding more weapons on offense...yes the QB may be inconsistent but still a lot better than what we had....the schedule appears to be brutal....but it should be a fun and interesting season! 

Im sure the Eagles peformance against the WFT irked the Giants...and took the rivalries to an even higher level...And Washington has no love lost with the Giants remembering that year when John Mara had Washington penalized for disobeying a "gentlemen's agreement" about still following the cap guidelines even though LEGALLY it was an uncapped year.... (Mara just happened to be in charge of the Committee overseeing this and enjoyed sticking it to the Redskins)....Snyder thought about suing, many said he would have won the case, but decided he would only make some lawyers rich...and the team took their "medicine" but didnt forget it.......But this has intensified the feelings between the two teams...

Despite all it's problems the NFC East is still fun to keep an eye on....

[gardenman]

The Giants were really annoyed by that season finale last year as the score was close enough (20-14) that the Eagles could have (maybe should have) won it. But we didn't want to win. Drafting sixth sounded better than twelfth and we ended up getting a first-round pick next year from Miami for losing that game. So, we gift-wrapped the division title to the WFT and stole it from the Giants, stole the receiver they wanted in the draft, then got an extra first-round pick in the process, so yeah, they're a wee bit annoyed at us. I don't blame them. I just don't think wanting to play us in the first game of the new year is a smart idea. There's a very good chance they'd lose that game since they have no idea what we'll be doing. A big loss on top of everything else won't calm them down any.

The Giants are kind of cursed against the Eagles anyway. There have been two Miracle of the Meadowlands where the Eagles have pulled out an impossible victory. Flukey things tend to happen against them when they play us. Randall Cunningham took a vicious hit on a Monday Night game but somehow stayed upright and threw a touchdown pass against them. We just always find a way to beat them. I think the recent record is something like 21-4 against them. They just have a very hard time beating us.

[Spurt]

@gardenman 

The Giants seem to be making a whole lot of bad decisions lately.  It seems like they would have picked a QB in this year's draft (even if they were a project player in later rounds ) just in case Danny Dimes continues to struggle, its his make or break season....(of course he needs a decent line which the front office has never remedied...) But backups Mike Glennon and Clayton Thorson dont exactly strike fear into the hearts of opponents defenses....