Sports

[gardenman]

Not that it's really newsworthy these days with rookie contracts stipulated by the CBA, but the Eagles signed all of their rookies to four year deals yesterday. We have the first rookie camp starting on Friday so it's good to get the contracts squared away.

Odell Beckham Junior is said to be bankrupt and needs a cash infusion which helps explain why the Giants are going slow and steady on his contract demands. Desperation on his part may lead to a better deal for the Giants.

The Aaron Rodgers contract could get done any time. Both sides seem pretty optimistic. Will Rodgers' new deal top Matt Ryan's? I think it should. Aaron Rodgers scares me a lot more than Matt Ryan does.

I sort of judge opposing quarterbacks by the fear factor they induce in me. Aaron Rodgers is the last guy I want to see with the ball in his hands with the game on the line. Next up would be Tom Brady then Drew Brees. After that there's a pool of guys who make you a bit edgy, but not too bad. Matt Ryan, Cam Newton and Matt Stafford fall next on my list. After that, the rest aren't all that scary. They can eke out a win now and then, but they don't inspire the fear the rest do. The last thing I ever want to see is Arron Rodgers on the field, with the ball in his hand, with the game on the line. You just know he'll find a way to make the play to win the game. Brady and Brees are just a tick less scary, but Aaron Rodgers is a beast. 

[Spurt]

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@gardenman wrote:

Not that it's really newsworthy these days with rookie contracts stipulated by the CBA, but the Eagles signed all of their rookies to four year deals yesterday. We have the first rookie camp starting on Friday so it's good to get the contracts squared away.

Odell Beckham Junior is said to be bankrupt and needs a cash infusion which helps explain why the Giants are going slow and steady on his contract demands. Desperation on his part may lead to a better deal for the Giants.

The Aaron Rodgers contract could get done any time. Both sides seem pretty optimistic. Will Rodgers' new deal top Matt Ryan's? I think it should. Aaron Rodgers scares me a lot more than Matt Ryan does.

I sort of judge opposing quarterbacks by the fear factor they induce in me. Aaron Rodgers is the last guy I want to see with the ball in his hands with the game on the line. Next up would be Tom Brady then Drew Brees. After that there's a pool of guys who make you a bit edgy, but not too bad. Matt Ryan, Cam Newton and Matt Stafford fall next on my list. After that, the rest aren't all that scary. They can eke out a win now and then, but they don't inspire the fear the rest do. The last thing I ever want to see is Arron Rodgers on the field, with the ball in his hand, with the game on the line. You just know he'll find a way to make the play to win the game. Brady and Brees are just a tick less scary, but Aaron Rodgers is a beast. 

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@gardenman

If Odell is broke what the heck is he doing with his money.(sounds like he's up to no good)...In addition to the NFL salary that he's making (8,459,000), he also signed a 25 mill over 5 year shoe deal  with Nike............

Now he's venturing out with his own line....nobody has liked his logo.......

Cam Newton could be the most talented QB in the NFL with his size and mobility, and strength.....but the mental aspect of his game is off and prevents him from moving up into the upper tier QB category..........

His completion percentage is going down ward 59% last year and he's been in the NFL for 8 yrs he should have settled down by now........The Packers talent has been dimished offensively and defensively yet Aarond Rodgers can carry the team, as can Drew Brees...........as can Brady.........He cant use lack of talent as an excuse.......the Saints FINALLY have a running game and a defense, but Brees carried them all those years.......All the others you mentioned are in the 60-64% range............

[Spurt]

Here's something fun....New England made a bet and completed the task...

There’s a new goat in New England, and his name is Foles.

But you knew that already.

Via Bethany Ao, of Phillynews.com, the newest reminder of the Eagles Super Bowl win over the Patriots is a baby goat named Foles at Zoo New England.

That was a result of a bet with the Philadelphia Zoo, which would have had to name something Brady if the Eagles had lost.  

Actually, the part of the bet that really stinks to Patriot fans is the fact that zoo workers had to wear Eagles gear while cleaning the animal enclosures and my God there are so many punch lines in that one.

Honestly, as corny Super Bowl bets go, it beats the ones between mayors for food and beverage products. Besides, in a few months, the real Nick Foles will be a baaaaaaackup again and we can all move on.

[teganslaw]

Little Foles is adorable! I thought that Brady was suppose to be the GOAT, though.

I'm also wondering how OBJ can be broke. Besides his NFL money, he gets huge endorsements from companies. What does he spend his money on?

I didn't even know that the Colts released Matt Jones. Somehow I missed the news among all else that is going on.

Now it comes up that Matt Patricia was indicted for harassment in 1996, along with a roommate. He wasn't arrested, and the case was dismissed when the woman didn't show up at the courthouse to testify. I think that this whole situation  is going nowhere, and everything will turn out OK for him. This happened so far in the past, that it probably won't affect him as coach.

[gardenman]

Football players can blow through money at an insane pace. I've heard of them spending $30,000 on a single meal for a group of players who go out together. That's way beyond my Burger King budget. OBJ took all of the wide receivers to Florida before the playoffs in the 2016 season on that cruise. Athletes look at money differently than us mere mortals.

Matt Patricia should be okay as long as it's just a single incident. If more allegations arise, he could be in trouble, but he should be relatively safe for now. A lot will depend on the Detroit and national media. If they move on to other stories he should be okay. If they track down the woman, give her lots of airtime, and keep the story in the news, things could get messy.

[Spurt]

My Redskins signed some people..........

The Redskins signed first round pick defensive tackle Da’Ron Payne,

As the 13th overall pick in the draft, Payne is due an $8.65 million signing bonus on a 4 yr deal with a total value of $14.54 million. He’ll count $2.64 million against Washington’s salary cap this year.

Six rookies were also signed: defensive lineman Tim Settle, running back Derrius Guice, safety Troy Apke, linebacker Shaun Dion Hamilton, cornerback Greg Stroman and wide receiver Trey Quinn have signed their first NFL contracts.

[gardenman]

Joe Banner, the former Eagles' GM, tweeted some interesting stuff yesterday. He said that analytics showed that you were smarter drafting small school guys, injured players, or wild cards (too big, too small, etc) in the later rounds of the draft. If you were drafting guys from Ohio State or the University of Alabama later in the draft, the guy might be a decent college player, but likely wouldn't be a productive pro.

So, this year the Eagles drafted a small school guy in Goedert, a guy who's too small in Avonte Maddox, an injured guy in Josh Sweat, a guy who's too big in Matt Pryor, and the ultimate wildcard in the rugby player Jordan Mailata. We'll have to see how it works out, but they certainly seem to be following that blueprint.

The Cowboys are talking about Dak Prescott being the MVP this year and getting an extension at the end of the year. They're already making it clear they don't want to pay him Matt Ryan or Aaron Rodgers money, but second tier quarterback kind of money. Putting it out there that you think your quarterback is a second tier kind of guy can be good or bad depending on the mental makeup of the quarterback. Some use it as motivation. "Second tier? I'll prove to them that I'm top tier!" Other guys will accept it and assume it's true and play as a second tier quarterback. The Cowboys were worried about Dak's confidence last year and this may not improve it.

[teganslaw]

The Colts signed OT Austin Howard, who was formerly with Baltimore. The Ravens didn't pick up Howard's contract after it expired. He had a good year. so some people were surprised that his contract wasn't extended; it must have been because of the salary cap. Anyway, Howard should be a nice additon to the Colts OL. 

In games I've seen, Prescott seems to play better when he has Ezekiel Elliott. The two have a connection, and without Elliott, Dak looks a bit lost. He could be motivated to play like a "1st tier" QB. as long as Elliott is around. 

[gardenman]

Austin Howard started out as an Eagle way, way back. He's got the size and build you want in a tackle, but he's just never put it all together. He's a very serviceable tackle in the league, but not a difference maker. He's one of those guys that coaches look at and think, "If this guy gets his game together, he'd be a beast." He's pretty good, but not a beast. Maybe the Colts will be where he finally reaches his potential.

 In watching "All or Nothing" where NFL Films followed the Cowboys all last season, Jason Garrett coached Dak last spring to look for his first read and if it's not there to check the ball down to number twenty-one (Ezekiel Elliott.) He told Dak to practice that everyday so it became automatic. He didn't tell Dak what to do if twenty-one was suspended. I blame Garrett and his staff a lot for Dak's regression last year. From what we saw, it looked like the Cowboys weren't training Dak to go through his progressions, but to just make one read and then find Elliott. That's great for a rookie so you don't overwhelm them, but a veteran quarterback should be reading the whole field. More often than not your first read won't be there. If it's not, you want the quarterback to immediately move to his second, third or fourth read. From what we saw, it looked like the Cowboys weren't coaching Dak to make progressive reads. They were trying too hard to make the offense easy for him. The problem is that makes it easy for the opposing defense too.

Ideally you want a quarterback to have multiple options and a well defined sequence on a play. If receiver one is open, he gets the ball, if not look to two, three, four or five. In a perfect world the quarterback can read the defense pre-snap and know if his primary receiver will be open. If the defense rotates at the snap taking away that option then it opens up other options. You'd like a quarterback to be able to read the field easily going left to right, or right to left, and either deep to short, or short to deep. Make it a smooth, natural progression. Let's say the first read is a deep ball down the right sideline, but the safety rolls over to take that away. Option two might be a midrange pass to a slot receiver on the right hash mark, only a linebacker has dropped into that zone. Option three might be a midrange pass to a tight end on the left hashmark. Maybe the second safety has picked him up. Option four might be to dump the ball off to the back on the left flank. By letting the quarterback read from one side of the field to the other and from deep to short, or short to deep, you simplify their job and give them a greater chance at success.

If the quarterback's first read is deep right, his second read is shallow left, his third read is the right flat and his fourth read is midfield left, his head will be spinning like he's possessed. He's got to keep moving his head, refocusing, finding his guy and then determining if he's open or not. That's making the job harder than it needs to be. A good offensive coordinator will design route trees that should have guys breaking open as the quarterback reaches that read in his progression. It just becomes second nature to the quarterback then with practice. They learn to read and play the whole field. They can go through their full progression in a relatively short time and find the open guy.

[yellowBeetle]

I will weigh in on Dak...

He was so good and impressive in his rookie season that last year must have been very disappointing. I guess 2018 will be the tie breaker, so to speak. He definitely does better with Zeke there. But that is understandable, imo, as most QBs would do better with a phenom of a RB! Losing Witten will hurt ... but Dak and Dez did not seem to click, so having Dez gone might actually help. As to Dak's pay I would not think he would expect to get a salary comparable to Rodgers or Ryan who have been in the NFL for years. Personally he has come across as a very humble and grateful player, imo. He lost his mother a few years ago with whom he was very close and from his interviews, he sounds like a really grounded and good guy. I wish him the best .... even though he is a Cowboy!!!