Sports

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@teganslaw wrote:

I didn't realize that defensive games could be so much fun to watch, but I enjoyed the Rams-Bears. Loved that trick play where OT Sowell scored a touchdown. I never saw anything like that before. The Rams weren't expecting that. 

I could watch the end of the NE-Miami game all day. Gronk used as a safety. What was Belichick thinking? 

So far, I'm a bit upset with GMF. They hardly mentioned the Colts win against the Texans. That was a huge game, but it goes unnoticed. 

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@teganslaw

On Golic and Wing they mentioned your Colts, and showed highlights of Andrew and your team and played a clip of Andrew's post game press conference.......but they did add--- although the Colts were back in the playoff hunt realistically they didnt think Colts would get in and bemoaned about the Jags game loss....And later on analyst Jeff Saturday was on with his regular Monday segment, and added no one would want to play the Colts, playing well and are a dangerous team ....

GMF seems to get stuck on just a few "pet" teams.....

On Beli's putting in Gronk, on G&W Show and your former Colt, Jeff Saturday--Big discussion how Gronk was in there in case the Dolphins tried a long pass and since he's tall and can leap , the Pats thought he could bat down the pass...but Beli was wrong, several uncharacteristic decisions by the Pats in that game.... and pretty much ruined their chances for home field in playoffs....Jeff said he'd hate to be on that plane with Belichick going back to Foxboro

When I first started watching football I got enamored by the offense, but as time goes on, I learned to love that mean aggressive defense so the Rams/Bears was a nice change of pace....😊

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@yellowBeetle

Of course I dont get to see many full Eagle games like y'all, unless the Eagles are picked for the national game....so I see only bits and pieces of Eagles games sometimes, but from what Ive seen, I agree some games , Wentz doesnt seem the same, I think he came back a bit too early......

But at least your team has a chance to be back in the mix in 2019...my team's a mess....

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@sunshine45 wrote:

soooooo veryyyyyy close!

what a nailbiter. only got to see the first three quarters.

i was so hoping that the ravens were going to pull this out and we did give them a good run for their money, but a win was not to be had in overtime. we could be sitting in first place if we had gotten a win today!

thank you RAIDERS.

thank you CHARGERS.

the browns got another win and they are NOT technically out of the running for a wild card spot.

rumors are swirling around already that flacco may be gone next season.....and that the GIANTS may want him? or maybe the JAGS? personally, i cannot even see him on another team and NOT on the ravens. some have even suggested that flacco would retire rather than go to another team.

lamar jackson definitely has to work on his throwing skills, but may just be the future. was a bit surprised that flacco did not play today.....at least part of the time. i do think flacco still has some good games left in him at 33.

i guess i will be biting my nails the rest of the season!

congrats to the saints, the rams, and the chiefs!

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@sunshine45

Sorry about your Ravens....Quite a game!

It looks like your rivals, the Steelers, are a huge mess right now at least you can take a small bit of consolation in that!

Gee no Flacco to the Redskin rumors in 2019--Im SHOCKED    -looks like Alex Smith's career is done...and NO we dont want RGIII back......Passing my crying towel to your brother on yet another miserable year for our Redskins....

[gardenman]

Those slow starts are just killing the Eagles. I think we'll miss the playoffs completely now, which may not be a bad thing. It's a lot less stressful for the fans and gives our injured guys more time to recover. (And we've got lots of injured guys.) Given how the Panthers have collapsed though, the rest of the NFC may just lose their way out of the playoffs and the Eagles could still sneak in as a wildcard, but I don't see them lasting long if they do. This is the year for either New Orleans, the Rams, or the Bears from the looks of things. They're the three best teams in the NFC this year. Making the playoffs and losing before the Super Bowl is not a good thing. It just puts more wear and tear on your players, gives them less time to recover, and hinders your ability to make needed changes in the coaching staff. 

Expect the Eagles to target offensive coaches this offseason. A new OC is almost a certainty and I wouldn't rule out more changes. The Patriots really messed up the Eagles last year when they were able to pull back McDaniels at the last minute. Coaching hires around the league were pretty much done by then and when the Colts took Frank Reich, it left the Eagels with few options for a new OC. They promoted from within, but it's not working out so well. I'm betting Doug Pederson has been scouting OC candidates and has a list of names he wants to interview. If we miss the playoffs, those interviews can start early and the Eagles can grab the cream of the coaching talent. Don't be shocked to see it be a guy from the college ranks. Doug has stolen a lot of concepts from the college game, so why not a college OC?

The Eagles should be able to bounce back nicely next year. They've got Wentz, who if he can stay healthy over these last few games, can participate in the full OTA's and training camp that he largely sat out this year. That should have him more prepared for game situations. We've got ten or eleven picks in the upcoming draft to bring in young talented guys. We've got some young guys on the roster ready to move up and into starting roles. We kept a few more older players around this year than was probably ideal, but expect a youth movement to take place next year. You don't like to make a lot of roster changes coming off a Super Bowl win, but that's not likely to be an issue this offseason.

There's some interesting stuff on the Redskins cap situation with Alex Smith. They could take as much as a $57+ million cap hit next year if they can't rework his contract and he's done. Everyone expects them to be able to spread that out over several years to diminish the impact, but they'll need Alex Smith to cooperate. A $57+ million cap hit is almost a third of the whole salary cap on a guy who likely won't play a single snap. Yikes! They need to be really, really nice and friendly with Smith and his agent to spread that out over several years regardless of his health.

Flacco, Jameis Winston, Derek Carr, Eli Manning, Marcus Mariota, and some other starters are all going to be interesting to watch this offseason. There's likely to be quite a bit of movement among those guys. You don't often find veteran quarterbacks moving around the league too much, but we could see a lot of movement this offseason. I wouldn't be shocked to hear Roethlisberger's and Aaron Rodgers' names come up as possible trade options. Both are nearing the end of their careers and their teams might just think about moving on.

I expect the Cowboys to win the NFC East now, but I don't see them lasting long in the playoffs. Dak is just too inconsistent and makes too many bone-headed plays. It's hard to see a way they beat the Rams, Saints, or Bears. The Seahawks could be a problem come the playoffs too. In the AFC, the Chiefs, Chargers, Patriots, and Texans look pretty solid. If I was betting, I'd bet on the Patriots making the Super Bowl, just because of Brady. On the NFC side, I'd probably give the edge to the Saints.

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Redskin's QB Josh Johnson said he was playing in a charity basketball game in Oakland last Sunday and legitimately had to play Madden this week just to learn teammates’ names. 

Reggie McKenzie was fired as Raider's GM

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@gardenman

HogsHaven went to the experts at Over The Cap to get real scoop since there's a lot of inaccurate info floating around regarding Alex Smith's contract and impact on Redskin's cap--A sticking point will be whether Alex can play football again.

Here's what OTC had to say: 

Smith’s contract was a pretty standard NFL contract. The Redskins fully guaranteed Smith $55 million upon signing, including a rather large $27 million signing bonus. All told Washington paid $40 million of that guarantee in the first year of the contract. The $15 million that remains will be paid in 2019. This money is a sunk cost for the Redskins (for the most part,more on that in a minute) and there is no way to avoid the payments.

Where the Redskins have options is with an additional injury guarantee in Smith’s deal. Smith’s 2020 $16 million salary is guaranteed for injury at the moment. An injury guarantee means that if a player’s contract is terminated while he is injured his injury protection kicks in and he earns his salary if hurt. The condition to collect on the guarantee is that Smith would not be able to pass a physical in 2020. So obviously that is a long time for Smith to recover from his injury.

The tricky part for Washington though is that the 2020 injury guarantee is what is called a vesting guarantee. A vesting guarantee is one in which the injury guarantee becomes fully guaranteed at some point in time. For quarterbacks these are often early in a contract and it is no different for Smith. His $16 million injury guarantee vests on the 5th day of the 2019 league year. What that means is even if Smith can pass a physical in2020 but his skills are so diminished that he can’t be effective the Redskins are still on the hook for the $16 million if his salary vests.

If Washington cuts Smith before that vesting date they do have the ability to escape that $16 million guarantee depending on how Smith’s recovery goes. But the situation gets more complicated when we look at the salary cap implications of cutting Smith.

Smith’s current salary cap number in 2019 is $20.4 million. If he was cut that number would increase by at least $17.7 million, which is the remaining portion of his unaccounted for signing bonus, leaving the Redskins with a $36.6 million dead money charge.   On top of that typically future guarantees in a contract normally count when the player is released. Since Smith would be released with a failed physical termination in March the Redskins I believe should also have to account for an additional $16 million on the cap, regardless of whether or not the injury guarantee is actually paid in 2020 or not. If that is the case in brings the dead money to a ridiculous $52.6 million.

Regardless of whether Im incorrect on the acceleration of the guarantee, $36.6 million or $52.6 million is basically not feasible for Washington. The team has just $19 million in projected cap room for next year.Take off $17 million for Smith and they have nothing to spend. Add in the extra $16 million on top of that and they are in the worst position of any team in the NFL.

The Redskins could opt to use a June 1 cut on Smith. A June 1 cut essentially freezes Smith’s 2018 contract from March through June 1. On June 2 the cut would then be processed. In that situation the Redskins defer the $17.7 million in signing bonus acceleration to 2020.  However the guarantee still accelerates so if the injury guarantee does count on the cap that would add $16 million to his total putting the Redskins right up against the cap. In my mind none of these options are really feasible.

Washington does not get any cap relief from the NFL for this injury, which seems to be a topic people are discussing for some odd reason.Teams take on risks when they sign contracts and they are penalized when the contract blows up. So there is no special list to put Smith on to hide his cap hit. He will simply be placed on the PUP list next year.

There is some relief that would come the Redskins way if Smith can not play. Per JI Halsell, the Redskins did take out a $12 million insurance policy on Smith when they signed the contract. If Smith is unable to complete his contract due to the injury the $12 million will be paid to Washington.  This reimbursement is going to give Washington salary cap relief but in my experience there is usually a delay in getting those cap credits meaning they usually come in future years so I don’t expect the $12 million to offset anything significant in 2019. 

So what can Washington do? They have a few options. One option might be to work with Smith to defer the date on which is full guarantee kicks in just to give the Redskins more time to decide on the contract. I wouldn’t see Smith’s side agreeing to this since this was a football injury and you negotiate these contracts to protect from these rare instances like this one. They could just let the contract playout and hope Smith can play football somewhere. Even though his salary would become fully guaranteed there are offsets on the salary so they may be able to recover some of that $16 million in 2020 if he can play in the NFL.

I think what I might look to do is make the best of a bad situation. Odds are the Redskins are going to have to pay $31 million more dollars and account for $52.6 million on the salary cap for a player who most likely won’t play another meaningful snap for the organization.

If the Redskins reduce Smith’s salary next season to $1 million they can reduce his 2019 salary cap number from $20.4 to $10.275million giving them more money to spend on the season while they have to carry Smith on PUP.

In 2020 you do the same if there is no new CBA agreement in place to bring his cap number down to around $15.1 million.  At that point the Redskins will have deferred $27.2 million in cap charges to future years.

While this “kicking the can philosophy” is one I don’t like this is a unique situation. They aren’t adding money by doing it its just finding a way to shuffle it for accounting purposes. I cant come up with a scenario where it makes sense to take these massive cap hits in 2019 or 2020.

My hope is that if there is a lockout I can release Smith in 2021 before a lockup becomes official and potentially escape the $27.2M in dead charges entirely. Or maybe release at the end of the year if I have the cap room to do it in 2020 since a lockout would likely eliminate carryover anyway. Remember the Redskins will also be getting some type of credits for Smith because he cant play too which will help lessen the blows.

At the worst kicking the money in Smith’s contract allows me to use around 13% of my salary cap for the next three years on Smith rather than using 27% of my cap all on Smith next season and really blow up my year.

The goal for Washington at this point now should be to just mitigate the impact on the salary cap and find the best way to account for his money without compromising the way I am going to build the team.

[gardenman]

The Eagles have started to poach promising young players from other team's practice squads. We got a running back from the Saints to take over Corey Clement's role. It's getting to the time of the season where if a guy sneezes you put him on IR to open up a roster spot for a promising kid.

[teganslaw]

NFL contracts are complicated. They have to account for injuries cap space, etc. I almost got a headache reading about Alex Smith's contract. 

The Vikings are technically in the hunt for wildcard, but after last night their playoff hopes diminished. Sportscenter showed the controversial call in which Bailey missed the field goal. It should have been a penatly on Seattle. The Vikings didn't have much chance, anyway. They were distracted by the Seahawks' uniforms.  Those green uniforms look bad. 

Pittsburgh is a mess right now. I was reading Steelers' message boards. Fans want Tomlin and other coordinators fired(lots of posts on that). Some think that Roethlisberger is a diva; Antonio Brown isn't himself;  no one misses Bell; they're mad at Gruden and the Raiders; they hate the Ravens. That's basically what the message boards say. 

I

[yellowBeetle]

Wow, this is a shocker! The Minnesota Vikings just fired OC John DeFillippo!!

And here we Eagle fans think losing him along with Frank Reich is a big part in our woes this season!

Wish the Eagles could get him back!

(Edited to add that yes @teganslaw those Seahawk glow stick lime green uniforms probably blinded the Vikings!!)

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@teganslaw

Yep Tegan that NFL contract stuff gives me a headache too...as it did the guy that writes the HogsHaven Blog....I don't know how the NFL Capologist on each team do that job.....WHEW!.....

I'm with you and dont blame the Vikings, I HATE the Seahawks lime green color rush uniforms, the only uniforms that are worse are the Steeler's "bumble bee" uniforms.........

The Vikings dont look good at all....and its a tad ironic  after they signed Capt Kirk for 84 million ....

Its fun to see what the fans write about their teams.....Personally I think BOTH Ben and Antonio are divas...Antonio was always late to rehearsals when he was on DWTS.....his pro-dancer, Sharona, wasnt a bit happy with him....and thats why he didnt make the finals either, he was a real diva....