Sports

[Spurt]

As previously predicted Washington recently promoted  WR James Crowder from the Practice Squad....some said he will be returning punts.....

[PARedbird]

@Spurt - seriously??  Eleven hours for a tattoo?   Unreal!  I'm surprised they allowed Dak to do that so close to game time, fearing he might end up with an infection or too much pain and it would affect him!  Oh well, again, as I always say, what do I know!

@gardenman - spot on about the 49'ers and all their whining they did!  Although I work with a 49'ers fan - one of our managers in the field and he was nothing but gracious about the Eagles beating his team in the playoffs and even wanted us to win the 'Bowl.   No complaining or whining from him so he definitely was in the minority.  I recently read something not long ago (wish I could remember the site) and more comments were being made from their fans about them not beating the Eagles and how it was not fair to them.  It's time to move on!  

[Linmo]

@gardenman Thanks for sharing your feelings about the Niners.  I live in the Bay Area and all I can say is that that game really sucked.  I'm in no way bitter about the outcome, but it was so hard to watch Purdy, the wonder kid, get injured and have to come out and try to play again with the type of injury that he had.  I am so glad he was able to recover quickly.  Hopefully It will be another great season for both teams this year!

[Spurt]

GAME DAY! 

Our Games---

EARLY

Texans vs Ravens

LATE

Eagles vs Patriots

EARLY

49ers vs Steelers

LATE

Packers vs Bears

SNF-

Cowboys vs Giants

MNF

Bills vs Jets Jets Jets 

ENJOY YOUR NFL DAY! 

[Spurt]

BAD NEWS---Michael Irvin settles with Marriott Hotels returns to NFL Network----RATS!!!  I thought he was good and gone, ruins the NFL Network PRE-GAME SHOW  JMHO (and not because hes a Cowboy, there have been decent Cowboy analysts like Moose Johnson, Tony Romo, etc etc.....its just his overall style of presentation.....).

Speaking of the Cowboys they added Malik Hooker to IR due to an illness.......

[gardenman]

It's game day!!! Yea!!! This Eagles/Patriots game feels like something of a mismatch. The Patriots have lots of injuries to their starting o-line and a starting cornerback while the Eagles are perfectly healthy. The Eagles' strengths (strong D-line, and great receivers) match up nicely with the Patriots' weaknesses going into this game. In general, those types of mismatches make for a one-sided game.

Still, it's week one, and there will be surprises. The Eagles have a balanced offense that can run and pass effectively. They can go deep to AJ Brown, Devonta Smith, or Quez Watkins. They can control the shorter parts of the field with Dallas Goedert or the backs out of the backfield. All four running backs are good to very good. The o-line is stable and a largely veteran core with second-year man Cam Jurgens filling in at right guard. There isn't a real weakness to exploit on the Eagles' offense.

The Eagles' defense has a few more question marks. Two new starting linebackers. Two new starting safeties. I would anticipate a few communication breakdowns there. We (the fans) don't know who the second starting safety is as I type this. Reed Blankenship will be starting at one safety spot. He was an undrafted free agent last year who made the roster and continued to impress all year. When Chauncey Gardner-Johnson went down with an injury, Reed stepped in, and the team didn't miss a beat.

Who will play alongside him? We have the rookie in Sydney Brown who's the most athletically gifted guy. He played a lot in the preseason and made a lot of plays. But he's raw. Is he ready to step in and start? We also have Justin Evans a five-year vet, and Terrell Edmunds a six-year vet. 

Nakobe Dean will be one starting linebacker and Zach Cunningham looks like the starter alongside him. The obvious place to test this Eagles' defense is in the middle of the field where the linebackers and safeties roam. If there's likely to be an issue, it'll be there.

When I look at the Patriot's roster, there's no one there who really scares me. They have good players and solid players, but there's no "We can't let this guy beat us" type of player. Juju Smith Shuster can cause trouble, and there's a bit of rivalry between him and James Bradberry (the Eagles corner) after some stuff Juju said last year. Devante Parker can make some plays. There's just no "scary dude" on the roster to me. And with their injuries, I'm not sure how competitive a game this will be.

We'll find out starting around 4:30 this afternoon. This is a game where the Eagles will want to stay healthy, as we have a short week with a Thursday night game against the Vikings coming up. Starting out on the road and then having a Thursday night game four days later is tough. Fortunately, the road trip to New England isn't a long, cross-country one. If we can come out of this game with the win without getting too banged up, it would be a good outcome.

The late game will be the Cowboys and Giants. A good test for both teams. Mike McCarthy has talked a lot in the offseason and preseason of running more to protect the defense. This is a passing league these days. It'll be interesting to see how his new scheme works. Most teams pass early and often to score then when ahead move more to running the ball to run out the clock. If the Cowboys don't score running the ball, then later in the game they'll be forced to pass to catch up and that's seldom a good thing. If the defense knows what you're doing, it's easier to stop what you want to do. It's tougher on the QB when you have two straight running plays that get stuffed and then face a third and ten and have to pass. It'll be interesting to see if all of McCarthy's talk was just that, or if his playcalling reflects the run-first philosophy.

[teganslaw]

My games today: Bengals at Browns (CBS) 

                             Jags at Colts (FOX)

Late afternoon:     Eagles at Patriots  (CBS)

                             Packers at Bears  (FOX) 

SNF Cowboys at Giants

MNF Bills at Jets 

Gardenman, thundershowers are expected at Foxboro, light variable winds. I wonder how much the weather will affect the game. 

I don't get NFL Network, so I can't watch Michael Irvin, anyway.  

[Spurt]

@teganslaw @gardenman 

LOL---Its been too long--- I had to go back and edit my post, I forgot the late afternoon games.....

There's also a 30% chance of rain at Fed Ex too for my Washington/Cardinal game....I just pray and hope the weather doesnt mess things up! After 73 days of temps over 100 (a record) this week we are actually supposed to have temps in the upper 80's with 30/40 percent chance of rain ---we need rain so badly.....I cant wait!!

I will be watching the games broadcast in my area and also following my Washington game along with Tim Sports on You Tube and Red Zone........The NFL Sunday Ticket isnt in my budget! 

[gardenman]

Thunder and lightning can be an issue and cause a long delay in games if it comes too close. Hopefully, it won't be an issue in today's games. I wonder if it affects games in domes? I would assume the dome would shield from lightning in some manner, but does it? Is there enough of an air gap between the dome and field that lightning could make the jump? 

[Spurt]

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@gardenman wrote:

Thunder and lightning can be an issue and cause a long delay in games if it comes too close. Hopefully, it won't be an issue in today's games. I wonder if it affects games in domes? I would assume the dome would shield from lightning in some manner, but does it? Is there enough of an air gap between the dome and field that lightning could make the jump? 

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@gardenman 

Did you hear about the lightning that damaged NC States 15 million brand new scoreboard......sad!