Sports

[teganslaw]

Colts cornerback, Vontae Davis, ahs been placed on IR. He's been fighting a groin injury and got several opinions from doctors. According to an article, he and Pagano are  feuding. Last week Vontae was benched due to a non-injury "coaching decison." Vontae thinks otherwise, that it was injury related and Pagano wasn't being upfront with him. Vontae has stated that he played hurt before and was never questioned about his abilities. His productivity had dropped, but his playing was still acceptable to Pagano. 

Vontae's contract is up next year, so don't be surprised if he goes to another team,  as he and Pagano aren't getting along. 

On a side note, who needs soap operas? Reading the latest NFL news is enough drama. 

[redwingsgal]

Cards over Seahawks                             Sparty on, Stanton!!

Bills over Saints                                       Home field (weather, outside)

Bears over Packers                                 I hope!!!

LIONS over Browns                                I sure hope the Browns don't go winless

                                                                but don't win this week!

Steelers over Colts                                 Could be a thrashing here

Jags over Chargers                                Very low score

Jets over Bucs                                        Fitzmagic!!!

Bengals over Titans                                Experience wins out

Redskins over Vikings                            Sparty on, Capt Kirk!!

Rams over Texans                                  Gurley is on my FF

Falcons over Cowboys                           I hate Jerry Jones

Giants over 49ers                                   Niners are a mess

Patriots over Broncos                            Could be a blow out

Panthers over Dolphins                         Could be a close game

Good Luck to all teams this weekend!!

[teganslaw]

Vontae has already been cut from the team. When is it Pagano's turn? 

[gardenman]

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@teganslaw wrote:

Vontae has already been cut from the team. When is it Pagano's turn? 

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There will definitely be some new head coaches in the league next year. Pagano, McAdoo, Hue Jackson, Dirk Koetter, John Fox, Todd Bowles, John Harbaugh, and maybe even Bruce Arians, are all at risk. Probably a few more names will get added to the list also. Sean Payton seems to be saving his job despite the Saints trying to trade him three times in the off season. (I suspect his $9 million a year salary is part of the reason the Saints kept trying to trade him. If they traded him they wouldn't have to pay him.) Teams are starting to fire coaches earlier so they can openly start studying other options to get a head start in the coaching hunt. You don't want to be the last team to fire a coach and have to choose from what's left over.

[QueenofTheQ]

I have to disagree, gardenman, that the Patriots will go to Denver expecting a win.  They never expect a win in Denver.  It's well documented that the Pats don't play well in Denver, no matter the QB they face.  The Broncos are our kryptonite.  We lost there to Brock Osweiler not too long ago and he's up Sunday night for the Broncos.  As a Pats fan, I'm not handling not being first in the power rankings this year but good for your Eagles.  I watched the Eagles game last week and that's quite the QB you have there.  He reminds me of Princy Harry.     

[cancun08]

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@QueenofTheQ wrote:

I have to disagree, gardenman, that the Patriots will go to Denver expecting a win.  They never expect a win in Denver.  It's well documented that the Pats don't play well in Denver, no matter the QB they face.  The Broncos are our kryptonite.  We lost there to Brock Osweiler not too long ago and he's up Sunday night for the Broncos.  As a Pats fan, I'm not handling not being first in the power rankings this year but good for your Eagles.  I watched the Eagles game last week and that's quite the QB you have there.  He reminds me of Princy Harry.     

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@QueenofTheQ

The Pats just claimed Martellus Bennett off waivers.  Go Pats!

[gardenman]

Ezekiel Elliott's suspension is on again. For now. Unless Judge Judy or Judge Wapner intervene. Or some other judge. Perhaps Bruno from Dancing with the Stars will rule in his favor. It would have been smarter, and far cheaper, to just serve the suspension the first six weeks. Elliott's still on his rookie deal, which means he's not getting paid a ton, but his legal fees for this mess must be massive. Teams of lawyers flying all around the country are not cheap. He may end up losing money this year.

[gardenman]

The Eagles have been very happy with Timmy Jernigan who we got from Baltimore and they've now signed him to a four year extension for $48 million. About $26 million of that is guaranteed. We've got a very pricey defensive line, but they're very, very good. Jernigan could have gotten more in free agency, but he's happy here and $48 million isn't bad money.

[yellowBeetle]

I know this isn't the Fashion thread....but the Color Rush lime green glow-in-the-dark uniforms that Seattle has on tonight are just awful, imo!! 

But I like Arizona's black ones with a touch of red!! 

[gardenman]

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@yellowBeetle wrote:

I know this isn't the Fashion thread....but the Color Rush lime green glow-in-the-dark uniforms that Seattle has on tonight are just awful, imo!! 

But I like Arizona's black ones with a touch of red!! 

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Yeah, I'm not a fan of the greenish uniforms. Given that Richard Sherman ruptured his Achilles and is gone for the rest of the year, the Seahawks may just burn the uniforms if they're superstitious. That's a big loss for the Seahawks. Given a choice between losing the game or losing Richard Sherman, they'd take losing the game. They lost five or six guys over the course of the game, most of them with more minor injuries, but the injury to Sherman will haunt them the most. He's never missed a game before.

That Seahawk upcoming schedule looks pretty daunting without Sherman. They've got games coming up with the Falcons, Eagles Jags, Rams and Cowboys. Losing Sherman probably won't hurt them against the Jags, but the Eagles, Falcons, Rams and Cowboys will all be looking to exploit that hole. With Richard Sherman on the field, teams largely avoided his half of the field which let the defense gang up on the other side. Without Sherman it opens up the whole field to the opposing team.

It's interesting watching Russell Wilson these days. For the first couple of years as a starter he almost never took a big hit. The o-line kept him safe and when they had a breakdown, he'd scramble away and either slide down or get out of bounds. In the last couple of years he's been getting pounded. Those hits take a toll on a guy. They've got to fix that o-line or they'll be taking years off his career. 

I'm not so sure the Seahawks will make the playoffs. They have experience on their side, but they have no real running game, a weak offensive line, and their defense is now really beat up. How many of those remaining games can they win? The Eagles and Jags will really test the Seahawks' offensive line. The rest of their schedule will test their defense. They may end up at 9-7. We'll have to see if they make the playoffs. They'll need the NFC games to be in domes or warm weather stadiums if they do make the playoffs. They're really not built for a cold weather game.

Looking at the NFC playoff picture, the only cold weather/outdoor stadium team is the Eagles. Pretty much everyone else (Saints, Vikings, Rams, Seahawks, Panthers, Cowboys, Falcons and Lions) are either a dome or warmer weather team. (Green Bay, the Redskins, and Chicago might creep back into the playoff picture, but it doesn't look great for any of them.) Seattle is probably the next closest coldish weather team but they're not built for the cold. That could give the Eagles a huge edge in the playoffs if they retain home field advantage. With LeGarrette Blount and Jay Ajayi, the Eagles have a pair of big, bruising halfbacks who can run the ball in the cold and punish defenders. A lot of the other contenders in the NFC are built for throwing the ball which is great if you're playing in a dome or warm weather, but not so great if you're playing outside in January. 

Keeping home field advantage through the playoffs could be huge for the Eagles this year. (Now watch it be seventy degrees and sunny in January in Philly this year.) The Eagles are built to either throw the ball or run it. Many of the rest, are more built to throw the ball, and even those that do run, play in either domes or warm weather most of the time.  Things could be breaking right for the Eagles this year.