Sports

[gardenman]

OBJ is signing with the Dolphins. They'll be a handful. 

[Spurt]

HALLELUJAH!!!! My prayers have finally been answered Michel Irvin is OUT at NFL Network!!! I thought he ruined the show---he was just a loud mouth--never said much of any interest, and never understood with his many past inappropriate conduct incidents how he hung on for 20 yrs......Now I can actually enjoy NFL Network's early Sunday Game Day Morning pregame show

My feelings don't really have anything to do with Irvin being a Cowboy, more a dislike of him as a person and his well known "antics".....I've never had a problem with Jimmy Johnson, Moose, Tony Romo, or Troy Aikman as broadcasters...

Also, more changes coming.....Total Access will be airing its last show later in May......

There was talk and rumors that the NFL was trying to get out of the broadcast business and hoping to make it part of the game package sold to networks......Others said there were talks making NFLN part of the ESPN umbrella.....but no formal agreement was finalized nor was ever announced.....STAY TUNED!

[Spurt]

A VERY SAD TRUTH:

[teganslaw]

SPURT, Michael Irvin is a host on the show "Undisputed.", on FS1, so you might want to avoid that one. 

The Colts are just behind the Commanders with quarterbacks. They have had different QBs in the past six years: 

2018 Andrew Luck

2019 Jacoby Brissett

2020 Phillip Rivers

2021 Carson Wentz

2022 Matt Ryan

2023 Gardner Minshew (Anthony Richardson originally started but was injured.) 

Hopefully Rchardson will stay healthy this year. 

[Spurt]

@teganslaw 

I avoid any show with Skip Bayless aka Skip BRAINLESS who is the main panelist on the show, and staunch Dallas Cowboy lover...LOL. Rachel Nichols is also on that show as a rotating panelist, she's the one that said rude and inaccurate things about Maria Taylor when they both worked at ESPN covering the NBA. Maria was very classy and didn't respond back to Rachel's badmouthing....Rachel ended up getting fired from ESPN and ended up on "Undisputed"..Anyway, just another reason to avoid the show. Mean while Maria turned down ESPN's raise and ended up moving to NBC Sports....As you know she's on the pre-game show Football Night In America and Sunday Night Football, Big 10 and Notre Dame college football games as a host and the French Open....she will probably be involved hosting Olympic events or studio shows this summer too.

What's ironic about Rachel is she accused ESPN of shoving her aside in favor of Maria, but she didn't think it was wrong for her to supplant Michelle Beadle....karma has a way of showing up.....

[sunshine45]

one more month closer to NFL season!  sad about who we have lost, but very interested in who we have gained!

my orioles are doing well so far, so i am a bit more focused on them for the time being!

[gardenman]

A lot of teams find themselves trapped in the eternal QB desert hoping they stumble upon "the guy." Other teams never seem to have a hard time finding a good QB and often have a spare one or two lying around.

The Eagles have been on the good side of that equation since the Andy Reid days. They've almost always had "the guy" and typically a spare or two, McNabb, Vick, Wentz, Hurts. Before them, Jaworski and Cunningham. Guys who stopped by for a while and moved on include AJ Feeley, Kevin Kolb, Jeff Garcia, Nick Foles, Gardner Minshew, and more.

Right now, it's Hurts, Kenny Pickett, Tanner McKee, and Will Grier. Pickett's been a starter in the league as has Grier (briefly.) Tanner McKee is a talented kid who impressed in last year's training camp. A few years back Eagles owner Jeffrey Lurie said he wanted the Eagles to be a QB factory and they've pretty much been that.

It's often said that QB is the least coached position in football and I think a lot of talent gets wasted there. Teams will bring in a kid and give him a handful of games and if he doesn't impress, they toss him aside and move on to someone else. There's an endless stream of kids coming out in the draft each year, so there's always someone new to throw into the fire. Kids just don't get developed. The Packers do a good job of getting a kid and developing him. Andy Reid is a QB guru. Most teams just are horrible at it.

We had six kids drafted this year in the first round. Probably four of those six will be considered failures in two to three years and cut loose. "He didn't win enough games." And what kind of a team did you build around him? What kind of support and coaching did he get? What kind of an environment was he placed in?

I'm a believer that you have to build a QB. You have to put a kid in a good situation and support him. You have to coach them and build them up. Ease them into the game. There's no blueprint for the perfect QB. We've had noodle-armed guys win the Super Bowl. Taller, shorter, it doesn't matter. Guys who can run and guys who are statues have all been successful when placed in the right situation. 

Andy Reid's QBs tend to flop when they leave him. Why? Did he tear off their arm as they were walking out the door? No. They just left a good situation for a bad one. I would expect Kenny Pickett to look very good for the Eagles in the preseason this year and if he's needed in the regular season. Why? Because the Eagles will support him with a talented roster and good coaching. Steelers fans are apt to watch him and shout, "Why didn't he do that with us?" It's often not the QB that's the problem. It's the position they're put in. When Pickett's contract with the Eagles is up in 2026, a team in the QB desert will likely take him and he'll regress in a bad situation.

This is the way of the NFL. It's been that way forever. Too many teams want an instant star and forget they have to help and build the kid. With QB contacts going as crazy as they are (likely $60 million a year for the upcoming guys) having a good supply of well-built kids in the line could help a team succeed long-term at a lower price. If you can always plug in a kid who's been groomed to replace a potential $60 million-a-year guy without a dropoff, you're going to be very successful.

[Spurt]

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@sunshine45 wrote:

one more month closer to NFL season!  sad about who we have lost, but very interested in who we have gained!

my orioles are doing well so far, so i am a bit more focused on them for the time being!

---

@sunshine45 

HOPEFULLY, time flies by quickly and before ya know it the NFL season will be underway.....

GOOD LUCK TO YOUR Orioles

[gardenman]

The Eagles had their first day of the rookie minicamp yesterday and the kids all looked good. Veteran o-lineman LeRaven Clark was placed on IR for some reason. An offseason injury of some sort? We'll have to see.

The Eagles are easing the kids into football shape since they've mostly been training for the Combine and Pro Days until now and not football. Between now and training camp they'll get them football ready. Cooper DeJean looked good in the little we saw and the big (6'-6" or 6'-7") wide receiver, Johnny Miller looked good also. He looked pretty nimble for a big guy in the drills we saw.

Will Shipley will be an interesting guy to watch. I keep hearing him compared to Christian McCaffrey. Eh, okay. We'll see. He's young, 21, so he has the potential to blossom. I think a Christian McCaffrey comparison is probably not accurate at this time though.

Jalyx Hunt is a funny guy to watch. He's the prototypical country boy in the big city. He's a bit amazed by everything going on. When Howie called him to tell him he was getting drafted he called Howie "big pimpin." How he adjusts to the bright lights and big city will be interesting. He's grown from a high school WR to a small college safety, then to defensive end, and probably isn't done growing yet. Big, fast, agile, and a great athlete. The sky's the limit as long as he doesn't get too overwhelmed.

Offensive guard Trevor Keegan has a Jason Kelce vibe about him. He's a mauler who can't wait to learn the Brotherly Shove/Tush Push. There's a photo of him in the Michigan National Championship Parade without a shirt, cradling the championship trophy in his left arm while chugging a beer with his right hand. I would expect him to be a starter in a year or two. Maybe sooner. 

New backup center Dylan McMahon is more of a Kelce clone. Small, undersized, but productive. He met Kelce and got a promise from Kelce to help him work on his game and answer any questions the kid has. Not a bad mentor for a kid.

All in all, the Eagles look pretty well set up for this year and beyond. The defense which looked old and slow last year should be younger and faster this year with more depth. The offense looks solid. The only real openings on the offense are WR3 and right guard. WR3 has lots of competition with veterans Parris Campbell and DeVante Parker in the early lead, and lots of kids from last year and this pushing them.

Right guard is currently last year's draft pick Tyler Steen, but he'll face lots of competition and have to hold onto the spot. Former Jet Mekhi Becton is going to be trained as a guard also. And there's lots more competition there. By the time all is said and done, right guard won't be a weakness.

The move to put LeRaven Clark on IR opens up a roster spot also, so the Eagles might have another move planned. We'll have to see. They have a lot of prospects in for tryouts including former NFL WR John Ross. 

[Spurt]

@gardenman @teganslaw 

This was discussed in Mark's Podcast, the majority of colleges don't run a prostyle offense, its just a very basic scheme.....some don't even know how to call a play in a huddle, and they don't coach up the basics. Colleges turn around and blame the high schools...Even the highly ranked QB's can't decipher a cover 2 or 3 defense nor digest a play book enough to run an offense effectively. Then when these QB's hit college their new coaches only have 20 hours or so a week to coach them up. With the transfer portal a lot of kids transfer to colleges that have a Head Coach or OC that's a "teacher"......or ones that run a prostyle offense and have tough competition.....

I said well it sounds like the NFL needs a Developmental League like the MLB and NBA to develop these young players since colleges aren't providing whats needed to help them transition to the NFL.  And with all these changes going on in college football it's only going to get worse and make it more difficult for QBs to move on to the NFL.  Mark agreed and said the NFL should support the UFL as a means to develop young talent and making a more easy and productive transition.

And your right @gardenman the second part of it is surrounding a young QB with talent to help make him successful ---a decent online, weapons--- And coaches need to make time for teaching too....If a QB is the most critical for success then thats where the priority should be to prevent a rotating door on QBs.....