Tuesday, 31 August 2021
Goalball Teammates Set Paralympic Record for Longevity
What Is Stefanos Tsitsipas Doing in the Bathroom During His Matches?
Maxime Cressy, an American qualifier, delivers the biggest upset so far.
Ravens, Stephen & Renee Bisciotti Foundation Donate $1M to Hurricane Ida Relief Efforts
The donations will go towards The Greater New Orleans Foundation, the United Way of Southeast Louisiana and the American Red Cross.
The Ravens announced that they and The Stephen & Renee Bisciotti Foundation are donating $1 million to Hurricane Ida relief funds, which will assist The Greater New Orleans Foundation, the United Way of Southeast Louisiana and the American Red Cross.
"The Ravens have a special connection with New Orleans, which is filled with wonderful people who are now in great need," the franchise said in a statement. "The community treated our organization with first-class hospitality throughout the week of Super Bowl XLVII. We have great affection for the city and its people, so it was especially important for us to aid their recovery efforts."
Ida made landfall in the Gulf Coast on Sunday as a Category 4 hurricane, and according to CNN, five people have died so far. Even though hundreds have been rescued, search-and-rescue crews have not been able to go to some of the hardest hit areas.
Per Associated Press, hundreds of thousands Louisianans are without electricity, tap water and very little gasoline. Mayor LaToya Cantrell said New Orleans will use 70 transit buses as cooling sites and there will be drive-thru food, ice and water locations set up on Wednesday.
The National Weather Service issued a heat advisory for central and northwest Louisiana and parts of Oklahoma, Texas and Arkansas from noon to 7 pm CT Wednesday, expecting heat index values between 105 and 109 degrees. In a 2:26 pm CT announcement, the NWS included southern Louisiana and Mississippi in the advisory, stating it'll be 10 am to 5 pm on Wednesday with heat index levels up to 107 degrees.
Earlier Tuesday, Saints head coach Sean Payton said the team would be away from New Orleans through September as the city recovers. On Monday, owner Gayle Benson and the Saints released a statement, saying they have "have activated our Gulf Coast Renewal Fund with Owner Gayle Benson making an initial donation of $1 million to support our community throughout Louisiana and the Gulf Coast. Those wishing to donate can do so by going to NewOrleansSaints.com/hurricaneida."
Madeline Coleman September 01, 2021 at 05:04AMMaxime Cressy, an American qualifier, delivers the biggest upset so far.
Sebastian Korda’s struggles continue at the U.S. Open.
Mets' Javier Báez Scores Game-Winning Run After Thumbs Down Controversy
Báez scored the Mets final run to secure the victory two days after the thumb down controversy.
Mets fans had no trouble voicing their displeasure with Javier Báez on Tuesday as the crowd at Citi Field rained boos toward New York’s infielder before his first at-bat of the afternoon.
Tuesday’s rude reception comes in the wake of a new scandal in Flushing. Báez was one of multiple Mets to flash a thumbs down during Sunday's win over the Nationals, a gesture he explained later was directed at the fans for their booing.
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"We're not machines," Báez said postgame on Sunday night. "We're going to struggle seven times out of 10. It just feels bad when I strike out and get booed, you know, it doesn't really get to me but I want to let them [fans] know that when we're successful, we're going to do the same thing to let them know how it feels."
Báez and Mets shortstop Francisco Lindor issued an apology to the fans on Monday following strong criticism from team owner Steve Cohen. But the apology didn't spare Báez from a hefty set of boos when play began.
Báez did earn some cheers in the eighth inning as he trotted to first base after a hit-by-pitch. Surprisingly, he scored the game-winning run to cap off a Mets five-run ninth inning to earn a victory against the Marlins.
And while he could continue to receive boos for the rest of the 2021, he may end up in friendlier confines than Citi Field next season. Perhaps a warm reception in Chicago awaits him on Opening Day in 2022.
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Michael Shapiro September 01, 2021 at 02:48AMYoung U.S. Players Find Transfer Deadline Day Relief
A number of players vying for time with the U.S. men's national team got their club situations clarified before the window shut for the summer.
The vast majority of the U.S. men's national team's core players have their club situations settled, by and large. Save for Weston McKennie, whose future at Juventus was made clear by manager Max Allegri over the weekend despite a late round of reports that he could be headed to the Premier League after one season in Serie A, there's not much uncertainty surrounding the squad's nucleus as it preps for World Cup qualifying.
But qualifying is going to take perhaps a deeper pool of players than ever before due to its compressed nature and the unpredictability brought on by the COVID-19 pandemic. Between the virus's spread and its impact on travel restrictions, managers can only plan as best as they can while anticipating some personnel curveballs along the way. U.S. manager Gregg Berhalter took that into account when using two squads with little overlap for the Concacaf Nations League final four and Gold Cup this summer. But the needs could go even beyond the players who suited up for the U.S. over the last couple of months, which made tying up any loose club ends before the transfer window shut imperative for a number of players.
It wound up being a relatively busy day, then, for U.S. international players abroad. Here's who secured moves that altered their club outlooks for the season, and perhaps beyond (with another move or two reportedly in the works prior to the deadline hitting, which will be reflected here if either or both come to fruition):
Getty Images (1)/Sipa USA (2)
Matthew Hoppe to Mallorca (transfer)
Hoppe, 20, secures a permanent move from Schalke, joining Sergiño Dest and Matt Miazga (a recent loanee to Alavés) in La Liga. It's a unique move from a U.S. perspective for the forward, given the club's ownership. It's spearheaded by Phoenix Suns owner Robert Sarver, and his group also includes former U.S. international Stu Holden and current Brooklyn Nets head coach Steve Nash. For Hoppe, it gets him into a top-flight league following Schalke's relegation, which should allow him to build on the positive personal momentum he generated at the Gold Cup. Mallorca was promoted back to La Liga after last season, so there's always the danger of Hoppe, who scored six goals for Schalke last season, finding himself in a relegation scrap yet again, but the club is off to a 2-0-1 start to the season.
Chris Richards to Hoffenheim (loan)
Richards goes back to Hoffenheim, where he played regularly while on loan last season, after extending his contract with Bayern through the 2024-2025 season. It's encouraging for him on a couple of fronts, given the pathway to regular Bundesliga minutes he'll receive now and the vote of confidence Bayern has made in him for the future. The 21-year-old Alabama native and former FC Dallas academy product should have every opportunity to play his way back into the U.S. national team picture over the next six months and beyond, which is a valuable commodity for manager Gregg Berhalter considering the rotating depth chart beyond John Brooks at center back.
“We’re very pleased with how Chris Richards has developed with us, which is why we've extended his contract. Chris is a young player who will now gain further Bundesliga experience at Hoffenheim, which is exactly what he needs,” Bayern sporting director Hasan Salihamidžić said in a statement.
Erik Palmer-Brown to Troyes (loan)
Another center back a bit lower down on that depth chart is the 24-year-old Palmer-Brown, who was sent on loan from Manchester City (where he has never played) to another City Football Group club, in Troyes. There had been reports that Palmer-Brown, who has two senior USMNT caps but has been a staple at the youth level, was going to be joining the American crew being assembled at Venezia (which is under American ownership), but that never materialized. Instead, after two seasons on loan in Austria's top flight at Austria Vienna, he's off to Ligue 1, which now comes with the opportunity to face Lionel Messi, Kylian Mbappé and Neymar a couple of times a season (Troyes, however, hosted PSG in its season opener, so only a trip to Parc des Princes remains later for Palmer-Brown in the 2021-22 campaign).
Jack de Vries to Venezia (loan)
This one is on the periphery of the radar given that de Vries, a 19-year-old Philadelphia Union homegrown midfielder who has sat out much of the MLS season after suffering a preseason concussion, will play for Venezia's Primavera (U-19) side and not the senior side that features U.S. midfielders Gianluca Busio and Tanner Tessmann.
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Avi Creditor September 01, 2021 at 02:35AMAshleigh Barty wins her first U.S. Open match in her return to the tournament.
Young British star Emma Raducanu notches her first U.S. Open main draw victory.
The Norm-Shattering Transfer Window, Where Nothing and Nobody Were Off the Table
The summer window is finally shutting across Europe's top leagues, but not before what felt like the entire top tier of talent was in some way affected or involved.
If you're of a certain age, then you'll remember spending hours on Mad Libs, where stories and narratives are formed by filling in blanks with custom words, with only a certain directive—name, action, color, for instance—narrowing what words you could choose. Often it'd result in hilarious, nonsensical sentences, but that was the point. It was supposed to be outrageous.
After a norm-shattering transfer window, it only feels right to call that back. Take a generic sentence and throw some of the most extreme terms you can think of as you follow the directions. That sums up the last two months just about as well as anything else. For example:
[All-world superstar] leaves [superclub] to join [a new superclub] because [unique reasoning] to alter the landscape in [league or multiple league names].
Take it one step further. Likening transfer season to a TV series, there are some windows that take on the characteristics of a season finale, with the coda encompassing some significant maneuvers that tie up some loose ends but don't entirely or necessarily leave you breathless. Then there's this one, that took on the quality of a series finale. Everything has changed. Things you didn't even think could be possible suddenly came to light. Nothing was off the table for any character.
Consider the scope of who was involved with the serious potential of leaving and who wound up actually changing teams in a summer that was supposed to once again have clubs cagey about finances due to the pandemic's impact.
In early August, Barcelona was gearing up for its annual Joan Gamper Trophy friendly, which this season was scheduled vs. Juventus. It was going to be billed as a Lionel Messi–Cristiano Ronaldo showdown, to bring some added eyeballs to an otherwise routine preseason ritual. Three days before that, the club revealed it couldn't afford to bring Messi, who was out of contract at the time, back (how it came to that conclusion so late in the game and wasn't fully and entirely aware of its financial ruin is another story entirely. That financial ruin surely contributed to the deadline-day move that reportedly sends Antoine Griezmann back to Atlético Madrid, too, to complete the summer of shame). A day before it, Messi gave an emotional, teary-eyed press conference to confirm his exit. Three days after that, he signed with PSG. Three weeks later, Ronaldo wound up back with Manchester United, joining a transfer class that already featured Jadon Sancho and Raphaël Varane. The two all-time greats have been inextricably linked for more than a decade, and it turns out one can't do something without being challenged, if not surpassed, by the other.
But they're just two of a group of elite talents off to new challenges, most of which were hoarded by PSG. In addition to Messi, the French power landed longtime Real Madrid captain Sergio Ramos, ex-Liverpool midfielder Georginio Wijnaldum and Italy's Euro 2020 goalkeeping hero Gianluigi Donnarumma, all via free transfers ("free" is doing a lot of the lifting there; their wages are all significant, and PSG hijacked Wijnaldum from Barcelona by offering a substantially higher salary). Achraf Hakimi, one of the most impactful right backs in the world and a vital cog in Inter Milan's Serie A–winning campaign last season, joined for roughly $70 million, while another budding star, Sporting CP's Nuno Mendes, was reportedly brought in the fold on deadline day on loan with an option to buy for $47 million.
Xinhua/Sipa USA
It was a shock, then, to see anyone actually want to actively leave PSG. Steph Curry didn't run for the hills when Kevin Durant joined the Golden State Warriors. He embraced the superteam they built and enjoyed the spoils of its success. But something about staying at PSG evidently isn't for Kylian Mbappé. The 22-year-old's longtime dream to play for Real Madrid wound up being deferred, but only after the club's sporting director, Leonardo, made it clear that the player has communicated his wish to leave instead of playing out the next couple of seasons, at least, with both Messi and Neymar. Instead, it'll be just this season before he becomes a free agent (and he can agree to a precontract as soon as four months from now). The mere thought of Mbappé leaving, naturally, forced things to spiral quickly into the Mad Libs Zone, and Borussia Dortmund's sporting director, Michael Zorc, was ready for it. Erling Haaland, the 21-year-old forward sensation who Dortmund has consistently said is not for sale this summer, was quickly tabbed in the rumor mill as Mbappé's immediate replacement. Surely, the thinking goes, PSG could just funnel the Mbappé windfall to Dortmund for its prized striker and wind up no worse off. A straight swap of sorts involving the two supposed heirs to the Messi-Ronaldo throne. Who says no?
Dortmund. Dortmund says no.
“We are a football club, not a bank," Zorc said in response to additional questions about Haaland's immediate future. "Our position is very clear and did not change. I assume that we will now be confronted with wild rumors for another two days. Our position is clear; I don't need to play the parrot all the time."
Harry Kane is someone else whose position was clear—until he backtracked on it. Granted, Kane's situation was a bit unique, a player under contract for three more years and playing for a club that had no interest in selling to a rival trying to force his way to a rival. In the end, he either didn't have the fight in him or thought that, at this juncture, it wasn't worth fighting to the max and burning all his bridges at Tottenham. He'll stay with Spurs—who sit alone in first place in the Premier League after three games and have a win over Man City, Kane's unabashed suitor—until they potentially do the transfer dance again next summer.
Regardless of where Kane is playing, he may no longer be the best center forward in the Premier League. Romelu Lukaku, 10 years removed from his first stint at Chelsea, is back at Stamford Bridge, a more complete and dynamic player than before and one who fits precisely with what the Blues needed. He also left one of the more traditional powers that finds itself strapped for cash in this new era, Inter, to join one of three clubs for which money is no object. Chelsea, PSG and Man City continue to be positioned better than any European powers due to the backing of ownership whose wealth is not tied directly to the revenues impacted by the pandemic or traditional match-day and business sources.
PA Images/Sipa USA
It's why City can throw an English-record £100 million at Aston Villa to add Jack Grealish, a pure luxury signing. It's why PSG, the original norm-shatterers after prying Neymar from Barcelona for a world-record €222 million four years ago, can offer higher wages than its competitors to lure free transfers (not to mention thumb its nose at $212 million for a player it's bound to lose for nothing). And it's why Chelsea can follow a $300 million summer in the thick of the pandemic with another nine-figure splurge months after winning the Champions League in an effort to get even better. (To Chelsea's credit, it has also sold off surplus parts to make the net spend this summer considerably more reasonable and downright average compared to Premier League counterparts.)
The thing about norms being shattered is that it opens the door for more lunacy to follow, yet not be met with the same level of shock. But be ready for it, even if the 2022 summer window does coincide with the run-up to the World Cup, a time when players might otherwise be hesitant to change their surroundings as a major tournament is on the horizon. It could be similarly seismic to this one, when Mbappé is available without a fee attached, when Haaland's well-documented and relative bargain of a release clause could be triggered, when Paul Pogba's contract expires and when the likes of Robert Lewandowski, N'Golo Kanté, Raheem Sterling and the entirety of Liverpool's front line (Mohamed Salah, Sadio Mané and Roberto Firmino) is entering the final year of their respective deals. Plenty can change between now and then, of course, but perhaps that's the ultimate lesson to take away from this summer. At this stage, anything can change for any club or player—fill in the blanks with terms of your choice—and it won't really be able to be seen as all that stunning anymore.
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Avi Creditor September 01, 2021 at 01:41AMReport: Simmons Tells 76ers He No Longer Wants to Remain With Team
Much of the conversation surrounding Philadelphia's postseason exit was about the All-Star guard, who averaged just 9.9 points per game vs. the Hawks.
Three-time All-Star Ben Simmons has informed 76ers management that he no longer wants to remain with the franchise, according to The Philadelphia Inquirer's Keith Pompey.
According to the Inquirer, in a meeting last week Simmons told team governor Josh Harris, president of basketball operations Daryl Morey, general manager Elton Brand and coach Doc Rivers of a desire to be moved.
The 24-year guard also does not intend to report to training camp if he is not moved, per the Inquirer.
Philadelphia management told Simmons it wanted him to report to the start of training camp on Sept. 28 and be part of the organization, per the Inquirer.
Per NBA reporter Marc Stein, the Sixers have been aware for some time that Simmons's preference is to be traded before the season starts.
Simmons has four years and $147 million left on his contract.
In mid-July, the 76ers reportedly opened up trade conversations surrounding Simmons and engaged with other teams around a possible deal. It is unclear what the asking price is for Simmons, though Philadelphia has appeared to have had a difficult time meeting its desired trade return demands.
Danny Green Dishes on Ben Simmons’s Future in Philadelphia
Much of the conversation surrounding the 76ers' second-round postseason exit to the Hawks was about Simmons, who averaged just 9.9 points per game and shot 15-for-45 (33.3%) in the series.
He attempted only 14 shots in the final three games and had just three fourth-quarter field goal attempts in the entire series.
In late June, ESPN reported that Philadelphia remained committed to keeping Simmons as a central piece of its franchise.
Following the 76ers' exit from the postseason, Morey was asked whether Simmons would return to the team next season.
"We have a very strong group we believe in," he said. "None of us can predict the future of what is going to happen. … We love what Ben brings. We love what Joel [Embiid] brings. We love what Tobias [Harris] brings. In terms of what’s next, we’ll do what is best for the 76ers to give us the best chance to win a championship with every single player on the roster.”
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Ben Pickman September 01, 2021 at 01:17AMBishop Sycamore Fires Head Coach Roy Johnson, Maintains It's a Legitimate Program
Roy Johnson was fired as head coach of Bishop Sycamore and founder Andre Peterson says the school is not a "scam."
Bishop Sycamore, the school that has gained national attention for potentially being a fraudulent program, has fired its head coach. The news was first reported by USA Today Sports's Chris Bumbaca.
The team made headlines on Sunday when it was blown out by IMG Academy (Florida), the No. 2 high school football team in the country, on a nationally televised game via ESPN 58–0. The blowout was not the issue, but whether or not Bishop Sycamore was actually a legitimate school.
The school's address is listed as a P.O. box and it claims to be based in Columbus, Ohio, but it is not affiliated with the Ohio High School Athletic Association. The roster includes postgraduate players as old as 19 or 20 who have possibly already played in junior college football games. Coach Roy Johnson was investigated for fraud and he has an active bench warrant for failing to appear in a domestic violence case.
Bishop Sycamore's founder Andre Peterson, who also currently coaches the football team's offensive and defensive lines, told USA Today Sports that Johnson has been fired. He also denied that Bishop Sycamore was a "scam."
"There’s nothing that I’ve gotten out of this that would constitute it as a scam because I’m not gaining anything financially from what we’re doing," Peterson told USA Today Sports on Monday night. "The reality of it is that I have a son [Javan] that’s also in the program and has been in the program for four years.
"If it’s a scam and the kids are not going to school and not doing what they’re supposed to do, then I’m literally scamming myself. And most importantly, I’m hurting my own son. So when people say stuff like that … I would literally be taking my son’s future and throwing it in the trash."
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Joseph Salvador September 01, 2021 at 01:01AMDana White Q&A: The UFC 268 'Card Is Ridiculous'
The UFC president discusses how he put together the upcoming MSG card, his role with 'The Ultimate Surfer' and the next heavyweight title fight.
UFC is coming back to Madison Square Garden.
The UFC 268 card was announced over the weekend, and it is loaded. Scheduled for Nov. 6 in New York City, the card is headlined by welterweight champion Kamaru Usman, who is defending his title in a rematch against Colby Covington. The night will also feature strawweight champ Rose Namajunas against former champ Zhang Weili, as well as Justin Gaethje meeting Michael Chandler in a bout that should determine the next top lightweight contender for either Charles Oliveira or Dustin Poirier after their lightweight championship encounter.
In addition to putting together a jam-packed card for MSG, UFC president Dana White is branching out with new responsibilities in television as the executive producer of ABC's The Ultimate Surfer. Speaking with Sports Illustrated, White discussed the upcoming MSG card, his role with The Ultimate Surfer, as well as the next heavyweight title fight.
Gary A. Vasquez/USA TODAY Sports
Sports Illustrated: Why is Usman-Covington the right fight to headline MSG? And what went into putting the 268 card together?
Dana White: The first Usman-Covington fight is one of the most exciting you’re ever going to see. It was incredible, and that’s what is going to happen again here.
Going into New York, the card is ridiculous. Every time I go to MSG, I want to blow the doors off the place. There is Gaethje-Chandler. Namajunas-Weili is also going to be incredible with a lot to prove, especially after everybody was shocked how easy it looked for Rose to knock Weili out the last time they fought. Then there is Sean Strickland, who said he’s going to assault Luke Rockhold when he sees him. The whole card is incredible.
SI: The Oliveira-Poirier title fight still needs to take place first, but will the winner of Gaethje-Chandler be next in line for a title shot?
DW: The winner of that fight definitely could be next for a title shot. We have to figure out what’s next for Islam Makhachev. That division has so many exciting fights coming up.
SI: In addition to 268, Amanda Nunes returns to the cage in December at 269. Another highlight will be the next heavyweight title fight. Stipe Miocic mentioned to SI last week that he will be meeting with you this fall to figure out his future. Do you know what comes next for the heavyweight title?
DW: We have some fun stuff lined up for the rest of this year, as well as some great s--- for next year. For the heavyweights, the next fight we’re going to make is champion vs. champion.
SI: Another important project for you is The Ultimate Surfer, which airs on ABC.
DW: I’ve been working on this show for close to eight years. Me and [president of Lionsgate Nonfiction Television] Craig Piligian do a lot together. I’ve been producing shows like Shark Week and other reality shows with Craig for years, including The Ultimate Fighter. The Ultimate Surfer is one I’ve been extremely passionate about.
I’ve been a big fan of surfing since I was a kid, and I’ve always felt that surfers don’t get the credit they deserve. Look at [The Ultimate Surfer lead consultant] Kelly Slater, who is one of the most decorated athletes of all time. People don’t know enough about him. Surfing is such a beautiful sport, and this is a way for more people to understand it, and a way to bring surfing to the masses.
SI: That’s a big part of your journey as a promoter, finding an undervalued, perhaps even underappreciated, commodity, and highlighting its strength in a way that has never before been done.
DW: I like to build brands. It’s the same with [White’s whiskey brand] Howler Head. We started that a year ago, and we’re going to do 100,000 cases this year. It’s what I love to do.
SI: Are there any connections between The Ultimate Surfer and The Ultimate Fighter?
DW: This show reminds me a lot of the first season of The Ultimate Fighter. If you look at who came off that first season, there was Diego Sanchez, Forrest Griffin, Mike Swick, people who went on to do some big things in this sport. We’ve got some big personalities and some people that have the potential to be the best in the world, and even shake up some s---.
SI: Is there anyone quite like Diego Sanchez on The Ultimate Surfer?
DW: That’s a loaded question. [Laughs.] I can’t give away any spoilers. But just like The Ultimate Fighter, I think people are really going to like this. And The Return of The Ultimate Fighter was extremely successful. Those two fights this past weekend were f------ awesome. If people haven’t seen it yet, they need to watch. It was a great season for us on ESPN+.
SI: Why should fight fans invest their time and watch The Ultimate Surfer?
DW: When you watch most reality shows, what’s the payoff for you as a fan? Here, you’ll have two winners. They’ll each get $100,000, which is great, and they’ll get three wild-card spots on the championship tour in the World Surf League. You can literally follow these kids throughout their entire career, like The Ultimate Fighter. You can follow the winner in the World Surf League and see how they do, and I think that’s going to be great for fans.
Justin Barrasso can be reached at JBarrasso@gmail.com. Follow him on Twitter @JustinBarrasso.
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College Football Changes: More 2-Point Tries and a Crackdown on Stadium Gamesmanship
Report: Saints' Michael Thomas Expected to Open Season on P.U.P. List
Michael Thomas will miss at least the first five games of the season as the Saints will reportedly place him on the physically unable to perform list.
Saints wide receiver Michael Thomas will miss at least the first five games of the season as the franchise is expected to place him on the physically unable to perform list, according to ESPN's Adam Schefter.
Thomas will be unable to practice until the first six weeks of the season have passed, but due to the Saints having a bye week in Week 6, he will initially miss just five games.
The first game Thomas could appear in is against the Seahawks on Monday Night Football in Week 7.
Thomas had his ankle surgically repaired in June and had long been reportedly expected to miss the start of the 2021 season. However, head coach Sean Payton recently said Thomas was "ahead of schedule" in his recovery.
The three-time Pro Bowler played in seven regular-season games in 2020 due to injuries and disciplinary issues. The ankle injury that will delay his start to his 2021 season occurred in Week 1 of last year. While Thomas returned in Week 9, he briefly return to injured reserve late in the season.
He finished his 2020 campaign with 40 catches for 438 yards and didn't catch his first touchdown until the playoffs.
For his career, however, Thomas, 28, has been one of the NFL's most productive receivers since entering the league in 2016. He's tallied 510 catches in just 70 career games, setting the NFL record with 149 receptions in '19.
The Saints open their season against the Packers on September 12.
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Ben Pickman September 01, 2021 at 12:02AMPlayers Apologize as Mets Try to Move On From Thumbs Down
Bill Belichick May Have Outsmarted Everyone Again
The Patriots are now all-in on Mac Jones, and they may have found a potential star hiding in plain sight.
Bill Belichick is probably right, because Bill Belichick is usually right, and so we should pause now to ponder what it means if he is. Belichick just stuffed the rest of his career into Mac Jones’s pocket, just four months after Jones was the fifth quarterback taken in the draft. We are left with the astounding but increasingly likely possibility that Belichick outsmarted the league yet again.
The Patriots might have found a star hiding in plain sight: a national-championship winning, All-America quarterback at the nation’s most successful college program. We’ll see how Jones does—next week, next month, next year. But if he excels, I would not want to be the general manager who has to explain how I missed on that guy.
Well … uh … I know he showed he could do all this at Alabama … but ... um … you see …
Eric Hartline/USA TODAY Sports
Maybe Belichick is wrong. But if he’s right, he will be right because of a concept that is very simple yet still gets lost sometimes: Playing quarterback in the NFL is primarily about figuring out where the ball should go and getting it there. Arm strength, foot speed, athleticism, work ethic and the ability to read defenses are all just factors that help a quarterback accomplish that task.
If you look at the best quarterbacks of the modern era, they all knew where the ball should go and got it there. So simple it sounds ridiculous. But think about Tom Brady, Peyton Manning and Drew Brees. There are quarterbacks who threw harder than all of them and never made it. There are quarterbacks who could read defenses just as quickly but couldn’t deliver the ball fast or accurately enough. There are quarterbacks who could throw hard enough and read defenses well enough but reacted very poorly to 300-pound men charging toward them. Somehow, the combination of traits has to add up to enough.
Now go back to last spring. So much of the predraft talk was about Ohio State quarterback Justin Fields and whether he would “drop” in the draft. Fields put up great numbers for the Buckeyes and won a ton. He is a phenomenal athlete: great arm, fast runner, incredibly tough. There were questions about his ability to go to his second read, which were refuted by those who said he actually went to his second read frequently. But the question was not whether Fields could do it; it was how quickly he could do it. It requires a specific kind of intelligence—the ability to process and react in less than one second. Some people who are brilliant in many areas of life would struggle with it; others, who struggle in school and show very little intellectual curiosity, excel at it.
Behind a fantastic line at Ohio State, with NFL talent at receiver, Fields had plenty of time to find open targets. That won’t be the case in the NFL. Maybe he will show he can do it. But Belichick would’ve had to move up only four spots in the draft to get Fields, and there are no indications he tried.
He waited for Jones instead. Belichick is not the type to share all his reasons for that, but we don’t need to know all those reasons to know this: He believed in Jones’s ability to figure out where the ball should go and get it there.
Belichick’s genius takes many forms. But it only takes those forms because he has so much trust in himself. He believes in what he sees, no matter what anybody else thinks or how it looks on the outside. Trusted advisers like Jones’s coach at Alabama, Nick Saban, can help shape Belichick’s decisions, but the media narrative almost never does.
If Jones becomes a star, it’ll end the argument that Belichick only won because of Brady—an argument that is just as silly as arguing that Brady only won because of Belichick.
New England’s offense can bring out the best in Jones, but Jones can also bring out the best in the offense. Belichick can drastically change game plans each week because Jones can handle it. The Patriots’ free-agent shopping spree last winter will also look different if the starting quarterback during the duration of those deals is on a rookie contract.
The game has changed, and coaches are much smarter about using running quarterbacks. There is more room for quarterbacks with more varied skill sets, which is great and makes the game more entertaining. But the primary task has not changed.
Brady is great largely because of two traits that help him complete that task: He maintains his poise when he is about to get hit, and he moves his feet just well enough to buy himself time. His 40-yard-dash time has never mattered. I am not comparing Jones with Brady; I am comparing Belichick with Belichick. He saw what made Brady special before almost anybody else. He kept him on the roster as a rookie and believed in him when he got a chance to start. Now he trusts what he sees in Jones. Belichick scouted him, he waited for him, he picked him, he made him earn the job, and now he is ready to roll—this season, and beyond. Maybe Belichick is wrong. But I wouldn’t bet on it.
More NFL Coverage:
• Mac Won the Starting Job; No Sense to Keep Cam as Backup
• Predicting Every Game of the 2021 Season
• How Derrick Henry Handles a Throwback Workload
• An Early Look at the 2022 NFL Quarterback Carousel
Inside the Decision to Have Peyton and Eli Manning Work Without a Host on ‘Monday Night Football’: TRAINA THOUGHTS
Why will it just be the brothers on the ‘Monday Night Football’ alternate telecast?
1. It was reported Monday that ESPN’s alternate Monday Night Football telecast featuring Peyton and Eli Manning, which will air on ESPN2 for 10 weeks this season, will not have a host or play-by-play person. The broadcast will just feature the two Mannings with an array of guests.
Sources have told me that just two people auditioned with Peyton and Eli: Good Morning Football’s Kyle Brandt and ESPN’s Mina Kimes.
Both reportedly performed very well, but on Aug. 23, Peyton and Eli called the Jaguars-Saints Monday Night Football game without a host as a test. The brothers apparently knocked it out of the park and convinced ESPN and Peyton’s Omaha Productions that a host wasn’t needed.
While it would've been great to see Brandt react to an Angry Run in real time, this isn’t totally shocking. The alternate broadcast was always going to be The Peyton Manning Show and a host, no matter who it was and how good they were, could have gotten in the way.
This was covered in depth on last week’s SI Media Podcast with James Andrew Miller:
The ESPN alternate telecast was intriguing even before the decision to go without a host. Now things are even more interesting.
What will happen if the alternate broadcast is a success? Would ESPN ever turn over the main Monday Night Football telecast to Peyton and Eli? Or would ESPN tell Peyton that to get the main Monday Night Football gig, the show would need to add a play-by-play person?
Also, what will constitute “success” here? Ratings will automatically be up for ESPN2, because an NFL game will automatically generate higher ratings than anything else ESPN2 would’ve aired in that time slot, even if it’s an alternate telecast.
The key will be week-to-week growth for the show.
Will fans tune into the Peyton and Eli show after Week 1, when the curiosity factor wears off? Will fans even remember there’s an alternate telecast after the novelty wears off?
You can be sure Twitter will go wild for Peyton and Eli’s broadcast, but Twitter isn’t the real world. Will Offline America be so enamored with the brothers’ presentation of the game that it will tune in to a nontraditional telecast?
Quality won’t seem to be an issue as much as getting people to change their viewing habits. From everything I’ve heard, Peyton has been lights out during practice games/auditions and that he was made for this format.
2. I didn't find it shocking at all that Bill Belichick would cut Cam Newton and go with rookie Mac Jones as a his starting quarterback, but apparently everyone else did. Here are some amusing tweets about the big move Belichick made Tuesday.
3. The college football season kicked off Saturday. That means the return of the single-greatest weekly segment on all of sports television: Scott Van Pelt's Bad Beats. Enjoy.
4. The Blue Jays gave us one of the most visually satisfying plays you'll ever see Monday night.
Speaking of the Blue Jays, we love this home run celebration.
5. Last week, Traina Thoughts told you about the Milk Crate Challenge and that it was so dangerous TikTok was banning the videos. Monday, right before the season kicks off, Steelers wideout JuJu Smith Schuster took the challenge, but no harm was done.
6. The latest episode of the SI Media Podcast features two interviews.
First up is Nate Burleson, who has left the NFL Network's Good Morning Football to cohost CBS This Morning. Burleson discusses what went into his decision to make the career change, why the move wasn't an automatic "yes" and why the job at CBS News appealed to him. The former NFL wide receiver also talks about the reaction to the NFL playoff game he called on Nickelodeon last year, his favorite Good Morning Football memory and the hardest job he's ever had. He also gives us a great Jay-Z impersonation.
Following Burleson, writer, author and reporter James Andrew Miller joins the podcast. Miller shares his insights into ESPN's alternate Monday Night Football telecast with Peyton and Eli Manning, Stephen A. Smith’s reportedly getting Max Kellerman removed from First Take, the Sopranos prequel movie, the upcoming season of Curb Your Enthusiasm and much more.
The podcast wraps up with the weekly “Traina Thoughts” segment. This week, Jimmy and Sal Licata from WFAN and SNY discuss whether you can do a sports debate show with someone you don't like, Hard Knocks, SummerSlam, CM Punk’s return to wrestling and more.
You can listen to the podcast below or download it on Apple, Spotify and Stitcher.
You can also watch the SI Media Podcast on YouTube.
7. RANDOM VIDEO OF THE DAY: With August coming to a close, we are getting closer and closer to the October premiere of Curb Your Enthusiasm. So we need some Larry David today.
Be sure to catch up on past editions of Traina Thoughts and check out the Sports Illustrated Media Podcast hosted by Jimmy Traina on Apple, Spotify or Stitcher. You can also follow Jimmy on Twitter and Instagram.
Jimmy Traina August 31, 2021 at 11:35PMFrancisco Lindor and Javier Báez Apologize for Giving Mets Fans Thumbs Down
Francisco Lindor and Javier Báez apologized for giving fans thumbs down as a form of celebration.
Mets players Javier Báez and Francisco Lindor apologized on Tuesday for their comments and for giving fans a thumbs down. Báez explained on Sunday the thumbs down was directed toward the home crowd for their boos of the team.
"I just felt like we were alone, Báez said. "Obviously the fans want us to win and they pay our salary like everybody says, but we want to win too and the frustration got to us. I didn't mean to offend anybody, and if I offended anybody we apologize."
On Sunday, after a game where Báez homered and celebrated with a thumbs down, he explained during a postgame press conference that the meaning behind the thumbs down celebration was in retaliation to Mets fans for routinely booing him and his teammates for their struggles at Citi Field.
"We're not machines," Báez said Sunday. "We're going to struggle seven times out of 10. It just feels bad when...I strike out and get booed, you know, it doesn't really get to me but I want to let them [fans] know that when we're successful, we're going to do the same thing to let them know how it feels."
Báez, Lindor and Kevin Pillar were among the players who gave fans the thumbs down.
"It was wrong, and I apologize to whoever I offended," Lindor said. "It's not my intent to offend people, can't go against the fans, I've never done [that] in my career. With that being said I apologize, and it didn't look good on our part."
Báez also explained that he's done this in the past but directed toward other teams — specifically citing him giving the thumbs down to the Los Angeles dugout. He tweeted after his formal apology as well.
Mets owner Steve Cohen also chimed in after their apology in support of the players ahead of their home game against the Marlins.
More Mets Coverage:
Joseph Salvador August 31, 2021 at 11:14PMDanny Green Dishes on Ben Simmons’s Future in Philadelphia
The Sixers guard joins The Crossover podcast to talk about offseason moves and the top contenders in the East.
It’s been a great offseason for Sixers vet Danny Green, who signed a rich new contract and married his longtime girlfriend, Blair Bashen. The three-time NBA champ discusses his decision to return to Philly, the Sixers’ title hopes, the fate of Ben Simmons and much more.
The following transcript is an excerpt from The Crossover NBA podcast. Listen to the full episode on podcast players everywhere or on SI.com.
Howard Beck: So as we sit here in late August discussing all this and training camps are about a month away, there's obviously like the one big—and this is the elephant in the room in this whole discussion of contention in the East and everything else—we don't know the future of Ben Simmons.
You decide to re-sign with this team that’s built around two stars. One of those stars, we don't really know what's going to happen, if he's going to be traded by opening night or maybe later than that, some point. How closely are you paying attention to it? I assume this is at least some subject of conversation as you and your teammates are texting each other in the summer?
Danny Green: I was just working out with one of our coaches here and we were just talking about what's going on, what they've heard. We don't hear from the higher-ups. We don't get that intel or they don't consult with us before they make moves here. We’re hearing who we might get, who we might lose. We're all very interested in paying very close attention to it.
Ben, as rough of an end as he had—I mean, it was rough media-wise—I think he still played great defensively, rebounded the ball well and did his job. And I was not there to help. But as rough as it was for him, probably mentally, emotionally and for the city and for people who bashed him, he's still a very good player. And we need him. We need him to excel. I need him to excel. So that's going to be a big part of how I'm able to play within the system, how we operate within the system, because he produces a lot of transition, produces a lot of open threes. That's kind of what I do.
There’s also a great defender. So we need him and we're all trying to just get on board and get everything in the past, leave it in the past and move forward with the next season. But we don't know where that's at with the organization, where he's at with it.
But for the most part I'm going with the mindset that he's going to be with us and that we need him and you just try to get him on board. That's the mentality I have, and hopefully he has the same one.
HB: If he’s not there, what changes for you? I mean, everybody looks at it through their own prism of, O.K., my role on the team and who I play off of and who I've got a good vibe with, good chemistry with, whatever. If Ben Simmons is somewhere else on opening night, which you don't have to agree but in my mind, I think it's inevitable, I think it's almost a given because I just think it's going to be really tough to keep him after all that's happened, all that's been discussed, all that's been in the media.
So what changes for Danny Green to not have Ben Simmons as the guy orchestrating out there and pushing it on the break and everything, breaking down defense, getting you open threes?
DG: That’s going to be tough to say, man, because we don’t know what we’re going to get back for him. We may get a point guard, we may get wings. That may change a lot. I might be playing with a different type of point guard. I might be playing with different type of wings. I might be coming off the bench. I don't know who we’re going to get, so it could change a lot.
And also defensively, I probably become the primary defender. I’m not saying it’s an issue or problem for me. But we have one less wing of a defender [without] him. … You talk about our main defenders, that was a big part of that and big part of our defense. Obviously, Tobias [Harris] has kicked it up a notch and been amazing defensively for us, but Ben was DPOY for us this year. We thought he deservingly so should have been Defensive Player of the Year, no disrespect to Rudy Gobert. … We thought Ben was able to guard one through five and set the tone for us. But if he’s gone, that changes a lot for not just offensively, but defensively as well for me. Depends on what we get back in return.
Listen to The Crossover NBA podcast
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Howard Beck August 31, 2021 at 11:09PMCam Newton Released, Mac Jones Named Starter; Fantasy Ripple Effects Across Offense
Rookie Mac Jones is thrust into a starting role and the effects will be felt across the offense for fantasy managers
The quarterback battle in New England is over, and it ended unexpectedly. Cam Newton was released Tuesday morning, and rookie Mac Jones was named the Patriots' starting quarterback.
Brian Fluharty/USA TODAY Sports
Newton, the 2015 NFL MVP, was entering his second year with the team and was trying to hold off Jones, the Patriots' first-round draft pick out of Alabama, for the starting job. With Jones behind center, the fantasy stock of every skill position player in New England rises, and he becomes a viable fantasy backup option.
Jones's weapons aren't much on paper, but he has a diverse running back group, a solid crop of receivers, and two talented tight ends. He's also insured by one of the best offensive lines in football. Jones similarly had great protection at Alabama, which gave him the time to efficiently and effectively spread the ball around the field at a ridiculous 77% completion rate. He's not a threat to run like his predecessor, as Jones is much more stationary in the pocket. Given Tuesday's roster move, a true pocket-passer is clearly what head coach Bill Belichick wants in his signal-caller.
Below is a breakdown of the fantasy impact of Newton's release and Jones starting at quarterback have on each Patriots' skill-position groups.
Running Backs
(Damien Harris-James White-Rhamondre Stevenson)
Harris had the highest average draft position (ADP) of any Patriots player even before Jones was named the starter, and that's bound to shoot up. Without Newton poaching goal-line carries, getting designed runs called for him, or taking off and scrambling, the rushing offense goes through Harris.
Jim Brown-USA TODAY Sports
Newton's exit from New England coupled with the trade of Sony Michel to the Rams are both massive shots in the arm for fantasy managers with Harris on their teams. For those who have yet to draft, you'll have to spend even greater draft capital to get Harris on your roster.
In 13 games last season, Harris carried the ball 137 times. The Patriots' top three rushers besides Harris from 2020 are no longer with the team, and together they leave behind a massive share in the running game. Newton matched Harris' 137 carries, Michel ran the ball 79 times and Rex Burkhead, who is now with the Texans, ate up 67 carries. Expect James White to still get the passing down work in the offense (Harris only had seven targets last season).
Rhamondre Stevenson impressed in the preseason, and he received ample opportunity to do so, getting 30 carries across three games. He broke off a 91-yard touchdown run against Washington in the preseason and averaged a ridiculous 7.2 yards per carry in running for an NFL-best 216 yards in the preseason.
Still, Harris is the running back you want in New England, and he stands to gain the most from Jones starting at QB.
Wide Receivers
(Nelson Agholor-Jakobi Meyers-Kendrick Bourne)
Jones doesn't have the same receiving options he did at Alabama, which is to say he doesn't have three first-rounders at his disposal. But the Patriots are trotting out a much improved receiving corps from what Newton had last season. Jones, a more traditional pocket pass than Newton, stands to gain from these offseason upgrades.
Agholor was not a sought-after receiver with Newton behind center, but he can likely perform in the same range he did in Las Vegas last season with Jones throwing to him. As the second option for Derek Carr (behind Darren Waller), Agholor transformed into a deep threat and posted career highs in yards per reception (18.7) and receiving yards (896). He hauled in eight touchdowns in the process for a WR21 finish. It's within reason for him to produce similarly in New England. With two tight ends to feed and a known pass-catching commodity at running back, Agholor won't get a ton of volume, but he proved last season he doesn't need it to produce. Jones showed he could throw the deep ball at Alabama and Agholor stands to gain. Consider Agholor a solid late-round depth addition on your bench.
© Vincent Carchietta-USA TODAY Sports
Meyers was the only Patriots pass-catcher worth rostering in 2020, and that's saying something considering he didn't catch a single touchdown. He led the team in targets, receptions, and receiving yards in only 14 games and never found the end zone. With Jones, who tossed 41 touchdown passes his final season in college, Meyers' will break his 29-game scoreless streak to start his career. Meyers could fill the role that DeVonta Smith did for Jones. Meyers would be hard-pressed to match Smith's ridiculous Heisman numbers, but being Jones' No. 1 option is worth something — Smith finished with 117 catches that season, second on the team was 55.
Very few offenses support three fantasy-relevant receivers, and with the targets bound for tight ends in the Patriots offense, Bourne isn't a viable option. He, of course, stands to gain from the QB change but not enough at this point to draft.
Tight Ends
(Hunter Henry-Jonnu Smith)
Smith and Henry will cannibalize each other's targets, but at least now those targets are worth more. Jones' top two tight end targets at Alabama were not big factors in the offense, but too much shouldn't be made of that considering the receivers he had on hand.
Both Patriots' tight ends currently have ADPs beyond the top 12 tight ends, and it would be shocking if, especially now, one of them didn't finish as a TE1. Bump both Smith and Henry up in your rankings but know that it will still be frustrating week-to-week to predict which tight end will be the focal point of the offense. I still prefer Henry based on him outproducing Smith to this point in their careers, but they'll both be involved.
More from SI Fantasy:
• Preseason Hot Takes & Reactions to Everything You Need to Know
• Super Deep Sleepers: Dive Underground on Draft Day
• Week 1 Rankings & Stat Projections
Monday, 30 August 2021
Naomi Osaka, happy to play for a crowd, wins her first-round match.
Players welcomed, and are boosted by, the return of crowds.
Forde-Yard Dash: Predicting the Backlash for Opening Week Losers
Breaking down possible reactions from teams and fanbases based on opening games, starting with Clemson and Georgia.
Forty names, games, teams and minutiae making news in college football, where Connecticut took a whole year off and still looked like Connecticut:
MORE DASH: Coaching Tests | Coordinator Changes
THIRD QUARTER: TOP OVERREACTION GAMES OF THE WEEK
As mentioned in the Dash First Quarter, this is arguably the best opening week we’ve ever seen in the sport. There are big games everywhere, which means there will be commensurate overreactions as well. The Dash looks at the games and predicts the potential backlash for the losers:
Clemson vs. Georgia (21). When: Saturday at 7:30 p.m. ET. Where: Charlotte. Line: Clemson by three. How big is it: With the No. 3 and No. 5 teams in the AP poll, this is the highest-ranked opener since No. 1 Alabama beat No. 3 Florida State in 2017. That game turned out to be a bit of a dud, and the Seminoles’ season was doomed after a late injury to quarterback Deondre Francois. Let’s hope for better this time.
The overreaction if Clemson wins: Kirby Smart still can’t win the big one. He’s just a recruiter who is slightly better than Mark Richt but will never be Vince Dooley.
The overreaction if Georgia wins: Clemson’s run is done. Opponents have figured out the defensive signal stealing and it’s over.
Reality: Barring a 40–0 result, the loser of this game sustains no irreversible damage. The winner can start dreaming College Football Playoff dreams.
Stat: Dabo Swinney is 11–1 in season openers, with his only loss to Georgia. Smart is 5–0.
Matchup: How does Clemson’s good-not-great offensive line fare against a Georgia front seven that features half a dozen NFL prospects?
Dash pick: Georgia 24, Clemson 21.
Alabama vs. Miami (22). When: Saturday at 3:30 p.m. ET. Where: Atlanta. Line: Alabama by 18 1/2. How big is it: The biggest brand in the sport vs. the program persistently trying to re-establish its brand. With both teams ranked in the Top 15, it’s big.
The overreaction if Alabama wins: The U is through and will never matter again.
The overreaction if Miami wins: The U is back! Also: the world as we know it has come to an end. (The latter might not be an overreaction.)
Reality: The Crimson Tide have absolutely dominated these “neutral” field openers under Saban, but they bring an inexperienced offense up against a team that has a wealth of experience. It would be a shock if Bama loses and an incredible boost to Manny Diaz and his program, but nobody’s season loses hope or meaning with a defeat here.
Stat: Not only is Saban 14–0 in openers at Alabama, every victory has been by double digits.
Matchup: Alabama quarterback Bryce Young has 31 career college rushes and passes. Sixth-year Miami quarterback D’Eriq King has 1,388 career college rushes, passes, receptions and kick returns.
Dash pick: Alabama 27, Miami 20.
Nell Redmond/USA TODAY Sports
Penn State at Wisconsin (23). When: Saturday at noon ET. Where: Madison. Line: Wisconsin by 4 1/2. How big is it: Both teams are ranked in the Top 20, with the winner getting a quality win and a big boost after an underwhelming 2020 season.
The overreaction if Penn State wins: Wisconsin has lost its identity and will never again be good enough to beat the best of the Big Ten East. Paul Chryst needs to shake some things up, including ditching the sideline schlep sweatshirt.
The overreaction if Wisconsin wins: Nittany Lions fans default to the James Franklin Is Overrated and Overpaid position.
Reality: Both programs have reason to believe they can be second-best in the Big Ten, at least. A loss here doesn’t affect divisional destiny or the chance to get to Indianapolis to play for the league title.
Stat: The Badgers have lost 12 consecutive times to the East Division axis of Ohio State (eight straight) and Penn State (four straight).
Matchup: Wisconsin’s perpetually tough run defense against Penn State back Noah Cain, returning from a season-ending injury suffered in the first game of 2020. Establishing a running game and not asking Sean Clifford to drop back 35 times seems like a prudent goal for Penn State (though Clifford does have weapons).
Dash pick: Wisconsin 21, Penn State 16.
Notre Dame at Florida State (24). When: Sunday at 7:30 p.m. ET. Where: Tallahassee. Line: Notre Dame by 7 1/2. How big is it: Potentially immense for the Seminoles’ credibility and certainly important for the Fighting Irish, who revert to independent status and don’t have a conference championship game to boost their playoff standing.
The overreaction if Notre Dame wins: Florida State football will never matter again, and it’s time to resume the never-ending examination of the coroner’s report over the program’s cause of death.
The overreaction if Florida State wins: Florida State football matters again. Brian Kelly needs better coordinators. Notre Dame needs to join the ACC.
Reality: The last time the Seminoles beat a Top Ten team was last season, over North Carolina, and they followed that with three straight blowout losses—so while a victory would be great, it would have to be accompanied by some follow-up. An Irish victory would squelch some concerns that this will be a down year for the Golden Domers.
Stat: Florida State has lost four straight season openers, the last three as a favorite. Notre Dame has won a true road game in the state of Florida since 2002, in Tallahassee.
Matchup: The Seminoles are keeping their starting quarterback a guessing game, using the old “or” between McKenzie Milton and Jordan Travis on the depth chart. Whoever starts, he has to identify stud Irish safety Kyle Hamilton on every play, and he could be all over the field.
Dash pick: Notre Dame 26, Florida State 24.
LSU at UCLA (25). When: Saturday at 8:30 p.m. ET. Where: Pasadena. Line: LSU by 3 1/2. How big is it: Probably the biggest game of Chip Kelly’s tenure at UCLA, and not a small one for Ed Orgeron as he tries to put 2020 in the rearview mirror.
The overreaction if LSU wins: Kelly is all but done in Westwood. The game has passed him by. UCLA will continue to flail in semi-irrelevance.
The overreaction if UCLA wins: Orgeron is the biggest one-season wonder since Gene Chizik and his days at LSU are numbered.
Reality: Both overreaction scenarios could be pretty realistic, actually. But the fact is, LSU has a legitimate hardship excuse going into this game after being displaced by Hurricane Ida and with many of its players (and coaches) worried about family and friends at home. UCLA could still be good enough to compete for the Pac-12 South title even if it can’t beat the Tigers.
Stat: LSU has a 1-0 all-time record in the state of California, defeating USC in September 1984.
Matchup: If the December 2020 Kayshon Boutte matches up against the December 2020 UCLA pass defense, we could see some Jerry Rice stuff. The LSU freshman receiver finished last year with 27 catches for 527 yards and five touchdowns in his final three games, caped by a 308-yard carnival against Mississippi. The Bruins, meanwhile, gave up 999 passing yards and nine TDs in their final three games of ’20.
Dash pick: UCLA 35, LSU 31.
Indiana at Iowa (26). When: Saturday at 3:30 p.m. ET. Where: Iowa City. Line: Iowa by 3 1/2. How big is it: Every bit the size of Penn State-Wisconsin, with two ranked teams going at it and trying to establish themselves as Big Ten contenders and nationally relevant.
The overreaction if Indiana wins: Kirk Ferentz is overdue to hang it up, he will never get the Hawkeyes back to winning the Big Ten.
The overreaction if Iowa wins: The Hoosiers had two-season sizzle that is extinguished, and they will promptly return to mediocrity. Tom Allen’s unleashed sideline Labrador retriever act is no longer cute.
Reality: Winner feels great, loser isn’t in bad position. As with the Nittany Lions and Badgers, both would still control their own division destiny.
Stat: Last year was the first time since 2011 that Iowa finished ahead of Indiana in the Big Ten in total offense per game.
Matchup: The Hawkeyes have won 15 straight games in which they’ve run the ball 40 or more times. Can All-America center Tyler Linderbaum and his teammates control the interior and allow Tyler Goodson to pound the rock and keep Indiana’s big-play passing game off the field?
Dash pick: Indiana 28, Iowa 27.
Jeffrey Becker/USA TODAY Sports
Ohio State at Minnesota (27). When: Thursday at 8 p.m. ET. Where: Minneapolis. Line: Ohio State by 14. How big is it: For the Buckeyes and their national championship hopes, all games are big games—although a loss here wouldn’t necessarily end anything. For the Gophers, it would be their biggest victory in eons.
The overreaction if Ohio State wins: P.J. Fleck’s sloganeering is over, back to life in the Midwest middle class. And the Buckeyes will win the national title with ease.
The overreaction if Minnesota wins: P.J. Fleck for president. The Urban Meyer Effect on the program has run its course and Ryan Day is exposed as an unworthy successor.
Reality: The Buckeyes absolutely should win, but there are tougher challenges ahead. If the Gophers hang around, it will be a good sign.
Stat: Ohio State hasn’t lost a Big Ten opener since 2011, also known as The Fickell Year.
Matchup: Minnesota running back Mohamed Ibrahim is the nation’s leading returning rusher, and he’s operating behind a full line of returning starters. They’ll try to find creases in a Buckeyes front seven that is talented (as always) but replacing its entire starting linebacker corps and a couple of quality linemen. If the Gophers can control the ball and the clock, maybe they keep it close.
Dash pick: Ohio State 37, Minnesota 24.
Louisiana at Texas (28). When: Saturday at 4:30 p.m. ET. Where: Austin. Line: Texas by eight. How big is it: Kinda massive, at least in terms of prestige and ego—both of which matter a great deal to the folks in burnt orange.
The overreaction if Louisiana wins: The Longhorns are the laughingstock of America, losing their first game since power-playing their way into future SEC membership to a Sun Belt school. Put Sark on an ark out of Austin. Bring back Herman. Bring back Mack. Do something, do anything, blame the Big 12 office. Billy Napier rockets to the top of the short lists at Nebraska, Michigan, USC and the Denver Broncos.
The overreaction if Texas wins: Sark is the next great one and the Longhorns are destined to win a national title in four years or less.
Reality: A Texas loss would, in all candor, be an absolute embarrassment. Even if the Ragin’ Cajuns are a quality opponent. A Texas win is a nice start for Sark.
Stat: Louisiana was 6–1 in games decided by one score last season, on its way to 10–1 overall. Texas was 12–13 in one-score games under Tom Herman.
Matchup: Texas sophomore running back Bijan Robinson against a Louisiana defense that led the Sun Belt in fewest yards allowed per play (4.92) but could be gouged a bit on the ground. Expect Robinson to be fully engaged by Sark in the new offense after occasionally being under-utilized under Herman.
Dash pick: Texas 38, Louisiana 31.
Boise State at Central Florida (29). When: Thursday at 7 p.m. ET. Where: Orlando. Line: UCF by five. How big is it: Massive by Group of 5 standards, as the jockeying for the inevitable disrespect from the College Football Playoff committee begins.
The overreaction if Boise State wins: Gus Malzahn was a has-been and Auburn knew it and that’s why they paid him a gazillion dollars to go away. Andy Avalos is Chris Petersen incarnate.
The overreaction if UCF wins: Boise’s heyday came and went, now all the Broncos have is blue turf. Gus Malzahn was the greatest steal since Alabama got Nick Saban on the NFL rebound.
Reality: Whoever wins will feel great. Whoever loses shouldn’t feel terrible. Both teams probably are still behind Cincinnati in the G5 pecking order.
Stat: Someone’s significant season-opening winning streak is coming to an end. UCF hasn’t lost its opener since it lost every game in 2015. Boise hasn’t lost its opener since 2014, including wins over Washington and Florida State.
Matchup: Malzahn’s offensive mind against Avalos’ defensive brain, as the two coaches try to put their stamp on new programs. Malzahn definitely inherited the shiniest toy in quarterback Dillon Gabriel, but will he throw it as much as he did under Josh Heupel (more than 800 times in two seasons)? Probably not, if Malzahn can get the running game he always favors.
Dash pick: UCF 31, Boise State 24.
San Jose State at USC (30). When: Saturday at 5 p.m. ET. Where: Los Angeles. Line: USC by 14. How big is it: A must-win for the Trojans and Clay Helton if they want to be taken seriously and keep everyone off the embattled coach’s back. But the Spartans, winners of nine of their last 10, are no longer a pushover.
The overreaction if San Jose State wins: Time for Helton to get the Lane Kiffin tarmac treatment. Since there is no flight home in this instance, just fire him in the Coliseum tunnel. And replace him on the spot with Brent Brennan.
The overreaction if USC wins: The Trojans are back and the Pac-12 has a title contender.
Reality: Though it’s been said before and not turned out true, USC has a chance to be quite good. San Jose could provide a quality win for the Trojans, depending how things turn out down the road. Despite being decent competition, a loss here would be cataclysmic for Helton.
Stat: San Jose quarterback Nick Starkel’s 223 pass efficiency rating in the opener against Southern Utah was the highest single-game rating for a Mountain West quarterback with at least 25 pass attempts in three years, since Brett Rypien against Colorado State, and is the highest at SJSU in eight years.
Matchup: Starkel vs. USC quarterback Kedon Slovis is a nice gunslinger duel, with Slovis having led the Pac-12 in passing yards per game last year at 320.
Dash pick: USC 41, San Jose State 24.
MORE DASH: Coaching Tests | Coordinator Changes
Pat Forde August 31, 2021 at 06:12AMStefanos Tsitsipas and Andy Murray make a day of it. And delay the night session.
Players welcome, and are boosted by, the return of crowds.
Fans waited two years to experience the U.S. Open in person. Then waited some more.
The first match features Madison Keys and Sloane Stephens at noon.
Report: NFL Adds Weekly Testing for Vaccinated Players to COVID-19 Protocols
Fully vaccinated players will now undergo weekly COVID-19 testing during the 2021 season, per the NFL's latest protocols.
Jeff Hanisch/USA TODAY Sports
The NFL and NFLPA have agreed to updated COVID-19 protocols for the 2021 season, according to the NFL Network's Tom Pelissero.
The updated protocols include weekly testing for fully vaccinated players and staff, per Pelissero. Vaccinated players can reportedly opt in to taking a voluntary second test each week, while unvaccinated players will reportedly be required to undergo a COVID-19 test every day at the club facility.
Unvaccinated players will not be required to wear masks at outdoor practices or walkthroughs, though masks will still be required indoors. All team medical staff, strength and conditioning coaches and equipment staff will be required to wear masks.
The NFL did not make any update to its COVID-19 close-contact protocols, per Pelissero. Fully vaccinated individuals will not be designated high-risk close contacts, and only unvaccinated players are at risk of missing games without a positive test.
Numerous notable players have been placed on the reserve/COVID-19 list in recent days, including Titans quarterback Ryan Tannehill and Colts quarterback Carson Wentz.
More NFL Coverage:
• Tom Brady's Forgotten Rookie Year
• Predicting Every Game of the 2021 Season
• How Derrick Henry Handles a Throwback Workload
• An Early Look at the 2022 NFL Quarterback Carousel
For Benoît Paire, Just Playing in the U.S. Open Felt Like Winning
MAQB: Kyle Shanahan Has Experience Toggling Between Two Offenses
If the 49ers are really going to deploy both Jimmy Garoppolo and Trey Lance, their coach can draw on one particular experience in Washington.
No games this week! But there will be a lot of activity, so let’s get into all that …
Stan Szeto/USA TODAY Sports (Shanahan); Marc Lebryk/USA TODAY Sports (Wentz); Christopher Hanewinckel/USA TODAY Sports (Fields)
• I understand the skepticism that the Niners will be able to make a Jimmy Garoppolo/Trey Lance shuttle work. But as a counter, I’ve got a story to tell—one that I think will bring some context to Kyle Shanahan’s staff’s ability to pull it off. And so I’ll take you back to 2012 and Washington, where Shanahan as offensive coordinator, his dad was head coach and Niners offensive coordinator Mike McDaniel was a quality control coach. After drafting Robert Griffin III with the second pick that April, Kyle Shanahan built an adapted version of the Baylor Air Raid offense that Griffin ran in college to shorten the learning curve. At the same time, he was developing Kirk Cousins to play within the tried-and-true version of the Shanahan scheme. And one reason there was so much tension at the end of that season, both before and after Griffin tore his ACL in the playoffs, was what happened in December of that year. Griffin had designs on playing quarterback in a more conventional, dropback sort of way, but wasn’t ready to do that at the NFL level. Then, he got nicked up and missed the game on Dec. 16 as a result. So the Shanahans toggled back to playing the scheme that Mike had run for two decades for Cousins—and that incensed Griffin’s camp, who thought that was how Griffin should be deployed. Cousins wound up throwing for 329 yards, two TDs, a pick and 104.4 passer rating that day, in a 38–21 win in Cleveland. Things weren’t the same after that between the team and Griffin, but that’s not the point of telling the story. The point is that I believe if there’s a coach who’s capable of flipping back and forth in identity on offense, it’s Shanahan, and being able to flip from an Air Raid scheme to a West Coast scheme and back again in a span of three Sundays is proof. Now, do I think a Garoppolo/Lance shuttle will work? I don’t know—nor do I know whether Shanahan’s really going to roll that out against Detroit in Week 1. But what I do know is that the Niners have been mulling this for a while, and the idea it could work for them, and be a huge headache for everyone else, really isn’t bonkers.
• The widely-held assumption that Carson Wentz hasn’t been vaccinated was confirmed on Monday, as he landed on the COVID-19 reserve list as a close contact (vaccinated players don’t get shelved as a result of being close contacts). He’ll be eligible to return to the team on Thursday, and that timing actually works out for the Colts in that it should give Wentz time to get rehab work in and get back on track to try and play in the opener on Sept. 13. But it certainly should be taken as a warning sign on what having your quarterback unvaccinated might mean for teams. Fast-forward a week, and Wentz would be returning to the team on the back end of its preparation for the opener against Seattle. Fast-forward another week, and the Colts would be losing Wentz with almost no notice for that opener.
• The Browns’ presence as a potential seller ahead of the 53-man cutdown used to be a sign that another rebuilding year was in the offing. Now? It’s a sign that the roster is in good enough shape where the team can afford to flip a good player or two—and might actually get something back for guys on the back end of the depth chart. We mentioned Mack Wilson this morning. Throw safety Sheldrick Redwine and WR KhaDarel Hodge in as two other names that came up in trade discussions with other teams (Redwine was cut late Monday).
• The Giants’ acquisition of center Billy Price is a sign that, even after investing a lot in the line over the last four offseasons, they still haven’t fixed what’s been a trouble spot for quite some time. New York was kicking tires on interior linemen the last few days and wound up dealing off B.J. Hill to land Price. And the Giants might not be done—bubble guys Dante Pettis, David Sills and Devante Downs have been raised in trade talks.
• Jacksonville’s another team that’s gotten more aggressive in trying to find interior offensive line help the last couple of days. I think that really reflects how seriously Urban Meyer is taking creating the right environment around Trevor Lawrence, and getting better up front is just one part of it. Another is the importance of blocking tight end Chris Manhertz in the offense—the coaches limited him to a total of 30 snaps over three preseason games to keep him fresh for the season. Another yet, I believe, will be a good amount of work for second-year back James Robinson, with the idea being, the more pressure the team can take off Lawrence, the better. Of course, that’ll also mean being more competitive, and not falling behind in games, with a team that went 1–15 last year, which is harder to plan out. But I do think Meyer and his staff are taking the right approach with their prized rookie, particularly after he got knocked around a little in the preseason opener.
• Speaking of rookie quarterbacks, Matt Nagy’s assigning Justin Fields to the scout team is yet another way he’s mirroring the experience he had as Chiefs offensive coordinator in 2017. That year, once the team broke camp, Andy Reid had Patrick Mahomes take on similar responsibilities. And in doing so, they saw a couple of interesting things about a guy who’d win league MVP a year later. One, he consistently kept teammates after to throw, so he could get reps running the Chiefs’ offense. And two, he never asked guys like Tyreek Hill, Sammy Watkins or Travis Kelce to do it—not because he didn’t want to throw to those guys, but because, in his view, those were Alex Smith’s receivers, and he didn’t want to create any sort of issue within the team. The Chiefs staff was pretty impressed with all this, of course, in how Mahomes was getting the work he needed on his own, and also that he understood team dynamics that thoroughly as a rookie. It’s fair to say that, as long as he’s the backup, Fields would be wise to follow that blueprint.
• Gotta reiterate this: The best throw from a rookie quarterback this weekend is right here …
This shows, as we mentioned this morning, anticipation from Mac Jones. But it also shows, as some quarterback coaches say, an ability by Jones to communicate with his receivers through the ball—a longer way of saying he’s throwing guys open. On this snap, Jones is leading Devin Asiasi into a dead spot in the coverage, and getting him away from two defenders at once. And he’s doing it with the rush bearing down on him. Now, Jones hasn’t been perfect this preseason. I still think watching him, you see it takes a lot more effort for him to get the ball to certain parts of the field than it does other quarterbacks. But as far as presence, intelligence and feel, it’s all showing up like it did at Bama. Bottom line, he’s put a lot of good stuff on tape and given his coaches plenty to think about.
• I’m not going to sit here and play Michael Fabiano and try to give you fantasy advice. But … if you haven’t had your draft, I think it’d be wise to take a flier on Gus Edwards, and earlier than the other people in your league will. IT sucked seeing J.K. Dobbins go down—I expected he and Indy’s Jonathan Taylor to break out and challenge for the rushing title this season—but the reality is that’s not going to change who the Ravens are offensively. And while Edwards has been lodged behind Mark Ingram the last few years, and was going to lodged behind Dobbins, there’s a good faction of that coaching staff that believes Edwards could explode with more opportunity. And given how thin the Ravens are at tailback after losing Dobbins, Edwards (and his career 5.2-yards per carry average) should get a lot of opportunity.
• My feeling is the Saints are being very careful with how much they talk, and what they say, about their temporary exit from New Orleans. And I think that’s the right way to approach it, given not everyone was lucky enough to have the resources to get out of town like the team did. The question now becomes where the team will go after spending this week in Dallas, practicing at AT&T Stadium. The Saints have, over the years, gotten out of town for camp, or practice weeks, having taken their operation in full to San Antonio, Indianapolis, Southern California and West Virginia, in addition to now Dallas at different junctures. So that experience should help. Then, there’s the matter of the opener against the Packers. If New Orleans can’t host it, AT&T Stadium would make sense, given proximity and the fact that it’s open for Week 1. And if the Saints, and the league, decide to move the opener, that would give New Orleans until Oct. 3 to prepare for the team’s next home game, with road trips scheduled for Weeks 2 and 3.
• I feel like we went over this in the MMQB column, but it’s worth repeating: I do think the Texans would be O.K. with holding on to Deshaun Watson past the 53-man cutdown Tuesday. That means the real reason it’d serve as a cutdown is that it might prompt teams to call Houston over the next 24 hours. But I don’t know that there’s a good reason for the Texans to get aggressive here.
More NFL Coverage:
• Predicting Every Game of the 2021 Season
• How Derrick Henry Handles a Throwback Workload
• An Early Look at the 2022 NFL Quarterback Carousel
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