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Days after news broke of Raiders head coach Jon Gruden's reported use of a racist trope to describe NFLPA executive director DeMaurice Smith, The New York Times has shared more emails from Gruden that show a pattern of offensive and inappropriate language.

Shortly after the report came to light, Gruden reportedly informed the Raiders of his plans to resign, per NFL Network's Tom Pelissero.

In reviewing more than 650,000 emails sent over the past decade, the NFL has reportedly found numerous examples of Gruden using misogynistic and anti-LGBTQ comments, according to Ken Belson and Katherine Rosman of The New York Times. The findings come as a result of the league's separate workplace misconduct investigation into the Washington Football Team.

In many of the emails in question, Gruden corresponds with former Washington team president Bruce Allen, among others. Gruden and Allen worked together in Gruden's first stint as Raiders coach and with the Buccaneers. The emails occurred when Gruden was working at ESPN. Gruden used his personal email account, while Allen used his team account.

Among the findings, Gruden reportedly expressed his disapproval of the NFL's hiring of women as referees, drafting gay players and tolerating players who protested during the playing of the national anthem. He also criticized commissioner Roger Goodell for placing an emphasis on player safety, referring to him by an anti-LGBTQ slur and calling him a "clueless anti football p----."

Gruden also derided Goodell for, as he viewed it, pressuring then-Rams head coach Jeff Fisher into drafting "queers," a reference to the Rams selecting Michael Sam as the first publicly gay player in NFL draft history.

In June, Raiders defensive end Carl Nassib became the first active NFL player to declare he is gay.

According to the Times, Gruden also mocked Caitlyn Jenner following her transition, and also responded to a sexist meme of a female referee by saying, "Nice job Roger."

More NFL coverage:

Nick Selbe October 12, 2021 at 07:13AM

Five members of the N.H.L.’s newest team are sidelined by Covid protocols on the eve of the team’s debut.

https://ift.tt/30bRuXn New York Times BY VIMAL PATEL

Report: Raiders Coach Jon Gruden Resigns After Release of Anti-LGBTQ, Misogynistic Emails

Raiders head coach Jon Gruden resigned on Monday night after the release of emails containing racist, anti-LGBTQ and misogynistic comments.

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Raiders coach Jon Gruden resigned after the release of numerous offensive emails he sent from 2010 to 2018, according to NFL Network's Tom Pelissero.

The New York Times published a report Monday evening detailing a number of emails featuring misogynistic, racist and anti-LGBTQ language sent by Gruden. A Wall Street Journal report was released last week in which Gruden used a racist trope to describe executive director of the NFL Players Association DeMaurice Smith.

Gruden reportedly referred to NFL commissioner Roger Goodell as a "clueless anti football p---y" as well as a "f----t" in the emails released by the New York Times. He also claimed the NFL pressured the then-St. Louis Rams to draft Michael Sam, a gay player selected in 2014. Gruden also "criticized Goodell and the league for trying to reduce concussions and said that Eric Reid, a player who had demonstrated during the playing of the national anthem, should be fired," per the Times.

Raiders owner Mark Davis met with Gruden early Monday evening, per ESPN's Adam Schefter. The meeting ended with Gruden's tenure as Las Vegas's head coach coming to an end.

Gruden has not addressed the Times's report as of Monday evening. He told the WSJ he was "really sorry," before adding "I don’t have a racial bone in my body."

“I was upset,” Gruden WSJ. “I used a horrible way of explaining it. I don’t think he’s dumb. I don’t think he’s a liar. I don’t have a racial bone in my body, and I’ve proven that for 58 years.”

Gruden is 22–31 as Raiders head coach since 2018. He went

More NFL coverage:

Michael Shapiro October 12, 2021 at 06:49AM

Report: LiAngelo Ball Signs G League Contract, Will Enter Draft

LiAngelo Ball could see the floor in G League action during the 2021-22 season.

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LiAngelo Ball has signed a G League contract and will enter the league's draft on Oct. 23, according to The Athletic's Shams Charania.

Ball, 22, could be selected by the Greensboro Swarm, the G League affiliate of the Hornets, per Charania. Ball played for the Hornets during Summer League, averaging 9.6 points per game.

Ball signed with the Oklahoma City Blue of the G League during the 2019-20 season, but he did not play due to the beginning of the COVID-19 crisis. He did not make the Pistons's roster for the 2020-21 season despite signing a training camp deal.

LaMelo Ball won Rookie of the Year in 2020-21 as he shined at point guard for the Hornets. Lonzo Ball is entering his fifth NBA season this year after signing a four-year, $85 million deal with the Bulls this offseason.

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Michael Shapiro October 12, 2021 at 06:25AM

Raiders Coach’s Emails Included Homophobic and Misogynistic Comments

https://ift.tt/3mCXJv2 New York Times BY KEN BELSON AND KATHERINE ROSMAN

Not just another marathon in Boston.

New York Times BY VICTOR MATHER

Mr. Joctober: Pederson’s Blast Was all the Offense Atlanta Needed

https://ift.tt/2YO45Qd New York Times BY TYLER KEPNER

‘I Am Overjoyed’: Boston Marathon Racers Rejoice After Lost Year

https://ift.tt/3FBNkZ4 New York Times BY BRENT MCDONALD, ELLIOT DEBRUYN AND MEG FELLING

After a Long Wait, the Boston Marathon Returns as a Fall Classic

New York Times BY MATTHEW FUTTERMAN, ALEXANDRA E. PETRI AND VICTOR MATHER

Urban Meyer Sets Lofty Rushing Goal for Winless Jaguars

Does Urban Meyer know he's not in the Big Ten anymore?

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Urban Meyer has been labeled an offensive genius for much of the last two decades, leading high powered attacks at Utah, Florida and Ohio State before his latest foray into the NFL. But Meyer's collegiate success isn't exactly translating at the professional level.

The Jaguars exit Week 5 ranked No. 28 in points after a 37-24 loss to the Titans, a contest that dropped Jacksonville to 0–5 in 2021. Luckily for Jags fans and quarterback Trevor Lawrence, at least Meyer is keeping reasonable expectations ahead of Thursday's matchup with the Dolphins. We'll let Mark Long of the Associated Press take it from here.

Yikes. Have not the last five weeks not been enough of a wake-up call for Meyer? Prime Tim Tebow isn't walking through that door. Nor is Ezekiel Elliott and J.K. Dobbins. And as Long noted, there aren't any cupcakes like Rutgers and Northwestern looming on Jacksonville's schedule.

An early December matchup with Aaron Donald and the Rams is a far cry from Meyer's usual Big Ten title game feasting against a Big Ten West patsy. Though frankly, it's a question whether Meyer will last that long in the NFL anyway. As the Jaguars limp through one of the most disastrous starts to a season in recent memory, simply winning a game should be Meyer's most pressing goal.

More NFL coverage:
• Jags, Raiders Hired Coaches They Saw As Saviors; Now They’re Stuck
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Michael Shapiro October 12, 2021 at 03:56AM

MAQB: The Bills Are Now the Class of the AFC

How Buffalo's unselfishness is on display as the team keeps winning. Plus, the Chargers' situational awareness and more notes from Week 5.

We had a great weekend of football at every level to recap, so let’s dive in …

Rich Barnes/USA TODAY Sports (Diggs); Gary A. Vasquez/USA TODAY Sports (Ekeler); Troy Taormina/USA TODAY Sports (Mills)

• The Bills did more than beat the Chiefs at Arrowhead on Sunday night—they put together a dominant effort in hostile and inclement conditions that forcefully puts them at the front of the class in the AFC. And they did it with a pretty unique mix of players. One word that’s been raised to me by multiple people in the building in the aftermath of the rout of the Chiefs is unselfish, and there’s example after example of that quality popping up the last couple of days. In some cases, it’s established stars passing the spotlight on to teammates who may go unnoticed in a big week last the last one was in Buffalo …

In other cases, it’s the little things you see if you’re looking …

And then, there’s the way guys are conducting themselves. For a variety reasons, yesterday was going to be a heavier 21 and 12 personnel game for the offense. That meant less playing time for the receivers. Accordingly, Cole Beasley only played 22 snaps and caught one ball, and you couldn’t find a happier guy in the locker room after the game. Promising second-year receiver Gabe Davis, similarly, played just 14 snaps, but was locked in and wound up with a key 16-yard pickup on a game-clinching drive that covered 85 yards in 12 plays. Even Stefon Diggs was held to two catches at Arrowhead, and he continued to carry himself like the captain he’s become. So you have a unique mix of guys willing to play roles and wanting to spread the credit around (rookie Boogie Basham’s giving Star Lotulelei credit for a sack he registered against the Texans is another example). That, of course, is by design. And it’s one more area where it sure looks like the Sean McDermott/Brandon Beane rebuild really hit it big.

• We focused plenty in the morning column on Chargers’ coach Brandon Staley’s propensity for going for it (don’t call it gambling!) on fourth down. But there was something else that really leapt off the screen to me late Sunday afternoon—and that’s just how aware the Chargers were situationally. It was Austin Ekeler’s sliding by the boundary after picking up eight yards to the Browns’ 3 on third-and-2 with less than two minutes left. And it’s what happened after that, too, with Cleveland out of timeouts. Go back and watch, and you’ll see how the Chargers’ tackling was picture-perfect, and how the players were focused on defending the sideline and getting guys to the ground before they could make it there. It was a clinic in fundamentals, a clinic in situational football and a pretty good indicator on how swiftly that staff has made an impact on the roster. “You hit it, I felt like our play at the end of the half too, when we fumbled and were able to get a really good stop on defense to force a field goal—that would've been a killer if they would've scored before the half, and we were able to hold them to three,” Staley told me postgame. “And I just felt like in the second half, we really played as a team, and I felt like specifically at the end of the game, both sides of the ball did what we had to do. We did what we had to do and finished the game playing our best. I think you're right about that.” Bottom line, if you look closely, it’s usually pretty easy to pick out the most well-coached teams in the league. I think the Chargers are now in that category.

• Texans’ rookie Davis Mills checked a pretty relevant box yesterday—showing to his teammates, and those running the team, a level of resilience and mental toughness that not all young players have. Mills, to put it lightly, had a horrible outing in Buffalo in Week 4, completing 11-of-21 throws for just 87 yards and four picks. And as a guy who, thanks to injury, simply didn’t play a lot of college football (11 starts over four seasons at Stanford), there wasn’t a whole lot of background to draw from. Well, consider this test passed. Even if personnel-wise these Patriots aren’t fielding a vintage Bill Belichick defense, the Texans aren’t exactly rolling out world-beaters around Mills either (Houston lost its best offensive player, Laremy Tunsil, in-game), and that’s still Belichick on the other sideline. But Mills looked poised and confident throughout, in throwing for 312 yards, three touchdowns and a 141.7 rating on 21-of-29 passing. You could even argue, in the end, that he may have been the best rookie quarterback on the field Sunday. So there’s something for the Texans to feel good about going forward. And with a relatively mediocre quarterbacking crop expected in next April’s draft, Mills is positioned get a nice long look from Nick Caserio and David Culley. Which isn’t to say he’s the guy they’ll build around, just that he has a chance now to prove he can be that guy for the Texans, or someone else down the line.

• This was a helpful tweet from my buddy Nick Underhill, founder of NewOrleans.football.

In there, you have a top-five receiver, the team’s starting left tackle and center, two starting defensive linemen, a starting linebacker and a promising young receiver. The Saints should start getting guys back after their bye, which is this week, with their next game set for two weeks from Monday night in Seattle. After that, they get the Bucs at home on Halloween. Provided they can beat Geno Smith and the Seahawks on the road, they’ll be 4–2 heading into the Tampa game—which is a testament to the job the team’s done managing around all the absences.

• Zac Taylor told the Cincinnati media on Monday that the team sent Joe Burrow to the hospital after the Bengals’ loss to the Packers as a precaution, after Burrow was poked in the throat during the game and had trouble talking postgame. Taylor said Burrow came in ready to work on Monday, and that’s good news because there was a lot to build on coming out of that game against Aaron Rodgers and Green Bay. I’ll say this: The Packers’ people I’ve talked to were thoroughly impressed with Burrow, and believe the Bengals are going to be a problem going forward with No. 9 at the controls. And I’d say they have a really good frame of reference for working with young QBs.

• Saquon Barkley’s injury issues (and he does seem to have dodge a bullet on his ankle ailment from Sunday, which apparently looked worse than it was) are a great reminder that the injury rate in the NFL is 100%, and those who play long enough will have a hard time avoiding something unfortunate. Why do I say that? One big plus to the idea of taking Saquon Barkley high was how clean his medical record was. I remember one team saying to me that usually the only prospects with marks like Barkley came back with are kickers and punters. And yet, he keeps getting hurt as a pro. That’s just the business.

• When I asked Packers’ coach Matt LaFleur if he’s getting a feel that the group he has is a special one (I asked because Mason Crosby said it was to me earlier in the season), he gave me a pretty interesting answer. “I think it's a little premature to say that right now,” he answered. “I mean, we're five games into this thing and there's so much ball left in front of us, but I do think it's a pretty special group in terms of just their ability to be resilient. I think the leadership in that locker room is something special, but I felt that way for a couple years.” He then pointed out that one early sign for him that the leadership is, indeed, special, different or both, is signaled in how the team has handled being without David Bakhtiari, Elgton Jenkins, Josh Myers, Marquez Valdes-Scantling, Kwity Paye, Rock Ya-Sin and Khari Willis. They keep winning now in spite of all those absences, and should be stronger later, both depth-wise and intangibly, for having gone through it. “I really thought that tonight was our best defensive performance of the season,” LaFleur said after the game. “I was really proud of those guys. They kept us in it early because our offense didn't generate a whole lot in that first quarter. But our defense kept us in it.”

• I forgot to cover the Buccaneers’ win over the Dolphins in the MMQB column. So here is what it was: Tom Brady threw for another 400 yards, and Tampa boat-raced the Dolphins, who hung tough early, to move to 4–1. From here, the Bucs get the Eagles, Bears, Washington, the Giants, Colts and Falcons between now and a Dec. 12 showdown with the Bills, with the home date against the Saints looking like the tallest hurdle on the path to that Buffalo game. Which is to say the Bucs are probably going to have at least a couple of home games in the playoffs (presuming they advance when they get there).

• Don’t give up on the Chiefs yet. As we detailed in the Sept. 29 mailbag, there are a lot of new pieces there, and sometimes these things take time—even in the year Kansas City won the Super Bowl, the defense scuffled a bunch before finding its way late.

• Important game for the Colts Monday night—that program isn’t a start-up anymore. And 1–4 would be a tough hole to dig out of. The morning column has a long interview with safety Julian Blackmon on preparing for Lamar Jackson and more.

More NFL coverage:

• Jags, Raiders Hired Coaches They Saw As Saviors; Now They’re Stuck
• MMQB: Packers Veterans Helped Right the Ship
• Stop Forcing Cowboys-Giants Games on Us

Albert Breer October 12, 2021 at 03:25AM

‘Let Them Talk’: Astros Spend a Rainy Day Discussing Allegations

https://ift.tt/3BtuNMa New York Times BY JAMES WAGNER

Forde-Yard Dash: Quality Quarterback Depth Is at a Premium

Caleb Williams isn't the only backup quarterback who is making a difference in his team's season.

Forty names, games, teams and minutiae making news in college football (antacids sold separately at Louisville, where the last four games—two wins, two losses—have all gone down to the wire):

MORE DASH: One-Loss Contenders | USC's Market

THIRD QUARTER: HOW GOOD IS YOUR BACKUP QUARTERBACK?

In a world of immediately eligible transfers, talented quarterbacks are less likely than ever to stick around if they aren’t starting. Which makes it harder than ever to have depth at that most critical position—a position where injuries are not at all uncommon.

After what befell Penn State (21) Saturday, it’s clear how important quarterback depth can be. When Sean Clifford was injured, the Nittany Lions were sunk at Iowa. Ta’Quan Roberson may end up being a fine college QB, but he wasn’t ready for that admittedly very difficult spot. The guy who had been Penn State’s No. 2 QB, Will Levis, is now the toast of Kentucky, where he is starting for the undefeated Wildcats and doing strange things with food.

A look at nine good situations when it comes to quarterback depth:

Caleb Williams (22), Oklahoma. Touted freshman came off the bench and saved the Sooners from defeat against arch-rival Texas, throwing for 212 yards and two touchdowns and running for 88 and another score. Down 28–7, Oklahoma got an injection of life when Williams took off on a sizzling, 66-yard touchdown run. In the fourth quarter, he also had a breathtaking bomb to Marvin Mims, who made a spectacular catch for a 52-yard TD. The young man is ready. Right now.

(The attendant question that accompanies his arrival as QB1: Did Williams just send erstwhile starter Spencer Rattler (23) into the transfer portal? Speculation already has been humming about where Rattler will play in 2022, provided he doesn’t turn pro—which would seem unwise, given what he’s put on tape. Even though he hasn’t lived up to the pre-college hype, Rattler would be an in-demand transfer.)

Stetson Bennett IV (24), Georgia. He’s played a lot of football for the Bulldogs, throwing 244 passes in three seasons. While Bennett struggled at times last year when thrust into a starting role, he’s been really good when pressed into service by injury to JT Daniels. Bennett’s efficiency rating is a robust 206.56, way up from 2020. He might have played his best game Saturday at Auburn, throwing for 231 yards, two touchdowns and no interceptions. Most importantly, the team and coaching staff have faith in Bennett to get the job done and avoid catastrophes.

Tyler Buchner and Drew Pyne (25), Notre Dame. With the Fighting Irish trailing Virginia Tech 10–0 Saturday, Buchner came in and led two touchdown drives, showcasing his dual-threat dynamism. Third-stringer Pyne played well in relief of injured starter (and Wisconsin transfer) Jack Coan when the Fighting Irish beat the Badgers in late September. Brian Kelly has a long history of dabbling in backup QB managing to get the desired results, and he could spend the second half of this season doing exactly that.

At Michigan State (26), Anthony Russo was the transfer from Temple that a lot of people assumed would win the job. But Payton Thorne has merely been the second-most efficient quarterback in the Big Ten to date. Thorne had some good performances late in the Spartans’ 2–5 season last year, then beat out Russo in a close competition. He’s been impossible to get out of the starting lineup since. Thorne is on pace to break the school’s single-season efficiency record.

Baylor Romney (27), BYU. Starter Jaren Hall missed two games after being injured against Arizona State, and Romney ably picked up the slack in wins over South Florida and Utah State. He was a combined 35 of 44 for nearly 500 yards in those two games, with four touchdowns and no interceptions. Romney was knocked out of the Utah State victory with a concussion and Hall returned to the starting lineup in the loss to Boise State. The Cougars could have a QB conundrum—perhaps even a controversy—heading into a big game at Baylor Saturday.

Zach Calzada (28), Texas A&M. His first few weeks replacing injured Haynes King sure weren’t pretty, and after the Aggies offense flailed in consecutive losses to Arkansas and Mississippi State, Calzada had a legion of critics. But he won them over in a big way in the huge upset of Alabama Saturday night, throwing for 285 yards and three touchdowns. After A&M lost a lead it had held virtually all night, falling behind 38–31 with five minutes remaining, Calzada led two scoring drives to rip the game back away from the Crimson Tide. He completed 6 of 8 passes on those final two possessions and had a key run as well.

Casey Thompson (29), Texas. First-year Longhorns coach Steve Sarkisian went with Hudson Card as his season-opening starter, and that proved to be the wrong choice after two games. Thompson took over from there and has been productive, throwing for more than 1,000 yards and 14 touchdowns on the season. He had five TD passes and 388 yards against Oklahoma, but the Texas defense couldn’t hold up its end of the bargain in another Red River thriller.

(Both Red River combatants could see benched Week 1 starters on the move after this season, if Rattler and Card opt to look elsewhere for playing time.)

San Diego State (30) is undefeated while playing two quarterbacks this season. Neither Jordon Brookshire nor Lucas Johnson has lit it up passing—they have combined to throw for just 585 yards in five games, with four touchdowns and two interceptions—but they’ve been effective runners (184 yards and four TDs) while directing Brady Hoke’s ground-and-pound offense.

MORE DASH: One-Loss Contenders | USC's Market

Pat Forde October 12, 2021 at 02:56AM

Germany Becomes First Team to Qualify for 2022 World Cup in Qatar

Germany punched its ticket by clinching first place in its qualifying group with a win over North Macedonia on Monday and Armenia's failure to defeat Romania.

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Germany became the first team to punch its ticket to Qatar for the 2022 World Cup when it clinched first place in its qualifying group on Monday.

Germany needed a win over North Macedonia and an Armenia loss or draw to qualify with two games to spare and got just that. Romania defeated Armenia 1-0 and goals from Kai Havertz, Timo Werner (two) and Jamal Musiala powered the Germans to a 4-0 win on a rainy night in Skopje.

In the process, Germany avenged its shocking loss back in March to North Macedonia —only its third ever loss in World Cup qualifying and its first since 2001.

Die Mannschaft have had a rocky last 12 months, with the qualifying loss to North Macedonia, its worst-ever loss in a 6-0 defeat to Spain in the Nations League in November, a round-of-16 exit to England at the Euros and the departure of longtime coach Jogi Löw.

But former Bayern Munich manager Hansi Flick has righted the ship by winning all five of his World Cup qualifiers since taking over for his mentor. The 2014 world champions will now have a chance to make up for their embarrassing group-stage exit at the 2018 World Cup in Russia.

As the host country, Qatar receives an automatic bid, but Germany became the first team to earn its spot through a qualifying process. Winners of the 10 groups in UEFA's World Cup qualifying round advance to Qatar, while runners-up and the top two Nations League group winners remaining will fight for the region's final three spots in a playoff.

Denmark can also clinch its group on Tuesday with a win against Austria. The Danes have dominated their group, winning all seven of their World Cup qualifiers with a +26 goal differential and without conceding a single goal.

The 2022 World Cup kicks off Nov. 21, 2022 in Al Khor, Qatar.

More Soccer Coverage:

Andrew Gastelum October 12, 2021 at 02:09AM

Diana Kipyokei of Kenya wins the women’s race of the Boston Marathon.

https://ift.tt/2YB9s5r New York Times BY VICTOR MATHER

Iman Shumpert Talks Dancing With the Stars

The former NBA champion has traded the basketball court for the ballroom.

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If only for a brief period of time, former NBA champ Iman Shumpert has traded in his basketball shoes for dancing ones.

The 2011 first-round draftee is currently a contestant on the 30th season of Dancing With the Stars, paired Daniella Karagach, who last season finished in third place with rapper Nelly. Shumpert appeared in two games for the Nets last season, and while he is still hoping to break back into the NBA, he’s currently staying in shape in the high-intensity world of ballroom dancing.

When Shump’s agent called and asked if he would be interested in joining the show, he realized it could almost be therapeutic.

“Why not say yes and take on a challenge?” Shumpert told Sports Illustrated. “While I’m working on basketball, if I’m doing some other stuff I’m attached to, maybe I won’t be as pissed I’m not on a team.”

Shumpert has made it through the first two eliminations on the show, fighting through a massive height difference between himself and his partner. He says dancing is less nerve wracking than basketball, because in hoops, you could be as ready as possible but someone on the other side may be a little bit more ready on a given night.

Ahead of Week 4’s Disney-themed competition, Shumpert caught up with SI to discuss his dancing, his desire to get back in the NBA, and more.

SI: I watched you do the jive and it was incredible. And I feel like the judges robbed you with the score they gave you on your first dance. It is hard for you to go up there, give all this effort, and then you get a tough score from the judges?

Iman Shumpert: It's not as tough for me man, I play basketball. I don't think people realize how hard the criticism is surrounding the game that I've played. My whole life my father raised me on constructive criticism. He's always planted a battery in me to want to take on challenges and take on things that I'm not so strong in. It kind of goes hand in hand with being a man.

SI: What was your training like for this show? And what was the most challenging part for you?

IS: The most challenging part is remembering the steps. A lot of the music that we're doing isn't the music that I've been accustomed to dancing to. Even though like “Hey Ya” is one of my favorite songs when I'm riding in the car with my family, it's not a song that I usually get up and go into the jive. So I think that the biggest challenge is trying to remember the steps to music that I'm familiar with as far as dancing and then trying to dance within the structure of whatever that ballroom dance is. Sometimes you're listening to a song and you want to just move the way you want to move, but you got to stay strict to that ballroom style. That’s probably why some of my scores don't reflect the showmanship that a crowd would see.

SI: Your wife is a legendary dancer, and you guys appeared in a music video together although she was doing the heavy lifting in that one. Did you practice with her at all? How much advice have you gotten Teyana Taylor?

IS: She was actually filming a movie in New York and now she's preparing for a tour. So we actually have been living separately as we both had to abide by the COVID stuff and quarantine. She hasn’t been dancing with me. She’s been more of a coach, and even in some of the dances she doesn't know everything about she’s saying “This one is more about your attitude.” She's like, “You got to dominate the tango.” She’s like “You have to know your stuff and move your partner around and be in her face.” It was funny because Danielle was like “Man, you really brought it when the lights came on,” and that’s because I got cursed out before.

SI: Your former teammates have been tweeting about your dances trying to get you votes. What’s the reaction been like from them? Are they giving you a little shit or are they enjoying it?

IS: It’s crazy, everybody is way more supportive. I thought more people would be like, “Man this is crazy, your big 6’ 6” ass.” But it’s been more people saying they respect my moves and showing another side of myself. Seeing me doing it with a smile, even though I’m not on a team I’m not depressed in the corner somewhere. I’m just continuing to challenge myself any way I can. I'm gonna do that but trust me, in my head I’m thinking, it's just loading a space, somebody is gonna call. You know, hopefully once the season picks up, somebody says they need me. They’ll ask “Are you in shape?” and they’ll be thoroughly impressed with what they see.

SI: In terms of basketball, how frustrating has this period been for you? What can you even do at this point to try to get back in the league?

IS: There’s a feeling like it’s so far away but then as I watch these games I see that I can still have an impact, I got to rest on the guys just knowing who I am, knowing my work ethic, knowing what I can do and what I'm capable of. I'm not a person that's gonna be running around here trying to jump into summer leagues and get all this footage together, I got to take care of my body and think the right way.

A couple years ago before I joined the Nets I wasn't doing anything and they called me to see what I was doing. And when Kyrie facetimed me I just so happened to be in the gym. He called to see if I had been working out, and I was like y'all ain’t gotta worry about me doing my job. I just finished my third straight run. I love basketball. I love it. This is what I’ve been doing since I was a kid. I’m not playing just because somebody calls. I play because I like playing.

SI: Is it very important to you to only sign with a contender? Are those the only teams you want to play for?

IS: You know what's crazy, I enjoyed my time with Sacramento so much. That was probably one of my biggest heartbreaks. I found a place where I liked having the young blood around me. They didn’t really understand everything, but it's like, I didn't understand anything when I got in the league. I feel like they're a step further ahead of me, because at least they have that gene in their mind that says, ‘Yo, I don't know what's going on’, but I know I'm athletic enough to do this. And I don't care if y'all yell at me tomorrow.

I was so much more disciplined. I'm like, I don't want to get yelled at because you know, these are my favorite players, Carmelo Anthony. Amar’e. Oh my god, Tyson, Chandler, Raymond Felton, Jason Kidd. J.R. Smith. I don't want anybody to get mad at me. I’ve been waiting my whole life to look around a locker room like this.

I took whatever I learned in a locker room, and I felt like I passed it along. And I was able to be that bridge for communication between the young guys on our team and the veterans on our team and the veteran league that we play in. And when the playoffs come, it's very detrimental to your team if you don't have players that have been around the block before, as far as you know, actually eliminating teams from the playoffs.

That championship hunt is different, but it's something that I've done again and again. You know, I'm not gonna sit here and act like the teams I was on weren’t very talented ballclubs. But just being in those situations, learning those situations, being comfortable in those situations. Understanding the game plan, understanding the adjustments that have to be made, understanding the coaches around their schemes, knowing these things and taking it and giving it to players as young as them.

I felt like our relationship was really growing out there in Sacramento. So when I left there to go to Houston, it was a very strange feeling. But other than that, I don't have to go to a contender to feel happy. I just want to play basketball the right way. And I want to stand on that whether I’m in the league or not.

Rohan Nadkarni October 12, 2021 at 01:31AM

How Traditional Extra-Innings Rule Impacts the Playoffs

Last night was one of the most absurd nights of Division Series baseball that I can remember. The first game of the night, between the Red Sox and Rays at Fenway, ended after 13 innings in a 6–4 Boston win and a 2–1 series lead. The second game of the night—the first playoff game hosted at Guaranteed Rate Field in Chicago since 2008—featured 15 runs scored across the first four innings. There are so many things to discuss from the bonkers White Sox–Astros game, which the South Siders won, 12–6, to avoid elimination, but we’ll leave that for later on in this newsletter.

In Red Sox–Rays Game 3, we saw extra innings for the first time in the 2021 postseason, and with it came the return of the traditional format in all its glory. I’m on record many times saying how much I enjoy the rule that puts an automatic runner on second base at the start of every half-inning from the 10th inning onward. This rule change came before the 2020 season, and its purpose was to speed up games during the height of the COVID-19 pandemic to limit exposure to the virus. Studies have shown that this rule change did what it was supposed to do—according to a Baseball Prospectus article from late August, the time that extra innings adds to games is down by about 15 minutes from 2019. I like the rule because it injects instant action into games, without altering the fabric of the sport. These games still are timeless, because the “ghost runner” does not limit the number of innings played; rather, it just makes it more likely that these games will end sooner.

The ghost-runner rule also helps protect pitching staffs. Covering nine innings over a 162-game schedule is difficult enough for managers without having to account for 15-inning clunkers in the dog days of summer. Those games tend to feature one or two relievers who throw 40+ pitches, and regardless of how well they pitch, are optioned down to the minors the next day. Nice job, kid. Hope you enjoy those 15-hour bus rides from Albuquerque to Reno! With the ghost-runner rule, teams don’t need to make as many roster moves for fresh arms after long extra-inning games, because there are fewer long extra-inning games. (It’s worth noting here that we may have seen the last of the ghost-runner rule. Commissioner Rob Manfred said in July that after the season, the league would be discussing with the MLB Players Association whether to, among other things, return to the traditional extra-innings rule.)

The crucial part of this, though, is the ghost-runner format applies only to the regular season. That’s exactly how it should be. The playoffs are a one-month sprint, consisting of only that year’s best teams—teams that should have the most talented and deepest rosters. Those rosters are set before every postseason series, and they cannot be altered unless a player gets injured during that series. In those instances, the injured player is replaced on the roster and is ineligible to play in the following series. So when constructing their playoff rosters, front offices need to prepare for every scenario. Want to yank your starter before he faces a lineup three times? Go for it, but you better have enough relievers to make it through the five- or seven-game series. And you need to make sure those relievers aren’t completely gassed by the second or third series—that is, if your team is good enough to advance that far.

That brings us to last night’s ALDS Game 3 at Fenway. It will certainly be remembered for the bizarre automatic double in the 13th inning (more on that later), but I’m much more interested in the impact it has on these teams moving forward. Both teams had to use relief pitchers who were supposed to be their starters in tonight’s game: Nick Pivetta for Boston and Luis Patiño for Tampa Bay. Pivetta went the final four innings, allowing no runs and striking out seven on 67 pitches; Patiño threw 1 1/3 innings before allowing the walk-off two-run homer to Christian Vázquez. The Red Sox used seven pitchers, the Rays, nine.

Tampa Bay’s depth of pitching was considered a strength entering the playoffs. Boston’s was perhaps its greatest weakness. But this series has exposed the Rays’ hidden wart: starting pitching. They turned to three rookie pitchers to start the first three ALDS games. Shane McClanahan, their Game 1 pitcher, went five scoreless innings and turned it over to their bullpen in a 5–0 win. Neither of the next two rookies, Shane Baz and Drew Rasmussen, completed three innings, and each allowed three runs. These short starts have already strained the Tampa Bay bullpen. JT Chargois and David Robertson have pitched in all three games so far, while J.P. Feyereisen and Matt Wisler have appeared in two of the three. Collin McHugh, who pitched 1 2/3 relief innings and allowed three runs in Game 2, is tabbed to open tonight’s Game 4. McHugh completed two innings in five of his seven starts this season, with his longest lasting 2 1/3 innings. So Kevin Cash will be going to his bullpen early again tonight, with the Rays facing elimination. He still has plenty of quality arms to choose from, such as Andrew Kittredge, Pete Fairbanks, Josh Fleming and maybe even Patiño, considering he threw only 15 pitches last night. But if the Rays do advance, and continue to churn through relievers in the process, they risk wearing down those pitchers as they get deeper into the playoffs.

Boston is starting Eduardo Rodriguez in Game 4 on short rest, after he went just 1 2/3 innings in Game 1. Unlike the Rays with McHugh, the Red Sox are relying on Rodriguez to go at least two times through the Tampa Bay order. He’s built up to carry a starter’s workload, so he’ll keep going as long as he gets some run support and limits the damage, though that’s far from guaranteed. Once Alex Cora goes to the bullpen, though, his options are a bit limited, especially if Rodriguez doesn’t pitch well. It may be too soon for Cora to turn to Tanner Houck, who pitched five brilliant innings in Friday’s Game 2 after starter Chris Sale lasted just an inning and allowed five runs. Pivetta is obviously unavailable. Lefthander Martín Pérez and righty Garrett Richard can give him length, but neither are encouraging options.

If the Rays win tonight, it’ll probably be Sale starting against McClanahan in Wednesday’s Game 5. Then again, as we saw last night, all plans are tentative, especially when it comes to extra innings in the postseason.

1. THE OPENER

“It was a long, weird evening of baseball under blackout conditions. (Fans at Guaranteed Rate Field donned all black.)”

That’s how Tom Verducci sums up last night’s other chaotic ALDS Game 3. The White Sox entered the game trailing 2–0 in the series. Their win over the Astros produced a bunch of historical oddities that indicate how this series could turn around.

Read Tom’s entire story here.

2. ICYMI

Want to know more about the wild ALDS Game 3 between the Red Sox and Rays? Need an explanation about that automatic double in the 13th? We’ve got you covered:

Big Bounce Goes Boston’s Way to Deal Rays ‘Heartbreaker’ by Emma Baccellieri

The defending American League champions are on the brink of elimination after a wacky 13th inning sent them to their second straight loss against the Red Sox.

Need a quick primer on where things stand in the NLDS between the Giants and Dodgers tonight’s Game 3? Let’s get you caught up:

Unlikely Offensive Heroes Help Dodgers Even Series by Stephanie Apstein

Pitcher Julio Urías drove in L.A.’s first run of the series and struggling ex-MVP Cody Bellinger broke open Game 2 to help defeat San Francisco.

This Is What the Giants Do by Stephanie Apstein

They dispatched the Dodgers 4–0 in Game 1 of the NLDS the same way they won 107 games. It's not surprising. It's what they've done all year.

3. WORTH NOTING from Tom Verducci

Just how healthy is White Sox ALDS Game 4 starter Carlos Rodón? Nobody really knows. He has thrown only five innings in the past 20 days, and while doing so, his 96-mph fastball was puttering along at 91. His shoulder has been barking for weeks. Manager Tony La Russa said he decided to start him because Rodón reported last Tuesday that his shoulder was less achy than it had been. If Rodón throws the way he did in his last start, he won’t be long for the game. But if postseason adrenalin and the rest do him well, Rodón could give Chicago more innings than did Game 3 starter Dylan Cease (1 2/3).

4. WHAT TO WATCH FOR from Will Laws

Monday was supposed to mark our second four-pack of playoff games after Chicago’s victory Sunday night ensured there won’t be any sweeps in the divisional round. But, Game 4 of that series was rained out and postponed until tomorrow.

So instead, we’ll have an exciting three-game slate. Atlanta hosts Milwaukee (1:07 p.m. ET on TBS), with both teams trying to seize control in Game 3. The Rays and Red Sox once again occupy the primetime slot (7:07 p.m. ET on FS1) as Boston aims to knock out the defending AL champions in Game 4. Then, the heavyweight matchup between the Dodgers and Giants (9:37 p.m. ET on TBS) continues with Game 3 in Los Angeles.

The Dodgers-Giants game features Max Scherzer on the bump for L.A. against San Francisco’s Alex Wood. Other than Mad Max snarling his way through another October start, the most exciting part of this game is that 41-year-old Albert Pujols is getting his first playoff start since 2014. Dodgers manager Dave Roberts said Pujols will be in the lineup against the lefty Wood. Pujols is nowhere near the player he once was, but he still crushes southpaws. In 146 plate appearances this year vs. lefties, he had a .294/.336/.603 slash line with 13 home runs.

5. THE CLOSER from Emma Baccellieri

The Rays—the best team in the American League—now face a do-or-die game in which their pitching staff has been largely wiped. Last night’s 13-inning marathon saw them use nine pitchers, including the previously scheduled starter for today, Luis Patiño. That leaves them with a bullpen game with the role of opener played by Collin McHugh. (As for the availability of everyone else? “We’ll find a way to piece it together,” said manager Kevin Cash, noting that everyone who threw fewer than two innings on Sunday should be good to bounce back for Monday.) It’s far from an ideal situation. But if there’s any team who can make it work, it’s the Rays, who have thrived with unstructured bullpen roles all year and came out with the best ‘pen in the AL.

That’s all from us today. We’ll be back in your inbox tomorrow. In the meantime, share this newsletter with your friends and family, and tell them to sign up at SI.com/newsletters. If you have any questions for our team, send a note to mlb@si.com.

Matt Martell October 12, 2021 at 01:21AM

A Chicago Folk Hero Brings His Postseason Act to Boston

https://ift.tt/3BwBywU New York Times BY GARY PHILLIPS

Deb Haaland, the Interior secretary, runs to honor Indigenous Peoples’ Day.

New York Times BY LAUREN MCCARTHY

The USMNT and Balancing Momentum, Changes and the Big Picture

Wholesale lineup swaps led to a disjointed effort in Panama, but it’s all part of a long-term strategy. Whether it proves worthwhile is the lingering question.

View the original article to see embedded media.

A quick glance at travel options from Chicago, where U.S. Soccer is headquartered, to Qatar, the host of the 2022 World Cup, reveals that, as of Monday, there are very few nonstop flights. The vast majority of routes come with stops along the way, some that may not be the most direct or convenient. This is not meant to be a travel advisory for those looking to book plans for next November, but more so a roundabout, metaphorical way at stating that for the U.S. men's national team, making it to Qatar quite clearly won’t be achieved via the most direct and desirable means.

In theory, having a top-choice team available for every World Cup qualifying match would be great. In theory, having to confront schedule compression that jeopardizes the wellbeing and ability of players more than it has in the past wouldn't be a factor. And in theory, the quest to sustain momentum would not be in direct conflict with what’s realistically required over the span of such a hectic week.

That’s how the U.S. wound up arriving at Sunday night’s approach, where the impact of seven lineup changes became a prevailing theme following a 1–0 defeat in Panama that, again, has the spotlight squarely on the U.S. to respond in its next match. With Weston McKennie (muscle strain) and Antonee Robinson (COVID-19 travel protocol due to his club being based in the U.K.) not making the trip, two changes were already guaranteed, but taking it a significant step further wound up throwing off the balance of the team. As manager Gregg Berhalter said, the U.S. was not great in duels vs. Panama, and its spacing was all off. The Americans didn’t manage a single shot on goal, and their expected goals total, something Berhalter has used as a data point to defend previous results where the final scoreboard hasn’t been fully flattering, was a paltry 0.22. As Berhalter succinctly and accurately said amid more detailed and self-reflecting remarks, “We were poor.”

“Looking at the game [vs. Jamaica] on Thursday in Austin and then the travel and then what we’re going to be dealing with here, the conditions, we wanted to be able to get fresh guys on the field,” Berhalter said. “You saw some of the guys that played in the game in Austin had a difficult time bringing the intensity that we needed. So we were hoping with this lineup that we were going to get that, get mobility, and we didn’t play our best. We had a number of guys that performed below expectations, and that’s part of it. It’s a young group. It’s about learning, regrouping and going from here.”

Winning the Nations League and Gold Cup this summer with different squads perhaps instituted a false level of expectation that the U.S. could effectively swap out lineups on a wholesale level and have little to no drop-off. But there’s nuance that gets lost in that. Not every player can step in and replicate to the same effect, and the number of the switches isn’t necessarily as important as the specifics of who wound up starting. Beyond that, the stakes are significantly higher here, and it’s become clear (if it wasn’t already) that Tyler Adams’s presence on the field can have a domino effect on everyone else. Trotting him out for the entirety of all three games this month, as was the case last month, was untenable, though, Berhalter said.

“Prior to this camp, Tyler hasn't been playing regularly for his team,” Berhalter said. “He had a little bit of injury, he was in and out of the lineup, so now to ask a player who has not had any load or much load in the last three weeks, to go play three 90s, I wasn't comfortable with it, and I'll take responsibility for that. The good thing is he’ll be ready to go against Costa Rica, and he should have full power for that game.”

The number of changes was significantly higher compared with some of the U.S.’s chief competitors. It’s not apples to apples given the number of variables in play, but Mexico, playing with the luxury of having two straight home games with no travel in between matches, made three lineup changes from its first match of this window to the second. Perhaps more appropriate as it relates to the U.S., Mexico made five swaps last month between matches at Costa Rica and at Panama, and Los Canaleros held El Tri to a 1–1 draw—and would've taken all three points if not for a late Tecatito Corona equalizer.

Canada, faced with the difficulty of playing two straight road games before heading home, made five lineup swaps Sunday night. Costa Rica, the U.S.’s next opponent, played on the road and returned home, making just three changes in between games and knowing full well that a flight to Columbus beckoned.

Los Ticos were in a considerably more desperate position, though, carrying only three points into their fifth game and knowing that defeat to El Salvador on Sunday would have spelled early doom. As much of a greater margin for error as there may be in a round that features 14 matches instead of the previous 10, there is still a giant match-to-match swing when it comes to comfort level in the table, considering the stakes.

The level of comfort for the U.S., which hasn’t had the services of the injured Christian Pulisic and Gio Reyna for this full window, was different. Perhaps sitting atop the table entering Sunday’s game and having a slightly larger margin for error based on its most recent results, it felt able to take a calculated risk and make more sweeping changes, thinking that if it could steal a point or even all three in Panama that it’d be sitting pretty three days later vs. Costa Rica—and that even if it didn’t, it’d still be set up to succeed in its next match with a more full-strength squad. There’s a big picture to take into account, even if a quick-trigger fan base demands excellence on a game-to-game basis. The U.S. demands that of itself, too, but the practicality of executing that given all the constraints and long-term planning is not always considered. There’s no doubt that Berhalter and the U.S. got it horribly wrong Sunday night, but there’s little time to dwell on it when the next match and next chance to spin the narrative is less than 72 hours away.

“I think the way to look at it—and this is how I looked at it—now it obviously doesn’t look like the best choice, but I think we have to wait until Thursday,” Berhalter said. “Because if we would’ve played the same players from the last game—first of all, two of them weren’t even here, so that was going to be impossible—but if we would’ve played the same players in this game, I’m not sure we would position ourselves in the best way to win again on Wednesday. The conditions that we’re dealing with here, the travel, with the weather, made it complicated. And we had to make I guess a somewhat risky decision, and the good thing is we’re still in second place.”

He's right about being in second place, but in such a congested table over a third of the way through the qualifying competition, the sixth-place team is only three points behind. And the problem with enduring such a self-inflicted stumble and coming up on the wrong end of that calculated risk is that the U.S. has put itself into a similar position as it did last window. It needs a win in its final match to stabilize its table standing and enter the next window feeling good about the big picture and its overall itinerary on what it hopes is a winding road that ultimately leads to Doha.

“Our goal is to go into Wednesday’s game and get three points,” Berhalter said. “We take every game as it comes, and Wednesday is another opportunity to get three points and further establish our position in the group.”

More USMNT Coverage From Brian Straus:

Avi Creditor October 12, 2021 at 12:00AM

Dusty Baker on Tepera's Cheating Comments: 'I Had Never Even Heard His Name Before'

After Game 3 of the ALDS, White Sox reliever Ryan Tepera highlighted how differently he felt the Astros played on the road vs. at home.

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Astros manager Dusty Baker had some thoughts regarding White Sox reliever Ryan Tepera's comments after Game 3 of the ALDS.

After Chicago won 12–6, Tepera highlighted how differently Houston played while at home and referenced the team's history of cheating. The Astros combined for 15 runs in Games 1 and 2 but played significantly worse in Game 3 in Chicago.

"They've had a reputation of doing some sketchy stuff over there," Tepera told reporters Sunday night. "We can say it's a little bit of a difference. I think you saw the swings and misses tonight compared to the first two games at Minute Maid."

Baker said his team was better at hitting on the road this season in his response.

"Those are some heavy accusations," Baker said. "We're about the same runs, OPS and everything — actually better on the road than we are at home. I think they're actually better at home than on the road. I don't have much response."

The Astros had 769 hits on the road compared to 727 at home this season but had significantly more at-bats on the road at 2,866 vs. 2,728 at home. Houston has a .787 OPS at home but it was .780 on the road.

Baker also took a shot at Tepera but added the comments didn't bother him.

"He can say what he wants to say," Baker said. "I had never even heard his name before we played the White Sox. I'm not bothered by it. Most of my life, they've been talking stuff on me anyway. Let them talk.

"It's kind of a waste of my time to even talk about it further, I'd appreciate it if nobody else would even ask me," he continued. "I really don't care, if you haven't noticed."

Chicago manager Tony La Russa didn't think much of his reliever's comments, though.

"I don't get into that stuff," he told reporters. "This is America. Players can say what they want to...I think they have a very good team and they're tough to beat. That's what I think."

Game 4 of the ALDS was originally scheduled for Monday but was postponed until Tuesday at 2:07 p.m. ET due to inclement weather.

More MLB Coverage:

Joseph Salvador October 11, 2021 at 11:59PM

Patrick Mahomes Is Human After All: Unchecked

The Chiefs are vulnerable and Mahomes doesn't look better than everyone anymore.

For the first time since Patrick Mahomes took over as quarterback, the Kansas City Chiefs appear extremely vulnerable and he isn't simply better than everyone.

To be fair, it’s early in the season and there is plenty of time left for the Chiefs to turn things around. But since the Super Bowl, that aura of invincibility is gone, and that goes for Mahomes as well.

It’s not shocking that their defense would be a concern and it may actually be a liability, as KC’s D is allowing the most points per game in the NFL, and on a per play basis opponents are moving the ball on them at the rate of the best offense in history.

This obviously puts more pressure on Mahomes, but the expectations were for him to be able to overcome almost anything, at least from me, given I’ve previously called him the best QB I’ve ever seen. However, he hasn’t even been the best quarterback on the field at numerous points over the last few weeks and was just thoroughly outplayed by Josh Allen in primetime.

Mahomes just doesn’t look as comfortable when he’s rolling out and has already thrown as many interceptions this year as he did all of last season, while no longer giving off the vibe that he can't be stopped.

That doesn’t mean he and the Chiefs won’t turn it around. They've played a tough schedule and their offense is still performing well statistically.

But it does mean they are in an unfamiliar position, under .500 and with a QB who finally looks human.

Robin Lundberg October 11, 2021 at 11:40PM

The Jaguars and Raiders Hired Coaches They Saw As Saviors; Now They’re Stuck

Two struggling franchises and their commitment to embattled cult-of-personality coaches.

The Raiders hired Jon Gruden and the Jaguars hired Urban Meyer using the same flawed thinking that sometimes causes mania over tech stocks: with no regard for underlying value or the marketplace. Gruden, Meyer, Tesla—it’s all the same story. When the buyer is convinced the future depends on them, price does not matter.

The other 30 NFL coaches were not hired this way. Bill Belichick and Andy Reid had been fired from their last head-coaching jobs. John Harbaugh was a special teams coach who wondered whether he would ever get his shot. Sean Payton had been demoted as the Giants’ play-caller (how absurd does that sound now?) and left to work for Bill Parcells in Dallas before New Orleans called. All those hires were tough sells to significant portions of the teams’ fan bases, and so all of those coaches knew they were expendable.

Gruden? Raiders owner Mark Davis was so bent on pleasing Raiders fans as he moved the team to Las Vegas that he focused exclusively on the coach they wanted. He gave Gruden a preposterous 10-year, $100 million contract, outbidding nobody.

Meyer? A stable, well-run organization would have found the red flags (perhaps by asking a crack private investigator to Google “Urban Meyer red flags”). But the Jaguars had been floundering for so long that owner Shad Kahn convinced himself that a man who had never worked a day in the NFL on any level was the only one who could rescue his franchise. The financial terms of Meyer’s deal have not been made public, but the nonfinancial terms have been clear from the beginning: Meyer gets to do what Meyer wants.

This helps explain why the Jaguars and Raiders are trapped now. When you hire a savior as coach, you subject your whole franchise to a cult of personality. You have very little recourse if the coach fails or misbehaves—and the coach knows it.

The Raiders could not reasonably anticipate that Gruden used a racial trope to describe NFL union leader DeMaurice Smith in an email 10 years ago or that the email would become public. But now that it has happened, what can they do? They sided with Gruden the moment they gave him that ridiculous contract.

Of course, money and security factor into professional decisions, but if Gruden really wanted to coach the Raiders, Davis did not have to offer him a 10-year deal to sign him. Six would have done it.

Gruden is a good NFL head coach. He has won a Super Bowl and taken five teams to the playoffs. But he is in his fourth year in charge of a franchise that had a young Pro Bowl quarterback when he arrived. He has yet to make the playoffs, and now he is swimming in a controversy of his own making. Logically, he should be on a hot seat; that’s just how the NFL works. But how can a coach with six years left on his deal be on a hot seat?

When you give a coach a 10-year deal, you are telling him, and the world, that he can do no wrong. The Raiders say they are bothered by Gruden’s email, but are they really approaching this with an open mind and a willingness to fire him if need be? Gruden says he often says somebody who is lying has “rubber lips,” regardless of their race. Has he shared old emails that support that claim? Are the Raiders even willing to ask?

The Jaguars, meanwhile, could have reasonably anticipated most of what has gone wrong for Meyer. Sure, the video of him being a creepy grandpa at his Ohio restaurant was a surprise. But the reasons that Meyer was there in the first place were highly foreseeable.

Anybody who has followed Meyer wondered whether he could handle the inevitable losing in the NFL, whether he was too sure of himself to admit responsibility for his own failures and whether he could put his ego aside and realize the NFL is a different world from college ball. Yet when his team lost to the Bengals, Meyer stayed in Ohio rather than get on the team plane, a stunning breach of professional standards. He either didn’t think he had to do what coaches are expected to do, or he didn’t know how wrong that was and the people working for him are so beholden to him that they were scared to tell him.

Meyer then put on an Ohio State quarter-zip and went to a restaurant that bears his name. It’s almost like he was so stunned and sad about being just another losing coach that he needed a heavy dose of adulation to prop up his ego and was too self-involved to realize the effect it would have on his team. Yeah. Almost.

Once the video leaked, the Jaguars paid another price for giving Meyer so much power: Because he can do whatever he wants, he can apologize however he wants. Instead of, “I acted like an idiot and it’s entirely my fault,” he dragged quarterback Trevor Lawrence into his statement and couched his apology with excuses. He said he was dragged onto the dance floor and should have left. The video does not support that. Most NFL players can appreciate somebody being a fool in a bar, but they don’t have much respect for coaches who twist the truth—especially when that coach preaches accountability and fails to apply it to himself. The Jaguars made a bad situation worse by failing at crisis management.

Meyer was one of the great college football coaches of all time. But for him to succeed in the NFL, he needed to drop his worst habits, check his ego and recognize how much he didn’t know. Maybe Khan had those conversations with him last winter, but it’s hard to convince a man he needs to change when you’re desperately wooing him.

Americans are conditioned to believe their elected officials are lying and their football coaches are telling the truth. Gruden and Meyer are not gods, saviors or above reproach. They are humans who need boundaries and standards like the rest of us. The owners of their teams should have thought about that when they hired them.

More NFL coverage:

• Urban Meyer Has a Long Way to Go—or Does He?
• MMQB: Packers Veterans Helped Right the Ship
• Stop Forcing Cowboys-Giants Games on Us

Michael Rosenberg October 11, 2021 at 11:07PM

Sunday, 10 October 2021

Daniel Jones Carted to Locker Room After Hit to Head vs. Cowboys

The Giants turned to Mike Glennon under center after Daniel Jones was carted to the locker room against the Cowboys on Sunday.

View the original article to see embedded media.

Giants quarterback Daniel Jones was carted to the locker room after suffering a hit to the head in the second quarter on Sunday.

Jones was hit as he ran toward the end zone on a 3rd-and-goal try. He stood up and attempted to walk back to the huddle after the hit, but New York's signal-caller stumbled before regaining his balance. Giants trainers then attended to Jones and escorted him to the sideline.

Mike Glennon finished the drive for New York as running back Devontae Booker scored to tie the contest at 10-10. Jones did not return before halftime as Dallas grabbed a 17-10 lead, and he was subsequently ruled out for the contest.

Jones's injury marked the second major exit for the Giants on Sunday. Running back Saquon Barkley was ruled out early in Sunday's contest with an ankle injury after he landed on the foot of Cowboys defensive back Jourdan Lewis.

New York entered Sunday's contest at 1–3 in 2021. The Giants have lost seven of their last eight matchups against Dallas, and they enter 2021 seeking just their second playoff appearance since 2011.

More NFL Coverage:

• Week 5 Preview: The Browns Will Probably Win the Super Bowl So Let’s Learn to Live With It
• How Justin Fields Earned the Bears' Starting QB Job
• What Are the Seahawks Without Russell Wilson?

Michael Shapiro October 11, 2021 at 03:35AM