Today is a super podcast of sorts. We’ll be previewing the Patriots/Chargers upcoming playoff game but I am also joined by the heavy hitters in Big Z, Mattes, and Joey B. Hopefully we don’t all yell over each other like an episode of The View.
Patriots are (-5) point favorites with a 48.5 over/under
Patriots are undefeated at home this year and the Chargers are undefeated outside of the Los Angeles DMA…
First of all yes, I know, I am putting pen to paper twice in one day. Fairly reckless. Nonetheless….
Secondly, I don’t have a ton to add to this other than the headline. THE BROWNS DID NOT COMPLETELY FUCK THIS UP. The guy who has seemingly made Baker Mayfield a competent NFL starter is going to be named the head coach. Freddie Kitchens will become the latest in a string of “young QB guru” HC hires such as Sean McVay. If the Browns can now add a half decent D-Coordinator to oversee the plethora of talent they have on that side of the ball Cleveland might have a competent football team. REREAD THAT SENTENCE.
I am honestly awestruck that one of the most out-to-lunch franchises in pro sports made such a safe, solid decision operationally. It borderline does not make sense, possibly even stinking to high heaven.
But let Cleveland have this for now. Cheers, Browns fan.
Former Chargers linebacker and walking human chest muscle, Shawne Merriman, is at it again.
On Monday’s episode of FS1’s “The Herd,” the 34-year-old – who is out of football and now apparently involved in clothing design, bare-knuckle fighting (which Red blogged about), and NASCAR – guaranteed that the Los Angeles Chargers, who haven’t beaten Brady ONCE in his career, would come in and beat the Pats in Foxborough on Sunday (h/t Patriots Wire):
“They’re a lock for me this week,” Merriman said. “The Patriots, yeah, you have Bill Belichick, you have Tom Brady there, but they’re not the same team they were in the past. They’re just not. They don’t bring that kind of stamp to the field anymore. I know they’ve been in the playoffs, they have the experience. But this Chargers team right now, they’re the most resilient team in football.
“They’ve been through so much. Injuries and the move and people not really paying attention to them and they just use all of it as fuel. Going out there is going to be no different. Them winning on the road, it hasn’t been a problem this year. They’ll go right into Foxboro, it will be competitive, it will be a good game. In the past, the Patriots have always found ways to win. Not this time, I don’t think that’s the case.”
I’ll start by saying that I believe the Chargers do actually have a shot of winning on Sunday, perhaps more than any previous Patriots home playoff opponent in the past two decades. They might be the most talented squad, up and down the roster, in the entire AFC, and their pass-rushers could give Brady fits this weekend. (Much more to come on all of that, and more, in this week’s preview.)
But for Merriman to be that certain is laughable. A lock? He’s banking on a quarterback with .500 career playoff record and a young defense that still has yet to prove themselves on the biggest stage. Also, the game is in New England, and the Pats will have had had two weeks to rest up. Oh, and “yeah,” Shawne, we do still have “Belichick and Brady there.”
Nothing would be sweeter than beating the Chargers on Sunday and seeing a shot of a sour-pussed Merriman somewhere in the stands. And hopefully, all 53 guys run out to mid-field after its over to do the “Lights Out” dance – just like the “classless” Patriots teams of the past (*he said with heavy sarcasm*). Right, L.T.??!!
Regardless, it’s safe to assume that Merriman’s words this week only further fueled and fanned the flames of a hungry, elder Thomas Patrick Edward Brady, Jr. In fact, I actually now feel better after hearing what he said.
As Mattes blogged yesterday, Josh McDaniels will be staying with the Patriots for the 2019 season. To use McDaniels’ own words, “the book is closed” on interviewing this year. Who knows why; whether or not he decided to just stay another year or whether one of the jobs he coveted, such as the opening with Cleveland and Baker Mayfield, was looking like it would go someone else like Freddie kitchens and McDaniels didn’t want to be seen as a losing horse. Backing out in that situation is never a bad move.
Either way, the Patriots can’t continue to play this year by year. It just doesn’t make sense to not have a plan for when McDaniels does inevitably leave. And unlike 99.9% of the the big questions regarding the Patriots future, this one falls in the “regardless of Tom Brady” category. Brady or no Brady, when McDaniels steps away the Pats need a plan.
The obvious first question to ponder is whether or not this is one of those things that Belichick already has schemed up in his head but has never disclosed, as shocking as that is. It’s not like anyone has really ever asked him, to my knowledge, if he has a plan past Josh McDaniels’ tenure at the healm of the offense. Maybe there’s someone in the college ranks Belichick likes. Maybe there’s a coach in the NFL, possibly a football lifer in a lower coordinator or some sort of “special assistant” position, that he’s given the wink and the nudge to for when McDaniels leaves. There’s a distinct possibility that someone on the Pats current staff has been tabbed as the heir apparent. The latter makes possibly the most sense as the Patriots are known to promote from within (HR APPROVED!). Come to think of it, it wouldn’t shock me if Steve Belichick himself was vying for the job. I mean it does seem like the three things that guy loves is lacrosse, getting stoned in the Gillette parking lot, and football; football being something that has climbed to the top of that list as time has gone by.
On the other side of all these questions is McDaniels himself and his decision to stay. You kind of have to wonder why, right? Why two years in a row does it seem like he has his choice of jobs but decides to stay in a Coordinator position? Maybe the most logical reason would be that the Patriots have secretly told him that he was next in line for Belichick’s job. The “if and when” of Belichick’s retirement has more rumors attached to it than possibly any other storyline in football, and the team has come out before I believe and said McDaniel’s isn’t necessarily tabbed to be their next head coach, but that very well could be all smoke and mirrors.
Then there’s the fact that McDaniels has been here since 2012 and before that from 2001-2008. He has a family and so maybe he just wants to stay rooted. I mean, if we assume his kids are about a decade away from college then there’s no reason for him to not wait until his early 50s to be a head coach again, rather than uproot them now. He’d still be fairly young for that role being not yet 43 now. Lastly, and something Red and I discussed as a possibility, is the fact that maybe Josh McDaniels is simply shell shocked from his last time being a head coach. While his stint in Denver was not a without positives, it was far from a swimming success as well. Maybe he just chooses to stay at a job he is wildly successful in at an organization where he knows all the pieces and the operation cold. O and his QB is Tom Brady. There’s that.
Regardless, I hope both McDaniels and the Patriots have a plan for the future as right now we only have a plan for 2019. And, let’s face it, there’s about eight months until the beginning of next season, so that plan could change. The bottom line is that the “next era” of the Patriots, which we all are too afraid to talk about, is not just when this team moves on from Brady or Belichick. It would also be launched in part when we have to replace McDaniels and the rejuvenation he has brought to Brady’s career and the offense as a whole.
-Joey B
P.S: Anyone get that “close the book” is a reference to the Mafia and how they add names to the list of “made men”? McDaniels is such a weirdo.
I’ve been on a Lupe Fiasco kick this week after yesterday’s CRS post. Today I bring you Lupe’s first mega hit in the rap world with Kick Push, his ode to rebellious youth in the form of skateboarding. Lupe dominated the mid-00’s with his albums Food & Liquor in 2006, The Cool in 2007, and probably his most commercially successful album Lasers in 2011. The Cool is without a doubt my top Lupe album, but it’s hard to beat Kick Push in terms of individual tracks.
Before he knew he had a crew There wasn’t no punk in they spitfire shirts and SB dunks They would push till they could skate no more Office building lobbies wasn’t safe no more And it wasn’t like they wasn’t getting chased no more Just the freedom was better than breathing they said
Watch out for the Cardinals because they just dipped into the Handsome Men’s Club for their next head coach. The rest of the league has been put on notice. I was legitimately worried the Jets were going to hire Kliff and the Patriots were going to be tasked with defeating the handsomeness for years to come. I can breathe a sigh of relief now.
In all seriousness though I am intrigued as all hell to see what Kliff Kingsbury brings to the table as an NFL head coach. Granted he just got axed by Texas Tech a couple months back, the guy has worked with and developed Baker Mayfield, Patrick Mahomes, Johnny Manziel, and Case Keenum over the past 6 years. Pretty impressive lineup of guys under center. So for a league that is obsessed with finding the next young offensive guru, quarterback whisperer or whatever cliche you want to use, Kingsbury was bound to land a job somewhere in the NFL this year.
ESPN – The future of sports-betting-infused game broadcasts will be on display Friday, when the Washington Wizards host the Milwaukee Bucks. NBC Sports Washington Plus will produce an alternate broadcast for the Bucks-Wizards game that will feature a free-to-play predictive contest with a $500 prize, along with real-time sports-betting data and statistics that will be displayed on-screen throughout the broadcast.
The predictive contest, “Predict the Game,” will ask approximately 30 questions throughout the game, such as: “Will Wizards forward Trevor Ariza score 10 or more points in the first half?” In addition, odds, point spreads and over/unders will be shown on broadcast graphics.
Inject this into my veins.
The only problem I can see with this is I already spend 75% of my time watching a game looking at Twitter. I can literally be looking up stats about the game, chirping opposing fans, or just tweeting out videos like the one of the Bears mascot literally dying on the field.
But that speaks to a larger issue with people as a whole; massive fragmentation of attention. This is the one area where Millennials really *are* the worst, albeit with good intentions.
We all try and do as many things as possible at once. We are masters of multitasking. We grew up with video games that required you to sneak past 20 armed guards, snipe a moving target’s face off from half a mile away, then escape an enemy base, all while collecting the necessary pieces of intel and disabling communications for enemy reinforcements. So anytime someone’s mom tries to tell me that video games are bad for kids I tell them to KICK ROCKS. Video games are the REASON I am able to focus on so many different objectives and deliverables all at once.
However, the downside of that is with my attention being pulled in so many directions I simply cannot sit down and do just one thing anymore. I can’t even tell you the last time I sat down and watched an entire game without picking up my phone or laptop. I guess high school? But even then you were IM-ing your buddies. It’s honestly like I graduated to better drugs because while in hindsight AIM wasn’t that great, I *still* get a rush of dopamine to the brain when I see this:
So am I excited for a gambling focused broadcast? Hell yes, in fact I’ve said for years that NFL games need to have alternative broadcasts featuring just a couple of guys f-bombing the coaches for bad decisions in between play-by-play. It would be like watching a game with your buddies, provide a little levity to sporting events that are already too serious at times, and ratchet up the entertainment value all at the same time. Would you rather watch that or Dan Fouts trying to remember where he left his keys?
The Green Bay Packers won’t be stealing Josh McDaniels away after all.
After interviewing with the team this past weekend in Wisconsin, there were rumors as recent as yesterday that the Packers were “planning on bringing him in for a second interview,” and one site went so far as to write a headline saying it was “increasingly clear” that McDaniels would become the new leader of the cheeseheads.
Then came this news:
Done deal: The #Packers and Matt LaFleur agreed to a four-year contract with a fifth-year option, source said. Strong numbers for a first-time coach. They got their guy.
As a Pats fan, I’ll admit I am very happy. While McDaniels could still bolt somewhere this offseason – most likely Cleveland, if anywhere – this move makes it much less likely. And the fact of the matter is, this team is simply better with McDaniels here. Would we be cooked without him? No. And we’ve proven that before. But there has perhaps been no other coach with whom Brady has worked better throughout his career, and keeping McDaniels around in TB12’s twilight years could prove to be vital.
Again, we have no idea what will happen with this guy – especially after the B.S. he pulled last offseason. But for now, Josh isn’t going anywhere, or at least not to Green Bay.
Stay tuned…
(MAJOR BREAKING UPDATE: During his weekly presser on Tuesday, McDaniels came out and said that he will not be pursuing any other head-coaching jobs this offseason [h/t ESPN Boston]:
“The book is closed,” McDaniels said on his weekly conference call, when asked if he anticipates interviewing for any other head-coaching jobs this year. “It’s always a humbling experience to have an opportunity to interview with anybody for that position.
“I was thankful for the opportunity to meet with Green Bay; it always gives you greater insight into another organization of how they do things. It’s been very educational for me every time I’ve gone through it and I’ve appreciated every single one of them.
“I’m completely focused on the Chargers and our season and finishing it strong. And I’ll be here moving forward.”
McDaniels also already denied a chance to interview for the Bengals, and he apparently also said he’s had “no contact” with Cleveland, proving that the entire media hoopla surrounding head-coaching vacancies is nothing but smoke and mirrors.
After being out the past six games with a groin injury, the Celts’ beloved rookie did not make much too much noise in his return the court against the Brooklyn Nets on Monday night, finishing with just two points in a little over four minutes of play.
Those two points, though? They came on this showstopper:
Again: this kid can ball! The dunk was impressive enough, but his steal also set up the fast break that allowed it to happen in the first place. That steal was also his third in his past four games. Over that time, he’s also compiled a total of eight blocks, including his second five-block performance of the year against Phoenix just before Christmas.
Sadly, we didn’t get to see what he could do against Joel Embiid and the Sixers on Christmas Day, as both Williams and Aron Baynes had been out nursing injuries since that game (and even beforehand in Baynes’s case). Therefore, for about the past three or four weeks, the Celtics have been rolling with Daniel Theis, a still-not-fully-healed Al Horford, and an extremely underwhelming Guerschon Yabusele as the team’s only bigs.
Along with Williams’s return last night, Celtics fans also got some good news yesterday about Baynes, who has been out since December 19 with a broken finger. Both he and Coach Stevens seemed pretty positive about his healing progression when speaking to the media yesterday, and the 32-year-old Aussie could return to the C’s lineup as early as next week.
Baynes and his man bun will soon be back on the court.
But what about the rest of the team? How have they been doing since the jolly ole fat man came down the chimney a few weeks ago?
Since beating Philly on December 25, the Celtics are 4-2, with those two losses coming against San Antonio and a scorching-hot Houston Hardens squad – oops, sorry, I meant Houston “Rockets” – respectively. And since Thanksgiving, they are a very respectable 15-6. Three of those losses, however, have come with either Williams and/or Baynes out of the lineup, so this team could be ready to roll once everyone is finally healthy once again. Don’t be so worried about that fifth-place spot in the East right now, as disappointing as it may seem.
Speaking of people who are healing up, Gordon Hayward may finally be showing signs of being the All-Star he was out in Utah. Taking away an absolute clunker against the Spurs last week, Hayward has otherwise averaged 17.2 points per game since the Philly contest, including a 35-point outburst against Minnesota. He’s also shot 54 percent from the field in those five games and over 42 percent from deep.
Look who’s finally coming alive!
Kyrie Irving and Marcus Morris have also continued to roll, and both should receive serious All-Star consideration this year. Jayson Tatum has not taken quite the leap that everyone expected and hoped for this year, but he’s certainly not playing poorly, by any stretch of the imagination. And Marcus Smart is showing signs of rounding out his game, shooting over 40 percent from deep in six-of-his-last-11 games. The team is still playing top-five defense as well.
If there’s one noteworthy issue with this team, it’s in the rebounding department, especially on the offensive end. Again, though, with both Williams and Baynes back (or soon to be back) in the rotation, hopefully we see some signs of improvement there in short order.
So, at just about the midway point of the season, I’d say I’m feeling OK about this Celtics squad. Yes, I do believe they’re underperforming a bit relative to expectations, but the East is also the best it’s been in years (collectively, at least), and this team still has time to get hot.
Don’t believe all the negative rhetoric flooding the sports talk airwaves right now. The Time Lord is back! And this team is still doing just fine.
ESPN.com – SANTA CLARA, Calif. — With stunning ease — and a freshman quarterback — Clemson toppled college football’s greatest dynasty again to become the first perfect playoff champion. Trevor Lawrence passed for 347 yards and three touchdowns and the second-ranked Tigers beat No. 1 Alabama 44-16 on Monday night in the College Football Playoff national championship game.
So I am actually going to lay out an argument here, and I implore you to stick with me.
Basically, I don’t think that just because you cannot successfully coach in the NFL, it does not mean you are a bad coach. However, I think if you are a complete and abject fucking failure in the NFL, it may be a red flag and something to keep an eye on. An analogy, for reference, is if you were to look at someone in the corporate world’s resume and after a steady climb they plateaued awhile back. They still achieve highly and work on important stuff in their current role, but never got to the next level. Why?
In the case of Nick Saban, there are no two ways about it, he was terrible as the coach of Miami. Not unlike that catchers mitt Pete Carroll with the Patriots, he could not understand the more subtle nuances of being a coach in the pros and it doomed the Dolphins while he was there. So he took his hair plugs back to the college ranks and Alabama, where he has run train on college football for the past decade or so.
So my argument is invalid right? If he’s had this much success in college he has to be a very high-level coach right? Wrong.
You see, during his time in college, Nick Saban, with his $5,000.00 suits and perfect diction has been an excellent recruiter. He woos people. He’s a good salesman. During his run of convincing half of the 5-star recruits in the country to come play for him at Alabama, he has had a pretty easy go of trampling his opponents in college football that simply fielded an inferior group of players, no offense to them. I mean, it’s basic probability when you break it down. Goliath beats David 9/10 times.
Unfortunately, Saban’s brute force luck has run out and now he has to contend with Dabo Swinney and a just-as-talented Clemson program. And what happens? They get run out of the fucking building. The team that is asked once a season if they could beat the NATIONAL FOOTBALL LEAGUE’S BEST TEAM get’s seven shades of shit beaten out of them. Because as good of a recruiter as Saban is, he has proven to just not be that good of a coach. A poor executor who can’t make in-game adjustments. Because well, if you can adjust in game you don’t generally fail to score in the second half while your opponent drops 13 to go along with the 31 they dropped in the first half. You just don’t.
So there it is. You can trust Nick Saban to sell you a race car, just don’t ask him to race it for you. You can go through him to make it to the pros, just don’t always expect a National Championship. It might not happen. Not anymore.
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The 300s 