Tag: Seattle

Russell Wilson Rumored to Be On the Trade Block and the Patriots Aren’t Even MENTIONED as a Landing Spot

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How is one of the most successful franchises in NFL history that has a gigantic, gaping hole at the quarterback position not even mentioned as a possible landing spot for an elite QB that is suddenly and unexpectedly on the trade block? Whether it was Deshaun Watson, Matthew Stafford, Carson Wentz, and now Russell Wilson the Patriots don’t seem to be in on any of them. Regardless of what you think of each and everyone of those guys, all of them have played at an MVP level yet the Pats have no interest. I know in New England we have somehow fetishized “value” and take pride in our team not overpaying for anything. Well, sometimes you need to overpay a little bit or you get stuck driving a ’95 Civic with cigarette holes in the armrests because you don’t wanna pay for a premium for a gently used 2018 SUV with leather seats.

This team has a lot of holes so understandably Bill Belichick isn’t doing cartwheels when thinking about having to trade 2-4 first rounders for a quarterback. Yes, Russell Wilson will turn 33 next season so thats a consideration as well. But the larger point to be made is there have been some solid to excellent QBs on the market this offseason and there hasn’t been a single peep about the Pats. Are they really that against overpaying to solidify the most important position in sports? Well…probably yes, considering they let Tom Brady walk out the door rather than give the man an extension and some roster input. And Tom Brady these other guys are not.

But maybe it’s something worse…has the allure of the Patriots gone out the door with TB12?

It was widely reported that Stafford specifically said he would not play in New England and we all called him a puss for it. But Adam Schefter also reported that “the Cowboys, Saints, Raiders, and Bears are the only teams Wilson would consider.” So if the Pats don’t want to dump a handful of first rounders into one position I don’t necessarily agree with it, but I understand. However, if it’s more of players simply not wanting to come here then that’s a much larger issue.

Above all else, I just would like to see some semblance of a plan from Belichick. Whether that’s going out and bringing back the prodigal son in Jimmy G, trading up in the draft to get a guy like Trey Lance, or bringing on a bridge QB like Marcus Mariota and then drafting another QB late. Something tangible to build towards. But bringing back Cam Newton on a veteran minimum contract after he threw 8 touchdowns last year is not a plan. That’s just allowing your environment to dictate your actions. It’s time to make a move.

The Patriots Could Be in for a Bit of Rebuild…

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This really has just been a disaster of a season. The Patriots just got dunked on by the Buffalo Bills after going 29-3 against them between 2001-2019 with Tom Brady under center. It was a blowout, it was a changing of the guard, but to say it was embarrassing would imply that the end result was surprising. It was not. In the infamous words of Trent Dilfer, the Patriots aren’t good anymore. It’s the first time the Patriots have been swept in a season by a divisional opponent in 20 years, they are dead last in the NFL in passing TDs with 8 (one of which came from WR Jakobi Meyers), and the team is uncharacteristically undisciplined, which was only exacerbated by that head scratching challenge flag Belichick threw on what was clearly a catch directly in front of him and his son.

Someone clearly told Bill to throw the red flag though so Ernie must be going blind up in that fucking lighthouse.

Shawn Kemp Talks About the Time Larry Bird Straight Up Bullied Him and It’s Awesome

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Yahoo – The former Seattle SuperSonics big man found out the hard way just how ruthless of a trash-talker Bird was when he faced him as a rookie in 1989. During a recent appearance on the Knuckleheads podcast with Quentin Richardson & Darius Miles, Kemp recalled a meeting with Bird that has stuck with him to this day.

“We were playing the Boston Celtics, so the great Larry Bird. I’m from Indiana and Larry’s from Indiana,” Kemp said. “I knew about the history of Larry but I didn’t realize how he really got down. …

“Larry gave me 50 [points] in three quarters. And he talked to me the whole entire game. He asked me at the jump ball, ‘You’re the one that broke all my records in high school right?’ and I said ‘Yeah, that’s me.’ and he said ‘I’ve got something for you tonight.'”

In honor of today being Larry Bird’s 64th birthday, it’s a great time to remind everyone how Larry Legend wasn’t just a basketball icon, he was also a shit talking savant.

Michael Jordan gets tons of credit for being a master trash talker and somehow figuring out a way to make everything a slight against him,

But people don’t realize how ruthless Larry Bird was because he looks like an unassuming white dude putting up mid range jumpers at the Y.

Here comes this rookie in Shawn Kemp and Bird already knows his whole life story and takes it personal that Kemp broke his high school scoring records. Mind you, this is after Bird had already won three championships and three MVP awards in the NBA. Just an all-time shit talker from his “Who’s coming in second?” line at the 3 point contest, to playing a game left handed, to his “Merry fucking Christmas” line during a Christmas Day game, to telling Reggie Miller “I am the best fucking shooter in the league.”

Check out a collection of the best stories here, put some Larry Bird YouTube highlights on loop, and then weep that we were too young to watch him play. We did get another Hall of Fame shit talker in Kevin Garnett though and for that I am grateful.

Gridiron Tales Week 12: MNF Birds Edition

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Carson Wentz Finally Has What He's Needed All Along – Dynamic Young Wideouts – NBC10 Philadelphia

Sunday: 2-1

Season: 11-7

Highlight the Highs: Gallman took advantage of Cincy’s porous run defense, while Kirk Cousins dug himself out of a hole for a big passing day

Loathe the Lows: Daniel Jones had success passing on Cincy, but was unable to convert anything into a passing TD, which includes Evan Engram being caught inside the 5 and Darius Slayton not running full speed to track down a deep pass attempt… Oh and the hamstring injury in the second half didn’t help either.

Tonight, we have birds against birds. One team has faired well against the pass the season, while the other team is the league’s get-right pass defense for opponents.

The Pick: Carson Wentz O21.5 completions vs Seahawks (+105)

Fact #1: The Seahawks have allowed an average of 30 completions over their last 5 games

Fact #2: Piggybacking on that, Seattle has allowed the most in each of these categories over the past 5 weeks: completions (30), passing yards (1,668) and QB rushes (35).

Fact #3: Wentz has only reached 22+ completions once in his last 7 games, but the Hawks have allowed every starting QB they’ve faced not named Nick Mullens to complete at least 27 passes.

Sidebar: I know it “Hurts” to watch Wentz play this season and that his backup reportedly has a package this week, but that shouldn’t deter anyone from loving this as a get-right game for the Eagles offense.


The pick: Jalen Reagor O47.5 receiving yards vs SEA

Fact #1: Over the last 5 weeks, Seattle has allowed 105 receptions to WRs — the most in the NFL over that span — and 15 more than the next closest team (TEN)

Fact #2: Over the last 5 weeks, Seattle has allowed a league-worst 1,125 receiving yards to WRs.

Fact #3: Reagor’s snap % has increased each week since returning from injury: 73%, 88% and 93%. Couple this with 18 targets in those 3 games + Philly potentially chasing points and you have a recipe for potential Reagorbombs.

Gridiron Tales: Week 11 Thursday Night Football Edition

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Last week: 2-3
Season: 5-4

Let’s summarize what happened last week real quick.

Lone positive: Nick Chubb broke all gamblers hearts by running out of bounds and not scoring against the Texans, but for your boy, that long run cashed the over on his rushing yards prop.

Negatives: Jared Goff decided to continue to feed Josh Reynolds as much as he did Cooper Kupp and Robert Woods, which meant we narrowly missed our reception totals for both players.

But like Hannah Montana and Miley Cyrus say:

“Everybody makes mistakes
Everybody has those days (oh yeah)
Everybody knows what I’m talkin’ ’bout
Everybody gets that way (that’s right)”

And with that we’re onto Week 11 : Belichick voice

The pick: D.K. Metcalf Under 79.5 receiving yards

Unless there are major snowfalls or torrential downpours, I loathe unders because what’s fun about rooting for no points?! But tonight will be football at its best because we get Metcalf vs Patrick Peterson (again).

Flashback: Week 7 featured a classic that resulted in a 37-34 OT win for the Cardinals.

Fact #1: In that high-scoring affair, Metcalf was limited to 5 targets, 2 catches, 23 yards — all season lows.

Fact #2: According to NextGenStats, Peterson shadowed Metcalf on 42 of his 49 routes during that game. Metcalf recorded 1 catch for six yards on four targets with Peterson on him.

Fact #3: In 3 career meetings vs ARI, Metcalf has posted a combined total of 10 targets, 3 catches and 29 yards.

Fact #4: Metcalf has been held below 30 yards in two of his last four games (Other game: Jalen Ramsey).

DK Metcalf is Going to Be Ben Watson for Halloween This Year

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Seattle lost to Arizona on a last second field goal in a wild overtime back and forth affair last night, but the Seahawks may not have even made it a game if not for this DK Metcalf play. In an uncharacteristically bad pass in the red zone (except for this one), Russell Wilson threw an ill advised slant that the Cardinals’ Budda Baker easily intercepted and was off to the house. It should have been an easy pick six as there was nothing but green turf between him and the end zone, except Metcalf was not having it. Metcalf turns on the jets, sprints 90 yards, and runs Baker down from behind.

It was eerily reminiscent of one of the greatest plays in Patriots history that actually came in a loss. In 2005 the Patriots were coming off back to back Super Bowl titles and finished a mediocre 10-6, which was still good enough to win the AFC East. That was essentially fool’s gold though as this team just was not that good and it was before Tom Brady really became the Tom Brady that would carry the Patriots and lead countless comebacks for years to come. After trouncing the Jaguars (and Brady’s current QB coach Byron Leftwich), the Pats moved on to play the Broncos led by Jake the Snake Plummer in the AFC Divisional round. Down 10-6 late in the 3rd quarter, the Patriots were in the red zone and threatening to take the lead. Brady gets pressured out of the pocket and rolls right, throwing on the run and tossing up a jump ball to an allegedly 5’10” Troy Brown. The throw was picked off by All-Pro cornerback Champ Bailey, who was 2 yards deep in his own end zone before taking off and running it back for a would be pick six. Only for Patriots tight end Ben Watson to run something like 110 yards from the opposite side of the field to chase down Bailey and SMOKE him at the one yard line.

Bailey was ruled down at the 1-yard line, which should have been ruled a touchback and Patriots ball but it was 15 years ago so I’m not gonna get worked up about that before I even finish my morning coffee.

The Patriots would go on to lose the game 27-13, but it was one I’ll never forget because of that one Ben Watson play.

Oh and the guy that DK Metcalf chased down ran a 4.4 40-yard-dash at the combine by the way so it’s not like he was running down some out of shape linebacker. If only the Patriots could draft receivers like that…

Mark Sanchez Retires from the NFL. Never Forget the Butt Fumble.

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NY Post – Quarterback Mark Sanchez is putting away his helmet and heading to ABC/ESPN to be a college football analyst, The Post has learned.

Sources tell The Post the former Jets quarterback’s main job will be in ABC’s lead college football studio, where he will join Kevin Negandhi and Jon Vilma. Sanchez is replacing Mack Brown, who left to coach North Carolina.

The Catch. The Immaculate Reception. The Butt Fumble. There are certain plays in NFL history where you just say two or three words and everyone knows exactly what you’re talking about and where they were when it happened. Luckily for me I was a part of NFL lore because I actually attended The Butt Fumble game at the Meadowlands. I saw that glorious play on Thanksgiving night 2012 with a bunch of my buddies. Since it was Thanksgiving we had been eating and drinking for about 8 hours leading up to the game so saying I *saw* the play is technically accurate even if it didn’t fully register up in the 300s section.

I do however vividly remember the stadium announcers not even addressing what had just happened and just moving along like it was business as usual. Thank god for high def cameras though so this incredible performance could live on in the football archives forever.

Oh and Lenny Kravitz played the halftime show that game. What a night.

Anyways, shout out to Mark “the Sanchize” Sanchez for a head scratching yet decent career. He led the Jets to BACK TO BACK AFC CHAMPIONSHIP GAME APPEARANCES as we would hear for years and years despite not winning any of them. He was a solid if unspectacular quarterback, but if you remember it was a shock the Jets traded all the way up to No. 5 to draft him. Especially after his coach at USC and current Seahawks coach Pete Carroll was a pretty big asshole when asked about his assessment of Sanchez turning pro.

Looking back he was probably right as Sanchez was the the full time starter at USC for only one season before skipping his senior year to go pro and immediately being crowned the savior in New York and starting as a rookie.

He’ll forever be linked to Rex Ryan as the two spearheaded the most successful era of Jets football since the Bill Parcells days. That was a fun time to be a Patriots or a Jets fan because both teams were very good and the Jets loved to talk so it led to some heated rivalries. Theres still players from those late 2000s Jets teams that I despise like Bart Scott.

Can’t Wait til your radio show gets cancelled.

So Sanchez may have only thrown 20+ touchdowns once in a season and may have thrown three interceptions in a 45-3 blowout to the Patriots on Monday Night Football, but he seemed like a genuinely likable guy. Sure he had some weird photoshoots

but who hasn’t?

I don’t know if I’ve ever identified with a pro athlete more than the time Sanchez got busted sneaky crushing a hotdog on the bench.

I respect that move.

Well, Sanchez is off to ESPN where I think he will actually be a great football personality. A good looking dude with some charisma and legitimate NFL playing experience? Sanchez and fellow USC alum Matt Leinart will be the deadliest duo on the LA circuit since the days of Leo Dicaprio and Tobey Maguire.

Ken Griffey Jr. is Still DRIPPING Swag in Custom Cufflinks, Socks, and Tie at Hall of Fame Weekend

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Ken Griffey Jr. is probably the favorite baseball player of anyone between the ages of 30-35 because he legitimately changed the game. He was the first guy that I remember having fun while simultaneously being the best player in the game. Guys like A-Rod and Jeter looked like anxiety attacks and business suits whereas Griffey just put his hat on backwards and hit moonshots with a smile on his face. Not to mention he was the namesake of one of the best video games of all time: Ken Griffey Jr Baseball.

I haven’t really heard much from Junior since his retirement in 2010. I know he works as a special consultant in the Mariners front office, but unless you’re doing TV like Pedro does in addition to his role with the Red Sox, then its a pretty behind the scenes gig. So for Griffey to step out at Hall of Fame weekend just DRIPPING in swag is awesome to see. All these years later and he’s still cooler than the other side of the pillow with custom branded cufflinks, socks, and tie.

The swingman tie may be the greatest fashion accessory I’ve ever seen. Incredible branding by Junior. Excuse me while I try and squeeze into my Griffey Mariners jersey from 1996.

Michael Bennett Close to Joining the Patriots

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I love this move. I would have loved it any of the last few off seasons. I feel like Michael Bennett is one of those solid veterans who is always quasi-available. This is also such a “Pats” move a la grabbing Chris Long and James Harrison where a smart, “football guy” pass rusher who wants to win for a solid organization comes aboard and does (hopefully) well.

Truth be told, Bennett is also more than solid. Since 2012, he has notched played in all 16 games and notched 7 sacks or more in every season except for his shortened 2016 campaign with the Seahawks. And now he gets to come to the Pats where he’ll probably just be asked to get after the QB, but can provide some support in the run as well. He’s in his mid-30’s now which is a minor cause for concern but had 9 sacks last year so I think he has plenty of gas left in the tank.

What also can’t be overlooked is the Bennett brothers are kind of just the shit. Just sort of wacky,  affable guys that happen to be talented as hell at football. They’re “list” guys. As in if you were to told to give your top five guys to go to Vegas with, bring on your bachelor party, invade a small country with etc. the Bennett brothers would be sneaky good additions to those lists. To this end also there is now a slight possibility Marty ends up coming out of retirement to give the Pats one more year as well which I would NOT MIND in the slightest.

This also means Trey Flowers is officially gonzo which sucks. But we knew that was happening. And Michael Bennett is a great 1-2 year fix until we find the next man up. As is the Patriot Way.

So with that we have our first official “LET’S FUCKING GO” of the not yet full incubated 2019-2020 (!) season. O boy o boy.

***UPDATE BECAUSE I’M A GENIUS***

-Joey B.

The Thunder Are Retiring Nick Collison’s Number….Huh?

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NBA.com – The Oklahoma City Thunder announced today that the team will retire Nick Collison’s No. 4 on Wednesday, March 20 when the Thunder hosts the Toronto Raptors at Chesapeake Energy Arena.

Six points, five rebounds, one block. If you use round numbers, those are Nick Collison’s career averages. And on the back of that historic, never before seen stat-line, the Thunder are going to retire his number.

In terms of publicity stunts and good will gestures, this has to be one of the more absurd things I’ve heard of a franchise doing. I mean, this is technically the same franchise that Gary Payton and Shawn Kemp played for. But Nick Collison’s number is going to hang from the rafters? Oooook.

And I get he played that he played his whole, fifteen year career there. I get he probably did stuff like “gave back to the community” and was most likely “a consummate pro”. But do you see the Celtics retiring Leon Powe’s jersey? No you do not. And no Powe did not play for the Celtics for 15 years but he arguably contributed more to, ya know, their actual success than Collison did for the Thunder.

The only reason this is blogable is because of the question of “where is the bar?” Much like the Colts putting up a banner every time they win a game outside of the calendar year that the season began in, are NBA teams just going to start retiring number for no discernible reason? It kind of takes the wind out of the sales of these kinds of things when it is done for players who, ya know, actually deserve it.

Last thing, you know when this news went out, this conversation was had:

Brian Scalabrine: Hey you think maybe…
Mike Gorman: No.

-Joey B.