Category: Featured

Jaguars Shock the Steelers

 

We heard all week about how the Steelers were going to beat the Patriots — from the Steelers themselves. Mike Mitchell had a fantastic quote:

Le’Veon Bell followed it up with a nice Saturday night tweet (which has not since been deleted so good for him standing him ground):

And then this happened:

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The 2017-18 season where a team can score 10 points in a home playoff game against Buffalo and follow it up with 45 points at Heinz Field to knock off the Steelers. AND it’s the Jaguars that did it. Crazy.

The Jaguars raced out to a 21 point lead and looked to easily run away with it as Leonard Fournette passed Le’Veon Bell for rushing TDs at Heinz Field this year (crazy stat). However, the Steelers kept fighting back but could never get ahead again. Bortles didn’t play fantastic but he did just enough to keep his team in front of Pittsburgh and never allowed them to take the lead. Pittsburgh had some incredible TDs and Big Ben still threw 5 TDs on the elite Jaguars’ defense but it was not enough.

The Jaguars move on and everyone’s preseason prediction of the formerly 3-13 Jaguars against the Patriots comes true. The Jaguars certainly deserve some respect but run into the immovable object that is the Patriots next week for a chance to play in Minneapolis.

1/13 Divisional Playoffs Roundup: Patriots Destroy Titans

The Titans scored first and actually gave their fans a glimmer of hope that they’d be competitive and then the Patriots showed up. I’ll give credit where credit is due though — Corey Davis’ first TD of his young career was the first score of this game and was what we were hoping he’d be all here.

After that, well…it was all Patriots per usual. The Pats rode Brady’s 53 pass attempts en route to 35 straight points and an easy road win. James White added two TDs and the Pats allowed a garbage time TD to make the score 35-14, which honestly was not even that close.

Business as usual for the Pats as they’ll host the Jaguars next week at Gillette for a 7th straight appearance in the conference championship.

But at least we got to see Gronk and Amendola’s friendship go to the next level?

Fun stat of the night? Brady is 6-2 in the postseason when throwing 50+ times. In the Super Bowl era, all other QBs combined are 3-28.

1/13 Divisional Playoffs Round-Up: Falcons @ Eagles

The best weekend of football (arguably) has come to a close and what a weekend it was. We’re going to start with the two Saturday games, which were not as close to as exciting as Sunday but still solid.

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#1 Philadelphia Eagles 15 – #6 Atlanta Falcons 10

What do you know? The Falcons did it again and blew a winnable playoff game. I’m not going to point fingers and say I predicted it — but well, you know. Everyone was on the Falcons, which is why this is exactly the kind of game that they lose.

This game was very lackluster — as evidenced by the low score-line. The number 1 seed did successfully pull off the upset over the number 6 seed, who woulda thought? What had people buzzing on twitter most was NBC’s bird graphic:

 

Home Birds are now 10-0 against away birds — what a time to be alive. We saw them show Carson Wentz approximately 25 times and the Falcons ran the worst play on 4th down.

 

Not quite sure why you roll out Matt Ryan here and essentially only give him Julio as a target — who fell down.  Regardless, Julio did have a chance to catch it here but I have to chalk up the game to some bad coaching. The Falcons have already given a vote of confidence to their failure of an OC, Steve Sarkisian so expect more of the same next year. Nick Foles did just enough to get the Eagles the win and at the end of the day, that’s all that matters.

 

P.S. Lane Johnson wearing a dog mask is nightmare material.

 

Andrew McCutchen Traded to the San Francisco Giants

The Pittsburgh Pirates aren’t done wheeling and dealing. It is being reported that they have agreed on a deal that will send 5 X All Star Center fielder Andrew McCutchen to the San Fran Cisco Giants. The deal is pending a review of medical records and the Pirates return has not been released.

Adding McCutchen to a lineup that that has Evan Longoria and Buster Posey makes the Giants serious contenders in the NL West Division.

Last year, McCutchen batted .279 with 28 HR’s and 88 RBI’s.  Throughout his career he has been a offensive and defensive monster, he is a 4 X Silver Slugger Award winner,  Gold Glove Winner in 2012 and NL MVP in 2013.

 

Gerrit Cole to Astros

Its official the Pirates and Astros have agreed on a trade that will send Gerrit Cole to the Astros and the Pirates received right-handers Joe Musgrove and Michael Feliz, third baseman Colin Moran and outfielder Jason Martin.

The addition of Cole bulsters an already deadly starting rotation. Cole joins Justin Verlander, Dallas Keuchel, lance McCullers jr and Charlie Morton.

Cole was an all star back in 2015 where he went 19-8 with a 2.60 era. Since then he’s been inconsistent going 19-22 with a 4.07 era.

The Pirates avoided arbitration with Gerrit on Friday, Cole is scheduled to make 6.75 million in 2018. Prior I the false trade last week it was reported that the Astros were trying to get a trade done prior to his hearing with the Pirates so they could determine how much he would get paid.

Overall it’s a nice trade for the Astros, but unless he can bounce back to his 2015 form, this trade is pretty irrelevant.

Breaking News: Paige’s Wrestling Career Reportedly Over

Paige’s professional wrestling career is reportedly over after suffering another neck injury during a house show, according to PWIinsider.com.

This is just devastating news. She just recently returned to WWE programming for the Raw brand after missing time from injury. Paige is one of the better wrestlers on the roster, yet very controversial. Married to Alberto Del Rio (Alberto El Patron), Paige was constantly in the spotlight during her hiatus. Rumors of abuse and domestic assault took over her life. Not to mention the sex tape that was released involving her and fellow wrestler Xavier Woods. Paige was a mess, but her wrestling ability was never in question. Fans waited patiently for her return.

I was pleasantly surprised to see her return as the leader of the “Absolution” faction a few months ago. She seemed ready to put all of her baggage behind her, and she seemed destined for another championship run. In tremendous shape and delivering tremendous mic work, it seemed like Paige was back to stay.

Until Friday afternoon. News broke that Paige suffered another neck injury during a house show on December 28. Sasha Banks (a Boston native) kicked her in the back of the head. But yeah, wrestling is fake. 🖕🏻 An accident. That’s it. Sasha is one of the better wrestlers in the world. But one accident can be the difference. Paige was not expecting the kick so was unable to protect herself properly. The match had to be called off, and it took Paige several minutes after the match to be able to stand under her own power. WWE is refusing to clear Paige to wrestle. This is very similar to Daniel Bryan’s situation. He was deemed unable to compete, so he retired. But now he is on the verge of being able to compete after having time off.

Let’s hope the same is true for Paige. Paige is a once in a generation talent. She started the “Women’s Revolution” in WWE. Her work in NXT (the developmental league for WWE) was superb. She was the first NXT women’s champion and was truly destined to be one of the greatest.

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At only 25 years old, we can only hope that Paige is able to continue her career after some time. But for WWE to deem her “unable to compete,” and for them to suggest she retire, seems to indicate that this is very, very serious. There is always the possibility that another wrestling promotion would clear her, but it seems highly unlikely that anyone would be willing to take such a risk. Paige was set to compete in the first ever women’s Royal Rumble match later this month. We will have to wait and see what surprises WWE has in store to replace her.

Its hard not to be genuinely concerned for Paige’s mental and emotional well being. Wrestling is all she has ever known. She grew up in a wrestling family, and has been wrestling since she was thirteen. She has said in the past that she was very depressed and had thoughts of suicide during her last hiatus, which was made worse after the sex tape was released. It’s an unimaginable thing to have something so engrained in her life to be taken away from her. God willing she will have support from family and friends to get her through this difficult time.

If this is the end, then this has already been an incredible career. At only 25 years old, the ring truly was “her house!”

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Royal Rumble Predictions

It’s that magical time of the year again. The time of year that even non-wrestling fans seem to come out and show interest in the product. The Royal Rumble pay per view marks the beginning of Wrestlemania season, which theoretically is supposed to be the climax of the “WWE year.” All storylines and rivalries are supposed to heat up and become exciting and interesting so that they are “Wrestlemania worthy.”

As opposed to the last few years, which have been total snoozefests, this year’s Rumble match could truly be one of the greatest of all time. I’m not going to rank my possible winners from most to least likely to win, since it truly is a crap shoot. But here is my list of wrestlers that I view as having a legitimate shot at winning this year’s 30 man Royal Rumble match.

John Cena: He is officially in the match, so that means he is going to win it, right? No? Your wrong, of course he will. In all seriousness, Cena is on his way out, and Vince has invested everything into the next man I am going to discuss. Cena was added to the match for star power, but he has no shot of winning.

Roman Reigns: When in doubt, pick Roman. I’m sure there are many out there who like Reigns and would love to see him win, but it is just way too predictable for me. Every damn year this guy dominates the main event scene, without changing things up or improving his promos. The guy can wrestle, don’t get me wrong, but my god is he boring.

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He simply cruises along because he has “the look” that Vince McMahon salivates over. Roman needs a heel turn in the worst way, because he simply doesn’t fit the typical babyface mold. He is cocky, smug, and arrogant. People boo him already anyway. If they turn him heel people will get behind him since he would be an amazing bad guy. Whatever. I’m done. Sorry for rambling. A Reigns win would set up the rumored rematch with Lesnar at Wrestlemania that Vince has been waiting for, so it certainly would not surprise me. However, I see at least two other guys with a better chance to win…

Shinsuke Nakamura: If I had it my way, this would be the man to win the Rumble this year. One of the top wrestlers in the world, Shinsuke has been head-scratchling under utilized since getting called up to the Smackdown brand. Creative doesn’t seem to have a clue with what to do with him. Nakamura’s limited English obviously impacts this to a degree, but surely they can find meaningful programs with a wrestler of his caliber. The biggest reason I want him winning the Rumble is that it would set him up for a WWE championship match with AJ Styles. These two have wrestled all over the world, and put on one of the best matches of all time at Wrestlekingdom 10 for the New Japan Pro Wrestling promotion in 2016.

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These two in the main event of Wrestlemania for the WWE championship is every die-hard wrestling fan’s dream. Unfortunately, I just don’t have faith in Vince McMahon to make it happen. History suggests that he simply doesn’t have the interest to push a Japanese star with limited English. Nakamura isn’t the stereotypical, meathead wrestler that McMahon generally gets behind (cough cough Roman Reigns cough). In the end, I see the next man as the most likely to win.

Finn Balor: This man is one of the top 10 wrestlers in the world. But my god what a waste of talent. After winning the Universal Championship at Summerslam 2016, the leader of the “Balor Club” has been quiet. Stop me if you’ve heard this before, but creative seemingly doesn’t have anything for him. Shocking, I know. After a feud with Bray Wyatt, Balor has been completely wasted, working meaningless matches. He defeated AJ Styles at the Raw pay per view Tables, Ladders, and Chairs in what was an incredible match, but that was a one-off match that only happened because Wyatt was hurt. So why do I think he has a good chance of winning the Rumble then? I view this as the perfect opportunity for creative to start to get behind him. He has a marketable look that McMahon surely loves, and this just seems like the perfect opportunity for him to rise to the top. Also, that would seemingly lead to Balor versus Brock Lesnar for the Universal Championship at Wrestlemania, an absolute dream match (and it would get us out of the inevitable Reigns/Lesnar match).

Jinder Mahal: Nope. That’s all I have to say. Unfortunately he needs to be mentioned since he was WWE champion for most of the summer and fall of this past year, but that dark period in WWE history is a part in which I would rather forget about and pretend didn’t exist. I’m going to hope and pray that WWE learned it’s lesson and has jumped off the Jinder bandwagon.

Rusev: I don’t see Rusev as having a realistic chance to win, but I wanted to mention him for the simple fact that he has started coming on huge with the fans. Rusev is another wrestler who hasn’t done much of late, but he has recently teamed up with Aiden English, and they are hilarious. Every time Rusev has a mic he claims it is “Rusev Day,” a gag that has caught on in a massive way with the fans, who join in and chant “Happy Rusev Day!” I foresee some “Rusev Day ” goodness in the Rumble match, even if he is unlikely to win.

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Surprise Entrant: Part of the appeal and magic of the Rumble is looking forward to seeing what surprises it brings. There is always at least one surprise entrant that no one sees coming. I, for one, still get goosebumps thinking of Chris Jericho’s #2 entrance into the 2013 Royal Rumble to seek revenge against #1 entrant Dolph Ziggler.

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I don’t foresee any major surprises this year, but I will include the usual suspects for the heck of it. The Undertaker hasn’t been seen since he lost to Reigns at Wrestlemania, and it is unclear if he actually retired or if he will come back at some point. My guess is that WWE is intentionally leaving the door open in hopes that the Deadman will be ready to go for another match or two. A Rumble appearance is certainly a possibility. The Rock would be another fun surprise, but I don’t see him coming back anytime soon. Triple H is always a possibility. And I would absolutely love to see the Raw GM Kurt Angle be a surprise entrant. The Olympic gold medalist can still go, and it would be a ton of fun to see him go head to head with some of the best. My money would be on Angle and Chris Jericho being surprise entrants.

There are a few wrestlers that I could see as potential “wild card” candidates to win, including Samoa Joe, Bobby Roode, Seth Rollins, or a returning Dolph Ziggler. But in the end, I just don’t see any of these guys as realistic options. As much as I love Joe, Roode, and Rollins, I don’t see how they would fit into possible title matches.

I’m gonna go with Balor as my pick to win it all this year, with Nakamura as a solid #2. I continue to hold out hope that they won’t have Reigns win yet again. I won’t hold my breath, and if I was a betting man I would go with Reigns. Luckily, I am not. Happy Wrestlemania season everyone! Sit back and enjoy the ride!

Albert Breer Gave Me a Browns Boner This Week

WOW.    I need a cigarette after seeing this little bit of gossip from one, Albert Breer.  Now bear with me for a second, I know a few days ago I mentioned that Alex Smith should be the guy the Browns went after.  I still think he will likely be the guy to come here as a bridge starter for 3 or so seasons.  When I say bridge starter, he’d certainly more than a stop gap.  He’d likely be the best Quarterback we’d have since the return in 1999.  But you get the point.  Veteran guy to come in to Cleveland for 3-4 years while we groom in all likelihood, Sam Darnold.

I have been an avid Kirk Cousins fan since he took over for Robert Griffin III, in 2015.  The guy can ball.  2015 was his first full year as the full-time starter, and he lead the Skins’ to a 9-7 record.  That year 9-7 was good enough to qualify for the playoffs.  The Redskins lost in the 2015 Wildcard round at home to the Green Bay Packers, 35-18.

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The next two seasons Washington would miss the playoffs with an 8-7-1, and 7-9 records.  Still, Captain Kirk has not earned himself a long-term contract extension with Washington.  He has been Franchise tagged 2 consecutive seasons in a row.  Each year, he proves his worth on the field.  The notoriously putrid, and slimy Redskins refuse to offer him a long term contract.  They could place the Franchise tender on him a third time, which is a whopping $34 million.  No chance the Skins do that.  That number is not trade-able, as 99% of teams cannot afford that cap hit.  The most likely options are a long-term extension, or Unrestricted Free Agency.

In a recent interview with The Washington Post, Jay Gruden even decided to throw his Signal Caller under the bus, “But we like Kirk and his development. He’s played well at times, without a doubt”  Played well at times?  Let’s take a quick peak at Cousins’ shall we, Jay?

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That is a damn good Quarterback.  I don’t know what the fuck you are smoking, Jay? I think three seasons is enough of a sample size to confirm that he can be a franchise guy.  The Redskins seemingly don’t give a shit.  Moving on from RG III was a tough decision. The Skins entered 2015 an unknown, and most experts had them pegged to finish last in the NFC East. They have no idea how lucky they were to have the second guy come in, and  average 4,392 yards a season. Especially after how RG III exploded on the scene during his rookie year.

Would the Browns be interested in Cousins?  I would hope the answer is a resounding, “YES”!!!!!!  It’s not everyday a Quarterback of his quality becomes available.  It is going to take a lot of fucking money.  Like record money.   With $109 million and change in free money, feel free to break records, @JohnDorsey, @JimmyHaslam.

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Signing Kirk does NOT mean the Browns will not draft a QB #1 overall.  They simply can’t afford to pass on one. Not after the past whiffs. Ideally, the Browns would sign Cousins to a 3-4 year MASSIVE contract, and draft the guy who will lead the franchise after Cousins. This allows a Darnold, Rosen, or Mayfield develop a la Jimmy G.

After year 4 you move on to your young guy waiting in the wings.  After-all, Darnold is only 20.  Cousins would be 33 at the end of a four year contract.  Perfect time to walkaway via free agency.   If all goes to hell, you trade/cut Cousins prior to the contract expiring.  There is cap space to avoid it being too much of a problem.

I hope Dorsey see’s this and makes a move.  I know Alex Smith is probably the move we’ll make, as it is safer than paying Cousins big big money.  I still want to tap the potential that is Kirk Cousins Franchise Quarterback.  Cousins, and add a few young weapons.  Maybe we have something cookin’?

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Edit:

Should leave some Captain Kirk highlights, no?

The Cavs Are In Mid-Season Meltdown Form

Somehow Cleveland does this every year and absolutely is garbage in the middle of the regular season. They’ll figure it out but LeBron emasculated his coach again last night like he’s done in the past:

Ty Lue is nowhere to be found while LeBron is taking over as coach. Who enjoyed this rant the most?

Kyrie is fresh off a 22 point comeback in London against the Sixers and is enjoying the 1 seed without their second best scorer in Boston while LeBron is taking over the coaching duties from this guy:

This is where it all makes sense why Kyrie left but let’s be honest — the Cavs will absolutely turn it on for the playoffs and do the same thing they do every year. For now though, it’s fun to see them melt down a little bit. They have one more easy game coming up against the Pacers and then Monday’s opponent?

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