Monthly Archives: May 2018

Ben Roethlisberger’s tantrum only validates Steelers’ Mason Rudolph pick

When Ben Roethlisberger got his first chance to publicly discuss the Steelers’ draft selection of his potential successor in Mason Rudolph, the Pittsburgh starting QB made it clear he wasn’t a fan of the pick.

I was surprised when they took a quarterback because I thought that, maybe in the third round, you know you can get some really good football players that can help this team now,Roethlisberger said during an interview on Pittsburgh’s 93.7 The Fan, also suggesting the pick felt like an affront to his commitment to playing for the Steelers at age 36. I think they believed me. Once they drafted a quarterback in the third, I wasn’t sure if they believed me or not.

In a more recent example, Alex Smith in 2017 saw the Chiefs draft Patrick Mahomes in the first round after the veteran had led them to a 12-4 record and a division title. Smith responded with his best NFL season at age 33.

Philadelphia, on the heels of a Super Bowl win, opted to pick up wide receiver Nelson Agholor’s fifth-year option after he finally developed into a contributing pass catcher last season.

After two lackluster seasons, Agholor hauled in 62 receptions for 768 yards and eight touchdowns. He had just 59 receptions and three touchdowns through his first two seasons.

San Francisco’s decision is slightly more head scratching. Defensive lineman Arik Armstead, selected 17th overall in 2015, has just 50 total tackles and six sacks through three seasons.
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With just one fumble forced and one pass deflected, Armstead has failed to live up to expectations. But he will get two more years to make his presence felt on San Francisco’s roster.

Authentic Mens Thomas Vanek Jersey Schultz can do a little bit of everything, but even if he displaces the limited competition, he probably won’t put it all together and play like a legitimate Witten Felix Hernandez Jersey replacement until Year 2. This is where Olawale factors in. Given his versatility and athleticism to cause mismatches as a short-area receiver, he was underused in Oakland. Watching how Linehan uses Olawale and Austin will be fascinating.

Rockets to honor at Game 5 the victims, survivors, first responders of Santa Fe High School shooting

The Houston Rockets have extensive plans to honor the victims, survivors and first responders of the mass shooting at Santa Fe High School.

Friday’s shooting, which a 17-year-old student confessed to committing after being arrested at the scene, resulted in the deaths of eight students and two teachers and injuries to 13 others.

“First and foremost, the playoffs [are] minor compared to what’s taking place down in Santa Fe,” Rockets star Chris Paul said Friday in the wake of the shootings. “Our prayers go out to the victims and families there having to deal with that situation.”

Philadelphia, coming off its first Super Bowl championship, released a statement last month confirming that the team was in the early stages of planning a visit.

“We are honored to receive this invitation and view this not only as an opportunity to be recognized for our on-field accomplishments, but also as an opportunity to engage in productive dialogue with the leaders of our country,” the statement read, via NJ Advance Media.

It’s been a longstanding tradition for championship teams across all leagues to visit the White House, but there has been some controversy since President Donald Trump took the office. The Warriors did not visit last year after the president “uninvited” the team in response to comments made by Stephen Curry. But the Astros attended a ceremony last month to celebrate being World Series champions. ravens_087

Vikings to host Jaguars for joint practices this summer

The Jaguars and Vikings made it to their respective conference title games last season, but fell short of the Super Bowl.

Their effort to improve on that result will involve some joint work this summer. The two teams announced on Thursday that they will practice together on August 15 and 16 before facing off in an exhibition game at U.S. Bank Stadium in Minneapolis on August 18.

Having the opportunity to practice with another conference finalist during training camp will allow us to compete with great players and coaches and continue to push ourselves, Jaguars coach Doug Marrone said in a statement. We believe that these joint sessions will provide us with an opportunity to improve as a football team, which is always the goal for training camp.

The sessions will be open to the public and free of charge, but tickets must be reserved through the Star Lotulelei Jersey Vikings in June.

But there wasn’t an inkling of it in Game 6.

Was it a fairly even game? There’s no question. But what were the hits? 39-19? Somebody was engaged, and somebody wasn’t. That’s a choice, Tampa Bay coach Jon Cooper said. You can spin this any way you want. You can sit here and say, ‘Look at Tampa. They were down 0-2, and they pushed it to a Game 7.’ Or you can say, ‘They blew a great opportunity to close this series out.’

Game Youth Ichiro Suzuki Jersey In the end, there is a Game 7. And it’s at home. And if you said to me, you only have to go 2-2 at home in this series, and you’re going to win it, we’ll take that. We took two on the road, and now we have to make sure we go home and take care of business. Shame on us if we don’t.

After a 116-86 drubbing at the hands of the Cavaliers trimmed the Celtics’ series lead to 2-1, guard Terry Rozier said he believes his team got a much-needed wake-up call. We needed to get our butts whooped, Rozier said.

In Game 3, Horford all but disappeared, scoring seven points on 2-for-4 shooting while Thompson put up 10 points on the other end.

I just think that we were a little out of sync, Horford said Sunday. I think that [in Game 4] we’ll be better in making sure that we have better ball movement. I’m not worried about that. I know I’ll be able to get more shots.
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Struggling Josh Tomlin headed to Indians bullpen

Struggling right-hander Josh Tomlin is out of the Cleveland Indians’ rotation.

Tomlin says he definitely wasn’t surprised by the move to the bullpen. He was 0-4 with a 7.84 ERA through six starts and seven appearances prior to Tuesday’s game against the Chicago Cubs.

I want a chance to get on the field and get into the locker room and get Isaiah Crowell Womens Jersey a chance to play ball again, Manziel said. This isn’t just a pit stop for me. I’m not coming here to get what I need to go back down to the NFL. I’ve signed into this for the long haul, for two years.
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He has the ability to play at any level he wants to play at, Jones said. He’s ready to get that challenge done and accomplish what he knows he can do.

Mens Charles Tapper Jersey This is something we felt we should try to do, Mets general manager Sandy Alderson said of signing Bautista.

The Mets recently lost former Gold Glove center fielder Juan Lagares to a season-ending toe injury. Slugger Yoenis Cespedes is out with a strained right hip flexor, with no timetable for his return.

After doubling in his first at-bat Tuesday night, Jose Bautista scored to cut the Mets’ deficit against the Marlins to 3-1. Getty Images

Michael Conforto, Jay Bruce and Brandon Nimmo, all lefty hitters.

The outfield position has been thin for us, Alderson said.

Bautista made a sliding stop on Brian Anderson’s double into the alley in the second inning, then caught a fly to end the third and tossed the ball into the stands as a souvenir. He struck out swinging his last two at-bats.

Bautista quickly acclimated to his new surroundings. A few minutes before the first pitch, a clubhouse attendant showed him four bats on the bench, and Bautista nodded yes. Before he hit, he went searching for powder in the on-deck circle, and asked a bat boy to find it for him.

Just by getting on the field, Bautista’s second stay with the Mets lasted longer than his first stint.

Robby Anderson no longer facing felony charge

Prosecutors in Florida are dropping a felony resisting arrest charge against New York Jets wide receiver Robby Anderson stemming from his May 2017 arrest, his attorney told NFL Network’s Mike Garafolo on Wednesday.

Ed O’Donnell told Garafolo the charge against his client will be formally dropped in the coming days. Anderson was originally charged with felony resisting arrest with violence after being arrested on May 7, 2017, in Miami. Police accused Anderson of pushing an officer after he got into a fight with security at an event in Miami.

Anderson is still facing a misdemeanor count of reckless driving in connection to his Jan. 19 arrest in Sunrise, Florida. He was initially facing multiple felony charges stemming from that incident before prosecutors dropped most of the counts against him.
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Authentic Womens Teppo Numminen Jersey However, Moore is a more complete receiver than Smith and could quickly move up Newton’s priority list. At least he’ll make it difficult for opposing defenses to focus too much on one of Carolina’s other pass-catchers or on the ground attack.

The 5-foot-11, 195-pound Breeland originally entered free agency in March, and then agreed to a three-year, $24 million deal with the Carolina Panthers.

Breeland, however, failed his physical with what the Panthers categorized as a non-football injury and did not sign.

Rapoport reported Wednesday that the cornerback is now healthy and expected to pass medical tests after dealing with a foot injury. Breeland reportedly suffered an infection after cutting his foot during the offseason.

Breeland originally entered the league in 2014 out of Clemson as a fourth-round pick with the Washington Redskins, where he spent four seasons. On his career, Breeland has appeared in 60 games (57 starts) and totaled 270 tackles, eight interceptions, seven forced Womens Trent Williams Jersey fumbles, a sack and 60 passes defensed.

He will be an important piece of Baltimore’s offense in 2018. While he’ll be sharing time with Maxx Williams and Nick Boyle, he should be the primary pass-catching tight end.

The Atlanta Falcons came into the draft with one of the league’s best wide receiver duos, comprised of Julio Jones and Mohamed Sanu. The Falcons had one of the league’s best trios but lost Taylor Gabriel.

Carroll, Schneider Gave Kaepernick Collusion Depositions

He reached out and said, ‘Hey, good luck in rookie minicamp.’ I was really appreciative of that, Rudolph said. I just said, ‘Hey, thanks, look forward to meeting you.’

It meant a lot that he reached out.

Before offering what seemed like an olive branch, Roethlisberger said in a radio interview last week that he was surprised when they took a quarterback because I thought that maybe in the third round, you know you can get some really good football players that can help this team now. This despite the fact Big Ben has openly pondered retirement in recent years and rarely tends to make it through a full season unscathed.

The Yankees jumped out to a two-zip lead on back-to-back home runs from Sanchez (10) and Aaron Hicks (3) before German coughed up five runs in the fourth inning and another in the fifth. But Boone’s team battled back in the in the bottom of the fifth with a four-run explosion to tie things at 6-all.

It was the first time in franchise history the Yankees had three 10 home-run players (also Aaron Judge and Didi Gregorius) before the team’s 40th game played, via researcher Katie Sharp.

Hicks had a chance to blow it open in the sixth. He failed.

Hicks worked a full count with the bases loaded only to hit a weak ground ball to first base, ending the threat.

It started with a Gardner walk, which Judge followed with his own walk before Sanchez knocked a two-out single to load the bags.

According to Raanan, Flowers also has a “frosty” relationship with the team’s other offensive linemen, and some teammates believe Flowers “shut it down early last season.”

Giants General Manager Dave Gettleman was terse when asked about Flowers’ absence from the team’s offseason work, which began April 9.

“He’s in Miami, and we’re here,” Gettleman said during the draft. “He decided not to come. He’s an adult. He has the ability to make decisions on his own. This is a voluntary program, and he’s decided to stay in Miami. If you want to know why he’s not here, call him.” colts_102

Could Ohio RB DeaMonte Trayanum’s N.J. ties lead him to Rutgers?

Last week, the Rutgers staff extended an offer to Ohio running back DeaMonte Trayanum, utilizing its ties to the Midwest.

And聽he’s headed towards a top national recruitment that could further muddy the waters as his decision nears.

We are likely a year or so away from a pledge, so the staff’s ability to utilize ties and build a relationship will loom large. But, ultimately, they’ll need to get him on campus to have a true shot at the prize.

So far,聽Trayanum has no visits scheduled聽at any schools, but will聽likely make a number of stops throughout the聽remainder of the off-season.

Authentic Womens C. J. Beathard Jersey Doubling as a strong safety in 2017,聽Trayanum helped Jimmy Howard Womens Jersey the top-seeded Knights to a 14-1-1 record,聽cementing its place as Ohio’s top team and the No. 9 team in the country. The Knights became the OHSAA Division II champions by defeating second-seeded Winton Woods out of Cincinnati, 14-12, in the state final.
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First, Roethlisberger came out and announced that he’s prepared to play another three-to-five years, even though last year he contemplated retirement and said that it’s prudent and smart to weigh retirement every offseason at his age. Then, he questioned the Steelers’ decision to draft Rudolph — a player Big Ben doesn’t see helping the team right now. He also didn’t sound all too excited about the possibility of mentoring Rudolph.

So, what does Rudolph have to say about all of this? He was recently asked about one of Roethlisberger’s comments. On NFL Network’s Path to the Draft, when he was asked about Big Ben’s proclamation that Rudolph would have to wait a while to replace him, Rudolph gave a mature response.

If I was Ben, I’d probably say the same thing, Rudolph said. He’s a competitor. Obviously, he has a lot of confidence in himself, like I do. Yeah, he’s going to be a future Hall of Famer and I would expect him to say that. So I’m just looking forward to going in there and learning the system, competing, raising my level of play, preparing like I’m the starter even though obviously I won’t be the starter. And just waiting and being prepared for whenever I get my time whenever my time comes, to be ready and take advantage of it.

Ichiro Suzuki has no idea who Tom Brady is

In the world of football, there’s not a bigger name than Tom Brady.

But it’s a big world, which contains other sports.

In a profile of retiring baseball icon Ichiro Suzuki, Peter Gammons of The Athletic revealed an anecdote which probably seems outrageous to those enmeshed in the happenings of the NFL or pop culture, but which speaks to the laser-focus of the 44-year-old baseball star.

The Japanese-born Suzuki was reading his text messages one morning during spring training in 2017, when he told his coaches about one Josh Hill Womens Jersey in particular which seemed to puzzle him. Some guy had heard about his elaborate stretching routine, and wanted to meet with him to discuss it. The guy said he got Ichiro’s number from Alex Rodriguez, which should have established his bona fides for another international baseball celebrity.

While the bullpen deserves mention for posting an AL-best 2.12 ERA so far, helping make sure the Jays haven’t lost a game they’ve led after five innings, a couple of hot-hitting reinforcements to the lineup also deserve mention: Teoscar Hernandez has done nothing but hit since being called up, and Yangervis Solarte has clubbed four of his five homers subbing for an injured Josh Donaldson. Can the Jays make their hot start stick? This week’s series against the Red Sox will be an interesting test. — Kahrl
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After being a key strength during their hot start, the Mets’ bullpen is starting to show cracks. The bullpen had a 1.51 ERA during the team’s 12-2 start through April 15 but a 9.00 ERA in its past six games. And now Matt Harvey will move to the bullpen; Harvey’s 5.80 ERA since the start of 2016 ranks 186th among 191 pitchers with at least 150 innings pitched in that span. — Langs

Anthony Coyle will also be moving to guard after playing tackle at Fordham. Jaryd Jones-Smith will stay at tackle after starting nine games on the right side at Pittsburgh last year.

Authentic Youth David Backes Jersey The rest of the undrafted additions to the Texans roster are Georgia linebacker Davin Bellamy, San Jose State cornerback Andre Chachere, Washington running back Lavon Coleman, Tennessee punter Trevor Daniel, SMU defensive end Mason Gentry, Maryland nose tackle Kingsley Opara, Limestone wide receiver Vyncint Smith, Toledo running back Terry Swanson, Pittsburgh wide receiver Jester Weah, and Florida State defensive end Jalen Wilkerson.

It鈥檚 rookie quarterback over/under time

Monday鈥檚 PFT Live devoted plenty of time to rookie quarterbacks, given all the recent talk about when the top guys will start and why one of the NFL鈥檚 top teams used a third-round pick on a quarterback.

In one segment, Simms and I reacted to a variety of over/under prop bets based on the question of rookie quarterbacks starting games in 2018.

It’s early in the year, Acuna says through a translator while chuckling. Seated in the visiting dugout at Durham Bulls Field, he downplays the fact that he has gone hitless in each of the first two games that his Gwinnett Stripers have played so far. In a couple hours, he’ll take the field again and go hitless for a third straight game, further fueling the sense of agita that’s been steadily swelling within Braves Nation. As for Acuna himself, he is not among the worried: Things happen in baseball. It’s just part of the game.
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However it plays out, the Saints will need help at the position if Ingram isn鈥檛 available for the first four weeks. Alvin Kamara never had more than 12 carries in any game last year; using him as a workhorse for the first 25 percent of Andrew Triggs Jersey the season could make it harder to keep Kamara fresh later in the year.

Bashaud Breeland Game Jersey Always stay positive, he says, echoing the words of Robinson Cano, to whom Acuna reached out for counsel last year. Because when you’re the top prospect in the game, you can hit up a future Hall of Famer out of the blue like it’s no big deal. That’s exactly what Acuna did, using Instagram to contact Cano, whom he’d never met before. The Seattle second baseman responded with words that, while not exactly revolutionary, resonated: Don’t let anyone tell you that you can’t do something.

To this day, Acuna calls Cano’s words of wisdom the best advice he’s ever gotten. Better than any nugget he got from any of his ball-playing cousins. Better than any pearl he got from his father, including the time when he was 15 and his pops suggested he switch from third base to outfield.

He told me it was a better opportunity for me because I could run, Acuna says. He could tell I was going to develop.

Allen’s completion percentage has been a hot topic for months.

No one has made any such grand declarations about Brown or Tatum in the aftermath of Game 4, but it’s hard not to wonder about their ceilings. For Brown, it was his second 30-point performance of the postseason, making him the first player age 21 years or younger to have two such performances in a series since the Chicago Bulls’ Derrick Rose did it against the Cleveland Cavaliers in 2010.

A year later, Rose was the league’s MVP.

Analysis: The 60 percent mark is the dividing line here. Anything under is seen as troubling by NFL teams. Stafford is proof that you can be a successful quarterback even with a low college completion percentage.

Is it a red flag or a product of him not having a strong supporting cast? Mayfield was the most accurate quarterback in college football last year. That also comes with questions, though. Was it because of the offensive system he played in?

Thomas is under contract for one more season before he’s set to hit free agency. He told Henderson and Michael DiRocco in January he was considering a holdout if he and the Seahawks were unable to agree to an extension.

However, Seahawks general manager John Schneider said at a charity event in April that Thomas’ representatives had reached out to the team to say a holdout wasn’t on the table.

Seattle traded Michael Bennett to the Philadelphia Eagles and released Richard Sherman in March. The fact the Seahawks kept Thomas would seemingly indicate he’s a part of their long-term plans.

Next month will give a better indicator as to whether Thomas is prepared to hold out for a new contract. The Seahawks’ three-day mandatory minicamp starts June 12. Henderson noted Thomas would face an $84,435 fine if he skipped all three days.

It took until the 76th overall slot Friday night, 44 picks after the last one, that Oklahoma State’s Mason Rudolph was selected by Pittsburgh. The Steelers get a big, strong-armed, highly competitive QB yep, sounds a lot like incumbent Ben Roethlisberger, who is 36 and closing in on the end of his championship career. It’s not Ben’s job to teach me anything. It’s my job to learn, said Rudolph, who added he dreamed of becoming a Steeler. canucks_1160