Big game, big props, big chance to win
OK, here we go again.
Steve Spagnuolo, a former Eagles assistant who was on the Philly staff the first time the Patriots and Eagles played in the Super Bowl, is now the latest to believe New England had his team’s signals.
In a radio interview, Spagnuolo said, “The biggest thing we learned was make sure you have two signal callers not one signal caller, because they may have all your signals.”
But wait, there’s more. Here’s more that Spagnuolo told 97.5 the Fanatic in New Jersey, recalling a conversation he had with then-Philadelphia defensive coordinator Jim Johnson:
“Here’s what I remember distinctly. At the time, I was up in the box, and Jim was down on the field. And I remember through the course of the game, Jim saying, ‘They’re getting our signals. They know when we’re blitzing. They’re getting our signals. Try to hide it, etc. etc.’ And I remember distinctly thinking, ‘Jim I don’t think that’s true.’ Now I’m not saying this to him, because I don’t want to upset him. I’m saying it to myself. ‘I don’t think so Jim, just concentrate on calling the game.’
“In hindsight, he was right. When you go back and look at that tape, it was evident to us – and I’m not crying over spilled milk here – but we believed that Tom [Brady] knew when we were pressuring, because he certainly got the ball out pretty quick.”
First, Steve, you are crying over spilled milk.
As for the next point, well let’s discuss this because the gray area in “cheating” in sports is an interesting place for discussion.
If the Patriots picked up the Eagles signals during the game, well, that’s not even really cheating, is it? That’s using an intellectual edge or some way to figure out what the opposition is going to try. But we all remember the Spygate allegations from the Rams against the Pats and how they were filming St. Louis’ walk-throughs.
That’s untoward.
But then there’s more, especially when it comes to stealing signs.
Think of baseball. When is it OK, and when is it frowned upon. There were reports that the Red Sox used Apple watches to steal signs last season.
Man, who knows what the Celtics may be doing to try to get the Cavs’ plays, right?
As for trying, well, why not give the Super props contest a shot.
Here are the rules. Most correct answers out of 10 wins the prize pack, which will include some TFP swag lunch gift card to a fern bar-type establishment and maybe another trinket or three. On the open-ended questions, the Price Is Right rules are in effect. Meaning on question 1 of “How many passing yards will Tom Brady have in Super Bowl LII” if you answer 301 and he throws for 300, the person who guessed 1 is closer than the person who guessed 301. Deal? Deal. (And yes, the over/unders set by Vegas are one side or the other, but considering the number of folks we expect to play, 10 either/ors could set us up for a lot of ties. As always it’s free to play, so whatcha waiting for?)
1. Tom Brady’s passing yards.
2. Person to score the first points of Super Bowl LII. (Please specify any offensive player or kicker. If you want to say defensive player, that includes everyone else and covers all returns, defensive scores and safeties.)
3. How long in seconds will the national anthem last?
4. Patriots minus-5, who you got?
5. Justin Timberlake’s first song during the halftime performance.
6. Who will be the MVP?
7. Which will be longer: Longest made field goal, the first punt or longer pass completion?
8. The Eagles player with the most yards from scrimmage (rushing or receiving only) will be?
9. How many official sacks will be made?
10. Total points scored, over/under 47.5.
(FYI: We’ve had about two dozen entries so far.)
A QB deal and the first move
For the most part, the stories from Super Bowl week have been radio headlines – be them some pissant personality in Boston or the fact that Radio Row is at the food court in the local mall – and news of Bill Belichick’s hat and trying to verify Rob Gronkowski’s status. (Side question: Can you have a concussion, aka a brain bruise, if we not totally sure you have a brain?)
Tuesday, there was reports of actual news that Mr. Smith is going to Washington.
That Smith is Alex Smith of course, the quarterback who lost seven of his last 12 starts with Kansas City last year as QB-of-the-future Patrick Mahomes watched from the sidelines as a rookie.
It was expected that Smith’s time was coming to end last spring when the Chiefs sent a first- and a third-round pick in the 2017 draft as well as their first-rounder this year to Buffalo to move up to get Mahomes on Draft Night 2017. You do not make that type of investment – rightly or wrongly – for a back-up.
The Chiefs have a lot of weapons. Mahomes has a deep-ball arm that will allow the Chiefs to truly stretch the field with Tyreek Hill. Travis Kelce is the best tight end not named Gronk in the league, and since Kelce stays healthier, well, he may be better. Running back Kareem Hunt led the league in rushing as a rookie.
And Smith took a lot of the blame for the second-half collapse. Hey, that’s part of the deal being the quarterback.
Washington sent a third-round pick this spring and young cover corner Kendall Fuller to K.C. for Smith. ESPN’s Chris Mortenson reported that the contract extension the Redskins and Smith agreed to is a four year deal worth more than $23 million per and $70 million guaranteed. So, in addition to the one reamining year on Smith’s current contract, the 33-year-old former No. 1 overall pick is Washington’s guy through the 2022 season.
There are quite a few ripple effects to this friends.
First, Washington’s front office must have been completely and totally tired of Kirk Cousins, considering that Cousins could have a) been signed to a similar deal; b) has had better stats than Smith the last couple of years; and c) is 29 years old, four years younger than Smith. We will have more on Cousins in a moment.
Alex Smith is the absolute poster boy of what is wrong with the stoic and stagnant thinking about the position among modern-day GMs. Giving serviceable superstar money because of security at the most important position in sports is crippling.
Smith’s numbers are better than most realize, granted. But they are sneakily good, he just inked a $94-million extension coming off a career year in an offense littered with weapons. And Washington is far from alone if you consider this:
Smith has won two playoff games in seven postseason starts in his 12-year career. For that, according to the excellent site spotrac.com he has signed contracts worth hold on to your hat friends
(Deep breaths deep breaths)
OK, in 12 years with two playoff wins and three total Pro Bowl trips and never having led the league in TD passes, completion percentage or passing yards, Alex Smith has signed six contracts worth a combined QUARTER OF A BILLION DOLLARS. (Sorry for shouting.)
As for Cousins, he will get something along the lines of a similar deal. Think five years, $120-or-so million, and the three places that likely started meeting early this morning crafting a pitch are the front offices for the Jets, the Browns and the Broncos.
The Jets have a foundation, and may not want to wait until pick six – behind Denver and Cleveland mind you – to wait for a quarterback. Cleveland has more than nine figures in cap room, by far the most in the league. Denver has a championship-level defense now, and that window may close before a rookie could develop into a potential postseason difference maker.
It also sets a pretty clear baseline for Jimmy Garoppolo and what kind of expectation he could and should have heading into free agency.
It also paints a pretty clear picture that a third of the NFL may have a new starting QB at the beginning of 2018 compared to who was taking snaps at the start of 2017.
All of this will become official for Smith and Washington when the new NFL year starts in march 14. Soon after that, there could be a flurry of moves considering the first QB brink has dropped. (And yes, we never expected to write that much on a deal of Alex Smith for Kendall Fuller and a third-rounder. So it goes.)
Transfer or power
We know that changes are coming to the transfer rules for college athletes. The bigwigs have mandated that change come.
The issues are clear. The coaches have complete freedom to go anywhere. The universities have complete freedom to fire and hire whomever they please.
Yes, that freedom comes with sever financial sets backs in terms of buys outs and in each direction. But a coach can leave say, a state university in Florida and head to an agricultural and mechanical university in Texas and not miss as much as single meeting.
The other area in which the players are rendered powerless is that coaches for some reason can forbid players from transferring to any school that Big Shot Coach X wants to block. Sure, the reasoning and rationale of in-conference transfers and if you play team X next year may make some sense, but frequently, the lists of these schools (well, unless you are Mark Richt) become an exercise in pettiness. Never mind having to “seek” a release from the current scholarship before getting a new one, something that is inherently unfair from coaches and programs who embrace the letter of the law that scholarships are year-to-year agreements in the eyes of the university.
Well, according to Dennis Dodd of CBSsports.com, a proposal that started with the Big 12 is gaining traction to overhaul the transfer process completely transfers the power to the players.
Dodd’s story – with a link to the rough draft of the proposal – has some eye-popping details.
When a coach is fired or leaves, all players would be allowed to explore transfer options without restrictions other than they could not follow their former coach. For example, FSU players could have explored any other school other than Texas A&M after Jimbo Fisher left Tallahassee for College Station.
That’s a whopper right there, and while coaches are going to complain about losing control because coaches always complain about losing control, the truth is this stipulation will give the coach more power in terms of job security.
Coach A may have had a down year, and fan bases and ADs will have to ask themselves, “Well, we think we want a change, but if we can this cat, and half the team leaves, a) who would want the job then and b) are we prepared for a four-full-year rebuild if half our good players go somewhere else.”
It also works in terms of the contract negotiations for the coach and likely a monster buyout request for the university.
Another part of the Big 12 transfer proposal is that any scholarship player part of a team that is put on probation and handed a postseason ban of any type can transfer and play immediately. This one is far less controversial in my eyes, because the pain at least started from self-inflicted wounds.
By comparison, only rising seniors and fourth-year juniors were granted that waiver at Ole Miss. Under the change, every Rebels player would have had the chance to transfer and be immediately eligible.
Another part of the overhaul – and this one seems like a no-brainer – is making it uniform across all sports. Right now the traditional requirement to sit out only applies to five sports – baseball, hockey, football and men’s and women’s hoops – but when the changes come, it will cover all college sports.
Thoughts?
This and that
– Holy buckets of historic stat lines. James Harden dropped 60 on the Magic. That’s special, and only 68 times in NBA history has some one scored 60 or more in a game. Now know that Harden outscored Orlando’s starters by himself. Wait there’s more: Harden’s the first to top 60 with 10 or more assists and the first to top 60 with a triple double. (He had 10 rebounds and 11 assists.) Harden also got to 60 points taking only 30 shots. That’s the second-most efficient, 60-plus-point game ever, tying Bernard King who also needed just 30 shots to get to 60 on Christmas Day in 1984. Amazingly, Karl Malone scored 61 points on 26 field-goal attempts in 1990.
– Holy buckets of credit scores and checking account balances. Bret Bielema will get close to a $12 million buyout not to coach Arkansas. He will be paid a monthly installment through the end of 2020. So Bielema will head to the mail box at the end of every month, see that Hogs logo on the envelope and know that a check worth a shade more than $330,000 will be waiting on him. Every bleepin’ month.
– Holy buckets of bad breaks and breaking news. Kevin Love, the Cavs All-Star power forward broke his left hand Tuesday night and will miss up to two months. Also, earlier this week, John Wall hurt himself and will be sidelined for at least six weeks. Ouch-standing. (Side note: Here’s betting with all the distractions and reports that Love has become ostracized in the Cavs locker room, that Cleveland goes on a little bit of a run after this injury. Just a hunch.)
– Holy buckets of no sympathy. Even with those injuries, here’s guessing Blake Griffin looked up and said, “Man, that had to hurt, but they sent me to DETROIT people. Dang.”
– Holy buckets of tell ’em like it is, Weeds. Our man, TFP ace sports columnist Mark Wiedmer offers his view on the Brainerd-Austin East meltdown here. (Side note: Many thanks to H.W. for calling into Press Row and offering his first-hand account of the brawl that almost assuredly will end the basketball seasons for Brainerd and AE.) Weeds, as usual, is aces.
– Holy back and forth, that was some SEC hoops drama as UK rallied to topple a snake-bitten Vandy bunch. And yes, Auburn keeps on humming. Monster win for Georgia over a surging Florida team.
Today’s question
Did you see that Steven Spielberg is filming Indiana Jones 5. Something screams “Bad idea” with that one, right?
Loved this talking point on CBSsports.com that ranked the Super Bowls from best to worst.
And yes the Patriots are in the top three on this list.
Man, we’ve had some historic events each day of this week so. Today is no different.
In 1865 on this day, Congress abolished slavery and Robert E Lee was named the commander-in-chief of the Confederate Army.
Harry S Truman announces his support for the development of the hydrogen bomb on this day in 1950.
In 1961, Ham the chimp was the first primate in space on this day.
If you are a baseball player and born on this day, well, you’re in good company. Jackie Robinson (1919), Ernie Banks (1931) and Nolan Ryan (1947) were born today. To add some more impressive athletes born on this day, there’s Don Hutson (1913) and Jersey Joe Walcott (1914).
Justin Timberlake is 37 today. He will preform at the Super Bowl this Sunday, as will Doug Pederson, the Eagles head coach who turns 50 today.
As for a Rushmore, in honor of Mr. Harden’s amazing stat line, who makes the Rushmore of best individual performances in one game in NBA history? (Yes, Wilt going for 100 is going to make it.)