Monthly Archives: December 2016

Trevor Siemian will start in Broncos’ season finale, but Paxton Lynch will play too

Trevor Siemian will remain the starting quarterback for the Denver Broncos in their Week 17 matchup against the Oakland Raiders. However, first-round quarterback Paxton Lynch will get some playing time, too.

“Trevor deserves the right to go back out there as the starter,” Broncos head coach Gary Kubiak said Wednesday. “He’s done a lot of good things this year. He’s a young player; he needs to keep going.”

In his last game, a 33-10 loss to the Kansas City Chiefs, Siemian had his worst outing of the season. He completed just 39.5 percent of his passes for 183 yards, no touchdowns, and one interception. The loss officially eliminated the defending Super Bowl champions from the playoffs.

Kubiak said that he wanted Siemian to “get the Kansas City taste out of his mouth” in the Broncos’ final game of the season.

Running back Lamar Miller was second in the league last week in rushing with 113 yards. That was Miller’s second 113-yard game this season — his first was followed by a 175-yard performance. In addition to Miller’s 680 yards on the ground this season, he’s also recorded 346 receiving yards with a total of seven combined touchdowns.

Wideout Odell Beckham Jr. has continued to succeed for the Giants, coming in second for receiving yards in Week 13 with 149 and a touchdown. With 1,154 receiving yards this season — fourth among receivers — and 10 touchdowns, his success is vital to the Giants offense maintaining momentum. He’s made it clear “losing sucks,” and will be doing all he can to ensure a win over Miami to get his team back on track.

For Miami, Lamar Miller showed that with an increase in touches, he can add to the offense’s production. Under offensive coordinator Bill Lazor, the run game was obsolete and ineffective, but since Lazor was let go, the Dolphins emphasized their commitment to the run last week with positive results. Miller showed he can bear the load, and will be a big contributor through the remainder of the season.

The New York Giants have four potential opponents in the wild-card round of the postseason

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Playoff opponents are like ice cream flavors. They¡¯re all good, each with its own distinctive strength.
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The New York Giants have four potential opponents in the wild-card round of the postseason: the Detroit Lions, Green Bay Packers, Atlanta Falcons and Seattle Seahawks. All are dangerous. All are winning teams deserving of their playoff position.

Eli Manning will take whatever playoff matchup the Giants get, but he’d be wise to root for something other than a visit to Seattle.

The Giants already have faced two, beating the Lions at MetLife Stadium late in the season and losing to the Packers at Lambeau Field early in the season. That factors into the equation of best and worst matchups for Big Blue in the opening round of the postseason. So should the current form of each team and its health.

“I feel like we have the best player in the league and he¡¯s under 6 feet,” teammate Eli Rogers said.

With the help of snapshots, dozens of replays of the sequence and locker-room perspective, this is how Brown created one of this season’s finest football moments.

Brown shedding two tacklers at the goal line was the decisive move, but the receiver made the play happen early in the set. First, at the top of this snapshot, he had a man to beat, cornerback Jerraud Powers. Powers was in zone coverage and quickly deciphered the play: Brown was running a quick slant over the middle, and a well-covered Rogers was headed to the corner of the end zone.

But Brown, in a moment of nuanced route-running, gave himself just enough space to cut in front of Powers, who appeared to take a wide angle.

“Two-man combination,” Roethlisberger said. “A.B. popped open so I wanted to get him the ball — quick.”

NFL picks against the spread: 5 good bets for Week 16

Game Womens Semyon Varlamov Jersey I know that I am an idiot when it comes to gambling. To counteract this, I pick my five weekly games in the Westgate SuperContest for Team Oddsshark based off my gut feeling as an average NFL fan. Then, I reverse them all at the last second. I fade myself. Last week was a huge week for idiots in Vegas as just about every favorite won and covered.

Sports books lost millions, and the result as it pertains to this column was its first 0-5 week of the season. But nature and sports handicapping have a way of evening things out, so if you’re looking for a gambling columnist that can guarantee that will NOT go 0-5 this week, you could do a lot worse than looking here.

It’s the end of the season and if I’m going to be making up any ground whatsoever it’s going to have to be by betting on the 1:00 p.m. Fox games that are buried in the TV listings with a houseplant and a DJ3000 as the announcers. I don’t feel like the Bucs should be favored by three points over anyone besides maybe the Titans, but hey, here we are.

It’s an interesting game because both teams still have a lot to play for — the Panthers can wrap up home-field advantage with a win, and the Falcons need to win out (and get a lot of help) to make the playoffs. The line is currently at 7, but when it came out they were giving 6 and the hook so took the Panthers. But I’m a Big Moron so I changed my pick at the last second to Falcons +6.5.
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That’s right. I took the Jaguars as ROAD FAVORITES against the Saints. Just about every sportsbook in the country had the Saints open up as 3-point favorites, but the Supercontest lines came out when Drew Brees’ status was still up in the air. Well as the week progressed, so did Brees’ health, and now I’m stuck with a betting slip on Jacksonville to go into the Superdome, and not only win, but cover a damn spread against Sean Payton.

Pryor played the second half in Buffalo with a torn ligament in his finger

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Pryor leads the Browns with 67 catches for 877 and four touchdowns.

“I think we’re trying to grab any kind of success as a Cleveland fan,” Hartline said. “What are we talking about? We’re talking about a receiver who might reach 1,000 yards. Which is fine.”
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Pryor played the second half in Buffalo with a torn ligament in his finger, and he was ridiculed by Adam Jones after the loss to Cincinnati, when Pryor had one catch.

But for whatever reasons, it simply did not work out. The Bears have to now re-draft a position they should be set at for five-to-six years. The 14th overall pick should last seven seasons, not three (and only play in two).

Add Fuller to the ever-growing list of why the Bears have missed the playoffs nine of 10 seasons.

“The thing I don’t miss is waking up in the morning, hurting, the grind of the game. I got chronic stuff that everybody has when they’re done playing football for any length of time. So the good thing is I’m able to walk. I feel good. I’m able to spend more time with the fam. I’m able to chill. I don’t have to go out and run three miles every day in practice, you know what I’m saying. Goodness gracious.”

Since retirement, Johnson finished third in this fall’s “Dancing with the Stars.” Now he’s planning on relaxing for a few weeks before moving on to his next venture, which will include eventually going back to Georgia Tech to finish his degree in management.

Case for Elliott: The Cowboys’ offense is built around the run, and Elliott has 327 more rushing yards than any other player in the league. He just cut through one of the league’s hottest defenses to the tune of 159 rushing yards, and he stayed on the field for a few third downs and made a big catch or two in that game. To borrow a timely catchphrase, he’s the MVP candidate doing the most good.

Patriots’ win in Denver couldn’t have gone much better

Sunday couldn¡¯t have unfolded much better for the New England Patriots.

Beating the Denver Broncos 16-3 on the road, which has been the Patriots’ kryptonite. Check.

Clinching the AFC East division for the eighth straight year, which is an NFL all-division record. Check.

Devin Taylor Authentic Jersey Earning a first-round playoff bye. Check.

Getting some help when it comes to competition for home-field advantage when the Kansas City Chiefs (10-4) lost at home to the Tennessee Titans. Check.

It won the game, 19-17, and keeps the Titans in first place in the AFC South with an 8-6 record — tied with Houston, which beat Jacksonville on Sunday.
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If Tennessee wins Saturday at Jacksonville, the Titans will — at worst — play for the division title at Nissan Stadium in Week 17, when the Texans visit.

“That was a really cool thing, to watch the kind of football we played,” left tackle Taylor Lewan said. “…Keep playing ball, keep playing as hard as we can, stack two more wins together and go to the playoffs.”

As has become their style, the Titans found a way to hang around and be within just a few plays late in a game.

A late touchdown put the Titans in position to tie Kansas City. The Titans went for two, and the play was a massive failure: a short, incomplete throw by Marcus Mariota under pressure after a roll to his right.

But the Titans’ defense forced a punt, and Tennessee got the ball back with 1:07 left and no timeouts.

Mariota’s 19-yard pass to Rishard Matthews and two to Delanie Walker (for 21 yards combined) positioned Succop for his heroics, and a wild celebration as time expired.

“That’s the best game I ever played in,” rookie safety Kevin Byard said. “That’s the best locker room I’ve ever been in.”

Wilson fractured his left foot during mandatory minicamp in June and underwent surgery

Peyton Manning is enjoying his first year of retirement after leaving the NFL with a win in Super Bowl 50.

Even at 39 years of age, Tom Brady is having another MVP-like campaign, but his seasons are dwindling. Drew Brees is 37. The top quarterbacks from the Class of 2004 — Eli Manning, Philip Rivers and Ben Roethlisberger — are 35, 34 and 35, respectively. Aaron Rodgers is 33. Before he suffered injuries the past two seasons, Tony Romo, who is 36, would have been on this list.

Over the next few years, the NFL will see a change at its most important position when these star quarterbacks begin to join Peyton Manning.

So who will replace these Super Bowl winners and statistical marvels?

Wilson, who broke the foot at practice, will probably land on injured reserve before the Bears play the Green Bay Packers on Sunday. The Bears have a roster exemption until Saturday for recently reinstated wide receiver Alshon Jeffery, who can take Wilson’s spot on the 53-man roster.

A 2013 seventh-round pick, Wilson fractured his left foot during mandatory minicamp in June and underwent surgery. He spent nine weeks on the physically unable to perform list before the Bears activated him Nov. 20 against the New York Giants.

Wilson caught eight passes for 125 yards and one touchdown the next week vs. Tennessee but dropped a perfectly thrown ball in the end zone. The 6-foot-4 wideout played sparingly against San Francisco because of a pulled groin muscle and was inactive last week for the loss to Detroit.

Limited Mens Spencer Ware Jersey He broke the same foot in 2015 and landed on injured reserve for the final five games of that season. Wilson sat out the first nine games of 2014 after he broke his clavicle diving for a deep ball at training camp.

Amir Johnson Authentic Jersey Since 2013, Wilson has appeared in 31 regular-season games, catching 56 passes for 777 yards and three touchdowns.

Wilson’s original rookie contract expires after the season.

It is Chiefs safety Ron Parker who captured the essence of Reid

“I love what I do, it’s a rare job and opportunity to get to do it, and I love it when we’re winning and I stay in it through the losses,” Reid said. “I still have that energy. Everybody here has stayed together. We were playing a lot of young guys, probably more young players than any team in the NFL. They were trying their hearts out early and we had all kinds of injuries that were slowing us, and some of them significant. But through all of that, everybody stuck together. And then all of it seemed to come together.”
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It is Chiefs safety Ron Parker who captured the essence of Reid.

Parker, 28, was not drafted out of Newberry College in 2011. He bounced around between Seattle, Oakland and Carolina before joining the Chiefs when Reid did.
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He is a lively player not only in the secondary but also on special teams. He is fast, quick and strong, especially on the safety blitz. His seven career sacks are already the most by a defensive back in Chiefs history.

Rounding out the playoffs field, the struggling Packers get to travel to Washington and the Texans, winners of the AFC South, get the honor of hosting one of the league’s hottest teams in the Chiefs. Despite the NFC East’s tepid performance this year, Green Bay will have a very tough challenge facing Jay Gruden’s squad, and it heads into the postseason with very little momentum.

On the other side of the coin, the bottom of our rankings is pretty closely related to where teams ended up in the Draft order. The Titans look like the worst team in the NFL right now and it’s no fluke that they’ll have the first overall pick in the draft this year. The Browns aren’t far behind, nor are the Chargers, all of whom face major upheaval over the next few months.

Did the Nationals overpay for Adam Eaton?

With Lucas Giolito, Reynaldo Lopez and Dane Dunning heading to the White Sox for Adam Eaton, Keith Law explains what Chicago is getting with its new trio of pitchers. (1:02)

Adam Eaton is a good player, a high-OBP guy with doubles power who plays his tail off all the time, but he might not fit what the Nationals really need. He¡¯s not a center fielder, although he has played it and, I¡¯m sure, would volunteer to go play it again.
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I think this would be a huge overpay for Eaton the player, but the Nats are also acquiring the contract he¡¯s already signed to: three more guaranteed years and two option years for $38.4 million total if both options are exercised. If he¡¯s even a four-win player, which he has surpassed in his two full seasons as a right fielder, that screams “bargain” for the Nats’ budget and does a lot to justify the high price they paid in prospects.

Youth Calvin Johnson Jersey However, most teams were relatively quiet. The free agent market is still loaded — Edwin Encarnacion, Mark Trumbo, Kenley Jansen and Justin Turner are all still without jobs. Many clubs pointed to the fact that the collective bargaining agreement wasn¡¯t finalized until the last minute, which they claim slowed down both the trade and free agent markets, while thinking those will speed back up next week before the holidays. However, in my opinion it¡¯s unfortunate that these moves couldn¡¯t be made during the winter meetings, where the whole sports world is watching with tremendous television, radio and internet coverage.

There was some obvious misevaluation of outfielders that were traded at the winter meetings, in particular in the Cubs-Royals trade and the Nationals-White Sox deal. The Royals acquired Jorge Soler from the Cubs in exchange for Wade Davis, while the Nationals acquired Adam Eaton from the White Sox for three of their best pitching prospects.

Who are the guys we’ll all be calling “freaks” after the NFL combine?

McShay: Myles Garrett is the top all-around physical freak in this class. He’ll test off the charts for a pass-rusher. Two others: UCLA outside linebacker Takkarist McKinley and Virginia Tech tight end Bucky Hodges. McKinley has elite speed for an edge guy; Hodges, a former quarterback, is long, fast and athletic.
What about the underclassman with nothing left to prove to NFL scouts?

Kiper: LSU’s Leonard Fournette. There’s only so much tread on the tires of running backs. He’s going to be a star on day one.

Jake Butt is one of three tight ends who could go in the early rounds.

Who are the best pass-catchers Authentic Kids Matt Harrison Jersey in this draft for teams in need of more weapons?

“I have a grandmother that has survived breast cancer as well as another grandmother that unfortunately passed because of pancreatic cancer. So, that is the reason why I give to the Jimmy V foundation. Keep up the good work! A Faithful Love/Hate reader, Brandon”

If Washington goes 3-0, this could very well be a game where the winner gets a wild-card spot and/or the No. 5 seed, both of which would be useful. The fifth seed in the NFC probably will travel to face the NFC South winner before facing the Seahawks in Seattle, which sounds bad, but not as bad as the alternative; the sixth seed probably will Authentic Kids Kareem Jackson Jersey face the Lions in Detroit and have to follow that by opposing the Cowboys in Dallas. If it does lose to the Eagles this week and then falls to the Giants in Week 17, Washington would need to win its other two games and get a lot of help to make it into the playoffs.

“Thank you Matthew Berry! I don’t use Twitter or Instagram or Snapchat … just Facebook but I’m also not very good at it just like you stated in your Love/Hate column this week, so I don’t need any unblocking. But I do love fantasy sports and I do care about finding a cure for cancer! I appreciate all of yours and everyone else at ESPN’s efforts to help out the Jimmy V foundation.

NFL Playoffs scores and more: What happened in the NFL on Wild Card Saturday

The AFC Wild Card Round is in the books, and the Chiefs and Steelers emerged from the rubble victorious.

Kansas City’s Knile Davis took the opening kickoff in Houston 106 yards untouched to put the Chiefs up early, and the 2015 NFL Wild Card Round was off with a bang. It immediately screeched to a crawl from there. Texans quarterback Brian Hoyer had four first half turnovers — three picks and a lost fumble — but Kansas City squandered those opportunities for the most part and converted them into just two field goals, carrying a 13-0 lead into the half.

Game Mens Ziggy Ansah Jersey Then again, the Packers did beat the Vikings once this season, and they have struggled in recent weeks. They have lost their last two games, falling to Minnesota and the Arizona Cardinals, both playoff teams. This season, they have had some success against other playoff teams, beating the Kansas City Chiefs and Seahawks, but they also fell to both the Denver Broncos and Carolina Panthers on top of the losses to Seattle and Minnesota.

Still, Washington finished with a worse record and is only hosting a playoff game due to the fact that it won the poor NFC East while Green Bay couldn’t win a competitive NFC North.

But in recent weeks, Washington has looked like the better team. They won their final four regular season games, though the troubling thing is that they did not beat any playoff teams this season. They only played two playoff teams over the course of the entire regular season, losing to both the New England Patriots and Carolina Panthers.

As far as experts are concerned, they are mostly divided on the matchup. Over at CBS Sports, five of the eight experts are going with Washington to win it. At ESPN, they are also leaning towards Washington, with 10 of the 13 experts going with them over the Packers. Here at SB Nation, four of the seven experts think the Packers will take it, while the other three experts are joined by the OddsShark computer in picking Washington.

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