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Those of us who have coached for a couple of decades know that if you hang around long enough chances are that you will coach (or coach against) a pro athlete.It’s amazing to think of the connectedness of life—-and how knowing one person can lead to knowing many more.Back in the 1980s http://www.cardinalsfootballauthentics.com/deone-bucannon-jersey-authentic , Jack Johnson and I were teachers, dorm masters and football/basketball/baseball coaches at Avon Old Farms School, a private boating school for boys near Hartford, CT.Avon Old Farms boasted one of the strongest athletic programs in New England.My hands are still sore from catching Jack’s laser beam passes. He was a highly touted QB at North Attleboro High School (MA), but a devastating knee injury his senior year prevented him from playing Division 1 football. One of the perks of coaching at Avon was being so close to the ESPN headquarters in the neighboring town of Bristol. One night I had a brief and humorous chat with Chris Berman while waiting in line at a local restaurant. On another occasion, I spent several hours in a Hartford disco along side of Charlie Steiner, who was even more of a hoot off the camera than on it. At Avon we had a fair number of players go on to play in all three divisions of college football. The one player we coached who made it to the NFL was FB Chris Hetherington, who, after starring as the QB at Yale, started at FB for ten years (1996-2006) with the Colts, Raiders, Panthers, Rams and 49ers.By the early 90s Jack and I had left Avon to pursue public school teaching and coaching jobs. As fate would have it, Jack returned to North Attleboro, his alma mater, to teach English and coach varsity football and baseball. And I wound up at NA’s main rival in the Hockomock League, Foxboro High School, as an English teacher and varsity basketball coach. North Attleboro and Foxboro engaged in many epic “friday night lights” football battles—-and one that I remember most vividly was a narrow victory Foxboro had, despite the fact that North Attleboro’s captain and Massachusetts 2006 Gatorade Player of the Year, RB/LB Anthony Sherman did just about everything humanly possible to win the game. In that game Sherman rushed for 136 yards, 2 TDs and delivered 20 tackles.As it turned out Womens Josh Rosen Jersey , the next week Sherman led his Rocketeers to a stunning upset over an undefeated Mansfield team which ensured a three way tie between NA, Foxboro and Mansfield for the Hockomock League Championship.Having watched Sherman in action, i was desperately hoping he would go to Boston College, my alma mater. He wound up going to UConn instead, where he became the starting FB as a freshman and where he was the lead blocker for 2 Big East Offensive Players of the Year in Donald Brown (2008) and Jordan Todman (2010). You can imagine my elation when on the third day of the 2011 NFL Draft, the Cardinals selected FB Anthony Sherman in the 5th round at pick 136. The first person I called was Jack Johnson. We subsequently rejoiced in the selection over a few light refreshments. Back in those days, the Cardinals were making a habit of using a 5th or a 6th round pick to select the best possible special teams’ player (i.e. Justin Bethel). At UConn, Anthony Sherman was the special teams captain and was widely acknowledged as one of the top ST’s players in college football—-if not the best.Sherman was off to a solid start in his 1st two years with the Cardinals, but after Steve Keim and Bruce Arianswere hired as GM and head coach, they promptly shipped Sherman to the Chiefs for backup CB Javier Arenas. I happened to be talking with Jack Johnson a couple of days before the trade and he told me that the trade was already agreed to. Man, that one hurt. For two days I was praying that it wouldn’t happen.At that time I had been writing a series of articles called “Cardinal Tough” and lamenting how the Cardinals often seemed to be one of the softest teams in the NFL. Even though Bruce Arians did not believe in using a FB in his offense, I felt that it was a major mistake to trade one of the team’s best special teams players. After all, the Patriots and other top teams always keep 3 STs players who hardly ever play on offense or defense—-but that’s how much those teams value STs.In retrospect, whether one believes the Cardinals should have kept Sherman for STs or not, that trade was one of the worst and most-lopsided trades the Cardinals have ever made.Sherman was an instant success in Kansas City where he was named 1st team All-Pro in 2013 and 2014 by Pro Football Focus, and 2nd team All-Pro in 2014 by the Associated Press. Javier Arenas never quite fit in to Todd Bowles’ defense (12 tackles, 1 sack, 0 interceptions in 16 games). He was signed as a free agent by the Falcons in 2014, where he played in only 6 games and hasn’t made an NFL roster since.Meanwhile, over the past few years, Anthony Sherman has become somewhat of a cult hero in Kansas City http://www.cardinalsfootballauthentics.com/mike-iupati-jersey-authentic , showing up for training camp in red, white and blue overalls and starred and striped bandanas and cowboy boots. This year after the Chiefs’ week 1 win in LAversus the Chargers, Andy Reid smiled from ear to ear when asked about Anthony Sherman’s 36 yard TD catch (on a wheel route up the left sideline) and called Sherman a “sausage with hands.” This drew applause and cheers from Patrick Mahomes who was delighted to see his FB get some added press. Check out what Peter Schrager has to say about Sherman’s unsung role in the Chiefs’ success:https://www.chiefs.com/video/peter-schrager-anthony-sherman-is-underappreciated-piece-in-chiefs-awesome-offenAndy Reid went on to say about Sherman, “He’s a tough kid, smart. I imagine that at one time he’ll be good coach. That’s probably the direction he wants to go when it’s all said and done. He’ll be good at that if he chooses to do. The guy knows everything that’s going on — that’s what gives us the flexibility to put him in as a tight end and also play him as a fullback.” (https://www.kansascity.com/sports/nfl/kansas-city-chiefs/article219940760.html)For months and weeks we have been arguing back and forth about the value of a good fullback in today’s NFL....not only in hammering iso blocks on linebackers, but in being triple threats in the red zone/short yardage situations and in being highly spirited, hard-hat type of leaders on special teams.Man, I loved that Anthony Sherman was an Arizona Cardinal and I wish he still was. In my opinion, there will always be a special place for sausages (tough guys) in the NFL, regardless of the position. Especially sausages with hands. When Vikings coach Mike Zimmer said that former Vikings quarterback Sam Bradford has a degenerative condition in his knee, it wasn’t #fakenews. Unless a new report regarding Bradford is, his most recent former team will have some explaining to do.Via Chris Mortensen of ESPN, Bradford hadn’t practiced in five weeks preceding his Saturday release by the Cardinals because his “left knee is basically bone on bone,” with no remaining cartilage due to two prior ACL repairs.But Bradford appeared on no injury reports during his time in Arizona. If he didn’t practice for five weeks due to a knee injury, he should have been listed.Bradford cleared waivers on Monday, leaving the Cardinals on the hook for the balance of his $5 million salary, and allowing him to sign elsewhere as a free agent. If his knee is that bad, it’s hard to imagine anyone signing him.And if his聽knee is that bad, it’s even harder to understand why the Cardinals gave him $15.9375 million for three games.

 no one on the backend of  Youth Markus Golden Jersey the roster is safe.With the return of Markus Golden, you would expect to see the Arizona Cardinals release a defensive end.Well, they did just that, releasing veteran Jacquies Smith.However, in his place, they brought in another defensive end, this time http://www.cardinalsfootballauthentics.com/andy-lee-jersey-authentic , it is youngster Ifeadi Odenigbo.From the team:Odenigbo (6-3, 260) comes to the Cardinals from Cleveland where he was inactive for the first three games of the season. The 24-year old Odenigbo joined the Browns off waivers from the Minnesota Vikings following the preseason. He entered the league last year with the Vikings as a seventh-round selection in the 2017 NFL Draft out of Northwestern and spent his rookie season on Minnesota’s practice squad. Odenigbo finished his collegiate career second in Northwestern school history with 23.5 sacks and was a first-team All-Big 10 selection as a senior in 2016 after leading the conference with 10 sacks that season. Odenigbo should give the Cardinals another rotational piece along the defensive line, something that is key for a team thats defense is on the field so often.Good luck to Smith in his future endeavors. The Cowboys are signing a free agent receiver but not that one.The Browns announced they will cut Josh Gordon on Monday, barring a trade before then, of course. Dallas, though, is finalizing a contract with a receiver who already knows its offense.The Cowboys are expected to sign Brice Butler early next week http://www.cardinalsfootballauthentics.com/corey-peters-jersey-authentic , The Athletic reports.The Cowboys gained only 232 yards against the Panthers in the season opener, passing for under 200 yards for the seventh time in the past nine games. Cole Beasley was their leading receiver last week, with seven catches for 73 yards.Dallas had no pass plays over 20 yards.Butler spent the past three seasons with the Cowboys but left in free agency and didn’t go quietly. Butler said in the offseason he had no interest in returning if he wasn’t a starter and took a jab at former teammate Dez Bryant.The Cardinals signed Butler but released him before the start of the season.Butler made 43 catches for 794 yards and six touchdowns in his career in Dallas, including 15 receptions for 317 yards and three touchdowns in 13 games last season.

 Part two BustersJon Gruden Rodney Hudson Jersey , Derek Carr, Paul GuentherEach week leading up to this week we could look at one or two things at least that worked for this team. And it had you wondering if they could put it together when it mattered most. They answered that with an emphatic no.In the first half, the defense gave the game away. The Chargers drove for an opening score to take a 3-0 lead. The offense got on the board to begin the second quarter, but even that was a failure. After driving into first and goal at the 5-yard-line, Gruden called for Carr to put the ball in the air on three consecutive plays. The first play he threw incomplete into triple coverage for Jared Cook. A false start by Jon Feliciano didn’t help matters, but even on that play, it was going to be a play fake to Marshawn with Carr rolling out. A dump off to Jalen Richard was not going to come close to picking up the 12 yards needed for the score. The result was a field goal and more red zone problems, of which the Raiders were already among the league’s worst red zone teams.Back to the defense; on consecutive drives late in the second quarter, they went for a touchdown. The first was Philip Rivers getting the ball away to running back Austin Ekeler in the left flat and since the Raiders went on a blitz, there wasn’t much out there to stop him. He made one move to get past Tahir Whitehead and Daryl Worley and was gone 44 yards for the score.The other drive was a similar story. The Raider rushed and Rivers threw a screen pass to Melvin Gordon who went 34 yards, stopped only by tripping over his blocker’s foot. But he would score anyway a few plays later. Little did we know at the time, but that would be plenty for the Chargers to win this one.The Raiders got the ball back with 1:39 on the clock but no timeouts. So, they would need to work the boundaries as best they could. The first pass was great http://www.raiderscheapshops.com/cheap-authentic-tahir-whitehead-jersey , with Carr finding Seth Roberts for 20 yards and he got out of bounds. They were still not to midfield yet though. Then a series of short dump passes drained the clock significantly and picked up just 16 yards. Carr spiked the ball for the second time on third down with :06 left and undrafted rookie Matt McCrane was brought out to try a 57-yard field goal. He missed it short.That is an example of terrible clock management.What they couldn’t do in 99 seconds, the Chargers did in 6 seconds. They moved the ball into range for a Hail Mary pass, it fell incomplete, but Bruce Irvin was flagged for roughing the passer to put them in range of a 48-yard field goal which, fortunately for the Raiders, he missed.After falling to 20-3, the Raiders mounting a drive that would be the last best hope to make a comeback. They would get a pass interference call in the end zone that put them in first and goal at the one. So, what does Gruden do? He calls for a pass. Carr scans the field, feels pressure, backpedals and throws it right into the hands of Melvin Ingram for the interception in the end zone. Threat over. Game over.Before all was said and done, the Chargers would gouge the Raiders one more time on a screen for a 13-yard touchdown early in the fourth.Kolton MillerIt was an utterly miserable day for Miller. Carr was sacked three times in the game. All three were surrendered by Miller. And that wasn’t all.The first sack came on the first third down to start the day with a three-and-out. Early in the second quarter, with the Raiders in third and 3, Miller gave up a pressure that had Carr running from the pocket and throwing incomplete up the sideline. The next drive Cheap Frostee Rucker Jersey , Miller gave up a tackle for loss on a Doug Martin run and then had a false start on third and 2 leading to a third and long and an incompletion for a three-and-out.The first third down of the second half and Miller gave up his second sack. The next drive, on third and 7, he gave pressure on Carr who nearly had the ball stripped, but managed somehow to get it away to Jalen Richard for a 32-yard gain. Two plays later, Miller gave up another pressure which Carr was again luckily able to pull away from for a 5-yard scramble.Just for good measure, Miller would give up one more sack on Carr on the drive after the Chargers went up 26-3, forcing the Raiders to have to go for it on fourth down to keep the drive alive. Miller has an injured leg that had him wearing a brace all game and he said affected his play all game. It sounds as if he maybe shouldn’t have been playing. See the Top Buster for that.Marquel LeeThere were three scores by the Chargers in the first half. They were able to move into scoring position because of a 16-yard run in which Lee was out of position, arrived late, and was blocked when he did arrive. The next drive he gave up a 10-yard dump pass.That second touchdown drive by the Chargers was brutal for Lee. He gave up an 11-yard catch on the first play. The next play, he blitzed and Paul Guenther said he wasn’t supposed to. The result was a perfectly executed screen play with no one to stop it. It went for 34 yards and had Gordon not tripped on his blocker’s foot, it would have been a touchdown. Three plays later it was a touchdown, with Gordon punching it in right through Lee’s position.Gareon Conley, Rashaan MelvinThe second play of the game Cheap Mike Nugent Jersey , Melvin gave up a 17-yard catch. The next play Conley was blocked on a 16-yard run that led to a game opening field goal.The next drive, Melvin gave up a 19-yard catch on third and four.Early in the second quarter, the Raiders started their drive at their own 11-yard-line because Conley lost his block on the return team to get Dwayne Harris tackled as soon as he fielded the punt.Melvin Ingram returned his interception of Derek Carr’s in the end zone to the 4-yard-line, giving the Chargers a long field. They cut that field in half on one play with Conley getting burnt for a 48-yard catch. A few plays later, Melvin gave up a 26-yard catch that put the Chargers in scoring position. They would eventually score the touchdown to run away with the game.Arden Key, Bruce IrvinIf there was ever a game in which these two should have gone off it was this one. Both of the Chargers starting tackles were out for this game. And yet it was just another game that saw the Raiders make one sack in the first half and nothing else. Irvin was the one who got the sack, giving him 3.0 on the season. That’s great, but he joins Key here. Irvin lands here for his boneheaded roughing the passer penalty that handed the Chargers a chance at scoring with no time left on the clock at the end of the first half. It was only a missed 48-yard field goal that kept the Chargers from being up 20-3 at the half. Just dumb.Key also had a roughing the passer penalty. It offset a holding penalty that would have taken the Chargers out of field goal range on their first drive. He missed the tackle in Gordon’s 9-yard run to reach the one-yard line and the Chargers scored two plays later. Key also overran the play on the Chargers’ final touchdown. Rivers simply tossed the ball over his head on the screen that went 13 yards for the score.Martavis BryantHis 91 yards receiving are some of the most useless, garbage time yards you’ll see. His biggest catch went for 47 yards after the game was out of reach. His 21-yard catch in the second quarter he fumbled away to set up the Chargers second touchdown drive off a short field. This after that horrible drop on the deep pass last week. He is just not dependable.See the Ballers The bye week is behind us. That’s when teams rest up and often get players back from injury. For the Raiders the most prominent player who has been injured of late is left guard Kelechi Osemele. He has missed the past two games with a knee injury. And as of the first practice out of the bye, he is still not on the field.Jon Feliciano replaced Osemele the past two weeks. He too went down with an injury against the Seahawks two Sundays ago with a rib injury and was replaced by reserve tackle Justin Murray. Both offered a considerable drop in production from the former All Pro Osemele.Feliciano practiced Wednesday, but was limited with that rib injury. The offensive line as a whole is banged up. Others who were limited Wednesday for the include Kolton Miller, Rodney Hudson, Gabe Jackson Cheap Johnny Townsend Jersey , and Denver Kirkland.Defensive linemen Fadol Brown and Bruce Irvin were also limited along with Seth Roberts who is still in the concussion protocol.Missing practice for the Colts were several players including former Raiders second round pick Jihad Ward who shockingly has 3.0 sacks in six games with the Colts this season after just one in two seasons in Oakland.Others missing are WR Ryan Grant, S Malik Hooker, TE Erik Swoope, RB Robert Turbin, and K Adam Vinatieri.Limited were DE Denico Autry, WR Dontrelle Inman, RB Marlon Mack, and TE Jack Doyle.Follow @LeviDamien

Obi Melifonwu unclaimed off waivers Cheap Kolton Miller Jersey , back on Raiders injured reserve Yesterday, But the waiver process completed without any team putting in a claim on the oft-injured safety, so for the time being he remains a Raider.Melifonwu was waived to make room for the Raiders’ newest signing, cornerback Dominique Rodgers-Cromartie. Fans of teams like the Chiefs and Falcons had plenty of chatter about wanting their teams to sign Melifonwu, but nobody did. For now, Obi remains a Raider, as he was waived with an injury designation Seth Roberts Jersey , meaning that if he were to go unclaimed, he would go back to the Raiders’ injured reserve list. That is exactly what has happened.Melifonwu has been hurt for basically his entire tenure as a Raider, and he’s hurt now with no indication of what exactly is wrong with him. If he gets healthy, that’s great, but for the foreseeable future he’s on IR not taking up a valuable roster spot. The Raiders have enough hard roster choices to make as it is. There may not have been any trades made Tuesday afternoon, but the Raiders did see a player depart. Dominique Rodgers-Cromartie announced his retirement after 11 NFL seasons. His departure left an open roster spot and to fill it the Raiders activated James Cowser from the team’s practice squad.The former undrafted free agent out of Southern Illinois is now in his third season in Oakland. He’s appeared in 22 games with no starts. The nation’s sack leader as a Senior, has logged 1.0 sack in his NFL career along with 45 combined tackles Cheap P.J. Hall Jersey , 1 forced fumble, and 3 fumble recoveries.The Raiders are the worst pass rushing team in the NFL, so they may as well give Cowser a shot to see if he can offer some help in that area. Though his call up in no way even guarantees he will be active on game day to get that chance.To replace Cowser’s spot on the practice squad, the Raiders signed tackle Jamar McGloster. The undrafted rookie originally signed with the 49ers out of Syracuse and also spent training camp with the Lions.Follow @LeviDamien

Raiders back on the dirt in Oakland Youth Justin Ellis Jersey with new kicker in house Every year the Raiders’ schedule is set up in such a way to try and have the team playing on a a field that is partially dirt from the A’s games also played on the field. That plan works out so long as the A’s don’t make the playoffs. Well, the A’s did make the playoffs which means it’s another game on the dirt infield.Many of the players just accept that they will have to deal with the dirt in spots and plan accordingly whether it be to have specific cleats or otherwise. Also most of them played on the dirt in the opener already. One guy has not — the new kicker.Matt McCrane is an undrafted rookie out of Kansas State. He was just signed this week to replace Mike Nugent who injured his hip in the Raiders game in Miami. He will not only have his NFL debut Sunday, but for any longer kicks, he will be planting on baseball field dirt.To prepare for it, he spent some time at the coliseum getting a feel for it.“We took him out there and let him kick Womens Jordy Nelson Jersey , let him experience the dirt,” said Gruden.It was special teams coordinator Rich Bisaccia who put orchestrated the 1 1鈦? hour session for McCrane on the coliseum field.“We tried different cleats, different approaches but I’m just going to go with the standard thing that I’ve been using and see what works the best,” said McCrane.“Just my standard soccer [cleats]. I didn’t do a special plant cleat. I know some kickers choose to do that. I just went with something that I normally go with.”Gruden seemed to speak a bit of tongue-in-cheek when saying that he thinks “all kickers in the league look forward to kicking off that dirt” adding he’s happy with playing on the dirt and “would make the dirt permanent if [he] had anything to do with it.”McCrane will also have pre-game Sunday to acclimate to the dirt field. He showed in the preseason with the the Cardinals that he has a strong leg, connecting on field goals from 53 and 54 yards out. We’ll see if that translates to the dirt should he be put the the position to have to do it.As for the dirt field Youth Marcus Gilchrist Jersey , this would be the last time the Raiders have to play on it unless the A’s were to make the World Series. After this the Raiders won’t be back in Oakland until October 28 when they face the Colts.Follow @LeviDamien To the surprise of no one, the Raiders are not favored this Sunday as they play host to the Colts. The Raiders have only been favored one time this season — against the Browns —, and that was the one game they managed to pull out with an overtime comeback. In their five losses, they were the underdog each time.After opening 1.5-point underdogs, the Raiders have slipped to 3-point dogs since the news of trading Amari Cooper and placing Marshawn Lynch came down. Matchup : Trends : Free PicksThe Colts aren’t a great team Youth Rashaan Melvin Jersey , but they’ve put up more of a fight this season than the Raiders. Andrew Luck has thrown an impressive 20 touchdown passes in seven games which is second only to Patrick Mahomes (22). The Raiders have half as many touchdowns AS A TEAM. And four of those left with Coop and Lynch.Where the Colts have struggled is on defense. But the Raiders haven’t shown much life on offense that would indicate they will be able to take advantage of it. Being 3-point dogs holds no mystery.Follow @LeviDamien

  has been out with Atlanta Falcons T-Shirt an injury since the Navy game, when a low block caught him in the side of the knee.2. In Week 12, Oliver planned to send out against Tulane (another option-heavy team that often blocks low) and return the following week against Memphis, according to ESPN’s pregame broadcast.3. During the Tulane game, UH head coach Major Applewhite got into it with Oliver over the star DT wearing a, uh Atlanta Falcons Hats , jacket:4. Did social media spend the next couple hours going wild about how long Applewhite could hang in a fight with Oliver? Yes. And the answer is: not very long. Consideration was also given to how many jackets Oliver will soon be able to buy himself in order to wear whenever he wants. The answer there: quite a pile of them.5. Applewhite explained the situation:A trimmed version:Being cold is for suckers, no matter what the fake news thermometer says. Jacket technology was invented for a reason.More Applewhite, when asked about why Oliver didn’t come back onto the field for the second half:6. Oliver hasn’t commented publicly on the specific incident, but did express some general team spirit on Twitter afterward.7. Is this probably nothing? Yeah, it’s probably nothing. People are still yelling at each other about whether Oliver should refuse to play over this or be suspended over this, and you’d think those people could find an easy middle ground between those two viewpoints. Maybe Oliver will just suit up against Memphis as planned? How does that sound? It seems that’s the only way to get to wear a jacket around here anyway.8. Is it wild that a jacket in 50-degree Houston became the talk of college football for an entire Thursday night? It is.9. Will an NFL Draft takesmith use this episode to argue Oliver shouldn’t be drafted by a cold-weather team? Absolutely. I’m sure that’s already happened.Alshon Jeffery won’t play against the Falcons in Week 1 News broke on Tuesday that Philadelphia Eagles’ starting wide receiver Alshon Jeffery has officially been ruled out for the first two games of the season, with the team hoping that he’ll be ready for their week 3 matchup against the Indianapolis Colts. As a result Atlanta Falcons Womens Hoodie , Jeffery will miss Philadelphia’s season-opener against the Atlanta Falcons on September 6. This absence will stem from a torn rotator cuff, which has kept the former South Carolina receiver off the practice field throughout all of training camp and preseason. Jeffery opted to play through the injury in 2017 and have surgery on it in the offseason, and that resulted in his placement on the Physically Unable to Perform (PUP) list at the beginning of Training Camp. The Eagles have elected to take him off the PUP list and to keep him on the 53-man roster, which showcases their belief that he’ll be ready to return within the first six weeks.Jeffery played out the 2017 season on a “prove it” deal with the Eagles, signing a one-year contract worth $9.5 million with the eventual Super Bowl champions. He ended up signing a 4 year/$52 million ($26.75 million guaranteed) contract extension last December.Jeffery totaled 57 receptions for 789 receiving yards in 2017, good for second on the team behind tight end Zach Ertz. He also led the team in both targets (120) and receiving touchdowns (nine).The absence will be noticeable for Philadelphia come week one, as Jeffery had four catches on five targets for a team-high 61 receiving yards in the their narrow Divisional Round victory against the Falcons back in January.Nelson Agholor Julio Jones Jersey Limited , Mack Hollins, Mike Wallace, Shelton Gibson, Markus Wheaton, Kamar Aiken, DeAndre Carter, Darius Prince http://www.atlantafalconsteamonline.com/julio-jones-jersey , Tim Wilson, Greg Ward, Bryce Treggs and Rashard Davis are the other receivers on Philadelphia’s roster before final cuts. Wallace or possibly Hollins are projected to be the team’s starters at WR, along with Agholor, on that opening Thursday Night game.In addition to Jeffery, I would venture to guess that we won’t see Carson Wentz in that first game either.

We’ve had threehttp://www.atlantafalconsteamonline.com/matt-bryant-jersey full days to digest the Falcons’ ugly loss to the Eagles, and I’ve had three whole days to rifle through all of the post-game analysis, gripes, and laments. They’re compiled below, so if you’re in the mood to read some bad stuff penned by great writers, you’re in luck! Here’s today’s edition of Falcoholinks.Oh, Keanu. We’ll miss you terribly. With a still sour taste in our mouths from Atlanta’s last meeting in Philadelphia, this game was like eating warheads dipped in ipecac syrup. The Falcons of course dropped the opener 18-12, but adding a massive injury to that insult was the following day’s news that star strong safety Keanu Neal would miss the rest of the season with a torn ACL. Neal is already one of the league’s top safeties, and he was poised to take his game to the next level in 2018. We’ll have to wait until 2019 to see the Falcons’ enforcer on the field again. Replacing him will require some creativity on the part of the Falcons’ coaching staff, and word out of Flowery Branch is that the team plans to turn to in-house options instead of seeking outside help. Things got worse when Sark ran vertsThat final red zone series was eerily reminiscent of last January’s playoff meeting against the Eagles Womens Logan Paulsen Jersey , both in execution and result. You know how it went, but The Falcoholic’s Adnan Ikic took a deep dive into Sarkisian’s play-calling at the end of the game, and hammered home what we all saw on Thursday: the red zone woes have returned like a plague ship.Matt Ryan’s awful openerQuarterback Matt Ryan has put together some memorable opening games. This one was memorable for all of the wrong reasons. The AJC’s D. Orlando Ledbetter had a roundup of many analysts who are already jumping off the Ryan train. Atlanta’s franchise signal-caller and new recipient of a five-year mega-deal posted the lowest quarterback rating in a season-opener in his career. There are legitimate concerns with Steve Sarkisian’s play-calling, but Matt Ryan deserves a large share of the blame for his poor execution in Philadelphia.For this, he was the season’s first sacrifice to the Great Metal Falcon. May he return for Week 2 whole and unaccompanied by a dark passenger. Here’s to Week 2We’ve got a full week to ruminate on the Eagles loss, but it’s important to put it all into its proper context. This team has some glaring question marks, primarily in red zone play-calling and execution, but it’s still an extremely talented squad. Writer and resident optimist Cory Woodroof takes the temperature down a few notches and provides a stark reminder that a poor showing in Week 1 does not a losing season make. The Falcons have the Carolina Panthers in on Sunday, so here’s to a better showing at home. The home fans didn’t seem happy most of the day as their team failed to show up.Washington, which began the day looking to build on a 5-2 record, was never in the game against the Falcons. Atlanta won its third consecutive game Womens Terrell McClain Jersey , moving to 4-4. The Falcons had their way, gaining 491 yards against one of the league’s best defenses in an easy 38-14 victory. Everything went right for Atlanta, including Julio Jones getting his first touchdown of the season.Atlanta scored five touchdowns, kicked a field goal, threw an interception and punted twice on nine possessions.Matt Ryan went 26-of-38 for 350 yards, four touchdowns and an interception. Jones caught seven passes for 121 yards and a touchdown, which came on his 60th reception of the year and ended a 12-game regular-season drought without one. Calvin Ridley made six catches for 71 yards and a touchdown before leaving to be checked for a head injury.Tevin Coleman had 13 carries for 88 yards, while catching five passes for 68 yards and two touchdowns. Ito Smith had 60 yards and a touchdown on 10 carries.Jack Crawford had two of the Falcons’ three sacks of Alex Smith.Smith completed 30 of 46 passes for 306 yards with one touchdown and one interception. Maurice Harris caught 10 passes for 124 yards. Adrian Peterson had nine carries for 17 yards.

Tim Green has revealed that he’s been diagnosed with ALS.Green wrote on Facebook that he recently found out he had a “slow-progressing version” of amyotrophic lateral sclerosis http://www.falconsauthorizedshops.com/authentic-desmond-trufant-jersey , and he’ll appear on 60 Minutes this week to talk about the diagnosis and his future fund-raising efforts.“While the football field is far away, I find myself in a formidable struggle,” Green wrote. “For the past five years I’ve been coping with some neurological problems in my hands. At first the doctors thought the damage I’d done to my elbows in football was the culprit, so they operated to release the nerves, but the issue persisted and my voice began to weaken as well. That’s the only reason I’ve had to stop visiting schools to talk with kids. Finally, I was diagnosed with ALS. . . .“As always Andy Levitre Jersey , I will spend the coming days and years counting the blessings I have instead of pining for the things I don’t,” he wrote. “Today I will take a walk. I will work and write and kiss each of my kids as well as my beautiful wife. That’s a great day. As good as it gets…”Green was the Falcons first-round pick in 1986 and played until 1993, starting 71 games. He then transitioned to a career in television, working for Fox. When the Falcons lost three key players to injured reserve in the first three weeks of the season, it blew a hole in the middle of their defense.Grady Jarrett‘s absence was much shorter (two weeks), but his return from a sprained ankle sparked something in the Falcons last night.The massive defensive tackle had two sacks in the first half Authentic Devonta Freeman Jersey , and that provided an obvious lift for a team which continues to play without linebacker Deion Jones and safeties Keanu Neal and Ricardo Allen.“It’s hard when you’re leader of a unit and you’re out and you can go out there with your boys. Me coming back, I definitely learned to show how much I cared about this team, this defense,” Jarrett said, via Vaughn McClure of ESPN.com. “We’re a team that knows everything that we want is still ahead of us.“And we’re going to approach it in that way: Not let one win stay on our mind too long, not letting a loss stay on our mind. We’re going to take this win and enjoy it Youth Ricardo Allen Jersey , but we’ve got to put it to bed [and] go back to work because we’ve got a long way to go. And we’re a group of tough guys, man. We’ll never give up.”Of course, it’s possible that the correct answer is “it was just the Giants.” The Falcons are still 3-4, and have a lot of work to do to return to the land of contenders. But putting the big man back in the middle of the line was a big boost.

Sunday Nevin Lawson Jersey , 1 p.m. ET, FoxOPENING LINE - Lions by 3RECORD VS. SPREAD - Seattle 3-2-1, Detroit 5-1SERIES RECORD - Seahawks lead 9-5LAST MEETING - Seahawks beat Lions 26-6, Jan. 7, 2017LAST WEEK — Seahawks had bye, beat Raiders 27-3 on Oct. 14; Lions beat Dolphins 31-23AP PRO32 RANKING - Seahawks No. 14, Lions No. 17SEAHAWKS OFFENSE - OVERALL (28), RUSH (7), PASS (28).SEAHAWKS DEFENSE - OVERALL (6), RUSH (24) Cheap Kerryon Johnson Jersey , PASS (3).LIONS OFFENSE - OVERALL (12), RUSH (11), PASS (17).LIONS DEFENSE - OVERALL (15), RUSH (30), PASS (7).REAKS, STATS AND NOTES - Seahawks have won five of six, including 2016 wild-card game. ... Both teams have won three of four this season after 0-2 starts. ... Seahawks playing first time since death of owner Paul Allen. ... LB K.J. Wright, TE Ed Dickson expected to play after missing six games with injuries. ... Seahawks 49-0 when ahead by four-plus points at halftime since 2012. ... Russell Wilson has started 102 straight games, trailing Philip Rivers (199), Matt Ryan (138) and Matthew Stafford (118) among active QBs in regular season. ... RB Chris Carson averaging 103 yards of offense his last three games. ... WR Tyler Lockett has TD catch in two straight and five of six games. ... DE Frank Clark had career-high 2 陆 sacks last game T.J. Lang Jersey , among NFL leaders with 5 陆 sacks. ... Seattle averaging only one giveaway per game, tied for second with plus-7 turnover differential. ... Lions QB Matthew Stafford has NFL-high 125.3 rating since Week 4. ... Rookie RB Kerryon Johnson ran for career-high 158 yards at Miami last week. ... Former Seattle WR Golden Tate leads team with 37 catches and 467 yards receiving, but coming off season lows with four receptions, 36 yards. ... TE Michael Roberts has four catches, three for TDs. ... DT Ricky Jean-Francois had two sacks last week, matching career high set in 2013 with Indianapolis. ... CB Darius Slay has four INTs over last five home games. ... Fantasy tip: Johnson is getting ball more and could have another 100-yard game against NFL's No. 24 team defending run.Lions notes: Frank Ragnow’s pass protection is back on track Two weeks into the season, the Detroit Lions first-round draft pick Frank Ragnow didn’t look like himself. The man who didn’t give up a single sack in his entire college career was getting turnstyled by defensive tackle after defensive tackle. His pass protection, which was largely considered his best asset, looked like it needed serious adjustment at the professional level, and I even saw some commenters suggest the draft pick was “indefensible.”Flash forward to two weeks later Cheap Jarrad Davis Jersey , and Ragnow seems to have ironed all of his problems out. Not only is he popping off in terms of his run blocking, but he’s improved phenomenally as a pass blocker—to a point where he’s had a completely clean rap sheet over the past two weeks: That’s really good news considering T.J. Lang may be out for some time after suffering a concussion in Sunday’s game. The last thing the Lions need is two leaky holes on the offensive front.If you want to know how Ragnow righted the ship, Andrew Kato had a great article on it from last week. Josh Cohen of The Athletic has an outstanding breakdown of how the Lions’ run defense got worked by Ezekiel Elliott, as well as some other defensive troubles vs. Dallas. Highly recommended read if you have an Athletic subscription. For no reason, let’s check in on Ndamukong Suh and... OH NO, TURN AWAY: This is sure to make a lot of people mad—calling Jared Goff “the best QB I’ve ever had”—but, whatever, he’s supporting the quarterback he’s got. The Lions have an open roster spot after they released cornerback Dee Virgin on Tuesday. Virgin who was the player that just missed out on pinning the Cowboys deep in their own zone after just barely touching the goal line in punt coverage.Not a lot of NFL passers have seen the statistical success against the Packers that Matthew Stafford has: Bleacher Report gave the Lions a C- grade for their Week 4 performance against the Cowboys.

 Actually Authentic Kerryon Johnson Jersey , in hindsight, that would have been a great song to open up the Pride Of Detroit PODcast with. I didn’t do that though. Shame.We’re back at it again with audio deduction of Lions football. The gang is here, the fight is on, and the loss looms heavy. We took a day to let things simmer and instead found the usual crushing weight that comes with the realization that the NFL season is halfway over and Detroit is staring down the barrel of too many losses.Nevertheless, if you want to know how this all fell apart, how badly the Lions miss Golden Tate, and indeed how badly the team is itself handling the pressure Youth LeGarrette Blount Jersey , you can hear it on PODcast. Download and subscribe to the PODcast on these platforms: Apple Podcasts | Google Podcasts| Spotify | Stitcher | ART19This week on the PODcastFiguring out what exactly went wrong on Sunday. There’s a lot of wrong. Spoilers.How much blame does the offensive line take for allowing 10 sacks? How much blame does Matthew Stafford take for not staying aware of the defense coming after him?The offense was missing Golden Tate, but it wasn’t going to swing the game. Nevertheless, we discuss how this offense has looked different without him.Is the NFC North race over for the Lions? Is this a hole the Lions can’t climb out of at this point? Is there still hope to get this turned around.Real talk on the continued career of Jim Bob Cooter in Detroit.A lesson on “tilting” and what it means that the Lions are currently doing so, from Chris.In the mailbag, Ryan is crowned POD king of competitive eating.Marciano got fired while we were recording, so we talked briefly about that too.2 Winners, 3 Losers from the Lions’ preseason finale loss to the Browns WinnersRB Dwayne WashingtonThough he likely won’t make the final roster http://www.lionsauthorizedshops.com/authentic-christian-jones-jersey , Washington looked like the only Lions player that wanted to play football on Thursday night and had himself plenty plays where I was thoroughly impressed. He had a nice blitz pickup that won’t show up on the stat sheet in which Jake Rudock promptly threw over his intended target’s head and if Washington’s lucky, some team out there will see his tape against the Browns and give him a shot.QB Matt CasselDespite the awful pick-six throw and awful statline, I think Cassel showed more poise in the pocket this preseason and has the edge over Rudock for the backup job. He has the experience and the better arm and that’s really what it mostly comes down to. Cassel being listed as a winner has less to do with his performance against the Browns and more to do with the fact that Rudock hasn’t done much at all to get a leg up over Cassel. Neither one of these guys have shown much to write home about, but that’s what we’ve got. LosersQB Jake RudockRudock was pulled before the first half even ended for Cassel, but came back in halfway through the third quarter and struggled for most of the game until fourth quarter preseason Rudock showed up. But he had that one really cool first-down scramble, right?Sadly, Rudock Devon Kennard Jersey , to me, didn’t do nearly enough to etch himself in as the backup QB, as he averaged a paltry 4.7 yards per attempt in his last game of the preseason.I may have split these two QBs into one winner and one loser for the game, but roster cuts are looming, and it could very easily turn into two losers if the Lions decide to pick someone up off the waiver wire pretty soon.Rudock can barely hand the ball off correctly to his running back.S Rolan MilliganOnly this guy would get called for a defensive holding and still give up a 41-yard catch. He was already way on the outside looking in with one eye closed, and Thursday night’s performance was likely the nail in the coffin for his hopes at a roster spot. Lions fansProps to the fans that voted Toto’s Africa for song of the game, although I never want to associate that song with such a dull Cheap Michael Roberts Jersey , pointless game like this. Anyway, I feel bad for anyone who spent the time to watch the entire game like I did and I hope at least one of you will be compensated with delicious pizza for your dedication. The Thursday before cut day will forever be the worst day of the year (April Fool’s is a close second).