Month: December 2023

How every former Wisconsin Badger performed in NFL Week 12 2023

How every former Wisconsin Badger performed in NFL Week 12 2023

Week 12 of the NFL season is complete, as Thanksgiving has moved into the rear-view and the final of the stretch of the season is imminent.

It was a Sunday, and Thursday, dominated by former Wisconsin Badgers yet again. Colts RB Jonathan Taylor ran his team to a comeback victory, Broncos QB Russell Wilson led his group to its sixth straight victory, a pair of Steelers linebackers got to the quarterback with ease and Bears linebacker T.J. Edwards led a turnover party.

There aren’t any nuggets to share better than Dare Ogunbowale kicking a go-ahead field goal. But it was still an eventful weekend for Wisconsin products in the NFL.

Here is how each of them performed:

Titans’ Ryan Stonehouse had record-setting month of November

Titans punter Ryan Stonehouse set a new NFL record during the month of November.

Tennessee Titans punter Ryan Stonehouse has been a phenomenon since joining the team as an undrafted free agent last year, with his powerful leg placing him in the conversation for best punter in the league upon his arrival.

The Colorado State product has become even more lethal this season because he’s done a much better job of controlling his kicks instead of hammering them as hard as possible, which has allowed him to consistently pin opponents deep.

Both of those skills that Stoney possesses were on full display last month. In four total games during the month of November, the Titans punter recorded 18 punts and led the NFL with a gross average of 54.9 and a net average of 48.4.

He also tied Pittsburgh Steelers punter Presley Harvin III for the league lead with 12 punts inside the 20, and a league-high total of 66.7 percent of his punts (12-of-18) landed in that area (minimum 10 punts).

Stonehouse’s 54.9-yard gross average was the highest ever recorded by a player during November, surpassing the previous record of 54.2 yards per punt previously held by Jacksonville Jaguars punter Logan Cooke (2022).

Additionally, Stonehouse, who was awarded AFC Special Teams Player of the Week, accomplished a few other notable feats during November.

His 48.4-yard net punting average was the third-best November net punting average since 1992 behind only Kansas City’s Tommy Townsend in 2021 (50.7) and Seattle’s Michael Dickson in 2022 (49.0).

Tennessee’s second-year punter was the only player in November with a punt of 60-plus yards in every game. His current streak of five consecutive games of hitting that mark is the longest active streak in the NFL, and the longest by a member of the franchise during its “Titans era” (1999-present).

Anybody who takes the time to watch the All-Pro punter work knows just how much of a weapon he is. However, stats like these just further solidify that he’s one of, if not the very best punter in the NFL.

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HSR Classic Sebring 12 Hour gets underway

Back-to-back Historic Sportscar Racing feature races kicked off the competition schedule late Thursday afternoon at Sebring International Raceway for the HSR Sebring Historics and this weekend’s eighth running of HSR Classic Sebring 12 Hour, Pistons …

Back-to-back Historic Sportscar Racing feature races kicked off the competition schedule late Thursday afternoon at Sebring International Raceway for the HSR Sebring Historics and this weekend’s eighth running of HSR Classic Sebring 12 Hour, Pistons and Props, presented by the Alan Jay Automotive Network.

A first-time HSR feature race winner emerged for the overall victory in the one-hour B.R.M. Chronographes Endurance Challenge race for the GT Classic (GTC) and Vintage classes while the Stoner Car Care Global GT sprint that immediately followed went to a familiar driver who just missed out on the win one race ago at the HSR Classic Daytona 24 earlier this month.

Colin Watson and Jeremy Adams broke through for their first B.R.M. Endurance overall victory and GTC class honors in their quick Boss Racing 2000 No. 91 Caterham C400. The British duo kept predominant race leader Todd Treffert in sight throughout the race and took advantage of some unusual late trouble the Porsche driver encountered.

Treffert looked on his way to another B.R.M. Chronographes Endurance race win only to be sidetracked by a loose window net and flat right rear tire while leading the race with less than 10 minutes remaining. Treffert was called to the pits by race officials to refasten the window net and then had to nurse the deflating tire to the finish.

Despite the setbacks, Treffert crossed the finish line in his Speedconcepts 1974 No. 141 Porsche 911 IROC prepared by the 901 Shop just 3.192s behind the winning Caterham, which showed its winning pace by setting the fastest race lap.

Third overall behind the Caterham and IROC 911 was Vintage-class winner Jamie Busby in his KMW Motorsports 1970 No. 188 Porsche 914/6.

Fourth overall and third in GTC went to co-drivers Dean DeSantis and Josh Tuggle in their Heritage Motorsports 1969 No. 133 Porsche 911 RSR.

The overall top-five was completed by the Boss Racing sister entry of Stephen Collins who also garnered runner-up honors in Vintage in his 2014 No. 69 Caterham 7 420R.

Third in the Vintage class was frequent HSR podium finisher Colin Dougherty in his 1988 No. 77 Porsche 944 Turbo Cup series car prepared by DAS Sport.

The Stoner Car Care race win was secured by Jeronimo Guzman who turned the tables on his 901 Shop teammate Juan Lopez-Santini in his 2015 No. 48 Audi R8 LMSA Ultra. Guzman finished second to Lopez-Santini in the Global GT race at Daytona but this time he led the similar 901 Shop 2016 No. 8 Audi R8 LMSA Ultra of his teammate across the line for the victory. The third-place finisher was Vin Barletta in the Turner Motorsport 2016 No. 96 BMW M6/GTLM.

Friday’s on-track HSR highlights at Sebring include the year-end one-hour HSR B.R.M. Historic/Prototype and GT Modern (GTM) Enduro, the first rounds of the season-ending HSR WeatherTech Sprint races, and the season-ending Sasco Sports International/American Challenge race.

Friday also features at 5pm the annual parade of vintage airplanes and warbirds from nearby Sebring Regional Airport to the Sebring International Raceway false grid area where they will be on display until Sunday morning at 10:30am.

Geno Smith confirms final Seahawks play was supposed to leave Micah Parsons unblocked, which … really?

This backfired badly.

I’m no NFL head coach or coordinator, but even I know the first thing you do when playing against the Dallas Cowboys defense is to make sure Micah Parsons is accounted for.

But the final play the Seattle Seahawks ran on Thursday night in their 41-35 loss to Dallas, Geno Smith revealed that the play call was meant to keep Parsons unblocked.

Now, before you totally lose it: As you’ll see from The Ringer’s Benjamin Solak, there’s a reason for that. It’s not the best reason, but it’s a reason. The play is designed to get the running back — DeeJay Dallas, in this case — the ball in the flat.

But when you’re talking about Parsons here, that seems … not smart. Because then this happens:

Here’s what Smith said:

And Solak’s explanation will help you:

Inside the SCCA: Looking ahead to 2024 Hoosier Super Tour

On episode 140 of Inside the SCCA we are 44 days until the 2024 Hoosier Racing Tire SCCA Super Tour gets underway at Sebring. SCCA’s Vice President of Road Racing Eric Prill joined me to talk about what’s new for 2024. We talked about Flagtronics, …

On episode 140 of Inside the SCCA we are 44 days until the 2024 Hoosier Racing Tire SCCA Super Tour gets underway at Sebring. SCCA’s Vice President of Road Racing Eric Prill joined me to talk about what’s new for 2024. We talked about Flagtronics, returning to NOLA and Mid-Ohio, the Spec MX-5 class, how and why the Conference Championships points system works the way it does, which classes are on Runoffs probation and what that means, and what drivers and teams can do to help the Super Tour announce team tell their stories.

Eagles’ Jordan Mailata ‘couldn’t believe’ Bills coverage for Jalen Hurts winning TD

#Eagles’ Jordan Mailata ‘couldn’t believe’ #Bills coverage for Jalen Hurts winning TD:

The Buffalo Bills were left shocked by the Philadelphia Eagles’ game winning touchdown in overtime to win 37-34 in Week 12. Eagles quarterback Jalen Hurts took the snap and almost immediately took off running for the end zone from almost 20 yards out to win the game on a walk-off rushing touchdown.

And Bills fans will be wondering why the defense, who would naturally have a difficult time against a team with only one loss all season, would be in that coverage to allow the opposing quarterback the time and space to run into the end zone.

So too was Eagles left tackle Jordan Mailata.

“[I] couldn’t believe the Bills gave [us] that look.” said Mailata to NFL Network’s national correspondent James Palmer following the contest.

What is the Eagles lineman referring to? NFL Next Gen Stats mapped Hurts win, which you can see here if you have recovered from Sunday’s difficult loss:

In that play, the Bills safety Micah Hyde is lined up on the left hashmark parallel with Hurts. Eagles running back D’Andre Swift, wearing No. 0, moves in motion to the right, and Hyde starts drifting toward Hurts right along with linebacker Terrel Bernard.

Since there is a one-on-one coverage on towards the left between Eagles receiver Devonta Smith and Bills cornerback Rasul Douglas, Hyde shifting over gave Hurts enough of a distance between them pre-snap to win the foot race.

Shifting over could be less damaging if Bernard fills that lane instead of shifting along with Hyde, or if linebacker Tyrel Dodson, who was tasked with blitzing Hurts, was able to close the gap created by Mailata and his left guard teammate Landon Dickerson quickly. That is the difficulty of playing an excellent team like the Eagles – mistakes compound into scores.

“Hurts made a number of plays with his feet … he got out a few times and made some trouble with his feet.” said Bills coach Sean McDermott after the game.

Mailata was the first to meet Eagles QB Hurts in the end zone to celebrate the winning touchdown with him.

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Onions are the secret ingredient to Josh Allen’s breakout season

Josh Allen might smell a little like onions, but whatever he’s doing is working.

Jacksonville Jaguars pass rusher Josh Allen is putting together a career year with 12 sacks through 11 games. It couldn’t have come at a better time for the 26-year-old outside linebacker, who is scheduled to become a free agent in March.

And it’s all thanks to onions.

Well … maybe not all thanks, but Allen revealed Thursday that the vegetable has played a part in his big season. When Allen spoke to reporters in the locker room after practice, Jaguars wide receiver Calvin Ridley interrupted the scrum to ask a question of his own. Why does Allen always smell like onions when he’s getting treatment in the Jaguars’ training room?

“Tell them about the onions! You smell like onions all the time,” Ridley said.

“No I don’t, alright, no I don’t,” Allen said with a smile. “It’s an old remedy. I get swelled up in my ankle so I got my doctor who just wrapped my foot with onions to really get the swelling to go down. It may smell like a little onions, he’s gassing it a little bit, but it works. It works.”

It’s not as wild as it sounds. There are plenty of medical studies that have shown the anti-inflammatory effects of onions. They’re benefits that Allen said he hadn’t started taking advantage of until this season.

“I needed something to keep the swelling down, something not really harmful,” Allen said. “Once I did it the first time and then I saw it go down and I was able to move it better, [I said] this is it.”

A dozen sacks later, it sure looks like onions are doing the trick.

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Rutgers football joins multiple Power Five schools in offering Harvard’s Tyler Neville

Tyler Neville picked up a Rutgers football offer since entering the transfer portal.

Tyler Neville has been offered by Rutgers football, the Harvard tight end having several notable Power Five offers since entering the transfer portal a week ago.

Rutgers joins programs such as Boston College, Houston, UMass, Old Dominion, South Carolina, TCU, and Virginia among others.

Tight end is a position where Rutgers is projected to be very active in the transfer portal given that there is a need to add an experienced athlete or two at the position.

Neville, a multi-year starter at Harvard as well as being an All-Ivy League selection, would certainly be a fit. Last season, he had 24 catches for 283 yards with four touchdowns.

 

On their current roster, Rutgers has a tight end in Johnny Langan who transitioned from being a quarterback to a utility player, settling in as a tight end over the last few seasons.

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Langan was named All-Big Ten (honorable mention) by the media this week.He battled injuries this season and finished with 14 catches for 121 yards. Last season he had 31 catches for 296 receiving yards with a touchdown.

Also on the roster and with no more eligibility is Shawn Bowman, a physical presence at tight end who joined Rutgers in the transfer portal this summer from FCS program Maine.

Rutgers took a significant step forward in its rebuild this season, finishing the regular season 6-6 (3-5 Big Ten) and bowl-eligible by mid-October.

Where is ESPN’s College GameDay traveling to in Week 14 (conference championship week!) of the 2023 season?

Where is GameDay this week? Here’s the answer.

If you’re a college football fan, you know you have every Saturday morning marked down to watch ESPN’s College GameDay as you get ready for that day’s games.

And it’s always fun to see where the show travels to during the season, with rabid fanbases designing wild signs to root on their team and troll others, and to see who Lee Corso will pick with which headgear to put on.

If you’re here, you’re probably wondering: Where is GameDay this week?

The answer: They’re in Atlanta this week. No. 1 Georgia will play No. 8 Alabama in the 2023 SEC title game.

Enjoy!

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Browns vs. Bears game given 1:00 PM kickoff on December 17th

Browns vs. the Bears has its kickoff time

The game between the Cleveland Browns and Chicago Bears in Cleveland now finally has its kickoff time. When Chicago comes to town on December 17, the game will kickoff at 1:00 PM local time. The Bears season is almost over and they are a long shot to make the playoffs as the Browns look to make their return to the postseason.

Cleveland could be looking for a playoff push when the Bears visit them later on in December. The Browns are likely going to start Joe Flacco with rookie Dorian Thompson-Robinson in concussion protocol and we have no idea what the offense will look like if that is the case.

The Browns are hoping their long list of injuries this season doesn’t continue as they hope Myles Garrett can play this week. If he isn’t the team has plenty of talent still on the defensive line as the season of next man up continues against the Rams on Sunday.

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