Jets Rookie Power Rankings: Bless Austin blesses Gang Green in NFL debut

Jets Wire breaks down Gang Green’s rookie class following their performances against the Giants.

Not only did the Jets emerge victoriously in Week 10, but they also got blessed by one of their rookies.

Bless Austin made his NFL debut against the Giants and made an instant impact in his first professional action and appearance on a football field in almost two years. He wasn’t the only rookie who made noise for Gang Green on Sunday, though, as another member of New York’s rookie class made a substantial contribution for the first time this season.

So, where do the neophytes stand after the Jets’ second win of the season? Let’s find out in the latest edition of Jets Wire’s rookie power rankings series.

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PODCAST: Takeaways from Bills’ Week 10 loss to Browns

Kyle Silagyi is joined by Rich Kowalski and McKenna Middlebrook to discuss the Buffalo Bills’ Week 10 loss to the Cleveland Browns.

Well, that was disheartening.

The Buffalo Bills probably should have beaten the Cleveland Browns in their Week 10 matchup with the preseason darling. The Browns have long been looked at as one of the most dysfunctional franchises in the NFL, a team with a regressing quarterback and a poor head coach that should not have had a chance against a prospective playoff team.

Yet, a poor offensive display and two missed field goals ultimately cost Buffalo in the matchup, as it left FirstEnergy Stadium with its third loss of the 2019 campaign. On this episode of The Kyle Silagyi Variety Hour, host Kyle Silagyi is joined by BillsWire staff writers Rich Kowalski and McKenna Middlebrook to discuss the Bills’ 19-16 loss to the Browns.

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49ers kicker Chase McLaughlin shanked a kick so badly, it landed in a Levi’s Stadium tunnel

LOOK OUT!

To his credit, San Francisco 49ers kicker Chase McLaughlin had a good game in Week 10.

He nailed three field goals on the night, including the one at the end of regulation that sent Monday’s thrilling overtime Niners loss to the Seattle Seahawks.

But the one he missed in overtime? Not good.

It was from 47 yards out … and it was a bad miss wide left. Just how much of a miss was it? So bad that it landed in a Levi’s Stadium tunnel, a moment captured on camera. That also ignited everyone on Twitter to meme-fy the shank.

Here’s the McLaughlin miss:

And where it landed:

And the Twitter reaction:

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Four-star Louisiana RB Ashaad Clayton commits to Colorado

Colorado landed its biggest recruiting blow of the Class of 2020 thus far with the commitment of Louisiana 4-star RB Ashaad Clayton, the Warren Easton star who ranks among the top-four overall prospects from Louisiana.

Colorado made another foray into the American South for a top recruit, getting a pledge from four-star Louisiana running back Ashaad Clayton on Monday.

Clayton stars for New Orleans power Warren Easton, which expects to compete for the state title in the forthcoming high school playoffs. A versatile 6-foot, 200-pound back, Clayton chose the Buffaloes ahead of scholarship offers from the likes of Alabama, Auburn and Georgia.

Clayton committed to the Buffs immediately after visiting Colorado, and announced his decision on Twitter with a Tweet that includes a golden visor with a CU Buffaloes logo.

How did Colorado land one of the top-four prospects in the state of Louisiana? The answer clearly starts with Colorado coach Mel Tucker and assistant coach Darian Hagan. A former Colorado running back himself, Hagan served as the lead recruiter for Clayton. With the most continuity of everyone on the Colorado staff, Hagan’s recruiting bona fides for running backs are unquestionable.

Now he has another star pupil to work with, who doubles as the top prospect in Colorado’s Class of 2020.

Report: Giants will work out TE Scott Simonson on Tuesday

The New York Giants will work out tight end Scott Simonson on Tuesday.

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With tight end Evan Engram still in a boot and nursing a foot injury and Rhett Ellison placed in concussion protocol after a Week 10 loss to the New York Jets, the New York Giants will host Scott Simonson for a workout in East Rutherford on Tuesday.

Simonson, a Middletown, New Jersey native, signed with the Giants in June of 2018 and appeared in all 16 games last season, starting four. He hauled in nine passes for 86 yards and one touchdown.

The 27-year-old appeared to be a lock to make the team’s 53-man roster again in 2019, but suffered a high ankle sprain in the final preseason game against the New England Patriots and was promptly placed on injured reserve.

Shortly thereafter, Simonson was released from IR with an injury settlement and has remained a free agent ever since. He is now eligible to re-sign with the Giants should he desire to do so.

Prior to his time in New York, Simonson spent three seasons with the Carolina Panthers and two seasons with the Oakland Raiders.

In addition to Simonson, the Giants also worked out wide receiver Alex Bachman on Monday for the second time in two weeks.

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Sixers vs. Cavaliers preview: Sixers look to make it two wins in a row

The Philadelphia 76ers will look to make it two wins in a row against the Cleveland Cavaliers.

The Philadelphia 76ers returned home on Sunday and put a screeching halt on a dreadful three-game losing streak by knocking off the Charlotte Hornets. Now, they will look to make it a winning streak when they host Collin Sexton and the Cleveland Cavaliers on Tuesday.

They will have to do it without Al Horford, who will miss the game for a scheduled rest day with it being the first game of a back-to-back, and possibly without Ben Simmons who is still dealing with an ailing AC joint sprain. The Sixers are a perfect 3-0 at home and they will need the contributions of others to make sure they get to 4-0.

With that being said, it’s time to dive into this matchup with the works:

How to watch Sixers vs. Cavaliers

  • Date: Tuesday, November 12
  • Time: 7:00 p.m. EST
  • Location: Wells Fargo Center Philadelphia, PA
  • TV: NBC Sports Philadelphia, NBATV

Injury report

  • Sixers: OUT: Al Horford(rest) QUESTIONABLE: Ben Simmons(right AC joint sprain) DOUBTFUL: Shake Milton(left knee bone bruise)
  • Cavaliers: OUT: John Henson(right hamstring strain), Dylan Windler(left lower leg stress reaction), Ante Zizic(left foot plantar fascitis)

Storylines

Limiting turnovers

Despite the 6-3 start, turnovers have been an eyesore for the Sixers. They committed 20 in their win over the Hornets on Sunday and it’s something that coach Brett Brown lamented after it was all over.

This is what I tell the team: until we can fix this, this is a house built on sand. It is fool’s gold and we have to find a discipline and a better way to control that. The turnovers in the first half, some of them were live ball, a lot of them were just getting things batted out of our hands. We can’t fool ourselves, this is a problem. This is a problem and we need to own it.

The Sixers are now committing 18.8 turnovers per game which is good for 28th in the league. That will not get it done for a championship-contending team.

I’m the head coach. I’ve got to find a way to fix it. There needs to be a level of accountability with the players and that’s that. It’s not anything we take lightly, we don’t dismiss it, the times are over where you’re looking at some of the young guys and you can justify it. You can’t do that anymore and it’s time that we get better at that. The players know it, they understand it, but we’ve got to fix it.

Chemistry

The Sixers are a relatively new group. New players like Horford and Josh Richardson as well as reserves Raul Neto and Trey Burke have all played a key role on this Sixers team this season. That causes some confusion on the floor with guys learning a new scheme and it can be the cause of a lot of turnovers. Due to this fact, Richardson tries to put it into perspective for a lot of people.

It felt great, a win is always a great. A win is always positive energy in the locker room so after a tough skid, I think it was good for us to come out here and get this win. You’ve got to remember though we’ve only been playing together for three weeks, honestly in games so it’s going to take time for everything to jell.

Prediction

The Cavaliers will not be an easy win for the Sixers. Coach John Beilein has done a terrific job here in the early going of getting the most out of his players and getting them to play hard and Kevin Love is back healthy averaging 18.3 points and 13.4 rebounds for Cleveland. Also, Tristan Thompson is always a problem on the glass so it will be up to Joel Embiid to hold up his end of the bargain with Horford out resting. The Sixers are the more talented team so they should win, but it won’t be easy.

Pick: Sixers in a close one

Sixers vs. Cavaliers season series

Game 1 November 12:

Game 2 November 17:

Game 3 December 7:

Game 4 February 26:

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Demaryius Thomas among 6 unsung heroes from Jets’ win over Giants

Sam Darnold and Jamal Adams deserve all the credit for the win, but these veterans and rookies stepped up in a huge way in the Jets’ win.

The Jets’ 34-27 win over the Giants was a team effort. Almost everyone chipped in to help the Jets earn their second victory of the season, especially with an injury-riddled roster.

Sam Darnold and Jamal Adams deserve most of the credit for the win, but there were plenty of other players that helped at various positions on the field. Players stepped up for injured teammates or bad play and immediately contributed on both sides of the ball. A couple rookies even stood out.

Here are six unsung heroes from the Jets’ Week 10 win.

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MRI on left knee of Troy Daniels comes back negative, he’s questionable tonight in Phoenix

MRI on left knee of Los Angeles Lakers shooting guard Troy Daniels comes back negative, he’s questionable tonight in Phoenix against the Suns.

Los Angeles Lakers guard Troy Daniels is battling a sore left knee and underwent an MRI on Monday. Fortunately, the MRI was negative and there is a chance he will be able to play tonight in Phoenix against the Suns. The sharp-shooting Daniels–who LeBron James dubbed “layup” because his threes are like layups–connected on 3-of-5 field goals from beyond the arc during Sunday’s loss to the Toronto Raptors while finishing with 11 points in 17 minutes.

Daniels knocked down 4-of-8 triples during the Lakers first win of the season against the Utah Jazz, but went relatively cold from distance since then prior to breaking out on Sunday. According to Mike Trudell of Spectrum Sports, Daniels will enter tonight’s matchup against his former team as questionable on the injury report.

Whether he is able to go tonight or not, Daniels is one of the long-range shooters Los Angeles will need more consistency from as the season continues. In order to open up driving lanes for LeBron and others, L.A. will need to shoot it better than the 31.1% from deep that currently has them ranked No. 27 in the league in 3-point shooting as a team. Daniels is a 39.8% 3-point shooter for his career who is only connecting on 31% of his triples through these first nine games of the season. During the 2017-18 campaign with Phoenix he shot 40% from deep and last season with the Suns he connected on 38.1% of his triples.

The Lakers will meet an overachieving Phoenix squad tonight who has been the surprise of the NBA thus far. While off to a 6-3 start, the Suns are shooting 38.4% from deep which has them ranked No. 5 in the NBA in 3-point efficiency. Devin Booker is leading the way for Phoenix with 25.8 points and 5.4 assists per night. The veteran Ricky Rubio, meanwhile, is averaging 13.6 points, 8.6 assists and 6.8 rebounds.

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Florida middle school football coach faces charges for slamming student against wall for not wearing shirt

A Florida middle school football coach is facing charges that he allegedly slammed one of his players into a wall after the player refused to wear a shirt after a recent game.

A Florida middle school football coach is suddenly facing charges against he allegedly slammed one of his players into a wall when the teen in question refused to put on shirt following a game.

As reported by Orlando ABC affiliate WFTV, Seminole County Millenium Middle School physical education teacher and football coach became entangled in a physical altercation with one of his students when the middle schooler refused to leave the locker room wearing a shirt after a football game.

The 56-year-old Michael Henry apparently tried to force the player to wear a shirt by blocking the door for his exit, leading the player to bump into his head coach to try and force his way out. That inspired the coach to grab him and violently slam him into a wall, leading both to crash to the ground and the teen to develop a small bump on his head.

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Henry was charged with battery in connection with the incident and was booked on a $500 bond. Meanwhile, the coach has been placed on paid administrative leave during the investigation. No timeline has been given about when that investigation may wrap up or when Henry may be back in a courtroom in connection with the battery charge against him.

Dolphins’ Brian Flores focused on improving today, not the future

Head coach Brian Flores isn’t worried about how winning in 2019 will impact the search for a new starting quarterback.

If you’ve been following the Dolphins closely this fall, you’ve probably heard someone mutter it over the course of the last two weeks.

“They can’t even tank right!”

As has been well established over the course of the Dolphins’ 2019 calendar year, the Dolphins are, in fact, not tanking. There’s been a managerial focus on collecting assets and creating salary cap space with the understanding that such an approach is probably going to hinder the Dolphins’ on-field product. Such an approach requires everyone to be on the same page — the Dolphins have done a very good job of ensuring that thus far in to their rebuild. But Miami wasn’t dedicated to slapping their players and fans in the face by giving up on 16 games, they’ve been playing to win.

And through a hard-nosed, disciplined approach, the Dolphins have started to do exactly that. Miami now sits at 2-7 and with the 4th overall pick in the current 2020 NFL Draft order. Is that going to cost Miami the chance to draft a quarterback? Potentially — but don’t tell that to Brian Flores, because he doesn’t care.

“My job is to put this team in the best position to try to go out there and be productive and try to win football games,” said Flores yesterday during his press availability.

“I think every head coach, every general manager, every organization is thinking about things long-term, as well as short-term. We’re no different, but right now my goal is to get each one of those guys in that locker better (and) as good as they can be. That’s the goal for me and our coaching staff.”

For most rebuilding teams, the worry would be concerns. But most rebuilding teams don’t have a war chest of 1st-round draft picks. And with 7 losses already this season, Miami will have the mobility they need to attack the draft. That luxury allows Flores the opportunity to make sure he’s developing his football players and — as he said himself — get his guys as good as they can be.

With more time, some of this year’s contributors will become fixtures for the next several years of the Flores era — and hopefully a dynamic turnaround into a winning program. That has value, too.

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