Report: Former Patriots practice squad player to join coaching staff

Former Alabama safety Vinnie Sunseri will join New England in a ‘support staff’ position.

The New England Patriots will bring on former Alabama safety Vinnie Sunseri for a ‘support staff role’, according to Matt Zenitz of AL.com.

Sunseri played his college days under Nick Saban with the Crimson Tide and had a couple stints with New England. He signed with the Patriots in July of 2016, spending training camp with them and briefly joining the practice squad later in the season.

The Patriots lost Joe Judge to a head-coaching gig with the New York Giants, so they have some holes to fill. Judge was the special teams coordinator and the wide receivers coach, so it’s possible that Sunseri helps out with one of those roles. He has more experience on defense and special teams, so an assistant special teams coach is a possibility.

There are places for Sunseri to help out on the coaching staff, and his background with both Saban and Bill Belichick will be helpful in the process.

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Packers’ Za’Darius Smith, Davante Adams and Kenny Clark all named to Pro Bowl

Three members of the Green Bay Packers were added to the Pro Bowl roster as alternates on Tuesday Outside linebacker Za’Darius Smith, receiver Davante Adams and defensive lineman Kenny Clark will all represent the Packers at the 2020 Pro Bowl on Sunday in Orlando Adams is making his third straight Pro Bowl appearance, while Smith and Clark were both selected for the first time Adams replaced Julio Jones, Smith replaced Khalil Mack and Clark replaces Aaron Donald Quarterback Aaron Rodgers and offensive tackle David Bakhtiari both dropped out of the Pro Bowl, so the Packers will have three players joining the festivities in Orlando

Three members of the Green Bay Packers were added to the Pro Bowl roster as alternates on Tuesday Outside linebacker Za’Darius Smith, receiver Davante Adams and defensive lineman Kenny Clark will all represent the Packers at the 2020 Pro Bowl on Sunday in Orlando Adams is making his third straight Pro Bowl appearance, while Smith and Clark were both selected for the first time Adams replaced Julio Jones, Smith replaced Khalil Mack and Clark replaces Aaron Donald Quarterback Aaron Rodgers and offensive tackle David Bakhtiari both dropped out of the Pro Bowl, so the Packers will have three players joining the festivities in Orlando

Packers’ Za’Darius Smith, Davante Adams and Kenny Clark all named to Pro Bowl

Three members of the Green Bay Packers were added to the Pro Bowl roster as alternates on Tuesday Outside linebacker Za’Darius Smith, receiver Davante Adams and defensive lineman Kenny Clark will all represent the Packers at the 2020 Pro Bowl on Sunday in Orlando Adams is making his third straight Pro Bowl appearance, while Smith and Clark were both selected for the first time Adams replaced Julio Jones, Smith replaced Khalil Mack and Clark replaces Aaron Donald Quarterback Aaron Rodgers and offensive tackle David Bakhtiari both dropped out of the Pro Bowl, so the Packers will have three players joining the festivities in Orlando

Three members of the Green Bay Packers were added to the Pro Bowl roster as alternates on Tuesday Outside linebacker Za’Darius Smith, receiver Davante Adams and defensive lineman Kenny Clark will all represent the Packers at the 2020 Pro Bowl on Sunday in Orlando Adams is making his third straight Pro Bowl appearance, while Smith and Clark were both selected for the first time Adams replaced Julio Jones, Smith replaced Khalil Mack and Clark replaces Aaron Donald Quarterback Aaron Rodgers and offensive tackle David Bakhtiari both dropped out of the Pro Bowl, so the Packers will have three players joining the festivities in Orlando

Russell Westbrook makes NBA history with triple-double vs. OKC

With his triple-double on Monday, Westbrook joins LeBron James as the only other play to record a triple-double against all 30 teams.

It’s fitting that it happened against Oklahoma City, considering that Russell Westbrook was the face of the Thunder franchise for so long.

In Monday night’s loss to OKC, Westbrook tallied another triple-double. The 146th of his career, second only to the great Oscar Robertson.

But No. 146 probably meant a little bit more.

Not only did it complete his collection of a triple-double against all 30 teams in the league, but the elusive No. 30 came against his old team, the Oklahoma City Thunder.

Westbrook scored a game-high 32 points to go along with 12 assists and 11 rebounds.

He told Tim MacMahon that he thought the Rockets played “a pretty good game” for the most part.

“Honestly, I thought we played a pretty good game. We played a good game for the most part. Obviously the last 6 minutes we didn’t play our best basketball, but I thought we had pretty much control of the game. There’s some good we can take out of this game.”

Despite being traded in the offseason, Westbrook’s popularity has not waned in the Sooner state, as shown by his return to Oklahoma City earlier this month.

Fans seem to be happy to see him succeed, although it doesn’t hurt that the Thunder were still able to come back to win.

With the triple-double on Monday night, Westbrook joins LeBron James as the only other player to record a triple-double against every team in the NBA.

Former Oklahoma commit Brock Vandagriff commits to Georgia

Lincoln Riley lost 2021 5-star quarterback prospect, Brock Vandagriff, to Georgia after Vandagriff committed to Oklahoma this past summer.

You win some, you lose some but the Sooners still have a few tricks up their sleeve.

Lincoln Riley lost 2021 5-star quarterback prospect, Brock Vandagriff, to Georgia after Vandagriff committed to Oklahoma this past summer. Vandagriff de-committed from the Sooners a few weeks ago citing the distance from his family in Georgia as one of the main concerns.

The No. 1 2021 quarterback announced his decision to stay home via his Twitter. Vandagriff is from Bogart, Ga., just 20 minutes west of Athens where the University of Georgia is located.

Riley will have to move his focus to another five-star quarterback, Caleb Williams. Williams is the No. 1 dual-threat signal-caller in the 2021 class and is slotted just one spot behind Vandagriff nationally at No. 5.

With the signing of Chandler Morris for the 2020 class and the current quarterbacks on campus in Tanner Mordecai and Spencer Rattler, Riley is sure to find the future of the program with his star-studded track record.

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Warriors have lost 10 straight overtime games after falling to Blazers

The Warriors haven’t won an overtime game since December 2017.

The Warriors may be entering play on January 21 with the worst record in the NBA, but you couldn’t tell by watching them compete. Perhaps showing their inexperience, quite a few games have slipped away from Golden State over the course of the season, and Monday night’s 129-124 loss to the Trail Blazers was no exception.

It took 61 mostly incredible points and an overtime period from Damian Lillard to help the Blazers walk away with the victory, and in doing so, the club sent the Warriors to their 10th straight overtime loss.

Golden State lost their previous overtime contest to the Nuggets back on January 17, and narrowly. The final score was 134-131, which gives the Warriors another close loss to a top team out West. Moral victories don’t count in the win column, but anyone watching Golden State can clearly see that they’re a team that competes and fights.

Still, the last time the team won an overtime game was way back in December 2017. That streak is bound to end sooner or later, especially with Stephen Curry’s return on the horizon.

But on Monday night, Lillard had other ideas. As a result, the Warriors are still riding a long losing streak with respect to their overtime contests.

Steve Kerr’s team will next be in action when they square off against the Utah Jazz at Chase Center on Wednesday night.

Nets’ injuries starting to weigh on those staying healthy

Brooklyn continues to battle the injury bug, but it’s getting harder and harder for the Nets with each game.

Brooklyn’s loss to the Philadelphia 76ers on Monday had a similar feeling to some of the others the Nets have suffered this year.

They played hard for three quarters and held the lead going into the final 12 minutes. But the Sixers gained some momentum at the end of the third and ran with it, en route to their 117-111 win — their second victory at the expense of Brooklyn in the span of five days.

The Nets have also suffered losses at the hands of the Utah Jazz and the Milwaukee Bucks during their latest losing streak (four games) — two playoff-level teams.

Brooklyn had Kyrie Irving back in the lineup for the first three games, but he missed Monday’s contest. Additionally, DeAndre Jordan has been out due to a dislocated right middle finger. Joe Harris missed Saturday’s game because of lower back soreness. Garrett Temple was sidelined for three games because of a right knee contusion.

The injuries in Brooklyn have been unrelenting, and they’re starting to impact players who’ve been healthy for much of the season.

While Harris and Temple’s injuries are prime examples of the extra strain being put on the Nets, losing games late also serves as evidence.

One of the players who has remained healthy throughout is Jarrett Allen. After Monday’s loss, he explained to reporters the challenges he and his teammates face night-to-night because of the injuries:

It’s tough, you know. For a lot of us that — I mean no disrespect to the guys that are out. You gotta keep your body ready. But to the guys that are in almost every game, it’s like, ‘Alright, who do we have? What is going to be our coverage?’ But, at the end of the day, for those who are sitting out, we need them in the future. And that’s why they’re staying out now.

Dinwiddie expressed a similar sentiment, per Nets Daily:

I feel like we probably haven’t had one 9-man rotation for three straight games all season and that’s obviously tough.

Dinwiddie and Allen are two of the three players who have played in every game this season. Taurean Prince is the other.

At some point, they may need a break, too.

RELATED: Is Joe Harris feeling the impact of his two preseason trips to China?

Report: Anthony Blevins expected to remain with Giants

Anthony Blevins, who spent the previous two seasons as the team’s assistant special teams coach, will return to the New York Giants in 2020.

The New York Giants and head coach Joe Judge remain hard at work filling out the coaching staff ahead of the new league year, and their most recent decision is to bring back a familiar face in 2020.

Jordan Raanan of ESPN reports that Anthony Blevins, who spent the previous two seasons as the team’s assistant special teams coach under Pat Shurmur, will be back in a yet to be determined role.

Prior to joining the Giants, Blevins spent five years with the Arizona Cardinals as a coaching assistant/special teams assistant.

In 2012, Blevins spent the season coaching cornerbacks with his alma mater, the University of Alabama-Birmingham, which came on the heels of three seasons at Tennessee State (2009-11) where he oversaw both special teams and cornerbacks.

Belvins was also part of the NFL’s minority summer coaching internship program, spending time with Indianapolis Colts (2011), Cardinals (2010) and Chicago Bears (2008).

As Raanan also points out, Blevins and Judge previously worked together as graduate assistants at Mississippi State from 2005-2007.

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