WATCH: Lonzo Ball notches triple-double in showdown with Clippers

In a tight loss to the Los Angeles Clippers on Saturday, Pelicans guard Lonzo Ball notched his third triple-double of the season.

Lonzo Ball continued his strong play of late with yet another triple-double on Saturday afternoon in a matinee match-up with the Los Angeles Clippers. Ball finished with 18 points, 11 assists and 10 rebounds, his third triple-double with the Pelicans, all coming in the last month of action. The Pelicans, though, would fall to the Clippers in a tight affair, 133-130.

Ball exploded for 10 points on 4-of-5 shooting from the field and 2-of-3 three-point shooting. His biggest plays included a steal and score for an and-one. He then followed it up with a basket over the top of Patrick Beverley before taunting him.

Since notching his first triple-double of the season in a win over the Rockets 10 games ago, Ball is averaging 17.1 points, 9.3 assists and 7.6 rebounds while shooting 38.0% from three-point territory. In all but one of those 10 games, he’s scored in double figures. In the lone contest he didn’t, he tied a career-high with 13 assists against the Jazz.

It’s been one of the strongest stretches of play in Ball’s career as he looks to have finally carved out a role with the Pelicans.

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5 standouts in East-West Shrine Game

The East won 31-27 and the story was how the running backs looked.

The East-West Shrine game featuring many NFL prospects was played on Saturday in Florida. The East beat the West 31-27 in a higher-scoring game than in years past.

Who were the players to stand out in the game?

Charlotte RB Bennie LeMay

Douglas DeFelice-USA TODAY Sports

The Charlotte RB was the game’s offensive MVP with 16 carries for 80 yards and two touchdowns.

He had 1,072 rushing yards and nine touchdowns in 2019, along with 242 receiving yards and four more scores.

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Danny Vitale, Raven Greene inactive, JK Scott active for Packers in NFC championship

It’s official: the Green Bay Packers will have a punter for the NFC Championship Game against the San Francisco 49ers. JK Scott, who was listed as questionable with an illness, is active Sunday. The Packers didn’t add a punter on Sunday, making it …

It’s official: the Green Bay Packers will have a punter for the NFC Championship Game against the San Francisco 49ers.

JK Scott, who was listed as questionable with an illness, is active Sunday.

The Packers didn’t add a punter on Sunday, making it likely Scott would be able to play.

However, the Packers listed fullback Danny Vitale and defensive back Raven Greene as inactive.

Vitale, the offense’s only fullback, is battling a knee injury. He’ll be replaced by rookie tight end Jace Sternberger, who has played snaps at fullback the last two games.

Greene, who was officially activated off injured reserve on Saturday, is inactive. He hasn’t played in a game since Week 2.

Packers inactives: 

RB Dexter Williams
WR Ryan Grant
OL Alex Light
S Raven Greene
CB Ka’dar Hollman
OL John Leglue
FB Danny Vitale

49ers inactives:

QB C.J. Beathard
RB Jeff Wilson Jr.
CB Dontae Johnson
TE Daniel Helm
LB Azeez Al-Shaair
WR Jordan Matthews
DT Kevin Givens

49ers inactives: 49ers at full strength for NFC championship showdown with Packers

The 49ers are at full strength for the NFC championship game.

The 49ers’ clean injury report didn’t change any through the weekend, and they’ll be at full strength for the NFC championship game. No surprises popped up on their list of inactives.

Here’s the seven inactive players for Sunday:

QB CJ Beathard
RB Jeff Wilson Jr.
CB Dontae Johnson
TE Daniel Helm
LB Azeez Al-Shaair
WR Jordan Matthews
DL Kevin Givens

Not seeing a key starter on the inactives list has to be a huge sigh of relief for the 49ers going into the biggest game of the year.

The key injury-related things to watch are defensive end Dee Ford and linebacker Kwon Alexander’s snap counts. Ford was a full participant in practice Friday after missing Wednesday and going limited Thursday. He played 22 very effective snaps against the Vikings.

Alexander played 54 percent of the snaps in the divisional round as the strong side linebacker. It’ll be interesting to see if his role expands against a Packers offense where the third linebacker spot won’t be on the field as much.

Here are the Packers inactives:

Steve Young says Jameis Winston was ‘spectacularly reckless’, advocates keeping him

Former Buccaneers quarterback and Hall of Famer Steve Young thinks the Buccaneers should stick with Jameis Winston for the long-term.

The Tampa Bay Buccaneers will have to make a decision soon on the future of quarterback Jameis Winston.

The former number one overall pick had a season for the ages in 2019, both good and bad. While becoming just the eighth quarterback in NFL history to throw for 5,000 yards in a season, Winston also became the first quarterback ever to throw for 30 touchdowns and 30 interceptions in a season. Suffice it to say, the Bucs — and namely head coach Bruce Arians — won’t tolerate interceptions like that again.

So, while the team evaluates their quarterback and his future, they may want to heed the advice of one former Bucs quarterback, Steve Young. The Hall of Famer said Winston was “spectacularly reckless” in 2019, but believes Tampa Bay should stick with him, not just for next season, but long-term.

(via the Tampa Bay Times):

“I think they’d be nuts to turn the corner from Jameis. I think Jameis is their future. Let’s re-sign him and get him coached up, get rid of the recklessness. Let’s go all in.’’

Here’s the full video of Young advocating for Winston’s long-term future. It’s definitely worth a watch.

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Colts take new QB-WR duo in Draft Wire’s latest mock

Who did the Colts take in Draft Wire’s latest mock?

There are a number of ways the Indianapolis Colts can go about making their selections in the 2020 NFL Draft and even though we are still months away, the mock drafts are out in full force.

Following the National Championship game between the LSU Tigers and Clemson Tigers, our friends over at Draft Wire conducted a four-round mock draft. With it came a new quarterback and wide receiver duo for the Colts.

13. Indianapolis Colts

Jordan Love | QB | Utah State

Jacoby Brissett had his moments, but the Colts need to find a quarterback of the future with a higher ceiling. This may seem early for Love, but if he impresses at the Senior Bowl, he could easily lock himself into the top-15 conversation. He regressed statistically in 2019, but he’s got all the tools to develop into a franchise passer.

Love may have regressed during the 2019 season, but he did have to deal with a new offensive coordinator. If the Colts want to make him the pick, they are likely going to have to spend their first-rounder on him given the upside of his traits as passer.

As for the other part of the equation in the quarterback-wide receiver duo? The Colts wound up using their first of two second-round picks on LSU wide receiver Justin Jefferson.

Jefferson, a speedy slot wide receiver with good size and electric movement after the catch, would be a nice addition to a wide receiver corps that needs some early-round investments.

Following the first two picks in the mock draft, the Colts focused on the defensive side of the ball. With their three remaining picks in the mock, the Colts selected Oklahoma defensive tackle Neville Gallimore, Syracuse EDGE Alton Robinson and Notre Dame safety Alohi Gilman, respectively.

Here’s how the four-round mock draft ended up:

  • Round 1 (No. 13): Utah QB Jordan Love
  • Round 2 (No. 34): LSU WR Justin Jefferson
  • Round 2 (No. 44): Oklahoma DT Neville Gallimore
  • Round 3 (No. 75): Syracuse EDGE Alton Robinson
  • Round 4 (No. 112): Notre Dame S Alohi Gilman

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