Sports blog information from USA TODAY.
Anthony Davis told ESPN the injury he suffered to his right shoulder while attempting a dunk is something he continues to feel.
Anthony Davis told ESPN the injury he suffered to his right shoulder while attempting a dunk is something he continues to feel.
Anthony Davis told ESPN the injury he suffered to his right shoulder while attempting a dunk is something he continues to feel.
Anthony Davis told ESPN the injury he suffered to his right shoulder while attempting a dunk is something he continues to feel.
“That’s the Nate we all know and love.”
The Rock smelled what Nate Diaz was cooking after UFC 244 and he apparently enjoyed it.
And yes, I do feel terrible about writing that line but let’s move on, shall we?
The former WWE champ, who is now a gigantic movie star who enjoys epic cheat meals, played a fun role in the UFC 244 main event between Jorge Masvidal and Nate Diaz at Madison Square Garden last week.
Masvidal won the fight after a doctor got in the way and called the fight due to some cuts Diaz had suffered above and below his right eye.
After the fight, Diaz had a hilarious take on The Rock, saying that he loves “Ballers” but that the Rock “could get it, too” since he was on Masvidal’s side because the two are from Miami and are friends.
Here’s Diaz talking about that in his post-fight presser. It’s great. Also, there are some F-bombs in the video so if you don’t like curse words then shut your computer and run for the gosh darn hills:
Nate came for The Rock after the ‘BMF' bout 😅
(via @UFC) *NSFW*pic.twitter.com/gs9mvHVEkm
— Bleacher Report (@BleacherReport) November 3, 2019
The Rock appeared on “Ariel Helwani’s MMA Show” on ESPN on Monday and said that he loved hearing that from Diaz:
"That's the Nate [Diaz] we all know and love."@TheRock didn't take Diaz's post-fight comments personally 😄 (via @arielhelwani) pic.twitter.com/Pg49eHsIgW
— ESPN MMA (@espnmma) November 11, 2019
The Rock is longtime UFC fan and totally gets who Diaz is as a person, which is great and correct.
We’ll have to wait and see what’s next for Masvidal, but I’d love to see he and Diaz run it back again. But just not in New York. And don’t invite that doctor.
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The New Orleans Saints are poised for a get-right road game against the Tampa Bay Buccaneers, a game in which they’re favored by 5.5 points.
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The New Orleans Saints are looking ahead to their rematch with the Tampa Bay Buccaneers, this time with Drew Brees in at quarterback. His understudy, Teddy Bridgewater, turned in the best game of his year when the Buccaneers visited last time; now Brees will get his turn on the road.
Per the latest odds from BetMGM, the Saints are favored by 5.5 points at Raymond James Stadium. With an over/under set at 51.5, that implies a final score in the neighborhood of Saints 29, Buccaneers 23. That’s hardly a blowout, suggesting more of a competitive atmosphere — which is what the Saints are used to in Tampa Bay, having trailed most of the game in last year’s visit. They lost the 2017 regular season finale a year earlier on a last-second Chris Godwin touchdown catch.
It’ll be fascinating to see how the Saints respond to getting punched in the mouth by the Atlanta Falcons on Sunday, the first game in a four-week series against NFC South division rivals. While the Buccaneers have been nearly as sorry as Atlanta (their 3-6 record speaks for itself), they’ve had the opportunity to regroup during their bye week and play better football. They took the Seattle Seahawks to overtime and beat the Arizona Cardinals in a frantic fourth quarter on Sunday.
Still, this should be a get-right game for New Orleans. Their defensive line has quieted down in recent weeks after a hot start to the season. Starting defensive tackle Sheldon Rankins and edge rusher Marcus Davenport have combined played a combined 287 snaps over their last four games, but that’s turned into just eight total tackles (two solo), no tackles for loss, no sacks, and one quarterback hit.
They’ll be playing essentially the same offensive line they bullied in their last meeting, a game where Rankins logged his first sack since last year’s Achilles injury and where Davenport put up the best day of his season (two sacks, three hits, and a forced fumble). The Saints defense will go as far as the monsters up front can take it (especially with top cornerback Marshon Lattimore on the mend), but all of those former first-round picks have lost their mojo in recent weeks.
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Oklahoma about suffered an epic collapse against Iowa State. Here are the final game grades, report card for Saturday’s game.
As Lincoln Riley says, “The game is never as good as you thought, and it’s not going to be bad.”
On first glance, Iowa State stayed with what was working and ended up making a game out of one that didn’t seem to be close. Oklahoma had an atrocious fourth-quarter, but it didn’t feel like they played bad during the first three quarters.
After every game, Sooners Wire’s Kegan Reneau will rewatch and provide his final thoughts before moving on to the next one.
Here are the grades for the unit and the grades for individuals who ended up on the stat sheet or were noticeable for Oklahoma. These grades reflect how the Sooners played on that game indicative of the perception Reneau expects them to play.
Jalen Hurts — C-
We are at the point where it is acceptable to ask:
What would this offense look like with Spencer Rattler or Tanner Mordecai?
Jalen Hurts should have thrown a pick-six and two more interceptions against Iowa State.
His running ability has brought a different variable to Lincoln Riley’s system, but his inability do dissect coverage and consistently hit vertical throws has done more harm than good. Has it limited the offense’s ceiling? That’s something I pondered with prior to the season, but CeeDee Lamb’s and Charleston Rambo’s yards after the catch have inflated the numbers for this offense.
No, this isn’t me calling for a quarterback change. This is me stating the reality that this offense is different and Jalen Hurts will never be the quarterback Baker Mayfield, Kyler Murray or the future quarterbacks will run.
Trey Sermon — N/A
Kennedy Brooks — A
Rhamondre Stevenson — N/A
T.J. Pledger — N/A
So, this is what happens when one of the best running backs in the country get the ball …
Jeremiah Hall — B
Brayden Willis — B
Solid day. Nothing stood out as bad and both made a couple plays.
CeeDee Lamb — A-
Charleston Rambo — B
Trejan Bridges — B-
Nick Basquine — N/A
A.D. Miller — B-
Theo Wease — N/A
CeeDee Lamb is the best receiver in college football. No ifs, ands or buts about it. That fumble cost him an A+.
Some of the blocking in the running game did not hold up.
Lee Morris — B
Morris is becoming more and more useful for Riley as the season has gone on.
Iowa State has one of the most underrated defensive lines in the country and the Oklahoma offensive line held its own. Nothing too flashy. Lot of the success in the running game was based on play design, but the offensive line did what its job is supposed to do.
Not its best day at the office, but Oklahoma did what many can’t against Iowa State: Chunk plays and points.
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According to a report by Ian Rapoport at NFL Network, the Panthers claimed former Bears running back Mike Davis off waivers.
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Source: Former #Bears RB Mike Davis was claimed on waivers and awarded to the #Panthers.
— Ian Rapoport (@RapSheet) November 11, 2019
According to a report by Ian Rapoport at NFL Network, the Panthers claimed former Bears running back Mike Davis off waivers.
After playing college ball at South Carolina, Davis (5-foot-9, 221 pounds) was a fourth-round pick by the 49ers in the 2015 draft. He spent two years there, then two with the Seahawks before going to Chicago. He’s played 42 games, totaling 887 rushing yards and five touchdowns on 245 career carries.
Adding Davis now might mean the Panthers are intending to give Christian McCaffrey a lighter work load. Given his build, it makes sense for Davis to get opportunities in short-yardage situations and at the goal line, which has been a problematic area this season. Davis could purely be about depth, though.
Update:
The team has confirmed the news. In a corresponding move, they have waived wide receiver/returner Greg Dortch.
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On Monday, the Houston Texans saw wide receiver Will Fuller and tight end Jordan Thomas return to practice.
The Houston Texans’ Week 10 bye appears to be a gift. On Monday, the team saw wide receiver Will Fuller (hamstring) and tight end Jordan Thomas (ribs) return to practice, per multiple reports.
Texans' Will Fuller, who has been sidelined with hamstring strain, at practice Monday: pic.twitter.com/x9YdaR4srV
— Aaron Wilson (@AaronWilson_NFL) November 11, 2019
Fuller, who suffered a serious hamstring pull in Week 7’s loss to the Indianapolis Colts, was a possibility to return to the lineup heading into the bye. It appears as if he chances to play in Week 11’s highly-anticipated matchup with the Baltimore Ravens are rising.
In 2019, Fuller has 34 receptions for 450 yards and three touchdowns. The team will not issue a report on the details of his practice session. They will mark him as either full, limited or a non-participant on Wednesday.
Thomas has not played in 2019. A second-year tight end from Mississippi State, the 6-6, 278-pound 23-year-old entered training camp as the favorite to start. However, a ribs injury suffered in the preseason derailed that thought.
Houston placed Thomas on the injured reserve on Sept. 1. He has to be activated from designated to return. The Texans have two tight ends on the active roster, Darren Fells and Jordan Akins.
In 2018, Thomas notched four red zone touchdowns while racking up 20 receptions for 215 yards. His imminent return means yet another big-bodied target for Deshaun Watson to target in the red area.
Deon Cain is coming back to the practice squad.
The Indianapolis Colts are bringing wide receiver Deon Cain back to the practice squad after he cleared waivers Monday.
In what was a bit of a surprising move, the Colts waived the second-year wide receiver on Saturday ahead of the Week 10 matchup with the Miami Dolphins.
Head coach Frank Reich told reporters during a conference call Monday that the team wanted to bring Cain back if he cleared waivers. The Clemson product did, and he will now be joining the practice squad.
WR Deon Cain cleared waivers and will be re-joining the Colts on their practice squad, per source. He’ll get to continue to develop in Indy.
— Field Yates (@FieldYates) November 11, 2019
After missing his entire rookie season due to a torn ACL, Cain was looking to take a hold of the opportunity put in front of him in Year 2. With various injuries hitting the wide receiver position, the former sixth-round pick had a chance to carve out a role.
However, he failed to do so through the first eight games of the season. He caught just four passes on 14 targets for 52 yards.
There is still a lot of development that needs to take place before Cain becomes an impact player, and he will get the chance to do so on the practice squad.
With the College Football Playoff selection committee about to release their second rankings of the year, here’s what to look out for.
Before I look at what we should be focusing on in the committee’s second rankings, let me start with what not to worry about, even though it will be the most-discussed topic by many pundits.
It doesn’t matter whether LSU or Ohio State is No. 1.
One of those two will be the top-ranked team. Each of them has a valid argument. Ohio State is exemplifying dominance in a way that college football hasn’t seen since the 2013 Florida State team. The Buckeyes have historically high advanced metrics. Ohio State is the best team in college football so far this year, without question.
LSU, also without question, has the best resume. Starting with the win over Alabama as a capstone, the Tigers also have wins over Top 10-15 Florida and Auburn, plus a win over a ranked Texas team. Even LSU’s cupcakes, like Georgia Southern and Utah State, aren’t complete pushovers. LSU has an incredible strength of schedule and the most quality wins of anyone in the country.
Which of those two the committee chooses to put at No. 1 will give us a bit of evidence as to whether the voters care more about metrics or resume, but not much. It’s usually some form of synthesis between the two, and with two teams so far ahead of the rest of the pack like Ohio State and LSU, it really doesn’t matter which they pick.
What the committee says about its decision might mean something. If Rob Mullens said the vote wasn’t particularly close, that would give us some real insight into the committee’s thought process and what it values this year. Unless we get that information, though, don’t focus too much into which team is No. 1 and which is No. 2. Each team is a Playoff lock if it wins out, or even if it loses a game but wins the conference. The top seed only matters for geography and matchup purposes, and with Clemson currently a heavy favorite to finish No. 3, it doesn’t look like anyone could be stuck with the nuisance of facing Oklahoma in the Fiesta Bowl. Other than that one, very minor, geographic concern, it really doesn’t matter who is No. 1.
So, what does matter this week? There’s plenty, so let’s break it down.
The first thing I always focus on in the committee’s rankings is how many teams shift, and by how much. And I don’t mean the teams that win big games or lose games. I mean every team.
The committee claims to start with a blank slate every week. The voters don’t use who they had ranked last week as a starting point. The very best way to tell if this is true or not is by seeing if teams that didn’t do anything noteworthy have their ranking change. Can a team slide up or down after a boring but easy win over a mediocre team? If we’re being honest, that should happen a lot. Every team has played at least eight games by now, so resumes can shift wildly each week.
For example, Ohio State’s previous opponents went a combined 4-2 last week, and Indiana will possibly slide into the rankings during its bye week. That means that, even though a blowout win over Maryland might be meaningless, Ohio State’s resume still improved this past week, and by a decent margin. Now, that’s not going to affect Ohio State’s ranking much because the Buckeyes are obviously either No. 1 or No. 2, but if Ohio State was stuck somewhere in the middle of the rankings, that should lead to new considerations.
The first few years of the selection committee, we actually saw a fair amount of this. Teams would shift on their own, which is a great indicator that resumes were actually being re-judged each week. The past year or two, however, we have not yet really seen much shifting. The committee would make its initial rankings, then stick with a poll mentality unless something changed it. Keep an eye on everyone in this week’s rankings, because it will show if the committee is actually re-evaluating teams.
