Allen Iverson, Matt Barnes dared rookie Lou Williams to drink beer

Former Philadelphia 76ers guard Lou Williams tells the story of a time he was dared to drink beer.

When a rookie gets brought into the NBA, they go through the customary rookie hazing period. For Lou Williams, he was a 19-year old rookie straight out of high school when he joined the Philadelphia 76ers in 2005 and he received a dare from his veteran teammates.

Being 19, Williams obviously was not old enough to have a drink just yet, so Allen Iverson and Matt Barnes dared the rookie to drink a six-pack of beer for $15,000.

Williams and Barnes told the story on the All The Smoke podcast. Barnes stated:

We made a bet that he had to drink a six-pack. He’s fresh out of high school…that (expletive) killed it!

Williams added:

They said I couldn’t drink a six-pack of beer before we got on the plane for $15,000.

Being only 19, the alcohol hit Williams fairly quickly and the veterans, who added Chris Webber to the plan as well, had to come up with a plan to get him on the bus without the team suspecting something. Barnes said they had a plan as he put it:

He kind of had his arm slumped on AI’s shoulder, and then me and C-Webb was kind of in front. He was still there, but he was—He handled himself well, but he was (expletive) up. You know what I mean? So, we had to kind of camouflage his ass up onto the plane.

The 2005-6 version of the Sixers didn’t do so well on the court finishing with a 38-44 record, but they certainly appears they had some fun off of it.

Williams has since gone on to become one of the best 6th men the NBA has ever seen while Barnes has retired after winning a title in 2017 with the Golden State Warriors. [lawrence-related id=20559,20550,20542]

Jadeveon Clowney reflects on his near trade to Dolphins

The Dolphins flirtation with the Texans over defensive end Jadeveon Clowney had finally paid off The two sides had struck a deal to send Clowney to South Florida for Brian Flores’ first season in Miami That is, until Clowney got word of where his final destination would be for his season playing under the franchise tag Clowney wanted absolutely no part of the Dolphins’ rebuild

The Dolphins flirtation with the Texans over defensive end Jadeveon Clowney had finally paid off The two sides had struck a deal to send Clowney to South Florida for Brian Flores’ first season in Miami That is, until Clowney got word of where his final destination would be for his season playing under the franchise tag Clowney wanted absolutely no part of the Dolphins’ rebuild

Jadeveon Clowney reflects on his near trade to Dolphins

The Dolphins flirtation with the Texans over defensive end Jadeveon Clowney had finally paid off The two sides had struck a deal to send Clowney to South Florida for Brian Flores’ first season in Miami That is, until Clowney got word of where his final destination would be for his season playing under the franchise tag Clowney wanted absolutely no part of the Dolphins’ rebuild

The Dolphins flirtation with the Texans over defensive end Jadeveon Clowney had finally paid off The two sides had struck a deal to send Clowney to South Florida for Brian Flores’ first season in Miami That is, until Clowney got word of where his final destination would be for his season playing under the franchise tag Clowney wanted absolutely no part of the Dolphins’ rebuild

Irish in the NFL: Make A Bennett Jackson Movie Already

Bennett was back for camp with the Giants in 2015 but tore his ACL in their second pre-season game, missing the entire year.  The Giants would end up releasing him at the end of pre-season the following year.

You ever have a player in any sport you take a special fandom to for an odd reason?  We all do, that’s a silly question.

Here’s the tale of one of mine, a Notre Dame grad who is pretty much the NFL example of Rudy.

Do you remember Bennett Jackson, the former Notre Dame cornerback?

Jackson was a member of the Notre Dame football team from 2010-2013 and a starting cornerback on the 2012 team that wound up playing for the national championship game.  After an entirely random encounter and high-five with him after the Michigan game in 2012, I took a special-liking to the young man.

After his eligibility was up in 2013 he was drafted by the New York Giants in the sixth round of the 2014 NFL Draft and was signed to their practice squad that fall.

Bennett was back for camp with the Giants in 2015 but tore his ACL in their second pre-season game, missing the entire year.  The Giants would end up releasing him at the end of pre-season the following year.

Fast forward to 2018 and Jackson still hadn’t let that dream of playing in a regular season NFL game go and in January of ’18, he signed a reserve/future contract with the Baltimore Ravens.

Unfortunately injury again hit Jackson who was put on Injured Reserve on August 31 before being released a week later.

Yet he didn’t quit, instead fought to get back and re-signed with the Ravens practice squad that November.  Shortly after their season concluded the Ravens and Jackson then agreed to another reserve/future contract.

However again at the end of this past pre-season Jackson was waived by the Ravens before being claimed by the New York Jets a day later.  He was waived by the Jets on September 16 before having played in a regular season for the Jets, but did sign with their practice squad.

Finally on October 15 the Ravens signed Jackson to their active roster, the only way they could get him off the Jets practice squad.

Jackson played in his first NFL game five days later, playing 14 special teams plays and one defensive snap when the Ravens won at Seattle, 30-16.

He’d play three more games for the Ravens, getting a career-high 22 defensive snaps played in their November 11 rout of Cincinnati.

Jackson was however waived Monday by Baltimore but not out of work long as Tuesday he again was signed by the Jets.

Props to him for never giving up on his dream regardless of how many times he was hit with injuries or cut.  Whether he takes another snap in an NFL regular season game or not his story is already Hollywood-worthy.

 

Panthers players share thoughts on Ron Rivera getting fired

Here’s how a few of them are reacting on Twitter.

The Carolina Panthers made a huge change today, firing Ron Rivera after nearly nine years and naming Perry Fewell their interim head coach.

It’s an emotional day for everyone in the organization, no doubt. Some of the players are sharing their feelings on social about the news and they are not exactly thrilled. Here’s how a few of them are reacting on Twitter.

DT Kawann Short

G Trai Turner

CB Donte Jackson

FB Alex Armah

Former RB Jonathan Stewart

Rivera leaves behind a complicated legacy. Whoever comes in and takes the job full-time next season has big shoes to fill.

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Updated Mountain West Football Championship Odds

Updated Mountain West Football Championship Odds Boise State odds have dipped, a little. Contact/Follow @JeremyMauss & @MWCwire Still a big time favorite. The Mountain West title game is a rematch between Boise State and Hawaii and the odds are …

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Updated Mountain West Football Championship Odds

Boise State odds have dipped, a little.

Contact/Follow @JeremyMauss & @MWCwire

Still a big time favorite.

The Mountain West title game is a rematch between Boise State and Hawaii and the odds are shuffling for this matchup as both sides are angling for the best odds on the line. The game opened up as a heavy 15-point line in favor of the Broncos. 

Well, after a few days of wagering the odds are changing which should be no surprise as no line will remain the same all week.

SportsBettingDime.com reports odds for the MW title are now at 13.5 in favor of Boise State. When the Broncos hosted Hawai’i earlier this year, they cruised to a 59-37 win as 13.5-point chalk. Some may think Boise should be favored by more given the previous result, but the reality is that Hawaii shot itself in the foot with four turnovers (three in the first half) in the earlier matchup. If they don’t windup -3 in turnover differential, they have the talent to give the Broncos a game.

Also, in that first game, it ended up being closer than expected as Hawaii was able to put together a pair of touchdowns and two-point conversions for 16 points to make the final score look somewhat close. In reality, the game was close partly because of Boise State rotating in backups.

The line should be around two touchdowns by Saturday morning and that sounds about right. Even if Boise State goes back to the well and puts Jaylan Henderson in at quarterback there is no reason for concern as he will have seen Hawaii for a second time. Seeing a team twice could be huge for Henderson and the Warriors.

Would the odd be bigger if it were Chase Cord, probably not, but if it were known that Hank Bachmeier would be under center then the line would balloon to at least 17 points in favor of the Broncos.

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Who’s favored in Chargers vs. Jaguars in Week 14?

The Chargers have opened up as early favorites over the Jaguars.

The Los Angeles Chargers (4-8) have opened up as 2.5-point favorites over the Jacksonville Jaguars (4-8) heading into their Week 14 matchup of the 2019 regular season, per BetMGM.

The Chargers are coming off another heartbreaking loss that was within one score. It came as cornerback Casey Hayward was hit with a questionable defensive pass interference penalty, which set Broncos kicker in position to hit the game-winning field goal as time expired.

Meanwhile, the Jaguars have lost four-straight games. As a team, they’ve struggled to find their identity on both sides of the ball. Like the Bolts, their playoff hopes are nearly extinguished at this point.

The last time the two teams met was in November of 2017. The contest came down to the wire, but former Chargers kicker Josh Lambo nailed the game-winning field goal to seal the deal in overtime.

This weekend’s matchup will begin at 1:05 p.m. PT and will be televised on CBS.

Gannett may earn revenue from audience referrals to betting services. Newsrooms are independent of this relationship and there is no influence on news coverage.

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How did Haason Reddick do as an edge rusher his rookie season?

He was a more productive pass rusher than Cassius Marsh has been this season in essentially the same role.

After getting relegated to the bench as an inside linebacker, Haason Reddick is going to get some looks as an outside linebacker over the last few weeks of the season. He has failed to develop at inside linebacker, so the team wants to “maximize him as a player and see what we can get there,” according to coach Kliff Kingsbury. “If that’s the answer, we’ll see how that plays out.”

This isn’t the first time he was asked to play as an edge defender in a 3-4 defense.

He played as a defensive end in college at Temple. His speed and athleticism made him a disruptive pass rusher. However, at 6-foot-1 and 235 pounds, he doesn’t have the length or the size that most edge defenders have.

That said, even though he was drafted with the intent to make him an inside linebacker, he did play extensively as a 3-4 outside linebacker his rookie season.

After playing the first four games inside, Markus Golden tore his ACL and was lost for the season. Reddick was moved to the edge because they had no depth at the position.

He was a rotational player, the No. 3 player at outside linebacker behind Chandler Jones and Kareem Martin.

In 12 games at outside linebackers as a rotational player, this is the production he had. Based on team stats compiled based on coaches’ film review, he has 16 total tackles (two for loss), 2.5 sacks, two forced fumbles, five quarterback hits and five other pressures. He did that in 261 snaps at the position. According to Pro Football Focus, he did not miss a tackle in those 12 games.

His role is similar to what Cassius Marsh now does. Marsh is the team’s third outside linebacker. How has he done this season?

In 12 games, he has played 284 snaps — basically the same amount of playing time Reddick had in 12 games in 2017. According to team stats, Marsh has 33 tackles (six for loss), one sack and three quarterback hits.

Comparing the two — Marsh a sixth-year rotational edge defender and Reddick a rookie in 2017 — Reddick’s pass-rushing production was greater. Marsh makes more plays overall, as he has double the tackles in the same amount of time that Reddick did, but Reddick was more disruptive, topping Marsh in sacks, QB hits and forced fumbles.

Because of Reddick’s size, he probably will not ever be able to be more than a rotational 3-4 outside linebacker. Considering he was drafted 13th overall, that is a huge disappointment. But if he can be a productive rotational player off the edge, he will still give the Cardinals value on defense.

Since his value dropped drastically by ending up on the bench, if he can show anything in a new role, the Cardinals could at least get something out of him.

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Listen to the latest from Cards Wire’s Jess Root on his podcast, Rise Up, See Red. Subscribe on Apple podcasts or Stitcher Radio.

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Texans sign LB Nate Hall to practice squad, release TE Jerell Adams

The Houston Texans made a new addition to their 10-man practice squad, signing rookie linebacker Nate Hall and releasing tight end Jerell Adams.

The Houston Texans are shaking up their practice squad. The Texans signed linebacker Nate Hall to their 10-man practice squad, the team announced. In a corresponding move, they released tight end Jerell Adams from the group.

Hall, 23, played collegiately at Northwestern. After going undrafted in April, he spent time with the Dallas Cowboys practice squad, then the Buffalo Bills’. He will wear jersey No. 48 in Houston.

In four seasons at Northwestern, Hall tallied 261 combined tackles, five sacks, five interceptions and 10 pass deflections. In 2017, he tore his right ACL while practicing for the Music City Bowl.

The Texans also worked out defensive end Eric Lee, according to Aaron Wilson of the Houston Chronicle. Houston did not sign him immediately.

Hall joins running back Karan Higdon, cornerback Anthony Chesney, wide receiver Chad Hansen, offensive tackle Rick Leonard, quarterback Alex McGough, offensive tackle Kyle Murphy, offensive tackle Elijah Nkahsah and safety Jonathan Owens to round out the practice squad.