Sports blog information from USA TODAY.
The 2020 NFL season is finally in the books following the Super Bowl. A look back at each former Oklahoma Sooner in the league.
Another NFL season has come and gone. The 2020 campaign ended in Tampa, FL, in a very similar scene with Tom Brady lifting the Lombardi Trophy. Continue reading “Former Oklahoma Sooners in the NFL: 2020 season in review”
Dan Quinn needs an infusion of new talent to fix the Cowboys defense. Jerry Jones calls Amari Cooper one of the top talents of his tenure.
Dan Quinn’s philosophy as a defensive coordinator will differ from Mike Nolan’s, but it won’t matter without an upgrade in talent. Amari Cooper had his second consecutive 1,000-yard season for the Cowboys, and team owner Jerry Jones gave him high marks for it by calling him one of the best talents during his tenure in Dallas.
Donovan Wilson logged 10 starts in 14 games in 2020 and solidified himself as the playmaking safety the Cowboys have been looking for. Trevon Diggs was a second-round steal at cornerback, and he became the first rookie Cowboys defender to led the team in pass breakups and interceptions. A two-round mock draft, a Cowboys record staying intact, and more are covered in this edition of the news and notes.
Amari Cooper has recorded consecutive 1,000 yard seasons and Cowboys owner Jerry Jones called him one of the team’s best talents ever.
The 2020 season was a huge disappointment for the Dallas Cowboys. However, despite a 6-10 record, wide receiver Amari Cooper had another productive year, and the fact that he did so playing with four different quarterbacks was all the more impressive.
Almost a week after Cooper had successful surgery to clean up his right ankle, team owner Jerry Jones was asked about his top receiver’s third season in Dallas, and he gave him some pretty noteworthy praise.
“Amari Cooper is one of the most talented players we’ve ever had on the Dallas Cowboys,” Jones said, via the team’s website. “He has unlimited potential to go from here to a higher level. I think his surgery is going to allow him to do that. I think all of this is an experience-builder. Michael Irvin told me the single-most thing he did in his career to make him a Hall of Famer, was when he rehabbed through his injury and saw how much football meant to him. More likely than not, some of these negative experiences to injuries or setbacks, can motivate you to be a Hall of Famer. It happened to Michael Irvin.”
For Jones to mention Cooper as one of the organization’s top talents, and to put him in the same breath as Irvin may be a bit premature, but there’s no denying his impact since arriving in Dallas midway through the 2018 season.
The Cowboys went 7-2 in the nine games Cooper played in and won the NFC East. His numbers were quite impressive as he logged 53 receptions for 725 yards and six touchdowns. The highlights of this stretch came in Week 12 against the Washington Football Team when he racked up 180 yards and two touchdowns, and followed it up with 217 yards and three touchdowns in Week 14 against the Philadelphia Eagles (caught the game-winner in overtime).
The expectations for Cooper were through the roof in 2019. Although he was often a non-factor on the road with just 27 receptions all season, he still managed to have a career year. Cooper set career highs in yards (1,189), touchdowns (8), and yards per catch (15.1). His performance was good enough for the Cowboys to ink him to a five-year, $100 million extension with $60 million in guaranteed money last March.
With a bigger bank account comes even bigger expectations. However, when Dak Prescott went down with a season-ending ankle injury in October, the likelihood of Cooper having a productive year dropped significantly, but once again he came through. Cooper set a new career-high with 92 receptions and registered his fifth 1,000-yard outing in six seasons (1,114).
Cooper may not grab the headlines like Davante Adams, DeAndre Hopkins, or Stefon Diggs, but he’s consistently one of the more productive players at the wide receiver position year in and year out. With Michael Gallup and now rookie sensation CeeDee Lamb alongside him, defenses can’t put all their focus on Cooper, which means more productive seasons for him are on the horizon.
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The Chicago Bears’ 2020 season came to an underwhelming close Sunday night after losing to the New Orleans Saints, 28-9, in the NFC wild-card game.
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The Chicago Bears’ 2020 season came to an underwhelming close Sunday night after losing to the New Orleans Saints, 28-9, in the NFC wild-card game.
It was a fitting loss for this Bears team, one that’s relied on its defense to stay in most games while waiting for an offense that rarely seemed to deliver.
Chicago’s loss to New Orleans was no different. While the Saints did score 28 points, it’s hard to fault a defense that kept the game close for nearly four quarters despite a Mitch Trubisky-led offense that was invisible all game long.
There wasn’t much to feel good about from this game if you’re a Bears fan. In fact, the only good news is that Trubisky has likely played his last game for Chicago.
Here are the studs and duds from the Bears’ wild card loss.
Touchdown Wire gives the Seattle Seahawks a B+ grade following the 2020 NFL regular season.
Final grades: Report cards for all 32 NFL teams https://t.co/vC9PHNDdXX
— Touchdown Wire (@TheNFLWire) January 5, 2021
The report cards are in.
The folks over at Touchdown Wire have issued their final grades for all 32 teams around the league following the 2020 NFL regular season.
“All they do is win 10 or more games every season,” writes Barry Werner. “The Seattle Seahawks may have had defensive issues but they still do more than almost any other franchise. Pete Carroll and Company are a joy to watch, and a blueprint for NFL success.”
Grade: B-plus
Although the grades issued are for each team’s regular-season performance, the Seahawks have the chance to make a push deep into the postseason if they can get past the Rams on Saturday.
Kick-off between Seattle and Los Angeles in the wild-card round is set for Saturday at 1:40 p.m. PT at Lumen Field.
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We made our MVP picks … but also called out the worst plays of the year, too.
It was an NFL season unlike any other, since it was played in the midst of a raging pandemic.
You’ll see some of the impact of that decision below; a terrible game we’ll never be able to forget featured a practice squad WR playing QB and it went about as poorly as you might expect.
But beyond all that, there was regular old NFL football with all the drama it usually brings. We’ve got NFL writers Charles McDonald and Steven Ruiz here to break it down for you, highlighting the best players, coaches and moments of the year. But we’ll also call out the players and plays that will linger for other, less noble reasons.
Dolphins’ 2020 schedule outcomes illustrate next steps for rebuild
The Miami Dolphins’ next turn taking the field will be several months into the 2021 offseason. The Dolphins found out last night that their playoff hopes were slashed — not that the team deserved to get in after the egg they laid in Buffalo to begin with. But while the Bills loss will sting deeply, it serves as the exclamation point on what these Dolphins need to do differently and who they need to become as compared to who they are.
You are what your record says you are: the Dolphins are a 10-win team in 2020. But there are more than one teams out there with better pure talent than the Dolphins, even some that didn’t necessarily log 10 wins this season. But the Dolphins, who are entering into their third offseason with Chris Grier and Brian Flores at the helm, deserve nothing but credit for how quickly they’ve infused talent into the Miami roster.
In 2019 the Dolphins were bad and needed good fortune and had zero margin for error to win the five football games that they did.
In 2020? The Dolphins are a much more talented team, but there’s still an untapped tier to achieve. Look at Miami’s six losses this season:
2020 Miami Dolphins’ 6 losses:
Two thirds of Miami’s losses in a 10-6 campaign have come against teams with 12 or more wins now that the season has come to a close. The Broncos game was a road contest that undoubtedly served as a letdown game and the Patriots caught Miami in Week 1 with no tape on their new offense. The best teams on Miami’s schedule this year, the Dolphins couldn’t beat.
Credit to the Dolphins for the wins they did collect. There were some mighty impressive ones: including the 10-6 Los Angeles Rams, the 8-8 Arizona Cardinals and the 8-8 Las Vegas Raiders. But that’s the overall theme of the season: the Dolphins were more disciplined and better equipped to tackle fringe playoff teams or worse. But the elite teams on Miami’s schedule still persistently beat the Dolphins — a reminder that this overhauled Dolphins roster is still in just their second year of a rebuild. There’s more room to grow. And the Dolphins must embrace that if they’re going to return in 2021 with a vengeance.
The Chicago Bears 2020 regular season is in the books, and surprisingly, this team did enough to qualify for the playoffs. The 5-1 start certainly helped, and their 3-1 finish helped offset a brutal mid-season six-game losing streak. At 8-8, the …
The Chicago Bears 2020 regular season is in the books, and surprisingly, this team did enough to qualify for the playoffs.
The 5-1 start certainly helped, and their 3-1 finish helped offset a brutal mid-season six-game losing streak. At 8-8, the Bears finished the year with the same record as 2019 but with the extra wild card added in 2020, they’ll travel to New Orleans to take on Drew Brees and the Saints next Sunday.
Here are the key statistical leaders for the Bears on offense after 16 regular-season games.
Passing:
Mitch Trubisky: 199-of-297 for 2,050 yards, 16 TDs, 8 INTs
Rushing:
David Montgomery: 247 carries, 1070 yards, 8 TDs (4.3 YPC)
Receiving:
Allen Robinson: 102 catches, 1250 yards, 6 TDs
Expect the unexpected in Week 17 AFC Playoff race
The Miami Dolphins’ outlook for Week 17 is fairly straight forward. Win today against the Buffalo Bills and the Dolphins will be punching a ticket to the postseason to square off with the AFC South champion. That could either be the Indianapolis Colts or the Tennessee Titans depending on the outcomes of today’s games. But a loss for Miami isn’t necessarily guaranteed to be the final nail in the coffin — Miami has other avenues into the playoffs.
Miami will have steep rooting interest against the Cleveland Browns, Indianapolis Colts and Baltimore Ravens; the other three 10-win wild card contenders. A loss by any punches Miami’s ticket.
But the Browns, Colts and Ravens are all double digit favorites, meaning we’d need to see some major upsets for teams to do the Dolphins the favor they’d need in the event of a Miami loss. Cleveland is favored by 10. The Ravens by 14. The Colts by 14.5. But while the easy assumption is that the playoff contenders will stay “chalk”, don’t expect such a cut and dry affair. There’s no better example of that than last year’s Week 17 contest between a 12-3 New England Patriots and a 4-11 Miami Dolphins team. Remember, the Patriots, at home, were hosting a bad Dolphins team in need of a win to secure a first-round bye. The Dolphins won, 27-24 and knocked New England into a game in the Wild Card round. That Dolphins team was a 16-point underdog, making them even less likely to win than any of the three upsets today that would catapult the Dolphins into the postseason regardless of the outcome of their own game.
Miami, Cleveland and Baltimore all play at 1PM this afternoon. If all win, the Colts will enter their 4:25PM game knowing they’re already locked out of the postseason no matter what. If Miami loses and the Browns and Ravens win, expect a dramatic four hour stretch of watching the Colts wrestle with the Jaguars — and remember, the Jaguars won the first time these two teams played this season back in Week 1.
It’s going to be a dramatic day for Miami. Unless, of course, they take care of their business handily against the Bills. They’ll get their chance to set the tone in just a few hours.
Randy Gregory has returned to the field and immediately made an impact. So much so that owner Jerry Jones wants even more out of him.
Dallas Cowboys defensive end Randy Gregory has been one of the best stories of the 2020 NFL season. His past is well documented with several suspensions due to failed drug tests under the league’s old substance-abuse policy. He started this season on the sidelines for the first six games due to the terms of his conditional reinstatement and didn’t see the field until the Cowboys Week 7 matchup with the Washington Football Team.
Gregory has transformed himself into one of the most reliable defenders on a Cowboys defense that has forced 10 turnovers on their current three-game winning streak. So much so, that Cowboys owner Jerry Jones made it known after Gregory’s performance against the Philadelphia Eagles that he needs to be on the field as often as possible.
“We need to have him in there every time that we get a chance,” Jones said.
No matter how many times Gregory was suspended in the past the Cowboys organization never left his side, even during the 2019 season when he worked at an Amazon warehouse to make ends meet. When Jones made an appearance on 105.3 The Fan earlier this week he talked about why he took the risk on Gregory in the 2015 NFL Draft.
“I thought when we drafted him he was the best pass-rusher in the draft,” Jones said. “And that’s why I took the risk on him that I took. But it was a risk at the time and we paid for that risk. Randy will be the first to tell you. And now it’s paying off for us.”
The boss of America’s Team couldn’t be any more right with that particular statement. Gregory’s first big performance this season came on Thanksgiving against Washington. He would register his first sack since December of 2018. It was also the first game of his career with multiple sacks.
Randy Gregory with the sack. DeMarcus Lawrence helping out.
(via @nflmx) pic.twitter.com/cTskxFar2U
— RJ Ochoa (@rjochoa) November 26, 2020
This past Sunday against was his best game yet since his return. Gregory finished with 1.5 sacks, three forced fumbles, and a pass defended. It’s the first time a player has had a game with that stat line since James Harrison in 2007 for the Pittsburgh Steelers. Also, it was the first time a Cowboys player forced three fumbles in a game since David Irving in 2016.
#Cowboys DE Randy Gregory was dominant yesterday.
Here are a few of his best plays from Week 16: pic.twitter.com/AM3jK7kB3O
— Marcus Mosher (@Marcus_Mosher) December 28, 2020
After his breakout performance of the season, Gregory talked about finding his groove on the field and how he’s been more consistent than in years past.
“I was joking with Tyrone (Crawford) on the sideline (that) it’s probably the worst I’ve felt physically in a game as far as wear and tear,” Gregory said, via the team’s website. “But you’ve got to keep pushing forward. But as far as day to day, feeling strong, feeling like I can go out there and really play at my highest level, I’ve really stayed consistent with that throughout the year. Very proud of myself for that. I think in years past, I couldn’t say the same. But this year, I’ve done a pretty good job.”
Gregory has gotten his demons off of the field under control and is showing that he’s one of the league’s most talented pass rushers. At just 28 years of age and only 37 games of NFL battles on his body, Gregory will be terrorizing quarterbacks for years to come.
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