Sports blog information from USA TODAY.
Patrick Mahomes, Deshaun Watson, Christian McCaffrey and Russell Wilson are leading the way into the 2020s.
The NFL and world are ready to turn to another chapter, another decade. Some of the stars have already broken through while others are blossoming. A look at 20 players who will be at the top of the class for the next decade.
Aaron Donald is a beast on the Rams’ defensive line. Already a two-time Defensive Player of the Year, Donald draws double- and triple-teams and still can’t be handled. A mega-star.
See why NFL writer Chris Wesseling selected Bucs rookie linebacker Devin White for his 2019 Defensive All-Rookie Team.
Tampa Bay Buccaneers linebacker Devin White had perhaps one of the worst starts to a regular season in recent memory for a rookie. The fifth overall pick in April’s NFL draft dealt with tonsillitis in the days leading up to Week 1, causing him to lose nearly 10 pounds. Then, early in Week 2 against the Carolina Panthers, White went down with a sprained knee, which sidelined him for several games.
But, over the past month, White has been showing the Bucs and the rest of the league why he was considered the prize linebacker in the 2019 draft class. While White likely saw his chances of winning NFL Defensive Rookie of the Year honors slip away due to his knee injury, he still found a spot on NFL.com’s 2019 Defensive All-Rookie Team. White joined Pittsburgh Steelers linebacker Devin Bush and Washington Redskins linebacker Cole Holcomb on the list.
Here’s what NFL writer Chris Wesseling had to say about White’s selection:
“After an early-season disappearing act, White began to play with confidence and impressive closing speed as a sideline-to-sideline, seek-and-destroy menace versus the Cardinals in Week 10. He went on to capture NFC Defensive Rookie of the Month honors for November, following a five-game stretch that featured 46 tackles, 2.5 sacks, five QB hits, one interception, two forced fumbles and a fumble recovery returned for a touchdown.”
White and the streaking Buccaneers head to Detroit in Week 15 to take on the Lions. Tampa Bay will be looking for their fourth-straight win, while Detroit is looking to halt a six-game skid.
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My observations and reactions to the Pittsburgh Steelers week 14 win against the Arizona Cardinals.
The Steelers took care of business against a competitive Arizona Cardinals team in week 14. The defense continued to roll holding their fifth straight opponent to 21 or fewer points. Devlin Hodges turned in an efficient performance and became the first rookie undrafted free-agent quarterback to win his first three starts. The Steelers have won seven of their last eight games and control their playoff destiny. Here are my gut reactions:
It was good to see the Steelers actually get to play with a lead. The offensive game plan was still conservative, Hodges finished with 16 completions and a touchdown on 19 attempts, but that was good enough for a win. Just as important as Hodges 152 passing yards was the fact that he didn’t turn the ball over.
Hodges’ contributions as a rusher shouldn’t be overlooked either. He scrambled five times for 34 yards and ironically outrushed counterpart Kyler Murray. Hodges an undrafted free agent beat the first overall draft pick at his own game, but his solid performance was overshadowed by Dionte Johnson’s breakout day.
Why aren’t the Steelers using Devin Bush as much over the last three games?
Over the course of the last three weeks, there’s been a significant change in personnel on the defensive side of the football. We’ve seen a significant dip in reps for rookie linebacker Devin Bush.
Over the first eight games of the season, Bush averaged 91.2 percent of the total defensive snaps. This includes three games where Bush played every defensive snap in the game.
But over the last three games, Bush has only averaged 61.3 percent of the total defensive snaps. For a player who isn’t injured this is a massive drop. Bush also went from averaging 8.25 tackles per game in the first eight games to only 4.3 tackles per game in the last three.
Why the change? This could be a calculated move by the Steelers coaching staff to save Bush for the final few games of the season. Even the best-conditioned rookies can hit a wall with a heavy workload so the Steelers might be trying to keep him fresh for those last big games including showdowns with the Buffalo Bills and Baltimore Ravens.
Let’s hope when the Steelers need Bush he’s ready. Pittsburgh spent a ton to go up and get Bush in last year’s draft. Having him on the sidelines while Mark Barron runs around out there isn’t comforting.
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Michigan football has had its alumni slumping in the NFL lately. Was this the week that the slump ended and they would dominate again?
[jwplayer EZymdmas-XNcErKyb]
While Michigan football continued to win their games, beating Indiana 39-14, the alumni were still quiet around the NFL as their struggles continued with even more players not putting up many stats or highlight plays. The former Wolverines haven’t had much to say around the NFL in the past few weeks and with the playoffs coming up that play has to improve and fast.
Check out how the former Michigan football players did this week around the NFL.
While Michigan football dominated Michigan State 44-10, their alumni played at the next level in the NFL. How did the former Wolverines do?
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After the big 44-10 win Michigan had over Michigan State, their alumni were proud and could boast about it in the locker rooms across the NFL. Despite the current Michigan players making big plays on Saturday, their alumni in the NFL this week were shut down and not doing much.
Check out how the former Michigan players did this week in the NFL.
Whoa!
Move over, Tony Romo. There’s a new NFLstradamus in town.
It’s Devin Bush, the linebacker for the Pittsburgh Steelers who has a four-game correct prediction streak on the line with Thursday night’s game against the Cleveland Browns.
Before Week 6, he told DKPittsburghSports.com that he would score his first defensive touchdown in their game against the Chargers. And he did!
After the Steelers’ bye in Week 7, he said that the Steelers would intercept two Dolphins passes (yup), force a fumble (they did so, twice). He did say Terrell Edmunds would score a touchdown, and although he didn’t, whatever.
In Week 9: he told the site they would have four to five sacks and a pick. Against the Colts, they picked off Brian Hoyer once and sacked him … four times.
Last week, he said this:
Devin Bush was asked to guess how the Steelers' D would do this Sunday.
His predictions were perfect 🤯@DBush11
(via @HunterAHomistek) pic.twitter.com/aEehF9sH9Q
— The Checkdown (@thecheckdown) November 11, 2019
Two picks, four sacks against the Rams? That’s exactly what they got.
This week: he sees so many sacks of Baker Mayfield and a couple of turnovers:
Devin Bush has a 4 week streak predicting the Steelers defensive stats.
Tonight's prediction? 6 sacks. 1 fumble recovery. 1 interception.
🔮🔮🔮 pic.twitter.com/nks7J1Jrrq— Yahoo Sports (@YahooSports) November 14, 2019
We await to see if he continues the streak.
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