Tag: DOTD

Every EA NHL cover star since 1991

Take a stroll down memory lane with every NHL cover star since 1991 and EA’s first NHL game.

EA used NHL stars on the cover of its hockey games right from the start in 1991 with NHL Hockey on Sega Genesis. The goal was likely appealing to consumers using the sport’s most recognizable figures at the time, and the unintentional result is a time capsule of sorts, a look into the sports’ past and who stood out among the rest at the time. Or, at the very least, it’s a look at who was the most interested in experimenting with different forms of exposure – handy during lockouts when no one could even set their skates on the ice.

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Aaron Rodgers reportedly didn’t like the Jets’ blocking in training camp and his 4 plays on Monday showed why

Monday night showed Aaron Rodgers was right to be concerned.

Aside from a shocking walk-off win over a division rival, Monday night was an abject disaster for Aaron Rodgers and the New York Jets. And the number of sad Rodgers statistics coming out only grows more deflating as you read each one.

Instead of playing well for a preseason Super Bowl contender, the future Hall of Fame quarterback tore his Achilles on his first possession. He will now miss the rest of the 2023 season as the Jets look toward other quarterback options. According to The Athletic’s Zack Rosenblatt, Rodgers had expressed concerns about the way the Jets’ offensive line blocks during New York’s training camp earlier this summer.

Based on Monday night’s nightmare, it seems those concerns were entirely valid.

There’s no one person to blame for Rodgers’ injury, if it’s even fair to blame anyone at all.

For example, one could argue that general manager Joe Douglas was to blame for piecing together a poor offensive line that allowed Rodgers to be pressured on each of his three dropbacks against the Buffalo Bills. Rodgers didn’t even have time to complete a single pass. One could even blame the condition of the artificial turf at the Jets’ home stadium as ex-Rodgers teammate David Bakhtiari did. There’s also the fact that Rodgers is nearing the age of 40 and was probably more susceptible to injury than in his younger years.

Still, Rodgers has been around the block. If he knew the Jets’ offensive line could be a huge problem — either by scheme or talent — in training camp, it’s on the New York front office to address it. Alas, that is now a problem for 2024 — if Rodgers even returns to Gang Green.

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Kyle Schwarber went out of his way to retrieve Matt Olson’s 50th HR ball in a super classy moment

That’s what sportsmanship is all about.

The Atlanta Braves and Philadelphia Phillies have one of the more underrated rivalries in the National League East, and we saw that play out in last season’s NLDS. But in some moments, that rivalry can wait.

That’s exactly what happened in Monday night’s Game 2 doubleheader between the two clubs.

Braves first baseman Matt Olson is chasing Andruw Jones’ franchise record of 51 home runs in a season, and he has an outside chance of becoming the first Braves player with 60 home runs. And in the sixth inning, Olson took Michael Lorenzen deep to the opposite field for his second home run of the game and the 50th homer of the season.

But keep an eye on what Kyle Schwarber did after the home run.

The Phillies left fielder went to get a new baseball and returned to the spot where Olson’s homer landed. And that was where Schwarber made a trade with the fan who caught Olson’s 50th home run ball in order to return the ball to the Braves dugout.

That’s something you don’t see from too many opposing players as stadium staff is often tasked with locating fans who catch meaningful home runs. But credit to Schwarber for making it happen right there on the field and getting the ball back to the Braves.

Fans certainly appreciated the gesture. That’s what baseball is all about.

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The 6 best moments from the ManningCast Week 1, including hating on Zach Wilson

Some great moments from the first, wild ManningCast of the season.

The Monday Night Football Manning MegaCast — yes, the ManningCast! — is back for 2023, which the best news.

In Week 1, we got Eli and Peyton Manning to talk with guests — this week, it was John McEnroe and Ryan Fitzpatrick  — as they got to watch one of the weirdest and wildest games: The New York Jets beat the Buffalo Bills in overtime, with Aaron Rodgers going down just a few plays into the game with a bad injury. Definitely a ton to talk about all night, right down to the game-winning touchdown.

So it’s time for us once again to round up some of the best moments we saw from the Mannings and their guests, and there was plenty of good stuff to include in this list:

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NFL Power Rankings Week 2: Cowboys and 49ers already look like the NFC’s dominant teams

The Cowboys and 49ers are noticeably better than everyone else.

Week 1 is a fascinating place in the NFL.

The teams you thought were great look extremely flawed (See: the Kansas City Chiefs and Cincinnati Bengals). The teams you thought were awful pulled off shocking upsets (See: Baker Mayfield’s Tampa Bay Buccaneers and Sean McVay’s Los Angeles Rams). And the squads you thought would live up to the hype (see: San Francisco 49ers, Dallas Cowboys, Detroit Lions) are already making their fanbases swell with overzealous pride at what the season could hold in store.

And the best part is because it’s Week 1: A majority of these sentiments could be irrelevant by October. Isn’t it the best when the season opener is a de facto preseason game?

But let’s center on two of those hyped teams: The 49ers and Cowboys. We knew both San Francisco and Dallas would likely pick up where they left off as powerhouse contenders. After their respective road shellackings, both NFC contenders might be even better than we believed. A lot can change in the coming weeks and months, but it’s hard to imagine these two NFC powers losing their mantle — at least in the regular season.

Let’s take stock of the 49ers, Cowboys, and the rest of the league after a predictably unpredictable Week 1 in the first edition of For The Win‘s 2023 NFL season power rankings.

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Joe Burrow, Daniel Jones and the 7 grossest quarterback performances of Week 1

An offseason’s worth of rust was evident for some of the NFL’s best quarterbacks — starting with Burrow.

The 2023 NFL season kicked off its first Sunday not with a bang, but with a lot of short, incomplete passes.

Week 1’s matchups were frustrating one way or another almost across the board. A league where success is defined by the passing game saw a sudden power outage behind center. What began with a helpless Patrick Mahomes on Thursday night continued as veterans and young quarterbacks alike, well, stunk.

Kenny Pickett led the Pittsburgh Steelers to one yard of total offense in his first 28 minutes of the season. Kirk Cousins, in true Kirk Cousins fashion, buttressed tidy stats with red zone turnovers and lost to a Tampa Bay Buccaneers team that appeared to be purposefully tanking the 2023 season. Deshaun Watson only looked good in comparison to the Joe Burrow mannequin the Cincinnati Bengals Weekend at Bernie’s through a 24-3 loss in Cleveland for 3.5 quarters Sunday afternoon.

This was merely a sample of the power outage that struck the NFL’s opening weekend. But which quarterbacks were the most disappointing?

Fortunately, we’ve got tools to better understand just how damaging these underwhelming performances were. Using the advanced stat expected points added (EPA) can gauge how much a quarterback brings to the table compared to a typical player. By comparing each passer’s Week 1 EPA against their 2022 average we get a better picture of just how frustrating their debuts were. And we can find both of those thanks to The Athletic’s Ben Baldwin and his incredibly useful stats sites RBSDM.com and HabitatRing.com.

Who was the worst? Well, there were several candidates but only one man can truly call himself the grossest quarterback of Week 1.

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Brock Purdy trolled Patrick Peterson with a savage postgame rhetorical question after burning him on TD

What a cold-blooded comment from Brock Purdy.

After his overconfident comments about Brock Purdy, Pittsburgh Steelers cornerback Patrick Peterson got a quick comeuppance on Sunday afternoon. It was clear that Purdy and the San Francisco 49ers were targeting Peterson in coverage, and they humbled the veteran with two early touchdowns.

In the postgame, after a 30-7 dominant win for the 49ers, Purdy showed that Peterson was probably on his mind more than he thought. And he clearly wanted to single the cornerback out for trashing his ability as a cornerback.

While discussing his individual play, Purdy asked if it was Peterson in coverage on Brandon Aiyuk’s touchdown. Based on his body language and overall delivery, it was apparent Purdy asked the question rhetorically. He knew Peterson was on Aiyuk and wanted to take advantage of him on the field while then talking trash when appropriate — after a convincing win.

You gotta hand it to Purdy. He refused to say anything about the Steelers or Peterson in advance. He let his game do the talking, and boy, did it speak volumes. He certainly earned the right to make a little barb at Peterson like this.

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Mics picked up Geno Smith’s hilariously relatable reaction to an unblocked Aaron Donald running at him

The ONLY correct reaction.

If you were to poll NFL quarterbacks about which player they’d least like to see charging at them with an open lane unblocked, odds are the Aaron Donald would be an awfully popular pick.

So, you really can’t blame Geno Smith for reacting the way he did on Sunday. He experienced that nightmare scenario first hand and lived to tell the tale. And thankfully, we heard it all as it played out in real time.

During the Week 1 matchup between the Rams and Seahawks, Smith had to get rid of the ball quickly on a third-down play because he saw as Donald evaded the pass protection and had a clear path at him. His reaction was picked up on the broadcast mics, and man, it was so good.

Smith saw Donald charging at him and shouted, “OH MY GOD!”

A quarterback never wants to see his pass protection lose track of any defender, but they *really* don’t want to see it happen with Donald.

NFL fans understandably loved that relatable reaction from Smith.

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A frustrated Justin Jefferson absolutely destroyed a Buccaneers defender after an interception

He put this MONSTER hit down after an awful Kirk Cousins throw.

Entering Sunday’s Week 1 opener, Justin Jefferson picked up where he left off for the Minnesota Vikings. Though one half, the NFL’s best receiver had seven catches for 138 yards, routinely getting open against the Tampa Bay Buccaneers’ overmatched secondary.

Unfortunately, despite Jefferson’s best efforts, Minnesota remained tied at 10-10 with Tampa Bay. And it seemed pretty apparent Jefferson wasn’t happy after a late second-quarter play.

With the Vikings driving and on the doorstep of a touchdown, Kirk Cousins threw a terrible interception right into Christian Izien’s hands. It was the veteran’s third turnover of the afternoon. As Izien tried to bring the ball back, a frustrated Jefferson absolutely brought the wood on a monster hit, showing he’s got a little edge and physicality to his receiving game.

Oh my goodness. I knew Jefferson was special and could get open against anyone. I didn’t know he could hit people like THAT. I guess that’s what happens when Kirk Cousins is your quarterback, and he’s letting you down … again.

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The NFL’s newly-approved — but much criticized — fair-catch rules on kickoffs, explained

Explaining why this rule is changing and the controversy surrounding it.

Welcome to FTW Explains, a guide to catching up on and better understanding stuff going on in the world. Have you read about the NFL approving a rule when it comes to kickoff returns and fair catches? We’re here to help.

Among the new NFL rules approved for the 2023 season is a simple one with far-reaching implications: If you fair catch a ball inside the 25-yard line — anywhere inside there — it’ll be placed at the 25 as if it was a touchback.

Now: Why would that be much criticized? Why is this happening in the first place? Fear not, we have answers.

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