Tag: FTW

Caleb Williams and other Bears offensive leaders embarrassingly had to tell OC Shane Waldron to be more aggressive

Only the Bears could be this embarrassing.

Veteran playmaker Keenan Allen might be back for the Chicago Bears in Week 4 against the Los Angeles Rams, but it doesn’t appear key Chicago players are convinced his return will help their offensive woes that much in 2024.

And they’re letting offensive coordinator Shane Waldron know it.

According to Fox Sports’ Jay Glazer, Caleb Williams, Cole Kmet, and Marcedes Lewis met with Waldron this week to tell him he needs to coach and call plays more aggressively. Uh, yeah, that’s never what you want to hear about an offense less than a month into the season. I’m talking about both having the private meeting with their coach and the kinda alarming critical message.

https://twitter.com/nflonfox/status/1840425485550977355

Waldron, of course, is in his first year as Chicago’s lead offensive mind. While he had a good reputation with the Seattle Seahawks in recent years, a combination of Williams’ learning curve as a rookie and a bunch of different moving parts have led the Bears to one of the NFL’s worst statistical offenses so far.

To Waldron’s credit, he appears receptive to this kind of criticism. Earlier this week, ESPN’s Adam Schefter reported that Waldron had spent significant time highlighting some of his worst play calls and taking responsibility for them in front of his players. That might be no small thing.

At the very least, it seems the Bears’ offensive leaders and Waldron have a quality back-and-forth dialogue. We’ll see whether it manifests in more points and yards moving forward.

JJ Redick revealed Lakers have already considered how LeBron James and Bronny might share the floor

The Lakers are already preparing for how LeBron James and Bronny will make history together.

While the Los Angeles Lakers probably have more pressing issues as a team — including how JJ Redick’s starting five will shake out — a lot of the focus on them will understandably center on LeBron James’ playing relationship with his son Bronny.

Fortunately, it sounds like Redick and the Lakers are already considering this in their organizational calculus.

During a press conference Wednesday, Redick clarified that Los Angeles has not yet nailed down specifics about when LeBron and Bronny will actually play together for the first time. That, of course, will have the duo make history as the first NBA father and son pair ever to share the floor.

However, Redick maintained the Lakers have thought about it — and that they will involve both LeBron and Bronny in planning — because it’s an important moment they want to give proper credence to:

https://twitter.com/MarkG_Medina/status/1839035830196908418

If you think about it, this is a situation that will require a little more thought.

After all, do you start Bronny for one of the Lakers’ first few home games while giving him the equivalent of a bench player’s minutes? Do you bring him off the bench and have LeBron stagger? If it’s at home, how do you involve the Lakers’ arena staff? Is there any additional fanfare they should be ready for?

These are all questions that Redick and the Lakers have to consider before this fateful, awesome moment finally arrives. It is cool, though, to learn that both LeBron and Bronny will be involved in the planning.

TikTok video shows how D’Andre Swift’s glaring lack of vision has dramatically hindered the Bears’ running game

D’Andre Swift has easily been one of the biggest free agent busts this year.

Through three games this NFL season, the Chicago Bears have one of the league’s worst rushing offenses, bar none.

Chicago runners have combined for just 218 total yards while averaging an anemic three yards per carry. That’s good for 31st in the league on both counts. This utter lack of a running game has been a considerable detriment to Caleb Williams during his rookie season, as he’s been expected to put the Bears’ offense on his back much more often than the team initially hoped.

While it’s not necessarily all his fault, 2024 free agent addition D’Andre Swift might deserve the most blame for the Bears’ rushing offense’s struggles.

A new TikTok demonstrates how Swift continually ignores (or doesn’t see?) massive rushing lanes while running into defenders’ contact and … into his own teammates. It makes you reasonably think that if the Bears commit to another full-time starter, their rushing attack might not look this bad.

@joelvmoran

D’Andre Swift is one of the worst starting RBs in the league. He might be the worst #chicagobears #dandreswift #nfl

♬ original sound – Joel Moran

To be fair to Swift, it’s easier to see these kinds of open rushing lanes from an overhead view on film. When it’s happening in real time, everything is moving lightning-fast. It also doesn’t help that the Bears’ offensive line, especially on the interior, has mostly been a net negative so far.

However, Swift is a professional in the NFL.

He’s expected to see these lanes and use them. It is the bare minimum of his job responsibility. Because it’s clear that even awful offensive lines can sometimes give their running backs a good chance to make something out of a play.  Much less talented running backs do so all the time. Full stop.

The Bears host the Los Angeles Rams this Sunday. And they likely already knew about Swift’s issues before this TikTok came out. Here’s a good hunch that Swift will be benched before Chicago leaves September.

Aaron Rodgers took a jab at Haason Reddick over a question about the Jets’ messy culture

Aaron Rodgers made it very clear he doesn’t respect Haason Reddick’s contract fight.

In the middle of a contract dispute, Haason Reddick has yet to play a single snap for the New York Jets. Reddick is so adamant about getting his well-earned money that he didn’t even participate in any of the Jets’ offseason activities.

This fact is not lost on Aaron Rodgers, who, after finally playing like a star in the Jets’ latest win last Thursday night, simply couldn’t help himself during an interview on The Pat McAfee Show on Tuesday.

When asked about how the Jets’ culture currently compares to what The Athletic’s Ben Standig reported was in “disarray” in late August, Rodgers said he didn’t read the piece. However, based purely on the headline, he did jokingly suggest that Reddick’s agent must have written it, given the pass-rusher’s ongoing dispute with the Jets organization.

https://twitter.com/PatMcAfeeShow/status/1838633616902926839

Uh, yeah, I don’t think Reddick will be playing for the Jets any time soon if he sees his quarterback slash supposed “leader” taking jabs like this in the media. This is a bit of a low blow. At the very least, it seems Rodgers doesn’t really respect Reddick’s financial battle much, and that’s not a great look, either.

Jaylen Brown arrogantly called out the Pistons with a weird flex about the Celtics’ bench players

Jaylen Brown really said the quiet part out loud about the Pistons.

Anyone who follows NBA basketball closely knows that the Boston Celtics could probably lean on their B-team to beat horrible squads like the Detroit Pistons without batting a single eyelash. The rub is that most people who say this in public are fans with no skin in the game.

There’s a big difference between talking ball with your fellow non-pro-athlete friends and someone who actually participates, saying they don’t have to worry about an awful team.

Someone did not pass along this memo to “singing” Boston Celtics star Jaylen Brown.

At Celtics Media Day on Tuesday, Brown said, out loud, that the Celtics don’t sweat the usually awful Detroit Pistons. Like, at all. He maintained that the Celtics have an understanding about the Pistons, knowing they can empty their bench and, most likely, still beat Detroit on any given night.

Brown’s not necessarily wrong, but he should probably avoid saying things like this while being recorded, especially after giving the obligatory “no disrespect disclaimer.”

Because everyone watching will rightfully take it as a sign of disrespect:

I, for one, hope the Pistons and Cade Cunningham see this clip and use it as quality motivation. They’ll almost certainly be playing this video a bunch before the first time they play Boston this upcoming season. Truly, what a wild thing to say on camera from a player on the reigning NBA champion.

Comments like this potentially open a can of worms and put an even bigger target on the back of an elite Celtics team everyone in the league is now chasing.

A sullen Ja’Marr Chase showed great sportsmanship with NSFW praise of Jayden Daniels after his breakout

Ja’Marr Chase showed a lot of class about Jayden Daniels after the Bengals’ tough loss.

At 0-3, NFL statistical history suggests that the Cincinnati Bengals’ 2024 season might already be over. That’s right. We haven’t left September yet, and a Cincinnati team many pegged for Super Bowl 59 likely won’t even make the playoffs.

But the Bengals’ futility was just one of two huge stories from Monday night.

The other was Washington Commanders rookie quarterback Jayden Daniels, who finally broke out as the player who officially buried the Bengals with their 0-3 record. Daniels was remarkable, accounting for 293 yards from scrimmage with three touchdowns (two passing, one rushing) while completing an astonishing 91 percent of his passes. Perhaps even more impressively, Daniels outdueled Joe Burrow in the midst of his own terrific performance in his house.

After the game, while star Bengals receiver Ja’Marr Chase was clearly upset by the deep hole his team dug itself, he couldn’t help but effusively praise the fellow LSU alumnus in Daniels.

(Warning: NSFW language below.)

https://twitter.com/MySportsUpdate/status/1838427466542510338

Talk about great sportsmanship from Chase. He knows his Bengals team is practically fighting an uphill battle just to stay relevant now, but he also won’t lie to himself. Sometimes, the other guys, like Daniels, look terrific.

All you can do is give them their props.

Dan Campbell moves into home of former Red Wings star to avoid invasive Lions fans

Lions fans crossed a BIG line by scaring Dan Campbell and his family.

Dan Campbell and his wife Holly had to move their family into a new house — the former home of Detroit Red Wings legend Igor Larionov — after a rash of safety concerns following the Detroit Lions’ loss in the 2024 NFC title game last January, reports The Detroit News.

This scary, extremely unacceptable episode should remind us all how completely unserious following any sport should be once we distance ourselves from the action. No matter how your favorite sports team fares, it is never OK to start scaring and allegedly threatening coaches and players — especially when it comes to their deserved privacy and their families. It is NEVER this serious, folks.

But that’s apparently exactly what happened to Campbell and his family.

More from The Detroit News:

There were at least four police reports involving Campbell’s home starting with New Year’s Eve 2023 and continuing until days after the Lions blew a 17-point lead in the National Football Conference championship game in late January. The reports describe a series of unwanted visitors, phone calls and a social media post that shared his home address. The incidents scared Campbell’s teenage daughter, prompting the involvement of the Lions and National Football League security officials and raising long-term concerns from Campbell’s wife, Holly Campbell, about the family’s security.

After the Jan. 28 loss to the 49ers, someone posted the Campbell family address on Snapchat and called the coach a “dumb f—.” The post was shared by one of the daughter’s male classmates.

Man, that is so messed up. And it’s wild that it seemingly began with one of Campbell’s daughter’s classmates posting the family’s address with an obscene caption on the social media platform Snapchat the day after the Lions fell short of the Super Bowl. According to the Detroit News, the inciting incident was not enough to file formal criminal charges once there was an investigation conducted:

The next day, Lyle Dungy of the NFL Security Department contacted township police. Dungy reported that a classmate of Campbell’s daughter posted the family’s home address on Snapchat along with an obscene text: “Dumb f— trying to go for it.”

Campbell himself downplayed this appalling news last Friday, saying he wanted to focus on coaching the Lions. So, if he won’t say it explicitly in public, I’ll just say it again. No matter how frustrated you are with your favorite sports team, it is NEVER okay to cross the line into their personal lives like this.

Lamar Jackson and Kyle Van Noy both joked about how Dak Prescott got away with an obvious safety

Lamar Jackson and the Ravens think the refs gave Dak Prescott special treatment here.

Usually, NFL officiating in any one game can be so poorly called that both teams have a legitimate laundry list of gripes to complain about. But sometimes, one call is so egregious, so lopsided against one team, that it’s hard not to wonder what the referees on hand were looking at.

That’s exactly what happened during a bizarre sequence on Sunday when the Dallas Cowboys were backed up against their own goal line in a battle with the Baltimore Ravens.

READ MORE: Dak Prescott’s suggestion to concerned Cowboys fans was so weak

With Dallas facing a third-and-long, Baltimore star defensive tackle Nnamdi Madubuike pressured Prescott and appeared to secure a safety by bringing the quarterback down in the end zone. There was one glaring problem, though. While being brought to the turf, Prescott shoveled off a pass to Dallas left guard Tyler Smith to clearly try and avoid a safety.

Uh, yeah, you can’t do that.

But rather than cite Prescott for intentional grounding and give the Ravens the two points they earned, the referees instead prioritized calling Smith for illegal touching as an offensive lineman, which, yes, still penalized the Cowboys, but it saved them from disaster:

After the game, Ravens veteran linebacker Kyle Van Noy took to his Twitter account to question the logic behind how this sequence was officiated. Van Noy jokingly claimed he didn’t know that illegal touching by a lineman could nullify a safety in pro football. He was right to question the process:

On Monday, reigning MVP Lamar Jackson caught wind of Van Noy’s assessment and piled on the controversy. Jackson joked that the referees would’ve almost certainly penalized him for intentional grounding and given the Cowboys a safety if the situation had been reversed.

You know, given Dallas’ status as a marquee NFL team seemingly appearing on national television every week, Jackson probably isn’t wrong:

Oh, well. All’s well that ends well. At least this strange non-safety sequence didn’t come back to bite the Ravens, who managed to hang on for their first win of the 2024 season. Nonetheless, it’s still worth wondering about how the officials screwed this play up so badly that multiple players are complaining about it in public.

These kinds of plays and calls — where popular/famous teams are involved, no less — are never a great look for the NFL.

Dak Prescott’s weak response to concerned Cowboys fans after troubling 2024 start shows they’re coming apart

Dak Prescott has a loser mentality and so do the Cowboys.

Usually, the Dallas Cowboys save their spontaneous combustion for the playoffs. In the regular season, Mike McCarthy’s squad has almost always been a world-beater, winning at least 12 games in three straight years. When the stakes are lowest, you can almost always count on the Cowboys showing up. They are the definition of front-runners.

After a dispiriting 28-25 loss to the Baltimore Ravens — where, at one point, they trailed 28-3 — it looks like the Cowboys might be imploding early by their standards.

Dak Prescott’s mentality after Sunday’s defeat shows as much.

While walking in the postgame tunnel, Prescott was recorded saying, “Jump off if you want.” It’s an apparent suggestion to Cowboys fans who (rightfully) don’t believe in the team after a troubling 1-2 start to get off the Dallas bandwagon. And it’s a little weird hearing this come from Prescott, of all people, who should probably be a bit more self-reflective as a newly-extended leader before turning his ire to non-believers of a team that demonstrates it’s usually fair to show no faith.

https://twitter.com/JetthroTV/status/1838001365752111175

I have two things to say to Prescott after this: don’t worry, whoever is left on the Cowboys’ bandwagon will definitely jump off if Dallas continues to voluntarily step on rakes this early in the season. After all the playoff failures, you’ve given people who somehow still believe in you (?) no further reason to believe.

And if you’re talking like this, it shows your focus is in all the wrong places. Another genuine Dallas collapse might be imminent.

Antonio Pierce suggested Raiders players made ‘business decisions’ after embarrassing loss to Panthers

It’s so weird that Antonio Pierce felt he had to vaguely threaten the Raiders.

After upsetting the Baltimore Ravens on the road last week, Antonio Pierce’s Las Vegas Raiders were riding high. All of those good feelings might be out the window after backup Carolina Panthers quarterback Andy Dalton surgically cut up the Raiders defense in an embarrassing blowout loss on Sunday.

Pierce himself added to a weird air about the Raiders after their 36-22 defeat.

In his postgame press conference, Pierce suggested that some Raiders — crucially, not all of them — were making “business decisions” in the loss. He then said that Raiders leadership would respond in kind with its own “business decisions.”

It’s not entirely unclear what Pierce is referring to, but it is pretty bizarre to see him kinda threaten his own team in public:

https://twitter.com/awfulannouncing/status/1838009284778484199

We’re three weeks into the 2024 season, and the Raiders have a potential burgeoning crisis involving their coach. In other words, welcome to Raiders football.