Tag: Get Up

ESPN analyst outlines reasons he is ‘NOT sick’ of Chiefs’ success

ESPN analyst Mike Greenberg outlined every reason he is ‘NOT sick’ of the #Chiefs’ success heading into Super Bowl LIX.

The Kansas City Chiefs’ recent run of dominance has rubbed some fans the wrong way. With the team’s upcoming Super Bowl LIX matchup against the Philadelphia Eagles on the horizon, ‘Chiefs fatigue’ is at an all-time high.

Though it may seem like the whole country is rooting against Kansas City, ESPN analyst Mike Greenberg took it upon himself to tell fans why he isn’t letting the Chiefs’ success bother him.

In a segment that aired on ‘Get Up’ this week, Greenberg made a ‘final point’ on the show about the stakes that Kansas City’s players will face in Super Bowl LIX, which add a layer of intrigue regardless of rooting interest:

Despite Greenberg’s segment, many fans may still struggle to find any satisfaction in the Chiefs’ success.

Stay tuned to see if Kansas City’s players can overcome the disdain of viewers across the country to help win the Chiefs their third consecutive Super Bowl title.

Ex-Commander Alex Smith discredits Jayden Daniels’ success

Former Washington Commanders quarterback Alex Smith says that Patrick Mahomes does more with less than Jayden Daniels.

The Washington Commanders have had a terrible football team for a very long time. Blame ownership, coaches, or general managers; it doesn’t matter; the result has been the same for decades until now. Jayden Daniels has singlehandedly gotten this team to its first NFC Championship game since 1991.

He didn’t do it alone, certainly, but this isn’t a team with big name stars on it. Even Terry McLaurin wasn’t a household name until this year, despite his success in Washington. Many people forgot Zach Ertz even played football anymore after some quiet years dealing with injuries. But that didn’t stop former Commanders quarterback and current ESPN NFL Analyst Alex Smith from saying that Daniels has more weapons than Patrick Mahomes.

“Now, listen, he is phenomenal and I agree with Dan, he is right there. but the weapons he has, the offense he plays in, Patrick does more with less than any other quarterback.”

Alex. Be real. Travis Kelce is a future Hall of Famer. DeAndre Hopkins is a potential Hall of Famer. The Kansas City Chiefs’ interior offensive line is elite. Xavier Worthy is a phenomenal offensive weapon, and Andy Reid is one of the greatest coaches in NFL history. More with less? Please. Tell us you’re salty about your time in Washington without telling us you’re salty.

We will not discredit what the Commanders have done this season with the weapons it has. Dan Quinn and Jayden Daniels have paired up nicely to take this offense to the next level, and the weapons they have are getting the job done, and that is what matters. But don’t put them on a pedestal like Daniels hasn’t had to work for every single win, even more than Mahomes.

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A Commander was NFL’s ‘best player’ in Week 16

One former NFL QB says Commanders QB Jayden Daniels was the NFL’s best player in Week 16.

“Jayden Daniels was the best player in the NFL this weekend.”

When was the last time you heard a NFL television analyst say such thing about a Washington Redskin or Washington Commander?

That was how Dan Orlovsky opened his comments Monday regarding the Commanders’ 36-33 come-from-behind victory over the Philadelphia Eagles.

Indianapolis Colts RB Jonathan Taylor rushed for three touchdowns on his way to 218 rushing yards as the Colts defeated the Titans. Taylor’s effort was the only other possible candidate for the best overall performance in Week 16 games.

As for which team might have been the best in Week 16? That would go to the Green Bay Packers, who pulled off the first defensive shutout of the season when they blanked the New Orleans Saints 34-0 on MNF.

Daniels completed 24 of 39 passing attempts for 258 yards. There were two interceptions; however, there were also five touchdown passes. Not to be missed, the Eagles put good pressure on Daniels several times, but he managed to escape, only being sacked once.

The Eagles pretty much shut down the Commanders’ rushing attack. However, Daniels was also quite effective running, gaining 81 yards on his nine carries.

On the final play of the third quarter, trailing 27-14, Washington was in a tough spot. It was 4th down & 11 from just outside the Eagles’ 41.  Dan Quinn elected to see if Daniels could make a play. However, the pocket quickly broke down, and Daniels ran up the middle of the field. When three Eagles converged at the 33, Daniels suddenly cut to his right and appeared to cause all three to miss entirely. He avoided another tackler at the 25, gaining 29 yards to the Eagles’ 11. Daniels finished the drive, finding Olamide Zaccheaus from four yards out, making it a 27-21.

Moments later, Daniels found Zaccheaus from 49 yards, giving the Commanders their first lead of the day (28-27). Trailing again 33-28 with 1:57 remaining, Daniels found Zaccheaus for seven yards and Terry McLaurin for ten.  Daniels then ran up the middle for 12 yards. McLaurin was again on the receiving end of a 10-yard gain.

From the nine, Daniels dropped back and found Jamison Crowder in the back of the end zone for the game-winning score.

Orlovsky might have been right, Daniels might just have been the best player in the NFL last Sunday.

 

Tony Dungy sets the record straight on the ‘Tampa 2’ defense

A debate about the two-high safeties defense—or, as you may know it, the “Tampa 2″—broke out on ESPN’s Get Up thanks to Mel Kiper Jr.

A debate about the two-high safeties defense—or, as you may know it, the “Tampa 2″—broke out on ESPN’s Get Up after Mel Kiper Jr. said it should be outlawed because he wants to see more downfield shots rather than bubble screens and checkdowns.

“The NFL is getting ruined by these two high safeties,” Kiper said.

Dan Orlovsky was tasked with explaining what this alignment was, and credited former Tampa Bay Buccaneers head coach Tony Dungy for creating it, stating that “2-high safeties has been around for a long time, Tony Dungy made the ‘Tampa 2’ defense famous down there.”

While Dungy and the Buccaneers may have made it more of a household name to a wider audience, the former Buccaneers coach made sure to set the record straight. “Thanks, Dan, for including me in the legacy of Cover 2, but the Tampa version wasn’t near the beginning of the story,” Dungy said on his X account in response to Orlovsky’s history lesson.

The Cover 2 defense was actually introduced to the NFL in 1973, by Bud Carlson and the Pittsburgh Steelers, Dungy would say, and the Hall of Fame coach took the Tampa version right out of their 1977 playbook, which he received as a rookie DB for the Steelers.

Dungy spent time interacting with comments and giving a history lesson on the defense and suspected that the defense was heralded as “Tampa 2” simply because “people hadn’t seen it in a while.”

Notre Dame’s busy morning on ESPN includes new uniform unveiling

Like the new look?

Continuing their ESPN rounds from the day before, representatives from Notre Dame’s football team had even more to share. The most significant segment came when [autotag]Marcus Freeman[/autotag] and [autotag]Jordan Clark[/autotag] appeared on “First Take”. One secret badly kept recently was that the Irish were planning on wearing new home uniforms in 2024. The secret officially was out after this appearance:

Shortly thereafter, the program revealed a more proper image of the uniform on social media:

Earlier in the morning, Freeman, Clark and [autotag]Riley Leonard[/autotag] appeared on “Get Up” with Mike Greenberg and Ryan Clark, Jordan’s father. The roundtable discussion began this way:

Later in the segment, the focus shifted to father and son:

The Irish came to New York with the purpose of hyping up their season for the Worldwide Leader in Sports. They certainly have done that, and they’ll take in a Yankees game later with Freeman throwing out the first pitch. This will be a trip to remember for those involved.

Contact/Follow us @IrishWireND on Twitter, and like our page on Facebook to follow ongoing coverage of Notre Dame news, notes, and opinions.

Follow Geoffrey on Twitter: @gfclark89

Jayden Daniels reportedly believed Commanders visit was a one on one

Jayden Daniels believed his meeting with Washington would be a one-on-one visit.

It’s been a wild week regarding LSU quarterback Jayden Daniels and the Washington Commanders. The 2023 Heisman Trophy winner was believed to be the leading contender for Washington to select at No. 2 overall. Therefore, it made sense why the Commanders would schedule their top-30 visit with Daniels the week before the 2024 NFL draft.

The only problem was that Washington also scheduled visits with North Carolina quarterback Drake Maye, Michigan quarterback J.J. McCarthy, and Washington quarterback Michael Penix Jr.

Those visits weren’t solo visits, either. Instead, Commanders general manager Adam Peters scheduled an outing at Top Golf for the four quarterbacks.

That didn’t sit well with Daniels’ agent, who liked a pair of tweets on X seemingly knocking the Commanders for scheduling a group visit for the four quarterbacks.

On Friday’s episode of “Get Up” on ESPN, ESPN’s Adam Schefter said Daniels believed his meeting with Washington would be a one-on-one visit.

What does this all mean?

Ultimately, it means nothing as the Commanders control the situation. If they want Daniels, they will select him. If not, they’ll choose Maye or McCarthy. There’s nothing wrong with Daniels thinking it would be a solo visit; the issue comes from his agent’s unprofessional actions, making this a much bigger deal than it actually was.

If Washington planned to take Daniels No. 2, nothing that occurred this week will change anything.

Daniels’ agent did him no favors this week, though, creating a bunch of unnecessary noise before the biggest week of his life.

 

 

 

Former NFL executive has an insane idea for Wisconsin legend Russell Wilson’s next step

This idea was insane

It is rare we write up the comments made on ESPN’s ‘Get Up,’ ‘First Take,’ or other similar shows.

First, the shows don’t talk nearly enough about college football for our taste. But second, the stupidity rarely crosses into the threshold of Wisconsin Badgers athletics.

Well, on Monday it did. Former NFL executive Mike Tannenbaum shared the following idea on Get Up for former Badger Russell Wilson’s next step after leaving the Broncos.

Related: Ranking the Big Ten head football coaches entering the 2024 season

“I think he would be a great fit with New York [Jets], and here’s why,” Tannenbaum said. His partners on the show reacted with appropriate disgust before he continued to say “pay him a million dollars and let him resurrect his career. I actually have experience with this, Vinny Testaverde got cut by the Baltimore Ravens, we signed him in June and went to the championship game that year. So, if you’re Russell Wilson…where else is he going to go? He has to resurrect his career, so if you have to sit for a year why not sit for a year behind one of the greatest of all time and then be a free agent again. Where is he going to go? He’s 36 years old. Nobody’s going to hand him a starting job. He’s going to have to be a backup somewhere.”

Here’s the full video, for context:

It’s easy to dissect why this is a terrible idea.

First, Tannenbaum said it, Wilson is 36 years old. He only has a few years of football left, so it would be foolish to spend one of them on the bench. Look around the NFL, there are far worse quarterbacks than Wilson starting for teams — Tommy DeVito, Derek Carr, Sam Howell, Josh Dobbs, Mason Rudolph to just name a few. The Wisconsin legend should get one final shot at leading a team under center.

Second, and more important in my eyes, who wants to back up Aaron Rodgers? Of all the starters in the NFL, Rodgers might be the one I’d want to back-up the least if I were Wilson. The only positive is he may get injured again, leading to quicker playing time. But Rodgers is a challenging person to work with by all accounts, which would make life tough on someone like Wilson looking for another shot.

Tannenbaum was an NFL executive for more than a decade, so there is some basis behind his opinions. I think he’s way off on this one — which the football community on ‘X’ agrees with. Wilson needs to find a starting job to try to resurrect his career, not a backup job behind a quarterback like Rodgers.

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Contact/Follow @TheBadgersWire on X (formerly Twitter), and like our page on Facebook to follow ongoing coverage of Wisconsin Badgers news, notes, and opinion. Follow Ben Kenney on X.

Former Heisman winner Robert Griffin III sounds off on Chiefs’ offensive woes

Robert Griffin III sounded off on Patrick Mahomes’ blow-up against the #Bills and the #Chiefs’ offensive woes on ESPN’s “Get Up”

The Kansas City Chiefs have had a tough time getting their offense into gear during the 2023 season, and much of the talk around the team’s dysfunction has revolved around its lack of firepower at the receiver position.

2011 Heisman Trophy winner Robert Griffin III sounded off on the Chiefs’ offensive woes on ESPN’s morning show Get Up this week, and gave his take on why Patrick Mahomes reacted so negatively on the sideline during Kansas City’s loss to the Buffalo Bills in Week 14.

“They (the Chiefs) have had 33 drops this year,” He explained. “When you talk about Mahomes to his receivers, QBR (quarterback rating) wise, he’s 23rd in the league when targeting his receivers. Running backs and tight ends, he’s third in the league.”

Only Mahomes knows what caused the blow-up against Buffalo, but Griffin’s perspective certainly seems to be a point worth considering. With just four games remaining on their 2023 schedule, the Chiefs’ receiving corps will have a magnifying glass on it as fans and the media try to figure out what is at the root of Kansas City’s offensive decline this season.

Rutgers football: ESPN highlights Kyle Monangai for his block against Indiana

Rutgers’ Kyle Monangai gets a shout out for his blocking this past Saturday.

Kyle Monangai is getting some serious attention, not just for his ability running the ball but also for his blocking. The Rutgers football running back got a big-time shoutout on ESPN on Wednesday morning.

On the ESPN morning show ‘Get Up,’ a Monangai block from this Saturday’s 31-14 win at Indiana was shown. In a segment entitled ‘Sit Down,’ the crew highlighted Monangai’s block on a run by quarterback Gavin Wimsatt.

And very astutely, the crew noticed that Monangai didn’t just have one block on this particular play. The Rutgers running back finished one block and then went to another to key a run from Wimsatt.

Former NFL offensive lineman Jeff Saturday led off with the talk about Monangai’s blocks.

“He gets one down, he gets up and blocks for his boy again,” Saturday said on the ESPN segment.

“You got to love this.”

 

 

Saturday was six times a Pro Bowl selection and four times an All-Pro. During his 14 years in the NFL, he won a Super Bowl with the Indianapolis Colts.

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On the season, Monangai has 744 rushing yards and seven touchdowns. He is one of the top running backs in the Big Ten in rushing yards this season.

Rutgers is 6-2 (3-2 Big Ten) and on a bye week. They host No. 3 Ohio State next Saturday.

 

Ryan Clark breaks down Jonathan Allen’s NSFW postgame rant from Week 7

Ryan Clark on Jonathan Allen: “The Commanders made this man lose all his professionalism.”

Ryan Clark spent 13 seasons in the NFL, including two stints with the then-Washington Redskins. Clark’s final NFL season (2014) was spent in Washington.

Since retirement, Clark has become one of TV’s best NFL analysts and is a part of ESPN’s weekday morning show, “Get Up.”

On Monday morning, the “Get Up” crew was breaking down Week 7 NFL action, including the Washington Commanders’ ugly 14-7 loss to the New York Giants.

It wasn’t the game that caught Clark’s attention; it was defensive tackle — and team captain — Jonathan Allen’s postgame rant.

We’ll let Clark take it from here:

“This man chose violence,” Clark said. “The sheer audacity of the outfit says, ‘I don’t give no F’s. Zero of ’em.’”

There is much more from Clark included in the above clip.

One more from Clark: “The Commanders made this man lose all his professionalism.”

It’s hard to dispute that. Allen, a two-time Pro Bowler and one of the best in the NFL at his position, finally had enough.

How will Washington respond in Week 8 against the Eagles?