Sports blog information from USA TODAY.
Some fanbases travel a whole lot better than others…
The Seahawks are known for having one of the loudest and most dedicated home crowds in all of professional sports. However, there’s more to it than that – as we discovered in Week 17 to our chagrin some fanbases travel a whole lot better than others. Let’s see how all 32 teams stack up in average attendance for both home and road games last season.
All attendance numbers are via ESPN.
31 free agents the Seahawks could target in 2024 – one from every other NFL team
According to a report by Jeff Howe at the Athletic, there is hope that the two sides can hammer out an extension.
One of the top priorities for Seahawks general manager John Schneider this offseason will be re-signing defensive lineman Leonard Williams to a new contract. While Seattle’s salary cap situation is far from pretty, they have to find money to pay Williams if literally nobody else on the roster right now.
Good news on this front, according to a report by Jeff Howe at the Athletic, there is hope that the two sides can hammer out an extension.
“Defensive lineman Leonard Williams played well enough for the Seattle Seahawks after they acquired him at the trade deadline, and there’s hope the sides can reach a contract extension, according to a league source.”
Williams was the team’s best defensive player in the second half of the season after coming over from the Giants at the trade deadline. Williams will be 30 years old by the time next season starts, but for some players that’s only a number – and he looks like he can be a highly-effective defender for several more years. It may take some steep roster cuts to get there, but we believe the Seahawks will be able to retain him.
On the other hand, Seattle should be embracing a youth movement and there’s a case against handing out any huge new contracts this year. If they allow Williams to leave in free agency they’ll end up with a high comp pick in next year’s draft – of which they have zero in 2024.
More Seahawks Wire stories
Geno Smith takes heat for throwing 3 picks at Pro Bowl
We’re ranking all 32 NFL teams by their 2024 strength of schedule ahead of the offseason and NFL draft
We’re about 100 days from the 2024 NFL schedule reveal, but the world and Eagles fans already know who their opponents will be.
The league uses multiple factors in determining the year schedule of games.
There’s a cycle of inter-conference faceoffs; each NFC division rotates through each AFC division every four seasons and the other NFC divisions every three seasons.
In addition, where a team finishes within their division dictates a same-finish matchup with one team from the opposite conference and whichever divisions aren’t in the rotation for that season.
Philadelphia previously had one of the more difficult schedules over the past two years, but 2024 will see the Eagles among the top ten easiest schedules based on win-loss percentages from last year.
Offering an early glimpse into where the Eagles could finish this season, here’s how Philadelphia’s 17-game slate for 2024 stacks up to the rest of the league, in February.
The Chargers are adding another experienced coach to the staff.
The Chargers are hiring Andy Bischoff as their tight ends coach and run game coordinator, according to Football Scoop’s Doug Samuels.
Bischoff finished up his second season as the Giants’ tight ends coach.
Bischoff has extensive coaching experience, including the Ravens from 2015 to 2020. In that time, he was an offensive quality control coach, offensive assistant and assistant tight ends coach under former offensive coordinator Greg Roman, who is joining Los Angeles in a “prominent role.”
Bischoff has also been the tight ends coach for the Bears (2013-14) and Texans (2021).
Bischoff’s coaching career began at Cretin-Derham Hall High School in Minnesota in 1993. In 2008, he left to become the running backs coach for the Canadian Football League’s Montreal Alouettes, where he won two Grey Cups (2009, 2010).
We’re ranking the Philadelphia Eagles potential opponents for the Friday night NFL season opener in Brazil
The 2024 NFL schedule will be released sometime on a Thursday night in mid-May, but we know that the Eagles will open the season in a home contest, played on a Friday night in Brazil.
The Eagles have been chosen to play in the NFL’s first-ever game in Brazil in Week 1 on Friday, September 6, to kick off their 2024 regular season, Commissioner Roger Goodell announced on Monday in his annual Super Bowl presser with the media in Las Vegas.
“Está pronto para ver os Eagles no Brasil?” (In Portuguese, “Are you ready to watch the Eagles in Brazil?”)
“The Eagles organization is honored to have been selected to play in the first-ever National Football League game in South America,” said Jeffrey Lurie, Philadelphia Eagles Chairman and CEO. “With the global growth of our sport being a top priority to our league, we embrace the opportunity to grow our fanbase around the world and bring Eagles football to the 38 million sports fans in Brazil. One of the world’s most culturally diverse nations, Brazil is an international melting pot, and we look forward to experiencing its warm, vibrant, and welcoming environment later this year.”
A look at the designated host teams for the 2024 International Games: pic.twitter.com/d50kwdMrCB
— Adam Schefter (@AdamSchefter) February 6, 2024
As part of the NFL International Series, this will be the first Friday night game on opening weekend in over 50 years. Philadelphia’s opponent and kickoff time will be announced later, closer to when the 2024 NFL schedule is revealed in May.
The contest will be played at Corinthians Arena in São Paulo, Brazil, with a seating capacity of 47,252.
This will be the second International Series Game in the regular season for the Eagles, who played in London during the 2018 campaign and defeated Jacksonville, 24-18 at Wembley Stadium. The Eagles played preseason games in Mexico City in 1978, London in 1989 and ’91, and Tokyo in 1993.
Home to the Brazilian soccer team SC Corinthians, the stadium was an official venue for the 2014 FIFA World Cup and 2016 Olympic Games.
Philadelphia is one of the biggest draws in the NFL, and With nine possible opponents to choose from ( Cowboys, Giants, Commanders, Browns, Falcons, Jaguars, Steelers, Packers, and Panthers), the league is tasked with picking the most intriguing matchup.
Let’s rank the best potential matchups for that opening game:
The Eagles have been chosen to play in the NFL’s first-ever game in Brazil in Week 1 on Friday, September 6 to kick off their 2024 regular season, Commissioner Roger Goodell announced on Monday in his annual conversation with the media prior to the Super Bowl in Las Vegas.
The National Football League will play a regular season game in Brazil in 2024 — the first ever in South America — as the league emphasizes global growth as a significant strategic priority.
That historic first game in Brazil will take place in the city of São Paulo at the Corinthians Arena, home to the Brazilian soccer team, the Sport Club Corinthians.
The stadium was the official venue for the 2014 FIFA World Cup and the 2016 Summer Olympic Games. With the game in South America, the NFL will have played a game (preseason or regular season) in five of the seven continents worldwide.
The Eagles confirmed they will play host against a team to be named.
— Philadelphia Eagles (@Eagles) February 5, 2024
NFL Commissioner Roger Goodell made the initial announcement at the 2023 December League Meeting in Dallas.
“The Eagles organization is honored to have been selected to play in the first-ever National Football League game in South America,” said Jeffrey Lurie, Philadelphia Eagles Chairman and CEO. “With the global growth of our sport being a top priority to our league, we embrace the opportunity to grow our fanbase around the world and bring Eagles football to the 38 million sports fans in Brazil. One of the world’s most culturally diverse nations, Brazil is an international melting pot, and we look forward to experiencing its warm, vibrant, and welcoming environment later this year.”
As part of the NFL International Series, this will be the first Friday night game on opening weekend in over 50 years. The opponent and kickoff time will be announced later, closer to when the 2024 NFL schedule is revealed this spring.
The potential opponents for that opener include the Cowboys, Giants, Commanders, Browns, Falcons, Jaguars, Steelers, Packers, and Panthers.
With the news now official, here’s the national reaction to the the Eagles taking over Brazil.
The Steelers should consider bringing in Mike Kafka to coach the quarterbacks and run the passing game.
Although it hasn’t been formally announced, the Pittsburgh Steelers reportedly plan to hire former Atlanta Falcons head coach Arthur Smith to be offensive coordinator.
We will dig into the hire in depth as soon as it becomes official, but the short answer is we really like the hire and think it will go a long way toward getting the Steelers offense on track.
But we think there’s another huge hire Pittsburgh could make this offseason to specifically cultivate talent at the quarterback position.
One former coach who didn’t get an offer during the first round of hiring is New York Giants offensive coordinator Mike Kafka.
Kafka made his name as the quarterbacks coach and passing game coordinator for the Kansas City Chiefs. His ability to help develop Patrick Mahomes and build a high-flying passing game could easily translate to the Steelers. Steelers quarterbacks coach Mike Sullivan has some interest from other teams, and Pittsburgh has never even had a passing game coordinator.
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Did ESPN get it right? Where they ranked the 2009 Saints among 57 Super Bowl-winning teams:
Where do you rank the New Orleans Saints’ Super Bowl XLIV-winning squad among the greatest teams of all time? Or at least, among the NFL’s other 57 champions?
That’s a question that ESPN writer Aaron Schatz set out to answer. Using his advanced-stat DVOA ratings (which you can read more about here), Schatz estimated the play-by-play efficiency for every team to win a Super Bowl.
And his findings have the 2009 Saints at No. 32. New Orleans fielded a high-powered offense and an opportunistic defense that year, outscoring the next-best team by 40 points (at 510, far above the second-place Minnesota Vikings at 470) and nearly tying the league lead with 39 takeaways (the Green Bay Packers had 40).
The Saints achieved a level of dominance that season that’s only rarely seen. We’ll let Schatz explain it further:
The Saints led the NFL in DVOA after a 13-0 start but fell to sixth because of a three-game losing streak to finish off the regular season. (Their starters played in the first two of those three losses, but not the third.) The Saints were second on offense, narrowly behind the Patriots, but 13th on defense and 28th on special teams.
Their DVOA moves up nicely thanks to some big playoff victories. They dominated Arizona 45-14 in the divisional round. The NFC championship required overtime and a Brett Favre interception for a 31-28 victory over the Vikings. But then the Saints beat the Colts 31-17 in Super Bowl XLIV, capped off by a Tracy Porter pick-six off Peyton Manning.
It’s disappointing that the 2009 Saints were not ranked higher, but the numbers back it u p. They allowed the 12th-most yards per play that season on defense. No team gave up more yards per punt return (14.3) and they were fourth-worst in yards per kick return (24.5). But they made up for it with an offense that few teams could match and, critically, key stops on defense with sacks and turnovers.
That may have been a difficult strategy to sustain, but it took the Saints all the way to the Super Bowl. And when the chips were down, that same hungry defense sealed the win with one of the most memorable plays in franchise history. And we shouldn’t overlook the benefits of having a Hall of Fame quarterback in the prime of his career leading the way, either.
Now, what’s frustrating — and we’re twisting the knife here, so stop reading if you are not in the right headspace to receive information that could possibly hurt you — is how low Schatz ranked some of the teams that won the Super Bowl in years that got away from New Orleans. The 2011 New York Giants, who advanced on a miracle overtime run over the San Francisco 49ers (and who lost to the Saints in a regular season blowout) clocked in at No. 56 out of 57 Super Bowl winners. If Gregg Williams’ defense had held up against the 49ers in the final minutes of their divisional round classic, Drew Brees might have two Super Bowl rings.
Heck, he could have had three. The 2018 Patriots knocked out the Los Angeles Rams to win a championship after L.A. got through with a lot of help from a botched officiating decision in New Orleans in the conference title game. New England won that title in the lowest-scoring Super Bowl in the history of the sport. Schatz ranked them all the way down at No. 48 in this list. That’s a matchup they could have handled better than the Rams, who lost in a pathetic effort 13-3. Ah well.
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Brandon Brown is a rising star.
The Chargers are set to have a second interview with Brandon Brown for their general manager vacancy on Wednesday, according to NFL Media’s Tom Pelissero.
Brown, 35, finished his second season as the Giants assistant general manager. In his first season in the role, Brown helped GM Joe Schoen revamp their roster and helped lead New York back to the playoffs for the first time in six years.
Brown was previously with the Eagles for five seasons from 2017 to 2021. He first started as assistant director of pro scouting for two seasons. He was then promoted to director of pro scouting for two seasons. Brown finished his tenure as director of player personnel for one season.
Before his time with Philadelphia, Brown spent two seasons from 2015 to 2016 with the Colts as a scouting assistant before being promoted to advanced scout.
Saints schedule interview with Steelers quarterbacks coach and play caller Mike Sullivan, who replaced Matt Canada at midseason:
Here’s another name for the New Orleans Saints offensive coordinator search: Mike Sullivan. NFL Network’s Ian Rapoport reports that the Saints have scheduled an interview with the Pittsburgh Steelers quarterbacks coach to discuss the vacancy. Sullivan took over play-calling duties when the Steelers fired Matt Canada midseason.
Sullivan, 56, has been around a long time. He helped prepare Derek Carr for the NFL draft when he was coming out of school and coached his older brother David Carr on the New York Giants. He’s previously worked as an offensive coordinator for the Tampa Bay Buccaneers (in 2012 and 2013) and Giants, though he only occasionally called plays while working under offensive-minded head coaches like Ben McAdoo. He’s been in the NFL since 2002 and spent eight years coaching at the college level.
Hopefully the Saints are just being thorough. The Steelers offense was more inept than theirs last season and Kenny Pickett has not developed well under Sullivan’s tutelage; Pickett threw has thrown the same number of interceptions as touchdowns (13) through his first 25 games, ranking 31st and 27th in adjusted net yards per attempt in his first two seasons. Sullivan has drawn attention from other teams like the Las Vegas Raiders so his services are in demand, but he’s far from the most appealing candidate on New Orleans’ radar.
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