Tag: instant analysis

Instant analysis of Patriots’ 14-13 preseason loss to the Eagles

The Patriots failed to get the win, but Drake Maye’s impressive performance gives them hope

The New England Patriots failed to get the job done at home in Thursday’s 14-13 preseason loss to the Philadelphia Eagles. Yet, even after a defeat, there was legitimate optimism to take away for the future.

Let’s start with the bad first.

The offensive line continued to be the Achilles heel of the Patriots, particularly when it came to snapping the ball. Liam Fornadel in particular delivered the low snap fumble that nixed any hope of a Bailey Zappe comeback drive in the fourth quarter.

There were also constant issues at left tackle for the team with Vederian Lowe seeing a significant chunk of the snaps. He was beaten multiple times by the defense and even gave up a blindside sack on Maye, who got clobbered by a defender.

Those mental breakdowns and offensive line struggles reeked of the same team we saw in 2023. That’s something coach Jerod Mayo is going to have to clean up before the season starts.

However, it wasn’t all bad news for the Patriots.

Maye looked impressive on a night where he saw extended reps under center. He was able to use his athleticism to make plays when things broke down around him. He also hit a couple of nice throws, including a dart on a third-down crosser and a beautiful deep pass that rookie wide receiver Javon Baker failed to come down with.

Maye went 6-of-11 passing for 47 yards, along with four rushing attempts for 15 yards and a touchdown in the game.

The Patriots have a lot of work to do to get back to contention. In some regards, they still look like the worst team by far in the AFC East. But Maye’s performance and continued growth should give them real hope for the future.

This isn’t a sprint for this team. It’s a marathon. And this game gave them their first glimpse at the possibility of eventually winning that race.

Instant analysis of Patriots trading LB Matthew Judon to Falcons

Why trading Matthew Judon was the right move for the Patriots

The writing was already on the wall for Matthew Judon’s exit from the New England Patriots, but that didn’t make the news any less shocking when it came on Wednesday.

ESPN’s Adam Schefter reported the Patriots are sending the four-time Pro Bowl pass-rusher to the Atlanta Falcons in exchange for a third-round draft pick.

The first thing that comes to mind is the fact that Judon will be missed. Along with being an incredible talent on the football field, he brought a certain charisma and personality to the team that can’t be replaced.

However, the second thing that comes to mind is how great of a return in compensation this is for the Patriots. They went from a situation where it looked like they wouldn’t get anything for Judon. The veteran linebacker seemed content to play out the final year of his contract and test free agency in 2025.

To go from that possibility to landing a third-round pick should be considered a big win for the Patriots.

Judon being on the roster obviously makes them a better football team. But at what cost? The Patriots would be fortunate to win five games this season, much less morph into a playoff contender. So it wouldn’t make sense pumping a huge chunk of their resources into an aging pass-rusher coming off a season-ending injury.

That isn’t to say Judon’s value couldn’t come elsewhere, such as helping mentor a young roster. But should the Patriots really be burning some cash on a mentor?

Not when they need offensive tackles and a No. 1 wide receiver.

They are also uniquely positioned to be successful on defense without Judon. Anfernee Jennings did well enough stepping up last season, and the team might have a legitimate breakout talent in second-year pass-rusher Keion White.

Oshane Ximines and Joshua Uche should also be able to make an impact on defense. The business side of football is always ugly, and this one hurts even more because Judon was a fan-favorite.

But there’s also the fact that the Patriots were still a solid defensive team down the stretch without him last season. The biggest loss currently for the team is Christian Barmore along the defensive front. That’s the one glaring absence that could create real issues for the defense.

Couple that with the Judon loss and it’s a major problem. The 2024 season will be an uphill battle for the Patriots, but it’s a battle the team knew was coming all along.

Rebuilds are supposed to get worse before they get better, right?

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Instant analysis of Jabrill Peppers’ contract extension with Patriots

Instant analysis of Jabrill Peppers’ new deal

The New England Patriots continued their spree of in-house signings on Friday by agreeing to a three-year extension with safety Jabrill Peppers, per ESPN’s Field Yates.

According to Yates, the deal has a base value of $24 million and is worth up to $30 million.

This was a strong move for the Patriots considering Peppers was one of the team’s best players last season. An argument could easily be made that he was the team’s defensive MVP with 78 tackles, eight pass deflections, two interceptions and one fumble recovery.

The Patriots extended Kyle Dugger back in April, and now with Peppers under contract, they have ensured their core defensive backfield remains intact for the foreseeable future.

Peppers is a player who would have had plenty of offers on the free agent market. The price could have been even higher if he put together another stellar season, and the Patriots might have been pulled into a bidding war for his services.

However, they avoided all of that by locking in a deal early.

The Patriots have now extended Peppers, Dugger, Christian Barmore, Anfernee Jennings, Mike Onwenu, Rhamondre Stevenson and Hunter Henry to long-term deals. Lead personnel executive Eliot Wolf is using some of the millions in available cap space to reward the best players on the roster.

The new deal with the Patriots makes Peppers one of the top-15 highest-paid safeties in the league, averaging around $8 million annually. It’s a win-win for both sides.

Peppers gets the biggest contract of his NFL career, and the Patriots keep one of the best defensive backfields in the league intact. It’s another home run hit for Wolf.

LSU baseball can’t close the door, season ends against North Carolina in regional final

LSU had the Tar Heels where it wanted them but couldn’t close the door as North Carolina won 4-3 in extras.

After an incredible day yesterday when the Tigers won two games to send the Chapel Hill Regional to a winner-take-all Game 7, the Tigers matched up with North Carolina one more time with the hopes of hosting a Super Regional. LSU had the Tar Heels where they wanted them, but they couldn’t close the door as North Carolina won 4-3 in extras.

Sam Dutton got the start on the mound and LSU was the home team once again. The Tar Heels started the game with three straight singles before [autotag]Javen Coleman[/autotag] came in to pitch. Coleman walked the first hitter he faced before forcing a double play. He then got the final out but North Carolina took a 2-0 lead.

LSU didn’t waste any time trying to answer those two runs as the Tigers got a run of their own on a [autotag]Josh Pearson[/autotag] groundout to cut the lead to 2-1. In the bottom of the second inning, [autotag]Jake Brown[/autotag] hit a solo homer to tie the game 2-2.

In the bottom of the third inning, [autotag]Jared Jones[/autotag] got in on the homer party as he hit a solo shot to give the Tigers a 3-2 lead.

In the top of the eighth inning, [autotag]Will Hellmers[/autotag] walked the first batter he faced and that was the end of his afternoon. When LSU needed him the most, Hellmers gave the best pitching performance of his career. He finished the game after pitching 5.2 innings and giving up zero runs on two hits, four strikeouts, and two walks. It was the longest Hellmers has pitched in his career. His previous high was in 2021 when he pitched five full innings against Southern and New Orleans as a freshman.

[autotag]Nate Ackenhausen[/autotag] entered to pitch for him and he struck out the next three hitters to send LSU to the bottom of the eighth inning with a 3-2 lead. In the top of the ninth inning, LSU’s Ace pitcher [autotag]Gage Jump[/autotag] trotted out of the bullpen to try to close out the win. The Tar Heels led off the inning with a double to put the tying run in scoring position with no outs. After getting a strikeout, an RBI single tied the game 3-3. A lineout to second and a ground ball out sent us to the bottom of the ninth with a chance for LSU to walk it off.

[autotag]Brady Neal[/autotag] struck out, [autotag]Hayden Travinski[/autotag] hit a single to put the winning run on first, Brown flew out to center, and [autotag]Paxton Kling[/autotag] struck out to send us to extra innings.

The Tigers retired the first two hitters of the inning before an error gave the Tar Heels a runner in scoring position. LSU intentionally walked the next guy. Then with two outs and a full count, Carolina scored on an RBI single giving the Tar Heels a 4-3 lead. LSU had the top of the order due up in the bottom of the inning.

[autotag]Tommy White[/autotag] flew out on the first pitch he saw, [autotag]Steven Milam[/autotag] flew out to right for out number two and it was down to Jones to save the day. Jones reached on a walk to put the tying run at first. Pearson then came up to bat and flew out to center. The Tar Heels won 4-3 and the season ended.

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Stanford runs away from LSU softball in super regional Game 3

The Tigers’ season came to an end with back-to-back shutout losses to the Cardinal after taking Game 1.

LSU softball’s season came to an end in Game 3 of the Stanford Super Regional on Sunday night.

In a game that was knotted up at no runs apiece until the fifth inning, LSU had the chance to score the first run of the game on a sacrifice fly from [autotag]McKenzie Redoutey[/autotag], but the runner was thrown out at the plate to end the inning on a fantastic defensive play.

The Cardinal added insult to injury in the bottom of the fifth inning, piling on seven runs headlined by a three-run homer as the game got away from the Tigers. After one more home run in the sixth, Stanford walked it off with an 8-0 run-rule win.

It’s a frustrating way to go out for the Tigers. After scoring 11 runs in a run-rule win in Game 1, they were shut out in Games 2 and 3 as star Stanford pitcher NiJaree Canady bounced back after she got shelled on Friday night.

Coach Beth Torina’s LSU team will move on to the 2025 season as it still seeks its first berth in the Women’s College World Series since 2017.

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LSU baseball’s magical SEC tournament run comes to an end in championship against Tennessee

LSU ran out of late game heroics in the SEC championship on Sunday.

After the last two LSU baseball games ended in madness, the Tigers became the first No. 11 seed to make the SEC championship game. LSU would face off against the No. 1 Tennessee Volunteers.

This time, the magic ran out as the Tigers lost 4-3.

[autotag]Jared Jones[/autotag] got the Tigers on the board first with a 471-foot solo shot in the bottom of the first inning to give LSU a 1-0 lead.

[autotag]Nate Ackenhausen[/autotag] got the start on the mound and he was incredible. He struck out five of the first six hitters he faced. In the third inning, he recorded the first two outs before being replaced by [autotag]Fidel Ulloa[/autotag]. Ulloa then gave up a three-run bomb and the Vols took their first lead of the ballgame.

 

In the bottom of the sixth inning, LSU had the bases loaded with two outs but [autotag]Stephen Milam[/autotag] got picked off on first to end the inning and keep the score 3-1. Tennessee added to their lead in the top of the seventh inning to make the score 4-1 Vols.

[autotag]Christian Little[/autotag] entered to pitch after Ulloa and unfortunately had to leave the game with an injury. Hopefully, he will be okay in the long run. LSU used eight different pitchers in the game as they tried to keep everyone relatively fresh for regional play.

LSU entered the bottom of the ninth inning trailing 4-1 and needing three runs to keep the game going. In the bottom of the ninth, Hayden Travinski hit a double with one out and Milam followed that with an RBI double of his own to cut the lead to 4-2. Mac Bingham then reached on a fielding error and advanced to second on the throw as Milam scored to make it 4-3 with the tying run on second.

[autotag]Ashton Larson[/autotag] and [autotag]Alex Milazzo[/autotag] then both struck out and LSU lost 4-3. LSU will now wait until Monday to find out where they are heading for regional play.

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LSU softball shut out in Game 2 of Stanford Super Regional

LSU will face Stanford in a decisive Game 3 on Sunday night.

After turning in one of its best offensive performances in Game 1 of the Stanford Super Regional on Friday night, the LSU softball team was shut out in a 3-0 loss in Game 2 on Saturday.

Now, coach Beth Torina’s team faces Stanford in a winner-takes-all Game 3 on Sunday.

It was a low-scoring game in which hits were hard to come by for the Tigers. The Cardinal also struggled offensively against [autotag]Kelley Lynch[/autotag], but they did manage a couple of runs on RBI doubles in the third and seventh innings. It also added a run on an RBI single in the seventh.

LSU, meanwhile, couldn’t do much of anything against NiJaree Canady after shelling her in Game 1 on Friday. It totaled just two hits in the loss.

The Tigers will play for their season on Sunday night at 8:30 p.m. CT.

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Steven Milam walks it off to send LSU baseball to the SEC championship game

The Tigers move on to the SEC championship game on Sunday against the winner of Tennessee vs. Vanderbilt.

After starting the SEC tournament 3-0, LSU entered the single-elimination portion of the tournament with a rematch against South Carolina.

The game started out awful for the Tigers as the Gamecocks teed off on LSU and built an 8-0 lead going into the bottom of the fourth inning.

That is when the Tigers finally got on the board. [autotag]Michael Braswell III[/autotag] got the scoring started with an RBI single, [autotag]Jared Jones[/autotag] walked with bases loaded, [autotag]Josh Pearson[/autotag] hit a two-RBI single, and [autotag]Hayden Travinski[/autotag] hit a two-RBI single to cut the lead to 8-6.

In the top of the sixth inning, South Carolina extended their lead with two more runs to make the score 10-6. LSU answered that in the bottom of the inning with a solo shot by Jones to cut the lead to 10-7.

In the bottom of the seventh inning, [autotag]Ashton Larson[/autotag] hit a sacrifice fly and Braswell III hit a solo shot to cut the lead to 10-9.

In the bottom of the ninth inning, Ethan Frey entered the game to pinch hit for the Tigers and he led it off with a double. [autotag]Alex Milazzo[/autotag] laid a bunt down and an error by the third baseman led to [autotag]Paxton Kling[/autotag] scoring from second base to tie the game at 10! Braswell then stepped up to the plate with a chance to walk it off against his old team, but this time he drew a walk.

With runners on first and second and no one out, White stepped into the box. Tommy popped out to first base for out number one of the inning. The Bear stepped into the box after Tommy. Jones flew out to deep center but both runners advanced. With two outs the winning run was 90 feet away for Pearson. He grounded out to second base and we headed to extra innings.

In the top of the 10th inning, South Carolina attempted to steal home but the runner was thrown out for out number three…or so we thought. The umpires came together and ruled there was catcher interference by [autotag]Brady Neal[/autotag] therefore the run scored from third to give the Gamecocks an 11-10 lead. LSU then applied for a protest. The protest failed, [autotag]Jay Johnson[/autotag] got tossed, and we headed to the bottom of the 10th with the score 11-10 Carolina.

Travinski drew a walk on a pitch clock violation to start the bottom of the 10th. Stevan Milam then hit a two-run walk-off homer to win the game 12-11!!

The Tigers move on to the SEC championship game on Sunday against the winner of Tennessee vs. Vanderbilt on Sunday at 2 p.m.

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LSU softball run-rules Stanford in Game 1 of super regional with electric offensive performance

The Tigers delivered one of their best offensive outings of the year against an elite pitcher.

LSU softball saved arguably its best offensive performance of the season for a good time.

Facing one of the nation’s top pitchers in Stanford’s NiJaree Canady to open super regional play on Friday night, the Tigers shelled her en route to an 11-1 run-rule win in five innings.

LSU got things going on offense early. After a single and an error that allowed a runner to reach to lead off the top of the first, [autotag]Kelley Lynch[/autotag] hit an RBI double, followed by a two-RBI single from [autotag]Raeleen Gutierrez[/autotag] as it was 3-0 with no outs yet in the game.

But that was all the Tigers managed, and after Stanford got a run back in the bottom of the inning on an RBI single, things were quiet until the fifth inning. [autotag]Ali Newland[/autotag] and [autotag]Maci Bergergon[/autotag] added to that lead with a pair of RBI homers as LSU led 7-1.

That wasn’t all the Tigers had in store. After three straight singles, Lynch completely broke the game open with a grand slam, giving the team an 11-1 lead that was at the run-rule margin.

The lead ultimately held as LSU finished things up early in the fifth. Now, coach Beth Torina’s team will go into Saturday’s Game 2 with the chance to punch its first ticket to the Women’s College World Series since 2017.

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Gage Jump leads LSU baseball past Georgia in SEC tournament opener

The Tigers kept their hot streak going with a 9-1 win over Georgia to open their run in Hoover.

LSU baseball entered the SEC tournament coming off of a sweep against Ole Miss. The Tigers kept that hot streak going with a 9-1 win over Georgia in the single elimination first round on Tuesday morning.

LSU drew first blood in the top of the first inning as [autotag]Josh Pearson[/autotag] hit a two-RBI single to make it 2-0 Tigers. He followed that up with an RBI groundout in the top of the second to make it 3-0 LSU.

Georgia finally got on the board in the bottom of the second inning to cut the lead to 3-1. The score remained that way until the top of the fifth inning when an RBI single from [autotag]Stephen Milam[/autotag] and an RBI single from [autotag]Alex Milazzo[/autotag] increased the lead to 5-1.

In the top of the seventh inning, [autotag]Michael Braswell III[/autotag] hit an RBI single to increase the lead to 6-1.

As we headed to the bottom of the eighth inning, [autotag]Gage Jump[/autotag]’s day ended as [autotag]Griffin Herring[/autotag] headed to the mound. Jump was phenomenal on short rest. He pitched seven innings and gave up only one run on four hits, seven strikeouts, and one walk.

In the top of the ninth inning, LSU tacked on three more runs as Milam hit a solo homer, Milazzo hit an RBI single, and [autotag]Tommy White[/autotag] hit an RBI single to extend the lead to 9-1.

Herring remained in the game for the bottom of the ninth inning as he closed the game out for LSU. With the win, LSU advances to play Kentucky on Wednesday at 9:30 a.m. CT in the double-elimination portion of the SEC tournament.

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