Sports blog information from USA TODAY.
“The confidence Texas built in the Bama game is real. I think they can take that and turn it into something special.”
Is this the year the Longhorns finally turn the corner? Former Texas running back Ricky Williams thinks so. Continue reading “Former RB Ricky Williams shares expectations for Texas in 2023”
Few teams are as aggressive in the NFL draft as the Saints under Mickey Loomis, their general manager since 2002 — and many trades have centered on valuable first-round picks:
Few teams are as aggressive in the NFL draft as the New Orleans Saints have been under Mickey Loomis, who has held the post at general manager since 2002 — and many of their trades have centered on valuable first-round picks.
With the 2023 draft rapidly approaching, it’s worth looking back on what Loomis and the Saints have done in the first round to get an idea of their tendencies and typical strategies on draft day. Here’s a quick recap of 11 trades the Saints have made since 2000 involving first rounders:
Bijan “El Rayo” Robinson tells you why Texas is RBU.
The reigning king of Austin, Texas has spoken. Texas is Running Back University. Continue reading “Texas RB Bijan Robinson gives the best pitch for Texas as RBU”
Heisman snubs, the NFL’s worst trades ever, revenge games, and Brock Purdy! Doug Farrar and Luke Easterling have it all on this week’s “4-Down Territory.”
Every week in “4-Down Territory,” Touchdown Wire’s Doug Farrar and Luke Easterling of Bucs Wire and Draft Wire go over the things you need to know about, and the things you need to watch, in the NFL right now. With Week 13 of the 2022 NFL season in the books, and the Heisman Trophy finalists announced, there was a lot to cover!
This week, Doug and Luke discuss:
You can watch this week’s episode of “4-Down Territory” right here:
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The 49ers ended the Saints’ streak of 332 games played without a shutout loss on Sunday. It had been the longest active streak in the NFL:
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It’s been a long, long time since the New Orleans Saints were last shut out. They put points on the board in 332 consecutive games — which had been the longest active streak in the NFL. But the San Francisco 49ers snapped that streak on Sunday, and now the Saints are left to pick up the pieces. Annoyingly, that isn’t even an NFL record. The 49ers themselves set it with 420 games played without a shutout.
So what happened in New Orleans’ last shutout? To give you some context, it happened on Jan. 6, 2002 at the end of the 2001 regular season. Jim Haslett coached the team, and Aaron Brooks was the Saints quarterback at the time, with Drew Brees closing out his rookie year with the Chargers (who played in San Diego at the time). At the time, this was a game between two rivals in the old NFC West; the NFC South would be founded a year later. Sean Payton was finishing out his second season as the New York Giants offensive coordinator and Dennis Allen was busy working the secondary at Tulsa, his first full-time coaching job. It capped a four-game losing streak that put the Saints at 7-9, eliminating them from the playoffs.
And of course it was the same 49ers team who beat them in a 38-nothing shutout at home. Terrell Owens started the game with two long touchdown catches from Jeff Garcia (of 56 and 60 yards, both in the first quarter) and things didn’t get much easier from there. The Niners racked up 407 yards of offense while limiting New Orleans to just 126 yards, intercepting Brooks four times and jarring loose four fumbles (three of them from Ricky Williams). San Francisco improved to 12-4 on the year but got knocked out of the playoffs a week later.
Things might be headed in a similar direction all these years later. The Saints are long shots of reaching the playoffs, while the 49ers look like a possible Super Bowl contender. There are still games left to play and decisions to make, but that’s where we are. History doesn’t always repeat itself — but it often rhymes.
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Keep your eyes on No. 5 against Baylor.
It is quite possible that Friday’s matchup with Baylor could be the last time we see [autotag]Bijan Robinson[/autotag] put on the Burnt Orange in a regular season game. The five-star signee in the 2020 recruiting class has been as advertised for the Texas Longhorns.
This season Robinson is the No. 6 rusher in FBS with 1,401 yards. His yards per rush average of 6.12 ranks No. 18 among rushers with at least 100 carries. Bijan’s 16 rushing touchdowns put him No. 5 this season behind four players tied at 18.
It isn’t just the national rankings this season either, Robinson has been among the best in Texas Longhorns history. Not too shabby considering he has worn the same jersey as [autotag]Ricky Williams[/autotag], [autotag]Earl Campbell[/autotag], [autotag]Cedric Benson[/autotag], [autotag]Jamaal Charles[/autotag], and [autotag]Eric Metcalf[/autotag].
With just two games remaining, it could be three depending on how the final week of Big 12 games play out, Robinson could finish top five in several categories. He won’t win a Heisman like Williams or Campbell, but he could take home the Doak Walker Award given to the nation’s top running back. Time will tell if he joins Williams, Cedric Benson, and D’Onta Foreman as Texas Longhorns who won the award.
Christian McCaffrey joins the list of star RBs to be traded in NFL history
“He’s living his true self.”
Before the start of the NFL season we learned that Green Bay Packers QB Aaron Rodgers tried something different to get ready for the 2020 season – ayahuasca, which is a plant-based psychedelic tea.
Rodgers, the reigning league MVP, recently told Peter King he went back to Peru before the start of this season to experience ayahuasca again and that it has helped him in a bunch of different ways.
“Man, it’s hard to answer that question with a short answer. But a lot of different ways. The most important way was really that self-love part. I think it’s unlocked a lot of my heart. Being able to fully give my heart to my teammates, my loved ones, relationships because I can fully embrace unconditionally myself. Just didn’t do that for a long time. I was very self-critical. When you have so much judgment on yourself it’s easy to transfer that judgment to other people. When you figure out a better way to love yourself, I think you can love people better because you’re not casting the same judgment you cast on yourself on other people. I’m really thankful for that.”
Last week I was able to talk to former NFL running back Ricky Williams about Rodgers sharing that info and Williams explained why he was so happy to hear it.
Here’s our conversation about that from USA Today Sports’ weekly sports show, Sports Seriously:
Ricky Williams says when Aaron Rodgers speaks candidly about his Ayahuasca usage, he's "living his true self". pic.twitter.com/9bPZvTz5fA
— USA TODAY Sports (@usatodaysports) October 17, 2022
Here’s more from my chat with Ricky:
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Only Wisconsin can boast as many Doak Walker winners as Texas.
Bijan Robinson and Roschon Johnson are squarely in the spotlight heading into the 2022 season. The two running backs were named to the preseason Doak Walker Watch List issued by the PwC SMU Athletic Forum.
The Doak Walker award is given to the best running back in the nation. Doak Walker was a standard-setter at SMU at the halfback position.
Famously, Ricky Williams wore No. 37 in the Cotton Bowl against Oklahoma to honor the running back with whom he would befriend before Walker’s passing. Williams, now known as Errick Miron, remarked, “I thought it would be neat to wear 37 in the house that Doak built,” said Williams. “I’m playing with him in my heart.”
Four Longhorns have won the prestigious award. Only Wisconsin can boast as many Doak Walker winners as Texas.
Robinson and Johnson will try to join Cedric Benson, D’Onta Foreman, and two-time winner Ricky Williams on that list.
Contact/Follow us @LonghornsWire on Twitter, and like our page on Facebook to follow ongoing coverage of Texas news, notes and opinions.
From brownies to blunts, marijuana was very much around NFL teams during Ricky Williams’ playing days.
While the conversation around cannabis usage in sports, and the country as a whole, has evolved over the past decade, former NFL running back Ricky Williams wants you to know pro football players have been blazing up for quite some time.
In an interview with Mackenzie Salmon on USA Today’s weekly show Sports Seriously, the eccentric former running back shared two stories from his career that revealed how NFL players used marijuana to deal with pain management:
I played a long time ago and I played for a long time. So things have changed a lot when I first got into the league.
My rookie year, a Hall of Fame player on the team, he’s in the Hall of Fame now, invited me over to his house and he gave me the speech about how to take care of yourself in the NFL. And he pulled out some cannabis, crushed it up, split a blunt, opened it up, put the cannabis in there, took a Vicodin, crushed it up, sprinkled the Vico in there, rolled up the blunt and passed it to me. That was a vet, teaching me as a rookie, how to take care of myself in the NFL.
Then there was this at the end of his career:
My last year in the NFL, I was playing for the Ravens. And one point we were in the playoffs and I was leaving the facility and there were guys coming in with a plate full of ‘brownies.’ They [were] going to go watch film, so yeah…
And now, because it’s more legal, it’s to the point, why wouldn’t you [use it] if you’re in the NFL?
For reference, Williams’ rookie year was in 1999 with the New Orleans Saints and his last year in the league was in 2011 with the Baltimore Ravens. It wasn’t until the new CBA was reached in 2020 when the NFL eased their policies on players’ cannabis usage. Clearly players were not waiting for the new CBA to get their CBD (and THC) fix in the past.
Williams now has his own brand of cannabis called ‘Highsman’ and continues to be an advocate for cannabis use for pain management in sports. He believes it’s only a matter of time until NFL teams are using marijuana in an official capacity:
“I think in the future, teams are gonna be supplying cannabis for the players because they’ve realized it’s a healthy alternative [to] pharmaceuticals.”
You can watch the full Sports Seriously interview here:
