Tag: Week 1

Broncos injuries: KJ Hamler could be out a month

The Broncos have at least nine players dealing with injuries.

After wide receiver KJ Hamler sat out practice on Thursday, Broncos coach Vic Fangio said the rookie would miss “a couple weeks.” Those weeks might drag into a month.

Hamler could be out a month, according to a report from KUSA-TV’s Mike Klis. Hamstring injuries can have varying recovery times and Denver won’t want to rush Hamler back on the field before he’s fully recovered.

One month from Thursday would be Sept. 20, which puts Hamler in danger of missing the Broncos’ season opener against the Titans (Sept. 14) and possibly their road game against the Steelers (Sept. 20) as well.

With Hamler sidelined, the Broncos brought in free agent wide receiver Cody White for a tryout. There’s been no word yet on if that tryout will lead to a spot on the roster.

Elsewhere on the injury front, outside linebacker Von Miller (elbow) and running back Melvin Gordon (ribs) were held out of practice Friday but their injuries do not seem to be serious. Fangio said both players are day-to-day.

Wide receiver Juwann Winfree (groin), tight end Nick Vannett (concussion protocol) and tight end Austin Fort (knee) were also held out. Fort will be out for several weeks. Vannett might be close to returning. Winfree’s status is uncertain.

Fangio said Elijah Wilkinson “tweaked” his ankle at Friday’s practice but the right tackle says he will be OK.

“My ankle is fine,” Wilkinson said. “Just a quick roll, but everything was fine walking off. They just kind of pulled me and no reason aggravate it anymore. Everything is fine. We got tangled up a little bit, but everything is cool.”

Denver received good news on inside linebacker Todd Davis, who suffered a calf injury on Thursday. Davis has a strain, not a tear, which means a faster recovery time. Davis is still going to miss “at least a week,” according to Fangio, but that’s better than missing two months as he did in 2019.

Broncos rookie tight end Albert Okwuegbunam has some kind of thumb injury but he has been able to catch passes at practice with a splint.

“You can’t even tell [he’s wearing it] so that’s always good to see that he’s not taking the easy way out with a crutch there,” Fangio said of Okwuegbunam’s splint. “Overall, we’ve been pleased with him.”

Denver’s players will get a much-needed rest day on Saturday before returning to the UCHealth Training Center for Day 8 on Sunday.

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Nick Saban speaks about return to practice, preparing for Week 1

Alabama football HC Nick Saban joined the Dan Patrick Show to discuss the team’s return to practice and getting ready for their Week 1 game.

Alabama football head coach Nick Saban joined the Dan Patrick Show today to discus a variety of topics, including his mindset as the team returns to the practice field I preparation for the Crimson Tide’s Week 1 matchup on the road against Missouri on Sept. 26.

Dan Patrick asks Saban about getting ready for the 2020 season, which will be unlike any other in years prior. The ten-game season will have games only played within the SEC. The schedule was recently released via the SEC Network.

While it may be difficult to make up for lost time due to a summer that had players, coaches and facilities on lockdown due to the ongoing coronavirus pandemic, he’s confident he can get his players back up to speed.

“Well, I think that the mindset with the players for a long time has been that they’re practicing, they’re trying to get prepared for a season with a lot of unknowns, not knowing exactly what was going to happen,” said Saban. “You almost felt like you were sacrificing your time for the season. But I think now everybody is really looked at a little different, you have a schedule, you have a first game. Now we are back to investing our time into trying to create value for our team, for the individuals on our team, to create value for themselves and get ready to play football. And I think that’s the only way that we can look at it, and really almost have to stop thinking about ‘well this might happen, that might happen,’ those things may or may not happen, no one really knows, but at least we have a defined challenge now that we can look forward to. That’s the mindset that I’m really trying to get our players to take, because the uncertainty that we’ve had ever since March has created a little different mindset for everyone in terms of, ‘yeah, we’re doing all this work, but what’s it leading up to?’ and now at least we have direction. So, our organization is trying to get the mindset that we utilize everything that we can do everyday, we’re actually prating now to try to take advantage of creating value and investing in our future.”

Saban and Patrick also shared a couple laughs to conclude the interview.

The 68-year old head coach even revealed that he had to finally create an email account after his wife, Ms. Terry, got tired of receiving all of his emails, especially after a mass influx when quarantine began.

Finally, Patrick gave Saban the opportunity to comment on an interview former Alabama running back Josh Jacobs had done on the same show that revealed Saban was a big fan of ‘Deez nuts’ jokes.

The six-time National Championship winning head coach laughed it off and says he likes to have fun with his players, especially in recent seasons where he’s had some with strong personalities.

You can watch the full interview here.

Roll Tide Wire will keep you updated on Nick Saban and the Crimson Tide as the 2020 college football season approaches.

Alabama opens up as favorite for Week 1 matchup vs. Missouri

Alabama will take on Missouri for Week 1 of the 2020 conference-only season. They open up as a 19.5 point favorite over the Tigers.

Alabama will open up the 2020 season with a road game in Columbus, Missouri to face the Missouri Tigers. This game is one of two added SEC East opponents for the shortened, conference-only season.

The Week 1 matchups were announced on the Paul Finebaum Show.

Brett McMurphy of Stadium.com reports via Twitter that Alabama opens up as a 19.5 point favorite over Missouri.

The two teams have faced each other a total of six times, the Crimson Tide has four wins, the Tigers have the other two. No ties between the two programs.

Missouri’s last win over Alabama came in the 1975 season, they won with a final score of 20-7.

McMurphy also reported the opening lines for all the other SEC matchups taking place during Week 1.

The lines were created by Collin Wilson of The Action Network.

They are subject to change, and the season, as a whole, is subject to various outside factors that can affect the season.

Roll Tide Wire will keep you updated on Alabama football as Nick Saban and the team continue to work toward the opening game against Missouri on Sept. 26.

You can see the full list of opening lines below.

ESPN announces commentary crew for Broncos-Titans game

Steve Levy, Brian Griese and Louis Riddick will call the Broncos-Titans game in Week 1.

ESPN announced Monday that Steve Levy (play-by-play), Brian Griese (analyst) and Louis Riddick (analyst) will serve as the network’s top commentary crew for Monday Night Football this season. Lisa Salters will return as a sideline reporter and John Parry will continue serving as an officiating analyst.

Levy, Griese and Riddick will call the Denver Broncos’ season opener against the Tennessee Titans on Sept. 14 (8:10 p.m. MT). Chris Fowler and Kirk Herbstreit, ESPN’s top college football commentators, will serve as the network’s secondary crew for MNF this fall.

Fowler and Herbstreit will call the Pittsburgh Steelers-New York Giants game (5:15 p.m. MT) before the Denver-Tennessee clash in Week 1.

Levy, Griese and Riddick also covered the Broncos’ season opener last year when Denver faced the Oakland (now Las Vegas) Raiders on ESPN. The Broncos lost that contest 24-16 on the road.

Denver will be looking to start the season on a better note this year. The Broncos are considered 1.5-point betting favorites against the Titans.

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Who will call the Broncos-Titans game on ESPN in Week 1?

Chris Fowler and Kirk Herbstreit are not expected to call the Broncos-Titans game on ESPN in Week 1.

ESPN’s Monday Night Football commentary crews apparently haven’t been set just yet.

Because of the uncertainty surrounding college football, Chris Fowler and Kirk Herbstreit — ESPN’s top NCAA duo — could be on the call for several NFL games this fall, especially if games are played on Saturdays.

Fowler and Herbstreit were originally expected to call the Broncos-Titans game in Week 1 but they are now expected to call the first MNF game between the Giants and Steelers, according to the New York Post‘s Andrew Marchand.

That would leave Steve Levy, Brian Griese and Louis Riddick to call the Denver-Tennessee game, ESPN’s second game in a Week 1 doubleheader. Levy and Griese have called Broncos games before — Riddick has mostly served as a studio analyst for ESPN but does have experience commentating on college games.

Griese was selected by the Broncos in the third round of the 1998 NFL draft out of Michigan. He spent five seasons in Denver and earned a Pro Bowl nod after totaling 2,688 passing yards and 19 touchdowns against four interceptions in 2000. Griese has been with ESPN since 2009.

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ESPN sets ‘Monday Night Football’ crew for Broncos’ season opener

ESPN has set two commentary crews for ‘Monday Night Football’ this season.

ESPN will have a new commentary trio for Monday Night Football this fall.

The Disney-owned network will have Steve Levy serve as a play-by-play announcer with former NFL players Louis Riddick and Brian Griese providing color commentary, according to USA TODAY’s Chris Bumbaca.

Levy has been with ESPN for 27 years. Riddick has been with the network since 2013 and Griese has been with ESPN since 2009.

Griese was selected by the Broncos in the third round of the 1998 NFL draft out of Michigan. He spent five seasons in Denver and earned a Pro Bowl nod after totaling 2,688 passing yards and 19 touchdowns against four interceptions in 2000.

Levy, Riddick and Griese will serve as ESPN’s top commentary crew so they won’t call the Broncos’ season opener against the Titans in Week 1. Denver will be playing the second game in a double-header and the showdown against Tennessee will have a separate broadcast crew.

Chris Fowler and Kirk Herbstreit, who call the top college football games for ESPN, will serve as the secondary MNF crew this season. Fowler and Herbstreit will call the Broncos-Titans game at 8:10 p.m. MT on Sept. 14.

Before Denver’s season opener, the Steelers-Giants clash will air at 5:15 p.m. MT on ESPN. Levy, Riddick and Griese will call the first game.

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Cameron Jordan talks trash to Tom Brady, but can the Saints back it up?

New Orleans Saints defensive end Cameron Jordan trolled Tampa Bay Buccaneers quarterback Tom Brady, creating fresh bulletin board material.

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Few NFL players enjoy chopping it up with the media more than Cameron Jordan. The New Orleans Saints defensive end appeared on “Good Morning Football” this week on NFL Network to preview the 2020 season and lay out his expectations, starting with a Week 1 kickoff against Tom Brady and the Tampa Bay Buccaneers.

“They’ve got the second-greatest quarterback of all-time, right behind Drew Brees, and now we’ve got a head-to-head two times a year,” Jordan said, via NFL.com. “We’ve got our work cut out for us and then they have an addition, you bring in Rob Gronkowski and LeSean McCoy, you already had two 1,000-yard receivers in (Chris) Godwin and Mike Evans.

“This is a team that’s fighting for second place.”

That’s bold talk, which isn’t new for Jordan (who famously shipped bottles from Jordan Winery to Cam Newton after his Saints swept Newton’s Carolina Panthers). But will the Saints defense show up in Week 1?

The black and gold have been notoriously slow starters in recent years. Despite winning 13 games in each of the last two season, they stumbled out of the gate in both season-openers: in 2019, the Saints averaged 333.1 total yards allowed per game (11th-best in the NFL), but opened the year by allowing Deshaun Watson and the Houston Texans to drop 414 yards of offense on their heads, scoring 28 points in a game that came down to a last-second Wil Lutz field goal for the win.

A year earlier, the Saints allowed 349.1 yards from scrimmage per game (ranking 14th league-wide) but were run off the field by the Tampa Bay Buccaneers; Ryan Fitzpatrick shredded them to the tune of 529 total yards, winning 48-40 in a game that was more lopsided than that score suggests. This kind of goes without saying, but just to be clear: Brady is a better quarterback than Fitzpatrick.

Sure, the Saints rebounded in both cases. But it’s an ugly pattern, and they can’t afford another start like what we’ve seen before. Jordan and the Saints must hit the ground running in 2020 if they’re going to win their third consecutive division title. With new uncertainty introduced from the COVID-19 pandemic and Brady surrounded by weapons young (Evans, Godwin) and old (Gronkowski, McCoy) there’s very little margin for error.

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Jurrell Casey says Titans discarded him ‘like a piece of trash’

Jurrell Casey is not happy about how his time with the Titans came to an end.

During a recent interview on Jason and Devin McCourty’s “Double Coverage” podcast, defensive lineman Jurrell Casey spoke about the Titans trading him to the Broncos for a mere seventh-round draft pick to get out of his contract.

“The part that is so crazy is that you give so much to them. Especially when you come up on free agency and have opportunities to go somewhere else. Especially the way it was going when we were there, 2-14, 3-13,” Casey said, via Titans Wire. “Those were some rough times. When you’re a loyal guy and you feel like things are going in the right direction and you’re that centerpiece, you got no choice but to fight it through. My mindset was to stick it out and things would get better.”

Casey remained loyal to Tennessee but the team did not remain loyal to him.

“For us to get to that point to get better and to be a main focus of that and then you just throw me away to the trash like I wasn’t a main block of that. … Coming off an injury the year before and playing the whole season for y’all, no complaints. I did everything you wanted me to do and you throw me like a piece of trash. At the end of the day, none of these businesses are loyal.”

The Broncos will host the Titans in Week 1 this season and it’s safe to assume that Casey will have something to prove going up against his former team. Denver is considered a 1.5-point home favorite.

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Colin Cowherd: “It’s time to play Tua”

Colin Cowherd argues that former Alabama star QB Tu Tagovailoa should start Week 1 for the Miami Dolphins in the 2020 season.

Colin Cowherd, host of Fox Sports’ “The Herd,” made the argument during his show on Wednesday that former Alabama quarterback Tua Tagovailoa should be the starting quarterback for the Miami Dolphins on Week 1 of the 2020 NFL season.

Tagovailoa was drafted by Miami with the No. 5 overall selection in the draft. However, the high draftee has been expected to sit on the bench for his rookie season due to health concerns.

Essentially taking a redshirt season in the NFL, Tagovailoa could use that time to learn the playbook, build relationships with his new teammates and condition for the 2021 season.

There has been a growing suspicion that the Dolphins may look to utilize Tagovailoa in 2019, despite veteran Ryan Fitzpatrick being the assumed starter for 2020.

“I think it’s time to play Tua,” says Cowherd.

He believes the NFL’s adoption of collegiate schemes may benefit to the rookie’s success in year No. 1. Whereas he has been apprehensive about teams starting their rookie quarterbacks in years past.

Cowherd also praises the cheaper contracts young quarterbacks are given to help aid in surrounding them with bigger stars and elite talent.

“These kids have come in with so many reps, with such good training, with so much development,” says Cowherd. “Ten, eleven games in, if you don’t see it, you have got the wrong guy.”

The idea that Tua may not be the guy for Miami based on the initial ten games may be a stretch, especially seeing that the Dolphins are still in the later stages of the rebuilding process.

You can see the full clip below.

Roll Tide Wire will keep you updated on Tua Tagovailoa and his journey through his rookie season with the Miami Dolphins!

Carlos Hyde’s rehab is on track, expects to be healthy for Week 1

Seattle Seahawks running back Carlos Hyde played through a shoulder injury last year, but he expects to be healthy for Week 1 in 2020.

The Seattle Seahawks have dealt with their fair share of injuries in the running back room in the last year. While Chris Carson (hip) is expected to be a full-go when training camp begins, the same cannot be said for Rashaad Penny (knee), who looks in danger of beginning the season on the PUP list.

That lack of depth showed up in a big way toward the end of last season, and is a big reason the team went ahead and signed veteran Carlos Hyde to an incentive-laden, one-year deal this offseason.

Hyde is coming off a very strong year in Houston, where he ran for a career-high 1,070 yards with the Texans. Most of those yards came while Hyde was nursing a torn labrum, one that he eventually had surgery on this offseason.

Hyde is rehabbing in Houston and told Seattle media members on Monday that rehab is going well, and he expects to be fully healthy for the start of the 2020 season.

“(COVID-19) hasn’t really stopped my rehab at all,” Hyde said. “I think I’m on time to participate when we get to (training) camp and everything, and by Week 1 I’m pretty sure I’ll be ready to go. I feel good. I feel like my shoulder has gotten a lot stronger than what it was feeling like before I got surgery. Things are definitely going in the right direction.”

Hyde suffered the injury in Week 2 of the 2019 season, but instead of missing any games he wrapped the shoulder up before the game and told himself if he, “ran hard enough, then nobody could hurt my shoulder.”

Hyde expects to compete for the No. 2 running back role, a job he will likely have if Penny is forced to miss time in 2020.

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