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#pounditThursday, March 28, 2024

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Marvin Lewis interviews for Texans head coach job

Marvin Lewis

Marvin Lewis has been mentioned as a possible head coach candidate in the NFL, and it sounds like he has one firmly interested suitor.

Lewis interviewed on Wednesday for the vacant Houston Texans head coaching position. NFL Media’s Ian Rapoport affirms that in addition to the Texans, Lewis will also draw interest from other NFL teams, though there’s nothing else specific on the table right now.

Lewis is currently an assistant under Herm Edwards at Arizona State. Prior to that, he spent 16 seasons as head coach of the Cincinnati Bengals, whom he led to seven playoff appearances. However, the Bengals never won a playoff game under Lewis.

The 62-year-old has an excellent reputation in the NFL, which is why he’s going to end up on several teams’ lists of candidates. It sounds like he has a very good chance of landing an NFL job for 2021, and perhaps that could be in Houston.

Kirk Herbstreit’s son Zak announces he will play at Ohio State

Kirk Herbstreit

Kirk Herbstreit’s son Zak is following in his father’s footsteps by attending Ohio State.

Zak, a tight end, announced that he will commit to Ohio State as a preferred walk-on, making him the third generation of Herbstreits to play for the Buckeyes. Kirk played quarterback for the Buckeyes.

Kirk Herbstreit congratulated his son on Twitter after he shared the news.

Zak played high school football at Montgomery Bell Academy in Nashville, Tennessee. He is an unranked recruit.

Zak will be the third Herbstreit son to play college football at a high level program, albeit the first to do so at Ohio State. Herbstreit’s twin sons, Tye and Jake, both received preferred walk-on status at another major power instead.

LaMelo Ball drawing rave reviews ahead of rookie season

LaMelo Ball

LaMelo Ball is hoping to make a significant impact in his rookie season with the Charlotte Hornets, and it sounds like the team is expecting him to do just that based on what he has shown in training camp.

In advance of Charlotte’s season opener against the Cleveland Cavaliers on Wednesday night, a Hornets source told ESPN’s Jordan Schultz that he has been blown away by Ball’s court awareness. The source also raved about the way the 19-year-old has carried himself.

The “baggage” that was referred to probably has more to do with LaMelo’s father LaVar, who is extremely outspoken and fancies himself a reality TV star. The elder Ball recently unloaded on the Detroit Pistons for releasing his other son LiAngelo.

LaMelo is a raw prospect, which was to be expected considering he is just 19 and played overseas before he was drafted. His shooting was erratic during the preseason, but teammates and head coach James Borrego have gushed about Ball’s playmaking ability.

While there will be some growing pains with Ball, the Hornets clearly think he can be special. One of Ball’s veteran teammates recently roasted him over his age, but LaMelo is going to be given plenty of opportunities to show what he can do as a rookie.

Kyrie Irving has encouraging take on Nets’ teamwork

Kyrie Irving

Kyrie Irving is striking a mature tone about his role on the Brooklyn Nets as their much-anticipated 2020-21 season gets underway.

Irving said after Tuesday’s season-opening win over Golden State that he had to learn not to play “hero basketball,” but now understands that achieving team success goes hand-in-hand with personal success.

“It’s been a long journey to get here and to be able to master this craft and to learn that it’s not just about hero basketball, it’s about how great the team is,” Irving said, via Ian Begley of SNY. “I think I got caught up in that in my career a few times in just trying to play hero basketball. Where the team success is really going to dictate how great you are as an individual and how great you play your role. Being here in this present moment, I’m enjoying that and I’m embracing that.”

Irving added that his priorities have shifted from scoring the most points and earning individual accolades, which he admitted he prioritized earlier in his career.

“As a young player, you think that scoring a bunch of points, doing a bunch of things, getting individual accolades is great. And I definitely was going after those things,” Irving said. “Now I really don’t care for any of those individual accolades or goals. It really doesn’t bother me. I know I’m validated culturally and that’s all that matters. I don’t need an All-NBA. I don’t need a MVP, I just want a championship with a great team that I can look back on history and say we did it our way and we had fun doing it.”

This is a hugely encouraging perspective if you’re a Nets fan. Irving buying into a team mentality and being willing to sacrifice statistically for the betterment of his teammates is precisely what you’d want out of a leader. That’s especially true given this wasn’t necessarily the case in his most recent stop. The key will be maintaining this mentality. If Irving can do that, the Nets are in great shape.

Dwayne Haskins shares some details of maskless event he attended

Dwayne Haskins

Dwayne Haskins was punished by Washington after he attended a party on Sunday night, but the quarterback wants to clarify that he was not at a strip club.

Washington head coach Ron Rivera announced on Wednesday that the team has fined Haskins over the incident. Haskins was also reportedly stripped of his captainship. The former Ohio State star addressed the media after Rivera’s announcement and once again apologized for his actions. Haskins said he was at a private birthday party for his girlfriend but acknowledged that he violated the NFL’s COVID-19 protocols.

Haskins was not scheduled to speak with the media on Wednesday, but he supposedly called Washington’s PR department and “demanded” they set it up. He apologized with a statement on Twitter Tuesday, but Haskins said he did not feel that was enough.

You have to respect that Haskins wanted to hold himself accountable, but the situation showed a total lack of focus and concern for his teammates. Washington can clinch the NFC East title with a win over the Carolina Panthers on Sunday, and Haskins is their only option at quarterback because of injuries.

This also isn’t the first time Haskins has been fined for a coronavirus-related violation this season. The timing could not have been worse.

Details of Jedd Fisch’s Arizona contract revealed

Arizona logo

Arizona has revealed the details on new head coach Jedd Fisch’s contract.

The former New England Patriots quarterback coach will start with a base salary of $1.8 million in 2021, according to Jason Scheer of 247Sports. With additional agreements with Nike, that base salary will rise to $2.6 million to start with. Fisch’s salary will ultimately rise to $3.1 million by the fifth year of his deal.

Fisch will get a $3.7 million salary pool for assistant coaches. His buyout starts at $6 million if he leaves the school voluntarily during or after year one, but that eventually falls to a miniscule $1 million by year 5.

Fisch was announced as the school’s new head coach earlier Wednesday. He’ll be making less than the $3.1 million annual salary Kevin Sumlin was on, and is pretty cheap as far as Power 5 coaches go. Maybe that was a factor in his hiring.

Dwayne Haskins loses captainship over strip club incident

Dwayne Haskins

Dwayne Haskins will be active for Sunday’s game against the Carolina Panthers if Alex Smith is forced to sit again with an injury, but the Washington quarterback has faced disciplinary action for his strip club incident.

Haskins spent time at a strip club without a mask on following his first start in over two months on Sunday. According to Ian Rapoport of NFL Media, Washington head coach Ron Rivera has stripped him of his captainship as punishment. Haskins was voted a captain by his teammates during the summer.

Rivera told reporters on Wednesday that Haskins has been fined. The team felt a fine was appropriate after examining the way similar situations have been handled around the league this year. Rapoport says the fine was $40,000, which is more than any player has been fined for a COVID-related violation.

Haskins issued a statement on social media Tuesday apologizing after photos and videos showed him partying at a strip club. The timing of the decision was particularly poor, as a win over the Carolina Panthers on Sunday would clinch the NFC East for Washington. Smith is nursing a calf injury and Kyle Allen is out for the year after dislocating his ankle.

To make matters worse, Haskins was already fined this season for a different violation of COVID-19 protocols. The second-year quarterback is not exactly stating his case that he should be viewed as a franchise cornerstone.

JuJu Smith-Schuster says he will stop dancing on opponents’ logos

JuJu Smith-Schuster

JuJu Smith-Schuster has become a target of criticism over the past two weeks for disrespecting his opponents and failing to back it up, and the Pittsburgh Steelers star is finally going to stop.

Smith-Schuster told reporters on Wednesday that he will stop dancing on the opposing team’s logo at midfield “for the betterment of myself and my teammates.” He said he made the decision after realizing how many questions his teammates and coaches were being asked about it.

“For me, honestly, I was dancing when we were undefeated, I was dancing when we lost our three games. I’m not gonna change the person that I am,” Smith-Schuster said, via Brian Batko of the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette. “It’s getting to the point where my teammates are being asked this question, my coaches … I don’t want to be a distraction to anybody.”

The Steelers have lost three straight games after beginning the season 11-0. Smith-Schuster danced on Pittsburgh’s opponent’s midfield logo before each of the last two and shared the videos on his TikTok account. Buffalo Bills players said two weeks ago that they were motivated by the antics, and the same was true for Monday night’s game against the Cincinnati Bengals.

Smith-Schuster caught just three passes for 15 yards in the Steelers’ 27-17 loss to the Bengals. He was also blown up with a big hit and fumbled (video here) in the first quarter.

Smith-Schuster said after the Buffalo game that he was not going to stop dancing, but Mike Tomlin indicated on Monday that he was not happy with the antics. That is likely what led to the change of heart.

Ryan Tannehill shares honest response to Pro Bowl snub

Ryan Tannehill

Ryan Tannehill has surprisingly developed into one of the most productive quarterbacks in the NFL, but that was not enough to earn him a Pro Bowl selection. The Tennessee Titans quarterback thinks he knows why, too.

Tannehill has thrown for 3,482 yards and 31 touchdowns in 2020, but was still excluded from the AFC Pro Bowl roster. The quarterback admitted that he was frustrated by the snub, and feels that there’s a national perception regarding his limitations that hurts him — namely the notion that he simply hands the ball to star running back Derrick Henry and gets out of the way.

“That perception is definitely out there,” Tannehill said Wednesday, via Titans reporter Paul Kuharsky.

The numbers obviously demonstrate that the perception is false. In fact, a deep dive into them shows just how good the Titans quarterback has been. The fact that he missed the Pro Bowl is ridiculous. And Tannehill is right that it’s likely based in part on the dated perception of him as a game management quarterback, when he’s been so much more than that in 2020.

Several Rockets players to miss season opener due to COVID-19 tracing

John Wall

The Houston Rockets are set to open their season on Wednesday night against the Oklahoma City Thunder, but they are expected to be without several key players.

John Wall, DeMarcus Cousins and possibly some other Rockets players will not play against OKC due to COVID-19 contact tracing, Shams Charania of The Athletic reports. While James Harden’s status is not yet clear, many are wondering if he is the root of the problem.

ESPN’s Adrian Wojnarowski reports that the issue is a Rockets player tested positive for the coronavirus. That player is not Wall, but Wall was among several players who were sent home after being deemed close contacts. The player is being tested again to confirm the initial positive COVID-19 result.

Harden had COVID-19 over the summer, which is why he was late to the Orlando bubble.

Harden was captured on video this week partying at what was initially believed to be a strip club. The video was reportedly from Monday night. Harden addressed the incident on his Instagram story Wednesday, saying he was not at a strip club but did attend an event for a friend who was celebrating a job promotion.

Strip club or not, Harden may have violated the NBA’s COVID-19 protocols, which prohibit players from going to bars, lounges, clubs or social events with more than 15 people. He also was not wearing a mask.

This obviously is not the start to the 2020-21 season the Rockets were hoping for. They have had to deal with the Harden drama for weeks now, and it sounds like things are getting tense between the former MVP and his teammates. Houston’s season may be doomed from the start.