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#pounditThursday, March 28, 2024

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Dan Bailey had one of the worst kicking days in NFL history in Week 14

Minnesota Vikings logo

Everybody has a bad day sometimes, but calling Dan Bailey’s efforts in Week 14 bad would be an understatement.

The Minnesota Vikings kicker had one of the worst kicking days in memory Sunday, and the statistics back that up. Bailey missed all three of his field goal attempts, from 36, 54, and 46 yards. To top things off, he was also wide left on his only extra point attempt of the day, meaning he missed all four of his kicks in a 26-14 loss.

If Bailey’s performance sounds historically bad, that’s because it was. Via ESPN’s Courtney Cronin, the last player to miss at least three field goals and an extra point was Washington’s John Aveni all the way back in 1961.

Kicking problems have long been an issue for the Vikings. Bailey seemed to have solved them last year, but after today, the veteran has missed six of his 18 field goal tries on the season. That’s just not good enough.

Report: Hugh Freeze among top candidates for Auburn job

Hugh Freeze

The Auburn Tigers have a high-profile coaching vacancy to fill. Unsurprisingly, it sounds like they’re looking at some high-profile names to fill it.

ESPN’s Adam Rittenberg believes that Liberty coach Hugh Freeze will be the central figure in Auburn’s search. The former Ole Miss coach has been a big success with the Flames, having gone 9-1 this season. He also has SEC experience with the Rebels, including a 10-3 season in 2015.

The Auburn search is also likely to involve some other big names. According to Pete Thamel of Yahoo Sports, Oregon coach Mario Cristobal, former Texans coach Bill O’Brien, Oklahoma State coach Mike Gundy, and ex-Falcons coach Dan Quinn are “names to watch,” among others.

Auburn is a huge job in a big conference, and after finally firing Gus Malzahn after years of rumors, it seems likely that the school will want a big name if it can get one. Freeze, the hottest name in college coaching circles right now, would definitely make sense.

Andy Dalton, wife Jordan have great exchange after TD pass

Andy Dalton wife

Andy Dalton got an opportunity on Sunday to return to Cincinnati as a starting quarterback for the visiting team, and the veteran made the most of it. It clearly meant a lot to his family, and the late-game exchange he had with his wife was evidence of that.

Dalton threw for 185 yards and two touchdowns as the Dallas Cowboys cruised to a 30-7 victory over his former team. One of those touchdowns came on 4th-and-1 late in the fourth quarter to seal the win. After Dalton completed the pass to Tony Pollard, he and his wife Jordan exchanged “I love you” hand gestures.

Jordan has always been publicly supportive of Andy. We saw that with one of her social media posts after Dalton first signed with the Cowboys during the offseason.

While Dalton’s start on Sunday came as a result of Dak Prescott’s season-ending injury, it had to have felt good to get a win and play well against a team that gave up on him.

Josh Jacobs appears to troll fantasy owners before game

Josh Jacobs

Las Vegas running back Josh Jacobs sat out last week’s game because of an ankle injury, and those who follow him on social media thought he was going to miss Sunday’s game against the Indianapolis Colts as well.

Roughly an hour before kickoff, Jacobs wrote on his Instagram story that he would not be playing. He then acknowledged the fantasy football community by saying there are “a lot of hot fantasy owners.”

Either Jacobs was somehow uncertain of his own status, or he was simply trolling fantasy players. The former first-round pick was on the field running around during pregame warmups, and all indications were that he was a full-go to face the Colts.

Week 14 is typically the first week of the fantasy playoffs, so Jacobs may have simply been having some fun. The second-year back has rushed for nearly 800 yards and nine touchdowns this season, and you can watch this play if you want to see how dominant he has been. Fantasy owners certainly need him for the playoffs.

Gus Malzahn fired by Auburn

Gus Malzahn

Gus Malzahn has seemingly been on the hot seat for years at Auburn, and the head coach was fired on Sunday amid a 6-4 season.

Auburn announced on Sunday that Malzahn has been fired. Defensive coordinator Kevin Steele has been named the team’s interim head coach.

Malzahn received a massive 7-year extension from Auburn in 2017 after a huge win over Alabama. The school will now owe him more than $20 million as part of his buyout for being fired without cause, according to ESPN’s Field Yates.

Malzahn was hired as the head coach of the Tigers in 2013. He led the team to an SEC title and appearance in the BCS National Championship Game in his first year, where they lost to Jameis Winston-led Florida State. Malzahn was the offensive coordinator and quarterbacks coach at Auburn in 2010 when Cam Newton led the team to a national title.

There have been rumblings for quite some time that Auburn was thinking about potential replacements for Malzahn. The 55-year-old finishes with a record of 68-35 at Auburn. The Tigers were 2-5 in bowl games under Malzahn.

NFL nixed Tom Brady, Bruce Arians bonding plans

Tom Brady Bucs

There have been some rumblings about tension between Tom Brady and Bruce Arians because of the way the Tampa Bay Buccaneers coach has publicly criticized his quarterback. Things appear to be fine between the two, however, and they were even planning to play a lot of golf together during their recent bye week — until the NFL nixed the idea.

Ian Rapoport of NFL Media said Sunday that Arians and Brady had planned to play two or three rounds of golf at Tampa’s Old Memorial Golf Club during the Bucs’ Week 13 bye, but the NFL would not allow it. Gathering outside the team facility is a violation of the NFL’s COVID-19 protocols.

If you remember, Brady and his Bucs teammates became a topic of conversation before the season when they went against the advice of the NFL Players Association and held unofficial team workouts on their own.

Brady has had an up-and-down first season with Tampa Bay. Arians has pointed the finger at the 43-year-old multiple times after losses, though he recently talked up the six-time Super Bowl champion.

Tom Brady and Rob Gronkowski have teamed up yet again! Treat yourself or a friend with this great Tampa Fiesta shirt. You can buy it here.

Report: Steelers concerned about Ben Roethlisberger’s knee injury

Ben Roethlisberger

Ben Roethlisberger’s outstanding play this season is one of the main reasons the Pittsburgh Steelers are the best team in the AFC, but the veteran quarterback may be battling through some significant pain.

Roethlisberger has played through multiple knee injuries this season, and Jason La Canfora of CBS Sports reports that the one he aggravated a few weeks back has “become a source of greater concern” for the Steelers. The main reason for that is that the Steelers have been extremely pass-heavy this season, and the injury is limiting Roethlisberger’s mobility.

Roethlisberger attempted more than 50 passes in each of Pittsburgh’s last two games. They lost to Washington last week and barely defeated the COVID-depleted Baltimore Ravens the week before that. Those performances made it obvious that the Steelers need to become more balanced on offense, and Big Ben’s knee injury makes that even more imperative.

It would be a surprise if Roethlisberger missed any time, as he has played through numerous injuries during his career. However, the Steelers clearly need James Conner to step up down the stretch, as a run game is usually important during the postseason.

Roethlisberger injured both knees on an ugly play (video here) more than a month ago. His status will be worth monitoring as the playoffs draw nearer.

Photo: Jeffrey Beall/Wikimedia via cc-by-sa-3.0

AJ Brown shows respect to Julio Jones with great gesture

AJ Brown

Tennessee Titans wide receiver A.J. Brown is one of the best young wide receivers in the NFL. Julio Jones has been one of the best receivers in football for a decade now, and Brown showed on Sunday that he has great respect for his elders.

Brown showed up to TIAA Bank Field in Jacksonville for Sunday’s game against the Jaguars wearing Jones’ No. 11 Atlanta Falcons jersey. He kept the jersey on for pregame warmups.

Brown also wears No. 11 for the Titans, and he has openly said that is because of Jones.

While it’s unusual to see an NFL player wear a jersey from another player and team in warmups, Brown may have wanted to lift Jones’ spirits. The Falcons star is out for Week 14 because of a hamstring injury.

Is Mike McCarthy on the hot seat with Cowboys?

Mike McCarthy

Mike McCarthy’s first season with the Dallas Cowboys has been nearly a complete disaster, but it will not be his last.

The Cowboys aree 3-9 heading into Sunday’s game against the Cincinnati Bengals, but ESPN’s Chris Mortensen said on “Sunday NFL Countdown” that they are not considering firing their head coach. McCarthy will return in 2021 no matter what happens over the final four games of the season.

It was always unlikely that Jerry Jones would fire McCarthy after one season. The Cowboys consistently underachieved with Jason Garrett as their head coach, but he lasted nine seasons. There was talk for years that Garrett was on the hot seat before Dallas finally parted with him.

Of course, McCarthy was also dealt a tough hand in his first year on the job. Dallas’ defense has been horrendous all season, but their offense was clicking prior to Dak Prescott suffering a season-ending ankle injury.

The Cowboys are in danger of entering the NFL record books for a very embarrassing reason. That’s not what they envisioned when they hired McCarthy, but not giving him another shot would be unfair.

Here’s why Charles Barkley thinks there’s ‘something wrong’ with Kyrie Irving

Charles Barkley

Kyrie Irving made headlines this week for disparaging remarks he made toward the media, and Charles Barkley is among those who think the Brooklyn Nets star needs to get over himself.

In an appearance on 92.9 The Game in Atlanta this week, Barkley said he does not understand what Irving is trying to accomplish by lashing out at the media. He indicated that Irving has been hurt throughout his career by not having the right leadership around him.

“I wish somebody would get in his ear. I do think there is something wrong with Kyrie, I truly believe that. I’m not joking right now,” Barkley said. “I don’t understand what his objective is. Yo man they’re paying you $40 million, you gotta just talk to the press. You can answer the questions you want to, you got to show up and answers questions. I tell all these guys, ‘Man we’re the luckiest dudes in the world. We make millions of dollars just playing a stupid game and part of it is coming on radio shows, talking to the press. They got jobs to do.'”

Barkley is not alone with his opinion. Irving’s former teammate Kevin Love made similar remarks on Friday when he criticized Irving for calling the media “pawns.” Barkley added that he feels sorry for Irving and does not believe he’s a “bad kid.”

“I just think he’s never been around mature adults who told him how he was supposed to act,” the Hall of Famer said. “You know I got lucky with Dr. J and Moses, Maurice Cheeks, and Andrew Toney were like, ‘Yo man this is professional basketball, we’re pro players, you have to act like a pro.’ But see he’s got so much money now he can do whatever the hell he wants to do.”

Irving was fined by the NBA for not fulfilling his media obligations. He defended himself by issuing a statement bashing reporters.

It’s unclear how long Irving plans to go without talking to the media, but he’s calling more attention to himself by boycotting. That is probably the goal, even if Irving would never admit it.