Sean Payton explained what was going through his mind when he got petty on Twitter last weekend.
Payton was a guest on “The Rich Eisen Show” on Wednesday and was asked about trolling Roddy White after the New Orleans Saints beat the Atlanta Falcons 24-9.
White, a former Falcons wide receiver, predicted Atlanta would smash New Orleans because the Saints were playing Taysom Hill at quarterback.
After the Saints won convincingly, Payton retweeted White’s errant prediction.
“That was just one of those moments I couldn’t help myself,” Payton told Eisen.
He also explained how he came across White’s tweet.
“Four or five years ago, whenever I got Twitter, I followed him just because he was a good player in our division, so I’ve always followed him,” Payton said. “So I had just come across a couple of his tweets, and I thought I haven’t heard from him in a while.”
That’s fantastic. We are all for Payton rubbing it in after a win like that.
New Orleans is now 8-2 and has the best record in the NFC. And they’re currently playing without Drew Brees, who has multiple rib fractures.
Notre Dame coach Brian Kelly had some scores to settle after his team pulled off a huge win over North Carolina.
Kelly took aim at a USA Today writer after Notre Dame’s victory. While he didn’t name the writer, he was highly critical of quarterback Ian Book’s exclusion from a list of college football’s top ten quarterbacks. Kelly then went even further in his criticism of the writer.
The writer in question appears to be USA Today’s Paul Myerberg, who maintains a weekly ranking of the ten best quarterbacks in college football. Book is, in fact, excluded from the most recent list.
Lists are subjective, and Kelly is just defending his guy. He’s got a fiery personality and isn’t going to shy away from that.
Book went 23/33 for 279 yards and a touchdown in Friday’s win. Maybe that earned him a spot on next week’s list.
Cal’s special teams were a disaster in the team’s 24-23 loss to rival Stanford in “Big Game” on Friday.
Cal muffed a punt return and had two kicks blocked in the defeat. The first blocked kick occurred on a 32-yard field goal attempt just before halftime with the game tied at 10. That would have given Cal a 13-10 lead.
The second blocked kick was even more painful. Cal scored a touchdown in the final minute to make it 24-23. But then they had their extra point attempt blocked.
On top of the special teams errors, Cal also lost an interception due to a holding penalty, and they lost a fumble.
The victory gave Stanford its first of the season and kept Cal winless at 0-3.
Iowa coach Kirk Ferentz delivered an all-time great postgame rant Friday over Nebraska’s complaints about his sideline’s clapping.
The Cornhuskers had serious issues in the first half of Friday’s game, with center Cam Jurgens uncorking a series of bad snaps. The problem seemed fixed in the second half. After the game, Nebraska coach Scott Frost attributed Jurgens’ issues to clapping on the Iowa sideline. Video did show that at least one Iowa coach was clapping while Nebraska was lining up to snap the ball. Frost added that he had addressed the issue with referees at halftime, and there were no further issues.
Ferentz was asked about this postgame and launched into an epic rant at Nebraska’s expense.
“So maybe they need to change their cadence if it was interference of cadence. I don’t know,” Ferentz said. “I’ve never heard of that. Never heard of that. If a player was on the field doing it, I get that. But what are we talking about? The next thing you know we’re going to be treating this like golf. I was going to say tennis, but they do that at tennis. At golf, nobody is able to say anything, right?
“What are we talking about? It’s football, right? It’s football. Are they okay with how I dressed today? Should I be changing my pants, different shirt? What are we talking about?”
Ferentz has had quite the month on the postgame media front. The guy breaks out some of his best lines when he’s ornery.
There have been some questions about whether Joel Embiid and Ben Simmons will fit with new team president Daryl Morey’s vision for the Philadelphia 76ers. Some comments he made on Friday should help answer that question.
Morey participated in an “Ask Me Anything” session with members of the Sixers’ Reddit page, and was asked what he saw in Embiid and Simmons that made him want to sign on with the organization. His answer made clear that he has huge respect for their talent, and even said there is precedent for them becoming all-time greats.
“Both Ben (24) and Joel (26) are superstar players in the peak of their prime,” Morey wrote. “It is actually very rare to find examples where this is the case and it usually leads to something special. If you compare Ben and Joel to historic comparable players there is obviously no perfect comparison for either but both have a high probability to be in the top players of all time given how they have started and their age.”
It certainly doesn’t sound like either Embiid or Simmons will be going anywhere with praise like that. It’s not the first time Morey has spoken effusively about Embiid, either.
Morey and coach Doc Rivers will have to make the fit work. Simmons infamously lacks range on his jumper, while there are questions about Embiid’s commitment. Morey will ultimately bet on the talent.
Tom Brady has his opportunity on Friday to get some revenge on Charles Barkley and took it.
Barkley sliced a shot into the rocks and cactus during “The Match” on Friday. Brady razzed Barkley about the poor shot by saying it was “turrible,” which is Barkley’s way of saying “terrible.”
Yes, that shot was “turrible,” so Brady’s tweet was more than called for.
You may recall that the Tampa Bay Buccaneers quarterback participated in “The Match” in May and was roasted over his struggles.
For Friday’s event, Barkley was partnered with Phil Mickelson in the modified alternate shot format. The duo faced Steph Curry and Peyton Manning at Stone Canyon Golf Club in Oro Valley, Arizona.
Since Barkley was partnered with Mickelson, he could afford to take some chances on drives, knowing that Mickelson’s shot would count most often. Still, you don’t want to embarrass yourself that badly on the course.
At least Chuck’s golf swing looked much better than how it normally does.
The Texas Longhorns continue to be a program with decent results but championship aspirations, and that’s led to major frustrations in Austin.
Texas’ loss to Iowa State on Friday dropped them to 5-3 on the season. With two winnable games to go, a 7-3 finish remains possible, but this is a program that expects to contend for the College Football Playoff. That once again won’t be happening in 2020, and it has led to speculation about coach Tom Herman’s job status.
Quarterback Sam Ehlinger is among the most frustrated. When asked if Herman was getting the most out of the players or if coaching is the issue, Ehlinger offered up a very honest response.
“That’s the million dollar question everybody’s trying to figure out the last 10 years,” Ehlinger said, via Brian Davis of the Austin American-Statesman.
Therein lies the problem. Herman was brought in as the guy who would answer that kind of question. The fact that it’s still being asked doesn’t bode well for him.
Herman himself had a different response to questions about his future with the Longhorns.
Mike Tyson is set to face Roy Jones Jr. in a pay-per-view fight on Saturday, but there’s another man who would like a shot at Iron Mike.
Evander Holyfield and Tyson fought twice in a pair of infamous bouts during the ’90s. Holyfield won the first fight via 11th-round TKO. He won the second fight after Tyson was disqualified for biting Tyson’s ear. Holyfield says he would love a third fight with Tyson but he has a price.
“I wasn’t getting in the ring for less than $25 million,” Holyfield said on the “I Am Athlete Podcast” about talks for a third fight with Tyson.
Holyfield says it should be on Tyson to reach out if he wants to fight again.
“If they called me to fight in two days, I’d be there to fight in two days,” Holyfield told host Brandon Marshall.
Talks of a third fight between the men have been going on for over a decade. There were talks earlier this year about the two possibly fighting, but maybe Holyfield’s price stood in the way.
Holyfield last fought in 2011. The 58-year-old is 44-10-2 (1) in his career. Seven of the losses occurred after he turned 35.
Iowa State’s Matt Campbell continues to bolster his name in the coaching community with his success, and it sounds like he may be primed for an even bigger move.
Albert Breer of The MMQB suggested Friday that Campbell’s name has been coming up in NFL circles. Breer says that Campbell has “built momentum” as a potential NFL head coach for some time now, and has only helped himself in 2021 with his excellent season with the Cyclones.
Iowa State beat Texas on Friday to clinch a share of the Big 12 regular season title. They’ve also beaten Oklahoma this season. It’s Campbell’s third consecutive winning season as coach of the Cyclones.
Campbell has reportedly received NFL interest before. It sounds as if that interest may only be intensifying as his stock continues to rise.
Tom Herman had to answer a difficult question after Texas’ 23-20 loss to Iowa State on Friday.
The Longhorns took an early 10-0 lead in the game and led 20-10 in the third quarter. A questionable decision to go for it on fourth down instead of kicking a field goal late hurt the Longhorns. They ended up missing a 57-yard kick in the final seconds in attempt to tie the game.
After the game, Herman was asked whether he is still the man for the Texas job. He said that wasn’t for him to decide, but he feels great about the program’s direction.
That type of response will be met with groans from Texas fans. Herman is in his fourth season as Texas’ head coach and is 5-3 this year. While the program has definitely improved since he took over from Charlie Strong, Herman is falling short of where Texas wants to be. On top of that, he has been losing top recruits.
Those with the power at Texas will be making the decision about whether Herman continues to keep the job. The Longhorns finish their season at Kansas State and at Kansas, giving them a chance to go 7-3.
