The Arizona Cardinals changed the trajectory of their franchise by trading away running back David Johnson in 2020. Now Johnson is sharing what the most difficult part about getting traded was.
Johnson, who was sent to the Houston Texans for star receiver DeAndre Hopkins, said in an interview with Aaron Reiss of The Athletic this week that the magnitude of being traded for Hopkins made things tough on him.
“I was in such a fishbowl,” said the former All-Pro. “Everything I did was going to be magnified because of the trade. Honestly, I felt like if I was traded for anyone else, it wouldn’t be as bad. I think just the magnitude of the trade is what made it so stressful.
“I felt like I was constantly having a lot of adversity thrown at me,” Johnson continued. “I was just getting real frustrated, really mad. The biggest thing for me is I was bringing it home to my wife and kids. Being stressed and carrying it over from the game or the facility to my wife. I felt like they didn’t deserve that.”
Though Johnson was a Pro Bowler and All-Pro in Arizona, the Texans were pummeled for getting such a seemingly poor return for arguably the NFL’s best receiver in Hopkins. The critics have ultimately been proven right with Hopkins helping lead the Cardinals to a perfect 6-0 record this season en route to Super Bowl hopes. Meanwhile, Johnson is stuck on a dysfunctional 1-5 Texans team fighting for touches with Mark Ingram and Phillip Lindsay.
It is unfair to blame Johnson for the Texans’ shortcomings in handling the whole situation. They could not even get a first-rounder back for Hopkins. But many fans inevitably will blame Johnson, and it must be extra difficult for the veteran seeing how much his former team is thriving without him.
Photo: Andrew Nelles-Tennessean.com via Imagn Content Services LLC
Clemson’s ongoing issues on offense appear to have cost starting quarterback DJ Uiagalelei his job.
With the Tigers trailing Pitt 21-7 in the third quarter of Saturday’s game, coach Dabo Swinney benched Uiagalelei and replaced him with backup Taisun Phommachanh.
It was impossible to blame Swinney for making the change. Uiagalelei’s issues go well beyond Saturday’s game. He has just four touchdowns on the season, and was just 11-for-23 for 101 yards with two interceptions on Saturday at the time of his benching. The assessments of the Clemson quarterback have been brutal all season, and it’s been a long fall for a player viewed as a Heisman contender before the season started.
Phommachanh, a sophomore, was a four-star recruit in the class of 2019. He played sparingly in both 2019 and 2020, with this being his first real look in game action.
Photo: Clemson quarterback D.J. Uiagalelei talks with media in Clemson, S.C., September 27, 2021.
Dj Uiagalelei Clemson Quarterback
Los Angeles Dodgers manager Dave Roberts is having to try to come back in the NLCS without a healthy Max Scherzer. In retrospect, he’s confident the difficult spot he’s in was preventable.
Roberts said Saturday that the decision to use Scherzer to close out the NLDS against San Francisco has contributed to the muscle soreness the pitcher is battling. Roberts admitted that he didn’t think having Scherzer pick up that inning would lead to any long-term issues like this.
Roberts doesn’t really sound like he regrets his decision. Obviously, Scherzer was going to want to pitch. Roberts would have vetoed it if he really thought it would cause serious problems.
Scherzer has said his current issue isn’t a “true injury” and he is preparing to start a potential Game 7. The Dodgers just have to get there first.
Max Scherzer’s arm issue will prevent him from pitching on Saturday as the Los Angeles Dodgers look to avoid elimination in the NLCS. Now he is clarifying what exactly he is dealing with right now.
The Dodgers righty addressed the condition of his arm prior to Game 6 against the Atlanta Braves.
“My arm has been locked up the past couple days,” said Scherzer, per Bill Shaikin of the Los Angeles Times. “I got to day four [after the start] and it felt like day one.
“This isn’t a true injury,” Scherzer added. “It’s just muscle fatigue.”
Scherzer also said that he felt as if he turned a corner on Saturday and that he could start in a Game 7.
The 37-year-old Scherzer pitched in Game 2 of the NLCS series last Sunday, lasting just 4.1 innings in a 5-4 Dodgers defeat. Afterwards, Scherzer made some concerning comments about his arm. He had pitched in relief to close out the team’s NLDS series against San Francisco three days prior to that.
The Dodgers will instead turn to Walker Buehler on short rest to start Game 6 as they trail in the series 3-2. While it is unclear how much a single extra day of rest will benefit Scherzer at this point, he seems to be trending in the right direction for a Game 7 if the Dodgers can get there.
Aug 10, 2021; Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, USA; Los Angeles Dodgers starting pitcher Max Scherzer (31) walks towards the dugout against the Philadelphia Phillies at Citizens Bank Park. Mandatory Credit: Eric Hartline-USA TODAY Sports
Maybe Bret Bielema knows what he is doing at Illinois much more than his critics.
Bielema’s Illini defeated Penn State 20-18 in a record 9 overtimes on Saturday in Happy Valley. They got the huge win under Bielema days after he called out the roster.
Bielema, who is in his first season as the program’s head coach, effectively said on Monday that he was left with a poor roster. He later defended the remarks and said they did not have proper context.
In his comments, Bielema specifically pointed to the offensive line as a weakness.
Guess what? The line responded by pushing around Penn State for 357 rushing yards in the road win. Bielema even loaded up with jumbo packages to convert in short yardage situations.
Even though both teams struggled to score in the overtime periods, Illinois finally won when they got a 2-point conversion and stopped Penn State. They are now 3-5, while Penn State is 5-2.
Photo: Oct 2, 2021; Champaign, Illinois, USA; Illinois Fighting Illini head coach Bret Bielema walks onto the field before his team s game with the Charlotte 49ers at Memorial Stadium. Mandatory Credit: Ron Johnson-USA TODAY Sports
LeBron James was not having any bit of the trash talk that a Phoenix Suns player sent his way during Friday’s blowout loss.
A clip of James chirping at Suns guard Cam Payne from the bench went viral this weekend. In the video, which you can see here, James told Payne, “Stay humble. You was at home a year-and-a-half ago, now you wanna pop off?”
The clip appears to have been from the third quarter, in which the Lakers fell behind by as many as 32 points. James still had a team-high 25 points in the loss, which dropped the Lakers to 0-2 on the season. Meanwhile, Payne finished with just four points in 19 minutes off the bench.
While the Lakers got charbroiled on Friday, you certainly can’t accuse James of not knowing his stuff. Payne was indeed out of the NBA playing in the G League a year-and-a-half ago before signing with the Suns. Thus, this has to be James’ best clapback since the one we saw in Chicago a couple years ago.
Photo: Nelson Chenault-USA TODAY Sports
Fake field goals are always a huge risk. There are so many ways they could go wrong, and they often do.
Still, Army’s attempt at one on Saturday against Wake Forest was particularly notable for how badly it backfired. Backup quarterback Cade Ballard was tasked with throwing the pass, but the lame duck lob was intercepted by Traveon Redd, who had nothing but green in front of him.
The decision makes some sense from Army’s perspective. The game was a shootout and they weren’t going to beat Wake Forest by kicking field goals. That said, they might have been better off just sending the offense out on 4th and 4.
Army coach Jeff Monken can take solace in the fact that even the very best can look stupid on fake field goals. It probably won’t be much comfort, though, as Wake Forest went on to win 70-56.
Caleb Williams’ grip on the Oklahoma starting quarterback job seems to tighten every week.
Williams and the Sooners faced an upset bid from the Kansas Jayhawks on Saturday, with the game coming down to the final possession. Oklahoma faced a 4th and 1 from their own 46 with 3:20 left and went for it, knowing that failure would give Kansas the ball back with excellent field position.
It looked like the Jayhawks had done their job. The defense wrapped up Oklahoma running back Kennedy Brooks behind the line of scrimmage. That was when Williams improvised, grabbing the ball from Brooks as the running back was being pushed backward.
The play was reviewed and confirmed. The fact that Brooks was behind the line of scrimmage helped Oklahoma’s cause, though there was certainly a case to be made that he should have been down by forward progress at that point.
Williams replaced Spencer Rattler at halftime two weeks ago and the Sooners have not looked back. They took a while to get going against Kansas, but they got the win in the end. It was largely due to this sort of quick thinking that few had ever seen before.
The scariest part? Williams is an 18-year-old true freshman and he’s doing stuff like this. No wonder Rattler might be on his way out.
Magic Johnson sounded like a disappointed dad after witnessing the incident on the Los Angeles Lakers bench during Friday’s loss to the Phoenix Suns.
Johnson reacted on Twitter to the altercation between Anthony Davis and Dwight Howard during a timeout in the first half of their 115-105 defeat (video here).
“Dwight Howard and AD got into a physical altercation on the bench,” the retired Lakers legend tweeted. “In my 42 years of being associated with the Lakers organization, I’ve never seen something like that smh.”
Johnson, who was drafted by the Lakers in 1979, summed up the reactions of many to the shocking incident. Teammates get into each other’s faces all the time. But it was very surprising to see the altercation between Davis and Howard turn physical, in a nationally-televised game no less.
The Lakers are now 0-2 to start the regular season after going 0-6 during the preseason. The microscope will only intensify further if they continue to lose. At least the Lakers succeeded in getting Johnson to show more emotion than he usually does on Twitter.
The Kansas Jayhawks made a bid for a stunning upset on Saturday, and the school was desperate to get people to the stadium to witness it.
The Jayhawks were 38.5-point underdogs at home Saturday against unbeaten Oklahoma, but the first half unfolded in surprising fashion. Kansas managed to hold the high-powered Sooner offense scoreless in the first half, taking a 10-0 lead into the locker room. Oklahoma did score a touchdown in the third quarter, but Kansas answered with another score of their own to take a 17-7 lead.
As it became apparent that Kansas was at least going to make a game of this, the school made a rather desperate bid to get some fans into half-empty Kansas Memorial Stadium. At halftime, the university sent out a message to the student body urging anyone with an unused ticket to get down to the game.
Things only escalated from there. In the third quarter, Kansas opened up the stadium to anyone in town, no ticket required.
The Jayhawks had good reason to try to get more fans in. As ESPN showed in a series of photos, the crowd started out sparse and didn’t fill in all the way, even by halftime.
It’s a somewhat sad state of affairs that the Jayhawks have to resort to these measures. Still, this is a football program that has generated so little excitement over the years. They might as well try to make the best of it — as long as the power doesn’t go out again, at least.
