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Monday, December 9, 2019

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Patrick Mahomes’ girlfriend Brittany Matthews says she was harassed by Patriots fans

December 9, 2019
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Patrick Mahomes

Patrick Mahomes’ girlfriend Brittany Matthews had a rough time dealing with New England Patriots fans during Sunday’s game.

Matthews, who attended the Kansas City Chiefs’ 23-16 win over the Patriots at Gillette Stadium, voiced complaints on Twitter about the treatment she and Mahomes’ younger brother received from Patriots fans.

“As soon as we sit down, drunk dude “hey everyone this is patrick mahomes girl and brother, let’s give them s–”
This shall be fun,” Matthews wrote on Sunday (edited for profanity).

Matthews’ complaints continued. She said “this place is horrible” and that people were yelling any time she stood up.

Matthews says security eventually came and moved them to a safer place.

Even on Monday, she was still getting into it with Patriots fans.

Boston sports fans have a reputation for being intense and extremely passionate about their teams. We saw similar complaints from a player’s girlfriend about Boston sports fans several years ago too.

Sometimes some may go overboard, though we have heard some positive feedback from other players.

Lane Kiffin has amazing quote about tarmac reception at Ole Miss

December 9, 2019
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Lane Kiffin FAU

Lane Kiffin got a hero’s welcome upon arriving at Ole Miss as the new head football coach, and he had a pretty fantastic response to that.

Kiffin greeted fans after arriving in Oxford on Sunday night, kissing babies and interacting with Ole Miss faithful. The reception was overwhelmingly positive, and when asked about it Monday, Kiffin cracked an absolutely killer one-liner.

This is going to be amazing.

For those who may not remember, Kiffin was infamously fired by USC in an airport terminal after being pulled off the team bus. Over six years later, it’s still one of the most memorable episodes of Kiffin’s coaching career, albeit for all the wrong reasons. Kiffin is over it enough to have made light of it in the past, but this is a whole new level of funny.

Ole Miss fans, the Lane Train is heading to Oxford! Jump aboard by buying the Lane Train shirt! It’s available in two colors:

Report: Eli Manning wants to earn starting QB job in 2020

December 9, 2019
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Eli Manning

Eli Manning is starting for the New York Giants once again on Monday night when they take on the Philadelphia Eagles, and many believe that will be the beginning of a farewell tour for the veteran quarterback. Manning, however, may be viewing it as an audition.

People close to Manning believe he wants to keep playing in 2020 and compete for a starting job somewhere, according to ESPN’s Jordan Raanan. Since he’s in the final year of his contract with the Giants and the team appears to be committed to Daniel Jones as its quarterback of the future, Manning will be looking for a job outside of New York if he opts against retiring.

Manning will likely want to join a contending team if he does decide to continue his playing career, and it’s unclear how many opportunities there will be for him. The Chicago Bears are one possibility if they decide to move on from Mitchell Trubisky, and Raanan also mentioned the Tennessee Titans. However, Ryan Tannehill has played extremely well since taking over for Marcus Mariota and appears to have convinced the Titans he can be their starter beyond this season. Chicago has been mentioned as a possible landing spot for Cam Newton, who would likely be viewed as a much better option than Manning.

There’s a reason Manning was benched in favor of Jones. His skills have clearly declined in recent years, which makes sense for a player who will turn 39 in January. Unless he lights it up on Monday night and in any other starts he might get in New York this season, Manning may have a tough time convincing a fringe team that he is the missing piece they need to get over the hump.

We previously heard of some reasons Manning might be inclined to remain in New York, but the Giants can’t offer him anything other than a backup job. While you can understand why he’s not interested in that after playing for so long and winning two Super Bowls, finding a job as a starter somewhere else probably will not be easy for him.

10 biggest disappointments of NFL Week 14

December 8, 2019
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We’re in the final quarter of the NFL season, and Sunday’s games did not disappoint. The highlight was an unexpected shootout in New Orleans, but there was a lot to watch across the league, and a lot of standout performances.

There were also some underwhelming performances. Here is a list of those who fell short in Week 14 — some unexpectedly, some at a very bad time.

Referees in the Patriots-Chiefs game

The performance of the referees in Sunday’s game in Foxboro was nothing short of baffling. The clearest issue was an officiating crew costing the Patriots two touchdowns with missed calls. One came on a blown whistle to stop what would have been a defensive score, which has been a repeat problem this season. It’s disappointing seeing this continue to happen this late into the season, and the errors are consequential, too, though some would say it’s karma for the Pats.

Russell Wilson, QB, Seahawks

Wilson has been putting together an MVP-caliber season for the Seahawks this year, but he fell short of that standard on Sunday night. For the first time this season, Wilson failed to throw a touchdown in a game. He was 22/36 for 245 yards and an interception in the 28-12 loss to the Rams. Wilson was sacked five times in the game. Seattle failed to keep pace with the 49ers in the NFC West and is now a wild card team.

(more…)

Did Lamar Jackson wear white sleeves, glove in response to Tim Ryan comments?

December 8, 2019
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Lamar Jackson white sleeves glove

Lamar Jackson had yet another big game for the Baltimore Ravens, and he seemed to make a very specific point during the win.

During the first half of the game, Jackson was wearing white sleeves and even had a white glove on his left hand.

Why was that significant?

San Francisco 49ers radio analyst Tim Ryan said during the week that the Niners had trouble picking up the football out of Jackson’s hands in the Week 13 game between the teams because the quarterback’s dark skin camouflages the dark ball.

“He’s really good at that fake, Lamar Jackson, but when you consider his dark skin with a dark football with a dark uniform, you could not see that thing,” Ryan said, via Matthias Gafni and Lauren Hernandez of the San Francisco Chronicle. “I mean you literally could not see when he was in and out of the mesh point and if you’re a half step slow on him in terms of your vision forget about it, he’s out of the gate.”

Ryan was suspended for his comment, which received widespread attention.

Jackson must have heard about it, because he went with the sleeves look to start the game. And even with the ball against the white sleeves, he still faked the heck out of Buffalo’s defense.

In the second half, Jackson wasn’t wearing sleeves or a glove though.

Bills defensive end Jerry Hughes said the lack of sleeves in the second half signified to them that Jackson was gong to keep the ball more on runs.

Jackson actually passed much better without the sleeves in the second half. He downplayed the reason for taking off the sleeves, too.

White sleeves, no sleeves, one thing is sure: Lamar Jackson is very difficult to defend.

Baker Mayfield apologizes for throwing Browns’ medical staff under the bus

December 8, 2019
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Baker Mayfield made some surprising comments on Sunday about the way the Cleveland Browns’ medical staff handled an injury Odell Beckham Jr. has been dealing with, and it wasn’t long before the quarterback issued an apology.

Following Cleveland’s 27-19 win over the Cincinnati Bengals, Mayfield was asked about a report that claimed Beckham has been dealing with a sports hernia all year that is going to require surgery after the season. Mayfield said the injury “wasn’t handled right” and has been a source of frustration for Beckham.

Less than an hour later, Mayfield took to Twitter and apologized for making Cleveland’s medical staff look bad. He also admitted he does not know all of the facts about OBJ’s injury.

Beckham has said on multiple occasions that he is playing hurt, but he never indicated he received bad advice from team doctors or anyone else. It’s possible Mayfield knows something that hasn’t been said publicly, though his decision to talk about it after a win is questionable.

Speculation is growing that Beckham may not be in Cleveland much longer. If he ends up getting traded this offseason, perhaps he will share his side of what happened with the injury.

Sean Payton did NOT want to talk about officiating after Saints’ loss

December 8, 2019
by

Sean Payton

The New Orleans Saints suffered a very difficult loss in Sunday’s game against the San Francisco 49ers, and the impact of the loss showed in Sean Payton’s postgame press conference.

One major controversy in the game came on a fake punt play, in which Saints receiver Tre’Quan Smith was clearly held by Tarvarius Moore of the 49ers. However, pass interference cannot be called on a punt play, which meant no penalty was called — and no challenge was allowed.

That left Payton furious. When asked about it after the game, he immediately shut down all questions about officiating.

That call didn’t cost the Saints the game — they gave up 46 points and failed to get off the field late in the fourth quarter on a key 4th and 2 play.

Given the team’s history with pass interference calls, it’s easy to see why he just wouldn’t entertain the conversation after a difficult defeat.