LouisEly

Also, I believe James Thompson, Jr., went out late in the 1st half and didn't come back in. He was riding the stationary bike most of the rest of the game, looked like he had a slight limp when walking. He's perhaps their best DL. IIRC they had one play where they went five wide, and Pauling was wide open for a big gain. Then, back to four WR and Allen in the backfield. Why not stick with 5-wide?

With so many transfers in CBB it's hard to tell what will happen. I think they'll be better than last year as all of their top scorers are back, plus the transfer in of Storr, hopefully a year of development from Hodges and Ilver, and two really good freshmen coming in (Winter, Yalden). Wahl took his COVID year and came back. Hepburn lost 15 lbs and looks to be in better shape, Essegian gained 15 lbs. If they can stay relatively healthy they can be a 22-9 team and around #20 overall. But they have a fairly tough non-conference schedule in Tennessee, @ Providence, Virginia (N), Marquette, and @ Arizona. Injuries are always the X-factor.

He was. He went into the locker room several minutes before halftime. I think that also made him tentative; on the 4th down play where he fumbled that was overturned, he easily had the 1st down if he had just cut up and bull-rushed the defense. He instead tried stretching it out to avoid contact. What I haven't seen Allen able to do is stick a foot in the ground and change direction. Maybe that's because of the ankle injuries he's sustained, but the really good RBs can change direction on a dime. Allen is more like turning a school bus. Say what you want about a conservative offense, but punting from midfield makes it really hard for the other team to score. The Badgers would have had four consecutive possessions starting inside their 10 yard line had it not been for the kick catch interference call. Two of those, however, were a direct result of blocking penalties on the kick returns. One of those penalties cost them the safety as that play would have started from at least the 20 yard line. Iowa's punter was good, but on most of his punts he had the strong north wind at his back. The offensive line was OK. The only sack given up was a result of a corner blitz that wasn't picked up. The DL got credit for it because Locke avoided the CB and the DL got him. The Badgers had three drives go over 60 yards, but they resulted in only 6 points. They had 330 yards of total offense, which is not bad against Iowa. They just got killed in field position and the special teams penalties.

Or this:

I like this a little better

Not the way I understand it. A contract extension would replace arbitration. In arbitration, or any instance where a contract is renewed one year at a time, he can only get a max 20% cut. Arbitration salaries aren't guaranteed, so a contract extension, which is guaranteed, replaces arbitration.

Watson missed three games last year and has already missed three games this year. He's had trouble staying healthy and being available. He's used up 1 1/3rd years of team control. Given both, I'd take Carolina's 2nd round pick in 2024, which could very well be the 1st pick in the 2nd round, and a conditional pick in 2024/2025 based on games played the rest of the season that could be as high as a 3rd if he plays every game. With three 2nd round picks next year they have some ammo to move up to get that franchise LT you want and still be able to find a WR to replace Watson and the safety they desperately need.

I think what the poster was implying is that having a better offense is no guarantee of anything in the postseason.

I have absolutely HATED this during the playoffs. It makes the game look fake. The purpose of having TV cameras in the game is to make it look like you are there when you are watching on TV. Having a blurry background does not make it look like you are there. If you're there, nothing is blurry in the background.

It's also the reason that Yelich should become the primary DH. They have to do more to rest his back to keep him in the lineup. He missed 18 games this year - that number can't go up.

It got pretty hairy in the top of the 9th. Two on and if Grissom gets on base Acuna's up with Kimbrel, Alvarado, and Dominguez already burned. Could have easily backfired.

Pierre is actually a pretty good comp for O'Rae at this point. While some of Pierre's WAR value came from playing literally every game - and that's not a bad thing as they say the best ability is availability - his value would have been a lot higher if he was a good CF and had been able to stay there as well as fewer CS if he played with today's rules. It sounds like O'Rae should be able to stick in CF given that he has good arm strength. And given his age, he certainly is far from physically mature. There's something to work with.

While it was really cool to find this in WI, I don't understand people who buy/keep vintage collector cars and let them just sit there in their yard or in a barn and do nothing with them but just let them waste away. Hell, not even vintage collector cars, why keep a vehicle in your yard/barn/wherever and do nothing with it and just let it depreciate? I see it frequently in rural areas, vehicles sitting out on the property with grass 2-3 feet tall around it. https://robbreport.com/motors/cars/delorean-dmc-12-found-wisconsin-barn-1235337342/

It's kind of like March Madness and the NCAA tournament, but I have a major issue calling a winner of a 68-team one-and-done tournament "national champions". I'm OK with the 3/5/7/7 format but I don't want it getting any bigger. I'd prefer five teams with the division winners getting byes and the wild card teams having a one-game playoff, but I know that baseball isn't going to go to that.

https://packerswire.usatoday.com/lists/packers-qb-jordan-love-situation-gone-wrong-run-game-david-bakhtiari-aaron-jones-chrisitan-watson-offense/

Not lately. Their season stats are skewed because they only gave up a total of 12 pressures their first two games (6 per game). Then no Bakh, no Jenkins, Tom injured a knee, Runyan injured an ankle, and they've given up 42 pressures (14 per game) over their last three games. Tom has actually given up more pressures than Walker. Over the last two games Tom has given up 10 pressures and Walker 8. Crosby lined up quite a bit across from Tom; on one of his pressures he lined up across from Tom and then stunted all the way around to LG. Through week 3, Walker had given up zero pressures on true pass sets. That was after practicing most of the week prior to the Falcons game as the jumbo TE and not knowing until the evening before the Falcons game that he would be playing LT. It's just the last two games where he struggled.

If there's reason to believe that Grissom will be better defensively at 2B, that would be a good deal for the Brewers. I think one of the best ways the Brewers can add a bat is by trading one of Adames/Turang to a team who needs a true SS for a bigger bat at 2B. Grissom is only 22 years old. His minor league slash line is .320/.407/.477 with a 153:201 BB:K ratio and the only time his K% was above 20% was in the majors in 2022. He has always been young for his league. There's a lot to like about his hitting profile, even if ultimately he needs to be moved to RF.

What Arnold needs to do - and I don't know how he does this without it getting leaked to the press and subsequently souring the deal and his reputation - is to allow Burnes' agent to negotiate a contract extension after they come to terms on a deal. Or negotiate two deals - one that is contingent on an agreement of a contract extension and one that is not. But if (read: when) that gets leaked to the press, that puts egg on Arnold's face because the deal hasn't been completed yet. But in order to maximize the return for Burnes, there has to be an agreement for an extension in place to assure that team that Burnes will be around for several years.

That's what few people are talking about, which I find strange. Add the TEs to it. Three of six WRs are rookies and every TE except Deguara (debate if he's a FB, H-Back, or TE) is a rookie. How is their route tree knowledge at this point? Are they not able to run complex downfield plays because the receivers just aren't at that development point yet?

I wouldn't trust that dividend - or the stock price - to hold up. Every time I've chased a high yield on a stock I've gotten burned. Their Trailing 12-Month revenue and operating income is down from their last fiscal year (ending 5/31/23).

I don't fault the O's ownership/executives for not doing much last winter. With such young players, some of whom didn't break into the majors until this season (Rodriguez, Westburg, Ortiz, etc.), I think they needed to see more from what they had to understand what they had, especially in such a loaded division. It also takes time and experience to learn how to win. Now that they have a better idea of what they have and a couple of post-season games under their belt, I think they're in a much better place. Not only would Burnes be a good fit, but with Bautista being out the whole season Williams might be a good fit there, too. The combo of Burnes and Williams should be enough to get one of Holliday/Henderson from them plus a few other pieces.

I don't think there's enough evidence to say either way. There aren't many examples though of players who struggled/were mediocre their first two years and then became very good. Plenty of examples of guys who were mediocre and never got better who started their first year. 2009: Mark Sanchez, Josh Freeman (Stafford the other 1st round QB) 2010: Tim Tebow (should not have been a 1st round pick; Bradford the other QB but injuries were more the cause of mediocrity) 2011: Jake Locker, Blaine Gabbert, Christian Ponder (Cam Newton the other 1st round QB) 2012: Robert Griffin III, Brandon Weeden (Andrew Luck, Ryan Tannehill) 2013: E.J. Manuel 2014: Blake Bortles, Johnny Manziel, Teddy Bridgewater 2015: Jamies Winston, Marcus Mariotta 2016: Paxton Lynch (Jared Goff, Carson Wentz) 2017: Mitch Trubisky (Patrick Mahomes, Deshaun Watson) 2018: Baker Mayfield, Sam Darnold, Josh Rosen (Josh Allen, Lamar Jackson) 2019: Daniel Jones, Dwayne Haskins (flamed out for other reasons) (Kyler Murray) Unless I'm misunderstanding you, I don't see many examples of guys who struggled/were mediocre their first two years while they "got some reps" who then went on to become good QBs.

For all of the wins that the AL East racked up in the regular season, the three teams that made it in might not win one single game in the playoffs.

Agreed. With Yelich and Contreras on the roster, I would not expect the Brewers to significantly invest in someone who is primarily a DH. Given the presence of Frelick, Mitchell, Chourio, Taylor (2nd half OPS of .854), and Wiemer (if he can get make the adjustments), I'd bet that Yelich becomes the primary DH sooner rather than later. Best bets are to trade Mitchell or Frelick to a team who needs a true CF in exchange for a power bat at RF, or trade Adames or Turang to a team who needs a true SS in exchange for a power bat at 2B. Sounds like Black is expected to be part of the plan for 2024, and Wilken might be ready in 2025, so I wouldn't expect a multi-year investment at 3B or 1B either.

They said on the broadcast that Jones tweaked his hammy on Saturday. This after a full week (or more) of MLF designing his game plan around Jones being available.