Sean Barie and Nick Shook discuss a theft of $98,000 worth of Ramen noodles — but was it really worth nearly $100,000? Yahoo! Sports’ Matt Harmon joins the duo to discuss the latest NFL headlines (including Odell Beckham Jr.’s payday) and go all in for the podcast’s first fantasy football extravaganza. The group also discusses the upcoming college football season and Sean regales us with a tale of how he learned pickleball.
Month: August 2018
Nick Shook breaks down each team in the AFC North
Nick Shook of NFL.com and Around the NFL breaks down each team in the AFC North with Mike “Chico” Bormann Monday night on 92.3 The Fan to see what it’ll take for the Browns to get out of the cellar.
EP 5 – Rookie QBs might actually be good, Tiger is back(?) and Jalen Ramsey vs. the media
Sean Barie and Nick Shook discuss Week 1 of the NFL preseason and its young stars, reminisce over memorable punishments (after Antonio Callaway’s on-field sentence), recap Tiger Woods’ exciting weekend and finish with an explanation of why Jalen Ramsey is in the wrong in his battle against local media. Rate and subscribe on iTunes and Soundcloud!
Offseason changes see varied results in preseason action
By Nick Shook
Around The NFL Writer
Read full post on NFL.com
Carson Palmer’s career ended with an interception — and a broken arm.
On the surface, it seemed fitting a team that struggled to protect Palmer would see its starter knocked out for the season when it failed to pick up a blitz. Ironically, though, a running back (Adrian Peterson) missed the block that sent Palmer to the ground, where he suffered the broken arm that ended his final season in the NFL.
No matter the culprit, one of the offseason priorities of the Cardinals was improving the offensive line. A remake of the unit has changed the 2017 Week 7 lineup of D.J. Humphries, Alex Boone, A.Q. Shipley, Earl Watford and Jared Veldheer to a new five of Humphries, Mike Iupati, Mason Cole, Justin Pugh and Andre Smith. Continue reading
What we learned from Saturday’s preseason games
By Nick Shook
Around The NFL Writer
Read full post on NFL.com
Saturday brought us another small plate of NFL preseason action, with three new quarterbacks to watch, including Minnesota’s Kirk Cousins, Denver’s Case Keenum and Arizona’s Josh Rosen (and Sam Bradford, too, we guess).
Here’s what we learned from Saturday’s Week 1 preseason games:
Minnesota Vikings 42, Denver Broncos 28
The fate of the Broncos, like many teams, will begin and end with the performance of their offensive line.
That much was evident in a short preseason debut for quarterback Case Keenum, a star for a very successful 2017 Minnesota Vikings team who saw a bunch of familiar faces lining up against him on Saturday. His new teammates didn’t do the greatest job of giving him time to throw.
Lulls in between plays not included, you could watch Keenum’s entire performance in the same amount of time it would take you to heat up that low-calorie frozen dinner (don’t forget to cut a vent in the plastic and stir the contents!). Keenum opened the drive with a quick out to Demaryius Thomas, who made Vikings linebacker Ben Gedeon miss before picking up the majority of his 5-yard gain. A false start on the next play erased that gain and forced Keenum into a third-and-7, which resulted in an incomplete pass intended for Courtland Sutton and a punt. Continue reading
Josh Rosen shows signs of potential in first NFL action
By Nick Shook
Around The NFL Writer
Read full post on NFL.com
Josh Rosen had to wait until Sammy Sleeves completed his one drive before Rosen got his first crack at NFL competition.
He didn’t set the world on fire in the Cardinals‘ 24-17 win over the Los Angeles Chargers. But he showed some small signs Saturday that he might have a productive career in his future.
Playing with the second-string linemen for the majority of his stint, Rosen was subjected to constant pressure, but rarely crumbled. The rookie felt and evaded pressure, escaping the pocket before resetting and completing his best pass of the night, a 21-yard strike to tight end Gabe Holmes. Continue reading
Kirk Cousins sharp as advertised in brief Vikings debut
By Nick Shook
Around The NFL Writer
Read full post on NFL.com
Kirk Cousins‘ playing time on Saturday night was short, and boy, was it sweet.
The anointed man under center looked every bit as advertised in his lone drive versus the Denver Broncos, completing all four of his pass attempts for 42 yards and a touchdown for the Minnesota Vikings in their 42-28 win. The yards and perfect completion percentage don’t quite jump off the page, but the tape will, length aside.
Cousins was confident, precise and looked as comfortable as a new quarterback will ever look. Buoyed by two 20-plus-yard runs by Latavius Murray, Cousins was free to test things out with Stefon Diggs, and all three worked out. Cousins first found Diggs for six yards to open the drive, and then made a key completion, connecting with Diggs on a perfectly placed pass over the shoulder of Bradley Roby for a 28-yard gain. It was the first throw that showed why Minnesota handed the keys and a fully guaranteed contract to Cousins. Continue reading
Break convention in case of emergency: A look at swing linemen
By Nick Shook
Around The NFL Writer
Read full post on NFL.com
A great offense begins with a reliable, effective offensive line. That cannot be overstated.
The offensive line serves as the first line of defense, of protection and of action. The front five open holes for running backs, protect a quarterback, provide adequate time for receivers to get open and for passers to deliver the ball on time and on target.
But what about when one of those five is forced off the field by injury? What happens when a once-impassable wall shows a crack?
As it goes in football, next man up. The first sign of weakness is what separates the good from the forgotten. In 2017, we received one of the best examples.
Let’s dive into the unheralded but vital role of the swing lineman: The sixth man who approaches each week ready to contribute, to step up when another goes down, and to contribute in a role that lacks notoriety but becomes just as important when called into action. Continue reading
Jamal Adams: Jets gave the ‘bare minimum’ in 2017
By Nick Shook
Around The NFL Writer
Read full post on NFL.com
The Jets surprised many in 2017 by winning five games when they — not the Browns, who ended up winless — were expected to be the league’s worst team.
A standout youngster says that even with those victories, New York did it by going through the motions, not by giving the maximum effort.
“Everybody was used to losing,” Jets safety Jamal Adams told Bleacher Report. “You can always tell that vibe. I came in, and it was like everybody wanted to do the bare minimum. They didn’t want to go above and beyond. They didn’t want to take that extra step.
“They didn’t want to be uncomfortable, [but] to be great, you have to be uncomfortable. You have to be willing to sacrifice and willing to do the little things. And the team, the organization, just wasn’t doing those things.” Continue reading
EP 4 – The Red Sox are an inferno, Hall of Fame reax (featuring Brooke Cersosimo!), and controversies
Sean Barie and Nick Shook discuss the best moments of the Pro Football Hall of Fame and bring in a colleague of Nick’s (NFL Media’s Brooke Cersosimo) for an inside look at two of the most notable new enshrinees: Randy Moss and Terrell Owens. The duo also discusses the Urban Meyer situation at Ohio State and the president’s attack on LeBron James, and dives back into story time for a rare form of competition and a rant against Planet Fitness. Rate and subscribe on iTunes and Soundcloud!
Nick Shook 