1/11/24 Hometown Broadcasting Sports Thursday
11 January 2024 Sports
From Wayne Mausser
The Packers returned to the practice field on Wednesday getting ready for Sunday’s Wild Card game at Dallas against the Cowboys.
Offensively, Jordan Love has thrown for 18 TD passes and just 1 interception the last 8 games. But the Packers better be aware of, DaRon Bland and the Cowboys’ secondary.
Bland, filling in for an injured Trevon Diggs, has led the league with 9 interceptions and set an all-time NFL record with 5 pick sixes. There was surely no drop off when Diggs went down.
“It’s been pretty impressive,” said Packers head coach Matt LaFleur. “Those guys do a great job and are well coached. They jump a lot of routes, but you don’t see a lot of routes go over the top of their heads. That speaks a lot of those guys, because you don’t always see that. All those guys on the back end, I think they have 26 takeaways, they all have ball skills. You have to be precise with the rhythm and timing on the passing game. You have to make sure the wideouts are coming off the ball with the correct pad level and are snitching on certain routes and concepts to allow them to make those types of plays.”
“We have been playing some of our best ball and getting better every week and have won some important games that we have had to win the past couple weeks,” Love said. “I think we are rolling right now and we are going to carry that momentum going forward in the playoffs.” There’s plenty of good news for the Packers on the injury front. Running back A.J. Dillon was the only player not practicing. That is good news for receivers Romeo Doubs and Christian Watson, and everyone else on the mend.
For a second week, Packers QB Jordan Love has been named the NFC Offensive Player of the Week.
Love won this latest award for his performance in the regular-season finale vs. the Bears, during which he was 27-of-32 for 316 yards, two TDs and a 128.6 passer rating as the Packers qualified for the NFC playoffs.
The previous week,Love won the award for his outing at Minnesota during which he threw for three touchdowns and ran for another.
“That was his first career selection for the honor, and now he has two,” the Packers said.
Love is the second Packers player to win any of the league’s weekly awards (offense, defense, special teams) in back-to-back weeks since their inception in 1984, according to the Packers.
Meanwhile, Packers KR Keisean Nixon was named Wednesday to the NFLPA’s All-Pro Team. This is voted on by players around the league.
Nixon led the NFL in kick return yardage by a wide margin with 782 yards, 271 yards more than the 2nd place finisher. Nixon becomes the first Packer to lead the NFL in kick return yardage in back to back season. Last year, Nixon became the first Packer named to the Associated Press All-Pro team at that position; he was named to the first team.
New York Jets quarterback Aaron Rodgers won’t be back on The Pat McAfee Show this season.
McAfee made the announcement on his program Wednesday, a day after Rodgers, a frequent guest, was back on his show and said the media took his comments about ABC late-night host Jimmy Kimmel and pedophile Jeffrey Epstein out of context.
The Athletic writer Richard Deitsch reports it’s his understanding the decision for Rodgers not to return this season was made by McAfee, who controls guest booking and has creative control of The Pat McAfee Show. Deitsch opines, “I am certain ESPN supports this.”
ESPN and ABC are both owned by The Walt Disney Co.
Kimmel threatened Rodgers with legal action after the quarterback remarked on McAfee’s show that a lot of people, “including Jimmy Kimmel,” were hoping the list of pedophile Jeffrey Epstein’s associates wouldn’t be made public.
Rodgers, a frequent guest on McAfee’s program, didn’t apologize during his last appearance Tuesday but suggested that people were reading too much into what he said, and said he was not stupid enough to accuse Kimmel of being a pedophile. Rodgers said he’s ready to move on from this.. In his monologue Monday night on Jimmy Kimmel Live!, Kimmel said he would accept an apology from Rodgers but didn’t expect one.
The New York Jets are done for the NFL season. Rodgers’s team didn’t make the playoffs.
Seattle Seahawks coach Pete Carroll became the latest NFL coach to lost their job. Carroll was fired Wednesday after coaching the team for 14 seasons and leading them to a Super Bowl Championship.
Bill Belichick, who built a first-ballot Hall of Fame résumé in 24 seasons as the New England Patriots’ head coach and general manager, will not be back with the club in 2024.
As first reported by ESPN’s Mike Reiss and Adam Schefter, the two sides are expected to mutually part ways today.
With Belichick leaving New England, one of the greatest runs in league history has come to an end.
The 71-year-old originally joined the organization in 2000, when team owner Robert Kraft made a trade with the New York Jets to bring him aboard. The move put Kraft’s franchise on a path to unprecedented success.
Belichick went on to lead the Patriots to six Super Bowl wins, and alongside quarterback Tom Brady established the only dynasty of the NFL’s salary cap era. Over two decades, New England reigned supreme in the league.
During that span, the Patriots registered 19 consecutive winning seasons, 17 AFC East titles, 13 trips to the AFC Championship Game, and nine Super Bowl appearances. However, the team’s victory in Super Bowl LIII proved to be the last grand moment for the dynasty: the team went one-and-done in the playoffs the next year, with Brady departing the following offseason. Since the greatest quarterback in NFL history left, the Patriots have struggled to return to their winning ways. While they did qualify for the playoffs in 2021, they went only 29-39 overall the last four years, bottoming out with a 4-13 record this season.
In college football Alabama coach Nick Saban announced his retirement Wednesday after 17 seasons. The 72-year old Saban won six national titles for the Crimson Tide and seven overall.
In the NBA tonight the Bucks host the Celtics in a battle of the two top Eastern Conference teams. Milwaukee trails Boston by 4 games.
Max Klesmit scored all of his 18 points in the second half as No. 15 Wisconsin won their fifth straight, rallying to beat Ohio State 71-60 on Wednesday night.
A 3-pointer from Klesmit put Wisconsin up by 1 with a 5:16 left. The defense kept the clamps on Ohio State as Klesmit kept shooting, scoring nine of the last 14 points for the Badgers (12-3, 4-0 Big Ten).
AJ Storr had 15 of his 17 points in the first half for the Badgers, the only undefeated team left in the Big Ten.
Jamison Battle had another impressive performance for Ohio State (12-4, 2-3), pacing the Buckeyes with 18 points. Bruce Thornton had 13 despite missing his last four shots. The Buckeyes have lost two straight.
Wisconsin hosts Northwestern on Saturday.
Ripon College 80, Lake Forest College 62. Cade Tackmier led the Red Hawks with 18 points while Kolby Williams had 16 and Dominic Galat1 scored 13.
UW-Platteville 77, UW-Oshkosh 66
Women’s College Basketball
Northwestern 74, UW-Wisconsin 69
Ripon College 81, Lake Forest Collegte 48
UW-Oshkosh 54, UW-Platteville 47
High School Boys Basketball (Thurs.)
Ripon at Kewaskum
Berlin at Plymouth
Winneconne at Kettle Moraine Lutheran
Mayville at Camptellsport
Lomira at Laconia
North Fond du Lac at Saint Mary’s Springs
Omro at Winnebago Lutheran
Oregon at Beaver Dam
Sturgeon Bay at Seymour
Weyauwega-Fremont at Wittenberg-Birnamwood
Rosholt at Tri-County
Wild Rose at Pacelli
Denmark at Clintonville
Luxemburg-Casco at Fox Valley Luthean
Freedom at Oconto Falls
Wrightstown at Waupaca
Neloosa at Wautoma
Adams-Friendship at Wisconsin Dells
Mauston at Westfield
Central Wisconsin Christian at Lourdes Academy
Horicon at Oakfield
St. Ambrose Academy at Rio
Girls Basketball (Thurs.)
Ripon at Markesan
Xavier at Waupun
Menasha at Green Bay East
Neenah at Appleton North
Central Wisconsin Christian at Lourdes Acadmey
Abundant Life/St. Ambrose at Rio
Share |