10/24/23 Hometown Broadcasting Sports Tuesday
24 October 2023 Sports
From Wayne Mausser
Packers coach Matt LaFleur says he still believes in quarterback Jordan Love even as Green Bay’s offense continues to struggle at the start of games.
The Packers have been outscored 63-6 in the first half of their last four games. They trailed 9-0 midway through their 19-17 at Denver on Sunday.
“Our confidence in him is not wavering one bit,” LaFleur said Monday. “Certainly as the play caller, you put a lot of onus on yourself when things aren’t going well, and we’ll continue to do that. But we’ve got to find a way to generate more points because when you’re generating points, it’s just a totally different narrative.”
Although the Packers overhauled their roster to get much younger this year, they’re delivering the same poor October results they produced last season.
Last year, Aaron Rodgers’ Packers followed up a 3-1 start by losing five straight. Love has Green Bay on a three-game skid.
The 2022 Packers dug their way out of that hole and had control of their postseason destiny before losing at home to the Detroit Lions in the final week of the season. This year’s Packers haven’t shown they’re capable of making a similar run.
They lack experience, they can’t stay healthy and they start way too slowly. The only encouraging sign is that three of the Packers’ four losses were decided by a total of seven points.
“We’ve got to find a way to make the plays, especially at the end of the game,” LaFleur said. “There’s been three times this year where our offense has had the ball with an opportunity to go down and take the lead, and we haven’t gotten it done.”
After averaging 31 points over their first two games, the Packers haven’t exceeded the 20-point mark in any of their last four. The NFL’s youngest offense lost veteran left tackle David Bakhtiari to a season-ending knee injury after one game. Running back Aaron Jones — the Packers’ most proven playmaker on offense — has been dealing with a hamstring injury that forced him to miss three games and limited to no more than 11 touches when he’s played.
Even after rallying to pull ahead in the second half of each of their last two games, the Packers lost both because they couldn’t protect fourth-quarter leads. Green Bay’s defense has been pretty good, but not when it matters most.
But it’s hard to put much blame on a defense that has allowed fewer than 20 points in each of its last two games. The offense simply must get better — much better.
The Packers return to Lambeau Field for their next two games as they host Minnesota on Sunday and the Los Angeles Rams on Nov. 5. The Packers haven’t played a home game since a 34-20 loss to Detroit on Sept. 28.
The NFL on Monday suspended Denver Broncos safety Kareem Jackson for four games without pay following his latest illegal hit to the head that resulted in his second ejection of the season.
Jackson, who faces about $589,000 in lost wages, was flagged for unnecessary roughness and ejected for a high hit to Green Bay Packers tight end Luke Musgrave in the fourth quarter of Denver’s 19-17 victory Sunday.
That came just 24 hours after the league announced Jackson had been fined $43,709 for an unflagged hit on Chiefs running back Isiah Pacheco in Denver’s Week 6 loss at Kansas City. That brought his season total to $89,670 in fines and he’s facing yet another one for his hit on Musgrave. Jackson was fined in each of the first three games of the season for unnecessary roughness for a total of $45,961.
Jon Runyan, the NFL’s vice president of football operations, issued the suspension Monday for violations of the league’s unnecessary roughness rules.
In a letter to Jackson, Runyan wrote, “you delivered a forceful blow to the head/neck area of a defenseless receiver, when you had the time and space to avoid such contact. You could have made contact with your opponent within the rules, yet you chose not to.”
Runyan noted Jackson’s multiple offenses for personal fouls this season for violating player safety-related rules.
Jackson also was ejected from Denver’s 35-33 loss to Washington in Week 2 after he was flagged for an illegal hit on Commanders tight end Logan Thomas, which came a week after Jackson’s illegal hit on Raiders receiver Jakobi Meyers. Both Meyers and Thomas were concussed on the plays.
Jackson, who signed a one-year, $2.515 million contract with the Broncos last spring to return for a 14th NFL season, lost his starting job to Caden Sterns in training camp. But Sterns suffered a knee injury on his second snap in the opener, and Jackson returned to the starting lineup.
PJ Locke, who replaced Jackson following the safety’s disqualification, secured Denver’s win over the Packers with a late interception, the first of his career.
Jackson will miss games against Kansas City, Buffalo, Minnesota and Cleveland before he’s allowed to return to the team on Nov. 27 ahead of the Broncos’ Week 13 game at Houston.
Before the suspension was announced, Broncos coach Sean Payton reiterated that he didn’t believe Jackson was playing dirty or trying to hurt opponents.
In Monday Night Football the Vikings won at home, upsettng the 49ers 22-17. The win was their first at home this season after 3 straight losses, upping their overall record to 3-4. The 49ers dropped to 5-2.
QB Kirk Cousins completed 35 of 45 passes for 378 yards, two touchdowns and one interception that was ripped from the grasp of his intended receive. He spread the ball among nine different targets, and even found ways to keep the offense moving when both Jordan Addison and T.J. Hockenson briefly exited the game due to injury.
Addison caught 7 passes for 123 yards and two touchdowns.
San Francisco quarterback Broke Purdy was 21-30 for 272 yards, a touchdown and two interceptions, the last of which sealed the Vikings win.
Christian McCaffrey scored both San Francisco touchdowns on a run and on a pass.
In the NlCS the Diamondbacks won at Philadelphia 5-1 to even their series at 3 games each. Game 7is tonight.
In the ALCS the Rangers bombed the Astros in Houston 11-4 to win their series 4-3. Texas meets either Arizona or Philadelphia in the World Series.
Giannis Antetokounmpo has indicated on social media that he has agreed to a contract extension with the Milwaukee Bucks. ESPN’s Adrian Wojnarowski is reporting it’s a three-year, $186 million dollar extension with a player option for the 2027-28 season.
Antetokounmpo issued a social media post on Monday that said, “MILWAUKEEEEEEEEE!! Let’s get it!!!! #BucksInSix #Extended.” The post came as ESPN reported that the two-time MVP had agreed on a three-year extension worth $186 million, with a player option for the 2027-28 season.
Antetokounmpo’s announcement came as Minnesota’s Jaden McDaniels, Washington’s Deni Avdija and Orlando’s Cole Anthony led the first wave of fourth-year players to reach agreements on contract extensions ahead of the NBA’s deadline.
Antetokounmpo had said this summer that he didn’t plan to sign an extension this year because it would make more financial sense for him to wait until the summer. The two-time MVP also had indicated that he wanted to wait to see how committed the Bucks were toward winning another title before he decided on whether to sign an extension on his contract, which at the time ran through 2024-25 with a player option for 2025-26.
Since then, the Bucks made a blockbuster trade to acquire seven-time all-NBA guard Damian Lillard from the Portland Trail Blazers. Even after that trade, Antetokounmpo had indicated he didn’t expect to sign an extension this year.
The extension starts with the 2025-26 season, meaning Antetokounmpo is under contract for at least four more years – and a fifth if he’s so inclined. He will earn about $94.4 million over the next two seasons, then about $120 million more for the 2025-26 and 2026-27 seasons.
The last year is at his option, meaning he could make roughly $66 million more in 2027-28.
And if Antetokounmpo had waited until next summer to agree to an extension, he possibly may have secured earned even more money. A max-extension scenario had he waited until 2024 could have been a four-year agreement at a figure exceeding $250 million.
The Wisconsin Herd, NBA G League affiliate of the Milwaukee Bucks, have received the returning player rights to Ade Murkey from the Stockton Kings in exchange for the returning player rights to Brandon Sampson and a second-round pick (via Oklahoma City) in the 2023 NBA G League Draft.
Ade Murkey, a 6-6, 220-pound forward most recently appeared in 45 games for the Stockton Kings during the 2021-22 season averaging 12.6 points, 4.5 rebounds and 1.4 assists per game. On December 22, 2021, Murkey signed a 10-day contract with the Sacramento Kings and appeared in one game. Prior to joining the Kings, Murkey played in 13 games for the Iowa Wolves and averaged 7.1 points and 2.3 rebounds per game in the 2020-21 season. The Minnesota native played college basketball at Denver University where he averaged 18.6 points in his senior season.
As the weather starts to get colder, wildlife officials are encouraging Wisconsinites to start thinking ahead on sturgeon spearing season.
The Wisconsin DNR says all spearers interested in harvesting a lake sturgeon from Lake Winnebago in 2024 should purchase their license before Oct. 31, 2023.
While there are unlimited licenses available for Lake Winnebago, the Upriver Lakes fishery (lakes Poygan, Butte des Morts and Winneconne) is managed by a preference point system and lottery, limited to 500 permitted spearers.
Applicants for an Upriver Lakes tag have already been authorized for the 2024 season and have until the start of the spearing season to purchase a license. Upriver tag applicant winners cannot also purchase a tag for Lake Winnebago. Both residents and non-residents can purchase a license through the Go Wild system or at any license sales location.
The 2024 sturgeon spearing season will open on Feb. 10, 2024 and will run for a maximum of 16 days or until any of the pre-determined harvest caps are met.
The accolades are rolling in for the Green Bay Rockers.
At last week’s Northwoods League fall meetings, the Green Bay Rockers were presented with the league’s Organization of the Year award. The award comes on the heels of the Rockers first Summer Collegiate World Series Championship win since they became a franchise in 2006.
“We are honored to be recognized as the Northwoods League Organization of the Year after a record-setting season,” said Rockers Vice President and GM John Fanta. “I can’t thank our ownership, front office, seasonal staff, host families, coaches, players, business and community partners and our fans for their dedication to the Rockers to make this an unforgettable year on and off the field. Our goal has been to make Capital Credit Union Park a place to bring the community together year-round and this award reaffirms that the Rockers brand of affordable fun is resonating in the Greater Green Bay area.”
The Green Bay Rockers finished the regular season with a 41-31 record and followed it up with a 4-0 record in the postseason to capture last season’s championship crown. The 2024 league schedule has yet to be released, the Rockers schedule for 2024 will be updated when it is announced.
Share |