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| Thursday, August 19, 2021 |
| I don't usually plan my entire life around preseason football, but I'm going to this weekend. For the first and only time all year, there will be FIVE STRAIGHT DAYS of football. |
| Will all my friends stop talking to me when they find out I canceled our weekend plans to watch preseason football? Probably, but it's a risk I'm willing to take. |
| The preseason fun starts tonight with the Patriots traveling to Philadelphia (7:30 p.m. ET, NFLN). This should be an exciting game and that's mostly because not only will we get to see the continued QB battle between Cam Newton and Mac Jones, but we'll also get to see Jalen Hurts get some serious playing time for the Eagles. I will put my 1-0 preseason picking record on the line by taking New England to win 20-17. |
| After tonight, there will be two games on Friday, followed by 10 games on Saturday, two games on Sunday and one game on Monday. Again, that's FIVE STRAIGHT DAYS. That's enough preseason talk for now though, let's get to the rundown where we'll take a look at the Packers new throwback uniform and we'll also unveil our All-NFC South team. |
| As always, here's your weekly reminder to tell all your friends to sign up for the Pick Six newsletter. To get your friends to sign up, all you have to do is click here and then share this link with them. |
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| 1. Today's show: Analytics-based projections for the AFC South and NFC South |
| It's officially "Nerd Week" on the Pick Six podcast, which is our way of saying this is the week where we bring people on the show who are smarter than us. For today's show, Will Brinson was joined by R.J. White of SportsLine.com and the two took a deep dive into the AFC and NFC South. Using analytical data, the two made predictions on the win totals for each team in both divisions and they also tried to figure out how each division will play out. |
| AFC SOUTH |
| In the AFC South, R.J. is all over the Titans. Tennessee has an over/under of 9.5 and White is going to pound the over and he doesn't care whether the Colts have Carson Wentz or not. |
| "I would take the over either way," White said. "I liked it already. I thought [the Titans] were going to win 11 games or so when we knew Carson Wentz was healthy. If Wentz misses one of their matchups, then I give them 12. We'll see if that makes a big difference, but I would take them either way." |
| The Colts and Titans play each other in Week 3, so there's definitely a chance that Wentz could miss the game. Although the Colts are optimistic that he'll be back on the field sooner rather than later -- and there's even a chance he could be ready for the opener -- he could miss the first month of the season if he comes back just halfway through that five to 12 week recovery timeline he was given a few weeks ago (If he's out the full 12 weeks, he wouldn't return until Week 8). |
| NFC SOUTH |
| As for the NFC South, White is high on the Saints, despite the loss of Drew Brees. White thinks Jameis Winston gives them a better chance to win this year than Taysom Hill and if Winston is the starter, White thinks the Saints will go over/under total of nine wins. |
| "Yea, Brees is gone, but his absence didn't slow the Saints down the past couple of years," White said. "They went 8-1 with backup quarterbacks [over the past two seasons]. They have an excellent offensive line. They had an excellent defense last year -- they lost a few pieces -- but have players like Cam Jordan, DeMario Davis, Marshon Lattimore, that keeps their floor high, so they're not going to fall apart on defense. I think you're really betting on Sean Payton here.... He should be able to get to 10 wins with this roster." |
| How do Brinson and White feel about the other NFC South teams? You'll have to listen to find out. |
| To listen to today's episode -- and to subscribe to the best daily NFL podcast out there -- be sure to click here. |
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| 2. Packers unveil new throwback uniform for 2021 |
| The Packers have apparently decided to take the "Green" part of "Green Bay" extra seriously this year and we know that because they unveiled a new throwback uniform on Thursday that's ALL GREEN. The Packers have worn throwback uniforms before, but surprisingly, this will mark the first time that they've worn a throwback uniform that includes any green. |
| Over the past 30 years, whenever the Packers have worn throwback uniforms, they've thrown back to their old Acme Packers uniforms, which are are blue and gold. |
| Here are a few details on this year's throwback, which is definitely not blue and gold: |
| The Packers are throwing back to the uniform that they wore between 1950 and 1953. However, the team did note that the new look isn't an exact replica of those older uniforms. The new look was inspired by those teams from the early 1950s. The biggest change will be the fact that the team is getting green pants. The Packers will be dumping their yellow pants and wearing green ones to match their green jersey tops. Basically, they will be wearing all green, which means this uniform combination could also double as an awesome St. Patrick's Day costume. The stripes on the jerseys will also be changing. The Packers usually have two gold stripes on their sleeves with a white striped sandwiched in the middle, but for the throwbacks, they'll be dumping the white stripe. |
| You can see pictures of the new uniform by clicking here and if you do click over, the first thing you'll probably notice is that it looks like the Packers are borrowing their new uniform from the Oregon Ducks. |
| It's not clear how many times the Packers will be wearing their new throwback, but we do know that the uniform will be making its debut on Oct. 24 in a Week 7 home game against Washington. |
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| 3. Aaron Rodgers reveals how close he was to retiring |
| When Aaron Rodgers held his first press conference of training camp back on July 28, he casually mentioned that he had thought about retiring instead of playing for the Packers this year. |
| So how close was he to actually retiring? |
| The Packers quarterback offered a few more details on the Dan Le Batard & Friends Podcast this week and apparently, he was on the fence about retiring until the last possible second. |
| "I mean, I felt going into the weekend before camp that I was 50/50," Rodgers said. "I don't care if people don't believe that. That's true. There were some things that got me to 50/50 for sure, and you know I spent a couple of days in silence and meditation and contemplation and really felt like that I should come back. There's a lot of opportunities for growth and exciting things in Green Bay and that felt like the right thing to do." |
| Also, he gets to wear those sweet new throwback uniforms and I'm not saying that's why he came back, but getting a chance to wear an awesome new uniform would definitely be enough to lure me back. |
| In other Aaron Rodgers news: |
| The quarterback doesn't want a farewell tour. There's a good chance that the 2021 season could be Rodgers' final year in Green Bay, but despite that, the reigning NFL MVP made it clear this week that he doesn't want any sort of farewell tour. Rodgers explains all that Clay Matthews stuff. Last weekend, Rodgers used his Instagram account to stump for Clay Matthews. The quarterback wanted to see the Packers bring his ex-teammate back to Green Bay. Although it seemed like a demand, Rodgers cleared a few things up this week and said that he was just having some fun because he had been talking to Matthews on FaceTime. |
| As for when you'll get to see Rodgers play in a game, that won't be coming until Week 1 because the Packers have decided that he won't be taking any snaps during the preseason. |
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| 4. 2021 All-NFC South team |
| If you're wondering how good the Buccaneers are going to be this year, all you have to do is take a look at our All-NFC South team. Jared Dubin went through all four rosters in the division to create one Super Team that consisted of 27 players (12 on offense, 12 on defense plus three special teams). Of the 27 players on the All-NFC South team, SIXTEEN OF THEM came from Tampa Bay. |
| With that in mind, let's take a look at the offense for the NFC South's all-division team, which features six Buccaneers players: |
QB: Tom Brady, Buccaneers
RB: Christian McCaffrey, Panthers
WR: Calvin Ridley, Falcons
WR: Mike Evans, Buccaneers
WR: Chris Godwin, Buccaneers
TE: Kyle Pitts, Falcons
FLEX: Alvin Kamara, Saints
OT: Terron Armstead, Saints
OT: Tristan Wirfs, Buccaneers
OG: Ali Marpet, Buccaneers
OG: Chris Lindstrom, Falcons
C: Ryan Jensen, Buccaneers |
| The Panthers had the fewest players on the All-Division team with just four, including McCaffrey, who is listed above. |
| If you want to see the defensive side -- or the specialists -- on the NFC South's All-Division team, then be sure to click here. |
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| 5. FBI now involved in the Deshaun Watson case |
| With less than four weeks to go until the start of the NFL season, Deshaun Watson's football future is still up in the air and it's starting to look like his case won't be figured out anytime soon after it took another twist on Wednesday. |
| The FBI is now involved in the investigation, however, it's still unclear what their role is. Watson is currently facing 22 separate civil lawsuits that all allege sexual misconduct and/or assault and the man representing those 22 women, Tony Buzbee, says that the FBI is involved in the case because they're investigating Watson. |
| "He said to me [the FBI agent], he's like, 'look, what I've heard is that most of the reachouts occurred via the internet which creates jurisdiction for us,'" Buzbee told Amy Dash of LeagueofJustice.com. "But then I understand there were these two women that were from out of state, which obviously creates more jurisdiction as well." |
| Basically, if Watson reached out to the women over the internet trying to solicit sex, then the FBI would get involved. However, like everything in this case, there's two sides to the story. |
| Watson's attorney, Rusty Hardin, confirmed that the FBI is now involved in the investigation, but he says it has nothing to do with Watson. According to Hardin, the FBI is only investigating the case to try and figure out if one of Watson's accusers tried to extort him. |
| "In April, the FBI came to us and told us they were investigating a matter as to whether one of Mr. [Tony] Buzbee's clients had committed extortion in the way they were demanding money from Deshaun or what they would do if they didn't pay it," Hardin said in a news conference on Wednesday, via ESPN.com. |
| According to Hardin, the FBI definitely wasn't investigating Watson as Buzbee claims. |
| "We were not the ones who contacted them; they contacted us," Hardin said. "We talked to [the FBI]. We even let them interview Deshaun -- and if y'all can find a lawyer that will let his client talk to the FBI if the lawyer had thought his client had done anything wrong or had any exposure, then I'll be very, very surprised." |
| As the season gets closer and closer, it's becoming much harder to see Watson playing this year. The Texans are going to have a hard time pulling off a trade as it is, but when you add a possible FBI investigation, that's going to scare teams away. It's starting to feel like the only way the QB will play this season is if he somehow settles all 22 cases over the next four weeks. |
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| 6. Rapid-fire roundup |
| It's been a busy 24 hours in the NFL and since it's nearly impossible to keep track of everything that happened, I went ahead and put together a roundup for you. |
Josh Rosen goes unclaimed on waivers. In span of just three years, Rosen has gone from a first-round pick to a QB that no one wants. After being dumped by the 49ers this week, the 10th overall pick from the 2018 NFL Draft went unclaimed on waivers, which means he's now free to sign with any team. Vikings linebacker retires. After playing just one NFL season, Cameron Smith has decided to retire. The linebacker missed the entire 2020 season after undergoing surgery on a heart defect last August. The 2019 fifth-round pick was attempting to make a comeback this year, but decided to retire instead. Tom Brady wasn't talking about Ryan Tannehill. During an interview on HBO back in June, Brady referred to an unnamed NFL QB as a "mother f---er." Although we still don't know the identity of that QB, we do know it's not Tannehill and that's because Brady said as much on Wednesday. I tried to unravel this mystery last month -- details here -- and I'm 99% sure he was referring to Jimmy Garoppolo or Derek Carr.
Bills make first unofficial threat to leave Buffalo. It seems that negotiations between the Bills and city of Buffalo are already starting to get kind of contentious. Here's what a team spokesman said this week about a potential new stadium deal (via WIVB in Buffalo), "You can't really do plans and designs on things until you have a deal, and right now the City of Buffalo and the State [of New York] are going to have to decide if they want a team." That's a gentle way of saying if they don't want a team and won't give us a good deal, then we'll think about leaving. Sam Darnold could make his Panthers debut this week. The Panthers new QB didn't play in Carolina's first preseason game, but he might take the field on Saturday against Baltimore. Panthers coach Matt Rhule said he's "leaning" toward playing Darnold for one or two possessions. Justin Fields is healthy and will play this week. The Bears got a slight injury scare on Wednesday when Fields had to sit out of practice. However, not only is he already back at practice, but the team plans on playing him extensively against the Bills this weekend, according to coach Matt Nagy. |
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