Jeff Fisher said there were no excuses for the Rams" loss, but he found one anyway

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That was some 7-9 B.S.

Carlos Hyde rumbles, 49ers defense dominates Rams. The second game of the Monday night doubleheader was nothing to see ... unless you"re a 49ers fan. They pitched the only shutout of the week, embarrassing the Rams 28-0.

New city, same Rams. It"s year five for Jeff Fisher at the helm, and the Rams are still bad. They can"t get out of their way when it comes to penalties (10 last night), the offense is putrid and uninspired and the coach says there are "no excuses" in the same sentence he offers up an excuse.

The last team to get shutout in Week 1? The St. Louis Rams.

Blaine Gabbert had nearly as many rushing yards as Todd Gurley. On fewer carries too. At least the Rams had 431 yards of punting!

Rams sticking with Keenum. Jared Goff must be really bad if they"re not willing to try someone else after that performance.

Kevin Harlan had an amazing call on the man running on the field during Monday Night Football. A fan, possibly drunk, ran on the field during the 49ers-Rams season opener. Kevin Harlan offered up spectacular play-by-play.

Rams’ Aaron Donald ejected after scuffling with a 49er and making contact with a ref. It"s got to be frustrating being one of the game"s best players stuck on a team that is never going anywhere near the playoffs.

KAEPERNICK"S RESPONSE

Colin Kaepernick responds to Trent Dilfer comments. Trent Dilfer had pointed comments about Colin Kaepernick’s decision to kneel during the National Anthem. Kaepernick responded after the 49ers Week 1 win.

Colin Kaepernick’s protest is working. The ugly internet comments aside, a lot of people are actually thinking about what Kap is saying about how minorities are treated in America.

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STEELERS ROLL OVER WASHINGTON

Washington was a mess, and no match for the Steelers in 38-16 loss. Washington couldn’t get out of its own way, and the Steelers took advantage. For instance, Washington paid big money for Josh Norman, then let Antonio Brown demolish its second-best CB. Part of Washington"s problem was a schematic decision allowed Antonio Brown to feast on Bashaud Breeland while Josh Norman stood on the other side of the field.

Even Jay Gruden acknowledged that he got "outcoached." He added that there "could be merit" to the idea of letting Josh Norman cover a team"s best receiver. YA THINK???

Antonio Brown air thrusted 5 times, which was one too many to not get flagged. Five times was apparently too many.

Steelers linebacker Ryan Shazier suffered a knee injury. He says he"s fine, but Steelers fans are watching this situation nervously.

DeAngelo Williams is still a beast. The Steelers leaned on Williams for 26 carries and six receptions, and they got 143 rushing yards, two touchdowns and another 28 yards receiving. Not bad!

DISCIPLINE COMING FOR HEADSHOTS ON CAM

Roger Goodell acknowledged that the refs "missed at least one" illegal hit on Cam Newton. He added that discipline was coming. Oh, but he"s not willing to use replay to review head shots like that.

Panthers defend their handling of Cam Newton after repeated headshots. Of course they did.

FANTASY CORNER -- WAIVER WIRE

Fantasy football waiver wire: 5 quarterbacks to target for Week 2. Alex Smith would"ve given you a lot of points last week.

Fantasy football waiver wire: 5 running backs to look at for Week 2. The Ravens" backfield is still in committee mode, but Terrance West could be emerging as the guy.

Fantasy football waiver wire advice: Wide receiver rankings for Week 2. It"s never a bad idea to grab some receiver help.

Fantasy football waiver wire advice: Tight end rankings for Week 2. Disappointed in your tight end? Get a new one!

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Luis Enrique takes blame for shock Barcelona loss

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Barcelona (AFP) – Barca boss Luis Enrique admitted he must take responsibility for the Spanish champions’ shock home defeat to newly promoted Alaves after starting Lionel Messi and Luis Suarez on the bench.

Enrique made seven changes on Saturday after many of his squad returned to club duty after taking part in World Cup qualifiers around the world in the past week, whilst Messi was also struggling with a minor groin injury.

“I am the one ultimately responsible for all the bad things that happen,” said the Barca boss after suffering just his fifth home league defeat in three seasons in charge at the Camp Nou.

“Many of the changes came from the circumstances surrounding us, but we have 22 players and we are going to use everyone this season.”

As well as leaving out Messi and Suarez, Enrique changed his entire back four, whilst goalkeeper Jasper Cillessen and striker Paco Alcacer made their debuts.

Deyverson beat Cillessen from close range to hand Alaves a surprise lead before half-time, but Jeremy Mathieu brought Barca back into the game when he headed home Neymar’s corner a minute into the second-half.

Mathieu somehow then blasted wide when it seemed easier to score from another set-piece before Barca’s makeshift defence was caught out once more when Ibai Gomez slotted home the winner.

Enrique called upon Messi, Suarez and Andres Iniesta from the bench, but even they couldn’t break Alaves’s resistance as Messi fired wide deep into stoppage time.

“We lacked fluidity, precision and we were fragile in defence, which is one of the things that normally makes us strong,” added Enrique.

“The one positive is it is a time to reflect on what this team has won over the years. Everyone makes us favourites for everything, but it is not easy to win any game.”

Enrique is expected to revert back to his strongest line-up for Celtic’s visit to the Camp Nou to start their Champions League campaign.

The Scottish club will be high on confidence after thrashing old rivals Rangers 5-1 on Saturday.

“It’s clear it wasn’t our best game, they didn’t have many chances but they were very effective,” said midfielder Sergio Busquets.

“We lacked a spark, we lacked a lot of things. It is hard to say it is a deserved defeat because they also didn’t create a lot.

“Now we have to think about Celtic because the season rolls on.”

And Iniesta insisted Barca will have licked their wounds and learned the lesson in time for the visit of the Scottish champions.

“We have to do better in the next game in a different competition,” added the Spanish international. “As always when there is a defeat, we have to analyse it and correct it for the next game.”

The post Luis Enrique takes blame for shock Barcelona loss appeared first on World Soccer Talk.

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Mourinho points finger after Man Utd derby loss

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Manchester (United Kingdom) (AFP) – Manchester United manager Jose Mourinho singled out some of his players for stinging criticism following their 2-1 loss to derby rivals Manchester City.

The United manager hauled off Henrikh Mkhitaryan and Jesse Lingard at half-time and said it was only because he did not want to “destroy them” that he did not substitute them earlier.

But he saved his most trenchant remarks for centre-backs Daley Blind and, in particular, Eric Bailly, saying some players had shown signs they did not possess the requisite big-game temperament.

“We had problems with poor performances,” Mourinho told reporters at Old Trafford on Saturday.

“We lost the ball very, very easy. Even our central defenders, that were really top class until today, they lost easy balls.

“Back-passes, first-station passes, from Bailly to (Marouane) Fellaini, from Blind to (Paul) Pogba.

“We lost the ball in these kinds of positions. So it was not (just) Mickey (Mkhitaryan) and Jesse, it was much more than Mickey and Jesse.”

Pep Guardiola’s City took a deserved 15th-minute lead when Kevin De Bruyne beat Blind to Kelechi Iheanacho’s flick-on before steering a shot past David de Gea.

The same pair combined to double City’s lead, Iheanacho tapping in after De Bruyne’s low shot came back off the post.

An error from City’s debutant goalkeeper Claudio Bravo, who flapped at a deep free-kick from Wayne Rooney, allowed Zlatan Ibrahimovic to pull a goal back.

But although United improved following the half-time introductions of 18-year-old Marcus Rashford and Ander Herrera, they could not find an equaliser.

– ‘I respect him’ –

“What I told them at half-time was that for some of you, it looks like you are trying to do what I told you not to do,” said Mourinho.

“I told Bailly 20 times, never play a first-station ball. Never. Because this is where they want to press. Never do that. He did it 20 times during the game.

“I think really some of the boys, they felt the dimension of the game. Everything around the game — the derby, the big game, Man United-Man City, the focus, the attention — some of the guys felt it.

“It has nothing to do with inexperience or age because you have the kid (Rashford) then in the second half and the kid looks like he was playing in the Under-18s against Salford City.

“So it’s about the individual and every individual reacts to the dimension of the occasion in different ways. It’s difficult to predict.

“It only gets easier when you know the players very, very well. So probably in the next big game in the Premier League, I know who can accept the dimension of the game, which is very important.”

Mourinho blamed referee Mark Clattenburg for not awarding a penalty after a rash challenge on Rooney by Bravo.

Guardiola said he had not seen the incident, but revealed that Aleksandar Kolarov had lost a tooth during the game.

The left-back appeared to be struck in the face by Fellaini at one point, but Guardiola said he did not know what had happened.

The match had been billed as a showdown between Mourinho and Guardiola, who fought a ferocious running battle during their time as coaches of Real Madrid and Barcelona respectively.

The pair embraced before the match and Guardiola said he hoped future contests between the teams would not be discussed in terms of their personal relationship.

“I don’t know if he respects me, but I respect him a lot,” said the former Bayern Munich coach.

“We are fathers. I am a father, he’s a father, so I didn’t come here to see about the rivalry. He wants to win, I want to win.

“I beat him, he beats me. In the future I beat him, he beats me. It’s simple like that. We are adult people. When we see each other, sometimes we don’t agree about our opinions.

“Hopefully next time we play against United, people start to forget.”

The post Mourinho points finger after Man Utd derby loss appeared first on World Soccer Talk.

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UCF coach Scott Frost talks trash despite blowout loss to Michigan

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Give credit to Central Florida head coach Scott Frost for at least being able to see the silver lining in a bad situation. Actually, the Knights head coach might even be slightly delusional.

Though UCF lost to Michigan 51-14 on Saturday, Frost was boasting about what his team did better than the Wolverines.

“It’s hard to say when the score is what it is, but we came in here and out-hit those guys today,” Frost said after the game via MLive.com. “Standing on the sideline, there was no doubt who was hitting harder. Our guys came in hungry and wanting to do that. It’s rare you can come into Michigan and rush for 300 yards on them. They had to run a fly sweep in the fourth quarter to get to 100.

“I give our defense a ton of credit … there’s a lot to fix but there’s also a lot to really be excited about.”

Not many coaches would be so positive after a 37-point beatdown, but Frost is. Maybe his attitude and excitement will spill over to his players and help the program rebound from the loss. Though some would question whether it matters if you’re holding a team to around 100 yards rushing if you allow them 328 yards passing, but who’s really paying attention to the numbers? He better hope Jim Harbaugh doesn’t hear about the comments because you know how the Michigan coach is liable to react.

UCF is 1-1 after beating South Carolina State in its first game.

College Football – Larry Brown Sports
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Lyon suffer first home loss, Monaco stroll

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Paris (AFP) – Ten-man Lyon crashed to a “nightmarish” first home defeat at Parc OL as Bordeaux came from behind to claim a 3-1 victory, while Monaco are the early season pacesetters after crushing Lille 4-1.

Aldo Kalulu marked his first appearance of the season for Lyon with the opening goal inside two minutes, but Brazilian teenager Malcom replied for Bordeaux on the half hour.

Lyon captain Maxime Gonalons was sent off for a reckless challenge on the Bordeaux goalscorer midway through the second half and the visitors took full advantage as Gregory Sertic headed the visitors in front.

Jeremy Menez then sealed a third victory in four games for Jocelyn Gourvennec’s side in the dying stages with his first goal for his new club.

For Lyon, who were without Clement Grenier, Mathieu Valbuena and Nabil Fekir, it was their first loss at their new home since it opened in January and a second straight in the league following a shock 4-2 defeat at promoted Dijon last time out. 

Last year’s runners-up were then hit with the news that Alexandre Lacazette will miss Wednesday’s Champions League group game against Dinamo Zagreb after he limped off.

“The result and the circumstances are nightmarish because we’ve lost our first game at Parc OL, we’ve lost Maxime Gonalons to a red card and Alexandre Lacazette who is injured,” bemoaned Lyon coach Bruno Genesio.

“I’m responsible for leaving (Lacazette) on the pitch, and I’ll live with that. He’s a player who has been injured and sometimes there can be a relapse.”

Lacazette, who hobbled off at half-time during the Dijon debacle, had originally shaken off a knee injury to feature in a front three that included Rachid Ghezzal for the first time this term after a summer of stalled contract extension talks and rumours of a move.

– PSG suffer late draw –

The hosts enjoyed a dream start as Kalulu was the beneficiary of a fortunate deflection, the youngster tapping in after Sergi Darder’s attempted pass rolled invitingly into his path.

Mouctar Diakhaby, deputising in central defence, went close to doubling Lyon’s lead on 22 minutes when Cedric Carrasso tipped the youngster’s acrobatic effort onto the crossbar.

But Malcom drove a left-footed strike from the edge of the area to draw Bordeaux level on 33 minutes.

The 19-year-old was then left writhing around in agony after Gonalons caught him badly with a poor challenge that prompted the Lyon midfielder’s dismissal on 67 minutes.

And Bordeaux were ahead just four minutes later as Sertic glanced home a free-kick for his first goal in over two years, having missed most of the last campaign through injury.

The afternoon lurched from bad to worse for Lyon when Lacazette, the league’s leading scorer, limped off with more injury problems, and Menez completed a miserable afternoon for Lyon in the 90th minute as his deflected strike looped in. 

Monaco go into their midweek Champions League tie with Tottenham Hotspur in buoyant mood as goals from Djibril Sidibe, Adama Traore, Fabinho and Kamil Glik powered them past Lille, for whom Julian Palmieri scored a late consolation.  

On Friday, Paris Saint-Germain conceded an injury-time equaliser as they warmed up for their European clash next week against Arsenal with a disappointing 1-1 home draw with Saint-Etienne.

The big-spending Parisians looked set for all three points thanks to a second-half Lucas penalty, but Robert Beric popped up in the second minute of added-on time to somehow eke out an unlikely point for the visitors.

The post Lyon suffer first home loss, Monaco stroll appeared first on World Soccer Talk.

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Quartet of Jets QB’s look good, bad and Ugly in Loss to Giants

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By Glenn Naughton

 

In the days leading up to last night’s meeting with the New York Giants, Jets Head Coach Todd Bowles was peppered with questions in regards to which quarterbacks would play, when they would play and how much action they would see.  Bowles deflected, saying he would play starter Ryan Fitzpatrick and backup Geno Smith, but that it would be difficult to get three quarterbacks playing time with this being the team’s dress rehearsal.  By the time all was said and done, Bowles used not just three, but all four of his quarterbacks and the reviews were mixed.

Things kicked off with starter Ryan Fitzpatrick whose final stat line was underwhelming with 9 completions on 16 attempts for 76 yards and a touchdown.  There were no interceptions from the Jets’ unquestioned leader, but he did cough up a fumble when he held on to the ball too long on a play that saw former Jets defensive lineman Damon Harrison get the sack, forcing the Fitzpatrick fumble that was recovered by the Giants.

Best Play: Fitzpatrick’s 22-yard scoring strike to Eric Decker was a perfectly placed ball to the left side that sneaked over the defensive back and in to the arms of Decker who took it the final few yards for a touchdown.

Worst Play: On a throw that was more indicative of a much younger/inexperienced quarterback, Fitzpatrick unleashed a wildly thrown incompletion when faced with heavy pressure from the Giants.  It was clearly a desperation throw from Fitz into no-man’s-land that harmlessly hit the turf, but could have easily been a Giants interception.

It was an up and down night for Ryan Fitzpatrick against the Giants.

Close but no Cigar: Fitzpatrick lofted a deep ball down the right sideline to pre-season sensation Robbie Anderson.  Coverage was tight from the Giants cornerback with the trailing safety not far behind.  Looking up to locate the ball, Anderson appeared to break stride and lose a step, resulting in a ball that fell wasn’t caught, but likely would have been with a more experienced receiver on the other end of the Fitz pass.

Current back-up Geno Smith was up next, but trying to rate his brief outing isn’t easy.  Smith threw only five passes on a pair of three-and-outs.

Best Play: After completing a pair of quick, short passes to Bilal Powell and Jeremy Ross on his first drive, Smith fired a completion to Robby Anderson on an out route toward the left sideline that saw Anderson tap his left foot to stay in bounds after slightly bobbling the bullet from Smith.

Worst Play: Again, with so few attempts and only two incomplete passes, Smith didn’t have any particularly bad throws.  It was mostly check-downs and short stuff for Smith on this night.

Encouraging sign: One of Smith’s incomplete passes came while under pressure rolling to his left.  Smith showed awareness in flipping the ball out-of-bounds while outside the tackle box to avoid a loss of yards.  In year’s past, we’ve seen Smith take that type of play and run out-of-bounds and give away ground than getting rid of it.

Last week’s standout, Bryce Petty got the call after Smith’s five attempts and as with Fitzpatrick and Smith, it was a mixed bag.  Some very good, some not so good.  Petty’s final stat line read 5-10 for 59 yards with no touchdowns and an interception that was taken back the other way for a Giants touchdown.

Best Play: Before the interception, Petty had put together a pair of solid throws, the best one being a completion to Zach Sudfeld for a first down.  The Giants were able to get pressure on Petty from the back side.  Feeling the pressure, Petty scrambled to the right, keeping his eyes down the field and hitting Sudfeld with a pair of defenders in the area.  It was a good display of awareness, mobility, focus and accuracy.

Worst Play: Just two throws after the aforementioned play, Petty took what should have been a golden opportunity for a big gain and his inexperience showed.  The Jets set up a screen with Dakota Dozier and Craig Watts out front to block and little presence from Giants defenders, but with heavy pressure coming, Petty panicked, made the throw too early, and missed fullback Tommy Bohannon by a wide margin.  Instead of a big play, Petty saw his pass batted by a Giants linebacker, popping it up in the air for defensive lineman Kerry Wynn picked it out of the air and ran it back 73-yards for the score.

Jets Quarterback Bryce Petty failed to build on a strong week 2 performance.

Close but no Cigar II: As with Fitzpatrick, again it was Anderson on what could have been the receiving end of a big throw.  After managing to shake loose from a defender, Petty overthrew a wide open Anderson toward the left sideline on a throw that you just know he wanted back.  A completion in that spot would’ve been another chunk play for Petty, but the misfire won’t go unnoticed by Jets coaches.

Finally, it was the long-awaited debut of second-round draft choice Christian Hackenberg who started out hot before cooling off.  His first drive was a seven-play series the culminated with a gorgeous touchdown pass to Robby Anderson.  As reflected by his final line, Hackenberg did cool off after the hot start.

Best Play: There were actually a few throws to choose from on Hackenberg’s first drive, but the best would have to be his 16-yard completion to tight end Zach Sudfeld on a 3rd & 15.  Sudfeld was facing tight coverage over the middle but Hackenberg delivered a bullet where Sudfeld had to lay out to make the grab, but it wasn’t a ball that the defender would have a chance at.  It was an excellent throw the kept the drive alive that would end with a touchdown.

Worst Play: Playing from deep inside Jets territory, Hackenberg failed to recognize Giants defensive lineman Davon Coleman dropping back in to coverage over the middle, resulting in a Coleman deflection that was intercepted by safety Andrew Adams.  The Giants made the most of the turnover, scoring a touchdown that ended up being the difference.

Encouraging Sign II: Let’s face it, nobody knew if Hackenberg would see any reps at all in this game and his work in practice has been so limited that it would have been difficult to complain if he’d completely laid an egg.  As it turns out, he made a number of quality throws down the field and gave Jets fans a glimpse of some of the attributes that spurred Mike Maccagnan and company to make him their second-round choice in this year’s draft.

It was more bad than good for Jets signal callers, and a rather underwhelming pre-season this far for the most part.  Through three pre-season contests, Jets quarterbacks ratings are as follows:

Bryce Petty- 86.6

Ryan Fitzpatrick- 85.8

Geno Smith- 62

Christian Hackenberg- 55.5

The Jets will close out the preseason this Thursday night against the Eagles at Lincoln Financial Field in Philadelphia.

 

 

 

 

 

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Andrew Bogut rips officiating after Australia’s controversial loss to Spain

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Australia was denied a medal in the Olympic men’s basketball tournament by the narrowest of margins, and center Andrew Bogut was about as pleased as Ayesha Curry after an NBA Finals game.

After Australia’s 89-88 loss to Spain in the bronze medal game on Sunday (a contest that featured a questionable foul call against Patty Mills with 5.4 seconds remaining, sending Sergio Rodriguez to the line where he sank both free throws), Bogut went off on the officiating.

“Obviously we are disappointed, at times we felt we were outnumbered on the court for the majority of the game,” said Bogut, per John Ralph of the Herald Sun. “It felt like we were playing a different sport. The superman dived into me and the referees bought it.

“Some of them you could see on the tape how obvious they were,” he continued. “You tap these guys and they go flying and the referees bought it. We tried to adjust knowing what they were going to do but the last two fouls were tough on us.”

Bogut, who himself fouled out in less than 14 minutes of action, then lashed out at FIBA Basketball as a whole, per Hoops Heaven.

Andrew Bogut: "Questionable calls all game. That"s FIBA basketball. Wouldn"t expect anything less from the refs."

— Hoops_Heaven (@Hoops_Heaven) August 21, 2016

FIBA officials are known to call games a bit more stringently than their NBA counterparts, so Bogut probably isn’t accustomed to being called for the illegal screens and arm bars he usually gets away with. That said, the officiating was somewhat up and down this tournament, and for Australia to play as well as they did and still be denied a medal in the last five seconds of their final game has to be enormously frustrating.

All things considered, Bogut probably won’t be looking back on Rio with too many fond memories.

Image Credit: Jeff Swinger-USA TODAY Sports

H/T CBS Sports

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