 | Check out the Top 10 Plays from the 2011-2012 Regular Season of the Orlando Magic! | From: NBA Views: 86862   716 ratings |
| Time: 03:49 | More in Sports |
Source: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UEhAz6K9kNU&feature=youtube_gdata
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Tuesday, August 21, 2012
Orlando Magic Top 10 Plays of the 2012 Season
Cowboys vs Chargers: Breaking Down San Diego's 28-20 Win
The Chargers may have defeated the Cowboys, but it's the preseason and the score doesn't matter. Tony Romo only played one quarter, and the Cowboys were up 10-0 when Philip Rivers and the other starters were done playing.
What's important are the little things like blocking, tackling and avoiding mental errors. After two preseason games, it is safe to say the Chargers desperately need Jared Gaither healthy, and they made a mistake not hedging their bet on the talented left tackle.
Rivers simply didn't have the protection to throw a deep pass and had to check the ball down to Ronnie Brown frequently. Rivers was efficient and completed 13 of 15 passes, but the two incomplete passes were intercepted by Brandon Carr.
Perhaps more concerning was that Rivers had only one completed pass fly further than 10 yards in the air, and it came with 10 seconds remaining in the first half.
On defense, the Chargers did a good job limiting the ground game. There's work to do in stopping the passing game, but until all-22 video is available, it's really difficult to determine what went wrong in coverage and we'll have to save that breakdown for another day.
Protection Issues
Offensive Personnel: 3 WR, 1 TE, 1 RB
Defensive Personnel: 3-4
This is the first interception Rivers threw.
The linebackers do a very good job of covering Antonio Gates and the other short options. The Cowboys rush four, and the Chargers should have no problem giving Rivers time to throw.
Unfortunately, Jeromey Clary and Mike Harris don't hold for long, and Rivers gets hit soon after he releases this deep pass intended for Robert Meachem.
Rivers made the correct decision, and it was not a matter of Rivers making a mistake. His other options were double covered, as you can see from this blurry still photo.
Probably because Rivers was under pressure and about to be hit, the pass was significantly under thrown. Meachem was open, as he had gotten behind the single coverage of Brandon Carr. The poor pass protection, coupled with a poor throw by Rivers, resulted in this interception.
Rivers is just a different quarterback under pressure, but not because he is making the wrong reads or even bad decisions.
Run Defense
Offensive Personnel: 2 WR, 1 TE, 1 RB, 1 FB
Defensive Personnel: 3-4
The key to this play for the Cowboys is the fullback getting a good block on the linebacker and the offensive line winning the battle at the line of scrimmage. Corey Liuget blows past his blocker, creating a two-on-one play. Shaun Phillips reads the play as a run.
Liuget won his battle against the offensive lineman, and it forces Felix Jones to try and bounce the play outside, where he hopes his fullback can block Phillips.
Phillips gets past the fullback quickly and stops Jones in the backfield for a four-yard loss. This is a great example of how the defensive line and linebacker can work together to stop the run.
Mike Harris: Not Ready
Offensive Personnel: 2 WR, 2 TE, 1 RB, 1 FB
Defensive Personnel: 3-4
The Cowboys rush only four, leaving the Chargers with plenty of offensive linemen to give Rivers protection for a deep throw. This play ends up being Victor Butler and his one career start against Chargers' undrafted rookie left tackle Harris.
Harris basically lets Butler collapse the pocket without making much contact and is three yards in front of Rivers. Rivers is supposed to be able to step up and throw here, but he'll probably have to move even if Harris stays engaged with Butler.
Notice that Butler has better pad level and has gotten into the chest of Harris. If Harris tries to sustain his block now, he will have to hold.
Butler quite easily pushes himself off of Harris while Rivers contemplates throwing to one of his deep receivers. With only four pass-rushers, everything deep is covered.
Rivers steps up in the pocket and takes a quick look at one of his check-down options. He doesn't even have enough time to look to his right and see Ronnie Brown wide open.
It's not Harris' fault that he's the starting left tackle, but he's not ready to start or even be a quality backup at this point. The Chargers need Gaither back in the worst way.
The Long Ball?
Offensive Personnel: 2 WR, 1 TE, 2 RB
Defensive Personnel: Dime
With ten seconds left in the half, Rivers completed his longest pass of the game.
Notice Harris again gets beat, this time by Sean Lissemore, who has never started an NFL game and has 2.5 sacks in his two-year career.
Rivers forced the throw into Malcom Floyd between three defenders. In this type of soft coverage situation, Rivers got away with this type of throw. In a situation where the defense is rushing more than four, Rviers will never have time to get the ball deep as long as Harris remains the starting at left tackle.
The Chargers spent the offseason adding weapons on offense, but it might have been wiser to spend the offseason protecting the guy that will get them the ball.
Source: http://bleacherreport.com/articles/1306279-cowboys-vs-chargers-breaking-down-san-diegos-28-20-win
Five must-see week one college football games
The first weekend of college football is not historically loaded with must-see matchups.
This year, however, there are a handful of games that will be worth setting aside time to watch.
And this is a good thing.
Sometimes a college football fan wants to see what their favorite team has to offer after an offseason of turnover. Said fan looks forward to blocking out part of the weekend to see a highly touted true freshman, a conference foes handling of a lesser team, or just meaningful regular season football in general.
Gone are the days of one “Kickoff Classic” at a neutral field and in are the days of a Thursday-through-Monday weekend slate of games. An added bonus is that none of the games below have kickoffs that conflict with each other.
Here are five games that could end up being must-see college football on opening weekend:
1. #8 Michigan v. #2 Alabama
Dallas Cowboys Stadium
Saturday, Sept. 1st
8pm EST
ABC
This is similar to the LSU versus Orego...
This year, however, there are a handful of games that will be worth setting aside time to watch.
And this is a good thing.
Sometimes a college football fan wants to see what their favorite team has to offer after an offseason of turnover. Said fan looks forward to blocking out part of the weekend to see a highly touted true freshman, a conference foes handling of a lesser team, or just meaningful regular season football in general.
Gone are the days of one “Kickoff Classic” at a neutral field and in are the days of a Thursday-through-Monday weekend slate of games. An added bonus is that none of the games below have kickoffs that conflict with each other.
Here are five games that could end up being must-see college football on opening weekend:
1. #8 Michigan v. #2 Alabama
Dallas Cowboys Stadium
Saturday, Sept. 1st
8pm EST
ABC
This is similar to the LSU versus Orego...
NBA Rooks: Damian Lillard
 | NBA Rooks spends time with Portland first-rounder Damian Lillard, who opened eyes in July as the co-MVP of the Las Vegas Summer League. | From: NBA Views: 44780 526 ratings |
| Time: 04:09 | More in Sports |
Source: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NQz4I_dL1yk&feature=youtube_gdata
Kelly Shoppach reportedly sent text message to Red Sox owners from Adrian Gonzalez?s phone
Adrian Gonzalez denied the information in a Yahoo! Sports report that said he and other prominent Red Sox players blasted manager Bobby Valentine to the owners, and it looks like he was partially truthful.
Yahoo!?s Jeff Passan reported that some Red Sox players met with the owners on July 26 to complain about Bobby Valentine after Adrian Gonzalez sent a text message on behalf of the team. Gonzalez admitted a meeting took place, but he denied the information in the report.
?The source is inaccurate,? Gonzalez said on Wednesday. ?It says that I was animated and one of the most vocal guys in the meeting, and that?s false. I had a discussion with Bobby about that today. He knows exactly what happened. He knows the truth. I don?t know why this all of a sudden becomes something because this happened a month ago. So it?s all been cleared, and now somebody decides to write it. It?s already old.?
Gonzalez may have been partially telling the truth when he said the source w...
Yahoo!?s Jeff Passan reported that some Red Sox players met with the owners on July 26 to complain about Bobby Valentine after Adrian Gonzalez sent a text message on behalf of the team. Gonzalez admitted a meeting took place, but he denied the information in the report.
?The source is inaccurate,? Gonzalez said on Wednesday. ?It says that I was animated and one of the most vocal guys in the meeting, and that?s false. I had a discussion with Bobby about that today. He knows exactly what happened. He knows the truth. I don?t know why this all of a sudden becomes something because this happened a month ago. So it?s all been cleared, and now somebody decides to write it. It?s already old.?
Gonzalez may have been partially telling the truth when he said the source w...
Monday, August 20, 2012
Meyer Likes Buckeyes' Progress So Far
Urban Meyer opened the third week of his first Ohio State football preseason camp with an update for local reporters covering a variety of topics.
The head coach was happy to report another pair of young Buckeyes earned their rite of passage when quarterback Cardale Jones and running back Warren Ball had the black stripes removed from their helmets, signifying they are considered full-fledged members of the team.
"I didn't recruit Warren Hall, but the more I get to know him I'm really glad he's a Buckeye," Meyer said of the Columbus native, who committed to Ohio State when Jim Tressel was still the team's head coach. "He's a tough, hard runnner."
The head coach called Jones, "a guy who has really made as much progress as anybody" after being "a nonfactor really for about five or six months."
Overall, Meyer said he feels good about the progress his team has made this month as it works to implement a new offense and an overall new team attitude. Such is no doubt enhanced by what he described as an overall healthy month for the squad with only one significant injury that has been revealed.
"It's been unbelievable with the way we've practiced," he said as he knocked on the wooden table in front of him.
That would be freshman offensive lineman Joey O'Connor, who is sidelined for the season after having left knee surgery last week.
Zach Domicone, a senior safety expected to have an impact on special teams, also had knee surgery but only an arthroscopic procedure that is expected to sideline him for about two weeks.
Meyer also identified starting sophomore linebacker Ryan Shazier as having been "dinged" but being on the mend and noted freshman wide receiver Frank Epitropoulos has missed a significant amount of the month with a hamstring problem.
Tight end Jeff Heuerman was slowed for a week by a similar ailment, but the head coach said he is back at it now. In the meantime, redshirt freshman Nick Vannett was able to turn the heads of the coaching staff with his play.
"Heuerman had a little bit of a tug on his hamstring but now he's back to full speed, so it's 50-50 right now," Meyer said. "Heuerman is a little better point-of-attack blocker, but he's also got skill catching the ball. Right now I can't really name a starter because I don't know who it is."
Additionally, the competition between senior Reid Fragel and freshman Taylor Decker continues at right tackle, where no starter has been determined yet.
"We're trying," he said. "One looks like a freshman at times and one looks like a guy who just moved from tight end."
He wants to see more toughness at the position.
"It's fresh in my mind that we got slapped around a little bit at the position today," Meyer said.
He described the state of the offense as "fairly competent" after the first-team offense performed well against the second-team defense in a scrimmage last Saturday.
"I can't say great because I don't see that now, but I see competency," Meyer said. "I see the ball being snapped correctly, I see the offensive line protecting and doing the right things. The skill is just starting to improve, and it didn't look that way for the first two weeks of the spring."
The coach also turned a few heads when he revealed sophomore quarterback Braxton Miller threw for 350 yards in a scrimmage.
Now the team has started to point toward the Sept. 1 opener against Miami (Ohio).
"We're going to go try to win a game now. Today was all game-planning. We do a lot of scout work against each other, scouting what we're going to see that first game. It's much different this week than it was last week."
The head coach was happy to report another pair of young Buckeyes earned their rite of passage when quarterback Cardale Jones and running back Warren Ball had the black stripes removed from their helmets, signifying they are considered full-fledged members of the team.
"I didn't recruit Warren Hall, but the more I get to know him I'm really glad he's a Buckeye," Meyer said of the Columbus native, who committed to Ohio State when Jim Tressel was still the team's head coach. "He's a tough, hard runnner."
The head coach called Jones, "a guy who has really made as much progress as anybody" after being "a nonfactor really for about five or six months."
Overall, Meyer said he feels good about the progress his team has made this month as it works to implement a new offense and an overall new team attitude. Such is no doubt enhanced by what he described as an overall healthy month for the squad with only one significant injury that has been revealed.
"It's been unbelievable with the way we've practiced," he said as he knocked on the wooden table in front of him.
That would be freshman offensive lineman Joey O'Connor, who is sidelined for the season after having left knee surgery last week.
Zach Domicone, a senior safety expected to have an impact on special teams, also had knee surgery but only an arthroscopic procedure that is expected to sideline him for about two weeks.
Meyer also identified starting sophomore linebacker Ryan Shazier as having been "dinged" but being on the mend and noted freshman wide receiver Frank Epitropoulos has missed a significant amount of the month with a hamstring problem.
Tight end Jeff Heuerman was slowed for a week by a similar ailment, but the head coach said he is back at it now. In the meantime, redshirt freshman Nick Vannett was able to turn the heads of the coaching staff with his play.
"Heuerman had a little bit of a tug on his hamstring but now he's back to full speed, so it's 50-50 right now," Meyer said. "Heuerman is a little better point-of-attack blocker, but he's also got skill catching the ball. Right now I can't really name a starter because I don't know who it is."
Additionally, the competition between senior Reid Fragel and freshman Taylor Decker continues at right tackle, where no starter has been determined yet.
"We're trying," he said. "One looks like a freshman at times and one looks like a guy who just moved from tight end."
He wants to see more toughness at the position.
"It's fresh in my mind that we got slapped around a little bit at the position today," Meyer said.
He described the state of the offense as "fairly competent" after the first-team offense performed well against the second-team defense in a scrimmage last Saturday.
"I can't say great because I don't see that now, but I see competency," Meyer said. "I see the ball being snapped correctly, I see the offensive line protecting and doing the right things. The skill is just starting to improve, and it didn't look that way for the first two weeks of the spring."
The coach also turned a few heads when he revealed sophomore quarterback Braxton Miller threw for 350 yards in a scrimmage.
Now the team has started to point toward the Sept. 1 opener against Miami (Ohio).
"We're going to go try to win a game now. Today was all game-planning. We do a lot of scout work against each other, scouting what we're going to see that first game. It's much different this week than it was last week."
Chris Perez Argued with an A?s Fan, Then Told Him to Get His D*** out of His Mouth
Fan tries to talk trash to Cleveland pitcher. Gets undressed pretty badly.
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