👋 Good morning! Joel Embiid making this shot was the only fun part of last night’s Sixers game.

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Black Mondee: Some highlights from the NFL’s annual firing frenzy, which was quieter than usual…

There still may be other shoes to drop. For example, Dallas and Washington’s defensive coordinators seem to very much be on the hot seat and there was no announcement about either of them yesterday. Not everything happens on Black Mondee, after all.

From the Eagles’ perspective, the biggest news is that assistant general manager Alec Halaby will interview for the Dolphins job. Feels like they are gonna lose Halaby at some point here.

Elsewhere, Kevin Stefanski got fired in Cleveland while Andrew Berry kept his job. I do not know the inner workings of the Cleveland Browns even a little bit — Jimmy Haslam seems like a bit of a wild card — but I do not think Kevin Stefanski was the one who traded three first-round picks and then gave Deshaun Watson a fully-guaranteed five years and $230 million. Man, the ball was not lying on that contract.

Bo and EJ batted around the idea of Stefanski working for the Eagles. I am perhaps biased — Stefanski’s brother used to drive me home from school (flex) — but I think the St. Joe’s Prep alum is a very good offensive mind who was handed one of the worst situations you will ever see in the modern NFL. When Stefanski’s offenses have worked, he has married the run and pass much better than we have seen from the Eagles this season. If Kevin Patullo gets fired, sign me up for a year of Stefanski on The Kellen Moore Plan.

Maybe Stefanski does not want to work in the pressure-cooker of his hometown, and honestly, that might be for the best. When the Eagles offense underachieves, well, ask Kevin Patullo. And Stefanski might get one of the open head-coaching jobs elsewhere anyway. If that is the case, I just hope it is not with the Giants. He does seem like a classy guy, though, could be a good fit.

Next year’s Eagles opponents: We will be locked in on San Francisco the rest of the week, but with all of the division races over, we now have our full Eagles slate of opponents for next season.

Nine actual home games (for now) is a nice change-up, as is the AFC South. The Eagles’ three unique opponents: Chicago, Carolina, Pittsburgh. You will probably take that as well. No Lamar, no dreaded trip to Tampa.

That second part feels like a big deal. I was already rooting kinda hard against Tampa Bay this past weekend. I had just grown tired of Baker Mayfield talking trash while getting gifted a home playoff game for a .500 record. And what a perfect way for the Bucs to get eliminated, beating Carolina in the rain only to lose on the tiebreaker when Atlanta beat New Orleans. The NFC South, baby!

The Christian Dvorak extension: This is a controversial one.

Remember the “balloon contract” that 29-year-old Christian Dvorak signed in the offseason? That was one year, $5.25 million. The Flyers had to go high on the AAV to keep the term down, JJ Redick-style. Well, halfway through the season, the Orange and Black just signed Dvorak to a five-year, $25.75 million extension. Dvorak now has six balloons.

See? 🎈🎈🎈🎈🎈🎈

Not only that, Kevin Kurz reported that Dvorak received a full no-trade clause for the first two years of the extension and a limited trade clause for Years 3 and 4. Yowza.

Charlie’s initial post is here, but you should really let Bill and Charlie tell you how to feel.

Dvorak has been a very good pickup. He is on pace for a career-high 53 points. He is an excellent fit with Trevor Zegras, allowing Zegras to play the hybrid center/wing role that matches his skill-set. He is popular in the locker room and with Rick Tocchet. He wins faceoffs and kills penalties.

All that said, this deal feels very low-upside and high-downside. Not the combo you are looking for, when the best possible outcome is “fine.”

Dvorak is about to turn 30 in a few months. What happened to Danny Briere’s philosophy of wanting to extend players before they hit their primes? On a similar note, should you be paying for what looks like a career season? And does a Couturier-Dvorak-Cates center trio for the next few seasons seem all that inspiring?

To be clear, there is some context here. Centers are at a premium right now and there are not many available on the free-agent market. The cap is going up. This move probably is not a vote of confidence in the center pipeline (Jett Luchanko, Jack Nesbitt and Jack Berglund).

But man, five years? I have enjoyed watching Dvorak so far this season, but bad contracts are crippling in the NHL. I really hope this does not become one.

Rocco Becht: The second-biggest college football news of the Christmas break in my humble estimation, just behind Chip Kelly taking the offensive coordinator job at… Northwestern?

New Penn State coach Matt Campbell is bringing a ton of transfers with him to Happy Valley from Iowa State. But the most important one is the quarterback, and his name is Rocco Becht. Becht was a three-year starter for Campbell in Ames, one who threw for 64 touchdowns and 27 interceptions during that span. As one of the most accomplished quarterbacks in Ye Olde Transfer Portal, I am sure Penn State is paying Mr. Becht millions of dollars for his services.

One more cool note: Becht is the son of Delaware County’s Anthony Becht, who starred at Monsignor Bonner and West Virginia before a decade-long NFL career.

The Phillies’ new bench coach: Here he is.

Remember, the Phillies looked at their entire coaching staff and figured that they are a Bench Coach away. Mike Calitri, who is sticking around as fielding coordinator, was not Bench Coaching hard enough apparently.

I kid, I kid! Anyway, the worst-kept secret in the Delaware Valley was made official on Monday: Don Mattingly is The All-Important Bench Coach. Makes sense on multiple fronts: managerial experience, extensive history working with Rob Thomson in the Yankees organization, plus his son happens to be the general manager.

Is it weird that if the season goes south or if the Phillies flame out in the playoffs again, Donnie Baseball would be the obvious Rob Thomson replacement? Yes, but both Thomson and Mattingly seem to be saying all the right things. I will give Topper credit, he does seem very secure. This is not a thin-skinned person.

Mattingly was the Blue Jays’ bench coach the last three seasons. He apparently has a very good relationship with free agent Bo Bichette, as Tyler talked about on the pod here. Bichette is a terrible defensive shortstop that probably has to move to second base, but he is a legitimate righty bat that could provide protection for Bryce Harper and Kyle Schwarber. I would love Bo Bichette on the Phillies. If Bo Bichette becomes a Phillie, you will have 2,000 words on it in the next day’s newsy.

That said, I will believe the Phillies shelling out the type of money that Bichette commands when I see it. He is not gonna come here just because he likes Donnie Baseball.

Hospital Nuggets 125, Sixers 124 (OT): To immediately follow up your most encouraging three-game stretch of the season with one of the worst losses in the entire NBA this season is so Sixers it hurts.

Seriously, let this lady into the practice facility tomorrow. This is the only bell that should be associated with this franchise for the next 48 hours.

Now, is this just 1 of 82 and something we will not think about in two months? Probably. And did Denver have some of the flukiest shooting — 56 percent from the field, 47 percent from beyond the arc in regulation — you will ever see on an NBA court? Definitely. Some of those Zeke Nnaji shots will literally never happen again.

But I do not care, that is still a reprehensible loss. No Nikola Jokic, Jamal Murray, Aaron Gordon, Christian Braun, Cam Johnson, Tim Hardaway Jr. and Jonas Valanciunas for the Nuggets, who were on the second day of a back-to-back. That is almost their entire rotation! The Sixers seriously lost to that team with a rest advantage at home. They should be really embarrassed.

And the Sixers should be primarily embarrassed because for long stretches, they did not respect the game. The Basketball Gods rewarded the right team. Joel Embiid had two gross volleyball style turnovers in the first few minutes, a sign of where his head was at. And the Sixers’ perimeter defense was non-existent. No resistance at the point of attack against Peyton Watson and Jalen Pickett, mixed in with ridiculous overhelps leading to wide-open 3s on the weak side. All of it was bad.

But the Sixers still could have won, which brings up the second reason they should be embarrassed: Their crunch-time offensive execution was anemic. For 48 minutes, this was a defensive loss. But the last five? As bad as you can play offensively.

Due to some late VJ Edgecombe heroics, the Sixers got the game to overtime. And in overtime (and the final possession of regulation), Tyrese Maxey really struggled. Embiid could not handle a double-team to save his life, but hey, nice volleyball passes earlier. Embiid and Maxey had some good stretches at least, but the same cannot be said for Paul George. And Nick Nurse pressed every wrong button, including a terrible Edgecombe isolation that led to Bruce Brown’s game-winning basket in transition. Really bad Nurse game.

FAFO, as the kids say. That is what the Sixers did. They let up against a group of NBA players, and that group of NBA players beat them. Deserved outcome.

Also, Jared McCain is unplayable. He is missing open 3s, shooting five percent on runners and is target practice on defense. I am really bummed out watching him.

Some more UnionBall: This happened over the break and I would be remiss not to mention it.

Truly the most UnionBall offseason of all-time. Seriously, get Brad Pitt to reprise his role as… whoever replaced Ernst Tanner. And even if there is no Paul DePodesta equivalent, get Jonah Hill involved as well.

“We can’t replace Baribo, Wagner and Glesnes. Now, what me might be able to do is re-create them. Re-create them in the aggregate.”

Not only did the Union lose their leading goal-scorer (Baribo) and a fixture at center-back (Glesnes). Now, they lose maybe their best player and full-back (Wagner). Sky Sports reported two things about the deal:

As Tom Bogert pointed out, the Union signed Wagner in 2019 from the German third division for $70,000. He then made 149 appearances and cracked the MLS Best XI twice. Now, they sold him for $2.7 million. That’s UnionBall, baby. The machine never stops. Speaking of that, the Union also acquired 19-year-old defender Finn Sundstrom. I am predicting he gets sold for $5.5 million in 2030.

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🐱 One other small note I missed from over the break: Villanova is 12-2 overall (with a road and neutral loss to Top-10 teams) and 3-0 in the Big East. I do not think ‘Nova is a Final Four contender or anything — Michigan, who they lost to by 28 points, is on track to be an all-time college hoops team — but they would comfortably be in the Big Dance if it started today.

Nice job by Kevin Willard to build a decent roster out of scratch super late in the game. The Cats have a sophomore guard named Bryce Lindsay who is an incredible 3-point shooter. And yes, this is a tough look for Kyle Neptune.

As for tonight, Quitter Gauthier is back in town (7:00 p.m., NBC Sports Philly). BOOOOOOOOOOO!!!!!! Enjoy the Suite Takeover, everyone!

Your tentative Tuesday schedule at PHLY:

Let's make it a good one.

Rich Hofmann
Daily Newsletter Editor
PHLY SPORTS