👋 Good morning! I like the thing that the Flyers do when they score a bunch of goals in a very short amount of time.
That’s twice in the same week. I am not exactly Freddie “The Fog” Shero when it comes to puck knowledge, but if I were in Rick Tocchet’s shoes, I would tell my team to simply do that. — Rich Hofmann
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As always, you can reach me at [email protected]
Trivia Thursday
I know the Chargers do not play there anymore, but let’s do some Philly-San Diego trivia.
College hoops: After beating Penn State on a Juan “Young Pepe” Fernandez buzzer-beater, Fran Dunphy’s Owls lost a second-round NCAA Tournament game to Kawhi Leonard and San Diego State in double overtime. What year’s tourney did this game happen in?
Phillies: As we all remember, the Phils beat the Padres 4-1 in the 2022 NLCS. But how many of the four San Diego starting pitchers in that series do you remember?
Eagles: Phillip Rivers and the Chargers handed Chip Kelly his first-ever NFL loss in September 2013, a 33-30 shootout in Philly. What receiver did Rivers throw three touchdown passes to in that game at The Linc?
As always, answers at the bottom.
Darius Slay won’t be returning: And it’s for the dumbest reason possible.
The Bills claimed Big Play Slay off waivers, which was initially interesting because they have the exact same record as the Eagles. But the Bills have the tiebreaker on waiver claims, because they have a weaker strength of schedule. Ian RapSheet said the Birds put in a claim on Slay.
Congrats to the Buffalo Bills, who now get to benefit in more ways than one from the fact that they get to play JV football all season. What a racket.
Vic Fangio indicated that Adoree’ Jackson is CB2 moving forward at his presser yesterday. Speaking of that…
The coordinators speak: Kevin Patullo handled the question about his house getting egged nicely, I thought. Acknowledged it happened, said that it crossed a line, but did not dwell on it. I feel bad for him and his family.
Outside of that non-football note, Uncle Vic had the newsier of the coordinators’ availabilities. Some highlights…
Vic said that Marcus Epps is in contention to start on Monday opposite Reed Blankenship. He also said that Sydney Brown “was a lot like the rest of us, some good and some bad.”
Vic confirmed that Jalen Carter is dealing with a shoulder issue.
Vic took responsibility for not prepping the defense for the “quality and diversity” of the Bears’ run game.
Vic said he “probably should have gotten him in there for a few,” when asked about Jihaad Campbell’s goose egg. We will see what happens there.
Vic said that the Eagles have to prep for both Justin Herbert and Trey Lance. If Herbert plays, Vic thinks the Chargers will mostly be in shotgun and pistol to protect him.
Big week for Uncle Vic. He will be going up against Jim Harbaugh and Chargers offensive coordinator Greg Roman, who he worked with both at Stanford and with the 49ers from 2010 to 2014.
Hard Knocks, Episode 1 Review: I am caught up, and I have some #takes. And the guys also had a funny reaction pod.
Some quick notes:
Could HBO have picked a worse week to start filming? Two triumphant Dallas wins and two terrible Eagles losses, ugh.
Loved Ray Donovan calling the NFC East “the NFL’s marquee division.”
Hated how charming the coaches and players from the other teams came across. Brian Schottenheimer, in particular.
Like EJ, I am interested in Nick Sirianni’s office. We again saw the huge couch and also a fascinating plaque on his desk.
Jeffrey Lurie taking one bite of a crab cake at a tailgate was funny. When Mr. Lurie does grace the locals with his presence in the lots, he seems to enjoy playing some cornhole. Nothing more tailgate-y than tossing some bags.
This clip, after the huge miss on third down in the first half, reflected well on Jalen Hurts. There was in fact a miscommunication between Hurts and DeVonta Smith on the play, which they talked through. Jalen, while showing some emotion, then told the offensive line, “That’s a play I gotta make.”
Again, a good Jalen clip. Whenever the broadcast cuts to him on the sideline, he is usually alone and stoic. He was animated and accountable here, so maybe we just do not see that part. Might have been the most interesting clip in the entire episode, outside of Jaxson Dart talking about wind. Deja vu for HBO, who provided us with Ilya Bryzgalov’s “the universe!” monologue.
Flyers 5, Buffalo 2: Woooooo!!! Post-game pod is below.
As shown above, the Flyers scored three goals in less than a minute. They benefitted from Lindy Ruff (yes, he is back on the bench in Buffalo) challenging their first goal and whiffing. That means the Flyers got right back on the power play, which is a truly wonderful risk/reward for a challenge system. On that ensuing man-advantage, Trevor Zegras banked one off a guy’s skate for one of the luckier deflections you will see.
Similar to the Sixers last night, good night for the Orange and Black against a bad team at home. Travis Konecny and Matvei Michkov had productive nights. Sam Ersson stopped 27 of 29 shots. Nikita Grebenkin moved up to the Cates-Brink line in Tyson Foerster’s place, picking up an assist. And the guys stepped up for Zegras after Rasmus Dahlin boarded him.
The latest on Penn State: I feel bad for our Penn State friends, but this whole thing is tremendous content.
I am probably spending 40 percent of my current media diet on this Penn State coaching search. I cannot get enough of how much AD Pat Kraft seems to have screwed this thing up. If you want to tell me Penn State’s job is not the caliber of Ohio State or Michigan, I can buy that. But they are being treated like Purdue right now!
Just off the top of my head…
Curt Cignetti got extended at Indiana
Matt Rhule got extended at Nebraska
Kalani Sitake got extended by The Cookie Empire
Mike Elko, Eli Drinkwitz and Clark Lea got extended at their schools
Jeff Brohm is staying at Louisville
Bob Chesney, who seemed like a decent fit, got hired by UCLA
Brent Key got extended by Georgia Tech
Some of those names are not even that interesting for Penn State! Man, what a terrible look this whole thing has been. Kraft is seemingly getting half of the country’s coaches big raises.
Penn State will end up with a decent coach. Maybe the PA native Chesney can pull a “Manny Diaz at Temple.” Iowa State’s Matt Campbell seems like a rock-solid coach to me. Maybe there is a wild-card name like Brian Daboll. Maybe they stick with interim Terry Smith, even if that might signal the end of Kraft’s tenure.
But whoever that person is, they will have their work cut out for them. Penn State signed just two recruits yesterday! You can make up for some of that in the transfer portal, but man, this has not been a smooth process.
Sixers get fined: I am going to do something I do not do all that much, and that is give kudos to Josh Harris.
On Saturday, Joel Embiid was listed as out for Sunday’s game against the Hawks. But then on Sunday, the Sixers surprisingly upgraded him to questionable and then he played. That is a no-no from the league’s standpoint. Betting partners and opposing coaches are gonna complain when they are told a guy is out, and he is in fact not out. So, a $100,000 fine (which, in fairness, is spare change in between the couch cushions to Josh Harris) is completely fair.
But from the Sixers’ standpoint, it now seems clear that they are trying to under-promise and over-deliver when they do not even know if Embiid is gonna play. Listing him as questionable every night feels like a disservice to fans, particularly before home games. Maybe they could list him as doubtful, but I also see how this can be a tough situation to handle. They are under-promising and taking the occasional fine because of it. A small thing, but I do not mind it.
Two national stories that could affect the Sixers: Around the league…
(1) Chris Paul gets sent home from the Clippers: So, not a very fun retirement tour.
There was a time when you would have killed for The Point God on the Sixers, even past his prime. He would have solved so much on that 2019-20 team. But CP3 is washed and the Sixers have a million guards.
I only bring this up as your quarterly reminder that the Sixers own the Clippers’ unprotected first-round pick in 2028 and a lightly-protected pick swap in 2029. Conventional wisdom says the Clips will not bottom out, but they are currently 5-16 with the oldest, slowest team in the NBA. Who knows?
(2) Giannis wants out of Milwaukee: Giannis Antetokounmpo appears to want a trade. He is playing the leak game in hopes of not becoming the villain in Milwaukee.
How does this news directly affect the Sixers? Not a ton, they do not have the ammo to make that move. Obviously it would matter where Giannis ultimately lands, that is a league-altering move. He seems to want to play for the Knicks, which is a scary thought. But they realistically do not have the scratch, either. That would have to be a real force job.
A small thing, but for the Sixers, this trade would (likely) cross Milwaukee off as a team they would have to jockey with for playoff position this season. Bad roster over there.
Two PHLY stories that definitely have to do with the Sixers: Good ones from Derek and Kyle.
The Union pay up: Look at Jay Sugarman getting out the checkbook!
The Union paid a record transfer fee (for them, at least) of $4.5 million for 20-year-old Ghanaian striker Ezekiel Alladoh. Big boy at 6-foot-3 with some cool highlights.
Now, is it funny that the Union’s record transfer fee comes from a Swedish team nobody has ever heard of (IF Brommapojkarna) and that this guy appears to be scoring goals in front of empty parking lots? Yes, it’s Very Union. But the Union are undoubtedly a well-run team, so it would not be a surprise if Alladoh turns out to be awesome.
Alladoh signed for three years and there are club options in 2029 and 2030. And the beauty of soccer ownership is that if you make a shrewd bet here, you can sell the player in his mid-20s to some big-time European club in few years and make a nice profit.
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Golden State is in town (7:00 p.m., NBC Sports Philly and NBATV), but they are pretty banged up. No Steph, no Horford and Jimmy Butler is questionable. The Warriors have an even point differential that is pretty similar to the Sixers. That team feels far too dependent on old players to contend in this NBA.
Outside of that, huge Thursday night game with the Cowboys at the Lions. I am gonna need Dan Campbell and Jared Goff to get it together for one night and cook up a masterpiece for us. I was very complimentary of you a few weeks ago, Dan!
This will be me and my buddy watching this one.
Remember, Anthony and VG are live from Stateside Live! tomorrow. And there is a new BG show drops today! Catch it here.
Your tentative Thursday schedule at PHLY:
🦅 Brandon Graham Unblocked: 8:00 a.m.
🎙️ The Anthony Gargano Show: 9:00 a.m.
🦅 Eagles: 2:00 p.m.
🏒 Flyers: 4:00 p.m.
🎙️ Cuz’s Corner: 6:00 p.m.
🏀 Sixers: Pre and post-game
And oh yeah, the trivia answers:
2011
Yu Darvish (twice), Blake Snell, Joe Musgrove, Mike Clevinger
Eddie Royal
Let’s make it a good one.
Rich Hofmann
Daily Newsletter Editor
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