Norv Turner"s resignation forces Vikings to find new plan yet again

NFL Network"s Eric Davis on where the Vikes "O" following Norv Turner"s resignation - 11/2/16

USA TODAY Sports" Lorenzo Reyes looks at the three biggest story lines heading into this week. USA TODAY Sports

Minnesota Vikings quarterback Sam Bradford (8) sits on the bench in the fourth quarter against the Carolina Panthers at Bank of America Stadium.(Photo: Jeremy Brevard, USA TODAY Sports)

EDEN PRAIRIE, Minn. There was a sense within the Minnesota Vikings organization dating back to at least January that this might be Norv Turners final season in coaching.

That was around the same time the Vikings hired Pat Shurmur to coach tight ends, giving the appearance and there was a lot of truth to it that Shurmur was the likely offensive coordinator in waiting whenever Turner, 64, or the team moved on.

What nobody anticipated was the succession plan would take hold now, with the Vikings coming off consecutive ugly losses, but still owning the NFCs second-best record at 5-2 as they prepare on a short week for Sundays divisional home game against the Detroit Lions.

Turners resignation not a retirement, at least not yet early Wednesday morning was a shock to everybody, including Vikings coach Mike Zimmer, Shurmur and players, most of whom found out about the move from media reports before they arrived at the facility.

Know this about Zimmer: Hes a defensive-minded coach whos as hands-off with his offense as anybody. Every head coach makes recommendations during the week, as they should, but Zimmer stays out of it on game day, doesnt overrule play calls, etc.

I would say that since Norv has been here, I"ve given him almost 100%, total free will in everything that they"ve done offensively, Zimmer told reporters.

Its clear there were differences of opinion about how the Vikings offense could get back to playing the way it was before duds the past two weeks at Philadelphia and Chicago. Injuries have decimated the O-line, leaving little way to solve the problems through lineup changes.

But differences arent unusual in the NFL, especially when things arent going well. Its just rare they run off a coach as accomplished as Turner, who told NFL Media: I dont want anyone to think I am bailing. It just wasnt working.

Frankly, the whole thing is bizarre. But if Turner reached a point he didnt feel he could be all-in on the Vikings direction, he was right when he said (in Zimmers recounting of their lengthy meeting) this was the best thing for both Turner and the team.

Know this about Shurmur: He was one of the key voices in the Vikings discussion about a potential trade for Sam Bradford, who had Shurmur as his coordinator for stretches in both St. Louis and Philadelphia, at times calling plays in place of Chip Kelly with the Eagles last season.

The Vikings watched all of Bradfords tape after Teddy Bridgewaters devastating knee injury late in the preseason. But it was Shurmurs knowledge of Bradfords strengths and weaknesses, and in turn how to tailor the offense accordingly, that buoyed the Vikings confidence they could make things work with virtually no preparation time.

The Bradford trade was bizarre by NFL standards, too, but it seemed to be working pretty well until the O-line issues really caught up to the Vikings the past couple weeks. They havent been able to run the ball all season, even before former MVP Adrian Peterson (and, more recent, Jerick McKinnon) went down, which only exacerbates things in protection.

I think that no matter what the scheme is, we have to go out there and we have to execute, Bradford said.We have to be better than what we have the last couple weeks.

Shurmur doesnt have time to overhaul Turners Air Coryell derivative offense, but he figures to put his own spin on it that reflects his roots in the short passing game of the West Coast offense and Kellys up-tempo, diverse run scheme.

The Vikings were probably going this direction eventually. The only difference is theyre doing it at an abnormal time, but then again, what about their season has been normal?

***

Follow Tom Pelissero on Twitter @TomPelissero

PHOTOS: Best individual performances of NFL season

Autoplay

Show Thumbnails

Show Captions

Last SlideNext Slide

Source: http://www.usatoday.com/story/sports/nfl/vikings/2016/11/02/norv-turner-resignation-analysis-minnesota-pat-shurmur/93206764/

Continue Reading ..

FBI Surprises With Files on Bill Clinton "01 Pardon of Marc Rich - Bloomberg Politics

Your World 11/01/16 FBI surprises again, shares files on Bill Clinton pardon of Marc Rich

The FBI unexpectedly released 129 pages of documents related to an investigation closed without charges in 2005 into President Bill Clintons pardon of Marc Rich, who had been married to a wealthy Democratic donor.

The file was posted online Monday but received little attention until the FBI noted it in a tweet on Tuesday afternoon. It comes as Director James Comey faces fire from Democrats and even some Republicans for releasing information about his renewed investigation into Hillary Clintons use of e-mail.

Read full article

Source: http://www.bloomberg.com/politics/trackers/2016-11-01/fbi-surprises-with-files-on-bill-clinton-01-pardon-of-marc-rich

Continue Reading ..

Stephanie McMahon Wants Ronda Rousey For WWE

Ronda Rousey Discusses Retirement From UFC
11/3/2016 12:45 AM PDT BY TMZ STAFF

EXCLUSIVE

Ronda Rousey"s MMA career is almost over, but her PRO WRESTLING career could just be getting started -- because Stephanie McMahon says she"s got her sights set on the UFC legend.

Vince"s daughter -- who also happens to be a minority owner and a HUGE honcho with the company -- was in NYC when we asked if the WWE had already begun the courting process.

FYI, Rousey is a BIG pro wrestling fan -- and not only made a cameo last year -- but regularly attends pro wrestling events around the country.

And with Stephanie telling us the WWE is setting a goal to have an all-women"s main event at WrestleMania one day ... we can"t think of a better headliner.

Source: http://www.tmz.com/2016/11/03/stephanie-mcmahon-ronda-rousey-wwe/

Continue Reading ..

FC Barcelona to play friendlies in India

FC Barcelona training ahead of Manchester City - FC Barcelona

Barcelona: FC Barcelonas first team will travel to India in order to play friendly matches, according to club president Josep Maria Bartomeu.

While cricket still remains the main sport in India, a number of top European football clubs have taken an interest in the South Asian nation, due to the growing popularity of football in the country.

The likes of Atletico Madrid and Liverpool FC have already made joint ventures with local sides.

Atletico Madrid have bought a stake in Indian Super League (ISL) side Atletico de Kolkata. The Kolkata-based franchise conducts their pre-season training in Spain with the help of the Rojiblancos.

Meanwhile, Liverpool FC have a joint venture with I-League side DSK Shivajians, to give technical help to their youth academy Liverpool International Academy.

German giants Bayern Munich have an academy in India, and have even taken promising 11-year-old Chandan Nayak to Germany for further training. Bayern have also played a few friendlies in India, with the most prominent of them being legendary German goalkeeper Oliver Kahns farewell match against local giants Mohun Bagan, in 2006.

Following the success of these two clubs, Barcelona are also ready to increase their presence in India. According to reports, the Blaugrana are also eager to bring their first team squad to India, in order to play a few friendly matches during the off-season.

However, Barcelona already have a packed schedule, and would only be able to come to India after a couple of years.

The Barca president also revealed that the club spends around 20 million on their famous L Masia academy, every year.

Source: http://www.deccanchronicle.com/sports/football/011116/fc-barcelona-to-play-friendlies-in-india.html

Continue Reading ..

NFL trade deadline passes without move from Vikings

Trades we"d like to see happen at deadline - NFL.( Broncos Acquire Vernon Davis)

The NFL trade deadline passed Tuesday without a move from theVikings.

Minnesota needs help on the offensive line and in the running game. However, the Vikings have just $445,692 of salary-cap room, making any possible deal difficult.

The Vikings made a big move Sept. 3 when they acquired quarterback Sam Bradford from Philadelphia for first- and fourth-round draft choices. They also signed tackle Jake Long as a free agent Oct. 11, and he got his first start in Mondays 20-10 loss at Chicago.

Since the signing of Long, Minnesotas injury-riddled offensive line has continued to struggle. Coach Mike Zimmer, however, has said the Vikings are prepared to go with the players they have.

The Vikings are averaging just 70.3 yards agame on the ground, second-worst in the NFL. Running back Adrian Peterson, though, could be back in December after needing surgery to repair a torn meniscus in his knee in September.

Source: http://www.twincities.com/2016/11/01/nfl-trade-deadline-passes-without-vikings-making-a-deal/

Continue Reading ..

Evaluating Addison Russell"s defense

CSN"s Kelly Crull Chats With Addison Russell

Tonight, the Cubs will take the field for Game 7 of the World Series. After falling behind Cleveland 3-1, Chicago is two-thirds of a way to a comeback, thanks largely to the immensely talented core that brought it this far. Wunderkinds such as Kris Bryant, Anthony Rizzo, and Addison Russell helped the Cubs take the league by storm in 2016, and they should continue to dominate for years to come.

At this point, seemingly everyone knows about Bryant and Rizzo. Russell, by contrast, has gone relatively under the radar, despite excelling at a younger age than both of them. As a 21-year-old rookie in 2015, Russell compiled 3.0 fWAR over 523 plate appearances; as a 22-year-old sophomore in 2016, he followed that up with 3.9 fWAR in 598 trips to the dish. In case you dont have a nose for these things, that adds up to 6.9 fWAR over two years a sum that inspires a great deal of joy in any baseball fan, no matter their allegiance.

But beneath that success lies a little bit of uncertainty. In FanGraphs judgment, Russell has built his value on his play in the field, rather than at the plate. While the latter is generally quite easy to measure wRC+ tells us that Russells hit at a level 7 percent worse than average in his two major-league campaigns the former can cause some problems, which is where our story begins.

Lets take a step back for a moment. Since the Athletics drafted him back in 2012, Russells defense has amazed some scouts and left others a little unsatisfied. That offseason, BPs Jason Parks wrote that he had plus-plus actions at shortstop. Two years later, his successor Nick J. Faleris had a slightly more pessimistic take, asserting that Russell needed to slow down [his] game in the field yet still crediting him for solid actions at short. MLB.coms Jonathan Mayo followed the opposite trajectory in his analysis: In 2012, he wrote that Russell showed good hands, a strong arm and enough range; by 2014, he felt that Russell had erased any concerns about his long-term future as a shortstop. A consensus didnt really exist nobody thought Russell was a defensive slouch, but opinions diverged on whether hed stand out in the field.

That was then. This is now, when Russell has two years of experience in the majors. In 2015, he spent most of his time at second, thanks to Starlin Castros presence; in 2016, with Castro in New York, Russell stayed at short the entire year. All told, hes accrued 746.0 innings as a second baseman and 1,734.0 innings as a shortstop, for a total of 2,480.0 frames of big-league fielding. And what has he accomplished in that time? Well, that depends on where you look:

Metric2BSSTotalDRS9.029.038.0UZR7.321.528.8FRAA-2.510.68.1

H/t to Rob McQuown for hooking me up with Russells FRAA positional splits. Also, my apologies to Russell Carleton for the vague subject line.

As with the scouting, we cant find an agreement. Both DRS and UZR gauge Russell as an elite defender, one of the best perhaps THE best in all of baseball. FRAA, on the other hand, thinks hes much more pedestrian. The difference between the former two and the latter amounts to at least two wins, which is impossible to ignore. How should we respond to it, though?

When I encounter a dilemma such as this, I usually turn to FanGraphs Inside Edge data. The companys scouts evaluate each ball hit to a defender, putting it into one of six buckets impossible (those with a 0 percent chance of turning into an out*), remote (1-10 percent), unlikely (10-40 percent), even (40-60 percent), likely (60-90 percent), and routine (90-100 percent). These numbers can act as an informal mediator, sorting out the differences when defensive metrics dont see eye-to-eye.

*In the five-year history of Inside Edge data, no fielder has ever converted an impossible play. Evidently, the name means something.

Well start with Russells time at second base, to see how well the Inside Edge scouts thought he performed at a comparatively simple position:

PlayRemoteUnlikelyEvenLikelyRoutineRussell %15.0%33.3%100.0%87.5%97.3%MLB %3.1%25.8%50.0%77.5%98.0%Russell Rank1t-91425

Rankings among 27 second baseman with 700+ innings in 2015.

Again, its a mixed bag. Routine plays make up the vast majority of all opportunities that fielders face, so Russells failure there only Kolten Wong and Rougned Odor converted them at a lower rate would seem to seal his fate. But in every other play that falls outside that category, Russell soared high. He paired a breathtaking ability for the extraordinary with a disappointing (relative) inability for the ordinary.

Perhaps if we turn our attention to Russells time as a shortstop, things will become clearer?

PlayRemoteUnlikelyEvenLikelyRoutineRussell %10.0%31.6%42.9%83.3%97.7%MLB %2.7%24.9%44.5%73.1%97.0%Russell Rank4101629

Rankings among 22 shortstops with 1,500+ innings in 2015-16.

This elucidates things by quite a bit. At short, Russell has done much better than average on the routine plays, while also converting a solid amount of plays on the other end of the spectrum. Still, a quandary remains why hasnt Russell done better on the b***s in the middle? And wouldnt a truly superb defensive shortstop place higher than ninth in routine plays?

As much as wed like it to, the Inside Edge data cant guide us to a firm conclusion. Even if we cherry-pick some visual examples from MLB.coms archives, the arguments dont fade. Want a phenomenal catch? Take a look at this one:

How about a slick diving grab? Try this one on for size:

On the other side, maybe your masochistic tastes push you toward an errant throw, such as this one:

Or perhaps youd prefer a headstrong charge to try and catch a dying quail, as demonstrated below:

Russell is a professional baseball player, so he makes some sweet plays. Russell is a human being, so he messes up sometimes. The former tends to outweigh the latter, but it might not do so all the time. In other words, GIF-based analysis wont tell us anything we didnt already know.

So whats our answer is Russell an elite fielder, or just a decent one? At the end of the day, I think we should hew to the principle of the golden mean, as laid out by the brilliant philosopher Ron Fournier: The answer lies somewhere in the middle. Going forward, we should expect him to dazzle pretty frequently, while having enough miscues to stay a tier below the greats.

Of course, thats assuming Russell doesnt improve from here. h**l turn 23 in January, he has great teammates, and he remains a ridiculously talented baseball player, which means the sky is the limit. Regardless of what happens tonight, or what the state of his defense is, Russell should play a significant role in the budding Cubs dynasty. And hey, if he can keep doing this...

...Cubs fans wont care too much about his glove.

Source: http://www.beyondtheboxscore.com/2016/11/2/13362646/addison-russell-cubs-defense-fraa-drs-uzr-inside-edge-somewhat-gorey-math

Continue Reading ..

Eagles receivers unchanged at trade deadline, after Josh Huff is arrested

Josh Huff arrested Rant | Talk is cheap Nelson Agholor stfu and do something about it!

Tuesday certainly never will be remembered as one of the greatest days in Philadelphia Eagles history.

Not only did the franchise fail at the 4 p.m. trade deadline to add a wide receiver, but learned that it may actually be forced to subtract one in the wake of Josh Huff"s arrest.

Huff was charged with possession of a gun and marijuana during a traffic stop for speeding on the Walt Whitman Bridge, according to reports.

The Eagles had no comment on the Huff arrest except to say they"re still gathering information.

They had all the information they needed on the quality of their receivers before the deadline, though, and did not make a move. That signified they either are satisfied with the group that"s in place or found the price tags too high for some of the receivers thought to be available, such as San Francisco"s Torrey Smith and Chicago"s Alshon Jeffery.

Huff has been mostly a disappointment as a receiver since being drafted in the third round out of Oregon in 2013 but has been outstanding on special teams, particularly this season. On Sunday night at Dallas, he returned a kickoff 53 yards to set up a field goal. The week before, he took one back all the way for a touchdown.

The Eagles" other receivers have been struggling as well. The longest of quarterback Carson Wentz"s 32 pass completions went for just 14 yards in Sunday"s 29-23 loss to the Cowboys.

Lack of a downfield threat has been their biggest shortcoming. Ironically Huff, who might be their fastest runner and is easily their most explosive player, is averaging 5.5 yards per reception on 13 catches.

Jordan Matthews leads the team in receptions (36) and receiving yards (419) by large margins. He also ranks first in yards per reception (11.6) and TD receptions. But he is mostly coming from the slot.

Outside receivers Nelson Agholor (21 catches, 216 yards, 1 TD) and Dorial Green-Beckham (18 catches, 194 yards, 1 TD), who was acquired in a preseason trade with Tennessee, have been barely more productive combined than Matthews has been by himself.

This despite rookie quarterback Carson Wentz"s remaining on pace to set the franchise record for completion percentage. He is 150 of 228 for 1,526 yards and nine TDs.

Head coach Doug Pederson last week denied the team was interested in trading for a wide receiver.

"There"s no legitimacy to that," he said, "and I"m thrilled with the guys we have and going to work with them every day."

In Sunday night"s game, Agholor dropped a ball and had a catch wiped out when it was ruled he stepped out of bounds (without being forced) before stepping back in to catch the ball, then in the postgame locker room directed some rage at reporters who questioned him about the team"s problem with drops.

"We have a responsibility to win football games and I get it," he said. "Certain plays could have helped us. But there"s still four quarters of football to be played. We"ve got to win. You heard it from me I don"t got time for that no more. I only got time to win football games. No statistics, no "did this," just win. And that"s all that matters.

"That"s what the coaching staff cares about, that"s what I care about, winning football games," he said.

nick.fierro@mcall.com

twitter @nickfierro

610-778-2243

Source: http://www.mcall.com/sports/football/eagles/mc-eagles-receivers-1101-20161101-story.html

Continue Reading ..