The Hayne Plane

These pages have many times bemoaned the disaster of an offseason that the San Francisco 49ers have found themselves in. But there has been a bright spark and that bright spark is a familiar face to those Down Under.

Jarryd Hayne had quite an eventful pre-season debut, taking the responsibilities as the backup running back while also taking kick and punt returns in a rotation with a couple of other candidates. All three of his returns were solid and full of promise but it was his 53 yard rush that caught the most eyes.

It was such a shock at first to realise that Hayne was serious about trying his hand in the NFL. He’s not the first NRL star to leave at the peak of his powers, Sonny Bill Williams does it every couple of years, but nobody had ever attempted something as drastic as this. So credit in abundance to Mr Hayne, proving all the doubters wrong. It now seems much more likely that he’ll make on the final roster, or at least the practice squad, so we can realistically hope to see him get a few snaps in the real stuff this season. But even with this game, it's far from a sure thing. Either way, he’s got three more pre-season games to state his case first:

• Monday August 24, 12pm vs Dallas Cowboys
• Sunday August 30, 1pm @ Denver Broncos
• Saturday September 4, 2pm vs San Diego Chargers

Those are all in NZ times, the 49ers begin their regular season journey at home to the Minnesota Vikings on Monday Night Football, which means it’ll be live on ESPN in Aus/NZ. No dodgy streams for that baby.

The situation is like this for the Hayne Plane: Long-time starting SF49 RB Frank Gore has gone to Indianapolis in Free Agency, but that never opened up a spot for Hayne to compete for. Carlos Hyde is the undisputed starter and they’d have been planning for that last season in the knowledge that Gore could leave. What JH is competing for is a backup spot, there’ll probably be two of them. Yet there are currently five players competing for those spots. Reggie Bush and Kendall Hunter both sat out this game, as more proven players often will at the start of pre-season, but Hayne got his reps ahead of Kendall Gaskins and 2015 fourth round draft pick Mike Davis.

It is possible that Hayne gets a chance in other positions, he could definitely act as a receiver out of the back field (he got one target that went incomplete, more a poor pass from Blaine Gabbert than anything), though it’s doubtful his skillset is ready for him to play at either wide receiver or fullback. If he makes this roster it will be as a running back, but one big advantage that he has is his kick/punt return abilities. The 53 yard run was the big play, however his 33 yard kickoff return might have been the one that most pleased his coaches.

"He absolutely has to battle to make the roster. I hope I am presenting a very tempered approach to what happened tonight with Jarryd. There were things that happened tonight, and we have a long way to go. But the thing that excites me is the type of person that he is." – SF49 Head Coach Jim Tomsula

As pre-season progresses, we’ll see the likely contributors tightened up. The first game tends to either not feature the starters at all or only feature them in a couple of possessions. The second game might give them a full quarter. Third and maybe a half, fourth could be most of the way, it all depends on the coach and which positions are up for grabs. So this opening game was always going to be the one in which Hayne got his most opportunities. Fair to say he took them, now we wait to see how much he features in Tomsula’s plans next time. The Niners are working with a 90 man expanded roster right now, that’ll be cut to 53 men before the season begins.

"The things we got to stay on is when you get into those tighter quarters and seeing the little creases," Tomsula said. "That's where the improvement is. That's where he has to keep working. Not that he's bad at it. He's not, but we've to keep improving there."

"We're definitely looking for the big growth to be from Week 1 to Week 2, and 2 to 3. After Week 3, you've an idea where it is and you're running out of time." – Tomsula

One thing in Hayne’s favour that shouldn’t be overlooked, even though it feels like a triviality, is that the Americans do love a nice story with their sports. Hayne’s risky career move, NFL or Bust, all the way from Australia where he was an elite athlete in another sport, is a great story. And the 49ers need a few feel-good distractions after the off-season they’ve had.

Mark the Dates

The NBA schedule is out!

It all tips off on October 28th (NZT), which is a Wednesday, and it’ll do so with a pretty thrilling double header. The Cleveland Cavaliers against the Chicago Bulls before the champion Golden State Warriors host the New Orleans Pelicans. The Atlanta Hawks also get a non-TV game against the Detroit Pistons.

This is the last year before the massive new TV deal begins, a deal that’ll mean another 20 or so televised games on top of the 140-odd currently shown, with plenty more of them being broadcast by ESPN, which ought to be good news for us.

The Christmas Day line-up looks awesome too, highlighted by the 2014 finals rematch of the Cavaliers vs Warriors.

Most Televised Games in 2015-16

1. Golden State Warriors – 25
2. Cleveland Cavaliers – 25
3. Los Angeles Clippers – 24
4. Oklahoma City Thunder – 24
5. Chicago Bulls – 23
6. San Antonio Spurs – 21

Least Televised Games in 2015-16

1. Philadelphia 76ers – 0
2. Detroit Pistons – 0
3. Denver Nuggets – 0
4. Orlando Magic – 1
5. Charlotte Hornets – 1
6. Brooklyn Nets – 1

In Yo’ Face!

Here’s one of those stories that can only happen to one of a select number of teams. In this case, it was the New York Jets.

Starting quarterback Geno Smith will miss 6-10 weeks with facial fractures after getting “sucker punched” by a teammate at training. IK Enemkpali had given Smith a plane ticket to attend his football camp in the off-season, but Geno couldn’t make it (for legit reasons). IK wanted to be reimbursed for the $600 it cost. Geno hadn’t paid him back. Boom. Crash. QB down.

Enemkpali was immediately cut. Really not the wisest move for a sixth round draft pick in 2014 who made 2 tackles and had 1 tackle assist last season. In another hilarious twist, IKE was claimed off waivers by Rex Ryan, now coach of the Buffalo Bills but the former coach of the Jets.

All in all, it’s actually not that bad a deal, because Smith is crap anyway. This ain’t like the Patriots losing Tom Brady for a similar time frame. Plus we get to see this lad, Ryan Fitzpatrick, once more. Okay, that’s not so exciting either.

Smith then compounded the talk of him being a silly boy by getting a little throwing practice in two days after surgery with a buddy of his at his apartment. Despite being told to avoid physical activity for a while. Ah, the Jets. Never disappointing, except for on the field.

MLB Power Rankings:

1. Kansas City Royals
2. St Louis Cardinals
3. Pittsburgh Pirates
4. Toronto Blue Jays
5. Chicago Cubs
6. Los Angeles Dodgers
7. Houston Astros
8. New York Mets
9. San Francisco Giants
10. Texas Rangers

On Ya Bike, Son!

Never Forget

Last November the St Louis Rams beat the Oakland Raiders 52-0. After the Raiders beat them 18-3 in pre-season, Trumaine Johnson and Robert Quinn of the Rams want Raiders fans to know that their team is still useless when it counts.

ourtroom Brady

Taking Out The Trash​

Tucker Up

Baltimore Ravens and pro-bowl kicker Justin Tucker goes full McConaughey in this local telly ad.

Spending That Signing Bonus

Quote of the Week:

"Working cattle is my favorite farm duty. I probably identify more as a farmer [than as a football player]." – Green Bay Packers wide receiver Jordy Nelson. Yeehaw.

Good Week:

Philip Rivers (San Diego Chargers) – Finally, the deal gets done. Rivers signed a four year, $83.25m extension with the Chargers that’ll see him with $65m guaranteed, the most among any currently contracted NFL player. It also includes a no-trade clause, making it more or less a sure thing that Rivers will retire a Charger. It also suggests a strong chance the team stays in San Diego, given Rivers has been outspokenly against the possible move to Los Angeles.

Hisashi Iwakuma (Seattle Mariners) – Ladies and gents, the fourth no-hitter of the 2015 season. Also just the fifth in Mariners history and the second by a Japanese born pitcher. Iwakuma had the Baltimore Orioles in fits during the 3-0 win.

Ichiro Suzuki (Miami Marlins) – While we’re at it, here’s to the greatest Japanese baseballer in MLB history:

Eric Berry (Kansas City Chiefs) - A very serious note now, great to see Berry back on the field in NFL pre-season. He had to miss the end of last year when it was found he had Hogkin's lymphoma but he’s since beaten the disease and is now ready to return to full action. Marvellous.

Bad Week:

John Farrell (Boston Red Sox) – But these things aren’t as rare as we’d like, so we can only wish Red Sox manager Farrell the best now that he’s been forced into a leave of absence to undertake chemotherapy for stage 1 lymphoma. A devastating diagnosis, but as is often the case one that people can be thankful was discovered when it was. And completely by accident, Farrell suffered a hernia picking up an equipment bag and the cancer was picked up in regulation tests. He says it’s “highly curable”. Best of luck, Johnny.

Darrelle Revis (New York Jets) – Super Bowl Champions and perhaps the greatest defender in Jets history, not even Darrelle Revis can catch a cab in NYC. This from the recent ESPN feature story on him by Mina Kimes:

Player of the Week:

Jackie Bradley Jr (Boston Red Sox) – When a baseballer gets player of the week based on a single performance, it tends to be a pitcher throwing a no-no or something. Not this dude. Bradley did it all at the plate, going 5 for 6 in a 22-10 win over the Seattle Mariners (that’s an NFL score!). Two of them were home runs, three were doubles. Five extra base hits, a Red Sox record and at 25 he becomes the youngest man to hit five extra base hits in game. His 14 bases are the most in a game this season, he also had 7 RBI. Granted, one of his homers came against catcher Jesus Sucre, who had to come on and pitch the eight to spare the bullpen after the game had already been slugged beyond their reach.