The Dugout – Making Movies & Making the Initial Cut
Flight Delays?
Contrasting news from the #HaynePlane camp this week. First was the general outrage among Australasia’s sudden influx of NFL fans at Jarryd Hayne’s shortened usage in the 49ers third pre-season game. The other was his making it through the first roster trimming with his dream unscathed.
There actually needs to be some proper context here. Hayne is an unproven rookie and to see as much time as he did in the game against the Denver Broncos is already pretty impressive. Remember that both Reggie Bush and Kendall Hunter missed the first two games and they were back for this one, playing on a shortened schedule, pushing Hayne down the order. And as far as kick returns go, well, if Hayne takes ‘em all then nobody else gets a chance to show what they can do. Hayne’s not playing tennis against a brick wall here, the other guys need opportunities to shine themselves. This is how pre-season works. Plus the third game tends to showcase the expected starting players more than the others. He’ll get one last chance to win everyone over in the final pre-season game, in which most of the guaranteed starters will probably rest to avoid silly injuries so close to the new season.
As for that game against the Broncos, it was more notable for what others did than for what Hayne did. For himself, there wasn’t much. He didn’t take the field until the near the end of the third quarter and didn’t do heaps. Two rushes that were emphatically plugged at the line of scrimmage for no gain, and a punt return that netted 12 yards (as well as one that went beyond him unreturnable). But he did have this one, a lovely little catch over the middle for a first down and 18 yards:
Great to see him given opportunities in the pass game. As a running back it helps enormously to be able to be an option for a quarterback when his intended receivers can’t get free. It’s more to learn though, so don’t expect too many deliberately drawn up for him like this, or at least expect them to keep it simple.
But yeah, what was really interesting was how others did in the return game. Hayne is an candidate in both the kick and punt stuff, though the punts are probably more his strength as things are a little less structured without a set distance. As we all know, Hayne’s strength is gonna be in open-field when things get spontaneous. DeAndrew White took once kick back for 30 yards, Bruce Ellington had one for 20 yards. Ellington had the duties last season. For the punts, Hayne had his 12 yarder and Reggie Bush had one for 4 yards. Ellington also had a touchback that he wanted to return but was a little too deep and he stepped out catching it, while Reggie had a bit of a faux pas letting one punt bounce thinking it’d go dead for a touchback (and possession at the 20) but it held up at the 3 and Kaepernick was sacked for a safety next play.
Hayne’s done his damage against second and third unit special teams for the most part but it ain’t a stretch to say he’s been the best in that role so far. As a running back? Not so much. Getting monstered on his two carries shows he’s nowhere close to being an every-down back yet but he’s also displayed the playmaking abilities that’ll make him a useful third or fourth option. None of the other* running backs were cut.
*The depth chart reads: Carlos Hyde, Reggie Bush, Kendall Hunter, Mike Davis, Jarryd Hayne, Kendall Gaskins
“First of all, to separate Jarryd from the total picture, I’m pretty confident in Jarryd’s ability to field the ball. I’ve watched a ton of tape on this guy fielding a rugby ball. I’ve seen him field here at practice. I’ve seen him field in game situations. So I feel very good about his abilities to field. I feel very good about his abilities to perform with the ball in his hands on special teams.” – SF49 Head Coach Jim Tomsula
The Niners are also hoping to use Hayne on kick coverage as well, as we’ve seen hints of so far:
“The tackling part of it, the coverage part of it, I’ve seen a lot of improvement there. The guy will fly down the field in those areas. All those things, we’ve seen, I’ve seen what I need to see. It’s been a great evaluation on him.” - Tomsula
The final 53 man roster must be confirmed by 8am on Sunday. The 49ers play the Chargers at 4pm on Friday (both NZT).
“Jarryd obviously has himself in the conversation. I don’t want to sit here and make any statements, but Jarryd has himself in the conversation. Special teams value is very high when you’re talking about the last few spots on the team.” - Tomsula
Hey and it looks like the branding train is leaving the station too. It’s already been reported that manufacturers are preparing to mass produce Hayne #38 Niners jerseys to sell down under and then Hayne himself turns up to a presser wearing a shirt with what’s rumoured to be his new personal logo on it.
The Kiwi Connection
Jarryd Hayne’s efforts have been a massive story in both Australia and New Zealand, but less heralded has been the journey of a young kiwi NFL hopeful, 25 year old Paul Lasike.
Lasike is in training camp with the Arizona Cardinals, taking part in their pre-season regimes. He’s still a long shot for a roster spot but he’s closer than any NZ-born athlete has gotten for years just by getting invited this far, let alone surviving the first round of roster cuts as he has done.
The bloke’s a former Waikato youth rugby prospect, who moved to America on a short-term basis as part of an exchange programme a local team over there had, but while he was there he was scouted for Brigham Young University in Utah. They offered him a scholarship to play rugby for them and he accepted.
After a year of that he moved to Alabama to complete his Mormon mission and during that time he began to fall in love with grid iron. When he returned to BYU, he soon found himself juggling both sports. He won multiple national championships with the rugby side but was trying hard just to learn the basics of American Football. As he said:
“Believe it or not, the first full football game I ever watched was from the sidelines, dressed up in pads. And I’m not talking about Pop Warner. This was BYU, and there were 65,000 loud fans watching in the stands.”
That’s from an article he penned for The Players Tribune, documenting his path in his own words.
Anyway, Lasike went undrafted but was soon offered an extended roster contract on the Arizona Cardinals and has since set about trying to make that into a permanent deal.
Paul Lasike plays as either a running back or a fullback. If he makes the Cardinals team it’d probably be more as the latter, he’s caught some eyes with his physicality and ability to block. He rushed for 364 yards with 7 TDs in his final year of college. With the Cardinals in pre-season he had two rushes against the KC Chiefs, one for 7 yards the other for 3, while getting on the field for 18 snaps (the second most of any backfield player in game one), though in the second game (vs San Deigo Chargers) he was only saw one snap of action. He was unused on offence on Monday against Oakland (though he's still been getting a few special teams reps).
“Lasike also showed some athleticism, catching a pass while falling down and getting up to go untouched into the end zone. It fired up teammate Larry Fitzgerald, who ran out to congratulate the rookie.” – ‘Rookie Paul Lasike makes strong first impression’, ESPN
Will Smith vs the NFL
Curious viewing for fans of American sports here, with the release of the trailer for the new film ‘Concussion’, starring the Fresh Prince himself, Will Smith (as well as Alec Baldwin, Albert Brooks and a few others). Luke Wilson plays Roger Goodell (!). It comes out in December in the States, right near the end of the NFL regular season and tells the story of Dr. Bennet Omalu who first discovered and discussed Chronic Traumatic Encephalopathy (CTE). That’s the degenerative brain injury that reportedly led to the deaths of former players such as Junior Seau and Dave Duerson. In fact Omalu was the one who diagnosed that pair. Duerson is a character in the film (played by Adewale Akinnuoye-Agbaje), and so is Justin Strzelczyk (Matt Willig), who died in a high-speed car chase in 2004. From wiki:
“This (Strzelczyk) incident helped start a debate about the seriousness of concussions at the National Football League Summit, in June 2007. There, Bennet Omalu, a Pittsburgh neuropathologist, linked the deaths of Strzelczyk and three other retired NFL players to brain damage from football. Those cases involved former Philadelphia Eagles safety Andre Waters and former Pittsburgh Steelers offensive linemen Mike Webster and Terry Long. Waters and Long committed suicide; Webster died of a heart attack, but suffered from severe mental problems in his later life. Omalu says each death followed a similar line: football concussions, leading to brain damage similar to dementia pugilistica (also known as chronic traumatic encephalopathy) in boxers, leading to clinical depression. It was previously thought to only exist in boxers and steeplechase jockeys.”
Hard to say what the plot of the film may be from the trailer, looks like a standard biopic of a man fighting against big business for something admirable. Expect shots of hands being slammed against walls and earnest close-ups. One thing’s for sure, the NFL aren’t gonna like it.
The Wildcard’s Top 10 QBs for 2015:
- Aaron Rodgers (Green Bay Packers)
- Tom Brady (New England Patriots)
- Peyton Manning (Denver Broncos)
- Andrew Luck (Indianapolis Colts)
- Tony Romo (Dallas Cowboys)
- Ben Roethlisberger (Pittsburgh Steelers)
- Russell Wilson (Seattle Seahawks)
- Drew Brees (New Orleans Saints)
- Matt Ryan (Atlanta Falcons)
- Philip Rivers (San Diego Chargers)
Cover Boy
Dez Bryant on the cover of Rolling Stone mag, aye? But you have to wonder about the wisdom of a publication that includes Macklemore and Coldplay on a ‘Must-Hear Albums’ list. Good lord.
Snappin’ Ankles
Send In The Armoured Forces
Accentuate the Positives
Don’t Go Round to Flacco’s
Married Russ
Quote of the Week:
"But it's the iconic Bruce Springsteen album. Seen the future of rock and roll, his name is Bruce Springsteen. I think that was the album that everybody was waiting for. It took him a little while to get it all together. He had to work through some business issues but there was a lot of anticipation and I don't think it disappointed."
Dallas Cowboys head coach Jason Garrett is a big Springsteen fan and ‘Born to Run’ is his favourite album.
Good Week:
Julio Jones (Atlanta Falcons) – He’s getting paid and he deserves it. Five years, $71.25 million. $47.5 million guaranteed. There aren’t many better WRs in the NFL so it’s hard to say a single bad word about this. Btw, that’s slightly more guaranteed cash than Dez Bryant got on his recent deal. More than Demaryius Thomas too.
Sam Bradford (Philadelphia Eagles) – His trade to Philly was either gonna be a disaster or a big success based on how it was received. So far it looks like the latter, Bradford’s been great in pre-season. Good to see after a couple of injury ravaged seasons.
Cleveland Indians – On the back of some big hitting and typically fine pitching, the Tribe have won 6 in a row and are creeping back into the playoff picture with a month to go in the season. Never say never…
Bad Week:
Trent Richardson (N/A) – After being given a $600k guarantee by the Oakland Raiders, the third overall pick in the 2012 draft has been cut at the first roster trimming. It’s gonna be an uphill struggle to revive his career from here (just like every time he carries the ball – badabing!).
Robert Griffin III (WPFT) – Can’t say the writing wasn’t on the wall. Kirk Cousins will start the new season at QB ahead of RG3. Coach Jay Gruden says the “door’s not shut” for Griffin but that the R**skins are “Kirk’s team” now.
Justin Verlander (Detroit Tigers) – He’s back in business with a dominating effort against the Angels but coming within three outs of a no-hitter, it’s come with a tinge of disappointment. But overall this should really be a celebration coz JV’s given up just one run in his last four starts and 29 innings.
Player of the Week:
Jake Arrieta (Chicago Cubs) – The man who did what Verlander could not. Arrieta no-hit the Dodgers in a 2-0 win for the third no-no of August and the sixth this season. It was Arrieta’s first and the first for the Cubs since 2008. While the Dodgers were actually no-hit by Mike Fiers and the Astros 10 days earlier. Most important in the meantime, though, is that this was Arrieta’s 17th win of the season and it lifts the Cubbies to 74-55 and absolutely gunning for the playoffs.