3 Eagles plan to skip White House
Bisciotti says ‘stupid’ catch rule needs to be changed; Patricia named Lions coach
Several members of the Super Bowl champion Philadelphia Eagles said they will forgo a White House visit if one is scheduled.
Wide receiver Torrey Smith (Maryland), defensive end Chris Long and safety Malcolm Jenkins have said they would boycott the traditional reception in response to President Donald Trump’s condemnation of NFL players who have knelt during the national anthem to protest injustice.
“Wouldn’t you love to see one of these NFL owners, when somebody disrespects our flag, to say ‘Get that son of a b---- off the field right now, he’s fired?’ ” Trump said in a speech in September.
According to several media reports, Smith, a former Raven, said last week: “We read the news just like everyone else. You see Donald Trump tweet something.
“We have those conversations in the locker room, just like everyone else does in the workplace. We’re very informed about what goes on, and we’re trying to continue to educate ourselves.”
Last year, several members of the Super Bowl champion New England Patriots, the team dethroned by the Eagles on Sunday, refused to make the visit.
Among them was Long, who was a member of the Patriots last year and said he would do the same thing as an Eagle this year, according to the Huffington Post.
“No, I’m not going to the White House,” he told the “Pardon My Take” podcast. “Are you kidding me?”
“[When] my son grows up, and I believe the legacy of our president is going to be what it is, I don’t want him to say, ‘Hey Dad, why’d you go [to the White House] when you knew the right thing was to not go?’ ” Long said, according to the Washington Post.
On CNN’s “New Day” program Monday morning, Jenkins attributed his decision to his desire to see greater social justice in the country.
“I’m about, you know, creating positive change in the communities that I come from, whether it be Philadelphia, New Jersey, Ohio, Louisiana or this entire country,” he said.
“I want to see changes in our criminal justice system, I want to see us push for ... [economic] and educational advancement in communities of color and low-income communities. And I want to see our relationships between our communities and our law enforcement be advanced.” Bisciotti: Catch rule is ‘stupid’: Ravens owner Steve Bisciotti isn’t sure what a catch is either. Eagles wideout Torrey Smith, a Maryland graduate and former Raven, said he would boycott the traditional White House reception in response to President Donald Trump’s condemnation of NFL players who have knelt during the national anthem to protest injustice.
At the State of the Ravens address Friday, Bisciotti backed commissioner Roger Goodell who said during his Super Bowl news conference last week that he’d like the league to start over again in determining what is and isn’t a catch.
“The whole thing is stupid,” Bisciotti said, shaking his head. “I heard Roger’s thing. I heard the whole objective/subjective thing. I agree with it. Start over. It’s just ridiculous.”
Ravens players chime in on controversial non-catch call in Patriots-Steelers game
The Ravens weren’t involved in any catch/no catch controversies in 2017, but it was one of the stories of the 2017 season. The biggest example came in the Pittsburgh Steelers-Patriots regular-season matchup in December. The Steelers thought they scored the game-winning touchdown with a 10-yard pass from Ben Roethlisberger to tight end Jesse James with 28 seconds remaining. It was initially ruled a touchdown, but it was overturned upon review.
Roethlisberger threw an end zone interception two plays later, giving the Patriots the victory and the eventual No. 1 seed in the AFC.
“How can you can the ball, get both feet down, turn toward the end zone and start diving for it, and they say it’s not a football move?” Bisciotti asked. “No, it’s stupid.”
Zach Ertz’s Super Bowl-winning catch Sunday night was upheld after an extensive review. Al Riveron, the NFL’s senior vice president of officiating, in his New York command center, took a long look at the game-deciding play and ruled that Ertz secured the ball for an 11-yard touchdown catch with 2:20 left. The play turned a 33-32 deficit into a 38-33 lead in the Philadelphia Eagles’ eventual 41-33 victory over the Patriots.
Ertz, a tight end, made the catch around the 5-yard line and dived into the end zone holding the ball securely. When he hit the turf, the ball hit the ground and popped into the air. On his back, Ertz recaught the ball and held it aloft. It was ruled a touchdown and confirmed.
Bisciotti has long defended the state of officiating in the NFL, but he said things have gotten so murky with the catch rule that there must be change.
“It is such a hard job, they do such a good job and yet we’re sitting there looking at five different HD camera angles, and then they’re changing some things, and I think it’s worse than it’s ever been,” Bisciotti said. “I think sometimes things have to get really, really bad before there is change. I bet you that there is going to be a significant change in that.”
That would be just fine with Goodell.
“Clearly catch, no-catch has been a lot of discussion and a lot of disagreement and I think we can clarify this rule and I think we can do it with a lot of hard work [and] focus and get to a place where — I’m not going to tell you there won’t be controversy, but I believe we can get to a much better place,” Goodell said at his Super Bowl week news conference. Super Bowl ratings: An estimated 103.4 million people watched the Eagles beat the Patriots in the Super Bowl, the smallest audience for television’s biggest yearly event since 2009.
The Nielsen company says viewership was down from last year’s audience of 111.3 million. The all-time record for Super Bowl viewing was 114.4 million for the SeattleNew England game in 2015. Suspect in Colts player’s crash death deported twice: A man being held in a suspected drunken-driving crash that killed Indianapolis Colts linebacker Edwin Jackson and his Uber driver had a blood-alcohol level nearly three times Indiana’s legal limit immediately after Sunday’s deadly crash.
A probable cause affidavit filed Sunday in Marion Superior Court under the first name Manuel Orrego-Savala gave police states that a breath test administered at the scene found the 37-year-old man’s bloodalcohol content was 0.239 percent. Indiana’s legal limit is 0.08 percent.
Two vials of blood were later drawn from Orrego-Savala for testing. He remains jailed and prosecutors are weighing potential criminal charges against him in the crash that killed the 26-year-old Jackson and Jeffrey Monroe of Avon, Indiana.
State Police say Orrego-Savala is a citizen of Guatemala who’s been deported twice from the U.S. Investigators say he’s in U.S. illegally and was deported in 2007 and 2009. He remained in the Marion County Jail on Monday. Lions hire Patricia: The Detroit Lions hired Matt Patricia on Monday, doubling down on the franchise’s hope it can copy the New England Patriots’ formula for success.
The expected hiring of the defensive coordinator came a day after the Patriots lost to Philadelphia in the Super Bowl.
“This position comes with great responsibility, and I will commit every ounce of my energy to this football team, starting today,” Patricia said in a statement released by the team.
Lions general manager Bob Quinn made the move, reuniting with someone he worked with in New England for more than a decade.
“He has been preparing for this opportunity his entire career, and he’s ready for the responsibility and its challenges,” Quinn said.
The Lions plan to formally introduce him at a news conference Wednesday.