The NFL trade deadline is approaching quickly (October 29) but some teams are already making big moves.
Today, the Los Angeles Rams made a move, sending cornerback Marcus Peters to the Baltimore Ravens for linebacker Kenny Young.
Fox Sports’ Rob Parker was the first to report the two teams were discussing a deal for Peters:
As @RobParkerFS1 reported, Ravens have been talking to the Rams about a deal for CB Marcus Peters. Sounds like if it's finalized, it will be a player-for-player deal.
Baltimore has been looking for defensive help and now they get to pair their own star corner, Marlon Humphrey, with a big name on the outside in Peters.
The Ravens have fallen off slightly since their hot start to the 2019 season and the hope is that Peters can be the jolt of energy this team needs to be one of the top teams in the AFC.
In the offseason, much was made about the New England Patriots adding Michael Bennett to their defensive line. Many foresaw him as a cheaper replacement to the departed Trey Flowers and that his versatility would allow Bill Belichick to use him in a variety of ways this year.
Well the pass rush in New England has certainly seen a spark, Bennett hasn’t really been much involved. On the year he has 2.5 of the team’s 25 sacks.
The Patriots have opted to use fewer down linemen and often situate themselves in a 2-4-5 alignment. With rookie Chase Winovich making a bigger impact than expected and the team preferring to use Adam Butler, playing time for Bennett has been harder to come by.
The lesser role has not been easy for the former All-Pro to accept. It’s being reported that he got into an argument with the coaching staff, which ultimately led to his week-long suspension.
Just spoke with #Pats DE Michael Bennett, who provided this statement to ESPN re his one-week suspension: “On Friday, I had a philosophical disagreement with my position coach that has led to my suspension. I apologize to my teammates for any distraction this may have caused.”
The Oklahoma City Thunder were 2-1 coming into tonight against the Dallas Mavericks. The Thunder would be without Steven Adams and Chris Paul on the night two of their leaders on the team. With CP3 and Adams out the game tonight in Dallas, the Thunder leaned on Shai Gilgeous-Alexander and Danilo Gallinari. Both Shai and Danilo had 16 points each in the evening and were able to use the paint and wide-open shots to their advantage tonight. Shai had some strong moves to the basket that were followed with some finesse layups. The way that Shai plays looks like he’s been in the NBA for more than 2 years. He plays the game with grace and plays with a smoothness that looks so unbothered when he’s attacking. One thing that he’s been able to add to his game more consistent so far is his 3 point shot. On the night he was able to get some good looks and convert. Nerlens Noel had a great night as well with 8 points and 4 blocks. He was a force in the paint and played a great role with Steven Adams out for tonight. Nerlens spoke on his performance and the team after the game in Dallas.
Danilo Gallinari was able to get his offensive game going tonight against the Mavericks after sitting out the game against New Zealand. Gallinari had some impressive And-1 plays tonight against the Mavericks where he was able to slice and dice to the rim. If Gallinari can stay healthy and compete at a high level like the Thunder/NBA know this can be something special for the team. Gallinari brings some length and someone that is a pure shooter to the Thunder. The Thunder have lacked in a knockdown shooter in the past and this could be the season we see that with some extra ball movement and people open. Danilo Gallinari can be that missing piece to the offense that can bring this team pretty far if they can continue to gel on this type of level.
Another player that impressed tonight in Dallas was Hamidou because he was able to get after Luka on the defensive end. If Hamidou can use his defense to turn into offense he could have an amazing 2 year in the NBA. So many people want to see him take that next step and he can definitely do that under the leadership of Billy Donovan. If Hami takes that next step he can be even more special and help the Thunder have a 3&D player that they can believe in on a nightly basis.
This game was all about growth for the Thunder as they got their first taste of Luka and Kristaps on the year. Both of them didn’t play in Tulsa for the first game of the preseason. Luka and Kristaps were able to use the ball movement from the Mavericks to their advantage as they were hitting 3 pointers and getting to the lane. Both of them finished with a combined 36 points on the night and looked really good. The Mavericks have a nice young core and if they can gel this whole team together for the season there will be some battles between them and OKC throughout the year.
The Thunder play against the Memphis Grizzlies on Wednesday night in OKC and will look to go 3-1 in the preseason.
To end week 6 of the NFL season we get a great match up between division rivals at Lambeau Field. The Lions are two weeks revoked from almost handing the Chiefs a loss, but somehow Mahomes and crew pulled out the win. Matt Patricia has the defensive unit working exceptionally well and Rodgers and LaFleur will have their hands full tonight. The Packers are also coming off a strong performance at Jerry World, where Aaron Jones and the rushing attack sliced the Cowboys to shreds, as Jones totaled 4 TDs in the 34-24 beat down. Both teams will be trying to control the clock tonight, so look will Kerryon Johnson and Aaron Jones to get involved early and often.
The Packers new look offense under rookie HC Matt LaFleur hasn’t looked too special so far. Statistically, their offense has been tolerable but not up to par with a normal Aaron Rodgers led attack. They are only averaging 23.8 Pts/game with a measly 244.2 Pass Yards/game. Even with Aaron Jones running the ball well, they only account for 93 Yards/game on the ground. The biggest jump that the Packers took over the off season was the improvement of their defense, especially in the secondary and LB Corps. Their secondary has held opponents to 238 Pass Yards/game, good enough for 13th in the league, while also being a top ten scoring defense allowing only 18.6 Pts/game.
The Lions have been a pleasant surprise so far in 2019. With the defense looking more like a typical Patricia-led unit, the Lions have been in a position to win all of their games so far. Matthew Stafford has been terrific as well, posting the 9th best QBR so far this year. Their offense has been a splendid mesh of the run and passing games, as they rank 9th and 12th in those categories respectively.
So many memorable games have been played between these two, with the last as the ‘Miracle in Motown’ highlighted by the Aaron Rodgers to Richard Rodgers hail mary for the win in week 13 of 2015. The Packers hold the series lead with a record of 100-73-1 against the Lions.
The latest line for the game has the Packers as 3.5 home favorites with an Over/Under of 45.5. Even with two Quarterbacks known for slinging the ball down field, the over isn’t a sure bet here. Both teams want to establish the run and keep the ball away from the other. As both teams currently stand with only one loss, this game will have significant impact on the outlook of the NFC North.
We’re officially on our 10-Day Countdown to the NBA Season, and us here at SneakerReporter couldn’t be any more excited. With that being said, let’s get straight into our Top 30, coming in as our 10th spot, we have the Boston Celtics.
10. Boston Celtics: Will the Green be able to get the Gold?
The Boston Celtics are coming off a solid season, standing in at 49-33, placing 4th in the NBA Eastern Conference, unfortunately making an exit in the second-round to the Bucks. They hope to take that momentum from last year and hopefully push further into the Playoffs this season.
Last year was a roller coaster for the Celtics organization and its fans. It seemed from an outside perspective that the team was imploding from the inside, with issues regarding rotation around the point guard position, and the issue of having their starting point guard having some health issues over the course of the season. Despite a lot of moves over the off-season, the Celtics have seemed to maintained the talent that they have, arguably even surpassing themselves from the season prior. They’ve lost two of the three guards that they’ve had in rotation in Terry Rozier and Kyrie Irving, and have found themselves with Kemba Walker and rookie Carsen Edwards to fill in those minutes alongside the remaining point guard in Marcus Smart. They’ve also maintained their young core, retaining Jaylen Brown, Gordon Hayward, and Jayson Tatum. However, we will not be seeing Al Horford with the Celtics this season, but we get to see Enes Kanter and one of the bigger (for lack of a better word) names in this years draft in 7’6″ Tacko Fall on a two-way contract. This team consists of a lot of young talent, but still has the veteran presence that teams need in order to stay course over the grueling 82-game season.
Despite being a team that is almost expected to make the Playoffs, the Celtics may surprise opposing teams. As the years have passed, and as the front office has done their best in maintaining the core that they have, the more experience these players have with one another only make things more challenging for the opposition that they’ll be facing on a nightly basis. The Celtics have officially bought in to the development of their young stars and focusing on a team basketball game, reminiscent of the San Antonio Spurs kind of basketball that most of us know and love, versus having a star player trying to carry your team. This team will be very exciting to watch this season, with the remaining roster of last season to their new acquisitions, the Celtics are once again in contention for their 18th title.
Damian Lillard is no stranger to the fire. Whether leading the Portland Trailblazers or behind the mic, Dame runs head first into battle. In an interview on Joe Budden’s podcast, Dame declared himself a better rapper than Shaquille O’Neal, who Dame said gained notoriety for his larger-than-life personality rather than his technical rapping ability. “I think he was viewed as Shaq People weren’t looking like this a real rapper. It was like, ‘That’s Shaq rapping.’ So, of course, it was a big deal.”
Shaq took Lillard’s comments as an affront and took to Instagram to release a response on wax, taking shots at Dame’s ringlessness several times over the 4 minute track over Dr. Dre’s “What’s The Difference.” “Legendary I’m a hip-hop scholar / I’m tryin’ to get a billion who gives a f**k about a D.O.L.L.A / Take ya time to respond, there’s no hurry / You’ll never be Westbrook, never be Steph Curry,” Shaq spat at the 4x NBA All-Star. Dame then released his response, a verbal flurry titled “Reign Reign Go Away” a coy reference to Diesel’s 1996 album “Can’t Stop The Reign.”
Whereas Shaquille’s disses equated to surface level “RINGSSS” talk, Dame cut deep, “Said yourself that I’m a Tesla, no longer need diesel gas/ Kinda like the Cavs ain’t really need Diesel ass/And even in Miami, won that on the strength of Flash”
To add insult to injury, Dame used the now famous meme crying Shaq meme born from his appearance on Hot Ones. Dame waited patiently for a response from the Big Aristotle but apparently had more to get off his chest and let the shots ring off with another diss song called “I Rest My Case” where Lillard takes shots at Shaq and any pundits that believed Shaq prevailed in their war of words.
On the track, Dame cleverly leverages Shaq’s record on the court and his underwhelming diss track, rapping “Raised real solid, I’m DOLLA but not for dollar sign/Only Dame you beat was 2000 and that was Stoudemire.” Much like Dame’s on the court demeanor, Dolla attacked Shaq relentlessly throughout the bought referencing his shoe line, his love for EDM festivals, and generally goofy persona.
But the Big Diesel isn’t one to go down without a fight, and after taking some ferocious blows, he came back with another verbal lashing towards Dame this time over Puff Daddy’s Victory. Shaq leans heavily on the familiarity of the instrumental, even co-opting Puff’s flow in the “intro” portion singing
“Yo, the sun gon’ shine forever/ All my statues and retired jerseys, I’ma live forever/Better now or never, kill Damon, my pleasure/ We see you lose every year, nobody do it better”
Shaq’s coworker Charles Barkley takes a stray as Shaq attacks Dame, spitting
“What, you think I wasn’t gonna respond?/ Droppin’ little grenades, I’m droppin’ them nuclear bombs/ Everybody gon’ hear this ether/ I don’t like your ass, I don’t like Charles Barkley either”
Dame has yet to respond to the latest diss track but with there still being a few days before the season starts there’s still a chance that Dame fires back at Kazaam.
