NFL

Mixed bag for rookie QBs, plus more Week 1 preseason takeaways. Plus, where do James Harden, 76ers go now?

by
SaC Bot
August 14, 2023

David Banks / USA TODAY Sports

Happy Monday, everyone! Hope you had a good, sports-filled weekend.

Let’s get right to it.

😎 Good morning to everyone, but especially …

LUCAS GLOVER

They say you can’t teach an old dog new tricks, but you can give him a new putter and nerves of steel. Behind another lights-out performance on the greens, Lucas Glover claimed his second straight PGA Tour victory, winning the FedEx St. Jude Championship over Patrick Cantlay in a playoff. It was the opening leg of this year’s FedEx Cup Playoffs.

Glover, 43, and Cantlay entered the playoff at 15 under, one clear of Rory McIlroy and Tommy Fleetwood in what made for an entertaining finish. After Cantlay put his drive into the water, Glover found the fairway and eventually made par. Cantlay had a chance to match, but his par effort burned the edge of the cup.
Glover is the first player 40 or older to win consecutive events since Vijay Singh in 2008. It’s also the first time Glover has won multiple PGA Tour events in a season, much less in consecutive weeks. He has five top-10 finishes in his last six events.
Two weekends ago, Glover needed a solo second at the Wyndham Championship just to move into the top 70 and qualify for the FedEx Cup Playoffs. He won. Now, after this latest win, he’s all the way up to No. 4 in the standings. The top 50 qualified for the next event, the BMW Championship.

Patrick McDonald broke down the leaderboard from a thrilling weekend.

👍 Honorable mentions

😬 And not such a good morning for …

JAMES HARDEN AND THE PHILADELPHIA 76ERS

One year, the 76ers will have a normal offseason. It won’t be this year, though.

The 76ers ended talks with the Clippers regarding a James Harden trade and plan to bring the star guard to training camp. The only issue? Harden reportedly doesn’t plan on showing up and has slammed Sixers president Daryl Morey: “Daryl Morey is a liar and I will never be a part of an organization that he’s a part of.” Let’s rewind …

Harden opted into his 2023-24 player option in late June as a way to make him more tradable.
His preferred destination was the Clippers. But those talks proved on-and-off with Los Angeles reportedly unwilling to include some of its top young talent and unable to match what Morey was seeking as compensation.
Harden, who turns 34 later this month, averaged 21.0 points and an NBA-best 10.7 assists last season, bouncing back from a down 2021-22 split between Brooklyn and Philadelphia. And though he had some incredible playoff performances, he also had some duds as Philadelphia lost to Boston in the second round.

The upcoming standoff could get ugly, and Brad Botkin is not a fan:

“The arrogance of some of these guys is startling. This business of signing huge contracts and then putting in your trade demand shortly thereafter is bogus. Contracts are contracts. Nobody forces you to sign them. If you do sign them, then the least you can do is honor them. It’s pretty basic stuff. … If Harden was worth the money that he believes he deserves, his trade market wouldn’t have tumbleweeds blowing through it.”

👎 Not so honorable mentions

Cowboys fans aren’t happy with DeMarcus Ware‘s Hall of Fame display.

🏈 Preseason Week 1 winners & losers, rookie QB rankings

The first full week of the preseason is in the books, and what a weekend it turned out to be. It was filled with emotion — welcome back, Damar Hamlin, and quite literally, welcome to football, CJ Okoye — and plenty of highlights, which we rounded up for you here.

With the NFL finally (kind of) back, we have winners and losers as well. Among the standouts? A quarterback with high hopes in Year 3, writes Cody Benjamin:

“Winner: Justin Fields — The young Bears QB finally got reinforcements this offseason, but his brief work against the Titans, complete with the renovated offense, was even more promising than expected. Throwing just three passes, Fields finished with 129 yards and two scores thanks to brilliant after-the-catch burst and vision from both D.J. Moore and Khalil Herbert. Obviously, Fields will face different challenges in the real games, but talk about an encouraging first step into 2023. He didn’t have nearly the help a year ago.”

Sure, Fields himself didn’t have to do much to accrue those impressive stats. A couple of short throws was all it took. But that’s the point. Fields, who had more on his plate than any quarterback last year, can finally rely on others.

As for even younger QBs, we got our first look at 14 rookies, and Cody ranked those performances 1-14. I won’t spoil too much, but the none of Cody’s top four were from first-rounders.

🏈 Jonathan Taylor expected back at Colts practice

Moving from some notable performances to a notable guy nowhere near a football field, Jonathan Taylor has been training away from the Colts but is expected to return to practice this week, according to coach Shane Steichen.

There remain a lot of questions, including the exact date of Taylor’s return. Taylor’s trade request remains in place, too. For now, though, it’s at least a slightly positive development in an offseason full of negative ones for both player and team.

🏀 2023 Hall of Fame inductees … and who’s next?

USATSI

We often remember Naismith Basketball Hall of Famer inductees for their great careers on the court. On Saturday, the honorees showed they’re legends behind the microphone, too. Here’s who went into the Hall of Fame on Saturday:

Dwyane Wade
Dirk Nowitzki
Pau Gasol
Tony Parker
Becky Hammon
Gregg Popovich
Jim Valvano
1976 U.S. Olympic women’s basketball team
David Hixon
Gary Blair
Gene Bess
Gene Keady

Wade’s emotional tribute to his father was one of the best moments of the night, as was Gasol’s honoring of the late Kobe Bryant. You can see highlights from all of the speeches here.

While some of the game’s greats looked back, Colin Ward-Henninger looked forward, examining each team’s most likely next inductee. Some, like the Lakers (LeBron James) were pretty easy. Others, like the Celtics, were tough calls.

“Al Horford — We have to delve into the murky waters of Horford’s Hall of Fame case, which is certainly in the eye of the beholder. At the end of the day, Horford’s consistency (five-time All-Star, one-time All-NBA and All-Defense), his varied skill set that involves switchability and 3-point shooting, plus his contributions in college (back-to-back titles at Florida) and on the international stage (three medals representing the Dominican Republic) make a strong case.”

⚾ MLB Power Rankings, weekend recap: Yankees melt down

If I wanted to be nice, I’d say the Yankees have had better summers. If I wanted to be realistic, I’d say this summer has been an utter disaster for the Bronx Bombers. Roughly two weeks after a quiet trade deadline, the Yanks suffered arguably their worst loss of the year as they blew a four-run, ninth-inning lead in an 8-7 loss to the Marlins.

The Yankees are now 5-7 in August and 26-34 over their last 60 games. At 60-58 on the season, they’re five games back of the third AL Wild Card spot.

As Mike Axisa points out, the Yankees’ decline over the past six years can be broken down into several poor decisions from the front office. This is a really good, informational piece.

The Yankees sit 17th in Matt Snyder’s latest MLB Power Rankings, but we like to focus on the teams having a better time. Here’s the top five: