Author: pgant
Fury: ‘Otto Wallin is a tall blonde, just the way I like them’
Tyson Fury sure knows how to dress for the occasion. Fury, the lineal heavyweight champion, entered Tuesday’s media workout in a traditional lucha libre wrestling mask. Fury will defend his title against fellow unbeaten Otto Wallin Saturday at T-Mobile Arena as part of the Las Vegas’ Mexican Independence Day Weekend festivities.
WBO junior featherweight world champion Emanuel Navarrete will defend his title against Juan Miguel Elorde in the co-feature (ESPN+, 11 p.m. ET), while former two-division world champion Jose Pedraza will take on Mexican veteran Jose Zepeda in a 10-round super lightweight showdown.
The entire undercard, including Pedraza-Zepeda and appearances by Gabriel Flores Jr. and heavyweight sensation Guido Vianello, will stream live on ESPN+ starting at 7:30 p.m. ET/4:30 p.m. PT.
This is what Fury had to say at the media workout
Tyson Fury
“I’m just enjoying life, taking one day at a time and inspiring people to do well in their life, too.”
“I wore a traditional Mexican mask because it’s Mexican Independence Day Weekend and the ‘Gypsy King’ is here in Las Vegas to put on a show for all the Mexican fans. Viva Mexico!”
“I can defeat all the heavyweights with one hand. As you saw today, lightning speed, lightning reflexes for a giant. I’m a giant of a heavyweight. There has never been a heavyweight like me. There has never been a man of my size who can move like that. I’m a natural freak of nature. I defy every law of gravity. It shouldn’t be possible for a man of my size or my weight to move like that.”
“I have no interest in future fights. One day at a time in my life. One fight at a time, one hour at a time. ‘Cause that’s all we have. We’re not promised tomorrow, so we live every day like it’s our last as our Lord tells us to.”
“You’re going to see a great fight on Saturday, a real Mexican, 6-foot-9, 260-pound giant.”
“Do I look like I’m enjoying life? One hundred percent. I’m ecstatic to be alive. A true blessing from God. I’m very thankful that I was given this life. I’m thankful to be here in Las Vegas and thankful for all the people that turned out.”
“Otto Wallin is a tall blonde, just the way I like them. We’ll see what he brings on Saturday.”
Photo: Mikey Williams
Schwartz on Jackson: ‘We’ll certainly miss him’
The Philadelphia Eagles have placed DT Malik Jackson on injured reserved, the team announced today, which will end his season. Jackson signed a three-year, $30 million deal with the Eagles this offseason, and according to the NFL Network’s Mike Garafolo, Jackson suffered a Lisfranc injury on Sunday against the Redskins. The 29-year-old Jackson is expected to have surgery next week, according to the report.
To replace Jackson, Philadelphia announced today that they have signed DT Akeem Spence, who spent last season with the Miami Dolphins. The 27-year-old Spence was released by the Dolphins back in August.
Obviously, losing Jackson hurts, but according to Eagles DC Jim Schwartz, it’s next man up.
“Malik [Jackson] is an important part of what we do, and we’ll certainly miss him when he’s not on the field,” Schwartz said on Tuesday. “But we have plenty of guys that can step up and play. And that’s nothing new in the NFL, doesn’t change our task from game to game, and it doesn’t change our task over the course of the year.
“We’ll get him healthy and get him back. If I know Malik, he’ll do a good job staying engaged while he’s rehabbing. I’ve been really impressed with him as a professional, not just as a player, but as a professional, I’m sure you guys have too.”
With Jackson out, Timmy Jernigan will be a starter again at the defensive tackle spot, and considering how well Jernigan played for the Eagles in 2017, the Philadelphia does not lose much at the position. However, they do lose depth, which may hurt the team as the season moves on.
Vikings bring back C Brett Jones
The Minnesota Vikings have brought back C Brett Jones, the team announced today. According to The Athletic’s Chad Graff, the Vikings never had Jones clear out his locker after they cut him last week, which makes you believe that the plan was to bring Jones back all along.
The 28-year-old Jones was released by Minnesota after the team signed WR Josh Doctson.
To make room for Jones, the team released TE Brandon Dillon.
Kirk Cousins explains his touchdown dance against the Falcons
Vikings QB Kirk Cousins did not have to do much in Minnesota’s 28-12 victory over the Falcons on Sunday, and mainly because the Vikings had a lot of success running the ball. Minnesota finished the game with 172 yards on the ground. Cousins threw the ball only 10 times and would finish the game 8/10 for 98 yards and one touchdown through the air and another on the ground.
However, it’s what happened after his rushing touchdown that had people talking. In the second quarter, Cousins scored a touchdown on a quarterback sneak. Once in the end zone, Cousins did a little dance.
Kirk Cousins doing some sort of dance pic.twitter.com/nElUsihlVh
— Paid man gets bored (@cjzero) September 8, 2019
Kirk Cousins doing some sort of dance pic.twitter.com/nElUsihlVh
— Paid man gets bored (@cjzero) September 8, 2019
After the game, Cousins explained his little dance
“That’s kind of an inside joke between me and an old buddy, friend, teammate Tom Compton,” he said on Sunday. “I texted him and said, ‘See if you can find a video of that. I think you’re going to like it.’ I told the guys in the locker room if I scored today, I was going to do it, so they were ready for it. It was just fun, having a good time, enjoying playing.”
Vikings RB Dalvin Cook enjoyed Cousins’ dance routine.
“I was right there with him,” Cook said. “We just do our thing. Kirk is kinda like the football dad on this team. We love seeing him show his personality. It gets the whole team hype.”
Life is good in the NFL when you are winning, and if the Vikings continue to win, expect more dancing from Cousins.
Bills’ OC: ‘I have a lot of confidence in Josh(Allen)’
QB Josh Allen and the Buffalo Bills’ offense started slowly against the Jets on Sunday, and at one point, the Bills were down 16-0 in the third quarter. One of the Jets’ touchdowns was a pick-6 by C.J. Mosley in the first quarter. However, things got better in the fourth quarter for the Bills’ offense, as Allen was able to lead the Bills on two touchdown scoring drives to help Buffalo defeat the Jets 17-16 at MetLife Stadium.
Allen finished the game 24/37 for 254 yards, 1 TD, 2 ints, despite Allen’s struggles, Bills’ OC Brian Daboll continued to have confidence in his quarterback.
“I’ve said this before; I have a lot of confidence in Josh,” Daboll said on Monday. “Again, he hasn’t even started a full season. But he’s a grinder. He’s a competitor. He’s smart. He’s tough. And I got a lot of faith in him. So, we started out the game in no huddle to spread [the Jets] out. Sometimes you start games, you pass to set up the run or you run to set up the pass. Each week is a little bit unique. This is what we felt was best going into this game. Unfortunately we had some turnovers, but again, you don’t pull the plug on that. You take a look at why, and we have enough confidence in him and the rest of the guys to keep going in that no huddle and throwing the ball around a little bit.”
The Bills’ offense turned the ball over four times on Sunday, which, according to Daboll, was one of the reasons they were not able to have success early in the contest.
“Well, we were moving the ball. We had four turnovers,” Daboll said. “It’s well documented, right? Two tipped balls, a fumbled snap, and then we lose one in the pocket on the opening drive. So you have turnovers, that stops drives. Now, if you weren’t moving the ball, then you’re going to have to figure out how to do something else. But we felt like we were moving the ball, and we had turnovers.
“Did we change a whole bunch at halftime? No. I mean we had four drives in the second half minus the four-minute. We had one safety back there backed up. And then we had a drive for three points and two drives at the end. So we had four drives. And give credit to the players. That’s who I give credit to. They went out and executed and made some good plays when they had to make them. You talk about Josh or Smoke (John Brown) or really, I’d say the whole group; that we’re far from where we need to be. But they played the best when it counted the most, and that’s resiliency. That’s mental toughness. You have to string them together and have a good week of preparation this week. Really, what you did last week means nothing in this business. But I’m proud of the way they competed and fought.”
While Allen did his job in the fourth quarter, the credit definitely goes to the Bills’ defense, who kept the team in the game despite the four turnovers. Buffalo escaped with a victory on Sunday, but they have to play better moving forward if they want to have success this season.
Jaguars place Nick Foles on IR, could return in November
The Jacksonville Jaguars have placed QB Nick Foles on the team’s reserve/injured list, the club announced today. Foles broke his left clavicle on Sunday in the Jaguars’ 40-26 loss to the Chiefs. The eight-year veteran had surgery on Monday.
Foles, 30, is eligible for reserve/injured – designated for return, and if it were applied, Foles could return to practice after six weeks (the week of Oct. 21), and the earliest he could play in a game would be Week 11 at Indianapolis (Sunday, Nov. 17).
On Monday, the Jaguars acquired QB Josh Dobbs from the Steelers for a 2020 fifth-round pick. Pittsburgh originally drafted Dobbs in the fourth round (135th overall) of the 2017 NFL Draft. He did not see action during his rookie season and played in five games in 2018.
Vikings’ Cook: ‘Whenever I am on the field, a lot of special things can happen’
Ground and pound was what the Vikings did on Sunday against the Falcons. Minnesota rushed for 172 yards, including 111 yards from RB Dalvin Cook and two touchdowns to defeat Atlanta 28-12 at U.S. Bank Stadium.
“It was a great start. It was good to set the pace for the season,” Cook said. “The offensive line was moving people upfront. We got it going early. The defense kind of sparked this thing, and we took care of business by punching the ball in which got the momentum going. It was definitely a good start for the season, and something we can build on. There are still more yards on the field that we can get by cleaning up the little things.”
The Vikings running game was so effective with Cook and Alexander Mattison(9 carries, 49 yards) that their QB Kirk Cousins only had to throw the ball 10 times against the Falcons, and defensively, the Vikings were able to force three turnovers against Atlanta. According to Cook, running the ball and playing big-time defense is what makes head coach Mike Zimmer happy.
“That is our identity. Everybody knows Coach Zimmer wants to run the football and play great defense,” Cook said. “Like I said earlier, they played great defense and set the tone for us today. We were able to piggy-back off of their energy and got this thing rolling.”
Many believe that Cook, who had touchdown runs of 7 and 19 yards, could have a breakout season in 2019, and Cook believes that whenever he is in the game, great things can happen for the team.
“I have been practicing and working very hard,” he said. “It’s just football. Whenever I am on the field, a lot of special things can happen. I just got to stay on the field to help the team that’s the most important thing. Being out here with these guys is fun. We worked extremely hard this offseason and training camp to have days like these.”
The Vikings are off to a good start. Obviously, the next 15 games won’t be like this, but Minnesota has to be happy with what they saw out of Cook and the running game in Week 1.
Mahomes: ‘I tried to get the ball out of my hands, and guys were making plays’
Kansas City Chiefs QB Patrick Mahomes picked up where he left off in 2018. Mahomes threw for 378 yards and three touchdowns as the Chiefs went on the road to beat the Jaguars 40-26 on Sunday.
For good portion of the game, Mahomes was hampered by a left ankle injury, which he injured in the second quarter, and while the injury slowed Mahomes, he was still able to be effective.
“The adrenaline helped out, of course,” Mahomes said after the game. “I was going out there and just playing football. I mean, obviously, I wasn’t as mobile as I usually am. But the team helped me out step-by-step as I tried to get the ball out of my hands, and guys were making plays.”
While Mahomes was able to play on despite the injury, Chiefs wide receiver Tyreek Hill could be out for an extended time after he suffered a collarbone injury in the second quarter. According to ESPN’s Adam Schefter, the injury will not require surgery but will cause him to “miss a few weeks.” However, without Hill, who recently signed a reported three-year, $54 million extension, the Chiefs were still able to have success on offense.
“I mean, obviously whenever someone with Tyreek’s ability goes out, you wonder what’s going to happen,” Mahomes said. “But, the best thing about this team – and you’ve seen it the last few years now – is whenever someone gets their opportunity, they step up and play. And we really pick each other up. So, I was glad the guys stepped up, made plays; and that was running backs, receivers, tight ends, and whatever it was. I mean, that’s just how we roll. Whoever is given the opportunity to make the play, they make it.”
The Chiefs will get their first taste of life without Hill next week as they travel to Oakland to face the Raiders. It should be fascinating to see how the Chiefs prolific offense will look without Hill.
