Never thought there'd be a time in my life when my favorite team is needing a revenge game against Rutgers, but here we are.
Rutgers is getting dumped today on this fine Groundhog Day.
ICYMI
- D'Angelo Russell is an All-Star.
- One month down for Ryan Day.
- Ohio State's next four games are winnable.
- Dwayne Haskins will run and throw at the NFL combine.
- Olentangy Liberty's Ben Roderick is waiting for a Buckeye offer.
- The Buckeyes ain't so great at beating Michigan on the hardwood.
Word of the Day: Turgid.
GIANTS TO THE SUPER BOWL? If the G-Men take Dwayne Haskins in the draft, fans can go ahead and buy their Super Bowl tickets, according to Saquon Barkley's dad.
From Tom Rock of Newsday.com:
Saquon Barkley’s father thinks the Giants will be in the Super Bowl soon, and he knows who he wants the quarterback to be when they get there.
“Two or three years, if not next year,” Alibay Barkley told Newsday on Wednesday. “It all depends on if they get Haskins.”
...
“Eli can show him the ropes,” the elder Barkley said of the hypothetical selection of Haskins and then having him sit behind Manning for a season. So by that thinking, Alibay Barkley’s suggestion that the Giants could be in next year’s Super Bowl means they might get there with Manning at quarterback. But he also said that if Manning “messes up” in 2019, Haskins could “step right in.”
An offense of Haskins, Barkley and Odell Beckham Jr. sounds fun as hell, but they've got to get some help on the offensive line if Haskins is going to survive the season.
THE CATCH TURNS 10. 10 years ago yesterday, Santonio Holmes made the catch of his life, right after making another huge play to set up the biggest catch of his life.
Behold:
A decade later, Jeremy Fowler caught up with Holmes to talk about the catch. And turns out, he asked for the game to be put in his hands before the final drive even started.
From ESPN.com:
"I said, '[No.] 7, I want the ball right now,'" Holmes, 34, recalled of his words before the game-winning drive. "'No disrespect to the other guys. I want the ball.' He never said anything. He just threw it to me."
Ten years ago Friday, Holmes made a play that will forever live in black-and-gold folklore. The freeze frame says it all: Holmes tapping his two feet on the Cardinal-painted end zone as three defenders closed in, securing the ball while bracing for the fall out of bounds from the far corner.
Roethlisberger delivered the kind of throw that inspires shoe ads. The brilliant 6-yard touchdown with 42 seconds left gave the Steelers a 27-23 lead, secured their sixth world championship and changed Holmes' life forever.
"Millions are watching you. What are you going to do now?" Holmes said about his mentality before the play. "You didn't ask God to put you in this place for you not to do what you were supposed to do.
Dude absolutely owned that game. He had 9 catches for 131 yards and a touchdown.
Here's hoping another Buckeye comes up with a huge touchdown catch on Sunday. My pick is Jake McQuaide.
THROWING IT BACK TO HIGH SCHOOL. You gotta start somewhere, and most of the time those somewheres never forget where you started.
John Simon is playing in his first Super Bowl on Sunday, and his former Cardinal Mooney teachers and staff have his back.
Rams long snapper Jake McQuaide also remembers his high school roots, where he also played tight end and used to joke that he'd one day end up in the NFL as a long snapper.
He's not only in the NFL, he's playing in the Super Bowl.
"I'll just long snap in the NFL... but we were just joking around." That was 2005. Now @JakeMcQuaide will be the first Elder Panther to play in the Super Bowl. The story of the "joke" that took him from The Pit to football's biggest stage. @WLWT #Blitz5 pic.twitter.com/vlfn5lEKNx
— Brandon Saho (@BrandonSaho) February 1, 2019
My son will inherit my blogger, Internet boy genes, which means his only shot at sniffing a football field is as a long snapper. You best believe I'm starting him early.
STILL WANTS TO PLAY. Ryan Shazier's already come a lot further than a lot of people thought possible after his injury, but he's not content with just walking, jogging, or dead-lifting.
He wants to play football.
From Ed Bouchette of the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette:
“Yeah, I definitely want to play again,” Shazier said Friday morning during an interview with the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette here as he made appearances for the Undeniably Dairy campaign, which promotes nutritious dairy options and supports dairy farmers in the U.S.
“I have a time frame in my head, but I haven’t really told anybody yet. At the end of the day I’m taking it one step at a time. I’m a lot closer to my goal than I was when I got hurt.”
I'm never, ever betting against Ryan Shazier. If the guy says he still plans to play football, I have a hard time counting him out.
YOU LIKE JAZZ? It's looking like Mike Conley could be on the move.
Utah has had exploratory discussions with Memphis on a potential swap headlined by Mike Conley and Ricky Rubio in advance of next week's trade deadline, according to league sources.
— Marc Stein (@TheSteinLine) February 1, 2019
It's a change of scenery, but he'll still be trapped in the Western Conference. Which means his borderline unrealistic streak of never making an All-Star team likely ain't ending anytime soon.
LINK LOCKER. The dark queen of competitive eating... How the Super Bowl got hacked with porn... What happens when high school football goes away... Death-cap mushrooms are spreading across North America... The untold history of Budweiser's "Whassup?" Super Bowl commercial...
