By Art Spander
For Maven Sports
SAN FRANCISCO — A broken hand. A busted season. The man who was going to carry the team, who was supposed to be a candidate for another MVP award, went crashing to the floor.
Copyright 2019, The Maven
SANTA CLARA, Calif.---He can hit you with a quick tackle or a long explanation. If Richard Sherman didn’t create the phrase “Legion of Boom,” to describe the defensive backfield, including himself, of the Seattle Seahawks championship teams he certainly made good use of it.
Yes. Sherman has his opinions. Why not? He’s been there, done that. And now, in his second year with the 49ers, he’s doing it again, on the field in the interview room.
The Niners won again Sunday, crushed the Carolina Panthers, 51-13, at Levi’s Stadium, kept the sometimes apathetic fans cheering and chanting—like the good, old days you might say. Of course, these very likely are the good, new days. As acknowledged by that sort-of-old guy, 31-year-old Richard Sherman.
The Niners have a defense. Defense wins. The rookie defensive end, Nick Bosa, the No. 2 overall selection in this year’s draft, had three sacks and an interception.
The Niners have an offense. Offense excites. Tevin Coleman scored four touchdowns, the most since a guy named Jerry Rice—talk about the good, old days—did it twice in the 1990s. Sharing that record is Bill Kilmer, from the 1960’s.
And the 49ers are 7-0, which keeps them, along with the Patriots, one of the two unbeaten teams as the NFL is about to reach November.
This Bosa kid (he’s only 22) has Sherman and the other teammates enthralled.
“He deserves player of the week,” Sherman said of Bosa, “defensive player of the year. From the first day in camp he’s showed his pedigree. He never stops working.”
The Niners, working beautifully, stopped a competent Panthers team (now 4-3) quite decisively, only 230 yards total offense and sacking quarterback Kyle Allen seven times.
“That was a goal of ours,” said Niners defensive lineman Arik Armstead, “first to shut down the run, always, and then put some pressure on him and try to rattle him.”
Whether or not Allen was rattled, he certainly was pummeled. “Their defensive line did a really good job of rushing,” was Allen’s accurate summation.
A passer under duress is a passer who prefers not to scan the post-game statistics. Allen, again replacing the injured Cam Newton, was under such duress that Bosa, a lineman, picked off one of his passes and then like a running back sped through and around would-be tacklers for awhile.
“They had been cutting us a little bit on the pass,” Bosa said of the Panthers’ blocking style. “He got me on a play before. Really cut me good. So I just played the cut that time and saw the quarterback’s eyes and just jumped. And it went right into my hands.”
The way this delightful season seems to be falling into the 49ers hands. They’ll probably lose one here or there along the way—only the 1972 Miami Dolphins finished unbeaten in the Super Bowl era, and that was a 14-game regular season. And Thursday night the Niners have to play at Phoenix.
Still, this isn’t golf. You don’t lose what you’ve gained. There are no bogies in football. Just mistakes, although to this point the Niners haven’t made too many.
“In the NFL you never expect to blow someone out like that,” Kyle Shanahan, the Niners third-year coach said of the big win. “Especially as good a team as that.”
But he did expect Bosa to be the player he is.
Asked his impression of Bosa’s day, Shanahan said, “Probably the same as you guys. It was pretty damn impressive. I’m sure when I watch the tape it will be even better The play that he made the interception on was one of the more impressive plays I’ve seen from a defensive lineman.
“He’s just very confident. The more he plays, the better he’ll get as long as he can stay healthy. He’s a special player.”
As is Richard Sherman.
SANTA CLARA, Calif.---He can hit you with a quick tackle or a long explanation. If Richard Sherman didn’t create the phrase “Legion of Boom,” to describe the defensive backfield, including himself, of the Seattle Seahawks championship teams he certainly made good use of it.
Yes. Sherman has his opinions. Why not? He’s been there, done that. And now, in his second year with the 49ers, he’s doing it again, on the field in the interview room.
The Niners won again Sunday, crushed the Carolina Panthers, 51-13, at Levi’s Stadium, kept the sometimes apathetic fans cheering and chanting—like the good, old days you might say. Of course, these very likely are the good, new days. As acknowledged by that sort-of-old guy, 31-year-old Richard Sherman.
The Niners have a defense. Defense wins. The rookie defensive end, Nick Bosa, the No. 2 overall selection in this year’s draft, had three sacks and an interception.
The Niners have an offense. Offense excites. Tevin Coleman scored four touchdowns, the most since a guy named Jerry Rice—talk about the good, old days—did it twice in the 1990s. Sharing that record is Bill Kilmer, from the 1960’s.
And the 49ers are 7-0, which keeps them, along with the Patriots, one of the two unbeaten teams as the NFL is about to reach November.
This Bosa kid (he’s only 22) has Sherman and the other teammates enthralled.
“He deserves player of the week,” Sherman said of Bosa, “defensive player of the year. From the first day in camp he’s showed his pedigree. He never stops working.”
The Niners, working beautifully, stopped a competent Panthers team (now 4-3) quite decisively, only 230 yards total offense and sacking quarterback Kyle Allen seven times.
“That was a goal of ours,” said Niners defensive lineman Arik Armstead, “first to shut down the run, always, and then put some pressure on him and try to rattle him.”
Whether or not Allen was rattled, he certainly was pummeled. “Their defensive line did a really good job of rushing,” was Allen’s accurate summation.
A passer under duress is a passer who prefers not to scan the post-game statistics. Allen, again replacing the injured Cam Newton, was under such duress that Bosa, a lineman, picked off one of his passes and then like a running back sped through and around would-be tacklers for awhile.
“They had been cutting us a little bit on the pass,” Bosa said of the Panthers’ blocking style. “He got me on a play before. Really cut me good. So I just played the cut that time and saw the quarterback’s eyes and just jumped. And it went right into my hands.”
The way this delightful season seems to be falling into the 49ers hands. They’ll probably lose one here or there along the way—only the 1972 Miami Dolphins finished unbeaten in the Super Bowl era, and that was a 14-game regular season. And Thursday night the Niners have to play at Phoenix.
Still, this isn’t golf. You don’t lose what you’ve gained. There are no bogies in football. Just mistakes, although to this point the Niners haven’t made too many.
“In the NFL you never expect to blow someone out like that,” Kyle Shanahan, the Niners third-year coach said of the big win. “Especially as good a team as that.”
But he did expect Bosa to be the player he is.
Asked his impression of Bosa’s day, Shanahan said, “Probably the same as you guys. It was pretty damn impressive. I’m sure when I watch the tape it will be even better The play that he made the interception on was one of the more impressive plays I’ve seen from a defensive lineman.
“He’s just very confident. The more he plays, the better he’ll get as long as he can stay healthy. He’s a special player.”
As is Richard Sherman.
By Art Spander
For Maven Sports
SAN FRANCISCO — Wait ’til last year.
The times have changed for the Warriors. So, too, has their place of business, but that move is only about 15 miles.
Copyright 2019, The Maven
It’s all about LeBron and Kawai now, about the Lakers and Clippers. The new reality set in Tuesday. Another NBA season started, and the Warriors are no longer on center stage as was made all too clear on prime time.
Lakers vs. Clippers; that’s what the country wants to see, and what it did see on opening night, the Clips, with Kawai Leonard scoring 30, defeating the Lakers, 112-102. That used to be the Warriors, getting the attention, but no longer.
The change was so rapid. One day the Warriors were playing the Raptors in Game 6 of the finals. Virtually the next day their dynasty was coming apart. Andre Iguodala was being traded, Shaun Livingston was retiring, Kevin Durant was joining the Brooklyn Nets and Klay Thompson was injured.
Nothing is forever, but who thought the end would be so quick? It was almost impossible to read a preseason forecast in which Warriors weren’t the favorites. Now it’s impossible to read one in which they’re anything but also-rans.
It’s a new world, one where the dynasty, five consecutive finals and three championships is barely a memory; a world where the player some consider the greatest ever felt compelled to get in a zinger.
That Michael Jordan took a shot, albeit a figurative one—those old guys will do almost anything for attention—was meaningless. That Klay Thompson will be unable to take any shots for a long while is serious.
It’s funny with great athletes when they retire. Some tell us the new generation is fantastic. Others, like Jordan, act as if nobody will match their accomplishments, and in Jordan’s case, that might be true.
In an interview with Craigh Melvin on “Today,” Jordan was asked to update a list made six years ago of players he thought would be unbeatable in a pickup game.
A loaded question. The older an athlete gets, the more distant he is from the competition, the better he gets. Right? Not that Jordan had much room for improvement, as opposed to room for understanding the feelings of his peers.
Jordan declined to update which was allowable, continuing the 2013 group of Hakeem Olajuwon, Magic Johnson, James Worthy and his former Chicago Bulls teammate, Scotty Pippin.
“So Steph Curry shouldn’t be offended when he watches this?” Melvin asked Jordan.
“I hope note,” said Jordan. “He’s still a great player. Not a Hall of Famer, yet, though.”
Technically, Jordan, now an executive with the Charlotte Hornets, is correct. You don’t get voted into the Hall until your career is done. Jordan could have given a more positive answer, but he knows Curry is from Charlotte and obviously wanted to give him a bit of a jab.
Jordan knows, as we all do, Curry, a two time MVP, a member of three Warriors title teams, is a lock for the Hall.
He also knows he’s a hell of a golfer, as is Jordan.
Klay Thompson is another Hall of Fame probability. At times he’s unstoppable. Three years ago he scored 60 points in three quarters against Indiana before being taken out by head coach Steve Kerr.
Now Kerr would love to have Thompson for just one quarter. But the coach said Thompson’s rehabilitation from the torn ACL which occurred in Game 6 of the finals, June 13
“It’s unlikely he’s going to play this year,” Kerr told NBC Sports Bay Area. “So we have to understand that.”
Thompson had surgery July 2. Warrior’s general manager Bob Myers, speaking Sept. 30 at the start of training camp, said the team would re-evaluate Thompson around the All-Star break in mid-February.
“You have to look at it realistically,” Kerr said. “I had an ACL (tear) in college, and I missed a whole season. Generally, an ACL for a basketball player is a full-year recovery, and if it’s a full year for Klay, that puts them out for the season.”
A season that for the Warriors is here all too soon.
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