Getting rid of Urban Meyer was the right decision for the Jacksonville Jaguars, even if it took owner Shad Khan a few weeks too long to pull the trigger. When it came out that Meyer had kicked his field goal kicker for missing attempts, that apparently sealed Meyer’s fate. Khan had a chance to bring in Byron Leftwich as head coach, a move that would have brought a dynamic offense to the Jaguars, something that quarterback Trevor Lawrence would certainly welcome. However, Leftwich wanted the team to move on from general manager Trent Baalke, who has been associated with a number of poor decisions for the franchise, and Khan balked. So in comes Doug Pederson, whose last coaching stint ended when he bizarrely benched Jalen Hurts in a game that the Eagles had a chance to win. Now Khan has signed a new deal to play a home game at Wembley Stadium for each of the next three seasons, continuing a tradition that had run from 2013 to 2019 and would have featured two games in 2020 but for the pandemic, and that continued at a different stadium in 2021. Khan’s priorities seem to be at odds with building a winning franchise supported by a strong fan base, so Lawrence has to wonder if his NFL career will survive his time with this dysfunctional team. Read on to find more news that you can use to help plan your NFL betting for the coming season.
The Rumor Mill
If you were one of the NFL fans agitating for a change to the overtime rules in the playoffs, the league has heard you. For the postseason only, the new rule will require that each team have a possession before the game enters sudden death. The current rules for a modified sudden death, in which the team that has the ball first can win if it scores a touchdown. Since 2017, when the league shortened overtime during the regular season from 15 minutes to 10, the team that wins the coin toss has won 54% of the time, but that number has increased significantly in the playoffs; since 2017, 12 playoff games have gone to overtime. In seven cases, the team with the ball first won, and in 10 of those cases, the team that won the coin toss also won the game. So if you were frustrated by the finish between Buffalo and Kansas City, that sort of finish won’t happen again.
The Taysom Hill experiment at quarterback in New Orleans appears to be over. Jameis Winston received a two-year deal to return as the starter after recovering from a torn ACL, and the Saints have also added Andy Dalton on a one-year deal to back Winstin up. Coach Dennis Allen indicated that the Saints will utilize Hill mostly as a tight end. Trevor Siemian had left the Saints via free agency, joining the Chicago Bears. The Saints value Hill for his versatility, as he will sometimes move to quarterback in read-option situations and also appear at tight end, wide receiver, tailback and fulback, in addition to several roles on special teams. He has done much more for the Saints in “gadget” situations than he did when taking the starting job during Winston’s absence last year.
The Bears aren’t done dealing in the quarterback area, after bringing in Trevor Siemian to back up Justin Fields and assist in his development. That leaves Nick Foles as the odd man out despite his win over Seattle last season, and the team is looking to deal him. The Super Bowl LII MVP started seven games in 2020 but just had one start last year. It’s likely that the Bears would end up eating a good bit of the $10.67 million he represents on their cap in any trade.
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