Hacksaw’s Headlines

Hacksaw’s Headlines–Friday

……………..(Football)…………………

(NFL Schedule-Released)

Chargers….
..Open season at Cincinnati-vs-Joe Burrow on September 13th.
..Home opener vs Chiefs-Patrick Mahomes on September 20th.
..Face Tom Brady-Drew Brees in back to back road games in early October.
..Play Raiders on road Thursday Night Game..December 17th
..Cold weather games at Denver-at Buffalo-at Kansas late in season

..Easy home schedule with Patriots-Jets-Jaguars-Carolina-Atlanta coming to So-Fi Stadium-3 of those teams breaking in new QBs

..Brutal road schedule facing top QBs….at Tampa Bay (Tom Brady)..at New Orleans (Drew Brees)…at Miami (Tua Tagovailoa)….at Buffalo (Josh Allen)….at Cincinnati (Joe Burrow) plus AFC-West road trips to Chiefs..Raiders..Broncos.

Chargers…NFL ranked Bolts with 10th easiest schedule in league (.492)…Opponents had (126-130) record last season.

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Raiders….

..Open season on road vs Carolina on September 13th
..Home Opener vs Drew Brees-Saints on September 20th
..Face Drew Brees-Tom Brady-Patrick Mahomes in 5-week span
..Open season with 5-road games in first 8-weeks
..Close season with 5-of-final 7-games at home
..Play 3-in a row at home in December

Attractive home schedule with Colts (Rivers)..Bucs (Brady)..Miami (Tua)..Saints (Brees)..Bills (Allen) coming to Las Vegas….Road schedule includes Cleveland (Mayfield)..Atlanta (Ryan)

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Broncos…

..Open home schedule vs Tennessee
..Play at Pittsburgh in week-2
..Host Tampa Bay-Tom Brady in week-3
..Take 3-East Coast road trips in first 5-weeks of season
..Face Drew Bree’s-Patrick Mahomes in back to back games in November
..Play 3-of-final 5-on road

Host Saints (Brees)…Bucs (Brady)…Miami (Tua)..Bills (Allen)…Titans (Tannehill) in challenging home schedule…Road games with Pittsburgh (Roethlisberger)…also Carolina-Jets-Patriots-Falcons.

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Chiefs…

..Open at home with Deshaun Watson-Houston
..Face Watson and Lamar Jackson in first three weeks of season
..Play road games vs Chargers-Ravens in weeks 2-3

..3X this year play back-to-back road games
..Play 4-of-6 on road in early season
..Play 4-road games in 5-week span in November-December

Rugged road schedule…Ravens (Jackson)..Tampa Bay (Brady)..Saints (Brees)….Miami (Tua)…Bills (Allen)….Will host Houston (Watson)…Easy games with Carolina-Patriots-Jets

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Rams

..Open Sunday night at home-debut of SoFi Stadium vs Cowboys
..Weeks 2-3..road games at Eagles-Bills
..Play 49ers on Sunday Night Football
..Play Tom Brady-Tampa Bay on Thursday Night Football
..Have 5-prime time games
..Play 4-games on East Coast
..Play 3-East Coast games in 4-weeks to start the season
..Final 8-weeks of season, face Russell Wilson-Kyler Murray 4-times..Tom Brady and 49ers

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(NFL Schedule Notes)

NFL not concerned about stadium construction delays in LA or Las Vegas….have Rams opening at home vs Cowboys…Raiders hosting Saints in Week-2.

NFL has marquee matchups in opening weeks of season despite possible stadiums being padlocked if Virus-Crisis is not solved

Tom Brady-Tampa Bay-Bucs on prime time TV 5-times.
Patriots-4 games on prime time
Patriots..open season with Tua Tagovailoa-Miami
49ers..5 games on prime time
49ers..Face Russell Wilson-Aaron Rodgers-Drew Brees-Jared Goff in 4W-span
Rams..5-prime time games

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(Strength of Schedule)

Patriots..toughest schedule (.537)…opponents were (131-118) last year
Jets…slate (.533)..with (136-119) record.
Miami..schedule-third toughest (.529)
49ers…schedule (.527) coming off Super Bowl season

Baltimore..easiest schedule (.453)..combined record (112-144)
Steelers…(.457) schedule…teams went (117-139)
Dallas..third easiest schedule (.459)

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(Notes)

NFL-Governor Gavin Newsome…’Find it difficult to imagine a stadium filled with fans until we have immunity-we have a vaccine for virus”

NFL…Remains steadfast ‘Equal access’….All teams must be allowed in facilities or no teams allowed in facilities.

NFL…Report NFL exploring idea of relocating some home games of Chargers-49ers-Rams if NFL pandemic keeps California in lockdown…Chargers might play some games in Arizona…Rams in Las Vegas…49ers in Denver

Miami…Mayor says he does not expect Dolphins-Hurricanes to play home games infront of fans.

Baltimore..TMZ-reports ugly domestic incident with Ravens safety Earl Thomas….wife stalked him and pulled loaded gun and knife on him at his home in Austin, Texas after she discovered he was involved in adulterous relationship…Wife facing 4-felony counts

Carolina…Agent for QB-Cam Newton says player ready to accept challenge of being backup QB…..Patriots-Jaguars still out there losing for veteran help.

Steelers..Say no interest in QB-Cam Newton…staying with Mason Rudolph-Paxton Lynch-Duck Devlin as backup QBs under contract.

Green Bay…Legendary QB-Brett Favre says he did numerous projects for Family First Charity in Mississippi…says he had no knowledge where payments were coming from..that is why he returned 500,000 immediately….Says he has invested 10M in funds for his Favre 4-Hope Fund in his native state Mississippi.

John McKay…Head of Competition Committee says the NFL Instant Replay Challenge for pass interference is dead…will not be voted on for extension……NFL is exploring use of ‘Sky Judge’ to help make calls.

Baltimore…Former Ravens QB-Joe Flacco underwent neck surgery in April…may not be cleared to play till August…likely takes him off free agent market.

Chicago…former Bears QB-Jay Cutler-sued for divorce by wife of 10Y-actress Kristi Cavalairi-calls him lazy and unmotivated since career ended.

Canadian Football League….Commissioner Randy Ambrosie says CFL could play only 8-games this year or possible cancel entire season.

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(Roster Moves)

Raiders..Sign FA-RB-Devonte Booker-ex Broncos…(1,055APY) rushing-receiving in Denver-plagued by injuries.
Raiders..Sign FA-WR-Siaosi Mariner-Utah…(63R) last year

Toronto Argonauts…CFL teams puts ex Packers QB-DeShone Kizer on its negotiating list.

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(College Football)

NCAA….approves a waiver for Division I-athletics…Schools do not have to award maximum number of scholarships because of budget problems….Means football teams would not have to award 25 scholarships next year…or stay at max limit of 85-grants…or basketball be at max limit of 15.

Big 12-Conference….first major conference to cancel Media days for football.
Pac 12-Conference…cancels its July 29th football media days in LA

Oregon..Governor Kate Brown says no fans will be allowed at home games for Oregon-Oregon State in month of September…Means Ducks would play 3-home games without crowds including national showdown with Ohio State  on September 12th

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……………….(Basketball)……………….

Lakers…Say they will delay opening of their practice facilities till Saturday-May 16th.

Sacramento Kings..will open their facility on Monday May 11th.

Cleveland-Portland-Denver…first teams to commit to open practice facilities this Friday.

NCAA…Rejects appeal by fired U-Conn coach Kevin Ollie who was placed on 3-years Show-Cause suspension for major violations in Huskies program….NCAA said Ollie also lied and tried to coverup recruiting issues.

Kansas…Confirms it has received final verdict from NCAA on the probe of the Adidas Slush Fund scandal….will release outcome of probe possibly by Monday.

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……………….(Baseball)………………..

MLB-Union…..Commissioner Rob Manfred makes final “Proposal to Resumption of Play” to Players Association….detailing possible opening dates of camp….opening of season-July 1st….testing protocol…Roster Limit….Taxi Squad….Roster limits when camps open…Free Agency service time….Pay Scale…Still to be determined would be Pay Scale if no fans are allowed in games.

Angels…P-Griff Canning begins throwing bullpen sessions in Anaheim-coming back from Plasma Platelet injection in spring training.

Alex Rodriguez….withdraws interest in bidding on buy NY Mets…Could not come up with (2.6B) required by the Wilpon family.

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………………(Hockey)……………..

American Hockey League….Board of Governors Conference call on Friday to determine cancelling AHL playoffs….Discuss plans for next year.

NHL….TSN reports nearly 20-GMs want the NHL to reschedule draft till after NHL playoffs are over…..Commissioner Gary Bettman proposed moving draft to early June and changing the NHL draft lottery.

NHL-Union…discussing going right to playoffs…with 24-teams invited…Included would be a 3-game play-in round for the teams  further down in the standings…Sights to be determined…NHL still looking at a ‘4-City Hub’ for playoffs…or possibly ‘2-City Hub’ using LA-Anaheim for Western Division games…NY-NJersey for Eastern Division playoffs.

Ducks…Re-sign D-Christian Djoos for next season.

Tampa Bay…Sign F-Demitry Semykin-St Petersburg-KHL-Russia

New Jersey Devils…Interview former Kings-Flyers head coach John Stevens for vacant Devils coaching job.

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……………(General)………………

Santa Anita….Petition governor-asking they open track May 15th.
Golden Gate Park…Will open racing on May 14th

Golf…Phil Mickelson-Tiger Woods ‘Match of Champions’ will be played Sunday-May 24th in Florida…includes Tom Brady and Peyton Manning…will be televised on TNT-TBS…will donate 10M to Covid 19-Research.

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