Back in May, there were whispers of tension between the Seahawks offense and defense, but coach Pete Carroll, quarterback Russell Wilson, and cornerback Richard Sherman quickly dismissed the rumors. Earlier this week, defensive end Cliff Avril was a bit more adamant that the story was “fake.”
“I think it’s all fake news,” Avril said on TuneIn’s NFL No Huddle (via Charean Williams of ProFootballTalk.com). “I think it’s all dead. It was a dead period so people needed something to talk about. At the same time, too, let’s be honest, there are 90 guys in the locker room right now. There is no way that 90 guys are going to always get along, and that’s just what it is. I’m pretty sure there are people at your job right now that’s way less than 90 that don’t get along. That’s just part of it. Now as far as it being Russ [Wilson] and [Richard] Sherm or Russ and whoever, I don’t think that’s true. I’ve never had any issues with Russ. I don’t think anybody has any issues with Russ. We all want the best for Russ, and Russ wants the best for us. That is the only way we are going to succeed.
“I haven’t seen it. I don’t know what they are referring to. Maybe they know something that I don’t know.”
Let’s check out some more notes from around the NFC…
- The Cowboys still might not have the defense to be considered a true contender, writes Sport Illustrated’s Jonathan Jones. The team lost four defensive backs this offseason in Brandon Carr, Barry Church, Morris Claiborne and J.J. Wilcox, and the team replaced the foursome with rookies. The team will also be forced to rely on first round defensive end Taco Charlton, while fellow defensive lineman David Irving will be forced to sit out for four games due to suspension. Ultimately, the writer believes it still may be several years before the Cowboys’ defense catches up to the offense.
- Earlier this week, a report indicated that an authentication company refused to verify Cowboys quarterback Dak Prescott‘s autograph on a set of Panini America trading cards. The company released a statement yesterday, acknowledging that a small grouping of the autographs were not actually authentic, and they added that they were working to recall the faulty cards that are currently being circulated. Notably, the company said that Prescott was not responsible for the error. “Prescott has autographed thousands of Panini America trading cards during his rookie season, has participated in multiple authenticated signing sessions and received additional card shipments throughout the year and returned them to Panini America to be incorporated into products,” the statement said (via Williams). “Prescott and his representatives have worked closely with Panini during this process since becoming aware of the discrepancies and have no knowledge of how those cards were returned to Panini.”
- Earlier this week, our own Zach Links reviewed the offseasons for the Arizona Cardinals and Los Angeles Rams.
I don’t see how writers can say how Dallas has taken a huge loss on defense. We’re talking about mediocre starters with a good year or two sprinkled in their tenure in Dallas. Church would be the only one in that group that might hurt losing. Even then, none of these writers were drooling over the above guys play over the years to begin with, so why now? Because they have 1st year players taking their place? Not a good enough reason.
Not only that, most were calling for their release.
Rookies should have energy be excited to be in NFL and play their tails off. Tired of last years secondary waiting for receiver to catch ball then tackle them without even turning around to make play on ball
Anthony Brown and Byron Jones got a year of experience under their belt. The rookies look like they can play ( we shall see ) and dont forget Jaylon Smith coming back. Sean Lee is healthy also. Once some of these suspensions pass, the defense will get even more help. The Boyz will be fine!
This is Jones’ 3rd season
You’ll see it when guys like Beckham and Jeffery are running roughshod in the Dallas secondary.
Saying “replaced them with rookies” is extremely misleading considering Scandrick and Brown are the current favorites for starting CB spots and neither are rookies plus Jones and Heath project as starters at safety and neither is a rookie.
The whole Prescott autograph thing is ridiculous. Sounds to me like no one bothered to fact check before accusing the guy of passing off non-signed materials. Now they are back tracking. The journalists (and I use that term loosely) who broke the story didn’t bother to dig a little deeper. Believe it was the quality folks over at ESPN that did so. But of course no responsibility will be claimed here. Just a oh well I guess he wasn’t aware. No! Own the screw up. Lazy journalism and corporate greed at its finest.