Monthly Archives: October 2014

DAVID BLATT ON ANDY STARTING AT CENTER, HIS BIGGEST CONCERN, AND IF THE TEAM IS PICKING UP BLATTSKETBALL

CDavid Blatt Post Game vs Maccabi Tel Avivavs head coach David Blatt in a round about way announced today that Anderson Varejao will be his starting center, how the team is picking up his principles of “Blattsketball” and more.

Listen to the post practice press conference with David Blatt below.

 

 

LEBRON JAMES ON GETTING READY FOR THE KNICKS, “BLATTSKETBALL”, ANDY STARTING AND THE POWDER TOSS

LeBron Meida Day #1Following practice today LeBron James met with the media and discussed what the team needs to still work on as they get ready for the opener against the Knicks, Anderson Varejao being named the starting center, adjusting to “Blattsketball” and whether or not he go back to the pregame powder toss.

Listen to the post practice press conference with LeBron James below.

 

 

 

MY 2014-15 CAVALIERS ROSTER

David Blatt and David Griffin Podium Photo Meida Day 2014

With the preseason no over and the Cavaliers have emerged healthy, it’s go time for the games that really matter. David Blatt will trim his roster to 15. Here’s how I see that roster to start the season with, but I’m looking to still add Ray Allen  at some point, and most importantly, a much needed rim protector. The first two guys to go if G.M. David Griffin can continue to work his magic would be A.J. Price and either Alex Kirk or Lou Amundson. But for now here’s my “Fine 15” for the 2014-15 Cleveland Cavaliers.

 

PG – Kyrie Irving, Matthew Dellavedova, A.J. Price

SG – Dion Waiters, Mike Miller, Joe Harris

SF – LeBron James, Shawn Marion, James Jones

PF – Kevin Love, Tristan Thompson, Lou Amundson

C – Anderson Varejao, Brendan Haywood, Alex Kirk

RAIDERS ROOKIE STARTING QB DEREK CARR ON JOHNNY MANZIEL, THE DRAFT AND STARTING IN THE NFL AS A ROOKIE

Derek Carr Oakland Raiders

Photo courtesy – NFL.com

On if he knows QB Johnny Manziel and what he thinks he’ll do as a pro:

“In college, of course, he was on ESPN every day. We’d get to see all his highlights. I was a college kid. That’s what you do. You watch ESPN so I got to see him, got to see him play in all those games. I thought he was a great athlete – makes plays obviously when things break down. I’m no quarterbacks coach. I don’t know the exact things that I’m talking about, I guess, but I think he’s going to be a great player. I wish him nothing but the best. I got to talk to him, hang out with him a little bit at the combine. He’s a good dude. I have nothing but good things to say about him.”

On if he thinks it’s better for a rookie quarterback to learn in the game like he’s doing or learn on the sidelines like Manziel is doing:

“I think it’s different for every person. I can only speak for myself, and for me, it’s been better for me to be on the field and learning because now I can say, ‘Oh, I’ve seen this coverage before,’ or, ‘Oh, I’ve seen this blitz before. Oh, I’ve seen them try and do this and they do this.’ Especially playing against some really good football plays so far in my six-game career, including the preseason, for me, it’s been better to be on the field because that’s just how I learn, but for other guys, it could be different. For me, it’s been good to be out there and learn that way.”

On Head Coach Mike Pettine talking about him like he was a first-round pick and if he’s surprised where he was picked at:

“Going back to that day, I put everything I had out there. Obviously, certain teams didn’t think I was. It didn’t work out that way, but I can promise you I’m more than happy where I ended up because I’m home. I’m in a place where we’re building things the right way, and I’m happy just to be on the field playing. It’s a blessing to be in this league.”

 

 

BROWNS QB BRIAN HOYER PRESS CONFERENCE TRANSCRIPT

Brian Hoyer Sidelines vs SteelersOn if he’s been able to put the bad taste of the Jacksonville game out of his mind:

“Yeah, especially after today, getting out to practice again, getting into game plan for Oakland and stuff like that. It definitely gets you more focused towards Sunday. Like I said the other day, the best thing for us to do is learn from our mistakes and move on. Now, we finally get the chance to get back out on the field and take that first step of getting back out to play Oakland this week.”

 

On how important is it for the offense to get back to its formula:

“It’s huge. I think everyone knows this offense is built on the run game and that everything kind of plays off of that. Even though people are going to challenge that, we still have to be able to set the tone for what we’re going to do. I think we take that as a challenge, especially with teams like Oakland who are going to put eight men in the box. Kyle, like I said this before, he’s run this system for a long time. So, he’s dealt with that. There’s some different scheme that you can use, but for the most part, we’ve just got to get back to our basics and execute.”

 

On how different Sunday, Monday and Tuesday are when you don’t play well:

“I’m just angry. Even my wife said she doesn’t even want to be around me. She said sometimes she doesn’t want to be around me after we win, too, just because I’m so critical. She’s like, ‘You guys won.’ I’m like, ‘I know, but I could have done this better. Especially after a loss, it just lingers with you until you get a chance to come back out here and do something about it. Yeah, you can sit there and watch the film and learn from it, but until you get a chance to come back out, go through meetings this morning, then get back out on the field and really start setting your sights towards Oakland. I feel a lot better today after having meetings and going through practice. I’m just really moving forward.”

 

On if his confidence is tested after last week’s loss:

“No, that happens to the best. Three weeks ago everyone was saying (Patriots QB) Tom Brady was done with. He’s the greatest quarterback of all time. He had one bad game, and people are throwing him under the bus. I think when you see that even the great ones have bad games you know you’re going to have a few. Yeah, it sucks. You don’t want to go out there and not perform well. Obviously, we prepare our butts off all week to go out there and execute and play the best of our ability, but sometimes you have a situation where you don’t play great, and the other team plays well. It’s a bad combination. For me, really of all the games I’ve ever played that was the worst I’ve ever felt after one. That’s just something that you have to deal with, learning on the job. It’s not always going to be perfect, and you’re not always going to win the game. The games you lose, yeah you might have played well, but for the first time in my career in the NFL I played a really bad game. It sucks. I take a lot on myself, and that’s why I probably wasn’t very pleasant to be around for the past two days. That’s just the way it goes.”

 

On Browns Head Coach Mike Pettine saying that the offense needs to get back to its formula:

“I think he just talks about what I said before, back to the basics, getting back to better technique. Then also, when you are going to get challenged and our formula obviously is to run the ball and play action and nakeds and stuff like that, and really just don’t get away from it just because someone’s trying to take it away. I think that’s kind of what he’s talking about. Yeah, it’s going to be a challenge, but we’re up for that challenge.”

 

On if the coaching staff discussing whether or not to put in Browns QB Johnny Manziel bothers him:

“No, nothing was brought to my attention. It’s out of my control.”

 

On if overreaction by fans or media ever surprises him:

“No, like I talked to you guys on Monday, there’s overreaction when you win. There’s overreaction when you lose and especially at the quarterback position. When you win you’re the hero. When you lose you’re the goat. I think that’s just the way it goes. That’s the way this league kind of has become. It comes with the territory. It’s something that I knew going into it that’s the way it is. There’s not much you can do about it. You worry about what you can control, and that’s what’s going on in this building. The outside noise you just kind of try to block out, whether it’s good or bad. Sometimes, you can get caught up when people are patting you on your back. It feels good, and yeah maybe you want to check and see what they’re saying, but if you’re going to do that you better be able to take it when they’re saying bad stuff, too.”

 

On if he feels like he has to bring everybody together as a quarterback when things are going bad:

“Yeah, I think as a quarterback you’re the leader of the offense, and you try to get things going. Maybe sometimes you try to do too much. You try to make a play, but I think the biggest thing to me – which I always try to tell myself – is just one play at a time. Don’t worry about the last play. Don’t worry about the next play. Be in the moment. Worry about this play. Yeah, it’s frustrating when things don’t work out, and you miss a throw or whatever it might be. You get frustrated. It’s hard to be able to move on, but in the heat of the moment you have to be able to because if you let things linger it’s going to prevent you from playing to the best of your ability.”

 

On the relationship that he’s developed with Pettine help him get over having a bad game:

“I don’t even think about it to be honest with you. I know what goes into my preparation; I know that talking to my coaches that’s the farthest thing on my mind. Yeah, I don’t doubt that he has my back. I also know that if you have one bad game I think that people are just going to be calling for your job already, that’s just the way it goes but I know within this building I feel more than comfortable.”

 

On if he sees yardage available for him to scramble on a play-action pass:

“Yeah, there was one. I’d rather throw it than run it. We all saw what happened when I ran the ball last year. The only one in particular that comes to mind was where I kind of threw it a little bit wide to (WR Taylor) Gabriel on the sideline. I might have been able to run it for five (or) six yards but when you think to complete the pass, it’s sixteen yards. That is part of our training: one, two, and three – and if three is not there then run, you just keep running. You know one of these days it might happen.”

 

On if he’s concerned with the decline in his passing percentage after his game at Jacksonville:

“Yeah, I don’t even look at stats. Obviously last week was a little different type of game, obviously 41 passes, the week before I had seventeen, so you never know how it’s going to go. You go back to the Baltimore game at one point I was 20-of-21. Sometimes when you get batted balls or when you have to throw the ball away, but I’d rather throw the ball away than take a sack. It’s a team game. I don’t care about my stats I care about us winning. If I have to throw the ball away to avoid a sack, or whatever it might be, I’d gladly do that take a hit and my completion percentage.”

 

On how he came out of the Jacksonville game physically after taking several pressure hits:

“Good, I mean just the usual bumps and bruises. That’s the way that this game is and eventually you’re going to have some of those. You just go in and make sure that you take care of yourself and that’s something that I knew with the possibility of being a starter for a full season I try to prepare myself as best as I could and so far I’m holding up really good.”

 

On what stands out about the Raiders defense:

“You look at their depth chart and you’re like ‘geez, look at these players.’ They’ve got (Raiders DE LaMarr Woodley), (Raiders DE Justin Tuck), (Raiders DT Antonio Smith), (Raiders DB) Charles Woodson who’s- if you’re watching on film- he looks as if he’s young and playing the way that he used to. (Raiders DBs) Tarell Brown and Carlos Rogers, they’ve got big name guys over there and you watch the film and you see them making a lot of plays. I think that we know going into it that it’s going to be another challenge and especially with their front seven and the guys that I mentioned and their two linebackers in there. We know what we’re up for and there record maybe what it is but, as I talked to someone else that plays in this league the other day: Records don’t matter in this league, it matters about going out and executing on Sundays. The media and people like that they might get caught up in records but when you’re sitting there and watching the film and you’re watching the defense, (with) players like that, you don’t pay attention to the record. You just see what the film tells you and you be ready for that.”

 

On why was it difficult to get TE Jordan Cameron the ball during the last game:

“I don’t know. For me it’s something that- I’m definitely trying to go through the progressions and you’re trying to get to Jordan out there. You miss him in the end zone and obviously that’s points right there. It’s something that we’re definitely working on, and Jordan is always in the back of my mind to try and get him the ball.”

 

On playing another 0-6 team this upcoming weekend:

“I think it’s good that we lost last week. I don’t think that we underestimated anyone but now I think we see that no matter who we’re playing we have to be at our best and there are no excuses and we have to go out there and execute.”

CAVS OWNER DAN GILBERT’S LETTER TO 2014-15 SEASON TICKET HOLDERS

I am a Cavaliers season ticket holder and I figured I’d share with you the letter Cavs owner Dan Gilbert sent to me and all season ticket holders recently.

photo (7)

 

 

Dan Gilbert Season Ticket Holder Letter 2014-15 – Page 1

Dan Gilbert Season Ticket Holder Letter 2014-15 – Page 2

BRIAN HOYER PRESS CONFERENCE TRANSCRIPT 10-20-14

Brian Hoyer Sidelines vs Steelers

On how it looked on tape:

“Probably about as bad as it looked yesterday. We didn’t play well enough to win the game. Like I told you guys yesterday, that’s a good defense we went against. We needed to be on our game, and we just weren’t all around the board, myself included. I think if you asked any one of our guys, they would tell you that we didn’t play well enough to win.”

 

On if he’s concerned that other teams have seen enough on tape now to copy what Jacksonville did and take away the play-action:

“I don’t think they really took away the play-action. Our keepers were there. We hit some big plays on it. We only had one or two other play-action passes. Like I said, it’s a copy-cat league, but within that mindset, people are going to do what they do. Yeah, they might try to take something here or there, but I don’t think…this isn’t baseball. You don’t get a scouting report on a pitcher who throws a curveball with two strikes. It’s football and there are 11 guys on the field. I think obviously Jacksonville played well yesterday, and we didn’t play well. That’s a bad combination.”

 

On what bothered him most about his own performance:

“A few missed throws – things like that. There were times where I could have been more patient in the pocket. Things felt like they were flying around a little bit more than usual. Sometimes you’ve just got to hang in there a little bit longer even when you don’t think you can. It’s something that I need to work on.”

 

On if he had more time on the pass where he missed TE Jordan Cameron in the end zone:

“Yeah, it was quick. That wasn’t a thing with the pass-rush or anything like that. It was just…I’m trying to look off a safety and I came back to throw to his spot. He kind of…it was kind of that he thought one thing and I thought another. We’ve just got to get on the same page with that, especially on a critical play like that.”

 

On if he considers completion percentage a relevant statistic for a quarterback:

“Yeah, I mean you go 16 of 41, regardless if there are batted balls or throwaways, even with those, you’d like to be in the 60s. I think it’s about being efficient. For me, I wasn’t efficient yesterday regardless of the situation. You’ve got to be able to go out there and complete the passes.”

 

On if it’s too simplistic to say that the changes on the offensive line were a major factor yesterday:

“No, we’re not going to use that as an excuse. I think we did more than well enough in the second half, even a little bit in the first half, against Pittsburgh with those guys in there. There are no excuses there. We’ve just got to play better. You talk about ‘next man up.’ They did a great job last week, and that’s not going to be an excuse for us after a loss.”

 

On if he thinks it would be better if they focused on one or two running backs instead of trying to work in three:

“No, I don’t think…because we’ve had success doing it before. Like I said, there’s no excuse other than they played better than we did yesterday. That’s the NFL. Yeah, that was their first win, but we knew going in that that was a tough, tough defense. It wasn’t anything about us underestimating or anything. We just got outplayed, out-toughed. It hurts to stand up here and admit that, but that’s the truth.”

 

On if this was a bad day or a step back:

“It’s just a bad day. There are 16 games in the NFL. You’re not going to be perfect in every one. The biggest thing for us is we need to take this – we just watched it – learn from our mistakes, bury it and move on. We get two games at home. We’re playing Oakland. As soon as I get done here talking to you guys I’m going to go back and start watching them. That’s the mentality that you have to have in this league. Whether you win or lose, you’ve got to be able to move onto the next one and learn from the game that you just played and take what you’ve learned and apply it the next week.”

 

On if the Browns’ offense planned to come back onto the field on fourth-and-5 late in the game after sending the punt team on:

“Yeah, we’ve practiced that a few times.”

 

On what running back onto the field does:

“I don’t if you remember back to New England did it against…It was Kansas City. That’s where we got the idea from, and just really try to force them into a timeout or 12 men on the field or really just see what happens. We just didn’t execute it the way the way that it was supposed to be executed.”

 

On if everyone thought it was 12 men on the field when one of Jacksonville’s players was running off the field:

“No, I know someone mentioned that after the game. They saw that on the TV copy, but that had nothing to do with why the ball was snapped.”

 

On what the offense has to do to beat teams that put eight men in the box:

“When we played Pittsburgh there were nine men in the box. It’s not anything other than just going out and executing. (Browns offensive coordinator) Kyle’s (Shanahan) run this system for a long time. He’s been running this system with eight men in the box for a long time. It’s not anything that we should be worried about. It’s something that go out and you watch the film, realize what we did wrong. Give Jacksonville credit, but there were times where we just flat out made mistakes. When that happens and you play a good defense they’re going to make you pay. When you’re in third-and-long a lot of the game it makes it tough.”

 

On it seeming like the Jacksonville defense knew what was coming at times:

“We knew going in (that) they’re really well-coached, and you can see it on film. When you do play action they zone-drop really well, and they’re looking up your routes. Their defensive linemen are reading your techniques on the offensive line and tight end to see if it’s a run or a keep. We know it’s a very well-coached team, and they played their scheme very well. Like I said, we just got outplayed.”

 

On if he and WR Miles Austin weren’t on the same page a couple times:

“Yeah, there was one where – like what I talked about before – I rushed a little bit. It’s something I can’t do. One I threw behind him. It’s more me than it was him.”

 

On if he’s confident the offense can have success in the passing game if a team shuts down the running game:

“Yeah, no doubt. The games where we’ve been behind we’ve had to drop back and throw it, whether it was New Orleans or the last drive of Tennessee. It’s not a concern for me. I think the biggest thing is people know it’s always an overreaction, whether you win or whether you lose. That’s the way this league is because you only get to play one time a week. For us, it’s not to get caught up in the hype. Yeah, we played yesterday. We sucked. It sucks to admit it, but you have to be able to face the facts and just realize what you need to do to get better. The biggest thing is for us to have watched it and move onto Oakland and not let this linger and come out because, I know for me, Sunday can’t come fast enough. You want to get back out there and be able to play.”

 

On if he thought that it might have gotten into his head a little bit that he had to worry about the center, the snap exchange or the rush:

“No, I don’t think anything like that was involved. You just know you’re going against a good front. You saw it all week. I think they were second in the league in sacks, so I didn’t want to take sacks. I think, for me, you’d rather throw the ball away if you can. At least you’re not losing yardage. For me, maybe I went into the game a little too worried about not taking a sack and trying to get through it a little too quickly.”

 

On his level of confidence that the offensive line can gel without OL Alex Mack:

“I don’t have any lack of confidence in those guys. There was no lack of effort out there yesterday. I will tell you that. Everyone is playing as hard as they can. Sometimes it’s mental mistakes, and sometimes the guy across (from) you is pretty good too. I think we all just need to learn from this, get better, get back onto the practice field on Wednesday and move onto Oakland. That’s what this league is about. You can’t dwell on a win or a loss.”

 

On if he’ll have confidence in the offensive line if OL Nick McDonald moves in there and OL John Greco moves back to right guard:

“Yeah, we’ll see. The good thing with Nick is I’ve played with him before. Even when he was coming through his rehab, I would go in there – because he was just trying to figure out if he can snap the ball – and take some snaps with him. I don’t know how that will play out. You’d have to ask me that later on in the week and see how that’s going.”

 

On if he took a fair amount of snaps with him at New England:

“Yeah.”

LEBRON’S LATEST BEATS BY DRE COMMERCIAL

This is really well done. If you’re a Cavs fan, a LeBron fan or from Akron, it’ll really make you feel good. It got me pumped! I can’t wait for October 30th at 8pm when the Knicks come to The Q and the second “King James” era begins. Enjoy!

Click here  –

 

INSTANT ANALYSIS – JAGUARS 24 BROWNS 6

Here my extensive breakdown of Jacksonville beating the Browns 24-6 for their first win of the season.

Browns Helmet Sideways Photo

DAVID BLATT CAVS POST GAME PRESSER vs MAVS

Head coach David Blatt on the Cavs lack of defense, Dion Waiters leading the team in shots again, Kyrie Irving’s return and more.

David Blatt Post-game Photo 10-1-14