Daily Archives: August 6, 2022

The 1999 St. Louis Rams are the best underdog team story in NFL history.

The Rams were coming off a 4-12 season. They lost quarterback Trent Green to a knee injury in the preseason. They weren't expected to be any good. Instead, they won a Super Bowl.

Kurt Warner has become the poster boy for that underdog story, and for good reason. Warner's story has been told countless times: He went from bagging groceries to a regular-season and Super Bowl MVP. He ended up in the Pro Football Hall of Fame.

Let's not forget about the coach of that unbelievable 1999 Rams team. The coach who took that former grocery bagger, got the team to believe in him as their new quarterback, and oversaw a squad that won the most improbable Super Bowl title ever.

The Hall of Fame didn't forget Dick Vermeil's career. He finally got the call and will be inducted in the class of 2022. He wouldn't be in if not for that incredible 1999 season.

Vermeil had an odd career. He became the Philadelphia Eagles' head coach in 1976 after two seasons as head coach of UCLA. He led the Bruins to a Rose Bowl win in one of his two seasons there. After two losing seasons to start his time in Philadelphia, the Eagles took off. They had a run of success and ended up in Super Bowl XV, though they lost to the Oakland Raiders. Vermeil coached two more seasons with Philadelphia and then stepped away, at age 46.

He was burned out, he said. Vermeil wouldn't coach again until he was 61.

In between, Vermeil was a popular college football broadcaster for ABC. It seemed he'd settled into his post-coaching career when the Rams made Vermeil a surprising hire in 1997. He was given control of football operations, too. And for two years, it looked like the game had passed Vermeil by. He was 9-23 after two seasons. Players didn't take to his old-school mentality, especially to grueling training camp practices. He was in danger of being fired.

Vermeil looked like a coach that had taken 14 seasons off. Then 1999 happened.

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Dick Vermeil coached for three NFL teams, including one memorable season with the Rams. (Photo by Ronald Martinez/Getty Images)

There was magic for the 1999 Rams. Vermeil memorably said through tears after Green's injury, "We will rally around Kurt Warner, and we will play good football." His new offensive coordinator, Mike Martz, helped. So did new running back Marshall Faulk, who was acquired in a trade brokered by Vermeil.

The Rams went 13-3 and beat the Tennessee Titans in the Super Bowl. Vermeil's comeback, almost two decades after coming up just short of a championship with the Eagles, was worth it.

Warner got the spotlight. Martz got a lot of credit for his innovative offense. But Vermeil pushed all the right buttons for one of the greatest championship stories in sports history.

"He deserves 100 percent of the credit for the turnaround," then-Rams vice president for player personnel Charley Armey told the told the Baltimore Sun during the 1999 season. "He made the right moves with the staff, with the players, with practices. He's done everything right."

Vermeil stepped away again after the 1999 season. He'd return for five more seasons with the Kansas City Chiefs and while it wasn't bad Vermeil's Chiefs went 44-36 it didn't result in any playoff wins. Vermeil retired for good after that.

Unlike the first time he retired from the Eagles, Vermeil walked away from the NFL with a Super Bowl ring from one of the greatest single-season runs in sports.

Winning a Super Bowl doesnt change the person," Vermeil said in 2014 to the Delaware County Daily Times. "But it changes the way everyone looks at him. Its amazing. All of a sudden you become a winning Super Bowl coach and thats how you are introduced. But you are the same person."

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2022 Hall of Fame: Dick Vermeil guided the 1999 Rams to the most unlikely title ever - Yahoo Sports

Tom Brady won six Super Bowls and 17 AFC East titles for the New England Patriots during his two-decade career with the franchise. Not bad for a sixth-round draft pick.

So, to be clear, Brady owes New England nothing. Ever.

Not an explanation. Not an apology. Not even a comment, really. Nothing. On the all-time scales of athlete/team, Bradys side is touching the floor.

That said, you cant blame former teammates, coaches, fans or anyone with the franchise if they wonder where Bradys head and heart were during the 2019 season. It was his final with the Pats and a time when he was also engaging in repeated conversations with the Miami Dolphins.

New England won the division again, but the end of the season was a disjointed mess. A loss in the wild-card round to Tennessee was New Englands fourth in six games.

During the second half of the season, Bradys play slipped seven of his 10 lowest-graded games by ProFootballFocus came after Week 11. He completed 64.8 percent of his passes in the first nine games of the season, but 55.3 after that.

At the time, Bradys relative struggles were shrugged off as missing Rob Gronkowski (who had retired) and the QB being 42 years old.

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Now, however, following a NFL disciplinary report released Tuesday involving the systematic tampering of the Dolphins, we know that during the 2019 season, Brady was engaged in numerous and detailed conversations with Miami executive Bruce Beal.

Brady was in the final year of his contract in New England. He later became a free agent and signed with Tampa Bay, where he is set to begin his third (and likely final) season. NFL rules prohibit teams from contacting players who are under contract with another team.

The Dolphins had impermissible communications [with Brady] as early as August 2019 and continued throughout the 2019 season and postseason, the NFL determined.

The league has suspended Beal and team owner Stephen Ross, who had knowledge and was supportive of the tampering, as well as stripped the club of two future draft picks.

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A federal lawsuit filed by former Dolphins head coach Brian Flores includes a scene where Ross entertains a prominent quarterback who was not yet a free agent on the billionaires yacht. Multiple reports say that QB was Brady.

"The investigators found tampering violations of unprecedented scope and severity," NFL commissioner Roger Goodell stated in handing down the ruling.

Brady will not be disciplined. The infraction is on the team, not the player.

That doesnt mean Brady is completely innocent here. In his 20th season in the league, he assuredly knew at the least the rough parameters of tampering. He was clearly a willing participant. Its not like he normally spends his time innocently communicating with rival executives.

Tom Brady doesn't owe New England anything. That said, it's hard not to wonder where his head was during a 2019 season that was rough by his lofty standards and during which we now know he was being actively recruited by the Miami Dolphins. (AP Photo/Bill Sikes, File)

Sure, this is how most job switches work; an employee gets contacted. Brady wasnt some normal job-seeker though.

So did the fact Brady was having conversations about his future with a different team impact his play while still with the Patriots? There is no way to know, of course. However, two of his worst games of the season came in a Week 17 loss to (coincidentally) Miami, which cost New England a first-round bye, and then in the wild-card loss to Tennessee.

Did he have one foot out the door?

This would run counter to a player whose career is defined by the relentless, even unhealthy, pursuit of victory. In New England phrases such as All In and Do Your Job and LFG are part of the lingo, in large part because of Brady.

You cant blame anyone there for wondering what was going on. Not that Bill Belichick is willing to admit it.

Im focused on training camp, Belichick told reporters Wednesday when asked about the tampering. Thats all in the past.

Again, New England got more than it ever could have asked for out of Tom Brady. The fact he was winning 12 regular-season games and a division title at age 42 was beyond anyones reasonable expectations.

Still, in that final season, Brady was, at the very least, willing to be tampered with.

There is a twist though that should temper any if any are even deserved hard feelings up in Foxborough. By talking with Miami in 2019, Brady unwittingly gave New England a parting gift that will pay off, at least to some degree, in the seasons to come.

The Dolphins are now without a 2023 first-round draft pick and a 2024 third-rounder. That means an AFC East rival will be less able (at least a little bit) to stock future rosters with talent that will take New England on twice a year.

So there is that.

Brady may not have orchestrated a deep playoff run the season he was chatting up Miami, but in the end, he delivered one more loss to the Dolphins and one more advantage to the Patriots.

See the rest here:

Where was Tom Brady's head in the 2019 season? It's fair to wonder amid Dolphins revelations - Yahoo Sports

Bill Russell was a late bloomer. Before the college basketball accolades and a pair of national championships, before the 11 NBA titles and five MVPs, before he became the most fearsome defensive player ever and a man firmly entrenched in the conversation for the greatest player of all time, there was a gangly, 5-foot-10 kid from Oakland's McClymonds High School who believed a job in the shipyards was in his future.

There proved to be so much more.

William Felton Russell died Sunday with his wife Jeannine at his side. He was 88. The greatest winner in professional sports Russells 11 championships in 13 seasons is a mark unlikely to ever be matched had a career that included 12 All-Star appearances and an Olympic gold medal in 1956. He was at his best in the biggest moments: In 30 elimination games at the college, pro and Olympic levels, Russell was a staggering 28-2.

Said Tommy Heinsohn, a teammate of Russells in Boston: He would do superhuman things when they needed to be done.

Russell was born on Feb. 12, 1934, in Monroe, Louisiana, where racism was deep-seated. Russells parents, Charlie and Katie, knew people there who had been born slaves; Black men and women were forced to wait in line behind whites at places like drug stores and gas stations, and Katie Russell, dressed in a new suit she made for herself, was once stopped by police and told not to wear white women clothes, according to a feature on Russell written in 2001.

Russells family moved to Oakland in the 1940s, where basketball first took hold. Russell was a gifted athlete his Celtics teammate, John Havlicek, said Russell could have been a champion decathlete but basketball came slowly. As a sophomore at McClymonds, Russell was nearly cut from the junior varsity team. He suited up for only half the games that season.

Russell didnt start until his senior year, and even then scholarship offers were scarce. Phil Woolpert, the head coach at nearby University of San Francisco, was the only coach to offer him a scholarship. Under the guidance of Woolpert and assistant coach Ross Giudice Much of what I am, I owe to Ross, Russell wrote in his 1966 autobiography Go Up for Glory Russell transformed from a clumsy kid who struggled to make layups into one of college basketballs most dominant players. Backboned by Russell, the Dons won two college basketball championships and strung together a winning streak of 55 straight games.

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Basketball legend Bill Russell, who won 11 championships for the Celtics, has died at 88. (Photo by Michael Kovac/Getty Images for Turner Sports)

NBA team executives took notice. One was Red Auerbach, Bostons grizzly head coach. In 1956, Rochester held the No. 1 pick in the draft. St. Louis had No. 2, and Boston had arranged a trade to move up if Russell were still on the board. As legend has it, Walter Brown, the Celtics owner who co-owned the popular Ice Capades, made a deal with Rochester owner Lester Harrison: Dont draft Russell, and the Ice Capades would commit to performing at Rochesters arena.

The Royals drafted Sihugo Green. The Celtics sent Ed Macauley and the player rights of Cliff Hagan to St. Louis in exchange for the second pick and the rights to Russell.

Russell was a defensive pioneer. He popularized shot-blocking. I was an innovator, Russell told The New York Times. I started blocking shots although I had never seen a shot blocked before that. The first time I did that in a game, my coach called timeout and said, No good defensive player ever leaves his feet. Russell was a master of tip-blocking, tapping shots to his teammates to ignite fast breaks instead of swatting shots into the stands.

Much of what defines todays great defensive players began with Russell. His ability to slide across the lane to provide help defense. His ability to alter shots. Said Auerbach: He put a whole new sound in [the] game. The sound of footsteps.

To his teammates, Russell was gregarious, known for a bellowing laugh. To the those outside the locker room, Russell was often withdrawn. Jekyll and Hyde, Bob Cousy once said. Russell had a complicated relationship with Boston. He often said he didnt play for Boston he played for the Celtics. Russell lived in Reading, Massachusetts, a town just north of the city. One night, Russell came home to find his house vandalized. Racial epithets were spray-painted on his walls. Burglars poured beer on his pool table, smashed in his trophy case and defecated on his bed.

Every time the Celtics went out on the road, vandals would come and tip over our garbage cans, Russells daughter, Karen, wrote in 1987. My father went to the police station to complain. The police told him that raccoons were responsible, so he asked where he could apply for a gun permit. The raccoons never came back.

Russell was never just a basketball player; in airports, he often replied, No, when asked if he was. Everywhere, Russell stood up against inequality. Once, in Marion, Indiana, Russell was presented with the key to the city. Later that same night, Russell was refused service at a local restaurant. He immediately drove to the mayors house and gave back the key.

Few athletes were as outspoken as Russell on controversial subjects. He fought back against the racism he dealt with in Boston. He criticized the NBA for what he saw as quotas on the number of Black players in the league. In 1961, after a restaurant in Lexington, Kentucky, refused to serve some of the Celtics Black players before an exhibition game, Russell organized a boycott of the game. In 1975, he declined to attend his Hall of Fame induction, later calling it insulting to all the Black players who were not inducted before him.

He refused to sign autographs, but welcomed a conversation.

"What I'm resentful of, you know, is when they say you owe the public this and owe the public that," Russell told the Saturday Evening Post in 1964. "You owe the public the same thing it owes you. Nothing. I'd say I'm like most people in this type of life; I have an enlarged ego. I refuse to misrepresent myself. I refuse to smile and be nice to the kiddies. I don't think it is incumbent upon me to set a good example for anybody's kids but my own."

On the court, Russells career was highlighted by his rivalry with Wilt Chamberlain. At 7-foot-1, 275 pounds, Chamberlain was significantly bigger than Russell and arguably just as quick. While Chamberlain had the statistical edge against Russell 28.7 points and 28.7 rebounds in a whopping 142 matchups Russells teams routinely came out on top. Russells Celtics were 85-57 against Wilt; in eight playoff series against Chamberlain, Russell lost only once.

Russell retired in 1969, serving the last three seasons as Bostons player-coach. He returned to the coaching ranks in 1973, in Seattle, where he stayed for four seasons. In 1987, he took over the Sacramento Kings, but lasted just 58 games before moving to the front office. He was fired in 1989. He didnt return to the NBA.

In retirement, Russell continued to be recognized for his achievements. He was named one of the NBAs 50 greatest players in 1996 and had the Finals MVP trophy named after him in 1999. In 2011, he was awarded the Presidential Medal of Freedom, and in 2013, Boston unveiled a statue in his honor.

For all he accomplished, he is best known for this: On the court or off, Bill Russell never backed down.

More here:

Bill Russell, perhaps the greatest basketball player of all time, dies at 88 - Yahoo Sports

I cant tell you how excited I am that football is almost back (preseason doesn't count). The air, general moods, food its all just better during college football Saturdays and NFL Sundays. As part of my first dive into the 2022 NFL season, Im starting with the AFC East because Ive seen no player talked about more in the last few weeks than Josh Allen. So, heres what Im thinking for some of the teams in the AFC East.

Allen hit 763 rushing yards last season, so 550.5 seems low, right? One huge thing for me is Im not quite convinced that Allen will be the same player without offensive coordinator Brian Daboll. Allen has had Daboll by his side for all four seasons of his career, molding him, grooming him and building him up from an inaccurate Wyoming quarterback to the elite threat he is now.

The progression we have seen from Allen during his time with the Buffalo Bills is outstanding. In the last two years, Allen has seen his biggest jump in completion percentage and his second-biggest jump in passing yards per game with Daboll as his play-caller. The person calling the plays matters just ask the Chicago Bears. Daboll is now the head coach of the New York Giants, and Allen is left with Sean McDermott, a defense-minded head coach.

What do defensive-minded coaches like to do? Control the clock, play stout defense and run the ball. Allen is the first quarterback in NFL history to throw for more than 4,000 yards and rush for more than 750 yards. Hes the first quarterback to have three straight seasons of at least eight rushing scores and last year he led the Bills in rushing yards in the postseason. Yet earlier this year, McDermott said he wanted Allen to run less. Were doing right by him by doing right by our team, McDermott said. When a defense-minded head coach says he wants to run more but run the QB less, I believe him. It seems like hes taking a page out of the ol' Mike Zimmer playbook.

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Josh Allen throws during Bills training camp at Saint John Fisher University on July 24, 2022, in Pittsford, New York. (Photo by Joshua Bessex/Getty Images)

Besides, the Bills dont exactly have an easy schedule of rushing defenses. Buffalo faces the Rams, Titans, Dolphins and Ravens all top 14 against the run in the first four games of the season. The Bills close the season facing the Patriots twice, Dolphins again and the Bengals. Weeks 5-12 are pretty friendly, but if the Bills' rushing offense cant get going in the first few weeks, theres a chance the game plan may shift.

How to play this in-season

If you dont like season-long props, Id be looking to take Allens under rushing prop in each of the first four games. This is the time McDermott will be trying to prove his point of running Allen less. Allen had 10 games last year rushing for 40 yards or more. Only two of those games were against teams mentioned above.

Ill be the first to admit it: I am not entirely convinced Tua Tagovailoa is a franchise quarterback. However, there is optimism surrounding the Dolphins this season, and the opportunity Im looking to capitalize on: backing the Dolphins ATS, both as underdogs and especially at home.

In the last two seasons, the Dolphins are 12-7 ATS as an underdog and 13-4 ATS at home, the best ATS home record in the NFL in that span. Those marks did occur during COVID times, with quarterback injuries in both 2020 and 2021, and with aging offensive coordinator Chan Gailey at the helm in 2020. Miami also had one of the worst units at protecting the quarterback and didnt have much of a running game.

This year, Miami could be even better. The Dolphins, ranked 12th in opponent yards per play last year, are looking to be just as good if not stronger defensively. Because Tua was sacked 40 times over the last two seasons, the Dolphins have rebuilt their offensive line with Connor Williams and Terron Armstead, while also dropping WR DeVante Parker and adding Tyreek Hill and Cedrick Wilson. Perhaps the most important factor of all: The team has a new head coach in Mike McDaniel, who learned in Kyle Shanahan's offense.

For two straight years, Parker was the league's worst player in receiver separation. Now Miami has Jaylen Waddle, Hill, and Wilson, who are all top 35 in this category. The 49ers, with McDaniel as offensive coordinator, ranked first in yards after the catch (for four straight seasons), while Miami was dead last in 2021.

The Dolphins have a (currently) healthy quarterback, an improved offensive line, a great head coach, receivers that can produce, and a great ATS home record before all of that. Miami could be the team that adds bucks to your bankroll.

As an extra tidbit, the New England Patriots and Dolphins both finished 13-4 ATS last year as six-point teaser legs. Thats 26-8. In the last two seasons, the Dolphins have gone 27-6 on a six-point teaser.

The Patriots have a tougher schedule, but I would definitely trust the Dolphins as a teaser leg throughout the season.

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NFL betting, odds: How to bet Josh Allen and the AFC East - Yahoo Sports

Passive investing in index funds can generate returns that roughly match the overall market. But the truth is, you can make significant gains if you buy good quality businesses at the right price. For example, the American Homes 4 Rent (NYSE:AMH) share price is 68% higher than it was five years ago, which is more than the market average. In stark contrast, the stock price has actually fallen 12% in the last year.

So let's assess the underlying fundamentals over the last 5 years and see if they've moved in lock-step with shareholder returns.

View our latest analysis for American Homes 4 Rent

To paraphrase Benjamin Graham: Over the short term the market is a voting machine, but over the long term it's a weighing machine. One flawed but reasonable way to assess how sentiment around a company has changed is to compare the earnings per share (EPS) with the share price.

During the last half decade, American Homes 4 Rent became profitable. That would generally be considered a positive, so we'd expect the share price to be up. Since the company was unprofitable five years ago, but not three years ago, it's worth taking a look at the returns in the last three years, too. Indeed, the American Homes 4 Rent share price has gained 50% in three years. During the same period, EPS grew by 27% each year. This EPS growth is higher than the 14% average annual increase in the share price over the same three years. Therefore, it seems the market has moderated its expectations for growth, somewhat. Of course, with a P/E ratio of 75.83, the market remains optimistic.

The graphic below depicts how EPS has changed over time (unveil the exact values by clicking on the image).

earnings-per-share-growth

It's good to see that there was some significant insider buying in the last three months. That's a positive. On the other hand, we think the revenue and earnings trends are much more meaningful measures of the business. It might be well worthwhile taking a look at our free report on American Homes 4 Rent's earnings, revenue and cash flow.

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As well as measuring the share price return, investors should also consider the total shareholder return (TSR). The TSR incorporates the value of any spin-offs or discounted capital raisings, along with any dividends, based on the assumption that the dividends are reinvested. So for companies that pay a generous dividend, the TSR is often a lot higher than the share price return. We note that for American Homes 4 Rent the TSR over the last 5 years was 77%, which is better than the share price return mentioned above. And there's no prize for guessing that the dividend payments largely explain the divergence!

The total return of 10% received by American Homes 4 Rent shareholders over the last year isn't far from the market return of -12%. Longer term investors wouldn't be so upset, since they would have made 12%, each year, over five years. If the fundamental data remains strong, and the share price is simply down on sentiment, then this could be an opportunity worth investigating. While it is well worth considering the different impacts that market conditions can have on the share price, there are other factors that are even more important. Like risks, for instance. Every company has them, and we've spotted 4 warning signs for American Homes 4 Rent (of which 1 is potentially serious!) you should know about.

American Homes 4 Rent is not the only stock insiders are buying. So take a peek at this free list of growing companies with insider buying.

Please note, the market returns quoted in this article reflect the market weighted average returns of stocks that currently trade on US exchanges.

Have feedback on this article? Concerned about the content? Get in touch with us directly. Alternatively, email editorial-team (at) simplywallst.com.

This article by Simply Wall St is general in nature. We provide commentary based on historical data and analyst forecasts only using an unbiased methodology and our articles are not intended to be financial advice. It does not constitute a recommendation to buy or sell any stock, and does not take account of your objectives, or your financial situation. We aim to bring you long-term focused analysis driven by fundamental data. Note that our analysis may not factor in the latest price-sensitive company announcements or qualitative material. Simply Wall St has no position in any stocks mentioned.

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Investors in American Homes 4 Rent (NYSE:AMH) have made a favorable return of 77% over the past five years - Yahoo Sports