Kyle Shanahan: 2nd meeting with 49ers Saturday
The Falcons will spend this week starting their preparations for Super Bowl LI against the
Patriots and they’ll be heading to Houston on Sunday, but offensive coordinator Kyle Shanahan will squeeze in a little business related to another team on Saturday.
By all accounts, Shanahan is the man the 49ers want to be their next head coach and Falcons coach Dan Quinn said at Monday’s press conference that Shanahan will be free to speak with the team on Saturday. It will be Shanahan’s second interview with the 49ers.
This conversation is also expected to include candidates for the team’s General Manager job. Vikings assistant G.M. George Paton and Cardinals vice president of player personnel are believed to be the two candidates still in the running for the job.
Another 250,000 households caught Falcons Fever in a week
Almost 250,000 more households in the Atlanta TV market watched the Falcons beat the Green Bay Packers on Sunday than watched the team’s previous playoff game against the Seattle Seahawks.
The NFC championship game drew a 45.0 rating here, meaning 45 percent of the homes in the Atlanta TV market tuned in on average.
That translated to an audience of about 1.09 million homes – up from about 845,000 homes for the Jan. 14 win over the Seahawks. (According to Nielsen, there are about 2.41 million TV homes in the Atlanta market.)
The other TV markets with teams participating in the conference championship games posted even higher ratings. The NFC title game drew a 48.6 rating in the Milwaukee market, while the Patriots’ prime-time win over the Steelers in the AFC title game drew a 55.8 rating in Pittsburgh and 51.6 in Boston.
In another Nielsen measure, the Falcons’ win over the Packers posted a 68.2 “share” in the Atlanta market, meaning 68.2 percent of the market’s homes with TVs in use at the time were tuned to the game.
Nationally, in the 56 metered markets, the NFC championship game posted a 27.4 rating and the AFC title game a 27.6 rating. National ratings of both undoubtedly were hurt by the one-sided nature of the games.
Jets offensive coordinator search includes George Godsey
While teams are in Mobile this week to watch players at Senior Bowl practice, it’s also a de facto job fair for coaches. And for teams with vacancies, it’s time to get moving.
According to Rich Cimini of ESPN.com, the Jets have a few possibilities for their vacant offensive coordinator job.
They apparently have some interest in former Texans offensive coordinator George Godsey, and he could interview today.
The Texans and Godsey “mutually parted” after the season, allowing head coach Bill O’Brien to formally take over play-calling duties. Godsey came to Houston with O’Brien after working in New England with him.
Manziel disappears from Twitter after giving advice to Trump
A crazy thing happened Monday when Johnny Manziel offered some Twitter advice to President Donald Trump.
Just an hour after telling the President he needs to ignore trolls on Twitter, suddenly Manziel’s Twitter account was nowhere to be found.
Manziel didn’t exactly hold back his contempt regarding President Trump’s penchant for responding to every negative comment he sees.
“Yo @POTUS even I know to stay away from the notifications section on twitter,” Manziel wrote. “S– will drive you crazy, lead the country and let them hate. Responds to everything thats said about him when there is REAL S– going on in the world. S– even dumber than selling Super Bowl Selfies”
Shortly after the second comment about “Super Bowl Selfies” Manziel’s account was ghosted.
Whether he deleted it or it disappeared by other, more nefarious methods, the timing of his account being deleted here is extremely fishy. We eagerly await an explanation, though it’s hard to imagine Manziel willingly deleted his account, given how dedicated he has been to staying connected with his fans via social media.
Drew Brees’ Pro Bowl snub is rectified thanks to Matt Ryan and the Falcons
Saints quarterback Drew Brees should have made it to the Pro Bowl as part of the original roster. He didn’t. He now has.
The team has announced that Brees will replace Falcons quarterback Matt Ryan in the Pro Bowl. Ryan has a date with a slightly bigger game in Houston one week later.
It will be the 10th trip to the Pro Bowl for Brees and his ninth with the Saints. He generated more than 5,200 passing yards in 2017, the fifth time in his career he has broken that barrier. (There have been only four other 5,000-yard seasons in league history.) Brees also set an NFL record with 471 completions.
Brees has been performing at a high level for so long that his talents often get taken for granted. In a league that doesn’t have nearly enough great quarterbacks, the quarterback who recently turned 38 definitely will be missed when he’s gone.
The other NFC Pro Bowl quarterbacks are Kirk Cousins (who has replaced Aaron Rodgers) and Dak Prescott.
Malcolm Butler gets years-old wish to cover Julio Jones
Five years ago, Malcolm Butler was a junior at the University of West Alabama with longshot NFL dreams. One of those dreams was to take on Falcons star Julio Jones.
Malcolm CB Butler @Mac_BZ
I wanna check julio jones…lol……real talk doe..
9:51 PM – 22 Dec 2012
I feel extremely confident that Butler has no memory of even sending out this tweet, something we’ll find out for sure when the cornerback is asked about is musing roughly 400 times in the next two weeks.
Now Butler gets his wish. The Patriots and Falcons will meet in Super Bowl LI and Butler — who has gone from undrafted free agent to the Patriots‘ No. 1 corner — will see plenty of Jones, football’s best wide receiver.
It’s an intense challenge, but Butler should have his confidence up after finding success against Antonio Brown on Sunday. According to Pro Football Focus, Brown was targeted just four times when running routes with Butler in primary coverage. He finished with two catches for 24 yards, with Butler breaking up one of those attempts.
Ray Lewis is launching a bourbon line
Baltimore Ravens great Ray Lewis is planning to launch a limited-run Kentucky bourbon, called Ray’s Reserve, according to a report in The Spirits Business, a trade publication.
According to the report, the bourbon is sourced from an unnamed distillery — something that’s common practice in the industry. There will only be 100 bottles of Ray’s Reserve available. They’ll go on sale Feb. 15 and will only last until the last bottles are sold.
That said, Lewis is planning to release three other alcohol brands through early 2018.
Lewis, who played for the Ravens for 17 years and was MVP of the 2000 Super Bowl, said he plans to give the first two bottles to President-elect Donald Trump and Vice President-elect Mike Pence.
“I have been thoroughly impressed with President-elect Trump and his desire to help inner city kids and provide better education opportunities for women,” he’s quoted as saying in the report.
Proceeds from the other 98 bottles will fund a scholarship program for women.
Snoop Dogg: "How Am I Coping with Steelers Loss?"
WEED!
Nothing cures the Black and Yellow blues like a little bit of green — so says Snoop Dogg.
The Pittsburgh Steelers superfan says he’s still depressed and angry following his team’s loss to the Patriots … so he’s self-medicating.
Despite the loss, Snoop’s still optimistic for next season … but he’s still got a bunch of bud just in case.
