Catering Directory

It’s a tradition unlike any other.

First, the deadline passes for doing a long-term deal between the Steelers and running back Le’Veon Bell. Next, the Steelers leak the value of the deal on which Bell passed. Along the way, the Steelers conceal the kind of details that would permit the deal to be properly evaluated.

Bringing in free agents Hitchens, CB David Amerson and NT Xavier Williams, coupled with GM Brett Veach and Andy Reid’s decision to spend their first four draft picks on defensive players, means a ton of new faces for defensive coordinator Bob Sutton. The biggest change is the one at quarterback, with Patrick Mahomes replacing Smith. Smith was playing the best football of his career before he was traded, topping 4,000 yards passing for the first time in his 13-year career, at the age of 3The Chiefs believe Mahomes’ ceiling is much higher, and they’ve surrounded him with some of the most exciting offensive talent in football, but he’s still just 22, with just one meaningful NFL game (a Week 17 start when the Chiefs were already locked into their playoff seed) under his belt.

Returning a healthy Berry, adding Watkins and replacing Peters with Fuller keeps the Chiefs firmly in contention, but the wild card is the quarterback. My guess: 9-7 in Mahomes’ first season, with turnover issues throughout.

The move was met with a lot of dissatisfaction from the team’s fanbase, particularly when it came to communication from McAdoo and other team brass about how the decision was made. That backlash was followed by McAdoo’s firing after the team lost to Oakland and McAdoo reflected on the move as part of Peter King’s Football Morning in America.

Right or wrong, I am at peace with how I handled the decision to play quarterbacks other than Eli Manning down the stretch of last season, McAdoo wrote. … I was not ending Eli’s career with the Giants; I was making sure we knew what we had behind him with a high draft choice prior to a big quarterback draft. I gave him the option to start the games to keep his streak alive. I understand why he said no, and he was a true pro about it. My bedside manner hurt me that week. I’m working on that. I do think it was special how his former teammates and the fans rallied around him that week. But if there’s one thing I want fans of the Giants to know, it’s that I made this call to try to make the Giants stronger for the future. It probably got me fired, but I believe I did the right thing for the right reasons.

Quarterback Brett Favre discussed concussions and ending youth tackle football in an interview with the Daily Mail on Wednesday.

Favre supports legislation to end youth tackle football. He approves Illinois’ Dave Duerson Act to Prevent CTE — named after the Bears safety who died by suicide and was diagnosed with CTE — which would forbid anyone under 12 from playing tackle football.

The state level is a start, but we have to adopt this plan and all do it together, he said. The body, the brain, the skull is not developed in your teens and single digits. I cringe. I see these little kids get tackled and the helmet is bigger than everything else on the kid combined. They look like they’re going to break in half.

Favre, along with Kurt Warner and Abby Wambach, works as a spokesperson for Prevacus, which is a drug in its testing phase designed to treat long-term effects of concussions. The three are investors in the drug.

The Big Interview: For an SI TV exclusive, The MMQB’s Robert Klemko sat down with this year’s five first-round quarterbacks for an unprecedented and wide-ranging discussion as they embark on their NFL careers. Here’s a taste of what you’ll see on the show

He’ll have to hold off Chris Carson and prove his receiving chops to secure a full starter’s workload, but the Seahawks were aggressive in grabbing him with the 27th overall pick. Fantasy owners will likely have to be aggressive to secure his services, as well, with an average draft position late in the third round. At the very least, he should enter training camp as the favorite to be the team’s starter. At the most, he’ll prove to be a 300-plus-touch back playing with a quarterback in Russell Wilson who creates so many opportunities for the other key players in his offense.

It was a bit of a surprise to see the Patriots take Michel with the 31st overall pick in the draft. The Patriots typically don’t use such precious resources on running backs, and the position wasn’t exactly a major need. Those two facts suggest that Michel will have a major role this season.

The Bills and NFL have each released statements saying they are aware of the situation.

There was no signs of breaking and entering at the home in question.

That the NFL Players Association filed a grievance about the anthem policy the day after Bidwill put his spin on focus on football was an almost laughable coincidence. The depth of ugliness coming as Season 3 of Shut Up And Play, Or Else approaches, though, is not going to be funny.

I think the easiest way to do it would be for guys to play where they’ve played for all the time the game has been around. Two guys on the left side. Two guys on the right side. You have a designated area where the shortstop, third baseman, second baseman and first baseman all go, and you play there. That would be the simplest way. Is it gonna happen? I don’t know. But if you’re looking to help even out the advantage that pitchers have over the hitters, that’s the only way to do it.

New Panthers offensive coordinator Norv Turner is looking to change that part of Newton’s game.

He gets away with that because he makes so many big plays in the running game, Turner told Alex Marvez and Bill Polian on SiriusXM’s Late Hits. But the one thing that I think when you look at it that we’re going to work hard to help him is, he has a large number of games where his quarterback rating is as high as anyone’s is. It’s in the high 90s, low 100s.

Fans who submitted their $100 deposits for PSLs more than a year ago recently began finalizing their purchases, and the Raiders are set to begin selling more seats next week, though other prices have not yet been released.

Just think about this: When there’s a runner on third base and less than two outs and the infield is playing back, every hitter in baseball knows that all you have to do is hit a ground ball anywhere, and you score the run. And that success rate is still super small. That play is easy, and it gets screwed up all the time. Guys can’t hit a ground ball when all they have to do is hit a ground ball to score a run.

Nonetheless, it would mean a big adjustment, especially for Simmons, who would have to play off the ball far more than he did as a rookie. That’s not all bad; we saw when McConnell moved into the starting lineup during Philadelphia’s series against Boston that a second playmaker can relieve some of the ballhandling pressure on Simmons.

Still, Simmons and to a lesser extent Embiid seem to fall into the category of players who are best with the ball in their hands that I recently found have been less effective when playing alongside James. Conversely, there’s also the matter of how having a non-shooter like Simmons spacing the court affects James’ ability to play one-on-one.

So I think LeBron could feel comfortable that, despite the fact there would surely be an adjustment period if he signed with the Sixers, they’d present him a better opportunity to win next season than staying in Cleveland (where, of course, he’d have to deal with this Philadelphia team as a rival).

Bryce Harper certainly deserves some of the blame in Washington. He has hit .193/.332/.404 over 64 games (since April 17) and .180/.333/.326 since June 1. The Nationals also have the worst production in the majors at catcher — hence the J.T. Realmuto trade rumors — and since Howie Kendrick went down, their second basemen have hit .232/.246/.341.

For the Cardinals, Marcell Ozuna was supposed to be their Harper, and while he’s hitting .285, his .746 OPS and his on-pace total of 20 home runs are well below his .924 and 37 figures from 2017. Matt Carpenter was cold in April and is hot now, while Tommy Pham was hitting in April and early May but has cooled off big time since (he had a 1.042 OPS through May 11, but is .548 since). Paul DeJong got injured and Dexter Fowler has lost his starting job to Harrison Bader. A lineup that looked deep at the start of the season is now thinner and lacks that big hitter in the middle.

Three weeks later, it would be New England’s turn to fall victim to Coughlin. Again.

The Seahawks won the NFC Championship Game against the Packers because a million stupid things went their way — if they only had the good fortune of 999,999 stupid things going their way, they would’ve lost. If even a single of the following balls of absurdity bounced the other, more rational way, then it’s Rodgers and Brady slugging it out in the desert for that silver trophy:

That luck lasted about 59 more minutes, or roughly enough game time to convince Pete Carroll to throw a slant from the New England 1-yard line with 26 seconds left to play in the Super Bowl. Malcolm Butler’s interception paved the way for the third of Tom Brady’s four Super Bowl MVP awards.

For the third year, New England and Green Bay each advanced to the NFL’s final four, but one team managed to derail both … for about 103 minutes. The Atlanta Falcons wrecked the Packers, one week after Green Bay claimed a short-lived team of destiny vibe for knocking off the top-seeded Cowboys in Dallas behind a ridiculous Aaron Rodgers comeback.

From my perspective, obviously it was a tough evening, he said. Ryan’s a trooper. I had an opportunity to spend some time with him, and he’s in good spirits.

Shazier was injured during a Monday Night Football game against the Bengals in Week 13. On Cincinnati’s first possession of the game, Shazier went to the ground clutching his back after tackling Bengals wide receiver Josh Malone. It looked like a normal, everyday kind of tackle until Shazier didn’t get up.

Shazier was immobilized on a backboard, carted off the field, and taken to a Cincinnati hospital.

Steelers coach Mike Tomlin did not have an update on Shazier’s status after the game.

This is a tough game, tough business, Tomlin said. 5-0 (Shazier) is our brother.

According to Geragos, one owner said — under oath during a deposition — that he changed his mind [about Kaepernick] after he was told what Trump said.

I honestly didn’t have my rhythm until the last batter of the first inning, Giolito said. I did a pretty good job of filling the strike zone after that first inning. They put a lot of balls in play, and the defense was great behind me.

Giolito said he was kind of paying attention to his no-hit bid when it reached the sixth inning. I probably would have been more aware of it if I had taken it to the seventh or eighth, he said.

Twins: Ace RHP Jose Berrios (8-5, 3.15) takes the mound against LHP Mike Montgomery (2-2, 3.39) when the Twins meet the Cubs on Friday. Berrios has won his last three decisions over five starts in June and has a 2.10 ERA during the span.

White Sox: RHP Dylan Covey (3-2, 3.45) faces RHP Yovani Gallardo when Chicago opens a three-game series at Texas on Friday. Covey left in the fifth inning of his previous start last Saturday with a right hip flexor strain, but after throwing a bullpen session on Tuesday he said he felt fine.Bradley, Devers homer for Red Sox in 4-2 win over Angels

Russ is the reason why this decision is becoming even more easier to make, is the character Russ [has], George told ESPN’s Rachel Nichols in February. A stand-up guy, and he has his teammate’s back.

George, 28, averaged 21.9 points on 43.0 percent shooting plus 5.7 rebounds and 3.3 assists. Playing with Westbrook, George enjoyed one of his best 3-point shooting seasons to date, hitting the highest total of his career on 40.1 percent shooting.Moran’s grand slam helps Pirates beat Padres 7-5

George took to Instagram late Saturday to post a photo of himself with Westbrook, along with the caption, Unfinished business.

With many assuming that the Los Angeles Lakers were the unquestioned favorites for George, his decision to stay with the Thunder came as a bit of a shock. However, sources told ESPN’s Ramona Shelburne that George informed the Thunder of his intentions well before Saturday’s party so they could operate in free agency with confidence that he was staying.

Mike Trout has no interest in merely taking his cuts at the plate, walking back to the dugout and waiting patiently for his next at-bat.

The two-time AL MVP wants to be part of the action in the field, too, and his zest for being a two-way player is evident by his numbers when doing so.

Trout celebrated his return to center field Friday night with a solo home run and an impressive catch, and the Los Angeles Angels snapped a six-game skid by beating the floundering Baltimore Orioles 7-1.

The Angels were reeling from a three-game sweep in Boston, where they were outscored 22-9, before breezing past the awful Orioles in the opener of a three-game series.

Mike got us on the board, then we kept pecking away, Scioscia said. It starts with pitching. You keep putting up those zeros and let your offense get going.

Los Angeles led 3-0 before pulling away with a three-run sixth. Simmons started the uprising with a double and Kole Calhoun contributed a sacrifice fly.

An unfortunate offensive night for us once again, manager Torey Lovullo said. We didn’t build as big of innings as last night but we had a couple opportunities and we really couldn’t cash in.

Rodriguez (3-1), the son of Hall of Fame catcher Ivan Pudge Rodriguez, dominated in his sixth major league start. He allowed six hits in 6 1/3 innings, struck out five and walked two. In his last two starts, the 26-year-old right-hander has given up one run in 13 1/3 innings.

Miller (0-2) was tagged for six runs and seven hits in five innings. He struck out six and walked one, throwing 96 pitches. In his debut Monday night at Miami, Miller gave up five runs and six hits in 3 2/3 innings of a 9-5 loss to the Marlins.

While winning the Leonard sweepstakes would surely cost L.A. several of its young players and draft-pick assets, it would guarantee James a legitimate superstar running mate and would not affect the Lakers’ ability to offer James a max deal.

The Sixers also have made an offer for Leonard, league sources told ESPN, and would only have to make a few minor roster adjustments in order to free up the cap space to offer James a max deal.