Robby Anderson Traded After Getting Ejected By Coach

Robby Anderson is officially off the Carolina Panthers. That’s right, the troubled wide receiver just got traded to the Arizona Cardinals. Not even a full day after he was ejected from the ballgame against the Los Angeles Rams by his own head coach. It wasn’t a good look Anderson on the day and he was already having a pretty bad season for the Panthers as it was. Shortly after hearing the news of the trade, he reacted on Twitter positively, responding in only emojis but making it clear that he was thankful.   Robby Anderson And His Incident For those that weren’t aware of the incident between Robby and his coaches, let’s walk you through what we know. Anderson was seen getting into verbal altercations with the Panthers wide receivers coach Joe Dailey. They were initially talking in the first half but Robby refused to talk in the second. The arguments were bleeding over everywhere else as well. Interim head coach Steve Wilks had to calm down Dailey after the confrontation was settled. Though it wasn’t just Dailey that was getting into fights with Robby. Anderson went at the interim head coach Wilks as well and was eventually escorted out off the field. Wilks and the rest of the staff had enough.   According to Anderson, he said, “My job is, I’m here to do all I can to help us win. It’s third down. I’m being taken out of the game. You know, I don’t think I should be OK with that. So, I made a comment. It’s the money down. Why am I being taken out? And that’s that.” It’s a fair thing to say in this situation but also doesn’t feel like it’s the entire story of stuff that was shared between the two. He continued by saying, “One thing I do, and I always stand on it and continue to do, is I give my all in everything that I do. I don’t play this game for money. I don’t play this game for fame, I play this game because I love the game of football.”   Wilks Responds To On-Field Blow-Up Throughout the year so far, Anderson has caught 13 passes for 206 yards and a touchdown. At the time he was removed from the game, he had zero catches on 38 offensive snaps. Head coach Wilks said, “I’m going to say this. No one is bigger than the team. And I’m not going to focus and put a lot of attention on one individual. We can talk about the game, can talk about situations within the game. We can talk about the things we’re going to do moving forward. But I’m not putting a lot of energy into one individual.”  Now that Anderson is officially off the team after three seasons with them, the Cardinals are on the hook for his salary. They are going to be paying the remaining $690,000 that he’s owed from the Panthers. Ahead of the 2021 season, Carolina inked Robby to a two-year, $29.5 million extension which had $20 million guaranteed. I take it that the Panthers really are serious about cleaning house and restarting. DJ Moore, Brian Burns and Christian McCaffrey could certainly see themselves on the move shortly as well.  

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Phillies Bullpen Steps Up In A Major Way

After years of having their bullpen get called a liability to their team, the Philadelphia Phillies proved that it is no longer a liability at all. They were the sole reason that they found a way to beat the Atlanta Braves. Advancing further into the MLB playoffs. During a critical, series clinching Game 4, a group of Andrew Bellatti, Jose Alvarado, Zach Eflin, Brad Hand and Seranthony Dominquez pitched a combined six innings. In that span, they were able to strike out 15 batters and walk none on their way to a crucial victory. Plus, we can’t forget that Noah Syndergaard started for the first time in two weeks. Allowing just one run in three innings of action.  The momentum and the swagger are really starting to show out for the Phillies bullpen. They’ve deserved it after all. Alvarado described their pitching as, “strike one, strike two and good luck.” This group didn’t care those other starters such as Zack Wheeler, Aaron Nola and Ranger Suarez already pitched in the series. They were ready to get called into action and didn’t want to lose with this opportunity sitting in front of them.   Pitching Has Killed The Phillies Lately Over the past 11 years that the Phillies missed the playoffs, the bullpen was the major issue. Back in the shortened 2020 campaign, the Phillies bullpen had a combined 7.06 ERA. This is the second highest bullpen ERA that the league has seen over the past 90 years that baseball has been around. They even had an MLB record tied with 34 blown saves the following season in 2021. Even earlier in this season, the bullpen was letting them down in big moments. They blew a six-run leading the ninth inning against the New York Mets back in May. The first time that this has ever happened to them since 1994. It was the second time since 1937 as well.   All of this became too common for the Phillies and they wanted to change that right here and now. The job isn’t finished just yet though as they march into NLCS against the San Diego Padres. A red-hot Padres team that is coming off of victories against both the New York Mets and the Los Angeles Dodgers in their previous series. Luckily, Dominguez is starting to pitch his best ball. He returned from the injured list back on September 11th, but has since found his rhythm again. During Game 4, he was averaging a velocity of 99.5 miles p er hour in the ninth inning. He had three strikeouts as well and saw him pitch the 12 hardest balls that he has all season long. When asked about it after the game, he said, “I’m back. I’m definitely back.”  There is a near guarantee that the group of pitchers that hit the mound in this pivotal series winning game is going to see some more action against the Padres. Click here for more of our content!

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“It was me that decided to leave,” Pjanic says Xavi wanted him to stay at Barca

Miralem Pjanic has revealed he was the one who wanted to leave Barcelona and not the club that wanted him out. The midfielder moved to Barca in 2020 from Juventus in a deal that saw Arthur Melo move the other way. It was a transfer that hasn’t worked from either side with Arthur also struggling on loan at Liverpool. Pjanic fell out of favour under Ronald Koeman and spent last season on loan at Besiktas in Turkey. He has returned to Spain this term, but he stayed shortly before leaving again to the UAE club, Sharjah. Many people thought he was forced out of the club, but he denies that. He says via Matchplug: ‘Xavi wanted me to stay, it was me that decided to leave. ‘I was there for the first games, the coach spoke with me a lot, but I wanted to play more. I would have liked to have done better at Barca.’

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Joe Cole warns Youri Tielemans

Former Chelsea man Joe Cole has warned Leicester City midfielder Youri Tielemans that he needs to start performing like he can play for a top club if he wants to join one. The Belgian midfielder has been on the radar of the top European clubs as he looks to run down his contract at the King Power Stadium. Despite links to these top clubs, none made a serious effort to sign him last summer and he might need to prove his quality again to get their attention. He did little to justify that as Leicester played out a goalless draw against Crystal Palace yesterday and Cole warns he needs to do more. The former England international said via Matchplug: ‘This is a player who has been looked at by some of the top clubs so he will be thinking I’m a Champions League player but you need to perform like a Champions League player, you need to perform in all situations. Maddison’s levels have not dropped. ‘His character is one I admire. He wasn’t quite on it today but he was trying to get on the ball and make things happen. ‘Tielemans is a player I admire, and I rate so much and if he can improve his game five to ten per cent get control, run the midfield and that’s when the points will be coming.’

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NFL Predictions – Jets Travel To Face The Packers

NFL Predictions: New York Jets vs. Green Bay Packers  Over/Under: 45.5  Odds: Jets +7.5, Packers –7.5  Time: 4:05 PM ET    NFL Predictions NFL predictions continue with the New York Jets taking the trip to face off with the Green Bay Packers. The Jets surprisingly have the exact same record as the Green Bay Packers despite a very severe talent difference in these rosters. This could be a major game for each of these squads, as a loss for Aaron Rodgers could crush the Packers morale. Let’s dive into what these two teams have to offer right now.   The Jets are coming off of a game in which they beat the brakes off of the Miami Dolphins. Granted, Miami got forced to start their third-string quarterback after Teddy Bridgewater left in the first quarter with an injury. But still, the Jets were dominant down the stretch. Zach Wilson threw for 210 yards with zero touchdowns and zero interceptions, but their rushing was great. Breece Hall had 18 carries for 97 yards and a touchdown while Michael Carter had 10 for 21 and touchdowns. On the other end of the ball, Sauce Gardner found his first interception of his career. Then we flip to the Packers now. Green Bay got upset in London by the surprisingly talented New York Giants. Rodgers had 222 yards, two touchdowns and zero interceptions on the day. Aaron Jones had 13 carries for 63 yards and AJ Dillon only had six for 34. One factor that really showed how unfortunate their offense was is that the veteran Randall Cobb led the team with seven receptions for 99 yards. The closest receiver was four receptions for 35 yards from Allen Lazard. Their defense didn’t do anything either. Preston Smith got one sack… that was all that happened. No turnovers from this incredibly talented team. That has to be changed if the Packers are hoping to start winning games.  NFL Picks Today This is actually a tough game to pick. The Jets are playing good football right now while the Packers are underwhelming. Giving the Packers a 7.5 game spread seems like it could be a little too much for a team that is consistently playing close games. After all, Green Bay has only won one game by more than 7.5 points all year long, that being against the Chicago Bears. We can go with the upset on this one, take the Jets with the +7.5-point spread.   Then we move onto the total for this game which is set at 45.5. There is potential for a good chunk of scoring in this game. The Jets, if they don’t turn the ball over, can genuinely find some type of success early on. Meanwhile, Rodgers and the Packers are bound to put up at least 20 points in the afternoon. I think this is going to be one of those 30-24 final scores that the Packers come out on top. The Jets cover the spread and the total hits the over.   Final Pick: Jets +7.5  Over/Under Choice: Over 45.5  If you’re looking for more content, click here! 

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Fields And Bears Lose In Devastating Fashion

This past Thursday night football game wasn’t the greatest of all-time. We got to watch the Washington Commanders take on the Chicago Bears in what was a two-touchdown performance. It was the second straight week that Thursday Night football was incredibly boring. However, we got some excitement towards the end of the game when the Bears had an opportunity to win the game. Unfortunately, Darnell Mooney wasn’t able to hold onto the football when he was across the plain. He eventually fell out of the end zone as he finally gained possession, getting ruled down at the two-yard line and losing the game.  Mooney was asked about the final play quite a lot after the game. He didn’t pull any punches when answering these questions. He said, “If I just catch the damn ball the first time, we win the game. At that period of time, I’m literally just telling myself, just please, give me this ball. Give me this ball. I just got to close the game for us. If I want to be that player, I want to be that guy for our team, I got to make that play.”   It was an awful outing offensively for both teams, and there’s enough blame to go around for literally everybody that played last night. In my opinion though, Justin Fields should not be on the line for this loss. He overthrew a touchdown early on in the game, but still gave them a shot to close it in the end and threw a beautiful deep ball to give them seven. Fields had completed 14 out of his 27 passes for 190 yards and a touchdown with an interception. He did lead the team in rushing yards though with 88, something that he should be doing more often.  Bears Coaching In Question As Well Chicago’s head coach was asked about his development once again. He said, “I think he took a step forward. I really do. Because, the toughness. For me, the ability to take the ball and drive it down at the very end to give us a chance to win it, that’s to me what was the improvement. Ok? Were there other moments that we need to clean up and offense needs to clean up? Sure. But we had the drives down there and if we punch those in, the game’s a different game. That’s 21 points. So, for me, that was really inspiring to watch him do that at the very end, to take us down to win it at the very end. And again, we came up short. We’ve got to do a better job next time.”   His head coach made sure to cover all the bases after the game. If Chicago would have been able to capitalize on their previous goal line opportunities, they would have certainly won the game by this point already. One thing that his head coach needs to realize though is that they need to design Fields more opportunities to shine. Look at guys like Lamar Jackson, Kyler Murray and Jalen Hurts for example. They get designed plays to run the football and a chance to make plays, while Fields is pretty much just locked into a run first football scheme. It’s going to be interesting to watch how the Bears move forward after this.  

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Real Madrid no longer wants Mbappe

Real Madrid is no longer interested in a move for Kylian Mbappe after he snubbed them in the summer to stay at PSG. The striker had been the subject of a £154million offer from the Spanish champions, but he eventually chose to stay in Ligue 1 with his present club and signed a new three-year deal. He was promised so many things in the summer before he agreed to the new contract, but it seems the Ligue 1 side has not kept their word and the striker is unhappy now. This has led to speculation that he could leave them at the end of this year and Madrid is one of the few clubs that can afford him. However, a report on Matchplug reveals Los Blancos no longer consider him a player they want to add to their squad. He is now expected to stay in Paris until the summer when he could move to Liverpool or any other suitor.

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Newcastle United wants a top Brazilian youngster

Vasco de Gama’s highly-rated teenage midfielder Andrey Santos is the subject of transfer interest from Newcastle United. The Magpies and the new-rich of the Premier League and they now have the financial muscle to compete with the top clubs in England. They beat all-comers to land Bruno Guimaraes last season and will now target more Brazilian talents, from the South American country itself. Matchplug understands the latest player to catch their attention is Santos who is helping his team in the Brazilian second division. They look set to make a swift return to Serie A and he is one reason they can be considered that good. The 18-year-old has played 29 games for them this year and it shows how important he is to their game plan. It remains unclear how much his team will demand for his signature, but Newcastle is prepared to splash the cash to sign him.

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Harry Kane committed to Tottenham despite Bayern Munich interest

England striker, Harry Kane insists he is focused on helping Tottenham at the moment despite an important interest in his signature from Bayern Munich. The striker is one of the best forwards in the world and he was close to joining Manchester City last season after they tabled a record-breaking offer to Spurs. However, the Londoners rejected the approach despite him openly declaring he wants out of the club and pushing to make it happen. Spurs have him on a deal until 2024 and it remains unclear if he would sign an extension to his current terms, but Kane is not thinking about leaving the club. Speaking about his future recently, the World Cup Golden Boot winner said via Matchplug: ‘I’m focusing on Tottenham Hotspur and trying to do our best. ‘For sure Bayern are a top, top club but all my concentration is on Tottenham and trying to win tomorrow night.’ 

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Liverpool wants a new midfielder in January

Liverpool has suffered from several injuries this season after nearly winning four trophies last term. The Reds have been hit hard by injuries to key players as they bid to rescue their season and it could force them into the market for a new player. One position they have suffered the most is midfield where the likes of Fabinho, Thiago Alcantara, among others have all missed huge parts of the season. They signed Arthur Melo on loan from Juventus to help ease the problem in that position, but the Brazilian is now injured for at least three months. This means they must sign someone in the winter and Matchplug understands the want Real Betis’ Guido Rodriguez. The Argentinian has been in fine form in La Liga and he is one of the top players on their list now. He won the Spanish cup with them last season and we expect him to be on the plane with his country to the World Cup next month.

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