Ten is the loneliest number | Sports Daily
The Flyers lost ... again. In the midst of a record-tying 10-game losing streak, the Flyers will look to avoid making history on Friday.
The Flyers lost their 10th straight game on Wednesday night, as they were shut out 3-0 by the New Jersey Devils.
The defeat marked just the fourth time in franchise history that the Flyers have lost 10 in a row, and matched the club’s longest-ever losing streak. How bad have things gotten? The Flyers haven’t won a game since Nov. 16 and haven’t won in regulation since Nov. 12.
The one bit of positive news for the Flyers was that Derick Brassard returned to the lineup after missing six games with a lower-body strain. Things don’t get easier for the Flyers who head to Las Vegas on Thursday ahead of a back-to-back against the Golden Knights and Arizona Coyotes.
Will the Flyers ever win again? On Friday, they will take the ice looking to avoid making history.
— Inquirer Sports Staff, @phillysport
When do you think the Flyers’ losing streak will ultimately end? sports.daily@inquirer.com
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Early Birds
Eagles tight end Dallas Goedert recorded a career game Sunday against the Jets, catching all six balls that were thrown his way for a career-high 105 yards and two touchdowns.
Where Goedert made most of his hay was on play-action throws and in the screen game. How good is Goedert when he gets the ball in space? He leads all NFL tight ends in first-down percentage, 75.6% and yards per catch(14.5), and ranks third in yards after catch (7.2).
“This guy is a monster when he gets the ball in his hands,” said coach Nick Sirianni. “He’s big, he’s strong, he’s hard to tackle. ...That’s where I saw his leadership abilities. He stepped up and made plays for a guy that was starting his first game for the year.”
Unfortunately for fantasy football owners, Goedert will be unavailable this week with the Eagles on a bye. That said, KC Joyner has some waiver pick-up options for you led by Jaguars running back Carlos Hyde.
See where Joyner ranks the Eagles in Week 13 Power Rankings and which betting lines he likes this weekend.
Next: The Eagles are in the midst of their bye week before finishing the season with four NFC East games, beginning with a home game against the Washington Football Team on Dec. 19.
Extra Innings
The Major League Baseball lockout is more than a week old but while the owners and players argue over money, other, more important issues, such as the on-field product are being overlooked.
Commissioner Rob Manfred recently said the two sides are solely talking economics but wouldn’t this be the perfect time to discuss things such as the rules of the game or pace-of-play moderations? Scott Lauber writes that not doing so is a huge mistake and a missed opportunity by the league to improve the game of baseball.
Off the Dribble
This season hasn’t exactly gone like the Sixers expected. They thought Ben Simmons would be on the court. They thought Joel Embiid would be healthy as he entered the season “in the best shape of his life.” They thought Tobias Harris, who is nicknamed “The Machine,” would be available for all 82 games of the season. Of course, none of that came to pass. Simmons continues to sit out after asking for a trade and Embiid and Harris, who did all they could to prepare for the season, were hit with COVID-19 and missed extended stretches.
But on Wednesday against the Hornets, the Sixers, who had 14 different starting lineups this season, had their opening night lineup for only the ninth time this season. And while it didn’t pay immediate dividends as the Sixers struggled with an undermanned Hornets team before finally winning, it was a good sign that the entire roster (sans Simmons) was available. Christmas Day is largely considered the unofficial start of the season, and it appears Doc Rivers’ team will be prepared entering the new year.
Next: The Sixers hop on a plane from Charlotte and face off with the Utah Jazz at 8:30 p.m. Thursday at Wells Fargo Center.
Fleet Street
The commissioner of MLS, Don Garber, had kind words for the Union organization and their fans, though he also defended the league’s position to not reschedule the Eastern Conference final after 11 Union players were put into Covid-19 protocols and unable to play. Jonathan Tannenwald has an exclusive interview.
Next: Who will be on the Union’s roster next year? Well, Jakob Glesnes is one playoff hero who has already been signed to return and so have a few other key players.
Worth a look
Squashed: As the No. 3 ranked women’s squash player in the world, Amanda Sobhy, has overcome plenty of opponents throughout her career. The most difficult one, though, was not a squash player but rather the eating disorder, bulimia. Sobhy, 28, hopes sharing her story of squashing bulimia will help others who are going through similar struggles.
A familiar foe: Villanova play South Dakota State this weekend in the FCS playoffs, but the Wildcats and the Jackrabbits have faced off on the gridiron once before. That was in 2016, a game won by SDSU, but more importantly the game that introduced Dallas Goedert to the city of Philadelphia. The tight end racked up eight catches for 92 yards and a touchdown on the day and two years later was selected in the second round by the Eagles.
Beasting on the boards: Rebounding traditionally hasn’t been of Villanova’s strengths but as was evident on Tuesday night against Syracuse, the 2021-22 Wildcats are no pushovers on the glass. The Wildcats out-rebounded the Orange 57-36, the 57 rebounds the most by Villanova in a game in 16 years.
Readers react
We asked if the Flyers were right to fire Alain Vigneault and you answered en masse, with the highest response yet to any of our Sports Daily questions.
“I don’t live in the area anymore but I still support the Flyers and suffer when they are mediocre (being generous).
Frankly, it seems to me that we’ve always been too quick to give up on people. It turns my stomach when I watch another team use a goalie that we just threw away because they weren’t the second coming of Bernie Parent (and of course people that really follow the Flyers know we threw him out before he came back and won multiple Stanley Cups). The latest I saw was Bobrovsky playing well for the Panthers, and I’m thinking ‘if he’s so good for them, why did the Flyers cast him away?” - Will G. on what’s wrong with the Flyers.
Inquirer Live
Eagles great and Pro Football Hall of Famer Brian Dawkins joins sports columnist Mike Sielski on Inquirer LIVE on Thursday at 4:15 p.m. They’ll discuss Dawkins’ new book, Blessed by the Best: My Journey to Canton and Beyond, his career with the Eagles, and the causes and treatments for the mental health issues that he and other elite athletes have experienced.