Sports
Quinn returning to lead defense as Cowboys shuffle coaches
Published
2 months agoon
By
FNN SPORTS
FRISCO, Texas (AP) — A shuffling of the coaching staff for the Dallas Cowboys won’t include defensive coordinator Dan Quinn, who is returning after another year of receiving interest from teams seeking head coaches.
Coach Mike McCarthy said the club’s decision not to renew the contracts of six members of his staff, including one with deep ties to him in Green Bay, hasn’t affected his relationship with owner/general manager Jerry Jones or the rest of the Dallas front office.
The Cowboys, who finished 13-6, reached the playoffs for a second consecutive season and won a road game in the postseason for the first time in 30 years.
Still, Dallas’ divisional-round losing streak reached seven games, the longest since the 1970 merger, with a 19-12 loss at San Francisco. The Cowboys haven’t advanced to an NFC championship game since the last of the franchise’s five Super Bowl titles to cap the 1995 season.
“As far as my relationship with Jerry, just using his words, we’re in an excellent spot,” McCarthy said Thursday, a few hours after the club’s announcement on the coaches who aren’t returning.
“The partnership that we have, he’s excited about. He told me a number of times this week that he wants me to coach here as long as coach (Tom) Landry did. And I said, ‘OK, that’s a long time.’”
Jones’ first act as owner in 1989 was firing Landry, coach of the Cowboys for the franchise’s first 29 seasons. There’s been chatter about McCarthy’s job security since a losing debut in the pandemic-altered 2020 season.
Jones said the loss to the 49ers didn’t change his outlook with McCarthy, who has always shrugged off talk to the contrary.
“I get to talk to Jerry a lot,” McCarthy said. “So I’ve never, I’ve never felt that. The narrative was externally generated.”
Quinn, who interviewed with Denver, Arizona and Indianapolis, told McCarthy on Thursday he would be back for a third season with the Cowboys. Quinn, who led Atlanta to a Super Bowl as coach, made the same decision after interviewing for jobs last year.
Dallas was the first team since the “Steel Curtain” era of the Pittsburgh Steelers from 1972-74 to lead the NFL in takeaways in consecutive years.
“This is big for us,” McCarthy said. “Gives us continuity with what we accomplished the last two years and build off of that. And just frankly on a personal note, I can’t tell you how thankful I am.”
The future of offensive coordinator Kellen Moore seems less certain. Moore interviewed for the head coaching job with the Panthers, who hired Frank Reich on Thursday.
McCarthy wouldn’t answer a question about whether Moore would be the play-caller in 2023 if he weren’t hired as a head coach elsewhere.
The mostly productive Dallas offense sputtered in each of the playoff losses the past two seasons.
“I really don’t want to play this game today,” McCarthy said. “Kellen Moore, just like the rest of the coaches, will be evaluated. The evaluation, it takes more than one day.”
The coaches who won’t be back include assistant head coach Rob Davis, who spent 10 seasons on McCarthy’s Green Bay staff after finishing his career as the Packers’ long snapper, and senior defensive assistant George Edwards.
The others are offensive line coach and former Miami head coach Joe Philbin, running backs coach Skip Peete, assistant defensive line coach Leon Lett and quality control analyst Kyle Valero.
Edwards was a senior defensive assistant who took a leading role with the linebackers and was praised on Twitter by two-time All-Pro pass rusher Micah Parsons.
Edwards joined the Cowboys when McCarthy was hired in 2020, as did Philbin and Peete. It was Peete’s second stint as Dallas’ running backs coach.
Lett, a two-time Pro Bowl defensive lineman who played on all three Super Bowl-winning Dallas teams in the 1990s, just finished his 12th season on the staff. Valero had been with the Cowboys since 2014.
You may like
Sports
Bucs re-signed defensive tackle Deadrin Senat
Published
3 days agoon
March 28, 2023By
FNN NEWS
The Tampa Bay Buccaneers today re-signed defensive tackle Deadrin Senat.
Senat (6-1, 305) has played in 34 career games, logging 51 tackles (four for loss), six quarterback hits, one sack and one fumble recovery. In the 2022 campaign, Senat appeared in 12 games for the Buccaneers, finishing with 17 tackles, two quarterback hits and one sack. He originally entered the league as a third-round selection (No. 90 overall) by the Atlanta Falcons in the 2018 NFL Draft. The Immokalee, Florida, native played collegiately at the University of South Florida from 2013-17, earning all-conference honors in his final two seasons with the Bulls. Senat wears No. 95 for the Buccaneers.
NBA
Orlando Magic Rally Late to Beat Washington Wizards 122-112
Published
1 week agoon
March 21, 2023
ORLANDO, Fla. (FNN) – The Orlando Magic had a lot of ground to make up for at home after their long road run, and the Washington Wizards didn’t make it easy on them–their defense greatly frustrated the Magic.
First Half
The Wizards led most of the first quarter, especially since the Magic made none of their three-pointers…until Moritz Wagner came in off the bench with just over two minutes left in the first. With a couple of shots, he switched the lead to Orlando by a single point at the end of the first quarter, 26-25.
Cole Anthony got a nice and-1 after his rebound from a failed Wizard free throw. Bradley Beal fouled him as he ran into the paint, but Anthony’s fadeaway shot was successful as he fell to the floor.
In the second quarter the Wizards regained the lead, but like in the first quarter, the Magic rallied near the end of the quarter. When Gary Harris, Markelle Fultz and the other Wagner, Franz, got back on the court, the Magic began sinking more shots.
Mo Wagner contributed 11 points in the first two quarters, while Franz, Harris and Anthony each followed with 10 points. The Magic also made up for their three-pointer deficit in second quarter. They were seven of 17 (41.2 percent) on threes in the first half compared to the Wizards’ five of 15 (33.3 percent) and were 23 of 43 on field goals (53.5 percent) compared to the Wizards’ 21 of 40 (52.5 percent).
For Washington, Deni Avdija and Monte Morris led the scoring with 12 points each; Kristaps Porzingis followed with 11 points.
The Magic secured a four-point lead heading into halftime, 60-56.
Second Half
The Magic ended third quarter one point behind, 88-87.
The Magic brought the fire in the fourth quarter, getting on a run between Markelle Fultz, Wendell Carter Jr. and Paolo Banchero, who went to the free throw line three times late in the fourth and nailed every free throw. The highlight play of the second half happened within the final minute of the game: Banchero had pressure on him and made an ugly fadeaway baseline three-pointer…and sank it in.
The most critical hit of all was Bradley Beal fouling out of the game, which dealt a huge blow to the Wizards’ offense in the final stretch. Porzingis tried to pick up the slack, but the Magic saw the blood in the water and piled on the pressure, closing out the game with a 10-point win, 122-112.
For the night, Gary Harris led in scoring for the Magic with 22 points, going six for nine on three pointers and seven for 10 on field goals. Franz Wagner followed with 20 points with four rebounds and six assists. Banchero contributed 18 points and was six of six on free throws. Fultz contributed 17 points with five rebounds and five assists.
For the Wizards, Porzingis led the scoring by far, with 30 total points, six rebounds and three assists. Beal followed with 16 points, five rebounds and seven assists.
__________________________________
Mellissa Thomas is Editor for Florida National News. | mellissa.thomas@floridanationalnews.com
Autos
2023 DAYTONA 200: Josh Herrin Claws Back from Penalty to Snatch Victory
Published
3 weeks agoon
March 11, 2023
DAYTONA BEACH, Fla. (FNN) – Josh Herrin rallied back from the 7th position in a ten-lap restart to defeat Josh Hayes by .070 seconds in the 81st running of the DAYTONA 200, the annual single-man motorcycle endurance race.
Josh Herrin started strong and held the lead for most of the race. Two racers crashed out early, but things didn’t really get disruptive until the race got down to less than 10 laps remaining.
The most notable crash of the race was Herrin’s contact with Richie Escalante, who had been keeping up with Herrin for the majority of the race. The contact sent Escalante sliding off the track–and out of the running–with just eight laps to go. Escalante attempted to lift the bike up to get back on it, but there was no chance remaining for him to get back in the race. Seeing his chance of victory lost, he slammed his gloves to the ground as he removed them.
The call of whether the contact was an intentional push or race incident was tricky because when played back in slow motion, the collision looks incidental since Escalante had leaned in a bit too far and then just barely lifted back up at the last second while Herrin went wide in the turn as he was sometimes doing throughout the race. However, when played back in real time, it looks like Herrin intentionally went wide to knock Escalante out. The collision went under review.
Despite the brief break after Escalante’s crash, Herrin regained the lead. With five laps remaining, Teagg Hobbs crashed into Jason Waters, causing a red flag. After the red flag period, Herrin got penalized for his collision with Escalante by dropping six positions to the number seven spot. Five laps were added, making it a 10-lap race for the restart.
Ultimately, Herrin was penalized six positions to start at seventh for the restart. Herrin confessed he wasn’t sure he could make it to the end, given the amount of pain he was in, but he heard the struggling conditions of several other racers, since they couldn’t switch out tires during the red flag period, and give it all he had.
“After 15 years of trying I finally got it right,” Herrin said. “This is by far my favorite event that I ever get to race. It’s the one race a year where we really see the teamwork that goes on.”
_______________________________________
Mellissa Thomas is Editor for Florida National News. | mellissa.thomas@floridanationalnews.com
Trending
- North Florida News3 days ago
Governor Ron DeSantis Awards More Than $5.4 Million to Four Small and Rural Florida Communities
- Entertainment4 days ago
Fantasia, Babyface, Rickey Smiley, and More Sizzle at the Inaugural Music Fest Orlando
- Central Florida News3 days ago
Sheriff’s Office investigating fatal shooting at Aqua Vista Drive in Orlando
- Central Florida News4 days ago
Orlando Mayor Buddy Dyer and LYNX Highlight LYMMO Lime Line Expansion to Better Serve Seniors
- Sports3 days ago
Bucs re-signed defensive tackle Deadrin Senat