Sports Al Dente

Sixteen years ago, Antonio Pierce was nearing the end of his NFL playing career when he had the opportunity to intern for Howard Stern’s highly popular and often controversial radio show.

Pierce enjoyed the experience so much that he initially aimed for a career in media after football.

“Putting on makeup and looking at a camera for eight years is pretty cool,” he said. “But I missed being in that locker room. I missed competing. I missed that fire burning in my stomach.”

So, he returned to his passion and got back into football by becoming a coach.

Pierce started coaching at the high school level and worked his way up to this week, when he will have his first game as the Raiders’ full-time head coach. Las Vegas will start its season on Sunday against the Los Angeles Chargers.

It’s not very common for former NFL players to become coaches. Pierce is one of eight former players—excluding Denver’s Sean Payton, who played three games as a replacement during the 1987 strike—currently serving as head coaches, which is quite high compared to historical numbers.

“Coaching is very, very tough,” said Joe Horrigan, former executive director of the Pro Football Hall of Fame. “You have to be totally dedicated. Your time is spent in the coaches’ rooms.

When you’re wealthy, you might find being in a broadcast booth a lot easier than spending all your waking hours in a profession that demands so much of you.”

This is especially true for top players. Of the current head coaches, only four have been selected to the Pro Bowl, including Pierce.

Among these four, only Patriots’ Jerod Mayo and Texans’ DeMeco Ryans have received Associated Press All-Pro honors. Chargers coach Jim Harbaugh was fourth in the AP MVP voting in 1995. Historically, most coaches do not have such impressive athletic backgrounds.

Among the 20 coaches with the most wins since the Super Bowl began, only Tom Landry and Dan Reeves were selected as All-Pros. Of the 14 coaches who have won multiple Super Bowls, only Landry, with two, was named All-Pro—in 1954.

Apart from Payton, none of the top seven coaches with the most wins since 2010 played in the NFL; they worked their way up through other levels of coaching.

“There are only a limited number of positions available each year in the NFL and many qualified coaches,” Horrigan said. “The NFL can be selective in who they hire, and candidates need to show they can coach. It’s common for coaches to come through the college ranks.

“It’s like a minor league system for coaches. The shift from being a player to a coach is difficult and not everyone can make it.” Former players had significant success last season, whether they started in the NFL or came from college (or other lower levels).

Ryans took over a Texans team that had a 3-13-1 record the previous year and led Houston to the playoffs. Todd Bowles with the Buccaneers and Dan Campbell with the Lions also made the postseason.

All three won at least one playoff game, with Campbell taking the Lions to the NFC Championship Game. The year before, Kevin O’Connell led the Vikings to the playoffs with a 13-4 record.

O’Connell said his experience as a quarterback helped him mentor rookie QB J.J. McCarthy before McCarthy injured his right knee in the preseason, calling it “the former quarterback in me.”

Another former quarterback, Harbaugh, is back in the NFL. He previously coached San Francisco to a Super Bowl appearance 12 years ago and spent the last nine years at Michigan, where he led the Wolverines to the national championship last season.

Now he’s working to elevate a Chargers team that has struggled to meet expectations to new heights.

“He just has that really unique sense of understanding what’s good for the team,” said Chargers defensive coordinator Jesse Minter. “But also he’s been in their shoes.

They respect the fact that he’s been in their shoes. He respects that they’re going through what he went through.”

Harbaugh’s team is set to play the Raiders this weekend. Las Vegas cornerback Jack Jones has played for Pierce at Long Beach (California) Poly High School, Arizona State, and now with the Raiders.

“A guy that’s never played in between the white lines and he’s trying to tell you how to make a tackle, how to do anything … it’s just harder to feel that, to understand,” Jones said.

“When you’re getting it from a former player, it’s almost like no question, like he did this before, so I don’t even have to question it.”

Pierce remembered his 2008 internship with Stern and the chances the show gave him both in front of and behind the camera.

He wasn’t ready, though, to share details about what happened behind the scenes with the self-proclaimed “king of all media.” “We’ve got to have a happy hour,” Pierce said.

Pierce had a significant moment when he was named the Raiders’ interim coach midseason last year. He went 5-4, earned the job on a full-time basis, and is now getting ready for his first season opener as head coach.

“I’m approaching the exact same way,” Pierce said. “When I got the interim, I wasn’t trying to give it up. So, in my head, I was permanent.”

In Sao Paulo, Brazil, quarterbacks Jalen Hurts and Jordan Love are hard to miss. Their faces are prominently displayed on a 108-foot-high mural on the side of a downtown building.

They will go head-to-head on Friday night when Hurts’ Philadelphia Eagles play against Love’s Green Bay Packers. This will be the first NFL game in Brazil, a country with an estimated 38 million American football fans.

Graffiti artist Crica Monteiro, who has more than 20 years of experience, worked with six other artists to create the massive mural. It was commissioned by the NFL in collaboration with local company Dionisio AG. The team spent 11 days on the mural, finishing it late Tuesday.

Monteiro’s team was asked to incorporate a Sao Paulo touch into the mural.

Known for its dense urban environment, often described as a concrete jungle, Sao Paulo’s colors were represented with orange, red, and yellow to evoke the tropics, while the city’s grey sidewalks were depicted beneath the players.

“I mostly do graffitis of Black women, so it was totally unexpected to do this,” Monteiro told The Associated Press by phone. “These two are interesting people.

What I brought was not to put them against each other. I wanted to capture the subtlety of their expressions. My characters always have a deep look.”

Monteiro said her interest in American football grew after learning about former San Francisco 49ers quarterback Colin Kaepernick, who started kneeling during the national anthem in 2016 to protest police brutality and racial injustice.

“American football is in a position of defiance for me, and so is NBA basketball. When I thought about Hurts and Love up there, I thought of two Black men playing their own game and trying to win,” the artist said.

Another large mural, part of the same project, covers a different building in Sao Paulo. Artist Bruno Big painted Eagles and Packers players competing for the ball against a blue backdrop.

Indianapolis long snapper Luke Rhodes is quietly preparing for practice at his locker. As one of the five players with the most years on the Colts, Rhodes knows he’s going to be asked about the team’s struggle with season openers.

With his eighth NFL season about to begin, Rhodes is facing a question that has puzzled everyone: When will the Colts finally win a season opener?

“Of course it’s frustrating,” he said, talking about the NFL’s longest current opening-day winless streak of 10 games. “I mean, as a competitor, you want to win, and starting the season off with a win is huge and it’s something we haven’t had for a little while.

Especially being at home because we’re super focused on winning at home this year.” The situation seems hard to explain.

No other NFL team has a longer opening-day losing streak than three years, and the Colts have experienced every type of game, from big losses to narrow defeats and even a 20-20 tie against Houston in 2022.

Some of the quarterbacks involved in these games were well-known, like Andrew Luck, Philip Rivers, and Matt Ryan, while others, like Scott Tolzien, are less remembered. Luck was part of three of those losses, and Jacoby Brissett, New England’s new starter, lost twice.

How long has it been since Indianapolis won their first game of the season?

Andrew Luck was in his second year in the NFL at that time. He retired five years ago, and no player from that game on September 8, 2013, is still on the Colts’ roster. In that game, Luck scored a 19-yard run with 5:20 left, giving the Colts a 21-17 lead over the Raiders, who were still based in Oakland.

Since then, it’s been a series of losses, except for that tie. But with Anthony Richardson set to be the first Colts quarterback in eight years to start consecutive Week 1 games, there might be a chance for change.

Just don’t bring it up at Colts headquarters.

“Obviously, a big divisional opener and I’m not going to talk about, you know, opening day wins and stuff like that,” owner Jim Irsay said in July. “Obviously, we’re hungry to get our opening game as a victory, no questions about that. So couldn’t be more excited.”

A win on Sunday against the visiting Texans would mean more than just ending The Streak. Indianapolis hasn’t had a winning record against division rivals since their last playoff appearance in 2020.

When these teams last faced each other at Lucas Oil Stadium in January, the Texans won 23-19 and took the AFC South title, leaving the Colts out of the playoffs for the third year in a row.

“Just looking for a chance to right a wrong, you know what I mean?” linebacker Zaire Franklin said. “Obviously, the Week 18 game, it was tough. It was something to deal with. Had to grow through it, learn through it.”

Each season brings back reminders of past losses. Former Colts star Peyton Manning started The Streak when he led Denver to a 31-24 win in 2014.

Two years later, the Colts came back from an 18-point deficit against Detroit and took a 35-34 lead when Luck connected with Jack Doyle for a 6-yard touchdown pass with 37 seconds left, only to watch the Lions score twice more — on Matt Prater’s go-ahead field goal and a safety on the final play.

The Colts lost twice in three years at Los Angeles, first to the Rams when Luck was injured and then to the Chargers after Luck’s surprise retirement.

In 2020, Rivers lost his first game with the Colts at Jacksonville, though the team eventually made the playoffs. Then there was the tie in 2022 and last year, in coach Shane Steichen’s first game, the Colts lost again to Jacksonville at home.

“I think every year — gosh, yeah, you want to hit the ground running Week 1. I mean you’re trying to win every game, and the urgency definitely has got to be there,” Steichen said.

“We know it’s a big game. It’s a division opponent right off the bat at home, and we’ve got to start fast. We’ve got to get off to a fast start this year. That’s the goal every year.”

The question is, can they solve the problem on Sunday?

“We’ve put a lot of talk into protecting Lucas Oil this year, being able to do it against a division opponent is, it’s awesome,” Rhodes said.

The Sao Paulo state government announced that it will deploy hundreds of police officers and provide escorts for team buses for Friday’s NFL game between the Philadelphia Eagles and the Green Bay Packers. This action comes after some players raised concerns about playing in Brazil.

The security measures for the game at Sao Paulo’s NeoQuimica Arena will be organized in coordination with U.S. authorities, according to a statement from the state’s public security secretariat on Wednesday.

Brazil has high rates of gun violence and crime, and metropolitan Sao Paulo has seen a rise in cellphone thefts.

For the game, which is the first NFL match to be held in South America, hundreds of both civilian and military police will be on duty. Military police will escort the teams’ buses to their hotels, training sites, and the stadium.

“Our policing will be increased during the week to ensure public safety for this historic event, with officers positioned around the stadium, on public transportation, at hotels, and in tourist areas of the city,” the security secretariat said.

Earlier this week, Eagles cornerback Darius Slay mentioned in a podcast that he was reluctant to go to Brazil due to the country’s crime rate. Wide receiver AJ Brown said he would likely stay in his hotel room during his stay in Sao Paulo, and other players shared similar worries.

On Saturday, San Francisco 49ers rookie receiver Ricky Pearsall was shot in the chest during an attempted robbery in central San Francisco.

Chargers quarterback Justin Herbert is ready for the regular season, especially after a busy training camp.

Herbert had to adapt to a new offense, deal with a two-week foot injury, and even got stuck in an elevator for two hours before a game in Dallas, making the preseason more eventful than he expected.

“It’s been a fun test. I definitely learned a lot and went through some things you don’t want to,” Herbert said on Wednesday as the team prepared for its opener against the Las Vegas Raiders.

Herbert explained that the injury to the plantar fascia in his right foot was due to the stress from offseason practices and training camp, not just one specific play. He is not using any arch support or extra cushioning in his right shoe.

If the injury had happened during the regular season, Herbert said he would have played through it.

He hopes that the two weeks in a walking boot and the work with the training staff before and after practice will keep the issue from coming up again.

“It’s full speed regardless of the situation. When you’re out there on the field, you’re not thinking about it,” Herbert said.

Herbert’s main concern is making sure the offense is ready for the opener since he missed important practice time during training camp.

The Chargers have at least six new starters on offense. Trey Pipkins is switching from right tackle to right guard, none of the four running backs were with the Chargers last year, and the wide receiver group is new.

Despite missing some practices, Herbert feels that reviewing film with the receivers and being on the field the past two weeks has helped make up for lost time.

The Los Angeles Rams prepared during the offseason with the plan of having Jonah Jackson play as the left guard and Steve Avila as the center.

However, they switched these positions late before Sunday’s season opener against the Detroit Lions. It now seems like Jackson will be the one snapping the ball to quarterback Matthew Stafford and making the calls, with Avila playing next to him.

Avila explained that the change makes sense. Jackson’s natural position is center, and Avila did well as a left guard in his rookie season. With a new player at one tackle spot and uncertainty at the other, the Rams want to strengthen their middle.

“From my understanding, it was we want to put the best five out there, which they are,” Avila said Wednesday. “This was always a possibility that this could happen.

We want to flex what we can do because we know we have the guys to, and right now we feel like this is the best thing to do.”

The Rams are comfortable with the change because Jackson is familiar with the center position. He began his football career as a center and played there in college.

When Jackson entered the NFL with the Lions, he was ready to play center after moving to guard at Rutgers and Ohio State, but the presence of Frank Ragnow kept him at guard.

“Had we not had an All-Pro and Pro Bowl center, I probably would have played center,” Jackson said. “It’s just what it is.”

Jackson signed a three-year contract with the Rams in March that included $34 million in guaranteed money. He might have made the switch earlier if not for a shoulder injury in training camp. Now fully healthy, Jackson is ready to play wherever he’s needed.

“I’m doing everything I need to do, everything they brought me here to do,” Jackson said. “So it feels good to be back out there with the guys, getting back to it, and we’re excited for this week.”

Avila is glad he had the chance to practice playing center for most of the offseason. He tried to learn both guard and center positions during his first season but realized he needed to focus on one.

“I wanted to focus on what I needed to do because it’s not that I was just trying to learn the plays,” Avila said. “I was learning how the coach wants it to be done from a technique standpoint.

There was a lot of different things I was navigating, so I was trying to, but it got to a point to where I was like I can’t. I have to focus on what I’m doing.”

Now that he’s back at guard, Avila is benefiting from his center experience and has a better understanding of the entire offense. He’s also ready to play center if needed because of the unpredictable nature of the NFL.

“It’s never just one guy that’s the center,” Jackson said. “It’s the NFL, things happen, guys get hurt, so we all prepare like we have to play a different position.”

The Rams are already used to dealing with uncertainty. Left tackle Alaric Jackson injured his ankle during camp and received a two-game suspension for violating the league’s personal conduct policy, so Joe Noteboom will start against the Lions.

Right tackle Rob Havenstein missed some practice time due to an ankle injury. If Havenstein, the last remaining player from the Rams’ time in St. Louis, can’t play, Warren McClendon Jr. will start.

Everyone needs to be ready to step in, Jackson said.

“Like it’s never just only the centers being coached on how to be centers,” Jackson said. “Multiple guys, and that goes for guys who slide in from playing tackle, guys who slide out from playing tackle. It’s all interchangeable.”

The Bills will have just two captains this season: quarterback Josh Allen and middle linebacker Terrel Bernard.

“Our captains this year leading our football team will be Josh Allen and Terrel Bernard. Additionally, there will be a leadership group or council of 10 other players who will help guide the team,” head coach Sean McDermott said today.

Last year, the Bills had eight captains, but this year McDermott explained that the team chose to have fewer captains and a larger leadership council.

“The leadership structure will change from year to year depending on the team, and each team is different. We strongly believe that the leadership setup we have chosen this year is what this team needs,” McDermott said.

Allen has been a captain for six consecutive years, while Bernard is serving as a captain for the first time.

The Ravens have released their initial injury updates for the 2024 season.

Running back Rasheen Ali is listed as doubtful for the game against the Chiefs in Kansas City on Thursday night. Edge rusher Adisa Isaac has been ruled out. These two rookies are the only players on the team’s injury report this week.

Ali, who has a neck injury, was drafted in the fifth round this year and was limited in practice this week. Derrick Henry and Justice Hill will be available to play in the backfield for Baltimore.

Isaac, a third-round pick, has been out of practice due to a hamstring injury. Odafe Oweh and David Ojabo are expected to handle most of the edge-rushing duties for the Ravens on Thursday.

Kicker Matt Gay might not be ready for the Colts’ season opener against the Texans on Sunday.

Gay has missed practice recently, and head coach Shane Steichen mentioned at his Wednesday press conference that Gay had a hernia. Gay told reporters that he experienced pain last week and had surgery to fix the problem.

Gay said he isn’t sure if he will be able to kick this weekend, so his status will need to be watched as the week goes on.

The Colts have Spencer Shrader on the practice squad. He went undrafted from Notre Dame and spent the offseason with the Colts before being released last month.

Bills safety Damar Hamlin has secured a starting position in Buffalo’s secondary.

Hamlin is listed as one of the two starting safeties on the Bills’ official depth chart. When reporters asked head coach Sean McDermott about Hamlin’s role, he spoke highly of Hamlin’s achievements since he experienced a cardiac arrest on the field in a game in Cincinnati a year and a half ago.

“Damar Hamlin will start,” McDermott said. “What else can’t this young man do? He went through what he went through on the field, you guys have written about that over and over, and to come back from that — it’s one thing to come back from an ACL or a broken bone.

It’s another thing to come back off what he came back off. Let alone to decide to play football, and contact football, in full pads at the NFL level — I don’t think I need to say anything more. It’s incredible.”

Last season, Hamlin was widely praised for returning to the field, but he played in only five games, mostly on special teams, and was not a starter.

This offseason, Hamlin has received praise for his ongoing hard work, and now he is a starter.

Bengals head coach Zac Taylor was confident early last week that wide receiver Ja’Marr Chase would play against the Patriots in Week One. However, Chase did not practice for the rest of the week, and Taylor started to avoid giving any definite answers about Chase’s status.

This was still the case on Wednesday. Taylor was asked several times at his press conference whether Chase would practice with the team later that day or play in the game against New England.

“We’ll see,” Taylor said. The Bengals will issue a practice report later in the day, so there will be some information about whether Chase is participating.

Updates about Sunday’s game will likely come later in the week, and many people in Cincinnati are eager to see if Chase’s situation is resolved.