NFL quotables: League owners support Roger Goodell, Bruce Irvin is praying for you
Irvin is praying for you, especially if you’re a backup center.
Kirby Lee-USA TODAY Sports
- anonymous NFL owner
It will take three-fourths of NFL teams to vote Roger Goodell out of a job, so he can take it as a good sign that at least two owners who anonymously spoke to Sports Illustrated's Peter King continue to support him. Throw in Patriots owner Robert Kraft, Giants co-owner John Mara and Cowboys owner Jerry Jones, all of whom have publicly backed Goodell, and the commissioner seems to have solid backing from the owners.
“I pray for everybody, just some people a little more.”
Seattle Seahawks defensive end Bruce Irvin said before the season opener that he was going to pray for Packers backup center Corey Linsley, a rookie forced into duty by the injury to J.C. Tretter. So the obvious question going into this weekend's matchup with a Nick Hardwick-less Chargers team is would he be praying for another backup center, Rich Ohrnberger?
“I ain’t got nothing to say about that,” Irvin told Terry Blount of ESPN.com. “But yeah, I heard about it. My eyes were like [opened wide], but I ain’t saying nothing about it.”
”It”s just like me saying in your job, I don’t want you to get a promotion because you are too good at what you do.”
Earl Thomas doesn't appreciate the complaints fans have made about his brief experiment as a punt returner. A day after Seattle Seahawks coach Pete Carroll announced the Pro Bowl safety would be replaced at returner by Bryan Walters, Thomas said that fans criticizing his special teams roll "were a little bit selfish."
“People don’t understand you, so they don’t know what you are capable of,” Thomas told Bob Condotta of the Seattle Times. “They just are so used to seeing you in a certain role they don’t want you to expand. That’s just my mind frame.”
In fairness, those fans were primarily concerned with exposing one of their top defenders to unnecessary risk, and Carroll said earlier this week the move was about allowing Thomas to focus on being an elite safety.
“It’s not exactly good that he didn’t practice today, but we’ll see what happens.”
- Gus Bradley on Cecil Shorts III
Jacksonville Jaguars receiver Cecil Shorts III missed practice on Thursday, raising concerns from his head coach over whether he would be available Sunday against Washington, according to Ryan O'Halloran of The Florida Times-Union. The fourth-year pro, who missed the season opener with a hamstring injury, was a partial participant in practice on Wednesday.
The better news for Jags fans is that rookie wideout Marqise Lee returned to practice Thursday, a day after being forced out with a hamstring issue of his own.
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