RANT SPORTS – EAGLES
Kenny Pickett did not exactly set the world on fire when he subbed in for a concussed Jalen Hurts Sunday, but he did enough to put the Eagles in position to win the game. That includes throwing a touchdown pass to A.J. Brown, which makes him the seventh member of this list —
Players To Throw A Touchdown Pass for Both Current Pennsylvania NFL Franchises:
(Players listed in order of completing the double; Years in parentheses are the seasons of his first TD pass for each club)
>>> Ed Matesic (E: 1934; S: 1936)
>>> Tommy Thompson (S: 1940; E: 1941)
>>> Dick Riffle (E: 1938; S: 1941)
>>> Bill Macrides (E: 1947; S: 1953)
>>> Bubby Brister (S: 1986; E: 1993)
>>> Michael Vick (E: 2009; S: 2015)
>>> Kenny Pickett (S: 2022; E: 2024)
(Note: This list does not include Roy Zimmerman and Allie Sherman, the two quarterbacks who threw TD passes for the “Steagles” in 1943, when the Eagles and Steelers combined forces to account for the number of players who had gone off to military duty in World War II.)
SAQUON’S FIRST RUSH
We have been reading about Saquon Barkley’s great fourth-quarter numbers all season, but when he got stopped for no gain the first time he was handed the ball against the Commanders Sunday – and we remembered he had lost yardage on his very first carry as an Eagle — we decided to go back and look at how many yards he picked up on his first rushing attempt of each game this season.
-5 . . . G1 vs. Packers
9 . . . G2 vs. Falcons
2 . . . G3 at Saints
0 . . . G4 at Buccaneers
5 . . . G5 vs. Browns
1 . . . G6 at Giants
7 . . . G7 at Bengals
6 . . . G8 vs. Jaguars
0 . . . G9 at Cowboys
3 . . . G10 vs. Commanders
6 . . . G11 at Rams
12 . . . G12 at Ravens
8 . . . G13 vs. Panthers
0 . . . G14 at Commanders
That’s 54 yards on 14 carries (a 3.86 average) and gives him 1784 yards on the other 300 carries of his season (5.95 per toke).
HIGH-FLYING EXPLORERS
La Salle ended its non-conference home schedule Saturday with a 108-48 spanking of Division III Immaculata, which has been playing men’s basketball less than 20 years. Nonetheless, 108 points is 108 points and it sent us scurrying to the record book.
>>> It is the most points scored by a La Salle team since topping Division II Puerto Rico-Mayaguez in the San Joan Shootout on Dec. 12, 2007.
>>> The 108 marked the highest total against a school from the United States since the Explorers topped Tennessee Tech, 109-93, in the semifinals of the Big Island Classic in Hilo, Hawaii on Dec. 29, 1993.
>>> It was the highest total La Salle has put up on the U.S. mainland since they skyrocketed to a 120-88 Metro Atlantic Athletic Conference win over Iona on Jan. 4, 1992, at the Civic Center.
>>> And lastly, it looks like it was La Salle’s highest on-campus total since topping West Chester, 111-70, at Hayman Hall on Jan. 9, 1980.
HAPPY! HAPPY!
And before we forget, a Happy Birthday/Merry Christmas to the Sixers’ Eric Gordon, the only current member of any of Philadelphia’s four major sports who gets to celebrate two big things on one day.
He turns 36 on Wednesday. Don’t forget to blow out the jingle bells, Eric.
