Football

Pittsburgh Steelers lineman Maurkice Pouncey is expressing remorse over wearing a helmet tribute to a 17-year-old who was shot and killed by police ... saying he didn't know the whole story.

"I want to personally clarify what transpired this past Monday night in regard to having Antwon Rose's name on the back of my helmet," Pouncey says.

"I was given limited information on the situation regarding Antwon, and I was unaware of the whole story surrounding his death and what transpired during the trial following the tragedy."

Remember, on Monday the Steelers announced the entire team and coaching staff would honor Rose on helmets and sideline hats for the entire 2020 season.

Here's the explanation from the Steelers official team website:

"On the night of June 19, 2018, the car Antwon Rose Jr., who is black, was a passenger in was pulled over by the East Pittsburgh Police. While the driver was being handcuffed on suspicion of being involved in an incident that happened earlier that evening, a frightened Rose fled from the car. The cell phone video a bystander captured showed Rose running, and then you could hear gunshots and see as he was fatally shot in the back three times by a white East Pittsburgh Police Officer."

The "incident" that occurred earlier that evening was a drive-by shooting -- and the victim who was shot told cops Antwon was the trigger man.

The officer who shot and killed Antwon was later found not guilty of all criminal charges that were filed against him -- including 1st-degree murder.

Pouncey is clearly uncomfortable honoring a person who may have been involved in a drive-by shooting ... and says, "I should have done more research to fully understand what occurred in its entirety."

Moving forward, Pouncey says, "I will make my own decision about what to wear on the back of my helmet."

"Make no mistake, I am against racism and I believe the best thing I can do is to continue helping repair relationships between the police and their communities. System racism issues have occurred in our country for too long, and that needs to stop."

Pouncey's teammate Alejandro Villanueva made headlines this week when he decided NOT to honor Antwon -- instead writing the name of an Army Sgt. who was killed while serving in Iraq.

Villanueva is an Army Ranger and felt it was more appropriate for him to pay tribute to Alwyn Cashe, who died while rescuing soldiers from a burning vehicle that was rocked by an explosive device.

Odell Beckham says he found a silver lining in the COVID pandemic ... quarantine forced him to slow down and take care of himself.

The 27-year-old Cleveland Browns wide receiver explained how he found "peace" during the lockdown ... unable to live out his usual life of partying, traveling and doing all the other rockstar stuff he does.

"It was crazy to say this in the weirdest way, it was the first time I had ever felt at such a peaceful place," Beckham said about the COVID quarantine to Maverick Carter during an interview for Uninterrupted.

"I just felt like it was a weight lifted off -- like I'm just chillin, getting my mind, my body, my soul right."

"So quarantine, as funny as this sounds, was probably the best thing that ever happened to me."

Back in May, just 2 months into the lockdown, Beckham posted a video showing his rehab progress following a surgery to repair a sports hernia.

At the time, Beckham said he was focusing on getting his body back to 100%.

"I've been playing for 23 years, so for me, I'm trying to put it all back together in seven months."

He also made a prediction for the 2020 NFL season -- "I would honestly say this is probably going to be one of my best seasons. Bigger, stronger, faster ... this is my time."

Former Ohio State football star Anthony Gonzalez is FIRED UP for the Big Ten's return to the gridiron ... telling TMZ Sports another year of the sport could change kids' lives!!

The ex-Buckeye -- who became a congressman after a successful NFL career -- told us out on Capitol Hill in D.C. on Wednesday he couldn't imagine where he would be today if something had canceled his last year of the sport.

"I'm thrilled for the players, honestly," Gonzalez said. "Look, my last year at Ohio State, honestly, it changed my life."

Gonzalez played three seasons at OSU from 2004 through 2006 ... and used a big final season on campus to become an eventual first-round pick in the 2007 NFL Draft.

Gonzalez says without that last year ... he might not have had an awesome pro football career -- let alone be a congressman now.

Anthony says the fact that the Big Ten is now allowing its players to have the opportunity to follow down a similar path really brings a smile to his face.

"We've got a lot of kids who are going to get an opportunity to live out their dream," Gonzalez said.

The conference announced Wednesday it's officially targeting Oct. 24 for its opening weekend of games.

"He doesn’t want to hit anybody!"

Tiki Barber just went OFF on Saquon Barkley ... ripping the New York Giants star for his poor pass blocking ability -- and wondering out loud if it's going to cost the RB playing time in the future.

Tiki -- speaking on his "Tiki + Tierney" show this week -- said after watching Barkley and the Giants over the last few seasons ... it's become clear to him Saquon doesn't want to pass protect.

And, according to the ex-NYG star, that's a HUGE problem.

"He might not be an every-down back," Barber said. "He cannot pass protect, and it is starting to become glaring."

It's pretty shocking commentary from Tiki ... given Barkley is considered the best player on the Giants' roster by far -- but Barber says if Saquon doesn't shape up, he could see his minutes cut.

"I learned this early on in my career, because I was a third-down back before I was a star running back," Barber said. "If you can’t block, you can’t be on the field on third down."

"You just can’t, because you know those are high blitz and dog downs."

For Barkley's part ... New York coaches might not mind he's not the best blocker in the world -- dude has 23 total touchdowns in 30 career games.

Saints WR Emmanuel Sanders says Drew Brees cried HARD during his apology to the team in the wake of his controversial anthem comments ... and now, Sanders says N.O. players have moved on.

The 33-year-old revealed on ESPN's "First Take" on Wednesday that he was initially pissed back in June when Brees said anthem kneelers were "disrespecting the flag."

But, Sanders claims the Saints had a team meeting over it all shortly after the QB's comments ... and he says Brees apologized vehemently through a mountain of tears.

"As he talked, the more and more he talked, you just see a guy with just tears rolling down his face," Sanders said.

"I mean, I've never seen that. You could just tell that he was hurt by his comments and the things that people were saying about him because he was unaware of it."

Emmanuel added, "I mean just tears flowing down his face."

Sanders says after that team conversation ... Saints players knew that Brees understood his mistake -- and have since moved on.

"We understood where he was coming from and we were able to move past it," Sanders says. "I don't see any weird energy going on in the locker room."

Dez Bryant is calling out Mike Ditka for his latest anti-protest rant ... saying the legendary football coach's hatred of national anthem demonstrations is "feeling entitled at its finest."

Ditka has been EXTREMELY outspoken about NFL players' protests ... initially telling TMZ Sports back in July that anyone who does anything other than stand for the song should "get the hell out of the country."

The former Chicago Bears head coach doubled down on those comments to Newsmax TV this week ... still saying he wants to give the boot to players who protest.

Enter Dez ... who says somebody needs to have a conversation with Iron Mike ASAP to break down for him what the protests are really all about.

"Somebody need to go have a sit down with Mike Ditka," the former Dallas Cowboys star said., "no arguing But explain to him what’s going on...feeling entitled at its finest."

Of course, players who have been demonstrating during the anthem have long said the protests have nothing to do with the flag or the military ... but rather the social injustices in America.

Dozens of athletes continued the protests in the first week of the NFL season this past weekend ... with the first-ever Dallas Cowboys player, Dontari Poe, taking a knee for the song.

The Big Ten WILL play football in 2020 after all -- the schools and conference leaders have agreed on a plan to resume in mid-October, according to multiple reports.

Remember, it was just back in August the conference -- which includes teams like Ohio State, Michigan, Michigan State, Penn State, Nebraska and more -- decided to press pause on the 2020 season due to the COVID-19 pandemic.

But, the University leaders met again and were apparently impressed by new daily rapid testing, which would make things safer for everyone ... according to ESPN.

In fact, ESPN says the Big Ten Council of Presidents and Chancellors voted unanimously to resume the season.

Now, the plan is to green light football programs to begin practicing ASAP so they can start playing games by October 24.

Sources told ESPN the conference is looking at an 8 or 9 game season, with the conference championship going down on Dec. 19 -- one day before the college football bowl selection special.

Obviously, the hope is that a Big Ten team would be considered for the college football playoffs so they could compete for a national championship.

Several college football conferences are already playing -- including the SEC and the ACC.

The PAC-12 is still on hiatus -- but there seems to be a movement to follow the Big Ten's lead and resume in the fall as well.

"Get on your knees you f**king slave."

That's only part of an insanely racist and disturbing message NFL star Budda Baker says he received after his game Sunday ... and the text to the Arizona Cardinals player was absolutely vile.

Baker received the message apparently as a response for his low hit on SF star George Kittle over the weekend ... and it was so awful, Baker wrote of it, "All you can do is pray for ppl like this."

In the message, which Baker shared publicly on social media, a fan with the username "niners8" called the NFL safety a "monkey" and directed the n-word at him 3 times.

In the message, the fan also appeared to threaten Baker ... writing, "Yo gon get a bounty on yo f**kin monkey ass head you f**kin dirty n****r."

Baker was clearly disturbed by the text ... saying of it all, "Im all good with opposing fans talking trash. But This right here man..."

Baker has yet to speak with media members over the message ... but it's a clear reminder of why the NFL and its coaches and players have participated in so many demonstrations this season.

The league has written "end racism" in all of its teams' endzones ... while dozens of players have continued to kneel during the national anthem to bring attention toward racial inequality.

In fact, the Pittsburgh Steelers held up a massive banner during the anthem before their game on Monday night that read, "Steelers Against Racism."

Baker -- a 2-time Pro Bowler -- is one of the best players in the NFL ... who just signed a mega, 4-year, $59 MILLION contract extension with Arizona.

ESPN's Maria Taylor made her "Monday Night Football" debut this week ... and celebrated the milestone by bodying radio hosts who made sexist comments about her wardrobe on Twitter.

Dan McNeil of Chicago's 670 The Score, thought it was his place to criticize Taylor's outfit during last night's 'MNF' broadcast ... tweeting out, "NFL sideline reporter or a host for the [Adult Video News] annual awards presentation?"

The tweet -- which rightfully received a ton of backlash -- stayed live on McNeil's account for roughly 30 minutes before he deleted it, according to Awful Announcing.

Taylor fired back at McNeil late Monday night ... saying, "Well Danny Dearest if you would like to continue making sexist comments about me...please bring your misogyny with you to the NBA Countdown double header I’ll be hosting tomorrow night."

"Hey ladies remember you can wear whatever you feel confident in!"

Other big names have shown support for Taylor, including fellow reporter Taylor Rooks -- "Always ride with @MariaTaylor - I love you my sister. Keep being GREAT. These haters could never."

Saints star Malcolm Jenkins added ... "Exactly the reason why we’re focusing on building up black women this season. @MariaTaylor congratulations on such a big accomplishment! Keep leveling up."

So far, McNeil hasn't apologized for his comment and The Score has not addressed the issue ... but it's only a matter of time.

LSU football coach Ed Orgeron says "most of our players" have already caught COVID-19 ... and he's REALLY hoping they don't catch it again!

"Not all of our players but most of our players have caught it," Orgeron said on Tuesday ... "I think that hopefully they won't catch it again and hopefully they're not out for games."

Orgeron says just two weeks ago, most of his offensive line was decimated by the coronavirus ... "We had everybody on the offensive line except two or three guys were out."

"We couldn’t go any team, [but] we adjusted very well."

Coach O says he believes the program has a "good handle" on the virus -- but has told his team everyone needs to stay ready in case someone else goes down.

"That's why I told the team we need everybody -- there’s no telling what's gonna happen with the COVID."

He added, "Once a kid gets it, the next man gotta go up."

Pittsburgh Steelers lineman Alejandro Villanueva honored a fallen military hero on his helmet Monday night ... despite a prior team announcement saying all players had agreed to honor someone else.

Alejandro is an Army Ranger who began his NFL career in 2014 after serving 3 tours of duty in Afghanistan.

And, when he took the field on Monday night to play the NY Giants, he had the name Alwyn Cashe written across the back of his helmet.

FYI, Army Sgt. 1st Class Alwyn C. Cashe was killed by an improvised explosive device while serving in Operation Iraqi Freedom in 2005, according to the Military Times. He was only 35.

Sgt. Cashe -- who was married with a 12-year-old daughter at the time of his death -- was posthumously awarded the Silver Star for valor in combat.

As for the Steelers, the team had previously announced that all players would honor someone else on their helmets this season ... Antwon Rose II, who was shot and killed by a police officer in 2018. He was only 17.

Here's what the Steelers had posted on the official team website before the game on Monday:

"On the night of June 19, 2018, the car Antwon Rose Jr., who is black, was a passenger in was pulled over by the East Pittsburgh Police. While the driver was being handcuffed on suspicion of being involved in an incident that happened earlier that evening, a frightened Rose fled from the car. The cell phone video a bystander captured showed Rose running, and then you could hear gunshots and see as he was fatally shot in the back three times by a white East Pittsburgh Police Officer."

The team has said players and coaches were "united as one" to wear Antwon's name on their helmets and hats for the entire 2020 season.

So far, no comment from Villanueva about his decision to break from the team to honor Cashe -- and unclear if he plans to do it again in Week 2.

Okay, EVERYBODY REMAIN CALM ... but U. of Nebraska president Ted Carter may have just spilled the beans on the return of the Big Ten football season ... saying an announcement is coming Tuesday night!!!

The revelation was made via a hot mic at a presser minutes ago ... when Carter was speaking with the University's National Strategic Research Institute director.

"We're getting ready to announce the Huskers and Big Ten football tonight," Carter said.

"Oh really?!," Bob Hinson said. "I heard that that was happening."

LISTEN -- like we said, do NOT panic ... but this sure as hell sounds like the season has been saved, according to the moment captured by KETV NewsWatch 7 in Omaha.

It's been an uphill battle for the conference -- with others like the SEC, Big 12 and ACC deciding to play through the pandemic ... and Big Ten and Pac 12 voting to wait.

The move resulted in a lawsuit filed by 8 Nebraska players against the Big Ten ... who claimed the conference didn't follow the proper protocols in coming up with its decision.

75 members of the Texas Tech football team have tested positive for COVID-19 since testing began in June ... this according to the University.

On Monday, TTU announced 5 football players had tested positive for coronavirus -- which raised the previous total from 70 to 75.

According to the University, there are still 6 active cases -- but 69 players have recovered.

75 cases is a pretty staggering number considering there are 123 players listed on the Texas Tech football team.

The school notes the total number of student-athletes who have tested positive at the University is at 116 -- which means the football team responsible for nearly two-thirds of all student-athlete cases.

The football team has the week off -- the next scheduled game is Sept. 26 against Texas.

The Red Raiders kicked off the 2020 season this past Saturday -- defeating Houston Baptist in a 35 to 33 victory.

Several TT players were missing from the game -- but the school did not say if it was COVID related, according to KLBK.

COVID has been an issue on the Texas Tech campus -- more than 1,100 students have reportedly tested positive so far -- with University president Lawrence Schovanec addressing the issue in an open letter this week.

"Over the last few days, we’ve seen a notable increase in positive COVID-19 cases in our campus community, with the majority of these cases among our students who live off campus," Schovanec said.

"While we anticipated positive cases and planned for this situation, it is disappointing that we are at this point less than two weeks into the semester."

Dallas Cowboys owner Jerry Jones was NOT upset one of his players knelt for the national anthem ... in fact, he says he was actually pleased with the way his team handled it.

Defensive lineman Dontari Poe became the first person in team history to kneel for the pregame song Sunday ... and cameras appeared to catch Jones anxious over the scene.

But, speaking Tuesday on 105.3 The Fan for the first time since the demonstration ... Jones says he actually really liked the way Poe and the rest of the Cowboys handled the situation.

"I thought our players, I thought they gave it the sensitivity," Jones said. "They showed respect to Poe's decision there."

Of course, the comments are a complete 180 from just a few years ago ... when Jones threatened to fire any player who didn't stand "toe on the line" for the anthem.

Jones, though, had vowed to relax his stance before this season ... and he clearly kept that promise to his team this month.

"All in all," Jerry said, "I thought our team was very real, very genuine in the way it approached it."

Unclear how Cowboys players plan to handle the song going forward ... but seems Jones is fine with the demonstrations if others choose to join in.

Tennessee Titans star LB Rashaan Evans says he's sorry for uncorking a violent right hook to the dome of a Broncos player ... and he's now vowing to make up for it next week.

If you missed it ... during a play in the 1st quarter of the Titans-Broncos game Monday night -- Denver tight end Jake Butt got into it after the whistle with Evans.

The two tangled up ... and Evans was so heated about being grabbed -- he straight-up threw a Mike Tyson-like haymaker right to Butt's face.

Fortunately, Butt had his helmet on and didn't suffer any injuries ... and, as a result of throwing the punch, Evans was ejected.

The linebacker said after the Titans' win he felt so badly about being disqualified -- he apologized to his teammates and promised he'd learn from the situation for next week.

"It was basically an overreaction after the play," Evans said of the punch. "A little bit after the whistle, there was a little tussle and I ended up overreacting by hitting him."

"But at the end of the day, man, I’ve got to keep playing, get ready for next week and basically make up for it."

Tennessee head coach Mike Vrabel added he wasn't pleased with Evans for the shot as well ... saying he hopes the 24-year-old learns from it.

FYI ... Evans is one of the Titans' best players -- the 2018 first-round pick started all 16 games for the team last season and logged 111 total tackles.

FILE UNDER -- things you love to see!

Pittsburgh Steelers star wide receiver JuJu Smith-Schuster was spotted doing a random act of kindness for a man in need on Sunday ... buying the guy a meal without any fanfare.

The act was caught on video by a fan who recognized the NFL star, who described the situation this way.

"No cameras, no fanfare - just being kind to someone in need."

The person who shot the video added, "So proud to have @TeamJuJu wear the Black and Gold."

23-year-old Smith-Schuster has a reputation for doing nice things like this ... remember back in 2019, he went on a toy shopping spree for kids in need.

After that, he bought a house for his family!

He also went to a high school prom in 2019 with a fan who needed a date after his original date blew him off.

As for his on-the-field life, Juju and the Pittsburgh Steelers are gearing up to take on the NY Giants on Monday Night Football.

Juju is hoping to bounce back in a big way after a disappointing 2019 campaign.

Don't forget, Juju killed it in 2017 and 2018 -- but playing without Ben Roethlisberger in 2019 proved difficult for the WR.

But he's only 23 and super talented ... and he's clearly still a fan favorite!