All posts by Thomas Moore

Pro Sports, Sports

What is next for the Buccaneers after Bruce Arians’ departure?

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After Tom Brady made this offseason overly dramatic, he has come back to the Buccaneers, but he will not be playing with the same Head Coach. Bruce Arians retired from head coach, and instead will be working for the front office of the Buccaneers.

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Todd Bowles replaces Bruce Arians

Todd Bowles is a former NFL player who has played for the Washington Redskins, and the San Francisco 49ers. After his NFL career, Todd Bowles switched to coaching where he coached for the New York Jets, Cleveland Browns, Dallas Cowboys, Miami Dolphins, Philadelphia Eagles, Arizona Cardinals, and last year, was the Defensive Coordinator for the Buccaneers. Now, Todd Bowles has been lifted to the position of Head Coach for the Buccaneers.

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But does Bowles have what is takes to lead a team to the Super Bowl? The quick and easy answer to that is yes. Todd Bowles is a veteran coach, having coached countless teams, mostly as a Defensive Coordinator. The Buccaneers have a great defense, and now that they have their Defensive Coordinator at Head Coach, you can expect their defense to improve even more.

On the other hand, Todd Bowles has never been an Offensive Coordinator, but has been Assistant Head Coach so he is not completely clueless. The Buccaneers also have a great offense, so this new change might see a decrease in offensive power. Todd Bowles will need to do some serious homework on coordinating the offense so that the Buccaneers can rise to what they were last year.

Tom Brady’s Opinion

Now amid all of this action, what does returning quarterback Tom Brady have to say about the switch? Well Tom Brady gave his thank you to Bruce Arians and what he has done for him over the years on his Instagram account. “Thank you BA for all that you have done for me and our team…You are an incredible man and coach, and it was a privilege to play for you.” Tom Brady continues to thank him and praise Bruce Arians accomplishments. According to Bowles, both he and Brady are on the same page when it comes to their goals – winning.

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We will have to wait and see what the Buccaneers become, and whether or not they will succeed like last year. For right now, it seems like both Brady and Bowles are confident in their ability to win.

Thomas Moore is a freshman member of The Quill

Pro Sports, Sports

Bengals Eli Apple criticized and blamed for Super Bowl loss

With the end of an unforgettable season for the Bengals, everyone is now starting to place blame on who cost them the game. One notable person that is being criticized is the Bengals cornerback Eli Apple.

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On Super Bowl Sunday, the Rams started the game with an early touchdown, which was followed by a 29-yard field goal from Evan McPherson. Then the Rams answered back with a touchdown but failed their 2-point conversion. Soon after the Bengals landed a touchdown putting the game at 13-10 at half. Right at the start of the third quarter, the Bengals scored a 75-yard touchdown to Tee Higgins, and soon after they scored a field goal to put them up seven. The Rams scored a 41-yard field goal, and later scored a touchdown to Cooper Kupp to put them ahead 22-20, and after the extra point, 23-20. The game ended as Joe Burrow went down by sack, which turned the ball over to the Rams, ending the game in a Rams victory.

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The Bengals cornerback is taking a large amount of backlash, mostly because people do not really know who to blame for the loss. Eli Apple was paired up with Cooper Kupp, a phenomenal player, and winner of OPOY and Super Bowl MVP. As we know, Cooper Kupp had a quality game, but had an average game with 92 yards, 8 receptions and 2 touchdowns. The main reason he is taking backlash is from the game winning touchdown, but that is really it. Eli Apple has since responded saying this, “All glory to God for blessing me immensely this season to share the field with the best group of men I’ve been around” and he also said, “Truly grateful to my teammates, Who Dey Nation, and my coaches for embracing me as family. Proud of the rigorous work we put in to make this season a special one. Yall reawoke a fire in me that will only make me stronger and I’m beyond excited to unleash that demon again to exponential levels on any opp that lines up across from me next season.”

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Eli Apple seems like he just had a bad game and will be ready next year.

Thomas Moore is a Freshman member of the Quill.

Pro Sports, Sports

After a disappointing ending, is there hope for the Indianapolis Colts?

A unfortunate season, and a even more disappointing loss to the Jacksonville Jaguars. On January 9, 2022, The Indianapolis Colts lost 26-11 to the Jacksonville Jaguars, knocking them out of the playoffs, an ending absolutely nobody expected. Now comes the off-season, so many questions arise regarding their disappointing end, and who should we blame for the loss.

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Now the first person we must look at is of course Carson Wentz. Carson Wentz had a alright season when you look at his yards, int rate, and touchdowns, but then you look at his QBR, which was 54.4, a well below average QBR. Then you look at his completion rating, 62.4. Carson Wentz is clearly not the QB that the Colts need at the current moment, so they most likely will be looking for a new QB, or will be bringing one up from the bench or practice squad. The Colts could be looking to draft one as well, but that could ruin their “win now” team as once a player is fully developed, you could lose a lot of your good players while developing the player. I think it is self evident that the Colts main issue is their QB, anyone can realize that.

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Now we will take a look at their offensive keys. First up, Jonathan Taylor. Easily a top 2 HB, no debate at all. The Colts need to build off of him, and they need to figure out their offensive identity, as that is the reason they missed the playoffs. Now their O-line is incredible, once again no debate. They can easily build off this with their 1st round pick in the 2022 draft, oh wait they traded that to the eagles for Carson Wentz. That brings me to the GM, and all I have to say is what is he thinking. The Colts must consider getting a new GM or make some half decent trades and choices. Now their defense is great, solid, and most of all, extraordinary. They have no need to make to many defensive trades, besides maybe picking up some even better free agents, or possibly tying up some loose ends.

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When it all comes down though, the Colts need a bit of restructuring as they are currently not in a good spot as they have just traded away their first round pick to the Eagles. This is a very crucial offseason for them, so they must take action to succeed.

Thomas Moore is a freshman member of The Quill

Pro Sports, Sports

What’s in a name? Washington Football Team set for a remake

The Washington Football Team is officially revealing their new name, scheduled for February 2nd. The new name was narrowed down to 9 different options, so here are my picks on which would most likely end up being used, and whether they would be appropriate for their team (the order of the options are not rankings, it is simply just the names down n a row).

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9. The Defenders

This is an all-right choice, considering the team that Ron Rivera is trying to build, but that brings up a couple of problems. The first problem is the specification, as it would mean that the team would have to be a defensive team forever until they change the name again. Second, this name would clash with the XFL’s Washington Defenders, but that may not be a problem considering that the XFL is scheduled to return in 2023, so Washington could easily tag the name. This option is not very good, but maybe better considering some of the other options.

8. Commanders

This option is a very solid name, as it would mean that the team commands the field, but this name is very simple, and has no historical or locational value to the team. This name would be a good option, but very simple, so this may not end up being the one that gets chosen. Let’s move on to number 7.

7. Redhawks

Quality name, solid option. The main issue that this brings is the return of the red part of the name, which to be honest would not be a good idea considering we removed their past identity due to complaints of it being offensive, so that might not sit well with the people responsible for the name change. Great name, but may cause issues.

6. Brigade

This is a good name, no real problems with it. The only issue I could possibly think of that would make this name somewhat dislikable is that it does not really fit with all of the other teams’ names and the theme they follow. This is a great name and I would be surprised if it was not chosen.

5. Sentinels

This is an alright name as it doesn’t really pose a problem, but it is not a very threatening name, nor does it compete as much with the other options. Similar to ‘Brigade’, it does not really fit with the overall theme with the other team names, so this option may not be chosen due to how dry the name is.

4. Admirals

Very powerful name, and can show power on the field considering the uniform design that might go with it. This is a great name and could quite possibly be chosen, but again it does not really fit the theme of the other teams, which is a re-occurring problem with names that go off of humans. This is a great name and one of my personal favorites.

3. Presidents

Amazing name, and has great value to its location. The only problem I see with this is that the logo may be somewhat difficult to design, because you cannot really do much with ‘Presidents’ for a logo. The locational value makes this name very good and that makes it a good contender.

2. Armada

Alright name as it views their team as a fleet, big possibility this is chosen. It is simply just a superior name over the others, and the name really shows that their team is unified, plus I have little to no issue with the name. Great name and most likely is first in the running.

1. Red Hogs

Good name overall. Keeping it generic is sometimes the way to go, so this name goes well. I can see this name getting picked, but it does again go back to the Redskins name, and some people may have problems with that. This is a good name overall and is in the running to be picked.

Thomas Moore is a freshman member of The Quill

Pro Sports, Sports Opinion

NFL Contenders and Pretenders

With week 13 behind us, we must figure out the contenders and pretenders of the league. The first team we will check out is in north New York, the Buffalo Bills. The Buffalo Bills have lost their division lead over the Patriots, and fall to a wild card spot instead of a Divisional spot. Unfortunately, this team might really be pretenders, which is disappointing considering the high hopes we had for this team over the off-season. This is a hot take, but the Buffalo Bills are pretenders when it comes to the playoffs, but this team can still surprise us so let’s hope they do make it.

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Second on the chopping block is the Tennessee Titans. Having multiple tough losses, the Titans need to find a break, as they do with a much needed bye week. The Titans may struggle when the season continues, but if you take a look at their division, they are perfectly fine as the Colts are behind 1 1/2 games, and the rest are irrelevant. They will have to pull their act together, but I doubt they must worry too much as the Colts are not too much of a threat. So final verdict is contenders, but this is mainly due to the fact that their division could be considered the easiest one in the league.

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We move on to the Patriots, and I will just tell you right out they are going to get the 1st seed in the playoffs. Unfortunately for the entire NFL, the Patriots are back and are ready to go back to the Super Bowl, so yes they are in fact contenders. If you want to know why just look at the NFL standings and you will find out why they are doing so well.

We move on to the NFC, the craziest conference, considering the number of teams that are in the hunt. First the Arizona Cardinals. Now, this incredibly big surprise is a huge shock as nobody could’ve expected this performance from them. Obvious contenders, no doubt about it, and I’m pretty sure they’ve even already secured their spot.

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Now we got the Green Bay Packers, who I’ll just say are contenders and always have been. I mean if you simply just look at how well they play under pressure, for example when they played the Arizona Cardinals. Easy contenders no doubt.

Moving on to the Washington Football Team. Now this team will be very hard to predict since they have moved around in the standings quite a bit, but they currently are in the wild card position, despite how bad their defense has played in these past few games. The Football Team has been alright recently, but considering everything in account, they could definitely lose their spot in the playoffs. On the other hand, the rest of the NFC teams have been incredibly bad, so they could also easily make the playoffs. So really, we have to wait and see for the Football team as they are too hard to understand. All these teams mentioned can make the playoffs but we will have to wait and see.

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Thomas Moore is a Freshman member of The Quill

Pro Sports, Sports

The Championship Series is here – Who’s gonna move on to the World Series?

The Championship games are here, meaning we are one round away from the World Series. After the Dodgers beat the Giants 2-1, the NLCS is now between the Atlanta Braves and the Los Angeles Dodgers. The Dodgers most likely will outperform the Atlanta Braves, but I believe Atlanta will defeat the Dodgers in a wild upset. I see the Braves beating the Dodgers in 6 games, so we could see a large upset soon.

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In the ALCS, the Houston Astros face the Boston Red sox. The Houston Astros have a better record against the Red Sox, but Boston has been proving teams wrong throughout the playoffs as they beat the Yankees and Tampa Bay Rays, both teams having a better record against the Red Sox. This is a hot take, but I believe the Red Sox will beat the Houston Astros in 7 games, possibly even 6 games. The Red Sox and the Braves have been on a roll and it would be exciting to see them play each other in the World Series

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According to my prediction, the Red Sox would take on the Braves in the World Series. This would be a real close couple of games, but I think Alex Cora and the Red Sox will come out on top, giving them their 10th World Series victory.

Thomas Moore is a freshman member of The Quill