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By Jon Machota , Staff Writer Contact Jon Machota on Twitter: @jonmachota I predicted the outcome for every Cowboys game after the 2017 NFL regular-season schedule was released in April. At the time, I had Dallas going 10-6, the same record I predicted in 2016. One difference is that I had the Cowboys winning the division last year. At first glance, I had them finishing second this year to the New York Giants, but earning a wild card spot. Having been able to see what they did in the draft and watch offseason practices, I've gone back through my projections....

At least the New York Jets have a plan. It’s “The Sham for Sam,” or whatever clever nickname you have for tanking to draft USC quarterback Sam Darnold next April. When a team bottoms out, it usually doesn’t happen this fast. There are signs of erosion, a slow decline to the bottom, then a tough decision to rebuild. Not for the Jets. The fall was steep and sudden. The Jets spent big in 2015, with $168 million going to five free agents. They finished 10-6 in coach Todd Bowles’ first season. One year ago, they were considered playoff contenders.

Michigan Wolverines football coach Jim Harbaugh spent some time with former President Barack Obama and former first lady Michelle Obama earlier this week. He hopes to be getting more face time with them this fall. Harbaugh said he will ask the Obamas to serve as honorary captains for a Wolverines home game this season. "We're making those asks. Official asks," Harbaugh told reporters Saturday. "In the process of making an official ask. There's been, 'Hey, we'd like you to do it,' and now we're doing official asks." Harbaugh said he spent "39 wonderful minutes" with the former president Wednesday during...

I’m no expert on political stances that unemployed NFL quarterbacks should embrace on Twitter to ensure that they have a chance to play in the league again, but comparing modern day police officers to slave catchers probably isn’t helpful. Yet that’s exactly what Colin Kaepernick did yesterday in the wake of a jury verdict he disagreed with. Yesterday an Hispanic police officer who shot Philandro Castile in Minnesota last summer was found not guilty of all charges by a jury. Then Kaepernick Tweeted this:

The ESPN personality then argued that Kaepernick did not inject politics into the NFL, but rather the NFL injects politics by playing the national anthem and “putting pressure” on people to stand. Partial transcript as follows: They both were asked to do things that went against their conscience. In this country, in the United States of America, you don’t have to do that. We are free to make our own choices. And if our conscience is bothering us, we can follow that. In Muhammad Ali’s case, he was asked to take a step forward and become a part of the...

Trump should return the Washington Redskins’ trademark protection that Obama took away In June 2014, the Obama administration revoked trademark protection for the Washington Redskins’ name because some people thought it was offensive. This set a horrible precedent. Just about every R-rated movie includes content that someone would consider offensive, whether that content be violence, sex, profanity, etc. The same can be said for the content of many books, the lyrics of many songs, the content of many paintings, etc. If any copyright, patent, trademark, etc., can be revoked because someone finds it offensive, then I can’t even begin to...

Being on the sideline of an NFL practice carries certain risks. Keep your head on a swivel. However, you don’t expect to get pelted with errant passes from professional quarterbacks. That danger seems to be exclusive to New York Jets camp when Christian Hackenberg is taking reps.

Thousands of soccer fans loudly booed the United States national anthem when it was played at Mexico City's Estadio Azteca before the two countries faced off in Sunday night's World Cup qualifier game. Thousands of fans jeered and refused to stand as the Star-Spangled Banner played over the sound system, making their dislike of the United States known. While Mexican fans booed during the national anthem, they celebrated their team's one goal of the night by hurling slurs towards American fans, who slung back insults in retaliation, according to the Miami Herald.....

Welcome to Tank Town, USA and the Sweet Sixteen. Jets Nation, this is going to be ugly. The 2017 Jets have a realistic chance of being worse than the 1-15 Rich Kotite atrocity of 1996, a team that actually had a lot of talent, unfortunately none of it in the head coach’s office.

Saudi Arabia’s national football team have been criticised for failing to observe a minute’s silence held before Thursday’s match against Australia in Adelaide. The [Australian] Socceroos lined up in the centre of the pitch before the World Cup qualifier and held the brief silence as a tribute to the two Australians killed in the terrorist attack in London at the weekend. As they did so, the Saudi Arabia team continued jogging, passing the ball between each other and taking their positions on the field.

First off, what you’re about to read has zero to do with Colin Kaepernick’s protest of the National Anthem. For proof, here’s an article that I wrote in March 2016, before the protest, saying that Kaepernick would be out of the NFL before he won another 10 games as a starter. That forecast appears to be coming true, because Kaepernick can’t even find work as a backup. And it’s mostly due to the same reason he couldn’t find work as a starter: teams don’t think he’s good enough. Twitter went up in arms earlier today when I tweeted this:

One of the top coaches in college football is retiring.As first reported by the Oklahoman and later confirmed by SoonerScoop.com, Oklahoma head coach Bob Stoops is stepping down from his position with the Sooners after 18 seasons. Both outlets are reporting that offensive coordinator Lincoln Riley will assume the role of head coach.

So what are the New York Jets thinking? Many think they’re thinking about positioning themselves to “earn” the No. 1 overall pick in the draft by tanking for the full season. As noted by Charean Williams on Tuesday, G.M. Mike Maccagnan denies that. But what else is he going to say?

It’s time for Roger Goodell to call in a favor to one of his billionaire owner buddies or GM or coaching friends and get Colin Kaepernick signed. As Michael Sam, the first openly gay player in the draft, was falling right off the board into free agent-ville in 2014, there were rumors that Goodell called his good friend Jeff Fisher, the Rams coach, and asked him to use one of his three seventh-round picks on Sam and save the NFL the embarrassment of having to explain how the SEC co-defensive player on the year didn’t get picked.

Now that an NFL team has righted a terrible wrong and gotten Austin Davis back into the league, it seems like a good time for some clarity about the quarterback (Colin Kaepernick) the team (Seahawks) passed over in favor of Davis. For one thing, it’s clear that neither the NFL nor its teams are all that interested in being honest about why they don’t want to sign Kaepernick this offseason. There have been pockets of honesty here and there on Kaepernick-related topics, from 49ers general manager John Lynch, Giants owner John Mara and Seahawks coach Pete Carroll himself. But the...

We are exactly 100 days away from real football By Dan Hanzus End Around Writer -SNIP- Tuesday puts us exactly 100 days away from Thursday, Sept. 7, 2017, Kansas City Chiefs at New England Patriots, Week 1. To celebrate the 100-day marker, the warriors in the NFL Media Research Department have put together some notable 100 stuff from the 2016 season. Let's have a look.

Nick Saban might be the most beloved man in the entire State of Alabama. However, he has a long way to go before getting in the good graces of Terry Bradshaw. Saban, who will earn over $11 million in salary alone this upcoming year, became the subject of debate when Terry Bradshaw appeared on the Paul Finebaum Radio Show. During the show, Bradshaw debated Phyllis, the longtime and very loud Alabama fan who frequently calls in to Finebaum. Bradshaw called Saban’s contract “shameful,” and made an analogy between Saban’s contract and the athletic budget of his alma mater, Louisiana Tech:...

Whatever will the New York media have to ask Odell Beckham when (if?) he arrives at New York Giants OTAs? The better question is, where to start? Already this week Beckham skipped voluntary OTAs, signed the most lucrative shoe deal ever for an NFL player and his workouts with Johnny Manziel became a big deal. That’s a full offseason for just about anyone else, but the Beckham gossip continued Thursday with news from the New York Daily News that Beckham was hanging out in L.A. this week so he could spend time with new girlfriend, Australian musician Iggy Azalea. Beckham...

The stick to sports crowd usually targets players or media personalities. Now they may have to say it to an entire organization. This weekend the Patriots announced they will sponsor the 2017 Gay Bowl, which is a national championship flag football built with teams from the LGBT community. This is a statement of inclusion by the Patriots, but won't get to the level of other social stands such as Colin Kaepernick.

CHICAGO — Beware standings tiebreaker person … an 8-5-3 division champion could be coming to the NFL soon. The league reportedly has passed a rule at the owners meeting on Tuesday that will shorten the length of regular-season overtime games from 15 minutes to 10. There were two ties in the NFL last season, as many as there had been in the prior three seasons combined. But this feels like a solution looking for a problem to us. How is this going to help … with anything? The NFL is expected to officially announce the changes later on Tuesday.