Mediaboss Marketing

Kyler Murray had some big moments in his return to Texas, throwing a couple of touchdown passes and running for another score.

Even so, Arizonas young quarterback knew he wasnt the star of Monday nights dominant 38-10 win over the Dallas Cowboys.

That honor belonged to the defense.

They played great, Murray said. Greats not even the word. I dont even have a word for it.

Arizona (4-2) looks like a legitimate factor in the NFCs playoff race and one huge reason is the improvement of the defense. The group forced four turnovers against the Cowboys, constantly giving the Cardinals good field position that allowed them to pour on the points.

Now theyre preparing for an intriguing division game against the Seattle Seahawks (5-0), who are one of three remaining undefeated teams in the NFL. The Seahawks are coming off a bye week.

Arizonas quality defense is a huge 180 from last season, when the Cardinals gave up the most total yards in the NFL. Second-year defensive coordinator Vance Joseph has orchestrated the turnaround, using new pieces such as defensive lineman Jordan Phillips and linebackers DeVondre Campbell and Devon Kennard to solidify a group that already included standouts such as cornerback Patrick Peterson and safety Budda Baker.

The Cardinals even appear in position to weather the loss of All-Pro linebacker Chandler Jones, who is out for the season after a biceps injury on Oct. 11.

I couldnt be more impressed with V.J. and that group of coaches and that group of players, Arizona coach Kliff Kingsbury said. The changes (GM Steve Keim) made personnel-wise, bringing in some really talented pieces. Theyve really come together quickly in a strange, strange season.

Added Kingsbury: You watch the way theyre playing, the physicality, they took the ball away four times last night. The way theyre flying around the football, having fun doing so, its a fun culture to be around.

WHATS WORKING

It was an encouraging first game for the teams young linebackers while adjusting to life without Jones, who is one of the leagues top pass rushers and had 19 sacks last season. The Cardinals used a combination of players in Jones place, including Hasson Reddick and Dennis Gardeck. Reddick was especially good, finishing with two sacks.

WHAT NEEDS HELP

Murray had an effective game but his passing accuracy wasnt great against the Cowboys. He completed just 9 of 24 attempts and missed on a handful of throws he usually makes. He hit on a couple of big ones though, including an 80-yard touchdown to Christian Kirk.

STOCK UP

The Cardinals have a lot of playmakers to pick from on offense and sometimes Kirk has been the odd man out this season. But Monday was proof hes still a vital part of the team and can help stretch opposing defenses. The 80-yard touchdown catch was impressive he snagged the ball on his fingertips while running at full speed and cruised downfield for the score.

STOCK DOWN

TE Dan Arnold looked as if he might become a big part of the offense with an expanded role through the seasons first four games, but he hasnt had a catch in two straight games.

INJURED

The Cardinals appeared to come out of Mondays game fairly healthy. Baker is still effective despite having thumb surgery a few weeks ago. S Chris Banjo (hamstring), LB Jordan Hicks (wrist) and LB Devon Kennard (calf) are all battling nagging injuries, but were able to contribute against the Cowboys.

KEY NUMBER

261 The number of rushing yards for the Cardinals, who continue to be one of the leagues most effective teams on the ground. Arizona averaged 7.5 yards per carry. Kenyan Drake had 20 carries for 164 yards and two touchdowns, including a 69-yard score in the fourth quarter.

NEXT STEPS

The Cardinals get to see how they stack up against one of the NFLs elite teams when they host the Seahawks. Murray would like to be a little more consistent in the passing game, but overall, Arizona is in a good spot. Now theyll spend nearly a month at home with three games at State Farm Stadium wrapped around a bye week.

___

More AP NFL: https://apnews.com/NFL and https://twitter.com/AP_NFL

See the article here:
Cardinals rising in NFC thanks to much-improved defense - The San Diego Union-Tribune

Most will agree that a university should be a safe space for academic freedom. Yet this safety is no longer available in all universities in modern Britain.

Two bad things have happened at once. The first is that the phrase itself has been captured. Safe spaces for students are used to justify the no-platforming of thinkers who warn against the oppressiveness of woke doctrines. The Canadian psychologist Jordan Peterson is only the most famous of the victims: he was offered a visiting fellowship at Cambridge but then, in March last year, was denied it after protests that his views might upset students.

The second is that British universities, craving cash and students from foreign countries, have become dangerously uncritical of the terms on which they accept them. This is particularly true in relation to some Arab countries and even more so in relation to China.

In the same week that Cambridge blocked Professor Peterson, its vice-chancellor, Stephen Toope, was making a speech at Beijing University. Professor Toope praised his hosts: It is reassuring to find here a formidable institution, which seeks an open world open to ideas, open to the exchange of goods and people a world in which no people, great or small, will live in angry isolation. Actually, Beijing University, like all universities in China, is controlled by the Communist Party. A world open to ideas is almost the last thing that the Chinese regime wants. Right now it is fiercely closing down the only part of China where open ideas had flourished Hong Kong.

Cambridge, enthusiastically led by its vice-chancellor, has Tooped to conquer, accepting considerable sums of money from Chinese universities and businesses (including Huawei) for various projects. More than 20 British universities have made similar devils bargains. It goes without saying that such Chinese sponsorship does not permit academic freedom. (Try investigating, or even raising, Beijings treatment of the Uighurs, and see.) Indeed, goes without saying is the right phrase: it is forbidden to say it.

As well as this direct warping of open-minded research, a university indirectly threatens student freedom whenever it accepts a dictatorships money. Since Chinas new security law in Hong Kong came in this year, the regime claims the right to persecute free speech all over the world. Chinese critics of Hong Kong among the student body here, or among senior members of the university, are objects of interest to the Chinese authorities. The Chinese embassy in London keeps a watch, using compliant students to intimidate and spy on outspoken ones. Their victims are left exposed by British university authorities.

So it is good news this week that an Academic Freedom and Internationalisation Working Group has been set up. Based at University College, London, but independent of it, it draws on scholars from Edinburgh, Oxford etc (though Cambridge seems to be missing from the list). It wants to enshrine academic freedom in any internationalisation of British universities, and establish a code of conduct.

If such a concept does not succeed, too many British vice-chancellors will continue to go round the world offering their august institutions for rent to tyrants seeking to improve their regimes reputations in the West. And too many students, currently risking the Covid-19 virus, will also be unknowingly exposed to the virus of totalitarianism.

A regular correspondent from the West Country writes to me. She had complained about BBC bias directly to the new director-general of the BBC, Tim Davie, having decided to bypass the usual, dilatory complaints procedure and go straight to the top. In fewer than three weeks, her complaint had been upheld. She is in shock.

Her complaint concerned BBC Parliaments coverage of the first day of the Commons debate on the Internal Market Bill (ie, the latest bit of Brexit) last month. The Parliament channel is usually free of the running commentary by analysts making political points which is the bane of more general BBC coverage. But on this occasion the information captions which run below the live film were devoted to a series of condemnations of the man introducing the Bill, one Boris Johnson.

This is what the BBC complaints team not Mr Davie in person, but presumably acting on his orders replied: We didnt live up to our usual standards. The accumulation of detailed quotes condemning the Governments plans gave the impression that we were only interested in criticisms of the Bill.

The proper purpose of the information captions on screen is to give supporting information to enable the viewer to understand the legal processes involved in legislation, as well as key information relating to the content of the debate Where political comments are quoted from, these should be deployed on screen specifically where those comments are referred to by the Member speaking.

We didnt do this in this case and we understand your annoyance and apologise. I would be grateful to hear from other readers who may have had a satisfactory answer from the BBC. It is a genre with which I am not familiar.

When I wear a face-mask in a shop, say, or in church I feel a bit silly when I realise that people cannot see that I am smiling at them. But then I consider how many people seem to have forgotten how to smile, even when maskless, and I conclude that it is as well to keep the facial muscles in training.

Read the rest here:
Universities must beware of pacts with the devil - Telegraph.co.uk

Excellent podcast. These sort of nuanced conversations feel like a distant memory nowadays.

I was born in 1990, and was in the last months of high school as the 2008 primaries were happening. For many of my formative years, Fox News seemed like *the* representation of the right. It made it feel as though the American right wing was populated by completely crazy people like Glenn Beck or Rush Limbaugh. The right was a party of racists, idiots, anti-intellectuals and conspiracy theorists, or so I thought. Thus began my own slide to the left.

As an adult I'm happy to find more center-right perspectives, and really look forward to reading the Dispatch and the Bulwark every day.

This is completely my own perspective, but I wonder how much the sharp left lean that universities have taken is a result of that anti-intellectual streak the right has had for a while. Like, perhaps over time it has created some sort of cultural expectation.

I know some younger friends still in their late teens, who lean both right and left, through video game communities that I'm in. The ones who lean left often talk as if they *have* to go to university, even if it doesn't make a lot of sense for their desired career path. Like, they feel as if they want to be an artist, for example, they have to go get an art degree (bad idea btw) or they are somehow lesser than their peers.

On the other hand, it feels like the teenagers who lean right have no interest in higher education whatsoever. Like, they've read Jordan Peterson and seem to believe that they'll somehow make 90k a year for tiding their bedrooms (exaggerating, but you get the idea). To them, it's almost like this... lifestyle/aesthetic, where you wear a suit and tie, do your hair up well, and act rude toward the 'libs', then success will be handed to you when it's your turn or something. As if they're just trying to emulate Ben Shapiro, without any sort of critical thought process behind it.

They have very little interest in classic small-government conservatism, and I don't think I've ever heard any one of them express opposition to abortion (which was THE issue I'd stay up late discussing with my conservative friends when I was in college, along with gay marriage). And they just kind of... end up where they end up. Working retail, doing side jobs.

This is starting to have a trickle down effect as well. I work as a software developer, and our company culture has a distinct left lean. It's not that we don't want to hire people based on political views, but we just don't get that many applicants who hold conservative views.

I would love to get universities back to the confluence of ideas that it was when I attended, but with current cultural trends I wonder how feasible it is.

Read the original post:
Blue Pill or Red Pill - The Dispatch

ERWIN Much thanks to a three-touchdown passing effort, Unicoi County celebrated a rainy football homecoming with a bounce-back 29-12 win over Sullivan East Friday night in a non-conference meeting.

I thought our guys did a good job of doing what we had to do in that weather, Unicoi County head coach Drew Rice said after the rain-filled contest.

That three-touchdown game was from the arm of junior quarterback Bryson Peterson. His first touchdown connection went to Nehemiah Edwards and covered 20 yards. That was Edwards first catch of the season.

Near the middle of the second quarter, Peterson found Jordan Bridges for the first of two touchdown receptions. This one went for 34 yards.

Sullivan East had the ball toward the end of the first half, but a fumble gave Unicoi County one last opportunity to score and that the Devils did as Peterson found Bridges for a 33-yard TD as the half ended.

After Miguel Vasquez booted home his third extra point of the evening, the Blue Devils led 21-6 at the break.

I thought Bryson Peterson really stepped in there and did a good job tonight, Rice said. For Bryson to step in against a 4A football team, Im pleased. I wish we could have sealed the deal a little sooner there in the fourth quarter, but Im really proud of our guys.

Peterson came in as senior Brock Thompson sat out the game due to an injury, dealt earlier in the season, coming back in preparation.

Unicoi County, now 3-3 on the season, had six different receivers catch passes from Peterson, who went 10 for 15 for 125 yards.

Edwards added a 3-yard touchdown run late in the fourth quarter for an insurance score. On the ground, he amassed 82 yards on 17 carries.

Vasquez improved to 18 for 18 on extra points with Fridays effort.

Sullivan East, 2-3 after the outcome, started the scoring when Seth Daltons pass to Luke Hare covered 72 yards two minutes into the contest at Gentry Stadium.

I thought our guys bounced back and our defense played great after that, Rice said of the Blue Devils defense.

Dominic Cross capitalized after a Unicoi fumble with a 31-yard touchdown run. Cross surpassed the 100-yard mark again with 114 yards on 17 carries.

The Blue Devils improved to 3-8 when an opponent scores first since the start of the 2019 season. Two of those wins have come against Sullivan East.

Unicoi County welcomes Chuckey-Doak for a game with major Region 1-3A implications next week. The Black Knights are 2-0 while the Blue Devils are 1-1 in league play.

Sullivan East hosts Grainger for a Region 1-4A meeting.

See the original post:
Unicoi rides Peterson's passing arm to win over Sullivan East - Johnson City Press (subscription)

This fall would have been Charles Edward "Pete" Peterson Jr.'s fourth year as a volunteer football coach at Spring Valley High School in Columbia, South Carolina, and his eighth season as a scout for MLB's St. Louis Cardinals.

Peterson this year signed third baseman Jordan Walker, the Cardinals' first-round draft pick.

Peterson had hoped to see his 17-year-old son, Trey, a star outside linebacker, run the field this fall and watch him get offers to play college football.

But in mid-August, Peterson was admitted to Prisma Health Richland Hospital, where he was soon put on a ventilator. He never left the hospital. Peterson succumbed to Covid-19 on Sept. 13. He was 46.

"The last time I spoke to Charles, he was in the hospital," said one of Peterson's best friends, Mitchell Moton, another Spring Valley coach. "He said to me: 'This virus is real. Make sure Trey is OK.'" Moton promised he would. "He texted me right back and said: 'Mitch, I don't know if I'm going to get back out there. Your word Trey will be OK.'"

Peterson was known as a "big, giant teddy bear," both for his height 6-foot-3 and his sonorous, Barry White-like voice. He devoted his life to his children, to his family and to seeing younger generations of athletes succeed, said Karen Peterson, his wife.

"He didn't have a lot of time for himself, because he dedicated his life to helping others achieve their goals and aspirations," she said. "He did everything he could for his kids and the young people in his life."

Moton, who worked with Peterson for three years, tells a story that sums up his friend: Soon after stepping in to help coach the high school football team, Peterson walked into a grocery store across the street from Spring Valley High School and ran into a problem: Two players from the freshman team had been caught allegedly shoplifting. The manager was calling the police, Moton said. Peterson stepped right in. "Charles said: 'Sir, I'll pay for whatever they took. Please don't take them to jail. Let me handle them,'" Moton said. Eventually, the manager agreed to let them go.

"He told the kids: 'I believe in you. I'm going to step out on a limb for y'all. I don't know if y'all would do this again, but you will never say someone didn't stick their neck out for you,'" Moton said. Today, the two are still on the football team, and "they are two of the better kids."

Peterson's generosity was famous with the team: He was known to surprise the team with boxes of pizza, and if a player needed cleats, he'd foot the bill.

"I haven't seen anyone around Charles who wasn't smiling," Moton said. "'Sunshine' would be the one way to describe him he'd light you up."

Born in Laurens, South Carolina, Peterson was gifted in both baseball and football. While still in high school in 1991, he caught the winning touchdown to clinch the state championship for the Laurens High School Raiders. In 1993, he was a first-round draft pick of the Pittsburgh Pirates. Peterson went on to spend five years with the Pirates' Triple-A team playing outfield and eight more years on international and independent teams, according to an online obituary. In 2012, Peterson joined the St. Louis Cardinals as an amateur scout. Eventually, he became special assistant to scouting director Randy Flores.

"Charles had an incredible impact on our scouting department," Flores said in a team statement. "He brought a tremendous work ethic, keen eye, and booming laugh with him every day. My prayers are with his wife Karen and family as anyone who ever talked to CP knew how proud he was of them."

Peterson's proudest accomplishments were off the field, Karen Peterson said. "He was a loving husband, and his kids meant the world to him. I never met a better man," she said. The two reconnected years after having attended Laurens High School together when Peterson reached out to her. They were married for six years.

"We had coffee, and the rest is history," she said. "We started hanging out and I just knew this was going to be the person I was going to spend the rest of my life with."

Peterson is survived by his wife; his children, Charles Edward "Trey," T'keyah Arai "Tia," Alexis and Keegan; his mother, Carolyn; and his brothers, Deron and Chris.

The Spring Valley football team is playing a shortened season this year because of the coronavirus pandemic, coach Robin Bacon said. The team commemorated Peterson by placing a "CP" sticker on their helmets, standing for Coach Peterson.

"He was always there for people," Bacon said. "There was never a time when he was not there for someone."

For Moton, the loss of his best friend to the coronavirus means keeping his promise.

"I'm going to do what I told him I'm going to do," he said. "I'm going to keep my word and make sure his kids are OK. There's no doubt in my mind that if it were me, he would be doing the same thing."

Read more:
A beloved H.S. football coach and baseball scout steps off the field - NBC News