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The Vrabel-Russini scandal continues to cloud the Patriots heading into OTAs, while the NFL schedule release brings a rare Wednesday opener. Cade Cunningham and the Pistons completed a stunning three-one comeback to win their first playoff series sin
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Welcome to The Sports Hangover Daily, I'm Michael Benatar. Today on the show: the Vrabel-Russini mess somehow gets messier heading into OTAs, the NFL schedule release is right around the corner with some weird twists, Cade Cunningham and the Pistons pulled off a Game seven miracle in Detroit, and the Avalanche and Wild combined for fifteen goals in one of the wildest playoff games you'll ever see. Let's get into it.
Look, I know the NBA and NHL had some insane nights. We'll get to all of it. But the story that keeps pulling me back is the Vrabel situation in New England, because it's not getting better. It's getting worse. Albert Breer went on Boston radio and basically said Vrabel hasn't been the same person in that building the last two weeks. That's not gossip. That's a beat reporter who covers this team saying the head coach is compromised. Dianna Russini has resigned from The Athletic. The belief is she won't work as a journalist again. And the internet is now dissecting a Spotify playlist she apparently made for a user named "Mike" — possibly to console him during a Titans losing streak in twenty twenty-three. We've gone from scandal to people doing forensic analysis on curated playlists. That's where we are. Christian Gonzalez came out and backed his coach publicly, which is nice, but players only have to do that when things are falling apart. The Patriots were just in the Super Bowl. They should be building on that momentum. Instead, Vrabel skipped day three of the draft for counseling, the locker room is playing defense for him off the field, and we haven't even gotten to OTAs yet. Roger Goodell basically washed his hands of it — called it a personal matter, not a conduct policy issue. So the NFL isn't stepping in. New England is on its own. And if you know anything about the Super Bowl runner-up curse, the last three teams that lost the big game either missed the playoffs entirely or flamed out early. This Vrabel situation is exactly the kind of distraction that speeds that up.
The twenty twenty-six schedule drops sometime between May twelfth and fourteenth. We already know the opener. The defending champion Seahawks host on a Wednesday night, September ninth. A Wednesday. That's only the second time in seventy-five years the NFL has opened on a Wednesday. The other confirmed game is Niners versus Rams in Australia on Thursday. Also, no more Monday night doubleheaders. The league finally figured out fans don't love choosing between two simultaneous games. Took 'em long enough.
A few more NFL items to get through. Calais Campbell is coming back to Baltimore for year nineteen. Nineteen. The man is collecting NFL seasons like stamps. The Colts officially declined the fifth-year option on Anthony Richardson, which — yeah, we saw that coming. The Chiefs declined Felix Anudike-Uzomah's option too. And Art Rooney is still sitting by the phone waiting to hear if Aaron Rodgers wants to come back for twenty twenty-six. The Steelers drafted Drew Allar in the third round, so there's your contingency plan. But until Rodgers says something definitive, Pittsburgh is just in limbo.
Over to the NBA — Cade Cunningham and the Pistons did it. Detroit won Game seven over Orlando, one sixteen to ninety-four. It was a beatdown. Tobias Harris went off for seventeen points in the second quarter alone and finished with thirty. Cade had thirty-two and twelve assists. This team was down three to one in this series. Down twenty-four in the second half of an elimination Game six. And they came all the way back to win three straight and take the series. Detroit hadn't won a playoff series since two thousand eight. That drought is over. They get Cleveland in round two starting Tuesday.
Cleveland survived their own Game seven, beating Toronto one fourteen to one oh two. Jarrett Allen was a monster. Twenty-two points, nineteen rebounds. Donovan Mitchell had twenty-two of his own. Game was tied at forty-nine at the half, then Cleveland opened the third on an eleven to one run and Toronto never recovered. Tough break for the Raptors — Brandon Ingram missed his second straight game with heel inflammation. The home team won all seven games in that series. Every single one.
And I gotta mention the Celtics collapse from Saturday — Philly won Game seven in Boston, one oh nine to one hundred. Tatum was out with knee stiffness. Embiid dropped thirty-four. Tyrese Maxey had thirty with eleven boards and seven assists. Boston had NEVER blown a three to one series lead before. They were thirty-two and oh in that situation. Thirty-two and one now.
Quick NHL hit — Avalanche nine, Wild six in Game one. Fifteen combined goals. Cale Makar left the game early after taking a hit from Marcus Foligno, came back, then scored twice in the third. Colorado jumped out three to nothing in the first seven minutes. The Wild clawed back and took a five to four lead on a shorthanded goal from Foligno late in the second. Then the Avs just buried them in the third. Only the tenth playoff game ever with at least fifteen combined goals.
Here's your Hangover Take. I think the Colts declining Anthony Richardson's fifth-year option is gonna look like one of the worst decisions in recent NFL history — for a different reason than you think. Not because Richardson's gonna be great somewhere else right away. Because some team is gonna pick him up for cheap and put him in a system with real weapons around him. Then Indy gets to watch him develop into the guy they thought they were drafting. Richardson has the physical tools. He's six five, he runs a four three, and his arm talent is real. The problem was never the ceiling. It was the situation. Bad protection, inconsistent play-calling, injuries piling up. You let that kid go to a team like Baltimore or Pittsburgh with a real offensive infrastructure? Good luck. Indy's gonna regret this one.
That's your hangover. Go hydrate. I'll see you tomorrow.