Sad News: Packers star player, has died due to….
Former Green Bay Packers center Ken Bowman, who played on three straight championship teams, dies at 81
Bowman was part of the Packers’ NFL title-winning team in 1965, the year before the first Super Bowl, and the Super Bowl-winning teams of the next two seasons.
He is perhaps best known for snapping the ball to Bart Starr and delivering a block on the Hall of Fame quarterback’s game-winning, 1-yard touchdown sneak in the “Ice Bowl,” the Packers’ 21-17 victory over the Dallas Cowboys in a 1967 NFL championship game that had a kickoff temperature of minus-13 degrees Fahrenheit.
That sent the Packers to the Super Bowl, where they beat the Oakland Raiders. A year earlier, Bowman stepped in for an injured Bill Curry at center during the first Super Bowl, helping the Packers beat the Kansas City Chiefs.
The Packers selected Bowman out of Wisconsin in the eighth round of the 1964 draft. He played in 123 games and made 107 starts, all with Green Bay.
Bowman was the Packers’ player representative for part of his career. He also was an NFL Players Association vice president.
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Sean McVay put an end to any possibility of retirement talk when the Los Angeles Rams coach made a “promise” that he’d be back next season.
At this time last year, McVay said he was wrestling with how long he would remain in the profession as he started a family. He and his wife welcomed their first child in October. But with the Rams headed to the playoffs and McVay needing just seven regular-season wins to set the team record, he didn’t want to leave any doubt about his status for 2024.
“That I can promise you,” McVay told host J.B. Long when asked whether there would be a “Coach McVay Show” next season.
McVay turns 38 later this month and, after signing an extension in 2022, his contract runs through the 2026 season. He was hired in 2017, guiding the Rams to a Super Bowl LVI win while building a 69-45 regular-season record. He has a 7-3 postseason record for 76 career wins.
He is tied with Chuck Knox (69-48-1) for second place on the team’s career regular-season wins list. John Robinson (75-68) holds the team record.
LANDOVER, Md. — After a tough Christmas night, a short week and a long flight, it would have been understandable if San Francisco 49ers quarterback Brock Purdy didn’t easily bounce back on Sunday against the Washington Commanders.
All week leading up to the game, the Niners and Purdy insisted there would be no lingering effects from his four-interception outing against the Baltimore Ravens, that he would return to his previous, efficient form.
“There didn’t need to be a drastic change or anything,” Purdy said. “I needed to be smart with the ball and execute better. Simple as that, but being present, taking it one day at a time.”
While he didn’t have his gaudiest numbers of the year, Purdy was 22-of-28 for 230 yards and two touchdown passes with no interceptions in a 27-10 victory. In the process, Purdy etched his name at the top of San Francisco’s record books. He is up to 4,280 passing yards this season, surpassing the previous franchise high set by Jeff Garcia in 2000.
No need for a double take, it’s now Purdy — not Garcia, Joe Montana or Steve Young — who has the most productive passing season in Niners history.
“We’ve had a lot of really good quarterbacks in this organization,” coach Kyle Shanahan said. “And just being told in there that he broke the record for all-time yards in a year, that’s a pretty big accomplishment by him and everyone else in there. So, it’s cool to do that.”
Purdy’s ascent to the top of the 49ers and NFL record books in single-season passing stats isn’t limited to yardage. His two passing touchdowns gave him 31 on the season, making him the first 49ers quarterback to hit the 30-plus mark since Garcia tossed 32 in 2001. Purdy is the fifth quarterback in franchise history to hit the 30-plus mark in a season, and his 31 are tied for fourth in a season in franchise history.
Sunday’s win was also Purdy’s eighth game this season with a passer rating of 120 or higher (it was 124.7 against the Commanders). That is tied for the second-most in a season in NFL history and gives him 14 games in his first two seasons with a rating of 110 or higher, tied with Russell Wilson for the most in a passer’s first two seasons in NFL history.
All of which drives home the point Shanahan repeatedly made after last Monday’s loss, which is that Purdy’s struggles against the Ravens were the outlier in an otherwise excellent second season for the former Mr. Irrelevant.
“I tried to tell you guys sometimes the ball doesn’t bounce your way,” tight end George Kittle said. “But most of the time the way that Brock plays and how consistent he is, and the plays that he makes with his legs … it’s crazy. He’s a phenomenal football player and he’s just going to keep playing like that for us. It’s awesome.”