LDN - Sports

NFL notebook: Giants, Cardinals hire head coaches

[January 23, 2018] The New York Giants officially hired Pat Shurmur as head coach on Monday.

Shurmur had been rumored as the club's top choice but was unable to accept the position until the Minnesota Vikings' season ended. Shurmur was offensive coordinator for the Vikings, who lost 38-7 to the Philadelphia Eagles in Sunday's NFC Championship Game.

Shurmur, 52, has a 10-23 record as an NFL head coach. He went 9-23 as coach of the Cleveland Browns in 2011-12 and also won a game as interim coach of the Philadelphia Eagles in 2015.

He reportedly received a five-year contract from the Giants to replace Ben McAdoo, who was fired on Dec. 4.

--The Arizona Cardinals hired Carolina Panthers defensive coordinator Steve Wilks as their new head coach.

Wilks, 48, signed a four-year contract with a team option for a fifth season. A news conference officially introducing Wilks will be Tuesday, the team announced.

Wilks just completed his first year as the Panthers' defensive coordinator.

--Case Keenum wants to stay with the Vikings after leading Minnesota to the NFC North division crown and to the conference championship game. However, Keenum said he remains unclear what the Vikings will do at the quarterback position.

The franchise's previous starters, Sam Bradford and Teddy Bridgewater, finished the season as Keenum's backups and are both free agents when the league year kicks off in March.

When asked if he had any indication from the Vikings that he would be back for the 2018 season, Keenum said, "Nope." Keenum said he was not going to stress about other things on Monday, recognizing it was likely the last time the group would ever be together.

--Legendary defensive coordinator Dick LeBeau will not return to the Tennessee Titans next season, according to multiple reports. The 80-year-old LeBeau was informed Monday that he would not be invited to join the staff of newly hired head coach Mike Vrabel.

After Vrabel accepted the position Saturday, LeBeau's role with the team became in jeopardy. The 42-year-old Vrabel was defensive coordinator for the Houston Texans last season.

LeBeau has been a coach or player in the NFL for 59 consecutive seasons. He joined the Titans in 2015 as assistant head coach/defense before becoming the defensive coordinator prior to the 2016 season.

--The defending champion Patriots are the team to beat in the Super Bowl, according to Las Vegas' sports books.

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AFC champion New England opened as a 5 1/2-point to 6 1/2-point favorite for its matchup with the NFC champion Eagles. The Super Bowl will be played Feb. 4 in Minneapolis.

Odds for the title game were posted in some locations even before the Eagles completed their 38-7 rout of the Vikings in the NFC Championship Game on Sunday evening, the Las Vegas Review-Journal reported. The over/under for the Super Bowl was set at 47 1/2 points.

--It may have been early December in Southern California, but Philadelphia Eagles coach Doug Pederson had February in Minnesota in mind during one particular road trip this season. And now, he's hoping his foresight will pay off in a Super Bowl where his players will be far outmatched when it comes to experience in football's biggest event.

Speaking at his weekly news conference Monday, the Philadelphia coach was asked about his club's road trip for back-to-back games in Seattle and Los Angeles during which it stayed on the West Coast the week between games.

"We talked back then that this was sort of a precursor for hopefully for this opportunity," Pederson said when asked about the similarities between that week and next week, when the Eagles will be in Minneapolis for the week leading up to the Feb. 4 Super Bowl against the New England Patriots.

--Patriots quarterback Tom Brady says playing Super Bowl LII in Minnesota will be "really special," with family in the area where he milked cows while spending summers there growing up.

Brady reflected Monday morning on his weekly interview on sports radio WEEI in Boston about experiences on the dairy farm from his mother's side of the family in Minnesota.

"My mom (Galynn) grew up in central Minnesota, a small town called Browerville," Brady said. "My grandparents lived there ... so every year we would go back in the summer and spend weeks. We'd go fishing in the summer, ice fishing in the winter, and milk the cows with my grandpa and just kind of tend to the farm. It was a great experience for me, (being) born in California."

--Field Level Media

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