Ravens’ Smith rips former team
Steve Smith took some parting shots at the Carolina Panthers, three days after the outspoken wide received led the Baltimore Ravens to a 38-10 win over his former team.
Smith, who spent 13 seasons in Carolina before being cut in March, called into a Charlotte radio station Wednesday and said the Panthers “stabbed him in the back.”
Smith took direct aim at Dave Gettleman, saying on WFNZ-AM’s Bustin’ Loose that Carolina’s second-year general manager said he was “a shadow of the player I used to be.” Smith said the GM said that he was “jealous” of quarterback Cam Newton
“Yes, it was personal with me and Dave Gettleman,” Smith told the station. “Obviously, I did something that got under his skin. And, you know what? I’m not a perfect person. There are people I run into that get under my skin.”
Smith is Carolina’s all-time leader in receptions, yards receiving and touchdowns.
The wide receiver said Gettleman also called him a “nuisance” during a conversation with his agent this offseason.
Smith said Gettleman told him the team intended to trade him and laughed off the idea of Smith taking a pay cut to stay in Carolina.
“It hurts me because the way I play it is basically a justification to try to show people, `Well, we had to get rid of him because he was a nuisance,” Smith said.
NFL, DirectTV extend deal: The NFL has extended its contract with satellite provider DirecTV to carry the “Sunday Ticket” package, which allows viewers to watch out-of-market games.
The deal expands DirecTV’s rights to stream the package live on mobile devices and online. The agreement is worth $12 billion over eight years $1.5 billion annually, according to a person familiar with the contract.
The person spoke on condition of anonymity because the figures were not made public.
The previous deal was worth about $1 billion a year.
AT&T is in the process of acquiring DirecTV for $48.5 billion, making the expanded possibilities for mobile particularly attractive.
Wednesday’s announcement shows the lasting popularity of the NFL even as the league has endured weeks of turmoil over its handling of domestic violence cases. Its typically huge TV ratings have remained steady so far this season.
This was the last big renewal for the NFL’s TV packages. In 2011, the league extended its deals with CBS, Fox and NBC for nine years through the 2022 season. That increased the total revenues from those three networks from the $1.93 billion per year at the time to $3.1 billion by the end of the contracts.
Jaguars’ Blackmon “doing very well:” Suspended Jacksonville Jaguars receiver Justin Blackmon has checked into a voluntary treatment program and seems to be doing well.
Coach Gus Bradley told the Associated Press Wednesday the former Oklahoma State star and 2012 first-round NFL draft pick “is doing very well and he’s learning a lot.” Bradley says he is getting updates from Blackmon’s agent.
Bradley adds that Blackmon is “healing and taking time for himself. The great thing is he has chosen this for himself. It’s awesome to hear about.”
Blackmon is suspended indefinitely without pay for repeated violations of the league’s substance-abuse policy. He was previously suspended the first four games of last season for violating the policy. He played four games before getting suspended again at least for a year.
Alexander suspended 10 games: The NFL has announced Panthers defensive end Frank Alexander has been suspended an additional 10 games after violating the league’s substance abuse policy again.
The league made the announcement on Wednesday.
Alexander suspended May 2 for four games for violating the substance abuse policy.
The Panthers had hoped Alexander’s return this week would provide some help with Pro Bowler Greg Hardy out indefinitely while dealing with a domestic abuse case.
The NFL says Alexander’s suspension begins immediately. He will be eligible to return to the active roster on Dec. 15.
Alexander, a fourth-round draft pick in 2012, played in 12 games and had 15 tackles and one sack last season. He played in 16 games a rookie with 2.5 sacks.