Thumbs up | Sports Daily Newsletter

Haason Reddick was not likely to play in the meaningless NFL preseason anyway. So when the news broke Thursday that Reddick underwent (presumably minor) thumb surgery, there was an upside attached: The All-Pro edge rusher is expected to be good to go for the Sept. 10 season opener against the Patriots.

Maybe Reddick’s bruised feelings will be a bigger concern at some point. He racked up a team-high 16 sacks last season, along with 2½ more in the postseason. He is entering the second season of a three-year, $45 million contract, but Reddick has sent signals that he feels underpaid. (His average annual salary ranks tied for 16th in the NFL.)

“You all know what’s going on,” he told reporters on Aug. 3. “I’m just worried about being the best version of myself and letting everything else sort itself out.”

For now, let’s get that thumb sorted out and worry about Sept. 10. The preseason goes on without Reddick, and the Eagles tied the Cleveland Browns, 18-18 on Thursday night.

— Jim Swan, Inquirer Sports Staff, @phillysport, sports.daily@inquirer.com.

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There might be a new quarterback controversy brewing on the Eagles. No, there’s no change at the top, where Jalen Hurts reigns as the undisputed starter, but Marcus Mariota did little to cement his backup status with multiple overthrown passes.

Tanner McKee certainly wasn’t perfect, either, but he had bright moments.

Jeff McLane graded the players in the preseason game against the Cleveland Browns.

Next: The Eagles close the preseason by hosting the Indianapolis Colts on Thursday at 8 p.m. (Amazon Prime Video).

Asked for his favorite baseball players soon after he was drafted in the first round by the Phillies in July, Aidan Miller offered three names: Bryce Harper, Bo Bichette and … Jackson Miller. We all know the first two, but who’s Jackson Miller? That would be the older brother of Aidan, a second-round pick of the Reds in 2020 and the guy the Phillies’ newest top prospect considers responsible for his success.

This might not be the series you had originally circled as the season’s biggest, but David Murphy writes that the Giants come to town next week with home-field advantage in the wild-card round potentially hanging in the balance.

Next: The Phillies open a three-game series against Washington at 7:05 p.m. Friday (NBCSP). Michael Lorenzen (7-7, 3.23 ERA) makes his first start since no-hitting these same Nationals last week. Right-hander Joan Adon (1-0, 5.14) will start for Washington.

With or without James Harden, the Joel Embiid-led Sixers remain one of the league’s marquee teams. The TV schedule reflects that. Keith Pompey has three takeaways from the NBA’s 2023-24 schedule release on Thursday.

All told, 29 Sixers games this season will be nationally televised on ESPN, TNT, ABC or NBA TV.

Here’s where the Sixers’ championship odds stand after the schedule release.

Harden might not be playing basketball at the moment, but he is selling wine.

The Flyers will report to training camp in about a month and they won’t do so without some major questions.

One of the biggest will be the health status of top-line center Sean Couturier and veteran winger Cam Atkinson. Both players missed the entire 2022-23 season but are reportedly on track to play this fall. Giana Han looks at five key questions surrounding the Flyers as they prepare for Year 2 of the John Tortorella era.

Heads were going to roll following the U.S. women’s national team’s historically disappointing World Cup performance. On Thursday, the first change came down, as head coach Vlatko Andonovski resigned from his post.

While Andonovski’s departure was expected, the attention will now turn to Kate Markgraf, the USWNT’s general manager. Markgraf was absent from the U.S. Soccer announcement regarding Andonovski, fueling speculation that she could be next to go.

We asked you: Would you want to see Temple absorbed into a power conference? Among your responses:

It would be great for Temple (see Rutgers), but it’ll never happen. — Richard V.

Temple has to build competitive athletic programs - mainly football and basketball - in order to gain acceptance into a Power Five conference. Otherwise, they are just practice fodder for more superior programs. — Lawrence A.

No. It is hard for me to visualize Temple competing for top recruits against schools from the Southeastern Conference, the even bigger Big 10, and the Atlantic Coast Conference, etc. I think Maryland and Rutgers should leave the Big 10 now that USC and UCLA are in and join up with the Atlantic Coast.

Temple was on the verge many years back when Wayne Hardin was there, but it is just not a big-time football school. Of course, joining a major football conference brings in more dollars and that helps improve all the school’s sports. — Everett S.

It’s absurd to think natural rivalries for Temple, schools like Pitt, Rutgers, Army, Syracuse, Boston College will most likely never see the light of day due to the money grab of todays college athletes landscape.

Unfortunately for the Owls, they don’t have enough fan support in either football or basketball to justify a bigger conference (ACC?) asking Temple to join. Meanwhile the current AAC is nothing more than a parking spot for schools until a bigger conference comes calling, there are certainly no natural rivalries, or any loyal support between any schools there.

In my opinion, the only hope for Temple is that the current huge TV money being thrown at these mega conferences someday comes to an end, and schools are left scrambling for smaller conferences and rivalries that make sense. Alas, that’s probably just a pipe dream. — Allen B.

We compiled today’s newsletter using reporting from Olivia Reiner, Jeff McLane, David Murphy, Alex Coffey, Giana Han, Jonathan Tannenwald, Keith Pompey, John Leuzzi, Devin Jackson, Isabella DiAmore, and Matt Breen.