Football Page 1202 - Sports News, Headlines & Highlights

The Betting Public Killed Las Vegas Sportsbooks In The 2012 NFL Season
So the NFL did its ouroboros thing again this year. Lots of parity. Or so it would seem. But 2012 mostly just brought us a handful of excellent teams—Football Outsiders says three of the 12 best teams since 1991 (Seahawks, Broncos, and Patriots)—and some supremely terrible ones. The result is that, ...

DeAngelo Hall On The Seahawks: "They Don't Like Us And We Don't Like Them."
Every morning, the fine folks at Sports Radio Interviews sift through the a.m. drive-time chatter to bring you the best interviews with coaches, players, and personalities across the sports landscape. Today: Washington and Seattle prepare to get physical....

On Further Review, Roger Goodell Fucked Up This NFL Season From End To End
Cowboys-Redskins was the biggest matchup of the year, a win-or-go-home game for two division rivals. It turned out to be the most-watched regular-season sporting event in 15 years. But one familiar face was missing from the FedEx Field suites: commissioner Roger Goodell, who found something else to ...

Relax, Everyone, Rex Ryan Is Just On Vacation With His Wife In The Bahamas (UPDATE: There's A Rich Kotite Connection Because Of Course There Is)
It's been lost in all the discussion of Tim Tebow and Mike Tannenbaum and Mark Sanchez and Greg McElroy and Tony Sparano and Woody Johnson, but this season of New York Jets football began with a strange, strange report: Rex Ryan had lost 106 pounds yet gained a secret "sensei." Wrote the Star-Ledger...

How The Panthers' Luke Kuechly Salvaged A Seemingly Lost Season
The Panthers played a strange game against the Saints on Sunday. The final score makes it look like a potential classic: The Panthers won 44-38. So does the attached statistical story: Drew Brees cleared 5,000 yards on the season, completing 29 of 43 for 396 and four touchdowns. But then one looks m...

Anonymous Saint Says Steve Spagnuolo "Treats People Like Crap," Should Be Fired
I'm really glad that whole "no more nasty, anonymous quotes" movement didn't take off, because come on, they're so much fun. Two days after one one of the NFL's worst defenses in history finishes its season, we have an unnamed Saints player going to town on defensive coordinator Steve Spagnuolo....

Jadeveon Clowney Decapitated Vincent Smith, Then Palmed The Football
Today's Outback Bowl in Tampa has brought the best of the Big Ten-SEC rivalry, and the top player in college football—yeah, we said it—had his way with Michigan's offensive line. Here's Jadeveon Clowney putting Wolverines running back Vincent Smith in a very bad place. [ESPN]...

The Nebraska Sideline Reaction To A Missed Georgia Field Goal Was Ridiculous
Today's Capital One Bowl (one of only a handful of bowls that are still on broadcast television) has been an exciting barnburner, tied at 31 as of this writing and featuring loads of offensive action. It was a failure to score points, though, that might be the most memorable moment of the game. He...

Andy Reid: Good Enough To Make You Hate Him For How Bad He Was
So of course when the clock at last ran out on Andy Reid in Philadelphia, nobody knew what the heck was going on. He was fired before the final game Sunday and coached anyway. No, he wasn't fired till after the game Sunday. No, not that either; he wasn't fired till Monday morning. One last utter cl...

Georgia Tech's Rod Sweeting Wins Sun Bowl MVP Honors, Immediately Utters "Sheeeeeiiit" On CBS
Georgia Tech cornerback Rod Sweeting dominated a USC offense uninterested in making the Sun Bowl competitive, earning his way to the bowl's MVP honors. The televised trophy presentation led to CBS's Tracy Wolfson demanding a few words from Sweeting, but his first one—left to reverberate against th...

Maurice Clarett's Girlfriend Is Wanted By Police For Allegedly Beating Up Maurice Clarett
More bad news for the former Ohio State running back, though he's not the one accused of any wrongdoing this time. From the Columbus Dispatch:...

"Tim Tebow Is Gay," And Other Tips From 2012 We Didn't Follow Up On: The Year In Deadspin Deleted Scenes
A lot of our stories begin as tips from readers. (Have any? Send 'em here!) Sometimes, these tips don't pan out for one reason or another. Here are a bunch of emails we got in 2012 that never turned into stories, either because we couldn't confirm them or because they were so utterly ridiculous we d...

Who Has The Funnier Challenge-Flag-Throwing Motion, John Harbaugh Or Mike Smith?
The Deadspin NFL Coach Challenge Challenge is a tournament pitting the throwing motions of 20 NFL coaches against one another. ...

College ShameDay: What Is The Heart Of Dallas? How Long Can Pat Fitzgerald Hold A Car Above His Head? Your New Year's Day Bowl Games FAQ
Our weekly college football shame index previews the New Year's Day bowl games. ...

The Sun Bowl Officiating Crew Botched A Missed Field Goal Call And It Had To Be Overturned On Replay
The Sun Bowl is scoreless midway through the first quarter, though if it were up to the bowl's Big Ten officiating crew, it would be a bit different. That's because they attempted to call a field goal attempt by USC's Andre Heidari good, even though it was obvious to viewers and everybody in the s...

The Black Monday Firing That Doesn't Make Any Sense: Lovie Smith
Romeo Crennel, Chan Gailey, Andy Reid, Pat Shurmur, and Norv Turner were fired on Monday for the usual reasons that coaches get fired. All of these guys either led franchises to horrible records (Crennel), disappointed their pitchfork-waving fan bases one too many times (Turner), led their franchise...

The Top Nine Romeo Crennel Photos Of 2012
After a 2-14 season, the Chiefs fired head coach Romeo Crennel today. Here's a selection of photos commemorating his impactful tenure....

Who Has The Funnier Challenge-Flag-Throwing Motion, Bill Belichick Or Mike Tomlin?
The Deadspin NFL Coach Challenge Challenge is a tournament pitting the throwing motions of 20 NFL coaches against one another. ...

Trindon Holliday Is 16-0
The NFL's shortest player is also its winningest. Return specialist Trindon Holliday just completed a perfect regular season, 5-0 with Houston, 11-0 with Denver, and he joins an exclusive club featuring the rosters of the 1972 Dolphins and the 2007 Patriots. If the Broncos go all the way, Holliday w...

When The Game Became <em>The</em> Game: An Afternoon With A Deranged, Piss-Smelling Vikings Fan (Me)
I was giving my eight-month-old baby a bath on Saturday night when I started to space out. In my head, I was giving Vikings QB Christian Ponder an imaginary pep talk. I was Leslie Frazier, only I was Leslie Frazier if Leslie Frazier were a goofy-looking white man. And I was in the film room with Pon...