Football Page 1258 - Sports News, Headlines & Highlights

Eyewitness: Former Steeler Chris Rainey Didn't Slap His Girlfriend
We told you yesterday about Chris Rainey's arrest for allegedly slapping his girlfriend in Gainesville, Fla., which led to Rainey getting cut by the Steelers by the afternoon. Late last night, we received an email from a woman who says she saw what went down, and that her version of events doesn't m...

The Definitive List Of Actual, No-Bullshit College Football National Champions; Or, Why Alabama Is A Liar
Monday night, the Alabama Crimson Tide mercilessly clobbered Notre Dame in the BCS championship game. According to Alabama, it was the school's 15th national football title. Football has been an intercollegiate sport for 142 seasons, starting in 1869 (no one played in 1871). So that should mean that...

Injured Christian Ponder Couldn't Throw The Ball Farther Than 10 Yards
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: But then, Joe Webb couldn't really either....

Here's An Old Photo Of Dan Marino Doing Yoga With Some Really Hairy Guy Who's Only Wearing A Speedo
Yeah. We had the same reaction. All we know about this photo is that it was taken in April 1994. There's no unseeing it now, so you know you're going to click here to get the full effect. Just so much going on in this image. Like, what's with those heat lamps?...
![Steelers RB Chris Rainey, Who Once Texted "Time To Die Bitch" To A Woman, Arrested For Allegedly Slapping His Girlfriend [UPDATE]](https://images.deadspin.com/tr:w-900/18b38tu81tvoujpg.jpg)
Steelers RB Chris Rainey, Who Once Texted "Time To Die Bitch" To A Woman, Arrested For Allegedly Slapping His Girlfriend [UPDATE]
Oh, look. It's another Pittsburgh Steelers player being an outstanding citizen. (Hold your fire, Steelers fans. I'm one of you. Even wore this during my commute to work today. I'm also well aware of the franchise's fine tradition of not once making the playoffs only once* during the first 40 seasons...

The Jaguars Have Fired Mike Mularkey
The Jaguars' Mike Mularkey—who was the NFL's interim least-interesting head coach after Pat Shurmur's firing on Black Monday—finally got the axe today. Jacksonville had spent the days immediately after the season's end hunting for a new general manager, and they hired Atlanta's David Caldwell on Tue...

Junior Seau Had Chronic Brain Damage
According to ESPN, former NFL linebacker Junior Seau had Chronic Traumatic Encephalopathy (CTE) at the time of his suicide last May. In an interview with ESPN, Seau's widow and son claim that researchers at the National Institutes of Health informed them of the diagnosis after completing a thorough...

Pete Carroll Says The NFL Is Becoming A Mobile Quarterback's League
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: Wilson, Kaepernick, and Griffin are just the start....

Which NFL TV Markets Got Stuck With The Worst Games This Season?
People often split up NFL fanbases by state. As in: Michigan=Lions, Wisconsin=Packers, Illinois=Bears. There are two reasons for this. First, it's easy. We're used to looking at maps and dividing stuff up along state lines (like electoral votes). Second, most major college sports are dominated by la...

The Man The Seahawks Signed To Replace Chris Clemons Hasn't Played In An NFL Game Since 2007
The Seahawks lost 31-year-old defensive end Chris Clemons to an ACL injury in Sunday night's game at Washington's green-painted dust bowl. 22-year-old rookie sack specialist Bruce Irvin will replace him in the starting lineup at the "Leo" position unique to Seattle's defense. Replacing him on the ro...

The Health Of An NFL Player Belongs To Everyone But The Player Himself
"Greatness is not given," Robert Griffin III says in his national Gatorade spot. "Greatness is taken, when the weak and distracted are resting on their reputations."...

High School Special Teams Player Has The Best Recruiting Mixtape Of All Time
Ryan Potter is a senior cornerback at Montgomery Bell Academy in Nashville, Tenn., and the star of the video above. Ryan's looking to take his football career to the next level, and so he has put together a rousing mixtape of his most impressive on-field exploits in the hopes that he will catch th...

Todd Haley Is Giving One Reporter A Giant Headache
We like NFL.com's Ian Rapoport—good guy, good sources, good track record. But nobody deserves the head-spinning confusion he's dealing with today, thanks to Steelers offensive coordinator Todd Haley, who might be interviewing for the Arizona Cardinals head coaching gig. Or he might not be. Or maybe ...

Why Does ESPN.com Insist On Referring To Bowls By Their Full, Corporate Names?
Reader Reggie pointed something out to us the other day: ESPN.com writers have a habit of referring to the various bowl games by their full, awkward, sponsored names. This is not how normal people write (unless it's to mock), so we went looking for examples. They were not hard to find....

Rolando McClain Got Thrown In Jail Because He Allegedly Told A Police Officer His Name Was "Fuck Y'all"
Oakland Raiders linebacker Rolando McClain can stop just one thing: the run. He can't stop the pass, and he can't stop himself from grinning hilariously on a perp walk, leading a mutiny against his head coach, or falling in the shit with Alabama cops. We saw a story yesterday that McClain had been t...

If A Broncos Player Pees In The Woods, The Broncos' Website Will Get It On Video
NFL websites tend to include interview videos of players and coaches muttering a variety of clichés. These interviews invariably are nothing more than harmless banter meant for those who really like seeing anyone on their favorite team say anything, without really having to pay any attention to exac...

Here's How Seahawks Corner Richard Sherman Got Himself Punched In The Face On Sunday
Seahawks corner Richard Sherman is an NFL trash-talker ready-made for the internet age. He was one of the NFL's best defensive backs as a rookie in 2011, and yet he didn't register in the national consciousness until he threw a "U MAD BRO?" Tom Brady's way on Twitter in October....

Report: Robert Griffin III's Knee Requires "Total Reconstruction" Surgery; Recovery Expected To Take Six To Eight Months
Though an initial report suggested Robert Griffin III had partially torn both the anterior cruciate ligament (ACL) and lateral cruciate ligament (LCL) in the world's-most-talked-about right knee, ESPN's Chris Mortensen now says sources are telling him the damage is in fact worse: Griffin actually su...

The Cowboys Have Fired Rob Ryan, Who Says He'll Be Out Of Work "For Like Five Minutes"
After yet another season of missing the playoffs, it's been no secret that Jerry Jones was probably going to make some big changes to the coaching staff, but the first axe has apparently fallen on the neck of defensive coordinator Rob Ryan, who seems to be taking it all in stride....

An Oregon Player Faked An Injury During The Fiesta Bowl So That His Teammate Could Get Into His First And Last Bowl Game
According to The Oregonian's John Canzano, last week's Fiesta Bowl featured a real-life Rudy moment. Coming into the game, Oregon's Dane Ebanez had never made a bowl-game appearance, despite playing at the school for four years and being named scout team player of the year in successive seasons....