afc Page 5 - Sports News, Headlines & Highlights

Week 2 NFL Takeaways: A bounce back week for Chiefs, Bills, and Giants
Another week of NFL football is in the books. For all of my qualms with the NFL, Week 2 arrived a bit too quickly for my satisfaction. Scott Hanson’s first announcement of “seven hours of commercial free football,” and his second one felt like they were only a few days apart as opposed to an entire ...

Travis Kelce shakes off bad karma in first half of Jags game, convinces Mahomes ‘you belong with me’
It’s Week 2 of the NFL season and, as a non-Chiefs fan, I am already tired of Travis Kelce. He doesn’t come off as a bad person, necessarily, just a loud one, and one who likes to yell “We gotta fight…for the right…to paaaarrrrrty!!” every time he’s anywhere near a microphone. Here he is saying it a...

The Jalen Hurts-AJ Brown ‘drama’ embodies the Eagles' expectations
This time a season ago, the Philadelphia Eagles also were 2-0 coming off a convincing win over the Minnesota Vikings. Unlike last year though, there’s a little controversy surrounding the Birds as Jalen Hurts and wide receiver AJ Brown were caught having an exchange on the sidelines. The incident wa...

Austin Ekeler pulls no punches in criticizing Chargers teammates, coaching staff
The Chargers opened the 2023 regular season in a thrilling game in Los Angeles against the Miami Dolphins, where they came up short, 36-34. Austin Ekeler did his part for the Chargers, rushing for 117 yards, a touchdown, and adding four receptions for another 47 yards. Ultimately, this wasn’t enough...

Don't be fooled by the NFL teams that played above and below expectations in Week 1
Week 1 of the NFL season is in the books, and as usual, we’ve got some extreme overreactions to some of the action. We see this every year early on when teams play far above their expected output or well below. So, let’s figure out which teams may have fooled the masses during the opening week of th...

Ryan Reynolds and Rob McElhenney are still the heroes in <i>Welcome to Wrexham</i>, even when they’re the villains
The problem with Wrexham becoming such a story within the soccer world, thanks to the efforts of Ryan Reynolds, and Rob McElhenney making them so, is that the suspense is kind of removed from Season 2 of Welcome To Wrexham. We know how this one ends. Wrexham win the National League, and get promoted...

Getting Travis Kelce, Chris Jones back won't fix Kansas City's flaws
No matter how it went down, it was shocking to see the Kanas City Chiefs lose last night. Even with the Detroit Lions being a trendy upset pick and KC being down its second and third-best players in Travis Kelce and Chris Jones, the defending Super Bowl champions have found a way more times than not...

The Ravens offense will only be as good as its backup plan
The Baltimore Ravens co-opted college tactics as much as any team in the NFL over the past five years — it just wasn’t the trendy playbook. The staff built a run-oriented scheme around Lamar Jackson, taking QB-run tactics from college, and tweaking them for the pros. It worked for a while, and earne...

Mekhi Becton and Duane Brown are ready for action, and if the Jets want a title they had better stay that way
The New York Jets offensive line is beginning to take shape. They’re play has been so porous this summer that not even the Hard Knocks producers could gloss over it. Finally, reinforcements are on the way, specifically at offensive tackle. Duane Brown has been activated off of the PUP list, and Mekh...

Dan Orlovsky is drunk on New York Jets green Kool-Aid
Former NFL quarterback Dan Orlovsky has become one of Stephen A. Smith’s regular adversaries on First Take over the past few years. He’s become well known for some of his hot takes on the show, but Orlovsky is best known for running out of the back of his own end zone while playing for the Detroit L...

10 NFL players, team units everyone thinks will be bad this season, but won't be
Assumptions can be a dangerous thing. Take the preseason conversation surrounding Tua Tagovailoa last season. There were signs that the Miami Dolphins’ third-year quarterback was about to make a quantum leap, but he was mostly ignored in lieu of cheapshots at his arm strength. The same is true for 2...

Aaron Rodgers and the familiar NFL faces in new places
After silly season, and training camps around the country are well underway, most of the big moves of the NFL year have already taken place. Those who hoped for greener pastures found what they believe is an upgrade from their last situation, despite no proof to the contrary, yet. Some of the bigges...

Bill Belichick is up to his same old tricks, and they may not be good enough anymore
The Ezekiel Elliott signing was a solid move by Bill Belichick. Elliott may no longer be the athlete who cleared opposing defenders the way that he cleared high hurdles as a high school track and field star, but he is still a football player who can contribute to a winning team. Any extra depth is w...

10 NFL teams everyone thinks will be good this season, but won't be
Every team had a great offseason. All those gaping, even-the-blind-can-see problems your favorite team had no longer exist. Here’s where a path to greatness starts. Of course for most, that won’t be true. The heavy hitters didn’t go away and until your favorite players get hit in the mouth, all the ...

The Bengals had better hope Joe Burrow doesn’t have one of those NBA strains
Super Bowl Championship expectations are rare for the Cincinnati Bengals. Before Ja’Marr Chase was drafted they hadn’t won a playoff game since Bo Jackson played football. In 2023, the sports books have the Bengals as one of the top-five favorites to win the Super Bowl. However, they are currently d...

Everyone agrees Patrick Mahomes figured out that two-high safety look
Unfortunately, most of us didn’t get to watch the NFL top 100 program this year. The NFL’s two minute warning that the season is about to begin was shown only on NFL+, which is still not a strong enough reason to add $79.99 to my yearly expenses. The result of the paywall restricted program this yea...

Enjoy Ryan Reynolds and Rob McElhenney before reality comes for Wrexham
The main reason Ted Lasso should call it a series is because every run comes to an end; players age, rosters get turned over, and somebody ends up being the bad guy. The show was so averse to conflict that its most compelling heel turn was retconned almost immediately in order to avoid any ambiguity...

Would signing Dalvin Cook put the New York Jets over the top?
Free agent running back Dalvin Cook is still on the open market as we enter the month of August. When he was released in June by the Minnesota Vikings, rumors were floating all over the internet about where he could end up, and still, nothing has come to fruition. Now it’s been reported that he’s se...

ESPN Cleveland radio host goes off on low expectations for Browns
Success for the Cleveland Browns has been limited over the past few decades. Since 1990, the Browns have advanced to the postseason three times. The last won a division title in ‘89 in the old AFC Central. Needless to say, there aren’t too many Browns believers outside city limits. That’s what has E...

Ain’t no love in the heart of NFL ownership for running backs
On the field, running backs have an offensive line to protect them. Off of the field, all they have is each other. The position with the shortest career span in the NFL has become the one that comes with the hardest fight to receive a contract that properly compensates their contributions. The deadl...