ill Page 143 - Sports News, Headlines & Highlights

Even Bill Belichick can’t Geppetto New England’s wooden offense to life
Bill Belichick, or whatever is left of him, has had a nominal interest in opening up the New England offense for years now. His interest in the offensive side is merely a cursory obligation. The rules require Belichick to field a quarterback under center but since the day Tom Brady cut ties with him...

Buffalo really dropped the ball against the London-Jacksonville Jaguars
After putting a major league beatdown on the Miami Dolphins last week, it looked like the Buffalo Bills were taking a step toward separating themselves in a highly competitive AFC. One game after scoring 48 points against a hot Dolphins squad, the Bills couldn’t even muster up half of that in Week 5...

This is part of Clayton Kershaw's legacy, too
Clayton Kershaw is the best pitcher of the 21st century. This much isn’t really in dispute. A career 2.48 ERA and 2.82 FIP over 16 years is unimpeachable. There’s three Cy Youngs to go with it, and an MVP in 2014 when he had a 1.77 ERA and a 0.857 WHIP, which is beyond stupid. He probably should hav...

The Miami Dolphins and San Francisco 49ers can afford to gamble
A couple of early season behemoths in the NFL rolled the dice with house money Friday as the San Francisco 49ers’ defense got scarier with the addition of edge rusher Randy Gregory, and the Miami Dolphins’ offense folded Chase Claypool into a ridiculously talented group of skill players. The two tra...

Trade talk is the nadir of sports journalism
Imagine being a Chicago Bears fan — I know empathy is hard, but just try — and going through what they did Thursday only to open ESPN on Friday and see a bunch of misguided, braindead analysts talking about trading Justin Fields. Over his past two starts, the Chicago QB is 43-for-64 for 627 yards wi...

Your MLB team is out, so who do you root for?
Playoff baseball is in full swing. As we move closer to crowning a champion, who do you root for if your team has been eliminated? Do you stick with a club in your favorite squad’s league? Support the underdog? Or just watch football or whatever else is on TV? ...

Never play the Bears on a day when a team legend dies. Everyone knows this
Let me take you back to Nov. 7, 1999. ...

The Beard's ego has him stuck between a Rock(et) and a Harden place
James Harden is in limbo. Last season, he was all in on taking a pay cut in an effort to give the Philadelphia 76ers cap flexibility to sign glue guys who would put them over the edge come playoff time. A year later, he’s the acetone on their franchise continuity. His constant bellyaching stemming f...

Did Joel Embiid commit to Team USA just for the tampering?
Apparently, all it takes to convince American hoops players to represent their country is an insult or a loss at the FIBAs. Whether it was Noah Lyles, the B team’s fourth-place finish, or the human instinct to ape the cool kids, Team USA looks to be loaded for the 2024 Olympic Games in Paris. ...

There's no truly dominant NFL team so far this season
Heading into Week 5 of the 2023 NFL season there still isn’t a team that’s jumped out ahead of the pack as the clear-cut favorite being head and shoulders above the rest. We always hear the word parity, and we see it even at the top with the best teams. Nobody looks like a world-beater who could ree...

On-campus pregame shows are the latest casualty of college football’s ‘evolution’
As someone who was programmed to watch college football every fall Saturday from birth, the on-campus pregame show (now plural) was the background noise to my morning routine. It’s always fun to see how drunk college kids get just to stand outside and scream on cue for three hours. All of the analys...

Here are all the 20+ Wins Seasons, by franchise, in MLB history
Immaculate Grid has been a hit with baseball stat geeks since its launch in April. While the stats puzzle has since expanded to basketball, football, and hockey, it’s still baseball that makes the game what it is. So if you need help filling out your daily grid, give these stats a look....

MLB got what it deserves with its wild-card round
MLB and Rob Manfred don’t really have to care what happens in the wildcard round. Their only aim was to provide more playoff baseball, good or not, because its mere existence netted them more TV cash. So the fact that MLB will get no Game 3s, no interesting storylines, and barely any drama, followin...

NBA Weak Links: Milwaukee‘s 2-guard position could be a sinkhole on their road to a title
A great team is only as strong as its weakest link. At least that’s the consensus among every motivational coach I’ve ever heard. But for the sake of this space, it’s true for NBA contenders as well. I’ll examine the weak spots in some of the most iron-clad lineups in the NBA entering the 2023 seaso...

Mariners fans probably have some good suggestions on what Jerry Dipoto can do with his 54 percent
One way to definitely not make your fans feel better about a season in which their team’s growth flattened out instead of turning into the juggernaut promised is to tell them that’s the plan all along. But that’s what Seattle Mariners GM Jerry Dipoto felt was the best salve for the sting of the M’s ...

Here are all the 30+ Save Seasons, by franchise, in MLB history
Immaculate Grid has been a hit with baseball stat geeks since its launch in April. While the stats puzzle has since expanded to basketball, football, and hockey, it’s still baseball that makes the game what it is. So if you need help filling out your daily grid, give these stats a look....

Taylor Swift is the first woman the NFL has ever prioritized. And it's nothing worth celebrating
The NFL doesn’t care about Taylor Swift — or women. Like most men, the NFL only cares about what Taylor Swift — and women — can do for them. ...

It seems the only jab Aaron Rodgers will take is one at Travis Kelce
There is no antidote or vaccine available for Aaron Rodgers’ brain worm infestation. He’s always been a doofus of his own making. During an appearance on The Pat McAfee Show, a humbled Rodgers used his opportunity to applaud the New York Jets defense to insert a dig at Travis Kelce by referring to h...

Here are all the 200+ Strikeout Seasons, by franchise, in MLB history
Immaculate Grid has been a hit with baseball stat geeks since its launch in April. While the stats puzzle has since expanded to basketball, football, hockey, and soccer, it’s still baseball that makes the game what it is. So if you need help filling out your daily grid, give these stats a look:...

2023 MLB AL earned run average leaders
This article is based on data from Sportradar. Text was compiled by an AI engine that was then reviewed and edited by the editorial staff....