nf Page 161 - Sports News, Headlines & Highlights

The defining characteristic of this year’s Buffalo Bills? Resilience
Buffalo and Miami did their best to try to follow up what happened in Minnesota. The third game of Saturday’s NFL triple header ultimately failed because when the Vikings decide they’re going to play a drunk football game, it’s Frank the Tank taking his first sip of booze....

You like <i>that</i>?
The silence was deafening at U.S. Bank Stadium Saturday afternoon. The home team Minnesota Vikings came into the game with a 10-3 record, holding a half-game lead over the San Francisco 49ers for the second-seed in the NFC. Their opponent was the Indianapolis Colts, who earlier this year, became the...

Exploring how a 1-0 advantage in soccer compares to leads in other sports
The World Cup comes to a conclusion this weekend with the third-place game wrapping up earlier today — Croatia defeated tournament Cinderella Morocco 2-1 — and the finals between Argentina and France taking place tomorrow. Lionel Messi’s legacy is on the line, meanwhile, Kylian Mbappé is attempting ...

Leo's legacy is on the line
After Argentina easily dispatched Croatia in the World Cup semifinals, the prophecy of Lionel Messi lifting the one piece of hardware that’d separate him from many of soccer’s other all-time greats is one win away. He’ll have that chance in what’s likely his final game on the sports’ biggest stage. ...

Thank the lord FIFA is going back into its hole Sunday
The people who scream that sports should be an escape are usually the ones most in need of a reminder about empathy, equality, a natural disaster, or an ongoing war. Sports can be a great distraction for those who actually need it. ...

Bettors backing 3-win Bears over 1-loss Eagles… am I getting that right?
The Chicago Bears are coming off a bye week. That is pretty much the only advantage they have over the Philadelphia Eagles this weekend. Still, despite the obvious disparity in talent between the two squads, bettors seem inclined to reach for the stars, just as they did with the Texans over the Cowb...

Bowl games are now more like the preseason than the postseason
Everything they’ve done all season has led up to this game: The [insert sponsor] Bowl. These teams worked all season long so that they could get six wins and the opportunity to play in the postseason. At least that’s what bowl games are supposed to be: The culmination of the season. But if anything ...

Naming Pat McAfee Sports Media Person of the Year is an indictment of us all
This is not (totally) a hit piece on Pat McAfee. It’s more about how we should categorize what McAfee does, because The Athletic — you know that sports site owned by The New York Times — named him its Sports Media Person of the Year, and that implies that he’s a journalist....

The Big Lead’s ‘2022 Sports Media Awards’ were given to a bunch of white dudes
The same people keep picking the same people because they only surround themselves with the same people....

Tyreek Hill is complaining about lack of targets in K.C.? Is there no way to make receivers happy nowadays?
Since Patrick Mahomes took over as the quarterback for the Kansas City Chiefs in 2018, Tyreek Hill is fourth in the NFL in targets, behind only Davante Adams, Stefon Diggs, and former teammate Travis Kelce. Yet despite this hefty usage in the Chiefs’ offense, Hill wanted more....

Best in the West
The Golden State Warriors lost again last night. On Tuesday, the Phoenix Suns dropped a game to the lowly Houston Rockets for the second time this month. Those two wins account for 22.2 percent of the Rockets’ victories this season....

Leave it to the Raiders to exploit the rules
A week ago on Thursday Night Football, the NFL world paid witness to a pretty odd kickoff strategy from the Las Vegas Raiders during their game against the Los Angeles Rams. After the first drive of the game resulted in a Raiders touchdown, kicker Daniel Carlson had to boot the ball away, but he did...

TNF: The Seahawks are in the playoff hunt, who woulda thunk it?
Week 15 kicks off with an NFC West rivalry between the San Francisco 49ers and the Seattle Seahawks. It’s been a while since a Niners-Seahawks game this late in the season had playoff ramifications for both teams....

The disastrous Russell Wilson still has more MVP bets than Patrick Mahomes... what?!
Russell Wilson has been arguably the biggest disappointment of the 2022 NFL season, and that’s saying a lot considering the Los Angeles Rams are fresh off a Super Bowl and currently hold a top-five draft pick. Wilson was brought to the Mile High City in exchange for a king’s ransom, but he was worth...

World Cup 2022 Diary: Day 25 - Morocco's historic run comes to an end
What if you just Morocco’d Morocco?...
![Mike Leach, renaissance man [Updated]](https://images.deadspin.com/tr:w-900/7769d662c8b0822220e88909069f3194.jpg)
Mike Leach, renaissance man [Updated]
Former Texas Tech head football coach Mike Leach will be posthumously inducted into the school’s Hall of Honor, along with his former QB Kliff Kingsbury. Leach won 84 games during his tenure, which lasted from 2000-09....

No, the San Francisco Giants’ offense isn’t suddenly elite with Carlos Correa
After missing out on Arson Judge, it was only a matter of time before the San Francisco Giants used their massive spending budget on one of the few elite hitters left on the open market. For weeks, the Giants-Carlos Correa speculation had been swirling with some people considering San Fran the front...

Which NBA title contender will Jae Crowder join?
Championship NBA teams have always revolved around star players, but the glue guys/role players make it possible for franchises to become title contenders. There are stars all over the Association, but only those with the best supporting casts can make deep runs into the postseason year after year. ...
