nf Page 87 - Sports News, Headlines & Highlights

Green Bay has this winning-franchise thing down to a science
The Green Bay Packers are one of the handful of NFL franchises that has done precious little losing since the turn of the millennium. Even in the decade prior to Y2K, they experienced sustained success. The Packers seem to have a firm grasp on NFL team building, including the most important part — q...

Week 13 NFL Takeaways: A Byemaggedon Sunday still had lots of spice
There is no committee in the NFL that votes on the best team. In the pros, every result actually does matter. To qualify for the NFL’s 14 playoff spots, teams either have to finish atop a division or win enough games to get in as a wild card. While every game counts, there are some, even on the regu...

If the NFL wanted good refereeing, it would have it
You do have to appreciate that the officiating crew on the league’s Sunday Night game, supposedly the marquee matchup of the week where the entire NFL world tunes in, was able to pack in so much moron-acy into one final drive. The density of clueless officiating in the last minute of Kansas City Chi...

Pittsburgh might have to ride the Mitch Trubisky wave to a playoff berth
Just when Pittsburgh Steeler fans thought it was safe to step out and feel confident about their offense, we had a Mitchell Trubisky sighting Sunday. The Steelers had been rolling, winning three out of their last four games entering Week 13's battle with Arizona. Trubisky came in after Kenny Pickett...

This year’s College Football Playoff controversy is the sport at its best
Amidst all the outrage and taunting on Sunday, I hope everyone took the time to enjoy the rush. A reminder about college sports: the athletes are not as good as the pros. The game is not nearly as polished. What makes up for the majority of participants having no chance at becoming well-paid profess...

Golden State’s third quarter super powers are gone and that’s left them mortal
For the second time, this week, the Golden State Warriors went cold in the fourth quarter. Twice this week, the Warriors blew leads of 20-plus points. Against the Sacramento Kings on Tuesday, they played so frantically trying to achieve a +13 points differential in a win that would allow them to adv...

Saints' Alvin Kamara did a number on this sideline official's leg
Let’s get the content warning out of the way: While not as gruesome as, say, slow motion video of Joe Theisman’s leg swinging the opposite way it’s supposed to, the video of Saints running back Alvin Kamara rolling up on a sideline official is not exactly pleasant to watch. Proceed with caution and ...

NFL Commissioner Roger Goodell wants to deprive fans of the ‘tush push’
According to a rumor floating around the league, NFL Commissioner Roger Goodell is not a fan of the play that’s been affectionately dubbed the “tush push” or “brotherly shove” in Philadelphia. The Eagles’ nearly unstoppable gimmick play could go away soon if reports about Goodell wanting to ban it a...

College football coaches’ least favorite time of the year is upon us — transfer time!
It’s back! The transfer portal is here to pilfer players and give head coaches everywhere migraines. Quarterbacks are looking for upgrades or second and third chances. DJ Uiagalelei and Cam Ward furthered Oregon State and Washington State’s misery as neither QB opted to explore the unknown of life w...

Washington is giving Pac-12 football a beautiful swan song
The finality of the Pac-12 is depressing. The Washington Huskies beat the Oregon Ducks, 34-31, on Friday night, and looked like a title contender doing it. Michael Penix had his full array of receivers, with Jalen McMillan returning to grab nine balls for 131 yards. Husky running back Dillon Johnson...

The week in the NFL, college football: Sean McDermott facing heat, Deion Sanders fools everyone, Bobby Petrino gets another chance
The Buffalo Bills might be the biggest disappointment of this NFL season. A supposed Super Bowl contender, as predicted by many, can barely stay alive in the wild-card race. Buffalo lost another game on Sunday in Philadelphia, which they could’ve won had their coach not folded in crunch time. Too ma...

LeBron James is benefitting from a desensitized media
At the end of a journalist’s shift, we just want transparency. That’s it. We want to ask questions, and get real answers. For example, when associates of LeBron James pop up in federal investigations involving steroids or sports betting, we have questions. And to be fair, LeBron answered the questio...

Being a fired college football head coach is the best job in America
Being a coach is a tough and thankless job. It’s a profession where everybody thinks they can do your job better than you, which often leads to a high turnover rate — especially when you’re the head coach of a Power Five college football team. But, being fired isn’t so bad when you have a million-do...

Who else but the Yankees would release a statement about Henry Kissinger dying?
There is probably a long treatise on how a crumbling empire of a baseball team wants to honor Henry Kissinger, the architect of American exceptionalism being an excuse to do whatever that country wants around the world that only led to this crumbling empire, but quite frankly I’m too tired and incap...

IDIOT OF THE MONTH: Defending Trevor Bauer is never a good look
Hello there, esteemed reader, and welcome to Deadspin’s IDIOT OF THE MONTH, the world-renowned series in which we mostly just make fun of Aaron Rodgers every few weeks. (Hi, Tom Laforgia!)...

Deion Sanders deserved Sportsperson of the Year honors — 28 years ago
In 1992, Deion Sanders was named first-team All-Pro for the first time in his career as a cornerback for the Atlanta Falcons. One of the games he missed that season was to play in the World Series for the Atlanta Braves. They lost to the Toronto Blue Jays in six games. Those who thought that Sanders...

We've seen Klay Thompson overcome the whispers that he's washed
The Golden State Warriors should be reeling after squandering a 24-point lead against the Sacramento Kings in their NBA In-Season Tournament’s group stage exit. Yet, they’re oddly sanguine about backsliding below .500 since they launched out of the regular season gates to a 6-2 start. Klay Thompson ...

The Vikings’ coach and GM are having a staring contest with the sun
It’s no surprise that journeyman quarterback Josh Dobbs re-entered the atmosphere. Players are backups for a reason, and it was only a matter of time before Dobbs reminded folks why he was available multiple times this season. What is a surprise about this current predicament is after the Vikings us...

The curious case of Cody Bellinger’s free agency
On the surface, Cody Bellinger’s life is about to get better no matter what. He was a down-ballot MVP candidate last season who’s heading into free agency, as well as a former MVP and Rookie of the Year. He would have been labeled a unicorn back in the day, given his ability to play Gold Glove-level...

We’re witnessing the vindication of Steve Wilks
Once was a coincidence — but, not really. Twice was proof of the pattern. Steve Wilks keeps getting the short end of the stick. And the owners that fire him always wind up paying for it....