nwa Page 19 - Sports News, Headlines & Highlights

How many different ways are there to call Deshaun Watson a dirtbag?
Deshaun Watson can take the entire Browns team to Abu freaking Dhabi for all we care — it’s not going to erase the 22 ongoing sexual misconduct and assault cases that he’s still facing. Whether the announcement that he was treating his new offense to a Bahamas trip was an attempt at garnering an oun...

No more excuses: 2022 needs to be Tua time in Miami
Year Three will be a make-or-break year in Miami for Tua Tagovailoa. While the former Alabama QB has been decent for the Dolphins, he’s yet to lead them to the postseason. There’s absolutely no reason that shouldn’t change in 2022 with how the team has been restructured to focus more on the offensiv...

Thunder, Magic luck out in a top-heavy NBA draft
After three years of embarrassing tanking, GM Sam Presti and the Oklahoma City Thunder have returned to relevance. They came into the NBA Lottery with the sixth-best odds at the top pick in the 2022 NBA Draft and ended up with the second pick in the draft. The Orlando Magic won the first pick and wi...

Have you heard the NFL schedules are out?
The NFL schedule release is the public-relations juggernaut that somehow is designed to be grand yet always comes off as vanilla. Leaks, intentional or not, happened throughout Thursday as the puzzle of the 18-week regular-season extravaganza came into focus. It’s a forced event on the league calend...

It’s getting late pretty early in Boston
The Red Sox won 92 games last season and went to the ALCS. They had a fair amount of turnover in the offseason, losing Eduardo Rodriguez, Kyle Schwarber, and Hunter Renfroe in free agency, but Boston also added Michael Wacha and Rich Hill to the rotation, got Jackie Bradley Jr. to come back to their...

Jaren Jackson Jr. is showing off his talent on a national stage against the Warriors because, for once, he’s fighting through his biggest weakness
For those who watched the Minnesota Timberwolves vs. Memphis Grizzlies first-round series, their assessment might fall in line with how they feel about The Beatles’ Revolution No. 9. Some people think it’s one of the highest forms of entertainment that a person can consume, exquisite excellence in t...

Why the Baltimore Ravens should be the team to look out for in 2022
The Baltimore Ravens were ravaged with injuries in 2021. So much so that PFF’s WAR-Adjusted Injuries Lost (WAIL) statistic indicates that the Ravens lost about 2.86 wins last season. That would’ve put the team in the playoffs with either a 10-7 or 11-6 record. They possibly would’ve been ahead of th...

After much consideration, the Giants got the steal of the draft, and it’s not even close
The New York Giants haven’t just found their next Michael Strahan. As lofty as putting the former Oregon Ducks’ All-American into a threshold in the stratosphere, in Kayvon Thibodeaux they might have found a player better than the gap-toothed Hall of Famer. And perhaps Thibodeaux will end up hosting...

The Falcons played with Matty Ice and got burned
Matt Ryan is a Falcons’ legend. He’s the franchise’s all-time leader in passing yards (by more than double the next closest), passing touchdowns (by more than double the next closest), and Approximate Value. He also led the team to one of their only two Super Bowl appearances and won the franchise’s...

Atlético Madrid are being delightfully bitchy
There are some traditions in sports that, while aesthetically pleasing, aren’t really enjoyed by the players all that much. The handshake line in the NHL playoffs comes to mind. While we enjoy what we think of as the ultimate act of sportsmanship, talk to a lot of players privately and they’d tell y...

Congrats, Browns, you weren’t inept <em>and</em> unethical
Congratulations are in order for Jimmy Haslam and the Cleveland Browns. The NFL’s independent investigation into former head coach Hue Jackson’s claims that the team paid him to lose games found “no evidence” to substantiate those allegations, proving that the team did not intentionally lose games b...

Let's jump the gun on the 2023 QB draft class
The talent pendulum swings between NFL Drafts at a dizzying rate. The 2022 NFL Draft was a mirage in the desert for teams thirsty for a franchise quarterback. Aside from Kenny Pickett and his leprechaun hands, teams distanced themselves from the top signal-callers, who were mocked as first-rounders ...

2022 NFL Draft Day 2: Who are the best players available?
Round 1 is done, and it came with drama, surprise picks (you don’t see a Chattanooga guy in the first round to the Patriots every day), and some big names left on the board for Day 2. Before the second and third rounds kick off tonight at 7 p.m. EST, we’re looking at some of the best players left on...

2022 NFL Draft: A few thoughts on each pick in the first round
The first 10 picks of the NFL Draft are the Oscars in reverse. The biggest honorees are rewarded first. Fans show up and shout insults at the host and bone-rattling contact with Roger Goodell is encouraged....

Is there any real relationship between NFL Combine performance and long-term success?
Every year around this time, football fans get bombarded with numbers, scores, and facts about a player’s athleticism based on their combine drills. “This guy ran a sub 4.6 40!” “Did you see so and so’s vertical?” “Joey Donuts over there has enormous hands!” Blah, blah, blah, blah, blah. Too often t...

The NFL Draft becomes must-bet TV
Will it be Travon Walker? Aidan Hutchinson? Kayvon Thibodeaux? Whoever your gut is telling you is probably a safe bet — well, safer than most bets, anyway....

2022 NFL Draft: All eyes on New York
Will 2022 be the year that New York NFL football finally gives its metropolitan area something to watch on Sundays? Following double-digit victory seasons from the Jets in 2015 and the yacht club Giants in 2016, neither franchise has sniffed a .500 record since. At first glance, tri-state area resid...

The Mocking 2022 NFL Draft: Which realistic picks would anger their fans the most?
If you’ve followed this NFL Draft closely, you know that consensus isn’t exactly a thing. There’s no quarterback prospect worth lusting over, and even if that won’t stop teams from reaching on one, we won’t have a storyline until Chicago actually drafts Mitch Trubisky with the No. 2 overall pick....

Former GM goes against the grain on predicting which WR will go first in the draft
There are several NFL teams that could use a great receiver, and with the success of rookies Justin Jefferson in 2020 and Ja’Marr Chase in 2021, many of those receiver-needy teams could be inclined to reach for one of the many talented receivers in the 2022 draft class....

The Colts were a trendy Super Bowl pick last season, this season they want to be a favorite
The Indianapolis Colts were certainly not thrilled with the way that their 2021 season ended. It started in disappointing fashion by losing their first three games. They improved, but still lost twice to division rival Tennessee Titans, including a heartbreaker at home — 34-31 in overtime. Then the ...