smith Page 6 - Sports News, Headlines & Highlights

They thought Matt Patricia was an answer
When you’re turning to Matt Patricia, it’s obvious you’re out of answers. You may not even know the questions....

These are the WNBA's top 10 free agents
WNBA’s free agency started this week, and while players can’t sign until Feb. 1, teams are allowed to be in conversation with them. Here are the top 10 players who are eligible free agents and some scenarios around what would happen if they re-sign or go somewhere else....

NFL teams ripe for an upset; Aaron Rodgers is still a dolt; So is Jameis Winston; All the coaches & GMs who got axed
After 18 weeks of grueling NFL action, we’ve made it to Wild-Card Weekend and the first round of the postseason. We often hear the term “must-win” during the regular season, but once a team makes it this deep into January, every game is truly a must-win scenario. Like any other week, there’s always ...

A Chiefs-Eric Bieniemy reunion could be on the horizon if Kansas City falters
Sometimes certain pairings in life become so successful that they are forever tied at the hip in the minds of the masses. In sports, we see it all the time, no matter how the relationship ends. Tom Brady and Bill Belichick will always be tied to one another just like Jerry Jones and Jimmy Johnson, a...

These are the biggest flops of the 2023 NFL season
The NFL is a small-sample league. Before you can even blink, 18 games have flown by and we’re left trying to make sense of everything that happened. It means that luck can play a massive part in whether a team succeeds or fails, with a few bounces of the ball defining the entire story for an entire ...

ESPN earned 30+ Emmys using fake names for on-air talent
Updated Jan. 12: According to a report by the New York Post, ESPN’s former senior vice president of production Lee Fitting’s dismissal was directly tied to the fake-name Emmy scheme....

This week’s award for grossest act goes to the ATP Tour players
It’s one thing when a sport either ignores or is oblivious to whatever is surrounding a certain player or individual. It’s quite another when they know and just don’t care. Such is the case with this week’s announcement that the ATP Tour players had chosen Alexander Zverev to their players’ council....

Stephen A. Smith says he 'hates' Jason Whitlock, calls him 'a devil'
I did not get the memo that Festivus had been moved from Dec. 23 to the entire month of January. Grievances have been aired and an expansion for that holiday is the only explanation I have for why so many celebrities are beginning the year by verbally going upside the heads of those whom they dislik...

As the NBA season approaches the halfway point, let's look at the winners and losers so far
With 2024 in full swing, let’s award the winners and losers of the first half of the NBA season. It’s been a banner year, but not without controversy and major development. Many questions are left unanswered. Will the Lakers regain their contender status? Can the Thunder compete this year? Are the K...
![San Francisco 49ers fire DC Steve Wilks after Super Bowl LVIII loss [Updated]](https://images.deadspin.com/tr:w-900/1ef4ca96da9eb6ed7f574e0392ed764f.jpg)
San Francisco 49ers fire DC Steve Wilks after Super Bowl LVIII loss [Updated]
It’s one of the toughest times of the NFL calendar. The end of the regular season has been unofficially dubbed “Black Monday” for the head coaches, general managers, and coordinators who will ultimately lose their jobs. In some cases, a relationship has simply run its course, and a business-driven l...

Sick, Sad World of Sports: Jumbo holiday edition
The holidays are a stressful time for everyone, including criminals, athletes moonlighting as criminals, and criminals moonlighting as athletes. ...

It's NBA trading season and these are the players who should be dealt next
Nobody expected the NBA trade season’s first domino to fall on New Year’s Weekend. When OG Anunoby, Precious Achiuwa, and Malachi Flynn were traded from the Toronto Raptors to the New York Knicks for RJ Barrett, Immanuel Quickley, and a 2023 second-round pick (from Detroit), the trade season officia...

Leave it to Jameis Winston to ruin the most innocuous play in football
By now you’ve seen the video of recently fired Atlanta Falcons coach Arthur Smith telling off Saints head coach Dennis Allen with NSFW language after the Saints dispatched Atlanta, 48-17. Jameis Winston’s audible, which allowed Jamaal Williams to rumble into the end zone for his first touchdown of ...

DeMeco Ryans is the only choice for NFL Coach of the Year
Mike Tomlin still hasn’t had a losing season. Kevin Stefanski’s squad endured five different starting quarterbacks. Dan Campbell has the Detroit Lions hosting a playoff game and they’re the favorite. But, they all fail in comparison to what DeMeco Ryans has done in Houston. A rookie head coach has t...

The playoffs will not be easy for the Ravens and 49ers
The end of the NFL regular season is always a sad day. It signals that only four weeks of NFL games remain until the second week of September. That means I have to spend my next seven months of Sunday afternoons with commercials since there is no RedZone for the rest of the season. (Also, RedZone on...

Stephen A. Smith may take a late night television jalopy out for a spin next year
It’s opening night for the 2025 NBA season. After Inside the NBA guffaws its way through the opening game, a portion of the audience siphons off to Apple TV or Prime Video, where Stephen A. Smith is starting his opening monologue. Except he isn’t ranting and raving about Donovan Mitchell and Jalen B...

The Texans are proof that serendipity is the NFL’s most valuable asset
Think about the Houston Texans’ path to this moment. After gutting out a win over the Indianapolis Colts, 23-19, on Saturday, DeMeco Ryans and CJ Stroud locked up a playoff spot in their rookie campaigns. The team that opted out of hiring Josh McCown because it didn’t want to get sued also let the C...

Bedard's fractured jaw robs fans of upcoming battle of the Connors
Updated Jan. 10: Bedard will miss 6-8 weeks after undergoing surgery to repair his fractured jaw, according to Chicago Blackhawks physician Dr. Michael Terry....

Darvin Ham in crosshairs; Giannis thinks of Pacers during sex; James Harden, Clippers don't deserve your faith
News flash: The Miami Heat are a better coached team than the Los Angeles Lakers. It showed in the fourth quarter of their Wednesday night matchup. Erik Spoelstra has been with the Heat organization since 1995 — its head coach since 2008. Following nine seasons as an NBA player, Darvin Ham was an as...

Stephen A. Smith weighs in on Pat McAfee and, as usual, gets it wrong
Last time I checked, Stephen A. Smith, a man who epitomizes the “embrace really loud debate” and who, just this week, had a man sniffing a female colleague’s shoe on his show, has decided to speak for journalism....