zac Page 11 - Sports News, Headlines & Highlights

For Sale: Lightly-used NFL quarterback
The Las Vegas Raiders’ 2022 offseason had fans filled with optimism for the team’s future. After acquiring All-Pro receiver Davante Adams from the Green Bay Packers in March, the Raiders signed their franchise quarterback Derek Carr to a three-year extension. The two of them played together in colle...

One of these things is not like the others
The downfall of Zach Wilson in 2022 coincided with the rise of Justin Fields. For every errant throw from Wilson, there is an impressive Fields pass or explosive run, and that disparity has many people looking back to the 2021 draft and wondering “How in the world did Fields go from the consensus No...

Playoffs?! Yes, the Jets and Jags have a shot at them
The Jacksonville Jaguars vs. the New York Jets is one of those games you’d typically see on the Thursday night NFL schedule, and figure this could be skipped this late in the season. Coming into the season, having that game scheduled on Thursday Night Football in December seemed like a dud. Suddenly...

The remnants of Adam Gase’s disastrous Jets tenure are rearing their ugly heads again ahead of Thursday Night Football
If the NFL playoffs started today, the New York Jets would be on the outside looking in, currently in possession of the AFC’s ninth seed. They are just one game out of a playoff spot and that makes every game for the remainder of the season a must-win. The Jets have to put their best foot forward an...

We really need to be more measured in how we discuss testy exchanges between players and media
The result of ESPN’s Jenna Laine posting the video of Giovani Bernard’s locker room exchange with media, following the Tampa Bay Buccaneers’ 34-24 loss to the Cincinnati Bengals, was proper accountability being taken....

IDIOT OF THE YEAR: The countdown begins as we look back ruefully on 2022
Dearest reader! We meet again. It is that time of the year again… uh, namely, the end of the year, when we at Deadspin are proud to present our globally acclaimed celebration of stupidity, IDIOT OF THE YEAR! We’ll be with you over the next few weeks as we count down the haughtiest, most hypocritical...

Longtime college football coach Mike Leach dies at 61
College football’s most-beloved pirate, Mike Leach, died Monday night at age 61 following complications from a heart condition. Leach was a longtime high-level-conference head coach, starting with 10 seasons at Texas Tech, and eight at the helm of Washington State, before spending his last three at ...

Jared Goff is playing well— the Lions still need to pick a quarterback
The Detroit Lions are currently 5-7 — two games away from a wild card spot. They have won four of their last five, and their lone loss was by only three points to the Buffalo Bills — a team many people consider Super Bowl favorites. With five games left on their schedule, only two are against teams ...

Jets fans are right to think the world is against them, says new study
The New York Jets are a poverty franchise. They haven’t been to the playoffs since 2010. I don’t care what the outlook for the team is, until they win a playoff game, my stance on the matter isn’t changing. There’s reason to be optimistic given Robert Saleh’s solid start as head coach, Breece Hall’s...

The Phillies don’t know when to settle
Dave Dombrowski and the Philadelphia Phillies apparently don’t understand the new atmosphere of baseball. The expanded playoffs mean, or were supposed to mean, that teams don’t have to go all out for 95-to-100 wins anymore. The Phightins are proof! 87 wins and a trip to the World Series!! You just h...

Kirk Cousins is the ultimate measuring stick for Super Bowl viability
The term “measuring stick” game is seldom used in professional football. The term indicates a game that will determine whether or not a team is the real deal or not and is used more in a college football setting since those teams can change drastically from year to year. ...

IDIOT OF THE MONTH: 'Tis the season to be stupid
Welcome to IDIOT OF THE MONTH, the beloved series in which we take mean-spirited potshots at sports figures who have gone off the deep end. Many of November’s cadre of idiots are veterans, joined this month by some fresh meat — including, notably, budding moron Zach Wilson of the New York Jets. Mode...

Even Ryan Leaf has Jets jokes for ‘Mormon Ryan Leaf’
Jets fans have not had a good week. As Al Michaels once so elegantly put it, “They’ve had a worse week than Harvey Weinstein.” ...

This week in obnoxious athlete entitlement
Nearly 10 years after the ButtFumble, a next-generation Jets quarterback is fumbling his job away and coming across like a buttface in the process. There was no escape for the Jets quarterback on Sunday or afterward. Based on reports from Jets insiders such as Rich Cimini, the Jets’ fractured locker...

Hey, Bill Belichick, we told you so
Remember when photos of a shredded Mac Jones circulated before the season? Patriots fans were so hyped by the Mac-churian Candidate’s transformation that they gave him a standing ovation the first time he ran out on the field in training camp. ...

The truth about Zach Wilson is becoming clear
The subterranean arc of Zach Wilson’s career hit a new low in New York’s 10-3 loss to the New England Patriots. For 59 minutes and 30 seconds, the Jets’ defense surrendered only one field goal against the New England Patriots. However, punt returner Marcus Jones’ game-winning punt return in the wani...

Zach LaVine is grumbling — and so are Bulls fans
The contemporary NBA has conditioned basketball fans to seek out unhappy All-Stars like lions stalk the most vulnerable wildebeest. The Chicago Bulls dropped to 6-10 on the season after a one-point home loss to a Paolo Banchero-less Orlando Magic on Friday, and Zach LaVine set off some alerts....

The warm glow of MLB Hot Stove’s warming glow — the NL East
We’ve come to the last of our offseason previews, where all eyes are basically on one team and everyone might react off of that. It’s time for the NL East, or as it may be known from now on, Days of Our Steven Cohen....

The warm glow of MLB Hot Stove’s warming glow — AL East
The GM Meetings are in the books, the Winter Meetings aren’t in the distant future, and the rumors are beginning to fly. You can be sure your favorite team is talking to agents for players! Does that mean anything? Nope, sure doesn’t! But you’ll take anything at this point, and they know that. So we...

Gregg Berhalter is getting loose
Any coach hired by U.S. Soccer, at least for the men’s side (though Vlatko Andonovski isn’t winning many fans these days either), is never going to have 100 percent buy-in. They just haven’t gotten it totally right in… well, ever? Berhalter being related to an exec at the time of his hiring didn’t h...