Graham Potter called on Chelsea to show a united front after defeat away to local rivals Fulham heaped pressure on his position and left the Blues on their worst run of league form since 1996.
Chelsea’s 2-1 defeat at Craven Cottage, which included a red card on debut for Joao Felix and an injury to Denis Zakaria, means Potter’s side have taken just six points from their past nine Premier League games. They sit 10th in the table, 10 points off fourth-placed Manchester United who have a game in hand.
“We are suffering at the moment. We’re suffering, the fans are suffering. We feel for them,” said Potter. “It’s important to stick together and try to get through this tough period.”
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Highlights from the Premier League match between Fulham and Chelsea
Chelsea crashed out of the third round of the FA Cup on Sunday with a 4-0 thrashing at Manchester City, who also ended their Carabao Cup hopes before Christmas. With such a big gap to the top four, it seems the Champions League is their only hope of success this season.
For Potter, Thursday was another frustrating evening, with Felix’s encouraging debut cut short by his sending off, an injury list extended to 10 players, and defensive mistakes costing his side vital points.
Chelsea’s XI of absentees
Edouard Mendy (shoulder)
Reece James (knee)
Wesley Fofana (knee)
Ben Chilwell (hamstring)
N’Golo Kante (thigh)
Ruben Loftus-Cheek (ankle)
Denis Zakaria (unknown)
Raheem Sterling (hamstring)
Christian Pulisic (ankle)
Armando Broja (knee)
Joao Felix (suspension)
“It’s really frustrating, incredibly challenging,” said Potter of the situation. “I feel for the supporters.
“We’re disappointed to lose tonight. I felt it was a relatively even game in the first half, we had a couple of chances. But I think the basics we can do a little bit better, in terms of our defending and football actions.
“We get back in the game and the red card is where we’re at at the moment, in terms of things that can happen to us [do happen to us].
“To lose Joao for three matches is really disappointing. Joao is a young player, a top player, you can see his quality and there wasn’t any malice [in the tackle] but the ref has a decision to make. He’ll learn from it.
“More than anything fantastic from the opponent, it was more our basic actions where we have to do better.”
Which Premier League games could Felix now miss?
January 15 – Chelsea vs Crystal Palace, kick-off 2pm
January 21 – Liverpool vs Chelsea, kick-off 12.30pm
February 3 – Chelsea vs Fulham, kick-off 8pm – live on Sky Sports
Felix could return for West Ham vs Chelsea on February 11, kick-off 12.30pm
Speaking to BT Sport, Potter said about Felix’s red card: “It was a forward’s tackle, there was no malice in it but I understand why it was a red. It is another blow, the hits keep coming at the moment.
“He was really good, you could see his quality in the game, so it is doubly disappointing for us.”
With Felix suspended, where do Chelsea’s goals come from now?
Sky Sports’ Peter Smith at Craven Cottage:
After just 15 minutes, Chelsea’s travelling supporters were singing Joao Felix’s name. He had tempted two Fulham players into yellow-card fouls, nutmegged Tim Ream to tee up Kai Havertz for a good chance and seen several good openings come his way.
It was the kind of spark Chelsea and Graham Potter had desperately been searching for in attack. Before Thursday they’d managed to score just three times in their last seven matches. Felix appeared to be the answer to their problems. The player to provide creativity, craft and real quality in the final third.
Image: Felix had an encouraging Premier League debut before his red card
But before the hour mark – like so many things for Potter and Chelsea right now – it had gone badly wrong. Felix’s lunge at Kenny Tete was hardly the most vicious challenge but with his studs up and by connecting with his opponent’s shin, there was only going to be one outcome.
Felix had seemed set to grab the headlines with his first-half display – but it was his rash moment in the second which will be the lasting memory of his debut. He now misses three of his final 20 Premier League games of his loan spell. An expensive foul, indeed.
But it also throws up the question of how Potter gets his attack firing again for the matches with Crystal Palace, Liverpool and Fulham, which Felix will miss.
Image: Kai Havertz struggled at Craven Cottage along with most of the Chelsea forward line
His options are limited. Havertz was once again wasteful at Craven Cottage, losing his battle with Bernd Leno emphatically. Raheem Sterling is still recovering from injury. David Datro Fofana has only just arrived from Molde. And as for Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang, he wasn’t even used off the bench with Chelsea in desperate need of a goal. That felt like a telling decision from Potter, who sub-subbed the striker in the previous Premier League game.
Chelsea are the lowest scorers in the top half by some way, so how do they fire their way out of this dreadful run of form? It’s a major question which needs answering before Sunday.
At the back: Chelsea crumble under the slightest of pressure
Sky Sports’ Sam Blitz:
The frustration for under-fire manager Potter is that Thursday night’s defeat at Fulham was entirely Chelsea’s doing.
The Blues started brilliantly at Craven Cottage with Felix looking to be the answer to Chelsea’s creativity issues by popping up smartly in the midfield holes and carrying the ball forward with flair.
Image: Chelsea’s defence crumbled even under the slightest of pressures
In the first 20 minutes, Chelsea had created eight decent chances and limited Fulham to scraps. While the Blues weren’t in front, it looked like there was progress in a week where Potter had “honest conversations” with his squad.
Then it all fell apart at the back. Trevoh Chalobah’s poor touch out of the back started a catalogue of errors. That mistake led to Bobby Decordova-Reid hitting the bar but then came the pressure. Minutes later, Lewis Hall was guilty for a similar mistake and Willian put Fulham in front. All that arduous early running went down the drain and after looking so comfortable, Chelsea were clinging on for half-time.
The same could be said for Felix’s red card. Chelsea had hauled themselves back into the game after the break and were on top, looking to complete the comeback. Suddenly, the one moment of madness led to the game running away from Chelsea again.
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Following his side’s 2-1 defeat to Fulham, Chelsea head coach Graham Potter says the loss of Joao Felix for three games following a red card is ‘really disappointing’
Potter must be encouraged by his individual ability to set up a team capable of performing, only to see frustration in his young, injury-ridden side fall apart as soon as the pressure is cranked up.
With another London derby with Crystal Palace awaiting the Blues on Sunday, the Chelsea manager knows that a good start to calm the nerves is needed, not just for his players but the fans too.
James is on pace to be an All-Star for the 19th time, after the NBA said Thursday that he remains the overall leading vote-getter for the Feb. 19 game in Salt Lake City.
Abdul-Jabbar is the only 19-time All-Star in NBA history. James and Kobe Bryant are 18-time selections, and James entered Thursday 423 points from passing Abdul-Jabbar as the NBA’s career scoring leader.
James had 4,825,229 votes entering Thursday. That puts him in position to be a captain for the sixth consecutive year — and possibly opposing Kevin Durant for the third straight time.
Durant, the Brooklyn Nets star who is expected to miss about a month after spraining a knee ligament earlier this week, is the top vote-getter in the Eastern Conference, with 4,509,238 entering Thursday.
The top three frontcourt players and top two guards in each conference will be chosen as starters, with the leading overall vote-getters from each conference serving as captains and choosing their teams.
James tops the list of Western Conference frontcourt players. Denver’s Nikola Jokic remained in second (3,441,893), and the Lakers’ Anthony Davis remained third (2,950,563).
Durant leads East frontcourt players, just ahead of Milwaukee’s Giannis Antetokounmpo (4,467,306). But Boston’s Jayson Tatum moved ahead of Philadelphia’s Joel Embiid this week for the third spot; Tatum had 3,281,124 votes, and Embiid had 3,248,733.
Golden State’s Stephen Curry leads all guards in the balloting with 3,901,808 votes. Dallas’ Luka Doncic remained No. 2 behind Curry among West guards with 3,649,647 votes.
The top pair of vote-getters among East guards was also unchanged: Brooklyn’s Kyrie Irving leads with 3,024,833 votes, and Cleveland’s Donovan Mitchell is second with 2,725,558.
Fan voting counts for 50% of the starters balloting; a media ballot counts for 25%; and the ballots turned in by NBA players count for the other 25%.
James has been a captain in all five previous uses of that process, going 5-0 in All-Star Games. His team beat a Durant-picked team in 2021 and 2022, beat teams picked by Antetokounmpo in 2019 and 2020, and beat a team picked by Curry in 2018.
Durant did not play in the 2021 or 2022 games because he was injured.
Voting continues through Jan. 21. The captains and the starters will be announced Jan. 26. Reserves — chosen by NBA coaches — will be revealed Feb. 2. The All-Star captains will then draft their teams, probably in the second week of February.
Carr had been the Raiders’ starting quarterback since being selected in the second round of the 2014 NFL draft.
“It breaks my heart I didn’t get an opportunity to say goodbye in person,” Carr wrote, despite staying away from the team for its final two games in a mutual decision to not become a distraction. “We certainly have been on a roller coaster in our 9 years together. From the bottom of my heart, I am so grateful and appreciative of the years of support you gave to my family and me. We had our share of both heart breaking moments and thrilling game winning drives, and it always felt like you were there next to me.
“It’s especially hard to say goodbye because I can honestly say that I gave you everything I had, every single day, in season, and in the off season. It certainly wasn’t perfect, but I hope that I was able to leave you with more than a few great memories as Raider fans.”
Carr, who signed a five-year, $125 million contract extension with the Raiders in 2017 and then a three-year, $121.5 million extension last spring, said in 2021 he would “probably quit football if I had to play for somebody else. I am a Raider for my entire life. I’m going to root for one team for the rest of my life — it’s the Raiders. So I just feel that so strong in my heart I don’t need a perfect situation … to make things right.
“I’d rather go down with the ship, you know what I’m saying, if I have to.”
In his latest statement, Carr acknowledged those feelings but said he looked forward to playing for another NFL team.
“I meant that,” he wrote, “but I never envisioned it ending this way. That fire burning inside of me to win a championship still rages.”
Carr’s most recent extension included the right for the Raiders to cut him within three days of the Super Bowl for a relatively minor $5.625 salary-cap hit and gave the quarterback a no-trade clause.
Thursday’s statement could be seen as taking away the Raiders’ leverage in a trade. Carr, whose contract guarantees him $40 million if he is still with Las Vegas or agrees to a trade before Feb. 15, could simply wait for the Raiders to release him and hit the open market, with Las Vegas getting nothing in return.
Trades cannot become official until March 15. So if the Raiders do find a trade partner for Carr, not only would the quarterback have to agree to the destination, the Raiders would also have to trust that the other team would not back out. So while Carr might find a robust market for his services, his trade value to the Raiders might not be as high as it once was.
Earlier this week, first-year coach Josh McDaniels said a conversation with Carr was in the offing.
“Again, we’ve had a great relationship,” McDaniels said. “He’s done a lot of great things, and anything that’s said otherwise is incorrect. So we’ll look forward to that, and like I said, there will be some time between now and then.”
Carr, who turns 32 on March 28, stayed away from the team as Jarrett Stidham started the Raiders’ final two games: an overtime loss to the San Francisco 49ers, the NFC’s No. 2 seed, and a defeat by the Kansas City Chiefs, the AFC’s No. 1 seed.
The Raiders finished 6-11, and Carr finished with 3,522 passing yards, 24 touchdowns and 14 interceptions in 15 games. He also had the lowest passer rating (86.3) and lowest completion percentage (60.8%) since his rookie season. His 2.8% interception percentage was also a career high.
Carr owns Raiders franchise career records for passing yards (35,222), touchdown passes (217), sacks (264), fourth-quarter comebacks (28), game-winning drives (33) and starts by a quarterback (142), while throwing 99 interceptions, the third-most in franchise history. His career record, though, is 63-79, and he appeared in one playoff game, losing in the wild-card round to the Cincinnati Bengals 26-19 last season after throwing a last-minute interception shy of the goal line.
When Luka Doncic, Dallas’s 6-foot-7 do-everything Slovenian import, strafed the Knicks for 60 points, 21 rebounds and 10 assists in a comeback overtime victory late last month, commentators breathlessly noted that no one, not even Wilt, had ever posted such a line.
Walt Frazier, the Hall of Fame guard who broadcasts Knicks games and once shared a backcourt with Garrett at Southern Illinois, has an idea why.
“What you mostly see now are guys running up and down, dunking on people,” he said in a telephone interview. “Only a few teams buckle down on defense. They don’t double-team when someone goes off. When someone came in and dropped 40 on me, it was always, ‘Clyde got destroyed.’ Now Doncic scores 60 and no one even says who was guarding him.”
Frazier, 77, was echoing recent laments on the state of the sport from the old-school coaches Gregg Popovich and Steve Kerr. It’s no surprise that appreciation, or lack thereof, for the contemporary N.B.A. would break down along generational lines. For those who played with or against Chamberlain, he is basketball’s Babe Ruth, the game’s all-time goliath. Everyone has a tale, perhaps on the tall side, to tell.
Billy Cunningham, 79, a Hall of Famer and Chamberlain’s teammate with the Philadelphia 76ers, cited the night Gus Johnson, a very strong forward for the Baltimore Bullets, went at Wilt with every intention of dunking over him as he’d done earlier in the game.
Chamberlain didn’t just block the shot, Cunningham said: “He actually caught the ball, and while Gus went to the floor, he just stood there holding it over his head.”
However grainy the video, however dorky the short shorts, do not try to convince Cunningham and company that what Chamberlain achieved was the result of an ancient, inferior era. They will remind you that he averaged 45.8 minutes per game for his career and seldom sat one out, in stark contrast to the more coddled modern star — who, in fairness, represents a far greater financial investment to protect.
{{ timeAgo(‘2023-01-12 14:25:41 -0600’) }} football Edit
Adam Gorney
• Rivals.com
National Recruiting Director
SAN ANTONIO – Travaris Banks lives in Tuscaloosa and he has a teammate in Alabama’s 2023 class so the Crimson Tide will always play a role in his recruitment but there are others that have caught h…
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The N.F.L. announced Thursday that Mercedes-Benz Stadium in Atlanta would serve as the neutral site for a potential A.F.C. championship game between the Buffalo Bills and Kansas City, should those teams advance.
That game would be played Jan. 29, a Sunday, at 6:30 p.m., Eastern time.
The N.F.L. last week approved a resolution to “mitigate the competitive inequities” caused by the cancellation of the Jan. 2 Bills-Bengals game because of Damar Hamlin’s cardiac arrest.
That game, in Week 17, had significant playoff implications. Both the Bills and the Cincinnati Bengals were in contention for the A.F.C.’s No. 1 seed, which comes with a coveted bye for the playoffs’ first round and home-field advantage throughout the conference playoffs.
The N.F.L. postponed the game after Hamlin’s collapse, then announced later that it would not be resumed or replayed. Kansas City was in first place when the game was stopped and then won its final regular-season game to finish with a 14-3 record and hold on to the conference’s top seed.
Kansas City lost to the Bills (13-3) and the Bengals (12-4) during the regular season. Because Buffalo and Kansas City wound up playing an uneven amount of games, the N.F.L. decided that if the teams met in the conference championship, the game should be played at a neutral site. A matchup between other teams for the A.F.C. championship would be played at the home stadium of the team with the higher seed, the league said.
In a statement, the N.F.L. said playing the game at Mercedes-Benz Stadium, which opened in 2017 and hosted the Super Bowl in the 2018 season, would make sense because it is nearly equidistant from both Buffalo and Kansas City, Mo. (Buffalo is nearly 900 miles from Atlanta; Kansas City is nearly 800.)
Hamlin was discharged from a Buffalo hospital on Wednesday, and his continued improvement was cited by the league in its announcement.
“We are heartened by the continued improvement and progress of Damar Hamlin in his recovery, and Damar and his family remain top of mind for the entire N.F.L. community,” Commissioner Roger Goodell said, adding that he was “grateful to Arthur Blank and the Atlanta Falcons for agreeing to host the A.F.C. championship game.”
On Sunday, in the wild-card round, the Bills, who have the A.F.C.’s No. 2 seed, will host the Miami Dolphins, and the Bengals, with the No. 3 seed, will host the Baltimore Ravens.
MELBOURNE, Australia — The first collective gasp of this year’s Australian Open came Thursday afternoon, four days before the tournament officially begins.
The hubbub came at the start of the men’s singles draw when Jack Draper’s name appeared in the second slot in the 128-man field. That meant Draper’s first-round opponent was guaranteed to be Rafael Nadal, the reigning Australian Open champion and the No. 1 seed in the absence of the injured Carlos Alcaraz.
The buzz in the room was a sign of the left-handed Draper’s gathering strength — a 21-year-old Briton, he is in form and up to No. 40 in the world — but also a reflection of Nadal’s disarray.
One of the greatest champions in any sport, Nadal has lost six of his last seven tour singles matches, struggling with his timing, confidence and even his composure as he has been defeated by, in order, Frances Tiafoe, in the fourth round of the U.S. Open; Tommy Paul, in the first round of the Paris Masters; Taylor Fritz and Felix Auger-Aliassime, in round-robin matches at the ATP Finals; and Cameron Norrie and Alex de Minaur, in the recently completed United Cup team event.
None of those six men has reached a Grand Slam singles final and neither has Hubert Hurkacz, who dealt Nadal his latest defeat — even if it was only in a practice match — in Rod Laver Arena on Thursday evening in front of a few thousand spectators (and a chair umpire).
Hurkacz, a flashy shotmaker with an unflashy personality, is no pushover. He is seeded No. 10 in Melbourne and will forever be the last man to face — and defeat — Nadal’s friendly rival Roger Federer in singles.
Hurkacz defeated Federer in straight sets in the quarterfinals of Wimbledon in 2021, and he looked considerably looser and more relaxed on Thursday evening than Nadal, who kept casting concerned glances at his main coach, Carlos Moyá, after missing groundstrokes and first serves.
“Rafa is certainly vulnerable,” said Todd Woodbridge, the Australian former star who is now an analyst for Australian television. “He had that faraway look on a changeover against Tiafoe at the U.S. Open and it looked like he had it again in the match against de Minaur last week.”
But as Woodbridge and everyone else in tennis have learned repeatedly over the past 19 years, you cannot count out a player of Nadal’s talent and inner drive. He has repeatedly risen from the depths, most recently at the 2022 French Open, which he entered injured and slumping but then managed to win his 14th men’s singles title at Roland Garros.
Another title run here in Melbourne looks far less likely, however. The opening hurdle is high with the 6-foot-4 Draper, who advanced to a semifinals match on Friday in the lead-in event in Adelaide.
The son of Roger Draper, a former chief executive of Britain’s Lawn Tennis Association, Jack Draper was once considered uncertain to break through to the highest level because of his movement. But he has improved his quickness and court coverage significantly in recent seasons.
“It will be amazing to play on a big court against him; he is a great champion,” Draper said in Adelaide about his first chance to play Nadal. “Whatever happens it will be a special occasion for me. I’m still very young in my career, so it’s great to have these sort of experiences and exposure to playing Rafa on a big arena.”
Get past Draper, and Nadal could face the rising American Brandon Nakashima in the second round, Tiafoe in the fourth round and the former No. 1 Daniil Medvedev in the quarterfinals in what would be a rematch of their topsy-turvy, five-set Australian Open final last year.
Nadal’s experience, grit and ability to problem solve in best-of-five-set matches should not be dismissed, and he has been focused on shortening points and coming to the net in his pretournament sessions this week. He pushed forward often against Hurkacz on Thursday.
“I need to win matches, for sure, but the preparation is going quite well, practicing a lot and I’m in good shape,” Nadal said. “Then you need to demonstrate that in the matches in the official tournaments, but I am confident that if I’m able to have the last week of positive practices, why not?”
Draper is not the only British player with a high-profile match in Melbourne. Andy Murray, Nadal’s contemporary and a former No. 1, will face the former Wimbledon finalist Matteo Berrettini in the opening round. Emma Raducanu, the big-surprise U.S. Open women’s champion in 2021, could face seventh-seeded Coco Gauff in the second round if both win their openers (and if Raducanu’s injured ankle continues to improve and allows her to take part in the tournament).
Gauff, 18, struggled with her forehand and confidence at the end of the 2022 season, but had a productive off-season and on Sunday won the singles title in Auckland, New Zealand. The event was played indoors and outdoors because of frequent rain and lacked many of the other leading Australian Open contenders.
The favorite in the women’s draw remains No. 1 Iga Swiatek despite her lopsided and emotional defeat to Jessica Pegula of the United States in the United Cup. But Swiatek, who faces the German all-court player Jule Niemeier in the opening round, is in a thorny section of the draw. Her eighth includes the Grand Slam singles champions Bianca Andreescu and Elena Rybakina as well as Danielle Collins, who lost in the final last year in Melbourne to Ashleigh Barty, who retired last March.
There will be newcomers as well, including the 15-year-old qualifier Brenda Fruhvirtova, the youngest woman in the tournament and part of the Czech Republic’s big wave of young talent that includes her sister Linda Fruhvirtova, 17, who is also making her Australian Open singles debut.
Thursday’s draw delivered another rarity: a first-round match between two former Australian Open singles champions: Victoria Azarenka, the Belarusian veteran who won in 2012 and 2013, and Sofia Kenin, the American who won in 2020 but has since dropped outside the top 100. That matchup was all the more extraordinary considering that Azarenka and Kenin are the only Australian Open women’s singles champions in the draw. The seven-time Australian Open champion Serena Williams is now retired (or at least evolved). The two-time champion Naomi Osaka and the 2016 champion Angelique Kerber are pregnant, and so is Barty, although that happened after her surprise retirement at age 25.
Now, after a change in government policy and after winning the warm-up event in Adelaide, Djokovic, still unvaccinated, can chase his 10th Australian Open singles title. He will face the unseeded Spaniard Roberto Carballés Baena in the opening round on the opposite side of the draw from his longtime rival Nadal.
Based on current form, Djokovic winning his 22nd major singles title sounds a lot more plausible than Nadal winning his 23rd.
Otto Wallin is still in contention to secure a fight with Anthony Joshua next.
Australian heavyweight Demsey McKean revealed to Sky Sports that he is in talks to fight the former heavyweight champion.
However, Wallin, the Swedish heavyweight who has only lost to Tyson Fury, insists that Joshua should box him next instead.
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Demsey McKean speaks to Sky Sports’ Craig Slater as he looks to take on Anthony Joshua in what will be the former world champion’s first bout since back-to-back defeats against Oleksandr Usyk.
Joshua has suffered two consecutive defeats to Oleksandr Usyk, who now has the unified WBO, WBA and IBF world titles that AJ used to hold.
Wallin’s promoter Dmitry Salita maintains that Joshua must come back against a credible opponent.
“We will see how serious Joshua is about returning to an elite heavyweight level by the level of the opponent he selects. He can beat the likes of McKean in an impressive fashion training by himself,” Salita told Sky Sports.
“So a fight with such an opponent will not prove anything as an elite boxer and will not be able to see actual improvements from a new trainer.
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A heavyweight fight between Anthony Joshua and Tyson Fury ‘has to happen’, according to head of Matchroom Barry Hearn.
“Joshua has been associated with lots of big names. Is it real? I don’t know. Not if he fights a no-name with a glossy record.”
Salita points to how Deontay Wilder came back from his third defeat to Tyson Fury. Wilder had a gruelling bout with Fury in 2021, then boxed Robert Helenius in his next fight and won with an impressive knockout last October.
“After Wilder lost to Fury he fought a bone fide, world-rated, legitimate top 10 heavyweight. And is now in play to fight the best, based on his improvement with his new trainer Malik Scott. I have a lot of respect for the work that Malik did with Wilder and he was confident to take on a serious fighter after that brutal loss,” Salita said.
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Tyson Fury revealed he bet Frank Warren £10,000 that Anthony Joshua would not sign the contract to face him.
Wallin is available to box Joshua in his comeback bout.
“Otto is willing and ready to come to the UK on April 1 to fight Anthony Joshua. That would be a massive fight!” his promoter declared.
“Otto is interested in fighting Joshua and that is the fight that seems to make sense especially if Fury fights Usyk in March. Otto believes he will beat Joshua and with that deserve the Fury rematch.
“Even if it’s not Otto, the level of opponent will tell us where Joshua is at now,” Salita concluded.
“Joshua is a very accomplished fighter and was one of the best heavyweights of this generation. As a fan if he’s still got it, I would love to see him fight the big fights.”
Chris Eubank Jr vs Liam Smith is on Saturday January 21, live on Sky Sports Box Office. Book it now if you are a Sky TV subscriber or a Non-Sky TV subscriber. Buy tickets here.
HOUSTON — Texans rookie wide receiver John Metchie III, who was diagnosed with a form of leukemia in July, has a “chance” to be ready for the start of offseason programs in April, according to general manager Nick Caserio.
Metchie is still receiving treatment, but during a Wednesday morning appearance with Seth Payne and Sean Pendergast on SportsRadio 610, Caserio revealed that Metchie had made “amazing” progress since his cancer diagnosis.
“I think there are still some things that he has to complete or go through,” Caserio said. “Quite frankly, it’s amazing what he’s done to this point.”
The Texans can begin the offseason conditioning program on April 3 because they will have a new head coach after firing Lovie Smith after one season. Teams with returning head coaches can begin April 17.
Metchie, a second-round draft pick, missed the 2022 season after being placed on the non-football illness list. But he still worked out at the Texans’ facility after his diagnosis and sometimes was present at Texans practices.
Caserio said Metchie has even physically improved since he became a Texan.
“He actually looks better now than he did when we drafted him in the spring,” Caserio said. “He’s improved his strength, he’s improved his lower body strength. His attitude has been great, even though he’s been dealing with a lot of things medically.”
{{ timeAgo(‘2023-01-12 10:45:15 -0600’) }} football Edit
Adam Gorney
• Rivals.com
National Recruiting Director
SAN ANTONIO – Gavin Nix remains open to all programs and he already has a dozen offers but two programs have made the biggest impression – and both are relatively close.The 2025 four-star linebacke…
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ESPN MLB insider Author of “The Arm: Inside the Billion-Dollar Mystery of the Most Valuable Commodity in Sports”
Slugger Nelson Cruz and the San Diego Padres agreed to a one-year, $1 million contract Wednesday, sources told ESPN, landing the veteran with an ascendant team as he tries to win his first World Series in his 19th season.
The 42-year-old Cruz, who will be the second-oldest player in the big leagues this year behind Pirates left-hander Rich Hill, hopes to get designated hitter at-bats for the Padres, who this offseason signed shortstop Xander Bogaerts to an 11-year deal, re-signed pitchers Robert Suarez and Nick Martinez, and added first baseman Matt Carpenter, center fielder Adam Engel and right-handers Seth Lugo and Brent Honeywell Jr. on one-year deals.
After he serves as general manager for the Dominican Republic team in the World Baseball Classic in March, Cruz will look to rebound after his toughest season in nearly a decade and a half.
Cruz hit .234/.313/.337 with 10 home runs in 507 plate appearances with the Washington Nationals last season after signing a one-year, $15 million deal.
Following the season, Cruz underwent surgery on his left eye to correct vision problems that had plagued him for more than a year.
Before that, Cruz looked positively ageless, making six of his seven All-Star Games and winning four Silver Slugger awards after his 32nd birthday.
Despite not receiving full-time at-bats until his age-28 season, Cruz has hit 459 home runs, driven in 1,302 runs and slashed .274/.344/.515 over his 18-year career with the Brewers, Rangers, Orioles, Mariners, Twins, Rays and Nationals.
The amount of football being played in the Premier League has hit an all-time low.
The league considered the world’s best top-flight competition is seeing more time lost to slow restarts, delaying tactics and time-consuming injuries than ever, and officials are struggling to keep up with time-wasting.
New Premier League referees chief Howard Webb believes it is the most discussed issue in the game outside of VAR – but is reluctant to follow the lead of last month’s World Cup to address what has become a long-term issue.
At an average Premier League game this season, the ball has been in play for less than 56 per cent of the match. That figure has been falling consistently over the past 10 years and with 2022/23 the lowest on record.
Frustrations had set in even before that slide, to the point then-Manchester United manager Sir Alex Ferguson suggested taking timekeeping out of the hands of referees as far back as 2012.
Although he was protecting his own side’s interests, the sentiment was and remains widely shared. A number of managers and executives have already complained to the media this season, as well as to the Premier League referees’ body (PGMOL).
Sky Sports analysis has found that in 23 games this season, Premier League fans have sat through matches where the ball was out of play for more than half of the playing time.
Crystal Palace vs Leeds in October had the least football played, with the ball in play for less than 44 minutes of the almost 101-minute match.
In the first half of that game, a Palace goal triggered a VAR review lasting almost two minutes, and later a clash of heads led to a stoppage of five minutes and 45 seconds. Only five minutes were added on by the referee before half-time.
Leeds managing director Angus Kinnear called the match “an unacceptable spread for both players and spectators” and said he would raise the issue with the PGMOL.
Three months later, nothing has changed. In Wolves vs Manchester United on New Year’s Eve, three second-half injury stoppages amounted to more than seven minutes, with another minute’s delay for a VAR check on a disallowed goal. Once again, five minutes were added.
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In Wolves vs Man Utd on New Year’s Eve, three second-half injury stoppages totalled more than seven minutes at Molineux, while another minute was lost to a VAR review. Five additional minutes were signalled
The World Cup has shown how things can be improved. FIFA’s referees chief Pierluigi Collina’s initiative to detail injury-time more accurately led to the average match during last month’s tournament exceeding 101 minutes.
“People want to watch football, more football,” was his rationale. And it worked. Injury-time fell by more than a quarter as teams gave up on time-wasting, with the ball in play almost five per cent more by the end of the tournament.
The average game, excluding extra-time, featured more than 58 minutes of football. That is more than any of Europe’s top-five leagues this season.
Jamie Carragher was among the admirers of Collina’s thinking. “[I’m] enjoying the amount of time that is being added on at the World Cup,” he tweeted. “There is too much time-wasting in football!”
PGMOL head Webb has poured cold water on the Premier League drawing on what he has called the “unusual” methods used in Qatar and has insisted referees already add on a “credible” amount of time.
“I’m a big advocate of ensuring that we empower referees to take action against players who delay restarts, and those who immediately stand in front of free-kicks to stop them from being taken,” he told Sky Sports before the Premier League’s restart on Boxing Day.
But as recently as last week’s draw between Arsenal and Newcastle there was more than 10 minutes of stoppages due to injuries, substitutions and cautions for time-wasting alone after half-time. This was another occasion when five minutes of injury time were added.
Gunners boss Mikel Arteta was visibly angry with the decision, while colleagues Jesse Marsch and Jurgen Klopp have also hit out at what they have described as disruptive tactics going unpunished by referees.
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Howard Webb told Sky Sports he would want to see trials of new stoppage time interpretation before it is implemented in the Premier League
“This is an entertainment business and I wish the referee had handled it better,” Marsch told Sky Sports after their match against Everton only five games into the season. “The referee had the chance to affect the game and did not take advantage of that.”
Officials have tried some new approaches. Forty yellow cards have been handed out for time-wasting this season, a figure which is on course to reach a Premier League high by some margin, but it has made little difference.
The return of the multi-ball system at the start of 2022/23 was also meant to help restart play quicker, and has been unable to arrest the decline either.
Real change may come from above Webb and the PGMOL. IFAB, the international body which acts as football’s law maker, has discussed the problems around playing time already this season and is due to address it again when it meets next week.
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Jesse Marsch felt Everton came to slow things down and complained about the referee’s approach to their tactics when the two sides met in August
Time-wasting is not an issue which is confined to England. In fact, three of Europe’s top-five leagues see less of the ball in play than the Premier League and in the Scottish Premiership less than 51 minutes of football is played during an average game – four minutes less than the Premier League.
IFAB will review the success of the more stringent approach to stoppages from the World Cup, and address how existing laws of the game – such as a maximum of six seconds for goalkeepers to hold on to the ball – can be more consistently applied.
It will also discuss whether Ferguson’s long-held wish, to add an external timekeeper to the game, is a realistic possibility.
Sky Sports has observed repeated abuse of the six-second rule by goalkeepers across the most stoppage-affected Premier League matches this season, disrupting the flow of the game even though the ball remains in play.
In one game, the match referee made no intervention despite the same goalkeeper holding onto the ball for more than 15 seconds on six separate occasions.
The push to take the responsibility of added time out of referees’ hands has been a long-term campaign of former Arsenal chairman David Dein, who has spoken to both the PGMOL and FIFA about his proposals and holds significant sway in his role as an FA and Premier League ambassador.
“I’ve been championing it because the referee is the busiest man on the pitch,” he told TalkSPORT earlier this month. “If you ask any referee, they would tell you they don’t need and don’t want to keep the time anymore. They are managing a game of football. They have got too much to do.
“When we are talking about pure time, I’m not suggesting for one minute that it should be when time is wasted at a throw-in or a corner kick. But there are normally four or five areas of the game where time is wasted.
If you ask any referee, they would tell you they don’t need and don’t want to keep the time anymore. They are managing a game of football. They have got too much to do.
“Goal celebrations, injuries, substitutions, VAR checks and penalties. Now, if you add all those up, one-and-a-half minutes here, a minute there and another minute there, it adds up to eight, nine or 10 minutes during the course of a game.
“I was at the World Cup and spoke to FIFA officials. I made presentations to them and slowly but surely, I think we’ll get it on the agenda.”
The World Cup has helped to progress that case faster than expected to bring the subject of time-wasting to the table, and shown how effectively it can be handled with a consistent approach.
But when Premier League fans will start to see more of the football they have paid to watch, without external intervention from IFAB, remains to be seen.
Sky Sports contacted the Premier League and PGMOL for comment.
THE FOOTBALL LEAVESJustin Herbert‘s hand and appears to travel downhill, nose down, a plane forever on approach. It rotates through the air roughly 12½ times per second, the laces spinning vertiginously into a white fuzz. A football released by Herbert’s right hand and powered by his right arm has always been more than a mere object. Its path, a straight line for longer than seems possible, sends a message of hope and expectation — for him, for his teammates, for those who run the Los Angeles Chargers. His receivers call it a heavy ball, but they’re describing it solely in the literal sense. Its figurative weight can be measured only by the man who throws it.
On its own, stripped of its greater significance, the arm is a marvel. During a Friday practice more than a month ago, two days before the Chargers played the Miami Dolphins on a Sunday night, Herbert rolled about 15 yards to his right, planted his back foot, turned his hips and sent a spiral more than 60 yards to the opposite corner of the field.
After the ball landed in receiver Mike Williams‘ hands, muffled and polite applause sifted its way through the team. And after practice, standing at his locker next to Herbert’s, third-string quarterback Easton Stick describes the throw just so he can get to the part about the applause.
“Everyone goes ‘Yeah, yeah, yeah,’” Stick says, rolling his eyes and tapping the fingertips of his right hand into the palm of his left, an exaggerated, patronizing version of a golf clap. “But: No, no, no.” Stick’s got his right hand in the air now, like a traffic cop. “I wanted to stop practice and scream, ‘Guys, that’s not normal. Like, really not normal.”
Roughly 54 hours after the throw on the practice field and roughly 56 hours after Stick’s awed description, on Sunday night of Week 14 in a season-defining game against the Dolphins, in a game against a quarterback (Tua Tagovailoa) chosen one spot ahead of him in the first round of the 2020 draft, Herbert rolled about 15 yards to the right, side-stepped a rusher, planted his feet at his own 22-yard line and threw across his body to hit Williams near the opposite sideline at the Dolphins’ 21. It was the same exact pass Stick described two days before: more than 60 yards in the air, never seeming to climb higher than 15 feet off the ground, plausible for perhaps four of the 7.8 billion inhabitants of the planet.
This is nothing new. Herbert has always been great at this throwing business. He was 7 when he entered his first all-comers track meet in his hometown of Eugene, Oregon, where his grandfather was a track coach. There was no discus or shot put for 7-year-olds, so Justin competed in the softball throw. From one week to the next, he kept throwing and winning until that arm carried him all the way to Hershey, Pennsylvania, where he competed in a national meet. That arm has continued to carry him, to stardom at Sheldon High School in Eugene to the University of Oregon and now to Los Angeles.
Despite the arm — or maybe because of it, and its near flawlessness — the focus always seemed to shift to Herbert’s personality. NFL evaluators, paid to hunt weakness, wondered if his introverted nature would translate to a professional huddle and all the attendant demands the position requires. John Elway was once asked what was harder, doing the job or having the job? Having it, he said without hesitation. It was obvious Herbert could do the job, but could he have it?
Through his first two seasons in Los Angeles, the arm sustained him. “The throws he makes are not normal,” says backup quarterback Chase Daniel, in his 13th year in the NFL. “I’ve been a lot of places, seen a lot of things and I’m here to tell you: That stuff ain’t normal.”
There were so many throws this season — 699 attempts, 477 completions, 4,739 yards, 25 touchdowns. Many of them were made when his team needed them most, during the Chargers’ stretch of four wins in their final five games, putting them in the playoffs — a five seed, they play at the six-seeded Jacksonville Jaguars on Saturday in the AFC wild-card round — for the first time since 2018 and third time in 13 seasons. There was an 11-yard rollout touchdown pass against Miami that blithely ignored four Dolphin defenders on its way to Williams at the back of the end zone; the sidearm throw to Gerald Everett in Week 16 that skimmed the left armpit of Colts’ defensive tackle DeForest Buckner; the game- and possibly season-saving dart he threw 35 yards on a straight line off a dead sprint to Williams to set up a game-winning, last-second field goal to beat the Tennessee Titans in Week 15.
But the ball, spinning kaleidoscopically through the air toward the waiting arms of a Chargers’ receiver, carries its own secret. This ball has always been the easy part.
IT WAS EARLY December, the Chargers were 6-6, injured and average, coming off a loss to the Las Vegas Raiders. The fate of their second-year coach, Brandon Staley, became a topic. Herbert’s season — maybe even his career — was beginning to look like a collection of impressive but empty statistics.
He was, unquestionably, doing the job, but he came across as almost intentionally enigmatic. Uneasy in the public eye or in front of a microphone, Herbert became a vessel into which any and all theories could be deposited. In his weekly news conferences with the relatively small Charger media contingent, his motto seems to be: Speak quickly and say little. In his third season with the team, he remained just out of reach.
The Week 14 win over the Dolphins initiated an unlikely stretch for the Chargers. Herbert benefited from his top receivers, Keenan Allen and Williams, returning from injury. The offensive line, spackled together most of the season, got healthier as well. The win over the Dolphins was followed by wins over the Titans, Indianapolis Colts and Los Angeles Rams, a winning streak that earned the Chargers the fifth seed in the AFC playoffs.
How did yet another textbook Charger season — overpromised, underdelivered — turn into this something both unexpected and uplifting? Like everything in the NFL, the rules state it must begin with the quarterback. It’s the most scrutinized position in sports, and its practitioners — especially ones as talented at Herbert — are expected to be vocal and motivational and even promotional. On a team fighting for traction in a saturated market, he is expected to be the face of a franchise that desperately needs one. But those rules are unenforceable and theoretical, applicable to whomever wants to adopt them. Herbert doesn’t build the roads, he just drives on them.
Given that, is it heartening or disappointing to discover there was no Hollywood moment? Herbert’s numbers were, for him, more of the same; over the four-game winning streak he completed 74% of his passes and averaged 281 yards passing. His teammates, some of them apologizing for the mundaneness of it all, praised him for his steadiness and attention to detail, the same qualities they’ve seen since he arrived.
“He’s not an ego guy,” says offensive tackle Trey Pipkins III. “He’s not a big media-look-at-me guy. There’s a balance; you want to be confident, but you don’t want to be the guy who’s always looking for the camera.”
I began four conversations with his teammates by telling them I was there to figure out their quarterback, and each of the four responded with the same two words: Good luck. When I ask receiver DeAndre Carter, one of the well-wishers, if he has decoded the mystery of his quarterback, he laughs and says, “I have not. I have not.” His words are delivered with a smile, in a good-natured tone that signifies a certain respect, an acknowledgment that if he — a man who occupies a locker less than 15 feet away from Herbert’s — is not able to figure him out, there’s no hope for an outsider.
“I don’t even think Justin hates attention,” Stick says. “It might come off that way, but I don’t know if that’s really the word for it. A lot of guys enjoy a lot of the stuff that comes with that position; he just doesn’t enjoy it as much. He wants to play football and hang out in the locker room and be with the guys.”
Stick stops and points a finger first at himself and then at me. “But this stuff right here?” he says. “Probably not. Definitely not in this setting.”
Herbert is stubbornly unwilling to speak about himself. He can turn any question intended to elicit a personal response — questions tailored to him and only him — into an answer that somehow includes everybody but him. Linguistically, it’s feels like a form of performance art, but in other ways it can feel almost hardwired. Questions as inconsequential as, “What do you have to do to be better this week?” are dexterously turned into answers that begin, “We need to …” or “As a team …” After the Chargers beat the Rams to clinch a playoff berth and win their fourth straight, I asked Herbert what he learned about himself over that stretch. “As a team,” he said, “the word toughness comes to mind.” When I pressed him, he said, “My most important job is to put the team in a position to win.” He is not Justin Herbert, star quarterback. He is Justin Herbert, member of the Los Angeles Chargers.
He is the lowest-profile guy in the highest-profile job, a star quarterback with the mentality of a backup offensive lineman. He has asked that he not be announced with the rest of his Chargers’ offensive teammates during pregame introductions at home games, preferring to run onto the field as just another guy in a uniform. Because this wish is not granted — anonymity, after all, is not consistent with the face of a franchise seeking traction in a packed market — he runs from the tunnel onto the SoFi Stadium field with his head down and his thoughts to himself, as if the noise has nothing to do with him.
Whenever the team presents him with a game ball, he tries to turn it down. “He’s like, ‘No. No. No,’” defensive lineman Breiden Fehoko says. “We’ve told him, ‘Justin, you’ve got to stop being so modest.’ He’s like, ‘No, man.’ If told him, ‘Man, I can’t believe that sidearm throw you made against Indy,’ and he said, ‘It was only possible because you guys stopped them on defense.’ He’s just too nice, and he doesn’t like being in the spotlight. He’s the same with us as with everyone else. What you see is what he gives us. It’s not a show or a façade. He’s a humble, silent killer with great hair.”
Herbert is uncommonly fastidious and conscientious, traits that are quickly becoming legendary. (In the summer of 2021, former Chargers teammate Gabe Nabers said he saw Herbert’s temper flare once, when Nabers failed to return a shopping cart to its rightful place). After a recent road game, he was among the last to leave the locker room in part because he needed to find a member of the equipment staff to ask where he should leave his used towels. It didn’t matter to him that every one of his teammates had left their towels where they always leave them: on the floor in front of their lockers, for the staff to pick up and toss into rolling carts. He carried his towels to the cart himself.
“That doesn’t surprise me at all,” says Justin’s older brother Mitch, a third-year medical student at Columbia who played tight end at Montana State. “He’s going to do the right thing when no one’s watching.”
It’s a Friday afternoon tradition — and something of a running joke — in the Chargers’ locker room for the equipment staff to walk around the room and remind players to pack their bags for that weekend’s game. It’s a joke because almost nobody ever does it — they simply put their gear and their bags in front of their lockers, unzipped, and let the equipment crew round it up. Herbert, however, is the one who necessitates the almost: He dutifully packs his bag, zips it closed and carries it to the equipment room.
Whenever Mitch and youngest brother Patrick, a tight end at Oregon, travel to Justin’s games, they joke about how much they want the Chargers to win so Justin is more fun to be around. If he has a bad game or the Chargers lose, his parents and brothers text him knowing they’re unlikely to hear back for two or three days.
“I wouldn’t say we worry about him,” Mitch says. “I think we’ve just accepted it at this point, and over the last couple of years he’s gotten better about being more comfortable in his own skin. I think it’s a healthy obsession, and I think anyone who’s been around him — teammates, coaches — would agree. He’s just ultracompetitive and ultra-focused. It’s all about limiting distractions, and I think that goes along with the way he deals with the media. If he doesn’t say anything wrong or controversial, he can concentrate on what’s important to him.”
Again, nothing new. The three brothers were home together in Eugene with Justin between the NFL combine and the 2020 draft. Justin had work to do, so the three of them would go to their high school or a neighborhood park so Justin could run through specific route trees. He would position his brothers on the field and go through his progressions. If a pass wasn’t a perfectly precise spiral delivered in the perfectly precise spot, he would do it over. Mitch and Patrick would trade glances — get a load of Mr. Perfect — but they knew they couldn’t leave until every pass met their brother’s exacting standard.
“It would have been so easy for him to just go through the motions,” Mitch says. “We were basically in our backyard. Nobody knew what he was doing. But he’s a perfectionist.”
HE’S TRYING. GIVE him that.
The run that put the Chargers in the playoffs might have lacked high drama, but something unexpected did happen. Staring down a season that could go either way — the exact situation many believed he couldn’t handle — a different Herbert began to emerge. His Friday news conferences became more engaging. He cracked jokes, at one point responding to a question about whether he was aware of being one away from setting an NFL record for most touchdown passes in the first three seasons by saying, “Now … that’s something I’m aware of now.” He might have even relaxed. He began showing up with some other offensive players at the defense’s Friday night dinner. He shocked his teammates three times during the pivotal Sunday night win over the Dolphins, first by signaling for a first down after scrambling to convert a first down, second by spiking an NBC-bestowed game ball in the locker room (he promptly apologized if anyone at the network believed he was disrespecting it or the ball) and third by delivering a short but rousing postgame speech, the first of his career. “Pretty cool to see Justin coming out of his routine,” running back Austin Ekeler said. It wasn’t so much what he said — nobody reported anything memorable — but the fact that he said it. Staley, asked afterward for his interpretation of Herbert’s intentions, said, with more than a hint of sarcasm, “I’m not going to interpret what Justin is feeling. I’m going to let him interpret his feelings for you guys, and I’m sure that will be a fun process.”
As he deflects question after question, Herbert professes that winning — as a team, not as a quarterback — is his sole motivation. And, well, this was his chance to prove it. His teammates dismiss the idea that he knows success in the playoffs is a requirement for entry into the QB VIP room along with Patrick Mahomes, Josh Allen and Joe Burrow. “He’s not the type of guy to worry about whether people are putting him in conversations with certain other guys,” Pipkins says. Maybe, but being ultracompetitive would seem to entail a devotion to competition in all its forms.
“He’s definitely introverted,” Mitch Herbert says. “You see the rah-rah type leaders, and that’s what people think is the face of leadership. They think you have to be in someone’s face, do the pregame speech. The can-he-lead-a-team thing was unfair. Anyone who ever played with him or coached Justin thought that was ridiculous. He’s true to himself.”
Against Tennessee, after the Titans scored a game-tying touchdown with 51 seconds left in a game the Chargers had to win, Herbert stormed up and down the sideline, Brady-like, telling his teammates they were being given the only chance they needed. Forty-three seconds later, Cameron Dicker kicked a game-winning field goal.
“The difference I see is just maturity,” Fehoko says. “It’s weird to say, since he’s a three-year starter, but it’s how he’s grown as a man off the field. He’s finding ways to uplift guys around him, doing more of what we didn’t have the past two years. He was just so quiet. He’s still quiet — he’s one of the most reserved guys on the team — but he’s showing more emotion, and that stuff gets us going. I think he’s starting to see that.”
There’s a lot going on. For every position but one, football is a grand exercise in overcomplication. But a quarterback’s preparation is consuming: different game plans each week, different pressures, different coverage disguises. They have to see everything before it happens, and even if they’re right there’s still the biggest part of the job: making the plays work. It’s why, in advance of his brother’s first playoff game, Mitch says, “We won’t hear from Justin this week.”
“I’ve got to come to accept that there’s more to this job than just playing football,” Justin says, “and that’s something I’m continuing to work on. I still have plenty of room for improvement, but my responsibility is to my team and the Chargers organization, and my first priority is always football.”
Asked if he is getting more comfortable with the ancillary requirements of the job, he says, “I’m trying to. I just don’t like talking about myself. I was the middle of three brothers — they got a lot of attention and I kind of got picked on. I deserved it, but having those brothers kind of pushed me to become a better human. My older brother [Mitch] did everything right: great grades, incredible athlete, just a great human being. I tried to live up to that.”
He is 24 years old and famous in a city that defines it. He’s incredibly wealthy, 6-foot-6, handsome and playing the most glamorous position in sports. And yet he seems to navigate the world in a state of uncomfortable self-consciousness, keenly aware of every eye that lands on him.
“Yeah,” he says. “I feel like I’ve gotten better at that.”
THE OFFENSIVE LINEMEN will be watching film of practice, ostensibly for their own improvement, but inevitably something will catch their eye. It’s a constant reminder that they miss so much; heads down, legs pumping, the best parts of the game taking place outside their field of vision. So someone will interrupt. “What was that? Run that back.” So they do, and this room full of massive humans will sit back, shake their heads and laugh at the ball spinning through the air. “If you watch some of the throws,” Pipkins says, “it’s just absurd.”
The question would be ridiculous in any other context, but somehow pertinent in this one: Does Herbert understand what everybody else sees?
“I don’t know,” Pipkins says. “And that’s his thing: He wouldn’t tell you if he did or he didn’t.”
Whether he knows it or not, whether the world knows it or not, the ball still spins, farther on a line than anyone thought possible. It tears almost violently through the air, providing the only validation needed. Linemen point at a screen. Wait — run that back. Quarterbacks watch from behind him and suppress the temptation to make a scene. Guys — that’s not normal. Broadcasters gush and coaches swoon. The stage will only get bigger, but none of it matters.
Its nose forever down, the ball’s apparent lightness belies everything it carries with it: promise, expectations, demands. It continues along its way — at 12½ rotations per second — to wherever it will take him. Each throw is a marvel to everyone except the man who creates it. He stands back, unimpressed, perhaps knowing this ball — this gift — has the power to take him places he isn’t entirely sure he wants to go.
Additional reporting by ESPN Los Angeles Chargers reporter Lindsey Thiry.
TORONTO — Matt Murray and Ilya Samsonov present as an ideal odd couple. A classic yin-and-yang, if you will.
The Toronto Maple Leafs have just wrapped up practice and their goaltenders sit side by side at the front of the room in companionable conversation.
Murray then rapidly becomes focused on removing and storing his gear, politely postponing interview requests until after retreating to the player’s lounge for a replenishing smoothie.
Meanwhile, Samsonov remains sweating through his full kit, engaged in an amiable chat elsewhere about favorite television shows and laughing through the benefits — or not — of selecting subtitles in his native Russian.
It’s one brief snapshot captured of a singular goalie tandem producing two terrific seasons. Look closer, and you start to see what makes them tick.
Murray eventually encourages Samsonov to finish dressing before they’ll sit down together with ESPN to talk about what’s been a flourishing first half to this season.
The ice breaker is asking each goalie to describe the other in a single word. Samsonov doesn’t hesitate.
“Hardworking,” he says of Murray, nodding affirmatively as if to confirm it’s the only correct response.
Murray, now wielding a wry smile, takes longer.
“One word? One word is not enough,” he says, continuing to think out loud. “One word is tough. I can’t narrow him down to just one word. He’s too complex. But maybe I’d say, fun. He’s a fun dude. That’s a good one.”
It’s also what the Leafs have in their goaltending duo: a good one. Murray and Samsonov display an easy chemistry off the ice that reflects in how seamlessly they’ve shared Toronto’s crease. So far, Murray’s produced superbly, at 10-4-2 with a .916 save percentage and 2.57 goals-against average. Samsonov has been stellar, at 12-3-1 with a .916 save percentage and 2.29 goals-against average.
The results from the two are equally excellent. It’s the approaches that aren’t the same. Theirs are different styles, different strengths and weaknesses, different perspectives. Even opposing methods on how to answer the same question. But Murray and Samsonov also seem to click.
Maybe it’s from being thrown into the same fire — via different routes, of course — through a barrage of offseason skepticism that two newcomers could shore up Toronto’s most glaring area of need. Whatever the reason, Murray and Samsonov have arrived exactly where they want to be.
At exactly the same time.
TORONTO REACHED A crossroads last summer.
The Leafs’ incumbent starting goalie Jack Campbell was an unrestricted free agent eyeing the payday to match his breakout 2021-22 campaign (31-9-6 record, .914 SV%, 2.64 GAA). Toronto hadn’t, for whatever reason, ponied up to keep Campbell around.
It also wasn’t likely the Leafs would turn to backup Petr Mrazek either, after the veteran’s disastrous first season with the team — 12-6-0, .888 SV%, 3.34 GAA — to open a four-year long pact.
Basically, changes were afoot. Toronto was ready to restructure.
Mrazek went first, shipped to Chicago on July 7 with draft picks exchanged on both sides to sweeten the deal. Campbell would eventually head west too, becoming Edmonton‘s new No. 1.
While that happened, Murray, 28, was four hours down the highway from Toronto locked in a bad marriage with the Ottawa Senators. The former Pittsburgh Penguin (and two-time Stanley Cup champion) signed there in October 2020, inking a four-year, $25 million deal that failed to pan out as expected. Murray was frequently hurt. The Senators were losing, a lot.
Murray was eventually waived in November 2021 and sent to the American Hockey League’s Belleville Senators to play a pair of games. Back in the NHL, the veteran battled hard (5-12-2, .906 SV%, 3.05 GAA) until a season-ending concussion injury took him out in March.
It was a bad situation. So naturally, Leafs’ general manager Kyle Dubas turned a few heads when he acquired Murray via trade on July 12. The return was future considerations and Ottawa retaining 25% of Murray’s salary. Granted, Dubas and Leafs coach Sheldon Keefe had history with the Thunder Bay, Ontario native from their time as GM, coach and goaltender respectively for the OHL’s Sault-Ste Marie Greyhounds in the early 2010s. But still, Ottawa was practically giving away Toronto’s next starter.
One day later, Dubas secured Samsonov. The 25-year-old was coming off a career-worst season (.896 SV%, 3.02 GAA) in Washington, where he’d played since being drafted 22nd overall by the Capitals in 2015. Samsonov had newly hit the open market after Washington failed to qualify him when Toronto swooped in on July 13 with a one-year, $1.8 million contract offer.
“This is a great team, yeah?,” Samsonov says now of choosing to become a Leaf. “The last five, six years, there’s been very strong leadership. It’s a nice city to play hockey in; it’s the best in the world. It’s not every day that a GM calls you and asks you if you want to go to play in Toronto. It’s not an everyday chance. I wanted to try. You have nice teammates here. And we have a good chance to win.”
That opportunity helps mitigate other, less alluring aspects of suiting up in blue and white. Toronto is a notoriously pressure-packed market desperate for the playoff success it felt promised by an enormous investment in the club’s offensive corps. Murray’s injury history made him an easy target of critics unwilling to believe he could stand tall in Toronto. Those concerns weren’t quelled when he suffered a hip injury in October after playing only one game.
If Murray felt the sting of criticism — before or after — he doesn’t let on.
“I don’t know. It’s hard to compare something like [pressure],” Murray said. “No matter where you play, there’s always going to be pressure. Everybody wants to win. You put pressure on yourself, and you just want to do the best you can for yourself, for your teammates, for everybody, for the organization. It’s just learning how to deal with it, how to take things one day at a time and just try to enjoy the ride. I’m definitely enjoying the ride this year.”
Samsonov releases a noise of assent. He missed time with an injury too, joining Murray on the sidelines in early November with a knee ailment. Despite that, Samsonov said they’re having a good time. And that’s morphed into potent parallel seasons for another big reason they both — shockingly — agree on.
“I think the biggest factor in that [success] is the way the team is playing in front of us,” Murray notes. “That dictates the difficulty of our job and the type of chances that we’re seeing and the amount of them that we’re seeing. Our team is playing incredibly well defensively.”
“If you can see a puck well in a game, life is much easier,” adds Samsonov, entering his own soliloquy about the virtue of a full-team effort. “And you know me and Matt, we both are good guys. We’re good teammates, and we try to push each other. And this [tandem] has felt good for us. We never stop. We’re always trying to get better every day for our teammate.”
Murray and Samsonov were lucky. They bonded from day one (“he was a nice guy,” Samsonov said fondly of meeting Murray). It was correspondingly painless learning how to be each other’s motivation.
“Sometimes you come to the rink, and you don’t want to do nothing,” Samsonov explained. “We’re humans, too. But when you see how your partner is working, you try to get better, or you try to do the same as they’re doing. Sometimes mentally you’re going down, and you don’t want to do nothing, or you feel bad. But to see what’s your partner doing, you ask, ‘can you try to get with him and do more?’”
“Everything feeds off [something else],” Murray said. “On those days when maybe you don’t have all the juice that you’d like to have, you look at the guy across from you, and you see the work ethic that they’re bringing, and you just want to match that.”
SOME TEAMS ARE compelled to pick a starting goaltender and ride him. Others crave a more balanced approach.
Both tracks can work. And Toronto’s choice to lean heavily on its one-two punch is paying off.
Let’s back up: Through Jan. 10, 79 different goalies made at least one NHL start this season. Nine teams started one goalie in at least 70% of their games, to be what you’d call a “workhorse.” Eight of those nine netminders were on teams in playoff position (Arizona’s Karel Vejmelka being the lone exception) and together the nine goalies had a .913 save percentage.
On the other side, 11 teams had started two goalies in at least 35% of their games. Seven of those clubs were in playoff position, and there was a collective .906 SV% among those netminders.
Murray and Samsonov had, to that stage, each played exactly 39% of Toronto’s tilts. Together they sat top 20 in save percentage among goalies with at least 10 starts. Samsonov was fourth in GAA, and Murray was 15th. Both goaltenders have been reliably ascending towards the NHL’s upper tier.
That didn’t happen without setbacks. Murray sat out four weeks with that hip issue. Samsonov’s three-week absence overlapped. Toronto clung then to rookie Erik Kallgren, striving to stay afloat until their regulars returned. Murray and Samsonov came back and delivered, until recent intersecting rough patches led to recycled conversations about Toronto’s propensity for goalie woes.
It was on Murray and Samsonov to keep their own heads up through mutual support.
“It’s hard to do this, because if you didn’t play [in a certain game] you don’t understand,” Samsonov said. “I’m trying not to touch [on] a lot, because he has more insight and you just watched, and your words don’t help too much. But even if your emotion is bad or a little bit lower, the next day, the sun is up again. After [a bad loss], Matt said good words to me. He said, ‘Don’t think about this. You just need to move on. Get some good food, good sleep and you’ll be getting better.’”
“A lot of times with goaltending, results don’t necessarily always show the best picture or tell the best story,” Murray said, a shrewd look on his face. “You could do everything in your power the right way and still get a weird bounce or the guy makes a great play, and you still get scored on or maybe you get a couple of weird bounces in a game. So you focus on the process and just doing what you can to control the situation to the best of your ability. The result will take care of itself if you’re doing the right process.”
And, in a pinch, lean on the guy next to you. He knows better than most.
“We’re always sitting together, always on the ice together early. We’re always paired,” Murray said. “We’re on a different time and pace than everyone else.”
MURRAY AND SAMSONOV are opposites attracting. Goaltending is the common ground; how each player excels at it varies.
“He is doing a lot before a game,” Samsonov said of Murray. “He is good at getting prepared. It’s not superstitions, but it’s a lot of preparation. A lot more than me; way more than me. I’m trying to get ready one hour before our team meeting. I come to the game rink, get simple stuff done. I tape my stick. Get some food. Nothing crazy.”
Murray concedes with a smile that “everybody has their routines.” Those extend to game day mornings too, where — surprise — Murray and Samsonov put faith in opposing rituals when it’s their turn to start.
“I prefer not to [take morning skate],” Murray said. “I just find I get a better nap when I don’t skate. And as I get older, something that comes into contention a little bit more is the wear and tear on hips and knees and all that stuff. And I always just feel more energetic and a little bit looser. If you do skate in the morning, it’s almost like you have to recover again before the game starts, for me anyway.”
His partner rolls entirely the other way.
“I like to skate, not more than 20 minutes though; not too long,” he said. “I just want to see the puck a little bit and have a simple drill just to see, how is my arm working? How is my body prepared for a game? And just to feel the puck with my eyes. It’s just what I need in the morning, so I’ll feel good, and it helps me a little bit mentally, too.”
The duo’s eating habits are another study in contrasts. Samsonov loves all the sushi options available in Toronto’s downtown core; Murray’s favorite spot is a lush Italian restaurant in the city’s posh Yorkville neighborhood, when he’s not indulging in wife Christina’s home cooking.
And those meals before a game? One’s a creature of habit with his plate; another can’t stand food-based monotony.
“I always switch it up because I just tend to get tired of eating the same exact thing,” Murray said. “The base of it kind of stays the same. I usually have a bowl of soup, a salad, pasta of some kind, protein, and then like a sweet potato. But I like to switch up the dressing or the sauce on the chicken. I get sick of eating the exact same thing every game day.”
“I eat the exact same thing on game day,” Samsonov counters excitedly. “At lunch I’m doing just the chicken with rose sauce and spaghetti all the time, before every game. And right before playing I’ll do some oat milk [for fuel]. I didn’t change this for the last five years. I like it. But in the offseason, no spaghetti. It’s not working then.”
Murray laughs lightly as Samsonov finishes dissecting his palate. It’s frequently made clear how much they enjoy each other’s company, how an easy rhythm has formed in just a few months’ time.
And true to form, they cite two distinct moments as their season highlight to date.
For Samsonov, it was beating Washington in his first start as a Leaf. His was the ultimate revenge game.
For Murray, it was watching Samsonov’s triumph in an all-around win. That was a night where Murray could truly feel Toronto’s potential — and how fortunate he and his partner are to be a part of that.
“I was on the bench, we were playing against Anaheim, and we won 7-0 at home,” Murray recalled. “I just remember thinking we were firing on all cylinders. We just dominated play. I thought the whole game, our forecheck was great, we stripped pucks, we barely spent any time in our zone, he [Samsonov] was great. I just thought it was a real, real dominant effort.
“That’s what stands out to me most about us, when we can play games like that. That’s when it’s good.”
The final rankings update for the 2023 class is set to be released later this month and there is a lot to finalize before then. Final postseason performances as well as in-person evaluations at the Under Armour Next All-America Game, All-American Bowl, and the upcoming Polynesian Bowl will weigh heavily into this last update to the rankings.
A number of players from the Midwest were active during the all-star season and their performance at the games and preceding week of preparations will have an effect on the rankings. Here are some of the toughest rankings questions we’ll be facing in the Midwest.
Will there be any new additions to the Rivals250?
Amir Herring (Rivals.com)
The region currently boasts around three dozen Rivals250 prospects depending on which states you include, so there will be very little wiggle room for additional players on the list. While we could see one or two recruits making the move in, any more than that would likely mean a player from the region dropping out.
Based on feedback from the Under Armour game and the practices leading up to it, the most likely candidates to crack the elite list could be a pair of Michigan natives in Michigan signee Amir Herring and Kentucky signee Khamari Anderson. Word out of Orlando is they both had impressive weeks and it will be interesting to see if the analyst team as a whole feels that they should move into the Rivals250 in the end.
*****
How will the quarterback rankings shake out?
Avery Johnson
The only clear-cut part of the region’s quarterback rankings is that five-star Dante Moore is the region’s No. 1 prospect at the position. After Moore things get a little hazy and it will be interesting to hear the analyst’s opinions on the group of Midwest quarterbacks who participated in the recent all-star events.
Avery Johnson and JJ Kohl competed in the Under Armour game and although I was not in attendance for that, early reports point to Kohl having a slight edge over Johnson who currently sits eight spots ahead of him in the Rivals250.
Ohio State signee Lincoln Keinholz took part in the All-American Bowl and had mixed results throughout the week. There is no question that the future Buckeye has talent and although he was not spectacular during the game, he did finish on a high note with a couple of nice touchdown passes. I’m excited to see how the team sees this group shaking out.
*****
Will Kadyn Proctor retain his spot as No. 1 OT?
Kadyn Proctor (Rivals.com)
Proctor had an impressive week in San Antonio and definitely solidified himself as a five-star recruit, but will the analyst team see his performance as being enough to hold on to the top spot? The most likely competition for Proctor’s top spot should theoretically come from fellow five-star tackles – Samson Okunlola and Francis Mauigoa – but there could be a wildcard entering the mix as well.
Okunlolo is a talent and there is little doubt that he has all of the tools to be a big time player at Miami and beyond, but at the same time he struggled with some of the elite defensive linemen at the All-American Bowl. Maugoa, who has also signed with Miami, did not participate in any of the all-star events which will likely make the top spot hard for him to achieve.
The wildcard I spoke of is none other than LSU signee Zalance Heard, who by all reports had a phenomenal showing throughout the week of Under Armour game prep in Orlando. He even drew comparisons to former first-round draft-pick D.J. Fluker by AdamGorney in this week’s edition of Tuesdays with Gorney. That is incredibly high praise, but only time will tell if it is enough to knock Proctor from the throne.
There will be limited five-star slots available and unless a player unanimously impressied the group as a whole during recent events, the likelihood of an additional Midwest five-star could come down to the player who had the best showing at the position of most value. Should that be the case, the region’s best shot at an additional five-star could come down to the two highly rated defensive ends in Adebawore and Vernon. Of course this is all speculation at this point and I am really interested to see how the analyst team sees this playing out.
Australia batter David Warner says he is probably entering his last year of international cricket with the 36-year-old earmarking the 2024 T20 World Cup in America and the Caribbean as an endpoint.
Warner has amassed over 17,000 international runs across the formats, including 8,132 in Test cricket, since he debuted for his country in a T20 international against South Africa in 2009.
The left-hander, who turns 37 in October, had gone almost three years without a Test ton before he ended that drought with a double century against the Proteas at the MCG in late 2022.
Friday 13th January 7:00am
Speaking ahead of his first Big Bash match in nine years on Friday – for Sydney Thunder versus Perth Scorchers – Warner said: “[This will] most likely be my last year of my international career.
“I’ve got my sights set on the 2024 [T20] World Cup as well, so finishing in the Americas, that’d be nice to top it off with a win over there, pending selection.”
Image: Warner was part of the Australia squad that won the 2021 T20 World Cup in the UAE
Warner: Extra motivation to win in England
Warner’s double century against South Africa ended any debate about him being picked for February and March’s Test tour of India – where Australia will be looking to win a series for the first time since 2004 – and he also hopes to feature in The Ashes in England in June and July.
The opener’s career Test batting average is 46.20 but that drops to 24.25 in India and 26.04 in England, with Warner averaging just 9.50 from 10 innings in the 2019 Ashes series as he bagged three ducks and was dismissed seven times by Stuart Broad.
Men’s Ashes schedule 2023
First Test (Edgbaston) – June 16-20
Second Test (Lord’s) – June 28-July 2
Third Test (Headingley) – July 6-10
Fourth Test (Emirates Old Trafford) – July 19-23
Fifth Test (Kia Oval) – July 27-31
Speaking to reporters in December, Warner said: “The extra motivation for me is winning in India and completely winning a series in England. I’ve been told by the coach and the selectors they would like me to be there.
“Was there doubt? Of course there was doubt in my mind but for me it was about going out there and knowing that I’ve still got that hunger and determination because every time I rock up to training, I’ve got it.
“People keep telling me, ‘you’ll know when it’s time’. I haven’t really felt that at all yet.”
On signing for Thunder in the Big Bash, Warner added: “If I can contribute in any way, it’d be awesome.
“I’ve signed for this year and next year. It’s my time to contribute and give back and I’ve got that time to do that now.”
Warner’s Australia team-mate Aaron Finch told Fox: “David is a world-class player, as good as anyone who has ever been in the T20 format, so it is huge for the tournament and huge for Sydney Thunder.”
Watch Warner’s Big Bash League return, for Sydney Thunder against Perth Scorchers, live on Sky Sports Mix on Friday. Coverage begins at 7am ahead of a 7.30am start.
Australia have withdrawn from their men’s one-day international series against Afghanistan after the Taliban imposed further restrictions on women’s and girls’ rights.
Image: Australia have withdrawn from a men’s ODI series against Afghanistan because of the Taliban’s restrictions on women and girls
The three-match series was due to take place in the UAE in March but Cricket Australia announced on Thursday that it had decided to pull out of the series after an “extensive consultation” with stakeholders, including the Australian government.
Cricket Australia said in a statement: “This decision follows the recent announcement by the Taliban of further restrictions on women’s and girls’ education and employment opportunities and their ability to access parks and gyms.
“CA is committed to supporting growing the game for women and men around the world, including in Afghanistan, and will continue to engage with the Afghanistan Cricket Board in anticipation of improved conditions for women and girls in the country.”
MELBOURNE, Australia — Rivals Novak Djokovic and Rafael Nadal were placed on opposite halves of the Australian Open bracket in the draw Thursday, meaning the owners of a combined 43 Grand Slam singles titles could only meet in the final at Melbourne Park.
Djokovic, a nine-time champion in Australia, returns to the hard-court tournament after missing it last year when his visa was revoked and he was deported from the country because he isn’t vaccinated against COVID-19. He also couldn’t compete at the 2022 U.S. Open.
Fourth-seeded Djokovic will open his bid for a 10th Australian Open title against Spaniard Roberto Carballes Baena in the tournament which begins Monday.
Iga Swiatek, the women’s No. 1-ranked player, takes on German Jule Niemeier, who is ranked No.68, in the opening round. The Polish player was a semifinalist at Melbourne Park in 2022, a year in which she won the French and U.S. Open titles.
But the main first-round focus will be on Nadal, who faces a potentially challenging match against British player Jack Draper. Draper, who is 21, was a semifinalist in the Next Gen Championships in November and will also play in a semifinal of the Adelaide International on Friday.
Another opening-round highlight has five-time Australian Open finalist Andy Murray against Italian Matteo Berrettini, a former Wimbledon finalist who is the No. 13-seeded player.
Murray defeated Australian Alex De Minaur 6-3, 6-3 in an exhibition match on Thursday and is pleased with his form.
“It is always difficult in exhibition matches to play like it is the first round of a Grand Slam but I wanted to try to leave everything out on the court to give my body the best preparation, to see how I was moving, to see how I was serving, and it went well,” Murray said.
The potential men’s quarterfinals by seeding are: Nadal vs. No. 7 Daniil Medvedev in what would be a rematch of last year’s final at Melbourne Park, won by Nadal after dropping the initial two sets, and No. 3 Stefanos Tsitsipas vs. No. 6 Felix Auger-Aliassime in the top half; and Djokovic vs. No. 5 Andrey Rublev, and No. 2 Casper Ruud vs. No. 8 Taylor Fritz in the bottom half.
Nadal has a leading 22 Grand Slam singles titles, one more than Djokovic.
Wimbledon finalist Nick Kyrgios, who faces Roman Safiullin in the opening round, will play Djokovic in an exhibition match on Friday in Melbourne.
“I am one of the best players in the world, so I am definitely going to go into the Australian Open and any Grand Slam with confidence,” Kyrgios said.
Ons Jabeur, who reached both the Wimbledon and U.S. Open finals in 2022, is seeded second and plays Tamara Zidansek in the women’s draw.
No. 3 Jessica Pegula, who led the U.S. team that claimed the mixed teams United Cup in Sydney last week, faces Jaqueline Cristian from Romania in the first round.
Australia’s Billie Jean King Cup captain Alicia Molik, who attended the draw at Melbourne Park, said Pegula is a contender.
“I feel like she has the mental fortitude and I really feel like she can be here late in the stage of the Australian Open,” Molik said.
Seventh-seeded Coco Gauff, who won a tournament in Auckland last week, faces a tough first-round test against Katerina Siniakova, who defeated her in the Billie Jean King Cup finals in November.
The potential women’s quarterfinals are: Swiatek vs. Gauff in what would be a rematch of last year’s French Open final, won by Swiatek, and Pegula vs. No. 6 Maria Sakkari in the top half of the bracket; and Jabeur vs. No. 5 Aryna Sabalenka, and No. 4 Caroline Garcia vs. No. 8 Daria Kasatkina in the bottom half.
Another big first-round match is two-time Australian Open champion Victoria Azarenka against Sofia Kenin, who won the title at Melbourne Park in 2020.
Jack Draper reached the semi-finals of the Adelaide International, while Cameron Norrie stayed perfect in 2023 and Andy Murray sealed another encouraging win.
The 21-year-old beat Khachanov at the US Open last summer but lost to the Russian in the first Adelaide tournament last week.
It was a different story on Thursday though, as British No 3 Draper took control of proceedings and clinched a 6-4 7-6 (7-3) victory over the third seed, beating a top-20 opponent for the sixth time.
Draper had a minor wobble when he was broken trying to serve out the match at 5-4 in the second set but he recovered impressively to take it in the tie-break.
Draper said in his on-court interview: “Against guys like Karen, you can’t give them an inch. I got a bit nervous but that’s all part of the game.
“I’m still young, still learning. It was a good match. I did well to impose my game a little bit more today than last week.”
The young Londoner lost his first semi-final at Eastbourne last summer and was also beaten in the last four at the Next Gen ATP Finals in November for the best young players.
Norrie improved to 5-0 on the year following a 6-1 6-7 (7-5) 6-2 victory against Marcos Giron to make it through to the semi-finals at the ASB Classic in Auckland.
The British No 1 has now won four straight three-setters dating back to his triumphs against Nadal and Taylor Fritz at the inaugural United Cup.
“I came out firing and really was enjoying my level and playing well,” he said. “I made it really tricky for myself, played a loose game to start the second set. Just a lack of concentration. I was able to come back and then he played a better tie-break than me, he was more aggressive and he executed better. He deserved it.
“Then I came out [in the third set] and played kind of similar to the first set and took it to him, and exposed his backhand.”
Image: Andy Murray defeated Australia’s Alex de Minaur at the Kooyong Classic in Melbourne
Murray claimed an encouraging 6-3 6-3 victory over Australian Alex De Minaur at the exhibition Kooyong Classic in Melbourne.
He later teamed up with Nadal, Ukraine’s Dayana Yastremska and Marta Kostyuk for the #TennisPlaysforPeace exhibition event to support the humanitarian efforts in the war-torn country.
By the time the N.F.L. playoffs arrive, the betting markets are just coming into full bloom. The data on each of the teams is germinated with an entire season’s worth of stats, helping the bookmakers generate their most predictive lines and bettors to make their most informed choices. As a result, the money is more evenly distributed than usual and there typically isn’t much fluctuation in the point spreads and totals.
That wasn’t the case heading into this postseason’s wild-card round, with Baltimore and Miami both expected to play without their franchise quarterbacks and uncertainty remaining over which of their backups would start.
There are also a few mismatches, a couple of double-digit point spreads, and some intrigue around personnel decisions. They don’t call it the wild-card round for nothing.
All Times Eastern.
Saturday’s Games
No. 7 Seattle Seahawks at No. 2 San Francisco 49ers, 4:30 p.m., Fox
Line: 49ers -10 | Total: 42.5
Most preseason predictions had the Seahawks finishing among the league’s worst teams, mainly because of the perceived downgrade at quarterback from Russell Wilson to Geno Smith. The season didn’t quite turn out that way, and the Seahawks are in the playoffs for the 10th time in Coach Pete Carroll’s 13 seasons in Seattle. Kudos. Now Seattle enters as double-digit underdogs against the division-rival 49ers, who have won 10 straight games.
San Francisco swept the regular-season meetings, including a 21-13 win in Week 15, when the rookie quarterback Brock Purdy made his first road start. Purdy should continue to benefit from playing in the quarterback-friendly Shanahan offense with Deebo Samuel and Christian McCaffery as his top options. In that system, Purdy doesn’t need to throw deep balls because the 49ers’ pass-catchers have the highest yards after catch average (6.8) in the league. San Francisco should also be able to run well against Seattle’s defense, which lost linebacker Jordyn Brooks and nose tackle Bryan Mone to season-ending injuries.
The 49ers should win, but San Francisco does have an Achilles’ heel: The defense holds opponents to leaguewide lows in average yards and points allowed, but it was one of the N.F.L.’s worst at covering deep passes. Smith is the league’s most accurate quarterback on passes over 20 yards this season, so the Seahawks can still chance a few big plays to cover a two-score spread. Pick: Seattle +10
No. 5 Los Angeles Chargers at No. 4 Jacksonville Jaguars, 8:15 p.m., NBC
Line: Jaguars +2.5 | Total: 47.5
This game features the two ascendant quarterbacks who’ve led their teams to new heights: Justin Herbert, 24, helped the Chargers earn a playoff berth for the first time since 2018, and Trevor Lawrence, 23, has been among the league’s most accurate passers in the second half and the Jaguars have won six of their last seven games.
When these two teams met in Week 3, the Jaguars blew the Chargers out, 38-10. Jacksonville’s defense, led by edge rusher Josh Allen’s four quarterback hits, held Herbert to a passer rating of 74 as Herbert played through a rib injury.
Herbert is healthy now, but plenty of other Bolts aren’t after Coach Brandon Staley’s inexplicable decision to play all of his starters for three quarters in a meaningless Week 18 game against the Broncos. Receiver Mike Williams left that game on a cart and reportedly needed help walking afterward. Pass rusher Joey Bosa may have aggravated his groin injury last week in his second week back from injured reserve after missing 12 games.
Lawrence is a headliner but the Jaguars have run well based on their matchups (gaining over 140 yards on the ground in wins against the Cowboys and Jets) and Travis Etienne finished in the top 10 among running backs for yards per game and per carry. The market is split nearly down the middle on this game, and the line has bounced around both sides of the zero. We will take all the points we can find on the home team. Pick: Jaguars +2.5
Sunday’s Games
No. 7 Miami Dolphins at No. 2 Buffalo Bills, 1 p.m., CBS
Line: Bills -12.5 | Total: 44.5
These A.F.C. East teams split their two meetings this season, and both games were hard-fought affairs. Whether this game will be a repeat of those performances largely depends on Miami’s injury situation. The line for this game was as low as 9 points on rumors that Dolphins quarterback Tua Tagovailoa would play. Tagovailoa was ruled out with his second concussion in eight weeks, and the line climbed as high as 13.5 on the news that the Dolphins planned to start the rookie seventh-round pick Skylar Thompson.
In the regular-season finale against the Jets, Thompson was limited to screen plays and designed runs rather than deeper passes on key third- and fourth-down plays. Miami pulled off an ugly 11-6 victory despite not scoring a single touchdown. Along the way, running back Raheem Mostert broke a thumb. The Dolphins average 25.5 points per game when Tagovailoa plays and 16.3 when he doesn’t, so don’t expect a hobbled Miami to put up much offense against a second-ranked defense in below-freezing temperatures (The forecast is 24 degrees at kickoff.).
The spread is high, but should be manageable for a Bills team that will likely show out for a home crowd that could include their teammate Damar Hamlin. Pick: Bills -12.5
No. 6 Giants at No. 3 Minnesota Vikings, 4:30 p.m., Fox
Line: Vikings -3 | Total: 48.5
The Vikings won 11 one-score games and the Giants went 8-4-1 in such contests, so it seems a given that this one will be the most evenly matched game of the weekend. Though the line opened at 2.5, those numbers were quickly bought up and the number has settled in at 3, which seems to be as far as deep-pocketed Vikings-backers will go.
The Vikings have been expected to fade all season, largely because of their propensity for winning games through unpredictable factors like turnovers and coming out ahead in the penalty battle. Minnesota won the Week 16 meeting between these two teams on a last-second field goal and the Vikings benefited from a little luck, blocking a punt and getting two key takeaways. But the win wasn’t all luck: The team also torched the Giants’ defense through the air on tight end T.J. Hockenson’s 109 receiving yards (two touchdowns) and Justin Jefferson getting 133 yards and a score.
This week, the Giants’ defense returned cornerback Adoreé Jackson, linebacker Azeez Ojulari, and lineman Leonard Williams in limited roles in practice and defensive back Xavier McKinney was back to taking full reps. Having any of them available on Sunday would lend needed help against the Vikings’ formidable passing attack. In the most lopsided market so far this week, 90 percent of the money bet on this game has been on the Giants. Seems this won’t be the week the professionals decide to start believing in the Vikings. Pick: Giants +3
Didn’t we just see this game? The Bengals lit up the Ravens, 27-16, on Sunday, but this weekend’s playoff matchup should look different than the usual A.F.C. North rivalry game. The star Baltimore quarterback Lamar Jackson is expected to miss his sixth game with a sprained knee ligament, and Anthony Brown has taken starter snaps during practice, though Tyler Huntley hasn’t been ruled out. When these teams played last week with Brown at quarterback, the point spread was 11 and the Bengals pushed. This week, the line has shrunk to an expensive 7 and has held there even after the news that Jackson didn’t practice.
The Ravens’ pass rush worked last week against Cincinnati’s offensive line, which lost right guard Alex Cappa to an ankle injury in the third quarter. Cappa is the second starter the Bengals have lost on the right side, which should create problems for their run game and make life more difficult for quarterback Joe Burrow. Last week the Bengals rushed for only 65 yards, and managed only 90 total yards and a field goal in the second half. Still, thanks to a big first-half lead, it was all they needed to win.
The Ravens rested tight end Mark Andrews and running back J.K. Dobbins last week, so their return will give the Bengals a different challenge. Cincinnati has won eight straight games and the team’s momentum may be too strong for Baltimore to plan on finally making a deep playoff run. The Bengals are 20-3-1 against the spread going back to last season, as safe a pick as there is this weekend. Pick: Bengals -7
Monday Night’s Game
Dallas Cowboys at Tampa Bay Buccaneers,8 p.m., ESPN
Line: Buccaneers +2.5 | Total 45.5
The Buccaneers (8-9) stumbled their way into the playoffs with a losing record, squeaking out victories here and there on the backs of a stout defense and quarterback Tom Brady’s late-game heroics to win the N.F.C. South. Coach Todd Bowles inexplicably continued to consistently run the ball on first down despite the team averaging only 3.6 yards per first-down rush — tied with the Indianapolis Colts for the worst average in the league.
There were glimpses that Tampa Bay would open up the playbook in a must-win game against the Carolina Panthers in Week 17. Brady had a gaudy 432 passing yards, including 207 yards and three touchdown passes to Mike Evans, who had not caught a score since Week 4. Having the elite offensive tackle Tristan Wirfs back in the lineup certainly helped give Brady a little more time in the pocket to work.
The Cowboys are the favorites in this game, but they are coming off a regular-season finale in which they allowed the Commanders to put up 309 total yards of offense. Washington nearly doubled the Cowboys’ output in a game that could have helped Dallas grab the No. 1 seed in the N.F.C. Since beating the brakes off the Colts in Week 13, the Cowboys have looked a little off: barely eking out a win against the Texans, losing in overtime to the Jags, and seeing Dak Prescott dutifully throw at least one pick every week. The market hasn’t been very impressed with the Cowboys: By midweek, 63 percent of the bets and 83 percent of the money had been bet on Tampa Bay.
Still, the Buccaneers have bedeviled this column, and we’ve been on the wrong side of nearly every one of their games this season. If they don’t cover this week, we can take some solace knowing this will be the last time. Pick: Buccaneers +2.5
How Betting Lines Work
A quick primer for those who are not familiar with betting lines: Favorites are listed next to a negative number that represents how many points they must win by to cover the spread. Buccaneers -2.5, for example, means that Tampa Bay must beat the Seahawks by at least 3 points for its backers to win their bet. Gamblers can also bet on the total score, which is whether the teams’ combined score in the game is over or under a preselected number of points.
Betting-market data is taken from Action Network’s Public Betting data, and lines are taken from Unabated’s real-time-odds tracker.
