What’s the most exciting play in basketball? A posterizing dunk? A block swatted 10 rows into the stands? A sweet-swishing 3-pointer from downtown?
Chances are you didn’t say, “Consistent free-throw shooting.”
But the humble free throw had its moment Tuesday night in Miami when the Heat set an N.B.A. record, taking and making 40 free throws without a miss.
The Heat were led by an in-the-zone Jimmy Butler, who made 23 of 23 from the stripe. No other Miami player had more than six. Their opponents, the Oklahoma City Thunder, were comparative bricklayers, shooting 14 for 21.
Every one of those 40 Heat freebies was needed. Miami won, 112-111. The deciding point, which came with 12 seconds left, was, of course, a Butler free throw.
Butler ended with 35 points, yet needed only six field goals (on 17 shots) to reach that total.
The Heat broke a record that was held by two teams. The Utah Jazz shot 39 for 39 in 1982 (Danny Schayes was 14 for 14), tying a mark first set by the 1953 Fort Wayne Pistons (the Stuyvesant High School and Columbia University graduate and eventual convicted point shaver Jack Molinas was 11 for 11).
There have been a couple of close calls. In 2000, the Indiana Pacers were 40 for 41 (Jermaine O’Neal missed one). In 1950, the Washington Capitols were 44 for 45. Dick O’Keefe missed his only free throw, and the team folded before the season was over. Those two things were not related, probably.
In terms of free throws made, 40 is far from the record. That was set by the Phoenix Suns in 1990 when they shot 61 for 80. Though Suns fans were treated to a free-throw bonanza that night, the success rate was a pedestrian .763.
Before you dismiss the Heat’s feat on Tuesday, consider that free throws are far from gimmes. N.B.A. teams this season are making about 78 of every 100 free throws. But that still leaves 22 that miss.
In perhaps the worst team performance ever, the Detroit Pistons somehow shot 3 for 17 in a 2017 game (they were also 3 for 23 from 3-point range and lost to the Pelicans by 23). The expansion Toronto Raptors hold the “record,” with a .000 free-throw percentage in a game in 1996. But it comes with an asterisk: They were somehow awarded only three total free-throw attempts in the game.
The individual record 0-fer goes to the legendarily poor free-throw-shooting Shaquille O’Neal, who was 0 for 11 in a 2000 game with the Los Angeles Lakers. But worse still, perhaps, was Chris Dudley’s horrifying 1-for-18 effort in 1990 with the Nets. In a promotion between quarters, a blindfolded spectator made the same number of free throws as Dudley did all game.
As for Butler, his 23-for-23 mark on Tuesday was oh-so-close to the individual record. James Harden was 24 for 24 in December 2019. Adrian Dantley of the Jazz was an agonizing 28 for 29 in 1984.
Dantley is also near the top when it comes to total free throws made in a game. He had games with 26, 27 and 28 free throws made in the 1980s, although none of them were perfect. Bob Cousy was 30 for 31 in a 1953 four-overtime playoff game.
Dantley’s 28 tied the regular-season record, which was set by Wilt Chamberlain of the Philadelphia Warriors, who made 28 of 32 free throws in a game in March 1962 game against the Knicks that was played in Hershey, Pa. The feat was scandalously overlooked at the time, as fans and journalists focused on some other statistic. Something about 100 points.
Elizabeth Merrill is a senior writer for ESPN.com and ESPN The Magazine. She previously wrote for The Kansas City Star and The Omaha World-Herald.
Marcel Louis-Jacques
In the moments before and after Miami Dolphins quarterback Tua Tagovailoa was taken away on a stretcher, his younger brother, Taulia, kept trying to call his mom. There was no answer. Their parents, Diane and Galu Tagovailoa, were at the Dolphins-Bengals game in Cincinnati. Taulia was 500 miles away and needed someone to tell him Tua was OK.
Like his brother, Taulia is a football player, but what he had just seen scared him — Tua spun around and violently flung to the turf, smacking the back of his head on the ground. He remained on the Bengals’ logo, with his forearms raised and his fingers stiffened in a contorted position near his face.
It was Thursday night, Sept. 29, more than three months before Buffalo Bills safety Damar Hamlin would lie on the same field in Cincinnati while a team of medics rushed to resuscitate him and help save his life. On both nights, everything eerily stopped. The game eventually went on the night of Sept. 29, but Taulia Tagovailoa, the starting quarterback for the University of Maryland, had a walk-through practice the next day and a game against Michigan State to prep for and all he could think about was finding a flight, immediately, to see Tua.
He tapped his mom’s number again, and again, and started to cry. “It just looked really bad,” he said.
When Diane Tagovailoa answered, she said Tua was with the doctors and had to be rushed to the hospital. His father eventually got on the phone and told Taulia to focus on Michigan State. But he barely slept that night. On his way to the Terrapins’ team hotel the next day, he received a FaceTime call from his brother. Tua was smiling.
In an effort to allay his brother’s fears, Tua, 24, recited his name, birthday and other basic information. He joked that he didn’t have a concussion. But by then, he had hit his head on the ground twice that last week of September; the first was not reported as a concussion, the second one was. He’d be the impetus for an investigation by the NFL and NFL Players Association into how he was cleared to play, which prompted changes in the league’s concussion policy.
On Christmas Day against Green Bay, Tagovailoa suffered another concussion, and he hasn’t played since. Miami’s fortunes have risen and fallen on the back of Tagovailoa, whose transformation in his third year prompted chants of M-V-P and faraway thoughts of a Super Bowl. With Tagovailoa, the Dolphins are 8-4 in games he’s finished and 1-4 without him. His passer rating leads the NFL (105.5), ahead of Kansas City quarterback Patrick Mahomes (105.2).
So naturally, a long-suffering fan base will hang on every injury report and update from coach Mike McDaniel this week as the Dolphins prepare for Sunday’s wild-card matchup at Buffalo, their first playoff game since 2016. Shortly after Miami pulled out an 11-6 playoff-clinching victory over the New York Jets with rookie quarterback Skylar Thompson on Sunday, Tagovailoa stood in the tunnel, in street clothes, and celebrated the playoff berth with his team.
McDaniel said he’s going to do “what’s best” for Tagovailoa and won’t even think of any scenarios involving him until he’s medically cleared. As of Monday, Tagovailoa had not been cleared for football activities. “When he’s cleared to practice, he’ll practice,” McDaniel said. “Until then, I’m not doing anything.”
But take away the ambiguity in Week 3, in which Tagovailoa was listed with a back injury in the Buffalo game, and his status this week might not even be in question. Two renowned concussion experts told ESPN that Tagovailoa’s head trauma during the Bills game had the appearance of a concussion. Dr. Julian Bailes, chairman of the department of neurosurgery at NorthShore University Health System, said that’s significant because three concussions in a finite period is generally the threshold that requires a player to be held out for an extended amount of time, possibly months. If Tagovailoa has had three concussions, Bailes believes he should sit.
“The brain doesn’t know whether it’s the playoffs or not,” he said. “The brain doesn’t appreciate what part of the season you’re in. It needs to recover.”
ON SEPT. 26, the day after Tagovailoa hit his head on the ground during the Bills game, Dr. Chris Nowinski was in rural Nebraska telling the widow of former Harvard teammate Chris Eitzmann that her husband, who died in 2021 of alcohol poisoning, was found to have had CTE. In the years since Nowinski co-founded Boston University’s Chronic Traumatic Encephalopathy Center, he has had many conversations like this. But this time, he was trying to explain to Eitzmann’s 14-year-old son why his dad wasn’t there anymore.
It had been a long week for Nowinski, vacillating between sadness and anger. He fired off three tweets during and shortly after the Dolphins-Bills game, calling the back-tweak diagnosis “bull$hit.”
Tagovailoa had been pushed to the ground in the second quarter against the Bills and hit his head. He got up on his own, shook his head, staggered and temporarily had to be propped up by two teammates. But he returned to the game after halftime and led the Dolphins to a 21-19 victory. Tagovailoa told medical staff he aggravated a back injury on the play. Although Miami never ruled the injury a concussion, Nowinski told ESPN he believed that it was.
On Thursday, Sept. 29, a few hours before the Bengals game, Nowinski tweeted, “If Tua takes the field tonight, it’s a massive step back for #concussion care in the NFL. If he has a 2nd concussion that destroys his season or career, everyone involved will be sued & should lose their jobs, coaches included. We all saw it, even they must know this isn’t right.”
Tagovailoa played that night in Cincinnati and later would say he was knocked unconscious. His hands were in a modification of the fencing response position — automatic movements of the body that occur from impact. His cousins were so affected by the scene that it prompted a group chat among about 15 people, including their spouses, and they worried and prayed for him.
After Tagovailoa’s concussion in Cincinnati, Miami reached out to Bailes. The Dolphins were examining how they should proceed with their quarterback, and Bailes said he was one of a small group of doctors contacted.
Bailes, a member of the NFL’s Head, Neck and Spine Committee and the NFLPA’s Mackey-White Health and Safety Committee, was a Pittsburgh Steelers team doctor during the latter part of the career of center Mike Webster, the first player Dr. Bennet Omalu diagnosed with CTE. Research from Omalu and Bailes eventually forced the NFL to rethink its policies on players’ health and brain safety.
Bailes said that he didn’t examine Tagovailoa and that he believes the Dolphins handled the Cincinnati concussion properly in sitting the quarterback from Sept. 30 to Oct. 22. In all three of Tagovailoa’s blows to the head, Bailes said that the mechanisms of injury were “very similar” in that he was thrown to the ground and hit the back of his head. Because he fell backward, he couldn’t break his fall.
On Oct. 1, the NFLPA fired the unaffiliated neurotrauma consultant involved in the decision to allow Tagovailoa to return to the Buffalo game. Multiple sources said the firing came after it was found the consultant made “several mistakes” in his evaluation. A week later, after its joint investigation with the NFLPA, the league added “ataxia” to its list of symptoms for which a player cannot return to a game. Ataxia is defined by the National Health Service as a group of disorders that affect coordination, balance and speech.
Nowinski said there is a growing awareness that hits to the head occurring close together in time are “riskier” for long-term issues. He also said studies show that with each concussion the odds of having another one increase.
“Why we think that happens includes what they call the neurometabolic cascade, the chemical and metabolic changes that occur with a concussion,” Nowinski said. “Once they’re triggered once, it may require a slightly lower threshold to make that happen again. Your brain’s resilience may be diminished in the sense that you’ve got 86 billion or so neurons and trillions of connections between them, and when you get a concussion, you lose some, but it’s not enough to permanently impair you.
“But if neurons die, if axons are severed, they don’t come back. And if you just keep taking some away with each concussion, eventually your brain can’t overcome the damage and the [ability to recover] becomes diminished.”
TAGOVAILOA’S FORTUNES, at least from a football perspective, changed with one call on Feb. 7, 2022.
McDaniel had just been named head coach of the Dolphins and was flying from the West Coast to South Florida when he FaceTimed his new quarterback from the plane. McDaniel told Tagovailoa that he knew he had the ambition to be great and that his job as coach was to get all that greatness out of him.
“I’m going to make sure that when you look back at this day, you’re going to be like, ‘Damn, that was one of the best days of my career, too,’” McDaniel told him.
Tagovailoa, the Dolphins’ fifth overall pick in the 2020 draft, had been widely considered a bust up to that point, so much so that in 2021 Miami considered pursuing and did due diligence on Deshaun Watson amid civil litigation alleging sexual assaults. This past August, an NFL investigation concluded that Dolphins owner Stephen Ross and minority partner Bruce Beal had violated the league’s anti-tampering policy on three occasions, from 2019 to 2022, in conversations with quarterback Tom Brady and the agent for then-New Orleans Saints coach Sean Payton.
Brian Flores, the Dolphins’ coach at the time, had a chilly relationship with Tagovailoa. Flores was defensive-minded and known for being intense. In close games, he would bench Tagovailoa in favor of veteran Ryan Fitzpatrick.
Mike Locksley, Tagovailoa’s offensive coordinator at Alabama, said Tagovailoa is a people person who doesn’t necessarily operate well with dysfunction.
“Not that you can’t jump his butt. I’ve seen times when coach [Nick] Saban would get after him,” said Locksley, now the head coach at Maryland. “He’s not hard to coach. He wants to please his coaches and please his teammates, almost to a fault, where he’ll put someone else above himself.”
McDaniel was seemingly the anti-Flores — loose, funny, nerdy and oozing with positivity. Tagovailoa didn’t know how to respond to it at first and proceeded with cautious optimism. But McDaniel inspired him to work harder and be better.
The 2022 season began, essentially, in a park near Tagovailoa’s house in South Florida. It was summer. Tagovailoa’s receivers met their quarterback, some in shoulder pads and helmets, for workouts that stretched as long as 2½ hours in the punishing heat. Tua Tagovailoa’s brother, Taulia, trained with them and could sense the chemistry building.
The Dolphins had just added All-Pro receiver Tyreek Hill and top free-agent tackle Terron Armstead in the offseason in part to build a support system around their quarterback, and there was Hill, formerly a favorite target of Mahomes’, in that heat, on Tagovailoa’s turf, running routes.
The first game of the season inspired hope, a 20-7 win against the New England Patriots. But Miami fans have seen hope wane through more than a dozen quarterback failures in the lost decades post-Dan Marino. Skepticism was a given.
All that eroded in Week 2. Tagovailoa put together a six-touchdown, 469-passing-yard performance, rallying his team from a 21-point fourth-quarter deficit in a victory over Baltimore that made the Dolphins 2-0 and brought hysteria that Tagovailoa wasn’t just their franchise quarterback — he was going to take them to places they hadn’t been since the 1980s. “That was f—ing awesome,” Marino said after the comeback.
But every high seemingly came with a subsequent low of equal value, and the Buffalo win the next week was met with the reality of Tagovailoa’s first head injury.
Miami would win five games, then go on a five-game losing streak. It would go to Buffalo on Dec. 17 and nearly beat the Bills in frigid temperatures, then, just when it appeared as if the Dolphins were back on track, would lose Tagovailoa to another concussion in a home loss to Green Bay.
In the first half of that game, he was tackled after a throw and fell and hit the back of his head. He got to his feet and did not leave the game. He threw three interceptions in the fourth quarter. McDaniel told reporters that the Dolphins reviewed film from the game and saw things that “caused them to prod” Tagovailoa. After further discussion and observation of him Monday after the game, they advised him to visit with team doctors, and he was placed into the concussion protocol.
It prompted another investigation by the NFL and the NFLPA, which concluded that concussion protocols were not violated because Tagovailoa didn’t exhibit visible signs of a concussion during the game.
Tagovailoa has eschewed one-on-one interviews this fall, saying he wanted his play to do the talking. When healthy, it has. He threw for 3,548 yards and 25 touchdowns despite the chunks of season taken away by concussions. He completed 64.8% of his passes, with three of his eight interceptions coming in the fourth quarter of that Green Bay game.
Vinny Passas, his high school quarterback coach at Saint Louis School in Hawaii, was in the middle of a training session Dec. 26 when an alert popped on his phone that Tagovailoa had suffered another concussion. He said he couldn’t remember seeing Tagovailoa endure as many setbacks and challenging moments as he has in 2022.
He knows how hard it must be for Tagovailoa to sit. Passas has coached high school football in Hawaii for more than 40 years, and mentored quarterbacks such as Marcus Mariota and Timmy Chang. In Polynesian culture, Passas said, a mentality of toughing it out and playing through injuries is deeply ingrained.
“I remember coaching in a Polynesian Bowl game where a quarterback took himself out after a hit,” he said. “At halftime, a couple of Polynesian players told him, ‘Gosh, if we did what you did by taking your pads off and not playing the second half, our parents would come down here and give it to us because we’d be, like, embarrassing our family like that.’”
Tagovailoa’s parents did not respond to interview requests for this story. In an interview with Maria Taylor for “Football Night in America” in late October, as Tagovailoa returned from his Cincinnati concussion, he said that his injuries had been “a little tough” for his parents. He also acknowledged to reporters that week that he’s always been a quarterback who opted to try to make something happen, who’d wait for receivers to get open instead of throwing the ball away. But he was learning, he said, and was now thinking about his longevity.
His first game back against Pittsburgh, he tried to bulldoze defenders, twice.
Adam Amosa-Tagovailoa, a former offensive lineman at Navy who is Tua’s cousin, said that when they were children and needed to be reminded to never give up, their grandfather Seu would tell them about the story of the lion and the gazelle.
“The gazelle wakes up running away from danger,” Amosa-Tagovailoa said, “while the lion wakes up hungry, always starving, trying to get to the next meal.”
IN THE END, McDaniel’s positive vibes and Tagovailoa’s spurts of brilliance could not withstand an offseason inevitability: Tua’s future in Miami is once again murky. The Dolphins have until May to decide whether to exercise his fifth-year option.
Will they sign Tagovailoa to a long-term extension after a year in which he has proved he is capable of high-level play but also with durability issues a concern? Tagovailoa was considered an injury risk in the 2020 draft because his college career at Alabama ended when he took a sack and dislocated his right hip, also fracturing its posterior wall, and suffered a concussion and a broken nose.
“You can’t tie the money to a player you’re not sure can stay healthy,” an AFC exec told ESPN. “If he didn’t have the medical history, maybe you think harder about doing something. The concussion dynamic is harder to figure out since I’m not sure his medical on that.
“The Dolphins are in a tough spot, because he’s a good player but a lot like Kirk Cousins. If you give him good football players, he’s going to be productive. If you ask him to go win a game and put a team on his back, that’s asking a lot.”
Despite all the hits in 2022, Nowinski, a neuroscientist who co-founded the Concussion Legacy Foundation, said he does not consider Tagovailoa to be concussion-prone. He said that’s a subjective label given to people who have had multiple concussions over many years. But he is worried that NFL teams might label him that to justify paying him less or not giving him as many opportunities.
“I’m highly concerned that he will get that label, and not fairly,” Nowinski said. “I would look at it as he had one concussion, which happens. He then receives an improper diagnosis and care and received what is either a second concussion or a hit that exacerbated the first. But either way, it left him susceptible for months to a future hit, causing another concussion, more susceptible than he had been prior, which is, I think, what we saw.
“None of this was his fault. He’s been playing football for a long, long time and never had these issues. … We need to give him time to properly recover before he should be given any labels.”
The NFL does not share concussion tracking information during the season but provides injury data at the end of each season. In 2021, there were 187 reported concussions in the regular and preseason combined. This year, the league has conducted three investigations into the application of concussion protocol — one with New England receiver DeVante Parker and two with Tagovailoa.
Tagovailoa’s agent is Leigh Steinberg, who for decades has represented the top quarterbacks in the NFL, from Steve Young to Mahomes. Steinberg is known for being at the forefront of player safety in regard to brain injuries long before football acknowledged them. Steinberg was holding seminars to educate his players on the long-term effects of concussions as early as the 1990s. He declined to comment for this story.
In an interview in November, Taulia Tagovailoa said he was “really nervous” to watch his brother play in his Week 7 return against Pittsburgh. He didn’t know how he’d play or move. But he said Tua didn’t skip a beat, and that gave him comfort.
There are decisions to be made by the Dolphins, and by Tagovailoa. He and his wife, Annah, became parents this year. When asked what was the difference in his brother’s game this season, Taulia cited chemistry, then thought about it some more. The biggest difference, he said, is that Tua has a son, and that motivates him and helps him block out everything else.
“I think his son really changed his life,” Taulia said. “When he comes home, it’s bigger than football. It’s your son. You always want to be good for him. You always want him to grow up and say, ‘That’s my father.’”
Rattler transferred to South Carolina last season from Oklahoma and played his best football at the end of the year. He passed for 792 yards and eight touchdowns with just two interceptions in wins over top-10 foes Tennessee and Clemson to close the regular season.
South Carolina coach Shane Beamer responded to the news that Rattler was coming back with a tweet that read: “Here. We. Go!!!!!!!”
Rattler joins his top receiver, Antwane “Juice” Wells, in returning for another season. Wells, an All-SEC first-team selection, announced earlier this week he was coming back after leading South Carolina with 68 catches for 928 yards and six touchdowns.
Rattler rebounded from a rough start last season as the Gamecocks won seven of their last nine regular-season games. He finished with an SEC-high 12 interceptions but threw for a career-high 438 yards and six touchdowns in the 63-38 rout of Tennessee. Rattler’s 3,026 passing yards ranked fifth in the SEC. He finished with 18 touchdown passes and three rushing touchdowns.
Rattler was a Heisman Trophy hopeful at Oklahoma entering the 2021 season but lost his starting job to Caleb Williams. Looking for a new start, Rattler transferred to South Carolina prior to the 2022 season. He and Beamer already had a relationship from Beamer’s time at Oklahoma as an assistant.
The Gamecocks (8-5) finished No. 23 in the final AP poll, their first Top 25 finish since 2013.
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.
Dozens of players from the East region were active during the all-star season and those results will have an effect on the rankings. Here are the five toughest rankings questions we’ll be facing in the East region.
Okunlola remains one of the best offensive linemen in the nation but his five-star status could be in question after a less-than-thrilling performance in San Antonio. The Miami signee has impressive physical tools and he’s an elite athlete at the position but his technical prowess did not shine against the top flight defensive linemen at the All-American Bowl.
Physically, Okunlola is plenty big but does not tower over other elite prospects and he doesn’t consistently overpower them either. Given his performance on the big stage, it will be interesting to see where he lands in the final rankings update.
Harbor is one of the most unique prospects we’ve come across and his game is still developing so his ranking is very much up for debate. The five-star is an elite track athlete and presents a mismatch wherever he lines up on the field but it looks increasingly likely that he will play on the offensive side of the ball in college as either a tight end or a jumbo receiver.
In Orlando, his receiving skills were put to the test and in the game he lived up to the hype with multiple catches and had no problem getting open against the elite defenders on the field. Currently ranked No. 26 in the nation, it is likely Harbor sees some movement in this final rankings update.
*****
Will Jven Williams continue to rise?
Jven Williams
Penn State signed two of the best offensive linemen this year in Alex Birchmeier and Williams, but the latter has been one of the more heavily debated prospects in this rankings cycle. Williams is unquestionably one of the best athletes at the position this year but his in-game performances have been almost exclusively limited to run blocking.
In San Antonio the analyst team got a look at Williams as a pass blocker and gained a better understanding of where he is in his development. What does that mean for his ranking? It remains to be seen how the debate will play out, but there is more information at our disposal to make the final decision on his ranking.
Should Jason Moore or Jamaal Jarrett return to the No. 1 spot at defensive tackle?
Jason Moore
For the majority of the 2023 ranking cycle, Jarrett and Moore have been at or very close to the top of the defensive tackle position rankings but the all-star season has made the debate over who the top defensive tackle should be a tougher decision. Jordan Hall and Will Norman played very well throughout the series of all-star practices and in their respective All-American games.
Moore was extremely active throughout the week of practices as well and had a good performance in the Under Armour Next All-America Game. Jarrett has already joined the Georgia Bulldogs to begin the next stage of his career but, as it stands, his résumé is extremely impressive.
Alabama signee James Smith has consistently been considered one of the top defensive tackles in the nation and it wouldn’t be surprising to see him remain in that conversation. There’s also David Hicks to consider, who could move to defensive tackle after his performance in Orlando.
*****
Who else could shake up the rankings?
Monroe Freeling
While many of the biggest names on the East Coast have been drawing plenty of headlines, there are others who also put in the work at the all-star games and could end up getting a boost in the final rankings update.
Manchester United have a “deal in principle in place” with Burnley to sign striker Wout Weghorst.
The Dutchman is currently on loan at Turkish side Besiktas and United are still waiting for the termination of that contract to be agreed between Burnley and Besiktas before any deal can be finalised for a switch to Old Trafford.
United are conscious of the complexities of the deal as it requires the alignment of three clubs and are keeping all other options open if the transfer does not come to fruition.
Previously, Besiktas sporting director Ceyhun Kazanci has said any deal will only happen if the club is compensated, otherwise, Weghorst will see out his season-long loan.
In a statement, Besiktas said: “The claim that there is an exit clause in our player’s contract, stating that his contract can be terminated with a compensation of 2.5m euros (£2.2m) in case of an offer from the Premier League, is fictitious.
“The news that the player in question will leave the team on Tuesday is completely untrue. The initiative regarding Wout Weghorst belongs entirely to Besiktas.”
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With Manchester United exploring the option to sign Wout Weghorst on loan, his pressing statistics could be the reason Erik ten Hag is attracted to the striker
It is no secret United want to sign a No 9 and Weghorst would represent an option they have not got in the squad – a physical presence as well as a strong scoring record at club and international level.
The 6ft 6in striker has nine goals in 18 games for Besiktas this season and scored what proved to be the winner in Saturday’s 2-1 Super Lig victory over Kasimpasa. After he scored, Weghorst appeared to wave an emotional goodbye to the club’s fans.
“Weghorst is an important player for us. It is not enough to say goodbye to the audience. He also needs to talk to the club,” Besiktas head coach Senol Gunes said post-match.
“I have heard of such a development, but it is not clear. I’ll consider [him] leaving after I talk to both him and the club.”
United were in the market for a player of Weghorst’s profile in the summer and were interested in Sasa Kalajdzic and Benjamin Sesko.
A loan move is thought to be United’s focus before revisiting the position in the summer when there will be more options available.
United must register Weghorst by 12pm on Friday for him to be available for the Manchester derby on Saturday.
United are desperate to sign a striker on loan during the January window after severing ties with Cristiano Ronaldo during the World Cup following the player’s explosive interview with Piers Morgan in which he criticised the club and manager Erik ten Hag.
The striker scored twice for the Netherlands in the World Cup quarter-finals against eventual winners Argentina, with the second arguably being one of the most dramatic goals in the competition’s history – levelling the scores from an inventive free-kick pass to send the game into extra-time.
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The Good Morning transfers team discuss whether Burnley striker Wout Weghorst would be a positive signing for Manchester United
The former Wolfsburg star has hit the ground running in Turkey, netting eight goals and registering four assists in 16 league games.
Those figures are a stark contrast to his returns in the Premier League with Burnley last term, when he netted only two goals in 20 games – but his broader play during that period provides clues to Ten Hag’s current interest in the player.
The graphic below shows every shot and chance created by Weghorst at Burnley last term and reveals he fired shots on target only nine times from 25 attempts across his 20 appearances – equating to an eight-per-cent conversion rate or 728 minutes per goal.
Ten Hag: Martial cannot manage load – we need another striker
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Why are Man Utd only looking for loan deals? Analysis from The Transfer Show panel
Speaking on Friday, Manchester United manager Erik ten Hag said he needs to bring in attacking cover for Marcus Rashford with Anthony Martial struggling to manage the load.
Martial had a disrupted pre-season, and has been unable to complete 90 minutes this term as a result of an injury-interrupted campaign.
“There is a reason [Martial has been substituted in his last seven games]. It is because he cannot manage the load,” Ten Hag said. “This is why we are looking for another striker.
“It is not about us not relying on him. His physical load is not, at this moment, so high that he can play, every third day, a game of 90 minutes. So I have to manage that together with him.
“We are on a thin line at the moment because the qualities of Anthony Martial are so important right now to our game. His movements, his ball security, the pressing, let’s not forget that. We need that profile to be a threat.
“Also, Marcus Rashford benefits from that. So I am not concerned that only Marcus is scoring goals, because I am convinced the other players [can score too].
“Not only Anthony Martial, but Antony scored [in the 3-1 FA Cup win against Everton]. Bruno Fernandes is also very capable of scoring, Christian Eriksen will create and is also capable of scoring goals. So we have more players who can score goals.”
Who will be on the move this winter? The January transfer window opened on Sunday January 1, 2023 and closes at 11pm on Tuesday January 31, 2023.
Keep up-to-date with all the latest transfer news and rumours in our dedicated Transfer Centre blog on Sky Sports’ digital platforms. You can also catch up with the ins, outs and analysis on Sky Sports News.
British pair Jodie Burrage and Lily Miyazaki breezed into the final round of qualifying for the Australian Open as they aim to join Emma Raducanu and Harriet Dart in the main women’s singles draw.
World No 128 Burrage beat Czech player Barbora Palicova 6-1 6-2 to set up a meeting with France’s Selena Janicijevic.
World No 178 Miyazaki overcame South Korea’s Jang Su-jeong 6-4 7-6 (7-2) and will next face American Coco Vandeweghe.
A third Briton, Katie Boulter, plays Russian Polina Kudermetova later on Wednesday.
Raducanu remains hopeful she will be fit for the Australian Open, which runs from January 16-29.
The British No 1 was forced to retire from her second-round match against Viktoria Kuzmova at the ASB Classic in Auckland last week after rolling her left ankle.
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Emma Raducanu says she is hopeful of being fit in time for the Australian Open after having to withdraw from the ASB Classic in Auckland after turning her ankle
“I’m just taking a day at a time, honestly, and just trying to, every single day try as best as possible to see and make progress,” the 20-year-old said in an interview with Tennis Australia on Monday.
“And we’ll see hopefully by Monday, or whenever the tournament starts, I’ll be OK and ready.
“But we’re just taking it a day at a time and not trying to expect too much at this point.”
SAN FRANCISCO — Heading into Tuesday night’s game, the Golden State Warriors were confident Stephen Curry‘s return would be just what they needed to build on the momentum they had established earlier on their homestand without him.
They finally had their best player back. Their starting lineup — the league’s best five-man unit — was whole for the first time since Dec. 3. They were facing an undermanned, struggling Phoenix Suns team.
Instead, the Warriors looked like a similar version of the team they were when Curry went down with a left shoulder subluxation, falling to the Suns 125-113.
“I think with Steph and [Andrew Wiggins] back, we probably relaxed a bit more than we should have,” Golden State guard Klay Thompson said. “We thought with them showing up, we’d just get the dub.”
But both Curry and Wiggins have dust to shake off, and it was evident.
Curry, who missed 11 games after being injured on Dec. 14, wore a shooting sleeve on his left arm that stretched from his shoulder down to his wrist. He said that physically he came through the game well and wasn’t thinking about his shoulder during the action — something that was crucial for him to do to be cleared to play.
On Friday, Curry had said he didn’t think his conditioning took too much of a hit during his layoff, and while he played 31 minutes Tuesday night, he admitted playing under a minute restriction affected his ability to find his rhythm.
Knowing he would play for only certain stretches, he said there was a level of pressure to regain his form in a finite amount of time, which he tried to balance while playing within the flow of the game.
“It’s hit or miss with how much rust you will have and how close you can get to the speed of the game,” Curry said. “The first quarter, it felt good just to be out there, running with our guys. … I felt like I got stronger as the game went on. … In the fourth, the intensity of the game picked up. We were playing very desperately trying to come back and make some plays. I felt like myself again.”
Curry scored 16 of his 24 points in the fourth quarter. He shot 8-of-22 from the floor, including 5-of-15 from 3, in 31 minutes overall.
Wiggins, who was playing in his second game back from an adductor strain and subsequent injury, finished with 10 points but did so on 5-of-16 shooting and lacked the aggression and rhythm he had before his absence.
Thompson started the night scoring 14 of his 29 points in the first quarter then cooled off.
In his first game coming off the bench since Dec. 3, Jordan Poole scored 27 points.
With just over four minutes left in the game, Curry hit three consecutive 3-pointers to breathe life back into the team. Three minutes later, a Poole layup, a stop, a Poole 3 and another stop had pulled the Warriors within six after they had trailed by as much as 27.
Out of the timeout, Curry got called for a foul, sending Damion Lee to the line and giving the Suns a three-possession lead. Those free throws wound up being the dagger.
“I’m hoping that fourth quarter was the team that I have come to know and love and recognize,” Warriors coach Steve Kerr said. “But we have to show in the first quarter, not in the fourth quarter.”
The fourth quarter, Curry said, exemplified the “level of focus, of togetherness, toughness, high IQ basketball” the Warriors hold themselves to and what they know is needed to win.
But the first three quarters saw the Warriors’ offense disjointed and their defense nearly nonexistent. Phoenix closed the first quarter on a 10-0 run and by halftime held a 14-point lead. The Warriors fell behind by as much as 27 points to a Suns team with no Devin Booker, Chris Paul, Deandre Ayton, Cameron Johnson and Cameron Payne.
“I’ve got to do a better job of giving [the Warriors] the slap in the face that Phoenix gave us,” Kerr said. “One team has the edge emotionally like Phoenix did, and they set the tone right away. That’s all it takes.”
Both Kerr and Thompson said Tuesday’s contest needs to serve as a reminder to the Warriors that there are no easy games in the NBA, no matter how healthy their roster is or depleted their opponent’s is.
“You need a wake-up call,” Kerr said. “You need to understand the level of commitment to each other, to the game it takes to win a title.”
This isn’t just a reminder to the Warriors’ younger players and two-way players, who Kerr pointed out didn’t play against Phoenix, but to their veterans who have won multiple championships.
But having just played their 41st game of the season — the official halfway mark — there have been other reminders of this. There have been other games after which they have shared a similar sentiment: that they understand they are not meeting their standard.
“We’ve been talking about it for a long time,” Curry said. “Eventually, you have to do it or else time runs out. … We have 41 games to figure it out — or else, we won’t.”
OWINGS MILLS, Md. — Pro Bowl middle linebacker Roquan Smith is set to remain the centerpiece of the Baltimore Ravens‘ defense beyond half a season.
Smith reached an agreement on a five-year extension on Tuesday, a team source confirmed. The NFL Network is reporting the deal is worth $100 million, which would make him the highest-paid inside linebacker in the league at $20 million per season.
The extension with Smith not only will keep Baltimore’s top defensive player from becoming a free agent in two months; it will free up the Ravens to use the franchise tag on quarterback Lamar Jackson, who is finishing out the fifth-year option on his rookie contract.
Smith, 25, lived up to expectations since the Ravens acquired him in October from the Chicago Bears for second- and fifth-round picks in the 2023 NFL draft. A leader and tone-setter, Smith finished as the NFL’s third-leading tackler this season (169) for a Baltimore defense that allowed the third-fewest points (18.5), and he was named to the first Pro Bowl of his career.
“He wants to do the things that are required to be a great player and to be a great unit and then to impact your team,” Ravens coach John Harbaugh said of Smith on Monday. “That’s what he’s all about — 100 percent — [and] that’s what I love about him. He’s one of the top guys I’ve ever seen that way, and I think that does always impact everybody as a leader, for sure.”
Smith has been the most impactful player in the second half of the season for Baltimore. In the Ravens’ first eight games without Smith, the defense ranked 20th in points allowed (22.9) and 24th in yards given up (364.3). In Baltimore’s nine games with Smith, the defense allowed the NFL’s second-fewest points (14.7) and held teams to the third-fewest yards (288.8).
He is the first player since Hall of Fame linebacker Ray Lewis to record at least 100 tackles, multiple sacks and one interception in each of the first five years of a career.
In the N.F.L. playoffs, teams are as evenly matched as they will have been all season.
With opponents looking for whatever scant advantage exists, there are several statistical trends worth monitoring. Dropped passes, penalty yards, field-position differentials and fourth-quarter surges can all have a major impact on the results of this weekend’s elimination games.
Tom Brady’s Fourth-Quarter Surges
Brady’s patented comebacks are still big. It’s the rest of his game that has grown smaller.
His Buccaneers (8-9) overcame fourth-quarter deficits in four of their victories. Tampa Bay beat back a 13-6 fourth-quarter deficit to beat the Los Angeles Rams, 16-13, in Week 9. Brady overcame a 16-3 deficit to beat the New Orleans Saints, 17-16, in Week 13. Brady also led the Buccaneers back from trailing by 16-6 to beat the Arizona Cardinals, 19-16, in overtime in Week 16, and then the next week they trailed by 21-10 before defeating the Carolina Panthers, 30-24, to clinch the N.F.C. South.
In those comebacks, the Buccaneers trailed by a combined 66-22 score in the fourth quarter, against opponents who ended the season with losing records. That does not exactly inspire confidence.
Across the first, second and third quarters of regular-season games, Brady threw just 12 touchdowns, fewer than the Bears’ Justin Fields and the Texans’ Davis Mills (13 each), beleaguered young quarterbacks whose teams combined for a 6-27-1 record and earned the right to the top two picks in the 2023 draft. Brady then threw 13 fourth-quarter touchdowns, seven of them while trailing in the final four minutes, sometimes (though not always) during heroic comebacks.
Brady’s sorcery will probably not be enough to advance the Buccaneers through the playoffs, but his knack for fourth-quarter touchdowns is reason for opponents not to give the ball back if they can avoid it.
Dak Prescott’s Interception Rate
Cowboys quarterback Dak Prescott tied for the league lead with 15 interceptions and had the worst interception rate (3.8 percent) of any starter during the regular season. In each of his last seven games, he has thrown at least one interception and three of them have been returned for touchdowns.
Prescott has been a fine quarterback aside from the interceptions, which is not quite like claiming that Sunday dinner was delicious except for the salmonella. Prescott finished the season tied for fourth in the N.F.L. in touchdown rate (5.8 percent). He often Houdinis his way out of the predicaments he helps cause, leading comeback victories against Houston in Week 14 and the Philadelphia Eagles in Week 16.
Prescott also isn’t getting much support from teammates; his overtime interception against the Jacksonville Jaguars in Week 15, for example, was tipped in the air by his own receiver.
A high interception rate does not preclude a Super Bowl victory: Rams quarterback Matthew Stafford tied for the N.F.L. lead with 17 interceptions in 2021, then threw three more in the postseason. Still, the Cowboys have a long and hilarious history of postseason pratfalls and will be much better off if they do not hand their opponent any easy opportunities. Especially since their opponent on Monday night is led by Tom Brady.
The Jacksonville Jaguars’ and Los Angeles Chargers’ Dropped Passes
Saturday’s game between the Chargers and Jaguars promises to be a showdown of Justin Herbert and Trevor Lawrence, two of the N.F.L.’s most promising young star quarterbacks. It could turn into a frustrating blooper reel, however: The Jaguars led the league with 41 dropped passes, according to Pro Football Reference, while the Chargers ranked second with 40 drops.
Zay Jones led the Jaguars with 13 drops, while Christian Kirk dropped seven passes; Marvin Jones and the former Giants tight end Evan Engram added five each. Running back Austin Ekeler and tight end Gerald Everett led the Chargers with nine drops each, while the top receivers Keenan Allen and Mike Williams, who were injured for much of the year, combined to drop three passes. Herbert therefore holds the advantage: He has two reliable targets at his disposal, while Lawrence has none.
The San Francisco 49ers’ Average Starting Field Position
The 49ers begin their average offensive drive at their own 30.9-yard line, the best starting field position in the N.F.L., according to Football Outsiders. Their opponents, by contrast, are stuck starting their drives at their own 25.6-yard line, the worst starting field position in the league. The 49ers therefore net a league-high 5.24 yards per series, essentially tilting the field in their favor and muscling opponents back toward their own goal line.
The 49ers also led the N.F.L. in turnover differential, with 13 more takeaways than giveaways. Their defense often gives the rookie quarterback Brock Purdy and his many playmakers the ball within easy striking distance of the end zone.
The 49ers scored touchdowns on short drives after turnovers in each of their two regular-season victories over the Seattle Seahawks, a division rival they’ll face again on Saturday. Even if the Seahawks manage to play turnover-free football, however, they may find themselves climbing uphill all afternoon.
The Minnesota Vikings’ Penalty Differential
The Minnesota Vikings committed 88 penalties for just 689 yards in the regular season, according to nflpenalties.com. Their opponents committed 111 penalties for 926 yards. Their +237-yard penalty differential was the highest figure in the N.F.L., and it contributed to the sense that the often unimpressive Vikings were winning many of their games based though sheer luck.
Some of the Vikings’ penalty edge stemmed from the team’s strengths. For example, opponents committed 11 defensive pass interference penalties for 158 yards in their desperate effort to cover receivers Justin Jefferson and Adam Thielen. Some of the advantage may have come from experience and sound coaching: The Vikings committed just 12 offensive holding penalties, the second-lowest figure in the N.F.L.
The rest of the differential may indeed have been the result of the team’s purported probability-warping superpowers: Opponents were flagged a league-high six times for ineligible downfield receivers, a truly random infraction.
The Giants must minimize their penalties against the Vikings on Sunday, especially since they cannot count on their passing game to bail them out of trouble.
Daniel Jones’s Average Depth of Target
The Giants rely heavily on short passing. A little too heavily. Daniel Jones’s average depth of target of 6.4 yards tied for 31st among starting quarterbacks, according to Pro Football Reference. For comparison’s sake, the Bills’ Josh Allen averaged 9.2 air yards per target, and Vikings quarterback Kirk Cousins — not exactly renowned as a mad bomber — averaged 7.5.
As a result of all their micro-passing, the Giants generated just 28 passing plays of 20 or more yards in the regular season, the lowest total in the league.
Despite the lack of big plays, Jones managed to lead the Giants on four fourth-quarter comebacks, the same number as Brady and Kansas City’s Patrick Mahomes. Unfortunately, Cousins led the Vikings on eight fourth-quarter comebacks, tying the modern record.
So the Giants cannot rely on late-game magic. Instead, they and other teams hope that some statistical trends will start to reverse themselves this weekend.
INDIANAPOLIS — Colts general manager Chris Ballard, admitting he “failed” by taking a flawed approach to the 2022 season, laid out a plan Tuesday that includes considering Jeff Saturday as a candidate in the team’s coaching search and displayed a willingness to trade up to the first pick in the NFL draft to solve the team’s yearslong quarterback quandary.
In discussing the most disappointing season in his six-year tenure, Ballard acknowledged mounting criticism of his decisions and publicly reckoned with the significant challenges facing the Colts (4-12-1).
“I failed,” Ballard said. “I’m not going to sit up here and make excuses. I failed a lot of people.”
Among the chief reasons for the Colts’ struggles, which led to the firing of former coach Frank Reich in November, has been the team’s approach to the quarterback position, Ballard said. The Colts have had different starting QBs to open each of the past five seasons, and the team had three different quarterbacks — Matt Ryan, Sam Ehlinger and Nick Foles — start games in 2022.
“Looking back on it, when you’re changing quarterbacks every year, it’s tough,” Ballard said. “It’s tough on everybody. It’s tough on the team. Not getting that position settled has a little something to do with [the team’s predicament].”
The Colts, who hold the No. 4 pick in April’s NFL draft, are widely expected to select a quarterback. Asked directly whether he was willing to be aggressive, perhaps even trading up to No. 1, Ballard didn’t flinch.
“I’ll do whatever it takes,” said Ballard, who in the past has expressed some reluctance to invest in a rookie quarterback. “If we thought there’s a player that we’re driven to get that makes the franchise and the team better, that’s what we would do.
“We understand the importance of the position. To get one that you can win with and to be right is the most important thing — not if we take one or not. It’s being right.”
Ballard pinpointed other mistakes that undermined the team, such as his ill-fated moves at left tackle that resulted in a revolving door at one of the team’s most critical positions.
“You get a vet quarterback and, well, here’s the expectation: We’re going to the Super Bowl,” Ballard said. “… Well, there was holes in there, and our job is to fix those holes.”
There has been much speculation about Ballard’s level of authority, given owner Jim Irsay’s recent exercise of his own power in decision-making.
On that subject, Ballard publicly acknowledged for the first time that he was not in agreement with Irsay on the decision to install Saturday as the team’s interim coach after Reich’s firing. Other specific internal candidates were not discussed, Ballard said. “It never really got to that point,” Ballard said.
At the time, Saturday was an ESPN analyst with a part-time role as a Colts consultant. The Colts’ former All-Pro center had no coaching experience in college or the NFL when he was hired.
“This is unprecedented, and we’re putting him into a really tough situation here,” Ballard recalled telling Irsay.
Ballard also addressed the perception that Irsay has denied him the ability to make consequential decisions, which would be a significant departure from the past.
“Mr. Irsay lets me do my job,” Ballard said. “He’s a good man and a good owner, and he has a lot of experience in this league, and we talk about everything.
“We don’t always agree. If we’re agreeing all the time, I’m not doing my job.”
As this current coaching search unfolds, Saturday’s close relationship with Irsay is seen as a possible advantage. Ballard denied that Saturday would have an unfair edge over other candidates. The team has already requested permission to interview several coaches, including Detroit Lions offensive coordinator Ben Johnson, Lions defensive coordinator Aaron Glenn and Los Angeles Rams defensive coordinator Raheem Morris.
“[Saturday’s] leg up is that he knows the internal workings and he’s been able to see the inside of what he wants to fix,” Ballard said. “But we will have a process that will be equal for everybody.”
Even after a season that included the firing of Reich and offensive coordinator Marcus Brady and quarterback machinations that included benching Ryan twice, Ballard was adamant that the Colts aren’t far away.
“I do think there’s some building pieces here,” Ballard said. “They’ve got to play better. Our best players gotta play to their standard. But I don’t think we’re devoid of talent. We need to add more talent. There’s areas we need to get better at. But I don’t think we’re completely void of talent.”
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COSTA MESA, Calif. — Los Angeles Chargers left tackle Rashawn Slater will return to practice this week, opening the 21-day window for his potential activation off injured reserve.
“He’s progressing well and we are excited to get him back out there,” coach Brandon Staley said Tuesday.
Slater, however, will not be activated ahead of Saturday’s AFC wild-card playoff against the Jacksonville Jaguars at TIAA Bank Field.
The Chargers placed Slater on injured reserve after he tore a left biceps tendon in a Week 3 loss to the Jaguars and later needed surgery.
Staley said Slater’s status would be “day-by-day” following Saturday’s game.
“He’s progressing well enough to get out there on the football field and he’s been working really, really hard, so I think just having him at practice is going to be great to see,” Staley said.
Rookie Jamaree Salyer, a sixth-round pick from Georgia, has started 14 games in Slater’s absence.
Slater, who was selected with the 13th overall pick in the the 2021 draft, earned Pro Bowl recognition as a rookie last season.
ASHBURN, Va. — The Washington Commanders fired offensive coordinator Scott Turner on Tuesday after yet another disappointing season offensively.
Turner, who signed a three-year extension last offseason, had been with coach Ron Rivera for seven years, including the past three in Washington. He coached under Rivera for parts of four seasons with the Carolina Panthers as well.
The Commanders finished a third consecutive season with poor offensive rankings. They were 20th in total yards and 26th in points. Their best rankings in Turner’s three seasons were 23rd in points and 21st in yards — both occurring last season.
“Unfortunately, we did not live up to the expectations and standard that I expected to see from our offensive unit,” Rivera said in a statement. “I felt it was best for a fresh start at the coordinator position going into next year. I have a tremendous amount of respect for Scott and thanked him for his three years of service to our organization.”
Near the end, players and others in the organization grumbled about the inconsistency of Washington’s offensive philosophy. There appeared to be a divide between Rivera’s vision for what he wanted offensively — led by a power run game — and Turner’s vertical passing attack. During their season-finale news conference, Rivera and general manager Martin Mayhew both emphasized the desire to be more of a physical running team.
“We need to control that tempo of the game,” Rivera said.
It didn’t help Washington’s offense that it lost rookie running back Brian Robinson Jr. for the first four games of the season after he was shot twice in his right leg in late August. The Commanders had wanted to feature him in a power-based run game. Once he was lost, they focused more on trying to get the ball to their receivers — Terry McLaurin, Jahan Dotson and Curtis Samuel — with strong-armed Carson Wentz. After scoring 55 points in their first two games, they scored a combined 47 in the next four.
Some players complained that it took too long in some games to get the ball to key playmakers such as McLaurin. Or, some players said, they’d get away from a formula that was working in games. Others said they liked the offense but wanted to see changes in the way it was taught. It also was considered a difficult offense for quarterbacks to learn, with perhaps not as much flexibility built in for them at the line of scrimmage.
There was concern throughout the year about the direction of the offense. One source said Rivera sat in on more offensive meetings this season to get a better feel for what was transpiring. One person whose team played Washington this season said the Commanders lacked an offensive identity and simply called a collection of plays, leading to some predictability.
Compounding the issue: Washington’s offensive line struggled, and it lacked stability at quarterback. In the past three years, eight quarterbacks started, including three this season — Wentz, Taylor Heinicke and rookie Sam Howell. Washington will seek to reinforce its line this offseason, possibly with at least two new starters.
Rivera also spoke to players during their exit meetings, with some saying they gave him their thoughts on the offense.
“I take into account everything that I get,” Rivera said, “not just from players but from coaches themselves, from what I look at, what I observe on the field, on the tape.”
Washington will interview outside candidates, but the Commanders do like the offensive system they have in place. One in-house candidate would be quarterbacks coach Ken Zampese, who was a coordinator in 2016-17 with Cincinnati before being fired after two games in his second season.
Turner served as the quarterbacks coach for the last two seasons of Rivera’s tenure in Carolina. He served as their interim offensive coordinator for the final four games of the 2019 season before joining Rivera’s staff in Washington for 2020.
“We’ve had some moments where it’s been good. Obviously, some moments where it’s been bad,” Turner said last week. “For the most part I feel like I’ve done a pretty decent job of it. There’s sometimes where you’ve gone too far one way or the other for sure.”
Rivera fired his defensive line coach, Sam Mills III, in August; the line had its best collective season in 2022.
ALLEN PARK, Mich. — Before exiting Lambeau Field on Sunday night, quarterback Jared Goff took a victory lap around the stadium to slap hands with Detroit Lions fans who were hanging around to celebrate.
After leading Detroit (9-8) to its first winning season since 2017, which included a 20-16 win over the Packers on the road in the finale, Lions general manager Brad Holmes said he feels Goff has proved to be the franchise’s quarterback moving forward.
“I think it’s a lot easier to get worse at quarterback than to get better in this league,” Holmes said during his end-of-season news conference Tuesday. “So, I think what Jared has done this year, he captained the ship of a top-3 offense, and he was top-10 statistically in most of the passing categories.
“And again, you know how we approach the draft,” he added. “We’re never going to turn down a good football player, so if it’s a football player we love, we’re going to make sure every stone is turned. But I do think that Jared has proven to everybody that he is the starting quarterback for us.”
After returning to Detroit on Monday, Goff and teammates cleaned out their lockers and he reiterated, “I’ve loved my time here.” He said he hasn’t been approached by the front office about his future in Detroit, but added, “We’ll see.”
“It feels great because I’ve been on the flip side of that to be in a place where you are appreciated,” Goff said. “It feels good. And again, these people here, it’s just a special place and I’m proud to be a part of it.”
Goff is signed through 2024, but the Lions will incur $10 million of dead money on their cap if they release him after this season, meaning they could do so without much financial consequence if they wanted to go in another direction.
But Holmes said the team never viewed Goff as a bridge quarterback. While on the Los Angeles Rams staff, Holmes was integral in drafting Goff as the first overall pick in 2016 and stood by him even through the low moments.
“I don’t really know what the decision is,” Holmes said. “I was always confident in him because I’ve been with him from the get-go from since he was drafted, back when I was with L.A. I just kind of know how resilient and how mentally tough he is. I think a lot of it was me knowing all the success he had in L.A. I think that was kind of forgotten about a little bit when he got here, and I think he was put in a very tough situation.”
Although they fell short on the final day after a late postseason push, the standard in Detroit is now to reach the playoffs, according to Holmes. That hasn’t happened since 2016.
Detroit holds the sixth pick (from the Rams) and the 18th pick in the upcoming draft, where quarterback options are expected to be available.
With Goff as the starter, the Lions climbed out of a 1-6 hole to win eight of their last 10 games.
Goff also went nine straight games without an interception and posted the fifth-longest streak in NFL history with 324 consecutive passes without a pick. In just his second year in Detroit, he set franchise marks for the lowest interception rate (1.2 percent) and the highest touchdown-to-interception ratio (4.14), which prompted coach Dan Campbell to tab him as “our quarterback” after the Packers win.
“He’s played great. He’s really a perfect fit for what we do and what we ask,” Campbell said at Green Bay on Sunday night. “I think the true sign of a pro is somebody who can take the coaching. He can look at himself in the mirror, he knows where he needs to improve, he listens to what recommendations you have to get better, and he goes at it now. He doesn’t shy from it; he doesn’t get sensitive. He just wants to be good. That’s our quarterback.”
All the top stories and transfer rumours from Wednesday’s newspapers…
THE SUN
Mauricio Pochettino is waiting in the wings to become the new Chelsea boss if Graham Potter is sacked and the Argentine would be willing to take over if the club called.
Steven Gerrard is being considered for a shock new role as Poland head coach after being sacked by Aston Villa.
Chelsea could hijack Tottenham’s move for Sporting Lisbon star Pedro Porro, according to reports.
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The Athletic journalist David Ornstein reviews Newcastle United journey so far since their takeover and Eddie Howe becoming the manager in for The Magpies as they reach their first semi-final since 2005.
DAILY MAIL
Manchester United moved closer to signing Wout Weghorst until the end of the season after Besiktas agreed to accept £2.5m in compensation to let the Holland striker leave.
Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang is attracting interest from Spain as the imminent arrival of Joao Felix provides an extra obstacle towards the Chelsea striker’s chances of regular football.
Atletico Madrid could sign former Manchester United forward Memphis Depay to replace Chelsea-bound Joao Felix.
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Joao Felix has flown to London to have a medical with Chelsea ahead of a loan move until the end of the season
Atalanta midfielder Teun Koopmeiners insists he is ‘100 per cent focused’ on the Italian club despite being flattered by reports linking him with a move to Liverpool.
Al-Nassr are eyeing a move for Barcelona midfielder Sergio Busquets in the wake of their £175m-a-year capture of Cristiano Ronaldo, according to reports.
Paris Saint-Germain are eager for Lionel Messi to see out his career in the French capital and have made it clear they are against him re-joining Barcelona.
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PSG remain ‘quietly confident’ that Lionel Messi will sign a new deal, but do they have competition from MLS side Inter Miami?
Gareth Bale is set to be offered a roving role by the Welsh FA following his retirement from football on Monday.
Leicester City have reportedly stretched ahead of their Premier League rivals in the race for Harry Souttar, with the Stoke City defender seemingly destined to make the step up to England’s top flight.
Newcastle have denied making a verbal approach for Borussia Dortmund teenager Youssoufa Moukoko.
Manchester United were reportedly interested in signing Julian Alvarez before the Argentine forward completed a move to rivals Man City.
THE GUARDIAN
Manchester United have reached a verbal agreement to sign Wout Weghorst. They have a deal in principle to pay Besiktas about €3m (£2.7m) to end the striker’s loan early and take him from his parent club Burnley for the rest of the season.
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The Good Morning transfers team discuss whether Burnley striker Wout Weghorst would be a positive signing for Manchester United
Ben Stokes and Brendon McCullum have given county coaches a how-to guide on their bold new approach to Test cricket as England try to spread the so-called “Bazball” revolution through the domestic game.
THE ATHLETIC
Paris Saint-Germain are planning to monitor Sergio Ramos between now and the end of the season before deciding whether to offer him a contract extension.
DAILY TELEGRAPH
MCC has apologised and admitted it “upset many members” by cancelling the Eton-Harrow and Oxford-Cambridge fixtures at Lord’s.
A cricket club more than 100 years old could be forced to fold following complaints from a neighbour about flying cricket balls.
DAILY RECORD
Mexican side Tigres have reportedly made a final bid for Eintracht Frankfurt star Rafael Santos Borre before turning to Rangers star Alfredo Morelos as a January option.
Robby McCrorie’s hopes of making an early impression on new Rangers boss Michael Beale have been dashed by injury.
Arsenal won 3-0 at Oxford United in the FA Cup third round on Tuesday; The FA will investigate allegations of suspicious betting patterns around the booking of Oxford defender Ciaron Brown during the second half; The FA are looking at evidence passed to them following the match
LAKE FOREST, Ill. — Bears general manager Ryan Poles backed Justin Fields as Chicago’s starting quarterback for 2023 and said he would have to be “absolutely blown away” to take a quarterback with the No. 1 overall pick in this year’s draft.
“Yeah. We had good conversations,” Poles said during his season-ending news conference. “I’m excited for the direction he’s going. As I mentioned before, he knows where he has to improve. I think he mentioned that the other day. We’re excited about his development and where he goes next. He showed ability to be impactful with his legs. There’s flashes with his arm. Now if we can put that together, I think we have something really good.”
The Bears entered Week 18 second in the draft order but then swapped spots with Houston for the No. 1 overall pick after the Texans beat the Indianapolis Colts 32-31. Alabama’s Bryce Young and Ohio State’s C.J. Stroud are considered the top quarterbacks in a draft class that could feature as many as four QBs taken in the first round.
Poles appeared to temper debate on whether the Bears would take a quarterback with the No. 1 pick after committing to Fields as Chicago’s starter for next season.
“We’re going to do the same as we’ve always done,” Poles said. “We’re going to evaluate the draft class, and I would say this: I would have to be absolutely blown away to make that type of decision.”
Despite the Bears ending the 2022 season on a franchise-worst 10-game losing streak and 3-14 record, Fields showed signs of improvement in his second season that has the Bears general manager encouraged about his development.
“I thought Justin did a good job,” Poles said. “I thought we changed a lot, we adapted, we tried to put him in a position to be successful, he showed the ability to be a playmaker. Be impactful. He can change games quickly. Does he have room to grow? He does. He has to get better as a passer, and I’m excited to see him take those steps as we move forward.”
The Bears owned the league’s top rushing offense and worst passing offense, with Fields averaging 149.5 passing yards per game. He did not play in Chicago’s season finale against Minnesota due to a hip injury, finishing his season 64 yards shy of the single-season quarterback rushing record.
In two seasons with the Bears, Fields has led Chicago to five wins while completing 60.4% of his passes for 2,242 yards, 17 touchdowns and 11 interceptions, along with 160 carries for 1,143 yards and eight rushing TDs.
Poles pointed to the discrepancy between Chicago’s rushing and passing game as a lack of chemistry with the skill players around Fields. Aside from wide receiver Darnell Mooney and tight end Cole Kmet, who played with Fields during his rookie season in 2021, Chicago overhauled its entire wide receiver and tight end group in 2022.
“I noticed through the season that guys he had the most time with in the offseason, that transferred into the season,” Poles said. “I think that’s why Cole had a helluva year. So, building that chemistry is big. And then just letting the game slow down to him. Everything’s new. This offense was new. You’re seeing everything for the first time. Time on task I think is going to help.”
Poles said he did not regret not putting more offensive pieces around Fields as the quarterback improved during the season, citing that the Bears made uses of their resources to ‘the best of our ability’ based on the players available.
“I wish there was a perfect scenario where you could just clean up everything and get good,” the general manager said. “So I thought we made, solid, sound decisions to do that. Yeah, I wish it was perfect across the board so it was clean as much as possible, but it just doesn’t always happen that way.”
The Bears did attempt to bolster the receiving corps at the trade deadline when they sent their own second round pick (No. 32) to Pittsburgh in exchange for Chase Claypool. Despite his lack of production (14 catches for 140 yards in 7 games), Poles is confident that the wide receiver will contribute in 2023.
“That’s the difference between trades in baseball and basketball, it’s like plug and play,” Poles said. “There’s an entire offseason and half of a season of installs and all the things you need to do collectively to play and execute offensive play. On top of that, it was a little bit choppy with Justin getting dinged up, he got dinged up. So it was a little bit choppy of a start. I told Chase, and we had a really good conversation, I’m not blinking at that one at all. I think he’s going to help us moving forward and I’m excited about it.”
As Chicago turns the page to the offseason, Poles pointed out the “flexibility” the team has to improve the roster given the ample resources the Bears have, from over $108 million in salary-cap space for free agency to the No. 1 draft pick.
While Poles dispelled the notion that Chicago will “go crazy” with their spending in free agency, the leverage the Bears have sitting in the No. 1 draft slot is not lost on the GM.
“We can evaluate the talent there, we can see what player presents themselves in that position to help us, and then we can look at the scenarios,” Poles said. “If the phones go off, and there are certain situations where that can help us, then we’ll go down that avenue too. I think we have really good flexibility to help this team, regardless of if it’s making the pick there or moving back a little bit or moving back a lot. We’ll be open to everything.”
ESPN MLB insider Author of “The Arm: Inside the Billion-Dollar Mystery of the Most Valuable Commodity in Sports”
Star shortstop Carlos Correa and the Minnesota Twins are finalizing a six-year, $200 million contract, pending a physical, after weeks of discussion to salvage a deal with the New York Mets broke down, sources familiar with the situation told ESPN.
The stunning turn caps a whirlwind month for Correa, who agreed to a 13-year, $350 million contract with the San Francisco Giants on Dec. 13. After the Giants raised concerns about Correa’s surgically repaired right leg, he pivoted quickly to the Mets, who offered him a 12-year, $315 million contract. The Mets flagged his physical as well, and efforts to amend the deal fell apart, leading Correa back to Minnesota, where he signed after a topsy-turvy offseason last year, too.
The agreement includes a vesting option for four years and $70 million and will become official if Correa passes a medical review, which is currently taking place. The focus will be on his lower right leg, which he broke in 2014 during a minor league game, and a source said the Twins expect to be comfortable with it. Correa has not spent time on the injured list for a right leg ailment in his eight-year big league career, but Giants and Mets medical personnel were concerned about how the leg would age.
Correa, 28, is among the game’s best shortstops and entered the winter in hopes of securing the mega-contract that eluded him last offseason, when he settled for a three-year, $105.3 million deal with the Twins that included an opt-out after the first season. Correa hit .291/.366/.467 with 22 home runs and high-level defense, leaving the Twins hopeful he would consider returning after he filed for free agency.
Should Correa pass his physical — the Twins are more familiar with his medical situation than any other team and earlier in the winter considered a 10-year, $285 million deal, which is around what the current deal would wind up at if the option vests — Minnesota will enter 2023 with strong hopes of winning the American League Central division.
The Mets, meanwhile, will come into spring training without the player owner Steve Cohen told the New York Post “puts us over the top” right after the team and Correa agreed to terms. It was the shock of the winter, a middle-of-the-night coup by the Mets that took the most expensive team in baseball history and added a two-time All-Star and vaunted postseason performer who would push the payroll close to $500 million.
What came next mirrored what had allowed the Mets to have a shot at Correa in the first place. When the Giants balked at giving Correa the fourth-largest deal in baseball history because of the leg, he wasted no time, agreeing with the Mets less than 12 hours later. After the Mets’ physical raised similar questions, Correa’s agent, Scott Boras, continued to engage in discussions with the team, cognizant that a second failed physical could potentially torpedo Correa’s market. Talks with the Mets approached three weeks, and the lack of substantive progress pushed Correa back onto the market, questionable medicals and all.
They certainly wound up having an effect on the deal’s length, although Correa’s average annual salary of $33.3 million will be the second highest at the position, behind Mets shortstop Francisco Lindor, whom Correa had planned on playing next to at third base. The deal falls short in total dollars of the 11-year deals signed by fellow shortstops Trea Turner ($300 million with Philadelphia) and Xander Bogaerts ($280 million with San Diego) this winter but trails only Judge’s nine-year, $360 million contract in annual value.
On Dec. 21, the Mets were declared by many as the winners of the off-season after they agreed to terms with Carlos Correa, one of the top infielders in baseball, on a 12-year, $315 million contract. The Mets, who won 101 games in 2022, were adding an all-around superstar in what they hoped was the final piece in the team owner Steven A. Cohen’s championship puzzle.
The Mets deal, which came after Correa’s 13-year, $350 million deal with the San Francisco Giants the week before unraveled, was “pending a physical examination,” contract language that is often glossed over like the “terms and conditions” on a website.
Twenty days later, however, Correa, 28, a shortstop, walked away from that deal as well. On Tuesday, he reached an agreement with the Minnesota Twins, whom he played for last season, on a six-year, $200 million contract. A personal familiar with the details of the negotiations confirmed Correa’s deal with the Twins on condition of anonymity.
The Twins deal is also pending a physical. So until it is completed, everyone will have to stay tuned.
Hadn’t Correa already signed with the Mets? What about the Giants?
Correa’s deal with the Giants would have been the second-largest of this off-season, according to Spotrac. The one he agreed to with the Mets would have been the third-largest. But both were held up after the teams conducted physical examinations. Rather than rework those deals, Correa accepted a contract with Minnesota that guarantees him far less money overall but pays him considerably more annually.
With this deal, Correa would trail only Francisco Lindor of the Mets among shortstops in average salary, but his contract is smaller in total value than the ones agreed to this off-season by Trea Turner (11 years, $300 million with Philadelphia) and Xander Bogaerts (11 years, $280 million with San Diego).
How is his new contract different?
In his new agreement with the Twins, Correa would be paid an average of $33,333,333 per season over six years and could increase his earnings up to $245 million over seven years by reaching certain benchmarks, according to the person familiar with the negotiations. There are vesting options built into the deal to protect the team and potentially benefit the player, including ones tied to where he places in regular season and postseason awards.
First, the Twins have to complete the deal, which, considering Correa’s off-season thus far, is not guaranteed.
Are protections like these unusual?
Not particularly. In the past, Scott Boras clients like Ivan Rodriguez, J.D. Drew and Magglio Ordóñez agreed to contracts that contained language to protect the teams after medical issues arose while still paying the players competitive salaries.
What have the Mets said?
In an unusual move, Cohen addressed the signing before it was completed — a decision he undoubtedly regrets.
“We needed one more thing, and this is it,” Cohen told Jon Heyman of The New York Post on the day the deal came together. “This was important. This puts us over the top.”
Heyman later reported that the Mets sold $1 million in tickets on the day the Correa news was reported.
Since then, the Mets have not discussed the deal. And after all the excitement on Dec. 21, the team is back where it started in terms of its lineup.
What have the Giants said?
The Giants had scheduled a news conference for Dec. 20 to introduce Correa to reporters. But it was canceled that day, leading to speculation that something in his physical examination worried them.
Overnight, the Mets news was reported, and Scott Boras, Correa’s agent, brushed off any suggestion that there were issues with Correa’s health, telling The New York Times that “medical opinions are just what they are — opinions.”
The Giants made an unusual move by issuing a statement about a deal that fell apart.
“While we are prohibited from disclosing confidential medical information, as Scott Boras stated publicly, there was a difference of opinion over the results of Carlos’s physical examination,” said the statement, which was attributed to Farhan Zaidi, the team’s president for baseball operations. “We wish Carlos the best.”
Zaidi later addressed the issue further in a conference call with beat reporters, taking issue with the idea that the team had blindsided Correa and Boras with its concerns.
What had Correa’s agent said before the Twins deal came together?
Never shy, Boras was happy to talk to reporters once he found a landing spot for Correa after the problems with the Giants.
“He was readying himself for a new place in his life and then the delays occurred and you have to go through another transition,” Boras told The Times of Correa’s decision to move on from the Giants. “But he’s very happy to join the Mets.”
Boras described his phone call with Cohen in detail and dismissed any concerns that the Mets would have any issues with Correa’s medical information. After that, he made no public comments about the Mets deal.
What have the Twins said?
Absolutely nothing.
OK, is Correa injured?
The short answer is no. The long answer is long.
Nearly all of the speculation and anonymously sourced reporting has focused on the state of Correa’s lower right leg. In 2014, two years after Houston selected him as the No. 1 pick in the draft, Correa was thriving for Class A Lancaster when an awkward slide into third base resulted in his spike catching in the dirt. Correa, who was 19 at the time, was carried off the field.
What was initially diagnosed as an ankle injury ended up being a fractured fibula, with what was described as minor ligament damage. He had season-ending surgery five days after the injury occurred, and Jeff Luhnow, the general manager of the Astros at the time, said the team expected Correa to “return to exactly the point he was at when he got injured.”
That certainly appeared to be what happened. In 2015, Correa began the season with Class AA Corpus Christi and was promoted to Class AAA Fresno after 29 games. He thrived there as well and was called up to the Astros after only 24 games at the minors’ highest level. In Houston, he hit .279 with 22 home runs and 14 stolen bases in 99 games and narrowly edged his close friend Lindor, who played for Cleveland at the time, as the American League rookie of the year.
While Correa missed significant time with injuries in 2017, 2018 and 2019, none of those absences were related to his right leg. And he has been fairly durable since, playing in 342 of his team’s 384 regular-season games since the start of the 2020 season. If there are other concerns with his physical examination, beyond the previous leg surgery, they have not been reported.
So the leg has not been an issue at all?
Mostly. The old injury, and the way it was repaired, resurfaced briefly last season when Correa was playing for the Twins. On Sept. 20, he tried to steal second and came up limping after being tagged out. After the game, he was not concerned that he had seriously hurt himself.
“He just hit my plate,” Correa told reporters. “I had surgery, and he hit it. Just kind of felt numb. Vibrating. So I was just waiting for it to calm down. It was a little scary, but when I moved I knew it was good.”
Sure enough, he was back in the lineup the next day and did not miss any time as a result of the slide.
What’s the big deal then?
Extraordinarily long contracts like the ones Correa had agreed to with the Giants and the Mets carry a large amount of risk. Going into one with a known issue that could limit a player’s mobility as he ages would increase that risk. That is particularly true of a player like Correa, who derives a lot of his value from his defense and athleticism.
Contract language and insurance adjustments can be included to account for the heightened risk, but Boras had Correa walk away from the Giants when they wanted to alter terms and then moved away from the Mets as well.
Correa will instead go back to Minnesota on a shorter deal that includes more language to account for potential health issues. That is, he will if the deal is completed.
Is there a deadline for a deal to be completed?
Nope!
Will the Mets be OK without him?
For all the money Cohen has spent this off-season — the Mets’ payroll and luxury taxes had been expected to approach $500 million in 2023 — the team’s offense was not upgraded other than Correa. That being said, third baseman Eduardo Escobar, who hit 20 home runs in his first year with the Mets, is still under contract, as is second baseman Jeff McNeil, the N.L.’s batting champion last season. And Lindor, despite not being as strong a fielder as Correa, was expected to remain at shortstop all along.
So not signing Correa is a blow to the Mets, but it does not really leave them with a hole in their lineup.
David Waldstein and Tyler Kepner contributed reporting.
