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Good morning! Stay healthy today.
Survival: Time to get gritty
The NFL is nearly through Week 15, which is when the season gets gnarly. Teams are banged up. The timing is frantic, with the postseason just a month away. There is little time to rehab or make changes. At this point, your team is your team, for better or worse.
Let’s grade some contenders based on how intact they look, pairing them with emojis for the skimmers out there:
👽 Josh Allen: extremely intact, superhuman even
🤕Detroit’s defense: in tatters
Yesterday’s biggest matchup delivered with a 48-42 Buffalo win. Allen scored four touchdowns and bolstered his MVP case, but it was the Lions’ defense that stuck with me. Detroit has given up 79 points over the last two weeks as injuries mount. For this Super Bowl or bust team, the wounded defense is looking like the latter. Now what?
🫡Lamar Jackson: more intact than ever
🫡Jalen Hurts: newly bandaged, looking great
The main threat to Allen’s MVP candidacy is Jackson, who threw five touchdown passes in a 35-14 rout of the Giants. Baltimore has a huge AFC North showdown next week against Pittsburgh, who felt Hurts’ wrath yesterday in a 27-13 loss to the 12-2 Eagles. So much for those reports about Hurts and AJ Brown not getting along.
🩼Patrick Mahomes: shaky?
It is darkly ironic that the two-time defending champions cannot have a normal game. Yesterday’s 21-7 win over Cleveland should’ve been just that, but Mahomes’ ankle injury loomed large over the two-score win. He said he could’ve finished the game, but you can expect the Chiefs to be careful here. Also, you have to feel for Nick Chubb, Cleveland’s uber-talented yet injury-prone running back who broke his foot in this game.
🫠Geno Smith: iffy
The 34-year-old exited Seattle’s 30-13 blowout loss against Green Bay with a knee injury, and if the 8-6 Seahawks miss him for an extended period of time, the NFC West could slip away pretty quickly.
We missed plenty of action from a surprisingly jam-packed Sunday. See all the Week 15 takeaways here. Oh, and we have an updated playoff picture for you too.
News to Know
Freeman signs extension
Notre Dame and football coach Marcus Freeman agreed on a long-term contract extension, The Athletic reported last night, which would make Freeman among the highest-paid coaches in the sport. Freeman has had a remarkable rise after taking over for Brian Kelly when the latter decamped for LSU, compiling a 30-9 record — in his first head-coaching gig — and landing the Irish in the College Football Playoff this season. See our full report here.
A chalky Final Four
Pittsburgh, Louisville, Nebraska and Penn State — all No. 1 seeds — are heading to the women’s volleyball Final Four after wins over the weekend. Both semifinal pairings (Pitt-Louisville and Nebraska-Penn State) have played each other this season, with Penn State (eleven) and Pitt (twice) emerging victorious from those clashes. More details here.
More news
- United upended City in the Manchester derby yesterday, 2-1. The four-time defending champions look completely broken .
- Micah Hudson, the former five-star recruit who spent his freshman year at Texas Tech, is transferring to Texas A&M .
- Meanwhile, Penn State backup quarterback Beau Pribula is entering the portal and thus missing the Playoff.
- LeBron James returned to the Lakers, by the way, and looked just fine in LA’s 116-110 win over the Grizzlies last night.
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Brief Reunions: The Splash Brothers go boom, separately
Klay Thompson was back in the Bay last night as a member of the visiting Mavericks. It wasn’t his first trip back to where he won four rings, but last night felt like old times. Just different uniforms.
- Thompson and Steph Curry combined for 55 points and 14 3-pointers (an even seven apiece) in Dallas’ 143-133 win. Just like old times indeed.
- The two teams combined to make 48 3-pointers — an NBA record for one game. Luka Dončić had 45 points by himself. It’s not surprising Thompson and Curry were a part of this record, but it still feels strange they did this playing against each other.
Both outfits are heading in opposite directions, too — Dallas is 17-9 (8-2 in its last 10 games), while Golden State has slid to 14-11 thanks to a 2-8 record in its last 10.
Maybe adding Dennis Schröder will fix it. Let’s keep moving:
Watch and Play
📺Soccer: West Ham at AFC Bournemouth 3 pm ET on USA
If you have time during the day, flip this on and watch a Bournemouth team sitting seventh in the Premier League table right now. A win puts them into a Champions League slot, although the season is far from over.
📺NFL: Bears at Vikings 8 pm ET on ABC
We have two NFL games tonight, with Atlanta-Las Vegas starting 30 minutes after this one on ESPN. Give me the NFC North matchup with one of the league’s best teams playing against a disappointed but dangerous Bears team. Don’t hate if you channel flip, though.
Get tickets to games like these here .
🎧 Anthony Slater joined “NBA Daily” to discuss those new-look Warriors. Listen now on Apple Podcasts and Spotify.
Pulse Picks
Make time for this remarkable story from Brendan Quinn today on Fahad Yousif, the Lions fan punished for his brief verbal scuffle with Packers coach Matt LaFleur last weekend. Read that here.
We’ve briefly mentioned Lindsey Vonn’s return to skiing, but Rebecca Tauber did the story justice — this is historical, as she writes, and not just for Vonn.
Yes, Jack Eichel should be a Hart Trophy candidate. He’s playing the best hockey of his career.
Joe Rexrode has a fun look back at the 1967 Indiana football team, which won a Big Ten title and played in the Rose Bowl during a dark period for the program. I’m pumped for the Hoosiers’ CFP game on Friday.
The NBA sees possibility in Mexico City. Is it a realistic option? Joe Vardon dug in.
Most-clicked in the newsletter yesterday: Video of Travis Hunter’s Heisman speech.
Most-read on the website yesterday: The story on Dolphins wide receiver Grant DuBose, who left the field on a stretcher yesterday after suffering a head injury.
(Top photo: Nick Cammett / Getty Images)
