1+ day, 14+ hour ago (461+ words) The Atlanta Falcons are in shambles entering Week 14, and hosting the red-hot Seahawks doesn't help. This game feels like a complete mismatch, but anything can happen in the NFL. So in order to keep their playoff hopes and Raheem Morris' future intact, the Dirty Birds must key in on certain matchups. The matchup in the trenches may be the biggest of them all on Sunday. The Seahawks allow the second-fewest sacks per game, and the Falcons are third in the NFL sacks per game. Diving deeper, first-round rookie James Pearce Jr has been on a tear, logging 4.5 sacks across his last four games. His rookie counterpart, Jalon Walker has turned in a strong campaign as well. The Georgia product has four sacks through his last five games and was just named the starting edge rusher opposite his fellow rookie standout....

3+ day, 8+ hour ago (549+ words) The 2025 New York Jets season has not been very successful. At 39, New York hasn't been able to put things together consistently on offense or defense. But there has been one major bright spot that most people aren't talking about: the Jets' special teams, which have quietly had an elite season. Veteran kicker Nick Folk has been incredibly reliable this season, making 22 of his 23 field goal attempts for a 95.6 percent success rate per ESPN. 24-year-old punter Austin McNamara has also made a major impact, pinning opponents inside their own 20-yard line 22 times, which ranks fourth in the NFL, according to ESPN. He was also named the AFC Special Teams Player of the Month for November by the NFL. In the return game, Isaiah Williams and Kene Nwangwu have both provided steady production and have consistently set the Jets up with strong…...

1+ week, 3+ day ago (255+ words) After Thursday's 31-24 win in Detroit, Packers head coach Matt LaFleur said that fourth downs were the difference in the game and it's hard to argue with that assessment. The Packers scored their first two touchdowns on fourth downs and sealed the win with a pass to wide receiver Dontayvion Wicks on a fourth down inside of two minutes. The Lions failed to convert both of their fourth downs, which makes them 0-for-7 in those situations in their last two losses. Head coach Dan Campbell has earned a reputation for rolling the dice on those downs and said on Thursday that he "didn't like" the first call " a run by Jahmyr Gibbs " against Green Bay, but that a fourth quarter pass to Jameson Williams was a better effort and that the recent results aren't going to make him change his overall…...

1+ week, 3+ day ago (255+ words) After Thursday's 31-24 win in Detroit, Packers head coach Matt LaFleur said that fourth downs were the difference in the game and it's hard to argue with that assessment. The Packers scored their first two touchdowns on fourth downs and sealed the win with a pass to wide receiver Dontayvion Wicks on a fourth down inside of two minutes. The Lions failed to convert both of their fourth downs, which makes them 0-for-7 in those situations in their last two losses. Head coach Dan Campbell has earned a reputation for rolling the dice on those downs and said on Thursday that he "didn't like" the first call " a run by Jahmyr Gibbs " against Green Bay, but that a fourth quarter pass to Jameson Williams was a better effort and that the recent results aren't going to make him change his overall…...

1+ week, 3+ day ago (504+ words) The Detroit Lions fell short against the Green Bay Packers on Thanksgiving with a 31-24 final score, and once again during this game, Dan Gamble was out to play. Dan Campbell, of course, is his real name, but he's known as Dan Gamble for his chancy fourth-down calls. So, the story was the same on Thanksgiving, when the Detroit Lions took on the Green Bay Packers at Ford Field. Campbell continued to have the team go for it on fourth, and he also called all of the offensive plays, but it just didn't work. The team fell to the Packers, and now, the Detroit Lions are 7-5 and their playoff future is very much in question. So, will Campbell stop going for it on fourth? This writer believes it's just not working, and when you do it as often as he's been…...

2+ week, 2+ day ago (648+ words) The Los Angeles Rams once again got active with their roster. The last comes with the Tampa Bay Buccaneers on tap for "Sunday Night Football" in Week 12. LA added a trio of young players who should help bolster their group. Only one of the three additions has NFL regular-season experience, but they are all familiar with the Rams" schemes. The Rams announced with a post on X on November 22 that they "Activated ILB Elias Neal and WR Brennan Presley from Practice Squad (Standard Elevation)" and "Signed S Tanner Ingle from Practice Squad to Active Roster." Getty Tanner Ingle #34 of the Los Angeles Rams sacks Max Duggan #8 of the Los Angeles Chargers. Ingle is a third-year former undrafted free agent out of North Carolina State. He has six games of preseason experience with the Rams. However, he has yet to see…...

2+ week, 5+ day ago (322+ words) On Saturday, the BYU football team will look to maintain contorol of their own destiny to the Big 12 championship game. The Cougars, who came in at no. 11 in the CFP rankings on Tuesday night, are coming off a dominant win over TCU. BYU is favored by 2.5 points heading into this game. Depending on the model, most advanced analytics models are more bullish on BYU's chances. BCFToys gives BYU a 62.4% chance to beat Cincinnati with a projected final score of 30.9-26.3 in favor of the Cougars. BCFToys ranks BYU as the 15th team nationally with an opponent-adjusted defensive efficiency ranking of no. 17 nationally and an offensive ranking of 19th nationally. Cincinnati ranks ranks 28th nationally with an offensive ranking of 15th and a defensive rating of 78th. On paper, the BYU offense against the Cincinnati defense is the biggest mismatch in this game. SP+, a predictive metric…...

2+ week, 6+ day ago (616+ words) There's an interesting observation in the book "Moneyball" about Paul DePodesta that I simply had to ask him about recently. In Las Vegas, in the middle of a room where National League executives were each answering reporters' questions in a team-focused scrum-like session, the Rockies were getting more attention than normal at this year's Major League Baseball General Managers meeting. The reason? DePodesta was not only taking over as president of baseball operations for the Rockies, but he was also back in MLB after nearly a decade in the front office with the NFL's Cleveland Browns. There were two main lines of questions for DePodesta from reporters outside of Denver. One focused on the Browns, including the Deshaun Watson contract debacle, while the other centered around his Herculean task of bringing the Rockies back into potential postseason contention. I looked…...

3+ week, 11+ hour ago (995+ words) Certainly, Paul DePodesta is an extraordinarily busy person right now. Add to DePodesta's "To Do List" fixing the poor communication that has become a hallmark of recent Rockies front offices. Remember that pre-trade deadline article in The Athletic from last summer, the one that featured a caricature of Bill Schmidt all by himself on an island? As Andy McCullough wrote then: However, it's a new day at 20th and Blake, and it's clear that among all his other tasks, DePodesta understands that he needs to improve communication at a number of levels: with other MLB franchises, with fans, and within the organization itself. The last week showed him embarking on an improved communication strategy, and it's worth taking a moment to parse through that and see what we've learned. Last week at the general manager meetings in Las Vegas, DePodesta was…...

3+ week, 12+ hour ago (509+ words) Nov 17, 2025 | 10:27 AM EST Reflecting on the team's disappointing defeat under head coach Dan Campbell, he summed up the overall situation as "reckless. "I thought Dan Campbell was atrocious tonight. I don't think there's any way around it like he was reckless, he pointed out. "Tonight you're playing the Philadelphia Eagles, whose offense is atrocious. You're not playing the Eagles of last year. You're playing this Eagles team that had no chance to get to 20 points. " 3 & OUT with John Middlekauff (@3andout_pod) November 17, 2025 Just hours before the game on Sunday, Dan Campbell announced that he will take over offensive play-calling duties for the remainder of the season, relieving offensive coordinator John Morton of that role. The decision came immediately after a commanding 44-point performance against the Washington Commanders, and Campbell cited the need for greater cohesion and sharper execution on offense as the…...