Finances are stretched and clubs watch every penny now. Deflation is hitting the transfer market and it's why you won't see a massive deal anytime soon.
AFC Bournemouth midfielder David Brooks looked set to be shown a red card when the referee was sent to the pitchside monitor to review possible violent conduct on Chelsea's Marc Cucurella.
Exclusive interview: Even before reaching the UFC, Charriere had more followers than some champions in the promotion. The young Frenchman tells The Independent how he did it
In non-New England Patriots fashion, they now have their third head coach in as many seasons (and less than 13 calendar months).
After Bill Belichick manned the sidelines for 24 seasons, the two parted ways in early 2024 and went with Jerod Mayo to replace arguably the greatest coach of all time.
However, after a 4-13 season, Kraft did not like what he saw, fired Mayo and hired Mike Vrabel, who was available last offseason.
Vince Wilfork does not deny that the Patriots are in a better place today than they were two weeks ago, but in echoing former teammate Rob Gronkowski's thoughts on the matter, Wilfork said on Tuesday that Mayo "never had a chance" and that it was all a "setup."
"I think it was BS to pull that. And knowing Jerod personally, I know the conversations," Wilfork told Fox News Digital in a recent interview. "I know what it is. It’s just hard to fathom, but that’s the business when you deal with certain people. I think it was unfair."
Wilfork noted that Mayo coached "the same s----y roster" that Belichick made and "sucked" with.
"So what do you think Mayo was [going to] do with the same people Bill brought in? Mayo’s the one who found the future quarterback in Drake Maye. It’s just unfortunate. But it’s part of the game, part of the business," Wilfork said.
Wilfork spoke with Fox News Digital at an event where he promoted Tums, as he's on the case to stop heartburn when people stuff their faces at their Super Bowl parties. Tums and DraftKings recently partnered up for fans to hit the app for its Fantasy Foodball Pool, where players can draft their perfect game-day plates for free for a shot at a share of cash prizes.
"Tums goes hand-in-hand with food, and what they were trying to do with Foodball, that’s a perfect collab. … When you have football and DraftKings and the chance of winning something, it keeps it fun," Wilfork said. "You can do this with your friends, have a good time, and everything is themed off food. Something competitive, but it’s light. We talking about food. It’s a great way to bring people together. Food, sports, football, that’s what it’s all about."
Despite letting Mayo go, though, Wilfork said Vrabel is the best guy to get his former Patriots "back on track."
"I’m very happy for Vrabel. I played with Vrabel. He coached me down in Houston – a good friend. I know he checks all the boxes when it comes to running the team. Hopefully, he can get us back on track. It’s time for us to get on track. He’s a good person that can get us back going and on the right direction. But it has a lot to do with that roster," Wilfork said.
Wilfork played in Super Bowls with both Mayo and Vrabel on the same defensive unit and considers them both good friends. Perhaps one could say that it's an odd situation for Wilfork, but he mentioned that it's "not awkward … just facts."
"It has nothing to do with Vrabel as a coach or person. I think he’s phenomenal. He’s the best coach I would have got. I just think it was unfair for Mayo to go through what he went through," he said.
"I don’t question Vrabel’s capabilities. I know he can win. He showed that with Tennessee, going to the AFC Championship in his first year. I know what a great coach Vrabel is. I’m not questioning that whatsoever. I’m very happy and thrilled for the Patriots to land Vrabel.
"I just think it’s unfair what Mayo had to go through. He didn’t have a chance. It was bullcrap from the get-go, and it’s a lot of backstabbing going on. … We’ll see what happens. It’s all part of the game, I guess, but it’s unfair however you slice it. He never had a chance."
Philadelphia Eagles head coach Nick Sirianni came to the defense of wide receiver A.J. Brown over criticism toward him for reading a book on the sideline during Sunday’s playoff game.
Brown was seen reading "Inner Excellence" by Jim Murphy and explained after the game he always reads the book to help his mental focus. Sunday night against the Green Bay Packers was just the first time the cameras caught him doing so.
"I'm definitely OK with it," he said Tuesday. "The crazy thing is, he's been reading this book on the sideline for a long time. It just so happened a camera saw it this week. Some guys pray in between, some guys mediate in between. A.J. reads in between.
"Whatever these guys need to do to put their mind in a place where they can play with great detail and great effort, I fully encourage them to do that. I love A.J. He's such a great teammate. I saw Jahan Dotson said something defending A.J. and I thought that was awesome too. Another example of our teammates defending each other.
"We don't do any research, and we jump to a conclusion of, 'Oh he must be disgruntled.' That to me is lazy. Everyone needs to figure out why he's doing it before they jump to judgment on the man. Because the man, A.J. Brown is a great, great, great person. The man A.J. Brown is the best receiver—and I'll say it without hesitation—the best receiver that this city has ever seen...It's hard for me to watch when people are getting on him without doing the proper research of who the man is and what he's doing in the first place."
Brown’s reading escapade helped the book jump to the top of Amazon’s bestsellers list over the course of the night. All of that on top of the win over the Packers.
The Eagles could probably use a little bit more from Brown on the field. He had one catch for 10 yards in the game. He has not had more than five catches since Dec. 22.
Philadelphia will welcome the Los Angeles Rams in the divisional round game on Sunday.
UNLV Rebels football head coach Dan Mullen said working as a college football analyst was advantageous as he was able to watch any game and any player he wanted to.
Mullen, who was an analyst at ESPN, appeared on OutKick’s "Don’t @ Me with Dan Dakich" to talk about some of the transfer players he landed since he took over the Rebels job late last year.
"Well, you look at the guys, we actually got two [quarterbacks]. Anthony Colandrea from [the University of Virginia] that I’ve seen make a ton of plays, and Alex Orji; and the greatest thing you have being at ESPN, I’ve gotten to watch everybody play," Mullen said. "You sit in that room all day, and I’m watching every game in college football. I’ve seen them all."
Mullen also talked about what Orji can bring to the table for the Rebels.
Orji was listed as a quarterback while with the Michigan Wolverines, but he had more rushing attempts (78) than pass attempts (48) in his three seasons.
"Alex Orji, I mean, he is undefeated against Ohio State. I mean, he’s won, and … I look at what he does, and you look at the strengths of players, and he was a guy that was head-scratching to me last year, sometimes," Mullen said. "I’m watching him, and I don’t know, I’m not in the game-plan meetings, don’t know everything going on [at] Michigan, but I don’t know that their highlighting his strengths.
"In football, the job of the coach is to put a guy in position to do what he does well. That’s what coaching is all about, and if you don’t do that – you know you’re like, ‘Hey, we have a system, you have to run a system.’ Our system is: What do our guys do well, let’s tweak it as coaches to put them in a position to succeed."
"I was watching some of the games, and I’m saying, ‘Hey, when they put that guy in a position to do what he does well, Ohio State wasn’t tackling him, and they are playing for a national championship.’ But to sit there and put him in a position to do things where you’re not highlighting his strengths all the time is confusing to me."
Mullen last coached at Florida from 2018 to 2021. He was 34-15. Before that, he was at Mississippi State from 2009 to 2017 and was 69-46.
Former women's tennis star Martina Navratilova weighed in on Tuesday's vote on the Protection of Women and Girls in Sports Act in the House of Representatives. The Republican majority voted unanimously to pass the bill, but only two Democrat House members voted in favor of it, while the rest did not.
Navratilova has also taken a firm stance against trans inclusion in women and girls' sports while previously criticizing Democrat lawmakers for supporting it. That criticism continued on Tuesday in a series of posts on X.
"Shame on the Democrats who really don’t care about women, girls, and their safety, fairness," she wrote in response to the news that only two Democratic House members voted in favor of the bill.
In another post, Navratilova insisted that there must be more than two Democratic House members who oppose trans inclusion and that those members should "grow a spine."
"More Dems need to step up here. I know many who agree but are scared to speak up because of re-election. I say do the right thing. Grow a spine," she wrote.
This is not the first time Navratilova has ripped the left for their different views on the issue.
In a December post on X, the tennis legend said she was "mad" that Republicans have tackled the nationwide controversy rather than Democrats, the party which she has aligned with.
"And I am so mad that the Republicans captured this issue – shame on all the elected Democrats who keep silent on this!" she wrote.
The tennis legend appeared at the Independent Women's Forum's "Take Back Title IX" rally in June, as she and other prominent women athletes pushed back on the Biden administration’s Title IX rewrite.
There, she shared her experience of being attacked by other liberals for her stance on trans inclusion.
"Now, it’s, ‘Oh, you’re a homophobe.’ Go figure. I’ve been out since ’81, yeah, I’m a homophobe," she said. "‘You’re a bigot, you’re a transphobe, you’re a Nazi, you’re a fascist, you’re a communist,’ everything and everything in between. And this is coming from the left. I am the left! My people are turning on me. They’re turning on us, women, who speak up for women’s sex-based rights."
Before that, Navratilova called Italian sprinter Valentina Petrillo, who competed in the Paralympics as a trans woman, a "pathetic cheater." In March, she made a plea to "keep women's sports female."
Fox News' Ryan Gaydos and Ryan Morik contributed to this report.
"I’m good with three for right now," he told reporters on Tuesday. "We’ll see down the line maybe, but my goal was always three, so we’ve had three, and we’ll stick there for a while and see if we need to come back and get another one later on."
The family has two children already – Bronze and Sterling. Mahomes talked about how Brittany was doing after the birth of their newborn and how the other siblings are handling it.
"It’s been cool. I mean, I’m just supporting. Brittany crushed it," he said. "It’s been cool to welcome another baby girl in our family and see how my other kids react to her and having baby sissy and stuff like that. It’s been a lot of fun, and it was cool that football was on TV when I was in the hospital, so I got to watch a little bit. Brittany was kind enough to let us watch football as she was getting ready to give birth to our second daughter."
Mahomes added that he could not say whether it has become easier to manage since Brittany has been handling the workload of managing the children at home.
"I don’t even want to say that because Brittany’s doing everything, so I’m just trying to be supportive," he said. "No, it was cool that we got the bye (week) just because you can kind of really focus in on just being at the hospital and being in the moment.
"It’s a special moment that I know a lot of dads and moms have experienced, and you don’t forget about that stuff, so I’m glad I was able to be there and supporting the best way I can."
Mahomes now has to focus on the task at hand on the field – defeating the Houston Texans and moving on to the AFC Championship potentially for the seventh straight time.
