Category: NFL News

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Legendary NFL coach Bill Belichick shocked the football world when he accepted the University of North Carolina head coaching position this past week. It was thought the 72-year-old would be one of the most attractive options on the NFL coaching carousel this offseason, but we didn’t even get to Christmas before he took a new gig. 

It was reported in early December that Belichick was “very surprised” he had yet to hear from NFL teams about their open jobs (New York Jets, New Orleans Saints and Chicago Bears). ESPN reported that Belichick viewed the Bears job as probably the most attractive opening, but didn’t think he had a chance to land it. However, there was another team that he reached out to.

According to CBS Sports NFL insider Jonathan Jones, there was contact between Belichick and the Jets. Belichick actually called the Jets to gauge their interest, but was told the team was just getting its search started. New York fired Robert Saleh following a Week 5 loss to the Minnesota Vikings in London.

“Honest interest? Due diligence? Desperation? Only the coach himself would be able to truly say,” Jones added on social media. “Good luck getting that answer.”

It certainly would have been something if Belichick was hired by the Jets for a third time to be their head coach, and it would have been fun to see “The Hoodie” return to the AFC East to face the New England Patriots twice a year. Ultimately, the future Pro Football Hall of Famer decided he wasn’t going to wait around for NFL teams to make a move. He’s taking on a new challenge. 

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Patriots-Cardinals injury report: Pats rule out three players for Week 15 originally appeared on NBC Sports Boston

The New England Patriots are back in action Sunday with a Week 15 game against the Arizona Cardinals.

The Patriots have already ruled out three players for this matchup. Rookie wide receiver Javon Baker (concussion), rookie offensive tackle Caedan Wallace and defensive tackle Jaquelin Roy (foot) will not play, based on Friday’s injury report. Roy also was placed on injured reserve Friday.

Five players for the Patriots are listed as questionable, including three key defensive players — defensive tackle Christian Barmore, Kyle Dugger (ankle) and cornerback Christian Gonzalez (knee).

Another player listed as questionable is Cole Strange. The second-year offensive lineman has not played yet this season due to a knee injury, but it’s possible he could make his 2024 debut on Sunday. If Strange does play, he could see most of his snaps at center.

Every Patriots player listed as questionable was a limited participant in Friday’s practice.

The most notable name on the Cardinals injury report is running back Emari Demercado, who has been ruled out with a back injury.

Here are the final Week 15 injury reports for the Patriots and Cardinals.

New England Patriots (3-10)

Out

Questionable

DT Christian Barmore, Not Injury Related – Other

S Kyle Dugger, Ankle

CB Christian Gonzalez, Shoulder

T Vederian Lowe, Shoulder

OL Cole Strange, Knee

Arizona Cardinals (6-7)

Out

Questionable

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The Week 15 NFL schedule includes several matchups that will have a major impact on the NFL playoff picture, including two games between 10-win teams. The Eagles (11-2) will host the Steelers (10-3) as both look to keep pace in the race for home-field advantage in their respective conferences. In addition, the Lions (12-1) will host the Bills (10-3) in another critical cross-conference clash. The latest Week 15 NFL odds list the Eagles as 5.5-point home favorites in a game with an over-under of 43, while the Lions are favored by 2.5 at home, one of the slimmest NFL spreads of the week. Which side should you back in those contests and how should you handle all your NFL money line, NFL over-under and NFL against the spread picks? Before you make any Week 15 NFL picks and Week 15 NFL score predictions, you need to see the NFL against the spread, NFL over-under, and NFL money line predictions powered by the self-learning SportsLine AI.

Built using cutting-edge artificial intelligence and machine learning techniques by SportsLine’s Data Science team, AI Predictions and AI Ratings are generated for each game. The AI predictions are determined by statistically learning from each team’s historical data and then quantitatively evaluating the strength of the opponent’s defense by assigning a numeric value out of 100 called a matchup score.

Once a prediction is formulated, the AI rating is generated using the prediction, the matchup score, and the odds of the market. For example, you could see an A-rating on an over bet if a team is facing a poor defense, their prediction differs from the line and there are favorable odds.

In addition, SportsLine AI is the first fully automated predictive model at SportsLine. It continuously refreshes on the most recent available data and can help you spot the biggest discrepancies in the lines. SportsLine’s AI PickBot has hit a whopping 2,073 4.5- and 5-star prop picks…

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As December rolls on and yet another NFL campaign begins to wind to a close, we’re close to full-season sample sizes on some players. The typical retrospective analysis of players is beginning to take place. “This guy is the fifth-highest scoring fantasy player at his position” or “he is sixth in the league in receiving yards.” You know the drill.

It may be more futile than ever to compare players statistically within one specific position group without looking at the historical context.

You’re correct if you feel like 2024 has been a down year for wide receivers. Without question, we aren’t getting the same elite level of production at the top of the league that we’ve seen in recent seasons.

Top 5 WRs in receiving yards through 13 weeks in 2024
1) Ja’Marr Chase 1,142
2) Justin Jefferson 1,038
3) Terry McClaurin 896
4t) Jerry Jeudy 880
4t) CeeDee Lamb 880
5) Zay Flowers 863

Top 5 WRs in receiving yards through 13 weeks in 2023
1) Tyreek Hill 1,481
2) CeeDee Lamb…

— Matt Harmon (@MattHarmon_BYB) December 3, 2024

That list is a week old, but even if you take a player like Jerry Jeudy’s updated receiving yard line of 944, fourth-best in the league, and stack it back to last season’s results through 14 weeks, he would rank 14th. It would rank ninth in 2022, 11th in 2021 and 12th in 2020.

We currently have just two 1,000-yard receivers in the NFL through 14 weeks. There were 11 in 2022, eight in 2021 and nine in 2020.

Some of the yardage marks in my X post above are arbitrary cutoffs — welcome to the unavoidable reality of NFL data analysis where the decisions on what’s “meaningful” are utterly subjective — but that doesn’t make the overall point any less instructive. The distribution of guys in that 700-plus yard range is relatively flat year-to-year. We aren’t short on overall impactful receivers; we’re just missing the elite producers at the very top of the position.

There are just two receivers over 190 fantasy points this season and there…

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How 49ers’ Week 15 loss to Rams impacts NFC playoff picture originally appeared on NBC Sports Bay Area

The 49ers essentially can kiss their NFL playoff hopes goodbye after their 12-6 loss to the Los Angeles Rams on Thursday at Levi’s Stadium.

With the rainy defeat, San Francisco fell to 6-8 on the 2024 NFL season, while the Rams improved to 8-6. A costly Deebo Samuel drop and an interception thrown by Brock Purdy ultimately cost the 49ers in a game full of missed opportunities.

The game didn’t impact the NFC much, as the Rams and 49ers remain the No. 8 and No. 11 seeds in the conference, respectively. But San Francisco’s playoff probability dropped from 6 to less than 1 percent with the loss, per NFL.com. The Rams, meanwhile, jumped from 35 to 47 percent.

The 49ers and Rams were the first teams to play in Week 15 as this week’s lucky “Thursday Night Football” participants, so the Seattle Seahawks remain atop the NFC West at 8-5 while the Arizona Cardinals still are in third at 6-7. Los Angeles still is in second place, while San Francisco holds onto last with a 1-4 division record this season.

The Detroit Lions and Philadelphia Eagles already have clinched a playoff spot, while the New York Giants officially were eliminated from postseason contention last week.

Here is where the NFC playoff picture stands following the touchdown-less TNF game.

NFC playoff standings

1. Detroit Lions (12-1) — Clinched playoff spot

2. Philadelphia Eagles (11-2) — Clinched playoff spot

**

3. Seattle Seahawks (8-5)

4. Tampa Bay Buccaneers (7-6)

5. Minnesota Vikings (11-2)

6. Green Bay Packers (9-4)

7. Washington Commanders (8-5)

**

8. Los Angeles Rams (8-6)

9. Atlanta Falcons (6-7)

10. Arizona Cardinals (6-7)

11. San Francisco 49ers (6-8)

12. New Orleans Saints (5-8)

13. Dallas Cowboys (5-8)

14. Chicago Bears (4-9)

15. Carolina Panthers (3-10)

**

16. New York Giants (2-11) — Eliminated from playoff contention

Download and follow the 49ers Talk Podcast

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North Carolina made a significant financial commitment to lure legendary NFL coach Bill Belichick to Chapel Hill. 

UNC and the 72-year old Belichick agreed to a five-year deal, the school announced. Terms of the deal have been reported at $10 million annually. That would be a big jump from the $5 million UNC paid Mack Brown, a national championship-winning coach, in his final season at the school. 

Only seven coaches in FBS made over $10 million in 2024, a group that does not even include Ohio State coach Ryan Day or LSU coach Brian Kelly. 

Initial reporting from The Athletic had Belichick’s contract running at three years and $30 million, a stunningly low length of time that perplexed sources. A five-year deal would be standard. Schools dole out contracts of five years, perhaps six if the coach is particularly desirable, for recruiting purposes. Purdue recently gave new coach Barry Odom a six-year contract, for instance. 

The legendary eight-time Super Bowl-winning coach has never coached in college football before committing to take over UNC’s program. The former New England Patriots coach has reportedly been interested in a succession plan that would eventually pass the job to his son, Steve, who currently serves as Jedd Fisch’s defensive coordinator at Washington. 

Belichick, who worked with legendary Alabama coach Nick Saban while with the Cleveland Browns, won 333 games in 29 seasons as an NFL head coach. He was reportedly making $20 million annually as the New England Patriots’ coach before being let go following the 2023 season. He interviewed multiple times for the Atlanta Falcons opening that eventually went to Raheem Morris, but after he didn’t get an NFL coaching position last cycle, he has spent the…

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Williams out, Bosa questionable for 49ers’ Thursday game vs. Rams originally appeared on NBC Sports Bay Area

Programming Note: Watch “49ers Now” with Matt Maiocco and Jennifer Lee Chan at 4 p.m. PT today from Santa Clara, streaming live on the NBC Sports App, YouTube and Facebook.

The 49ers will be without three of their starters on “Thursday Night Football,” with Trent Williams, Ben Bartch, and Malik Mustapha all ruled out for the team’s NFC West divisional game vs. the Los Angeles Rams.

Jaylon Moore will continue to hold down the left tackle position as Williams will miss his fourth consecutive game due to an ankle injury. Aaron Banks will resume his place at left guard as Ben Bartch will go on season-ending injured reserve with a high ankle sprain.

The 53-man roster spot opened up by Bartch will be filled by linebacker Dre Greenlaw, who could make his 2024 season debut after sustaining an Achilles injury 10 months ago in Super Bowl LVIII. Greenlaw is listed on the game status report as questionable, which is the normal procedure for a player returning from IR.

Playing next to Greenlaw will be the starting safety pair of Talanoa Hufanga and Ji’Ayir Brown. The Penn State product was pushed back into a No. 3 role as Mustapha was given the start vs. the Chicago Bears. Mustapha has been sidelined during the short week with a chest/shoulder injury.

Nick Bosa, who has missed three games due to a lingering hip/obliques injury, also could make his return to the field. The All-Pro pass rusher is listed as questionable and could add firepower to the defensive line that recorded six sacks in Sunday’s win. Three of which came from NFC Defensive Player of the Week, Yetur Gross-Matos.

Rookie running back Isaac Guerendo is set to receive his second career start after being sidelined towards the end of the 49ers’ Week 14 win over the Bears with a foot sprain. After missing practice on Tuesday, the rookie running back is listed as questionable.

Here is the full game status report…

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Mark Gastineau forced a smile as he congratulated Michael Strahan for breaking his single-season sack record on the final day of the 2001 season. Gastineau, though, was incensed at how Strahan broke his record, and he let Brett Favre — the quarterback Strahan tackled for the record-breaking sack — know about it more than two decades later. 

Strahan got the record after Favre (who was seen talking to Strahan moments earlier) slid right in front of him near the end of the game. As you’ll see in the video below, Gastineau confronted Favre at a memorabilia show last year. Favre was friendly at the beginning at the conversation, but Gastineau quickly made it clear that he had a two-decade-old ax to grind. 

“I’m gonna get my sack back,” Gastineau told Favre. “I’m gonna get my sack back, dude. … You hurt me. You hurt me. You hear me? You really hurt me. You hurt me, Brett.” 

Gastineau, whose 22.0 sacks in 1984 stood as the record for 17 years, feels that the NFL should have stepped in and disallowed Strahan’s record-breaking sack to count. 

“The NFL should have stopped that,” he said. “(Favre) took that record away from me.” 

Favre later responded to the video on social media. He said that the sack was the result of him deciding to run a bootleg and “squeeze the last bit of fun out of a hard-fought game.” But instead of seeing an open field, Favre saw Strahan and immediately went down. 

“In a different game or situation, I would have made a bigger effort to avoid the sack or TFL,” Favre wrote on X. “But at no point was I thinking about hurting Gastineau. Maybe it crossed my mind to help Strahan. I didn’t think it through. That wasn’t my forte at the time. I just wanted to have fun and compete. In retrospect, I understand how Gastineau feels. We played a brutal game. Gastineau played during an era where guys didn’t make generational wealth.

“I see now how being the Sack…

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