Month: October 2024

No matter what you feel about San Francisco 49ers quarterback Brock Purdy, it’s safe to say his performance in the NFC Divisional Playoff Game against the Packers last week didn’t change that opinion. The bottom line is Purdy gutted out a must-win game without stud wideout and offensive dynamo Deebo Samuel, who’s still listed as questionable Sunday against the Detroit Lions. His Niners are 7.5-point NFL odds favorites in Sunday’s NFC Championship, as San Fran looks to make their eighth Super Bowl trip, and first since 2020 when they lost to the Ravens. For our purposes, though, I’m sorting through the Brock Purdy odds for the best free NFL picks and predictions, starting with his ability to protect the football.

And if you…

It was another profitable TD week as Roschon Johnson hit (+215), pushing the year’s TD bankroll to 5-7 SU for +3.75 units, and now it’s time to stack some Week 5 TDs.

This week I’m going back to Johnson thanks to his red-zone role and the matchup, betting on the favorite for offensive rookie of the year, and putting my money behind my favorite offensive player through four weeks. 

Read more as I break down my favorite NFL picks for touchdowns in Week 5.

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Transfer portal got you down? College Football Playoff envy striking as December arrives? Field Level Media's college football writers dial up the elixir for those facing the reality of missing out, with a game-by-game watchlist for conference championship matchups, the official start of the postseason on Friday night. We're here with the guide to the names to know in the biggest games of the weekend. Maybe he sounds as if he's straight out of Whoville, but we've trimmed the rosters to the most important names such as the guy now tasked with taking down Louisville. Read on and get ready to take your own measurements of Florida State's championship stock with backup quarterback Tate Rodemaker, or find out which fresh-faced SEC safety might be building the resum…

Jordan Pickford is set to return to Everton’s starting lineup against Manchester City on Wednesday having missed the last four matches with a rib injury.

David Squires on … football and the cyber cesspool of social mediaRead more

The England international has been absent since colliding with a post during last month’s home defeat by Newcastle but returned to full training on Monday. Providing there is no adverse reaction to the injury in training, the 26-year-old will replace Robin Olsen against the Premier League leaders and be in contention to face Liverpool in Saturday’s Merseyside derby at Anfield. Pickford was roundly criticised for the tackle that ended Virgil van Dijk’s season in October.

Carlo Ancel…

Andrew Allen, deputy editor of Arseblog News

Arsenal supporters are having fun right now. It must be weirdly disconcerting to outsiders who’ve spent the last decade reaching for the popcorn while we bicker about anything and everything.

Why are we enjoying ourselves? Because we like what we see. We have a young, vibrant team that inspires belief, a manager who has a clear plan and owners who appear to have woken up after years sleeping at the wheel. The direction of travel is upwards. Momentum and optimism is growing. The Emirates is a cauldron of noise. And the results are coming.

Don’t get me wrong, beating four middling sides over the…

One of the Emirates Stadium’s favourite ditties, to the tune of the Status Quo classic Rockin’ All Over the World, finishes by acclaiming “Saka and Emile Smith Rowe”. One of those players has done considerably more of the song’s heavy lifting over the past two years so, on a night that never really veered from the procedural, it was heartening to see the balance shift just a little. Defeating a limited, depleted Luton gave little cause for overexcitement but it did suggest the Arsenal faithful are not flogging an entirely dead horse by hailing two lavish homegrown talents in the same breath.

Smith Rowe’s descent from decisive sure thing to bit-part enigma has been a tough watch and owes, more than anything, to a dispiriting run o…

EDward Gaming recorded a 3-2 victory over Team Heretics on Sunday to win the Valorant Champions 2024 title and $1 million first-place prize. Team Heretics claimed $400,000 as the runner-up in the tournament. EDward Gaming's Yongkang "ZmjjKK" Zheng of China was named the MVP of the playoffs. We are the 2024 World Champions of Valorant!#VALORANTCHAMPIONS pic.twitter.com/B1LSEo2exM— Edward Gaming (@EDG_Edward) August 25, 2024 Team Heretics got off to a fast start with a 13-6 win on Haven before EDward Gaming responded with a 13-4 victory on Sunset and 13-9 triumph on Lotus. Heretics forced a decisive fifth map with a 13-11 win on Bind, however EDward Gaming captured the title with a 13-9 victory on Abyss. The 16-team event began Aug. 1 with group play. Eight teams adva…

Happy holidays, you filthy animals, and welcome to Deadspin’s annual IDIOT OF THE YEAR extravaganza. Within these hallowed slides are 50 of the year’s least bearable dorks, whose transgressions range from “just kinda silly,” to “dangerously stupid,” to “Trevor Bauer.” The IDIOT OF THE YEAR selections ahead were voted on by an expert team of Deadspin staffers, whose first round of balloting was thrown out after they’d unanimously picked themselves No. 1. With that conflict of interest loophole sewn up, the team tried again. This list is the product of that scrupulous process. The qualities considered included, but were not limited to: Volume/Wrongness Coefficient: Look, nobody cares if you’re wildly off the mark about everything in private. But please don’t shout a…