Who wins the Week 14 game between the Bucs and the Falcons?

Cast your vote in our poll to predict the winner of Week 14’s Bucs at Falcons matchup!

All games matter, but this one matters more than most.

The Tampa Bay Buccaneers are set to face off against the Atlanta Falcons on Sunday in the two’s second matchup of the season. The team is 5-7 after defeating the Carolina Panthers at home, and it faces an extremely important game against the Falcons in Week 14. Should the Bucs win on Sunday, their playoff chances skyrocket — lose, and the Falcons will almost certainly eliminate the team from playoff contention with a comfortable two-game lead.

The Falcons aren’t exactly world-beaters, though. Atlanta has their own struggles, and their poor play over the middle part of the season could come back to haunt them. Should the Bucs defeat them Sunday, Tampa Bay would take the division lead over the common opponents’ tiebreaker.

According to BetMGM, the Falcons are 2.5-point favorites against the Bucs at home. The over/under for the matchup is set at 39.5.

Will Tampa Bay take first place back in the NFC South? Or will the Atlanta Falcons win and all but dash Tampa Bay’s hopes for the playoffs?

VOTE!

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Lions injury update: Frank Ragnow sits out 1st practice of Week 14

Lions injury update: Frank Ragnow sits out 1st practice of Week 14 with a surprisingly long list of ailments

Remember the scene in “Raiders of the Lost Ark” where Indiana Jones and Marian are sitting in the ship cabin and she asks the grizzled explorer, “Where doesn’t it hurt?”

That’s sort of the case for Detroit Lions center Frank Ragnow right now. The center was the only Lions player to not participate at all in Wednesday’s practice session. Ragnow sat out with listed injuries to his toe, back and knee.

Earlier in the week, head coach Dan Campbell indicated that Ragnow shouldn’t be expected to play in Week 14 at Chicago, so the sitting out is not a surprise. The inclusion of a back issue into the official injury report is a new and unwelcome development, however.

Only one Lions player was listed as a limited participant: linebacker/fullback Malcolm Rodriguez. He has an ankle issue. DT Alim McNeill is now on injured reserve and thus isn’t included on the report.

On a much more positive front, linebacker Alex Anzalone was back as a full participant. He missed the Week 13 win over the Saints with a thumb injury.

Four-star Auburn DL commit TJ Lindsey shuts down his recruitment

The Texas Longhorns had been working to try and flip TJ Lindsey.

With the early signing period just weeks away, schools are making last-minute pushes to try and flip prospects committed elsewhere.

[autotag]Hugh Freeze[/autotag] and Auburn have done this better than anyone, stealing five-star wide receiver [autotag]Cam Coleman[/autotag] from Texas A&M and are looking to do the same with five-star FSU commit KJ Bolden.

Other schools are trying to do this to Auburn but four-star defensive lineman [autotag]TJ Lindsey[/autotag] won’t be one. The Bryant, Arkansas native announced on social media Monday that he was shutting down his recruitment.

“I’m officially shutting down my recruitment, I am 100% committed Auburn family… We Coming #WDE”

Lindsey is the No. 300 overall player and No. 30 defensive lineman in the 247Sports composite ranking. He is also the No. 41 player from Florida.

Contact/Follow us @TheAuburnWire on  X (Twitter), and like our page on Facebook to follow ongoing coverage of Auburn news, notes, and opinions. You can also follow JD on Twitter @jdmccarthy15

Live the RV life at these 10 gorgeous camping destinations

Hop in for an RV adventure.

How do you balance road-tripping with the comforts of home? More and more Americans are doing so with RVs. Approximately 20 million will go RVing this holiday season, a 30% increase over 2022, according to the RV Industry Association Holiday Travel Intentions Survey. Not only will you feel more at home, but so will your pets. About 60% of RVers will bring their pets on holiday this season. Fido will thank you for not leaving him behind in a kennel.

Don’t have your own RV? No problem. With RV rental platform RVezy, you can book an array of experiences. Get some travel inspiration with this list of 10 rentals you can book at beautiful and outdoorsy RV camping destinations across the country.

9 Dolphins leading their positions in AFC Pro Bowl votes after first update

Dolphins getting massive respect in Pro-Bowl voting.

Fan voting for the 2024 NFL Pro Bowl has opened and has been underway for about a week with the best players across both conferences up for consideration to represent their team in the Pro Bowl Games before the Super Bowl.

While the Miami Dolphins are hoping to be busy prepping for a game in Las Vegas, Nevada this year, they were heavily represented on the first update from the league.

In total, nine Dolphins led their positions in voting after a week. Here they are:

J.J. Watt rightfully called out reporters for criticizing Shohei Ohtani about his secretive free agency

J.J. spoke the truth.

Shohei Ohtani’s free agency has been *the* story of the MLB offseason, but at the same time, there has been little information about where the two-way superstar could be leaning.

That’s by design, and some major media personalities haven’t appreciated Ohtani’s approach. Leave it to former NFL star J.J. Watt to call out some weird takes popping up as of late.

ESPN’s Jeff Passan reported last month that Ohtani would hold any leaks against teams, which has led to some of baseball’s biggest newsbreakers being left in the dark on the entire saga. Aside from Dodgers manager Dave Roberts surprisingly revealing that the team met with Ohtani, there has been almost nothing out there from teams. That has brought on takes like these:

Just in the past 24 hours, we’ve seen Buster Olney, Stephen A. Smith and Chris “Mad Dog” Russo criticize Ohtani on ESPN. The Athletic’s Braves beat writer David O’Brien also called Ohtani’s approach pretentious.

But as Watt pointed out, there isn’t really anything Ohtani could do here to keep reporters satisfied. If he let the entire free agency play out in the public eye, he’d get criticized in a similar way LeBron did when he signed with the Heat. It would be a circus, and sure, someone would probably scoop the decision. Yet, by taking this private approach, Ohtani gets to focus on the decision on his own terms and see which teams he can actually trust.

There’s nothing wrong with that, and fans agreed with Watt for calling out the entitled complaints by some media members.

3-star TE, Oregon State commit Wyatt Hook to visit MSU this weekend

Michigan State football has another prospect coming to campus this weekend

Michigan State football has another prospect coming to campus this weekend.

Three-star tight end Wyatt Hook has “locked in” an official visit with Michigan State for this upcoming weekend. Hook is currently committed to new head coach Jonathan Smith’s old school of Oregon State.

Hook is ranked as the No. 66 tight end in 247Sports’ rankings for the 2024 class. He hails from Cupertino, Calif. and is ranked as the No. 77 player from the state.

Michigan State extended Hook an offer shortly after Smith got the head coaching gig with the Spartans. He also holds offers from Oregon State, Colorado, Washington State, Hawaii and Cal.

Contact/Follow us @The SpartansWire on Twitter, and like our page on Facebook to follow ongoing coverage of Michigan state news, notes, and opinion. You can also follow Robert Bondy on Twitter @RobertBondy5.

What we’ve learned about the Bills this season following the bye week

8 things:

The Buffalo Bills are ready to resume football this week as the 2023 bye is over. Up next is a tough matchup against the Kansas City Chiefs.

But before the Bills (6-6) take in another game, there’s already plenty we have learned about this team in 2023.

With that, here are eight things we’ve learned before the week off and as they come out of their bye week this season:

Trevor Lawrence: ‘I feel a lot better than I thought I’d feel’

Trevor Lawrence says he’s “fortunate and thankful” for how his ankle feels now.

Two days after Trevor Lawrence left the locker room Monday night on crutches with a boot on his right foot, the Jacksonville Jaguars quarterback walked into a press conference without a noticeable limp and only a wrap on his ankle.

“I feel a lot better,” Lawrence said Wednesday. “I feel a lot better than I would’ve thought I’d feel. I’m very fortunate and thankful that it wasn’t a worse injury than what I kind of thought it was on the field.”

It wasn’t hard to see Lawrence’s frustration and devastation Monday night. After getting his ankle stepped on by Walker Little and crumpling awkwardly, Lawrence grabbed at his ankle and struggled back to his feet before collapsing back to the ground.

Lawrence pounded on the ground with his fist and threw his helmet before he was eventually helped off the field and into the locker room.

“I didn’t know, obviously, what it was, but I was kind of concerned,” Lawrence said. “I felt something in my ankle and I was definitely concerned about that, and then obviously trying to get up, I had some pain there. So yeah, I was concerned that it was worse and thankful that it wasn’t. I made it out cleaner than I probably should’ve.”

Clean enough to play Sunday against the Cleveland Browns?

“I’m really just taking it one day at a time, trying to do as much as I can each day without aggravating it or making anything worse, but trying to progress towards hopefully playing,” Lawrence said. “The past 48 hours have been big steps and I’m really happy with how it’s healing up.

“If I can be out there and I can be myself, for the most part, then I’m gonna be out there.”

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