Preston Smith wins race to 10 sacks, plans Rolex watches for entire Packers defense

Preston Smith won the race to 10 sacks. Now he’ll buy Rolex watches for every player on the Packers defense.

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The race to 10 sacks between Preston Smith and Za’Darius Smith already has a victor, but everyone on the Green Bay Packers defense is about to be a big winner.

Preston tallied two sacks of Carolina Panthers quarterback Kyle Allen on Sunday, pushing him to 10 sacks through the first 10 games of the 2019 season. Za’Darius, despite being close to several sacks, remained stuck at 8.5.

The two Smiths put a friendly wager on the race to 10. Whoever got there first would be responsible for buying gifts of their choice.

Preston, the winner, has made his decision.

He said in the locker room Sunday night that he’ll be buying Rolex watches for every player on the Packers defense. Not just for the outside linebacker room, but everyone on defense.

Za’Darius said he was planning to buy every player a chain with their number if he had gotten to 10 sacks first.

Preston beat him there and then beat his present idea.

“Yeah, that’s big,” Za’Darius said, smiling.

Preston should be able to afford it. He signed a four-year, $52 million deal with the Packers in March that included a $16 million signing bonus.

The two Smiths were dominant on Sunday, producing two sacks, seven quarterback hits and at least a dozen total pressures. Preston even got credit for tackling Christian McCaffrey on the game’s final play, preserving the Packers’ eight-point lead and securing the victory.

Together, Preston and Za’Darius Smith have 18.5 sacks through the first 10 games of 2019. The Packers are getting their money’s worth, and then some. Now, with Preston officially a member of the double-digit sack club, everyone on the Packers defense is about to benefit.

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Steelers-Browns odds: Cleveland favored vs. Pittsburgh in Week 11

The Cleveland Browns are favored over the Pittsburgh Steelers when the two meet in Week 11’s Thursday Night Football action

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The Cleveland Browns (3-6) host the Pittsburgh Steelers (5-4) during Week 11’s Thursday Night Football of the NFL regular season Thursday, Nov. 14th, at 8:20 p.m. ET at First Energy Stadium. The game can be watched on Fox, NFL Network and Amazon. The Browns enter as the slight favorite, according to odds from BetMGM.

The Browns (-150) are favored by 2.5 (-121) points against the spread (ATS) over the Steelers. New to sports betting? With a spread of -2.5, that means the Browns need to not only beat the Steelers, but they need to win by at least three points for an ATS wager on them to cash.

Looking to place a bet on this game or others? Get some action in the game at BetMGM. Sign up and bet at BetMGM now!

Feeling a upset? A $10 wager on the Steelers (+125) would pay $12.50 in profit should they win outright. Meanwhile, a $10 wager on the Browns to win outright returns a profit of just $6.67.

The Over/Under on the Browns-Steelers game has been set at 40.5, with a -121 line on the Under and a 100/EVEN line on the Over for this Week 11 NFL matchup.

Want to get some action on this game? Place a sports bet at BetMGM now. For more sports betting picks and tips, access SportsbookWire.com.

Follow @SportsbookWire on Twitter.

Gannett may earn revenue from audience referrals to betting services.  Newsrooms are independent of this relationship and there is no influence on news coverage.

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Patrick Peterson suffers calf injury, status unknown

Kliff Kingsbury did not know the severity of the injury after the game.

The Arizona Cardinals might have lost cornerback Patrick Peterson again. He left the game on Sunday against the Tampa Bay Buccaneers twice with an injury.

He first left with an injury roughly midway through the third quarter but later returned. He left again with just over seven minutes remaining in the game and did not return.

After the game, head coach Kliff Kingsbury said it was a calf injury he sustained. He also did not know the severity of the injury.

If Peterson ends up having to miss any time, it will further test the depth of the secondary. Tramaine Brock missed the game on Sunday with a hamstring injury. Safety Deionte Thompson missed the game with a knee injury.

Kingsbury next will address the media Monday morning. Based on this season, we shouldn’t expect Kingsbury to give much information. We likely won’t know more until the injury reports for Week 11 come out beginning Wednesday.

Listen to the latest from Cards Wire’s Jess Root on his podcast, Rise Up, See Red. Subscribe on Apple podcasts or Stitcher Radio.

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Steelers vs Rams Week 10 player of the game

Vote for this week’s player of the game.

Oh boy, this one is going to be a good one.

Despite long odds, the Pittsburgh Steelers have found a way to win their fourth game in a row. This time it was the Los Angeles Rams and once again it was the defense that carried the day. But which player deserves the player of the game honors? Well, that’s up to all of you.

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Here’s the rundown of the candidates

S Minkah Fitzpatrick-4 tackles, 1 interception, 1 fumble recovery, 1 touchdown

CB Joe Haden-7 tackles, 5 passes defended, 1 interception

WR James Washington-6 receptions, 90 receiving yards, 1 receiving touchdown

LB T.J. Watt-5 tackles, 2 sacks, 1 tackle for loss

Cast your vote and let us know who your player of the week is. These four might be the strongest group of candidates we’ve had all season.

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Baker Mayfield: win over Bills ‘can get us going here’

Browns QB Baker Mayfield believes the Week 10 win over the Buffalo Bills ‘can get us going here’

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A composed, measured Baker Mayfield addressed the media after the Cleveland Browns’ 19-16 win over the Buffalo Bills. Wearing a knit cap and an approachable demeanor, the Browns QB described how he believes the win can launch something big for the team.

“We didn’t play perfect by any means,” Mayfield said. “We can still learn from the film and move forward and improve. But having a tight victory against a great team is something that we needed — especially at home.”

Mayfield played well in the win. He completed 26 of his 38 pass attempts, netting 238 yards and two TDs. It was the first game of the season where Mayfield threw for multiple touchdowns. He did not turn the ball over, either.

The second-year QB seemed relieved at the win as he continued,

“We kind of got the monkey off our back with that one. First one, at home, in game nine is not something usually that happens but it can get us going from here.”

The Browns don’t get long to savor the victory. They host the rival Pittsburgh Steelers, winners of four in a row, on Thursday Night Football this week.

Why in the world did the Dallas Cowboys have Tavon Austin fair catch this punt in final minute?

Tavon Austin could have taken this to the house.

Tavon Austin has been known as a pretty good punt returner during his lengthy NFL career, which made this decision in the final minute of Sunday night’s Cowboys-Vikings game all the more baffling.

The Vikings, who ended up winning the game 28-24, punted the ball away with under 30 seconds remaining. The ball sailed to Austin who called for a fair catch at Dallas’ 46 yard line. If you missed this sequence you’re probably wondering what the big deal was.

Well, just look at how much room he had to run if he decided to return the punt. Because he had all the room in the world:

Austin had all the blocks in front of him to do something special. Instead, the Cowboys took over in their own territory and ended up losing the game four plays later when Dak Prescott threw a pick on fourth-and-1 from Minnesota’s 45 yard line.

Apparently he was told by the Dallas coaches to fair catch it, which is just some incredibly bad coaching, even if the Cowboys didn’t have any time outs left and wanted as much time as they could for their offense to try to get the game-winning score.

NFL fans couldn’t believe it:

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Savvy Raptors snap Lakers streak despite LeBron’s triple-double

The Raptors turned on the afterburners in the second half and showed their championship pedigree in the win over the Los Angeles Lakers.

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Anthony Davis had 27 points and four blocks while LeBron James recorded his fourth triple-double of the season with 13 points, 15 assists and 13 rebounds but the defending champion Toronto Raptors snapped the Los Angeles Lakers seven-game win streak on Sunday, 111-102.

Pascal Siakam led the Raptors with 24 points, including a couple of huge transition baskets in the final seconds of the game when the Lakers had cut the Raptors lead to just four points in the final two minutes to seal the game.

After the Lakers jumped out to an 11-point lead in early in the first quarter, the Raptors showed their mettle by coming back to slice the Laker lead to just one point heading into the quarter. Energy plays and big shots by the Raptors bench helped neutralize what had been an otherwise terrible quarter.

The Lakers starters again asserted their dominance towards the end of the first half, with James coming close to a double-double with nine points and nine rebounds at halftime while Anthony Davis and Avery Bradley each scored nine points as well. In addition to the play of the starters, Troy Daniels broke out of a shooting slump to score 11 points off the bench in the first half. With the strong finish, L.A. led by eight at halftime.

The two teams continued to play to a standstill the fourth quarter when the Raptors showed their championship pedigree, going on a 13-3 run to go up by 10 with just over nine minutes left in the games. In addition to the strong play of VanVleet and Siakam, the Raptors got a major lift off the bench from Chris Boucher who had 15 points, three blocks and two steals.

The normally great Lakers bench didn’t make the same impact they have over the course of their seven-game win streak, even against a slightly depleted Raptors group missing both starting point guard Kyle Lowry and power forward Serge Ibaka.

Up next for the Lakers will be an interesting test against a surprisingly strong Suns team in Phoenix on Tuesday night.

 

World Cup fans in Mexico cause ‘earthquake’

Mexico soccer fans flooded the streets of Mexico City to watch their long-shot game against Germany. Two monitoring systems picked up an artificial temblor during the celebration of Mexico’s first and only goal.

Mexico soccer fans flooded the streets of Mexico City to watch their long-shot game against Germany. Two monitoring systems picked up an artificial temblor during the celebration of Mexico’s first and only goal.

These odd injuries didn’t happen on the field

It’s not uncommon for professional athletes to get injured during their careers, but these six players had some pretty weird injuries occur off the field of play.

It’s not uncommon for professional athletes to get injured during their careers, but these six players had some pretty weird injuries occur off the field of play.