There aren’t many rivalries in the NFL better than what we’ve seen from Patrick Mahomes and Josh Allen. The two quarterbacks continually battle in classic games, and it’s a rivalry that is fueled by respect rather than animosity.
That was clear once again on Sunday.
In an absolutely electric scene at Highmark Stadium, the Buffalo Bills handed the Chiefs their first loss of the season. And while Kansas City showed signs of rallying in the fourth quarter, it was Allen who closed the door with his touchdown run to stretch the game to two possessions.
And if we’ve learned anything from Chiefs-Bills games in the Mahomes-Allen era, it’s that we’ll probably get more of it in January. Mahomes was thinking that when the two players met at midfield after the Bills’ 30-21 win.
Tropicana Field’s roof was destroyed by Hurricane Milton.
While much of the Tampa-St. Petersburg area avoided the worst of Hurricane Milton. The same couldn’t be said for Tropicana Field, and the Rays were forced to look for a new home in 2025 as a result.
That decision has been made, and it comes courtesy of an AL East rival.
The damage to Tropicana Field’s roof was so severe that the city quickly said it wouldn’t be fixed in time for the 2025 season. And further analysis showed that the damage itself would run up a repair cost of nearly $55 million. Given the Rays’ construction of a new stadium set to open in 2028 and the city’s downgraded insurance policy on The Trop, we might never see that roof get repaired.
Well, the Rays can thank the New York Yankees in the meantime because they are heading to Steinbrenner Field — the Yankees’ spring training facility — this season.
BREAKING: #Rays are planning to play 2025 season at Tampa's Steinbrenner Field. Story soon on https://t.co/Vy8xnjpbqP
According to the Tampa Bay Times, the Rays elected to stay in Tampa rather than explore options in different markets. As we pointed out last month, the Marlins’ LoanDepot Park could have been a choice for consideration (given the roof and MLB-ready facilities), but that would force players and staff across the organization to relocate.
Steinbrenner Field won’t be without its challenges. For one, it’s an open-air stadium. That will get especially brutal in the summers when the Rays have to deal with heat, humidity and frequent rain delays. The 11,000-seat capacity is tiny, but the Rays should at least be able to reliably fill that stadium — something they struggled to do at The Trop.
They should probably get used to seeing Yankees logos constantly, though. That could get awkward, but this was the sensible choice given the tough circumstances.
Gregg Popovich is going through some things today.
The longtime Spurs head coach hasn’t been able to coach the team over the last few weeks because of a previously undisclosed medical condition.
On Wednesday, the Spurs put out a statement giving us more detail on what’s going on with Popovich. He apparently suffered a mild stroke earlier this month and is currently on the road to recovery, according to the team. He’s already begun the rehabilitation process. There’s no timetable on when he might return.
If you’re a fan of the NBA in any sense, Popovich probably means a lot to you. Not only has he been the league’s best head coach, but he’s also been a positive presence in our lives through the years.
With that in mind, it’s as good a time as ever to reflect on some of the best moments we’ve seen from Popovich through the last few years.
That time he pranked Shaq
Pop hasn’t always seemed like the most playful coach out there, but that’s always been in him. Exhibit A is the time he pranked Shaquille O’Neal by fouling him as soon as the game started after he complained about the Hack-a-Shaq strategy.
This guy, man.
His pre-Game 7 interview
One of the best things about Popovich throughout his career so far has been his brutal honesty. He’s never held his tongue.
When asked about the prospect of playing against the Miami Heat in Game 7 of the 2012-13 NBA Finals, he told us that it sucked.
And, yeah, it probably did!
When asked about the message he wanted to send to his team before playing in Game 7. Here’s what he had to say:
“I want them to have no fun whatsoever. This is all business. There’s no eighth game, is there? This is the last game. That’s the best news I’ve heard all day.”
He also called having to play the game “torture.” He added, “It’s hard to appreciate or enjoy torture.”
Never change, Pop.
That time he geeked out about planets
There are certainly times when we take basketball — and sports, overall — way too seriously. Pop was there to make sure that never happened.
Basketball doesn’t matter in the context of NASA discovering 1,200 habitable planets.
His interview with Craig Sager
This is just such an awesome moment. Craig Sager had been hospitalized and battling Leukemia for months.
When Sager was finally able to return to work and do sideline interviews again, Popovich made sure to let him know how much he missed him and how it was an honor to be able to work alongside him again — even if he hated that part of his job.
“I’ve got to honestly tell you, this is the first time I’ve enjoyed doing this ridiculous interview we’re required to do. And it’s because you’re here and you’re back with us,” he said.
A class act.
This awesome moment between Pop and Tim Duncan
Popovich has never hesitated to give Tim Duncan all the credit for his success as a coach. No matter how good he was at X’s and O’s or managing personalities or any of the other duties that come with coaching, Pop knew that having an all-time great by his side was what made the biggest difference.
So being able to get even a small glimpse into their relationship was always awesome. This moment after a tough loss says it all.
That’s awesome.
Becky Hammon’s Hall of Fame speech
This moment isn’t a Pop moment — it’s a Becky Hammon moment. But the fact that she was more than willing to take a chunk of the biggest moment of her basketball career — being enshrined into the Hall of Fame — to show Pop a little love shows you exactly the sort of person he is to the people he works with.
Get well soon, Pop. There are a lot of people out there rooting for you.
The Chiefs remained undefeated in the most dramatic fashion on Sunday, blocking Wil Lutz’s 35-yard attempt that would have given the Broncos a win as time expired. But really, that Chiefs win could have been a lot simpler had Patrick Mahomes connected with Travis Kelce on an easy touchdown with six minutes remaining.
You won’t hear Kelce blame his quarterback for the miss, though.
In the latest edition of New Heights, Travis broke down the final moments of Sunday’s Week 10 win with brother Jason Kelce. Travis recalled how he was frustrated with himself on the sidelines for not making that grab, saying that it only seemed like an overthrow because he didn’t have footing to jump. Warning: Video contains some NSFW language.
Just find it so hard to believe people find something to hate Travis Kelce for. What a great guy and teammate. pic.twitter.com/CJxYNqFiAr
“I hate that everybody is looking at Pat like he overthrew me on that last play. It was a great ball. I just didn’t have my feet under me to go up and get it.”
Those comments really show what kind of teammate Kelce is because, if we’re being honest, it did look like Mahomes overthrew the tight end on the pass.
Patrick Mahomes' final throw against the Broncos: a missed TD opportunity to Travis Kelce. pic.twitter.com/PHYDEF0o5m
Good morning, Winners. Thanks so much for reading the Morning Win today. We appreciate you giving us a bit of your time.
You ever had a homie take over your birthday party? It’s not fun.
I remember when I was a kid at one of the last birthday parties I can remember. I got Pokémon Gold version —yes, this was a really long time ago, folks.
Everything around me stopped. I just had to play this game. Immediately. So I take it out of the box and throw it into my Gameboy Color — again, this was a very long time ago.
I’m playing it. The homies at the birthday party are watching. But then I come to a standstill. For some reason, I can’t win a certain battle. It’s embarrassing. So, one of the homies offers to give it a shot. And, whaddaya know, he wins! Nice. We can finally move on to the next town.
Except it’s not me who is moving to the next town. It’s the homie.
He just … didn’t give the game back. He kept playing until it was time for him to go. And I’m just watching. Watching someone else play my game and steal my thunder in front of the whole party, which was probably like three other kids at that point. The party was no longer mine — it was the other kid’s.
That was kind of how Klay Thompson’s return to the Chase Center on Tuesday went.
He may not play for the Warriors anymore, but those are still his fans, too. They showed him that much. He got the welcome home he always deserved. And, for a while there, it seemed like it would be his night. He hit six threes! He even did the Steph Curry shimmy after one of them.
But that’s not the most interesting story here. Rather, it’s the position Deion Sanders and the Colorado Buffaloes (17) find themselves in.
A year ago, Sanders’ team completely floundered down the stretch after a 4-1 start. This season, after a return to the Big 12, Colorado controls its own destiny moving forward. They could win the conference!
“A week after the committee seemingly told the Big 12 it was only getting one team in the playoff, here comes the Buffaloes to challenge the narrative. Up three spots to No. 17 in this week’s rankings, Colorado controls its own destiny with remaining games against Utah, Kansas and Oklahoma State. None of those are cakewalks, but the Buffs will be favored in each matchup.
If both Colorado and BYU are undefeated heading into the Big 12 championship game, would the committee favor a one-loss conference runner-up over a two-loss SEC or Big Ten team?
Let’s hope we find get to out.”
It’s not completely surprising that the Buffs are here. This team is much better than last season and the schedule is a bit more favorable.
Potentially having this team in the playoff would be a huge win for college football. It can legitimately happen! Let’s see if the Buffs can hold up.
Caitlin Clark is in Florida this week to play in the LPGA Tour’s The ANNIKA Driven pro-am. For as awesome as she is as a basketball player, she loves golf as well. And as a major star in women’s sports, Clark was asked to participate in the Women’s Leadership Summit as a panel speaker.
They got into some deep subjects. And when the topic of biggest fear came up, the Indiana Fever star had a surprisingly simple response. But give her some credit, she had zero hesitation with the answer.
Clark doesn’t like cats. The stunned laughter and gasps to the answer were too good.
Kathy says her biggest fear is allowing fear to paralyze her.
“That’s a deep answer. What about for you Caitlin”
“I really don’t like cats. There was this black cat on my street growing up, and it was so mean. So, now I’m just — I’m scarred. So, I’m really scared of cats. So, I’m sorry if any of you have a cat. I like dogs a lot. But no cats.”
There is really just one acceptable explanation for people who do not like cats: Allergies. Otherwise cat-hating people tend to use an isolated bad experience to hate all cats or just decide they hate cats without even meeting one. Clark said that she wasn’t allergic but had a negative experience with a neighborhood cat as a child.
I don’t know. It sounds like Clark should give cats another chance, if you ask me.
The Lions overcame five interceptions on Sunday for a thrilling 26-23 comeback win against the Texans in Week 10. Even for a neutral observer, the entire comeback — down to the last-second Jake Bates field goal — was edge-of-your-seat action.
Now, imagine what a plane full of Lions fans would be like watching that moment. They weren’t going to tolerate an interruption.
If you’ve ever watched the seat-back entertainment on Delta Airlines flights, you’ll know that the video pauses during inflight announcements for safety reasons. The live TV content is also on a crazy delay — we’re talking minutes behind live action. So, when a flight to Detroit was entering its initial approach, the flight attendant thought she was in the clear to make her announcements and congratulate the Lions on the win.
Good morning, Winners! Welcome to the Morning Win. Thanks so much for rocking with us today. We appreciate your time.
The NBA Cup starts on Tuesday! Remember that? I know it’s been a while.
This is the NBA’s in-season tournament for those of you out of the loop. It didn’t have a name last season, but now it has an expensive new sponsor and an official title: The Emirates NBA Cup. Exciting stuff.
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How it works is simple. Every team in the NBA is siloed off into one of six groups organized by conference. This year’s groups are as follows:
Eastern Conference Groups
Group A: Knicks, Magic, Nets, Hornets, 76ers
Group B: Bucks, Pacers, Heat, Raptors, Pistons
Group C: Celtics, Wizards, Cavaliers, Hawks, Bulls
Western Conference Groups
Group A: Timberwolves, Rockets, Clippers, Trail Blazers, Kings
Group B: Thunder, Lakers, Jazz, Spurs, Suns
Group C: Warriors, Mavericks, Pelicans, Nuggets, Grizzlies
The team with the best head-to-head record in group play wins the group. The winners of each group, along with two wild card teams, advance to play in the knockout rounds. From there, it’s like the playoffs in the middle of the regular season. The teams play until someone wins the championship.
It’s a simple yet fun process that brings a bit of spice to the NBA regular season — a product that critics of the league have argued has needed to be much spicier for years now.
The regular season matters in the sense that teams need to perform well in it to make the playoffs and win a championship. But it doesn’t feel like it matters. Teams rarely seem to be going full throttle on a night-to-night basis. There aren’t many rivalries that get people excited about certain regular-season matchups anymore. The 3-pointer takeover has created a bit of monotony to the game that makes the product less interesting for casual viewers.
Whether those criticisms of the league are entirely fair doesn’t matter. What does matter is that people are clearly tuning NBA basketball out. Ratings are dipping. Year over year, viewership has declined sharply since the start of the season. The league is currently competing against a lot, from the NFL to a monster of a World Series to a presidential election. Capturing attention during this time is tough.
That’s exactly why the NBA Cup has to work for the NBA.
It needs something to click. The league needs a spark. The tournament brings a bit of intrigue to the NBA regular season that wasn’t necessarily there before. The question is, will it work?
It can! Last year’s championship game did well. It was the most viewed non-Christmas NBA game since 2018. Part of that was likely the Lakers’ influence, certainly. But still. That’s a good sign for the league.
There seems to be something here. The NBA is doing its best to tap into it. We’ll have to see if it works long-term, but the league is smart to lean in as hard as possible on this.
Please be serious, Tua
Mandatory Credit: Sam Navarro-USA TODAY Sports
I’m not one of those folks who winces every time Tua Tagovailoa takes some contact on the football field.
This is football, after all. The dude is going to get hit. His history with concussions is scary, but he knows the risk and is willing to take it on. That’s his choice. We shouldn’t fret over it ourselves if he isn’t.
With that said, I couldn’t help but cringe on Monday night when he dove headfirst to make a tackle after throwing an interception. Then he had the nerve to joke about it, writes Charles Curtis:
On top of that, he was asked about lowering his head after the game and he actually joked about it: “That was pretty bad tackling form, though,” he said with a smile.
Thank goodness it wasn’t much worse.”
Tua, buddy. Please. We want better for you. It would help if you wanted better for yourself.
Shane Waldron is out
(Photo by Justin Casterline/Getty Images)
Somebody had to take the fall for the Chicago Bears’ offensive struggles as of late. The team has only scored 27 points in its last three games. That’s unheard of.
Instead, offensive coordinator Shane Waldron takes the fall. Chicago reportedly let Waldron go on Tuesday morning. Eberflus released a statement on the decision:
“After evaluating our entire operation, I decided that it is in the best interest of our team to move in a different direction with the leadership of our offense. This decision was well-thought-out, one that was conducted deliberately and respectfully. I would like to thank Shane for his efforts and wish him the best moving forward.”
That’s a tough look for Waldron, but probably the right move. Benching Williams was a non-starter. He’s Chicago’s priority at this point. If it weren’t Waldron taking the fall here, it would’ve been Eberflus himself.
We’ll see how things go from here. But one thing is for sure: That hot seat is not cooling off just yet.
Quick hits: NFL Power Rankings … Nikola Jokic’s dominance … and more
— Here are Christian D’Andrea and Robert Zeglinski with their weekly NFL power rankings, including more on the Steelers surprising dominance so far this year.
It remains absolutely wild that Jerry Jones built a $1.2 billion stadium with massive windows in a east-west orientation all while refusing to use curtains during games. But fear not: The Dallas Cowboys do realize that the sun’s glare can be a nuisance.
At least when it comes to press conferences.
One day after blinding sunlight cost CeeDee Lamb a would-be touchdown, Cowboys head coach Mike McCarthy met with the media for his Monday press conference in Frisco. Yet, the media staff quickly had to set up a shield because the sun was shining right into McCarthy’s eyes.
What a concept!
The sun is causing a glare in the Cowboys press conference room.
So there’s a shield to block the sun from Mike McCarthy’s face.
There’s something here in the press conference room today to block the sun from being directly in the coach’s eyes as he speaks. Interesting concept. pic.twitter.com/XhvyAegb0t
If the sun is distracting for someone speaking at a podium, just imagine how tough it can be on players trying to see a football.
AT&T Stadium does have a curtain system that is used for concerts, boxing and basketball. Jones just straight-up refuses to use it for football. Maybe this latest bit of irony in the press conference can break through with the Cowboys owner.
It hasn’t always been pretty this season, but the Kansas City Chiefs just find ways to win out of nowhere. That couldn’t have been more true during Sunday’s Week 10 game against the Broncos.
The win was so improbable — the Broncos looking at a 35-yard field goal with one second to go — that it gave the unlikely hero the courage to do something he’s wanted to do since 2022 … ask for Travis Kelce’s jersey.
Chiefs linebacker Leo Chenal bulldozed through the Broncos’ kick protection and got his hand on the 35-yard attempt to preserve Kansas City’s perfect record. After the game, he broke down the team huddle for the first time in his NFL career. And then, he went up to the future Hall of Fame tight end.
Once coach Reid finished his postgame remarks, he let Chenal break down the team’s final huddle, a first-time moment in his career. A few minutes later, before his postgame shower, Chenal asked Kelce for something he’s wanted since his rookie season.
Just before Chenal left the locker room, Kelce, still shirtless, gave his teammate the memento he wanted: his red, game-worn No. 87 jersey with his signature and a short message to Chenal written in black Sharpie on the white No. 7.
“I’ve been waiting for the right time,” Chenal said, smiling. “I felt I earned it.
