A frustrated Justin Jefferson absolutely destroyed a Buccaneers defender after an interception

He put this MONSTER hit down after an awful Kirk Cousins throw.

Entering Sunday’s Week 1 opener, Justin Jefferson picked up where he left off for the Minnesota Vikings. Though one half, the NFL’s best receiver had seven catches for 138 yards, routinely getting open against the Tampa Bay Buccaneers’ overmatched secondary.

Unfortunately, despite Jefferson’s best efforts, Minnesota remained tied at 10-10 with Tampa Bay. And it seemed pretty apparent Jefferson wasn’t happy after a late second-quarter play.

With the Vikings driving and on the doorstep of a touchdown, Kirk Cousins threw a terrible interception right into Christian Izien’s hands. It was the veteran’s third turnover of the afternoon. As Izien tried to bring the ball back, a frustrated Jefferson absolutely brought the wood on a monster hit, showing he’s got a little edge and physicality to his receiving game.

Oh my goodness. I knew Jefferson was special and could get open against anyone. I didn’t know he could hit people like THAT. I guess that’s what happens when Kirk Cousins is your quarterback, and he’s letting you down … again.

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The NFL’s newly-approved — but much criticized — fair-catch rules on kickoffs, explained

Explaining why this rule is changing and the controversy surrounding it.

Welcome to FTW Explains, a guide to catching up on and better understanding stuff going on in the world. Have you read about the NFL approving a rule when it comes to kickoff returns and fair catches? We’re here to help.

Among the new NFL rules approved for the 2023 season is a simple one with far-reaching implications: If you fair catch a ball inside the 25-yard line — anywhere inside there — it’ll be placed at the 25 as if it was a touchback.

Now: Why would that be much criticized? Why is this happening in the first place? Fear not, we have answers.

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Mic’d-up video showed what Dennis Schroder said after Germany coach Gordon Herbert grabbed him

A coach should NEVER do that.

Emotions can run high and take over during games. After all, players are competitive. They want to win. But as a head coach, you absolutely cannot put your hands on a player. On Sunday, Germany head coach Gordon Herbert crossed that line.

During Germany’s FIBA World Cup game against Slovenia — which Germany dominated, 100-71 — Dennis Schroder was having a heated exchange with teammate Daniel Theis at the edge of the huddle. That was when Herbert grew frustrated with the two players and grabbed Schroder to get the guard’s attention.

Schroder was understandably upset about that, and he let Herbert know it right away. (Warning: NSFW language)

Schroder immediately told Herbert to never touch him like that again, and it took an oddly long time for Herbert to realize that he was in the wrong with the whole exchange.

The Raptors guard was asked about the fiery scene after the game, but he avoided going into detail about the confrontation with Herbert. He said via basketnews.com:

“I mean, basketball is an emotional sport. It’s a game of runs, and you gotta stay cool. Me and Daniel go way back, I have known him since I was 12 or 13. We had those kinds of moments when we were young as well, but it always helped us to elevate our game.”

Herbert said that the team would handle the incident internally, but fans were especially upset with how the coach behaved in the altercation.

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The 45 best movies streaming free on Amazon for Prime Video members (September 2023)

Check out these movies available on Amazon Prime Video this September.

It’s September, and that means it’s time once again to check out some of the best of the best from Amazon Prime’s movie offerings, from classics to some new flicks that the service is premiering or bringing back, from dramas to comedies and everything in between.

Not a Prime member? You can sign up here, which will qualify you for watching all of these movies without having to pay individually for them.

You can also check out some of our other lists of games and culture content if you’re looking for a fun way to entertain yourself or kill some time:

Here are 45 titles to check out on Prime in August:

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Top-5 most watchable college football games of Week 0

Week 0 of college football this year is a little more intriguing than usual.

It’s been a long, brutal, existential nightmare of an offseason for college football fans. We’ve had to question the very nature of the sport we love, the stability of its future, and how much of its past we will be able to save as conferences, rivalries and traditions are thrown to the wayside in a play for TV ratings and revenue.

It’s time to clear our minds from the behind-the-scenes maneuvering, backstabbing and politicking. It’s time for real, actual football.

For most teams, the season will begin on Labor Day Weekend. But a few teams are getting started one week early, giving us a bit of an on-ramp into the college football season. We’ve conveniently ranked the five best games of Week 0 so you know where to tune your TV or streaming devices for the ideal college football Saturday.

MORE COLLEGE FOOTBALL:

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12 Power Five coaches who need a strong start to the 2023 season to avoid the hot seat

These coaches could be looking for new jobs next year if they don’t turn things around quickly.

It seems a bit silly to even mention the phrase “hot seat” when we still haven’t even kicked off a ball in the 2023 season.

But this is modern college football. The sport has become dominated by both massive coaching contracts and, in turn, an expectation for quick success.

Gone are the days when coaches were given years at a time to program-build. The transfer portal allows for much quicker roster transitions than were previously possible, and NIL provides a more even playing field — in theory, at least.

But Power Five schools aren’t just becoming more impatient in terms of how long they’re willing to extend the benefit of the doubt to their coaches. They’re also becoming increasingly more likely to make changes mid-campaign, often even before November.

In 2022, seven Power Five coaches were fired before the start of the final month of the season. Three of those didn’t even make it to October.

That’s a trend we will almost certainly see continue in 2023. With that in mind, here are 12 Power Five coaches who absolutely must start the season on a high note to avoid the hot seat.

Some of these are new coaches still looking to prove themselves, while others are longer-tenured and hoping to recapture past success that has since faded. But the uniting thread between them all is that they could be searching for new jobs next year if they don’t turn things around quickly.

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MORE COLLEGE FOOTBALL:

A’ja Wilson’s WNBA record-tying 53-point game had basketball fans in awe

A’Ja Wilson had a night for the record books.

If there was any doubt that Las Vegas Aces superstar A’Ja Wilson was the best player in the WNBA, her performance on Tuesday night did plenty to support the idea.

Wilson dropped 53 points on the Atlanta Dream, which tied the WNBA single-game scoring record held by Liz Cambage for a Dallas Wings game in 2018.

It was a remarkable achievement for Wilson as she became only the third player in WNBA history to score more than 50 points in a game.

She’s the reigning MVP winner in the WNBA, and with a performance like this, she may well just repeat once the award is given out again this season.

Wilson’s performance was quite literally one for the record books, and WNBA fans know how special it is that they get to watch an all-time athlete like Wilson operating in her prime like this.

We won’t be surprised if Wilson has another career night like this one day.

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MLB power rankings: Who’s up (Dodgers!) and down (Yankees) as September approaches

Here’s where every MLB team is at as September approaches.

August is nearly in our rearview mirrors after a wild trade deadline made some of the contenders stronger … and some sellers stronger for the future.

The playoff picture is still fuzzy, with some divisions mostly sewn up and others still up in the air. And the Wild Card? Well, it’s wild and will continue to be through the coming weeks.

So as we get ready for the final month of the season — yes, September is closing in fast, which means summer is nearly over! — it’s a good time to take a snapshot of the league with some power rankings of all 30 teams.

Let’s dive in, from 30 to 1, with the worst teams to the best:

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Rumors about Joe Burrow being engaged have hit TikTok and fans are hilariously devastated

Joe Burrow rumors flying around have so many women out there devastated.

We’re normally talking about the touchdowns Joe Burrow is tossing on the field, but it seems like he might have actually put up some numbers off the field, too.

Rumors are circulating on TikTok about Joe Burrow potentially being engaged to his girlfriend, Olivia Holzmacher.

RELATED: Joe Burrow will miss several weeks with a calf strain.

Their relationship together has been mostly private, so it’s not as if anyone was expecting to see an Instagram post or video about this anytime soon. But lots of people online are reading into it.

To be clear, this is a great thing. It’s always nice to see people happy and in love. That’s cool. Shoutout to Burrow and Holzmacher, regardless. We absolutely love to see it.

But what’s funny about all of this is how hilariously devastated so many people seem to be that Burrow might be off the market. The jokes were amazing.

WARNING: There is some NSFW language in the TikToks below.

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Larry Bird really cooked his college teammates while wearing jeans, as shown in HBO’s Winning Time

“Larry Legend” said that he played better in denim.

Editor’s note: All interviews for this story were completed prior to the SAG-AFTRA strike.

During the third episode of the second season of HBO’s Winning Time, Larry Bird plays an intense basketball scrimmage while wearing blue jeans.

While the show was criticized during its first season for inaccuracies by some of the real-life individuals portrayed in the show (including Jerry West, Kareem Abdul-Jabbar and Magic Johnson), this scene was actually based on true events that happened before Bird was drafted in the NBA.

Here is how the story goes: Bird was originally on scholarship to play basketball at Indiana University for head coach Bob Knight. But he dropped out of college after a month and returned to his hometown. He was then recruited by Bill Hodges, an assistant coach at Indiana State, to play for the Sycamores.

Hodges eventually convinced Bird to come scrimmage against the varsity team. Bird eventually agreed and even though it was the summer, he insisted on wearing denim.

That scene, in particular, I was very excited to shoot,” Sean Patrick Small, who portrays Larry Bird, told For The Win.

RELATED: See the cast of HBO’s Winning Time compared to their real-life counterparts

“I had read about that in my research about him going to Indiana State and Bill Hodges literally asking him if he wanted basketball shorts and he was like, no, I play better in this. His brother actually told Bill Hodges: He does play better in this outfit than in actual basketball clothes.” 

This small detail added some fantastic background about Bird, who would eventually play three successful seasons at Indiana State and become a main rival to Magic Johnson.

Bird is the main villain in this series about Johnson and the Lakers. But in this second season, showrunner Max Borenstein explained that they wanted to go a bit deeper than just a cartoonish antagonist.

“One thing that is really out there is the way that this season is able to explore Larry Bird in a way that peels back a layer of him as a human being,” Borenstein said.

“In the first season, he’s Magic’s rival and we see him from that perspective,” Borenstein continued. “This season, we get to know a little bit of who he is as a person and it turns out that he’s a human being every bit as nuanced and fascinating and challenging as Magic and any other character.”

RELATED: HBO’s Winning Time is a delicate dance of intention and improv, not unlike the 1980s Lakers

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