Only four quarterbacks have beaten all 32 teams. Derek Carr is closer than you’d think, and could get even closer by getting revenge against the Raiders:
Don’t be surprised if the New Orleans Saints play the Las Vegas Raiders in the season opener. Neither team’s cachet is particularly high, so the NFL likely won’t push them as a marquee matchup. Derek Carr playing his former team is enough to schedule it as a season opener, even if it’s a 12 p.m. game. Carr certainly has that game circled.
Toppling his former team would get Carr closer to a rare feat. In his decade-long career, Carr has defeated 27 of the 32 teams in the NFL. He’s played against 31 of them, and this year he will face the Raiders for the first time.
Only four quarterbacks have ever defeated all 32 teams: Drew Brees, Tom Brady, Peyton Manning and Brett Favre. Carr is also winless against the Washington Commanders, Green Bay Packers, Los Angeles Rams and Minnesota Vikings. Out of that group, New Orleans plays every team other than the Vikings this season. Carr isn’t a future Hall of Famer, but he’s surprisingly sneaking up on a rare feat.
CBS Sports doesn’t buy the Saints as a new playoff team in 2024. New Orleans has more work to do before they’ll earn anyone’s confidence:
Not many people are buying what the New Orleans Saints are selling — that a team quarterbacked by Derek Carr and coached by Dennis Allen can reach the postseason. Between their own shortcomings and the upgrades other teams in the NFC South have made this offseason, New Orleans is predicted to be watching the playoffs from home like everyone else.
It’s the Atlanta Falcons who will be hosting a playoff game next January, argues Cody Benjamin for CBS Sports. Here’s why Benjamin argues the Falcons, not the Saints, are going to the postseason in 2024:
The Falcons had all the ingredients for a wild-card run in 2023, except a legitimate signal-caller. Now Kirk Cousins is under center, and while his career suggests more of a steady hand than a special talent, he’s got enough ascending skill talent and underrated defensive support to warrant an instant playoff berth in the wide-open NFC South.
It’s early, but Cousins might be the most overrated player to change teams this offseason. The quarterback turns 36 this summer and is coming off of Achilles surgery after an unsuccessful six-year run with the Minnesota Vikings in which he won as many home playoff games as he did in six years with Washington: zero. The only postseason success Cousins found in Minnesota came in 2019, when the Saints (who else?) choked in front of their own home crowd.
Cousins and Carr have been unfavorably compared to each other for years, and their numbers are very similar. So are their resumes. You could argue that Cousins is entering a better situation than Carr found in New Orleans last season, but they’re both teaming up with defensive-minded head coaches who got ran out of one NFL city once already, and who both have sub-.400 career winning percentages (Dennis Allen is at .343, Raheem Morris is at .356). They aren’t that different.
Maybe Cousins is a better quarterback than his production suggests, but he isn’t much better than Carr. The Falcons haven’t won anything with the roster he’s inheriting. At least the Saints have players who have won games in January before, even if it’s been a while. We’ll have to wait and see whether all this confidence Cousins is receiving was warranted when the season kicks off in September.
Incarnate Word girls basketball stretched its winning streak to 131 games as it won the championship. It has not lost a game in four years.
Many, many things about life have changed since February 2020, but one thing remains the same: Incarnate Word girls basketball wins. And wins. And wins.
Last weekend, the Red Knights won the Class 6 girls basketball championship, extending their winning streak to an unbelievable 131 games. The last time they lost was Feb. 8, 2020, a four-year stretch for the high school athlete.
It’s the team’s seventh championship in a row.
Incarnate Word’s Abbie Sextro (35) holds the championship trophy following a Class 6 state championship girls basketball game between Kickapoo and Incarnate Word, Saturday, March 16, 2024, at Mizzou Arena in Columbia, Mo.
This one was particularly special, as Incarnate Word played with the mantra “win for Dan” after head coach Dan Rolfes was hospitalized after suffering what was described as a medical emergency the night before, according to MaxPreps and the St. Louis American.
Incarnate Word forced 18 turnovers in the 53-43 win over Kickapoo (Springfield, Mo.). Kaylynn Janes, who never lost a game in her career, scored 16 points, while Peyton Hill led the team with 17. Nevaeh Caffey recorded a line of seven points, 10 rebounds and four steals, according to the STL American.
The Red Knights finished this season 31-0. The year before, they went 32-0. In both the 2020-21 and 2021-22 seasons, they posted a record of 29-0, which takes us to their most recent loss, the 2019-20 season, in which they went 27-4. After that loss on Feb. 8, 2020, Incarnate Word won the final 10 games, including the championship.
The entire run has been spectacular—a 28-2 championship season in 2019; a title run in 2018 saved by an overtime victory in the semifinals as the team went 28-5; a record of 27-4 the year before, and in 2016, a 28-5 season that ended in the semifinals.
But that 2016 game was just a blip, as they had won three straight titles from 2012-13 through 2014-15.
According to MaxPreps, the Red Knights broke the Missouri consecutive wins of 124 on Feb. 12. Rolfes won his 700th game as a coach in the quarterfinals.
Incarnate Word fans hold up signs honoring head coach Dan Rolfes, Saturday, March 16, 2024, at Mizzou Arena in Columbia, Mo. Rolfes experienced a medical emergency following a semifinal game Friday and was unable to coach the championship game.
Stetson Davis set out with his father hoping to catch his first double-digit largemouth bass. He achieved that goal and then some.
An 11-year-old boy shattered a junior angler waterbody record in Texas on Wednesday with the catch of a 13.31-pound largemouth bass at J.B. Thomas Reservoir.
Stetson Davis of Tuttle, Oklahoma, broke the record by more than five pounds and joined a small number of anglers of any age to have caught bass topping 13 pounds this year in Texas.
The massive fish was donated alive to the state-run Toyota ShareLunker Program, which accepts only “Legacy Class” bass weighing at least 13 pounds for its long-running hatchery spawning effort designed to enhance fisheries statewide.
“We are excited to recognize Stetson’s accomplishments through the Toyota ShareLunker Program and Angler Recognition Program,” Natalie Goldstrohm, program coordinator, stated Friday in a news release. “Getting young people hooked on fishing through these programs is important to creating a lifelong love of the sport.”
Stetson was in Texas with his father, Brodey Davis, with the goal of catching his first double-digit largemouth bass.
The kid had a good teacher; Brodey caught the seventh-largest “Legacy Class” bass in Texas history (17.06 pounds) in 2022 at O.H. Ivie Reservoir.
Stetson recalled his Wednesday outing to the Texas Parks and Wildlife Department:
“We didn’t have much luck at the start but around 9:20 a.m. we spotted her. I made multiple casts her way, but she wouldn’t bite, and it was a little frustrating. I finally placed the bait close enough to where she saw and then she bit.
“I set the hook and instantly my dad went to go and grab the net. When the fish came to the surface, we knew it was a double-digit. It was a fairly quick fight, and we were able to secure it in the net and get it into the boat.”
Stetson is the 11th angler this year to donate a Legacy Class bass to the ShareLunker Program. Since 1986, Texas anglers have donated 611 Legacy Class fish to the program.
The Broncos will be cutting Russell Wilson, meaning Sean Payton has entered the same rebuild in Denver he dodged in leaving New Orleans:
The Denver Broncos will be cutting Russell Wilson at the start of the new league year on March 13, meaning Sean Payton has entered the same rebuild situation he tried to avoid in leaving the New Orleans Saints: a team without a starting quarterback fans can believe in that’s saddled with more dead money than any of its peers.
Good luck to him. Payton without Drew Brees is beginning to look a lot like Bill Belichick without Tom Brady. Belichick’s record as a head coach without Brady was 82-98, a winning percentage of .455. By comparison, Payton has gone 25-21 (.543) in games he’s coached without Brees under center. So he’s not quite there, but he’s trending in the wrong direction after limping to an 8-9 finish with the Broncos last year.
Now, we should be honest: all reporting has said Payton was open to returning to the Saints after his one-year sabbatical in 2022, having felt burnt out after two very difficult seasons at the peak of the COVID-19 pandemic. If he’d returned, maybe he would have brought Teddy Bridgewater in to compete with Jameis Winston for the starting job, or taken things in another direction. But the Saints had moved on and felt there was no going back.
Either way, Payton must now tackle the challenge he avoided in splitting with New Orleans. He needs to find a real quarterback who can execute his offense and compete for a division title in the AFC West, where Patrick Mahomes and the Kansas City Chiefs have won it eight years in a row. And he’ll be attempting it under very real salary cap restraints. It’s a similar situation to where he left the Saints after Brees hung up his cleats but he’s facing a steeper degree of difficulty with a powerhouse rival in the division.
So, again: good luck to him. He’s going to need it. Meanwhile, the Saints have their own problems with a head coach who has won fewer games in his career than Payton won in games without Brees — Dennis Allen, who is 24-46 during his time with the Saints and Raiders. The two coaches will go head-to-head when the Broncos visit the Caesars Superdome during the 2024 season.
A fisherman thought what he hooked couldn’t be a bass, as the fight was different. Then he saw the fish, and got really excited.
A Georgia fisherman was confused upon hooking a fish, thinking it couldn’t be a bass because it was fighting funny.
But when Emerson Mulhall saw its color, the species at the end of his line became clear. It was a yellow perch, and a big one at that.
“I was confused when I hooked the fish because it didn’t fight like a bass, which is what I typically pursue, and then [I was] surprised when I saw the yellow coloring,” Mulhall told the Georgia Department of Natural Resources, Wildlife Resources Division. “But [I] got really excited when we realized it was a huge perch.”
Mulhall was fishing on Lake Burton on Sunday when he made the colorful catch.
“I called my dad, who is the one who taught me to fish, and he encouraged me to get off the lake and go get it weighed on a certified scale.”
So that’s what he did.
The 16-inch yellow perch weighed 2 pounds, 9 ounces, and it tied the state record for the species. The typical yellow perch weighs around 1 pound.
“I would bet that holding a state-record tie is a great motivator for Emerson, and all anglers, to take advantage of the amazing angling opportunities all over the state and try to land that next record,” said Scott Robinson, Chief of Fisheries for the Wildlife Resources Division.
Added Mulhall, “I like to say that there are no ‘bad’ days on the lake, but some days are better than others. This was definitely one of those days.”
Photos courtesy of the Georgia Department of Natural Resources and Emerson Mulhall.
Social media reacts to Iowa star Caitlin Clark setting the NCAA women’s all-time scoring record
Iowa star Caitlin Clark just made history.
Clark’s early three-point bomb against Michigan brought her to 3,528 career points, setting the NCAA women’s basketball all-time scoring record.
The basket moved Clark past Washington great Kelsey Plum, who had finished her career with 3,527 points.
[lawrence-related id=70937,70751]
Clark naturally wasn’t going to stop after setting the record. Now through the first quarter, she’s dropped 23 points on 8/10 shooting. The Athletic’s Scott Dochterman noted the Big Ten single-game scoring record is 60, if she dares to continue her torrid pace.
Whether you’re a Wisconsin Badgers fan, Iowa Hawkeyes fan, or just a fan of sports, this story has been incredible to follow over the last few years.
And of course, Clark finally broke the record in vintage fashion:
Matt Ryan got some long-awaited payback against Cameron Jordan. The ex-Falcons QB finally sacked his greatest rival:
Yesterday had an amazing time on @CBSSports never have I ever been sacked in my life… Matty Ice got his get back, the pettiness… I can appreciate pic.twitter.com/5AzjWnYE06
Matt Ryan finally enjoyed some payback. The ex-Atlanta Falcons quarterback surprised his nemesis on the CBS Sports set ahead of Super Bowl LVIII, sneaking in from offstage to tackle Cameron Jordan. And the New Orleans Saints defensive end took it in stride, laughing and embracing one of his oldest rivals.
He’s normally the one sacking the quarterback. Jordan and Ryan set the record together for the most sacks of a single quarterback by a single defender (23), though it’s debatable whether Ryan is proud of his part in that accomplishment.
Either way, it’s clear that there’s a ton of respect between the two. Jordan got Ryan one last time during pregame warmups when he was on the call for a Saints game earlier this season. Ryan hasn’t made his retirement official, but he’s been working for CBS as a broadcaster in recent years, and it’s a role he’s grown comfortable in. There’s a good chance Jordan will join him on the other side of the microphone some day soon.
Anthony Burke caught a 14-pound, 3.6-ounce burbot to shatter the previous record by nearly three pounds.
An Indiana angler has shattered a state record with his recent Lake Michigan catch of a 14-pound, 3.6-ounce burbot.
Anthony Burke’s catch on Jan. 6 eclipsed the previous record by nearly three pounds and marked the third time in 13 months that a new state burbot record had been established.
Burbot are native to Lake Michigan and spend most of their time in extremely deep water off Michigan and Illinois, according to the Indiana Department of Natural Resources.
They migrate into shallower Indiana waters during the fall and winter to feed and spawn.
Anthony Burke poses with record burbot. Photo: IDNR
“Unseasonably warm weather and light winds on Lake Michigan the last several winters have provided boaters with a longer open-water fishing season and more opportunities to catch fish that are usually not in our waters, like burbot,” Ben Dickinson, a biologist with the DNR, said in a news release.
Burbot are found in parts of Canada and the northern United States, and in parts of Europe. They spend most of their time at depths of nearly 700 feet.
They’re prized as table fare because their flesh cooks up firm and white.
The all-tackle world record for burbot stands at 25 pounds, 2 ounces. That fish was caught in March 2010 at Lake Diefenbaker in Saskatchewan, Canada.
Wisconsin had Jim Harbaugh’s number for the bulk of his tenure at Michigan
Michigan head coach Jim Harbaugh took the head job with the San Diego Chargers Wednesday night. The reigning national champion college coach returns to the NFL for the first time since 2014.
He leaves Michigan after a solid coaching tenure became a legendary one. Program stagnation and calls for his job in 2020 were met with three straight College Football Playoff appearances and this year’s national championship.
Harbaugh’s final record is 89-25. He went 2-6 in bowl games, a record that doesn’t count the national championship game.
There will be substantial fallout from this news. Offensive coordinator Sherrone Moore is likely to get the job, which will create stability. But as seen with Alabama post-Nick Saban, there will be a 30-day transfer window for the entire roster. This could lead to widespread player departures from one of the nation’s best rosters.
Before all of that happens, it’s time to rehash Wisconsin’s history against Harbaugh over the last decade. Despite the direction the series trended after 2020, the Badgers actually had his number for a significant chunk of time.
