Tag: Schedule

Wisconsin kept Alabama out of the College Football Playoff

Wisconsin kept Alabama out of the College Football Playoff

The Wisconsin Badgers are to thank for the Alabama Crimson Tide missing the 12-team College Football Playoff.

Imagine reading that sentence back in August before the season began. The likely reason for that reality, if projecting forward, would have been Wisconsin notching a signature win over Alabama when the Crimson Tide visited Madison.

Related: Major takeaways from Wisconsin hiring Kansas’ Jeff Grimes as its new offensive coordinator

Nope, that did not happen. Alabama dominated Wisconsin 42-10 in the Week 3 meeting. The Badgers lost starting quarterback Tyler Van Dyke on the opening drive to a season-ending injury. The team showed some fight, holding the score within 11 points in the minutes approaching halftime. But the Crimson Tide struck quickly for an end-of-half score to broaden its lead to 21-3, then added another seven points to start the third quarter to break the game open.

At the time, it was a strong win for the Crimson Tide. A road nonconference win against a strong Big Ten program usually would be a resume-booster.

But in this case, Wisconsin’s end-of-season five-game losing streak and final 5-7 record took the shine away from Alabama’s win. It made the win mostly unimpressive, which proved to be a significant factor when the CFP committee held the Crimson Tide out of the 12-team field in favor of an 11-2 SMU team.

The Crimson Tide and Mustangs were the final two teams in contention for the last at-large bid. SMU is 11-2 with a ACC title game loss to Clemson, while Alabama is 9-3 with losses to Vanderbilt, Oklahoma and Tennessee.

Many believe that the committee’s precedent of adding Alabama over an undefeated ACC champion Florida State in 2023 would lead to them favoring the Crimson Tide again this season.

Whether they should have or not, Alabama’s resume was deemed less impressive than SMU’s. Connecting the dots, that win over Wisconsin could have been the difference, had the Badgers gone on to finish 8-4 or 9-3. Instead, the Badgers missed a bowl game, and held Alabama out of the playoff.

Wisconsin and Alabama will meet in Tuscaloosa in 2025.

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Denver Broncos schedule: Do the Broncos have a game today?

The Broncos are on a bye this week. They will return to action against the Colts on Dec. 15.

The Denver Broncos’ schedule takes a break today as the team has a Week 14 bye. The Broncos will return to action against the Indianapolis Colts in Week 15 on Sunday, Dec. 15.

Denver will play eight home games at Empower Field at Mile High Stadium this year and nine games on the road. Because the league has an unbalanced 17-game schedule, the NFC and AFC rotate between having an extra home game. This year, the NFC gets a ninth home game.

The Broncos are led by head coach Sean Payton with rookie Bo Nix serving as their starting quarterback this fall.

View the team’s complete 2024 schedule below.

Denver Broncos 2024 Schedule

Week Date TV Opponent Time (MT) Broncos Tickets
1 9/8 CBS @ Seattle Seahawks 26-20 L
2 9/15 CBS  vs. Pittsburgh Steelers 13-6 L
3 9/22 FOX @ Tampa Bay Buccaneers 26-7 W
4 9/29 CBS @ New York Jets 10-9 W
5 10/6 FOX vs. Las Vegas Raiders 34-18 W
6 10/13 CBS vs. Los Angeles Chargers 23-16 L
7 10/17 Amazon Prime Video @ New Orleans Saints 33-10 W
8 10/27 CBS vs. Carolina Panthers 28-14 W
9 11/3 CBS @ Baltimore Ravens 41-10 L
10 11/10 CBS @ Kansas City Chiefs 16-14 L
11 11/17 FOX vs. Atlanta Falcons 38-6 W
12 11/24 CBS @ Las Vegas Raiders 29-19 W
13 12/2 ESPN vs. Cleveland Browns 41-32 W
14 12/8 BYE
15 12/15 CBS vs. Indianapolis Colts 2:25 PM Tickets
16 12/19 Prime @ Los Angeles Chargers 6:15 PM Tickets
17 12/28 or 12/29 TBD @ Cincinnati Bengals TBD Tickets
18 1/4 or 1/5 TBD vs. Kansas City Chiefs TBD Tickets

The Broncos have not returned to the playoffs since their Super Bowl-winning season in 2015. Now entering his second season on the job, Payton will aim to snap the club’s eight-year playoff drought this fall.

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Chiefs schedule: Is Kansas City playing today? 

Are the Chiefs playing today? Here’s a look at Kansas City’s schedule and the games to come. 

Will the Kansas City Chiefs be on the field today in Week 14 of the NFL schedule?

Following a Week 13 win over the Las Vegas Raiders, the Chiefs are set to face the Los Angeles Chargers on Sunday Night Football At Arrowhead Stadium tonight at 7:20 p.m. CST.

Kansas City is 11-1 in the regular season and currently holds the No. 1 spot in the AFC playoff standings.

The Chargers have a 8-4 record heading into the primetime matchup, and are expected to be a worthy opponent for the defending Super Bowl champions, who have struggled to decisively win games in recent weeks.

Fans can look forward to an exciting duel between star quarterbacks Patrick Mahomes and Justin Herbert, who are among the NFL’s most exciting young signal-callers.

After their primetime matchup against Los Angeles, the Chiefs will face the Cleveland Browns in Week 15.

Chiefs 2024 schedule

  • Week 11: at Bills (L, 30-21)
  • Week 12: vs. Panthers (W, 30-27)
  • Week 13: vs. Raiders (W, 19-17)
  • Dec 8: vs. Chargers (8-4)
  • Dec 15: at Browns (3-9)
  • Record: 11-1

Drew Brees could be returning to the broadcast booth

Report: Netflix is in conversations to add former Saints quarterback Drew Brees to coverage for their Christmas Day double-header:

Drew Brees has expressed his desire to step back into the broadcast booth. The opportunity appears to be presenting itself. Brees along with NFL Redzone’s Scott Hanson are in conversations with Netflix to be a part of the international broadcast of the streaming platform’s Christmas Day double-header.

Christmas Day has long belonged to the NBA, but the NFL has attempted to stake their claim to the day in recent years. The New Orleans Saints have been a part of that history when Alvin Kamara dropped a gaggle of touchdowns on the Minnesota Vikings.

This year’s matchups pit the Kansas City Chiefs against the Pittsburgh Steelers and Baltimore Ravens versus the Houston Texans, both streamed live on Netflix.

As for Brees? The legendary quarterback has been primarily an in-studio analyst for NFL games, but he believes his best usage is in the booth for professional games. Brees told Front Office Sports, “That’s what I feel like I’m most qualified to do. That’s what I feel like I’m most passionate about. And certainly where my knowledge base lies, right?”

Brees getting this opportunity could initiate the comeback he is trying to make.

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Saints-Giants TV coverage limited to each team’s home market in Week 14

TV coverage for Saints-Giants is limited to each team’s home market in Week 14. There won’t be a lot of eyes on MetLife Stadium:

There won’t be many eyes on MetLife Stadium this Sunday when the New Orleans Saints kick off with the New York Giants. That’s to be expected when the two teams have combined for six wins going into Week 14, but it’s still a disappointing turn of events.

Broadcast coverage on FOX will be limited to each team’s home market this week; that means Eastern New York and Long Island plus Vermont, Connecticut, and Western New Hampshire for Giants fans. For Saints fans, areas in and around Louisiana as well as most of Mississippi, Southern Alabama, and the Florida panhandle will have the game on.

If you’re out of market, look into a streaming service like Fubo, NFL+, or NFL Sunday Ticket on YouTube TV and see which best suits your needs.

Kickoff is scheduled for Sunday, Dec. 8 at Noon CT/1 p.m. ET. Here’s a map from 506 Sports reflecting coverage for this week’s Saints-Giants game:

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Drew Brees reflects on his most difficult games in the NFL

Which games caused Drew Brees to lose the most sleep? He says prime-time divisional rematches were his toughest challenges in the NFL:

Which games gave Drew Brees the most trouble in his storied NFL career? The former New Orleans Saints quarterback and future Pro Football Hall of Famer shared his take on the toughest challenges he and his teammates had to overcome during a Wednesday appearance on “The Herd” with Colin Cowherd.

Brees said it was those divisional matchups on a short week, played under the bright lights in prime time, that lost him the most sleep. He emphasizes greatly with what players on both the Detroit Lions and Green Bay Packers are going through ahead of Thursday night’s kickoff.

“These games were more difficult,” Brees reflected. “These games were more difficult just because of the level of familiarity between divisional opponents. And especially when it’s divisional opponents that are the caliber that Green Bay and Detroit are, the caliber of quarterback, the caliber of team, the caliber of coach. Because there is so much familiarity that going into the game you were constantly thinking about, ‘Well man, they know us really well. They know all these tendencies. So they know that I know that we know that they know,’ you go through that whole exercise.”

Mind games were certainly part of it; in some cases Brees and the Saints played the same Atlanta Falcons team twice in three weeks, and that recency and familiarity made planning for a rematch a unique challenge. And in those situations, Brees said he and his teammates leaned on days of careful preparation to win the day.

Brees continued: “At the end of the day it comes down to, ‘We need to be so on point on our execution. This needs to be a flawless execution type of game.’ And that really became the emphasis in all these divisional games, especially the ones that were prime-time and the ones that have so much meaning given these guys’ status and fighting for a division title. So I found that these were the most difficult games given all the factors.”

Still, the results suggest Brees and his teammates rose to this challenge. Brees started in nine games against NFC South division rivals on Thursday nights with the Saints, winning six times. He went 5-2 against the Atlanta Falcons and 1-1 against the Carolina Panthers (the Tampa Bay Buccaneers never warranted a prime-time slot like this). You don’t achieve a Hall of Fame career without relishing a challenge, and there aren’t many tougher games in the NFL than those against familiar opponents on a short week.

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Saints injury report: Latest on Taysom Hill, Kendre Miller, Bub Means vs. Giants

New Orleans Saints injury report: Latest on Taysom Hill, Kendre Miller, Bub Means vs. New York Giants in Week 14

Wednesday’s initial New Orleans Saints injury report was a mixed bag of news ahead of Sunday’s game with the New York Giants. Last week’s brief injury report was nice while it lasted — the list has since grown from six names to twelve, doubling in size.

Some of these developments are positive, but not many. Running back Kendre Miller (hamstring) is one of the new additions as he returns to practice in anticipation of being activated again from injured reserve. Another new listing is rookie wide receiver Bub Means (ankle), who was limited.

But losing impact players like tight end Taysom Hill (knee) and right guard Cesar Ruiz (concussion), neither of whom practiced, is worrisome. Key starters like center Erik McCoy (groin) and left guard Lucas Patrick (calf) were each limited to start the week.

Here’s the full injury report from each team:

Saints’ playoff hopes feel dashed after loss to Rams

The Saints aren’t mathematically eliminated from the playoffs, but after their loss to the Rams, hope is in low supply:

The New Orleans Saints loss to the Los Angeles Rams doesn’t mathematically eliminate the Saints from playoff contention, but it made surely feel impossible.

The Saints currently sit four games behind the Washington Commanders, who hold the last wild card spot. New Orleans would have to win four of their last five games which includes beating the Commanders and hope Washington loses four of their last five in order to catch them. Then the Saints have to hope none of the other teams ahead of them make it to nine wins.

The Atlanta Falcons and Tampa Bay Buccaneers are tied at the top of the division with six wins. That’s two games ahead of the Saints and New Orleans doesn’t have the tiebreaker over either squad. Had New Orleans beat the Rams, they’d be just one game behind, and we’d be having a different conversation.

Most importantly, the loss to the Rams dropped hope in the Saints as a team back to where it was prior to the two game winning streak. Some of the same flaws returned. The schedule isn’t hard, but games against the Commanders and Packers would be critical in making ground on the division leaders.

Losing to the Rams made all of those hopes go from feeling improbable to impossible.

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Cameron Jordan only needed six letters to react to last-second Rams loss

Cameron Jordan only needed six letters to describe the reaction in the Saints locker room after their last-second loss to the Rams:

There’s a lot you could say about the New Orleans Saints’ loss tot he Los Angeles Rams last week. It was another missed opportunity to right the ship and salvage a season some would say has already been lost. It was a waste of a great effort by Cameron Jordan and the defense, who pitched a rare shutout in the first half. It was something of a disaster as star playmakers like Taysom Hill went down with season-ending injuries. And there were elements of encouragement when backup wide receivers like Marquez Valdes-Scantling, Kevin Austin Jr., and Dante Pettis came through in clutch moments.

But Jordan needed just one six-letter word to describe the mood in the locker room after players walked off the field, having taken a 21-14 loss after leading for most of three quarters.

“Pissed,” Jordan told reporters after the game. “We let one get away. We don’t have enough time to let one get away.”

He’s not wrong. The Saints are barely holding on as the NFC playoff picture gets painted without them. They’re 4-8 and even playing in a weak division won’t be enough to squeeze them in for January’s playoff tournament. They can’t afford to lose any more ground.

Jordan, specifically, is someone running out of time. The longest-tenured player in New Orleans is facing a decision on retirement this offseason with just one year left on his contract; his workload has been reduced at times as the team has tried to rotate younger players into the lineup to try and find a spark. These next five games might be his last five games in a Saints uniform.

So letting an opportunity to beat a team that’s given them so much trouble over the years is frustrating. For the stakes to be as high as they are? Doubly so. Things might have gone differently if the offense could have ended more drives with points early on, or if protection had held up half a second longer on their final play from scrimmage — allowing Derek Carr to find an open man in the end zone right as Juwan Johnson stepped into a hole in the Rams’ coverage.

But that’s a whole lot of words to achieve the same result Jordan did in just one. The Saints don’t have time to harbor regrets or vent frustrations. All they can do now is focus on their next game and go to work.

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NFL trade deadline pickup debut likely happens vs. former team

Marshon Lattimore hasn’t played since being traded from the Saints, and it seems his first game with his new team will be in New Orleans:

Things appear to be shaping up for Marshon Lattimore to make his debut with the Washington Commanders against his former team.

The New Orleans Saints made their biggest splash at the trade deadline in recent memory when they traded Lattimore to the Commanders. The trade wasn’t overly surprising. There was apparent discontent between the parties, and Lattimore dealt with long-term injuries in recent seasons.

Lattimore had missed one game with the Saints due to a hamstring at the time of the trade. That one game has turned into five games after his move to Washington, but things are looking up for the cornerback.

This week was the first time Lattimore participated in practice. He still missed the Commanders’ Week 14 game versus the Titans, but it’s a sign he’s closer to returning to action.

The Commanders’ next game is against New Orleans, but first Washington has a bye week. This means Lattimore has two weeks to be physically ready to step on the field. By that point, it’ll be nearly two months since he injured his hamstring.

Many Saints fans circled this game after the trade, but it being Lattimore’s first game back is a surprise.

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