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NBA Finals 2024: Schedule, TV, streaming, scores, and more for Celtics-Mavericks nba,finals,schedule,tv,streaming,scores,and,more,for,celtics,mavericks,sbnation,com,front-page,nba,nba-playoffs,nba-finals,draftkings

On: June 15, 2024 By: admin

The 2024 NBA Finals are here.

The Boston Celtics are back in the Finals, making a return trip after losing to the Golden State Warriors back in 2022. For the bulk of the season the Celtics were the class of the Eastern Conference, finishing with a 64-18 record — the best in the NBA — and 14 games ahead of the New York Knicks in the East.

That led many to wonder if the Celtics would be ready for the playoff run, and to many neutral observers, Boston’s path to the Finals was a little easier than expected. Boston squared off with the Miami Heat in the first round, but without Jimmy Butler who was lost with an MCL sprain, Miami struggled against Boston.

Then came the Cleveland Cavaliers, who began the series against the Celtics without rim protector Jarrett Allen, who missed the entire series with broken ribs. Add in a knee injury for Donovan Mitchell and you have a 4-1 series win for Boston, who moved on to face the Indiana Pacers in the Eastern Conference Finals.

Who were without Tyrese Haliburton for the final two games of that series, as the guard entered the Conference Finals with a groin injury that hampered him in the first two games, and saw him shut down for the final two.

Now they’ll take on the Dallas Mavericks, who stormed to the NBA Finals thanks to a tremendous playoff run from Kyrie Irving and Luka Dončić. Dončić might be playing the best basketball on the planet right now, and in our ranking of the top 15 players in this series, he was a fairly easy choice for the top spot. He has averaged almost a triple-double in the playoffs, averaging 28.8 ppg, 9.6 rpg, and 8.8 apg over Dallas’ 17 postseason games. With him, the Mavericks have the best player left standing, even if he is doing it on just one healthy leg as he deals with a knee sprain.

They also could pose some problems for the Celtics, given their length and athleticism. As outlined above Boston has seen a somewhat easier path to the Finals, but that will change starting Thursday night. Around Dončić and Irving the Mavericks have players who can frustrate the Boston offense, including P.J. Washington and Derrick Jones Jr.

Washington is big with a massive wingspan, and expect to see him on Jaylen Brown and Jayson Tatum for most of the series. Jones Jr. is one of the better athletes in the league, who can pose problems both near the rim and around the arc.

Down low Dallas can turn to the combination of Dereck Lively II and Daniel Gafford. The rookie Lively is 7’1, has a massive wingspan, and has been Dallas’ third best player on this run. Gafford is another springy rim protector who can disrupt shots and harrass Boston’s scorers near the tin.

Those players will need to step up if Dallas has a shot at pulling this off, but in the NBA Finals, anything can happen.

It all gets started this Thursday. Here is how to watch.

2024 NBA Finals Schedule

Game 1: Boston 107, Dallas 89 (Boston leads series 1-0)
Game 2: Boston 105, Dallas 98 (Boston leads series 2-0)
Game 3: Boston 106, Mavericks 99 (Boston leads series 3-0)
Game 4: Dallas 122, Boston 84 (Boston leads series 3-1)
Game 5: Dallas at Boston | Monday, June 17 | 8:30 p.m. ET | ABC/ESPN+
Game 6: Boston at Dallas | Thursday, June 20 | 8:30 p.m. ET | ABC/ESPN+*
Game 7: Dallas at Boston | Sunday, June 23 | 8:00 p.m. ET | ABC/ESPN+*

*If necessary

Christian Moore makes Men’s College World Series history in Tennessee-Florida State christian,moore,makes,men,s,college,world,series,history,in,tennessee,florida,state,sbnation,com,front-page,college-baseball,college-world-series,ncaa-baseball-tournament

On: June 15, 2024 By: admin

Friday night’s game between the Tennessee Volunteers and the Florida State Seminoles in the Men’s College World Series has yet to go final.

But a player has already made some history.

Tennessee infielder Christian Moore hit for the cycle in the game, becoming the first player to accomplish that feat since Jerry Kindall hit for the cycle back in 1956.

Kindall and Moore are now the only two players in Men’s College World Series to ever hit for the cycle.

Moore’s first hit came in the bottom of the first inning, when the Tennessee second baseman tripled to lead off the inning for the Volunteers. Then in the bottom of the second Moore checked the double off his “cycle to-do list,” as he laced a line drive down the left-field line to drive in a run:

Moore came all the way around the bases on a throwing error, but the play went into the books as a double.

In the fourth inning Moore laced a single to right, improving to 3-for-3 on the night. But that still left the infielder a home run shy of the cycle.

Moore checked that box in the sixth inning:

As noted by Tennessee’s social media department, Moore’s cycle is just the sixth in program history, and the first for the school in the postseason.

Moore is considered one of the top prospects in the upcoming MLB Draft, and in our most recent mock draft we had Moore coming off the board with the No. 21 pick to the Minnesota Twins.

After tonight, that might be too low.

U.S. Open: Ludvig Aberg learned from Masters missteps, leads u,s,open,ludvig,aberg,learned,from,masters,missteps,leads,sbnation,com,front-page,golf,us-open-golf,golf-majors,golf-pga-tour,golf-news

On: June 15, 2024 By: admin

Ludvig Åberg found his groove on Friday at the U.S. Open, becoming the solo leader after 36 holes. He posted a 1-under 69 to move to a 5-under overall and holds a one-shot lead heading into Saturday’s third round.

Once again, the former Texas Tech Red Raider is in contention at a major in 2024. He played Augusta National, another difficult golf course, exceptionally well. Åberg finished runner-up to World No. 1 Scottie Scheffler at this year’s Masters.

But he made some mistakes down the stretch, notably on the 11th hole, which cost him a chance at a Green Jacket. As such, Åberg will have a chance to put those experiences to work this weekend in North Carolina.

“I think Augusta proved to me that I was able to be in that position,” Åberg said.

“It was more of a justification of you can be there and contend on a Sunday. The golf course also played very difficult. It demanded a lot of patience and discipline, just like this one does. I feel like those experiences that I had back in April were great. Hopefully, we’ll draw some similarities between those.”

The young Swede continued to plug right along at Pinehurst No. 2 on Friday. He remained extremely consistent, hitting 12-of-14 fairways and finding 14-of-18 greens. The 24-year-old has missed just two fairways and six greens over the first two days overall.

To this point, he leads the field in both total strokes gained and strokes gained off the tee.

Yet, he did not have his best day on Friday, even though he recorded three birdies and two bogeys on his round. Still, his round was consistent enough to push him up the leaderboard and into the solo lead.

“Felt like I hit it very nicely today,” Åberg said.

“It was very challenging, and it’s not an easy golf course. I felt like we stayed very disciplined, stayed very patient, and tried to hit it to our targets all the time and see how many good shots we can hit today and see where that ends up at the end.”

He looks to become the first player in 110 years to win in his U.S. Open debut. Francis Ouimet famously did so in 1913 at The Country Club at Brookline as an amateur, which many say put the U.S. Open on the map. Other pundits call Ouimet’s win the most important victory in professional golf history.

Nevertheless, the U.S. Open has transformed into the toughest test in golf, with Pinehurst taking no prisoners.

“I think a U.S. Open is supposed to be hard,” he said.

“It’s supposed to be tricky. It’s supposed to challenge any aspect of your game, and I feel it’s really doing that. But I’m super fortunate with the way that things have turned out over the last couple of days, and hopefully, we’ll be able to keep it up.”

Despite its difficulty, Åberg knows this track fairly well. He played a U.S. Amateur at Pinehurst in 2019 but failed to advance past the round of 32. That experience taught him a lot about how to take on this tricky golf course.

“I think with the way those greens are when it gets really firm—you don’t really have any bail-out areas; you’ve got to take on the golf shots and see where it ends up,” Åberg said.

“If you don’t pull it off, you’re going to have a really tricky short game shot. I think it’s a challenging golf course, but once again, that’s how it was supposed to be.”

Åberg and Bryson DeChambeau will comprise the final pairing for the third round of the U.S. Open.

Savannah Leigh Richardson is a golf staff writer for SB Nation’s Playing Through. For more golf coverage, be sure to follow us @_PlayingThrough on all major social platforms. You can also follow her on Twitter @SportsGirlSL and Instagram @savannah_leigh_sports.

Men’s College World Series: Vance Honeycutt delivers again for UNC against Virginia men,s,college,world,series,vance,honeycutt,delivers,again,for,unc,against,virginia,sbnation,com,front-page,college-baseball,college-world-series,ncaa-baseball-tournament

On: June 14, 2024 By: admin

North Carolina outfielder Vance Honeycutt began his first game in Omaha in the 2024 Men’s College World Series with an 0-for-4 mark at the plate. But he finished Friday’s opening game of the Men’s College World Series against Virginia with a 1-for-5 mark at the dish, with one single.

And what a single it was.

As he has done so many times before, Honeycutt delivered in the clutch for UNC. With the game knotted at 2-2 in the bottom of the ninth and the winning run 90 away from home plate — and two outs on the scoreboard — Honeycutt ripped a breaking ball into left field, plating the game-winning run and advancing UNC into the winner’s side of Bracket 1 in Omaha.

Quite the start for UNC’s Mr. Clutch:

Or as they like to call him down in Chapel Hill, Vance Honey-clutch:

UNC now awaits the winner of tonight’s game between Tennessee and Florida State, two of the most potent lineups in all of college baseball. The Volunteers as a team posted an OPS of 1.029 this season, best for second in the nation, with the Seminoles not too far behind with a mark of .975 which placed them sixth. But the winner of that game will be facing something different in their second contest.

Mr. Honey-clutch himself.

U.S. Open: Bryson DeChambeau remains patient, honors legend u,s,open,bryson,dechambeau,remains,patient,honors,legend,sbnation,com,front-page,golf,us-open-golf,golf-majors,golf-news,liv-golf

On: June 14, 2024 By: admin

Bryson DeChambeau carded a 1-under 69 Friday at the 124th U.S. Open. It marks his second straight sub-70 score, an impressive feat at treacherous Pinehurst No. 2.

Coincidentally, he posted back-to-back rounds in the 60s to open up the U.S. Open at Winged Foot, where he won in 2020. Will history repeat itself?

Nevertheless, Friday’s second round challenged DeChambeau more so than on day one. He tallied five birdies and four bogeys. However, he ended it on a high note with a birdie on the 18th to shoot under par for the day.

This 1-under round puts him at 4-under for the championship, as he walked off the golf course trailing the leaders by a stroke.

“All in all, I was very happy with how I stayed patient, gave myself good opportunities when they mattered, and I made a lot of clutch putts coming in,” DeChambeau said.

Thursday saw him gain strokes off the tee, but on Friday, he lost a smidge to the field, losing 0.08. He only hit 7-of-14 fairways and 9-of-17 greens.

DeChambeau picked up those strokes on the green, though. In strokes gained putting, he picked up 2.29 on the field, a stark improvement from losing 0.33 on Thursday.

“This golf course is not going to be the same come tomorrow and the next day, and I’m expecting that,” he said.

“Us competitors, players, have to adjust to those conditions accordingly. I’m excited about the game that I have right now. I feel pretty confident and ready to get after it this weekend.”

This week also marks the 25th anniversary of Payne Stewart’s U.S. Open victory in 1999. The golf legend happened to be someone DeChambeau idolized growing up.

Stewart is a big reason why DeChambeau went to SMU and wore the scally cap for a while. On a recruiting trip to SMU, he saw Stewart’s mural at the golf center, which made the decision easy for him.

DeChambeau does not wear the flat cap as much anymore, but this week, he brought it to honor Stewart.

“I wore the hat as a bit of a tribute to Payne and Ben Hogan,” DeChambeau said.

“Growing up, I was a big Ben Hogan fanatic. Knowing what Payne meant to the game of golf, I am also a Payne Stewart fan. He’s meant a lot to me in the game.

“My first [PGA Tour] win was his first win—the John Deere Classic. It was a different tournament back then, but it meant a lot to me to win there. We have the cap on my bag this week as a remembrance of him. The cap is hanging on the side of the bag and it’s with me and makes me think of him every time I’m walking on these grounds.”

Stewart won the first U.S. Open at Pinehurst in 1999 but would tragically die in a plane crash just four months later. The resort has a statue of Stewart’s iconic celebration that fans can see as they enter the main entrance this week.

After 36 holes, DeChambeau is in the hunt and will need a solid weekend to win his second U.S. Open. He has proven to be one of the most consistent players in the field, which will help tremendously as Pinehurst only gets more complicated.

Tigers ace Tarik Skubal already has eyes on the AL Cy Young award tigers,ace,tarik,skubal,already,has,eyes,on,the,al,cy,young,award,sbnation,com,front-page,mlb,dot-com-grid-coverage

On: June 14, 2024 By: admin

The past 10 seasons for the Detroit Tigers has been a bit of a journey in the wilderness. The 2014 season ended up being the end of an era for the Tigers, as their four-year run of playoff appearances from 2011 through 2014 ended with two ALCS appearances and an American League Pennant victory in 2012. Once that window closed for Detroit, it slammed shut and outside of one winning season in 2016 that saw the Tigers come up three games short of earning a Wild Card spot, there hasn’t been much to get excited about for fans of the hometown team in the Motor City.

As of right now, the Tigers have a tough road ahead of them if they’re planning on returning to October baseball. They’re a distant fourth in the AL Central with their divisional rivals Kansas City and Minnesota currently occupying two of the three Wild Card spots in the AL. They are 33-35 and 3.5 games behind in the race for the final and are currently lumped in with the Astros, Rangers and Blue Jays when it comes to owning similar winning percentages. This is a long season with plenty of peaks and valleys but Detroit still a bit of an outside contender at this point – FanGraphs’ playoff odds is giving the Tigers a 12 percent shot at making the Postseason as a Wild Card with their overall odds of making the playoffs in general at 15 percent.

Needless to say, the Tigers aren’t exactly the favorites to upset the apple cart in baseball this season. With that being said, there’s one very good reason to pay attention to what Detroit has going on this season and that’s the mound exploits of Tarik Skubal. Skubal is coming off of a 2022 season that saw him establish himself as a bonafide major league starter with an ERA- of 90 and a FIP- of 75 over 117.2 innings. He followed that up by emerging as one of the best pitchers in all of baseball despite missing the first three months of the 2023 season due to a flexor tendon injury that ended his 2022 campaign. Once Skubal did finally return to the mound on July 4, 2023, he hit the ground running and wasted no time in establishing himself as a true ace. When I say that he was one of the best pitchers in baseball last season, I mean it – Skubal led all pitchers in fWAR with 3.3 after he returned to the mound, with Spencer Strider in second place after he produced 2.8 fWAR over that same span.

With all this in mind, it really shouldn’t come as a surprise that Tarik Skubal has emerged as a Cy Young candidate now that he’s been fully healthy here in 2024. As good as Skubal was to finish the 2023 season, he’s been even better this season. Skubal finished 2023 with an ERA- of 65 and a FIP- of 47 and both of those numbers are well above average when it comes to starting pitchers. He’s on track to leave those numbers in the dust here in 2024, as he’ll be heading into his start tonight against the Astros with an ERA- of 49 and a FIP- of 54. He’ll also be heading into Houston coming off of his most recent start where he made it through 6.2 innings with five hits and two walks for a grand total of just one run allowed and 10 strikeouts to boot. It was also the 11th time in 13 starts this season where the 27-year-old lefty gave up two runs or less. Needless to say, this man has been absolutely dealing all season.

What makes Tarik Skubal so incredibly tough to deal with is the fact that he’s got five pitches in his bag of tricks and batters have zero idea as to how to actually consistently hit his stuff. His best pitch has been his four-seam fastball and it’s a pitch that has slowly-but-surely been ramping up in velocity over the course of his career. He may have finally peaked in velocity in his most recent start, where he hit 101.7 mph on the radar gun. As this article from Jason Beck of MLB.com mentioned, it was one of the fastest pitches thrown by a starter this season and it was part of a deliberate effort on his part to ramp up his velocity on his heater. With that being said, it’s not just his fastball that hitters have to worry about. His sinker has been sitting at 96 mph – the same speed as his average fastball. Hitters have been bewitched by both pitches, as evidenced by the opposition batting average of .205 against his sinker and .169 against his fastball.

Opposing hitters haven’t fared well against his other three pitches, either. His changeup is his second-most used pitch behind his fastball and hitters are only hitting .223 against it. He also has a slider that he’s commonly used and it only has a .194 batting average against it. Finally, he’s thrown 57 knuckle curveballs this season and you are not going to find a video of anybody getting a hit against it so far in 2024. That’s right: The opposing batting average against his knuckle curve is .000. Granted, it does have an Expecting Batting Average of .243 but the good news for Skubal is that that xBA is by far the highest of any of his four pitches – his fastball has an xBA of .205, his changeup’s xBA is at .219, the sinker is at .191 and the slider’s xBA is microscopic at .161. Simply put, it hasn’t really mattered what Tarik Skubal has been throwing out there – opposing hitters have had an absolute devil of a time trying to deal with any one of them.

If Skubal needs to miss a bat, his changeup (45 percent whiff rate) and slider (35 percent whiff rate) have been his go-to in that regard. If he needs an out, any one of his four main pitches will do as his highest Put Away percentage lies at 31 percent with his changeup while the lowest of those four pitches is 21 percent with his four-seamer. He’s got nasty stuff in his arsenal and he’s throwing all of his pitches with a ton of confidence at the moment. Taking all of this into account, it’s easy to understand why he’s starting to get attention and even early talks of Cy Young Award contention here in June.

There are also surely some rumors floating around that Tarik Skubal could be traded at the deadline but those rumors appear to simply be rumors. Either way, Skubal isn’t the type of pitcher that should be traded if you’re a team that still harbors any type of playoff hopes. Jim Bowden of The Athletic stated that while the Tigers may listen to offers on the likes of Jack Flaherty, Skubal’s going nowhere.

Again, while the Tigers aren’t exactly near the top of the standings, they still figure to be right in the middle of the pack when it comes to the Wild Card chase and as long as that’s the case, Skubal should remain in a Tigers uniform. If the Tigers are going to return to Postseason relevancy in the near future, then that likely requires having Skubal still in a Tigers uniform while they make their return to October. Detroit has a gem at the top of their rotation and this could very well be the season where the entire baseball world becomes extremely aware of Tarik Skubal and what he can do on the mound.

Taylor Swift is a … Mecole Hardman fan? taylor,swift,is,a,mecole,hardman,fan,sbnation,com,front-page,nfl,draftkings

On: June 14, 2024 By: admin

The Kansas City Chiefs unveiled their latest Super Bowl rings on Thursday, with everyone and their grandmother there.

Except for Taylor Swift, the noted football junkie and girlfriend of Chiefs TE Travis Kelce Swift was on tour in England, but burned the midnight oil to hop on Instagram live to help the team celebrate their new rings.

That’s real love right there. It was probably super late in Liverpool but she was up watching the team get rings, pure loyalty, love to see it.

However…I had no idea she was grinding Mecole Hardman film. Hardman re-signed with the Chiefs in the off-season and I’m assuming she’s very excited about his fit in the offense, but with the signing of Hollywood Brown and the drafting of Xavier Worthy it makes Hardman’s skillset a bit redundant. In her song ‘So High School’ off of her latest album The Torturned Poets Society Swift says of herself and Kelce, “You know how to ball, I know Aristotle.” But did Swift watch any Worthy tape, or see any Hollywood Brown film from the past few years? Hardman would be the designated jet sweep guy, but Skyy Moore already does that.

I’m afraid to say it, but: Taylor Swift does not, in fact, know ball.

Three top bets for the combat sports weekend three,top,bets,for,the,combat,sports,weekend,sbnation,com,front-page,mma,ufc,draftkings,golf-news,dot-com-grid-coverage

On: June 14, 2024 By: admin

A busy combat sports weekend looms as on Saturday, Gervonta Davis puts his WBA lightweight title on the line against undefeated challenger Frank Martin and UFC Vegas 93 takes place with a high-profile flyweight matchup between top-15 competitors Alex Perez and Tatsuro Taira.

With so much happening this weekend, we broke down our three favorite bets for the weekend. All odds courtesy of DraftKings Sportsbook.

Gervonta Davis by Decision or Technical Decision (+260)

Davis is an elite counter-puncher in the mold of Floyd Mayweather Jr. He’s got good vision and defense, and a preternatural sense of range, allowing him to draw out punches at the end of range and land his power shots, particularly his left hook. That left hook, plus a commitment to body work early and often, makes Tank an excellent finisher with 27 of his 29 wins coming by way of stoppage.

As such, this is a big step up for Martin. Martin is fast, technical, and defensively tight, with good footwork. He’s not a huge volume boxer, but he’s good at blocking incoming artillery and then ripping the body in response. The problem is he’s not a huge puncher, and he’s facing someone who is. That makes the margin for error much smaller.

I like Martin as a fighter, but he’s facing an uphill battle in this one. That being said, I do think he has a good chance to make this a fight. Davis is not a fast starter and Martin is so quick and defensively that at the very least he’s going to make Tank work for it. Add in that Tank’s been out of action for over a year, and I think this one goes long in a bout that might not be the most thrilling to watch.

Tatsuro Taira To Win By KO/TKO/DQ or Submission (+100)

The UFC main event this Saturday is set up to be the arrival of Japan’s best MMA prospect. Taira is only 24 years old and has all the trappings of a future champion. The Okinawa native is an elite athlete, lethal grappler, and developing striker with natural power. Taira has dominated in his five UFC fights which is why he’s getting this shot at a top-five opponent.

Alex Perez has been a staple of the UFC’s flyweight division since 2017, even challenging for the title in 2020. Things didn’t go well for Perez that night, which has sort of been the story of his career: losing whenever he faces the best opposition. This is Perez’s second shot to rebuff an emerging wunderkind (he lost to Muhammad Mokaev in March) and to prove he’s still in the mix for title contention.

This should be a straightforward win for Taira. He’s the superior grappler and the far better athlete, and can compete on the feet, if not win outright there. The main questions is how will he win? Historically, when Perez loses it’s by submission, and while that seems to be the most likely outcome, I’m not ruling out Taira showing off his improving hands.

Joshua Van (+170)

Originally this was going to be a bet on Ikram Aliskerov, but late on Thursday, Aliskerov was pulled from the event this weekend to step in on short notice and fight Robert Whittaker at UFC Saudi Arabia next Saturday. In light of that, we’re pivoting to a prelim underdog.

Van takes on top-15 flyweight Tagir Ulanbekov in the featured prelim fight of on Saturday. Only 22 years old, this is a huge step up for the super prospect but one he’s got a realistic shot at winning. Ulanbekov is a big, experienced flyweight who has only lost to top-shelf competition, but he’s not the most dynamic fighter. Van has that in spades. Moreover, Van has shown good takedown defense and good scrambling ability when he does get taken down, meaning Ulanbekov shouldn’t totally have his way.

If Van can continue to show the sort of rapid improvement he’s shown the last few times out, a new contender will emerge on Saturday.

All information in this article is provided to readers for entertainment, news, and amusement purposes only. It is the responsibility of the reader to learn and abide by online gambling laws in their region before placing any online sports betting wagers.

Browns’ Deshaun Watson trade is already a disaster, and this is last chance to salvage it browns,deshaun,watson,trade,is,already,a,disaster,and,this,is,last,chance,to,salvage,it,sbnation,com,front-page,nfl,draftkings

On: June 14, 2024 By: admin

The Deshaun Watson trade has been quite simply a trainwreck for the Cleveland Browns. After giving him a $230 million deal that was fully guaranteed, Watson has been mired by injuries and constant reminders of a player that he once was. As the Browns made their playoff run on the back of their top rated defense and Joe Flacco (!), the questions looming around the future of Watson and how good he truly is grew louder and louder.

Cleveland GM Andrew Berry isn’t one to wait around until it’s time for a change, but the Watson deal in itself is hard to skate around. Even if they wanted to cut him after the 2024 season, it would still eat up over $100 million in cap space, far too much to justify releasing one player.

What this means is that the Browns and Watson are stuck together until at least after the 2025 season. They have to make this work, to justify giving him the only fully guaranteed contract in NFL history. Now the question becomes: how do you get Deshaun Watson back to his high level of play?

Remnants of a player he once was

In 2020, Watson was known as one of the best passers in the entire league.Throwing for over 4,000 passing yards and 30 touchdowns, Watson was in the midst of a career year. While never being the best passer in structure, he was more than capable of doing that on top of being extremely creative outside of the pocket, one of the best passers in the league outside of structure.

That hasn’t followed him to Cleveland in any way, shape, or form. While he still tries to create outside of structure, the success of those plays has waned off in a major way. This, in turn, has turned him into a shell of the QB he once was: a QB who is no longer successful when he needs to get creative, yet someone who desperately wants to play the way he always has.

Remnants of a player he once was

Name and Year	On-Target Rate	On-Target Rate (0-10 Air Yards)	On-Target Rate (20+ Air Yards)	Sack Rate when pressured	Time to Throw (s)	On-Target Rate when pressured
Name and Year	On-Target Rate	On-Target Rate (0-10 Air Yards)	On-Target Rate (20+ Air Yards)	Sack Rate when pressured	Time to Throw (s)	On-Target Rate when pressured
Deshaun Watson, 2020	80.80%	84.20%	58.90%	20.20%	2.85	68.80%
Deshaun Watson, 2023	67.10%	71.30%	42.90%	20.70%	3.06	60.40%

Allow me to explain: despite Watson’s sack rate when pressured remaining largely the same, his time to throw has increased and his On-Target Rate when pressured has gone down. When you watch Watson in 2020 compared to present day, he looks like a QB who is much less confident in both his body and what he’s seeing on the field when pressured.

Take this snap from 2020. Houston runs two shallow crossers in front of two deeper ones, with the Bengals in Cover 1. Watson gets pressure off the edge, but doesn’t take his eyes down. He steps up and out of the pocket calmly, then fires a strike to move the chains.

Now, compare this to 2023, when watching him play seemed to show more signs of a QB with variance and chaos than one of a QB who knows he’s under control when things go wrong. Deshaun Watson in 2023 looked like a QB who knew he used to be able to do these things, but now … not so sure.

Not only that, but Watson’s ball placement and accuracy have taken drastic dips since coming to Cleveland, especially in the short area. His inability to drive the ball and place it in tight windows has inhibited the Browns offense, on top of his inability to work in structure. Watson faced numerous shoulder injuries that sapped the true arm strength that he has, limiting the offense’s ability to go downfield. Where that also stood out is in the quick game, where arm strength helps QBs fit passes into very tight windows.

This pass is supposed to be put on the tight end in stick, but Watson dirts it and stops the flow of the offense. This happened far too much for a QB who was as highly regarded as he was, while also being as highly paid as he is.

Like, it got REALLY bad.

On top of that, when QB Joe Flacco entered the starting lineup after Watson’s season-ending injury, the Browns offense looked like it ran a bit smoother, and the productivity of targets like WRs Amari Cooper, Elijah Moore and TE David Njoku skyrocketed. He simply ran the offense better than Watson did in 2023, and that’s a problem for a guy who is making as much money as he is.

So, how can Stefanski get the best out of a QB who was supposed to answer all the Browns’ problems? How can he salvage what’s left of Watson in 2024?

Big Boy Browns Football

One of the things I noticed when watching the Browns’ offense last year was how successful they, and Watson, were out of 12 personnel and condensed sets. According to Sports Information Solutions, Watson threw the ball out of 12 personnel 18 times, but his On-Target Rate out of 12 jumps to 75%, a drastic improvement from where he was in total. While his aDOT out of 12 is a meager 6.4, his Sack Rate goes down and Watson looks a bit more comfortable with bigger bodies on the field. The same tune is sung with Flacco, whose aDOT of 8.6 and three TDs out of 12 paced the Browns signal-callers.

In addition, where Stefanski can help Watson even more is through the use of play action. While play action is not the magic elixir that fixes an offense, Watson’s mobility comes into play off run fakes and Stefanski could continue to work the ball downfield. Some of Watson’s best passes came off play action, with an On-Target Rate of 76.3% and a Positive Play Rate of 42%. With deep pockets off run fakes, Watson shows the ability to fire in passes, even if his arm strength isn’t what it was.

This sounds eerily similar to the game-plan for QB Russell Wilson in Denver, and to this point, they’re kind of similar. Both are very expensive QBs whose athleticism might be on the downward slope, that need more play action so they can take those shots downfield. Cooper and Njoku both also benefit from these shots downfield; in his time at QB Joe Flacco had the highest aDOT off play action in the entire league.

There’s a formula for Watson if he wants to salvage what might be a career that’s taken the wildest tailspin in NFL history. For he and the Browns’ sake, they’ll need to turn it around in 2024 and get him not to 2020 form, but at least passable.

F1 rule change opens door to Andrea Kimi Antonelli debut this season f,rule,change,opens,door,to,andrea,kimi,antonelli,debut,this,season,sbnation,com,front-page,formula-one,2024-formula-one

On: June 14, 2024 By: admin

This week the Federation Internationale de l’Automobile (FIA), the world’s motorsport governing body, published an update to the International Sporting Code. The update to Appendix L involves international drivers’ licenses as well as Super Licenses.

And the updated regulation might just open the door to a young driver seeing the Formula 1 grid before his 18th birthday.

Ever since Lewis Hamilton announced his shocking move to Ferrari, to be executed at the end of the 2024 season, Andrea Kimi Antonelli’s name has been linked with a seat on the F1 grid, perhaps even to replace Hamilton at Mercedes. Antonelli, who is a member of the Mercedes driver program, is in his first F2 season, having skipped F3 altogether.

He is also just 17 years old.

Ahead of the Miami Grand Prix reports surfaced that a team requested a dispensation for a driver to receive a Super License — required before participating in F1 — for a driver who had not reached the age of 18. Current F1 regulations require a driver to be 18 years old to receive the requisite Super License. This was put into place after Max Verstappen made his F1 debut just days after his 17th birthday.

However, the FIA’s updated International Sporting Code now contains Article 13.1.32, which reads as follows:

“The driver must be at least 18 years old at the start of the event of his first F1 competition. At the sole discretion of the FIA, a driver judged to have recently and consistently demonstrated outstanding ability and maturity in single-seater formula car competition may be granted a Super Licence at the age of 17 years old.”

Antonelli does not turn 18 until August.

In addition, the previous Article 13.1.2 has been deleted. That Article read that “[t]he driver must be the holder of a valid driving licence when he applies for a Super Licence for the first time.”

Antonelli is Italian, and the legal age for a driving license in Italy is 18.

With this rule change, the door is open for Antonelli to receive a dispensation from the FIA and be granted a Super License before his 18th birthday in August. The only other requirement is that the young driver acquire the necessary 40 points required for a Super License.

Antonelli has already surpassed that threshold, having won the Italian F4 Championship (12 points), the ADAC Formula 4 Championship (12 points), the Formula Regional Middle East Championship (18 points), and the Formule Regional European Championship (25 points). Those 67 points clear the 40-point threshold. Supplement 1 to Appendix L outlines how points are granted for success in various competitions.

Now, just because the rule has been changed does not mean that Antonelli will see the grid this year. When the issue of a dispensation was first raised ahead of the Miami Grand Prix, along with speculation that Williams would replace Logan Sargeant with Antonelli, Team Principal James Vowles brushed those rumors aside.

But now at least, that door is officially open.