The Detroit Lions beat the Green Bay Packers 24-13 and now are 7-1, the best in the NFC. Craig Carton, Danny Parkins, Mark Schlereth, and Greg Jennings ask how much better the Lions are than everyone in their conference.
Three-time Cy Young Award winner Clayton Kershaw has declined his $10 million player option with the Los Angeles Dodgers, electing to become a free agent.
The MLB Players Association listed Kershaw as a free agent in a statement released on Monday. The left-hander is still expected to re-sign with the Dodgers, his only big league team during his 17-year career.
The 36-year-old was hurt for much of last season, finishing with a 2-2 record and a 4.50 ERA over seven starts.
The Dodgers did exercise a $5 million option for infielder Miguel Rojas and a $3.5 million option for catcher Austin Barnes. Barnes is the second-longest tenured Dodgers player behind Kershaw, playing 10 seasons.
The 35-year-old Rojas just finished one of the best seasons of his 11-year career, batting .283 with six homers and 36 RBIs. Barnes hit .264 with one homer and 11 RBIs.
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If Hernández does, he will be under contract with the Dodgers for another season. If he declines and signs elsewhere, his new team must forfeit at least one draft pick and Los Angeles will receive at least one draft pick as compensation.
Inter Milan and Barcelona eye move for Chelsea’s Enzo Fernandez, Arsenal target Newcastle’s Alexander Isak and Manchester United face battle to sign Sporting’s Geovany Quenda.
Inter Milan and Barcelona are plotting a swoop for Chelsea and Argentina midfielder Enzo Fernandez, 23, whose future at Stamford Bridge looks increasingly unclear. (Sun), external
Arsenal have identified Newcastle forward Alexander Isak, 25, as their top transfer target, although the Magpies would demand a fee of about £100m for the Sweden international. (Teamtalk), external
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Manchester United are keen on Sporting winger Geovany Quenda, 17, with the Portugal Under-21 international also interesting Manchester City, Liverpool and Juventus. (Teamtalk), external
Sacked Manchester United manager Erik ten Hag did not want to buy Netherlands forward Joshua Zirkzee from Bologna in the summer and was furious when the £36.5m signing arrived for training a stone overweight. (Sun), external
Tottenham are interested in Netherlands midfielder Tijjani Reijnders, 26, but do not think they will be able to prise him away from AC Milan in January. (Football Insider), external
Chelsea will not consider selling defender Benoit Badiashile, 23, with the France defender considered part of their long-term plans. (Fabrizio Romano), external
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Nottingham Forest would like to take Bayern Munich winger Mathys Tel, 19, on loan but the France Under-21 international has no plans of leaving Bavaria this winter. (Sky Germany), external
Former Chelsea and Everton boss Frank Lampard has emerged as a surprise candidate to take over from under-pressure manager Ivan Juric if Roma decide to part ways with the Croat. (Gazzetta dello Sport – in Italian), external
Manchester United will give new head coach Ruben Amorim a say before making contract decisions on players approaching the end of their deals. (ESPN), external
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Aston Villa are close to agreeing a bumper new contract with English forward Morgan Rogers, 22. (Football Insider), external
Edu is set to take up a role with the network of clubs controlled by the Nottingham Forest owner Evangelos Marinakis after resigning as Arsenal’s sporting director. (Times – subscription required), external
Justin Herbert has knocked Jim Harbaugh down a peg, at least in terms of toughness.
The Los Angeles Chargers head coach, who played in the league for 14 seasons, used to believe he was the toughest quarterback in NFL history. After spending roughly half a season around Herbert, though, Harbaugh has a new answer.
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“There’s nobody tougher,” Harbaugh said of Herbert on Monday’s “The Herd.”
“There’s my own personal ranking, and it’s my right to have my own personal ranking. So I’m going to preface this with that: It’s not anybody else’s, it’s mine,” Harbaugh explained. “But I’ve always considered myself the toughest quarterback in the history of the National Football League. Being around Justin Herbert, I have moved to No. 2 in the rankings. Justin Herbert is the toughest quarterback in the history of the National Football League.”
Herbert’s displayed toughness for much of his five-year NFL career. The Chargers quarterback has played through numerous ailments, such as a broken finger in 2023 and fractured rib cartilage in 2022. He also played while dealing with an ankle sprain earlier in the 2024 season.
Jim Harbaugh: Justin Herbert is the ‘toughest QB in the history of the NFL’
Harbaugh measured Herbert’s toughness in another way.
“It’s become, like, Hack-a-Shaq. Remember, remember the old Shaq days and they just hacked him? [Herbert is] so big and he’s so tough to get on the ground. The ball’s thrown and it could be the ball’s 10 yards downfield and there’s still somebody trying to wrestle and grapple him to the ground. He gets hit when he goes out of bounds. He gets hit in the head. He gets facemasked during the play. It’s incredible.”
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For much of his career, Herbert has been among the best quarterbacks at avoiding sacks when pressured. His pressure-to-sack rate was below 16% in each of his first four seasons, per Pro Football Focus, which ranked near the top of the league’s starters. This year, his pressure-to-sack-rate has increased to 22.8%, which is more in the middle of the pack among regular starting quarterbacks.
Harbaugh thinks Herbert’s grit goes beyond the field.
“I just don’t have enough adjectives to describe what being around this young man is like and just how fortunate we are as an organization to have him as our quarterback,” Harbaugh said. “We’ve all heard of people that make a lot of money, and money makes people complacent. Not Justin Herbert. He was right back in here. I know where to find him. 6:30, 7:30 in the morning on an off day, he’s right down there in the weight room, or getting extra film work. Never comes in disheveled, never sleepy.
“He’s like a jackhammer, just always attacking.”
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That “jackhammer” mentality has helped the Chargers get off to a good start. They improved to 5-3 following their 27-10 win over the Cleveland Browns as they hope to make the postseason.
But Los Angeles is winning in a way that it hasn’t throughout much of Herbert’s career. The Chargers haven’t had to rely on their quarterback to throw a few dozen times to win games, with Herbert throwing fewer than 35 passes in each of their five wins. As a result, Herbert’s volume stats have taken a hit this season. He’s 21st in the NFL in passing yards (1,725) and tied for 15th in passing touchdowns (10) through Week 9.
Still, there are some other metrics where he’s among the best in the league. He’s 10th in the league in passer rating (101.6), eighth in yards per attempt (7.7) and first in touchdown-to-interceptions ratio (10:1).
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Harbaugh believes Herbert’s name belongs with the best of the best at the position.
“There’s nobody better, there’s nobody,” Harbaugh said. “Lamar [Jackson] is playing really good, and I think those two are playing at a really high level right now, and some others. But I don’t think anybody’s playing better than Justin Herbert is.
“It’s a love and an admiration that we have for Justin. He’s incredible in everything that he does. We could spend the whole show talking about him, but it just hits me like this: Every day when we go out there to practice, we’re around greatness. This is, this is what greatness looks like.”
Even though Harbaugh is only eight games into his partnership with Herbert, he already knows that there’s no one else he wants under center.
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“God willing and the creek don’t rise, this will be the only quarterback I ever coach again.”
Fulham manager Marco Silva says Harry Wilson has not played as much as he wants this season but he “deserves his moment” after two injury-time goals from the Wales international give his side a 2-1 win over west London rivals Fulham.
Dallas Cowboys quarterback Dak Prescott‘s hamstring injury is expected to sideline him for multiple weeks, NFL Media reported Monday, though he will get a second opinion to confirm treatment options. He will miss at least one game after head coach Mike McCarthy ruled Prescott out for Sunday’s game at home against Philadelphia.
Prescott suffered the injury in the third quarter of the Cowboys’ 27-21 loss to the Atlanta Falcons in Week 9. He had a notable limp after throwing an incomplete pass on the final play of the third quarter as he departed the field. Prescott was set to undergo an MRI on Monday to determine the severity of the injury.
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“Didn’t think much of it,” Prescott told reporters. “Then, the next play, I felt a pull. That’s something I never felt. It was tough to walk on it at that point. I asked if I could make it worse. The [medical staff] said I wouldn’t be able to protect myself. I wanted to get out there and compete. I wanted to get out there and fight.”
Backup Cooper Rush filled in for Prescott afterward, completing 13 of 25 passes for 115 yards and a touchdown. If Rush gets the start in Week 10, it’ll be his first since 2022.
Prescott is just the latest in a growing list of key players who have gone down for Dallas (3-5) this season, joining star linebacker Micah Parsons, defensive end DeMarcus Lawrence and cornerback Daron Bland.
When he was healthy, though, Prescott wasn’t excelling. His completion percentage (64.7), yards per attempt (6.9) and passer rating (86) are on track to be career lows. He’s also thrown for 1,978 yards, 11 touchdowns and eight interceptions. The Cowboys also made Prescott the highest-paid player just hours ahead of their season opener. He signed a four-year, $240 million extension with $231 million guaranteed that will kick in at the start of the 2025 season.
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Even before Prescott’s injury, Dallas’ margin for error was thin. Its next three games are against teams that have winning records (Philly, Houston, Washington), as it’s multiple games out of a playoff spot. Without their starter, the Cowboys’ hill to make the postseason for a fourth-straight year is now much steeper to climb.
Unlike the previous accounting period, Hearts did not feature in European group stage football after finishing fourth in the 2022-23 Scottish Premiership.
However, they are in the Conference League’s new league phase this season after a third-placed finish last term and then losing their Europa League play-off to Viktoria Plzen. The current European campaign will contribute to next year’s accounts.
In September, Hearts parted with head coach Steven Naismith after eight defeats in a row and Neil Critchley was appointed in mid-October.
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Improved results under interim boss Liam Fox and Critchley have lifted the side off the bottom of the Premiership and secured two wins out of two in the Conference League.
Critchley’s side host German outfit Heidenheim in Thursday’s third Conference League fixture (20:00 GMT).
And Hearts play their last game before the November international break away to Premiership opponents Rangers on Sunday (17:00).
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