With Week 1 officially over and Week 2 around the corner, Tuesday saw a mix of injury updates across the NFL as teams digested their season openers. 

Kansas City Chiefs rookie cornerback Mansoor Delane appears to have avoided a long-term injury after making a big play against the Denver Broncos, while Baltimore Ravens wideout Ja’Kobi Lane could be facing a month-long absence. 

In Chicago, Ben Johnson explained why his Bears continued to score in the fourth quarter during a blowout win over the Carolina Panthers, rather than taking their foot off the gas late.

Here’s the latest from around the NFL. 

The Bears put up their highest-scoring Week 1 performance in franchise history Sunday, routing the Panthers 59-37, and head coach Ben Johnson made clear Monday that easing off wasn’t an option. Even with Chicago up 45-31 after a third-quarter touchdown run from Kyle Monangai, the offense tacked on two more scores in the fourth.

“Anytime you’re still within a couple of scores there in the fourth quarter, the game is still on, and so we needed that,” Ben Johnson said via transcript from the team. “I forget what time it was that we took the field for that last drive, and it was, ‘Guys, we want to finish the game with the ball’, and then ended up getting one to pop through, and [D’Andre Swift] ended up scoring there at the end.”

Johnson also noted how frequently Carolina’s offense had rallied from behind a season ago, adding that history stuck with the Bears’ coaching staff when preparing for the Panthers.

“It’s a credit to Carolina more than anything. We went into the game with a lot of respect for how well they could play in the fourth quarter. They had a number of games a year ago where the quarterback and the offense found a way to come back and win from behind; that was just something that was on our mind going into the game. We knew we couldn’t let off the gas.”  

The Bears’ offense will get an early test in their home opener against NFC North division rival, the Minnesota Vikings, on Sunday.

Baltimore’s receiving corps just got thinner. 

Rookie wideout Ja’Kobi Lane is expected to undergo surgery for a fractured wrist as soon as Wednesday, a procedure that could sideline him for close to a month, according to a CBS Sports report. The Ravens have reportedly not ruled out an injured reserve designation.

Lane’s absence compounds an already banged-up receiver room after Zay Flowers went down with a hamstring injury, pushing Rashod Bateman, Chris Moore and Elijah Sarratt up the depth chart. 

“Zay’s probably a little bit more like in the day-to-day range. You know, feel pretty good about where that’s at. We’ll see how the week goes,” Minter said about Flowers before adding he expected Lane to be out, “maybe a little bit longer,” Monday.

The 21-year-old third-round pick out of USC was expected to be a red-zone weapon alongside Flowers after a standout college career, but his NFL debut was cut short in Week 1 against the Colts. Lane arrived in Baltimore with plenty of hype after a three-season run at USC that produced 99 catches, 1,363 yards and 18 touchdowns, and he’d lined up as the No. 2  behind Flowers before the injury. 

A month-long absence could see Lane return for Baltimore’s game against the Falcons in October, after matchups with the New Orleans Saints, Dallas Cowboys and Tennessee Titans.

There’s encouraging news on the injury front for one of Kansas City’s top rookies. 

Cornerback Mansoor Delane is believed to have suffered only a short-term shoulder injury during Monday night’s win over Denver, according to NFL Network, with X-rays and CT scans reportedly coming back clean. Delane was still set to undergo an MRI.

The No. 6 overall pick appeared to have aggravated a shoulder issue that dated back to the offseason program and training camp. He made an instant impact anyway, hauling in his first career interception on his third career snap to end Denver’s opening possession, but he landed awkwardly on the shoulder during the play and didn’t return.

With the early word pointing to a short-term issue rather than a long-term absence, the Chiefs will be hopeful their top corner can be back in the mix quickly as the secondary settles into the regular season. 

The Chiefs host the Indianapolis Colts on Sunday night in Week 2.

Manchester United have announced that three youngsters have signed professional contracts with the club, with a fourth academy talent also reportedly expected to follow suit in the coming days

Youth players Fred Heath and Dante Plunkett have signed their first professional Manchester United deals, while Will Murdock has penned fresh terms with the club. Reports suggest that Noah Ajayi is expected to follow suit in a flurry of exciting signings for the club.

It has been a turbulent week for United following the news that JJ Gabriel had requested that his contract be ripped up by the club. The 15-year-old is highly rated at Old Trafford, with aspirations of the teenager becoming a key player for the club in the future.

However, they risk losing him and costing the club millions, as European clubs such as PSG, Barcelona and Real Madrid could land him at a discounted price.

Heath and Plunkett will be hoping to emulate players of yesteryear to graduate from the academy, with the goalkeeper and defender both penning their first professional deals at the club.

Plunkett is well thought of having featured 12 times for the Under-18s after arriving from Premier League rivals Aston Villa. But injuries have plagued his involvement recently.

Murdock has stepped up to United’s Under-21s side and was part of the squad that travelled to the United States for pre-season during the summer of 2025.

He has been a regular in United’s Premier League 2 aspirations, and played in the play-off final against Brighton.

Heath also featured in that summer’s pre-season squad and will likewise link up with the Under-21s, while Plunkett made 12 appearances for the under-18s throughout 2025/26.

The Daily Mail has claimed that Ajayi is also on the verge of agreeing a professional contract with the Old Trafford club. The winger has been turning heads with his displays, prompting United to look to tie him down with a new deal.

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The trio of extensions marks an element of good news at Old Trafford, with a fourth on the horizon mark. It follows Gabriel seemingly set to miss out on a competitive first-team debut with the club.

The 15-year-old was slated to be in the squad for Brighton’s visit in the Carabao Cup. However, following a refusal to train this week, the plans have been shelved.

It would have made him the youngest-ever player for United and if he was to make his bow in the Premier League, he’d become the fourth youngest to make a top-flight appearance.

All those star players, all that playoff experience with all that history that is on the line for the Los Angeles Dodgers, and they might be asking a youngster to help lead them navigate the gauntlet of October.

Josue De Paula is not a savior. Not by any means. The Dodgers have a roster that knows what it takes to get through the grind of the playoffs.

But after less than a week in the major leagues, the 21-year-old De Paula is showing that he can at least work a solid at-bat in pressure-packed moments and hit sky-scraping home runs. Anybody’s first few days in the major leagues, surrounded with high expectations, is about as high pressure as it gets.

Add in that De Paula replaced an injured Shohei Ohtani on the roster, then was immediately inserted into the designated-hitter role of the four-time MVP, it is easy to see why he is rising on manager Dave Roberts’ famed “trust tree.”

De Paula made his major league debut Friday, delivered a 416-foot home run for his first major league hit on Sunday and worked five walks over his first four major league games to give him a .500 on-base percentage.

His first clunker of a game came Monday, when he went 0-for-5 and struck out twice after Roberts had raised the stakes and put his youngster in the leadoff spot against the Cincinnati Reds. He still has just two hits over his first 19 plate appearances.

And yet De Paula has been the double espresso the Dodgers needed late in a regular season that has lacked the kind of zip the Dodgers are known for delivering.

Ohtani has labored through biceps and knee soreness that has plagued him since before the All-Star break and hasn’t pitched since July 2. Freddie Freeman has gone through a second-half power outage while only recently missing some games with his own sore knee. Mookie Betts has lacked the regular pop off his bat until recently.

The Dodgers wobbled through a 13-11 July and an even worse 13-14 August. Against playoff contenders in the Boston Red Sox, Cincinnati Reds, Milwaukee Brewers and Atlanta Braves, they went 1-12 over a 28-day stretch.

There are other issues. Catcher Will Smith missed three months with neck inflammation. Andy Pages is out with a broken hand. And the bullpen is in disarray with closer Edwin Diaz missing most of the year with multiple injuries while Tanner Scott has been navigating his way through traffic on the base paths for a month now.

There is the real possibility the bullpen will be fortified with starters in the postseason like Roki Sasaki, Emmet Sheehan and Justin Wrobleski, who was an All-Star in July for his work out of the rotation.

The Dodgers still believe Ohtani will be ready to return as a hitter by the time the playoffs arrive, but Roberts has already cautioned against the idea he will be completely pain free in October. Their belief is that any version of Ohtani is better than none at all.

The Dodgers just need offense of any kind. Their average of 3.9 runs per game in August might not cut it. They want to be somewhere near the 5.0 runs they have averaged all season.

In reality, an average offense might be enough for a starting rotation that is expected to consist of Tarik Skubal, Yoshinobu Yamamoro, Blake Snell and Tyler Glasnow come playoff time.

De Paula is technically ineligible for the playoff roster but can be added in case of an injury. The Dodgers had hoped to include backup catcher and left-handed power hitter Dalton Rushing in their October plans, but he is currently out with an elbow injury.

De Paula’s path from Double-A to the major leagues last week was paved by an Ohtani injury. His spot in the playoffs could be created by another injury to Rushing. The Dodgers can petition for De Paula to replace an injured player.

All of the excitement De Paula already has generated, by arriving as the team’s top prospect, hasn’t even included a home game yet. That will come Friday in a matchup against the rival San Francisco Giants.

It will be another chance to show how he handles the spotlight. If he continues to rise to the occasion, a chance to suit up for the playoffs is possible, even if it’s a role as a power/on-base potential off the bench.

“I think that our player development group is very confident in his ability to conduct an at-bat,” Roberts said. “…I think that we’ve seen him in (spring-training) camp for two or three years. He doesn’t run from velocity.”

But the playoffs?

“Well, anything’s possible,” Roberts said.

There are no bad rooms at the best resorts. But some accommodations are a cut above the rest. GOLF’s new list of Top 100 Resorts in the World covers the game’s most resplendent lodging, from beachside cottages and baronial mansions to modernist suites and mountain chalets. All come, of course, with ready access to world-class golf, first-rate food and wine, and amenities to complement their surrounds. On a list where every option sparkles, the differences come down to taste. Here are 5 that stand out to us.

Apes Hill
St. James, Barbados

Named for the wild green monkeys that swing through its treetops, this hilltop resort pairs jungle-canopy seclusion with sweeping sea views. Villas — from two-story layouts to single-level residences over 4,000 square feet — open floor-to-ceiling to let island breezes do the cooling. Designer kitchens, private plunge pools, and a golf cart come standard, but it’s the indoor-outdoor flow, tuned to the tropics, that makes this feel like a luxurious tree-house stay.

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St. Regis Punta Mita
Bahia de Banderas, Nayarit, Mexico

The 120 hacienda-style rooms and villas here lean into old-world Mexican and Mediterranean craft, with terra-cotta floors, exposed wood beams and private plunge pools tucked into beachfront suites. But the real signature is the service: every guest gets round-the-clock butler care, from unpacking to pressing a shirt before dinner. Add indoor-outdoor marble bathrooms, hidden TVs that rise from cabinetry, just-so mattresses with high thread-count sheets, and windows that open to the coastal breezes, and the feeling of pampering is complete.

Heritage Resorts
Bel Ombre, Mauritius

Every lodging option here is a suite. No standard rooms. Just beautifully appointed, expansive spaces. Guests pick their vantage: beachfront, garden, or ocean view, each with the same all-suite comfort built in. No matter how you’re traveling — as a couple, with a family, on a group getaway — the accommodations allow you to spread out after a round, with the Indian Ocean or manicured grounds as backdrop.

Te Arai Links
Tomarata, New Zealand

The same restraint that defines Te Arai’s Tom Doak and Coore-Crenshaw courses carries into the lodging, its design all driftwood tones, clean lines, and windows and doors that give away to outdoor decks on along the dunes. The style is consistent but the scale varies, ranging from ocean-view rooms and suites to cottages and villas. Topping them all is the Whaitere, a five-bedroom house situated on the South Course with a gym, indoor and outdoor kitchens, a home office, and its own indoor putting green. Here, along a spectacular, unspoiled coast, the luxury comes in understated tones, not shouts.

Trump International Golf Links & Hotel
Doonbeg, Clare, Ireland

Set on a windswept stretch of Ireland’s Wild Atlantic Way, Doonbeg’s 218 suites lean fully into their surroundings. Think stone walls, wood-beamed ceilings and fireplaces lit before you arrive. It’s old-world Irish estate luxury, unapologetically grand, with marble bathrooms, full kitchens, and ocean views standing in for anything understated. Between rounds, guests can retreat to the spa or settle by the fire, sipping whiskey and swapping embellished stories from the course.

JJ Gabriel has stunned Man United by asking to leave the club and he won’t be making his first-team debut against Brighton in the Carabao Cup tonight

Noah Ajayi is reportedly closing on signing a new long-term contract with Manchester United. Hamburg-born Ajayi moved to England when he was 10 and signed his scholarship with the club a year ago, aged 16.

Ajayi made his Under-21s debut for United in April 2025, and he came off the bench during the 5-0 victory over Sabah in the UEFA Youth League last week. And now, according to the Daily Mail, the 17-year-old’s first professional contract is close to being finalised and it will see him commit his long-term future to the Old Trafford club.

The winger, according to Sky Sports, had attracted interest from clubs in England and around Europe.

News of Ajayi’s deal being close to finalised comes at a time when United chiefs are recovering after being informed by JJ Gabriel that he wants to leave the club.

As reported by the MEN yesterday, United are in a state of shock over Gabriel’s decision to try and quit Old Trafford.

United had planned to name the attacker in their squad to face Brighton & Hove Albion in the Carabao Cup third round, but the teenager decided against training with Michael Carrick’s squad after asking to leave the club.

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The club’s hierarchy are unclear about what has caused Gabriel to demand to leave the club he has played for since the age of 11, while Real Madrid are reportedly confident of landing the teenager, who United fear could walk from the club on his 16th birthday next month to sign for a club in Europe.

While United have also confirmed that Fred Heath and Dante Plunkett have put pen-to-paper on their first professional deals, with Will Murdock signing his second professional contract with the club.

Goalkeeper Heath was part of the senior group that travelled to Ireland during pre-season and, like Murdock, is now part of the club’s Under-21s squad.

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While defender Plunkett, who joined United from Aston Villa, is a full international for Jamaica and made 12 appearances for United’s Under-18 side last season.

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In a declaration as revelatory as water is wet, Lane Kiffin conceded in his Week 3 press conference that “a lot’s going to be made about me.”

Typically, college football fans have to wait until Thanksgiving weekend to get matchups with the kind of venom likely to be evident between LSU and Ole Miss. But what most of those Rivalry Week games cultivated over decades to instill unbridled disdain between fan bases, the Tigers and Rebels achieved in a speed-run.

Kiffin was correct when he said much would be made of his return to Oxford, Mississippi, less than 10 months removed from his leaving Ole Miss for LSU. Plenty was already made from November 30 of last year onward, in fact, with this encounter eagerly anticipated on the college football calendar.

The first-year LSU coach’s attempts to shift that focus to the matchup on the field were also what one would expect of any game-week presser.

“This is about the players being prepared really well and playing really well,” Kiffin said. “[Ole Miss head coach] Pete [Golding is] not going to tackle anybody, [and] I’m not going to throw any touchdowns.”

True enough. And in college football perhaps more than any other sport, attention oftentimes turns to the coaches on the sideline more than the players.

In this instance, however, shifting focus onto the athletes and away from the coach just isn’t possible when key contributors on one side are part of the animus the other side feels.

Kiffin’s return to Ole Miss is interesting in that regard because it’s an opportunity to see certain realities of the modern transfer portal litigated on the field. Kiffin is hardly the first head coach to bring star transfers with him upon changing jobs since the rule changes of 2021 effectively created an open market.

Kiffin isn’t even the first coach to move within the same conference and take transfers with him. The four former Rebels who followed Kiffin to Baton Rouge pales in comparison to the 21 players that left Marshall for Sun Belt Conference counterpart Southern Miss alongside coach Charles Huff in 2025.

But while Marshall and Southern Miss did not face off last season, fate brought LSU and Ole Miss together almost immediately — and do so at Vaught Hemingway Stadium.

Considering the players who joined Kiffin in his move are now some of LSU’s top playmakers, their presence in purple-and-gold is an on-field manifestation of the jilting.

Linebacker TJ Dottery, the Rebels leading tackler in 2025 with 98, racked up nine in the Tigers’ Week 2 mauling of Louisiana Tech. Receiver Winston Watkins Jr., who hauled in 26 passes last season, has already caught 12 as a Tiger through two games.

And then there’s defensive end Princewill Umanmielen.

Two games into the campaign, Umanmielen has five sacks — most in the nation. The prospect of the former Rebel setting an LSU single-season sack record was alluded to Kiffin during the coach’s press conference.

The coach’s response, intentional or not, has to rub salt in some very fresh wounds.

“I’m glad he’s on our side,” Kiffin said.

Not exactly the kind of homecoming Ole Miss faithful would have liked to have held for an All-SEC honoree who contributed to the Rebels’ College Football Playoff journey.

For his part, Golding — who stepped in as head coach for that Playoff run — analogized Saturday to another type of homecoming.

“To me, it’s like high school homecoming for these dudes,” Golding told reporters. “If you focus on the wrong [things], that homecoming dance ain’t very fun after you get your butt beat on a Friday night.”

Ravindra Jadeja earns ODI recall (Agency Image)

India announced the squads for the T20I and ODI series against the West Indies on Wednesday. The men’s senior selection committee also named the Rest of India squad for the Irani Cup next month.Because the ODIs against the West Indies overlap with the Asian Games, the men’s senior selection committee chaired by Ajit Agarkar gave maiden call-ups to Auqib Nabi and Naman Dhir and also recalled Ravindra Jadeja to the ODI squad. Mohammed Siraj will headline the fast bowling department which also features Prasidh Krishna and Gurnoor Brar.As expected, Rohit Sharma, who scored a brilliant hundred in the third ODI against England at Lord’s, retains his place but the selectors have also picked Yashasvi Jaiswal as the reserve opener. Ruturaj Gaikwad is expected to fill the No.4 position left vacant by Shreyas Iyer, who will lead the T20I side in Japan. Dhir is also available as an all-round option.In another interesting development, Nitish Kumar Reddy has been withdrawn from the Asian Games squad and will play the three ODIs against West Indies instead. It is reliably learnt that the team management wants to maximise Reddy’s ODI game time to have the seam bowling option ready. With Hardik Pandya yet to get the clearance from the CoE, the selectors are keen on keeping options ready.Regarding the second wicketkeeper spot, Dhruv Jurel has pipped Rishabh Pant, who will lead the Rest of India squad for the Irani Cup next month. This could well mean a tough road back to the limited-overs set-up for the left-hander.The T20I team for the fixtures against the same opposition next month sees a return for Prince Yadav and Mayank Yadav but interestingly, Yash Thakur, who replaced Harshit Rana in the Asian Games squad, has been ignored. Axar Patel retained his spot as the left-arm spinner and will have Ravi Bishnoi and Washington Sundar for company.India’s ODI team: Shubman Gill [C], Rohit Sharma, Virat Kohli, Ruturaj Gaikwad, KL Rahul [VC], Dhruv Jurel, Nitish Kumar Reddy, Ravindra Jadeja, Kuldeep Yadav, Prasidh Krishna, Gurnoor Brar, Mohammed Siraj, Auqib Nabi, Yashasvi Jaiswal, Naman Dhir.India’s T20I Team: Shreyas Iyer [C], Abhishek Sharma, Vaibhav Sooryavanshi, Ishan Kishan [WK], Sanju Samson [WK], Tilak Varma [VC], Shivam Dube, Kuldeep Yadav, Axar Patel, Washington Sundar, Ravi Bishnoi, Nitish Kumar Reddy, Arshdeep Singh, Prince Yadav, Mayank Yadav.India’s updated squad for the Japan T20I & the Asian Games: Shreyas Iyer (C), Abhishek Sharma, Sanju Samson (WK), Ishan Kishan (WK), Shivam Dube, Tilak Varma (VC), Axar Patel, Washington Sundar, Ravi Bishnoi, Jasprit Bumrah, Arshdeep Singh, Vaibhav Sooryavanshi, Yash Thakur, Vipraj Nigam.

There are currently 148 Kenyan athletes serving doping bans, second in number only to India, according to the Athletics Integrity Unit (AIU). Some of their excuses have been breathtaking. Ruth Chepngetich, who broke the marathon world record by a staggering one minute and 57 seconds in Chicago two years ago, said she must have been contaminated when taking her housemaid’s medication after feeling hot. Emmaculate Anyango blamed mysterious hospital injections after fainting. Eglay Nalyanya and Betty Lampus both submitted fake medical records signed by different imaginary doctors at the same hospital.

Wilson Kipsang was a personal favourite. The former marathon world record holder told the AIU that he missed a fourth drug test because he had been held up by an accident on the road, caused by a landslide in heavy rainfall near the city of Nakuru. Kipsang submitted a photo of an upturned truck by way of explanation. But investigators found that rainfall around Nakuru leading up to the day in question had been unremarkable and unlikely to cause a landslide. They also discovered that the photo Kipsang claimed to have taken that day was actually of a road traffic accident that happened three months later.

Perhaps the most elaborate was Lawrence Cherono, a two-time major marathon winner and one of the fastest men to ever run 26.2 miles. Cherono initially blamed a doctor for injecting him with an unknown substance, then pivoted to blaming his “jealous” training partners for a dark plot to trap him. Finally, he landed on a third explanation: his wife had accidentally given him the wrong tablets. Cherono submitted forged medical documents with a handwritten prescription and a fake photograph, and it took the AIU two years to prove he was lying.

At which point, as absurd as these stories are – and there are many more – it becomes a little bleak. The AIU continues to pour time and money into investigating endemic doping in Kenya. Only last week, marathon runner Caren Chelagat was banned for four years after testing positive for the banned substance norandrosterone. Clean athletes are repeatedly suffering from rampant cheating, losing both earnings and career-defining results.

Dig beneath the surface of the feeble excuses and there are patterns here: the fabricated records requiring medical knowledge, the elaborate cover-ups, the coaches and managers linked to the same guilty athletes. They point to the influence of organised crime groups, preying on athletes who are desperate to make life-changing sums of money and who quickly become hooked on high performance. Though perhaps not very well-organised crime, given so many athletes are getting caught in the AIU’s testing net.

The issues in Kenyan athletics run deeper than doping alone. World Athletics continues to investigate a number of athletes over allegations of age cheating. Then there are the cases of harassment and violence against female athletes in the country, most horrifyingly in the murders of Agnes Tirop, Damaris Muthee Mutua and Rebecca Cheptegei. A recent study of Kenyan women in sports found that 69 per cent of respondents had experienced or knew someone who had experienced sexual and gender-based violence.

So against that backdrop, this week’s decision to hand the 2029 World Athletics Championships to Nairobi is not a great look for the sport. Nairobi impressed World Athletics chiefs with an emotional pitch built around being the first African nation to host the prestigious event, and certainly it should have been staged on the continent before now. Nairobi’s bid also played on the fact that 2029 will be the final edition to include the marathon. Kenyan great Sabastian Sawe, the current men’s world record holder in the marathon and first man to break two hours in an official race, actively encourages drug testing and could well win the men’s race on home soil.

London, which spent £45m on its failed bid, and Rome were overlooked, while Munich will stage the following World Championships in 2031. But before then, the sport’s biggest event is heading to a distance-running hotbed in a country rife with doping, a plague that still rages despite efforts by World Athletics, Athletics Kenya and the Anti-Doping Agency of Kenya.

Naturally, the increased scrutiny on Kenya, which was labelled a category A high-risk country by the AIU in 2018, has weeded out positive results, which suggests the anti-doping system is working. But the optics are still the same. Once major marathon champions like Albert Korir and Diana Kipyokei failed tests, then every impressive Kenyan time, every exciting rising star, was treated with suspicion.

Kenyan athletes will be more motivated than ever to reach the top of the sport over the next three years with an African championships on the horizon, which could lead more athletes astray. Let’s not pretend the cheats have all been caught, or that they ever will be. “Intentional dopers at elite level are evading detection,” admitted AIU chair David Howman last year. No doubt some who escape the testers will be competing at their home Worlds in 2029.