The Atlanta Falcons have found their new general manager and head coach this week.

The team will hire former New Orleans Saints front office executive Terry Fontenot, who spent the last 18 years in New Orleans. The new head coach will be former Tennessee Titans offensive coordinator Arthur Smith.

Both Fontenot and Smith said that they will collaborate heavily in order to shape the Falcons’ roster both through the draft and in free agency. The Falcons hold the No. 4 pick in the 2021 NFL draft.

Smith also noted that he will be calling the offensive plays as head coach, stating that he believes that Atlanta’s veteran quarterback Matt Ryan is still a “terrific quarterback” with whom the team can win.

He also said that the goal will be to play to the strengths of Atlanta’s roster instead of insisting on trying to replicate the run-heavy success that he had in Tennessee with star running back Derrick Henry leading the attack.

Fontenot interviewed with four other teams for their open general manager jobs before deciding to take the Falcons job, stating that he is already very familiar with the Falcons’ roster since Atlanta and New Orleans are division rivals that play each other twice a year.

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The Kansas City Chiefs were able to stave off the Cleveland Browns on Sunday, securing a place in the AFC title game with a 22-17 victory.

The first half went as expected, with the Chiefs offense, led by superstar quarterback Patrick Mahomes, easily moving the ball down the field and scoring at will.

However, Mahomes was knocked out of the game in the third quarter with a concussion, which gave the Browns a glimpse of hope.

After scoring a touchdown to edge closer to the Chiefs, the Browns offense, led by quarterback Baker Mayfield, was not able to get anything going on what would be their last possession of the game.

After throwing an interception on the prior drive, Chiefs backup quarterback Chad Henne was able to orchestrate a first down that allowed the Chiefs to run out the clock in the fourth quarter and secure the win.

Chiefs head coach Andy Reid made a gutsy call on 4th and inches, putting the game in Henne’s hands and allowing him to roll out and find speedy wide receiver Tyreek Hill for the game-sealing first down.

All eyes are now on Mahomes to see whether he will be able to clear the concussion protocol in time to start in the AFC title game next weekend against the Buffalo Bills.

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After a dominant 52-24 win over No. 3-ranked Ohio State on Monday night, the Alabama football team has now won the College Football Playoff National Championship for the sixth time in 12 years.

This is the seventh national championship for head coach Nick Saban, who won his first in 2003 at LSU before winning six with Alabama. With his seventh title, Saban breaks the tie with another Alabama legend, Paul “Bear” Bryant, for the most championships won by a major college coach.

The Alabama Crimson Tide were perfect this year, winning 13 straight games to take the title.

Known for their strong defensive efforts over the year, Saban has evolved his philosophy to put as much focus on putting up points as on keeping opponents off the scoreboard. This was never more evident than last night, with the Alabama offense never taking its foot off the pedal, putting up 52 points to make sure that Ohio State had no chance of coming back.

Alabama’s star wide receiver and recent Heisman trophy winner DeVonta Smith put in another unbelievable performance and he only needed one half of football to do it. Before leaving the game at halftime with an injured finger, Smith caught 12 passes for 215 yards and three touchdowns.

Football fans can expect Alabama’s dominance to continue next year and beyond and are clearly witnessing the greatest dynasty in the history of college football.

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The Houston Texans have reached an agreement with Nick Caserio to be their new general manager.

Caserio was the New England Patriots director of personnel and an integral part of the Patriots dynasty, helping put together the teams that led the Patriots to nine Super Bowl appearances and six victories over the last two decades.

The 45-year-old Cesario started working for the Patriots in 2001 as a personal assistant and became the director of player personnel in 2008.

The Texans have been interested in Cesario for a while and it was not a secret that he was their first choice for general manager. They actually requested to interview him for the role in 2019 but the Patriots blocked the interview at the time.

The Texans fired Bill O’Brien after the team started the 2020 season with four straight losses. O’Brien was both the head coach and general manager. The Texans can now focus on finding the right coach with their new general manager in place.

The Houston job has been deemed by experts as one of the most difficult. While the Texans do have their franchise quarterback Deshaun Watson locked up for the next four years, the roster still has many holes and not much draft capital or salary cap money to work with in 2021.

However, the Texans hope that Caserio will be able to put together a nice squad regardless.

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The Jacksonville Jaguars are starting over completely in 2021.

Not only are they looking for a new general manager after firing Dave Caldwell earlier in the season, but the Jags are also looking for a new head coach. This is after they announced that they have fired Doug Marrone earlier this week.

The Jaguars finished the season with just one win, which might have earned them the first pick in the NFL draft but inevitably lost Marrone his job.

The good news for the Jaguars is that both the general manager and head coaching job are going to be very attractive. Jacksonville not only has the first pick in the draft, but they also have a lot more draft capital to add to that and a lot of salary cap money to spend.

The Jaguars are expected to take Clemson quarterback Trevor Lawrence with the first overall pick, who many experts consider to be the best quarterback prospect of the decade.

Marrone took over as head coach of the Jaguars when Gus Bradley was fired in 2016. In 2017, he led the team to a 10-6 record and an appearance in the AFC Championship game.

Unfortunately, the Jaguars couldn’t sustain that success, losing a majority of their best players from the 2017 roster and going 12-36 over the next three seasons with Marrone at the helm.

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Tenessee Titans running back Derrick Henry has become only the eighth player in NFL history to finish the season with more than 2,000 rushing yards.

Henry came into the game needing 223 rushing yards to reach 2,000, an almost insurmountable goal for most backs in the league. But not for Henry, who had rushed for more than 200 yards four times in his career even before Sunday’s game.

The Pro Bowl running back finished the game with 250 rushing yards, leading the Titans to a 41-38 win over the Houston Texans and securing the AFC South title for Tennessee for the first time since 2008.

The first player to break 2,000 rushing yards was Buffalo Bills legend O.J. Simpson, who did it in 1973. The last player to rush for 2,000 yards in a single season was Adrian Peterson, who rushed for 2,097 yards in 2012 with the Minnesota Vikings.

Henry finishes the season with 2,027 yards and will look to continue his dominant play in the playoffs. With Henry leading the offense, the Titans were able to shock the NFL in the 2019 postseason, beating the favored New England Patriots and Baltimore Ravens to reach the AFC Championship.

Henry has become the face of the franchise and was awarded for his spectacular play this year with a lucrative four-year, $50 million contract.

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Pittsburgh Steelers head coach Mike Tomlin announced on Tuesday that the team will be resting starting quarterback Ben Roethlisberger for the final game of the regular season.

The Steelers have already clinched the top spot in the AFC North and are playoff-bound, meaning that the results of Sunday’s game won’t change that.

Because of that, the team has decided to give Roethlisberger a break and make sure that he is well-rested and healthy for the playoffs.

Starting for the Steelers on Sunday will be backup Mason Rudolph, who saw significant playing time last year when Roethlisberger was hurt but failed to impress.

The Steelers and Buffalo Bills both have 12-3 records, but the reigning Super Bowl champions, the Kansas City Chiefs, have already clinched the top seed in the AFC, giving them home-field advantage and a first-round bye in the playoffs.

The Bills also beat the Steelers in Week 14, which means that they own the tiebreaker and are almost assured the second seed in the AFC.

The Steelers will be playing the Cleveland Browns on Sunday, who should be very happy that Roethlisberger won’t be playing since they need a win if they want to have a chance of qualifying for the playoffs.

If Cleveland beats Pittsburgh, they will be making their first playoff appearance since 2002.

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With their blowout win over their divisional rivals the New England Patriots, the Buffalo Bills have secured their first 12-win season since 1993, which was the last time the team made it to the Super Bowl.

It was a record-setting night for the team and also the first time since 1999 that the Bills defeated the Patriots in both of their in-season meetings, signaling a changing of the guard after well over a decade of dominance by the Patriots in the AFC East.

The story of the night has been the biggest story of the season for the Bills—and that’s the connection between their young franchise quarterback Josh Allen and wide receiver Stefon Diggs, who the Minnesota Vikings traded to Buffalo this offseason.

They connected for three touchdowns in the 38-9 win over the Patriots, and set records while doing so.

Allen had four total touchdown passes on the night, breaking the single-season franchise record of team legend Jim Kelly.

Allen now has 34 touchdown passes on the year with one more game to go before the playoffs. Allen also set a record for most games in a season, throwing for more than 300 yards. He now has eight of those games.

Diggs now has 1,383 receiving yards on the year, breaking the franchise record for the most receiving yards in one season that Eric Moulds held since 1998.

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Kansas City Chiefs tight end Travis Kelce continues to prove that he’s one of the best tight ends in the history of the NFL.

This Sunday, in Kansas City’s win against the Atlanta Falcons, Kelce finished the game with 98 receiving yards and a touchdown on seven catches. Kelce, with one game left to play, now has 1,416 receiving yards on the season, which is a new record for tight ends.

He breaks the record set by San Francisco tight end George Kittle, who set the record in 2018 when he had 1,377 receiving yards on the season. Kittle was unable to compete with Kelce this year, spending most of the year recovering from a broken foot.

This is also the second time that Kelce has owned this record. Kelce actually set a new record in 2018 that was broken about an hour later by Kittle. The two squared off in last year’s Super Bowl, which Kansas City won 31-20.

But this isn’t the only record that Kelce set on Sunday. He also became the first tight end in the history of the NFL with multiple seasons where he caught 100 passes.

Kelce is looking to also become the first tight end in history to lead the league in receiving yards. He has one more week to try and stay ahead of two star wide receivers, Arizona’s DeAndre Hopkins and Green Bay’s Davante Adams.

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Veteran goaltender Henrik Lundqvist, who just joined the Washington Capitals a couple of months ago, has announced that he will not suit up for the team this year due to a heart condition.

The 38-year-old Swede played his entire NHL career—15 years—with the New York Rangers, and is considered to be one of the greatest goaltenders in the history of the franchise.

However, the Rangers decided to move on from the veteran in October and bought out the remainder of his contract, after which Lundqvist signed a one-year contract to play with the Capitals.

Lundqvist addressed fans on social media, saying that a decision was made to not play this year after “many weeks of tests and conversations with specialists around the country.”

It’s hard to say whether this might be the end of Lundqvist’s career, considering that doctors have told him that playing with this existing heart condition, at this time, poses a very serious risk to his health.

Regardless of Lundqvist’s condition, the Capitals were expected to start Ilya Samsonov in the goal this year, who had an excellent rookie year in 2019-2020. Lundqvist was expected to play a mentoring role this year for the young goaltender and to provide insurance in the case of injury.

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The Atlanta Falcons have found their new general manager and head coach this week.

The team will hire former New Orleans Saints front office executive Terry Fontenot, who spent the last 18 years in New Orleans. The new head coach will be former Tennessee Titans offensive coordinator Arthur Smith.

Both Fontenot and Smith said that they will collaborate heavily in order to shape the Falcons’ roster both through the draft and in free agency. The Falcons hold the No. 4 pick in the 2021 NFL draft.

Smith also noted that he will be calling the offensive plays as head coach, stating that he believes that Atlanta’s veteran quarterback Matt Ryan is still a “terrific quarterback” with whom the team can win.

He also said that the goal will be to play to the strengths of Atlanta’s roster instead of insisting on trying to replicate the run-heavy success that he had in Tennessee with star running back Derrick Henry leading the attack.

Fontenot interviewed with four other teams for their open general manager jobs before deciding to take the Falcons job, stating that he is already very familiar with the Falcons’ roster since Atlanta and New Orleans are division rivals that play each other twice a year.

The post Atlanta Falcons Hire New General Manager and Head Coach appeared first on SportzBonanza.

The Kansas City Chiefs were able to stave off the Cleveland Browns on Sunday, securing a place in the AFC title game with a 22-17 victory.

The first half went as expected, with the Chiefs offense, led by superstar quarterback Patrick Mahomes, easily moving the ball down the field and scoring at will.

However, Mahomes was knocked out of the game in the third quarter with a concussion, which gave the Browns a glimpse of hope.

After scoring a touchdown to edge closer to the Chiefs, the Browns offense, led by quarterback Baker Mayfield, was not able to get anything going on what would be their last possession of the game.

After throwing an interception on the prior drive, Chiefs backup quarterback Chad Henne was able to orchestrate a first down that allowed the Chiefs to run out the clock in the fourth quarter and secure the win.

Chiefs head coach Andy Reid made a gutsy call on 4th and inches, putting the game in Henne’s hands and allowing him to roll out and find speedy wide receiver Tyreek Hill for the game-sealing first down.

All eyes are now on Mahomes to see whether he will be able to clear the concussion protocol in time to start in the AFC title game next weekend against the Buffalo Bills.

The post Chiefs Defeat Browns Despite QB Patrick Mahomes Leaving Game with Concussion appeared first on SportzBonanza.

After a dominant 52-24 win over No. 3-ranked Ohio State on Monday night, the Alabama football team has now won the College Football Playoff National Championship for the sixth time in 12 years.

This is the seventh national championship for head coach Nick Saban, who won his first in 2003 at LSU before winning six with Alabama. With his seventh title, Saban breaks the tie with another Alabama legend, Paul “Bear” Bryant, for the most championships won by a major college coach.

The Alabama Crimson Tide were perfect this year, winning 13 straight games to take the title.

Known for their strong defensive efforts over the year, Saban has evolved his philosophy to put as much focus on putting up points as on keeping opponents off the scoreboard. This was never more evident than last night, with the Alabama offense never taking its foot off the pedal, putting up 52 points to make sure that Ohio State had no chance of coming back.

Alabama’s star wide receiver and recent Heisman trophy winner DeVonta Smith put in another unbelievable performance and he only needed one half of football to do it. Before leaving the game at halftime with an injured finger, Smith caught 12 passes for 215 yards and three touchdowns.

Football fans can expect Alabama’s dominance to continue next year and beyond and are clearly witnessing the greatest dynasty in the history of college football.

The post Alabama Wins National Championship, Continues College Football Dominance appeared first on SportzBonanza.

The Houston Texans have reached an agreement with Nick Caserio to be their new general manager.

Caserio was the New England Patriots director of personnel and an integral part of the Patriots dynasty, helping put together the teams that led the Patriots to nine Super Bowl appearances and six victories over the last two decades.

The 45-year-old Cesario started working for the Patriots in 2001 as a personal assistant and became the director of player personnel in 2008.

The Texans have been interested in Cesario for a while and it was not a secret that he was their first choice for general manager. They actually requested to interview him for the role in 2019 but the Patriots blocked the interview at the time.

The Texans fired Bill O’Brien after the team started the 2020 season with four straight losses. O’Brien was both the head coach and general manager. The Texans can now focus on finding the right coach with their new general manager in place.

The Houston job has been deemed by experts as one of the most difficult. While the Texans do have their franchise quarterback Deshaun Watson locked up for the next four years, the roster still has many holes and not much draft capital or salary cap money to work with in 2021.

However, the Texans hope that Caserio will be able to put together a nice squad regardless.

The post Houston Texans to Hire Nick Caserio as New General Manager appeared first on SportzBonanza.

The Jacksonville Jaguars are starting over completely in 2021.

Not only are they looking for a new general manager after firing Dave Caldwell earlier in the season, but the Jags are also looking for a new head coach. This is after they announced that they have fired Doug Marrone earlier this week.

The Jaguars finished the season with just one win, which might have earned them the first pick in the NFL draft but inevitably lost Marrone his job.

The good news for the Jaguars is that both the general manager and head coaching job are going to be very attractive. Jacksonville not only has the first pick in the draft, but they also have a lot more draft capital to add to that and a lot of salary cap money to spend.

The Jaguars are expected to take Clemson quarterback Trevor Lawrence with the first overall pick, who many experts consider to be the best quarterback prospect of the decade.

Marrone took over as head coach of the Jaguars when Gus Bradley was fired in 2016. In 2017, he led the team to a 10-6 record and an appearance in the AFC Championship game.

Unfortunately, the Jaguars couldn’t sustain that success, losing a majority of their best players from the 2017 roster and going 12-36 over the next three seasons with Marrone at the helm.

The post Jacksonville Jaguars Part Ways with Head Coach Doug Marrone appeared first on SportzBonanza.

Tenessee Titans running back Derrick Henry has become only the eighth player in NFL history to finish the season with more than 2,000 rushing yards.

Henry came into the game needing 223 rushing yards to reach 2,000, an almost insurmountable goal for most backs in the league. But not for Henry, who had rushed for more than 200 yards four times in his career even before Sunday’s game.

The Pro Bowl running back finished the game with 250 rushing yards, leading the Titans to a 41-38 win over the Houston Texans and securing the AFC South title for Tennessee for the first time since 2008.

The first player to break 2,000 rushing yards was Buffalo Bills legend O.J. Simpson, who did it in 1973. The last player to rush for 2,000 yards in a single season was Adrian Peterson, who rushed for 2,097 yards in 2012 with the Minnesota Vikings.

Henry finishes the season with 2,027 yards and will look to continue his dominant play in the playoffs. With Henry leading the offense, the Titans were able to shock the NFL in the 2019 postseason, beating the favored New England Patriots and Baltimore Ravens to reach the AFC Championship.

Henry has become the face of the franchise and was awarded for his spectacular play this year with a lucrative four-year, $50 million contract.

The post Titans RB Derrick Henry Joins Exclusive “2000-Yard Club” appeared first on SportzBonanza.

Pittsburgh Steelers head coach Mike Tomlin announced on Tuesday that the team will be resting starting quarterback Ben Roethlisberger for the final game of the regular season.

The Steelers have already clinched the top spot in the AFC North and are playoff-bound, meaning that the results of Sunday’s game won’t change that.

Because of that, the team has decided to give Roethlisberger a break and make sure that he is well-rested and healthy for the playoffs.

Starting for the Steelers on Sunday will be backup Mason Rudolph, who saw significant playing time last year when Roethlisberger was hurt but failed to impress.

The Steelers and Buffalo Bills both have 12-3 records, but the reigning Super Bowl champions, the Kansas City Chiefs, have already clinched the top seed in the AFC, giving them home-field advantage and a first-round bye in the playoffs.

The Bills also beat the Steelers in Week 14, which means that they own the tiebreaker and are almost assured the second seed in the AFC.

The Steelers will be playing the Cleveland Browns on Sunday, who should be very happy that Roethlisberger won’t be playing since they need a win if they want to have a chance of qualifying for the playoffs.

If Cleveland beats Pittsburgh, they will be making their first playoff appearance since 2002.

The post Steelers QB Ben Roethlisberger to Sit Out Final Regular Season Game appeared first on SportzBonanza.

With their blowout win over their divisional rivals the New England Patriots, the Buffalo Bills have secured their first 12-win season since 1993, which was the last time the team made it to the Super Bowl.

It was a record-setting night for the team and also the first time since 1999 that the Bills defeated the Patriots in both of their in-season meetings, signaling a changing of the guard after well over a decade of dominance by the Patriots in the AFC East.

The story of the night has been the biggest story of the season for the Bills—and that’s the connection between their young franchise quarterback Josh Allen and wide receiver Stefon Diggs, who the Minnesota Vikings traded to Buffalo this offseason.

They connected for three touchdowns in the 38-9 win over the Patriots, and set records while doing so.

Allen had four total touchdown passes on the night, breaking the single-season franchise record of team legend Jim Kelly.

Allen now has 34 touchdown passes on the year with one more game to go before the playoffs. Allen also set a record for most games in a season, throwing for more than 300 yards. He now has eight of those games.

Diggs now has 1,383 receiving yards on the year, breaking the franchise record for the most receiving yards in one season that Eric Moulds held since 1998.

The post Bills QB Allen and WR Diggs Break Records in Statement Win Over Patriots appeared first on SportzBonanza.

Kansas City Chiefs tight end Travis Kelce continues to prove that he’s one of the best tight ends in the history of the NFL.

This Sunday, in Kansas City’s win against the Atlanta Falcons, Kelce finished the game with 98 receiving yards and a touchdown on seven catches. Kelce, with one game left to play, now has 1,416 receiving yards on the season, which is a new record for tight ends.

He breaks the record set by San Francisco tight end George Kittle, who set the record in 2018 when he had 1,377 receiving yards on the season. Kittle was unable to compete with Kelce this year, spending most of the year recovering from a broken foot.

This is also the second time that Kelce has owned this record. Kelce actually set a new record in 2018 that was broken about an hour later by Kittle. The two squared off in last year’s Super Bowl, which Kansas City won 31-20.

But this isn’t the only record that Kelce set on Sunday. He also became the first tight end in the history of the NFL with multiple seasons where he caught 100 passes.

Kelce is looking to also become the first tight end in history to lead the league in receiving yards. He has one more week to try and stay ahead of two star wide receivers, Arizona’s DeAndre Hopkins and Green Bay’s Davante Adams.

The post Chiefs TE Travis Kelce Sets Single-Season Receiving Record appeared first on SportzBonanza.

Veteran goaltender Henrik Lundqvist, who just joined the Washington Capitals a couple of months ago, has announced that he will not suit up for the team this year due to a heart condition.

The 38-year-old Swede played his entire NHL career—15 years—with the New York Rangers, and is considered to be one of the greatest goaltenders in the history of the franchise.

However, the Rangers decided to move on from the veteran in October and bought out the remainder of his contract, after which Lundqvist signed a one-year contract to play with the Capitals.

Lundqvist addressed fans on social media, saying that a decision was made to not play this year after “many weeks of tests and conversations with specialists around the country.”

It’s hard to say whether this might be the end of Lundqvist’s career, considering that doctors have told him that playing with this existing heart condition, at this time, poses a very serious risk to his health.

Regardless of Lundqvist’s condition, the Capitals were expected to start Ilya Samsonov in the goal this year, who had an excellent rookie year in 2019-2020. Lundqvist was expected to play a mentoring role this year for the young goaltender and to provide insurance in the case of injury.

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