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😫 Five things to know Thursday
Brock Purdy is unlikely to play for the 49ers on Sunday. Start warming up your arm, Mac Jones. Coach Kyle Shanahan said Purdy is a “long shot” to play in the 49ers’ Week 2 matchup against the Saints. Coming out of Week 1, Purdy is dealing with injuries to his shoulder and toe, and he reportedly could miss up to five weeks. With Georgie Kittle now on IR, San Francisco is already banged up on offense.Anthony Rizzo announced he is retiring as a Cub. One of the key members of the 2016 World Series team, Rizzo will remain a Cub forever as he announced his retirement on Wednesday. In his 10 seasons with Chicago, Rizzo hit .272/372/.489 with 242 home runs and 784 RBI. Given what Rizzo did for the Cubs, should the team retire his No. 44?Cowboys CB DaRon Bland could miss multiple weeks with a foot injury. Dallas will be shorthanded in the secondary for the foreseeable future, but there is some good news. Bland’s injury is believed to be less severe than the stress fracture that forced him to miss the first 10 games of last season. It should also help that the depleted Cowboys secondary will get to face Russell Wilson in Week 2.Adam Silver addressed the NBA’s investigation into Kawhi Leonard and the Clippers. The NBA commissioner said he will let the investigation run its course. If the Clippers are found to have circumvented the salary cap, Silver said his “powers are broad” as far as the punishment is concerned. Sounds kind of ominous!The NCAA has permanently banned three players for gambling. Three college basketball players from Fresno State and San Jose State — Mykell Robinson, Steven Vasquez and Jalen Weave — had their eligibility permanently revoked for violating NCAA gambling policy. The trio devised a scheme to place bets on each other’s individual player props.
📈 Do not miss this: NFL QB Power Rankings
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Fans (myself included) love a good quarterback debate, and there are plenty of those to be had after Week 1 in the NFL. Luckily for all of us, Cody Benjamin is letting us know whose stock is up and whose is down in his latest edition of the QB Power Rankings.
It can be easy to overreact after just one game … but on the other hand … did Justin Fields light it up or what?! All Fields did was carve up the Steelers’ defense with his arm and his legs, and that makes him the biggest riser in this week’s rankings, jumping nine spots to No. 16.
Benjamin: “The biggest surprise of the Steelers-Jets opener might’ve been Fields matching Rodgers in steadiness. Not only was he explosive on the move as usual, but he also showed up as a situational deep thrower.”
Unfortunately, it can’t be all good. If Fields is going climb that high, someone has to fall. Enter Tua Tagovailoa. The Dolphins had an outright miserable season-opener against the Colts, and Tagovailoa was at the center of it with just 114 yards passing and three total turnovers. He is this week’s biggest faller — all the way down to No. 28.
Benjamin: “Yikes. Tagovailoa boasts Pro Bowl-caliber accuracy. Unfortunately, he looked as panicked as he’s ever been against any semblance of pressure in Week 1. He also appears oblivious to his own tendencies.”
Check out the complete rankings (which have a new No. 1), and be sure to check out the plethora of other NFL content our team is cooking up:
🏈 Vols pleased with Joey Aguilar-Nico Iamaleava ‘swap’
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Six months ago, if someone told you No. 15 Tennessee would be hosting No. 6 Georgia in Week 3, that would not have been a surprise. When that person told you Joey Aguilar would be the Volunteers’ starting quarterback, you might have cocked an eyebrow.
Following spring practice, Tennessee was thrown for a loop when an NIL dispute led to star quarterback Nico Iamaleava splitting for UCLA. In what amounted to a trade, Aguilar left the Bruins for the Vols. At the time, that looked like a lopsided deal.
Sources within the Tennessee program spoke to our college football insiders, and they think the trade might still be lopsided. Just not in the way anyone expected.
“In hindsight, we’re good. (If someone said), ‘Would you do this all over?’ I think everybody would be like, ‘We got Joey? He is who he is here? We’re fine.'”
Through two games, albeit against a pair of tomato cans, it’s tough to argue with the results. Chris Hummer has the key numbers.
Hummer: “Tennessee ranks 32nd nationally in explosive passing plays so far in 2025 — despite ranking 125th nationally in drop percentage — and Aguilar is proving to be much more accurate in the medium (71.3%) and deep (57.1%) areas of the field.”
Although it does wear red, Georgia is no tomato can. Over the last eight years, and especially under coach Josh Heupel, Tennessee has had a Kirby Smart problem (shameless self-promotion). Is Aguilar they guy to help them solve it? We’ll find out in just over 48 hours.
⚾ Can the Yankees win the AL East?
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As things stand, the Yankees are three games behind the Blue Jays with 17 games remaining. Can they close that gap and capture the AL East crown? Mike Axisa dove into that question as the MLB playoff race reaches a crescendo.
One thing working against New York is the fact that Toronto owns the tiebreaker. So, the Yanks essentially need to make up four games on their divisional foes. While difficult, it’s not impossible, although it may as well be impossible if the Bronx Bombers can’t get their bullpen sorted out.
Axisa: “New York’s bullpen ranks 21st in ERA (4.51) and 21st in win probability added (minus-0.83) since the trade deadline. David Bednar has stepped in as closer and been great, but Camilo Doval has been demoted out of high leverage work and Jake Bird was relegated to Triple-A after just three appearances. The Yankees went 1 for 3 with deadline bullpen adds and that’s not good.”
It didn’t help matters that the Yankees got blasted by the Tigers for a second straight game last night, but the Blue Jays and Red Sox lost, too. The only thing truly lost was time.
The Yankees have a crucial three-game series with the Red Sox coming up this weekend, but after that, the runway is clear. New York closes out the regular season with the Twins, Orioles (twice) and White Sox. Now it’s up to the Yanks to take advantage of it.
👍👎 The best (and not-so-best) of the rest
📺 What we’re watching Thursday
⚾ Astros at Blue Jays, 3:07 p.m. on MLB Network⚾ Royals at Guardians or Mets at Phillies, 7:15 p.m. on Fox🏈 NC State at Wake Forest, 7:30 p.m. on ESPN🏀 Valkyries at Lynx, 8 p.m. on NBA TV🏈 Commanders at Packers, 8:15 p.m. on Prime Video⚾ Angels at Mariners, 9:40 p.m. on MLB Network🏀 Aces at Sparks, 10 p.m. on NBA TV
