The New Orleans Saints entered their second preseason game looking for the answer to who will be their starting quarterback in Week 1 of the regular season.
It appears they have their answer.
Jameis Winston went 9-of-10 for 123 yards and two touchdowns in a 23-21 win over the Jacksonville Jaguars on Monday night.
Winston connected with Marquez Callaway on both of his touchdown passes. Both of those scores travelled at least 40 yards through the air.
For perspective, the Saints had just two touchdown passes with 40+ yards of air distance in the past two regular seasons combined.
So, it only makes sense that their fans would be a little more optimistic about their season outlook after that performance.
Meanwhile, Taysom Hill went 11-of-20 for 138 yards and a touchdown. It was a decent outing for Hill, but he didn’t look nearly as good as Winston and bettors were quick to react.
When last night’s game kicked off, Winston was -190 to take the first snap of the regular season for New Orleans. As of this morning, Winston’s odds to take the first snap have shifted all the way to -350.
Here is the Morning Coffee for Tuesday, Aug. 24, 2021.
Saints futures
While Winston stole the spotlight, it was a disappointing ending for anybody who bet the Saints and the under.
After holding the Jaguars to three points through three quarters, New Orleans was outscored 18-0 in the fourth as Jacksonville covered as a 4.5-point underdog and pushed the total over 40.
That’s a bad beat.
For Jaguars’ fans, there wasn’t much to get excited about unless you bet on Jacksonville or the over.
After all, it was third-string quarterback C.J. Beathard who led the fourth-quarter rally with 121 yards and two touchdowns.
Trevor Lawrence went 14-of-23 for 113 yards. Lawrence was pressured on 41.7 per cent of his dropbacks, per NFL Next Gen Stats.
Michael Thomas is hurt. Emmanuel Sanders and Jared Cook left New Orleans in the off-season.
Their defence also took a hit, with Trey Hendrickson, Malcolm Brown, Janoris Jenkins, Kwon Alexander and Alex Anzalone all leaving in the off-season.
Even with the move to a 17-game season, the Saints’ win total for 2021 is set at 9.0.
The good news is that they appear to have their starting quarterback.
Jameis Winston is a 27 year old Heisman winning, former #1 overall pick. He’s one of only 8 quarterbacks in NFL *history* to throw for 5,000 yards in a season.
However, with Thomas sidelined, New Orleans will need Callaway and Tre’Quan Smith to step up early on this season.
The Saints are currently 30-1 to win the Super Bowl, which leaves them just outside of the top-10 choices.
That’s a fair number for a team that returns a lot of talent but still has too many question marks to trust them to contend.
Yankees extend win streak to 10
Giancarlo Stanton hit his 21st home run of the season and finished with three RBI as the New York Yankees (-110) beat the Atlanta Braves 5-1 to extend their win streak to 10 in a row.
Per ESPN Stats & Info, the Yankees are on pace to win over 80 per cent of their games in August for just the second time in franchise history (1932).
They’ll try to extend baseball’s longest active win streak as a small underdog tonight in Atlanta with Andrew Heaney scheduled to start opposite Charlie Morton.
Meanwhile, the longest active losing streak in baseball will be on the line when the Baltimore Orioles host the Los Angeles Angels.
The Orioles have lost 18 in a row. Another loss would match the 2005 Kansas City Royals for the longest losing streak in the Wild Card era (1994).
Dylan Bundy will get the nod for the Angels against his former team. Baltimore will turn to Spencer Watkins, who hasn’t allowed fewer than four earned runs in any of his previous five starts.
The Angels are currently in the -130 range to win tonight.
Finau wins the Northern Trust
Tony Finau beat Cameron Smith in a playoff to win the Northern Trust.
It’s his first PGA Tour victory since 2016.
A hurricane and Monday finish couldn’t stop Tony Finau this week. ????
Finau, who was 50-1 to win the tournament, ended a winless drought that included eight runner-up finishes, including three playoff losses.
Next up, the BMW Championship from the Caves Valley Golf Club in Owing Mills, Md.
Jon Rahm, who had a two-shot lead at the turn on Monday before letting his lead slip away late, is the betting favourite to win the BMW Championship at +600.
Finau beating Rahm today and then signing a hat for his son is a hell of a flex. pic.twitter.com/kgR0ikOXxU
LONDON – Canada will meet three-time champion Germany in the Davis Cup quarterfinals in Malaga, Spain this November.
Canada secured a berth in the quarterfinals — also called The Final 8 Knockout Stage — with a 2-1 win over Britain last weekend in Manchester, England.
World No. 21 Felix Auger-Aliassime of Montreal anchored a five-player squad that included Denis Shapovalov of Richmond Hill, Ont., Gabriel Diallo of Montreal, Alexis Galarneau of Laval, Que., and Vasek Pospisil of Vernon, B.C.
The eight-team draw for the quarterfinals was completed Thursday at International Tennis Federation headquarters.
Defending champion Italy will play Argentina, the United States will meet Australia and Spain will take on the Netherlands. Schedule specifics have yet to be released but the Final 8 will be played Nov. 19-24.
Tim Puetz and Kevin Krawietz were unbeaten in doubles play last week to help Germany reach the quarterfinals. The country’s top singles player — second-ranked Alex Zverev — did not play.
The Canadians defeated Germany in the quarterfinals en route to their lone Davis Cup title in 2022. Germany won titles in 1988, ’89 and ’93.
This report by The Canadian Press was first published Sept. 19, 2024.
Canada, fuelled by a 2-1 win over the U.S. and scoreless draw with Mexico, has jumped two places to No. 38 in the FIFA men’s world rankings released Thursday.
Of the top six CONCACAF teams, Canada was the only one to move up. Mexico was unchanged at No. 17 while the U.S. and Panama each fell two rungs to No. 18 and 37, respectively
Costa Rica slipped one spot to No. 50 and Jamaica two places to No. 61.
It marks Canada’s highest ranking under coach Jesse Marsch, who was hired in mid-May when the Canadians were ranked 50th. Since then, the team has climbed to No. 49, 48, 40 and now 38.
Canada has been as high as No. 33 in the men’s ranking, achieved in February 2022 under John Herdman with Canada, named the “Most Improved Side” in 2021 by FIFA, turning heads with an unbeaten run in CONCACAF World Cup qualifying.
The new rankings encompass 184 internationals involving teams from all six confederations including 2026 World Cup qualifiers in Asia, Oceania and South America.
The top 10 was unchanged with Argentina ahead of France, Spain, England, Brazil, Belgium, the Netherlands, Portugal, Colombia and Italy. But the gap at the top is closing with Argentina losing 2-1 away to Colombia and 3-1 at home to Italy.
Teams 10 through 15 were also unchanged. But there was movement after that in the form of Japan (, up two), Iran (No. 19, up one) and Denmark (No. 20, up one). Egypt (No. 31), Ivory Coast (No. 33), Tunisia (No. 36) and Algeria (No. 41) all jumped five places while Greece (No. 48) climbed six spots.
The biggest movers were Brunei Darussalam (No. 183) and Samoa (No. 185), who vaulted seven spots on the back of two wins apiece.
Qatar suffered the biggest drop, tumbling 10 places to No. 44.
San Marino remains at the bottom of the rankings in 210th place despite recording its first victory in more than 20 years, San Marino defeated Liechtenstein 1-0 on Sept. 5, ending a 140-game winless run since a 1-0 decision over the same opponent in April 2004.
Liechtenstein fell four places to No. 203.
Canada’s next match is an Oct. 15 friendly against Panama at Toronto’s BMO Field. The next men’s ranking will be released Oct. 24.
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This report by The Canadian Press was first published Sept. 19, 2024
It has been a difficult start to the NFL season for quarterback Bryce Young and the Carolina Panthers.
Carolina has dropped its opening two games after Sunday’s 26-3 loss to the Los Angeles Chargers. And Young, the first player taken in the ’23 NFL draft, was 18-of-26 passing for 84 yards with an interception while being sacked twice.
As a result, veteran Andy Dalton will start Sunday when Carolina faces the Las Vegas Raiders (1-1).
According to the Ontario Lottery and Gaming Corp., the Chargers’ win was the most accurately predicted moneyline selection by Proline bettors. A whopping 92 per cent of wagers were on Los Angeles beating Carolina with 92 per cent also picking the Chargers to cover -4.5.
In other action that went in favour of Proline bettors: Kansas City edged Cincinnati 26-25 (86 per cent correctly selected the Chiefs to win); Houston got past Chicago 19-13 (81 per cent); the New York Jets defeated Tennessee 24-17 (78 per cent); Pittsburgh beat Denver 13-6 (76 per cent), Washington beat the New York Giants 21-18 (73 per cent); and Seattle toppled New England 23-20 (62 per cent).
However, only five per cent of bettors had the Raiders upsetting Baltimore 26-23.
And there was one winner of Proline’s second week main NFL pool of $407,613.
In NFL futures bets after the second week of the season, the odds for offensive player of the year got shorter for running backs Breece Hall (Jets) and Bijan Robinson (Atlanta) and Detroit receiver Amon-Ra St. Brown. But they got longer for running backs Kyren Williams (Rams), Christian McCaffrey (San Francisco) and Jonathan Taylor (Colts).
Quarterbacks Bo Nix (Denver), Jayden Daniels (Washington) and Caleb Williams (Chicago) all had their odds for offensive rookie of the year go up while they went down for running back Ray Davis (Buffalo), tight end Brock Bowers (Raiders) and receiver Malik Nabers (Giants).
Quarterbacks Patrick Mahones (Chiefs), Aaron Rodgers (Jets) and Jalen Hurts (Eagles) all had their odds for regular season MVP go up. But quarterbacks Jordan Love (Packers), Lamar Jackson (Baltimore) and Joe Burrow (Cincinnati) all saw theirs go down.
Kansas City, Philadelphia and Houston had their Super Bowl odds increase while Green Bay, Baltimore and Cincinnati all decreased.
Not surprising, the week’s top events were all NFL games. In order, they were; Buffalo-Miami, Chicago-Houston, Cincinnati-KC, Raiders-Ravens; and Saints-Cowboys.
A Proline retail player cashed in a $26,183 winner from a $10 bet on a 12-leg major-league baseball parlay. Another won $24,602 from a $10 wager on a 12-leg NFL parlay.
A third received $1,737 from a $3 bet on a six-leg NFL parlay.
A digital bettor earned $2,927 from a $25 bet on a five-leg NFL parlay while a second had a $704.35 return from a $1 wager on a seven-leg NFL parlay.
This report by The Canadian Press was first published Sept. 19, 2024.
