USATSI The Cincinnati Bengals will seek their second consecutive trip to the Super Bowl when they take on the Kansas City Chiefs on Sunday in the 2023 AFC Championship Game. This is a rematch of last year's AFC title game in which the Bengals overcame an 18-point deficit to prevail 27-24 in overtime and advance to Super Bowl 56, where they fell 23-20 to the Los Angeles Rams . Last week, Kansas City staved off the Jacksonville Jaguars 27-20 in the divisional round, while Cincinnati dominated from the outset in a 27-10 road victory over the Buffalo Bills . Kickoff is set for 6:30 p.m. ET from Arrowhead Stadium. The Chiefs are one-point favorites in the latest Chiefs vs. Bengals odds from Caesars Sportsbook and the over/under for total points scored is 47. Before locking in any Bengals vs. Chiefs picks, make sure you check out the NFL predictions and betting advice from SportsLine senior analyst Larry Hartstein . A former lead writer for Covers and The Linemakers, … [Read more...] about Chiefs vs. Bengals odds, start time, prediction: 2023 AFC Championship Game picks by NFL expert who’s 29-16
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2023 AFC Championship: Bengals vs. Chiefs, position-by-position advantages, who has the edge?
USATSI For the second straight season, the road to the Super Bowl will run through Kansas City in the AFC. And for the second straight season, the Bengals will be the ones looking to keep the Chiefs from making another big-game appearance. A year after edging Patrick Mahomes and Co. to face the Rams in Super Bowl LVI, Cincinnati enters this year's AFC Championship Game with lots of momentum. Whereas Mahomes is nursing an ankle injury after edging the Jaguars , Joe Burrow and his squad are fresh off a rout of the high-powered Bills , making Sunday's anticipated rematch a true tossup for oddsmakers. We already know both teams are talented, considering they're the last two standing in the AFC. But which one has the early edge on paper? Here's a position-by-position assessment: QB Bengals: Joe Burrow Chiefs: Patrick Mahomes Talk about a matchup! Mahomes has the benefit of experience, with five straight AFC title bids and two Super Bowl appearances under his … [Read more...] about 2023 AFC Championship: Bengals vs. Chiefs, position-by-position advantages, who has the edge?
2023 AFC Championship Game: Bengals vs. Chiefs, position-by-position advantages, who has the edge?
USATSI For the second straight season, the road to the Super Bowl will run through Kansas City in the AFC. And for the second straight season, the Bengals will be the ones looking to keep the Chiefs from making another big-game appearance. A year after edging Patrick Mahomes and Co. to face the Rams in Super Bowl LVI, Cincinnati enters this year's AFC Championship Game with lots of momentum. Whereas Mahomes is nursing an ankle injury after edging the Jaguars , Joe Burrow and his squad are fresh off a rout of the high-powered Bills , making Sunday's anticipated rematch a true tossup for oddsmakers. We already know both teams are talented, considering they're the last two standing in the AFC. But which one has the early edge on paper? Here's a position-by-position assessment: QB Bengals: Joe Burrow Chiefs: Patrick Mahomes Talk about a matchup! Mahomes has the benefit of experience, with five straight AFC title bids and two Super Bowl appearances under his … [Read more...] about 2023 AFC Championship Game: Bengals vs. Chiefs, position-by-position advantages, who has the edge?
NFL playoffs: Chiefs, Bengals, Eagles and 49ers – meet the teams battling it out to reach Super Bowl LVII in Arizona
We have our final four in the NFL playoffs! The Conference Championship games - effectively semi-finals ahead of Super Bowl LVII - take place this Sunday, live on Sky Sports NFL; here's your guide to the teams left battling for the right to make it to Arizona on February 12... AFC 1) Kansas City Chiefs AFC West division champions - 14-3 regular-season record Divisional Round result: 27-20 winners vs Jaguars (4) Head coach: Andy Reid is into his 10th season with the Chiefs, and this team has known only success since he's been there, missing out on the playoffs just once in 2014 - albeit still securing a winning record at 9-7, the only time his team failed to reach 10 wins. With victory over the Jaguars in the divisional round of the playoffs, Kansas City clinched a fifth-straight appearance in the AFC Championship game under Reid. Key man: The uber-talented Patrick Mahomes, of course. The 27-year-old is favourite to win a second league MVP title this season … [Read more...] about NFL playoffs: Chiefs, Bengals, Eagles and 49ers – meet the teams battling it out to reach Super Bowl LVII in Arizona
2023 NFL playoffs: Breaking down 49ers-Eagles trench matchup for the ages ahead of NFC Championship game
Getty Images The NFC Championship game between the 49ers and Eagles will be an old-school slugfest with a new-school twist. The new school would be the 49ers' position-less football and Kyle Shanahan's motion offense, and the Eagles' RPO attack led by MVP finalist Jalen Hurts . Sure, there are superstar playmakers all over the field, but make no mistake, this game will still be one for the football purists, fought and won in the trenches. "I expect it to be a battle all the way through," 49ers linebacker Fred Warner told reporters on Wednesday . "Both the Cowboys and Eagles are physical and talented teams who are really fast and have a lot of talent. Just like it was a battle this past week [against Dallas], I'm expecting that, if not more, this week, them being in their home stadium, home crowd behind them. They're going to be juiced up, ready to go." Both teams come in highly rated up front. The Eagles have the No. 1 pass block and pass rush grades at Pro … [Read more...] about 2023 NFL playoffs: Breaking down 49ers-Eagles trench matchup for the ages ahead of NFC Championship game
Colts fans start petition to prevent Jeff Saturday from being hired as head coach
Getty Images The Indianapolis Colts are in the process of interviewing candidates for the team's open head coaching job, and if it was up to one group of fans, one guy would have zero chance at getting hired. That candidate is Jeff Saturday, who served as the Colts' interim head coach throughout the second half of the 2022 season. Saturday took over the Colts when the team had a 3-5-1 record. He led the Colts to a win over the Las Vegas Raiders in his head coaching debut, but finished the 2022 season on a seven-game losing streak. With Saturday being included in the interview process , fans are taking it as an opportunity to have their voices heard. On Wednesday, Colts fans launched a petition on Change.org called "Don't hire Jeff Saturday as head coach." The petition currently has over 2,000 signatures. "We as Colts fans will always love the memories of the ( Super Bowl ) XLI team but we don't want Jeff Saturday as head coach of this team!" Shawn Ward, the … [Read more...] about Colts fans start petition to prevent Jeff Saturday from being hired as head coach
NFL Stats divisional playoffs: Joe Burrow extends winning run, Travis Kelce closes in on Jerry Rice postseason record
Sky Sports statistician Benedict Bermange picks out the best stats the NFL has to offer from the divisional round of the NFL playoffs, including another monster day for Kansas City Chiefs tight end Travis Kelce as he closes in on Jerry Rice's postseason receptions record... The Kansas City Chiefs defeated the Jacksonville Jaguars to reach their fifth-straight AFC Championship game. The Chiefs will now have hosted five conference title games in a row, the longest streak since the first conference championship game was played in 1966. They had never hosted one at all in franchise history before drafting Patrick Mahomes, having played three in total prior, all of them on the road from 1966-2016. Please use Chrome browser for a more accessible video player Highlights of the Jacksonville Jaguars against the Kansas City Chiefs in the divisional round of the NFL playoffs Highlights of the Jacksonville Jaguars against the Kansas City Chiefs … [Read more...] about NFL Stats divisional playoffs: Joe Burrow extends winning run, Travis Kelce closes in on Jerry Rice postseason record
FA Cup fourth round: Liverpool, Man City, Arsenal, Tottenham and Wrexham stories to look out for
From a blockbuster tie between Man City and Arsenal to Tottenham's trophy dream and Wrexham's Hollywood story, we pick out the FA Cup fourth-round talking points... Is it time for Pep's apprentice to become the master? Mikel Arteta and Pep Guardiola have been friends for more than two decades, colleagues at Barcelona and City and now, for the first time, title rivals. Arteta's links to Guardiola predate even before his professional debut. Both progressed through Barcelona's La Masia youth system - where despite being 11 years Pep's junior, the now-Arsenal boss was already weighed down by comparisons to the legendary midfielder and their remarkably similar styles of play. Guardiola took the teenager under his wing, offering him guidance and striking up a chord which would last for more than two decades, to the present day. But while Pep had gone on to make the middle of the Nou Camp pitch his own, Arteta - stuck behind the generational duo of Xavi and Andres Iniesta … [Read more...] about FA Cup fourth round: Liverpool, Man City, Arsenal, Tottenham and Wrexham stories to look out for
Ranking NBA’s top 10 50-point performances from historic season: Damian Lillard cracks top three
Getty Images If it feels like there's been a scoring influx across the NBA, that's because there has been. It's become commonplace for guys to get to 25 points or more on a nightly basis, even 30 points isn't an eyebrow-raising event anymore. It feels like almost nightly we see some of these insane scoring records reached that used to only be synonymous with Wilt Chamberlain. What's even crazier, is if a guy scores 40 points on one night, it'll likely be outdone the next day, or even later on in the same night. Over the course of this season there have been 17 instances of a player scoring 50+ points, and the seven games of at least 55 points is an NBA record for a single season. We haven't even gotten to the All-Star break, so the chances of that number going up are all but guaranteed. It's been an unprecedented season for individual offensive performances, so it only makes sense to take a look back at some of these historic games and rank the 10 best so far. 10. Joel … [Read more...] about Ranking NBA’s top 10 50-point performances from historic season: Damian Lillard cracks top three
College basketball power rankings: Xavier slides into top 10 after win at UConn; Alabama makes move to No. 1
USATSI STORRS, Conn. — Rare is the occasion that my power rankings opens with a dateline, but I was in the building Wednesday night for Xavier's 82-79 win over UConn, a top-20 Big East affair. So this week's Hey Nineteen will start there. What began as a Xavier bombardment ended in a gripping Musketeers escape inside a bumping Gampel Pavilion, which at a few points hit ear-splitting levels after Connecticut managed to cut a 17-point second-half deficit down to a one-possession game. "That was the loudest building I've ever been in," Xavier associate head coach Adam Cohen told me outside the team locker room after the win. Xavier led wire to wire, opening the game 9-0 in the first four minutes, then bloating its lead to 15 points by halftime — a margin that would prove pivotal after UConn made a couple of second-half pushes to bring some much-needed drama to the best matchup of the night in college basketball. UConn's Jordan Hawkins had 28, the second-highest point … [Read more...] about College basketball power rankings: Xavier slides into top 10 after win at UConn; Alabama makes move to No. 1