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Let’s not waste time with a long preamble: It’s Championship Sunday in the NFL. In the AFC Championship, No. 1 seed and AFC West champions Kansas City Chiefs will play host to No. 3 seed and AFC North champions Cincinnati Bengals.

These two teams met in the conference championship game earlier this season and last year. Cincinnati won both of those contests, but the Chiefs are once again operating on home field advantage. Before we break down the matchup, here’s how to watch the match.

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Date: Sunday January 29 | Time: 6:30 p.m. ET
Location: GEHA Field at Arrowhead Stadium (Kansas City, Missouri)
TV: CBS | Electricity: Paramount+ (click here)
opportunities: Chiefs -1.5, O/U 48

Featured Game | Kansas City Chiefs vs. Cincinnati Bengals

When the Bengals have the ball

Last week, the big story in the Bengals’ game against the Buffalo Bills was the offensive line. How would the group hold up ahead of Joe Burrow while three starters down and the likes of Jackson Carman, Hakeem Adeniji and Max Scharping to count on? As it turned out, it held up well.

Burrow was only pressured on 31.6% of his dropbacks, a far below average rate, according to Tru Media. The Bengals’ ball carriers averaged an impressive 1.94 yards per carry before contact, a significant improvement over the 1.26 yards per carry they averaged during the regular season. Not only did the Buffalo defensive line fail to dominate the game; it was largely dominated. Cincinnati controlled the line of scrimmage from the vault.

Now the question arises whether the offensive line can do it again. The Chiefs actually pressured opposing quarterbacks at a higher rate (35.7%) than the Bills (33.7%) during the regular season. And with Buffalo without Von Miller last week, the Chiefs also have a bigger individual threat (Chris Jones) than any of the Bills brought to the table a week ago. There is good news and bad news for the Bengals on this front. The good thing is that the two remaining starters along the offensive line (Ted Karras and Cordell Volson) both play inside where Jones does his work. The bad thing is that Scharping also plays indoors and the Chiefs can target Jones anywhere they want to generate advantageous matchups.

However, the true way the Bengals can neutralize the onslaught is through Burrow. Against Buffalo, Burrow brought the ball out in an average of 2.57 seconds, according to Tru Media, a number that squarely matches his season average of 2.55 seconds. Only Tom Brady (2.33 seconds) got rid of the ball faster this season, and only Brady made a higher proportion of his shots (55.3%) within 2.5 seconds of the snap than Burrow (55.0%). ). Burrow’s superpower is his ability to quickly decide where to go with the ball and get it out of his hands when the situation calls for it, but he also has the extended playability brought by the league’s other superstar quarterbacks.

It helps that he has arguably the best weapons roster in the league — or at least in his conference — to choose from. Ja’Marr Chase and Tee Higgins give him two #1 alpha receivers, each of which can make both contested grabs and yards after catch. Chase is nearly impossible to bring down with the first tackle, and the Bengals take advantage of that fact, putting the ball on screens and crossers for him so he can attack defenders with steam. In the first duel between these two teams, the Chiefs too often left their inexperienced corners on an island with Chase or Higgins on the outside, and Burrow repeatedly made them pay for it. Steve Spagnuolo must come up with a different plan of attack this time.

It will be interesting to see if the Chiefs push L’Jarius Sneed back out and put Trent McDuffie back in the slot after trading those positions back to the Jaguars last week. Jacksonville’s biggest threat was Christian Kirk, so the Chiefs put Sneed back in the slot. The biggest threats to Cincinnati remain Chase and Higgins, not Tyler Boyd, so it might make sense to bring Sneed back into the perimeter and allow McDuffie to attempt to physically play Boyd indoors. However, Spagnuolo should still be careful to provide proper assistance to Sneed and Jaylen Watson, or Burrow will aggressively work the one-on-ones and trust his boys to win the ball in the air. Being able to send enough body into Burrow to create pressure while still maintaining enough cover to ensure they don’t get smoked from the outside is going to be a tricky balance.

The Bengals got much better at running the ball after moving away from the way they wanted to run the ball earlier in the season. They were a below center team early on, outside the zone, and it was extremely vanilla. They switched to almost exclusively shotgun attacks earlier this year, which allowed them to get a bit more unpredictability into their running attack. Kansas City ranked a respectable 15th in the Rush Defense DVOA that season, according to Football Outsiders. So this isn’t one of those sessions where you can just run the ball down your throat if you want, as has occasionally been the case in previous seasons. Joe Mixon and Samaje Perine certainly have their part to play here, but the Bengals do best what they do best: let Burrow control the game by playing point guard from the pocket.

When the Chiefs have the ball

Well, it all really boils down to one question: Is Patrick Mahomes healthy enough to play like Patrick Mahomes? Honestly, I have no idea, and I think anyone (except maybe the Chiefs’ team doctors) who tells you they know for sure is lying.

So let’s try to find out what we know:

• We know Bengals defensive coordinator Lou Anarumo will again have a tailored game plan to deal with Mahomes and the Chiefs’ passing attack.
• We know the schedule will likely be at least a little different from what we saw in Week 13, which is itself a little different from what we saw in last year’s AFC title game.
• We know Kansas City’s passing game flows through Travis Kelce, and the Bengals will likely try to take him away, using Tre Flowers to get him near the line of scrimmage and other coverage defenders further down send.
• We know the Chiefs overhauled their offense this past offseason to counter the type of defense the Bengals and other teams used against them last year, leading players to fit into specific roles around their quick play, their direct dropback play, and their running play take on another level.
• We know all of those moves largely worked, with Mahomes leading the NFL in the EPA by dropback, Isiah Pacheco and Jerick McKinnon giving them the most diverse backfield in years, and the Chiefs having arguably their best offensive season since Mahomes (his first) MVP award already 2018
• We know the Bengals know all these things and the Chiefs know they know and the Bengals know the Chiefs know they know and so on.

If Mahomes is sane, he should be trusted to figure things out. Even in the loss to Cincinnati earlier this season, Mahomes completed 16 of 27 passes for 223 yards (8.2 per attempt) and a touchdown while also scoring on the ground. If it weren’t for a Kelce fumble, we might be talking about this game very differently. It’s not like Mahomes has shut down completely, after all. Kansas City scored in four of their first six drives, and on one of those drives the clock was running out with two runs from deep in their own territory in the first half. With five possessions, they came up with a total of 24 points. Then Kelce fumbled, Cincy scored, Harrison Butker missed a field goal that made the game crucial, and the rest is Cincinnati’s mayor claiming Burrow is Mahome’s dad or something. (If anything, it should be Anarumo, Mahomes’ father, but I digress.)

In this game, however, the Bengals got Mahomes to be incredibly patient. He averaged 3.36 seconds before passing the ball, the seventh longest throw time in his 91 career games. (Two of the six games in which he took longer were last year’s AFC title game loss to Cincinnati and the year before the Super Bowl loss to the Buccaneers.) Part of the reason he was successful nonetheless was that he could maneuver in the pocket with his mobility, and he used that mobility to create big plays on the field. Most of the fast-playing material the Chiefs were trying to get back on their offense this season was unavailable.

Whether it’s available this week depends on Anarumo deciding that Mahomes’ injury means he should be pressuring and getting him to move, or not pressuring because Mahomes can’t move . If Cincy presses, Mahomes can carve the defense out of the bag like he did against the Jaguars last week. However, the Bengals have rarely blitzed in these last two games against the Chiefs, and they’re not a strong blitz team anyway. It seems unlikely that Anarumo will suddenly change course in this regard. But unless the Bengals send additional bodies, it’s also likely that the wall the Chiefs have built in front of Mahomes over the past two years will hold up and give him time to find the free man in the field.

I would expect Kansas City to be in the shotgun mostly so Mahomes doesn’t have to move too much to ease the run game or get into the play-action-pass concepts meaning it should be a harder game for McKinnon as Pacheco. McKinnon is an ace pass protector and has a little more big play juice due to his agility, but Pacheco has the ability to go downhill and punish the Bengals for playing with light boxes. It wouldn’t be surprising if the Chiefs tried to get their running game going early so the Bengals have to sneak up and allow more downfield throws.

Gaétan Boucher had resumed training more than 25 years after winning the last competition. Not less. And he didn’t disappoint when he was crowned Masters World Champion yesterday at the Center de Glaces in Quebec City in front of an enthusiastic crowd who joined his cause.

• Also read: Speed ​​skating: dazzling progress for Aimé Perreault

• Also read: Gaétan Boucher: a champion through and through

“I’m relieved it was tough,” said the Quebec champion with a smile of accomplishment. I’m glad I’m done.”

The speed skating legend has been causing a stir on the ring that bears his name since Friday. Overall leader in the 65-69 age group [il est âgé de 64 ans, mais son anniversaire est en mai] After three races, Boucher took the final start, the 3000m, with a narrow margin over his nearest rival, Dutchman Victor van den Hoff. It was far from in the bag.

Although Boucher finished fourth in the 3,000m with a time of 4:43.04, he triumphed in the four events ahead of van den Hoff, who finished second in the distance (4:40.33). .

“I expected it to be easier,” Boucher admitted, given my background and being a good skater. But the [patins à] Flaps play a different role. My technique from back then doesn’t work with clapping, I’m not that efficient. It takes a little advantage I had back then. And on a physical level, trying to perform again as you age is no longer the same. I’m happy to have started again, it was a challenge for me.

Lander Aleman, President of Vendaval and the FPF’s Competition Organization Commission, spoke about the television rights and the exorbitant amount paid out to 11 teams by 1190 Sports.

League 1-2023 continues its broadcast rights dispute. For this reason, the President of Alianza Atlético, Lander Alemanwho is also the chairman of the competition organization commission of the Peruvian Football Federation (FPF), ruled on the case and revealed the large sum of money 1190 sports has paid out for the 11 clubs that are on the governing body’s side. He also pointed out that there was unequal pay in the old model.

Liga 1 can be seen on various cable network operators from the 2023 season Photo: Composition by Gerson Cardoso/La República

1190 Sports and the amount it has paid to League 1 clubs

“The clubs on this side have received half a million dollars and we need to receive our monthly payment. They tell us that they already paid it today (January 27) and it should be on Monday,” said the manager. “The company that invests 8-10 million dollars is financially solid, hopefully we will continue on this path and there is a bank guarantee that guarantees the solidity of the entire financing of the tournament and that’s why we are calm,” he said.

Alianza Atlético on Goal Peru

Likewise, Aleman remembered what it was like to work with him Peruvian Soccer Consortium: “I’ve been working with GolPerú for 25 years and I’m happy with the pay, but now I’m on the side of the federation. I want them to join (the other eight clubs), we can’t fight.”

Unequal payment in the old transfer model

The Vendaval president also spoke about the clubs that are against the FPF, such as Alianza Lima and Universitario de Deportes. Aleman mentioned that these teams compete for an amount they believe is theirs, but clarified that there is an unequal pay in relation to the other institutions.

“There’s a group of clubs that want to make money that they think is theirs and fight for it. If there’s a big difference between a big club and a small club, it goes down. With that 10 difference : 1 there is no longer any competitiveness, you lose If you give a newly entered club 800,000 dollars and another 10 million, then you already know who is the champion and who is the one who is relegated will be shortened, as it is in Europe is the case,” he concluded.

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We’ve finally set our Final Four for the 2022 NFL season, and now it’s time to decide which teams will play in Super Bowl LVII. The San Francisco 49ers, Philadelphia Eagles, Cincinnati Bengals and Kansas City Chiefs enter week 21 of the season and all four teams are struggling with injuries.

Below we will break down the injury updates for Conference Championship Sunday. Who’s in? Who is outside? Who is trending in the right direction? This is your one stop shop for all things injury related in the NFL.

All NFL odds via Caesars Sportsbook.

Cincinnati Bengals at Kansas City Chiefs (-1.5)

• bosses: TE Travis Kelce (back), WR Justin Watson (illness), WR Mecole Hardman (pelvis) QUESTIONABLE
• Bengal: G Alex Cappa (ankle), T Jonah Williams (knee) OUT

Everyone had their eyes on Chiefs star quarterback Patrick Mahomes this week after he sprained his ankle in Saturday’s win over the Jacksonville Jaguars. Despite that injury, head coach Andy Reid told reporters on Friday that Mahomes will start on Sunday, noting that “he’s moving well”. Mahomes has been a full participant in practice all week, as has running back Jerick McKinnon (ankle) and linebacker Willie Gay Jr. (toe). With Mahomes in attendance, the Chiefs’ biggest injury concern is Travis Kelce. The first-team All-Pro was added to the injury report after his back was suspended on Friday. Kelce is listed as a real game decision for the Sunday game. Wide receivers Mecole Hardman (pelvis) and Justin Watson (illness) are also questionable.

Meanwhile, the Bengals added Hayden Hurst to the team’s injury report before Sunday’s AFC title game is fought back against the Chiefs. Hurst, who was not on Wednesday’s injury report, was hampered in Thursday’s practice with a calf injury. On Friday, Hurst stated that he will be on the field when the Bengals meet Kansas City on Sunday. Not all injury news was good for Cincinnati, as starting offensive linemen Alex Cappa (ankle) and Jonah Williams (knee) were both ruled out for the second straight game. Cappa has been out since injuring his ankle in Week 18 against the Ravens, while Williams missed last week’s game after dislocating a kneecap in the Bengals’ playoff win over Baltimore. Jackson Carman and Max Scharping are expected to replace both players in the starting XI again.

MELBOURNE, Australia – It is inevitable that Novak Djokovic will play tennis at Rod Laver Arena.

It’s a feeling that no matter what year we’re in, who’s on the other side of the net, and how lopsided the crowd’s support may be in favor of his opponent, it’s still Djokovic who prevails will.

Djokovic, 35, did just that for the 28th consecutive time at Melbourne Park on Sunday night. The Serb defeated third-placed Stefanos Tsitsipas 6-3, 7-6(4), 7-6(5) to secure a record Australian Open title as the 10th title that tied him with rival Rafael Nadal for most equals major titles (22) in men’s tennis – the pair have surpassed longtime leader Roger Federer at 20.

As Djokovic hugged each member of his player box and before he could lift the Norman Brookes Challenge Cup aloft, an intimate discussion began to circulate. Who is Tennis’ GOAT? And while it’s nigh impossible to answer that definitively until the Big Three era has officially ended, there’s no doubt that Djokovic’s fortnight Down Under has once again put his nose to the front.

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Federer has now hung up his racquet and Nadal faces another injury-related layoff. Meanwhile, here’s Djokovic winning slams. At the start of the tournament he said “I know I’m in the last quarter of my career” and while that may be true his tennis would suggest he’s far from done. In fact, what he’s displayed in Melbourne over the past fortnight while battling a nagging hamstring isn’t too far removed from Djokovic at the peak of his power.

For the third time in his career, Djokovic lost just one set en route to a title at the Australian Open. He humiliated local hero Alex de Minaur in the fourth round, repeated the dose against fifth-seeded Andrey Rublev in the quarterfinals, and crossed American Tommy Paul in a one-sided semifinal.

World No. 4 Tsitsipas was to be his biggest challenge but he passed that test with ease, repeating the result of the 2021 French Open final. He kept the unforced errors low while hitting the ball from behind the baseline and tracked everything Tsitsipas sent over the web. As always, Djokovic found an extra gear when the situation called for it. Two tiebreaks? No problem.

“I did everything possible. There is nothing I could have gotten more out of. Novak is a player who pushes you to your limits,” said a disappointed Tsitsipas after the final. “I think he’s the greatest person who’s ever held a tennis racket. The numbers speak for themselves. He earned it with so much dedication and professionalism.”

An exceptional and unprecedented second leg is what has made Djokovic such a force on the ATP Tour for 15 years. At that tournament, he had more return winners than any other player and was the only man to win over 40% of first serve points and 60% of second serve points on returns.

But it was perhaps his serving that caught the eye the most. Djokovic led the field in service won (94%), ranked in the top 10 for points won on first serve and held 79% of break points. He was broken just once in 17 games in the finals.

“To be honest, it was one of the best tennis I’ve ever played on this court,” explained Djokovic after the match, referring to his breathtaking fortnight at Melbourne Park. “I would put it right there. Maybe the best two, three of all time at Slams.”

So Djokovic now sits at 22. But whether your allegiance is with Federer, Nadal or Djokovic, there’s no denying that the Serb’s number of Slam wins over the last 30 months could have been significantly higher if not that pandemic and some polarizing personal decisions.

He missed an opportunity to defend his Wimbledon title in 2020 when the event was canceled due to COVID-19. Sure, the title wasn’t a certainty, but he hasn’t lost a match at Wimbledon since 2017.

Two months later, Djokovic was sensationally banned from the US Open after hitting a linesman with a ball in his fourth-round match. Again, there’s no guarantee he would have lifted the silver, but with several of his main rivals sitting out for various reasons – notably Nadal and Federer – few were brave enough to decide against him.

And in 2022 he was unable to compete in either the Australian Open or the US Open because his COVID-19 vaccination status did not allow him to legally enter either country.

Djokovic was or would have been the clear favorite in all four majors. Even if he played it conservatively, he probably would have added at least two more to his total. Had one of them been last year’s Australian Open, he could very easily sit on 25 and lead Nadal’s 21 after his recent triumph. An insurmountable gap.

But enough of the hypotheses. The reality is Djokovic and Nadal are suspended at 22-22. Still, it’s an advantage, Djokovic.

Djokovic has now won five of the last seven Majors he has competed in – his two failures in the 2021 US Open final and the 2022 French Open quarterfinals – and by any logical metric he is the undisputed best player in the world. Heck, we’re not even 18 months away from him finishing a game behind the coveted calendar slam.

Meanwhile, Nadal, 36, is expected to miss up to two months of tennis after suffering a degree 2 iliopsoas injury during his straight set loss in the second round to American Mackenzie McDonald. But even before the injury, the Spaniard was in the midst of perhaps the biggest slump in form of his professional career. Some prominent figures in the sport doubt he will ever return to anything close to his best.

“[Nadal’s loss to McDonald] was the first step towards retirement,” said tennis star Boris Becker on Eurosport Germany’s Matchball Becker show. “An injury like that is tough and at this age it takes even longer to get back into shape. I think his days are numbered.”

In contrast, Djokovic’s coach Goran Ivanišević believes his man can continue playing at elite level for the foreseeable future.

“The way he takes care of his body and everything… two to three years for sure,” Ivanišević explained after the final. “The guy is amazing. I don’t know how to put it into words.”

Djokovic also says he doesn’t have his eyes on the finish line yet.

“I’m motivated to win as many Slams as possible,” he said. “At this point in my career, those trophies are the biggest motivating factor why I keep competing. I really don’t want to stop here. I have no intention of stopping here.

“I know that when I feel good physically and mentally, I have a chance to win any Slam against anyone. Of course 35 isn’t 25, even if I want to believe it, but I still feel like there’s still time ahead of me. Let’s see how far I get.”

While Djokovic is the favorite to end his career with the most men’s Grand Slam titles, that shouldn’t be the only measure used when considering GOAT in tennis.

Djokovic also owns the men’s records for most weeks as world No. 1 player (373) and most Masters 1000 titles (38), and he has accumulated more prize money than anyone in the sport. He has amassed the most ATP Player of the Year awards (seven) and is tied with Federer for most ATP Finals wins (six). Think of just about every men’s tennis record, and Djokovic’s name is usually at the top of the list.

Another factor in Djokovic’s favor is his track record against his two big rivals. He leads the Nadal head-to-head 30-29 and Federer 27-23.

The GOAT debate in tennis will continue for years to come. decades likely. Some will say Federer, some will say Nadal. Others will argue Serena Williams or Margaret Court. But if no one ever hits a tennis ball again, you’d be hard pressed not to have Djokovic at the top of the stack.

The Kansas City Chiefs have received good news as Travis Kelce is eligible to play against the Cincinnati Bengals in Sunday’s American Conference Finals (AFC).

• Also read: Damar Hamlin takes stock emotionally for the first time

• Also read: Conference finals on neutral ground: No!

The star player has been suffering from back spasms in recent days and his attendance at the one-night stand at Arrowhead Stadium was hampered.

Kelce has had the best season of his career. The 33-year-old caught 110 balls for 1,338 yards and 12 touchdowns. Last week he had 14 catches for 98 yards and two majors in one of two AFC semifinals against the Jacksonville Jaguars.

As for wide receiver Mecole Harman, his presence against the Bengals is still in doubt. The latter is suffering from a pelvic injury and was unable to fully train with his teammates on Friday.

The Argentine journalist revealed the conversation the ‘Predator’ had with his new Academy coach before signing his full-season deal.

Just under a week ago, Paolo Guerrero was officially unveiled as the new Racing Club player. The Peruvian striker will play at the academy for the whole of 2023 and get his first experience in Argentine football. Despite his 39 years, the “Predator” will continue to play at the highest level in one of the most competitive leagues in South America and, as if that wasn’t enough, he can also play the 2023 Copa Libertadores.

Although his goal-scoring ability has been crucial for him to be considered throughout his footballing career Run, the technician Fernando Gago You know that Paul Guerrero He has not had a great level in recent years due to his injuries. For this reason, before signing for the Argentine club, the strategist would have had a tense dialogue with the ‘Predator’ to emphasize the conditions of his arrival. A journalist revealed this ESPN to the program Sports Center AM.

“The one we know about was Paul Guerrero j Fernando GagoFaced with this situation, arriving without filming, without a 2022 with too much player presence and with the claims that Racing has for this season, ”the communicator began.

The Argentine journalist assured that Fernado Gago, while acknowledging Paolo Guerrero’s great career and achievements, still has to earn his title like the rest of his teammates.

“Gago was very clear with him, he told him: you will come to fight for a place from below and he (Paolo Guerrero) accepted it. That’s why he’s here today,” he said.

Paolo Guerrero’s numbers in 2022

Paul Guerrero arrives at Run 39 years old and after a long career in Brazil and Germany. In 2022, the Peruvian forward defended Avaí del Brasileirao’s shirt, in which he made 10 competitive appearances and failed to score. Previously he was with Bayern Munich, Hamburg, Corinthians, Flamengo and Internacional de Porto Alegre.

Philadelphia Flyers forward Zack MacEwen will be sidelined for five weeks with a broken jaw.

• Also read: Frédérick Gaudreau acclaimed in game

• Also read: Oiler’s reserve goalie has Connor McDavid to thank

On Sunday, the newspaper “Philadelphia Inquirer” learned that the 26-year-old athlete went under the knife.

MacEwen was reportedly injured in a game against the Minnesota Wild on Thursday night. After a fight against Marcus Foligno, the Prince Edward Island native did not return to the game.

MacEwen was never drafted and began his pro career with the Vancouver Canucks. The Flyers called him off from waivers in October 2021. Since then he has become a major cog in the Pennsylvania club when it comes to toughness. The forward was even deployed to block the goalie’s view of the second power play unit.

In 46 games this season, MacEwen has found four goals and provided five assists for nine points. It’s his best career campaign at the Bettman circuit.