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New York Times
2 minutes ago
- New York Times
Packers training camp: The unsung ‘MVP' who intercepted three passes in one practice
GREEN BAY, WIS. — Omar Brown is a second-year Packers safety who went undrafted in 2024 with eight career defensive snaps played. Xavier McKinney is a reigning first-team All-Pro safety who intercepted eight passes last season, second-most in the NFL. Yet after Family Night at Lambeau Field on Saturday night, it was McKinney playing hype man for Brown as he spoke with reporters after picking off three passes in front of almost 60,000 fans at practice. Brown now has five interceptions in nine practices. Advertisement 'MVP! MVP! MVP! Turn me up, O!,' McKinney shouted. 'That's my dog, X,' Brown said. 'Boy had a hat trick!' another teammate yelled. 'Three of 'em!' A couple other teammates chimed in supporting Brown, who originally signed with the Broncos after last year's draft. Denver released Brown after camp, and he signed with Green Bay's practice squad, where he spent most of the year until being elevated twice in the season's final three games. He played eight defensive snaps in a 34-0 win over the Saints and 16 total special teams snaps over Weeks 16 and 18. The Packers' starting safeties appear set in stone — McKinney and Evan Williams — and their next two figure to be Javon Bullard (if he's not playing the nickel) and Zayne Anderson. But Brown is stating a convincing case for 53-man roster inclusion after this year's training camp and the head coach likes what he sees. 'He's done a lot. I mean, he's making plays,' Matt LaFleur said. 'You want to see how guys respond and react when they get those opportunities and he's coming through, so that's really positive … He's definitely a guy we had our eye on coming out in the draft process. We had him in for a 30 visit, so certainly, there was some like there for him. To get him ingrained in our system and to watch him develop, grow, and develop has been pretty exciting. Again, he's making plays.' Brown's first pick of the night came in a red-zone drill with the No. 2 defense. Malik Willis took a snap from the 12-yard line and Brown stared him down from the deep middle of the field. Willis fired into heavy traffic for wide receiver Julian Hicks in the end zone and instead hit Brown. Omar Brown picks off Malik Willis on the goal line. That's the second-year safety's third INT of camp. — Matt Schneidman (@mattschneidman) August 3, 2025 His second came on a deflection by cornerback Tyron Herring, who broke up a Taylor Elgersma pass for Hicks before the ball fell into Brown's hands behind the play. His third pick was his best, as he ranged over to cover Hicks on a Willis deep ball down the left sideline after Hicks got space on safety Kitan Oladapo. The ball hit off Brown's facemask as he jumped, popped up in the air and he secured it as he fell to the ground. Advertisement 'I don't think the quarterback saw me. I kind of snuck behind him,' Brown said. 'We both went up for it and I just came down with it.' Brown said he's never intercepted three passes in a game, not even in high school, or even had a pick-six. Maybe two picks in a game, he said. He picked a good time to have three, with his mom, grandma and uncle watching from the stands as he tries to secure his first 53-man roster spot in the league. 'He's a stud,' safety Zayne Anderson said of Brown. 'He attacks every day like a true pro. He's always wanting to get better and he's always asking questions, which I think is the first thing and he does his job, which clearly, tonight, he gets those interceptions. He deserves it, man. He works his butt off and it's cool seeing guys in the room — the fruit come from their labor. Everybody in the room is super pumped for him.' That boy can BALL. Omar Brown had 3 interceptions tonight.@emplifybellin — Green Bay Packers (@packers) August 3, 2025 1. Brandon McManus continued his strong start to camp, going 7-for-7 on kicks during team periods at his first Family Night practice. McManus is now 36-for-37 on such kicks through five kicking practices after hitting from 29, 33, 38, 42, 47, 50, 51 and 54 yards on Saturday. His lone miss drifted wide right from 49 yards in a mild wind on Thursday. 'I don't want to jinx anything here,' LaFleur said. 'I'd rather not say too much about him, but he's been pretty consistent.' 2. Tight end Tucker Kraft was the lone new injury. He's dealing with a groin injury, but it doesn't appear to be anything significant. LaFleur said Kraft had been practicing through it and wants to give him a couple days for the issue to subside. Running back Emanuel Wilson left Friday's practice early after suffering a knee injury that looked bad at first, but LaFleur said Saturday, 'It was extremely scary, but I feel like we dodged that one. That is some really good news.' Advertisement Also not practicing Saturday were wide receiver Christian Watson (knee), wide receiver Dontayvion Wicks (calf), wide receiver Sam Brown Jr. (ankle), cornerback Nate Hobbs (knee), running back MarShawn Lloyd (groin), cornerback Kamal Hadden (hip), defensive end Collin Oliver (hamstring), defensive end Arron Mosby (groin), left tackle Rasheed Walker (groin), offensive lineman John Williams (back) and offensive lineman Travis Glover (shoulder). 3. Linebacker Isaiah Simmons showcased his coverage skills in 1-on-1s, with a pass breakup against tight end John FitzPatrick on an in-breaking route and a breakup near the front-left pylon against tight end Luke Musgrave. Simmons has played defensive back before in the NFL, but the Packers are keeping him at linebacker. Remember when De'Vondre Campbell credited the Packers' staff for simplifying his defensive role at linebacker (compared to what he did previously in Atlanta) after he made the All-Pro First Team in 2021? Simmons probably won't be an All-Pro since he's the Packers' fourth linebacker on the depth chart behind Edgerrin Cooper, Quay Walker and Isaiah McDuffie, but if anything, he offers intriguing depth on defense in addition to playing a significant role on special teams. Jordan Love sees a lane and takes off for an 18-yard run — Matt Schneidman (@mattschneidman) August 3, 2025 4. Green Bay's defense had a handful of standout plays during Saturday's practice. It should be noted that, because the entire night was livestreamed, the Packers kept everything 'pretty vanilla,' like they would in a preseason game. However, there were five interceptions, Brown's three, cornerback Kalen King jumping a Willis pass on the sideline intended for Hicks and cornerback Carrington Valentine shutting down a Matthew Golden go route before making a lunging grab on Jordan Love's pass that drifted well ahead of Golden during the starters' two-minute drill (unclear if Valentine simply disrupted Golden's route that much or if Love overthrew the rookie). In the first team period, defensive tackle Kenny Clark snuck past center Elgton Jenkins to stuff running back Josh Jacobs, Cooper blew up a Golden end-around and defensive end Lukas Van Ness bull-rushed left tackle Jordan Morgan to sack Love. Brown had another run stuff of Chris Brooks while coming off the edge in the red zone, while Brooks got caught up behind a scrum. McKinney had the same against Jacobs, and defensive end Brenton Cox shed tight end Johnny Lumpkin for a stuff of running back Izzy Abanikanda in the red zone. Other standout plays included cornerback Bo Melton's impressive coverage of Golden on a go ball that fell incomplete, defensive lineman Keith Randolph's would-be sack of Elgersma on Brown's second interception, Cooper's potential sack after lining up in the A gap and curling around the right side of the offensive line and defensive end Kingsley Enagbare beating left tackle Anthony Belton for a tackle for loss on running back Amar Johnson. Defensive end Barryn Sorrell also cleanly went around Belton for a sack of Willis during the two-minute drill. 5. Morgan is getting extensive work at left tackle with Walker nursing a groin injury. General manager Brian Gutekunst indicated recently that it would take a significant effort for someone to unseat Walker on Love's blind side, but the 2024 first-round pick is getting the chance to prove himself at his college position after playing strictly right guard as a rookie. That's where the Packers placed him last year since they felt it would be his best chance to start, and Morgan rotated with Sean Rhyan until a shoulder injury ended his season after six games. Morgan said this week that he's most comfortable at left tackle and has been playing there his whole life. He might be the Packers' left tackle of the future, assuming Walker walks in free agency next offseason, but is there a chance he's their left tackle of the present, too? 'There's been a lot of good moments and then there's some things we have to clean up,' LaFleur said. 'It's like that for a lot of players, especially young players. What did he play, six games last year? And this has been primarily inside. To get him outside at left tackle, there's going to be some hard lessons along the way, but I love how he's attacked this thing and the work that he put in throughout the course of the offseason has been pretty evident. You can tell by his body. We'll continue to push him to be the best he can be.' (Top photo of Omar Brown: Tork Mason / Imagn Images)
Yahoo
30 minutes ago
- Yahoo
Roughriders soar past Alouettes 34-6 in CFL power clash
MONTREAL — A dominant defensive performance and explosive plays allowed the Saskatchewan Roughriders to walk away from Montreal with a 34-6 win on Saturday. It was billed as a clash between the CFL's top two teams, but the Roughriders proved a class above the Alouettes, improving to 7-1 and moving four points up on the 5-3 Calgary Stampeders in the West Division. The Saskatchewan defence held the Alouettes (5-3) to 169 yards and did not allow them to pass their 46 yard-line. They also forced three turnovers, although it could have been even more. 'Through and through that was our best game as a defence,' said Saskatchewan head coach and defensive coordinator Corey Mace. 'I told them, that being said, we dropped so many potential interceptions and turnovers. Really, really proud of those guys.' 'It makes it pretty easy to win football games,' quarterback Trevor Harris said about his defence's performance. 'If they don't get into the red zone and they only kick two field goals, it's tough to lose games. "It's on us as an offence to make sure we extend our leads and they don't get close. We did that, but obviously still wish we would have done a little more offensively.' 'They're a good team,' said Montreal quarterback McLeod Bethel-Thompson. 'We have to give them credit, but we came out absolutely terrible tonight, myself included. You come out against a good team and play badly, it looks like that.' Harris threw for 289 yards and two touchdowns against one of his former teams and Dohnte Meyers had 182 all-purpose yards in the win as well but the common refrain from the Riders coaches and players was that they were capable of even more. 'We're just going to continue to keep climbing and getting better. Just because you're 7-1 after eight games, it doesn't mean anything,' Harris said. A crowd of 21,654 at Percival Molson Stadium in Montreal witnessed the Riders improve to 4-0 on the road. It was the Roughriders first win in Montreal since Oct. 30, 2021, snapping a two-game losing streak in Quebec and three games against the Alouettes overall. 'The environment was everything that we thought it was going to be,' said Mace. 'Their crowd showed up, the energy was crazy, but as a football team we were able to keep them quiet.' 'Anytime you get a win on the road in the CFL, it's nothing to sneeze at, especially against a team like this,' Harris said. Montreal was playing its fourth game of the season without starting quarterback Davis Alexander. They are 1-3 in those games. Bethel-Thompson, Alexander's replacement, went 15 for 26 for 126 yards and an interception and was briefly replaced in the third quarter by Caleb Evans. Maas said he tried to find a spark by going to Evans but when it wasn't there, he returned to Bethel-Thompson. The loss drops Montreal two points behind the East-leading Hamilton Tiger-Cats. Saskatchewan opened the scoring with short-yardage quarterback Tommy Stevens' one-yard touchdown run on an opening drive aided by a 46-yard return on the opening kickoff by Meyers and an unnecessary roughness penalty on the Alouettes. It was the only scoring in the first quarter. The Roughriders doubled their lead on their first drive of the second quarter, a nine-play, 69-yard drive ending with a Harris touchdown pass to Tommy Nield with 8:35 remaining. Montreal finally got on the board with 5:15 remaining in the first half when Jose Maltos connected for a 56-yard field goal. Saskatchewan answered right back with a field goal of their own, set up after a long 58-yard pass and catch from Harris to Meyers. Meyers is in his second season with the Roughriders and came into the game among the league leaders with five explosive plays, which is categorized as receptions over 30 yards and kickoff returns over 40 yards. On Saturday, he added three more. 'He's a big-play guy and he's able to help us stretch the field,' said Harris. 'The reputation is that we only throw the ball short, but we've been throwing the ball deep over people's heads quite a bit this year with Dohnte and KeeSean (Johnson).' 'He's an explosive receiver,' Mace said. 'He runs routes as smooth as ever, he's got great hands, and he's got some top-level speed to be able to break away. The kid's just a ballplayer, man, and I think everybody in the country's starting to figure that out.' The game's second half was delayed close to 30 minutes due to a thunderstorm in the area, and the rain continued to start the third quarter. Both teams were dealing with key players missing. Saskatchewan was missing receiver Samuel Emilus. In addition to Alexander, Montreal was without receivers Austin Mack and Tyler Philpot, while defensive back Kabion Ento was a late scratch and safety Marc-Antoine Dequoy left the game with an injury. Montreal head coach Jason Maas did not give an update on Dequoy's status, saying he will be re-evaluated this week. 'Injuries are part of the game,' said Maas. 'At times they're harder to overcome than others. Obviously, you don't ever want to start a game losing a guy and then lose a couple extra guys at those positions.' 'What I give more credit to than anything is them,' he said about his opponents. 'They played very well tonight, whether we were injured or not.' UP NEXT Roughriders: Host the Hamilton Tiger-Cats on Saturday, Aug. 16. Alouettes: Host the Edmonton Elks on Friday. This report by The Canadian Press was first published Aug. 2, 2025. Jared Book, The Canadian Press
New York Times
32 minutes ago
- New York Times
How England won the 1966 World Cup: A proper manager, no wingers, and Bobby Charlton in his pomp
This is the eighth in a series by The Athletic looking back at the winners of each men's World Cup. The previous articles have looked at Uruguay in 1930, Italy in 1934 and again in 1938, Uruguay in 1950, West Germany in 1954, before a Brazilian double in 1958 and 1962. This time, it's the turn of England in 1966. The codifiers of association football had a mediocre record at the World Cup until hosting it. England hadn't entered the first three tournaments because the FA were still refusing to be a part of FIFA. In their four attempts since deciding to take part, England had twice reached the quarter-finals, but had twice been eliminated at the group stage. Advertisement Yet England still enjoyed great reverence across the footballing world. In 1963, the FA celebrated its centenary by hosting a game between England and a Rest of the World XI, a genuine collection of the best footballers from every other nation. England won 2-1. Even accounting for home advantage and the unfamiliarity of the opposition players with one another, it's clear England had outstanding individuals. The spine of Gordon Banks, Bobby Moore and Bobby Charlton were all arguably the best in the world in their position. But they needed home advantage to become the world champions. And while hosting the tournament has always increased the chances of success, particularly in the early days of the World Cup, this was the first time since the opening two editions — Uruguay and Italy — that the hosts actually won it. Upon taking charge of England in October 1962, Alf Ramsey declared that England would win the World Cup. It was a bold claim. But this was a manager who had recently completed something even more unlikely than winning the World Cup with the host nation. In 1955, aged 35, he'd taken charge of Ipswich Town, in the third tier of English football. Two years later, he won promotion to the second tier. Four years after that, he won promotion to the First Division. And then he promptly won the title at his first attempt. Even when considering that the gap between the divisions was less substantial than in the modern age, this was an unprecedented transformation of a club. Sensing things couldn't get much better, he left Suffolk for the England job. Ramsey had been a no-nonsense England full-back in his playing days, including at World Cup 1950. He also scored the final goal in England's most famous defeat, the 6-3 loss to Hungary at Wembley in 1953. He was never overwhelmingly popular with the press or supporters, but he never tried to be. Advertisement He remained in charge of England for another eight years after this World Cup success, before being sacked when he failed to qualify for World Cup 1974. He was barely seen afterwards, aside from a brief stint in charge of Birmingham City, when he'd originally joined to serve on the board. But Ramsey really only had two major jobs in his coaching career, and he won the First Division and then won the World Cup. Ramsey was, in a sense, the first proper England manager. Until the Second World War, there had been no official position of head coach, and the squad was selected by a selection committee. This seems bizarre today, but in a world before matches were widely televised, and when all weekend matches kicked off at the same time, it was thought that keeping across the entire First Division (and beyond) was impossible. England merely had a 'trainer' in charge of tactics. Walter Winterbottom is generally considered England's first official head coach, but he was also the FA's first director of coaching, and used to joke — maybe half-joke — that 'the job had a sideline to it: manager of the England teams'. The plural reflects that he was in charge of both the main England team and the amateur equivalent, and genuinely seemed to consider this of less overall importance than his other role. Besides, he also had his squad picked by an eight-man selection committee. Ramsey, almost routinely described as 'not an establishment figure', wasn't going to stand for any of that and was given full control of picking the England squad and starting XI. 'It's a new position,' he said upon his appointment. 'This sort of thing has never been done before and I think we'll have to find out what we can do. It's something that has to be established and something that one has to find out about.' Ramsey was considered unusual for picking a full 22-man squad for every international break; in the days before substitutes, it was previously considered enough to pick a much smaller group. Advertisement England's success didn't convince everyone that the position of England manager was necessary. In the early 1980s, Brian Glanville, the most revered 20th-century English football writer in English football, wrote a World Soccer column claiming that England had generally coped fine without one, although this was partly a dig at the poor performance of Ramsey's successors, Don Revie and Ron Greenwood. Surprisingly, for a country not renowned for being overly interested in tactics, England are unique in that their World Cup-winning side had a nickname describing their tactical approach: these were 'Ramsey's wingless wonders'. A telling sign of this approach is that England's centre-forwards can be seen taking throw-ins in the final. The idea of playing without wingers was almost unthinkable before World Cup 1966. English football's most adored players were wingers — in the previous decade, they'd fielded Stanley Matthews and Tom Finney in the same side. And in Ramsey's early days in charge, he put great emphasis upon the importance of wingers. But his sides became increasingly narrow. He started the tournament with Manchester United's outside forward John Connelly, something of a forgotten figure, in the side. But by the end of the tournament, England barely had any width at all. The eventual starting XI was difficult to describe in terms of system, but players had very clear characteristics. Moore was the refined ball-playing defender, while Jack Charlton was more old-school. Both full-backs pushed forward. Nobby Stiles was a combative defensive midfielder who came under fire for his tackling during this tournament, and his presence allowed Martin Peters to roam. On the right, Alan Ball was something between a box-to-box player and a wide man, and notable for his sheer energy in the final, while Charlton very vaguely played from the left but was more of a No 10. Up front was the biggest talking point. Jimmy Greaves, the greatest goalscorer in English top-flight history, dropped out of the starting XI through injury midway through the tournament and never regained his place. Hurst, who had only made his debut earlier in the year but had headed the quarter-final winner against an infamously physical Argentina side, remained in the team. Ramsey also stuck with Roger Hunt, who lacked Greaves' natural talent but had a reputation as a hard worker. That, for many, symbolised Ramsey — an admirer of disciplined workers rather than talented individualists. You can make a case for various players. Hurst scored a hat-trick in the final. Moore was the captain and became the symbol of England's victory. Banks was a truly legendary goalkeeper. Ball was the best performer in the final. But ultimately England's true star was Bobby Charlton, a player who won that year's Ballon d'Or and finished second in the subsequent two years. A rampaging attacking midfielder who was the all-time top goalscorer for both Manchester United and England until Wayne Rooney surpassed him in both respects (Harry Kane since surpassed Charlton and Rooney for England goals), he produced the best individual moment of England's campaign with a brilliant goal in the group stage win over Mexico, running from the halfway line, feinting to go on his left foot, before chopping onto his right and firing into the top corner from 30 yards. Advertisement 'He was one of the greatest players I have ever seen,' Ramsey later said. 'He was very much the linchpin of the 1966 team. Early in my management, I knew I had to find a role suitable to Bobby's unique talents.' That was a particular compliment from a manager who hadn't appreciated the talents of other big-name attackers. Charlton, unusually considering he was England's third-most advanced player, wore No 9 in the tournament, partly a reflection of the fact that Ramsey had previously used him as a centre-forward. Charlton's best display for England came in the semi-final win over Portugal, where he lit up the game with his passing — sometimes considered a relative weakness compared to other greats in his role — and also scored both goals in a 2-1 win. The quality of that display led to him being quieter in the final, however. West Germany manager Helmut Schon was so scared of Charlton's goalscoring threat that he instructed Franz Beckenbauer, at this point renowned as an exciting attacking midfielder, to man-mark Charlton out of the game. Broadly speaking, Beckenbauer managed that, but possibly at the expense of West Germany's own attacking threat. Overall, a really good game between two sides — Beckenbauer's role aside — focused on pushing forward and attacking. Helmut Haller put West Germany ahead after a rare mistake from Ray Wilson, before Hurst headed home unmarked from Moore's flighted free kick. Goalkeeper Hans Tilkowski was often criticised for not coming to claim this cross — and the way he stood behind his line and simply pointed at Hurst did look rather odd — but he'd previously taken a bad knock when coming for another cross and was therefore hesitant to leave his line again. Peters seemed to have won the game with a simple volley at a corner, after Hurst's effort had been blocked and looped up into the air, but then defender Wolfgang Weber scored an even scrappier goal to equalise in the penultimate minute. That meant extra time. Ramsey famously told his players that they'd won the game once, and now they had to do so again. There are two options from extra time. You can argue that England's goal to go 3-2 ahead is the most famous moment — on the turn, Hurst smashed the ball against the bar. It bounced down onto the line and then out. The goal was given by linesman Tofiq Bahramov, who became referred to as 'the Russian linesman' in England, although he hailed from present-day Azerbaijan. In fact, he's such a hero in the otherwise unremarkable footballing nation of Azerbaijan that the country's former national stadium was named after him. Advertisement Without wanting to go over the nuances of a 59-year debate and the various modern technological attempts to prove it one way or another, it seems unlikely the ball actually crossed the line. The common argument from Hurst is that it must have been over because England striker Hunt turned away to appeal for the goal rather than heading in the rebound. This is somewhat disingenuous; Hunt wasn't at the right angle to tell, and the ball was bouncing slightly past him anyway. England at least scored a fourth, although there was further confusion here. Referee Gottfried Dienst had put his whistle to his lips, seemingly about to blow for full time, before waving on the play. This meant some England supporters had started their pitch invasion with the play still going on, with Hurst sent in behind by a long ball. This prompted the most famous commentary line in British sporting history, courtesy of the BBC's Kenneth Wolstenholme. 'Some people are on the pitch! They think it's all over,' and then, as Hurst slammed home another goal, 'It is now.' It was Moore's second assist of the final, and more significantly, Hurst's third goal — his hat-trick is analysed in more detail here. He remained the only hat-trick scorer in a World Cup final until Kylian Mbappe's for France in 2022. Hurst now proudly declares that he's the only hat-trick scorer in a World Cup final to finish on the winning side. England were hardly hailed as spectacular winners across the world, especially in an era when Brazil were regularly winning the tournament with wonderful football, but this was a tournament of few genuine contenders. Caution and discipline in their first four matches, when they were underwhelming but kept four clean sheets, gave way to more impressive displays in their last two matches. They were the better side in open, entertaining games against both Portugal and West Germany. It's difficult to identify who else should have won it. Hungary started promisingly before fading. The most praise was generally reserved for two first-time qualifiers: North Korea, who famously defeated Italy and then went 3-0 up against Portugal before losing 5-3. Portugal, the other key debutants, had the most revered player at the tournament, Eusebio. But they lost to England fair and square in the semi. The majority of matches were considered somewhat drab and overly aggressive at a time when a more defensive approach to football seemed to be on the rise. The 1966 success is sometimes retrospectively framed as 'the worst thing that could have happened to English football', as it convinced them to knuckle down and focus on hard running over talent. That always seems overly contrary, and besides, that wasn't Ramsey's fault — unlike Winterbottom, he wasn't the FA's director of coaching, too. His task was to win the World Cup, and he did. (Top photos: Daily Mirror/Mirrorpix/Mirrorpix via Getty Images; design: Eamonn Dalton)
