Latest news with #TeamA
Yahoo
4 days ago
- Entertainment
- Yahoo
Bristol feel playoff pressure as Premiership finale promises tries
There will be tries. That is hardly a revolutionary prediction in a sport that has long since rained down on us the 21st century's manna of entertainment at all costs, but even by those standards this weekend's last round of the Premiership promises bounty. The science of prediction is at best hit and miss, but one blind alley all too many 'experts' get lost down is consideration of tactics, gameplans and the like, when all that really matters is a team's motivation. Purity of desire is a special ingredient in a side's prospects for any individual match. This weekend we have five matches, and they all might be summarised as a team with something to play for versus a team with nothing. Advertisement Related: Lions match highlights on free-to-air TV this summer – with Welsh commentary That is an explosive mix at the best of times, but in this era of tries, tries and outrageous comebacks it is all the more so. Team A is chasing a place in the playoffs, so they burst into the match like men possessed. Either they rack up a massive score in no time at all and relax, whereupon Team B start to chance their arm, because why not; or Team A overextend themselves in pursuit of their goal, and Team B pick them off, because all of these teams can play the rugby of the gods. Either way, there will be tries. Bath are top of the table, and the only side mathematically guaranteed a place in the playoffs. They have scored 92 tries across 17 matches, a rate of 5.4 a match, comfortably the highest of any team in Premiership history, bar this season's second highest try-scorers – see below. People talk about the Premiership's entertainment quotient as if it were a new thing, when actually it has been so for several years. For context, 2009-10 was a nadir in rugby union's quest for entertainment at all costs. It is difficult to say why this was the case. The dreaded experimental law variations had come in the summer before but had never taken off. Advertisement A personal memory, nevertheless, of the season that followed is of teams terrified of having the ball, because of the leeway afforded to that most dread of concepts, 'the jackler'. Check all the data about tries scored, metres gained, line breaks, all the usual indicators of a 'good match', and they are way down for that one season, across all competitions. Bath, as it happens, finished the regular season as top try-scorers in 2009-10 as well, with 49 tries across 22 matches – or a rate of 2.2 tries a match. So there has been quite some progress on that front. It happened more quickly than most commentators would have it, but there is no denying, too, that with each season the entertainment quotient has continued to climb – and this has already been the best yet. This weekend, Bath have nothing to play for. They have just won their second piece of silverware this season, the Challenge Cup, but they have done all they can to position themselves advantageously for the one they really want, the Premiership. All you could say is that they might want to finish off the one side who have dominated this competition in recent years, Saracens, once and for all. Saracens host Bath this weekend, and qualification is out of their hands. It feels weird just writing that. They will have to win anyway, with maximum points, and hope enough teams slip up ahead of them. All the while keeping at bay the most prolific team in Premiership history. There will be tries. Advertisement Leicester, champions the year before last, play Newcastle at home. We are assuming maximum points there for the Tigers and the other home playoff berth confirmed. Elsewhere, Sale travel to Exeter, hoping to clinch the third playoff spot. Exeter are the only team with nothing to play for who are also at home, but Sale have a couple of Lions – and George Ford, who is the best player in the British Isles at the moment. Gloucester are playing for a place in the playoffs too, at home against Northampton, the current champions. They are the third highest try-scorers in this season of try-scoring, but they need someone above them to lose. We all know who that could be. The game of the weekend is down the M5 in Bristol. If two teams encapsulate this era of try-scoring, unpredictable wildness, it is Bristol and Harlequins. Bristol are the second highest try-scorers this season, with 87, a rate of 5.1 a match. They have also conceded more (76 – 4.4 a match) than anyone bar bottom-placed Newcastle. The greatest match this correspondent has ever covered was Bristol's playoff semi-final against Quins in 2021-22, the year Quins went on to win their second title. Bristol, who had finished top of the table, were 28-0 up after half an hour; Harlequins won 43-36 after extra time. Bristol have it all to play for at Ashton Gate on Saturday; Quins have nothing. Should be straightforward. But predictions with these two are for fools. There will be tries.
USA Today
15-05-2025
- Sport
- USA Today
Packers schedule mostly neutral on rest advantage/disadvantage, but GB leads NFL in short road weeks
When it comes to rest advantages and disadvantages for the Green Bay Packers during the 2025 regular season, Matt LaFleur's team has a mostly neutral schedule ahead this season. But short road weeks will test the Packers at various points in 2025. What is a rest advantage? This occurs when a team gets a scheduling advantage in terms of days between games. For instance, let's say Team A plays on Thursday in Week Y, and Team B plays on Sunday in Week Y. If the two teams play in Week Z, Team A would have a three-day rest advantage going into the game against Team B. In a physically and mentally taxing game like pro football, prep and recovery between games are vital, so rest advantage is a factor worth considering following the schedule release on Wednesday. When do the Packers have advantages and disadvantages in 2025? Early on, the Packers gain a +3 advantage ahead of playing the Cleveland Browns in Week 3 due to playing on "Thursday Night Football" in Week 2 and a +7 advantage ahead of playing the Cincinnati Bengals in Week 6 due to having a bye in Week 5. LaFleur's team must make the most of these opportunities early in the season. The inverse happens shortly after. The Packers have a -3 disadvantage before playing the Pittsburgh Steelers in Week 8 (Steelers play on "Thursday Night Football" in Week 7) and a -7 disadvantage before playing the Philadelphia Eagles in Week 10 (Eagles have a bye in Week 9). Both disadvantages occur during primetime games, although the Packers get the Eagles at home. The Packers also play short weeks on the road against the New York Giants in Week 11 (-1 disadvantage from playing on "Monday Night Football" in Week 10) and against the Minnesota Vikings in the Week 18 season finale (Vikings play on Christmas Day in Week 17) -- these are especially tough weeks considering travel comes into play. The Packers have an NFL-high three short weeks before road games in 2025 (Steelers, Giants, Vikings). The Packers do gain a +1 advantage before playing the Chicago Bears in Week 14 due to playing on Thanksgiving Day (Bears play on Black Friday) and a +1 advantage before playing the Baltimore Ravens in Week 17 due to playing on Saturday in Week 16. Both advantages are magnified by the Packers being at home in both games. Packers 2025 schedule
Yahoo
13-05-2025
- Entertainment
- Yahoo
Why the NFL Draft is the perfect sporting event of the TikTok age
Let's take half a step back and think, just for a second, about how absurd the NFL Draft hype really is. We'll spend three days watching guys walk across a stage, and another two months in each direction pondering What It All Means. There's not even any actual football here, and there won't be for another four months! Friends, we are watching a splashy, flashy job fair! That's it! Now, let's take a full step forward and plunge right back into the glorious spectacle of the NFL Draft. Because despite the fact that the only contact we'll see is when a massive lineman strides onstage and hoists Roger Goodell like a puppy, the draft is a magnetic event. Matter of fact, we'd go so far as to say that for our short-attention-span, conflict-obsessed, content-heavy culture, why, it might just be the perfect sporting event for our age. Is that depressing or inspiring? Depends on your perspective! But heads up, the chime just sounded and the first pick is in … Hope persists. Drafts are built on hope — the hope that this will be the quarterback/wide receiver/edge that will put your team over the top, hope that your franchise's continued string of draft busts, misfires and faceplants ends right here, tonight. Remember: Everyone's undefeated on Draft Day, and will stay that way until September. (Well, except the Jets. Somehow they're already 0-2.) Arguments do, too. Should Team A have gone offense or defense? Is Player X a good fit for Team B, or will he struggle in their system? Did Team C overreach with their first-round pick, or did they snag a steal right out from under the nose of their divisional rival? Was that a savvy move by Team D to move up in the first, or did Team E fleece them? The draft gives us endless opportunity for high-volume, low-stakes arguments, arguments where — and this is key — everyone is a winner. Until the snaps begin — or until that first-round pick shows up to camp 40 pounds overweight — it's all hypothetical! The picks just keep coming. Hope and arguments fit our age well, but now we get into the aspects of the draft that are uniquely suited for Scrolling America. First, the constant flood of new data, in the form of picks. Teams have 10 minutes to pick in the first round — well, the Titans have had three months — and those 10 minutes are positively stuffed with analysis of the previous pick and speculation about what comes next. That time span shrinks to seven minutes in the second round and five minutes in rounds 3 to 6. The seventh round gives teams just four minutes to make their pick. Four minutes! That's hardly enough time to look up the name of that running back from East Poochie State and pretend like you've watched him all season! Content everywhere. The flood of picks means a flood of content, too — dozens upon dozens of heartwarming achieved-the-dream moments, judgments on red carpet apparel, tender mother-and-son or father-and-son embraces, and awkward shoehorned sponsor moments. There will be 257 players picked, and each one of those 257 has his own story. Surely one of them will resonate with you. Bite-sized bits. Of course, with 257 picks, and 32 teams, and roughly 10,000 draft analysts, there's not much room for in-depth, six-part-documentary-level storytelling. What you'll learn about most of these draft picks can fit neatly into a short TikTok or reel. You're not meant to think too hard about any of these picks; after all, there's another coming in 10 or five or four minutes. Watch it, tap "Like," scroll on. Narrative over results. The NBA has mastered the art of narrative over results — as in, you can know exactly what the overarching storylines are in the league without ever watching a single minute of live gameplay. The NFL isn't there quite yet — the scarcity of NFL games relative to NBA ones makes it feasible to at least lay eyes on every game. (Yes, even Titans-Jags.) But the NFL Draft gives football fans a chance to map long-running storylines over current events — like how certain teams (hello, Giants and Browns) can't get out of their own way even during Draft Day, and how other teams ('sup, Chiefs and Ravens) manage to snag in-plain-sight gems that other teams overlooked. It's all part of the ongoing show. Lifestyle over event. The NFL's scarcity means that without proper care and promotion, it would vanish from fans' minds during the seven-month offseason, and that can't happen. So the NFL has basically turned itself into a lifestyle brand rather than a fall Sunday afternoon diversion, with the games being only one part of the whole picture. The draft — a traveling roadshow that, before long, will draw a million people to this glorified job fair — is the most successful embodiment of the NFL-all-the-time vision, but it's by no means the last. Because once all this draft hype ends, stay ready: The 2025 schedule release is coming up next month, and then we'll do it all over again. It's now a seamless cycle, year after year … very much like an endless scroll on your phone. You can now enjoy, and keep on enjoying, NFL content forever and ever.
Yahoo
06-05-2025
- Sport
- Yahoo
How are football league positions decided if teams are level on points?
When football teams in the elite levels in England, Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland are level on points in the league table, they are first separated by goal difference. Goal difference is calculated by subtracting the total number of goals a team has conceded during the season from the number they have scored. So a team who has scored 60 and conceded 55 will have a goal difference of +5. But sometimes, two teams will have both the same number of points and the same goal difference. In that scenario, the makeup of that goal difference comes into play. ADVERTISEMENT Advertisement Priority is given to the team with the higher goals scored tally. So let's take the above as an example again. Team A has a goal difference of +5, having scored 60 and conceded 55. While Team B also sits on +5, it has scored 70 while conceding 65. Therefore, Team B is placed higher in the league table. After goals scored, teams can be separated based on their head-to-head record. If Team A accrued more points during games between the two sides than Team B, then Team A would sit higher in the table. If they earned the same amount of points in those games, the team which scored more goals in head-to-head matches is given priority, followed by the team which scored more goals away from home in those fixtures. If, after all of that, two teams are somehow still precisely level, then disciplinary records or alphabetical order can be used to determine who goes where. But if that were to happen at the end of a season, and a crucial outcome like the title, qualification for a European place or relegation was being decided, a one-off playoff match between the two teams is used as a fairer alternative. A special play-off decider has never had to be used in the Premier League [Getty Images] What about in other leagues? The above rules do not necessarily apply to leagues in other countries, or lower down the football pyramid, though. ADVERTISEMENT Advertisement Some divisions - like LaLiga in Spain and Serie A in Italy - use head-to-head records to separate teams before even moving to goal difference. In fact, Serie A re-introduced a rule in 2022 stating that if two teams competing for the title, or fighting relegation, finish level on points then they are required to meet in a play-off. Goal difference would still play a role though, with the team boasting the better record earning the right to play the one-off tie at their home stadium. In the Champions League, Europa League and Conference League, teams are separated by points total, goal difference, goal scored, away goals scored, number of wins, and finally number of away wins. If teams are somehow still equal, they are given equal ranking in the table, ordered alphabetically. Serie A's rules mean it is the most likely league to be decided by a one-off play-off match [Getty Images] This article is the latest from BBC Sport's Ask Me Anything team. The question was sent to us by Dave in Somerset. Thanks, Dave! More questions answered...
Yahoo
06-05-2025
- Entertainment
- Yahoo
Why the NFL Draft is the perfect sporting event of the TikTok age
Let's take half a step back and think, just for a second, about how absurd the NFL Draft hype really is. We'll spend three days watching guys walk across a stage, and another two months in each direction pondering What It All Means. There's not even any actual football here, and there won't be for another four months! Friends, we are watching a splashy, flashy job fair! That's it! Now, let's take a full step forward and plunge right back into the glorious spectacle of the NFL Draft. Because despite the fact that the only contact we'll see is when a massive lineman strides onstage and hoists Roger Goodell like a puppy, the draft is a magnetic event. Matter of fact, we'd go so far as to say that for our short-attention-span, conflict-obsessed, content-heavy culture, why, it might just be the perfect sporting event for our age. Is that depressing or inspiring? Depends on your perspective! But heads up, the chime just sounded and the first pick is in … Hope persists. Drafts are built on hope — the hope that this will be the quarterback/wide receiver/edge that will put your team over the top, hope that your franchise's continued string of draft busts, misfires and faceplants ends right here, tonight. Remember: Everyone's undefeated on Draft Day, and will stay that way until September. (Well, except the Jets. Somehow they're already 0-2.) Arguments do, too. Should Team A have gone offense or defense? Is Player X a good fit for Team B, or will he struggle in their system? Did Team C overreach with their first-round pick, or did they snag a steal right out from under the nose of their divisional rival? Was that a savvy move by Team D to move up in the first, or did Team E fleece them? The draft gives us endless opportunity for high-volume, low-stakes arguments, arguments where — and this is key — everyone is a winner. Until the snaps begin — or until that first-round pick shows up to camp 40 pounds overweight — it's all hypothetical! The picks just keep coming. Hope and arguments fit our age well, but now we get into the aspects of the draft that are uniquely suited for Scrolling America. First, the constant flood of new data, in the form of picks. Teams have 10 minutes to pick in the first round — well, the Titans have had three months — and those 10 minutes are positively stuffed with analysis of the previous pick and speculation about what comes next. That time span shrinks to seven minutes in the second round and five minutes in rounds 3 to 6. The seventh round gives teams just four minutes to make their pick. Four minutes! That's hardly enough time to look up the name of that running back from East Poochie State and pretend like you've watched him all season! Content everywhere. The flood of picks means a flood of content, too — dozens upon dozens of heartwarming achieved-the-dream moments, judgments on red carpet apparel, tender mother-and-son or father-and-son embraces, and awkward shoehorned sponsor moments. There will be 257 players picked, and each one of those 257 has his own story. Surely one of them will resonate with you. Bite-sized bits. Of course, with 257 picks, and 32 teams, and roughly 10,000 draft analysts, there's not much room for in-depth, six-part-documentary-level storytelling. What you'll learn about most of these draft picks can fit neatly into a short TikTok or reel. You're not meant to think too hard about any of these picks; after all, there's another coming in 10 or five or four minutes. Watch it, tap "Like," scroll on. Narrative over results. The NBA has mastered the art of narrative over results — as in, you can know exactly what the overarching storylines are in the league without ever watching a single minute of live gameplay. The NFL isn't there quite yet — the scarcity of NFL games relative to NBA ones makes it feasible to at least lay eyes on every game. (Yes, even Titans-Jags.) But the NFL Draft gives football fans a chance to map long-running storylines over current events — like how certain teams (hello, Giants and Browns) can't get out of their own way even during Draft Day, and how other teams ('sup, Chiefs and Ravens) manage to snag in-plain-sight gems that other teams overlooked. It's all part of the ongoing show. Lifestyle over event. The NFL's scarcity means that without proper care and promotion, it would vanish from fans' minds during the seven-month offseason, and that can't happen. So the NFL has basically turned itself into a lifestyle brand rather than a fall Sunday afternoon diversion, with the games being only one part of the whole picture. The draft — a traveling roadshow that, before long, will draw a million people to this glorified job fair — is the most successful embodiment of the NFL-all-the-time vision, but it's by no means the last. Because once all this draft hype ends, stay ready: The 2025 schedule release is coming up next month, and then we'll do it all over again. It's now a seamless cycle, year after year … very much like an endless scroll on your phone. You can now enjoy, and keep on enjoying, NFL content forever and ever.
