Sports

We’ve learned through the early part of the NFL season that passing seems to be a lot more difficult than it should be for a passing-first league.

Betting on passing-related NFL player props has been a bit of a crapshoot, so last week I kicked it old-school and relied on the ground game: Four of my five NFL picks were rushing props… and I went 4-1 (the loser being a passing prop).

So what are we doing this week? Sticking with the ground and pound baby!

I kicked things off with a winning rushing prop for TNF, and the rest of my prop picks are also run-heavy for the today.

Latest NFL prop picks

• Irving o60.5 rush yards(-110 at bet365)
• Allgeier o37.5 rush yards(-110 at bet365)
• Gibbs o5…
  

It has always seemed like Darren Rovell cherished nothing more than farting out press releases to Twitter, writing embarrassing columns, and owning himself while trying and failing to explain economics to people. But no, it appears that Darren has another, perhaps even greater, passion: Musical theater. Rovell revealed last night that he used to be a theater major (a fact which goes a long way in explaining why he plays basketball like this) and that he allegedly gave up a career on Broadway to be a sportswriter. This is a shame because he is definitely better at the whole dramatically-staring-into-the-distance-while-belting-out-a-Beauty-and-the-Beast-song thing than he is at understanding either sports or business. But don’t take it from me, check it out for yourself! And if y…

Fittingly, nobody won. Even for Derby, there would be no crowning glory, no moment of triumph and precious little dignity. Certainly Wayne Rooney had the decorum and sense of place not to go charging across the turf as if his side had finished any higher than 21st. Instead, vaguely abashed relief and very probably an urge to go and lie down in a dark room for several hours.

On a day of high drama and occasionally high farce, it was Derby who staggered to safety, pipping Sheffield Wednesday and Rotherham despite conceding three goals at home in a must-win game.

No heartwarming triumph here, no satisfying redemption stories; just a parable of the bad and the worse, a snapshot of English football in 2021 that, if anyth…

Brazil’s Arsenal forward Gabriel Jesus and the defender Alex Telles have both been ruled out of the rest of the World Cup after picking up injuries in their final Group G game against Cameroon.

Telles was substituted in the 54th minute of Brazil’s 1-0 defeat by the African side, with Jesus leaving the pitch 10 minutes later. Brazil face South Korea in the last 16 on Monday.

The starting full-backs Danilo and Alex Sandro are out after injuries suffered earlier in the competition and their availability is still unclear, while Neymar is still recovering from an ankle injury incurred in their opening win against Serbia.

It was a World Cup like no other. For the last 12 years the Guardia…

Merih Demiral, Turkey’s goalscorer from their last-16 win over Austria, could face a ban from their quarter-final against the Netherlands on Saturday after Uefa opened an investigation into a gesture with apparent far-right connotations.

Demiral, a centre-back, was the unlikely match winner for Turkey in Leipzig but may be in line for disciplinary action after celebrating his second goal with a “wolf” salute. It is associated with the right-wing extremist nationalist group Grey Wolves and is banned in Austria, where it is punishable by fines of up to €4,000 (£3,400), since 2019.

A Uefa statement read: “An investigation has been opened in accordance with Article 31(4) of the Uefa Disciplinary Regulations i…