Real Madrid, despite boasting a talented squad, has also faltered in the group stage, with their lackluster performances raising questions about their ability to compete at the highest level. Juventus, led by Cristiano Ronaldo, has also found it tough going, with the Italian champions struggling to find consistency in their performances.POET Technologies Completes US$25 Million Registered Direct OfferingFollowing the announcement of their failed examination results, the news quickly spread across social media platforms, garnering an overwhelming response from individuals eager to provide these impressive canines with a loving and supportive environment. Nearly 700 people have already stepped forward to offer their homes to these remarkable animals, demonstrating a profound sense of compassion and empathy towards the dedicated search and rescue dogs.

One of the most common Monday morning debates amongst NFL watchers is who deserves the most blame for quarterback sacks. Especially after a disappointing performance, the finger pointing over who deserves our ire for each of the 6 sacks allowed in the big game flies hot and heavy. And often, the debate boils down to three main culprits: the quarterback, the offensive line, and the route runners attempting to get open. Coverage sacks certainly happen in the NFL. Sometimes the QB goes down because his guys just cannot get open downfield. But most of the time, a sack is a team effort between a QB and his blockers. Titans coaches have responded with this general sentiment many times this season when asked about sack blame: "sacks are an offensive problem". Now, to fans looking to pile-on the offensive line they're furious with, this kind of answer feels like a cop-out. Sacks are given up by the offensive line, why can't we just call them out for it? It's their job to pass protect, and when a rusher gets home, that's on them. But I'm here to tell you that sacks are a quarterback stat. You may have heard that before and brushed it aside. But the 2024 Tennessee Titans have accidentally proven this to be a fact with their two quarterbacks this season. Enter: Will Levis and Mason Rudolph. Two players who approach the QB position pretty differently. And one of their starkest differences, when you open up the stat sheet, is pressures and sacks. Will Levis is dead last out of 43 qualifying passers in terms of pressure-to-sack ratio (P2S) at an eye-watering 31.0% clip. Mason Rudolph's P2S is 10.1%, the 4th best in the league this year. To put actual numbers to it, Levis has been sacked 40 times on 129 dropbacks and Rudolph has been sacked 7 times on 69 dropbacks. How can this be, as both passers have been in and out of relatively the same lineup multiple times this year? It's been a controlled experiment the Titans have had the misfortune to perform for us. And it demonstrates first hand how all quarterbacks have a very active hand in their sack rate. Pointing out that sacks are a QB stat doesn't imply that they aren't an offensive line stat. They're obviously both. But how a QB navigates the pocket, steps up within the framework of the protection, and his timing to cut it loose downfield or find an escape hatch to further create is paramount to sack avoidance. Will Levis does this very poorly. Mason Rudolph is quite good at it. And they've become the latest test-case for why sacks on the quarterback are, in fact, a total-offense problem. This article first appeared on A to Z Sports and was syndicated with permission.NFL Don't miss out on the headlines from NFL. Followed categories will be added to My News. Valentine Holmes admits his reunion with his former premiership winning coach was slightly awkward after the way he left the Sharks, but Shane Flanagan won him over with a kind gesture. Watch every ball of Australia v India LIVE & ad-break free during play in 4K on Kayo | New to Kayo? Get your first month for just $1. Limited time offer > Holmes left the Sharks as a 23-year-old in 2018 to pursue an audacious bid to play in the NFL with the New York Jets. At the time Holmes had scored 66 tries in 105 NRL games for the Sharks since his debut in 2014, which included a drought-breaking maiden premiership for Cronulla in 2016. He was arguably at the peak of his powers having scored a career best 22 tries in 26 games for the Sharks in his final season at the club. With the benefit of hindsight Holmes admits he was young and somewhat brash to think he could do anything at the time, like break into one of the toughest sporting league’s in the world in a sport he had only played on video games. “I was probably young and naive, and I thought I could do anything at that time,” Holmes said. “I kind of just wanted to test myself somewhere else and probably not many people would do it, unless you’d go to another team or go to rugby union or something. Valentine Holmes was scared to tell Shane Flanagan he was leaving the Sharks for the NFL. “But the opportunity arose for me, and I just wanted to take it, whether it was good or bad for me, I still learnt from it, and came back a different player and it was a good experience over there.” The now 29-year-old admits he didn’t talk to Flanagan at the time because he was intimidated by his coach and how he would receive the news of his departure. “Not really because I went straight overseas to the States, I didn’t stick around in the NRL for like a whole year,” Holmes said. “I didn’t really talk to anyone at that time. I don’t think I told him personally. “Maybe my managers told him because I would have been like 22, so I probably would have been too scared to talk to him. “But either way I was allowed to go, but I can’t say I called him and spoke to him personally, but I might ask him.” Valentine Holmes played for the New York Jets in 2018. Fast-forward six years after one season in the NFL in 2019 and five years at the Cowboys and Holmes’ career has come full circle in a way. However, his reunion with Flanagan was similar to his departure as it was instigated through his management, but a touching gesture from his former coach helped make his mind up. “Not personally, not myself and Flanno, but they (Dragons) probably realised November was coming up, and I was off-contract,” Holmes said of how his Dragons switch began. “And then it all kind of just came out that the Cowboys gave me permission to talk to other clubs, and then once that was set, he (Flanagan) kind of reached out to my management straight away and showed his interest, and then flew up to see my family, which was pretty good from him. “I don’t know many coaches who would do that, just to say how interested and keen he was to get us down here. “He sold me his vision for the club and I thought it was great, so here we are.” Holmes in action for the Jets. Holmes signed with the Dragons in mid-August on a three-year deal, that will take him through until 2027 when he will be 32, but he didn’t arrive at the club until recently to a familiar home base. “We moved down two weeks ago to Cronulla, so know the area well,” Holmes said. “The Mrs wanted to be there, she still has a few friends there.” However, Holmes’ pre-season has been delayed by a broken leg suffered in the Cowboys’ season ending loss to the Sharks in the 2024 semi-finals. Flanagan has been a constant support on and off the field since Holmes’ arrival. “Yeah, it’s been good. I’ve only done a couple of rehab runs,” Holmes said. “I start training on Monday, but he’s been really good since I’ve been down here. “He’s been supportive, asked if I ever need anything, which is good. “When I was a bit younger, he’d probably be a bit harder to talk to, but now that I’m more experienced and a bit older, I find it more comfortable to talk to him.” Holmes won’t rush his recovery as he wants to make sure his leg is 100 per cent healed, so he can hit the ground running in 2025. “I’ve been doing straight line running, I’m still in rehab, running drills and short running stuff,” Holmes said. Holmes broke his leg in his last game for the Cowboys. “I can’t really do any contact or any change of angle stuff too much. But it’s going well. The physios are happy with how I’m travelling.” The Dragons surprised many experts last season to finish one win outside a drought-breaking finals appearance. Their strong recruiting and excellent youth convinced Holmes the Dragons were the right fit for the next and possibly last phase of his career. “I didn’t read too much into anything that happens at the start of the year because you can’t really judge any team at the start of the year,” Holmes said. “But there was a lot of chat just about the team that they weren’t going to go great this past season and I thought they proved a lot of people wrong. “They definitely had their chance to play finals footy in those last few weeks and just fell short. “He’s (Flanagan) done a really good job recruiting, well I’m hoping he’s done a good job in recruiting, we’ll see and hopefully it pays off. “But I just think it is a young team that they have. I’m pretty sure they are doing well in the younger 21 sides. Holmes wants to bring back success to a proud club. “I think they’ve got some good young boys coming through here, who they have high hopes for, so that’s probably why he’s signed a lot of older boys because once we are finished all those young lads will be coming through and be ready to go.” With 108 tries in 203 games, Holmes is now the veteran of Flanagan’s team rather than the young gun and he takes that responsibility seriously in ushering in the next wave of talented players at the Dragons, but his main goal is still the same. “I think that’s the plan,” Holmes said. “But I’m going to be there to win games, that’s what I want to do. I’m sure the other boys do as well and if these younger lads learn from us, that’s good. And if they want to ask us questions, that’s even better. “We’re here to be better as a team and as individuals and I think that’s why he’s signed us to add a bit of experience for the younger lads coming through. “You’ve got blokes like Sloany, guys who are still learning to be NRL players and they’re looking to the older guys to look up to and play beside and just fills that confidence up a bit more.” After a career switching from wing to fullback to centre and back, Holmes has been given a very clear role by Flanagan, after blossoming into one of the best centres in the game at the Cowboys. But while he looks set to wear the No.3 jersey, Holmes wouldn’t rule out playing a few different roles to help get the best out of the team. “Usually most coaches give me the opportunity to roam around and not be isolated on the edge,” Flanagan said. “But I also don’t want to take away from anyone else’s game. Gutho’s really good at roaming around and doing that, so it’ll probably just depend on who we’re playing and wherever we need overlaps or whatever it is. “Plus, I’m not a young fit fullback anymore, so I probably don’t have the endurance to be roaming around all the time like some of these players. “But if he needs me to do any other role, I’m happy to do it. But I’m also here to play centre.” The latest star signing the Dragons have made is arguably one of their most important with former Souths halfback Lachlan Ilias aiming to fill the huge shoes of former skipper Ben Hunt. Ilias has impressed Holmes since arriving at the Dragons last week. “I thought it was a good signing,” Holmes said. “We needed a half to fill the void of Ben Hunt leaving and there is probably not many halves available at the moment. Holmes has been impressed by Lachlan Ilias. “I think he’s got a bright future, he’s only still pretty young. I only just met him last Wednesday and he’s a good kid. Very switched on. “He’s obviously been at Souths his whole career, he’s learned from Adam Reynolds and Cody Walker and he was coached by Wayne Bennett, before he took off. “So he’s obviously been around for a few years and adds some good experience. I feel like he’ll be a good signing for our team.” Holmes had done it all in his career having played over 200 NRL games, along with 13 tries in 19 Origins for Quensland and 20 tries in 21 Tests for the Kangaroos. However, his most memorable moment in the sport remains the Sharks’ premiership win over the Storm in 2016. Holmes admits his younger self was naive in thinking that type of success would come often, but a preliminary final loss to the Eels in 2022 is the closest he has got to a title since. An older and wiser Holmes knows how tough it is to climb the NRL mountain and is in awe of Penrith’s ability to keep turning up in back-to-back seasons. The chance to bookend his career with a second premiership at the Dragons looms large over the course of his next deal. “We (his former Sharks teammates) always chat about when we did win it, we thought it was kind of like that all the time kind of thing,” Holmes said. “Not winning it all the time, but playing finals all the time. And then we managed to make the finals in 2017 and 2018, but it doesn’t come around all the time, unless you’re the Penrith Panthers. Valentine Holmes covets another premiership win with the Dragons. “But that’s the main goal, but we want to focus on just playing good footy first. There’s no point in trying to say we want to win a Premiership now. “We don’t even know what the team’s going to be and there’s so many things that go into winning a Premiership. “A lot of luck, a lot of being healthy, keeping the same team out there, suspensions. But, that’s the main goal, and there’s a lot of steps to get there beforehand. “It’s not easy, I honestly don’t know how Penrith can do it every year, so good on them. “But that’s the goal to bring the success back to the club that they once had. “I know the history of the club now, I’m starting to learn more about it and how it’s such an old club with a rich history. “It would be good to put some smiles on the faces of these fans again.” Originally published as ‘Scared’: Awkward Holmes-Flanno reunion six years in the making... and kind gesture that sealed it Join the conversation Add your comment to this story To join the conversation, please log in. Don't have an account? Register Join the conversation, you are commenting as Logout More related stories Rugby Wallabies star officially quits union to chase childhood dream Once considered the future of the Wallabies, 24-year-old gun Jordan Petaia has officially left rugby union to chase success in America. 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For Thomas Brown, it’s the opportunity of a lifetime. But all he’s thinking about right now is preparing the Bears to play the 49ers on Sunday at Levi’s Stadium. Yeah, right. Brown already has the coach-speak down in his fourth day as the interim head coach of the Bears after Matt Eberflus was fired on Friday. But nobody’s ultimate job in the NFL is to be the interim head coach. “Every job I’ve had that’s led me to the future is based on the current work I do. So that’s all I care about,” Brown said. “I’m not worried about what happens in five weeks. I really don’t. It’s not even in my thought process. It’s a waste of time.” Though he’s a long shot candidate for the full-time job right now, Brown has the wind at his back as he attempts — one week at a time, of course — to bypass more enticing candidates. For one, he’s not Eberflus, whose 46-game tenure ended with a house divided — Bears players in revolt after Eberflus botched the final 32 seconds of a 23-30 loss to the Lions on Thanksgiving Day at Ford Field. But he also inherits a favorable situation relative to teams that fire their head coach. Not only is quarterback Caleb Williams on a roll and arguably the best thing the Bears have going for them, but Brown is a big reason why. Williams has a 99.2 passer rating (five touchdowns, no interceptions) in three games since replacing Shane Waldron as the Bears’ offensive coordinator. In Williams’ last three games under Waldron, Williams’ passer rating was 64.7 (no touchdowns, no interceptions. And the Bears’ roster, while certainly flawed, overall is built to win rather than headed for a rebuild, with players in most positions who are expected to be on the next playoff team. The Bears are 4-8 with a six-game winning streak, but have lost four of those games on the final play. Coaching has made the difference in every one of those six losses, which is where Brown comes in. To win the interview he has to win games. Though Brown’s work with Williams is critical, he has to be more than a quarterback-whisperer to become a legitimate candidate for the full-time job. With a no-nonsense, straight-forward approach, Brown already has the presence of a coach built for this job, even though he’s been a position coach most of his NFL career. He quickly tied up loose ends Monday: He will still call plays. He will work from the field instead of the press box (“I thought about it, though,” he said,). He promoted wide receivers coach Chris Beatty to offensive coordinator — technically Williams’ third offensive coordinator in 13 games in the NFL. And defensive coordinator Eric Washington will call plays, with Eberflus gone. Richard Hightower remains as special teams coordinator. “I am not a micromanager,” Brown said. And Brown will still be “heavily involved” in Williams’ development, including helping run quarterback meetings with quarterbacks coach Kerry Joseph. “A few more things that I’ve put on my plate, but that won’t change at all,” he said in regard to his work with Williams. But he can show off his qualifications for the permanent job by fixing the issues that triggered Eberflus’ demise. And he addressed those with the team in his first meeting with them as head coach Monday. “I talked about making sure our house is right. The initial goal is to unify this football team,” Brown said. “Everybody’s on the same accord, moving in the same direction, speaking the same language and attacking with effort. No more divisions.” Brown also emphasized discipline, including penalties. “Pre-snap penalties kind of boil down to a lack of focus,” Brown said. “Post-snap penalties are a lack of attention to detail when it comes to techniques. We need to do a better job as coaches to coach it the right way.pre-snap and post-snap penalties. If we do that, our guys will execute when it’s time to execute.” Eberflus acknowledged those same issues, but wasn’t able to do anything about them. Will Brown be any more effective? He has a head start with the players’ support. But they have to not only like him, they have to play for him. If he can command that kind of respect, he’ll get more than a token interview for the full-time job.One of the most impressive aspects of Sun Yingsha's reign at the top of the rankings is her wide lead in points over her closest competitors. Her consistent performance in major tournaments, including Grand Slam events and prestigious international competitions, has allowed her to amass a significant points gap that seems insurmountable for others to catch up. This not only reflects her individual talent and hard work but also the strength of the Chinese women's table tennis team as a whole.

First Quarter USM_Dalton 7 pass from Rodemaker (Jesiolowski run), 7:54. Second Quarter USA_Bullock 21 pass from Lopez (Marjan kick), 13:29. USA_J.Webb 32 pass from Lopez (Marjan kick), 8:33. USM_FG C.Gibbs 59, :00. Third Quarter USA_Pritchett 40 pass from Lopez (Marjan kick), 13:25. USA_W.Miller 57 interception return (Marjan kick), 2:42. Fourth Quarter USM_FG C.Gibbs 28, 11:34. USA_Bothwell 2 run (Marjan kick), 8:48. INDIVIDUAL STATISTICS RUSHING_South Alabama, Bothwell 6-104, Bullock 14-54, Eager 1-20, Lopez 5-9, Davenport 1-0. Southern Miss., Clark 12-115, Clay 11-48, Gray 8-24, Mims 1-8, Pittman 1-6, Rodemaker 8-(minus 12), White 2-(minus 20). PASSING_South Alabama, Lopez 15-24-0-193. Southern Miss., Rodemaker 15-27-0-108, White 5-8-1-29, Clay 0-1-0-0. RECEIVING_South Alabama, Pritchett 8-102, J.Webb 3-50, Bullock 2-28, Sandgren 1-10, Eager 1-3. Southern Miss., Clay 5-39, Dalton 3-24, Mims 3-19, Simmons 3-13, Pittman 2-6, Butler 1-18, Reid 1-8, D.Jackson 1-6, Heath 1-4. MISSED FIELD GOALS_Southern Miss., C.Gibbs 30.Aston Villa have failed in their attempt to have Jhon Duran ’s red card at Newcastle overturned on appeal. The 21-year-old Colombia international was sent off 32 minutes into a 3-0 Boxing Day defeat at St James’ Park by referee Anthony Taylor after appearing to stamp on defender Fabian Schar, prompting a furious reaction from head coach Unai Emery , who later indicated that the club would appeal. However, their bid has proved unsuccessful and Duran will now serve a three-match ban for violent conduct. A statement on Villa’s official X account read: “Aston Villa can confirm that our decision to appeal Jhon Duran’s red card in our match with Newcastle United has been rejected. The player will now miss our next three matches.” Emery insisted after the game that it was not a red card offence, adding: “I think he didn’t kick him on purpose. Of course we are going to appeal and hopefully it’s not three matches because it’s a very big punishment for this action.” The frontman will sit out Premier League fixtures against Brighton and Leicester around the turn of the year as well as the FA Cup third round clash with West Ham on January 10. PA

NC State University celebrates 75th anniversary of Reynolds Coliseum openingFor Liverpool, the focus now turns to the knockout rounds, where they will be looking to build on their impressive form and mount a serious challenge for the Champions League title. With the Reds in such scintillating form, they will be a team to be feared by their opponents, as they continue their quest for European glory.

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