Good Morning! Today is Monday, November 11th. Here’s what happened over the weekend in the world of sports.

NFL

It’s Monday morning, and we’ve got some NFL recaps:

• With one second left in the game, the Denver Broncos had a chip-shot field goal from 35 yards to hand Kansas City their first loss of the season. And whaddya know, the Chiefs blocked the kick, winning the game 16-14. Somehow, someway, Patrick Mahomes and company move to 9-0 on the season.

• Our kicking theme continues with the San Francisco 49ers. Jake Moody had already missed three field goals in this game against the Tampa Bay Buccaneers when he lined up for a game-winner. Luckily, the last kick went through the uprights. San Francisco beat Tampa 23-20 in a game they probably should have won by a lot more.

• New Orleans won their first game since firing their coach last week, upsetting the Atlanta Falcons 20-17. Kicking was the difference in this one, too, as Atlanta’s usually reliable kicker Younghoe Koo missed three field goals. And just for fun, take a listen to Saints interim head coach Darren Rizzi talk about his first-ever NFL win:

• Watch out for Russell Wilson and the Pittsburgh Steelers! Russ and the gang won a great back-and-forth against the Washington Commanders, thanks to this beautifully thrown touchdown pass to newly-acquired Mike Williams. The veteran Wilson then sealed the deal for Pittsburgh when he drew the young Commanders defense offsides.

• Last but most definitely not least, we have the Sunday Night Football extravaganza that was Lions vs Texans. This game had everything: Jared Goff threw five interceptions, the Texans led 23-7 at halftime, and Lions coach Dan Campbell had arguably the greatest halftime-sideline interview of all time. Goff, Campbell, and the gritty Detroit Lions battled all the way back to tie this game 23-23 late in the fourth quarter. The Texans had a chance to take the lead, but Ka’imi Fairbairn missed a 58-yard field goal. In keeping with this week’s theme, Jake Bates and the Lions made no mistake when it was their turn to kick. Detroit won this one 26-23, and is now 8-1 on the season:

NCAA FOOTBALL

Once again, we’ll have more College Football Bracketology later this week. But there were some major results over the weekend you should know about:

• Ole Miss and Alabama were the big winners of the weekend, crushing SEC rivals Georgia and LSU, respectively. The top of the SEC is now a logjam of really talented one and two loss teams. We’ll see how these latest results shake up the CFP rankings, too.

• It’s been a rough couple weeks for Iowa State and Pitt. Once undefeated, they’ve now lost two weeks in a row and will likely fall out of the top-25 this week.

• BYU and Indiana survived close calls in their undefeated seasons. The Cougars surged late to take down rival Utah 21-20, while Indiana held off a pesky Michigan team 20-15. Miami, on the other hand, fell from the undefeated ranks. The Hurricanes were handed their first loss of the season by Georgia Tech, who won at home 28-23.

• While they may not have as great an impact on the postseason, there were two absolutely wild endings on Saturday. First, check out this Hail Mary by Jacksonville State (J-State missed the ensuing extra point but won in overtime). And Mizzou escaped an impressive showing by Oklahoma thanks to a final-minute scoop-and-score. But it was set up thanks to this game-tying touchdown a few seconds earlier, an incredible catch in the corner of the endzone by Theo Wease:

NBA

Every night, the NBA gives us something exciting. I know someone is probably being unjustly left out here, but this is what caught my attention from the past weekend of pro hoops:

• The Cavaliers crushed the Warriors on Friday night. Leading 83-42 at halftime, the Cavs rolled to a home victory and remain the only undefeated team in the league. They’re the 12th team in league history to start off 11-0. Golden State rebounded Sunday night, however, as Steph Curry hit seven threes in a victory over the Oklahoma City Thunder.

• Speaking of threes, how about Anthony Edwards! Ant-Man joins Steph as the only players in history with 50+ made threes in the first nine games of a season. Edwards and the Timberwolves went 1-1 on the weekend, beating the Trail Blazers on Friday before falling 95-94 to the Heat last night.

• At just 5’8”, Yuki Kawamura is not your typical NBA player. But the Memphis Grizzlies point guard is quickly becoming a fan-favorite, handing out no-look passes and draining step-back threes when he gets minutes late in Grizzlies victories.

• Two of the best teams in the west went to battle last night. Kyrie Irving was 17-22 for 43 points, headlining a strong showing by the Dallas Mavericks. But the Denver Nuggets survived for a 122-120 victory. Nikola Jokic continues to be unbelievable, posting a 37-18-15 triple-double in the win.

• Cade Cunningham’s late-game heroics was the most impressive thing I saw on the court this weekend. See for yourself as the Pistons guard wins the game on both ends of the floor:

COLLEGE BASKETBALL

One week into the season, and college basketball has already provided some electric games. Four big results between potential tournament teams this weekend:

• The premier game of the weekend took place on Friday, as (9) North Carolina traveled to Lawrence, Kansas to take on the number one Jayhawks. Two of the top teams in the nation, this one came down to the wire. But the incredible depth and experience of Bill Self’s Kansas team proved too much for the Tar Heels, and KU prevailed 92-89. Expect to hear a lot more from each of these squads the rest of the season.

• Saturday brought us two more fantastic matchups of ranked teams. (8) Baylor won a well-played battle against (16) Arkansas. It was a nice rebound for the Bears after their opening night defeat against Gonzaga. Later in the evening, (11) Auburn battled back from a halftime deficit to take down (4) Houston 74-69.

• Finally, Sunday saw a matchup between the Big 10 and the ACC, as Wake Forest took on Michigan in Greensboro. The Demon Deacons overcame a 15-point hole early in the first half, and won a crucial early-season game over the Wolverines 72-70. Circle this one for later in the season when we start comparing resumes of teams trying to make the tournament.

Two major games took place yesterday in the women’s game, too. Number one South Carolina took care of business with a 71-57 win over (9) NC State, and (18) Maryland withstood a furious second-half rally, holding off (11) Duke 85-80.

NHL

There’s just one thing you need to know about the NHL today… The Winnipeg Jets are officially the best team in NHL history.

Well, at least through the first 15 games. Until the Jets won over the weekend, no team had ever started a season 14-1. With standout goalkeeping by Connor Hellebuyck and a balanced scoring attack, Winnipeg has a winning formula that feels very sustainable.

SOCCER

For the first time in his managerial career, Pep Guardiola has lost four games in a row. Manchester City were upset 2-1 on Saturday by Brighton. It seems the defending champions of the Premier League have hit a bit of a rut in their title defense.

And speaking of upsets, Lionel Messi and Inter Miami have been eliminated from the MLS playoffs. The best team during the regular season, Miami fell to Atlanta in a best-of-three series that concluded over the weekend.

TENNIS

Coco Gauff has won the year-end WTA Finals! After a fantastic 2023 where she won the US Open, the young American had an up-and-down season in 2024. She even split with her coach a few months ago. But Coco finished the year on a high note, taking home first prize from a difficult bracket of the top eight players in women’s tennis.

NOTEWORTHY NEWS

Major news from the baseball world on Friday: Japanese phenom Roki Sasaki is set to be posted as a free agent by the Chiba Lotte Mariners, and will be available to be signed by any Major League team. 25 years old, Sasaki is one of the most talented pitchers on the planet. It’s rare that Japanese players come to the US this early in their career, due to limitations on contracts and salaries with regards to service time in the Japenese professional league. If you’d like to read more about Sasaki’s talents or the international posting process, you may do so here. Just know these two things: every team has roughly the same amount of international pool money to pay Sasaki, and the Dodgers are the heavy favorite to land him.

Some notable NBA injuries to star players… Zion Williamson will be out indefinitely with a hamstring problem… Ja Morant is week-to-week with a hip injury… Chet Holgrem will be out of action for eight to ten weeks after taking a particularly hard fall… Anthony Davis is day-to-day after re-injuring his left eye… and Kevin Durant is out at least two weeks with a calf strain.

The Miami Marlins are hiring Dodgers first base coach Clayton McCullough as their new manager. McCullough will oversee a team with lots of young pitching and some interesting bats as Miami embarks on the next steps of their rebuild.

Congratulations to Dillon Gabriel, who is now the NCAA leader in career touchdown passes. The Oregon QB threw number 179 in a win against Maryland on Saturday.

TODAY’S BIG GAMES (all times Eastern)

NBA: Another week of basketball begins…

• Cavaliers @ Bulls, 8 PM

• Clippers @ Thunder, 8 PM

• Kings @ Spurs, 8 PM

NHL: Starting the week off with some intriguing west coast matchups on the ice:

• Kings @ Flames, 8:30 PM

• Predators @ Avalanche, 9 PM

• Hurricanes @ Golden Knights, 10 PM

NFL: Miami heads west to take on the resurgent Los Angeles Rams. Get ready for some points to be scored tonight:

• Dolphins @ Rams, 8:15 PM on ESPN

“Giannis is a child” –Jaylen Brown after a Celtics victory, when asked about this sequence (below)