Uncasville, Connecticut  Caitlin Clark had a tough playoff debut, ending up with a black eye after being jabbed in it by accident early on.

The Indiana Fever’s star rookie missed 10 of her first 11 attempts before scoring 11 points and eight assists in the team’s 93-69 loss against the Connecticut Sun on Sunday.

The AP Rookie of the Year refused to use the early first-quarter eye-poke to justify her poor performance.

Caitlin Clark Struggles In WNBA Postseason Debut As Indiana Drops Playoff Opener To Connecticut

“Got me pretty good in the eye; I don’t think it affected me,” remarked the woman. “I felt I had excellent shots, but they didn’t go down. It is a difficult moment for it to happen. I thought I had gotten some great looks. You usually hit three wide open threes in the first half.”

Clark’s shooting woes persisted early in the third quarter, prompting the Fever to seek a timeout. In frustration, the young star smacked a chair onto the bench. That appeared to get her going a bit, as she came out and made her next three shots. Unfortunately for Indiana, Connecticut guard Marina Mabrey got hot, scoring 11 of her 27 points in the third quarter, and the Fever never recovered.

“My shot felt like it was right there,” said Clark, who went 4 for 17 from the field and missed 11 of 13 3-pointers. “It’s quite irritating as a shooter when it won’t go down for you. That’s what stinks about it. We were right there, and I believe we cut it to eight, but they came back down and hit a three on us.”

The Sun changed up their defensive strategy in terms of who was guarding Clark. DeWanna Bonner, who stands 6-foot-4, drew the assignment a lot.

“I took on the challenge, next game she’ll come out firing,” Bonner told me.

Clark will get another chance Wednesday in Game 2, with the hope of sending the series back to Indiana for a crucial third game on Friday.

The WNBA’s single-season assist leader made her regular-season debut in Connecticut in May. She struggled in that game as well, missing ten of her fifteen attempts.

Caitlin Clark Struggles In WNBA Postseason Debut As Indiana Drops Playoff Opener To Connecticut

Even though this was an away game, as they had been much of the season, the Fever had a sizable fan base in Connecticut. The sellout crowd seemed to be fairly evenly split, cheering on almost everything positive Clark and Indiana did.

“Caitlin has a lot of fans. “She’s amazing,” Mabrey stated. “They can come see whoever they want to come see, but at the end of day we’re here to win a championship.”

SOURCE | AP

(VOR News) – Nine times in the passing game was Travis Kelce, a tight end with the Kansas City Chiefs, targeted when he debuted in the 2023 season.

He did, however, only finish with four receptions for 26 yards and a touchdown overall. He responded the next week with seven receptions for 69 yards, the Chiefs adding another score to his record and thus allaying some of the worries of some who were on the sidelines looking in.

Kelce’s third consecutive week of poor performance marked the end of his third game of the 2024–25 season.

Two days before the year ended, this Chiefs event occurred.

Although his four receptions and thirty yards are all season highs, if they had been attained concurrently they would have been among his worst efforts from the previous season.

Once more on Sunday’s triumph over the Atlanta Falcons, a sluggish effort from the offense was evident; Kelce was not an exception to this rule. While this is the case, quarterback for Chiefs Patrick Mahomes thinks the most important symbol of respect is Kelce’s receiving less than a month away from his 35th birthday.

“I mean it’s crazy since teams are still… the respect factor Travis has is just unreal,” Mahomes said to reporters. “It is well-deserved, but we are calling a lot of plays for Travis, and it seems like just two or three people are going to him,” the spokesman added. He understands this clearly.

His desire to win at the end of the day is, in my view, the most admirable trait about him; he is not simply interested in having an impact on the game. I shall give it top attention in the future to keep giving him the ball whenever he is there and on the pitch.

At the conclusion of Week 3, Kelce ranked second only to Rashee Rice in terms of targets, receptions, and yards by the pass among all Chiefs pass catchers. This shows Kelce has made notable advancements on the right path. The other man merely had 12 receptions and 14 targets; Rice had 14 targets and 12 receptions for 110 yards.

Their differences were quite considerable. As of right now this season, three games have been played; Kelce has not yet found the end zone. He had two outstanding catches in the second half.

One was a third-quarter 17-yard gain that put the Chiefs in red zone.

The head coach and Mahomes both expressed hope that Kelce would finally reach his big-time goals after the weekend’s victory. Although this is the new normal for one of the league’s best tight ends, nobody seemed to be worried about it.

This is still the case after a week; yet, the longer Chiefs games pass without a vintage Kelce effort – or anything that even loosely resembles one – the more attention will be paid to his specific stats.

Though he has lost a lot of agility compared to his prime, Kelce is still able to get open. Besides, his head is still clear, hence he is obviously capable of writing correctly.

For a different set of factors, he is not getting targets or catches inside the rhythm of the offensive, though. Maybe we could have opened that window if our sample size had been larger.

Mahomes believes that everything else will take care of itself if other guys start (or, in Rice’s case, keep going) and Kelce keeps on going.

Quarterback Patrick Mahomes stated, “The more plays Rashee makes, the more effectively we can run the football, which allows us to involve (Xavier) Worthy, thereby increasing Travis’s opportunities to be open.” “Individuals are genuinely concerned about attempting to remove him, which is facilitating opportunities for other players.”

SOUREC: SI

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(VOR News) – Oddsmakers believe that the Eagles-Saints matchup in New Orleans on Week 3 is one of the most evenly matched.

The majority of bookmakers like the Saints by less than a field goal, even though they defeated Dallas and Carolina in Weeks 1 and 2.

After blowing a late lead against Atlanta at home on Monday Night Football in Week 2, Philadelphia is now 1-1. After two weeks, the Eagles—who lost late in the season following a 10-1 start and a change in offensive and defensive coordinators—remain a difficult team to figure out.

Eagles vs. Saints on FOX at 1:00 p.m. ET.

Eagles vs. Saints odds

Below are the spread, moneyline, and total odds for the game on Sunday afternoon. The Eagles have made expensive mistakes this year, but they have also displayed glimpses of the talent that made them one of the league’s best teams in 2022 and (most of) 2023.

In Week 1, the Eagles defeated the Green Bay Packers 34-29, while Jalen Hurts’ two interceptions and fumble cost them the turnover battle 3-to-1. Though Saquon Barkley has been all Philadelphia could have hoped for since signing, he failed to complete a critical pass late in Monday night’s loss to Atlanta.

Barkley is a proficient receiver and rusher. In two games, he’s grabbed six catches for 44 yards and ran 46 times for 200 yards and two touchdowns.

This offence has been reasonably effective under new offensive coordinator Kellen Moore, even without star wide receiver A.J. Brown in Week 2. The Philadelphia offensive has enormous potential when Brown is healthy, but his hamstring injury will keep him out of action for at least a week.

In the first two games, Philadelphia’s run defence has been vulnerable, giving up 84 yards on 16 carries to Josh Jacobs of Green Bay and 97 yards on 14 carries to Bijan Robinson of Atlanta. That’s unfortunate for the Saints, who demolished Carolina and Dallas, this coming Saturday.

The Philly defence might have trouble stopping a feeble pass rush. Kirk Cousins had plenty of time to throw after Atlanta’s thrilling victory on Monday, particularly during the game-winning drive in the last two minutes.

In order to make a run at the playoffs, the Eagles will need to win high-scoring shootouts almost every week if they don’t make any quick defensive adjustments.

NOLA Saints Live Scores, Previews

Many undervalued the opponent’s abilities, which led to the Saints’ Week 1 rout. Carolina’s 2-15 record from the previous year seems worse. Even still, it’s hard to outshine anyone in the NFL 47-10, and New Orleans should have received more recognition for their dominance in Week 1.

Last Sunday, the Saints overcame the Cowboys 44-19 to allay concerns about their ability to play against more formidable opponents. Given how undervalued their defence was the previous year, New Orleans’s success this year is not shocking.

Still, the Saints’ offensive has been a revelation. The New Orleans offensive line has been outstanding even though it was among the worst in the league coming into the season. Has any position group in the NFL performed better than the Saints’ offensive line after two weeks?

completed 39 passes for 443 yards, five touchdowns, and one interception while Alvin Kamara and the running game are blazing.

If they had such a strong start to the season, we’d take them seriously as a 2024 Super Bowl contender. Still, the majority of pundits wonder if the Saints are real and why nobody saw this coming.

In 2024 preseason futures odds, New Orleans was favoured at least 4-to-1 to win the NFC South, which was dominated by Tampa Bay and Atlanta.

Eagles vs. Saints Forecast: Top Picks

Surely, Carr and the Saints have to come back to Earth? This weekend, oddsmakers predict that Philadelphia will defeat New Orleans on the road.

Since the line gives the Saints such little credit for their performance thus far—even in Week 2 against a strong Cowboys team—we advise against taking this spread.

The safest option is to support the Saints offensive, which has earned the benefit of the doubt and is playing against a vulnerable Eagles front seven, with another huge day.

We would like New Orleans to start strong at home and surpass their team total as well. It makes sense to wager on the Saints in the first quarter or half as they were 17-0 and 30-3 against Carolina and 14-3 and 35-16 versus Dallas at the half.
SOURCE: NW

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