This Given Sunday +: Commanders, Rams upset chalk

Craig Llewellyn NFL

The opening week of the 2024-25 NFL playoffs did not provide the close battles many were anticipating, with just one outcome in the balance as the final seconds played out. In the end, four of the expected winners — based on home advantage — came out victorious, while another played up to their superior regular season numbers to down a …

GRIDIRON POWER RANKINGS: THE FULL 32

Nicholas McGee NFL

Welcome to Gridiron’s final power ranking of the 2024 NFL regular season, featuring — for the first time — all 32 teams. Who comes out on top after 18 weeks of competition? Is the worst team in the league the one that will be picking first in April’s Draft? And how are the 14 playoff teams stacking up?   GRIDIRON POWER …

DAZN WEEKEND PREVIEW: WILD CARD ROUND

Neil Dutton NFL

For all the action that takes place over the first 18 weeks of a new NFL campaign, nothing hits quite as hard as playoff football, where everything is on the line every weekend. There can be no quit from here on in, with elimination from the Super Bowl race potentially around the corner for each and every team. Six games …

GRIDIRON POWER RANKINGS: WEEK 16

Nicholas McGee NFL

Welcome to Gridiron’s Week 16 power ranking where the (pre-Turkey) pecking order continues to contain more surprises than Santa’s sack.   GRIDIRON POWER RANKINGS: WEEK 16 1. Buffalo Bills (11-3) +1 With victories over the Chiefs and Lions on their resumé, the Bills look every inch the best team in the NFL with Josh Allen continuing to amaze on a …

Walter Payton Award nominees unveiled

Gridiron

The NFL has announced the 32 nominees for this year’s Walter Payton NFL Man of the Year Award presented by Nationwide, reflecting the off-the-field endeavours of those better known for their performances between the lines. The Walter Payton NFL Man of the Year Award has become the league’s most revered honour, recognising players who excel on the field and demonstrate …

Rooney Award nominees out as Pro Bowl vote opens

Gridiron NFL

Thirty-two players have been nominated for the eleventh annual Art Rooney Sportsmanship Award, the winner of which will be determined in the build-up to this year’s NFL Pro Bowl. Created in 2014, the award honours the late Art Rooney Sr., founder of the Pittsburgh Steelers and now resident in the Pro Football Hall of Fame. Each NFL team nominates a …

This Given Sunday: Heart stopping action league-wide

Thomas Ritchie

Week 12 of the NFL season should have come with a health warning. Blocked punts, missed extra points, botched holds, onside kicks returned for touchdowns, muffed kickoffs recovered and housed, overtime and game-winning field goals. Not suitable for the faint of heart. The beady-eyed among you will note most of those pulse-raising plays happened in one game. In fact, in …

NFL Weekend Preview: Week 11

Craig Llewellyn NFL

Week 10 was one of the worst weeks of the 2024 season in terms of offensive output. Teams averaged 1.86 points per drive and threw interceptions at a 2.9% rate, both “good” for the second-worst weeks of the season. But while Week 11 can’t guarantee more explosive play on offense, it promises to be a fascinating week with several key …

NFL Weekend Preview: Week 10

Craig Llewellyn NFL

With nine of 18 weeks — and 138 of 272 games completed — the 2024 NFL regular season has edged past its halfway point with the Kansas City Chiefs still clinging the league’s last unbeaten record, having moved to 8-0 with a hard-fought overtime victory over the Tampa Bay Buccaneers on Monday Night Football. With the win, the Chiefs became …

NFL Weekend Preview: Week 9

Gridiron NFL

Week 8 of the 2024 NFL season was a riot of scoring, with 777 points scored across the 16 games. But the theme of the season, namely close games, continued, with 13 of the games within eight points heading into the fourth quarter. Through the first eight weeks of the season, 67 games have been decided by seven points or …

NFL WEEKEND PREVIEW: WEEK 7

Gridiron NFL

Although the NFC North is currently stealing headlines due to its winning start to the 2024 NFL campaign, it is hard to look past a Super Bowl rematch when it comes to the biggest talking point on the Week 7 slate. Sunday primetime pits the reigning champion — and still unbeaten in 2024 — Kansas City Chiefs (5-0) against a …

This Given Sunday: NFC North establishes dominance

Thomas Ritchie NFL

In a season that had been characterised by tight, low-scoring affairs, Week 6 of the new NFL campaign brought a barrage of points as a number of teams signposted their status as contenders with statement wins. The 622 points scored in the 12 completed matches so far, for an average of 51.8 points per game, would be the highest average …

This Given Sunday: Ravens make statement win

Thomas Ritchie NFL

While the numbers don’t fit quite as easily as with the 16-game season, the majority of the league crossed the quarter poll this past Sunday. As the dust settled on Week 4 of the NFL season, just the Kansas City Chiefs and Minnesota Vikings would extend their undefeated start to the season, with Pittsburgh turning in a sloppy display against …

This Given Sunday: More surprises as Bo nixes Baker

Gridiron NFL

If Week 2 of the new NFL season didn’t provide enough surprises, Week 3 added to the haul as six teams — the Baltimore Ravens, Carolina Panthers, Denver Broncos, Indianapolis Colts, Los Angeles Rams and New York Giants — all earned their first win of the season, with two more — the Jacksonville Jaguars and Cincinnati Bengals — hoping to …

NFL Weekend Preview: Week 2

Gridiron NFL

Close games, dramatic comebacks and memorable plays highlighted the opening weekend of the new NFL season but, as always, there will be teams heading into Week 2 thinking they should have won while others will know they got away with a result perhaps they did not deserve. It may only be one game but, since 1990, league history has shown …

This Given Sunday: Rookies struggle in Week 1

Gridiron NFL

Caleb Williams and Jayden Daniels became the eighth quarterback pairing taken with the first two picks of the NFL Draft to start on the opening weekend of their rookie season, but both learned that life in the pro game is vastly different from the college game they graced in 2023. Along with 12th overall selection Bo Nix, who got the …

Four-Day Weekend celebrates NFL kickoff

Gridiron NFL

The NFL is set to stage its biggest opening weekend ever, with four days of games and global events designed to engage fans worldwide. To excite fans for the start of the season, the NFL recently unveiled its season-long brand campaign for 2024, titled ‘This Is Football Country’. The campaign highlights the passion and community spirit that football cultivates, while …

Franchise and Transition Players Named

Gridiron NFL

Eight NFL franchises opted to make use of the franchise tag — and one more the lesser-used transition tag — as the league hurtles towards the start of another new year. Player designations had to be confirmed by Tuesday, ahead of the 2024 NFL free agency signing period, which begins at 4pm ET next Wednesday (March 13). Each club can …

Not So Valuable

Gridiron NFL

This article originally appeared in Issue XIII of Gridiron magazine, back in 2015 – for individual editions or subscriptions, click HERE Quick now, who was the Most Valuable Player of Super Bowl XLVIII? If the name Malcolm Smith didn’t pop off the tip of your tongue, you might be forgiven — for two different reasons. The first is that Smith …

MVP: Must Venerate Passers?

Gridiron NFL

This article originally appeared in Issue V of Gridiron magazine — our first ever print edition — way back in 2014. For individual editions or subscriptions, click HERE What do Dan Marino, Dan Fouts, Sonny Jurgensen, Jim Kelly, Fran Tarkenton, George Blanda and Warren Moon have in common? They are all in the Hall of Fame and none of them …

Hosts with the most

Gridiron NFL

This article originally appeared in Issue XXXVI of Gridiron magazine, back in 2017 – for individual editions or subscriptions, click HERE The Los Angeles Coliseum was the site of the first Super Bowl. Except it wasn’t called the Super Bowl: Pete Rozelle, a marketing genius in many ways but not this time, named it the AFL-NFL World Championship Game. It …

Late Bloomer Or Already Withered?

Gridiron NFL

This article originally appeared in Issue XXXVIII of Gridiron magazine back in 2018 – for individual editions or subscriptions, click HERE It is ironic that, as Josh Rosen battles to become the first quarterback taken in the 2018 NFL Draft, a man whose spectre may determine the outcome of his efforts is undertaking a similar quest to woo evaluators. For …