Jonathan Alfano Articles - Page 16

The San Francisco 49ers opened up their slate of preseason games with a 28-21 win over the Green Bay Packers on Friday night. In a rematch of a Divisional Round showdown in January, San Francisco triumphed once again, this time at home. The 49ers’ defense powered the team to victory with three turnovers on the […]

Utah football was one of the breakout programs in 2021. After starting the season ranked No. 24, the Utes plowed through most of their opponents on their way to their first Pac-12 championship. While they narrowly fell in the Rose Bowl to Ohio State, the 2021 season was their strongest in years. Following such a […]

The Baltimore Ravens soundly defeated the Tennessee Titans 23-10 in Thursday night’s preseason opener. With the win, Baltimore further extended one of the most impressive stats in NFL history. The Ravens have now won 21 preseason games in a row and have not lost one since 2016, when Joe Flacco was their quarterback. Baltimore is […]

The 2022 college football season marks a new era in South Bend. Longtime Notre Dame football head coach Brian Kelly shockingly left the Irish for LSU in the offseason. After his departure, Notre Dame had to find its first new head coach in more than a decade. The Fighting Irish felt they had the perfect […]

The Tennessee Titans had an outstanding 2021 season, only for it to end in disappointment. The team claimed the top seed in the AFC with a 12-5 record, even after Derrick Henry’s injury. The postseason didn’t go as planned, though, as Tennessee fell to the Cincinnati Bengals even after sacking Joe Burrow nine times. Coming […]

The Baltimore Ravens’ struggles last season were largely due to one factor: injuries. The Ravens’ roster was one of the most injured in the league, and many key players barely saw the field. Ronnie Stanley, Marcus Peters and J.K. Dobbins were just a few Ravens who missed the large majority of 2021. Baltimore is hoping […]

A new era of D.C. football begins with the 2022 NFL season. The Washington Football Team is now the Washington Commanders, and fans are hoping for a strong first season under the new brand. Washington’s roster looks a little different than last year. The Commanders brought in Carson Wentz as their new signal-caller, to mixed […]

The Miami football program has had a decade and a half to forget. The Hurricanes have just one bowl win to their name since 2007 and have gone through five full-time head coaches in that span. Last season was more of the same, as the Hurricanes finished with a middling 7-5 record. Going into the […]

The Los Angeles Chargers’ 2021 season ended in bitter disappointment. They looked like Super Bowl contenders early in the year, but gradually faded down the stretch. A last-second overtime loss to the Las Vegas Raiders in the final game ended their playoff hopes in heartbreaking fashion. LA didn’t take the disappointment lightly and bolstered its […]

The Tampa Bay Buccaneers still have most of their core from their Super Bowl team in 2020. Tom Brady is still slinging it at 45,   and star receivers Mike Evans and Chris Godwin are still catching as well as ever, at least when they’re healthy. On defense, longtime Bucs including Lavonte David and Vita […]

The Cleveland Browns have been one of the most discussed teams this offseason, for better or worse. The Browns have plenty of talent on their roster, but a dark cloud has been looming over them. The controversy surrounding new quarterback Deshaun Watson has seemingly overshadowed the rest of the team. Even without Watson, Cleveland has assembled […]

The New Orleans Pelicans are one of the most intriguing teams in the NBA for the 2022-23 season. They are one of the younger squads in the league with an average age of 26.1, and a 36-46 record doesn’t jump out as impressive. However, the Pelicans showed their potential by advancing through the Play-In Tournament […]

Andy Reid is entering his tenth season as the Kansas City Chiefs’ head coach, as hard as it is to believe. Under his guidance, KC has experienced unprecedented success over the last decade. The Chiefs snapped their 50-year title drought with a Super Bowl LIV victory, and are a consistent contender every year. The 2022 […]

On January 23rd, the NFL world saw a game for the ages, and a breakout performance to match. The Buffalo Bills and Kansas City Chiefs traded scores in a divisional-round matchup that became an instant classic. While Buffalo ultimately fell in overtime, a new star for the team emerged throughout the game. Gabriel Davis, a […]

The Minnesota Vikings enter a make-or-break season in 2022. Following an NFC Championship Game run in 2017, the Vikings have missed the playoffs in three of the last four seasons. After the last few seasons, many have doubts that this group can live up to expectations. Most of this Vikings roster is still intact from […]

The Georgia Bulldogs achieved what every college football team dreams of last season. Behind a generational defense, the Bulldogs won their first national championship since 1980. Beating a longtime demon in Alabama, who won the previous seven matchups, only made the feeling better. Every team faces questions heading into a new season, even the defending […]

The Texas A&M Aggies are a consistently “good” team in the SEC West. The Aggies are near locks for eight, maybe nine wins each season, but rarely appear as true national title contenders. Following an eventful offseason, Texas A&M hopes to break through the cycle in 2022. Texas A&M enters the season with significant hype, […]

It seems like ages ago when the Denver Broncos won Super Bowl 50 to send Peyton Manning out on top. Since then, the Broncos have fallen on on hard times. Denver has no playoff appearances since Manning retired, and has finished last in the AFC West three times. Entering the 2022 season, the Broncos hope […]

The Toronto Blue Jays entered the 2022 MLB season as a dark-horse World Series contender. They were the favorite to win the division at +170. The Blue Jays held World Series odds of +950, making them a pre-season favorite. Since then, the season has gone well but not exactly as expected for Canada’s team. The […]

The San Francisco 49ers had an eventful three days at the 2021 NFL Draft. Weeks earlier, the team traded up to acquire the third overall pick, signaling a big move to come. The Niners then used that pick on their apparent quarterback of the future, North Dakota State’s Trey Lance. Nearly a year and a half […]

The Tampa Bay Buccaneers are preparing to make another title run in 2022. After a brief retirement, Tom Brady returned to the team for another chance at his eighth Lombardi. Tampa Bay has an abundance of weapons on both sides of the ball, and enters the season as one of the Super Bowl favorites. The […]

The Michigan Wolverines finally shed their demons last season. Jim Harbaugh’s team brought home the Big Ten crown on the way to its first-ever College Football Playoff berth. It was the Wolverines’ first conference championship since 2004, and first outright since 1997. Michigan will be a force in the Big Ten once again in 2022. […]

Lamar Jackson is arguably the most electrifying player in the NFL today. The Baltimore Ravens star quarterback dazzles with his dual-threat ability every time he hits the field, especially in his 2019 MVP season. Jackson and the Ravens went through a down year in 2021. Jackson threw a career-high 13 interceptions and took 38 sacks, […]

A new NFL (and fantasty football) season is just around the corner, and that means seeing familiar faces in new places. The 2022 offseason was one of the most hectic in recent memory, with star players changing teams across the league. The Philadelphia Eagles made one of the biggest splashes in the entire offseason by […]

To call Steve Sarkisian’s first season at Texas a disappointment would be an understatement. The Texas Longhorns finished with an embarrassing 5-7 record, including a 3-6 mark in conference play, and missed a bowl game. For a blue blood like Texas football, a season under .500 is unacceptable. Texas’ disappointing season continued in the 2022 […]

The Seattle Seahawks made wide receiver DK Metcalf a paid man on Thursday. Seattle signed its star pass catcher to a three-year contract worth up to $72 million, with $58.2 million guaranteed. With the new deal, Metcalf ended his lengthy holdout and his relationship with the team appears stronger than ever. On the other side […]

The Los Angeles Chargers are one of the league’s most exciting teams entering the 2022 NFL season. They retained stars such as Justin Herbert and Joey Bosa from last year’s squad and acquired key players such as Khalil Mack and J.C. Jackson. The sheer amount of talent on the roster makes the Chargers a dark-horse […]

Head coach Dabo Swinney ushered in a renaissance in the Clemson football program over the last decade. The Tigers have two national championships and six appearances in the College Football Playoff era, a nearly-unrivaled feat. Clemson doesn’t have the history of programs such as Alabama, Ohio State and Notre Dame, but the Tigers are firmly […]

The Clemson Tigers had some of the best quarterback play of any college football team over the last decade. Both Deshaun Watson and Trevor Lawrence became stars at Clemson and established the Tigers as a college football powerhouse. Great quarterback play helped the Tigers win two national championships and make six appearances in the College […]

Christian McCaffrey is an extremely talented player. The former Stanford running back showed what he’s capable of early in his career with the Carolina Panthers, with back-to-back seasons of over 1,000 rushing yards. He played best in 2019 when he became the third player with 1,000 rushing and receiving yards in one season. Since then, […]

Heading into his rookie campaign, many fans had concerns about Ja’Marr Chase. The amount of drops he had in the 2021 preseason set off some alarms for those watching. To say Chase proved those doubts wrong in his first season with the Cincinnati Bengals would be an understatement. To the delight of Bengals fans and […]

Ohio State football pumps out NFL players at a rate few schools can rival. The Buckeyes have more NFL Draft picks since 2000 than any other school with 157. They also hold the record for most first-rounders in NFL history with 87. The Buckeyes once again have all the makings of a national championship team […]

The Alabama Crimson Tide are one of the most dominant teams in all of sports. Nick Saban’s group has six national titles and nine championship appearances in the last 13 years. Alabama football is just that good, but this post is specifically about Crimson Tide NFL Draft prospects. Alabama is not only dominant at the […]

The St. Louis Cardinals are in the thick of the playoff race as the MLB season enters its second half. The Cardinals are in a dogfight with the Milwaukee Brewers for the NL Central lead. They currently hold the NL’s final wild card spot, but teams such as the Philadelphia Phillies and San Francisco Giants […]

The New Orleans Saints missed the playoffs for the first time since 2016 last season. They could not overcome a mountain of injuries and offensive struggles, and they barely missed the dance. Drew Brees already retired before last season and Sean Payton joined him this offseason, marking the end of an era in New Orleans. […]

The Michigan Wolverines are one of the biggest brands in college football today. Even people who despise them can’t help but tune into their games at least a few times a season. That’s even more true in 2022. Jim Harbaugh led his Wolverines to the College Football Playoff for the first time last season, and […]

The 2022 college football season looms just around the corner, and with it comes preseason polls and predictions. The Georgia Bulldogs are coming off a national championship season where they fielded one of the best defenses ever. Despite that, media members picked Alabama, which Georgia just upended in the National Championship game, to win the […]

The Pittsburgh Steelers begin a new era in 2022. Longtime quarterback Ben Roethlisberger finally retired after 18 seasons under center for the Black and Gold. Pittsburgh also hired a new GM in Omar Khan, replacing Kevin Colbert after 21 years at the helm. The Steelers own NFL’s longest stretch without a losing season at 18 […]

The Atlanta Hawks entered the 2021-22 NBA season with high expectations, and for good reason. They made a surprising run in the 2021 playoffs, including an upset of the top-seeded 76ers in the second round. While they lost to the eventual-champion Bucks in the Eastern Conference Finals, fans celebrated such a run and expected them […]