Connect with us

Culture

Patrick Mahomes’ turnover woes, Derrick Henry’s dominance, more from Week 4: Quick Outs

Published

on

Patrick Mahomes’ turnover woes, Derrick Henry’s dominance, more from Week 4: Quick Outs

Week 4 is in the books — and it still feels weird to say that’s technically not the quarter mark of the season anymore. Whatever. September football is over now, so, spiritually, we’re moving into a new section of the NFL season.

In this installment of Quick Outs, we’ve got a couple of star AFC quarterbacks who aren’t playing quite like themselves, a worthy adversary for Brian Flores, and a little appreciation of one of the rarest runners the sport has ever seen.

Time to dive in.

GO DEEPER

NFL Power Rankings Week 5: Believing in the Vikings and rookie check-in

Advertisement

Let’s talk about it: Patrick Mahomes’ turnover issues

There is too much Texas Tech in Patrick Mahomes’ game right now.

Mahomes has thrown five picks to start the season — at least one in each game, two in a near-loss to the Cincinnati Bengals. That total — currently the third-most in the NFL — is the most Mahomes has ever thrown through the first four games of a season.

Now, we’ve done this song and dance with Mahomes before. I know that. He (and the Chiefs at large) could not stop turning the ball over early in the 2021 season either. A majority of the interceptions that season felt fluky, though. Drops, tipped passes, miscommunications — everything that could go wrong outside of the quarterback’s control went wrong.

That’s not really the case right now. The funky interception Mahomes threw to Roquan Smith in the opener can go down as a fluke, but I’m willing to put the others on Kansas City’s QB.

Against the Bengals, Mahomes threw his first interception by trying to squeeze a deep sit route past a zone defender in Cover 2. The zone linebacker had nobody to cover on his side of the field and melted right back to the middle to pick off Mahomes.

Later in the game, Mahomes tossed up a 50-50 ball to 165-pound Xavier Worthy vs. CB Cam Taylor-Britt. Taylor-Britt made an insane one-handed catch, no doubt, but there’s just no world in which throwing a contested go ball to Worthy against a much bigger cornerback makes any sense.

go-deeper

GO DEEPER

Chiefs keep surviving everyone’s best shot, but margin for error gets slimmer with Rice injury

Mahomes’ end-zone interception against the Atlanta Falcons was a classic case of not seeing a safety flying back across the field to find the ball. Against the Los Angeles Chargers this past weekend, Mahomes simply overthrew his man on a heavily contested corner route. (I don’t knock him as harshly for that one because it’s a throw I know he’s capable of making, but you still have to hit it at the end of the day.)

Advertisement

Mahomes is probably going to be fine by the end of the season. He’s the best quarterback in the league and a back-to-back defending Super Bowl champion, so there’s no reason to doubt that this is just a blip on the radar.

The turnovers are a legitimate issue right now, though, and they have played a sizable role in all of the Chiefs’ games being so close.

Stat check: Trevor Lawrence’s off-target rate

One month into the season, Trevor Lawrence’s 16.4 percent off-target rate is the third-worst in the NFL, according to PFF. Only Bryce Young and Anthony Richardson have been worse. The former was benched for Andy Dalton; the latter is seen as the league’s biggest scattershot, even by his most optimistic supporters.

Lawrence is an eminently frustrating player. For most of the past three years, the film has painted Lawrence in a positive light, despite misfortune all around him. A couple misfires here and there would draw out his biggest detractors, but Lawrence was by and large a stud at the position. The team-wide results just weren’t there.

Advertisement

That’s just not the case right now. Lawrence is less accurate than ever, plain and simple. Those two or three misfires per game have turned into five or six. He’s not much different or worse when it comes to decision-making or creation ability or aggressiveness — the throws just aren’t connecting.

go-deeper

GO DEEPER

NFL QB stock report, Week 5: Is Justin Herbert underutilized? Jayden Daniels surges up ranks

Lawrence always had some weird misses, like I said, but it’s never been this bad. He’s typically hovered around an 11 percent off-target rate in other seasons, with a previous high of 12.4 percent. Those are mediocre marks, but not debilitating by any means.

The cope angle if you’re a Jaguars fan is that Lawrence’s average depth of target is much higher this year, so naturally he should be missing more throws. That’s true. Lawrence’s 10.3-yard average depth of target is nearly two yards above his previous career high. Even with degree of difficulty in mind, though, Lawrence is missing way more than he should. Lawrence currently holds a -8.5 completion percentage over expected, according to Next Gen Stats; his previous career low was -5.3 percent during that cursed rookie season under Urban Meyer.

I’m mildly concerned that Lawrence is in need of a little career rehabilitation. He is not the same player we saw peak at the end of 2022 or battle through irritating circumstances in 2023. He’s also not broken beyond repair, but there’s a level of uncertainty and shakiness to the way he plays now that was not there in years past.

Advertisement

Hopefully things normalize as the season goes on. Still, it’s hard to imagine the vibes around the NFL’s only winless team are going to get much better.

Can we just appreciate how ridiculous Derrick Henry is?

He is a 6-foot-4, 247-pound home-run hitter — an optical illusion at running back. Every other runner with anything close to that style of build is a bruiser, but Henry has always done his best work on the perimeter and with a runway.

Moreover, it’s a marvel Henry remains that kind of player at 30 years old with more than 2,000 NFL carries under his belt, never mind the beating he took at Alabama. The dreaded running back “cliff” should have come for Henry, but he just continues to outrun Father Time and run through opposing defenses. He looks as good as ever in Baltimore’s purple and black.

Henry does give the Ravens the beef between the tackles they needed in the absence of Gus Edwards, but what he offers them out in space is the real catalyst for success. Henry is currently second in explosive rushes (12-plus yards) this season with nine, per TruMedia. The only player ahead of Henry is Indianapolis Colts running back Jonathan Taylor (10 explosive runs).

Some of that explosive ability is tied to what Lamar Jackson affords a rushing offense in terms of space. The same is true of Taylor playing alongside Richardson, but Henry really is uniquely gifted in the open field for a big man. In 2024 alone, Henry has six runs on which he’s hit at least 18 MPH, per Next Gen Stats. All the players ahead of him on that list are quarterbacks (like Jayden Daniels, Kyler Murray and, of course, Jackson). It does not compute that a man as large as Henry can run with those guys.

Henry has long been doing this, too. Since entering the league in 2016, Henry has hit at least 18 MPH on 85 runs. No other player who weighs at least 240 pounds has more than 35 over that span — and it’s quarterback Cam Newton at that number. The only other running back with double digit 18-plus MPH runs over that span is Najee Harris (12).

There just isn’t another dude like Henry. He has the size and violence to ruin someone’s day with the meanest stiff arm you’ve ever seen before hitting the gas and tearing away from every other defender on the field. Henry is truly one of one, and we should appreciate how insanely cool it is that he is playing next to Jackson in Baltimore’s backfield.

Advertisement
go-deeper

GO DEEPER

NFL playoff projections 2024: Are Commanders team to beat in NFC East?

Scramble drill: Jordan Love vs. Brian Flores

Jordan Love threw three picks in a loss, but I swear he had the right idea for how to attack Brian Flores’ defense.

In theory, Love is the perfect quarterback to deal with Flores’ blitz-laden defense. He is both tough and creative in the pocket. Moreover, he throws with unwavering confidence — the kind of confidence that gets you burned as much as it does you any good. That’s the kind of mindset you need to beat a Flores defense that will send bodies, forcing you to make throws down the field and into traffic.

The problem for the Packers is that the volatility that style of defense invites got them in the first half.

Love’s first interception was on a square-in to Christian Watson. The Vikings put ‘backers in the right A and B gaps, only to pop both off and drop them in coverage. Love tried to beat them with the throw coming in from the left side, but linebacker Kamu Grugier-Hill made an unreal pick in traffic.

Later in the half, Love threw another interception on another pressure. Flores put five defenders on the line, baiting Green Bay to play a man-style protection scheme. The defensive linemen over the left guard knifed inside while the edge defender took it wide, opening a huge lane for a blitzing off-ball linebacker to pop Love as he tried throwing a high-low concept. The ball tipped off his tight end’s hands right to a Vikings defender.

Love did what he had to do from then on, though. He kept throwing from tight pockets and driving the ball into contested windows, continued to bounce in and around the pocket to buy time when needed, and most of all, did not stop ripping it into all the downfield voids left open by Flores’ blitzes. He did not back down or spiral out of control the way most guys do versus Flores.

go-deeper

GO DEEPER

Jordan Love struggles in return but shows franchise-QB mettle in comeback effort

Advertisement

Love finished the day 7 of 17 for 188 yards, one touchdown and one pick on throws of at least 15 yards. The completions, attempts and yards were more than any other quarterback on the week. It wasn’t perfect, by any means, but Love did the right thing by continuing to fight fire with fire, ultimately bringing the Packers close enough to put the game to an onside kick.

Teams and quarterbacks around the league should take notice of the damage Love did by playing like a psychopath in the second half. If Flores is going to call an unhinged style of defense, the quarterback has to play equally unhinged to beat it.

(Illustration: Eamonn Dalton / The Athletic; Top photo of Patrick Mahomes: Ronald Martinez / Getty Images)

Advertisement
Continue Reading
Advertisement
Click to comment

Leave a Reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *

This site uses Akismet to reduce spam. Learn how your comment data is processed.

Culture

Coco Gauff and Naomi Osaka meet at a tennis coaching crossroads in Beijing

Published

on

Coco Gauff and Naomi Osaka meet at a tennis coaching crossroads in Beijing

The ‘other guy’ theory of coaches is a sporting truism.

A team that loses more than it wins with a so-called ‘players’ coach’, someone who specializes in relating to athletes and creating an easygoing atmosphere, will often replace them with a disciplinarian. Reserved coaches who don’t find success get replaced by high-energy, emotional types big on motivation. The bookish sort who focusses on the X’s and O’s comes back when that act wears thin.

Tennis players are no different, the latest cases being Coco Gauff and Naomi Osaka, who dueled on Tuesday in Beijing at the penultimate WTA 1000 tournament of the year.

Both players entered the year with high hopes but did not meet them. After early eliminations from the U.S. Open — Gauff lost in the fourth round, Osaka in the second — they both announced coaching changes. 

Gauff jettisoned Brad Gilbert, one of the biggest personalities in the sport. He is an ESPN commentator and the former coach of Andy Roddick and Andre Agassi, with a grand unified theory of tennis, otherwise known as Winning Ugly. Gauff then brought in Matt Daly, a little-known grip specialist, to work alongside Jean-Christophe Faurel, the low-profile French coach who has worked with Gauff on and off since she was 14.

Advertisement

Faurel most recently rejoined Gauff’s entourage last spring, to work alongside Gilbert. Gilbert and Gauff barely knew each other when she hired him in the summer of 2023. Weeks later, she was U.S. Open champion.

Osaka, meanwhile, pivoted from Wim Fissette, the quiet, cerebral Belgian who helped her win two Grand Slam titles in 2020 and 2021. Fissette would be fine if he never appeared on television. Osaka’s new coach is Patrick Mouratoglou, the former coach of Serena Williams. He has a gift for motivation and self-promotion, with a brand empire that includes an academy in the south of France, plus the freewheeling Ultimate Tennis Showdown (UTS) tennis exhibition events and coaching camps at luxury resorts.


Coco Gauff and Naomi Osaka have made coaching changes, but from different tennis perspectives. (Yanshan Zhang / Getty Images)

He was almost too recognizable for Osaka. Mouratoglou’s history with Williams and his presence in the game made her want to avoid him. 

“His persona is so big,” Osaka said in a press conference in Beijing. So big that she was skeptical of his coaching abilities: anyone coaching the greatest female player of the modern era might have enjoyed their part in the success of Williams.

Then I met him, talked to him, worked with him on the court,” she said.

Advertisement

“He absolutely is a really good coach.”

go-deeper

GO DEEPER

Patrick Mouratoglou says ‘something has to be done’ for tennis’ future. Is he that something?


John Kerry, the longtime senator, U.S. secretary of state and American climate czar, once reduced his philosophy of governing, war and diplomacy to, essentially, ‘getting things right as quickly as you can when you are wrong’.

Sporting aphorists often cite the first law of holes: when you are in one, stop digging. 

Both basically sum up Osaka’s and Gauff’s coaching pivots. Players usually make these moves once the season ends, rather than with another two months to go. Gauff and Osaka are on the Asian swing, which is especially important for Osaka, Japan’s torchbearer at the Tokyo Olympics three years ago. Then come the WTA Finals in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia, which Gauff may qualify for, and the Billie Jean King Cup in Malaga, Spain, which Osaka plans to play.

Advertisement

But by mid-September, they already had all the data they needed to conclude that they were either heading in the wrong direction (Gauff) or stalling (Osaka). 

While Gauff’s results were off target — with a fourth-round exit at Wimbledon to Emma Navarro before Donna Vekic defeated her in the third-round of the Paris Olympics — the bigger issue was of technique. Gilbert’s ability to cover up her weaknesses, one of his greatest strengths as a coach, had faded.

Quality opponents had figured out how to counter the looping forehand that he introduced to cover up her shakiness on that side. They would step in and take the ball on the rise, before it bounced high enough to trap them at the back of the court. 

Against Navarro at Wimbledon, she pleaded with Gilbert to tell her something, realizing in the moment that she did not have the tools she needed to escape Navarro.

Then there is her serve. At the U.S. Open, her fourth-round defeat to Navarro included 19 double faults.

Advertisement

“I don’t want to lose matches like this anymore,” she told reporters afterwards.

go-deeper

Gilbert, who has forgotten more about tennis than most people know, would never peddle himself as a serve specialist, or even the kind of coach that someone as mired in technical limitations as Gauff is right now would need. Even during Gilbert’s tenure, Gauff had worked with Roddick on some minor serve adjustments. 

In an interview last week, Gilbert declined to get specific about his work with Gauff, but said it was a positive experience overall.

He believes that the ultimate parameters of tennis have not changed. Players have to figure out their strengths, then they have to figure out what their opponent does well. Then they plan to impose their own strengths on the match, while nullifying those of their opponent. But at 63, after more than four decades around the pro game, Gilbert knows the drill. Once a player wins one of the Grand Slams, expectations rise, even though the competition remains fierce. Everyone wants to win and there are only four majors each year.

The women’s game has a little more unpredictability, Gilbert said, but still, “there isn’t a lot of opportunity”.  

“Each coaching experience is a unique experience and you move on,” he added. “That is a beautiful thing.”

Advertisement

Gauff, still only 20 years old, is impatient for success but she is taking the long view. She is approaching the fall tournaments in Asia as an extended pre-season, prioritizing improvement over wins and a top-eight finish for the season, which would qualify her for those season-ending tour Finals.


Coco Gauff’s forehand has long been a vulnerability against top-level opponents. (Yanshan Zhang / Getty Images)

Her team prefers that her coaches speak little about her; she is finding that the subtle changes Daly has made have already begun to pay dividends. 

Daly, 45, played at Notre Dame and briefly coached Denis Shapovalov. He is the founder of a company that sells a gadget called GripMD, which wraps around the handle of a racket to help players use a traditional continental grip. 

Gauff hits her forehand with a heavy western grip, essentially holding the racket underneath the handle. Don’t look for her to switch to a continental grip on her forehand anytime soon — it just doesn’t cut it. Her immediate focus is her serve, but it might take some time before the dividends show up on the stats sheets. She had six double faults and 27 unforced errors across the two sets Tuesday, which she and Osaka split before Osaka retired with a back injury.


If Gauff is taking the long view, Osaka wants results now. It wasn’t always this way.

Advertisement

She has been handed tough draws all season, most notably when she came within a point of knocking Iga Swiatek out of the French Open. At the time, she was introspective, coining a little aphorism of her own: the results weren’t resulting, she told reporters. Fissette and Osaka were focussing her comeback in the long lens — for this season and the next five years. Wait for summer and fall, when tennis moves to the hard courts on which Osaka built her reputation, was the mantra.

That waiting steadily chipped away at Osaka’s confidence. After Karolina Muchova defeated her in New York, she told reporters that a part of her dies when she loses. That Osaka was not the wry, magnanimous Osaka of Paris. The French Open was a lifetime ago in her world, and she had believed that she would have more success on her favorite surface. Muchova, who floated to the U.S. Open semifinals and was likely one stuck volley away from the final, is pretty much doing what Osaka wants to be doing.

go-deeper

GO DEEPER

How should a world No 1 be? Iga Swiatek and Naomi Osaka have an idea

Osaka and the rest of the locker room know she needs to return better, improve her second serve and regain the confidence that, in her best moments, made her an absolute banker in crunch time. More than anything, that had been her superpower, and it’s been mostly missing this year.

This is why she switched to Mouratoglou with two months to go in the 2024 season. She is world No. 73, and desperately wants to get into the top 32, so she can be seeded at the Australian Open in January. 

Advertisement

Fissette, her former coach, is known as a master strategist and tennis technician. Confidence comes from results in his world. He shares with Mouratoglou a belief in playing aggressively, and building that intensity up when it brings results, but he is no one’s definition of a hype man. Mouratoglou could get a letter carrier fired up about delivering the mail.


The China Open is Naomi Osaka and Patrick Mouratoglou’s first official tournament together. (Robert Prange / Getty Images)

Osaka had considered hiring Mouratoglou before she linked back up with Fissette, when she was plotting her comeback from maternity leave. She went with the Belgian then because of their history of success. When it didn’t return, she and Mouratoglou worked together in California after the U.S. Open, then decided to take on the women’s tour together. 

I don’t want to have regrets,” Osaka added last week in Beijing. 

“I really need to learn as much as possible in this stage of my career. Patrick seemed like the guy with the information.” 

They were off to a good start, with three consecutive wins, including Osaka’s first comeback from a set down in over two years, against Yulia Putintseva. But even the best coach can’t have much success with an injured player. 

Advertisement

After shaking hands with Gauff at one set all, before the American carried her bag off court, Osaka said that her back had stiffened to the point of locking in practice. She was able to start but her condition worsened as the match wore on.

“Totally worth it though lol,” she wrote on Threads.

Sounds like something Mouratoglou would say.

(Top photo: Yanshan Zhang / Getty Images)

Advertisement
Continue Reading

Culture

WNBA players say the troubling side of its rise is racism and threats

Published

on

WNBA players say the troubling side of its rise is racism and threats

As the WNBA has reached wildly successful highs this season in viewership and attendance, players say the boom long coveted throughout women’s basketball has come with unfortunate consequences. During these playoffs, athletes who would normally be focused on winning have instead shared a swell of complaints of being targeted with racist, misogynistic, homophobic and threatening attacks.

The rise in harassment, players say, has taken a mental toll. Some question how the league has considered their well-being as it has managed an influx of attention that followed the college stardom of Caitlin Clark and Angel Reese into the pros.

A few players have made more drastic moves, deactivating some of their social media accounts or heavily limiting their engagement, despite the clear and often critical income potential that comes from marketing directly to fans.

Phoenix Mercury center Brittney Griner said fans have voiced racist taunts at her and others. Reese said AI-generated nude images of her have circulated online.

Connecticut Sun guard DiJonai Carrington shared on Instagram a graphic email sent to her with threats of violence and a racist slur, following a moment during the first game of the playoffs in which Carrington inadvertently poked one of Clark’s eyes. Carrington’s partner, NaLyssa Smith, who plays with Clark on the Indiana Fever, wrote on X that Carrington has even been followed.

Advertisement

Alyssa Thomas said she and her Sun teammates had faced the most intense racist bullying she has encountered in 11 WNBA seasons as they faced the Fever and ended Clark’s rookie season.

“With more exposure, we’re seeing more of those people come out and say their words online,” Sky forward Brianna Turner said. “They talk their talk, but I highly doubt they’re watching any games or any content. They’re just there to spread hate and be messy online when they couldn’t care less about what happens in the WNBA or about any players, either.”

The troubling messages have been at odds with the welcoming environment the league and its players — the majority of whom are Black and many in the LGBTQ+ community — sought to create over the past three decades. As it fought for financial stability and credibility with media and fans since its 1996 inception, the WNBA has increasingly considered itself a haven for inclusivity.

Some players say that environment has been stained by new factions of fans bringing toxicity to the sport, treating the WNBA and its players as fodder for culture-war arguments during a polarizing period in American society.

Advertisement

“I appreciate the new eyes,” Sky forward Isabelle Harrison said. “But if this comes with hate and bigotry and racism and even people who look like me bashing me, keep it offline because it’s so hurtful, and you don’t know how that affects people.”

That dimension has added a complexity to the developing play and rivalry of Clark, who is White, and Reese, who is Black. Clark won Rookie of the Year honors and guided the Fever to the playoffs. Reese’s season ended in early September with a wrist injury, but not until she had already set WNBA records for consecutive double-doubles and rebounds in a season.

Fever forward Aliyah Boston said some people are simply being opportunistic. “It’s easy to attach yourself to the Fever because we have a lot of attention around us right now, and it’s so easy to say, ‘Well, I’m a Fever fan, I’m an A.B. fan, I’m a Caitlin fan and just (spew) hate off of that — and that’s never OK,” she said.

Tension bubbled early this season as some fans and sports commentators accused veteran WNBA players of feeling jealous of Clark’s stardom and claimed she was being targeted in games. Even though that notion was widely dismissed by players, fouls on Clark quickly became hot topics to debate — with conversations devolving into personal insults or worse.

A Chicago Tribune op-ed likened a hard foul on Clark by Sky guard Chennedy Carter to “assault,” and an Indiana congressman wrote an open letter to the WNBA commissioner airing his grievances about the foul. Charles Barkley lambasted WNBA players for being “petty” and “jealous” of Clark’s popularity, while Sheryl Swoopes, on multiple occasions, seemed to downplay Clark’s accolades. ESPN personality Pat McAfee apologized for calling Clark a “White b—-” on his show during a segment in which he mused about her stardom and her race.

Advertisement

“It is discouraging that we’re losing the conversation around the skill of these players and it’s being overshadowed by the politicized nature of their presence,” said Ajhanai Keaton, an assistant professor of sports management at UMass Amherst.

The scrutiny of Clark throughout the season frequently went beyond her play and her comments about games.

Her social media presence is mostly limited to retweets of Iowa and Fever posts, with some sharing of content from her commercial sponsors. She recently created a buzz by liking a Taylor Swift Instagram post that endorsed Kamala Harris for president, although Clark did not formally endorse Harris herself and simply encouraged voting in the November presidential election when asked to explain her action.

She denounced the use of her name to push divisive agendas online, calling it “disappointing” and “unacceptable.” “Those aren’t fans,” she said Friday. “Those are trolls, and it’s a real disservice to the people in our league, the organization, the WNBA.”

Still, much of the conversation carries on regardless of her participation.

Advertisement

“She’s trying to get her bearings and develop her game and take her game to the next level and be on this bigger stage,” New York Liberty forward Jonquel Jones said earlier this season. “And she’s really handling it well. It’s the fan base that’s going crazy and making it a race war and all this other stuff.”

The league released a statement last week condemning online harassment of players. But commissioner Cathy Engelbert previously faced criticism, including from the players association, for lauding the league’s rivalries when asked in a CNBC interview about “menacing” comments players receive.

“The league should have taken a stance a long time ago, and not waited for it to get this kind of deep, and this far on what’s tolerated and what’s not,” Liberty guard Sabrina Ionescu said.

 


Sun guard DiJonai Carrington said she’s been targeted with threatening messages this season. (Elsa / Getty)

Las Vegas Aces guard Chelsea Gray, when asked how the league could have protected players throughout the season, said: “Probably make a statement earlier than what they did.”

Advertisement

The WNBA’s recent statement mentioned involving law enforcement when necessary to protect players. The league monitors online threats and works with teams and arenas on safety issues, and with local law enforcement, when necessary. It employs security in each market to help players. All 12 teams also have dedicated security who travel with them to games.

The Chicago Sky introduced a partnership this season with an app company that uses AI to shield players from directly seeing negative posts about them on their phones. Before the start of the season, the WNBA provided information and resources to players about mental health as part of a routine annual meeting.

Liberty forward Breanna Stewart, who said she has reported some messages to team officials, wants the league to host more sessions focused on dealing with internet harassment. “There could be probably more training,” she said. “What should you do if you get those messages?”


Some players said they have removed social media apps — especially X — to avoid attacks, but that can come at a cost. Endorsement deals often hinge on engagement with fans online. A robust following on social media can become a key source of income. That’s especially important in a league with a mean player salary of about $110,000 this season, according to HerHoopStats — a figure well below what most male professional athletes make in top North American leagues.

Sparks guard Zia Cooke said she deactivated her X account earlier this season to avoid negative comments but remained on TikTok and Instagram because of potential additional earnings. “If it were really up to me, I would deactivate all of my accounts just because I’m trying to stay mentally locked in as far as basketball and finding my way in this game,” she said.

Advertisement

Boston said she deleted some of her social media accounts to avoid vitriolic criticism as the Fever got off to a 1-8 start this season.

The spread of legalized sports betting in the United States has also become a prompt for fans sending angry messages to WNBA players. Dream wing Rhyne Howard said she has received threatening messages about her “messing up random parlays” after poor performances, a complaint similarly heard in men’s leagues.

But often, WNBA players said, attacks against them feel much more personal, focused on their racial and sexual identities rather than their basketball abilities.

“Our world is so polarized based on race,” said professor Ketra Armstrong, the University of Michigan’s director of the Center for Race and Ethnicity in Sport. “When people talk about race, oftentimes it privileges whiteness, and when they talk about gender, it privileges maleness. This is not unique to sport, this is not unique to Caitlin Clark. It’s the way of the world and it’s been that way in every domain, be it in politics, be it in business, be it in social movements and civil rights.”

Reese, who has more than 4 million followers on Instagram and more than 600,000 on X, has kept a steady stream of engagement even as she has been frequently criticized. She said she occasionally needs to take breaks from social media to avoid vitriol and that she leans on robust support from people around her.

Advertisement

“We’re still human,” Reese said, adding: “Sometimes we do have to take some time away.”

The Athletic’s Grace Raynor and Sabreena Merchant contributed to this report.

(Illustration: Dan Goldfarb / The Athletic; Photo: iStock)

Advertisement
Continue Reading

Culture

Atletico Madrid’s links with radical ultras is a story of violence, emotion and change

Published

on

Atletico Madrid’s links with radical ultras is a story of violence, emotion and change

Sunday night’s dramatic derby with city rivals Real Madrid put Atletico Madrid’s relationship with the radical block of fans that gather inside their ground under a new global spotlight.

After Real Madrid took the lead, Atletico captain Koke and manager Diego Simeone pleaded for calm with balaclava-wearing supporters, who had thrown objects onto the pitch at rival goalkeeper Thibaut Courtois for his supposedly provocative celebrations.

The match was suspended for 20 minutes before Angel Correa’s 95th-minute equaliser gave Simeone’s side a 1-1 draw.

After the final whistle, Atletico’s players celebrated in front of the section where the small number of supporters involved in the object-throwing regularly congregate — behind the goal at the south end of their Estadio Metropolitano, which on Sunday welcomed a record crowd of 70,112.

The whole night shone a spotlight on the more radical elements of Atletico’s support, especially the Frente Atletico ‘ultras’ (fans marked out for their choreographed and fanatical support) and their long and complicated relationship with the club’s hierarchy and the current team.

Advertisement

It also drew further attention to the stormy relationship between the Spanish capital’s two biggest football clubs, including historical grievances on the Atletico side, and the racist abuse Real Madrid’s Vinicius Junior has suffered around recent meetings between the sides.

Here, The Athletic dives into the deeper questions behind what happened.


Who are the Frente Atletico?

The Frente Atletico was formed in 1982, originally influenced by ultras movements in Italy and the UK. Atletico recognised it as an official supporters club and encouraged them as they brought atmosphere with chants and banners, motivated players and attracted bigger crowds to the stadium. Frente leaders got to know then-Atletico president Jesus Gil, occasionally socialising with Atletico players and appearing on Spanish radio shows in the 1980s.

Over time, Frente members holding more radical right-wing views took control of the group. They were also attracted by money-making opportunities, as Atletico facilitated the sale of blocks of match tickets that the Frente leadership could control. This continued after Atletico were converted into a private company in 1992, with Gil and film producer Enrique Cerezo taking control in a move Spain’s supreme court later deemed illegal — but no action followed as the court also said that the statute of limitations had passed.


Atletico’s Metropolitano had a record crowd on Sunday night (Florencia Tan Jun/Getty Images)

There was often violence involved with the Frente. In the 1980s, some members would ‘defend’ Atletico fans from opposition ultras at away games. There were also clashes with police.

Advertisement

The group became increasingly radical. Frente members attacked and killed Real Sociedad supporter Aitor Zabaleta near Atletico’s old Vicente Calderon stadium in 1998. Despite this, Frente retained its privileges with the club, continuing to sell match tickets and storing its banners and drums at the Calderon.

More recently, in November 2014, Deportivo La Coruna ultra Javier ‘Jimmy’ Romero Taboada was killed during an organised fight between Depor and Atletico fans before a game at the Calderon.

How could such a group still be allowed into Atletico’s stadium?

After Romero Taboada’s death, Atletico revoked the Frente’s official status and banned some members from the Calderon. Over the next few years, Atletico began to modernise on and off the pitch, most notably moving to the Estadio Metropolitano on Madrid’s outskirts. Twelve consecutive seasons of Champions League football under Simeone have brought extra revenue and status as one of Europe’s elite clubs.

But Frente-aligned clothes, banners and chants are still a part of the Metropolitano’s matchday experience. Incidents are less frequent but still serious, including an Atletico ultra displaying a Nazi swastika at a game in May 2018 and a far-right banner flown in their section of the stadium during that year’s Europa League final against Marseille in Lyon.


The scene inside Atletico’s ground before kick-off on Sunday night (Gonzalo Arroyo Moreno/Getty Images)

There have also been battles for control of Atletico’s most radical fans and the moneymaking opportunities presented by the Frente ‘brand’, such as ‘official’ scarves and T-shirts. A man was hospitalised in January 2018 after a fight between members of different hardcore Atletico groups outside the Metropolitano. A new radical group, ‘Suburbios Firm’, has emerged — its members are already banned from attending home games, but sometimes support the team away.

Advertisement

In practical terms, especially within the stadium, the ‘Frente’ is now more of an idea than an actual group of paid-up members. Ultras from the 1990s and 2000s are older and less likely to attend matches. The club recognise an ‘animation section’ of fans behind the goal but they have long ended the practice of facilitating blocks of tickets for sale by ultras leaders.

Atletico say they can only ban individuals from the stadium after they have committed a crime and that it is impossible (and illegal) to take collective action against groups of people without evidence of wrongdoing. “We cannot expel 200 people from the stadium because someone believes they belong to a certain group or because they wear a certain T-shirt,” a club spokesperson told The Athletic. “The image might be awful, but there has to be a crime committed for action to be taken.”

After Sunday’s events, an Atletico statement said the club was committed to “working with the police to locate those involved, one of whom has already been identified”.

Were they involved in the racist abuse of Vinicius Jr?

Last December, four members of Frente Atletico were charged over the hanging of an effigy dressed to resemble Vinicius Jr from a bridge near Real Madrid’s training ground in January 2023. The mannequin was hung next to a 16-metre banner that read “Madrid hates Real” and was displayed hours before a Madrid derby in the Copa del Rey quarter-finals.

go-deeper

GO DEEPER

Four ultras charged over Vinicius Jr effigy

Advertisement

After last season’s Metropolitano ‘derbi’, police identified individuals who were caught on camera racially abusing the Brazilian. Atletico revoked their status as club members, banning them from the stadium. Similarly, when one ‘fan’ racially abused Athletic Bilbao’s Nico Williams in April, he was also expelled and banned.

Before Sunday’s game, messages on social media circulated with some apparent Atletico fans urging supporters to wear masks to the game to avoid detection by cameras when making racist insults, specifically calling Vinicius Jr a monkey.


Real Madrid goalkeeper Thibaut Courtois throws a lighter off the pitch (Florencia Tan Jun/Getty Images)

No racist abuse of Vinicus Jr was reported on Sunday, although there were chants against him when Madrid’s team bus arrived and whistles for his every intervention on the pitch.

Instead, the focus switched to Courtois, a former Atletico player who moved from Chelsea to Real Madrid in 2018.

How does Atletico’s self-image fit with all this?

Atletico fans, players and club officials have historically identified themselves as scrappy underdogs who fight against authority and power — especially against their richer and more glamorous city rivals. That self-image is deeply rooted within the club and most Atletico fans are convinced the media and authorities support Real Madrid.

Advertisement

Atletico went 14 years without a win against Real Madrid (1999-2013) and still feel that any victory for Atletico over Madrid is a victory for the little guy.

“These are difficult times and people identify with us as we are fighting against many adversities,” said then-Atletico midfielder Tiago in 2014 as Simeone’s side won that season’s league title — their third in 37 years. “We’re like Robin Hood.”

Simeone’s style of football — with its emphasis on hard work and physicality — fits Atletico’s traditions and the emotional connection with the stadium has played a key role. After each game, Atletico’s players salute all four corners of the stadium, starting with their more hardcore fans.

On Sunday, when the game was stopped after objects were thrown at Courtois, Atletico captain Koke and long-serving defender Jose Maria Gimenez ran behind the goal to speak with the fans in the area the objects had come from. Simeone also approached them, making a ‘calm down’ gesture.

After the game, as usual, Atletico’s players gathered on the edge of the penalty area to applaud the Fondo Sur (the hardcore group of fans who congregate behind the goal at the stadium’s south end), which many felt could be seen as a gesture of support for their behaviour during the game.

Advertisement

Simeone in front of the Fondo Sur section at Atletico’s ground on Sunday (Gonzalo Arroyo Moreno/Getty Images)

What do most Atletico fans think?

As the Frente is not an official group, nobody knows exactly how many members it has or how many regularly attend games. Some ultras who lead chants behind the goal have often covered their faces with scarves or balaclavas to avoid identification.

The vast majority of Atletico fans do not like the Frente at all. Many keep away from the bars where the hardcore ultras drink before games and also steer clear of them in the stadium.

Divides within the fanbase are clear. In November 2022, the Fondo Sur left their area empty for the first half of a game against Espanyol, protesting the team’s poor displays. Fans in other areas of the stadium loudly whistled them when they did enter.

On Sunday evening, when the referee took the players off the pitch in the second half, this divide was again evident. Amid a surreal silence in most of the ground, ultras behind the goal continued to chant and jump and down, only to be met by whistles from other areas of the ground. There were also whistles when the team went to applaud the Fondo Sur on the final whistle.


Atletico players acknowledging fans after the final whistle on Sunday (Gonzalo Arroyo Moreno/Getty Images)

“I was there and I was one of those who whistled the Frente,” said one Atletico fan (as the supporters consulted for this article work in football, they spoke anonymously to protect their position). “Atletico fans are fed up and embarrassed by what happened.”

Advertisement

Another supporter said: “Ninety-nine per cent of the people in that stand are normal, but those who dominate are the brainless ones.”

Atletico’s ‘embattled underdog’ identity can blend into a feeling of persecution among regular fans, not just Atletico’s more radical ultras. Many agreed when Simeone said after Sunday’s game that Courtois bears responsibility for the way he celebrated Madrid’s opening goal. TV pictures showed him mouthing, ‘Vamos’ (come on) as he moved his hand towards the stands — a proactive gesture, in the view of home fans. Moments before the goal, chants of, “Courtois die” had been heard.

Courtois is not popular among Atletico fans. Since joining Real Madrid, they feel he has been disrespectful towards his former team, who he represented from 2011 to 2014. Like all players who have made more than 100 Atletico appearances, he has a plaque on the ‘centenary players’ walk’ on the stadium concourse. As they always do whenever Courtois plays at the Metropolitano with Real, Atletico fans left rubbish and other debris on his plaque.

What does the rest of Spanish football make of Atletico’s hardcore fans?

After Romero Taboada’s death in 2014, there was a concerted effort from Spanish football authorities to weaken ultras’ influence, even trying to keep them out of stadiums.

Many other clubs — including Real Madrid and Barcelona — have banned individuals and groups. They have also introduced their own ‘official’ animation sections, which are more tightly controlled by club authorities, so behaviour can be more easily policed.

Advertisement
go-deeper

GO DEEPER

Real Madrid’s south stand: How the club transformed a former far-right stronghold

La Liga’s reputation took a battering following the global uproar at the racist abuse that Vinicius Jr suffered in Valencia’s Mestalla stadium last year and the league’s executives have since reacted much more seriously to any incidents of racism within or around Spanish stadiums, and also online.


Vinicius Jr has been racially abused by fans at several La Liga grounds (Aitor Alcalde/Getty Images)

La Liga’s official response on Sunday evening to the events inside the stadium was relatively restrained, with a post on X saying there was “zero tolerance for any acts of violence inside or outside our stadiums”.

Local coverage of the events, which made many headlines in international media, was also quite restrained. There were no angry op-eds calling for the Metropolitano to be closed or for the complete banning of all ultras from Spanish stadiums.

The Spanish Football Federation and La Liga have yet to decide what punishment Atletico will receive for Sunday’s incident. They could try to close parts of the stadium for a few games, but that may be difficult to impose. Real Betis successfully appealed such a sanction when a Sevilla player was hit by an object thrown from the stands in January 2022. Atletico also successfully appealed in April when a section of the stand was closed for two games after Williams was racially abused, arguing that it was unfair to punish a whole group for the behaviour of one individual.

Advertisement
go-deeper

GO DEEPER

The shocking abuse Real Madrid’s Vinicius Jr faced at Valencia revealed in new report

What about Atletico’s international image and the club’s medium-term future?

The evolution of Atletico into one of Europe’s elite clubs continued this summer, with the investment of more than €200million (£166.6m; $222.2m) in big international stars, including Julian Alvarez and Conor Gallagher.

It added to a feeling that Atletico’s hierarchy are looking to take a big leap forward. This summer, €70m was raised from the club’s shareholders, which include UK-Israeli company Quantum Pacific and U.S. investors Ares Management Corporation. Chief executive Miguel Angel Gil Marin laid the first stone at a new training ground on a site beside the Metropolitano.

Many within the Spanish football industry believe that Gil Marin and Cerezo will sell their controlling interest in Atletico to foreign investors. Sunday’s disgraceful scenes, which echoed around the world, will not have helped drum up interest.

When reporters asked Cerezo on Sunday afternoon about the online hate messages about Vinicius Jr, he first said, “At Atletico Madrid, I don’t consider that there is anyone anti-racist or racist.” Later, at the stadium, he clarified to broadcasters DAZN that he “meant to say that we all have a responsibility to fight against racism”.

Advertisement

Cerezo (centre) in conversation with Real Madrid counterpart Florentino Perez (Oscar J Barroso/Europa Press via Getty Images)

Atletico are keen to project a more modern positive image and have launched campaigns in the stadium and online to educate their fans.

“’We Love Football’ is a project to channel all of our actions aimed to build a sport where diversity, inclusion, respect and tolerance inspire society,” the club’s website says.

On Sunday, Atletico quickly released a statement saying the club was working with police to identify all individuals who threw objects onto the pitch and that they will be banned from attending games. Since Sunday, Atletico have also changed their statutes so that fans who wear masks to avoid identification can be immediately expelled from the stadium.

There is an awareness at Atletico — within the club and among the fans — that their image has been badly damaged. The vast majority of fans are adamant that the Frente does not represent their views and the club say they are doing all they can to stamp out their influence — but the connection is still strong between the team and the section of the stand where there is continuing anti-social (and worse) behaviour.

“The image of the players talking to fans wearing balaclavas, and then going to applaud the stand at the end of the game, was terrible,” said another Atletico fan. “The club still has a lot of work to do.”

Advertisement

(Top photo: Gonzalo Arroyo Moreno/Getty Images)

Continue Reading

Trending