Culture
Thomas Tuchel: England have hired a ‘winner’ but that is no guarantee in international football
At least Thomas Tuchel is likely to be spared the kind of reception that awaited Sven-Goran Eriksson when the Swede became the first foreign coach to manage the England national team.
“FA, hang your heads in shame. No surrender,” read the banner held by a man standing outside FA headquarters in London in November 2000. The protestor was dressed as “John Bull”, a pulp magazine personification of Englishness, wearing a top hat, a red jacket, a Union Jack waistcoat and a look of profound distaste.
It went beyond that one-man protest. Gordon Taylor, chief executive of the Professional Footballers’ Association, called Eriksson’s appointment “a betrayal of our coaching structure”. John Barnwell, his counterpart at the League Managers Association, said it “beggars belief — another example of us giving away our family treasures in Europe”.
The most famous — or infamous — line surrounding Eriksson’s arrival came from the Daily Mail’s veteran columnist Jeff Powell, who wrote that the FA was “selling our birthright down the fjord to a nation of 7million skiers and hammer-throwers who spend half their lives living in total darkness”.
In the documentary released shortly before he died in August, Eriksson looked back and laughed. “England: you can’t say no,” he said with a chuckle. “I would have regretted (not taking it) all my life, I suppose.”
Despite the anguish brought by three successive quarter-final defeats (and despite his dismay over tabloid scrutiny of his private life), Eriksson never regretted answering the FA’s call. Fabio Capello, who seven years later became England’s second overseas coach, has been known to give the opposite impression.
The welcome Sven-Goran Eriksson received when appointed as England manager (Adrian Dennis/AFP via Getty Images)
The strange thing about Tuchel’s impending appointment is that it feels so… 2000s, frankly. Wasn’t the FA meant to have consigned its overseas coach era to history by now?
Yes, it was. That was made clear when St George’s Park was opened amid considerable fanfare 12 years ago. David Sheepshanks, the chairman of the project, told reporters that the FA would not have to look abroad for England coaches of the future if, as he expected, “we have homegrown Premier League and international managers emanating from the education advantages” the new national football centre would offer. Rather than throw millions of pounds at short-term solutions, this was a long-term investment.
This surge of homegrown coaching talent has not happened — at least not to anything like the degree hoped for and anticipated.
Some bleak statistics: no English manager has won a European trophy since Bobby Robson with Barcelona in 1997; no English manager has won the league title since Howard Wilkinson with Leeds United in 1992; no English manager has even won the FA Cup since Harry Redknapp with Portsmouth in 2008 or the League Cup since Steve McClaren with Middlesbrough in 2004; since 2003, English managers have taken charge of a combined total of just 44 matches in the Champions League (Frank Lampard 16, Redknapp 10, Graham Potter seven, Eddie Howe six, Craig Shakespeare three, Michael Carrick one, Gary Neville one).
International football is different, though. It is why someone as successful as Capello (a “winner with a capital W”, as then-FA chief executive Brian Barwick lauded him on his appointment) found himself so flummoxed by the peculiar demands of managing England at a World Cup. It is why someone with a CV as underwhelming as Gareth Southgate’s (45 wins from 151 games in charge of Middlesbrough) could be responsible for their two best tournament campaigns since that solitary World Cup triumph in 1966.
Nor is this phenomenon unique to the England team. Look at the contrast between Spain’s underwhelming performance at the 2022 World Cup, under a Champions League-winning coach in Luis Enrique, and their vibrant displays in winning Euro 2024 under a coach, Luis de la Fuente, who, like Southgate, has acquired experience through the national team’s junior setup.
Look at Argentina’s success under Lionel Scaloni, whose only previous experience as a head coach was with their under-20 team.
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But the longer Southgate stayed in the job, the closer he came without quite delivering the success the country craves, the more you could hear the clamour for the FA to appoint another “winner with a capital W”.
Southgate was always cast in some quarters as the reason England kept falling just short — which, after decades of falling a long way short, seemed strange. Whatever the undoubted qualities he brought to the job, it was always assumed by his critics that any half-decent coach who operates in the top half of the Premier League or the later stages of the Champions League would bring all of those plus, crucially, the hard-nosed winning mentality and hard-wired tactical expertise of a Pep Guardiola, a Carlo Ancelotti or a Jurgen Klopp.
Or… a Thomas Tuchel? Possibly, but this appointment still represents an unexpected pivot from an FA that has spent the past decade banging the drum — with growing confidence, it had seemed — for English coaches.
The unheralded Scaloni won the World Cup with Argentina (Juan Mabromata/AFP via Getty Images)
They never closed the door entirely on the idea of looking overseas for an England manager — indeed, they have reaped huge dividends from going Dutch with the appointment of Sarina Wiegman, who in 2022 led England to their first Women’s European Championship title. The fact that Tuchel has worked in English football previously — and shown an affinity with English players, both at Chelsea and at Bayern — is an advantage that Eriksson and Capello did not have.
But it has consistently been made clear by the FA, even as different executives and decision-makers have come and gone, that a homegrown candidate would be its preference.
There was some support for the idea of a permanent elevation for England Under-21 coach Lee Carsley, who took charge of the senior team on an interim basis after Southgate resigned in July. There has certainly been enthusiasm, going back several years, for the notion of appointing Howe or Potter.
But when it came to the crunch, after tentative enquiries about Guardiola (focused on Manchester City) and Klopp (preparing for a new role as Red Bull’s head of global soccer) came to nothing, they moved decisively for Tuchel, swayed by his trophy successes as coach of Borussia Dortmund (one DFB-Pokal/German Cup), Paris Saint-Germain (two Ligue 1 titles, a Coupe de France/French Cup, a Coupe de la Ligue/French League Cup and two Trophees des Champions/French Super Cups), Chelsea (one Champions League, one European Super Cup, one Club World Cup) and Bayern Munich (one Bundesliga title).
It is a level of trophy success that no English coach comes within a million miles of. Howe can boast a Championship (English second-tier) title with Bournemouth, Potter a Svenska Cupen/Swedish Cup success with Ostersunds and Carsley a European Under-21 Championship title with England — all of them, Howe’s in particular, impressive in their own right — but none has come close to landing any of the game’s biggest prizes.
If you are going to go down the “winner with a capital W” road, seeking what Carsley described over the weekend as a “world-class coach who has won trophies”, then the homegrown route isn’t really an option for England.
But we are back to the question of De la Fuente and Scaloni — and, yes, Southgate, Joachim Low, Roger Lemerre and so many others through the course of history — and whether international management requires not just a different skill set on the training pitch and the touchline but a different mindset in the weeks and months between international breaks.
If something has changed in the FA’s thinking, leading them to restore trophy-winning experience to the top of the job spec, it is perhaps because of how England’s Euro 2024 unfolded.
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The more talented creative players Southgate had at his disposal, the harder he found it to strike the right tactical balance. As Carsley discovered against Greece last week, picking Jude Bellingham, Bukayo Saka, Cole Palmer, Antony Gordon and Phil Foden in the same line-up might not be the brainwave it had appeared after a 20-minute experiment on the training pitch.
England have a glut of attacking talent — it is hard to fit them all in a team (Jewel Samad/AFP via Getty Images)
Maybe the job requires a firmer hand now. Maybe the surplus of creative players requires the type of toughness and ruthlessness that the modern English coach — a more touchy-feely type, whether it is Southgate, Howe, Potter, Carsley, Gary O’Neil, Rob Edwards, Russell Martin or anyone else except perhaps Sean Dyche — is yet to develop fully.
If Southgate’s approach was considered perfect for the largely unheralded group of players he took to the 2018 World Cup, maybe the changing profile of the squad brings a demand for a different profile of coach, accustomed to working with top-level talents (and perhaps top-level egos) and turning them into a cohesive, balanced team.
One concern is that Tuchel’s Bayern team didn’t look much like that last season when they were beaten to the Bundesliga title for the first time in 12 campaigns. Neither did his Chelsea or PSG teams towards the end. At those three clubs, and indeed Dortmund and Mainz before that, he left in strained circumstances. There were tensions with the boardroom or dressing room or both. It was the biggest thing that deterred Manchester United from appointing him in place of Erik ten Hag last summer.
In other words, Tuchel is very different to the long-held FA ideal of a coach who keeps his head down and says the right thing. And it would be easier to get behind the idea of England being managed by a disruptor — The Rulebreaker, to borrow the delightful title of a biography by German journalists Tobias Schachter and Daniel Meuren — if they had not just enjoyed their best run of tournament campaigns in more than half a century under an unashamed conformist.
Beyond that, surely the England manager should be English. Not must, as some would have it, but should. England have enjoyed notable success under overseas coaches in other sports — and in women’s football — but it does not feel remotely controversial to suggest that the whole point of international sport should be to pit one nation’s talent against others.
There is already a backlash from some quarters against the prospect of a German taking charge of the England team, just as there was anger from the same quarters last month when Carsley did not sing along to the national anthem. At times, when it comes to the national team, the discourse goes far beyond reasonable principles of what international sport should be about and into the type of bombastic, jingoistic rhetoric that held English football back for so many years.
It is largely thanks to overseas influence that English football seems more enlightened these days. Even by the time of Capello’s appointment in 2007, the idea of the FA looking abroad for an England manager seemed far less alarming than it had seven years earlier.
But now, it feels like a regressive step in the message it sends to English coaches.
Carsley took on the interim role but his stint fell flat (Justin Setterfield/Getty Images)
Carsley’s audition was far from perfect, undermined by his team selection against Greece and the confused messages in some of his media interviews, but he is barely less qualified for the England senior job than Southgate was in 2016. Potter would surely have been in with a shout had this job come up when he was at Brighton & Hove Albion in the summer of 2022, yet he seems to have been overlooked entirely based on a six-month tenure at Chelsea when they were at the height of their post-takeover dysfunction (something with which Tuchel would sympathise). Howe has a desirable job at Newcastle United, but if the eligibility criteria for the England job include winning the game’s biggest prizes, could an English manager ever do that without putting himself far beyond the FA’s reach?
If it comes down to who has the best CV, it is hard to imagine how the best-qualified English coach could trump whichever leading manager happens to be looking for work after falling off the Champions League carousel, having parted ways with PSG, Chelsea, Bayern or whoever — or in Tuchel’s case, all three.
Even so, recent tournaments have strengthened the feeling that the international game is different: that hiring a “winner with a capital W” is not the shortcut to success that the FA previously imagined it was.
Should Tuchel succeed where his predecessor fell agonisingly short, then no England supporter, no matter how ingrained their John Bull tendencies, will find their celebratory fervour dampened by the nationality of the coach.
But Tuchel’s first challenge will be to measure up to the standard Southgate set over the previous eight years — and because this is international football, with its different rhythm and challenges, that is not the foregone conclusion it might otherwise seem.
(Top photo: Sven Hoppe/picture alliance via Getty Images; design: Meech Robinson)
We’re a third of the way through the NFL season, and we have some answers about some teams.
The Power Rankings still have some questions, though. We’re going to look at one big one for every team in this week’s rankings. These may not be the most critical queries, but we think they’re the most interesting.
Your question might be: How far did the ultra-impressive Ravens and Lions move up? Please read on.
Last week: 1
Sunday: Bye
One Big Question: Can Sam Darnold keep it up?
Everyone is waiting for the Vikings quarterback to turn into a pumpkin. He has started fast before, they say, and they’re right. Darnold had 1,346 passing yards in Weeks 1 through 6 of the 2018 season with the Jets. The difference? Darnold had nine passing touchdowns and seven interceptions to start that season. This year, Darnold has 11 touchdowns and four interceptions. In three of the last four seasons that Kevin O’Connell has been head coach or offensive coordinator for a team, that team has been top 10 in the league in scoring. The Vikings are sixth at the moment (27.80 ppg).
Up next: vs. Detroit Lions, Sunday, 1 p.m. ET
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2. Baltimore Ravens (4-2)
Last week: 3
Sunday: Beat Washington Commanders 30-23
One Big Question: Which Raven is the MVP frontrunner?
That’s how good Baltimore’s offense is right now. Lamar Jackson is playing better than he was last season when he won the MVP award (second in the league in EPA per dropback), but Derrick Henry has been almost as good. A running back obviously will not win the league’s MVP award (it hasn’t happened since Adrian Peterson in 2012), but Henry’s first six games have been phenomenal. He’s averaging 117.3 yards per game, which would stand as the second-best rushing total for a season in the last 10 years, behind only his own 2020 season, according to TruMedia.
Up next: at Tampa Bay Buccaneers, Monday, 8:15 p.m. ET
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3. Detroit Lions (4-1)
Last week: 6
Sunday: Beat Dallas Cowboys 47-9
One Big Question: Was Sunday a good day or a bad day?
The Lions were the most impressive team in the league against the Cowboys, but they lost the NFL’s sack leader when Aidan Hutchinson suffered a broken leg. Hutchinson had 7 1/2 sacks and led all defensive linemen with a 25 percent pressure rate at the time of the injury. Humiliating Dallas while Jared Goff posted a 153.8 passer rating Sunday felt good, but a season with the highest expectations just got tougher.
Up next: at Minnesota Vikings, Sunday, 1 p.m. ET
Last week: 2
Sunday: Bye
One Big Question: Will they trade for a wide receiver?
JuJu Smith-Schuster is the most proven wide receiver on the roster. He hasn’t had a 1,000-yard season since 2018, and he has only nine catches this season. Rookie Xavier Worthy, the leading active wide receiver (12 catches, 179 yards), will get better, but this team is trying to three-peat. It can’t afford to stand pat at this position, can it? The Chiefs are unlikely to get into the Davante Adams sweepstakes, so Browns wide receiver Amari Cooper looks like the most attractive option.
Up next: at San Francisco 49ers, Sunday, 4:25 p.m. ET
Texans wide receiver Tank Dell will be asked to do more with Nico Collins out with an injury. (Brian Fluharty / Imagn Images)
Last week: 4
Sunday: Beat New England Patriots 41-21
One Big Question: Can Tank Dell step up?
Sunday was a good start but just a start. Dell caught seven passes for 57 yards against the Patriots, his highest catch total and second-highest yardage total of the season. The first five games had been rough for the second-year wide receiver. His EPA per target is down from .46 last year to .08 this year, according to TruMedia, but with Nico Collins now on injured reserve, Dell needs to return to form. Houston leads the AFC South by two games, and the Texans need to start planning for the playoffs. They’ll need Dell in peak form for that even when Collins returns.
Up next: at Green Bay Packers, Sunday, 1 p.m. ET
6. Washington Commanders (4-2)
Last week: 5
Sunday: Lost to Baltimore Ravens 30-23
One Big Question: Is this a new-and-improved Kliff Kingsbury?
Washington leads the league in EPA per play (.20) and is scoring on 61.82 percent of its drives, which is the highest rate in the NFL since at least the 1999 season, according to TruMedia. Kingsbury, the Commanders’ offensive coordinator, coached the Arizona Cardinals from 2019 to 2022 and those teams never scored on more than 45 percent of their drives. Kingsbury’s 2021 team started 10-2 before defenses figured things out, and Arizona lost five of its last six (including its wild-card round loss). Will he have a counterpunch this season?
Up next: vs. Carolina Panthers, Sunday, 4:05 p.m. ET
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7. Green Bay Packers (4-2)
Last week: 8
Sunday: Beat Arizona Cardinals 34-13
One Big Question: Are we sleeping on this team?
Green Bay has won four of its last five with its only loss coming by two points to the No. 1 team on this list. The Packers are fourth in the league in point differential (plus 41) and looked really good with wide receivers Christian Watson and Romeo Doubs back in the lineup (three touchdowns combined). The knock at this point would be that their wins have come against the Colts, Titans, Rams and Cardinals.
Up next: vs. Houston Texans, Sunday, 1 p.m. ET
Last week: 7
Monday: Beat New York Jets 23-20
One Big Question: When will Josh Allen throw his first interception?
It’s frankly remarkable given Allen’s free-wheeling style that he hasn’t already. He had at least two by Week 7 in each of the first six years of his career, and he averaged 4.8 in Weeks 1-6 in those seasons. But he hasn’t thrown a pick this year. Some of it is luck. Allen has made five interception-worthy throws, according to FTNFantasy’s tracking. But most of it is because he’s playing really good football. Allen, who has 10 touchdown passes, is third in the league in EPA per dropback (.23).
Up next: vs. Tennessee Titans, Sunday, 1 p.m. ET
After a slow start, Bijan Robinson and the Falcons offense are flying. (Jim Dedmon / Imagn Images)
Last week: 10
Sunday: Beat Carolina Panthers 38-20
One Big Question: Are the Falcons good?
There’s some evidence they are. The Falcons have won three straight NFC South games. On Sunday, they rushed for 198 yards one week after Kirk Cousins set the franchise record for passing yards with 509. Bijan Robinson, Drake London and Kyle Pitts all made significant contributions against Carolina. However, Atlanta had a negative point differential before beating the reeling Panthers by 18 points. The Falcons’ margin of victory was their second-highest since the end of 2020, and the next two weeks will provide big tests (Seattle and then Tampa Bay for the second time this season).
Up next: vs. Seattle Seahawks, Sunday, 1 p.m. ET
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10. San Francisco 49ers (3-3)
Last week: 14
Thursday: Beat Seattle Seahawks 36-24
One Big Question: Will Christian McCaffrey play this season?
The 49ers could have opened the running back’s window to return from IR this week. They did not. That’s not an encouraging sign. An NFL Network report last week suggested the 49ers are targeting Week 10 for the running back’s return, but that sounded more hopeful than anything. Ricky Pearsall, who was shot six weeks ago, likely will play sooner than McCaffrey, who is suffering from Achilles tendinitis. Jordan Mason is second in the league in rushing (609 yards) filling in for McCaffrey, but he doesn’t provide the same headaches for opponents.
Up next: vs. Kansas City Chiefs, Sunday, 4:25 p.m. ET
11. Tampa Bay Buccaneers (4-2)
Last week: 11
Sunday: Beat New Orleans Saints 51-27
One Big Question: What will Mike Evans’ career numbers be?
Evans is off to a slow start by his standards (28th in the league with 310 yards), but with this offense, he could catch fire at any time. Evans, who is in his 11th year, is 30th all time in receiving yards with 11,990, and Larry Fitzgerald’s 17,492 which is second all time, feels very reachable for the 31-year-old Evans. The Bucs, who had 594 yards against the Saints, are tied for second in the league in scoring (29.7 ppg).
Up next: vs. Baltimore Ravens, Monday, 8:15 p.m. ET
Last week: 12
Sunday: Beat Denver Broncos 23-16
One Big Question: Is the defense really this good?
The Chargers lead the league in points allowed (13.2), but that might be propped up by the schedule (four of their five opponents are bottom 12 in the league in scoring), the turnover margin (plus-7, which ranks tied for second in the league) and an offense that plays keep-away (seventh in time of possession). The Broncos gained 6 yards per play on Sunday, but the Chargers played their plodding game, getting 96 yards out of J.K. Dobbins and holding on to the ball for more than 37 minutes.
Up next: at Arizona Cardinals, Monday, 9 p.m. ET
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Last week: 17
Sunday: Beat Jacksonville Jaguars 35-16
One Big Question: When is Cole Kmet Day in Chicago?
Sure, Caleb Williams keeps getting better. The rookie quarterback had a career-high four touchdown passes and his second-best passer rating (124.4), but how often do we get to talk about Cole Kmet? The fifth-year tight end had five catches for 70 yards and two touchdowns and was perfect as the team’s emergency long snapper Sunday in London after regular Scott Daly was injured. In the second quarter, Kmet caught a 31-yard touchdown pass and then made his first NFL long snap on the extra point. Kmet’s 289 receiving yards are the third most by a tight end this season.
Up next: Bye
.@ColeKmet scored the touchdown, then came in as the emergency long snapper on the PAT.
Legend.
📺: #JAXvsCHI on NFL Network
📱: Stream on #NFLPlus pic.twitter.com/PQ22R2HLrc— NFL (@NFL) October 13, 2024
Last week: 15
Sunday: Beat Las Vegas Raiders 32-13
One Big Question: Why would they start Russell Wilson?
Justin Fields has been an average quarterback this season, and there has not been much evidence of late that Wilson can reach that level. Fields is 17th in the league in EPA per dropback (.04). That’s the best mark of his four-year career, and the first time he’s been in positive numbers, and he’s thrown only one interception (versus five touchdown passes). On top of that, he’s basically half of the Steelers’ run game with 231 yards and five touchdowns on the ground. At age 35, Wilson can no longer provide that.
Up next: vs. New York Jets, Sunday, 8:20 p.m. ET
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15. Seattle Seahawks (3-3)
Last week: 13
Thursday: Lost to San Francisco 49ers 36-24
One Big Question: Where’d Kenneth Walker go?
The Seahawks are last in the league in percentage of plays running the ball (31.6). That’s the second-lowest percentage for any team in the last 20 years. Quarterback Geno Smith is playing good football (16th in EPA per dropback), but Walker needs the ball more. After carrying 20 times in Seattle’s season-opening win, Walker has averaged 10 carries per game. Despite this and missing two games because of injury, he’s tied for fifth in the league in rushing touchdowns with five.
Up next: at Atlanta Falcons, Sunday, 1 p.m. ET
16. Dallas Cowboys (3-3)
Last week: 9
Sunday: Lost to Detroit Lions 47-9
One Big Question: Who’s America’s Team now?
The Cowboys have officially forfeited the title. The Lions didn’t take them seriously on Sunday (three offensive linemen ran receiving routes) and no one else should either. Dallas is 25th in point margin (minus-42 points), 30th in points allowed per game (28), last in rushing yards (463) and last in rushing defense EPA (minus-6.2). Owner/GM Jerry Jones hasn’t fired a coach midseason since 2010, but he can’t like being embarrassed like he was Sunday.
Up next: Bye
Last week: 22
Sunday: Beat New York Giants 17-7
One Big Question: Was the 1-4 hole too deep?
The Athletic’s playoff projections give the Bengals a 40 percent chance to make the postseason, which is not bad for a team that started 0-3 and 1-4. The Bengals play the Browns, Eagles and Raiders in the next three weeks, so it’s entirely possible they could have a winning record by early November. The way Joe Burrow and this offense are playing, it seems reasonable for this team to go on a run. Burrow has 12 passing touchdowns and only two interceptions, and the Bengals are fourth in the league in EPA per play (.12) and points per drive (2.67).
Up next: at Cleveland Browns, Sunday, 1 p.m. ET
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18. Philadelphia Eagles (3-2)
Last week: 18
Sunday: Beat Cleveland Browns 20-16
One Big Question: What’s going on with Nick Sirianni?
The Eagles head coach showed up after the bye week with a shaved head, chirped at his home fans late in the game and then showed up for the postgame news conference with his three young children in tow. Sirianni doesn’t call the offense or defense for the Eagles, so if his only contribution is this kind of stuff, will Philly make a change? The Eagles are 21st in the league in point differential (minus-6) despite having a winning record.
Up next: at New York Giants, Sunday, 1 p.m. ET
Nick Sirianni with a long answer on why he brought his kids to the podium
Gets emotional talking about how much football means to him and his family pic.twitter.com/OmMqmGLWDT
— Eliot Shorr-Parks (@EliotShorrParks) October 13, 2024
19. Denver Broncos (3-3)
Last week: 19
Sunday: Lost to Los Angeles Chargers 23-16
One Big Question: Are defense and special teams enough?
Rookie quarterback Bo Nix has shown some flashes, but he is 30th in the league in passer rating (73.7), 31st in EPA per dropback (minus-.18) and has thrown five interceptions. The Broncos are 29th in the league in offensive EPA per play (minus-.17) and average yards per drive (22.8). The Broncos are playing .500 football because of a defense that is fourth in the league in defensive EPA per play (.16) and fifth in special teams EPA (16.75).
Up next: at New Orleans Saints, Thursday, 8:15 p.m. ET
20. Indianapolis Colts (3-3)
Last week: 25
Sunday: Beat Tennessee Titans 20-17
One Big Question: What do you do with Anthony Richardson?
The second-year quarterback practiced all week despite an oblique injury that kept him out for Week 5. He was limited on Wednesday and Friday but a full participant on Thursday. Either he aggravated the injury on Thursday or the Colts decided to stay with Joe Flacco for other reasons. Either possibility is believable. Indianapolis has won two of the three games in which Flacco has played, and it scored 34 points in the third. Richardson is 28th in EPA per dropback (minus-.08) this year. Flacco is seventh (.16).
Up next: vs. Miami Dolphins, Sunday, 1 p.m. ET
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21. New Orleans Saints (2-4)
Last week: 20
Sunday: Lost to Tampa Bay Buccaneers 51-27
One Big Question: Is this defense finally aging?
Stalwart defensive end Cam Jordan is playing less than 50 percent of the snaps. Linebacker Demario Davis is still on the field just over 90 percent of the snaps, but he doesn’t have a tackle for loss or a game-changing play of any kind. After Sunday, New Orleans is last in the league in yards allowed (395.8 ypg) and 31st yards per play allowed (6.1). Both numbers are the third worst in the last 24 years of New Orleans football.
Up next: vs. Denver Broncos, Thursday, 8:15 p.m. ET
22. Arizona Cardinals (2-4)
Last week: 16
Sunday: Lost to Green Bay Packers 34-13
One Big Question: Did the new “Call of Duty” game come out early?
Emboldened after leading Arizona to a 24-23 win over San Francisco in Week 5, Murray announced his involvement in the new “Call of Duty” Black Ops 6 game, which is set to debut Oct. 25. He might have gotten an early copy, though. Murray’s EPA per dropback Sunday (minus-.07) was his second lowest of the season, and he rushed for only 14 yards. Murray’s 12 fantasy points produced against the Packers were the 10th fewest of his career.
Up next: vs. Los Angeles Chargers, Monday, 9 p.m. ET
To the trolls who memed me into a bag, thank you!
I’m officially launching my @CallofDuty partnership! #CODPartnership #TheReplacer #BlackOps6 pic.twitter.com/JwpZKxSzYo
— Kyler Murray (@K1) October 7, 2024
23. New York Jets (2-4)
Last week: 23
Monday: Lost to Buffalo Bills 23-20
One Big Question: Can they just run the Hail Mary every snap?
Aaron Rogers threw his fourth career Hail Mary touchdown at the end of the first half Monday night. It’s about the only thing that has worked out for New York this year. Firing Robert Saleh didn’t change their luck there. New York took over first place in the NFL in penalty yards lost (462) Monday night after being flagged 11 times for 110 yards. Javon Kinlaw got three by himself in under two minutes in the fourth quarter.
Up next: at Pittsburgh Steelers, Sunday, 8:20 p.m. ET
Why is Aaron so good at that 😂😂😂
— Patrick Mahomes II (@PatrickMahomes) October 15, 2024
24. New York Giants (2-4)
Last week: 21
Sunday: Lost to Cincinnati Bengals 17-7
One Big Question: How can you not love New York?
While the Jets stole the back page headlines by firing Robert Saleh, the Giants quietly had one of those stories that only seems to happen in the Big Apple. Wide receiver Malik Nabers made headlines by showing up at a Travis Scott concert last week while in concussion protocol and then was ruled out of the game Friday. With apologies to Darius Slayton, who had 57 receiving yards on Sunday, Nabers is the only person who makes this team watchable at this point. Daniel Jones returned to form Sunday, posting a 57.5 passer rating, although he did lead the Giants in rushing (56 yards).
Up next: vs. Philadelphia Eagles, Sunday, 1 p.m. ET
25. Las Vegas Raiders (2-4)
Last week: 24
Sunday: Lost to Pittsburgh Steelers 32-13
One Big Question: Why not trade Maxx Crosby, too?
Maybe the main reason is that he doesn’t want a trade, and he doesn’t even want anyone talking about the subject (Sorry, Maxx, we mean no harm.) “Don’t speak about me when you don’t know what’s going on,” Crosby said before Sunday’s game. “You think I want to be anywhere else? No. I’ve got this (team) tattooed on my body.” But this season is going nowhere (the Raiders are tied for 27th in points allowed – 27.2 per game – even with Crosby) and wide receiver Davante Adams is headed out the door. What kind of trade offer would it take for Crosby to make room for a Lions tattoo?
Up next: at Los Angeles Rams, Sunday, 4:05 p.m. ET
GO DEEPER
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26. Los Angeles Rams (1-4)
Last week: 26
Sunday: Bye
One Big Question: Did they trade their soul for that Super Bowl?
The Rams are 16-24 (including playoffs) since beating Cincinnati 23-20 in Super Bowl LVI, and Matthew Stafford, Kyren Williams, Cooper Kupp and Puka Nacua have all missed significant time with injuries since then. Los Angeles is 26th in the league in point differential (minus-45) this year. Kupp could be back as soon as this week. Nacua’s return will take a little longer.
Up next: vs. Las Vegas Raiders, Sunday, 4:05 p.m. ET
27. Miami Dolphins (2-3)
Last week: 28
Sunday: Bye
One Big Question: If Tua’s coming back, when?
It sounds like Tua Tagovailoa wants to return to the game despite suffering a third confirmed concussion in the past three seasons in September. Former college head coach Nick Saban told “The Pat McAfee Show” that the quarterback wants to return, and Dolphins coach Mike McDaniel said Tagovailoa had an “expert consultation” last week. There’s “nothing negative so far, but we’re still in the process,” McDaniel said. Whether that’s a good decision or not, Miami would love Tagovailoa on the field. Since the start of 2022, the Dolphins are 20-12 in the regular season and averaging 26.8 points when Tagovailoa starts and 2-5 with 13.6 points per game when he doesn’t.
Up next: at Indianapolis Colts, Sunday, 1 p.m. ET
The Titans are going nowhere with second-year quarterback Will Levis. (Andrew Nelles / The Tennessean / USA Today Network via Imagn Images)
28. Tennessee Titans (1-4)
Last week: 27
Sunday: Lost to Indianapolis Colts 20-17
One Big Question: Which 2025 quarterback do the Titans like?
Right now, Tennessee is set to draft sixth this spring, but that position is bound to get better the way things are going. That’s a good thing considering the way Will Levis is playing. The second-year quarterback is 35th in EPA per dropback (minus-.31) and has seven interceptions against just five touchdown passes. It’s more likely that this season’s failures will be heaped on Levis than first-year head coach Brian Callahan, although there’s plenty of blame to go around. Big-money free-agent wide receiver Calvin Ridley has two catches for 14 yards since Week 2. He had eight targets Sunday but no catches.
Up next: at Buffalo Bills, Sunday, 1 p.m. ET
29. New England Patriots (1-5)
Last week: 29
Sunday: Lost to Houston Texans 41-21
One Big Question: How was Drake Maye feeling Monday morning?
Ostensibly one of the reasons New England waited until Week 6 to start the rookie quarterback was a concern for his safety, and he was sacked four times Sunday, three by Will Anderson. But Maye is a big boy (6-foot-4, 225 pounds) and doesn’t appear fragile. Sacks notwithstanding, he made the Patriots much more watchable. Maye passed for 243 yards and three touchdowns. Former starter Jacoby Brissett threw two touchdowns in Weeks 1-5. Maye also led New England in rushing (38 yards). New England still lost its fifth straight, but at least it was less painful.
Up next: at Jacksonville Jaguars in London, Sunday, 9:30 a.m. ET (London)
30. Carolina Panthers (1-5)
Last week: 30
Sunday: Lost to Atlanta Falcons 38-20
One Big Question: How long can Dave Canales’ optimism survive?
The first-year head coach agreed with his former quarterback Baker Mayfield that he was an “optimist bully,” but things are bleak in Carolina. The Panthers have lost 20 of their last 23 games and are 32-73 under the ownership of David Tepper. They lost by 18 points Sunday to a Falcons team that has beaten just one other team that badly in the last four years. At least Carolina has its first-round pick in 2025.
Up next: at Washington Commanders, Sunday, 4:05 p.m. ET
31. Jacksonville Jaguars (1-5)
Last week: 31
Sunday: Lost to Chicago Bears 35-16
One Big Question: Should Doug Pederson go the Ted Lasso route?
The Jaguars are in the middle of back-to-back games in England, where team owner Shad Khad also owns soccer club Fulham F.C., which has never finished higher than seventh in the Premier League. It’s highly doubtful Khan wants Pederson to remain the head coach of his NFL team. The Jaguars, who have lost 10 of their last 12 games, have topped 20 points in only one game this season. If Pederson loses to New England on Sunday, maybe he can just stay in London.
Up next: vs. New England Patriots, Sunday, 9:30 a.m. ET (London)
32. Cleveland Browns (1-5)
Last week: 32
Sunday: Lost to Philadelphia Eagles 20-16
One Big Question: How hard is it to cheer for this team?
We’re not here to pile on Cleveland fans. Honestly. You guys have enough to deal with right now. The Browns are 30th in the league in scoring (15.83 ppg) with a $230 million quarterback that the head coach has to defend every Sunday afternoon. “Yes,” Deshaun Watson will start again next week, Kevin Stefanski said after Watson threw for 168 ineffectual yards and Cleveland failed to score an offensive touchdown on Sunday. Since the start of 2023, Zach Wilson, Bryce Young, Tommy DeVito and Bailey Zappe are the only quarterbacks who are worse than Watson by EPA per dropback.
Up next: vs. Cincinnati Bengals, Sunday, 1 p.m. ET
(Top photo of Jared Goff: Ron Jenkins / Getty Images)
Travis Hunter got hurt, left early and watched his team lose a close one. That’s no reason for anyone who thought the Colorado cornerback/receiver was the best player in college football entering Saturday to think otherwise coming out of Saturday.
But the Heisman Trophy can’t just be about being. It’s about doing, and no one is doing more on a weekly basis to make voters notice than Boise State running back Ashton Jeanty. So as the pool of candidates expands in The Athletic’s Heisman straw poll — to a season-high nine this week — Jeanty also boasts the most points a candidate has earned.
After rushing for 217 yards and a touchdown, plus catching a touchdown, in Boise State’s 28-7 win at Hawaii, Jeanty received 20 first-place votes and 74 points. That’s up from 10 first-place votes and 58 points a week ago. Hunter came in second with six first-place votes and 52 points, after he led the poll with 15 first-place votes and 67 points last week.
The Athletic follows the same voting protocol as that of the Heisman: three points for a first-place vote, two points for a second-place vote, one point for a third-place vote.
| Player | Team | Pos | 1st | 2nd | 3rd | PTS |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
|
Ashton Jeanty |
RB |
20 |
7 |
0 |
74 |
|
|
Travis Hunter |
WR/CB |
6 |
14 |
5 |
51 |
|
|
Cam Ward |
QB |
1 |
3 |
12 |
21 |
|
|
Dillon Gabriel |
QB |
0 |
3 |
5 |
11 |
|
|
Kaleb Johnson |
RB |
0 |
0 |
1 |
1 |
|
|
Jalen Milroe |
QB |
0 |
0 |
1 |
1 |
|
|
Diego Pavia |
QB |
0 |
0 |
1 |
1 |
|
|
Kurtis Rourke |
QB |
0 |
0 |
1 |
1 |
|
|
Jeremiah Smith |
WR |
0 |
0 |
1 |
1 |
Miami quarterback Cam Ward remained in third place with 21 points, again getting a lone first-place vote, after an off week for the Hurricanes. The new name this week is Dillon Gabriel, the Oregon quarterback who came up huge in a top-five battle that lived up to the billing — 341 yards passing and two touchdowns, plus a 27-yard touchdown run, to beat Ohio State 32-31.
He was spectacular, for what is now the No. 2 team in the country, and he has games ahead against Illinois, Michigan, Wisconsin and Washington that can strengthen his case. The case could be made in a potential Big Ten Championship Game rematch with Ohio State, if Gabriel can maintain a high level of play until then and engineer a second win against the Buckeyes.
Ward doesn’t have as much opportunity available in the regular season but has been the more dynamic player, and a potential ACC title game matchup with Clemson could be a big moment for him.
Those two are joined by three other quarterbacks in the straw poll: Vanderbilt’s Diego Pavia, who followed up a shocking upset of No. 1 Alabama by controlling the game in another upset win, at Kentucky; Alabama’s Jalen Milroe, who could give himself a bump this week at Tennessee; and Indiana’s Kurtis Rourke, whose 6-0 Hoosiers have an enormous opportunity at home against Nebraska.
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The Athletic 134: Why Oregon’s on top of our midseason FBS rankings
Ohio State freshman receiver Jeremiah Smith got a vote after another splendid performance, nine catches for 100 yards and a touchdown in the dramatic loss at Oregon. He had a late catch that might have led to a winning field goal wiped away for offensive pass interference, but a freshman doing that to a defensive back will still land on a highlight tape.
Iowa running back Kaleb Johnson is a first-time vote-getter after rushing 21 times for 166 yards and two touchdowns in a 40-16 rout of Washington. Johnson is second nationally with 937 rushing yards and 156.2 yards rushing per game. Jeanty leads both of those categories, 1,248 yards and 208.0 per game. He also leads the nation with 17 rushing touchdowns and is averaging a ridiculous 9.9 yards per carry.
As The Athletic’s Stewart Mandel pointed out, Jeanty is on pace to for 2,704 yards if Boise State can reach the Mountain West title game. That would beat Barry Sanders’ FBS record of 2,628 yards, set in 1988. Yes, Sanders did it in just 11 games and against powers such as Oklahoma and Nebraska. But Jeanty shredded Oregon for 192 yards and three touchdowns, and anything close to the record will make him tough to beat. Unless a quarterback has a run of dominance, in terms of individual and team success, from here. Or if Hunter does some great things to remind everyone what a great, and unique, player he is.
(Photo: Marco Garcia / Imagn Images)
In spring 2020, as the COVID-19 pandemic upended the country, WNBA commissioner Cathy Engelbert was locked down in her New Jersey home. The league was facing a season on the brink right as its stakeholders felt it had begun to gather momentum.
In conversations with league owners and players, Engelbert sensed in those early weeks of the pandemic the tension over what was at stake. Without a season, the league faced what she later called an “existential” moment about the prospect of going dark for 20 months.
“I don’t know if we would have made it, but I do know we wouldn’t be where we are today without having had that highly competitive 22-game season in the bubble,” Engelbert said.
Four years after the “Wubble,” the league is celebrating the WNBA Finals between the New York Liberty and Minnesota Lynx as a capstone to its most successful year. The WNBA has never been in a better place. Television ratings are up. So is attendance. The league is riding a boom in interest and talent, driven by the steady excellence of longtime stars like A’ja Wilson and Breanna Stewart, and the arrival of Caitlin Clark. Three expansion teams have already been named and another is expected. A lucrative new media deal is set to start in 2026.
LIBERTY LEVELS UP 🗽
The #WNBAFinals presented by @YouTubeTV is now tied at 1-1! Game 3 is set for Wednesday at 8pm/ET in Minneapolis 🔥 pic.twitter.com/sZOjIZSZZW
— WNBA (@WNBA) October 13, 2024
The progress has not been without its growing pains. For years, WNBA players pushed for private charter flights for teams traveling between games — a common practice for their peers in the NBA and most other major professional sports leagues — before the league granted them this season. Occasional high-profile games have been moved because of scheduling conflicts, and fans have voiced frustration about merchandise and broadcast accessibility. Engelbert received criticism from players, including an admonishment from the players’ union, last month for what they said was an inadequate public response to the online harassment and abuse many said they’ve received this season. The union has also routinely called for more transparency from the league on its finances and operations.
But the league remains on the ascent, and the choice to play in 2020 has been hailed by team owners as an important springboard. “I think it was one of the best decisions made in the history of this league,” Seattle Storm co-owner Lisa Brummel said.
That decision kept the WNBA in the consciousness of fans and created a strengthened player body. As important, it continued to generate revenue via media rights and corporate partnerships.
A few months after the conclusion of the 2020 season, the WNBA made another choice that significantly affected its trajectory. It began a capital raise that has helped supercharge its reach and popularity. It didn’t have to come in from the shadows to do so. If not for that window of time, stakeholders say, the WNBA might not be where it is now.
Before Engelbert took over as the WNBA’s first official commissioner in 2019 — the league was previously run by presidents — she had to interview with the league’s team owners. As she went around the country, visiting all 12 markets, she heard a similar refrain. After nearly three decades of trying to find its footing, the WNBA’s power brokers had decided it was time to grow. The plan, Engelbert said, was based on a simple idea: “Go big or go home.” The league, they told her, needed more capital.
There was no consensus on how much. Just that it needed more to grow. Engelbert sought perspectives from influential people around her. When she met Kobe Bryant late that year, she said he asked what the WNBA needed. Engelbert passed along the desire for more capital and floated $50 million as a target. That number turned out to be a fraction of what it later received from investors.
In early 2021, the WNBA put out a pitch deck to investors. The process was driven, in part, by the Liberty’s ownership group, which also owns the Brooklyn Nets and Blue Pool Capital, a private equity firm. “At the time, we really needed that infusion of capital,” Liberty co-owner Clara Wu Tsai said.
It was a new approach by the WNBA. The NBA had helped stand up the league over its first two-plus decades in existence, but now it sought money from other sources. The WNBA was short on resources and manpower. It needed investments to put into marketing and brand building, digital innovation and to drive more revenue.
A year later, it closed a $75 million capital raise that came with a $475 million post-money valuation for the WNBA. Michael Dell and Nike were the largest investors, according to one source with knowledge of the raise who was not authorized to speak publicly about the agreement. Nike invested $25 million, according to multiple league and industry sources. Nike declined to comment. Engelbert did not dispute that number when asked but said the sneaker company was a natural partner.
“Nike called and wanted to make a substantial investment because part of their strategy was to double down on women’s sports,” she said.
Investors in the capital raise took a roughly 16 percent stake in the league, with WNBA owners and NBA owners each splitting the rest in half, and took preferred equity. That gives them a priority return on their investment with a 5 percent dividend, said one person with knowledge of the capital raise who was granted anonymity because the person did not have the authority to speak publicly about the league’s financial structure. Though they have non-voting shares in the league, they also have two observers on the Board of Governors.
“I was just intrigued that there was this league where the quality of the players is so great,” Karen Finerman, Metropolitan Capital CEO and a WNBA investor, said. “And yet the league was struggling.”
The WNBA’s financial situation has improved since then, and high-ranking executives and owners point to the raise as a reason. It helped supercharge the league’s growth and put the WNBA in a place where it could take advantage of the surge in popularity since 2020.
Increased globalization was announced as one of the uses of the money. After playing multiple exhibition games in Canada, a Toronto expansion team will begin play in 2026. Engelbert said the league would like to play games on various continents. Last week, she singled out Mexico City for its interest in hosting competition. The WNBA has also undergone a digital transformation after the raise, revamping its app and website. That change also helped with its marketing efforts, as did increases in promotional and paid media campaigns.
Human capital was another area where the money was allocated. When Engelbert took over as commissioner, the WNBA had roughly 12 employees, she said. It still works out of the NBA’s midtown Manhattan offices, but now it has more than 60. It has gone from what Engelbert said was a one-person marketing department to around two dozen employees there. The league hired its first chief marketing officer in December 2020.
“If we weren’t already making incremental progress in our business, then the moment that we’re experiencing right now would not be as big as it is,” Dallas Wings CEO and president Greg Bibb said.
WNBA commissioner Cathy Engelbert took a “go big or go home” approach to running the league. (David L. Nemec / NBAE via Getty Images)
Engelbert believed the capital raise also showed the WNBA could be a growth property. That wasn’t always the case for teams around the league.
When Wu Tsai and her husband, Joe Tsai, bought the Liberty in January 2019, they purchased an organization she said was a distressed asset. James Dolan, the franchise’s first and then-only owner, put the Liberty for sale in November 2017, and moved it out of Madison Square Garden a season later and into Westchester County Center, where they played for two seasons.
“Nobody wanted to touch it,” Wu Tsai said.
Nevertheless, the Tsais found the franchise attractive. They recognized the power of New York as a media market and knew how much the city loved basketball. They believed there was a fan base just waiting to be reinvigorated.
Entering the finals, New York has been re-energized and is viewed around the league as one of the franchises responsible for raising the bar. (Before the WNBA implemented full charter travel this season, the Liberty were fined a league-record $500,000 for chartering their players during the second half of 2021.)
They reshaped the roster and the business, too. In New York’s opener against the Indiana Fever, it recorded $175,000 in merchandise sales, a single-game record for the Liberty and the Nets. Attendance is up to an average of nearly 13,000 fans per Liberty home game, up 64 percent from last year. They have 53 sponsors, up nearly 61 percent year over year, with revenue generated from such partnerships up 68 percent. Wu Tsai said the franchise is heading in the direction of profitability.
“I couldn’t be happier about the demand for tickets for our games, the interest from sponsors and the viewership,” Wu Tsai said.
SOLD OUT DATES 🤩
Huge shoutout to our Libs Fam for showing up and out for a Game 2 win @barclayscenter 🗽 pic.twitter.com/KjNlFBzCWN
— New York Liberty (@nyliberty) October 13, 2024
They aren’t alone, of course. Clark has served as an accelerant in a record-setting year for the Fever (and league more broadly). The Wings rebudgeted their ticket revenue three times this season as a reflection of exploding interest, with signs pointing to another record year next season, Bibb said. They set merchandise records and added more partners, ones who aren’t just local but also national and international brands. They sold two half-percent ownership stakes this summer at a record $208 million valuation.
Transformations in the business also are part of what set the Wings up for a forthcoming move from Arlington to downtown Dallas. They are targeting to begin working in a new practice facility by the start of the 2026 season. The Dallas Memorial Auditorium is undergoing a renovation and will serve as their home arena. “It just changes the game for us,” Bibb said.
The Chicago Sky, led by rookie Angel Reese, have experienced a similar upswing.
“We now have breathing room. Revenue is good. Growing the top line is good. People coming to games and selling out arenas, that’s fantastic,” co-owner and operating chairperson Nadia Rawlinson said. “What has happened over the last 18 months has been nothing short of extraordinary.”
A franchise-specific 40,000-square-foot practice facility is on the way in Chicago. The Sky broke ground on their new facility Oct. 9 with plans to open before the 2026 season. They join Phoenix, Seattle and Las Vegas as franchises that have all recently unveiled new facilities.
“Practice facilities are going to just quickly become table stakes,” Rawlinson said. “I think it will be something most franchises, if not all, will have over the next five years.”
She’s not alone in that belief. Storm co-owner Ginny Gilder said she believes that in five years every franchise will have its own practice facility. If that comes to fruition, it will be one more example of how far the league has come.
“This was a leap (from) many years where people thought, is this going to be sustainable?” said Joe Soper, the governor for the Connecticut Sun. “Are there going to be teams choosing to fold or sell or relocate and just trying to get out because they don’t know if financially it’s going to have the support, even though the talent is there on the court. Now you’re getting this visibility, and everybody gets to see the talent and the growth.”
The WNBA has seen franchise valuations jump, and Engelbert said she thinks they will continue to rise “considerably.” It is a stark difference from a half-decade ago when franchises were sold at values in the single-digit millions. Mark Davis, The Athletic reported in 2022, bought the Las Vegas Aces for a little more than $2 million.
This year, the league drew an all-in fee of $125 million for the expansion franchise in Portland, more than doubling not only what the league sought in expansion fees when it started but also what it cost the Golden State Warriors ownership group to buy in with the Valkyries.
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How the Golden State Valkyries marketing themselves as the new WNBA expansion franchise
This past season, WNBA games averaged a record 1.19 million viewers on ESPN platforms compared with an average of 1.56 million viewers tuning in to watch NBA regular-season games across ABC, ESPN and TNT. And heading into the finals, the playoffs had been the most viewed in 25 years. The league’s new media deal — worth $2.2 billion over 11 years, and potentially more if it lands additional media partners, as it expects — could help lift valuations even higher. There has been so much positive momentum, Engelbert said, that the league decided to pause the search for its 16th team to reassess where it stands and hire an investment banker to run it. She said 10 to 12 cities are viable options.
It is one of several ways the WNBA has had to reorient itself on the fly.
“It’s interesting to talk today about where we are, but I think it’s changing so rapidly, and everything’s changing in the W,” Engelbert said. “I tell my team, everything’s changed, so don’t base this on last year because everything changed this year and how we should be thinking about what’s next for us.”
The next few years will continue to mold the league. The WNBPA is widely expected to opt out of the current collective bargaining agreement, and there could be a new one in place in 2026, the same year the new media deals kick in. The new CBA will determine what proportion of revenue players and teams get.
Players have pushed for higher salaries at a time when the WNBA has had to deal with criticism that they aren’t being paid enough. Teams, after decades of losing money, are hoping to soon crawl into the black. Valkyries president Jess Smith didn’t dismiss profitability in the franchise’s first season.
Though the WNBA’s new media deal is relatively flush, it won’t all trickle down to the teams in the same way it would in the NBA or NFL, which don’t have outside investors. The income the league distributes will hit teams through a waterfall process, though team owners will get the largest share.
But there is a belief across the league that the WNBA is entering a different stage. Its recent prosperity, its stakeholders say, should become normal.
“This is the new baseline,” Rawlinson said.
(Illustration: Dan Goldfarb / The Athletic; photo: Bruce Bennett/ Getty Images)
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