Manny Machado didn’t want to wait around to make San Diego Padres history.
On Friday, the Padres hosted the San Francisco Giants for the first of a three-game series at Petco Park in San Diego, Calif.
Machado entered the contest with 161 career home runs in a Padres uniform, just two shy of tying Nate Colbert for the franchise record.
The 6-time All-Star got to work quickly. He sent an 83-mph sweeper into the left-field seats for a home run in his very first at-bat. The home run gave the Padres an early 3-0 lead and got Machado one dinger closer to making Padres history.
Machado did it again in the 8th. He led off the inning with his second solo shot that went 419 feet and ended up in the second deck.
Colbert’s record has stood for 50 years. With 19 games left on the Padres’ schedule, there’s an extremely high chance Machado will surpass Colbert for the franchise home run record before season’s end.
Machado’s two-homer game gave him 25 for the year. It’s the ninth time in his career he’s reached 25 or more home runs in a season. The 32-year-old has done it in 5 of his 6 seasons in San Diego, with the lone exception being the shortened 2020 campaign.
Humans aren’t the only ones hyped about football being back. One rabbit got a little too excited during Friday’s college football contest between Northwestern and Duke.
Northwestern held a 10-7 lead over Duke early in the third quarter at Lanny and Sharon Martin Stadium in Evanston, Ill. But the game was halted due to a rabbit invading the field.
Northwestern’s mascot Willie the Wildcat fittingly tried to hunt down the rabbit. The critter’s animal instincts seemed to kick in once it sensed the threat. The rabbit ran across the end zone and eventually off the field.
The rabbit may have just wanted a better vantage point to watch the game.
Northwestern’s offense may have gotten a little out of sorts after the stoppage in play. The Wildcats were facing 3rd-and-3 at the Blue Devils’ 38 before the animal invasion. The home team immediately fumbled and lost possession on the ensuing play.
Animal cameos during sporting events is nothing new. But every once in a while fans get an unusual creature to crash the party.
There are two things NFL teams and fans hope for each week: to win the game and come out healthy. The Green Bay Packers may be going 0-for-2 on that front.
The Packers lost 34-29 to the Philadelphia Eagles Friday at Corinthians Arena in Sao Paolo, Brazil. On top of that, quarterback Jordan Love exited with an injury on the Packers’ final possession.
Love had his left leg twisted while trying to shovel a pass to Josh Jacobs to avoid a sack.
A couple of sports doctors on X speculated that Love may have suffered a high ankle sprain or potential left MCL sprain on the play.
Love went 17/34 for 260 yards, 2 touchdowns and 1 interception in the loss. This was his first game since signing a 4-year, $220 million contract extension with the Packers.
Now the team’s recent addition of Malik Willis holds a lot more significance.
Green Bay Packers quarterback Jordan Love suffered a scary leg injury late in his team’s Friday matchup against the Philadelphia Eagles at Corinthians Arena in Sao Paolo, Brazil.
The Packers got the ball down 34-29 with under 30 seconds left in the contest. On the first play of the drive, Love found Jayden Reed for a 33-yard reception to get Green Bay to Philadelphia’s 49. But with Eagles defenders swarming all over Love on the next play, Love wasn’t able to get off a throw. The Packers QB was able to shovel the football to running back Josh Jacobs but got crushed by two Eagles players in the process.
Eagles defensive tackle Jalen Carter grabbed at Love’s left leg to prevent the QB from making a play. With Josh Sweat tackling him from the other side, Love got crunched as he fell to the ground.
Love stayed down for several minutes before walking off the field on his own power.
The Packers quarterback was replaced by Malik Willis, who was unable to complete a pass before time expired. The Eagles held on for the five-point win.
Love finished 17/34 for 260 yards with 2 touchdowns and 1 interception.
Oct 9, 2022; Glendale, Arizona, USA; Detailed view of a Philadelphia Eagles helmet at State Farm Stadium. Mandatory Credit: Mark J. Rebilas-USA TODAY Sports
Jalen Hurts and Jordan Love weren’t the only ones who needed backups for their teams’ Friday showdown in Brazil. A couple of Philadelphia Eagles reporters also needed to get backups of their own.
The social media website X, where reporters usually post their scoops and thoughts, is currently banned in Brazil. That made things tricky for the handful of reporters who followed the Eagles and Green Bay Packers for their matchup at Corinthians Arena in Sao Paolo.
At least two Eagles reporters tagged in their wives to help them work around the ban. The X accounts of Philly Inquirer reporter EJ Smith and PHLY reporter Zach Berman both said that their significant others were in control while the men fed them info from Brazil.
The posts announcing the substitution got a hugely positive reception on X.
“Btw, we’re controlling Zach’s twitter account while he’s in Brazil. He might miss twitter more than he misses us!” wrote Mrs. Berman earlier this week.
“happy gameday, Eagles fans. this is Mrs. EJ Smith, reporting live from my couch as EJ texts me stuff from Brazil. please be patient and nice to me, this is a first for all of us!” wrote Mrs. Smith just before the Eagles’ Week 1 game against the Packers.
Based on both reporters’ X feeds since the posts, their wives have executed perfectly thus far — just like any ideal backup would
H/T Awful Announcing
Several football fans were not happy with the NFL’s Week 1 game between the Philadelphia Eagles and Green Bay Packers in Sao Paolo, Brazil on Friday night.
Players from both sides were seen repeatedly losing their footing on the field early in the matchup held at Corinthians Arena, a venue primarily used for soccer matches. Eagles running back Saquon Barkley slipped in the backfield on his first carry of the game.
Fans and athletes alike lambasted the poor field conditions for the contest. A handful of them also slammed the NFL for putting their players at risk for injury.
Friday’s Eagles-Packers game became the NFL’s first ever played in Brazil.
The NFL’s push for international games is no surprise given the league’s desire to grow their global fan base. But given the complexities of maintaining optimum field conditions for NFL games, turning soccer stadiums into temporary football venues will always be less than ideal.
Safety concerns about the contest began way before the first snap — and it wasn’t just about the injury risk on the field.
A few players expressed their unease over the extremely high crime rate in Brazil, leading to some players never leaving their team hotel.
Sep 5, 2024; Sao Paolo, Brazil; Philadelphia Eagles running back Saquon Barkley at press conference at the Neo Química Arena. Mandatory Credit: Kirby Lee-Imagn Images
Saquon Barkley is already looking like the missing piece for the Philadelphia Eagles.
The new Eagles running back Barkley wasted absolutely no time during Friday’s season opener against the Green Bay Packers in Brazil. He opened up the scoring for Philly with an 18-yard touchdown reception from Jalen Hurts in the second quarter. Barkley then followed that up with an 11-yard touchdown run later on in the same quarter.
Amid Barkley’s monster first half, a hard-to-believe fact went viral on social media. Field Yates of ESPN revealed that Barkley, with his early receiving touchdown, has already tied the mark for most receiving TDs by an Eagles running back during the entire Hurts era.
Admittedly, that mind-numbing fact might be more so a function of the Eagles’ schemes as well as their talented cast of pass-catchers (featuring AJ Brown, DeVonta Smith, Dallas Goedert, plus others). But Barkley’s dual-threat talent is undeniable, and Philly now has the luxury of utilizing his pass-catching ability out of the backfield as well.
Health may ultimately be the biggest obstacle for the multi-time Pro Bowler Barkley, who has only been able to play in a modest 74 of 99 career games (74.7 percent) entering this season. But Barkley was already looking like a seamless fit in Philadelphia during the offseason, and his numbers during Friday’s season opener continued on that trend as well.
Brenton Doyle did his best Jose Guillen impression to secure the win for his ball club on Friday.
The Colorado Rockies center fielder Doyle went viral for his spectacular feat of arm strength in the ninth inning against the Milwaukee Brewers. With a runner on second and one out as Colorado clung to a 3-2 lead, Milwaukee’s Rhys Hoskins lifted a can of corn into Doyle in the outfield. Doyle made the catch, and Brewer Hicklen, the runner on second, attempted to tag up.
Bad decision, buddy. Doyle produced a laser from the outfield, nailing Hicklen at third base on the fly for the final out of the game. Here is the video of the incredible highlight.
Hicklen, a pinch runner who stole 42 bases in the minors this season, is known for his speed. But that was still probably an ill-advised decision to test Doyle’s arm and ultimately make the final out at third base.
At 53-89, the Rockies have not had much to feel good about this year. But they got their moment against the NL Central-best Brewers on Friday with Doyle delivering MLB’s single most jaw-dropping throw since this one from a different NL West outfielder last month.
Both the Philadelphia Eagles and Green Bay Packers apparently needed to shake off a little rust to start off their seasons.
The Packers had 3rd-and-6 at the Eagles’ 36-yard line on Friday’s opening drive at Corinthians Arena in Sao Paolo, Brazil.
Packers QB Jordan Love connected with wide receiver Jayden Reed on what was initially ruled a 38-yard touchdown. But the play was overturned due to offsetting penalties as both the Packers and Eagles had 12 men on the field.
Philadelphia got incredibly lucky that Green Bay committed the same infraction that they did. The offsetting penalties led to the third-down play being replayed, which resulted in a Packers incompletion. Instead of being up 7-0 to start the game, Green Bay eventually had to settle for a punt.
Fans and media members alike couldn’t believe that there was an inadvertent 12-on-12 moment Eagles-Packers game. Some even believed that the play should have stood because there were, in fact, an equal number of players on both sides.
The play was fitting for the unusual circumstances surrounding the Eagles-Packers contest.
The game was played on a Friday in a country that NFL teams had previously never played in before. Perhaps that had both teams a little out of sorts.
But if there are any irregularities throughout the NFL’s stay in Brazil, players would surely prefer that they happen on the field. Several players had expressed concern about their safety off the field leading up to Friday’s game.
Jalen Hurts’ first game without Jason Kelce got off to a poor start.
Kelce, who was the Philadelphia Eagles’ center since 2011, retired this offseason. That has led Cam Jurgens to become the team’s new center. And just six offensive snaps into the team’s first game of the season, there was a problem.
The Eagles had a 3rd-and-6 from their 20 down 3-0 to the Green Bay Packers during the Week 1 game between the teams at Corinthians Arena in Sao Paolo, Brazil on Friday night.
Hurts was lined up in shotgun and Jurgens snapped a ball before the quarterback was ready for it.
The Packers recovered the fumble and ended up kicking a field goal to go up 6-0.
There appeared to be a miscommunication between Hurts and Jurgens, who snapped the ball before his quarterback was ready. The two players were later seen communicating on the sidelines.
The Eagles are obviously hoping their players will correct the error and get on the same page moving forward.
