Dec 25, 2022; Glendale, Arizona, USA; Arizona Cardinals receiver Greg Dortch (83) drops the ball in celebration of his first down against the Tampa Bay Buccaneers at State Farm Stadium.
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Let’s break down 10 wide receiver sleepers to target for fantasy football Week 18.
Well, here we are. It’s Week 18 of the NFL season. Whether your fantasy football league is still active or you are participating in daily fantasy, let’s break down 10 wide receiver sleepers for the final week of the regular season.
10. Fantasy football wide receiver sleepers for Week 18: Demarcus Robinson, Baltimore Ravens
With Rashod Bateman and Devin Duvernay on the IR, Robinson continues to serve as the lead wide receiver in Baltimore. However, that has not resulted in consistent fantasy production.
With Lamar Jackson at quarterback, Robinson enjoyed some big games, including a 128-yard performance in Week 11, but the Ravens’ passing attack has taken a step back with backup Tyler Huntley. Last week, Robinson led the Ravens’ wide receivers with only three targets. He finished with one reception for nine yards.
Jackson has been ruled out for Sunday’s game, so Huntley will remain the starter.
Given his clear path to targets, Robinson still holds fantasy potential, but he carries demonstrated risk.
9. Fantasy football wide receiver sleepers for Week 18: Shi Smith, Carolina Panthers
Rostered: 0.1%
Last week, Smith had four receptions for a season-high 70 yards and a touchdown against the Tampa Bay Buccaneers. With the Panthers out of the playoff race, the 24-year-old Smith should see more opportunities this week against the New Orleans Saints.
The Lions and the Packers, each sitting at 8-8, close out the 2022 regular season in grand fashion Sunday at Lambeau Field.
Both teams potentially have a chance to clinch a playoff berth with a win in the Week 18 matchup.
The Packers literally just have to win to claim a spot in the postseason. Meanwhile, the game becomes a “win-and-get in” scenario for Dan Campbell’s team if the Rams find a way to beat the Seahawks in their regular season finale.
As a result of the playoff implications surrounding the NFC North divisional contest, the NFL decided to flex the game to NBC’s “Sunday Night Football” telecast.
Outside of the annual Thanksgiving game, it’s the Lions’ first nationally-televised game of the season, and it marks the team’s first primetime contest since Week 2 of last season. It was a Monday Night Football game — televised on ESPN — which also happened to be against the Packers at Lambeau.
So, there’s a significant portion of Detroit’s young roster that has little-to-no experience playing in primetime. That includes Lions rookie EDGE Aidan Hutchinson.
Hutchinson, the No. 2 overall pick in the 2022 draft, is beyond excited to play in his first primetime tilt as a pro.
“No doubt. This is huge, man. Obviously, we can’t control our entire destiny. But, either we’re getting in or we’re knocking someone out. So, it’s going to be fun,” Hutchinson told reporters Thursday. “We’re going to — I’m just so excited, man, to be primetime and to do my intro here pretty soon for Sunday Night Football. It’s gonna be — everything about being in a primetime game, being one of those primetime teams is something that I think, playing for the Lions, is something I want to get used to.”
It’s something that Hutchinson and his teammates will have to get used to, if they carry on their winning ways into the 2023 campaign. After starting the 2022 season with a paltry 1-6 record, Detroit has won seven of its last nine games. And, if it pulls out a win Sunday against Aaron Rodgers & Co. (even just as spoiler to Green Bay’s playoff chances), it further validates the Lions’ status as a team worthy of primetime games next season.
For now, Hutchinson is just worried about filming his player intro video for NBC. He admitted Thursday to putting in some prep time to master his intro for the Sunday Night Football broadcast.
“A couple times,” Hutchinson said, when asked about whether he’s practiced his intro for the telecast. “You see it so much. I feel like it’s so iconic, you know? With everybody, so it’s gonna be fun. And like I said, everything about this game is what I love about football.”
In the first meeting between the two teams this season (in Week 9), the Lions forced Rodgers to throw three interceptions, en route to a 15-9 win at Ford Field. Hutchinson came up with one of those three picks, and also added two tackles and two pressures.
Rodgers later labeled the interception by the first-year pro as a “gift.” Hutchinson, meanwhile, wouldn’t mind being gifted with another pick from the future Pro Football Hall of Famer Sunday.
“It would be cool (to get another gift). It would be cool,” the rookie defensive lineman expressed. “I’m sure he won’t make it as easy for this next time. But, no, I’m fired up and ready to go.”
Hutchinson, who constantly plays with a high motor, is certainly “revved up” and ready for the opportunity to play on Sunday Night Football.
“I know that we didn’t have any (national TV games) this year besides the Thanksgiving game, but that was a 12:30 (p.m.) game and people were still waking up, I feel like,” Hutchinson said. “So, to have this one is going to be special, and hopefully, we’ll have more next year. So, yeah, I’m going to take advantage of it and play my best ball.”
You can add fellow rookie Jameson Williams — the No. 12 overall pick in the 2022 draft — to the list of Lions players excited for the chance to play in a big, end-of-the-season contest Sunday.
“Yeah, it’s a game with a lot on the line,” Williams said Thursday. “We’re just coming prepared. We’ve had a real great week (of practice) so far. It just comes down to who want it more. It’s a real — like I said, it’s a lot on the line for both teams. You know, we’re just coming as prepared as we can and trying to win.”
The veteran safety has been battling a shoulder injury, but took to social media earlier this week indicating he would do whatever it took to appear in the finale.
Detroit defensive coordinator Aaron Glenn indicated this week he has never lacked confidence the team would be prepared each week to execute at a high level.
“When it comes to confidence, that’s never an issue,” said Glenn. “I go in each week confident that we’re going to out there and execute the way we need to execute. I have total belief in these players, have total belief in the coaching staff. I have total belief in myself. And, each week, we put a plan together to go out there and win. And, the players buy into that. And, does it always happen? No. But, for the most part, we’re confident in what we’re trying to do. We’re confident in our players, and we’re confident in the ability to go out there as a team to try to play complementary football, to go win a game.”
Those not spotted at the portion of practice attended by reporters at the team’s facility included defensive lineman Michael Brockers and offensive lineman Kayode Awosika.
Unfortunately, Jeff Okudah popped up on the injury report Friday. The third-year cornerback is dealing with an elbow injury, and has now been listed as questionable against Green Bay.
The Washington Commanders are preparing for Sunday’s finale against the visiting Dallas Cowboys, but they are also preparing for next season … which is the next time we will see running back Antonio Gibson on the field.
Gibson has been placed on injured reserve, with a pair of corresponding moves, as the Commanders signed Jaret Patterson off the practice squad while also adding fellow running back Reggie Bonnafon to the practice squad.
Gibson sat out the 24-10 loss to the Cleveland Browns on Sunday due to foot and knee injuries. … ailments that were sustained the week before in the Commanders’ 37-20 loss to the San Francisco 49ers on Dec. 24.
Gibson amassed a total of 546 yards rushing and three touchdowns to go along with 46 catches for 353 yards and two scores in his 15 games. Gibson, 24, began the season as the team’s starting running back (and recorded six total starts) before rookie Brian Robinson Jr. assumed the role as the season progressed.
Robinson, as it happens, is also dealing with an injury (knee) as Washington, presently sitting at 7-8-1, has been eliminated from postseason contention. Sunday could be a showcase for Patterson, who appeared in two games as a temporary elevation this season but last year was in the mix with his 68 carries for 266 yards and two touchdowns in 17 games last season.
“That’s part of this league,” Turner said of the possibility of any coach anywhere being fired on Monday. “It could happen to anybody. It’s happened to guys that don’t expect it. I just do my job. Whatever happens after this week you go with it. I’m prepared to coach this game and get this team ready to be successful down the road.”
LOUISVILLE, Ky. – The Louisville football program has dipped back into the transfer portal for yet another wide receiver, and this time, they landed one of the best available transfers in college football.
The 6-foot-0, 180-pound wideout was one of the most explosive players not only in the Sun Belt, but all of FBS football. Starting all 12 games, Thrash caught 61 receptions for 1,112 yards and seven touchdowns, with the yardage mark good for 13th nationally. He was named First-Team All-Sun Belt for his efforts.
His 18.39 yards per reception was good for 19th in the FBS, and third behind Oklahoma’s Marvin Mims Jr. and Tennessee’s Jalin Hyatt among the 31 receivers with over 1,000 receiving yards. At the time of his commitment, Thrash was named the No. 14 best available transfer by The Athletic.
As you can imagine, Thrash had several standout performances in 2022. His best performance came on Sept. 17 against Charlotte when he caught 10 passes for 213 yards and a 73-yard touchdown. He also ended the season with three-straight 100-yard games, combining for 23 receptions for 467 yards and two touchdowns against ULM, James Madison and Marshall.
In 30 games and 17 starts for Georgia State, the LaGrange, Ga. native caught 104 passes for 1,752 yards and 12 touchdowns. He finished his Panthers career averaging 16.85 yards per catch.
Since Jeff Brohm took over as the Cardinals’ head coach last month, he has made a deliberate attempt to build on their passing game via the portal. He was able to get Cal graduate transfer quarterback Jack Plummer to commit to Louisville, as well as Cincinnati’s Jadon Thompson, Tennessee’s Jimmy Calloway and Jackson State’s Kevin Coleman Jr. at wide receiver.
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Brohm also signed quarterback Pierce Clarkson and wide receivers William Fowles, Jahlil McClain and Cataurus Hicks last month during the early signing period. Louisville posted the 99th-ranked passing offense in 2021, and lose their top two pass catching options in wide receiver Tyler Hudson and tight end Marshon Ford to the NFL Draft. However, they do return their second and third wide receiver options in Ahmari Huggins-Bruce and Braden Smith.
Thrash is the 11th player to transfer to Louisville over the course of the offseason. He also joins defensive linemen Stephen Herron and Rodney McGraw; cornerback Marquis Groves-Killebrew; and safeties Rodney Neal, Myles Slusher and Gilbert Frierson.
Louisville finished the 2022 season with an overall mark of 8-5 (4-4 in ACC), including a 24-7 win in the Fenway Bowl over Cincinnati.
(Photo of Jamari Thrash: Brett Davis – USA TODAY Sports)
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When it comes to big movies, you might expect the official trailers to be the ultimate source of narrative information and plot detail. But when it comes to Illumination’s The Super Mario Bros. Movie, the McDonald’s leaks have been one of the most prominent outlets for letting us know what is going down in the Mushroom Kingdom.
From that initial reveal of Mario’s appearance to hinting at an unannounced character cameo, we have learnt far more from the fast food retailer about Mario and the gang than we would care to admit. Of course, the biggest source of this information has come in the shape of the famous Happy Meal toys, with the promo leaks gifting us a constant stream of rumour while we wait for the next trailer to drop.
Now, these Happy Meal toys have begun to appear out in the wild and we can finally get a closer look at just how truthful those leaks were. It seems that there are two regional releases for this promo with the US and Japan receiving a more conventional plastic range of toys and Europe getting a buildable cardboard collection.
In the case of the plastic range (the more superior of the two, in our humble opinion) there is a collection of eight toys available, each showing a different character from the movie with it’s own gimmick – Mario makes a jumping motion from a pipe, Bowser shoots a flame, Peach spins, you get the picture.
@nintendomerch snapped a picture of the full display and McDonald’s Japan provided a trailer with some of the toy’s movements in action, both of which can be found below:
The European range, on the other hand, is more about displaying the figures than it is providing something to necessarily play with. This collection of 12 “toys” is comprised of a series of kits where you have to slot together pieces of cardboard to create a small cutout figure from the movie – fun. An image of the full range was shared on Twitter by @RafaelM52985398:
While the cardboard cutouts might not be quite as enjoyable as the toys that we would normally expect from McDonald’s, they are certainly more detailed than the plastic ones and a closer look shows them to apparently be pretty good quality. Reddit user u/MissNintendoGirl shared their growing European collection so far consisting of some of the larger builds (Donkey Kong’s kart) and individual character pieces alike.
If we were still young’uns then we can only imagine our disappointment at getting one of these instead of the cool US toys, but as an item for display purposes only there’s a certain attraction there, we guess.
Which of the above collections is your favourite? Fill out the following poll and then take to the comments to let us know which of the new toys you are after!
Be it rambling about video games or superheroes, Jim wears his passions on his sleeve. Usually found replaying a Zelda title instead of working through his ever-growing backlog, he is a huge fan of all-things fantasy and likes nothing more than to chat about it.
This latest game-breaking trick comes courtesy of Gaming Reinvented (via users Simaubaka and LegendofLinkk) and essentially provides Link with invincibility and unlimited stamina, if executed successfully. Gaming Reinvented breaks down the glitch into two “phases”, the first being the ‘Inventory Storage’ glitch, which effectively forms the basis of the whole shebang, and the second being the ‘Aqua Reverse Memory Storage’ phase (or “ARMS”, if you like).
We won’t go into the specific steps here, because there are a whole bunch of pre-requisites that will be required, along with some exceptional timing with your button presses, so you’ll need to watch the video for a full breakdown. It’s probably worth it for the end result though; the footage depicts Link going up against Lynels and a Stone Talus and taking on no damage whatsoever. It’s pretty wild stuff!
A day may come when the Zelda community ceases to find new ways to break Breath of the Wild, but it is not this day. Maybe when Tears of the Kingdom launches… Heck, maybe not even then.
Are you up for taking this particular glitch for a spin? Let us know how you get on with a comment down below!
Nintendo Life’s resident horror fanatic, when he’s not knee-deep in Resident Evil and Silent Hill lore, Ollie likes to dive into a good horror book while nursing a lovely cup of tea. He also enjoys long walks and listens to everything from Motorhead to BB King.
The Frenchman joined Nissan in an all-new line-up, partnering compatriot Sacha Fenestraz at the Japanese manufacturer ahead of the first season of the Gen3 regulations.
Nissan’s pace looked generally impressive in testing at Valencia across the works team and at McLaren, and Nato topped the one-hour session tacked onto the end of the Thursday media day.
However, he explained that it had taken “a lot of energy” for him to adapt to the team, particularly with a number of changes behind closed doors following its takeover of the e.dams race team, and that the team is perhaps “not as ready” as others on the grid.
“Changing environment, it’s been a really short time between the end of the season and switching to this car, learning the car; the steering, new software, new people, and to develop the car at the same time,” Nato told Motorsport.com.
“It’s like you have time for nothing else basically. So this is something for sure takes quite a lot of energy. I have to deal with it, same for the team, it’s not easy for them because it’s been quite a few changes for the team as well in terms of organisation.
“There’s a lot of things for sure where we are not fully ready yet, and it will take a bit more time. For sure we see an advantage for teams like Jaguar which are working together with the same drivers.
“In the position we are, we know where we have to improve. If we are in the game to win in Mexico, good!
“If not, it’s not the end of the world because we know where we have to improve and we know we are not as ready as some people maybe at the moment.”
Nato explained the differences in adapting to the new car, and the tight timeframes involved in getting used to its handling and in maximising energy recuperation, which operates in a different manner to the Gen2 car.
He also joked that the heavier steering in the new car had led to more drivers spending their off-season publishing social media posts of their trips to the gym.
“Yeah, it’s very different to be honest, compared to the Gen2 car – new tyres, completely different car in terms of downforce,” Nato added.
“Steering is very heavy, so that’s why you see all the drivers pushing in the gym on Instagram! But every car you drive is different, like just running the Venturi and the Jaguar – they were Gen2 cars, yeah, but the setup was already different.
“So you can imagine this car being like completely new as well. Way to regen is also affecting your driving style compared to Gen2, so that’s why it’s a lot of new things to learn in a really short amount of time – and it’s our job to fight against the timing.”
In his first Power On newsletter of 2023, Bloomberg‘s Mark Gurman has several pieces of information regarding Apple’s upcoming product announcements. One of the gadgets he writes about is the long-anticipated Mac Pro with Apple silicon. Here’s what you need to know.
A new Mac Pro has been rumored since Apple announced it would start making its silicon. Then, last year, during the March event, the company teased it was working on a successor of this product, but no further comments were made after that.
As rumors went by, Apple was expected to introduce a high-end configuration of the Mac Pro with 48 CPU cores and 152 graphics cores, but it has reportedly been canceled. Now, Gurman says Apple plans to release a version with the M2 Ultra, which, according to him, makes unclear, beyond the machine’s expandability, why most users would buy it over the cheaper and smaller Mac Studio.
In addition, the once-rumored M2 Extreme processor is apparently canceled as well. Bloomberg’s journalist reports that the new Mac Pro will look identical to the 2019 model – it was once rumored to be half the size of the current generation.
Gurman continues:
It will also lack one key feature from the Intel version: user-upgradeable RAM. That’s because the memory is tied directly to the M2 Ultra’s motherboard. Still, there are two SSD storage slots and for graphics, media and networking cards.
This Mac Pro is expected to be announced in the coming months, most likely at a spring Mac event alongside high-end MacBook Pro models. A successor of the Pro Display XDR is also in the works, but Gurman doesn’t think Apple will announce it in 2023.
Without a new look, a new display, and a proper processor, it’s hard to imagine what will be the selling point of this Mac Pro, especially due to the high cost of the current Intel version.
Apple’s first mixed-reality headset is a wearable device that should offer users virtual (VR) and augmented reality (AR) experiences. The AR/VR headset has appeared in an increasing number of rumors in the past few years, signaling a 2023 launch for the mixed reality gadget. However, Apple won’t hold an announcement event this month, Bloomberg’s Mark Gurman said in a new report.
Instead, Apple will unveil the mixed reality headset in the spring during a launch event separate from WWDC 2023. Sales should start in the second half of the year, although there’s no precise release date.
Gurman detailed Apple’s purported plans for the wearable handset in his Power On newsletter. Apparently, Apple is still dealing with development delays, and it’s been plundering resources from other departments.
The AR/VR wearable is Apple’s main priority for the year, and other projects might suffer as a result.
Gurman says Apple has already shared the device with a small number of high-profile developers for testing and app development.
Apple mixed reality glasses render – side view. Image source: Ian Zelbo
Apple’s current plan is to unveil the headset as the Reality Pro this spring. The device would run a new operating system called xrOS. The company will then get developers up to speed on the software features this June. The mixed reality headset would ship this fall, although there’s no clear release date or release window.
Recently, well-known Apple insider Ming-Chi Kuo said that Apple has been dealing with hardware and software development delays. As a result, the headset would hit stores late in the second quarter or the third quarter of the year.
Gurman also notes that Apple has “many kinks to work out with the device,” including hardware, software, and services. Apple also has to figure out how to market and sell the AR/VR headset.
The device is Apple’s top priority for the year, given that it’s a brand-new product, one that Apple has never manufactured before. That’s why Apple has been diverting resources from other projects to the mixed reality headset. As a result, other projects might suffer, with Gurman noting that Apple might have fewer breakthroughs to show off this year.
