Month: December 2022

NFL Network’s Ian Rapoport reports that the Atlanta Falcons are set to bench veteran quarterback Marcus Mariota and start rookie Desmond Ridder.

The quarterback switch comes after the Falcons have lost four of five games while scoring more than 20 points just once in that stretch, including Sunday’s 19-16 loss to the Pittsburgh Steelers.  Mariota had missed multiple open receivers during the loss to the Steelers, and Falcons coach Arthur Smith opened the possibility of moving from Mariota to Ridder, saying they would be evaluating every position during the bye week. This season, Mariota is 184-of-300 for 2,219 yards, 15 touchdowns and 9 interceptions.

The Falcons selected Ridder in the third round of this year’s draft after four years as a starter at Cincinnati.  Ridder won 44 games at Cincinnati, the third most in college football history, and never lost at home.  In college, Ridder was 810-of-1,304 for 10,239 yards, 87 touchdowns and 28 interceptions. He also ran the ball 501 times for 2,180 yards and 28 touchdowns.

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President Joe Biden announced Thursday that WNBA star and Olympian Brittney Griner has been released from a Russian prison in a one-for-one prisoner exchange. Griner, the 32-year-old center for the Phoenix Mercury, was arrested at a Moscow airport in February after arriving in the country with cannabis oil in her luggage. She was found guilty of smuggling narcotics into Russia in August and sentenced to nine years in prison. Griner’s arrest came shortly before the start of Russia’s invasion of Ukraine in February.

The POTUS tweeted: “Moments ago I spoke to Brittney Griner. She is safe. She is on a plane. She is on her way home.”  Later during remarks from the Roosevelt Room of the White House alongside Vice President Kamala Harris, Secretary of State Antony Blinken and Griner’s wife, Cherelle Griner, Biden said exchange took place in the United Arab Emirates after months of negotiations: “This is a day we worked toward for a long time. We never stopped pushing for her release. It took painstakingly intense negotiations.”  The President added: “These past few months have been hell for Brittney and for Cherelle and her entire family and all teammates back home. People across the country have learned about Brittney’s story, advocated for her release, stood with her throughout this terrible ordeal and I know that and I know that support meant a lot to her family.”

Russia’s foreign ministry said in a statement that Griner was released in exchange for the U.S. release of international arms dealer Viktor Bout. In its statement, the Russian foreign ministry said the United States “categorically refused to engage in dialogue” on the inclusion of Bout in the prisoner exchange, but added, “Nevertheless, the Russian Federation continued to actively work to rescue our compatriot.”  Bout, known as the “Merchant of Death,” was serving a 25-year prison sentence for selling weapons that U.S. prosecutors said were intended to be used to kill Americans.

The one-for-one exchange means that former U.S. Marine Paul Whelan, who has been in Russian custody since 2018, was not part of the deal. Whelan was arrested at a Moscow hotel in December 2018 and convicted of espionage charges, which the former security executive has denied. He is serving a 16-year hard labor sentence at a Mordovia prison camp. Biden said negotiations for his release remain ongoing:“We have not forgotten about Paul Whelan, who has been unjustly detained in Russia for years. This was not a choice of which American to bring home. … While we have not succeeded in securing Paul’s release, we are not giving up. We will never give up …We remain in close touch with Paul’s family, the Whelan family, and my thoughts and prayers are with them today. They have to have such mixed emotions today and we’ll keep negotiating in good faith for Paul’s release.”

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The Buffalo Bills announced Wednesday that Von Miller is out for the remainder of the season after having surgery for an ACL injury. Miller underwent exploratory surgery in Texas on Tuesday and an ACL injury was found in his right knee. The pass-rusher was placed on injured reserve last Thursday before the game against the New England Patriots, with the hope he would return this season. The Super Bowl 50 MVP suffered the injury on Thanksgiving at the end of the first half of the win against the Detroit Lions.

Miller, who signed with the Bills in the offseason on a six-year, $120 million contract, started every game this season except Thursday’s and leads the team with eight sacks and 38 pressures. Miller said in a video posted to his social media accounts Wednesday: “I’m good, man. I’ll be right back … Mentally, I couldn’t be in a better spot, man, and I think that is the majority of it, man. Don’t feel sorry for me. Don’t say I hate it for you. None of that stuff cause I am good. I’m excited for the opportunity to show my teammates how tough I am, how hard I work and how important that this means to me.”

The Bills (9-3) currently have the top seed in the AFC with three games to come against the AFC East, but have now lost two key defenders to season-ending ACL injuries in Thanksgiving games in back-to-back years. Cornerback Tre’Davious White is coming off playing in his most complete game since tearing his ACL in New Orleans last season. White returned to the field for the first time since the injury in the game against the Lions.

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Aaron Judge will remain with the New York Yankees after agreeing to a nine-year, $360 million contract with the franchise .  The deal gives the slugger nearly $150 million more than what the team had offered him in the spring; Judge rejected a seven-year, $213.5M deal from the Yankees last off-season. Judge now is under contract with the Yankees through the 2031 season.

The 30-year-old Judge joined the Yankees as the No. 32 overall pick in the 2013 MLB Draft. He earned Rookie of the Year honors in 2017, when he hit an American League-high 52 home runs. The four-time All-Star owns a career .284 average with 220 home runs and 497 RBIs in 729 games over seven seasons with the Yankees.

The right fielder hit .311 with a league-leading 62 home runs and 131 RBIs   Judge hit his 60th homer of the season on Sept. 20, tying Babe Ruth’s 1927 mark, then matched Roger Maris’ AL record with his 61st on Sept. 28 in Toronto. On Oct. 4, Judge passed Maris with a first-inning homer off the Texas Rangers’ Jesus Tinoco. Last month, Judge was named AL MVP for a season in which he hit .311 with 133 runs and 131 RBIs.

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