CREATED BY SPORTS BETTORS FOR SPORTS BETTORS
LET’S HEAR YOUR STORY
Kickoff returns are about to become a lot more prevalent in the NFL. The Pittsburgh Steelers are acting accordingly.
The Steelers are expected to sign former Atlanta Falcons running back Cordarrelle Patterson, who also happens to be the NFL's all-time leader in kickoff return touchdowns, to a two-year, $6 million deal, according to NFL Network's Ian Rapoport.
Patterson has posted nine kickoff returns for touchdowns since entering the league in 2013, three times more than his closest competition in that span. He is a seven-time All-Pro as a kick returner (four as a first-teamer and three as a second-teamer).
If anyone was going to benefit from the NFL's kickoff rule changes, it was Patterson. The league has seen kickoff returns increasingly give way to fair kicks over the past several years, diminishing Patterson's value, but the new rules heavily incentivize having a good return man.
The kicking team still kicks from its 35-yard line, but all players save for the kicker line up at the opponent's 40. Meanwhile, at least nine members of the receiving team must line up between the 30- and 35-yard lines, with a maximum of two returners between the end zone and 20-yard line.
The lined-up players cannot move until the ball lands or is caught by a receiving player.
Any kick landing in the "landing zone" (between the goal line and 20-yard line) must be returned. If a kick bounces from the landing zone into the end zone, it must be returned or downed for a touchback to the 20-yard line. If a kick lands short of the landing zone, the receiving team gets the ball at its own 40. If a kick lands in the end zone or goes out the back of the end zone, the receiving team gets the ball at its own 30.
It all sounds very complicated, but the upshot is teams are going to have to start returning kicks again. Teams were perfectly fine calling for a fair kick in most situations, as the risk of a fumble outweighed the reward of a long return or touchdown, especially when a touchback gives them the ball with acceptable field position at the 25-yard line.
Now, kickers can aim for just short of the end zone and force the other team to return the ball, while the previously risky high-speed collisions between blockers and tacklers become safer without a full running start.
The 33-year-old Patterson is coming off the quietest season of his career as a returner with only seven returns and a career-low 21.9 yards per return, but he posted 31.6 yards per return the previous year.
The deal will also reunite Patterson with Steelers offensive coordinator Arthur Smith, who coached Patterson as head coach of the Atlanta Falcons.
Daniel Weinman was crowned winner of the 2023 World Series of Poker (WSOP) Main Event on Monday, taking home a record breaking $12.1 million in winnings. Weinman had to outlast the other 10,043 entrants to take home the prize and get his hands on his share of live poker’s largest ever prize pool – a staggering $93,399,900. As well as taking home the prize money, 35-year-old Weinman also got his hands on the WSOP Main Event bracelet. The huge bracelet contains 500 grams of 10-karat yellow gold, as well as 2,352 various precious gemstones.
Daniel Weinman won the World Series of Poker's main event world championship on Monday in Las Vegas, earning $12.1 million along the way. Playing in the tournament for a 16th year, Weinman was tops in a deep pool of 10,043 players vying for $93.39 million. His victory came after just 164 hands at the final table. "I was honestly on the fence about even coming back and playing this tournament," the 35-year-old Atlanta native told reporters afterward. Weinman's final table featured Jan-Peter Jachtmann, who landed in fourth place and took home $3 million, as well as Toby Lewis, who finished seventh and secured $1.42 million. According to the Las Vegas Review-Journal, the main event's entry pool far outpaced the previous record of 8,773 set in 2006. "I've always kind of felt that poker was kind of going in a dying direction, but to see the numbers at the World Series this year has been incredible," Weinman said. "And to win this main event, it doesn't feel real. I mean, [there's] so much luck in a poker tournament. I thought I played very well." Steven Jones finished second, securing $6.5 million. And Adam Walton settled for third and a $4 million prize.
Your experience on this site will be improved by allowing cookies.
