Author: rb809rb

SAN FRANCISCO — When the New England Patriots hired Mike Vrabel last offseason, it was considered one of the best hires of the cycle. He had a track record of being a very effective head coach in the NFL.

But nobody expected a turnaround like the Patriots had.

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Vrabel led New England to a stunning 14-3 record after they were 4-13 the season before, and he will be coaching in Super Bowl LX. That’s why Vrabel wasn’t on hand at NFL Honors to pick up his second NFL Coach of the Year award.

“It’s an honor to be recognized among the great coaches of our league,” Vrabel said in a video message he pretaped before the show.  “Ultimately my name goes on this award, but this name belongs to a building, it belongs to a staff, and ultimately belongs to the men in the locker room who believed when they couldn’t always see it, and bought in when it wasn’t always easy.”

Vrabel was also the 2021 NFL Coach of the Year when he was leading the Tennessee Titans. Liam Coen of the Jacksonville Jaguars finished second, Mike Macdonald of the Seattle Seahawks finished third and Ben Johnson of the Chicago Bears finished fourth according to AP. Vrabel had 19 first place votes. Coen had 16.

The rest of the annual awards from the NFL Honors show will be updated as they’re announced on Thursday night:

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Defensive Player of the Year: Cleveland Browns DE Myles Garrett

It took Garrett a little while to break through and win an NFL Defensive Player of the Year award.

Now he has two.

Garrett, who won DPOY two years ago, won the league’s top defensive prize again. Garrett’s award was presented by Michael Strahan, who said Garrett won unanimously. Will Anderson Jr. of the Houston Texans finished second according to Rob Maaddi of the Associated Press.

“Based on the season I had, I was hoping it was unanimous,” Garrett said backstage after being presented his award. “I think I did enough to earn it.”

Garrett, the Cleveland Browns’ star defensive end, was an easy pick. He set an NFL record with 23 sacks this season. He has 125.5 sacks in his nine NFL season and just turned 30 years old, meaning he could enter the top-five all-time list in career sacks (Chris Doleman is fifth with 150.5) within the next two seasons.

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Offensive Rookie of the Year: Carolina Panthers WR Tetairoa McMillan

McMillan, the eighth pick of last year’s NFL Draft, had a consistent, productive season for a Panthers team that won the NFC South. McMillan had 1,014 yards and seven touchdowns. McMillan beat out Patriots RB TreVeyon Henderson, Saints QB Tyler Shough, Giants QB Jaxson Dart and Buccaneers WR Emeka Egbuka, who were the other finalists.

“To me the most humbling part of this is I know I could have never done this by myself,” McMillan said as he was presented the award. “I’m just so grateful and so blessed.”

McMillan got 41 of 50 first-place votes, easily outpacing Shough who finished second and had five first-place votes according to the AP.

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Protector of the Year: Chicago Bears G Joe Thuney

This is a new award to recognize offensive linemen, and the first winner of it was Thuney, the versatile guard who was in his first season with the Bears after four stellar seasons with the Kansas City Chiefs. Thuney has been in the NFL for 10 seasons, and he has been a Pro Bowler each of the past four seasons.

“I wanted to perform well to the guy next to me,” Thuney said after he was presented his award. “Just a lot of fun to go out there and play, and I credit my teammates for how I played.”

Thuney said it was pleased there is an award that recognizes the best offensive lineman in the NFL.

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“It’s long overdue,” Thuney said.

Comeback Player of the Year: San Francisco 49ers RB Christian McCaffrey

McCaffrey played just four games during the 2024 season due to injuries. He came back strong, playing in all 17 games for the San Francisco 49ers and gaining 2,126 yards from scrimmage with 17 touchdowns with a huge workload all season. He had 311 carries and 102 receptions, which was impressive coming off an injury-marred season.

“This is a huge honor,” McCaffrey said as he was presented the award. “I’m so blessed to have the biggest support system on the planet.”

McCaffrey got 31 of 50 first-place votes according to AP. Detroit Lions DE Aidan Hutchinson, who got nine first-place votes, finished second.

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Defensive Rookie of the Year: Cleveland Browns LB Carson Schwesinger

Schwesinger was a second-round pick but he was the standout among the defensive players in the rookie class. Schwesinger had 157 tackles in 16 games, while adding 2.5 sacks and two interceptions. His all-around game allowed him to beat out Seahawks safety Nick Emmanwori for the award.

Offensive Player of the Year: Seattle Seahawks WR Jaxon Smith-Njigba

Smith-Njigba had a huge breakout in his third season, leading the NFL with 1,793 receiving yards. For his big season he was awarded the NFL’s Offensive Player of the Year. Smith-Njigba wasn’t on hand to accept his award at NFL Honors because he’s preparing for Super Bowl LX.

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It was a close vote, with Smith-Njigba getting just 14 first-place votes. He barely beat Christian McCaffrey, who had 12 first-place votes. Puka Nacua, in third place, had eight first-place votes.

Smith-Njigba is the fourth receiver to win OPOY since 2019, and breaks a streak of two running backs winning the award (Christian McCaffrey and Saquon Barkley).

NFL MVP: Rams QB Matthew Stafford

Stafford won an exceptionally close vote, barely beating out Drake Maye of the New England Patriots. Stafford had 366 points, with 24 first-place votes. Maye had 361 points, with 23 first-place votes. It’s Stafford’s first NFL MVP award at the end of his 17th NFL season.

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Walter Payton Man of the Year: Washington Commanders LB Bobby Wagner

Wagner, a 14-year veteran with the Seahawks, Rams and Commanders, was given the prestigious honor for his work on and off the field. Wagner was awarded for his community service work, which includes being an advocate for mental health and social justice reform according to the Commanders’ site.

“I didn’t think I was going to win this award. I almost didn’t come,” Wagner said as he accepted the award. “I’m glad I did.”

SAN FRANCISCO — It took a long time for Los Angeles Rams quarterback Matthew Stafford to win his first NFL MVP award. And when he did win, he barely won it.

Stafford won his first NFL MVP award, which was announced at the annual NFL Honors show Thursday, narrowly edging New England Patriots quarterback Drake Maye. Stafford led the NFL with 4,707 yards and 46 touchdowns. Winning an MVP puts him even closer to the Pro Football Hall of Fame.

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Stafford barely won the award. He had 366 points, with 24 first-place votes according to Rob Maaddi of the Associated Press. Maye was right behind with 361 points, and 23 first-place votes. The NFL has gone to a points system for its awards voting, with first-place votes worth 10 points, second-place votes worth five, third-place votes worth three, fourth-place votes worth two and fifth-place votes worth one. Had one Stafford voter selected Maye as MVP and put Stafford second, it would have been a split award. Two voters gave Josh Allen a first-place vote, one gave Justin Herbert a first-place vote, and a change from any of those three voters to Maye would have changed the outcome. (Sam Monson of The 33rd Team claimed on X he voted for Herbert.)

Stafford also ended any speculation he might retire this season. As he wrapped up his acceptance speech, Stafford said, “I’ll see you guys next year … hopefully, I won’t be at this event and we’ll be getting ready for another game at SoFi [Stadium].”

Rams head coach Sean McVay and running back Kyren Williams celebrated Stafford’s announcement.

Stafford won in the closest MVP vote since 2003, when Peyton Manning and Steve McNair were co-winners of the award.

It’s a long time coming for Stafford, and his case is a rare one among MVPs.

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To find the best comparison to Stafford winning his first NFL MVP award at age 37, we probably need to go back to before Super Bowl I. In 1963, Y.A. Tittle finally got his first MVP award from the Associated Press. He was already on his way to the Pro Football Hall of Fame, but before his age-37 season he hadn’t won the most prestigious MVP award. Tittle set the NFL record with 36 touchdown passes and got the trophy that had eluded him.

Stafford’s MVP case is rare, considering we need to go back more than 60 years for the proper comparison. Stafford has been consistently good since he was drafted first overall in the 2009 draft, amassing more than 64,000 passing yards and 400 touchdowns. But he had never been recognized as the best quarterback in the NFL until this season.

Stafford isn’t the oldest quarterback to win MVP. That’s Tom Brady. Stafford, Tittle and Rich Gannon are the oldest first-time MVPs, all at age 37. Gannon’s case is different, as he didn’t get a chance to be a full-time starter until he joined the Raiders late in his career. Stafford has always been a preferred starter since he was the first pick of the 2009 NFL Draft by the Detroit Lions, and a good one.

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Stafford just hadn’t been recognized as the best, until he was on the back nine of his career.

Matthew Stafford fought through back injury

In August, the Rams weren’t worried about Stafford winning NFL MVP. They just wanted him to be on the field.

Stafford’s back injury was the biggest topic in the NFL for about a month. He missed practice from the start of training camp until mid-August. For weeks, every update about his health sounded ominous. At Stafford’s age, beginning the season on the field was not a sure thing.

“We’re trying to get our hands around this as well, so I don’t really have much more information other than think we’re trying some different things that are hopefully going to be in alignment with getting him back out on the field,” McVay said on Aug. 14, via Sarah Barshop of ESPN.

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And from that uneasy beginning to the season, Stafford played the best ball of his 17-year career.

From Week 4 to Week 11, Stafford opened up his lead in the MVP race by playing nearly perfect football. Over eight games, he threw for 25 touchdowns and no interceptions. His passer rating was 118.9. He ended up throwing 28 straight touchdowns without an interception, an NFL record.

Stafford had a couple of subpar performances in losses late in the season but it didn’t matter. He had already built a huge lead, which he needed in the end.

Stafford bucks recent MVP history

Stafford is a bit of an anomaly in recent history. He’s the first quarterback whose team didn’t win its division to take home MVP since 2008. His individual brilliance was enough to overcome the fact that the Rams finished behind the Seattle Seahawks for the NFC West championship.

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Maye, whose Patriots won the AFC East, had a great case. He led the NFL by completing 72% of his passes and also led the NFL at 8.9 yards per attempt, which is an impressive combination. Maye had a fantastic second NFL season, but when Stafford got 31 votes for the first-team All-Pro quarterback and Maye got 18 (the same group of 50 votes for MVP and the All-Pro teams) it was a strong sign that Stafford would be the MVP front-runner.

Stafford already had a Super Bowl ring, is in the top 10 all time in passing yards and touchdowns and had plenty of accolades. No matter when Stafford decides to retire, he’ll do so with at least one MVP award as well. Though it was a very close call.

Thursday saw the arrival of all 20 rosters set to compete in the 2026 World Baseball Classic. As expected, the United States was the most star-studded, with a handful of other teams possessing the talent usually needed to make a deep run.

Team USA is the strong favorite to shake off its dramatic loss to the Japan, at +110 with BetMGM, followed by Japan (+325) and the Dominican Republic (+350). The next-closest country to that trio is Venezuela at +1400.

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Per MLB.com’s Sarah Langs, the rosters collectively feature a record 78 players who have been named to an MLB All-Star team, with 36 of them making the cut last year. Naturally, many of those are on the tournament’s top teams; the U.S., the D.R. and Venezuela collectively account for 50 of those players.

Here’s every single All-Star currently slated to play when the WBC begins March 5. Obviously, the term All-Star doesn’t quite mean a player is currently a star. Shohei Ohtani, Aaron Judge and Tarik Skubal are on this list, yes, but so is 44-year-old Alexei Ramírez, who made the All-Star Game once in 2014 and is still playing in the Cuban leagues.

Full WBC rosters are available on MLB’s website.

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United States (22)

Pitchers: David Bednar (New York Yankees), Matthew Boyd (Chicago Cubs), Clay Holmes (New York Mets), Clayton Kershaw (retired), Mason Miller (San Diego Padres), Joe Ryan (Minnesota Twins), Paul Skenes (Pittsburgh Pirates), Tarik Skubal (Detroit Tigers), Michael Wacha (Kansas City Royals), Logan Webb (San Francisco Giants)

Infielders: Alex Bregman (Chicago Cubs), Paul Goldschmidt (free agent), Bryce Harper (Philadelphia Phillies), Gunnar Henderson (Gunnar Henderson), Cal Raleigh (Seattle Mariners), Will Smith (Los Angeles Dodgers), Bobby Witt Jr. (Kansas City Royals)

Outfielders: Byron Buxton (Minnesota Twins), Roman Anthony (Boston Red Sox), Pete Crow-Armstrong (Chicago Cubs), Aaron Judge (New York Yankees)

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Designated hitter: Kyle Schwarber (Philadelphia Phillies)

Dominican Republic (16)

Pitchers: Sandy Alcantara (Miami Marlins), Camilo Doval (New York Yankees), Carlos Estévez (Kansas City Royals), Cristopher Sánchez (Philadelphia Phillies), Luis Severino (Athletics), Gregory Soto (Pittsburgh Pirates)

Infielders: Junior Caminero (Tampa Bay Rays), Vladimir Guerrero Jr. (Toronto Blue Jays), Manny Machado (San Diego Padres), Ketel Marte (Arizona Diamondbacks), Jeremy Peña (Houston Astros), Geraldo Perdomo (Arizona Diamondbacks), Carlos Santana (Arizona Diamondbacks)

Outfielders: Julio Rodríguez (Seattle Mariners), Juan Soto (New York Mets), Fernando Tatis Jr. (San Diego Padres)

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Venezuela (12)

Pitchers: Pablo López (Minnesota Twins), Germán Márquez (free agent), Ranger Suárez (Boston Red Sox)

Infielders: Luis Arráez (San Francisco Giants), William Contreras (Milwaukee Brewers), Willson Contreras (Boston Red Sox), Maikel Garcia (Kansas City Royals), Andrés Giménez (Toronto Blue Jays), Salvador Perez (Kansas City Royals), Eugenio Suárez (Cincinnati Reds), Gleyber Torres (Detroit Tigers)

Outfielder: Ronald Acuña Jr. (Atlanta Braves)

Puerto Rico (6)

Pitchers: Edwin Díaz (Los Angeles Dodgers), Jorge López (free agent), Seth Lugo (Kansas City Royals)

Infielder: Nolan Arenado (Arizona Diamondbacks)

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Outfielders: Willi Castro (Colorado Rockies), Heliot Ramos (San Francisco Giants)

Mexico (5)

Pitchers: Andrés Muñoz (Seattle Mariners), Taijuan Walker (Philadelphia Phillies)

Infielder: Alejandro Kirk (Toronto Blue Jays)

Outfielders: Randy Arozarena (Seattle Mariners), Jarren Duran (Boston Red Sox)

Netherlands (4)

Pitcher: Kenley Jansen (Detroit Tigers)

Infielders: Ozzie Albies (Atlanta Braves), Xander Bogaerts (San Diego Padres)

Outfielder: Jurickson Profar (Atlanta Braves)

Colombia (3)

Pitchers: Jose Quintana (free agent), Julio Teheran (free agent)

Infielder: Elias Díaz (free agent)

Japan (3)

Pitchers: Yusei Kikuchi (Los Angeles Angels), Yoshinobu Yamamoto (Los Angeles Dodgers)

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Designated hitter: Shohei Ohtani (Los Angeles Dodgers)

Canada (2)

Pitcher: Michael Soroka (Arizona Diamondbacks)

Infielder: Josh Naylor (Seattle Mariners)

Italy (2)

Pitcher: Michael Lorenson (Colorado Rockies)

Infielder: Aaron Nola (Philadelphia Phillies)

Great Britain (1)

Infielder: Jazz Chisholm Jr. (New York Yankees)

Cuba (1)

Infielder: Alexei Ramírez (Vegueros de Pinar del Río)

Korea (1)

Pitcher: Hyun-jin Ryu (Hanwha Eagles)

Australia, Brazil, Chinese Taipei, Czechia, Israel, Nicaragua, Panama (0)

The final six teams don’t have an All-Star, but that doesn’t mean they aren’t worth watching. There are fun stories all over these rosters.

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Australia, for example, has Travis Bazzana, the No. 1 pick of the 2024 MLB Draft. Brazil infielder Vitor Ito currently works as an interpreter for the Hanshin Tigers in Japan. And if you like players with day jobs, you’ll love the Czechs.

There are some notable absences, though. Injuries were obviously a factor for some players, and insurance adjusters have played a surprisingly large role in deciding some rosters. Francisco Lindor was set to captain Puerto Rico but can’t compete now, and Carlos Correa is also out. Javier Baez missed out on the same team — but for very different reasons.

The two players who decided the previous tournament, former teammates Shohei Ohtani and Mike Trout, also won’t be filling the same roles. Ohtani will be hitting only this year in the WBC, and Trout isn’t on the U.S. roster.

NFL MVP Matthew Stafford has committed to returning to the field in 2026, according to … NFL MVP Matthew Stafford. The news came in his acceptance speech for winning the 2025 award at Thursday’s NFL Honors ceremony, amid speculation of a potential retirement at the age of 37.

“I can’t wait for you to cheer me on next year when we’re out there kicking ass,” Stafford said to his four daughters who were standing beside him on stage. “So I’ll see you guys next year. Hopefully, I’m not at this event and we’re getting ready for another game at SoFi.”

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Next year’s Super Bowl will be played at the Los Angeles Rams’ home, SoFi Stadium.

The Rams quarterback earned his first NFL MVP award in the 2025-26 NFL season after throwing for a league-high 3,707 passing yards and 46 passing touchdowns with just eight interceptions over 17 games.

“Something I’d been thinking about,” Stafford told reporters backstage of his announcement.

“I ended the season on a healthy note and was a part of a great team,” he added. “I had a bunch of teammates in the crowd, coaches in the crowd, just felt like the right thing to do at the right moment. Happy to be coming back.”

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Stafford narrowly won the award with 24 first-place votes over New England Patriots QB Drake Maye, who earned 23 first-place votes. It was the closest MVP vote since 2003 when Peyton Manning and Steve McNair shared the honor.

Playing a 17th season that began with back soreness during training camp that was eventually diagnosed as an aggravated disc, there were questions as to whether or not Stafford might decide to finish his career after a fifth season — and one Super Bowl championship — with the Rams.

[Get more Rams news: Los Angeles team feed]

After the Rams’ 31-27 loss to the Seattle Seahawks in the NFC championship game, head coach Sean McVay was asked if he expected Stafford to return next season. Surely emotional from the defeat, McVay responded, “Yeah, if he still wants to play. What the hell kind of question is that?”

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McVay highlighted the scenario that prompted the question: “If he still wants to play.” He followed up on those remarks the next day saying that he “absolutely” wanted Stafford to return, but also understood that the quarterback needed time to consider his decision.

However, Stafford addressed any possible uncertainty regarding his future decisively on Thursday after being recognized as the best player in the league for the 2025-26 season.

Nearly three decades after his last NFL snap, Roger Craig is finally a Pro Football Hall of Famer.

It’s a deserved honor for the former All-Pro running back, who won three Super Bowl rings with the San Francisco 49ers and four Pro Bowl honors in the 1980s. Unfortunately for seemingly all involved, his election also came via a process that is suddenly a matter of controversy for Canton thanks to the exclusion of Bill Belichick.

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The 2026 Hall of Fame class consists of Craig, Drew Brees, Larry Fitzgerald, Luke Kuechly and Adam Vinatieri. The latter four were all elected the conventional way, as modern-era players who received at least 80% approval from the Hall’s selection committee, a group of 50 media members.

Craig, however, was one of three senior players on the ballot this year, alongside former Cincinnati Bengals quarterback Ken Anderson and former Pittsburgh Steelers defensive end L.C. Greenwood. Those three went through a different process.

Due to a recent rule change, non-modern-era players are now inducted through a ballot that has exactly five spots. Three are reserved for the senior players. One is for coaches, like Belichick. And one is for contributors, a catch-all term that could mean an executive, owner, official and more. This year, that was Patriots owner Robert Kraft. All five are nominated through blue-ribbon committees among the 50 voters.

So, Craig, Anderson, Greenwood, Belichick, Kraft. You could find voters who think all five of them are deserving Hall of Famers. However, the twist is that those five were actually in competition with each other, and Craig was the only one to clear the required hurdle.

Let’s think about the math. Every Hall of Fame inductee must receive at least 80% of the vote from the 50-person committee. Each of those voters, however, gets only three votes max, because only a maximum of three of the five names can receive enshrinement. That means there are 150 votes total, and each guy needs at least 40.

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Belichick not making the Hall was a shocker for many, but once you learn the mechanics at play, how it happened starts to make a little more sense. As committee member Charean Williams of Pro Football Talk laid out, some voters simply see the senior players as more important to the game and will always vote for them.

This was the case of the first Belichick “no” vote to come forward, Vahe Gregorian of the Kansas City Star. Gregorian outright said he believes Belichick deserves to be a Hall of Famer. However, he also said he believed that Craig, Anderson and Greenwood all faced a longer road back to the ballot than Belichick, so he voted for the guys he thought needed it’s more.

All of that went into why I felt duty-bound to vote for the richly deserving seniors, who most likely won’t ever have a hearing again as more senior candidates enter the pool and fresh cases get made for others.

Meanwhile, Belichick is inevitable soon … as he should be. At the risk of contradicting my own vote, really, he shouldn’t even have to wait. I understand why people are offended that he isn’t going in the first moment he can.

In the end, though, I felt more compelled by what I perceive to be last chances and looming lost causes within the system as we have it — a system I hope the Hall will see fit to change now.

It’s an understandable sentiment. However, Belichick not making it this time around will only make it harder for the senior and contributor candidates next year, and those could very well be deserving names too. It could even be Kraft again, and it’s entirely possible those two split the Patriots vote this year.

Weird, weird things can happen when the system incentives some voters against simply voting whom they think is most deserving of the Hall of Fame, such as the NFL’s all-time leader in Super Bowl wins among coaches not getting a bust because voters were more sympathetic to a running back from the 1980s.

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Craig making the Hall of Fame is an example of the system working. He didn’t steal Belichick’s spot, or anything like that. However, what’s become obvious in this year’s Hall of Fame voting cycle is that the new system could use some major changes. Just ask some of the voters.

The Pro Football Hall of Fame’s Class of 2026 was a competitive one, with Drew Brees, Larry Fitzgerald, Luke Kuechly, Adam Vinatieri and Roger Craig earning enshrinement. Among those left out: Bill Belichick and Eli Manning.

Next year’s group could be even more competitive. Belichick and Manning will be back on the ballot — alongside other 2026 finalists like Frank Gore, Torry Holt and Marshal Yanda — and there will also be a large number of first-time candidates deserving of consideration.

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Here are 10 players whose last NFL appearance was in the 2021-22 season.

Rob Gronkowski

One of the few acceptable answers to the question, “Who is the greatest tight end of all time?”

No player caught more passes or posted more receiving yards from Tom Brady than Gronkowski, who was also one of the best blockers at his position and a larger-than-life personality. The only thing that ever limited “Gronk” was injuries. When healthy, he was an unstoppable weapon in the hands of some of the NFL’s best minds.

Adrian Peterson

The last running back to win NFL MVP was AD, who sits fifth in the NFL’s all-time rushing list and is one of nine players in history to post 2,000 rushing yards in a season. He came only 8 yards short of breaking Eric Dickerson’s single-season record in 2012-13.

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Peterson was a star from his first snap and kept going until his mid-30s.

Richard Sherman

The loudest member of the Legion of Boom was also the best. Sherman made the switch from wide receiver to cornerback in high school and waited until the fifth round of the 2011 NFL Draft to hear his name called.

One of the largest corners in the league at 6-foot-3 and 195 pounds, Sherman became a paradigm-shifting defensive back in the Seahawks’ system and was a central component of their Super Bowl XLVIII team. He was an all-time trash-talker who earned it, regularly shutting down his side of the field.

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Ben Roethlisberger

Aside from Manning, the system is usually kind to two-time Super Bowl champion quarterbacks. Roethlisberger’s first ring was more a product of Jerome Bettis and the Pittsburgh Steelers’ defense in his sophomore season, but he was overall one of the NFL’s most prolific quarterbacks during his 18-year career.

Big Ben retired as the all-time leading passer for one of the NFL’s most storied franchises. However, a pair of sexual assault allegations from earlier in his career loomed over his achievements, and there’s no telling how that could play out.

Antonio Brown

Our second of three Steelers offensive stars is also the most mercurial, to put it politely. Brown was on track for an overwhelming case when he turned 30 and still had a standout career, ranking behind only Hines Ward on the Steelers’ all-time receiving list.

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And yet, few stars have crashed out of the NFL as loudly as Brown did, first with the Oakland Raiders, then the New England Patriots, then the Tampa Bay Buccaneers. He rose from the sixth round of the 2010 Draft to do some amazing things on the field, but he’s going to be remembered for much more than that.

Le’Veon Bell

The third of the Killer B’s likely faces the longest odds, considering how short his prime ended up being. Bell was one of the NFL’s top backs as a runner and receiver, but an ugly divorce from the Steelers saw him sit out a season then land with the New York Jets. He was never the same after that.

Cam Newton

Newton not making the College Football Hall of Fame in his first year of eligibility despite posting one of the greatest seasons in the sport’s history was a Belichick-style puzzler. His NFL career was a standout too.

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In an MVP season, Newton led the 2015-16 Carolina Panthers to a 15-1 record and the Super Bowl, demanding attention every time he stood on the field. Injuries derailed what could have been a strong second act, though, especially with so many other quarterbacks vying for enshrinement.

Andrew Whitworth

Offensive linemen usually don’t get their due, but Whitworth earned his right to be an exemption with a 16-year career as a dependable blind-side blocker for the Cincinnati Bengals and Los Angeles Rams. He went out on top with the latter against the former at Super Bowl LVI, alongside …

Eric Weddle

Weddle spent a solid decade as one of the NFL’s top safeties for the San Diego Chargers and Baltimore Ravens, earning six Pro Bowl nods and hauling in 29 interceptions in his career. He had a strong case when he first retired in 2020, but his return to the Rams in 2021-22 postseason after a pair of devastating injuries was one of the biggest stories of their Super Bowl title, especially when he didn’t let a pec tear stop him from playing every defensive snap.

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Alex Mack

Mack was arguably the best center of the 2010s, earning seven Pro Bowl nods for the Cleveland Browns, Atlanta Falcons and San Francisco 49ers. Between him and Joe Thomas, the Browns had two of the best in the league anchoring their offensive line for seven years, and he helped lead the Falcons to the ill-fated Super Bowl LI with the Falcons.

SAN FRANCISCO — Four days into Super Bowl week and the New England Patriots are now 0-2.

In what became two of the worst kept secrets in the history of the Pro Football Hall of Fame, it was revealed Thursday night that Bill Belichick and Robert Kraft both failed to get the votes for induction with the 2026 class. It’s a moment that will be debated for the next 12 months for multiple reasons. There’s the flawed selection process that leaves seniors committee players fighting with coaches and contributors for votes. There’s punishment for the 2007 Spygate scandal, or to some conspiracy theorists, a perceived bias against the Patriots for a litany of factors.

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I’ll leave you to choose your own rationale when it comes to Belichick and Kraft. But what you shouldn’t misconstrue here is that this is going to mushroom into an even bigger embarrassment. That somehow, some way, we’re seeing the bricks laid that will eventually become an unavoidable barrier — keeping the greatest quarterback in the history of the NFL from getting into the Hall of Fame on his first ballot. That’s not happening.

Brady is going into the Pro Football Hall of Fame in 2028. The first year he’s eligible. More than likely as a unanimous selection (although unanimous enshrinees are not revealed by the HOF). And if he doesn’t, I’m willing to bet you’ll see some voters resign from the process.

So we can dispense with the debate about his candidacy, which has been a combination of jokes, faux hand-wringing and deduction over the past few days. The trio that made the biggest headlines?

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Brady telling Fox Sports’ Colin Cowherd — with a tongue in cheek tone that has not been reported enough when contextualizing this comment — “Maybe it’s not trending so well for ex-Patriots. Maybe I should be a little concerned here.”

Brady’s friend and former teammate, Rob Gronkowski, sarcastically joking to Fox News Digital — “I think Tom Brady now is going to be a fourth-ballot Hall of Famer.”

And then there was HOF wideout Terrell Owens — who has had a bone to pick with voters since it took three ballots to get him enshrined — telling multiple media outlets that Brady’s candidacy should be held to the same standard as that of Belichick and Kraft. If you take the time to actually listen to Owens and not just read the quotes, he wasn’t being bombastic when he made the statements. Instead, he framed it as a matter of reasonable deduction, given Belichick’s first-ballot exclusion, which Owens labeled a “travesty” when speaking to Sports Illustrated on Radio Row.

Owens’ most succinct reasoning came in a Radio Row sit-down with the California Post.

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“Honestly, if you’re looking at it, if Belichick doesn’t go in and Robert Kraft doesn’t go in first-ballot, Tom Brady shouldn’t go in,” Owens said. “I’m just being real. It’s nothing against him. How can you have Tom Brady go in when he’s up in 2028? Why would he go in if Robert Kraft and Bill Belichick don’t go in on the first go-around? Because to be quite honest, yeah — is Tom Brady a good quarterback? Yeah. He’s not the quarterback he is without Robert Kraft drafting him. He’s not the quarterback he is without Bill Belichick. They all go hand-in-hand. So to me, why would he go in and those two don’t? He shouldn’t go in [first-ballot], either.”

Owens’ comments drew the most attention, of course. But his line of deduction and reasoning is indeed the core of the debate. But it’s also flawed when it comes to Brady — because Brady’s candidacy isn’t subject to the same vote-for-three-of-five candidates structure that played at least a part in what happened with Belichick and Kraft.

We’ll get to that in a moment.

First, we have to circle back to the lack of voter transparency when it comes to the Hall of Fame, which only promotes conspiratorial theories about what exactly is going on with Patriots candidates. Maybe that ballot transparency changes over the next few years. Perhaps votes are publicized and accountability is pushed to the forefront for the 50-member panel. Regardless of that happening, the outside world should understand that this year’s results aren’t part of a package deal. There are only assumptions rather than proof of a grand conspiracy here, allowing for a notion that a cabal of voters is banding together in a Machiavellian master plan to take punitive measures against Belichick, Kraft and eventually, Brady.

In reality, if you talk to voters — and I’ve spoken to a few — what happened this year is simply the intersection of circumstance and flaws in the system. Consider the math:

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You have 50 HOF voters. They were charged with selecting three candidates from a pool of five: Belichick (coach candidate), Kraft (contributor candidate) and a trio of players put forward by the seniors committee in Roger Craig, L.C. Greenwood and Ken Anderson. With the 50 voters allowed to pick only three candidates, that equates to 150 available votes.

It takes 40 votes to win enshrinement. Roger Craig got at least 40 — evidenced by his being the only one of the five to make the Hall on Thursday night. That means there were, at most, 110 votes on the table — all of which were split among the remaining four candidates. Getting another 40 votes from the remaining pool of 110 is not an easy task, especially if you had some voters who made the error of thinking that Belichick or Kraft were definitely getting in, and that they would be one of the few outliers to use all three of their votes on the last-shot seniors committee players. This is where the flaw exposed itself in the system. And so do most of the voters I spoke with.

That doesn’t mean some voters didn’t hold Spygate against Belichick or even Kraft to some extent. But it presents a very plausible counterargument to the idea that this is just a Patriots-related conspiracy. And we should note, Kraft has been eligible for the Pro Football Hall of Fame since the class of 2013. He made it as a finalist only in 2026, which is suggestive that his first-shot candidacy was not nearly the slam dunk that Belichick’s might have been.

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Now, back to Brady. Let’s set aside that he’s arguably the greatest quarterback — and maybe the greatest player and winner — in NFL history.

One basic thing about Brady’s candidacy that clears the structural voting issues that stacked against Belichick and Kraft: He’s going to be on the ballot in 2028 as a modern era player. And Hall of Fame voters can vote for five of those candidates. Brady’s résumé is going to smoke every other modern era player who is in his class, so it shouldn’t be a struggle for him to coast in on the first ballot — if there isn’t some extenuating issue in play.

Of those, only Deflategate could be held against Brady. But here’s the issue with that being used against him:

• Brady’s four-game suspension for Deflategate shouldn’t be an automatic first-ballot disqualifier for voters because defensive end Julius Peppers was a first-ballot selection in the 2024 class, and he was suspended four games during his rookie season for using a banned substance. And that wasn’t an inconsequential suspension, either. At the time, Peppers was leading the NFL in sacks, with 12.

• Brady’s alleged lack of cooperation in the Deflategate investigation — which the league said was committed when he had an assistant destroy a cell phone containing text messages — also can’t be an automatic disqualified for first-ballot induction. Why? Because the NFL ruled that during the 2010 season, Brett Favre failed to fully cooperate in a league-run “sexting” investigation involving Favre and a New York Jets employee. Favre was fined $50,000 by the NFL for the lack of cooperation, and there was a belief that he could have faced a suspension in 2011 as well, but he retired following the 2010 season. Favre was still a first-ballot Hall of Famer.

And of course, none of this speaks to how Deflategate has looked in the rearview mirror for the league. It was an investigation rife with leaks from the league office and advanced science that looked less and less credible over time. Not to mention the reality that when the league took a season to measure the PSI in footballs one season later, the resulting data was destroyed rather than released to the public. That raised a larger question about whether football inflation levels are even reliable over the course of given games and in certain environments.

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Even with that reality, Deflategate is always going to be a debated part of Brady’s history. But it also became a speck of sand in the middle of his career. He played another six seasons after the scandal. He won three Super Bowls after. He won a league MVP. He threw for 27,632 yards and 193 touchdowns after Deflategate. And the Super Bowl he won with the Tampa Bay Buccaneers had nothing to do with Belichick and the Patriots.

All of this is to say, he’s in his own category. Not lumped in with Belichick. Not even lumped in with Kraft. And certainly not lumped in with whoever is ultimately going to be sharing the ballot with him in 2028.

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That’s why Brady is getting in. Any notion to the contrary between now and then is just wasting time and oxygen.

The Winter Games have begun in Italy. From the rink to the slopes, a new generation of stars has emerged to chase gold. We’ll keep you connected to all of the thrilling moments and top stories as we track the medal race each day of the Games.

Competition for the 2026 Milan Cortina Winter Olympics began Wednesday, but Friday is when things will feel more real, as the Opening Ceremony will take place and capture the world’s eyes.

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Even before that, though, there are critical events to follow in Italy.

Here are the top five things to watch today:

1. Opening Ceremony is on tap

Although it will be 8 p.m. in Italy when the Opening Ceremony begins, the event will stream live on Peacock at 2 p.m. ET. It will also be aired in prime time on NBC at 8 p.m. ET. History will be made. In honor of both host cities, Olympic torches will be used to light two separate cauldrons: one in Milan at the Arco della Pace and one in Cortina d’Ampezzo in Piazza Dibona. That’s a first for the Games. The ceremony is expected to last approximately three hours, and it will include a parade of athletes from all across the world, plus performances by Mariah Carey, Italian tenor Andrea Bocelli, Chinese pianist Lang Lang and Italian actor Sabrina Impacciatore.

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2. Figure skating gets underway, with U.S. headlining team event

Figure skating begins at this year’s Olympics on Friday with the first round of the team event, in which the Americans are the defending champions. That said, they didn’t receive their medals until the 2024 Summer Games in Paris because of an extensive investigation into Russian doping that canceled the medal ceremony in Beijing four years ago. Watch out for Madison Chock and Evan Bates, who have won the past three World Championships as dance partners, and are embarking on what’s expected to be their final Games. They’ll skate the rhythm dance part of the competition. Ellie Kam and Danny O’Shea are poised to perform the pairs short program for the U.S., which will turn to world champion Alysa Liu for the women’s short program. The Americans’ depth should be apparent Friday, but so will the talent of Japan’s team, which features world pairs champions Riku Miura and Ryuichi Kihara.

3. U.S. back in action in mixed doubles curling after resilient start

Mixed doubles curling will pick up where it left off on Thursday, when Team USA rallied to beat Norway, the defending silver medalists, and followed that up with another win in round-robin competition, defeating Switzerland. On Friday, Americans Cory Thiesse and Korey Dropkin will face Canada and the Czechia. The Canadians are off to a 2-0 start as well.

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4. Women’s hockey continues as norovirus outbreak is monitored

Women’s hockey got underway Thursday, and the U.S. got off on the right skate, if you will. Team USA took down the Czechia 5-1, an impressive feat considering the Czechs finished at least fourth at each of the previous four World Championships. But a norovirus outbreak that quarantined at least 14 players on the Finnish team postponed its game against Team Canada. On Friday, France will open play against Japan, and Czechia will square off against Switzerland, which notably won a bronze medal in the event during the 2014 Sochi Games.

5. There’s already some controversy to follow

The World Anti-Doping Agency addressed a bizarre ski jumping controversy on Thursday. Ski jumpers are alleged to have injected their penises with hyaluronic acid in an attempt to get bigger suits that would help increase the length of their jumps. While no jumpers have been singled out so far, and it’s unclear if this falls under WADA’s jurisdiction, WADA president Witold Bańka said he would investigate. Whether or not the allegations are true, the world of ski jumping is no stranger to cheating.

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Friday, Feb. 6, 2026 (Day 0)

All times ET.

Curling

Mixed doubles round-robin

• 4:05 a.m.: Sweden vs. Great Britain, Italy vs. Switzerland, USA vs. Canada

• 8:35 a.m.: Czechia vs. USA, Estonia vs. Italy, South Korea vs. Great Britain, Sweden vs. Norway

Figure Skating

Team competition

• 3:55 a.m.: Rhythm dance (USA Network coverage begins at 4 a.m.; re-airs on NBC at 12 p.m.)

• 5:35 a.m.: Pairs short program (USA Network; re-airs on NBC at 12:30 p.m.)

• 7:35 a.m.: Women’s short program (USA Network)

Hockey

Women’s pool play

• 6:10 a.m.: France vs. Japan

• 8:40 a.m.: Czechia vs. Switzerland

Opening Ceremony

• 2 p.m.: San Siro Stadium (NBC)

MILAN — In the universe of topics we talk about in the run-up to an Olympic Games, food is not often at the top of the list.

Construction delays? Security concerns? Geopolitical tensions? The number of condoms being distributed in the athletes’ village? That’s been standard stuff over the last couple decades.

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But hey, this is Italy.

“I’m especially looking forward to cannolis,” American bobsled stalwart Elana Meyers Taylor said. “I have to be gluten free in-season and I have to watch what I eat. But as soon as I cross the finish line, I’m getting that cannoli.”

Indeed, when the Milan Cortina Winter Olympics begin with Friday’s Opening Ceremony, there are probably not many athletes downing a plate of creamy risotto or a bubbling pizza margherita before skiing down a mountain or skating around a rink.

But the rest of us fortunate enough to be here will be happy to partake, with hundreds of millions around the world watching the Milan Cortina Games with its breathtaking European backdrop and wishing they had the same opportunity to taste the vino and see the Italian Alps.

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Because much like in Paris two years ago, where the Games reengaged an American audience whose interest in the Olympics was in danger of slipping into a generational coma, the next fortnight will offer viewers a guilt-free sensory spectacle — except, of course, for the carbs.

“Definitely — definitely — some carbs,” women’s hockey star Laila Edwards said. “Hopefully towards the end I can reward myself with some gelato.”

And what a welcome change! After three straight Winter Games in locales that were cursed by authoritarian regimes, human rights violations, COVID, problematic time zones or lack of real snow, the return to Italy 20 years after Turin offers something a little extra.

Normalcy.

“I’ve been to an Olympics before,” short track speed skater Corinne Stoddard said. “But I feel like Milan will be a completely different experience and kind of feel like a first Olympics in a way.

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Does it matter? On one hand, the Olympics are compelling no matter where you put them. For the athletes, who are mostly globetrotting anyway for big competitions, a gold medal won in Milan is no different than a gold medal won in Beijing. And for most of the world it’s all just a TV show anyway. Who cares where you put the hockey rink?

But if you rewind to the summer of 2024, Paris was different. From the racy, bizarre and very French take on the Opening Ceremony to iconic Paris landmarks being used as the backdrop for competition venues, something clicked in the zeitgeist. After several cycles of audience decline for its Olympic broadcasts, NBC rebounded with a whopping 30.6 million viewers per day across its platforms — an 80 percent increase over Tokyo three years earlier.

It felt like the Olympics as a big, galvanizing cultural force were truly back.

“The Olympics reestablished its unique power to reassemble the American media audience,” NBC Olympics president Gary Zenkel said at the time.

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Can Italy deliver the same irresistible experience?

Don’t discount the possibility, albeit with one big caveat: The Winter Games are not the Summer Games. There are fewer sports, fewer athletes, fewer countries involved and most importantly fewer mainstream superstars.

One of them on the American side, Lindsey Vonn, will compete but will likely be compromised after tearing her ACL last week during a fall at skiing’s World Cup. Perhaps by the end of the competition, Wisconsin-born speedskater Jordan Stolz will win three or four gold medals, drawing in viewers as he potentially becomes a household name like Eric Heiden in 1980. He’s not there yet.

Also, Milan and the mountainous areas of northern Italy do not have the instantly recognizable, seductive appeal of Paris as an Olympic tableau.

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But relative to the last three Winter Games held in Sochi, PyeongChang and Beijing, these Olympics are going to visually present like a storybook Alpine adventure in a way that you simply could not pull off at a Russian Black Sea resort or on the Korean peninsula or in a smog-filled megalopolis where it almost never snows.

Another difference: NHL players are back in the men’s hockey tournament for the first time since 2014. With all due respect to the minor-leaguers who stepped in and put on a good show in PyeongChang and Beijing, the Winter Olympics were significantly diminished by not having the elite of the elite competing in one of its marquee events.

“I have a bunch of buddies that played on those teams, and I’m super proud of them representing us and their countries,” said former NHL star and Olympian T.J. Oshie, who will work as an analyst for NBC. “But to grow the game, you want the Connor McDavids, the Jack Eichels. Getting the best players in the world there is great for everyone.”

Milan is also going to be different because of what we don’t have to talk about. We are not in a host country rife with human rights abuses like China. We are not in a host country getting ready to invade a neighbor, as Vladimir Putin did at the end of an Olympics that put a spotlight on Russia’s repression of gay people and protesters of his authoritarian government. And, perhaps of utmost relevance from an audience perspective, we are not in the middle of an Olympics defined by COVID infections and empty stands.

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While time zones were undoubtedly a hurdle for NBC across three straight Olympics in Asia, it would be foolish to discount the COVID factor in the historically poor ratings for Tokyo and Beijing, the latter of which averaged a paltry 11.4 million viewers.

By the summer of 2021 when the Tokyo Games finally launched, COVID’s impact on daily life in America started to wane with the NBA playoffs that June welcoming fans back into arenas. That feeling of normalcy was becoming even more pervasive in early 2022.

To watch either of those Olympics with empty stands and people wearing masks and constant conversation about some of the strictest COVID protocols in the world felt like turning back the clock to a time none of us wanted to relive. It shouldn’t be a surprise fans did not respond. Even in person, everything felt off.

“The rink was super quiet and kind of lonely,” Stoddard said. “I’ve heard from a lot of Olympians that had been to past Olympics before Beijing that it was an insane experience you’ll never have again.”

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Thankfully.

Of course, these Games are not taking place at a perfect moment for the world either. Though Russian athletes are here competing under a neutral banner, Russia will not be recognized as the war in Ukraine rages on. Tensions in the Middle East are simmering. And if the recent Australian Open is any indication, American athletes should expect to be asked about ICE raids and Venezuela and other actions by the Trump Administration generating international headlines.

There will never be an Olympics without political tension.

But all in all, it has been since Vancouver 16 years ago that a Winter Games was hosted by a Western country, in a true winter wonderland, without being served on a platter of cynicism.

Instead, this one comes on a big plate of pasta.

Eat up.

Alexander Ovechkin barely finished his jubilant belly slide across the ice last April before the Russian propaganda machine started revving up.

The Kremlin seized the chance to portray a milestone goal from one of Vladimir Putin’s most loyal and high-profile supporters as a national triumph for Russia.

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Putin publicly congratulated Ovechkin on surpassing Wayne Gretzky as the NHL’s all-time leading scorer, describing the feat as “not only a personal success but also a true celebration for fans in Russia and abroad.” Political allies of Putin praised Ovechkin for having “never shied away from his passport” even at a time “when Russians have been bullied for being Russian.” Even the cosmonauts on the International Space Station shouted out Ovechkin from orbit.

When Ovechkin spoke at mid-ice moments after making history, the Washington Capitals star thanked his family, teammates, coaches, trainers — even the opposing goalie who failed to save his laser shot from the top of the left faceoff circle. Ovechkin concluded his speech by gesturing toward the Capital One Arena crowd and saying, “All of you fans, the whole world, Russia, we did it, boys, we did it!”

The way that Russia presented Ovechkin’s comments was more politically galvanizing than how they originally sounded. Billboards across Moscow featured Ovechkin’s face and the four-word quote, “Russians, we did it!”

Opportunities for Russia to turn sporting success into a propaganda tool for the state figure to be far more scarce at this month’s Winter Olympics in Italy. The Russians are a sporting pariah, banned by the IOC along with close ally Belarus less than a week after the invasion of Ukraine four years ago.

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Thirteen athletes from Russia and seven from Belarus will partake in the Milan Cortina Games, but they’ll do so without flags, colors, anthems or a place in the medal standings. They are officially stateless, competing not for their country but as Individual Neutral Athletes (AIN).

The neutral athletes will have a presence in eight sports: Alpine skiing, cross-country skiing, figure skating, freestyle skiing, luge, ski mountaineering and short and long track speed skating. The IOC has declared that Russian and Belarussian athletes cannot compete in team sports, eliminating the possibility of Russia sending its powerful men’s hockey team to challenge for a medal.

Individual athletes from Russia and Belarus who qualified for the Olympics in their respective sports still had to clear one more hurdle to gain the right to participate in the Milan Cortina Games. An independent three-person panel conducted background checks on each athlete to weed out those who “are contracted to the Russian or Belarusian military or national security agencies” or who “actively support the war” in Ukraine.

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Ovechkin is the quintessential example of a Russian athlete who would have been unlikely to pass through the vetting process even if the IOC had allowed the country’s hockey team to compete. He started the #PutinTeam social media movement in support of Putin months before Russia’s 2018 presidential election. He also has repeatedly declined to issue an outright condemnation of Russia’s invasion of Ukraine.

To this day, despite years of scrutiny from American media, Ovechkin’s Instagram profile photo features him posing alongside Putin at the Kremlin.

The exclusion or neutral participation of Russian athletes is damaging to the Kremlin, according to sports geopolitics expert Lukas Aubin, because it removes one of the regime’s most effective messaging tools.

“Sport has been a powerful symbolic resource for the Kremlin,” said Aubin, author of the 2022 book “The Sportocratura under Vladimir Putin.” “Olympic medals, world championships, and the hosting of mega-events such as the 2014 Sochi Olympics or the 2018 World Cup helped sustain narratives of a successful, modern and resilient Russia overcoming post-Soviet decline. Such moments provided highly visible performances of national strength, both for domestic audiences and for the international community.

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“When those stages are closed off, the regime loses a communicative instrument. This does not threaten the political system directly, but it weakens one of its most effective symbolic devices.”

Russia last competed in a Winter Olympics as Russia when it hosted the Sochi Games in 2014. Then came the discovery of a massive, state-sponsored Russian doping program, revealed by whistleblower Grigory Rodchenkov and confirmed via an investigation headed by Canadian legal professor Dr. Richard McLaren.

The McLaren Report found that Russia had encouraged more than 1,000 summer, winter and Paralympic athletes to take performance-enhancing drugs between 2011 and 2015. The cheating reached its apex during the Winter Games in Sochi with positive urine and blood tests getting switched out and athletes potentially being given drugs without their knowledge.

Before the IOC had even lifted doping sanctions against Russia, the country invaded Ukraine just days after the conclusion of the 2022 Winter Olympics in Beijing. Fighting and aerial strikes continue despite U.S. attempts to broker peace. As a result, Russia will have little presence in Milan Cortina, just as it did during the Summer Olympics in Paris two years ago.

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With Russia sidelined at the 2024 Paris Olympics, the Kremlin tried to simultaneously undercut and defame the quality of those Games while reframing Russia’s exclusion as persecution by the hostile West. The Kremlin also attempted to create a post-Paris multi-sport event of its own that would welcome athletes from countries friendly to Russia, but the ambitious project was first delayed and then effectively abandoned.

Now, without its star-studded hockey team and many other top winter sports athletes in Italy, Russia’s best hope for a medal could be 18-year-old figure skater Adeliia Petrosian. The raven-haired three-time Russian national champion is known as the first female skater to perform a quadruple loop in competition, but she has rarely competed outside her home country and is unproven on a global stage.

Petrosian is likely to draw additional scrutiny during competition as the latest prodigy of Eteri Tutberidze, the controversial coach of Kamila Valieva at the 2022 Beijing Olympics. Valieva, then a 15-year-old European champion and gold medal favorite, fell twice during her free skate and finished a disappointing fourth place amid a doping scandal that resulted in a four-year ban.

In an unusually strong rebuke, then-IOC president Thomas Bach admitted he was “very disturbed” to see Tutberidze berate Valieva as she came off the ice even though she had been under enormous mental stress since the revelation of her positive drug test.

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“When afterwards I saw how she was received by her closest entourage, with what appeared to be a tremendous coldness, it was chilling to see this,” Bach said.

For Russia, any pathway back to the Olympic stage would likely require a peace treaty with Ukraine, compliance with World Anti-Doping Agency drug testing policy and weakened resolve among allied Western governments. That’s a lot of hurdles to clear by Los Angeles 2028, but Aubin insists the possibility “cannot be entirely ruled out.”

Until then, Russia remains in purgatory, with no global sporting stage to showcase its strength to the world.

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“Sport is a double-edged sword for any state that turns it into a political instrument,” Aubin said. “When victories come, they bring visibility, prestige, and a sense of national elevation. When sanctions, scandals, or exclusions follow, they expose the state to reputational damage, international scrutiny, and symbolic loss. The same machinery that amplifies triumphs also amplifies humiliation.”