Real Madrid are staring down a potentially humiliating Champions League exit — can they steady the ship against Benfica in the Round of 32? The boys break down what’s gone wrong, whether Madrid’s aura still carries weight in Europe, and give their official predictions for all Round of 32 matchups.
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Then we’re joined by the legendary Glenn Crooks, who gives incredible insight into how Emma Hayes developed into the elite manager she is today. Crooks also reflects on his own journey in soccer, shares thoughts on NYCFC’s upcoming season, discusses Pascal Jansen’s evolution as a coach, and weighs in on what the club’s new stadium means for the future of football in New York City.
To close it out, we react to Carlo Ancelotti being spotted at Carnival — is that a bad look for Brazil’s head coach given the national team’s current form? Plus, we discuss Tottenham’s new manager, Raheem Sterling’s move to Feyenoord, Pellegrino Matarazzo’s first La Liga loss, and Antoine Semenyo’s absolutely unhinged pizza opinion. Another packed episode full of insight, debate, and chaos.
Nate Tice & Matt Harmon deep dive on the 8 most QB-needy teams in the NFL to determine who will be starting for them Week 1. The duo start with their reactions to the latest coordinator hires around the NFL, including the Seattle Seahawks finding their Klint Kubiak replacement in new OC Brian Fleury.
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Next, Nate & Matt play quarterback matchmaker for the 8 most QB-needy teams in the NFL. The two hosts start with deep dives on the New York Jets, Miami Dolphins (would Tua Tagovailoa and Tyreek Hill be interesting names in the free agent market?), Pittsburgh Steelers and Cleveland Browns.
Later, Nate & Matt find quarterback matches for the Indianapolis Colts (franchise tag Daniel Jones?), Minnesota Vikings (will JJ McCarthy get another shot?), Arizona Cardinals and Atlanta Falcons.
(4:50) – Latest coordinator hire reactions
(16:40) – QB matchmaker: Jets
(29:20) – QB matchmaker: Dolphins
(40:10) – QB matchmaker: Steelers
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(46:20) – QB matchmaker: Browns
(57:30) – QB matchmaker: Colts
(1:05:40) – QB matchmaker: Vikings
(1:17:40) – QB matchmaker: Cardinals
(1:22:50) – QB matchmaker: Falcons
MIAMI GARDENS, FL – DECEMBER 21: Miami Dolphins quarterback Tua Tagovailoa (1) leaves the field following pregame warmups before the game between the Cincinnati Bengals and the Miami Dolphins on Sunday, December 21, 2025 at Hard Rock Stadium in Miami Gardens, FL (Photo by Peter Joneleit/Icon Sportswire via Getty Images)
NBA skills coach Drew Hanlen joins Kevin O’Connor to break down the season’s hottest topics, from star player development to the reality of tanking in the league. Drew shares inside stories about working with Joel Embiid, Tyrese Maxey, Jayson Tatum and others and explains why self-belief can be both a gift and a curse for rising talent.
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(0:48) When will Tatum return for Celtics?
(12:13) Player development & Deni Avdija
(21:43) Can Hornets maintain their winning ways?
(26:25) How can NBA stop tanking?
(31:09) Joel Embiid’s recovery and development
(43:02) How teams use data & analytics to improve
(49:03) Chris Paul retires from NBA
(56:43) How will defensive coaching evolve?
(01:00:11) Future of the All-Star game
Joel Embiid #21 of the Philadelphia 76ers looks on during the game against the LA Clippers on February 2, 2026 at Intuit Dome in Los Angeles, California. (Photo by Juan Ocampo/NBAE via Getty Images)
Andrew Siciliano deep dives on the 2026 NFL Draft with Nate Tice & ESPN’s Matt Miller. Andrew kicks things off with Nate Tice as they parse through Nate & Charles McDonald’s latest mock draft and cover a few of the more interesting selections, including EDGE Rueben Bain Jr. going second overall to the New York Jets, RB Jeremiyah Love in the top ten, EDGE David Bailey to the Washington Commanders and more. Next, Andrew & Nate set their sites on Indianapolis for the NFL Combine as Nate gives his top prospects he’s most excited to watch test next week.
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Later, Andrew is joined by ESPN’s Matt Miller to get his thoughts on the draft (including Ty Simpson, Caleb Downs and more) before talking through his latest NFL mock draft.
(6:55) – Nate Tice breaks down latest NFL mock draft
(21:55) – Nate’s top prospects to watch at the NFL Combine
(44:00) – Matt Miller talks latest NFL mock draft
MIAMI GARDENS, FLORIDA – JANUARY 19: Fernando Mendoza #15 of the Indiana Hoosiers takes the field during pregame warmups before the 2026 CFP National Championship between the Indiana Hoosiers and the Miami Hurricanes at Hard Rock Stadium on January 19, 2026 in Miami Gardens, Florida. (Photo by CFP/Getty Images)
(Photo by CFP/Getty Images)
Inside Coverage would be nothing without the impact of our beloved Terez Paylor, who was a pillar of Yahoo Sports’ NFL editorial and podcast coverage. We will continue to produce this NFL podcast in his honor, and hope that you can support Terez Paylor’s legacy in one of three ways:
• Buy an “All-Juice Team” hoodie or tee from BreakingT.com/Terez. All profits directly fund the Terez A. Paylor scholarship at Howard University.
• Donate directly at giving.howard.edu/givenow. Under “Tribute,” please note that your gift is made in memory of Terez A. Paylor. Under “Designation,” click on “Other” and write in “Terez A. Paylor Scholarship.”
Today on the Kevin O’Connor show, KOC is joined by Tom Haberstroh to ask some big questions in the NBA world: Are the Houston Rockets done? What teams have the most to prove in the 2nd half of the season? Which young players might break out and which coaches are on the hot seat?
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Then, the pair look at two of the hottest names in college basketball: Darius Acuff and Darryn Peterson. How does Acuff’s 49-point explosion affect his draft stock? Is Peterson’s self-check-out gambit for Kansas threatening his no. 1 draft pick potential?
Later, KOC is joined by Daman Rangoola, Sam Esfandiari & Claire De Lune from All-Star Weekend to talk the latest with the Lakers and Warriors. That and more on today’s show!
(1:11) Contenders with the most to prove (13:38) Young players to watch (20:26) NBA coaches on the hot seat (33:46) Kings decimated by injuries (37:12) Darius Acuff drops 49 points vs. Alabama (41:44) What’s going on with Darryn Peterson? (56:32) Daman Rangoola & Sam Esfandiari join from All-Star (1:43:10) Claire De Lune joins from All-Star
HOUSTON, TEXAS – FEBRUARY 11: Kevin Durant #7 of the Houston Rockets looks on during the second half of the game against the Los Angeles Clippers at Toyota Center on February 11, 2026 in Houston, Texas. (Photo by Jack Gorman/Getty Images)
Nate Tice & Charles McDonald join forces to answer the NFL offseason’s biggest looming questions submitted by the audience. The duo start off by diving into the New York Giants’ potential NFL Draft plans with the 5th overall pick, how the Chicago Bears can fix their defensive line and whether or not Brian Daboll is a good fit with QB Cam Ward as the new Tennessee Titans OC.
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Next, Nate & Charles discuss whether or not the Los Angeles Chargers can fix their offensive line in one offseason, if the Jacksonville Jaguars defense can take a leap next season, who the Denver Broncos should be targeting in free agency (Tyler Allgeier?) and what our expectations for the 2026 Washington Commanders should look like.
Later, the two hosts wrap up with thoughts on the New England Patriots’ upcoming offseason decisions, why Sean McVay changed to a duo run game style with the Los Angeles Rams, whether Sean McDermott was really the problem with the Buffalo Bills and more.
(44:15) – Biggest offseason questions: Patriots, Rams, Bills & more
New England Patriots quarterback Drake Maye (10) warms up before the NFL Super Bowl 60 football game against the Seattle Seahawks, Sunday, Feb. 8, 2026, in Santa Clara, Calif. (AP Photo/Sue Ogrocki)
The Cooligans welcome former MLS head coach and analyst Giovanni Savarese for a deep dive into the 2026 MLS season. Gio shares his predictions, breakout teams to watch, and how the league continues to evolve ahead of a massive 2026 on home soil. The conversation also turns to the USMNT, as the guys assess expectations, pressure, and what success should realistically look like at the 2026 World Cup.
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Christian and Alexis then tackle the troubling racist incident involving Vinícius Júnior during Real Madrid’s clash with Benfica. They unpack how these situations are currently handled, question whether the responsibility to stop a match unfairly falls on the player experiencing abuse, and debate what meaningful structural changes could better protect players moving forward.
Finally, it’s a jam-packed Champions League recap. Folarin Balogun shines in a statement performance against Paris Saint-Germain, Juventus suffer a shocking defeat to Galatasaray, and Bodø/Glimt pull off a stunning win over Inter Milan. The boys react to all the drama, surprises, and what these results mean going forward.
Timestamps:
(6:30) – 2026 MLS preview and predictions
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(30:00) – Gio Savarese’s USMNT World Cup outlook
(39:00) – Vinicius Junior deals with racism again: time for a rule change?
(59:00) – Folarin Balogun shines in Champions League loss to PSG
(1:04:30) – Serie A teams suffer shocking Champions League losses
Sony just divulged the list of PlayStation Plus Monthly Games for March, and there’s a little something for everybody. These will all be playable on March 3 for subscribers on any tier. After downloading, the games will stay in a player’s library as long as the subscription remains active.
First up, there’s Monster Hunter Rise. This was initially a Nintendo Switch exclusive before making the jump to other platforms. This is a decent Monster Hunter game with a focus on verticality. There are tools to quickly scale large cliffs and engage in aerial combat. It can be played solo or via a four-person squad. The gameplay loop is as addictive here as ever. Fight monsters. Gather materials. Upgrade weapons and armor. Rinse and repeat.
Slime Rancher 2 just hit consoles last year, after some time in early access. This sequel improves upon everything that made the first game great, which included capturing and farming various slimes. There’s a fresh location to explore and an absolute boatload of new slimes to capture. Sucking up dozens of slimes at once is a simple pleasure akin to completing a level in PowerWash Simulator.
The Elder Scrolls Online Collection: Gold Road is the definitive version of the game, offering access to all zones, biomes and quest arcs. This online game can be played cooperatively, but there’s also a lot of PvP content. It’s set 1,000 years before Skyrim, but there are many iconic locations from that game to explore.
Finally, PGA Tour 2K25 is the latest entry in 2K’s long-running golf sim. This one has an expanded solo mode, in addition to a course designer tool. It’s also cross-platform.
As new games enter the catalog, old titles vanish. Subscribers have until March 2 to download Undisputed, Subnautica: Below Zero, Ultros and Ace Combat 7: Skies Unknown.
Two stories about the Claude maker Anthropic broke on Tuesday that, when combined, arguably paint a chilling picture. First, US Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth is reportedly pressuring Anthropic to yield its AI safeguards and give the military unrestrained access to its Claude AI chatbot. The company then chose the same day that the Hegseth news broke to drop its centerpiece safety pledge.
On Tuesday, Anthropic said it was modifying its Responsible Scaling Policy (RSP) to lower safety guardrails. Up until now, the company’s core pledge has been to stop training new AI models unless specific safety guidelines can be guaranteed in advance. This policy, which set hard tripwires to halt development, was a big part of Anthropic’s pitch to businesses and consumers.
“Two and a half years later, our honest assessment is that some parts of this theory of change have played out as we hoped, but others have not,” Anthropic wrote. Now, its updated policy approaches safety relatively, rather than with strict red lines.
Anthropic’s quotes in an interview with Time sound reasonable enough in a vacuum. “We felt that it wouldn’t actually help anyone for us to stop training AI models,” Jared Kaplan, Anthropic’s chief science officer, told Time. “We didn’t really feel, with the rapid advance of AI, that it made sense for us to make unilateral commitments… if competitors are blazing ahead.”
Anthropic CEO Dario Amodei (Photo by David Dee Delgado/Getty Images for The New York Times) (David Dee Delgado via Getty Images)
But you could also read those quotes as the latest example of a hot startup’s ethics becoming grayer as its valuation rises. (Remember Google’s old “Don’t be evil” mantra that it later removed from its code of conduct?) The latest versions of Claude have drawn widespread praise, especially in coding. In February, Anthropic raised $30 billion in new investments. It now has a valuation of $380 billion. (Speaking of the competition Kaplan referred to, rival OpenAI is currently valued at over $850 billion.)
In place of Anthropic’s previous tripwires, it will implement new “Risk Reports” and “Frontier Safety Roadmaps.” These disclosure models are designed to provide transparency to the public in place of those hard lines in the sand.
Anthropic says the change was motivated by a “collective action problem” stemming from the competitive AI landscape and the US’s anti-regulatory approach. “If one AI developer paused development to implement safety measures while others moved forward training and deploying AI systems without strong mitigations, that could result in a world that is less safe,” the new RSP reads. “The developers with the weakest protections would set the pace, and responsible developers would lose their ability to do safety research and advance the public benefit.”
Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth (Photo by AAron Ontiveroz/The Denver Post) (AAron Ontiveroz via Getty Images)
Neither Anthropic’s announcement nor the Time exclusive mentions the elephant in the room: the Pentagon’s pressure campaign. On Tuesday, Axiosreported that Hegseth told Anthropic CEO Dario Amodei that the company has until Friday to give the military unfettered access to its AI model or face penalties. The company has reportedly offered to adopt its usage policies for the Pentagon. However, it wouldn’t allow its model to be used for the mass surveillance of Americans or weapons that fire without human involvement.
If Anthropic doesn’t relent, experts say its best bet would be legal action. But will the Pentagon’s proposed penalties be enough to scare a profit-driven startup into compliance? Hegseths’ threats reportedly include invoking the Defense Production Act, which gives the president authority to direct private companies prioritize certain contracts in the name of national defense. The military could also sever its contract with Anthropic and designate it as a supply chain risk. That would force other companies working with the Pentagon to certify that Claude isn’t included in their workflows.
Claude is the only AI model currently used for the military’s most sensitive work. “The only reason we’re still talking to these people is we need them and we need them now,” a defense official told Axios. “The problem for these guys is they are that good.” Claude was reportedly used in the Maduro raid in Venezuela, a topic Amodei is said to have raised with its partner Palantir.
Time‘s story about the new RSP included reactions from a nonprofit director focused on AI risks. Chris Painter, director of METR, described the changes as both understandable and perhaps an ill omen. “I like the emphasis on transparent risk reporting and publicly verifiable safety roadmaps,” he said. However, he also raised concerns that the more flexible RSP could lead to a “frog-boiling” effect. In other words, when safety becomes a gray area, a seemingly never-ending series of rationalizations could take the company down the very dark path it once condemned.
Painter said the new RSP shows that Anthropic “believes it needs to shift into triage mode with its safety plans, because methods to assess and mitigate risk are not keeping up with the pace of capabilities. This is more evidence that society is not prepared for the potential catastrophic risks posed by AI.”
Metallica are the latest group coming to the Sphere in Las Vegas, the band confirmed on Wednesday, marking the first heavy metal act tapped to play the high-tech venue since its opening in 2023.
The rock icons will play eight shows at the venue on October 1 and October 3, October 15 and October 17, October 22 and October 24. Tickets will go on sale on March 6 at 10 a.m. PST.
“About 12 seconds into the opening night of Sphere with U2 back in ‘23, I thought ‘We have to do this, it’s completely uncharted territory,’” Metallica drummer Lars Ulrich said in a statement. “This residency gives us another chance to reinvent how we interact with our fans in a live setting. We are beyond excited to share this with the world in six months time, and way fuckin’ psyched to go next level!”
The residency will continue the band’s “No Repeat Weekends” tradition Metallica had adopted in recent years, where they won’t repeat songs between their Thursday and Saturday dates, ensuring unique shows depending on which concert you attend.
“What’s so good about this is that you can really feel the live music, and you can feel the interaction between the fans and the band,” Trujillo told the The Hollywood Reporter last year of the Vision Pro show. “You can look in the fans’ eyes, it’s like you can almost touch it.”
Aside from Metallica, other acts slated to play the Sphere this year include No Doubt, Eagles, Kenny Chesney, Backstreet Boys, Illenium, Phish and Carín León. The Sphere’s other main attraction is its Wizard of Oz experience, which has become a significant moneymaker for the venue, surprassing $260 million in ticket sales back in January.
