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Archives for February 3, 2026

UConn, St. John’s Prep for Weekend

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STORRS – (Staff Report from Official News Release) – There are a pair of games in the BIG EAST on Tuesday night,

beginning with Xavier at No. 3/3 UConn at 7 p.m. ET.  An hour later, No. 22/22 St. John’s takes on DePaul in Chicago, tipping off at 8 p.m. ET.  All five mid-week games tonight and Wednesday in the BIG EAST will air on Peacock.  NBC Sports Network will also air Tuesday’s Xavier/UConn matchup.

Tuesday, Feb. 3
Peacock; NBC Sports Network
Xavier at UConn – 7 p.m. ET
John Fanta (pxp); Donny Marshall (analyst)
Peacock
St. John’s at DePaul – 8 p.m. ET
Noah Reed (pxp); Nick Bahe (analyst)
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Looking Ahead: Three BIG EAST games are set for Wednesday, beginning at 6:30 p.m. ET as Seton Hall visits Villanova. All three games will air live on Peacock, with the Creighton/Georgetown matchup also appearing on NBC Sports Network.
Wednesday, Feb. 4
Peacock
Seton Hall at Villanova – 6:30 p.m. ET
John Fanta (pxp); Tarik Turner (analyst)
Butler at Providence – 7 p.m. ET
Mike Corey (pxp); Matt McCall (analyst)
Peacock; NBC Sports Network
Creighton at Georgetown – 7:30 p.m. ET
Paul Burmeister (pxp); Brendan Haywood (analyst)

Drake Maye: “I’ll Be Just Fine”

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SAN JOSE – (Staff and Wire Service Report) – Drake Maye is concern-free as Super Bowl LX approaches. That goes for his throwing arm, too.

The New England Patriots’ second-year quarterback said his tender right shoulder feels fine and there’s no reason for worry entering the Sunday clash with the Seattle Seahawks in Santa Clara.

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“I threw a good bit (today),” Maye said Monday during the Super Bowl Opening Night festivities. “I threw as much as I would in a practice, and it felt great.”

In other words, no worries.

“I feel good. I’ll be just fine,” Maye said.

Maye missed practice on Friday, but not due to the shoulder. Coach Mike Vrabel said Maye was out with an illness.

Vrabel said Monday he’s not concerned about Maye’s shoulder.

“We’ll work through these things through the week, just like everybody else does,” Vrabel said. “But we’re confident that the preparation that’s required for each position on our football team will be there by the end of the week, and everybody will be available.”

Sunday will mark the second time Maye has been inside Levi’s Stadium for a Super Bowl.

His dad took him to Super Bowl 50 when Maye’s favorite boyhood team, the Carolina Panthers, lost to the Denver Broncos.

And, yes, there’s a little bit of pinching involved to believe it’s truly his turn.

 

 

No Ghosts in Darnold’s Closet

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SAN JOSE – (Staff and Wire Service Report) – It was during a 2019 Monday night game against the New England Patriots that a young Sam Darnold was caught on the telecast telling his coaches on the sideline he was “seeing ghosts.”

It was a comment that haunted Darnold for years.

Of course, it wasn’t that surprising.

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The New York Jets, who selected Darnold with the No. 3 overall draft pick a year earlier out of Southern California, were getting pummeled 24-0 en route to losing 33-0. Darnold completed 11 of 32 passes that night for 86 yards and four interceptions and also lost a fumble.

Since then, Darnold played for the Carolina Panthers, San Francisco 49ers and Minnesota Vikings before signing with the Seattle Seahawks last March.

On Sunday, Darnold will lead the NFC champion Seahawks into Super Bowl LX against the Patriots in Santa Clara, Calif.

Darnold retraced his unlikely path to the title game Monday at Super Bowl Opening Night.

“I take every experience as its own, no matter what happens,” he said. “I was really blessed to get drafted to the Jets and obviously things didn’t work out the way I wanted to there and then went to the Carolina Panthers, where I made a lot of really great friends and learned some great football as well. Just part of my journey.

“Then went to San Francisco and was able to be a backup there for a great player in Brock Purdy, learned under a great coach in Kyle Shanahan, Brian Griese, the Kubiaks obviously, then went to Minnesota and was with some really great coaches and really great players as well. Everything I do, I just take one day at a time and I think that’s the mantra for myself and what I’ve been able to do over the past couple of years.”

One thing that has helped Darnold win 14-plus games each of the past two seasons — he is the only quarterback in NFL history to do so in consecutive years with different teams — has been a dependable running game.

Aaron Jones rushed for more than 1,000 yards for the Vikings last season and Kenneth Walker III did the same for the Seahawks this year. Darnold never had a back accomplish that feat while with the Jets or the Panthers.

NFL Network analyst Michael Robinson, who won a Super Bowl as a fullback with the Seahawks, suggested Darnold has his own “Ghostbuster” in Walker.

Darnold also praised the Seahawks’ “Dark Side” defense that led the league in fewest points allowed during the regular season.

“Having a really good defense helps a lot,” he said. “It makes those decisions down in the red zone or when you’re in field-goal range a lot easier. I never feel like I have to force the ball.”

Patriots quarterback Drake Maye, the No. 3 overall pick in 2024, got to know Darnold at the Pro Bowl last season.

Maye admires Darnold’s perseverance.

“What a career he’s had,” Maye said on Monday. “… He’s made them pay ever since (other teams moved on).”

–Field Level Media

“Nothing Beats Playing in the NFL”

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SAN JOSE – New England Patriots head coach Mike Vrabel will be in an exclusive club if he can steer the Patriots to a victory over the Seattle Seahawks in Super Bowl LX on Sunday. In fact, Vrabel will be the club’s only member.

A New England win would make Vrabel the only person to win a Super Bowl as a player and as a head coach for the same franchise.

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Vrabel, who won three Super Bowls with the Patriots as a linebacker, is in his first season as New England’s head coach. Gary Kubiak is the only other person who reached the Super Bowl with the same team as both a coach and a player; he directed Denver to a 24-10 victory over Carolina in Super Bowl 50, but was winless in three trips to the Super Bowl as a player for the Broncos.

Tom Flores, Mike Ditka, Tony Dungy and Doug Pederson each won a Super Bowl as both a player and a head coach, but none did so with the same team.

To Vrabel, there are just as many similarities as there are obvious differences between playing and coaching in the Super Bowl.

“You have to be focused,” he said. “You have to be locked in and be prepared, and be able to be in a state of mind to do your job and help the football team whether you’re a player or you’re a coach.”

Vrabel is the eighth head coach in NFL history to reach the Super Bowl in his first season with a team. That group includes Kubiak, Jim Caldwell, Jon Gruden, Bill Callahan, George Seifert, Red Miller and Don McCafferty.

The Patriots went 4-13 in each of the last two seasons, but Vrabel guided them to a 14-3 record and an AFC East title in Year 1. That stellar regular season tied the largest single-season improvement by an NFL team (10 games), matching the feat accomplished by the 1999 Colts and 2008 Dolphins.

Adding New England’s three playoff wins to the equation makes it the single greatest turnaround year over year in league history.

“(Vrabel’s) just got a great sense of what’s needed,” Patriots center Garrett Bradbury said earlier this week. “He played, obviously, and at a high level, so he knows the players’ perspective, but he’s not just strictly, like, ‘player’s coach’ because there’s never any doubt who’s in charge. I think the way he’s been all year has just prepared us all to meet this moment, because you can see the vision and the belief, and you know he has your back.”

Vrabel was the Tennessee Titans’ head coach from 2018 to 2023, but was fired after the 2023 season. He worked as a consultant with the Cleveland Browns last season.

“I would tell you that the thing I learned most about last year is that there’s nothing that I want to do more than to coach this football team — that’s what I learned,” Vrabel said. “Being around players is so critical and the connections that you make, and you can’t lose sight of that. No matter how long you’ve been a head coach, finding a way to make connections with players is important.”

The Patriots failed to qualify for the playoffs in four of the last five seasons before this Super Bowl run. A victory Sunday would earn New England its seventh Super Bowl title, which would break a tie with the Pittsburgh Steelers for the NFL record.

“I’m a little bit more reserved here in this role,” Vrabel said. “A lot more to focus on I think, and think about. Make sure everybody’s moving in the right direction, being where we’re supposed to be. But it’s certainly a unique feeling. I’ve always told our players to play as long as you can. Then you have to get a real job. There’s nothing that beats playing in the National Football League, but this is pretty close.”

–Field Level Media

Oh ‘fer Two at the Hall

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CANTON – (Staff and Wire Service Report) – “It’s not you, it’s me,” must be the saying in Foxboro. New England Patriots owner Robert Kraft did not receive enough votes for selection to the Pro Football Hall of Fame, ESPN reported Tuesday. Last week, there were confirmed reports that former head coach Bill Belichick, who led the Patriots to nine Super Bowls and six championships over 24 seasons, also is not part of the Class of 2026 to be enshrined in this tiny Ohio town, this summer.

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The new Hall of Fame class will be revealed Thursday night at the NFL Honors ceremony in San Francisco.

Belichick and Kraft were among the five finalists competing in the same category — contributors, coaches and senior players who last played in 2000 or earlier. Kraft qualified as the contributor finalist and Belichick as the coach.

Former players Roger Craig, Ken Anderson and L.C. Greenwood filled out the list of finalists and none, one, two or all three can have their names called Thursday. To be selected, a finalist needs 40 of the 50 possible votes. If no one reaches that benchmark, the highest vote-getter becomes a Hall of Fame member.

When news spread of Belichick’s failure to reach the voting minimum, Kraft was among those in the football community who expressed disbelief that Belichick was not selected.

“As head coach of the New England Patriots for more than two decades, he set the standard for on-field excellence, preparation, and sustained success in the free agency and salary cap era of the National Football League. He is the greatest coach of all time and he unequivocally deserves to be a unanimous first-ballot Pro Football Hall of Famer,” Kraft said in a statement.

Kraft, 84, purchased the team and its old stadium for $172 million on Jan. 31, 1994. His purchase kept the franchise from being sold and relocated.

Before his ownership, the team had been to the playoffs six times since its founding as the Boston Patriots of the American Football League in 1960. That includes their 46-10 drubbing by the Chicago Bears in Super Bowl XX after an 11-5 regular season in 1985.

With Kraft and Belichick in charge, the Patriots won the Super Bowls following the 2001, 2003, 2004, 2014, 2016 and 2018 seasons.

Kraft’s investment in the Patriots was a wise one. In 2025, he sold 8% of the shares in the team for $720 million, giving the team a $9 billion valuation.

Kraft’s Patriots will appear in Super Bowl LX against the Seattle Seahawks this Sunday in Santa Clara.  A win would give New England a record seventh NFL title in the Super Bowl era, breaking a tie with the Pittsburgh Steelers.

–Field Level Media