{"id":422867,"date":"2026-01-22T12:30:10","date_gmt":"2026-01-22T12:30:10","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/422867\/"},"modified":"2026-01-22T12:30:10","modified_gmt":"2026-01-22T12:30:10","slug":"what-are-the-bills-doing-also-the-mets-land-an-ace","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/422867\/","title":{"rendered":"What are the Bills doing? Also, the Mets land an ace"},"content":{"rendered":"

The Pulse Newsletter \ud83d\udce3 | This is The Athletic\u2019s daily sports newsletter. Sign up here<\/a> to receive The Pulse directly in your inbox.<\/p>\n

Good morning! Happy birthday to us! The Athletic turns 10 today. Now, inside today\u2019s edition, we urge you to think about your words\u2026\u00a0<\/p>\n

Awareness: A weird day starts in Buffalo<\/p>\n

Situational awareness, to me, is paramount in life. Knowing, or at least having a good guess, how any event can unfold is the way I try to move through our mortal existence. In sports, it\u2019s even more important.\u00a0<\/p>\n

It\u2019s why I found three stories from yesterday, all with staggering degrees of situational awareness, so intriguing. We\u2019re going from least aware to too aware here:\u00a0<\/p>\n

Zero awareness: The Buffalo Bills \ud83d\ude35\u200d\ud83d\udcab<\/p>\n

There are disastrous news conferences, and then there\u2019s whatever happened in Buffalo yesterday. Nearly 24 hours later, I cannot get over Bills owner Terry Pegula tripping all over himself<\/a> and taking the fan base with him. A quick historical synopsis:\u00a0<\/p>\n

In 2024, the Bills took wide receiver Keon Coleman in the second round of the NFL Draft. After a decent rookie season, Coleman had issues in the locker room this year and found himself benched at times, though he did return to play and even caught a touchdown in the loss to Denver last weekend.
\nIt\u2019s not great, but Coleman is just 22 and has two years left on his deal. Key fact: Coleman still works for the Bills and won\u2019t be leaving in the near term, most likely.
\nThe Bills fired coach Sean McDermott this week, and in the news conference discussing that move, Pegula interrupted his own team president, Brandon Beane, to tell reporters that Coleman was not the preferred choice of Beane, but of McDermott and the coaching staff. Pegula essentially labeled Coleman a mistake and a bust.\u00a0<\/p>\n

It was galling, even if Pegula turns out to be right. Beane tried to backtrack and support Coleman, but the damage was done, particularly after firing a popular coach.\u00a0<\/p>\n

It wasn\u2019t the only bizarre thing Pegula said yesterday, so I urge you to read our writers\u2019 incredulous roundtable<\/a> for the full experience.\u00a0<\/p>\n

Perfect awareness: Fernando Mendoza\u2019s LinkedIn profile \ud83e\udd13<\/p>\n

The Indiana quarterback claimed the Heisman, went 16-0 and won a national title in his home city, Miami, against the team he wanted to play for, Miami. And yet his best move may have been his update<\/a> on LinkedIn just hours after the game. Just look at this:<\/p>\n

\"\"\/<\/p>\n

If you\u2019ve spent any time on LinkedIn, you know Mendoza hit the Business Tone here in perfect satire, while also coming off as earnest. Elite pocket presence<\/a>. He has a future in B2B sales if football doesn\u2019t work out.\u00a0<\/p>\n

Too much awareness: The San Francisco 49ers \ud83e\uddd0<\/p>\n

Social media conspiracists have homed in on the 49ers\u2019 practice facility, located next to the Silicon Valley Power Mission Substation, as a possible reason for the team\u2019s injury misfortune this year. Most people, including myself, dismissed it as engagement bait.\u00a0<\/p>\n

Who\u2019s not dismissing it? San Francisco general manager John Lynch, who said the team has been \u201creaching out to anyone and everyone\u201d to see if there could be any possible connection. So far, there is none.\u00a0<\/p>\n

Multiple experts have said the theory is bunk<\/a>. Due diligence sometimes includes a tinfoil hat, though.\u00a0<\/p>\n

Let\u2019s move on to more tangible news:<\/p>\n

News to Know\"\"<\/p>\n

\n Patrick McDermott \/ Getty Images<\/p>\n

Mets get Peralta
After some early losses this offseason, the Mets continued an aggressive two weeks last night by acquiring Brewers ace Freddy Peralta and starter Tobias Myers in exchange for two top prospects. It\u2019s another year where Milwaukee trades a promising ace pitcher, but somehow it\u2019s worked out for the club thus far. Meanwhile, the Mets get an elite starter to add to their rotation who\u2019s also in the final year of a team-friendly deal. Read more on New York\u2019s recent run here<\/a>.\u00a0<\/p>\n

In other hot stove news: Cody Bellinger (finally) agreed to a five-year, $162.5 million deal with the Yankees. The other New York team can rest now<\/a>. <\/p>\n

Another day, another Olympics controversy
To the layman, what the Canadian skeleton team did sounds innocuous: pulling four sliders from an Olympic qualifier race due to exhaustion\/overscheduling. Except, according to other athletes in the race, it was a bit of clerical subterfuge, as a complicated points system meant that fewer racers participating led to fewer points to go around, which altered the final Olympic qualifying standings. In the end, American Katie Uhlaender did not make her sixth Olympics because of the late change, while one Canadian \u2014 at risk of losing status \u2014 maintained her spot.\u00a0<\/p>\n

Read that here<\/a>.<\/p>\n

More news:\u00a0<\/p>\n

Another twist in the Duke saga: A judge ruled that Blue Devils quarterback Darian Mensah can enter the transfer portal, but cannot enroll or play football at another school. More mess<\/a>.
\nThe commissioners of four major sports leagues \u2014 the NFL, NBA, NHL and MLB \u2014 will meet with President Trump next week to discuss America 250 plans. Details here<\/a>.
\nFormer NFL sideline reporter Michele Tafoya is running for Senate in Minnesota. See our full story<\/a>.
\nVikings defensive coordinator Brian Flores will return to Minnesota for next season \u2026 unless he gets a head-coaching job this cycle. More on his deal inside<\/a>.
\nUSMNT star Weston McKennie scored<\/a> for the third consecutive Champions League match in Juventus\u2019 2-0 win over Benfica. Juve clings to a knockout spot in the UCL table.<\/p>\n

\ud83d\udcf0\u00a0Find more news here 24\/7<\/a>.<\/p>\n

Watch Guide<\/p>\n

\ud83d\udcfa NCAAW: No. 2 South Carolina at No. 16 Oklahoma
7:30 p.m. ET on ESPN
It\u2019s always good to get a glimpse of the forever-elite Gamecocks against good competition. Keep an eye out for South Carolina guard Raven Johnson, who is reasserting herself this year in a major way<\/a>.\u00a0<\/p>\n

\ud83d\udcfa NBA: Lakers at Clippers
10 p.m. ET on Prime Video
It\u2019s funny to realize this is an actual away game now after the Clips absconded to the fancy Intuit Dome last year, and these teams no longer share a home floor. The 26-16 Lakers are treading water (while talking more about off-the-floor drama<\/a>), and the 19-24 Clippers are hot. Good game.<\/p>\n

Get tickets to games like this here<\/a>.<\/p>\n

Pulse Picks\"\"<\/p>\n

\n Mitchell Leff \/ Getty Images<\/p>\n

Everyone agreed Tom Brady\u2019s first year in the broadcast booth was lacking. Brady did, too. As he told The Athletic\u2019s Andrew Marchand in an exclusive interview, he channeled his quarterback days and delivered a fantastic sophomore season. It\u2019s almost unfair how good he is now<\/a>.\u00a0<\/p>\n

The secret to having a great NFL defense? Having a premium nickel cornerback<\/a>, as Ted Nguyen wrote yesterday.\u00a0<\/p>\n

You may not think of NYU as a sports school, but its women\u2019s basketball program would fight you on that. The Violets are DIII\u2019s No. 1 team, with no NIL or anything. They just win \u2014 every single game<\/a>.\u00a0<\/p>\n

Are the \u201ccontent\u201d Phillies better than last year\u2019s team? Matt Gelb has a great analysis<\/a> after the team\u2019s quiet offseason.\u00a0<\/p>\n

We have a lot of niche story ideas on our site, but hockey is easily the most fertile ground. Consider Sean McIndoe\u2019s latest, where he wondered which NHL goalie could build the best six-man team of players who scored their first goal against them. See the teams here<\/a>.\u00a0<\/p>\n

Have a spare minute? Take our audience survey here<\/a>. Three entries will win $100 Amazon vouchers, too.\u00a0<\/p>\n

Most-clicked in the newsletter yesterday: The ski-jumping scandal. Catch up here<\/a>.\u00a0<\/p>\n

Most-read on the website yesterday: \u261d\ufe0f<\/p>\n

\ud83d\udceb That\u2019s all for now! Say hello at thepulse@theathletic.com<\/a>, and check out our other newsletters<\/a>.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"The Pulse Newsletter \ud83d\udce3 | This is The Athletic\u2019s daily sports newsletter. Sign up here to receive The…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":422868,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[65],"tags":[363,349,99],"class_list":["post-422867","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-mlb","tag-mlb","tag-nfl","tag-sports"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/422867","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=422867"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/422867\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/422868"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=422867"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=422867"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=422867"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}