You won't find this in Cortina d'Ampezzo over the next few weeks, but for several decades of the Olympics' history, the contest awarded medals not just for sport but for art too. In the Summer Games from 1912 to 1948, musicians, painters, and plenty of other aesthetes went brain-to-brain in events such as lyric poetry and chamber music. "Town planning" was even contested one year under the umbrella of the architecture competition.
It wasn't pretty, but Falcons-Saints rarely is. It wasn't exactly a testament to this team's strength of roster or coaching, but it wasn't expected to be. What it ultimately was a win, a 2025 sweep of the Saints, and a second-straight 8-9 season locked up. The Falcons struggled offensively much of the day, which meant the defense had to step up and did. Atlanta held the Saints to 17 points-including a last minute touchdown-and the offense set up enough Zane Gonzalez field goals to win.
Instead, with the Seahawks trailing 28-24 and 26 seconds to play, offensive coordinator Darrell Bevell with the authorization of coach Pete Carroll called for a quick slant pass from quarterback Russell Wilson to wide receiver Ricardo Lockette. New England safety Malcolm Butler got there first with an interception at the 1. The Patriots (15-4) won their fourth of six Lombardi Trophies under coach Bill Belichick and quarterback Tom Brady.
Look, Nix certainly wasn't perfect Saturday. Yeah, he was 26-for-46 for 279 yards and three touchdown passes. Yeah, he threw the go-ahead touchdown pass with 55 seconds left in regulation. And yeah, he made a couple of really pretty deep throws in overtime that were flagged for pass interference to set up Wil Lutz's game-winning field goal. But there were absolutely stretches of this game where it looked like Nix was a bigger part of the problem than the solution.
The wide receiver has played out of his mind this season. He roasts every defensive coverage and has morphed into a three-level threat: beating man-coverage quickly off the snap, showing fearlessness to attack the middle of the field and stretching away from deep coverage. Klint Kubiak, the Seahawks' offensive coordinator, has channeled the entire Seattle offense through his star receiver. Smith-Njigba lines up everywhere: out wide, in the slot, in the backfield. From any of those looks, he's a matchup nightmare.