Originally, the weekend was slated for a doubleheader, starting with the Browns vs. Raiders in the afternoon. However, that game has been pushed back to Monday due to a number of positive COVID-19 tests in Cleveland, leaving the day with just the Patriots and Colts in the evening. The matchup will pit the NFL Offensive Rookie of the Year frontrunner quarterback Mac Jones against a potential MVP candidate in running back Jonathan Taylor....

This season the Philadelphia Eagles, Seattle Seahawks, Minnesota Vikings and Jacksonville Jaguars have all unveiled rooms designed for people who require a calm, quiet place away from the roar of the game. The rooms are usually sound-proofed and have toys and other resources to relieve stress. “When we think about families with children with autism coming to a game, there’s barriers to re-entry, there’s sensory overload when we score a touchdown and there’s pyrotechnics,” Ryan Hammond, executive director of the Eagles Autism Challenge, told the AP....

Trade deadline in the NFL is notoriously a more sedate affair than its NBA and MLB counterparts, with deals few and far between as opposed to the flurry of trades that unfold in the other two leagues. At the same time, with an expanded playoffs and the ongoing coronavirus pandemic still a major concerns for teams across the league, the upcoming trade deadline day could be more intriguing of its recent predecessors....

The Rams have traded the cornerback to the Ravens, Los Angeles announced Tuesday. Linebacker Kenny Young will go back to the Rams in the deal. Peters, 26, came over to the Rams from the Chiefs last March. He was part of a defensive back tandem alongside Aqib Talib that was one of the best in football. He has two interceptions and four passes defended through six games this year....

The defensive end was traded from the Jets to the Giants, ESPN reported Monday, citing an unidentified source. According to the report, the Jets will receive a third-round pick in 2020 and a fifth-round pick in 2021 for Williams. When Giants coach Pat Shurmur was asked about the trade, he declined to make a statement. “I don’t. I don’t. Again I wouldn’t comment on that until anything was public,” he said, via NFL Network....

Taylor’s number will be retired as a part of Sunday’s game against the Chiefs at FedEx Field, as Washington announced on its official Twitter account. MORE: Washington’s list of potential names down to 8 options Taylor was the fifth pick in the 2004 NFL Draft and played 55 games for Washington. He totaled 305 tackles, 12 interceptions, 43 pass defenses, eight forced fumbles and two sacks during his three-and-a-half season career....

The NFL, apparently, was hit by the same group that got to Tenacious D’s account over the weekend. Plenty of celebrity accounts have been compromised recently, thanks to a LinkedIn security breach. That’s how you get these: MORE: The most hated NFL players of all time “Make the password ‘protecttheshield.’ Actually, go with ‘protecttheshield1.’ No! ‘StrongR0ger,’ with a zero instead of an ‘O.’ That’ll work!“​ The bigger question: Is the NFL password as bad as Mark Zuckerberg’s?...

Led by quarterback Tom Brady, the defending Super Bowl champion Patriots host the Steelers at Gillette Stadium. MORE: Week 1 picks against the spread | SN’s latest power rankings Following months of media posturing, legal battles inside and outside of courtrooms, the Patriots — and specifically Brady — can focus on football. New England will need to be on top of its game, on both sides of the ball, against a potent Steelers offense led by quarterback Ben Roethlisberger....

Atlanta (-2.5) was a 27-17 winner over Tampa Bay as our second Big Play. For our Other Plays, Baltimore (-9.5) fell behind early, but ended up winning by 14, while the Jets (+4.5) took a big first-half lead and managed to not blow it, winning outright against the Steelers. Some of our picks are below. Our Big Plays will run in Friday’s edition of The Linemakers on Sporting News’ free newsletter....

Justin Fields’ second start was pretty, pretty good. Fields went 11-of-17 passing in the Bears’ 24-14 win over the Lions on Sunday, which led to this question: What, exactly, was Chicago coach Matt Nagy waiting for? SN POWER RANKINGS: Big moves up and down after Week 4 games Fields looked much better prepared and was on the money with his throws Sunday. Maybe that was a product of play-calling. Maybe that was because he’s really good....

Per usual, Fox and CBS are splitting their coverage of the Sunday afternoon games. Since there are an even number of contests this week, they are being split right down the middle; usually, one has an advantage in the number of games broadcast, but that isn’t the case this week. That said, Fox will be broadcasting a doubleheader in Week 5 while CBS’ regional coverage will feature just one game....

The league is finalizing a plan to insert data chips into footballs, something that has been rumored for years but finally coming to fruition, per ESPN. The NFL plans to use the chips in 2016 preseason games as well as Thursday night regular-season games, according to the report. According to the Toronto Sun, the NFL is thinking about making the uprights narrower, and the chips will help determine how many field goals would be “no good” as a result of the change....

It didn’t have anything to do with the players on their roster. Instead, it was about the man who created the roster. The Titans announced that they had fired general manager Jon Robinson after seven years with the team. Robinson had a winning record in each of his seven seasons with the Titans and helped them reach the playoffs four times, so the decision to move on from him raised some eyebrows....

There’s merit to the notion that the nature of hockey presents us with numerous things to consider when making evaluations. On an individual basis, zone deployment, quality of competition and quality of teammates can all greatly affect data despite not being something players themselves have control over. PART II: Who drives the bus in the Western Conference? That emphasizes how important it is to appropriately weight and contextualize all of those different factors....

The report says the league expects to announce full details of the new event and a new element to the skills competition later this week. All-Star Weekend falls in just under two weeks, with the defending Stanley Cup champion St. Louis Blues hosting festivities at Enterprise Center in St. Louis. This will be the third consecutive All-Star Weekend in which the NHL has invited top women’s players to participate. In 2018, players for Team USA demonstrated drills for the skills competitions ahead of their gold-medal run at the Winter Olympics in Pyeongchang....

Sporting News takes a look at the best unrestricted free agents by position and and where they could potentially end up. NHL FREE AGENCY 2019: Complete list of each team’s free agents NHL free agency 2019: Ranking the top players by position Goaltenders Sergei Bobrovskiy — The 30-year-old had a lackluster regular-season performance, but he overcame that by backstopping the Columbus Blue Jackets to their first series win in franchise history with a sweep of the heavily-favored Tampa Bay Lightning....

For a fleeting hour, the hockey world held its breath with each clue, the now-former Islanders captain free to sign with any one of the 31 teams he most desired. And after more than a week of deliberating locales, line combinations and championship appeal, Tavares announced he settled on the Maple Leafs above five other finalists, joining a city and its prodigal son in their mutual pursuit of an elusive Stanley Cup....

How important is keeping a first-round pick? Well, consider that 20 of the 23 scoring champions since the undrafted Wayne Gretzky won his last Art Ross in 1993-94 were selected in the first round. Of those 20, only one was drafted after sixth overall, and that was Calgary’s Jarome Iginla, whom Dallas selected 11th overall in 1995. NHL DRAFT 2019: Updated big board | Risers, fallers after WJC Winning league MVP also seems to require a first-round pedigree, as the last 13 Hart Trophy winners not only were top-30 picks, but 12 were chosen in the top five....

Last season, the Pacific produced just three playoff teams, with the Flames, Oilers and Kings making the postseason. The Golden Knights, who were regarded as a Cup favorite, were extremely disappointing and the Kraken could not find the expansion magic like Vegas did in 2018, as Seattle was one of the worst teams in the NHL. This season, it’s a wide-open field as to who the winner will be. The top teams like Edmonton, Calgary and Los Angeles all improved this summer, while Vegas is hoping to rely on its team to be healthy for the 2022-23 campaign....