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At .537, Bill Belichick’s team has the highest strength of schedule of any of the 32 NFL franchises—as calculated by their opponents’ combined winning percentage last year—just marginally ahead of AFC East rivals New York Jets. The Patriots will face seven teams that have qualified for the playoffs last season—the joint-highest in the NFL—as they will play the Buffalo Bills twice, the Baltimore Ravens, the Houston Texans and the Seattle Seahawks as well as the San Francisco 49ers and the Kansas City Chiefs, the two teams that reached Super Bowl LIV in February....

The league sent a memo to the 32 teams on Thursday citing “encouraging trends regarding the prevalence and severity of COVID-19, the evolving guidance from the CDC, changes to state law and the counsel of our respective experts” as reasons for the return to normal operations. The NFL memo lists some protocols that will be lifted, including: Regardless of vaccination status, there will no longer be mandatory surveillance testing of players or staff, however, teams are expected to have a space inside their facility to accommodate anyone who may have or report symptoms....

The Browns on Thursday acquired Brock Osweiler and a 2018 second-round draft pick from the Texans while also exchanging lower-round picks with Houston in this year’s draft. In the team’s announcement of the trade, team vice president Sashi Brown made it quite clear he was more enthused about acquiring the pick. STEELE: Browns had better win big on Osweiler gamble Brown’s statement, as presented on the Browns’ website: Welcome to Cleveland, Brock....

It's one Peterson made numerous times since at least early last January, to the NFL Network before the Vikings' wild-card playoff game: "I want to make it the 2,500 club. It's definitely out there. I feel like it's definitely attainable.'' Now that the laugh over his audacity is out of the way … Peterson can still get to 2,000 yards. Again, it's unlikely. Starting Sunday while visiting the Baltimore Ravens, he must average 198 yards a game....

The regional NFL game that will appear in the most markets Sunday is Rams at Cowboys, scheduled for a 4:25 p.m. ET kickoff on Fox. The network also will present most of the country Bears at Packers in the early Sunday afternoon time slot, but that game will share the spotlight with Eagles at Redskins and Seahawks at Panthers. CBS’ coverage is split among seven games early and late Sunday, with Texans at Titans and Broncos at Chiefs hogging the biggest viewing areas....

MORE: Get the latest NFL odds at Sportsbook Review Chris Godwin, WR, Buccaneers: +71 Receiving Yards (-120) New York Giants vs. Tampa Bay Buccaneers odds While Chris Godwin has out-produced Mike Evans to start the year, Godwin enters Week 3 with slightly superior odds. In a similar spot, Mike Evans’ receiving yardage player prop comes in at 76 yards with -200 odds. However, Godwin has out-targeted Evans 25-23 through two games this season....

Here’s a look at Week 4’s Bullet Points from Omnisport’s data-driven Stats Perform colleagues. (If you like what’s served up see here, check out @StatsbySTATS each Sunday on Twitter.) THURSDAY (All Times Eastern) Eagles (1-2) at Packers (3-0), 8:20 p.m. (NFL) Aaron Rodgers has no interceptions through three games and has thrown only two since the start of last season. Of the 30 QBs with at least 300 attempts in that span, everyone else has at least five INTs, and 23 of them have at least 10....

In addition to the undefeated Chiefs, there are only three teams – the Packers, Panthers and Eagles – that have 4-1 records entering Week 6. WEEK 6 NFL PICKS: Straight up | Against the spread Each week, AccuScore will update its 2017 NFL postseason forecast by simulating the remainder of the NFL season 10,000 times to predict win totals, division winners and probabilities of reaching the playoffs on the road to Super Bowl 52....

Here are the early betting lines for the week’s slate. Point spreads are the Las Vegas consensus on Sunday night, and totals are from CG Technology. Check our odds page for updated lines. Thursday, Sept. 15 Falcons (-3/-120, 51) at Saints Atlanta opened -3.5 at the Westgate, adjusting to -3 (-120) within minutes. The same sports book posted the Falcons as 3-point favorites in its early Week 6 lines last week, took a max $3,000 bet on the Saints and moved to -2....

Here’s a pick for a potential upset for the NFL’s Week 7 card: Kansas City Chiefs at San Diego Chargers, 4:05 p.m. ET, CBS The last time the Chiefs won on the road against the Chargers was 2007. Since QB Damon Huard led them to that victory, Kansas City has gone 0-6 in San Diego. The Wynn Las Vegas has Kansas City as +190 underdogs on the money line, implying about a 34 percent chance of winning....

Before we get into the Week 9 forecasts, here’s a reminder that if you have any questions about sports weather or how weather could impact play (and, potentially, your fantasy, DFS, and gambling decisions), don’t hesitate to reach out to RotoGrinders’ meteorologist Kevin Roth on Twitter (@KevinRothWx) or check out the hourly NFL weather forecasts on RotoGrinders. To take your game to the next level, subscribe to RotoGrinders’ exclusive WeatherEdge tool and see how different weather conditions have impacted historical scoring....

The latest 31-page memorandum stems from Johnson’s attempt to have his 10-game PED suspension from last season overturned retroactively, which would entitle him to collect lost salary as well as have guarantees reinstated in the five-year, $56 million contract he signed in 2016. The players union and NFL responded separately to have Johnson’s claim dismissed without prejudice. The latest filings from all three parties came Wednesday in the U.S. District Court of Southern New York....

On Friday, during the NHL’s All-Star Skills Competition, members of the Canadian and United States women’s national teams will battle it out in a 3-on-3 game. A fierce, long-standing rivalry that has seen these countries battle for Olympic and World Championship gold almost every tournament, each roster is comprised of nine skaters, one goalie and a Hall of Famer coach: Cammi Granato (USA) and Jayna Hefford (Canada). The Athletic’s Hailey Salvian reported that the women will not compete wearing national team garb, but rather “something entirely new....

The combination of fan votes and NHL selections have made up the 42 players who will headline the game. Nick Foligno and Jonathan Toews have been appointed captains and, along with their assistant captains, have the task of dividing the teams through the NHL All-Star Fantasy Draft. Six rookies will join the group on Saturday for the Skills Challenge and the weekend will come to a close on Sunday with the All-Star Game....

The long-time NHL referee was caught in an unfortunate hot-mic moment on Tuesday night, leading to pretty swift action from the NHL offices. The league announced on Tuesday that Peel’s services would no longer be needed on the ice. MORE: NHL COVID-19 case tracker The NHL’s statement in full: Peel was scheduled to ref his last game on April 24, meaning the NHL did, in fact, give Peel an early exit from the league after more than 1,300 regular-season games officiated and 90 more in the Stanley Cup Playoffs....

Several games could have an over/under of six from Las Vegas. Keep in mind, Vegas is not always right. Also, there is the $25,000 Forecheck contest with a $4 entry fee and an $80,000 Tuesday Special ($15,000 to first) with a $20 entry fee. MORE: SN DFS | DFS Lineup Builder Because of the volatile nature of goalies (and other reasons), there will be more information on social media coming closer to roster lock....

In 1983, a 17-year-old Lawton was drafted first overall by the Minnesota North Stars, and to this day, he remains the lone player taken with the No. 1 overall pick straight from high school since the universal draft was adopted in 1969 and all juniors of qualifying age were made eligible for selection. He has served as an agent and in 2009 was the Lightning’s general manager when the team drafted Stanley Cup champion — and 2020 Conn Smythe winner — Victor Hedman....

The main purpose of this exercise is two-fold: to create a one-stop listing and to give even the most casual of fans a general idea on how teams stack up against one another in the battle for player development supremacy. For Sporting News, several factors were taken into consideration when creating the lists below: Point production — a prospect’s development can be measured in a variety of ways, but their production on the traditional or analytic scoresheet always represents the lowest-hanging fruit....

His quip was in reply to a question about an early third-period sequence in which a squirt of water led to a response and altercation. However, the NHL Department of Player Safety was not as amused as the Rangers bench boss. On Friday, three players – Tampa Bay’s Steven Stamkos and Alex Killorn, and New York’s Kevin Hayes – were fined $5,000 each for unsportsmanlike conduct, even though none of them actually received an unsportsmanlike conduct penalty in the game itself....

“Sometimes, this day, you make some of the poorest decisions you can make,” the Flyers general manager told reporters at the end of the first day of free agency. MORE: Day 1 analysis | Blues sign Stastny | Draft aftermath Hextall hadn’t done anything particularly questionable in the immediate run-up. Moving Scott Hartnell for R.J. Umberger is in the past by, like, a week or whatever. We move on....