Stephen Cohen

The ‘situational masters’ who help make the NFL’s most crucial calls In the hyper-competitive NFL, some teams seek an edge by empowering in-game decision-making consultants, whose help can loom large.

A couple good or bad choices can swing an NFL game.

But the entire game is a long series of decisions mapped out by strategists you’ll never see.

Their ability and empowerment depends on the team…and head coach.

Meet some of the NFL’s “situational masters”: www.nytimes.com/athletic/688...

Another banned word list--that includes the word..."women"

Great work!

If you buy your kid an AI-powered stuffy, you get what you get.

Thanks Tracy!

I’ve never been injured badly enough to need a walking boot before, but my God are those things medical miracles.

This guy is a moron.

OMG that Harbaugh scream.

From the creators of “Waterworld” …

Good story I missed at the time, but it doesn’t change my opinion that ultimately the LA schools’ move doomed the Pac. (I hate it as much as anyone; conference dissolution has kind of ruined college football for me.)

(It was USC and UCLA more than Washington and Oregon imo.)

Evil.

Checked my mom’s fridge and found that the Ken Griffey bars I put there 36 years ago.

Not a joke, folks, as Biden used to say.

this is extraordinary. too many people in my profession have circled the wagons around someone who lacks the moral sense of a child

An x ray of my dumb foot showing a big dumb break.

Broke my foot this morning because I decided life isn’t batshit crazy enough as is.

As someone who went to college near Greeley, let me say that I cannot think of a place more different from Portland.

I’m sorry, Atticus Sappington?

A journey to Michigan’s Upper Peninsula, where the Lions and Packers draw the lines On a swath of land in Michigan, Lions and Packers fans live side-by-side. They're called the Yoopers.

Wrote about football. And people. And the wonderfully weird world of Michigan's Upper Peninsula.

Happy Thanksgiving.

www.nytimes.com/athletic/683...

Getting the Antichrist would actually be a huge deal for the White Sox.

Marquette King boomed punts downfield, then celebrated with moves tailored to his opposition, carving out a distinct persona at a position known for anonymity.

That persona may also be the reason he has spent the last several years out of the NFL: www.nytimes.com/athletic/681...

Perfect story

The NFL’s most anonymous men are also the happiest: ‘My life’s not real’ 'People think it’s impossible to get in (as a long snapper). It’s damn near impossible to stay in.'

"Maybe you get a beer named after you, or maybe you close a Tony Robbins seminar at midnight, or maybe you just drop your kid at school and hit golf balls in paradise ..."

@brianchamilton.bsky.social on the happiest men in the NFL, long snappers: www.nytimes.com/athletic/680...

Define “worked.”

311!

The NFL’s most anonymous men are also the happiest: ‘My life’s not real’ 'People think it’s impossible to get in (as a long snapper). It’s damn near impossible to stay in.'

"I tell people, my life's not real."

To be an NFL long snapper is to have your worth measured by a half-dozen plays every week.

It's also a shot at football nirvana.

A story for @theathletic.com on the sport's last happy men, and what they're chasing.

www.nytimes.com/athletic/680...

I went on a journey — to Las Vegas, San Diego, Dallas, and Buffalo — to learn about the NFL’s long-distance kicking revolution.

From a camp of pro hopefuls to Brandon Aubrey, Cameron Dicker, Cam Little and more.

Here’s my story on the art of kicking.

www.nytimes.com/athletic/681...

Opinion | Jamal Khashoggi: What the Arab world needs most is free expression The Arab world needs a modern version of the old transnational media so citizens can be informed about global events.

I will never forget having to edit Jamal’s final, posthumous piece for the Washington Post, after he was murdered.

He was calling for free expression in the Arab world. You can read it here :

www.washingtonpost.com/opinions/glo...

“Things happen,” he said of a journalist’s murder and dismemberment by a foreign government.

I don’t wanna to be mean… but I can’t help it. This is some of the worst schlock imaginable.