Football

There's a really good explanation for why Trevor Lawrence didn't use a cart after he injured his ankle during 'MNF' ... he says he declined to get on one -- and now, he's explaining he regrets that decision.

ICYMI, the Jacksonville Jaguars quarterback suffered a high-ankle sprain in the fourth quarter of their 34-31 overtime loss to the Cincinnati Bengals on Monday night ... and when he went into the locker room to get it checked out, he was seen limping the entire way to the X-ray room.

Many wondered why the Jaguars' franchise player didn't hop on a ride to avoid any further complications with his leg ... and on Wednesday, he revealed it was all his choice -- not the Jaguars'.

"I'm already on the sideline at that point -- the tunnel's right there -- I just want to get off the field, get out of there," Lawrence said. "I didn't know what was goin' on with my ankle."

"I felt like I could get off. I was like, 'Hey, you're good, just don't bring [the cart] out. I'm going in.'"

The 24-year-old, though, told media members he immediately had regrets once he realized how far the walk was going to be ... but he nonetheless kept it moving.

"They asked again if I wanted a cart, I'm like, 'No, we're going to make it the whole way,'" Lawrence said.

"I was the one that didn't choose to take one. So, you guys put that on me. Maybe that was dumb. Maybe I should've taken one. Whatever."

El ex jugador la NFL Sergio Brown está peleando en tribunales esta semana, declarándose no culpable de los cargos que lo acusan de matar a su madre y ocultar su cuerpo después.

De acuerdo con un portavoz de la Oficina del Fiscal Estatal de Cook County, Brown hizo las declaraciones ante un juez de Illinois el miércoles.

Ahora debe volver a presentarse para otra audiencia del caso a finales del próximo mes.

Como informamos anteriormente, Brown fue embestido por primera vez con un cargo de asesinato en primer grado y otro por ocultar un cadáver en octubre. Esto, después de que las autoridades afirmaran que mató a su madre de 73 años en Maywood, en septiembre, y que arrojó su cuerpo cerca de un arroyo detrás de su casa.

Las autoridades alegaron que tras el asesinato, Brown se arrancó a México, donde fue visto de fiesta y bailando aparentemente sin preocupaciones en un club de Tulum.

Finalmente, Brown fue extraditado y detenido y más tarde fue transportado a Illinois para hacer frente a los cargos.

Former NFL safety Sergio Brown is fighting back in his murder case this week ... pleading not guilty to charges that he killed his mom and concealed her body afterward.

According to a spokesperson for the Cook County State's Attorney's Office, Brown entered the pleas before an Illinois judge on Wednesday.

He's now due back for another hearing in the case late next month.

As we previously reported, Brown was first hit with one charge of first-degree murder and one count of concealment of a dead body back in October ... after officials claimed he killed his 73-year-old mom in Maywood in September and dumped her body near a creek behind her home.

Authorities alleged that following the killing, Brown hightailed it to Mexico -- where he was seen partying and dancing seemingly without a care in the world at a Tulum club.

Brown was eventually extradited and arrested ... and later transported to Illinois to face the charges.

It didn't work out the first time around, but New York Jets coach Robert Saleh is hoping for a different result moving forward with Zach Wilson ... telling reporters the 24-year-old quarterback will be his team's starter for the foreseeable future.

The Jets haven't been able to find a valuable replacement under center following Aaron Rodgers' Week 1 Achilles injury ... and after a two-game experiment with Tim Boyle, Saleh told the media Wednesday that Wilson -- who initially took over for the four-time MVP -- was the team's best chance to win.

Boyle was cut from the team following NY's 13-8 loss to the Atlanta Falcons ... after he threw for just 148 yards and failed to toss a touchdown.

Wilson hasn't been great for the Jets ... and aside from a surprise victory over the Philadelphia Eagles, he struggled to gain traction with the starting gig.

Saleh seemingly alluded to Rodgers being out for the rest of the season ... saying Wilson was excited to finish out the 2023-24 campaign strong.

The Dallas Cowboys might be without their head coach for their huge matchup with the Eagles this weekend ... 'cause the team says Mike McCarthy is slated to undergo surgery later Wednesday that could keep him from the sidelines on Sunday.

The Cowboys revealed McCarthy will have a procedure on his appendix after he was diagnosed with acute appendicitis following some abdominal pain he was suffering from earlier Wednesday morning.

The team says the 60-year-old is scheduled to be released from the hospital before sunrise Thursday ... and, somehow, he "anticipates coaching" against Philadelphia -- this despite kickoff being roughly 100 hours away.

While he's out, the Cowboys say their three coordinators will run team practices.

Of course, it'd be a big blow for the Cowboys if McCarthy cannot ultimately make it to AT&T Stadium ... because, after all, the contest is quite possibly the biggest regular season game the team has had in the last few years.

If Dallas wins, both teams will sit atop the NFC East with 10-3 records. If it loses, however, it will not only be two games behind Philly in the standings, it will also lose out in a tiebreaker scenario.

Von Miller -- for now -- will not miss any Bills practices or games despite his domestic violence arrest last week ... this according to Buffalo general manager Brandon Beane.

The Bills exec spoke at length on the matter with media members just minutes ago ... revealing his team has no plans to suspend its star pass rusher amid allegations that he roughed up his pregnant girlfriend during a violent incident at their Dallas-area apartment on Nov. 29.

"There's not a lot that I can say," Beane told reporters. "Von is here. He'll be a part of the team."

Beane said repeatedly the Bills plan to let both the criminal investigation and the NFL's probe into the issue play out before they make any kinds of rash decisions regarding Von.

He did say, however, if something unnerving comes up in the investigation process ... things regarding Von's status could change.

But, Beane also added, "The guy that we've known here for a year and a half," the allegations seem "out of character."

As we reported, an arrest warrant was issued for Miller late last week after police say his GF told cops he pushed her, put his hands around her neck ... and pulled a chunk of her hair out of her head during a heated argument.

In 911 audio, the woman can be heard telling dispatch she was left bloodied and bruised after the alleged altercation.

The woman, though, reportedly recanted the story just a day later ... with WFAA reporting she said in a text message to their reporters, "Things were blown way out of context."

Taylor Swift was asked about grouchy NFL fans who feel like there's way too much focus on her during games -- and insists she only has one purpose for being there ... cheering on Travis Kelce.

The pop star addressed the increasingly thorny issue -- a growing grievance for NFL diehards -- during her TIME Magazine profile after she was named Person of the Year, and her response basically amounts to ... take it up with Roger Goodell.

She says, "I don’t know how they know what suite I’m in. There’s a camera, like, a half-mile away, and you don’t know where it is, and you have no idea when the camera is putting you in the broadcast, so I don’t know if I’m being shown 17 times or once."

T-Swift added she was just there to "support Travis" ... and went on to explain, "I have no awareness of if I’m being shown too much and pissing off a few dads, Brads, and Chads."

It's fascinating this was brought up ... 'cause it has, in fact, become a point of conversation among those who tune in every week to watch their favorite football team.

While Swifties and casuals might be fascinated/intrigued to see as much as Taylor as possible during the broadcast ... the sport purists of the world have been up in arms over all the Taylor talk.

Based on her answer here, it sounds like she's passing the buck off to the league and whatever channel is airing any given game she might be attending -- as they're the ones who decide where to pan to with camera, and she can't help if they want the spotlight on her.

If it makes anyone feel any better, Taylor also said she'd become a huge fan of the gridiron action ... saying, "Football is awesome, it turns out. I’ve been missing out my whole life."

And speaking of Travis ... she shed more light on how they came together and when as well -- revealing they hooked almost immediately after he name-dropped her in his podcast way back in July, as he told the tale of shooting his shot and seemingly being rejected.

Taylor says she appreciated his boldness, and noted they'd been seeing each other long before she showed up to his first game in Kansas City. She also characterized their dynamic in a really glowing way, saying ... "When you say a relationship is public, that means I’m going to see him do what he loves, we’re showing up for each other, other people are there and we don’t care."

Taylor finished ... "The opposite of that is you have to go to an extreme amount of effort to make sure no one knows that you’re seeing someone. And we’re just proud of each other."

Yeah, these two might just be the real deal ... at long last.

NY Giants star Xavier McKinney plays on the gridiron like a comic book villain ... and now, after getting a huge torso tattoo, his stomach art matches his game!!

The 24-year-old safety recently hit up LeBron James' ink artist, Ganga, for the piece ... and it turned out awesome.

His abs are now covered by an image of a pissed-off Thanos ruling over a smoldering city. On one of his obliques, meanwhile, he got a pic of the Joker put down -- and on the other, Ganga drew on "Guardians of the Galaxy" character Groot.

Ganga also touched up some of McKinney's other tats that he had gotten previously ... while adding the words, "Most Wanted" and "Beware of Dog" as well.

The NFL player was clearly thrilled with the final results ... sharing pics of his new ink while writing in a caption, "Tattoos over war wounds .."

"Special thanks to my brother @gangatattoo and all the artist who helped bring this piece to life."

LeRoy Butler says Florida State needs to pack its bags and get the hell out of the ACC ... telling TMZ Sports he believes the perceived weakness of the conference is a big reason the College Football Playoff committee gave the Seminoles the boot on Sunday.

"We're going to have to leave," said Butler, who starred at FSU from 1987 through 1989. "We've got to get out of the ACC. If we want to win a national championship, we've got to go."

FSU -- which just completed a 13-0 season on Saturday -- was believed by many to be one of the four best teams in the country ... but when it came time to pick the four squads who will play for this year's national championship, the CFP committee gave the nod to a one-loss Alabama team over the Seminoles.

When we spoke with Butler about the snub some 24 hours after it went down ... he was furious -- saying he believes the committee "robbed" his former team.

Then, he told us FSU's conference affiliation will need to change in order to prevent these kinds of situations going forward.

"Let's be honest, they don't think the ACC is a good conference," Butler said ... before adding, "I bet you I've gotten 50 calls from people -- 'Man, ya'll have got to get out of the ACC.'"

"This is not basketball. Football brings in the money."

While Butler didn't say where he'd like his alma mater to end up -- it seems pretty clear it's the SEC.

"The SEC is in everybody's brain -- that a one-loss team is better than a 13-0 team."

Trevor Lawrence's wife says dozens of Jaguars fans have reached out to throw their support behind her and her hubby after the star QB was injured Monday night ... flooding her social media inbox with positive messages.

Marissa Lawrence shared a screen recording of some of the DMs she says she received just after Trevor appeared to badly injure his ankle in the fourth quarter of Jacksonville's home tilt against the Cincinnati Bengals.

Almost all of the messages seemed to contain some kind of prayer for Trevor ... something Marissa said she was super grateful for.

"Really overwhelmed by people's kindness and love," she said in the clip of the fans' messages. "Just wanted to share something positive and thank everyone truly for your prayers and support."

Trevor went down in a heap of pain as he was trying to lead the Jaguars to a win ... and on Monday, head coach Doug Pederson said his 24-year-old signal-caller was dealing with a high-ankle sprain.

Seminoles legend Charlie Ward is asking for full access to College Football Playoff committee meetings going forward ... after he believes Florida State got screwed over during Sunday's selection process.

The former Heisman Trophy winner told TMZ Sports he believes full transparency following the committee's controversial pick of 12-1 Alabama over 13-0 FSU would help assuage a lot of the salty opinions that were created by the org.'s decision.

Ward -- who ended up having a successful career in the NBA after college football -- says when he was on the Florida High School Athletic Association, open-door meetings helped squelch outrage ... and now he's asking for similar from the CFP.

"A lot of our meetings are online to where people can weigh in and see what the conversations are," Ward said.

"I would like to see us open up that process so that we can hear these conversations and weigh in on the process."

Ward is not the only one who wants something done ... Florida Senator Rick Scott wrote the committee a letter, demanding the CFP provide answers following its "unprecedented exclusion" of FSU from this year's national championship race.

Kim Zolciak and Kroy Biermann are falling deeper into the debt hole -- she just got hit with a new credit card lawsuit ... meanwhile, a different judge just ordered him to pay 5 figures.

The embattled couple had some new legal docs come their way Tuesday -- in Kim's case, she's now being sued by Chase Bank over a balance they claim is way past due ... they're suing her for $4,624.02

In the docs, obtained by TMZ, Chase attached a bunch of statements from her account to demonstrate she's been behind on payments dating back to Nov. 2022.

The balance, they allege, has only ballooned ... and now, they say they want their dough. Remember, Kroy also got sued by Chase Bank over another credit card account he had with them ... and in that instance, they alleged he owed quite a bit more -- about $13,000.

Speaking of KB, he got hit with a judgment in a completely separate case -- although, it pertains to the same sort of allegations. Discover is suing him over a balance it says he owed, which had grown to $11,275.45 ... and was past due.

Per new legal docs, Kroy never officially filed a response in that suit -- and now, a judge has signed off on a default judgment saying he's gotta fork over that full amount ... plus $111 of court costs.

As we've reported ... Kim and Kroy have been facing a lot of these types of lawsuits lately -- and it's all part of the mosaic of their financial woes ... which go well beyond the credit cards.

Kim Zolciak y Kroy Biermann se están hundiendo cada vez más en el agujero de las deudas. Ella acaba de recibir un nuevo embate, con una demanda por atrasos en su tarjeta de crédito, mientras que otro juez acaba de ordenarle a Roy que pague 5 cifras.

La asediada pareja se encontró con nuevos documentos legales el martes. En el caso de Kim, ahora está siendo demandada por Chase Bank por un sobre saldo que está muy atrasado y que asciende a los $4,624.02, según están demandando.

En los documentos obtenidos por TMZ, Chase adjunta un montón de declaraciones de su cuenta para demostrar que los retrasos en los pagos se remontan a noviembre de 2022.

Alegan que el saldo solo se ha disparado y que quieren su dinero de vuelta. Recuerden, Kroy también fue demandado por Chase Bank por otra tarjeta de crédito que tenía con ellos. En ese caso, alegan que debía un poco más de $13,000.

Hablando de Kroy, también fue aporreado con una sentencia en un caso completamente separado, aunque se refiere al mismo tipo de reclamos. Discover lo está demandando por un saldo adeudado que habría crecido a $11,275.45 y está atrasado.

Por nuevos documentos legales, Kroy nunca presentó oficialmente una respuesta a esa demanda y ahora un juez ha firmado una sentencia diciendo que él es tenedor de esa cantidad total, más unos $111 por los costos judiciales.

Como hemos informado, Kim y Kroy se han enfrentado a una gran cantidad de demandas de este tipo últimamente, y todo es parte del mosaico de sus problemas financieros, el que va mucho más allá de sus tarjetas de crédito.

The ManningCast turned into a full-blown concert during "Monday Night Football" ... with Peyton and Eli Manning singing their hearts out -- and Tua Tagovailoa providing the tunes!!

The Miami Dolphins quarterback put his music skills on display as the Cincinnati Bengals and Jacksonville Jaguars duked it out on national television ... strumming the notes to Eric Clapton's "Tears In Heaven" as the Manning brothers crooned their play-by-play.

"The Bengals juuumped offsides," Peyton hilariously belted as Tua strummed his six-string ... and when Eli tried to join in, the elder bro put an end to it real quick.

"I got this, I got this," Peyton said ... with Eli clapping back, "Please, no. No one wants to hear you sing."

The brothers gave Tua his props ... but while Eli was hoping the former Alabama star was going to show off his own pipes, too, Tagovailoa assured him Peyton had it covered.

2:35 PM PT -- Nick Piazza -- the NFL official who went down with an injury following the collision with Alvin Kamara -- suffered a dislocated knee as well as a fractured fibula.

But, thankfully, his blood vessels remained intact, according to New Orleans Saints writer John DeShazier.

DeShazier added that surgery for Piazza is likely to happen next week.

An NFL official had to be taken off the field on Sunday on a stretcher ... after he suffered a gruesome leg injury following a sideline collision with Alvin Kamara.

The play happened in the second quarter of the Saints' matchup with the Lions in New Orleans ... when Kamara took a pitch from Derek Carr and accelerated toward the first-down marker.

On his way, though, a Detroit defender shoved him out of bounds ... and when he went crashing toward the turf, his momentum carried him right into the knee of a game official.

The sideline worker crumpled in pain as soon as Kamara hit him ... and broadcast cameras showed his leg had bent awkwardly inward as a result of the hit.

Trainers eventually raced to his aid ... and strapped him to a backboard -- before carting him away from the field for further treatment.

The NFL has not yet released an update on his condition as of Monday morning.

Kamara and the Saints, meanwhile, were able to try to mount a comeback despite the gruesome scene at the Superdome ... but they ultimately lost to Detroit, 33-28.

T.J. Houshmandzadeh says a woman is so obsessed with him, she changed her last name to "Houshmandzadeh" in an effort to get closer to him ... and now, he wants a court to order her to stay the hell away from him.

The former NFL star spelled out the allegations in a request for a temporary restraining order in Los Angeles ... claiming a 53-year-old woman named Annette Marie Houshmandzadeh has been making life miserable for him and his family since at least 2015.

In the docs, the ex-Cincinnati Bengals wideout says Annette used to go by Annette Selkirk, but legally changed her surname to "Houshmandzadeh" after developing "a bizarre and extreme obsession" with him and his family.

T.J. says he actually had a restraining order placed on the fan in 2015 -- though when it expired in 2019, he says she continued her harassment of him.

T.J. claims the woman has been posing as the mother of his kids online, making contact with his wife, as well as sending harassing mail and personal items to his home.

T.J. also says in the docs that he once received a letter from Annette in which she stated she had "several bullets inscribed with the names of each member of the Houshmandzadeh family."