“I asked Brendon how he changed that in English cricket, which was really interesting. Then we got into the technicalities of coaching someone one-on-one, what that looks like, his role as head coach in that versus his assistants.
“We sat for a good period of time and took loads from it. They’re on to a good thing.”
After beginning the series against Australia, England will also face Fiji, New Zealand and Argentina this autumn.
Meanwhile, the cricket team will play five Test matches as they look to regain the Ashes for the first time since they won in Australia a decade ago.
“They’ll go out and give it a great dig – as English teams who are playing against Australia want to – and hopefully we stick one on the board on Saturday,” said Wigglesworth, who was part of the British and Irish Lions set-up as they posted a 2-1 series win against the Wallabies in the summer.
“It’s a great rivalry with Australia. Both sides really enjoy playing against each other because there’s something there. Bring on Saturday.”
England are favourites against Australia, who are ranked seventh in the world.
The Wallabies finished third in the Rugby Championship with two wins from six games and beat Japan 19-15 in Tokyo on Saturday with a much-changed team.
Indian Defence Minister Rajnath Singh is set to meet his U.S. counterpart Pete Hegseth in Kuala Lumpur on Friday, two Indian officials confirmed. The meeting, taking place on the sidelines of the ASEAN Defence Ministers’ Meeting (ADMM), will mark the first direct interaction between the two leaders and comes at a delicate moment for bilateral relations strained by Washington’s punitive trade tariffs on Indian imports.
The discussions are expected to cover India’s ongoing plans to acquire six Boeing P-8I maritime patrol aircraft for its navy and a proposed new India-U.S. defence cooperation framework aimed at revitalising strategic ties. According to one official, the meeting could lay the groundwork for a bilateral visit either by Hegseth to New Delhi or Singh to Washington as both sides look to reset momentum in defence diplomacy.
Key Issues
Relations between India and the United States hit a low point earlier this year when U.S. President Donald Trump doubled tariffs on Indian imports to 50% to punish New Delhi for continuing to purchase Russian oil. The planned Singh-Hegseth meeting in Washington in August was consequently scrapped.
However, geopolitical shifts are now offering both sides an opening to rebuild ties. Following U.S. sanctions on Moscow’s top crude exporters, Indian refiners have reduced imports of Russian oil, aligning New Delhi’s actions more closely with Western interests. Washington, in turn, appears keen to re-engage with India to strengthen strategic cooperation in Asia particularly in countering China’s influence.
Why It Matters
The meeting is a key test of how far the India-U.S. strategic partnership can withstand trade disputes and geopolitical friction. Defence cooperation has been one of the strongest pillars of bilateral relations, spanning arms sales, joint exercises, and intelligence sharing under the Quad framework.
Reviving momentum now could reinforce India’s role as a security partner for the U.S. in the Indo-Pacific, especially as Washington seeks to deepen defence ties in the region amid rising tensions in the South China Sea and with China’s growing assertiveness.
India’s Defence Ministry: Seeking to secure technology transfers and diversify suppliers while preserving its strategic autonomy.
U.S. Department of Defense: Looking to reassure New Delhi of continued defence engagement despite trade frictions.
Boeing and U.S. defence contractors: Potential beneficiaries if new procurement deals move forward.
ASEAN nations: Watching the talks closely as regional defence alignments shift amid great-power competition.
What’s Next
Singh is expected to deliver formal remarks at the ASEAN meeting on November 1, where he may underscore India’s vision for regional security and freedom of navigation. If Friday’s talks go smoothly, analysts anticipate a high-level bilateral visit could follow within months a sign that the world’s two largest democracies are again moving toward strategic alignment after a period of economic friction.
For now, both sides remain cautious but pragmatic, aware that long-term interests especially in defence and Indo-Pacific security outweigh short-term trade disputes.
Detroit defensive back Brian Branch thought he had been blocked in the back illegally without the officials calling a penalty during the Lions’ 30-17 loss to the Kansas City Chiefs on Sunday night.
So as soon as the game ended, Branch took matters into his own hands — or, rather, his own hand.
After the final play, Branch approached the player he later said was responsible for the illegal block, Chiefs receiver JuJu Smith-Schuster, and hit him hard on the left side of his face mask with an open hand.
Smith-Schuster fell to a knee but immediately popped up and went after Branch. The two players scuffled briefly, with Smith-Schuster losing his helmet and ending up back on the ground, as other players and coaches tried to intervene.
Talking to reporters after the game, Branch apologized and took responsibility for his actions while also attempting to explain what had set him off.
“I did a little childish thing,” the third-year player said. “But I’m tired of people doing stuff in between the play and refs don’t catch it. Like, they were trying to bully me out there and I don’t think — I shouldn’t have did it. It was childish.”
Asked to elaborate on what had happened during the game, Branch said: “I got blocked in the back illegally, and it was front of the ref. The ref didn’t do anything, and just stuff like that. And I could have got hurt off of that, but I still shouldn’t have done that.”
Branch said later in the interview that he should have taken out his frustrations within the rules of the game “between the whistles, not after the game, and I apologize for that.”
Detroit coach Dan Campbell, right, approaches Lions defensive back Brian Branch, left, in a crowd of players after a game against the Kansas City Chiefs on Oct. 12.
(Jamie Squire / Getty Images)
Branch was fined $23,186 earlier this season for face-masking and unsportsmanlike conduct penalties during a game against the Green Bay Packers. He could face another fine and possibly a suspension for his actions Sunday night, an NFL spokesperson told The Times. There is no timetable for a decision to be made on the matter.
The Chiefs offense and Lions defense were on the field for the final play. As soon as the final whistle blew, Branch appeared to walk right past Kansas City quarterback Patrick Mahomes, who had extended his hand for a postgame handshake, to confront Smith-Schuster.
“After the game, I was expecting to shake his hand and say, ‘Good game’ and move away, but he threw a punch,” Smith-Schuster told reporters in the locker room. “At the end of the day, it’s a team sport. We came out here, we did our job, we won, and that’s all that matters.”
Smith-Schuster was asked what might have led up to the incident.
“I mean, just me blocking him,” the ninth-year receiver said. “I mean, I’m just doing my job. I play between the whistles and after the game he just took advantage of what he did.”
Smith-Schuster reportedly received a bloody nose from the hit. There were no signs of blood by the time he gave his postgame interview, but Smith-Schuster confirmed that he had been bleeding.
Detroit coach Dan Campbell — who famously declared during his introductory press conference in 2021 that his team would bite off opponents’ kneecaps — told reporters that Branch’s actions were unacceptable.
“I love Brian Branch, but what he did is inexcusable and it’s not going to be accepted here,” Campbell said. “It’s not what we do. It’s not what we’re about. I apologized to Coach [Andy] Reid and the Chiefs, and Schuster. That’s not OK. That’s not what we do here. It’s not going to be OK. He knows it. Our team knows it. That’s not what we do.”
Sam Farmer makes his picks and predictions for Week 6 of the NFL season, with the Lions defeating the Chiefs in prime time and the Seahawks improving to 4-2.
New tight end Evan Engram has stepped up big and new running back JK Dobbins is a guy they believe in. He’s currently fifth in the NFL for rushing yards (402) and tied-fourth for rushing touchdowns (four).
That shows how the Broncos are a team that wants to run first, because you can do a lot off the back of that. It slows down the pass rush and keeps you in favourable down and distances.
It’s also helped quarterback Bo Nix, who came into the league as the 12th overall draft pick last year, throwing 29 touchdown passes – second only to Justin Herbert for the rookie record (31 in 2020).
Josh Allen and Herbert have the arm strength to throw anywhere, but they don’t move in the same way as Nix. He has incredible arm talent, which is different, and he is so athletic.
His strengths are his mobility, being able to throw on the run, and finding different arm angles to make the pass when he rolls out of the pocket, the bootlegs. He can throw that layered pass across the middle or over the corner.
For a young quarterback, at 25, he’s got a lot of poise in the pocket and isn’t really fazed by the blitz. He tries to avoid a sack as much as possible and is able to throw under pressure. He has a high football IQ and is very decisive.
When you constantly run the ball it eats up the clock and forces the defence to be on the field for longer, and when you’ve got an athletic quarterback the defence has to cover the field vertically and horizontally. It can be exhausting.
Nix has bitten back at Payton on the sideline sometimes and I think the coach likes that attitude, that he’s such a competitor. I think it’s fun for him to have a young quarterback who’s kind of like play-dough. He can really build something up the way he wants to build it. I think it’s a special experience for him.
Payton has won a Super Bowl and now passed Bill Parcells for career NFL wins (173 – tied 14th overall). He’s seen it all. I think the success Denver are having on offence is mostly down to his leadership, his play-calling, his situational awareness – and the combination with Nix helps make him what he is.
You wouldn’t want a better guy in your ear, to help you through some of the tougher situations and build confidence.
I believe in Denver’s defence, in Bo Nix’s tenacity and composure. But are they good enough to go against an elite team at its best? Because that was not a Super Bowl performance by the Eagles last Sunday.
Right now, I don’t think the Broncos are incredible. They’re working above average, which is a good place to be in their division. All they need to do is maintain this trajectory.
They’re really good at leaning into their strength, which is running the ball, and that’s exactly what they should do against the New York Jets at Tottenham. It’s going to be the JK Dobbins show, essentially.
The Jets have allowed 140 rushing yards per game (sixth worst in the league), five rushing touchdowns this season (10th worst), and they’re the only team yet to win a game.
Since the NFL began tracking turnovers in 1933, the Jets are also the first team to be without a single takeaway through five games, which is kind of shocking when you think that their new coach Aaron Glenn was defensive co-ordinator at the Detroit Lions.
Warner Bros. said Wednesday it will renew the contract for studio heads Mike De Luca and Pam Abdy after the two orchestrated a string of back-to-back hits at the box office.
The news is a notable reversal of fortune for the co-chairs and co-chief executives of Warner Bros. Motion Picture Group.
Only six months ago, the pair was on thin ice after a series of underperforming films, including Bong Joon Ho’s sci-fi thriller “Mickey 17” and the Robert De Niro-led mob movie “The Alto Knights.”
But the studio’s prospects dramatically changed in April with the release of “A Minecraft Movie,” which hauled in nearly $958 million worldwide. Shortly after, Ryan Coogler’s “Sinners” became a lasting hit at the box office, followed by “Final Destination Bloodlines,” “F1 The Movie” (which Warner Bros. distributed), James Gunn’s “Superman,” horror flick “Weapons” and the final installment of “The Conjuring.”
In a memo to staff Wednesday, Warner Bros. Discovery CEO David Zaslav credited Abdy and De Luca for the improved performance at the box office.
He touted the studio’s “balanced” slate with big blockbusters, films based on established intellectual property, horror movies and original works.
“Mike and Pam’s unwavering leadership and commitment to this business has been critical to our success this year,” he wrote. “We have a lot to be grateful for and much to celebrate including several of this year’s best reviewed movies, many of which have pierced the culture zeitgeist in profound ways while also delighting moviegoers around the world.”
Warner Bros. recently surpassed $4 billion at the global box office, the first time it has done so since 2019 and the first studio to reach this mark this year.
“We have the privilege to do this job because of the support and trust [Zaslav] has put in us, and in all of you,” De Luca and Abdy said in an internal note to employees. “We could not be more excited to be leading this team as we introduce an exciting slate of films in the coming years and continue making every film experience an event worthy of the Warner Bros. shield.”
Last week, Farmer posted a 12-4 (.750) record. Through the first three weeks of the season, he is 44-20 (.688).
Using point spreads with the scores Farmer predicted, his record against the spread in Week 4 would have been 9-7 (.563). For the season, his record against the spread is 33-31 (.516).
All times are Pacific and TV reflects broadcasts in the Los Angeles area. The Falcons, Bears, Packers and Steelers are off this week.
Kansas City Chiefs coach Andy Reid told reporters not to “make too much” of the sideline spat between him and star tight end Travis Kelce during the second quarter of the team’s 22-9 win over the New York Giants on “Sunday Night Football.”
NBC’s cameras caught the two men yelling at each other, with Reid at one point appearing to intentionally give Kelce’s shoulder a hard bump with his own shoulder. The Chiefs were up 6-0 at the time, but the offense had just failed to capitalize on a Giants turnover.
Going into halftime, as the confrontation with Kelce played on viewers’ screens, NBC’s Melissa Stark asked Reid what his message was to the team after seeing “a lot of frustration and emotion from your key players, star players on the sideline.”
“That’s OK, we need some juice,” said Reid, whose team had entered the game 0-2. “So that’s good.”
During his postgame news conference, Reid was asked what he had been trying to get across to Kelce during the exchange.
“I love Travis’ passion, and so I’m OK with that. We didn’t have enough of it,” Reid said. “That second quarter wasn’t where we needed to be. So within reason, you know, he knows — he knows when to back off the pedal, and knows when to push it too. So that’s part I love about him, the guy’s all in. Just sometimes I have to be the policeman.”
Reid added: “Listen, he’s an emotional guy. He’s Irish.”
Asked if the exchange was him telling Kelce to back off a bit, Reid answered: “Don’t make too much of it. He’s a passionate guy, and I love that part. So I’ve been through a lot of things with him, so that’s all part of it. I love that he loves to play the game. That’s what I love. And it’s an emotional game. So I’ll take it.”
Kelce wasn’t made available to speak to reporters after the game.
It’s not the first time the two men made contact during a sideline dispute. Early in the second quarter of Super Bowl LVIII against the San Francisco 49ers on Feb. 12, 2024, Kelce was seen yelling in his coach’s face, grabbing his arm and bumping into him, which appeared to cause Reid to stumble a bit.
After the Chiefs’ 25-22 overtime win in that game, Reid brushed off the incident, telling CBS that Kelce had hugged him and apologized after the incident.
“There’s nobody that I get better than I get him,” said Reid, who was 65 at the time. “He’s a competitive kid and he loves to play.”
“It’s definitely unacceptable,” he said, “and I immediately wished I could take it back.”
On the same podcast, Kelce said: “Unfortunately, sometimes my passion comes out where it looks like it’s negativity, but I’m grateful that [Reid] knows that it’s all because I wanna win this thing with him more than anything.”
The Chiefs hadn’t started 0-2 since 2014, which was Kelce’s first year as a starter and Reid’s second as the team’s coach. The team has since played in five Super Bowls and won three.
This season is off to a slow start also for Kelce, a 10-time Pro Bowl selection. He has 10 catches in 17 targets for 134 yards and one touchdown. During the Chiefs’ 20-17 loss to the Philadelphia Eagles in Week 2, a pass from quarterback Patrick Mahomes bounced out of Kelce’s arms at the goal line and resulted in a game-changing interception by the Eagles’ Patrick Mukuba.
Also during the Philadelphia game, Kelce appeared to point to his crotch as part of a crude gesture aimed toward the opposing sideline after making a 23-yard reception. He was later fined $14,491 by the NFL for unsportsmanlike conduct.
There’s no guarantee the Chargers will pass through the gate of golden opportunity, but this 2-0 team has sawed the lock off the latch.
With Sunday’s home opener against Denver, the Chargers have the chance to go 3-0 in the AFC West with a week to go in September. That’s unheard of. The last time this franchise opened the season with three consecutive division games was 1988, and those Chargers stumbled to a 1-2 start.
These Chargers could be 3-0 for the first time since 2002 and are heading into a softer part of their schedule.
But how did it happen? Why did the NFL set up the Chargers schedule to go Chiefs, Raiders, Broncos when that kind of rollout is so rare?
Let’s rewind the tape.
Why did the Kansas City game wind up in Brazil?
The league had the Chargers hosting a game in São Paulo, and because of the distance, it only made sense to make it an opener. (Just as the Rams will open next season in Australia.) The team can “protect” two home games and the league won’t touch those, so the Chargers chose Washington and Minnesota. Pittsburgh couldn’t go to Brazil, because the Steelers already have an international game in Dublin, and it couldn’t be Philadelphia, either, because the Eagles opened in Brazil last season.
The NFL wanted to follow up that Packers-Eagles matchup with something similarly spectacular, so they needed the biggest opponent to pair with the Chargers, especially with this being the first YouTube game. No one has more sizzle these days than Kansas City.
From the Chargers standpoint, they got the Chiefs on a neutral field — SoFi Stadium is pretty much a neutral field anyway — and they were making their biggest division rival fly 12-plus hours to and from. Not an ideal way for anyone to start the season.
Jim Harbaugh’s team played a tremendous game, beating the Chiefs for the first time since 2021 and putting a spotlight on quarterback Justin Herbert, who was phenomenal. Not only that, but they handed Kansas City an unimaginably long flight home to prepare for a Super Bowl rematch with Philadelphia, which they lost.
Chargers quarterback Justin Herbert fist bumps coach Jim Harbaugh before a win over the Raiders on Sept. 15.
(Ian Maule / Getty Images)
Objective 1: Check.
The NFL would rather not have a team make a long flight back from an international game only the hit the road again the following week, but that’s what the Chargers had to do. There was a Chris Brown concert at SoFi Stadium on the Sunday of Week 2, so it worked out better to have the Chargers back on the road.
The fairest solution was to give the Chargers their shortest road trip, to Las Vegas, plus give them an extra day to prepare by making it the second half of a Monday night doubleheader. Allegiant Stadium, home of the Raiders, was in use that weekend for the Terence Crawford-Canelo Álvarez fight.
Again, Harbaugh had his team prepared and the Chargers assembled a defensive masterpiece against the Raiders, breaking up 15 passes and putting Geno Smith under near-constant pressure.
Objective 2: Check.
Now comes Denver, a club a lot of people see as one of the league’s surprise teams. There’s an interesting connection between Harbaugh and Broncos coach Sean Payton, and not just that they were born six days apart. Harbaugh, a star quarterback at Michigan, was a first-round pick of the Chicago Bears in 1987, a year when NFL players went on strike. Chicago’s replacement team was nicknamed the “Spare Bears” and Payton was the quarterback of that fill-in squad.
It was more random that the Broncos wound up being the opponent in Week 3, except that the league wanted to put the Chargers’ games against Minnesota, Pittsburgh and Philadelphia in prime time. So that limited the choices.
Nobody at The Bolt is complaining now. What looked to be a treacherous start could be a turbo boost for a franchise heading into a stretch that includes the New York Giants, Miami Dolphins and Tennessee Titans, who are combined 0-6. Anything can happen and fortunes of franchises can flip in an instant — oft-struggling Indianapolis is 2-0, for instance, and has yet to punt once — so looking too far in the future is foolish. But that’s what networks have to do, and there’s a lot of buzz right now that the Chargers are going to be a team to watch as we get deeper into the season.
That fits Harbaugh’s profile, too, because his teams have a history of improving in his second season.
With the new Nielsen methodology, which takes a far more comprehensive sampling of what Americans are watching, it’s increasingly important for the NFL to do well in big markets. The league has to be delighted, then, that both the Chargers and 2-0 Rams are playing so well. The only other season when both franchises were 2-0 at the same time was 2001, when the St. Louis Rams made it to the Super Bowl before losing to a young quarterback named Tom Brady and the New England Patriots.
Both the Rams and Chargers have outstanding quarterbacks, and interestingly, Matthew Stafford went 12 seasons in Detroit before finally winning a playoff game, in his first season with the Rams. Herbert, in his sixth season, has yet to win a playoff game.
Both teams have top-notch defenses.
It’s absurdly early to make end-of-season predictions but this much is set: SoFi Stadium will play host to its second Super Bowl next season.
Is a colossal turf war in the cards?
With that in mind, maybe the Chargers and Rams are peaking too early. They certainly hope so.
It’s week two of the NFL season and after two thrilling games won by the Buffalo Bills and Pittsburgh Steelers last week, we now have a Super Bowl rematch. The NFL just knows how to create these match-ups.
The Kansas City Chiefs host the Philadelphia Eagles on Sunday and this is going to be very interesting because it’s definitely a revenge game. The Eagles beat the Chiefs 40-22 in the Super Bowl and nullified them till late in the third quarter.
I think the biggest difference between the two teams is their roster. You look at the Eagles, they have Jalen Hurts, Saquon Barkley, AJ Brown. You can keep listing all these great players, and I just don’t know who the Chiefs have any more. It’s Patrick Mahomes… then what is that supporting cast?
That leaves Hollywood Brown and JuJu Smith-Schuster as the main receivers, which puts a lot of pressure on because the Chiefs’ run game has not been terrific at all.
The Chargers game was very much the Mahomes show. At one point, he had more carries than anybody else on the field. He put his body on the line multiple times – those hits add up, and you don’t want to see your superstar quarterback risking his health so early in the season.
Mahomes had six scrambles and the Chiefs only ran it 11 other times. Isiah Pacheco and Kareem Hunt combined for 41 yards with 10 of those carries, and that’s just not sustainable.
After the Eagles, the Chiefs face the New York Giants and then the Baltimore Ravens so, realistically, they could have a 1-3 record after four weeks.
Baltimore is a huge game and with the Ravens losing to the Bills last week, they’re going to have a lot to prove as well, to show that they want to be on top.
The Eagles have a tough run defence, and the Giants have a good defence too, so I think that will be telling, to see how the Chiefs are able to run the ball. These two games stacked together, the Chiefs almost have to think about how they are going to prepare themselves to ensure they’re firing on all cylinders for the Ravens.
Last year, the Chiefs won so many one-score games, and they’re going to have to be much better to do that again. They may be out for revenge against the Eagles but I don’t think they have it in them… yet.
Rashee Rice is a huge part of their offensive scheme and, without Worthy, they don’t have any deep threat either so, I hate to say it, but I really struggle to see what they’ll be able to do. I don’t see what their answers are right now.
In the off-season, the Chiefs lost Joe Thuney, who was huge for them on defence, but they did draft a left tackle in the first round, Josh Simmons, to help protect Mahomes more, and brought in another offensive tackle in Jaylon Moore, so they are doing the right things to create strength on the offensive line.
They need to because the AFC West is the toughest it’s been in a long time – none of it is given this year. The Chargers beat the Chiefs, the Las Vegas Raiders have got better and Bo Nix has only got stronger with the Denver Broncos.
I still think the Chiefs will make the play-offs but if they carry on like this, I would be concerned.
Week 2 of the NFL season has several big matchups, including a Super Bowl rematch between the Eagles and Chiefs and a Monday showdown between AFC West rivals.
South Korea’s Defense Minister Ahn Gyu-back (R) and his Japanese counterpart, Gen Nakatani (L), met Monday in Seoul to discuss cooperation on a range of issues, including North Korea’s growing military threats. Photo courtesy of South Korea Defense Ministry
SEOUL, Sept. 8 (UPI) — The defense chiefs of South Korea and Japan met in Seoul on Monday to discuss cooperation across a range of issues, including North Korea‘s growing nuclear and missile threats.
The meeting between South Korea’s Defense Minister Ahn Gyu-back and his counterpart, Gen Nakatani, marked the first visit by a Japanese defense minister to Seoul since 2015. Nakatani is in town to attend the Seoul Defense Dialogue, an annual security forum that runs from Monday to Wednesday.
The ministers “reaffirmed their firm commitment to the complete denuclearization of the Korean Peninsula and agreed to continue South Korea-U.S.-Japan cooperation in response to North Korea’s nuclear and missile threats,” they announced in a joint statement.
“They also emphasized the need to jointly address the deepening of military cooperation between North Korea and Russia,” the statement added.
North Korea has deployed troops, artillery and missiles to Russia to aid in Moscow’s war against Ukraine, and is believed to be receiving financial support and advanced military technology for its own weapons programs in return.
The meeting comes after North Korean leader Kim Jong Un traveled to Beijing last week to attend a military parade commemorating the 80th anniversary of the end of World War II.
Kim stood alongside Chinese President Xi Jinping and Russian President Vladimir Putin at the display of military might in Tiananmen Square, the first time the three leaders have been seen together publicly.
The appearance was viewed by many analysts as a major diplomatic win for Kim in his efforts to further cement North Korea’s status as a de facto nuclear state.
Ahn and Nakatani stressed the importance of promoting bilateral security ties and three-way cooperation with the United States amid a “rapidly changing security environment,” their joint statement said.
The defense chiefs agreed to boost mutual visits and personnel exchanges while seeking opportunities for high-tech defense cooperation.
“In particular, they agreed to explore future-oriented and mutually beneficial cooperation opportunities in cutting-edge science and technology fields such as AI, unmanned systems and space,” the statement said.
Seoul and Tokyo have seen their historically frosty relations thaw in recent years. South Korean President Lee Jae Myung and Japanese Prime Minister Shigeru Ishiba met last month and called for closer cooperation on trade and security issues.
Ishiba, however, announced his resignation on Sunday, raising questions about the future of Tokyo’s diplomatic relationship with Seoul.
South Korea’s presidential office said Monday that it planned to “continue positive relations going forward” with Japan, news agency Yonhap reported.
SÃO PAULO, Brazil — Turns out, the marquee matchup Friday night between the Chargers and Kansas City Chiefs isn’t just a season-opening showdown between two premier quarterbacks and legitimate Super Bowl hopefuls.
It’s also a family feud — minus the bad blood.
Devin Woodhouse, head strength and conditioning coach for the Chargers, is the son-in-law of Chiefs coach Andy Reid, an under-the-radar connection that further hems these AFC West rivals.
“In our first game last year, I was a little anxious playing them,” Woodhouse told The Times. “It felt weird rooting against him at times.”
Reid understands, and he loves the fact that before bringing Woodhouse with him from the University of Michigan, Chargers coach Jim Harbaugh called his Kansas City counterpart and asked him if that would be OK.
“I said, ‘Heck, yeah, I’m honored that he’s got an opportunity to work for you,’” Reid said. “I got the biggest kick out of that, that Jim would even think of that. … What a class act.”
Chargers strength and conditioning coach Devin Woodhouse instructs players during practice at The Bolt in El Segundo on Dec. 13, 2024.
(Los Angeles Chargers)
Woodhouse, modest and focused on his Chargers responsibilities, was initially reluctant to sit down for an interview. But Harbaugh and Reid nudged him to talk, as did his direct boss, Ben Herbert, executive director of player performance.
“I don’t want to dim that light on him,” Herbert said. “I want that light brighter.”
Woodhouse, 34, who grew up in Rancho Cucamonga, met his future wife, Drew Ann Reid, when they were members of the same ward of their church in Provo, Utah. They had mutual friends, an instant connection and were married in 2013.
The couple was further bonded by tragedy. Drew Ann’s older brother, Garrett, who struggled with drug abuse for years, died in 2012. The twin brother of Woodhouse, Chaz, who was confined to a wheelchair with cerebral palsy, died a year later.
“As our relationship was growing, her brother passed away,” Woodhouse said. “We grew even closer together.”
The two now have four children, two boys and two girls, all of whom refer to Reid as “Gramps.” Woodhouse doesn’t call his father-in-law anything but “Coach.”
“I would say he’s a better man than he is a coach, and he’s a pretty dang good coach,” Woodhouse said. “And [mother-in-law] Tammy is the head coach of the head coach, so that’s how good they both are. I just love them, and not just the people they are for my wife, but for my kids and their grandkids.
“One of the things I love most about Coach Reid is how much I feel people love to play for him. It’s a cool thing to witness and I respect it a lot.”
Woodhouse feels the same way about Harbaugh, for whom he and Herbert worked at the University of Michigan.
“Ben Herbert found Dev,” Harbaugh said. “When Herb recommends somebody, I already know it’s going to be good. He doesn’t bring in anybody who doesn’t have a tremendous work ethic. Devin came in, and Herb was right.”
Herbert is meticulous down to the smallest detail. For instance, each dumbbell at the Chargers facility is emblazoned with the club’s lightning-bolt logo. Not only is that wall of weights always precisely arranged, but every lightning bolt is arched in an identical way. To ensure there’s never a speck of dust on the floor, Herbert and his crew use electric leaf blowers each day to clean the massive space.
Helping oversee the physical well-being of so many elite athletes is a challenging assignment, particularly for a franchise that has an unfortunate history of losing key players to injuries — as the Chargers did in August with left tackle Rashawn Slater, who sustained a season-ending knee injury.
Chargers strength and conditioning coach Devin Woodhouse helps quarterback Justin Herbert with his jersey during training camp in El Segundo on July 21, 2025.
(Ty Nowell / Los Angeles Chargers)
The way Harbaugh sees it, no one is better equipped to train an NFL team than Herbert.
“We are the tip of the spear,” said Herbert, who is not related to Chargers quarterback Justin Herbert. “Our job is to impact the mental and physical capability of the players. The physical part is much easier. The mental part — emotional stability, consistency — that’s the separator. And trust is everything.”
Woodhouse has a knack for building and maintaining those trusts.
“He has an ability to build relationships across a melting pot of personalities,” Herbert said. “He’s also versatile across range-of-motion, tissue and joint, strength, power and movement traits. So much so that with my 14-year-old, twice a week I want Coach Woodhouse to work with him.”
Woodhouse has a particularly keen eye when it comes to evaluating the tiniest aspects of a person in motion, helping players make subtle adjustments to the way they run in order to improve their speed.
Chargers strength and conditioning coach Devin Woodhouse works with Chargers wide receiver Ladd McConkey before a game at SoFi Stadium against the Tampa Bay Buccaneers on Dec. 15, 2024.
(Ty Nowell / Los Angeles Chargers)
“Dev’s someone who’s going to support you, but he’s going to tell it like it is,” Chargers receiver Ladd McConkey said. “I’ll be running a route, and Dev’s over there with his phone recording me. Then we’ll look at it in slo-mo and break it down.”
During games, Woodhouse is on the sideline as a “get-back” coach — a term he doesn’t particularly like — making sure players and coaches keep a sufficient distance from the field.
As for his own emotions, he figures he will have them in check, even with his father-in-law on the opposite sideline.
Travis Kelce and Taylor Swift announced their engagement more than a week ago, and the excitement has yet to wear off for the Kansas City Chiefs tight end.
On this week’s episode of the “New Heights” podcast, Kelce described to his brother, Jason, how it feels to introduce the pop music superstar as his fiancée.
“I still get giddy,” Kelce said. “I love it. It’s exciting times.”
The brothers opened the show with Kelce’s first public comments on his upcoming nuptials since he and Swift made the announcement on Aug. 26 with a joint Instagram post. That post has received more than 36 million likes and has been reposted more than any other Instagram post, passing the 1-million mark in its first six hours.
“I appreciate everybody that reached out and sent something, and all the posts, and all the excitement that’s been going on,” Kelce said. “It’s been really fun telling everybody who I’m going to be spending the rest of my life with.”
Just days after the announcement, the couple attended a college football game between Cincinnati (the Kelce brothers’ alma mater) and Nebraska at Arrowhead Stadium, the Chiefs’ home field. While much of the public was thrilled to see Swift’s massive engagement ring out and about for the first time, Kelce said it was another first that made the occasion special to him.
“Actually, it was my first time introducing Taylor as my fiancée to a few of my teammates,” Kelce said. “So, yeah, it was pretty cool.”
Kelce provided no insight into any wedding plans, though, telling his brother at one point, “We’re gonna see how it all shakes out.”
Running back Najee Harris addressed reporters for the first time since being involved in a Fourth of July fireworks accident — his eyes hidden by Chargers-colored sunglasses.
“It’s a humbling experience,” Harris said about the accident that left him with an eye injury. “It still hasn’t really shaken. I’m still going through it in a way. Just the whole situation [can] show you how things could change at just a snap of a finger.”
Harris declined to describe the accident in detail, but said he feels blessed the incident wasn’t worse. He said his vision wasn’t affected, reiterating that the injury was superficial.
“I’m just happy that everybody’s safe and we’re alive,” Harris said.
Cleared for contact Monday after wearing a non-contact jersey last week, Harris took another step toward suiting up for the season opener in São Paulo, Brazil, against the Kansas City Chiefs on Friday.
Harris has been wearing a tinted visor — a new look compared with his days with the Steelers — and keeping sunglasses on off the field since the accident, which has fueled online speculation about the severity of his injury. However, he brushed off the chatter.
“It’s not my job to care what other people think,” Harris said. “It’s my job to do what I got to do, so they can write what they want to, say what they want to.”
Harris has never missed an NFL game, starting in 68 straight contests over four seasons in Pittsburgh, but that streak could be in jeopardy. He said he expects to play as his workload ramps up.
“We’ll see where it takes us. … I’m just recovering, getting in shape,” Harris said. “Just trying to stay on top of the playbook. I was on [the non-football injury list], so [that] makes things a little more difficult.”
Coach Jim Harbaugh, typically tight-lipped on injuries, said there is “a possibility” Harris will play against the Chiefs. Since being cleared to practice, Harris has looked “really, really good,” Harbaugh said.
Whether Harris is ready before the team boards its 12-hour flight or becomes a game-time decision remains uncertain.
In Harris’ absence, rookie Omarion Hampton has handled most of the carries in camp but welcomed his teammate’s return. The pair is expected to share duties in offensive coordinator Greg Roman’s system.
“It’s been amazing, he’s my guy,” Hampton said. “We talk all the time. He helps me out on reads. I help him out seeing what we see, how we see it.”
Security expert Graham Cluley said: “It all sounds like a joke but it’s deadly serious.”
The Ministry of Defence said: “We take data security extremely seriously and are committed to ensuring incidents are dealt with properly.”
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Apache helicopter pilot Harry Bourne was dishonourably discharged from the Army for sharing videos and photos of himself on OnlyFansCredit: REBEL AGENCY
MICHAEL SALISBURY has been REMOVED as the VAR official for Liverpool vs Arsenal just hours before kick off.
Salisbury, 40, was on VAR duty for Chelsea’s 2-0 victory over Fulham yesterday, during which he controversially sent the referee over to the monitor to disallow Josh King’s opener.
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Referee Robert Jones was sent over to the monitorCredit: Reuters
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Rodrigo Muniz was deemed to have fouled Trevoh Chalobah in the build-up to the goal
THIS IS A DEVELOPING STORY..
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Kansas City Chiefs fans sure are excited about the upcoming season.
Fanatics, the official online sportswear retailer for the NFL, reports that sales of Chiefs tight end Travis Kelce jerseys jumped a whopping 200% on Tuesday.
Clearly, fans were doing some early packing for the team’s season opener against the Chargers in São Paulo, Brazil, on Sept. 5. Those fans simultaneously realized they didn’t have enough gear to properly represent the reigning AFC champions at Corinthians Arena.
What other possible explanation could there have been?
Haha, wrong — at least, it would seem that way, based on the typical behavioral patterns of Swifties.
Kansas City tight end Travis Kelce kisses pop superstar Taylor Swift after the Chiefs defeated the San Francisco 49ers in Super Bowl LVIII on Feb. 11, 2024, in Las Vegas.
(John Locher / Associated Press)
Kelce and Swift’s romance can be traced back to July 2023, when Kelce was able to pass along a friendship bracelet with his phone number to Swift’s camp at an Eras tour concert in Kansas City. They officially became an item that fall.
Swift attended her first Chiefs game on Sept. 24, 2023. Fanatics reported at the time that sales of No. 87 Chiefs jerseys experienced a 400% boost over the previous day, placing Kelce among the top five NFL players in jersey sales for that day.
On Aug. 13, Swift made her first-ever podcast appearance on “New Heights,” which is hosted by Kelce and his brother Jason Kelce, the former Philadelphia Eagles center. A total of 1.3 million people tuned in simultaneously after the episode dropped, setting a Guinness World Record for most concurrent views for a podcast on YouTube.
Kelce and Swift’s joint Instagram post regarding their upcoming nuptials has received more than 33.4 million likes. Billboard reported Wednesday that it has been reposted more than any other in the site’s history, passing the 1-million mark in its first six hours.
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So, yeah, it would seem pretty on-brand for Swifties to celebrate by purchasing large volumes of Travis gear.
By the way, if you think those numbers are impressive, just imagine what the jersey sales will be like if the couple decides to hyphenate their names after saying “I do.” What self-respecting Swiftie would want to be without a “Kelce-Swift” (“Swift-Kelce”?) jersey as part of their wardrobe?
Taylor Swift and Travis Kelce are taking their love story to the next chapter.
The Grammy-winning “Love Story” pop icon and the Kansas City Chiefs tight end are engaged, the couple announced Tuesday in a joint Instagram post.
“Your English teacher and your gym teacher are getting married,” Swift captioned photos from the garden engagement.
Weeks before getting engaged, the pair hit another personal milestone: They finally finally appeared together on Kelce’s “New Heights” podcast, which he co-hosts with his brother, retired Philadelphia Eagles star Jason Kelce. The podcast was also where Travis Kelce took his shot at a romance with the singer-songwriter back in 2023.
During the “New Heights” episode, which marked Swift’s podcasting debut, she said her relationship with Kelce “is sort of what I’ve been writing songs about wanting to happen to me since I was a teenager.”
With marriage on the horizon, it seems Swift and Kelce have come a long way since officially becoming an item in fall 2023. Their romance can be traced back to July 2023, when Kelce attended an Eras tour concert at Arrowhead Stadium, the Chiefs’ house. The NFL star managed to get a friendship bracelet with his phone number to Swift’s camp and the two eventually got in touch.
Their rumored romance quickly became commentary fodder for NFL broadcasts (sometimes to sports fans’ chagrin). Then things took a turn when Swift seemingly accepted Kelce’s personal invitation to a home game in September 2023 and was seen cheering for him in a private box alongside his mother, Donna Kelce. Soon enough, Swift became a staple in the Chiefs audience.
Swift and Kelce’s relationship dominated the news cycle and most coverage of the NFL season. Feeding into the obsession, both Swifties and sports fans on social media created memes, TikTok videos and other social media content dissecting nearly every detail of the couple’s interactions and public appearances.
From late 2023 to early 2024, their blooming relationship also proved to be a boon as Swift carried on with her blockbuster, career-spanning Eras tour and Kelce prepared for Super Bowl LVIII, where the Chiefs faced the San Fransisco 49ers. When the Chiefs won, Swift joined Kelce on the field, kissing and hugging her athlete boyfriend.
Swift and Kelce’s love didn’t just play out on the field. During a November 2023 show, Swift changed lyrics to her hit “Karma” to mention “the guy on the Chiefs, coming straight home to me,” sending fans and Kelce into a frenzy. Then in June 2024, as Swift‘s tour continued, Kelce joined his superstar girlfriend on stage in London.
When the 2024-25 NFL season began in September, Swift returned regularly to Arrowhead Stadium for Chiefs home games.
Swift brought her Eras tour to an end in December 2024 and hosted a private wrap party to celebrate her musical marathon. As photos from the party went public, eagle-eyed fans noticed more than Swift, Kelce and their VIP attendees. Social media sleuths claimed photos of Swift’s hands had been Photoshopped to conceal the presence of an engagement ring, Page Six reported at the time.
