This is an article version of the CBS Sports HQ AM Newsletter, the ultimate guide to every day in sports. You can sign up to get it in your inbox every weekday morning here.
Good morning and happy hump day, sports fans! It’s Austin Nivison greeting you on this Wednesday morning. The football world is still reeling from the news of Bill Belichick’s Hall of Fame snub, the Bills have hired their next coach and the Arizona Wildcats just keep rolling right along.
Let’s get right to the biggest and best stories from around the sports world.
🏈 Five things to know Wednesday
- Bill Belichick got snubbed from Pro Football Hall of Fame on his first ballot. Jaw-dropping news hit the football world on when Belichick was denied first-ballot entry into the Pro Football Hall of Fame. Apparently, not even holding the record for Super Bowl victories as a head coach was enough to push Belichick over the necessary threshold. Belichick’s snub was so preposterous that even Patrick Mahomes and LeBron James expressed their disbelief.
- The Bills promoted offensive coordinator Joe Brady to coach. The Bills’ search for their next coach led them to a candidate already on staff. The Bills hired Brady to replace Sean McDermott after parts of three seasons in the OC role. In 2024, Brady’s first full season on the job, Buffalo ranked second in scoring. This past season, the Bills ranked fourth in that same category. Brady will provide Buffalo with some offensive stability and a pre-existing rapport with Josh Allen.
- Brian Daboll is joining Robert Saleh’s staff with the Titans. Daboll was also a candidate for the Bills coaching job, but he gets a nice consolation prize. The Titans have hired Daboll to be their next offensive coordinator as Saleh fills out his staff in Nashville. Daboll is coming off a four-year tenure with the Giants, and he will get the opportunity to shape a supremely talented young quarterback in Cam Ward.
- Jose Altuve and Carlos Correa will miss the WBC due to insurance issues. Neither Altuve nor Correa got insurance on their contracts, meaning they would forfeit their salaries if the got hurt in the 2026 World Baseball Classic. As a result, Altuve will miss the opportunity to play for Venezuela, and Correa will be out of the lineup for Puerto Rico.
- Darian Mensah is transferring to Miami after reaching a settlement with Duke. Miami found its replacement for Carson Beck as Mensah committed to the Hurricanes. In his lone season with the Blue Devils, Mensah threw for 3,973 yards and 34 touchdowns while leading the team to an ACC title. The split between Mensah and Duke wasn’t exactly clean, and the two sides reached a legal settlement hours before his commitment to Miami.
🤯 Do not miss this: Bill Belichick’s shocking snub
Getty Images
If Bill Belichick doesn’t have a first-ballot Hall of Fame resume, then no one does. The legendary Patriots coach owns a list of accomplishments so long that it could take up the entire newsletter, but here’s the brief version:
- Most Super Bowl wins (8)
- Most Super Bowl wins as a head coach (6)
- Most Super Bowl appearances (12)
- Most playoff wins as a head coach (31)
- Most division championships (17)
- Three-time Coach of the Year
Some Hall of Fame voters — enough of them to keep Belichick out — looked at all that and decided he should wait at least one more year. This result makes our own Jonathan Jones question the entire process, and he’s calling on the Pro Football Hall of Fame to make all votes public moving forward for maximum transparency.
- Jones: “If the HOF wants to save a shred of integrity, it will begin to make votes public. I do not think there’s any chance we ever learn all the people who did not vote for Belichick, so demanding that is useless. If other HOF voters want to anonymously leak who they know did not vote for Belichick, this is one of the rare instances where snitching is preferred.”
CBS Sports’ Douglas Clawson was piecing together the puzzle of exactly why the iconic coach was left out.
🏀 College basketball’s scariest team is only getting better
Getty Images
No. 1 Arizona is now 21-0 after surviving a scare Monday against BYU. An undefeated, top-ranked team is already a scary proposition for any team, but the scariest part about the Wildcats is that they might only be getting better.
Monday’s win saw freshman Brayden Burries put on a show with 29 points, five rebounds and four assists. His biggest play of the night was his lone block, which came with two seconds left, closing the game. Our own Matt Norlander writes that the evolution of Burries proves that the ceiling on this Arizona team will only rise as the season progresses.
- Norlander: “The Burries performance exemplifies just how sturdy Arizona is in the grand scheme. Lloyd’s had a really good team every year since he got to Tucson in 2021, but this is the best one because of the talent, size, physicality, experience and rock-solid dependable play. Burries growing into a capital-D Dude is huge for the Wildcats’ national championship expectations.”
One team that’s no longer unbeaten is No. 5 Nebraska, which suffered its first loss at the hands of No. 3 Michigan last night. Down seven with eight minutes left, the Wolverines erased that deficit en route to a 75-72 win.
👍👎 The best (and not-so-best) of the rest
Getty Images
📺 What we’re watching Wednesday
⚽ The UEFA Champions League will be airing on Paramount+ all day.
⚽ Internazionale at Borussia Dortmund, 3 p.m. on CBS Sports Network
🏀 Lakers at Cavaliers, 7 p.m. on ESPN
🏒 Flyers at Blue Jackets, 7:30 p.m. on TNT
🏀 No. 10 Houston at TCU (M), 9 p.m. on ESPN2
🏀 No. 19 Florida at South Carolina (M), 9 p.m. on SEC Network
🏀 Spurs at Rockets, 9:30 p.m. on ESPN
Add Comment