PHILADELPHIA – On multiple occasions this season, cameras have caught Nick Sirianni in a worked-up state. An expletive or two from the Philadelphia Eagles coach can be picked up by basic lip reading.

Standing up for his team – like he did against the New York Jets in the preseason, or at the end of a Week 6 victory over the Dallas Cowboys – has endeared the second-year coach to his players.

For those who have known Sirianni his whole life, the outbursts aren’t anything abnormal.

‘We did our best to keep him under control so that he didn’t get himself into too much trouble,’ said Fran Sirianni, Nick’s father who was the varsity coach at Southwestern Central High School for nine years in their native Jamestown, New York. ‘He was definitely one to, I guess, would talk to opponents.’ 

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Early in Sirianni’s career, while he coached wide receivers at Indiana University of Pennsylvania from 2006-08, he was on the Southwestern Central sideline during the New York state semifinals.

Jay Sirianni, Nick’s brother, was now the head coach. Jay Sirianni describes his sideline demeanor as ‘much calmer compared to his brother.’ He was confused when an official gave his team a sideline warning.

‘I’m like ‘Sideline warning, what are you taking about? I haven’t said anything to you,’ ‘ Jay Sirianni told USA TODAY Sports. ‘He’s like that guy right back there. And I turn around and it’s Nick, on our sideline. And he’s like ‘Can you tell that guy to shut up?’ ”

Jay had to tell his brother to take it down a notch.

“That’s just him, that competitiveness,” Jay Sirianni said. “Why wouldn’t you want to play for somebody like that? We poke fun at it. It’s all in good fun. That’s just how three brothers grew up, always being competitive.”

And it’s how three brothers – the eldest, Mike, is head coach at Division III Washington & Jefferson – still are to this day. During the last family vacation, Mike Sirianni recalls, Nick beat him in bocce ball. Little bro had to pay a price. 

‘I pinned him on the beach. (Body) slammed him, because he was talking and cheating in the game,’ Mike Sirianni told USA TODAY Sports. ‘I was, like, 45.’

Last July 4 weekend, spent in Jay’s backyard, a volleyball was punted in frustration. After the NFC championship game, a 31-7 Eagles victory over the San Francisco 49ers that put Philadelphia in the Super Bowl, Sirianni and his 22-year-old niece continued a spirited debate that carried over from that weekend.

‘You got to win,’ Jay Sirianni said. ‘You got to win that argument. You got to win that volleyball game. You got to win that game of P-I-G. It’s that competitiveness.’

‘I love these guys’

In the aftermath of the Week 6 win, which moved the Eagles to 6-0 on their way to a 14-3 season and NFC East division title, Sirianni hollered in the tunnel shortly after walking off the field: ‘How ’bout them Eagles!’ 

Moments later, he was asked about the dust-up at the end of the game. He transported himself back to sixth grade, when Jay’s varsity team started 0-2 and someone was critical of the team. Nick wasn’t having it.

“I’m just going to stick up for our guys,” Sirianni said. “That’s who I am. I love these guys. This is my family. I got a great family at home. I got great parents, a great wife, I got great kids, I got great brothers. But this is my other family.”

Nobody in the family recalls anything particular about that time, but they certainly believe him.

“He would get so passionate about our games, that if we lost, or if I didn’t play well and somebody said something, he would be quick to defend and talk trash,’ Jay Sirianni said. ‘So he’s not any different. He hasn’t changed.” 

Fran Sirianni said it wasn’t too long ago that Mike was being criticized for something. There was Nick, quick on the defense.

“Nick was right on the spot to defend his older brother (with) the comments he made in that situation,” Fran Sirianni said. “He’s always been like that. Very loyal to his brothers. And likewise, they’ve been very loyal to him.”

The two-way street of loyalty has helped him win over the locker room, Mike Sirianni said.

“I would say, for him, he relates well to his players and he always has his players’ backs in every situation,” the eldest Sirianni brother said. “And I think guys at any level of football would appreciate that.”

His aggressiveness and proclivity for going for it on fourth down have only added to the cache, as he did early against the 49ers in the NFC championship game. 

“I was like, ‘This guy’s crazy,’ ‘ left tackle Jordan Mailata said after the game. 

Mailata added: ‘Big cojones.’

That may be true. But he wouldn’t have done it without having full faith 

‘They know I got their back,’ Sirianni said on that October night. ‘I know they got my back. And that’s what a team is.’ 

It’s also what family – especially one like Sirianni household – is about. 

Follow Chris Bumbaca on Twitter @BOOMbaca.

The mystery as to the health issues of Buffalo Bills co-owner Kim Pegula were at long last revealed Tuesday morning in a story written by her daughter, Jessica Pegula, at the website The Players Tribune.

Tennis player Jessica Pegula said her mother suffered cardiac arrest at the family home in Florida last June. She had been sleeping and when she began to go into arrest, her husband, Terry Pegula, awoke and found her unresponsive.

She was actually saved by another of the Pegula children, daughter Kelly, who performed CPR while an ambulance was en route to the home. Paramedics continued life-saving measures on the way to the hospital, and Kim was admitted, and the biggest concern was whether she suffered any brain damage due to lack of oxygen.

‘Today, my mom is still in recovery and although it is the same answer every time someone asks me, it is true, she is improving every day,’ Jessica Pegula wrote. ‘She is dealing with significant expressive aphasia and significant memory issues. She can read, write, and understand pretty well, but she has trouble finding the words to respond.

‘It is hard to deal with and it takes a lot of patience to communicate with her, but I thank God every day that we can still communicate with her at all. The doctors continue to be blown away by her recovery, considering where she started, and her determination is the driving force of that.’

Super Bowl Central: Super Bowl 57 odds, Eagles-Chiefs matchups, stats and more

Jessica Pegula wrote about the family’s wishes to keep Kim’s medical condition private, and it was quite remarkable that until Tuesday, no one outside the family and perhaps their closest friends knew what had happened.

There had been speculation about cardiac arrest, or perhaps a stroke, but the family never officially released information. The Bills did issue a statement back in November that read:

‘Kim Pegula is receiving medical care as a result of some unexpected health issues. We are very grateful for the progress she has made over the past few days. She has an exceptional team of medical experts at her side. We ask that you keep Kim and our family in your prayers and ask that you respect our need for privacy.’

But again, nothing in the way of what had happened.

Jessica Pegula, one of the top-ranked tennis players in the world, had just returned from the French Open when her mother fell ill. After several weeks, when it was clear that while Kim had a very long and difficult road to recovery ahead of her but was out of imminent danger, Jessica flew to England to play at Wimbledon.

Obviously distracted, she was knocked out in the third round, though she did make it to the quarterfinals of the U.S. Open in September.

In November, Jessica – who is currently ranked No. 4 in the world in the WTA rankings – won her second professional tournament, but her first WTA 1000 event, in Guadalajara, Mexico, a victory she dedicated to Kim. Last month, she also reached the quarterfinals of the Australian Open.

In a tuneup tournament in Sydney, Australia prior to the Australian Open, Bills safety Damar Hamlin collapsed during a game in Cincinnati on Jan. 2. Pegula learned that news just before she was scheduled to play a match and she admitted it rocked her.

‘My stomach sunk because it felt like the exact same thing all over again,’ she wrote. ‘I wanted to throw up. I was supposed to go on for mixed doubles in 15 minutes and I remember telling one of my teammates, ‘I am a little freaked out right now, this is too close to home, and I feel like I am going to have a panic attack.’ ‘

She ultimately played, and won.

Jessica revealed that Kim is now home in Florida, and she is keeping tabs on the Bills, Buffalo Sabres, and Jessica’s career, via television.

‘She never watched my matches before, because she got too nervous,’ Jessica wrote. ‘Now she watches all of them.’

Follow Sal Maiorana on Twitter @salmaiorana.

PHOENIX — It’s tough lining up schedules for two athletes at the top of their respective sports.

Jasmine Camacho-Quinn wasn’t able to attend the NFC championship game to watch her older brother and Philadelphia Eagles defensive end Robert Quinn play his way into Super Bowl 57. The 2020 Olympic gold medalist had a track practice and couldn’t catch a flight to Philadelphia in time.

But that’s the unique and rarified air in which the siblings find themselves.

The two have been standout athletes since they were kids in South Carolina and have compared athletic accomplishments through the years.

‘Yeah, we talk trash to each other when we’re around each other. It’s always been like that,’ Camacho-Quinn told USA TODAY Sports.

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Camacho-Quinn was a top high school hurdler and won multiple prep state titles in South Carolina before becoming a student-athlete at the University of Kentucky. She was a three-time NCAA  Champion champion in Lexington.

Quinn won multiple state wrestling titles and was a highly-rated defensive end in high school who was invited to play in the U.S. Army All-American Game before heading off to North Carolina, where he was named first-team All-ACC in 2009. However, in 2010, Quinn was suspended for receiving improper benefits, and in 2013, North Carolina sent him a permanent disassociation letter.

On the professional level, Quinn is a three-time Pro Bowl selection, was named a first-team All-Pro in 2013 and one of seven active players with more than 100 career sacks.

But little sister has bragging rights.

Representing Puerto Rico, Camacho-Quinn won gold in the women’s 100-meter hurdles at the Tokyo Olympics and also owns the Olympic record in the event. Quinn, a 12-year NFL veteran, is preparing to play in his first Super Bowl and has yet to win football’s ultimate team award.

‘For me, it’s something I always wanted to accomplish. It took a little while (to play in the Super Bowl) but well worth the wait. It’s been a fun ride so far,’ Quinn, who was traded to the Eagles from the Chicago Bears last October, told USA TODAY Sports. ‘My sister, she won the gold, that’s ultimate bragging rights. I can’t quite brag yet until we hoist the trophy.’

The 32-year-old, who was drafted in the 2011 NFL draft by the then-St. Louis Rams and has played for the Rams, Miami Dolphins, Dallas Cowboys and Bears before joining the Eagles, expressed that he’s been waiting for an opportunity to play in a Super Bowl.

‘It still hasn’t quite hit me all the way yet,’ Quinn said. ‘It’s been a long time coming to get here.’

Roles reversed

Quinn watched his sister win gold at the Tokyo Olympics from afar. Camacho-Quinn will be in attendance at State Farm Stadium in Glendale, Arizona, on Sunday to witness her brother attempt to become a champion like her.

‘I’m really happy. Especially knowing the journey he’s been on. That fact that he’s out there and still playing and doing his best, that makes me even happier,’ Camacho-Quinn said. ‘It’s exciting because this is his first Super Bowl. I’m excited to see him play no matter the result. Just go out there and do whatever you do when you step out there on the field. That’s all that matters.’

Olympic gold medal or Super Bowl ring?

If Quinn and the Eagles are victorious on Sunday, he might still lose the friendly sibling competition. USA TODAY Sports asked Camacho-Quinn if winning a Super Bowl is comparable to an Olympic gold medal. She predictably said an Olympic gold medal has no rival.

‘I’m gonna be biased, of course. I feel like an Olympic gold medal is bigger. There’s a Super Bowl every year, so they have chances. I got to wait four years,’ Camacho-Quinn said. ‘I’m gonna be biased and say an Olympic gold medal. But being a Super Bowl champ, that’s something big and everybody can’t say.’

Follow USA TODAY Sports’ Tyler Dragon on Twitter @TheTylerDragon.

Two-time NASCAR Cup champion Kyle Busch apologizes after he was arrested and detained for bringing a handgun into Mexico while vacationing in January with his wife.

According to the Mexico Prosecutor General’s office, a handgun was found in his bag at the airport as he and his wife Samantha were leaving the country.

Busch, 37, considered ‘this issued closed.’ He was arrested on Jan. 27 and sentenced to 3.5 years in prison and fined $1,100, but the statement from Mexico Prosecutor General’s office does not explain how Busch’s sentence would be handled.

On Sunday evening he finished third in NASCAR’s Clash exhibition race. He admitted in the statement that he was unaware of the Mexican law that forbids the possession of a weapon in the country without approval.

‘I have a valid concealed carry permit from my local authority and adhere to all handgun laws, but I made a mistake by forgetting it was in my bag,’ he said in the statement. 

‘Discovery of the handgun led to my detainment while the situation was resolved. I was not aware of Mexican law and had no intention of bringing a handgun into Mexico.’

Busch, who left Joe Gibbs Racing at the end of the 2022 season, is entering his first season with Richard Childress Racing.

After officially becoming the Denver Broncos head coach, Sean Payton knows he has a lot of work to do. Payton’s first order of business will likely be trying to ‘fix’ Russell Wilson after the veteran quarterback had one of the worst seasons of his career in 2022. (And he better succeed, considering everything Denver traded away for the coach and QB.)

On Monday, after the Broncos had their introductory press conference for Payton, the sideline leader was asked about Wilson having his own ‘personal coaches’ – which notably includes Jake Heaps, Wilson’s own QB coach – around Denver’s team facility.

Without fully diving into all of his plans, Payton quickly quashed the concept of Wilson having his own people around all the time.

‘That’s foreign to me,’ Payton said. ‘That’s not going to take place here. I mean, I’m unfamiliar with it, but our staff will be here, our players will be here, and that will be it.’

Sounds like whether you’re a fifth-round depth player or a QB with $161 million guaranteed, everyone will probably be on notice and on equal footing under the head coach’s watch.

In the final analysis, there’s really only one bracket that matters. But until that official announcement on Selection Sunday, there’s plenty of fun to be had for college hoops fans with all the various projections and predictions. So welcome to our little foray into the inexact science of bracketology.

There are several things that should be borne in mind when looking at anyone’s bracket projections. First and foremost, nothing is final with a little over a month remaining in the regular season. This bracket projection is a mere snapshot in time, and it will change over the next five weeks as teams post valuable wins or suffer damaging upsets. Unexpected bid thieves will surface in conference tournaments.

As matters stand right now, we have a pair of SEC teams holding down No. 1 seeds. But in terms of overall volume, the Big 12 and Big Ten conferences account for nearly a quarter of the 68-team field with eight teams each.

We’ve endeavored to apply the same bracketing principles the NCAA committee employs. Where possible, teams from the same conference wouldn’t meet until after the Sweet16, and efforts are made to accommodate the preferred regional destination for the highest seeded schools.

Follow every game: Latest NCAA Men’s College Basketball Scores and Schedules

So with all that out of the way, here’s a look at how things stand now. We’ll start looking more closely at which teams are on the right and wrong side of the proverbial bubble as March draws closer.

No. 1 seeds

Purdue, Alabama, Tennessee, Houston.

Last four in

Memphis, New Mexico, Oklahoma State, Texas A&M.

First four out

Florida, Seton Hall, Virginia Tech, Utah State.

Next four out

Penn State, Wisconsin, Missouri, Mississippi State..

Multi-bid conferences: Big 12 (8), Big Ten (8), ACC (7), SEC (6), Big East (5), Mountain West (4), Pac-12 (3), American Athletic (2), West Coast (2).

As the Philadelphia Eagles prepare for the Super Bowl against the Kansas City Chiefs, many of them took the opportunity to air out grievances with anyone who has said anything about them.

Eagles cornerback Darius Slay had plenty to say during the Super Bowl opening night on Monday when he was asked about his former Detroit Lions coach Matt Patricia.

Patricia was fired by Detroit in November 2020 after posting a 13-29-1 record in less than three seasons. Patricia had an issue with Slay working out with fellow cornerbacks Richard Sherman and Aqib Talib.

‘He basically just said, ‘You are not in that category yet,’ ‘ Slay said. ‘At that time, I only had one Pro Bowl but now I’m at five, so I want to know how he feels about that now. I don’t wish bad on him, but as a man, me and him just don’t get along. He’s a smart coach, he knows his Xs and Os, but the disrespect is not what I’m with.’

Super Bowl Central: Super Bowl 57 odds, Eagles-Chiefs matchups, stats and more

When Patricia was hired in Detroit after his time with the New England Patriots, Slay says he was caught off guard by the new coach’s attitude.

‘I mean, it was weird how he came in like he was just bigger and better than all of us,’ Slay said. ‘He acted like we asked to be here. You know, we do get selected,’ Slay said. ‘That was crazy. That was a first.’

Slay spent the first seven seasons of his NFL career with the Lions before he was traded to the Eagles after the 2019 season and has been a Pro Bowl selection each of the past two years.

LeBron James once made an 83-foot shot.

Hit two shots from behind the basket in the same year, including this one.

Dunked so hard on a player’s head that the ball bounced back through the basket. 

But none of those were good enough to make our list – six of the most memorable shots of James’ career – as he zeroes in on the NBA’s all-time scoring record.

There’s plenty to choose from with James’ having taken more than 14,000 shots from the floor and more than 8,000 shots from the foul line but no better place to start than the beginning.

Follow every game: Latest NBA Scores and Schedules

How it all began

Oct. 29, 2003

Four months after the Cleveland Cavaliers picked LeBron James No. 1 overall in the NBA draft, he was set to make his regular-season debut against the Sacramento Kings at ARCO Arena in Sacramento.

Fast forward to the first quarter.

Curling around a screen, James took a bounce pass from Cavs guard Ricky Davis. He drained a 16-foot baseline jumper as Kings big man Brad Miller watched with apparent relief. 

“He wasn’t going to get his first pts on a dunk I tell u that,’’ Miller texted USA TODAY Sports.

‘No regard for human life’

May 13, 2008

It was Game 4 of the Eastern Conference semifinals between the Cavaliers and the Boston Celtics when James’ threw down a vicious dunk over Kevin Garnett, then the NBA’s reigning MVP.

“LeBron James with no regard for human life,’’ Kevin Harlan, TNT’s play-by-play announcer, exulted on the telecast.

Harlan was sitting next to Doug Collins, then a color commentator for TNT, when he made one of the more memorable calls in James’ career.

“When that happened, (Collins) took his left arm and put it against my chest and both of our chairs began to fall backward,’’ Harlan recalled, “and we had the crowd right in back of us, and then that’s when I said what I said.”

The blindfolded shot

Nov. 29, 2008

James ditched his signature headband in 2015, but it played a part in one of the more novel shots of his career. With the Cavaliers playing the Bucks at the Bradley Center in Milwaukee, he drove down the lane.

As he neared the basket, Richard Jefferson, then playing for the Bucks, pulled the headband over James’ eyes.

“I guess that would be one way to try to stop LeBron,’’ Jim Paschke, who was the Bucks’ play-by-play announcer at the time, told USA TODAY Sports via text.

No luck. James, essentially blindfolded, still made the layup. No foul was called. 

“It’s not a clear hit,’’ Ron Garretson, one of the three referees that night, told USA TODAY Sports. “It’s a glancing blow.’’

Masked man goes for 61

March 3, 2014

James stood at the free throw line with a curious look as chants of “MVP, MVP’’ rained down on him at AmericanAirlines Arena in Miami.

He was still wearing a protective mask less than two weeks after suffering a broken nose. With 1:52 left in the game, he made a free throw to cap his 61-point game, which remains the highest-scoring game of his career.

Gerald Henderson, a shooting guard then playing for the then-Charlotte Bobcats said, “The Miami announcer has got this unique tone to him. If he’s saying LeBron’s name, it’s like, ‘LeeeBraaahn James!’ I just remember him saying that over and over and over and over. Like it wouldn’t stop.’’

At the buzzer

April 25, 2018

It ended with LeBron leaping onto the scorer’s table in celebration.

Game 5 of the first-round playoff series between the Cavaliers and Indiana Pacers. Score tied at 95. With three seconds left, James took the inbounds pass and drilled a 3-pointer at the buzzer.

The shot helped propel the Cavs to the 2018 NBA Finals.

Darren Collison, a guard then playing for the Pacers, said: “He’s always going to keep you on your toes on the help side because he’s willing to pass it to the guy you’re guarding. So the guy that’s guarding him, you just got to pray that he misses.’’

Picture-perfect dunk

Feb. 6, 2020

There stood James Harden, Russell Westbrook and three other Houston Rockets.

All they could do inside Staples Center in Los Angeles was watch James on a breakaway that culminated with artistry.

A double-pump, two-handed reverse dunk that NBA photographer Andrew Bernstein captured in an iconic photo.

Bernstein said he was sitting on the opposite end of the court and used remote cameras.

“I can only get one shot on the strobes that go off and you can actually see them in the ceiling in the background in the top left and right of the photo,” he said. ‘The technology is pretty amazing.”

So are the shots. 

All six of them.

The San Francisco 49ers are hiring Steve Wilks, the former Carolina Panthers interim coach, as their new defensive coordinator, a person with knowledge of the situation told USA TODAY Sports on Tuesday. The person requested anonymity because the deal has not been announced.

Wilks, 53, will take over one of the best defenses in the NFL as he replaces DeMeco Ryans, one week after Ryans was hired as the Houston Texans head coach.

Wilks was a finalist for the Panthers’ head coaching job after nearly leading the team to the NFC South title, compiling a 6-6 record after Matt Rhule was fired in October.

Instead, Panthers owner David Tepper hired Frank Reich, the former Indianapolis Colts coach, to lead his team.

After Carolina’s decision, Wilks shared this statement on Twitter, “I’m disappointed but not defeated. Many people aren’t built for this but I know what it means to persevere and see it through.”

Super Bowl Central: Super Bowl 57 odds, Eagles-Chiefs matchups, stats and more

In San Francisco, Wilks will continue running a 4-3 defensive scheme that has helped the 49ers reach the NFC title game in three of the last four seasons. They lost in the Super Bowl to the Kansas City Chiefs following the 2019 season.

The 49ers, under head coach Kyle Shanahan, fell short against the Philadelphia Eagles during the NFC championship game this season.

Wilks, who went 3-13 in his lone season as Arizona Cardinals head coach in 2018, has spent his coaching career coaching defenses in college and at the NFL level.

The 49ers defensive coordinator job could be a springboard for Wilks. The past two 49ers coaches to hold that position, Ryans and Robert Saleh (New York Jets), are now head coaches.

NFL Network first reported the 49ers’ plans to hire Wilks.