US sports compact: Mayo follows Belichick and becomes the new head coach of the Patriots

One day after parting ways with long-time coach Bill Belichick, the New England Patriots from the US professional football league NFL have found a successor in their own ranks in Jerod Mayo. The Patriots announced this on Friday (local time). Various US media had previously reported unanimously that Mayo should become the new head coach. It will be officially presented at a press conference next Wednesday.

The 37-year-old played his entire NFL career from 2008 to 2015 as a linebacker for the team from Foxborough, Massachusetts, and won the Super Bowl with the Patriots as captain in 2014. Mayo has been part of Belichick's coaching team since 2019. According to ESPN, Mayo would become the youngest head coach in the NFL.

The New England Patriots and the 71-year-old successful coach Belichick announced on Thursday that they were going their separate ways. Belichick won the Super Bowl six times with the Patriots, making him the most successful coach in NFL history. But since the departure of star quarterback Tom Brady in 2020, things no longer went as planned and a sporting decline followed. In the current season, the Patriots won only four of 17 games, suffered their worst record since 1992 and missed qualifying for the play-offs.

20 dollars an hour for night work and free food: The Buffalo Bills from the US professional football league NFL asked their fans for help shoveling snow before the play-off game against the Pittsburgh Steelers. From 10 p.m. (local time) on Saturday, the “Bills Mafia” will be busy shoveling at Highmark Stadium.

“Aspiring snow shovelers are asked to dress appropriately for the weather (gloves, scarves, hats, coats, etc.) and bring their own shovels if possible,” the Bills said in their appeal. The helpers should, if possible, be older than 18 years. In addition to the financial reward, there are free meals.

Buffalo will face the Steelers in the wildcard round on Sunday (7 p.m. CET/RTL and Dazn).

The Los Angeles Clippers have proven their strong form in the NBA. The team led by German basketball world champion Daniel Theis won on Friday (local time) with 128:119 (65:53) against the recently strong Memphis Grizzlies. For the Clippers it was the eighth win from the last nine games, the team from Los Angeles improved to fourth place in the Western Conference.

In Memphis, the Clippers took the lead and control in the second quarter and didn't relinquish it until the end. Theis came off the bench as usual and contributed to the strong team performance with seven points, five rebounds, four assists, two steals and three blocks. The Clippers' best thrower was Paul George with 37 points. The Grizzlies, plagued by many failures, will have to do without Ja Morant for the rest of the season. The All-Star, who was suspended for the first 25 games of the season for weapons violations, required shoulder surgery.

The Orlando Magic lost to the Miami Heat 96:99. It was the fifth loss in the last seven games for the Florida team. Moritz Wagner showed a strong performance with 19 points, five rebounds and four assists. His brother Franz Wagner missed the fourth game due to an ankle injury. After a strong start to the season, Orlando has now slipped to eighth place in the Eastern Conference.

Miami's victory was a special one. It was only the seventh this NBA season for a team to finish under 100 points. Like Wagner in Orlando, the Heat were also missing key offensive players in Jimmy Butler, Kyle Lowry and Tyler Herro.

There is still little going on at the Toronto Raptors. The team led by national team captain Dennis Schröder clearly lost to the Utah Jazz 113:145. After their third defeat in a row, the team from Canada is further behind the play-in places. Schröder came off the bench and had twelve points and four assists.