England boss Steve Borthwick believes his team took "a couple of steps forward" with their hard-fought win over Italy at Twickenham on Sunday.
After losing at home to Scotland in the first round of the Six Nations, England began to make amends by grinding out a 31-14 victory over the Azzurri.
It means England preserved their 100 per cent record against Italy in the championship, with this a 24th successive win in the one-sided rivalry, and it allowed England to reflect on a positive week on the training pitch.
Borthwick, who celebrated on the pitch with his young son Chase after the game, is still getting to grips with his new task, having been appointed in December to replace Eddie Jones. The players are also still learning what the former Leicester Tigers head coach wants from them.
"I think we took some steps forward and that's an important thing to recognise," Borthwick said.
"But there's plenty of areas to improve upon. I think we left some chances out there we should have taken. Our ball speed could have been a bit quicker, and we conceded a couple [of tries] that we wouldn't want to do.
"So there's always things to work upon, but ultimately it was a couple of steps forward."
Borthwick said England's ruck speed could have been quicker but spoke positively in general, as England move on to preparations for a trip to face bottom side Wales on February 25.
England had tries from Jack Willis, Ollie Chessum, Jamie George and Henry Arundell, plus a penalty try.
Rugby World Cup-winning coach Clive Woodward, now working in the media, said the performance against Italy was "really workmanlike" in the first half, contending the team lost their shape after going to the interval with a 19-0 lead.
Lawrence Dallaglio, the former England captain who is also now a pundit, told ITV the performance was "miles off" what was seen on Saturday, when Ireland beat France in Dublin.
Dallaglio spoke of it being "a messy game", but he agreed there were "small steps forward" to offer cheer for England.
The current captain, Owen Farrell, took the same view, saying: "In terms of the performance, it felt better. I thought it was a step forward, as it would be a week on into our new journey.
"There's a lot to get better at, and we feel like there's loads more to go, but it's a step in the right direction.
"We're trying to look after each other, trying to build a togetherness on the pitch, fighting for each other for 80 minutes, and I think you've seen that for the past two games, and we were hopefully more on top of that this week."
Player of the match Ollie Lawrence spoke of both small steps and greater gains.
"We took a massive stride forward after last week," Lawrence said. "We're rebuilding as a team, and we're taking those small steps each week.
"The progression's getting there. We're nowhere near the finished product yet, but we're all believing in where we're going as a team. It just needs to get better and better, and we're pushing together."
Trent McDuffie perhaps did not have the profile of a typical first-round draft pick.
Undersized even for a cornerback at 5ft 11in and 193 pounds, McDuffie did not have the standout college production of a top selection, registering only two interceptions in three seasons for the Washington Huskies.
But McDuffie's long speed and coverage ability convinced the Kansas City Chiefs he was worthy of their opening selection in the 2022 NFL Draft, taking him with the 21st overall pick.
That decision now looks an extremely astute one, with McDuffie shining as the starting nickel corner for a secondary that features five rookies and will be critical to the Chiefs prevailing when they face the Philadelphia Eagles in Super Bowl LVII on Sunday.
McDuffie has allowed receivers to get open on 21.54 per cent of his matchups across man and zone coverage, giving him the fourth-best such ratio among all cornerbacks in the NFL.
He believes his immediate success, and that of seventh-round rookie corner Jaylen Watson, second-round safety Bryan Cook and fourth-round corner Joshua Williams, is the product of an outstanding learning environment and the culture of a team playing in a third Super Bowl in four seasons, having reached the AFC Championship Game in each of those years.
"It feels so long since I was drafted, I've just been learning so much," McDuffie told Stats Perform.
"This year I've been able to be around vets who know the game, be around coaches who know the game and understand what an organisation that has gone back to back to back, what that looks like, the environment, the culture, it's been huge.
"When I first got there, I was like, you can tell something's a little different, and I think the biggest thing is they want to teach us so much that just the learning environment is huge.
"You don't get that in a lot of places, but it's just constantly people trying to develop you, trying to teach you, trying to help you learn, and with that I feel like that's why so many rookies are able to play so quickly and come in to this."
McDuffie has yet to register an interception in his pro career but knows that strong play at the catch point, even if it is simply preventing receptions, will be pivotal against two excellent ball-winners in A.J. Brown and DeVonta Smith.
Brown finished his first regular season in Philadelphia with 1,496 receiving yards and 11 touchdown receptions, while Smith racked up 1,196 yards and seven touchdown catches.
"I feel like the Eagles offense is super dynamic in terms of the offensive line is strong, their wide receiver core is strong, their depth at each position, they're so strong," added McDuffie.
"All 11 [starting defenders] are needed, that's something that, one, it's going to be fun because the dogs are going to go hunt, but again it's a challenge I'm excited to take on.
"After a full year of being in the NFL, the confidence is definitely there. We know we can play, we know we can do it.
"We've gone against the guys at the top of the league. It's going to come down to attacking the ball at the point of the catch because A.J. Brown, DeVonta, have really strong hands, so we're going to have to go out there and be a receiver on our own pretty much."
Jannik Sinner claimed his first title of the season with a 7-6 (7-3) 6-3 victory over Maxime Cressy at the Open Sud de France.
Cressy defeated top seed Holger Rune in the semi-finals but could not repeat that level of performance against Sinner, who is set to rise to 14th in the ATP rankings.
Sinner is the first Italian champion in the history of the tournament, having failed to win a match in his previous two appearances in Montpellier.
He has now collected seven Tour-level titles, with six of those coming on hard courts.
"To be honest, the first key was to hold the serve. In the tie-break I knew he may miss something," said Sinner, who saved all three break points he offered to his American opponent.
"I tried to keep my serve, which I have done, so I am very happy about the first set.
"The second set was a little bit different. I had a couple of good chances but he then served very well.
"I am very happy I broke him here and then I served very well at the end of match."
Sinner claimed two early mini breaks in the first-set tie-break to nose into a 4-0 lead, holding his nerve to win the set at the first time of asking.
A crucial break in the second came in the eighth game, with Sinner clinching victory when Cressy sent a weak volley into the net.
England secured their first win of the Steve Borthwick era as Italy succumbed 31-14 to a performance of potent power at Twickenham.
After losing at home to Scotland in round one of the Six Nations, Borthwick's first game as head coach since replacing Eddie Jones, this time the men in white got it right.
It rarely set the pulses racing, but England produced an efficient display, giving themselves a foothold in the championship.
Flanker Jack Willis made a swift impact in his first Six Nations game for two years, scurrying through to score from a rolling maul in the 13th minute, with captain Owen Farrell adding the extras.
Italy lost narrowly at home against France last week, and victory over Australia in November showed they are an improving team.
England's superior strength served the hosts well though, and another opportunity arrived when Lorenzo Cannone was sin-binned. Two yards short of the Italy line, lock Ollie Chessum was fed a short pass by Ellis Genge and dived over for his first international try. Farrell slotted a simple conversion.
Scrum-half Jack van Poortvliet had a try disallowed in the 35th minute after a trip by Ollie Lawrence in the build-up. Yet England did not have to wait long before scoring again, another rolling maul allowing hooker Jamie George to drive over.
Italy, subdued before the break, began the second half more purposefully and Marco Riccioni reached out to dot down and get the Azzurri moving.
A touch of nastiness from Sebastian Negri, pressing his hand across the face of Farrell, showed Italy were ready to make the rest of the game uncomfortable for England.
Yet Italy replacement Simone Ferrari collapsed another threatening England rolling maul and conceded a penalty try, ostensibly ending prospects of a full-scale comeback from the visitors.
Alessandro Fusco danced through a static defence to cut the deficit to 26-14, but Alex Mitchell then fed Henry Arundell to score his first Six Nations try in the left corner and England were home and hosed.
Belinda Bencic claimed the inaugural Abu Dhabi Open title after saving three championship points in a gripping comeback win against Liudmila Samsonova.
Second seed Bencic did not drop a single set en route to Sunday's final, but she fell behind to Samsonova and was on the brink of defeat when 6-4 down in a second-set tie-break.
The Swiss dug deep to take the game to a decider, however, and she prevailed 1-6 7-6 (10-8) 6-4 in a time of two hours and 48 minutes to win the eighth WTA title of her career.
World number nine Bencic, who was also victorious at the Adelaide International 2 in January, made a slow start against an opponent she had failed to beat in three meetings.
Samsonova broke Bencic in the second and sixth games of the opening set in a dominant start as she looked to make it 5-0 in championship matches on the WTA Tour.
Bencic improved in the second set, although a break of serve apiece meant it went the distance.
Eighth seed Samsonova looked good value to wrap up a straight-sets win when 6-4 up, only for Bencic to save both championship points, and likewise at 8-7.
Three points in a row saw the 25-year-old take the tie and level up the contest, which she went on to win with a couple of breaks in the deciding set.
Anastasia Potapova won the second WTA Tour title of her career with a straightforward win over Petra Martic in Sunday's final at the Linz Open.
The 21-year-old, who is set to reach a personal high of 31 in the world rankings on Monday, saw off her Croatian opponent in just an hour and 16 minutes, winning 6-3 6-1.
Potapova dropped as low as 124 in the rankings last year, but this week's success is another reminder of the Russian's promise.
Martic seemingly represents something of a good luck charm for Potapova – she also beat her en route to her first ever WTA title last year in Istanbul.
It did not always look like going in Potapova's favour, though, as she was broken right at the start and then only just held off Martic in her second service game.
Potapova then secured two breaks that helped her seal the first set, and after Martic won the first game of the second, the eventual champion reeled off six on the bounce to emphatically romp to victory.
Josh Allen should be fit for the start of the 2023 NFL season, with the Buffalo Bills quarterback reportedly not needing elbow surgery.
Allen suffered a partially torn ulnar collateral ligament in the Week 9 loss to the New York Jets in November, though he was able to keep playing while wearing a brace.
A report from NFL.com's Tom Pelissero and Ian Rapoport claims the fact that the 26-year-old has not re-injured the area means surgery will not be necessary and further rest should see him able to line up in Week 1 of the 2023 campaign.
Allen had a productive 2022, throwing 35 touchdowns – only Patrick Mahomes (41) had more – and rushing for another seven during the regular season, throwing for an average of 267.7 yards per game.
That increased to 308.0 yards per game in his two postseason outings, where he contributed to four more touchdowns (three passing, one rushing) before the Bills were eliminated in the Divisional round by the Cincinnati Bengals.
In the Week 5 thrashing of the Pittsburgh Steelers, Allen became the first quarterback in NFL history to record 250+ passing yards, 50+ rushing yards, three or more passing touchdowns, a rushing touchdown, 80 per cent completions and a win all in one game.
Ockie Strydom shot a stunning nine-under round of 63 to seal victory in the Singapore Classic by one stroke on Sunday.
The South African's final round was the best score of the day at the Laguna National Golf Resort Club and propelled him to top spot ahead of Sami Valimaki of Finland.
The victory is Strydom's second on the DP World Tour after he claimed the Alfred Dunhill Championship on home soil in December.
"It's my mindset that's changing at the moment," he said. "When you've been in that situation before you know you can do it again.
"I was thinking of not being here this week as I was hitting it so badly. My coach and wife said 'maybe it's your week' and look what happened, it was my week!"
Joint leaders after the third round, Wang Jeung-hun and Alejandro del Rey, finished in a tie for third with Marcel Schneider, four shots back from Strydom.
Terrence Ross plans to sign with the Phoenix Suns after finalising his contract buyout with the Orlando Magic, according to reports.
Ross will be able to sign with a new team upon clearing waivers and becoming a free agent in the coming days, and will be eligible for any suitors' playoff roster if he agrees the buyout by March 1.
The Dallas Mavericks were reported as frontrunners to acquire Ross on Saturday, but the championship-chasing Suns are now in pole position, according to an ESPN report.
The Suns acquired Kevin Durant, as well as T.J. Warren, in a huge trade with the Brooklyn Nets earlier this week, sending Cameron Johnson, Mikal Bridges and Jae Crowder the other way alongside four first-round picks and a 2028 pick swap.
Ross' addition would provide cover for Durant in Phoenix after the Suns lost Johnson and Bridges to the Nets.
The 32-year-old is in the final season of his four-year, $54 million contract in Orlando, with his 22.5 minutes and eight points per game his fewest in a single campaign since his rookie year in 2012-13.
The Suns are fifth in the Western Conference following Friday's 117-104 win at the Indiana Pacers, in which Devin Booker and Deandre Ayton had 21 and 22 points respectively.
Luka Doncic had fun linking up with Kyrie Irving for the first time in spite of the Dallas Mavericks going down 133-128 in overtime at the Sacramento Kings.
In his third game since being traded from the Brooklyn Nets, Irving scored 28 points with seven rebounds and seven assists, but it was not enough to beat the Kings at Golden 1 Center again, as the Mavs did on Friday.
Doncic did not play in that game, but he returned on Saturday for the second of a double-header against Sacramento, and linked up well with Irving as he finished with 27 points, nine rebounds and five assists.
"Amazing, only our first game together, but I think it's so fun to play with this guy," the Slovenian said about lining up with Irving. "He's an amazing basketball player and I think it's going to be really fun and today, first game, it was really fun, too."
Mavs coach Jason Kidd was equally enthused by his new star partnership despite the loss, saying: "I thought it was good. It was just natural. Nothing forced.
"It's going to make us that much better. They did an incredible job."
De'Aaron Fox managed to outshine Doncic and Irving in Sacramento, scoring 36 points for the hosts, 26 of which came in the fourth quarter and overtime, while Domantas Sabonis and Terence Davis also put up 22 points each, with the former recording 14 rebounds for a league-leading 44th double-double of the season.
Kings coach Mike Brown was understandably pleased with his team's work, saying: "Heck of a job by our guys. Defensively, we did a pretty good job in both second halves.
"We had a lot of great individual performances."
Islam Makhachev was able to see off the challenge of Alexander Volkanovski in the latter's home country as the Russian secured a unanimous decision to retain the lightweight title at UFC 284.
In front of an excitable crowd in Perth, Australia, both men put on a fine show in the main event as they also fought for the title of pound-for-pound best in the world.
Despite the unanimous decision (48-47, 48-47, 49-46), it was an undeniably close fight, with Volkanovski getting some early shots in and denying the champion some takedowns.
After initially showing caution, Makhachev soon came to the party and eventually completed four of nine takedown attempts, and somewhat surprisingly bested his opponent in terms of total and significant strike percentage, though Volkanovski's volume was predictably higher.
"You like or you don't like, I am [the] best fighter in the world right now," Makhachev said after the win, much to the crowd's displeasure.
"I show why I'm No. 1. They have to improve more."
The Australian delighted his many fans in attendance with a late surge, but Makhachev had already done enough, particularly in the fourth round when he spent the vast majority of it on his opponent's back.
"He didn't respect my wrestling, grappling," Volkanovski said. "Maybe I didn't respect his striking enough, either. He landed some shots. Fair play to both of us."
In the co-main event, Yair Rodriguez submitted Josh Emmett in the second round to claim the interim featherweight championship with a dominant performance.
In his first ever UFC win by submission, Rodriguez – who also landed around three times as many total and significant strikes – was able to get Emmett in a triangle choke to tap the American out at four minutes and 19 seconds in round two.
James Harden said he left the Brooklyn Nets "for a reason" after he and Joel Embiid starred in the Philadelphia 76ers' win over his former team, describing his time in Brooklyn as "frustrating".
Harden scored 29 points with six rebounds and six assists on his first appearance at Barclays Center since pushing for a trade to Philadelphia last year, helping the Sixers record a 101-98 win.
The 2018 NBA MVP and 10-time All-Star was criticised for his decision to seek a Nets exit just over a year after being acquired from the Houston Rockets.
Harden was keen to get a few things off his chest after Saturday's win over Brooklyn, who are working with a new-look roster after the recent departure of Kevin Durant and Kyrie Irving.
Asked if he could have foreseen a situation where both of those stars followed him through the exit door, Harden said: "Yeah. I didn't just ask to leave for no reason. It wasn't right.
"I was in a really good place in Houston. Obviously, we didn't have a chance to win a championship, but I was comfortable.
"So for me to up and leave my family, all the things I created there, to come to Brooklyn for a year and a half to try to just get up and leave, it was for a reason, you know what I mean?"
Pushed on whether the Nets could have done anything to keep him, the guard added: "Yeah, there was. Like, a lot of things.
"But it was just a lot of dysfunction, clearly. A lot of internal things that I'm not going to ever say or put in the media or anything. That was one of the reasons why I chose to make my decision.
"But now, fast-forward to this date, I don't look like the crazy one. I don't look like the quitter or whatever the media want to call me.
"I knew what was going on and I just decided, 'hey, I'm not built for this'. I don't want to deal with that. I want to play basketball and have fun and enjoy doing it. Fast-forward to today, they've got a whole new roster."
Asked to sum up his time in Brooklyn, Harden described it as "frustrating", bemoaning his lack of game-time alongside Durant and Irving after the trio only played 16 times together.
"The reason I made that decision to get out of my comfort zone, to leave Houston and do everything that I did to get out of there was to come in and play with KD and Kyrie," he said.
"That didn't happen as much as I would like to or probably the organisation wanted to. It was just something where I knew it wasn't going to change. I had to make an individual decision for the betterment of my family and my career
"It's a lot of what-ifs when you play less than 20 games together. So it's a little bit frustrating, but it is what it is. Hopefully, everybody's in a good place now and we can move on."
Joel Embiid and James Harden led the Philadelphia 76ers to a hard-fought 101-98 win against the Brooklyn Nets at Barclays Center on Saturday.
The Nets, now shorn of Kevin Durant and Kyrie Irving, had to face another of their former stars in Harden, who had no problem showing them the kind of form he rarely displayed in Brooklyn on his first appearance there since leaving last year, scoring 29 points with six rebounds and six assists.
Embiid had an even better outing, with the Cameroonian finishing with 37 points and 13 rebounds, making 12 of his 18 field-goal attempts.
Mikal Bridges scored 23 on debut for Brooklyn after his arrival as part of the Durant deal with the Phoenix Suns, with fellow debutant Cam Johnson adding 12, while Joe Harris managed 18 points from just over 16 minutes on court.
The two players the Nets acquired as part of the Irving deal, Dorian Finney-Smith and Spencer Dinwiddie, struggled against the Sixers.
Finney-Smith made just two of his eight field-goal attempts, while Dinwiddie fared even worse with two from 10, and zero from four shots from beyond the arc.
Dinwiddie thought he had forced overtime at least when a three-pointer finally went in, but it was ruled out of time after a review as Philadelphia secured the victory.
Doncic and Irving outfoxed by De'Aaron
In their first outing together for the Dallas Mavericks, Luka Doncic and Irving could not get the W as De'Aaron Fox helped the Sacramento Kings to an overtime victory.
Both Doncic and Irving spent more than 40 minutes on the court, scoring 27 and 28 points respectively in a tight game in which neither team ended a quarter with more than a two-point lead.
Fox particularly shone in the latter stages as he recorded 26 points in the fourth quarter and overtime, including six free throws in the final 18.4 seconds to help seal a 133-128 win at Golden 1 Center.
Jokic makes history, Young's assist bonanza
Nikola Jokic became only the fifth player in NBA history to record 20+ triple-doubles in a single season as he led the Denver Nuggets to a 119-105 win at the Charlotte Hornets.
The two-time MVP scored 30 points, with 16 rebounds and 10 assists, while Trae Young also had a productive game as the Atlanta Hawks beat the San Antonio Spurs 125-106.
Young provided an impressive season-high 17 assists for his team to go with his 24 points to make it a 12-game losing streak for the Spurs, their longest since 1988-89 (13).
A much-changed Los Angeles Lakers pulled off a 109-103 victory against the Golden State Warriors, with Dennis Schroder top-scoring with 26 points, while the returning D'Angelo Russell added 15 and Anthony Davis recorded 16 rebounds.
There is guaranteed to be an Argentine winner of the Cordoba Open on Saturday, while Taylor Fritz was stunned in Dallas.
Federico Coria, seeded sixth, overcame reigning champion and 2021 runner-up Albert Ramos-Vinolas 6-4 7-6 (7-2) after over two-and-a-half hours of action.
The world number 67, who is into his second ATP Tour-level final and is set to rise into the top 50 of the rankings, has dropped just a single set in the tournament.
Sebastian Baez, eight years Coria's junior, is aiming for his second title after winning in Estoril last year.
The 22-year-old fourth seed defeated Hugo Dellien 6-4 6-4.
This will be the fourth singles final of Baez's career, though his first on home soil.
"It means a lot, but [it brings] confidence," said Baez.
"I have my people here, my friends, my family, everything, so that is a big motivation for me."
While Coria and Baez have just five previous final appearances between them, John Isner advanced to a 31st Tour-level showdown of his career as he beat fellow American J.J. Wolff at the Dallas Open.
Playing in his home city, 37-year-old Isner came from behind to prevail 3-6 7-5 7-6 (7-4).
Isner offered up eight break points, but saved seven of them to frustrate Wolff.
"I saved a lot of break points with unreturnable serves," Isner said. "Without that I would have been dusted off the court 6-3, 6-4. I'm of course very fortunate to have that weapon in my pocket, and I needed every bit of it today.
"It was an absolute battle, so I'm pretty tired. But I'm absolutely ecstatic to be in the final tomorrow here in Dallas."
Asked how he was faring up after his long tussle with Wolff, Isner quipped: "Truthfully, it feels terrible right now. I'm 38 in April. It's not getting any easier. I started off a little slow, a little sluggish, but in the third set I actually felt the best I felt the whole match.
"I had a lot of adrenaline there at the end and I was able to hold my nerve and win. Right now the name of the game is recovery."
Isner will be the favourite in the final, after top seed Fritz surrendered a lead in a 6-7 (3-7) 7-5 6-4 loss to Wu Yibing.
Jon Rahm and Adam Hadwin provided the highlight of the third round at the Phoenix Open, where Scottie Scheffler kept hold of the lead.
World number one Scheffler carded a 68 on Saturday to maintain the two-stroke lead he held after the opening two days.
A bogey on the 13th threatened to set Scheffler back, but he recovered with a birdie on the next hole and then another on the 17th.
Yet the highlight came from Rahm and Hadwin on the Stadium Course's famous 16th hole.
With the vociferous crowd having been deprived of much excitement up until then, Hadwin – who endured a frustrating round, dropping three bogeys – planting his tee shot close to the pin, setting up a simple putt for birdie.
If that shot had the spectators on their feet, then Rahm's exceptional putt had them positively in delirium soon after, as the world number three sunk an excellent effort to on his way to a three-under 68.
Rahm moved up to T2 alongside Nick Taylor, who found timely birdies on the last two holes to head back into the clubhouse on 11 under after three rounds.
Jordan Spieth, who went round in 63 on day two, carded 69 but dropped a place to T4 along with Hadwin, with Im Sung-jae, Tyrrell Hatton, Rickie Fowler and Jason Day moving up to joint-sixth. Xander Schauffele had a disappointing round, though, and dropped three places.
It was a similar story for world number one Rory McIlroy, who bogeyed on the fourth, seventh and 17th, as well as double-bogeying the 14th. His round of 70 leaves him on three under for the week, 10 behind Scheffler.
Sam Burns was the big mover of the day as he leapt up 28 places thanks to a stunning 64, matching Scheffler's effort from Friday.
Burns struck five birdies and eagled the 13th, and is part of a five-strong group tied for 11th at eight under.
LeBron James will miss his second consecutive game with soreness in his left ankle.
James became the NBA's all-time leading points scorer this week, breaking the record against the Oklahoma City Thunder on Tuesday.
Yet the 38-year-old sat out Thursday's loss to the Milwaukee Bucks and will not feature on Saturday against the Golden State Warriors.
It marks the 13th missed game this season for James, though it appears to be a primarily precautionary move.
Medical imaging on the affected area has not shown any significant damage other than general wear and tear, according to Lakers coach Darvin Ham.
"We're grateful that things came back clean and good," Lakers vice president of basketball operations and general manager Rob Pelinka said on a conference call on Saturday.
The Lakers are expected to have newcomers D'Angelo Russell, Jarred Vanderbilt, Malik Beasley and Davon Reed available to face the Warriors.
Mo Bamba, who was also acquired at the deadline, will finish serving his four-game suspension stemming from an altercation in a February 3 game between the Orlando Magic and the Minnesota Timberwolves.
James ranks seventh in the league in scoring (30.2 points per game) and his absence leaves a huge void for Los Angeles, who are 13th in the Western Conference and facing an uphill climb to make the playoffs.
The Kansas City Chiefs' decision to trade Tyreek Hill this offseason was greeted by many with understandable bemusement.
With Hill sent to the Miami Dolphins in exchange for a 2022 first-round pick, a 2022 second-round pick, two fourth-round picks, and a 2023 sixth-round pick, the Chiefs lost the player who, save for quarterback Patrick Mahomes, struck the most fear into the hearts of opposing defenses.
How could the Chiefs' offense be as devastating without him? Surely the Chiefs and head coach Andy Reid had a plan?
Turns out they did, and it wasn't to spend either of their two first-round picks on a wide receiver. The Chiefs opted for defense in the form of Trent McDuffie and George Karlaftis, instead filling the void with a pair of veterans in Juju Smith-Schuster and Marquez Valdes-Scantling, and a second-round pick in Skyy Moore.
Moore is quicker than fast and, though Valdes-Scantling was the de-facto deep threat for Aaron Rodgers in the Green Bay Packers' offense, neither can claim to boast anywhere close to the explosive speed Hill possesses.
And yet the Chiefs' offense has actually been more explosive than it was in the 2021 season, suffering no drop-off as Kansas City surged to the number one seed in the AFC and has since overcome injuries to quarterback and receivers alike to progress to Super Bowl LVII against the Philadelphia Eagles on Sunday.
The Chiefs racked up 249 plays of 10 yards or more in 2021, but that number has jumped to 257 in 2022. On top of that, the Chiefs finished first in the NFL in Stats Perform's Efficiency Versus Expected (EVE) metric on offense.
While much credit must go to All-Pro tight end Travis Kelce – who ended the regular season with 1,338 receiving yards and a career-high 12 touchdowns – and head coach Andy Reid for finding joy running three-tight end formations, there is no doubting the influence of Kansas City's reconstructed receiver corps.
Smith-Schuster ended the year with 933 receiving yards, carving out a role as a dependable possession receiver who – according to Stats Perform data – won his matchup with a defender on a play where he was targeted 74.5 per cent of the time (the average is 60.2).
Valdes-Scantling has been an effective big-play threat, averaging 16.4 yards per reception in the regular season and, though Moore has not had the impact some may have envisaged, sporadic contributions from in-season trade acquisition Kadarius Toney – a former first-round pick of the New York Giants – and Justin Watson have helped ensure the Chiefs have continued to thrive throwing the ball.
How has everything coalesced so effectively for the Chiefs' new-look receiver group? In the view of Mahomes, their success is a tribute to the effort they have each shown since arriving in Kansas City.
"Just a lot of hard work. The guys work their tail off every day," said Mahomes of his receivers.
"It's a tough place to be to learn a whole new playbook and really execute and get better and better throughout the season and have no drop-offs, those guys have done that since OTAs and gotten better and better and that's what's got us in this position, so I'm excited for those guys to go on the world stage and showcase what they've worked all year for."
Kelce similarly praised the way Smith-Schuster and Co. have attacked the challenge, while also hailing Reid for identifying players who could slot seamlessly into an offense that was built heavily around Hill.
"The wide receiver group this year has been absolutely unbelievable," said Kelce. "Being able to come in year one and master this offense the way they have – this isn't an easy offense to figure out – it's just been cool to see the professionalism on top of the leadership that's been brought into this building for a lot of the young guys that are still in that room.
"There were just a lot of specific Tyreek routes, man, routes that only that guy could run. Hats off to coach Reid for creating those routes for the strengths of the guys that are in the building now.
"This offense has had one of its best years, and it's not by surprise, it's not by accident, there's a lot of guys in that room that have the strengths and the abilities to go out there and have success and I'm happy they're going out there and having it."
Having such success may be a tough ask against an Eagles defense that allowed only 4.8 yards per pass play in the regular season, the fewest in the NFL.
But, even if the Chiefs' offense cannot produce the explosive plays to propel them to a second Super Bowl title in four seasons, the receiving group they have constructed has already emphatically expelled all doubts about Kansas City's decision to move on from their superstar wideout.
President of the Jamaica Gymnastics Association, Nicole Grant, is excited about the association’s ongoing partnership with Supreme Ventures that, she hopes, will help Jamaica conquer the world of Gymnastics in the future.
The Supreme Ventures Gymnastics Classic and National Trials will take place at the Jamaica School of Gymnastics in Kingston from February 11-12.
The juniors will be vying for one spot at the Junior World Championships scheduled for March 25-April 3 in Antalya, Turkey.
The seniors will be vying for five spots at the Pan Am Championships scheduled for Medellin, Colombia from May 22-29. The Pan Am Championships will serve as a qualifier for this year’s Pan Am Games scheduled for October 6-October 22 in Santiago, Chile as well as the World Championships scheduled for Antwerp, Belgium from September 29-October 8. This year’s World Championships will be used as a qualifier for next year’s Paris Olympics.
For the second year in a row, Supreme Ventures, through the connection made by the Jamaica Olympic Association, has signed on as the sponsor for the event, something that Grant is very thankful for.
“We have always been in a partnership with the Jamaica Olympic Association as we are affiliated. In Jamaica, we are a minor sport so the JOA has really helped us form these kinds of partnerships,” Grant said ahead of day one of the trials on Saturday.
“They connected us with Supreme Ventures and they were quite happy with what they saw last year. We did not disappoint them and, as a result, they have come on board for the second year in a row to work with us,” she added.
When asked what she expects from the athletes on display this weekend, Grant encouraged them to show spirit, noting that winning does not mean you will make the respective teams.
“I expect the girls to do the best that they can and show us what they have. Show us how they can fight because when you go out to major competitions you must have that fight,” Grant said.
“We want to see that. You do not necessarily have to win for us to select you. We have a selection process that we use but we want to see what you have to offer or what you are capable of,” she added.
Warren Gatland suggested he might need to get tough on his Wales players following their dismal Six Nations defeat to Scotland.
Wales suffered a second straight loss to start this year's Six Nations campaign as they went down 35-7 at Murrayfield.
It was Gatland's first defeat to Scotland in the tournament since 2001, when his Ireland team lost 32-10, having won all 10 of his previous matches against them as Wales head coach.
Gatland omitted experienced trio Alun Wyn Jones, Taulupe Faletau and Justin Tipuric out of his starting line-up for Saturday's meeting, yet despite some promising play either side of half-time, Wales lost for a 10th time in the space of 12 Tests, suffering their heaviest away defeat to Scotland in the process.
With the defeat following a 34-10 reverse on home soil to Ireland, Gatland hinted there will be no holding back as he and his coaches search for a turnaround ahead of hosting England on February 25.
He told BBC Sport: "We were okay in the first half and could have gone in ahead at half-time. Some of the things that affected us last week, our discipline, giving penalties away, and not being accurate, that was the most disappointing factor [again].
"We had six minutes in their 22, and have come away with bugger all, so we need to have a good hard look at ourselves – we need to get better, and probably be a bit tougher on the players.
"We were beaten by the better team today, congratulations to Scotland – I thought they played exceptionally well. Finn Russell was outstanding.
"Some of the young boys really stepped up and we were pleased with their performances."
Scotland, meanwhile, have started a Six Nations campaign with back-to-back victories for the first time.
The last time they won their opening two matches was back in 1996, when only five teams competed in the tournament, though Gregor Townsend sees plenty of scope for improvement if his side are to continue their run against reigning champions France.
"We'll be confident, winning really helps. We had a really good week where we weren't easy on the players as coaches, but the players weren't easy on themselves," he told BBC Sport.
"We had two tough physical sessions and there were areas we had to improve from Twickenham. The challenge only gets stronger.
"This display, while encouraging, will have to go up another level if we want to win in Paris."
George Turner went over in the first half for Scotland before he was sent to the sin-bin, with Ken Owens crossing for Wales while the hooker was off the pitch.
Wales should have scored a second try on the cusp of half-time, only for Rio Dyer to fumble an easy chance, and Scotland made them pay with four tries in the second half to secure an emphatic bonus-point win.
"It was [a complete performance] in the second half. The first half, we didn't get our game going," Townsend said.
"We didn't get through first two phases on enough occasions. Wales were competing hard at the breakdown, slowing our ball down or winning the ball back, but we did build a score which was pleasing.
"On the flip side, the second half we were getting the opportunities and they led to tries. That's an outstanding win for the group because Wales have been a top team for a number of years. To come away with any win is pleasing, one with a bonus point sets us up well."
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