After losing the Juan Soto sweepstakes, the New York Yankees began the unfurling of Plan B. Step one of The Great Bronx Pivot is an eight-year, $218 million contract with former Atlanta Braves southpaw Max Fried. The deal is the fourth-largest ever for a starting pitcher and the largest in MLB history for a left-hander.

Fried, who turns 31 in January, boasts the single lowest ERA in baseball since the start of 2020. Less reliant on strikeouts than other frontline hurlers, the two-time All-Star is elite at two other very valuable skills: avoiding hard contact and conjuring a parade of groundouts. That, alongside a track record of pinpoint control, means Fried carries a uniquely high floor.

Originally drafted seventh overall by the San Diego Padres out of an L.A.-area high school in 2012, Fried was dealt to Atlanta in 2014 as part of the prospect return for Justin Upton. Across parts of eight  seasons with the Braves, the left-hander established himself as one of the sport’s more dependable starting pitchers. He finishes his Atlanta tenure with a sparkling 3.07 ERA in 884 1/3 innings.

For the Yankees, signing Fried will not single-handedly erase the shattering disappointment of losing Soto, but it’s a strong start.

And then things fell apart for the Jets, as they so often have. Despite holding on to the ball for so long, they only managed to score three points on the Rams during that time. Rodgers and Adams had some communication problems. Rodgers started getting more and more banged up as the game went on.

The 4th quarter is when the Rams exploded and the game really got away from the Jets. Or, put another way, the Rams scored 13 points (a touchdown plus a field goal) in the final quarter while the Jets couldn’t get so much as a field goal in the entirety of the second half. The Rams won 19-9, and the Jets can only look back at the squandered opportunities to get a meaningful win over a competitive team. But on the bright side, they’ve only got two more games left to play.

The New York Giants headed down to Atlanta in Week 16 in hopes of breaking their nine-game losing streak and avoiding setting a new franchise record for consecutive losses.

They would have to do it against a Falcons team that was starting their top draft pick, Michael Penix Jr., at quarterback to help jumpstart their offense.

The Falcons entered the game with a 7-7 record and in the thick of the NFC postseason picture and were 8.5-point favorites over the listing Giants.

• Two pick-sixes by Giants quarterback Drew Lock gave the Falcons 14 easy points. For a team that’s averaged just 14.9 points per game this season, that put them in an insurmountable hole.
• The Giants needed to establish a ground game on offense but playing from behind and averaging 3.5 yards per carry on the 13 attempts they did have didn’t allow that to happen.
• The Giants’ inability to drive the football continued. Nine of their 11 drives consisted of just five plays or less.

Falcons defensive end Matthew Judon picked a tipped pass by Drew Lock out of the air and returned it for a touchdown 40 seconds into the second half to give the Falcons a 24-7 lead. There was no conceivable way the Giants could overcome that deficit.