Saracens have signed versatile back Tim Swiel on a short-term deal to cover for the injured Louie Johnson.

The 31-year-old, who can play at fly-half or full-back, was most recently with Edinburgh but trained with Saracens last season.

Swiel also had spells at Premiership clubs Harlequins and Newcastle Falcons, as well as Western Province and Stormers in South Africa and Japanese side Toyota Shokki.

Tim was a very popular member of the group when he trained with us last year so we are delighted to have him back," Saracens director of rugby Mark McCall told the club website, external.

England centre Henry Slade will play for Exeter this weekend in a bid to prove his fitness ahead of the autumn opener against New Zealand on 2 November.

The 31-year-old had shoulder surgery over the summer and has yet to feature for his club this season.

But he will fly back early from England's training camp in Girona to prepare to face Harlequins in the Premiership on Sunday.

"He wanted some rugby, we wanted him to get some rugby, so he's going to get some rugby," said senior England assistant Richard Wigglesworth.

Slade, who has been capped 65 times, established himself as one of Steve Borthwick's key players over the past year, having been a shock omission from the Rugby World Cup squad.

He has started all of England's eight Test matches in 2024, partnering Ollie Lawrence in midfield for the last six.

That centre combination now looks likely to face the All Blacks provided Slade is able to pick up some match sharpness with the Chiefs.

"We'll see what he looks like in training today [Wednesday], does he get through everything and is he really happy," Wigglesworth told BBC Sport.

"Same the next couple of days for Exeter, then he plays and we will make a decision Monday or Tuesday.

"It's missing one training session for us versus going and playing some minutes for Exeter.

Meanwhile, Sale fly-half George Ford is nearing a return to full training after a quad injury and remains in contention for next weekend.

"George is at the last stage of his rehabilitation," Wigglesworth added. "He is probably ahead of schedule and is in a fair bit of rugby this week."

New York Rangers defenseman Jacob Trouba will not receive any supplemental discipline for his hit on Montreal Canadiens defenseman Justin Barron, sources told ESPN.

In the third period Tuesday with the Rangers leading 5-2, Barron carried the puck along the boards into New York's zone. As Barron passed to a teammate, Trouba walloped him with a hard check that dropped the Montreal player.

Canadiens defenseman Mike Matheson skated over for a brief tussle with Trouba, earning an instigator penalty on top of the five minutes for fighting both players received.

Barron was helped from the ice to the trainers' room. Trouba was not penalized for the hit, but the Canadiens and many of their fans on social media believed he should be disciplined by the NHL Department of Player Safety.

"They had a clean hit on the ice, we have a hit to the head from a player that's had multiple, multiple warnings," Canadiens forward Brendan Gallagher said, according to The Athletic. "So, whether the league decides to do the right thing, whether he gets another pass, that's up to them."

Canadiens coach Martin St. Louis believed that "the first point of contact was the head" on Trouba's hit.

Upon review by the NHL, it was determined that Trouba's hit was a legal full body check with Barron's chest as the main point of contact. If there was contact with Barron's head, that contact was covered under Rule 48.1, which considers "whether the player attempted to hit squarely through the opponent's body and the head was not 'picked' as a result of poor timing, poor angle of approach, or unnecessary extension of the body upward or outward."

Trouba, 30, is one of the NHL's most scrutinized physical players. Though the majority of his injurious checks have been deemed legal by on-ice officials and the Department of Player Safety, Trouba has been suspended twice in his NHL career and fined four times -- most recently in the 2024 Eastern Conference finals for elbowing Florida Panthers forward Evan Rodrigues.

ISTANBUL, Turkey -- It's about 40 minutes before kick-off on Sept. 21 when Jose Mourinho steps out at Sukru Saracoglu Stadium and braces himself for a taste of the atmosphere ahead of his first Intercontinental Derby as Fenerbahçe manager.

Fenerbahçe vs. Galatasaray is one of the most hostile rivalries in football. There were riots in 2012 when a 0-0 draw confirmed Galatasaray as Turkish champions; shops were smashed and police vehicles were set on fire. In May, after Fenerbahçe won 1-0 at Galatasaray, there was a brawl on the pitch.

Outside the stadium, a sea of home fans in yellow and blue are marshalled by hundreds of police with helmets and riot shields. There's an armoured van positioned close to the entrance and an outer ring of steel fencing, a water cannon on its roof just in case. Inside, Mourinho watches from the touchline as the Fenerbahçe players leave their warm up, one by one, to jog through Galatasaray's half of the pitch and punch the air three times to whip up the fans behind the goal.

It's unnecessary, but Mourinho loves it in the same way he seemed to take pleasure in provoking Barcelona boss Pep Guardiola during his time at Real Madrid or the caustic insults aimed at Arsenal's Arsene Wenger when he was at Chelsea.

His enjoyment is short-lived.

Galatasaray have won the Turkish championship in each of the last two years, and four of the past seven seasons. Fenerbahçe haven't won it since 2014 and Mourinho is here to change their fortunes, except his side are 2-0 down inside 30 minutes and eventually lose 3-1.

Mourinho disappears down the tunnel, stone-faced, and it's not much longer before he slips out of the stadium altogether to return to his hotel overlooking the Bosphorus. There's bemusement in a room full of Turkish journalists when he skips his postmatch news conference.

Twenty years ago this week, Mourinho's Chelsea were hammering Blackburn 4-0 at Stamford Bridge. Having arrived from FC Porto as a Champions League winner, he turned Chelsea into a physical, organised juggernaut as they won their first English title for 50 years. He won the treble at Inter Milan, including his second Champions League title, and after moving to Real Madrid, he went head-to-head with Guardiola's Barcelona -- considered by some as the greatest club side ever assembled -- and won LaLiga. Back at Chelsea following his stint at the Bernabeu, he won his third Premier League title.

If that was Mourinho on the way up, this is Mourinho on the way down.

After being sacked by Manchester United in 2018 amid an tumultuous ending typical of Mourinho's career -- it's even known as Mourinho's "third-season syndrome," marking the year in which his tenures tend to fall apart -- he took jobs at Tottenham and then Roma. Both are big clubs in their own right, but neither capable of competing in leagues dominated by more illustrious rivals. Fenerbahçe can at least offer Mourinho the chance to add another league title to his list of honours in the way Tottenham and Roma could not.

"What is ambition, and what is a safe place and comfortability?" Mourinho said pointedly in his first Fenerbahçe news conference. "My house is in London. To have a London club to fight to be six, seventh, eighth, ninth, and to try to make a miracle and qualify for the Europa League; is that ambition?

"Everybody knows I love Italy. To have a team in Italy and you stay always between fifth, sixth and seventh, is that ambition just because I love Italy?"

By moving to Turkey, Mourinho is slowly slipping out of the spotlight, but this week he will be back in its full glare when United -- who have their own under-fire coach, Erik ten Hag -- visit Fenerbahçe in the UEFA Europa League. Mourinho, with his sharp-tongue and spider-sense for an opponent's weakness, has revelled in his role as disrupter before. Does he still have any tricks left?

When Mourinho was looking for a job in the summer, there was surprise among those closest to him that he didn't hold out for another opportunity in a major European league. There was a significant offer from newly promoted Saudi Pro League side Al Qadisiyah, but a source told ESPN that he was seduced by Fenerbahçe executives who produced an extensive document explaining why he should take over.

The elaborate presentation left a mark on Mourinho, who has been used to selling himself during the interview process rather than the other way around. He likes to feel loved, and Fenerbahçe pulled out all the stops: thousands of fans greeted him at the airport on his arrival and then packed the stadium to watch him sign his contract.

"First of all, I want to thank you for the love that I felt from the first moment that my name was connected with Fenerbahçe," said Mourinho. "Normally a coach is loved after victories, but in this case I feel I am loved before victories."

According to a source, Mourinho has always been keen to work in Turkey after the atmosphere during Real Madrid's trip to Galatasaray in the Champions League in 2013 made a lasting impression. Former Galatasaray manager Fatih Terim is a close friend. Yet Mourinho knows the status he still holds and as if to make the point that he's perhaps too big for Turkey, he's claimed part of his motivation to move to Fenerbahçe is to help promote the league and the country.

"I bring attention with me so more people in Europe will follow the Turkish league," he said at his unveiling.

The Midas touch that helped win league titles in four countries between 2003 and 2015 might be fading, but Mourinho's appetite for a mischievous quote remains as strong as ever -- particularly ahead of big games.Fenerbahçe against Galatasaray doesn't need much to set it off and Mourinho -- always comfortable fighting fire with fire -- was seemingly intent on pouring petrol on the flames.

In the build-up, he accused Turkish referees of favouring Galatasaray and used the media to tell their new signing, Napoli loanee Victor Osimhen, that he dives too much.

"I don't have problems with Victor," said Mourinho. "In fact we have a very good relationship, but every time I play against him I speak with him because I don't like the way he behaves. He dives too much."

Galatasaray board member Aykutalp Derkan responded by saying the comments were part of a "targeted attack" and called on their supporters to fight back against Mourinho's "campaign." In the end, though, it's Galatasaray's players who do the talking in the derby and they waste no time rubbing it in, posting a picture of Mourinho on their social media accounts titled "The Crying One."

After the game and with Mourinho long gone, Fenerbahçe vice president Acun Ilıcalı attempted to head off any hint of discontent in an interview with TV crews waiting in the darkness on the street outside the stadium's front entrance."We are very sorry ... It was a defeat we did not expect. We have faith in our players and our coach. I am optimistic about the future but today, of course, I am very sad. As the management, we are sorry."

"He's expected to win championships," Fenerbahçe fan Halil Ugras tells ESPN. "He's a very big coach who has achieved great success in Europe, and we are sure that those successes will also be achieved here."

The draw for this season's competition has handed Mourinho a reunion with United, and his time at Old Trafford is an almost perfect example of his pattern at most of the clubs he's worked at.

There was the initial charm offensive, calling the job "the one everyone wants" on his first day. Trophies followed with the 2017 League Cup and 2017 Europa League, but by the summer of 2018, the first cracks started to appear. A new contract signed in January -- secured after some public flirtation with Paris Saint-Germain -- didn't prevent a full breakdown in his relationship with the club only a few months later.

Mourinho became convinced that then-chief executive Ed Woodward wouldn't sanction the departure of striker Anthony Martial because he was co-owner Joel Glazer's favourite player. Woodward, with the recruitment department behind him, refused demands from Mourinho to sign a centre-back he deemed vital to his chances of catching Guardiola's Manchester City.

Club bosses were then furious with an interview Mourinho gave during the preseason tour of the U.S. when he said he was "just hoping to survive and not have some very ugly results," while offering sympathy to United winger Alexis Sánchez for having to deal with "these players he has around him."

Mourinho, according to a source, was so unhappy during the trip to America that he almost pulled the plug on a segment for James Cordon's "The Late Late Show" which had taken months to negotiate. Mourinho made it known on the morning of filming at UCLA that he wanted it cancelled, only to change his mind at the last minute and leave panicked staff breathing a sign of relief.

By the end of Mourinho's United reign, the atmosphere around Carrington was being described as "toxic." Woodward could accept his abrasive nature with players, staff and the media when the team was winning, but not when results began to spiral. There were increasing complaints from within the squad until United felt they had to make a change.

United started the season with just five wins from their first 13 games, and Mourinho was eventually sacked after a 3-1 defeat to Liverpool in December. According to the club, Ole Gunnar Solskjaer was brought in to put "smiles back on faces." It was meant in reference to the fans, but it was also true of the players.

"[Solskjaer] is so positive, he's so upbeat all the time and I think you can see that rubbing off on individuals," assistant Michael Carrick said shortly after Solskjaer had taken the reins. "That goes a long way to bringing the best out of the players."

It felt like a pointed statement coming so soon after Mourinho's departure. Under Solskjaer, United won their next eight games.

Mourinho still has his playbook of old tricks -- pressuring referees and casual put-downs of opponents -- but now into the final throes of his career, he's working with a different set of tools at Fenerbahçe.

There's no Didier Drogba, Sergio Ramos or Wesley Sneijder like he enjoyed at Chelsea, Real Madrid and Inter Milan. Instead he's got a 38-year-old Edin Dzeko, former Leicester City centre-back Caglar Söyüncü and Brazilian midfielder Fred, a player no longer deemed good enough for United.

After the derby defeat, he accused his team of being "naive" in twice conceding goals from throw-ins and a few days later, with the defeat still making headlines, Mourinho was asked why Fenerbahçe haven't yet seen the "Mourinho Effect."

"What is the 'Mourinho Effect?'" he answered. "Trophies. Cups. We cannot win trophies in September."

Aside from the setback against Galatasaray, Mourinho's Fenerbahçe have started well. They've won five and drawn one of their seven Super Lig games and are unbeaten in the Europa League group stage, but it hasn't stopped Mourinho suggesting that this group of players isn't quite what he's used to.

He hinted at a lack of quality in the squad in August after Fenerbahçe lost their Champions League play-off against Lille, who finished fourth in Ligue 1 last season, by claiming the Europa League is a more realistic competition for the team to be involved in. It marks a change in his thinking that reflects where he is in his career: Mourinho was once scathing of the Europa League, saying on his return to Chelsea in 2013 that he "didn't want to win it" because "it's not our level."

As Champions League success has become harder to find, Mourinho has been forced to change his view of Europe's lesser club competitions. He won the Europa League with United in 2017 and lifted the Europa Conference League with Roma in 2022. Doing something similar with Fenerbahçe, who have never reached a major European final, would be a remarkable achievement even for him.

"I think Turkish competition is getting better in the last two or three years due to the players who are arriving," Galatasaray assistant coach Ismael Garcia tells ESPN. "I still believe the Turkish league has more potential than its show in reality. We should really be fighting to be the sixth competition in Europe. The arrival of Mourinho is super positive for Fenerbahçe and for Turkish football."

Mourinho speaks like he still believes he's a Champions League manager. The reality, though, is that he hasn't managed a game in the competition proper since his Spurs side were knocked out by RB Leipzig in the round of 16 in March 2020.

He might not want to accept it, but if the Europa League is Fenerbahçe's level, it's also now his, too.

Mourinho's behaviour became a concern for United long before he was finally replaced. For now, though, the fiery streak in his personality is being embraced by Fenerbahçe.

It went down well with fans that Mourinho made a point of saying in his first news conference he would vehemently defend Fenerbahçe. He said that "the shirt is now my skin," and the quote is splashed across another video playing in the club shop. "It is very important for us that our coach understands our culture," says Halil Ugras.

In the club shop at their stadium in the Kadikoy district of Istanbul, a Mourinho montage plays on a loop on the giant screen above the racks of shirts and scarfs. But rather than a collection of clips of him lifting trophies, it's made up of some of his notable controversies. There's footage of him smashing a case of water bottles on the touchline at Old Trafford and provoking the Barcelona fans at Camp Nou after knocking them out of the Champions League with Inter in 2010.

There's another clip of him cupping his ear to the Juventus fans after leading United to victory in Turin in 2018, and also beating the Chelsea badge on his jacket after winning at Anfield to end Liverpool's Premier League title hopes in 2014. The video finishes with the picture of Mourinho smiling above the caption "to be continued."

"Mourinho has always been the most disliked coach in the league, especially by rival fans," Ugras said. "It's because of how hungry he is to win. His character is perfectly suited for Fenerbahçe. It's the embodiment of Fenerbahçe."

As things stand, Mourinho is set to spend the next two years at Fenerbahçe.They're hoping he can take them back to the top of Turkish football, while Mourinho -- although he would never admit it -- is looking to bring back some of the shine to his reputation and maybe get another chance further up the ladder.

While coaching contemporaries Guardiola and Jurgen Klopp have spoken about retiring in their 50s, Mourinho hasn't ruled out working into his 70s. When his club career is over, he would be open to taking on an international job; in Portugal, it's considered a matter of time before he takes over their national team.

For now, according to a source, he has "too much energy" for just a handful of matches a year. The way he prowled up and down the touchline against Galatasaray -- shouting, clapping, arguing -- proved the point.

Pitted against one of his former clubs in the Europa League this week, it will be another chance for Mourinho to show a glimpse of that old magic -- and perhaps that famous love of mischief.

The Seattle Seahawks are trading linebacker Jerome Baker and a fourth-round pick to the Tennessee Titans for linebacker Ernest Jones IV, a source told ESPN's Brady Henderson on Wednesday.

It's the second trade set to be made by the Titans, who also are finalizing a trade of wide receiver DeAndre Hopkins to the Kansas City Chiefs, sources told ESPN's Adam Schefter.

This is the second time Jones has been traded this year. The Titans acquired Jones from the Rams in August, sending a 2026 fifth-round pick to Los Angeles for Jones and a 2026 sixth-round selection.

Jones, 24, has 44 tackles this season, second on the Titans. Baker, in his first season with the Seahawks, has 37 tackles and a sack for Seattle.

Jones quickly broke into the starting lineup next to veteran Kenneth Murray Jr. and took on a leadership role and played 91.2% of Tennessee's defensive snaps. Baker will not replace Jones in the starting lineup.

Rookie fourth-round pick Cedric Gray could become an option as well when he's activated from injured reserve. Gray has been recovering from a nerve-related shoulder injury. The Titans opened his 21-day window to return on Oct 7.

Both Jones and Baker, 27, are scheduled to become free agents after this season. The Seahawks hope to keep Jones beyond this season, a source told Henderson.

Jones has 364 tackles in four seasons. Baker, who spent his first six seasons with the Miami Dolphins, has 624 tackles and 23.5 sacks in his career.

ESPN's Turron Davenport contributed to this report.

FRISCO, Texas -- A tour guide presents a wall display of the Dallas Cowboys' proudest achievements to a group of 20-plus people crowded in front of him, many wearing a mix of Cowboys jerseys. At the other end of the hallway, less than a football field away, are the Cowboys' position meeting rooms. A player opens a door and walks out.

"Before we get started, we have a few ground rules," the tour guide says. "If a player or coach walks by, don't yell, don't talk to them. Don't take pictures of any people. If they come up to you, that's fine.

"It's a work day here at the Dallas Cowboys."

It's 10 a.m. on the Friday before the 3-2 Cowboys play the 4-1 Lions, a highly anticipated prove-it game against a tougher and healthier opponent. Quarterback Dak Prescott and wide receiver CeeDee Lamb have yet to find their groove, the run game is nonexistent and the defense is battling injuries at nearly every position. Players and coaches are in meetings ahead of their walk-through. This is the football staff's office, a space the 31 other NFL clubs reserve for team employees during the season. The tour guide just reminded his group that this is a work day. So why are fans here?

For $40 a pop, fans can experience what the employee manning the tour information booth that day described as "a day in the life of a Cowboys player." (It's $70 for the Ultimate Fan Experience, which includes an Authentic Letter of Fandom from Cowboys owner Jerry Jones, a souvenir tote, a lapel pin and a dining and shopping coupon to use at The Star, $90 to add on a Q&A session with an AI Jerry hologram.)

"This is where the Cowboys players eat, train, work, practice," the employee told an inquiring group of potential customers. "They're here 99% of the time."

Stadium tours are common across the NFL, but the upbeat tour guides at The Star are quick to point out that Dallas is the only team to offer the general public this access to its facility. The Packers' tours of Lambeau Field intentionally steer clear of player areas in the stadium, which doubles as Green Bay's facility. The Chargers invited fans to a free open house of their new facility, but it took place in July, before players reported for training camp.

And Dallas' advertising is accurate. On the Thursday before the Lions game, Prescott walks about 3 feet away from the 10 a.m. tour group gathered in a hallway near the Cowboys' locker room.

"I saw the back of his head and I was like oh s---!" says Michale Elkin, from Albemarle, North Carolina.

"It's gold when those players go through our complex out there and see fans," Jerry Jones told ESPN.

The Friday 10 a.m. group walks single-file down the hallway that houses the Cowboys' locker room and weight room. "We normally don't do this," one of the tour guides tells the wide-eyed group (though the Saturday 1:20 group will also walk past the weight room). An 8-year-old boy named Will Maguire from Denver, who is on the tour with his parents, sister and grandparents during his fall break from third grade, audibly gasps when he sees Micah Parsons through the floor-to-ceiling glass wall of the weight room. "It's Micah!"

Behind Will in the line, an adult fan similarly loses his mind. "There's players in there! There's players in there!" Kenny Gainous from Augusta, Georgia, repeats as he stares inside the glass to see Parsons and a few other players getting in some stretching and band work. A few hours later, Parsons is officially ruled out of the Lions game, healing from a high left ankle sprain.

The Cowboys say tours of The Star and AT&T Stadium combined sell about 500,000 tickets per year and generate nearly $10 million of annual revenue, which is considered football-related income and included in the league's revenue share with players, who receive 48%.

The tours offer unique access to the inner workings of the team, which increases fan interest and revenue, but also subjects the players and coaches tasked with taking this team to the Super Bowl with what one player calls "random people" walking through and around their office daily. The Cowboys say the tours don't go into the players' spaces when they are using them, like the locker room and meeting rooms, and the bulk of tours are scheduled when players are not practicing or in meetings. The team also scales back tours during the playoffs. But several former Cowboys told ESPN that the tours are one of the biggest distractions of working in Jerry's world and contradictory to Jones' stated goal of ending the 29-year Super Bowl drought.

Former Cowboys tight end Dalton Schultz created an entire news cycle last March when he told Pat McAfee the Cowboys' facility was "like a zoo," because fans tapped on the glass walls of the weight room to get the players' attention while they were inside working out.

Schultz was the first to say it out loud, but players around the league have long known about Dallas' tours. Cowboys defensive end KJ Henry arrived in Dallas the first week of October this season, and he'd already been prepped by his Bengals teammate Justin Rogers, a former Cowboy.

"He talked about the tours all the time, just saying that's the difference," Henry says. "Like, people are always touring, always walking through the facility, so just be ready to see random people."

On this particular Friday, there are seven 20-person tours available for individual ticket purchase, as well as additional group tours, like those for corporate outings, that aren't listed on the Cowboys' website. Tour groups cross paths in the building, and on Saturdays before home games, they're scheduled every 20 minutes from 12:40 to 4:20. The Cowboys say most weekend tours, which are expanded from the weekday versions to accommodate 30 people, sell out.

The tour guide on this Friday explains each record displayed on the franchise's "living wall." The idea is that these numbers will be updated as the Cowboys continue winning.

36 PLAYOFF APPEARANCES. 8 NFC CHAMPIONSHIP WINS (MOST IN NFL). 20 CONSECUTIVE WINNING SEASONS (MOST IN NFL). 8 SUPER BOWL APPEARANCES. 5 SUPER BOWL WINS.

"That last number has some dust on it," the guide says. "We need to change that."

Gainous, the fan from Georgia, offers a booming affirmation. "That needs to change!"

Jones will often talk with tour groups when he runs into them at The Star, so he knows fans such as Gainous are growing increasingly impatient after three straight 12-win regular seasons have ended in early and embarrassing playoff exits. He values transparency with the fan base, and he built The Star in 2016 with fans in mind as much as players and staff. But within that transparency lives a contradiction.

"We have 24/7 access to the facility, and it should be a place of solitude," said a recent former player who requested anonymity to discuss the topic freely. "I come in for extra work at night, to use the hot and cold tub, and there's fans walking through, poking out at you."

"You're walking by the tour guide, and they're pulling [the fans] to the side, and you hear them say, 'Oh that's CeeDee Lamb, that's CeeDee!'" says former Dallas safety Jayron Kearse, starter on the three straight 12-win teams. "Like Dalton said, it's kind of like you're in a zoo and kids are going to see a lion. That's not a reason why we didn't get over that hump. But I just don't think that really equates to winning. That has nothing to do with us winning the game."

Jones says he has never heard any complaints about the tours from a staff member or a player. "Not one time," he says, "but the most important thing is it wouldn't make any difference. Period. Because overall, they're swimming against the stream."

IT'S SATURDAY AT 1:45 p.m., and inside The Star's dining area, Parsons swings his giggling daughter back and forth in his arms. Not 15 feet away, a tour guide speaks to a group of 30-something fans, the majority of whom aren't hearing a word he says about the Cowboys' Walter Payton Man of The Year winners. They are fixated on Parsons and his toddler. The Cowboys bring in food trucks and invite family and friends of players and coaches to have lunch with them after practice on home game Saturdays.

The guide reminds those on the tour to put their phones away out of respect for Parsons, and then leads the group past the injured linebacker and his family and through the dining area. A dad in the group, Kenneth Parry from Washington, D.C., urges his lanky teenage son to keep calm around his favorite player. "Chill, chill," Parry says as he grabs his son's shoulder. "Chill."

A few minutes later, the tour guide pauses his speech while the group is stopped at the Dallas Cowboys Cheerleaders exhibit. "Make way for this gentleman, please." The fans back up, and Parsons slowly hobbles past them.

"Oh my god, he's limping," one woman whispers.

"That looks like it's going to be a few more weeks until he can play again," another says.

Parsons doesn't acknowledge the fans, nor does he look bothered by the attention. But the recent former player who requested anonymity says the tours can be exhausting because the players always have to be on, even on a Saturday afternoon when their work before the game is done.

"We want to have our own space where we can talk, but it's either media or fans all day," the former player says. "You never get a break. It'd be one thing if they did the tours like one day a week, but it's every day."

Most NFL clubs work to limit distractions for players and staff. Paranoia motivates owners to keep the public and media out of the minutiae of football business. But Jones is built differently. "I have always thought that the way to promote the Cowboys and to add interest into what we were doing was to involve in every corner that's possible, fan interest," Jones says.

"It wouldn't make any difference. Period. Because overall, they're swimming against the stream."

Jerry Jones on player complaints about tours

He traces that philosophy back to his days as a guard at Arkansas, where he says the team often practiced in front of hundreds of fans sitting close by on a grassy knoll. "It made me feel like I was playing in a bowl game every day," he says. "It made me want to just exceed what I normally would have because of all of that close-in scrutiny. I didn't want to get my butt beat in a drill."

He says he thinks the fan presence inside the facility inspires his players and staff, while also growing the interest in the team by fostering a closeness with fans. Jones sees the tours as a part of his legacy as owner, along with being the first team to have live cameras in the draft room starting in 1992, and pushing for increased broadcast access and more lucrative broadcast deals.

"We've drafted well over the years," Jones says, "But more important, that initiated a lot of interest in a part of football, and now, the draft is more of a programming hit than the World Series, as far as people watching. So all along the way, all I've ever had is a complete ratification and endorsement of the more that I can involve fans, such as tours, the better it is."

Cowboys players compare being a part of Dallas' brand, with its sprawling facility and massive stadium, to the NFL's version of Disney World and Hollywood. Jones likens it to Broadway. At the start of each season, the Cowboys communications team gives a presentation to players with detailed broadcast and social media audience numbers, to teach how much tighter the lens on them is because they play for the Cowboys. Jones does the same in his first meeting with players each year: "I [tell them], when you come in, look around. You'll see fans everywhere. ... This will lift your level of expectation about your own play. If it doesn't work for some players, then they're either not successful or, let's say, they move on down the line."

Players who do move on often arrive at a similar realization.

"I'm smiling ... when I walk in the building here, I just know, like, I just have work," said six-year Cowboys defensive end Dorance Armstrong of his new team, the Washington Commanders.

"This is more about football, just X's and O's," running back Tony Pollard, who spent five seasons with the Cowboys, says about his new team, the Tennessee Titans. "I'm in a better place mentally, physically, emotionally, spiritually, just all around."

"Over here [Kansas City] ... the point is the football and winning championships," says cornerback Kelvin Joseph, who was with the Cowboys for two seasons before moving to the Chiefs this offseason (He is now a member of the Colts). "There [in Dallas], it was a lot of football and like, other stuff."

"You got real facilities here," says defensive end Dante Fowler Jr., who spent two years in Dallas and now plays for the Commanders. "You might not see tourists coming around, but it keeps the main thing the main thing."

When asked what is different about Dallas' team culture, Fowler, along with Kearse, were two of three Cowboys players from the 2023 roster who independently cited the tours as a defining feature.

"You're on your way to eat lunch and you're running into tours," Kearse says. "You're on your way to meetings, you're running into tours. We're here for football, it's our job to come in and be able to focus whether we're in the weight room, or our coach is teaching us something in the meeting room, where you have 30 to 35 people walking by, looking through the glass while you're in meetings."

Another recent former player who requested anonymity says his position group would shut the door to their room specifically to avoid tours. And the first recent former player who requested anonymity says he never felt as if he could speak freely, even in the locker room, because with the open entrance, fans could easily hear them in the hallway.

"I don't know if that worked for Jerry in the '90s, back when they were winning Super Bowls, but times have changed," says the first anonymous former player. "You have these elite athletes and if you want their complete focus, you shouldn't have tours. It is an added distraction."

Kearse played for the Lions and Vikings before the Cowboys. He says Dallas is a great organization that changed his life for the better, but a normal work day there is unlike any he experienced elsewhere.

"We get all the top-of-the-line things throughout the day, the hot tub and the training room," Kearse says. "But it's just a whole bunch of other things that come along with it. It's all about the brand, that star, which I think supersedes trying to win at the highest level."

Joseph says he didn't get distracted by the tours, because he was able to "block out the noise."

"Jerry is gonna try to make his money all around the world," Joseph says. But in the next sentence he reconsiders. "It can be a distraction because they do have people sitting there watching you working out, tapping on the glass and just looking at you standing."

A source close to the Cowboys says Dallas' player leadership council, a group of veteran players, has discussed the disturbance of the tours, but believed there was nothing they could do.

"It's like you're in a zoo and kids are going to see a lion. That's not a reason why we didn't get over that hump. But I just don't think that really equates to winning."

Jayron Kearse on Cowboys tours

That's because Jones certainly doesn't seem willing to entertain the possibility that the interest he has cultivated in the Cowboys and the access he has allowed have created distractions that affect the players' on-field performance.

"The bottom line is that ever since we've been involved and been doing it, for the last 20 years, we're the sixth-winningest team in the NFL (182-131, .581 in the regular season)," Jones says. "Since 2016 [the year The Star opened], we're the fourth-winningest team in the NFL (85-52, .620 in the regular season)."

But the Cowboys last reached an NFC title game in the 1995 season, the same year as their last Super Bowl win, one of five teams that have failed to reach a conference title game since then. The Bengals won as many playoff games in the 2021-22 seasons (five) as the Cowboys did from 1996 to 2023.

"We were doing the same thing back then," Jones says. "The last time we won a Super Bowl, we were having cameras in those draft rooms. We were having thousands of people at practice."

Jones says the old Cowboys facility, Valley Ranch, had a ticket window for tours, something he'd inherited from Tex Schramm, who'd previously run the team as president and general manager.

Jones doesn't put much stock in the opinions of the former players who question the tours. "That's like firing your accountant, or getting a divorce," he says. "You always hear it from the disgruntled people that aren't there anymore."

And actually, Jones doesn't think the tours are big enough.

"I'd love to see cameras in the tour going to 20 million people while the people were making the tours and hearing the same thing," Jones says. "And then while they're coming down the hall, I'd love to see a coach talking to a player as he walked away from a meeting, talking about a player walking right through."

For now, there are no television cameras following the tours, so fans must attend in person if they want to look directly into the scouting office, which has floor-to-ceiling windows for walls. Some guides will say that the scouts are mostly out on the road and not behind the tall cubicle walls that obscure the desks from view, but about 10 in-house scouts work from this very office.

Around the corner, Cowboys analytics staffers Jason McKay and John Park watch tape with their office doors open while guides give a spiel about the "biggest trade in NFL history," the 1989 deal that sent Herschel Walker to Minnesota, ultimately landed Dallas 18 players and inspired an NFL rule change.

Downstairs, when it's unoccupied, fans visit the Cowboys team auditorium, and the tour guides highlight the imported Italian leather seats and also make sure you know almost every room is available to rent. Want to have your fantasy football draft or baby shower in the Cowboys' war room? Prom in the team cafeteria? It's all possible for a price.

The Thursday 10 a.m. tour squeezed in a quick stop before a special teams meeting started. (The 10:20 a.m. tour wasn't as lucky because a coach went into the room just as they arrived.) Soft rock played on the speakers and the giant screen at the front of the room displayed an introduction slide to that morning's meeting. The computer was open to another slide that read, "Scouting report."

By now, Dallas coaches know better than to put any game-planning content on the screens of unattended meeting rooms, as fans could enter at any point.

"I would not put tours on an agenda for a football schedule," a former Dallas coach says. "But you can control what you can control and that one, that's one thing that you're not going to be able to control."

The Saturday 10 a.m. tour lined up in front of the weight room window to watch receivers coach Robert Prince complete a set of hang cleans with a weight bar just a few feet behind the glass.

"It was a little weird, honestly, because I had never seen anything like it," Commanders cornerback Noah Igbinoghene says of the tours. Igbinoghene played in Dallas last season after starting his career in Miami. "That just shows you the type of business they are and just everything that is Dallas. You expect it, but seeing it in person was kind of crazy."

While taking in the expanse of the cafeteria, one woman on the Saturday 1:20 pm. tour turned to her husband and said, "I'll be a dishwasher, I don't care! Just to be around this every day."

IN THE LOCKER room Sunday night after Dallas' 38-point loss, the largest margin during Jones' tenure as owner, eight-year Cowboys veteran cornerback Jourdan Lewis is frustrated. Because Detroit didn't just win, the Lions showboated as they beat up on the Cowboys. Everything they did on offense worked. The backup quarterback came in with eight minutes left in the fourth quarter with a 47-9 lead, and his first play was a 19-yard pass.

"Honestly, we got to stop thinking about the postseason so fast," Lewis says. "We got to go game by game. ... We got to look at it like every game is the Super Bowl, and that's the problem. We can't think about what's ahead."

It sounded as if Lewis were referencing his own teammates and coaches, as much as he was complaining about the media coverage of the Cowboys. Just that morning, Jones discussed his postseason expectations for the team on Fox's pregame show.

"It's just everything that's surrounding the Cowboys," Lewis says. "Super Bowl or bust. They're not good this year because they lost a big one, or, they aren't good this game because they beat this team."

Does "everything surrounding the Cowboys" include the fans inside the facility?

"It's Jerry's world," Lewis says. "That's not our job to go out there and tell Jerry what to do with his organization. Our job is to go out there and win games, regardless of if you see [tours] as a distraction, like the media or anybody else. We got to go do our job regardless of the circumstances. So we can't look at it like that. ... He made a multibillion dollar organization like this. It's not going to stop, so get used to it.

"Football players, we are some of the most mentally tough people in the world -- supposedly. You challenge a man's will every single snap. So if [the tours are] a problem, that's going to carry on in other aspects of our game. So hopefully that's not a problem."

That Sunday night, Dallas sports radio lights up with angry callers complaining about the team's lack of urgency and lack of culture. Jones is mentioned in nearly every call. The team is 3-3, but the Super Bowl expectations imposed, or depending on how you look at it, inflicted by Jones, have made the drubbing feel catastrophic.

Two days later, a few hours after Jones stirred up another news cycle by admonishing Dallas radio hosts for asking him questions he thought he shouldn't have to answer, the owner takes a break between sessions at the fall league meeting in Atlanta to discuss the tours with a reporter. He hardly needs any questions to get going on one of his favorite topics.

"It's great when someone like you would come along and say, 'Well, I'm hearing that this is maybe a negative,'" Jones says. "That just makes people that much more interested and makes them go. So I search out for negatives because that causes more people to read and come take the tours and look at the deal. That is exactly the whole philosophy of how I run the Cowboys.

"... Since the day I walked through the door, I have been trying to get fans every place I could get them in the makeup of the game. In my mind, it absolutely is inspirational to players, not take away from players."

That sounds like a closing statement, and Jones has overstayed his 10-minute break by at least 10 minutes. His handler looks ready to move him along, so the reporter turns off the recorder. But then Jones delivers his final point, and he knows it's a soundbite that will sell.

"Did you get that down?" Jones asks. "Turn it back on."

Then he doubles down.

"Now tours, anything that we promote, sure as hell doesn't make a difference on whether we made that tackle, or didn't make the tackle as was the case last weekend."

The days off between the ALCS and the World Series have been especially helpful for New York Yankees first baseman Anthony Rizzo as he continues to recover from two broken fingers on his right hand, the veteran said in a video call with reporters on Wednesday.

Rizzo, 37, played through pain in the Yankees' win over the Cleveland Guardians last round, hitting .429 during the five game series. Game 5 was on Saturday, giving Rizzo five full days of recovery time before the World Series begins against the Los Angeles Dodgers this Friday.

"The biggest thing is getting the swelling out," Rizzo explained. "Between games it blows up, just from the pressure. The bones are still broken but to be able to get the swelling out has been key. Hopefully in the series we'll be able to battle the best we can."

Rizzo was hit by a pitch at the end of the regular season forcing him to miss the ALDS, but he was added to the roster for the ALCS and performed beyond expectations. He was 6-for-14 with a double and two walks, seeing his first action in several weeks.

"I can't even believe it to be honest with you," teammate Austin Wells said. "It's a pretty incredible thing, to have two broken bones in your hand and go out there and do what he's been able to do. I don't have a lot of words for that. It shows how tough he is and the character that he has and his willingness to be out there and go through whatever it takes to help the team win."

Rizzo indicated the team has some "good medicine" to help him get through each game. He could be a key bat in the lower half of the Yankees' lineup as the Dodgers don't have a multitude of lefty relievers to use on him and fellow lefties Juan Soto, Alex Verdugo and Jazz Chisholm.

Adrenaline and the excitement of being in the World Series also help Rizzo deal with the pain. He expressed an understanding that these moments don't come along very often.

"This is what you dream of," Rizzo said. "This is what you prepare for. When the crowd is loud and everything is going crazy, I feel like that's when I settle down the most."

Rizzo is one of a few Yankees with World Series experience, having won a championship with the Chicago Cubs in 2016. He has been asked a lot of questions by teammates about playing in the Fall Classic.

"Guys ask what was it like," he said. "That [2016] World Series was arguably one of the best World Series ever. Now I get to be [in] another, what could shape out to be, one of the best World Series ever."

Rizzo will go up against good friend and Dodgers first baseman Freddie Freeman, who has been nursing his own injury, an ankle ailment which kept him out of the lineup in several games of the NLCS.

"He's a gamer," Rizzo said of Freeman. "He's putting it all on the line for his team. I wouldn't expect anything less from him. It will be fun to share the field with him on the World Series stage."

Wells is also excited for the series but comes at it from a different place than Rizzo. He's going through the postseason in his first full year in the big leagues. It's a lot to take in.

"I don't think any of this has processed for me yet," Wells said. "We're just going to keep rolling and keep winning, After it's all said and done, it will be a lot crazier for me in my own eyes. At the moment I just feel like I'm in it and trying to help the team win."

Before becoming a Friday night starter at Florida State, before becoming a first-round pick, before becoming a journeyman-starter-turned-vital-reliever in the Bronx, Luke Weaver grew up a shortstop honing his skills in his central Florida backyard.

Mark Weaver owns 30 acres in DeLand. On one of them, right by the family house, he built a hitting compound for his two sons. It became a haven for Luke and his younger brother, Jake. There were L screens and pitching machines and lights to help them barrel baseballs when the sun went down.

"It was awesome," Mark Weaver said. "I had the Cadillac. I had it all lit up. Just like a ballpark at night, man."

Teammates and their families would convene there. The kids swung away. The parents watched from benches. They had drinks and snacks while the aluminum pinged. Luke, if you listen to his dad, was "the man. He could crank it, man. Oh my gosh."

Mark Weaver didn't play baseball beyond high school -- he has run a construction company that specializes in large remodeling projects in DeLand for 31 years -- but he was heavily invested in his sons' passion for the sport. He provided the tools and challenged them.

Luke Weaver believes it was the time spent in those cages, the countless practices taking ground balls at the local park, the two-a-days and three-a-days, that prepared him for his current role under brighter lights -- a role far different from the one he envisioned while hitting line drives at home -- and all the adversity he has confronted.

Weaver isn't just excelling in his first season as a reliever. The wiry right-hander -- he's listed at 6-foot-2, 183 pounds -- has been a godsend for the New York Yankees, and the central figure for a bullpen that has exceeded expectations in the postseason.

"His personality just clicks," Mark Weaver said. "He just changes. He gets super competitive. And he does, he gets ferocious. He's a really nice guy and kind of soft spoken at times. But I wouldn't cross him."

The quirky closer of the Yankees, who will make their first World Series appearance in 15 years on Friday night, has likened escaping a jam to "when you see the ice cream truck and your parents say yes and you kind of black out," and attributed his vast fastball improvement to drinking "local orange juice with a little bit of pulp." Earlier this month, during the Yankees' clubhouse celebration after the team advanced to the American League Championship Series, he credited the "ferocious jungle cat" inside of him for his perfect, nine-pitch ninth inning.

"I kind of throw things together and the word 'ferocious' came to my mind," Weaver, 31, said. "And then the next word became 'jungle' and then the next word was 'cat.' So, no reason for it."

An anonymous middle reliever when the season started, Weaver now enters games at Yankee Stadium to a montage and Gary Wright's "Dream Weaver" amid "LUUUUUUUKE" chants from the crowd.

In the clubhouse, he likes to keep the mood light with one-liners. His dry sense of humor has become an unexpected source of entertainment. Aaron Judge knew about it a while ago. The presumptive AL MVP played with Weaver in the Cape Cod League in 2012. Judge was coming off his sophomore year at Fresno State. Weaver was one of the few freshmen invited to play in the prestigious summer league.

"The guy always had a smile on his face, but also when he got on the mound, he turned into this different guy," Judge said. "He was just focused, locked in. Kind of watching his career unfold, he's been the same guy."

That competitive side is the reason for his rapid ascent from failed starter to dominant bullpen arm. At one point last season, while posting a dreadful 6.87 ERA in 21 starts for the Cincinnati Reds, Weaver wasn't sure whether this pitching thing was for him anymore. He arrived in New York in September 2023 as a waiver claim with a 5.18 career ERA across eight seasons with five teams. The doubt was fleeting.

"I'm thinking: 'Is this something I want to do?'" Weaver said. "And there was just absolutely no way in my core that's allowed."

A year later -- after signing a one-year, $2 million deal with the Yankees over the offseason as starting rotation depth -- Weaver became the first Yankees pitcher since Aroldis Chapman in 2017 with multiple five-out saves in a postseason and the first pitcher on any team to save his team's first four postseason wins since Neftalí Feliz did so for the Texas Rangers in 2011. He didn't surrender an earned run from Sept. 2 until Jose Ramirez homered off him in Game 2 of the ALCS -- a stretch that spanned 17 innings, 13 appearances and an unofficial promotion.

Yankees manager Aaron Boone never officially named Weaver his closer when he announced Clay Holmes was moving off the role after blowing a save on Sept. 3. Boone instead said the team would get "creative" with its bullpen usage. But Weaver effectively became the ninth-inning specialist three days later when he notched his first career save with a scoreless ninth inning at Wrigley Field. In all, postseason included, he has converted eight saves in nine chances -- four in the regular season and four in the playoffs. He has secured at least four outs in five of his eight postseason outings.

"I love what he's doing," Boone said. "He's a great person, and definitely a fun personality, too."

The foundation for his sudden success is a vastly improved four-seam fastball. Last year, in 25 starts and four relief appearances for three teams, batters hit .311 and slugged .543 with 17.5% whiff rate against the pitch. They batted .177 with a .331 slugging percentage and 30% whiff rate during the regular season this year.

Yankees pitching coach Matt Blake explained the difference stems from two changes: adjusting his grip on the baseball to create more vertical movement -- or ride -- and throwing it harder in shorter bursts as a reliever. Weaver's average fastball velocity increased from 94 mph to 95.7 mph this season. His strikeout rate climbed from 19.4% to 31.1%. In short, he became a different pitcher.

"It's kind of like one plus one equals three," Blake said.

The formula hasn't been perfect. Weaver experienced failure for the first time in his new role with the baseball world watching. One strike away from giving the Yankees a 3-0 series lead in the ALCS, he surrendered a double to Lane Thomas. Moments later, Jhonkensy Noel hammered a mistake changeup for a two-run home run to tie the game and give the Cleveland Guardians life in the series.

Weaver bided his time over the next 48 hours, thirsty for another chance. He wanted it "bad, really bad." He got it in the ninth inning in Game 5 with the score tied -- one mistake from another loss -- and retired the side in order.

"I told myself in there: 'If you give me one run, this game is over,'" Weaver said. "There's not anybody that is scoring across that plate."

Juan Soto gave him three with a go-ahead home run. Weaver then took the mound again to send the Yankees to the World Series for the 41st time.

"I wanted it," Weaver said. "I wanted it the whole time."

Mark Weaver watched from home. He, his wife and Jake will fly to New York next week to see Luke play in the World Series. It's what every kid dreams about in their backyard.

"He's finally coming to where he's figuring all this stuff out, and he's finding his role," Mark Weaver said. "I'm just so happy for him, that he's finally coming into his own."

Gloucester-Hartpury's trip to unbeaten Saracens this weekend is set to be a "physical battle" says coach Andrew Ford as they travel off the back of a first league defeat.

The two-time defending champions head to London after being beaten by Exeter last Saturday, only their fourth regular season league loss across the last three seasons.

Saracens, who won the Women's Premiership in 2018 and 2019, are top of the table having taken maximum points from their first three games.

"If you look at it on paper, they're the only team that beat us last year in the PWR [Premiership Women's Rugby]," Ford, the club's women's academy manager, told BBC Radio Gloucestershire.

"Saracens have really flown the flag for women's rugby over the last four, five, six years. It's a grudge match isn't it and we're looking forward to getting out there and hopefully putting the result our way."

Saracens were the only side to beat Gloucester-Hartpury last season as they powered to a second league title, and they also counted for one of their two losses during 2022-23.

Ford said the match was going to be "very physical".

"We want to go and show that we can perform away at Saracens. The girls are excited for it, we know that it's going to be a very physical battle and I think that's where the game's going to be won or lost this weekend," he said.

"That's probably a big focus for us this week. We're fully aware that any top four game - probably any top six game in this league - is going to be tough."