From doubts about Derek Carr to another injury for the Golden Knights, here’s what went down last week in Las Vegas Sports (Dec 12 – 18).
#7 Kyle Busch comments on driver safety heading into the 2023 season
NASCAR has faced harsh criticism over safety issues with their next-gen car and it’s hanging over the sport like a dark cloud. Not only did veteran driver and Las Vegas native Kurt Busch have to retire from full-time racing after a qualifying crash at Pocono left him with concussion-like symptoms, but Alex Bowman also missed several races with the same problem.
These and other incidents have left many drivers to advocate for a safer car in 2023. One of these drivers is Kurt Busch’s brother, Kyle, who recently spoke about driver safety during an interview with NBC. While he didn’t waste any time calling out NASCAR’s supply chain issues, he also claimed the sport was too reactionary with issues.
“Yes. I feel like we always could do more. That’s sort of our push on NASCAR. We’re too reactive, and the reactive state of making changes is so slow. Like they have to go through a design process,” Busch claimed during an interview. “They have to go through a crash-test process. a build process. and have enough parts built to distribute to the teams to have enough cars to allow us to run it. They’ve created a disaster with this car and all the processes it takes.”
#6 Source claims that Derek Carr’s days are numbered
Derek Carr is on thin ice with the Las Vegas Raiders and could be gone by next season. He does have the last four games of the season to prove his worth, but it might not be enough. The veteran quarterback has simply not performed well this season, resulting in a lot of lost games.
“For various reasons, this season feels different, and league sources have indicated it seems inevitable the Raiders will move on from Carr,” Bonsignore reported on Thursday. “That doesn’t necessarily mean they would simply let Carr walk…a trade undoubtedly would be explored.”
#5 Las Vegas Aces have the best odds to win the championship in 2023
The Las Vegas Aces won the 2022 WNBA Title, and now the question is whether they can do it again. The odds seem to be in their favor after Fanduel Sportsbooks listed them as +185 to repeat as champion. That is their shortest championship odds in organization history and a major feather in their cap.
The Aces now have the free agency period and the draft to prepare for the next season. Las Vegas players have already been vocal about their dislike of the new 40-game schedule, which includes them playing two road games to start the year. Oddsmakers still don’t think it’s enough to unseat them as champions though.
#4 Jack Eichel placed on injury reserve by Las Vegas Golden Knights
The Las Vegas Golden Knights placed their star Center, Jack Eichel, on injury reserve last week after he suffered a lower back injury. The placement makes Eichel ineligible and unable to compete for seven days dating back to the start of the injury. This news comes at a time when the Golden Knights are coming up on a tough stretch of schedule.
He joins Shea Theodore and Alex Pietrangelo on the injured list, leaving Las Vegas without their key weapons. While Pietrangelo is out due to a family emergency, Theodore is listed week to week with a leg injury. If Eichel’s injury doesn’t turn out to be serious, he could possibly return on December 28 against the Kings.
#3 Bill Foley admits to almost bringing MLS soccer to Las Vegas
Golden Knights owner Bill Foley, made headlines for buying the Bournemouth soccer team, but that wasn’t his original plan. In a newly released interview with BBC’s Lewis Coombes, he admitted to almost bringing an MLS soccer team to Las Vegas. The sticker shock kept him from going through with the deal, however.
“The franchise fee itself is, I think, $300m,” Foley stated in the interview. “So, you’re into it for a billion dollars before you even have a team. I thought Bournemouth was a bargain, really. I’m buying a Premier League team, it’s already got a stadium, it’s already got players, and I can improve it. I can make it better. So, I don’t see us being involved in the MLS. I’m just not that interested in it.”
#2 Derek Carr claims he doesn’t think about his future with the Raiders
Derek Carr is arguably in the most tumultuous year of his NFL career, and things aren’t getting better. The Raiders sit 5-8 under Carr this season and only have four games left to make their case for the playoffs.
That sounds like a lot of pressure, but Carr’s not that worried. He recently admitted during an interview that he doesn’t think about his future very much during the season. He is more focused on taking things game by game.
“To be honest, during the season, I don’t,” Carr said when asked if he thinks about his future in the NFL. “I’ve always tried my best to — as I’ve gotten older in my career — just eliminate all of those things. . . . Whenever you have a bad stretch of games or a losing stretch of games or anything like that, that stuff’s going to happen. And so, for me, I don’t. I should’ve been traded for eight years now, you know? It is what it is.”
#1 Las Vegas Raiders beat Patriots with an improbable fumble recovery
The Las Vegas Raiders and the New England Patriots duked it out for much of the afternoon on Sunday, but it was the Raiders who landed the final blow. This all happened with three seconds to go in the game when Chandler Jones recovered a fumble and ran it 48 yards for a touchdown as time expired. The score put the Raiders up by six and allowed them to avoid overtime.
A lot of the credit should go to Jones for the recovery, the defense also held together pretty well. They didn’t even allow a touchdown in the first half of the game, which looked pretty impressive. Carr also looked impressive, going 20 of 38 for 231 yards, three touchdowns, and one interception. The victory is enough to keep the Raiders’ playoff hopes alive for now, but they will have to beat the Pittsburgh Steelers next week.
And that’s what happened last week in Las Vegas Sports (Dec 12 – 18)!
