EAGAN, Minn. — J.J. McCarthy seemed to have an edge throughout his triumphant return Sunday as the Minnesota Vikings‘ quarterback. On multiple occasions during the Vikings’ 27-24 victory over the Detroit Lions, and in one viral moment in the postgame locker room, McCarthy’s normally joyous face was scrunched into a mean mug.

Speaking on Wednesday with reporters, McCarthy acknowledged his new game-day persona. He referred to it by a name — “Nine,” a reference to his jersey number — and said it is a product of the anger built up over missing 23 of his first 25 NFL games because of injury. McCarthy missed all of his rookie season because of a torn meniscus in his right knee and five games this season because of a high right ankle sprain.

“It really kind of started to show up this year,” he said, “and it came about last year during IR. Just never had a full season, where you want to be out there so freaking bad, but you can’t. It was just this built-up anger that was kind of ready to just explode, and I chose to harness it instead of letting it go into a self-destructive kind of way.”

The Vikings have won two of McCarthy’s three starts this season. He accounted for three touchdowns in each of the wins, in Week 1 over the Chicago Bears and then Sunday against the Lions.

On Sunday, McCarthy was caught staring intensely at coach Kevin O’Connell as he gave a postgame speech.

pure dawg 🔥@jjmccarthy09 | @Vikings pic.twitter.com/uXxMDALN9m

— NFL (@NFL) November 4, 2025

O’Connell joked Wednesday that he has learned to “get the hell out of the way for my own personal safety” when addressing McCarthy during those moments.

“I kind of love feeding that wolf,” McCarthy said, “because my entire life at [the University of Michigan], there was a smiley face on my hand, and [if] you smile, and you have fun, you’re going to play better and all that — which is true. But I also think there’s a lot of power that comes from that built-up anger that you can transmute into your performance.”

Atlanta United is finalizing a deal to bring back Gerardo “Tata” Martino to be the club’s head coach, multiple sources confirmed to ESPN.

The Argentine would replace Ronny Deila, who was fired following hugely disappointing season, one that saw it record just 28 points in 34 matches, just two points ahead of last place D.C. United in the Eastern Conference.

– Source: Revs set to hire U.S. U20 coach Mitrovic

Atlanta’s poor performance came in spite of having the third-highest payroll in the league at $27.6 million.

The Atlanta Journal-Constitution was the first to report the news.

Martino, 62, beat out five other candidates, including former Portland Timbers coach Giovanni Savarese.

Martino was hired in 2016 as the first manager in Atlanta United’s history, culminating in an MLS Cup triumph in 2018. He left following that season to take up the coaching reins of the Mexico men’s national team.

The 62-year-old has been out of work since abruptly leaving his position with Inter Miami last November, following the Herons’ shock playoff exit at the hands of Atlanta.

Among the clubs he has also managed are Argentine side Newell’s Old Boys, Barcelona and the Argentina men’s national team.

The hope is that Martino’s hiring will bring some much needed stability to Atlanta, which has burned through four different managers since Martino’s departure. The Five Stripes have only qualified for the playoffs in three of the last six seasons.

Rory McIlroy said that PGA of America chief executive Derek Sprague has sent a personal apology for the abuse directed at him and his wife during Europe’s Ryder Cup victory in New York.

Europe held off a stirring fightback from the U.S. at Bethpage Black, where the Americans had gone into the final session 12-5 down before mounting a comeback in the singles, only to come up short.

Luke Donald‘s team — and McIlroy in particular — were on the end of abuse from a partisan crowd across the three days, with a beer from the crowd hitting McIlroy’s wife, Erica. The number of insults and jeers, some that occurred as he was in the process of hitting a shot, caused delays and led the PGA of America to add extra security.

“I got a lovely email from Derek Sprague apologizing,” McIlroy told BBC Sport as he prepared for the Abu Dhabi HSBC Championship.

“Erica worked with Derek at the PGA of America back in the day, so we know Derek and his wife pretty well. He couldn’t have been more gracious or apologetic and he wrote us a lovely letter, which we really appreciated.”

Sprague had said last month that he planned to issue an apology to McIlroy and his wife.

U.S. captain Keegan Bradley didn’t condemn the “passionate” home fans at Bethpage, where McIlroy felt the hostile atmosphere actually spurred Europe on.

“I take it as a compliment that they targeted me, but then at the same time, it was a tough week,” McIlroy said. “That made us better as a team. It galvanized us and it really put our arms around each other.”

In his first public comments since the Ryder Cup loss, Bradley said recently, “There’s no part of me that thinks I’ll ever get over this.”

Masters champion McIlroy is aiming to cap a memorable year as he prepares for the season-ending DP World Tour Championship in Dubai.

“I think back to the start in January of 2025 when I was last here and everything that’s happened since,” said McIlroy, who also won the Players Championship, the Pebble Beach Pro-Am and the Irish Open.

“Honestly, in my wildest dreams, I didn’t know. I mean, I knew a year like this was possible, but it has just been an amazing 10 months.”

Information from PA was used in this report.