Freiburg’s Matthias Ginter speaks on deflated match balls in Europa League match at Nice
Much as was the case for Mainz during one of their recent away matches, Bundesliga Europa League representatives SC Freiburg had to deal with the indignity of deflated footballs on Thursday night. Thi...
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Brad Marchand scores 2 goals, Panthers get their road trip rolling with 5-2 win over LA Kings
Brad Marchand scored two goals and Sam Reinhart got the go-ahead goal on his 30th birthday in the Florida Panthers’ 5-2 victory over the Los Angeles Kings on Thursday night. Anton Lundell got a short-handed goal in the third period and Sam Bennett also scored for the back-to-back Stanley Cup champion Panthers, who rebounded from a 7-3 loss in Anaheim to get their first victory on their four-game West Coast road trip.
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What happened to Brock Bowers? Why Raiders' star TE had awful Thursday Night Football game
![](/<figure><img alt="Freiburg’s Matthias Ginter speaks on deflated match balls in Europa League match at Nice" src="https://media.zenfs.com/en/get_german_football_news_articles_128/61dd5c1650db24ac35ec0bfb38ccad60" data-uuid="73c5aa8b-3ea0-353c-a0fc-92996cc69564"><figcaption>Freiburg’s Matthias Ginter speaks on deflated match balls in Europa League match at Nice</figcaption></figure><p>Much <a href="https://www.getfootballnewsgermany.com/2025/mainzs-danny-da-costa-reports-that-omonia-nicosia-deliberately-deflated-practice-balls-ahead-of-conference-league-match/">as was the case for Mainz during one of their recent away matches</a>, Bundesliga Europa League representatives SC Freiburg had to deal with the indignity of deflated footballs on Thursday night. This time, however, it wasn’t a simple matter of deflated practice balls. Freiburg had to play almost the entirety of the first half without properly inflated match balls. </p><p>Thrice before the opening half hour was completed, the match ball had to be replaced due to it being flat. Greek referee Anastasios Sidiropoulos finally lost his patience and complained vehemently to the officials. Pitch-side microphones caught Sidiropoulos angrily chastising stadium staff members. </p><p>Thankfully for Freiburg, the matter didn’t end up swaying the result. Germany’s <em>Breisgauer </em>ended up scoring three goals in the final 15 minutes of the first half en route to a 1-3 away victory over their French hosts. Veteran German defender Matthias Ginter, who assisted on the first goal, spoke on the balls afterwards.</p><p>“<em>Tonight was totally weird,</em>” Günter told <strong>RTL</strong>. “<em>Sometimes I look in on my friends playing in the [tenth tier, fully unprofessional] Kreisliga, where the ball is sometimes a little flat. [The ref] complained that the ball in use wasn’t properly inflated. Luckily, they pumped it up at halftime</em>.”</p><p></p><p><a href="https://www.getfootballnewsgermany.com/">GGFN</a> | <a href="https://x.com/PeterVicey"><strong>Peter Weis</strong></a></p>)
![](/<figure><img src="https://media.zenfs.com/en/the_sporting_news_articles_584/a38aee129e6fa8c7e2236aa80d4814b8" data-uuid="fc9faf35-b623-31d3-9702-48b8d72fe3b6"></figure><p><em><a href="https://www.sportingnews.com/us/nfl/las-vegas-raiders/news/what-happened-brock-bowers-why-raiders-star-te-awful-thursday-night-football-game/6c3e0ecd9663d8b654d123d9?utm_source=yahoo&utm_medium=referral&utm_campaign=appeared_on">What happened to Brock Bowers? Why Raiders' star TE had awful Thursday Night Football game</a> originally appeared on <a href="https://www.sportingnews.com/us?utm_source=yahoo&utm_medium=referral&utm_campaign=appeared_on">The Sporting News</a>.
Add The Sporting News as a <a href="https://www.google.com/preferences/source?q=https://www.sportingnews.com">Preferred Source by clicking here</a>.</em></p><p>On Sunday, Brock Bowers had 12 catches.</p><p>On Thursday, four days later, he had one catch.</p><p>Yeah, it was an ugly night for the <a href="https://www.sportingnews.com/us/nfl/las-vegas-raiders">Las Vegas Raiders</a>, who dropped Week 10 Thursday Night Football to the <a href="https://www.sportingnews.com/us/nfl/denver-broncos">Denver Broncos</a> by a 10-7 score.</p><p>Neither team moved the ball, and Bowers was hurt by that fact.</p><p><strong>MORE: </strong><a href="https://www.sportingnews.com/us/nfl/las-vegas-raiders/news/how-raiders-jack-bech-carrying-legacy-brother-tiger-death/bd96aea0878e3926f832b782" target="">How Raiders' Jack Bech is carrying on the legacy of his brother Tiger after death</a></p><h2>What happened to Brock Bowers?</h2><p>More than anything, Bowers was victim to one of the worst offensive games across the board in recent memories.</p><p>Both teams had more penalties than first downs.</p><p>Broncos QB Bo Nix threw for just 150 yards and actually outdid Geno Smith (143).</p><p>The Raiders also had Smith dealing with a bit of injury, not helping their rhythm when Kenny Pickett had to pop in quick.</p><p>Vegas did an oddly poor job of even trying to involve Bowers. Worse than his one catch for 31 yards is the fact that he only got three targets.</p><p>He's clearly their best pass catcher, even more so now that Jakobi Meyers was traded away. For Bowers to get only three targets is absolutely horrible.</p><p>Bowers' fantasy managers won't be happy, and neither will the Raiders fanbase. It was just a brutal night.</p><p><b>MORE: </b><a href="https://www.sportingnews.com/us/nfl/kansas-city-chiefs/news/chiefs-missed-out-breece-hall-trade-1-round-nfl-draft-pick-jets/f605e0b15dfc07337d26a92c" target="">The Jets didn't trade Breece Hall to the Chiefs for a silly reason</a></p>)