Need help with today’s Connections: Sports Edition puzzle? You’ve come to the right place.

Welcome to Connections: Sports Edition Coach — a spot to gather clues, learn a bit more about today’s terms and discuss (and share) scores.

A quick public service announcement before we continue: The bottom of this article includes one answer in each of the four categories and some deeper reading about one of the answers. So if you want to solve the board hint-free, we recommend you play before continuing.

You can access Wednesday’s game here.

Today’s difficulty

The difficulty score is an average rating from our testers, who play the game in advance to check for quality and accuracy.

Game No. 2’s difficulty: 2.5 out of 5

Hints

Scroll below for one answer in each of the four categories.

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Yellow: PEANUTS
Green: GIANTS
Blue: CARD
Purple: SLOAN

More reading (and an extra hint)

The green hint is GIANTS — as in the NFL team. Does that help?

Expectations aren’t high for the Giants in 2024, but their season turned in the right direction Sunday with a 21-15 win over the Browns. And if there’s one reason for hope, it’s rookie wide receiver Malik Nabers. The first-round pick is the first player in NFL history to record 20-plus catches, 250-plus receiving yards and three-plus receiving touchdowns across his first three games.

The Athletic’s Charlotte Carroll wrote an excellent profile of Nabers this summer after the Giants drafted him with the sixth pick. Read it below.

Puzzle No. 3 will be available at midnight in your time zone. Thanks for playing — and share your scores in the comments!