Top-seeded Titans eager to start playoff run with Bengals
NASHVILLE, Tenn. — The Tennessee Titans have survived using more players than any NFL team in a non-strike season and still earned the AFC’s No. 1 seed. They’re as rested and healthy as they’ve been all season, and now they have back Derrick Henry, the NFL’s top rusher in 2019...
N.Y. Giants name Joe Schoen of Buffalo Bills as their new GM
EAST RUTHERFORD, N.J. — Joe Schoen was at the top of the New York Giants’ list of candidates when they started their search for a new general manager, and the Buffalo Bills assistant GM never left that spot. The Giants hired the 42-year-old Schoen as their general manager Friday. It...
Kansas City Chiefs linebacker Willie Gay arrested on misdemeanor
OVERLAND PARK, Kan. — Kansas City Chiefs linebacker Willie Gay was charged with misdemeanor criminal damage to property after he broke a vacuum and other items during an argument, putting his status for Sunday’s divisional round playoff game against the Buffalo Bills in question. Police in the Kansas City suburb...
Healthy Titans RB Henry will see banged-up Bengals D-line
CINCINNATI — If Tennessee Titans running back Derrick Henry returns for the playoffs Saturday, he’ll be running into a Cincinnati Bengals defensive line that is already banged up. The Bengals had been relatively healthy until last week in the first-round playoff win over the Las Vegas Raiders. Stalwart defensive tackle...
Mike Preston: With so many NFL openings, it’s past time for more Black coaches to be hired
BALTIMORE — Black coaches are good enough to be coordinators in the NFL, but not head coaches. That’s the message the league has been sending, with hopes that it will change this year. There were eight openings soon after the regular season ended Jan. 9, leaving the Pittsburgh Steelers’ Mike...
NFL’s wild-card round TV ratings increase 21% over last yearVideo
TV ratings for the NFL’s wild-card round increased 21% over last year despite most of the games not being in doubt going into the fourth quarter. The six games averaged 30.5 million viewers, making it the second-highest average for the postseason’s opening weekend over the past six seasons. CBS and...
Eagles say Jalen Hurts will be their starting QB next seasonVideo
PHILADELPHIA — The Philadelphia Eagles say Jalen Hurts will be the team’s starting quarterback in 2022. “We talk about Jalen and the growth he had, really as a first-year starter and second-year player, and leading this team to the playoffs,” general manager Howie Roseman said Wednesday, just three days after...
Chiefs keep leaning on Jerick McKinnon, other unsung playersVideo
KANSAS CITY, Mo. — Jerick McKinnon probably shouldn’t have been surprised to spend all season buried on the Chiefs depth chart. The journeyman running back had been passed over plenty of times before. Start with those early years in Minnesota, when he backed up Adrian Peterson. An injury to the...
Foot feels fine as Derrick Henry preps for Titans’ playoff returnVideo
NASHVILLE, Tenn. — Derrick Henry, the man who literally ran the Tennessee Titans to the AFC championship game two years ago, is ready to play again. The 2020 AP NFL Offensive Player of the Year says his surgically repaired right foot, fixed with a steel plate, feels no different than...
Browns’ Baker Mayfield has surgery, starts road to ‘true self’
CLEVELAND — Baker Mayfield has shifted into comeback mode. The Cleveland Browns quarterback had successful surgery Wednesday to repair a torn labrum in his left shoulder, an injury that affected his play, led to a disappointing season and raised doubts about his future. Mayfield posted a video on social media...
Bruce Arians fined $50,000 by NFL for slapping helmet of Bucs safety Andrew AdamsVideo
TAMPA, Fla. — Bucs coach Bruce Arians has been fined $50,000 by the National Football League for slapping the helmet of safety Andrew Adams during Sunday’s 31-15 win over the Eagles in an NFC wild-card playoff game. Arians said he was trying to prevent Adams from getting a penalty for...
Jaguars’ Lerentee McCray arrested, charged with eluding police in high-speed chase
JACKSONVILLE, Fla. — Jacksonville Jaguars defensive end Lerentee McCray made an obscene hand gesture at a police officer, fled a would-be traffic stop and then reached speeds of 100 mph and crossed three lanes of traffic during an ensuing chase, authorities said Tuesday. McCray, 31, was arrested early Sunday, booked...
Cowboys QB Dak Prescott apologizes for condoning fans throwing objects at refsVideo
FRISCO, Texas — Dak Prescott apologized Tuesday night for his comments that condoned Dallas Cowboys fans throwing objects at NFL officials after the team’s playoff loss, with the quarterback saying in a series of tweets that he deeply regretted what he said after the game. When initially asked about objects...
Improving defense propels Aaron Donald, Rams onward to Tampa BayVideo
LOS ANGELES— Matthew Stafford was nearly flawless in his first career playoff victory. Odell Beckham Jr. made huge plays as a receiver and as a passer in his own first postseason win. Yet the Los Angeles Rams (13-5) are headed to Tampa Bay on Sunday to play for a spot...
Cardinals face offseason questions after late-season strugglesVideo
The two-month, slow-motion collapse of the Arizona Cardinals will no doubt cause some soul searching and tough questions in the coming days, weeks and months for the franchise. The most obvious and pressing: Is this Kliff Kingsbury-Kyler Murray marriage really going to work or not? The notion that Kingsbury could...
Packers set for 49ers rematch after winning September thrillerVideo
It was the rally that sparked the Green Bay Packers toward the NFL’s best regular-season record. The Packers had split their first two games — a blowout loss to New Orleans and a home victory over Detroit — before visiting San Francisco for a Sunday night matchup. After getting the...
Browns’ McDowell arrested on public exposure, other charges
Cleveland Browns defensive tackle Malik McDowell, who was given a second chance by the team after serving jail time, was arrested Monday in Florida on charges of beating a police officer and public exposure. Police in Deerfield Beach, Fla., said they were responding to a “naked male walking near a...
Matt Stafford propels Rams past Cardinals in playoff routVideo
INGLEWOOD, Calif. — Matthew Stafford passed for 202 yards and two touchdowns and ran for another score in his first playoff victory, and the Los Angeles Rams roared out of the wild-card round with a 34-11 win over the Arizona Cardinals on Monday night. Odell Beckham Jr. and Cooper Kupp...
Las Vegas Raiders oust GM Mike Mayock after 3 seasons
The Las Vegas Raiders fired general manager Mike Mayock after three seasons and will begin a search for a coach and GM following their second playoff berth in the past 19 seasons. The Raiders announced the move to get rid of Mayock on Monday, two days after losing their wild-card...
D-line thinned by injuries as Bengals prepare for Titans
CINCINNATI — After the Bengals won a playoff game for the first time in three decades last Saturday, coach Zac Taylor and a few players delivered game balls to three Cincinnati sports bars as a way of thanking fans who stuck with them through the bad times. “I think the...
Chiefs open up offense against Pittsburgh, eye Buffalo next
KANSAS CITY, Mo. — The Kansas City Chiefs had to learn to dink and dunk their way through this entire season, contrary to every instinct of go-for-broke quarterback Patrick Mahomes, as opposing defenses simply refused to let themselves get beaten deep. You can bet they relished the opportunity to open...
Niners hold off Cowboys in NFC wild-card playoff gameVideo
ARLINGTON, Texas — Deebo Samuel and the San Francisco 49ers have started another playoff run after hanging on in a frantic wild-card finish against Dallas. Dak Prescott and the Cowboys will have to keep waiting for that elusive deep trip in the postseason. San Francisco’s versatile receiver ran 26 yards...
Allen-led Bills throttle division rival Patriots, 47-17Video
ORCHARD PARK, N.Y. — The lingering sting of being embarrassed on home turf by the New England Patriots didn’t sit well with defensive end Jerry Hughes and the Buffalo Bills. On Saturday night, the Bills did something about it by erasing any doubt of who now rules the AFC East....
Fresh off retirement, Weddle likely to get plenty of action in Rams’ thin secondaryVideo
LOS ANGELES — The Los Angeles Rams must play without both of their starting safeties in their opening playoff game against the Arizona Cardinals on Monday night. Leading tackler Jordan Fuller is out for the season with a right ankle injury, and Taylor Rapp is in the NFL’s concussion protocol....
Tom Brady throws 2 TDs as champion Buccaneers dominate EaglesVideo
TAMPA, Fla. — As the game clock expired, Tom Brady raised his arms in triumph along the sideline, whirled and tossed a football into the stands. The Tampa Bay Buccaneers and their jubilant 44-year-old quarterback took the first step on what they hope will be a journey back to the...
