Gutsy or insane? Depends on the outcome of tough NFL calls
Gutsy or insane? Depends on the outcome. Andy Reid’s gamble on fourth-and-inches at the Kansas City Chiefs’ 48-yard line with 1 minute, 14 seconds remaining in Sunday’s 22-17 divisional-round win over the Cleveland Browns fits the category. That it succeeded will become legend among Chiefs fans. Had it failed, well,...
Browns’ Baker Mayfield: Playoff loss to Chiefs ‘definitely going to sting’Video
Just like so many painful playoff losses in their past, the Browns came up achingly short — inches from a game-swinging play, inches from a last chance. Cleveland’s turnaround season ended Sunday in heartbreak. “For now,” said quarterback Baker Mayfield. “It’s definitely going to sting.” Unable to take advantage of...
Chiefs overcome Patrick Mahomes injury, defeat Browns to reach AFC title gameVideo
KANSAS CITY, Mo. — The Kansas City Chiefs had lost Patrick Mahomes to a concussion and were in danger of losing the game. Then their defense and Chad Henne — their defense and Chad Henne?! — kept their hopes of a Super Bowl repeat alive, holding off the Cleveland Browns,...
Bills fans donate to charity after Ravens QB Lamar Jackson suffers injuryVideo
Ravens quarterback Lamar Jackson’s loss Saturday night was a win for charity. After the Buffalo Bills knocked the NFL’s reigning MVP out of their AFC divisional-round game late in the third quarter, Bills Mafia stepped up. A fan on the team’s Reddit page shared a link to one of Jackson’s...
Bills advance to AFC championship with win over Ravens
ORCHARD PARK, N.Y. — Taron Johnson could’ve kept running into next week on a 101-yard interception that carried the Buffalo Bills to their first AFC championship game appearance in 26 years. Johnson’s pick-6 of Lamar Jackson’s pass with 41 seconds remaining in the third quarter secured a 17-3 win over...
Aaron Rodgers, Packers beat Rams to reach NFC title game
GREEN BAY, Wis. — Aaron Rodgers made sure he’d play an NFC championship game at home for the first time in his Hall of Fame-caliber career. Rodgers threw two touchdown passes and also ran for a score as the top-seeded Green Bay Packers defeated the Los Angeles Rams, 32-18, in...
Saints’ Drew Brees sees playoff clash with Tom Brady’s Bucs as fate
NEW ORLEANS — Drew Brees periodically discusses his long, extraordinary NFL journey in terms of fate and destiny. The New Orleans Saints quarterback says, for example, that his career-threatening throwing shoulder injury at the end of the 2005 season was meant to be. It precipitated his departure from the Chargers...
Browns’ Joel Bitonio ‘pumped’ for playoff debut after covid-19
CLEVELAND — Joel Bitonio’s neighbors set off fireworks late Sunday night after the Cleveland Browns stunned the Pittsburgh Steelers in the wild-card game. The loud bangs signified something more for the Pro Bowl guard — a second chance. Cleveland’s longest-tenured player, Bitonio was activated from the covid-19 list Friday after...
Browns’ Myles Garrett ‘due,’ wants to leave impression on Chiefs, Patrick MahomesVideo
CLEVELAND — Myles Garrett has only respect for Chiefs quarterback Patrick Mahomes, a generational talent on another level from other players in the NFL. Reverence aside, Garrett hopes to make Mahomes remember meeting him in the playoffs. Forever. “I want him to be able to go home when he has...
Falcons pick Titans offensive coordinator Smith as new coachVideo
ATLANTA — The Atlanta Falcons agreed to terms with Tennessee Titans offensive coordinator Arthur Smith to become the team’s coach. The Falcons announced the agreement Friday. Smith held a virtual interview with the team Monday, and he interviewed with the New York Jets and Detroit Lions. The Jets reached an...
Broncos linebacker Von Miller under investigation by police in Denver suburbVideo
DENVER — Broncos linebacker Von Miller is under investigation by police in a Denver suburb. Parker Police Department spokesman Josh Hans confirmed the investigation Friday but couldn’t provide additional details. Hans wrote in an email, “if the investigation determines a crime has occurred, charges will be submitted to the DA’s...
Meyer believes Jacksonville ‘is the place’ he can win in NFLVideo
JACKSONVILLE, Fla. — Urban Meyer first started thinking about the NFL about a decade ago. He was getting phone calls from team owners. He was intrigued by the notion of testing his coaching skills at football’s highest level. He was ready to make the jump. But he put it off...
Packers’ potent offense faces big test from Aaron Donald, RamsVideo
No NFL team scored more points during the regular season than the Green Bay Packers. Nobody has played better defense than the Los Angeles Rams. That sets up an intriguing showdown of strength vs. strength when MVP favorite Aaron Rodgers and the Packers (13-3) host All-Pro defensive tackle Aaron Donald...
Josh Allen, Lamar Jackson set for playoff showdown as Bills host RavensVideo
ORCHARD PARK, N.Y. — Ravens coach John Harbaugh was immediately impressed by Buffalo quarterback Josh Allen’s competitive fire after their first face-to-face encounter in an NFL setting. It happened in the 2018 season opener, when the then-raw rookie Bills quarterback was shoved into the Ravens’ sideline. Allen hopped up and...
Jets hire 49ers defensive coordinator Robert Saleh as coach
NEW YORK — The New York Jets were searching for a leader, someone who could bring a frustrated, playoff-starved franchise back to respectability. They think they found their guy in Robert Saleh. The Jets reached an agreement in principle with the popular and energetic San Francisco 49ers defensive coordinator Thursday...
Jared Goff to start for Rams in Green BayVideo
THOUSAND OAKS, Calif. — Jared Goff and Sean McVay say they had a healthy, productive disagreement last week about Goff’s readiness to return from thumb surgery. They’re in complete accord this week, however: Goff is the best choice to lead the Los Angeles Rams in the playoffs. Goff will start...
Leonard Fournette grateful for 2nd chance with BuccaneersVideo
TAMPA, Fla. — When Leonard Fournette suddenly found himself out of work, one of the first people who reached out to the former Jacksonville Jaguars running back was Tom Brady. The six-time Super Bowl-winning quarterback thought he’d be a nice addition to a talented group of playmakers being assembled around...
Colts GM contemplates possibility of Philip Rivers returning to teamVideo
INDIANAPOLIS — Indianapolis Colts general manager Chris Ballard heard the locker room talk. Coach Frank Reich wants Philip Rivers back as the starting quarterback next fall. Two-time All-Pro linebacker Darius Leonard wants another chance to get Rivers his missing Super Bowl ring. So do Leonard’s teammates. Now, the Colts general...
Packers’ Davante Adams finally gets to face off with Rams’ Jalen RamseyVideo
Green Bay’s Davante Adams has caught more touchdown passes over the last five seasons than any other player. Jalen Ramsey of the Los Angeles Rams is one of the NFL’s premier cornerbacks. They finally will face each other in a game that matters Saturday when the top-seeded Packers (13-3) host...
Browns’ Kareem Hunt set for emotional playoff reunion with Chiefs
CLEVELAND — Kareem Hunt’s about to face the team that drafted and developed him before deciding to push the running back away. The Kansas City Chiefs won a Super Bowl without Hunt. He wants to stop them from getting another one. Hunt, whose career briefly derailed in Kansas City before...
Kevin Stefanski out of basement, back with Browns after covid-19
CLEVELAND — Browns coach Kevin Stefanski doesn’t plan a trip downstairs to his basement any time soon. “Those walls were closing in on me,” he said. Stefanski returned to the team’s facility Thursday, 10 days after the first-year coach tested positive with the virus and after he missed Cleveland’s playoff...
Urban Hire: Meyer returns to sidelines with NFL’s Jaguars
JACKSONVILLE, Fla. — Urban Meyer has won everywhere he’s coached. Small colleges. Big-time programs. He’s been a difference maker at each stop during his storied career. He’s ready to try something new: the NFL. Meyer agreed to become head coach of the Jacksonville Jaguars on Thursday, leaving the broadcast booth...
Bucs, Browns, Bills out to follow footsteps of champ Chiefs
Aside from winning the final Super Bowl before the merger in 1970, the Kansas City Chiefs’ biggest claim to fame for over half a century was team founder Lamar Hunt coining the phrase Super Bowl. Patrick Mahomes changed all of that a year ago when he led a furious fourth-quarter...
NFL wild-card games show potential for alternate broadcasts
LOS ANGELES — Brian Robbins directed “Varsity Blues” and was the producer of “Coach Carter,” but both of those might have been eclipsed last Sunday with Nickelodeon’s successful kids-oriented broadcast of an NFL playoff game. Even a couple days after last Sunday’s game, the president of Nickelodeon as well as...
Bills brace for run-dominant, Lamar Jackson-led Ravens
ORCHARD PARK, N.Y. — Buffalo Bills defensive end Jerry Hughes feels as if he’s back at TCU, where the Horned Frogs would open training camp prepping for the read-option offense to squeeze in extra time for what had been their annual meeting against Air Force. “Given all the misdirection, and...
