Raphael Stevens

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    NFL Week 17: What We Learned

    AdvertisementContinue reading the main storySupported byContinue reading the main storyWhat We Learned From Week 17 of the N.F.L. SeasonGreen Bay secured home-field advantage, Buffalo ended Miami’s season and Cleveland ended its 17-season playoff drought.Green Bay’s Marquez Valdes-Scantling had a 72-yard touchdown catch against Chicago, one of four touchdown passes Aaron Rogers threw while helping the Packers secure the No. 1 seed in the N.F.C. playoffs.Credit…Jonathan Daniel/Getty ImagesJan. 3, 2021, 9:26 p.m. ETThe Green Bay Packers secured the top seed in the N.F.C. playoffs, while making an excellent argument for Aaron Rodgers as the N.F.L.’s most valuable player. The Buffalo Bills got the No. 2 seed in the A.F.C., while effectively ending the Miami Dolphins’ season. And the Cleveland Browns, after 17 seasons that ended in frustration, are back in the playoffs. It was an exciting Sunday even by Week 17 standards, and the playoff field was nearly finalized heading into the nightcap between Washington and Philadelphia.Here’s what we learned:🚨 BIG PLAY ALERT 🚨7️⃣2️⃣-yard TD catch for @MVS__11 💪 #GBvsCHI | #GoPackGo📺 FOX📱 https://t.co/2UxGSiVlvn pic.twitter.com/KriCuvvNPG— Green Bay Packers (@packers) January 3, 2021
    The road through the N.F.C. playoffs goes through Green Bay. Perhaps the finest regular season of Aaron Rodgers’s career — one that has included two Most Valuable Player Awards — finished with a 35-16 win over the Chicago Bears and an N.F.C.-best record of 13-3. That gives the Packers home-field advantage throughout the playoffs, forcing opponents to come to Lambeau Field, which won’t have its raucous fans but will still have the frigid weather in which Rodgers has always thrived.Rodgers added four more touchdown passes on Sunday, giving him a career-high of 48, which is tied with Dan Marino for the fifth-most in a season. Over the last three seasons, Rodgers, who seemed miffed when the Packers drafted his potential replacement in April, has 99 touchdown passes and just 11 interceptions.Buffalo’s Josh Norman got in on the scoring with a pick-six in the third quarter of the Bills’ blowout of Miami.Credit…Rich Barnes/USA Today Sports, via ReutersThe Bills weren’t taking any chances — and the Dolphins suffered for it. The Bills had already clinched the first A.F.C. East title — their first since 1995 — two weeks ago, while Miami would have guaranteed itself a wild-card spot with a win on Sunday. Despite that, the Bills began the day with Josh Allen at quarterback, let the M.V.P. candidate power them to a 28-6 lead at halftime with three touchdown passes, and then had their defense and backup quarterback Matt Barkley take care of the rest of the game in a 56-26 laugher that never felt remotely close. The Bills captured the No. 2 seed in the A.F.C. with a 13-3 record — their best finish since 1991 — while the Dolphins were eliminated from playoff contention thanks to their own loss and Indianapolis’ victory over Jacksonville.A limited number of fans were in attendance to see the Cleveland Browns clinch the team’s second playoff spot since the franchise was restarted in 1999.Credit…David Richard/Associated PressYou can’t end a 17-season playoff drought without a little drama. Despite topping 10 wins for just the second time since 1995, the Cleveland Browns entered the final day needing a win, or some help from other teams, to reach the postseason for the first time since 2002. Pittsburgh decision to rest of Ben Roethlisberger was helpful, but some doubt was introduced when a coronavirus outbreak closed Cleveland’s facilities and left the team without three of its four starting defensive backs. The Browns took a 24-9 lead early in the fourth quarter, but then had to sweat after Pittsburgh’s Mason Rudolph threw two touchdown passes to close the gap. An onside kick attempt after the second touchdown nearly succeeded, but the Browns, shaking off years of bad breaks, recovered and held on for a nail-biting 24-22 win.Tampa Bay already had plenty of talent on offense, but Tom Brady, who joined the team as a free agent this off-season, was able to utilize it in a much more efficient manner than Jameis Winston had.Credit…Kim Klement/USA Today Sports, via ReutersAdding a six-time Super Bowl-winning quarterback is helpful. The Tampa Bay Buccaneers occasionally tantalized last season, but recognized they needed some stability on offense to complement their terrific defense. They replaced the enigmatic Jameis Winston with Tom Brady, who was coming off a difficult season in New England but was seen as a player who could accentuate the team’s strengths. Good call. Brady had a few hiccups along the way, but he finished the year with 4,633 yards passing and a franchise-record 40 touchdown passes. More important, Sunday’s 44-27 victory over the Atlanta Falcons gave the Buccaneers an 11-5 record and made them the No. 5 seed in the N.F.C. for their first trip to the playoffs since 2007.The Titans are far from a one-man show. Derrick Henry rushed for 250 yards and two touchdowns, becoming the eighth player in N.F.L. history to rush for 2,000 yards in a single season. But it was a few crucial plays from quarterback Ryan Tannehill late in the game that finished off a thrilling 41-38 win over the Houston Texans and gave Tennessee the A.F.C. South title. With the Titans trailing by 4 with less than two minutes to play, Tannehill sold a play-fake to Henry before running in a 5-yard touchdown. Houston tied the game with a field goal, but Tannehill got the ball back with just 18 seconds remaining and immediately completed a 52-yard pass to A.J. Brown that, along with a 4-yard run by Henry, set up Sam Sloman’s game-winning 37-yard field goal.Darius Leonard had plenty of reason to be excited after a win over the Jacksonville Jaguars put the Indianapolis Colts in the playoffs. Leonard’s team owes a debt of gratitude to Miami, as the Dolphins’ loss opened the door for the Colts.Credit…AJ Mast/Associated PressSome teams get more help than others in making the playoffs. The Indianapolis Colts took care of business in a 28-14 win over the Jacksonville Jaguars, but they made the playoffs because of Miami’s loss to Buffalo. Thanks, Dolphins!The Baltimore Ravens got one of the other A.F.C. wild-card spots by winning a fifth consecutive game — four of which came against teams with losing records. Thanks, schedule makers!And the Chicago Bears, despite a midseason lull and a trouncing by Green Bay on Sunday, earned an N.F.C. wild-card berth thanks in large part to an ankle injury sustained by Kyler Murray of the Arizona Cardinals. Without Murray for much of the game — and with the second-year quarterback hobbled even when he did return — Arizona lost to the short-handed Los Angeles Rams, 18-7. Thanks, football’s brutal nature!Xavier McKinney of the Giants stepped in front of a pass intended for Dalton Schultz of the Cowboys. His interception effectively ended the Cowboys’ season.Credit…Vincent Carchietta/USA Today Sports, via ReutersIt wasn’t meant to be for Dallas. The Cowboys appeared lost when quarterback Dak Prescott fractured his ankle in Week 5. But thanks to the rest of the N.F.C. East being largely hapless, Dallas not only survived until the final week of the season but had a decent chance at a division title. The rival Giants pushed them around for much of the day, looking like a team that was far more talented than its record indicated, but even so the Cowboys had the ball in the game’s final two minutes, trailing by only 4 points, and drove all the way to the Giants’ 7-yard line. A sack and an incomplete pass set up a third-and-goal from the 17-yard line with 1 minute 24 seconds remaining and that’s when Andy Dalton got desperate. He ran from pressure before throwing a brutal interception to Xavier McKinney that effectively ended the Cowboys’ season.One* Sentence About Sunday’s Games*Except when it takes more.Cleveland’s Nick Chubb helped run his team to victory, carrying the ball 14 times for 108 yards. Credit…Kirk Irwin/Associated PressBrowns 24, Steelers 22 It came in a game in which Pittsburgh played without the defensive stalwarts Cam Heyward and T.J. Watt, but Cleveland still impressed on the ground, racking up 192 yards on 31 carries, letting the team’s biggest strength carry it to the playoffs.Bills 56, Dolphins 26 Miami was hopeful that Tua Tagovailoa could take care of things himself, since Ryan Fitzpatrick — the N.F.L.’s equivalent of an ace relief pitcher — was placed on the Covid-19 reserve list. It didn’t work out. While Tagovailoa threw for 361 yards and a touchdown, the rookie was also intercepted three times, including a pick-six, and never mounted much of a challenge to Buffalo’s dominance on both sides of the ball.Packers 35, Bears 16 The beeping sound you hear is Chicago backing into the playoffs. The Bears came into the day with control of their own fate, but needed help to earn a wild card after quarterback Mitchell Trubisky was largely ineffective and running back David Montgomery was limited to 3.1 yards a carry.Jonathan Taylor was absolutely dominant for Indianapolis, running for 253 yards in the Colts’ win over Jacksonville.Credit…Justin Casterline/Getty ImagesColts 28, Jaguars 14 Indianapolis appeared to be teetering on the edge of a second consecutive brutal second-half collapse, but some terrific play by the team’s defense, and Jonathan Taylor’s 45-yard touchdown run in the fourth quarter, powered the Colts to victory. Taylor entered the season as a backup to Marlon Mack, but his 253 yards rushing and two touchdowns on Sunday gave him 1,169 yards and 11 touchdowns in a terrific rookie year.Titans 41, Texans 38 There were plenty of good things to say about Tennessee after it clinched a hard-won A.F.C. South title, but Houston’s players could hold their heads up high after a terrific second half by quarterback Deshaun Watson made the division rival Titans fight for it.Buccaneers 44, Falcons 27 Antonio Brown (11 catches, 138 yards, two touchdowns) and Chris Godwin (5-133-2) both had terrific games for Tampa Bay, but the Buccaneers will be holding their collective breath awaiting an update on the health of wide receiver Mike Evans, who injured his knee on an incomplete pass in the end zone. Evans had 46 yards receiving before the injury, giving him 1,006 for the season — he is the first N.F.L. wide receiver to have 1,000 or more yards in each of his first seven seasons.Ravens 38, Bengals 3 J.K. Dobbins showed off why many people believe he is Baltimore’s top running back going forward, rumbling for 160 yards and two touchdowns on just 13 carries. But Lamar Jackson was nearly as effective, rushing for 97 yards on 11 carries, which left him with 1,005 for the season. He now owns the No. 1 and No. 3 rushing seasons by a quarterback in N.F.L. history.Seattle’s Tyler Lockett celebrated the first of his two fourth-quarter touchdowns while still laying on the turf in the end zone.Credit…Chris Coduto/Getty ImagesSeahawks 26, 49ers 23 San Francisco was leading by 9-6 after three quarters, but Russell Wilson took over in the fourth, throwing two touchdown passes to Tyler Lockett. Alex Collins ran in a score as well and the game would not have been as close if not for a garbage-time score by San Francisco’s Jeff Wilson Jr.Saints 33, Panthers 7 Covid-19 protocols led to New Orleans being without nearly all of its running backs, but that did not slow the team down in the slightest. Ty Montgomery, who plays some wide receiver but also has experience at running back, filled in admirably, carrying the ball 18 times for 105 yards. That, combined with Drew Brees’s three passing touchdowns and a rushing touchdown from Taysom Hill, was more than enough against Carolina.Rams 18, Cardinals 7 It might not work in the playoffs, but Los Angeles was able to end Arizona’s season with an offense led by quarterback John Wolford, who came into the day with zero career passing attempts and left it with 231 yards passing, a team-leading 56 yards rushing and his first career victory.Giants 23, Cowboys 19 In what may be the perfect encapsulation of the N.F.C. East this season, the Giants’ victory came down to running back Wayne Gallman recovering his own fumble in the closing minutes, just two plays removed from Dallas’ Andy Dalton virtually handing Big Blue the win with an interception.Justin Jefferson’s outrageous rookie season included 88 catches for 1,400 yards and seven touchdowns.Credit…Raj Mehta/USA Today Sports, via ReutersVikings 37, Lions 35 Justin Jefferson recorded 133 yards receiving, which put him at 1,400 for the season. He broke Randy Moss’s franchise record for a rookie receiver, and finished less than 100 short of the 1,473 Bill Groman had for the A.F.L.’s Houston Oilers in 1960.Minnesota’s skill players were undoubtedly happy to pad their statistics, but they should keep in mind that Detroit’s defense was so bad this season that it allowed 6,716 total yards and 519 points, breaking franchise records set during the Lions’ winless season in 2008.Chargers 38, Chiefs 21 It came against Kansas City’s backups, but Chargers quarterback Justin Herbert was awfully impressive in throwing for 302 yards and three touchdowns in a win that has the potential to save Coach Anthony Lynn’s job. Herbert was not even expected to start this season, but after being forced into duty in Week 2, he finished with 4,336 yards passing and a rookie record 31 passing touchdowns.Raiders 32, Broncos 31 This game did not have any playoff implications, and it was often fairly ugly, but it had plenty to offer. Denver took a late lead with a 92-yard touchdown pass from Drew Lock to Jerry Jeudy. Las Vegas took it back with a 1-yard Josh Jacobs touchdown run and a 2-point conversion with just 24 seconds remaining. After swings like that, the game finished in the only logical way: Maxx Crosby of the Raiders blocked Brandon McManus’s attempt at what would have been a 63-yard game-winning field goal.Patriots 28, Jets 14 In what was Coach Adam Gase’s last game with the club, and might be Sam Darnold’s last as its starting quarterback, the Jets went into the fourth quarter tied, 14-14, and then fell apart, allowing Cam Newton to throw a pair of game-sealing touchdown passes. New England came into the day with an N.F.L.-low eight touchdown passes this season, but managed four — including one by a wide receiver — against the Jets.AdvertisementContinue reading the main story More

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    Adam Gase, Hired to Spark Jets’ Offense, Is Out After Two Seasons

    AdvertisementContinue reading the main storySupported byContinue reading the main storyAdam Gase, Hired to Spark Jets’ Offense, Is Out After Two SeasonsGase sputtered to a 9-23 record in a tenure during which star players left disgruntled and the franchise quarterback, Sam Darnold, went underdeveloped.Adam Gase, right, was tapped to revitalize the Jets’ offense. Two seasons later, quarterback Sam Darnold has regressed and the team owns the N.F.L.’s longest playoff drought.Credit…Charles Krupa/Associated PressJan. 3, 2021, 9:13 p.m. ETOn the day the Jets introduced Adam Gase as their next head coach, their chief executive, Christopher Johnson, heralded an organizational shift. After hiring defensive-minded coaches for more than two decades, it was time for the Jets, Johnson said, to align with league trends.“To paraphrase Wayne Gretzky,” Johnson said of Gase, “he’s coaching where football is going.”That assessment was hardly prescient. Gase’s failure to oversee a capable offense resulted in one of the worst seasons in franchise history and precipitated his dismissal Sunday, hours after a Week 17 loss to the Patriots dropped the Jets’ record to 2-14 and less than two years after Johnson appointed him in January 2019 to replace Todd Bowles.Instead of revitalizing the Jets and developing quarterback Sam Darnold, the No. 3 overall pick in the 2018 draft, into a star, Gase departs as yet another caretaker of the team’s postseason drought, the longest in the league, 10 seasons and counting.“While my sincere intentions are to have stability in our organization — especially in our leadership positions — it is clear the best decision for the Jets is to move in a different direction,” Johnson said in a statement. “We knew there was a lot of work that needed to be done when Adam joined us in 2019. Our strong finish last year was encouraging, but unfortunately, we did not sustain that positive momentum or see the progress we all expected this season.”As the Jets lost their first 13 games, careening toward winless infamy until they upset the Rams in Week 15 and outlasted Cleveland in Week 16, their struggles recalled another woeful era: their clumsiness under Rich Kotite — before Gase, the last offense-oriented coach the Jets had hired — who coached the team to its 1-15 nadir in 1996. In two seasons under Gase’s stewardship, the Jets went 9-23, Darnold regressed and the team’s offense ranked either last or next-to-last in points and total yardage each year. They finished last in both categories this season.“If there’s one side of the ball that I want to make sure is right — that one — it has not happened and that’s on me,” Gase said last week.Gase, 42, was a successful coordinator with Denver and Chicago, calling offensive plays for Peyton Manning in his record-setting season with the Broncos in 2013. Manning emphatically endorsed Gase to Johnson during the search process. Much as the Jets were motivated to acquire Tim Tebow in 2012 because he had led a late comeback to defeat them, team executives were also intrigued by Gase, in part, because he won five of six games against the Jets in his three seasons coaching the Dolphins, who fired him the day after the 2018 season ended. Gase went 23-25 with Miami.The Jets’ job opened at the same time, an inflection point across the N.F.L. landscape: Quarterbacks threw the most touchdown passes, and teams combined to score the most touchdowns, in a single season to that point.The aerial revolution prompted teams with vacancies to identify head coaches who could revamp desultory offenses and, though in 2018 the Jets actually scored more points and gained more yards than Miami did under Gase that season, the Jets believed he was the right person to mold Darnold at quarterback, the position that has vexed them like no other.What followed instead were spells of ineptitude and irreconcilable rifts. Four months after Gase was hired, the Jets fired their general manager, Mike Maccagnan, despite letting him run the two most critical parts of the 2019 off-season: the draft and free agency. Gase later dismissed the perception that he had won a power struggle between the two men.Then, after reportedly opposing the Jets’ decision to sign running back Le’Veon Bell in March 2019, Gase angered him by not deploying him to what Bell perceived was the best of his capabilities. The team wound up releasing Bell in October 2020. In that, Bell became the latest player alienated by this edition of Jets leadership, fronted by Gase and the new general manager Joe Douglas. Bell joined the star safety Jamal Adams, who was dealt to Seattle in July, and Quincy Enunwa and Kelechi Osemele, who had been upset with the way the team handled their injuries.The Jets, after closing the 2019 season by winning six of their final eight games, offered a smidgen of hope for a franchise that hasn’t made the playoffs since 2010 under Rex Ryan.It was a mirage. They were non-competitive in most games, and though teams generally aspire to peak in late December, the Jets’ late-season victories might have done more harm than good. To Gase’s credit and perhaps to the detriment of the franchise, his players did not quit on him. His coaching legacy will be rallying his players enough to win twice in the last three weeks, victories that cost the Jets the No. 1 overall selection in the 2021 draft because they no longer had the league’s worst record. Instead, they will choose second, behind Jacksonville.Almost certainly the Jets would have used that top pick to take Trevor Lawrence, the consensus top quarterback prospect, should he elect to skip his senior season at Clemson. Now, just three years after drafting Darnold out of Southern California, the Jets must decide whether to continue building around him; pursue a veteran stopgap in free agency or via trade; or draft a successor, perhaps Justin Fields of Ohio State or Zach Wilson of Brigham Young.Gase, like Ryan and Bowles before him, focused on his specialty, giving the deposed coordinator Gregg Williams — fired after his disastrous call in Week 12 led to the Raiders’ scoring the winning touchdown with five seconds left — autonomy over the defense, and the entire operation suffered: The Jets allowed 457 points, the most in franchise history.While teams around the league this season scored points and touchdowns at an unprecedented rate, surpassing the standard set in 2018, the Jets most definitely did not. They entered Week 17 last in most offensive categories, including yards, passing yards, points and first downs per game; yards and points per drive; and red-zone efficiency.That impotence doesn’t seem to track with something else Johnson said back in mid-September.Gase, Johnson said, had a “brilliant offensive mind.” With the Jets no closer to a playoff berth, no closer to where football is going, now it is time for Gase to use that mind somewhere else.AdvertisementContinue reading the main story More

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    Floyd Little, Star Running Back for Syracuse and Broncos, Dies at 78

    AdvertisementContinue reading the main storySupported byContinue reading the main storyFloyd Little, Star Running Back for Syracuse and Broncos, Dies at 78Gen. Douglas MacArthur urged him to attend West Point, but he became an Orangeman to honor a promise to Ernie Davis.Floyd Little, right, avoiding a tackle in a game against the Jets in 1969. A three-time all-American, he was elected to the College Football Hall of Fame in 1983 and the Pro Football Hall of Fame in 2010.Credit…Associated PressJan. 3, 2021, 4:12 p.m. ETFloyd Little, who followed Jim Brown and Ernie Davis in an extraordinary line of all-American running backs at Syracuse University, each wearing No. 44, and who donned it again when he forged a Hall of Fame career with the Denver Broncos, died on Friday at his home in Henderson, Nev., near Las Vegas. He was 78.His death was confirmed by the Pro Football Hall of Fame. He received a diagnosis of cancer last year and had been in hospice care.Little was only 5-foot-11 and 195 pounds, but he was strong enough to burst through defensive lines and agile in the open field, playing for the Broncos from 1967 to 1975.Playing for Syracuse from 1964 to 1966, Little ran for 2,704 yards, had 46 touchdowns and was an outstanding kick returner. He was a three-time all-American and was elected to the College Football Hall of Fame in 1983. He was inducted into the Pro Football Hall of Fame in Canton, Ohio, in 2010 after he had already lost hope that he would be selected.Little was chosen by the American Football League’s Broncos as the No. 6 pick of the pro football draft in 1967, three years before the N.F.L. absorbed the A.F.L. teams. The Broncos had never had a winning record since the A.F.L.’s 1960 inaugural season, but Little became known as “the franchise” for giving their fans some hope, though the team continued to struggle during his time in Denver.Little in 2010 speaking during halftime at a Broncos game. President-elect Joseph R. Biden Jr., who met Little when they both attended Syracuse University, said, “He was full of character, decency and integrity.”Credit…Jack Dempsey/Associated Press“I know when I got there the talk was about the team moving to Chicago or Birmingham,” Little told The Associated Press in 2009. “So I supposedly saved the franchise.”Little led the N.F.L. in rushing yards with 1,133 in 1971 and in rushing touchdowns with 12 in 1973, and was named to five Pro Bowl games. He scored 43 career rushing touchdowns as well as nine on receptions and two on punt returns and ran for 6,323 yards, averaging 3.9 yards per carry.“Floyd Little and I were students at Syracuse University together,” President-elect Joseph R. Biden Jr. said in a statement on Saturday. “I was in law school and he was a star halfback on the football team. I watched him play in Archbold Stadium, his No. 44 flashing by defenders who had no chance, running as if he was chasing the spirit of his dear friend and fellow 44 legend, Ernie Davis.”“In the years that followed, I got to know Floyd as the man behind the number,” Mr. Biden said. “He was full of character, decency and integrity.”Floyd Douglas Little was born on July 4, 1942, in Waterbury, Conn. His father, Frederick Douglas, named for the abolitionist Frederick Douglass, died of cancer when he was 6. His mother, Lula Douglas, worked several jobs to support Floyd and his five siblings. When he was in his early teens, the family moved to New Haven.Little played football for Hillhouse High School in New Haven for two seasons, then for another two at Bordentown Military Institute in New Jersey, seeking to improve his grades so that he could be accepted to college. “The only thing I had was a dream,” the Broncos quoted Little as saying on a visit to New Haven in 1988. “I had no money, no promises and no guarantees.”Little had considered applying to West Point, and Gen. Douglas MacArthur sought to recruit him while he was at Bordentown.“General MacArthur shook my hand and talked to me about the value of education, about being a leader,” Little recalled in his memoir “Promises to Keep” (2012), written with Tom Mackie. “I was told that if I went to Army, I could become the first Black general.”But in December 1962, while he was on winter break from Bordentown, Little was visited by Davis, who in 1961 had became the first African-American to win the Heisman Trophy as college football’s most outstanding player.Little, who had close to 50 scholarship offers, told Davis he would go to Syracuse. But he still had thoughts of attending West Point. When he heard that Davis died of leukemia in May 1963 after being selected by the Cleveland Browns as the No. 1 pick in the 1962 N.F.L. draft, he decided to fulfill his promise to him.Jim Brown, the first of three spectacular No. 44s at Syracuse, playing for the Orangemen from 1954 to 1956, became one of the greatest fullbacks in pro football history, playing for the Browns from 1957 to 1965.Little obtained a master’s degree in legal administration from the University of Denver Sturm College of Law in 1975 and owned auto dealerships after retiring from football.His survivors include his wife, DeBorah; his son, Marc; his daughters Christy and Kyra; and several grandchildren.When Little was named as a special assistant to the athletic director at Syracuse in 2011, a post he held until 2016, he thought once more of Ernie Davis.“Coming to Syracuse, I’ve tried to emulate what Ernie was and what he would be,” ESPN quoted him as saying. “My life has been tied to Ernie’s life because I wanted to be the Ernie Davis that he couldn’t be.”AdvertisementContinue reading the main story More

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    2020 N.F.L. Playoff Picture for Week 17: Mapping All the Scenarios

    Updated Sunday 9:27 AM ET For the most part, the Week 17 games have been scheduled such that those that matter most to one another are being played simultaneously. Unfortunately, these various scenarios can get quite confusing, even for the people trying to explain them to you live on television. The diagrams below are meant […] More

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    With Man City Positives, Premier League's Coronavirus Outbreak Widens

    #masthead-section-label, #masthead-bar-one { display: none }The Coronavirus OutbreakliveLatest UpdatesMaps and CasesThe Stimulus PlanVaccine InformationF.A.Q.TimelineAdvertisementContinue reading the main storySupported byContinue reading the main storyRory Smith On SoccerThe Premier League Has a Schedule. It Really Needs a Plan.As the coronavirus invades locker rooms and postpones matches, soccer needs to face up to a potential worst-case scenario.Manchester City played without fans for months. On Monday, it couldn’t play at all.Credit…Laurence Griffiths/ReutersJan. 1, 2021, 10:00 a.m. ETOn the face of it, the Premier League’s decision was an easy and an obvious one. Manchester City and Manchester United had finished last season late, thanks to their commitments in the summer’s European competitions.To ensure that both teams would have a similar break between campaigns as all of their rivals, the Premier League decreed that they would start the new season a week later than everyone else. The league’s omnipotent fixture computer had drawn City against Aston Villa and United against Burnley for that first weekend of the season; those two games would have to be postponed.All of this, so far, makes sense. What happens next does not.Knowing that its teams were facing a compacted schedule anyway, the Premier League could have decided that Burnley and Villa might as well play one another on opening weekend. That may have raised some logistical challenges — policing, scheduling — but hardly insurmountable ones, particularly with fans still locked out of stadiums. The benefit, of having only one game, rather than two, to slot in later in a busy year, far outweighed the cost.That is not how soccer works, though, not even in a pandemic. Burnley did not play Aston Villa. The two games from the first weekend of the season have not been made up. It took until Thursday for the Premier League to find a window: They now will be played in the middle of January, five months late.That may seem a trivial issue, little more than a minor misstep, one that can doubtless be explained by the myriad complexities of scheduling a sporting season and will be easily resolved once the field in the domestic cup competitions is thinned a little. And, in some senses, that is all it is.Soccer has made the best of bad situations for months.Credit…Pool photo by Martin MeissnerBut it is also an instructive example of how the Premier League — and elite soccer as a whole — thinks, how pervasive is its belief in its own relentlessness, how delicate and vulnerable this season remains. The simple fact that Burnley did not play Aston Villa on opening day encapsulates soccer’s myopia, and its hubris.The Premier League lost two more games this week. First, Manchester City requested the postponement of its trip to Everton after five of its players tested positive for coronavirus. Fearing a more widespread outbreak — and much to Everton’s surprisingly public chagrin — the Premier League acquiesced. (Pep Guardiola revealed Friday that City will be missing five players who had tested positive when it plays Chelsea on Sunday.)About 48 hours later, Fulham had to make the same request, canceling its match with Tottenham on only a few hours notice; it, too, had recorded a spate of positive test results, and in the interest of public health, it was determined the game should be delayed, despite the unhappiness of noted Instagram influencer José Mourinho.City and Fulham were not the first clubs to be hit by the virus. In November, Newcastle had to close its training facility and skip a game against Aston Villa after an outbreak that has left at least two players with the kind of persistent and debilitating symptoms doctors refer to as Long Covid. Those clubs will, it is safe to assume, not be the last. Sheffield United played its game against Burnley this week despite reporting a number of positive tests at the club.The situation in the Football League, which governs the second, third and fourth tiers of soccer in England, is even worse. In League One, seven of the 12 games scheduled to be played on Tuesday had to be postponed because of coronavirus outbreaks. Five had been missed on Boxing Day, too. There have been calls from some medical departments for a two-week “circuit-breaker” pause to the season to avoid players’ being overloaded by a backlog of matches in the spring.It does not feel as if any of this was especially difficult to foresee. Soccer cannot be blamed, of course, for failing to anticipate the scale of the second wave of the pandemic in Britain (or anyplace else), or for the appearance of a particularly virulent mutation of the virus in the southeast part of England.Fans have adapted to new realities. Leagues should, too.Credit…Pool photo by Paul ChildsBut it should not have required the clarity of hindsight to project that cases might rise in the winter, that the long-anticipated second wave might have some impact on soccer, that the bubbles the sport was relying on to play through might not prove entirely impermeable, that some sort of contingency plan might be needed.And yet soccer seems woefully underprepared for something that should have been wholly predictable. It is not just that there is little room in the calendar set aside to play postponed matches: just three weekends in the English season set aside for teams to make up games they have missed, but only if they are eliminated from the domestic cups first.It is that — as the Premier League confirmed in a statement this week — the subject of what happens if the season is paused, or worse, canceled entirely, has not even been discussed.(It is striking, though perhaps not vastly surprising, that two of the most ardent voices calling for cancellation on moral grounds in the spring, Aston Villa and West Ham, have been quiet this time. It’s almost as if they are keener to play now that they are fifth and 10th in the table, respectively.)To be clear, at this point, there is no reason to believe the season should be curtailed: Soccer has proved, over the last nine months, that it is able to play on. It has not increased the burden on the country’s medical services, or deprived the general population of tests, or been responsible for a more widespread outbreak of the virus. Its protocols, for the most part, have worked.But it is hardly outlandish to suggest that the Premier League — and most of its peers around Europe — might have looked at what happened in the spring and wondered if perhaps they needed to have a plan in place should the worst-case scenario unfold.Fans at Brighton. European stadiums that opened recently may soon close again.Credit…Glyn Kirk/Agence France-Presse — Getty ImagesThat need not have meant an immediate end to any season; other, more creative solutions were available. Something along the lines of the bubble tournament staged by the N.B.A., for example, or a shortened season — along the lines of what is already standard in Scotland and Belgium — might have served as an adequate break-glass course of action. Only if those workarounds were not possible would a nonsporting conclusion come into force.The Coronavirus Outbreak More

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    Randall Cunningham Is Back in the N.F.L. … as Raiders Chaplain

    AdvertisementContinue reading the main storySupported byContinue reading the main storyThe Great ReadRandall Cunningham Is Back in the N.F.L. … as Raiders Chaplain“I want to preach myself into a Super Bowl ring.”Randall Cunningham spoke to the congregation from the pulpit at Remnant Ministries in Las Vegas last week.Credit…Saeed Rahbaran for The New York TimesDec. 31, 2020, 5:00 a.m. ETDespite his best efforts, Randall Cunningham just can’t retire from football. A former quarterback for the Philadelphia Eagles and Minnesota Vikings, he tried walking away from the game twice, dabbling in a variety of activities to fill the void.“Going golfing and going to the movies, and concerts or boxing matches,” Cunningham said. “It got boring.”After his second retirement from the N.F.L., in 2002, Cunningham settled in Las Vegas permanently, and became an ordained pastor two years later. With his wife, Felicity, the couple began their own church, Remnant Ministries, where Cunningham gives three services every Sunday to a small live audience and, he estimated, around 4,000 online viewers. In the meantime, he has also coached their two children: Vashti and Randall II are both Olympic team hopefuls in track and field.But this past summer, when the Raiders also settled in the city from Oakland, Calif., football came knocking once again. The team’s head coach, Jon Gruden, had an idea about luring Cunningham back — as the Raiders’ chaplain. “That guy warms my heart,” Gruden said. “He is special. He has a great way of spreading the Lord’s word, he is a great resource and great friend to all of us.”The newly built Allegiant Stadium in Las Vegas, where the Raiders play.Credit…Saeed Rahbaran for The New York TimesGruden, who was Philadelphia’s offensive coordinator in Cunningham’s final season there, said, “To be reunited with him at this point in life is really cool.”No other N.F.L. team has as its spiritual adviser a former superstar player, but both men insist that Cunningham, famed for being a progenitor of the modern game’s dual-threat quarterback role, maintains a singular focus in his new role. “I coach them in the spiritual aspects of life, and that’s it,” Cunningham said.The reality of Cunningham’s first season as Raiders chaplain has been plenty different from the hands-on pastoring and locker room camaraderie that have been made impossible this season because of the N.F.L.’s Covid-19 protocol.“I haven’t had the opportunity to slap Zay Jones a high-five, or hug Alec Ingold, or give a fist bump to Darren Waller,” Cunningham said. Instead, Cunningham stays in touch through phone calls and texts. He hosts a 7 p.m. Bible study on a video call the night before games where, sometimes, football seeps into the message.The night before the second game of the season, when the New Orleans Saints visited, Cunningham focused on the original underdog story — David’s battle with Goliath. “I said, ‘Man, here comes Goliath, the great champion from Gath, all the accolades and all the victories,’” Cunningham recalled. “Drew Brees is the man, so is the coach, but you have to take Goliath down.”As he spoke to the Raiders players on the video call that night, Cunningham was so focused on the story of young David knocking out the giant with a slingshot, that he kept accidentally calling Derek Carr, the team’s starting quarterback, David (the name of his older brother, who is a retired N.F.L. quarterback).The day after Cunningham talked to the team about the story of David and Goliath, Derek Carr threw three touchdowns to upset the New Orleans Saints in a September game.Credit…Christian Petersen/Getty ImagesThe next day, Derek Carr played like the biblical David, throwing three touchdown passes and leading the Raiders to a 34-24 victory in their first game at home in Las Vegas. “It felt like I had affected them in a way that gave them a little confidence,” Cunningham said. “Not false confidence, but to give them true confidence to go out and be who they are.”Carr talked to Cunningham on the phone on his drive home from the stadium after sustaining a serious groin injury in a loss to the Los Angeles Chargers this month. The Raiders starter left the must-win Thursday night game in the first quarter and watched his team lose in overtime from the sideline, their playoff hopes almost completely dashed. Together, they prayed for healing.The Raiders did not make any players available for comment, but Carr’s agent, Timothy Younger, said in an email to The New York Times that Carr and Cunningham have “an extremely close relationship, and Derek recognizes his own growth this year due in large part to Randall’s help.”In a text message via his agent, Raiders receiver Nelson Agholor said: “Randall is amazing. The same passion he played with, he preaches with.” In his playing days, Cunningham loved being a star and redefining what it meant to play quarterback with each mad dash. In the 1990 season, Cunningham passed for 3,466 yards and 30 touchdowns, and also rushed for 942 yards and five touchdowns.He drove a Porsche, buddied up with celebrities, and dressed in bold outfits that his Eagles teammate Keith Byars compared to Michael Jackson’s style.Cunningham regularly made headlines in Philadelphia for quotations that could come off as selfish and cast doubt on his leadership ability. After he evaded a Bruce Smith sack and threw an improbable 95-yard touchdown pass in a losing effort against the Buffalo Bills in 1990, Cunningham said, “Sometimes I do amaze myself.”Byars said he often had to act as a mediator between his quarterback and members of the defense who took issue with Cunningham’s comments. “When Randall first came into the league, he was in a cocoon and waiting to expand who he was,” Byars said. “You can’t help others until you help yourself, and get to know yourself. And so, that’s what Randall was going through early in his football career, still knowing who he was.”Cunningham grew up in Santa Barbara, Calif., going to church on Sundays, but it wasn’t until he came out of retirement for the first time in 1997, after spending a year away from the game following 11 seasons in Philadelphia, that he became serious about his faith.He had spent the time off running a building supply company and serving as an analyst for TV broadcasts. But on a vacation in Hawaii with his family, Cunningham realized he wasn’t cut out for a life of leisure.In his playing days in Philadelphia and Minnesota, Cunningham loved being a superstar athlete and redefining what it meant to play quarterback with each mad dash. Credit…Otto Greule Jr./Getty Images“It was beautiful, but there came a time when it was like, ‘Wow, is this what life is?’” he said. “Just drinking iced tea and having a nice meal and working out every day?”Cunningham returned to the league with Minnesota in 1997 and became involved with the Vikings’ team ministry. He said he started praying between plays and during commercial breaks: “Lord, I am about to launch this ball to Randy Moss. Please let him catch it for a touchdown.”After the 2001 season, his final one as a player, Cunningham went back to Las Vegas and continued to lead a Bible study he had started there a few years earlier.“He is one of the favorite sons here in Las Vegas,” Gruden said of Cunningham, who set passing records that still stand during his college career 40 years ago at the University of Nevada, Las Vegas. It didn’t take long for his ministry to take off.“The next thing you know, we had 90 people in the Bible study,” Cunningham recalled, “and my pastor said, ‘This is not a Bible study, it’s a church.’”Cunningham says he does not want to get into coaching or any front office roles, but he does confess to bigger ambitions for his work as team chaplain.A missed field-goal attempt stopped Cunningham from making it to a Super Bowl with the Vikings in the 1998 season, the best year of his career. He won just two of seven playoff games with the Eagles, never advancing past the divisional round. The Raiders are officially out of postseason contention this year, but now that he is back in the N.F.L., Cunningham has his eye on that elusive Lombardi Trophy.“I want to preach myself into a Super Bowl ring,” he said.AdvertisementContinue reading the main story More

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    NFL Week 17 Predictions: Our Picks Against the Spread

    AdvertisementContinue reading the main storySupported byContinue reading the main storyN.F.L. Week 17 Predictions: Our Picks Against the SpreadTen teams will be fighting for seven playoff spots on a final regular-season Sunday when numerous playoff seedings can change.Stefon Diggs, center, and Josh Allen, right, led the Buffalo Bills to the team’s first A.F.C. East title since 1995. They go into Week 17 with a chance at locking up the No. 2 seed in their conference.Credit…Adam Glanzman/Getty ImagesDec. 31, 2020, 12:01 a.m. ETHeading into the final Sunday of the regular season, seven teams have secured playoff spots and 10 others are in contention for seven positions. The key battles will come in the A.FC. South and the N.F.C. East and for the wild-card spots in both conferences, with plenty of seeding yet to be decided as well.Here is a look at Week 17, with all picks made against the spread.Last week’s record: 6-9-1Overall record: 116-116-8A look ahead at Week 17:The A.F.C. Wild CardsThe A.F.C. SouthThe N.F.C. EastThe N.F.C. Wild CardsThe Seeding GamesThe Irrelevant GamesHow Betting Lines WorkThe A.F.C. Wild CardsThe battle for the three wild-card spots in the A.F.C. has come down to Miami, Baltimore, Cleveland and whichever team doesn’t win the A.F.C. South, Tennessee or Indianapolis.Tua Tagovailoa, not pictured, is expected to start at quarterback for Miami, but if the team needs a spark, the Dolphins will turn to Ryan Fitzpatrick, center, whom the team used as the football equivalent of a relief pitcher last week.Credit…David Becker/Associated PressMiami Dolphins at Buffalo Bills, 1 p.m. CBSLine: Bills -1 | Total: 44.5For the last 20 years, the Dolphins (10-5) and the Bills (12-3) have lived in the mighty shadow of the New England Patriots. Thanks to the fall of the New England dynasty, Buffalo has won its first division title since 1995 and Miami is on the verge of its first playoff appearance since 2016 (and just its third since 2001). But in a cruel joke by the scheduling gods, they face off in Week 17, and a loss may come with significant consequences.For Buffalo, the No. 2 seed in the A.F.C. playoffs is at stake. While that distinction doesn’t come with a bye this season, it still offers home-field advantage — not a small thing when you play your games in Orchard Park, N.Y. The Bills will clinch the spot with a win, but would drop to No. 3 if they were to lose in concert with a Pittsburgh victory. That should be enough to keep Buffalo’s starters in for most of the game — with the nice side effect that Josh Allen will be given one more game to bolster his credentials for the Most Valuable Player Award.For Miami, a wild-card spot is within reach. A win will be enough, but if the Dolphins lose, they will need a loss by Baltimore, Cleveland or Indianapolis. There are also several unlikely scenarios that involve multiple teams tying.If both teams go all-out, this game favors Buffalo. The Bills have the N.F.L.’s fourth-ranked offense and 10th-ranked defense, and the conditions at Bills Stadium should be fairly hostile for a visiting team: around 37 degrees with a chance of rain and snow. But the Dolphins shouldn’t be written off. Their run-heavy offense is suited to poor conditions and their defense has generated an N.F.L.-leading 27 turnovers, which could be extremely relevant if Allen gives in to his worst tendencies at exactly the wrong time. Pick: Bills -1Baltimore Ravens at Cincinnati Bengals, 1 p.m., CBSLine: Ravens -13 | Total: 44.5The Ravens (10-5) have righted the ship in recent weeks, but their midseason lull means their playoff chances are coming down to the season’s final day. Considering that in the past two seasons, Lamar Jackson’s team dominated the regular season before falling apart in the postseason, perhaps a fight to the finish will be good for Baltimore — provided it makes the playoffs.A win is enough to get the Ravens a wild-card spot — a loss by Cleveland or Indianapolis would also get Baltimore in — and while the Bengals (4-10-1) may not seem to be much of an obstacle, it is worth remembering that Cincinnati is coming off a pair of impressive wins over Pittsburgh and Houston. There’s no question that a motivated Ravens team is far better than the Bengals, but Cincinnati’s recent play is enough to throw some cold water on a 13-point spread. Pick: Bengals +13Jarvis Landry’s return from the Covid-19 reserve list should give a huge boost to Cleveland’s offense.Credit…Sam Greenwood/Getty ImagesPittsburgh Steelers at Cleveland Browns, 1 p.m., CBSLine: Browns -10 | Total: 42After Week 12, Pittsburgh was 11-0 and Cleveland was 8-3, both rocketing their way toward the playoffs. Over the next four games, the Steelers went 1-3, and were very nearly 0-4 if not for a huge second-half comeback last week. The Browns went 2-2, losing to the lowly Jets last week partially because the team had four wide receivers on the Covid-19 reserve list.The downturn has led to Pittsburgh’s dropping to the No. 3 seed in the A.F.C. playoffs and Cleveland’s needing a win, or some help, to get a wild-card spot.Because the Steelers (12-3) would need both a win in their game and a loss by Buffalo to overtake the Bills for the No. 2 seed, Coach Mike Tomlin has declared that Mason Rudolph will start in place of Ben Roethlisberger at quarterback. That most likely means that Pittsburgh’s other star players on offense, like wide receivers JuJu Smith-Schuster and Chase Claypool, will also be limited or sit out as well.The Browns (10-5) should get their wide receivers back, which ought to be enough to get them a win at home, even though safeties Karl Joseph and Andrew Sendejo have replaced the receivers on the Covid-19 reserve list. Should Cleveland lose, the Browns could still qualify for the playoffs if Indianapolis loses or if a few other complex scenarios involving losses and ties come to be. Is that enough motivation to justify a 10-point spread against the Steelers’ backups? That’s debatable. Pick: Steelers +10Jacksonville Jaguars at Indianapolis Colts, 4:25 p.m., CBSLine: Colts -14 | Total: 50The Colts (10-5) have a good chance of being the best team in the N.F.L. that doesn’t make the playoffs this season. A solid team with an above-average offense and a spectacular defense, Indianapolis collapsed against Pittsburgh last week and now not only needs to win to get a wild-card spot, but also needs Baltimore, Cleveland or Miami to lose or to tie. Otherwise the Colts will be the No. 8 seed in a seven-team playoff structure.Because each of the three other wild-card pursuers plays at 1 p.m., the Colts will go into this game knowing if they have a chance at one. But even without a shot at one of those three spots, Indianapolis has motivation: A win or a tie, combined with a Tennessee loss, would hand the Colts the A.F.C. South title.For Indianapolis, winning should be easy. The Jaguars (1-14) no longer have direct motivation to lose, as the top pick in next year’s draft is secured, but they don’t have any motivation to win, either. A two-touchdown spread is risky no matter the motivation, but the Colts can cover if they want to. Pick: Colts -14The A.F.C. SouthTennessee owns a tiebreaker over Indianapolis, so if the teams finish with the same record, the Titans will win the division.Tennessee’s Derrick Henry is leading the N.F.L. with 1,777 yards rushing. Considering how poorly Houston defends the run, Henry has an outside chance of getting the 223 yards he needs for 2,000.Credit…Wade Payne/Associated PressTennessee Titans at Houston Texans, 4:25 p.m., CBSLine: Titans -7.5 | Total: 56.5The Titans (10-5) could have clinched the A.F.C. South with a win over Green Bay, but a blowout loss has left Tennessee with an outside chance of missing the playoffs entirely. To secure a division title, the Titans need a win or an Indianapolis loss, or for both teams to tie. Should Tennessee be overtaken by the Colts, the Titans could still get a wild card provided Baltimore or Miami loses.Let’s not pretend this game is in doubt, though. The Titans have Derrick Henry, the game’s most explosive running back, and Houston has the N.F.L.’s second-worst run defense. Tennessee could probably win this game without attempting a pass. Pick: Titans -7.5The N.F.C. EastThree of the East’s four teams remained alive heading into the final week.Michael Gallup and the Cowboys showed drastic improvement last week. A Dallas win or tie, combined with a Washington loss, will put the Cowboys in the playoffs.Credit…Ron Jenkins/Associated PressDallas Cowboys at Giants, 1 p.m., FoxLine: Cowboys -3 | Total: 44.5Washington Football Team at Philadelphia Eagles, 8:20 p.m., NBCLine: Footballers -1.5 | Total: 43.5None of the teams in the N.F.C. East have been good enough to warrant individual game entries going into Week 17. The division has three teams vying for its title on the final day of the season, but the best record any of them can attain is 7-9, and there’s a nonzero chance of a 6-10 team hosting a first-round playoff game.When healthy, the Footballers (6-9) are the most complete team in the East, with a decent offense and a defense that has shown drastic improvement. But quarterback Alex Smith is still not 100 percent and wide receiver Terry McLaurin is unlikely to play as a result of an ankle injury. That lessens Washington’s advantage over the Eagles (4-10-1) while also making a case that the Cowboys (6-9) have become the division’s best team, at least temporarily, at exactly the right time.A Dallas loss at 1 p.m. would not lessen Washington’s motivation, as the Giants, somehow, some way, have not been eliminated, and the combination of a Giants win and a Footballers loss would hand Big Blue one of the more baffling division titles in years. But the most likely scenario of the day is for Dallas and Washington to both win, sending the Footballers limping into the playoffs. Picks: Cowboys -3; Footballers -1.5The N.F.C. Wild CardsTampa Bay has clinched one of the three wild-card spots in the N.F.C., but the fight for the two others has come down to Chicago, Arizona and Los Angeles.Chicago’s Roquan Smith had two interceptions in last week’s win. The Bears can secure a wild-card spot with a win over Green Bay.Credit…Stephen B. Morton/Associated PressGreen Bay Packers at Chicago Bears, 4:25 p.m., FoxLine: Packers -5.5 | Total: 51.5In his long and decorated career, Green Bay’s Aaron Rodgers is 19-5 against Chicago. He has won seven of his last eight starts against the division rival. Throw in Rodgers’s being in the top tier of M.V.P. candidates, the Packers’ being able to secure a first-round bye in the playoffs with a win and the fact that a Chicago loss would eliminate the Bears (8-7) from the playoffs, and you’re looking at a full bingo card of Rodgers’s motivation. The only thing tempering all of that is the site: Chicago’s Soldier Field. But that shouldn’t trick you into thinking the Bears stand a chance against Green Bay (12-3). Pick: Packers -5.5Arizona Cardinals at Los Angeles Rams, 4:25 p.m., CBSLine: Rams -1 | Total: 39.5This result might not matter, but the players won’t know it at the time. Should Chicago lose to Green Bay, both the Cardinals (8-7) and the Rams (9-6) would earn wild-card spots. But the two games will be played simultaneously, giving Arizona and Los Angeles motivation to beat each other. A Bears win, unlikely as one is, would mean only one of these N.F.C. West teams would qualify.Los Angeles is somehow favored in this one despite quarterback Jared Goff’s being out after surgery on his dislocated right thumb. John Wolford, who went undrafted out of Wake Forest in 2018 and has never thrown a pass in an N.F.L. game, will start in his place. That’s probably not going to cut it against Kyler Murray of the Cardinals, but this game is a nice rags-to-riches story for a player from the short-lived Alliance of American Football, which gave Wolford a chance to prove himself. Pick: Cardinals +1The Seeding GamesTampa Bay, Seattle and New Orleans have clinched playoff spots, but their seedings can be affected by this week’s results.Rob Gronkowski has been the recipient of six of Tom Brady’s franchise-record 36 touchdown passes for the Buccaneers this season. Brady holds the single-season touchdown mark for both Tampa Bay and New England. He leads Drew Brees on the N.F.L.’s career list as well.Credit…Rick Osentoski/Associated PressAtlanta Falcons at Tampa Bay Buccaneers, 1 p.m., FoxLine: Buccaneers -6.5 | Total: 50.5The Buccaneers (10-5) have more than proved themselves in recent weeks, winning three games in a row, including one on the road against the Falcons (4-11). They can secure the No. 5 seed in the N.F.C. with a win, and after contemplating resting his starters, Coach Bruce Arians said, “We’re going to play to win.” Arians called the push for an 11th win a “pride thing.” For Tom Brady, who has set a franchise record for single-season passing touchdowns (36), the start also means a chance to extend his lead over Drew Brees atop the N.F.L.’s career passing touchdowns list. Brady’s big season and Brees’s injury-related absence have led to Brady’s having a nine-touchdown lead in what had been a seesaw battle.Atlanta is better than the team’s record indicates, and the likelihood that numerous Buccaneers players sit out the second half makes this point spread a touch too large. Pick: Falcons +6.5Seattle Seahawks at San Francisco 49ers, 4:25 p.m., FoxLine: Seahawks -5.5 | Total: 46The Seahawks (11-4) captured their first N.F.C. West crown since 2016 with last week’s win over the Rams, and they go into the season’s final day with a chance at overtaking New Orleans for the No. 2 seed in the N.F.C. While the 49ers (6-9) would undoubtedly love to play a spoiler role of sorts — and they did just that by beating Arizona last week — you have to assume that if Seattle wants to win this game, it will do so handily. Pick: Seahawks -5.5New Orleans Saints at Carolina Panthers, 4:25 p.m., FoxLine: Saints -6.5 | Total: 47.5Going into Week 16, the Saints (11-4) had been sluggish on offense. A 52-point game in which Alvin Kamara tied an N.F.L. record with six rushing touchdowns went a long way toward reconfirming New Orleans’s status as a team that can score in bunches. A win would guarantee the Saints the No. 2 seed in the N.F.C. while keeping alive the possibility of a first-round bye, provided Green Bay loses. That should lead to the team’s taking no chances and keeping its starters in the game for a matchup in which the Panthers (5-10) are at a talent disadvantage: Pick: Saints -6.5The Irrelevant GamesThese four games have no relevance to the playoff picture.Since Kansas City has clinched a first-round bye, Chad Henne is expected to start in place of Patrick Mahomes at quarterback. Henne has seen limited action this season, but he scored a rushing touchdown in Week 7.Credit…Ron Chenoy/USA Today Sports, via ReutersLos Angeles Chargers at Kansas City Chiefs, 4:25 p.m., FoxLine: Chargers -3.5 | Total: 44The Chiefs (14-1) clinched the top seed in the A.F.C. and a first-round bye with last week’s win, taking any excitement out of this game. Chad Henne is likely to start in place of Patrick Mahomes at quarterback, and most of Kansas City’s other starters are likely to sit as well — which would rob Travis Kelce of his shot at being the first tight end to have a 1,500-yard receiving season. As a result of Kansas City’s going full “preseason” mode, the Chargers (6-9) are favored. Justin Herbert, the Chargers’ rookie quarterback, should relish his chance to get a win at Arrowhead Stadium, as he might not win there again for some time. Pick: Chargers -3.5Minnesota Vikings at Detroit Lions, 1 p.m. FoxLine: Vikings -7 | Total: 54.5Had the Vikings (6-9) not started the year so poorly, they might be in the hunt for a wild-card spot. As it stands, they have a fairly entertaining offense and a defense bad enough that none of their scoring matters. The Lions (5-10) are expected to limp into this game with several players out — including quarterback Matthew Stafford — which means the most interesting subplot of this game will be whether Minnesota’s Adam Thielen can get the 132 yards receiving he needs to reach 1,000 for the season. Even with running back Dalvin Cook out after the death of his father, Minnesota should win easily. Pick: Vikings -7Las Vegas Raiders at Denver Broncos, 4:25 p.m., CBSLine: Raiders -2.5 | Total: 50.5The Raiders (7-8) and the Broncos (5-10) had moments of relevance in 2020, but it was a lost season for both franchises. With the Chiefs expected to dominate the A.F.C. West for years to come and the Chargers building something special, there may be several lost seasons in their futures as well. Pick: Broncos +2.5Jets at New England Patriots, 1 p.m., CBSLine: Patriots -3 | Total: 40Frank Gore will miss this game after sustaining a lung contusion last week, but he reached 16,000 yards rushing for his career before being removed, which is about the best thing anyone can say about this season for the Jets (2-13). Similarly, the Patriots (6-9) are an irrelevant team that will most likely undergo huge off-season renovations, with the only notable part of their year being Cam Newton’s tying the franchise record for rushing touchdowns by a quarterback in a season (12), which Steve Grogan set in 1976. Despite Newton’s horrific passing in recent games, he is likely to start this game, giving him an outside chance of matching his own N.F.L. record of 14 rushing touchdowns by a quarterback in a single season. Pick: Patriots -3How Betting Lines WorkA quick primer for those who are not familiar with betting lines: Favorites are listed next to a negative number that represents how many points they must win by to cover the spread. Titans -7.5, for example, means that Tennessee must beat Houston by at least 8 points for its backers to win their bet. Gamblers can also bet on the total score, or whether the teams’ combined score in the game is over or under a preselected number of points.All times are Eastern.AdvertisementContinue reading the main story More

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    Quarterback Keeper? Jets, Browns and Bears Face Contract Decisions

    AdvertisementContinue reading the main storySupported byContinue reading the main storyTrend WatchQuarterback Keeper? Jets, Browns and Bears Face Contract DecisionsSam Darnold, Baker Mayfield and Mitchell Trubisky have all been marginally impressive at times. But is that enough for their teams to sign them to salary-cap-straining contracts?Jets quarterback Sam Darnold, right, and Baker Mayfield of the Cleveland Browns have each made their teams’ decisions about extending their contracts trickier by playing well — but not that well — over the last few weeks.Credit…Bill Kostroun/Associated PressDec. 30, 2020, 3:00 a.m. ETThe most pivotal decision an N.F.L. team must make is often not drafting the right quarterback but determining the right thing to do with the quarterback it drafted a few years ago.The Jets and Sam Darnold are reaching a crossroads. The Cleveland Browns and Chicago Bears are facing similar decisions with Baker Mayfield and Mitchell Trubisky. Should these teams offer their marginally impressive, often disappointing young starters budget-burdening contracts or send them away and start over again?There is no middle ground. If there exists a compensation package for a former first-round quarterback that lands somewhere between nine-figure golden handcuffs and bus fare out of town, N.F.L. front offices have yet to discover it.Darnold, Mayfield and Trubisky have all made their teams’ decisions trickier by playing well — but not that well — over the past few weeks. Darnold has led the Jets to back-to-back victories. Mayfield threw 10 touchdowns and just one interception in a four-game stretch that ended when a coronavirus outbreak left him throwing to scout-team wide receivers in Sunday’s loss to the Jets. Trubisky has completed over 70 percent of his passes and thrown six touchdowns while leading the Bears to three straight victories, albeit against a trio of scuffling opponents.All three quarterbacks could be showing signs of improvement at the end of their third (Darnold and Mayfield) and fourth (Trubisky) N.F.L. seasons. Or their warm streaks may simply be random fluctuations caused by the quality of their opponents, some lucky bounces and heavily tempered expectations.Trubisky is just a few weeks removed from being benched in favor of Nick Foles. Mayfield behaved as if he were his own internet troll at times last year and struggled against quality defenses early in this season. Darnold is graded on the Jets curve: Showing up and trying his hardest guarantees at least a C-plus.The contracts of first-round draft picks come with built-in fifth-year team options: The player gets a hefty raise (Darnold’s base salary, for example, would jump from roughly $920,000 in 2021 to around $25 million in 2022), while the team gets an extra year of evaluation/procrastination. So the Jets and the Browns could delay their final decisions on Darnold and Mayfield until 2022. But exercising a quarterback’s fifth-year option is like asking a fiancé to postpone the wedding until they finish graduate school: perhaps prudent, but an undeniable sign of one’s true feelings.Team politics also typically play a large role in determining a young quarterback’s fate. Newly hired coaches are rarely eager to repair the prospect who helped get the last coach fired.The Chicago Bears famously traded up in the 2017 N.F.L. draft to select Mitchell Trubisky, center, when Patrick Mahomes and Deshaun Watson were still on the board.Credit…Steve Mitchell/USA Today Sports, via ReutersThe next Jets head coach is likely to approach undoing Adam Gase’s handiwork the way Batman defuses one of The Joker’s time bombs: The safest bet is to just hurl everything into Gotham River. So if the Jets keep Darnold, it may be only as a lame-duck place holder while his rookie replacement learns the playbook. Under such circumstances, a trade or release could provide both the Jets and Darnold a much-needed fresh start.The Bears declined Trubisky’s fifth-year option last off-season, so he enters 2021 as a free agent, leaving the team with several expensive, suboptimal choices. Franchise tagging Trubisky would cost the Bears more than the nearly $32 million one-year salary that Dak Prescott earned from the Dallas Cowboys’ indecision this season. A long-term contract may cost around $118 million over four years, as indicated by Ryan Tannehill’s contract with the Tennessee Titans. The cap-strapped Bears would struggle to afford either choice, neither of which Trubisky has earned.Front-office politics could also play a role in the Bears’ decision. General Manager Ryan Pace famously traded a bundle of mid-round draft picks to the San Francisco 49ers in 2017 to select Trubisky when Patrick Mahomes and Deshaun Watson were still on the board. An executive who admits such a huge mistake rarely gets the chance to make another one. All the more reason to pretend that Trubisky is a late-blooming Aaron Rodgers.Mayfield has outperformed Darnold and Trubisky, overcoming many youthful bad habits while leading the Browns to their first winning record since 2007. That makes the team’s next decision even more perilous. Mayfield appears to be in line for a contract in the $32 million to $40 million range per year, like those signed by Watson, Jared Goff and Carson Wentz in recent years. (Mahomes’s $500 million contract, like his entire career so far, belongs in its own category).The Eagles, of course, have benched Wentz in favor of the rookie Jalen Hurts. But Wentz’s huge contract will make trading him like trying to sell a Lamborghini with 48 remaining payments after it was hit by a train. And Goff is the football equivalent of a $40 hamburger. Watson has played well in hopeless circumstances, and not every mammoth quarterback contract brings instant regret. But if the Browns choose to overpay Mayfield for “good enough,” they are likely to get precisely what they bargained for.It’s easy to suggest that any team that is not completely satisfied with its young quarterback’s development should cut bait and dip instead into next year’s deep pool of can’t-miss rookies. But Darnold, Trubisky, Mayfield, Wentz and Goff all came from similar can’t-miss pools. If selecting and developing a franchise quarterback were easy, multiple teams would not face this predicament each year.Ultimately, the Jets will probably trade or release Darnold; Mayfield should get Goff/Wentz money from the Browns; the Bears will find a solution to the Trubisky conundrum that makes sense only to the Bears; and everyone will wish they had selected Mahomes when they had the chance. The whole cycle will just begin anew next year when the Giants try to figure out what to do with Daniel Jones.AdvertisementContinue reading the main story More