The road to the playoffs in the N.F.L. is short but tough, and the path to its second round has proved difficult for even the game’s best (sorry, Tom Brady). It takes lots of skill and plenty of luck to survive a field of 32 teams to be among what are now the final eight […] More
By this stage, Zlatan Ibrahimovic presumably has the image stored somewhere on his phone. You will have seen it, almost certainly: the one with Ibrahimovic, in profile, dressed in an angel’s robes and arm wrestling — a look of beatific concentration on his face — with a sinew-straining devil. He used it first, if memory […] More
After an N.F.L. wild-card round in which both No. 6 seeds advanced and three teams won on the road, the bar is set awfully high for this weekend’s action. Enter Baltimore, San Francisco, Kansas City and Green Bay, which just spent a bye week resting and plotting a course to the conference championship games. Here […] More
Pete Carroll has heard the haters telling him what he can do with all his New Age banter, all that talk about self-discovery and the Seattle Seahawks’ culture of love. He knows there’s a coach on the other side of the country with six Super Bowl rings — the guy who replaced him in New […] More
The Tennessee Titans were running the ball toward the sideline — again — which left New England’s defense flowing quickly to its left. It looked like a panel cribbed from a Stan Lee comic: the Titans running back beating all 11 Patriots to the edge, pushing forward with a full head of steam. With his […] More
Michael R. Bloomberg’s presidential campaign has secured a 60-second advertising spot to air nationally during next month’s Super Bowl telecast, an ad buy that will most likely cost at least $10 million. Hours after The New York Times reported Mr. Bloomberg’s plans, President Trump’s re-election campaign said that it, too, had reserved 60 seconds’ worth […] More
The Giants, who joined the N.F.L. in 1925, have become known for a staid, prudent management style. True to form, on Tuesday morning, the team was expected to do something predictable: Hire Matt Rhule, the former Giants assistant coach who has become a rising star after rebuilding downtrodden college football programs at Temple and Baylor. […] More
After Mo Lewis of the Jets delivered a crushing hit on Drew Bledsoe of the Patriots on Sept. 23, 2001, New England turned to a sixth-round draft pick named Tom Brady to take over as quarterback. Little has been uncertain for the Patriots since that day. Year after year, Brady played quarterback nearly every game, […] More
