Pat Shurmur of the Giants and Freddie Kitchens of the Cleveland Browns were the first coaches fired as the N.F.L. entered Black Monday, the date when the leaders of disappointing teams are traditionally sent packing. Shurmur’s firing was announced on Monday by the team. He took over the Giants for the 2018 season and led […] More
SEATTLE — In the stadium where they hadn’t won in eight seasons, where their Super Bowl dream once perished, where they have been derided and dominated and disregarded for so long, the San Francisco 49ers gazed at the video screen and waited to learn whether they would be feeling like that again. Already they had […] More
There is always a random nature to Week 17 in the N.F.L., and this year was no different. New England lost in shocking fashion to Miami, Tennessee and Philadelphia completed their circuitous journeys to the postseason and Baltimore’s backups beat Pittsburgh. But when put to the test, San Francisco, Green Bay and Kansas City all […] More
EAST RUTHERFORD, N.J. — On the first day of December, the Philadelphia Eagles lost their third game in a row, a 6-point defeat at Miami. The Eagles were 5-7, and even in the woeful N.F.C. East, a playoff berth seemed unlikely. But the Eagles won each of their next three games, the third one a […] More
LIVERPOOL, England — Perhaps, for you, it was way back on the first day of the Premier League season that the doubts set in, when Raheem Sterling’s armpit was deemed offside in Manchester City’s game against West Ham. Or maybe you had a little more patience than that. Maybe you accepted that any innovation, any […] More
At first glance, the N.F.L. playoff picture might seem settled: Every division in the A.F.C. already has a champion, and five of six of the N.F.C.’s playoff spots are already spoken for. But the results of Sunday’s games remain hugely important, even for the teams that already clinched a playoff berth. The San Francisco 49ers, […] More
A federal court judge has dismissed a lawsuit against Pop Warner, saying the two women who sued the youth football organization failed to prove that their sons’ deaths were directly linked to head trauma sustained a decade earlier as young players. The women, Kimberly Archie and Jo Cornell, said their sons’ brain trauma was caused […] More
Want more soccer in your inbox? Sign up for Rory Smith’s weekly newsletter and we will send it to you every Friday. The start of soccer’s modern era can be dated precisely: Jan. 9, 2011. It can be located exactly, too: to the Twitter feed of Ryan Babel, the Dutch forward then playing for a […] More
