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      N.F.L. Black Monday: Jaguars Fire Marrone After Jets Dump Gase

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      AdvertisementContinue reading the main storySupported byContinue reading the main storyN.F.L. Firings: Jaguars’ Marrone and Jets’ Gase Are OutDoug Marrone’s departure in Jacksonville came hours after the Jets fired Adam Gase. But Black Monday may not be as dark as usual this year.Jacksonville’s Doug Marrone, left, with the Jets’ Adam Gase in 2019. Both were fired after Week 17.Credit…Phelan M. Ebenhack/Associated PressJan. 4, 2021, 9:42 a.m. ETBlack Monday, the day when N.F.L. head coaches are often shown the door, wasn’t as black this year. But that was only because so many coaches had already been fired.Doug Marrone of the Jaguars was the first to learn his fate on Monday morning, with the news confirmed in a statement from the Jacksonville owner Shad Khan.Statement from Owner Shad Khan. pic.twitter.com/cmLo7ss9gS— #DUUUVAL (@Jaguars) January 4, 2021
      Marrone joined Adam Gase of Jets, who lost his job on Sunday, and three coaches who didn’t even make it through the season: Bill O’Brien of the Texans, Dan Quinn of the Falcons and Matt Patricia of the Lions.Who Is Out?Doug Marrone, JaguarsThe Jaguars won their first game of the season against the Colts, launching a wave of Minshew Madness headlines about the triumph of their colorful quarterback, Gardner Minshew. They then proceeded to lose 15 games in a row. That signaled the end of the line for Marrone, the former Buffalo Bills head coach who took the Jaguars to the A.F.C. championship game in his first season, but was 12-36 since. The Jaguars’ 1-15 record will give them the top pick in this year’s draft, a selection they are very likely to use on Trevor Lawrence of Clemson. Farewell, Minshew Madness.Adam Gase, JetsGase was fired Sunday, not long after the Jets lost to the Patriots. The team finished the season 2-14 after an 0-13 start. Gase was expected to be an offensive guru, but he was 9-23 in his two seasons, and the young quarterback Sam Darnold struggled. With the Browns making the playoffs after 17 years, the Jets now hold the longest streak of missing the playoffs, 10 seasons. The next longest playoff drought is five.Midseason FiringsThree head coaches did not even make it to Week 17.Bill O’Brien was fired by the Texans after an 0-4 start. O’Brien was 52-48 with four playoff appearances and two playoff wins, but his roster moves as general manager didn’t produce the success needed to keep his job.Dan Quinn was fired by the Falcons after an 0-5 start. In five-plus seasons, he was 43-42 with two playoff appearances and a loss to the Patriots in Super Bowl LI.Matt Patricia was fired by the Lions after a Thanksgiving Day loss. In two plus seasons, Patricia was 13-29-1.Who’s Next?Four other teams who put up poor records are not expected to fire their head coaches.The Bengals (4-11-1) got an exciting season out of the rookie quarterback Joe Burrow, but despite that poor record the team said Monday that they would not dismiss Coach Zac Taylor.Doug Pederson is still revered in Philadelphia for his Super Bowl season and despite some grumbling in his city and his locker room he is expected to keep his job even though the Eagles ended up 4-11-1 in a terrible division.The Panthers and Broncos were both 5-11 this season, but Matt Rhule and Vic Fangio are likely to stay as well.The Chargers may be a different story: Although their record was a bit better than those teams, they may fire Anthony Lynn, who followed a 12-4 season in 2018 with records of 5-11 and 7-9.AdvertisementContinue reading the main story More

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      What We Learned From Week 17 of the NFL Season

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      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 ImagesPublished More

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      Browns Are In, Ending N.F.L. Playoff Drought

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      AdvertisementContinue reading the main storySupported byContinue reading the main storyBrowns 24, Steelers 22Browns Are In, Ending N.F.L. Playoff DroughtCleveland beat Pittsburgh on Sunday, qualifying for the playoffs for the first time since the 2002 season.Quarterback Baker Mayfield, celebrating the Browns’ win on Sunday, delivered on his promise: The team’s makeover began three years ago when he was chosen with the first pick in the N.F.L. draft.Credit…Scott Galvin/USA Today Sports, via ReutersJan. 3, 2021Updated 9:31 p.m. ETCleveland Browns fans love to revel in their misery. The long list of dud coaches. The unending line of quarterback busts. The team abandoning the city only to return a few years later. And all that losing, including a winless season in 2017.But Browns Nation got some measure of payback on Sunday when the Browns beat their rivals, the Pittsburgh Steelers, 24-22, in the regular-season finale, and qualified for the N.F.L. playoffs for the first time since the 2002 season, an absence of 17 years.The two teams — the Steelers (12-4), as the third seed in the A.F.C., and the Browns (11-5), as the sixth — will meet again next week in Pittsburgh in the wild-card round.The Browns’ victory ended the longest playoff drought in the N.F.L. (the Jets now take over the top spot with a 10-year absence) and completed a makeover that began three years ago when Cleveland chose quarterback Baker Mayfield as the first overall pick in the draft.When asked about what the victory meant to the team’s fans, Mayfield said, “It means so much to this city.”The win, in front of a pandemic-limited crowd of about 12,000 fans at FirstEnergy Stadium in Cleveland, provided an extra dose of satisfaction because it came against the Steelers, who have dominated the Browns for decades. Since the Steelers beat the Browns in the wild-card round in January 2003 — Cleveland’s last postseason appearance — Pittsburgh has won 29 of their 36 matchups.During that fallow period, the Browns have burned through 25 quarterbacks, 10 head coaches and a whole lot of hope. The team has gone 91-196 since its last playoff appearance (a .317 winning percentage), a stretch that has included 14 seasons with double-digit losses. Their only winning season during that stretch had been in 2007, when the Browns were 10-6.The Steelers had clinched the A.F.C. North and had no way to claim the top seed in the A.F.C. and its first-round bye, so they sat several of their best players on Sunday, including quarterback Ben Roethlisberger.The Browns were short-handed as well. Six players were on the Covid-19 list and several offensive linemen were injured. Cleveland went without any starting wide receivers last week in a loss to the Jets because of an outbreak on the team. Several more players and coaches were added to the Covid list since then.This made the challenge bigger for the Browns, even though they were playing at home and against the Steelers’ backup quarterback, Mason Rudolph.The Browns opened with a bang, scoring a touchdown and field goal on their first three possessions, sparked in part by running back Nick Chubb, who passed 1,000 yards rushing for the season.But the Steelers kept the game close with three field goals through three quarters. The Browns, though, found a way to stay one step ahead.After Pittsburgh narrowed the score to 10-9, Mayfield scrambled for 28 yards to keep the next drive alive. He then hit tight end Austin Hooper with a 2-yard touchdown pass to put the Browns up, 17-9.On the ensuing drive, M.J. Stewart of the Browns intercepted Rudolph and returned the ball to the Pittsburgh 20-yard line. Wide receiver Jarvis Landry ran for a touchdown four plays later to push the lead to 24-9.No Browns win over the Steelers comes easily. Rudolph hit wide receiver Chase Claypool for a 28-yard score. On the next drive, the Steelers sacked Mayfield to push the Browns out of field-goal range. They then failed to convert a fourth-down play, which gave the Steelers the ball back with 3 minutes 35 seconds to play.Rudolph hit wide receiver Diontae Johnson for a 47-yard completion, then threw a touchdown to JuJu Smith-Schuster to narrow the score to 24-22.The Browns broke up the 2-point conversion to maintain the lead, but nearly fumbled the recovery on an onside kick. It wasn’t until Mayfield ran 3 yards for a first down that the Browns were able to run out the clock, secure the win and punch their ticket to the postseason.AdvertisementContinue reading the main story More

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      Giants Bumble Their Way Into a Win to Retain Playoff Hopes

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      AdvertisementContinue reading the main storySupported byContinue reading the main storygiants 23, cowboys 19Giants Bumble Their Way Into a Win to Retain Playoff HopesThe Giants’ topsy-turvy season had a fittingly odd ending. Now the team awaits the outcome of the Sunday night game between Philadelphia and Washington to learn its playoff fate.Giants running back Wayne Gallman’s late fumble against the Cowboys Sunday threw the game into momentary disarray. The officials ultimately ruled that Gallman picked up a key first down that would allow the Giants to run out the remaining clock in the victory.Credit…Robert Deutsch/USA Today Sports, via ReutersJan. 3, 2021Updated 9:30 p.m. ETPerhaps it is no surprise that a Giants regular season that began with five successive defeats, one victory in the first eight games and a startling late-season charge into playoff contention would not conclude with a routine, humdrum game. No, this topsy-turvy Giants season deserved to end with gripping drama, slapstick failure and ultimately gratifying perseverance.Sunday’s game against the Dallas Cowboys, with a potential postseason berth on the line, did not disappoint. In frantic fashion, the Giants spent nearly the entire second half desperately trying to cling to a tenuous 11-point first-half lead they had built.The tension built until the final 58 seconds of regulation, with the reeling Giants still ahead by 4 points, when the game officials huddled, and then turned to a video replay, to decide what had transpired at the bottom of a pileup caused by a shocking, bumbling fumble by running back Wayne Gallman at the Giants’ 39-yard line.Several players from both teams pounced on Gallman as he appeared to awkwardly sit directly on the loose football that had inexplicably slipped from his hands at the end of a crucial run. And when officials combed through the mass of contorted bodies atop him, there was only more confusion about the outcome as two officials initially pointed in separate directions — one awarded possession to Dallas, the other to the Giants. Moments later, the officials conferred and ruled that the Giants not only had retained the football, but that Gallman had picked up a key first down that would allow them to run out the remaining clock.Still, a last, agonizing replay review ensued, after which the call on the field was not reversed. The Giants (6-10) had earned a 23-19 victory that ended the team’s seven-game losing streak to Dallas (6-10) and temporarily kept their playoff hopes alive. If the Philadelphia Eagles defeat the Washington Football Team on Sunday night, the Giants, as champions of the N.F.C. East, would host a wild-card game next weekend against the Tampa Bay Buccaneers (11-5).The fumble, and who recovered it, was not the only controversial late-game sequence in Sunday’s game. With about seven minutes left in the fourth quarter, Giants wide receiver Dante Pettis caught a 10-yard pass, which proved pivotal when Giants place-kicker Graham Gano booted a 50-yard field goal on the next play that extended the Giants’ lead to 23-19. But video replays of the Pettis reception appeared to show that the football contacted the turf in a way that would have ruled the pass incomplete. Even though an incompletion would have moved the Giants out of field goal position, Dallas Coach Mike McCarthy did not challenge the play.The Pettis catch, and the Gano field goal it set up, became meaningful on the subsequent possession when Dallas drove inside the Giants’ 10-yard line with less than two minutes remaining. While the Cowboys were pushed back when quarterback Andy Dalton was sacked by Giants lineman Leonard Williams, if not for Gano’s field goal, they could have played conservatively for a field-goal attempt that would have given them the lead. Instead, needing a touchdown, Dalton scrambled on a third-and-17, and again under pressure from Williams, flung a desperate pass into the end zone that was intercepted by the Giants rookie safety Xavier McKinney.McCarthy said he did not challenge the Pettis reception because it was “too close” and a “bang-bang type of situation.” He added: “The three timeouts were obviously of high value there.”Roughly 15 minutes after Sunday’s game, Giants Coach Joe Judge said he would not be idle as he waited for the result of the game between the Eagles and Washington. Judge planned to go to his office and begin preparing for Tampa Bay.His assessment of the Giants’ season considered other factors.“Our season showed we had a lot of growth,” said Judge, the Giants’ rookie head coach. “I found out more about our team when we were 0-5 and 1-7. We showed a lot of character in those moments.”Judge added: “I told the guys how proud I was of them today. We had a good year — we improved every game.”Judge also said he was not surprised by the tense final moments of Sunday’s game.“I knew it would go down to the wire, as all of our division games have,” Judge said.The game did not begin as if it would be hotly contested to the end. Early on, the Giants dominated, defensively and most surprisingly on offense.Despite scoring only 26 points in their previous three games, the Giants scored a touchdown on their opening drive when wide receiver Sterling Shepard dashed 23 yards around the right end on a reverse, although Gano missed the extra point attempt after the score. The Cowboys cut the Giants’ lead in half with a 38-yard Greg Zuerlein field goal, but Shepard was the star of another Giants touchdown drive, catching a 10-yard touchdown pass from Giants quarterback Daniel Jones late in the second quarter.Dallas stayed in the game with two more Zuerlein field goals in the first half, but the Giants continued to attack, building a 20-6 lead on a 33-yard touchdown pass from Jones, who completed 17 of 25 passes for 229 yards, to Pettis.Trailing by 11 points at halftime, the Cowboys climbed back into the game when Giants tight end Evan Engram, who was recently selected for the Pro Bowl, failed to catch an accurate Jones pass over the middle early in the third quarter. Engram’s misplay was more than a drop since he deflected the football backward where it was intercepted by Dallas safety Donovan Wilson. Ten plays after the interception, Dallas running back Ezekiel Elliott bulled into the end zone with a 1-yard touchdown that trimmed the Giants’ lead to 20-16.AdvertisementContinue reading the main story More

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      Jets’ Final Loss to Patriots Comes Ahead of Expected Overhaul

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      AdvertisementContinue reading the main storySupported byContinue reading the main storyPatriots 28, jets 14Jets’ Final Loss to Patriots Comes Ahead of Expected OverhaulThe Jets lost an early lead to New England and finish with a 2-14 record amid reports that Coach Adam Gase will be fired and as the team decides whether it will retain quarterback Sam Darnold.Cam Newton ran past Jets safety Marcus Maye in the first half of the Patriots’ win on Sunday. Both players’ futures with their teams are up in the air.Credit…Winslow Townson/USA Today Sports, via ReutersJan. 3, 2021Updated 9:29 p.m. ETFOXBOROUGH, Mass. — Cam Newton saved his best performance this season for what was likely his final game with the New England Patriots.Newton threw three touchdown passes and caught another, and the Patriots rallied to beat the Jets, 28-14, on Sunday.The win snapped a three-game losing streak for New England (7-9), which earned its 10th straight win over the Jets (2-14) but won’t be playing in the postseason for the first time since the 2008 season.While it won’t erase the disappointment of New England missing the playoffs, it was a nice finish for Newton, who entered the season with the weighty task of succeeding Tom Brady following his departure to Tampa Bay.Newton was 21 of 30 for 242 yards, his first game with multiple passing touchdowns this season. He also ran 11 times for 79 yards. Newton played under a one-year deal this season. He said he hasn’t contemplated where he will go from here.“I have my desires,” he said. “I know where my heart’s at. I know the things of who I am. But as far as that, I can’t really speak on that right now. But just my whole time in New England has just been a blessing. Just see how it goes and go from there.”Coach Bill Belichick said that after a disappointing stretch he was proud of the way his team bounced back“It was good to end a disappointing season on a positive note,” he said.Belichick said he wasn’t prepared to address Newton’s future.“I don’t really have anything to say about next year,” Belichick said.New England trailed 14-7 early in the third quarter, but outscored the Jets 21-0 the rest of the way in what was likely Adam Gase’s final game as the Jets’ coach. Gase said he didn’t have any expectations regarding his future.“I’m sure we’ll talk tonight or tomorrow,” Gase said. “I’m not going to predict anything.”Quarterback Sam Darnold, whose future with the Jets is also uncertain, was 23 of 34 for 266 yards, a touchdown and two second-half interceptions. Like Gase, he said he wasn’t thinking about his future beyond Sunday.“I’m not going to do that right now,” Darnold said. “Whether I stay, whether I leave — whatever happens, I’ll deal with it when it comes.”The Jets moved quickly on the first possession of the third quarter, taking their lead on Josh Adams’ 1-yard touchdown run. The score was set up by a 53-yard completion from Darnold to Breshad Perriman that got the ball inside the Patriots’ 15-yard line.New England went to its bag of tricks to tie it back up.With the ball on the Jets’ 19-yard line, Newton handed the ball off to Sony Michel, who flipped the ball back to receiver Jakobi Meyers on an end-around. But Meyers stopped in the backfield and tossed a pass to a wide-open Newton for the touchdown. It marked the second touchdown pass of the season for Meyers.Darnold was intercepted by J.C. Jackson on the Jets’ ensuing drive, giving the ball back to the Patriots on the Jets’ 45-yard line.The Patriots took advantage, scoring four plays later on a 26-yard touchdown pass from Newton to tight end Devin Asiasi to make the score 21-14 with 13:56 left in the game.Two series later, Newton connected with Michel for a 31-yard score.It was 7-7 at halftime as both offenses had trouble sustaining drives. The exceptions came at the beginning and end of the half.Newton made plays with both his arm and feet on the opening series of the game to put the Patriots in front.First, he scampered for a 49-yard run to get New England down to the 15-yard line. Four plays later, he connected with James White on a 7-yard touchdown pass to cap a seven-play, 84-yard drive.The Jets had their most success on their second to last possession of the first half when Darnold punctuated their 10-play, 80-yard drive by threading a pass between a pair of defenders in the end zone to Chris Herndon for a 21-yard touchdown.AdvertisementContinue reading the main story More

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      NFL Week 17: What We Learned

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      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

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      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

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      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