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      Alvin Kamara Runs for Six Touchdowns Against Vikings

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      AdvertisementContinue reading the main storySupported byContinue reading the main storyAlvin Kamara Runs for Six Touchdowns Against VikingsThe Saints running back tied an N.F.L. record set in 1929 in New Orleans’ 52-33 win over the Minnesota Vikings.Alvin Kamara rushed for a career-high 155 yards.Credit…Butch Dill/Associated PressDec. 25, 2020NEW ORLEANS (AP) — Alvin Kamara expects to be fined for wearing a pair of Christmas-themed cleats that, as it turned out, would also be worthy of a Hall of Fame display.With a red shoe on his right foot and a green one on his left, Kamara tied an N.F.L. record set in 1929 by running for six touchdowns in a game. He finished with a career-high 155 yards rushing to help the New Orleans Saints beat the Minnesota Vikings 52-33 on Friday and clinch their fourth straight N.F.C. South title.“It just feels good to have one of those days, just for the team,” Kamara said, showering credit on the Saints’ offensive line.“I’m not focused on personal, like, goals and yards and stuff like that,” Kamara continued. “As long as the team has success, then personal success will come.”That personal success has come all season for Kamara, who during training camp signed a five-year contract worth up to $75 million. He has since set franchise records for rushing touchdowns in a season with 16 and total touchdowns with 21.A possible fine would come from wearing shoes that didn’t conform to the N.F.L.’s uniform codes.“If they fine me, whatever it is, I’ll just match it and donate to charity,” he said. “You know, the Grinch always tries to steal Christmas.”Kamara slipped a couple of tackle attempts and then sprinted into the clear for a 40-yard touchdown on the game’s opening drive. He added scoring runs of 1, 5, 6, 7 and 3 yards against a Minnesota defensive front hit hard by injuries, and equaled the Hall of Fame fullback Ernie Nevers’ achievement.“It was awesome,” Saints quarterback Drew Brees said. “Six touchdowns for a running back is just astounding.”The Saints celebrated Kamara’s final touchdown by making snow angels in the end zone.Credit…Butch Dill/Associated PressMinnesota (6-9) was eliminated from playoff contention while allowing the most points by any Vikings team since 1963, the franchise’s third N.F.L. season. The Vikings also allowed the most yards in a game at 583. The Saints (11-4) never punted.“They just mashed us up front,” Vikings Coach Mike Zimmer said, calling his defense “the worst one I’ve ever had” as a coach. “We couldn’t slow them down. It would be 8-yard gain, 7-yard gain.”Saints Coach Sean Payton said it felt like a Canadian Football League game, with many first-down conversions coming before New Orleans even got to third down. The Saints might have won by a greater margin if not for two interceptions of Drew Brees, one of them on a pass that deflected off receiver Emmanuel Sanders’ hands.Brees completed 19 of 26 throws for 311 yards in his second game back from rib and lung injuries that had sidelined him for four games.Sanders had four catches for 83 yards, while tight end Jared Cook caught three passes for 82 yards. New Orleans’ 264 yards rushing were the most by a Vikings opponent in Zimmer’s seven seasons.New Orleans native Irv Smith Jr. caught a pair of touchdown passes in the third quarter for the Vikings, with the second pulling Minnesota to within 31-27. But the Saints responded with two short touchdown runs by Kamara and one by the versatile Taysom Hill in the fourth quarter to put the game out of reach.Kirk Cousins passed for 283 yards and three touchdowns for the Vikings, who never led and trailed for good after Kamara’s second touchdown in the first quarter.Saints players celebrated the last Kamara touchdown by pretending to make snow angels on the Superdome turf, which center Erik McCoy planned during the final drive as something that stuck with the Christmas theme.Payton, who spent part of his youth in the Chicago area, was thinking about Gale Sayers’ six-touchdown game (four rushing, two receiving) against San Francisco in 1965 when he called the play that led to Kamara’s final score with just less than two minutes left.“I’d say most of these players have no idea how good Gale Sayers was,” Payton said, adding that Kamara’s touchdown total “was a big deal. He played fantastic.”The Saints will visit the Carolina Panthers on Jan. 3, the final Sunday of the regular season, while Minnesota will visit the Detroit Lions.AdvertisementContinue reading the main story More

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      NFL Week 16 Predictions: Our Picks Against the Spread

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      AdvertisementContinue reading the main storySupported byContinue reading the main storyN.F.L. Week 16 Predictions: Our Picks Against the SpreadThe Colts are favored on the road in Pittsburgh, the Rams will try to stay alive in Seattle and a frozen matchup between Tennessee and Green Bay should still have plenty of offense.Linebacker Darius Leonard is one of the game’s best defenders. The Colts finally surrounded him with enough talent for that to matter.Credit…AJ Mast/Associated PressDec. 24, 2020, 12:01 a.m. ETThe N.F.L. playoff picture should come into sharp focus this weekend, with several division titles and wild-card spots likely to be decided. There will be games on Friday, Saturday, Sunday and Monday, and while a few of them are irrelevant, most can have an impact on the standings.Here is a look at N.F.L. Week 16, with all picks made against the spread.Last week’s record: 8-6-2Overall record: 110-107-7A look ahead at Week 16:Sunday’s Best GamesFriday’s MatchupSaturday’s MatchupsSunday’s Games That Matter (a Little)Sunday’s Games That Don’t MatterMonday’s MatchupHow Betting Lines WorkSunday’s Best GamesIndianapolis Colts at Pittsburgh Steelers, 1 p.m., CBSLine: Colts -1.5 | Total: 44.5The Colts (10-4) have seemed better than the Steelers (11-3) for much of this season — and the team’s records are getting closer to reflecting that.Indianapolis has won five of its last six games, getting contributions from newcomers (the rookie running back Jonathan Taylor, quarterback Philip Rivers, defensive tackle DeForest Buckner) and mainstays (linebacker Darius Leonard, wide receiver T.Y. Hilton). A tiebreaker has the Colts trailing Tennessee in the A.F.C. South, but there is no question Indianapolis did a fine job of rebuilding its team in the last off-season.Pittsburgh, on the other hand, is falling apart. There was a sense during the team’s 11-0 start that the Steelers (11-3) were being overrated, but no one expected three straight losses. Before this year, only nine teams had opened with an 11-0 record in the 16-game era, and just one of those — the 2009 New Orleans Saints — lost three of its final five games. That Pittsburgh matched that ignominious feat with two games remaining is humiliating, but the Steelers can take solace in the fact that the Saints won the Super Bowl that season.Being a favorite on the road in Pittsburgh this late in the season is unusual territory for the Colts, but based on what we have seen in recent weeks, it seems justifiable. Pick: Colts -1.5Green Bay’s Davante Adams has a career high in touchdowns (14) and a chance to set a personal best in receiving yards despite missing two games.Credit…Benny Sieu/USA Today Sports, via ReutersTennessee Titans at Green Bay Packers, 8:20 p.m., NBCLine: Packers -3.5 | Total: 56Only three teams are averaging more than 30 points a game, and two of them face off here. Oddsmakers are expecting it to be the highest-scoring game of the week, and while 56 is a respectable number, you have to wonder how much higher that would be if the forecast in Green Bay didn’t call for temperatures in the 20s and a chance of snow.The Titans (10-4) have been on a roll, with Derrick Henry running roughshod over all comers and Ryan Tannehill making opponents pay for stacking the box by stretching the field with the passing game. That recipe has led to five straight games in which Tennessee had at least 420 yards of total offense and 30 points.The Packers (11-3) have been enjoying an M.V.P.-level season from Aaron Rodgers and a career year from wide receiver Davante Adams, leading to Green Bay’s being held to fewer than 30 points just three times. And while Aaron Jones has fewer rushing touchdowns than he did last season, he is on track to surpass last year’s rushing total while averaging 5.4 yards a carry.Both teams have a great deal of motivation to win, with Tennessee trying to fight off Indianapolis for the A.F.C. South title and Green Bay on the verge of securing the N.F.C.’s first-round bye. But the Packers’ experience in poor weather could be what decides this one. Pick: Packers -3.5Los Angeles Rams at Seattle Seahawks, 4:25 p.m., FoxLine: Seahawks -1.5 | Total: 47.5You have to assume the Rams (9-5) squandered their chance at an N.F.C. West title with last week’s abject failure against the Jets. Los Angeles could have come into this game with the same record as the Seahawks (10-4). Instead, Seattle can clinch the division with a win at home. The Rams are still overwhelmingly likely to make the playoffs — a win for them or a loss by Chicago will be enough to get them there — but it is hard to be enthusiastic about a team that allows itself to be beaten by the Jets, who had a talent deficiency at every position. Pick: Seahawks -1.5Atlanta Falcons at Kansas City Chiefs, 1 p.m., FoxLine: Chiefs -10.5 | Total: 54There is little at stake in this game. The Falcons (4-10) have been eliminated from playoff contention, and while the Chiefs (13-1) can clinch the A.F.C.’s lone first-round bye with a win, they would still have a 98 percent chance of the top seed even if they lost both of their remaining games, according to The Upshot.With stakes that low, there is no reason to rush the return of running back Clyde Edwards-Helaire, and Kansas City should be considering resting other key players as well. That could open the door for Atlanta to cover, but the Chiefs should still win. Pick: Falcons +10.5Friday’s MatchupJustin Jefferson, right, and Adam Thielen, center, are frequent dance partners in the end zone, but Minnesota’s defense tends to let the team down.Credit…Brace Hemmelgarn/USA Today Sports, via ReutersMinnesota Vikings at New Orleans Saints, 4:30 p.m., Fox, NFL Network and Prime VideoLine: Saints -7.5 | Total: 51.5Even with consecutive losses, the Saints (10-4) can secure their fourth consecutive division title simply by beating the Vikings (6-8) or having Tampa Bay lose.Will Minnesota put up much resistance? Probably not enough to matter. The Vikings have an incredibly talented offense, with Dalvin Cook, Justin Jefferson and Adam Thielen putting on a show even in losses. But Minnesota’s defense is still so young and inconsistent that the team typically gives up just enough points to lose.Drew Brees looked rusty last week, and wide receiver Michael Thomas is out for the rest of the season with an ankle injury. So while a New Orleans win is likely, this game could be close. Pick: Vikings +7.5Saturday’s MatchupsRather than throwing within 10 yards of Miami’s Xavien Howard, opponents should consider punting the ball away. The net result would be preferable.Credit…Isaiah J. Downing/USA Today Sports, via ReutersMiami Dolphins at Las Vegas Raiders, 8:15 p.m., NFL NetworkLine: Dolphins -3 | Total: 47.5At this point it is ridiculous that opposing quarterbacks are challenging Xavien Howard of the Dolphins (9-5). He is the top-rated coverage cornerback, according to Pro Football Focus, but teams have thrown in his direction often enough that he is leading the N.F.L. with nine interceptions and has produced a takeaway in 10 of Miami’s 14 games.If the Raiders (7-7) want to win this game, they should give Howard the old Darrelle Revis “island” treatment. But it shouldn’t matter much if Derek Carr (injured groin) or Marcus Mariota starts at quarterback for Las Vegas, as the Dolphins are a better team and have more motivation to win thanks to their dogfight with Baltimore for the A.F.C.’s last wild-card spot. Pick: Dolphins -3Tampa Bay Buccaneers at Detroit Lions, 1 p.m., NFL NetworkLine: Buccaneers -9.5 | Total: 54When Matthew Stafford inevitably makes a run at Drew Brees’s record for career passing yards, stretches like the final three weeks of this season will be a big reason. Stafford sustained a rib injury in Week 14; it was serious enough that he struggled to walk. He surprised everyone by starting in Week 15, and threw for 252 yards in a loss to Tennessee. Detroit is eliminated from playoff contention, and Stafford’s ribs are still extremely sore, but the team’s interim coach, Darrell Bevell, said there were no plans to shut down the veteran quarterback: “To be honest with you, I don’t think he’ll let that happen.”So what should people expect from this game? Between hard hits from the fierce pass rush of the Buccaneers (9-5), Stafford will probably throw for 250 to 300 yards and the Lions (5-9) will lose anyway. Because a win or a tie will put Tampa Bay in the playoffs for the first time since 2007, that series of events will be acceptable to the Buccaneers. Covering the spread will be harder, though, with running back Ronald Jones out after a positive test for the coronavirus. Pick: Lions +9.5San Francisco 49ers at Arizona Cardinals, 4:30 p.m., Prime VideoLine: Cardinals -5 | Total: 49Both teams should feel at home since the 49ers (5-9) have relocated to Arizona as a result of coronavirus regulations in California. That’s the most interesting subplot of a game between San Francisco’s injury-riddled team and the Cardinals (8-6), an up-and-coming squad that can clinch its first playoff berth since 2015 by winning Saturday and having Chicago lose to or tie Jacksonville. With Nick Mullens requiring elbow surgery, San Francisco will start C.J. Beathard at quarterback. Quarterback record is an overrated statistic, but Beathard has lived up to his last name with a career mark of 1-9. Pick: Cardinals -5Sunday’s Games That Matter (a Little)Lamar Jackson and Marquise Brown have had fun beating up on lesser teams in the last few weeks. That trend could continue.Credit…Rob Carr/Getty ImagesGiants at Baltimore Ravens, 1 p.m., FoxLine: Ravens -11 | Total: 45The Giants (5-9) are clinging to a shred of a chance at winning the N.F.C. East, but they are running into the Ravens (9-5) at the wrong time. Baltimore is through its tough patch and appears to have its offensive issues worked out — at least against the league’s lesser teams — and that takes this game from potentially interesting to a comical mismatch.The Ravens need to keep winning if they want to overtake Miami for the A.F.C.’s last playoff spot, and a home game against a team that is coming apart at the seams is an excellent opportunity for them to flex their muscles. Pick: Ravens -11Carolina Panthers at Washington Football Team, 4:05 p.m., CBSLine: Footballers -2.5 | Total: 44.5The late-night escapades of Dwayne Haskins resulted in the young quarterback being fined, but he wasn’t suspended. That leaves the Footballers (6-8) with a decent enough option should Alex Smith be unable to return from a calf injury. Smith is the team’s best option, and gives Washington its best chance of making the playoffs, but his health casts doubt on this game against the Panthers (4-10) that wouldn’t be there if he were 100 percent.The combination of a Washington win and a loss by the Giants would secure the N.F.C. East title for the Footballers, and having that decided this week would be welcome for a team that is trying to get healthy. Pick: Footballers -2.5Cleveland Browns at Jets, 1 p.m., CBSLine: Browns -9.5 | Total: 47The Jets (1-13) had no motivation to beat the Rams last week beyond avoiding a winless season, but that was enough to power them to the most surprising result of the year. The victory, however, splashed cold water on their future. Combined with tiebreaker scenarios, the win meant the Jets were no longer in line for the No. 1 pick in next year’s draft.Now they will host the Browns (10-4), who are significantly better than them in every facet of the game. Cleveland can clinch its first playoff berth since 2002 by winning and having Baltimore, Miami or Indianapolis lose. Pick: Browns -9.5Chicago Bears at Jacksonville Jaguars, 1 p.m., CBSLine: Bears -7.5 | Total: 47Despite a recent surge, the Bears (7-7) are on the outside of the playoff picture looking in. While a win over the Jaguars (1-13) is certainly attainable — if Jacksonville loses out, it will have the No. 1 pick in next year’s draft — Chicago’s only real shot at the playoffs is to have Arizona fall apart. It’s still nice to see the Bears right the ship, even if it leads to nothing, as the team’s defense deserved much better than it got from its offense during a six-game losing streak. The Bears should win, but there are too many variables to assume they will cover. Pick: Jaguars +7.5Sunday’s Games That Don’t MatterThe Eagles have been doing a lot of celebrating since Jalen Hurts took over at quarterback.Credit…Joe Camporeale/USA Today Sports, via ReutersPhiladelphia Eagles at Dallas Cowboys, 4:25 p.m., FoxLine: Eagles -2.5 | Total: 49.5The ridiculous nature of the N.F.C. East means that neither of these teams has been officially eliminated. But the Eagles (4-9-1) have only a 10 percent chance of capturing the N.F.L.’s worst division, according to The Upshot, and the Cowboys (5-9) have a 6 percent chance. The game is worth watching to see Philadelphia’s Jalen Hurts continue to grow into his role as a starting quarterback, and Dallas’s skill players are good enough to make Andy Dalton serviceable on a good day. Pick: Eagles -2.5Denver Broncos at Los Angeles Chargers, 4:05 p.m., CBSLine: Chargers -3 | Total: 48.5Come for the meeting of promising young A.F.C. West quarterbacks. Stay if it is your local broadcast and you don’t have access to out-of-market games. The Broncos (5-9) and the Chargers (5-9) have been eliminated from playoff contention, but these will be teams to watch for next season. Pick: Chargers -3Cincinnati Bengals at Houston Texans, 1 p.m., FoxLine: Texans -8 | Total: 46The Bengals (3-10-1) are fresh off an upset of Pittsburgh, and thanks to Deshaun Watson, the Texans (4-10) can often do an impression of a competent team. There isn’t a lot of motivation to go around, which makes a hefty point spread a bit curious. Pick: Bengals +8Monday’s MatchupIn his first season with the Bills, Stefon Diggs has career highs in receptions and receiving yards.Credit…Jack Dempsey/Associated PressBuffalo Bills at New England Patriots, 8:15 p.m., ESPN and ABCLine: Bills -7 | Total: 46How you feel about this game probably comes down to how petty you believe the Bills (11-3) are. After years of abuse at the hands of the Patriots (6-8), Buffalo has clinched its first A.F.C. East title since 1995. The team has a 1 percent shot at overtaking Kansas City for a first-round bye, so there’s little reason for the Bills to go all out. But Coach Bill Belichick will be standing on the opposite sideline, and watching him squirm might be reason enough for Josh Allen, Stefon Diggs and the rest of Buffalo’s stars to try to put on a show in Foxborough, Mass.A season-ending injury to New England’s best defender, Stephon Gilmore, complicates things further and pushes a full touchdown spread into reasonable territory. Pick: Bills -7How 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. Colts -1.5, for example, means that Indianapolis must beat Pittsburgh by at least 2 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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      Kevin Greene, Master of Sacking the Quarterback, Dies at 58

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      AdvertisementContinue reading the main storySupported byContinue reading the main storyKevin Greene, Master of Sacking the Quarterback, Dies at 58A charismatic player with seemingly inexhaustible energy, he recorded the third-most sacks in N.F.L. history and the most by a linebacker.The linebacker Kevin Greene in 1994, the year he led the N.F.L. in sacks for the Pittsburgh Steelers. He said that sacking a quarterback brought him relief.Credit…George Gojkovich/Getty ImagesDec. 22, 2020Kevin Greene, a relentless linebacker who attacked quarterbacks like prey on his way to recording the third-most sacks in National Football League history, died on Monday at his home in Destin, Fla. He was 58.The Pro Football Hall of Fame announced his death but did not provide a cause.Over 15 seasons with the Los Angeles Rams, Pittsburgh Steelers, Carolina Panthers and San Francisco 49ers, Greene used his speed and strength, mostly from the outside linebacker position, to hunt quarterbacks. His 160 regular-season sacks rank third behind the totals of the defensive ends Bruce Smith (200) and Reggie White (198).“I believed in my heart that I was unblockable,” Greene said in 2016 during his Pro Football Hall of Fame enshrinement in Canton, Ohio.Greene was a brash and charismatic performer on the field, possessed of long blond hair that flowed from beneath his helmet and seemingly inexhaustible energy.“He was an awesome force on the field and as a person,” Bill Cowher, the former Steelers coach, said in an interview. “When you coached him, he gave you everything he had. He was a man of tremendous energy, passion and respect.”Greene registered 16.5 sacks in both 1988 and 1989, then 13 more in 1990, while playing for the Rams. But he did not lead the league until he had 14 in 1994, with the Steelers, and 14.5 in 1996, with the Panthers. In 1998, his penultimate season, he had 15 sacksGreene said that sacking a quarterback brought him relief.“My teammates depended on me to do that,” he said in an undated interview on Steelers.com. “I contributed. I didn’t want to let my teammates down. I did something to stop that drive. Either I hit the quarterback at the right time and caused a fumble we recovered, or we got an interception.”He added: “A sack was different than making a tackle for a loss, or a tackle at the line of scrimmage. It was just me making a contribution and not letting my brothers down.”Greene (91) in action for the Los Angeles Rams in 1989. In his 15-year career he played for the Rams, Steelers, Carolina Panthers and San Francisco 49ers.Credit…Allen Dean Steele/Allsport, via Getty ImagesKevin Darwin Greene was born on July 31, 1962, in Schenectady, N.Y., to Patricia and Therman Greene. His father served in the Army for 30 years and retired as a colonel.When he lived on the Army base in Mannheim, West Germany, where his father was stationed, “football began to burn inside of me,” he said in his Hall of Fame speech. He played against other military youngsters — “the best that the athletic youth association had to offer.”His family returned to the United States in time for him to attend high school in Granite City, Ill., where he played football and basketball and was a high jumper on the track team.He entered Auburn University in 1980, but failed to make the football team as a punter. He played intramural football before joining the varsity in 1984 as a walk-on, playing defensive end.“He had the physical tools and ability, and he came with a vengeance,” the longtime Auburn coach Pat Dye said in a 2016 NFL Films documentary about Greene. “But the thing that set him apart is what he had inside of him. He played the game with every molecule in his body.”Greene was drafted by the Rams in the fifth round of the 1985 N.F.L. draft. He played defensive end at first before moving to outside linebacker, where he thrived in the 3-4 defensive scheme — three linemen and four linebackers — which suited him best. But he left for Pittsburgh as a free agent in 1993 after the Rams shifted to a 4-3 defense.“If you were going to play against Kevin, it was going to be a full day’s work,” Dom Capers, who coached Greene in a 3-4 formation as the defensive coordinator of the Steelers and the head coach of the Panthers, said in an interview. “He’d get sacks late in a down by outworking the other guy. He had that extra something, that ‘it,’ you were looking for.”Late in his football career, Greene wrestled occasionally for the World Championship Wrestling circuit, most notably teaming with Roddy Piper and Ric Flair to win a match at the Slamboree in 1997.After retiring from football in 1999, he pursued some business ventures and N.F.L. coaching internships. In 2009, when Capers was the defensive coordinator of the Green Bay Packers, he brought Greene along as his outside linebackers coach.“There’s no better guy to teach young guys,” Capers said, “and Clay Matthews made the Pro Bowl four out of the five years Kevin coached him. Kevin lit a fire under Clay.”Greene left the Packers in 2013 to coach his son, Gavin, in high school football. In 2017 and 2018, he coached the Jets’ outside linebackers.In addition to his son, Greene’s survivors include his wife, Tara, and his daughter, Gabrielle.While coaching the Packers’ outside linebackers, Greene reflected on the differences between sacking quarterbacks and teaching others to pursue them.“It’s hard to replace sacking Joe Montana and the next week going to Denver and knocking around John Elway and Dan Marino the following week,” he was quoted as saying in Madison.com, the website of the Wisconsin State Journal. As a player, he said, “you’re in the flame and you get burned and you feel that.” As a coach, “you’re standing next to the fire and you feel its warmth. It feels good.”AdvertisementContinue reading the main story More

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      How The New England Patriots' Dynasty Fell

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      AdvertisementContinue reading the main storySupported byContinue reading the main storyTrend WatchThe Fall of the House of BelichickEmpires never fall in a day. The Patriots have been quietly crumbling from within for years.The end of the Patriots’ dynasty came in Miami, on a field where they had enjoyed years of victories.Credit…Mark Brown/Getty ImagesDec. 22, 2020Just as Constantinople had shrunk to a shadow of its former glory by the time it was finally conquered by the Ottoman Empire in 1453, the New England Patriots were a mere shell of a once mighty dynasty when they were eliminated from the 2020 N.F.L. playoffs on Sunday.Constantinople’s nigh-impenetrable walls were guarded by a meager militia before the city fell, just as players named Damiere Byrd and Devin Asiasi now occupy positions once manned by Patriots legends like Randy Moss and Rob Gronkowski. The Ottoman conquerors were stunned to see fallow fields encroaching upon the Hagia Sophia; the Miami Dolphins were probably also shocked when the Patriots kept running off tackle and meekly settling for field goals in Sunday’s 22-12 loss. When the end came to the city, the Byzantine capital’s most precious treasures and icons had already been looted by Venice, the Tampa Bay Buccaneers of the late medieval period.The Patriots have missed the playoffs only twice before since 2000, so when Sunday’s defeat dropped them to 6-8 and guaranteed their first nonwinning season in 20 years, it felt natural to seek world-changing historical precedents for their tumble into mediocrity and irrelevance. And history teaches us that empires never fall in a day. The Patriots have been quietly crumbling from within for years.The N.F.L. erodes dynasties by design. The salary cap prevents teams from building perennial powerhouses. The draft punishes plutocrats and rewards serfs. The Patriots should have been torn apart by a bloated payroll and a dearth of young talent a decade ago, but Coach Bill Belichick found clever ways to leverage the team’s prestige and organizational continuity to subvert the N.F.L.’s quest for parity.Bill Belichick papered over the Patriots’ cracks for years before the bill finally came due.Credit…Cj Gunther/EPA, via ShutterstockFor many years, the Patriots identified failing prospects from other teams with the potential to succeed in their system, acquired those players at low cost, assigned them roles in which they thrived, then let them depart after a few years. Often they left as top-dollar free agents, with the Patriots acquiring supplemental draft picks from the league in exchange. They used those picks to assemble new rosters with even more role players. In a pinch, the Patriots rented the services, via trade or free agency, of a big-name veteran (Darrelle Revis, Chris Long, Brandin Cooks) eager to win a Super Bowl at Tom Brady’s side.The Patriots were able to use success to sustain success so long as they rarely made personnel mistakes, and as Brady could still single-handedly elevate the team’s offense while rallying mercenaries to his banner. But years of unproductive drafts led to a slow cycle of diminishing returns. By last season’s quick playoff exit, the Patriots’ roster had grown noticeably patchy, and Brady was showing signs of age and displeasure.Brady’s departure as a free agent was the obvious tipping point in the decline. Making matters worse, he had outlasted his would-be successors Jimmy Garoppolo and Jacoby Brissett and appeared unwilling to suffer the presence of any other plausible heirs apparent, leaving the Patriots without even a stopgap quarterback. Yet surely Belichick had something up his sleeve: Perhaps Jarrett Stidham, a lowly former sixth-round pick like the young Brady, was the new chosen one, or the team would purposely go 0-16 for a year and draft Clemson’s Trevor Lawrence.Instead, in late June, the Patriots grabbed Cam Newton off the free-agent discount rack. At first, it looked to be typical Belichick brilliance: The Patriots would restore Newton’s most valuable player luster and remain in contention while plotting their next move. In reality, it was a desperate move.Newton gamely kept New England respectable early in the season, but the depleted Patriots roster was weakened by multiple coronavirus positives and opt-outs, Newton lacked quality receivers to throw to, his own skills were noticeably diminished, and the Patriots’ defense buckled.Cam Newton wasn’t so much the cause of the Patriots’ problems as much as another victim of them.Credit…Elise Amendola/Associated PressDefeats at the hands of former Super Bowl conquests like the Seattle Seahawks and the Los Angeles Rams and against long-subjugated fiefs like the Buffalo Bills and the Houston Texans took on apocalyptic symbolism. Belichick began appearing before the news media in hoodies that were even more tattered than usual: the emperor now a penitent in sackcloth, muttering about past accomplishments and making uncharacteristic excuses.Finally, the Dolphins, once an obedient vassal state, coached by a former Belichick subordinate, Brian Flores, and fielding a roster featuring several ex-Patriots, delivered Sunday’s almost merciful coup de grâce.Few outside the realm mourn the fall of an empire. Bills fans met their team at the airport after Saturday night’s victory over the Denver Broncos to rejoice in their first A.F.C. East title since 1995. The Dolphins, the Cleveland Browns and other franchises appear invigorated by the fact that all roads to a championship no longer lead to an impregnable fortress in the Boston exurbs. Patrick Mahomes’s Kansas City Chiefs are now the conference’s lone superpower, and they are easy to cast as lovable new heroes after Belichick and Brady’s increasingly joyless, generation-long quest to conquer all they surveyed.The collapse of an empire can lead to a dark age, but it’s just as likely to pave the way for a renaissance. Not long after Constantinople got the works, it became Istanbul and grew back into the cosmopolitan city that it remains to this day. The Patriots will also rise again, thanks in part to the same forces that helped destroy them. It will just take a few years of rebuilding and some fresh talent, ideas and philosophies.Oh, and Niccolò Machiavelli rose to prominence in Florence not that long after the fall of Constantinople. So Belichick will probably land on his feet.AdvertisementContinue reading the main story More

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      No Chiefs, Braves, Blackhawks and Seminoles. Remove Indigenous Names Now.

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      #masthead-section-label, #masthead-bar-one { display: none }Race and PolicingFacts on Walter Wallace Jr. CaseFacts on Breonna Taylor CaseFacts on Daniel Prude CaseFacts on George Floyd CaseAdvertisementContinue reading the main storySupported byContinue reading the main storySPORTS OF THE TIMESIt’s 2020. Indigenous Team Names in Sports Have to Go.The Chiefs, Braves, Blackhawks and Seminoles need to follow the Cleveland baseball team in dropping their offensive names.Kansas City Chiefs fans in January, before the team banned headdresses and face paint.Credit…Charlie Neibergall/Associated PressDec. 21, 2020, 3:00 a.m. ETBefore the Kansas City Chiefs play, Rhonda LeValdo does not feel excitement and joy. She feels outrage.LeValdo, a Native American activist, has protested outside Chiefs home games since 2005. Kansas City still allows fans at the unfortunately named Arrowhead Stadium.She opposes traditions that have long been staples at Kansas City games. The horse called Warpaint prancing on the sideline. The beating drums. The battle cries filling the air as thousands of fans pantomime tomahawk chops.She wants the team to change its nickname: No more Chiefs.“Every single game brings trauma for me,” says LeValdo, who teaches communications at Haskell Indian Nations University in Lawrence, Kan. The tired customs force her to remember massacres and stolen land. Then there are the glares and taunts from fans as she and the others in her group pass by.“I worry for my life every time we go out there.”The protests seemed hopeless for years. Then came this spring, after George Floyd’s death while in the custody of the Minneapolis police. Amid the nationwide push to re-examine racial discrimination, a clamor from the public and sponsors forced Washington’s N.F.L. team to abandon its racist name.Last week, Cleveland’s baseball team decided that starting in 2022, it would no longer call itself the Indians.For the first time, LeValdo is feeling optimistic. “We’re trying to ride a wave,” she says. “Trying to keep pushing and keep holding teams accountable. The fight for justice has to be addressed with all races, which means it must include the Indigenous people of this land. We are part of this conversation, as well.”Many Native American groups have long opposed sports teams’ using Indigenous names and imagery.Credit…Richard Tsong-Taatarii/Star Tribune, via Associated PressMy recent conversations with several influential Native American educators and activists revealed a shared optimism with LeValdo. They are buoyed not only by the changes in Washington and Cleveland, but also by the Canadian Football League’s Edmonton Eskimos, who announced a name change, too. And by professional hockey in Sweden, where the Frolunda Indians say they will soon have a new moniker.Activists now say it is time to increase the pressure on big-time American professional and college teams whose insolent mascots, and nicknames have too often escaped scrutiny.Agreed.The Chiefs need a makeover. Patrick Mahomes, are you listening?So, too, do baseball’s Atlanta Braves, hockey’s Chicago Blackhawks and the Florida State University Seminoles.True, there are Native Americans who say they don’t mind the caricatures and tired tropes. Like any ethnic group, Indigenous people hold a full range of views. Nor should it be surprising that a people so subjugated, brutalized and sidelined — who suffered through decades of forced assimilation — would include voices that back the status quo.But among the most important lessons of this year’s reckoning is this: Society had better start listening to those who have been shouting for years that enough is enough — and to the fresh calls for change coming from youth.Objectifying Native Americans, using them as props, failing to acknowledge their complexities, must stop. And in the sports world, that extends beyond the issue of team names and mascots.What do you know about Jim Thorpe? Were you taught his history in school?In 1951, when The Associated Press asked reporters to name the finest athlete of the 20th century’s first half, Babe Ruth came in second. The winner was Thorpe.Jim Thorpe, left, was a Native American and one of the greatest athletes in history, but a fight erupted over displaying his remains.Credit…Associated PressDid you know that Thorpe handily won the decathlon and pentathlon in the 1912 Olympics? That in the same year, he led the football team at Carlisle, his Native American boarding school, to a 27-6 demolition of a powerhouse Army team at West Point? Were you aware of how he was a pioneer in pro football and played six seasons in major league baseball?For all his greatness, Thorpe ended up being treated the same way Native Americans have for centuries: in too many corners, his legacy is either dimly remembered, recalled simplistically, or forgotten altogether.And when he died in 1953, he became a prop.His third wife, a white woman with no ties to Thorpe’s Sac and Fox Nation, barged into a sacred burial ceremony held on his native lands in Oklahoma. Despite protests from tribal leaders and his children from previous marriages, she snatched Thorpe’s body with the help of state troopers. Then she ended up shopping his remains to the highest bidder.That is how the bones of one of the greatest athletes in history ended up where they are today: in a roadside mausoleum on the outskirts of a Pennsylvania town that renamed itself Jim Thorpe, all in a bid to attract tourists and boost the local economy.For years, Thorpe’s tribe and his sons fought to have his remains sent back to Oklahoma. The town fought back. Thorpe is their commodity. Many who live there say they are giving him admiration and respect.You don’t have to look far to find major sports teams justifying their racism by claiming the same.This summer, the Atlanta Braves released a statement saying their team “honors, supports, and values the Native American community.”Native American groups have denounced the tomahawk chop performed by Atlanta Braves fans.Credit…Kevin Jairaj/USA Today Sports, via ReutersBut a name change does not appear in the works for the team. And though the club says it is considering whether to dump its ritual tomahawk chop, such a move is no sure bet.The Braves are said to have appropriated the chop and battle shouts from Florida State University, which still embraces that tradition. Florida State’s mascot is Osceola, a famed leader of the Seminole Indians who is played by a student. At football games, the mascot rides a horse to midfield and plants a burning spear in the turf.The university, by the way, claims on an official website that Osceola is not a mascot. Instead, Florida State calls its faux Native American warrior “a symbol that we respect and prize.”Ugh.The Chicago Blackhawks hold tight to the same rationalization. Since the team’s inception in the 1920s, its jerseys have featured a cartoonish image of the Native American warrior who is the team’s namesake.Like most teams that brand themselves with racist tropes, the Blackhawks have sought cover in the form of endorsements from Native American groups.The team once had a relationship with Chicago’s American Indian Center. Then an emboldened Indigenous youth group fought the connection. Its objections were backed by recent in-depth research showing a psychological toll on the Native community caused by caricatured mascots and team names.The center cut ties with the team. “Our youth said they’d had enough,” said Fawn Pochel, the center’s education director. “They represent the new guard, reimagining a future that many were taught could not exist.“New demands are going to be made.”AdvertisementContinue reading the main story More

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      Tested Again, the Chiefs Flex Their Survival Skills

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      AdvertisementContinue reading the main storySupported byContinue reading the main storyChiefs 32, Saints 29Tested Again, the Chiefs Flex Their Survival SkillsKansas City (13-1) has come back in four of its last six games, winning all six, and while the Chiefs do not seem invincible, they hardly seem beatable.Chiefs quarterback Patrick Mahomes reacted after throwing a touchdown pass in the first half.Credit…Brett Duke/Associated PressDec. 20, 2020, 9:17 p.m. ETTo an exclusive cohort in the N.F.L., the regular season serves as preamble, offering those powerful teams 16 opportunities to tinker, learn and adapt. What might work in September might not in January, when the playoffs beckon.At every checkpoint this season but one, the Kansas City Chiefs have scanned their irises and flashed their credentials. They beat lesser opponents and good ones. They outlasted legendary quarterbacks and overwhelmed ferocious defenses.That happened again on Sunday, when the Chiefs defeated the Saints, 32-29, in New Orleans, a win that flaunted their toughness and survival skills. Facing their best competition of the season, the Chiefs blew a 14-point lead, went up by 14, then held on to spoil Drew Brees’s return from a monthlong layoff forced by injury.It is possible that these teams will meet again in the Super Bowl on Feb. 7 in Tampa, Fla., and if they do, both may come to view Sunday’s game as an inflection point in their seasons.The last six games have tested Kansas City (13-1) to a considerable degree, exposing flaws while revealing what must be, for the rest of the league, an uncomfortable truth. The Chiefs won all six, coming back in four of them, and though they do not seem invincible, they hardly seem beatable.Even with the Saints swarming Patrick Mahomes as they did, sacking him four times and forcing a lost fumble, he still threw for three touchdowns, the Chiefs still gained 411 yards and they still scored 32 points against what could be the league’s best defense.The play that will linger longest was Mahomes’s third-quarter touchdown to Mecole Hardman, the score that put them ahead to stay. Mahomes rolled left, pump-faked and, with a defender barreling in from his right, flicked the ball toward the back of the end zone. It sailed beyond the outstretched arms of Sammy Watkins and into those of Hardman, who dragged his feet in bounds, putting the Chiefs ahead, 21-15.The Saints (10-4), like Kansas City, occupy rarefied space among the league’s elite teams, and their defense was one of only two in the league that entered Sunday having allowed fewer than 300 yards per game. As that defense cracked, gashed by Mahomes and the running back tandem of Le’Veon Bell and Clyde Edwards-Helaire (141 combined yards rushing), the Saints couldn’t recover. Three weeks after defeating Tom Brady on the road, the Chiefs stifled Brees in his home.Playing for the first time since Nov. 15, and without the elite receiver Michael Thomas, Brees completed only 15 of 34 passes for 234 yards, with three touchdowns and an interception.Brees missed four games with 11 fractured ribs and a punctured lung, injuries that, presumably, made it difficult to breathe, eat, drink, sleep, sit and stand, let alone outwit the large men with bad intentions chasing him. Enticed by the prospect of facing the Chiefs, of dueling with Mahomes, Brees felt well enough to play. He slipped a protective shirt beneath his jersey and set about resuming his playoff preparation.Early on, his passes floated and wobbled, and his fourth of six straight incompletions to begin the game landed in the hands of the Chiefs rookie L’Jarius Sneed. Capitalizing on the takeaway, Kansas City scored seven plays later, on a 5-yard pass from Mahomes to Tyreek Hill, who fooled the Saints by motioning away from the play before reversing field to slip unnoticed into the end zone.It is ruthless, Kansas City’s combination of speed, offensive creativity and coaching acumen. Also, endless. On their next scoring drive, the Chiefs further excavated their inventory of imaginative plays. At the Saints’ 1-yard line, Mahomes did not receive the shotgun snap so much as redirect it to his right, a chest pass to tight end Travis Kelce for a touchdown. According to the N.F.L.’s Next Gen Stats, Mahomes’s release time of 50-hundredths of a second was the fastest of any completion this season.The Chiefs led, 14-0, and New Orleans, into the second quarter, had yet to record a first down or a completion. It took until the Saints’ fifth possession for them to get either, and on that same drive Brees seemed to summon all the strength in his right arm in connecting with Emmanuel Sanders down the sideline. The 51-yard pass play — Brees’s second-longest completion of the season — escorted the Saints to the 3-yard line and shoved Brees off the field.During Brees’s absence, Taysom Hill showcased his versatility across four full games, winning three of them. But the Saints’ endgame is a championship, and with Brees back, Hill resumed his duties as a positionless dynamo, running on consecutive plays to cut Kansas City’s lead to 14-7.Heading into halftime, the Saints nearly tied the score after the ball, stripped from the punt returner Demarcus Robinson, rolled into the end zone. But the Saints’ Alex Anzalone couldn’t fall on it in time, and it squirted away for a safety.AdvertisementContinue reading the main story More

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      Jets’ First Win May Cost the Future

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      AdvertisementContinue reading the main storySupported byContinue reading the main storyjets 23, rams 20Jets’ First Win May Cost the FutureThe Jets beat the Los Angeles Rams for their improbable first win of the season, but the victory may give the Jacksonville Jaguars the top pick in the 2021 N.F.L. draft.Jets quarterback Sam Darnold, right, celebrated an 18-yard touchdown pass to running back Ty Johnson on the team’s first drive of Sunday’s game against the Los Angeles Rams.Credit…Ashley Landis/Associated PressDec. 20, 2020Updated 8:55 p.m. ETThe Jets did the seemingly unthinkable on Sunday. They won.In perhaps the biggest upset of the season, the formerly winless Jets (1-13) knocked off the Los Angeles Rams (9-5) in convincing fashion, building a 17-point lead in the third quarter and then holding off the Rams’ high-powered offense to win their first game of the season, 23-20, in Inglewood, Calif.The Jets’ victory, their first since the final week of last season, came after a tumultuous 2020 campaign that has seen the team juggle quarterbacks, fire their defensive coordinator and fend off calls for Coach Adam Gase to be sent packing. Amid all the misery, including the league’s worst offense, Jets fans took solace in the possibility that a winless season could secure the first pick in the N.F.L. draft next spring. Now that is in doubt.Given their knack for blowing winnable games, the Jets’ victory on Sunday was as improbable as any this season. The Rams, who are battling the Seattle Seahawks for the N.F.C. West crown, were 17-point favorites playing on their home field. The Jets were blown out by the Seahawks last week in Seattle, and had to crisscross the country this week. At least on paper, they should have been exhausted.But the Jets scored on their first drives of the first and second halves and held a 13-3 lead at halftime. The Jets’ offense wasn’t flashy and seemed mostly intent on not making mistakes. Jets quarterback Sam Darnold shook off early jitters, completing 22 of 31 passes for 207 yards and one touchdown, and led the Jets on three drives of 10 or more plays to use big chunks of the clock and keep the Rams’ offense off the field.“It means the world to us to come in here, back-to-back West Coast trips, we weren’t able to stay on the West Coast because of Covid,” Darnold said after the game. “We did our jobs this week.”The Jets became the first winless team in N.F.L. history to win on the road against an opponent with nine or more victories.They also have fallen behind in the race for the top pick in next year’s draft, something that will leave their win-starved fans with mixed feelings. The Jacksonville Jaguars, who lost to the Baltimore Ravens by 26 points on Sunday and are also 1-13, would hold the tiebreaker in the draft over the Jets if the two teams end the season with the same record, a nightmare scenario for Jets fans who have tried to find a silver lining in all the losing.Other winless teams won their first games even later in the season than the Jets did; most recently the 2016 Cleveland Browns notched their first (and only) win in their 15th game.The Jets have had scrapes with victory recently. Two weeks ago, they lost to the Las Vegas Raiders on the second-to-last play of the game. But on Sunday, they played not like a team tanking to get the first pick in next year’s draft — as some desperate Jets fans were banking on — but like a young team that finally didn’t hurt itself.The Jets were 7 of 17 on third downs, running back Frank Gore ran the ball 23 times for 59 yards and one score, and wide receiver Jamison Crowder caught six passes for 66 yards.The Jets’ defense was the bigger story, holding Rams quarterback Jared Goff to 209 yards passing. Rookie cornerback Bryce Hall intercepted Goff midway through the second quarter and returned the ball to the Rams’ 22-yard line. The Jets added a field goal five plays later.Earlier in the quarter, J.T. Hassell blocked a Rams punt that led to another Jets field goal.On the final drive of the game, with the Rams out of timeouts, Darnold withstood a fierce pass rush and completed a 6-yard pass to Gore for a first down. After the two-minute warning, the Jets did something they hadn’t done since last season: The offense lined up in the victory formation and Darnold took a knee three times to run out the clock and seal the win.But the Jets being the Jets, they worried that they might still fail to salt away the game.“I don’t think I paid attention to the victory formations as much as I did this game because I was just making sure we were good, didn’t want anything going on,” Gase said after the game. “It’s been a while since we’ve been in that.”AdvertisementContinue reading the main story More

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      NFL Week 15: What We Learned

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      AdvertisementContinue reading the main storySupported byContinue reading the main storyWhat We Learned From Week 15 of the N.F.L. SeasonThe Chiefs won a potential Super Bowl preview against the Saints, the Titans and the Colts stayed hot and the previously winless Jets pulled off the upset of the season.Tennessee’s Derrick Henry demolished Detroit’s Alex Myres with a vicious stiff arm in the first half of the Titans’ 46-25 win over the Lions.Credit…Brett Carlsen/Associated PressDec. 20, 2020Updated 8:34 p.m. ETFavored teams did well on Sunday, with the Kansas City Chiefs beating the New Orleans Saints, the A.F.C. South heavyweights both winning and the Tampa Bay Buccaneers starting slowly before racing back for a surprising road win over Atlanta. But the previously winless Jets pulled off the upset of the season by beating the heavily favored Los Angeles Rams.Here’s what we learned:Derrick Henry with the MEAN stiff arm! 👑📺: Watch #DETvsTEN on CBS pic.twitter.com/1jhPLFZncg— Tennessee Titans (@Titans) December 20, 2020
      A Derrick Henry stiff arm sounds even scarier than it looks. Henry is known for turning the stiff arm into a work of art, but he took it up a notch in the Tennessee Titans’ laughable 46-25 victory over the Detroit Lions. On a 7-yard run early in the second quarter, Henry was heading toward the left sideline when Alex Myres, a second-year cornerback, tried to wrap up the much larger running back. Henry thrust his right hand at Myres’s head, producing a thundering slap that sent Myres tumbling to the ground.It was one of numerous highlights for Henry on Sunday, as he rushed for 147 yards and scored his 15th rushing touchdown of the season. Henry is up to a career-high 1,679 yards rushing, putting him 195 ahead of Minnesota’s Dalvin Cook for the N.F.L. lead. Henry could become the first player with consecutive rushing titles since the Hall of Famer LaDainian Tomlinson did it in 2006 and 2007.Kansas City’s Clyde Edwards-Helaire was injured on a running play late in the Chiefs’ win over the New Orleans Saints.Credit…Brett Duke/Associated PressA huge win can come with an even bigger loss. In what was potentially a Super Bowl preview, the Kansas City Chiefs beat the New Orleans Saints, 32-29, improving to an N.F.L.-best 13-1 and retaining the top spot in the A.F.C. playoff race. But toward the end of the game, Kansas City running back Clyde Edwards-Helaire — a rookie first-round pick out of Louisiana State who immediately stepped in as a vital part of Kansas City’s offense this season — had his left leg get trapped under him and had to be carried off the field with what appeared to be a serious injury to his leg and hip. The extent of Edwards-Helaire’s injury has yet to be announced, but the team said initial X-rays were negative and that he would continue to be evaluated.Xavien Howard is a takeaway. He has tough competition, but Miami’s Howard should get a great deal of consideration for the N.F.L.’s Defensive Player of the Year Award. Howard, a 27-year-old cornerback, forced a fumble in Miami’s 22-12 victory over New England. The loss eliminated the Patriots from playoff contention. Howard also had a fumble recovery for a touchdown that was called back because another player had stepped out of bounds before touching the ball. With nine interceptions this season, plus Sunday’s forced fumble, Howard has produced a takeaway in 10 of Miami’s 14 games. He is a huge reason the Dolphins have shocked the N.F.L. with a record of 9-5.Howard’s competition for the award includes Aaron Donald of the Rams — a two-time winner — and T.J. Watt of the Steelers. But Howard’s case would get a huge exclamation point with one more interception, as he would be the first player since 2007 to have 10 in a season.Houston’s Keke Coutee got incredibly close to punching the ball into the end zone late in the game, but Indianapolis forced a fumble and walked away with a 27-20 victory.Credit…Zach Bolinger/Associated PressYou have to watch until the end of every Texans-Colts game. Even in a down season for Houston, the A.F.C. South rivalry between the Texans and the Indianapolis Colts has provided two extremely memorable games. Two weeks ago, Houston appeared to be on the verge of taking the lead in the final two minutes when a bad snap led to a fumble and allowed Indianapolis to run out the clock. Sunday’s game was just as wild, with the Colts, clinging to a 27-20 lead in the fourth quarter before allowing the Texans to get into the red zone. Texans quarterback Deshaun Watson connected with Keke Coutee, who stretched forward at the Colts’ 2-yard line only to fumble the ball away, handing yet another win to Indianapolis.The victory allowed the Colts to keep pace with Tennessee in the A.F.C. South. It was the 14th consecutive regular-season game between Indianapolis and Houston that was decided by 9 or fewer points.It had been more than three years since Dez Bryant was able to do his signature touchdown celebration.Credit…Nick Wass/Associated PressDez Bryant wasn’t done. In Baltimore’s emphatic 40-14 win over Jacksonville, one of Lamar Jackson’s three touchdown passes went to Bryant, a 32-year-old wide receiver whose N.F.L. career appeared to be over several times in the past. It had been 1,106 days since Bryant’s last touchdown, 982 days since he was released by Dallas, 772 days since he tore his Achilles’ tendon in a practice for New Orleans and 12 days since he appeared to announce his season was over on Twitter shortly after being pulled off the field during warm-ups because of a positive test for the coronavirus.Bryant has just five receptions this season, but that is five more than just about anyone expected him to get.Tampa Bay got off to a remarkably slow start on Sunday, but Tom Brady and the Buccaneers were dominant in the second half.Credit…Kevin C. Cox/Getty ImagesThe Buccaneers can dig out of a hole. Tampa Bay has had a problem with slow starts all season, being outscored by 32 points in first quarters. That sluggishness was taken to an extreme on Sunday when the Buccaneers went into halftime trailing Atlanta, 17-0, having gained just 60 total yards. Tampa Bay proceeded to have its players wake up on both sides of the ball, producing 356 second-half yards and walking away with a 31-27 win on the road thanks to Tom Brady’s go-ahead, 46-yard touchdown pass to Antonio Brown in the fourth quarter. Atlanta had two more chances to regain the lead, but Tampa Bay’s defense locked in, forcing a punt and a turnover on downs.The Jets can’t even tank right. With a touchdown pass by Sam Darnold, a rushing touchdown by the ageless Frank Gore — the 100th touchdown of Gore’s career — and three field goals from Sam Ficken, the Jets delivered the biggest upset of the season, beating the Los Angeles Rams, 23-20, after coming in as 17-point underdogs. Avoiding a winless season is surely a relief for the Jets’ players, but the victory, combined with Jacksonville’s 13th straight loss, has the Jaguars in line for the No. 1 pick in the 2021 draft with two games remaining for both teams.One* Sentence About Sunday’s Games*Except when it takes more.Kansas City’s Travis Kelce had eight catches for 68 yards and a touchdown in the Chiefs’ win over the New Orleans Saints.Credit…Chris Graythen/Getty ImagesChiefs 32, Saints 29 Neither Patrick Mahomes nor Drew Brees looked their best in this one, but Mahomes’s three touchdown passes and a Le’Veon Bell rushing touchdown put Kansas City up by enough that New Orleans’ late comeback attempt proved fruitless.Colts 27, Texans 20 Indianapolis led, 14-0, in the first quarter before this became a close game. Houston put up a strong fight, but Philip Rivers’s 5-yard touchdown pass with 1 minute 47 seconds remaining proved to be enough, barely.Titans 46, Lions 25 Tennessee was leading by only 24-18 after three quarters, but things got ridiculous from there, with Ryan Tannehill throwing two fourth-quarter touchdown passes in addition to scoring a 3-yard rushing touchdown — his second rushing touchdown of the game. The Titans lead Indianapolis in the A.F.C. South thanks to their superior record in division games.Frank Gore of the Jets scored his 100th career touchdown, and helped ice the Jets’ upset win over the Los Angeles Rams with a crucial first down late in the fourth quarter.Credit…Robert Hanashiro/USA Today Sports, via ReutersJets 23, Rams 20 It has been a horrible season for the Jets, but on this day they took care of business on offense, produced a takeaway on defense, and then held on for dear life in a game that seemed like it could slip away at any second.Buccaneers 31, Falcons 27 The stakes were not close to what they were in Tom Brady’s last huge comeback win over Atlanta — the Falcons’ collapse after leading Brady’s Patriots by 28-3 in the Super Bowl of the 2016 season is hard to top — but you’d have to imagine the Falcons, who led Tampa Bay on Sunday by 17-0 and 24-7 before losing, are looking forward to Brady retiring someday.Ravens 40, Jaguars 14 It is presumably OK to stop worrying about Baltimore’s offense after it led the team to a third consecutive win, with Lamar Jackson throwing three touchdown passes and running in another during a game that was decided by halftime.Miami’s Salvon Ahmed ran for 122 yards and a touchdown, helping the Dolphins eliminate the New England Patriots from playoff contention.Credit…Chris O’Meara/Associated PressDolphins 22, Patriots 12 Led by running backs Salvon Ahmed and Matt Breida, Miami rumbled for 250 yards rushing and three rushing touchdowns. The Dolphins are in line for the A.F.C.’s final wild-card spot — thanks to a tiebreaker over Baltimore — and have clinched a winning season for just the second time since 2008.Seahawks 20, Footballers 15 Washington came surprisingly close to rallying from a 20-3 deficit, but the Seahawks’ much-maligned defense forced a turnover on downs in the final minute that gave Seattle a win and clinched a playoff spot.Bears 33, Vikings 27 Minnesota was playing at home, got 132 yards rushing from Dalvin Cook and 104 yards receiving from Justin Jefferson, and still lost. Credit Chicago all you want, but the Vikings’ defense needs a lot of work.Arizona’s Kyler Murray scored his 11th rushing touchdown of the season.Credit…Joe Camporeale/USA Today Sports, via ReutersCardinals 33, Eagles 26 Jalen Hurts and Kyler Murray were back-to-back Heisman Trophy finalists at Oklahoma — Murray won the award in 2018 — and they showed off how well their skills translate to the N.F.L. on Sunday. Philadelphia’s Hurts threw for 338 yards, Arizona’s Murray threw for 406, both of them threw three touchdown passes and both of them also ran in a score. But Murray’s Cardinals came out on top thanks to a late defensive stand.Cowboys 41, 49ers 33 Running back Ezekiel Elliott missed a game because of injury for the first time in his career, and he watched his backup, Tony Pollard, put up a strong performance: 132 yards from scrimmage and two touchdowns. Elliott hasn’t had 130 yards from scrimmage in a game since Week 15 of last season.AdvertisementContinue reading the main story More