Subterms
FOXBOROUGH, Mass. — The New England Patriots empire is collapsing. Again. Don’t you see it? The signs are all there. Tom Brady is a cranky 42-year-old, fed up with whippersnapper teammates half his age who repeatedly fail to grasp the ingenious intricacies of his passes. Moody, downcast and wincing from an aching elbow and toe, […] More
MARIA STEIN, Ohio — About a mile past St. John the Baptist Church and across the street from a grain elevator stands the heart and soul of this small, western Ohio community: Marion Local High School. The sons and daughters of farmers, tradesmen, engineers and small-business owners inhabit its hallways and spill onto its playing […] More
The rest of Week 14’s game previews will be published on Friday. Cowboys at Bears, 8:20 p.m., Fox and NFL Network Line: Cowboys -3 | Total: 42.5 As far as votes of confidence go, Jerry Jones saying, “In my opinion, Jason Garrett will be coaching in the N.F.L. next year,” during a radio interview on […] More
After the Carolina Panthers (5-7) lost to the lowly Washington Redskins (3-9) on Sunday, all but ensuring that they will miss the playoffs for the third time in the past four seasons, it was perhaps only a question of when, not if, Coach Ron Rivera would lose his job. On Tuesday, the team’s owner, David […] More
PITTSBURGH — Minkah Fitzpatrick has always known that playing well gives him options. When he received dozens of scholarship offers in high school, he elected to play at Alabama because it was where he would develop most quickly. Then after his junior season, when the Crimson Tide won the second national title of his tenure […] More
Rob Gronkowski really is retired, at least for this season. The former New England Patriots tight end had dangled the possibility of returning to the N.F.L. almost as soon as he announced his retirement in March, a month after he helped the Patriots beat the Los Angeles Rams in Super Bowl LIII. Despite a long […] More
It would be hard to draw up a weirder Sunday than one in which the Miami Dolphins, the Washington Redskins and the Cincinnati Bengals all won, while the New England Patriots and the San Francisco 49ers lost. The surprising victories by the league’s lesser teams provided plenty of entertainment, but Week 13 was all about […] More
BALTIMORE — The most difficult task in sports right now is not a single act — hitting a swerving baseball, saving a penalty kick, returning a supersonic serve — but rather a collective undertaking. It is containing the juggernaut that is the Baltimore Ravens’ propulsive offense, operated with unholy efficiency by quarterback Lamar Jackson, whose […] More
