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      NFL Week 16: What We Learned

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      AdvertisementContinue reading the main storySupported byContinue reading the main storyWhat We Learned From Week 16 of the N.F.L. SeasonThe Steelers came back to beat the Colts, Kansas City survived against Atlanta and Jacksonville secured the No. 1 pick in the draft.Diontae Johnson began the Steelers’ comeback against the Colts with a diving catch for a 39-yard touchdown. Ben Roethlisberger added two more scoring passes in the fourth quarter to help Pittsburgh secure a 28-24 win.Credit…Don Wright/Associated PressDec. 27, 2020Updated 8:22 p.m. ETThe Pittsburgh Steelers overcame a huge deficit to shock the Indianapolis Colts. The Kansas City Chiefs barely beat the Atlanta Falcons and the Baltimore Ravens continued their surge with a win over the Giants. The top spot in the A.F.C. playoffs has been decided — as has the No. 1 pick in next year’s draft — but even a few irrelevant teams showed some pluck Sunday.Here’s what we learned:[embedded content]There is some fight left in the Steelers. Pittsburgh came into the day on a three-game losing streak, and appeared to be headed toward a fourth consecutive loss when it fell behind the Indianapolis Colts, 24-7, in the third quarter. From that point, the game belonged entirely to the Steelers. Ben Roethlisberger started the comeback in the third quarter by throwing a deep 39-yard touchdown pass to Diontae Johnson. He then added a 5-yard touchdown to Eric Ebron and a 25-yarder to JuJu Smith-Schuster in the fourth, as Pittsburgh’s defense shut down Indianapolis. The Colts’ final four drives resulted in two punts, an interception and a turnover on downs.Pittsburgh, which clinched the A.F.C. North title with Sunday’s win, is currently a half-game ahead of Buffalo for the No. 2 seed in the A.F.C. playoffs. Indianapolis, which fell to 10-5, has been one of the N.F.L.’s better teams this season but is currently not in line for a playoff spot because the Baltimore Ravens and the Cleveland Browns own tiebreakers over the Colts.Kansas City came away with a win, but it required a fairly shocking miss by Atlanta’s Younghoe Koo, who came into the day 19 for 19 on field goal attempts of less than 40 yards.Credit…Jeff Roberson/Associated PressThe Chiefs love to play with fire. A win was hardly necessary for Kansas City, as the Chiefs were virtually assured of the No. 1 seed in the A.F.C. playoffs even if they lost their final two games. But watching Kansas City barely hang on for a 17-14 win at home over the Atlanta Falcons reinforced the idea that Patrick Mahomes’s team tends to play down to its competition. A sloppy effort against Atlanta had the Chiefs losing, 14-10, with just over two minutes remaining, and would have headed to overtime if not for an unlikely miss from Atlanta’s Younghoe Koo, as the Pro Bowl kicker’s attempt at a game-tying 39-yard field goal sailed wide right.Regardless of how close they cut it, the Chiefs improved to 14-1 and clinched the A.F.C.’s only first-round bye. Perhaps by the divisional round of the playoffs, the Chiefs will decide that it is important to try for the entire game.Baltimore’s Gus Edwards led a rushing attack that produced 249 yards on 40 carries.Credit…Terrance Williams/Associated PressThe Ravens control their playoff destiny. Baltimore dropped to 6-5 with a loss to Pittsburgh on Dec. 2 — the team’s fourth defeat in five games — and seemed like a long shot to make the playoffs. A soft schedule, and a return to form by quarterback Lamar Jackson, has righted the ship and thanks to a 27-13 victory over the Giants, the Ravens can now secure the team’s third straight trip to the playoffs simply by beating the Cincinnati Bengals next week. Baltimore’s four-game win streak has included only one victory over a team with a winning record, but an average of 37 points a game is impressive no matter the opponent.The Ravens, who thrive when chewing up huge chunks of yardage on the ground, have averaged 233.3 yards rushing a game in the four-game win streak after having been held to fewer than 200 in nine of their first 11 games.Taylor Heinicke was forced into action at quarterback for Washington after Dwayne Haskins was benched. It is unclear who will start at quarterback for Washington in next week’s crucial game.Credit…Mark Tenally/Associated PressCeeDee Lamb and Amari Cooper both had huge days for Dallas as the Cowboys demolished the visiting Philadelphia Eagles. Dallas somewhat surprisingly still has a shot at making the playoffs.Credit…Ron Jenkins/Associated PressThere will be a division winner with a losing record. The Washington Football Team came into the day with dreams of finishing the season at 8-8, but a 20-13 loss at home to the Carolina Panthers dropped Washington to 6-9, meaning the N.F.C. East will be won by a team that is, at best, 7-9. The division’s teams have often been hard to watch, but they will provide the most exciting subplot of Week 17, as the Footballers, the Dallas Cowboys and the Giants will all go into the season’s final day with a chance at earning a playoff game at home. Washington can make it nice and simple by winning a road game against the eliminated Philadelphia Eagles — a result that would be far more attainable should quarterback Alex Smith return from a calf injury.Frank Gore is going out in style. After a loss to the Los Angeles Chargers in November dropped the Jets to 0-10, Gore, 37, addressed his team’s struggles (and his own future), saying “You don’t want to go 0-16, especially if this is my last year. I can’t go out like that.” Last week Gore helped the Jets end their 13-game losing streak by scoring the 100th touchdown of his career. This week he ran for a team-high 48 yards as the Jets beat the Cleveland Browns, 23-16. In doing so, Gore joined Emmitt Smith and Walter Payton as the only players in N.F.L. history with at least 16,000 yards rushing — only two other active players, Detroit’s Adrian Peterson (14,757) and Tampa Bay’s LeSean McCoy (11,102), have more than 10,000.Provided he decides to declare for the N.F.L. draft, Clemson’s Trevor Lawrence will almost assuredly be headed south to the Jacksonville Jaguars. Credit…Ken Ruinard/USA Today Sports, via ReutersTrevor Lawrence is moving about six hours south. The downside of Gore getting his wish to go out well with the Jets is the team having officially handed the No. 1 pick in next year’s draft to the Jacksonville Jaguars, which almost assuredly will lead to Lawrence, Clemson’s star quarterback, taking a long drive down I-95 to replace Gardner Minshew rather than heading north to replace Sam Darnold. The Jaguars were emphatic in their failure on Sunday, losing by 41-17 to the suddenly surging Chicago Bears. But at least on offense Jacksonville should be a terrific landing spot for Lawrence, as he will immediately be handed a good young running back (James Robinson) and two talented young wide receivers (D.J. Chark and Laviska Shenault Jr.)One* Sentence About Sunday’s Games*Except when it takes more.Kansas City’s Travis Kelce needs just 84 yards receiving to become the first tight end to have 1,500 in a season. His biggest obstacle is the likelihood that the Chiefs will rest multiple starters after having already clinched a first-round bye. Credit…Jeff Roberson/Associated PressChiefs 17, Falcons 14 It was a quiet day by Kansas City’s lofty standards, and the team’s running game looked far less effective without the injured Clyde Edwards-Helaire, but the Chiefs did have the silver lining of Travis Kelce reaching 1,416 yards receiving for the season, breaking the single-season record for a tight end set by George Kittle in 2018. Kelce has one more game to add to his total, provided Kansas City doesn’t rest him in next week’s irrelevant game against the Los Angeles Chargers.Steelers 28, Colts 24 At halftime, Indianapolis was romping to an easy win. The second half was another story, as the Steelers stopped trying to dink and dunk themselves to victory and had their aggressiveness pay off in spades, with the team earning its first A.F.C. North title in three seasons.Ravens 27, Giants 13 The Giants’ third straight loss was largely a result of Baltimore’s offense overwhelming them, but the Ravens’ defense had a fine day as well, making Daniel Jones’s life miserable with six sacks and 11 quarterback hits.Seattle’s defense was terrible for most of the season, but the team has been showing dramatic improvement on that side of the ball. Quandre Diggs’s interception in the second quarter of Sunday’s game ended a promising drive by the Rams.Credit…Scott Eklund/Associated PressSeahawks 20, Rams 9 It was hardly an explosive effort, but Seattle clinched the N.F.C. West title, kept alive a small chance at a first-round bye, and continued to show dramatic improvement on the defensive side of the ball. Despite its loss, Los Angeles controls its own fate next week. A win would give the Rams a wild-card spot in the playoffs.Jets 23, Browns 16 It took a total team effort for Cleveland to lose, with Baker Mayfield completing just 28 of his 53 passes, the Browns’ celebrated running game averaging just 2.5 yards a carry and the team’s defense making the Jets’ Sam Darnold look downright competent. A win would have clinched a playoff spot for Cleveland, but the Browns will now go into Week 17 fighting with Miami, Baltimore and Indianapolis for the three wild-card spots in the A.F.C.Cowboys 37, Eagles 17 Everything went right for Dallas, with Andy Dalton throwing for 377 yards and three touchdowns, Ezekiel Elliott rushing for 105 yards and Michael Gallup, Amari Cooper and CeeDee Lamb all putting on a show against Philadelphia’s overwhelmed secondary. Jalen Hurts topped 300 yards passing for a second consecutive week, but wasn’t able to turn that yardage into enough points.Curtis Samuel has been remarkably versatile for Carolina this season. He and Christian McCaffrey could present matchup problems for opponents should McCaffrey get back to full health next season.Credit…Mitchell Layton/Getty ImagesPanthers 20, Footballers 13 Curtis Samuel put on a show for Carolina, piling up 158 yards from scrimmage, but the story of the day was quarterback Dwayne Haskins being benched for ineffective play on the heels of losing his captaincy as a result of off-field behavior. You have to assume that Haskins’s days in Washington are numbered.Chargers 19, Broncos 16 Denver had the ball with a chance to win the game in the final minute, but Drew Lock’s desperation heave was intercepted, handing Los Angeles its sixth win of the season.Chicago’s Jimmy Graham caught two touchdown passes on Sunday, giving him 82 for his career. Among tight ends, only  Antonio Gates, Tony Gonzalez and Rob Gronkowski have more.Credit…James Gilbert/Getty ImagesBears 41, Jaguars 17 It is not like Jacksonville had any motivation to win — quite the opposite — but watching Chicago put up 28 consecutive points to start the second half couldn’t have been very fun. Chicago’s win, combined with Arizona’s loss on Saturday, has the Bears in line for the N.F.C.’s final wild-card spot. That sets up an entertaining Week 17 in which Chicago closes its season with a home game against the top-seeded Green Bay Packers, and the Cardinals have a tough matchup on the road against the Los Angeles Rams.Bengals 37, Texans 31 Brandon Allen threw for 371 yards and two touchdowns and Samaje Perine ran for 95 yards and two scores, powering Cincinnati to its first road win since Sept. 30, 2018. Houston dropped to 4-11, having absolutely wasted a season of quarterback Deshaun Watson’s prime.AdvertisementContinue reading the main story More

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      Ravens Snatch Back Giants’ Playoff Hopes

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      AdvertisementContinue reading the main storySupported byContinue reading the main storyRavens 27, Giants 13Ravens Snatch Back Giants’ Playoff HopesBaltimore made its case for the wild-card spot as the Giants fell back to earth — and toward the bottom of the N.F.C. East — in a rout.Giants receiver Sterling Shepard was tackled by his jersey Sunday as the Ravens frustrated the team’s offense. Credit…Patrick Smith/Getty ImagesDec. 27, 2020Updated 7:43 p.m. ETIn early November, the Giants began a startling run at a playoff berth with four consecutive victories. In that moment, perhaps it seemed as if the long-suffering Giants had been underestimated under Joe Judge, the team’s rookie head coach.At roughly the same time, the Baltimore Ravens, a Super Bowl favorite when last season’s playoffs began, were surprisingly adrift with four losses in five games. Had the Ravens and their sparkling quarterback Lamar Jackson, the N.F.L.’s reigning most valuable player, been overvalued?By the end of the Ravens’ systematic 27-13 thrashing of the Giants on Sunday in Baltimore — a game that was not nearly as close as the score would suggest — it was obvious the Ravens and Jackson had simply been forced to endure a mini-slump inexorably linked to last month’s coronavirus outbreak on the team.As for the Giants, it is now fair to wonder whether the win streak of several weeks ago was true progress for a beleaguered franchise or a hollow mirage that leaves many questions about the roster still unresolved.The fourth successive victory for the Ravens (10-5) greatly enhances their chances at claiming a wild-card playoff spot since they now only need to win their final regular season game against Cincinnati (4-10-1) to qualify for the postseason. The Giants (5-10), losers of three straight games, have one remaining path to the playoffs: They must defeat Dallas at home in their regular season finale next week and the Washington Football Team would have to lose at Philadelphia on the same day.“I’m really proud of our guys for handling the situation we’ve been in for the last several weeks,” Baltimore Coach John Harbaugh said. “They’ve managed to stay focused and that says everything about their character.”Added Ravens tight end Mark Andrews when asked to address the team’s losing stretch and a period when at least one Baltimore player tested positive for the virus for 10 successive days: “It was about staying patient. I knew our time was coming and it is coming.”It is much harder to see improvement for the Giants — in the near term, at least. The team will have at least 10 losses for the fourth season in a row, which is a first for the franchise. The Giants will also have double-digit losses in six of seven years. In their last three games, the Giants have been outscored, 73-26.Judge, however, remained unbowed when assessing the season as a whole.“I feel like we’re on the right track,” he said Sunday, referring to the development of less tangible attributes like the team’s heightened work ethic and sustained resilience.“We’ve got the right start, we just need to do more on the field to get the tangible results,” Judge said.The tone for the game, generally utter dominance by Baltimore, was set early when the Ravens took the opening kickoff and used eight minutes and 12 seconds to meticulously march 82 yards downfield on their way to taking a 7-0 lead. The 13-play drive put on display everything the varied Baltimore offense planned to unleash against a Giants defense that had been much improved in the second half of the season.Jackson, who completed 17 of 26 passes for 183 yards with two touchdown passes, threw for 31 yards on his team’s first possession, including a 6-yard touchdown toss to Marquise Brown. Jackson, who would rush for 80 yards on 13 carries, also repeatedly sliced through the heart and strength of the Giants’ defense, which has been the team’s interior linemen.Running back Gus Edwards led the Ravens Sunday with 85 yards rushing on 15 attempts and had two receptions for 37 yards. Edwards, who has rushed for 277 yards in his last four games after gaining 386 yards in Baltimore’s opening 10 games, was especially effective in third-down situations.“He’s doing it all right now,” Jackson said of Edwards. “He’s running tough and getting yards after the catch. But I see it all the time in practice, that’s Gus just being him.”As Baltimore built a 20-3 halftime lead with a 2-yard touchdown run by J.K. Dobbins and two Justin Tucker field goals, the Giants were nearly setting team records for offensive futility. They had just three offensive plays in the first quarter, which is the fewest for the team in 30 years. They had possession of the football for only seven minutes and 22 seconds of the first half when they gained just 16 yards on the ground — compared to the 155 first-half rushing yards for Baltimore.Giants quarterback Daniel Jones, who missed a game because of a hamstring injury earlier this month and appeared rusty in a lopsided defeat to Arizona last week, seemed to be moving more comfortably Sunda. But the results were no better.Jones, who has 406 yards rushing this season, ran just once Sunday for 3 yards. Most problematic for Jones was the Ravens’ pass rush, which overwhelmed the young, inexperienced Giants offensive line for six sacks, all of them in the second half when the Giants showed some life offensively but never truly challenged Baltimore’s lead.Jones completed 24 of 41 passes for 252 yards. Midway through the fourth quarter, he threw a 3-yard touchdown pass to Sterling Shepard. It was just Jones’s ninth touchdown pass in 13 games this year. The Giants, who came into Sunday’s game with an offense that was ranked second-to-last in the N.F.L., have now scored 26 points in their last three games.AdvertisementContinue reading the main story More

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      NFL Week 14: What We Learned

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      AdvertisementContinue reading the main storySupported byContinue reading the main storyWhat We Learned From Week 14 of the N.F.L. SeasonThe Chiefs did not need perfection to win, the Bears’ losing streak finally ended and the N.F.C. East remained wide open.Kansas City’s Patrick Mahomes was able to recover this fumble, but his day included three interceptions and a 30-yard sack. He also threw for 393 yards and won.Credit…Wilfredo Lee/Associated PressDec. 13, 2020Updated 9:10 p.m. ETMost of the favored teams won on Sunday, but there was still a little drama, including a mistake-filled performance by the leading candidate for the Most Valuable Player Award, an unbelievably bad day for a veteran kicker and an upset led by a rookie quarterback making his first start.Here’s what we learned:[embedded content]The Chiefs are not fair. Coming into the day, Patrick Mahomes appeared locked in for the second M.V.P. Award of his career and had been intercepted just twice in 463 passing attempts. The Miami Dolphins’ opportunistic defense had him flustered for much of the day, picking him off three times in 34 attempts. On top of that, Miami made Mahomes look foolish on a rambling play in which he repeatedly retreated before being sacked for a 30-yard loss. The Dolphins picked up a fourth takeaway on a fumble by Mecole Hardman. And Tua Tagovailoa had the first 300-yard passing game of his career.Despite all that, Miami lost, 33-27. And it didn’t feel that close.The win improved Kansas City to 12-1, and the Chiefs, who clinched the A.F.C. West, have a good chance to secure the A.F.C.’s only first-round bye in the playoffs. Miami dropped to 8-5, but is still a strong contender for a wild-card spot.Philadelphia’s Jalen Hurts threw for 167 yards and a touchdown in a win over New Orleans while rushing for 106 yards.Credit…Bill Streicher/USA Today Sports, via ReutersThe Eagles have a new quarterback. No player had topped 100 yards rushing in a game against New Orleans since Nov. 19, 2017 — a span of 56 games — but thanks to a new-look Eagles offense led by quarterback Jalen Hurts, two players surpassed that mark on Sunday. Hurts showed enough skill as a passer to keep the Saints’ defense honest — his 15-yard touchdown pass to Alshon Jeffery in the first quarter was a thing of beauty — and that allowed Miles Sanders to rush for 115 yards and two touchdowns. Hurts carried 18 times for 106 yards, joining Baltimore’s Lamar Jackson as the only quarterbacks to rush for 100 or more yards in their first N.F.L. start.In five seasons under Coach Doug Pederson, the Eagles are 10-3 in games not started by Carson Wentz (including the playoffs) and 35-33-1 with Wentz starting.The N.F.C. East is far from decided. The Giants’ four-game winning streak came to a screeching halt with a 26-7 loss to the Arizona Cardinals. That result, combined with wins by Washington, Philadelphia and Dallas, kept things interesting in the N.F.C. East, which is making up for its lack of quality by having all four teams in the division race with three games remaining. The Footballers should be in the driver’s seat after improving to 6-7, but that will depend on the health of quarterback Alex Smith, who reinjured the leg that kept him out for nearly two years. The severity of Smith’s injury was not immediately announced.Minnesota’s Dan Bailey was having a terrific season before a brutal two-game stretch in which he has missed four field-goal attempts and three extra points.Credit…Kim Klement/USA Today Sports, via ReutersThe Vikings might need a new kicker. While his missed kicks would not have provided enough points to give Minnesota a win on the road, it was hard not to point a finger at Dan Bailey in his team’s 26-14 loss to the Tampa Bay Buccaneers. Bailey missed an extra-point attempt in the first quarter and proceeded to miss field-goal attempts of 36, 54 and 46 yards, with each sailing wide right. According to ESPN Stats & Information, Bailey is the first player to miss three field-goal attempts and an extra point, without a make of any kind, since Washington’s John Aveni in 1961. Bailey also missed two extra points and a 51-yard field-goal attempt last week, making him 1 of 4 on extra points and 2 of 6 on field goals in a two-week period after having started the season 26 of 27 on extra points and 10 of 12 on field goals.With Arizona and Chicago winning, Minnesota (6-7) complicated its wild-card hopes. Tampa Bay, on the other hand, improved to 8-5, and is on its way to its first playoff appearance since 2007.Eighty of David Montgomery’s 113 yards rushing came on one run, but that worked out just fine for Chicago in a win over the Houston Texans.Credit…Stacy Revere/Getty ImagesThe Bears can still make the playoffs — yes, the Chicago Bears. After a 5-1 start, Chicago turned into a laughingstock with six consecutive losses. But the Bears dominated Houston in every way on Sunday and came away with a 36-7 win in which several unlikely things happened. Among them: Mitchell Trubisky outplayed Houston’s Deshaun Watson; running back David Montgomery had his most productive game in nearly a year, rumbling for 113 yards (with 80 of them on a single, electrifying run); and the Bears’ defense sacked Watson seven times, once for a safety. Chicago had more rushing and passing yards, and fewer turnovers, than the Texans. And the win managed to keep the Bears very much alive in the race for the N.F.C.’s third wild card.Derrick Henry has an N.F.L.-record four career games with 200 or more rushing yards and two or more touchdowns. Two of the games have come against Jacksonville.Credit…Stephen B. Morton/Associated PressDerrick Henry stands alone. After a 215-yard performance in Tennessee’s 31-10 win over Jacksonville on Sunday, Henry has four career games with 200 or more rushing yards and two or more touchdowns, breaking a tie he held with Jim Brown, Barry Sanders and LaDainian Tomlinson, each of whom is in the Hall of Fame. Henry is leading the N.F.L. with 1,532 yards rushing this season — just 8 short of the total he led the N.F.L. with last year — and he has run for 100 or more yards in his last nine road games, one short of Sanders’s N.F.L. record.Henry was so dominant that you’d hardly notice that Ryan Tannehill passed for 212 yards and two touchdowns, one of which was an incredible 37-yarder in which A.J. Brown corralled the ball with just his right hand.Green Bay may sneak into a first-round bye. Most of the talk in the N.F.C. this season has centered on New Orleans and Seattle, but a Packers win over Detroit on Sunday, combined with a Saints loss — and some help from a head-to-head tiebreaker, thanks to Green Bay’s Week 3 win over New Orleans — vaulted the Packers to the No. 1 seed in the conference with three games remaining. Green Bay controls its own destiny as far as a first-round bye is concerned, and the Packers will close their season with winnable games against Carolina, Tennessee (in Green Bay) and Chicago.One* Sentence About Sunday’s Games*Except when it takes more.Colts 44, Raiders 27 There were so many things you could focus on in this convincing Indianapolis victory: Philip Rivers’s two touchdown passes; Jonathan Taylor’s career-high 150 yards rushing (and two touchdowns); or Khari Willis’s 50-yard pick-6. But when you factor in the degree of difficulty, the highlight to remember is Kenny Moore’s one-handed interception in the end zone in the second quarter.Chiefs 33, Dolphins 27 It looked like it could be a long day for Kansas City when the Chiefs fell behind by 10-0 in the second quarter, but thanks to touchdown drives of 75 and 74 yards, the Chiefs led at halftime, and never trailed again.Titans 31, Jaguars 10 Jacksonville has lost 12 consecutive games — one short of the franchise record — and a switch at quarterback to Gardner Minshew in the second half led to a quick touchdown, but that wasn’t nearly enough to make this game competitive.Tampa Bay’s defense produced six sacks and 12 quarterback hits, giving Minnesota’s Kirk Cousins almost no time to work.Credit…Alex Menendez/Associated PressBuccaneers 26, Vikings 14 Tampa Bay had the ball for less than 21 of the game’s 48 minutes, and while Minnesota had the game’s leading passer, leading rusher and leading receiver, the Buccaneers walked away with a fairly easy victory thanks largely to mistakes forced by the team’s terrific pass rush.Packers 31, Lions 24 Aaron Rodgers had 290 yards passing, three touchdowns and only seven incompletions — a typical day for him at this point — and Green Bay clinched the N.F.C. North. Of larger concern for Detroit than the loss was an injury sustained by quarterback Matthew Stafford in which he took a hard hit by Green Bay’s Kenny Clark at the end of a run and appeared to hurt his ribs.Eagles 24, Saints 21 Taysom Hill passed for a career-high 291 yards, but he also threw an interception and lost a fumble. The loss broke a streak of eight consecutive wins by backup quarterbacks for New Orleans.Jamal Adams has already set the N.F.L.’s single-season record for sacks by a defensive back in just nine games with the Seahawks. Credit…Joe Nicholson/USA Today Sports, via ReutersSeahawks 40, Jets 3 Last week felt like the bottom for the Jets, but the team’s former star safety, Jamal Adams, was credited with a sack of Sam Darnold in the second quarter, giving him the N.F.L.’s single-season record for sacks by a defensive back with 8.5. Adams only needed nine games to break Adrian Wilson’s record of eight, which was set over the course of 16 games in 2005. Rubbing some salt in the Jets’ wounds, the team’s former quarterback, Geno Smith, came on in relief of Russell Wilson for mop-up duty at the end of the blowout. The Jets are 0-13.Footballers 23, 49ers 15 A lot of things went wrong for Washington in this game, but the rookie defensive end Chase Young put on a show with six tackles, a sack, two passes defended, two quarterback hits and a 47-yard fumble recovery for a touchdown.Cardinals 26, Giants 7 Arizona’s Haason Reddick became the 16th player to record five or more sacks in a game (since the statistic became official in 1982), leading an all-out assault in which the Cardinals produced eight sacks and 11 quarterback hits. Reddick, who came into the day with only 12.5 sacks in 60 career games, also forced three fumbles.Justin Herbert will be credited with a game-winning drive and Michael Badgley with a game-winning field goal, but it was this interception by Michael Davis that won the game for Los Angeles.Credit…Ashley Landis/Associated PressChargers 20, Falcons 17 It looked like the Chargers were throwing away yet another potential win when Justin Herbert was intercepted with less than a minute remaining. But Michael Davis stole momentum right back for Los Angeles by intercepting a Matt Ryan pass, and Herbert was able to get his team close enough for Michael Badgley to win the game with a 43-yard field goal as time expired.Bears 36, Texans 7 Chicago quarterback Mitchell Trubisky has taken his lumps over the last few years — largely as a result of his being drafted ahead of Kansas City’s Patrick Mahomes and Houston’s Deshaun Watson — but he had a terrific game against Watson’s Texans, completing 24 of 33 passes for 267 yards and three touchdowns.Aldon Smith of the Cowboys returned a fumble 78 yards for a touchdown.Credit…Emilee Chinn/Associated PressCowboys 30, Bengals 7 In his return to Cincinnati, Andy Dalton was hardly perfect, but he did enough to beat the lowly Bengals, tossing two touchdown passes without committing a turnover. Aldon Smith, a defensive end who missed four seasons because of off-field issues, contributed to the scoring with his first career touchdown.Broncos 32, Panthers 27 A lot went right for Denver in this one, with Drew Lock throwing a career-high four touchdown passes, Diontae Spencer returning a punt 83 yards for a score and the Broncos’ defense holding strong against Carolina’s comeback attempt.AdvertisementContinue reading the main story More

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      Giants Cannot Protect Win Streak Against the Cardinals

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      AdvertisementContinue reading the main storySupported byContinue reading the main storyCardinals 26, Giants 7Giants Cannot Protect Win Streak Against the CardinalsThe Giants entered Sunday’s game riding high on a four-game win streak. They left it with a battered quarterback and diminished playoff chances.Giants quarterback Daniel Jones spent much of Sunday’s loss to the Cardinals in a prone position. He was sacked six times before being benched.Credit…Mike Stobe/Getty ImagesDec. 13, 2020, 6:33 p.m. ETFor more than a month, as they won four successive games, the Giants went from somnolent to startlingly successful, having a stretch that resurrected the team’s fan base and advanced the budding folk hero status of the rookie head coach Joe Judge. But on Sunday, with a meaningful chance at home to maintain the momentum necessary to finish a late-season run at a playoff berth, the Giants collapsed.Thoroughly outplayed in every facet of the game, the Giants were trounced by the visiting Arizona Cardinals, 26-7. The Giants (5-8), who never seriously threatened to upend the Cardinals, had five fumbles — three that they lost — and managed just 10 first downs and 159 total yards. Quarterback Daniel Jones, returning from a hamstring injury that had sidelined him for the last game of the win streak, was sacked six times, completed just 11 passes and left the game in the fourth quarter with a pronounced limp.Defensively, the game was just as lopsided. The Cardinals (7-6) converted 39 percent of their third downs and rushed for 159 yards. Led by the ever-inventive quarterback Kyler Murray, who thwarted the Giants’ pass rush with his agility and knack for extending plays, Arizona earned a valuable win to keep alive their meager postseason chances.Since the Giants were coming off an emotional upset victory at Seattle last week, it was easy to wonder if they were overconfident as they took the field against Arizona, which had lost its three previous games. That the Giants could feel comfortable looking past any N.F.L. team is somewhat comical — the franchise’s last playoff win was nine seasons ago — but there was no denying the substandard execution and attention to detail in Sunday’s debacle at MetLife Stadium.“I don’t think we had any kind of a hangover from last week,” Judge said afterward. “We simply didn’t coach well enough or play well enough. That’s the hard truth of it.”Nonetheless, the opportunity lost with three remaining games in a regular season that began with seven defeats in the first eight games was obvious to all.“It’s a tough moment; we didn’t perform the way we needed to,” said linebacker Blake Martinez, one of the team’s veteran leaders. “I don’t think it was overconfidence, we just didn’t play collectively well as a team.”And yet, when asked if the loss might serve as an alarm for the Giants, Martinez answered: “Any time you lose, it’s always a wake-up call. The really good teams focus on getting better the following week.”The Giants will host the Cleveland Browns (9-3) next week.The Cardinals’ 6-foot-5 tight end Dan Arnold leapt above the crowd to catch a Kyler Murray touchdown pass in the back of the end zone in the first half.Credit…Robert Deutsch/USA Today Sports, via ReutersFor the Cardinals, whose linebacker Haason Reddick set a franchise record with five sacks — mostly by zooming past the Giants rookie left tackle Andrew Thomas — the victory was a necessary boost. Noting that his team had “a sense of urgency,” Arizona Coach Kliff Kingsbury added: “We made a step in the right direction — we understand what’s in front of us and what we can be. This will build our confidence moving forward.”The Cardinals opened the scoring with a 34-yard Mike Nugent field goal in the first quarter shortly after the Giants’ highlight of the game — a goal-line stand by the defense that followed a Jones fumble on the team’s first possession. Jones’s turnover track record does not merit a defense but, in this case, the fumble occurred as he was being sacked by the former Giants linebacker Markus Golden, who dashed into the Giants backfield unblocked on a blitz. Jones never saw Golden coming.As the Giants’ feeble offense failed to advance into Arizona’s end of the field in the first half, the Cardinals seemed to always be in Giants territory. But the Giants’ defense was mostly stout and Arizona was only able to extend its lead to 6-0.When the Giants’ fatigued defense trotted off the field after forcing the second Nugent field goal midway through the second quarter, they were soon dragging themselves back into action when Giants kickoff returner Dion Lewis fumbled and gave the football back to the Cardinals at the Giants’ 21-yard line. Lewis’s turnover was forced by Arizona’s Kylie Fitts, who kicked at the football in Lewis’s arm as he ran past the Giants returner. While it is illegal for a player to kick another player, the game officials did not throw a flag for the violation and Fitts’s leg knocked the ball loose. In this case, the foul committed by Fitts was not reviewable by the referee.Four plays later, on a third-and-goal from the Giants’ 7-yard line, Murray was backpedalling from the Giants’ pass rush when he hoisted a high pass into the end zone. Initially, it appeared that Murray was throwing the football away, but the Cardinals’ 6-foot-5 tight end Dan Arnold leapt above the crowd of four defenders to catch the throw in the back of the end zone for a touchdown that put Arizona ahead, 13-0 at the half.If the Giants’ first half was bad, the second half was worse. After receiving the kickoff to begin the third quarter, Murray led Arizona on an 11-play, 77-yard drive that concluded with Kenyan Drake’s 1-yard touchdown plunge. The Giants answered with their only score of the game, a 1-yard touchdown run by Lewis. But Arizona dominated the fourth quarter in every way, especially with a four-man rush that repeatedly overpowered the Giants’ offensive linemen and knocked Jones to the ground so often he was pulled from the game for backup Colt McCoy, who was sacked twice.Jones at that point was also nursing an injury. After the game, Judge said he did not know what Jones’s injury was and he defended his second-year quarterback. Asked about Jones’s erratic play, Judge answered: “There are 11 guys on the field. It’s not one person’s fault.”AdvertisementContinue reading the main story More

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      Ray Perkins, Coach at Alabama and in the N.F.L., Dies at 79

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      AdvertisementContinue reading the main storySupported byContinue reading the main storyRay Perkins, Coach at Alabama and in the N.F.L., Dies at 79With the Crimson Tide, he had a tough act to follow, Bear Bryant, but he enjoyed some success. He didn’t fare so well with the Giants and the Buccaneers.Ray Perkins coaching Alabama in the 1980s. He took over after Bear Bryant,  his mentor, retired, and he remained in Tuscaloosa for four years before returning to the N.F.L.Credit…Al Messerschmidt/Associated PressDec. 9, 2020, 6:39 p.m. ETRay Perkins, who spent nearly four decades as a college and N.F.L. coach and was best known for succeeding Paul “Bear” Bryant at the University of Alabama, his alma mater, died on Wednesday at his home in Tuscaloosa, Ala. He was 79.His death was confirmed by his daughter Rachael Perkins, who did not specify the cause but said he had struggled with heart problems in recent years.A hard-driving coach in the mold of Bryant, his mentor, Perkins did not enjoy as much success as a coach as he did as a player, when he won championships with the Crimson Tide and later with Baltimore Colts. Though he spent many years on winning teams as a positions coach and offensive coordinator, he had a losing record in his eight years as an N.F.L. head coach, with his teams qualifying for the postseason just once.Perkins with the Giants quarterback Phil Simms in 1981. During his tenure as head coach in New York, he hired the future head coaches Bill Belichick, Romeo Crennel and Bill Parcells, who succeeded him.Credit…Ray Stubblebine/Associated PressHis first stint as a head coach, with the New York Giants, was not an overwhelming success. He was 23-34 in four seasons, including a 9-7 record in 1981, when the team made the playoffs. But Perkins developed several players who formed the core of the Giants’ 1986 Super Bowl-winning team, including quarterback Phil Simms and linebackers Harry Carson and Lawrence Taylor. He also hired the future head coaches Bill Belichick, Romeo Crennel and Bill Parcells, who succeeded him in 1983.Perkins returned to Alabama that year to take over for Bryant. In his four years in Tuscaloosa, his teams won two-thirds of their regular-season games and three bowl games.But compared with Bryant, who turned the Crimson Tide into a national powerhouse during his quarter-century there, Perkins had only middling success at Alabama. His teams were never in contention for a national title, finishing in the top 10 only once. In his second season, Alabama finished 5-6; it was the team’s first losing season since 1957, the year before Bryant took over the program.Perkins left Alabama after four years and returned to the N.F.L. in 1987, this time to coach the Tampa Bay Buccaneers. With the additional title of vice president of player personnel, he had an even harder time winning games, going 19-41 as head coach in four seasons in Tampa.Perkins spent one losing season coaching at Arkansas State and seven years as an offensive coordinator and position coach with the New England Patriots, Oakland Raiders and Cleveland Browns. After more than a decade away from the sidelines, he resumed coaching in 2012 at a junior college and then at Oak Grove High School in Hattiesburg, Miss., near where he had grown up. He fully retired from football in 2017.Through his long career, Perkins earned a reputation as a workaholic, studying film of practices and games often at the expense of his family.“I don’t remember taking a vacation,” he told The New York Times in 1979, when he took over the Giants. Then he remembered one: “There was a week once in Toledo Bend — that’s in a corner of Louisiana and Texas.”Walter Ray Perkins was born on Nov. 6, 1941, in tiny Mount Olive, Miss. — “the middle of nowhere,” he once said — the second of three children born to Woodrow and Emogene (Lingle) Perkins. His father was a carpenter, and his mother was a homemaker. When Ray was 3 the family moved to to Petal, Miss., a suburb of Hattiesburg.He played running back on the football team at Petal High School and won a scholarship to Alabama. Bryant moved him to wide receiver after a serious head injury during his freshman season required surgery, with doctors drilling three holes in his skull to relieve the pressure. Perkins become a cornerstone of Alabama’s offense between 1964 and 1966, the heyday of the tough-nosed Bryant’s tenure there.Perkins with the Tampa Bay Buccaneers quarterback Steve DeBerg in 1987. Perkins coached the Buccaneers for four season while also serving as vice president of player personnel. Credit…Kathy Willens/Associated PressPerkins was a teammate of the future Hall of Fame quarterbacks Joe Namath and Ken Stabler, and was chosen as an All-American in 1966. Alabama won the Southeastern Conference title in all three of Perkins’s seasons and was national champion in 1964 and 1965.While his college statistics — 63 catches for 908 yards and 9 touchdowns — were modest compared with those of players in today’s pass-first offenses, Perkins, in the reflective glow of having played at Alabama, was picked in the seventh round of the N.F.L. draft by the Baltimore Colts, who were in the midst of their own heyday, led by the star quarterback Johnny Unitas and Coach Don Shula (who died in May).Unitas was wary of young receivers, but he took an immediate shine to Perkins, who had good speed and an intuitive grasp of the game.“I could tell right away when he came to the team that he looked like he had been playing for four or five years in the N.F.L.,” said Upton Bell, the Colts’ director of player personnel in those years. “Forget Shula, you had to please Unitas, and he stepped right in.”Perkins played five seasons at wide receiver and appeared in eight playoff games, including Super Bowl V, when the Colts beat the Dallas Cowboys, 16-13, for their lone title in Baltimore.After several knee surgeries, Perkins finished his N.F.L. career in 1971 with 93 catches for 1,538 yards and 11 touchdowns.Perkins’s first marriage ended in divorce. In addition to his daughter Rachael, from his second marriage, he is survived by his second wife, Lisa Perkins; two sons from his first marriage, Martin Anthony Perkins, known as Tony, and Michael Ray Perkins, who works for the Jacksonville Jaguars of the N.F.L.; another daughter from his second marriage, Shelby Perkins; a sister, Susan Thornton; and two grandchildren. Another sister, Shirley Sellers, died in 2007.AdvertisementContinue reading the main story More

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      Giants Outmuscle Seahawks in Season’s Biggest Upset

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      AdvertisementContinue reading the main storySupported byContinue reading the main storyGiants 17, seahawks 12Giants Outmuscle Seahawks in Season’s Biggest UpsetFacing Seattle on the road without their starting quarterback, the Giants picked up their fourth straight win behind a stout defense, a lot of running and no trickery.Lineman Leonard Williams had 2.5 sacks Sunday, bringing him to a career-high 8.5 for the season, as the Giants’ defense sent the Seahawks scattering.Credit…Larry Maurer/170943 Associated Press, via Associated PressBy More

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      Can the Giants’ Tenuous Grasp of the N.F.C. East Hold?

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      AdvertisementContinue reading the main storySupported byContinue reading the main storyCan the Giants’ Tenuous Grasp of the N.F.C. East Hold?The Giants are riding a three-game win streak and seem banded behind first-year Coach Joe Judge. In a shaky division, that just might be enough to put them in the playoffs.Giants offensive lineman Nick Gates leapt into Coach Joe Judge’s arms to celebrate a win over Washington earlier this month that changed the team’s trajectory.Credit…Patrick Mcdermott/Getty ImagesBy More

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      NFL Week 12: What We Learned

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      AdvertisementContinue reading the main storySupported byContinue reading the main storyWhat We Learned From Week 12 of the N.F.L. SeasonThe Titans demolished the Colts, the Chiefs won again and the Broncos, with no quarterback, were crushed in a week defined as much by the coronavirus as the action on the field.Tennessee’s Derrick Henry absolutely dominated in a crucial win over Indianapolis that gave the Titans sole possession of first place in the A.F.C. South.Credit…Darron Cummings/Associated PressBy More