Packers’ potent offense faces big test from Aaron Donald, RamsVideo
No NFL team scored more points during the regular season than the Green Bay Packers. Nobody has played better defense than the Los Angeles Rams. That sets up an intriguing showdown of strength vs. strength when MVP favorite Aaron Rodgers and the Packers (13-3) host All-Pro defensive tackle Aaron Donald...
Josh Allen, Lamar Jackson set for playoff showdown as Bills host RavensVideo
ORCHARD PARK, N.Y. — Ravens coach John Harbaugh was immediately impressed by Buffalo quarterback Josh Allen’s competitive fire after their first face-to-face encounter in an NFL setting. It happened in the 2018 season opener, when the then-raw rookie Bills quarterback was shoved into the Ravens’ sideline. Allen hopped up and...
Jets hire 49ers defensive coordinator Robert Saleh as coach
NEW YORK — The New York Jets were searching for a leader, someone who could bring a frustrated, playoff-starved franchise back to respectability. They think they found their guy in Robert Saleh. The Jets reached an agreement in principle with the popular and energetic San Francisco 49ers defensive coordinator Thursday...
Jared Goff to start for Rams in Green BayVideo
THOUSAND OAKS, Calif. — Jared Goff and Sean McVay say they had a healthy, productive disagreement last week about Goff’s readiness to return from thumb surgery. They’re in complete accord this week, however: Goff is the best choice to lead the Los Angeles Rams in the playoffs. Goff will start...
Leonard Fournette grateful for 2nd chance with BuccaneersVideo
TAMPA, Fla. — When Leonard Fournette suddenly found himself out of work, one of the first people who reached out to the former Jacksonville Jaguars running back was Tom Brady. The six-time Super Bowl-winning quarterback thought he’d be a nice addition to a talented group of playmakers being assembled around...
Colts GM contemplates possibility of Philip Rivers returning to teamVideo
INDIANAPOLIS — Indianapolis Colts general manager Chris Ballard heard the locker room talk. Coach Frank Reich wants Philip Rivers back as the starting quarterback next fall. Two-time All-Pro linebacker Darius Leonard wants another chance to get Rivers his missing Super Bowl ring. So do Leonard’s teammates. Now, the Colts general...
Packers’ Davante Adams finally gets to face off with Rams’ Jalen RamseyVideo
Green Bay’s Davante Adams has caught more touchdown passes over the last five seasons than any other player. Jalen Ramsey of the Los Angeles Rams is one of the NFL’s premier cornerbacks. They finally will face each other in a game that matters Saturday when the top-seeded Packers (13-3) host...
Browns’ Kareem Hunt set for emotional playoff reunion with Chiefs
CLEVELAND — Kareem Hunt’s about to face the team that drafted and developed him before deciding to push the running back away. The Kansas City Chiefs won a Super Bowl without Hunt. He wants to stop them from getting another one. Hunt, whose career briefly derailed in Kansas City before...
Kevin Stefanski out of basement, back with Browns after covid-19
CLEVELAND — Browns coach Kevin Stefanski doesn’t plan a trip downstairs to his basement any time soon. “Those walls were closing in on me,” he said. Stefanski returned to the team’s facility Thursday, 10 days after the first-year coach tested positive with the virus and after he missed Cleveland’s playoff...
Urban Hire: Meyer returns to sidelines with NFL’s Jaguars
JACKSONVILLE, Fla. — Urban Meyer has won everywhere he’s coached. Small colleges. Big-time programs. He’s been a difference maker at each stop during his storied career. He’s ready to try something new: the NFL. Meyer agreed to become head coach of the Jacksonville Jaguars on Thursday, leaving the broadcast booth...
Bucs, Browns, Bills out to follow footsteps of champ Chiefs
Aside from winning the final Super Bowl before the merger in 1970, the Kansas City Chiefs’ biggest claim to fame for over half a century was team founder Lamar Hunt coining the phrase Super Bowl. Patrick Mahomes changed all of that a year ago when he led a furious fourth-quarter...
NFL wild-card games show potential for alternate broadcasts
LOS ANGELES — Brian Robbins directed “Varsity Blues” and was the producer of “Coach Carter,” but both of those might have been eclipsed last Sunday with Nickelodeon’s successful kids-oriented broadcast of an NFL playoff game. Even a couple days after last Sunday’s game, the president of Nickelodeon as well as...
Bills brace for run-dominant, Lamar Jackson-led Ravens
ORCHARD PARK, N.Y. — Buffalo Bills defensive end Jerry Hughes feels as if he’s back at TCU, where the Horned Frogs would open training camp prepping for the read-option offense to squeeze in extra time for what had been their annual meeting against Air Force. “Given all the misdirection, and...
Buttoned-down Baker: Mayfield showing maturity for BrownsVideo
CLEVELAND — Baker Mayfield answered every question with thoughtful responses, carefully choosing each word while knowing a wrong one could spark controversy. Cleveland’s quarterback has matured: buttoned-down Baker. Days before the biggest game of his NFL career and another matchup against Patrick Mahomes and the reigning Super Bowl champion Kansas...
Bears to keep Matt Nagy, GM Ryan Pace at least 1 more season
CHICAGO — Chairman George McCaskey insisted the Chicago Bears have the right culture to become a winning franchise. So the team is sticking with general manager Ryan Pace and coach Matt Nagy for at least another season. What helped convince him to stay the course rather than make sweeping changes?...
Browns, Chiefs bear unmistakable thumbprint of ex-GM John DorseyVideo
KANSAS CITY, Mo. — It doesn’t take Andy Reid long when he pops on film of the Cleveland Browns for the coach of the Kansas City Chiefs to see the unmistakable thumbprint of former general manager John Dorsey in their style and personnel. Probably because Reid still sees it on...
Browns get top CB Denzel Ward back from covid-19 list
Cleveland Browns rookie coach Kevin Stefanski said he’s on track to return to the team Thursday for playoff preparations after missing Sunday’s wild-card win in Pittsburgh with covid-19. He’ll get a few of his best players back, too. Stefanski jokingly called himself “probable” when asked if he’ll return as the...
AP sources: Eagles won’t be penalized for QB decisions
PHILADELPHIA — The Philadelphia Eagles won’t be penalized after the NFL looked into the way the team handled its quarterback decisions in the final regular-season game against Washington, two people familiar with the decision told the Associated Press on Wednesday. Both people spoke to the AP on condition of anonymity...
John Harbaugh, Ravens happily travel road to success in playoffsVideo
Home-field advantage in the playoffs is overrated for Ravens coach John Harbaugh, who has found the road to success in the postseason usually involves packing his bags and getting the heck out of Baltimore. Last week’s 20-13 victory in Tennessee was Harbaugh’s eighth on the road in the playoffs, the...
Packers QB Aaron Rodgers says he will guest-host on ‘Jeopardy!’Video
GREEN BAY, Wis. — Green Bay Packers quarterback Aaron Rodgers says he will be a guest host on “Jeopardy!” during the offseason. The show is using a series of interim hosts to replace Alex Trebek, who died of cancer Nov. 8. That process began when record-holding contestant Ken Jennings made...
Injured Bengals QB Burrow says he’ll be ready for opening day 2021Video
COLUMBUS, Ohio — Cincinnati Bengals quarterback Joe Burrow expects to start running on his surgically repaired left knee next month and is confident he will be ready to start the 2021 season. “I’ve always been a fast healer,” Burrow said Tuesday in a Zoom session with reporters. “We’ll see how...
Browns wait for Bitonio, Ward, lose backups to injuriesVideo
CLEVELAND — As the Browns anxiously wait for Pro Bowl guard Joel Bitonio and top cornerback Denzel Ward to return from covid-19 and join their playoff run, the team lost their replacements to injuries. Cleveland placed guard Michael Dunn and cornerback Robert Jackson on injured reserve Tuesday, losing two players...
Lamar Jackson, Ravens ready to build on noteworthy playoff victory
Lamar Jackson and the Baltimore Ravens put on another display of resilience in Tennessee, opening the playoffs by coming from behind to beat the Titans. Jackson used his deft running ability and efficient passing arm Sunday to finally win a playoff game after starting his career with successive postseason defeats....
Bill Belichick won’t receive Presidential Medal of Freedom after allVideo
New England Patriots coach Bill Belichick said on Monday night that he will not receive the Presidential Medal of Freedom, saying “remaining true to the people, team and country I love outweigh the benefits of any individual award.” In a one-paragraph statement, the six-time Super Bowl winning coach did not...
Off sofa, Browns’ Stefanski to return after playoff absenceVideo
CLEVELAND — Nervously sitting in front of a TV while secluded in his basement at home, coach Kevin Stefanski watched his Browns’ shocking playoff win — the team’s first in 26 years — like one of the team’s many long-suffering, faithful fans. His phone turned off, Stefanski, who was isolated...
