LA Rams fire veteran defensive coordinator Wade Phillips
THOUSAND OAKS, Calif. — Veteran defensive coordinator Wade Phillips has been fired by the Los Angeles Rams after three winning seasons. Phillips announced Monday on Twitter that the Rams are not renewing his contract. The 72-year-old says he wants to stay in coaching. Phillips teamed up on the Rams in...
AP source: Cowboys pick Greenfield’s Mike McCarthy as coach
FRISCO, Texas — Mike McCarthy won a Super Bowl and went to the playoffs eight straight years while coaching two-time MVP quarterback Aaron Rodgers. The Dallas Cowboys are hoping for similar results from McCarthy with Dak Prescott. McCarthy, the Greenfield native who won the title as Green Bay’s coach at...
NFL Playoffs Divisional Round: Teams, dates and time set
The Wild Card weekend lived up to its billing with four tight games. Tom Brady and the New England Patriots got upended by the Derrick Henry and Tennessee Titans. Deshaun Watson led the Houston Texans from a halftime deficit and outlasted the Buffalo Bills. Kirk Cousins and Minnesota Vikings surprised...
Seahawks knock out Wentz, Eagles in NFC wild-card roundVideo
PHILADELPHIA — After Jadeveon Clowney knocked out Carson Wentz, Russell Wilson and the Seattle Seahawks knocked off the Philadelphia Eagles. Wilson threw a 53-yard touchdown pass to DK Metcalf, Marshawn Lynch had a rushing score and the Seahawks beat the Eagles, 17-9, in the wild-card round of the NFC playoffs...
Dallas Cowboys fire Jason Garrett as coachVideo
FRISCO, Texas — Jason Garrett is out as coach of the Dallas Cowboys after missing the playoffs with an underachieving team in a make-or-break season. The Cowboys made it official Sunday. Garrett had the second-longest tenure with the franchise at 9½ seasons behind Tom Landry’s 29 years. Garrett took over...
Eagles’ Carson Wentz declared out for rest of wild-card game with head injuryVideo
Carson Wentz’s first postseason start did not last a quarter. Wentz, the Philadelphia Eagles quarterback, was knocked out of the contest Sunday in the first quarter of the wild-card playoff game against Seattle because of a head injury. Seahawks defensive end Jadeveon Clowney hit Wentz helmet to helmet as the...
Tough decisions ahead for Belichick, Brady and Patriots after wild card lossVideo
FOXBOROUGH, Mass. — For the first time in three years, the Patriots won’t enter the offseason after a Super Bowl appearance. Now, the franchise that has hoisted six Lombardi Trophies faces questions it rarely has had to address during its run of success over the past two decades. Tom Brady’s...
Dalvin Cook, Vikings upend Saints in OT in NFC playoffsVideo
NEW ORLEANS — Kirk Cousins hit tight end Kyle Rudolph with a 4-yard fade on third-and-goal in overtime, and the Minnesota Vikings pulled out a 26-20 victory over the Saints in the wild-card round of the NFC playoffs on Sunday. The Vikings will face the top-seeded 49ers in San Francisco...
Derrick Henry, Titans top Patriots in wild-card upsetVideo
FOXBOROUGH, Mass. — Derrick Henry rushed for 182 yards and a touchdown while Tennessee’s defense stymied Tom Brady and perhaps ended his championship-filled New England career with a 20-13 wild-card victory Saturday night. As a dense fog that shrouded Gillette Stadium for the first half dissipated, it became clear the...
Texans roar past Bills for overtime win in wild-card roundVideo
HOUSTON — Deshaun Watson threw a touchdown pass and ran for a score in regulation and then led the winning drive in overtime as the Texans added another comeback to Houston playoff history by rallying from a double-digit second-half deficit for a 22-19 victory over the Buffalo Bills in the...
Saints recall tension, tears in Vikings’ last playoff visitVideo
NEW ORLEANS — Ten years ago, when the Minnesota Vikings last visited New Orleans in the playoffs, Saints punter Thomas Morstead wasn’t prepared for what he saw. “I remember after the game was over, I didn’t expect it to be as emotional as it was. I found my family and...
Pressure nothing new for Eagles as they prepare for SeattleVideo
PHILADELPHIA — The Philadelphia Eagles have been playing must-win games for a month to get to this point. Now, it’s win or go home. The Eagles (9-7) will host the Seattle Seahawks (11-5) in an NFC wild-card playoff game Sunday after winning four straight games to secure their second division...
Spotlight on J.J. Watt in return for Texans playoff game against BillsVideo
HOUSTON — J.J. Watt was a rookie in the 2011 playoffs when his spectacular performance against the Cincinnati Bengals led the Houston Texans to the first postseason win in franchise history. The spotlight will be on Watt again Saturday, when he’ll return to the field a little more than two...
‘Patriot Way,’ burgeoning ‘Titan Way’ collide in playoffsVideo
FOXBOROUGH, Mass. — When Tennessee Titans GM Jon Robinson fired coach Mike Mularkey after he lost to the New England Patriots in the divisional round of the playoffs after the 2017 season, he leaned on his past to plot a course for the team’s future. Five days later Robinson, who...
Panthers’ Christian McCaffrey a double All-Pro pickVideo
NEW YORK — Christian McCaffrey’s versatility and superb statistics helped him to a rare double: The Carolina Panthers running back made the Associated Press NFL All-Pro Team at two positions. McCaffrey rushed for 1,387 yards and 15 touchdowns and caught 116 passes for 1,005 yards and four TDs. He became...
Browns interview Chiefs coordinator Bieniemy for coach job
CLEVELAND — The Cleveland Browns are interviewing Chiefs offensive coordinator Eric Bieniemy in Kansas City to possibly be their next head coach. Bieniemy is the third candidate to interview with the Browns, who met Thursday with former Green Bay coach Mike McCarthy at their facility and traveled to Baltimore to...
Browns vow to get coach hire ‘right,’ meet with Mike McCarthyVideo
BEREA, Ohio — Browns owner Jimmy Haslam excused himself from a daylong interview with former Packers coach Mike McCarthy to again explain why his franchise is in disarray. It’s a nearly annual event in Cleveland: fire a coach, find a new one, fire him. On Thursday, Haslam made a familiar...
Sam Wyche, boundary-pushing coach of Bengals, dead at 74Video
Sam Wyche, who pushed the boundaries as an offensive innovator with the Cincinnati Bengals and challenged the NFL’s protocols along the way, has died. He was 74. Wyche, who had a history of blood clots in his lungs and had a heart transplant in 2016 in Charlotte, N.C., entered hospice...
NFC playoff breakdown: 49ers roar back as top seedVideo
For the first time since 1997, the San Francisco 49ers are the top seed in the NFC playoffs, a stunning turnaround for a team that owned the second overall pick in the NFL Draft just nine months ago. After four straight losing campaigns, including only 10 wins in coach Kyle...
AFC playoff breakdown: Tom Brady, Patriots don’t get usual R&RVideo
Tom Brady and the defending champion New England Patriots aren’t getting their usual bye week to rest, relax and recharge. Lamar Jackson and the Baltimore Ravens earned the AFC’s top seed for the first time since the current playoff format was adopted in 1990. Patrick Mahomes and the Kansas City...
Now NFL rushing leader, Titans’ Derrick Henry his own worst criticVideo
NASHVILLE, Tenn. — No one is a harsher critic of Titans running back Derrick Henry than himself. “I just want to do my job very well,” Henry said Wednesday. “If I don’t, I’m hard on myself. I just keep working until I get it right.” The NFL rushing leader and...
Browns, GM John Dorsey part ways after disappointing 6-10 seasonVideo
CLEVELAND — The Cleveland Browns parted ways with general manager John Dorsey two days after the team fired coach Freddie Kitchens. Dorsey’s stunning departure on Tuesday came after he met with owner Jimmy Haslam, who is once again with his wife, Dee, cleaning house and restructuring the front office after...
Pat Leonard: Giants’ decision to retain Dave Gettleman promises continued irrelevanceVideo
NEW YORK — The New York Giants’ decision to retain GM Dave Gettleman is good news. It’s good news for the rest of the NFC East. “They won’t win with him,” one NFL source said. Gettleman is football’s poster boy for mocking analytics and forward thinking. In April 2018, he...
Jaguars keep Doug Marrone, Dave Caldwell despite another losing season
JACKSONVILLE, Fla. — The Jacksonville Jaguars are retaining coach Doug Marrone and general manager Dave Caldwell despite consecutive losing seasons. Owner Shad Khan made the announcement Tuesday after “positive meetings” with Marrone, Caldwell, their staffs and several players. “This is not the time to consider an overhaul of our organization,”...
Source: Redskins hire former Panthers coach Ron RiveraVideo
It didn’t take long for former Carolina Panthers coach Ron Rivera to find a new job. Rivera will be named the new coach in Washington, barring any unexpected developments, The Observer confirmed with a source familiar with the team’s decision who isn’t authorized to speak publicly about it. Rivera’s imminent...
