December 27, 2021 3:52 am
KANSAS CITY, Mo. (AP) – Patrick Mahomes threw for 258 yards and three touchdowns, Byron Pringle caught two of the TD passes, and the Chiefs beat the Steelers 36-10 on Sunday to clinch their sixth consecutive AFC West title. The Chiefs improved to 11-4 and remained a game ahead of Tennessee for first place in the AFC with their eighth straight win. That would give them the conference’s lone first-round bye and home-field advantage throughout the AFC playoffs. Already on the playoff bubble, the Steelers dropped to 7-7-1 and further behind the Bengals in the AFC North. Ben Roethlisberger threw for 159 yards and a touchdown, but he also threw an interception and lost a fumble on a lousy day for the Steelers.
December 27, 2021 3:53 am
Joe Burrow threw for a franchise-record 525 yards and four touchdowns, and the Cincinnati Bengals took sole possession of first place in the AFC North with a 41-21 win over the depleted Baltimore Ravens. Burrow broke Boomer Esiason’s team record of 522 yards. He was 37 of 46 and threw two touchdown passes to Tee Higgins and one each to Tyler Boyd and Joe Mixon. The Bengals swept the Ravens for the first time since 2015. Tee Higgins had 12 receptions for a career-high 194 yards. Josh Johnson started at quarterback for the Ravens with Lamar Jackson injured and backup Tyler Huntley sidelined by COVID-19.
December 27, 2021 3:58 am
UNDATED (AP) – The Penguins have had another game postponed because of COVID. Wednesday’s game against Toronto is the latest to be impacted. Monday’s game in Boston against the Bruins has also been postponed. The NHL will emerge from an extended holiday break with taxi squads and other roster revisions to guard against more disruptions to the season. Each team will be allowed to have a taxi squad of up to six players and to make emergency recalls from the minors if COVID-19 absences would cause anyone to play without a full lineup. The taxi squad is set to be in effect until at least the All-Star break in early February.
December 26, 2021 5:36 pm
BOSTON (AP) — The Military Bowl and Fenway Bowl have been canceled due to the pandemic as coronavirus outbreaks at Boston College and Virginia forced them to call off their postseason plans. The Military Bowl, scheduled for Monday at Navy-Marine Corps Memorial Stadium between Boston College and East Carolina, was canceled because of positive COVID-19 tests involving the Eagles. The Fenway Bowl, set for Wednesday at the home of the Boston Red Sox, was to pit the Cavaliers against SMU. It’s the second year in a row that the pandemic has spoiled bowl bids for Boston College and SMU.
December 26, 2021 3:46 am
KANSAS CITY, Mo. (AP) – The Steelers head to Kansas City on Sunday for an AFC showdown with plenty of playoff implications. Pittsburgh is trying to stay alive in the crowded AFC North where eight-win Cincinnati and Baltimore head into the weekend with a slight edge in the division race. The Chiefs are trying to win a sixth straight AFC West title while holding onto the No. 1 seed and lone first-round playoff bye. Much could depend on whether the teams get players back from COVID-19 protocols. Pittsburgh was down linebacker Devin Bush among others, while the Chiefs could be without such stars as Travis Kelce. and Chris Jones.
December 26, 2021 1:45 am
KANSAS CITY, Mo. (AP) — Steelers coach Mike Tomlin was brutally honest about his decision to trade disgruntled linebacker Melvin Ingram to the Chiefs, saying “we prefer volunteers as opposed to hostages” in the Pittsburgh locker room. Well, perhaps Tomlin should have weighed Kansas City’s circumstances at least a little bit. Ingram’s trade last month for a sixth-round draft pick resulted in an about-face for the Chiefs defense, which had been historically awful through the first six weeks. The Chiefs ended their failed experiment of moving Chris Jones to end, putting him back at tackle, and that changed the entire complexion of their defense. It has been downright dominant the past six weeks, helping the first-place Chiefs (10-4) carry a seven-game win streak into their important game against — you guessed it — the Steelers on Sunday at Arrowhead Stadium.
December 26, 2021 7:43 am
GREEN BAY, Wis. (AP) — Rasul Douglas and the Green Bay Packers’ pass defense didn’t let the Cleveland Browns spoil Aaron Rodgers’ milestone day. Rodgers surpassed Brett Favre to become Green Bay’s all-time leader in touchdown passes, and the Packers intercepted Baker Mayfield four times in a 24-22 victory over the Cleveland Browns on Saturday. Cleveland nearly came all the way back from a 12-point second-half deficit before Douglas’ second interception of the day sealed the game with 43 seconds left. Rodgers went 24 of 34 for 202 yards with three touchdown passes to increase his career total to 445. Favre threw 508 touchdown passes during his Hall of Fame career, 442 of them with Green Bay. But it was Green Bay’s defense that clinched this victory by sacking Mayfield five times and forcing him into his first career four-interception performance. All three touchdowns by the Packers (12-3) came after Mayfield interceptions.
December 26, 2021 7:41 am
GLENDALE, Ariz. (AP) — The Indianapolis Colts have beaten some teams with Jonathan Taylor’s legs, some with Carson Wentz’s arm and a few with stellar defense. They added another formula for a victory Saturday night: sheer grit. Wentz threw two touchdown passes, Taylor ran for 108 yards and the banged-up Colts continued their late-season surge with a hard-earned 22-16 win over the fading Arizona Cardinals on Saturday night. The Colts (9-6) have won three straight and six of seven. They got the road win despite missing 2020 All-Pro linebacker Darius Leonard — who was put on the reserve/COVID-19 list earlier Saturday — and four starting offensive linemen. Wentz made the game’s biggest play midway through the fourth quarter, when he bounced around in the pocket for a few seconds before hitting Dezmon Patmon for a 14-yard touchdown on a perfectly placed ball in the back of the end zone. That gave the Colts a 22-13 lead. The Cardinals (10-5) failed to clinch a playoff spot for a third straight week and are 3-5 since starting the season 7-0. Kyler Murray threw for 245 yards and a touchdown while also running for 74 yards. Arizona’s Matt Prater missed two field goals, including a potential go-ahead try early in the fourth quarter, and an extra point.
December 26, 2021 1:47 am
The NHL pushed back its return from an already extended holiday break an extra day by postponing its entire 14-game Monday schedule for COVID-19 testing reasons. The league said Friday it now plans to resume play Tuesday in a decision that increases the total of postponed games to 64 this season. Teams are still scheduled to resume practicing Sunday, but won’t be allowed to take the ice until players, coaches and traveling officials are cleared following a round of COVID-19 tests. The decision to delay the resumption of play will allow what the NHL called “an adequate opportunity to analyze league-wide testing results and to assess clubs’ readiness to play.” The NHL said it will provide further updates on its return to play plans Sunday. The move comes after the NHL opened its annual holiday break on Wednesday, two days earlier than scheduled, because of a significant jump in players landing in the league’s COVID-19 protocols, and with 10 teams’ schedules paused. The sudden rash of postponed games also led the NHL to exercise its right to withdraw from participating in the Winter Olympics in February. The league will instead use its previously scheduled Olympic break, which runs from Feb. 6-22, to make up its postponed games in order to complete an 82-game season.
December 24, 2021 3:50 am
NASHVILLE, Tenn. (AP) – The Tennessee Titans are on the verge of claiming their second straight AFC South title. The Titans are 10-5 after Randy Bullock hit a 44-yard field goal with four seconds remaining in the Titans’ 20-17 comeback win over the 49ers. Ryan Tannehill threw for just 40 yards in the first half but finished with 209 yards and a TD for Tennessee. A.J. Brown caught 11 passes for 145 yards hours after being activated off injured reserve, and his 18-yard TD catch gave Tennessee a 17-10 lead early in the fourth. The Titans are a win or a Colts’ loss away from clinching their division. San Francisco’s Jimmy Garoppolo tied it with a 2-yard TD pass to Brandon Aiyuk with 2:20 left. The Niners led 10-0 before falling to 8-7 with their second loss in seven games.
