Jasen Vinlove / USA TODAY Sports
The 2017 regular season has ended, so it is time for the real fun to begin. The final Sunday of the season saw a barrage of moving pieces sort out the final standings and determine who plays who in the first round of the playoffs.
| SEED | TEAM | DIVISION | RECORD |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Patriots | East | 13-3 |
| 2 | Steelers | North | 13-3 |
| 3 | Jaguars | South | 10-6 |
| 4 | Chiefs | West | 10-6 |
| 5 | Titans | South | 9-7 |
| 6 | Bills | East | 9-7 |
| MATCHUP | DATE | TIME | NETWORK |
|---|---|---|---|
| Titans at Chiefs | Sa |
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The Oakland Raiders are preparing to pursue ESPN analyst Jon Gruden with an offer so strong it could even include an ownership stake in the teams, according to league sources.
Gruden will be tempted to accept it, according to sources, but would prefer not to make any decisions until the regular season finishes Sunday and the Raiders make a final determination on their current head coach, Jack Del Rio, who signed a contract extension last summer.
Tom Brady has not been able to maintain his blistering start to the season, and the 40-year-old was not completely excellent on Sunday afternoon in Pittsburgh.
Nevertheless, he’s still probably the NFL’s Most Valuable Player.
Or, to put it more accurately, he may be the Last Man Standing. Carson Wentz went down with a season-ending injury last week. Antonio Brown appears to be done, too. Russell Wilson, a longshot to win the award, turned in a dreadful performance on Sunday at home in a 42-7 lo
Hats off to my good friend Steve Mills. He is doing an excellent job. The future is promising for his young Knicks.
Johnson and Knicks president Steve Mills
After six games this close, it seems fitting that the 2017 World Series will go to the brink.
Facing elimination, the Dodgers got 4.1 scoreless innings from a heavily-taxed bullpen to out-duel Justin Verlander and force a seventh game. It’ll be Yu Darvish against Lance McCullers Jr. on Wednesday, but realistically everyone from Collin McHugh to Clayton Kershaw will be available in relief.
Before we turn our focus to Game
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The Cowboys' Jerry Jones was a leading voice among 17 NFL owners on a conference call Thursday that discussed the possibility of halting commissioner Roger Goodell's pending contract extension, sources involved with the call told ESPN.
There is a growing difference of opinion among owners about Goodell's overall performance as commissioner, according to sources. The owners on Thursday's conference call are generally unhappy with Goodell and the
The Miami Dolphins have now actively decided for the second time this season that they are better off not having Colin Kaepernick on their roster. When Ryan Tannehillwent down with a season-ending injury, Miami went with Adam Gase's old friend Jay Cutler in a move that made football sense.
Now with Cutler dealing with cracked ribs and Matt Moore set to start on Thursday night against the R
Patrick Beverley had no chill before, during and after his match with Lonzo Ball on Thursday night.
Beverley was making his Los Angeles Clippers debut, while Ball was making his hyped NBA debut. Beverley and his Clippers got the best end of the deal without a doubt.
Beverley scored 10 points in the Clippers’ 108-92 win over the Lakers, while Ball had just three points on 1-for-6 shooting and four assists for the Lakers.
The game went pre
After remaining unsigned through six weeks of the 2017 NFL season, Colin Kaepernick claims the league is participating in collusion.
According to Bleacher Report's Mike Freeman, the former San Francisco 49ers quarterback has filed a grievance against the owners for collusion under the latest collective bargaining agreement.
Mike Florio of Pro Football Talk reported on what Kaepernick is looking to accomplish with the grievance:
"Per a source with knowledge of the situation, Kaepernick wants
Tennessee Titans wide receiver Rishard Matthews appears to be absolute in his decision to stay inside during the national anthem, saying he is willing to give up his profession rather than being forced to change his protest over social issues.
On Thursday afternoon, Matthews was asked by Matt Parker, a local Nashville producer, via Twitter if he would continue to remain in the locker room during the anthem if the NFL created a rule requiring players to stand or face a penalty.
“No, I will be d
The NAACP said in a statement Tuesday that Dallas Cowboys owner Jerry Jones’ pledge to bench players who take a knee during the national anthem “are a public commitment by an NFL owner to violate his players’ Constitutional right to free speech.”
Jones told USA TODAY Sports on Monday that Cowboys and the other NFL teams “needs to” stand for The Star-Spangled Banner in comments that followed his pledge to keep players off the field for “disrespecting the flag.”
“This is not an issue about our f
Mike Ditka has apologized for saying he wasn’t aware any racial oppression over the last 100 years in the United States.The famed Chicago Bears coach came under fire for making the comments during a radio interview on Monday about NFL players kneeling during the national anthem. He issued an apology the next day, saying he was talking about professional football and not society as a whole.
“I have absolutely seen oppression in society in the last 100 years,” the Hall of Fame tight end and Sup
Source: Leon Bennett / Getty
ESPN suspended Jemele Hill for two weeks as punishment for tweets she made criticizing Dallas Cowboys owner Jerry Jones.
Jones threatened to bench Cowboys players who don’t stand for the national anthem.
Hill’s co-anchor, Michael Smith, will be sitting out tonight’s airing.
Those in the business of protecting Cam Newton have often found doing so to be a Herculean task. On the field, Newton himself is of great help—elusive, tactful, and deliberate in his play. But the Panthers quarterback is altogether different before microphones from how he is before middle linebackers, and the tale of Cam Newton is one of someone who—before the world’s gaze—seems painfully unsure of the man he wishes to be.
His wavering stances on race in America anger both those who loathe his
A former South Florida plastic surgeon, who in 1998 was placed on probation by Florida’s health department for a botched penis enlargement procedure, didn’t let his reputation get in the way of being sentenced to 44 months in prison for a failed butt lift. Big Baller Brand owner LaVar Ball, an expert in basic economics as evidenced by offering a $495 basketball shoe, is pulling his 16-year-old son LaMelo Ball out of high school and will homeschool him. Former 10-day White Hous
Cam Newton says every night, he prays to God about giving hope to other people.
Newton, the 28-year-old Carolina Panthers quarterback, revealed his prayers after a game against the New England Patriots on Sunday. During the Panthers 33-30 win over the Pats, the QB scored a touchdown in the fourth quarter of the game and celebrated with a clenched fist in the air.
When explaining his symbolic end zo
A significant portion of the NFL’s fan base has reacted negatively to the national anthem protests of the past year. The responses tend to follow a pattern:
The stadium is no place for political protest. The game is a color-blind meritocracy. To protest football is to protest America.
But according to a study we published last year, white football fans and black football
Shannon Sharpe says what no one else, so far, has said about the NFL protests against Donald Trump.
TRANSCRIPT
I’m disappointed. And I’m unimpressed. I’m disappointed, Skip, and Joy, because this is the tipping point. Of the 7,537 things that President Trump has said in the last 50 years, him calling an NFL player an SOB is what brought the NFL, the owners and its players, together. And while some might be moved by the conscience of these NFL owners, it wasn’t their conscience that moved t
AS 3.5 MILLION AMERICANS languished without power in Puerto Rico this weekend, President Donald Trump turned his attention instead to NFL players who had decided to take a knee during the national anthem to protest injustice, bigotry, and police brutality in the U.S.
“Wouldn’t you love to see one of these NFL owners, when somebody disrespects our flag, to say, ‘Get that son of a bitch off the field right now. Out! He’s fired. He’s fired!’” the president bellowed at a rally for a spe
