NFL

7:30 AM ET METAIRIE, La. — Long before 2020 forced the sports world to deal with so many unprecedented wrinkles, there was the plight of the 2005 New Orleans Saints. “We were literally the Bad News Bears of the NFL,” wide receiver Lance Moore said of a vagabond team that had to evacuate New Orleans

7:27 PM ET NFL NationESPN The Dallas Cowboys, Cleveland Browns and Miami Dolphins are among the teams hoping to win their way into the playoffs on the final weekend of the NFL’s regular season Sunday. All three enter their games with key players on offense battling injuries. Dallas running back Ezekiel Elliott ran for 105

3:15 PM ET Marcel Louis-JacquesESPN ORCHARD PARK, N.Y. — When the Buffalo Bills host their first playoff game in 25 years, they will be doing so in front of a live audience. New York Gov. Andrew Cuomo announced Wednesday that Bills Stadium will be open to a limited number of fans for the playoffs. Bills

11:45 AM ET EAGAN, Minn. — Minnesota Vikings star running back Dalvin Cook will miss Sunday’s game against the Detroit Lions because of the death of his father, according to a league source. Cook returned to his home in Miami on Tuesday to be with his siblings and will miss the Vikings’ daily COVID-19 tests,

12:34 PM ET Pittsburgh Steelers coach Mike Tomlin said Tuesday that Ben Roethlisberger will not play this weekend against the Cleveland Browns, with Mason Rudolph instead getting the start in Cleveland. Tomlin says the Steelers (12-3), who already have clinched a playoff spot, may rest more starters, but as of now, Roethlisberger is the only

11:08 AM ET RYAN FITZPATRICK‘S WILDEST moment over the past four months, the one that encapsulates the totality of whatever the hell he’s experienced, was easily the most symbolically accurate: 19 seconds left, down two to the Las Vegas Raiders on Saturday night, playoff elimination for the Miami Dolphins in sight, defensive end Arden Key

7:00 AM ET NFL NationESPN With one week of regular-season games remaining, it’s time for the NFL Power Rankings to look to the future. After a 2020 that was different from anything we’ve ever seen and chock full of challenges (on and off the field), we look ahead to (hopefully) better times in 2021. Our

2:08 AM ET FOXBOROUGH, Mass. — Cam Newton has mostly struck a positive chord in his first year with the New England Patriots, but after another frustrating performance in which he was pulled midway through the third quarter of a blowout loss to the Buffalo Bills, he vented. Newton was asked about a graphic on

7:00 AM ET Mike Reiss Close ESPN Staff Writer Covered Patriots since 1997 Joined ESPN in 2009 Marcel Louis-Jacques FOXBOROUGH, Mass. to ORCHARD PARK, N.Y. — The torch has been passed. Finally. The New England Patriots‘ stranglehold on the AFC East is over, and it happened earlier in the season than many anticipated. The Buffalo

10:33 AM ET PHILADELPHIA — Eagles coach Doug Pederson does not believe his job is in jeopardy and “fully expects” to return in the same role next season. “I feel fully confident to be the head coach of the Eagles in 2021,” he said during his radio appearance on 94.1 WIP Monday morning. “The thing

7:45 PM ET The first year of the NFL’s expanded playoffs has left us with seven postseason spots still in play as Week 17 approaches. That’s more than in any year since at least 1990, the most recent time the field expanded, and sets up a wild final week of the regular season. Here is

first Quarter LAR SEA FG 6:21 Matt Gay Made 44 Yrd Field Goal 14 plays, 62 yards, 5:57 3 0 second Quarter LAR SEA FG 12:48 Jason Myers Made 45 Yrd Field Goal 9 plays, 34 yards, 3:01 3 3 FG 9:38 Matt Gay Made 51 Yrd Field Goal 10 plays, 42 yards, 3:10 6

7:25 AM ET At least two NFL teams have reached out to Urban Meyer to see whether the former Ohio State coach would be interested in interviewing for — if not accepting — a head-coaching job at the next level, league sources told ESPN. Meyer, according to a source connected to one of those teams,

8:44 PM ET NFL NationESPN Week 16 in the NFL started on Christmas Day with a huge performance by the New Orleans Saints and Alvin Kamara, who became the second running back in league history to rush for six touchdowns in a game. The Saints also clinched the NFC South with a victory over the

4:43 PM ET Buccaneers quarterback Tom Brady helped end the NFL’s second-longest playoff drought by throwing four touchdown passes in a 47-7 blowout win over the Detroit Lions on Saturday, clinching Tampa Bay’s first playoff berth since 2007. Brady, appearing in his 300th game in the same city his career began — Detroit, 20 years

10:14 PM ET MINNEAPOLIS — Back in training camp as the Minnesota Vikings put their defensive rebuild into action, Mike Zimmer didn’t anticipate a drop off for his once-vaunted unit in spite of how many new faces he saw around him. “I’ve never had a bad defense — ever,” the Vikings’ coach said in August.

7:50 PM ET NEW ORLEANS — Alvin Kamara went dashing through the Minnesota Vikings defense Friday with a Christmas Day performance for the ages. Kamara ran for six touchdowns — tied for the most in NFL history with Ernie Nevers of the Chicago Cardinals in 1929 — as the New Orleans Saints clinched their fourth

4:53 PM ET It didn’t take long for Alvin Kamara to deliver on Christmas Day. The New Orleans Saints running back cruised to a 40-yard touchdown run on the game’s opening drive for a quick 7-0 lead over the Minnesota Vikings. And he did it in style with a pair of green-and-red Christmas-themed cleats that