The Detroit Lions were one of the best teams in the NFL during the regular season, setting franchise records for wins (15) and points scored (564). Detroit earned a second consecutive NFC North title and the No. 1 seed in the NFC.

Detroit’s offense was the top-scoring team in the NFL during the regular season, and starting running back David Montgomery significantly contributed to that success. However, the Lions lost several players in their Week 15 loss to the Buffalo Bills, including Montgomery.

He suffered a knee injury during the loss to Buffalo, and it was announced the following day that Montgomery tore the MCL in his right knee.

Montgomery proceeded to miss the remainder of the regular season, and the Lions prepared to be without him for a potential playoff run. However, the Lions running back appears to be pushing towards a return to action for the divisional round of the playoffs when the Lions host the Washington Commanders.

Here’s the latest on Montgomery’s injury:

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David Montgomery injury update

Just over a month after Detroit believed it would be without Montgomery, Lions coach Dan Campbell said on Monday he expects the running back to play in Saturday’s playoff opener against the Washington Commanders.

‘There’s a place for him here; he’s a tone-setter,’ Campbell said. ‘There’ll be a place for him in this game, so it’s going to be good to get him back.’

At the time of the injury, Campbell announced that Montgomery would require season-ending knee surgery, but after receiving multiple opinions, Montgomery opted for rehab instead. As a result of that decision, Montgomery appears to be trending in the right direction to be available for the Lions in the playoffs.

Montgomery finished the regular season with 775 rushing yards and 12 rushing touchdowns on 185 carries. He also has 341 receiving yards and logged his sixth consecutive season with at least 1,000 yards from scrimmage to start his NFL career.

The Lions will host the Commanders who allowed a league-high 2.02 yards before contact per carry, the third-most yards per rush and the eighth-highest explosive run rate during the regular season.

Who are the Lions playing in playoffs?

No. 1 seed Detroit Lions vs. No. 6 seed Washington Commanders

The Lions will host the Commanders in the divisional round of the playoffs on Saturday night.

Colt McCoy watched the Week 8 “Thursday Night Football” tilt between the Minnesota Vikings and Los Angeles Rams, a 30-20 victory for the home-team Rams, with a high level of familiarity. 

To this day, the former NFL quarterback can recognize the genius behind his former coaches, Sean McVay (Rams) and Kevin O’Connell (Vikings), from the time he spent under them with Washington in the mid-2010s. 

“That was fun. Not surprised about that to be honest,” McCoy told USA TODAY Sports the morning after the game. “Both of those teams are good.” 

O’Connell and McVay will go head-to-head again in the NFC wild-card round Monday night (8 p.m. ET, ESPN); due to the ongoing wildfires in the Los Angeles area, the game will be played in Arizona. 

Much of McCoy’s analysis – “two of the best head coaches (in the NFL)” – is based on the respective offenses they lead. 

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“Listen, they’re not just playcallers,” McCoy said. “They’re schemers.”

Confronting injuries to receivers Puka Nacua and Cooper Kupp, the Rams still finished 10th in overall passing offense (yards gained). Minnesota, with quarterback Sam Darnold experiencing a career revival, was sixth in the same category. 

McCoy spent six seasons (2014-19) in Washington, which coincided with McVay’s tenure – first as the tight ends coach (2011-13) and then offensive coordinator (2014-16) while working for head coach Jay Gruden. O’Connell was his quarterbacks coach during the 2017-18 seasons before adding the title of offensive coordinator in 2019. The next year, O’Connell joined McVay as his offensive coordinator with the Rams, and the Vikings hired him in 2021 after the Rams won Super Bowl 56 following their second season together in Los Angeles. 

“To learn those systems and how they call plays and how they coach, that was the best,” McCoy said. 

The former Texas Longhorn started his career with the Cleveland Browns from 2010-12 and spent the 2013 campaign with the San Francisco 49ers. By the time he signed with Washington, he said, he was worn down by injuries and lack of structure to set him up for success. But McVay, and later O’Connell, reignited his love of football on the way to a 12-year career spent primarily as a backup. 

“I just didn’t want to leave (Washington) because I knew what I had with those guys,” McCoy said. “It was really special. Jay put together a great staff while I was there. And Kevin and Sean, in particular, those are some of my best friends to this day.” 

McCoy talks to the pair on a “pretty much weekly” basis, he said. Being around them a decade ago McCoy “100 percent” knew they would be head coaches in the league in little time. 

“Those guys can hold a room. They can lead. They can talk to anybody. They can get guys on the same page going toward a common goal better than anybody I’ve ever been around,” McCoy said. “Both of those guys are tremendous leaders. Great vision. There’s no doubt what they stand for, how they want to do it, who they want to do it with. You want to be on their teams. They’re fair, but they’re hard. As a player, there’s nothing else you’d ask for.” 

O’Connell, a California native, said McVay is one of his best friends and that he is thinking about him and the Rams organization in the face of the devastation in his home state. But Monday night should be a chess match between the two coaches who know each other’s tendencies when it comes to calling plays. 

There will be times when either calls something that does not work, McCoy said. But neither are one to “waste” calls, he added. 

“Everything is schematically put together for what you’re doing,” McCoy said. “It’s cool to see things match up. If I see a certain coverage, a lot of times I’ll know the progressions and routes that are coming next if you keep playing that coverage. That’s their advantage.” 

Whoever can do that better Monday night will likely have his team moving on to face the Philadelphia Eagles in the divisional round. 

LiAngelo Ball’s musical talents have been the talk of the NBA this month, and the middle brother of basketball stars Lonzo and LaMelo Ball has reportedly parlayed that momentum and buzz into a major recording contract.

Ball’s song, ‘Tweaker,’ has gone viral in the sports world after its initial release on Jan. 3, gaining traction on TikTok and Instagram before making its way to arenas and locker rooms throughout the country. According to Chart Data, ‘Tweaker’ sold 94,000 units during its first full week of release in the United States and the song’s video had nearly 8 million views on YouTube as of Monday.

Ball was also announced last week as part of the lineup at Rolling Loud in Inglewood, California, which bills itself as the world’s largest hip-hop festival. Ball is scheduled to appear on Saturday, March 15.

Ball performs under the stage names, ‘Gelo’ or ‘G3’ and older brother Lonzo Ball of the Chicago Bulls has already declared 2025 to be the ‘year of G.’ Here’s more information on LiAngelo Ball and his burgeoning musical career:

What is LiAngelo Ball’s song?

Ball last played professional basketball for two games with Astros de Jalisco in Mexico earlier this year before leaving the team due to injury. Since then, his focus appears to have turned towards his music. ‘Tweaker,’ initially released on Jan. 3 via the WorldstarHipHop YouTube page, had nearly 8 million views as of Monday afternoon.

Prominent hip-hop artists and singers like Meek Mill, T-Pain and Lil Yachty, as well as stars of the sports world like Dawn Staley, Donovan Mitchell and Damian Lillard, have all given positive reviews for the song in interviews or on social media. The praise for ‘Tweaker’ revolves around Ball’s sound, which has been compared to mid-2000s rap songs.

In a matter of days, Ball’s catchy chorus of “I might swerve, bend the corner, whoah-oh-oh’ become an arena staple for some teams.

The Cleveland Cavaliers even played ‘Tweaker’ over the Rocket Mortgage Fieldhouse public address speakers after they beat LaMelo Ball and the Charlotte Hornets on Jan. 5. The Detroit Lions also celebrated their win over the Minnesota Vikings in Week 18 by playing ‘Tweaker’ inside their Ford Field locker room.

LiAngelo Ball basketball career

The middle brother between Lonzo and LaMelo Ball was slated to play for UCLA after graduating from Chino Hills High School in 2017. But he and two teammates were arrested for allegedly trying to steal sunglasses from a Louis Vuitton store in Hangzhou, China before the Bruins’ overseas season opener against Georgia Tech. Ball was suspended indefinitely and eventually left the program without ever appearing in a regular-season game at UCLA.

Ahead of the 2018 NBA draft, Ball played for Prenai of the Lithuanian Basketball League along with younger brother, LaMelo. LiAngelo Ball finished the season averaging 12.6 points and 2.7 rebounds per game, while shooting 41.5% from the three-point line. He then went undrafted by the NBA.

LiAngelo then resurfaced with the NBA G League’s Greensboro Storm, an affiliate of the Charlotte Hornets. He played for the Swarm during the 2021-22 and 2022-23 seasons. He averaged 4.4 points, 1.1 rebounds and 13.1 minutes in 31 NBA G League games for the Swarm. He also signed training camp deals in 2020 (Detroit Pistons), 2021 (Hornets) and 2022 (Hornets) but never made a regular-season roster.

After months of speculation, Mike McCarthy won’t return to the Dallas Cowboys.

The coach and the team will part ways rather than work to pursue a contract extension, the team confirmed in a statement Monday.

‘Throughout Mike McCarthy’s tenure here, including the last several weeks, I have been very complimentary of the job he has done,’ owner Jerry Jones said in a statement. ‘That has applied to our record over that time period, our team unity and culture, Mike’s qualifications and track record of success, and on a personal level as a tremendous human being. I have great respect for Mike, and he has led the team through some very unique and challenging times during his tenure.’

Jones added that he spent the last week reviewing the past season with McCarthy, but ‘prior to reaching the point of contract negotiations, though, it became mutually clear that it would be better for each of us to head in a different direction.’

The Cowboys will begin their search process for McCarthy’s replacement ‘immediately,’ Jones said.

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McCarthy now will be free to interview with other teams after the Cowboys denied the Chicago Bears’ request last week to speak with the coach about their vacancy.

McCarthy ended his Cowboys tenure with a 49-35 record and three postseason appearances in five seasons, including a 7-10 mark in his final year.

Amid speculation that he could pursue a job with another franchise given his expiring contract, McCarthy said after the Week 18 loss to the Washington Commanders that he preferred to remain with Dallas.

“Absolutely. I have a lot invested here, and the Cowboys have a lot invested in me,” McCarthy said. “And then there’s a personal side to all these decisions. They all point the right direction. I think anytime you invest your time, energy, your belief, the connection you have, the relationships that are in place here, the understanding of what the organization can do and is willing to do. Those are all positive attributes that you take into account.’

McCarthy’s standing had been under scrutiny for nearly a year, as Jerry Jones opted to bring the coach back for the final season of his contract despite a blowout wild-card loss last January to the Green Bay Packers. But he offered no extension and declared that the franchise would be ‘all in’ for 2024 after three consecutive 12-win seasons failed to result in the team breaking what was then a 28-year drought of reaching the NFC championship game.

Yet the Cowboys were dealt major blows early on, as the organization’s 16-game home winning streak in the regular season gave way to five losses at AT&T Stadium to start the season. The 47-9 loss to the Detroit Lions in Week 6 was the greatest deficit in a home contest in Jones’ tenure as owner.

Injuries also took a significant toll, with linebacker Micah Parsons, defensive end DeMarcus Lawrence and cornerbacks DaRon Bland and Trevon Diggs among those to miss significant stretches of time. When quarterback Dak Prescott underwent season-ending surgery in early November for a partially torn hamstring, many expected the team would extend a skid that eventually dropped Dallas to 3-7.

But the Cowboys would go on to win four of their next five, stirring speculation that McCarthy could remain with the franchise.

Jones was largely complementary of McCarthy throughout the fall and winter, though he stopped short of ever making a commitment to him.

This story has been updated with new information.

Now comes the real intrigue.

Yes, Mike Vrabel is back in Foxborough. As expected. A week after Jerod Mayo was fired just minutes after completing his one-and-done season as Bill Belichick’s successor, the New England Patriots made it official on Sunday and named Vrabel as the new coach.

So much for a long, exhaustive search. There was no forest of trees to shake. No bevy of bushes to beat. No search firms, no second interviews, no need to check more references.

Bob Kraft, the charismatic Patriots owner, got his man. And everybody knew this was coming. Even though Vrabel interviewed with the Chicago Bears and New York Jets, and the Las Vegas Raiders seemed like a potential dark horse because of his pal Tom Brady’s fingerprints, it always seemed like a matter of when, not if, he would return.

It’s also no wonder that Aaron Glenn, the hot Detroit Lions coordinator, turned down New England’s request for an interview/intel collection session.

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Vrabel will be introduced as Patriots coach at noon E.T. on Monday at the same plaza where he was inducted into the Patriots Hall of Fame in 2023, and the expectations are grand after back-to-back 13-loss seasons. So is the symmetry. A member of three of the franchise’s six Super Bowl champion units, the former linebacker comes back as an accomplished coach – he guided the Tennessee Titans to three playoff berths in six seasons – with presumably all the ingredients to make it work.

No doubt, Kraft’s sentiments are something like: Come fix this!

The intrigue, however, will be revealed with the power structure. To get Vrabel, I’m guessing that he gets a lot more personnel clout than Mayo (a first-time coach and former Patriots linebacker, too) worked with.

After all, Vrabel was in his position with the Titans long enough, and with a degree of success, to know what the alignment needs to be between the personnel and coaching wings. While it’s a major plus that he inherits a promising young quarterback in Drake Maye, how Vrabel meshes with the existing (and/or altered) personnel department looms as a huge component to his chances for success.

Take it from Tedy Bruschi, the former teammate and close friend of Vrabel’s. During ESPN’s ‘Sunday NFL Countdown,’ Bruschi dropped some serious knowledge about the dynamics of the changeover from Mayo to Vrabel.

“When they hired Jerod, at the press conference a big word that was used was ‘collaboration,’ ” Bruschi, the star analyst, said on the pregame studio show. “Everybody’s input and all that stuff. Well, I don’t know how much it is that anymore. And I think that’s a good thing.”

The Patriots don’t have a general manager and haven’t had anyone carry that title during Kraft’s ownership reign. Belichick, though, was viewed as essentially his own de facto GM, given his autonomy in running the football operation – a generation after Bill Parcells’ differences with Kraft included his desire to “shop for the groceries.”

After Belichick’s departure, Eliot Wolf was promoted to executive vice president of personnel from scouting director, with the power of having the final say on personnel moves. He’s flanked by senior personnel executive Alonzo Highsmith, who joined the Patriots last year.

The bulk of the personnel staff, however, are holdovers from the Belichick era – which is panned for the results in the latter years that left the Patriots with a depleted talent base.

Key question: Will Vrabel have the final say on personnel?

“In my opinion,” Bruschi added on ESPN, “there are some people in the front office that need to be told, ‘You don’t know what you’re doing and you need to take a step back.’

“Vrabel isn’t going to joke around. Vrabel is going to tighten the screws.”

Which is exactly why Vrabel is such a good hire. Sorry, Mayo. The process that the Patriots took to get here, though, not so good.

Start with the hiring of Mayo last year. Kraft chose Mayo as Belichick’s successor in 2023, writing a clause into his contract that assured as much. Kraft reasoned that with other teams showing interest in the linebacker coach, he wanted to lock him up long term.

Yet that ultimately prevented the Patriots from conducting a thorough search to replace Belichick. Then Mayo was ultimately undermined because of the weak commitment to stick with him, knowing that it would take a rebuilding job, given the holes in talent.

Here’s to hoping that Mayo, a victim of circumstance with the Patriots, eventually gets another shot at becoming a head coach. Also, another example of a pattern where Black coaches are held to a tougher standard than white coaches – since the Rooney Rule was instituted in 2003, nearly 31% of minority coaches were one-and-done, while less than 10% of white coaches during that span were fired after one season or less – Mayo certainly didn’t get the patience or support that Vrabel’s successor, Brian Callahan, has received from the Titans after finishing 3-14 in his first season.

Of course, Kraft – who could have pursued Vrabel last year if he didn’t already have an agreement with Mayo – opted out of his rookie coach because of the chance to lure one of the most coveted candidates on the market.

It should provide a lesson for any and all team owners: Be very careful in determining your next head coach. Conditions change. The market changes.

With the Patriots, the path to Vrabel also comes with the slew of questions about their quick compliance with the Rooney Rule. On Tuesday, two days after Mayo was fired, they conducted two former coordinators, Pep Hamilton and Byron Leftwich, who haven’t coached in the NFL since 2022. Were they legitimate candidates?

Perhaps Hamilton and Leftwich have aligned themselves as serious options to become coordinator or assume some other role on Vrabel’s staff. We’ll see. There’s also speculation that Josh McDaniels, the former Patriots coordinator who bombed in head coaching shots with the Denver Broncos and the Raiders, could return to Foxborough.

In any event, in finalizing the multi-year deal with Vrabel on Wild-Card Weekend, the Patriots achieved something during the playoffs that, since Brady left, is no longer the norm.

They scored a big victory.

Follow USA TODAY Sports’ Jarrett Bell on X @JarrettBell.

The Tampa Bay Buccaneers appeared to gain control of their wild card game against the Washington Commanders. Their defense came up with a crucial goal-line stand – stopping two goal-to-go plays from the 1-yard line – while leading 17-13 early in the fourth quarter and forcing a turnover on downs.

However, Tampa Bay’s offense failed to capitalize on its defense’s success. Just four plays after the defensive stand, Buccaneers quarterback Baker Mayfield and wide receiver Jalen McMillan failed to connect on a simple jet sweep run.

The ball hit the turf and was recovered by Commanders veteran Bobby Wagner, setting the Washington offense up with its best field position of the day and swinging momentum in their favor. The Commanders scored on the drive, which helped them earn a 23-20 win over the Buccaneers.

Mayfield was credited with the fumble – which was the game’s lone turnover of the traditional variety – and he accepted responsibility for the critical error during a postgame news conference.

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‘That comes back to me, just timing it up correctly,’ Mayfield said. ‘First one all year that it happened on. So obviously the timing of it not great, being backed up. Defense had done a hell of a job getting us the ball, another fourth-down stop and yeah, unfortunate, but that falls on me.’

Fumbles were one of Mayfield’s bugaboo’s during the 2024 NFL season – his 13 were tied for the most in the league with benched Atlanta Falcons quarterback Kirk Cousins – but the turnover wasn’t the only mistake his unit made in the fourth quarter.

Tampa Bay also had a chance to convert a third-and-1 from the Washington 14-yard line with just under six minutes in regulation. A first down would have given the Buccaneers a chance to position themselves for a late, go-ahead touchdown.

Instead, rookie center Graham Barton snapped the ball early because he thought a player jumped offsides, as Mayfield detailed after the game. Few moved at the start of the snap as a result, and Bucky Irving was tackled for a 2-yard loss on the play. That forced Tampa Bay to settle for a game-tying field goal, after which they never got the ball back.

That’s why Mayfield felt like the game ‘just came down to errors on the offense,’ for which he took blame.

‘Just some dumb stuff today that cost the team,’ Mayfield said when analyzing his performance. ‘That’s going to wear on me for a while.’

Despite the team’s ‘disappointing’ end to the season Mayfield expressed confidence that the Buccaneers are on the right track after making the playoffs for a fifth consecutive season.

‘I believe we have the talent, the coaching staff and everybody around us to be able to go far,’ Mayfield said. ‘But looking back, trying to take a step back, big picture – this group fought, there was a lot of people that stepped up throughout the year, a ton of guys that stepped up into huge roles, and so there’s a lot to be proud of.

‘In this moment that’s hard to see,’ Mayfield added. ‘but there’s a lot of young guys that are going to be on this roster next year that had to step up and did in a big way. That should build confidence in those guys, knowing who they are as players and as men in adversity situations, to be able to step up like they did – that’s something to be proud of. It just goes back to being disappointing and not making the plays when we needed it the most.’

Baker Mayfield stats vs. Commanders

Mayfield may have been disappointed with his performance, but he still posted strong numbers during the contest. He completed 15-of-18 passes (83.3%) for 185 yards and two touchdowns. That was good for a 146.5 passer rating while he added 23 rushing yards on seven carries.

The lone blight on Mayfield’s stat line was the fumble. He will have an entire offseason to rue that play as he looks to prepare the Buccaneers for a deep postseason run next year.

The International Olympic Committee will replace the 10 medals that American swimmer Gary Hall Jr. lost when the California wildfires destroyed his home last week, IOC president Thomas Bach said in a statement Sunday.

‘We are in full solidarity with the citizens of Los Angeles and full of admiration for the tireless work of the firefighters and the security forces,’ Bach said. ‘Currently the full focus must be on the fight against the fires and the protection of the people and property.’

Hall, 50, won five gold medals, three silvers and two bronzes in his three Olympic appearances from 1996 to 2004. He told the Sydney Morning Herald that the medals – along with almost all of his other possessions – were destroyed when the home he was renting in Pacific Palisades, California caught fire last week.

The Pacific Palisades Fire is one of several wildfires that have spread across the Los Angeles area over the past week, leaving homes and businesses in ruins and at least 24 people dead.

‘I did think about the medals. I did not have time to get them,’ Hall told the Sydney Morning Herald. ‘Everyone wants to know did the medals burn? Yeah, everything burnt. It’s something I can live without. I guess everything is just stuff. It’ll take some hard work to start over. What can you do?’

Bach said the IOC will be giving Hall replica medals in an attempt to replace the ones that were lost. The IOC usually maintains a reserve of non-engraved medals from each iteration of the Olympic Games, which can then be engraved and distributed at a later date. Medals are most commonly reallocated following positive doping cases. Most recently, 10 athletes received reallocated medals in a special ceremony held during the 2024 Paris Olympics last summer.

Hall has relocated to San Diego with family since the fire, according to a GoFundMe page created to support him. The page had raised more than $75,000 as of Monday morning.

‘Thank you again to so many people,’ Hall said in a statement posted to the page. ‘I feel the love. It means so much.’

Hall made his Olympic debut at the 1996 Olympics in Atlanta, where he won a trio of gold medals as part of U.S. swimming relays. He went on to win gold in the 50-meter freestyle at both the 2000 Sydney Olympics and 2004 Games in Athens.

Contact Tom Schad at tschad@usatoday.com or on social media @tomschad.bsky.social.