Archive

2025

Browsing

However, the news from the bowl victory that helped the Wolverines (8-5) finish their first season under Sherrone Moore with a three-game winning streak wasn’t all good. Starting quarterback Davis Warren suffered a knee injury during the third quarter against the Crimson Tide and did not return to the contest.

On Saturday, Warren revealed the extent of his knee injury: a torn ACL. Warren announced the news on his social media with a picture of himself in a leg brace.

Here’s the latest on Warren’s injury:

Davis Warren injury update

Warren was sacked in the third quarter against Alabama after he scrambled to the right but was dragged down hard near the Crimson Tide sideline. He stayed on the ground and was attended to by the Michigan medical team before leaving the field with assistance. He limped to the Michigan locker room.

Warren finished the day 9 of 12 passing for 73 yards and a touchdown. He was soon ruled out and seen on the ESPN broadcast in street clothes. While the team announced it was a right knee injury, he announced his torn ACL in his right knee on Saturday.

‘Celebrating a win and so proud of the way the boys finished this season! I unfortunately suffered a torn ACL in the bowl game,’ Warren wrote on his account (formerly Twitter) on Saturday.

‘Thanks to the Michigan faithful for all the support this season. Can’t wait to battle to be back on the field with my guys in AA and go blue!’

Warren, who announced on social media that he would return to Ann Arbor, Michigan, next season, started nine games for the Wolverines in 2024. He led Michigan to wins over rival Ohio State and Alabama. Warren finished his season with 1,199 passing yards, seven touchdowns, and nine interceptions.

Once Warren is recovered, the redshirt senior will be entrenched with former Fresno State transfer Mikey Keene, 2025’s No. 1 overall recruit Bryce Underwood and 2024 four-star recruit Jadyn Davis for a potential role next season.

The Wolverines will also feature a new offense with newly hired offensive coordinator Chip Lindsey taking over the reins.

This post appeared first on USA TODAY

Jeff Nelligan says he attended about 2,300 of his three sons’ games over 22 years.

When they played on school teams, he would wear a jacket and tie or a suit as he watched them.

“I know how hard you work to get better, all the hours and practices,” Nelligan, who has become a noted commentator on American parenting, recalls telling his boys. “These games are important to you and the wins are huge and the losses hurt. So when I show up dressed up nicely, it’s my way of showing you and your team the respect you deserve.”

The gesture, which he admits can be interpreted as “way out there,” was symbolic of the qualities he was trying to instill in his kids: Respect, confidence, motivation and self-satisfaction.

 “If I am constantly asking them to carry themselves with poise and self-respect, shouldn’t I model that?” he writes in his book, Four Lessons From My Three Sons: How You Can Raise Resilient Kids.

A public affairs executive in Washington, D.C., and an Army reserve veteran, Nelligan has a hard-edged yet practical and self-effacing take on parenting. He has one simple premise: Our job is not just to build a relationship with our kids. We already have that. It’s to help them build a relationship with the world.

Outside your front door, “you’ll find all the examples of human behaviors and actions you’ll ever need,” Nelligan writes. “Daily life offers up events where you encounter the good, the bad and the inspirational in human nature, all of which you can point out to your kids.”

Sports, he implores, plays a critical role in our kids’ discoveries: What they like and dislike; how they fit in; and how they ultimately conduct themselves.

‘The presence of athletics in their lives from an early age was a major factor in their personal development way beyond the playing fields,” Nelligan, whose sons played collegiately at the varsity or club level, tells USA TODAY Sports.

The start of a new year is often when we look for ways to adjust our outlook. Drawing on Nelligan, and a few of those figures in the world we can encourage our kids to observe, here are five bold perspectives youth sports parents can take into 2025:

‘Enjoy yourself’: Let your kids see you more than hear you at games

Where were you?

The words came from our ninth grader after a baseball game last fall. My wife and I had walked in a few minutes late.

Our son was the starting pitcher that day. It was disruptive to him that we weren’t there, just like it was disruptive to his teammate whose mom gave him batting tips while he was in the on-deck circle.

We put so much time and effort into finding the “best” coaches or finding the “right” travel or club teams or instructing our kids as they play that perhaps we sometimes downplay the significance of our mere presence.

“Leading from the front means always show up,” Nelligan writes. “If they have an event, so do you. It’s vital you show the flag, even if they don’t run up to you and acknowledge that you’re there.”

When our kids spot us in a crowd, we instantly connect with them. This is not codepedence. Even as an established star, future Hall of Famer Derek Jeter didn’t feel completely comfortable until he located his parents in the crowd.

Your connection is a signal of the commitment you have to one another to experience this sports journey together.

To get the most out of your kid’s sports experience, make it an exercise in self-discovery. Instead of instructing, why not sit, cheer and let your kid try and figure out the intricacies of the game? It’s how they develop autonomy. There will be plenty of time to discuss the game later.

“Dad, enjoy yourself,” my older son, a junior in high school, likes to tell me when he sees me too amped up ahead of time.

Yes, blowout losses or the moments when your kid doesn’t play well can be stressful. But seeing everything unfold, and how your kid handles it, can be one of the true rewards of kids sports.

‘Just get the ball to Louie’: Your kid doesn’t have to be the star to reap the full benefits of sports

The hoarse shouts – Just get the ball to Louie! – could be heard in the tense moments of Braden Nelligan’s travel lacrosse games. They were from Marc Dubick, the head coach.

“Louie” was Dubick’s son.

We’ve all seen this, right? Just another coach favoring his kid?

Nelligan and his sons discussed the situation on the way home and even mimicked the coach’s words. But they all came to realize that Louie, who went on to star at Maryland, gave the team its best chance to score during crunch time.

“In any kind of situation, you have to know how you fit into it all, how you can help the overall effort,” Nelligan told his boys. “You have to be self-aware and that means when you’re on the field and losing, you gotta work to get the ball to Louie.”

The words became a family metaphor for figuring out your role in life situations, whether it be school, sports or other social events.

Sometimes we push kids into sports, or other activities, with unrealistic expectations. Instead, Nelligan suggests, allow them to figure out their roles for themselves.

“They intuitively knew how comfortable or uncomfortable they were,” he says of his sons when he let them be.

COACH STEVE: How do I deal with a bad coach? Here are three steps

‘It’s the end of the world’: Your kid will learn way more from a loss than he or she will from a win

On New Year’s Day, Texas faced 4th-and-13 and the end of its season.

Arizona State led 31-24 in overtime of the Peach Bowl College Football Playoff quarterfinal. Everyone, it seemed, especially the ebullient Sun Devils and their fans, sensed the Longhorns were done.

Then Quinn Ewers found Matthew Golden on a quick strike to the end zone. The 28-yard touchdown pass turned the game. Texas won 39-31 in two overtimes.

It was the kind of surprising – if not freakish – play that seems to happen at youth sports events much more often. We’ve all been a part of them, and the aftermath of such moments can be excruciating.

Even Arizona State coach Kenny Dillingham had to nudge some of his players back toward to the field in the immediate aftermath of the mind-numbing loss to Texas.

“Yeah, you lost the game,” Dillingham said afterward. “Doesn’t mean you just get to leave. Like you shake hands. That’s what you do. That’s sportsmanship.”

It’s a constant theme Nelligan drills home: Those losing moments, more so than the winning ones, can make your kids resilient. They’re uncomfortable, and they’re necessary.

When he was once in between jobs, and he was explaining the situation with his sons, Nelligan said to them: “Yeah, it’s the end of the world.”

He spoke calmly, almost mockingly, acknowledging his situation while also deflating it.

“Nothing is ever as bad as it seems,” he writes in his book. “Everyone has tough times and there are only three choices: Lie to yourself, wallow in self-pity or drive forward.”

‘For God’s sake, I don’t want the heel’: Try using humor instead of a lecture

“It’s the end of the world,” became a phrase, like many others, Nelligan’s sons would repeat to find levity when confronting problems.

They became the family’s lighthearted way to share their observations of everything that was happening around them.

“If you aren’t baggin’, you aren’t mowin’,” came out of the boys watching their father meticulously bag grass clippings while mowing the yard. The words offered the lesson of seeing things through to the end.

“For God’s sake, I don’t want the heel,” was the exasperated tone from a customer directed at a butcher slicing up a salami for her. It meant you could find humor in any situation, a message especially poignant with sports.

“Humor is the operative factor is reaching a kid,” Nelligan writes. “Humor always triumphs. No kid responds to lectures but kids respond to a gag, a one-liner, a quip.”

How many times have you tried to offer serious words a wisdom before or during a big game? Looking for a lighter touch, Nelligan once picked up a loose stick during halftime of one of Devlin’s lacrosse games.

“Gonna warm up Wheeler,” he said to Braden.

The preposterous thought of a middle-aged man wearing a suit warming up the varsity goalie had his middle son howling, and the phrase, like the others, became a family staple.

‘Setting the example’: Our basic conduct requires no skill

When former President Jimmy Carter died last week at 100, James Martin, a Catholic priest and editor at large at America magazine, shared how his nephew had reached out to the living presidents five years ago.

His nephew sought advice on how to pursue public service. Only Carter responded.

“Be tenacious in fulfilling commitments,” Carter wrote in part, “whether to others or to yourself.”

It’s a valuable lesson in sports. We sometimes find ourselves on a team where we might not like everyone, or the coach, but, as Nelligan says, we force ourselves to get along with everyone to ensure the overall success of the unit. Doing so takes effort.

More basic conduct, though, doesn’t require any: Washing your uniform after every game, tucking your jersey in while playing, looking a coach in the eye when you shake his or her hand.

Nelligan has ensured all three of his sons, who went on to serve in the military (two out of the Naval Academy and West Point and one out of Williams College), lived by those principles. But so has he.

“Watching them out on the field or basketball court or wrestling mat or (in) a swimming pool provided basic joy,” he wrote in his book. “All I had do was show up – how hard was that?”

KoiKoi, his youngest son and the West Point graduate, received a waiver from Secretary of Defense Lloyd Austin to play with Old Glory DC of Major League Rugby,

You’ll find his dad at games. But he won’t be wearing his suit.

‘I wore a jacket and tie and khakis to his West Point rugby games but once he was with Old Glory, I figured there were no more examples for me to set,’ Nelligan tells USA TODAY Sports. ‘By being in the pros, he was now setting the example for me.’  

Steve Borelli, aka Coach Steve, has been an editor and writer with USA TODAY since 1999. He spent 10 years coaching his two sons’ baseball and basketball teams. He and his wife, Colleen, are now sports parents for a high schooler and middle schooler. His column is posted weekly. For his past columns, click here.

This post appeared first on USA TODAY

The entire AFC North took center stage in a Saturday doubleheader.

Lamar Jackson and the Baltimore Ravens captured the AFC North crown with a 35-10 win over the Cleveland Browns. The win punctuated Jackson’s MVP push. Jackson, who’s already won two MVP awards, amassed 217 passing yards and two touchdowns as he led the Ravens (12-5) to victory.

Saturday’s finale featured the Cincinnati Bengals and Pittsburgh Steelers.

Joe Burrow and the Bengals kept their playoff hopes alive with a hard-fought 19-17 win on the road in Pittsburgh. The Bengals (9-8) have won five straight and now need help Sunday to clinch a playoff berth.

Who shined the brightest during the AFC North showdowns? And what were the lowlights? USA TODAY Sports examines the winners and losers from Saturday’s doubleheader.

NFL STATS CENTRAL: The latest NFL scores, schedules, odds, stats and more.

WINNERS

Baltimore Ravens

Saturday’s win gave the Ravens their second consecutive AFC North title and fourth division crown in the past seven years.

The Ravens will have the AFC’s No. 3 seed in the playoffs.

Lamar Jackson

Jackson surpassed 4,000 passing yards in a season for the first time in his career. Even more impressive, he became the first player in NFL history to pass for 4,000-plus yards and run for 900-plus yards in a single season.

Jackson had a highlight touchdown pass where he looked away and celebrated before a wide-open Rashod Bateman actually caught the football in the end zone.

Jackson compiled 4,172 passing yards, 41 touchdowns, 915 rushing yards and four rushing touchdowns during the regular season. He deserves a third MVP trophy.

Derrick Henry

Henry celebrated his 31st birthday Saturday. His present? An AFC North title in his first year with the Ravens.

Henry also had two birthday parties in the end zone. The running back wore down Cleveland’s defense, rumbling for 138 yards and two touchdowns — 130 of his yards coming in the second half.

Henry rushed for 1,921 yards and 16 touchdowns this year.

Nate Wiggins, Michael Pierce, Ravens’ defense

Wiggins’ first career interception was a pick-six. The Ravens rookie cornerback jumped a pass thrown by Bailey Zappe in the first quarter and returned it 26 yards for a touchdown that gave Baltimore a 7-0 lead.

Pierce’s interception came late in the fourth quarter when the big defensive tackle dropped back in zone coverage and Zappe threw it right to him. The entire Ravens defense celebrated Pierce’s first career INT.

The Ravens’ defense had those two takeaways and held Cleveland to 230 total yards.

Bengals’ playoff hopes

Cincinnati’s win kept its playoff hopes alive. The Bengals (9-8) need the Broncos (9-7) and Dolphins (8-8) to lose Sunday to advance to the playoffs. The Bengals’ biggest obstacle is probably the Broncos. Denver is slated to host the Chiefs’ B squad on Sunday with Kansas City resting many starters.

Joe Burrow

The Bengals’ franchise quarterback tops the NFL in pass attempts, completions, passing yards and passing touchdowns.

Burrow completed his first 12 passes as the Bengals marched down the field on two straight scoring drives to start the game Saturday.

The Bengals’ QB was hit a lot but battled all night. Burrow was evaluated for a concussion in the third quarter but didn’t miss any action.

Cincinnati’s offense got stagnant when Tee Higgins injured his ankle in the second half, but it was able to make enough plays.

Burrow passed for 277 yards, one touchdown and one interception in a gritty performance.

Ja’Marr Chase

Chase has already established franchise single-season records in receptions and receiving yards. He leads the NFL in both categories.

The Bengals’ star wide receiver was a matchup nightmare for Steelers CB Cory Trice Jr. Chase tallied 10 catches, 96 yards and a touchdown.

Chargers

The Steelers’ loss opens the door for the Los Angeles Chargers (10-6) to claim the fifth seed in the AFC playoffs. If the Chargers beat the Raiders Sunday, they’ll finish ahead of the Steelers (10-7) and would face the AFC South champion Houston Texans (9-7) in the wild card round.

Sack leaders

Four of this season’s sack leaders took the field Saturday in Trey Hendrickson, Myles Garrett, Kyle Van Noy and T.J. Watt.

Hendrickson picked up 3.5 sacks to bring his total to a league-leading 17.5.

Van Noy registered a sack and has 12.5 sacks on the year.  

LOSERS

Bailey Zappe, Browns’ offense

Cleveland will head into the offseason with more questions than answers at the quarterback position. The Browns’ ineptitude at quarterback and the revolving door at the position are holding the franchise back. 

Zappe didn’t inspire any confidence in his first start for the Browns (3-14).

Granted, a road game in Baltimore is a tough environment for any quarterback. However, Zappe was inaccurate throwing the football and Cleveland’s offense was ineffective for most of the contest.

The Browns ended the season on a six-game losing streak. The good news is the team is destined to have a top-three pick in the 2025 draft. It’s a prime spot to draft a quarterback who can compete with Deshaun Watson, who is expected to return from an Achilles injury next season.

Steelers’ offense

Russell Wilson only completed four passes in what was a brutal first half for the Steelers’ offense. They turned the ball over on downs with under a minute to go in the second quarter after failing to get a yard on third-and-1 and fourth-and-1. The Steelers gained 75 total yards in the first half, including just 27 passing yards. They went into halftime down 13-7.

The third quarter was just as bad: Pittsburgh was held to 16 yards and one first down in a scoreless quarter.

Wilson and the Steelers’ offense did find some life in the fourth quarter, scoring 10 points in the final period, and had a chance to win the game, but it was too little, too late.

George Pickens

The Steelers’ top wide receiver had three drops Saturday.

Pickens and Wilson failed to connect on a crucial third-and-12 with under 30 seconds left that would’ve put them in position to attempt a game-winning field goal.

Pickens had one catch for no yards in the loss.

Steelers’ losing streak

The Steelers were on top of the AFC North for much of the season. They now find themselves on a four-game losing streak and cemented into a wild-card spot.

This post appeared first on USA TODAY

The convoluted scenarios have narrowed down to straightforward conditionals.

In the weeks leading up to NFL Week 18, fans often had to keep several different variables in mind when mapping out the possibilities of how their teams could clinch a postseason berth – or be eliminated. But with much of the playoff picture already settled – and only so many permutations possible in the final week – the remaining contenders for the last few spots, division titles and seeds are well aware of what developments are needed for the optimal outcome.

For those who need a refresher, however, here are the remaining NFL playoff clinching scenarios heading into Sunday of NFL Week 18:

NFL Week 18 playoff scenarios

Cincinnati Bengals

Clinch playoff berth with:

Broncos loss + Dolphins loss or tie

NFL STATS CENTRAL: The latest NFL scores, schedules, odds, stats and more.

Denver Broncos

Clinch playoff berth with:

Win or tie

Miami Dolphins

Clinch playoff berth with:

Win + Broncos loss

Detroit Lions

Clinch NFC North and NFC’s No. 1 seed with:

Win or tie

Minnesota Vikings

Clinch NFC North and NFC’s No. 1 seed with:

Win

Atlanta Falcons

Clinch NFC South with:

Win + Buccaneers loss

Tampa Bay Buccaneers

Clinch NFC South with:

Win or tie
Falcons loss or tie

This post appeared first on USA TODAY

For the second straight season, the Baltimore Ravens are kings of the AFC North.

Baltimore defeated a burnt out and depleted Cleveland Browns team 35-10 on Saturday to earn the division crown and claim the AFC’s No. 3 seed, guaranteeing them a home playoff game next week.

Who the opponent will be remains undetermined and, after the Cincinnati Bengals’ narrow win over the Pittsburgh Steelers later Saturday, depends on the Los Angeles Chargers’ game against the Las Vegas Raiders. If the Chargers win Sunday, Pittsburgh and Baltimore would face off for a third time in an AFC North duel. Otherwise, ‘Harbaugh Bowl Pt. 4’ would take place in the wild-card round in Baltimore.

The Ravens started three of their first four drives in Cleveland territory but managed seven points in what was an ugly first half for the offense. Quarterback Lamar Jackson, putting the finishing touches on his MVP candidacy, was inefficient through the air (16-for-32, 217 yards, two touchdowns) despite success on the ground (nine rushes for 63 yards).

The two-time MVP did surpass the 4,000-yard passing mark and finished the regular season with 915 rushing yards, his most since the 2020 season.

All things Ravens: Latest Baltimore Ravens news, schedule, roster, stats, injury updates and more.

Jackson and tight end Mark Andrews connected for a touchdown for the sixth straight game.

The Browns started Bailey Zappe at quarterback, the fourth signal-caller the team used this season (Deshaun Watson, Jameis Winston and Dorian Thompson-Robinson). Thompson-Robinson took over for a few series before Zappe came in for the remainder of the game.

No matter who was behind center, the Ravens defense feasted. Rookie cornerback Nate Wiggins opened the scoring with a pick-six, his first career interception.

Cleveland’s defense, which battled without several key contributors, bottled up Ravens running back Derrick Henry for the first half before ‘King Henry’ – celebrating his 31st birthday Saturday – broke loose in the second half, with 130 of his 138 rushing yards coming after halftime in traditional Henry fashion. His 43-yard touchdown with 3:04 left iced the game.

The victory did not come without losses for the Ravens. Wide receiver Zay Flowers, who had an early third-down drop, missed most of the game with a knee injury. Safety Kyle Hamilton was banged up at the start of the second half but returned.

Cleveland scored its lone touchdown of the game on a 16-yard completion from Zappe to tight end Jordan Akins with 11:33 to go in the game and cut the deficit to 11.

This post appeared first on USA TODAY

The NFL playoffs are less than a week away and 14 teams across the NFC and AFC will play for this year’s Super Bowl. Over the next month, each conference will narrow the field down to one team contending for the championship.

Last year’s Super Bowl came down to overtime between the Kansas City Chiefs and San Francisco 49ers. The Chiefs won their second title in a row on walk-off touchdown in overtime to win 25-22. The Chiefs are in contention for the Super Bowl once again this season and enter the playoffs with home field advantage in the AFC.

They’ll fight to make it back to a third consecutive Super Bowl game over the next month. Here’s everything to know about Super Bowl 59:

When is the Super Bowl?

Super Bowl 59 is set for Sunday, Feb. 9. It’ll be the first Super Bowl at the Caesars Superdome in New Orleans since Super Bowl 47 in 2013 between the San Francisco 49ers and Baltimore Ravens.

NFL STATS CENTRAL: The latest NFL scores, schedules, odds, stats and more.

This marks the 11th time New Orleans has hosted a Super Bowl, tied with Miami for the most by one city in NFL history.

How to watch Super Bowl LIX

Date: Sunday, Feb. 9, 2025
Time: 6:30 p.m. ET
Location: Caesars Superdome, New Orleans
TV: FOX, Telemundo
Streaming: Fubo, FoxSports, NFL+

Who is the Super Bowl halftime show performer?

Kendrick Lamar will headline the Apple Music Super Bowl 59 Halftime Show this year. This will be the second time he’s performed at a Super Bowl; Lamar played the Super Bowl 56 halftime show alongside Dr. Dre, Snoop Dogg, Eminem, 50 Cent and Mary J. Blige in February 2022.

Super Bowl 59 odds

The Kansas City Chiefs are currently the favorites to win the Super Bowl at +375, per the current betting odds at BetMGM. Here’s how the top five looks:

Kansas City Chiefs: +375
Detroit Lions: +400
Buffalo Bills: +550
Baltimore Ravens: +700
Philadelphia Eagles: +700

NFL playoff schedule

Wild card round: Saturday, Jan. 11 to Monday, Jan. 13, 2025
Divisional round: Saturday, Jan. 18 to Sunday, Jan. 19, 2025
Conference championship: Sunday, Jan. 26, 2025
Super Bowl: Sunday, Feb. 9, 2025

This post appeared first on USA TODAY

Stayin’ alive.

The Cincinnati Bengals eventually may not make the 2024 postseason, but their five-game winning streak following Saturday’s 19-17 victory over the Pittsburgh Steelers has put pressure on the two teams ahead of them in the standings.

The Denver Broncos will clinch the final AFC wild-card spot and No. 7 seed with a victory against the Kansas City Chiefs on Sunday, and the Miami Dolphins can do the same with a win over the New York Jets and a Broncos defeat. Cincinnati is now rooting for both teams to lose Sunday (or for the Dolphins to tie).

Cincinnati won its fifth straight game to end the regular season above .500 after starting the 2024 campaign 4-8.

Quarterback Joe Burrow (37-for-46, 277 passing yards, one touchdown, one interception) and the Bengals marched down the field on the game’s opening possession for seven points, as he and Ja’Marr Chase (10 catches, 96 yards) hooked up for a 12-yard touchdown.

All things Bengals: Latest Cincinnati Bengals news, schedule, roster, stats, injury updates and more.

Burrow exited halfway through the third quarter after taking a sack and falling hard helmet-first into the field. Two Steelers, linebacker Nick Herbig and defensive lineman Cam Heyward, both landed on Burrow. Pieces of the Acrisure Stadium turf became lodged in the top of his helmet, and he remained on the ground for several moments in pain while the Bengals training staff came onto the field. Burrow went into the blue medical tent briefly but rejoined his teammates on the sideline and took the field on Cincinnati’s next series.

Cincinnati was without starting running back Chase Brown, who tried to test his injured ankle during warmups but could not go. In his place, Khalil Herbert rushed 19 times for 67 yards. The team lost wideout Tee Higgins to an ankle injury in the fourth quarter, and his absence was certainly noticeable as the Bengals struggled to move the ball down the stretch.

Kicker Cade York knocked through all four of his field-goal attempts to account for the Bengals’ scoring outside of Chase’s touchdown, as Cincinnati could not find the end zone despite seven of their 10 drives reaching inside the Pittsburgh 40-yard line.

Pittsburgh’s offense was abysmal for most of the game, as quarterback Russell Wilson’s final stat line was a far cry from the 400-yard performance he had in a 44-38 win in November. As the Steelers took the field down 12 points in the fourth quarter, they had yet to eclipse 100 yards of total offense. But Wilson had six completions on the ensuing drive – one more than he had in the game up until that point – and found Pat Freiermuth for a 19-yard touchdown with 8:07 remaining to give the game’s ending some drama.

Disaster nearly struck for the Bengals when they were about to receive the ball back with about five minutes remaining. The Steelers’ punt grazed Bengals cornerback D.J. Ivey’s foot, and Steelers tight end Connor Heyward recovered the ball before it went out of bounds. Pittsburgh recovered at the Bengals’ 38-yard line with 5:14 to go and down 19-14. Boswell connected on a 54-yard field goal to make it a two-point game with 2:39 to go.

Wilson bailed the Bengals out on the final possession on three straight plays. First, he opted to run and keep the clock running by not throwing the ball out of bounds and rushing for a short gain. On the next play, he took a sack, Trey Hendrickson’s third-and-a-half of the game (17.5 on the season). A third-down deep ball to George Pickens, who had three drops, fell incomplete as Wilson and the receiver were not on the same page. On fourth down, a pass that Freiermuth dropped ended Pittsburgh’s chances of a comeback.

The Steelers’ attention now turns to the Los Angeles Chargers’ matchup Sunday against the Las Vegas Raiders. Should the Chargers win, they would become the AFC’s No. 5 seed and Pittsburgh would face the Baltimore Ravens in an AFC North wild-card round matchup. If the Chargers lose, Pittsburgh would face the Houston Texans in the 4-5 battle.

This post appeared first on USA TODAY

The father of Georgia coach Kirby Smart died Saturday following complications from hip surgery, the school announced.

Sonny Smart was 76 and had surgery after a fall in New Orleans before Georgia’s loss to Notre Dame in the Sugar Bowl.

‘Sonny fell while walking during the day on New Year’s Eve in New Orleans and fractured his hip,’ the school said in a statement. ‘He was hospitalized and underwent hip surgery; unfortunately, complications arose. He fought valiantly but was unable to overcome his injuries.’

Sonny Smart was a longtime high school football coach in Alabama and in Georgia at Bainbridge High School, where his son Kirby Smart played for him, and later at Rabun County High.

Saturday coaches and officials, including SEC commissioner Greg Sankey, shared their condolences with Smart’s family.

‘I’ve known Kirby for 25 years and always enjoyed my interactions with his dad. He was a BALL COACH thru and thru -And a competitor,’ South Carolina head coach Shane Beamer wrote on social media. ‘I’m still recovering from the beat down Coach Smart & my dad gave Kirby and I on the golf course in a “friendly” July 4 Father-Son match years ago My heart hurts for the Smart family and we’re sending prayers to all of them.’

This post appeared first on USA TODAY

If President Biden’s goal is to anger as many Americans as possible as he shuffles his way out the door, he’s absolutely exceeding these dubious expectations. 

Exhibit A is Biden’s (or whoever is running the White House in these waning days) decision to award the Presidential Medal of Freedom to election denier Hillary Clinton and George Soros, who has done more damage to the United States as a private citizen for many years than arguably anyone in the country. 

The Oprah-ization of handing out medals (and YOU get a medal! And YOU get a medal!) to Clinton and Soros comes not long after Biden gave a blanket pardon to his son, Hunter, after repeatedly promising not to do so. And after he awarded the Presidential Citizens Medal to Liz Cheney and Rep. Bennie Thompson, D-Miss., for their work on the Jan. 6 Committee that barred cross-examination of any handpicked ‘witnesses.’ And for this part, in 2004, Thompson voted against the certification of the 2004 presidential election won by George W. Bush.

The Soros award is particularly galling given what his billions in activism have done especially to the American justice system. Soros-funded Manhattan District Attorney Alvin Bragg is a primary example. Soros donated $1 million to the Color of Change PAC in 2021, which subsequently donated $1 million to Bragg’s campaign shortly thereafter. Bragg, for his part, turned cities like New York into dystopian hellscapes, especially in the subway system, where murders and stabbing are currently occurring at an alarming rate.

Take the example of Jamar Banks, who recently stabbed two subway passengers on the New York subway on Jan. 1 and 2. Those passengers are in stable condition. Banks has been arrested (checks notes) 87 times for crimes including weapons possession, assault, criminal trespassing and petty larceny. WHY. IS. HE. NOT. INCARCERATED?

The Soros philosophy is simple: Be as soft on crime as possible. Don’t enforce many laws already on the books. Allow American cities to become third-word hellscapes. So what does the sitting president of the United States do? He awards him one of the most prestigious medals a citizen can be bestowed.

‘This is why I will not prosecute most petty offenses through the traditional criminal court system,’ Bragg bragged upon taking office in 2021. ‘I will either dismiss these charges outright or offer the accused person the opportunity to complete a program without ever setting foot in a courtroom.’

Soros has also funded anti-Israel protests, some violent and deadly, have only divided the country further while indoctrinating students into Hamas-loving robots. 

One man certainly worthy of receiving the Presidential Medal of Freedom is Daniel Penny, the Marine veteran who saved subway passengers from likely being assaulted or worse from Jordan Neely, who had declared he was going to kill innocents on that subway and didn’t care if he went to jail for doing so. President-elect Trump and Vice President-elect JD Vance invited Penny to the recent Army-Navy game, while Biden has yet to utter his name.

Fortunately, not everyone was thrilled to be photo ops for the current administration. The world’s most popular athlete, arguably the biggest since Michael Jordan, soccer star Lionel Messi, blew off the event. A ‘scheduling conflict’ was cited, but it’s obvious #10 chose not to be a prop. 

Biden will exit as the most unpopular president we’ve seen in decades. 

And on his way to the exit, he’s devaluing once-special awards like the Presidential Medal of Freedom to the point they’re as worthless as his word itself.

This post appeared first on FOX NEWS

A dominant United States lifted its second United Cup mixed team tennis tournament title in three years after they beat Poland 2-0 on Sunday with Coco Gauff and Taylor Fritz both winning their singles matches.

The top seeds in the $10 million tournament that began with 18 nations in contention clinched the trophy when Fritz defeated Hubert Hurkacz 6-4 5-7 7-6(4) after Coco Gauff outclassed Iga Swiatek 6-4 6-4 in Sydney, Australia.

The Americans had also won the 2023 title in the inaugural edition of the tournament, which serves as a tune-up event for the Australian Open Grand Slam.

With the second singles contest locked at one set apiece, Fritz raised his level at 3-3 in the tiebreak of the decider to see off Hurkacz and spark huge celebrations.

‘Congratulations to Poland on a great week,’ said Fritz, addressing a dejected Polish side that finished runners-up at the tournament for a second successive year.

‘They’re an incredibly tough team and the margins were very small. I feel that it could have gone either way.

‘I want to thank my team, unbelievable support. The vibes all week were amazing. That’s one of the things that makes our team so great and one of the reasons why we’ve been able to do so well.

‘We’ve just really come together. It’s amazing.’

Gauff earlier stepped up preparations for the year’s first major that begins next Sunday with a second successive win over world number two Swiatek in a blockbuster showdown that gave fans at the Ken Rosewall Arena their money’s worth.

The world number three, who beat Swiatek en route to the WTA Finals title last season, squandered a 2-0 lead in the first set but battled back from there to gain the upper hand in the match as her opponent counted the costs of 19 unforced errors.

In another high-octane set that followed, Gauff recovered a break to level at 4-4 and went on to secure the win that ensured she ended her singles campaign at the tournament unbeaten.

‘I have the belief that I’m one of the best players in the world. When I play good tennis, I’m hard to beat,’ said Gauff, who also beat Leylah Fernandez, Donna Vekic, Zhang Shuai and Karolina Muchova in the event.

‘Today I think I played some great tennis. I’m glad I was able to get a point for Team USA. It was tough today, I’m not going to lie.’

The USA TODAY app gets you to the heart of the news — fast.Download for award-winning coverage, crosswords, audio storytelling, the eNewspaper and more.

This post appeared first on USA TODAY