Presents came early this Christmas, with the NFL delivering some juicy action even before a big slate of Sunday and Monday action. The Rams scored 30 once again on Thursday to propel their late-year playoff push. The Bills survived the Easton Stick-led Chargers to maintain their own postseason hopes. And the Steelers stunned the Bengals with Mason Rudolph at the …

Carmen Vitali NFC North Reporter The Detroit Lions have clinched the NFC North for the first time ever after a 30-24 win over the Minnesota Vikings on Sunday. The last time Detroit won their division was 1993 — when the NFC North was part of the NFC Central. The league realigned with the addition of the Houston Texans in 2002 …

USC’s recruiting woes are detailed in a recent report from 247Sports which looked at blue-chip signees for the 2024 cycle. Blue-chip prospects are defined as four- and five-star recruits, anyone higher than a three-star player. We already noted that Oregon and its current coach, Dan Lanning, have nine more blue-chippers than USC, 17 to 8. Miami and Mario Cristobal have …

Greg Zuerlein kicked a 54-yard field goal with five seconds left, rescuing the Jets after they blew a 20-point lead in the third quarter, and New York beat the Washington Commanders, 30-28, on Sunday. Jacoby Brissett replaced the benched Sam Howell in the third quarter and led the Commanders on three straight touchdown drives, including Antonio Gibson’s 1-yard run that …

The Cleveland passing game has come to life down the stretch, rewarding fantasy managers in the playoffs. (Photo by Richard Rodriguez/Getty Images) If fantasy football is your true passion, the game is a 12-month assignment. You watch every snap of the NFL playoffs. You carefully observe every free-agent move like a pre-op surgeon. You grind tape for the NFL Draft, …

The football teams from Kansas and UNLV will be squaring off in the Guaranteed Rate Bowl at 7 p.m. Tuesday at Chase Field. The teams have similar trajectories after their head coaches took over losing programs. Lance Leipold is in his third year at Kansas (8-4) while Barry Odom is rounding out his first, with the Rebels (9-4) arriving earlier …

USATSI AFC meets NFC as the Tampa Bay Buccaneers and Jacksonville Jaguars revisit their in-state rivalry in Week 16 on CBS and Paramount+. The Jaguars are looking to turn things around after a three game losing skid. The opposite can be said about Baker Mayfield and the Buccaneers, who have won three straight, including a 34-20 victory against the Green Bay …

The 2024 NFL Draft is still four months away, but fans of some teams (looking at you Bears, Cardinals, Patriots, Jets and Giants) are already thinking ahead to April.  Here is the current draft order following the early window of games on SundayThursday night’s Week 16 game between the Rams and Saints, according to Tankathon. Note: Team needs are built out …

When looking at USC’s recruiting performance, we’re not going to measure the Trojans against every other college football program which has signed more blue-chip prospects than USC for the current (2024) cycle. We are, however, going to point out a few specific programs which have done more than the Trojans. USC has pulled in eight blue-chip players for 2024. Oregon …

Eric Williams NFC West Writer Last week, Drew Lock led the Seattle Seahawks to an improbable win over the Philadelphia Eagles. This week, it was Geno Smith’s turn for late-game heroics. Back in the lineup after missing two weeks with a groin injury, Smith marched Seattle 75 yards on 14 plays at the end of the game for the winning …

The Colts had a chance to take a big step toward the playoffs on Sunday, but their trip to Atlanta did not go well. Minshew guided the team on a 75-yard touchdown drive to open the game, but the Falcons scored the next 20 points and then added nine more after the Colts briefly tried to make a game of …

J.J. McCarthy knows what time it is. With Michigan football heading to Los Angeles this week to start preparation for the College Football Playoff semifinal in the Rose Bowl, the Wolverines quarterback is making sure he’ll be playing in style against the Alabama Crimson Tide. Unlike the last time that Michigan played in Pasadena in 2007, we’ve seen a big …

Getty Images For the second straight week, the Seahawks played in a game that went down to the wire, and for the second straight week, they came out on top.  With 3:21 left to play in the fourth quarter, the Seahawks were trailing 17-13 against the Titans, and they knew that if they were going to win the game, they …

If you’re feeling nostalgic and wondering why, don’t immediately pinpoint the holidays — it might very well be Joe Flacco making the world feel like it was 2013 all over again. A decade ago, January Joe set the world on fire with an all-time playoff run that netted the Ravens a Super Bowl victory and Flacco a couple of big …

An exciting NFL regular season is sprinting toward the finish line, and there are some great games on the Week 17 schedule. Two of the NFC’s top teams — the Detroit Lions and the Dallas Cowboys — meet Saturday in Texas, while an AFC battle between division leaders will have the Miami Dolphins taking on the Baltimore Ravens on Sunday. …