Silva: Each NFL team enters the offseason with a series of pressing needs. Sometimes a team can address them all, sometimes they ignore them all. But if a team's smart, they'll listen to us. These are the most crucial aspects for NFC teams.
SportsTalk: Albert Pujols signs with the Angels and Prince Fielder joins the Tigers. Which team is better now?
Ryan Callahan scored for the fifth time in four days and defenseman Ryan McDonagh snapped a second-period tie to lift the New York Rangers to a 3-2 victory over the Washington Capitals on Sunday.
Kobe Bryant hit a baseline jump shot with 4.2 seconds left and the Los Angeles Lakers wrapped up a six-game road trip by holding on to beat the Raptors 94-92 on Sunday, their eighth victory in nine meetings with Toronto
Arc's five up, five down: After No. 11 Michigan State's 58-48 upset of No. 3 Ohio State, you'd be a fool to discount the Spartans' national title chances now.
Miami coach Al Golden says the worst is behind him, but his headaches figure to continue now that former booster Nevin Shapiro, now in jail, says his involvement with the Hurricanes program will result in stiff penalties.
Eleven shots separated Phil and Tiger Sunday at Pebble Beach as Lefty secured his 40th Tour win. Jason Sobel had hole-by-hole reports.
The United States completed a 5-0 rout of Switzerland in the Davis Cup on Sunday, with 19-year-old Ryan Harrison and John Isner winning closing singles matches.
Zambia has won the African Cup of Nations, beating pre-tournament favorite Ivory Coast 8-7 on penalties in a dramatic final at Stade de l'Amitie.
Tessa Worley of France fought off gusting winds to win a second consecutive World Cup giant slalom Sunday in the Andorran Pyrenees. Overall leader Lindsey Vonn was more than a second behind and finished eighth.
Robins: It’s the Year of the Dragon on the Lunar calendar, and this Chinese influence could extend to it also being the year of the Pekingese on the green carpet at the 136th Westminster Dog Show on Tuesday.
APStrahan, who missed eight of the last nine games, middle linebacker Antonio Pierce and Pro Bowl tight end Jeremy Shockey all welcomed Coughlin back for a fourth season.
“Like I’ve been saying, the coach is the real deal,” Pierce said. “He’s a good coach and he does a good job and we all share in what happened this season.”
Some fans, probably those who called for Coughlin’s job in the wake of a 30-7 loss to the Saints on Dec. 24, won’t be happy with the decision, Mara acknowledged.
“I am certainly sensitive to what the fans think,” Mara said. “I have received a lot of mail. But at the end of the day, you can’t make decisions on what the fans say, but what your eyes tell you and what your experience in the game tells you.”
Coughlin, who has a 25-25 record with the Giants, plans to meet individually with his coaching staff in the next week. Change is probable.
Coughlin made one move down the stretch, relieving offensive coordinator John Hufnagel after the Saints game and giving quarterbacks coach Kevin Gilbride the play-calling duties.
Despite reports that players were tuning out their no-nonsense coach, Mara insists Coughlin still has the respect of the team.
“I don’t buy that,” Mara said. “I think there is substantial support for him.”
Strahan agreed.
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“I know the perception is that he is unapproachable and distant from his players, but that’s not the case,” he said. “I had some of my best conversations with him this season, and he showed me how much he cared about me as a person and as a player.”
Mara said a major part of the interview process was listening to what Coughlin had to say about Manning, and he was satisfied with the answers.
“Eli needs to play more consistently,” Mara added. “He would be the first one to admit that. Something that I have been concerned about is his play over the second half of the season. There is nobody in this building that doubts his ability and that feels like he is not the guy to lead us to where we want to get to. But he has to play more consistently.”
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Coughlin believes Manning will improve next year, his third as the starter.
“He is the quarterback of the future, and certainly we have work to do there in consistency, in offensive point production, along those lines, but I’m very confident that we will achieve in that area,” Coughlin said.
Before joining the Giants, Coughlin was Jacksonville’s head coach from 1995-2002 and went 72-64.
Silva: Each NFL team enters the offseason with a series of pressing needs. Sometimes a team can address them all, sometimes they ignore them all. But if a team's smart, they'll listen to us. These are the most crucial aspects for NFC teams.
Wesseling: Each NFL team enters the offseason with a series of pressing needs. Sometimes a team can address them all, sometimes they ignore them all. But if a team's smart, they'll listen to us. These are the most crucial aspects for AFC teams.
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Zambia has won the African Cup of Nations, beating pre-tournament favorite Ivory Coast 8-7 on penalties in a dramatic final at Stade de l'Amitie.
Wesseling: Each NFL team enters the offseason with a series of pressing needs. Sometimes a team can address them all, sometimes they ignore them all. But if a team's smart, they'll listen to us. These are the most crucial aspects for AFC teams.
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