Super Bowl XLVI
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 three goals as the New York Rangers beat Philadelphia 5-2 on Saturday for their seventh straight win over the Flyers.
Buried on the bench a little more than a week ago, the Knicks' Jeremy Lin is now the toast of New York.
Arc: After heartbreaking loss, Tyler Zeller and No. 5 North Carolina made an impressive statement with a 70-52 win over No. 19 Virginia.
CFT: Jordan Jefferson makes it clear he wasn't happy with LSU's game plan in the Tigers' BCS Championship Game loss to Alabama.
Charlie Wi holds a three-shot lead at the midway point of the AT&T Pebble Beach National Pro-Am and Tiger Woods sits six back.
The United States swept favored Switzerland out of the Davis Cup on Saturday when Mardy Fish and Mike Bryan beat Roger Federer and Stanislas Wawrinka 4-6, 6-3, 6-3, 6-3.
Luis Suarez's refusal to shake hands with Patrice Evra overshadowed Manchester United's 2-1 win over rival Liverpool that lifted the defending champions to first place in the Premier League on Saturday.
Marlies Schild of Austria won her sixth World Cup slalom of the season Saturday after overall leader Lindsey Vonn and defending champion Maria Hoefl-Riesch crashed out in the opening run on the windy Pyrenees course.
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.
AP
NEW ORLEANS - After vaulting into the rankings with two upsets, East Carolina barely avoided being on the receiving end of a surprising loss.
Patrick Pinkney threw a 24-yard touchdown pass to Jamar Bryant with 1:41 left in the fourth quarter, and the No. 14 Pirates rallied for a 28-24 victory against Tulane on Saturday.
The Pirates (3-0, 1-0 Conference USA) moved into the AP Top 25 — and the national spotlight — by upsetting Virginia Tech and West Virginia in consecutive weeks, but they had to overcome four turnovers and a scrappy Green Wave (0-2, 0-1) team to stay unbeaten.
“It was a great win; you can’t take any of them for granted,” East Carolina coach Skip Holtz said. “To go on the road and come off the two emotional football games that we just came off of and to come out here and play the way we did and still get a win in this game, I am as excited as I can be.”
Pinkney completed 22 of 32 passes for 260 yards and two touchdowns, and the Pirates improved to 3-0 for the first time since 1999. ECU secured the victory when Pierre Bell intercepted Kevin Moore’s pass at the Green Wave 45 with 28 seconds left.
“I just had to relax and trust my line and trust that my receivers would make plays and catch the ball,” said Pinkney, who engineered three second-half touchdown drives. “We just had to get in our rhythm and once we did that we started moving the ball. During the second half is when we started to get a grasp on the game and get into our groove.”
Ross Thevenot kicked a 28-yard field goal with 13:40 left in the fourth quarter to put Tulane up 24-21.
Pinkney drove the Pirates 80 yards in nine plays for the winning score as Tulane lost its 34th consecutive game against a ranked opponent.
The Green Wave last beat a ranked team in 1982 when they defeated No. 12 LSU 31-28.
“It’s very disheartening to the play the 14th-ranked team and come up that short,” said Tulane coach Bob Toledo, whose team lost 20-6 to Alabama a week earlier. “We have to learn how to win and learn how to put people away and finish games.”
Moore was 21-for-37 for 236 yards and a 47-yard touchdown pass to Jeremy Williams in the third quarter that tied it at 14.
Williams finished with eight catches for 138 yards, and Andre Anderson ran for 82 yards and two touchdowns.
Brandon Simmons’ broke a 7-7 halftime tie for East Carolina with a 3-yard touchdown run, capping the first drive of the second half.
The Pirates regained the lead, 21-14, on the next possession as Pinkney’s screen pass to Norman Whitley turned into a 51-yard touchdown with 5:45 remaining in the third quarter.
Anderson’s 1-yard TD run late in the third quarter tied the score again.
East Carolina’s C.J. Wilson blocked Tevenot’s 46-yard field-goal attempt and Quentin Cotton returned the ball 44 yards for a touchdown and a 7-0 lead with 12:16 remaining in the second quarter.
Evan Lee’s fumble recovery at the East Carolina 10 set up Tulane’s first score, a 1-yard run by Anderson with 59 seconds left in the first quarter.
CFT: Jordan Jefferson makes it clear he wasn't happy with LSU's game plan in the Tigers' BCS Championship Game loss to Alabama.
 | Special feature |
 |
NBCSports.com |
 | Video: Football from NBC Sports |
 Memphis fulfills BCS dream Tigers officials thrilled to announce that school has been accepted to join the Big East Conference in 2013. |
 | Slideshow |
 | NBCSports.com |
| Slideshow |
 | more photos |
 | Slideshow |
 | NBCSports.com |
| Slideshow |
 | NBCSports.com |
| Slideshow |
 | NBCSports.com |
| Slideshow |
 |
The Week in Sports Pictures The Giants on top of the football world, getting ready for the London Olympics and more. more photos |
NBC Sports TV and livestream listings
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.
The United States swept favored Switzerland out of the Davis Cup on Saturday when Mardy Fish and Mike Bryan beat Roger Federer and Stanislas Wawrinka 4-6, 6-3, 6-3, 6-3.