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.
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Ryan Callahan scored three goals as the New York Rangers beat Philadelphia 5-2 on Saturday for their seventh straight win over the Flyers.
Jeremy Lin hit a free throw with 4.9 seconds left to overcome a dreadful second half and lift the New York Knicks to their fifth straight victory, 100-98, over the Minnesota Timberwolves on Saturday night.
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.
CFT: Jordan Jefferson makes it clear he wasn't happy with LSU's game plan in the Tigers' BCS Championship Game loss to Alabama.
Move over, Hollywood and NFL types, golf's two real A-listers take center stage Sunday at Pebble Beach, both in need of a win.
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.
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.
AP
LANDOVER, Md. - Ben Roethlisberger exchanged high-fives with teammates after the touchdown that extended the Pittsburgh Steelers’ lead in the fourth quarter.
With his left hand. While wearing a baseball cap.
With Roethlisberger sidelined after reinjuring his throwing shoulder, the local kid who used to sneak into Washington Redskins games made an unexpected appearance on the field.
D.C. native Byron Leftwich came on at halftime and led two touchdown drives in the Steelers’ 23-6 victory over the Redskins on Monday night.
“We all know Ben’s the guy,” Leftwich said. “Ben’s the quarterback of this football team, and I know I was going to be there in case something happened. Something happened today.”
What happened was Roethlisberger’s 1-yard sneak that gave the Steelers a 10-6 lead in the final minute of the first half. On the play, the quarterback reaggravated the slightly separated right shoulder that has bothered him since the second week of the season.
“I have no update on Ben at this point,” coach Mike Tomlin said. “Potentially, he was capable of going back in the game, but we went down the field with Leftwich in there to start the second half. We’ll just see how he is.”
Roethlisberger was 5-of-17 for 50 yards and an interception, while Leftwich went 7-of-10 for 129 yards and a touchdown as Pittsburgh (6-2) beat an NFC East team for the first time in three attempts this season. Leftwich had 44 friends and relatives at the game — all of them Redskins fans growing up — but he said jokingly that “none of them better be upset” after the Steelers handed Washington (6-3) its worst loss of the season.
“I truly don’t know the offense yet,” said Leftwich, who signed with the Steelers in August. “I just got here late in the preseason, so that’s what makes it tough. ... That’s why I came out so early during halftime. It’s like, ’If I’m going to play, I’ve got to get loose.”’
The Steelers’ top-rated defense had seven sacks and became the first team this season to intercept Jason Campbell. It also held Clinton Portis to 51 yards rushing, ending his streak of five straight games with at least 120 yards.
“We were hoping to go out and play our football, play smash-mouth football,” Portis said. “Instead, we got smashed.”
While the Steelers remain atop the AFC North, the Redskins lost ground to the New York Giants in the NFC East. Washington enters its bye week needing to tweak an offense that puts together promising drives but struggles to find the end zone.
The Redskins came close to scoring a touchdown only once — when Campbell threw incomplete on fourth-and-goal at the 1 in the fourth quarter. Campbell went 24-of-43 for 206 yards and his streak without an interception reached 271 attempts — 249 this season — before cornerback Deshea Townsend grabbed a pass tipped by Portis late in the third quarter. Campbell, on the run for much of the game, threw another interception in the fourth quarter.
“When the team that they’re playing has to throw, they just kind of put the warrior bandanna on — and here they come,” Redskins coach Jim Zorn said of the Steelers pass rush.
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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Jeremy Lin hit a free throw with 4.9 seconds left to overcome a dreadful second half and lift the New York Knicks to their fifth straight victory, 100-98, over the Minnesota Timberwolves on Saturday night.
Doron Lamb hit a 3-pointer with 3:18 left to put No. 1 Kentucky ahead to stay, and the Wildcats took a big step toward a Southeastern Conference regular-season title by beating Vanderbilt 69-63 Saturday night for their 17th straight win.
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.