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.
AP
TORONTO - This was a lot better for safety Yeremiah Bell and the Miami Dolphins than dodging snowballs at Ralph Wilson Stadium.
And maybe, it’s the Dolphins — because it certainly wasn’t the unraveling Buffalo Bills — who can lay claim to being Toronto’s team this weekend.
Taking advantage of an indifferent Bills “home” crowd and an inept Buffalo offense, the resurgent Dolphins continued their remarkable turnaround from last year’s 1-15 finish by scoring a decisive 16-3 win on Sunday. In winning for the sixth time in seven games, the Dolphins (8-5) moved into a three-way tie for the AFC East lead with New York and New England.
“The story does keep getting better,” said Bell. “This is something that’s definitely sweet, going from one win to being in every game this year and having a legitimate chance to win. It’s a great feeling.”
The Bills might be benefiting from getting nearly $10 million a game — nearly double what they bring in at Orchard Park — for the eight-game series that runs through 2012. But they lost a decided home-field advantage.
The warm-weather Dolphins, 2-7 at Orchard Park in games played after Dec. 1, took advantage of the opportunity to play indoors at the Rogers Centre, where it was 68 degrees, as opposed to 15 outdoors. And in the stands, there was a large contingent of Dolphins fans wearing orange and aqua.
“It definitely didn’t feel like an away game for us,” Bell said. “The way we played up here today and just to look out in the stands, I think we did win over some fans.”
|
In falling all but mathematically out of playoff contention, Buffalo has lost six of seven, failed to score a touchdown in two consecutive games, and the meltdown has put coach Dick Jauron squarely on the hot seat.
Bills chief operating officer Russ Brandon declined to discuss Jauron’s status directly, but did refer to the team’s slide as “unacceptable.”
“We’re extremely disappointed. It’s unacceptable to be in this position after a 5-1 start,” Brandon said.” This was a season in which we had to take the next step and nobody in this organization is happy.”
Jauron is in the final year of his contract and coming off two consecutive 7-9 seasons. The team’s in jeopardy of missing the playoffs for a ninth straight season.
Chad Pennington efficiently picked apart the Bills, going 23-of-29 for 181 yards and a 20-yard touchdown to Anthony Fasano. Pennington became the third Dolphin to reach 3,000 yards passing in a season and first since Jay Fiedler in 2001.
Dan Carpenter rounded out the scoring by hitting three of four field-goal attempts, including a 50-yarder.
The Dolphins’ defense did the rest in limiting the Bills to 163 yards offense while also holding an opponent without a touchdown for the second straight game following a 16-12 win at St. Louis.
Then again, at the rate Buffalo’s offense is stalling, it’s a surprise it wasn’t stopped at the border.
“It can’t get much worse,” receiver Lee Evans said. “We had no rhythm. It’s definitely frustrating because we had opportunities. It’s really hard to put into words.”
|
Rian Lindell hit a 40-yard field goal for Buffalo.
Miami running back Ricky Williams was happy to return to Toronto after he spent the 2006 season with the CFL Argonauts.
“It wasn’t clear who the home team was, but that’s nice for us,” said Williams, who had 40 yards rushing, and had a touchdown run negated by a penalty. “I got kind of emotional during the national anthem. It’s a beautiful song and I hadn’t heard it for a while.”
Notes: Dolphins LB Joey Porter had two sacks, upping his total to 16½, two short of matching the team’s single-season record. ... Bills CB Leodis McKelvin had 56 kickoff return yards, giving him 1,233 on the season, surpassing Eric Moulds in 1996 for the most by a Buffalo rookie. ... The Dolphins have won three straight road games for the first time since 2005, and are three games above .500 for the first time since going 10-6 to finish the 2001 season.
|
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.
 | Video |
 |
Best team in AFC East Cris and Bob debate who will win the division stacked with 8-5 teams (Jets, Dolphins, Pats). |
 | Slideshow |
 | Super Bowl XLVI shots See the best moments before, during and after the Giants' win over the Patriots more photos |
Latest from ProFootballTalk |
 | Video: Football from NBC Sports |
 Getty Images |
| Slideshow |
 | NBCSports.com |
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.
After leading by 18 points in the first half, the Los Angeles Lakers were staring at a four-point deficit with less than two minutes to play.
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.
