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.
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.
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.
KANSAS CITY, Mo. - All week the Browns heard how Mike Holmgren coming to Cleveland might mean the end of coach Eric Mangini’s short, drama-filled stint with the team.
Jerome Harrison and Joshua Cribbs may have saved their coach’s job, at least for now, trying to outdo each other with record-setting games.
Harrison scored his third touchdown with 44 seconds left and rushed for a team-record 286 yards, and Cribbs returned two kickoffs for touchdowns to lift the Browns to a 41-34 win over the Kansas City Chiefs on Sunday.
“For the past two, three weeks, Josh and I have had a personal (competition) against each other,” Harrison said. “He set the tempo and set it pretty high, but I told him at halftime, ’I’m going to get you.”’
Cribbs started the Browns (3-11) off with kickoff returns of 100 and 103 yards in the first half, breaking the NFL career record and tying the single-game mark.
Harrison still got the better of him.
Running behind linebacker-busting fullback Lawrence Vickers, he scored all of his touchdowns in the second half to break Jim Brown’s team record of 237 yards, set in 1957 and 1961.
Following a tying touchdown by Kansas City, Harrison closed out Cleveland’s first winning streak in over a year with a 28-yard run off right tackle, putting him behind only Adrian Peterson and Jamal Lewis in the NFL record book.
Not bad for a running back who had 301 total yards this season and no more than 246 in any of the previous three.
“I was seeing a phenom — unbelievable,” said Brown, who congratulated Harrison after the game. “The obvious is the obvious. He did an unbelievable job.”
Jamaal Charles ran for a career-high 154 yards and scored in his sixth straight game, and Kansas City (3-11) tied the game at 34-all on Matt Cassel’s 12-yard touchdown pass to Mark Bradley on a fourth-and-6 with 2:20 left.
It still wasn’t enough.
Playing in Arrowhead Stadium’s first non-sellout in 19 years, the Chiefs were plagued by more poor run defense, shoddy special teams and nine dropped passes.
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The dropped passes were nothing new. The Chiefs have had some of the NFL’s worst hands all season. Same thing with the run defense: Kansas City has allowed 796 yards rushing the past three games, all at home. The problems on special teams were something new. The longest kick return the Chiefs had allowed this season was 37 yards before Cribbs.
The result gave the Chiefs a second straight 1-7 season at home.
“Disappointing outcome with very clear-cut reasons for the outcome, starting with special teams,” Chiefs coach Todd Haley said. “When you allow two returns for touchdowns, that’s generally not going to end up a good thing.”
Coming off a huge win over Pittsburgh last week, Mangini coached this game with Holmgren’s shadow looming over him. The former Seattle and Green Bay coach spent two days meeting with owner Randy Lerner about becoming the Browns’ football “czar” and even went house shopping, sparking a weeklong game of will he or won’t he.
Holmgren, who won a Super Bowl with Green Bay, turned down an offer Saturday to be Seattle’s president and has expressed interest in coaching the Browns.
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“The reports, they are what they are. I’m coaching this team,” Mangini said. “I’m proud of this team. I’m proud of the things we’ve done. We’re moving forward. There’s a lot of good things happening. I’m proud of what they’re doing. I’m proud of the way they’re working. I’m proud of the progress we’ve made. That’s the only thing I’m concerned with.”
A team spokesman said Sunday night that Holmgren has not yet contacted the Browns. On Friday, Holmgren left open the possibility he may return to coaching.
If Holmgren was at home watching this one, at least he was entertained.
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.
