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Monica Herndon/The Philadelphia Inquirer/TNS

David Murphy: Howie Roseman will have a role in remaking the Eagles offense. Here's his offseason to-do list.

Sports / Football /

PHILADELPHIA — Diversification should be the operational word for Howie Roseman and his front office this offseason.

You’ve heard it said that the Philadelphia Eagles have more talent on their roster than any team in the NFL. The claim is more often than not the source of the shade thrown at Nick Sirianni and his coaching staff. When the ...Read more

Steph Chambers/Getty Images North America/TNS

Matt Calkins: Patriots won't test Seahawks in Super Bowl like Rams did in NFC title game

Sports / Football /

SEATTLE — No, this was not the real Super Bowl.

No, the Seahawks have not been crowned.

There isn't a parade scheduled in Seattle — there isn't a banner being stitched.

But the new NFC champions are not going to face a tougher team than the one they matched up with Sunday. The power of the New England Patriots simply doesn't stack up with...Read more

AAron Ontiveroz/The Denver Post/TNS

Scott Fowler: Drake Maye headed to 1st Super Bowl as a QB, but he's been before as a Panthers fan

Sports / Football /

CHARLOTTE, N.C. — Drake Maye survived the snow and led the New England Patriots to his first Super Bowl as an NFL player on Sunday, giving the state of North Carolina and the Charlotte area something to cheer about.

The funny part: It won’t be the first Super Bowl Maye has attended, nor even the first one he’s been part of in Santa Clara,...Read more

AAron Ontiveroz/The Denver Post/TNS

Troy Renck: Broncos' Sean Payton puts blame where it belongs -- on himself

Sports / Football /

DENVER — Dreams are delicate, fleeting.

The AFC Championship Game trophy was returning to Denver. The coach’s Hall of Fame resume had a LinkedIn update that no one could refute.

Then Sean Payton tried to put his hands on the Patriots’ throat, and he got grabbed by ghosts. On fourth-and-1 in the second quarter, he went to Jarrett. And ...Read more

Why is Trump skipping the Super Bowl? Oft-traveling president says it's 'too far.'

Sports / Football /

The Los Angeles Rams won't be the only no-shows at the Super Bowl. President Donald Trump will be conspicuous in his absence from the biggest annual, single-day sporting event in the United States.

"It's just too far away," Trump told the New York Post. "I would go if, you know, it was a little bit shorter."

Or perhaps not so far to his left? ...Read more

Ronald Martinez/Getty Images North America/TNS

Bill Plaschke: Blame for Rams' loss to Seahawks begins with Sean McVay

Sports / Football /

LOS ANGELES — Late in the mess that was the Los Angeles Rams' final game of the season, Sean McVay was seen frustratingly burying his face in his play card.

That couldn't hide the truth.

The Rams' 31-27 loss to the Seattle Seahawks on Sunday in the NFC championship game must be draped on the deflated shoulders of the Rams' resident genius.

...Read more

Steph Chambers/Getty Images North America/TNS

Mike Vorel: Seahawks QB Sam Darnold will accept apologies from the doubters now

Sports / Football /

SEATTLE — Sam Darnold will accept your apologies now.

Maybe you, a loyal 12, never doubted Darnold — whose career was once discarded like a penny flipped into a fountain. Maybe, despite the demotions and public implosions, you continued to believe. Maybe, even during Darnold’s dramatic descent — five deflating seasons with the New York ...Read more

Matias J. Ocner/Miami Herald/TNS

Chargers hire ex-Dolphins coach Mike McDaniel as offensive coordinator

Sports / Football /

LOS ANGELES — The Los Angeles Chargers hired former Miami Dolphins head coach Mike McDaniel as their new offensive coordinator Monday as they look to maximize quarterback Justin Herbert's talents in the wake of another one-and-done playoff exit.

Fired by the Dolphins on Jan. 8 after a 7-10 season, McDaniel went 35-33 over four seasons in ...Read more

Mike Stocker/South Florida Sun Sentinel/TNS

Omar Kelly: The lessons new Dolphins coach Jeff Hafley learned at Boston College

Sports / Football /

MIAMI — Failure isn’t necessarily a bad thing.

There are countless instances where it served as a catalyst for future greatness.

Steven Spielberg, who is known as one of the world’s greatest filmmakers, was rejected from film school three times.

Persistent failure led to monumental success for the Wright brothers, who tested and crashed...Read more

Tom Fox/The Dallas Morning News/TNS

Gene Collier: Will new Steelers coach embed himself like his predecessors?

Sports / Football /

PITTSBURGH — The Pittsburgh Steelers completed a little chore called hiring a new coach Saturday, something the Rooneys generally get around to when needed, roughly every 15 to 23 years.

Among all the statistics in every corner of the NFL datascape, all the next generation metrics and lost generation fossils of conventional football wisdom, ...Read more

Ronald Martinez/Getty Images North America/TNS

Rams' biggest offseason priority? Re-signing Sean McVay and Les Snead.

Sports / Football /

SEATTLE — Now that the Los Angeles Rams’ season is over, they will begin deciding when to offer extensions to key players such as receiver Puka Nacua, defensive lineman Kobie Turner, edge rusher Byron Young and offensive lineman Steve Avila.

But there are much more pressing contracts to consider. Like the one for the most important person ...Read more

Seahawks Super Bowl-bound after beating Rams in NFC Championship

Sports / Football /

SEATTLE — For most of the biggest game at Lumen Field in 11 years, it was the Dark Side defense again getting its lights knocked out by Matthew Stafford and the Los Angeles Rams offense.

At one point, the Seattle Seahawks’ defense even delivered what was almost a knockout blow to themselves.

But when was the best defense in the NFL this ...Read more

AAron Ontiveroz/The Denver Post/TNS

Sean Keeler: If Bo Nix plays in AFC Championship, Broncos don't just beat Patriots -- they destroy them

Sports / Football /

DENVER — You snow it. I snow it. Anybody outside the chowder belt snows it, too. Bo Nix doesn’t just beat the Patriots Sunday. He beats them by two touchdowns.

Tell me with a straight face that Nix fumbles the ball away in a panic, the way Jarrett Stidham did, to set up the Patriots’ only TD of the day.

Tell me with a palm on The Good ...Read more

Eric Thayer/Los Angeles Times/TNS

Rams' Super Bowl hopes snuffed out in NFC championship loss to Seahawks

Sports / Football /

SEATTLE — Maybe next year.

Maybe the opportunity to host the Super Bowl is now the necessary element for the Los Angeles Rams to play in it.

On Sunday their season came to an end with a 31-27 defeat by the Seattle Seahawks in the NFC championship game before 68,773 at Lumen Field.

Matthew Stafford passed for three touchdowns, but for the ...Read more

AAron Ontiveroz/The Denver Post/TNS

Sean Payton's costly fourth-down call cost Denver Super Bowl trip

Sports / Football /

DENVER — Initial thoughts from the Denver Broncos’ 10-7 loss to the New England Patriots in the AFC Championship at Empower Field:

— That fourth-and-1 call … : Hindsight makes geniuses of us all, but man, you’d hope Sean Payton would like that fourth-and-inches at the New England 14 back. With Broncos quarterback Bo Nix behind center,...Read more

AAron Ontiveroz/The Denver Post/TNS

Playing in Super Bowl LX will be full-circle moment for Patriots' Drake Maye

Sports / Football /

DENVER — Ten years ago — the last time the Super Bowl was held in San Francisco — New England Patriots quarterback Drake Maye was a fan in the stands, cheering on his hometown Carolina Panthers.

Now, Maye and the Patriots are Super Bowl-bound with the championship game back in the Bay Area.

“It’s full circle,” Maye said Sunday ...Read more

AAron Ontiveroz/The Denver Post/TNS

Andrew Callahan: Patriots' return to the Super Bowl a complete team triumph

Sports / Football /

DENVER — At the beginning, all Mike Vrabel wanted was to take advantage of bad football.

To galvanize the New England Patriots.

To give a proud fanbase hope once again after years of defeat and disappointment.

Then, as Vrabel worked from his opening press conference, taking the Patriots by the hand through the early stages of a rebuild and ...Read more

AAron Ontiveroz/The Denver Post/TNS

Patriots defeat Broncos in AFC Championship Game, headed to Super Bowl

Sports / Football /

DENVER — The New England Patriots are heading to the Super Bowl after outlasting the Denver Broncos in a freezing, snowy, blustering defensive showdown.

This wasn’t a rock fight. It was an ice fight.

With the Patriots leading 10-7 with 4:46 left in the game, the Broncos sent out kicker Will Lutz to attempt a 45-yard field goal through snow...Read more

Kenneth K. Lam/The Baltimore Sun

2 former Ravens assistants joining Giants coach John Harbaugh's staff

Sports / Football /

BALTIMORE — Former Baltimore Ravens coach John Harbaugh cut his NFL teeth as a longtime special teams coordinator for the Philadelphia Eagles. So it should hardly come as a surprise that one of his first moves since being introduced as the Giants coach last week zeroed in on a familiar face from Baltimore for the same role with New York.

...Read more

Mike Stocker/South Florida Sun Sentinel/TNS

Dave Hyde: Has Steve Ross learned enough in losing to start winning?

Sports / Football /

It’s a shame Miami Dolphins owner Steve Ross quit reading newspapers out of “frustration,” as he said this past week, over reading about his losing team. My business needs every available subscriber these days. Maybe we could send him coffee with the paper to start up again?

Ross could be selective in his chosen articles, too. He could, ...Read more