PITTSBURGH — It has been admirable how the Pittsburgh Steelers have been able to milk two or three years out of this roster, but all they have done really is kick the can of an actual rebuild down the road.

That isn’t a compliment, either.

I get the obsession with no losing seasons. I get the obsession with the pipe dream of sneaking into ...Read more

SEATTLE — The cliché that players will use — and boy do they use it — is that every week is about going 1-0.

This week, though, the Seahawks essentially went 2-0.

One victory came via a 26-0 thrashing of the Minnesota Vikings at Lumen Field. The other came about three and a half hours earlier, when the Panthers upset the Rams in ...Read more

It’s said so often around football that it has become trite:

Games are won and lost in the trenches.

And while I’m not here to knock the big men, I have a different spin on things, at least when it comes to the defensive side of the ball.

I have a saying that I’ve used so often that it elicits eye rolls from those who talk football with...Read more

FOXBOROUGH, Mass. — The 11-2 New England Patriots will go into their long-awaited bye week on a high note.

The Patriots beat the New York Giants 33-15 in a Monday night shellacking to extend their winning streak to 10 games before a well-deserved week off.

After playing 13 straight games without a break, the injury-depleted Patriots will ...Read more

LOS ANGELES — Los Angeles Chargers quarterback Justin Herbert underwent a surgical procedure Monday to stabilize a fracture in his non-throwing hand and his status for next Monday night’s game against Philadelphia will be determined later in the week, the team announced.

Herbert sustained the injury in the first quarter of Sunday’s ...Read more

PHILADELPHIA — Police confirmed that Philadelphia Eagles offensive coordinator Kevin Patullo’s house was vandalized early Saturday morning, two days before a viral video surfaced Monday depicting objects being thrown in the direction of a home.

According to the Moorestown Police Department, Patullo’s home was vandalized with multiple eggs...Read more

LANDOVER, Md. — As his right knee perched 2 inches above the ground, the Denver Broncos’ season became lost in the clouds.

Everything seems possible when Bo Nix makes plays like this.

You saw it. You know it. You Bo-lieve it. Clear the schedule. Check Expedia for flights to Santa Clara, Calif., in February.

Late in the second quarter ...Read more

MINNEAPOLIS — The Minnesota Vikings are waiving veteran wide receiver Adam Thielen following a request by his representation for his release, the team announced Monday morning via a statement from General Manager Kwesi Adofo-Mensah.

Thielen was inactive for the Vikings’ 26-0 loss to the Seahawks in Seattle on Sunday.

Both Adofo-Mensah’s ...Read more

MIAMI — Consider it the game-saving interception that almost never happened, and actually won’t count in the stat books.

I’m referring to Tyler Shough’s two-point conversion throw at the end of the fourth quarter, which followed a 15-yard touchdown reception to Devaughn Vele, and would have tied the score 19-19 with 1:17 left in ...Read more

LANDOVER, Md. — Nik Bonitto called game.

The streak is alive.

The Broncos have won nine straight.

They are tied with New England for the best record in football at 10-2.

It was anything but easy.

Bonitto batted down a game-deciding, two-point conversion attempt and Denver survived a scare at Washington on Sunday night with a 27-26 ...Read more

MIAMI — We are two-thirds through a Miami Dolphins season full of stuff that makes you wonder about and doubt — full of questions. Amid all of those, though, is an exclamation point, a certainty, an unequivocal major positive moving forward.

De’Von Achane!

The third-year running back out of Texas A&M just turned 24, should be headed to ...Read more

SEATTLE — The final score — a 26-0 win that was the Seattle Seahawks’ first shutout in more than a decade — doesn’t accurately indicate how long it seemed to take them to gain control of Sunday’s game against the Minnesota Vikings.

The Vikings used a variety of blitzes to make life uncomfortable for Sam Darnold and the Seahawks ...Read more

LOS ANGELES — Ladies and gentlemen, the victorious Justin Herbert.

Give him a hand.

(The Chargers wish you could.)

Herbert, who has been knocked around all season but so far had avoided injury, saw that streak come to a disappointing end Sunday, even though the Chargers walked away with a 31-14 win over the Las Vegas Raiders. It was the ...Read more

PITTSBURGH — Wait, was this a playoff game? It’s only late November, but it felt like early January at Acrisure Stadium.

That’s how much the Pittsburgh Steelers’s 26-7 romp at the hands of the Buffalo Bills resembled one of their typical postseason failures. This beat-down Sunday was just ahead of schedule.

The Steelers actually had a ...Read more

MIAMI — Welcome back, welcome back, welcome back.

The Miami Dolphins benefited from the return of three starters — right tackle Austin Jackson, tight end Darren Waller and cornerback Rasul Douglas — en route to their 21-17 victory of the New Orleans Saints.

While the game itself was far from the most entertaining game in NFL history, in...Read more

EAST RUTHERFORD, N.J. — Kicker Nick Folk sent the Atlanta Falcons home with a 56-yard field goal at the buzzer to lift the New York Jets to a 27-24 victory Sunday at MetLife Stadium.

The Falcons couldn’t hold another fourth-quarter lead as they collapsed over the final 8:53 of the game.

The Jets improved to 3-9. The Falcons are now 4-8, ...Read more

TAMPA, Fla. — They did not intimidate, and they did not dominate.

In the big book of memorable defensive performances in Tampa Bay history, Sunday’s game against the Arizona Cardinals will be several pages from the top.

And yet it was still a step forward.

A sign of life for a unit under siege.

The Bucs beat the Cardinals 20-17 on Sunday...Read more

CLEVELAND — Win No. 9 in the San Francisco 49ers’ seemingly playoff-bound season came in 26-8 fashion Sunday. But it wasn’t looking too secure until a third-quarter swing.

The 49ers clung to a 10-8 lead when, well, let’s hear from referee Brad Allen.

“Boom, this way!” Allen shouted on a live mic as 49ers linebacker Luke Gifford ...Read more

CHARLOTTE, N.C. — Humility, as Sean McVay likes to say, is only a day away.

The Los Angeles Rams lived it on Sunday.

The Carolina Panthers defeated the Rams, 31-28, before 71,292 at Bank of America Stadium, ending the Rams’ six-game winning streak, dropping their record to 9-3 and knocking them out of the top seed in the NFC.

The Rams ...Read more