2026-01-12 07:47:21
Everybody knows Josh Allen’s as tough as a fast-food steak. That’s how Tim McCarver once described a banged-up-but-game George Brett during a baseball broadcast, and that’s what I was thinking all Sunday afternoon as I watched a banged-up-but-game Allen and his like-minded, like-wounded Buffalo Bills overcome both the Jacksonville Jaguars and their own sorry playoff history with a 27-24 wild-card weekend win. Over the course of the game, the reigning NFL MVP spent enough time in the tent to earn a Boy Scout patch.
This was a brutal affair. Buffalo safety Jordan Poyer left the game with a hamstring injury and didn't return. Allen's teammate Gabe Davis left the game in the fourth quarter when he tried to make a catch across the middle, and had his left leg bent in ways God didn’t intend. The Bills receiver was taken away on a cart. When Allen hit tight end Dalton Kincaid with a touchdown pass to take the lead, instead of celebrating the score, Kincaid needed a little help getting up.
2026-01-12 03:47:37
The Atlanta Falcons have kicked off another rebuild, and their old quarterback is coming back to help them with it. The team announced Saturday that Matt Ryan will return to the franchise and serve in a newly created role: President of Football. Yep, that's it. Just "President of Football." Ralph Wiggum must have consulted on the name.
Before hiring Ryan for the new position, the Falcons put together a pretty farcical interview process. Did anyone really think the team wouldn't hire the guy who owns basically every meaningful franchise passing record? As funny as it is to imagine Matt Ryan getting a form rejection email from Falcons HR, telling him the company's going in a different direction, that wasn't happening. The role will have Ryan reporting to team owner Arthur Blank, and "collaborating with Falcons President and CEO Greg Beadles" as they search for a new general manager and head coach to replace Terry Fontenot and Raheem Morris, who were both fired after an 8-9 season. The new GM and HC would then report to the ex-QB.
2026-01-12 00:21:48
The Peach Bowl was over by halftime. It felt over after the first play from scrimmage. Oregon quarterback Dante Moore threw a pass intended for Malik Benson, in an attempt to be aggressive at the start of the drive. Bad idea. Indiana corner D'Angelo Ponds jumped the route for an interception, and ran it back 25 yards for a touchdown.
The Ducks had started the game with possession and lost it after only a few seconds. To their credit, they responded with a touchdown catch by Jamari Johnson, but then the Hoosiers' offense finally took the field to put together a touchdown drive—then, later in the second quarter, another. And another. And another. By halftime, Indiana led 35-7, and viewers at home would've been forgiven for doing something else with their Friday night.
2026-01-12 00:03:37
Comebacks are just what Caleb Williams does. The second-year quarterback drilled DJ Moore with a 25-yard touchdown pass with 1:43 left as his Chicago Bears beat the visiting Green Bay Packers, 31-27, in an unbelievably believable thriller of a wild-card playoff game Saturday night. The Williams-to-Moore hookup capped off the Bears' seventh fourth-quarter comeback win of the season.
Chicago hadn’t won a playoff game since 2011. That sorry skein seemed secure after the first half at Soldier Field, with the Green Bay Packers up 21-3 and moving the ball at will, and the Bears flailing and failing, never more obviously than their 1-for-4 fourth-down conversion rate over the first two quarters.
2026-01-11 23:44:18
A confession: For the past week, I grew convinced that the Carolina Panthers would do it. They had already beaten the Los Angeles Rams once in the regular season, in Charlotte, and this playoff game would be at the same stadium. The crummy weather forecast worked against the Rams, whose quarterback favored indoor conditions. Cam Newton and his big hat were going to show up before the game and pound the drum. Could this be a repeat of when the 7-9 Seahawks upset the Saints? Would there be another moment that matched the absolute euphoria of the Beast Quake?
Nope. After absorbing the derision that comes with an 8-9 team making the playoffs, the Panthers acquitted themselves well. They even took the lead with less than three minutes to go. Alas, the underachieving NFC South champions were unable to pull off an all-time upset, instead losing to Los Angeles, 34-31, in the typically staid Saturday afternoon time slot.
2026-01-10 04:39:06
This week, Rolling Stone published an article in which writer Marisa Fox interviewed hostages who were held in Gaza after Oct. 7, talking to them about how music helped them. The artists mentioned in the piece include Frank Sinatra, Bill Withers, and Avenged Sevenfold. What caught my attention was one specific paragraph that was illustrative of the low journalistic standard for writing about Palestinians, Arabs, and Muslims.
The part in question is about 40-year-old Moran Stella Yanai, who was held hostage in Gaza for 54 days before she was released. As you read the following excerpt, your vision might be clouded by some unexplained yellow filter, and the bootleg adhan used in every Hollywood film set in the Arab World will begin to involuntarily play in your head:
