MIAMI GARDENS, Fla. — On third-and-goal from the Las Vegas Raiders’ 8-yard line last week, Dolphins quarterback Tua Tagovailoa showed how far he’s come in a short amount of time this season.

I’m excited about what I saw.

In fact, I think I’m finally ready to buy my ticket for the Tua bandwagon (although my admission might be denied)....Read more

LOS ANGELES — You win some, you lose some. At USC, that's the recipe for a terrible football season.

The 5-5 Trojans, who play UCLA at the Rose Bowl on Saturday night, have blown fourth-quarter leads in all five of their losses. It's a dramatic departure from the promise of two years ago, when head coach Lincoln Riley went 11-3 in his debut ...Read more

FRISCO, Texas — An offseason in which the Washington Commanders hired former Cowboys assistant Dan Quinn to be their head coach, coupled with the arrival of an elite quarterback, means one of Jerry Jones’ favorite places to sit is now a sofa of spikes.

For the first time since the early 1990s, when Jack Kent Cooke was the team owner and Joe...Read more

PITTSBURGH — I have some bad news for the five wide receivers standing in line, nervously shuffling their feet, hoping their name gets called for the Pro Football Hall of Fame: If they don't get called this year, Larry Fitzgerald is about to cut in front of them.

Fitzgerald has a great chance, one would think, to be a first-ballot selection ...Read more

KANSAS CITY, Mo. — Patrick Mahomes had stood inside the tight quarters of a room inside Highmark Stadium, recapping the Chiefs’ first loss of the year in generic, big-picture terms.

After a few minutes, I inquired about a specific play.

Can you walk us through the interception?

“Uh, the first one or the second one?” he responded.

...Read more

CLEVELAND — It took brooms and leaf blowers to try to clear some of the snow Thursday night at Huntington Bank Field, then the Steelers managed to blow their own comeback in the final minutes.

Maybe it wasn’t a trap game against the Browns, but if that’s the case, then the Steelers just got beat by a previously 2-8 division doormat that ...Read more

SANTA CLARA, Calif. — Only one thing has kept Brock Purdy out of the 49ers’ starting lineup since he seized the role two years ago: the NFC’s No. 1 playoff seed, which they secured early enough last year to spare Purdy and other stars from the meaningless regular-season finale.

Purdy’s status for Sunday’s game at Green Bay is growing ...Read more

Here’s a look back at Week 11’s action and fantasy advice for the week ahead:

WEEK 11 RECAP

Eagles 26, Commanders 18: Saquon Barkley has six games with at least 100 rushing yards in his first season with Philadelphia. Barkley had six such games combined his last four seasons with the Giants.

Packers 20, Bears 19: Christian Watson’s ...Read more

KANSAS CITY, Mo. — The FBI reportedly has been working with law enforcement agencies in Kansas City investigating burglaries last month at the homes of Chiefs stars Patrick Mahomes and Travis Kelce.

NBC News said the FBI is trying to determine if those home break-ins, along with two incidents involving NBA players, “are connected to a ...Read more

PHILADELPHIA — Former Eagles running back Wendell Smallwood Jr. is facing federal charges over allegedly defrauding COVID-19 relief programs and the Internal Revenue Service in a series of schemes that resulted in hundreds of thousands of dollars in falsely obtained payments.

Federal prosecutors in Delaware charged Smallwood late last month ...Read more

PHILADELPHIA — Get ready for Operation Snowball.

The Philly Specials are planning to raise enough money with the new Eagles Christmas album to give every student in the School District of Philadelphia a gift this holiday season.

All 116,000 of them.

A Philly Special Christmas Party, the third album of holiday songs to feature singing ...Read more

Los Angeles Times NFL writer Sam Farmer examines the matchups this week. Lines according to FanDuel Sportsbook (O/U = over/under). Record last week 9-5 (.643); season 107-59 (.645). Using point spreads with the scores Farmer predicted, the record against the spread last week would have been 8-5-1 (.615); season 90-74-2 (.549). Off: Bills, ...Read more

I will never be happy with 8-6 straight-up, but the same numbers vs. the spread are in the acceptable range, at least. Nailed a pair of dogs-with-points on covers by the Bears and Steelers. Pretty much bull’s-eyed the Dolphins’ win (it was 34-19; I had 31-16). Missed a couple of games late and agonizingly (I hate you, Geno Smith). Also had ...Read more

MINNEAPOLIS — Former NFL safety and current CBS game analyst Adam Archuleta said something on Sunday’s broadcast from Tennessee that’s becoming more of a common take as the Vikings continue to shock the NFL with a quarterback few if anyone other than coach Kevin O’Connell believed in.

“You can tell that Sam Darnold has been coached in...Read more

ALLEN PARK, Mich. — It ain’t easy being perfect. Or anything close to it, for that matter.

So forgive Jared Goff for bristling at the suggestion it might be. Just because the Lions’ high-powered offense is making things look easy this season — running up scores and racking up records — doesn’t make it so.

“No, none of this is ...Read more

RENTON, Wash. — I’m not sure how many people out of 100 in a random Seattle coffee shop would recognize Julian Love’s face in a picture. Also don’t know that there would be much recognition for the Seahawks safety if you showed his mug to fans in stadiums besides Lumen Field or MetLife Stadium, where he used to play with the New York ...Read more

DENVER — His phone rings in December 2014, and it’s too early. Sean Payton has a bad feeling. He is on his way to present a game ball to Bailey Elizabeth Leon, a 12-year-old patient at Ochsner Hospital in New Orleans. The pair have become friends over the course of multiple visits. Payton promises her the Saints will beat the Chicago Bears ...Read more

PHILADELPHIA — Jalen Hurts was a limited participant at Eagles practice Wednesday because of an ankle injury, but the quarterback said afterward that it was the final day of a program the team put in place during the mini-bye week to strengthen his lower body following Thursday night's win over the Washington Commanders.

"I'm fine," he said. ...Read more

When watching Patriots rookie quarterback Drake Maye play this season, it’s important to try to imagine what it will look like when he has a more impressive supporting cast around him.

Maye is coming off his best NFL game, but he still makes routine rookie mistakes. He leads quarterbacks in PFF’s turnover-worthy play rate and has turned the...Read more

NEW YORK — There was no energy on the field at the start of the Giants’ practice on Wednesday.

“A little dead” is how one player described it afterwards.

The humiliating scene of Daniel Jones taking snaps as the No. 4 quarterback behind new signing Tim Boyle had everything to do with that. And it was just as much about the questions ...Read more