Steelers vs. Browns should provide a strong conclusion to the NFL’s 2021 wild-card round to kick off the playoffs. Pittsburgh hosts Cleveland on Sunday night at 8:15 p.m. ET on NBC. It’s the first playoff appearance for the Browns since 2002, and they beat the Steelers in Week 17 to secure the spot.  There are a lot of repeat moments […]

Covered the Redskins for the Washington Examiner and other media outlets since 1994 Authored or co-authored three books on the Redskins and one on the Cleveland Browns LANDOVER, Md. — Washington Football Team quarterback Taylor Heinicke didn’t win the game; he did, however, win over a team — and maybe more. Heinicke, starting for the injured Alex Smith, made plays […]

Throughout his football career, whether awash in relatively not-so-bright Friday Night Lights or taking his lumps on the sport’s grandest stage, Jared Goff has shown a penchant for staying cool in the face of adversity. From getting benched in the Oregon rain during a 1-11 freshman season at Cal to getting subbed out in red-zone situations during a rivalry game […]

LANDOVER, Md. — And that is why the Tampa Bay Buccaneers went out and got Tom Brady. Not just so the most decorated quarterback in NFL history could help them end their 13-year playoff drought (the longest in the NFC and the second-longest futility streak behind Cleveland's 18 years of suffering). But so his magic could rub off on his […]

The NFL's inaugural "Super Wild Card Weekend" unfolded with a fairly dramatic tripleheader kicking off the 2020 season's playoffs. Backup quarterbacks played leading roles – as did grizzled vets and passers either entering or reaching their primes. All three games were fairly close, though only one produced an upset … and a mild one at that. But there was ample drama and plenty […]

Despite a valiant effort from quarterback Taylor Heinicke and the Washington Football Team, Tom Brady and the Tampa Bay Buccaneers prevailed on Super Wild Card Weekend. Brady led the Bucs to a 31-23 victory over Washington, the franchise’s first postseason triumph since winning the Super Bowl in the 2002 season. Heinicke got the start in place of Alex Smith and […]

Covered the Redskins for the Washington Examiner and other media outlets since 1994 Authored or co-authored three books on the Redskins and one on the Cleveland Browns LANDOVER, Md. — Washington Football Team quarterback Taylor Heinicke was corralled and in trouble. And then he did what he’s done most of the night: He made a play. Facing a third-and-5 from […]

Remember Russell Wilson’s MVP-worthy first half of the 2020 NFL season? It might be a distant memory after the Seahawks’ star quarterback and the rest of their offense struggled in Saturday’s 2021 NFL playoff-opening flop against the Rams. Other than one big play and one mostly meaningless late drive, Seattle failed to move the ball well enough against Los Angeles, […]

Covered the Buccaneers since 2009 Joined ESPN in 2016 Tampa Bay Buccaneers quarterback Tom Brady and wide receiver Antonio Brown have taken the downfield connection that has blossomed over the past four weeks into the postseason. Playing in the Bucs’ first postseason game since 2007, Brady looked off Washington Football Team safety Jeremy Reaves before finding Brown on a wheel […]

Well, that was ugly. The Seattle Seahawks exited the playoffs with little more than a whimper on Saturday night, falling to a Rams team battling significant adversity after losing its starting quarterback to a neck injury and turning to Jared Goff, who entered and played with a broken thumb. Those hurdles proved to be minimal against a punchless Seahawks team […]