Archives: Previews

The Tampa Bay Buccaneers won five of their last six games and the Philadelphia Eagles lost five of their last six. They took opposite paths to the playoffs but share one outlook: All that matters now is what happens Monday night when they wrap up the NFL’s wild-card round in Tampa, Fla. “We need all players, coaches, all staff, all hands on deck, leaving everything they’ve got in this locker room because everybody’s 0-0 going

Matthew Stafford returns to Detroit in a Los Angeles Rams uniform. Jared Goff faces the team that gave up on him. The Lions are hosting a playoff game for the first time in 30 years. The preamble to Sunday night’s first-round playoff matchup has all the fixings of a script, but neither team wants to discuss much more than the primetime wild-card meeting and the spot in the conference semifinals at stake. The Rams are

Quarterback Dak Prescott and the NFL’s highest-scoring offense enter the playoffs with a confidence that can only be found at home. The Cowboys host the Green Bay Packers in a wild-card matchup Sunday afternoon at AT&T Stadium, where Dallas had a perfect 8-0 record during the regular season. Dallas averaged a league-high 29.9 points per game, posted a 12-5 record and won the NFC East for the second time in three years. Prescott threw 36

The Buffalo Bills were one of the NFL’s hottest teams during the stretch drive of the season and went from playoff outsiders to the AFC’s No. 2 seed. After winning five straight games to win the AFC East and earn home-field advantage, the Bills will look to continue their scorching run when they host the seventh-seeded Pittsburgh Steelers on Sunday afternoon at Orchard Park, N.Y. The Bills (11-6) had a .500 record after 12 games

All the Miami Dolphins had to do was protect a fourth-quarter lead in the season finale and they could have stayed in South Florida and played an AFC wild-card game in temperatures near 80 degrees. Instead, the Dolphins saw the lead get away and packed up portable heaters, parkas, gloves and a game plan for how to deal with the elements and a hostile crowd when they visit the Kansas City Chiefs on Saturday night

When the Houston Texans hired DeMeco Ryans as their coach last January and drafted quarterback C.J. Stroud with the second overall pick three months later, they were hoping that duo would someday lead the franchise to success. Little did Houston know that “someday” would arrive much sooner than expected. After securing a playoff berth for the first time since 2019, the Texans will look to keep exceeding expectations on Saturday when they face the visiting

After a successful stretch against nonconference opponents, No. 21 Wisconsin returns to the Big Ten grind when it hosts Iowa on Tuesday night in Madison, Wis. Wisconsin (9-3, 1-0 Big Ten) has only played twice since a 98-73 loss at then-No. 1 Arizona on Dec. 9, closing out the nonconference portion of its schedule with home wins over Jacksonville State and Chicago State. Iowa (8-5, 0-2 Big Ten) is coming off a 103-74 win at

Winless in its first pair of Atlantic Coast Conference matchups, Pitt will take another try at getting in the win column in league play against No. 8 North Carolina at home Tuesday night. The Panthers (9-4, 0-2 ACC) fumbled a halftime lead against rival Syracuse in an 81-73 loss on Saturday. Pitt coach Jeff Capel noticed a difference in intensity between the two sides. “I thought they played with such energy (and) a sense of

In his 10-plus seasons as Northwestern’s head coach, Chris Collins has accomplished some things that once seemed impossible in Evanston. He has led the Wildcats to their first two NCAA Tournament appearances and their first two wins over a top-ranked team, which includes Purdue’s only loss this season. However, Collins is still waiting to enjoy his first victory on Illinois’ home floor. The Wildcats are 0-7 in Champaign with Collins at the helm. But today’s

Florida Atlantic had plenty of riches to enjoy when it returned from a productive trip to Las Vegas, but the winnings wasted away on Florida’s west coast. The 17th-ranked Owls (10-3) attempt to make a rapid recovery from Saturday’s jarring upset in Fort Myers and rebound against East Carolina in Tuesday night’s American Athletic Conference debut in Boca Raton, Fla. Following last Saturday’s 96-95 double-overtime win over then-No. 4 Arizona in Las Vegas, coach Dusty