The Baltimore Ravens sacked Alex Smith nine times in a 16-6 win over the San Francisco 49ers on Thursday, giving John Harbaugh an emotional charge in the first NFL game featuring brothers as opposing head coaches.
The Ravens (8-3) chased, hindered and battered Smith for much of the night despite playing without middle linebacker Ray Lewis, the team’s leading tackler and spiritual leader. Lewis was inactive for a second straight game because of a foot injury. The nine sacks tied a franchise record, accomplished twice previously.
San Francisco (9-2) had their eight-game winning streak broken under rookie coach Jim Harbaugh.
Photo: AFP
John, 49, and Jim, 47, grew up dueling each other in all sorts of games. Competing this time on a national stage, John got the best of his little brother.
Baltimore broke a 6-6 tie with a 76-yard, 16-play drive that lasted more than seven minutes and ended with an 8-yard touchdown pass from Joe Flacco to tight end Dennis Pitta with 14.56 minutes left. Flacco went four-for-four on third-down plays during the drive.
PACKERS 27, LIONS 15
Photo: Reuters
At Detroit, Aaron Rodgers threw two touchdown passes as Green Bay built a big lead in the third quarter, taking advantage of Ndamukong Suh’s ejection in a win over Detroit.
The defending champion Packers (11-0) have won 17 straight, including the playoffs.
They passed what was expected to be one of their toughest tests toward joining the 2007 New England Patriots as the NFL’s only teams to have 16-0 regular seasons.
Detroit (7-4) have lost a franchise-record eight straight on Thanksgiving Day and added to their misery in ugly fashion.
Suh was tossed for stepping on Evan Dietrich-Smith’s arm, and Matthew Stafford threw three interceptions. The Packers turned Stafford’s interceptions into two TDs and a field goal.
COWBOYS 20, DOLPHINS 19
At Arlington, Texas, Tony Romo threw two touchdown passes to Laurent Robinson and Dan Bailey made a 28-yard field goal as time expired to lift Dallas past Miami.
Dallas (7-4) won their fourth straight and seized possession of first place in the NFC East, a half-game ahead of the New York Giants.
Miami (3-8) had won three straight. The Dolphins hadn’t allowed a touchdown for 13 quarters before Robinson’s first touchdown with 55 seconds left in the first half.
A sumo star was born in Japan on Sunday when 24-year-old Takerufuji became the first wrestler in 110 years to win a top-division tournament on his debut, triumphing at the 15-day Spring Grand Sumo Tournament in Osaka despite injuring his ankle on the penultimate day. Takerufuji, whose injury had left him in a wheelchair outside the ring, shoved out the higher-ranked Gonoyama at the Edion Arena Osaka to the delight of the crowd, giving him an unassailable record of 13 wins and two losses to claim the Emperor’s Cup. “I did it just through willpower. I didn’t really know what was going
The US’ Ilia Malinin on Saturday produced six scintillating quadruple jumps, including a quadruple Axel, in the men’s free skate to capture his first figure skating world title. The 19-year-old nicknamed the “Quad god,” who is the only skater to land a quadruple Axel in competition, dazzled with an array of breathtakingly executed jumps starting with his quad Axel and including a quadruple Lutz in combination with a triple flip and a quadruple toe loop in combination with a triple toe. He added an unexpected triple-triple combination at the end to earn a world-record 227.79 in the free program for a championship
Shohei Ohtani’s interpreter is being criminally investigated by the IRS, and the attorney for his alleged bookmaker said Thursday that the ex-Los Angeles Dodgers employee placed bets on international soccer — but not baseball. The IRS confirmed Thursday that interpreter Ippei Mizuhara and Mathew Bowyer, the alleged illegal bookmaker, are under criminal investigation through the agency’s Los Angeles Field Office. IRS Criminal Investigation spokesperson Scott Villiard said he could not provide additional details. Mizuhara, 39, was fired by the Dodgers on Wednesday following reports from the Los Angeles Times and ESPN about his alleged ties to an illegal bookmaker and debts well
MLB on Friday announced a formal investigation into the scandal swirling around Shohei Ohtani and his former interpreter amid charges that the Los Angeles Dodgers superstar was the victim of “massive theft.” The Dodgers on Wednesday fired Ippei Mizuhara, Ohtani’s long-time interpreter and close friend, after Ohtani’s representatives alleged that the Japanese two-way star had been the victim of theft, which was reported to involve millions of dollars and link Mizuhara to a suspected illegal bookmaker in California. “Major League Baseball has been gathering information since we learned about the allegations involving Shohei Ohtani and Ippei Mizuhara from the news media,” MLB