The San Francisco 49ers earned a playoff berth by withstanding a stunning comeback by New England from a 28-point deficit to beat the Patriots 41-34 on Sunday night in the rain.
Michael Crabtree took a short pass from Colin Kaepernick and sped around cornerback Kyle Arrington for a 38-yard touchdown with 6 minutes, 25 seconds to go, then David Akers made a 28-yard field goal to clinch it.
San Francisco have sealed at least a wild-card spot and plays at Seattle next week with a chance to win the National Football Conference West. A loss would bring the division race down to the final weekend.
Photo: Reuters
The Green Bay Packers clinched their second straight NFC North title with a 21-13 win over archrival the Chicago Bears.
James Jones caught all three touchdown passes thrown by Aaron Rodgers. Green Bay have now won six straight in the NFL’s oldest — and fiercest — rivalry.
The Packers (10-4) have won 12 straight against NFC North opponents, the longest streak in the NFL.
The Houston Texans beat the Indiana Colts 29-17 to become the American Football Conference South champions for the second straight year.
Andre Johnson had 151 yards receiving and a touchdown, Bryan Braman scored on a blocked punt and Shayne Graham kicked five field goals.
Washington rookie Kirk Cousins threw for 329 yards and two touchdowns filling in for injured star Robert Griffin III as the Redskins beat the Cleveland Browns 38-21 for their fifth straight win.
Cousins connected with Leonard Hankerson for both touchdowns in his first career start and the Redskins (8-6) barely missed a beat without the talented and multi-dimensional RG3, who sat out with a sprained knee.
Adrian Peterson ran for a season-best 212 yards, including an 82-yard touchdown as the Minnesota Vikings downed the St Louis Rams 36-22.
Peterson has 1,812 yards rushing, leaving him 294 short of breaking the NFL’s single-season record of 2,105 by Eric Dickerson of the Los Angeles Rams in 1984.
In Atlanta, Georgia, Matt Ryan threw three touchdowns passes as the Falcons trounced the Giants 34-0 to hand the Giants their first regular-season shutout since 1996.
Julio Jones caught a couple of scoring throws from Ryan, who broke his own franchise records for completions and passing yards in a season. He finished 23 of 28 for 270 yards. The Falcons have already clinched the NFC South.
Denver won their ninth straight game 34-17 over the Baltimore Ravens after Chris Harris returned an interception 98 yards for a momentum-turning touchdown.
Peyton Manning threw for 204 yards and a score in his ninth consecutive win against Baltimore, the first with the Broncos.
Seattle rookie quarterback Russell Wilson ran for three touchdowns and threw for another to lead the Seahawks to a comprehensive 50-17 win over the Buffalo Bills.
Dallas cornerback Brandon Carr intercepted a pass from Ben Roethlisberger to set up Dan Bailey’s 21-yard field goal in overtime and give the Cowboys a 27-24 victory over the Pittsburgh Steelers.
The Arizona Cardinals ended a nine-game losing streak as Greg Toler returned an interception 102 yards for a fourth-quarter touchdown in a 31-10 win over the Detroit Lions.
Carolina won consecutive games for the first time since December last year as the Panthers beat the San Diego Chargers 31-7, and in New Orleans Drew Brees passed for 307 yards and four touchdowns as the Saints posted their first shutout since 1995 with a 41-0 win over the Tampa Bay Buccaneers.
Sebastian Janikowski kicked five field goals in the Oakland Raiders’ 15-0 win over the Kansas City Chiefs, and the Miami Dolphins beat the Jacksonville Jaguars 24-3.
Revelations of positive doping tests for nearly two dozen Chinese swimmers that went unpunished sparked an intense flurry of accusations and legal threats between the World Anti-Doping Agency (WADA) and the head of the US drug-fighting organization, who has long been one of WADA’s fiercest critics. WADA on Saturday said it was turning to legal counsel to address a statement released by US Anti-Doping Agency (USADA) CEO Travis Tygart, who said WADA and anti-doping authorities in China swept positive tests “under the carpet by failing to fairly and evenly follow the global rules that apply to everyone else in the world.” The
Taiwanese judoka Yang Yung-wei on Saturday won silver in the men’s under-60kg category at the Asian Judo Championships in Hong Kong. Nicknamed the “judo heartthrob” in Taiwan, the Olympic silver-medalist missed out on his first Asian Championships gold when he lost to Japanese judoka Taiki Nakamura in the finals. Yang defeated three opponents on Saturday to reach the final after receiving a bye through the round of 32. He first topped Laotian Soukphaxay Sithisane in the round of 16 with two seoi nage (over-the-shoulder throws), then ousted Indian Vijay Kumar Yadav in the quarter-finals with his signature ude hishigi sankaku gatame (triangular armlock). He
Rafael Nadal on Wednesday said the upcoming French Open would be the moment to “give everything and die” on the court after his comeback from injury in Barcelona was curtailed by Alex de Minaur. The 22-time Grand Slam title winner, back playing this week after three months on the sidelines, battled well, but eventually crumbled 7-5, 6-1 against the world No. 11 from Australia in the second round. Nadal, 37, who missed virtually all of last season, is hoping to compete at the French Open next month where he is the record 14-time champion. The Spaniard said the clash with De Minaur was
RALLY: It was only the second time the Taiwanese has partnered with Kudermetova, and the match seemed tight until they won seven points in a row to take the last set 10-2 Taiwan’s Chan Hao-ching and Russia’s Veronika Kudermetova on Sunday won the Porsche Tennis Grand Prix women’s doubles final in Stuttgart, Germany. The pair defeated Norway’s Ulrikke Eikeri and Estonia’s Ingrid Neel 4-6, 6-3, 10-2 in a tightly contested match at the WTA 500 tournament. Chan and Kudermetova fell 4-6 in the first set after having their serve broken three times, although they played increasingly well. They fought back in the second set and managed to break their opponents’ serve in the eighth game to triumph 6-3. In the tiebreaker, Chan and Kudermetova took a 3-0 lead before their opponents clawed back two points, but