Tag: Comeback

How to build a comeback: 9 plays that swung NFC championship for 49ers

Here are the plays that defined the 49ers’ incredible NFC championship game comeback over the Lions:

Somehow, someway, the 49ers pulled out a 34-31 win over the Lions in the NFC championship game.

Detroit led 24-7 at halftime and looked like the far more dominant team through the first 30 minutes. Then the wheels came off in the second half.

So, how did San Francisco manufacture a 17-point second-half comeback? We went through and found the nine plays that tipped, and continued tipping the game in the 49ers’ favor:

[gambcom-standard rankid=”3011″ ]

Saints show resolve, overcome 10-point deficit in rare comeback under Dennis Allen

The Saints showed some resolve, overcoming a 10-point deficit in a rare comeback under Dennis Allen. They were 1-8 in this situation going into Sunday’s game:

It’s easy to lose faith in the New Orleans Saints these days. Fans have seen their team collapse under adversity far too often in recent years — and Sunday’s game with the Indianapolis Colts was primed for another letdown.

Since Dennis Allen was named head coach, the Saints have fallen behind by 10 or more points in the second quarter in 10 of his 25 games, dating back to the start of the 2022 season. And they’ve lost 8 of those matchups. Sunday’s comeback win over the Colts was just the second time the Saints have rallied in these circumstances under Allen’s management of the team.

They finally showed some backbone. Look at the sequence in the second quarter after the Colts went up 17-7. The offense drove downfield on a long scoring drive capped by an electrifying Taysom Hill touchdown run (from 20 yards out!) and the defense responded by forcing a quick three-and-out. Rashid Shaheed put the offense in favorable position with a 14-yard punt return, and then he caught the long ball on a 58-yard touchdown pass to retake the lead. How’s that for some moxie?

It’s exactly what we haven’t seen enough of out of the Saints since Allen took over from Sean Payton. When going down by multiple scores like this, too often they’ve folded. But on Sunday the offense finally took what help the defense and special teams units was giving them to control the game. After taking that lead, they never gave it back.

This was arguably the best win of Allen’s tenure. Sure, he’s won blowouts over the miserable Las Vegas Raiders last year and New England Patriots earlier this season, but neither of those squads were competitive. This was a game against an opponent with a talented roster and competent coaching staff who were throwing everything they had at New Orleans.

And the Saints were finally able to weather that storm and leave the field without any doubts. Let’s hope it’s the start of a new trend for them.

[lawrence-auto-related count=4]

Social media is alive after Alabama knocks off No. 17 Tennessee

Social media reacts to Crimson Tide picking up fifth SEC win over the season after victory over Tennessee

In the first half, Alabama looked like a team that would barely qualify for a bowl. They trailed the Volunteers 20-7 with little signs of life offensively. Then halftime happened and Nick Saban worked his magic. The Tide went on to outscore the Volunteers 27-0 in the second half and escape the third Saturday in October with a 34-20 victory.

Alabama will be off next week as they get a much-needed bye before hosting the LSU Tigers for the SEC West. Going into their break, Alabama is 7-1 with a clear shot at the SEC Championship and College Football Playoffs. LSU, Kentucky and Auburn won’t be easy, but they all should be winnable games.

Social media erupted in the second half as the Tide looked dominant with explosive plays offensively and scoop and scores defensively.

Biggest plays from the Packers’ incredible fourth quarter comeback vs. Saints

The Packers erased a 17-0 deficit, scoring 18 straight points to stun the Saints on Sunday. Here’s how it happened in the fourth quarter.

The Green Bay Packers outscored the New Orleans Saints 18-0 in the fourth quarter, creating a stunning 18-17 win and improving Matt LaFleur’s team to 2-1 after three weeks despite not having Aaron Jones, Christian Watson, David Bakhtiari, Elgton Jenkins and Jaire Alexander on Sunday at Lambeau Field.

The first three quarters were misery. But in Jordan Love’s first career start in Green Bay, the Packers caught fire and eventually knocked the Saints from the ranks of the unbeaten.

While the comeback happened in the fourth quarter, the Packers’ final drive of the third quarter built some confidence. Love hit Luke Musgrave and Patrick Taylor for a a pair of third-down conversions, but the drive failed on a turnover on downs inside the Saints’ red zone. Once the Packers got the ball back, the offense started rolling, and they never stopped.

Here are all the biggest plays that made the comeback happen:

Ravens CB Marlon Humphrey urges patience after Baltimore’s slow start to free agency

Ravens cornerback Marlon Humphrey took to Twitter to preach patience after the team’s slow free agency start

The Baltimore Ravens haven’t been very active over the course of 2023 free agency so far, re-signing a few of their contributors while also losing a few a well. There is still plenty of time to make moves, but the ongoing situation with quarterback Lamar Jackson makes things difficult for the organization to fully gauge their standing.

While Ravens fans may be discontent with the team’s failure to make any splash moves in the first two days of free agency, cornerback Marlon Humphrey took to Twitter to voice his opinion on the matter on Wednesday. He preached patience, saying that Baltimore is a comeback team.

“The Ravens are a comeback team just be patient!” Humphrey wrote.

Nobody knows the Ravens’ underdog culture better than Humphrey, who has grown into a starring role in Baltimore’s secondary after joining the team in 2017 as a first-round draft pick. The circumstances surrounding their inactivity shouldn’t go without mention either, as the Ravens are understandably preoccupied with potentially securing Jackson’s services on a long-term deal before adding talent at other positions.

Fans shouldn’t rule out that the Ravens could make up for lost time as the free agency period wears on. Many of the most recognizable names are off the board, but as teams adjust their rosters to compensate for new arrivals, Baltimore may have their eyes on players who haven’t yet become available.

[mm-video type=playlist id=01eqby9dgr2e1eyts4 player_id=01eqbvhghtkmz2182d image=]

MUST SEE: Unreal comeback in Alabama 7A State Championship

What’s the best football comeback you’ve ever seen? We promise you this one gives it a run for it’s money…

While scanning Twitter on Wednesday night, I noticed a tweet referencing “Auburn is one stop away from being state champions” and it caught my attention.

Wait, didn’t Alabama and Auburn just play a few days ago?

So I clicked on the profile to find out two high schools I’d never heard of, Auburn and Thompson were playing in the Alabama Class 7A state championship.

Normally I wouldn’t be posting an article about high school football on here unless it had a direct recruiting connection to Notre Dame, but trust me when I say this is worth your time if you’re the least bit a football fan.

Thompson sounds like it was a huge favorite but were met by an Auburn team that played the game of their lives.

Well, for at least 46:30 or so.

Here’s what happened…

Justin Fields exits game vs. Eagles, returns to lead Bears to TD

Justin Fields gave Bears fans a scare when he left the game with an injury only to return to lead his team to a touchdown drive.

Bears second-year quarterback Justin Fields briefly left the field against the Eagles in the fourth quarter after sustaining an apparent hamstring injury.

The nature of the injury was unknown, but Fields was seen limping from the field before being instructed by coaches to go down to stop play.

 

Fields put up a valiant effort in this tilt and had the Bears within four points of the 12-1 Eagles before exiting the game. He had completed 10 of 16 pass attempts he took, found the end zone once, and managed to keep from throwing an interception. His 95 rushing yards led Chicago in the ground game and seemed to threaten Philadelphia’s usually stout defense.

Backup Nathan Peterman took over in Fields’ absence, but with the game on the line and a chance to lead a potential comeback, Fields returned to the field, ready to give the Bears their best shot at their fourth win of the season. And he delivered.

Fields led Chicago on a six-play, 60-yard scoring drive, where he found a wide open Byron Pringle for a 35-yard touchdown to bring the Bears to within one score.

Fields has showcased his playmaking ability and toughness in this game, providing a glimpse of what he has to offer to the city of Chicago for years to come.

[mm-video type=playlist id=01eqbve7kb6he6scwe player_id=01eqbvhghtkmz2182d image=]

Malcolm Jenkins teases NFL comeback: ‘Technically the Saints have the rights to my contract’

Malcolm Jenkins teased Eagles fans asking about an NFL comeback, saying ‘Technically the Saints have the rights to my contract’

Could the Philadelphia Eagles swap one former New Orleans Saints safety for another? Again? C.J. Gardner-Johnson has been sidelined by a lacerated kidney and rib injury, prompting Eagles fans on Twitter to lobby for Malcolm Jenkins to make his NFL comeback. Jenkins retired earlier this year with some time left on his contract with the Saints, which he acknowledged is a complicating factor, though the idea of returning to play with a Super Bowl contender should be appealing. This isn’t as simple as Marshawn Lynch un-retiring to re-sign with the Seattle Seahawks in December (he was a free agent at the time).

“Technically the Saints have the rights to my contract,” Jenkins shrugged in a message from his official Twitter account, before adding, “I know Eagles fans love a comeback story, but don’t think you’ll get one this time.”

Odds are better that Jenkins will remain retired while managing his business interests away from football, but you never know. Another issue is that we’re past the annual NFL trade deadline. So if he were to decide to come back and play for the Eagles, he couldn’t be traded to Philadelphia. New Orleans would have to relinquish his contract altogether meaning they wouldn’t get any compensation. They would waive Jenkins and he would sign with the Eagles upon clearing waivers.

From the team’s perspective, why would they allow that? Why let a player who already hung up his cleats suit up for a conference rival who has already gotten their goat in past trades? For goodwill with him? Come on. He would be going back on his word here, and nobody could argue in good faith that the Saints would be wrong to stand in the way.

But this is part of a bigger problem. Will the indignities never cease? It’s bad enough that Sean Payton quit on the Saints and is out here publicly daydreaming about a team-up with Lamar Jackson (who he chose not to draft in 2018, instead trading up for Marcus Davenport, who shouldn’t be re-signed after this season). Now we’ve got Jenkins at least entertaining the idea of suspending his retirement to try and win another Super Bowl ring with the Eagles.

We’ll see if anything happens here, but it’s unlikely this develops further. Stay tuned.

[mm-video type=playlist id=01eqbyahgz6p2j3xp7 player_id=none image=https://saintswire.usatoday.com/wp-content/plugins/mm-video/images/playlist-icon.png]

[listicle id=119104]

Saints outdid themselves vs. Falcons in franchise-record fourth quarter comeback

The Saints outdid themselves against the Falcons on Sunday. The 16-point deficit they overcame in the fourth quarter is a new franchise record:

Bang: the New Orleans Saints set a new franchise record in Sunday’s win over the Atlanta Falcons, the team announced. They overcame a 16-point deficit in the fourth quarter at Mercedes-Benz Stadium to leave town with a 27-26 victory. That’s bigger than the historic 15-point deficit that the Saints erased a few years back, upsetting Washington in 2017’s thrilling home game.

So of course it had to happen against the team’s biggest rivals, adding a little insult to injury. The Falcons were in prime position to win this game after going up 26-10. They even had a nice shot when they were up 26-24 with just 1:40 remaining in regulation, having forced the Saints to burn all of their timeouts and set up shop on the edge of field goal range.

Then Marcus Mariota fumbled the snap in the biggest moment of the game, mishandling the ball on 3rd and 1 to lose a critical down. Faced with the prospect of a 4th and 1 situation in New Orleans territory with the game on the line, Falcons coach Arthur Smith opted to run out more clock and punt it away, trusting his defense to handle their business with the Saints in the game’s final minute.

Bad call. Jameis Winston flipped the field with a 40-yard pass to Jarvis Landry, then eased into field goal range with a 17-yard link to Juwan Johnson. Sure, it could have been better executed. A botched spike drew a flag from the officiating crew, and Wil Lutz’s game-winning field goal sailed through the uprights with 19 seconds left on the clock.

The Falcons had another shot at winning the day, taking over at their own 25-yard line with all three of their timeouts, but they needed a bogus personal foul penalty on Marshon Lattimore to get close enough for Younghoe Koo to try a game-winning field goal of his own.

But the Saints came through on special teams to seal the deal. Defensive end Payton Turner got a hand on the ball to send it back where it came from, with linebacker Zack Baun and safety J.T. Gray splitting a tackle for emphasis. It was as electric a game we’ve seen from New Orleans. But as Saints coach Dennis Allen noted postgame, let’s hope they all aren’t quite so volatile.

[mm-video type=playlist id=01eqbyahgz6p2j3xp7 player_id=none image=https://saintswire.usatoday.com/wp-content/plugins/mm-video/images/playlist-icon.png]

[listicle id=115569]

Chicago Sky made massive 28-point comeback to set WNBA record in win over Aces

28 POINTS!

They say basketball is a game of runs, but rarely do you see the type of extremes that took place Tuesday in Las Vegas. The Chicago Sky overcame a 28-point deficit to beat the Aces for the largest comeback in WNBA history ā€“ but only after giving up a WNBA record 41 points in the first quarter.

Yeah, thatā€™s a lot to unpack.

A game featuring the Aces, who have the leagueā€™s best record and best odds to win this year’s title, going against the reigning league champion Sky started off as a dud. But for those who stuck around, it turned into the ultimate display of resolve. And for those who were bold enough to live-bet on the Sky when they were down by 20-plus, the payout had to be quite nice.