Sports blog information from USA TODAY.
What went right and what went wrong in the New Orleans Saints’ Week 17 win over the Tampa Bay Buccaneers? And what’s the bottom line?
Nobody saw this coming: the New Orleans Saints dismantled the Tampa Bay Buccaneers on Sunday and are leaving town with a much-needed win, keeping their playoff hopes alive as the wild card race takes shape. It was maybe the Saints’ most entertaining game of the year, and certainly their most complete effort against a quality opponent.
How did we get here? Let’s break it down by asking and answering three questions:
Here are our takeaways from the Broncos’ loss to the Patriots on Christmas Eve.
The Denver Broncos lost to the New England Patriots 26-23 on Christmas Eve, which essentially ends the team’s hopes of reaching the NFL playoffs. Here are five quick takeaways from the disappointing game.
8 takeaways from the New Orleans Saints’ 24-6 win over New York Giants
What did we learn about the New Orleans Saints on Sunday? They handled the New York Giants with ease in their 24-6 blowout win, with the offense and defense each doing its part to seal a victory.
Here are our notes and observations after Week 15’s big win:
What went right and what went wrong in the New Orleans Saints’ Week 15 win over the New York Giants; where do they go from here?
Whew — that was a fun one. The New Orleans Saints (7-7) took care of business against the New York Giants (5-9), and then some. The Saints won by a margin of 24-6 for their second lopsided victory in as many weeks. It wasn’t a perfect game, but it was awfully close.
How did we get here? Let’s break it down by asking and answering three questions:
Here are five quick takeaways following the Broncos’ ugly loss to the Lions.
The Denver Broncos lost to the Detroit Lions 42-17 on Saturday night. Here are five quick takeaways from the loss that dropped Denver to 7-7.
Top takeaways from film review of the Lions’ Week 14 loss to the Bears, with notes on Goff, the pass rush, replacement players and more
This week’s Detroit Lions film review was not a happy experience. Some weeks when the Lions lose, there are enough positives and circumstantial developments that watching the All-22 can make me feel better about the loss. Not this week, not this team’s performance in Chicago. If anything, I felt even worse about the Lions’ 28-13 loss to the Bears.
Normally I do the film review package as a “What I learned from…” piece, but this week I wanted to instead focus more on the “quick hits” portion of those breakdowns.
Here are five quick takeaways from the Broncos’ big win over the Chargers on Sunday.
The Denver Broncos went on the road and defeated the Los Angeles Chargers 24-7 on Sunday afternoon. Here are five quick takeaways after Denver improved to 7-6 with the win.
9 takeaways from the #49ers’ fifth consecutive win:
It wasn’t always pretty for the 49ers on Sunday, but they fought through some self-inflicted adversity and a tough stretch on their schedule to pull out a 28-16 win over the Seahawks at Levi’s Stadium.
Here are nine takeaways from San Francisco’s fifth consecutive win:
Quick takeaways from a bad Detroit Lions loss in Chicago in Week 14
The Detroit Lions made some awful music in Week 14. Given a chance to dance to a potential division title as road favorites in Chicago, the Lions instead played out of tune and got run off the stage.
Cue the Limp Bizkit.
“It’s just one of those days”…
It certainly was one of those days when the Detroit Lions made their fans want to break stuff. A sloppy, discordant Lions team froze on the chilly stage in Soldier Field, falling 28-13 to the Chicago Bears in a game that strikes a troubling tune for Dan Campbell’s team.
Rollin’ the takeaways…
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The Packers must take care of the ball against a team that has scored almost all its points off turnovers in the last two games.
The New York Giants scored 41 points across back-to-back wins over the Washington Commanders and New England Patriots before the bye week. Of the 41 points, 34 came directly off of takeaways. Fr
The Green Bay Packers must play clean and protect the ball on offense to beat the Giants at MetLife Stadium on Monday night.
Third-string rookie Tommy DeVito will start at quarterback for the Giants. It’s possible the best way for the Packers to keep DeVito and the Giants off the scoreboard is taking care of the football.
New York has nine takeaways in the last two games. The Giants turned six total takeaways into 24 points against the Commanders, including a game-sealing pick-six. In a 10-7 win over the Patriots, an interception set up both the Giants’ only touchdown and the go-ahead field goal in the second half.
“They’ve done a great job of punching at the ball, getting the ball out. You can tell that’s something that is emphasized there,” Matt LaFleur said. “They’ve made a lot of plays in the secondary, in the backend as well.”
The Giants’ only touchdown drive not involving a takeaway over the last two games was a 62-yard scoring drive that featured a 40-yard touchdown pass from DeVito to Darius Slayton vs. the Commanders.
Fumble recovery: 45-yard drive for TD
Fumble recovery: 68-yard drive for TD
Interception: 46-yard drive for FG
Interception returned for TD
Interception: 26-yard drive for TD
Interception: 8-yard drive for FG
The Giants have 19 takeaways, tied for the eighth most in football this season. The defense’s 12 interceptions are tied for the sixth most, and nine different Giants players have at least one pick. They’ve also forced 11 fumbles, including four by standout linebacker Bobby Okereke.
Can Matt LaFleur’s team keep playing mistake-free football and win the ball on Monday night?
The Packers haven’t turned the ball over during the current three-game win streak and are 4-1 when they don’t have a turnover this season. Jordan Love has thrown only two interceptions in the last five games.
The Giants have won back-to-back games but remain one of the NFL’s most disappointing teams in 2023. Brian Daboll’s team ranks 31st in point differential, largely due to five losses by three or more scores. Four of the five three-score losses came in games where the Giants didn’t have a takeaway.
The blueprint for the Packers looks fairly simple vs. the Giants: protect the ball and force DeVito to consistently traverse long fields. New York has lived off the momentum and short fields of takeaways. It’s difficult to imagine DeVito and the Giants offense scoring enough points to beat the red-hot Packers without a handful of scores off momentum-changing turnovers on Monday night.
