NFL
PITTSBURGH (AP) - The Pittsburgh Steelers’ bid for an unbeaten season is over. Washington’s bid for an unlikely division title may just be beginning.
Alex Smith threw for 296 yards and a touchdown, Dustin Hopkins kicked a tiebreaking 45-yard field goal with 2:04 remaining, and Washington beat the Steelers 23-17.
Pittsburgh (11-1) missed a chance to clinch a playoff berth and dropped into a tie with defending Super Bowl champion Kansas City for the top spot in the AFC with four games remaining. A day after the New York Giants pulled an upset in Seattle, Washington (5-7) kept pace by rallying from 14 points down to win in Pittsburgh for the first time since 1991
NEW YORK (AP) - The Jets fired defensive coordinator Gregg Williams, one day after his stunning play call Sunday against the Las Vegas Raiders was highly criticized by fans, media and even his own players.
The still-winless Jets were seconds away from their first victory until Williams inexplicably called for an all-out blitz against Las Vegas. Derek Carr heaved a perfectly placed 46-yard touchdown pass to Henry Ruggs III - who was in man-to-man, or Cover Zero, coverage with rookie cornerback Lamar Jackson - with 5 seconds left to lift the Raiders to a 31-28 victory.
It left the Jets players, who only moments earlier were celebrating what appeared to be a win, in shock on the sideline. Team captain Marcus Maye took an uncharacteristic swipe at Williams after the game, saying that the defense should have been in a better call in that situation.
GLENDALE, Ariz. (AP) - Josh Allen threw for 375 yards, tied a career high with four touchdown passes and the Buffalo Bills stayed in sole possession of first place in the AFC East with a 34-24 victory over the San Francisco 49ers.
Buffalo (9-3) moved a step closer to winning its division for the first time since 1995 thanks to a nearly flawless performance from Allen. The 24-year-old quarterback was stellar against the 49ers, completing 32 of 40 passes with no interceptions.
The Bills built a 17-7 halftime lead and controlled the majority of the second half. Buffalo is one game ahead of Miami with four games left for both teams.
San Francisco (5-7) lost in its first game at its adopted home in Arizona. The 49ers will be based in Glendale for at least the next three weeks after Santa Clara County issued strict new coronavirus protocols that forced the team to find a temporary new home.
NEW YORK (AP) - The NFL suspended Titans defensive end Teair Tart and Bengals strong safety Shawn Williams for unnecessarily stepping on opponents last weekend.
Both have until mid-week to appeal their suspensions.
Jon Runyan, the league’s vice president of football operations, issued the one-game suspensions without pay for violations Sunday of the NFL’s rules regarding unnecessary roughness and unsportsmanlike conduct.
Tart’s violation occurred with 8:25 remaining in the second quarter of Tennessee’s game at Cleveland when he stepped on guard Wyatt Teller.
Williams’ infraction took place in the final minute of the first half of Cincinnati’s game at Miami on Sunday when he stepped on guard Solomon Kindley. Williams was ejected following an ensuing fight.
COLLEGE BASKETBALL
NEW YORK (AP) - Gonzaga and Baylor remained atop the AP Top 25 men’s basketball poll after their hotly anticipated weekend game in Indianapolis was called off about 90 minutes before tipoff because of positive COVID-19 tests and contact tracing within the Bulldogs’ program.
Gonzaga received 54 of 61 first-place votes from a national media panel while the Bears had the other seven. Iowa remained third after Luka Garza’s monster week powered the Hawkeyes to a pair of easy victories, Michigan State climbed four spots to No. 4 and Kansas jumped two spots to round out the top 5.
NEW YORK (AP) - Coach Tara VanDerveer and Stanford are the new No. 1 in The Associated Press women’s basketball poll.
The Cardinal ascended to the top spot after previous No. 1 South Carolina lost at home to then-No. 8 North Carolina State. Stanford received 24 of the 30 first-place votes from a national media panel.
Louisville moved up three spots to No. 2 - matching the highest ranking in school history - and received two first-place votes. UConn, which has yet to play a game because the Huskies were on pause due to coronavirus concerns, stayed at No. 3, also receiving two first-place votes.
The Wolfpack, who got the other two first-place ballots, jumped four places to No. 4 after the 54-46 victory over the Gamecocks. South Carolina fell to fifth.
OLYMPICS
GENEVA (AP) - Breakdancing became an official Olympic sport.
The International Olympic Committee’s pursuit of urban events to lure a younger audience saw street dance battles officially added to the medal events program at the 2024 Paris Games.
Also confirmed for Paris by the IOC executive board were skateboarding, sport climbing, and surfing.
Those three sports will make their Olympic debuts at the Tokyo Games which were postponed because of the coronavirus pandemic by one year to open on July 23, 2021.
Alongside the additions, the IOC made subtractions: The slate of 329 medal events in Paris is 10 fewer than in Tokyo, including four lost from weightlifting, and the athlete quota in 2024 of 10,500 is around 600 less than next year.
BASEBALL
ARLINGTON, Texas (AP) - The Chicago White Sox are set to acquire a big workhorse for their starting rotation.
Lance Lynn is being traded from the Texas Rangers to the White Sox, according to a person with direct knowledge of the deal. The person spoke on condition of anonymity to The Associated Press late Monday night, at the end of the first day of Major League Baseball’s virtual winter meeting, because there was no announcement from either team.
Lynn would be reunited in Chicago with new manager Tony La Russa. Lynn was a rookie pitcher for the 2011 World Series champion St. Louis Cardinals, who beat the Rangers in seven games in the last season La Russa managed in the big leagues before returning to the White Sox this offseason.
The 6-foot-5, 250-pound Lynn was 22-14 in 46 starts the past two seasons for the Rangers, with 335 strikeouts over 292 1/3 innings. The right-hander has an $8 million salary in 2021, the final season of a $30 million, three-year contract he signed with Texas two winters ago.
NEW YORK (AP) - Longtime St. Louis Cardinals pitcher Adam Wainwright has won the Roberto Clemente Award, given annually by Major League Baseball for community involvement and philanthropy.
Wainwright’s Big League Impact foundation and recording artist Garth Brooks’ Teammates for Kids Foundation teamed for a Home Plate Project with Texas pitcher Kyle Gibson, and raised money from more than 150 big leaguers that let to the donation of about $5.8 million donated to 94 charities. The effort provided more than 4 million meals to prevent childhood hunger during the coronavirus pandemic and nearly 8 million meals in all.
Wainwright also has built Haiti’s Ferrier Village Secondary School, which opened for the 2019-2020 school year while partnering with Water Mission to build a clean water system for the community; funded the construction of a clean water system servicing more than 15,000 people in Honduras; purchased 11 acres in Ethiopia for the site of a clinic and a dairy and crop farm; partnered with Crisis Aid International to feed children in Africa and aid sex trafficking victims; and works with Crisis Aid to provide weekly meals for 3,000 families, including 200 families annually in South St. Louis.
PHILADELPHIA (AP) - Dick Allen hit the ball so hard, fans in Philadelphia started showing up in batting practice during his rookie season just to watch him hammer shots over the Coca-Cola sign atop the left-center field roof at Connie Mack Stadium.
The rousing attention, he got that early. The rightful acclaim, sadly, he had to wait much longer.
Allen, a seven-time All-Star slugger whose fight against racism during a tumultuous time with the Phillies in the 1960s cost him on and off the field, died Monday. He was 78.
The 1964 NL Rookie of Year and 1972 AL MVP had a lengthy illness while at home in Wampum, Pennsylvania.
COLLEGE FOOTBALL
Fred Akers followed a coaching giant at Texas and came agonizingly close to glory himself with two undefeated seasons before his national title hopes ended in the Cotton Bowl.
He coached the Longhorns’ first Heisman Trophy winner, Earl Campbell, and won like few others at Texas, amassing an 86-31-2 record in 10 seasons. But a Cotton Bowl rout in 1977 and a muffed punt six years later on the same field cost Akers and Texas a football national championship the Longhorns wouldn’t win until 2005.
Akers died Monday surrounded by family at his home in Horseshoe Bay from complications of dementia, his daughter Lesli told The Associated Press. He was 82.
MLS
SEATTLE (AP) - Gustav Svensson scored off a corner kick in the final moments of second-half stoppage time, and the Seattle Sounders beat Minnesota United 3-2 to advance to the MLS Cup final.
Seattle scored three times in the final 15 minutes of regulation and stoppage time to stun Minnesota and claim the Western Conference championship for the fourth time in the past five seasons.
Seattle will travel to Columbus to face the Crew in the MLS Cup final on Saturday.
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