Fired-up Patriots fresh for Titans
Jaguar: Incognito used racial slurs
Recharged and rekindled are the New England Patriots, who await a visit from the Tennessee Titans in the AFC divisional playoffs next weekend.
The Titans (10-7) are coming off their first playoff win in 14 seasons, a 22-21 thriller at Kansas City in the wild-card round Saturday that left the Chiefs winless at Arrowhead in the postseason since 1994.
The Patriots (13-3) are fresh off their eighth consecutive first-round bye as they seek their third title in four years.
They’re not only refreshed but fired up after a report suggesting a fractured relationship that could break up the franchise’s three most important pieces in QB Tom Brady, coach Bill Belichick and owner Robert Kraft.
Jacksonville (11-6), coming off its first playoff win in a decade, a 10-3 snoozer over Buffalo on Sunday, visits Pittsburgh (13-3) in the other AFC divisional playoff game.
The Steelers are hoping the weekend off helps Antonio Brown return from a torn calf he sustained on Dec. 17 against New England.
The NFC’s top seed, Philadelphia (13-3), hosts the defending conference champion Atlanta Falcons (11-6) on Saturday and the Minnesota Vikings host the New Orleans Saints on Sunday.
The Falcons throttled the upstart Los Angeles Rams 26-13 Saturday night, sending the league’s best comeback story of 2017 to a premature end.
The Patriots have won 11 of 12 after stumbling to a 2-2 start but the buzz around Boston isn’t about their usual dominance but whether that excellence could be coming to an end soon.
Brady, Belichick and Kraft released a joint statement this weekend dismissing as “flatout inaccurate” an ESPN report detailing an array of tension in New England between the triumphant triumvirate responsible for decorating team headquarters with five championship trophies.
The Titans opened as 13-point underdogs to the Patriots.
“This is a good test for our football team,” Mularkey said, “but these are the type of games you have to win.”
Although they’re the sixth seed, the Falcons are the only NFC team to make it back to the playoffs this year, and that edge in experience showed Saturday night in the Rams’ first playoff game at the Los Angeles Memorial Coliseum since 1979.
One year after advancing to the Super Bowl, the Falcons are “a battle-tested brotherhood,” suggested coach Dan Quinn, who added Sunday “That kind of experience I thought certainly showed up last night.”
INCOGNITO: Jaguars defensive end Yannick Ngakoue says Buffalo guard Richie Incognito used “weak racists slurs” during their playoff game Sunday.
Ngakoue voiced his complaint on Twitter, calling out Incognito by his No. 64 jersey.
Ngakoue wrote: “Great win today! And 64, you goin have to come harder than some weak racist slurs. I’m proud of my African heritage, as are 70% of the other Black players in this league. #Iaintjonathanmartin!”
An NFL investigation found that Incognito and two Miami Dolphins teammates engaged in persistent harassment directed at fellow offensive lineman Jonathan Martin in 2013.
Tennessee owner Amy Adams Strunk shot down speculation that Mike Mularkey’s job is at risk, saying her coach is going nowhere after helping change the Titans’ culture and getting their first playoff victory in 14 years.
National reports first had Mularkey potentially fired if the Titans lost their regular-season finale and again if Tennessee lost its AFC wild-card game at Kansas City.
Strunk tried to stop all the talk with her statement on Mularkey’s job security Sunday .
“I regret that outside rumors gained a life of their own,” Strunk said. “No one has been a bigger supporter of Mike Mularkey than I have over the last two-plus seasons. … Just to eliminate any distractions moving forward, Mike Mularkey is our head coach and will be our head coach moving forward.”
CHIEFS: Kareem Hunt, who led the NFL in rushing as a rookie, had six carries for 25 yards and a touchdown in the first quarter of the Loss to the Titans, when the Chiefs ran 17 offensive plays.
But only five of the final 36 snaps finished included a handoff to him. The Chiefs ran only 20 offensive plays after halftime.
“Could we have called him more? Yeah, we look back at it and maybe we could have,” coach Andy Reid said of the running plays for Hunt.
BEARS: Chicago interviewed Chiefs offensive coordinator Matt Nagy for its head coaching job. Nagy has spent 10 seasons working under Andy Reid in Philadelphia and Kansas City. He did not call plays until late this season, but has drawn praise for his work with Chiefs quarterback Alex Smith.