Eagles’ Sweat misses game after emergency procedure

The Eagles were without top edge rusher Josh Sweat on Sunday when they faced the defending Super Bowl champion Tampa Bay Buccaneers in the NFC wildcard round.

Sweat was ruled out after he underwent an emergency procedure earlier in the week to address a lifethreatening situation.

“On Tuesday night, Josh Sweat was admitted to the hospital,” the Eagles said in a statement. “He underwent an emergency procedure due to the severity. The doctors addressed a life-threatening situation.

‘In the following days, Josh and our medical team did everything possible to help him return to play. He improved every day but it was determined by the doctors [Sunday] that he was not quite ready. The fact that Josh came so close to playing is a credit to his toughness and our medical staff.”

Coach Nick Sirianni revealed Friday that Sweat had battled with abdominal pain throughout the week, but had not revealed details. Sweat did not participate in any of the team’s three practices but did make the trip to Tampa.

Bengals

Jerome Boger and the rest of the officials that worked Saturday night’s Bengals-Raiders game are probably out for the rest of the playoffs, according to an ESPN report. It’s little consolation to Raiders fans after Saturday night’s debacle. And although Boger’s crew is out for the rest of the postseason is a tacit admission that they screwed up, the NFL would not admit wrongdoing on the most egregious blown call of the night. With two minutes left in the first half, Joe Burrow scrambled to the sideline and found a surprisingly open Tyler Boyd in the back of the end zone. The reason Boyd was open: officials had clearly blown the play dead while the ball was in the air. Replays make that clear, as you can hear the whistle blow and see the Raiders secondary stop covering before the ball is caught.

Cowboys

Dallas started off on the wrong foot before their playoff loss to the San Francisco 49ers. Linebacker Leighton Vander Esch’s name was misspelled on the back of his No. 55 jersey during pregame warmups. The “c” and “s” were transposed in his last name. Vander Esch wore the botched jersey in the game. The fourth-year player is in the final year of his rookie contract after the Cowboys didn’t exercise the fifthyear option in their firstround pick from 2018.

Raiders

Rich Bisaccia steadied the Las Vegas after taking over as coach during a tumultuous regular season, guided them to the playoffs for the second time in 19 seasons and earned the support of his players. The first question facing the Raiders this offseason will be whether that’s enough to remove the interim tag and make Bisaccia the full-time coach. “I think we can all think that he’s the right guy,” quarterback Derek Carr said. “He’s proven that people listen to him. Not just people but our team listens to him. I love him so much, I’m thankful for him.”

Patriots

After gaining so much ground during Mac Jones’ rookie season, New England faltered at the finish. Throttled, 47-17, by the Buffalo Bills in the wild-card playoff game on Saturday night, the loss showed how much progress the Patriots still need to make. “Losing is terrible,” Jones said. “None of us wanted to do that tonight. There’s a lot to look forward to and positive and learn from.” Jones and the Patriots made strides turning around their season following a 2-4 start, putting together a seven-game win streak to make the playoffs for the first time in two seasons since Tom Brady left New England for Tampa Bay.

Elsewhere

The NFL will consider further tweaks to the instant replay system in the wake of this season’s officiating issues, including Saturday’s inadvertent whistle that seriously affected the Las Vegas Raiders’ playoff loss at Cincinnati, but remains extremely wary of going to a full-fledged “sky judge” arrangement. The potential modifications to instant replay could include expanding the range of reviewable plays. One potential offseason change could include making such an inadvertent whistle reviewable. Patriots coach Bill Belichick is among those who have advocated to make all on-field rulings reviewable.