Sports
New York Giants, Las Vegas Raiders Forgot How To Lose at the Worst Time
The lone thing the New York Giants have excelled at this season is losing.
That makes it doubly startling that they just sabotaged their chances of owning the No. 1 overall pick in the 2025 NFL Draft by winning Sunday for the first time since Oct. 6.
The Giants, who entered Week 17 ranked last in the NFL in scoring offense at 14.3 points per game, somehow tripled that average with a stunning 45-33 home win over the Indianapolis Colts.
It was like Y.A. Tittle came down from the heavens to run the New York offense.
Think about it: these Giants have lost by more than 20 points on five occasions. New York also knows how to lose calls, sitting 0-5 in games decided by five or fewer points.
The Giants are so good at losing that they set a franchise record with 10 consecutive losses. So call them historic losers.
So when these guys need to lose two more games to land the No. 1 overall pick, you would think it wouldn’t be hard for these guys to tank.
Apparently, mention “tank” to these guys, and they go home and put food in the fish tank. Or they go to the museum and look at a military tank.
Who exactly expected the Giants to leave the field victorious and extinguish the playoff hopes of the Colts? New York hadn’t won a home game all season.
But just like that, the Giants went from favorites to pick first in the draft to watching the New England Patriots sit in the best position.
Congrats to the current players for not folding and delivering a stellar effort on Sunday. But yeah, your chances of landing a quarterback of the future is on life support.
Colorado’s Shedeur Sanders is the best QB available in the draft, with Miami’s Cam Ward also expected to go among the first few picks.
New York could now miss out on both.
In November, the Giants correctly parted ways with Daniel Jones, which means they finally agree with the rest of the football world that using the No. 6 overall pick in 2019 on the Duke product was a major mistake.
Let’s hope that the fans of the team don’t suddenly think Drew Lock represents the future just because he matched his career high of four passing touchdowns and rushed for another against the Colts.
Lock is 10-17 as an NFL starter and the Denver Broncos and Seattle Seahawks both decided that Lock wasn’t the right guy to lead their franchises. Lock is a long-term No. 2 guy; he’s not going to suddenly emerge like Brad Johnson did at age 28 and eventually lead a team to a Super Bowl title.
The Giants’ flop leaves the Patriots in the driver’s seat. New England has lost six straight games but nabbed its quarterback of the future by selecting Drake Maye third overall in the 2024 draft.
The Tennessee Titans—who definitely need a quarterback—and the Cleveland Browns also are in better position than the Giants. Both Tennessee and Cleveland have lost five straight games.
The Las Vegas Raiders hurt their draft positioning with back-to-back victories, another stunning occurrence. The Raiders lost 10 games in a row before beating the Jacksonville Jaguars and New Orleans Saints in consecutive weeks.
Las Vegas would be in the pole position without those wins but now could fall out of the top five. The Raiders are still trying to figure out whether or not they need a quarterback.
They know Gardner Minshew isn’t the answer, but 2023 fourth-round draft pick Aidan O’Connell has displayed signs that he could be a serviceable starter. If the answer is yes on O’Connell, the Raiders can fill a need at another position with a top-flight draft pick.
If they had their eyes on Sanders, they can close them now because he’s out of reach.
Definitely bad timing for the Raiders to post a few wins. Of course, coach Antonio Pierce badly needed those victories, or he isn’t going to be part of the future.
Either way, on draft day, fans of the Giants and Raiders will be asking, “Why did we suddenly win?”
Sports
Balanced scoring effort gets Arizona State past Utah
Feb 28, 2026; Tempe, Arizona, USA; Arizona State Sun Devils forward Santiago Trouet (1) controls the ball against Utah Utes forward Keanu Dawes (8) in the first half at Desert Financial Arena. Mandatory Credit: Mark J. Rebilas-Imagn Images Maurice Odum scored 15 points as Arizona State completed a season sweep over Utah with a 73-60 victory at Tempe Ariz.
Massamba Diop scored 14 points for the Sun Devils (15-14, 6-10 Big 12) and Anthony Johnson added 13. Santiago Trouet delivered his fifth double-double of the season with 12 points and 10 rebounds for Arizona State.
Keanu Dawes had 16 points for Utah (10-19, 2-14), alongside 14 from Don McHenry. The Utes’ Terrence Brown failed to score in double digits for just the third time this season, shooting an uncharacteristic 4 of 12 from the field. Brown missed his one attempt from 3-point range.
The Sun Devils shot 52.9% (9 of 17) from 3-pont range, the team’s second-best performance of the season. Arizona State had just five turnovers, while Utah’s eight turnovers were its lowest in eight games this month.
Dawes tallied seven points in the first five minutes of the game, highlighted by a poster dunk over the 6-foot-11 Diop. It started a 7-0 run that gave the Utes an early 14-5 advantage.
Brown nailed a routine jumper to give Utah a 21-18 lead with 9:19 remaining in the half before the Utes went on a scoring drought of over seven minutes.
Arizona State capitalized with a 13-0 run for a 31-21 lead with 3:13 remaining in the first half. Don McHenry ended Utah’s drought with a 3-pointer and Odum answered with a 3-pointer of his own as the Sun Devils led 34-32 at halftime.
Odum finished the first half with 13 points and went 3 of 3 from 3-point range.
Trouet made a pair of free throws to give the Sun Devils a 43-30 lead with 16:19 remaining before the Utes went on a 9-0 run to pull within 43-39 with 13:33 remaining.
Johnson responded with a 3-pointer, quickly followed by a steal at half court to set up a Bryce Ford 3-pointer that once again extended Arizona State’s lead to double digits at 49-39 with 12:47 left.
A 7-0 run brought Utah within 57-51 with 7:54 remaining before Arizona State delivered a 9-0 run to take control at 68-53 with 3:52 left. The Sun Devils closed the run on a Diop dunk.
–Field Level Media
Sports
Flyers strike in 3rd to snap Bruins' 8-game point streak
Feb 28, 2026; Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, USA; Philadelphia Flyers left wing Noah Cates (27) reaches for the puck against the Boston Bruins in the first period at Xfinity Mobile Arena. Mandatory Credit: Kyle Ross-Imagn Images The Philadelphia Flyers scored back-to-back goals to start the third period and held on to defeat the visiting Boston Bruins 3-1 on Saturday afternoon.
Travis Konecny and Jamie Drysdale both scored and assisted on each other’s goals for Philadelphia, which has won two of its three games since the Olympic break. Drysdale tallied the eventual game-winner with 8:05 left.
Sean Couturier added an empty-net goal with 55 seconds remaining, Christian Dvorak recorded two assists, and Dan Vladar was excellent with a 26-save performance to help the Flyers win.
Boston’s Charlie McAvoy extended his point streak to nine games with a third-period goal that cut the hosts’ lead to 2-1.
Jeremy Swayman made 14 saves for Boston, which entered on an eight-game point streak (5-0-3).
With the game scoreless through two periods, the Bruins looked to take a 1-0 lead 1:05 into the third as Hampus Lindholm’s point shot beat Vladar, but the goal was immediately waved off due to goaltender interference.
Instead, Konecny scored first at 3:41. After Dvorak’s shot into the zone hit a stanchion behind the net, he recovered the bounce and made a tight backhand feed to his oncoming linemate to bury into an open side of the net.
Drysdale doubled Philadelphia’s lead at 11:55 by slipping down the slot on a Konecny pass and firing an open wrist shot past Swayman’s blocker.
The Bruins found an answer from McAvoy 1:08 later. Pavel Zacha won the faceoff right to Hampus Lindholm, who found his fellow defenseman cutting to the net to make it a 2-1 game.
Swayman followed up that goal by stopping Konecny on a breakaway with 5:36 left, but Boston could not find an equalizer.
Philadelphia had a 7-6 shot advantage in a scoreless first. Swayman made one of his best early saves halfway through as Trevor Zegras fired a turnaround shot from the slot.
Vladar made two close-range stops on Morgan Geekie within the first eight minutes of the second period, including one early in Boston’s second power play. The first stop occurred when David Pastrnak set up Geekie for a one-timer in the slot at the 5:00 mark.
Less than a minute after Vladar’s second stop on Geekie, Swayman returned to the highlight reel at the other end of the ice. Konecny’s wraparound put the puck on goal before Swayman robbed Dvorak with the glove on a rebound effort coming to the doorstep.
After Boston’s first man advantage came up empty, Vladar made another big save as Sean Kuraly separated from the Flyers’ defense for a breakaway with 5:43 left in the second.
–Field Level Media
Sports
Heat rally in 4th quarter to take down Rockets
Feb 28, 2026; Miami, Florida, USA; Houston Rockets forward Kevin Durant (7) argues with Miami Heat forward Jaime Jaquez Jr. (11) during the first quarter at Kaseya Center. Mandatory Credit: Sam Navarro-Imagn Images Bam Adebayo posted a double-double, and Andrew Wiggins ignited a fourth-quarter rally after returning from an in-game injury to lead the Miami Heat to a 115-105 victory over the visiting Houston Rockets on Saturday.
Adebayo paired 24 points with 11 rebounds to help the Heat snap a two-game skid. Pelle Larsson (20 points) and Tyler Herro (18) contributed to the balanced scoring attack for the Heat, who also received double-digit efforts from Jaime Jaquez Jr. (14 points) and Kel’el Ware (13 points and a game-high 15 rebounds) off the bench. The Heat shot 50% overall from the floor.
But it was Wiggins, who took an elbow to the jaw from Rockets center Alperen Sengun and needed stitches in his cheek to close the gash, who led a critical fourth-quarter surge. He assisted on a Ware alley-oop and a Larsson 3 to put the Heat ahead 100-92 before his transition dunk resulted in a three-point play and a 111-103 lead with 2:24 remaining.
Wiggins finished with 12 points, six rebounds, four assists and three blocks.
Kevin Durant scored a game-high 32 points and added eight assists for the Rockets. Amen Thompson (20 points, 11 rebounds) and Tari Eason (10 points, 11 boards) added double-doubles, while Reed Sheppard chipped in 14 points and five assists for Houston.
The Rockets turned an early run, capped by a Sheppard 3, into a 14-4 lead, only for the Heat to respond with an 8-0 rally. Adebayo hit a 3-pointer to give Miami a 27-26 lead, and the Heat carried a 32-28 advantage into the second quarter after hitting 6 of 13 from beyond the arc in the first.
Miami extended its lead to double digits on a Ware tip-in, and led 41-28 before the Rockets scored their first basket of the second quarter with an Aaron Holiday 3-pointer at the 7:07 mark. That ended a 19-2 run by the Heat and sparked another Houston rally, featuring Sheppard and Durant combining to hit three 3-pointers and tie the game at 48.
The Rockets led 52-51 at the intermission after Miami missed 7 of 8 3-pointers in the second.
–Field Level Media
