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
Strong second half by Jestin Porter powers Clemson past No. 24 Louisville
Clemson Tigers guard Jestin Porter (1) defends Louisville Cardinals guard Ryan Conwell (3) Saturday, Feb. 28, 2026, during the NCAA men’s basketball game at Littlejohn Coliseum in Clemson, South Carolina. Powered by Jestin Porter’s 16 points, Clemson came away with an 80-75 win over visiting Louisville on Saturday afternoon in Atlantic Coast Conference play.
The win ended Clemson’s losing streak at four and gave the Tigers (21-8, 11-5 ACC) their second victory against a ranked opponent this season.
Porter scored all of his points after halftime and made four three-pointers.
Ace Buckner collected a season-high eight rebounds off the Tigers bench. RJ Godfrey scored 13 points and grabbed seven rebounds for the Tigers.
For the Cardinals (20-9, 9-7 ACC), Ryan Conwell extended his double-digit scoring streak to 22 as he scored 15 points on 6-of-12 shooting.
Louisville’s leading scorer on the season, Mikel Brown Jr., came off the bench for the second time this season due to a back injury. He scored a season-low five points on 2-of-10 shooting from the field and a season-worst 0-for-6 from three-point range.
After a driving layup in the second half, Brown grimaced coming up the court. He left the game at the 16:12 mark and returned to action at the 13:12 mark. However, he played only five more minutes after that and exited the game for good at the 8:40 mark.
Adrian Wooley started the game for Brown and scored 17 points for Louisville and made three three-pointers, tying a season-high in conference play.
To begin the second half, Clemson went on a 10-4 run to build their lead to nine points.
Louisville had held Clemson scoreless for two and a half minutes, but a Porter layup followed by an immediate steal led to a three-pointer that ended the drought and increased Clemson’s lead to 11 points as the Littlejohn Coliseum rose to its feet.
Coming into the game, Louisville was second in the ACC in free-throw percentage at 77.8 percent. They shot a season-low 58 percent from the foul line Saturday.
The Cardinals were fifth in three-point percentage at 36.1 percent and first in three pointers made per game going into Saturday’s matchup, when they went 10-for-36 from three-point range and missed 24 out of their final 28 three-point attempts after starting the game 4-for-6 from three.
In the final minute of the game, Louisville went on a quick 16-4 run to get the Clemson lead from a game-high 15 points all the way down to four. Wooley scored 11 of his 17 points during that time frame.
However, Buckner made four free throws in the final 15 seconds to keep Louisville at bay long enough for the clock to hit zero.
–Field Level Media
Sports
Youth is served again as Red Bulls slip past Revolution
Feb 28, 2026; Harrison, New Jersey, USA; Red Bull New York forward Julian Hall (16) leaps to avoid New England Revolution defender Ilay Feingold (12) during the second half at Sports Illustrated Stadium. Mandatory Credit: John Jones-Imagn Images Teenage breakout star Julian Hall scored his third goal in two matches, and that was enough for the New York Red Bulls to blank the New England Revolution 1-0 on Saturday in Harrison, N.J.
Hall, 17, is responsible for all three of New York’s goals this season after opening with a brace in last week’s 2-1 win at Orlando City.
His 53rd-minute header on Saturday gave the Red Bulls (2-0-0, 6 points) a deserved lead after they controlled play in the first half.
Ethan Horvath made two saves for New York, which finished with 62.5% of the possession. The Red Bulls won consecutive league matches for the first time since August and remained perfect under new head coach Michael Bradley.
Matt Turner did all he could in the second straight loss for the Revolution (0-2-0, 0 points), recording three saves and 19 clearances.
Horvath, playing his first season in MLS after a transfer from Cardiff City, did not have to make a stop until the 34th minute, when he parried Griffin Yow’s left-footed shot out of bounds.
New York broke the deadlock on a set piece.
The Red Bulls took a short corner and then crossed the ball to Adri Mehmeti. The 16-year-old headed it into the goal area, where Hall applied a header of his own and bounced the shot past Turner.
New England’s best chance of the second half came on the break in the 68th minute.
Ilay Feingold led the pack down the right sideline and the Red Bulls sprinted to get back. Feingold tapped his centering pass to Yow, who had a good angle to shoot past an out-of-position Horvath. But Jahkeele Marshall-Rutty knocked the shot over the net with a leaping header, and New York handled the resulting corner kick with ease.
The Revs missed another chance during second-half stoppage time when Carles Gil blasted a pass from the near post clear out of bounds, missing an open teammate at the far post.
–Field Level Media
Sports
Chicago Fire score twice in stoppage time, blank CF Montreal
Feb 28, 2026; Chicago, Illinois, USA; Chicago Fire forward Jonathan Bamba (19) reacts after swirling a goal against the CF Montreal during the first half at Soldier Field. Mandatory Credit: Mike Dinovo-Imagn Images The host Chicago Fire scored twice in stoppage time during the second half to secure a 3-0 win against CF Montreal on Saturday.
Jonathan Bamba, Hugo Cuypers and Robin Lod scored for the Fire (1-1-0, 3 points), who earned their first victory of the season in their home opener.
Montreal (0-2-0, 0 points) was shut out for the second straight match to open the 2026 season and has been outscored 8-0.
The two sides struggled to generate much through the first 12 minutes, though the hosts held a decided edge in possession with 70% of the touches.
Bamba gave Chicago a 1-0 lead in the 27th minute. Maren Haile-Selassie on the right flank inside the box drew keeper Thomas Gillier toward him and sent a cross for Bamba at the back post, where the forward easily scored into the open net.
Montreal nearly gave up another opportunity 10 seconds into the second half when Haile-Selassie was just outside the right edge of the goal area but the midfielder couldn’t get all of his shot for a quality chance.
After playing a man short in their 5-0 defeat to San Diego a week ago, Montreal had the advantage of playing a man up from the 56th minute on. After video review, Fire defender Jonathan Dean was shown a red card for denying Hennadii Synchuk of a goal-scoring opportunity when he tugged the midfielder’s jersey outside the box.
Montreal continued to struggle to generate offense despite its man advantage, and the match slipped away from the visitors in second-half stoppage time.
Cuypers was awarded a penalty after Gillier came off his line to deny the Belgian a chance, tripping him in the process. Cuypers beat Gillier to the right as the goalkeeper dove to the left to make it 2-0 in the fourth minute of extra time.
Lod increased it to 3-0 when he buried a rebound from the left side in the 10th minute of stoppage time.
–Field Level Media
Strong second half by Jestin Porter powers Clemson past No. 24 Louisville
Hurdle hints and answers for March 1, 2026
