PITTSBURGH — The Pittsburgh Steelers are signing cornerback Asante Samuel Jr. to their 53-man roster and waiving veteran cornerback Darius Slay, sources have told the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette.

That wasn’t their only move on Tuesday. They claimed former Minnesota Vikings wide receiver Adam Thielen off waivers and signed him to their 53-man ...Read more

Each week I’ll list the best widely available free agents for fantasy football — I define “widely available” as being owned in around half of all ESPN or Yahoo leagues — and some guys who are probably better off in the free-agent pool than collecting dust on your roster.

Follow me on X (formerly known as Twitter) @UTEddieBrown if you ...Read more

FOXBORO, Mass. — The next NFL MVP calls New England home.

His team lords over the AFC East.

And after being bloodied, beaten and downright lucky to slink out of Cincinnati with a win last week, the Patriots unleashed all they had left before their long-awaited bye.

Even the optimist’s optimist had to admit there was a decent chance that ...Read more

NEW YORK — Younghoe Koo says Monday’s flubbed field-goal attempt wasn’t a matter of him taking a misstep.

Rather, it was the result of the ball moving as Koo prepared to kick it, prompting him to stop suddenly, he said after the Giants’ 33-15 loss to the New England Patriots.

“[With] the ball and the cold weather, and the ball kind ...Read more

PITTSBURGH — It has been admirable how the Pittsburgh Steelers have been able to milk two or three years out of this roster, but all they have done really is kick the can of an actual rebuild down the road.

That isn’t a compliment, either.

I get the obsession with no losing seasons. I get the obsession with the pipe dream of sneaking into ...Read more

SEATTLE — The cliché that players will use — and boy do they use it — is that every week is about going 1-0.

This week, though, the Seahawks essentially went 2-0.

One victory came via a 26-0 thrashing of the Minnesota Vikings at Lumen Field. The other came about three and a half hours earlier, when the Panthers upset the Rams in ...Read more

It’s said so often around football that it has become trite:

Games are won and lost in the trenches.

And while I’m not here to knock the big men, I have a different spin on things, at least when it comes to the defensive side of the ball.

I have a saying that I’ve used so often that it elicits eye rolls from those who talk football with...Read more

FOXBOROUGH, Mass. — The 11-2 New England Patriots will go into their long-awaited bye week on a high note.

The Patriots beat the New York Giants 33-15 in a Monday night shellacking to extend their winning streak to 10 games before a well-deserved week off.

After playing 13 straight games without a break, the injury-depleted Patriots will ...Read more

LOS ANGELES — Los Angeles Chargers quarterback Justin Herbert underwent a surgical procedure Monday to stabilize a fracture in his non-throwing hand and his status for next Monday night’s game against Philadelphia will be determined later in the week, the team announced.

Herbert sustained the injury in the first quarter of Sunday’s ...Read more

PHILADELPHIA — Police confirmed that Philadelphia Eagles offensive coordinator Kevin Patullo’s house was vandalized early Saturday morning, two days before a viral video surfaced Monday depicting objects being thrown in the direction of a home.

According to the Moorestown Police Department, Patullo’s home was vandalized with multiple eggs...Read more

LANDOVER, Md. — As his right knee perched 2 inches above the ground, the Denver Broncos’ season became lost in the clouds.

Everything seems possible when Bo Nix makes plays like this.

You saw it. You know it. You Bo-lieve it. Clear the schedule. Check Expedia for flights to Santa Clara, Calif., in February.

Late in the second quarter ...Read more

MINNEAPOLIS — The Minnesota Vikings are waiving veteran wide receiver Adam Thielen following a request by his representation for his release, the team announced Monday morning via a statement from General Manager Kwesi Adofo-Mensah.

Thielen was inactive for the Vikings’ 26-0 loss to the Seahawks in Seattle on Sunday.

Both Adofo-Mensah’s ...Read more

MIAMI — Consider it the game-saving interception that almost never happened, and actually won’t count in the stat books.

I’m referring to Tyler Shough’s two-point conversion throw at the end of the fourth quarter, which followed a 15-yard touchdown reception to Devaughn Vele, and would have tied the score 19-19 with 1:17 left in ...Read more

LANDOVER, Md. — Nik Bonitto called game.

The streak is alive.

The Broncos have won nine straight.

They are tied with New England for the best record in football at 10-2.

It was anything but easy.

Bonitto batted down a game-deciding, two-point conversion attempt and Denver survived a scare at Washington on Sunday night with a 27-26 ...Read more

MIAMI — We are two-thirds through a Miami Dolphins season full of stuff that makes you wonder about and doubt — full of questions. Amid all of those, though, is an exclamation point, a certainty, an unequivocal major positive moving forward.

De’Von Achane!

The third-year running back out of Texas A&M just turned 24, should be headed to ...Read more

SEATTLE — The final score — a 26-0 win that was the Seattle Seahawks’ first shutout in more than a decade — doesn’t accurately indicate how long it seemed to take them to gain control of Sunday’s game against the Minnesota Vikings.

The Vikings used a variety of blitzes to make life uncomfortable for Sam Darnold and the Seahawks ...Read more

LOS ANGELES — Ladies and gentlemen, the victorious Justin Herbert.

Give him a hand.

(The Chargers wish you could.)

Herbert, who has been knocked around all season but so far had avoided injury, saw that streak come to a disappointing end Sunday, even though the Chargers walked away with a 31-14 win over the Las Vegas Raiders. It was the ...Read more

PITTSBURGH — Wait, was this a playoff game? It’s only late November, but it felt like early January at Acrisure Stadium.

That’s how much the Pittsburgh Steelers’s 26-7 romp at the hands of the Buffalo Bills resembled one of their typical postseason failures. This beat-down Sunday was just ahead of schedule.

The Steelers actually had a ...Read more

MIAMI — Welcome back, welcome back, welcome back.

The Miami Dolphins benefited from the return of three starters — right tackle Austin Jackson, tight end Darren Waller and cornerback Rasul Douglas — en route to their 21-17 victory of the New Orleans Saints.

While the game itself was far from the most entertaining game in NFL history, in...Read more