A long pass and a quarterback sneak may have ended the Las Vegas Raiders' playoff bid. Justin Herbert plunged into the end zone in overtime to give the Chargers a 30-27 victory over the Raiders. Las Vegas kicked a field goal without about 3 ½ minutes showing on the clock in OT before Herbert set up the winning score with a 53-yard throw to Jalen Guyton. Herbert was 22 of 32 for 314 yards, two touchdowns and no interceptions to help Los Angeles end a 10-game losing streak against AFC West opponents. Raiders backup Marcus Mariota accounted for 314 yards and two touchdowns after Derek Carr left in the first quarter with a groin injury. Mariota passed for 226 yards and a TD and ran nine times for 88 yards. The loss leaves the Raiders 7-7 and damages their postseason hopes. The Chargers are 5-9.
In NFL news:
New York Giants offensive coordinator Jason Garrett has tested positive for COVID-19 and will miss Sunday's game against the Cleveland Browns. Tight end coach Freddie Kitchens will call the plays against the team he coached last year. The Giants also announced that cornerback James Bradberry has been placed on the Reserve/COVID-19 list after being in close contact with an individual outside the organization who has tested positive. Bradberry won't be available against Cleveland.
Washington has put safety Deshazor Everett on injured reserve with a pectoral muscle injury that also affected his shoulder. In another move, Washington signed running back Lamar Miller off of the Chicago Bears' practice squad.
Former Ravens running back Lorenzo Taliaferro has died at the age of 28. No cause was given. Taliaferro ran for 339 yards and scored five touchdowns during three injury-riddled seasons with Baltimore before being cut in 2017.
Browns wide receiver Jarvis Landry called Ravens cornerback Marcus Peters "a coward" for appearing to spit at him during Monday night's game. A video taken from the national TV broadcast at the end of the first quarter appears to show Peters spitting in Landry's direction. Landry has his back turned and is walking away toward Cleveland's huddle when Peters spits.
COLLEGE BASKETBALL
In women’s college basketball, North Carolina routed No. 18 Syracuse 92-68, and No. 3 UConn decimated Creighton 80-47.
In men’s top-25 basketball:
Ochai Agbaji provided the go-ahead layup with 13 seconds left and finished with 23 points as fifth-ranked Kansas downed No. 14 Texas Tech, 58-57. Agbaji made four 3-pointers and Jalen Wilson clinched the Jayhawks' seventh straight win by blocking a mid-range jumper by Terrence Shannon Jr. to end the game. Mac McClung led Texas Tech with a season-high 21 points, his third 20-point performance in eight games this season.
Ninth-ranked Creighton was a 94-76 winner at St. John's as Marcus Zegarowski shot 6-for-7 from 3-point range while scoring a game-high 20 points for the Bluejays. Damien Jefferson came within two assists of a triple-double, finishing with 10 points and 10 boards. Denzel Mahoney chipped in 16 points and freshman center Ryan Kalkbrenner added 15 off the bench.
In college basketball news:
A bill introduced Thursday by four Democratic lawmakers would grant college athletes sweeping rights to compensation and create a federal commission on college athletics. The College Athletes Bill of Rights is sponsored by U.S. Sens. Cory Booker of New Jersey, Richard Blumenthal of Connecticut and Kirsten Gillibrand of New York, and U.S. Rep. Jan Schakowsky of Illinois. If passed it could wreak havoc with the NCAA's ability to govern intercollegiate athletics and the association's model for amateurism. The move comes a day after the Supreme Court agreed to review a court ruling in an antitrust case against the NCAA having to do with compensating athletes.
Florida has postponed its next three men's basketball games while forward Keyontae Johnson continues to show what athletic director Scott Stricklin calls "truly encouraging signs of progress." Johnson collapsed on the court during a game at Florida State last Saturday and remains hospitalized while undergoing further tests and evaluation. He is alert, moving, talking and even chatting with friends and teammates via FaceTime. The Gators had been scheduled to host Florida Atlantic on Saturday, Florida A&M on Sunday and James Madison on Tuesday. They will try to make up all three games later this season.
No. 1 Gonzaga has gotten back on the court to practice following a two-week break due to COVID-19 cases within the program. Gonzaga head coach Mark Few said Thursday that players showed signs of fatigue and that the initial practice this week looked like the first one of the school year. The Bulldogs haven't played since Dec. 2, when they beat West Virginia in Indianapolis. They're scheduled to return Saturday against No. 3 Iowa in a game scheduled in Sioux Falls, South Dakota.
Second-ranked Baylor has resumed team activities after a five-day pause because of COVID-19 issues. The Bears will play their first Big 12 game Saturday at Kansas State after their scheduled conference opener at home last Sunday against No. 11 Texas was postponed because of the pause.
The Butler men's basketball team has replaced Monday night's postponed game with a new opponent, Southern Illinois. DePaul was initially scheduled to play at Hinkle Fieldhouse that night, but COVID-19 issues forced the Blue Demons to call it off. Butler faces Indiana on Saturday at Bankers Life Fieldhouse, its second game since resuming team activities.
Virginia has added a men's basketball game against top-ranked Gonzaga as the 17th-ranked Cavaliers prepare to restart their program after a 10-day shutdown because of COVID-19 issues. Virginia will play the Bulldogs on Dec. 26 in Fort Worth, Texas. The Cavaliers had four games canceled or postponed because of the pandemic, including Saturday's scheduled matchup with No. 7 Villanova at Madison Square Garden.
NBA
The NBA's board of governors has voted to keep the video challenge as an option for coaches going forward. It was introduced last year on a one-year trial. Of the 700 coaches challenges last season, 44% were overturned. The board also approved a plan to give teams the ability to expand their active roster on game nights from 13 to 15 for this season. The expanded rosters is in response to the coronavirus pandemic and in anticipation of the likelihood that teams will be missing players from time to time.
COLLEGE FOOTBALL
Saturday night's Big Ten football game between Maryland and Michigan State has been canceled after a second outbreak of COVID-19 in College Park. Maryland said 15 football players tested positive for COVID-19 from Dec. 10-16, and antigen tests conducted on Thursday morning resulted in three more presumptive positives. There were six positive cases among staff over that same time period.
In other college football news:
The Sun Belt Conference championship football game Saturday between ninth-ranked Coastal Carolina and No. 17 Louisiana-Lafayette has been canceled because of a positive COVID-19 test within the Coastal Carolina program. An entire position group would have been unavailable to play because of contact tracing. Both schools were in line for a New Year's Six bowl spot with a win.
UCLA says it will decline all potential bowl invitations in a decision that was largely made by the players and supported by the administration. The Bruins are 3-3 heading into their season finale Saturday against Stanford. UCLA and Oregon State are the only Pac-12 programs who have played all six weekends.
NHL
Washington Capitals goaltender Henrik Lundqvist has announced that he will sit out the upcoming season due to a heart condition. The man known as "King Henrik" said he has been undergoing various tests on his heart "for several weeks." The 38-year-old Lundqvist joined the Capitals about two months ago after 15 years with the Rangers. He accepted a one-year, $1.5 million package from Washington following his buyout by New York. Lundqvist has put up Hall of Fame numbers since entering the league in 2005, going 459-310-96 with 64 shutouts, a 2.43 goals-against average and a .918 save percentage.
In other NHL news:
Ontario's minister of sport says the provincial government is examining how a Canadian division in the NHL might work. There has been talk of a possible realignment for the upcoming season because of the pandemic. One option could feature a seven-team all-Canadian division with no cross-border travel. The league has targeted mid-January as a potential start date.
The Chicago Blackhawks are going to remain the Blackhawks and there is no sign of a change coming anytime soon. Speaking publicly for the first time since baseball's Cleveland Indians announced they plan to change their name, Blackhawks CEO Danny Wirtz says the team continues "to deepen our commitment to upholding our namesake and our brand." The Blackhawks have said they plan to continue with their name because it honors Black Hawk, a Native American leader from Illinois' Sac & Fox Nation.
GOLF
Lexi Thompson shot a 7-under 65 to take the first-round lead in the LPGA Tour's CME Group Tour Championship. Thompson birdied five of the first seven holes and closed with a pair of birdies. The 11-time LPGA Tour had her lowest score of the year a week after missing the cut in Houston in the U.S. Women's Open. Nanna Koerstz Madsen of Denmark was a stroke back after a bogey-free round. Defending champion Sei Young Kim was at 67 with Caroline Masson and Megan Khang.
OLYMPICS
Russia has been banned from using its name, flag and anthem at the next two Olympics or at any world championships for the next two years because of state-backed doping. A ruling Thursday by the Court of Arbitration for Sport also blocks Russia from bidding to host major sporting events for two years. The punishments are less than the four-year ban the World Anti-Doping Agency had proposed. Russian sports officials were in an upbeat mood after finding crucial loopholes in the decision. It left Russia in full control of its roster and scrapped a plan to exclude athletes suspected of benefiting from past doping cover-ups.
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