NFL:
On Monday Night Football, Carolina beat Washington 26-15.
Cleveland Browns wide receiver Terrelle Pryor tore a finger ligament and will need surgery after the season. He was hurt during Sunday's loss to Buffalo and may not play in winless Cleveland's final two games.
Tom Brady's ageless performances have carried the Patriots this season. But on an afternoon in which Brady and the offense struggled, New England's 16-3 win over the Broncos on Sunday featured the kind of defensive effort that should make the newly-crowned AFC East champs a much tougher out in the upcoming playoffs.
New York Jets coach Todd Bowles says that a CT scan on Bryce Petty's chest was negative and the quarterback could play on Saturday at New England. Petty was injured on the first play of the fourth quarter of the Jets' 34-13 loss to Miami last Saturday night. Bowles tells ESPN New York radio that Petty is sore, but is "a lot better than we thought he would be."
Tom Savage will start at quarterback for the Houston Texans on Saturday against Cincinnati. Savage gets the nod from coach Bill O'Brien a day after he took over from an ineffective Brock Osweiler and led the Texans to a comeback win over Jacksonville. Osweiler has struggled in his first season in Houston after signing a $72 million contract to join the Texans from Denver. He threw two interceptions before being benched against the Jaguars to give him 16 interceptions and just 14 touchdowns this season.
The Jacksonville Jaguars have named Doug Marrone (muh-ROHN') interim coach for the final two games of the season. General manager Dave Caldwell made the announcement a day after owner Shad Khan fired coach Gus Bradley. Marrone served as Jacksonville's assistant head coach/offensive line coach the past two seasons. Before that, he was Buffalo's head coach for two seasons where he went 15-17 with the Bills. Bradley was fired following the team's ninth consecutive loss Sunday that drop the Jaguars to 2-12.
NHL:
In the NHL, Nashville beat Philadelphia in a shootout 2-1, Anaheim topped Toronto 3-2, Edmonton edged St. Louis in overtime 3-2, and it was Calgary over Arizona 4-2.
A scheduled game between the Carolina Hurricanes and Detroit Red Wings was postponed Monday night because of unplayable ice. No reschedule date was immediately announced. A Freon leak in the cooling system at PNC Arena was discovered earlier in the day.
The Boston Bruins will host the New York Islanders tonight in the finale of a three-game homestand. The Bruins are coming off a 1-0 win on Sunday over the Los Angeles Kings. Hayes scored the game's only goal early in the first period, and Tuukka Rask made 18 saves as Boston held on. Defenseman Kevan Miller returned after missing Thursday's game with the flu.
NBA:
In the NBA, Indiana beat Washington 107-105, Atlanta won against Oklahoma City 110-108, Minnesota bested Phoenix 115-108, Chicago defeated Detroit 113-82, and it was Denver 117-107.
NCAA:
In college women's basketball, Number 1 UConn beat 12th-ranked Ohio State 82-63 last night for the Huskies' 85th consecutive victory. Katie Lou Samuelson scored eight of her 26 points during a key third-quarter run. Napheesa Collier had 27 points and 11 rebounds for the Huskies, who are five games away from matching their NCAA record 90-game winning streak set from 2008-10. The UConn Huskies are still the unanimous top choice in The Associated Press women's basketball poll after having a week off for exams. UConn received all 33 first place votes from a national media panel yesterday for the second consecutive week.
Luke Kennard scored 24 points and No. 5 Duke beat Tennessee State 65-55 on Monday night. Freshman forward Jayson Tatum added 14 points and Grayson Allen finished with 12 for the Blue Devils, who are 11-1. Duke plodded through 30 mostly sluggish minutes before pulling away from a pesky Tigers team that threatened to spoil the college debut of touted Duke freshman Harry Giles. Giles missed the first 11 games with a knee injury. Tennessee State led 36-34 on Wayne Martin's jumper with 15 minutes left before Duke rallied.
In other AP Top-25 hoops:
— Caleb Swanigan had 21 points and 21 rebounds, Isaac Haas scored 18 points and No. 15 Purdue beat Western Illinois 82-50.
— The 16th-ranked Indiana Hoosiers nearly doubled up Delaware State out of the Mid-Eastern Athletic Conference, 103-56. Anunoby had 19 points and nine rebounds.
— Terrence Mann scored 19 points and Xavier Rathan-Mayes added 15 to lead No. 21 Florida State past Samford 76-68. The Seminoles have won eight straight and are 12-1 for only the third time in school history.
— Chimezie Metu scored 17 points and Jordan McLaughlin had 16 points and nine assists to help No. 23 Southern California stay unbeaten with a 79-67 victory over Cornell.
— V.J. Beachem scored 20 points to help No. 25 Notre Dame snap a two-game skid with a 77-62 win over Colgate.
College football news:
— No. 20 Florida will have Randy Shannon call defensive plays for the Outback Bowl. Coach Jim McElwain says Shannon will fill in for recently departed defensive coordinator Geoff Collins against 21st-ranked Iowa. Temple hired Collins as its head coach last week.
— Dane Evans and Tulsa put up huge numbers all season, and did it again at the Miami Beach Bowl. Evans passed for 304 yards and five touchdowns in his final college game, three of those TDs to Keevan Lucas as Tulsa rolled past Central Michigan 55-10 at Marlins Park.
— Stanford running back Christian McCaffrey will skip the Sun Bowl on Dec. 30 against North Carolina to prepare for the NFL draft. McCaffrey said last month he would be skipping his senior season.
— Florida State football coach Jimbo Fisher has signed a two-year contract extension, which will carry him through the 2024 season. Fisher will earn an annual salary of at least $5.5 million beginning next season. Fisher is in his seventh season at Florida State and has a 77-17 record, including leading the school to the 2013 BCS national championship. The 10th-ranked Seminoles are in a New Year's Six bowl for the fifth straight season and will take on No. 6 Michigan in the Orange Bowl on Dec. 30.
Legal:
Former New England Patriots star Aaron Hernandez is due in court as a judge hears arguments on motions filed by his lawyers in his upcoming double murder trial. Hernandez is charged in the 2012 fatal shootings of two men he encountered at a Boston nightclub. The former tight end has pleaded not guilty in the deaths of Safiro Furtado and Daniel de Abreu. A hearing is scheduled for today in Suffolk Superior Court.
MLB:
The Pirates bolstered their bullpen by agreeing to an $11 million, two-year contract with reliever Daniel Hudson. The 29-year-old Hudson will make $5.5 million in both 2017 and 2018. The contract includes $1.5 million annually in performance bonuses based on games finished starting at 30 and ending at 60. Hudson went 3-2 with a 5.22 ERA in 70 appearances for the Diamondbacks in 2016.
Tennis:
Two-time Wimbledon champion Petra Kvitova was injured by a knife-wielding attacker at her home on Tuesday.
The player's spokesman, Karel Tejkal, said Kvitova suffered a left hand injury and has been treated by doctors. He said the injuries to Kvitova, who is left-handed, were not life-threatening.
"What happened to me was certainly not pleasant, but it's behind me," Kvitova said in a statement on the Facebook page of the Czech Republic's Fed Cup team. "The main thing for me now is that the doctors find out what is the condition of my hand. I trust them and believe that everything will end up well.
"I have the best possible care and I'm in touch with my loved ones. The worst is behind me."
It was not immediately clear how the injury could affect the 2011 and 2014 Wimbledon champion's play. Details of her injury were expected to be released later Tuesday.
Tejkal said the incident, which he described as a burglary, occurred Tuesday morning in the eastern Czech town of Prostejov.
Prostejov police spokesman Frantisek Korinek said the attacker, a man who is about 35 years old, escaped from the scene and was at large. He said police have launched a manhunt.
In April 1993, Monica Seles was at the height of her success when she was stabbed in the back during a changeover at a tournament in Hamburg. A man reached over a courtside railing and knifed her, leaving an inch-deep slit between her shoulder blades.
Seles returned to the game 27 months later and reached the 1995 U.S. Open final.
In an unrelated move on Tuesday, Kvitova withdrew from the Czech Republic team at next month's Hopman Cup mixed-team tennis tournament because of an earlier foot injury.
©2016 The Associated Press. All Rights Reserved.
