BALTIMORE - When the National Football League released its 2020 regular-season schedule during the first week of May, it looked as if Baltimore fans were going to get an early look at the possible AFC championship game which had eluded them when the Tennessee Titans knocked the Ravens out of the playoffs last January.

The schedule makers have ...Read more

KANSAS CITY, Mo. - The scoreboard operator at M&T Bank Stadium figures to be a busy person when the Chiefs and Ravens, both 2-0, square off on ESPN's Monday Night Football.

Baltimore enters Week 3 ranked third in the league in scoring, averaging 35.5 points per game, while the Chiefs are eighth with 28.5.

The two teams have done their part to ...Read more

The question came this week during a videoconference call at the Los Angeles Rams' practice facility. A reporter asked receiver Robert Woods if star cornerback Jalen Ramsey provides him with any specific tips about how to beat cornerbacks.

Before Woods could answer, a voice emerged from the nearby parking lot.

"That's classified!" Ramsey ...Read more

BALTIMORE - It's not controversial to call the Ravens' showdown Monday night against the Kansas City Chiefs a matchup of the NFL's two best players.

Chiefs quarterback Patrick Mahomes was honored as the league's Most Valuable Player in 2018, and Ravens quarterback Lamar Jackson in 2019. Mahomes earned Super Bowl MVP honors in February, and ...Read more

TAMPA, Fla. - The Bucs will open Raymond James Stadium to fans beginning with the team's next home game, Oct. 4, against the Los Angeles Chargers.

Initially, the Bucs planned to play their first two games in front of no fans - last Sunday's home opener against Carolina and the Chargers game - with the focus on reopening Oct. 18 against the ...Read more

TAMPA, Fla. - Mike Evans stood in the corner of the end zone during practice one Friday with his feet planted and both arms pumping, pausing only to catch pass after pass thrown slightly behind him from quarterback Tom Brady.

"We caught 50 back shoulders," Evans said.

Two days later against Carolina, Brady saw the Panthers in zone coverage and...Read more

PHILADELPHIA - Joe Burrow is in a nice, comfy place right now, the kind of place where he doesn't have to worry about a talk-show host worrying about how he wears his hat.

Burrow is the Cincinnati Bengals' starting quarterback, and he was the No. 1 pick in this year's NFL draft after putting together, for LSU, what might have been the greatest ...Read more

BALTIMORE - It's not that Gerry Sandusky thought he'd seen it all. He was open to the possibility of something new and fresh, something fun. But after hundreds of games as the radio voice of the Ravens, Sandusky had seen a lot. And a lot of what he'd seen seemed to play over and over, like a song stuck on repeat.

So when Lamar Jackson made his ...Read more

FRISCO, Texas - It was a question that would normally draw scoffs or eye rolls.

Dallas Cowboys coach Mike McCarthy was not only game but he was in full agreement.

Never mind that this is just Week 3 of a long season and the Cowboys remain a work in progress in terms of getting on the same page with a new staff and new schemes.

Per McCarthy, ...Read more

TAMPA, Fla. - Shaquil Barrett left the Broncos looking for the opportunity to be a full-time player he never received in Denver. He returns this week as the NFL's reigning sack king.

After playing his first five seasons in Denver learning under premier pass rushers Von Miller and DeMarcus Ware before recording 19.5 sacks in his first season ...Read more

LOS ANGELES - The Los Angeles Rams rank third in the NFL in rushing, but they will not be at full strength in the backfield when they play the Buffalo Bills on Sunday at Bills Stadium.

Rookie running back Cam Akers will not play because of a rib injury suffered during last Sunday's victory over the Philadelphia Eagles, coach Sean McVay said ...Read more

MINNEAPOLIS - Count Vikings offensive coordinator Gary Kubiak among those accepting a chunk of the blame for Kirk Cousins' awful play during the Vikings' 0-2 start this season.

"I've got to find some room for him is the best way to put it," Kubiak said. "We had some plays last week where he had no place to go with the ball. Me sitting there ...Read more

The Los Angeles Times' NFL writer, Sam Farmer, examines this week's matchups. Lines according to Pregame.com (O/U = over/under). Last week's record 16-0 (1.000); season 26-6 (.813).

Using point spreads with the scores Farmer predicted, the record against the spread last week would have been 9-7 (.563); season 17-15 (.531). Times are Pacific.

_...Read more

TAMPA, Fla. - Rob Gronkowski is as surprised as anyone that he has only two catches this season and has been targeted four times by Tom Brady, with one of those passes intercepted.

A couple days after coach Bruce Arians said of Gronkowski, "I don't see him running 40 yards past people anymore," the 31-year-old tight end tried to mockingly ...Read more