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macau casino games LOS ANGELES (AP) — After struggling to run the ball consistently all season, the Los Angeles Rams finally made some progress on the ground in New Orleans. Kyren Williams and rookie Blake Corum carried the Rams (6-6) to a 21-14 win that kept them squarely in the playoff race for another week. Los Angeles racked up a season-high 156 yards rushing against the Saints, with Williams going for 104 yards and a touchdown while Corum added 42 yards on a season high-tying eight carries. The game was the inverse of most afternoons this season for the Rams, who came into the week averaging fewer than 100 yards rushing per game. The running game was sturdy and productive, while Matthew Stafford and his receivers struggled to get into a rhythm at the Superdome. Coach Sean McVay always prefers to use his run game to set up the pass, and it finally worked for once this season. “I thought Kyren ran really well," McVay said. “I thought Corum ran really well. I thought our offensive line set the line of scrimmage in the run game. We really started slow in the pass game, but I thought Matthew was excellent in the second half. We were able to get some different things off of those run actions going, and that ended up being the difference in the game.” Not coincidentally, the Rams' running game worked well on the Sunday when the offensive line finally had a starting five uncompromised by injuries or suspension for the first time all season. Right tackle Rob Havenstein returned from an ankle injury, making the group whole around rookie center Beaux Limmer, who has beaten out high-priced free agent Jonah Jackson for a starting job. The Rams still had yet another slow start in a season full of them. They ran only three plays in the entire first quarter, and they were held scoreless in the first half when their other two drives resulted in a turnover on downs and a punt. But Los Angeles rebounded with an 11-play scoring drive to open the second half featuring seven runs by Williams. He eventually moved up to fifth in the NFL with 926 yards rushing despite averaging just 4.2 yards per carry — nearly a yard less than he had last season, and the lowest average among the league's top 10 rushers this season. The Rams have thrived without a strong rushing attack before: They averaged just 99.0 yards per game on the ground, ranking 25th in the NFL, during their Super Bowl championship season in 2021-22. But McVay prefers his first option to be a strong running attack, which he had during his first three seasons in charge with Todd Gurley in the backfield and Andrew Whitworth at left tackle. “Anytime the guys up front are moving them, and (Williams) is making great reads and moves on the second level, then that is a fun feeling for the offense," Stafford said. “It’s great when you can hand the ball off and get big creases. We converted when we needed to in short-yardage stuff. I thought our guys did a really great job up front, and Kyren ran it great.” What's working The Rams have struggled in the red zone all season, but they scored touchdowns on all three trips in New Orleans. They did it by committing to the run game up the middle, setting up TD passes on the outside to Demarcus Robinson and Puka Nacua. What needs help Alvin Kamara racked up 112 yards rushing in the latest strong game by an opposing running back. Los Angeles is 28th in the league against the run, allowing 144.2 yards rushing per game — including 194 per game over the past three weeks. Stock up Rookie edge rusher Jared Verse had another outstanding game, racking up five tackles, three quarterback hits and numerous big plays that don't show up on stat sheets. He capped the performance by hitting Derek Carr from behind and forcing an incompletion from the Los Angeles 9 on New Orleans' final play. Stock down Cornerback Darious Williams gave up a touchdown pass to Marquez Valdes-Scantling and the ensuing 2-point conversion pass to Dante Pettis early in the fourth quarter, capping a second straight rough week for the free-agent signee. Williams is the Rams' best cornerback, but they haven't had an above-average shutdown pass defender since trading Jalen Ramsey. Injuries Robinson injured his hand during the game. Key number 17 — Cooper Kupp's yards receiving. That's his lowest total in a game in which he didn't get injured since Oct. 18, 2020. Kupp had only six targets, few downfield routes and curiously scant chances to make big plays. Next steps The Rams are home underdogs this week against powerhouse Buffalo, followed by a Thursday night game at San Francisco. Getting even one win out of these two matchups will be difficult, but probably necessary to keep pace with Seattle and Arizona in the NFC West. AP NFL: https://apnews.com/NFL

Luigi Mangione’s arrest thrust his family into the spotlight. Who are the Mangiones of Baltimore County?NoneAll season, Jedd Fisch insisted he wanted to build Washington’s offensive line through high school recruiting. He expressed hesitancy about the type of talent available in the transfer portal, and added six high school linemen on the first day of the early signing period. On Thursday, however, Washington added its second transfer portal offensive lineman, landing a commitment from former Kansas State offensive tackle Carver Willis. The Huskies also hold a pledge from interior offensive lineman Geirean Hatchett. The 6-foot-5, 291-pound Willis spent five seasons at Kansas State, where he played in 35 games. He started 11 games at right tackle during the 2024 season, and was a 2023 All-Big 12 honorable mention. Willis has one year of eligibility remaining. The Wildcats, with Willis as a major contributor on its offensive line, rushed for 204.5 yards per game, ranking third in the Big 12. Kansas State surrendered just 12 sacks, trailing only Kansas. Willis was given a 73.8 run-blocking grade by Pro Football Focus in 2024, ranking second among Wildcat offensive linemen who played more than 30 snaps and trailing only left tackle Easton Kilty, a second-team All-Big 12 selection. For context, junior tackle Maximus McCree was UW’s best run-blocking offensive lineman according to PFF. He had a 63.2 grade. However, Willis endured the worst pass-blocking season of his career in 2024. He surrendered a career-high 26 pressures — 24 hurries, a hit and a sack — in 347 allowed pressure opportunities. His 61.8 pass-blocking grade ranked 10th among Kansas State offensive linemen last year, but would have been fourth on Washington’s roster. The Durango, Colo. native was also penalized six times, most among all Kansas State offensive players. No UW offensive player was flagged more than four times. Experience made Willis one of the most valuable linemen in the transfer portal. He’s played 1,295 snaps of Big 12 football. Willis was the No. 4 offensive tackle in the transfer portal according to 247Sports. Offensive coordinator Brennan Carroll has previously said experience is one of the most important traits he looks for in transfer portal linemen. Washington can certainly use any help Willis can provide. The Huskies struggled along the offensive line — but particularly at tackle — all season. McCree, redshirt freshman Soane Faasolo and redshirt freshman Kahlee Tafai, who entered the transfer portal on Monday, all started games at left tackle in 2024. McCree, who didn’t play college football in 2023, was the best of the bunch before a dislocated thumb suffered against Iowa on Oct. 12 cost him the rest of the season. But Willis primarily played right tackle during his career at Kansas State, and Washington certainly had its problems on that side of the line as well. Washington, Big Ten release 2025 schedule: The Big Ten Conference announced the 2025 college football schedule for its members. Washington will open the season Aug. 30 at home against Colorado State. A game against UC Davis follows the next week. The Huskies have a bye in Week 3 before heading to Pullman to play Washington State in the Apple Cup on Sept. 20. The Huskies open Big Ten play at home against Ohio State on Sept. 27. It’s the Buckeyes’ first visit to Seattle since 2007. The next week, Washington is at Maryland for the first time. The rest of the conference schedule: Rutgers (Oct. 11), at Michigan (Oct. 18), Illinois (Oct. 25), at Wisconsin (Nov. 8), Purdue (Nov. 15), at UCLA (Nov. 22) and Oregon (Nov. 29). Five of UW’s first six Big Ten opponents will be coming off bye weeks, with the lone exception being Michigan. Dates could change as games are flexed to Friday nights or other special dates. In a California League shake-up involving three MLB teams’ minor-league clubs, the Mariners announced the sale of their Class A affiliate, the Modesto Nuts, on Thursday. Financial terms of the club’s sale to the Diamond Baseball Holdings were not released. DBH was formed in 2021 in partnership with MLB as part of the league’s larger reorganization of baseball’s minor-league system. According to its website, DBH owns 41 minor-league clubs. The Mariners’ Class AA affiliate, the Arkansas Travelers, is also under the DBH umbrella. “Following the changes in the minor league system in recent years, it is no longer necessary for us to own a team to be confident in our ability to remain in the Cal League, so we are transferring the team to DBH,” the Mariners announced in a news release. “Diamond has built their business model around owning minor league teams, while our baseball operations focus is on assuring the best on-field development of our young players. Exiting as owners of the Nuts allows both the Mariners and Diamond to focus on their strengths.” The Mariners have fielded a team in Modesto since 2017 and produced back-to-back Cal League championships in 2023 and ’24. The 2025 season will be the Mariners’ last playing in Modesto, which has been part of the Cal League for 80 years. Mariners officials had been in negotiations with the city of Modesto about upgrades to the Nuts’ ballpark, The Modesto Bee reported earlier this year. Per MLB’s minor-league facility standards, the league mandated that Modesto’s stadium required roughly $32 million in improvements. The Mariners and city officials could not reach agreement on financial terms for facility improvements, the Bee reported. In 2026, the Mariners will relocate their Class A affiliate to San Bernardino in Southern California’s Inland Empire, as the Inland Empire 66ers (also owned by DBH). The Mariners have had two previous affiliations with the club in San Bernardino, from 1987-1994 and from 2001-2006.UConn head coach Dan Hurley insists he's not overvaluing Wednesday night's game between his 25th-ranked Huskies and No. 15 Baylor in Storrs, Conn. Sure, it comes on the heels of the two-time reigning national champion Huskies (5-3) responding to losing all three games during the Maui Invitational with a blowout victory over Maryland Eastern Shore on Saturday. Javascript is required for you to be able to read premium content. Please enable it in your browser settings. Clubs Casino compiled a ranking of the 10 biggest tournament cash prizes in poker history (adjusted for inflation) using data from The Hendon Mob. Click for more. The 10 biggest tournament cash prizes recorded in poker history

NEW YORK — There's a Christmas Day basketball game at Walt Disney World, featuring Mickey, Minnie, Goofy and Wemby. An animated game, anyway. The real game takes place at Madison Square Garden, where Victor Wembanyama and the San Antonio Spurs face the New York Knicks in a game televised on ABC and ESPN and streamed on Disney+ and ESPN+. The special alt-cast, the first animated presentation of an NBA game, will be shown on ESPN2 and also stream on Disney+ and ESPN+. Madison Square Garden is a staple of the NBA's Christmas schedule. Now it merges with a bigger home of the holidays, because the "Dunk the Halls" game will be staged at Disney, on a court set up right smack in the middle of where countless families have posed for vacation photos. Why that location? Because it was Mickey Mouse's Christmas wish. "Basketball courts often have the ability to make a normal environment look special, but in Disney it can only turn out incredible," Wembanyama said in an ESPN video promoting his Christmas debut. The story — this is Disney, after all — begins with Mickey penning a letter to Santa Claus, asking if he and his pals can host a basketball game. They'll not only get to watch one with NBA players, but some of them will even get to play. Goofy and Donald Duck will sub in for a couple Knicks players, while Mickey and Minnie Mouse will come on to play for the Spurs. "It looks to me like Goofy and Jalen Brunson have a really good pick-and-roll at the elite level," said Phil Orlins, an ESPN vice president of production. Walt Disney World hosted real NBA games in 2020, when the league set up there to complete its season that had been suspended by the COVID-19 pandemic. Those games were played at the ESPN Wide World of Sports. The setting for the Christmas game will be Main Street USA, at the entrance of the Magic Kingdom. Viewers will recognize Cinderella's castle behind one baseline and the train station at the other end, and perhaps some shops they have visited in between. Previous alternate animated broadcasts included an NFL game taking place in Andy's room from "Toy Story;" the "NHL Big City Greens Classic" during a game between the Washington Capitals and New York Rangers; and earlier this month, another NFL matchup between the Cincinnati Bengals and Dallas Cowboys also taking place at Springfield's Atoms Stadium as part of "The Simpsons Funday Football." Unlike basketball, the players are helmeted in those sports. So, this telecast required an extra level of detail and cooperation with players and teams to create accurate appearances of their faces and hairstyles. "So, this is a level of detail that we've never gone, that we've never done on any other broadcast," said David Sparrgrove, the senior director of creative animation for ESPN. Wembanyama, the 7-foot-3 phenom from France who was last season's NBA Rookie of the Year, looks huge even among most NBA players. The creators of the alternate telecast had to design how he'd look not only among his teammates and rivals, but among mice, ducks and chipmunks. "Like, Victor Wembanyama, seeing him in person is insane. It's like seeing an alien descend on a basketball court, and I think we kind of captured that in his animated character," said Drew Carter, who will again handle play-by-play duties, as he had in the previous animated telecasts, and will get an assist from sideline reporter Daisy Duck. Wembanyama's presence is one reason the Spurs-Knicks matchup, the leadoff to the NBA's five-game Christmas slate, was the obvious choice to do the animated telecast. The noon EST start means it will begin in the early evening in France and should draw well there. Also, it comes after ABC televises the "Disney Parks Magical Christmas Day Parade" for the previous two hours, providing more time to hype the broadcast. Recognizing that some viewers who then switch over to the animated game may be Disney experts but NBA novices, there will be 10 educational explainers to help with basketball lingo and rules. Beyond Sports' visualization technology and Sony's Hawk-Eye tracking allow the animated players to make the same movements and plays made moments earlier by the real ones at MSG. Carter and analyst Monica McNutt will be animated in the style of the telecast, donning VR headsets to experience the game from Main Street, USA. Other animated faces recognizable to some viewers include NBA Commissioner Adam Silver, who will judge a halftime dunk contest among Mickey and his friends, and Santa himself, who will operate ESPN's "SkyCam" during the game. The players are curious how the production — and themselves — will look. "It's going to be so crazy to see the game animated," Spurs veteran Chris Paul said. "I think what's dope about it is it will give kids another opportunity to watch a game and to see us, basically, as characters." Get local news delivered to your inbox!NEW YORK — There's a Christmas Day basketball game at Walt Disney World, featuring Mickey, Minnie, Goofy and Wemby. An animated game, anyway. The real game takes place at Madison Square Garden, where Victor Wembanyama and the San Antonio Spurs face the New York Knicks in a game televised on ABC and ESPN and streamed on Disney+ and ESPN+. The special alt-cast, the first animated presentation of an NBA game, will be shown on ESPN2 and also stream on Disney+ and ESPN+. Madison Square Garden is a staple of the NBA's Christmas schedule. Now it merges with a bigger home of the holidays, because the "Dunk the Halls" game will be staged at Disney, on a court set up right smack in the middle of where countless families have posed for vacation photos. Why that location? Because it was Mickey Mouse's Christmas wish. "Basketball courts often have the ability to make a normal environment look special, but in Disney it can only turn out incredible," Wembanyama said in an ESPN video promoting his Christmas debut. The story — this is Disney, after all — begins with Mickey penning a letter to Santa Claus, asking if he and his pals can host a basketball game. They'll not only get to watch one with NBA players, but some of them will even get to play. Goofy and Donald Duck will sub in for a couple Knicks players, while Mickey and Minnie Mouse will come on to play for the Spurs. "It looks to me like Goofy and Jalen Brunson have a really good pick-and-roll at the elite level," said Phil Orlins, an ESPN vice president of production. Walt Disney World hosted real NBA games in 2020, when the league set up there to complete its season that had been suspended by the COVID-19 pandemic. Those games were played at the ESPN Wide World of Sports. The setting for the Christmas game will be Main Street USA, at the entrance of the Magic Kingdom. Viewers will recognize Cinderella's castle behind one baseline and the train station at the other end, and perhaps some shops they have visited in between. Previous alternate animated broadcasts included an NFL game taking place in Andy's room from "Toy Story;" the "NHL Big City Greens Classic" during a game between the Washington Capitals and New York Rangers; and earlier this month, another NFL matchup between the Cincinnati Bengals and Dallas Cowboys also taking place at Springfield's Atoms Stadium as part of "The Simpsons Funday Football." Unlike basketball, the players are helmeted in those sports. So, this telecast required an extra level of detail and cooperation with players and teams to create accurate appearances of their faces and hairstyles. "So, this is a level of detail that we've never gone, that we've never done on any other broadcast," said David Sparrgrove, the senior director of creative animation for ESPN. Wembanyama, the 7-foot-3 phenom from France who was last season's NBA Rookie of the Year, looks huge even among most NBA players. The creators of the alternate telecast had to design how he'd look not only among his teammates and rivals, but among mice, ducks and chipmunks. "Like, Victor Wembanyama, seeing him in person is insane. It's like seeing an alien descend on a basketball court, and I think we kind of captured that in his animated character," said Drew Carter, who will again handle play-by-play duties, as he had in the previous animated telecasts, and will get an assist from sideline reporter Daisy Duck. Wembanyama's presence is one reason the Spurs-Knicks matchup, the leadoff to the NBA's five-game Christmas slate, was the obvious choice to do the animated telecast. The noon EST start means it will begin in the early evening in France and should draw well there. Also, it comes after ABC televises the "Disney Parks Magical Christmas Day Parade" for the previous two hours, providing more time to hype the broadcast. Recognizing that some viewers who then switch over to the animated game may be Disney experts but NBA novices, there will be 10 educational explainers to help with basketball lingo and rules. Beyond Sports' visualization technology and Sony's Hawk-Eye tracking allow the animated players to make the same movements and plays made moments earlier by the real ones at MSG. Carter and analyst Monica McNutt will be animated in the style of the telecast, donning VR headsets to experience the game from Main Street, USA. Other animated faces recognizable to some viewers include NBA Commissioner Adam Silver, who will judge a halftime dunk contest among Mickey and his friends, and Santa himself, who will operate ESPN's "SkyCam" during the game. The players are curious how the production — and themselves — will look. "It's going to be so crazy to see the game animated," Spurs veteran Chris Paul said. "I think what's dope about it is it will give kids another opportunity to watch a game and to see us, basically, as characters." Get local news delivered to your inbox!

The New York Knicks’ bench-scoring woes could come to an abrupt end based on their current trade pursuits. Knicks chasing trade for Jazz star Jordan Clarkson Forbes’ Evan Sidery reported on Monday morning that the Knicks are among four teams seriously pursuing a trade for Utah Jazz star sixth-man Jordan Clarkson: “The Clippers, Knicks, Lakers and Nuggets are among contending teams who have inquired about Jordan Clarkson on the trade market,” Sidery published on X. “The Jazz are seeking a promising prospect and/or draft capital in exchange for Clarkson.” Clarkson won the NBA Sixth Man of the Year award in 2021. He’s a dynamic scorer who can bring shot creation, outside shooting, and tempo to a Knicks bench that desperately needs it. The 11-year veteran is currently averaging 15.1 points, 4.1 assists, and 1.9 three-pointers made per game off the Jazz’s bench. Knicks can meet Jazz’s demands for elite bench scorer His scoring is in line with his reduced 12.8 shot attempts per game. Clarkson is well capable of reaching or nearing 20 points per game when he flirts with 15-plus field goal attempts a night. That would service New York’s second unit. They are scoring the fewest points among all benches in the Association by a mile at 20.4 PPG. The Knicks’ reserve unit is currently led by point guard Cam Payne and combo guard Miles McBride. Albeit, their chronic scoring problem needs to be addressed if they want to truly make a push for the NBA Finals next spring. New York has the pieces to appease Utah’s demands. The Knicks have three first-round picks and four second-rounders in the next two drafts alone. Any one of those picks, coupled with a prospect like their promising rookie star Tyler Kolek, who, per the NBA G League, just won the 2024 G League Winter Showcase Finals MVP award, could entice the Jazz to deal Clarkson ahead of the Feb. 6 trade deadline. This article first appeared on Empire Sports Media and was syndicated with permission.

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Garrett's comments about his future add wrinkle to Browns' worst season since 0-16 in 2017

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On his way out the door and just before the holidays, President Joe Biden has presented some 42,000 federal workers with a generous gift: a five-year contract that protects their right to work from home for at least part of the week. This is the endgame to a saga that has been playing out for most of Biden’s tenure: the tension between the administration’s goal of improving public services and its habit of catering to public-service unions. It would be an exaggeration to say that public dissatisfaction with government services played a major role in President-elect Donald Trump’s victory. But the incoming administration’s fixation with government efficiency, however misguided, will certainly play a role going forward. No controversy surrounded federal workers going remote in 2020, during the pandemic, and as Biden was inaugurated in January 2021. But over the next few months, vaccines became widely available, and Americans returned to tourism, business travel and office work. By March 1, 2022, when Biden delivered the State of the Union, the clear desire was to return to normal. “It’s time for America to get back to work and fill our great downtowns again with people,” Biden said. “The vast majority of federal workers will once again work in person.” Yet it never happened. The White House issued various directives, and every political appointee I know was routinely in the office (and routinely complaining about the absence of so many civil servants making their jobs harder). But despite this widespread discontent among his own appointees, Biden never got the workers back. One reason is that civil servants overwhelmingly view the return-to-office push as a bad-faith political stunt designed to assuage critics in Congress or provide economic benefits to cities. The belief that regular presence in an office is beneficial, expressed by many managers in the private sector, doesn’t have much traction. The larger issue is that return-to-work policies need to be bargained collectively with the unions representing federal workers. The job of union leaders is to win concessions for their members, so they argue that requiring an in-office presence is burdensome and pointless. That lets them maximize financial concessions or whatever else in exchange for going to in-person work. Biden officials generally treated this collective bargaining situation as an external constraint on their ability to manage the federal workforce. But the president’s own appointees controlled the National Labor Relations Board. It’s of course appropriate that a dramatic shift in working conditions should be subject to collective bargaining. But we all lived through the pandemic and saw what happened: Employers made a dramatic shift to remote work as a result of a public health emergency. The idea that this should have also created a new bargaining chit for public-sector unions doesn’t make sense. If the White House really couldn’t persuade the NLRB to treat this more sensibly, it could have tried to work with Congress to make a statutory change to require common-sense policies. But the Biden administration didn’t do that, either. The president told the public he was going to bring federal workers back and then didn’t, because of deference to labor unions. Under Trump, America is going to get the polar-opposite approach to remote work. Instead of policies that balance the collaborative benefits of time in office with the recruiting and retention benefits of flexibility, the new regime doesn’t really care about public-sector performance and wants to purge the “deep state” of professionalism and perceived political enemies. To that end, being as strict as possible — in the hope that career civil servants will quit — will serve Trump’s ends. That’s unfortunate. The option of working remotely at least some of the time has real value to both workers and employers. Pretending that Zoom doesn’t exist would be absurd. Prudent members of Congress should push back against efforts, already apparent among the president-elect’s allies, to use return-to-work as a hammer to destroy state capacity. For Democrats, there will always be some friction between serving the public’s interest in efficient government services and its own interest in accommodating its supporters in public unions. These interests are not often aligned. Successful Democratic presidents, such as Bill Clinton and Barack Obama, were especially attentive to the ways in which teachers unions could be impediments to improving public education, and made a point of standing up to them. Biden — and Biden-era Democrats — generally prioritized coalition management over such concerns. That’s why they made COVID-era work policies permanent as a giveaway to civil-service unions. It’s a decision Democrats will come to regret, as Trump now wields the very real shortcomings of the status quo as a pretext for dismantling systems that Americans very much need. Yglesias writes for Bloomberg Opinion. Get local news delivered to your inbox!

Hegseth meets with moderate Sen. Collins as he lobbies for key votes in the Senate

Florida requires teaching Black history. Some don't trust schools to do it justiceThe meeting with Collins was closely watched as she is seen as more likely than most of her Republican Senate colleagues to vote against some of Trump’s Cabinet picks.

CLEVELAND (AP) — Two days before recording another milestone, resume-building sack on Sunday at Cincinnati, Myles Garrett delivered a jarring hit — on the Browns. In this case, any roughness could be deemed necessary. Garrett piled on to what has been a painful and puzzling season in Cleveland by saying he doesn’t have any interest in going through another rebuild and wants to know exactly what the organization’s offseason plans are to fix things. If that wasn’t enough, Garrett indicated for the first time that he would consider leaving the Browns if his vision doesn’t mesh with the team’s ambitions. “It’s a possibility,” he said of playing elsewhere. “But I want to be a Cleveland Brown. I want to play my career here.” It’s unclear how Garrett’s comments were received by owners Dee and Jimmy Haslam, who have plenty to consider as the Browns (3-12) head into the final two weeks of a season that began with playoff expectations and could be followed by upheaval. The Browns haven’t been this bad since going 0-16 in 2017. Garrett, who reached 100 career sacks by taking down Cincinnati’s Joe Burrow late in the first half of Sunday’s 24-6 loss , may have either added to the Haslams’ long list of concerns — the Deshaun Watson contract situation is a priority — or brought them clarity. There’s no denying that Garrett’s remarks carry substantial weight, which is partly why he spoke up. He’s the Browns’ best player, a franchise cornerstone, a future Hall of Famer and arguably the most disruptive defensive force in the game today. He’s also leading with actions. Garrett showed extraordinary effort in chasing down and tackling Burrow before tumbling out of bounds and crashing into Cleveland’s bench and some portable heaters. He might be frustrated, but he’s not giving up. “A testament of who he is as a player and who he is as a person,” linebacker Jordan Hicks said. What the reigning Defensive Player of the Year says matters. It will be interesting to see if the Haslams listen. At this point, there are indications the Browns intend to stick with coach Kevin Stefanski and general manager Andrew Berry, whose major misses in recent drafts have become more magnified with each loss. There will be changes; it’s just a matter of how drastic and if they’ll be enough to satisfy Garrett’s wishes. He turns 29 on Dec. 29 and has two years left on a $125 million contract extension. The All-Pro is in his prime and doesn’t want to waste another season in a pointless pursuit of a Super Bowl title. His goal is to win a championship with Cleveland — or someone. Garrett’s serious. He’s asking the Browns to show him they are, too. What’s working Cleveland’s defense is doing its part. For the second week in a row, the Browns contained one of the NFL’s most talented offenses, holding the Bengals and their top-ranked passing game below most of their season averages. Burrow did throw three TD passes — for the seventh game in a row — but Cincinnati scored fewer than 27 points for the first time in seven games. What needs help The Browns continue to beat themselves with costly turnovers, some more costly than others. They drove to the Cincinnati 1-yard line in the opening minutes only to have D’Onta Foreman fumble as he neared the goal line. The Bengals capitalized by driving 99 yards to take a 7-0 lead that could have been Cleveland’s. Stock up Running back Jerome Ford is making the most of a heavier workload and finishing strong. He ripped off a 66-yard run on the game’s first play and finished with 131 all-purpose yards, including 92 on 11 carries and scored Cleveland’s only TD. Ford’s emergence as a potential No. 1 back — Nick Chubb’s injuries have clouded his future — gives the team one less thing to worry about as it retools the roster. Stock down Kicker Dustin Hopkins hasn’t shaken a startling slump. After being benched for a week to work through his struggles, Hopkins missed his only kick, pushing an extra point to the right. Hopkins felt confident going in, but he’s back to trying to identify issues that could be equally mechanical and mental. He’s just 16 of 25 on field goals, 16 of 19 on PATs and the Browns’ decision to sign him to a three-year, $15.9 million extension this summer looks worse every week. Injuries QB Dorian Thompson-Robinson injured his calf early in Sunday’s game, leaving his status in doubt for a second straight start this week. If Thompson-Robinson can’t go, the Browns could go back to Jameis Winston, but he’s dealing with a sore right shoulder. ... Tight end David Njoku is dealing with yet another injury after hurting his knee. The team is awaiting results on an MRI, perhaps a sign of the severity. Njoku has missed time with injuries all season. He finished with eight catches for 66 yards. Key number 20 — Interceptions for the Browns this season. Thompson-Robinson’s two picks on Sunday gave the team 10 in the last four games. What’s next Probably a half-empty stadium for a final home game on Sunday against the Miami Dolphins, who are still in the hunt for a wild-card spot. ___ AP NFL: https://apnews.com/hub/nflAs the Biden administration winds down, the US Food and Drug Administration has submitted a proposed rule that could significantly lower the amount of nicotine in tobacco products and potentially prompt more people to quit smoking. The FDA has been signaling its intentions to limit nicotine levels at least since 2018 , during the first Trump administration. In 2022, President Joe Biden’s FDA commissioner, Dr. Robert Califf, took it a step further and announced that the agency was developing a rule that would require tobacco companies to significantly reduce the amount of nicotine in traditional cigarettes. The next regulatory step, which the FDA took Tuesday by submitting the proposal to the Office of Management and Budget , would not mean overnight change. But if the government did set a limit on nicotine levels, experts say, it could significantly improve public health. “A proposed product standard to establish a maximum nicotine level to reduce the addictiveness of cigarettes and certain combusted tobacco products, when finalized, would be among the most impactful population-level actions in the history of US tobacco product regulation,” the FDA said in a statement Wednesday. The number of people who smoke has been declining for more than a decade, but smoking is still the leading cause of preventable death, disease and disability in the country, according to the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. More than 16 million Americans are living with a smoking-related disease. As of 2021, about 28.3 million US adults were considered current smokers, the CDC says. Surveys show that most want to quit, but nicotine is highly addictive, changing the brain in ways that make people want to smoke more. Half of smokers say they’ve tried to quit in the past year, but fewer than 1 in 10 were successful. Studies show that when the nicotine content of cigarettes is reduced, people smoke less and make more attempts to quit. Cigarettes with lower nicotine levels seem to be effective in alleviating withdrawal, research shows. When the FDA announced its initial plans to reduce nicotine in 2022, it estimated that reducing nicotine levels could keep more than 33 million people from becoming regular smokers, that about 5 million additional smokers would quit within a year, and that 134 million years of life would be gained. In the draft proposal from 2018, which the FDA has since refined, it cited a 2013 survey that found that reducing the total nicotine content of cigarettes to 0.5 milligrams per rod would minimize addictiveness, but it also said that questions remain with respect to the precise level of nicotine in cigarettes. The agency’s proposal was met with high praise Wednesday. “Once finalized, this rule could be a game-changer in our nation’s efforts to eliminate tobacco use,” said Harold Wimmer, president and CEO of the American Lung Association. “Making tobacco products non-addictive would dramatically reduce the number of young people who become hooked when they are experimenting. To fully address the toll of tobacco on our nation’s health and across all communities, it is critical to reduce nicotine levels to non-addictive levels in all commercial tobacco products, including e-cigarettes.” Not all smokers would quit if nicotine levels were limited, experts say, nor would all smoking-related diseases disappear, since tobacco products contain other chemicals that can be harmful for health. “Certainly, there would be individuals who would benefit from substantially lower nicotine levels and find it easier to quit,” said Dr. Rose Marie Robertson, a cardiologist and chief science officer at the American Heart Association. “It’s really hard to quit. I’ve seen patients over many years who have gotten the wake-up call with a heart attack or a stroke and really want to improve their health and reduce their risk, but it’s just very, very hard to do.” There won’t be any immediate changes to tobacco products. The Office of Management and Budget’s approval process can take months. There will also be a public comment period, and the tobacco industry often sues the government to stop new regulations. It’s also unclear what the FDA will do with such a proposal under President-elect Donald Trump. During his first term, the agency signaled that it wanted to limit nicotine, but the tobacco industry donated heavily to Republicans ahead of this year’s elections, and Trump’s pick for chief of staff worked as a tobacco lobbyist . Robertson says her association wants this last-minute FDA effort to work. “We’re hopeful, but we’ll be there if it doesn’t move forward, and we’ll continue to be there,” she said. CNN’s Deidre McPhillips contributed to this report.

Texas sues NCAA to block transgender athletesHegseth meets with moderate Sen. Collins as he lobbies for key votes in the SenateDENVER (AP) — The Denver Broncos signed left tackle Garett Bolles to a four-year extension on Thursday, locking up a big piece to protect rookie quarterback Bo Nix. Bolles has spent his entire career with the organization after being drafted out of Utah with the 20th overall pick in 2017. He has a chance this season to help the Broncos into the postseason for the first time since they won Super Bowl 50 after the 2015 season. The Broncos (8-5) are currently in the seventh and final playoff spot in the AFC. They can put some distance between them and Indianapolis on Sunday (6-7) with a win over the Colts. After an up-and-down start in Denver, Bolles has developed into a dependable pass protector. He's allowed one sack and 24 quarterback pressures over 13 starts this season. What's more, his 4.9 percent quarterback pressure rate is the second-lowest mark among tackles with at least 200 pass blocking snaps this season, according to NextGen Stats. With time to scan the field, Nix leads all rookies in completions (277), yards passing (2,842), offensive touchdowns (22) and passing touchdowns (17). Bolles earned second-team Associated Press All-Pro honors after the 2020 season. On social media , Bolles posted: “Broncos Country, It’s been a great 8 years! Thanks for everything! And ... I’m not leaving. The show goes on!” Since 2017, Bolles has allowed the sixth-fewest sacks (36) among tackles with at least 3,100 snaps. The extension of Bolles means the Broncos have all five starting offensive linemen on board through next season. Guard Quinn Meinerz agreed to four-year contract extension in July. The Broncos also signed cornerback Patrick Surtain II to a four-year contract extension in September worth $96 million, including $77.5 million in guarantees. Linebacker Jonathon Cooper agreed to a four-year, $60 million extension in November. AP NFL: https://apnews.com/hub/nfl