Khulna Tigers 158-3 (Shanto 78*, Irfan 2-13) beat Rajshahi Royals 131(Malik 80, Amir 6-17) by 27 runs

Khulna Tigers became the first side to reach the BPL final after they defeated Rajshahi Royals by 27 runs in the first qualifier. Mohammad Amir's maiden six-wicket haul made it a cruise following Najmul Hossain Shanto's unbeaten 78 had taken Khulna to 158 for 3 in 20 overs.

At the halfway mark, Rajshahi would have felt that they restricted Khulna to a small total despite Shanto's long stay in the middle. But Amir buried all hopes with his opening spell of three overs as he became the first bowler in BPL history to take a six-wicket haul.

Amir rips out Rajshahi's top-order

Amir began by removing the in-form Liton Das in the first over of the chase. He then had Afif Hossain, the other half of Rajshahi's successful opening pair, in his next over, before adding Alok Kapali, caught at slip, later in the same over.

After Ravi Bopara was brilliantly caught by Rilee Rossouw at long-off in the fifth over, Amir, kept on for a third over with Andre Russell fresh at the crease and removed the West Indian giant with a superb delivery, for a duck.

Russell could do very little against the peach, apart from giving Rossouw his second catch in the space of six balls, this time at mid-on. With their captain gone in the sixth over, Rajshahi were nowhere in the contest at 23 for 5.

Malik keeps the crowd

To further Rajshahi's slide, Shahidul Islam took the wicket of Farhad Reza in the eighth over before Shoaib Malik, the only remaining batsman from the top order, held firm with Taijul Islam in a 74-run stand for the seventh wicket. With his third fifty in this BPL season, Malik also crossed the 400-run mark during his 49-ball 80 that included ten fours and four sixes.

He struck 15 and 21 off Aminul Islam and Shafiul Islam towards the end to keep some of the crowd glued to their seats, but once Amir returned for his last over, it was over quickly.

Amir returns to set things straight

With 53 needed off 18 balls, Malik did look like pulling off the impossible. But Amir first removed Taijul to end their partnership, before having Malik caught by substitute Rahmanullah Gurbaz, off the fifth ball of the over to pick up his sixth wicket.

After Irfanuddin, Sohail Tanvir, Umar Gul and Faheem Ashraf, Amir became the fifth Pakistani to take a six or more wickets in a T20 match.

Shanto continues where he left off

But it wasn't all plain sailing for Khulna in this game. Mohammad Irfan had reduced them to 15 for 2 in the third over before Shanto and Shamsur Rahman added 78 runs for the third wicket.

Shanto added a further 42 runs for the fourth wicket before Mushfiqur Rahim had to walk off with what appeared to be a hamstring injury. But Shanto batted till the end, making 78 off 57 balls with four sixes and seven fours.

Having made 115 in Khulna's last league game against Dhaka Platoon, Shanto looked in excellent touch as he not only got Khulna out of trouble with big hits, but also applied pressure on Rajshahi's bowling through rotation of strike. He however survived a dismissal when he was batting on 9 when Malik overstepped in the sixth over.

EAGAN, Minn. -- The Minnesota Vikings are prioritizing continuity around quarterback Kirk Cousins and the rest of the offense when they hire their fifth offensive coordinator in five seasons.

At his year-end news conference on Monday, two days removed from a 27-10 loss to the San Francisco 49ers in the divisional round of the NFL playoffs, coach Mike Zimmer said the Vikings will run the "same system" that the team executed under soon-to-be former offensive coordinator Kevin Stefanski, who is being hired as the next head coach of the Cleveland Browns.

"I like the scheme, I like the continuity that we have offensively with the coaches, and I feel like if we add a couple more pieces and continue to work on the execution of staying with the same play calls, the same system, the same motions and formations and things like that, it'll definitely help the offensive players," Zimmer said.

For the first time entering his seventh offseason in Minnesota, Zimmer is giving his assistant coaches the week off before reconvening to dissect the season and go through player evaluations. The Vikings coach did not set a firm time frame for deciding on the team's next offensive coordinator.

"It may be by the end of the week, but it may be a couple weeks," Zimmer said. "I want to make sure the fit is right. Those guys over there, they do an outstanding job. I love the way that they work together and communicate, and so if we do bring somebody in from the outside, I want to make sure that it's the correct fit."

Minnesota's offense is built around a zone scheme that featured the fifth-highest percentage of play-action passes run in the NFL in 2019. It's an offense that ranked eighth in scoring and was sixth in yards per attempt while seeing significant improvements in both the running and passing game.

Should the Vikings hire from within, assistant head coach Gary Kubiak, who the franchise brought in last offseason to guide the offense with Stefanski while installing core principles from the system he ran over 21 seasons as a head coach or offensive coordinator, could serve as a replacement for Stefanski. His son, Klint, the Vikings' quarterbacks coach, and Rick Dennsion, the team's offensive line coach and run game coordinator, are also expected to be in-house candidates.

Maintaining stability around Cousins by running the keeping the same system is the team's top priority, no matter who is at the helm of the offense.

"I think Kirk played a lot better this year than he did the year before," Zimmer said. "I think obviously the scheme helped him quite a bit, and so I think yeah, I think this may have been his best year that he's played in the NFL.

"It'll be his fifth coordinator in five years, I think he told me yesterday, or at least voice in his ear on game day. I mean there's nothing I can do about that, but I think it's important not just for Kirk, but for the entire offense, to have the same system, the same calls and things like that so that when they come in here on day one it's not completely foreign to them."

The Vikings also need to find a new defensive coordinator this offseason. George Edwards, who worked with Zimmer in Dallas from 1998-01 and has been the Vikings' DC since 2014, is not returning next season.

"He was at the end of his contract, so it was kind of a situation where it was probably best," Zimmer said.

Edwards did not call defensive plays while in Minnesota and could be looking for an opportunity to do so elsewhere. The vacancy created by Edwards' departure could lead to an internal search for his replacement. Sources have indicated linebackers coach Adam Zimmer and defensive line coach Andre Patterson could be in line to fill the opening.

Zimmer said he spent an hour Monday morning on the phone with his mentor Bill Parcells discussing the areas where the Vikings can improve in order to reach the next level.

"We've been to the conference championship, we've been to the divisional game, we've been in a wild card game where we lost by a field goal and just trying to figure out how do we get over this hump of getting to the next level and eventually winning this thing," he said. Zimmer is under contract through the 2020 season and received the backing of ownership two weeks ago when co-owner Mark Wilf released a statement in support of the Vikings coach and general manager Rick Spielman amid speculation over the head coach's future in Minnesota.

Asked whether he anticipates receiving a contract extension this offseason, Zimmer said he expects talks to convene with the season now over regarding his tenure.

"Like I said a couple weeks ago when we were talking about this, I love these players, this organization," he said. "The owners have been outstanding to me. I believe that there will be conversations here in the near future and whatever happens, I'm happy with it."

The Kansas City Chiefs are once again the favorites to win the Super Bowl, with the San Francisco 49ers right on their heels.

The Chiefs are the favorites at 11-10 as of Monday morning at Caesars Sportsbook. The 49ers are next at 7-5, followed by the Tennessee Titans at 15-2 and Green Bay Packers at 17-2.

In mid-October, with quarterback Patrick Mahomes recovering from a knee injury, the Chiefs were second-tier Super Bowl contenders, behind the New England Patriots, New Orleans Saints, 49ers and Packers on the oddsboard at Caesars. Mahomes returned quickly and helped the Chiefs close out the regular season with six straight wins. Their last loss, however, was to the upstart Titans, their opponent in the AFC Championship Game.

Entering the season, the betting public had little faith in the Titans. In fact, when the season kicked off, Tennessee had attracted fewer bets to win the Super Bowl than any other team at MGM sportsbooks in Nevada.

In October, the Titans could be found at 400-1 to win the Super Bowl. They still had triple-digit odds entering December. In Atlantic City, New Jersey, the sportsbook at The Borgata has offered betting on which two teams would reach the Super Bowl. The book didn't take a single bet that included the Titans.

There were a few believers in Tennessee, however. On Dec. 1, bookmaker William Hill took a $3,000 bet on the Titans to win the Super Bowl at 100-1. That potential $300,000 ticket is one of six Super Bowl bets on Tennessee at William Hill that would net six-figure wins.

While most Nevada sportsbooks were sitting pretty on the Titans in the Super Bowl futures market, books in other states had liability on Tennessee.

"We'd lose a pretty good amount to the Titans in Mississippi," Alan Berg, senior oddsmaker at Caesars Sportsbook, told ESPN. "In Indiana, we would lose a pile if the Titans won."

Berg noted that, out of the four remaining teams, Tennessee is the best result for Caesars' books in Nevada, despite a pair of $500 Super Bowl bets on the Titans at 200-1 that were placed by a respected customer earlier in the season.

The Titans began the week as 7.5-point underdogs to the Chiefs in the AFC Championship Game. In the NFC Championship Game, the 49ers are 7-point favorites over the Packers.

If both favorites prevail, oddsmakers say the point spread on a Super Bowl between the Chiefs and 49ers would be tiny, possibly even pick 'em.

JACKSONVILLE, Fla. -- The Jaguars and offensive coordinator John DeFilippo have mutually agreed to part ways after just one season, the team announced Monday.

The Jaguars finished middle of the pack in yardage categories last season but managed only 18.8 points per game. DeFilippo also dealt with an injury to quarterback Nick Foles and wasn't able to get him rolling again when he returned to the lineup in November. The Jaguars eventually finished the season with sixth-round rookie Gardner Minshew at quarterback.

Head coach Doug Marrone hired DeFilippo last January to fix a Jaguars offense that had scored just two touchdowns in the last five games and ranked 27th in total offense and 31st in scoring. Improvement seemed inevitable after the Jaguars signed Foles in free agency two months later. DeFilippo worked with Foles in 2017 during his two seasons as the Eagles' quarterback coach.

Foles suffered a broken collarbone just 11 snaps into the season opener, and the Jaguars had to turn to Minshew, who led the team to a 4-4 record as a starter (and 4-5 overall) heading into the team's bye week. Foles returned to the lineup but struggled in three starts before eventually being benched at halftime of the Tampa Bay game on Dec. 1. Minshew finished the season as the starter and led all rookie quarterbacks in victories (six) and passer rating (91.2) in addition to throwing for franchise rookie records in yards (3,271) and touchdowns (26) and throwing only six interceptions.

DeFilippo moved on to Minnesota to be the offensive coordinator in 2018, but coach Mike Zimmer fired him after 13 games. Quarterback Kirk Cousins set career highs in completion percentage (70.1) and touchdown passes (30) and threw only 10 interceptions in 2018, but the Vikings ranked 17th in total offense, 30th in rushing and 20th in scoring at the time DeFilippo was fired.

DeFilippo didn't have a problem running the ball in 2019. Leonard Fournette set career highs in carries (265), rushing yards (1,125), receptions (75) and yards from scrimmage (1,674). DeFilippo's first season as an offensive coordinator in the NFL came in 2015 with Cleveland. The Browns ranked 25th in total offense and 30th in scoring, and quarterbacks Josh McCown and Johnny Manziel combined to throw for 3,609 yards and 19 touchdowns with nine interceptions. He joined the Eagles as quarterbacks coach under Doug Pederson the next season.

The AFC divisional round was total chaos this weekend. On Saturday, the top-seeded Ravens were bounced from the bracket in a blowout loss to the Titans, who went up 28-6 in the third quarter and barely looked back. The Texans followed Sunday and seemed to be setting up an AFC South rubber match in the conference title game, but the No. 2-seeded Chiefs went down 24-0 and ran off a staggering 51-7 run to finish the game.

What happened? Why were the Titans able to hold on and beat the Ravens, but the Texans held their lead for a matter of minutes before the Chiefs stormed back? Where did the Chiefs succeed in their comeback where the Ravens did not? Are there any more takeaways we can glean in advance of the AFC Championship Game?

I'll run through those questions and arguments below. I'll focus mostly on the AFC but will sneak in a couple of NFC playoff elements from this weekend:

Jump to a section:
• Build a game plan that works for you
• Field position matters
• Dominate in the red zone
• Win on fourth down
• Fix the drops ... during the game
• Did the defense copy from the right source material?
• Take advantage of the punt penalty trick
• How healthy is the other team's key offensive weapon?

Build a game plan that works for your talent

Saturday was a treasure for people who argue that the NFL has prematurely abandoned the run. In the afternoon, the 49ers closed out their win over the Vikings by calling for runs on 30 of their final 36 offensive plays. The Titans followed suit in the nightcap by running the ball 37 times for 217 yards, with Ryan Tannehill going just 7-of-14 passing for 88 yards. In the process, Tannehill became the first quarterback since Terry Bradshaw in 1974 to win two playoff games in the same postseason while failing to throw for 100 yards in either victory.

Sunday flipped things back the other way. The Chiefs scored seven consecutive touchdowns to launch their comeback, and while Patrick Mahomes scrambled for 56 yards, Andy Reid handed the ball to running back Damien Williams a total of five times for 6 yards during that stretch. Williams ran in two scores, but the traditional running game was strictly a short-yardage option for Kansas City.

And in the Sunday night game, the Packers nearly blew their halftime lead after giving the ball to Aaron Jones 21 times for just 62 yards while Aaron Rodgers was averaging an even 9.0 yards per attempt. With Jones failing to move the ball, the Packers needed two late Rodgers completions on third down to seal their victory over the Seahawks.

Overreacting to the extremes presented by the Chiefs and Titans seems naive. The Titans have built a good offense around an excellent line and a back with rare athleticism in Derrick Henry, who can absorb more contact than just about anybody in football. It would be foolish for a team without those weapons to insist on running the ball nearly 70% of the time on offense. And likewise, the Chiefs have terrifying talent across the board in their passing game. Every time they handed the ball off while the game was competitive was a gift to the Texans.

Here's my simple argument: No, the 49ers and Titans running the ball up and down the field is not a sign that we need to get back to the offensive ecosystems of the 1970s. We know passing is more efficient and effective than running, even if there are still times where running is valuable. There's an equilibrium point for how frequently each team should choose to run or pass the ball, and it seems meaningfully dependent on the personnel those teams have. The Titans should play like the Titans, and the Chiefs should play like the Chiefs.

Field position matters

The biggest reason the Titans were able to get out to an early lead and the Chiefs were able to come back so quickly is simple. Field position over the course of multiple possessions almost never gets mentioned during broadcasts or in postgame commentaries from coaches and players, but it's a lot easier to score on a short field than it is on a long one.

The Titans scored four touchdowns during their win Saturday night. Three of those drives started on Baltimore's side of the field, with the Titans cashing in on possessions of 20 yards (after they recovered a Lamar Jackson fumble), 35 yards (a Jackson interception off a Mark Andrews drop, with a curious penalty tacked on for Jackson's tackle attempt at the end of the play), and 45 yards (the first failed fourth-and-1 opportunity).

The Titans had one drive top 50 yards all night, and that 81-yard drive was essentially the 66-yard Henry run where he broke out of Matthew Judon's grasp on third-and-1 and romped through the Ravens' defense. Mike Vrabel's offense was able to parlay those short fields and one huge play from Henry into 28 points and a huge lead.

They also repeatedly forced the Ravens to go the length of the field to score. Baltimore had 11 possessions, each starting inside its 26-yard line, with 74 or more yards to go for a touchdown. Jackson & Co. had six drives of 50 yards or more during the game, but those six opportunities generated just 12 points.

Six Ravens possessions -- including all three of their fourth-quarter opportunities -- ended on the Tennessee side of the field without any points. To put that in context, there has been only one playoff game over the past 20 years in which an offense made it to the opposing side of the field and failed to score more than six times.

The Titans made the Ravens claw and march the length of the field over and over again to have any hope of getting back into the game. The Texans made it much easier for the Chiefs. After Houston kicked a field goal to go up 24-0 with just under 11 minutes to go in the second quarter, the Chiefs' next three drives didn't need to go far:

• A long kickoff return from Mecole Hardman gave Kansas City the ball at the Texans' 42-yard line, and the Chiefs scored two plays later.

• A failed fake punt gave the Chiefs the ball at the Texans' 33-yard line, and they scored four plays later.

• A fumbled kickoff by DeAndre Carter gave the Chiefs the ball at the Texans' 6-yard line, and they scored three plays later.

Kansas City was able to turn nine plays and 81 yards into 21 second-quarter points, getting it back into the game in a matter of minutes. The Ravens, as an example, had a 14-play, 93-yard drive in the second quarter, but time ran out and they kicked a field goal. Mistakes by the Texans made it easier for the Chiefs to launch their comeback. The Titans didn't make those same mistakes.

Dominate in the red zone

It's not hyperbolic to suggest that the Titans are in the AFC Championship Game because of what they've done in the red zone. In the wild-card round, they held the Patriots to one touchdown on three trips, including what The Boston Globe's Nora Princiotti noted was the first time a Brady-led Patriots team had ever failed to convert a first-and-goal from the 1-yard line into a touchdown during the postseason.

The Ravens were the second-best red zone offense in football during the regular season, scoring touchdowns on 67.2% of their trips inside the 20. On Saturday night, though, the Titans allowed Baltimore to score once on four red zone possessions, with the Ravens kicking a field goal and turning the ball over on downs twice. They would typically turn four red zone trips into about 22 points. The Titans held them to nine.

Yielding two touchdowns on seven red zone possessions on defense is one thing. What the Titans are doing in the red zone on offense, though, is virtually unprecedented. I mentioned this in my playoff preview, but after the Titans promoted Tannehill to the starting job for Week 7, they scored on 86.7% of their red zone possessions, which was the best rate in football by a significant margin. The Bucs were in second place over that time frame at 71.9%, and they were closer to 16th place than they were to Tennessee.

It makes sense that tackling Henry would be a tall order in the red zone, but the Titans were converting only 53.3% of their red zone trips into scores before Tannehill took over and were at 56.5% over the second half of 2018. History also tells us that red zone performance is wildly inconsistent from year to year, suggesting it's more randomness and a small sample than anything else.

When you look at the other top red zone offenses over that same 11-week span going back through 2001, they weren't able to keep their dominance up in the postseason. The 10 top red zone offenses between Weeks 7 and 17 over that time frame converted nearly 76% of their red zone trips into touchdowns during the regular season, but against stiffer competition in the playoffs, those same offenses only scored touchdowns on just over 61% of their red zone trips.

The Titans are supposed to regress to the mean in the red zone. They'll get to that as soon as they stop running people over. They have scored on all five of their red zone possessions this postseason, going 2-of-2 against the Patriots and 3-of-3 against the Ravens. The margin of error against the Patriots was razor-thin before the pick-six with several seconds left to go; if the Pats had scored on their first-and-goal opportunity from the 1-yard line and the Titans hadn't, Tennessee wouldn't have been playing this weekend.

There were at least some signs that the Titans were lucky to come away with touchdowns on all three of their red zone trips. They scored on third down on each of their three tries, including a third-and-12 in which Jonnu Smith both made an incredible catch and managed to get his butt down before falling out of bounds with inches to spare. It's hard to reconcile being unstoppable in the red zone with waiting until third down to prove the point.

There's no arguing that offensive coordinator Arthur Smith has some tricks up his sleeve, though. Against the Ravens, the Titans scored on a halfback pass from Henry to Corey Davis and on a Tannehill speed option keeper. Teams are understandably terrified of Henry running them over near the goal line, which is creating opportunities for other members of the offense. It seems unsustainable, but the Titans haven't had any trouble maintaining their dominance so far.

The Chiefs also left no doubt with their red zone performance Sunday. Andy Reid's offense took eight trips into the red zone and scored seven touchdowns before adding a late field goal up big in the fourth quarter. Going back through 2001, no team had previously ever scored seven touchdowns in the red zone in a single playoff game.

Mahomes & Co. scored all 51 of their points in the red zone. Given their success rates in the regular season, the Chiefs and their 20th-ranked red zone offense would have expected to score just under 39 points on their eight red zone possessions. In a game that ended 51-31, a less successful performance from the Chiefs in the red zone would have made it far easier for the Texans to come back after blowing their lead so quickly.

Win on fourth down

The two victors on the AFC side of the bracket succeeded on key fourth downs in different ways. The Titans made huge plays by stopping the Ravens on defense. A Baltimore offense that had gone 8-of-8 on fourth-and-1 attempts during the regular season failed to convert on a pair of fourth-and-1 attempts in the upset loss. Both analytics and the Ravens' offensive skill set supported going for it on those fourth-and-short opportunities, but the two failures dropped Baltimore's win expectancy by a combined 15.6%.

The Ravens failed to execute on both plays. On the first fourth-and-1 attempt, they ran quarterback power and simply didn't get a helmet on linebacker David Long (51). He is totally untouched and has a free gap to shoot when Jackson cuts back and tries to turn upfield, with the Titans stuffing the play in the backfield.

Later in the game, the Ravens ran one of the weirdest sneak attempts I've ever seen. There's an unmanned gap between the center and right guard, and while Wesley Woodyard (59) is lurking over that gap several yards off the line of scrimmage, it seems almost obvious for Jackson to try to sneak there. The offensive line actually collapses the defensive line up front, but Jackson tries to go all the way around end to get the first down, runs into defenders, cuts back and then gets swallowed up by defenders. Far be it from me to tell Jackson what he should do with the ball in his hands, but it's fair to say that whatever he was trying to do didn't work.

Second Ravens failed fourth-and-1 pic.twitter.com/dHzPbwrFZh

— Bill Barnwell (@billbarnwell) January 13, 2020

The Chiefs succeeded with the help of Houston coach Bill O'Brien, whose two fourth-down decisions are going to loom large in the psyche of this franchise until the Texans make it out of the divisional round. Losing to the Chiefs would have been disappointing, but blowing a 24-0 lead in a matter of minutes -- and attributing it to a pair of ill-advised and/or unorthodox fourth-down calls -- could end up as the dominant memory of the O'Brien era when it does end in Houston.

Let's take them one at a time. No, there's not a good argument for kicking a field goal up 21-0 on fourth-and-1 from the 13-yard line. We can successfully bury the argument that you don't want to give the Chiefs momentum if they stop you on fourth down deep into the earth, given that the Texans kicked a field goal and the Chiefs roared back anyway. You shouldn't be settling for points because you're already up by a bunch; we all know the Chiefs are capable of catching on fire at a moment's notice, and if O'Brien had faith in his defense, he should have noticed that the only thing stopping the Chiefs to that point were their own drops.

The argument O'Brien made after the game was that he "... didn't have a great play there for the fourth down at that point and time," which seems more and more ridiculous each time I read it. The Texans called a timeout, so they had plenty of time to think about it. O'Brien has repeatedly insisted on adding extra duties to his plate; he's now the coach, general manager and offensive coordinator rolled into one. He has Deshaun Watson, DeAndre Hopkins, and a bevy of players for whom he traded picks to add this season on offense, including Laremy Tunsil, Kenny Stills and Duke Johnson. O'Brien was facing a Chiefs team missing their best defensive lineman in Chris Jones.

If you can't think of a playcall that you have enough confidence in to use on fourth-and-1 in the red zone with those guys and those responsibilities, what are you doing out there? Can you imagine Sean Payton or Kyle Shanahan not having a playcall for fourth-and-1 after a timeout? Charitably, I'd like to assume that O'Brien wasn't telling the truth after the game and that he was instead scarred after failing on the fourth-and-1 attempt to seal the game up against the Bills in the wild-card round. That's terrible logic, but it's not as bad as being unable to come up with a fourth-down play for one of the league's most dynamic offenses in a key playoff situation.

I'm not as pessimistic about O'Brien's other decision. After the next Texans drive stalled on third down, Houston faced a fourth-and-4 from its 31-yard line. It decided on a fake punt and direct snapped the ball to safety Justin Reid. Fellow safety Daniel Sorensen tripped Reid up after a 2-yard gain, handing the ball back to the Chiefs with excellent field position. Here's what the play looked like, courtesy of an animation from NFL Next Gen Stats:

The Texans got the look they wanted here; Reid had a huge swath of space with which to work and simply had to beat Sorensen in the open field to get the first down. That's a risk, but it's a risk that would generally favor the offensive side of the ball. Reid isn't an offensive player, which is my biggest issue with O'Brien's decision, but I can understand why the Texans would think they could have stolen a possession there.

The easy criticism after the play was that O'Brien was foolish for going with the conservative call on fourth-and-1 and then suddenly getting aggressive with a fake punt call one series later. That's fallacious. For one, the two calls shouldn't have anything to do with each other. Once O'Brien decides to be conservative on the fourth-and-1 call, that decision is in the past. The fake punt isn't going to serve as a makeup decision for his prior mistake, and I strongly doubt O'Brien saw the field goal as a mistake in the moment.

If anything, the conservative decision on fourth-and-1 would have suggested that O'Brien was trying to play things safe, which would have made a fake punt even more surprising on the following series. (If you're going to say that it's too cute, did you say that the Henry touchdown pass in the red zone was too cute?) I hated the decision to kick a field goal and O'Brien's argument for why he chose to do so, but what happened afterward had nothing to do with that initial mistake. Either way, both decisions obviously ended up helping the Chiefs.

Have your receivers stop dropping passes

It seems pretty straightforward, of course, but both Jackson and Mahomes were impacted by drops. ESPN Stats & Information marked down four drops for Jackson on 59 pass attempts, but I would argue that there were at least three more that could have qualified. Most of these came while the game was still a contest, including a drop by Seth Roberts 20 yards downfield that might have resulted in a huge gain. One Willie Snead drop would have set up a fourth-and-2 on a possible touchdown-scoring drive in which the Ravens instead settled for a field goal. Another came on the final Ravens offensive play of the season and would have resulted in a (relatively meaningless) fourth-and-11 conversion.

Mahomes' receivers were nice enough to concentrate their drops into that brutal stretch at the beginning of the game. Four of his first 10 pass attempts were dropped, including a pair of would-be third-down conversions on throws to Travis Kelce and Demarcus Robinson. The boo birds were out at Arrowhead, but just one of Mahomes' 25 pass attempts after the first quarter was dropped. The reigning MVP went 19-of-25 for 278 yards and five touchdowns on those throws.

Face a defense that copied successfully from the right source material

According to cornerback Logan Ryan, the Titans went to an unlikely source for their defensive philosophy against Jackson: the infamous Madden defensive play "Engage Eight," in which the defense rushes eight men toward the backfield and plays Cover 3 behind. Ryan was being at least a little facetious with his description, but the plan was clearly to try to fill every gap at the line of scrimmage, take away the numbers advantage Jackson offers as a runner and then play Cover 3 or Cover 4 behind. The Bills, Ryan noted, used a similar philosophy in slowing Jackson in one of his worst regular-season games.

I'm not sure the game plan did much to stop Jackson as a runner, given that he carried the ball 20 times for 143 yards, but the combination of the early lead and the Titans loading the box led him to throw 59 times, which was 16 more attempts than his prior career high. Tennessee limited Jackson to 6.1 yards per attempt on those throws and picked off the presumptive MVP twice.

The Texans, on the other hand, came out with the exact plan you would have expected and never wavered. Mahomes was the best quarterback in the league against zone coverage during the regular season, and the Texans had success in their regular-season win over the Chiefs by playing more man coverage against Kansas City's weapons.

You'll never guess what Andy Reid did during the bye week: He loaded up all kinds of man-coverage beaters and figured the Texans would never adjust. He was right. The Texans stuck with man coverage and watched Kelce set back rookie defensive back Lonnie Johnson's career with the sort of game we'll associate with Johnson for years. With the Chiefs repeatedly isolating Kelce on the backside of plays and daring the Texans to leave Johnson one-on-one against their star tight end, Kelce caught 10 passes for 134 yards and three touchdowns. Kelce also drew two pass interference calls for 43 yards against Johnson in coverage. The only respite the Texans had from Kelce came when the star tight end briefly sat out after halftime with a hamstring tweak.

To be fair, ESPN's automated tracking analysis from NFL Next Gen Stats tracked only four pass attempts for Mahomes against zone coverage, and he went 3-of-4 for 81 yards and a touchdown, but the Texans needed to try something else. They briefly double-teamed Kelce in the red zone, with Zach Cunningham blatantly holding him to set up another first down, but maybe they needed to do that across the field.

Defensive coordinator Romeo Crennel coached under Bill Belichick, and Belichick's philosophy with athletic tight ends like Kelce is to try to take them out of the game and force the quarterback to go somewhere else. On Sunday, Crennel's defense did almost the exact opposite, and the Chiefs took advantage of a coverage they probably spent the past two weeks expecting to see.

Take advantage of the punt penalty trick

While I'm sure the NFL is going to outlaw this during the offseason, we need to come up with a name for the time-wasting tactic surrounding punt plays at the five-minute mark of the fourth quarter. I know Belichick did it first, but given that Vrabel was able to use it to expertly troll Belichick during the wild-card round victory in New England, we should probably call it the Vrabel Exploit in honor of the former Patriots linebacker.

Vrabel didn't use his now-infamous punt ploy during the win over the Ravens, but it did impact the game. The Titans ran the ball with 6:38 to go in the fourth quarter to set up a fourth-and-3 from the 45-yard line, which is prime territory for a Vrabel Exploit. The Ravens, who are hardly naive when it comes to exploiting loopholes in the rulebook, knew was what was up and immediately called their second timeout to keep the Titans from winding the clock down to five minutes. The play didn't matter much in the long run, but it was still a 16-point contest and the Ravens almost surely wouldn't have used a timeout at that point of the game if it weren't for what Vrabel showed a week ago.

The Chiefs and 49ers weren't in a position to use the punt strategy, but the Packers did in their win over the Seahawks. Rodgers was sacked on third down with 6:23 to go, but somehow, the clock was allowed to wind all the way down to 5:25 before the Packers were called for a false start. The Packers then wound the clock to exactly five minutes before they punted the ball away to the Seahawks. I suspect it has three weeks of shelf life before disappearing for good, and it had more of an impact on the NFC than it did on the AFC in the divisional round, but I love the Vrabel Exploit.

Have the other team's key offensive weapon play at far less than 100%

You obviously can't control whether the opposing team is going to come into a matchup healthy, but the Titans have faced two offenses whose biggest pieces (beyond their quarterback) weren't their usual selves. Julian Edelman wasn't the same after injuring his knee in the December loss to the Chiefs; he caught just three passes for 30 yards against the Titans, and while he was active enough to get arrested in Beverly Hills on Saturday night, he's ticketed for both shoulder and knee surgeries during the offseason.

Likewise, while Mark Ingram II was able to suit up for the Ravens on Saturday night, it's clear that he wasn't the bruising back who served as the perfect counter to Jackson's speed during the regular season. Ingram touched the ball only seven times and played 29% of the offensive snaps, down dramatically from when he averaged more than 15 touches and played just under half of the offensive snaps during the regular season.

The impact wasn't quite as clear for the Chiefs, but DeAndre Hopkins did suffer a rib injury during the loss. He had five catches on six targets for 59 yards during the first half, and while he racked up the same 59 yards afterward, the star Texans wideout caught four passes on eight targets to get to that same total. I don't think a healthy Hopkins would have flipped the game back toward the Texans in the second half, but their best chance of winning was with the otherworldly wideout at full strength.

What has changed in the NBA Power Rankings this week?

Our experts rank the best teams in the league, from No. 1 to No. 30, with the Utah Jazz rising and the Brooklyn Nets sliding.

Throughout the regular season, our panel (ESPN's Tim MacMahon, Andre' Snellings, Royce Young and Bobby Marks, and The Undefeated's Marc J. Spears) is ranking all 30 teams from top to bottom, taking stock of which teams are playing the best basketball now and which teams are looking most like title contenders.

Previous rankings: Week 11 | 10 | 9 | 8 | 7 | 6 | 5 | 4 | 3 | 2 | 1 | Training camp | Free agency | Post-Finals

1. Milwaukee Bucks
Record: 35-6
Week 12 ranking: 1

At 35-6, the Bucks have reached the halfway point of the season on pace for 70 wins, but they have managed to stay somewhat under the radar. Their defense has been stifling all season, allowing a league-low 101.6 points per 100 possessions. That defense is built upon controlling the paint, as Giannis Antetokounmpo, Brook Lopez and Robin Lopez make up the top three leaguewide in field goal percentage allowed at the rim. Antetokounmpo is also second in the league in defensive rebounds, trailing only Andre Drummond. -- Snellings

This week: NY, BOS, @BKN

2. Los Angeles Lakers
Record: 32-7
Week 12 ranking: 2

Kyle Kuzma likely elevated his trade value during a 125-110 win at Oklahoma City sans LeBron James and Anthony Davis. The third-year forward scored a game-high 36 points and grabbed seven rebounds in 40 minutes as a starter against the Thunder. Kuzma is averaging 28 points per game in three contests as a starter this season. -- Spears

This week: CLE, ORL, @HOU

3. Boston Celtics
Record: 26-11
Week 12 ranking: 3

What is the best remedy for a Boston team that had lost three straight games for the first time this season? How about a career-high 41 points from Jayson Tatum and a New Orleans team that did not have starters Jrue Holiday, JJ Redick, Derrick Favors and, of course, Zion Williamson? Tatum's performance was one of the most efficient of the season -- 22 shots with 16 makes, including 6-of-9 from 3. With three weeks before the trade deadline, the Celtics will get a good test Thursday when they travel to Milwaukee to face the top team in the Eastern Conference. -- Marks

This week: CHI, DET, @MIL, PHX

4. Miami Heat
Record: 27-12
Week 12 ranking: 5

Miami has largely avoided letdown games this season, but boy did the Heat have one Sunday against the Knicks. These kinds of lackluster performances are excused, as long as it doesn't start happening consistently. -- Young

This week: SAS, @OKC, @SAS

5. LA Clippers
Record: 27-13
Week 12 ranking: 4

After Montrezl Harrell declared the Clippers aren't a great team, they beat the Knicks and the Warriors, then lost on the road to the Nuggets in a game in which they looked fairly outclassed. But again, Paul George wasn't playing. Which remains the point with the Clippers so often in discussing their results and juxtaposing it with their potential. When George and Kawhi Leonard both play, the Clippers are 14-4 with an impressive net rating of plus-10.7. The Clippers' top eight is very, very good. We just don't get to see it all that often right now. -- Young

This week: CLE, ORL, @NOP

6. Utah Jazz
Record: 27-12
Week 12 ranking: 9

Rudy Gobert is trying to make sure the West coaches have no choice but to finally put him on the All-Star team. His plus-minus during the Jazz's 13-1 run is a league-best plus-191 -- 49 points better than any player who isn't a Jazz teammate during that span. Gobert leads the West in rebounds (14.4 per game), field goal percentage (67.3%) and screen assists (7.6) in addition to his typical defensive dominance. -- MacMahon

This week: @BKN, @NOP, SAC

7. Houston Rockets
Record: 26-12
Week 12 ranking: 6

The Rockets are 22-5 when James Harden scores at least 30 points and 4-7 when he doesn't, including the one game that he missed due to injury. It's no wonder that opposing defenses are willing to go to such extremes with double-teams trying to take the ball out of his hands. The other half of Houston's new duo, Russell Westbrook, has gotten comfortable in his co-star role. He is producing consistently, scoring at least 20 points in 14 consecutive games and averaging 28.4 points in that span. -- MacMahon

This week:@MEM, POR, LAL

8. Denver Nuggets
Record: 27-12
Week 12 ranking: 8

A perplexing loss followed by a convincing win over the Clippers. That's a very Nuggets thing to do. Focus and consistency have been an issue at times, but when it comes down to it, the Nuggets play with most anybody. The Nuggets love to use their depth, and what coach Mike Malone is probably trying to figure out is who he can trust in a 10- or 11-man rotation. For example: Is Michael Porter Jr. going to be equipped and ready for playoff minutes? He has looked the part of a possible X factor the past few weeks, but January minutes are a lot different from May ones. -- Young

This week: CHA, @GSW, IND

9. Toronto Raptors
Record: 25-14
Week 12 ranking: 7

The Raptors are 25-14 through their first 39 games this season, only two games off last year's 27-12 pace, despite losing Kawhi Leonard to free agency and suffering massive numbers of player-games lost due to injury. They have good news on the horizon, as Pascal Siakam and Norman Powell returned to action Sunday against the Spurs with Marc Gasol expected to return this week. -- Snellings

This week: @OKC, WAS, @MIN

10. Dallas Mavericks
Record: 24-15
Week 12 ranking: 10

The Mavs are 3-4 during Kristaps Porzingis' absence due to right knee soreness. In particular, it's his rim protection that has been missed, as the Mavs have allowed 114.6 points per 100 possessions and 55.4 paint points per game during that span. Dallas is hopeful that Porzingis, who ranks fifth in the league with 2.1 blocks per game, will be able to return for one of the games in the California back-to-back this week. -- MacMahon

This week: @GSW, @SAC, POR

11. Philadelphia 76ers
Record: 25-15
Week 12 ranking: 12

The Sixers will be without Joel Embiid for at least one to two weeks as he recovers from a torn ligament in his left ring finger. First, the good news: Outside of Monday's game in Indiana, four of the 76ers' next opponents -- they play the Nets twice, the Bulls and the Knicks -- are teams below .500. Now for the concern: With or without Embiid, the Sixers resemble a lottery team on the road. Philadelphia has now lost five straight road games and dropped to 7-13 on the road this season. In those five road losses, the 76ers shot 27% from 3 and averaged a point differential of minus-9.6. That is a sharp drop-off from the 45.3% that Philadelphia shot from 3 at home in last week's wins against Oklahoma City and Boston. -- Marks

This week: @IND, BKN, CHI, @NYK

12. Indiana Pacers
Record: 24-15
Week 12 ranking: 12

The Pacers have won this season with a balanced attack featuring one of the league leaders in assists (Malcolm Brogdon, 7.4 APG, 10th), rebounds (Domantas Sabonis, 13.1 RPG, fifth) and blocks (Myles Turner, 2.0 BPG, sixth). T.J. Warren and Jeremy Lamb have combined for 31.5 PPG. But they will get some help on the wing as All-Star guard Victor Oladipo makes his season debut Jan. 29, nearly a year after suffering a ruptured quad tendon. -- Snellings

This week: PHI, @MIN, MIN, @DEN

13. Oklahoma City Thunder
Record: 22-17
Week 12 ranking: 11

The week ended on a low note with a loss to the Lakers' B-team, but maybe it was understandable given how perfect Russell Westbrook's return game went two nights before. With OKC wearing its city edition uniforms for the first time (which honor the victims of the 1995 Murrah Federal Building bombing), Westbrook was celebrated with a touching tribute video and raucous ovation. But then the ball went up and OKC routed Westbrook's Rockets as Chris Paul capped it with a brilliant highlight nutmeg. If the marketing team would have drawn it up, it would've gone exactly the way it did. -- Young

This week: @MIN, TOR, MIA, POR

14. Orlando Magic
Record: 18-21
Week 12 ranking: 15

The Magic approach the midway point of the season as perhaps the most all-around mediocre team in the league. They rank 14th out of 30 teams in win percentage, 14th in scoring differential and 14th in net difference between team offensive rating and defensive rating -- essentially a net neutral, league average team in every statistically measurable way. -- Snellings

This week: @SAC, @LAL, @LAC, @GSW

15. Memphis Grizzlies
Record: 18-22
Week 12 ranking: 17

Since Ja Morant's return from a back injury, the Grizzlies have gone on a hot streak and worked into eighth place in the West standings. The Grizzlies' talented kids get most of the spotlight in Memphis, but the contributions of 27-year-old big man Jonas Valanciunas shouldn't be overlooked. He's been steady all season, averaging 15.1 points and 9.9 rebounds while shooting 60.2% from the floor. -- MacMahon

This week: HOU, CLE

16. San Antonio Spurs
Record: 17-21
Week 12 ranking: 16

LaMarcus Aldridge has morphed into a lethal 3-point threat over the past 10 games, shooting 56% from long range on five attempts per game. (He had five 3-point attempts in a game only twice before this stretch). It seems like DeMar DeRozan has reaped the benefits of the gravity created by Aldridge's perimeter shooting. DeRozan has averaged 27.3 points on 63.4% shooting in the 10 games, with all but six of his 161 shots coming inside the arc. -- MacMahon

This week: @MIA, ATL, MIA

17. Brooklyn Nets
Record: 18-20
Week 12 ranking: 14

The win over Atlanta was a nice welcome back moment for Kyrie Irving. Yes, the Hawks were playing without the injured Trae Young, but Brooklyn showed in the first quarter what a healthy roster looks like. The Nets scored not only a season-high 39 points in the first quarter but also held Atlanta to 16 points. Irving would finish the game with 21 points, missing only one shot. The real test starts this week, as Brooklyn will face Utah, Philadelphia and Milwaukee. -- Marks

This week: UTA, @PHI, MIL

18. Portland Trail Blazers
Record: 16-24
Week 12 ranking: 18

The Blazers are 2-8 in their past 10 games. They averaged a defensive rating of 116.4 in those games, which would rank as the worst in the league -- yes, worse than the Wizards' -- over the course of the season. Their starting five was torched (110.1 defensive rating) in those 10 games, and specifically, any lineup Carmelo Anthony is in is giving up heaps of points (115.8 individual defensive rating). Melo is still scoring, but the other side of the ball is beginning to catch up. -- Young

This week: CHA, @HOU, @DAL, @OKC

19. Phoenix Suns
Record: 16-23
Week 12 ranking: 22

Kelly Oubre appears to be more than worth the two-year, $30 million contract he is in the midst of with the Suns. The 6-foot-7, 203-pounder is averaging 18.3 pounds and 6.2 rebounds while playing alongside sharpshooter Devin Booker. Oubre is averaging 22.2 points and 7.2 rebounds in January. -- Spears

This week: @ATL, @NYK, @BOS

20. Minnesota Timberwolves
Record: 15-23
Week 12 ranking: 23

The Timberwolves have seemingly righted the ship in the absence of Karl-Anthony Towns, winning four of their past seven games, with all three losses on the road to the Bucks, Rockets and Grizzlies. Andrew Wiggins has returned after missing four games due to illness, and Towns' return could be on the horizon. -- Snellings

This week: OKC, IND, @IND, TOR

21. Sacramento Kings
Record: 15-24
Week 12 ranking: 25

Things might be looking up for the injury-riddled Kings. Marvin Bagley (left foot soreness) is listed as questionable for Monday's game against Orlando after missing the past eight games. The 6-foot-11, 240-pounder is averaging 13.7 points and 6.9 rebounds in just nine games this season. As for the rest of the team, Richaun Holmes (right shoulder) and Bogdan Bogdanovic (ankle) missed a loss to Milwaukee on Friday while Harrison Barnes suffered a right thigh injury. -- Spears

This week: ORL, DAL, @UTA

22. Chicago Bulls
Record: 14-26
Week 12 ranking: 20

Rookie forward Daniel Gafford scored 14 points and seven rebounds in the second start of his career in a 108-99 win over Detroit on Saturday after scoring just two points in his previous start. Gafford also was hit in the back of the head with the basketball by Pistons center Andre Drummond, who was ejected. The former Arkansas star, who was selected with the 47th overall pick in the 2019 NBA draft, replaced veteran Thaddeus Young in the starting lineup. -- Spears

This week: @BOS, WAS, @PHI, CLE

23. Charlotte Hornets
Record: 15-27
Week 12 ranking: 21

Since their winning streak in mid-December, the Hornets have gone 2-8, including a current four-game losing streak. If there is a silver lining, it is the play of Miles Bridges. After an inconsistent first three months, the former lottery pick put together a strong three-game stretch last week. In those games, the forward averaged 18.3 points and shot 66.7% from the field and 56.3% from 3. -- Marks

This week: @POR, @DEN

24. New Orleans Pelicans
Record: 14-26
Week 12 ranking: 19

The decision not to give Brandon Ingram a contract extension could be an expensive one for the Pelicans. Ingram is likely to command a maximum contract as a restricted free agent this summer after proving that he could be efficient and prolific as a primary scoring threat. Ingram's emergence as a lethal 3-point shooter -- he's one of only nine players shooting better than 40% from long range while attempting at least six 3s per game -- should bode well for his fit with Zion Williamson. -- MacMahon

This week: @DET, UTA, LAC

25. Detroit Pistons
Record: 14-26
Week 12 ranking: 24

The Pistons lost All-Star Blake Griffin to arthroscopic knee surgery this week, and while no definite return time has been announced, the team has reportedly applied for an injured player exemption. That is an indication that Detroit expects to be without him for an extended period. The team has lost 11 of its past 14 games and fallen out of the playoff race in the East, and it is a Drummond trade away from this officially becoming a rebuilding season. -- Snellings

This week: NOP, @BOS, @ATL

26. Washington Wizards
Record: 13-26
Week 12 ranking: 26

It remains extremely true: If you're a good team, don't take the Wizards lightly. They beat the Nuggets and Celtics in back-to-back games, and they gave the streaking Jazz plenty of concern on Sunday. The Wizards are winning sporadically just enough to make one wonder if they could put together a four- or five-game streak and actually threaten the Eastern playoff picture. Especially now that they have Bradley Beal back. -- Young

This week: @CHI, @TOR

27. Cleveland Cavaliers
Record: 12-27
Week 12 ranking: 29

To say that last week was filled with turmoil would be an understatement. After Kevin Love publicly apologized for his on-court behavior, Cleveland blew an 11-point fourth-quarter lead and lost by two points to the Pistons. The next day during a film meeting, coach John Beilein referred to the team as "a bunch of thugs." Beilein issued a public apology and met individually with each player, insisting he meant to say "slugs." On the court, however, Cleveland won consecutive road games. The Cavaliers followed a win at Detroit with their best win of the season at Denver. So, to sum up the week: two public apologies, a near mutiny in the locker room and consecutive road wins. -- Marks

This week: @LAL, @LAC, @MEM, @CHI

28. New York Knicks
Record: 11-29
Week 12 ranking: 27

We've made it to the halfway point of the season and the Knicks have little to show for it. The team is 11-29, has featured 16 different starting lineups, players have missed a combined 90 games due to injuries and they have an interim head coach in Mike Miller. More importantly, though, their prized lottery picks from the past two seasons, RJ Barrett and Kevin Knox, have faced a steep learning curve while playing inconsistent minutes behind the veterans signed last summer. -- Marks

This week: @MIL, PHX, PHI

29. Golden State Warriors
Record: 9-32
Week 12 ranking: 28

The Warriors have lost a season-high eight straight games overall and a season-high seven straight road games. Golden State is also now 3-19 on the road. Prior to this season, the last time the Warriors had a winning percentage under .500 through 41 games was the lockout-shortened 2011-12 season (18-23). -- Spears

This week: DAL, DEN, ORL

30. Atlanta Hawks
Record: 8-32
Week 12 ranking: 30

The league-worst Hawks have lost four straight games while going 2-8 over their past 10, keeping them at the bottom of these Power Rankings with their minus-9.6 net rating.

This week: PHX, @SAS, DET

‘Gaultier is such a legend, and I can’t describe the feeling of sharing a court with him’
By SEAN REUTHE – PSA World Tour

18-year-old Egyptian Mostafa Asal is into his first ever PSA World Tour Platinum quarter-final after he overcame former World No.1 and World Champion Gregory Gaultier in a breathtaking five-game encounter earlier today at the J.P. Morgan Tournament of Champions held at New York’s famous Grand Central Terminal.

World No.21 Asal upset World No.9 Mohamed Abouelghar in the previous round, while 37-year-old Gaultier made a sensational return from 15 months out injured as he defeated former World No.3 Omar Mosaad 3-2 in a repeat of the 2015 World Championship final.

It was a match which saw youth come up against experience in an extremely high-quality affair, with both players taking two games apiece as three tie-breaks delighted spectators inside Grand Central’s picturesque Vanderbilt Hall.

It was all about the teenager in the fifth game as he raced into the lead, before a contentious call with regards to a possible double bounce was called good in Asal’s favour. The 8-4 advantage was too much of a gap for the war-weary Gaultier, who picked up just one more point as Asal closed out a 5-11, 13-11, 12-10, 10-12, 11-5 victory in 75 minutes to mark the biggest PSA Tour win of his career.

“Gaultier is such a legend, and I can’t describe the feeling of sharing a court with him,” said Asal afterwards.

“I remember when I was 13 years old, I went on court to practice with him, every single day after his matches in El Gouna, so I want to thank him for the opportunity to play with him. He really is a legend and I can’t describe my feelings to him.

“I was a child and I texted him to ask if I could play with him in El Gouna and he said yes. I know if he hadn’t have been injured then he would have finished me in about five minutes. It’s unbelievable to play here, it’s my second home, and it’s the best tournament that I have ever played on the PSA.”

Asal will clash with World Champion Tarek Momen for a place in the semi-finals, with Momen dispatching Malaysia’s Eain Yow Ng by a 3-1 margin.

Meanwhile, defending champion Ali Farag is through to the quarter-finals where he will take on World Championship runner-up Paul Coll in a mouthwatering fixture after they beat Egypt’s Youssef Soliman and England’s Tom Richards, respectively.

Farag, the World No.1, completed an 11-9, 11-9, 11-7 victory over Soliman and will now look to extend his 10-match winning run over the Kiwi, with Coll’s only victory over him coming here in New York back in 2017.

“He didn’t make it easy for me,” Farag said.

“I was listening during the pre-match introductions and Youssef has had an amazing year, he’s been beating a lot of top players and he has shown on this court that he has been playing really solidly, so I had to be on my metal from the beginning. He didn’t make it easy but I think a bit of experience at the end of the games made the difference.”

The second round of the women’s event continued today as two American players – Olivia Blatchford Clyne and Sabrina Sobhy – booked their round three berths courtesy of wins over World No.9 Tesni Evans and World No.15 Victoria Lust.

Blatchford Clyne’s clash with Evans was cut short after the Welsh player rolled her ankle early on in the opening game, and the US No.2 will now take on reigning champion Nour El Sherbini after the Egyptian defeated Dutch player Milou van der Heijden in straight games to kickstart only her second tournament of the season.

“It’s awful, I’m very blessed that I’ve never had that happen to me,” Blatchford Clyne said.

“I’m sure she’s heartbroken and I’m heartbroken for her. I’m also gutted I didn’t get to do it, but I just hope that she’s able to recover as quickly as possible. She’s a really tough, entertaining cookie and I’m sure she will be back soon.”

World No.39 Sobhy continued her fine tournament so far as she followed up an opening day win over Hong Kong’s Joey Chan to beat the higher-ranked Lust to become the only member of the Sobhy family to reach the last 16 after older sister Amanda bowed out in a shock loss to World No.27 Emily Whitlock yesterday.

“She made it incredibly challenging for me,” said Sobhy.

“I needed to focus point by point and on my game and not let the crowd or my emotions get involved. It’s big to be able to see my family and friends supporting me here and makes these matches more memorable. My goal was actually just to get past the first round, so it’s going to be really cool playing on the glass.”

Sobhy will play England’s Sarah-Jane Perry for a place in the last eight, with Perry beating Belgium’s Nele Gilis in a match which saw a 16-14 win for Perry in a nail-biting first game prove crucial.

Meanwhile, Australia’s Donna Lobban donated $1 from every point won in her clash with Egypt’s Nour El Tayeb to go towards the aid in Australia helping to stop the devastating bushfires that are affecting the country at the moment. The World No.47 tested El Tayeb, but the World No.4 pulled through to book her last 16 spot against Egypt’s Salma Hany.

New Zealand’s Joelle King and India’s Joshna Chinappa also claimed wins and will contest the other third round fixture on the bottom half of the women’s draw.

The men’s third round begins tomorrow, while round two action of the women’s event continues. Action at Grand Central Terminal begins at 12:00 (GMT-5) and will be shown live on SQUASHTV (rest of world), Eurosport Player (Europe only) and the official Facebook page of the PSA World Tour.

Squash fans can also follow the event via the official tournament website, Twitter, Facebook and Instagram.

Results – Men’s Third Round (Top Half): 2020 J.P. Morgan Tournament of Champions
[1] Ali Farag (EGY) bt Youssef Soliman (EGY) 3-0: 11-9, 11-9, 11-7 (44m)
[5] Paul Coll (NZL) bt Tom Richards (ENG) 3-0: 11-5, 12-10, 11-1 (38m)
Mostafa Asal (EGY) bt Gregory Gaultier (FRA) 3-2: 5-11, 13-11, 12-10, 10-12, 11-5 (75m)
[4] Tarek Momen (EGY) bt Eain Yow Ng (MAS) 3-1: 11-9, 11-4, 3-11, 11-9 (42m)

Draw – Men’s Third Round (Bottom Half): To Be Played January 13th
[3] Karim Abdel Gawad (EGY) v Declan James (ENG)
Saurav Ghosal (IND) v [6] Simon Rösner (GER)
Joel Makin (WAL) v James Willstrop (ENG)
Gregoire Marche (FRA) v [2] Mohamed ElShorbagy (EGY)

Draw – Men’s Quarter-Finals (Top Half): To Be Played January 14th
[1] Ali Farag (EGY) v [5] Paul Coll (NZL)
Mostafa Asal (EGY) v [4] Tarek Momen (EGY)

Results – Women’s Second Round (Bottom Half): 2020 J.P. Morgan Tournament of Champions
[4] Nour El Tayeb (EGY) bt Donna Lobban (AUS) 3-0: 11-8, 11-9, 11-6 (22m)
[14] Salma Hany (EGY) bt Nadine Shahin (EGY) 3-0: 11-4, 11-8, 11-8 (26m)
[12] Joshna Chinappa (IND) bt Tinne Gilis (BEL) 3-0: 11-7, 11-6, 11-9 (33m)
[6] Joelle King (NZL) bt Julianne Courtice (ENG) 3-0: 11-9, 11-2, 11-4 (25m)
[8] Sarah-Jane Perry (ENG) bt Nele Gilis (BEL) 3-0: 16-14, 11-7, 11-7 (39m)
Sabrina Sobhy (USA) bt [15] Victoria Lust (ENG) 3-1: 10-12, 11-6, 11-9, 12-10 (42m)
Olivia Blatchford Clyne (USA) bt [9] Tesni Evans (WAL) 3-0: 7-4 retired (17m)
[2] Nour El Sherbini (EGY) bt Milou van der Heijden (NED) 3-0: 11-4, 11-8, 11-4 (24m)

Draw – Women’s Third Round (Top Half): To Be Played January 13th
[1] Raneem El Welily (EGY) v [11] Annie Au (HKG)
[16] Yathreb Adel (EGY) v [5] Camille Serme (FRA)
Emily Whitlock (ENG) v [13] Alison Waters (ENG)
[10] Hania El Hammamy (EGY) v [3] Nouran Gohar (EGY)

Draw – Women’s Third Round (Bottom Half): To Be Played January 14th
[4] Nour El Tayeb (EGY) v [14] Salma Hany (EGY)
[12] Joshna Chinappa (IND) v [6] Joelle King (NZL)
[8] Sarah-Jane Perry (ENG) v Sabrina Sobhy (USA)
Olivia Blatchford Clyne (USA) v [2] Nour El Sherbini (EGY)

Pictures courtesy of  PSA World Tour

Gloucester's Wales Under-18 wing Louis Rees-Zammit has signed a first senior deal, extending his stay at the club.

The 18-year-old starred as the Cherry and Whites claimed a bonus-point victory over French side Montpellier in the European Champions Cup on Saturday.

Enjoying a breakthrough campaign, 6ft 3in Rees-Zammit has scored nine tries in all competitions this season.

As the contract is his first senior deal, he remains eligible for selection for Wales, despite playing in England.

"I am delighted that my contract at Gloucester has been further extended to a senior squad long-term contract," Rees-Zammit told the club website.

"My dream is to represent Wales at an international level, and I just want to keep working hard to achieve this goal, along with helping Gloucester reach our ambitions for success."

The Cherry and Whites have not specified the length of Rees-Zammit's "long-term" deal.

Gloucester director of rugby David Humphreys added: "Louis has had an amazing start to his professional rugby career at Gloucester.

"Not many 18-year-old academy players get an opportunity to play regularly in the Premiership and Champions Cup, but Louis has taken his chance.

"Louis has a very exciting future ahead of him and if he continues to work hard at his game, he will achieve success at club level and ultimately at international level with Wales."

SAN TAN VALLEY, Ariz. – Brandon Sheppard broke through for his first victory of the season during night two of the Keyser Manufacturing Wild West Shootout on Sunday at FK Rod Ends Arizona Speedway.

Sheppard started the evening off well, earning the second quickest time amongst the second qualifying group in Dirt Track Bank Super Late Model action presented by Black Diamond Race Cars, coming just one tenth of a second short of Ricky Weiss’ 14.878 second lap around the three-eighths-mile FK Rod Ends Arizona Speedway track surface.

Sheppard made easy work of his heat race, winning over Weiss by nearly two and a half seconds.  Along with the other three heat race winners, this placed Sheppard in the redraw.  Ironically, each heat race winner drew the starting position that matched the order of their heat races. This meant Sheppard would start on the outside pole, sharing the front row with Don Shaw.

Shaw jumped out to the early lead in the 40-lap feature, with Sheppard in hot pursuit, followed by the night’s quickest qualifier, Brian Birkhofer.  Birkhofer’s 14.790-second lap was the quickest time of the night and quickest of the event, to this point, earning him the $100 Fast Qualifier award, courtesy of SportTruck RV and Screven Motor Speedway.  Unfortunately for Birkhofer, this would be the closest that he would be to the leaders, for the rest of the evening. Meanwhile, Sheppard wasted little time in disposing of Shaw for the lead, claiming the top spot at the completion of lap eight.

The first caution flag waved just a few laps later, when Johnny Scott lost his entire left rear wheel and tire.  The second and final caution occurred just before halfway, when Cade Dillard slowed to a stop at pit entrance.  Sheppard executed flawless restarts and continued to maintain his lead, while positions were being swapped behind him.

Sunday night’s race began taking its final mold with 15 laps to go, as Bobby Pierce charged to second place and started closing in on Sheppard.  Weiss followed, keeping pace with both of them, as they began to encounter lapped traffic.  However, nothing was going to rattle Sheppard on this night, as he sliced his way through the slower traffic with perfection.  Weiss was able to catch and pass Pierce with five laps to go, focusing his sights on Sheppard and began cutting into his lead.  However, Weiss could only pull within a couple car lengths of Sheppard and settled for the runner-up position.

Sheppard’s Sunday night triumph netted him a $5,000 payday and marked his second career Keyser Manufacturing Wild West Shootout victory.  Pierce faded in the closing laps and finished a distant third, with Chase Junghans and Birkhofer completing the top five.

Rodney Sanders of Happy, Texas claimed this third victory of the year in Mesilla Valley Transportation/Border Tire Arizona Differential Modified competition. Unlike the Late Model feature, the pole-sitter did not get the early jump in this one, as outside front row starter Travis Saurer, led the first few laps.

However, it didn’t take Sanders long before he passed Saurer and began to stretch his lead.  Fellow MB Customs Chassis competitors, Lucas Schott and Tyler Wolff remained within striking distance of Sanders, but they didn’t have enough to make a move.  Sanders won the 25-lap, $2,000 feature by nearly two seconds over Schott and Wolff, while Dustin Strand and Matt Gilbertson rounded-out the top five finishers.

The RHRSwag.com Barnett Harley-Davidson X-Mods also raced for 25 laps on Sunday night, one of two times that division will compete for a $1,000 prize during the Keyser Manufacturing Wild West Shootout.

Kris Jackson controlled the first half of the race and seemed on his way to his first event victory.  However, Josh Cain had other plans, as he tracked down Jackson and made the pass easily near the halfway mark. Jackson slipped into the grips of Saturday night’s feature winner, Brock Gronwold and the two made contact at the exit of turn four, ending both of their chances of winning.  This eliminated Cain’s biggest challengers and he cruised to the win over Clint Johnson, while Lance Schill earned his second podium finish in as many nights, finishing third on Sunday.

The finish:

1. B5-Brandon Sheppard[2]; 2. 7-Ricky Weiss[6]; 3. 32-Bobby Pierce[4]; 4. 18-Chase Junghans[9]; 5. 15B-Brian Birkhofer[3]; 6. 32S-Chris Simpson[17]; 7. 3S-Brian Shirley[10]; 8. 89-Mike Spatola[5]; 9. 75T-Terry Phillips[11]; 10. 99JR-Frank Heckenast Jr[14]; 11. 19R-Ryan Gustin[13]; 12. 20RT-Ricky Thornton Jr[21]; 13. 2-Garrett Alberson[12]; 14. 91T-Tony Toste[24]; 15. 74-Mitch McGrath[20]; 16. 37-Rob Mayea[16]; 17. 91P-Jason Papich; 18. 1-Earl Pearson Jr[8]; 19. 2S-Stormy Scott[18]; 20. 42S-Don Shaw[1]; 21. 28M-Jimmy Mars[15]; 22. 97-Cade Dillard[23]; 23. 1ST-Johnny Scott[7]; 24. 77M-Jay Morris[22]; 25. 15-Justin Duty[19]