Jim Brown, widely considered the most dominant football player of his era and one of the best running backs of all time, has died. He was 87.
A bruising runner who never missed a game, Brown led the NFL in rushing in eight of his nine seasons with the Cleveland Browns and appeared in nine consecutive Pro Bowls. He averaged 104.3 rushing yards per game and remains the only player in league history to average over 100 rushing yards per game for his career.
Brown won the league’s MVP award in 1957, 1958 and 1965. At the time of his retirement in 1966, Brown held the single season rushing record with 1,863 yards and was the career rushing leader with 12, 132 yards. He was inducted into the Pro Football Hall of Fame in 1971 in his first year of eligibility.
"Jim Brown was a combination of speed and power like nobody who has ever played the game," former NFL player and coach Dick LeBeau told Sports Illustrated in 2015.
"If he got into the secondary, he was so good at setting you up and then making you miss. You just didn't know if you were going to get a big collision or be grabbing at his shoelaces."
Brown became one of the first pro athletes to parlay his fame into notable off-the-field accomplishments and made the transition to acting while still playing for the Browns.
He stunned the sports world by announcing his retirement prior to the 1966 season at 30 years old. Brown went on to appear in over 30 films, including The Dirty Dozen and Ice Station Zebra as well as the blaxploitation movies Slaughter and Three the Hard Way.
While playing a variety of roles, Brown performed with some of the leading stars of the day. He appeared with Raquel Welch in 100 Rifles and was involved in one of the first interracial love scenes.
Overshadowed by his remarkable NFL career, Brown's college career at Syracuse was equally impressive. He was a consensus first-team All-American and finished fifth in the Heisman Trophy voting in his 1956 senior season after he rushed for 986 yards and 13 touchdowns despite playing only eight games.
Brown, who also excelled in basketball, track and especially lacrosse at Syracuse, was named the greatest college football player of all time by ESPN during a ceremony at the College Football Playoff National Championship Game on January 13, 2020.
Brown was also no stranger to public service. He created the Negro Industrial and Economic Union in the early 1960s to help establish black entrepreneurs and was an activist during the civil rights movement.
He then spent much of his post-NFL career fighting for social justice and change. In 1986 he founded Vital Issues, aimed at teaching life management skills and personal growth techniques to inner-city gang members and prison inmates.
Brown also experienced his share of legal troubles throughout his life and was dogged for years by accusations that he physically abused women.
He was arrested in 1999 following a domestic disturbance with his wife, who accused Brown of making threats towards her. A jury later found Brown guilty of hitting his wife's car with a shovel during the incident. He was fined $1,800 and sentenced to three years' probation and one year of domestic violence counselling.
Brown served as an executive adviser to the Browns from 2005-2010 and was named a special adviser to the team in 2013.
He is survived by his four children, as well as his first wife, Sue Jones, and second wife, Monique.
Browns score late touchdown to end Steelers' streak in snowy contest
Nick Chubb ran for a 2-yard touchdown in heavy snow with 57 seconds left, and the Cleveland Browns stunned division rival Pittsburgh 24-19 on Thursday night, ending the Steelers' five-game winning streak.
Chubb's score came in his first game against the AFC North-leading Steelers (8-3) since the running back sustained a season-ending left knee injury on a carry last year at Pittsburgh.
The Browns (3-8) had blown a 12-point lead in the fourth quarter and were down 19-18 before getting the ball back with 3:22 remaining after Pittsburgh punter Corliss Waitman shanked a 16-yarder.
With snow piling up and covering the yard lines on the field, Cleveland's Jameis Winston completed a third-down pass to Jerry Jeudy to the Pittsburgh 9. Two plays later, Chubb barrelled into the end zone.
The Steelers had one last chance, but quarterback Russell Wilson's Hail Mary on the final play was knocked down by Browns safety Grant Delpit in the end zone, touching off a wild celebration at Huntington Bank Field.
NFL: Texans bounce back, extend Cowboys' woes
Joe Mixon's 109 rushing yards and three touchdowns helped get the Houston Texans back on track with Monday's 34-10 win over the floundering Dallas Cowboys.
Houston (7-4) snapped a two-game losing streak behind Mixon's powerful running and a defence that sacked Cowboys' fill-in quarterback Cooper Rush five times and forced two turnovers, including a fumble Derek Barnett returned 28 yards for a touchdown that gave the Texans a 27-10 lead in the fourth quarter.
Dallas (3-7) has now lost five straight, its longest skid since dropping seven in a row in 2015, and fell to 0-5 at home. The Cowboys have been outscored by 118 points (187-69) at AT&T Stadium, the third-largest negative differential through five home games in a season in NFL history.
Rush did throw a 64-yard touchdown pass to KaVontae Turpin in his second straight start subbing for an injured Dak Prescott, and finished with a career-high 354 passing yards with one interception while completing 32 of 55 attempts.
C.J. Stroud threw for 257 yards with an interception for Houston, which extended its lead over the second-place Indianapolis Colts to two games in the AFC South.
The Texans never trailed after Mixon ripped off a 45-yard touchdown run on the game's opening drive, and the veteran running back added a 1-yard scoring plunge late in the first quarter to give Houston a 14-0 lead.
Turpin got Dallas on the board by taking a short pass from Rush and breaking free from the Houston defence nine seconds into the second quarter, but the Cowboys were shut out in the second half after pulling to within 17-10 on Brandon Aubrey's 53-yard field goal with just under six minutes left before half-time.
Burnett's strip sack of Rush and return of the resulting fumble helped put the game away with 12:31 left, and Mixon tacked on his final touchdown of the night with 3:16 remaining to cap a 35-yard drive that began after the Texans stopped the Cowboys on downs.
Mahomes to use Chiefs' first loss of 2024 as 'spark'
Patrick Mahomes said the Kansas City Chiefs will use their first loss since Christmas Day 2023 as fuel after the Buffalo Bills halted their unbeaten start to the season.
Josh Allen scrambled for a stunning 26-yard touchdown with just over two minutes to play as the Bills improved to 9-2 with a 30-21 win over the reigning Super Bowl champions.
The result ended the Chiefs' 15-game winning streak, a run that began after they lost to the Los Vegas Raiders on Christmas Day last year and included their dramatic triumph over the San Francisco 49ers at Super Bowl LVIII.
The Chiefs had started this season 9-0 to take control of the race for the AFC's top seed, but they could have few complaints about Sunday's result.
The Bills outgained the Chiefs by 366 yards to 259, also recording 24 first downs to Kansas City's 19 and enjoying almost nine more minutes in possession.
Mahomes, however, was relaxed about the end of his team's winning streak, saying: "The undefeated thing was cool, but that's not our ultimate goal.
"It's a good football team, so there's nothing to hang your head about. We feel like we can play better, so we will get back to work and try to use this as a spark so that we can be a better football team in the end."
The Chiefs rank just 16th in the NFL for yards per game (337.9) and 11th for points per game (24) in 2024, with many of their victories – including against the Denver Broncos in Week 10 and the Baltimore Ravens in Week 1 – coming via last-gasp defensive or special teams plays.
Mahomes actually feels the team could benefit from a reality check, adding: "I'm hoping that [losing] is a benefit.
"I'm not going to say I or we are relaxed, but at the same time I feel like we were just coming away with these wins at the end of the games.
"I think it's going to spark us to have more urgency, especially at the start of football games, especially with the offense, and that comes from me and turning the ball over on the first drive. It's something you can't do in big games like this."
No quarterback has thrown more interceptions than Mahomes' 11 (level with Geno Smith and Jordan Love) this season, while a passer rating of 90.3 ranks him a lowly 20th among all players at the position.
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