Sports
Zero interceptions: Jets can make history Sunday if they fail to make a pick
BALTIMORE — A look at what’s happening around the New York Jets:
1. Long overdue: Call it quirky. Call it shocking. Soon, you might have to call it historical.
The Jets have yet to intercept a pass. Ten games, 302 passes, zero picks.
If the drought continues Sunday against the Baltimore Ravens, they will be the first team in NFL history to go without an interception through its first 11 games, and picking off Ravens quarterback Lamar Jackson may be a tough task — as he’s only thrown three interceptions in seven games.
The longest interception slump at any point in a season since 1960 is 14 in a row (San Francisco 49ers, 2024).
“That’s — wow, I don’t know what to really say about that,” Jets all-time interception leader Bill Baird, 86, said by phone from Fresno, California. “That seems to go along with their struggles.”
Baird, a starting safety on the Jets’ Super Bowl III team in 1969, knows a thing or two about interceptions. He made 34 in his career and coached the Jets’ defensive backs from 1981 to 1984. He honed his craft as a rookie on the Baltimore Colts, covering the likes of Raymond Berry and John Mackey with Johnny Unitas throwing the ball — all future Hall of Famers.
“The No. 1 reason to play defensive back,” Baird said, “is to get interceptions.”
Current Jets players and coaches are aware of the oh-fer. They discuss interceptions in meetings. They watch video clips of other teams, how they attack the ball, how they turn deflections into big plays. Week after week, they see teams get fluke interceptions.
How come the Jets can’t catch a break?
“I don’t believe in luck,” defensive coordinator Steve Wilks said. “We have to create our own luck.”
The irony is the Jets are coached by one of the most prolific interceptors in team history. Aaron Glenn made 24 in his Jets career, tied for fourth on the all-time list. Glenn said “it’s tough to imagine” having no interceptions and only one takeaway (fumble recovery).
The Jets’ drought is more mind-boggling when you consider:
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They have faced six of the 13 most interception-prone quarterbacks — Tua Tagovailoa (13), Joe Flacco (nine), Josh Allen (nine), Bo Nix (eight), Aaron Rodgers (seven) and Bryce Young (seven).
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They’re tied for sixth in pass break-ups (39), which means they’re getting hands on the ball. They’ve been charged with two dropped interceptions, per ESPN Research. Oddly, both occurred on first-and-10 plays with 27 seconds left in the second quarter — Nov. 9 against the Cleveland Browns (Jarvis Brownlee Jr.) and Nov. 13 against the New England Patriots (Tony Adams–Qwan’tez Stiggers collision).
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They’ve been out-intercepted by 148 individual players, including six defensive linemen. Even Dexter Lawrence II, listed at 340 pounds, has a pick. Sixteen rookies have at least one, including RJ Mickens (two), son of former Jets cornerback Ray Mickens (11).
Since 1960, when the Jets became a franchise, the record for fewest interceptions in a season is two (49ers, 2018). The fewest for the Jets is six (2014), Rex Ryan’s final year as coach.
2. Lame-duck QB? Glenn deflected a question about Justin Fields‘ future with the team, but it’s certainly one worth examining now that he has been benched in favor of Tyrod Taylor.
It seems clear they will have a new starter next season. Do they keep Fields as a backup? If they do, his contract will have to be renegotiated. He’s due to make $20 million, which exceeds the market value for a backup. Half of that is fully guaranteed.
Maybe they retain Fields as a backup if they bring in an established starter, but it’s unclear if a player of that ilk will be available. If they release him — the likely scenario — it leaves a $22 million cap charge and $10 million cash payout. They can absorb the entire cap hit in 2026 or have it spread over two years.
Their quarterback plan should start to unfold in March, when free agency and trading begin.
3. Where it all started: Taylor, 36, called it “a full-circle moment,” facing the team that drafted him in 2011. His longevity — his entire journey, for that matter — is a tremendous source of pride. He got a little nostalgic this week, mentioning that he did some reminiscing with former Ravens teammate Torrey Smith.
“I remember when I got drafted, there were some people who wanted to put me at wide receiver,” said Taylor, Flacco’s backup on the Ravens’ 2012 Super Bowl championship team. “I fought the notion down, and I stood firm that I was a quarterback. That’s what I played my whole life, and if given the opportunity, I can show that. Fifteen years later, I’m still proving it.”
4. Fab five: Taylor, picked in the sixth round, is one of only five players from the 2011 draft still active. The others: Von Miller (Washington Commanders), Cameron Jordan (New Orleans Saints), Cameron Heyward (Pittsburgh Steelers) and Andy Dalton (Carolina Panthers).
5. What’s cooking? A lot of fans are interested in knowing if rookie quarterback Brady Cook, on the practice squad, will see game action this season. It sounds like a possibility, though not any time soon.
Glenn said they have a plan for Cook, adding, “And who knows? We’ll see what happens as the season progresses. I’m not promising anything, but he knows exactly what his role is when it comes to this team.”
Cook, undrafted out of Missouri, played 77 snaps in the preseason, beating out Adrian Martinez for the practice squad job. He’s known as a quick processor with good mobility but limited arm strength.
Fans are always intrigued by the unknown, and their desperation for a quarterback has made Cook a popular guy these days. He certainly has a name — “Brady” — that makes you think anything is possible.
6. Scouting Mendoza: The draft is five months away, but there’s already a growing buzz about the Jets and Indiana’s Fernando Mendoza, perhaps the top quarterback prospect. The question is whether he’s worth a top-10 pick.
“When you’re desperate, you can create a guy,” a longtime personnel executive said. “There’s enough with Mendoza to do that.”
In his latest mock draft, ESPN draft analyst Matt Miller has the Jets trading up for Mendoza at No. 1 overall. The Jets’ scouts are paying a lot of attention to Mendoza; general manager Darren Mougey has watched him play in person at least once — but the evaluation process is in the early stages.
7. Sugar-free edge rusher: Jermaine Johnson wants to drop some pounds and add some speed, so he’s “staying off sugary drinks” during the season. He’s looking for that little extra burst that can turn a quarterback pressure into a sack. Maybe it’s working; he has a two-game sack streak.
8. Did you know? The Jets have $101 million in “dead” money counting on this year’s salary cap, according to Spotrac. That’s the second-highest total in the league and represents nearly 40% of their total cap. That’s what you call paying for a lot of past mistakes.
9. For history buffs: Sunday marks the 30th anniversary of Leon Hess’ famous “horses’ asses” speech. On Nov. 23, 1995 — Thanksgiving Day — the late Jets owner gathered the team on the practice field and gave a fiery pep talk. At the time, the Jets were 2-9.
“Now let’s go out there and show ’em we’re not a bunch of horses’ asses,” Hess, 81 at the time, told the players.
Sure enough, the Jets went to Seattle that weekend and actually won, their last victory in a 3-13 season. They proceeded to lose their next 12 games, not winning again until the following Oct. 27, nearly a full year between victories.
10. The last word: “The drops, that happens occasionally, but what I see there is separation. I see separation and, to me, that gets me fired up. That gets me excited about that player and where he’s going to go. We haven’t seen it. We haven’t even scratched the surface with that guy.” – offensive coordinator Tanner Engstrand on wide receiver Adonai Mitchell
Sports
Transfer rumors, news: Dembélé to turn down PSG extension
Ousmane Dembélé is going to reject a new contract offer from Paris Saint-Germain, and Arsenal have their eye on Newcastle defender Tino Livramento. Join us for the latest transfer news and rumors from around the globe.
Transfers home page | Men’s winter grades | Women’s grades
TOP STORIES
– San Diego working on exit of Mexico star Lozano
– Man City confirm Semenyo signing in $84m deal
– Sources: Saka to sign new five-year deal at Arsenal
TRENDING RUMORS
– Ballon d’Or winner Ousmane Dembélé is set to reject Paris Saint-Germain‘s contract extension offer, as per Footmercato. Despite being offered a new deal which would see him earn €30m per year, the forward is holding out for double that amount. Dembélé, 28, is entering the final two years of his current PSG contract this summer, which may draw the attention of clubs around Europe.
– Arsenal are plotting to sign Newcastle United full-back Tino Livramento next summer, according to The Sun. Manchester City are also reported to be monitoring the 23-year-old, although it remains to be seen how concrete their interest is. Livramento is entering the final two years of his deal at Newcastle, with the club set to prioritize extending that in the coming months. A £60m valuation has previously been mooted for the England international, who is likely to feature at this summer’s World Cup.
– England midfielder Georgia Stanway will leave Bayern Munich at the end of the season, she has announced. Stanway, who has 87 England caps, joined Bayern from Manchester City in 2022 and has won three league titles in Germany, as well as two European Championships with the Lionesses. “The decision to leave was incredibly difficult. I definitely didn’t make it lightly. I’ve made friends and memories here that will last a lifetime, and I’ve been able to develop enormously as both a player and a person.”
– Aston Villa are exploring the idea of signing Atletico Madrid midfielder Conor Gallagher this month, TalkSPORT has revealed. The former Chelsea star would welcome a return to the Premier League, having started just four La Liga games this season. Villa are open to the idea of signing him on loan with a future permanent transfer clause, a deal that would satisfy any short-term PSR concerns. Gallagher has been in Madrid since the summer of 2024 and has almost four years remaining on his current deal.
– Marcus Rashford has already informed Barcelona of his desire to stay at the club beyond this season, according to Fabrizio Romano. While no formal agreement between the two parties is in place just yet, Barca are said to be “very happy” with the England international’s contributions. The Catalan giants have the option to sign Rashford permanently from Manchester United for around €30m this summer.
OTHER RUMORS
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Guardiola: Semenyo chose Manchester City after interest from ‘many clubs’
Pep Guardiola talks about Antoine Semenyo’s decision to join Manchester City from Bournemouth.
– Hungary midfielder Dominik Szoboszlai, 25, has reached an agreement in principle to extend his contract at Liverpool, rejecting interest from Real Madrid and Bayern Munich. (CaughtOffside)
– Atalanta forward Daniel Maldini is a January option for Juventus. The Italy international is viewed as a potential back-up for Kenan Yıldız. (Matteo Moretto)
– Rangers have enquired about the possibility of signing Sunderland duo Dan Neil and Romaine Mundle. Sunderland are open to letting the latter leave on loan this month, with Espanyol and Club Brugge also keen. (Sky Sports)
– Everton are tracking Genoa’s Brook Norton-Cuffy and Bologna’s Emil Holm as they target a new right-back signing. A new winter arrival would likely see Nathan Patterson leave the club on loan. (Sky Sports)
– Al Hilal are closing in on a deal to sign former Arsenal defender Pablo Marí in a €2m deal. (Fabrizio Romano)
– Manchester City have agreed a deal to sign Scottish wonderkid Keir McMeekin from Hearts. (Fabrizio Romano)
– Stuttgart striker Jovan Milošević is on the verge of joining Werder Bremen on loan until the end of the season, with a medical set to take place this weekend. (Sky Germany)
– Atlanta United are advancing on a deal to acquire left-back Elías Báez from San Lorenzo for a fee in the region of $3 million. (Tom Bogert)
– Thomas Tuchel, Carlo Ancelotti and Mauricio Pochettino are all on Manchester United’s managerial shortlist to replace Ruben Amorim. (Daily Mirror)
Sports
US figure skating power couple makes history with record breaking seventh national championship
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U.S. figure skating stars Madison Chock and Evan Bates made history on Saturday with their record-setting seventh U.S. Figure Skating title in their final competition before the Milan Cortina Olympics.
The three-time reigning world champions, performing a flamenco-style dance to a version of the Rolling Stones hit “Paint It Black” from the dystopian sci-fi Western show “Westworld,” produced a season-best free skate and finished with 228.87 points.
“The feeling that we got from the audience today was unlike anything I’ve ever felt before,” Chock said.
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Madison Chock and Evan Bates of United States perform during ISU World Figure Skating Championships – Boston, at TD Garden, on March 28, 2025 in Boston, Massachusetts. (Jurij Kodrun – International Skating Union/International Skating Union via Getty Images)
They’ll be the heavy favorites to win gold next month in Italy.
“I felt so much love and joy,” Chock continued, “and I’m so grateful for this moment.”
U.S. Figure Skating will announce its selections on Sunday.
Emilea Zingas and Vadym Kolesnik were second with 213.65 points and Christina Carreira and Anthony Ponomarenko were third with 206.95, making those two pairs the likely choices to join Chock and Bates on the American squad for the upcoming Winter Games.
The men’s medals also were to be decided on Saturday, though two-time world champion Ilia Malinin had built such a lead after his short program that the self-styled “Quad God” would have to stumble mightily to miss out on a fourth consecutive title.
The U.S. also has qualified the maximum of three men’s spots for the Winter Games, and competition is tight between second-place Tomoko Hiwatashi, fan favorite Jason Brown, Andrew Torgashev and Maxim Naumov to round out the nationals podium.
The last time Chock and Bates competed in the Olympics in 2022 in Beijing, they watched their gold initially go to an opponent who was later disqualified for doping violations.
Chock and Bates initially had to settle for team silver with their American teammates on the podium at the 2022 Beijing Olympics. Team Russia and Kamila Valieva, who was 15 at the time, stood above them with their gold medals.
It wasn’t until the end of January 2024, when the Court of Arbitration for Sport (CAS) found Valieva guilty of an anti-doping rule violation, when Chock, Bates and the U.S. were declared the rightful 2022 gold medalists.
UN URGES COUNTRIES TO HONOR TRUCE DURING WINTER OLYMPICS, NOT DENY VISAS TO ANY NATION’S ATHLETES

Madison Chock and Evan Bates compete in championship ice dance at the U.S. figure skating championships Saturday, Jan. 27, 2024, in Columbus, Ohio. (AP Photo/Sue Ogrocki)
Valieva tested positive for trimetazidine, a banned substance, during an anti-doping test at the Russian Figure Skating Championships in December 2021. She was suspended for four years and stripped of all competitive results since that date.
Chock and Bates spoke about what their message to Valieva would be today during an interview at the U.S. Olympic & Paralympic Committee media summit in October.
“It’s hard to, I think, imagine what a 15-year-old has gone through and under that kind of situation,” Bates said. “And I know how stressful it is, being an elite athlete as an adult, as a 36-year-old. And I think that grace should be given to humans across the board. And we can never really know the full situation, at least from our point of view. … I genuinely don’t know what I would say to her.”
Chock added, “I would just wish her well like as I would. I think life is short. And, at the end of the day, we’re all human just going through our own human experience together. And regardless of what someone has or hasn’t done and how it has affected you, I think it’s important to remember we’re humans as a collective, and we’re all here for this, our one moment on earth, at the same time. And I just wish people to have healthy, happy lives, full of people that love them.”
Chock and Bates had to wait more than two years after the initial Olympics to get their rightful gold medals, and they were finally presented with them during a ceremony at the Paris Olympics last summer.
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Madison Chock and Evan Bates of the USA perform in the Gala Exhibition during the ISU Grand Prix of Figure Skating Final Nagoya at IG Arena on December 07, 2025 in Nagoya, Japan. (Atsushi Tomura – International Skating Union/International Skating Union via Getty Images)
Chock, Bates and teammates Karen Chen, Nathan Chen, Zachary Donohue, Brandon Frazier, Madison Hubbell, Alexa Knierim and Vincent Zhou were given a specialized gold medal ceremony to receive the medals in front of more than 13,000 fans.
Chock and Bates became the first ice dancers to win three consecutive world championships in nearly three decades in March when they defeated Canadian rivals Piper Gilles and Paul Poirier.
The Associated Press contributed to this report.
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Sports
Clock is ticking for Frank at Spurs, with dwindling evidence he deserves extra time
LONDON — The previous Tottenham Hotspur head coach survived last season by having a trophy to play for. So where does Thomas Frank turn to now for inspiration?
Spurs’ 2-1 home defeat to Aston Villa ended their FA Cup campaign at the earliest possible opportunity. They are already out of the Carabao Cup and languish 14th in the Premier League. They still harbor hopes of reaching the UEFA Champions League knockout rounds, but not even the most optimistic Tottenham fan would give them a chance of winning Europe’s toughest club competition.
Frank will consequently feel very exposed right now. Ange Postecoglou had the shield of a Europa League campaign to bat away some of the mounting criticism of his tenure. It ultimately ended in glory, too, as Spurs won their first trophy in 17 years by lifting the Europa League in May. But his team’s underlying underperformance over such a long period of time still led to a change in the dugout.
There are deep-rooted problems that Frank has inherited: an imbalanced squad short on quality, an impatient fan base and a porous defense. The problem is, it is getting harder to see any signs of progress in resolving them.
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Tottenham’s early-season defensive resilience and set-piece prowess has dissipated. Villa eased into a 2-0 halftime lead here through goals from Emi Buendia and Donyell Malen, both well-worked but given undue space and time to play.
Their attack continues to look disjointed, even if Spurs rallied after the break. Wilson Odobert halved the deficit with a low drive on 54 minutes and although they found some spirit and intensity, Spurs ended with an expected goals figure of 0.55. This was not as bad as some of the toothless performances Frank has presided over, but nevertheless, they couldn’t consistently threaten Villa’s goal.
The modicum of second-half improvement can be interpreted two ways: It was either the dying embers of a failed regime or a flash of hope that Frank can elicit a longer-lasting uptick.
The Tottenham hierarchy now faces a test of nerve. Premier League games against West Ham United and Burnley come next. Both teams are currently in the bottom three. Failure to win either of those games would leave Frank’s future hanging by a thread.
There was a nod to the past here with Spurs’ matchday squad and program commemorating the 125-year anniversary of their first FA Cup win in 1901. Frank often talks about the future being brighter, when long-term absentees such as striker Dominic Solanke — who returned for the final seven minutes here after ankle surgery — attacker Dejan Kulusevski and midfielder James Maddison return to a side more steeped in his ideas.
Looking at the past and future is one thing, but the present is becoming a major problem. Spurs fans would be forgiven for thinking their season is petering out halfway through.
“Of course it is disappointing,” said Frank. “We are all hurt. There’s nothing we want to do more than to get through to the next round, no matter who we face. We played at home, we had a good opportunity.
“Unfortunately, we couldn’t go through. We went with full strength in terms of how we could do it. We all look back at the game and think we could do better in the first half, second half.”
The full-time fracas involving Villa striker Ollie Watkins, Spurs midfielder João Palhinha and a raft of other players was the sort of dust-up that often occurs at the end of a game, but cynics would put it alongside the loss of composure and discipline that is threatening to become a concerning trait under Frank. Perhaps that was why Frank took the unusual step of blaming Watkins, who went to acknowledge the Villa fans while very close to Palhinha.
“Of course, it is all about keeping a cool head,” he said. “The players gave everything out there, losing a tight game, the season is not going perfect and I think Ollie is very provoking in the way he’s going down to celebrate in front of the Villa fans.
“He is just walking into João and he could just easily walk around. Everyone who has a been of a competitive nature, it is difficult, that can trigger things.”
It can, but Spurs have been triggered by a lot lately, whether it is clashing with fans at Bournemouth in midweek or Djed Spence and Micky van de Ven appearing to snub Frank at full time of their defeat to Chelsea in November. Cristian Romero was suspended here after a red card against Liverpool, having received an extra game ban for “acting improperly by failing to leave the field of play promptly” following last month’s red card against Liverpool.
It all adds to a concerning wider picture. When Spurs sacked Postecoglou, a line from their accompanying club statement read: “It is crucial that we are able to compete on multiple fronts and believe a change of approach will give us the strongest chance for the coming season and beyond.”
That belief is being tested to the limit now.
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