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SPORTS Thursday 7 January 2021
Week 17 scoring bonanza caps record-setting season

By JOSH DUBOW The two teams with New
AP Pro Football Writer York in their name once
The Week 17 scoring bo- again finished near the
nanza provided the per- bottom of the NFL. The
fect finish to a record-set- Jets had the second-worst
ting season on offense. mark at 2-14 and the Gi-
Teams combined for 100 ants were only moderately
touchdowns in the final better at 6-10. It's been a
week of the season for the recurring problem for the
second-most in NFL history two teams that play in the
in a single week behind shadow of the Big Apple as
only the 104 scored in Week the Giants haven't been to
14 of the 2013 season. the playoffs since 2016 and
That helped finish off the the Jets have the longest
highest-scoring season in active drought since 2010.
NFL history with the 24.8 The two are tied for the
point per game average worst overall record in the
topping the previous mark NFL since 2017 with 18-48
of 23.4 in 2013 and the AFL marks. It's a far cry from the
record of 24.5 in 1961. NFL's other two-team city
There were several players with the Los Angeles Rams
who had memorable sea- (43-21) and Chargers (33-
sons of their own to con- Tennessee Titans running back Derrick Henry (22) runs for a touchdown as Houston Texans de- 31) both having winning re-
tribute to the high-scoring fends chase him during the first half of an NFL football game Sunday, Jan. 3, 2021, in Houston. cords in that span.
campaign led by Green Associated Press TRAVELING CHEF
Bay's dynamic duo of Aar- Wherever Brandin Cooks
on Rodgers and Davante backs also had memorable Tennessee's Derrick Henry for first the following season goes, 1,000-yard receiv-
Adams. years with Buffalo's Josh Al- led the league 2,027 yards when the Eagles beat New ing seasons seem to follow.
Rodgers threw 48 TD pass- len throwing for 4,544 yards rushing, become the eighth England for the title. Cooks had 81 catches for
es, tied with Dan Marino and 37 TDs, to go along player to top 2,000. He also The other repeaters in point 1,150 yards in his first sea-
for fifth most in a season, with eight touchdown runs. became the first player differential were the 49ers, son in Houston, giving him
and posted a 121.5 passer He became the first player since LaDainian Tomlinson who did it four straight years at least 1,000 in five of the
rating, which was second with at least 4,500 yards to lead the league in rush- from 1992-95, the Bears past six seasons.
highest to his 122.5 in 2011. passing, 35 TD passes and ing in back-to-back sea- (1985-86), Eagles (1980-81) Those productive years
Adams led the NFL with 18 five TD runs in a single sea- sons. and Steelers (1975-76). have come in four cities as
touchdown receptions de- son. SCORING MARGIN On the other end of the Cooks topped the 1,000-
spite missing two games, Justin Herbert of the Char- The Ravens became the spectrum was Cleve- yard mark in 2015-16 with
tied for the third most ever gers set a rookie record sixth team since the merger land, which became the New Orleans, 2017 in New
in a season to Randy Moss' with 31 TD passes. to lead the NFL in point dif- ninth team in the Super England, 2018 with the Los
23 in 2007 and Jerry Rice's Minnesota's Justin Jefferson ferential in back-to-back Bowl era to win at least 10 Angeles Rams and this sea-
22 in 12 games in 1987. had 1,400 yards receiving, seasons, finishing this sea- games while getting out- son with the Texans.
Tom Brady threw 40 TD the most by a rookie in the son at plus-165, 20 points scored (minus-11 points). The only other player in the
passes at age 43, joining Super Bowl era. ahead of the Saints. The Browns joined the 2012 Super Bowl era to record
Rodgers as one of five QBs It was a big season on the The last team to do it was Colts (minus-30) as the only 1,000-yard receiving sea-
with at least two 40-TD sea- ground, too, with a record the Patriots, who led out- teams to win 11 games in sons with four franchises is
sons. Rodgers became the 532 TD runs and the 118.9 right on the way to the Su- a season when they were Brandon Marshall, who did
first player with three. yards per game ranking as per Bowl title in 2016 and outscored. it with Denver, Miami, Chi-
A couple of young quarter- the highest since 1988. were tied with Philadelphia NEW YUK, NEW YUK cago and the Jets.q

Al-Attiyah wins third Dakar Rally stage, still 2nd overall

JEDDAH, Saudi Arabia (AP) — hind but powered home to finish Mathieu Serradori, who started the Defending champion Ricky Bra-
Nasser Al-Attiyah won a third con- second by just 11 seconds. day third overall, suffered an early bec was nearly 13 minutes off the
secutive stage of the Dakar Rally "We aren't making too many mis- navigation error, lost more than 20 pace, and Pablo Quintanilla, the
in Saudi Arabia and remained five takes," Peterhansel said. "In the minutes, and slid to seventh. In the runner-up last year, was 7 1/2 min-
minutes behind overall leader Ste- old times, 50% of all contenders motorbike class, Joan Barreda of utes off. De Soultrait, who was sev-
phane Peterhansel on Wednes- would be knocked out by driving Portugal won the stage from start- enth in 2019, led overall by only 15
day. mistakes or technical issues, but ing 30th, and was second overall seconds from Barreda. Branch, Ar-
Al-Attiyah opened the 337-kilo- it's become far less common, so to Xavier de Soultrait, the fifth dif- gentine brothers Kevin and Lucia-
meter (209-mile) special between you just have to hold on." ferent leader in five days. Only 5 no Benavides and previous leader
Wadi Ad-Dawasir and Riyadh and Sebastien Loeb also had a great 1/2 minutes separate the top six Skyler Howes were all within seven
led for almost all of it, out-dueling finish to place fourth, while de- riders. seconds of each other.
Toyota teammate and Dakar fending champion Carlos Sainz Barreda dominated the stage -- "It's difficult to open up large gaps
newcomer Henk Lategan and did not, dropping from second to he also won stage two -- followed in stages like these," de Soultrait
seven-time champion Peterhan- fifth after starting 17th. by Ross Branch of Botswana. Aus- said. "We'd have to attack like a
sel. Peterhansel remained the overall tralian newcomer Daniel Sanders madman, but we're already go-
Lategan led the fourth stage brief- leader and Al-Attiyah was sec- was third. ing very fast. I again reached 175
ly after the midway point, while ond. Nobody else was within 30 Toby Price, who has also won two kph. I could go faster, but I don't
Peterhansel started the last 40 ki- minutes of them. Sainz was third, stages, had an unplanned de- feel like it. You also need to follow
lometers more than a minute be- Loeb fourth, and Lategan fifth. tour early and lost five minutes. the roadbook."q