Gerry Dulac: Steelers defense failed to close out a win — again

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Bill Belichick, who won six Super Bowl championships with the New England Patriots , has had discussions with North Carolina about the Tar Heels ' head-coaching job, sources told ESPN on Thursday. Belichick, 72, has been out of football this year after leaving the Patriots following the 2023 season. Sources told ESPN that Belichick, who's spent his entire career in the NFL, wants to coach and is open to listening to people at the college and NFL level. UNC fired Mack Brown on Nov. 26 after six seasons with the Tar Heels. The 73-year-old Brown, a College Football Hall of Famer, was in his second stint at the school. Belichick is only a year younger than Brown, who was the oldest coach in the FBS this season. Editor's Picks UNC names Kitchens interim as search continues 4d Andrea Adelson UNC's Brown loses finale, won't coach bowl game 4d Steelers OC Smith contacted by alma mater UNC 7d Brooke Pryor The Tar Heels went 44-33 under Brown from 2019 to '24 and finished 6-6 this season. Brown will not coach in UNC's bowl game, and Freddie Kitchens, the former Cleveland Browns coach who has served as UNC's run game coordinator and tight ends coach the past two seasons, is serving as interim head coach while the school seeks a replacement. Belichick is far and away the biggest name to surface in the North Carolina search, and sources said there is genuine interest on both sides. However, Tulane 's Jon Sumrall is also at or near the top of North Carolina's list and is expected to talk formally with school officials after the Green Wave's AAC Championship Game against Army on Friday. Other candidates for the job include Iowa State 's Matt Campbell, Georgia defensive coordinator Glenn Schumann and Steve Wilks, who was the Arizona Cardinals ' head coach in 2018 and the Carolina Panthers ' interim head coach in 2022. Wilks was a volunteer assistant this season at Charlotte. North Carolina had initially targeted Pittsburgh Steelers offensive coordinator Arthur Smith, a UNC graduate, but he declined the Tar Heels' overtures and instead wants to stay in the NFL. During Belichick's hiatus from coaching, he has made the media rounds this season. He's a regular on the "ManningCast" during ESPN's "Monday Night Football" and "The Pat McAfee Show" on ESPN and also part of the "Inside the NFL" crew on the CW Network. Belichick was with the Patriots for 24 seasons. He was also a part of two Super Bowl-winning teams with the New York Giants as Bill Parcells' defensive coordinator. Belichick's 333 wins as a head coach are second all time in the NFL to Don Shula's 347. Although Belichick never has coached in college, his father Steve was a longtime assistant at the U.S. Naval Academy, and Belichick grew up in Annapolis. InsideCarolina.com was the first to report that Belichick had interviewed with UNC. Information from ESPN's Adam Schefter was used in this report.Almost three quarters of Scottish businesses are confident about their prospects next year, a survey has suggested. The Bank of Scotland’s business barometer poll showed 73% of Scottish businesses expect to see turnover increase in 2025, up from 60% polled in 2023. Almost a quarter (23%) of businesses expect to see their revenue rise by between six and 10% over the next 12 months, with just over a fifth (21%) expecting it to grow by even more. The poll found that 70% of businesses were confident they would become more profitable in 2025, a two per cent increase when compared with the previous year. Revenue and profitability growth was firms’ top priority at 52%, though 40% said they will be targeting improved productivity, and the same proportion said they will be aiming to enhance their technology – such as automation or AI – or upskill their staff (both 29%). More than one in five (22%) want to improve their environmental sustainability. Other areas businesses are hoping to build upon AI-assisted technology (19%), and 24% will be investing in expanding into new UK markets and 23% plan to invest in staff training. The business barometer has surveyed 1,200 businesses every month since 2002, providing early signals about UK economic trends. Martyn Kendrick, Scotland director at Bank of Scotland commercial banking, said: “Scottish businesses are looking ahead to 2025 with stronger growth expectations, and setting out clear plans to drive this expansion through investments in new technology, new markets and their own teams. “As we enter the new year, we’ll continue to by their side to help them pursue their ambitions and seize all opportunities that lie ahead.”

SAN FRANCISCO (AP) — A 7.0 magnitude earthquake shook a large area of Northern California on Thursday, knocking items off grocery store shelves, sending children scrambling under desks and prompting a brief tsunami warning for 5.3 million people along the U.S. West Coast. The quake struck at 10:44 a.m. west of Ferndale, a small city in coastal Humboldt County, about 130 miles (209 km) from the Oregon border, the U.S. Geological Survey said. It was felt as far south as San Francisco, some 270 miles (435 km) away, where residents felt a rolling motion for several seconds. It was followed by multiple smaller aftershocks. There were no immediate reports of major damage or injury. The tsunami warning was in effect for roughly an hour. It was issued shortly after the temblor struck and covered nearly 500 miles (805 km) of coastline, from the edge of California’s Monterey Bay north into Oregon. “It was a strong quake, our building shook, we’re fine but I have a mess to clean up right now,” said Julie Kreitzer, owner of Golden Gait Mercantile, a store packed with food, wares and souvenirs that is a main attraction in Ferndale. “We lost a lot of stuff. It’s probably worse than two years ago. I have to go, I have to try and salvage something for the holidays because it’s going to be a tough year,” Kreitzer said before hanging up. The region — known for its redwood forests, scenic mountains and the three-county Emerald Triangle’s legendary marijuana crop — was struck by a 6.4 magnitude quake in 2022 that left thousands of people without power and water. The northwest corner of California is the most seismically active part of the state since it’s where three tectonic plates meet, seismologist Lucy Jones said on the social media platform BlueSky. Shortly after the quake, phones in Northern California buzzed with the tsunami warning from the National Weather Service that said: “A series of powerful waves and strong currents may impact coasts near you. You are in danger. Get away from coastal waters. Move to high ground or inland now. Keep away from the coast until local officials say it is safe to return.” Numerous cities urged people to evacuate to higher ground as a precaution, including Eureka. In Santa Cruz, authorities cleared the main beach, taping off entrances with police tape. Aerial footage showed cars bumper-to-bumper heading to higher ground Thursday morning on California highways 1 and 92 in the Half Moon Bay area south of San Francisco. “I thought my axles had fallen apart,” said Valerie Starkey, a Del Norte County supervisor representing Crescent City, a town of fewer than 6,000 near the Oregon border. “That’s what I was feeling ... ‘My axles are broken now.’ I did not realize it was an earthquake.” Cindy Vosburg, the executive director for the Crescent City-Del Norte County Chamber of Commerce, said she heard alarms sound just before shaking began and the city's cultural center downtown started to creak. “The earthquake seemed to go on for quite a few seconds. It was a rolling earthquake,” Vosburg said. “Just as it would start to subside, the building would roll again.” Vosburg, a former resident of the San Francisco Bay Area and the Central Valley, said it was the strongest earthquake she felt since the 1989 Loma Prieta quake struck Northern California. Gov. Gavin Newsom said he has signed off on a state of emergency declaration to quickly move state resources to impacted areas along the coast. State officials were concerned about damages in the northern part of the state, Newsom said. White House Spokesperson Jeremy Edwards said President Joe Biden was briefed on the earthquake and that FEMA officials are in touch with their state and local counterparts in California and Oregon. Crews in Eureka, the biggest city in the region, were assessing if there was any major damage from the quake, Eureka Mayor Kim Bergel said. Bergel, who works as a resource aid at a middle school, said lights were swaying and everyone got under desks. “The kids were so great and terrified. It seemed to go back and forth for quite a long time,” she said. Some children asked, “Can I call my mom?" The students were later sent home. In nearby Arcata, students and faculty were urged to shelter in place at California State Polytechnic University, Humboldt. The campus in was not in the tsunami hazard zone and after inspections, “all utilities and building systems are normal and operational,” the university said in a statement. Humboldt County Sheriff William Honsal said residents experienced some cracks in their homes’ foundations, as well as broken glass and windows, but nothing severe. There also have been no major infrastructure problems, building collapses or roadway issues, and no major injuries or deaths have been reported, he said. Honsal said he was in his office in the 75-year-old courthouse in downtown Eureka when he felt the quake. “We’re used to it. It is known as ‘earthquake country’ up here,” he said. “It wasn’t a sharp jolt. It was a slow roller, but significant.” Michael Luna, owner of a Grocery Outlet in Eureka, said that besides a few items falling off shelves, the store on Commercial Street was unscathed by the earthquake. “We didn’t have any issues but a couple of deodorants fall off.... I think the way the earthquake rumbled this time, it was a good thing for our store because the last earthquake was a huge mess," he said. They evacuated customers and closed their doors temporarily until officials lifted the tsunami warning, he said, rushing off the phone to attend to a growing line of customers at check-out. The San Francisco Bay Area Rapid Transit District, known as BART, stopped traffic in all directions through the underwater tunnel between San Francisco and Oakland, and the San Francisco Zoo’s visitors were evacuated. Dave Snider, tsunami warning coordinator for the Tsunami Warning Center in Alaska, said the computer models indicated that this was the type of earthquake that was unlikely to cause a tsunami and gauges that monitor waves then confirmed it, so forecasters canceled the warning. This quake was a strike-slip type of temblor that shifts more horizontally and is less prone to cause tsunamis, unlike the more vertical types, said National Weather Service tsunami program manager Corina Allen in Washington state. The California Geological Survey says the state’s shores have been struck by more than 150 tsunamis since 1800, and while most were minor, some have been destructive and deadly. On March 28, 1964, a tsunami triggered by a powerful earthquake in Alaska smashed into Crescent City hours later. Much of the business district was leveled and a dozen people were killed. More recently, a tsunami from a 2011 earthquake in Japan caused about $100 million in damages along the California coast, much of it in Crescent City. Dazio reported from Los Angeles. AP writers Christopher Weber, Jaimie Ding and Dorany Pineda in Los Angeles; Martha Mendoza in Santa Cruz, California; Sophie Austin and Tran Nguyen in Sacramento, California; and Seth Borenstein in Washington, D.C. contributed to this report.

The NBA's Last Two Minute Report confirmed that officials made the correct call when was assessed a personal foul on on a loose ball scramble, resulting in Green hitting the winning free throws during the ' 91-90 win over the on Wednesday night. A livid Steve Kerr said after the game that the officiating crew, led by crew chief Bill Kennedy, had made an "unconscionable" call that the Warriors head coach had never seen in his NBA career. Kerr argued that the officials had allowed physical play up until that foul call with 3.5 seconds left. Green's free throws sent the Rockets to Las Vegas to play in the NBA Cup semifinals against on Saturday. "I'm pissed off," Kerr said, echoing how his team also felt on late Wednesday night. "I wanted to go to Las Vegas. We wanted to win this Cup and we aren't going because of a loose ball foul, 80 feet from the basket with the game on the line. I've never seen anything like it in my life, and that was ridiculous." On the possession that Kuminga fouled Green, missed a 3-point attempt. A chaotic scramble for the loose ball ensued. was able to gain possession of the ball on the floor as dove for the ball, too. Payton then tried to pass the ball to Kuminga, resulting in Green diving on the ball. The NBA said Kuminga "reaches over Green in an attempt to get to the ball and pulls his shoulder down." As for Payton and VanVleet, the NBA determined it was a correct non-call as both made "incidental contact with each other in pursuit of the loose ball." "I've never seen a loose ball foul on a jump ball situation, 80 feet from the basket with the game on the line," Kerr said. "I've never seen that. I think I saw it in college one time 30 years ago. Never seen it in the NBA. That is ... unconscionable. I don't even understand what just happened. Loose ball, diving on the floor, 80 feet from the basket, and you're going to give a guy two free throws to decide the game when people are scrambling for the ball. Just give them a timeout and let the players decide the game. That's how you officiate. Especially because the game was a complete wrestling match. They didn't call anything. "So you've established you're just not going to call anything throughout the game. It's a physical game. And call a loose ball foul on a jump ball situation with guys diving on the floor? With the game on the line? This is a billion-dollar industry. You got people's jobs on the line." This is the second loss in eight days in which the NBA confirmed a late call was correct that Kerr believed cost the Warriors a game. At the end of a 119-115 loss at on Dec. 3, Kerr argued that Denver's signaled for a timeout after securing a loose ball while Denver had no timeouts left. The officials said they did not see Braun clearly signal for a timeout, which would have resulted in a technical foul and possession for the Warriors with 1.9 seconds left down four. The officials called for a jump ball instead. "I am stunned," Kerr said after the Houston loss. "I give the Rockets credit. They battled back. They played great defense all night. But I feel for our guys. Our guys battled back, played their asses off and deserved to win that game or at least have a chance for one stop at the end to finish the game. "And that was taken from us by a call that I don't think an elementary school referee would've made because that guy would've had feel and said, you know what? I'm not going to decide a game on a loose ball, 80 feet from the basket."More Scots business owners anticipate higher turnover in 2025, poll suggests

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Possibly not since Johnny Watkins in 1975 has an Australian Test cricketer had as embarrassing a day as Marnus Labuschagne’s in Perth on Sunday. A poor man’s bumper barrage, a couple of overs of leg-spin more negative than an opposition leader – at least cricketers get penalised for it – a five-ball innings for three runs to follow a 52-ball innings for two the first time around, and a fatuous review; these were all unworthy of a man who has been a good servant of his team and his country. Marnus Labuschagne departs Perth Stadium on Sunday, taking a review with him after being dismissed lbw. Credit: Getty Images Labuschagne’s ignominy was Australia humiliation writ small. Midway through day three, Australia had let slip a Test match they had all but won half-way through day one by so far that they resorted to the tactics of a harlequin, hoping to achieve by distraction what they could not by application. Only Labuschagne’s desperate review was in character. Australia will lose this match by hundreds of runs, and with it all their emperor’s clothes. The rest of the series will be a dogfight at best. At least it is a series this time, not a cameo. Australia drew criticism from old lags in the commentary box for not being nasty enough in its tactics and disposition. Remembering where such an attitude eventually led in a previous dispensation, that can be safely ignored. That time is past. But undoubtedly, the Australians’ body language was limp. Little things were telling. With run-outs on, the Australians did not hit the stumps. They used to. The much-decorated attack was at least persevering, but lacked a second wind. The Test match was taken away from them by a 22-year-old, who admittedly will be a superstar, and a makeshift in the opening role. We’d better get our heads around the idea of Yashasvi Jaiswal; he’s going to be inside them for a while. One consequence of the openers’ heroics was to gift the struggling Virat Kohli, arriving at 2-275, the most comfortable century of the seven he has now scored against Australia. Whether that emboldens him or deludes him henceforth we will soon see. The Australian team is ageing before our eyes. Yes, it still wins at a good rate, but it also loses carelessly. It was only this year that it lost to the West Indies at the Gabba, that erstwhile fortress. Now it’s going down the gurgler to India in Perth. It’s not the WACA Ground, which once was another of Australia’s locks, but it behaves much like the WACA. And it’s where, because of commercial imperatives, Australia has committed to kicking off home series for the next three years. And if anyone tries to blame the pitch here, see Indian openers, above. Doubtlessly, there will be inquiries, plural; sports administrators never settle for one. They will be pointless if they do not concede that the system has let the team down, at least in part. It’s a system that says one thing and does another. It spruiks the paramountcy of Test cricket, but constructs a program that marginalises it. By and large, the Australians played either no cricket, little cricket or other forms in the lead-up to this series. It’s too hard a game to be taken so lightly. Australian skipper Pat Cummins searches for answers on Sunday as India storms to a total of 6-487 declared.. Credit: AP Captain Pat Cummins said that if anything, he preferred to come into a new series underdone. As an alibi, that sounds all too convenient. India played three Tests. Yes, they lost them all, to New Zealand, but at least it was the right format. Perhaps the way the game has evolved, the Australian summer with the Big Bash League at its heart cannot have any other shape. If so, say so. Don’t patronise us. In a five-Test series, much can change. As veterans Rohit Sharma and perhaps Mohammed Shami return, and noting the bold performances of India’s newcomers, it has its own tricky territory to negotiate, but from a lovely position. Meantime, if you think Jasprit Bumrah has been a frightening proposition in Perth, imagine him with a pink ball under the Adelaide Oval lights. Australia must change, its outlook and perhaps its personnel. Nathan McSweeney has looked all at sea, but it would be grossly unfair to give him only one chance. Nonetheless, Australia must be thinking about how to hit refresh on the Test XI or find itself staring at the spinning wheel of death. Loading Presently, it looks like a certain football team we know that won a premiership recently and is still trying to win the same premiership again. Watkins, by the way, though all at sea with the ball in his one and only Test, made difficult runs and contributed to Australia’s eventual win. News, results and expert analysis from the weekend of sport sent every Monday. Sign up for our Sport newsletter . Save Log in , register or subscribe to save articles for later. License this article Australian cricket Test cricket India Opinion For subscribers Analysis Greg Baum is chief sports columnist and associate editor with The Age. Connect via Twitter . Most Viewed in Sport Loading