Myles Garrett was the first overall pick by the Cleveland Browns in the NFL Draft, while three quarterbacks were chosen in the opening 12 selections of a first round.

The Carolina Panthers bounced back to winning ways with a 30-20 NFL victory over the Arizona Cardinals at the Bank of America Stadium.

Aaron Rodgers has two NFL MVP awards and one Super Bowl ring, and he’s in his ninth season as the starter for Green Bay. Sam Bradford was never on a winning team over his first six years in the league. He had 15 days to learn Minnesota’s offence, then lost his Hall of Fame calibre running back to injury in the third quarter.

Quarterback Jimmy Garoppolo did not miss a beat as he stepped in for the suspended Tom Brady in his first NFL start and led the New England Patriots to a 23-21 win over the Arizona Cardinals.

The start of a new American Football season rekindled some old — and troubling — issues for the NFL.

Quarterback Cam Newton threw three touchdown passes and his Carolina Panthers pummelled the Atlanta Falcons 38-0 on Sunday to earn an NFL playoff first-round bye.

Miami Dolphins head coach Joe Philbin has been sacked in the aftermath of their Wembley loss to AFC East rivals the New York Jets on Sunday afternoon.

American Football

High profile coaching casualties followed quick on the heels of the final day of the NFL’s regular season as the San Francisco 49ers and the New York Jets parted ways with their coaches yesterday.

The Green Bay Packers, Pittsburgh Steelers and Dallas Cowboys booked their places in the play-offs after victories on Sunday while the New England Patriots earned a first round bye for the post-season.

The Dallas Cowboys blew a 21-0 lead before rallying to beat the Philadelphia Eagles 38-27 and move to 10-4, one game ahead of Philadelphia at the top of the NFC East standings.

Andrew Luck enjoyed a landmark day as the Indianapolis Colts beat the Washington Redskins 49-27 on Sunday.

US federal agents conducted surprise inspections of National Football League team doctors and trainers on Sunday as part of an ongoing probe into painkiller drug abuse, the US media reported on Sunday.

The college basketball season in the US started early this past Sunday.

The NFL play-off picture was completed on Sunday with a dramatic final series of regular season games delivering big results for the Green Bay Packers, the Philadelphia Eagles and the San Diego Chargers.

The NFL couldn’t have scripted it much better heading into the last week of the regular season.

The Green Bay Packers needed their biggest comeback in history on Sunday to somehow keep their play-off hopes alive ahead of the long-awaited return of Aaron Rodgers from injury.

A win over divisional rivals Kansas City Chiefs on Sunday evening saw the Denver Broncos emerge from the toughest part of their NFL campaign relatively unscathed and in poll position in the AFC and will now retain home advantage throughout January’s play-offs.

After a rip-roaring start to the season, the Kansas City Chiefs finally fell to their first defeat in the NFL this year, losing an absorbing clash by ten points at the home of Peyton Manning’s Denver Broncos on Sunday.

Just short of 100 points were scored in an incredible Texas shoot-out between the Denver Broncos and the Dallas Cowboys on Sunday which left Peyton Manning’s Broncos in control of one of the three unbeaten records in the NFL thanks to a 51-48 win.

The Patriots, Saints and Dolphins joined the Kansas Chiefs with their third straight victories of the new season while the New York Giants and Washington Redskins were left wondering where their first wins will come from after embarrassing defeats.

The New England Patriots claimed their 10th consecutive NFL season-opening win when Stephen Gostkowski hit a 35-yard field goal with five seconds left to beat the Buffalo Bills 23-21.

John Riordan runs the rule over those hoping to impress in the new NFL season.

With the NFL play-offs kicking off this weekend, attention will be divided between three star rookies and one retiring veteran in the most wide-open football post-season in recent years.

As the kick-off was dropping into Jacoby Jones’ hands deep in his end zone, every Baltimore Ravens fan in the stadium and Dallas Cowboy on the pitch expected him to take a knee.

New York Giants quarterback Eli Manning threw a career-best 510 yards to lead the reigning Super Bowl champions to their first win of the NFL season on Sunday.

ONLY Tim Tebow could resurrect Tebowing and early yesterday morning even Dan Marino joined the growing procession of adoring fans genuflecting to the Denver Broncos quarterback.

THE New York Giants will travel to the Super Bowl champions, the Green Bay Packers, for next Sunday’s NFL Divisional Round play-off game after they blew the Atlanta Falcons away in New Jersey yesterday.

THE Pittsburgh Steelers will be hoping star quarterback Ben Roethlisberger can survive 60 minutes of football tomorrow as the NFL wild card round gets going this weekend.

TOM BRADY threw three touchdowns as the New England Patriots crushed the Philadelphia Eagles 38-20 and Tim Tebow led the Denver Broncos to their fourth straight win in National Football League action on Sunday.

THE Green Bay Packers survived a scare from the Tampa Bay Buccaneers before sealing a hard-fought 35-26 win to match their best start to an NFL season in nearly half a century.

WITH a season of injury-induced frustration such as he has had, it might come as a surprise that Tomás O’Leary should choose a sports documentary series by the name of Hard Knocks to pass the long hours of hotel life with Ireland.

CONCUSSION ruled Brett Favre out of his own swansong as his 20-year career in the NFL came to an end yesterday.

MIAMI snapped New England’s record regular season win streak as Ronnie Brown romped for four touchdowns and passed for another in the Dolphins’ 35-13 shocking win over the Patriots on Sunday.

ATLANTA FALCONS kicker Morten Andersen became the first NFL player to pass 2,500 career points on Sunday night.

GREEN Bay quarterback Brett Favre marked another NFL milestone as he guided the Packers to a 31-24 victory over the San Diego Chargers.

CHAD JOHNSON got a head start without having to jump offside, and beat his coverage to the goal line again.

CAROLINA quarterback Jake Delhomme was sacked eight times as the marauding Chicago defence made sure the Bears beat the Panthers 13-3 in a meeting of the NFC’s hottest two teams.