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The Los Angeles Rams are headed to the NFC Championship game, and for anyone that missed the fourth quarter of Sunday’s Divisional round matchup with the Bucs, that probably isn’t surprising news.

L.A. led 20-3 at the half and by a 27-3 margin in the third quarter, but as the world learned in Super Bowl LI, no lead is safe when Tom Brady is on the other sideline (and you aren’t a team that handles prosperity well). From that point on, the Bucs went on a 24-0 run that was aided by some unbelievable mistakes from the Rams, including numerous fumbles, a 47-yard field goal that somehow missed short, and a bizarre timeout in the final minute when the Bucs had none.

Early in the fourth, it seemed like the Rams would stop the bleeding thanks to a huge play from Von Miller, who got a strip sack of Brady in Bucs territory.

However, on the very next play, the Rams did this.

Still, the Rams defense bowed up, led by Nick Scott with a clutch pass breakup, and forced a turnover on downs that, again, seemed to put a serious damper on a Bucs comeback. The Rams would drive down the field and set up a 47-yard field goal attempt for Matt Gay, who is headed to the Pro Bowl. When it left his foot, it was on line and everyone assumed it would cruise on through. Instead, it somehow fell short and the Bucs, again, had life.

Down 14 with 3:56 on the clock, Tampa still needed something approaching a miracle, starting with a quick strike score which they got in the most improbable of ways, as Mike Evans cooked Jalen Ramsey on an out and up for a 55-yard touchdown with 3:20 to play.

Still, all L.A. needed was a first down to effectively ice the game with the Bucs out of timeouts. After a first down run went for little, Cam Akers broke through the line and got a few yards downfield when disaster struck and Ndamukong Suh punched the ball out for his second fumble of the afternoon in a critical spot.

After a first down got them in the red zone, the Bucs stalled on their first two plays before a third down completion to Cameron Brate got near the first down marker, but was inches short setting up a fourth down. In the moment, it seemed the Bucs didn’t know was a fourth down as they lined up hurriedly in the shotgun. However, the Rams called timeout, which allowed the referees to review the previous play, moving the ball a half-yard closer to the sticks, and gave the Bucs a chance to get their big package in to give the ball to Leonard Fournette, who broke outside and waltzed into the end zone for the tying score.

The Rams tried to steal some yards on a QB draw that went nowhere on their first play after the kickoff, seemingly signaling we were headed to overtime. But then, Stafford and Cooper Kupp came alive, first on a deep out to the sideline that got them near midfield, and then on a bomb down the middle against a zero blitz from Tampa Bay that put them inside the red zone.

After that, L.A. successfully got to the line, let the umpire set the ball (cc: Cowboys), and spiked it to let Matt Gay get a crack at redemption from much closer at the buzzer.

It was an absolutely wild game in a postseason that has been filled with them, as the Rams went from cruising to off the rails to redemption in the course of 22 minutes of game time. On top of the drama of it being the playoffs, it is possible that it’s the last game we’ll ever see Tom Brady play in an NFL game, as he mulls his future at 44 years old.

The Chicago Bulls suffered a significant blow to their hopes of potentially landing the top seed in the Eastern Conference on Friday night when, late in a four-point loss to the Bucks, Alex Caruso slammed to the floor on a Flagrant 2 foul from Grayson Allen and suffered a broken wrist.

Caruso, who called it a “bullsh*t” play from Allen, will miss 6-8 weeks due to surgery on his wrist and that will force the Bulls to play without their best point-of-attack defender for the better part of two months. In a crowded Eastern Conference, where Chicago is just a half-game back of the No. 1 seed but only three games up on the No. 7 seed, Caruso’s absence could be quite costly in terms of the seeding hunt. Many in Chicago were upset about the play, understandably so, and plenty have brought up Allen’s history of questionable to dirty play going back to his days at Duke.

The league took its time reviewing the play, and on Sunday decided that Allen would be additionally suspended for one game for the foul, as the way he wrapped up Caruso’s arms and threw him down in a vulnerable position was deemed egregious enough to warrant further punishment.

The league’s release states that the suspension is for “unnecessary and excessive contact” that caused “substantial injury,” indicating that Caruso getting hurt made the NBA feel it deserved further punishment. That means Allen will miss Chicago’s upcoming game in Cleveland on Wednesday. After that, both teams will look to move on from the incident, but when Milwaukee visits Chicago on March 4, you can be assured that Allen will hear it from the Bulls crowd.

Gunna is having quite the year so far. The rapper released his third album, DS4EVER, earlier this month and it debuted at No. 1, becoming his second chart-topping album. He’s also responsible for one of the biggest social media trends so far this year with “Pushin P,” his song with Future and Young Thug. Thanks to celebrities and brands like Chloe Bailey, IHOP, Future, Young Thug, the Memphis Grizzlies, Nike, Wingstop, Kim Kardashian, and more, the “Pushin P” trend has gone big.

Gunna seems to be enjoying the success he’s having, as evidenced by a recent video featuring himself, Pusha T, and Pharrell. In it, Pusha and Pharrell are seated next to each other while Gunna records with his phone. Gunna zooms in on Pusha and says “Push” before zooming in on Pharrell to say “P.” He then pans the camera back and forth between Pusha and Pharell while saying “Push and P,” sounding a lot like “Pushin P.” Gunna starts laughing, as do Pusha and Pharell themselves. So at least someone is having a good 2022.

You can watch the clip in the video above.

Some artists covered here are Warner Music artists. Uproxx is an independent subsidiary of Warner Music Group.

Lana Del Rey and the internet are on the outs lately. Since a few outspoken outbursts about her perception as a woman — along with commentary about some of her female peers, mostly women of color — and the pointed diversity of her Chemtrails album cover, she’s been adding quite a few entries to her controversy timeline. No matter, the one time Kanye critic pulled a Kanye, and simply continued releasing hordes of new music to change the conversation.

Since then, Chemtrails and Blue Banisters have both come out, and are both quite excellent records, but Lana has also since stayed off social media. And her fans, well, most of us disagree with her comments but want to keep loving her music, a situation known to many as cognitive dissonance. Which was exactly the phrase that came to mind this weekend, when the US Army itself decided to use a quote from Lana to promote one of their female soldiers for a good old #SoldierSaturday post. “‘Being brave means knowing that when you fail, you don’t fail forever.’ -Lana Del Rey,” they wrote on Twitter, along with the image of a female soldier crawling through the mud.

Between jokes about Lana fans being so depressed about her recent comments that they’d want to join the army, to digs about what kind of physical shape Lana fans are actually in, the internet had a field day with this one. Check out reactions to the strange pairing below.

Kansas State junior center Ayoka Lee set a new NCAA women’s basketball record with 61 points in an upset win at home over Oklahoma on Sunday night, toppling a mark that had stood since 1987.

Lee scored points 60 and 61 on a smooth post layup with about 3 minutes to go in the fourth quarter, solidifying herself in NCAA history books.

But this wasn’t a matter of Lee just heating up late against the 14th-ranked Sooners. Lee had 30 points in the second quarter alone and 51 through the first three quarters before sealing the deal with 61 to ice the game and claim the record, checking out with as many points by herself as Oklahoma had as a team.

Throughout the game, Lee was simply dominant in the post, shooting 23-of-30 from the field on her way to 61 points, consistently getting solid inside position against the Sooners and punishing them with great footwork and touch inside as she racked up the points.

Previously, the NCAA women’s basketball single-game scoring record was 60, originally set by Cindy Brown at Long Beach State in 1987 and then tied in 2016 by Minnesota guard Rachel Banham.

Lee is a third-year post player for Kansas State, but because she will turn 22 in August, she is technically eligible for the 2022 WNBA Draft. Coming into this game, Lee was already averaging nearly 24 points and 11 rebounds on the season, and this should only draw additional scouting attention to her down the stretch.

Lee and the Wildcats face another test on Wednesday when they head to Austin to take on the 15th-ranked Longhorns in another Big 12 tilt.

Whenever there’s a problem, or a bit of drama, the internet is quick to see if they can figure out the reason and place blame. Nothing illustrates this more clearly than the constant supply chain problems that have resulted during the pandemic. One area that has really been hit during the pandemic is vinyl production, although, it was already a tricky business to begin with.

So when massive pop stars like Taylor Swift and Adele started releasing new music that required lots of vinyl copies, it was easy for the internet commenters to assign blame to the biggest stars. However, things aren’t that cut and dry.

Is Taylor Swift The Reason For The Vinyl Shortage?

Back when vinyl for Evermore came out last June — which everyone would do well to remember, was a good six months after the album’s release — Swift’s record-breaking numbers for sales first led the rumors to begin buzzing. Since Evermore sold over a whopping 100,000 vinyl albums during the week of June 7, 2021, and broke the all-time weekly sales record, other artists who were still waiting on their own vinyl production started bringing up their own delays. Vinyl generally takes between nine and twenty-four months to press, so if Taylor turned in Evermore a few months before release, she’s still well within the normal window.

But, when Taylor announced that Red would be coming in November of 2021, and that vinyl would be dropping simultaneously, her peers were even more suspicious that she was somehow cutting the line. Again, looking at that timeline, all she would’ve had to do was submit Red by February 2021 in order to have the suppy in time.

Besides, so many other factors were already playing into longer wait times for vinyl: A huge increase in demand for vinyl that was already underway before the pandemic, the fact that the pandemic gave rise to people listening at home, and led to an increase in both vinyl and record players, and all the other pricing and shortage issues that Covid-19 has caused, including labor shortages.

So no, no matter how powerful and popular they might be, neither Taylor Swift, or Adele for that matter, is responsible for the global vinyl production delays. So go ahead and buy a copy of Red or Evermore without a hint of guilt.

Today marks what would’ve been the late XXXTentacion’s 24th birthday. It’s been almost four years since the young rapper, born Jahseh Onfroy, was fatally shot near a motorcycle dealership in Deerfield Beach, Florida. Over the years, his estate has continued to release music, like 2018’s Skins and 2019’s Bad Vibes Forever. Whether or not another project will arrive in the future remains to be seen, but today, his estate opted to celebrate his birthday with a new announcement.

“We continue to be amazed at the love and support that X’s fans show on a daily basis,” XXXTentacion’s estate wrote. “We know how much his music means to all of you, and his impact continues to be as powerful as it’s ever been.”

Then they broke some big news. “It is important to us to continue to honor Jah’s legacy, and in that spirit we are planning an exciting 2022. One of our first initiatives is to get as much of X’s music from his earliest days as an artist up on all DSPs,” they wrote. They then announced that his 2014 song “Vice City” will be placed on all streaming services this Friday, January 28. “We will continue to release music as we clear it, and are making sure we do it in a way that stays true to how X released each song originally.”

The message then directs fans to a website and a Twitter page to stay updated on all upcoming news related to XXXTentacion. “Beyond the music, we know X’s fans have been waiting patiently for the documentary and we will be sharing updates on it soon,” they added. “Thank you again for your support and for continuing to honor and celebrate the life of Jah.”

Next Sunday could very well be the last time we see the Joe Buck-Troy Aikman pairing as Fox’s lead NFL broadcast booth, as rumors have swirled about Aikman potentially bolting from Fox for Amazon’s new NFL booth (alongside Al Michaels) when the streaming service begins its first season as the sole proprietor of Thursday Night Football.

It would be a considerable shakeup and with Cris Collinsworth likely re-upping at NBC and Tony Romo locked in to a massive deal at CBS, Fox would have to look either internally or to someone new to broadcasting for an Aikman replacement. If they were to promote anyone in-house, Greg Olsen has garnered terrific reviews in his young broadcasting career, but certainly doesn’t carry the big-name quality that Fox may be hunting to replace Aikman.

Of outside candidates, one surprising name is popping up at the top of the list for Fox, as Mike McCarthy of Front Office Sports reports they’ll make a hard push for current New Orleans Saints head coach Sean Payton to leave the sideline and come to the booth.

Fox Sports is targeting New Orleans Saints coach Sean Payton as a candidate to succeed Troy Aikman should the former Dallas Cowboys star bolt for Amazon, sources tell Front Office Sports.

Payton has not committed to returning to the Saints for the 2022 season, according to Ian Rapoport of NFL Network. The Super Bowl-winning coach is at the top of Fox’s hit list, said sources.

It would be fascinating to see Payton leave in the middle of a coaching contract to enter broadcasting, but Rapoport reports there’s a real chance he decides to take at least a year away from coaching to recharge. What makes that all the more interesting is if Payton isn’t retiring for good and instead is taking a break from coaching before looking to return to the sideline, would Fox want to go through this process again in a year or two to find another replacement for their top broadcast.

It’d be a massive story both in the broadcasting space and from a football perspective, as the Saints would suddenly be on the hunt for a new head coach as they deal with trying to figure out their organizational future after Drew Brees’ retirement.

Donald Trump is not exactly the world’s greatest dad. Not only has he gotten his kids into all manner of legal trouble, but he’s already picked which one should serve jail time. (Spoiler: It’s not the one he’s subjected to gross, pervy comments.) He may not even know their ages, as suggested by his typically bizarre attempts to defend them from the clutches of the House select committee investigating the time his violent supporters tried to overturn democracy.

As per The Hill, Trump recently did an interview with The Washington Examiner, who asked him about the committee demanding an interview with Ivanka.

“It’s a very unfair situation for my children. Very, very unfair,” he said. “It’s a disgrace, what’s going on. They’re using these things to try and get people’s minds off how incompetently our country is being run. And they don’t care. They’ll go after children.”

Trump has never been great with words; he seems to only know 100 of them tops. But he wound up inadvertently highlighting a strange quirk of the English language: Trump can call his fully grown kids “my children” but that doesn’t make them “children” in the general sense of the word. Because, again, they are adults. In Ivanka’s case, she was born during the Reagan administration.

When Trump’s latest gaffe went public, people couldn’t help but point out that Ivanka is his child but not a child.

Trump is also no stranger to hyperbole and to painting himself as a victim when people try to hold him accountable for his many alleged crimes. Instead of playing ball, as an innocent person would do, he’s tried — and, in some cases, failed — to block the Jan. 6 committee from probably incriminating records. And failing that, he’s called them names.

“They are using whatever powers they have,” Trump whined to the Examiner. “They couldn’t care less. They are vicious people.”

(Via The Hill and The Washington Examiner)

Gunna kicked off the year with his third album DS4EVER, which featured collaborations with Young Thug, Future, 21 Savage, Kodak Black, Yung Bleu, Chloe Bailey, and more. However, when it was released, a song between Gunna and Drake was missing. Thankfully, that track, “P Power,” which was previously titled “P*ssy Power,” eventually arrived a week later. During a recent interview with Complex’s Jessica McKinney, Gunna explained what was behind the delay.

“I originally sampled Donna Summer,” Gunna said about the song, which samples the legendary singer’s 1976 song “Could It Be Magic.” “I don’t even know her, because I’m so young. But she was a legend and her estate couldn’t get back in time for my album.” The sample within Gunna and Drake’s collaboration was eventually cleared and released with a deluxe edition of the album.

The delayed release of “P Power” may have helped propel DS4EVER to the top, as it edged out The Weeknd’s Dawn FM to give Gunna his second No. 1 album. Gunna has also promoted the album with videos for “Livin Wild,” “Pushin P,” and “Life Of Sin.”

You can read Gunna’s full interview with Complex here.

DS4EVER is out now via 300 and Atlantic. You can stream it here.

Some artists covered here are Warner Music artists. Uproxx is an independent subsidiary of Warner Music Group.