Bailey Zappe threw three first-half touchdown passes, and the New England Patriots snapped a five-game skid while damaging the playoff hopes of the Pittsburgh Steelers with a 21-18 victory.

Quarterback Mac Jones was adamant his expletive-laced tirade on the sideline during the Patriots' 24-10 loss to Buffalo was about motivating himself and not an emotional plea about the play-calling or directed at his coaches.

Josh Allen threw two touchdown passes and the Buffalo Bills beat the New England Patriots 24-10 for their first AFC East victory of the season.

Kirk Cousins threw for 299 yards and three touchdowns, the last a go-ahead score to Adam Thielen in the fourth quarter to push the Minnesota Vikings past the New England Patriots 33-26.

Marcus Jones returned a punt 84 yards for a touchdown with 5 seconds remaining and the New England Patriots outlasted the New York Jets 10-3.

Mac Jones says he wants to start this week against the Jets and believes he deserves to remain in the lineup despite struggling in his return to the field following three-game absence because of an ankle injury.

Justin Fields threw for 179 yards and a touchdown and ran for 82 yards and another score, and the Bears defense forced returning Patriots starter Mac Jones back to the bench to give Chicago a 33-14 victory over New England.

Indianapolis Colts center Ryan Kelly held nothing back when he returned to the team facility this week.

The coronavirus’ new omicron variant is rapidly replacing the delta variant, so public health officials at the federal and local levels are urging people to get the booster shot.

Dr. David Andrews said the lab he runs at the University of Miami is hard at work screening coronavirus samples from the Jackson Health System patients for evidence of the omicron variant, discovered just over a week ago.

In Florida, COVID-19 cases are exploding, accounting for more than 19 percent of new cases in the United States.

On the latest episode of the This Week in South Florida podcast, hosts Michael Putney and Glenna Milberg are joined by Broward County Mayor Steve Geller, Dr. David Andrews from the University of Miami, Broward School Board Chair Dr. Rosalind Osgood and Chair of the Florida Democratic Party Manny Diaz.

On the latest episode of This Week in South Florida, hosts Michael Putney and Glenna Milberg are joined by Broward County Mayor Steve Geller, Dr. David Andrews from the University of Miami, Broward School Board Chair Dr. Rosalind Osgood and Chair of the Florida Democratic Party Manny Diaz.

The exploding case load of COVID-19 this time around has been traced to the morphing variants.

OAKLAND PARK, Fla. – A senior medical center in Oakland Park kicked off an effort to vaccinate more than 1,000 seniors with the two dose Pfizer vaccine Saturday. Chen Senior Medical Center in Oakland Park and as their location in Miami are vaccinating people 65 and older who had pre-scheduled appointments. The urgency to get more people vaccinated against COVID-19 comes on the heels of University of Miami researchers announcing that they have detected variants across Miami-Dade County. “We’ve turned up three variants originating from Brazil,” said Dr. David Andrews of the University of Miami Miller School of Medicine. The three Brazil variants are in addition to the UK variant and now a newly found New York variant.

MIAMI BEACH, Fla. – Researchers at the University of Miami are uncovering several more COVID-19 variant strains right here in South Florida, including three cases of two different Brazil variants and now a case of the so-called New York variant. AdFurthermore, of a random sampling of COVID-19 positive results, the University of Miami researchers found that 25% had the U.K. variant. But the concern with the newer New York variant, much like the Brazilian strain, is its suspected ability to bypass immunity, including from a vaccine. “We entered into this not expecting to find any particular variant, and we found a case of the New York variant, and yes the concern for the New York variant is an immune escape mechanism as well,” Andrews says. While vaccines have shown to be effective against the U.K. variant, Andrews says they should be at least partially effective at protecting against other mutations.

FORT LAUDERDALE, Fla. – Florida has at least 201 confirmed cases of the more contagious COVID-19 variant out of the United Kingdom, according to the latest data from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. That’s the highest total in the country, and the highest concentration of cases remains in South Florida, numbers from the state’s health department show. There have been 690 cases of the B.1.1.7 variant across 33 states in the statistics posted Sunday night. In Florida, Broward County has the most verified variant cases (57), followed by Miami-Dade (40) and Palm Beach County (22), according to the Florida Department of Health. “In fact, as of Feb. 5, the Florida Department of Health has sequenced 4,224 COVID-19 specimens, with more than 220 sequenced last week.

CORAL GABLES, Fla. – Researchers at the University of Miami are playing an important role in tracking COVID-19 variants in South Florida. He’s doing research on the variants for both the university and Jackson Health System. They’re screening COVID-19 samples coming into Jackson, hunting for the three known variants:They are also conducting gene sequencing to search for other mutations. Andrews says that while other variants haven’t yet been confirmed in South Florida, it’s likely just a matter of time. ALSO SEE: Coronavirus variant from South Africa could evade antibodies, expert warns

– Josh Allen passed for four touchdowns and the Buffalo Bills became the first AFC East foe to sweep the season series with the New England Patriots in two decades with a 38-9 victory on Monday night. The last division opponents to sweep the Patriots were the Jets and Dolphins in 2000. Stefon Diggs had nine catches for 145 yards and three touchdowns, setting a Bills single-season record for receiving yards. The Patriots closed to 10-9 on Newton's 9-yard TD run in the second quarter, but Nick Folk missed the extra point and the Bills pulled away from there. INJURIESBills: S Jordan Poyer was helped off field late in second quarter to be evaluated for a head injury.

The Dolphins (9-5) bolstered their wild-card chances and are assured of a winning record for only the second time since 2008. The Patriots (6-8) will finish at .500 or worse for the first time since 2000, the year they drafted Tom Brady. They mounted a 14-play, 90-yard touchdown drive midway through the second half to take the lead for good. They were shut out in the first half, but mounted a 72-yard touchdown drive to start the second half for a 7-6 lead. DE John Simon (hamstring) and C David Andrews (calf) were sidelined in the second half.

New England Patriots head coach Bill Belichick works along the sideline in the first half of an NFL football game against the Las Vegas Raiders, Sunday, Sept. 27, 2020, in Foxborough, Mass. The Patriots have won the last six meetings with the Raiders and improved to 47-9 in regular-season games following a loss. We can’t stop the run in the second half. “We played the best 30 minutes of football in the second half, which is what we needed,” Belichick said. Following the kickoff, the Raiders got help from a pass interference call on Stephon Gilmore to get into Patriots territory.

Jeudy is active for the Bucs game as Denver quarterback Jeff Driskel makes his first start while Drew Lock recovers from a shoulder injury. Cardinals: QB Brett Hundley, WR Christian Kirk, RB Eno Benjamin, OL Mason Cole, OL Josh Miles, DL Leki Fotu. ___CHICAGO AT ATLANTABears: CB Duke Shelley, OG Arlington Hambright, NT Daniel McCullers, WR RIley Ridley, OLB Trevis GipsonFalcons: WR Julio Jones, CB A.J. Browns: WR Donovan Peoples-Jones, CB Greedy Williams, LB Jacob Phillips, Olivier Vernon, Evan Brown and WR Rashard Higgins. Brown, CB Chris Jackson OLB Derick Roberson, C Aaron Brewer, TE Geoff Swaim, DT Matt DickersonVikings: WR Tajaé Sharpe, WR K.J.

“For one, he was clamping me the whole time,” Green complained afterward, saying the officials should call it both ways. “Honestly, it reminded me of the times I was back at the College of San Mateo, my junior college,” Edelman said. It brought me back at least to high school, junior college, college. In some ways, it brings the game back to why you started playing, just to love playing the game. ___With contributions from AP Pro Football Writer Dave Campbell and AP Sports Writers Tim Booth, Larry Lage and Kyle Hightower.

New England Patriots quarterback Cam Newton walks to the field for an NFL football training camp practice, Friday, Aug. 21, 2020, in Foxborough, Mass. Cam Newton is officially the new starting quarterback of the New England Patriots. A person familiar with the situation said Thursday that Newton was announced as the starter during a team meeting. The move was expected after the 2015 league MVP outperformed second-year Jarrett Stidham and veteran Brian Hoyer during training camp. Theres been some things that a lot of people may have not known about me prior to (joining the Patriots), Newton said.