Everton's blistering first-half display secured a 3-2 win over a woeful Tottenham Hotspur side as David Moyes earned his first victory since returning for a second spell as manager at Goodison Park on Sunday, piling more misery on the visitors.

Needing to get back to winning ways after picking up one in their previous 12 league matches, Everton took the game to their troubled opponents, racing into a two-goal lead inside 30 minutes through Dominic Calvert-Lewin and Iliman Ndiaye.

Calvert-Lewin's fine finish was the first time his team had scored in a league game since Boxing Day, ending his own 16-match barren run stretching back to September.

Things went from bad to worse for Spurs in first-half stoppage time as young Archie Gray put through his own net to ensure Everton scored as many goals within one half of football as in their previous seven games in all competitions.

Goals from Dejan Kulusevski and Richarlison caused the home fans some concern late on but the hosts survived to record a win that moved 16th-placed Everton four points clear of the bottom three and within four of sorry Spurs who are one place higher.

"I'm delighted with how we went today, we needed a win for the lads and the club," Calvert-Lewin told Sky Sports.

"Everything clicked today. You go through periods where you're not hitting the back of net or getting the rub of the green. We were defensively solid and built from that."

On paper, this encounter looked like the perfect platform for Ange Postecoglou's Tottenham side to start to turn around their faltering season, which remarkably sees them looking over their shoulders at the drop zone rather than up the table.

Spurs had lost one of their previous 24 games at Goodison Park prior to Sunday's trip north, while they have won more points from Everton than against any other Premier League team.

Everton have only just sacked their manager Sean Dyche as they again find themselves battling relegation, failing to even score in nine of their previous 11 league matches

You would not have thought it was Everton struggling for goals though as Calvert-Lewin twisted and turned the Spurs backline inside out before opening the scoring 13 minutes in.

Ndiaye, one of the few bright attacking sparks for Everton this term, compounded Spurs' misery with another fine finish on the half-hour mark after bamboozling Radu Dragusin as the hosts continued to bombard the beleaguered Antonin Kinsky's goal.

Tottenham's Gray was then unfortunate to put through his own net after James Tarkowski headed the ball back across the area.

The visitors dominated possession after the break and at least gave themselves a chance of getting something from the match after Kulusevski's fine lofted finish before Richarlison, against his former club, slid the ball home in stoppage time.

The close scoreline, however, flattered injury-hit Spurs, whose season continues to lurch from one crisis to the next.

It was Tottenham's 12th Premier League loss this term, making it only the sixth campaign in which they have lost as many as 12 games in their first 22 matches of a league season.

"It is a difficult result," Spurs coach Postecoglou told Sky Sports. "We struggled to really get in the game in the first half and that gave Everton and momentum.

"We gave ourselves a mountain to climb but the players certainly tried to claw the game back but we just fell short. We couldn't really take control of the game. We had some chances where we probably should have capitalised early on, but in the end it wasn't enough."

Ruben Amorim has said his Manchester United team might be the worst in the club's history following their 3-1 defeat to Brighton & Hove Albion on Sunday.

United failed to register a shot on target in open play as Brighton dominated at Old Trafford.

The result means Amorim has already suffered four home Premier League defeats since taking over as manager from Erik ten Hag, who was sacked at the end of October.

"We are getting a new coach who is losing more than the last coach," Amorim said. "I have full knowledge of that. I am not going to change, no matter what.

"I know we can succeed but we need to survive this moment. I am not naive. We need to survive now. We are the worst team, maybe, in the history of Manchester United.

"I know you want headlines but I am saying that because we have to acknowledge that and to change that. Here you go: your headlines."

After two positive results against Liverpool and Arsenal, Amorim said he would learn more about his players during the games against Southampton and Brighton.

United survived a huge scare against Southampton, the Premier League's bottom team, before winning 3-1 but were comprehensively beaten by Brighton.

Amorim has now lost seven of his 15 games since being appointed. United are 13th in the table, five places and 10 points above the relegation places.

"Everybody here is underperforming, no matter what the circumstances, we are underperforming and have to accept that," Amorim said.

"It's unacceptable to lose so many games. For any Premier League club, imagine Manchester United. So it's a really hard moment but we have to continue, we have to continue, there is no other way. We need to suffer and continue."

MANCHESTER, England -- The most shocking aspect of Manchester United's dismal 3-1 defeat to Brighton & Hove Albion on Sunday is that there was little surprise at all.

Anyone who watched the first 80 minutes against Southampton -- the Premier League's worst team -- on Thursday will have worried about what Brighton might do at Old Trafford. And in that sense, the Seagulls leaving Manchester as comfortable winners was entirely predictable.

United managed to rally themselves against Southampton to eventually win 3-1. There was no repeat against Brighton and, if anything, the visitors could have won more handsomely. They scored three, had another ruled out through VAR and squandered chances at the end.

Manager Ruben Amorim has been keen to take responsibility for what is an awful run of results onto his own shoulders, but this is not a new phenomenon. Brighton have won their past three games at Old Trafford under three different managers. The problem isn't Amorim, it's the situation he has inherited.

"We have to acknowledge the moment and not go around the problem," Amorim said afterward. "Everybody here is underperforming; no matter what the circumstances, we are underperforming and have to accept that.

"It's unacceptable to lose so many games. For any Premier League club, but imagine Manchester United. So it's a really hard moment, but we have to continue, there is no other way. We need to suffer and continue."

The most damning thing for United is that Brighton didn't even need to be that good. They arrived at Old Trafford having won just one of their past nine league games. But instead of looking out of form and out of sorts, they sauntered to victory.

The last time Brighton scored three in a league game was in October against Tottenham Hotspur's notoriously leaky defence.

"We are not surprised," Brighton boss Fabian Hurzeler said. "We haven't been getting the results that maybe we deserved.

"We had a very mature performance. We controlled the game and created chances. The guys looked quite confident on the pitch."

Brighton needed just three shots on target to score three goals. It helped that goalkeeper André Onana -- terrific against Southampton -- made a howler to gift the visitors their third goal. Yasin Ayari hit a hopeful cross towards nobody in particular and instead of a routine collection, Onana came sliding out and fumbled the ball into Georginio Rutter's path to score into an empty net. It was an embarrassment which summed up United's afternoon.

United had just one shot on target, which came from Bruno Fernandes' first-half penalty. For the first time in nine years they failed to have a shot on target from open play in a league match at Old Trafford.

It was another one of those days when researchers were forced to open the record books to find out the last time United were this bad. Defeat to Brighton is their sixth home Premier League defeat of the season -- their most from their opening 12 home matches of a league season for 130 years. The last time it happened -- in the 1893-94 season -- they weren't even called United (they were named Newton Heath) and played at the Bank Street stadium.

Amorim has now lost seven of his first 15 games in charge, the first United manager to do so since Jimmy Murphy, who briefly took over after the Munich air disaster in 1958.

"We have to understand we are breaking all the bad records," Amorim said. "The opponents are better than us in many details. It's a hard moment, you have to acknowledge that we are in a very difficult situation."

Since Amorim took over from Erik ten Hag in November, his team have taken 11 points from 11 league games. They sit 13th in the table, just five places and 10 points above the relegation places. The danger is that things could get worse before they get better.

United's next five league games are all against teams 10th in the table or lower. If Amorim's team cedes points to the likes of Fulham, Crystal Palace, Tottenham, Everton and Ipswich Town over the next month, they will be a lot closer to the drop zone than they are now.

It's predominantly those teams that United struggle against. Under Amorim, United have beaten Manchester City and Arsenal and drawn with Liverpool, but have lost comfortably to Nottingham Forest, AFC Bournemouth and Wolverhampton Wanderers.

Before the latest harrowing defeat against Brighton, United paid tribute to Denis Law. Their legendary former striker, who died aged 84 on Friday, is celebrated with a statue outside Old Trafford and was part of one of the club's greatest ever teams in the 1960s.

What is happening now couldn't be further removed from the success enjoyed by Law and his teammates, something laid out plainly by Amorim in his post-match news conference.

"We are the worst team maybe in the history of Manchester United," he said. "In [the past] 10 games in Premier League, we won three. We need to survive now."

And that's where United find themselves. Focusing on survival after doing what everyone expected and losing again.

Washington Commanders right guard Sam Cosmi will miss the rest of the postseason after he tore his right ACL in Saturday's divisional round win over the Detroit Lions, coach Dan Quinn said Sunday.

Cosmi has been a critical part of the Commanders' offensive line for several years and had started every game this season. He'll eventually have surgery to repair his knee. Veteran Trent Scott subbed for him in Saturday's 45-31 win over the Lions.

Washington (14-5) plays the winner of the Philadelphia Eagles-Los Angeles Rams game in the NFC Championship Game on Jan. 26.

Cosmi suffered the injury on running back Brian Robinson Jr.'s 2-yard touchdown run in the second quarter.

"Really bummed on Sam," Quinn said after the game, before the full extent of his injury was announced. "That's a big loss for us."

Washington drafted Cosmi in the second round of the 2021 draft. He started at right tackle for two seasons before switching to guard for the 2023 season. His ability to block in space on screens and on pulling action, among other aspects of his game, has been pivotal for Washington.

Scott has mostly played tackle for Washington this season, but Quinn said they've sometimes used him at guard on their scout team just to get him more reps at the position.

Scott has started 23 games in his seven-year career. In 2021 and '22 Scott played 22 games at guard for Carolina and then Pittsburgh. Quinn said they'll consider the matchups to see who replaces Cosmi next weekend, but he said Scott "did a really good job."

The Commanders can also opt for veteran Michael Deiter, who has started 35 games in his six-year career at guard and center. He has started two games at center this season.

ATLANTA -- ACC commissioner Jim Phillips said Sunday that the league will have conversations among coaches and athletic directors about whether to make changes to its conference championship game format.

The conversations are a result of the expanded 12-team College Football Playoff, and ensuring conference champions and the teams that play in conference championship game remain important.

This past season, SMU entered the ACC championship game as the regular-season champion but lost to Clemson in the ACC title game and had to sweat it out before selection day before earning a spot in the 12-team field.

Phillips said the ACC could consider giving its regular-season champion a bye, and have the teams that finish second or third in the league standings play in the ACC championship game.

He said another possibility is having the top 4 teams play on the final weekend of the regular season: first place versus fourth place, and second place vs. third place, with the winners playing the following weekend in the ACC championship game.

Phillips said he will have conversations with league head coaches on a conference call next week to get their feedback on the plan -- specifically pointing to comments SMU coach Rhett Lashlee made leading up to the game in which he indicated the Mustangs might be better off not playing to protect its spot in the field.

Phillips also said these conversations will continue at the league's winter meetings next month in Charlotte, North Carolina, and he has mentioned this is a topic among league athletics directors.

"The conference championship games are important, as long as we make them important, right?" Phillips said. "Do you play two versus three? You go through the regular season and whoever wins the regular season, just park them to the side, and then you play the second-place team versus the third-place team in your championship game. So you have a regular-season champion, and then you have a conference tournament or postseason champion.

"That's one of the options, depending on how you treat the conference champions, or that championship game, you may want to do it different.

"I have alluded to that in some of our every-other-week-AD calls, and these are some of the things moving forward. We want to have a recap of the regular season, postseason, and what do we think moving forward?"

ATLANTA -- No major decisions were made regarding the future format of the 12-team College Football Playoff on Sunday, but "tweaks" to the 2025 season haven't been ruled out, CFP executive director Rich Clark said.

Sunday's annual meeting of the FBS commissioners and the presidents and chancellors who control the playoff wasn't expected to produce any immediate course of action, but it was the first time that people with the power to change the playoff met in person to begin a review of the historic expanded bracket.

Clark said the group talked about "a lot of really important issues," but the meeting at the Signia by Hilton set the stage for bigger decisions that need to be made "very soon."

Commissioners would have to unanimously agree upon any changes to the 12-team format to implement them for the 2025 season.

"I would say it's possible, but I don't know if it's going to happen or not," Clark said on the eve of the College Football Playoff National Championship game between Ohio State and Notre Dame. "There's probably some things that could happen in short order that might be tweaks to the 2025 season, but we haven't determined that yet."

A source with knowledge of the conversations said nobody at this time was pushing hard for a 14-team bracket, and there wasn't an in-depth discussion of the seeding process, but talks were held about the value of having the four highest-ranked conference champions earn first-round byes.

Ultimately, the 11 presidents and chancellors who comprise the CFP's board of managers will vote on any changes, and some university leaders said they liked rewarding those conference champions with byes because of the emphasis it placed on conference title games.

Mississippi State president Mark Keenum, the chair of the board of managers, said they didn't talk about "what-ifs," but they have tasked the commissioners to produce a plan for future governance and the format for 2026 and beyond.

Starting in 2026, any changes will no longer require unanimous approval, and the Big Ten and the SEC will have the bulk of control over the format -- a power that was granted during the past CFP contract negotiation. The commissioners will again meet in person at their annual April meeting in Las Colinas, Texas, and the presidents and chancellors will have a videoconference or phone call on May 6.

"We're extremely happy with where we are now," Keenum said. "We're looking towards the new contract, which is already in place with ESPN, our media provider, for the next six years through 2032. We've got to make that transition from the current structure that we're in to the new structure we'll have."

Following Sunday's meeting, sources continued to express skepticism that there will be unanimous agreement to make any significant changes for the 2025 season, but a more thorough review will continue in the following months.

"The commissioners and our athletic director from Notre Dame will look at everything across the board," Clark said. "We're going to tee them up so that they could really have a thorough look at the playoff looking back after this championship game is done ... and then look back and figure out what is it that we need."

PHILADELPHIA -- Saquon Barkley dashed through the snow for touchdown runs of 78 and 62 yards and finished with 205 rushing yards, Jalen Hurts had a 44-yard scoring run, and the Philadelphia Eagles held on against the turnover-happy Los Angeles Rams 28-22 on Sunday to advance to the NFC Championship Game for the second time in three seasons.

Barkley ran for a 62-yard score in the first half and stretched the lead in the fourth when he blew through a hole and ran untouched 78 yards for another touchdown. He smacked his helmet with his hand on his final snowy steps and flapped his arms once he hit the end zone, sliding into the snow in the late-game celebration.

The Eagles will host the Washington Commanders in the NFC Championship Game on Sunday, after the Commanders upset No. 1 seed Detroit on Saturday. The Eagles opened as 5.5-point favorites over the Commanders at ESPN BET. The total opened at 47.5.

"The elements was great, but the atmosphere was even better," Barkley said. "Our fans were amazing. That was a close one, but that's playoff football. And at the end of the day, we got the job done."

The Rams kept the upset threat alive -- thanks in large part to two missed extra points by Philadelphia's Jake Elliott.

Matthew Stafford, who threw for 324 yards, kept the Rams in it with a 4-yard TD pass to Colby Parkinson that made it 28-22. The Rams got the ball back with two minutes left, and Stafford completed consecutive passes of 11 and 37 yards to move the ball into Eagles territory.

But Stafford was sacked by Jalen Carter on third down and threw an incomplete pass on fourth down to end the threat.

That came after the Rams suffered from a flurry of fumbles in the fourth quarter, one by running back Kyren Williams that led to a field goal for the Eagles and a strip-sack of Stafford that led to another kick by Elliott to give Philadelphia a 22-15 lead.

The Eagles are set to host the NFC Championship Game for the fifth time since Lincoln Financial Field opened in 2003.

Eagles defenders frolicked in the winter mess and made snow angels in the end zone to celebrate the turnovers. Some brave frigid fans went shirtless -- and yes, even Santa Claus was in the house, without a report of any snowball throwing.

Stadium workers used snow blowers to clear yard lines and hash marks, while the Eagles scooped and kicked away snow to clear a circle for Elliott's field goal attempts.

Hurts threw for just 128 yards, his mobility hampered in the second half after he was fitted for a knee brace. He didn't miss any snaps but was easily tackled on the safety. He was sacked seven times.

Hurts suffered a concussion in a loss at Washington in December that caused him to miss two games. It was the Eagles' only loss after they returned from their bye with a 2-2 record.

"It comes through Philly. That means everything for this city, this team, and we've got everything we want in front of us," Hurts said.

Barkley had 118 total yards at the break, but the Rams' defense -- coming off a nine-sack effort against Minnesota -- sacked Hurts three times in the half. Hurts was sacked on consecutive plays to end the first half, a total loss of 16 yards that knocked the Eagles out of field goal range.

The Eagles borrowed from the playbook used in their November win in Los Angeles when big plays -- Barkley had touchdown runs of 70 and 72 yards -- helped them cruise to a comfortable win.

Hurts rushed for the longest TD of his career, a 44-yarder on the fifth play of the game that sent a cold crowd still buzzing from the pregame theatrics into a frenzy. Elliott missed an extra point for the second straight playoff game.

After converting a fourth down on the drive, Stafford hit Tyler Higbee for a 4-yard TD that made it 7-6. Only six days earlier, Higbee spit up blood in the playoff win over Minnesota and was taken to the hospital because of a chest injury.

Barkley scored on a 62-yard run for a 13-7 lead, but not before the 2,105-yard rusher slowed near the end zone and looked back to clown the trailing Jared Verse. Barkley had has fifth touchdown run of 50-plus yards of the season and was the first player with three TD runs of 60-plus against one team since Baltimore's Jamal Lewis did it against the Browns in 2003.

Verse got trolled by Barkley after the Rams rookie linebacker and Pennsylvania native said he "hates Eagles fans." The first-round draft pick attended high school in Bloomsburg, Pennsylvania, which is about 100 miles northwest of Philadelphia.

Verse egged on fans during pregame warmups and relished the boos that rained on him in the light snow. Once the game started, the Eagles showed on the big screen Verse on the bench, and fans booed again.

Verse winked at the camera, stamping his name on the list of Philly sports villains.

Joshua Karty kicked two field goals in the first half for the Rams.

Elliott atoned for a missed extra point with a 44-yard field goal that floated through the uprights for a 16-13 lead in the third.

The Associated Press contributed to this report.

ORCHARD PARK, N.Y. -- The Buffalo Bills extended their lead over the Baltimore Ravens with quarterback Josh Allen's second rushing touchdown of the day, which put the Bills up 21-10 just before halftime.

The four-yard score was aided by center Connor McGovern, who helped push Allen into the end zone as Ravens defenders tried to bring him down. The score came at the end of a nine-play, 70-yard drive that left less than 20 seconds on the clock for Baltimore's offense.

JOSH ALLEN'S 2ND RUSHING TD OF THE HALF

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NFL (@NFL) January 20, 2025

Earlier, the Bills had taken a 14-7 lead early in the second quarter on a 1-yard Allen rushing touchdown on a tush push play.

Josh Allen's got it taken care of 6 @BuffaloBills

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NFL (@NFL) January 20, 2025

Allen now has seven rushing touchdowns in the playoffs in his NFL career tying Tom Brady for the second-most rushing touchdowns by a quarterback in NFL playoff history after Steve Young (8). He tied Thurman Thomas for the most playoff games with multiple rushing touchdowns in Bills history, and also now has his seventh rushing touchdown of the season when utilizing the push sneak.

This is the first time the Ravens have allowed three rushing touchdowns in the first half since 2006 and just the third time in franchise history the Ravens have allowed three rushing touchdowns in the first half of a game.