ST. LOUIS -- The second leg of the Concacaf Nations League (CNL) quarterfinal between the United States and Jamaica lacked drama. It was devoid of tension for long stretches. Yet there were also moments when it was thrilling, and it was precisely the kind of performance the U.S. hoped it would get when it hired Mauricio Pochettino as manager two months ago.

The USMNT blew away the Reggae Boyz 4-2 to claim a 5-2 aggregate triumph and advance to the CNL semifinals set to take place next March. To put the win into context, eight months ago, Jamaica pushed the U.S. to the absolute limit in the 2024 CNL semifinals before falling in extra time.

This time around it wasn't at all close. Christian Pulisic opened the scoring in the 14th minute and celebrated with what he confirmed afterward to be a Donald Trump-style dance that he insisted "wasn't a political dance," but one he saw players in the NFL doing and "thought was fun." The AC Milan star had a second strike find the net in the 33rd minute, though Concacaf officially declared it to be an own goal on Di'Shon Bernard. Ricardo Pepi and Tim Weah scored as well. By advancing, the U.S. guaranteed itself two more competitive fixtures in a World Cup cycle where those are in short supply.

The U.S. now looks to be on an upward trajectory. Last month, there was some disjointedness in a win over Panama and a sobering loss to rival Mexico in which a shorthanded U.S. team wasn't competitive. This was expected to a degree. It was always going to take some time for Pochettino to settle in, get to know the players, and begin imparting his style.

This camp showed improvement in multiple facets. The first leg against Jamaica in Kingston saw the team prove that it could win ugly and stand up to physical play. On Monday, the USMNT delivered a dynamic attacking display that was easily the most fluid of the Pochettino era. It provided some much-needed validation that the new boss's methods are working.

Not that a manager of Pochettino's pedigree needs it; his reputation remains strong. But this is a project that is on an accelerated timeline. The 2026 World Cup is less than two years away, and a hungry fan base needed a tangible sign that the team is on the right track. The USMNT delivered.

"We start to feel that we are a real group of people, that we are going to fight for something special," Pochettino said. "Then on another side it's easy to improve because I think we have the talent of the players and we have a great coaching staff that can design all the strategies to be better [than] the opponent."

The win was achieved with the help of a tactical wrinkle. When the U.S. was in possession, left-back Antonee Robinson pinched inside as an auxiliary central midfielder. This allowed Pulisic and Weah to overload the left flank, and it proved dangerous as early as the fourth minute, with Weah hitting the post on a shot after cutting inside from the wing.

Space appeared in other parts of the field as well and it didn't take long for the U.S. to get on the scoreboard, with Pulisic's deft touch from Weston McKennie's cross putting the USMNT ahead. Pulisic helped double the lead in the 33rd minute when his shot from another McKennie feed deflected off Bernard and wrongfooted Andre Blake in the Jamaica goal.

Pepi made it 3-0 from Robinson's pass after he had pounced on a wayward Blake clearance. It was the third straight match in which Pepi scored, and his fourth international goal against Jamaica.

Throughout, Pochettino was exhorting his players forward whenever a transition opportunity appeared. There was a confidence to the USMNT's play that hadn't been seen since the 2022 World Cup.

Jamaica tried to climb back into the match and pulled a goal back in the 52nd minute through Demarai Gray. But Weah restored the four-goal aggregate lead four minutes later with a fierce blast into the net from Musah's cross. Given the venom of the shot, it's tempting to think Weah had released over four months of pent-up frustration in that one goal.

Prior to the match, Weah admitted that the red card he received in the Copa América match against Panama -- a play that contributed heavily to the U.S. team's group-stage elimination -- had been "tough" to deal with. He was forced to serve the second game of his suspension in the first leg. But Weah said there was no anger or fury that went into his goal.

"I think I was more excited when the other guys scored," he said. "I think just being out there with them was wonderful. I mean after missing out on the previous camps and obviously what happened in the summer, I think for me, I just wanted to be on the pitch with them again, kind of feel out everything. It was fun."

It has been clear that the U.S. has missed Weah's presence. There are few players in the U.S. pool who can stretch opposition defenses with pure speed like he can, and in this match, his ability to find room in tight spaces was on display as well. What was unexpected was where Weah lined up. He's almost exclusively been deployed on the right in his career. But a conversation with assistant coach Jesús Pérez about his favorite position -- and a test about which eye is dominant -- led Pochettino to put Weah on the left, and the Juventus winger made the most of it.

"It's beautiful to see it come together," he said about the first half. "I mean, we didn't have a lot of time to work on it, but I mean that first half was really good. I'm really excited to see where we can take it."

Granted, there is still plenty of work to do. Some defensive sloppiness crept into the USMNT's game in the second half, allowing the Reggae Boyz to pull two goals back. That will need to be tightened up in subsequent international windows.

"Obviously they pressed a little bit higher and guys were taking a few more touches, a few more risks than maybe necessary," defender Tim Ream said. "And listen, at this level, any team can hurt you with what they have and that was really what it boiled down to."

That will be addressed by Pochettino and the staff in the time between now and March. But it's also clear that a bond is developing among Pochettino, the staff and the players, so much so that the coach didn't want this camp to end.

"The progression is so good," he said. "I think I told them after the game, when we were all together with staff, 'I'm going to miss you, you all, players and staff,' because it's like 10 days was too little. And yes, you want tomorrow [to] see again these guys, but they need to come back."

Come March, they will, accompanied by an eagerness to see how much more this team can grow.

ARLINGTON, Texas -- Texans coach DeMeco Ryans called running back Joe Mixon "a force" after his three-touchdown performance in Houston's 34-10 win over the Dallas Cowboys on "Monday Night Football."

Mixon did the heavy lifting for the Texans' offense as he scored all of its offensive touchdowns and rushed for 109 yards. His three rushing touchdowns were the second most he has had in a single game in his career.

Mixon tied a Texans single-game record for rushing touchdowns, becoming the fourth player in franchise history to accomplish the feat. But Ryans and Mixon gave credit to the offensive line for paving running lanes for the former Pro Bowl back.

"Joe, when he's on, he's a force for us," Ryans said. "The run game starts with our offensive line. I challenged them to play fast, play aggressive. I thought they did a really nice job. I really like the way we just kept churning it in the run game, and proud of the guys for stepping up to the challenge."

According to ESPN Research, 79 of Mixon's 109 rushing yards came before contact, including him going untouched on a 45-yard rushing touchdown in the first quarter, which was the longest score of his career. This was Mixon's sixth straight game with a rushing touchdown, tying the longest streak in Texans history set by former All-Pro running back Arian Foster in 2011.

"I think everybody was dialed in on the game plan, and we came out here and executed for four quarters," Mixon said. "It was a great thing to see the O-line pretty much go out there and impose their will. ... It was a time in the fourth quarter when the [offensive line] was like, 'Man, let's take it to these boys.' And I'm like, 's---.' I went to [Texans offensive coordinator] Bobby Slowik and I'm like, 'Man, them boys trying to run it.'"

The offensive line opening holes for Mixon also helped quarterback C.J. Stroud have an efficient game: He completed 67.6% of his passes, tying his third-highest completion percentage of the season, for 257 yards with an interception. He also went 8-for-8 on passes off play-action for 99 yards, according to Next Gen Stats.

And most importantly the offensive line limited pressure on Stroud to only 36% of his drop backs, lower than the season rate of 41% coming into Monday.

"[They were] amazing, I was back there chilling a lot of times," Stroud said. "I thought we mixed up the protections pretty well. Always things to clean up, but definitely took a step forward. That's what we wanted."

Mixon became the third player in NFL history to have at least 10 rushing touchdowns in his first eight games with a new team, and the first since running back Eric Dickerson in 1983 with the Los Angeles Rams, according to ESPN Research.

"We put it together in the pass game and run game. So that's something we can build from," right tackle Tytus Howard told ESPN. "Just take these games and stack off of it for the rest of the season, we know what we got to do. It was like our best week of practice, all season, so you got to build on that."

You can debate whether Jake Paul is a "real" boxer, but what is not debatable is that the 27-year-old is now the biggest draw in boxing. Paul's unanimous decision victory over Mike Tyson at AT&T Stadium in Arlington, Texas, ended up being a massive success with a record-breaking gate.

The main event that pitted the YouTuber-turned-boxer against an iconic heavyweight champion -- paired with a historic co-main event in which Katie Taylor narrowly defeat Amanda Serrano via controversial split decision -- was the biggest gate for any boxing or MMA event outside of Las Vegas in U.S. history, according to a statement from Paul's Most Valuable Promotions.

Over 72,300 fans attended Paul vs. Tyson and brought in $18,117,072 in total revenue. The event, promoted by MVP Promotions and streamed live on Netflix, clocks in as the ninth-highest combat sports gate ever in U.S. history and set a record as the highest-grossing gate at AT&T Stadium for a combat sports event.

The previous Texas gate record was set by Canelo Alvarez's 2021 showdown with Billy Joe Saunders at $9 million.

As a result of the success of Paul-Tyson, Netflix stock rose 2.8% to close at 847.05 on Monday.

"Paul vs. Tyson and Taylor vs. Serrano 2 rewrote the record books, solidifying Most Valuable Promotions as a trailblazer in combat sports," Nakisa Bidarian, co-founder of Most Valuable Promotions, said in a statement. "From setting the highest gate outside of Las Vegas in U.S. history for a combat sports event to becoming the most streamed sporting event in U.S. history, this event is a testament to the global impact of Jake Paul, Mike Tyson, Katie Taylor, Amanda Serrano, and the incredible athletes on this card."

The event was also a massive success on Netflix, despite widespread streaming issues, with 60 million households tuning in for Netflix's first foray into live sports.

Off the heels of Paul-Tyson, the streaming giant announced that Beyonce will be performing at halftime of Netflix's first NFL Christmas Gameday, where the Houston Texans will host the Baltimore Ravens on Dec. 25. Netflix also announced the debut of WWE's "Monday Night Raw" on the streaming platform will take place on Jan. 6 at Los Angeles' Intuit Dome and feature a special appearance by Travis Scott.

ARLINGTON, Texas -- As much as his time as owner and general manager of the Dallas Cowboys has been about winning three Super Bowls in the 1990s, Jerry Jones has had down times, too.

"We won one game my first year," Jones said after the Cowboys' 34-10 loss to the Houston Texans on Monday night that dropped Dallas to 3-7 on the season. "One. And so have we had rough seasons? Yes. Yeah, I've been around. Certainly we have. And we've had other tough years. And this one, we didn't anticipate the record. And the way we're playing right now, we wouldn't have anticipated that. But, not, this isn't -- y'all have heard me tell these old stories until you're sick -- but not, you stay in this league long enough, you'll have times like this."

The 1989 Cowboys, however, were not considered one of the best teams in the NFC at the start of that season. Neither were the teams that finished 5-11 three straight years in 2000-02. In 2010, Jones made the only in-season coaching change of his tenure, replacing Wade Phillips with Jason Garrett after a 1-7 start. In 2015, the Cowboys finished 4-12.

At 3-7, the Cowboys are projected to have a top-10 pick in next year's draft. With Mike McCarthy in the final year of his contract, there could be a new coaching staff in 2025, but Jones says he believes the players still believe in McCarthy.

"That losing the team stuff, that's so overblown," Jones said. "These guys are so, first of all, they're natural competitors. Secondly, they're so proud of the fact that they are professional and disappointed in maybe the way they executed the play, but that's not anything that's brother or first cousin to give up. ... Everybody's certainly disappointed, but that's a big difference in not knowing that you got to put the foot in front of the other to go."

For the first time since 1989, the Cowboys have lost their first five home games of a season. They have been outscored by 118 points, the third-highest total through five home games in the Super Bowl era.

The five-game losing streak is the longest since the Cowboys lost seven in a row in 2015. It ties the longest losing streak McCarthy has had as coach. In 2008, the Green Bay Packers lost five in a row on their way to a 6-10 finish.

"Explain it? I think it's very frustrating. It's frustrating for everybody. Frustrating for the players, frustrating for the coaches. I know it's disappointing for the fans," McCarthy said. "But we just, we have a lot of moving parts going on, and we just have to be cleaner and more detailed in certain spots. We're not playing well enough, not executing well enough, coaching well enough to overcome some of the mistakes we're making in critical times of the game."

On their first drive Monday, the Cowboys attempted their second fake punt in their past three games and Bryan Anger's pass to Juanyeh Thomas fell 5 yards short of gaining a first down.

"They won the chess match there," McCarthy said. "That was a poor call by us."

Trailing 20-10 in the third quarter, McCarthy passed on a short field goal attempt from Brandon Aubrey to go for a fourth-and-2 at the Houston 8, and Cooper Rush's pass fell incomplete.

"You can't have it both ways," McCarthy said. "We're trying to play it exactly right, managing the game, 14-play drives. ... We needed seven [points] there."

The next time the Cowboys had the ball, Rush fumbled on a sack that rookie left tackle Tyler Guyton recovered but subsequently fumbled. Texans defensive end Derek Barnett, who sacked Rush, picked up the loose ball and ran 28 yards for the score.

"We're not teaching [offensive] linemen to carry the ball," McCarthy said. "That's twice now. That's obviously a big play in the game. We need to fall on the ball."

Guyton sustained a shoulder injury on the play and did not return. Two series later, the Cowboys lost right guard Zack Martin and left guard Tyler Smith to ankle injuries and neither returned. In the first half, tight end Jake Ferguson was forced out of the game because of a concussion.

Quarterback Dak Prescott, who was put on injured reserve Monday after his hamstring surgery last week, watched the game from the coaches' booth.

"I feel in times of adversity, the confirmation comes into what you know from your past experiences but also just trust the people in the room, the people that are doing the work. And I do," McCarthy said. "I believe in this locker room. Our leadership, most of it has been injured. There is good coming out of this. You don't see it because we're not winning games, but there's young men that are getting an opportunity to do more. And I do believe that will pay forward. It needs to hurry the hell up because we need it in six days. But this is just the reality of what we're going through. I do believe because not only what they do for the organization but the energy and the effort they give me. I have every reason to believe that we can play better."

The Cowboys play at the Washington Commanders next week, followed by a Thanksgiving meeting against the New York Giants.

The Cowboys currently have only one game left against a team with a worse record than their own (the Giants).

"This is it, man," McCarthy said. "We've got seven losses. We gotta go. Backs against the wall. Gotta fight, claw, scratch. Gotta do everything we can to go win the next game. That's where my mind's at. That's the way we coach and that's the expectation. We gotta win. We deserve to win. We deserve the opportunity to win and that's about putting the best people out there. Right now they're young. Those guys, our young guys are getting a lot of experience.

"But we need to do whatever the hell we need to do to win."

MILWAUKEE -- Damian Lillard has dealt with all kinds of injuries through his 13 seasons in the NBA, but he'd never had to worry about recovering from a concussion before.

His return from concussion protocol put the Milwaukee Bucks guard in a much more familiar situation.

Lillard came back after sitting out three games and made a winning layup with 3.9 seconds left in the Bucks' 101-100 victory over Houston that ended the Rockets' five-game winning streak Monday.

"That was actually my first time in my life just getting a concussion," Lillard said after the game. "I've played football. I box all the time. I've been in some situations where you would expect I'd have had a concussion before, but first time.

"Usually when something is wrong with me, I feel I can will myself through it and I'm all right. This was probably one of the first times in my life and definitely in my NBA career where I was like, 'Something is off.' It was a little frustrating because I didn't have a choice but to go through the process. I just had to acknowledge the way I was feeling, and I knew I wasn't all the way right."

Lillard had an up-and-down performance in his return. He compiled 18 points and 10 assists but missed all six of his 3-point attempts and couldn't convert some contested layups he normally makes.

But when the game was on the line, Lillard delivered, as he has done throughout his career.

"I think he's one of the best to ever do it -- like finishing the game," Bucks star Giannis Antetokounmpo said.

Lillard's closing ability had Bucks coach Doc Rivers drawing comparisons to one of the game's greatest shooters ever.

"Dame just has great courage, you know?" Rivers said. "Reminds me a lot of Ray Allen in that way. Ray didn't have a lot of bad shooting nights, but when he had one, if you had one shot to make, you still wanted to go to him. And that's how you feel about Dame. Like, whether he's on fire or not, he just has this thing in him that he believes that he should take the last shot and make the last shot. And he does it over and over."

The Bucks trailed 100-99 when Lillard had the ball in his hands in the closing seconds. He drove into the lane, split two defenders and made a driving layup that put Milwaukee ahead for good.

"I could feel it was one of those games where I needed to keep going, keep my foot on the gas down the stretch," Lillard said. "It just came down to those last two plays. I got one to go and we were able to get a stop on the other end."

It was the type of moment that Lillard so badly wanted to deliver during his difficult week working to get back on the court.

"I tried to really speed my way through the protocols so I could get back," Lillard said. "I think it ended up kind of working against me. I did a 30-minute bike ride, 30-minute treadmill, 30 minutes on the court all in one day just to try to see how I felt. I saw that I wasn't right. And then from there, I was doing 45-minute workouts on the court, just trying to do that fast-paced, less breaks, stuff like that just to push myself to try to make up for not being on the floor."