Atlanta (6-7) at Las Vegas (2-11)
Monday, 8:30 p.m. EST, ESPN
BetMGM NFL Odds: Falcons by 4
Series record: Falcons lead 8-7
Against the spread: Falcons 5-8, Raiders 5-8
Last meeting: Falcons beat Raiders 43-6 in Atlanta on Nov. 29, 2020.
Last week: Falcons lost to Vikings 42-21; Raiders lost to Buccaneers 28-13
Falcons offense: overall (8), rush (12), pass (2), scoring (19)
Falcons defense: overall (23), rush (17), pass (25), scoring (25)
Raiders offense: overall (25), rush (32), pass (16), scoring (31)
Raiders defense: overall (15), rush (14), pass (15), scoring (30)
Turnover differential: Falcons minus-9; Raiders minus-17
OLB Arnold Ebiketie has been a key to Atlanta's suddenly improved pass rush. Ebiketie has three sacks in the past two games, giving him four for the season. Overall, the Falcons have had nine sacks in the past two games. They almost doubled their NFL-low total of 10 through their first 11 games.
Whoever plays quarterback. Aidan O'Connell injured his left knee Sunday at Tampa Bay, and he is listed as questionable. O'Connell is not a mobile quarterback, so if he plays, he likely wouldn't be as limited as a more athletic player at that position. If Desmond Ridder gets the call, he'll face the team where he started 13 games last season.
Falcons QB Kirk Cousins vs. Raiders defense. Cousins has been intercepted the past four games, and he has been picked off six times combined the past two weeks. Las Vegas' best hope in forcing Cousins into even more mistakes is pressuring, and the Raiders have nine sacks over the past two weeks. They also had two interceptions against the Bucs.
Falcons: Rookie RB Jase McClellan was placed on injured reserve with a knee injury. The sixth-round pick earlier had missed time with a foot problem and had only 13 carries for 32 yards. RB Carlos Washington Jr. was signed to the active roster from the practice squad as depth behind Bijan Robinson and Tyler Allgeier. ... ILB Troy Andersen (knee) and WR Casey Washington (concussion) did not practice on Thursday.
Raiders: DE Maxx Crosby (ankle) will not play and O'Connell (knee) is questionable. Also, Defensive tackle Adam Butler (concussion) is questionable and cornerback Sam Webb (back) is doubtful. RB Alexander Mattison (ankle) is back after missing the past three games. CB Nate Hobbs (ankle) also returns.
The Falcons have won the past five meetings. ... Their 37-point victory in the most recent matchup in 2020 was the most lopsided game in the series' history. ... That game also was the second highest-scoring game by the winning team, behind the then-Oakland Raiders' 50-19 victory in 1979.
Falcons WR Drake London needs only two catches to pass Calvin Ridley (217) for the most receptions in the first three seasons with Atlanta. ... London has 75 receptions for 866 yards and six touchdowns this season. ... Cousins has an unhealthy ratio of 17 touchdown passes to 15 interceptions. ... The Raiders' Brock Bowers has caught 87 passes to set an NFL rookie record tight ends record. Sam LaPorta had 86 last season for the Detroit Lions. Bowers also is 67 yards from becoming the third rookie tight end with 1,000 yards, joining Atlanta’s Kyle Pitts in 2021 and the Chicago Bears' Mike Ditka in 1961. ... LB Robert Spillane is one of seven players this season with at least 100 tackles, an interception and a sack. ... Las Vegas has committed 4.86 penalties per game since coach Antonio Pierce took over at midseason last season, best in the league. ... The Raiders have had at least one sack in 31 consecutive games, the third-longest active streak behind the Baltimore Ravens with 51 and Philadelphia Eagles with 41. Las Vegas has nine combined in the past two games, tied for best in the league with the Falcons.
Raiders RB Sincere McCormick has secured the starting job, and he has averaged at least 5.2 yards per carry in each of his past three games. His rushing total keeps increasing, with McCormick gaining 78 yards against the Bucs. Especially given the uncertainty at quarterback, expect the Raiders to rely on McCormick.
AP NFL: https://apnews.com/hub/nfl
Las Vegas Raiders defensive tackle Adam Butler (69) celebrates with defensive end Maxx Crosby (98) after a sack on Tampa Bay Buccaneers quarterback Baker Mayfield during the first half of an NFL football game, Sunday, Dec. 8, 2024, in Tampa, Fla. (AP Photo/Chris O'Meara)
Atlanta Falcons quarterback Kirk Cousins walks off the field after throwing an interception during the second half of an NFL football game against the Minnesota Vikings, Sunday, Dec. 8, 2024, in Minneapolis. (AP Photo/Abbie Parr)
NEW YORK (AP) — ABC News has agreed to pay $15 million toward Donald Trump’s presidential library to settle a defamation lawsuit over anchor George Stephanopoulos' inaccurate on-air assertion that the president-elect had been found civilly liable for raping writer E. Jean Carroll.
As part of the settlement made public Saturday, ABC News posted an editor's note to its website expressing regret over Stephanopoulos' statements during a March 10 segment on his “This Week” program. The network will also pay $1 million in legal fees to the law firm of Trump’s attorney, Alejandro Brito.
The settlement agreement describes ABC's presidential library payment as a “charitable contribution," with the money earmarked for a non-profit organization that is being established in connection with the yet-to-be built library.
“We are pleased that the parties have reached an agreement to dismiss the lawsuit on the terms in the court filing,” ABC News spokesperson Jeannie Kedas said.
A Trump spokesperson declined comment.
Trump, Stephanopoulos and ABC executives signed the settlement agreement on Friday.
The document bore Trump’s bold, distinct signature and an electronic signature with the initials GRS in a space for Stephanopoulos’ name. Debra OConnell, the president of ABC News Group and Disney Entertainment Networks, also e-signed the agreement.
ABC News must transfer the $15 million for Trump's library to an escrow account that's being managed by Brito’s law firm within 10 days, according to the agreement. The network must also pay pay Brito’s legal fees within 10 days.
While sizeable, ABC's contribution to Trump's presidential library will likely cover just a fraction of the cost. Former President Barack Obama's library in Chicago, for example, was estimated to cost $830 million as of 2021.
Trump sued ABC and Stephanopoulos in federal court in Miami days after the network aired the segment, in which the longtime “Good Morning America” anchor repeatedly misstated the verdicts in Carroll’s two civil lawsuits against Trump.
During a live interview with Rep. Nancy Mace, R-S.C., Stephanopoulos wrongly claimed that Trump had been “found liable for rape” and “defaming the victim of that rape.”
Neither verdict involved a finding of rape as defined under New York law.
In the first of the lawsuits to go to trial, Trump was found liable last year of sexually assaulting and defaming Carroll. A jury ordered him to pay her $5 million.
In January, at a second trial in federal court in Manhattan, Trump was found liable on additional defamation claims and ordered to pay Carroll $83.3 million.
Trump is appealing both verdicts.
Carroll, a former advice columnist, went public in a 2019 memoir with her allegation that Trump raped her in the mid-1990s at Bergdorf Goodman, a luxury Manhattan department store across the street from Trump Tower, after they crossed paths at an entrance.
Trump denied her claim, saying he didn't know Carroll and never ran into her at the store.
After Trump lashed out, calling Carroll a “nut job” who invented “a fraudulent and false story” to sell her memoir, she sued him for unspecified monetary damages and sought a retraction of what she said were Trump’s defamatory denials.
Testifying in April 2023, Carroll told jurors: “I’m here because Donald Trump raped me, and when I wrote about it, he said it didn’t happen. He lied and shattered my reputation, and I’m here to try and get my life back."
After she'd agreed to help Trump shop for a gift for a woman, Carroll testified that he pushed her against a dressing room wall, stamped his mouth onto hers, yanked down her tights and shoved his hand and then his penis inside her while she struggled against him.
She said she finally kneed him off her and fled.
In upholding the $5 million judgment in the first trial, U.S. District Judge Lewis Kaplan wrote that the unanimous verdict was almost entirely in favor of Carroll, except that the jury concluded she had failed to prove that Trump raped her “within the narrow, technical meaning of a particular section of the New York Penal Law.”
Kaplan, who presided over both of Carroll's lawsuits against Trump, said the definition of rape in the state code was “far narrower” than how rape is defined in common modern parlance, in some dictionaries, in some federal and state criminal statutes and elsewhere.
Under New York law, a rape finding requires vaginal penetration by a penis. Forcible penetration without consent of the vagina or other bodily orifices by fingers or anything else is labeled “sexual abuse.”
The judge said the verdict did not mean that Carroll “failed to prove that Mr. Trump ‘raped’ her as many people commonly understand the word ‘rape.’ Indeed ... the jury found that Mr. Trump in fact did exactly that.”
Associated Press writers Jill Colvin and Zeke Miller contributed to this report.
President-elect Donald Trump, left, and Vice President-elect JD Vance attend the NCAA college football game between Army and Navy at Northwest Stadium in Landover, Md., Saturday, Dec. 14, 2024. (AP Photo/Stephanie Scarbrough)
