The Patriots ran the ball, and ran it and ran it some more, beating the Bills, 14-10, on Monday night to stay atop the AFC.

By the numbers: With wind gusts up to 60 mph in Buffalo, New England attempted just three passes, the fewest in a game since the Bills in Week 3 of 1974 against the Jets (two).

What they're saying: Patriots center and captain David Andrews called it one of the most memorable games of his football career.

"I don't know if I've ever played in a game where we've thrown the football three times, and I've been playing football since I was 6 years old. 6 years old, [we] threw the football more than that."

Offensive play selection: Run, Run, Run, Run, Run, Run, Run, Run, Run, Run, Pass, Run, Run, Run, Run, Run, Run, Run, Run, Run, Run, Run, Run, Run, Run, Run, Run, Run, Run, Run, Run, Run, Run, Run, Run, Run, Run, Run, Run, Run, Run, Run, Run, Pass, Pass, Run, Run, Run, Run.

Go deeper: The Patriots' three-pass game was classic Bill Belichick (The Ringer)

The final Matchday of Champions League group play begins today, Axios' Jeff Tracy writes.

State of play: 11 teams have clinched a spot in the Round of 16 and 10 have been eliminated, leaving 11 teams fighting for the remaining five berths.

• Clinched (11): Man City, PSG, Liverpool, Ajax, Sporting CP, Real Madrid, Inter Milan, Bayern Munich, Man United, Chelsea, Juventus
• Eliminated (10): RB Leipzig, Club Brugge, Borussia Dortmund, Beşiktaş, Sheriff Tiraspol, Shakhtar Donetsk, Dynamo Kiev, Young Boys, Zenit, Malmö
• Still alive (11): Porto, AC Milan, Atlético Madrid, Barcelona, Benfica, Villarreal, Atalanta, Lille, RB Salzburg, Sevilla, Wolfsburg

Biggest games: All 11 teams whose fates are yet to be sealed take the field across Europe at 3pm ET today and tomorrow (Paramount+).

• Today (3pm ET): Liverpool at AC Milan; Atlético Madrid at Porto
• Tomorrow (3pm): Barcelona at Bayern; Dynamo Kyiv at Benfica; Villareal at Atalanta; Sevilla at RB Salzburg; Lille at Wolfsburg

What to watch:

• Barcelona advances with a win over Bayern on Wednesday. If they lose, they'll need help from last-place Kyiv to avoid missing the knockout stage for the first time since 2004.
• Group G is still wide open, with three points separating the table. Last-place Wolfsburg is guaranteed to advance with a win over first-place Lille, who in turn are guaranteed to be eliminated if they lose.

Go deeper: Every clinching scenario (ESPN)

Cryptocurrency companies are inking big sports deals, for everything from stadium naming rights to athlete and apparel partnerships, Axios' Kia Kokalitcheva writes.

Why it matters: If the crypto industry wants to move further into the mainstream, it needs to reach a broader audience.

The big picture: Since crypto exchange FTX announced its $135 million deal in April for naming rights to the Miami Heat's arena, it's also bought naming rights to UC Berkeley's football stadium, announced a global cricket partnership, and was ubiquitous during the MLB postseason.

• Crypto.com paid a record amount for naming rights to the Staples Center in Los Angeles.
• Coinbase struck partnerships with the NBA and WNBA, esports group Team Liquid and Adidas.
• FTX has taken investments from Tom Brady and Steph Curry, both of whom the company calls "brand ambassadors." Before going public, Coinbase investors included Kevin Durant and Serena Williams.

Between the lines: Part of this is brand awareness, part is greater crypto industry exposure. Sports sponsorships can earn lots of eyeballs, minus most controversy.

• "The fact that a major sports league and a team and the city are comfortable, a lot of opportunities opened up," Avi Dabir, FTX's VP of business development, says of the Miami arena deal.
• He adds that FTX is now facing stiffer competition from peers for new sports deals.

The bottom line: These deals were quickly mocked on Twitter, but they're being driven by a viable growth philosophy.

🎥 Watch: Staples Center sign being removed (Twitter)

🐎 RIP, Medina Spirit: Medina Spirit, whose 2021 Kentucky Derby win had been called into question due to a failed drug test, died Monday after suffering a heart attack during a workout.

🏈 Heisman finalists: Alabama QB Bryce Young, Michigan DE Aidan Hutchinson, Pitt QB Kenny Pickett and Ohio State QB C.J. Stroud are your Heisman finalists. The winner will be announced Saturday.

🇺🇸 Olympics boycott: The U.S. announced Monday that it will not send officials to the 2022 Beijing Winter Olympics in protest of human rights abuses committed by the Chinese Communist Party.

🏈 One coach hired: Mario Cristobal is leaving Oregon for Miami. His lucrative 10-year, $80M deal is thanks in part to Miami's UHealth system, which made over $400M in profits last year.

🏒 Two coaches fired: The Canucks cleaned house, firing coach Travis Green and GM Jim Benning. The Flyers sacked coach Alain Vigneault amid an eight-game losing streak.

Purdue is No. 1 in the rankings for the first time in school history, Jeff writes.

Why it matters: The Boilermakers' had been ranked in 379 polls without being No. 1, the second-most ever behind only Maryland (433).

State of play: The top eight remains the same as last week, albeit with some top-five shuffling that saw No. 3 Duke and No. 5 Gonzaga fall.

• In: No. 21 Ohio State is in after its win over Duke, and LSU (one of seven ranked SEC teams) enters at No. 25.
• Out: Memphis dropped out after three straight losses (time to panic?). Michigan is also out.
• Shock upset: 0-7 Texas Southern beat No. 20 Florida, 69-54, on Monday night. Since 1980, the previous worst record by any team that defeated an AP-ranked opponent was 0-3.

The big picture: The NCAA on Monday released its first NET rankings of the season — the computer-generated system that the selection committee relies on heavily when choosing the field.

• Four unranked teams in the AP poll are in the NET top 25: No. 9 Iowa (7-1); No. 12 Wyoming (8-0); No. 23 Wagner (3-1); No. 25 Loyola Chicago (7-2)
• Others notable discrepancies include LSU (No. 25 AP; No. 2 NET), Arizona (No. 11 AP; No. 3 NET), Houston (No. 14 AP; No. 4 NET) and Texas (No. 7 AP; No. 17 NET).

📆 Coming up: The Jimmy V Classic, featuring No. 13 Tennessee and No. 6 Villanova, begins tonight (7pm ET, ESPN), and there are four ranked-on-ranked games later this week:

• Thursday: No. 7 Texas at No. 23 Seton Hall (6:30pm, FS1)
• Saturday: No. 22 Wisconsin at No. 21 Ohio State (12pm, BTN); No. 14 Houston at No. 9 Alabama (10pm, ESPN2)
• Sunday: No. 6 Villanova at No. 2 Baylor (3pm, ABC)

Go deeper: The dichotomy of Duke's Paolo Banchero (FiveThirtyEight)

No. 9 Tennessee is ranked in the top 10 for the first time since 2018, while South Carolina remains the unanimous No. 1, Jeff writes.

State of play: UConn is in the top 10 for a record-extending 312th consecutive week, while three long-absent teams rejoined the rankings.

• In: No. 24 LSU (first time ranked since 2019), No. 19 Duke (2018) and No. 25 Colorado (2016) are all back in the poll.
• Out: Oregon's out after 80 straight weeks, ending the sixth-longest active streak. FSU and Florida Gulf Coast are also out.

The big picture: As with the men's side, the NCAA released its first NET rankings on Monday.

• Eight unranked teams in the AP poll are in the NET top 25, including three in the top 11: No. 2 UNC (8-0), No. 4 Nebraska (8-0), No. 11 Kansas State (7-2).
• Other notable discrepancies include Notre Dame (No. 22 AP; No. 12 NET), Baylor (No. 5 AP; No. 16 NET) and Iowa (No. 12 AP; No. 22 NET).

📆 Coming up: Two intra-state battles (No. 12 Iowa at No. 15 Iowa State on Wednesday; No. 14 Kentucky at No. 7 Louisville on Sunday) precede the game of the week (No. 8 Maryland at No. 1 South Carolina, also Sunday).

Go deeper: Kim Mulkey's crossroads (ESPN)

SANTA CLARA, Calif. — Florida State edged BYU 4-3 in PKs on Monday night to win its third women's soccer national title and second in the past four years.

• 🎥 Watch: Winning PK (Twitter)

NASHVILLE — NASCAR capped the 2021 season with a three-day celebration in Nashville, which included a show dedicated exclusively to burnouts.

• What's next: The Next Gen car is set to debut in February following a yearlong delay during the pandemic.

BOOM, Belgium — Wout van Aert conquered an incredibly muddy course to win his first cyclocross race of the season.

• Cyclocross, explained: A cycling event in which participants must frequently dismount and carry their bikes up hills and over obstacles.

DOHA, Qatar — The FIFA Arab Cup is underway, with matches being held in some of the 2022 World Cup venues (including the stadium above, which reminds me of the Sandcrawler from "Star Wars").

• 🎥 Watch: 2022 World Cup venues (YouTube)

25 years ago today, Priest Holmes (120 yards, 3 TD) and unranked Texas upset Scott Frost and No. 3 Nebraska, 37-27, in the first Big 12 title game.

The big picture: The Big 12 started with a bang in 1996, landing six teams in the preseason Top 25 (No. 1 Nebraska, No. 5 Colorado, No. 8 Texas, No. 13 Texas A&M, No. 21 Kansas State).

• "It could go down as the greatest conference in the history of college football," ESPN's Lee Corso proclaimed at the time.
• Less than three decades later, three of those schools are in different conferences and Texas is on its way out.

Go deeper: A requiem for Big 12 football (The Ringer)

Tom Brady and Rob Gronkowski on Sunday connected for their 89th and 90th regular-season TDs, moving into second place on the all-time QB-receiver duo list.

• Question: Which duo did they pass? Which duo do they still trail?
• Hint: One WR, one TE.

Answer at the bottom.

Source: Giphy

James Bouknight! I'm not sure it's physically possible to dunk the ball harder than that, or time that jump better.

Full highlight.