Monthly Archives: December 2017

Browns’ Hue Jackson not ruling out drafting another QB

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The winless Browns currently own the No. 1 overall pick in the NFL Draft and the No. 7 from a trade with the Texans with four games remaining this season.

Kizer has completed 53 percent of his passes for 2,038 yards, six touchdowns and 15 interceptions in 11 starts this season and Jackson still believes Kizer can be the franchise’s answer under center.

“I’m not changing from that,” Jackson said. “Yes, I do. This experience for him is invaluable. He’s getting real-time game reps in the National Football League against some really good defenses that have shown him where he has to improve.

“We all know players make huge improvements from Year 1 to Year 2 because all of a sudden, you understand the speed of the game, what it takes to win, how you prepare — everything with a National Football League quarterback to go through it as a rookie.”

Jones was positive in saying he is in support of head coach Jason Garrett, star wide receiver Dez Bryant and the rest of his team, but he made sure to say he wasn’t going to excuse anything that is going on.

“I’m defending because we’re coming off something that is indefensible in the three types of losses we’ve had,” the Cowboys’ owner and general manager said on his weekly spot on 105.3 The Fan in Dallas, via The Dallas Morning News. “Yet, you’ve got me answering questions to defend. I don’t resent it at all, but I want to put it in perspective that this is indefensible what we’re doing.”

It’s pretty simple what has happened to Dallas in its three-game losing streak. The team hasn’t played well offensively and has flat-out collapsed in the second half.

In those games, the Cowboys were outscored 30-0 in a loss to the Eagles, 17-0 vs. the Falcons, and then 25-6 against the Chargers during the second half. That is after outscoring their opponents 19-17 in the first half of those same games.
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Marcus Peters fined $24k for unsportsmanlike conduct vs. Jets

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Marcus Peters’ antics on the field against the Jets in Week 13 are costing the Chiefs’ cornerback quite a bit of money.

Thompson felt a pop in his calf at the time of the injury, sources told ESPN.

While he may be annoyed by how long things took for him to improve, he is open to the bench role and said he was “never” concerned about losing his fit on the team while the Cavs went on their recent winning streak without him.

“I’m actually happy for Channing [Frye] since I’ve been out, I’m actually happy for him, he’s able to play and show everyone what he can do,” Thompson said. “Channing has gotten better over this year. He’s always been labeled a pick-and-pop big, but during this time he’s been posting up and finishing around the rim with some layups. He says he’s not dunking no more, so he’s finishing with some layups. So I’m happy for him. I’m happy for him that he’s playing well. We’ve got to figure it out. I don’t care. If I don’t play, that’s fine as long as we’re winning I’m going to cheer my teammates on. If I play two minutes, three minutes, 20 minutes, it don’t matter to me. As long as we win.”

The bad blood between Brown and Burfict has boiled over in recent games, most notably when Burfict delivered a crushing hit on Brown in a 2015 playoff game that left Brown concussed and resulted in a three-game suspension for Burfict.

Ahead of Monday’s kickoff, Brown was accused of faking that concussion by Burfict, which explains his postgame remarks.

Smith-Schuster wasn’t ejected for the hit but was penalized for unnecessary roughness and taunting as he stood over the injured Burfict. He apologized for his actions on Twitter after the game.

I don’t have any intentions to hurt anyone when I play football. I didn’t mean to hurt Vontez Burfict, I just wanted to throw a block for my teammate. I apologize for standing over him and that isn’t me. Praying he gets better.canadiens_476_e1b1aca0ec108b16-140x140

All eyes on Leonard as Spurs take on Mavs

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The Dallas Mavericks have already lost twice this season to the San Antonio Spurs without All-Star forward Kawhi Leonard.

“Anytime you become bowl-eligible and get invited, that’s a big deal, especially for a program this young,” Georgia State first-year coach Shawn Elliott told reporters this week. “Our guys are extremely proud to be going down there, representing Georgia State and hoping to set a standard and get their bowl victory ever.”

Western Kentucky (6-6) got off to a strong start to the season and looked like a contender in Conference USA heading into final week of October. But the Hilltoppers struggled down the stretch, losing four of their last five games, including a 41-17 blowout loss at Florida International in the regular-season finale.

The Hilltoppers’ bowl streak looked to be in jeopardy after the disappointing finish, but Cure Bowl officials delivered an invite, and Western Kentucky is looking to make the most it.

“I don’t think Eli ever envisioned, until now, playing for somebody else,” Archie said. “That’s the love he has for the Giants. It is kind of unique and stronger than most. It’s not just the game he loves to play. He loves to play for the Giants.”

Now the speculation begins on what happens with Manning. Do the Giants fire head coach Ben McAdoo and bring back Manning as their starter in 2018? Do the Giants release or trade Manning? It’s hard to know, but either way, the entire situation invokes a similar moment with 49ers legend Joe Montana. The four-time Super Bowl winner was nearing the end of his career and was no longer part of the plan for San Francisco, so he moved on to Kansas City.canadiens_002_5139df3c8811ee56-140x140

The Titans lost starting left tackle Taylor Lewan in the second quarter with a lower back injury.

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“We can’t complain with the shots,” Barnes said. “We had layups, we had open 3s, open 2s. Our shots didn’t fall. From an execution standpoint we did everything we’re supposed to do.”

J.J. Barea sparked Dallas with 14 of his 16 in the second half, including a driving bank shot with two minutes left to give the Mavericks their final lead at 90-89. Butler followed with a turnaround jumper to put Minnesota back in front.

We’ve seen that kind of security backfire before, however. The 49ers entered this last offseason with zero quarterbacks on their roster after releasing a QB with similar raw numbers, Colin Kaepernick, and allowing Blaine Gabbert and Thad Lewis to leave as free agents.

San Francisco’s strategy has yet to pay off on the field, though its rebuild was always going to be an arduous one. And while the Niners had already hit rock bottom, the Dolphins occupy a spot in NFL limbo between contention and devastation. Releasing Tannehill will get them to the latter while saving money, but there’s no guarantee there’s anything a) cheaper or b) better on the horizon.

Josh Bynes intercepted Mariota over the middle on the next possession and returned it 25 yards. A late-hit penalty against the Titans play moved the ball to the Tennessee 7. Jurrell Casey’s second sack of the game forced yet another field goal by Dawson, good from 35 yards to finish the scoring.

With his 23-yard catch on the Cardinals’ first possession of the second half, Fitzgerald moved past his boyhood idol Randy Moss into third place on the NFL career yards receiving list, trailing only Terrell Owens and Jerry Rice.

Fitzgerald was a ball boy for the Vikings and used to wash Moss’ cars for cash, and even borrowed his BMW to go to the high school prom.

Arizona outside linebacker Gabe Martin left in the first quarter with a hamstring injury.
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Khaira scores 2 as Oilers beat struggling Canadiens 6-2

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Auvitu finished a rush with McDavid and Jesse Puljujarvi at 3:09 to push the lead to 6-1.

Matheson drove the rebound of a Nick Bjugstad shot into the net behind Detroit goalie Jimmy Howard at the 2:02 mark of the overtime period for the winner, as Florida improved to 1-2 in OT, rallying from a 1-0 third-period deficit for the victory.

“That was a huge win that we really needed, especially in our division,” Panthers forward Jonathan Huberdeau said. “We weren’t very good in the first period, but we came back and played the way we need to play in the second and third.”

The Spurs left Pau Gasol and Manu Ginobili home to rest after a victory over Boston on Friday night and had Danny Green (left groin tightness) and Kyle Anderson (left MCL sprain) out with injuries.

“A quarterback can play as long as your team is good when you get north of 35,” Archie said. “When you get older and your team is not winning games, then they change coaches and quarterbacks. They change a lot of things.”

“That’s the great thing about being Eli’s daddy,” he continued. “You don’t have to worry about stuff like that because he doesn’t.”

Chosen in the second round out of Michigan State, McDowell was expected to contribute right away as an interior pass-rusher in sub packages. The Seahawks said their interest in trading for Sheldon Richardson began in earnest when it became clear that McDowell was going to be unavailable for an extended period of time as a result of his accident.
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Watch: Texans QB Tom Savage exits press conference seconds after arriving

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Tom Savage avoided the tough questions (UPDATE: for a few seconds, anyway) Monday night. It helped that almost no one was around to ask any questions.

With the interview room at Baltimore’s M&T Bank Stadium nearly empty (the reason why isn’t exactly clear), Savage fuflilled his obligation by walking to the podium. Then he walked right out.

As a rookie, Okafor averaged 17.5 points and seven rebounds in 53 games. He followed it up by averaging 11.8 points and 4.8 boards in 50 games but was deemed expendable by the emergence of big man Joel Embiid last season.

“He’s extremely talented,” Nets point guard Spencer Dinwiddie said of Okafor. “We’ll find ways to get him shots, and my job is to give him the ball in positions he likes and hopefully make his transition as easy as possible.”

Tyler Zeller has been Brooklyn’s starting center for the last nine games after Timofey Mozgov began the season as the starter. Zeller will likely be the starter again while Okafor could back up for the time being.

That made the chances of that Packers game in two weeks in Cleveland look much less like the game that takes the Browns off the hook.

The target, then, shifts to two weeks after that, to the Bears game, when the Browns might be, again, 0-14.

Of course, that gives Mitchell Trubisky time to pull a Brett Hundley. And that’s the last thing this Browns team needs.

To monetize the deal, Verizon will have ad inventory within the games that it streams on mobile, which includes in-market games on Thursday, Sunday afternoon, Sunday night and Monday night. DirecTV has rights for all out-of-market games on Sunday.
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Roethlisberger finished the game with four touchdown passes

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There are some pretty good teams in action, though the best game on the day is definitely the first one. It’s a close race in the NFC North and the Vikings actually look like a good team. The Lions are also on a winning streak, so things should be interesting.

Roethlisberger finished the game with four touchdown passes, while Marcus Mariota finished with four interceptions in his worst outing of the season.

On November 21 a game against the Milwaukee Bucks, Haslem passed Alonzo Mourning to become the franchise leader total rebounds with 4, breaking Mourning’s previous record of 4.Daily, you’ll get -game updates and final results of all the local .Jerseys For Cheap One of the areas that Skrine excels is when it comes to man-to-man coverage.Kaminsky started for at power forward.He’s been one of our best players lately and hopefully he can be consistent with it, keep it going until the end of the year and build on from that.Prescott moved into his condo late and enlisted his aunt Gilbeaux a decorating two-minute drill.

So even if every one of the other 1,200 players would have tested negative — which even the heartiest skeptics would agree could not possibly be the case — the minimum C.T.E. prevalence would be close to 9 percent, vastly higher than in the general population.

You’ve got a problem that goes well beyond the athletic department – the whole management over there, said Carlson, who was governor from 1991.He studies daily fantasy and general sports trends to try and get upper hand.414 plate appearances, the 26-year-old hit .246 .410 with 12 homers and 21 steals.Jurickson Profar is healthy.Is it right that the people paying those expensive ticket prices at the Stadium – who see Ortiz as Public Enemy No.I just know I felt a little discomfort, said.Around 100 A.D., the Roman satirist Juvenal coined the phrase bread and circuses to describe how the government elite won the affections of the common people: by distributing cheap grain and putting on overblown chariot races.orioles_019

it was Westbrook and his August 2016 contract extension, which preceded his historic MVP season.

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Playing on the Jets’ fourth line has done little to smother Perreault’s scoring spirit since returning from a knee injury. Three games in following his nearly five-week absence, the versatile forward has four goals (one assist), including two with the man advantage. It won’t be long before the 29-year-old pushes his way into a more prominent scoring position at even strength. Fantasy owners in deeper leagues should scoop him up before it gets to that point.

Rookie netminder Maxime Lagace has been better than good in three of his past four starts, simply awful in the fourth, and solidly sub-mediocre through most of his previous appearances for the Golden Knights.

That should provide some food for daily fantasy thought, particularly ahead of the Kings’ two tilts in 24 hours later this week (in Arizona Friday, then back home to host the Ducks on Saturday). It’s guaranteed that the club’s red-hot No. 2 earns a start in one of those two matches.

Just last week we expressed concerns about Krug getting banged about too much, and now the defenseman is projected to miss his third straight game with an upper-body injury. Look for rookie Charlie McAvoy to continue subbing in on the Bruins’ No. 1 power play in Krug’s place.

Headphones on, Durant stepped off a bus and walked into Chesapeake Energy Arena last February for the first time as a visitor. The headphones stayed on as he took the court for warm-ups, but around him the noise swelled, with chants and boos from screaming fans.steelers_027

Here’s a look at some of the best local headlines from Week 11.

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Spencer Dinwiddie, Brooklyn Nets (rostered in 28.2 percent of ESPN leagues): Knee surgery has sidelined D’Angelo Russell for at least several weeks, while Jeremy Lin is already out for the season. This means Dinwiddie has the keys to the league’s fastest offense. Over the past two games, Dinwiddie has averaged 18.5 PPG, 9.5 APG and 3.5 3PG. With unfettered control of such a fun and progressive NBA offense, Dinwiddie is likely the most important waiver acquisition of the week.

Kris Dunn, Chicago Bulls (18.1): With at least three steals in six of his nine games this season, Dunn is proving relevant, if for his defensive larceny alone. Throw in a handful of dimes and rewarding offensive freedom, and Dunn is arguably the most valuable fantasy guard on Chicago at this point.

Fantasy managers should be sure to either get these players into the lineup during those weeks or consider making reasonable trade offers to acquire them in time for the late fantasy regular season and playoff stretch.

Adrian Peterson has been a standout performer on two occasions since joining the Arizona Cardinals in Week 6, as he posted 25.4 points in his first game with the Cardinals and then tallied 16.5 points against San Francisco in Week 9.

Week 11 in the NFL was one in which a series of contenders made statements of intent.

After the Steelers crushed the Titans on Thursday, their apparent main AFC rivals, the defending Super Bowl champion Patriots, did the same to the Raiders in Mexico.

On the NFC side, the Saints needed some Drew Brees heroics to cement their grip on things in the NFC South, while the Vikings won a blockbuster clash with the Rams.

Ingram: Saints are ‘some dogs’: New Orleans came from 15 points down in the fourth quarter to beat the Redskins in overtime and make it eight straight. Despite Washington having a big lead in the final period, Mark Ingram explained that the Saints were always calm. nike_steelers_2640