How the NFL prevents teams from using penalties to win games

November 18, 2016

This month, four San Francisco 49ers defensive backs simultaneously — and very intentionally — grabbed and held the New Orleans Saints receivers they were covering. The clock showed eight seconds to halftime, and the 49ers gladly took a 5-yard penalty from referee Jerome Boger rather than give the Saints’ explosive offense a real chance to score a touchdown.

The Saints settled for a 26-yard field goal on the next play, validating the 49ers’ strategy and prompting the obvious question: Why don’t teams do that more often? And what’s to stop a team from deliberately and systematically John Wendling Authentic Womens Jersey breaking any rule when the markoff is more palatable than the potential outcome?

As it turns out, the NFL’s extensive rulebook has it covered.

The team traveled to the Bay Area later Friday.

Gronkowski’s absence leaves Martellus Bennett and Matt Lengel as the two available tight ends on the roster. Bennett, who has 38 catches for 504 yards and four touchdowns this season, rises into the top role.

Gronkowski has been at the team facility each of the past three days but has left in the later hours of the morning while teammates were preparing for practice.

ESPN NFL Insider Adam Schefter has been told that the injury is “not overly serious” and that Gronkowski does not have a punctured lung, as has been reported.

Pats wide receiver Chris Hogan also was ruled out, due to a back injury.

One of the team’s starting receivers alongside Julian Edelman, Hogan was a Joique Bell Authentic Womens Jersey game-time decision against the Seahawks last Sunday. It was clear he was playing through pain, as he didn’t have a catch and struggled to execute some blocks down the field, which is normally a strength for him.

MLB roundup: Why Braves signed Colon, Dickey; White Sox prepared to talk trade

November 16, 2016

The Atlanta Braves have a wave of pitching prospects from recent drafts developing, but those players are probably a couple of years away from the starting rotation, which is partially why they jumped the market to sign R.A. Dickey and Bartolo Colon on aggressive one-year deals. By making those investments, Atlanta hopes to patch rotation holes on a team that showed promise at the end of the season by winning 30 of its last 50 games, without having to surrender any prospects or agree to a pricey multiyear deal in a weak market. Dickey and Colon also will provide pitching styles that are distinct from those of their Braves peers, with Dickey featuring the knuckleball and Authentic Curtis Martin Jersey Colon attacking hitters with a fastball that moves so much.

The best of the Atlanta pitching prospects will be in the lower levels of their minor league system in 2017, with Ian Anderson, Kolby Allard, Mike Soroka, Joey Wentz and Touki Toussaint all in the 18-21 age range.

By the way, the Braves are not expected to seek a personal catcher for Dickey.

That leaves Sanchez, soon to turn 24, at the Authentic Darrelle Revis Jersey top of the Bronx marquee when 2017 begins. The youth movement is on, but it remains to be seen whether Greg Bird, Aaron Judge and Luis Severino will be joining Sanchez as supporting actors.

But as Sanchez’s career moves forward, his defense will likely stand out. His arm is off the charts, while the front office raves about his ability to call pitches. Manager Joe Girardi always says it is defense-first for catchers, and Sanchez has bought in.

Sanchez’s future success will not be based solely on himself — just as with Rivera, Jeter and Rodriguez. No baseball player’s team wins without 24 other guys. Sanchez could be the leader of the Yankees’ next era.

Sanchez figures to be the catcher for potential Yankees “uber” teams, to borrow GM Brian Cashman’s word. His continued development is so important because it can create a salary structure for the franchise, in which one of its best players might not be making the most money on the roster. Sanchez, a potential All-Star, won’t be eligible for free agency until after 2021.

By then, the Yankees might sign guys such as Bryce Harper or Manny Machado. But right now, it doesn’t matter that Sanchez wasn’t the Yankees’ first Rookie of the Year since Jeter in 1996 — Sanchez is the face of the organization. That’s pretty good for a soon-to-be 24-year-old with a lot of baseball ahead of him.

The White Sox have told other teams they’re willing to listen to offers on players they control for three years or less, including Jose Abreu, Chris Sale, Todd Frazier, Melky Cabrera and others.

The anointing of Dak, and what’s next for the Cowboys

November 15, 2016

It is Aug. 25 — just 90 seconds into a preseason game in Seattle — and Tony Romo has lost his job.

He doesn’t know this, of course. No one does. The crunching hit by Cliff Avril that cracked Romo’s back and forced him out of that game looked bad, but neither Romo nor the Dallas Cowboys thought it would cost him time. He asked back in, and the next day, the stories out of Dallas all said he’d avoided a scare. The story of the night was the preseason debut of first-round running back Ezekiel Elliott, who had 48 yards on seven carries after missing a bunch of practices with a hamstring injury. A few people noted how good fourth-round rookie Dak Prescott looked in relief of Romo.

“We’ve got a great luxury, a wonderful Adrian Clayborn Authentic Womens Jersey problem to have,” Jones said after the team’s Week 9 victory in Cleveland. “We’ve got some real talent at the quarterback position. I think Tony Romo is one of the best quarterbacks to play this game, and I get very excited when I look at Dak and his future. I just don’t have a problem with this situation.”

As Jones talked, the Cowboys’ locker room was in full bubble. Bryant had caught one measly pass for 19 yards in the 35-10 victory in Cleveland and couldn’t care less. He laughed with reporters as they discussed how wide open the three receivers were who caught Prescott’s touchdown passes, and at how unstoppable Elliott continued to look.

Romo sat not far away, dressing quietly Alex Mack Authentic Womens Jersey but with his own big smile. He has remained silent throughout. He’ll make small talk but clearly doesn’t want to do interviews for fear of being a distraction. No one with the Cowboys wants anything to distract from what’s going on right now.

After Prescott and Elliott authored a stunning comeback victory in Pittsburgh on Sunday, Jones said Romo would be Prescott’s backup upon his return to the active roster. “We’re going to let the decision make itself,” Jones said. To this point, the decision has been made: Prescott is playing too well for the team to make any changes.

But that decision is likely to continue to “make itself.” Don’t expect the Cowboys to make any formal announcements about Prescott being the starter for the rest of the season, or for next season, because why should they?

Rex Ryan reveals what he said to Richard Sherman on the sideline

November 10, 2016

Richard Sherman was the center of attention during the Seattle Seahawks’ win over the Buffalo Bills on Monday night. It wasn’t all positive, though.

In the final seconds of the first half, Sherman hit Bills kicker Dan Carpenter low, but it wasn’t flagged because he was ruled offsides. The Bills were forced to re-kick it twice more, resulting in a missed field goal after a delay of game penalty. The three consecutive plays were certainly controversial, which understandably had everyone on Buffalo’s sideline fuming.

“It’s not like it just jumps off the Tani Tupou Authentic Jersey page to me when I watch him. Because he can go through phases of time when he blends in. But then you look at it and say, wait, he just blocked three shots, he just got two offensive rebounds, he just led the break, got us a layup — he can do a lot, this guy. He can do a little bit of everything.”

Save for a minor hitch in his shooting mechanic, per Self, Jackson’s game has no glaring holes. He can do all the mixtape things: He is 6-foot-7 and superathletic, he has a ball handler’s touch, he is an excellent passer, and he has an innate ability to create angles and make tough shots in traffic. But he might be even better at cutting off the ball and better still as a defender, particularly on the perimeter. Jackson could end up being KU’s best perimeter defender, which is no small feat for a guy playing next to Mason and Graham, two of the nation’s best.

That is why Self, whose teams have typically featured two traditionally big forwards, is figuring out how to play four guards at any given time. It’s a stylistically on-trend move, as the game gets smaller and smaller from the NBA on down, and it’s one Jackson — the “tallest guard” in that four-guard lineup — seems entirely capable of taking on. If he scores 30, great. But he might score 12 and be every bit as crucial.

“You can’t label him as any one thing,” Self said. “He’s just a basketball player.”

Jackson can play the saxophone — well enough that if he had practiced and hadn’t been so nervous, he could have gotten through the solo performance his teammates wanted him to put on at Kansas’ “Late Night in the Phog” event in October. (“I was not comfortable Thomas Rawls Authentic Jersey playing in front of 16,000 people,” he said.) He’s into chess, and he started a chess club at Prolific Prep in Napa, California, where he spent his senior year of high school and was a member of the National Honor Society. Ask him to describe himself, and the first thing he will say is that he’s “kind of an introvert.”

He is also, it turns out, a next-level competitive freak.

Holmgren replied that Rice was where he was supposed to be

November 8, 2016

I THOUGHT OF Young’s book again when I watched Ryan’s best pass of the year. It was against the Broncos in Week 5. Ryan dropped back and threw a seam Darius Slay Authentic Womens Jersey route to running back Tevin Coleman. It was one of those throws that every quarterback can make in practice, but only a few can make in a game. Coleman was covered by one defender when Ryan threw the ball, and by three when he caught it. Yet he was open. Ryan threw to a hole that only he saw. It was the type of throw that goes beyond simply exploiting a mismatch. It was the type of throw that a quarterback has to get used to and grow into. It was all faith and fearlessness. Coleman scampered all but untouched for a 31-yard touchdown that would prove to be the decisive points.

OK, so what does that have to do with Young?

And he has never been crazy about being called a DeAndre Levy Authentic Womens Jersey scorer, even though he’s now one of the most elite scorers in NBA history.

James joined the all-time top 10 in scoring over the weekend, six weeks before his 32nd birthday. This week, he’ll likely become the youngest to reach 27,000 points. He’s a little uncomfortable talking about it because he doesn’t want scoring to be his central legacy.

“Scoring has never been on my list of goals,” James said. “Facilitating, getting my guys involved and rebounding, defending, getting blocked shots and things of that nature always ranked above that.”

He says it has been gratifying that he now can call the greatest play of his career a defensive one: the chase-down block of Andre Iguodala in Game 7 of the 2016 NBA Finals. That moment is the centerpiece of his newest Nike commercial, in which James calls the block the “defining” play of his career.

He’s making it clear he does not want to be defined as a scorer. He will not aim for 60 points in the final game of his career as Kobe Bryant did, majestically if self-servingly. If James chases a stat threshold on his final night, it will be a triple-double. And he’s not waiting for the swan song; he has been chasing triple-doubles for years.

The truth is, James is not as gifted at scoring as his totals indicate. Perhaps even more than the others on the NBA’s top-10 scoring list, he had to pour work into becoming an elite scorer. Reaching these heights on the all-time list is a validation of his efforts. His natural talent for passing — he’s a 1-percenter in terms of vision and court awareness — is unquestioned. Ambidextrous and blessed with excellent touch, he has been a great ball handler from an early age. But the rest didn’t come as easy.

Richard Sherman steadfast in hindsight: ‘I went for the ball’

November 7, 2016

The NFL will address with referee Walt Anderson and his officiating crew a bizarre first-half sequence from the Seattle Seahawks’ 31-25 win Monday night over the Buffalo Bills that led to hand-wringing and finger-pointing from all sides.

The controversy, which initially began over whether Seahawks Cassius Marsh Jersey cornerback Richard Sherman should have been penalized for unnecessary roughness against Bills kicker Dan Carpenter, led to several minutes of confusion and eventually a missed 54-yard field goal by Carpenter at the end of the first half.

The sequence also upset coach Rex Ryan and Bills players after the game.

— Dean Blandino (@DeanBlandino) November 8, 2016
Bills trainers ran onto the field to tend to Carpenter, who remained on the ground after being hit by Sherman. Because trainers entered the field of play, Carpenter was required to exit the game, leaving the Bills without a kicker for the end-of-half attempt.

Sherman said he completely disagreed with Blandino’s assessment that Anderson’s crew did not make the correct call, saying “I didn’t go for the kicker, I went straight for the ball.”

“This was a special night,” Curry said.

“I was hard on myself in practice the last two days. I Chris Clemons Jersey had pretty good shooting sessions,” he said. “I don’t overreact to games like that whether I go 0 for 10 or 2 for 12 or whatever it is. My process is the same, but I had another level of focus the last two days trying to get my rhythm back and see the ball go in.”

Curry shot 13 of 17 from beyond the arc in his seventh career game with double-digit 3s. He broke the mark with 2:23 to go and bobbed his head in delight as the crowd roared.

Curry shared the previous 3-point record of 12 with Kobe Bryant and Donyell Marshall.

“Nothing you can do about it. He was being Steph,” Pelicans star Anthony Davis said.

Lombardi was a guest on Bill Simmons’ podcast Monday and broke down the trade

November 4, 2016

Lombardi was a guest on Bill Simmons’ podcast Monday and broke down the trade, going into great detail about Collins’ inconsistent effort. He said this move didn’t just send a message to Collins, but to the entire team.

“The one thing you Corey White Authentic Womens Jersey have to do, (former president of basketball operations for the Knicks and Pacers) Donnie Walsh said this to me in the 1990s, or the late ’80s, ‘You’ve got to know what you’re trading before you make a trade.’ And that’s the one caveat that Belichick knows,” Lombardi said. “He knows what he’s trading.

After trade details emerged on Monday, Lombardi tweeted that Collins’ tendency to freelance on the field had been a contributing factor.

Collins on the second play of the game does Cyrus Kouandjio Authentic Womens Jersey whatever he wants and Bills gain 28 yards. Been happening all year. It was not going to continue

— michael lombardi (@mlombardifoxtv) October 31, 2016
On Tuesday, Lombardi expanded on this idea, adding during an appearance on Boston’s WEEI that it wasn’t just the freelancing that was a problem for Collins.

Oh wow. Ex-#Patriots staffer Mike Lombardi is shredding Jamie Collins on @WEEI. “Sometimes freelancing is a problem, effort is a problem.”

— Ian Rapoport (@RapSheet) November 1, 2016

He’s also nearing the top of the list of tight ends with the most 100-yard receiving games. Gronkowski has 23 in his career, and trails Gonzalez with 31 and Kellen Winslow, Sr. with 24. Gronk has had three 100-yard receiving games in this four-game stretch since Tom Brady returned, and he’s likely to surpass Winslow in the near future. Gonzalez’s high mark is also in reach this season.

County’s Morrow scores the equalising goal against Celtic the Scottish Premier League match at Park

November 1, 2016

Linsanity is unstoppable force that one can only to contain. Yes, according to many of you who read ‘s mobile site, this is actual Chink in the armor headline that the leader of sports-worldwide-blared to smartphone and other gadget users following the Knicks loss last night. The moral ethos of sport, writes op-ed columnist David today -and let’s pause right there for a word of professional advice: if you use the word sport, you should not be writing about sports, unless you are British and you also write maths, in which Jack Mewhort Authentic Womens Jersey case you may write about sport but we… Have you ever dreamed of what the Booth might sound like without Ron Jaworski and Gruden egging each other on reach to new and disturbing levels of sycophantic guffawing? I have. Oh, how I’ve dreamed of a sensibly assembled two- booth featuring Tirico bitching out the refs… Talk radio callers and internet people alike are foretelling doom regarding ‘s return to the Knicks later Joe Reitz Authentic Womens Jersey this week. He’ll need to share the ball with, the Socratic ideal of a point guard. The Knicks stumbled… What is going on Oakland? Billy Beane’s done some things. He traded two All-Star starters, Gio Gonzalez and Cahill, to the Nationals and Diamondbacks. He traded away his closer, Andrew, and Craig Breslow, another reliable reliever. Then he traded away two more starters, Guillermo… You are unlikely to as perfect a soccer goal as this for a very, very long time. Cristiano Ronaldo, who’s hoarding goals at such a clip it’s as if he’s trying to make every Spanish soccer fan forget the name Messi forever, finished a natural hat trick against Levante with this shot, his 119th tally for Real….

County’s Morrow scores the equalising goal against Celtic the Scottish Premier League match at Park. Photograph: Halkett The substitute Steffen Wohlfarth scored the winning goal deep into injury time as County completed incredible comeback from two goals down against Celtic. The beat Kelvin and Fraser Forster to a ball to head into the net as the hosts stunned Celtic and consolidated their status as the Scottish Premier League’s form team of 201The win looked highly unlikely after 21 minutes of the match after Mulgrew had scored direct from a corner and Hooper chipped home as goalkeeper Michael Fraser endured a nightmare six minutes. However, County also scored twice six minutes. First, a stunning volley from Munro and Morrow’s close-range finish got them level before the break and they emulated their 2010 Scottish Cup win over the Hoops when substitute Wohlfarth scored his first County goal.

County have not lost since a 4 defeat at Celtic Park on 22 December, taking 27 points from their subsequent 11 matches – two more than Celtic have claimed 12 games. Efe and Rami Gershon came into a three- Celtic defence as Neil Lennon made five changes following the Champions League defeat by Juventus. Dylan McGeouch, Miku and Anthony Stokes started after Victor Wanyama, Adam Matthews, Georgios Samaras and Izaguirre picked up injuries Turin, while Commons dropped to the bench. County were without the -form Sproule and their suspended captain, Richard Brittain, while Fraser continued to deputise for the injured Brown. Conditions were far from ideal with a sandy, bumpy pitch and icy, strong wind above but the visitors adapted well initially. ‘s ball reached Hooper thanks to some hesitant defending but Fraser stood up to push the striker’s shot wide. The resulting corner was cleared but Mulgrew got another to deliver and he made the most of it as he swerved the ball past Fraser into the top corner. Fraser saved well from Miku after the Venezuelan had played a one-two with Hooper but he was beaten again by a soft goal. McGeouch laid the ball back for Hooper 18 yards and the Englishman chipped the ball towards the far post with Fraser again only able to help it into the net as he was caught off his line.

You can excuse Holland and the Red Wings if they’re not overly eager to rip out

October 31, 2016

In Detroit, it’s a culture of winning that has been handed down from Steve Yzerman to Nicklas Lidstrom to Henrik Zetterberg and now to Dylan Larkin, Petr Mrazek and Andreas Athanasiou.

You can excuse Holland and the Red Wings if Sebastian Aho Jersey they’re not overly eager to rip out that fabric of success in exchange for the opportunity to draft somewhere closer to the top.

But I’ll admit that I’ve wondered if a few down years might do the Red Wings some good. I’ve suggested as much. I’ve wondered what this organization could do if it added a couple of top-10 picks to its talented young core. I certainly understood why some fans were puzzled the past couple of years that Detroit brought in guys such as Mike Green, Vanek and Ott instead Brandon Dubinsky Jersey of young players who might be able to do the same thing much more cheaply, gain experience, lose a few more games and help improve the draft odds.

Holland has done the analysis — and decided that the cost and risk of going down that path far outweighed a possible reward.

But on Tuesday, Larkin joined the party with a two-goal game against the Carolina Hurricanes. They were his first goals of the season. Athanasiou scored for the second consecutive game, showing what it can look like when all generations are contributing for the Red Wings.

Detroit has opted not to go all-in on the youth movement, and if there’s a franchise that has earned the benefit of the doubt, it’s this one.

“The media wants a young game, they want the speed, they want the addiction,” Ott said, before being interrupted momentarily.

Given the struggles of goaltenders around the NHL, Red Wings GM Ken Holland is in a position of strength with two solid netminders. Does that change?

“No, I think it’s true,” he continued. “Who is the model that built completely young and won everything? It hasn’t happened. Why has that not happened? You tell me.”

Because successful teams need a mix of youth and experience. It’s early, but the Red Wings believe they have the right mix. They’re winning with veterans and young guns, they have a kid in forward Anthony Mantha, who is banging on the door with six goals in five AHL games. They don’t think Tyler Bertuzzi is too far behind him. Eventually Evgeny Svechnikov will be there, too.

There’s a plan in place to keep the success going. No, the Red Wings are not interested in tearing it down. Just winning, as they’ve done for two and a half decades. Perhaps, in Detroit, they’ve earned the right to keep trying.

I’ve also heard the argument that players will be demoralized by failing to go for two early and then get shut down, but I’m more skeptical there. The Browns had every reason to turn off the switch after failing to score their two-pointer, given the general hopelessness of the short-term situation in Cleveland, and they promptly played their butts off to get the ball back and score again.

Vikings backup QB out 3 months after getting injured trying to break into his house

October 28, 2016

NFL teams are opening training camp, but Minnesota Vikings quarterback Taylor Heinicke won’t be among his teammates on the practice field. It’s not abnormal for NFL players to miss time with ankle injuries. It is, however, abnormal for NFL players to miss time with ankle injuries suffered while trying to kick in their own front door.

Mark Wilf, the team’s owner Shane Ray Authentic Womens Jersey and president, identified Zimmer’s strong relationship with Vikings general manager Rick Spielman as part of the reason the team decided to take action on an extension for Zimmer at this time.

“His leadership and the strong partnership he has with Rick Spielman has helped transform the culture of our football team,” Mark Wilf said. “They have established a positive identity for this team with tough minded, disciplined, and smart football players and we believe Mike’s continued leadership bodes very well for our future.”

While details about compensation and Shannon Sharpe Authentic Womens Jersey the length of the contract were not disclosed, Spielman said Thursday that Zimmer would “be our coach for a long time.”

Zimmer’s 18 wins in his first two seasons in Minnesota trail only Dennis Green’s 20 wins for the most in any coach’s first two seasons with the Vikings.
Gary Kubiak was eager to tell the world that the Siemian, a seventh-round pick in 2015, had a legitimate shot at the starting quarterback job. Having watched Sanchez over the last six seasons, I was inclined to believe him. But it was Sanchez who took all the first-team reps in minicamp. Last week, Sylvester Williams revealed that Kubiak was opening camp with Sanchez sitting atop the depth chart.

Rookie Paxton Lynch could play at some point, but a rough spring has the first-round pick buried third on the depth chart and headed for a redshirt year.

However the competition shakes out, it’s not a good situation, unless you’re a Raiders or Chiefs fan.

Fast forward a bit, and Gleason is well in the grips of the disease. He’s still walking, but it isn’t easy. He heads to midfield in the Super Dome to lead Saints fans and his former teammates in the “Who Dat” chant, accompanied by former teammate Will Smith and leaning heavily on Drew Brees for support. Gleason is overcome with emotion, as are his former teammates and fans.

By 2012 when the team dedicated a statue of his blocked punt outside the Super Dome, Gleason had lost the ability to speak or walk or even control his bowels. Gleason interprets this experience with perfect clarity.

“It’s an incredible example of polarities and dichotomies and juxtapositions that is my life,” he says.

For Gleason, coming to terms with battling ALS meant being confronted with not being able to do things that were once second nature. It happens very quickly for ALS patients.

They lose fine motor control. They begin to slur their speech. They develop muscle weakness. Walking becomes difficult. They’re confined to wheelchairs. Breathing becomes a challenge. The typical lifespan for a patient after an ALS diagnosis is two to five years. Their independence and their ability to connect and communicate with loved ones disintegrates rapidly.

The film details the founding of Team Gleason and the personal meaning the mission of the organization carries for Gleason and his wife, Michel. They focus on providing technology and life experiences for those suffering from ALS, and Gleason devotes his life to helping others with this disease be able to live as fully as he does.

We see Gleason, too, becoming more and more dependent on that technology, eventually losing the ability to speak and becoming reliant on a computer to speak for him.

The film allows us to see Gleason pursuing experimental treatments, trying to stave off the effects of this brutal disease. As he comes to terms, on camera, with the fact that his ability to speak is waning, his anguish is palpable. We see him suffer because of the ravages of ALS, and we see him suffer because of the impact his disease has on those he loves. It’s wrenching.