Cowboys Run over Eagles, Take 1st in Nfc East with 37-10 Win

Ezekiel Elliott powered into the Philadelphia secondary and simply ran over safety Malcolm Jenkins.

The apparent 14-yard touchdown run by the star Dallas running back was overturned on review because his knee was down at the 1 but the message had been sent early in a game with the division lead on the line.

The Cowboys (4-3) are back in control of the NFC East after ending a three-game losing streak that clouded the high expectations for the defending division champions following a 3-0 start.

Elliott got his touchdown the play after overpowering Jenkins on his way to 111 yards, Dak Prescott threw an easy scoring pass on a great fake to his backfield mate before a late TD run and the Cowboys rolled to a 37-10 victory over the Eagles on Sunday night.

“That’s how I play every week,” Elliott said.
“I like to think of the defense as a shield.
In the first quarter, you hit them a couple of times, you dent the shield a little bit.
You keep on hitting it.”

Prescott’s 8-yard scoring run for the final points broke Roger Staubach’s club record of 20 rushing TDs by a quarterback and sent the Cowboys into their open week feeling good after a week of talk that coach Jason Garrett’s job might be on the line.

Next time out, they’ll be going for a season sweep of the New York Giants and possibly a firmer hold on first in the NFC East.

“No doubt in my mind about how we were going to come out and perform tonight,” Prescott said.
“We didn’t panic.
We didn’t have to say everything hit the fan, let’s start over.
We doubled down on who we are and just got better.”

Carson Wentz threw an interception and had two of Philadelphia’s three lost fumbles.
The Eagles (3-4) dropped their second straight game after a two-game winning streak that looked like it might get their season going.

“A little embarrassed,” Wentz said.
“We didn’t show up.”

Brett Maher finished the highest-scoring half against Doug Pederson since he became coach of the Eagles in 2016, kicking a 63-yarder on the final play before halftime for a 27-7 lead.

Maher is the first kicker in NFL history with three field goals of at least 60 yards and all three have been at least 62.
He kicked a 62-yarder last week against the New York Jets.
Maher’s other from 62 was against the Eagles last season, his first in the league.

Pederson had to clarify during the week that he wasn’t guaranteeing a win after saying on his radio show that his team would go down to Dallas, win the game and fly home in the first place.

And the coach tried to reverse Philadelphia’s trend of slow starts by taking the ball after winning the coin flip, just the second time in 33 winning flips that Pederson hasn’t deferred in order to start the second half on offense.

It backfired when the Eagles fumbled on their first two possessions, leading to a pair of touchdowns after the Cowboys got the ball on the opponent’s side of the 50 for the first two times this season.

Before that, Dallas was the only team in the NFL that hadn’t started a drive on the favorable side of midfield.

“I feel like he got a statement today, and so we’re going to let him go sleep on it,” said defensive end DeMarcus Lawrence, whose sack of Wentz created the second turnover.

Dallas Goedert fumbled on a hit from Jaylon Smith at the end of an 8-yard catch on the opening possession, and Maliek Collins recovered at the Philadelphia 45.
Five plays later, receiver Tavon Austin took an option pitch 20 yards for the score.

After Wentz fumbled on the sack by Lawrence, and Antwaun Woods recovered, Elliott ran over Jenkins on the next play, then scored from the 1 after this initial TD was overturned.

“It starts with me,” Pederson said.
“This is one of those games that I take personal from that standpoint.
I’ve got to get that fixed.”

The Cowboys answered the only touchdown from Eagles Wentz’s 28-yard pass to Goedert when Prescott faked a handoff to Elliott from the 1 and threw to a wide-open Blake Jarwin in the end zone for a 21-7 lead.

Prescott was 21 of 27 for 239 yards with a touchdown and an interception and had another 30 yards rushing.
Amari Cooper caught five passes for 106 yards after missing most of a loss to the previously winless Jets with a thigh injury.

Wentz was 16 of 26 for 191 yards and the Cowboys held the Eagles to 283 yards after letting second-year Jets quarterback Sam Darnold have one of his best games as a pro last week.

GROUND CONTROL

Dallas finished with 189 yards rushing, 116 more than the average that the league’s No. 2 run defense was allowing.

Elliott, the last back to get 100 yards against the Eagles, did it again on 22 carries.
The two-time NFL rushing champion is averaging 115 yards in five games against his division rival.
It was his fourth 100-yard game of the season.

NFL INJURIES

Dallas linebacker Leighton Vander Esch didn’t return after injuring his neck in the first half.
He walked off the field after staying down for a few minutes.
Cowboys defensive end Robert Quinn had a sack in the first half before leaving with a rib injury.


UP NEXT

Eagles: At Buffalo next Sunday.

Cowboys: At the Giants on Monday, Nov. 4.

source: usa.inquirer.net

Brady carries unbeaten Patriots past winless Redskins 33-7

LANDOVER, Md. — Playing before an appreciative audience in a place far from home, Tom Brady helped the New England Patriots stay unbeaten by picking apart the lowly Washington Redskins.

While he was at it, the 42-year-old quarterback climbed past a former star in the NFL record book.

Brady threw for 348 yards and three touchdowns, and the Patriots got another strong performance from their defense in a 33-7 rout of the winless Redskins on Sunday.

Now in his 20th season, Brady whisked by Brett Favre into third place on the career list with 71,923 yards passing. Brady now trails only Peyton Manning (71,940 yards) and Drew Brees (74,845).

Brady also edged closer to Manning’s record 539 touchdown passes, connecting with Julian Edelman, Brandon Bolden and Ryan Izzo to bring his total to 527.

His prowess on the football field is rarely surprising, but the reaction he received was certainly unexpected. Thousands of fans in the crowd wore blue Patriots jerseys — many of them No. 12 with BRADY on the back — and were cheering for the reigning Super Bowl champions from warmups to well after the final whistle.


“It was ridiculous. It was pretty amazing,” Brady said. “It was pretty sweet. We appreciate all the support. It was great to get a win in front of them.”

Shrugging off four sacks, Brady completed 28 of 42 passes — including a 15-yarder to Edelman in the third quarter to eclipse Favre.

This is the fifth time in franchise history that New England has started the season 5-0, and only the second time since 2007.

Playing for the first time since breaking his leg against Philadelphia last December, Redskins quarterback Colt McCoy went 18 for 27 for 119 yards and an interception. McCoy began the season behind Case Keenum and rookie Dwayne Haskins Jr., but got the start over the injured Keenum and inexperienced Haskins for the Redskins (0-5).

Washington had only 220 yards in offense and was 1 for 11 on third-down conversions.

“There is no excuse for what we put out there today,” said McCoy, who was sacked six times.

“We hit the quarterback and (they had) a lot of long third downs,” Patriots coach Bill Belichick said.

It’s the first time in franchise history New England has four straight games with at least five sacks. In addition, the Patriots completed a fifth consecutive game without allowing a touchdown pass, the first team to pull off that feat since the 1988 Cleveland Browns.

The defeat kept the pressure on Redskins coach Jay Gruden, whose job status appears to be tenuous in the wake of his team’s 0-5 start. Gruden is 35-49-1 over five-plus seasons with Washington.

“No one’s told me anything,” Gruden said. “I don’t have a concern. If the key works Monday, keep working, go attack the Miami Dolphins and plan on getting our first win next week.”

Washington travels to Miami next week to face the winless Dolphins, who absorbed a 43-0 beatdown from New England on Sept. 15.

After Brady’s 10-yard TD pass to Izzo with 9:14 left made it 33-7, the chant “Brady! Brady!” rose from the stands while thousands of Redskins backers fled to the exits.

“It felt like a home game, just like Foxborough,” New England receiver Josh Gordon said. “It was great to get that support.”

McCoy completed a 12-yard pass on Washington’s first play from scrimmage. Two short runs and a sack followed, but New England’s opening possession also ended with Brady getting dumped in his own backfield.

The Redskins jumped on top when Steven Sims Jr. scored on a 65-yard end around, but the Patriots led 12-7 at halftime and tacked on two touchdowns in the third quarter.

The difference between the seasoned Brady and untested McCoy (now 1-6 as a starter with Washington) was made evident late in the second quarter. With 58 seconds left, McCoy forced a pass that was intercepted by Jason McCourty, who took it 16 yards to the Washington 11.

Brady cautiously completed a short pass and twice threw the ball away before accepting a field goal try that kept New England’s momentum flowing into halftime.

KICKING IT

Mike Nugent handled the kicking for the Patriots after Stephen Gostkowski (hip) was placed on injured reserve Wednesday. Nugent’s first attempt was a botched extra point, but he bounced back with three PATs and field goals of 37 and 23 yards.

INJURIES

Patriots: WR Phillip Dorsett (hamstring) did not play the second half. … RB Rex Burkhead (foot) was inactive. … S Patrick Chung (heel) and S Nate Ebner (groin) were inactive. …

Redskins: DL Daron Payne (knee) left in the second quarter but returned. … OT Morgan Moses (stinger) played through the injury. … CB Quinton Dunbar (stinger) left in the fourth quarter… Keenum (foot) was inactive.

UP NEXT

Patriots: New England faces another NFC East foe, the visiting New York Giants on Thursday night. The Patriots are 55-14 against NFC teams since 2002.

Redskins: Washington is presented with an ideal opportunity to nab its first victory against Miami next Sunday.

source: sports.inquirer.net

Mayfield and Chubb combine to carry Browns past Ravens 40-25

BALTIMORE — Finally, Baker Mayfield and the Cleveland Browns lived up to the hype.

Even better, the brash quarterback and the long suffering franchise celebrated their coming out party with a lopsided victory over a longtime nemesis.


Mayfield threw for 342 yards and a touchdown, Nick Chubb ran for a pivotal 88-yard score and the Browns beat the Baltimore Ravens 40-25 Sunday to earn a share of first place in the AFC North.

Chubb finished with 165 yards and three touchdowns against the league’s third-ranked rushing defense. Jarvis Landry had eight catches for 167 yards before leaving with a suspected concussion, and Odell Beckham Jr. had two catches for 20 yards in a supporting role.

The addition of Beckham and the maturation of Mayfield, combined with an improved defense, created high expectations for the Browns (2-2) during the offseason. Then Cleveland started 1-2, losing twice at home. Worse, Mayfield threw five interceptions and just three touchdown passes.

None of that mattered after the Browns breezed past the Ravens.

“We know how good we can be. That’s the frustrating part about how we started,” Mayfield said. “We just need to do our job and that’s what guys did this week.”

First-year coach Freddie Kitchens concurred.

“You keep your head down and keep working, usually good things happen,” he said. “You turn the corner.”

Cleveland kept Baltimore quarterback Lamar Jackson in check and used a mixture of Mayfield’s passing and Chubb’s physical running to rip the Ravens for 530 yards — the second straight week Baltimore (2-2) yielded more than 500 yards.

“We’ve just got to clean it up and guys do their job. Simple as that,” Ravens coach John Harbaugh said. “We’re not doing our assignment the way we’re supposed to, too many times, and it’s costing us big plays.”

Mayfield hit Landry for 65 yards and connected with Ricky Seals-Jones for 59. Then, of course, there was that 88-yard run. In all, the Browns had 10 plays of at least 16 yards.

As a result, Cleveland finds itself tied atop the division with the Ravens, who won it last year. It’s the first time Cleveland has been in first place after four games since 2013.

“We haven’t really won anything,” Kitchens conceded. “Guys, it’s just one game.”

Still, it’s worth noting that Cleveland went 1-15 in 2016 and 0-16 just two years ago, and this victory came against a team that owned a 30-10 lead in a series that began in 1999 — three years after Art Modell moved the original Browns to Baltimore.

Jackson’s deft passing and elusive running were a key part of Baltimore’s 2-0 start, but for a second straight week he couldn’t make up for his own team’s porous defense. He got the Ravens to 24-18 with 9:51 left before Chubb took a pitch deep in his own territory, burst through a hole on the right side and ran untouched into the end zone.

“Anybody could have ran through that hole,” Chubb said.

A subsequent fourth-down gamble by Baltimore failed before Jackson threw successive interceptions. The first one ended a run of 248 passes without being picked off.

Jackson went 24 of 34 for 247 yards and three scores. He had 66 yards rushing.

Down 17-10, the Ravens were moving for the potential tying score when Mark Ingram had the ball pried loose by Jermaine Whitehead, and Chad Thomas recovered at the Cleveland 26. It was Baltimore’s first turnover of the season.

The Browns immediately went the other way and grabbed a two-touchdown advantage late in the third quarter with a 2-yard run by Chubb.

CHOKE HOLD

Beckham and Ravens cornerback Marlon Humphrey tangled several times during the game and got into a heated scuffle in the third quarter. Beckham threw a punch and Humphrey choked him after they wrestled to the ground. Both players were penalized.

“I ran to him after the game, apologized,” Humphrey said. “That’s not really the brand of football I really want to represent. When the whistle blows, it’s got to be over with.”

HAIL BRIAN

The Ravens inducted former coach Brian Billick into the team’s Ring of Honor, adding his name to the facade on the upper deck. Billick led Baltimore to a Super Bowl victory during the 2000 season and went 85-67 from 1999-2007.

INJURIES

Browns: Starting CBs Denzel Ward and Greedy Williams were inactive with hamstring injuries for a second straight week. … LB Willie Harvey left in the first quarter with a shoulder injury and did not return.

Ravens: DT Brandon Williams (knee) was placed on the inactive list after struggling during a pregame workout.

UP NEXT

Browns: For the second time in three weeks, Cleveland plays in prime time, facing the San Francisco 49ers on the road Monday night.

Ravens: In the second of three successive AFC North games, Baltimore travels to Pittsburgh to face the rival Steelers (0-3 entering Monday night game vs. Cincinnati).

source: sports.inquirer.net

Patriots, Rams arrive in Atlanta, get ready for Super Bowl week

ATLANTA — Tom Brady and the New England Patriots have arrived. So have Jared Goff and the Los Angeles Rams.

Now it’s time for them to get to work.


The teams landed in Atlanta on Sunday and will practice this week before squaring off in the Super Bowl next Sunday in the NFL’s main event.

The AFC champion Patriots had a rally at Gillette Stadium earlier in the day before heading to the airport and boarding their flight.

“We’re not at the end yet,” Brady told the fans in Foxborough, Massachusetts. “We’ve got one more to go.”

It’s New England’s third straight Super Bowl trip and fourth in five years — and the ninth overall in the Brady-Bill Belichick era.

The Patriots, who beat the then-St. Louis Rams for their first title after the 2001 season, are looking to hoist the Lombardi Trophy for the sixth time, which would tie the Pittsburgh Steelers for the most in the Super Bowl era.

The NFC champion Rams are back in the city where they won their only Super Bowl title in the 1999 season, when they beat Tennessee.

During the team’s pre-flight rally at the construction site where the Rams’ multibillion-dollar stadium is rising in Inglewood, California, fans chanted “Greg! The! Leg!” for kicker Greg Zuerlein, who made a 57-yard field goal in overtime to beat New Orleans in the NFC title game.

Zuerlein strained his non-kicking foot at halftime of that game by slipping on a turf-covered metal plate during warmups on the Superdome field. The injury doesn’t appear to be serious, and the Rams expect him to kick in the Super Bowl, coach Sean McVay said Thursday.

The Rams are making their first appearance since losing the game in 2002 that launched the Patriots dynasty.

The previous time a Los Angeles-based Rams team was in the Super Bowl was in the 1979 season, where they lost to the Steelers.

source: sports.inquirer.net

Sean Payton: Obvious missed call cost Saints a Super Bowl berth

NEW ORLEANS — Sean Payton was glassy-eyed, calm and shrugged his shoulders at times, seemingly resigned to New Orleans’ bitter fate — as unfair as he thought it was.

And the Saints coach said NFL executives he spoke with by phone after a 26-23 overtime loss to the Los Angeles Rams agreed with him that officials on the field missed two obvious penalties on one late, game-turning play that might have prevented the Saints from advancing to the Super Bowl.


Officials could have called pass interference and helmet-to-helmet contact on Rams cornerback Nickell Robey-Coleman as he flattened Saints receiver Tommylee Lewis on an incomplete pass inside the Rams 10-yard line with 1:45 left in a tie game. The play occurred in close range of two officials along the sideline who never pulled out their flags.

NFL senior vice president of officiating Al Riveron “couldn’t believe” no penalty call was called on the play, Payton said.



“It’s tough to get over it,” Payton said. “My problem with it is, I just don’t know, if we were playing pickup football in the backyard … it was as obvious a call — and how two guys can look at that and arrive at their decision? It happened though.”

As anger-infused, full-throated boos rained down relentlessly from the Superdome stands, replays on the stadium’s expansive video screens clearly showed Robey-Coleman’s high hit occurring before Drew Brees’ pass toward the right sideline arrived at the spot where Lewis might have tried to make a play on the ball if he weren’t being knocked to the turn.



“I bounced up looking for a flag and didn’t see one, so I was kind of shocked about that,” Lewis said. “I saw what everybody else saw.

“You all feel like it was obvious? There it is. Everybody knows it was obvious,” Lewis added. “I don’t know what else to say about it.”

Even Robey-Coleman seemed surprised.

“Came to the sideline, looked at the football gods and was like, ‘Thank you,’” Robey-Coleman said. “I got away with one tonight.”

Rams coach Sean McVay, now headed to his first Super Bowl at age 32, was less inclined to scrutinize the call publicly.

“Certainly I’m not going to complain about the way it was officiated, but I thought it was a competitive play,” McVay said. “I thought they let the guys compete within the framework of the rules and that’s part of what NFL football is about.”

Had a flag been thrown, the Saints would have run the clock down to the final seconds before setting up a short field goal try clinch the franchise’s second NFC title, Payton said. Instead, the Saints had to try the kick with more than 1:40 left — enough time for the Rams to drive for a tying field goal. The game then went to overtime, when an interception by Rams safety John Johnson III set up Greg Zuerline’s 57-yard game-winning field goal.

“We’ll probably never get over it,” Payton added.

Saints quarterback Drew Brees, who at age 40 is running out of chances to get to a Super Bowl, said it was “tough to swallow” the non-call.

“Plenty of times throughout the season, there’s calls that go against you, go for you,” Brees said. “But obviously in a situation like that where it seemed like everybody in the world saw it, it’s tough.”

Both Payton and Brees suggested that the way the call tarnished the result of a conference title game could stimulate discussion about widening replays to look at reviewing certain penalties committed at certain points of the game, as has happened in the NBA.

“There’s just too much at stake,” Payton said. “And listen, it’s a hard job for those guys. It’s happening fast. But I don’t know if there was ever a more obvious pass interference.

“We all want to get it right, right? We’ve got plenty of technology to speed things up,” Payton added. “Look, I’m on the competition committee. So, hopefully that provides a voice. I hope no other team has to lose a game the way we lost that one today, though. We were in position. … We’d be on our knee for three plays and — it’s disappointing.”

Brees said he expects the NFL’s replay rules to “constantly evolve as they try to make this game batter and try to make sure that it is as fair as possible.”

“There’s a lot happening out there and it happens very, very fast,” Brees said. “Obviously, if they were replaying pass interference or if somebody got hit early before the ball got there, then I’m sure that would have been reviewed today — and it would been found that that was P.I. 


“It’s easy to sit here and criticize. I’m sure that because of this, as a result of this, I’m sure there will be a lot of talk about potentially reviewing penalties,” Brees added. “Just like all the reviews that go up in the booth inside of two minutes. Maybe that’s something that will happen in regards to certain penalties as well that are game-changing penalties, which obviously that was today.”

source: sports.inquirer.net

NFL suspends Patriots’ Josh Gordon for substance abuse violation

FOXBOROUGH, Mass. — Patriots receiver Josh Gordon was suspended indefinitely Thursday by the NFL for violating an agreement that allowed him to play after multiple drug suspensions, casting doubt on whether the talented but troubled playmaker would ever play in the league again.

League officials said Thursday that Gordon was returned to the reserve/commissioner suspended list indefinitely for breaking the terms of his reinstatement under the NFL substance abuse policy.

The news came several hours after Gordon said he was stepping away from football to focus on his mental health.

Gordon said on Twitter his decision was spurred by his own feelings that he could have a better grasp on things mentally. He thanked the Patriots for their support and vowed to work his way back.

“We support Josh Gordon in his continued efforts to focus on his health. His attempt to do so is a private and personal matter, which we intend to respect,” Patriots team officials said.

Gordon has been suspended several times by the NFL for violations of its drug policies since being drafted by the Browns in 2012, and missed the entire 2015 and 2016 seasons.

After being reinstated by NFL Commissioner Roger Goodell in 2017, Gordon revealed in an interview with GQ magazine that he drank or used marijuana before games. “Probably every game of my career,” he said.

Gordon also said in a 2017 mini-documentary on Uninterreupted.com that he took Xanax, cocaine, marijuana and other narcotics.

Gordon’s outlook had improved with New England, where he landed in September in a trade after the Browns felt it was time to cut ties. He had 40 receptions for 720 yards and three touchdowns with the Patriots, five years removed from an All-Pro season in 2013 with 87 catches for 1,646 yards and nine touchdowns.


Special teams captain and receiver Matt Slater said despite his suspension, Gordon still has support inside the Patriots locker room.

“My No. 1 concern is with him as a man,” Slater said. “I’m thankful for the approach he took here, how he was as a teammate. I enjoyed getting to know him in that process and I’ll continue to support him in any way I can.”

Safety Devin McCourty said the 27-year-old’s well-being is his biggest concern, not football.

“Life comes before all of that,” McCourty said. “I think we wish him the best and care about that more than wins or losses.”

New England officials had insulated Gordon and focused him on getting acclimated to the team’s highly-disciplined culture, while also limiting his time with reporters.

Coach Bill Belichick said last week that Gordon was thriving on the field, developing chemistry with quarterback Tom Brady and learning the offensive system.

“He’s a smart kid, so he learns well,” Belichick said. “For better or worse, he’s been in a lot of different systems. I know it was only one team, but it was a lot of different systems up there. Most everything we’ve asked him to do he’s done somewhere along the line for somebody.

“As we go through each week, I would say we’ve gained a little more ground on the overall knowledge of the system,” he said.

Gordon said earlier this month he thought he was settling in well with New England.

“It felt like home a long time ago,” Gordon said. “The atmosphere is very welcoming. It took me a little bit to get acclimated to the area. Other than that, it’s been pretty smooth so far, and that’s due in part to the facility, the organization, just everybody helping me along the way.”

source: sports.inquirer.net

NFL: Aaron Rodgers returns from injury, Packers beat Bears

GREEN BAY, Wis. — Slowed by a sore knee, Aaron Rodgers picked up the pace behind center.

Remarkably, the two-time NFL MVP was more effective against the Chicago Bears after returning from what initially looked like a serious injury.

The hobbling quarterback threw three touchdown passes in the fourth quarter after returning from injury, and the Green Bay Packers overcame a 20-point deficit for a thrilling 24-23 win over the Bears on Sunday night.

Rodgers connected with receiver Randall Cobb for a catch-and-run through the secondary for a 75-yard touchdown and the go-ahead score with 2:13 left in the game.

“You’ve seen it time and time again. That guy’s a warrior,” Cobb said.

Rodgers was hurt in the second quarter after slipping to the turf while under pressure from linebacker Khalil Mack and defensive lineman Roy Robertson-Harris. The lineman landed on Rodgers, who grabbed the back of his left leg. He had ACL surgery on his left knee in college.

Rodgers was carted back to the locker room. Doctors determined he did not suffer a major injury and cleared him to return in the second half.

The Packers had to make a slight adjustment with their normally mobile quarterback limited to the pocket.

“Got to get the ball out. Can’t be moving around a whole lot back there,” Rodgers said. “And we did a good job mixing things up in the second half with some of our quicker-hitter stuff and actually some of our more vertical stuff, too.”


Rodgers also had touchdown passes to Geronimo Allison (39 yards) and Davante Adams (12 yards) in completing the rally from a 20-0 deficit with 9:14 to go in the third quarter.

Rodgers finished 20 of 30 for 286 yards, including 17 of 23 for 273 yards in the second half.

“Obviously, that’s a tough one for us. It stings,” coach Matt Nagy said after his Bears debut.

MACK ATTACK: A Chicago defense featuring newly acquired star linebacker Khalil Mack dominated until the third quarter. Mack had a 27-yard interception return for a touchdown against backup quarterback DeShone Kizer in the second. He had a strip-sack that led to another turnover. He had pressure in the backfield on a play in which Rodgers hurt his left knee.

This from a player who missed the entire preseason. The Bears acquired Mack last week in a trade with the Oakland Raiders.

“I prepared all offseason for the first game of the season and I wanted to … make an impact,” Mack said. “But you want to win these games. That’s the only thing on my mind. I hate losing.”

FAST START: An offensive-minded coach, Nagy had the aggressive Bears’ offense pushing the Packers around the field in the first half. Mitchell Trubisky was 23 of 35 for 171 yards. He also ran for 32 yards on seven carries, including a 2-yard touchdown run in the first quarter. It turned out to be the only offensive touchdown the Bears would score all night. The Packers’ defense, in new coordinator Mike Pettine’s first game, held the Bears to two field goals in the second half.

“You know we talked about finishing and we didn’t do that,” Nagy said.

COMEBACK COMPLETE: Nick Perry sacked the Bears’ Mitchell Trubisky on fourth-and-10 with 58 seconds to complete the comeback. It was memorable start to the Packers’ 100th season. Sunday marked the first time in franchise history that the Packers won after trailing by 17-plus points entering the fourth quarter, according to the Elias Sports Bureau.

MORE RODGERS: Packers coach Mike McCarthy said he was prepared to go with Kizer to start the second half until getting the word from the team doctor in the tunnel.

“His performance speaks for itself,” McCarthy said.

Rodgers said he knee was swollen after the game. The Packers plan to run more tests on their QB on Monday, though Rodgers seems very optimistic to about his availability for next week’s game against Minnesota.

“No, I’m planning on playing,” Rodgers said.

OTHER DEBUTS: Chicago’s Allen Robinson had four catches for 61 yards on seven targets in his debut as the Bears’ top receiver. … TE Jimmy Graham had two catches for eight yards on four targets after joining the Packers as a free agent in the offseason from the Seattle Seahawks.

source: sports.inquirer.net

200 NFL players protest in defiance of Trump

WASHINGTON — US President Donald Trump’s criticism of players who kneel during the national anthem sparked angry protests around the National Football League (NFL) on Sunday, as about 200 players sat, knelt or raised their fists in defiance. A week ago, just six players protested.

Most NFL players on Sunday locked arms with their teammates — some standing, others kneeling — in a show of solidarity. A handful of teams stayed off the field until after “The Star-Spangled Banner” to avoid the issue altogether.

As he prepared to board Air Force One to return to Washington from New Jersey, Trump said the players protesting the anthem were “very disrespectful to our country” and called again on NFL owners to stop what he considered unpatriotic displays in America’s most popular sport.

“This has nothing to do with race,” Trump said. “This has to do with respect for our country.”

The president’s attack on athletes turned the anthems—usually sung during commercials—into must-watch television shown live by the networks and Yahoo!, which streamed the game in London.

In NFL stadiums, spectators either applauded or booed at the protesting players.

‘Deep disappointment’

The NFL owners and its players, often at odds, used Sunday’s anthems to show unity. One of Trump’s biggest supporters in the NFL, Patriots owner Robert Kraft, joined the chorus when he expressed “deep disappointment” with Trump.

The dissent started more than a year ago when former San Francisco 49ers quarterback Colin Kaepernick refused to stand during the anthem to denounce police violence against minorities. This season, no team has signed Kaepernick, and some believe NFL owners are avoiding him because of the controversy.

A handful of white players joined the vast majority of black players who actively protested on Sunday.

Defensive star Von Miller was among the large group of Denver Broncos who took a knee in Buffalo, where Bills running back LeSean McCoy stretched during the anthem.

“We felt like President Trump’s speech was an assault on our most cherished right, freedom of speech,” said Miller, who normally steers clear of politics and social issues.

Dozens of more players protested before the Raiders-Redskins game in Landover, Maryland. All but a handful of Raiders sat on their bench, and seven Redskins took a knee while their teammates stood arm-in-arm along with the owner.

In Chicago, the Pittsburgh Steelers stayed in the tunnel except for one player, Army veteran Alejandro Villanueva, who stood outside with a hand over his heart.

In Nashville, both the Seahawks and Titans stayed inside until after the national anthem was over.

Protests surge

A handful of NFL players had been continuing Kaepernick’s protest this season, but that ballooned on Sunday following Trump’s two-day weekend rant.

It began on Friday when he called for NFL protesters to be fired and continued on Saturday when he rescinded a White House invitation for the NBA champion Golden State Warriors over criticism from two-time MVP Stephen Curry.

The president’s delving into the NFL protests further angered many players who took one insult as a personal attack on their mothers.

“Wouldn’t you love to see one of these NFL owners, when somebody disrespects our flag, you’d say, ‘Get that son of a bitch off the field right now. Out! He’s fired,’” Trump said to loud applause on Friday night at a rally in Huntsville, Alabama.

Locked arms in solidarity

“I’m a son of a queen,” retorted Falcons defensive lineman Grady Jarrett.

Super Bowl MVP Tom Brady was among the New England Patriots who locked arms in solidarity in Foxborough, Massachusetts. Aaron Rodgers did the same with his teammates in Green Bay.

“Standing with locked arms is good, kneeling is not acceptable. Bad ratings!” Trump tweeted on Sunday.

In Detroit, anthem singer Rico Lavelle took a knee at the word “brave,” lowering his head and raising his right fist. In Nashville, anthem singer Meghan Linsey took a knee as she finished singing.

Jets chair/CEO Christopher Johnson, one of Trump’s most ardent supporters, called it “an honor and a privilege to stand arm-in-arm unified with our players during today’s national anthem” in East Rutherford, New Jersey. Johnson’s brother, Woody, is the ambassador to England.

The mass action reverberated across the Atlantic, where about two dozen players took a knee during the playing of the US anthem at Wembley Stadium.

“We stand with our brothers,” Ravens linebacker Terrell Suggs said. “They have the right and we knelt with them today. To protest, nonviolent protest, is as American as it gets, so we knelt with them today to let them know that we’re a unified front.”

Jaguars owner Shad Khan and players on both teams who were not kneeling remained locked arm-in-arm throughout the playing of the anthem and “God Save The Queen.” No player knelt during the British anthem.

“Me taking a knee doesn’t change the fact that I support our military, I’m a patriot and I love my country,” Bills linebacker Lorenzo Alexander said.

“But I also recognize there are some social injustices in this country and today I wanted to take a knee in support of my brothers who have been doing it,” he added.

Alexander said he would go back to standing for the anthem next week.

“I just wanted to show them that I was with them today, especially in the backdrop of our president making the comments about our players, about their mothers,” he said. “And then you put that in conjunction with how he tried to gray-area Nazism and KKK members as being fine people, I had to take a knee.”

Invitation accepted

The National Hockey League’s reigning champion Pittsburgh Penguins announced on Sunday that they had accepted a White House invitation from Trump.

The Penguins said they respected the Office of the President and “the long tradition of championship team visiting the White House.”

Before Game 1 of the WNBA Finals in Minneapolis on Sunday, the Los Angeles Sparks left the floor while the Minnesota Lynx stood arm-in-arm. The Sparks returned to a chorus of boos when the song was finished.

Kahn, who was among the NFL owners who chipped in $1 million to the Trump inauguration committee, said he met with his team captains before kickoff in London “to express my support for them, all NFL players and the league following the divisive and contentious remarks made by President Trump.”

source: newsinfo.inquirer.net

Trump says protesting players in NFL should be fired

HUNTSVILLE, Alabama — President Donald Trump has a suggestion for National Football League owners whose players decide to take a knee during the national anthem: fire them.

And the president has a similar suggestion for fans of the sport: walk out of the stadium in protest.

Quarterback Colin Kaepernick started the trend last year when he played for the San Francisco 49ers. He hasn’t been signed by an NFL team this season.

Trump’s hard-nosed reaction to protests by several athletes over treatment of blacks by police came Friday night during a freewheeling rally in Alabama. He says such players are disrespecting the flag and deserve to lose their jobs.

Trump also bemoaned that football has become less violent. That view comes amid growing concerns over repeated head blows and a brain disease.

source: sports.inquirer.net

Rally in support of Kaepernick planned

Film maker Spike Lee is backing a rally in support of quarterback Colin Kaepernick, who provoked controversy last season by kneeling during the US national anthem to protest against injustice in America.

According to a social media post by Lee on Tuesday, the “United We Stand” rally for Kaepernick, organized by several civil rights groups, will start at 5pm (2100 GMT) on August 23 outside the NFL headquarters on Park Avenue in New York City.

“I Did Not Organize And Set Up This Protest. However I Still Support My Brother And His Stance On The Injustices In The USA,” Lee said in a separate Twitter post.

Kaepernick, the former San Francisco 49ers signal caller, remains unemployed a month before the start of the regular season.

The Seattle Seahawks are the only team that has hosted Kaepernick since he opted out of his contract with the 49ers and became a free agent.

Lee and others have suggested that teams are avoiding Kaepernick, who was 2-10 as a starter with the 49ers last season, because of his anthem protest.

NFL commissioner Roger Goodell denied this month that Kaepernick was being “blackballed” but Seahawks wide receiver Doug Baldwin said last week that he believes NFL owners are “trying to send a message” by not signing Kaepernick.

“It’s frustrating because you want to have guys who are willing to speak out about things that they believe in, whether you agree with it or not,” Baldwin told ESPN.

source: sports.inquirer.net

NFL: Eagles prevent Giants from clinching playoff spot

PHILADELPHIA — Philadelphia beat the contending New York Giants 24-19 on Thursday to hand Dallas the AFC East title and put the Giants’ playoff ambitions in jeopardy.

Malcolm Jenkins had the second two-interception game of his eight-year career, returning one for a touchdown, and the Eagles snapped a five-game slide.

It put the Giants (10-5) in a more difficult spot to end a four-season playoff drought. They still hold the top wild-card position heading into their last regular-season game at Washington.

New York can still clinch a playoff spot this weekend if Detroit, Green Bay, Tampa Bay or Atlanta loses.

New York quarterback Eli Manning was inconsistent with his throws all night. On Jenkins’ second interception, the throw was woefully short.

The Giants came up short because they fell behind early and didn’t catch up.

The return of Philadelphia (5-9) right tackle Lane Johnson from a 10-game suspension paid dividends immediately. Twice Johnson wiped out the left side of New York’s defensive line, with his block helping spring Darren Sproles for a 25-yard touchdown run for a 7-0 lead.

It was 14-0 1:28 later when Manning’s short pass to Will Tye was way too soft. Jenkins cut in front of the tight end to intercept and then romped down the right side for a 34-yard score.

Two field goals by Giants kicker Robbie Gould trimmed the deficit but Eagles quarterback Carson Wentz found the seldom-used Nelson Agholor wide open for a 40-yard touchdown and a 21-6 edge.

Manning finally found his touch on the last drive of the first half, with a 29-yard connection to Victor Cruz keying an 84-yard mark. Shepard slipped past Jenkins’ bump at the line to score from 13 yards for a 21-13 deficit.

It was all field goals in the second half — and some more imprecise throws by Manning.

The Giants had a late chance to snatch victory when they got the ball back with 1:31 left but Terrence Brooks made an interception with 5 seconds to go to seal the result.

source: sports.inquirer.net

Halftime at the big game is among the top culture

NEW YORK—Warren Duncan has something in common with Madonna, Beyonce, Mick Jagger, Bruce Springsteen and Prince—and doesn’t hesitate to let his grandchildren know about it every year about this time.

All performed at the Super Bowl halftime show, although it wasn’t quite the spectacle in Duncan’s time that it is now. He was at snare drum for the Florida A&M University marching band at Super Bowl III in 1969, when the New York Jets upset the Baltimore Colts.

“I really hated to see it transition to what it is,” Duncan said. “I really wish it would be like the traditional band halftime show.”

Those days have gone the way of leather helmets. The halftime show has become one of the year’s top cultural moments, so anticipated that it is commonly seen by more people than the game itself. The British band Coldplay steps into the spotlight this weekend, with an expected cameo by Beyonce.

The Super Bowl show can easily be divided into two eras: Before Michael Jackson and after. His 1993 performance established halftime as something more than an afterthought. With the fireworks and extras, Jackson proved no gesture could be too big.

The NFL begins planning its halftime show months in advance, negotiating with chosen artists and mapping out how things will proceed, said Mark Quenzel, NFL senior vice president in charge of the halftime show. Following Janet Jackson’s breast-baring episode in 2004, the league has maintained strict control.

“In some ways, it is the worst 12 and a half minutes of my year,” said Quenzel, who watches from the sideline hoping for no wind, rain, electronic glitches or – shudder – wardrobe malfunctions.

By the time Katy Perry rode in on a mechanical lion last year, and soared away on a platform designed to look like a shooting star, she had rehearsed the show some 40 times. “Anyone who has ever done it has been scared,” she told Elle magazine later. “You stay off the Internet for five days afterward.”

Today, it’s almost impossible to conceive that the second Super Bowl featured Miami-area high school bands at halftime. Florida A&M’s band performed in 1971, after Duncan graduated, and backed Prince in 2007. The University of Michigan and Grambling State University bands performed twice.

Duncan can barely recall what his band played that day; a James Brown tribute sticks in his mind. He better remembers hanging with his friends on a Miami street at 3 a.m. when Jets quarterback Joe Namath rode by in a car filled with women, holding out his index finger in a promise of a victory he later delivered.

The lineup for the 1980 halftime show – a salute to the Big Band Era with the youthful singing group Up With People – practically screams at anyone under age 50 to find something else to do.

Up With People was such a regular part of Super Bowl halftime that Tim Lane participated in four of them: singing “Philadelphia Freedom” for the 1976 Bicentennial-themed show, in the chorus for the Big Band tribute, operating a spotlight for 1982’s salute to Motown and picking participants for the 1986 show.

The youth education organization still exists, and celebrated its own 50th anniversary last year. Lane is its vice president of alumni engagement.

“We love the fact that we did it as often as we did,” he said. “We don’t know if we ever will again.”

It finally dawned on the NFL in the 1990s that halftime was a massive missed opportunity.

For artists, it is a chance to perform before an audience whose size cannot be duplicated. “It has become kind of a bucket list item for even the biggest acts in the world,” Quenzel said.

Following Janet Jackson’s unanticipated exposure, the NFL ushered in a dinosaur era of big rock acts like The Who, Paul McCartney, Bruce Springsteen and Tom Petty whose best days were behind them. McQuenzel has sought to make the bookings more current. One of his proudest moments was hiring Bruno Mars in 2014 despite fears the singer wasn’t well known enough, but the show turned out well.

He encourages acts to invite special guests; Perry brought along Lenny Kravitz, Missy Elliott and some rhythmically-challenged dancers in shark costumes.

Artistic statements are fine, but Quenzel’s goal is strictly mercenary: to move from the end of the first half to the beginning of the second without anyone tuning out.

“We don’t micro-manage the artists,” he said. “We try not to. They understand our goals and we understand their goals. We respect what they do, and I think they respect the fact that we know our audience.”

He won’t talk about a wish list of future performers. It doesn’t take a long look at the charts to figure out two of the biggest music stars who haven’t stepped out on a halftime stage, though.

Adele? Taylor Swift? Are you listening?

source: sports.inquirer.net

Ex-NFL star Sharper pleads guilty in New Orleans to drugging women

Former NFL player Darren Sharper, accused of drugging and raping women in four states, pleaded guilty on Friday (Saturday, PHL time) to related federal charges in New Orleans, prosecutors said.

Sharper, 39, already had pleaded guilty or no contest to rape or attempted rape in Arizona, California and Nevada as part of a series of plea agreements with prosecutors that call for him to serve about nine years in federal prison.

In Louisiana, the five-time Pro Bowl National Football League safety admitted to distributing controlled substances to unsuspecting women and then having sex with them while they were incapacitated, according to the U.S. Attorney's Office for the Eastern District of Louisiana.

The three federal counts of drugging women with the intent to rape them each carry a maximum sentence of 20 years in prison. Sharper is set to be sentenced on Aug. 20.

Authorities say Sharper met his female victims at various nightclubs and bars, then sexually assaulted them after taking them back to his hotel or apartment and spiking their drinks with a narcotic. He was arrested last year.

In March, he pleaded guilty to sexual assault and attempted sexual assault in Arizona and attempted sexual assault in Nevada. He pleaded no contest to two counts of rape by use of drugs and four counts of furnishing a controlled substance in California.

He was sentenced in the Arizona case to nine years in prison. The plea bargains call for his sentences to be served concurrently in federal prison.

He still has a separate pending case on state charges in New Orleans, where he was accused of drugging and sexually assaulting two women.

Sharper played 14 years in the NFL and helped lead the New Orleans Saints to a Super Bowl victory in 2010. He was a broadcaster for the NFL Network when the rape allegations surfaced. - Reuters

‘Disappointed’ Anheuser-Busch takes NFL to task over domestic violence

Anheuser-Busch publicly chastised the National Football League on Tuesday for its handling of domestic violence cases, making the NFL's official beer sponsor the first major advertiser to put pressure on America's most popular sports league.

In a brief but strongly worded statement, Anheuser-Busch, the maker of Budweiser and Bud Light, said it was "disappointed and increasingly concerned by the recent incidents that have overshadowed this NFL season.

"We are not yet satisfied with the league's handling of behaviors that so clearly go against our own company culture and moral code."

The company, owned by Anheuser-Busch InBev, said it had shared its concerns and expectations with the 32-team league, a TV ratings juggernaut that brings in $9 billion in annual revenue.

"We understand," NFL spokesman Brian McCarthy said of the Anheuser-Busch remarks. "We are taking action and there will be much more to come."

The rebuke could raise pressure on NFL Commissioner Roger Goodell, already struggling to make amends after his initial light punishment of former Baltimore Ravens star Ray Rice for the February beating of his then-girlfriend, now his wife.

When a security video emerged last week of Rice punching his wife out cold, Goodell suspended Rice indefinitely and said he had not seen the video when he handed down his original two-game ban in July.

Goodell has since increased the mandatory ban to six games for domestic violence and ordered an independent investigation into the handling of the Rice case.

But, as Anheuser Busch alluded to in its statement, the league is contending with several other cases of domestic abuse, including Adrian Peterson, the Minnesota Vikings running back who has been charged with child abuse in Texas for beating his son with a tree branch.

Peterson was reactivated by the Vikings on Monday after sitting out Sunday's game.

Two other players involved in domestic violence cases are also under the league's microscope, Greg Hardy of the Carolina Panthers and Ray McDonald of the San Francisco 49ers.

On Tuesday, Minnesota Governor Mark Dayton entered the fray by saying the Vikings should sideline Peterson until his case works its way through court.

The Radisson hotel chain said it was suspending a sponsorship deal with the Vikings as it monitors the case. — Reuters

Pro Bowl shifting to Arizona for 2015

The National Football League's 2015 Pro Bowl will be played in Arizona before returning to Hawaii in 2016, the league said on Wednesday (Thursday, PHL time) in the latest tweak to its all-star game.



University of Phoenix Stadium in Glendale is slated to host the game on January 25, 2015 (Jan. 26, PHL time), one week before the Super Bowl for the 2014 season is played at the same venue.

In 2016, the Pro Bowl will return to Hawaii's Aloha Stadium, where it has been contested in 33 of the last 34 years.

The NFL has an agreement with Hawaii to play the Pro Bowl at Aloha Stadium following the 2016 season but final confirmation of the game will be made at a later date.

The future of the Pro Bowl, which features the league's best players not involved in the following week's Super Bowl, was put in doubt in recent years amid criticism of being a glorified exhibition.

The 2014 Pro Bowl did away with the traditional AFC versus NFC matchup, and instead had players selected to teams without regard to conference in voting by fans, coaches and players. - Reuters

source: gmanetwork.com

Seattle Seahawks' Super Bowl victory parade draws some 700,000 fans

An estimated 700,000 Seattle Seahawks fans braved sub-freezing temperatures to celebrate the football team's first Super Bowl title at a parade that wound through the city's downtown on Wednesday.

The Seahawks trounced the usually high-scoring Denver Broncos, 43-8, on Sunday to win their first National Football League championship in franchise history.

It was a particularly sweet triumph for a city whose previous major professional men's sports team championship came a generation ago, when the SuperSonics captured the National Basketball Association's crown in 1979. That team left for Oklahoma City in 2008.

Kicking off before noon and running for about two hours, the parade was slowed by the larger-than-anticipated crowd - with some fans perched in trees and atop pillars - that transformed downtown Seattle into a sea of blue and green, the team's colors. Police estimated the crowd at 700,000 strong.

"I've never seen a community come together like this," said Tyler Olsen, 29, a Seattle-area high school math teacher who took the day off to watch the procession. "It's an overwhelming sense of joy."

Shortly after the parade commenced, the crowd burst into an ear-splitting roar as part of a statewide "moment of LOUDNESS" proclaimed a day earlier by Governor Jay Inslee.

In a nod to the team's fans, collectively known as the "12th Man" for their opponent-rattling rumbling during home games, the organized screaming occurred at 12:12 p.m.

As fans cheered them along the route, players and coaches danced and waved from slow-moving amphibious World War Two-era Duck vehicles normally used by tourists, with star running back Marshawn Lynch throwing his preferred candy, Skittles, into the crowd.

The procession culminated at CenturyLink Field - the Seahawks' home stadium - where the team has lost only once during the past two years, and where season-ticket holders were treated to a post-parade victory celebration.

With traffic snarled and public transportation backed up by those heading into the city, not everyone planning to attend the parade made it.

Patti Tinsley, 43, brought her two children, ages 5 and 7, to the light-rail train station in the Seattle suburb of SeaTac. But after waiting over an hour in a line that snaked around the block, she decided to return home - though her spirits remained high.

"This is historic," said Tinsley, decked out in Seahawks regalia. "It's something my kids will always remember."

MISSING SCHOOL

But with over 13,500 students absent from Seattle's public schools - at least 10,000 more than normal, a district spokeswoman said - it was clear that many others had not only made it to the parade but were treating the day as an unofficial holiday.

A day earlier, Seattle Public Schools Superintendent Jose Banda said it was up to individual principals whether students' absences would be excused.

It was a reversal from his position on Monday, when he said that students would not be excused in spite of a suggestion from Seahawks Head Coach Pete Carroll that they get the day off.

Carroll received a phone call on Tuesday from President Barack Obama, who commended the coach on the team's "decisive victory" and said he looked forward to greeting them at the White House in the coming months, according to a White House statement.- Reuters