Month: May 2018

Vince Biegel isn’t new to the Packers, but he feels like he’s getting a new start. With both feet healthy and playing for a new defensive coordinator, the outside linebacker is ready to get 2018 off on a better foot.

Biegel, a fourth-round pick in 2017, injured his right foot in his first practice with the Packers. Doctors determined he needed surgery to repair a Jones fracture. That was his Welcome to the NFL moment.

We stuck to our game plan, Marner said. We got the puck in our hands quickly. We used our speed.

The Bruins’ power play -5 for 10 in the first two games — got its first opportunity early in the third only to see Pastrnak hit the post.

The Maple Leafs sealed it with 3:35 left when Marleau scored his second of the night on a 2-on-1 rush for his 70th career playoff goal.

We were on it all game, Marleau said. We had our legs, we were playing the right way.

According to Mary Kay Cabot of the Cleveland Plain Dealer, the Browns aren’t scheduled to bring Alabama defensive back Minkah Fitzpatrick in for a visit either.

Teams have to conclude such visits by next Wednesday, and since they’re not scheduled yet, it’s hard to imagine them setting one up now. Of course, it’s also hard to imagine why you wouldn’t have contact with three players ostensibly in play with their second first-round pick.

They also didn’t conduct private workouts with any of the three, and didn’t interview Barkley as one of the 60 15-minute interviews at the Scouting Combine.

If they’re not interested in Fitzpatrick, it might only be because they’ve invested heavily in the secondary, acquiring Damarious Randall, T.J. Carrie and E.J. Gaines. But it’s difficult to determine what the plan is now, based on the travel plans they’ve made.

Boston was left fuming after center Riley Nash, who returned to the lineup after suffering an ear laceration on March 31, was ruled to have put the puck directly over the glass for a delay of game penalty with just over three minutes left in the first, even though replays suggested otherwise.

Toronto, which was 1 for 7 with the man advantage through the first two games, made the Bruins pay just 7 seconds later when van Riemsdyk scored his second goal of the series at 17:05 to give the Leafs their first lead of the series.

According to a number of sources, the Bengals will host the Buccaneers in Week 8 of the NFL season at Paul Brown Stadium.

The Buccaneers accidentally released their full home schedule on their website, though it has since been removed. And, now their full schedule is out their on the internet.

The Bengals last played the Buccaneers in the regular season in a wild 2014 game that ended 14-13. That win helped the Bengals make it to the playoffs. All-time, the Bengals have a 4-7 record against Tampa Bay.

We’re optimistic that it’s going to be maybe on the shorter side of things, Boone said. It looks like he’s kind of passed every test so far.

Bird said earlier this month that he believed he’d be back to playing baseball sometime in May. His hope is that he won’t have a long rehab stint and will be back with the big-league team next month.

No, Labriola said when asked if franchise tagging Bryant is an option. Too much money for a receiver on a team that already has Antonio Brown.

Pittsburgh’s fourth round pick in the 2014 NFL Draft, Bryant was an immediate home run threat, averaging 21.1 yards per reception as a rookie while catching eight touchdown passes. Bryant was just as dynamic in 2015, scoring seven total touchdowns while amassing 194 all-purpose yards in Pittsburgh’s playoff loss to the eventual Super Bowl champion Denver Broncos. Bryant’s career was temporarily halted in 2016 when he was suspended for the entire season for violating the league’s substance-abuse policy. Bryant was not full reinstated back into the NFL until the first week of the 2017 preseason.

Jose Calderon, who has never made it out of the first round before, went 0-for-3. Jeff Green, whose career scoring average of 11 points per game in the playoffs coming into Sunday was already underperforming compared to his career regular-season scoring average of 13.2 points, scored zero points on 0-for-7 shooting.

Perhaps no one knows Eli Manning or Dave Gettleman better than former Giants General Manager Ernie Accorsi.

So reading between the lines of some of Accorsi’s comments last night, it’s easy to arrange the tea leaves in a manner which suggests the Giants may not be inclined to use the No. 2 overall pick on a quarterback at all.

Miami on the other hand, was the fifth-slowest team in the league at 97.8 possessions per 48 minutes.

In the playoffs, pace generally slows down and teams need to execute in the half court. That seemed to be the case in the first half, as the Heat held the Sixers to 56 points on just 39 percent shooting from the field.

Then Brown inserted Ersan Ilyasova into the lineup at center in place of starter Amir Johnson to start the second half, hoping to create more space and unbalance the frontcourt matchups.

The Chargers did select Manning first overall, but he was traded to the New York Giants later that day.

SI.com reported that Barkley never considered that option.

Sports Illustrated said in a statement to USA TODAY Sports that it continues to stand by its reporting in response to the Miale’s comments. 

Messages left with Miale by USA TODAY Sports were not immediately returned. The agency also counts Browns coach Hue Jackson as a client. 

This one is pretty simple: With Embiid on the court this season, the Sixers’ shot quality increased from practically every nook and cranny of the court, according to Second Spectrum’s quantified shot quality metric (qSQ). Of the 11 primary shooting spots that Second Spectrum tracks, Philly gets better shots at 10 of those shooting zones with Embiid on the court. That’s especially true from 3-point range, where the Sixers get better looks from all five spots with Embiid in the game.