The New England Patriots have handled every bit of adversity that has been thrown at them this season – from a string of injuries to the recent off-field firestorm created by reports of purported discord within the core of the franchise. Now [url=] , they’ll have a chance to play for yet another AFC championship.
The Patriots’ 35-14 victory over the Titans in Saturday’s divisional round was yet another reminder of the defending Super Bowl champion’s unique ability to not only compartmentalize, but play some of their best football in the face of it.
Tom Brady chuckled when he was asked after the game about his name being mentioned in a swirl of media reports last week about alleged bickering between himself, coach Bill Belichick and team owner Robert Kraft.
”Noooo,” he responded sarcastically, when a reporter asked about Brady’s name being mentioned in a negative light.
But Brady said it ”just goes with the territory.
”I just try to be consistent, show up and do the best I can do every week for the team and regardless of whether I’m the worst quarterback in the league or the best quarterback in the league or somewhere in-between,” he said.
It was Brady’s 10th career postseason game with at least three TD tosses, moving him past Joe Montana for the most in NFL history. It also brought out some of the best football in his teammates.
James White caught a touchdown pass and ran for another, and Danny Amendola had 11 catches for 112 yards – his first career 100-yard receiving game.
”All the hard work we put in is for these moments,” White said. ”We have to make the most of these opportunities.”
Marcus Mariota tossed an early touchdown pass to give the Titans an early 7-0 lead. But Tennessee faltered down the stretch as the Patriots defense swarmed the third-year quarterback and sacked him a Patriots playoff-record eight times.
Titans coach Mike Mularkey revealed after the game that Mariota suffered a strained quadriceps muscle in the first quarter. But Mariota said it was no excuse.
”Everybody plays with something,” he said.
He said he walked off the field feeling ”embarrassed” a week after leading his team back from 18 points down against Kansas City. But he said watching the efficiency of Brady and the Patriots was a learning experience he will take with him moving forward.
”You don’t play to come and lose in the divisional playoff. You play to win the whole thing [url= Marcus Johansson Jersey[/url] ,” Mariota said. ”Obviously, this is the blueprint. New England’s been in the playoffs consistently. We can learn a lot from them.”
FAMILIAR POSITION
Brady will be making his 12th AFC championship game appearance in his 18 NFL seasons. He now has 221 career wins as a starting quarterback (regular season and playoffs), extending his NFL record. Peyton Manning is next with 200 career victories.
RARE COMPANY
Gronkowski finished with six catches for 81 yards and a touchdown. It was his 10th career postseason TD. He’s tied with five others for third all-time. But it’s the most for a tight end. Only two players in NFL history have more receiving touchdowns in the playoffs: Jerry Rice with 22 and John Stallworth with 12.
But Gronkowski said it’s not something that is even registering right now.
”That’s great to hear and everything, but that’s not really the main goal,” he said. ”Maybe down the road you can look back and look at that stuff, but as of right now, what our main goal is just keep on grinding, get the win and that’s what we did tonight.”
HARD CRITIQUE
The Patriots feasted on third down against the Titans’ defense, going 11 of 17 in those situations.
Titans safety Kevin Byard said they allowed Brady to control the game.
”We didn’t play well enough to give our offense a chance,” Byard said. ”We were giving up too much, especially on early downs.”
He said New England’s 31 first downs stood out.
”(Brady) definitely outplayed us tonight.”
—
Tiger Woods waited 12 years to get back to Riviera and lasted only two days.
Woods had three straight bogeys early on the back nine and didn’t play well enough to make up for his misses. He had a 5-over 76 and missed the cut in the Genesis Open for the first time in nine appearances as a pro.Article continues below ... He was at 6-over 148 [url= Grabner Jersey[/url] , one shot worse than his PGA Tour debut as a 16-year-old at Riviera.
Patrick Cantlay ran off three straight birdies toward the end of his morning round, starting with a tap-in on the par-3 sixth when he missed a hole-in-one by a fraction of an inch, and shot a 69. He was tied with Graeme McDowell (66), the former U.S. Open champion who is trying to work his way back from a two-year slump. They were at 7-under 135.
Sam Saunders was also at 7-under after making back-to-back birdies until it was too dark to continue. He had three holes remaining in his second round. Ryan Moore bogeyed his final hole for a 68 and was one shot behind at 136.
NBA
LOS ANGELES (AP) – Buddy Hield and Bogdan Bogdanovic got the All-Star weekend off to a running start in the World’s latest victory over the NBA’s young Americans.
Hield scored 29 points with five 3-pointers, and his Sacramento Kings teammate won the MVP award with 26 points and seven 3-pointers in the World team’s 155-124 victory over the U.S. team in the Rising Stars Challenge.
The annual showcase of the NBA’s top rookies and second-year players again served as the opening to the three-day All-Star festivities, which are being held in Los Angeles for the record sixth time.
But this show was headlined by two shooting stars from the upstate rivals of the hometown Lakers and Clippers, with Hield and Bogdanovic combining to hit 12 of the World’s 23 3-pointers. The World has won this All-Star showcase four consecutive times.
LOS ANGELES (AP) – Quavo is known for dropping beats and delivering rhymes as one-third of Atlanta’s hip-hop trio Migos. He can also make buckets on the basketball court.
Quavo was named MVP after scoring a game-high 19 points to lead Team Clippers to a 75-66 win over Team Lakers in the NBA All-Star Celebrity Game.
When Migos members Offset and Takeoff arrived to take their courtside seats just before the start of the third quarter, Quavo had already piled up nine points, three rebounds and one assist. A former high school quarterback, he scored six of his team’s first 11 points.
Showcasing a smooth shot and ability to drive to the basket, Quavo finished 7 of 10 from the field. He also had five rebounds [url= Wood Jersey[/url] , three assists, two steals and a block.
AUTO RACING
DAYTONA BEACH, Fla. (AP) – Johnny Sauter wanted to win this race, maybe as badly as any other.
Sauter won the season-opening NASCAR Truck Series race and dedicated it to crew chief Joe Shear Jr., whose wife died unexpectedly in late December.
Sauter notched his series-leading third victory at the famed track and made it three in a row for GMS Racing at Daytona. Sauter won in 2016, and Kaz Grala did the same last year.
Sauter used a big run to pass David Gilliland for the lead with eight laps to go and then held off Justin Haley, Joe Nemechek, Ben Rhodes and Scott Lagasse Jr. None of those chasers provided much of a challenge down the stretch.
It was Sauter’s 18th victory in 222 starts in the Truck Series. He also won at Daytona in 2013.
But this one was for Shear, who said coming to Daytona ”kept me sane.”
BASEBALL
MIAMI (AP) – Miami-Dade County is suing former Miami Marlins owner Jeffrey Loria and the new ownership group led by Derek Jeter seeking money from the $1.2 billion sale of the team.
The suit contends a 2009 agreement calls for the county and city of Miami to receive a share of profits from any sale of the team. The deal was related to an agreement to finance the team’s ballpark that opened in 2012 and was built mostly with taxpayer money.
Loria bought the Marlins for $158.5 million in 2002 and sold the team to Jeter’s group last fall. He claimed a loss on the deal, which the county describes as ”fuzzy math.”
PHOENIX (AP) – Pitchers Dan Straily of Miami and Brandon Maurer of Kansas City lost their salary arbitration cases, leaving players with an 11-10 lead with only Cincinnati second baseman Scooter Gennett awaiting a decision.
The 22 hearings are the most since players went 14-10 in 1990. Just five players settled among the 27 players who swapped proposed salaries with their teams last month.
Straily was awarded $3 [url= Hischier Jersey[/url] ,375,000 instead of his $3.55 million request by arbitrators James Darby, Sylvia Skratek and Edna Francis, who heard the case Thursday. Straily was eligible for the first time after earning $552,100 last year.
Maurer will earn $2.95 million instead of his $3.5 million request in a decision by Matt Goldberg, Dan Brent and Jeanne Wood. The 27-year-old right-hander made $1.9 million in 2017.
SURPRISE, Ariz. (AP) – Edinson Volquez has agreed to a minor league contract with the Texas Rangers, returning to his original team with a chance to be a candidate for the rotation in 2019.
The 34-year-old Volquez will not pitch this season while recovering from ligament reconstruction surgery on his right elbow last August.
The minor league agreement includes an invitation to major league spring training. It covers the 2018 and 2019 seasons.
Volquez has a 93-87 career record in 276 games for seven teams.
NFL
CHARLOTTE, N.C. (AP) – The Panthers have reinstated interim general manager Marty Hurney after an NFL investigation found no wrongdoing into charges of harassment by his ex-wife.
Hurney had been on a paid leave of absence during
The Patriots’ 35-14 victory over the Titans in Saturday’s divisional round was yet another reminder of the defending Super Bowl champion’s unique ability to not only compartmentalize, but play some of their best football in the face of it.
Tom Brady chuckled when he was asked after the game about his name being mentioned in a swirl of media reports last week about alleged bickering between himself, coach Bill Belichick and team owner Robert Kraft.
”Noooo,” he responded sarcastically, when a reporter asked about Brady’s name being mentioned in a negative light.
But Brady said it ”just goes with the territory.
”I just try to be consistent, show up and do the best I can do every week for the team and regardless of whether I’m the worst quarterback in the league or the best quarterback in the league or somewhere in-between,” he said.
It was Brady’s 10th career postseason game with at least three TD tosses, moving him past Joe Montana for the most in NFL history. It also brought out some of the best football in his teammates.
James White caught a touchdown pass and ran for another, and Danny Amendola had 11 catches for 112 yards – his first career 100-yard receiving game.
”All the hard work we put in is for these moments,” White said. ”We have to make the most of these opportunities.”
Marcus Mariota tossed an early touchdown pass to give the Titans an early 7-0 lead. But Tennessee faltered down the stretch as the Patriots defense swarmed the third-year quarterback and sacked him a Patriots playoff-record eight times.
Titans coach Mike Mularkey revealed after the game that Mariota suffered a strained quadriceps muscle in the first quarter. But Mariota said it was no excuse.
”Everybody plays with something,” he said.
He said he walked off the field feeling ”embarrassed” a week after leading his team back from 18 points down against Kansas City. But he said watching the efficiency of Brady and the Patriots was a learning experience he will take with him moving forward.
”You don’t play to come and lose in the divisional playoff. You play to win the whole thing [url= Marcus Johansson Jersey[/url] ,” Mariota said. ”Obviously, this is the blueprint. New England’s been in the playoffs consistently. We can learn a lot from them.”
FAMILIAR POSITION
Brady will be making his 12th AFC championship game appearance in his 18 NFL seasons. He now has 221 career wins as a starting quarterback (regular season and playoffs), extending his NFL record. Peyton Manning is next with 200 career victories.
RARE COMPANY
Gronkowski finished with six catches for 81 yards and a touchdown. It was his 10th career postseason TD. He’s tied with five others for third all-time. But it’s the most for a tight end. Only two players in NFL history have more receiving touchdowns in the playoffs: Jerry Rice with 22 and John Stallworth with 12.
But Gronkowski said it’s not something that is even registering right now.
”That’s great to hear and everything, but that’s not really the main goal,” he said. ”Maybe down the road you can look back and look at that stuff, but as of right now, what our main goal is just keep on grinding, get the win and that’s what we did tonight.”
HARD CRITIQUE
The Patriots feasted on third down against the Titans’ defense, going 11 of 17 in those situations.
Titans safety Kevin Byard said they allowed Brady to control the game.
”We didn’t play well enough to give our offense a chance,” Byard said. ”We were giving up too much, especially on early downs.”
He said New England’s 31 first downs stood out.
”(Brady) definitely outplayed us tonight.”
—
Tiger Woods waited 12 years to get back to Riviera and lasted only two days.
Woods had three straight bogeys early on the back nine and didn’t play well enough to make up for his misses. He had a 5-over 76 and missed the cut in the Genesis Open for the first time in nine appearances as a pro.Article continues below ... He was at 6-over 148 [url= Grabner Jersey[/url] , one shot worse than his PGA Tour debut as a 16-year-old at Riviera.
Patrick Cantlay ran off three straight birdies toward the end of his morning round, starting with a tap-in on the par-3 sixth when he missed a hole-in-one by a fraction of an inch, and shot a 69. He was tied with Graeme McDowell (66), the former U.S. Open champion who is trying to work his way back from a two-year slump. They were at 7-under 135.
Sam Saunders was also at 7-under after making back-to-back birdies until it was too dark to continue. He had three holes remaining in his second round. Ryan Moore bogeyed his final hole for a 68 and was one shot behind at 136.
NBA
LOS ANGELES (AP) – Buddy Hield and Bogdan Bogdanovic got the All-Star weekend off to a running start in the World’s latest victory over the NBA’s young Americans.
Hield scored 29 points with five 3-pointers, and his Sacramento Kings teammate won the MVP award with 26 points and seven 3-pointers in the World team’s 155-124 victory over the U.S. team in the Rising Stars Challenge.
The annual showcase of the NBA’s top rookies and second-year players again served as the opening to the three-day All-Star festivities, which are being held in Los Angeles for the record sixth time.
But this show was headlined by two shooting stars from the upstate rivals of the hometown Lakers and Clippers, with Hield and Bogdanovic combining to hit 12 of the World’s 23 3-pointers. The World has won this All-Star showcase four consecutive times.
LOS ANGELES (AP) – Quavo is known for dropping beats and delivering rhymes as one-third of Atlanta’s hip-hop trio Migos. He can also make buckets on the basketball court.
Quavo was named MVP after scoring a game-high 19 points to lead Team Clippers to a 75-66 win over Team Lakers in the NBA All-Star Celebrity Game.
When Migos members Offset and Takeoff arrived to take their courtside seats just before the start of the third quarter, Quavo had already piled up nine points, three rebounds and one assist. A former high school quarterback, he scored six of his team’s first 11 points.
Showcasing a smooth shot and ability to drive to the basket, Quavo finished 7 of 10 from the field. He also had five rebounds [url= Wood Jersey[/url] , three assists, two steals and a block.
AUTO RACING
DAYTONA BEACH, Fla. (AP) – Johnny Sauter wanted to win this race, maybe as badly as any other.
Sauter won the season-opening NASCAR Truck Series race and dedicated it to crew chief Joe Shear Jr., whose wife died unexpectedly in late December.
Sauter notched his series-leading third victory at the famed track and made it three in a row for GMS Racing at Daytona. Sauter won in 2016, and Kaz Grala did the same last year.
Sauter used a big run to pass David Gilliland for the lead with eight laps to go and then held off Justin Haley, Joe Nemechek, Ben Rhodes and Scott Lagasse Jr. None of those chasers provided much of a challenge down the stretch.
It was Sauter’s 18th victory in 222 starts in the Truck Series. He also won at Daytona in 2013.
But this one was for Shear, who said coming to Daytona ”kept me sane.”
BASEBALL
MIAMI (AP) – Miami-Dade County is suing former Miami Marlins owner Jeffrey Loria and the new ownership group led by Derek Jeter seeking money from the $1.2 billion sale of the team.
The suit contends a 2009 agreement calls for the county and city of Miami to receive a share of profits from any sale of the team. The deal was related to an agreement to finance the team’s ballpark that opened in 2012 and was built mostly with taxpayer money.
Loria bought the Marlins for $158.5 million in 2002 and sold the team to Jeter’s group last fall. He claimed a loss on the deal, which the county describes as ”fuzzy math.”
PHOENIX (AP) – Pitchers Dan Straily of Miami and Brandon Maurer of Kansas City lost their salary arbitration cases, leaving players with an 11-10 lead with only Cincinnati second baseman Scooter Gennett awaiting a decision.
The 22 hearings are the most since players went 14-10 in 1990. Just five players settled among the 27 players who swapped proposed salaries with their teams last month.
Straily was awarded $3 [url= Hischier Jersey[/url] ,375,000 instead of his $3.55 million request by arbitrators James Darby, Sylvia Skratek and Edna Francis, who heard the case Thursday. Straily was eligible for the first time after earning $552,100 last year.
Maurer will earn $2.95 million instead of his $3.5 million request in a decision by Matt Goldberg, Dan Brent and Jeanne Wood. The 27-year-old right-hander made $1.9 million in 2017.
SURPRISE, Ariz. (AP) – Edinson Volquez has agreed to a minor league contract with the Texas Rangers, returning to his original team with a chance to be a candidate for the rotation in 2019.
The 34-year-old Volquez will not pitch this season while recovering from ligament reconstruction surgery on his right elbow last August.
The minor league agreement includes an invitation to major league spring training. It covers the 2018 and 2019 seasons.
Volquez has a 93-87 career record in 276 games for seven teams.
NFL
CHARLOTTE, N.C. (AP) – The Panthers have reinstated interim general manager Marty Hurney after an NFL investigation found no wrongdoing into charges of harassment by his ex-wife.
Hurney had been on a paid leave of absence during