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Chandler Jones earns AFC defensive honor

FOXBOROUGH, Mass. -- New England Patriots defensive end Chandler Jones was named AFC Defensive Player of the Week after turning in one of the best games in his three-year career on Sunday against the Vikings.

Jones finished with eight tackles and two sacks in the 30-7 win, and added a blocked field goal that he scooped up and raced 58 yards for a touchdown.

Technically, the blocked field goal doesn't factor in to Jones' defensive honor, but it was reflective of his overall excellent day of work, as he gave Vikings left tackle Matt Kalil fits.

One of the key factors for Jones' explosion was returning to more of an end-of-the-line role after playing mostly 3-4 defensive end in the season opener.

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Sox get smoked again.

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B's begin without Krug and Smith



BOSTON -- Bruins general manager Peter Chiarelli had no update Thursday on the contract situations for defenseman Torey Krug and forward Reilly Smith.

The entry-level free agents remain unsigned.

The Bruins completed their off-ice testing and physicals Thursday at TD Garden and will begin on-ice sessions Friday at Ristuccia Arena in Wilmington, Massachusetts.

“Won’t comment on negotiations,” Chiarelli said. “We want them in our mix. As it’s been chronicled, we’ve never had that type of player not signed and not come to camp. I’ve been through a few of them in my time, so they’re not very pleasant, but that’s what we have right now.”

Due to salary-cap constraints, the two players may have to settle for one-year deals. But since neither player is signed at this point, it’s likely both are asking for multi-year contracts.

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Pirates get late break in playoff push on Red Sox baserunning gaffe

PITTSBURGH -- It might be way too early to call the Pittsburgh Pirates a team of destiny. But after what manager Clint Hurdle witnessed Thursday night, he had to stop and wonder.
"Sometimes, you're just meant to win," he said.
The Pirates got a lucky break when Boston pinch-runner Jemile Weeks was hit by a batted ball in the ninth inning, beating the Red Sox 3-2 to increase their lead in the NL playoff race.
The Pirates won their fourth in a row. They now lead Milwaukee by 3 1/2 games for the second wild-card spot, and host the Brewers in a three-game series beginning Friday night.


Down 3-2, the Red Sox put runners at the corners with no outs in the ninth against Mark Melancon. Will Middlebrooks then hit a chopper down the line and ball struck the back of Weeks' left leg as he made a dive back to third.
Weeks was called out, and Melancon retired the last two batters for his 30th save in 34 opportunities.

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Patriots' sluggish offense beats Raiders 16-9

FOXBOROUGH, Mass. -- The New England Patriots had trouble getting into the end zone.
Defensive tackle Vince Wilfork made sure the Oakland Raiders stayed out of the end zone in the final minute.


An interception by the 325-pound Wilfork near his goal line gave the heavily favored Patriots the ball with 51 seconds left, and they ran out the clock to hold off the Raiders 16-9 on Sunday.
"It was a team play," Wilfork said after his third career interception. "I just happened to catch it."

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In my weekly picks with scores added, I picked the Pats to beat the Raiders 51-3. I thoiught the pats were going to explode on them.

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So did I

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Sox honored to be part of Jeter's day

The entire day was dedicated to Jeter, with a pregame ceremony that had been planned for weeks by team executive vice president Dr. Charles Steinberg and other Red Sox staffers.


It started with a tribute video to the Red Sox-Yankees rivalry, cheers erupting with each sighting of the Yankees' captain. The Green Monster scoreboard changed from the date to “WITH RE2PECT 2 DEREK JETER.”

At the start of the ceremony, Jeter ran out to where he would normally stand at shortstop. Then he was met by a procession of Red Sox legends led by Carl Yastrzemski, who was followed by other local sports icons -- the Bruins’ Bobby Orr, the Patriots’ Troy Brown and former Celtic Paul Pierce. Former Boston College baseball captain and ALS Ice Bucket Challenge inspiration Pete Frates would join them after a video of Jeter taking the challenge earlier this year was shown.

Next came third-base coach Brian Butterfield, a former mentor and close friend to Jeter, to present him with custom-made L.L. Bean boots. Behind him, the entire 2014 Red Sox team, led by David Ortiz. Each man cordially shook the hand of Jeter and walked on, Joe Kelly the only exception, as the pitcher who struck him out a day earlier paused to take a selfie with the shortstop. Kelly's wife, Ashley, took to Twitter to share her thoughts.

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Pats Beat Bengals

FOXBORO — The Patriots came out of the locker room last night like a team that was sick of hearing how lousy it was all week.
For 60 minutes, the Pats fought both the Cincinnati Bengals and for themselves in an incredibly important gut-check performance, and they handed the NFL’s last unbeaten team a 43-17 defeat. The Patriots spent the week vouching for their character and pride after an embarrassing loss to Kansas City, and they routinely pronounced they’d have to prove it by translating their message into actions.
They made their point.
“We knew what we showed (against the Chiefs) wasn’t who we were,” defensive tackle Vince Wilfork said. “The only way to do it is to do something about it, so we came out, executed well, said we were going to play well. That’s what we did. You can call it angry. You can call it aggressive. Call it whatever you want to call it. We just said we have to play well, and we did.”

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Bruins' ugly win is good start

Fresh from the most unsettled and uncertain Bruins training camp in many a year, with four players in the lineup who spent all or most of last season in the AHL, with four guys coming back from major injuries, with top center David Krejci absent and some mixed-up lines, it probably wasn’t reasonable to expect a thing of beauty from the B’s last night in their season opener against Philadelphia.
A thing of beauty, it most definitely was not.
But as old friend Shawn Thornton always said, “Never complain about winning.”
By that standard, the season opened splendidly for the Bruins, who eked out a sloppy 2-1 victory over the Flyers on Chris Kelly’s dirty-area tap-in goal with 1:51 left in regulation.

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^^ LMAO

Sadly the Bruins have lost all three games since that one.

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Tom Brady throws 4 TDs as Patriots defeat Bills

ORCHARD PARK, N.Y. -- After all these years, Tom Brady still has difficulty pinpointing a reason he and the Patriots consistently beat the Buffalo Bills.
Brady threw four touchdowns to up his career record to 23-2 against Buffalo in a 37-22 win Sunday. He went 27 of 37 for 361 yards to become the NFL's fifth player with 60 300-yard games.

"I'm not sure really, historically," Brady said. "I have a lot of respect for this team. They play hard every time we play them. I think we just come out on the winning end. It's good to be on the winning end."


Brandon LaFell scored on 17- and 56-yard passes less than six minutes apart in the fourth quarter. Tim Wright and Brian Tyms also caught touchdowns. The Patriots' defense forced three turnovers and New England never trailed.
And it doesn't seem to matter who's signing the Bills' checks.
Brady and the Patriots dominated their AFC East rival under the tenure of late Hall of Fame owner Ralph Wilson, who died in March. On Sunday, they spoiled the Bills' new era under Terry and Kim Pegula, the Buffalo Sabres owners who completed their NFL-record $1.4 billion purchase of the team last week.
The Patriots (4-2) gained sole possession of first place in the division in moving ahead of the Bills (3-3). And they did so by beating Buffalo for the sixth straight time.