Monthly Archives: October 2016

J.J. Watt undergoes back surgery, expected to be ready for Week 1

Houston Texans defensive lineman J.J. Watt underwent back surgery and will likely begin training camp on the Physically Unable to Perform list, according to John McClain of the Houston Chronicle. The surgery is not expected to cause Watt to miss any regular season games.

It remains unclear what injury prompted the surgery. Watt played through a long list of issues last season, including a herniated disk as Tania Ganguli of ESPN noted. The injury did not require surgery at the end of the season, but it’s possible Watt aggravated Ron Greschner Jersey it this offseason or suffered another injury that did need surgery. This is the second surgery Watt has undergone this offseason; earlier he underwent sports hernia surgery to repair a significant groin injury.

The news of the surgery comes just 10 days before the Texans are set to open up training camp on July 31. Houston doesn’t open the preseason until Aug. 14. The Texans begin the regular season on Sept. 11, giving Watt a little more than seven weeks to recover if he’s going to avoid missing the first regular season game of his career.

The injury happened recently, and the team will Ryan McDonagh Jersey put him on the PUP list to start training camp.

Now, it could be more like 10 weeks, which would put him on the shelf for the first three games of the season. The Texans have a Thursday night game against the Patriots in Week 3, so no feasting on Jimmy Garoppolo while Tom Brady is out for his suspension.

The real question isn’t when Watt will return, but when he’ll return to full strength. Back injuries aren’t uncommon for NFL players. However, they’re the kind of nagging injury that has lingering effects, making it harder for a player to snap back into form quickly. Watt’s fellow pass rusher from the 2011 draft, Robert Quinn, had back surgery last June and ended up missing half the season before being put on IR.

Maybe some more massages will help.

JAGS WORKOUT HARDY: Greg Hardy works out for Jacksonville Jaguars, but team has no plans to sign him. The Jaguars do not plan to sign free agent defensive end Greg Hardy after working him out over the past two days, a league told ESPN.

Bills, Tyrod Taylor agree to 6-year contract extension

Tyrod Taylor is coming off the best season any Buffalo Bills quarterback has had in over a decade, and Buffalo announced it has rewarded him with a brand new contract.

Taylor, 27, was under contract through the 2017 season, however, a clause in his contract would have voided the 2017 season if he played 50 percent of Buffalo’s offensive snaps, which means he would have become a free agent after the 2016 season.

Perhaps most impressively, Taylor seldom Michael Irvin Jersey turned the ball over. He only threw six interceptions, which is a testament to his decision-making ability. Taylor missed two games due to a knee injury in the middle of the season. The Bills went 0-2 in his absence.

It’s not entirely Tim McGraw’s fault the NFL cancelled the Hall of Fame game. Field conditions at Tom Benson Hall of Fame Stadium were trash before McGraw played a concert there Friday night. But the festivities and a rain storm probably didn’t make it Morris Claiborne Jersey any better.

It’s hard to understate just what a huge debacle this was for the NFL. Preseason or not, it was supposed to be a nationally televised game. Officially, it was the paint used on the field, the stuff that turned into tar, that forced the cancellation of the game, but the field at the Hall of Fame stadium has been an issue in the past.

Jim Irsay was pissed about the game. The Colts owner asked the most valid question of all: “Hey you’re a $12 billion league. How could you not have a field out there ready to go?”

Harrison’s speech centered around gratitude toward all of the people who helped him reach this point, starting with a high school teacher who promised Harrison he’d make it to one game a year if Harrison went pro. The teacher, who was in attendance, kept that promise. Harrison also thanked a speech professor at Syracuse whose class helped him prepare for this, the biggest speech of his life.

Harrison also thanked several of the men who served as his head coaches and position coaches over the years. He credited Lindy Infante, his first head coach, with helping him become a Hall of Fame receiver.

“During practice he would say to us, ‘I don’t like you guys catching passes. You make it look too easy,'” Harrison said. “I was a rookie and I didn’t know what he was talking about, and he said, ‘You’ve got to make tough catches and practice them.'” The tough catches became routine for Harrison.

Harrison said that he and Jim Mora were the “best of friends.” Mora was always impressed with Harrison’s work ethic.

“He just always told me, ‘I’m not used to this,'” Harrison said. “‘I’ve seen those guys that I’ve coached for years, and when I got here, you just work your butt off, so I just want to congratulate you on that, and you’re a great kid.'”

Larry Fitzgerald catches his 100th career touchdown pass

Larry Fitzgerald is now in a rarefied group of NFL receivers. He caught his 100th career touchdown pass Sunday, making him the 10th player in league history to ever hit the milestone.

Fitzgerald made his 99th career touchdown catch, a 3-yard reception from quarterback Carson Palmer, in the second quarter of the Cardinals’ Sunday Night Football matchup with the New England Patriots. His 100th TD catch came in the fourth quarter as the Cardinals fought to take a lead. The 1-yard Fitzgerald catch and subsequent PAT gave the Cardinals a one-point lead over the Patriots.

Garoppolo, starting at Will Sutton Jersey quarterback in Brady’s stead, looked competent throughout. New England’s first score of the night was a 37-yard touchdown pass from Garoppolo to Chris Hogan, which capped off an eight-play, 74-yard drive for the Patriots.

Garoppolo certainly wasn’t solely William Perry Jersey responsible for the Patriots’ success, even if he did complete a pass to himself. New England’s defense was aggressive against the Cardinals offense, sacking Carson Palmer twice and forcing a fumble. Still, it was a perfectly respectable performance from Garoppolo, and he looked prepared and effective in Brady’s absence.

The Patriots turned the ball over, too, and the Cardinals capitalized on those opportunities. Arizona sacked Garoppolo twice, and former Patriot Chandler Jones and his new Cardinals teammate Calais Campbell each recovered fumbles. Those turnovers led to 14 of Arizona’s points.

The Cardinals know that, considering the ages of Fitzgerald and Palmer, this is the team’s only shot to win a Super Bowl with this group. After a 13-3 finish in the regular season last year, Arizona made it to the NFC Championship, but lost to the Panthers. The team wants to take that next step this season.

Fitzgerald continues to prove that he has plenty to contribute to the Cardinals’ offensive success. He hauled in his 100th career touchdown catch on Sunday night, joining an elite group of just nine other NFL players to reach that mark. Fitzgerald made catch after catch, converting first downs and keeping drives alive for Arizona.

The Cardinals were in position to win the game late in the fourth quarter with a field goal, but the Chandler Catanzaro attempt went wide left.

Despite the loss, the Cardinals look poised to try to take a step forward this year and build on last year’s successes. It was a big win for New England to start the season, and the Patriots appear prepared to be competitive in Brady’s absence.

Buchholz struck out a career-best 12 while firing a three-hit shutout

TX – Buchholz struck out a career-best 12 while firing a three-hit shutout, Brock Holt went 5-for-6 with a solo home run and the Boston Red Sox ended a disappointing first half with 11 drubbing of the Astros at Minute Maid Park. Buchholz, who entered the game with a 6, didn’t permit a baserunner after the fourth inning by far Robert Griffin III Jersey his best performance of the. The previously struggling righty set down the final 17 Astros he faced notching his fifth career shutout. Holt’s career day headlined a Boston offense that pounded out 16 hits all the rout. Christian Vasquez went 2-for-4 with two RBI, while David Ortiz and Carp also knocked a pair of runs to help the defending world champions head into the All- break with wins Shon Coleman Jersey four of their last five outings. meanwhile, committed three errors and had starter Peacock record just one out addition to being dominated by Buchholz. Peacock’s troubles began immediately, as Holt deposited the right-hander’s sixth pitch of the afternoon into the second deck right field to quickly put Boston ahead. The blast was followed by a Pedroia single and a walk to Ortiz that preceded Peacock hitting Daniel Nava with a fastball that would have been ball four anyway. Anthony Bass was then summoned from the bullpen and got Jackie Jr. to hit into inning-ending double play, but walked Xander Bogaerts and surrendered a single to Stephen that put runners at the corners with none out the second. Though Vasquez grounded into another twin-killing, Bogaerts crossed the plate for a 2 advantage. The Red Sox tacked on two more runs the third, as Napoli singled and Nava reached on one of ‘s errors prior to lacing RBI single up the middle. Bogaerts’ fly ball to center enabled Nava to score and stake Boston to a 4 lead. While pitchers were struggling, Buchholz was command all throughout. He was reached for a pair of singles the fourth but got out of the inning unscathed, then was perfect — and practically unhittable — the rest of the way. Eight of Buchholz’s strikeouts came between the fifth and eighth innings, and the Astros got just four balls out of the infield during his game-ending stretch. Another Astros error led to another run the seventh, with Boegarts reaching on Marwin Gonzalez’s errant throw and eventually coming home on a Vasquez sac fly. It was 8 game later the inning when Veras walked Ortiz with the bases loaded. The Red Sox reached double-digit runs the ninth, as Vasquez doubled front of Holt’s fifth hit of the afternoon and Carp’s two-run triple. Ortiz capped the scoring with RBI groundout. Game Notes Buchholz’s previous career-high for strikeouts was 11, set against Tampa Bay on 14, while the complete game was the seventh of his career… Boston improved to 15 all-time against the Astros and have taken 11 of the last 13 meetings between the clubs… Astros All- Altuve will be only the second player since 1957 to lead the majors hits and stolen bases at the break, joining Ichiro Suzuki 2003… ‘s Chris singled off Buchholz the fourth to extend his career-best hit streak to nine games.

BOSTON – What they said after the Boston Bruins’ 4 victory over the Detroit Red at TD Garden Game 2 of the Eastern Conference first-round playoff series: Red coach Babcock: the lesson is, when you win Game 1, you’ve got to get ready for Game 2. I mean it’s a practice day, but you’ve got to get mentally engaged and ready to play. And we weren’t ready to play tonight — I shouldn’t say that. We started fine, but we didn’t do what we needed to do. Red forward Alfredsson: I think five-on-five we can be quicker and move the puck quicker and not be too predictable. Coming back home and using the crowd with their energy and getting back to the way we play a little bit more. Red center Sheahan: Obviously they’ve got some heavy checkers, but we can’t let it get to us. We’ve just got to keep going and keep our feet moving, and use what we can do to our advantage. Red defenseman Niklas Kronwall, on his team’s ineffective power play: I think it’s a combination. They’re doing a good job on the PK no doubt, their forecheck. At the same time we’re not doing a really good job, we’re not organized enough and executing on our break-ins. Red goaltender Jimmy, on returning home for the next two : It means a lot. Now it’s going back into our barn and I’m looking forward to getting back and playing front of our fans. It’s a great place to play and I think we are all looking forward to getting back to Detroit. … is over and done with. You learn very quickly to just let things go, just move on to Game 3. Bruins coach Julien: Last game they were winning more races, battles. Their to get to the puck first and hang on to it was better than ours Game 1. But tonight, we were a little bit better all areas, from our breakouts with their pressure to the neutral zone, where we were able to get through that with a little bit more speed than we did the last game, and able to get our forecheck going. we were able to put pucks areas where we were able to get on them quick or get to the pucks first. Bruins forward Thornton, on his team’s physical play: It should be there anyways. The fact that it was lacking the first game, maybe we didn’t have our legs underneath us after a week of skating, I am not sure, or a week off between. This time of year you should always have that physical presence going. Bruins defenseman Torey, on his hit on Glendening: It’s just fun when you are the corner battling and grew up playing against the guy. It’s good let him know you’re there. Bruins forward Justin Florek, on his goal: I just tried to read. It was a lucky bounce. I think it hit the defenseman and right to my stick, just the right spot at the right time. It was a good present there. It was good to get the team going. I think that was the biggest thing, get some momentum the building. Bruins goalie Tuukka Rask, on the Bruins’ penalty kill: We have good sticks, we’re taking care of the middle and trying not to give them those seam passes. If they get shots we’re trying to bounce on the loose pucks and win puck battles. I think everything has been pretty strong — the forecheck and stuff like that. We take a lot of pride our penalty kill and far it’s been working. It’s a huge thing throughout the and especially the playoffs. Bruins forward Reilly Smith, on Pavel Datsyuk being held to one shot: You know he’s a really talented player and he’s known as the magic man for a reason. when he gets the puck — he still made a lot of good passes and a lot of good plays, and we still have to focus on limiting.

This one’s a bit worse, as it set up the Jags’ eventual tying touchdown

Despite management-friendly scribes swearing to the contrary, the NFL’s replacement officials made some enormous errors yesterday-some of which affected the outcome of games and at least one that directly led to a starting quarterback being knocked out of the game. That’s not to mention track of time outs, which Dominic Moore Jersey we covered last night. general, most of the mistakes were of the purely-boneheaded variety, and there were far more than we could illustrate here. We’ll try to do this every week, with your help; if you a replacement referee blunder, tweet at us or use the #scabwatch hashtag. Patriots vs. Titans. Officials mistook incomplete pass for a fumble-a ruling reversed by the replay booth-which meant that they didn’t blow the play dead. On the runback, which should never have happened, Titans quarterback Locker was hit and knocked out of the game with injured shoulder.. Before Locker got knocked out of the game, he and the Tennessee offense had their opening drive killed when Frump’s crew missed clear defensive pass interference the end zone. Jaguars vs. Vikings. Kluwe stood up for the replacement referees at his game, but there were two big Eddie Giacomin Jersey misses. Here’s timing his jump perfectly yet being penalized for it.

This one’s a bit worse, as it set up the Jags’ eventual tying touchdown. Watch No. 84 at the bottom of the screen, as he’s flagged for illegal block below the waist despite clearly hitting the Jags player legally. Eagles vs. Browns. Both teams took equal punishment from referee Roan and his crew. Here’s Roan penalizing the wrong player for being offside, extremely simple penalty but a mistake that wasn’t corrected. More seriously, though, the Browns missed out at what should have been another opportunity to score a touchdown-one that would have given them a victory-when Eagles player jumped offside during a Phil Dawson field goal attempt without drawing a flag. This is the worst blunder, though. After a Vick fumble on third and short-with the Eagles driving attempt to score a game-winning TD-Browns coach Pat Shurmur tried to challenge the play’s result. But Vick recovered his own fumble, and you can only challenge the recovery of a fumble the end zone. It took Roan’s crew nearly six minutes to figure that out. Colts vs. Bears. Cutler was forced to call time out because referee Wayne forgot to reset the play clock after a penalty. Andrew Luck, believing he had a free play due to a Chicago player obviously jumping offside, threw deep and was intercepted. The flag never came. Bears cornerback Jennings is rewarded for a fantastic and legal defensive play by being called for pass interference. Redskins vs. Saints. Referee ‘s crew bails out Griffin III on a fourth-down play with a phantom pass-interference call the end zone. The zebras’ enthusiasm for throwing flags had a great deal to do with Griffin’s phenomenal first-game numbers. Here’s one of the most glaring mistakes we recorded yesterday. The Redskins started this drive on the 20 after a touchback, meaning the first-down marker was exactly at the 30. On third down, with the ball spotted at the 24, Griffin threw incomplete pass. The Saints committed a five-yard penalty on the ensuing punt. Somehow, 24 plus 5 got Washington the first down. Falcons vs. Chiefs.

Just one gripe about this game, though it’s a big one. Jones made a touchdown catch that should have been brought back for pass interference, but the play was missed by Shepherd’s crew. Rams vs. Lions. There is ineligible interior lineman downfield two yards from the line of scrimmage at the time the pass is thrown. This touchdown won the game for the Lions, who have Briggans’s crew to thank for the victory. 49ers vs. Packers. Oh holy hell, where do we start? Referee White’s crew was horrendous, and we couldn’t possibly highlight all their mistakes. Our favorite, though, is this punt which the 49ers are charged with a block the back despite being the punting team. Apparently Green Bay rushed the kick backward. Unsportsmanlike conduct was called on the Niners on this play for removing the helmet, even though it was Aaron Rodgers’s foot that did the removing. Another good defensive play flagged for pass interference. There were, by our count, at least four false starts by the 49ers that escaped referee punishment this game. Here’s one of them. Steelers vs. Broncos. Last night’s finale capped off evening of terrible officiating, as referee Wright’s crew proved inept and confused throughout the evening. Here’s the crew running away from the ball, which is snapped before the umpire reaches his position and while a Steelers player is still trying to get off the field. The clock never stopped, and was never fixed, after a challenge flag was tossed. Last night’s SNF game was only 59 minutes, because a minute disappeared into the ether. The crew also lost track of the two-minute warning. When a touchdown happens at the two-minute mark, the officials are supposed to wait until after the conversion before calling the warning. Instead, they sent the game to timeout right after the touchdown, giving the Broncos more time to set up their two-point conversion play-and costing the Steelers the timeout they could have used to plan their two-minute drill. Again, this is by no means a comprehensive list. The regular refs make plenty of mistakes, but they generally ‘t misplace the two-minute warning or award nine-yard first downs. If the NFL wants to keep arguing that the scabs ‘t make a difference, it needs to ignore a lot of video evidence.

Cincinnati the quarterbacks have been all but perfect

Cincinnati the quarterbacks have been all but perfect. has gone 14 for 114 yards but the Bengals have seen two drives stall out forcing them to settle for a pair of field goals. Conversely Roethlisberger is 10 for 136 yards with two satisfying touchdowns. has racked up 79 yards and a touchdown of his own on 12 first half carries. Pittsburgh 21 – Cincinnati 6 Halftime Fear the Rams. is back, Bulger rediscovered the gold mine that is Torry Holt, and Linehan looks significantly less suicidal.

The St. Louis trio has Donald Butler Jersey orchestrated two flawless drives on the Browns defense and all three have taken part the culminating touchdowns. But ‘t count out Derek and the Browns, they’re quite plucky. Braylon Edwards and Kellen Winslow have each contributed a touchdown towards savvy fantasy teams throughout the land. St. Louis 17 – 17 Halftime A Game England? Yes, there is a game being played at Wembley Stadium. The turf, cut short and fast for the beautiful game, is getting torn to shreds by big wet Americans. By the second half this is going to look like that game from All the Right Moves. New York has done a better job keeping their footing and it’s showing on the scoreboard. Maybe Wembley can install a retractable roof before we pencil next year’s game on the travel schedule. New York Giants 13 – Miami 0nd Quarter Halftime Bench Peyton!

Joseph Addai just scored the first touchdown of the day for the Indianapolis Colts after Peyton Manning finally pulled his head out of his ass. The King Midas of signal callers had been struggling mightily, still, he’s just 5 for 88 yards. Vinny Testaverde has completed 11 passes, 10 of them to his own team, and his arm has yet to fall off. DeShaun is carrying the load for the Panthers with 49 yards and a touchdown. Indianapolis 10 – Carolina 7 Halftime There are three other going on, but they’ll have to wait.

For those of a certain age, no video game Drake Nevis Jersey had more cultural impact – and was played often under the influence of MadDog 20 – than NHL ’94. Contrary to popular opinion, it’s the game they’re playing ; sadly, they had already eliminated the bleeding option by then, thus decreasing the ability to partake the activity regards to Wayne Gretzky. Today I want to look at the most underrated part of this game. No, not the crowd meter, not the unstoppable force that is the Housley, today I am here to talk about the Instruction. That may sound a bit weird, but I assure you once you look at it you understand. To begin with, it is 88 pages. That’s right… 88 pages. The game involves 3 buttons and a directional pad and still produced the longest instructional of all time. We that there’s a two-page section on. You know, the thing you do by moving the controller around.

science and the humanities

On witnessing the terrifying power of the first test of the atomic bomb he had laboured hard to create, Oppenheimer could only think of words from the Bhagavad Gita, a classic of Hindu scripture: We are become death, the destroyer of worlds. I didn’t mean for this to get quite heavy but the point is this: science and the humanities should be on speaking terms and hopefully always be curious about one another.

This spurt of Reilly Smith Jersey new growth among the science blogs here at the Guardian should enlarge that conversation. I’m a great believer the power of dialogue to nix misconceptions: the most wonderful moment that last Infinite Monkey Cage show was hearing ‘s delighted surprise on learning that our fellow Guardian science blogger, Prof Butterworth, would have been just as interested the outcome if the LHC had found the Higgs boson.

Through that exchange he saw something new Terry O’Reilly Jersey about the unpredictable nature of science and scientists. As that example shows, a good way to make science more approachable to those who may feel daunted by its experiments and hypotheses is to humanise the people involved. That mission was established – and still continues – at Occam’s Typewriter, independent blogging network powered by a motley crew of scientists and former scientists.

We are grateful to the good folks at the Guardian who have given us the opportunity to further that mission. Here at Occam’s Corner, the regulars of Occam’s Typewriter take it turns to write about their own experiences of the business, hopefully engaging entirely new audiences. However, even here the posts are constrained by space and time, not every ‘i’ be dotted, not every ‘t’ crossed, but the beauty of the format is that we can continue conversation the comments and, together, close any gaps understanding. We you’ll join . It’ll be a lot easier than landing a nuclear-powered rover on.