News » ategy. This is a good football team, Fishe

Each week, The Reporters put their thumbs out to the good and the bad in the world of sports. This week, they discuss the ongoing Redskins name debate, a truly dominant pitching performance, the bargain basement standards of the LPGA and MLBs latest fine import. Bruce Arthur, Toronto Star: My thumb is down to the Washington Redskins name debate, and not just because theres any debate at all over the most clearly racist name in sports. No, its because the debates getting dumber by the second, as it ratchets up. A sitting U.S. Congressman - low bar, I know - compared Barack Obama to Kim Jong-Il, or -Un, after a federal trademark case declared the name derogatory. A Fox News host - low bar, I know - compared the name to the New York Giants offending tall people. This happens often, and its always, always stupid, people. Its like the Yankees, or the Lakers, or the Dallas Cowboys of stupid. Calling Dallas the Cowboys, of course, should only be offensive to competent and/or humble cowboys, one and all. Steve Simmons, Sun Media: My thumb is up to Clayton Kershaw, superstar pitcher for the Los Angeles Dodgers, who brought the no-hitter back into vogue with a performance for the ages Wednesday night at Coors Field. And I know what youre thinking: another no-hitter, big deal. Theres been so many of them in recent seasons that weve all grown a little bored of pitchers we didnt know or care about throwing another no-no. But it was different against the Colorado Rockies. This is a big name - Kershaw - striking out 15 batters, walking no one, in total command, only reaching the count of three balls on one batter and had it not been for an error by Hanley Ramirez, were talking perfect game here. Add Vin Scully broadcasting to the occasion and baseball doesnt get any better than that. Michael Farber, Sports Illustrated: My thumb is down not to 11-year-old Lucy Li, who qualified for the U.S. Open, but to womens professional golf, whose thimble-deep talent pool made it possible for an 11-year old to qualify. The sixth-grader, who looked like she should be entered in a hopscotch tournament and not slugging it out on Pinehurst no. 2, shot a pair of credible 78s, a score that matched marquee names Natalie Gulbis and Laura Davies but left her far off the cut. Nice two-day story. But rather than celebrate the presence of a sprite in the event, shouldnt the USGA, and by extension the LPGA, be mortified a novice qualified? The kid is precocious, but she isnt exactly Mozart. Dave Naylor, TSN: And my thumb is up to Masahiro Tanaka of the New York Yankees for proving that sometimes a player really is worth all the hype. You may remember how Tanakas transfer from Japan was the major story of the MLB off-season. You may also remember that when the first Major Leage hitter he faced in Melky Cabrera took him deep … some were wondering if the Yankees had just uncovered the next “Dice-K” Matsuzaka. Well right now Tanaka leads the American League in wins and ERA and is among the leaders in innings-pitched, as well as strikeouts and walks per nine innings. And hes looking like a good bet to win both the Cy Young and Rookie of the Year honours. Coming off a perfect 24-0 record in Japan last season, experts cautioned not to expect the same thing from Tanaka in the major leagues. And they were right. After all, on May 20th against the Cubs he did something he never did all of last season in japan. He took the loss. Yeezy 700 Sale .com) - Damian Lillard poured in 40 points on 11-of-21 shooting to go along with 11 assists, and the Portland Trail Blazers stunned the Oklahoma City Thunder, 115-111, in overtime on Tuesday. Air Jordan Sale . This is not some token job for a prominent, popular former player. All of those areas need a lot of work, so Molitor is going to be busy. "Hes certainly got a history and knowledge and a high baseball IQ," general manager Terry Ryan said. https://www.wholesaleshoesforcheap.com/air-max-97-sale/ .com) - Roosevelt Jones had 19 points, seven rebounds and seven assists to lead No. Air Max Sale . Bjoergen pulled away from Swedens Charlotte Kalla on the final straight to win in 38 minutes, 33.6 seconds and defend her title from the 2010 Vancouver Games. Kalla was 1.8 seconds back. Heidi Weng of Norway took bronze. Balenciaga Shoes Sale .Gasol had 16 points and 13 rebounds, and the Bulls beat the winless Orlando Magic 98-90 on Tuesday night.Jimmy Butler led the Bulls with 21 points and Taj Gibson added 16 for Chicago, which finally pulled away in the final minutes of a game that was tied after three quarters.(SportsNetwork.com) - LeSean McCoy cant explain why the run game has yet to produce for the Philadelphia Eagles, so stop asking him. McCoy is the NFLs reigning rushing champion and will try to take his frustrations out Sunday when the St. Louis Rams pay a visit to Lincoln Financial Field. The Eagles were first in rushing last season with 160.4 yards per game and are now 26th with 87.0 ypg. The tremendous dropoff is related to an unhealthy offensive line and opposing defenses keying in on McCoy, who ran for 1.607 yards last season and has only 192 in four games. McCoy may be frustrated with whats going on, but is still confident in his ability and prepares the same way. Its definitely frustrating, McCoy said Wednesday. You know what type of player you are and you want to put the numbers up. If teams do come in to try and stop you and theyre successful with it, thats another frustrating thing. But then again, I know who I am. Im still confident. I know what I can do. So it doesnt really bother me that much. Were winning games, were 3-1. At times it can be frustrating, but at the end of the day I know who I am. McCoy may try to do too much at times and make things happen with his legs like he has so often in his career. But this year its been a grind. McCoy said the Eagles have won games when the run game isnt there, and that head coach Chip Kelly will display different looks and formations on Sunday against a St. Louis defense that is 30th against the rush (155.0 ypg) and has allowed a 100-yard runner in all three games. The Eagles had 22 yards rushing in Sundays 26-21 loss at San Francisco and McCoy recorded 17 on 10 carries. A 1.7 yards per carry wont get it done at this level, but the Eagles will get a boost when starting right tackle Lane Johnson returns from a four-game suspension for violating the leagues policy on performance-enhancing substances. Johnson started all 16 games as a rookie last season. Kelly said Johnson looked good in his return to the team. He obviously worked when he was away, he was down at a workout facility in Dallas and worked out there, Kelly said Tuesday. Thats the one thing you know about Lane is that hes got a great work ethic, and so we werent concerned with him coming back out of shape or whatnot. The Eagles could have stolen a victory away from the 49ers and came up short in their opportunity down the stretch. The defense and special teams played well, registering 21 points, and Niners QB Colin Kaepernick was sacked four times. The Eagles struggled in the pass rush over a 3-0 start and may have turned the corner in putting pressure up front. Safety and first-year Eagle Malcolm Jenkins has an INT in three straight games and returned one 53 yards for a touchdown Sunday. Jenkins is getting comfortable with the new system and his teammates have noticed. Hes a very smart safety, Eagles cornerback Bradley Fletcher said. He knows a lot about football, schemes, concepts, and he puts it out on the field when hes in the game. Thats great to have, especially coming from a safety whos making calls, getting guys lined up on the outside, and just being kind of the general back there in the secondary. The Eagles have forced a takeaway in 17 straight games. Jenkins will go for another pick against rested Rams rookie quarterback Austin Davis. Davis and the Rams are coming off their bye week and the undrafted Southern Miss product was named the starting QB going forward. He beat out Shaun Hill, and starter Sam Bradford is lost for the season a second straight year with a knee injury. Its a bit of a wild ride, but at the end of the day, this teams looking for me to lead them, Davis said this week. Im up for that challenge and Im excited about it. Rams head coach Jeff Fisher also talked about the move Wednesday. I also had Austin and Shaun in my office this morning at separate times, and were going to go ahead and start Austin for the remainder of the season, Fisher stated. Its not that Shaun lost the job, its that Austin earned an opportunity to keep it. St. Louis is off to a 1-2 start and had the Dallas Cowboys on the ropes in a 34-31 loss in Week 3. The Rams blew a 21-0 lead and their 448 total yards went to waste. Davis passed for 327 yards and three scores, but threw a pair of interceptions. Four of the eight pass catchers for the Rams had 50 or more yards with Jared Cook leading the way with 75 yards on seven catches. Rams wideout Tavon Austin was limited in practice with a balky knee and has not been ruled out for Sundays game. TThe Rams, who are unbeaten (1-0-1) after the bye under head coach Jeff Fisher, are going against an Eagles defense that ranks near the bottom of most categories such total yards allowed (391.dddddddddddd), passing yards (257.5), rushing (133.8) and points (26.0). Rams running back Zac Stacy is trying to become the fourth straight player with at least 70 rushing yards against the Eagles, who gave up 218 on the ground last week and 49ers tailback Frank Gore amassed 119 yards on 24 carries with a 55-yard touchdown catch. Stacy has hit the 60-yard rushing mark in each of his last two games. He ran for 67 and posted 54 receiving yards in the loss to Dallas. Philadelphia has a good chance at keeping their six-game home winning streak in the regular season intact against the Rams, who have lost three straight and four of five games to the Eagles and havent visited the City of Brotherly Love since a 38-3 loss on Sept. 7, 2008. The Rams and Eagles are tied at 19-19-1 in the all-time series. The Eagles have outscored the Rams, 69-16, in the past two encounters. WHAT TO WATCH FOR Look for Eagles QB Nick Foles to bounce back from his rough performance against the 49ers Sunday. He passed for only 195 yards with a pair of interceptions and no touchdown passes. The last time he came up empty on TD passes was Nov. 17 of last season in a win over Washington. In his past six home games in the regular season, Foles is 6-0 with 11 TD passes to just two interceptions for a 104.7 rating. Foles, who has a myriad of weapons to choose from and may want to get tight ends Brent Celek and Zach Ertz more involved, said he needs to make some adjustments moving forward. Ive definitely tried to just take some shots, stretch them out a little bit, Foles said of missing receivers long. I need to be a little more accurate, thats what Im working on this week, working on that, and staying clean in the pocket so I can deliver the ball to our guys where they can go up and make a play, not where the ball lands in front of them. And where has wide receiver Riley Cooper been? Jeremy Maclins making highlight-reel catches and Coopers still trying to live off last seasons success, which can be attributed to the presence of DeSean Jackson. Jackson is in Washington and Copper is struggling without him. Foles was sacked five times in Week 1 before going unscathed the next two weeks. He was taken down once in San Francisco. The Rams will be trying to get to Foles early and often to create turnovers and disrupt the timing he has been working on this week. That could be too much to ask because they are last in the NFL with only one sack. The lone St. Louis sack belongs to defensive tackle Aaron Donald. The Rams have 106 sacks over the past three seasons and star defensive end Robert Quinn is still searching for No. 1 this season. He led the NFC with 19.0 sacks a year ago and had his contract extended in mid-September. Last season, the Rams had five defensive linemen with five or more sacks. Rams linebacker James Laurinaitis leads the team in stops and be sure to see him on display Sunday, especially against the run. The Rams have one of the more stingy defensive backfields in the league and are allowing the third- lowest total yards against the pass (187.3). They will try to make the Eagles one-dimensional and force them to throw. However, the Redskins had that same philosophy and Philadelphia was able to circumvent the strategy. This is a good football team, Fisher said of the Eagles. This team could be 4-0. Youre talking about a team that has five returns for touchdowns already. So they played the Niners well. And weve got our hands full defensively. Great group of special teams players. And their defense is well coached. OVERALL ANALYSIS The Eagles will show some improvement up front with the return of Johnson at right tackle alongside veteran guard Todd Herremans. Its gonna be awesome to have Lane back, Eagles LT Jason Peters said. Todd goes back to his natural position. Were still missing (Jason) Kelce and (Evan) Mathis, but those other guys are gonna step in and do better this game because youve got Lane back. It makes it solid on the inside. Center David Molk and left guard Matt Tobin are the other guys Peters was referring to. McCoy surely hopes he can find some holes to run through, but even if he is limited production-wise, Foles, Sproles, Maclin and the defense will carry the Eagles to a convincing victory over the Rams. Sports Network predicted outcome: Eagles 36, Rams 23 ' ' '