04-19-2019, 02:30 AM
Handing Johnny Football a clipboard and baseball cap has worked out nicely for the Cleveland Browns. Tomas Tatar Jersey .Rookie coach Mike Pettines decision to start Brian Hoyer instead of first-round pick Johnny Manziel wasnt popular among fans, but the Browns are 5-3 and in the mix in the AFC North.Hoyer has rebounded from knee surgery to put his hometown team in position to make a run at its first playoff appearance since 2002 and post only its second winning season in the last 12 years.Were doing a good job of finding ways to win, Browns four-time All-Pro tackle Joe Thomas said. Part of that is having a quarterback whos making the clutch throws.For picking Hoyer over Manziel, Pettine gets our vote for best coaching decision in the first half.Here are more unofficial, offbeat awards at midseason.WORST COACHING DECISIONRex Ryan sticking with Geno Smith after benching him at halftime of the New York Jets 31-0 loss to San Diego in Week 5. The Jets were 1-4 and Ryan couldve given Michael Vick a chance to rescue the season at that point. Instead, he gave Smith three more starts before pulling him against Buffalo on Oct. 26.BEST FREE-AGENT SIGNINGDenver signing four-time All-Pro DeMarcus Ware after he was cut by Dallas. Ware already has eight sacks, and has improved the run defence along with the pass rush.HonourablE MENTIONS: Wide receiver Steve Smith Sr. (Baltimore); cornerback Brandon Flowers (San Diego); wide receiver Brandon LaFell (New England); safety Malcolm Jenkins (Philadelphia).WORST FREE-AGENT SIGNINGDetroit signing kicker Alex Henery to replace rookie Nate Freese, who missed four of seven attempts in three games. Henery lasted two games, missing all three of his field-goal attempts in a 17-14 loss to Buffalo on Oct. 5. Freese, Henery and new Lions kicker Matt Prater are 3 for 13 from beyond 40 yards. David Akers was 7 for 10 from that distance for Detroit in 2013 but didnt get a contract offer.HonourablE MENTIONS: Offensive tackle Michael Oher (Tennessee); running back Maurice Jones-Drew and defensive end LaMarr Woodley (Oakland); running back Toby Gerhart (Jacksonville).BEST TRADEPhiladelphia acquiring running back Darren Sproles from New Orleans for a fifth-round pick. Sproles has 472 yards rushing and receiving and three TDs. He also has a punt return for a TD.WORST TRADESeattle received only a conditional pick from the Jets for wide receiver Percy Harvin after trading a 2013 first-round and seventh-round draft choices and a 2014 third-rounder to get him two years ago.BEST PLAYCALLSt. Louis coach Jeff Fisher called a fake punt on a 4th-and-3 from the Rams 18 with a 28-26 lead and 2:55 left in the game. Punter Johnny Hekker tossed an 18-yard pass to Benny Cunningham and the Rams upset Seattle.WORST PLAYCALLPhiladelphia coach Chip Kelly calling a run out of the shotgun formation on 3rd-and-inches from the Cardinals 2 in a tie game late in the fourth quarter. LeSean McCoy was stopped for no gain and the Eagles kicked a go-ahead field goal. Arizona answered with a 75-yard TD pass to win it.BEST PLAYSt. Louis returner Stedman Bailey had a 90-yard touchdown on a trick punt return that had the Seahawks thinking another player was going to field the punt. Tavon Austin drew most defenders to the opposite side of the field by staggering under the imaginary ball. That allowed Bailey a clear path down the sideline after fielding the punt across the field.WORST PLAYSan Franciscos Colin Kaepernick fumbling on a quarterback sneak at the goal line on the final play in a 13-10 loss to the Rams.BEST GAMEIn a Super Bowl rematch, the Seahawks again beat the Broncos but needed overtime to do it. Marshawn Lynchs 6-yard run gave Seattle a 26-20 win and prevented Peyton Manning from touching the ball in OT.WORST GAMETampa Bay trailed Atlanta 56-0 going into the fourth quarter of a 56-14 loss. The Buccaneers have five losses by less than a touchdown but two losses by a 104-31 margin.BEST PERFORMANCEPittsburgh quarterback Ben Roethlisberger had 522 yards passing, 40 completions, and six touchdowns to help the Steelers beat Indianapolis 51-34.WORST PERFORMANCESmith tossing three interceptions on three straight series before getting yanked against the Bills.BEST COMEBACK PERFORMANCEJeremy Maclin returning from ACL surgery to lead the Eagles with 45 catches, 790 yards receiving and eight TDs.WORST COMEBACK PERFORMANCEMatt Schaub hasnt rejuvenated his career in Oakland. He couldnt beat out rookie Derek Carr in training camp and has thrown one pass for the winless Raiders.___AP Sports Writer Tom Withers in Cleveland contributed to this report.___AP NFL websites: http://www.pro32.ap.org and http://www.twitter.com/AP_NFL___Follow Rob Maaddi on Twitter: https://twitter.com/AP_RobMaaddi Serge Savard Jersey .TV Series: Duck Dynasty. Bob Gainey Jersey . Jones, from Winnipeg, built a 3-0 advantage after three ends by scoring two in the second and one in the third. Chinas skip Bingyu Wang cut that lead to 3-1 in the fourth before Canada added another three in the fifth for a 6-1 lead. http://www.authenticcanadienspro.com/Mat...ns-jersey/ . And Richard Bachman, their rookie goalie, is facing a penalty shot a few seconds after the opening face-off. No pressure, right? Bachman stood his ground against Zack Kassian and saw the puck dribble off the Canuck rookies stick, then settled in and backstopped the Stars to a 5-2 win over Vancouver Tuesday that put Dallas in first place in the Pacific Division.TORONTO -- Dylan Moscovitch arrived in Detroit last summer for a two-day tryout with Russian pairs skater Lubov Iliushechkina. Two days quickly turned into six weeks. The tryout was so good we cancelled our flights home, Moscovitch said. Moscovitch had just split with Kirsten Moore-Towers, with whom he finished fifth at the Sochi Olympics, and was searching for a new partner. Fast forward five months and Moscovitch and Iliushechkina will make their competitive debut this week at the Warsaw Cup in Poland. Its been a lot of fun, and an interesting process in terms of all the extra stuff weve had to figure out in terms of immigration and her release from Russia and all of that, but the skatings been great, Moscovitch said. Im really enjoying skating with Lubov, shes an excellent partner, and were learning a lot from each others different styles of skating. Moscovitch and Moore-Towers announced the split last spring after five seasons together that included two fourth-place finishes at the world championships. Moore-Towers said she wanted to compete for three more Olympics. Moscovitch couldnt commit to that, but wasnt ready to leave the sport. I wasnt done. I wanted to go another four years, he said. And the situation kind of left me spinning a little bit. I wasnt exactly sure what my options were, where to turn, I turned 30 in September, and its hard to start over. I didnt really think I wanted to start with someone who hadnt done pairs, and so I wasnt really sure what my options were. He decided he wouldnt retire before at least trying out other partners, and approached Iliushechkina on Facebook. She won gold at the 2009 world junior championships and then gold at Skate Canada International a year later with Nodari Maisuradze. That partnership ended in 2012. Shed been frozen out since then as the Russian federation refused permission to switch allegiance to compete for France with Yannick Kocon. The Russian federration finally gave Iliushechkina a release to compete with Moscovitch, announcing the decision last month. Alexei Kovalev Jersey. The two had been training together, hoping for the release, since that tryout in mid-May. They trained alone in Detroit, because Iliushechkina had a U.S. visa, for six weeks. When the 23-year-old obtained a Canadian visa, they moved to Toronto, where theyre coached by Lee Barkell, Bryce Davison and Tracy Wilson. While Moore-Towers and her new partner Michael Marinaro competed at Skate Canada and will compete this week at the Trophee Eric Bompard in Bordeaux, France, the Russian release came too late for Moscovitch and Iliushechkina to compete on the Grand Prix circuit. Theyll compete at the national championships in January and if they finish in the top three, will represent Canada at the world championships. Iliushechkina will have to obtain Canadian citizenship before they can compete at an Olympics, but changing allegiances is fairly common in the sport. Ice dancers Kaitlyn Weaver and Piper Gilles are both Americans who received Canadian citizenship to compete with Canadian partners. We started the immigration process, Moscovitch said. Weve got a bit of time and have some people working on it with us, so we have positive feelings about it. The veteran pairs skater is happy to have a fresh start with Iliushechkina. The best thing about it is everything is new. I dont feel like Ive just taken what I had before and moved it over to a new partner, Moscovitch said. Its a new look. Ive learned new lifts, Ive learned different things with Lubov. Shes very flexible which enables us to do some pretty interesting lift positions, and different entrances, and shes very creative, so Ive learned a lot in that way. Hopefully just being in a different environment and having different coaches look at my skating, I feel like my overall skating skills have changed a little bit, in matching her skating. ' ' '