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ekansekans's blog: "df"

created on 10/29/2012  |  http://fubar.com/df/b351055

FOXBOROUGH, Mass. -- The Patriots are rolling again, right into a playoff bye. Tom Brady threw two touchdown passes, the defence had a season-high seven sacks and New England ended a rare slump by dominating the Miami Dolphins 28-0 on Sunday. "Hopefully, this will be a good game that we can step off from and keep working to improve," coach Bill Belichick said. Rebounding from two mediocre performances, the Patriots earned the second seed in the AFC and an extra week to savour the win and prepare for their post-season opener on Jan. 13. The Denver Broncos got the top spot by beating the Kansas City Chiefs. Shortly before the game, the Patriots learned that Houston had lost to the Indianapolis Colts. That meant a win would vault the Patriots over the Texans, who began the day seeded first, and into one of the two byes. "Coach Belichick just said, "Look, the only people that can improve our position are us, so, regardless what anyone else does, we have to win," Brady said. "And thats what we did." Decisively. Stevan Ridley ran for two touchdowns as New England used a ball-control offence and a defence that posted the teams first shutout since a 59-0 rout of the Tennessee Titans 59-0 on Oct. 18, 2009. The Patriots (12-4) led 21-0 at halftime on Bradys 9-yard touchdown pass to Wes Welker and Ridleys runs of 1 and 2 yards, capping drives lasting 14 and 13 plays. They ended the scoring on Bradys 23-yard scoring pass to Rob Gronkowski, who missed the previous five games after breaking his left forearm. "It felt good. I havent gotten hit in a while," Gronkowski said. "I got limited reps (but) you always want to get some reps before heading into the playoffs." The Dolphins (7-9) finished with a losing record for the fourth straight season. "We made progress in areas, but we have a ton of work to do," first-year coach Joe Philbin said. Instead of going into the off-season with three straight wins, the Dolphins leave with the memory of their first blanking since losing 16-0 to the Chicago Bears on Nov. 18, 2010. "We came in here with the mentality that we needed to finish the season strong," said Reggie Bush, whose 26 yards rushing left him 14 short of 1,000 for the season. "We obviously didnt do that." For the AFC East champion Patriots, the victory came after they started poorly in their previous two games, losing to the San Francisco 49ers 41-34 before beating the woeful Jacksonville Jaguars 23-16. But after turning it around against the Dolphins, there are still plenty of mistakes for Belichick to point out. "He never falls short of having a bunch of things that we need to fix," cornerback Devin McCourty said. "Theres no coach that gets you better prepared to go into the playoffs." New England had trailed San Francisco 31-3 and Jacksonville 10-0 and sputtered at the start again on Sunday, turning the ball over on downs on its first possession and punting on its second. Then it got a break. Under heavy pressure, rookie Ryan Tannehill threw a pass that was intercepted by Steve Gregory, who returned it 13 yards to the Miami 28. Gronkowski gained 19 yards on the first pass thrown to him. On the second play of the series, Brady connected with Welker over the middle for a milestone completion. Brady moved into second place in NFL history with a touchdown pass in 48 consecutive games, breaking a tie with Hall of Famer Johnny Unitas. And Brady became the first player to throw at least one scoring pass in all 16 games for three straight seasons. Brady finished with 22 completions in 36 attempts for 284 yards. Tannehill was 20 for 35 for 235. After each touchdown, fans tossed into the air some of the snow that was left over from an overnight accumulation of about 6 inches. New Englands top-rated offence got plenty of help from an improving defence. Rookie Justin Francis had three sacks. Another rookie, Donta Hightower, recovered a fumble at the Patriots 1 on a botched handoff from Tannehill to Bush. On the ensuing drive, a pass to Welker popped loose and Miamis Chris Clemons came up with the ball and ran about 60 yards for what officials ruled a touchdown. But the call was reversed and the play was ruled an incomplete pass upon video review. Just another play that went New Englands way. There were plenty in the first half when the Patriots had advantages of 279-106 in yards, 18-7 in first downs and 18:35 to 11:25 in time of possession. "This is like our playoff game," Miami centre Mike Pouncey said, "and we didnt go out and perform the way we should have." Notes: The Patriots won their sixth straight game against the Dolphins and finished with 11 wins in their last 12 games. ... Tannehill set Miami rookie records with 282 completions, 484 attempts and 3,294 yards passing ... The Patriots set an NFL record with 444 first downs after getting 28. They began the game tied with the 2011 New Orleans Saints at 416. ... Miamis Anthony Fasano and Kevin Burnett left the game in the third quarter and were evaluated for concussions. No results were announced. Cheap NFL Jerseys From China . "Im more frustrated by the lack of progress," Daly told TSN on Monday. "Its a challenge in terms of finding how to move the process along and the bottom line is the process hasnt moved very quickly over the course of the summer. Cheap Nike NFL Jerseys China . Off-Season Game Plan looks at a Rangers team that has talent, a strong defensive core and one of the games premier puckstoppers. http://jasonhavens.org/cheap.html . -- Canadas James Hinchcliffe earned his first IndyCar podium finish Sunday thanks to his teammates mistake. NEW YORK -- The weather was much better at the U.S. Open on Sunday. So was Novak Djokovic. Under a cloudless blue sky, in only a hint of wind, defending champion Djokovic got his game into high gear and reached his third consecutive final at Flushing Meadows by beating fourth-seeded David Ferrer of Spain 2-6, 6-1, 6-4, 6-2 in a match suspended a day earlier. "I was a different player," the second-seeded Djokovic said. "I felt much more comfortable on the court today than I did yesterday, (when) obviously the conditions were more brutal." Ferrer led a shaky Djokovic 5-2 in the semifinals opening set Saturday, when wind was whipping at more than 20 mph and play was halted because of an impending rainstorm. When they resumed about 18 hours later, Ferrer held serve to take that set -- and then Djokovic quickly took control, using the brand of defence-to-offence baseline excellence that has carried the Serb to four of the past seven Grand Slam titles. "We were all praying for less wind today," Djokovic said. "He handled the wind much better than I did." In Mondays final, Djokovic will face Olympic champion Andy Murray, who beat Tomas Berdych 5-7, 6-2, 6-1, 7-6 (7) on Saturday. Its the fifth consecutive year the U.S. Open mens title match has been played a day later than planned. Later Sunday, Serena Williams came back to take the last four games and beat No. 1-ranked Victoria Azarenka 6-2, 2-6, 7-5 for her fourth U.S. Open title and 15th Grand Slam championship. The final was shifted from Saturday to Sunday because of the weather, the fourth time since 2008 the womens event went long, too. The third-seeded Murray was able to enjoy a day off Sunday, while Djokovic had to put in some work. But in the end, it wasnt too taxing: Djokovic played only about two hours and was finished with Ferrer by 1:20 p.m., giving him more than 24 hours to rest before taking on Murray. "I dont feel any problems physically. ... It was good to have the job done in four sets," Djokovic said. "I feel fresh as I can be at this stage of the tournament." Murray is one of only two men to lose each of his first four major finals -- his coach, Ivan Lendl, is the other -- and hell try to avoid dropping to 0-5. Hell also try to become the first British man since Fred Perry in 1936 to win any of tennis four most important tournaments. "I dont think theres any clear favourite," five-time major champion Djokovic said. "Hes looking for his first Grand Slam title. Im sure hes going to be very motivated, and hopefully we can come up with our best tennis for this crowd." Djokovic leads the head-to-head series against Murray 8-6 but lost their most recent matchup in the semifinals of the London Games. "Most of our matches that we played against each other were very close," Djokovic said, "and only small margins decide the winner." He and Murray were born a week apart in May 1987 (Djokovic is younger), and they have ccome up through the ranks together and know each other well.dddddddddddd Before heading out to warm up for his semifinal, Murray sat in front of a computer with Djokovic and they watched online together while Scotland and Serbia played to a 0-0 draw in a qualifying match for soccers World Cup. Djokovic extended his winning streak in Grand Slam matches played on hard courts to 27, including titles at last years U.S. Open and the Australian Open in 2011 and 2012. He slides along the surface as though it were red clay, allowing him to use his elastic limbs to contort and stretch to get to opponents shots that appear to be winners. Over and over and over again Sunday, Djokovic would prolong points until he could gain an advantage or Ferrer would flub a groundstroke. After ending one 25-stroke exchange by snapping off a cross-court backhand winner while serving out the second set, Djokovic bellowed and spread his arms wide, holding a pose, as his parents rose to their feet in his guest box. By late in the third set, when Djokovic took 12 of 14 points to go from a 3-2 deficit to 5-3 lead, Ferrer was muttering to himself and in the direction of his coach in the stands, the very picture of frustration. "Playing so bad; a lot of mistakes," Ferrer said. "He was better. I dont have to say nothing. In some games in the third and the fourth set, I lost a little bit my focus." The loss dropped Ferrer to 0-4 in Grand Slam semifinals, with another of those defeats also coming against Djokovic at the U.S. Open, back in 2007. Djokovic was playing in his 10th consecutive Grand Slam semifinal, equaling Rod Laver and Lendl for the second-longest streak behind Roger Federers record of 23. And after dropping that first set of this semifinal -- the only set hes lost all tournament -- Djokovic immediately began turning things around, breaking Ferrer twice in a row en route to a 5-0 lead in the second. In the third, Ferrer made a little charge, taking three games in a row to briefly lead that set. But the difficulty that dealing with Djokovic presents began to wear on Ferrer. He would rush shots, trying to sneak balls past Djokovic, and that simply was not going to work on this day. Ferrer made three unforced errors to get broken and fall behind 4-3 in the key third set, and when Djokovic eventually served it out with a 123 mph ace, their match pretty much was over. In earning his tour-leading 60th match win of 2012, Djokovic also moved a step closer to being able to say hes had the best season. Yes, he will stay at No. 2 in the rankings behind Wimbledon champion Federer, but Djokovic is the only man with a chance to claim two Grand Slam trophies this year, after grabbing three in 2011, when he began the year 41-0. "In life, you have ups and downs, so I wasnt really surprised with, if you want to call it, a bit less success," Djokovic said. "Regardless of the comparison with these two years, I still think its been a fantastic year for me." ' ' ' 

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