FLOWERY BRANCH http://www.buffalobillsteamonline.com/jordan-poyer-jersey , Ga. (AP) Vic Beasley had a season to mostly forget last year.
Now that the Atlanta Falcons have put him back full-time at defensive end, he’s looking to regain the form that made him the NFL sacks leader two years ago.
Beasley, though, isn’t making big promises in the second week of training camp. As much as he wants to get back to the top, he says the best approach is to stay humble, fill his role and let everything else work itself out.
”I know the guys have a lot of faith in me and the coaches do also, so we’re just going to go out there and give our best effort and do what we can to get where we want to be,” Beasley said Wednesday.
The Falcons had solid results last season under first-year defensive coordinator Marquand Manuel. They improved 17 spots to a No. 9 ranking in points allowed. They were among the top 10 in total yards, yards rushing, red zone percentage and scoring.
But Beasley was a small part of the story. He had just five sacks, 10 1/25 fewer than during his first season under coach Dan Quinn, and he wanted to produce more.
Moving to outside linebacker on 30 percent of the snaps didn’t help. Beasley dropped some weight to play the new position and he ran so much in coverage and in defending the run that his energy level sometimes lagged when he lined up at end. He didn’t have the same explosiveness coming out of his stance and beating blocks.
”He was always a nickel defensive end,” Quinn said. ”We played almost 70 percent of our snaps in nickel Ray Nitschke Jersey , but in the base one, due to injuries, that’s why we moved him there. He was there a little bit by necessity, and sometimes that’s the best thing to do. For us it was in this case.”
Not anymore. Quinn wants to unleash Beasley exclusively at end with Takk McKinley starting on the opposite side after a promising rookie season.
”That’s where he’s best,” Quinn said, ”playing defensive end all the time.”
Beasley took some pointers Wednesday from former Falcons ends Patrick Kerney and Chuck Smith, who combined for 141 NFL sacks. He got two different perspectives in technique. Kerney played long and rangy. Smith was more compact. Both gave Beasley a few ideas about timing, footwork and hand placement.
Beasley gets daily suggestions from his position coach Bryant Young, the former San Francisco star tackle who finished a 14-year career in 2007 with 89 1/2 sacks.
Young believes Beasley’s time at linebacker will benefit him long-term because it’s made him better against the run.
”He’s a very strong individual, plays with good technique, and I think a lot of times he doesn’t get credit for his run game, which is really important in this league as well,” Young said. ”The big Matt Milano Jersey , pretty numbers are in the sacks, and we understand that, but it’s also important that you stop the run.”
Beasley is eager to show what he can do. He played end exclusively throughout his career before last year.
”As a linebacker you normally drop into coverage and you dial up blitzes every now and then, but as a defensive end you’re pretty much a straight-ahead guy,” Beasley said. ”Just get after the quarterback.”
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Michigan State University agreed to pay $500 million to settle claims from more than 300 women and girls who said they were assaulted by sports doctor Larry Nassar in the worst sex-abuse case in sports history.
The deal surpasses the $100 million-plus paid by Penn State University to settle claims by at least 35 people who accused assistant football coach Jerry Sandusky of sexual abuse, though the Nassar agreement involves far more victims.
Michigan State was accused of ignoring or dismissing complaints about Nassar, some as far back as the 1990s. The school had insisted that no one covered up assaults, although Nassar’s boss was later charged with failing to properly supervise him and committing his own sexual misconduct.
NBA
HOUSTON (AP) – James Harden and Eric Gordon each scored 27 points to lead a balanced attack and the Houston Rockets routed the Golden State Warriors 127-105 to even the Western Conference finals at one game apiece.
The Rockets didn’t trail after the first quarter and led by double digits for most of the night. They head to Oakland, California for Game 3 on Sunday night feeling much better after rebounding from a deflating 119-106 loss in the series opener.
P.J. Tucker added a playoff career-high 22 and Trevor Ariza had 19 as both bounced back after struggling in Game 1. Tucker had just one point in that game and Ariza scored eight, but was limited on defense after collecting his fifth foul early in the third quarter.
MILWAUKEE (AP) – A person familiar with the search tells The Associated Press that the Milwaukee Bucks have reached an agreement with Mike Budenholzer to become the team’s next coach.
The 2015 NBA Coach of the Year will replace Joe Prunty, the former assistant who went 21-16 in the regular season after replacing the fired Jason Kidd in late January.
The person confirmed the agreement with the former Atlanta Hawks coach on Wednesday. The person requested anonymity because the team has not made an official announcement.
The deal was first reported by ESPN.
NEW YORK (AP) – Houston’s James Harden, Cleveland’s LeBron James and Anthony Davis of New Orleans are the finalists for the NBA’s MVP award.
Harden, who led the league in scoring http://www.chicagobearsteamonline.com/mark-sanchez-jersey , has twice been a runner-up for the award, including last year when Russell Westbrook won. James has won the MVP award four times.
The winners will be announced on June 25 in Santa Monica, California during the NBA Awards show.
NHL
LAS VEGAS (AP) – Jonathan Marchessault scored two goals – including an empty-netter in the closing seconds – to lead the Vegas Golden Knights to a 4-2 victory over the Winnipeg Jets in Game 3 of the Western Conference final.
Vegas took a 2-1 series lead and is now two wins from advancing to the Stanley Cup final. The Golden Knights improved to 5-1 at home in the playoffs, and host Game 4 on Friday night.
James Neal and Alex Tuch also scored for Vegas, while Marc-Andre Fleury stopped 33 shots.
Mark Scheifele scored both of Winnipeg’s goals and has a playoff-leading 14 goals in 15 postseason games. Connor Hellebuyck had 26 saves for the Jets, who arrived in Las Vegas having outscored their opposition 23-15 in road games during the playoffs.
HORSE RACING
BALTIMORE (AP) – Having the Preakness favorite has never bothered Bob Baffert before and it doesn’t bother him with Justify.
Coming off an impressive victory in the Kentucky Derby, Justify is the 1-2 morning-line favorite for Saturday’s second race in a field of eight horses. Derby runner-up Good Magic is the second choice at 3-1, but Justify is the horse to beat with the chance to give Baffert his seventh Preakness winner and a shot at a second Triple Crown in four years after American Pharoah did it in 2015.
Baffert is 4-0 in the Preakness with the Derby winner and doesn’t see any reason Justify doesn’t have another big run in him.
NFL
CHARLOTTE, N.C. (AP) – The Carolina Panthers are off the market.
The Panthers announced they have signed a ”definitive agreement” to sell the team to David Tepper, the founder and president of global hedge fund Appaloosa Management.
The deal is subject to NFL approval.
League owners will meet next week in Atlanta, where they are expected to vote on the purchase. Since Tepper already has been vetted by the league as a minority owner of the Pittsburgh Steelers, the approval process is not expected to run into any snags.
The transaction is expected to close in July, the team announced.
COLLEGE FOOTBALL
With bold vision Jerrell Freeman Jersey , keen intellect and a gentle manner, Mike Slive guided the Southeastern Conference to unprecedented success and prosperity in 13 years as commissioner. He pushed for a college football playoff years before others embraced it and was a steadying force during a time of enormous growth and volatility throughout college athletics.
Slive died at the age of 77 in Birmingham, Alabama, where he lived with his wife, Liz, three years after retiring to battle prostate cancer. The Southeastern Conference did not provide the cause of death.
Slive replaced Roy Kramer as SEC commissioner in 2002, coming from Conference USA to help clean up an SEC that was beset by NCAA compliance issues. Soon after the SEC became the most powerful conference in college football, winning seven straight national championships and landing television contracts with the ESPN and CBS worth billions.
SWIMMING
INDIANAPOLIS (AP) – Katie Ledecky looked as dominant as ever in her pro debut.
She set another world record in the women’s 1,500-meter freestyle, shattering
her previous mark Womens
Trent Murphy Jersey
