ARAB TIMES, THURSDAY, JANUARY 26, 2017
SPORTS
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Falcons’ reciever Jones a beast for Pats to contain
Brady says Pats brainwashed to shut out distractions
WASHINGTON, Jan 25, (RTRS): Few
teams have faced controversy over recent years to the extent of the New England Patriots, and none have enjoyed
their measure of success, which quarterback Tom Brady credits to “brainwashing” by coach Bill Belichick.
Brady, who has won four Super
Bowl rings with Belichick and will be
playing in his seventh NFL title game
on Feb 5 against the Atlanta Falcons,
said the culture cultivated by the coach
required players to block out distractions and focus on the job.
“Ignoring the noise, the positive
things people may be saying about
you, or the negative things people may
say about you. Just believing in your-
TRIATHLON
self and not making excuses,” Brady
said on his weekly WEEI radio appearance on the Kirk and Callahan Show.
This season, the Patriots overcame
the league’s four-game suspension of
Brady stemming from a plot to deflate
footballs used in the AFC title game
two years ago.
Two years ago, the Patriots blocked
out the noise over ‘Deflategate’ to beat
the Seattle Seahawks in the Super Bowl.
In 2013 they dealt with the arrest
and subsequent murder conviction of
their tight end Aaron Hernandez.
Six years before that, Belichick was
fined $500,000 and the Patriots lost a
first-round draft pick after an investigation found New England had videotaped
an opponent’s signals on the sidelines in
what became known as ‘Spygate.’
Beyond all that, they have navigated
through the mundane ups-and-downs
of injuries and bad calls, reaching 11
A look inside some key numbers for Super Bowl matchup
WASHINGTON, Jan 25, (AP): From
Tom Brady looking to become the
first quarterback to win five Super
Bowl titles to Matt Ryan seeking to
give Atlanta its first, there are plenty
of numbers that will get a lot of attention leading up to the Big Game.
Here’s a look at some others that
fans might not be as familiar with:
Best vs best: This marks the sixth
Super Bowl matching the NFL’s
highest-scoring
team
(Atlanta)
against the team that allowed the fewest points (New England) during the
regular season. The top defense won
four of those previous five matchups,
including Seattle over Denver three
years ago. The only time the top offense came out on top was in the 1989
season when San Francisco topped
Denver.
Fast starters: The Falcons have
set an NFL record by scoring a touchdown on eight straight opening drives.
That figures to be tougher against a
Patriots team that was second best in
the league this year, allowing just 16
points on opening drives with the only
TD coming for Buffalo on Oct. 2. The
Patriots have allowed an average of
AFC title games in the Brady-Belichick era practicing the Patriot Way of
stressing personal accountability and a
business-like approach.
“There’s always an excuse you
can build into why you lose a game.
‘We’re only playing on six days rest,
we have this person hurt, or we didn’t
just 19 yards on those drives with half
of their opponents failing to generate
even a single first down.
Front runners: The Patriots
haven’t trailed in a game since Nov.
27 against the Jets. Brady threw a
game-winning TD pass to Malcolm
Mitchell with 1:56 remaining in a 2217 victory that day and New England
has gone 421:56 without being behind
in a game. New England trailed by
10 points at one point in that game,
their largest deficit of the season with
Brady active. If it’s hard to take a lead
against the Patriots, it’s even harder
to come back. New England has won
57 of the past 58 games when leading
after three quarters with the lone loss
coming last season to Brock Osweiler
and Denver.
Third to none: Forcing an offense
into third down is usually a good step
for a defense. Doing it against Brady
or Ryan isn’t much help. Including the
playoffs, Brady leads the NFL with a
132.8 rating on third down, with Ryan
next among starters at 120.6. Brady
has converted on 51.8 percent of his
third-down passes and Ryan is at 49.7
percent. Ryan has been even better of
get that call,’” Brady said. “There are a
million of them.
“I think our coach does a great job
of never buying into the B.S. He never
makes it about one player. He never
makes it about one play. He never makes
it about one call, or one situation.
“He never lets his foot off the gas pedal
late, with a 141 rating and first downs
on 59.3 percent of his throws the past
six games.
Between the hashes: Ryan has been
nearly unstoppable when targeting the
middle of the field in the regular season
and playoffs, according to Sportradar.
He has completed 86 of 117 passes between the hashes for 1,230 yards, nine
TDs and no interceptions and a 132.8
passer rating. Ryan is 13 for 14 for 138
yards throwing down the middle in the
playoffs.
Go deep: Ryan also was the most
efficient deep thrower in the NFL in
the regular season and playoffs, according to Sportradar, going 30 for 63
for 1,122 yards, 10 TDs, no interceptions and a league-best 133.4 rating on
throws at least 21 yards downfield. The
Patriots were the second-best defense
against the deep pass, allowing just
28.2 percent to be completed with only
three TDs, five interceptions and a 47.5
rating that was the second lowest.
Beat the heat: Teams blitzing the
Patriots and Falcons have had little success this season, with Brady
leading the NFL with a 124.3 rating
against the blitz, according to Spor-
so when it comes to our team, you’re
brainwashed. That’s just the way it goes.”
Julio Jones had a monster game in
Sunday’s rout of the Packers that put
the Atlanta Falcons into the Super
Bowl, and the scary wide receiver was
already giving the New England Patriots a fright as they studied game film.
tradar, and Ryan ranking second at
122.0. The Steelers tried to combat
that by rushing three on 19 of Brady’s
pass attempts last week, but he completed 13 of those for 137 yards.
Watch the fake: No team ran playaction as much as Atlanta this season,
doing it on 26 percent of offensive
plays in the regular season, according
to game-charting data from Football
Outsiders. The Falcons averaged 10.4
yards per play on play-action, compared to 7.8 on other plays. New England faced the second-lowest percentage of play-action plays at 13 percent,
allowing 8 yards per play, compared
to 6.1 yards on other plays.
Comeback kids: Brady has led
the Patriots on a game-winning,
fourth-quarter drive in all four of
his Super Bowl wins, rallying from
10 points down to beat Seattle two
years ago, overcoming a one-point
deficit against Carolina in 2004 and
leading tiebreaking drives against
St. Louis (2001) and Philadelphia
(2005). Brady came up short in two
last-minute desperation drives in both
losses to the Giants, but still has a
50-37 career record in game-winning
“Julio Jones, to me, is probably one of
the most dynamic players in the league,”
Patriots defensive coordinator Matt Patricia told reporters on Tuesday.
“He can run underneath routes, has
great speed, great hands, body control
and is very, very strong. He gives you
a lot of problems.”
and comeback attempts, according to
Scott Kacsmar of Football Outsiders.
Brady has the best winning percentage among active players with at
least 10 attempts, with Ryan not far
behind in fourth place with a 34-37
mark.
Sneaky Tom: Brady has been one
of the best QBs at converting sneaks
in his career, getting first downs on 98
of 108 (90.7 percent) runs on third or
fourth-and-1 in his career, compared
to a league-wide rate of 69.8 percent
in that span. After being nearly perfect (66 for 67) from 2004-12, Brady
has been more ordinary of late at 21
for 28 the past four years.
Big-play threats: It’s no surprise
that Julio Jones is the NFL’s most
dangerous big-play receiver. His 31
catches this season of at least 20 yards
lead the NFL. But he hasn’t been able
to match the far less heralded Chris
Hogan in the postseason. Hogan has
eight catches of at least 20 yards in
New England’s two playoff wins and
needs just one more in the Super Bowl
to tie Larry Fitzgerald (2008) and
Greg Jennings (2010) for the most in
a single postseason since 2000.
Jones caught nine passes for 180
yards and two touchdowns from quarterback Matt Ryan in the 44-21 romp
over Green Bay.
It was not just the sheer numbers that
impressed, but also the manner in which
four-times Pro Bowler Jones operated on
his way to his first Super Bowl.
Olympian commits to World Triathlon Series season opener
Best of the Rest
Duffy heads star-studded women’s field
Kristoffersen edges Hirscher: Norway’s Henrik
Kristoffersen held his nerve to narrowly edge out Austrian
rival Marcel Hirscher and win Tuesday’s floodlit slalom in
front of a packed Schladming crowd.
With around 45,000 spectators turning out for the race in
Austria, Kristoffersen clocked a combined time of 1min
39.83sec to hold off five-time reigning overall World Cup
champion Hirscher by 0.09sec. Alexander Khoroshilov of
Russia, the 2015 Schladming winner, earned a second podium in as many races after finishing third (+0.63). (AFP)
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Coutinho pens ‘long-term’ Liverpool deal:
Brazilian playmaker Philippe Coutinho has committed his
future to Liverpool by signing a new
“long-term” contract, the Premier
League giants announced on
Wednesday.
Liverpool did not reveal details of
the deal, but reports suggest Coutinho
has signed a five-year contract worth
between £150,000 ($188,800, 175,650
euros) and £200,000 per week.
Coutinho, 24, joined Liverpool from
Inter Milan in a £8.5 million move in
January 2013 and has since become
the team’s attacking fulcrum, scoring
Coutinho
34 goals in 163 appearances. (AFP)
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Bastia fan admits Balotelli racial abuse:
“Several” Bastia fans racially abused Nice forward Mario
Balotelli with monkey chants while one admitted it and
faces a France-wide stadium ban, the Corsican club said
on Wednesday.
The Italian said he suffered racist abuse throughout
Friday’s 1-1 Ligue 1 draw at Bastia, where the coach of
title-chasers Nice was also pelted with stones. (AFP)
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Roethlisberger unsure of future: Ben Roethlisberger
told 93.7 The Fan on Tuesday that he is not ready to commit to playing next season after the Pittsburgh Steelers’
36-17 loss to the New England Patriots last Sunday in the
AFC Championship Game.
The two-time Super Bowl champion and five-time Pro
Bowler implied in the radio interview that he is considering retirement.
“I’m going to take this offseason to evaluate, to consider all options,” Roethlisberger told 93.7 The Fan. “To
consider health, and family and things like that and just
kind of take some time away to evaluate next season, if
there’s going to be a next season.” (RTRS)
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Woods signs equipment deal: Tiger Woods has
added another equipment endorsement deal by signing
with TaylorMade on Wednesday to play everything except
the golf ball and the putter.
Woods was open to shop around when Nike decided last
year to get out of the hard equipment business. Woods still
has a deal with Nike to wear its shoes and apparel (AP)
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Russian woman drags two 18-tonne tram cars:
Russian strongwoman Oksana Kosheleva dragged two
18-tonne tram cars full of passengers along a short track
in sub-zero Siberia in her latest public power stunt.
The 33-year-old’s show of strength, which required six
months of training, took place on Monday in her home
town of Irkutsk, where temperatures dropped to minus 20
degrees Celsius (-4F).. (RTRS)
ABU DHABI, UAE, Jan 25: After a
stunning 2016 that saw Flora Duffy
notch-up three World Championship
titles, Bermuda’s superstar triathlete
will start her 2017 season in Abu
Dhabi on March 3 and 4, in one of the
most hotly anticipated triathlons of recent years.
Duffy will return to the UAE capital
this year, joining two of the world’s top
five male triathletes, Olympic bronze
medallist Henri Schoeman, and compatriot, two-time Olympian Richard Murray, on the all-new course on Yas Island
where close to 3,500 participants are
expected to take to the start line.
“Once again the world’s top triathletes are putting Abu Dhabi on their
‘must-race’ list,” said Nouf Ali, Events
Section Head of Abu Dhabi Sports
Council, host of the ITU World Triathlon Abu Dhabi. “With reigning World
Champion Flora Duffy on-board, the
2017 ITU World Triathlon Abu Dhabi
is shaping-up to bring a sensational race
to Abu Dhabi’s Yas Island. Stay tuned
for more exciting announcements!”
The 29-year-old, crowned ITU
World Champion, XTERRA World
Champion, and ITU Cross Triathlon
World Champion in 2016, has been a
consistent force on the women’s circuit since she started racing as a junior
in 2005. Having won the ITU Series
title for the first time last year, Duffy
has put herself in pole position for
the Abu Dhabi race this March: “The
ITU World Triathlon Abu Dhabi was
my first ever World Triathlon Series
podium position back in 2015, so the
race holds a special place for me.”
“I just couldn’t miss the chance to
race the new 2017 course on Yas Island
— it’s so unique, and the bike course
has so many corners — I really feel like
it will play to my strengths. I never play
it safe when I’m racing and with such
a technical bike course, I’m ready to
take it to the rest of the field in March!
Of course, I’d love to kick off my 2017
season with a win!” added Duffy, who
is famous for her skills on two wheels.
Duffy who spent the off-season in
Boulder, Colorado, continuing her preparations for 2017, added, “I’ve spent my
off-season training in the snow in Colorado — so it’ll be a nice change to spend
some time in Abu Dhabi’s sunshine.”
TRIATHLON
Flora Duffy
Born and raised in Bermuda, Duffy
was into running from a very young age,
starting in primary school. “My brothers
were in the swim club so I got chucked
in there as well,” said the ITU Champion, who competed in her first triathlon
at the age of seven. “I said to myself I
can ride a bike and I can definitely swim
and run, so let’s give it a try.” She went
on to experience her first triathlon — an
Ironman in Bermuda for children — and
she was “hooked”.
“I immediately joined the local triathlon club and started doing races almost
every week. I remember my parents
would drive me to training and come
down to every single race, which was
amazing,” said the Bermudian who
comes from a sport-loving family.