Öffentlich » off a resilient No. 25 Virginia

(SportsNetwork.com) - Tom Brady and the New England Patriots will attempt to bounce back from a rare loss by doing what they usually do, beat the San Diego Chargers and Philip Rivers. The Patriots have never lost to Rivers and the Chargers with Brady under center, winning five consecutive when the two veteran Pro-Bowlers duel. Both clubs are currently in the thick of the AFC playoff race. The 9-3 Patriots had their seven-game winning streak snapped last weekend at Green Bay but are still in good position heading into December. By winning out, New England will clinch the No. 1 seed in the AFC and secure a first-round bye for the fifth consecutive season. The 8-4 Chargers, meanwhile, are currently the top wild-card team in the AFC and sit just one game behind Denver for the top spot in the West thanks to answering a three-game mid-season skid with an equally long winning streak, which extended to three with a heart-stopping 34-33 win in Baltimore in Week 13. Trailing by 10 points with just over six minutes remaining, Rivers led San Diego back and capped the rally with a 1-yard touchdown pass to wide receiver Eddie Royal with 38 seconds left in the game. Rivers completed 34-of-45 passes for 383 yards, three touchdowns and an interception for the Chargers, who outscored Baltimore by a 21-10 margin in the fourth quarter. These are the kind of games you have to win to get into the postseason, said Rivers. And these are the kind of games youve got to win if you do get in. Keenan Allen caught 11 passes for 121 yards and two touchdowns for San Diego while Royal hauled in nine passes for 81 yards. The players never gave up and we just kept plugging away, said Chargers coach Mike McCoy said. Thats what good teams do. The character of our team once again showed up, and when youve got a great quarterback like Philip Rivers, you got a chance to win every game just as long as theres time left on the clock. Brady, on the other hand lost his Week 13 battle against one of the few people on the planet who are actually his peer, Aaron Rodgers. A-Rod threw for 368 yards and two touchdowns and kept two NFL-record streaks alive in a 26-21 win last Sunday at Lambeau Field as the Packers remained perfect (6-0) at home this season. Rodgers has now thrown 360 consecutive passed and 31 touchdown passes at Lambeau since his last interception on the field over two years ago, both NFL bests. Brady was 22-of-35 for 245 yards with two touchdown passes to Brandon LaFell. Rob Gronkowski had seven catches for 98 yards and Brandon Bolden added a 6-yard touchdown run in the loss, New Englands first since falling 41-14 in Kansas City on Sept. 29. I just wish we would have won this one, Brady said. We put a lot into this one, and this was a great test for us. I think the guys knew how important this was for our season. The Pats are 20-14-2 all-time against San Diego and have won five of six overall. The lone Chargers win in that span came when Matt Cassel was filling in for an injured Brady in 2008. The two teams havent met since 2011, a 35-21 New England win when Brady tossed for 423 yards and three scores. The Patriots havent been to San Diego since 2010, a 23-20 Pats win fueled by a Gronkowski TD and three Stephen Gostkowski field goals. WHAT TO WATCH FOR Much like last week with Brady versus Rodgers, all the hype is centering on the QBs because both have been so good for so long. Brady, however, has always gotten the best of Rivers in the past, winning all five of his starts against the San Diego signal caller while compiling a 91.4 passer rating in those encounters. Conversely, Rivers has managed just five touchdowns with eight interceptions and a less-than-stellar 73.4 passer rating in those games. Even though the two are never directly playing against each other, Rivers lack of success against Bradys Pats is a narrative that will follow the North Carolina State product until he excels in this kind of environment. Weve never played this Patriot team, a terse Rivers said when queried about his lack of success against Brady. Were 0-0 against this group. Theres a lot of guys in that locker room that have never played the Patriots in their life. Rivers is currently third in the AFC with a 102. 8 passer rating, slightly ahead of Bradys 101.1, He also has an AFC-best 69.1 completion percentage but is behind Brady in both passing yards (3,243 to 3,218) and TD passes (28 to 25). Its great to have him on our football team, McCoy said of Rivers. Hes been very efficient. Hes done a great job of leading not only the team, but the offense week in and week out. However you slice it, both QBs are great. Brady has the best December winning percentage in over 70 years at 45-7 and Rivers is in second with a 30-6 mark. Since losing to Kansas City to fall to 2-2 on the season, New England is 7-1 and has been scoring well over 30 points per game. Perhaps the biggest contributor to that has been the health of Rob Gronkowski, who is feeling good after a myriad of injuries in recent seasons and has an NFL-best 910 receiving yards for a tight end. Gronks nine TDs, meanwhile, are equal to his counterpart with the Chargers, veteran Antonio Gates, one of the best pass-catching TEs in NFL history. Rob has done a good job for us and been on the field a lot, plays in a lot of situations, been productive in the passing game and the running game, New England coach Bill Belichick said. The Pats mentor also had some flattering words for the ageless Gates, who remains one of the tougher matchup problems in the league. Gates seems timeless, Belichick said. Hes a hard guy to defend. Hes got great size, athleticism, hands, does a real good job setting up his routes, beating man or zone coverage. The x-factor in the game could be the running backs. San Diego is back to leaning on Ryan Mathews, who returned a few weeks ago after missing seven games with a sprained knee. The talented Mathews gives San Diego far more balance and makes opposing defenses pause before putting an extra defensive back on the field. Its great to have him back, McCoy said of Mathews. Hes worked extremely hard to get back where he is today. The Pats, meanwhile, brought back LeGarrette Blount two weeks ago after he was released in Pittsburgh and the big man hasnt missed a beat since he was with the Pats in 2013, averaging 68 yards a game and scoring two TDs. OVERALL ANALYSIS Belichick is generally ahead of the curve when it comes to the little things that helps a team win. Instead of flying from Green Bay back to Foxborough and then out to San Diego, the future Hall of Fame coach eliminated the East Coast to West Coast trek which always seems to be an issue by flying directly from Wisconsin to the Southern California. Its that kind of attention to detail that sets the Patriots apart and expect them to win a 10th game for the 14th consecutive season on Sunday, the first organization to turn that trick since the San Francisco 49ers reached double digits in every year from 1983-98. Sports Network predicted outcome: Patriots 27, Chargers 20 Wholesale Shoes China . Yet heading to New York, the Habs remain positive as it all comes down to the one main ingredient that the organization has built its team on - character. Cheap Nike Shoes .com) - The Anaheim Ducks and Los Angeles Kings are ready to put all the talk and hype surrounding their meeting at Dodger Stadium behind them. http://www.cheapshoesgoodquality.com/ . -- When the Los Angeles Kings are on top of their formidable defensive game, they revel in the silence they can create in a frustrated road arena. Cheap Adidas Shoes .200. His solution to his hitting woes was business in the front and a party in the back."That would be a mullet," Norris says. Cheap Shoes Authentic .3 seconds remaining, and No. 7 North Carolina held off a resilient No. 25 Virginia team, 54-51, on Saturday. John Henson contributed a double-double with 15 points to go with 11 rebounds for the Tar Heels (25-4, 12-2 ACC), who have won five straight and 10 of 11.The Toronto Argonauts could be sold within a matter of weeks, either to Maple Leaf Sports and Entertainment or its chairman, Larry Tanenbaum, according to multiple sources. Talks between David Braley and MLSE have heated up in recent months to the point that the MLSE board, which includes Tanenbaum as well as representatives from Bell and Rogers, was asked to vote during December on acquiring the CFL team. While the board could not agree on the matter, there remains the possibility that MLSE could revisit buying the team or that Tanenbaum himself may purchase it. An Argo purchase by MLSE or Tanenbaum makes potential sense from both ends of the deal. From the Argos perspective, the team is in desperate need of a new practice facility, having been told by the University of Toronto that its Mississauga campus can no longer house the football team. With three months until the opening of CFL training camps, a sale would presumably open the door to the Argos taking up residence at the KIA Training Ground, the practice home of Toronto FC which includes three full-size grass fields, four artificial fields and a 40,000 square foot field house in Downsview. Being sold to Tanenbaum or MLSE would make the Argos part of the plan for a redesigned BMO Field, thus solving their need to build a new home from scratch when they vacate Rogers Centre after the 2017 season. MLSE president and CEO Tim Leiweke has stated several times in recent months that the Argos could factor into future plans at BMO, a position in stark contrast to that of his predecessors, who saw the facility as soccer-only. From the perspective of Tanenbaum or MLSE, owning the Argos could be a chip towards the goal of securing a National Football League team, based on the NFL wanting assurance that moving a team to Toronto would nott kill the Argos or the CFL.dddddddddddd "(Tanenbaum) has always had an affection for them," said former MLSE president and CEO Richard Peddie. "Everything Im hearing is that that the NFL is telling them that if you want an NFL team, you better make sure the Argos are okay. I dont think its out of the realm that he may do it." As well, having the Argos as a second tenant at BMO Field could help MLSEs drive to secure investment from government to redevelop the stadium, which is a publicly-owned facility operated by MLSE exclusively for soccer at this time. "Ive got to believe that theyre thinking of the Argos in that facility," said Peddie. "Can you design a stadium with moveable sections and not lose the intimacy? Yes, you probably can." The Argonauts are currently owned by Hamilton businessman David Braley, who has been exploring options for a new stadium in the Greater Toronto Area in recent months.Though the Argonauts have consistently lost money at Rogers Centre, it is believed their business model could continue to improve with the right arrangement at BMO, combined with increased revenues from the CFLs new television deal which kicks in this season. This isnt the first time MLSE has looked at a potential Argo purchase. The Argos had been offered up to MLSE when the team was owned by David Cynamon and Howard Sololowski, who sold to David Braley in February of 2010. However, the ownership of MLSE and many of the dynamics within the citys professional sports scene have changed since those days, most notably with Liewekes arrival and the notion of trying to land an NFL team.In November, reports surfaced of Tanenbaum, Lieweke and rock star Jon Bon Jovi teaming up to pursue a future relocation of the Buffalo Bills to Toronto. ' ' '