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Posts tagged as “Football”

Adrian Peterson Awarded NFL MVP, Offensive Player of the Year Honors

Adrian Peterson #28 of the Minnesota Vikings walks off the field after his team's 24-17 loss to the San Diego Chargers during their season-opening game on September 11, 2011 at Qualcomm Stadium in San DIego, California. (Photo by Donald Miralle/Getty Images)

Adrian Peterson #28 of the Minnesota Vikings walks off the field after his team’s 24-17 loss to the San Diego Chargers during their season-opening game on September 11, 2011 at Qualcomm Stadium in San DIego, California. (Photo by Donald Miralle/Getty Images)

NEW ORLEANS (AP) — Adrian Peterson called it a blessing in disguise.  Strange way to describe career-threatening major knee surgery.  The Minnesota Vikings’ star came back better than ever, just missing Eric Dickerson’s longstanding rushing record and closing out the season with two of the top NFL awards from The Associated Press: Most Valuable Player and Offensive Player of the Year.
As sort of an added bonus, he beat Peyton Manning for both of them Saturday night.  “My career could have easily been over, just like that,” the sensational running back said. “Oh man. The things I’ve been through throughout my lifetime has made me mentally tough. ”I’m kind of speechless. This is amazing, ” he said in accepting his awards, along with five others at the “2nd Annual NFL Honors” show on CBS saluting the NFL’s best players, performances and plays from the 2012 season. The awards are based on balloting from a nationwide panel of 50 media members who regularly cover the NFL.

Seattle QB Russell Wilson Added to Pro Bowl Roster

Russell Wilson #3 of the Seattle Seahawks is interviewed after their 24 to 14 win over the Washington Redskins during the NFC Wild Card Playoff Game at FedExField on January 6, 2013 in Landover, Maryland. (Photo by Patrick McDermott/Getty Images)

Russell Wilson #3 of the Seattle Seahawks is interviewed after their 24 to 14 win over the Washington Redskins during the NFC Wild Card Playoff Game at FedExField on January 6, 2013 in Landover, Maryland. (Photo by Patrick McDermott/Getty Images)

RENTON, Wash. (AP) — Seattle Seahawks rookie quarterback Russell Wilson has been added to the NFC roster for the Pro Bowl after Atlanta’s Matt Ryan withdrew due to an injury.  Wilson was added to the team on Monday. He will be the sixth Seahawks player in the game, joining offensive linemen Max Unger and Russell Okung, running back Marshawn Lynch, safety Earl Thomas and kick returner Leon Washington.
Wilson threw for 3,118 yards and tied the NFL rookie record with 26 passing touchdowns in the regular season. His finest performance of the year came in Seattle’s NFC playoff loss at Atlanta where Wilson threw for 385 yards and two touchdowns in the 30-28 loss.  Wilson was originally voted a third alternate for the NFC.  Ryan was injured in Sunday’s NFC championship game loss to San Francisco.
Copyright 2013 The Associated Press via thegrio.com

Carolina Panthers QB Cam Newton Taking Classes at Auburn

Cam Newton #1 of the Carolina Panthers reacts to the cheers of the fans as he leaves the field after a win over the New Orleans Saints at Bank of America Stadium on September 16, 2012 in Charlotte, North Carolina. The Panthers won 35-27. (Photo by Grant Halverson/Getty Images)

Cam Newton #1 of the Carolina Panthers reacts to the cheers of the fans as he leaves the field after a win over the New Orleans Saints at Bank of America Stadium on September 16, 2012 in Charlotte, North Carolina. The Panthers won 35-27. (Photo by Grant Halverson/Getty Images)

Auburn spokesman Kirk Sampson said Tuesday that Newton is taking classes toward a sociology degree. Sampson says Newton isn’t doing media interviews and “wants to focus on school and be a normal student.”
Newton led the Tigers to the 2010 national championship in his lone season after transferring from junior college.
He was then the NFL’s No. 1 overall draft pick and went on to earn Offensive Rookie of the Year honors.
Newton posted similar numbers last season, but came on especially strong in the final six games. He completed 66 percent of his passes for 1,474 yards with 10 touchdowns and only two interceptions and ran for 347 yards and four scores during that span.
Copyright 2013 The Associated Press via thegrio.com

Colin Kaepernick Record: 49ers' Quarterback Sets NFL Playoff QB Rushing Record

Colin Kaepernick
SAN FRANCISCO — Colin Kaepernick has set an NFL record for rushing yards by a quarterback in a playoff game.
Kaepernick broke Michael Vick’s mark of 119 yards with a 56-yard keeper on an option play in the third quarter of Saturday night’s playoff game against Green Bay. The run gave Kaepernick 163 yards on 12 carries, setting a 49ers franchise record for the postseason. Vick set his record for Atlanta in a 47-17 win over St. Louis on Jan. 15, 2005.
Kaepernick earlier scored on a 20-yard run and also threw two touchdown passes in the first half. He joined Chicago’s Jay Cutler and Cleveland’s Otto Graham as the only players to throw two TD passes and run for two TDs in a playoff game. Graham did it twice.
article by Associated Press via huffingtonpost.com

Black Quarterbacks Changing Perceptions as NFL Playoffs Near

Quarterbacks Colin Kaepernick (Stacy Revere/Getty Images) Robert Griffin III. (Rob Carr/Getty Images) & Russell Wilson (Otto Greule Jr/Getty Images)

Quarterbacks Colin Kaepernick (Stacy Revere/Getty Images) Robert Griffin III. (Rob Carr/Getty Images) & Russell Wilson (Otto Greule Jr/Getty Images)

Young quarterbacks have been the dominant storyline of the 2013 season.  Of the 12 NFL playoff teams, six start quarterbacks that are either in their first or second year. The days of needing an established veteran at the quarterback position may be over.
Of those five young starting quarterbacks, three are African-American. Rookies Robert Griffin III and Russell Wilson will play each other in the premier wildcard game this weekend, with the Washington Redskins hosting the Seattle Seahawks Sunday afternoon. Colin Kaepernick gets a week off, as he helped lead his San Francisco 49ers to a bye.

NFL Star Ray Lewis to Sign with ESPN After Retirement

Linebacker Ray Lewis #52 of the Baltimore Ravens warms up prior to the game against the St. Louis Rams at the Edward Jones Dome on August 30, 2012 in St. Louis, Missouri. The St. Louis Rams defeated the Baltimore Ravens 31-17. (Photo by David Welker/Getty Images)

Linebacker Ray Lewis #52 of the Baltimore Ravens warms up prior to the game against the St. Louis Rams at the Edward Jones Dome on August 30, 2012 in St. Louis, Missouri. The St. Louis Rams defeated the Baltimore Ravens 31-17. (Photo by David Welker/Getty Images)

He’s mentored scores of NFL players, past and present, as well as provided motivational talks and workout ‘sessions’ for college teams and communities.  Lewis’ former head coach in Baltimore Brian Billick recently called Lewis the “greatest individual leader on a football team” he’d ever seen on ESPN’s ‘Mike and Mike in the Morning.’ 
SI.com’s Deitsch also reports Lewis’ son Ray Lewis III and his college football career (Lewis III will be a freshman at dad’s alma mater University of Miami in the fall) weighed heavily on the decision to work with ESPN. The schedule is reportedly flexible enough for Lewis to attend games and remain involved.
article by Todd Johnson via thegrio.com

Detroit Lions’ Calvin Johnson Breaks Receiving Record

<> at Ford Field on December 22, 2012 in Detroit, Michigan.

Detroit Lions wide receiver Calvin Johnson is on the cover of the latest installment of the Madden series (’13), appropriate because he is putting up video game type numbers in real life. Johnson, highly regarded as one of the best receivers in the NFL, surpassed the legendary Jerry Rice in receiving yards gained in a season on Saturday (12/22) in a loss to the Atlanta Falcons. A highlight in an otherwise disappointing season for the Lions, Johnson currently has 1892 yards and can go for the 2000 yard mark.

article by Jamiyl Samuels via theurbandaily.com

Colin Kaepernick to Start as 49ers QB on Sunday at Rams

San Francisco 49ers quarterback Colin Kaepernick (7) gestures after his second start in an NFL football game against the New Orleans Saints in New Orleans, Sunday, Nov. 25, 2012. The 49ers defeated the Saints 31-21. (AP Photo/Bill Feig)

San Francisco 49ers quarterback Colin Kaepernick (7) gestures after his second start in an NFL football game against the New Orleans Saints in New Orleans, Sunday, Nov. 25, 2012. The 49ers defeated the Saints 31-21. (AP Photo/Bill Feig)

SANTA CLARA, Calif. (AP) — Colin Kaepernick will start at quarterback for the San Francisco 49ers on Sunday at St. Louis. Coach Jim Harbaugh made the announcement Wednesday that Kaepernick would go over Alex Smith after the second-year pro led the NFC West-leading Niners (8-2-1) to victories in the past two games, his first two NFL starts.

He says, “Colin we believe has the hot hand.”

Kaepernick has completed 48 of 74 passes for 680 yards and three touchdowns with one interception and was sacked six times. He has a 102.3 passer rating.

Smith, the 2005 No. 1 overall draft pick, hardly looked happy on the sideline during Sunday’s win over the Saints after being medically cleared from a concussion suffered in the first half of a 24-24 tie against St. Louis on Nov. 11.

article by Janie McCauley via thegrio.com     

Copyright 2012 The Associated Press.


Book Review: “The Stone Thrower” by Jael Ealey Richardson

The Stone Thrower
By Jael Ealey Richardson
Thomas Allen Publishers
256 pp; $24.95

The American football quarterback, Chuck Ealey led his University of Toledo Rockets to three undefeated seasons in college football, but he had misfortune to do so at a time when the National Football League looked askance at black quarterbacks. Because the NFL would not draft him, Ealey — like African-American quarterbacks Bernie Custis before him, and Warren Moon after — came to play for the Canadian Football League in 1972. It was Ealey’s best season: he led the Hamilton Tiger-Cats to a Grey Cup victory and was the game’s Most Valuable Player.

Ealey’s daughter, Jael Ealey Richardson, never got to see her father play football because she was born in 1980 — two years after her father sustained a lung injury and retired from the sport. In her memoir The Stone Thrower: A Daughter’s Lessons, a Father’s Life, Ealey Richardson could have taken the easy route by writing a praiseworthy tract meant to set her father up as a role model and hero. Ealey, the exquarterback, does come across as a devoted family man with a depth of vision and discipline that carried him far beyond the stadium lights. However, his daughter’s memoir is engaging because she situates his life in the context of the civil rights movement in the United States, and addresses issues of race in her own family as well as in homes, on the streets and in schools and campuses in the U.S. and Canada.

Ultimately, The Stone Thrower is as much a meditation on a daughter’s emerging sense of identity in Canada as it is a father-daughter memoir. The two threads are inextricably linked, one enriching the other.

Cam Newton Donates $150,000 to Three North Carolina Schools

Carolina Panthers quarterback Cam Newton sits with students Tuesday at Randolph IB Middle School, where he announced that his foundation would give $150,000 to be divided evenly among Bradley, Randolph and Thomasboro Academy middle schools. (Photo: Glenn H. Burkins for Qcitymetro.com)

The Cam Newton Foundation has donated $150,000 to three Charlotte-Mecklenburg schools.  The money will be divided evenly among Bradley, Randolph and Thomasboro Academy middle schools and will be used for activities and resources that boost school pride, the foundation said.  Newton, a second-year quarterback with the Carolina Panthers, made the official announcement in an auditorium packed with cheering children and teachers at Randolph Middle. He encouraged the students to stay in school and get an education, regardless of their career plans.  The donation was part of the foundation’s newly formed School Pride Program.