Page 14 - Florida Sentinel 12-18-18

Sports
Jackson Helps Ravens Run Past Buccaneers 20-12
Bucs Researching
The Ravens are making a serious playoff run behind fleet-footed rookie quarter- back Lamar Jackson, the key figure in Baltimore's reju- venated ground game.
Jackson picked apart the Tampa Bay defense on a soggy field, running for 95 yards and throwing for 131 to carry the Ravens to a 20-12 victory Sunday.
Jackson directed two drives that lasted more than seven minutes before closing out the game with a drive that consumed the final 7:08. He carried 18 times and com- pleted 14 of 23 passes, one of them for a touchdown. The anointed starter over veteran Joe Flacco earlier in the week, Jackson justified the decision with a riveting per- formance. Slipping between and sliding around potential tacklers, the 2016 Heisman Trophy winner operated the run-pass option in much the same fashion as during his glory days at Louisville.
Tampa Bay (5-9) isn't the first team to struggle to stop Jackson, and probably won't be the last.
"You've got everybody covered, but the play gets ex- tended," Ravens coach John Harbaugh noted. "Lamar can throw on the run, or he can run. I just think that's a very valuable (talent) to have."
Baltimore (8-6) is 4-1 since Jackson took over for the injured Flacco, the only loss in overtime at Kansas City. Jackson has rushed for 427 yards in those five games.
NFL As Potential Coordinator
The Ravens held the ball for more than 37 minutes com- pared to 22:50 for Tampa Bay.
"You've got to stay on the field on offense," Harbaugh said. "If you do that, you have a chance to generate some points."
The Ravens amassed 242 yards rushing on 49 attempts. Gus Edwards finished with 104, Kenneth Dixon con- tributed 48 and Jackson av- eraged 5.3 yards per rush -- even though he took a knee for the final three plays inside the Tampa Bay 10.
The loss eliminated Tampa Bay from playoff con- tention.
Baltimore's second- ranked defense did its part, holding the Buccaneers to one touchdown and 241 yards. In the fourth quarter, Marlon Humphrey picked off Jameis Winston's pass and forced an incompletion on fourth down from the Balti- more 33 with 7 minutes left.
The Ravens went up 17-9 by opening the second half with a 78-yard drive that lasted nearly five minutes. Jackson extended the march with a 17-yard completion to Mark Andrews and peeled off a 22-yard run before Ed- wards scored on a 10-yard burst up the middle.
Bears Lineman Proposes To GirlFriend After Big Win Over Packers
JENNIFER ROTH AND CHARLES LENO, JR.
Chicago Bears offensive tackle Charles Leno, Jr. had a pretty good day Sunday.
He and his teammates de- feated the Green Bay Packers 24-17 to clinch the NFC North division title and secure the team's first playoff appearance since 2010. But while they were all celebrating the win on the field, Leno had something else on his mind.
When his girlfriend Jen- nifer Roth met him at mid- field, Leno had a surprise for her.
The left tackle got down on one knee and popped the question.
The Bears fans still at the stadium even got to share the moment with the happy cou- ple as the Soldier Field score- board showed the proposal live.
Steelers' Victory
LAMAR JACKSON
The Tampa Bay Bucca- neers have begun gathering in- formation on potential head coaches and are making con- tingencies for a coaching search, with Dirk Koetter unlikely to be back next sea- son, league sources said. Tampa can finish no higher than .500 and has several big- picture decisions to make this offseason, including what to do with quarterback Jameis Winston, who is entering his fifth-year option in 2019, which is currently only guar- anteed for injury.
Koetter and his offensive coordinator, Todd Monken, will be coveted by other head coaches looking for offensive coordinators in 2019, league sources said. That includes head coaching candidates and head coaches already in place; both will be ready to vie for Koetter and Monken's serv- ices in 2019.
Tampa's offense has oscil- lated between Winston and aging-veteran Ryan Fitz- patrick several times this sea- son, due to suspension and performance, yet remains one of the NFL's most productive. The defense, however, has
DIRK KOETTER
been awful, with another coor- dinator fired on that side of the ball, and Winston's fu- ture remains murky as well, considerable factors for own- ership weight in deciding whether to move forward with this regime.
Koetter was nearly let go after last season, with owner- ship investigating Jon Gru- den's interest before he opted to go to Oakland, and his job security has been in question throughout the second half of the season after a fast start in September. Koetter origi- nally arrived as coach on Lovie Smith's staff, and rose to head coach based primarily on his original work with Winston, who was selected first overall in 2015.
Head-Coach Candidates;
Dirk Koetter Coveted Around
Over Patriots Was Mike
Tomlin's Finest Hour
Other Bands Refuse To Play
Mike Tomlin walked into Heinz Field on Sunday with blind faith, believing this was a big game not so much because it was against the New England Patriots as it was about the Pittsburgh Steelers addressing their fail- ure to finish in the previous three games.
The Steelers put their postseason hopes in a precar- ious position with successive losses to the Broncos, Charg- ers and Raiders, and needed to beat an arch-nemesis to maintain their half-game lead over the Baltimore Ravens and fourth-place standing in the AFC playoff picture.
Tomlin talked about the Steelers needing a no-blink approach, and believed they could run with Jaylen Samuels, that Chris Boswell could make a kick when it counted and that the embattled defense could hold
With Maroon 5 At Super Bowl
Due To Kaepernick Controversy
MIKE TOMLIN
a fourth-quarter lead when needed.
Tom Brady, Bill Be- lichick and the Patriots blinked.
With Steelers fans fuming and calling for him to be fired, Tomlin never batted an eyelid in delivering a 17-10 victory over the Patriots that should hush his hot-seat talk for the time being.
This was his reminder that Belichick wasn’t the only Super Bowl-winning coach on the sidelines.
It appears that entertain- ers, singers, and other acts, are refusing to join rockers Maroon 5 to play for this year’s Super Bowl halftime show.
Not because of anything the band has done, but in- stead, because national an- them protester Colin Kaepernick is still unem- ployed.
No act has a beef with the band or its frontman, Adam Levine. Instead many are turning their backs on per- forming during the halftime show because of the National
COLIN KAEPERNICK
Football League’s reticence to put former San Francisco 49ers quarterback and an- them protester Colin Kaepernick, back in uni- form.
PAGE 14 FLORIDA SENTINEL BULLETIN PUBLISHED EVERY TUESDAY AND FRIDAY TUESDAY, DECEMBER 18, 2018