Page 15 - Florida Sentinel 1-19-16 Edition

Sports
Cleveland Browns Name Hue Jackson Head Coach
Cardinals Beat Packers In Thriller
Wide receiver Larry Fitzgerald caught the game winning TD.
GLENDALE, Ariz. - Larry Fitzgerald's brief but brilliant overtime heroics trumped an- other Aaron Rodgers Hail Mary and the Arizona Cardi- nals escaped with a 26-20 vic- tory over the Green Bay Packers Saturday night to ad- vance to the NFC champi- onship.
Fitzgerald turned a short pass into a 75-yard gain on the first play of overtime to set up his five-yard shovel pass recep- tion for the winning score as the crowd chanted "Larry, Larry."
The Cardinals (14-3), the No. 2 seed in the NFC West, plays the winner of Sunday's Seattle- Carolina game for the title.
It can't be any crazier than this one, which unfolded on the same field where the Cardinals beat the Packers in overtime 51-45 in a wild card game in the 2009 season and where Ari- zona routed Green Bay 38-8 three weeks ago.
Rodgers, in a play reminis- cent of his final-play heave against Detroit this season, took the snap with five seconds to go in regulation, scrambled around and heaved it 41 yards to the end zone.
Jeff Janis, a 6-foot-3 re- ceiver pressed into extended duty because Green Bay's top two receivers were hurt, out- jumped defenders Patrick Pe- terson and Rashad Johnson and clutched the ball to his chest as he fell to the turf in the silence of University of Phoenix Stadium, except for the scat- tered Packers fans, who went nuts.
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CLEVELAND -- The Cleve- land Browns have named for- mer Cincinnati Bengals offensive coordinator Hue Jackson their 16th full-time head coach, the team an- nounced Wednesday after- noon.
“What a tremendous honor and privilege to be the head coach of the Cleveland Browns and a part of the Dawg Pound,” Jackson said in a release from the team. “I’m so looking for- ward to it and have so many people to thank. Obviously, Jimmy and Dee Haslam for this opportunity, going through the process of meeting Sashi Brown and Paul De- Podesta. What an exciting time to have an opportunity to work with people like that.”
Jackson had two inter- views with the Browns after meeting with the San Francisco 49ers on Sunday, but rather than pursue a scheduled meet- ing with the New York Giants on Thursday, he elected to stay in the AFC North Division and make the move to Cleveland.
“We shared a lot of ideas be- tween each other,” Jackson said of the meetings. “We shared a vision for the organi- zation and what we want to ac-
HUE JACKSON
complish. At the end of the day, we have some very real goals we want to attain and we un- derstand it’s going to take a lot of hard work to do that.”
Oakland’s head coach dur- ing the 2011 season, Jackson led the Raiders to an 8-8 record, but after being dis- missed, he found a rebirth in Cincinnati, guiding an offense that gained 5,728 yards, scored 50 touchdowns and had a pair of Pro Bowl players, wide re- ceiver A.J. Green and tight end Tyler Eifert, this year.
“It’s very exciting for us to name Hue Jackson as the head coach of the Cleveland Browns,” owner Jimmy Haslam said in the release an- nouncing the hire. “He embod- ies all the qualities that will provide strong leadership for our football team.
Detroit Lions Retain Head Coach Jim Caldwell
Well here's something new: An NFL team hasn't made a knee-jerk reaction to fire its head coach after a losing sea- son.
Jim Caldwell will remain as the Detroit Lions' head coach. His job security had been in question for a while, really since ownership shook things up and fired the team president and general manager on Nov. 5. General managers often want their own hand-picked coach. But new Lions general manager Bob Quinn decided Caldwell is still the right man for the job after extensive meetings.
“After spending a significant amount of time together, it is clear that our football philoso-
Jim Caldwell has been the coach since
phies are very similar," Quinn said, according to the Lions' site. "Consequently, I am con- vinced he is the right man to lead our football team moving forward.
Indeed, many players tweeted their excitement about the news on Friday morning.
Serena Got No Favors In Australian Open Draw
MELBOURNE — Her form and fitness in question, top seed and defending champion Serena Williams didn’t get served any favors by the Aus- tralian Open draw, revealed Friday.
The 34-year-old American hasn’t played an official match since her dramatic exit from the U.S. Open in September, where she lost in the semifi- nals. World No. 43 Roberta Vinci stopped her two matches shy of an historic Grand Slam.
She opens with perhaps the toughest of first-round asks, facing world No. 35 Camila Giorgi, a petite Italian who hits a gigantic ball. Giorgi was the highest-ranked player not to be seeded. Williams’ po- tential path doesn’t get any easier: She could clash with good friend Caroline Woz- niacki in the fourth round and is seeded to play Maria Sharapova, the No. 5 seed, in the quarterfinals in a rematch of last year’s close two-set final.
Serena Williams hasn’t played since losing at the U. S. Open.
The women’s draw features No. 4 seed Agnieszka Rad- wanska on the top half of the draw along with Williams, Wozniacki and Sharapova, while No. 2 seed Simona Halep anchors a bottom half that features Garbiñe Muguruza, Venus Williams, Petra Kvitova, Angelique Kerber and Madison Keys, the young American who was a semifi- nalist here a year ago.
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