Page 14 - Florida Sentinel 11-28-17

Sports
Bucs RB Doug Martin Suffers Concussion
Ex-Bears DE John Thierry Dies At 46
Jameis Winston
Reportedly Undergoing
Plasma Treatment,
Close To Returning
The Tampa Bay Bucca- neers will be fighting for a wild card spot down the stretch, and Jameis Win- ston may be able to help them do that in the near fu- ture.
Ian Rapoport of NFL Media reports that Winston has received platelet-rich plasma treatments in his in- jured shoulder and is getting close to making his return.
“I’m told a couple weeks ago he had PRP injections — platelet-rich plasma treat- ment — in other words, blood spinning,” Rapoport said. “[It is] something that is used often, especially by high-pro- file athletes, during rehab to quicken the recovery. It takes about two weeks to take hold for Winston. He does have an MRI on Monday and the team is holding out hope be- fore saying anything. They want to find out the actual terms and what happens dur- ing the MRI, but I am told he feels great, looks great, and his return is coming.”
JAMEIS WINSTON
Winston injured his shoulder in Week 6 and ag- gravated it again in Week 9. An MRI revealed no struc- tural damage, but the injury is to the quarterback’s throw- ing shoulder and is likely causing issues with pain management.
All signs indicate the Bucs are not going to shut Win- ston down for the season. While he is under NFL inves- tigation after a woman claims he sexually assaulted her, no disciplinary action is ex- pected for Winston (if there is any) until next season.
Vs. Falcons
Former Chicago Bears de- fensive end John Thierry has died at 46, the team an- nounced Saturday.
"The Chicago Bears offer their deepest condolences on the passing of former line- backer John Thierry," the team said in a statement. "Our thoughts and prayers go out to John and his family."
The team did not provide a cause of death.
Thierry played the first five years of his nine-year ca- reer with the Bears after being drafted 11th overall in 1994 out of Alcorn State. He had his best season with the Cleveland Browns in 1999,
DOUG MARTIN
Tampa Bay Buccaneers two- time Pro Bowl running back Doug Martin suffered a con- cussion against the Atlanta Fal- cons and sat out the remainder of the Buccaneers' 20-34 loss.
Martin had three carries on the Bucs' opening drive before taking a hit and briefly leaving the game. He returned, rushing for 33 yards on seven carries, averaging 4.7 yards per carry. He was then replaced by Jacquizz Rodgers on the Bucs' final drive of the first half.
The Bucs have struggled to run the ball. They had 798 rush- ing yards heading into Sunday's game -- 30th in the league.
Bucs center Ali Marpet also left Sunday's game with a knee injury.
Bucs defensive tackle Clin- ton McDonald (back) and de- fensive back/special-teams captain Josh Robinson (ham- string) were ruled out for the re- mainder of the game.
JOHN THIERRY
when he had seven sacks and 33 tackles as a defensive end and linebacker.
He also played for the At- lanta Falcons and Green Bay Packers before retiring after the 2002 season.
Quinton Flowers Says He Did Not Intend To Offend With Gesture
Julio Jones’ Massive Day Leaves Buccaneers With A Road Loss To Falcons
Quinton Flowers and Charlie Strong issued statements on Saturday, a day after the senior quarter- back made headlines for his lewd celebration following a touchdown.
In his statement, Flow- ers says he did not intend to offend with his gesture. His head coach backed him up with some words about his character.
Allow me to call B.S. on both of them. How else could you describe Flowers’ cele- bration? It absolutely was of- fensive, although many
QUINTON FLOWERS
found it to be humorous. Perhaps Flowers was served a dose of Karma as his team lost 49-42 despite his spectacular 5-touchdown ef-
fort.
The Tampa Bay Bucca- neers are looking forward to the return of Jameis Win- ston.
Not that they’re complain- ing about his backup.
Backup quarterback Ryan Fitzpatrick turned in an- other solid performance in his third straight start Sunday, nearly rallying the Bucs from a 21-point deficit. But a fourth- down pass was batted down near the goal line midway through the fourth quarter, and the Atlanta Falcons held on for a 34-20 victory that snapped Tampa Bay’s two- game winning streak with Fitzpatrick at the helm.
“Ryan did fine,” coach Dirk Koetter said. “He hung in there and again he didn’t turn the ball over and when you don’t turn the ball over in the NFL, you are going to have a chance, which we did.”
After the Bucs (4-7) fell be- hind 27-6 early in the third quarter, Fitzpatrick led them back.
The Bucs then came up with a huge turnover, strip- ping the ball away from Ter-
yard.
Facing fourth-and-1, the
Bucs passed on a field goal and took another shot at the tying touchdown. With 346-pound Dontari Poe bearing down on him, Fitzpatrick delivered a hurried throw over the mid- dle intended for tight end Cameron Brate.
It was batted down inside the 5 by Falcons safety Keanu Neal.
“With the two-game win streak we had coming in, the way we battled back in the sec- ond half,” Fitzpatrick said, “this one hurts.”
The Falcons took it the other way, clinching the vic- tory on Tevin Coleman’s 14- yard touchdown run with just under two minutes remaining.
“We had momentum at that time and getting a field goal and being down by four, are we going to stop them or not stop them?” Koetter ex- plained. “We were playing pretty good on offense, moving the football and made the de- cision on third down if we did- n’tgetitwewouldgoforiton fourth.”
Cowboys Waive Veteran RB Darren McFadden
JULIO JONES
ron Ward deep in their own territory. Brent Grimes scooped it up at his own 5 and returned it all the way out to the Tampa Bay 42. He com- pleted four passes for 62 yards, setting up a short touchdown run by Peyton Barber. After the Bucs got the ball back, he connected on five throws for 67 yards, in addition to scram- bling for an 11-yard gain, be- fore Barber punched it over again from the 1 to bring Tampa Bay within 27-20.
Fitzpatrick got the of- fense cranked up again, work- ing around a sack to push Tampa Bay to second-and-2 at the Atlanta 19. A shot at the end zone fell incomplete and a short throw to Adam Humphries picked up only a
Darren McFadden has been waived by the Dallas Cowboys, the team an- nounced Sunday.
McFadden acknowl- edged he would be waived in a tweet Sunday, saying it was "awesome" to play for the team he grew up rooting for.
The move brings an end to a strange season for the 10-year running back.
McFadden has been in- active the past two games, despite the fact that Ezekiel Elliott has been serving his league-imposed six-game suspension and the Cowboys spent the offseason prepar- ing McFadden to be their starting back, if not part of a rotation, once discipline for Elliott was finalized through various legal battles.
DARREN MCFADDEN
McFadden was inactive for the first eight games of the season, then played just one snap in Week 9 against the Atlanta Falcons, losing 2 yards on his lone carry. He was inactive for losses to the Philadelphia Eagles and Los Angeles Chargers as the Cow- boys opted to go with just two tailbacks, Alfred Mor- ris and Rod Smith, to re- place Elliott.
PAGE 14 FLORIDA SENTINEL BULLETIN PUBLISHED EVERY TUESDAY AND FRIDAY TUESDAY, NOVEMBER 28, 2017