Silva: Each NFL team enters the offseason with a series of pressing needs. Sometimes a team can address them all, sometimes they ignore them all. But if a team's smart, they'll listen to us. These are the most crucial aspects for NFC teams.
SportsTalk: Albert Pujols signs with the Angels and Prince Fielder joins the Tigers. Which team is better now?
Ryan Callahan scored for the fifth time in four days and defenseman Ryan McDonagh snapped a second-period tie to lift the New York Rangers to a 3-2 victory over the Washington Capitals on Sunday.
Kobe Bryant hit a baseline jump shot with 4.2 seconds left and the Los Angeles Lakers wrapped up a six-game road trip by holding on to beat the Raptors 94-92 on Sunday, their eighth victory in nine meetings with Toronto
Arc's five up, five down: After No. 11 Michigan State's 58-48 upset of No. 3 Ohio State, you'd be a fool to discount the Spartans' national title chances now.
Miami coach Al Golden says the worst is behind him, but his headaches figure to continue now that former booster Nevin Shapiro, now in jail, says his involvement with the Hurricanes program will result in stiff penalties.
Eleven shots separated Phil and Tiger Sunday at Pebble Beach as Lefty secured his 40th Tour win. Jason Sobel had hole-by-hole reports.
The United States completed a 5-0 rout of Switzerland in the Davis Cup on Sunday, with 19-year-old Ryan Harrison and John Isner winning closing singles matches.
Zambia has won the African Cup of Nations, beating pre-tournament favorite Ivory Coast 8-7 on penalties in a dramatic final at Stade de l'Amitie.
Tessa Worley of France fought off gusting winds to win a second consecutive World Cup giant slalom Sunday in the Andorran Pyrenees. Overall leader Lindsey Vonn was more than a second behind and finished eighth.
Robins: It’s the Year of the Dragon on the Lunar calendar, and this Chinese influence could extend to it also being the year of the Pekingese on the green carpet at the 136th Westminster Dog Show on Tuesday.
AP file
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The Irish, who have a bye week after playing Stanford on Saturday, want to be a team on the rise through the second half of their schedule.
Here are the five most important things Notre Dame must improve upon to reach that goal.
Establish consistency on offense
I believe the Irish made a turnaround offensively in their comeback win over Michigan State on Sept. 23. They started to play in a different and higher gear.
I think early in the season Notre Dame -- while having its moments on offense -- overall looked a bit mechanical on its attack. When the Irish fell behind big against the Spartans, it sparked them to finally get more physical on the offensive line, and they finally started to play looser and with a sense of urgency.
All of this worked to their advantage. It allowed them to start making plays on a more consistent basis. That said, greater offensive consistency is still an objective of Irish head coach Charlie Weis.
To achieve that Notre Dame must be able to establish a running game. When the Irish are able to run against an opponent, everything else will work offensively for them.
The running game is like a good jab in boxing -- if you can establish it, an opponent will become susceptible to being hurt or even knocked out by other weapons.
Also, when a team is running the ball well, it gains the ability to stretch the field and throw the ball deep.
Continue physical play on the offensive line
This happens everywhere, but sometimes the offensive line gets overly concerned and focused on individual assignments, and the linemen become mechanical. It's step here, plant here, and punch there instead of just coming off the snap with the intention of overpowering those on the other side of the ball.
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I think in the second half of Notre Dame's win over Michigan State as well as in the Purdue game (Sept. 30), the Irish offensive line displayed much more physical play.
And when Notre Dame is physical on the offensive line, there's nothing so-so about its ground game. Rather, when the boys up front are muscling up, the impact of that physicality can usually be seen in the rushing yards gained. Case in point: Darius Walker rushing for 146 yards and a touchdown on 31 carries against the Boilermakers.
More pressure on opposing quarterbacks
Purdue lost to the Irish, but it was able to attempt 46 passes without having its quarterback sacked once. The Irish got good pressures on Purdue quarterback Curtis Painter, and defensive end Victor Abiamiri seemed to be bringing heat on Painter all game long, but he was never sacked.
To get more sacks, the Irish need more speed in getting to opposing quarterbacks, and that speed I believe needs to come from the perimeter -- from the defensive ends.
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At the defensive tackles, Trevor Laws and Derek Landri are doing an excellent job of manhandling the guards and centers they are going up against. Laws and Landri have gotten great penetration all season long, and Weis has singled them out just about every week as having had good games.
To get that extra step of speed a defensive end must use all the keys available to him, including watching much film of opponents to see if there may be any signals from opposing offenses when they line up that will help the ends get off the snap a bit faster.
The Irish benefit from having depth on the defensive line, and these players rotate in and out so as to try and stay fresh throughout the game.
It took a while for the light bulb to go on, but when it did, Jonas Gray finally showed the talent many had expected from the blue-chip prospect from Detroit. In a recent interview, Gray, who is rehabbing an ACL injury to get ready for the NFL Scouting Combine, expressed the confidence and support he has for head coach Brian Kelly.
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Zambia has won the African Cup of Nations, beating pre-tournament favorite Ivory Coast 8-7 on penalties in a dramatic final at Stade de l'Amitie.
Wesseling: Each NFL team enters the offseason with a series of pressing needs. Sometimes a team can address them all, sometimes they ignore them all. But if a team's smart, they'll listen to us. These are the most crucial aspects for AFC teams.
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