| Sam Houston trots out plan to retain thoroughbred races Thoroughbred horses will once again race to the wire at Sam Houston Race Park. feeds.bizjournals.com |
Saints suffer first loss of season • Super Bowl champions defeated 27-24 by Falcons• Kansas City and Pittsburgh improve to 3-0Atlanta's Matt Bryant nailed a 46-yard overtime field goal that gave the Falcons a 27-24 win over the New Orleans Saints yesterday after the defending Super Bowl champions blew their chance to win the game and remain undefeated this season.The Saints forced overtime when Garrett Hartley booted a 32-yard field goal with four seconds left on the clock but squandered their chance to steal the victory when Hartley failed with his next attempt from 29 yards."It's a tough loss. It was a hard fought game," the New Orleans coach, Sean Payton, said. "When you turn it over like we did early on, we give up big plays and we fail to convert that kick in overtime like that, it's going to be tough to overcome those things."It was the second straight win for the Falcons and the first loss in three games this season for the Saints, who won the Super Bowl for the first time in February and were making a habit of winning tight games with last-minute kicks. Hartley put the Saints in last season's Super Bowl with an overtime winner against the Minnesota Vikings and kicked a late winner against the San Francisco 49ers last week but could not repeat the feat against the Falcons."It is easy to look at the kick and just point at that specific play in overtime, yet there was a reason we were in overtime," Payton said.While the Saints suffered their first loss, the Kansas City Chiefs and Pittsburgh Steelers kept their perfect records intact with a pair of blowout victories while the Minnesota Vikings and Dallas Cowboys both chalked up their first wins.Quarterback Matt Cassel threw three touchdowns as the Chiefs overturned a half-time deficit to overcome the struggling San Francisco 49ers 31-10 and win their first three games of a season for the first time in seven years. "We're going to enjoy this one but as I've said before and as coach [Todd Haley] continues to tell us, 'Hey, we're not satisfied at 3-0 and there's a long season left to go and we have 13 more games,'" Cassel said.Charlie Batch, making his first start in three years, threw three touchdown passes in the first half as the Steelers handed the Tampa Bay Buccaneers their first loss of the season, 38-13. "We came into a hostile environment versus an undefeated team and we did the job," the Steelers head coach, Mike Tomlin, said. "Hats off to a lot of people but you really got to tip a hat to Charlie Batch. What he was able to do for us today. He played like a veteran ... he didn't blink."The Vikings defeated the Detroit Lions 24-10 on the back of two touchdowns from Adrian Peterson, including one 80-yard run, while receiver Roy Williams scored two touchdowns in the Cowboys' 27-13 win over the Houston Texans.Tom Brady and Peyton Manning also threw three touchdown passes each. Brady, coming off last week's loss to the New York Jets, led the New England Patriots to a 38-30 win over the Buffalo Bills, while Manning steered the Indianapolis Colts to a 27-13 win over the Denver Broncos.Another brilliant performance from Manning was dulled by a sombre atmosphere at Invesco Field where Broncos players and fans continued to come to grips with the death of wide receiver Kenny McKinley. A moment of silence was held prior to the game to honour the 23-year-old, who died of an apparent suicide, and it ended nearly as quiet with many of the 76,000 fans making their way to the exits before the final whistle.Week three resultsArizona Cardinals 24-23 Oakland Raiders; Baltimore Ravens 24-17 Cleveland Browns; Carolina Panthers 7-20 Cincinnati Bengals; Denver Broncos 13-27 Indianapolis Colts; Houston Texans 13-27 Dallas Cowboys; Jacksonville Jaguars 3-28 Philadelphia Eagles; Kansas City Chiefs 31-10 San Francisco 49ers; Miami Dolphins 23-31 New York Jets; Minnesota Vikings 24-10 Detroit Lions; New England Patriots 38-30 Buffalo Bills; New Orleans Saints 24-27 Atlanta Falcons; New York Giants 10-29 Tennessee Titans; Seattle Seahawks 27-20 San Diego Chargers; St Louis Rams 30-16 Washington Redskins; Tampa Bay Buccaneers 13-38 Pittsburgh SteelersNFLUS sportguardian.co.uk © Guardian News & Media Limited 2010 | Use of this content is subject to our Terms & Conditions | More Feeds guardian.co.uk |
Downtown parking mess shaping up Sunday If you are one of the thousands of people planning a trip downtown this Sunday, you might want to leave home extra early. feeds.bizjournals.com |
Rookie Focus: Bengals offense good fit for Jermaine Gresham As disappointing as the defending AFC North champion Cincinnati Bengals have been in starting 2-3, the play of rookie tight end Jermaine Gresham ... rssfeeds.usatoday.com |
Giants pip Phillies to reach World Series • 3-2 win in Game Six gives Giants the NL championship• Giants-Texas Rangers Fall Classic starts WednesdayThe San Francisco Giants reached the World Series by beating the Philadelphia Phillies 3-2 in a nailbiting Game Six last night to clinch the National League championship series and set up an underdogs' Fall Classic.The Giants took charge on an eighth-inning homer from Juan Uribe and survived a nervous ninth as the closer Brian Wilson walked two batters before striking out the slugger Ryan Howard to end it.The victory settled the best-of-seven series 4-2 in the Giants' favour and set up an improbable World Series against the American League champions, Texas Rangers, starting in San Francisco on Wednesday.The Giants ended the two-year run of the Phillies as National League champions while the Rangers knocked out last year's World Series winners, the New York Yankees, in taking the American League championship."That was epic. What a battle," Wilson said as a stunned crowd at Citizens Bank Park watched the Giants celebrate in the middle of the diamond. "I hope the fans back home are going absolutely ballistic."The outfielder Cody Ross, added late in the season on waivers from the Florida Marlins, was named MVP of the series after hitting three homers and batting .350 for the Giants.For San Francisco, it will be a first trip to the World Series since 2002, and they will be seeking their first title since 1954, when they were the New York Giants.Texas will make their Fall Classic debut in their 50th year as a franchise, born in 1961 as the Washington Senators.The Phillies jumped out to a 2-0 lead in the first inning of their do-or-die game on an RBI-double by Chase Utley and a sacrifice fly to left from Jayson Werth off San Francisco starter Jonathan Sanchez.San Francisco countered with two runs in the top of the third inning off the Phillies starter Roy Oswalt. The first run was scored on a single to centre by Aubrey Huff with the second tally crossing the plate on a throwing error by the second baseman, Placido Polanco.Tensions ran high in the bottom of the third when Sanchez hit Utley in the back with a pitch.Utley and Sanchez exchanged words and looked headed for a confrontation. Players from both benches rushed on to the field before order was restored.The Giants' manager, Bruce Bochy, replaced the agitated Sanchez with Jeremy Affeldt and used five pitchers, including the starters Madison Bumgarner and Tim Lincecum, for seven shutout innings of relief to make Uribe's opposite field shot the game-winner.US sportguardian.co.uk © Guardian News & Media Limited 2010 | Use of this content is subject to our Terms & Conditions | More Feeds guardian.co.uk |