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Miikka Kiprusoff Jersey .Y. - Jerry Hughes shakes his head in dismay and mutters, Thats crazy.The Bills defensive end has difficulty imagining how the Houston Texans were being second-guessed for selecting Mario Williams with the No. 1 pick in the 2006 draft.No offence to running back Reggie Bush or quarterback Vince Young, who went Nos. 2 and 3, but Hughes makes his case by noting the numbers Williams has consistently put up through six seasons in Houston and the past three in Buffalo.Numbers speak volume, Hughes said. Its tough to (compare) offence and defence. I get that. But just look at the guy. I dont think hes staggered off of anything.Williams hasnt.The 29-year-old defensive end is enjoying what might be his most impactful season by placing a pass-rushing stamp on a defence that ranks among the NFLs best.Williams has a team-leading 13 sacks — one off his career high — on a defence that leads the league with 49. And hes producing game-changing plays for the Bills (8-6), who have already won their most games since a 9-7 finish in 2004. They play at Oakland (2-12) on Sunday.Williams particularly made his presence felt in a 21-13 win over Green Bay last weekend. After blocking a field goal in the second quarter, Williams sealed the victory by forcing quarterback Aaron Rodgers to fumble into the end zone for a safety on what became the Packers final possession.Obviously, great play, said defensive tackle Kyle Williams. I think that kind of signifies him. We got in a position where we needed a play, and he was able to make it for us.In the process, the player nicknamed Super Mario is performing to the $100 million contract he signed in Buffalo in March 2012, and continues to affirm his draft status as a former No. 1 pick.Mario Williams isnt one for introspection or retrospection. Hell call his last game his best only because, as he put it: Youre only as good as your last game. We won.The three-time Pro Bowl selection is not one for rating his seasons. And forget asking whether hes ever been motivated to justify his draft position, or prove wrong anyone who doubted him.If I have to use something from somebody else to prove my worth, then I dont consider that being a man, Williams said, defiantly. The guys in this building, thats all that matters to me. Anything else anybody else says is irrelevant.For all the money hes made and headlines generated, Williams is a team player at heart. Since arriving in Buffalo and signing what at the time was the most expensive contract awarded an NFL defensive player, Williams insisted he couldnt do it alone.Nothing has changed since.Not one person can do it, he repeated once again on Thursday. I just wanted to be a piece of the puzzle.As puzzles go, Williams is a bigger piece than most, and not simply because of his imposing 6-foot-6, 290-pound frame.Williams drives the Bills pass-rushing attack in part because his mere presence attracts so much attention from opposing teams. As a result, hes opened holes for others, a reason why Buffalo is the NFLs only team featuring three players with at least nine sacks. Marcell Dareus has 10 and Hughes 9-1/2.Raiders interim coach Tony Sparano is all too familiar with the problems Williams poses, having faced him at several previous stops. What sticks out to Sparano is how Williams appears to be playing at an even higher level.Hes kind of helped re-energize that group defensively, Sparano said. You always have to be concerned with where he is and how to block him. And if youre not, a guy like that can wreck the game.Former Texans general manager Charley Casserly still remembers being booed by fans for drafting Williams out of North Carolina State. Young, who hasnt played a down since 2011, was a favourite because he was from Texas and had won a national title.Bush was coming off an accomplished career at Southern California that included a Heisman Trophy and a national championship.Rather than feeling vindicated for making the right choice, Casserly said Williams deserves all the credit.Im more happy for him because he took the criticism that wasnt deserved, said Casserly, now an NFL Network analyst. He should never have been criticized. He was never appreciated in Houston the way he should have been.Theyre not complaining in Buffalo.I dont think theres any think about it, Kyle Williams said of who deserved to be No. 1. Texans fans and football fans in general can look at it and know that now — the right decision was made to begin with.___AP NFL website: www.pro32.ap.org and http://twitter.com/AP_NFL
Deryk Engelland Jersey . The Incheon-based tea, of the Korea Baseball Organization said the deal for the 35-year-old Scott included a $50,000 signing bonus. Scott reached the major leagues with Houston in 2005 and hit 23 homers or more for Baltimore each year from 2008-10.
Johnny Gaudreau Jersey.com) - The Carolina Panthers won for the first time in seven games last week, were without Cam Newton due to a car accident this week, but somehow sit atop the much-maligned NFC South. OAKLAND, Calif. -- If those independent league road trips werent humbling enough for Scott Kazmir, starting over from square one with his delivery and mechanics sure did the trick. As Kazmir looks back a couple of years now, a fresh $22 million, two-year contract with the Oakland Athletics in hand, that challenging time in his baseball career is all worthwhile. "The past couple years the organization has had a great team, a great fan base and that definitely swayed my decision a little bit," said Kazmir, who drew serious interest from several clubs. The two-time defending AL West champion As announced the deal Wednesday after Kazmir passed his physical. The addition of Kazmir fills a key rotation spot with a player plenty familiar with the division after his stint pitching for the Los Angeles Angels. As general manager Billy Beane, who also made three trades in the past three days to build his 2014 roster, isnt ready to pencil Kazmir into a particular spot in the clubs young rotation. That will be up to manager Bob Melvin. "The advantage of having as much good starting pitching as you can get is something that has helped make us successful," Beane said. "The more we looked at it, the more we thought we should jump on the opportunity to bring him in. Having five good starters, and I think in some respects we have more, puts us, puts the club in a position of strength." That was before the two-time All-Star was limited to one start in 2011 for the Angels before going on the disabled list with a lower back strain and being released. The 29-year-old Kazmir then spent the 2012 season with independent Sugar Land before bouncing back to go 10-9 with a 4.04 ERA in 29 sttarts and 158 innings for Cleveland this year.
Miikka Kiprusoff Flames Jersey. "Pitching in the AL West, Im very comfortable there. I like pitching in the Oakland stadium," Kazmir said. "After my time in Los Angeles with the Angels, I kind of did a lot of self-evaluating and a lot of hard work getting to where I was last year." A stint in the Atlantic League with Sugar Land -- a mere 20 minutes from his Houston-area home -- provided Kazmir an ideal place to find himself again. "It was a great venue for me to get back into the game, get my feet wet again, face hitters. It surprised me, the challenge that was in that league, definitely surprised me and got me ready for this past season," Kazmir said. "It was a lot of fun. The road trips werent ideal to say the least." Kazmir went 9-15 in 2010 for Los Angeles and Beane recalls his early days among baseballs best lefties. Taking the long road back to the big leagues has only helped Kazmir get to this point. "Its probably a great learning experience. He was one of the top prospects coming out of high school in the game," Beane said. "It was probably a character-building experience for him as much as anything. Theres an appreciation in having made that climb back that will serve him well going forward." Despite all of the hours in the video room, tweaking his delivery and mechanics, Kazmir still considers himself much like his old hard-throwing self -- just with some added elements. "Stuff wise, I feel like Im the same pitcher," Kazmir said. "Im a lot more of a pitcher now than I was in my early years. I was more a guy who threw as hard as I could and got swings and misses."
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