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GRAPEVINE, Texas—Cowboys owner Jerry Jones said his team filed “a real good
brief” in its challenge of a $10 million salary cap reduction by the NFL, and
followed the rules before being penalized. Jim Plunkett Jersey . A hearing is set
Thursday before arbitrator Stephen Burbank on appeals by the Cowboys and the
Washington Redskins, whose cap was reduced by $36 million. The two NFC East
teams were penalized for overloading contracts in the 2010 uncapped season
despite league warnings. “I know we followed the rules, and the league has not
said that we did not follow the rules, and those were approved contracts,” Jones
said Wednesday. “But this is a complicated issue.” The Cowboys and Redskins
filed their grievances against the league and players association. Both teams
will be represented by attorneys at Thursdays hearing, which is the first step
in the appeals process. Jones wouldnt elaborate on his teams brief or what
specifically he anticipates from the hearing. “I cant, and wont, address the
specifics and certainly wouldnt dare try to predict what the resolution would
be,” he said. “Im glad weve got an opportunity to present it under the labour
agreement to a mediator, and thats what (Thursday) is all about. ... It wont
resolve the issue, but it will help decide whether or not we can go before a
mediator.” Jones said there are highly technical issues involved, but again
didnt go into details. Dallas split its $10 million reduction, taking a $5
million cut this year and the rest next season if the penalty isnt overturned.
Even with $5 million less, the Cowboys were able to fill some pressing needs in
free agency. They then moved up eight spots while giving up their second-round
pick in the draft to select LSU All-America cornerback Morris Claiborne sixth
overall. Dallas got its top off-season target in free agency, signing cornerback
Brandon Carr to a $50 million, five-year contract with $26.5 million guaranteed.
Offensive linemen Mackenzy Bernadeau and Nate Livings got starter-worthy
multiyear contracts, and Dallas also signed backup quarterback Kyle Orton,
safety Brodney Pool, linebacker Dan Connor and fullback Lawrence Vickers.
“Certainly weve been able to adjust. It was a big surprise to us to have that
downward adjustment in our cap,” Jones said. “We usually always are looking for
room under the cap, so it was very meaningful for us to have to make that
adjustment, but I can tell you as we stand here right now, we didnt not do
anything that we wanted to do.” But Jones said the reduction forced the team to
“go into the future and get some of those dollars that we wouldnt have had to do
had we not had that adjustment. So that will just create a challenge for us in
the future.” Brandon Myers Jersey .J. —With
Martin Brodeur nearing his 40th birthday and entering the final year of his
contract, this season at first had the look of a last hurrah for the New Jersey
Devils goalie great. Darrius Heyward-Bey Jersey . The 17-year-old
has an eight-game point streak going, which includes 10 goals and 16 points. In
12 games this season he now has 14 goals and 22 points, good for fifth in QMJHL
scoring. http://www.oaklandraidersteamstore.com/tyvon-branch-jersey
. – Seemingly headed toward another embarrassing loss to the NBAs worst team,
the Sacramento Kings produced one of the best comebacks of the season. Darren McFadden Jersey . Ching threatened to
retire after the Impact made him the first pick in the Major League Soccer
expansion draft on Nov. 23, but when the Houston Dynamo made no move to get him
back, the 33-year-old elected to report to Montreal. Darren McFadden Authentic Jersey . – Like a
kid eyeing his presents, Jay Cutler could hardly contain his excitement.WINNIPEG
—The Winnipeg Blue Bombers have their first win of the season but head coach
Paul LaPolice says they must get better—and quickly—to guarantee more.
“Ive watched the defence, Ive watched the offence, theres certainly a lot of
work to be done,” LaPolice said Friday, a day after Winnipeg edged the Edmonton
Eskimos 23-22. “Its a game of inches. Youre so close to them holding the ball
and kicking a field goal. But our players played and fought the whole game.”
LaPolice says the defence played well and quarterback Alex Brink was solid but
the club made costly mistakes on both sides of the ball. However, LaPolice was
still encouraged as the Bombers shift their focus towards hosting the Montreal
Alouettes next week. After playing their first four games of the season on the
road, the 1-4 Bombers also can now look forward to three more at home. And it
doesnt hurt that the remaining teams in the East Division were all sitting at a
reachable 2-2 going into their fifth games of the season this weekend. To turn
that hope into something more concrete, the Bombers need to rack up a lot more
wins and that means more hard work. “We need to get a lot better and weve got
one week,” said LaPolice. Special teams and the secondary were both singled out
as groups that will have some extra homework this week. The list of mistakes was
long in what was a pretty sloppy game for both teams, but this time those
mistakes worked out more for the Bombers than they have in their first four
contests. Blown assignments, unnecessary penalties that took away gains, players
letting emotion rather than their heads rule their actions all have to be
corrected. Demond Washington, the teams leading kick returner this season,
slipped and went down then pounded the turf in frustration instead of getting up
to run when he hadnt been touched. Rookie defensive lineman Jake Thomas, who
caused the fumble that kept Edmonton from closing the gap in the final seconds,
also took an unnecessary roughness ppenalty that negated Washingtons best
runback. Darrius Heyward-Bey Elite Jersey. Brink was
also sacked to take the Bombers out of field-goal range. There were plenty of
positives as well, in particular the way Brink handled himself in his second
start this season. That could be very important, since LaPolice mentioned
September as a possible return date for starter Buck Pierce, although he later
backtracked a little and said it would just be some time after the bye week.
Pierce had previously said Pierce would be back in four weeks or less. “I gave
him the game ball last night,” LaPolice said of Brink. “He didnt make bad
decisions, he ran the ball well and put the ball in spots. Theres still room for
improvement but he responded.” Although he threw two interceptions and the
second set up an Edmonton touchdown, the coach didnt fault him even for those.
“Both his interceptions were on tipped balls.” The coach also said the offensive
line, which has been a weak link in some previous games, stepped up Thursday
night and performed well overall in protecting the quarterback. The defence also
made things hard on Edmonton quarterback Steven Jyles and controlled the ground
game and talented tailback Hugh Charles, who still managed 76 yards. “I really
felt we minimized the run game,” LaPolice said. “I really felt we were flying
around hitting people and we had pressure on Steven most of the game.” The
Bombers were also helped Thursday night by the healthiest offence theyve fielded
this season. Simpson is a threat both on the ground and as a receiver. Chris
Matthews is the CFLs leading receiver and he was joined by a healthy Cory Watson
and a healthy Terrence Edwards, making it tough for a defence to cover all the
possibilities. Watson had 66 yards and Edwards had 67, although Edmonton held
Matthews to 52. Most of that was the 40 yards he picked up when he caught a pass
from Brink with just seven seconds to go in the first half to score Winnipegs
first touchdown. ’ ’ ’