Technik » and you hope it doesnt turn into anything do

ST. LOUIS - The St. Louis Rams have been waiting all year for this Gregg Williams-led defence to step up. Suddenly, its making an indelible mark.No matter that consecutive shutouts have come against tail-enders Oakland and Washington, its quite an accomplishment to ride into the season-ending stretch.Guys are playing lights-out right now, defensive end Robert Quinn said. Hopefully, we just keep it going.The Rams (6-7) have beaten the Redskins and Raiders by a combined score of 76-0. The surge had them close to their goal of ranking in the top 10 in overall defence, checking in at 11th on Monday with one NFL game remaining. They were 27th on offence.St. Louis was 10th against the run, a huge jump after ranking 31st six weeks ago.I want to see it again, coach Jeff Fisher said. We need to keep playing, keep preparing the way we are. When youre getting the turnovers, when youre getting the third-down stops, that gives you a chance.Fishers confidence — some might call it arrogance — no doubt helps. Fisher sent six players the Rams acquired in the Robert Griffin III trade out for the coin toss against the Redskins, rubbing it in their noses just a bit before whipping them 24-0 Sunday.It made too much sense to us to go ahead and recognize the guys that probably would not have been here had it not been for that trade, Fisher said. We wanted to do it before the game because it was a memory that will last them for a lifetime.Fisher said in the past hes sent other people out for different reasons, and added, I think theyve got more issues than the coin toss.The last time the Rams posted consecutive shutouts was 1945, two franchise moves ago, in their final season in Cleveland before leaving for Los Angeles. They blanked the Chicago Cardinals 21-0 and Chicago Bears 17-0. No NFL team had done it since Dallas in 2009.The Redskins were limited to 206 yards and were 3 for 15 combined on third down and fourth down. The Rams had seven sacks and two interceptions, never permitted a snap inside the 20 and allowed a season-low 27 yards rushing.A week earlier, the Rams put the hammer down early on the Raiders, taking a 38-0 halftime lead and forcing five turnovers in a 52-0 rout.St. Louis has allowed 222 points on defence, second-fewest in the NFL and just one point more than Seattle. The overall numbers are skewed by seven defensive touchdowns and two more on special teams, which Fisher made a point to note.Weve been locked in and just getting better and tightening up on all the little plays that were hurting us, safety Rodney McLeod said. If you go back and look at our games before, it was just one play here, a couple plays here that were changing the game.A healthy secondary is one reason for the stingy play of late. Cornerbacks Janoris Jenkins and Trumaine Johnson are back in form, and midseason pickup Mark Barron is making solid contributions at safety.The Rams have won two straight for the first time all season entering a short work week, with the NFC West-leading Arizona Cardinals up next on Thursday night. The team reviewed the game on the flight home, and players participated in a walkthrough and meetings Monday, forcing the coachs news conference to be moved to the media room.The Rams have no injury concerns. Tight end Jared Cook was examined for a concussion before catching two touchdown passes Sunday, and was cleared again on Monday. Guard Rodger Saffold (shoulder) had no issues.Five starters were listed as not practicing on an injury report that was an estimate: Saffold (shoulder), centre Scott Wells (elbow), wide receiver Kenny Britt (not injury related), defensive end Chris Long (ankle) and middle linebacker James Laurinaitis (ankle).___AP NFL website: www.pro32.ap.org and www.twitter.com/AP_NFL Dan Hampton Bears Jersey . At least 90 players who had college eligibility remaining are expected to enter the draft, shattering last years record number of 73. "Its a humongous number, so the first reaction is it makes you step back a little bit," said NFL Network draft analyst Daniel Jeremiah, a former scout with the Baltimore Ravens, Cleveland Browns and Philadelphia Eagles. David Montgomery Womens Jersey .The team had a meeting prior to facing Russia at the world junior hockey championship and got the effort theyve been looking for by defeating the Russians 4-1 to advance to the quarter-finals. http://www.bearsfootballpro.com/Authentic_William-Perry_Bears_Jersey/ . The best round belonged to Pat Perez. Tiger Woods didnt come close to claiming either Thursday in the Farmers Insurance Open, where the seven-time champion failed to break par in the opening round for first time in his career. Akiem Hicks Womens Jersey . -- The way Ted Ligety carved into turns looked so easy. Brian Urlacher Bears Jersey .com) - The Columbus Blue Jackets rewarded starting goaltender and pending restricted free agent Sergei Bobrovsky with a four-year contract extension on Friday.BRADENTON, Florida - J.A. Happ was pummeled by the Pirates on Tuesday, leaving general manager Alex Anthopoulos with an unappealing conundrum: its become easier for him to sell to the fan base the idea of having $12.7-million (Ricky Romeros and Happs combined 2014 salaries) of dead or differently-allocated money than it is to sell the fan base on including the left-hander in the opening day starting rotation. Happ faced 20 batters in three-plus innings. Twelve of them got hits, including Pittsburgh starter Wandy Rodriguez, who hit a wind-aided, opposite field, two-run home run to cap a four-run second inning. Rodriguez had never homered in 437 career major league at-bats. Happ allowed seven earned runs, bloating his springtime ERA over four starts to 20.57. The Blue Jays lost, wait for it, 22-5. "It wasnt a good day for anybody, really," said manager John Gibbons. "We got pounded pretty good. They werent missing em. We got hit around pretty good." Meanwhile, back in Dunedin, Dustin McGowan, the sudden favourite for the final available rotation job, threw four innings of scoreless baseball in a Triple-A game. His fastball was clocked in the mid-90s; McGowan hit the 62-pitch mark. "I thought he looked great," Anthopoulos told a pool reporter in Dunedin. "Its just trying to get him stretched out here. Every step is a step in the right direction, but well see how he feels tonight, tomorrow, all that kind of stuff. He got up to 62 today off of 48 the (outing) before. Well take it outing by outing at this point." The logical next step, provided McGowans wonky shoulder feels good on Tuesday night and Wednesday morning, is to have the right-hander throw another minor league game in Florida on Sunday. "The big thing is that we dont get ahead of ourselves because we re-evaluate it almost daily to see how he feels," said Anthopoulos. "I always remind him as well, I keep reminding him that at any time any concerns, any tweaks, anything at all, he needs to tell us, and he said, Absolutely. Hes obviously a big part of wanting to do this as well. As I told him when were even exploring this, he needs to want to do this because we would never take chances with his career or with his health. Hes the one who knows how he feels. Hes been through this enough times. He has to communicate with us." Happ has had a puzzling spring. He arrived in Dunedin under the impression he had a spot in the starting rotation locked up. After poor starts on February 26 and March 3, he missed game action due to a bad back. His two appearances since his return, on March 19 and on Tuesday, have gone no better. "Yeah, thats not an issue," said Gibbons, when asked if Happs back was still a concern. Happ has an option remaining, meaning he could be sent to the minors without first passing through waivers. However, the fly in the ointment is significant: as a major league veteran with more than five years of service time, Happ has the right to refuse the assignment, at which point the Jays could keep him or release him while paying him full freight. Would Happ be willing to move to the bullpen? "Im not thinking about that," he said. "Ill answer that question if someone elsee, one of the bosses, decides they need to ask that.dddddddddddd Well deal with that then. But thats not something thats on my mind." The Blue Jays still have not officially named Drew Hutchison to their starting rotation although its inconceivable he doesnt make the team. Hutchison has been the clubs best pitcher this spring and Anthopoulos is on the record as saying hes taking the best 25 players north. Assuming Hutchison joins R.A. Dickey, Brandon Morrow and Mark Buehrle in the rotation, Anthopoulos, Gibbons and pitching coach Pete Walker have to decide between McGowan, Happ and Todd Redmond for the final spot. The idea of piggybacking McGowan, that is starting him on a strict pitch count and backfilling with Redmond, Esmil Rogers, maybe even Happ, behind him has been bandied about. It likely will be revisited during internal meetings ahead of Sundays deadline to announce the opening day roster. "When we announce the team, everybody will know who it is," said Gibbons. REYES GOING TO MONTREAL? The Blue Jays are encouraged by the MRI results on Jose Reyes left hamstring, which revealed a minor strain. "Hopefully hes in there the next couple of days, maybe at DH," said manager John Gibbons. "Let him run half-speed, three-quarter-speed. It actually made us feel pretty good after we heard the results." When asked on Monday, before he had his MRI, whether he would play through the strain if the regular season already was underway, Reyes didnt answer. It behooves the Jays to be careful, though, especially considering the club plays 91 games (81 at home, 10 in Tampa Bay) of its 162 on artificial turf. "With baseball, too, there can be a lot of dead time too before you actually get a ball," said Gibbons. "That quick movement will sometimes get you. We feel good about it and you hope it doesnt turn into anything down the road either." Still, Gibbons says the plan is to bring Reyes to Montreal, where two games will be played on turf, if hes healthy enough to go. "Im sure everybody wants to see him play up there," said Gibbons. THE SECOND CATCHER R.A. Dickey is scheduled to start the Blue Jays final Grapefruit League home game on Wednesday. By game time, we should have a better idea of who will back up Dioner Navarro. "I would say the guy who catches him (Wednesday) will be the backup catcher," said Gibbons. "Ill leave it at that." Erik Kratz and Josh Thole are vying for the job. Gibbons has repeatedly said that effectively catching Dickey is the jobs number one priority. Thole, to the extent someone can be, is a master at it. Hes also got the most experience. Dickeys pitched 565 innings to Thole over their time together with the Mets and Blue Jays. Kratz, a 2002 Blue Jays draft pick, returned to the organization in an offseason trade with the Phillies. Hes a threat to hit a home run, having gone deep 18 times in 375 at-bats over the last two seasons. Thole posted a .175/.256/.242 line in limited action last season. If he makes the team it appears the club will have trouble generating offence from the eighth and ninth (Ryan Goins) spots in the lineup on the days he plays. ' ' '