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BOBLEVERONE—THEASSOCIATEDPRESSFILE The Carolina Panthers' Josh Norman (24) defends on an incomplete pass to the Atlanta Falcons' Julio Jones (11) during a Dec. 13game in Charlotte, N.C. ByBobBaum TheAssociatedPress TEMPE, ARIZ. Cornerbacks might have the toughest job in the NFL. They are expected to shadow a re- ceiver, who knows where he's going while the defender doesn't, and the rules are stacked against them. Few truly excel at the job. This sea- son, Arizona's Patrick Peterson and Carolina's Josh Norman might have been the best, and they will be ply- ing their trade in the biggest game of their careers in Sunday's NFC cham- pionship game. Both made the AP's All-Pro team, and they are "very similar," Cardinals coach Bruce Arians said. "They're different styles of de- fenses," he said, "but they're long, they're fast, they're athletic and they're tough." Norman has the edge in statistics, but Peterson's are misleading. He's shut down some of the best receiv- ers in the league in one-on-one cover- age, and quarterbacks simply stopped throwing in his direction. Peterson has allowed two touch- downs this season — one on broken coverage at Chicago and the other, fa- mously, on Aaron Rodgers' Hail Mary to Jeff Janis at the end of regulation in Saturday's overtime victory over Green Bay. Peterson and Carolina's Cam New- ton go back to their SEC days, when Peterson played at LSU and Newton at Auburn. "You ask yourself what can't he do," Newton said. "He's fast, he's physi- cal and when the ball is in the air, he's not thinking to bat it down, he's thinking that's his ball, and you just have to have respect for a guy like that." Arizona quarterback Carson Palmer was equally complimentary of Norman. "He's got that build that I think ev- erybody's looking for," Palmer said, "really long, gets a good extension with his arms, plays with his hands really, really well. He's got top-end speed. He doesn't go for a deflec- NFC CHAMPIONSHIP Topcornerbacksdotheirjobs Arizona's Peterson, along with Carolina's Norman, have proven to be best NFCCHAMPIONSHIPGAME Sunday: Arizona Cardinals at Carolina Panthers, 3:40p.m., TV on FOX. TUNEIN By John Pye The Associated Press MELBOURNE, AUSTRALIA The countless records and accolades accumulated over a long and il- lustrious career don't in any way diminish Roger Federer's satis- faction when he sets yet another benchmark. Federer became the first man to win 300 Grand Slam singles matches when he beat Grigor Dimitrov, a player formerly dubbed "baby Fed" for the like- ness of their styles, in the third round of the Australian Open on Friday. The 34-year-old Federer al- ready tops many "most of" lists in men's tennis — from the num- ber of major titles won (17) to the number of consecutive Grand Slam tournaments contested (65). Yet he still gets a thrill from the numbers. "It's very exciting, I must tell you," Federer told the crowd fol- lowing his 6-4, 3-6, 6-1, 6-4 vic- tory over Dimitrov. He compared the latest mile- stone to his 1,000th win in tour- level matches, which he sealed 12 months ago in Brisbane. "It was a big deal for me." Federer is now 67 wins ahead AUSTRALIAN OPEN Federer earns win No. 300 at a Grand Slam By Eddie Pells The Associated Press ENGLEWOOD, COLO. John El- way's mind was still racing and he was trying to figure out what, exactly, was missing after an- other rough ending last season. Hard to put his finger on it, but he knew this: "At least in the last game," he said, "you want to feel like you go out kicking and screaming." So, out went John Fox. In came Gary Kubiak. And El- way, who had famously coined the term "There's no Plan B," in Denver when he signed Pey- ton Manning a few years before, had unwittingly created a man- tra for the 2015 Broncos. By most accounts, this year's Broncos do, in fact, go out kick- ing and screaming on most weeks — showing a fire that was strangely lacking under the teams coached by Fox, especially in the final games of each of his four seasons. In three playoff losses and another in the Super Bowl, those teams lost by an av- erage score of 38-17. How will this season end? And where? Still to be seen. But Elway has reason to be- lieve the end, whether it comes Sunday against New England in the AFC title game, or two weeks from Sunday in the Super Bowl, will include a bit more kick- ing and screaming. This team is 10-3 in games decided by a touchdown or less and has ral- lied from 14 points down three times to win. "If we didn't have that this year, we wouldn't be where we are," Elway said. "Kind of the guts of this team is the fact that we've been in tough foot- ball games and we've figured out how to win them." On the road to figuring that out, the Broncos have also made it clear that there is a Plan B — something Elway completely dismissed when asked, on the day he signed Manning, what he would do if the quarterback's shoulder and neck didn't turn out to be as healthy as adver- tised. As last season progressed, and Manning wore down, El- way became more focused on building a team that wasn't completely reliant on its QB throwing for 400 yards and four touchdowns every week. A run- ning game was born. If nothing else, last season's spiritless 24-13 loss to the Colts in the playoffs, with Manning at less than 100 percent, served as confirmation the Broncos needed more than a Hall of Fame quarterback to win the Super Bowl. The story line felt very familiar to Elway, who won both his championships at the tail end of his career — while buttressed by a strong running game and defense. So he hired Kubiak, whose ar- rival brought with it a new fo- cus on ball control and balance. The subsequent hiring of Wade AFC CHAMPIONSHIP BRONCOS BATTLE, GRIND THIS YEAR Elway builds Denver team that will go down kicking and screaming in games Denver Broncos quarterback Peyton Manning catches a football during a practice Friday at the team's headquarters in Englewood, Colo. PHOTOS BY DAVID ZALUBOWSKI — THE ASSOCIATED PRESS FILE John Elway, Denver Broncos general manager and executive vice president of football operations, is helping to prepare the Broncos to host the New England Patriots in the AFC Championship game Sunday in Denver. AFC CHAMPIONSHIP GAME Sunday: New England Patriots at Denver Broncos, 12:05p.m., TV on CBS. TUNEIN NFC PAGE 2 AFC PAGE 2 By Diamond Leung Bay Area News Group OAKLAND Steve Kerr returned to coaching on Friday, and after he made the announcement to the Golden State Warriors at a pre- game film session, the joyous cel- ebration and wisecracking began. Stephen Curry said the play- ers raised their arms and yelped in unison as Kerr had after hit- ting the game-winning shot in the NBA Finals in 1997. The War- riors cheered for minutes and when Kerr tried to talk, they kept on cheer- ing, according to Draymond Green. Players kidded with Luke Walton about losing his job. The theme song to "Welcome Back, Kotter" played on the prac- tice facility's sound system. "I was thinking I'd do it like MJ did and send a fax out that just says, 'I'm back,' but I don't think ... faxes, do they even exist at this point?" Kerr joked, refer- ring to former teammate Michael Jordan's two-word announcement of his return to basketball. Kerr was back on the bench for Friday's game against the In- diana Pacers at Oracle Arena, NBA Kerr back on bench, coaching Warriors Kerr WARRIORS PAGE 2 TENNIS PAGE 2 SPORTS » redbluffdailynews.com Saturday, January 23, 2016 MORE AT FACEBOOK.COM/RBDAILYNEWS AND TWITTER.COM/REDBLUFFNEWS B1