Issue link: https://www.epageflip.net/i/97714
2B Daily News – Friday, December 7, 2012 49ERS NFL Broncos down Raiders 26-13 MCT photo San Francisco 49ers defensive end Aldon Smith sacks St. Louis Rams quarterback Sam Bradford for a six-yard loss Dec. 2. Aldon Smith dismisses hype as he chases Strahan's sack record SANTA CLARA (AP) — Aldon Smith hardly has a free moment to stop at his locker, much less give thought to any intriguing matchups or scenarios as he chases Michael Strahan's singleseason NFL sacks record. Yet, come Sunday at Candlestick Park, it won't be the injured Jake Long lining up at left tackle for the Miami Dolphins against the 49ers defensive menace but rather rookie replacement Jonathan Martin. He is a former Stanford player plenty familiar to 49ers coach Jim Harbaugh, defensive coordinator Vic Fangio and the rest of the staff — and the young offensive lineman suddenly faces the daunting challenge of slowing down the NFL's sacks leader. ''I've just got to take advantage of the opportunity,'' Smith said. Smith has 17 1/2 sacks, already tying Fred Dean's franchise-best total set in 1983. Next up: getting the 5 1/2 sacks he needs over the final four games to break Strahan's mark of 22 1/2 sacks set in 2001 with the New York Giants. ''What does he have, 17 1/2 sacks?'' Dolphins coach Joe Philbin said. ''In 12 games, that's quite a pace he's on. He's kind of got a knack for getting to the quarterback and sniffing things out. He's a good rusher when the quarterbacks drop back, he does a good job containing when the quarterbacks try to bootleg his way, he does a good job hustling and chasing down quarterbacks when they're maybe extending a play. The 6-foot-4, 258-pound Smith has long arms, a quick burst of speed off the snap and a relentless approach to pass rushing that Philbin described as ''some kind of natural wiggle in him as a pass rusher.'' ''He's chasing history, and he's going to keep doing what he does to make the plays and help the team win,'' said defensive mate Justin Smith, who has at least a half sack in each of his last three games. ''If along the way he gets the record, so be it. We're all pulling for him, hope he gets it, and we're pretty confident he will.'' Last week, Smith's sack of Sam Bradford late in the first half at St. Louis gave him an NFLbest 31 1/2 in his first two seasons, a half-sack better than Reggie White's previous record in 1985-86. While Smith has publicly said he wants to be Defensive Player of the Year and top in sacks, he is more concerned with doing his part to put San Francisco in the best position heading to the playoffs next month. ''We'll talk about it when it matters,'' Smith said. Smith recorded 5 1/2 of his sacks for San Francisco (8-3-1) against Bears backup Jason Campbell on Monday Night Football on Nov. 19, earning him NFC Defensive Player of the Week. Every week, Smith shows the rest of the NFL just what a menacing presence he is by making plays every which way. The 49ers selected Smith seventh overall in the first round of the 2011 draft out of Missouri — and he became an NHL LOCKOUT NHL rejects offer from players' union NEW YORK (AP) — The NHL and the players' association are further apart than ever before. Union executive director Donald Fehr began the first of his two news conferences Thursday night by proclaiming he believed the sides had agreements on such issues as actual dollars, and then returned moments later to reveal the NHL rejected everything his side offered. Hot-button topics such as OAKLAND (Continued from page 1B) Raiders if a deal was reached. He also said the Raiders could share the 49ers stadium when it is scheduled to open in 2014. ''The priority is what the community and the team work out,'' Goodell said. ''I think it's a great benefit that there's a stadium across the bay that's going to be a state-of-the-art facility. That's terrific. So that's an option if this community and the Raiders choose that. But that's a decision they have to make.'' There has speculation the Raiders could move back to Los Angeles if they don't get their stadium situ- WIN instant impact player like many of the others chosen by general manager Trent Baalke the past two drafts. Dolphins quarterback Ryan Tannehill hopes his encounters with Smith will be few. They faced off during college when Tannehill played at Texas A&M. ''I didn't realize, I guess, the player he is and he turned out to be at the time,'' Tannehill said. ''I knew they had a good defensive end. In college, you study more defenses in general instead of focusing on players and names. You don't put in so much time into that, but I definitely know who he is and we'll be looking out for him.'' Smith's matchup against Martin is far more favorable than if he were facing Long, who was placed on season-ending injured reserve Tuesday with an injured left triceps. Not that Smith thinks making sacks will be any easier. ''I think if you get wrapped up in something that's on the periphery that sometimes you don't have control over, sometimes it could be a distraction,'' Fangio said. ''I think he's handled it pretty good so far. Every week in the NFL is a tough assignment no matter who you're going against.'' Philbin has no concerns about Martin being ready for the task Sunday — and the 49ers coaches who know Martin well from his Stanford days realize he wouldn't be put in such a position if he couldn't handle the load. takes over a seniorheavy team that's familiar with each other. "We got a great squad," he said. "I'm really looking forward to the season." Up next for the Lady Spartans is a trip to the Foothill tournament starting today. The Lady Cardinals (2-2) next travel to Winters at 3:15 p.m Monday. ——— (Continued from page 1B) reras said. "Corning's a very physical team," he said. "They put the pressure the ''make-whole'' provi- on us. We had to put that sion on existing contracts pressure back on if we wanted the result. So it not only weren't settled, but was good." are no longer being offered Carreras added that by the league. Forget that while the game was owners were willing to pay pretty evenly matched, up to $300 million to cover the Spartans let some the costs, and Commissioner scoring opportunities Gary Bettman countered by get away from them. "We just couldn't put saying the entire concept is off the table — along with them away," he said. Carreras, who headed everything else the league the Lady Spartans junior offered during the previous varsity team last season, two days of talks. Sports Editor Andre Byik can be reached at 5272151, ext. 111 or at spor ts@redbluffdailynews.com. Follow him on Twitter: @TehamaSports a challenge to get players to report possible concussions. ''It's not that simple,'' he said. ''You have to have a good teammate next to him if he's not right. We have spotters watching from upstairs who can spot when somebody has had an impact that may lead to a concussion so they can be evaluated. You want to make sure they are all evaluated properly and that the right decisions are made from a medical standpoint.'' Goodell also said the league's competition committee would consider in the offseason replacing the kickoff. The league previously had moved the kickoff from the 30 to 35-yard line to cut down on violent collisions. Tampa Bay coach Greg Schiano suggested that instead of kickoffs, teams would have the option of punting from the 30-yard line and going for a first down in a fourth-and-15 situation. Schiano witnessed one of his players at Rutgers, Eric LeGrand, get paralyzed on a kickoff in 2010. ''I thought it was an interesting idea,'' Goodell said. ''The committee will look at it.'' Goodell said he also did not know when former commissioner Paul Tagliabue would rule on whether to reduce suspensions in the Saints bounty case. ation resolved in the Bay Area. Goodell said there is nothing new on moving a team to Los Angeles and it would take a three-quarters league vote for it to happen. ''It all comes down to a stadium solution,'' he said. ''If we can find the right kind of stadium solution, we'll work on a team at that point.'' Goodell and Hall of Famers John Elway, John Madden, Howie Long and Ronnie Lott conducted a fan forum with about 150 Raiders season-ticket holders before the game. The majority of fans said they believed the game was better than it was 20 years ago and that the league is doing enough to promote player safety. Goodell said it remained NBA WESTERN CONFERENCE Pacific L.A. Clippers WARRIORS L.A. Lakers Phoenix KINGS Southwest Memphis San Antonio Houston Dallas New Orleans Northwest Oklahoma City Utah Denver Minnesota Portland W 12 11 9 7 5 L 6 7 10 12 12 Pct .667 .611 .474 .368 .294 GB — 1 3.5 5.5 6.5 W 13 15 9 8 5 L 3 4 8 10 12 Pct .813 .789 .529 .444 .294 GB .5 — 5 6.5 9 W 15 10 9 8 8 L 4 10 10 9 11 Pct .789 .500 .474 .471 .421 GB — 5.5 6 6 7 EASTERN CONFERENCE Atlantic New York Brooklyn Philadelphia Boston Toronto Central Chicago Indiana Milwaukee Detroit Cleveland Southeast W 14 11 10 10 4 L 4 6 8 8 15 Pct GB .778 — .647 2.5 .556 4 .556 4 .211 10.5 W 9 10 8 6 4 L 8 9 9 14 15 Pct .529 .526 .471 .300 .211 GB — — 1 4.5 6 W L Pct GB Miami 12 5 .706 — Atlanta 10 5 .667 1 Charlotte 7 10 .412 5 Orlando 7 11 .389 5.5 Washington 2 13 .133 9 —————————————————— Thursday's results New York 112, Miami 92 Dallas at Phoenix, late Today's games Boston at Philadelphia, 4 p.m. Denver at Indiana, 4 p.m. Washington at Atlanta, 4:30 p.m. Golden State at Brooklyn, 4:30 p.m. Chicago at Detroit, 4:30 p.m. Cleveland at Minnesota, 5 p.m. Memphis at New Orleans, 5 p.m. Houston at San Antonio, 5:30 p.m. Charlotte at Milwaukee, 5:30 p.m. Toronto at Utah, 6 p.m. L.A. Lakers at Oklahoma City, 6:30 p.m. Orlando at Sacramento, 7 p.m. OAKLAND (AP) — After overwhelming another overmatched division rival, Peyton Manning and the streaking Denver Broncos can turn their attention to much more meaningful opponents. Manning threw for 310 yards and had his 30th touchdown pass of the season on the game's opening drive to help the Broncos roll to their eighth straight victory, 26-13 over the Oakland Raiders on Thursday night. Knowshon Moreno ran for 119 yards and a score on a career-high 32 carries, and Matt Prater kicked four field goals to help the Broncos (10-3) move a half-game ahead of New England and Baltimore for the secondbest record in the AFC. Denver visits Baltimore next week in a game that will help decide who gets a firstround playoff bye. Carson Palmer threw one interception that thwarted a possible scoring chance for the Raiders (3-10) and lost a fumble that set up a touchdown for the Broncos as Oakland lost its sixth straight game. This is the team's longest skid since also losing six in a row in 2007. The Raiders played the game with heavy hearts as coach Dennis Allen's father, Grady, died earlier in the week from cardiac arrest. Allen was away from the team for two days but returned Wednesday and coached the game. The Raiders players talked during the week about rallying around their firstyear coach but came out flat against a fierce division rival and were swept in the season-series by the Broncos for the first time since 2006. NFL AFC West W y-Denver 10 San Diego 4 RAIDERS 3 Kansas City 2 East W y-N. England9 N.Y. Jets 5 Buffalo 5 Miami 5 South W x-Houston 11 Indianapolis 8 Tennessee 4 Jacksonville 2 North W Baltimore 9 Pittsburgh 7 Cincinnati 7 Cleveland 4 L 3 8 10 10 T 0 0 0 0 Pct .769 .333 .231 .167 PF 375 258 248 188 PA 257 257 402 322 L 3 7 7 7 T 0 0 0 0 Pct .750 .417 .417 .417 PF 430 228 277 227 PA 260 296 337 249 L 1 4 8 10 T 0 0 0 0 Pct .917 .667 .333 .167 PF 351 265 248 206 PA 221 306 359 342 L 3 5 5 8 T 0 0 0 0 Pct .750 .583 .583 .333 PF 303 254 302 229 PA 242 230 260 265 x-clinched playoff spot y-clinched division NFC West W 8 7 5 4 L 3 5 6 8 T 1 0 1 0 Pct .708 .583 .458 .333 PF 289 242 221 186 PA 171 202 267 234 W 7 6 6 3 L 5 6 6 9 T 0 0 0 0 Pct .583 .500 .500 .250 PF 321 312 280 217 PA 243 301 295 320 W y-Atlanta 11 Tampa Bay 6 New Orleans5 Carolina 3 North W Green Bay 8 Chicago 8 Minnesota 6 Detroit 4 L 1 6 7 9 T 0 0 0 0 Pct .917 .500 .417 .250 PF 317 333 321 235 PA 229 285 327 292 L 4 4 6 8 T 0 0 0 0 Pct .667 .667 .500 .333 PF 296 294 262 300 PA 259 198 272 315 49ERS Seattle St. Louis Arizona East N.Y. Giants Washington Dallas Philadelphia South Week 13 Results Thursday's result Atlanta 23, New Orleans 13 Sunday's results Seattle 23, Chicago 17, OT Green Bay 23, Minnesota 14 St. Louis 16, San Francisco 13, OT Kansas City 27, Carolina 21 Houston 24, Tennessee 10 N.Y. Jets 7, Arizona 6 Indianapolis 35, Detroit 33 Buffalo 34, Jacksonville 18 New England 23, Miami 16 Denver 31, Tampa Bay 23 Cleveland 20, Oakland 17 Cincinnati 20, San Diego 13 Pittsburgh 23, Baltimore 20 Dallas 38, Philadelphia 33 Monday's game Washington 17, N.Y. Giants 16 Week 14 Schedule Today's game Denver 26, Oakland 13 Sunday's games Chicago at Minnesota, 10 a.m. Baltimore at Washington, 10 a.m. Kansas City at Cleveland, 10 a.m. San Diego at Pittsburgh, 10 a.m. Tennessee at Indianapolis, 10 a.m. N.Y. Jets at Jacksonville, 10 a.m. Atlanta at Carolina, 10 a.m. Philadelphia at Tampa Bay, 10 a.m. St. Louis at Buffalo, 10 a.m. Dallas at Cincinnati, 10 a.m. Miami at San Francisco, 1:05 p.m. Arizona at Seattle, 1:25 p.m. New Orleans at N.Y. Giants, 1:25 p.m. Detroit at Green Bay, 5:20 p.m. Monday's game Houston at New England, 5:30 p.m.