Teamkader » Tsolekile and Mbhalati - seniors at their franchise. Wi

BALTIMORE -- There once was a time when Ray Lewis served as the centerpiece of the best defense in the NFL.That role is now being played by Zachary Orr, the Baltimore Ravens middle linebacker and leading tackler on a unit ranked No. 1 in the league.Though the names have changed, the philosophy behind the Ravens defense remains the same.So does its effectiveness.The current edition of the Baltimore defense is not yet worthy of being compared some of the great ones of the past, most notably the 2000 version, which set a record for fewest points allowed in a 16-game season before winning the Super Bowl.But entering Monday nights game against the New England Patriots, the Ravens (7-5) are in the mix for the AFC North title on the strength of a defense that has limited the opposition to an NFL-low 73.8 yards rushing per game.Theyre the first-rated defense in the league, so no one has done a better job over the course of the season than them, Patriots quarterback Tom Brady said.They dont give you anything easy. You have to earn it. They do a good mix with their scheme and also with their personnel.The plan hasnt changed much since Lewis arrived in Baltimore in 1996. While the tackles jammed the front of the line, Lewis honed in on the guy with the ball. In case of a pass, safety Ed Reed had Lewis back.Tony Siragusa, Haloti Ngata, Kelly Gregg and several others played front man for Lewis, who retired after Baltimore beat San Francisco in the 2012 Super Bowl.This season, the 335-pound Brandon Williams is paving the way for Orr.He is in the middle of the defense, outside linebacker Terrell Suggs said. That is the heart of it, if you ask me.For a long time around here, we had the great Ray Lewis, but nobody ever really mentioned Kelly Gregg and the dominance that he had. Our middle linebacker and our nose guards, thats pretty much the source of our defense.Dean Pees has followed the practice of former Ravens defensive coordinators Marvin Lewis and Rex Ryan in utilizing that sound strategy.With Williams up front, Orr in the middle and three-time Pro Bowl safety Eric Weddle in the back end, Baltimore has allowed only 17.3 points per game.We know how we want to play fundamentally, Pees said. You just have to play that way.Now in his fifth season as Ravens defensive coordinator, Pees knows how to put together a unit and make it work.Were sitting at the top of the league right now because of the things hes been doing, cornerback Jimmy Smith said.Last weeks 38-6 rout of Miami was one of those rare afternoons when both the offense and defense were clicking in unison. If the offense continues to improve, so will the defense.Ill tell you this: Our defense is going to look even better if -- and when -- our offense goes out and puts up points, Smith said, because we can start playing the defense where we can get after a lot of guys, pin our ears back, get sacks and a lot more turnovers.The Baltimore offense should be tested by the Patriots, who in turn know theyll have to be at their best to score on the Ravens.Asked what concerned him most about the Baltimore defense, New England coach Bill Belichick said, Pretty much everything. Tough to run against, very good on third down, dont give up a lot of points, turn the ball over.You just cant be sloppy around this defense. You have to take good care of the football and youve got to be physical with them. Theyve got some big, strong guys up front.Its been that way for a long, long time. Just ask Orr, who entered the weekend tied for fourth in the NFL with 112 tackles.I have great players around me that have allowed me to flourish in this system, Orr said. Its probably the best situation I could be in.---For more NFL coverage: http://www.pro32.ap.org and http://www.twitter.com/AP-NFL Nike Free Cheap Online . -- Jimmie Johnson held off a teammate, passed a pair of Hall of Famers, and dominated once more at Dover. Nike Free Canada Sale . Ashley Youngs cross was inadvertently headed by Chester into his own net in the 66th minute, allowing United to claim a third straight league win. "We had to dig deep with our fighting spirit and weve done that," United striker Wayne Rooney said. http://www.wholesalenikefreecanada.com/ . Patrice Bergeron and Daniel Paille scored 20 seconds apart a few minutes after Stamkos was taken off the ice on a stretcher with a broken right leg, and the Bruins beat the Lightning 3-0 on Monday afternoon. Wholesale Nike Free Canada . Ancelotti says Ronaldo has recovered from a hamstring injury but "but he doesnt feel comfortable yet so we wont risk him." Madrid is third in the Spanish league, six points behind leader Barcelona, going into Saturdays game against Valladolid. Nike Free Canada . They were putting most of their energy into a record-setting offensive display. A ghost flitted through South African cricket on Monday. The ghost of corruption, of something that is just not cricket. The ghost of match-fixing.None of the five cricketers sanctioned by CSA in 2016 have anywhere near the profile of Hansie Cronje. Gulam Bodi was a spent force by the time he was linked to match-fixing. The same could be said for Thami Tsolekile, who is the only other international in the group, and Ethy Mbhalati, who recently had a benefit year at the end of a career that spanned more than a decade. Pumelela Matshikwe and Jean Symes were not well known but they were promising talents, perhaps with unfulfilled potential. But none were household names.They have also not been dealt the punishment Cronje was. He was banned for life; these players will be kept out of the game for between seven and 20 years, perhaps because their wrongdoing was not deemed as great. Cronje admitted to accepting money to influence the outcome of international matches, the five here have admitted to varying roles in attempting to manipulate domestic cricket. CSA has maintained it have no evidence a fix was actually carried out.In the end, that may not actually matter. The thought was there, some of the steps were taken and while South African cricket may not miss this quintet it will feel the effects of their actions in the following ways.Uncertainty The first warnings of match-fixing came out 10 months ago, in November 2015 but still the investigation has not reached its conclusion. That leaves the matter open to more speculation, fans unsure of whether their game is clean and players on tenterhooks. Judge Bernard Ngoepe, the chairman of CSAs Anti-Corruption Unit, explained the reasons for the slow pace of proceedings but gave no indication how much longer it would remain pending.Some people might have thought the process was too slow, he said. If it has to be slow, so be it. We take our work seriously and it must be remembered that we need to have something concrete to trigger an investigation.We do not engage in witch hunts. Whatever we do, we do it with a purpose. bearing in mind, we are dealing with the future of people, in some instances very young people, and not forgetting our primary responsibility which is to protect the integrity of the sport. We neither rush nor deliberately go slow. Adequate balancing is needed because you might, out of excitement or undue haste, destroy the future of people or harm the very cause you want to promote.Ngoepe explained it had been difficult to get witnesses to co-operate in the face of increasing attention while Haroon Lorgat, CSAs chief executive, appealed for discretion in the media.As is the case with investigations of this nature, be it ordinary malpractices in life, you do find that people are hesitant in coming forward and giving at once and right at the beginning all the new information that you need, Ngoepe said. Under those circumstances, you need to know how to deal with people, how to approach them, how to point out the advantages of cleaning up the sport which will be in the interest of everybody, iincluding the people themselves.dddddddddddd Despite some malpractices, we must accept that they too love the sport.Lorgat added: I would appeal to the media, sometimes part of the reason for the delay is because we are able to coax a potential witness to a point but then the media speculates and you create nervousness or fear among potential witnesses and we lose anything between three and and four weeks to get back to the position we were. Please understand when we say we are not in a position to make further comment.South Africas T20 league These five players all admitted to attempting to influence aspects of South Africas T20 tournament, its highest-profile domestic event. CSA has been trying for years to bring this competition more in line with leagues around the world but has been unable to do so for reasons ranging from scheduling to the weak Rand failing to attract major foreign names. In the 2017-18 season, CSA plans to repackage the Ram Slam as a global T20 tournament, for which it will own the rights. It will do so with the shadow of match-fixing hanging over the event but Lorgat insists it will not sabotage aims to turn it into a showpiece.CSA is fortunate in that, its got a suite of sponsors that are very confident in the way we administer and govern the game. They are aware of the investigation and the way we go about it, he said. Im confident we will be able to reposition our league.The title sponsor of the competition in its current form, Ram, said it would be reviewing its backing of the event when Bodi was banned. It has not yet indicated what it will do after the latest round of bans. Transformation In increasingly politicised times in South African sport, it is impossible to ignore that three of the four cricketers banned on Monday were black Africans and two of them - Tsolekile and Mbhalati - seniors at their franchise. With CSAs focus on transformation, which now includes targets in the national team as well as franchise sides, this is a setback and Lorgat admitted as much.Any senior player who is lost to the system is one too many, he said. The fact that they happen to be black players is probably a particular issue because we are so focused on transformation. It does impact us.But he was careful to ask that stereotypes are not perpetuated. I dont believe that corruption is unique to any race or creed, he said. Bookmakers will attempt to corrupt anybody they believe they can get to.Ngoepe responded to the implication that players from more disadvantaged backgrounds would be more vulnerable to corruption. On another day your question could have been given their poor background, would they not have been more vulnerable and taken advantage of, he said. You can look at me and decide whether I am white or black but I dont subscribe to the notion that because you come from a poor or disadvantaged background, you should open yourself up to corruption. That should never be justification for being corrupt. ' ' '