2
AUGUST 31, 2019
making three tackles and grab-
bing an interception.
The Patriots have a glut of
talent in cornerbacks Stephon
Gilmore, Jason McCourty, J.C.
Jackson, Joejuan Williams, Jon-
athan Jones, and Keion Cro-
ssen, who outperformed Daw-
son in training camp and the
preseason.
The move to acquire Bodine
is unusual. It’s the first trade
Bill Belichick has made with
the Bills since shipping away
Drew Bledsoe in April 2002,
and just the fifth trade the Pat-
riots have made with a division
opponent since Belichick be-
came head coach in 2000.
For Bodine, the Patriots gave
up a 2020 sixth-round pick,
which was acquired this week
from the Ravens in the Jer-
maine Eluemunor deal. Bodine,
27, has made 74 starts at center
over six seasons. Bodine played
in Cincinnati from 2014-17,
starting all 16 games in each of
those seasons.
Bodine started 10 games last
season for the Bills, who got
center Mitch Morse back
Thursday night after he was in
the concussion protocol for
more than a month.
The trade for Bodine was the
third the Patriots have made for
an offensive lineman this week.
They also acquired tackle Korey
Cunningham from the Card-
inals on Wednesday afternoon.
The Patriots have retooled
the offensive line after starting
center David Andrews was di-
agnosed with blood clots in his
lungs. He is expected to miss a
significant amount, if not all, of
the season. Ted Karras, the
team’s top interior backup, be-
came the starter, putting the Pa-
triots in the market for depth at
guard and center. That need in-
creased when rookie Hjalte Fro-
holdt was injured Thursday
night.
...
According to reports, the Pa-
triots got a jump-start on cuts
Friday, informing several play-
ers that they’d be waived. None
of those cuts were on the NFL’s
transaction wire Friday after-
noon, so they’ll likely be pro-uPATRIOTS
Continued from Page 1cessed Saturday, along with the
rest of the cuts.
Offensive linemen Tyree St.
Louis, Tyler Gauthier, and Ced-
rick Lang, tight end Andrew
Beck, defensive tackle David
Parry, receiver Ryan Davis, and
safety A.J. Howard were report-
edly waived. All had long, up-
hill climbs to make the roster.
That left the Patriots with 22
cuts to make before the 4 p.m.
deadline.
...
A reduction in the number
of preseason games — perhaps
as a means of offsetting addi-
tional games in the playoffs or,
possibly, regular season — is an
idea that has come up in recent
meetings between the NFL and
NFLPA as they work toward a
new collective bargaining
agreement.
It has seemed like there’s
support behind the idea, and
some coaches have advocated
for a shortened preseason.
Most have contributed to the
main reason owners are ame-
nable to the idea — that the
games are boring and a bad
product — by rarely playing
their better-known players.
“You absolutely don’t need
four preseason games,” Niners
coach Kyle Shanahan said this
month. “I’d rather have zero
than four, preferably I’d like
two. One to evaluate the people
trying to make the team and
then just one to knock a little
rust off.”
Belichick might feel other-
wise, though.
“The more games you play,
the more opportunities you
have,” Belichick said. “Look at
the Giants [Thursday], you
want to go ahead and cut out
this game then go ahead and
cut it out. It gave [Kyle] Lau-
letta a chance to play half the
game. It gave [Alex] Tanney a
chance to play half the game
and gave [Daniel] Jones a
chance to play.
“If you want to get rid of the
game then go ahead and get rid
of the game, and then don’t
play those guys. Do whatever
you want on that.”Nora Princiotti can be reached
at [email protected].PatriotsdealDawson,
bolsterlinebeforecuts
ASSOCIATED PRESS
Center-guardEvanBoehm
was traded by the Indianapolis
Colts to the Miami Dolphins for
a conditional 2020 draft pick.
Miami also traded a 2020
seventh-round draft pick to the
Vikings for guardDannyIsido-
ra, who made three starts in
two seasons with Minnesota.
Isidora was a three-year starter
at the University of Miami.
The moves came Friday as
each NFL team prepared to
reach the 53-man roster limit
on Saturday afternoon.
Boehm, a fourth-year pro,
has 13 career NFL starts. He
was a fourth-round pick by the
Cardinals in 2016.
Two rookie guards,Michael
Deiterand undraftedShaqCal-
houn, ended the exhibition sea-
son atop the Dolphins’ depth
chart.LionstradeforQB
The Browns traded rookie
quarterbackDavidBloughto
the Lions, who got a firsthand
look at him Thursday night.
Blough completed 11 of 17
passes for 115 yards and threw
twointerceptionsina20- 16
win in the exhibition finale.
The undrafted free agent from
Purdue finished 25 of 43 for
271 yards with two touchdown
passes and the two picks dur-
ing the preseason.
Cleveland and Detroit
swapped seventh-round draft
picks in 2022 in the deal.
The Lions have been moving
quarterbacks in and out over
the past week.Tom Savageis
expected to back up starter
MatthewStafford.Savagere-
turned from a concussion sus-
tained in the preseason opener
and played the first half Thurs-
day. However, he was outper-
formed byJoshJohnson, who
came in and threw a TD pass
and ran for a score.GanoforcedontoIR
The Panthers placed kicker
GrahamGanoon injured re-
serve, and cut running back
CameronArtis-Payneand
quarterbackTaylorHeinicke.
Carolina made the decision
Friday to lose Gano for the sea-
son after he struggled to make
it back from an injury to his
plant leg that kept him out of
all four preseason games. Ga-
no, 32, has been the team’s
kicker since 2012 and missed
just three field goal attempts
over the past two seasons.
Undrafted rookieJoeySlye,
who was 7 of 8 on field goal at-
tempts in the preseason — in-
cluding 3 of 3 from beyond 50
yards — will handle kicking du-
ties.RavenscutWRFloyd
Wide receiverMichaelFloyd
and outside linebackerShane
Raywere among 11 players re-
leased by the Ravens. Floyd
signed with the Ravens in May
after playing for four teams, in-
cluding the Patriots, since be-
ing drafted in the first round by
Arizona in 2012.
Floyd, 29, had only 10
catches in each of the past two
seasons and couldn’t break into
the rotation with Baltimore.
Baltimore’s other cuts in-
cluded fourth-string quarter-
backJoeCallahan,kickerEl-
liottFry, and rookie wide re-
ceiversJoeHornJr.andJaylen
Smith.SaintshurtingatLB
The Saints placed three line-
backersoninjuredreserve:Will
Compton,ColtonJumper,and
JoshMartin.
New Orleans removed 16
other players from the active
roster, which including the cut-
ting of a pair of former Patriots,
defensive linemanGeneoGris-
somand tight endA.J.Derby.NFLNOTEBOOKDolphins deal for
offensive linemen
By Tim Reynolds
ASSOCIATED PRESS
SHANGHAI — The biggest
basketball World Cup is about
to begin.
Many of the world’s top
players — and a couple of the
world’s top national teams —
are not in China for the FIBA
World Cup, a 32-team extrava-
ganza that begins Saturday. At
stake the next 16 days: The
world championship, along
with seven of the 11 remaining
available berths in next sum-
mer’s Tokyo Olympics.
And several teams figure
they can be the one to thwart
the United States’ bid for an
unprecedented third straight
crown.
‘‘We’re here to go for gold,’’
said Sasha Djordjevic, the
coach of Serbia — a team that
some consider the tourna-
ment’s favorite. ‘‘Every game
that we play will be the biggest
game for us.’’
The first eight games of the
tournament are Saturday, and
things will move quite rapidly.
The eight-game-a-day pace
continues through Sept. 9,
with quarterfinal games on
Sept. 10 and 11, semifinals on
Sept. 13, and with the event
capped by the gold- and
bronze-medal games in Beijing
on Sept. 15.
All told, 92 games will be
played in eight cities.
‘‘We have nothing to lose,’’
said Japan guard Yuta Wa-
tanabe, whose team will face
the US in the group stage.
FIBA changed much about
the tournament for this edi-
tion. The quadrennial event
was moved back a year to
avoid going against the FIFA
World Cup for men’s soccer in
the same years. The field was
expanded from 24 to 32, and
qualifying rules were vastly al-
tered largely to keep NBA and
other pro-league players from
helping their countries reach
the event.For some nations, that be-
came a huge problem.
European champion Slove-
nia, the world’s seventh-
ranked team, is not in the
World Cup. Same goes for
world No. 9 Croatia, which lost
eight of its 12 qualifying
games. Yet for other nations,
the changes sparked opportu-
nity — Nigeria, Venezuela, Ita-
ly, and Japan all qualified for
the first time since 2006, and
Poland made the field for the
first time since 1967.
‘‘The World Cup is an unbe-
lievable competition,’’ said
Canada coach Nick Nurse, who
doubles as coach of the NBA
champion Toronto Raptors.
‘‘Great teams and coaches and
scouting and work and prepa-
ration that will make anyone
better for going through that.
So I’m extremely honored and
excited and humbled to be
here.’’
Most of the top Americans
aren’t in the World Cup: A fewbecause of injuries, while other
candidates cited schedule con-
cerns. Of the 35 leading scor-
ers from this past NBA season
who would have been eligible
to play for the US team, only
two — Kemba Walker of the
Celtics and Donovan Mitchell
of the Utah Jazz — are wearing
the red, white and blue in Chi-
na.
‘‘I’m more concerned with
who is here than who isn’t,’’
said coach Gregg Popovich,
whose squad also includes
Marcus Smart, Jaylen Brown,
and Jayson Tatum.
The Americans have won
19 consecutive World Cup (for-
merly known as the world
championship) games, and are
14-0 in games in China when
using a roster composed of
NBA players.
Mason Plumlee is the only
player on this year’s US World
Cup team that was on the gold-
medal-winning roster at this
event in 2014.FIBABASKETBALLWORLDCUP
Celticsarebigpartofsuper-sizedtourney
By Howard Fendrich
ASSOCIATED PRESS
NEW YORK — There was
no slow start to this US Open
outing for Roger Federer, who
bristled at the suggestion that
he might have played a role in
some favorable scheduling.
After dropping the open-
ing set in each of his initial
two matches for the first time
in 19 appearances at Flushing
Meadows, the No. 3-seeded
Federer was back at his abso-
lute best Friday in a 6-2, 6-2,
6-1 victory over Dan Evans,
accumulating a 48-7 edge in
winners as the opening act in
the Arthur Ashe Stadium day
session that began at noon.
Evans acknowledged 20-
time major champion Feder-
er’s superiority. How couldn’t
he?
But the 58th-ranked player
from Britain also thought the
timing was ‘‘a bit disappoint-
ing,’’ because his rain-post-
poned second-round match
was played Thursday, where-
as Federer got to play
Wednesday under the roof.
Being first up on Friday’s
program meant Evans had to
be back on court about 18
hours after he'd left the tour-
nament grounds.
‘‘It was always going to be
a competitive advantage for
me.... Luck was on my side,’’
Federer said, although he did
add that his team was asked
about whether it had a prefer-
ence for when to play.
‘‘But that doesn’t mean,
like, ‘Roger asks, Roger gets.’
Just remember that, because I
have heard this [stuff] too of-
ten now,’’ he said, with a more
colorful word choice. ‘‘I'm
sick and tired of it, that ap-
parently I call the shots; the
tournament and the TV sta-
tions do. We can give our
opinion. That’s what we do.
But I'm still going to walk out
[on court], even if they sched-
ule me at 4 in the morning.’’
Tournament spokesman
Chris Widmaier would not
discuss specifics of conversa-
tions between tournament of-
ficials and representatives of
any player.
‘‘That was the schedule we
put forth, and we’re comfort-
able with the decision,’’ Wid-
maier said.
When a reporter asked Ev-
ans whether he made any re-
quests about a later start
time, he replied: ‘‘You think a
guy who has my ranking has
any say in that?’’
‘‘There is probably about
four people in this tourna-
ment who has a say when
they play,’’ Evans said. ‘‘Maybethree.’’
Truth be told, this one
could have been contested at
any hour on any day and the
outcome might not have
changed. Evans has now
faced Federer three times,
each at a Grand Slam tourna-
ment, and lost all nine sets
they've played.
‘‘I guess he has every shot,’’
Evans said, ‘‘so it’s not ideal to
have an opponent that has ev-
ery shot.’’
Federer, who faces No. 15
David Goffin next, displayed a
bunch of them, too.
The leaping, over-the-
shoulder volley packed with
pace. The drop volley win-
ners. The forehand passes.
The serve with which he won
21 consecutive points in one
stretch. The returns that ac-
cumulated 14 break points,
converting half.
Federer went from making
17 unforced errors in the firstset of his previous match to
finishing with 19 for the en-
tire match against Evans.
‘‘You almost tend to forget
what happened,’’ Federer
said, ‘‘and you move forward.’’
That’s exactly what Serena
Williams did, too.
She lost the opening set of
her second-round match
against 17-year-old Caty Mc-
Nally before coming back to
win, then was much better in
a convincing 6-3, 6-2 victory
over Wimbledon quarterfinal-
ist Karolina Muchova.
Williams seized control
with a seven-game run that
began after she trailed, 3-2, at
the beginning. She'll face No.
22 Petra Martic on Sunday for
a spot in the quarterfinals.
Other women’s winners
Friday included No. 2 Ash
Barty, No. 3 Karolina Plisko-
va, No. 5 Elina Svitolina, No.
10 Madison Keys and No. 16
Johanna Konta.
Keys, the 2017 runner-up
in New York, had her blood
pressure and pulse checked
during a second-set medical
visit but held on to beat No.
20 Sofia Kenin 6-3, 7-5 in an
all-American matchup.
Men who advanced includ-
ed defending champion No-
vak Djokovic, a 6-3, 6-4, 6-
winner over Denis Kudla;
2016 champion Stan Wawrin-
ka; Alex de Minaur, who
knocked off 2014 runner-up
Kei Nishikori; and Dominik
Koepfer, a German ranked
118th who defeated No. 17
Nikoloz Basilashvili 6-3, 7-
(7-5), 4-6, 6-1 to become only
the second qualifier in the last
decade to reach the men’s
fourth round at the US Open.The pace quickens for Federer
FRIDAY’S KEY RESULTS
Men's singles— Novak Djokovic (1) def. Denis Kudla, 6-3, 6-4, 6-2; Roger
Federer (3) def. Daniel Evans, 6-2, 6-2, 6-1; Alex de Minaur def. Kei Nishikori
(7), 6-2, 6-4, 2-6, 6-3; David Goffin (15) def. Pablo Carreno Busta 7-6 (7-5), 7-
(9-7), 7-5; Stan Wawrinka (23) def. Paolo Lorenzi, 6-4, 7-6 (9-7), 7-6 (7-4).
Women's singles— Karolina Pliskova (3) def. Ons Jabeur, 6-1, 4-6, 6-4; Pe-
tra Martic (22) def. Anastasija Sevastova (12), 6-4, 6-3; Ashleigh Barty (2)
def. Maria Sakkari (30), 7-5, 6-3; Serena Williams (8) def. Karolina Muchova,
6-3, 6-2; Johanna Konta (16) def. Zhang Shuai (33), 6-2, 6-3; Wang Qiang (18)
def. Fiona Ferro, 7-6 (7-1), 6-3.
SATURDAY’S FEATURED MATCHES
(TV: 11 a.m., 3 p.m., 7 p.m., ESPN2)
Men’s singles— Hyeon Chung vs. Rafael Nadal (2); Andrey Rublev vs. Nick
Kyrgios (28); Alexander Zverev (6) vs. Aljaz Bedene; Gael Monfils (13) vs.
Denis Shapolvalov; John Isner (14) vs. Marin Cilic (22); Diego Schwartzman
(20) vs. Tennys Sandgren.
Women’s singles— Caroline Wozniacki (19) vs. Bianca Andreescu (15);
Naomi Osaka (1) vs. Coco Gauff; Taylor Townsend vs. Sorana Cirstea; Julia
Goerges (26) vs. Kiki Bertens (7); Anett Kontavelt (21) vs. Belinda Bencic
(13); Elise Mertens (25) vs. Andrea Petkovic.USOpenataglance
DON EMMERT/AFP/GETTY IMAGESSaying his shoulder is “almost pain-free,” top-seeded Novak Djokovic played like it, advancing to the fourth round.