The Washington Post - 26.08.2019

MONDAY, AUGUST 26 , 2019. THE WASHINGTON POST EZ SU D5

FROM NEWS SERVICES

When the Oakland Raiders

went through warmups and drills

Sunday before practice, wide re-

ceiver Antonio Brown was pre-

sent, accounted for and wearing a

helmet.

Brown had been battling to

continue using his preferred hel-

met, which is no longer approved,

but he lost a second grievance

against the NFL,

ProFootballTalk.com reported.

The Raiders believe both of

Brown’s training camp issues —

feet with frostbite-like symptoms

and the helmet dispute — are in

the rearview mirror. Coach Jon

Gruden expects Brown to start

Week 1 against the Denver Bron-

cos.

Brown has narrowed his op-

tions on a helmet from multiple

companies and is expected to

receive an endorsement deal

when he selects one to use in the

regular season, according to

ProFootballTalk.com.

Meanwhile, Oakland placed

running back Doug Martin on

injured reserve and signed for-

mer Los Angeles Chargers defen-

sive tackle Corey Liuget.

The nature of Martin’s injury

was not immediately known, but

he was used sparingly in the

preseason after leading the Raid-

ers with 723 yards rushing last

year. The 30-year-old Martin

spent his first six NFL seasons

with the Tampa Bay Buccaneers

before signing with Oakland last

offseason. He re-signed with the

Raiders in May after Isaiah Crow-

ell was lost for the season with a

knee injury.

Liuget played his first eight

years with the Chargers. He has

24 career sacks.

The team also announced that

it had signed linebacker Bryson

Allen-Williams and released long

snapper Andrew DePaola.


STEELERS: Ben Roethlis-

berger needed three series to

show he’s ready for the regular

season.

Roethlisberger capped his

night with a 17-yard touchdown

pass to JuJu Smith-Schuster, and

Pittsburgh beat the Tennessee Ti-

tans, 18-6, in Nashville to remain

perfect this preseason.

Roethlisberger made his pre-

season debut and was a bit rusty

with two short series. After Ste-

phon Tuitt sacked Titans quarter-

back Marcus Mariota in the end

zone for a safety, Roethlisberger

drove the Steelers 48 yards and

finished with the touchdown pass

to Smith-Schuster.

He nearly gave the Steelers a

10-0 lead, but Jaylen Samuels fell

down after catching the pass on a

two-point conversion attempt.

Roethlisberger spent the rest of

the night watching and finished

8 for 13 for 63 yards.

Pittsburgh is still trying to fig-

ure out Roethlisberger’s backup,

and Mason Rudolph helped him-

self with a 41-yard touchdown

pass to James Washington on his

first throw of the game. Rudolph

finished the first half and was

6 for 9 for 75 yards. Joshua Dobbs

took over in the third quarter was

4 for 7 for 79 yards.


FALCONS: With just a few

days left in the preseason, Atlanta

brought in former Pro Bowl selec-

tion Blair Walsh to compete for its

kicking job.

Walsh was at practice and will

get a shot at beating out Giorgio

Tavecchio, who has made only

four of eight field goal attempts in

exhibition games.

The 29-year-old Walsh attend-

ed Georgia and was a sixth-round

pick of the Minnesota Vikings in

2012. He made the Pro Bowl dur-
      ing his rookie season and con-
      nected on 24 field goals of at least
      50 yards during five years with
      the Vikings, but his career went
      off track after he missed a 27-yard
      field goal attempt with 22 seconds
      remaining that would have won a
      playoff game against the Seattle
      Seahawks during the 2015 season.
      Walsh was released by the Vi-
      kings and landed with the Sea-
      hawks in 2017. He wasn’t re-
      signed after he missed eight kicks
      and didn’t play last season.
      
      DOLPHINS: Safety T.J.
      McDonald, who started 14 games
      for Miami last season, was re-
      leased.
      McDonald, a six-year veteran
      with 75 career starts, was due to
      make $5 million this year. He
      spent two seasons with the Dol-
      phins but fell behind Reshad
      Jones and Bobby McCain on the
      depth chart this summer under
      new coach Brian Flores.
      McDonald ranked third on the
      team with 86 tackles and tied for
      second with three interceptions
      last season.

Keenum said. “I don’t take it

lightly. The opportunity, the posi-

tion I’m in... I’ve been there

before, and I know it’s a tough job

and there’s only 32 of them. I’m

very honored.... I’m excited to

continue to earn the right to be

the leader for this team, to be the

quarterback of this team.

“I always draw on past experi-

ences. That’s what makes us who

we are. We learn from those

things. I’ve learned from what

I’ve done well in the past, and I

learned a lot more from what I’ve

not done well. That goes with

everything.... How you prepare.

How you practice. How you treat

people. How you come into the

building after a bad day.... Every

little thing I do has been some-

thing I’ve done in the past and

learned from, whether it was me

or somebody else.”

The news shouldn’t come as a

shock. McCoy hasn’t practiced in

nearly two weeks as he continues

to heal from the broken leg that

ended his 2018 season. Gruden

has acknowledged they rushed

him back too soon and he may

not be available for a couple of

REDSKINS FROM D1 weeks into the season. Haskins

has shown flashes of brilliance,

but he is still a rookie who makes

rookie mistakes and is still get-

ting a full grasp of the NFL.

Keenum seemed the safest

choice for a team built to win by

running the ball, playing great

defense and minimizing turn-

overs. That was the Alex Smith

recipe that led the Redskins to a

6-3 start last year. In three pre-

season games, Keenum has com-

pleted 16 of 30 passes for

213 yards with one touchdown

and no interceptions.

Gruden said this is not a look-

over-your-shoulder situation.

Keenum is considered the starter

for the season with one obvious

caveat — he must get results.

“You’ve got to produce, with-

out a doubt,” Gruden said. “We

anticipate Case producing. He

produces, he’s got nothing to

worry about. Moving forward we

intend on Case being the guy.

“Case has come in here and

picked up the offense extremely

well, had great confidence and

command over the team — they

both have. At the end of the day, I

think we have great confidence

that Case can lead us to a win

against Philadelphia.”

Keenum will make his Red-

skins season debut at the site of

one of his biggest letdowns. The

Eagles torched the Minnesota

Vikings, 38-7, in the NFC champi-

onship game following the 2017

season. Keenum, who took over

Minnesota’s starting job in the

second game after Sam Bradford

was injured, could barely de-

scribe the experience, and it

clearly still haunts him. The Ea-

gles went on to win the Super

Bowl. Sept. 8 will be the first time

Keenum has faced them since.

“I remember the feeling I had

walking off that field,” Keenum

said. “I don’t know if I can put it

into words. I’ve used it, and I plan

on continuing to use it. It’s not a

good feeling to get that close to

what you dream of, what every-

body dreams of and to not be able

to get to that next step when it’s

one step away. It was tough. It

was tough, but I’m definitely

motivated.”

There wasn’t much reaction to

the news from teammates in the

locker room. Wide receivers and

running backs were comfortable

with both him and Haskins, and

the biggest change in the next

few weeks will be how the reps

are handled. Keenum will get the

first-team work, but Gruden

wouldn’t detail how the fourth

preseason game will be divided.

Haskins and Jalan McClendon

probably will get the most work.

There is a feeling that

Keenum’s experience — both the

good and the bad — is a positive.

He understands the pressure that

comes with the job and has won a

playoff game — something the

Redskins haven’t done since after

the 2005 season.

“He’s really just been consis-

tent,” running back Chris

Thompson said. “He’s been get-

ting better every day, getting a

better understanding of our of-

fense and the guys he has around

him. It’s well deserved. Honestly,

I feel like it doesn’t make much of

a difference [having an official

Week 1 starter]. It’s more for

everybody on the outside... not

having to wonder anymore

what’s going to happen Week 1.

For us, we’ve been working with

both guys, and I’m going to con-

tinue to work with both him and

Dwayne. It doesn’t really change

much.”

[email protected]

JERRY BREWER

Relentless cycle of injuries stole Luck’s joy for the game

to take the field before a

preseason game Aug. 17 against

Cleveland and make a few

practice throws. Some considered

it evidence that he might return

soon. But for Luck, it was closure.

As he grinned and threw spirals,

he was quietly letting the game

go.

“I was thinking, ‘This is the last

time I’ll throw the ball at Lucas

Oil Stadium in a Colts uniform,’ ”

he admitted.

A week later, his decision

became official. Luck called it a

hard decision — “the hardest of

my life,” he said — but it also was

a clear one. He is only 29 years

old, but football has wrecked his

body and stolen his joy. Over the

past four years, his injuries have

been brutal and relentless:

shoulder sprain, torn cartilage in

the ribs, partially torn abdomen,

lacerated kidney, concussion,

torn labrum in his right shoulder

and now the calf and ankle

problem that hasn’t healed.

Luck has missed a season and a

half of playing time because of

injuries. He awoke one morning

after a game and noticed blood in

his urine. He lost the entire 2017

season because of a difficult

recovery from shoulder surgery.

But he returned in 2018, threw for

4,593 yards and 39 touchdowns,

led the Colts to the second round

of the playoffs and was the NFL

comeback player of the year.

He was back, and so was

Indianapolis, which felt it had put

together a Super Bowl-caliber

roster for this season. Then

another injury made Luck

reassess everything.

“For the last four years or so,

I’ve been in this cycle of injury,

pain, rehab, injury, pain, rehab,

and it’s been unceasing,

unrelenting, both in-season and

offseason,” Luck said Saturday

night. “And I felt stuck in it, and

the only way I see out is to no

longer play football. It’s taken my

joy of this game away.”

BREWER FROM D1 The delightful thing about

Luck always had been his love for

the sport. He graduated from

Stanford with a degree in

architectural design, and he

could have been great in various

jobs related to engineering

(maybe he still will be). He didn’t

play football out of necessity or

simply because he was so good at

it. He didn’t use the game as a way

out of a tough life. He loved it,

really loved it. He geeked out on

football. He learned it from his

father, Oliver, a former NFL

quarterback, athletic director

and business executive who now

serves as the CEO and

commissioner of the XFL. At

Stanford, Andrew Luck helped

Jim Harbaugh and David Shaw

turn the football program into a

powerhouse and became one of

the greatest NFL quarterback

prospects ever.

Luck, the No. 1 pick of the 2012

draft, proved worthy of the hype.

He succeeded Peyton Manning in

Indianapolis and took command

in a manner that Aaron Rodgers,

who followed Brett Favre

magnificently in Green Bay, could

appreciate. The Colts finished

with an 11-5 record during each of

Luck’s first three years and

advanced to the AFC

championship game in the 2014

season. Luck had a 53-33 record

in 86 career starts and made four

postseason appearances. He was

on a Hall of Fame track. Given his

6-foot-4, 240-pound frame, you

figured he could play for eight to

12 more seasons.

But from the beginning, the

Colts may have asked too much of

him. He amassed 627 pass

attempts as a rookie in 2012, an

average of 39.2 per game. He was

sacked 41 times that year. For his

career, Luck averaged 38.3 passes

per game. He came back last

season and threw a career-high

639 passes. He had come from a

balanced system at Stanford with

an intricate running game, and

while it was apparent in college

that Luck was capable of

directing just about any offensive

system, it’s rare for a team to put

so much pressure on a

quarterback so early in his NFL

career. He won and thrived, but

eventually his body paid the

price.

So now we must place Luck in

his own category of ephemeral

quarterbacking greatness. The

NFL hasn’t seen anyone quite like

him. He didn’t make it to his

30th birthday, which is three

weeks away, but he still played

long enough to amass

23,671 yards and 171 touchdowns.

Through 86 starts, his production

was on pace with some of the

most prolific players in history at

the position. His career feels like

a flash, but it wasn’t. He was

halfway to immortality.

We have seen legends leave too

soon: Jim Brown, Barry Sanders.

We have seen injuries and

ailments cut brilliant careers

short: Gale Sayers, Kenny Easley.

Recently, we have seen a

concerning cluster of great ones

bow out shockingly: Luck joins

linebacker Patrick Willis and

wide receiver Calvin Johnson on

a growing list. But despite

advancements in brain research

and the anecdotal evidence of

football’s many debilitating

effects, there are still 100 NFL

players who plan on playing

“until the wheels fall off ” for

every one athlete who seriously

worries about the game

shortening his career. And if

you’re a quarterback — in a

league that keeps adjusting the

rules seemingly to keep

quarterbacks healthy — you’re far

more likely to fantasize about

Tom Brady-esque longevity than

to anticipate a premature ending.

Does Luck’s retirement

represent a watershed moment

for NFL players to be even more

thoughtful about the dangers of

the game? No, not necessarily. It

will take about a dozen players on

the level of Luck, Willis and

Johnson to quit around the same

time to spark a dramatic shift.

Right now, we’re inching toward

a moment, and perhaps Luck’s

decision moves the conversation

an entire foot. But currently there

is no urgent desire from players

to escape.

It’s a slow process to change

the mentality. Nevertheless,

teams would be wise to consider

the situation dire. The NFL

should feel desperate to improve

the way it trains and cares for

athletes and how it manages their

workload. It also should increase

the resources to help the players

recover mentally from injuries. In

their reactions to Luck, current

and former players transition

quickly from shock to

understanding the physical and

mental toll of grinding out a

football career.

In the middle of a tweet about

Luck on Saturday night,

Jacksonville running back

Leonard Fournette said, “man

y’all don’t know much we put in

for this sport.”

They put in so much that one

of the game’s brightest young

quarterbacks walked away from

perhaps $250 million in future

earnings when you factor in the

remaining three years of his

contract and at least one more

mega-extension that probably

would have been worth more

than $40 million per season.

“I’ve been stuck in this

process,” Luck said. “I haven’t

been able to live the life I want to

live. It’s taken the joy out of this

game. After 2016 when I played in

pain and wasn’t regularly able to

practice, I made a vow I wouldn’t

go down that path again. The only

way forward is to remove myself

from this cycle. I came to the

proverbial fork in the road and

made a vow if I ever did again, I

would choose me, in a sense.”

That’s not a selfish choice.

After all Luck has been through,

it’s understandable. And wise.

[email protected]

For more by Jerry Brewer, visit

washingtonpost.com/brewer.

NFL NOTES

After losing

grievance,

Brown eyes

helmet deal

JONATHAN NEWTON/THE WASHINGTON POST

In three preseason games, veteran Case Keenum has completed 16 of 30 passes for 213 yards with one touchdown and no interceptions.

Keenum will start at quarterback against the Eagles

ASSOCIATED PRESS

The crowd rushing to circle the
18th green. The steady chants. It
all sounded so familiar to Rory
McIlroy at East Lake, with one big
difference.
On Sunday, it was all for him.
One year after he was an over-
looked bystander as Tiger Woods
celebrated the missing piece of his
comeback by winning the Tour
Championship, McIlroy surged
past Brooks Koepka in Atlanta
and delivered a clutch par putt
when he needed it to win the
FedEx Cup and the $15 million
prize, the biggest payout in golf
history.
“It’s amazing how different
things can be in a year,” McIlroy
said.
With two final birdies, McIlroy
closed with a 4-under-par 66 to
end a marathon day at the storm-
delayed Tour Championship and
finish four shots ahead of Xander
Schauffele. He joined Woods as
the only players to win the FedEx
Cup twice since it began in 2007.
He smiled at hearing the
chants of “Rory! Rory! Rory!”
from a gallery that came under
the ropes on the 18th hole to
watch the finish.
“I must say, I didn’t enjoy that
walk last year like everyone else
did,” McIlroy said. “I never took
the fight to Tiger.”
McIlroy had more than the
$15 million prize on his mind.
He wanted to win this outright
and was keeping score to the very
end. The format was changed this
year to give top players a head
start based on par depending on
their standing in the FedEx Cup.
Justin Thomas was the No. 1 seed
and started at 10 under before a
shot was hit. McIlroy was the No.
5 seed and started at 5 under.
He finished at 18 under in the
FedEx Cup finale. His actual score
was 13-under 267, better than
anyone else in the 30-man field.
It will boost him to No. 2 in the
world behind Koepka.
There also was a small matter
of payback. McIlroy had a one-
shot lead over Koepka in a World
Golf Championships event last
month in Tennessee but made
only one birdie in the final round
as Koepka blew past him to win.
They were in the final group
Sunday at East Lake, and McIlroy
got the best of the No. 1 player.

PGA TOUR CHAMPIONS:
Brandt Jobe used his best round
of the year to spoil what was
supposed to be a day-long cel-
ebration for hometown favorite
Fred Couples.
Jobe rallied from seven strokes
down, shooting a final-round
9-under 63 to win the Boeing
Classic in Snoqualmie, Wash., for
his second title on tour.
Jobe finished at 18 under, three
shots ahead of Tom Pernice Jr.,
who shot a final-round 65. Cou-
ples, who held a five-stroke lead
after the second round, shot a 76
and finished in a tie for third at 12
under.
It was Jobe’s first victory since
he won the 2017 Principal Charity
Classic. The 63 was tied for his
second-lowest round on the tour.

LPGA TOUR: Top-ranked
Jin Young Ko wasn’t going to walk
up to the 18th green at the CP
Women’s Open without defend-
ing champion Brooke Henderson.
The runaway winner, Ko called
for her groupmate to join her, and
the two walked arm-in-arm to a
rousing ovation at Magna Golf
Club in Aurora, Ontario.
Ko, of South Korea, and Nicole
Broch Larsen, of Denmark, start-
ed the final round as co-leaders,
with Henderson two shots back
in third place. But Ko fired an
8-under 64 to pull away from the
field.
Henderson, who became the
first Canadian to win the national
championship in 45 years last
season, was the most popular
golfer at the event. Given the
large crowds following her, Ko
felt they should share the tourna-
ment’s final spotlight.
“I thought when I was walking
to the 18th green that the crowd
was for Brooke, not me,” Ko said.
“We’re here in Canada, and she
has a lot of fans.”

EUROPEAN TOUR: Erik
van Rooyen birdied the final hole
to win his first European Tour
title at the Scandinavian Invita-
tion in Gothenburg, Sweden.
The South African carded a
6-under 64 in the final round at
Hills Golf & Sports Club to finish
at 19 under and a shot ahead of
England’s Matt Fitzpatrick (64).
“I was so nervous on 18,” van
Rooyen said. “I’ve been putting so
well all day, and to hole that one
to win, it’s my first one, it’s pretty
cool.”

GOLF ROUNDUP

McIlroy

hits jackpot

with surge

in Atlanta