The Washington Post - 07.08.2019

KLMNO

SPORTS

WEDNESDAY, AUGUST 7 , 2019. WASHINGTONPOST.COM/SPORTS M2 D

BY STEVEN GOFF

Wayne Rooney will leave D.C.

United and return to England af-

ter t his MLS season, ending a spec-

tacular but short-lived spell that

revitalized the organization and

brought enduring memories to

the l ocal soccer scene.

United a nd D erby C ounty, a sec-

ond-tier English club, announced

Tuesday that t hey have r eached an

agreement that will allow the su-

perstar forward to become a play-

er and assistant coach this winter.

The captain’s contract with

United, which earned him a

team-record $3.5 million in base

salary this s eason, was to have run

through the 2021 season. United

will not receive a transfer fee, mul-

tiple people told The Washington

Post on the condition of anonym-

ity, b ut will clear his hefty contract

off its books starting next year.

Rooney, who turns 34 in Octo-

ber, will remain with United for

the final nine regular season

matches and the playoffs, should

SEE ROONEY ON D12

Rooney

to leave

after the

season

D.C. United star will join

England’s Derby County

at end of MLS campaign

BY JESSE DOUGHERTY

san f rancisco — As K urt Suzuki

neared third base early Tuesday

evening, his light trot bordering

on a stroll, a baseball trickled

along the outfield grass in his

direction.

The fan who had caught it be-

yond the left field fence, in a small

sea of sweatshirts and hands,

wanted nothing t o do with it. So h e

threw the ball back, triggering a

tired cheer from the Oracle Park

crowd, forcing San Francisco Gi-

ants third baseman Evan Longo-

ria to lean over and scoop it up.

Suzuki had just crushed it, clear

through the wind-whipped air,

continuing his best offensive

game of the season with a loud

SEE NATIONALS ON D3

Suzuki helps

Nats score

their second

straight win

NATIONALS 5,

GIANTS 3

BY MARK MASKE

The lasting image of an other-
wise successful 2018 NFL season
was of the missed pass-interfer-
ence call in the NFC champion-
ship game that helped send the
Los Angeles Rams, rather than
the New Orleans Saints, to the
Super Bowl. The officiating blun-
der hung over the league’s mar-
quee matchup and took some of
the luster off a season of captivat-
ing play and recovering TV rat-
ings — and it led franchise own-
ers to take the step of making
interference calls and non-calls
reviewable with instant replay
for the 2019 season.
So, all will be well, right? The
NFL can only hope so. While
there now exists the safety net of
instant replay to, presumably,
prevent an officiating gaffe like
the one in Rams-Saints from
SEE RULES ON D6

BY SAM FORTIER

richmond — The rookies hud-

dled together near the sideline.

Dwayne Haskins, the quarter-

back, and Te rry McLaurin, the

wide receiver, have known each

other for years. They first played

together at Ohio State and then,

this offseason, the Washington

Redskins drafted them in the first

and third rounds, respectively.

This summer, they became room-

mates and playbook study bud-

dies. They diagramed plays on

paper, woke up early, stayed up

late and used lunch breaks to quiz

each other. Now, there was a

problem.

The play before, McLaurin had

cut back on his route, and

Haskins threw deep down the left

sideline to no one. On the field,

Haskins shot out his left arm

toward McLaurin, indicating to

his receiver that he should have

kept going.

It was less an argument and

more a deciphering of what went

SEE REDSKINS ON D5

NFL’s replay

expansion

adds a layer

of subjectivity

Of iPads and route trees: How a playbook is learned

At this point, it’s f air to say

that To m Brady’s p ersonal

science project is going

well. He j ust celebrated his

42nd birthday with a two-

year contract extension,

and he apparently runs

faster than he did at 2 2, his

legs limber and alive, which

is to say nothing of that ring-heavy

throwing arm. In h is 20th NFL training

camp, he’s s o radiant with health that he

looks like he’s g ot spring water for blood

and years left.

Clearly, scoffers who called Brady

quackish owe him an apology. He was

right, and they were wrong. He w as way

ahead of his time in perceiving the evils of

an NFL culture based on heavy

weightlifting and painkillers, ditching

them for a range of unconventional

training methods. His elastic, tenacious

body is the empirical proof, more

convincing than any lab result. Of all of

Brady’s t ime-defiant feats, maybe the most

impressive is his physical resilience over

the past decade: In n ine of his past 10

seasons, he has started all 16 games. The

only thing that could keep him off the field

was NFL Commissioner R oger Goodell’s

tyrannical suspension in 2016. So laugh at

Brady’s avocado-chia smoothies if you

want, but his habits line up with everything

scientists know about anti-aging and

avoiding illnesses such as arthritis.

None of it, however, explains how Brady

keeps his mind right. How does he fight

mental burnout and keep summoning the

readiness t o go t hrough another training

camp? Years of success do not breed

freshness i n a quarterback. They breed

SEE JENKINS ON D6

There’s no burnout for Brady

Sally

Jenkins

JOHN MCDONNELL/THE WASHINGTON POST

Rookie wideout Terry McLaurin, left, works with safety Deshazor Everett during a training camp drill.

STEVEN SENNE/ASSOCIATED PRESS

Patriots quarterback Tom Brady won his sixth Super Bowl last season and is now, at age 42, in his 20th training camp, which raises the question of when he’ll slow down.

BASEBALL

The Yankees, taking a cue

from their manager, have

been on a savage run. D3

BASKETBALL

Gregg Popovich, Steve

Kerr seek to bring unified

front to USA Basketball. D12

Nationals at Giants

Today, 3:45 p.m., MASN2

Galaxy at D.C. United

Sunday, 7:30 p.m., Fox Sports 1

Preseason: Redskins at Browns

Tomorrow, 7:30, NBCSW, WRC-4

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