50 Games Ban for Royals Mondesi

Kansas City Royals prospect Raul Mondesi has been suspended for 50 games for testing positive for clenbuterol, a banned steroid.

The penalty was announced Tuesday against the 20-year-old infielder, who is on Kansas City’s 40-man roster but had been optioned to Double-A.

Mondesi is the son of former NL rookie of the year Raul Mondesi. The younger Mondesi was the first player to make his big league debut in the World Series.

A positive test for a performance-enhancing drug usually results in an 80-game suspension, but Major League Baseball and the players’ union agreed to the reduced punishment after Mondesi showed the steroid came from cold medicine. Mondesi says he took the over-the-counter medication without reading the label or consulting his trainer.

He apologised and said he never intended to “take a substance that would give me an unfair advantage on the field.”

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Archie Manning Backs Broncos Peyton

Peyton Manning’s father Archie has backed his son over allegations the Broncos quarterback took the banned substance HGH, telling ESPN: “He didn’t. He said he didn’t. He didn’t.”

A report from Al Jazeera America in December linked Peyton to human growth hormone delivered to his wife while he was recovering from neck surgery in 2011, but Archie Manning insisted his son has never taken anything he shouldn’t have.

“I didn’t like [the report]. I thought it was some pretty shabby journalism,” Manning Sr said on ESPN’s Mike & Mike. “Actually, I hadn’t done a lot of interviews this year. This is the first time I’ve been asked about it. But I’m pretty much with him.

“He told me: ‘I didn’t do that.’ I always had a saying when he was going through everything, and he had to talk to a lot of different doctors and trainers, and I always said: ‘No voodoo.’ That was kind of our theme. And he didn’t. He said he didn’t. He didn’t.”

The report claims Manning received HGH from an Indianapolis anti-aging clinic in 2011 while he was still with the Colts. It said the drug, which was banned by the NFL in 2011, was delivered to his wife, Ashley, so that the quarterback’s name was never attached to the shipments.

Manning denied the story when it emerged just after Christmas. “The allegation that I would do something like that is complete garbage and is totally made up. It never happened. Never,” he said.

“I really can’t believe somebody would put something like this on the air. Whoever said this is making stuff up.”

Peyton Manning also supports an NFL investigation into the report.

“I do welcome it. It’s no news to me,” Manning said in January. “I still stand by what I said then – that it’s garbage from the first day that it came out, garbage today.”

Archie Manning also said he hasn’t spoken with his son about whether he’ll retire next year – but thinks Peyton hasn’t yet made up his mind.

“He’ll find the right time to sit down and discuss it. He hasn’t talked to me. He’ll talk to Ashley,” the former New Orleans Saints quarterback, told SportsCenter later in the day.

“I think it will be pretty clear-cut. He loves this game. The end of last year being hurt, this year being hurt could affect this. When the time comes, he’ll sit down and make the right decision.”

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Vikings March Past Giants

USA Today

The Minnesota Vikings have secured a place in the post season, playing as if they’re poised for more than a token appearance.

Adrian Peterson ran for 104 yards and a touchdown over three quarters, Harrison Smith took one of Eli Manning’s three interceptions into the end zone and the Vikings clinched at least a wild card spot with a 49-17 victory over the listless New York Giants on a frigid Sunday night.

Why the smartest man in football made the dumbest decision of the year

Teddy Bridgewater turned in another sharp December performance, Blair Walsh chipped in five field goals and theVikings (10-5) set up an NFC North championship game next week at Green Bay. That game, like this one, was moved to the Sunday night slot.

With Peterson relaxing on the sideline, Jerick McKinnon rushed for two touchdowns in the fourth quarter, including a 68-yard romp through a disinterested defense with the temperature down to 11 degrees.

Manning badly missed suspended wide receiver Odell Beckham Jr. and his 1,396 yards and 13 touchdowns, as the Giants (6-9) trudged toward a fourth straight absence from the postseason.

The night wrapped up a rough week-plus for the Giants, who had control of the diluted, wide-open NFC East for much of the season until dropping five of their last six games. The day after their rally at then-undefeated Carolina fell three points short, Beckham was suspended by the NFL for multiple violations of safety-related playing rules. That stemmed from the tussles with Panthers cornerback Josh Norman.

There wasn’t much fight left in the Giants for this.

Washington’s win over Philadelphia on Saturday night ended the division race, rendering the outcome meaningless. By the time the Vikings built their lead into double digits on Smith’s 35-yard return of Manning’s overthrow for Rueben Randle late in the second quarter, the Giants looked ready for their winter vacations.

After winning the Super Bowl following the 2011 season, the Giants have gone just 28-35.

Manning finished 15 for 29 for 234 yards, boosted by a 50-yard pass to Rashad Jennings that set up an early field goal and a 72-yard touchdown heave to Randle made possible by a botched tackle by Andrew Sendejo, who had the first interception. Backup Ryan Nassib tacked on a late score with a pass to Myles White, but Manning was sacked four times and was hindered by a handful of drops by his receivers in these tough-to-catch conditions. He fumbled a shotgun snap, too.

Bridgewater went 15 for 25 for 168 yards and a touchdown to Kyle Rudolph, delivering precise, under-pressure passes at just the right times and avoiding the turnovers that dogged Manning.

The Vikings reached the playoffs for the first time in three years with their highest score since a 50-10 victory over Jacksonville on Dec. 20, 1998, giving them an 87-34 margin of victory over the last two weeks. Smith, linebacker Anthony Barr and nose tackle Linval Joseph all returned from injuries, putting the Vikings back at full strength on defense heading into the rematch with the Packers.

Beat Green Bay, and they’re the No. 3 seed in the NFC with a home game against Seattle. Lose, and they’re a wild-card team with a trip to Green Bay or Washington.

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Patriots Now Five and O

Getty Images

Coach Chuck Pagano stared straight into the cameras and tried to explain what went wrong on Sunday night’s botched fake punt. It was inexplicable.

On a night, the Colts finally went toe-to-toe with their bitter rivals, a bungled play call gave Tom Brady a short field and a gift chance to put the game away. He did. Brady led the Patriots on a 35-yard touchdown drive to seal a 34-27 victory at Indianapolis.

“The whole idea there was on fourth-and-3 or less, shift our alignment to where you either catch them misaligned, they try to sub some people in, catch them with 12 men on the field and if you get a certain look, you can make a play,” Pagano said. “Alignment-wise, we weren’t lined up correctly and then there was a communication problem on the snap and I take responsibility for that.”

Indianapolis (3-3) never recovered and now their hope of hosting New England in a potential playoff game plan probably is gone, too.

Receiver Griff Whalen, who snapped the ball to safety Colt Anderson, called it a miscommunication. Pagano blamed himself. But all that really mattered was the result.

“It’s obviously not ideal,” Andrew Luck said. “At the same time, a couple of three-and-outs didn’t help the cause.”

Brady took full advantage of the miscues in one of the strangest games of this long, heated rivalry.

He threw for 312 yards, three touchdowns and led the Patriots to a 34-27 victory Sunday night in the highly anticipated ‘Deflategate’ rematch.

But in a series defined by wild games and crazy plays, Indy’s awful fake punt might have been the worst of the worst. With most of Indianapolis’ players shifted up near the right sideline, receiver Griff Whalen inexplicably snapped the ball to safety Colt Anderson, who was immediately tackled for a 1-yard loss.

That gave the Patriots the ball at the Colts 35. Six plays later, Brady broke free from the pass rush and hooked up with LeGarrette Blount for an 11-yard touchdown pass to give the Patriots a 34-21 lead early in the fourth quarter.

New England has won seven straight over its longtime rival and is 5-0 for the first time since its 16-0 season in 2007.

While Brady wasn’t perfect – he threw his first interception of the season – he was still pretty darn good. Brady finished 23 of 37 in the first meeting since January’s AFC title, which ultimately led to allegations of improperly inflated balls, months of investigation and eventually a four-game suspension that was nullified in court.

Had the suspension been upheld, Brady would have made his season debut in front of a hostile Indianapolis crowd.

Instead, Colts fans, who booed heartily when Brady first appeared at Lucas Oil Stadium, roared even louder when Indianapolis’ Andrew Luck returned after missing two games with an injured right shoulder. Luck was 30 of 50 for 312 yards with three touchdowns and most importantly, no turnovers.

New England got away from its strong ground game, running just 25 times for 116 yards, and kept the ball mostly in Brady’s hands.

But the Colts played the more aggressive game.

They scored a touchdown on the opening series by going for it on fourth-and-1. They tried a first-half onside kick. They continued to take shots down the field, and they refused to back down from the defending Super Bowl champs.

So the fake punt fit right in – no matter how bad it turned out.

“We were going to be aggressive,” Pagano said. “We were going to attack this football team.”

It was the game everyone wanted to see in last season’s AFC championship game, a 38-point rout.

Inspired by Luck’s return, the Colts led 21-20 at halftime – something they had not done since Luck’s arrival in 2012.

But in the second half, Brady reverted to form.

He opened the second half by taking the Patriots on an 80-yard drive, capping it with a 25-yard TD pass to a wide-open Rob Gronkowski to make it 27-21.

And after getting the short field off the fake punt, Brady put the game away with a nimble move to evade the pass rush and spot Blount in the end zone for the first TD catch of his pro career.

“It’s a good win, I’m glad we won,” Brady said. “It’s always good to win on the road.”

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