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NFL

Jenkins: McNair's comment won't stop progress

PHILADELPHIA — Houston Texans owner Bob McNair’s comment will not stop players from trying to work jointly with the NFL to bring about social change, Eagles safety and player coalition leader Malcolm Jenkins said Friday.

McNair issued a public apology Friday following an ESPN The Magazine report that quoted McNair as saying: “We can’t have the inmates running the prison” during last week’s owners meeting in reference to ongoing player demonstrations during the national anthem.

“From a player’s perspective, I think we’ve done a great job of trying to work in a collaborative manner with the league to really come up with solutions, to move forward and create some real change, and I don’t see that changing,” said Jenkins. “Obviously his comments will represent him, but from a player’s standpoint, we’re focused on our goals, we feel like we still have an opportunity to move forward with whoever is interested in doing that, and so hopefully we can get that same type of commitment from those in league leadership.

“That’s our goal. It’s not to appease one another, it’s not to change someone’s personal opinion, it’s just to get some actual work done and change done. That’s what our focus is going to be. Obviously you have quite a few different comments come from different owners, but I feel like players have been very, very diligent in making sure that our message has been one that we want to continue to push forward, that we want to continue to collaborate and move forward. So hopefully we can get to that point.”

Receiver DeAndre Hopkins’ absence from Texans practice Friday was directly related to McNair’s comment, sources told ESPN’s Adam Schefter. Other players considered staging a walkout, according to ESPN’s Sarah Barshop.

Players around the league reacted strongly to McNair’s comment.

The ESPN The Magazine report shed light on the differing opinions within the ownership group. For example, Eagles chairman and CEO Jeffrey Lurie spoke in support the players’ right to kneel during the anthem, while Dallas Cowboys owner Jerry Jones appeared to be “trying to build momentum for an anthem mandate resolution.” According to the report, McNair and Jones say they have been “fielding an avalanche of complaints from outraged fans” in Texas over the protests.

“You have the same issue with players. I mean, we’ve got players from all over with different opinions, but we’ve been able to keep that message the same on our end. Unfortunately, that hasn’t been reciprocated,” said Jenkins. “For us, we’ll stay the course. We understand that there’s a lot of personalities, a lot of different opinions in this, but that’s the nature of what we’re trying to get accomplished, is to try to work together and bring people together from different backgrounds and different mindsets to actually move forward to some change in our communities. Hopefully, all those who are interested in being involved get involved and move forward.”

NFL owners and players met in New York last week to discuss ways they might be able to work together on these issues. While no resolution came out of it, some left feeling optimistic that collaboration was possible. The players are hoping to hold another meeting with the owners next week.

“We’re waiting for some information from the league. We’re waiting for a couple things. But we’d like to have a meeting next week,” said Jenkins. “But that’s kind of depending on the league.”

NFL

Vikings' Diggs confident he'll play vs. Browns

LONDON — Minnesota Vikings wide receiver Stefon Diggs, who has missed two games with a groin injury, is confident he’ll be able to return to action Sunday.

The Vikings, who lead the NFC North at 5-2 and are looking for their fourth consecutive win, arrived early Thursday in London ahead of their clash with the Cleveland Browns at Twickenham Stadium for the NFL’s fourth and final game in the UK this season.

“It’s exciting to come back [to the UK],” said Diggs, who visited the country over the summer. “It’s going to be a busy trip, but I can’t wait to play some football out here.

“I feel good. We’ve got a little bit of time left, so I’ll be ready to go.”

Diggs was listed as a full practice participant Thursday after limited participation on Wednesday.

Stefon Diggs didn’t mind the unusual practice conditions that the Vikings encountered Thursday at Syon House in Hyde Park. Said Diggs: “All we need is the grass and a couple of lines.” AP Photo/Matt Dunham

The 23-year-old Diggs, who has a team-leading four touchdown receptions this season, missed the Vikings’ victories over the Baltimore Ravens and Green Bay Packers.

When asked whether he had received any indication whether he would be ready to face the Browns, Diggs replied: “I’m the indication — we’ll see [Friday].

“At the end of the day you’ll have to ask [coach Mike] Zimmer — I was confident [of playing] last week, so I guess we’ll see.”

With the historic Syon House on one side and a herd of cows on the other, the former fifth-round draft pick out of Maryland seemed unfazed by his surroundings as he spoke beside the crudely marked patch of grass on which the Vikings had been doing walk-through practices.

“I try not to pay too much attention to the surroundings when you’ve got plays to worry about,” Diggs said. “It doesn’t really matter. All we need is the grass and a couple of lines. We’ll make it work and execute no matter what. At the end of the day, that’s football.”

Diggs also expressed his happiness to see quarterback Teddy Bridgewater, who also practiced Thursday after recovering from a horrific knee injury that has kept him out for 14 months.

“It’s good,” Diggs said. “I haven’t thrown with him yet, so it’s a little different. But his aura and what he brings to the game as a person and a teammate is definitely huge.

“Teddy’s going to be Teddy. He’s always going to be the same person no matter what.”

NFL

Ex-Bucs DE Rice serious about comeback at 43

TAMPA, Fla. — Former Tampa Bay Buccaneers defensive end Simeon Rice isn’t kidding around when he says he wants to come back and play. Rice hasn’t taken a snap since the 2007 season, but at 43, he said he can still do it. And he wants to.

He has been tweeting about it and told ESPN he’s completely serious, if the Bucs will have him.

“If they want a pass-rusher, they should bring in a pass-rusher extraordinaire who was one of the dominant pass-rushers of any era,” Rice told ESPN. “What is it going to cost? You don’t have one.”

The Bucs just lost speed-rusher Noah Spence, who suffered another shoulder injury and is now on injured reserve. The team also waived Jacquies Smith after he recovered from a torn ACL. The Bucs (2-4) are last in the league with seven sacks in six games. By comparison, the Jacksonville Jaguars lead the NFL with 33.

“My only request is you bring me in and let me play my brand of defense, which is real pressure football — sack fumbles and disruption,” said Rice, emphasizing that this has nothing to do with the Pro Football Hall of Fame and his frustration about not getting votes.

Simeon Rice sacked Raiders quarterback Rich Gannon during Super Bowl XXXVII in January 2003. MPS/USA TODAY Sports

Rice indicated that he previously had no intention of making a comeback. It wasn’t something that came up when head coach Dirk Koetter invited him to training camp. That all changed when he watched the Bucs lose 38-33 to the Arizona Cardinals on Oct. 15. Rice sat with Brian Ford, the Bucs’ chief operating officer, during the game.

“It was very hard watching what I could fix,” said Rice, who was the last Bucs player to notch double-digit sacks, with 14 in 2005. He reached double-digit sacks eight times, including in five consecutive years with the Bucs.

He has 122 career sacks and 28 forced fumbles in 12 seasons spent with the Cardinals, Buccaneers, Indianapolis Colts and Denver Broncos. Rice is 19th on the NFL’s career sacks list. Among the Hall of Fame-eligible members of the top 20, only Leslie O’Neal, Rice and Clyde Simmons haven’t been inducted.

Rice spent time helping Spence and defensive end Ryan Russell during camp this summer.

“He taught me things in five minutes that I’d never even heard of or even thought to put into my game,” Spence said. “He pointed out things in my game that I’d never even heard of. It was a blessing to have him out here to talk to us.”

Rice said the shoulder injury that plagued him at the end of his career has been healthy for some time. He said he trains six hours a day, five days a week, something that has become more of a lifestyle than a training regimen.

“With nine games left, [there is] plenty of time to finish with double-digit sacks and a playoff bid,” Rice said. “I bet on myself before, and it paid off. It’s really not a stretch at all. It’s facts.”

When defensive coordinator Mike Smith was asked about Rice’s comments about a comeback, he laughed, saying, “I don’t want to comment on that. He was a great pass-rusher. I know when I was 43, I know I couldn’t do what I was doing when I was 25.”

NFL

Cowboys to sign kicker Nugent with Bailey out

FRISCO, Texas — With Dan Bailey expected to miss some with a groin injury, the Dallas Cowboys will sign veteran kicker Mike Nugent after he won a competition with Jason Myers and Sam Irwin-Hill on Tuesday.

Coach Jason Garrett would not put a timetable on Bailey’s return but said he would miss “at least a couple of weeks” with the injury that occurred while warming up on the sidelines during a drive. The Cowboys had safety Jeff Heath take over the kicking duties and he made two of three point-after attempts.

Mike Nugent has played for four teams in his NFL career. Rob Carr/Getty Images

Nugent, 34, lost a training-camp competition with Aldrick Rosas to be the New York Giants kicker this summer. In his career with the Cincinnati Bengals, Arizona Cardinals, Tampa Bay Buccaneers and New York Jets, he has made 236 of 292 career field goal attempts.

“You want a guy who is reliable. It’s really important at that position you have a guy you can trust and count on. You want that throughout your whole team at every position but that’s a very valuable position,” Jason Garrett said on Monday. “You’re going to put the fortunes of your team in that guy’s hands, or on his foot, and you want a guy you can trust and rely on. Experience matters, but you don’t want to make it all about that. You want to choose the best guy. But reliability and how much you can trust them is certainly a big factor.”

Bailey is the most accurate kicker in NFL history, making 178 of 198 field goal attempts in his career. He had not missed a game since signing with the Cowboys as an undrafted free agent in 2011 — until now.

Three of the Cowboys’ next four games will be in climate-controlled stadiums with retractable roofs (two at AT&T Stadium and one at Atlanta’s Mercedes Benz Stadium), which make for easier kicking conditions. The Cowboys play at FedEx Field Sunday against the Washington Redskins.

To make room for Nugent on the roster, the Dallas Cowboys waived defensive end Damontre Moore. Moore was inactive last week. In three games coaches credited him with seven tackles and four quarterback hurries.

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