Darren Sproles

Unique set of skills highlight Tavon Austin at the right time

2013-04-23 14:36:00

Imagine the football field as a chess board, its synthetic green grass replaced with two-toned squares. Picture wideouts as rooks rocketing up and down the edges of the board and backs as bishops slashing through a front line of pawns. Tight ends and...

St. Louis Rams trade up to select Tavon Austin in the first round

2013-04-25 21:38:00

Representing Dunbar High with a maroon suit and maroon tie, Tavon Austin strolled into Radio City Music Hall around 7 p.m. Thursday night to see his lifelong dream fulfilled. At 7:34 p.m., he and 22 other top prospects were introduced to the crowd....

Tavon Austin in St. Louis could be the next 'Greatest Show on Turf'

2013-04-25 18:37:00

One of my favorite assignments in the past year or so was the feature I did this week on former Dunbar and West Virginia star Tavon Austin, who for weeks has had talent evaluators in NFL organizations and in the media salivating about what he might do...

Ray Lewis doesn't disappoint in his final game at M&T Bank Stadium

2013-01-06 18:41:00

Minutes after a grinning Ray Lewis swaggered out of the tunnel and did his trademark dance much to the delight of fans and teammates, the Ravens' star middle linebacker was suddenly all business again. The smile quickly left Lewis' face as kickoff...

Ray Rice's first down doesn't stand alone in Ravens lore

2012-11-27 16:02:00

Ravens fans are still atwitter about Ray Rice's 30-yard mad dash for that game-saving first down Sunday in San Diego, and why not? It brought the Ravens back from the dead. It put them in position to eliminate the Pittsburgh Steelers from AFC North...

Time to start answering bell

2011-09-11 00:00:00

Have the Eagles assembled the "Dream Team," or is this another fantasy football roster built to disappoint? That's just one of the pressing questions heading into this NFL season. A few of the others: Did the lockout truly favor those teams with an...

Chargers tailback turns shooting into blessing

2012-03-12 17:56:00

The bullet is still an inch from Curtis Brinkley's heart. It survived hours of emergency surgery. It was lodged there during months of rehab. And three years after the early-morning shooting nearly killed Brinkley, it remains inside of him as he lives...

Five Things We Learned about the NFL in Week 1

2011-09-14 08:04:00

Greeting, football fans. This week, we're taking our�popular "Five Things"�template�we use to�break down each Ravens game, and expanding to the rest of the NFL. Each week, we'll try to look at some of the trends and issues we noticed around the league. As...

Fantasy Fodder: The biggest surprises of 2011 so far

2011-10-25 12:45:00

Every season, a few surprise studs come out of fantasy Siberia to reward savvy owners who had the foresight to select them in the later rounds of the draft. A season ago, Adrian Foster, Peyton Hillis and Brandon Lloyd come to mind. Ray Rice, Miles...

Game 2: Ravens, Lewis deliver knockout punch

2009-09-21 00:00:00

After the San Diego Chargers bent the Ravens' defense all game, it was Ray Lewis who broke them in the end. Shooting an inside gap on "fourth down-and-game," Lewis wrapped his arms around running back Darren Sproles in the backfield with 30 seconds left,...

Game 11: A sinking feeling for Ravens

2007-11-26 00:00:00

A week ago, Ravens coach Brian Billick said he wanted his players to hold on to their faint playoff hopes. Now, the only goal should be fixing a flawed offense. Held to 210 yards by the NFL's 25th-ranked defense, the Ravens (4-7) sputtered to a 32-14...

Top pick Fluker also working at guard

2013-06-13 17:56:02

The Sports Xchange Top pick Fluker also working at guard SAN DIEGO -- Rookie right tackle D.J. Fluker, the team's first-round pick, is getting some work at right guard. Fluker, like any rookie, is being challenged in absorbing a new system and...

, for a 5-yard loss on fourth-and-2 with 30 seconds remaining. "That just shows that Ray really watches film and he's really a smart player," Sproles said. "We ran that play the whole game, and he finally just shot the gap and he read it right.

2012-12-30 00:00:00

I won't pretend to know how the backfield will shake out from week to week in Nola. I do know Ivory has back-to-back double-digit games and also turned out one of the more spectacular TD runs of the season on Sunday.

2012-11-13 13:15:00

, but I do know that Sproles' ability to catch the ball and run away from pretty much every linebacker in the game is unmatched. At some point on Saturday, Jim Schwartz might as well have tried putting a cornerback on Sproles, just to try and get his defense off the field on third down.

2012-01-01 00:00:00