three games last year but it forced Brandon Weeden to Dalla

ATLANTA -- Just three weeks ago, Billy Horschel had every reason to start looking ahead to next season. He had missed the cut in the first FedEx Cup playoff event to fall to No. 82 in the standings. He only had two top 10s all year, scant evidence that he was on the verge of something special. He was weeks away from becoming a father. What followed was the best golf of his life, and a payoff that was more than he could grasp. Im not sure life can be better than this, Horschel said. Horschel capped off his improbable playoff run Sunday at East Lake by pulling away from Rory McIlroy early and holding off Jim Furyk late. He posted his 12th straight round in the 60s -- a 2-under 68 -- to win the Tour Championship by three shots and claim the FedEx Cup and its $10 million bonus. Thats what these FedEx Cup playoffs are all about -- who can get the hot hand over the last four tournaments. Horschel took that to a level only Tiger Woods can appreciate. No one had ever won the FedEx Cup starting the playoffs lower than No. 19. Horschel started at No. 69. But he was the runner-up in Boston, a winner in Denver and he cashed in big in Atlanta. Those three weeks of prize money and the FedEx Cup bonus were worth nearly $13.5 million. I remember flying home and talking with my wife and she said, Youre probably just waiting for the season to be over and start a new season. I sort of was, Horschel said. But at the same time, I knew my game was in the right shape and I just needed to get out of my own way. I needed to allow my golf game to show. It was just too late to show Ryder Cup captain Tom Watson. Horschels timing was perfect for the FedEx Cup, not so much for the Ryder Cup. Watson made his three captains picks after the Deutsche Bank Championship -- Horschel was the runner-up -- and he had no reason to select a guy whose only PGA Tour win was last year in New Orleans. Now the Americans head to Scotland without the hottest hand in golf. McIlroy will have to settle for a year worth more than $10 million -- two majors, a World Golf Championship and undisputed No. 1 in the world. He lost his way with a tee shot into the water for double bogey on the par-3 fifth, and self-destructed with three sloppy bogeys around the turn. Three consecutive birdies late in the round gave him a 71 and a tie for second place with Furyk, who closed with back-to-back bogeys for a 69. This was the Billy Horschel show all week -- all month. Clinging to a one-shot lead, he calmly sank an 8-foot par putt on No. 13 to avoid his first three-putt of the week and stay one shot ahead of Furyk. The biggest blow came at the 16th hole when Horschel drove right into the trees, wisely pitched back to the fairway and saw his approach spin back 30 feet short of the cup. The putt never looked as if it was going anywhere but in. It came off and got up on top of that ridge and I said, This looks good. And it went in, and it was huge, Horschel said. I knew Jim was nipping at my heels and everything, and that was a big, big putt. Furyk came up short with his approach on the 17th and made bogey to fall two shots behind, and he three-putted the 18th trying to force a birdie. That made things easy on Horschel, who drilled his tee shot onto the green for a two-putt par to finish at 11-under 269. Horschel shared hugs and a few tears with his parents. His wife was home in Florida. Hopefully, shes not going into labour right now, he said. Not to worry. Brittany Horschel tweeted a picture of her smiling with her hands on her belly that said, We made it! congrats daddy! McIlroys birdies at the end earned him a little extra cash. He wound up No. 3 in the FedEx Cup, which paid an additional $2 million. Chris Kirk, who started the Tour Championship as the No. 1 seed in the FedEx Cup, closed with a 68 and tied for fourth with Justin Rose (69) and Jason Day (69). Kirk was second in the FedEx Cup and earned a $3 million bonus. It was the second time McIlroy had the biggest year without winning the FedEx Cup. He is a shoo-in to be PGA Tour player of the year, as he was in 2012. He was in better position this time -- tied for the lead through four holes -- until Horschel pulled away and the worlds No. 1 player ran out of steam. Needing to start picking up ground on the 600-yard ninth hole, he blasted his drive so far right that it wound up a foot away from the out-of-bounds fence of the practice range. There was no way out. With his caddie and a rules official ducking in the holly bushes, McIlroy slashed out with a wedge over the bushes and through a gap in the trees that only he saw. Next, he had a mobile TV truck lowered to ground level to get his third into the fairway. But his wedge came up short, and he made bogey. Two more bogeys later, he was five shots behind and out of the mix. I just got really frustrated and just couldnt muster the energy to try and get something going again, McIlroy said. Cheap Adidas Shoes Online . The result was a game-winning, power-play goal. Chiasson snapped a third-period tie and lifted the Dallas Stars to a 3-2 victory on Monday night. Cheap Adidas Shoes Online China . The 33-year-old Spaniard, who held the lead since the second round, turned in a solid final round that featured six birdies and two bogeys to finish on 22-under 266. The victory is Garcias first this year with his last win coming at the Johor Open, an Asian Tour event in Malaysia last December. http://www.cheapadidas.us/ .com) - Jahlil Okafor erupted for 25 points and 20 rebounds as No. Cheap Adidas Shoes From China . There are surprises among the Vezina candidates, but most of the others are standard top-tier performers, even if the two Hart Trophy runners-ups have never been quite as good as they have been through the first half of the season. Cheap Adidas Shoes For Sale . - Gary Kubiak is John Elways No.TSN football analyst Chris Schultz breaks down all the teams and each division in the NFL leading up to the regular season. Next up, the Baltimore Ravens, Cincinnati Bengals, Pittsburgh Steelers, and Cleveland Browns in the AFC North. Baltimore Ravens In 2014, the 8-8 season that the Baltimore Ravens experienced was to be expected. Coming off the 2013 Super Bowl, the absence of Ray Lewis, Ed Reed and others, a quarterback that now receives a about a million dollars a game, it was just football logical that a regression of success would happen. The good news is that was then, this is now. In the AFC North there are three teams that could finish anywhere between first and third. Cincinnati, Pittsburgh and Baltimore are all very similar but with head coach John Harbaugh and Ozzie Newsome now in his 19th year as a key decision maker, it is difficult to think this will be anything but a first place division winning team. Especially coming off a playoff-absent year with a younger and hungrier team. Joe Flacco did not have a good year last year. Ray Rice had a terrible off-season. Both players will bounce back by mid-season. In free agency, by acquiring Steve Smith the Ravens acquired emotional leadership. In the draft, by taking CJ Mosley they found a "ready to play" linebacker. And Torrey Smith as a receiver and Jimmy Smith as a cornerback are as good as any in the league. There is just too much football talent on an individual basis not to be optimistic about this season. An absolute key will be Week 1, 2 and 3: Cincinnati, Pittsburgh and at Cleveland. If Baltimore is 3-0 everyone in the division will be chasing them. If they go 0-3 they will be chasing everybody. Baltimore can make or break their season in September. Someone has to step in and replace Michael Oher at right tackle and they may need a fullback as both Shaun Chapas and Kyle Juszczyk are only second year players and not proven over a 16-game schedule. But if you believe in the trickledown effect, that if the strength of an organization is at the very top and because it is so strong everything else trickles down, Steve Bisciotti, Ozzie Newsome and John Harbaugh are just too good at their chosen profession not to have the Ravens bounce back in a big way here in 2014. Ravens will finish first in the AFC North. Cincinnati Bengals The Bengals have been a remarkably successful team during the regular season. In 2011 they went 9-7. In 2012, they finished 10-6. And last year, they had their best season of the three, finishing 11-5. But the Bengals have been a remarkably unsuccessful team in the playoffs. Under Marvin Lewis, who is a proven NFL coach, they are 0-5 in the postseason. And in those games they have not scored more than 17 points and have been outscored 132 to 64. Are the Bengals due this year to turn it around after the 16 games of the regular season? We wont know until January of 2015. This year they are off to a good start by wrapping up QB Andy Dalton and signing him for a lot of years and a lot of money. Dalton has his critics but who else is out there? Nobody. I think Cincinnati will finish second or third in the AFC North. They lost a very good defensive coordinator in Mike Zimmer and a very good offensive coordinator in Jay Gruden. Both received head coaching opportunities in Minnesota and Washington, respectively, and that says a lot. It is one thing to go from coordinator to coordinator from one team to another but to both receive head coaching positions means their value is in the extreme. Cincinnati has some great young talent. Giovani Bernard on offence and Vontaze Burfict on defence. And they do have a top-5 receiver in AJ Green who has caught more passes in his first three seasons than any receiver in NFL history with 260. But can they win the division again? The most important two games in the schedule happen in the last month of the season. First there is December 7 at Pittsburgh, and then in Week 17, December 28 at Pittsburgh. With a very balanced roster those two dattes could be for first, second, or even third place in the AFC North.dddddddddddd I think it will be for second. Bengals to finish second in the AFC North. Pittsburgh Steelers Just like the Baltimore Ravens and the Cincinnati Bengals the Pittsburgh Steelers could finish first in the AFC North or third. It comes down to the head-to-head divisional games. Last year they split games with the Ravens and Bengals, and beat the Browns twice. On the plus side Pittsburgh finished strong last year, going 6-2 over the last eight games and 8-4 over the last 12. On the "wait-and-see" side of things the Steelers are all of a sudden a much younger team on defence. Only Ike Taylor and Troy Polamalu are over age 30. It will be interesting to see how Dick LeBeau educates and manages his youth and inexperience. Sometimes the toughest aspect of winning football to create is to go from 8-8, as the Steelers did for the last two years, to 10-6 which can get you into the playoffs. At 32 it may be up to Ben Roethlisberger to get it done by himself. The player who was the biggest surprise to me was left tackle Kelvin Beachum, number 68. He is going into his third year and was a seventh-round draft pick out of SMU. Not many seventh-round draft picks become starters in their second year and I would not say dominant but he played like an eighth-year starter. The offensive line for Pittsburgh could be a genuine strength by the end of the year. The Steelers were an old team last year but not this time around as they went through the painful process of getting younger. Now, believe it or not their oldest player is their best player in Polamalu at 33. How many years he has left is unknown - or maybe how many years he has left playing the style of football he plays - which I call "dangerous". Dangerous for himself and his opponent. Pittsburgh does have impact players on offence with Roethlisberger, Antonio Brown and LeVeon Bell but their impact player on defence is still Troy Polamalu. If the Steelers do not make the playoffs this year it will be the first time since 1998 to 2000 that there were three consecutive "down years" for that franchise. The competition in the division is as good maybe as the NFC West. And because of that, the Steelers will finish third in the AFC North. Cleveland Browns In the last five seasons the Browns have won either five or four games, depending on the year. Overall the argument can be made that Cleveland is the most dysfunctional team in all of NFL football. The reasons are simple. Too many owners, too many head coaches and too many quarterbacks. Continuity has been a challenge but maybe, just maybe, it changes this year. All the attention is on Johnny Manziel but there are other aspects of Browns football that are more than respectable. The loss of Josh Gordon is the same for the Browns as if Detroit lost Calvin Johnson. Gordon changes games. But Miles Austin, Nate Burleson, Andrew Hawkins and Earl Bennett are all proven receivers. And that is the frustration with the Browns, they have talent. They have two good cornerbacks in Justin Gilbert and Joe Haden, and Joe Thomas and Alex Mack at tackle and centre. Jordan Cameron is a Pro Bowl player at tight end. But for whatever the reason it never comes together for more than five wins. With that, Mike Pettine has his challenge. The newest head coach does have a defensive system that is proven and has an offensive coordinator in Kyle Shanahan who is experienced. But somehow it all has to come together beginning on September 7 in Pittsburgh. Who will be at quarterback? I am betting on Brian Hoyer. He only played in three games last year but it forced Brandon Weeden to Dallas and he played well. Manziels time is coming but Hoyers time is now. Its all new again for the Browns: head coach, offensive and defensive coordinators and general manager in Ray Farmer. Its all new again, except for one thing - they will finish fourth again in the AFC North. Wholesale Hoodies NFL Shirts Outlet Jerseys NFL Wholesale Cheap NFL Jerseys Free Shipping Wholesale Jerseys Cheap Cheap NFL Jerseys China Wholesale Jerseys Wholesale NFL Jerseys Cheap NFL Jerseys China Cheap NFL Jerseys ' ' '