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BATAVIA, N.Y. -- Jim Kelly intends to deal with the cancer found in his upper jaw bone much like the Hall of Fame quarterback has approached many of the challenges in his life. "You have to confront them head on. And this is just another one," Kelly said Monday after revealing hes been diagnosed with squamous cell carcinoma. Kelly drew upon his family, faith and perseverance when facing major hurdles. Kelly leaned on those strengths to help overcome the death of his son, Hunter, and of his mother, and whatever obstacles stood in his way on the football field. "Im down at the bottom. But I will rise to the top again," Kelly said. "I am extremely confident in my road to recovery. I plan to tackle this challenge head on, as we Kellys always do." Informed of the diagnosis two weeks ago, Kelly called the prognosis for recovery "very good." He said tests show the cancer is isolated to the jaw. Doctors plan to remove part of Kellys jaw during an operation at a Buffalo hospital on Friday. It wont be determined until after surgery whether he will require chemotherapy "We caught it in time," the 53-year-old Kelly said. "Its just another challenge for me and I know Ill beat it." The announcement was made shortly before the start of the former quarterbacks 27th annual Kelly for Kids charitable foundations celebrity golf tournament. The news of Kellys condition immediately drew support from those attending the tournament. "The first thought is you say a prayer that everything works out OK," said Bill Polian, former general manager of the Bills, Panthers and Colts. "Secondly, he didnt earn a reputation as the toughest guy ever to play quarterback for no reason at all. So if anybody can overcome this, Jim can. He takes challenges head on." Receiver Andre Reed, Kellys favourite target, called the quarterback a "tough dude." "Jims a fighter. We think hell be OK. Were all in his corner," Reed said. "Hes such a resilient guy, and thats been our motto forever, in whatever we did. "Hes got the support, and Jim will be OK." Kelly spent 11 seasons with the Bills before retiring following the 1996 campaign, and has since made Buffalo his home. Known for his fearless, swashbuckling style, Kelly was the face of Bills teams that made four consecutive Super Bowl appearances in the early 1990s, only to lose them all. Inducted into the Pro Football Hall of Fame in 2002, Kelly still holds nearly every significant career franchise passing record: 35,467 yards, 237 touchdowns and 26 300-yard games. News of Kellys condition also attracted many well-wishers from around the world on social media. The term, "PrayersForJK," became popular on Twitter. "I LOVE JIM KELLY," Kellys teammate and Hall of Fame running back Thurman Thomas posted on his Twitter account. The diagnosis stems from pain Kelly began experiencing in his jaw in December. He initially thought it was an infection, but grew concerned when antibiotics failed to help. Tests eventually led to doctors removing a nickel-sized cyst from his gums and nasal cavity during an operation in early March. Follow-up tests revealed the cancer. "When you hear the word cancer, it automatically scares you," he said. "But Im very confident. My faith is definitely there. And that probably, more than anything, has kept me going, and the support Ive gotten from my family." Concerns about Kellys health were first raised last week when his wife, Jill Kelly, posted a message published on imgur.com. Without going into detail, she noted that the family was going through a "more serious battle under our roof," and asked followers to pray for her husband "for healing." Later, a youth sports foundation in Sioux Falls, S.D., announced that the Hall of Famer would not be able to attend the Hy-Vee/Sanford Legends banquet on June 13 for personal reasons. This is but the latest operation Kelly will have had over the past few years. Hes also had surgery to correct back, neck and hernia problems. Kelly has remained active despite the diagnosis. On May 26, he joined country music artist Tim McGraw on stage and threw footballs into the crowd during a concert outside Buffalo. A week earlier, he attended The Preakness in Baltimore. And then there was Kelly playing host to the many weekend festivities involving his charitable foundation. Kelly was upbeat in addressing reporters Sunday, while attending the foundations annual gala and auction. He was just as engaging before the golf tournament in making sure to greet many of his guests. Taking the microphone to start the tournament, Kelly joked while reminding everyone to enjoy themselves, cautioning that mulligans were not allowed. "Jim cuts a wide swath," former teammate turned broadcaster Steve Tasker said. "He doesnt forget people. And for that, people love him. Thats why Buffalo loves him. Thats why I love him. "Hes a teammate in life." The Kelly for Kids Foundation was established in 1987, and has since donated millions of dollars to numerous organizations around the region. Kelly later founded the Hunters Hope Foundation in honour of his son, Hunter, who was born with Krabbe disease. Thats an inherited degenerative disorder of the central and peripheral nervous systems. The disease hinders development of the myelin sheath, a fatty covering that protects the brains nerve fibers. Given little more than three years to live, Hunter died at the age of 8 in 2005. Cheap Islanders Jerseys Authentic . The No. 1-ranked Nadal tweaked his back warming up for the Australian Open final, which he lost almost four weeks ago in a major upset against Stanislas Wawrinka. His first stop after the layoff is the clay in Rio as he tests the back and tries to stay healthy for the French Open in three months. Wholesale Islanders Jerseys . Brandon Morrow allowed five runs on six hits over three innings. He struck out two, walked one and hit a batter. Edwin Encarnacion had a two-out, bases loaded two-RBI double in the third inning. http://www.cheapislandersjerseys.com/ . -- An ugly goal by Nick Bonino helped the Anaheim Ducks overcome the defensive-minded Phoenix Coyotes on a night when their ragged power play continued to struggle. Cheap Adidas Islanders Jerseys . Dukurs winning time was 1 minute, 45.76 seconds, a quarter-second better than Russias Alexander Tretiakov. Lativas Tomass Dukurs was third, 1.41 seconds off the pace. Jon Montgomery of Eckville, Alta. Cheap Islanders Jerseys . Datsyuk will miss Tuesdays game against New Jersey and could be sidelined longer, while Cleary will likely miss at least the next three games. Its been an injury-plagued season for Datsyuk, who has suited up for just 39 games. It was a good week for England, Ireland, Wales, Scotland and New Zealand, while the Springboks, Italy, France, Australia and Argentina fell to defeat. We take a look at the big question surrounding each of the top teams in international rugby.Argentina Argentina rack up the air miles, but also travel wearinessArgentina coach Daniel Hourcade says his top players will have made close to 50 trips this year and been to 18 different cities as they cope with the rigours of Super Rugby, the Rugby Championship and the end-of-year tours.This schedule is not sustainable for high performance athletes and they were short of their best when they faced England in a match which brought down the curtain on their 2016. Hourcade said post-match that they were travel weary but did not use that as an excuse for their inability to see off 14-man England.In part it is down to the tough season that we have had after many trips and games. For the players it was a new season, Hourcade said. On the other hand the team had chances in the last 20 minutes and werent able to score, but not because they were tired. -- Tom HamiltonAustralia Indiscipline, execution cost Wallabies dearlyThe Wallabies grand slam drought will continue for at least another few years after their three-match winning run came to an end in Dublin. Michael Cheikas side were forced to defend for much of the first half, a situation that saw them give up a 17-0 lead, but when they did finally secure some possession the improvements in their attack from the last month were there for all to see.Still, this will certainly feel like a lost opportunity for Australia. While the improved shape of their attack was obvious, the execution of the final touches was not. The Wallabies butchered several excellent attacking opportunities with poor- or pushed final passes while their breakdown work was also, at times, ineffective.And then there was a 13-3 penalty count they found themselves on the wrong side of. Cheika may have some cause to moan about the referee, but his side were their own worst enemy and they now must regroup ahead of next weeks final clash with England. -- Sam BruceWeek 5 vs. England, Twickenham, Dec. 3, 2:30 p.m. GMTEngland Rokoduguni and Yarde state their claim in front of Eddie JonesWith Elliot Daly expected to be handed a suspension on Monday following his red card against the Pumas, Jones now has to decide who will start on the wing against Australia on Saturday. It looks to be a straight shootout between Baths Semesa Rokoduguni and Harlequins Marland Yarde.As chance had it, they faced each other on Sunday in the Aviva Premiership with Jones watching on from the stand. Both played well with Rokoduguni making one outstanding break while Yarde made more runs with ball in hand than his Bath counterpart.Jones usually wants one speedster -- Jonny May -- and one more physical winger, an attribute both Yarde and Rokoduguni possess. It will be fascinating to see whether Jones backs Yarde, a winger he knows well, or gives the more unpredictable Rokoduguni a shot against the Wallabies. -- THWeek 5 vs. Australia, Twickenham, Dec. 3, 2:30 p.m. GMTFrance Les Bleus on the verge of a return to running rugby glory days? Guy Noves will have plenty of time to digest Frances narrow defeat to New Zealand as he prepares for the Six Nations. He will most probably do so with a feeling that Les Bleus could and really should have secured their first victory against the All Blacks at the Stade de France.The amount of try-scoring opportunities that were created by the hosts should be seen in a positive light, but by the same token that the majority were not taken is a concern. Simple errors cost them at crucial times, and with a little more composure in vital areas France would have been celebrating on Sunday morning. It is the job of the head coach to acknowledge such shortcomings and come up with a solution.Noves has 68 days to do exactly that before France visit England in February. It would have been galling for some French fans to witness exactly how a nation once famed for its flair in attack floundered in Paris. But those supporters who headed towards the Gare du Nord on Saturday night did so in fairly good spirit.They have plumbed some fairly low depths since New Zealand beat them in the 2011 World Cup final. The performance on the weekend at least hinted at a return to the days of free-flowing rugby. Noves side might not have possessed the skillset to get over the line here, but in having a go they gave their fans reason to cheer. Now they must back it up in what promises to be one of the most keenly contested Six Nations of recent memory. -- Martyn ThomasIreland Ireland choke Wallabies to ice sweet?NovemberIt was the catalyst for their famous victory over Australia at 2011 World Cup, and the choke tackle again proved invaluable for Ireland against the Wallabies in Dublin. Joe Schmidt had clearly done his homework, as was the case with the victory over New Zealand in Chicago, with his forward pack able to force a turnover time, and time again by holding the Wallabies up and earning the maul call form referee Jerome Garces.Schmidt will surely be just as pleased with the performance of the youngsters he was forced to throw into the Test cauldron following the injuries to Jonny Sexton, Robbie Henshaw and the late withdrawal of Sean OBrien.Paddy Jackson has experience at running the side from 10 at the top level, but he still could have been forgiven for a shaky outing given the opposition. He was ably supported by Garry Ringrose and young flanker, and man of the match, Josh van der Flier. The openside was superb stepping in for Sean OBrien just hours before kick-off.dddddddddddd -- SBItalyOne huge step forward, two steps backHow big of a presence does Sergio Parisse have? Perhaps the defeat to Tonga showed that an Italy without Parisse, is an Italy in dire need of some leaders on the field. Parisse was the only change from the side that defeated the Springboks a week earlier, and in his absence Italy faltered.While Carlo Canna,?Tommaso Allan and Edoardo Padovani were all on target with kicks at the weekend, they still lack a fly-half to control the game.?Italy led 7-0 and should have taken advantage when Valentino Mapapalangi was sin-binned 25 minutes in. But Canna should have controlled the game between their first try 13 minutes in and the second to put them back in front at 14-13 before the hour mark. They lack leaders.Leaders like Parisse to galvanise the team, leaders at fly-half to control games and leaders around the field to prevent stupid sin-binnings. But this defeat could be better for Conor OShea, as he looks to build towards the Six Nations. They wont go into the competition with the heightened expectations which came after defeating the Spingboks. OShea has a lot of work on his hands before February. -- Killian OConnorNew Zealand All Blacks will learn from November experience Character has been a watchword for the All Blacks this month, and as they head home to recuperate from a bruising end of year campaign they will do so knowing they produced the goods when they needed to. New Zealands last two wins, against Ireland and France, were not necessarily pretty but on both occasions they found a way to win, and when the dust settles that is all that matters.Steve Hansen will have learned a huge amount about some of the more inexperienced players in what is still a fairly new team. TJ Perenara is someone who has brought into the All Blacks ethos, and the scrum-half could not have chosen a better time to put his hand up with Aaron Smiths off-field problems creeping onto the pitch.Other success stories include the centres Malakai Fekitoa and Anton Lienert-Brown, while Scott Barretts emergence will please Hansen given his sides reliance on superstar locks Brodie Retallick and Sam Whitelock. Kieran Reads captaincy will also only benefit from his experience in the Northern Hemisphere this month.It might not have been the scintillating rugby we have come to expect, but this All Blacks side will only get better as the British and Irish Lions visit to New Zealand edges closer. The rest of the world has been warned. -- MTScotlandBright future as Cotter enters last six months?Last year Greig Laidlaw spoke about how Vern Cotter gave the team belief to back up one-off performances and become a more consistent team. The November series was testament to that; that the stuttering pretenders are no more. They showed they can compete with teams at the top of World Rugby.While they disposed of Georgia, it was the victory over Argentina and heartbreaking defeat to Australia which showed their character and grit. Their back-line excites once more with the addition of Huw Jones, and one wonders how much more progress this team might have made if Scotland had paid Clermont to get the coach the year before he arrived at Murrayfield.With Cotters departure in June, he will be hopeful of a few more big performances come February. Scotland may just have cast their perennial underachievers tag aside under Cotter and will be confident of causing a few problems comes the 6 Nations. -- KOCSouth Africa How to stop the rotWhen a Union releases a statement planning a review and governance overhaul, you know its been a pretty poor series from the Boks. Its now eight defeats in 12 games under Allister Coetzee and the positives get ever more difficult to find. Although he has been plagued by injuries, in short, there arent any.The writing was on the wall for Coetzees team in the summer, when Ireland beat them in the first of three Tests, yet somehow manage to leave the series victory behind them. If it was a fresh start they were after, he shouldnt have waited until defeat to Italy to drop players. He might have been forgiven eight defeats had he gone for inexperience from the outset. He looked to them out of desperation at the weekend and it didnt pay off.They will have the likes of Jan Serfontein, Handré Pollard, Cobus Reinach and Eben Etzebeth back from injury next year, but they need to give a coach free reign to get the best out of them and some up and coming Boks talent. -- KOCWales Glimmer of hope at Novembers end?For the most part, it wasnt pretty, but Wales equaled their best autumn series after defeating a below-par Springboks. The mistaken-riddled performances against Argentina and Japan are now a distant memory. Ahead of the Six Nations they needed some optimism and it was supplied, in part, by the man of the match performance by Justin Tipuric.?He was everywhere. Having blocked down a clearance from Elton Jantjies, he provided some superb carries, a steal in the first-half. He rounded off his display with a great try, stepping inside Johan Goosen to score, after bursting onto a Faletau pass.But their back-line didnt provide the excitement which we had grown accustomed to from the Wales sides of old. Jonathan Davies, George North, Leigh Halfpenny, Liam Williams et al showed glimpses, but will need a huge improvement if they stand a chance at wrestling back a Six Nations trophy they last won in 2012 when they claimed a Grand Slam. -- KOC ' ' '