l proper GC [general classification] day.Porte lauded Van A

FOXBOROUGH, Mass. -- Defensive end Chris Long and his New England teammates know enough about the Pittsburgh offense to realize the Steelers can be potent even without Ben Roethisberger.One of the best, maybe the best wide receiver corps in the league, best 1-2 punch at running back in the league, good tight ends, best offensive line in the league, up there, ... a ton of weapons, Long said Thursday, as the Patriots prepared for Sundays visit to Pittsburgh. Really good offense.The running back pair of LeVeon Bell and DeAngelo Williams and the wide receiver group led by Antonio Brown will be without Roethlisberger, who underwent arthroscopic left knee surgery after getting hurt in last weeks loss at Miami.Landry Jones will be the starter for first-place Pittsburgh.Weve watched a lot of their offense, said Long, a free agent signing who has gotten off to a strong start with his new team.I feel like we know these guys pretty well. That having been said, it doesnt make it any easier. From top to bottom its a really good unit.Bell has run for 263 yards (12 fewer than Williams) but has also caught 20 passes out of the backfield for 177 yards. He is still, however, looking for his first touchdown of the season (Brown has five, Williams three).In short, Bell is tough for any defense to handle, with or without his quarterback.You can just turn on the film and see where hes at, New England linebacker Donta Hightower said. The guy plays running back, he plays receiver, they line him up everywhere, they motion him.Hes not a one-trick pony. He has an extended route tree. They do a good job of being able to get him the ball whether its screens, out of the backfield or passes. Weve have to do a good job of just knowing where hes at all times.How impressed is New England coach Bill Belichick with Bell?Oh my God. Oh yeah, tremendous player, Belichick said Wednesday. Great hands, catch the ball, very quick, makes people miss. Strong, breaks tackles, excellent balance, tough, doesnt run out of bounds, fights for extra yardage. Great player.Said Long: Its impressive. Hes really a prolific receiver out of the backfield, so we have to do good job on him in that regard, too. It kind of makes it double the challenge.Hightower sacked Andy Dalton for a safety, had another shared sack and was in on 13 tackles in New Englands win over Cincinnati last Sunday -- earning him AFC defensive player of the week honors.He was the first Patriots linebacker since Mike Vrabel, in 2007, to win the award. His performance helped turn around an afternoon that wasnt going well for New England -- the Patriots winning to go to 5-1 and they head to Heinz Field.Very tough at home. They do play really well at home, Long said. Theyve got great fans that make it a wild atmosphere up there, so it should be a tough challenge.Game notes Patriots players were not commenting on the $75,000 fine -- and no suspension -- levied against Cincinnatis Vontaze Burfict for his low hit on Martellus Bennett last Sunday. Thats last week. Thats the rules. Im worried about Pittsburgh, wide receiver Julian Edelman said. Im not getting caught in that one. Asked if the rule is a bad one, he said, Im not here to talk about rules, Im here to play football. Said tight end Rob Gronkowski: Its all up to the league. Ive got really no say in anything. ... Gronkowski on playing at Heinz Field: The atmosphere is just football atmosphere. Youve got great high school football there, youve got great college football there, youve got great NFL football there. Its just a football atmosphere -- they love their Steelers, they love going to the game and its going to be a great atmosphere come Sunday.---Online:AP NFL website: http://www.pro32.ap.org and AP NFL coverage on Twitter: http://www.twitter.com/AP-NFL Raptors Jerseys 2020 . At a news conference Tuesday where it was thought that the fiery Schallibaum may be shown the door after a dismal finish to the Major League Soccer season, team president Joey Saputo said no decision has been made on whether the Swiss Volcano will be back in 2014. Raptors Jerseys China .J. -- Josh Cribbs was in the Pro Bowl in February and out of a job six months later. https://www.cheapraptors.com/ . LOUIS -- Theres no telling how these wacky World Series games will end. Raptors Jerseys 2019 . Once again Jordan Cieciwa (@FitCityJordan) and I (@LynchOnSports) go head to head in our picks. Last weekend at UFC Fight Night 32 my #TeamLynch got the best of #TeamJC by a score of 9-6. Let us know which side youre on for UFC 167 use the hashtag #TeamLynch or #TeamJC on Twitter. Toronto Raptors Store . The 29-year-old from Port Colborne, Ont., has nothing but good things to say about former U.S. marine Liz (Girlrilla) Carmouche ahead of their co-main event Wednesday on the UFCs "Fight for the Troops" televised card in Fort Campbell, Ky. LE LIORAN, France -- Greg Van Avermaet knows his time in the Tour de France leaders yellow jersey that he claimed by winning Wednesdays fifth stage into the Massif Central will be limited. But for his BMC Racing team, his achievement will have provided them with a much-needed boost after a rocky start as the Tour heads toward the Pyrénées this weekend.The United States-registered team, which is racing with a two-pronged attack featuring by American Tejay van Garderen and Australian Richie Porte as co-leaders, was one of the first in the peloton to see their Tour compromised when Porte lost 1:45 to his main rivals due to a flat tyre inside the last five kilometres of Stage 2.While BMC team president Jim Ochowicz said the teams focus on a Van Garderen-Porte bid for Tour glory has not changed, there was no doubting that Portes time loss was a blow. But, to their credit, Porte and the team did not drop their heads.The 31-year-old Van Avermaet was justifiably ecstatic for pulling off his double coup. I was happy with the stage win last year, now a stage win and yellow jersey, he said. It is a once in a lifetime for me. I am going to enjoy it as much as possible tomorrow.Van Avermaet, a one-day classics specialist, is not considered a threat to the likes of defending Tour champion Chris Froome (Sky) or Colombian Nairo Quintana (Movistar). But the Belgian now leads the Tour by 5:11 over Frenchman Julian Alaphilippe (FDJ) in second and 5:13 over Spaniard Alejandro Valverde (Movistar) in third.Barring disaster in Thursdays 190.5-km Stage 6 from Arpajon-sur-Cère, Van Avermaet should take a lead into the Pyrénées on Friday, when the 162.5k-m seventh stage from LIsle-Jourdain to Lac de Payolle includes the first category climb Col dAspin near the finish.Van Avermaet made his winning move with 17km go on the second category Col du Perthus, dropping Thomas de Gendt (Lotto-Soudal), who, until then, had worked well with his fellow Belgian when they found themselves together as the last survivors of an original nine-rider breakaway that formed early in the stage.We were the strongest guys in the break I think, Van Avermaet said. We made the race hard. We made the gap big. Then we saw the peloton was not coming back on the steep climb. I felt pretty good and I just went on my own and was strong enough to go to the line.Van Avermaet finished 2:34 clear of de Gendt. In third, at 5:04, was Polands Rafael Majka (Tinkoff) and Spaniard Joaquim Rodriguez (Katusha).dddddddddddd. Three seconds later, 18 riders, including Froome and all his rivals bar Spaniard Alberto Contador (Tinkoff) and Italian Vincenzo Nibali (Astana), crossed the line. Contador finished 33 seconds behind Froome, after losing touch on the last climb with less than six kilometres to go. Peter Sagan (Tinkoff), the Tour leader heading into Wednesday, was dropped inside the last 35km on the third-to-last climb, the second category Pas de Peyrol.Porte, who along with Van Garderen also finished in Froomes group, welcomed the feel of hills under his wheels for the first time in the Tour, telling ESPN: It sort of clears out the bunch. It makes it not so stressful. It was the first real proper GC [general classification] day.Porte lauded Van Avermaets feat. Thats an incredible day for the whole team. I guess it is going to lift us as well. We didnt expect it this morning. Its good.For Tejay and I to have Damian [Caruso] there [as well] as the last man there shepherding us, thats a good sign for our team.While it was a great day for BMC, it wasnt so positive for Tinkoff, as Contador continued to show that he has not fully recovered from his heavy crashes in Stages 1 and 2. The Spaniard even indicated that, should he still struggle in the Pyrénées, he might have to surrender his hopes of racing for overall classification and go for stage wins instead.Today would have been different if I had been in my normal condition, so I had to get through it the best I could, Contador said. Sky and Movistar were going hard. I have to take on this Tour different than we had planned. I hope to recover for the Pyrénées; if not, well, well have to look for a moment in the Alps. There was a little bit of disorganization, but we cant get too carried away about that. The legs are not working, thats the problem.I was putting everything into the pedals. I have to be realistic, and this Tour is going to be more difficult than I would have liked, and well just have to take it day by day. ... I am always the most optimistic of anyone, and I will also fight to the end, and keep trying to do something beautiful in this Tour, but my body needs time to recover. ' ' '