News » Trent Murphy acknowledges he was fooling himself for scoffing

ORCHARD PARK Dexter Lawrence Jersey , N.Y. (AP) — long doctors and friends projected it would take to recuperate from a severe left knee injury.Though the Buffalo Bills defensive end learned he doesn’t possess super-human healing powers, Murphy says the challenges and setbacks he experienced attempting to cut his rehabilitation from 18 months to 12 upon signing with the Bills a year ago were worth it.“A lot of people gave me that feedback, players who have been through it called me and said, ‘Man take it easy. Take it easy,'” Murphy said, recalling the advice he received shortly after tearing both knee ligaments in a preseason game with Washington in August 2017.“Yeah, that wasn’t an option for me. I’m not waiting to get better next year. It was today, today. Now,” he added. “It was tough for sure, but I’m happy I fought through it.”On the brighter side, next year has finally arrived.The muscle pulls, groin strains and various tweaks — byproducts of Murphy compensating for his surgically repaired knee — that limited his practice and playing time last season are in the past. Upon completing a voluntary practice session this week, Murphy happily declared himself as injury-free.“To be able to contrast that process and be where I’m at now, I’ve got a different attitude, I’m a different dude, I feel way better Deandre Baker Jersey ,” the 28-year-old said. “It’s like night and day.”And that puts Murphy in position to finally begin proving the career-best numbers he posted in 2016, his third NFL season, weren’t a fluke.Selected by Washington in the second round of the 2014 draft out of Stanford, Murphy combined for six sacks, 16 quarterback hits and six tackles for loss in 31 games over his first two seasons. His production made a significant jump in 2016, when he had nine sacks, 24 quarterback hits and 10 tackles for loss in 16 games.Rather than get an opportunity to build on those numbers, Murphy’s career was sidetracked with a season-ending injury while also entering the final year of his contract.The Bills thought enough of Murphy by signing him to a three-year, $21 million contract.Playing through the pain, and despite missing a majority of the offseason, Murphy was still able to put up respectable numbers: four sacks, nine quarterback hits and five tackles for loss in 13 games, including 10 starts.And yet, the ever-driven Murphy — he drove through a snowstorm to get to Buffalo to sign his contract — knows he could’ve done better.“Every time I walked off the field, I know there was more I could’ve done,” he said.The Bills weren’t disappointed in his production by having already factored in the time Murphy would require to bounce back from such a devastating injury.“Oh Oshane Ximines Jersey , absolutely,” defensive coordinator Leslie Frazier said. “Coming off that type of injury that he had, it takes time not only from a physical standpoint, but mental, where you gain the confidence to be able to do some of the things you did before.”And Frazier sees the payoff by noting a new jump in Murphy’s step this spring.“We’re seeing the fruits of that because he works extremely hard,” Frazier said. “He’s a different-looking player today than he was a year ago at this time.”The plan is no different from last year, with Murphy pegged to start on the left side opposite Jerry Hughes. Buffalo is also hoping to improve its pass rush season with first-round draft pick defensive tackle Ed Oliver, taking over for the since-retired Kyle Williams.Led by Hughes’ seven sacks, Buffalo finished with 36 to rank 26th overall.Murphy said he began feeling like his old self once he began working out this offseason.“I had a couple of wounds to lick, and after I had a little down time, I was like, ‘All right. You know what, I got this,'” Murphy said. “The fact that there’s that much left in the tank, I’m as motivated as ever.”
WASHINGTON — On what was supposed to be a day off, the New York Yankees and the Washington Nationals will try on Monday to finish what they started in May.

The Yankees travel to Nationals Park to complete a game halted by rain on May 15 with the score tied 3-3. The teams will then make up a game that was rained out on May 16.

Slumping Bryce Harper gets the game restarted when he leads off the bottom of the sixth inning.

New York’s Sonny Gray (4-4 Julian Love Jersey , 4.98 ERA) opposes Erick Fedde (0-1, 5.91) 30 minutes after the completion of the suspended game

Both teams are coming off a loss, though for the Yankees it’s a blip and for the Nationals a trend.

Washington (37-31) completed a five-game trip through American League parks with an 8-6 loss at Toronto. The Nationals went 1-4 on the trip, ending with a sweep at the hands of the Blue Jays.

After failing to score in three of their previous five games, the Nationals produced 13 hits Sunday, only to see rare poor performances from a starter and a late-inning reliever.

Tanner Roark lasted just four innings and reliever Ryan Madson allowed two homers in the eighth inning, the first he has given up since June 4, 2017, when he was a member of the Oakland A’s and Washington’s Ryan Zimmerman homered.

“You never want to get swept, but I’m glad we swung the bats today,” Nationals manager Dave Martinez told MASN.com. “We haven’t been swinging very well. … I’ll take our chances every time we score six runs, I really will. I’m proud of them, they didn’t give up, they fought the whole game.”

Roark’s short outing came at a particularly bad time. The Nationals used four relievers Sunday and the pitching staff is looking at 12 or more innings of work Monday.

“I stunk today,” Roark told MASN.com. “Didn’t really have much working for me.”

Anthony Rendon, Brian Goodwin and Wilmer Difo each collected two hits Darius Slayton Jersey , but Harper went 0-for-5. He is now batting .163 (7-for-43) in June with four walks and 20 strikeouts.

The Yankees (46-21) dropped a 3-1 decision to the Tampa Bay Rays on Sunday but have won 13 of their last 17. That includes splitting two games with the Nationals last week.

CC Sabathia was the hard-luck loser Sunday when the Yankees went 0-for-7 with runners in scoring position.

“Always,” Yankees manager Aaron Boone told reporters when asked if he expected three runs not to be enough against his team.

“And that’s no disrespect ever to the opponent, it’s just I always know that we’re some traffic away from popping one,” he added. “We had a little traffic and threw some hits out there, but we just couldn’t get over the hump. They held us down and kept us at bay today.”

The Yankees (.687) remained ahead of the 49-24 Red Sox (.671) in the AL East. New York leads the majors in runs per game, homers, homers per game, slugging percentage and OPS.

That’s despite the continue struggles of Giancarlo Stanton (.243), who went 1-for-3 Sunday with a walk and two strikeouts.

“He’s still working to be ‘on time’ and get started to his rhythm of hitting. … That’s what he’s struggled with: consistently being on time. That’s when you have a tendency to expand or be behind on the fastball or behind on the breaking ball,” Boone told MLB.com.

However, Stanton is hitting .279 (34-for-122) with nine homers and 18 RBIs away from Yankee Stadium. And at Nationals Park, he has a career average of .289 with 20 homers and 41 RBIs in 54 games.

Gray is 0-0 with a 4.74 ERA in three starts against the Nationals. He gave up a three-run homer to rookie Juan Soto last Wednesday in a 5-4 loss to Washington when he allowed four runs on seven hits in five innings.

Fedde gave up four runs and six hits in five innings in a no-decision last week at Yankee Stadium.