¤ milky moon ¤

HOUSTON - The Texans have already tripled their win total from last years 2-14 season and the rest of their schedule includes two games against the 2-10 Jaguars.Yes, the playoffs are being discussed in Houston.Youve got to treat it week to week and focus on each game individually, but as of right now every single game is a playoff, centre Chris Myers said. Thats the way it is. Weve got to be able to win every single game and other things will take care of themselves.Myers said it would be silly to say that dont think about the possibility of making the post-season for the third time in franchise history.The playoffs are always on your mind, Myers said. Thats the overall goal in the NFL is to make the playoffs and get to that big game.Houstons 45-21 win over Tennessee on Sunday got the Texans to 6-6 and leaves them second in the AFC South division behind the Colts (8-4). The Texans travel to Jacksonville on Sunday and end the regular-season at home against the Jaguars. They also travel to Indianapolis and host the Ravens in their last four games.But first they have to deal with the Jaguars, who rallied from a 21-point deficit on Sunday for a win over the Giants. After seeing what they did last week, theres no way the Texans will be looking past Jacksonville.I dont care what their record is, Houston coach Bill OBrien said. This team is a talented team, well coached. I have a lot of respect for Gus Bradley and the way he coaches, the energy that he brings to their team. Theyre playing very hard.The Texans scored the most points in franchise history last week as quarterback Ryan Fitzpatrick returned to the starting lineup to throw a career-high and franchise-record six touchdown passes. His performance came after two weeks on the bench and earned the veteran AFC offensive player of the week honours. Its the first time a Houston player has won the honour on offence since Matt Schaub in 2012.This week, theyll look to repeat that performance and try to win consecutive games for the first time since the first two weeks of the season.Its been an inconsistent year in terms of overall performance and being able to move the ball on a consistent basis, Myers said. But when were on were on and were pretty strong. As long as we can keep building on it and keep growing as an offence and building that cohesiveness I think were going to be all right.Houstons success against the Titans was helped by a defence that is tied for second in the NFL with a plus-11 turnover margin. Linebacker Brian Cushing said a variety of things factor in to forcing turnovers.I just think its aggressive play, good play calling and guys really having an emphasis of getting the ball back for our offence, Cushing said. I think those things combined have helped things turn out well for us.Houston had three interceptions on Sunday and J.J. Watt forced and recovered a fumble for another turnover. He likes that so many different people have been getting in on the turnover action.I think its one of those things that is contagious, guys making plays at all different positions, Watt said. Its pretty neat when everyone gets involved. I think one of the most fun parts about it is that you never know where its going to come from.The group could get a boost this week with the return of starting cornerback Kareem Jackson, who missed the last three games with a knee injury.He was out there (Wednesday) and he looked OK, OBrien said.He said his chances of playing Sunday are looking better but that hes still day to day.NOTES: Top overall pick Jadeveon Clowney visited Dr. James Andrews in Pensacola, Florida on Wednesday to have his surgically repaired right knee evaluated. OBrien said when he returns to Houston team officials and doctors will meet to discuss the findings and determine what the next step is for the outside linebacker. Clowney was injured in Week 1 and had arthroscopic surgery on Sept. 8. He has played three games since then, but has never completely recovered from the procedure and said last week that hes still in a lot of pain.___Online:AP NFL website: www.pro32.ap.org and http://twitter.com/AP_NFL . "You hate when they score," he said with some distaste at the thought. "You take pride in it. . -- With the Memphis Grizzlies struggling to find their offensive rhythm, O. http://www.soccerspainfansshop.com/Gera ... in-Jersey/. UEFA said Wednesday that the champions of England and France only have to include five home-trained players in their 21-man squads next season instead of the expected eight. Only one of the five players needs to be trained by the club itself. . Over the course of his career Glenn is 79-71-1 in 151 starts for a .526 career winning percentage. Since becoming a Stampeder, he has elevated his play and raised his stock around the league. . Weise left the arena with a splint on his wrist and underwent tests to determine whether the tendon is torn. Winger Travis Moen will also miss some time after suffering a concussion in Mondays contest.KINGSTON, Ont. - Missing some of its biggest stars, the Canadian figure skating team will still head to the world championships with the podium in its sights.Meagan Duhamel and Eric Radford in pairs and Kaitlyn Weaver and Andrew Poje in ice dance headline the world championship team named Sunday at the end of the Canadian championships.Both the pairs and ice dance teams are enjoying breakthough seasons, sweeping gold in every competition in which theyve competed, including the Grand Prix Final in December.Given what we had coming out of the Final, definitely with Meagan and Eric and Kaitlyn and Andrew, (the goal is) podium, said Mike Slipchuk, Skate Canadas high performance director. And both have a great shot at gold. Those are two realistic entries.And we have a lot of unknowns.Missing in action this weekend were three-time world champion Patrick Chan and Olympic and world ice dance champions Tessa Virtue and Scott Moir. All three, who were at the Rogers K-Rock Centre to watch the competition, are taking this season off to contemplate their futures.In a transition year, weve created depth, Slipchuk said. When and if Chan and the ice dancers return, he said it will only make us stronger.Spots that were available this year might not be there next year. That changed the landscape. And I think it makes everyone hungrier ... Were starting to see the potential of our younger skaters. They were thrust in the spotlight this year and they totally handled it fine.Nam Nguyen, a 16-year-old from Toronto, won the mens title in dominant fashion, giving a glimpse of a bright future in mens skating. Nam, he just lit it up, Slipchuk said. Nguyen is improving at breakneck pace, finishing 23rd in a junior Grand Prix last season months before winning the world junior championships. He captured a bronze and a fourth-place finish in his two senior Grand Prix events this season, and then had the performance of his career at the K-Rock Centre, opening Saturday nights free program with a huge quad Salchow on his way to a clean program.The thing with Nam is he is just so calm, cool and collected, and consistent, Slipchuk said. He has a good sense of humour, hes fun to be around, but when hes on the ice, its all business. With the way the field is now, and everyone is so technically efficient, youve got to be efficient. And he just gives you that feeling that first jump is landed, hess going clean.ddddddddddddFollowing in Chans footsteps, Slipchuk said, has helped Nguyens development.Weve always had someone everyone could develop underneqth. Jeff (Buttle) was there so Patrick had a year or two to build up. Then Patrick carried that group of men underneath him, so they could develop under him. And now this is the result of that.And I think its that leadership, we have a great group of skaters, theyre great role models, they want to see all Canadians succeed, and you saw that with Patrick being here (in Kingston) and Tessa and Scott being here, they all came back.Jeremy Ten of Vancouver is the other mens entry for the world championships. Gabrielle Daleman of Newmarket, Ont., won the womens title in a field that was missing defending champion Kaetlyn Osmond due to injury. Alaine Chartrand of Prescott, Ont., finished second to also make the world team.Canadas other two world entries in pairs are Lubov Ilyushechkina and Dylan Moscovitch of Toronto, and Julianne Seguin of Longueuil, Que., and Charlie Bilodeau of Notre-Dame-du-Portage, Que. Seguin and Bilodeau are still juniors, and are aiming for gold at the world junior championships.Ilyushechkina and Moscovitch are a new team this season, created after Moscovitch split with former partner Kirsten Moore-Towers. Ilyushechkina competed for Russia, and when Moscovitch discovered she was without a partner, he approached her via Facebook, inviting her for a tryout.They won silver this week despite only joining forces in the fall. They had just one previous competition under their belt.We had to prepare everything for a big start, I know the Canadian expression Go big or go home, Ilyushechkina said.Ilyushechkina is eligible to compete for Canada at the world championships, but must obtain Canadian citizenship to compete in the Olympics.Oh, its fantastic, she said, about wearing Canadas colours at the world championships. I dont believe it yet.Piper Gilles of Toronto and Paul Poirier of Unionville, Ont., and Alexandra Paul of Midhurst, Ont., and Mitchell Islam of Barrie, Ont., round out the ice dance group. All three had top-10 finishes at last years world championships, proving that Canadas strength in ice dance doesnt stop with Virtue and Moir.Weaver and Poje captured silver at last years worlds, but are the favourites for gold a year later.The world championships are March 23-29. ' ' '