THURSDAY, SEPTEMBER 10, 2015 SPORTS Brady ready for business as NFL season opens LOS ANGELES: The New England Patriots Bowl champions since their own back-to- In another conference championship the all-time list. Manning isn’t the only QB squad, the former rugby league star is and superstar quarterback Tom Brady back triumphs in 2004 and 2005. rematch, Andrew Luck and the Colts host eyeing a milestone. New Orleans’ Drew already putting the NFL on the map in his launch their drive for a fifth Super Bowl They denied Seattle a second straight New England in Indianapolis seeking to Brees needs four touchdown passes and homeland. Niners coach Jim Tomsula title on Thursday with a resounding victo- crown with a dramatic victory in the avenge their loss in Foxborough in the Brady six to become the fourth and fifth called Hayne’s successful leap a “tremen- ry already in the books. championship showcase in February, but game that brought the world “Deflate- signal-callers to throw 400 TDs in a career. dous achievement”. Brady lines up against the Pittsburgh the Seahawks insist they’ve moved on gate.” For Indianapolis, 2015 is being Dallas Cowboys’ Jason Witten needs “It’s the true story, the American way Steelers a week to the day after a judge from the last-play heartbreak in Phoenix painted as a “Super Bowl-or-bust” season, 57 catches to join Tony Gonzalez as the or the Australian way,” Tomsula said of overturned his four-game suspension in and are ready to challenge again for the with the Colts counting on Luck to con- only tight ends with 1,000 career recep- Hayne’s appeal. “Work hard, keep driven, the “Deflate-gate”saga in a ruling widely National Conference crown. tinue the progress that saw him take tions. In Tampa Bay and Tennessee, all and you’ve made it.” seen as a rebuke to NFL Commissioner Expect the Indianapolis Colts, them deeper into the post-season in each eyes will be on a pair of rookie quarter- It’s a go-get-em philosophy the NFL Roger Goodell. However, the perception Baltimore Ravens and Denver Broncos to of his first three campaigns. backs taken first and second in the NFL continues to market to great effect over- of executive ineptitude as well as con- have something to say in whether the The marquee quarterback match-up draft. seas, and this year again sees it take it’s cerns over domestic violence, concussion Patriots again emerge from the American of Brady v Peyton Manning highlights The Bucs’ Jameis Winston and the bone-crunching brand of action to Britain dangers and the emotive issue of team Football Conference, while in the National week 12 when Manning’s Broncos host Titans’ Marcus Mariota will be trying to for three regular-season games in relocation have done little to dent the Football Conference the Green Bay the Pats in Denver. have the same immediate impact that London. sport’s popularity. All will be shoved to Packers, Dallas Cowboys and Carolina The Broncos’ title hopes rest squarely Luck and Washington’s Robert Griffin had The number might have been more the sidelines when the race to Super Bowl Panthers are top contenders in their divi- on Manning’s 39-year-old shoulders. A when they led their teams to the playoffs but for the demands of this year’s Rugby 50 at the San Francisco 49ers’ Levi’s sions. The Packers, led by quarterback revamped offense under new coach Gary in the same year they were drafted one- World Cup, with talk of a London NFL Stadium on February 7 begins. Aaron Rodgers, will get a quick shot at Kubiak should ease wear-and-tear on the two. franchise getting louder every season “It’s time for me to do my job,” Brady revenge when they host the Seahawks in veteran star, who starts the year with In San Francisco, Australian import even as the league targets growth in said. New England will be trying to an NFC championship game rematch in 69,691 passing yards and needs 2,148 to Jarryd Hayne is in the spotlight. Having neighbors Mexico and Canada and dis- become the first team to repeat as Super the second week of the season. surpass Packers legend Brett Favre atop played his way into the 49ers’ 53-man tant China. —AFP Stewart urges caution on closed F1 cockpits LONDON: Triple world champion Jackie something had to be done because ‘it’s not Stewart has urged Formula One to tread the 1970s...I think we’ve all had enough carefully before making any decision about now.” introducing closed cockpits in the wake of Stewart, who retired in 1973 after the recent race tragedies. death of Tyrrell team mate Francois Cevert The 76-year-old Scot, a famed safety at Watkins Glen in the United States, dis- campaigner who this month marked the agreed. 50th anniversary of his first grand prix win “I don’t see it as that bad. How many at Italy’s Monza circuit, told Reuters a lot incidents have we had? I mean one thing more research and development needed to was changing safety-the racetrack, the be done. deformable structures, the cars, every- “One has got to be just a little careful thing,” he said. that you don’t run too fast before all of the “(The death of) Henry Surtees, and this research has been done because there’s accident that happened in America, that’s other types of accidents where it could be a two incidents. I don’t think Jules’s incident disadvantage,” he said. was anything to do with that (not having a Stewart, who entered Formula One closed cockpit).” when the sport was at its deadliest and Surtees, the teenage son of 1964 world won his titles in 1969, 1971 and 1973, lost champion John, died in a Formula Two numerous friends in accidents during his accident at Brands Hatch in 2009 when he career and campaigned for safety improve- was hit on the head by a loose wheel ments including seat belts and full-face hel- bouncing across the track. mets. IndyCar’s last fatality before Wilson was However, he remained unconvinced by that of compatriot Dan Wheldon, the dou- the idea of fully enclosing the driver. “No, I ble Indy 500 winner, in a fiery crash at Las don’t think so,” he said when asked whether Vegas in 2011. something like that had to be done. The Formula One’s governing body has said world of racing has been shocked by the it will carry out more tests this month on GERMANY: France’s Sebastien Ogier and Julien Ingrassia drive their Volkswagen Polo R-WRC through the vineyards near deaths of two top drivers in the last two devices to protect drivers’ heads. However Kluesserath, southwestern Germany in this file photo. —AP months from severe head injuries sus- previous ones have failed to overcome tained on the track, with increased calls for problems with obstructed vision and the greater protection. difficulty of extracting the driver in an Ogier set to clinch third Frenchman Jules Bianchi, who raced for emergency. Marussia in Formula One, died in July of his “I think there’s a lot of research and injuries after slamming into a recovery trac- development has to take place,” said tor at the Japanese Grand Prix last October. Stewart. “Everyone’s talking about a missile World Rally Championship Britain’s Justin Wilson, who drove for the hitting the thing. What if there’s another Minardi and Jaguar F1 teams in 2003, died accident, not with a missile coming back, last month after being hit on the head by and an impact? COFFS HARBOUR: After a Volkswagen sweep of the Utungun, Bakers Creek and Northbank, south of 311.36 kilometers (192.20 miles). flying debris and crashing heavily in an “Is it a problem that the driver might not podium in last month’s home race of the German the event’s Coffs Harbour base, will be run in the Norwegian driver Mads Ostberg and co-driver IndyCar race in Pennsylvania. be able to get out correctly? There’s a lot of manufacturer, Sebastien Ogier can clinch his third morning and repeated in the afternoon. “They are Jonas Andersson, who sit in fourth place in the Wilson’s funeral will be held near things that you have to take into considera- World Rally Championship in a row with a victory on fast, technical, set in magnificent countryside and overall standings, sustained minor injuries after Silverstone on Thursday, with many of his tion. Sunday over the forestry and farmland roads which truly some of the best roads in the rally world,” their car crashed with a truck during a reconnais- old friends from Formula One and other “Are you going to get proper ventila- make up Rally Australia. clerk of the course Adrian Stafford was quoted as sance drive on Tuesday afternoon. The head-on series set to attend. tion? It’s a very complicated thing, it’s not France’s Ogier and his co-driver Julien Ingrassia saying on the Rally Australia website. crash with the heavy vehicle occurred on a narrow The Briton’s death has led to a rethink just a simple bubble. “And sometimes you’ll have 207 points in the standings with three races The stages are split between the Coffs Coast section of roadway as the Citroen crew prepared about closed cockpits, with several Formula be doing 280 or 300kph and an object left after Australia.