Gäste Forum » Pouncey said, because a lot of guys would have t

By the time Tennessee and Missouri begin play Saturday afternoon, the Volunteers will probably have a keen sense for how another SEC game of material importance, being played 565 miles away, might turn out.Florida and LSU are scheduled to kick off in Baton Rouge a good 2 1/2 hours before the Vols (7-3, 3-3 SEC) and Mizzou (3-7, 1-5 SEC) kick off at 3:30 p.m. ET at Neyland Stadium in Knoxville.The Vols have a vested interest in the outcome of the LSU-Florida redo -- shifted on the calendar and from Gainesville -- affair because they need the Gators to lose their conference finale to have a shot at gaining a share of the East Division title and a berth in the SEC Championship Game.But Vols coach Butch Jones said players wont be scoreboard watching when they take on Mizzou.In terms of scoreboard watching, we dont ever look up at the scoreboard, Jones said. Thats kind of our mindset. You just keep your head down and you keep playing.His players need to be concerned only with things they can control, he said.Thats out of our hands, he said of the Florida-LSU game. Were playing a very team thats coming in here with a lot of momentum, very, very explosive, and its going to take all of our focus and concentration on playing Missouri.With their win last week over Kentucky, the Vols got back to .500 in conference play and now need wins over Mizzou and Vanderbilt their next two games to finish 5-3 in the conference. If the Gators lose at LSU, they also would end up 5-3, and the Vols hold the tiebreaker to get to the title game, where they would face No. 1 Alabama. The unbeaten Crimson Tide already has clinched the West.The Vols go into their final home game unranked in the media and coaches polls after once reaching as high as No. 9 in the country. But consecutive losses to Texas A&M, Alabama, and South Carolina knocked them out of the Top 25. They are No. 19 in the latest College Football Playoff rankings but were among teams also receiving votes in this weeks media and coaches polls.Their unranked status doesnt bother Jones.Thats one of those things that we cant control, he said. The only way we can control it is to keep winning.I am proud of this football team and everything that it has accomplished. Weve played the most difficult schedule, No. 1 in the country, and were 7-3. Were playing meaningful games in November, and thats what its all about.Injuries have had a major impact on the Vols. Jones noted that the Vols have lost five defensive starters since the season began and have started eight different combinations in the secondary.Its pretty hard to be consistent when you have that and when you look at the number of players who have missed games, Jone said. I dont know if there as ever been a season like this in football.The game against Missouri will feature a matchup of two of the leagues most productive quarterbacks, at least when it comes to producing touchdowns.Tennessees Josh Dobbs and Missouris Drew Lock are tied for the most touchdown passes among SEC quarterbacks with 21 each. Dobbs, however, also has rushed for seven scores to no rushing touchdowns for Lock.Dobbs, in fact, is a major factor in Tennessees running game, especially since veteran running back Jalen Hurd left the Vols after seven games. Dobbs is the Vols leading rusher with 470 yards and is coming off a 147-yard rushing effort against Kentucky.Missouri, which snapped a five-game losing streak with its win over Vanderbilt last week, gets its ground yardage the usual way. Running backs Damarea Crockett and Ish Witter have rushed for 837 and 575 yards, respectively. Crockett is coming off a 150-yard effort against the Commodores.We blocked well from the point of attack and Damarea, for a freshman, hes gotten better every week, first-year coach Barry Odom said. He works that way in practice.Im excited to see him throughout the week the way that he practices, handles himself, and then prepares the right way. Hes got a bright future. Stitched Flames Jerseys .Y. -- Buffalo Bills coach Doug Marrone has drawn on his Syracuse connections once again by hiring Rob Moore to take over as receivers coach. Calgary Flames Gear . MORITZ, Switzerland -- Fog prevented downhill racers from getting their Olympic dress rehearsal. https://www.cheapflames.com/ . LOUIS -- Valtteri Filppula assisted on three of Tampa Bays four goals, and the Lightning beat the St. Flames Jerseys 2020 . Hazard cut in from the left and scored with a swerving right-footed shot for ninth goal of the season, which proved to be enough for the victory despite Chelseas forwards again lacking a cutting edge up front. Fake Flames Jerseys .com) - Manchester City midfielder David Silva is expected to miss the next four weeks because of a calf problem. MIAMI -- Grateful for great blocking that paved the way to his first career 200-yard game, Miami Dolphins running back Jay Ajayi offered to treat his offensive line to dinner.The response: Well take a rain check.I just wanted to show some appreciation to those guys, Ajayi said. They told me, `Its not a one-hit thing, and, `Lets do it again. And lo and behold, we did it again.Ajayi tied an NFL record by topping 200 yards rushing in a second consecutive game, and this week he became the first running back to win offensive player of the week in back-to-back weeks since LaDainian Tomlinson a decade ago.Even then there was little celebrating, because Ajayi has the Dolphins thinking big.By carrying Miami (3-4) to victories over Pittsburgh and Buffalo, he saved the season and raised hopes the franchises eight-year postseason drought might soon end.When were in the playoff hunt, I can celebrate, tackle Branden Albert said. Until then Im not celebrating. He doesnt need to take us out to dinner. Im just happy hes doing good and were doing good as a team.The Dolphins have reason to believe their recent success can be sustained.Following a wave of injuries and illness in an offensive line that includes four former first-round draft picks, the group was finally intact for the past two games, allowing Miami to physically dominate teams coached by Mike Tomlin and Rex Ryan.In other words, the wins were no fluke.This team can be special if we keep doing the things were doing, center Mike Pouncey said.Mostly what theyre doing is handing the ball to Ajayi, a second-year pro from England who has more than doubled his career rushing total in the past fortnight.At 6-foot and 229 pounds, Ajayi mixes a bruising running style with breakaway speed, and hes the first player since the 1970 merger to rush for 200 yards in two of his first three career starts. He has the only 200-yard games in the NFL this season, and his averages of 6.4 yards per carry and 4.1 yards after contact lead the league .Thats a big man running hard, not slowing down, sticking his foot in the ground, getting north, first-year Miami coach Adam Gase said. Hes running through arm tackles, and all of a sudden we started getting all these explosive plays.Fans, the media and flattened defenders ask the same question: When did this guy come from?Ajayi (pronounced uh-JYE-ee) was born in London to Nigerian parents and is a British citizen with lots of family and friends in England. He speaks with a British accent, and sounds particularly English when asked if hes the best soccer playeer on the Dolphins.ddddddddddddI would believe so, he said with a smile.Lately hes their best football player, too. He moved to the United States in grade school unfamiliar with the game, but soon took it up while also playing soccer.The divided attention slowed his progress.My dad sat me down and was telling me to decide on one, because, he told me, I could be good at both, or be great at one, Ajayi recalled.Showing the instincts of a good running back, he chose the right path. After starring in high school near Dallas, Ajayi went to Boise State, where he became the first FBS player to total 1,800 yards rushing and 500 receiving in a season.The Dolphins waited until the fifth round to draft him in 2015, and even then the pick was critiqued as a reach, because of doubts about his durability because of a knee issue.Ajayi came off the bench in nine games as a rookie and totaled 187 yards rushing. He was anointed a likely starter this season after Lamar Miller departed in free agency, but during training camp, Gase perceived a misplaced sense of entitlement regarding playing time and became increasingly annoyed.When the Dolphins opened the season at Seattle, Ajayi didnt even make the travel roster.We had a rough 10 days, Gase said. But he centered himself and then started over.In Week 5, Ajayi made his first start and became hard to stop. He blossomed into the Dolphins Great Briton, and teammates now rave about his resilience and relentlessness.To play the way hes playing, it just makes me smile every time I think about it, Pouncey said, because a lot of guys would have tanked and gone the other way, getting benched right after thinking youre starting the season off.Gase is optimistic he can keep his international celebrity humble, hungry and healthy. In interviews, Ajayi seems genial, modest and a little overwhelmed by all the attention hes getting, whether from the BBC or school friends he had lost touch with.Im learning a lot about myself, he said. Im taking each week by itself, and just pushing to get through what happened earlier this year, and moving forward from that. Being in this position, it feels good, and we just want to keep building off that and not be satisfied.Celebratory dinners can wait.---AP NFL website: www.pro32.ap.org and http://twitter.com/AP-NFL---Follow Steven Wine on Twitter: http://twitter.com/Steve-Wine. His work can be found at http://bigstory.ap.org/content/steven-wine ' ' '