The thing I love about him is how he has continued to talk and been a great leader

NEW YORK -- Jimmy Garoppolo filled in for Tom Brady quite nicely.Garoppolo was so good in New Englands season-opening win at Arizona that the Patriots moved into the top spot in the AP Pro32 poll on Tuesday.The Cardinals made it to the NFC championship game last season, but Garoppolo threw for 264 yards and a touchdown to lead the Patriots to a 23-21 victory on Sunday night. New England received five of 12 first-place votes in balloting by media members who regularly cover the NFL.With Tom Brady sitting out the first game of a four-week suspension and All-Pro tight end Rob Gronkowski out with a hamstring injury, Jimmy Garoppolo did just enough to help the Patriots to a stunning road win at Arizona, Newsdays Bob Glauber said.But the real star of this game was Patriots coach Bill Belichick, whose sideline genius makes up for the loss of his two star players.The Patriots will be without Brady for three more games, all of them at home starting on Sunday against Miami. New England is the only AFC East team to win its opener.Defending champion Denver received three first-place votes and moved up to No. 2 in the poll.Pittsburgh, which opened with a dominating 38-16 win at Washington, earned a first-place vote and is No. 3 overall.Any team that tries to cover Antonio Brown with one defender deserves what it gets -- a funky end zone celebration, said Ira Kaufman of the Pro Football Hall of Fame.Green Bay received two first-place votes and is the highest-ranked NFC team at No. 4.Carolina, which lost its opener to Denver when Graham Gano missed a 50-yard field goal in the final minute, had a first-place vote but dropped to fifth.Cam Newton, who took several hard hits in that game, is expected to play in the Panthers home opener against the 49ers.Hes tough, hes resilient and hes moving around pretty good, coach Ron Rivera said Monday.Seattle and Cincinnati, who both opened with close wins, tied for sixth.Arizona dropped from No. 2 to No. 8. Chandler Catanzaro missed a 47-yard field goal late in the fourth quarter. The snap was low and holder Drew Butler said he trapped the ball near where it was supposed to be.That probably threw the timing off a little bit, Butler said. But me and Cat (Catanzaro) have a job to do and Ill definitely take some blame on that one. I wish we could have put it through for our teammates. The offense did a great job of giving us the opportunity.Kansas City and Minnesota rounded out the top 10.The Vikings open their new stadium on Sunday night against the rival Packers.---Online: AP NFL website: www.pro32.ap.org and http://twitter.com/AP-NFL---AP Sports Writers Steve Reed and Bob Baum contributed to this story. Air Max 97 Vapormax For Sale . LOUIS -- Theres no telling how these wacky World Series games will end. Air Max 97 Neon Seoul For Sale . After Mondays hard-fought loss, the wait seemed longer than usual. Getting set to go their separate ways for a short Christmas break, the Raptors coach credited his team for their effort on a seemingly impossible three-game road trip, urging them to build on that success when they get back to work at the end of the week. http://www.outletairmax97.com/ . -- Running backs Darren McFadden and Rashad Jennings were back at practice for the Oakland Raiders on Wednesday despite being hampered by hamstring injuries. Air Max 97 Ultra 17 Fake . This should be celebrated because it will not always be this way. With the amount of money given to players by their clubs these days, it is a wonder that so many of those teams allow the sport to continue to take away many of their assets so they can play for a different team in the middle of their season. Air Max 97 Have a Nike Day For Sale . Down by seven with 90 seconds left in regulation, thats where they looked comfortable. PORTLAND, Ore. -- The matchup between the Chicago Bulls and Portland Trail Blazers on Tuesday night at the Moda Center features a duel between two of the better shooting guards in the NBA.Chicagos Jimmy Butler collected 37 points, nine assists, eight rebounds and three steals Saturday in a 116-105 win over the Washington Wizards.Portlands CJ McCollum scored 21 points to help the Trail Blazers defeat Denver 112-105 at home Sunday night.Butler is the first Bull to reach those figures since Scottie Pippen had 37, eight and eight in December 1995. The 2016 U.S. Olympian, who is averaging 24.3 points, is the first Bull who has scored at least 20 points with three steals in four straight games since Pippen (1994-95).I cant express how much easier it makes it on everyone else having someone like that on both sides of the floor, Chicago center Robin Lopez said.Over the past four games, Butler is averaging 29 points, seven rebounds, 5.3 rebounds and four steals and is a collective 42 for 46 at the line.Were putting the ball in his hands bringing the ball down the floor a lot more than we did a year ago, second-year Bulls coach Fred Holberg said. Last year, wed bring him off action to get him to the top of the floor. Now hes bringing it down and going to work. We want the ball in Jimmys hands because of his ability to draw contact.Butler is providing more vocal leadership, too, than ever before for the Bulls (6-4).The thing I love about him is how he has continued to talk and been a great leader with his voice this year, Holberg said.Said Butler: Its going to have to be me to lead the charge when it comes tto coming out with the right energy, making sure were doing everything were supposed to do at both ends.dddddddddddd Im definitely capable of doing that.McCollum also is on a scoring tear of late, with three 30-plus-point games in his past five games for the Blazers (7-4).CJ seems to have found his rhythm, Portland coach Terry Stotts said of the 2015-16 NBA Most Improved Player Award recipient. I go back to when everybody was so concerned about him in preseason. He has showed he is picking up where he left off last year.That was a breakout season for McCollum in his first year as a starter. He averaged 20.8 points while shooting 44.8 percent from the field, 41.7 percent from 3-point range and 82.7 percent from the free-throw line.So far this season, McCollum is boasting better numbers across the board -- a 22.1-point average while shooting 47.2 percent from the field, 43.1 percent on 3-point attempts and 85.7 percent from the line. He is also averaging 4.3 rebounds and 3.1 assists as a combo guard, since Stotts is employing him at the point when Damian Lillard is out of the game.I just want to do whatever it takes to get on the court, McCollum said. When Im playing alongside Dame, I get a lot of opportunities off the ball, a lot of shots in the flow of the offense. When I play (as point guard) with the second unit, Im trying to make the right decisions on the pick-and-roll, and when Dame comes back in, to get him off the ball some as well, because hes a unique scorer. ' ' '