me. His family believed in him enough that 20 relatives

CINCINNATI -- The defending AFC North champions had a bye week to regain their confidence, fix their problems and go after another title thats tantalizing close.Instead, the Bengals opened the second half of their season with all of the same issues and now one less chance to save their season.Its begun to slip away.The Bengals 21-20 loss to the Giants on Monday night left them with a 3-5-1 record thats their worst in six years -- before Andy Dalton and A.J. Green came aboard -- and a sense that theyre making no progress in the areas where they keep coming up short.In its past five games, Cincinnati is 1-3-1 with a victory over winless Cleveland and a tie with Washington.The frustration for me is very high right now, said cornerback Dre Kirkpatrick, who intercepted Eli Manning. For us not to win this game that we needed, its heartbreaking.And puzzling, too.The Bengals are one of the healthiest teams in the NFL, so injuries cant explain their dramatic drop-off from a year ago when they tied the franchise record with 12 wins. Theyre running the same plays that worked a year ago, with most of the same players.When they have a chance to take control of a game the way they did last season, they simply cant do it.The Bengals went up 20-14 on New York midway through the third quarter and had chances to pull away.They got the ball five more times and managed a total of only 47 yards and three first downs, one of them by penalty. Dalton was 3 of 11 for 29 yards with an interception and two sacks on those final five possessions.Its like we just needed that one play to get us going, and we never got it, said Dalton, who was 16 of 29 overall for 204 yards with a touchdown , an interception and three sacks.The defense has been one of the biggest problems all season, and it had a game-ending letdown.The Giants got the ball back at their 41-yard line with 3:01 left, plenty of time for Cincinnati to get another shot at a winning field goal if the defense could hold. The Bengals knew the Giants would run the ball, so they stacked the line. New York ran five consecutive times for 38 yards and two first downs, draining the clock.The loss represented a missed chance to close in on first place. Baltimore leads with a 5-4 mark, followed by Pittsburgh at 4-5 and then the Bengals, who are a game and a half out with two teams to overtake.They still have both games left with Baltimore as well as a home game against the Steelers, but the loss to New York leaves them with no margin for error in the last seven weeks.The Bengals host Buffalo on Sunday, then go to Baltimore for what could be the pivotal game of their season.Yes, were running out of time, Kirkpatrick said. At the end of the day, with some of the teams losing, that puts us in a decent situation. But we have to get our wins.Game notes DE Margus Hunt was inactive for the first time this season, an indication the coaching staff isnt pleased with his play. Hunt got a bigger role in the line rotation this season after Wallace Gilberry left for Detroit as a free agent. The Bengals re-signed Gilberry during their bye week, and he moved into Hunts role. ... Gilberry suffered an abdominal injury after four games with Detroit and was released with a settlement. He was on the field for 30 of the defenses 75 plays against the Giants and had one tackle.---AP NFL website: www.pro32.ap.org and http://twitter.com/AP-NFL Black Friday Nike Shoes . A lawyer for MLB, Matthew Menchel, confirmed Wednesday the league dropped its case against Biogenesis of America, its owner Anthony Bosch and several other individuals. The lawsuit had accused Biogenesis and Bosch of conspiring with players to violate their contracts by providing them with banned performance-enhancing substances. Fake Nike Shoes . Halladay signed a one-day contract with the Toronto Blue Jays on Monday that allowed the veteran right-hander to retire as a member of team with which he broke into the majors and spent the bulk of his distinguished 16-year career. https://www.fakenikeshoeswholesale.com/ . Galatasaray said in a statement on its website Monday that Mancini signed a three-year contract and will be paid 3.5 million euros for the upcoming season, with his salary upped to 4. Nike Shoes China . The 19-year-old Olsen played 34 games with the Kelowna Rockets of the WHL this season. In that time, hes recorded 17 goals and 17 assists with 36 penalty minutes. Clearance Nike Shoes . -- Whether Jeremy Hill deserves a prominent role in LSUs offence this early in the season is a matter for debate. RIO DE JANEIRO -- At the request of a kid from a town named Stone, five-time Olympic rowing champion Steve Redgrave sent a signed picture with the words, No Stone Unturned.That kid, Joe Clarke, stuck the picture on his bedroom wall and used it for inspiration as he got better at canoe slalom.On Wednesday, Clarke was still pinching himself on the podium at Whitewater Stadium as the Union Jack flew highest in honor of his Olympic gold-medal triumph in kayak.In windy, rainy, gloomy conditions -- Im glad the British weather came, he said -- Clarke came down the course eighth in the 10-man final, and enjoyed a clean run, taking over first place 0.17 seconds faster than the previous paddler, two-time world champion Peter Kauzer of Slovenia.Knowing there were only two paddlers left, Clarke was assured of at least a bronze medal.I was absolutely ecstatic, he said. To then upgrade it to the silver, and upgrade it again to the gold ... is like, Olympic champion Joe Clarke, Olympic champion, like, what?Right after Clarke, Jiri Prskavec of the Czech Republic, the current world champion, was fastest through the first quarter and then penalized for touching a gate with his head. Last man, Jakub Grigar of Slovakia, the world junior champion, could place only fifth.Typically in the tight canoe community, they were his friends, so he wasnt wishing them ill luck, but he admitted to being nervous while waiting in his kayak the finish area.For sure, Ive had some luck, and you need a bit of luck in this sport to excel. Thats come today, Clarke said. I dont know what I did to deserve that but I did something rightt along the way.ddddddddddddKauzer finished with the silver medal, and Prskavec got the bronze. It was the first Olympic medals for all three, and only the second gold in canoe slalom for Britain.Thanks to government funding, Clarke and the British team came to Rio de Janeiro often enough for training camps to consider Whitewater Stadium a second home. His family believed in him enough that 20 relatives and friends were in the stands to watch, including his parents and brother.Ive certainly made it worthwhile them coming here, he said. My parents sacrificed so much for me.Clarke was initially turned away by his local Stafford and Stone Canoe Club because he was too young to join, but when some places became open for young paddlers, he was invited to write a letter to explain why he should be given a chance. He was one of eight applicants from 60 to be accepted, and joined the club when he was 11.Despite having never previously won a major race, the 23-year-old Clarke found a groove in the roaring waters of his second home to be a medal contender through the heats, where he placed second overall, and the semifinals, where he placed third. Making the final was his main goal, and a medal a bonus.As for Redgrave, hed seen him in person across a room once at Britains Rio base before the Olympics, and they finally spoke for the first time in a congratulatory radio call after the win.That was amazing to hear from him, Clarke said. I left no stone unturned out there today. ' ' '