Hawkeyes At Fighting Illini Sunday, February 7th, 2016

At Notre Dame, running back Audric Estime was fearsome. Playing with power and strength, exemplified by his Hulk-like arms, Estime was wrecking a ball, mowing down or even leaping over tacklers that stood in his way. Even with shorts and a practice jersey during the Broncos’ rookie minicamp on Saturday afternoon, the fifth-round pick still looked like an imposing figure that someone wouldn’t want to get in front of when he’s moving at full speed. The addition of Estime and undrafted rookie free agent Blake Watson has created an interesting competition within Denver’s running back room that will be closely monitored throughout the team’s offseason program and training camp.

Looking for their first NCAA Tournament quarterfinal trip in six years, the DU Pioneers left no doubt Saturday afternoon. The University of Denver men’s lacrosse team set the tone early with seven goals in the opening 15 minutes of its first-round NCAA Tournament game against Michigan, then kept the Wolverines at arm’s length the rest of the way to claim a 16-11 win at Peter Barton Lacrosse Stadium. The Pioneers will face either No.

Broncos head coach Sean Payton said “significant” is a modest word when describing the league’s new kickoff rule. “It’s bigger than that,” he added. This season, Denver and the rest of the NFL will enter uncharted waters due to the league’s new kickoff rules. As the Broncos wrapped up the second day of rookie minicamp on Saturday afternoon, they simulated the changes that feature two returners, 10 kick coverage players lining up at the opposing 40-yard line and no one outside of the kicker and returner can move until the ball hits the ground or is touched by the returner inside the 20. Payton said the team is in the stage of figuring out the what-ifs of the new rule and the different landing zones.

Sean Payton plays enough golf at his summer place in Idaho to develop an appreciation for the finer points of the game. He sees some similarities across sports to the one he coaches and his new quarterback, first-round draft pick Bo Nix. “It’s almost like watching a good golfer,” Payton said. “When you watch his game over two years, there’s a patience to how he plays.

MINNEAPOLIS — Three days off during a playoff series is a conveniently long time to recover from physical ailments. It’s also an unusually long time to dwell on the past. In the Nuggets’ case this week, “that was miserable,” Michael Porter Jr. said. During that painstaking wait for Game 3 after a 106-80 collapse Monday in Denver, Nuggets coach Michael Malone got radical in his search for motivation.

The tears trickling down Tony Girard’s cheeks would have flowed in straight lines were it not for a smile as wide as Quebec diverting their path. In that moment, there may not have been a happier person on the planet, nor a father more filled with pride. There was his boy, a little misty-eyed as well, looking up at him from the ice inside Bell Centre, hockey’s greatest modern cathedral in Montreal.