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ORCHARD PARK, N. Cheap Sports Jerseys .Y. -- Whether resolving questions on injuries or inconsistency, Bills quarterback EJ Manuel knows he has plenty to prove in showing hes a bona fide starter entering his second NFL season. Another reminder of how far Manuel has to go came this week when he was bypassed for one of six team captain designations in a vote of Bills players. Thats fair and understandable, Manuel said Wednesday, noting his own votes were restricted to established veterans. "You have to earn your stripes in the NFL," Manuel said. "Nothings going to be handed to you in the NFL. You have to work for it. And Im going to continue to allow it to motivate myself and be better for my teammates." The process resumes Sunday, when the former first-round draft pick out of Florida State begins his second season behind centre in Buffalos opener at Chicago. "I think being able to show that on Sunday is huge," Manuel said. "And thats why I say I want to keep my focus on Chicago, because thats the most important thing to me. I cant control whats happened in the past. You have to move and look forward." Manuels past in Buffalo is a mixed bag of promising flashes, failed opportunities and hampered development after an injury-shortened rookie season. He got the Bills off to a 2-2 start, including a 24-23 win over Carolina, which he won with a touchdown pass to Stevie Johnson with 2 seconds remaining. The wheels fell off in Week 5, when Manuel was sidelined with the second of three knee injuries he sustained last season. In missing five of the final 11 games, Manuel finished with a 4-6 record. He threw 11 touchdowns and nine interceptions and finished with a 77.7 passer rating that ranked 25th among players with 250 or more attempts. Though hes been injury-free so far, the big step in development the Bills want from Manuel hasnt been evident on a retooled offence that struggled to finish this preseason. Manuel and the starters failed to score a touchdown on their first 18 preseason drives before finally scoring on consecutive third-quarter possessions against Tampa Bays second-stringers in a 27-14 loss on Aug. 23. Buffalos starters finished the preseason with two touchdowns and four field goals on 23 possessions. Manuel and coach Doug Marrone chalk up the lack of production to not wanting to reveal too much of their offence in preseason games. The results, however, werent encouraging for a unit that upgraded its receivers by adding veteran Mike Williams and selecting Sammy Watkins with the No. 4 pick in the draft. No worries, said Marrone. "Im excited. Im not really looking at it and saying, Oh, gosh," said Marrone, who said Manuel has made better throws and been more decisive in his reads. The focus now is not putting too much on Manuels shoulders. "Theres 11 guys out there," Marrone said. "So youve just got to go out there and do whats asked of you and not try to press." That doesnt mean Manuel has arrived just yet. "When youre a young quarterback, youve got to prove yourself, so theres a reason he feels that way," veteran running back and captain Fred Jackson said. "He has to go out there and make plays for us, lead for us, put guys in situations to make plays. And we expect that from him. He knows everybody in this locker room is behind him." Centre Eric Wood, another team captain, also has confidence in Manuel. "He showed me enough over the past year to make me think hes going to go out and play well. Im fired up," Wood said. Manuel shrugged off questions of his past deficiencies by saying hes focused solely on playing Chicago. "Thats the first thing. I dont focus on answering criticism or anything like that," Manuel said. "I think if we win games, thatll alleviate everything." Michael Jordan Jersey Nike . After just two league games in June, Toronto (6-4-1) will go on to play seven in July plus a friendly against Tottenham. Five of those contests are against Eastern Conference opposition, meaning valuable points in the playoff race are on the line. Sports Jerseys From China . Vargas (8-3) allowed four singles and two walks while striking out five, allowing only two runners from a diluted Twins lineup to reach second base. Mike Moustakas and Jarrod Dyson hit RBI singles in the second inning against Kevin Correia (4-10), and that was all Vargas needed. https://www.sportsstarsjerseys.com/tom-brady-jersey/ . According to the Globe and Mail, a decision between the NHL and the Players Association should come within the six months. "I can tell you, (a decision) shouldnt take all that long," NHL deputy commissioner Bill Daly told the Globe and Mail.MIAMI - During the dog days of the regular season, the Miami Heat often spoke about the need to not take any shortcuts on the way to the playoffs. And thats true. That doesnt mean they necessarily enjoyed the 82-game run-up to the best time of year. "None of us," Heat forward LeBron James finally confessed, "are here for the regular season." When this core of Heat players was assembled, the only stated goal was winning NBA titles, which also explains why even getting through the first two rounds of these playoffs basically unscathed only merited a short celebration. Miami is back in the Eastern Conference finals for the fourth straight season, and will visit Indiana in Game 1 on Sunday afternoon. The Heat got there by ousting the Brooklyn Nets in five games, the end of that series Wednesday night being briefly accompanied by a few hoots and hollers in the immediate moments after the clinching 96-94 win was completed. Before long, order was restored to the Heat locker room. Two series wins are nice, but they know the road only gets tougher from here. "Like LeBron said, to be in this position four years in a row, this is the reason we came together four years ago," Heat guard Dwyane Wade said. "Weve got a lot more work to do but were a team that doesnt take it for granted. Were a team that worked very hard to get to this point, so were going to go to the next round, the Eastern Conference finals and continue to do what weve done, play this game as hard as we can and try to continue to move forward." Indiana ousted Washington on Thursday night. The Heat and Pacers split four meetings in the regular season. "We know what Indianas capable of," Heat forward Chris Bosh said. "Best defence in the league. Despite their struggles, we still see the same opponent in those guys as we did last year and throughout this year." The Heat are now 32-7 in first- and second-round games in the last four postseasons, that stretch coinciding with the start of the "Big 3"; era featuring James, Wade and Bosh teaming up in Miami. Wholesale Sports Jerseys. That first year, even that star-studded trio wasnt enough. More pieces were added, like Shane Battier a year later and Ray Allen two years later, and theyve all paid dividends since. Allen kept coming up big at big times in the Brooklyn series, hitting clutch free throws to seal Game 4 and then knocking down a 3-pointer with 32 seconds left to put Miami ahead for good in Game 5. Never mind that Allen had missed 11 of his last 12 3-point tries in the series. Just like last year when he saved Miamis season with the legendary desperation 3-pointer in Game 6 of the NBA Finals against San Antonio, when the stakes were highest, Allen came through. "We did what we needed to do, when we had to do it," Allen said. "Total team effort." Miami had trailed for the entire second half of Game 5 against the Nets until that 3-pointer by Allen, a shot set up by Mario Chalmers seeing that Brooklyns Shaun Livingston was charging at him and somehow leaving the best long-range shooter in the history of the game wide open. That was the only break Miami needed. "The most important thing is to stay in the moment," Battier said. "And I dont there is anyone maybe in the history of the game who does it better than Ray Allen." Added Chalmers: "Thats a great option when you know you have the all-time greatest 3-point shooter to your left." A year ago, the Heat needed seven games to beat Indiana in the East finals, then seven more to top San Antonio for their second straight NBA title. Thursday was a rest day for Miami, maybe one of the last ones the Heat will truly have before the season ends. On Friday, the real work starts in earnest. "We still have some business to take care of," James said. "But its great to be able to put ourselves in position to get to where we want to go. We never shortcut the process. We understand that each and every game is going to be a challenge for us." ' ' '