Florida Sentinel Bulletin

NEW YORK – Kyrie Irving has another injury and the Cavaliers have another masked player.

Cleveland’s star point guard, who only recently returned after missing 11 games with a broken finger, fractured a bone in his jaw when he took a hard fall in Friday night’s loss at Milwaukee.

Irving traveled separately from the Cavs to New York so he could be fitted with a protective mask that he will wear in Saturday’s game against the Knicks at Madison Square Garden. He said he arrived less than three hours before the start of the game, having only slept about four hours. He said he wasn’t in pain, and the only difficulty would be getting used to the mask, which earned him the nickname the “Dark Knight” in the locker room.

This Sunday, the Tampa Bay Buccaneers will face the New Orleans Saints in a NFC South showdown.

The Saints (5-8) are coming off a 52-27 thrashing by the New York Giants, and the Bucs gave away a game to the now 4-9 Philadelphia Eagles, 23-21. The Bucs (6-7) will try to keep their wild card playoff hopes alive when they face the Saints in the Super Dome this Sunday. The Buccaneer secondary will get help with the return of Brandon McDonald at cornerback.

Last week, Buccaneer quarterback Josh Freeman didn’t throw an interception, but his play was less than spectacular. The shining light offensively last week was the running of Doug Martin. This Sunday, the Buccaneer defense will have to step up and not take the wounded Saints for granted. The Falcons were humbled by the Carolina Panthers (4-9) 30-20 last week.

Kickoff will be at 1 p. m.

DALLAS — Dallas Cowboys DT, Josh Brent was back with his teammates again Tuesday for a private memorial honoring Jerry Brown.

Players and team officials left without talking to reporters after the hour-long service in Dallas. Brent arrived at the service earlier than most of the Cowboys players, team executives and staff members. He was seen hugging Brown’s mother before walking into the building.

Brent was one of the last to leave, too. He grew close to Brown during three seasons together at the University of Illinois, and took in Brown when the Cowboys added the 25-year-old to the roster in October. NFL spokesman Greg Aiello said the league had ‘’no issues’‘ with Brent being at team facilities while the manslaughter case against him works its way through the courts.

Manny Pacquiao lost to Juan Manuel Marquez on Saturday night. With that in mind, you’d expect to hear Floyd Mayweather doing a bunch of gloating right now.

But, surprisingly, Money May had some nice things to say about Pacquiao and Marquez when he was asked about the fight, which he admitted he had not seen yet.

“Things happen,” he said. “You live and you learn. The only thing [Pacquiao] can do is rejuvenate himself and bounce back like a true champion. Marquez is a true champion, Manny Pacquiao is a true champion, both of them went out there and put on a good performance, and that’s a good thing for the sport of boxing.

NEW YORK — Braylon Edwards is back with the New York Jets – a week after bashing them. The veteran wide receiver was awarded to New York off waivers from Seattle on Tuesday as the Jets try to bolster their injured receiving corps with a familiar face.

Edwards, waived by Seattle on Monday, developed a good rapport with Sanchez in helping New York to consecutive trips to the AFC title game in 2009 and 2010. Edwards reiterated his feelings for Sanchez last week when he took to Twitter and criticized the Jets organization.

With coach Rex Ryan contemplating whether Sanchez would remain the starting quarterback or be replaced by third-stringer Greg McElroy, Edwards wrote on Twitter last Tuesday that people shouldn’t blame Sanchez. “I played there,’‘ he wrote. “Blame the idiots calling shots. Mark is a beast and will (prove) it when given a proper chance.”

PITTSBURGH — When Pittsburgh Steelers coach Mike Tomlin demoted running back Rashard Mendenhall to third-string following a fumble in a loss to Cleveland last month, Tomlin stressed Mendenhall would have a chance to redeem himself.

Not this week.

The Steelers suspended the mercurial Mendenhall for their game Sunday at Dallas for conduct detrimental to the team. Pittsburgh promoted running back Baron Batch from the practice squad to take Mendenhall’s place.

The suspension is the latest in a series of setbacks for the 25-year-old Mendenhall. He emerged as Pittsburgh’s starter in 2009 and topped 1,000 yards in 2009 and 2010. He nearly reached the milestone again last winter but tore the ACL in his right knee in the regular-season finale against Cleveland.

With the Atlanta Falcons losing, the Tampa Bay Buccaneers had a chance to pull closer to assuring themselves of a wild-card playoff berth. But before a packed house at Raymond James Stadium Sunday, the Bucs let another close game slip away, losing to the underdog 3-9 Philadelphia Eagles 23-21.

Thrown under the bus for this loss is the Buccaneer defense, who couldn’t keep the Eagles out of the end zone after the Bucs were up 21-10. Rookie running back, Doug Martin, turned in a great performance, with 28 carries for 128 yards and a score. Wide receivers Vincent Jackson and Mike Williams also turned in great performances. Quarterback Josh Freeman finished the evening 14-of-34 for 189 yards and a pair of touchdowns. Freeman may have gotten off to a slow start Sunday, but it was the defense that let the team down.

The Buccaneer secondary was supposed to be much improved with the additions of draft pick Mark Barron, and the acquisition of Eric Wright. However, it has now been revealed as an Achilles heel for the defense. The Bucs can redeem themselves in their final three games, a visit to New Orleans to face the Saints; a home game against the much improved St. Louis Rams, and their season finale on the road to play the Atlanta Falcons.

Being the head coach of the University of South Florida football team isn’t an easy job.

Just ask Jim Leavitt and Skip Holtz, the last two coaches. USF decided to take a step in a new direction when they announced the new head football coach would be Willie Taggart. At 36, Taggart is the youngest, and first African American, head coach in the school’s history.

Taggart is leaving a post at Western Kentucky, where he compiled a 16-20 record in two seasons. Taggart was a high school standout at Bradenton Manatee High School, where he was a first-team all-state and all conference selection as a senior. He became a star quarterback at Western Kentucky from 1995 through 1998, and the school retired his jersey.

Dallas Cowboys nose tackle Josh Brent (pictured, r)was released from jail on Sunday after he posted a $500,000 bond. Brent was put in jail Saturday morning on a charge of intoxication manslaughter, an offense for which he could receive up to 20 years in prison. He was the driver of a car that crashed in Irving, Texas, early Saturday morning.

Cowboys practice squad linebacker Jerry Brown (pictured, l), a close friend of Brent who was a passenger in the car, was killed. Brown, 25, and Brent had played together at Illinois. Brent appeared shaken when he left the jail Sunday, telling the Morning News, “Jerry Brown was my very best friend and I’m just trying to deal with his death right now.”

Brent’s bond amount is more than his 2012 salary with the Cowboys, which is $490,000.

Cowboys Death, Arrest Serve As Another Sad Reminder

For the second consecutive week, the NFL was broadsided with a tragedy – a preventable, painful tragedy.

This comes on the heels of Kansas City Chiefs linebacker Jovan Belcher committing suicide in front of his coach and general manager last Saturday after murdering Kasandra Perkins, his girlfriend and the mother of his 3-month-old daughter.