Jackson Free Press

Former Itawamba Community College and Mississippi State University cornerback Darius Slay believed he was a top-seven corner in the NFL. The Detroit Lions brass must have agreed with him after signing him to a new four-year extension.

Detroit needed to lock up Slay, who is just 25 years old, to an extension after losing high-profile players the last two seasons. The Lions lost defensive tackle Ndamukong Suh in free agency after the 2014 season, and wide receiver Calvin Johnson suddenly retired after last season

The new deal is worth $48 million with $23.1 million in guaranteed money, and he will make a total of $50.2 million over the next five years. The former Bulldog was entering the final year of his rookie deal. The guaranteed money is good for seventh amongst cornerbacks.

Slay is one of the few cornerbacks to be overshadowed most of this career. At MSU, Johnthan Banks grabbed more headlines than Slay did.

Slay ended up drafted ahead of the 2012 Thorpe Award, winner Banks in the 2013 NFL Draft. The Lions selected Slay with the 36th overall pick in the second round, and the Tampa Bay Buccaneers selected Banks with the 43rd overall pick in the same round.

In the NFL, Slay has quietly become one of the best cornerbacks in the league. He slowly began his pro career with four starts and played in just 13 games as a rookie in 2013. He finished his first year with 34 total tackles and 27 solo tackles with five passes defended.

Slay started all 16 games for the Lions in his second year and made 61 total tackles and 48 solo tackles. He had 17 passes defended and two interceptions.

Last season, Slay again started all 16 games for Detroit. He had 59 total tackles and 48 solo tackles. The cornerback added two more interceptions and 13 passes defended in 2015.

Pro Football Focus rated Slay as the No. 2 overall cornerback and had him ranked No. 8 in pass coverage. He has a passer rating of 90.1 when targeted in coverage, and he only allows a completion percentage of 63.2. NFL Media research says he was targeted 68 times last season.

Slay is counted on to cover the opponent's top receiver on most plays. He will also have to be a leader in the second for Detroit, with 2014 fourth-round pick cornerback Nevin Lawson slated to start opposite of him.

The six-foot, 190-pound corner might not be under the radar much longer after signing his new extension. If Detroit could win more games after finishing 7-9 last season, Slay might become a household name with NFL fans.

The Rio Olympics enters its final week of competition, and as the games begin to wind down, it is good to look at the medal race, and it’s starting to become a rout.

While it was close the opening week, the U.S. is beginning to run away from the other nations. As of Monday afternoon, Aug. 15, the U.S. has 72 total medals, which is 26 ahead of second-place China.

Second place is where the real race is shaping up, with China’s 46 total medals just six ahead of the 40 medals Great Britain won. Russia, with 32 total medals, isn’t far from Britain, but with several athletes banned from the games, it will be hard for the country to move up.

The U.S. has the most gold medals (26), silver medals (22) and bronze medals (24). No other country besides the U.S. has reached 20 medals in single place yet. The U.S. has done so in all three.

Swimming is where the U.S. has built its lead with 33 total medals. Gymnastics is second with eight medals, and track and field, which started late last week, is third with six medals.

So far, the U.S. has earned at least one medal in 15 sports. The country has won four medals in fencing and three medals in shooting and tennis.

In the 2012 London games, the U.S. won 104 total medals, besting second-place China, which won 88 total medals. China narrowly held off Russia, which finished third with 82 total medals. The host nation was fourth with 65 total medals.

In London, the U.S. finished with 46 gold medals, 29 silver medals and 32 bronze medals. The U.S. finished first in gold and bronze medals, and China and Russia finished first and second in silver medals, with the U.S. in third.

As the U.S. dominates the medal stand in Rio, Japan is looking to move up from its current 27 total medals and fifth place. Italy, France and Australia are tied for sixth with 22 total medals.

Germany is ninth with 19 total medals, and South Korea rounds out the top 10 with 14 total medals. Our neighbor to the north, Canada, is in 11th place with 13 total medals.

Hungary and the Netherlands are the only other countries to have reached double-digits in medals. The Hungarians have a total of 12 medals, and the Dutch have a total of 11 medals.

The host nation only has seven total medals. Brazil won 17 medals in London, so it will have to make a push this final week to get the normal medal bump of being the host nation.

So far in Rio, 68 nations and athletes competing under the Olympic flag have won medals. Four years ago, 85 countries won medals before the closing ceremonies.

The Rio Olympics continue until Sunday, Aug. 21, before Tokyo accepts the Olympic flag for the 2020 games.

The 2016 Olympic games are done, and the USA nearly lapped the field in the medal count. It wasn’t even close for first place in medals, but second and third place was a race.

When the Olympics ended with the closing ceremony, the U.S. had won 121 total medals. That out-did the previous best of 110 from Beijing in 2008.

The U.S. finished 51 medals ahead of China, which had 70 total medals and finished in second place. Great Britain finished in third with 67 total medals.

Team USA was comprised of 554 athletes, and 213 of those took home a medal. In the 27 sports that the U.S. had athletes competing, they brought home a medal in 20 of those sports.

Swimming and track and field are where the U.S. pulled away from the rest of the world. In those two sports, the U.S. won 65 medals, which would have been good for fourth place in total medals if the sports were their own country.

The reason the U.S. was able to dominate the Olympics was because of its women. Of the 121 medals the U.S. won, women received 61, the men received 55, and five medals were in mixed events such as equestrian and mixed-doubles tennis.

The U.S. women won 27 of the team’s 46 gold medals, and if the women were their own country, that would tie them with Great Britain second most gold medals. The 61 medals the women won would have landed them fourth on the medal count if they were their own nation.

This is the second Olympics where the women have brought home more medals than the men. In London, the women won 58 medals to 45 medals for the men, and those Olympics games were the first where the women had ever won more medals than the men.

The U.S. women won three more medals in Rio than they did in London, but the U.S. men tried to catch up by winning 10 more medals in Rio.

This has been a climb for the U.S. women since the 1970s. In 1972, congress passed Title IX, which barred sex discrimination in education programs that receive federal funding. At the 1972 Olympic games in Munich, the U.S. women won 23 medals, and the men won 71 medals.

Title IX led to high-school and college sports for women growing at a faster rate and eventually led to the U.S. women becoming a powerhouse on the global sports stage.

The Olympics has added more women’s sports to the games over the years such as women’s boxing. That has led to more medal opportunities for women at the games than in the past.

Like in London, the U.S. women outnumbered the men on team USA in Rio. The women made up 291 members of the 554-member team, with the U.S. men making up the other 263 members.

Monday Night Football returns to the scene of one of its most iconic moments 10 years and a day later with the same week-three matchup. On September 25, 2006, MNF and the New Orleans Saints returned to the Big Easy for the first time since Hurricane Katrina hit the Gulf Coast region.

Just four plays into the MNF contest against the Atlanta Falcons, safety Steve Gleason blocked a Falcons punt, and a teammate recovered it for a touchdown.

Gleason’s blocked punt helped New Orleans get a 23-3 win over Atlanta and a 3-0 record to start the season. That 2006 season was the beginning of something magical for Saints fans.

Not only did the team return to New Orleans after the hurricane—the 2006 season also brought head coach Sean Payton and quarterback Drew Brees to the franchise. Payton and Brees were a major part of the Saints’ rebuilding job, but the 2006 draft class played a major role as well.

The season ended with a 10-6 regular season record and the team winning the NFC South.New Orleans won its first playoff game against the Philadelphia Eagles.

In its 40th season, New Orleans reached its first NFC Championship Game but fell at Chicago against the Bears. The Saints took a step back in the 2007 and 2008 seasons with a 7-9 and 8-8 record, but the best was yet to come.

In the 2009 season, New Orleans finished with a 13-3 record and stormed its way to a victory in Super Bowl XLIV. It was a dream season that began with the Payton’s hiring and Brees’ signing, but the punt block on MNF meant the Saints were truly back in New Orleans.

Gleason’s punt block is now forever captured in a 9-foot statue titled “Rebirth” outside of the Superdome. He retired from the NFL in 2008, and in 2011, he was diagnosed with ALS (Lou Gehrig’s disease), which is a nervous system disease that causes muscle weakness and impacts a person’s physical function.

Last year in a Thursday night game, New Orleans blocked a punt, sparking its win against the Falcons. Gleason tweeted out to Atlanta “Hey, Falcons. #NeverPunt –SG.”

Things have changed a lot with both the Saints and Falcons since that punt block on MNF. New Orleans enters the game 0-2 instead of 2-0, and Atlanta now has Matt Ryan at quarterback instead of Michael Vick.

Some things are the same for New Orleans—Brees is still the Saints man behind center, and Payton still roams the sideline.

This Monday night, the game won’t be about a city looking for a rebirth. This game will be about the Saints’ season needing a rebirth.

Maybe the Saints will block another punt, and it will change the franchise’s path again. Maybe New Orleans can get its first victory this season on the 10th anniversary of that iconic block.

The six state championships in Mississippi high-school football will be decided this Friday, Dec. 2, and Saturday, Dec. 3. This year, teams will play on the campus of Mississippi State University at Davis Wade Stadium.

One of the biggest matchups will be for the 6A championship, with Clinton High School facing Pearl High School on Friday at 7 p.m. This is the second championship game for both schools.

Pearl is making its first appearance in the championship game since 1985 when the team fell to Louisville High School. Clinton returns to the title game for the first time since 2000, which ended in a loss to Moss Point High School.

Starting off the title games Friday will be the 1A championship, which will begin at 11 a.m. and features Lumberton High School against Simmons High School from Hollandale.

Lumberton is making its fifth appearance in the title game and is a perfect four for four in championships. Simmons is the defending champion at the 1A level and is making its third run for the title.

After the 1A game is the 2A game at 3 p.m. featuring Bay Springs High School facing off against Calhoun City High School. Bay Springs is making its third appearance but looking for its first win. Calhoun City is in its 11th title game, the most appearances for any school playing this year, but only has one win to show for all the trips.

Saturday’s games begin at 11 a.m. with the 3A championship between Charleston High School and Kemper County High School out of De Kalb. Kemper County is playing its first title game, and Charleston is making its sixth appearance but has won just one title.

The action continues on Saturday with the 4A title game at 3 p.m. as Poplarville High School faces Lafayette High School from Oxford. This is the first championship-game appearance for Poplarville, but Lafayette is making its fifth title run and has two championships.

Saturday night features the final title game between Laurel High School and West Point High School, kicking off at 7 p.m. Laurel is playing its sixth title game and has three titles, and West Point is playing for its 10th title with seven titles under its belt, the most out of any school making an appearance this year.

The northern teams will be the home squads during these championship games and will be on the sideline with the press box. Attendees can purchase tickets at the gate for $15 and are good for all three games on either Friday or Saturday. Tickets are also available for $14 at any school playing in a championship game.

If you can’t make it to the games, you can still catch them on TV in the Jackson area on MeTV WAPT or channel 16.2 on the digital dial. The games will also be aired in Hattiesburg on WDAM Bounce (7.3); Meridian on WMDN Bounce (24.2); Tupelo …

In the past, the NFL Combine has been held behind closed doors, with the best college football players trying to impress scouts without the public seeing any of the action. That changed in 2004 when the NFL began to broadcast the event on its own NFL Network.

College-football fans were finally able to see their favorite players go through drills, and NFL fans were able to see who their favorite teams might draft. However, the event still wasn’t open for the public to see up close and personal.

Last year, 1,500 fans got a chance to see the combine live at Lucas Oil Stadium in Indianapolis. It was the first time the league let fans into the combine to watch the events live.

While NFL ratings were down a bit this year, the league has been trying more and more to make offseason events matter. The NFL is working on becoming a year-round league with fans being able to get closer than ever to action.

When the NFL Combine takes place from March 3-5, 2017, the league will select a lucky group of 6,000 fans will get to see it all from Lucas Oil Stadium. The league will hand out those tickets for free, but they are non-transferable.

They won’t be just in the stadium watching from the stands for every event, either. Fans will be able to stand nearby as they watch the 225-pound bench press and cheer on players trying to complete as many reps as possible.

Fans will also be able to run a 40-yard dash, vertical, broad jump and other combine events from the convention center called “Combine Corner.” The league will allow fans to run an obstacle course, show of their form tacking against tackling dummies, and face “The Gauntlet,” where they can catch passes from a JUGS machine, which is a machine that shoots football for players to practice catching.

Before fans can take part in the physical events, they will have to sign a waiver that releases the league from any liability in case of injury. There are also events for those who want to visit the Combine but don’t want to take part in the physical events.

Fans will be able to interact with players at the convention center as members of the media conduct interviews, and the players will sign autographs. There will also be press conferences from head coaches that fans will be able to attend.

Visitors will have opportunities to take photos with players, NFL legends, the Vince Lombardi Trophy, the actual bench where players will do the 225-pound bench press. They can also pretend that their favorite NFL team just drafted them and get pictures wearing a jersey from that team.

Lastly, fans can enjoy virtual reality attractions, see all 50 Super Bowl rings, shop for NFL gear, win prizes and more activities. To register for a chance to win a free tickets, fans can download the NFL Fan …