NFL roundup

TEXANS

Watt’s fund-raising continues to escalate

HOUSTON

J.J. Watt was ready to discuss his preparations for the Houston Texans’ opener — and his return from a back injury that sidelined him for most of last season.But first he took a few moments Tuesday to receive yet another donation — the biggest one yet — to a fundraising effort he set up in the days after Hurricane Harvey. Watt accepted the check for $5 million from HEB Grocery Company, giving him more than $28 million in donations. Then he discussed how he’s handled getting back to football with the city just beginning to recover from the storm. “It’s obviously a balance ... I’ve had a foundation my whole career,” Watt said. “I’ve been doing things like this my whole career, obviously not on this scale, but when I’m in meetings, when I’m at practice, when I’m in the weight room, that’s where 100 percent of my focus is.” Watt leaves his cellphone on airplane mode when he’s at the facility so he can handle football duties without interruption. He joked about being so busy getting ready for the game that he hadn’t yet reached out to Jimmy Fallon to thank him for the $1 million he donated to Watt’s fund on Tuesday night.

Chiefs-Patriots

New England is ready for a ring celebration

FOXBOROUGH, Mass.

The New England Patriots are set to kick off another season in the afterglow of a Super Bowl title. Seven months after completing the largest comeback in Super Bowl history, the Patriots will raise the franchise’s fifth championship banner prior to tonight’s season opener against the Kansas City Chiefs. It’s what’s come to be a familiar sight ever since Bill Belichick and Tom Brady captured their first Lombardi Trophy together in February 2002. Trying to spoil this latest party will be a Kansas City team that has been chasing its own post-championship commemoration since the franchise won its lone Super Bowl in 1970. The Chiefs were the No. 2 seed in the AFC playoffs last season before having their postseason run truncated by an 18-16 loss to Pittsburgh in the divisional round. The Patriots are 4-0 in season openers following a Super Bowl win, but have vast respect for a Kansas City team that has been responsible for some sour Patriots memories during the Belichick-Brady era. The previous time Brady opened a season at home against the Chiefs in 2008, it ended with him limping off the field with a season-ending knee injury . Then in 2014, Kansas City flatly embarrassed New England 41-14 in Arrowhead Stadium. “I respect the way they play. They’re always tough. We’ve always had great battles with them,” Belichick said. “I can’t think of too many teams that have handled us better than the way they handled us in 2014.” But that win was Reid’s lone head-to-head victory against Belichick.

BUCCANEERS-DOLPHINS

Sunday’s game in Miami postponed until Nov. 19

MIAMI

The Miami Dolphins and Tampa Bay Buccaneers will open the season with a hurricane-imposed weekend off. Their opener scheduled for Sunday was postponed by the NFL until Nov. 19 because of Hurricane Irma. “This is bigger than football,” Buccaneers quarterback Jameis Winston said. “I just want everyone to be safe. Football is not important right now.” Switching the game to Week 11 was possible because that had been an open week for both teams. NFL officials earlier announced the game would not be played in Miami this week. The league also decided against playing this weekend at a neutral site, perhaps in Pennsylvania. “I just don’t think that’s feasible, whether I would have liked that or not,” Bucs coach Dirk Koetter said. “I don’t think you could ask all the people who would have had to travel on both teams to say: ‘Hey, leave your families in the hurricane and let’s go play a game in Pittsburgh.’ I just don’t think that’s feasible.” Irma is forecast to threaten much of Florida beginning this weekend.

seahawks

Bennett claims Vegas police used excessive force

las vegas

Seattle Seahawks defensive end Michael Bennett accused Las Vegas police on Wednesday of racially motivated excessive force, saying he was threatened at gunpoint and handcuffed following a report of gunshots at an after-hours club at a casino-hotel. Police said they’re investigating, but that Bennett failed to stop for officers searching a crowded casino for what they believed to be an active shooter just hours after the Aug. 26 boxing match between Floyd Mayweather Jr. and Conor McGregor. “I believe this case will become completely clear as all the available video is reviewed for evidentiary purposes,” Clark County Undersheriff Kevin McMahill told reporters. “We’ll see very, very clearly exactly what happened on this incident.” Bennett said on a Twitter message titled “Dear World,” that police “singled me out and pointed their guns at me for doing nothing more than simply being a black man in the wrong place at the wrong time.” Bennett described the incident as “traumatic” but declined to go into specifics about it.

Associated Press