Orchard Park, N.Y. – Buffalo Bills linebacker Keith Ellison is out indefinitely because of a sprained ankle, and Coy Wire will replace him when Buffalo opens the season Sunday against the visiting Broncos.
“It’s not good. It’s going to be awhile,” Bills coach Dick Jauron said Sunday of Ellison’s injury and recovery.
Ellison was hurt in the second quarter of Buffalo’s preseason finale, a 16-13 win at Detroit on Thursday. He did not attend practice Sunday, but was walking on crutches and wearing a protective boot on his right foot.
The Bills were counting on the second-year player to take over the weakside spot in a revamped linebacking corps that lost two veterans starters – Takeo Spikes and London Fletcher.
Right guard Kendall Simmons was re-signed by Pittsburgh, which gave him a four-year contract extension that could be worth as much as $24 million. The deal makes it certain the Steelers won’t go into the 2008 season without both starting guards.
TRACK AND FIELD
Felix, U.S. wrap up gold rush in Japan
Allyson Felix ran one of the greatest women’s 400-meter relay legs (48 seconds) in the sport’s history to help the United States bring a triumphant end to its most dominant showing at the world track and field championships in Osaka, Japan. Felix became the second woman to win three golds at a world championships.
With 26 medals, 14 of them gold, the Americans delivered just the performance they wanted heading into the 2008 Beijing Olympics. The meet ended with Jeremy Wariner, a two-time world champion and Olympic gold medalist, clocking 43.10 seconds in his 400 anchor leg on the U.S. men’s 1,600-meter relay team, which won in 2 minutes, 55.56 seconds, the third-fastest time in history.
Bernard Lagat became the first American to win the 1,500 and 5,000 meters at a world championships.
COLLEGE FOOTBALL
Thumb surgery sidelines Pitt QB
Pitt quarterback Bill Stull is out indefinitely after surgery to repair a ligament injury in his right thumb that occurred during his first college start. Before the injury, Stull was 14-of-20 passing for 177 yards against Eastern Michigan. He threw a 21-yard touchdown pass to Oderick Turner in the Panthers’ 24-3 victory.
North Carolina State running back Toney Baker will miss the rest of the season after injuring a knee against Central Florida on Saturday. The school did not specify which knee was injured.
FOOTNOTES
Shock ties WNBA playoff series
The Detroit Shock, the defending WNBA champion, used 24 points from Deanna Nolan to even the Eastern Conference finals at 1-1 with a 77-63 victory over the Indiana Fever in Auburn Hills, Mich.
Levi Leipheimer took the lead from his teammate in the final three circuits to win the road race title at the USA Cycling Professional Championships in Greenville, S.C. Leipheimer, from Butte, Mont., finished the 110-mile road race in 4 hours, 22 minutes, 19 seconds – 1:11 ahead of George Hincapie.
Oscar Freire of Spain won the second stage of the Spanish Vuelta in a sprint finish and took the overall lead. Freire, who rides for Rabobank, captured the 92-mile leg in 3 hours, 31 minutes, 3 seconds.
Daniel Unger passed prerace favorite Javier Gomez of Spain in a final sprint to win the men’s title in 1 hour, 43 minutes, 18 seconds at the triathlon world championships in Hamburg, Germany.
The South Carolina women’s soccer team handed powerful North Carolina – the No. 1-ranked defending NCAA champion – its first loss in a home opener (1-0) in the 29 years of the program.
Colombia’s Ricardo “Mochuelo” Torres successfully defended his WBO junior welterweight title, stopping American Kendal Holt in the 11th round in Bogota.
An Australian women’s swim team set the 400-meter relay freestyle world short-course record at the national championships in Melbourne. Libby Lenton, Alice Mills, Shayne Reese and Melanie Schlanger finished in 3 minutes, 31.66 seconds, taking 1.66 seconds off the mark set by the Netherlands at last year’s FINA world short-course championships in Shanghai, China.
The United States won the women’s eights race at the world rowing championships in Munich, Germany. The Americans led from the start to defend its women’s title in 6 minutes, 17.20 seconds. Britain led in the points with 96. Germany had 81, Italy 66 and the United States 65.
Russell Ellington, whose four-decade career coaching basketball included a stint with the Harlem Globetrotters, died from lung-cancer complications in Savannah, Ga. He was 69.
The body pulled from the Delaware River was positively identified as the missing father of Orlando Magic guard Jameer Nelson. Floyd “Pete” Nelson was last seen Thursday working in a dry dock area in Chester, Pa.
