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FLOWERY BRANCH, Ga. -- Steven Jacksons latest hamstring injury is giving Jacquizz Rodgers, Devonta Freeman and Antone Smith a chance to fill the void at running back for the Atlanta Falcons. Its a tough assignment considering how far the run game has fallen, dropping from 17th in 2011 to 29th in 2012 to worst in the NFL last season. Jackson, the NFLs active career leading rusher, missed four games with a left hamstring injury and finished his first year as a Falcon with 543 yards rushing and 3.5 per carry -- the lowest numbers of his 10-season tenure. For the past several days, Jackson has been nursing a right hamstring injury, putting his three backups in competition for snaps. Rodgers and Freeman are splitting work with the starters while Smith is working with the second and third teams. Theres no immediate timetable for Jacksons return, but Rodgers says the team is prepared to move on regardless. "In this league, youve got to always be ready," Rodgers said Saturday. "Youve got to practice like youre ready to play in a game and when your time comes, youve got to prove what youve got." Over the past three years, the Falcons used the 5-foot-6, 188-pound Rodgers as a change-of-pace option to veteran power backs such as Jackson and Michael Turner. Rodgers will have the first chance to claim the starting job until Jackson is ready to return, but coach Mike Smith likes the punch that Freeman, who last season helped Florida State win the national championship, brings to the offence. Another step in Freemans growth will come Monday and Tuesday when Atlanta hosts the Tennessee Titans for joint practices. "Theyll present some different rushes and some different blitzes, but hes on a fast track to help us," Mike Smith said. "We know what he can do with the ball in his hands. In this league, youve got to be able to protect the quarterback, and the running backs are an integral part of that." The Falcons struggled in keeping Matt Ryan clean last year as the former Pro Bowl quarterback suffered a career-high 44 sacks and was pressured 203 times, most in the NFL. Antone Smith is hoping to earn snaps with the first-team offence, but he acknowledges the need to improve his blocking skills. The team already knows what he can do on special teams as Smith spent his first four years mostly working on punt and kickoff returns and coverages. Blocking in the backfield, however, has been harder to master. "Thats always been an issue for me," Antone Smith said. "Every game you have to calibrate that pass protection, and you want to be an artist at that. Everybody can run the ball. If you cant run the ball, you wouldnt be here." Coming off a 4-12 season, the Falcons cant return to respectability with a one-dimensional offence that last season averaged 20.1 run attempts per game, lowest in the league, while leading the NFC and ranking second overall with 42.2 pass attempts. Freeman hopes to help lighten the load on Ryan and his receivers and give the rushing attack some traction. "I feel like nobody can stop me but me, and when the opportunity is there, you have to seize the moment every time," Freeman said. "I feel like I was going to eventually get to this point where the coaches throw me in the fire. It happened to be during camp, so I can get reps now. When live action comes in the games, I can try to be good at everything." Notes: FS Kemal Ishmael, a seventh-round pick last year from Central Florida, began training camp with the third-team defence, but hes now working with the starters as Dwight Lowery and rookie Dez Southward nurse injuries. Lowery left Fridays scrimmage after hitting his head. Southward, a third-round draft pick from Wisconsin, hurt his knee earlier this week. Neither has an immediate timetable to return. Eagles Jerseys . Seth Smith hit a towering drive for a tying homer leading off the eighth and Chris Denorfia singled home two runs to give the Padres a 3-1 victory against the rival Dodgers in baseballs North American opener Sunday night. Avonte Maddox Jersey . -- Omar Infante walked past the visiting clubhouse at Kauffman Stadium, where he dressed so many times as a member of the Detroit Tigers, and slipped on a crisp, new Kansas City Royals jersey. http://www.theeaglesfootballauthentic.co...n-black-jersey/. 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. Custom Eagles Jerseys . Gonzalez participated in his final game on Sunday, Atlantas 21-20 defeat at the hands of the NFC South champion Carolina Panthers, having posted four catches for 46 yards. Michael Bennett Eagles Jersey . The Maple Leafs will play on the road for the first time this season after dropping home contests to Montreal and Pittsburgh to begin the campaign. After losing a one-goal decision to the Canadiens on Wednesday, they were bested 5-2 on Saturday by the Penguins.Sixteen years ago, Tim Clark got on a plane for a place hed never heard of before and couldnt find on a map even if he had a GPS. Hed just won the U.S. Public Links title, graduated from North Carolina State and was embarking on his professional career. He landed in Moncton to play the New Brunswick Open and without the benefit of a practice round, won the tournament. A week later, in London, Ont., again without the benefit of a practice round – this time because hed spent the previous three days celebrating his first win – he did it again, capturing the CPGA Championship. Those two wins jump-started his pro career and so it was appropriate that the South African golfer returned to Canada to notch another victory, the RBC Canadian Open. This time around, he knew how to get to Montreal although the celebration could be similar. "The irony of it, it could be the place of my first win and my last," he said, throwing out a little dark humour perhaps pointing to the looming long putter ban in 2016. "Thats pretty interesting. To come back here, yeah, full circle, thats 16 years ago when I was just cutting my teeth as a professional." It seems as if Clark has learned a lot in that period. He put together a sensational Sunday back nine at Royal Montreal to reel in and pass Jim Furyk to earn the victory. Clark started the day three behind Furyk and was still that many back when they headed for the back nine. But birdies on 11 and 12 got him to within one. Two more birds on the 14th and 15th put him into the lead and standing in the fairway on 18, he was a shot ahead and had the tournament in his hands.However his approach landed 44 feet from the hole and his first putt wasnt really cozy; he left himself a stomach-turning six feet. But when Furyk missed his 12-foot birdie putt, the 38-year-old Clark made no mistake. "That was a big swing there," he said, admitting that he was thinking more of the tournaments hed lost than the ones hed won while standing over his putt. "I didnt want to have to go into the playoff knowing that he can take it over the water (on 18) and I have to play out to the right." Thats right, chalk up one for the short hitters – Clark averaged just 269 yards off the tee (which made clearing the water on the 18th at Royal Montreal impossible). And give another tick mark to the long putter posse. Clarkk is a card-carrying member of both outfits and a win from either of those groups is becoming rare these days on the PGA Tour.dddddddddddd "I didnt quite have it with my golf swing or the putter," Clark said of his opening nine holes, "but making the turn I was still only three back so I was still in the tournament and I knew it looked like Jim wasnt going to make any mistakes so I knew I had to make birdies and sometimes that can be easier when you know you have to be aggressive. At that point, [I had] nothing to lose and like I say, I suddenly just got hot and went with it." Furyks loss marked the 16th time in his career that hes frittered away a 54-hole lead, including the last seven consecutively. He hasnt won since 2010 and at 44, he will likely have fewer and fewer chances. "Im obviously disappointed," he said. "Ive got no one to blame but myself. It was a benign day and 69 is not a bad round by any means, and only making two birdies, I let a couple guys back into the tournament that if they go out there and fire a 66 or 67, its a done deal." Now Clark is a talented player, but hes been a little short on PGA Tour wins. Hes managed to earn $22 million yet this was just his second victory. It took him 206 starts to notch his first win, the Players Championship in 2010, where he also came from three back on the last day. After that he struggled, underwent elbow surgery and missed basically an entire year. And then he had kids and hes also had to worry about what to do with his long putter, which hes used since college. So its not a big surprise that he needed another 78 starts to grab the second victory. But this was a tournament he was exceedingly proud to win, even if he did manage to drop the trophy shortly after it was presented. "Its certainly one Ive wanted to win for a long time," he stated. "Any national open championship to me is special, particularly to those people for their country." That would include his wife, Candice, who happens to be from Toronto originally. Clark knows a thing or two about national opens too. While hes short on PGA Tour wins, he does have a handful of national titles, including his own, the South African Open. And he has a Scottish Open and an Australian Open. Those, of course, go along with that all-important first win, the New Brunswick Open. Full circle indeed. 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