tball went down in August and September). -- David SchoenfieldWhen Kyle Hendricks is on the mound: Speaking of throwing first-pitch strikes, nobody had

SEATTLE -- Richard Sherman took the opportunity last week to criticize NFL officiating for what he deemed incorrect calls, almost daring the league to fine him for being so outspoken.Sometimes the truth is the truth, its the truth, the All-Pro cornerback said last week. It is what it is. This is basically reality TV, so I guess Im good for ratings probably.So it seemed almost fitting that just a few days after making some bold comments, Sherman was at the center of another officiating flap in Monday nights 31-25 win over the Buffalo Bills.Once again, NFL refs were in the spotlight of a prime-time game that left the league scrambling to provide explanations of what happened and the mistakes that were made.Any time Dean Blandino, the NFLs head of officiating, has to send an explanatory tweet during a game about a mistake, its not a good look for the league.We are absolutely going to address it, Blandino told NFL Network late Monday night. Anytime you have a sequence like that at any point during the game, we want to see what happened and just walk through the steps of where the breakdown was. Regardless of the outcome of the game, we are going to address the situation with our crew.Officiating controversy and Monday night games in Seattle have become almost a regular occurrence. For the third time in five seasons, the day after a Seattle Monday win was spent breaking down the role of officiating mistakes in the Seahawks victory.The latest black eye for the refs came when Walt Andersons crew chose not to flag Sherman for unnecessary roughness as he attempted to block Dan Carpenters field goal attempt at the end of the first half. Sherman was penalized for being offside -- and was determined to be unabated to the kicker -- but the play was not stopped in time to prevent Sherman from getting a piece of the kick and crashing recklessly into Carpenters legs.Whenever it comes to player safety, we want to look at these fouls, Blandino said. Its something that we stress with our referees when it comes to the quarterbacks and the kickers with roughing the kicker and roughing the passer, so we certainly dont want to miss calls like that.The fact that no unnecessary roughness call was made created a whole other set of problems -- including an injury timeout against Buffalo that forced Carpenter off the field -- that werent handled well by Andersons crew. Most damaging for the Bills was the play clock not being properly reset as Carpenter lined up for a second field goal attempt, from 48 yards, and Buffalo being called for delay of game. After the 5-yard penalty, Carpenters attempt was wide right.What seemed to be a chaotic mishandling by officials at the time proved critical in the final moments of the fourth quarter when Buffalo drove inside the Seattle 10 and needed a touchdown rather than just a field goal.Were disappointed we didnt pull it out at the end there, but mistakes happen in this league, theres no question about it, Buffalo coach Rex Ryan said Tuesday. But you know, I think everybody saw what they want to see. And I dont know if I really need to comment any further on it.In hindsight, there seems to be agreement that Sherman should have been flagged for unnecessary roughness. Seahawks coach Pete Carroll said as much on Tuesday morning during his weekly radio show on KIRO-AM in Seattle, while noting that there appeared to be no whistle blown and Sherman was finishing off the play.He should avoid the contact if he hears the whistle, Carroll said. Otherwise, play the play out. Try and block the kick.But Anderson, the person in charge of making that call, determined Shermans actions werent worthy of the personal foul penalty. Andersons explanation was that it didnt appear that Sherman had an opportunity to avoid the contact from when the play was shut down.One of the things were just looking for is does the player have a chance to realize that were shutting the play down from that standpoint and whether or not he has an opportunity to avoid any type of contact once he realizes that were getting the play shut down, Anderson said. I know it was loud out there for everybody. Thats probably what took us a little bit of time to get everything shut down. But thats what were looking at.---AP Sports Writer John Wawrow in Buffalo, New York, contributed to this report.---For more NFL coverage: http://www.pro32.ap.org and http://www.twitter.com/AP-NFLBritton Colquitt Browns Jersey . -- Matt Kuchar and Harris English ran away with the Franklin Templeton Shootout, shooting a 14-under 58 on Sunday in the final-round scramble to break the tournament course record. Chad Thomas Youth Jersey . Vettel, who has already clinched his fourth straight F1 title, enters the finale with a chance to equal Michael Schumachers 13 victories in a year and match the record of nine consecutive wins by Alberto Ascari in the 1952 and 1953 seasons. http://www.brownsauthenticproshop.com/Youth-Baker-Mayfield-Browns-Jersey/ . Louis Blues. Shane Hnidy joins Brian Munz for the broadcast on TSN 1290 Radio at 7pm ct. Jim Brown Browns Jersey .J. Ellis hit two-run homers and the NL West champion Los Angeles Dodgers defeated the San Diego Padres 4-0 Saturday night. Bernie Kosar Jersey . Walcott is available for Saturdays home match against Southampton as Arsenal looks to extend its two-point lead at the top of the Premier League. The Gunners are currently the second highest scorers in the league but Wenger insists Walcott will add something extra to his team.Wow. If Game 2 is anything like the Giants-Cubs opener, its going to be an intense night at Wrigley Field when San Francisco tries to get even with Chicago. Who has the edge??Go inside the numbers and matchups that will decide Saturdays game, and then vote for which team will win at the bottom of the page.Inside the pitching matchupWhen Jeff Samardzija is on the mound: The free agent delivered exactly what the Giants could have expected, making 32 starts, topping 200 innings, and producing a solid 3.81 ERA. Samardzija works off a 93-95 mph fastball that doesnt generate a high rate of swings and misses but does generate an above-average ground ball rate, especially when he throws the two-seamer.Samardzijas primary secondary pitches in recent years have been a slider and cutter, but in August he suddenly resurrected a curveball he hadnt thrown since 2012, essentially dropping the cutter in the process. The cutter had actually been a pretty effective pitch for him -- batters hit .213/.244/.361 against it -- but the curveball has been even more effective, holding batters to a .179 average in a small sample size so far. Since Samardzija doesnt throw a changeup, the curveball gives him a lower-velocity offspeed pitch to go with the 87 mph slider. The curve is thrown in the low 80s, so maybe the change in speeds will improve the effectiveness of a fastball that batters hit .322/.381/.519 against. (Indeed, his OPS against his fastball went down in August and September). -- David SchoenfieldWhen Kyle Hendricks is on the mound: Speaking of throwing first-pitch strikes, nobody had a higher rate of them than Hendricks, tied with Johnny Cueto at 68.4 percent. That goes a long way to explaining how he led the NL with a 2.13 ERA. Hendricks ranks near the bottom of the league in fastball velocity, but his ERA wasnt just a product of the Cubs defense: He led major league starters in limiting hard contact.He does that by expertly changing speeds with his four-seamer, sinker, curveball, cutter and changeup -- and hitting his spots. Everything is to the corners -- away to lefties, away to righties. No starter had a higher percentage of pitches on the outer half of the plate than Hendricks, with 62 percent of his pitches on the outer third of the strike zone.Hendricks throws his fastball about half the time, increasing the usage of his changeup and cutter this season. Both were deadly weapons as batters hit .135 against the changeup and .164 against the cutter, with good K rates of 29.5 and 25.3 percent. Indeed, dont be fooled by the lack of velocity: His strikeout rate is more than adequate, ranking 24th out of 74 starters. How do you beat him? Its not easy. You can hope he elevates a fastball or misses over the middle, but he doesnt do that often. Knowing he pounds the strike zone, you can try to jump on him early in the count..ddddddddddddHe didnt have a large platoon split, so thats not a major factor. The Giants do put the ball in play, so maybe their ability to foul off pitches will come into play, waiting for Hendricks to make a mistake. -- SchoenfieldPlayer in the spotlightBuster Posey. Poseys power disappeared in the second half with only three home runs and he hit only .257 in September. Poseys postseason history at the plate isnt good -- a weak .241/.318/.319 line entering this series over 49 games, with only four home runs. The Giants won the World Series in 2014 even though Posey didnt have an extra-base hit the entire postseason. I doubt they can win if that happens again. -- SchoenfieldWhat will decide tonights gameIf Samardzijas curveball can quiet the Cubs bats. He used his curveball 15 percent of the time in the second half after not throwing a single curve in the first. Opponents hit just .179 on the pitch with a .425 OPS. It would be prudent for Samardzija to throw the curve Saturday ... a lot. The Cubs hit just .193 off curveballs this season, 25th in the majors. Their .577 OPS ranked 20th. Who specifically should he use it against? Addison Russell hit .122 against curveballs this season, 141st of 146 qualifying hitters.?--?Sarah Langs, ESPN Stats & InfoChoosing sides: Who will win?As good as Hendricks was this year, with barely a mistake for six months, he still has to prove himself in October. Last postseason, he failed to make it out of the fifth inning in both starts. I expect a higher-scoring game, which isnt saying much after Fridays 1-0 affair, but Samardzija will outpitch Hendricks by just enough. -- Mark SaxonThis is the matchup the Cubs have been waiting for even if they didnt know it. What they do know is Samardzija. He is decidedly more hittable than Cueto, as he has given up 14 hits in 10 innings to his former team -- and the Cubs have scored nine runs off him. Meanwhile, the aggressive Giants will be sliced and diced by Hendricks, leading to a pull-away victory by the home team. -- Jesse RogersWe saw the template for how this series is likely to go in Game 1. Hendricks and his 1.32 home ERA are tough to beat, but we know the Giants wont be rattled by their rough loss Friday. Win Saturday and they still split and have Madison Bumgarner looming in Game 3. Still, Hendricks has just been too good at Wrigley and as solid as Samardzija has been, the Cubs starter has been on a different level. Cubs go up 2-0.?-- Bradford DoolittleWhere the series standsAfter a thrilling Game 1 win, the Cubs have a chance to push the Giants to the brink on Saturday night -- and they better capitalize on it, because Bumgarner will get the ball when the series shifts to San Francisco. ?--?ESPN.com ' ' '