Fahrmann. Madrids intensity soon slackened, and t

HOUSTON - Ryan Fitzpatrick had one of the best games of his career in Houstons win this weekend after two weeks on the bench.Now coach Bill OBrien wants to see if the quarterback and his team can build on the victory on Sunday against the Jaguars.The trick is can we do it again, OBrien said.Fitzpatrick threw a career-high and franchise-record six touchdown passes to help Houston score the most points in team history in a 45-21 win over the Titans. The veteran returned to the lineup after being benched in favour of Ryan Mallett, who suffered a season-ending chest injury a week before.Maybe it helped Fitz to take a step back, OBrien said. You never want to see anybody get hurt like Mallett did, but maybe it helped Fitz to see how the offence was operated and he went in there and did a good job.Fitzpatrick had his first 300-yard passing game of the year with a season-high 358 yards passing on Sunday. His six touchdowns against Tennessee tied the number he threw in his previous five games combined. The team went 1-4 in those games and he had three interceptions to open the door for Mallett to take over.He agreed with his coach that his time out of the lineup helped him handle running OBriens complicated offence much better.I think that being able to look at it at a different perspective, take a step back, and see it from a different view, I do think it helped a little bit, Fitzpatrick said. I think that and me going back and evaluating myself I think those were two factors that helped me out.A seventh-round pick out of Harvard, the 32-year-old Fitzpatrick has alternated between starting and being a backup often during a 10-year NFL career spent with five different teams. He said another key to his successful return was not getting down when he lost the starting job.To be a successful quarterback in this league, its all about self-confidence, he said. Never losing that belief in yourself and thats something that I will never lose.Fitzpatrick was sacked nine times combined in the two games before his benching and admitted that he was holding the ball too long at times. He wasnt taken down once on Sunday behind a line that OBrien said has been playing well in the last three games.Part of it is the fact that their quarterbacks are seeing things a little bit better in the games that weve won, getting rid of the ball faster, OBrien said. But its also a part of it is the offensive line is playing better.Fitzpatricks big game was helped by a career-day by receiver DeAndre Hopkins. A first-round pick in 2013, Hopkins had a career-high 238 yards receiving with two touchdowns on Sunday to give him more than 1,000 yards receiving this season.The 22-year-old Hopkins is beginning to establish himself as the top receiver for this team as Andre Johnsons production has started to taper off in his 12th NFL season. OBrien believes Hopkins has improved this season because of hard work and increased maturity.He has gone out there and made himself a better player because of his own work ethic, OBrien said. He is the last one off the field many times ... he is out there trying to perfect the top of his routes and doing little things every single day, really that we are out there, to try to make himself better.NOTES: OBrien said that cornerback Kareem Jackson, who has missed the last three games with a knee injury, could return this week. ... OBrien isnt sure if outside linebacker Jadeveon Clowney will be able to play on Sunday after missing his seventh game this season because of a knee injury. But he came to the defence of the top overall pick who has been the subject of intense criticism for missing so much time since being drafted because of several injuries. I want to be real clear about this with him as it relates to us here and the Houston Texans, OBrien said. We think very highly of him. We know that he is going to be a really good player. He has been unlucky ... he is a good kid. He is a good teammate and he is working hard to get back on the field.___AP NFL website: www.pro32.ap.org and http://twitter.com/AP_NFL China Jerseys Cheap . Catch all the action on TSN starting at 10:30pm et/7:30pm pt. Toronto won at Denver and Utah, but lost in Portland and Sacramento. The Kings loss was the most recent game for the Raptors. China Jerseys Stitched . Bjoerndalen broke the record he shared with cross-country skiing great Bjoern Daehlie, also matching his fellow Norwegians record of eight gold medals. Bjoerndalen earlier won gold in Sochi in the mens sprint biathlon. https://www.chinajerseyscheap.us/ . As deep as their roster is, they need their superstar. Rose scored 23 points in his return from a five-game absence due to back pain, and Chicago hung on to beat the struggling Atlanta Hawks 90-79 on Monday. China Jerseys Wholesale . -- Fresh off their surprising run in the playoffs, the Portland Trail Blazers have signed head coach Terry Stotts to a multi-year contract extension. Fake China Jerseys . Some members of the U.S. Congress arent so sure. They say Russia isnt doing enough to assure that athletes will be protected at the Feb. 7-23 games, happening not far from an Islamic insurgency that Russias huge security apparatus has struggled for two decades to quell. Russia may run greater risks in towns outside the tightly controlled Olympic zone. Suicide bombs last month a few hundred kilometres (miles) away have increased concerns, and an Islamic warlord has urged his followers to attack the Sochi Olympics, Russian President Vladimir Putins pet project. MADRID, Spain -- Cristiano Ronaldo scored two goals as Real Madrid completed its Champions League last 16 thrashing of Schalke with a 3-1 victory on Tuesday. Madrid breezed into the quarterfinals after winning 9-2 on aggregate following its 6-1 first-leg victory in Germany. The Spanish leaders progress was never in doubt as coach Carlo Ancelotti rotated his squad, with Gareth Bale forced off the bench early when Madrid forward Jese Rodriguez injured his right knee two minutes in at the Santiago Bernabeu. Bale played a key role in the victory, feeding Ronaldo for the 21st-minute opener before Schalke defender Tim Hoogland equalized from a shot deflected beyond Iker Casillas. Ronaldo scored his 13th goal of the competition with an individual effort before Alvaro Morata struck Madrids third from Bales pass in the 75th. The victory extended Madrids unbeaten run to 31 games in all competitions ahead of Sundays Spanish league showdown with Barcelona. Also Tuesday, Chelsea beat Galatasaray 2-0 to reach the quarterfinals with a 3-1 aggregate victory, keeping alive the possibility of Madrid coming up against former coach Jose Mourinho. "I think all of the best teams have won their series, although there can be some surprises," Ancelotti said, with the quarterfinals draw coming on Friday. "Whoever we draw, its going to be difficult." Jese exited after Schalke defender Sead Kolasinac barged into the back of the Madrid winger, leaving him on the turf in visible pain. Ancellotti said Jese had ruptured his cruciate ligament, leaving him unlikely to return this season.dddddddddddd. Bale swiftly added to the attack as Morata threaded a ball onto his run into the area and the Welshman picked out the inrushing Ronaldo to beat Schalke goalkeeper Ralf Fahrmann. Madrids intensity soon slackened, and the visitors took advantage of the dip in the 31st as Julian Drexler started a break that eventually finished with Hooglands shot from outside the area deflecting off Sergio Ramos foot around goalie Iker Casillas. "The team reacted well, the performance was good," Schalke coach Jens Keller said through a translator. "But the minute Real Madrid has an opportunity, they can convert it into goal." Bale lost control at the halfway line in the 74th but Ronaldo skipped onto the loose ball and headed straight for Schalkes goal, twisting and turning defender Joel Matip before closing the run with a clinical finish from the edge of the area. Ronaldo didnt look done as he found the crossbar in the ensuing minute, with the rebound falling to Bale to unselfishly pass back for Morata to net after the Madrid striker had missed a number of early scoring chances. Ronaldo, who then found the post after that, moved within one goal of the record 14 scored by Lionel Messi of Barcelona and Jose Altafini of AC Milan in a single campaign of Europes top-tier competition. Ronaldo also equaled club great Ferenc Puskas mark of 242 goals with his brace. ' ' '