d about me and I dont care," Westgarth said. "I know the guy

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ENGLEWOOD, Colo. . -- The Denver Broncos locked up a shutdown cornerback, only his name wasnt Dominique Rodgers-Cromartie. The Broncos spent the first day of free agency bolstering their defensive backfield, agreeing to a four-year deal with Pro Bowl safety T.J. Ward on Tuesday afternoon and then hours later reaching an agreement on a six-year contract with cornerback Aqib Talib. Talib and Ward will play in a secondary that will be without Champ Bailey, who was released last week, and may be moving on from Rodgers-Cromartie, who entered free agency without a new deal from the Broncos. The 28-year-old Talib had quite a year for New England last season, with teams largely choosing to go the other way rather than pick on him. Sound familiar? It was the same way for Bailey in his prime. By agreeing to a deal, Talib seemed to show theres no bad blood between him and the Broncos after he hurt his knee early in the AFC championship game against Denver when he was bumped by Wes Welker on a crossing route. The leagues officiating chief later ruled it a legal hit by Welker. ESPN first announced the agreement with Talib, which is reportedly worth $57 million. The Broncos also are reportedly interested in defensive lineman DeMarcus Ware, who was released by Dallas on Tuesday in a salary-cap move. Talib will be reunited with cornerback Chris Harris Jr., whos also a former Kansas Jayhawk. Harris played opposite of Rodgers-Cromartie last season before blowing out a knee against San Diego in the divisional round. Harris later posted on his Twitter account: "I had to call my Fam Talib to see if it was real." Yep, its real. The Broncos also brought in Ward, who had 129 tackles and two interceptions for Cleveland in 2013. The Broncos are looking for some stability at a position that got juggled last year, with the loss of Rahim Moore and the inconsistent play of Duke Ihenacho. Veteran Mike Adams, also formerly of Cleveland, started the season as a reserve but ended up in the starting lineup. "Hes a young, explosive strong safety who is going to bring a lot of energy and toughness to our secondary," Broncos boss John Elway said of Ward. Denvers big receiving news Tuesday was a two-year extension for fourth receiver Andre Caldwell, who could move up a notch if the Broncos part ways with Eric Decker. Caldwell came on late in the season when Welker was sidelined with a concussion. The 28-year-old Caldwell had 11 of his 16 receptions over the final three games of the season. His most productive game in 2013 was against San Diego on Dec. 12, when he had six receptions for 59 yards and two TDs. Caldwell was held without a catch in the 43-8 loss to Seattle in the Super Bowl. "Hopefully I can compete for an extended role this year and contribute a lot more to the team," Caldwell said. Caldwell received an invitation from Peyton Manning to attend off-season workouts at Duke University. Last spring, only Welker, Demaryius Thomas and Decker were invited to work on their chemistry with the five-time NFL MVP quarterback. "Its just a process of building confidence with those guys all the way from April," Caldwell said. Ward is expected to be a main piece around which the Broncos reshape a defence that was obliterated by an injury epidemic last season, losing Von Miller, Harris, Derek Wolfe, Kevin Vickerson and Moore. The Broncos also could seek a replacement for linebacker Wesley Woodyard, a free agent who is exploring other options. Theyll need a new starting guard now that Zane Beadles has agreed to terms with Jacksonville. Running back Knowshon Moreno is a free agent as well after rushing for 1,038 yards and 10 TDs in 2013. The Broncos also hired two new coaches on Tuesday, bringing in assistant offensive line coach James Cregg and offensive quality control coach Bo Hardegree. . Everton Preview West Ham manager Sam Allardyce has been around the game long enough to not get too high when things are going well and not get too low when they arent. .ca. Hello Kerry, After watching Nino Niederreiter clobber Alex Burrows with an open-ice hit on Wednesday, do you think he should have gotten more than the two minutes for interference. . The 20-year-old Inoue landed a series of combinations and the bout was stopped 2 minutes, 54 seconds into the sixth round. Inoue, the first Japanese boxer to claim a world title in just his sixth professional fight, improved to 6-0 with five knockouts.SAN JOSE, Calif. - Even on a night when the play was hampered by choppy ice, the puck still seems to find Joe Pavelski and he keeps finding the net. Pavelski scored twice to move into a tie for the second most goals in the NHL this season and help the San Jose Sharks beat the Calgary Flames 3-2 Monday night. "It feels how you should play the game all the time, to be honest," Pavelski said. "Its the way you picture it. Ive just visualized this a few times, so it shouldnt be anything new." Pavelski scored on a deflection in the first period and on the power play in the second to give him five goals in his past two games and 18 in the past 20 to tie Anaheims Corey Perry with 27 on the season. Washingtons Alex Ovechkin leads the league with 35. "Its fun to watch," teammate Tommy Wingels said. "They go in a whole different variety of ways as you saw tonight. When youre hot, youre hot. Hell certainly take it and as a team well take it as well." Wingels also scored and Antti Niemi made 21 saves for the Sharks, who returned home from a perfect three-game road trip with a win over struggling Calgary to open a pre-Olympic stretch of eight games out of 10 at home. Jiri Hudler and Kevin Westgarth scored for the Flames, who have lost four straight games and 11 of 13. Karri Ramo made 24 saves. "Were disappointed in the loss, but you cant fault the effort," forward Matt Stajan said. "We had our chances. If we continue to work like that well give ourselves a chance no doubt about it." Pavelski followed up his first career hat trick on Saturday in Tampa Bay with his third multi-goal game in his past six as he thrives on a line with Joe Thornton and Brent Burns. Pavelski is four goals shy of matching his career high of 31 set two seasons ago. He broke a tie late in the second period after Stajan was sent off for interfering with Eriah Hayes on the only penalty of the game. After a broken play at the blue line, Jason Demers kept the puck in the offensive zone and passed to Thornton, who was all alone on the opposite side of the ice. Thoornton fired a cross-ice pass to Pavelski, who was alone near the front of the net and deflected the pass past Ramo to give the Sharks a 3-2 lead. . "The ice was just so bouncy tonight I just tried to get it in the general direction," Thornton said. "He just made a great play, just hand-eye co-ordination. Hes just playing great right now. The puck seems to hit him right now and go in." Both teams scored twice during the first period with help from shaky goaltending from Niemi and Ramo. The four goals came on 18 shots and included three in a span of 1:12 midway through the period. The Flames started the scoring when Hudler beat Brad Stuart in the corner and then beat Niemi with a backhand from in front of the net for his 13th goal. The Sharks responded with two goals in a 21-second span with Pavelski tipping Justin Brauns point shot for the first and Wingels beating Ramo with a bad angle shot from near the boards to snap a 15-game goalless stretch. Less than a minute later, Niemi allowed a big rebound in the slot on a shot by Brian McGrattan and Westgarth got to the rebound ahead of Matt Irwin for his first goal in 23 games this season. Westgarth was happy to contribute two days after he was part of the game-opening line brawl against Vancouver that led to coach Bob Hartley getting fined $25,000 earlier in the day. "I dont know what is being said about me and I dont care," Westgarth said. "I know the guys in this room respect me and thats all that matters. I figured something would be happening. You dont want to have a line brawl like that very often." This game had just one minor penalty compared to the 204 combined minutes of penalties between the Canucks and Flames on Saturday. NOTES: With the assist on Pavelskis second goal, Thornton moved past Bobby Hull for 48th on the career scoring list with 1,171 points. ... Flames F Paul Byron left the game in the second period with a lower-body injury. ... Calgary F David Jones (eye) returned to the lineup after missing eight games and D Kris Russell (knee) was back after missing the past 13 games. ' ' '

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