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NFL

Vikings' Diggs confident he'll play vs. Browns

LONDON — Minnesota Vikings wide receiver Stefon Diggs, who has missed two games with a groin injury, is confident he’ll be able to return to action Sunday.

The Vikings, who lead the NFC North at 5-2 and are looking for their fourth consecutive win, arrived early Thursday in London ahead of their clash with the Cleveland Browns at Twickenham Stadium for the NFL’s fourth and final game in the UK this season.

“It’s exciting to come back [to the UK],” said Diggs, who visited the country over the summer. “It’s going to be a busy trip, but I can’t wait to play some football out here.

“I feel good. We’ve got a little bit of time left, so I’ll be ready to go.”

Diggs was listed as a full practice participant Thursday after limited participation on Wednesday.

Stefon Diggs didn’t mind the unusual practice conditions that the Vikings encountered Thursday at Syon House in Hyde Park. Said Diggs: “All we need is the grass and a couple of lines.” AP Photo/Matt Dunham

The 23-year-old Diggs, who has a team-leading four touchdown receptions this season, missed the Vikings’ victories over the Baltimore Ravens and Green Bay Packers.

When asked whether he had received any indication whether he would be ready to face the Browns, Diggs replied: “I’m the indication — we’ll see [Friday].

“At the end of the day you’ll have to ask [coach Mike] Zimmer — I was confident [of playing] last week, so I guess we’ll see.”

With the historic Syon House on one side and a herd of cows on the other, the former fifth-round draft pick out of Maryland seemed unfazed by his surroundings as he spoke beside the crudely marked patch of grass on which the Vikings had been doing walk-through practices.

“I try not to pay too much attention to the surroundings when you’ve got plays to worry about,” Diggs said. “It doesn’t really matter. All we need is the grass and a couple of lines. We’ll make it work and execute no matter what. At the end of the day, that’s football.”

Diggs also expressed his happiness to see quarterback Teddy Bridgewater, who also practiced Thursday after recovering from a horrific knee injury that has kept him out for 14 months.

“It’s good,” Diggs said. “I haven’t thrown with him yet, so it’s a little different. But his aura and what he brings to the game as a person and a teammate is definitely huge.

“Teddy’s going to be Teddy. He’s always going to be the same person no matter what.”

NFL

Ex-Bucs DE Rice serious about comeback at 43

TAMPA, Fla. — Former Tampa Bay Buccaneers defensive end Simeon Rice isn’t kidding around when he says he wants to come back and play. Rice hasn’t taken a snap since the 2007 season, but at 43, he said he can still do it. And he wants to.

He has been tweeting about it and told ESPN he’s completely serious, if the Bucs will have him.

“If they want a pass-rusher, they should bring in a pass-rusher extraordinaire who was one of the dominant pass-rushers of any era,” Rice told ESPN. “What is it going to cost? You don’t have one.”

The Bucs just lost speed-rusher Noah Spence, who suffered another shoulder injury and is now on injured reserve. The team also waived Jacquies Smith after he recovered from a torn ACL. The Bucs (2-4) are last in the league with seven sacks in six games. By comparison, the Jacksonville Jaguars lead the NFL with 33.

“My only request is you bring me in and let me play my brand of defense, which is real pressure football — sack fumbles and disruption,” said Rice, emphasizing that this has nothing to do with the Pro Football Hall of Fame and his frustration about not getting votes.

Simeon Rice sacked Raiders quarterback Rich Gannon during Super Bowl XXXVII in January 2003. MPS/USA TODAY Sports

Rice indicated that he previously had no intention of making a comeback. It wasn’t something that came up when head coach Dirk Koetter invited him to training camp. That all changed when he watched the Bucs lose 38-33 to the Arizona Cardinals on Oct. 15. Rice sat with Brian Ford, the Bucs’ chief operating officer, during the game.

“It was very hard watching what I could fix,” said Rice, who was the last Bucs player to notch double-digit sacks, with 14 in 2005. He reached double-digit sacks eight times, including in five consecutive years with the Bucs.

He has 122 career sacks and 28 forced fumbles in 12 seasons spent with the Cardinals, Buccaneers, Indianapolis Colts and Denver Broncos. Rice is 19th on the NFL’s career sacks list. Among the Hall of Fame-eligible members of the top 20, only Leslie O’Neal, Rice and Clyde Simmons haven’t been inducted.

Rice spent time helping Spence and defensive end Ryan Russell during camp this summer.

“He taught me things in five minutes that I’d never even heard of or even thought to put into my game,” Spence said. “He pointed out things in my game that I’d never even heard of. It was a blessing to have him out here to talk to us.”

Rice said the shoulder injury that plagued him at the end of his career has been healthy for some time. He said he trains six hours a day, five days a week, something that has become more of a lifestyle than a training regimen.

“With nine games left, [there is] plenty of time to finish with double-digit sacks and a playoff bid,” Rice said. “I bet on myself before, and it paid off. It’s really not a stretch at all. It’s facts.”

When defensive coordinator Mike Smith was asked about Rice’s comments about a comeback, he laughed, saying, “I don’t want to comment on that. He was a great pass-rusher. I know when I was 43, I know I couldn’t do what I was doing when I was 25.”

NFL

Cowboys to sign kicker Nugent with Bailey out

FRISCO, Texas — With Dan Bailey expected to miss some with a groin injury, the Dallas Cowboys will sign veteran kicker Mike Nugent after he won a competition with Jason Myers and Sam Irwin-Hill on Tuesday.

Coach Jason Garrett would not put a timetable on Bailey’s return but said he would miss “at least a couple of weeks” with the injury that occurred while warming up on the sidelines during a drive. The Cowboys had safety Jeff Heath take over the kicking duties and he made two of three point-after attempts.

Mike Nugent has played for four teams in his NFL career. Rob Carr/Getty Images

Nugent, 34, lost a training-camp competition with Aldrick Rosas to be the New York Giants kicker this summer. In his career with the Cincinnati Bengals, Arizona Cardinals, Tampa Bay Buccaneers and New York Jets, he has made 236 of 292 career field goal attempts.

“You want a guy who is reliable. It’s really important at that position you have a guy you can trust and count on. You want that throughout your whole team at every position but that’s a very valuable position,” Jason Garrett said on Monday. “You’re going to put the fortunes of your team in that guy’s hands, or on his foot, and you want a guy you can trust and rely on. Experience matters, but you don’t want to make it all about that. You want to choose the best guy. But reliability and how much you can trust them is certainly a big factor.”

Bailey is the most accurate kicker in NFL history, making 178 of 198 field goal attempts in his career. He had not missed a game since signing with the Cowboys as an undrafted free agent in 2011 — until now.

Three of the Cowboys’ next four games will be in climate-controlled stadiums with retractable roofs (two at AT&T Stadium and one at Atlanta’s Mercedes Benz Stadium), which make for easier kicking conditions. The Cowboys play at FedEx Field Sunday against the Washington Redskins.

To make room for Nugent on the roster, the Dallas Cowboys waived defensive end Damontre Moore. Moore was inactive last week. In three games coaches credited him with seven tackles and four quarterback hurries.

NFL

Amid trade chatter, WR Bryant calls in sick

PITTSBURGH — The Martavis Bryant saga took another turn Monday when the talented but disgruntled receiver didn’t show up for Steelers meetings due to an illness.

Thomas Santanello, Bryant’s agent, said Bryant went to the doctor’s office Monday morning. He’s not in the Steelers facility, and his locker chair was folded during the media’s 45-minute window of open access Monday afternoon.

This is not the first time Bryant missed a work day with an illness. He did not participate in a Saturday walk-through before the Week 5 match-up with the Jacksonville Jaguars, and he missed two practice days with an illness in Week 4, too.

Martavis Bryant also missed time earlier this season because of illness. Shelley Lipton/Icon Sportswire

Bryant refueled his trade request late Sunday night with comments on Instagram that a source close to Bryant affirmed the receiver “wants out, point blank.”

Bryant, who had one catch for three yards in a 29-14 win over Cincinnati Bengals, responded to a fan’s Instagram comment that rookie JuJu Smith-Schuster was better than him.

“JuJu is no where near better than me, fool,” Bryant commented. “All they need to do is give me what I want and y’all can have JuJu and whoever else.”

Bryant then clarified those remarks with a new comment that tagged Smith-Schuster, the rookie who caught a 31-yard touchdown Sunday and has cut into Bryant’s playing time. Bryant called Smith-Schuster “the future” but adds, “I just want mines, period, point-blank,” citing his hard work coming back from 2016 suspension for multiple drug violations.

One team source said Bryant clearly was frustrated on the field Sunday and wasn’t really into the game late. Sources have maintained the Steelers do not intend to trade Bryant. He has worked hard in recent practices and hasn’t been a problem in that area. In fact, Bryant thought he would be central to the Week 7 game plan based on the week of practices.

Smith-Schuster said he has been in contact with Bryant and the two are in a “good place.” Smith-Schuster understands what Bryant is going through as a receiver who wants more targets.

“There’s only one ball. We have so many athletes on the field. It’s tough,” Smith-Schuster said. “At the end of the day, we have to do what’s best for our team…Hopefully we do get him the ball more. He’s a great player, great athlete. I would like him to be on our team. Moving forward, I think he’s going to be big for us.”

On Monday, after a second straight win, the Steelers were left to answer questions about Bryant for the absent player.

“Everyone here is grown. We’re all going to have different thoughts and opinions,” linebacker Bud Dupree said. “He’s going to handle it on his own. We’re here so we’re still friends.”

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