Bills fire GM, scouting staff
Buffalo Bills owner Terry Pegula completed an offseason front-office purge by firing general manager Doug Whaley and the team’s entire scouting staff yesterday, a day after completing the NFL draft.
Though pleased with the collaborative effort that took place in the draft room between Whaley and rookie coach Sean McDermott, Pegula went ahead with the change after what he called a lengthy review of his operation. Pegula said the timing coincided with the end of the draft, but he declined to detail the reasons why he felt the overhaul was necessary.
Besides Whaley, the Bills also dismissed player-personnel director Jim Monos and Kelvin Fisher, the team’s former amateur scouting director who had previously been demoted to an advisory role.
Pegula said he will immediately begin a general manager search and that it was too early to speculate on candidates. He said McDermott would have some input.
Tennis: Nadal again rules Barcelona
Rafael Nadal defeated Dominic Thiem 6-4, 6-1 to win his 10th Barcelona Open title, the second consecutive week that Nadal had won a tournament for the 10th time. He did the same thing at the Monte Carlo Masters last Sunday.
It was Nadal’s second title of the season and 71st of his career. Next month he will try to win a 10th French Open title. The last of his 14 Grand Slams was three years ago at Roland Garros. . . .
Laura Siegemund defeated Kristina Mladenovic 6-1, 2-6, 7-6 (5) to win the Porsche Grand Prix in her hometown of Stuttgart, Germany. The wild card entrant, who lost to compatriot
Angelique Kerber in last year’s final in Stuttgart, held on to win her second career title after Mladenovic had rallied in the second set.
Misc.: Chelsea stay ahead of Spurs
Chelsea passed the toughest test of soccer’s English Premier League title run-in to keep Tottenham at arm’s length. Antonio Conte’s side took 66 minutes to break through Everton’s resistance before winning 3-0 to remain four points ahead of Tottenham, on goals by
Pedro Rodriguez, Gary Cahill and Willian. Spurs ensured finishing ahead of archrival Arsenal for the first time in 22 years with a 2-0 win, on goals two minutes apart by Dele Alli and Harry Kane, the latter from the penalty spot. . . .
Luciano Acosta broke a tie in the 36th minute, Sebastien Le Toux had the only second-half goal and D.C. United beat Atlanta United, 3-1, on for the Washington team’s first road victory of the Major League Soccer season. . . .
New Mercedes driver Valtteri Bottas claimed his first Formula One win after holding off a late charge from Ferrari’s Sebastian Vettel in the Russian Grand Prix in Sochi.
Bottas started third behind both Ferraris but snatched the lead by the first turn and finished 0.6 seconds ahead of Vettel, who extended his standings lead to 13 points over Lewis Hamilton, who trailed in fourth after suffering overheating trouble. . . .
Richie Porte won cycling’s six-day Tour of Romandie with a strong ride in the final time-trial stage in Lausanne, Switzerland.