Falcons careful with star

FLOWERY BRANCH, Ga. — The Atlanta Falcons were cautious on the opening day of training camp Thursday, pulling star wide receiver

Julio Jones out of practice with an injury coach

Dan Quinn referred to as minor. Quinn wouldn’t describe the injury, and Jones showed no apparent difficulty as he walked off the field at the end of the session. “He just had a little tweak, so we just decided to hold him,” Quinn said. “He’ll likely be back in there tomorrow. He could have come back in today and he was asking me to, but I decided not to.” Jones, who had two surgeries on his right foot in the past five years, is coming off his first AllPro season. The College Football Playoff has abandoned a plan to play most of its semifinals on New Year’s Eves after television ratings tumbled last year, moving the dates of future games to ensure they will be played either on a weekend or a holiday. The changes will start with the 2018 season. The TV ratings for last year’s semifinal games played on Thursday, Dec. 31, dropped 36 percent from the semifinals played the season before on New Year’s Day.

AUTO RACING

DAYTONA BEACH, Fla. — The Daytona 500 is moving back to its traditional weekend in 2018. The race had been held on Presidents Day weekend from 1968 to 2011, but NASCAR officials tweaked the date beginning in 2012, anticipating changes to the NFL schedule. At the time, the NFL was talking about expanding to an 18-game regular-season schedule and/or adding an extra bye week that could have ended up putting America’s biggest sporting event — the Super Bowl — on the same weekend as NASCAR’s season opener. Now, with the NFL unlikely to expand its schedule anytime soon, NASCAR’s biggest race is moving back to its original calendar spot.