DAVIE, Fla. -- In a mischievous mood, Mario Williams walked across the Miami Dolphins locker room Wednesday carrying a single strawberry on a spoon.He stopped at a media scrum surrounding defensive tackle Ndamukong Suh and waved the fruit in his teammates face. Suh managed to keep a straight face, but Williams walked away convulsing with laughter.So perhaps its unfair to say Williams plays with a lack of effort. He still enjoys locker room hijinks, even as a reserve.The four-time Pro Bowl defensive end was demoted to a backup role for Sundays victory over the Pittsburgh Steelers, three days after defensive coordinator Vance Joseph said Williams needs to play harder and better.Williams came off the bench for the first time in his 11-year career and was on the field for only 13 snaps.That was different, Williams said. But at the same time, thats what Im asked to do. You just go out there and play and try to capitalize on your opportunities.He said he doesnt know how many opportunities hell have Sunday against his former team, the Buffalo Bills.A not so super Mario endured a disappointing season with the Bills last year, when he complained about his role and seemed disinterested. They let him go, and he signed a $17 million, two-year deal with Miami.Williams is not keen to talk about how things ended in Buffalo.Nah, no, because Im here, Im in Miami, he said. Thats not something that I speak about.Dolphins coach Adam Gase said his team is still trying to find the best role for Williams, and suggested the 31-year-old, 300-pound end was worn down by playing too much early in the season.He has done a good job in practice, and there have been a lot of positives coming out of training camp and through the beginning of the season, Gase said.Teammate Cameron Wake, whose work ethic leads the league, gave Williams a ringing endorsement.Hell of a guy, great football player, great teammate, and Im glad that he is on our side, Wake said.Williams said he feels no extra motivation facing his former team, which may elicit snickering from Bills fans who complained he lacked motivation last year.Itll be great to finally play against the guys live for the first time, Williams said. I still have a lot of friendship and communication with those guys, so Im sure itll be interesting.Said Bills coach Rex Ryan: I would expect him to be very motivated, just like well be.Buffalo (4-2) is traditionally a tough matchup for the Dolphins (2-4), whose biggest challenge will be to contain LeSean McCoy. Hes on pace to rush for more than 1,500 yards.Obviously hes a great athlete, Williams said. He makes plays all over the field. The biggest thing is the more hats to the ball, the better chance that you have to minimize the damage. Youre not going to stop an athlete like that completely.The Bills lead the NFL in rushing, while the Dolphins rank next to last in run defense. Williams hasnt helped much, making only eight tackles all season.He has one sack, raising his career total to 97. He didnt try to sugarcoat his most recent game.The few plays that I was out there, he said, it could be better.---AP NFL website:
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http://bigstory.ap.org/content/steven-wine .com) - The Pittsburgh Penguins placed forward James Neal on injured reserve Tuesday. . Radwanska, making her debut in the Seoul tournament, hit eight aces in a match that lasted 1 hour, 4 minutes at Olympic Park tennis stadium. "It was definitely a very good match -- I was playing really good tennis," Radwanska said. . The (11-11-4) Jets are seventh in the Central Division with 26 points. Fifth place Dallas and sixth-seeded Nashville also have 26 points, but the Stars have three games in hand on Winnipeg while Nashville has two. . Howard Ganz, an MLB lawyer, said in a letter to U.S. District Judge Edgardo Ramos that Rodriguezs claims do not come "remotely close" to what is needed to overturn an arbitration decision in federal court. . -- The proud fathers huddled near the Dallas Stars dressing room, smiling, laughing and telling stories while wearing replica green sweaters of their sons team. Australias coach Darren Lehmann has hinted at a difference of opinion with his possible successor Justin Langer over the future of Mitchell Marsh, whose recent struggles in the Test team have been attributed to a lack of mental clarity over his best means of success.Marsh made a halting start against New Zealand in Canberra on Tuesday before freeing his arms to devastating effect, and Lehmann said this was the way he wanted to see the allrounder bat in the future - as a destructive middle-order player capable of changing the momentum of a game.However he also indicated that there had been plenty of people in Marshs ear in recent times with differing views as to how he should bat, and pointed towards the Perth Scorchers and Western Australia state team - both coached by Langer - as places where that may have emanated from.Its good to see him make some runs, Lehmann said of Marsh. He struggled the first 13-14 balls and then he got one away and away he went. I think he said yesterday hes got to play with a bit more freedom, and he certainly is a highly talented young player, and hes got to find his way.Youve got so many coaches and different views - a Scorchers view, a WACA view, Australia view - and different coaches around the place. For him hes got to work out what works for him, and my personal opinion is when hes playing shots hes a lot more dangerous.Langer, who coached the Australian ODI team to a victorious triangular series in the Caribbean earlier this year and is widely thought to be in line to succeed Lehmann in the future, has made a point of encouraging Marsh to be used up the batting order. He also spoke publicly about his belief that Marsh had the potential to be a top-four batsman in all formats - a role that would entail a more sophisticated method than the power hitting he exhibited at Manuka Oval.He can easily become a four or five in all formats of the game, Langer said earlier this year. Thats what hell be aspiring to do and hes certainly got the ability to do that. With maturity I think he could easily do that in all formats. Hes that talented.Marsh has batted in the top five for Western Australia in the Sheffield Shield this season without once passing 50, and for his part has said he now thinks he is best suited simply trying to play with freedom. Ive had a few conversations with Boof [Lehmann] ... I think in red-ball cricket the last couple of years I probably havent played my natural game, Marsh said this week. Ive tried to be a batsman that bats time but for me Im a hitter of the cricket ball and for the next few months I think Im going to bat like that and really back myself.dddddddddddd. I might get out a few ugly ways at times, but I feel it will give me the best chance to score runs and score big runs.When youre not scoring runs you tend to try plenty of different things in the nets to make something work. The last week or two Ive simplified it to watching the ball as hard as I can and then letting my natural ability take over. I felt much better once Ive done that and really just clearing my head.Lehmann, meanwhile, was complimentary of Glenn Maxwells attitude in the wake of his team fine for comments about Victoria captain Matthew Wade. Maxwell may be slotted back into the Australian ODI team for the third match against New Zealand at the MCG on Friday as Lehmann looks to shuffle his options and potentially rest one of his fast bowlers.Hes been fantastic. Full credit to him the way hes handled it and the way hes been around the group in getting prepared to play each and every game, Lehmann said of Maxwell. Weve named the team quite late both times because weve only got down to the ground just before. Hes missed out at the last minute and hes handled that really well. For him hes just got to be ready to play, if he gets his opportunity then away he goes.More light was also shed on the leadership group that elected to fine Maxwell. Lehmann said he had instituted a group of senior players in each of the teams he had coached, starting with Brad Haddin, Shane Watson and Peter Siddle four years ago. The group is now comprised of David Warner, Josh Hazlewood and Mitchell Starc, with input too from the captain, Steven Smith.Ive had that wherever Ive gone really, Lehmann said. I think thats a good idea because sometimes they might have a problem with the coach or the skipper, so its a good idea to have those senior players, and the skipper working closely with that leadership group, as staff we sit back and let them go with that.It gives them responsibility for how they want the team to run and perform and act and all those sorts of things. Weve had that the last four years, its just chopped and changed depending on whos playing and selection a little bit. Now that weve got a core group, they can pretty much do it and run it.It just gives the players a voice to us if theyre not happy or want to change something they can go through that. Some players arent happy to deal with it direct [with me] and thats fine too. ' ' '
