A reunion between Kingsbury and Murray highlights Commanders-Cardinals matchup

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A reunion between Kingsbury and Murray highlights Commanders-Cardinals matchup

2024-09-27 05:26 Last Updated At：05:31

GLENDALE, Ariz. (AP) — Kliff Kingsbury and his “nice college offense” are looking pretty good these days for the Washington Commanders.

Cardinals quarterback Kyler Murray is quite familiar with the highs and lows Kingsbury's leadership can bring. Kingsbury — now the offensive coordinator in Washington — was Murray's mentor and head coach with the Cardinals from 2019-22.

The Commanders (2-1) travel to face the Cardinals (1-2) on Sunday for a reunion. Murray isn't letting the moment get too big.

“To be honest, I’ve done it before,” Murray said. “I’ve competed against him before and many other coaches that I’ve been coached by. It doesn’t really affect me. My goal is to go out and win the game.”

Kingsbury was hired as the Cardinals’ head coach in 2019, largely because the team wanted an offensive mind to guide Murray, who was taken with the No. 1 pick out of Oklahoma. The coach lasted four up-and-down seasons before being fired following a 4-13 record in 2022.

But there were some highlights. The Cardinals had an 11-win season in 2021, making the playoffs before losing to the Rams in the wild-card round. Murray was selected to two Pro Bowls under Kingsbury’s tutelage. The coach's Air Raid-inspired offense — at least at times — worked very well.

Kingsbury said it has been fun watching Murray improve from afar.

“At the end of last year, you could see the confidence getting back in his knee," Kingsbury said. "He made a bunch of big plays and played really well. He's played great this season. They are a couple plays away from being undefeated. You see the speed, the quickness, the competitive nature is there.

“He's a guy that I basically banked my entire career on what he would be. I still believe in it. It's cool to see him playing well.”

The Murray-Kingsbury partnership eventually fizzled, but there doesn’t appear to be much animosity. Murray is thriving under new head coach Jonathan Gannon and offensive coordinator Drew Petzing. Kingsbury is doing well, too, leading a Washington offense that's thriving under rookie quarterback Jayden Daniels.

Murray declined to say which coaching staff's offense was superior.

“Two different systems," Murray said. "One is more reliant on certain things, and the other one is more reliant on other things.

Washington’s longest-tenured player is punter Tress Way, and for years of organizational struggles, he may have been the team’s best player on the field many days over the past decade.

Not the past two games.

The Commanders have not needed Way to punt since Week 1, scoring on all their possessions except for kneel downs. He is handling it just fine, even if selfishly he would like to be able to do his job.

“I am having a lot of fun just out there holding and the leg feels pretty fresh, so it’s been a lot of fun,” Way said. “It’s pretty cool.”

James Conner had one of this worst games as a member of the Cardinals last weekend, running for just 17 yards on nine carries against the Lions. According to recent history, he's due for a big game.

The last three times Conner has run for 50 yards or less in a game, he has followed that performance with at least 100 yards on the ground.

The Cardinals also hope to get backup running back Trey Benson more involved with the offense. Benson was expected to have a sizable impact this season after being drafted in the third round out of Florida State, but has run for just 31 yards on 16 carries this season.

Commanders defensive tackle Jonathan Allen thanked the offense for the victory at Cincinnati on Monday night, acknowledging he and his unit still have some work to do after allowing Joe Burrow and the Bengals to rack up 436 yards and 33 points.

Washington’s defense ranks 29th in the NFL and 31st against the pass, a combination of an ineffective pass rush and a largely inexperienced secondary. Cornerback Emmanuel Forbes has had his own struggles early in his pro career, but his return from surgery to repair a torn ligament in his right thumb means the return of another body against Murray, Harrison and the Cardinals.

The Cardinals will play their first game without defensive lineman Justin Jones, who injured a triceps against the Lions last weekend and will miss the rest of the season.

Jones was one of the team's key free agent additions during the offseason, signing a three-year deal worth nearly $20 million in guarnteed money.

Arizona's already without second-year linebacker BJ Ojulari, who suffered a season-ending knee injury in training camp. The Cardinals are also awaiting the debut of rookie defensive lineman Darius Robinson, who is working through a calf injury and must miss one more game after being put on injured reserve.

AP Sports Writer Stephen Whyno in Washington contributed to this report.

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Feds charge NYC mayor with selling his influence to foreign nationals. He says he won't resign

2024-09-27 05:24 Last Updated At：05:30

NEW YORK (AP) — New York City Mayor Eric Adams vowed to stay in office Thursday after federal prosecutors unsealed an indictment accusing him of letting Turkish officials and businesspeople buy his influence with illegal campaign contributions and lavish overseas trips.

Adams, a Democrat, faces conspiracy, wire fraud and bribery charges in a five-count indictment outlining a decade-long trail of corruption that began when he served as an elected official in Brooklyn and continued through his mayoral administration.

Among other things, prosecutors say Adams received free and steeply discounted flight upgrades valued at more than $100,000, free stays in opulent hotel suites, expensive meals, as well as campaign contributions from straw donors, some of which helped him qualify for more than $10 million in matching public campaign funds.

“I want to be clear, these upgrades and freebies were not part of some frequent flyer or benefits program available to the general public," U.S. Attorney Damian Williams said at a news conference. "This was a multiyear scheme to buy favor from a single New York City official on the rise.”

In exchange for the bribes, Adams took actions that appeared to benefit Turkey's leaders, including expediting the fire safety inspection at a consulate building and not releasing a statement on Armenian Genocide Remembrance Day, according to the indictment.

Adams had a duty to disclose gifts he received, but year after year “kept the public in the dark,” the U.S. attorney said.

Speaking outside Gracie Mansion, Adams denied wrongdoing and said he doesn't plan to resign. Flanked by prominent Black clergy members, Adams, who is the city's second Black mayor, lashed out at federal prosecutors and suggested he had been unfairly targeted.

“I ask New Yorkers to wait to hear our defense before making any judgments,” he said. “From here, my attorneys will take care of the case so I can take care of the city.”

His lawyer, Alex Spiro, argued that the conduct described in the charges either wasn’t illegal or didn’t involve the mayor, noting that free flights are commonly afforded to politicians. He said Adams had responded to a “courtesy” request from a Turkish official seeking to expedite a fire inspection at a new consulate. “New Yorkers do this all the time,” Spiro added.

Adams' arraignment was scheduled for noon on Friday before Magistrate Judge Katharine Parker.

While Adams faced calls to resign from Republicans and several of his likely opponents in next June's mayoral primary, top Democrats such as Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer and House Democratic leader Hakeem Jeffries stopped short of asking him to step down and instead said the legal process should play out.

Gov. Kathy Hochul has the power to remove Adams from office, but she hasn’t indicated whether she would take that extraordinary step. She told reporters she would offer thoughts about it later Thursday.

If Adams were to resign, he would be immediately replaced by Jumaane Williams, a progressive Democrat who serves as the city’s public advocate. Williams would then schedule a special election. In a statement Thursday, Williams said Adams’ time to show he can effectively govern and regain the city’s trust “is rapidly running out.”

Adams spent 22 years in New York City’s police department before going into politics, first as a state senator and then as Brooklyn borough president, a largely ceremonial position but one that gave him a springboard to run for mayor in 2021.

FBI agents initially seized Adams’ electronic devices nearly a year ago as part of an investigation focused on campaign contributions during his mayoral run as well as Adams’ interactions with the Turkish government and the Turkish American business community. Since then, he has been asked repeatedly at news conferences about his frequent global trips over the years and who paid for them.

Adams said there was nothing nefarious about his trips and that he never did anything improper in exchange for campaign money.

But prosecutors allege that Adams sought and accepted illegal contributions funneled to his campaign through an unnamed official in the Turkish diplomatic establishment. The official arranged for Adams and his companions to receive free or discounted travel on Turkey’s national airline to destinations including France, China, Sri Lanka, India, Hungary, and Turkey, the indictment contends.

Additionally, Adams sought contributions from foreign officials — who are banned by law from donating to U.S. political candidates — then “compounded his gains” by gaming the city’s matching funds program, which provides a generous match for small-dollar donations, prosecutors allege. In total, his campaign received more than $10 million in matching public funds, which are only supposed to be available to candidates who play by the rules, according to the indictment.

In September 2021, a Turkish official told Adams it was time to repay him for the contributions and benefits by pressuring the fire department to facilitate the opening of the consulate without a fire inspection, in time for a visit by Turkey’s president, according to prosecutors. That request would have been a few months before Adams took office, but after it was clear he would become mayor.

Even after a fire department official warned that major defects at the consulate building had left it “unsafe to occupy,” Adams pushed safety officials to allow it to open. Days later, Adams relayed news of the approval to the Turkish official, who called Adams a “true friend of Turkey,” the indictment states. Adams responded: "You are my brother. I am hear (sic) to help,” according to the indictment.

Several months later, the Turkish official messaged an Adams staffer with another request: that the mayor “not make any statement about the Armenian Genocide" ahead of an April remembrance day, according to the indictment. The staffer confirmed that Adams wouldn't mention it, which he didn't. The Turkish government denies that the 1915 killing of an estimated 1.5 million Armenians qualifies as a genocide.

At times, Adams created and instructed others to create fake paper trails in order to falsely suggest he had paid for travel benefits that were actually free, prosecutors allege. He also deleted messages with others involved in his misconduct, at one point assuring a co-conspirator that he “always” deleted her text messages, according to the indictment.

The charges were made public hours after FBI agents entered the mayor’s official residence, Gracie Mansion, and seized his phone early Thursday, capping an extraordinary few weeks in New York City that have seen a drumbeat of raids, subpoenas and high-level resignations of members of Adams' inner circle.

The U.S. attorney, Williams, said the corruption investigation would continue.

Federal prosecutors are believed to be leading multiple, separate inquiries involving Adams and his senior aides, relatives of those aides, campaign fundraising and possible influence peddling of the police and fire departments.

In the last two weeks alone, the police commissioner and schools chancellor have resigned. Neither has been charged with a crime or publicly accused of wrongdoing. In early September, federal investigators seized devices from the police commissioner, schools chancellor, two deputy mayors and other trusted Adams confidants.

This story was updated to correct that prosecutors say Adams’ campaign received more than $10 million, not more than $10,000, in matching public funds.

Associated Press video journalist Aron Ranen contributed to this report.