Wayne Byers Show – Morning – Dec 1

NFL

PHILADELPHIA (AP) — DK Metcalf again made the Philadelphia Eagles regret passing him up in the draft. Metcalf caught 10 passes for 177 yards, Russell Wilson threw for 230 yards and one touchdown and the Seattle Seahawks beat the Philadelphia Eagles 23-17 Monday night. The Seahawks (8-3) moved one game ahead of the Rams in the NFC West. The Eagles (3-7-1) fell a half-game behind the Giants and Washington in the woeful NFC East. Carson Wentz held off Jalen Hurts but had another rough game. He was 25 of 45 for 215 yards, two TDs and one interception.

UNDATED (AP) — The Baltimore Ravens’ struggle to contain an extended outbreak of the coronavirus forced their rescheduled game Tuesday night against the unbeaten Pittsburgh Steelers to be moved back to Wednesday.

It’s the third fix to a matchup originally slated to be played Thanksgiving night. The NFL announced the most recent switch Monday after the Ravens placed starters Matthew Judon, Willie Snead and Mark Andrews on the reserve/COVID-19 list. Although Baltimore also had four players return from that list the team will still be severely short-handed when this game is finally played.

In other NFL news:

—The 49ers will host the Buffalo Bills next Monday and Washington on Dec. 13 at State Farm Stadium, home of the Arizona Cardinals. The team says it will have information on practice arrangements later. Santa Clara County, California, announced new rules that include a three-week ban on practices and games for contact sports starting Monday.

— Browns star defensive end Myles Garrett is on track to be activated from the COVID-19 list on Wednesday after missing two games with the virus. Garrett sat out Cleveland’s wins over Philadelphia and Jacksonville the past two weeks after testing positive on Nov. 20. Garrett was leading the NFL with 9 1/2 sacks when he tested positive for the coronavirus, which has sidelined several other Browns players.

— Cincinnati Bengals coach Zac Taylor said he expects injured quarterback Joe Burrow to have knee surgery sometime this week. Taylor said the surgery on Burrow’s damaged left knee is set for midweek, but he declined to share any other details. Burrow’s promising rookie season ended Nov. 22.

In Top 25 College Men’s Basketball action:

— Freshman RJ Davis scored 16 points and No. 14 North Carolina overcame an ugly start to beat UNLV 78-51 in the first round of the relocated Maui Invitational. Garrison Brooks added 14 points and surpassed the 1,000-point mark for his career in the first half for the Tar Heels. UNC fell behind 13-0 and didn’t score for the first 6 1/2 minutes. But UNC closed the gap then ran off a 28-4 run spanning halftime to take a big lead of its own. Bryce Hamilton had 15 points to lead UNLV.

—Courtney Ramey had the go-ahead driving score with 20 seconds left for No. 17 Texas in the opening game of the Maui Invitational. Ramey’s score broke a 76-all tie, then the Longhorns (2-0) came up with a pair of stops on the final possession, when the Wildcats (1-1) had a chance to tie or win. Davidson’s Sam Mennenga missed a contested 3-pointer from the wing, but the Wildcats got another shot when the ball went out of bounds with 3.8 seconds left.

The Wildcats inbounded again to Mennenga, who missed a final 3 for the win with Texas’ Andrew Jones closely defending him. Mennenga turned toward the official at the horn, while Davidson coach Bob McKillop also protested slightly before leaving the court.

Ramey scored 14 points to lead the Longhorns. Jones finished with 13 points in his season debut, as did Kai Jones.

VIRUS OUTBREAK-COLLEGE FOOTBALL

MINNEAPOLIS (AP) — Minnesota has canceled its game against Northwestern on Saturday, the second straight football cancellation for the Gophers because of a spike in their COVID-19 cases.

The decision was made by university officials Monday in consultation with the Big Ten. Since Nov. 19, Minnesota has had 47 positive cases, including 21 players and 26 staff members. Seven of those cases were reported on Monday.

The Gophers paused all team-related activities six days ago. They canceled their game at Wisconsin last week.

Northwestern leads the Big Ten West Division at 5-1.

MLB-ROYALS

Royals agree with Minor, sign Taylor to $1.75M, 1-year deal

KANSAS CITY, Mo. (AP) — The Kansas City Royals agreed to a two-year deal with pitcher Mike Minor and finalized a $1.75 million, one-year contract with outfielder Michael Taylor as they piece together a roster in their rebuilding effort.

The deal with the 32-year-old Minor was reached late Sunday and requires him to pass a physical before it can be completed.

Taylor signed his $1.75 million contract Monday and it includes up to $1 million in incentives.

In other MLB news:

— Right-hander Jacob Barnes and the New York Mets agreed to a $750,000, one-year contract, two days ahead of the deadline for teams to offer 2021 deals to unsigned players on their 40-man rosters. The 30-year-old was 0-2 with a 5.50 ERA for the Los Angeles Angeles last season, then was claimed off waivers by the Mets on Oct. 30. He is 4-13 with a 4.36 ERA in 199 relief appearances and one start in five major league seasons.

— Major League Baseball is creating a minor league for top eligible prospects leading to the summer draft. The MLB Draft League is launching with five teams and could add a sixth. The teams are in Ohio, Pennsylvania, West Virginia and New Jersey. Teams will use wood bats and play a 68-game regular season that includes an All-Star break coinciding with the draft in early July.

In world and national news….

BERLIN (AP) — The European Medicines Agency says it will convene a meeting on Dec. 29 to decide if there is enough data about the safety and efficacy of the COVID-19 vaccine developed by Pfizer and BioNTech for it to be approved. The agency also said Tuesday it could decide as early as Jan. 12 whether to approve an experimental COVID-19 vaccine developed by Moderna Inc. The German pharmaceutical company BioNTech and its U.S. partner Pfizer said earlier Tuesday that they had asked the regulator for speeded-up, conditional approval of their coronavirus vaccine, concluding the rolling review process they initiated with the agency in October. The move comes a day after rival Moderna said it was asking U.S. and European regulators to allow the use of its COVID-19 vaccine.

PARIS (AP) — The Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development predicts that the world economy will bounce back to its pre-pandemic levels by the end of next year. But the OECD said Tuesday the recovery will be uneven across the countries and big risks remain. The organization says that progress on coronavirus vaccines means that the outlook has improved for the first time since the pandemic began. It predicts the global economy will shrink about 4.2% this year and rebound by the same rate in 2021. China will enjoy the strongest rebound, with Europe lagging. It suggests governments should keep investing in areas that deliver long-term benefits, from health care to education to climate change.

BEIJING (AP) — Global stocks are higher after Chinese manufacturing improved, South Korea reported stronger exports and Australia’s central bank left its benchmark lending rate at a record low. Markets in London, Frankfurt, Shanghai and Tokyo advanced as investors looked ahead to U.S. Federal Reserve Chairman Jerome Powell’s appearance before legislators a day after he said the pace of recovery is moderating. U.S. futures were up after Wall Street’s benchmark S&P 500 turned in its biggest monthly gain since April. Investors are optimistic about the development of a possible coronavirus vaccine despite caution about the short-term economic impact of rising virus cases in the United States and Europe.

ATLANTA (AP) — Some establishment Republicans are sounding alarms that President Donald Trump’s conspiratorial denials of his own defeat could threaten the party’s ability to win a Senate majority and counter President-elect Joe Biden’s administration. The concerns come ahead of Trump’s planned Saturday visit to Georgia to campaign alongside Sens. David Perdue and Kelly Loeffler. They face strong Democratic challengers in Jan. 5 runoffs that will determine which party controls the Senate. Republicans uniformly acknowledge Trump as the GOP’s biggest turnout driver. But some Republicans worry of potential fallout should Trump use the platform to amplify his baseless allegations of widespread voter fraud.

ATLANTA (AP) — Georgia voters are choosing a short-term replacement for civil rights legend John Lewis. Former Atlanta City Council member Kwanza Hall and former Morehouse College President Robert Franklin meet in Tuesday’s runoff after no one won a majority in a seven-candidate field in September. The winner fills the seat until Jan. 3. State senator Nikema Williams easily defeated Republican Angela Stanton King in November for a full two-year-term starting in January. Williams and King didn’t run in the special election. The 5th Congressional District includes most of Atlanta and some neighboring areas. Lewis died from cancer in July after 34 years in Congress. He was 80.

WASHINGTON (AP) — Dr. Scott Atlas, a science adviser to President Donald Trump who was skeptical of measures to control the coronavirus outbreak, is leaving his White House post. A White House official confirmed that the Stanford University neuroradiologist, who had no formal experience in public health or infectious diseases, resigned at the end of his temporary government assignment. Atlas confirmed the news in a Monday evening tweet. Atlas joined the White House this summer, where he clashed with top government scientists, including Dr. Anthony Fauci and Dr. Deborah Birx, as he resisted stronger efforts to contain the COVID-19 pandemic that has killed more than 267,000 Americans.