PITTSBURGH -- The training wheels are off for Bud Dupree. Finally.The Pittsburgh Steelers linebacker heads into Sundays game against the New York Giants without any limitations, ending a patience-testing stretch in which the 2015 first-round pick missed training camp then underwent sports hernia surgery before beginning the arduous process of getting back into what coach Mike Tomlin calls football shape.The initial step came against Cleveland two weeks ago, when Dupree made it on the field for a single snap. The next came on Thanksgiving in Indianapolis, where Dupree picked up his first two tackles in nearly 11 months in a 28-7 victory. Dupree was in the huddle for 20 plays against the Colts, enough to unleash weeks of pent up adrenaline. And almost enough for Dupree to start lobbying defensive coordinator Keith Butler and outside linebackers coach Joey Porter for more playing time.I will but I try not to because I dont want to get on their nerves, Dupree said with a laugh. Some people do it. Some people dont. I just dont get into it. Im right beside (the coaches). If they put me in, they put me in.And theyre most certainly going to put Dupree in against the surging Giants (8-3), who have only surrendered 13 sacks all season. Pittsburgh needs to make Eli Manning uncomfortable if it wants to end New Yorks six-game winning streak, something the Steelers have struggled to do against good teams this season. Only nine of Pittsburghs 24 sacks have come against teams with winning records.We want to get to the quarterback, Dupree said.Duprees return should help. He finished with four sacks as a rookie last fall, though all of them came over the first half of the season. He trimmed 20 pounds off his 6-foot-4 frame last spring and while he believes the hernia wasnt a result of trying to cut weight, he admits he was diagnosed after working out too much.Whatever the cause, Dupree insists its behind him and in a way, hes relieved. Doctors told him the injury was bound to happen at some point. By taking care of it now, hes optimistic it wont come back to haunt him in the future. Either way, hes encouraged with the added explosiveness. Hes not the only one.Hes moving good, Butler said. Is he moving faster? How fast you are only matters when youre playing on the field. So how fast does he play? He played at a pretty good pace the other night. So well see if he continues to get better.Tomlin saw enough to lock Dupree into the four-man rotation at outside linebacker alongside seemingly ageless James Harrison, leaving Jarvis Jones, Anthony Chickillo or Arthur Moats as the odd man out.As Bud gets up to speed, somebodys going to win, somebodys going to lose, Tomlin said. I dont care who wins. I think we all win if we play the hot hand and those are our intentions.Its a spot Dupree is thankful to be in after being placed on injured reserve at the end of training camp and enduring a setback early in his rehab that threatened his entire season. It was the first time in his football life hed been forced to sit and watch for an extended period of time. And it wasnt fun.I just tried to stay positive, he said. But was it easy? No, it wasnt.Dupree buried himself in the film room, and Butler believes the mental reps have allowed Dupree to quickly rise back up the depth chart. The goal now is to stay there. The way the Steelers move guys in and out of the lineup, he doesnt need to be ready for 60 snaps. If hes fresh for 40 or so, he thinks that will be enough to make an impact. Hes not as big as he was a year ago. Thats not necessarily a bad thing.Its not about that, Dupree said. Its about being flexible, being bendable, being loose. I just want to go out there and ball.Game notes G David DeCastro (ill), WR Darrius Heyward-Bey (foot) and RB D. Williams (knee) did not practice Wednesday. ... TE Xavier Grimble (quadriceps), S Shamarko Thomas (groin) were full participants.---For more NFL coverage: http://www.pro32.ap.org and http://www.twitter.com/AP-NFLWholesale Jordans For Sale .Y. - Rob Manfred was promoted Monday to Major League Baseballs chief operating officer, which may make him a candidate to succeed Bud Selig as commissioner. Cheap Jordans Wholesale . According to a report from the Vancouver Province, the Lions are expected to replace former DC Rich Stubler with defensive backs coach Mark Washington. http://www.wholesalejordans.us/ . From filmmaker Nanette Burstein (On the Ropes), The Price of Gold revisits the saga that rocked the figure skating world ahead of the 1994 Lillehammer Olympic Winter Games: the assault on Nancy Kerrigan, and the plot that led its way back to her rival Tonya Harding. Cheap Jordans For Sale Wholesale . Oyama had six birdies and two bogeys at Kintetsu Kashikojima in the event also sanctioned by the Japan LPGA Tour. "I have been having this neck ache thats been affecting my golf recently," Oyama said. Wholesale Jordans Cheap . -- Catcher Brett Hayes has agreed to a $630,000, one-year contract with the Kansas City Royals, avoiding salary arbitration.WASHINGTON -- The Washington Redskins are asking a judge to dismiss a former NFL players lawsuit that accuses the team and former assistant coach Gregg Williams of running a bounty program that encouraged players to intentionally injure opponents. The former player, linebacker Barrett Green, says he was targeted by the Redskins during a game on Dec. 5, 2004, resulting in a career-ending knee injury. Green was playing for the New York Giants at the time. He played for New York and for the Detroit Lions between 2000 and 2005. He filed a lawsuit earlier this year against the Redskins, Williams and the player who hit him, Robert Royal. The team said in a response filed Friday in federal court in Greenbelt, Md., that Greens claims are "utterly baseless." But, even if they were true, his lawsuit is pre-empted by an NFL collective bargaining agreement and was filed too late, lawyers for the team wrote. The team argues that an NFL collective bargaining agreement in place at the time required Green to exhaust grievance and arbitration procedures before filing a lawsuit, which he did not do. The team also says the statute of limitations for all Greens claims is three years from the time of his injury. Green said in his lawsuit he was suspicious he may have been targeted when he was hit in 2004, and team laawyers wrote he had enough information then to pursue his claims if he wanted.dddddddddddd The allegations of a bounty program came to light more recently. Redskins coaches and players told The Associated Press in 2012 that Williams offered cash rewards for big hits and other plays -- a violation of NFL rules -- when he was coaching Washingtons defence from 2004 to 2007. But they differed on whether it was a true bounty scheme that targeted specific players. Williams conduct in Washington was investigated, but didnt result in sanctions. Instead, Williams was suspended by the NFL last year for being the mastermind behind a bounty scheme at another team, the New Orleans Saints, where he was defensive co-ordinator from 2009-2011, including the teams Super Bowl-winning 2009 season. Williams is now a senior defensive assistant with the Tennessee Titans. He started his career with the Titans/Houston Oilers organization, where he coached for 11 seasons, and also was head coach of the Buffalo Bills for three seasons and defensive co-ordinator of the Jacksonville Jaguars for one year. Judge Peter J. Messitte, who is overseeing the lawsuit, set a hearing in the case for Sept. 24. An entry in the case file online, however, says Messitte could decide the case on the documents alone ahead of that date. ' ' '