RENTON, Wash. - Seattle Seahawks defensive end Jadeveon Clowney said the core-muscle injury that sidelined him in Week 12 is feeling better, but he didn't rule out the possibility it will eventually require surgery.

Coach Pete Carroll said Wednesday that the Seahawks (9-2) are "counting on" their best pass-rusher making it back in time for Monday night's game against the Minnesota Vikings (8-3), but that came with a qualifier that Clowney "still has to make it."

An upbeat Clowney spoke with reporters before practice Friday. He was listed as a non-participant on the team's first practice report of the week but indicated he was about to participate to some degree Friday.

"I'm feeling better," he said. "Getting ready to go today. See how it's going to go."

The injury stems from the Seahawks' game against the San Francisco 49ers in Week 10, though Clowney couldn't pinpoint the moment it happened. By the end of Seattle's overtime win, he said, it was difficult to left his leg. Clowney had his best game of the season with a sack, five quarterback hits, a forced fumble and a touchdown on a fumble recovery.

"I told them I'll finish this game and see what happens after I'm done," Clowney said.

Clowney was inactive for the Seahawks' win over the Eagles Sunday after traveling to Philadelphia early to see Dr. William Meyers, who specializes in core-muscle injuries. Clowney received an unspecified treatment from Dr. Meyers. He said he thought about getting the injury treated over Seattle's bye the week before but didn't realize its severity until the team returned from its break on Monday and it wasn't healed.

Asked about not needing surgery, Clowney said: "Not at this moment I don't. That's a good thing. I ain't too worried about it. I'm feeling better today. Worry about tomorrow when it gets here. Live for today."

The 26-year-old Clowney has arguably been the Seahawks' most impactful defender even though he only has three sacks. He ranks fourth in the NFL in ESPN's Pass Rush Win Rate at 26.6%. That metric, which is powered by NFL Next Gen Stats, measures how frequently a defender beats his pass block in 2.5 seconds or quicker. He's scored two defensive touchdowns and ranks 13th in the NFL with 35 pressures, according to ESPN charting.

Clowney is unsigned beyond this season and wouldn't be eligible to sign a new deal with the Seahawks until the regular season ends, per the rules with players who were assigned the franchise tag like Clowney was by the Houston Texans. The Seahawks agreed to not use the tag on Clowney as part of the deal they made to acquire him from Houston right before this season.

Clowney acknowledged that his core injury is something he'll have to manage the rest of the year.

"Oh yeah. They know that," he said. "Something we know, but got to finish this thing strong."

Ollie Pope is keen to prove himself as a world-class wicketkeeper after he was parachuted into the role as for the second Test against New Zealand as cover for the injured Jos Buttler.

Pope, who went into the match in Hamilton having kept in just five first-class matches previously, scarcely put a foot wrong for the entire opening day, producing some athletic takes along the way despite being slotted into the role in the absence of a specialist back-up keeper and experiencing limited exposure at Surrey, where the No. 1 keeper is Ben Foakes.

"I've seen a lot of talk on social media the last few days," Pope said. "I'm a keeper, I've kept since I was eight years old.

"Since I've become a professional it's obviously just been limited, the amount I've done, with Foakesy being at Surrey, but it's something I've had on my radar since the moment I got told I was coming on this tour. So if the opportunity were to come around I just made sure that I was ready and hopefully that shows in my performance."

In terms of keeping wicket for England as well as batting - the latter being the reason he was included on the tour of New Zealand - Pope said he would take any opportunities that arose.

"At the moment my focus in on my batting going forward but at the same time at Surrey we've got Foakesy so the amount of game time I get I don't know," he said. "I'm going to keep going as much as I can, if I'm not getting the game time hopefully the training will look after itself and then if I do get a go in the games whenever it does happen hopefully I can do a good job."

Pope, playing just his fourth Test, was confident in offering his opinion on whether to use DRS and said he would continue to do so as he had "the best seat in the house for it". Having learned he would stand in the night before match eve after Buttler suffered back spasms in the gym, Pope also revealed he had pulled up well after a rain-interrupted first day on which play was halted shortly after the tea break.

"It was a different role, I feel pretty good this morning," Pope said. "The body feels good. A bit of a surprise but I always had it on my radar that something like this could happen so yeah, I was prepared for it.

"I like keeping, I still see myself as a keeper. Obviously I haven't done a massive amount ... but it's still something in my game I want to keep going so I was excited and ready to go."

Pope is also keen to improve on his "frustrating" first-Test performance with the bat after making a 29 and 6.

"I'm feeling really good in the nets," he said. "I played well in the warm-up games so to get out in the fashion I did in that game was probably the most frustrating thing for me.

"But at the same time there's some good lessons for me as well and watching how these guys go about their stuff, how they bounce back, it's a good thing for me going forward so hopefully I can take those lessons into this game and into the future."

PHILADELPHIA -- The Philadelphia Eagles and right tackle Lane Johnson have agreed to a four-year contract extension that runs through 2025, the team announced Friday.

The new deal is worth $72 million and includes over $54 million in guarantees, a league source tells ESPN's Jeremy Fowler, making Johnson the highest-paid tackle in football.

Johnson, 29, has stated his case for being the best right tackle in the NFL over recent years. The No. 4 pick out of Oklahoma in 2013 has made the Pro Bowl in each of the past two seasons and was named first-team All Pro in 2017 when the Eagles captured their first Super Bowl title.

Johnson commented on his deal via a tweet from the Eagles.

Let's fly, @LaneJohnson65! #FlyEaglesFly pic.twitter.com/tytUHHUrCm

— Philadelphia Eagles (@Eagles) November 29, 2019

His value comes into focus when he is out of the lineup. He played just 24 snaps against the New England Patriots in Week 11 after suffering a concussion and missed last week against the Seattle Seahawks -- both Eagles losses. Johnson has since been cleared from the concussion protocol and is expected to play Sunday at the Miami Dolphins.

Similarly, Philadelphia went 2-8 during the games Johnson missed in 2016 as a result of a positive test for performance-enhancing substances, compared with 5-1 when he was in the lineup that season.

The Eagles have been active on the contract extension front. They gave Johnson's good friend and offensive linemate, right guard Brandon Brooks, a four-year, $56 million extension earlier this month and have since signed kicker Jake Elliott and long-snapper Rick Lovato to new deals. The team has also been working toward a new deal with tight end Zach Ertz but contract talks have stalled, a source told Fowler.

NEW YORK -- The Boston Celtics didn't get a chance to see Kyrie Irving in what was supposed to be his return to Boston on Wednesday night.

They did, however, get a chance to see him at the conclusion of the Brooklyn Nets' 112-107 victory here Friday afternoon, with several of his former teammates -- along with his replacement, Kemba Walker -- going over to give him a hug after he sat out for the eighth straight game with a right shoulder impingement.

When asked about seeing Irving postgame, all of them said they are ready to move on from talking about him.

"I mean, there is no hard feelings," said Marcus Smart, one of the players who went over and greeted Irving at center court after Boston's loss. "I didn't hug Kyrie to get on TV. That's two guys that are trying to make a living for their families being professional athletes. That's my brother, regardless of what he did. He works hard.

"Quite frankly, I'm really, honestly, tired of hearing about Kyrie. Kyrie is no longer with the Boston Celtics, and it's a slap across the face of everybody on this team that's here now to keep hearing Kyrie's name, because every one of these guys have put in the work and we continue to put in the work and we are here and still competing and yet everybody, including the Boston fans, want to talk about Kyrie. Let's talk about the Boston Celtics."

Smart, who has been playing through a sprained left ring finger that he again aggravated during Friday's loss, was as frustrated with the injury and his own play (15 points on 4-for-13 shooting, including 1-for-6 from 3-point range) as he was with the Irving questions. That said, for all of the buildup and attention that was paid to his anticipated return Wednesday -- including the fans chanting about him during the game, despite him not being in the building, let alone on the court -- Irving continues to have good relationships with several players on the team, including Smart, Walker and Jayson Tatum.

And, while they've understood why his expected return was a story, they shrugged over the significance of saying hello to him postgame.

"It was just good to see him," Walker said. "I haven't seen him in a while, obviously. I just told him to get healthy. He asked me how I'm liking it and told me to enjoy it. That was really it. Asked me have I been back to the Bronx. That was really it. Asked how's my family. He knows my family, as well. I know his dad, so just kind of that conversation. Me and Kyrie are good friends.

"I mean, it's nothing to really talk about, you know? I know there's been some stuff between the fans and him. Hopefully that can be over. We need to just move past it at this point. It's over.

"He's here in Brooklyn, and I'm here now in Boston."

No one in Boston was closer with Irving than Tatum, the fellow Duke product who is represented by agent Jeff Wechsler, who was Irving's longtime agent until he changed representation this summer. And although several players came over to talk to Irving, none spent as long talking to him as Tatum did.

"I talk to him all the time, but I haven't seen him since the summer," Tatum said. "So it was good to see him. I ain't seen him in a long time."

Still, he doesn't expect things to change whenever Irving makes his Boston debut -- despite reiterating that there's no ill will toward him.

"I don't know," Tatum said. "Boston fans [are] tough. We ain't got no hard feelings towards him. It's still all love.

"But I don't know. We're gonna see when they come back to Boston."

As for Irving's return to the court, it remains to be seen when that will happen. After Irving sat out for an eighth straight game with that right shoulder impingement, Nets coach Kenny Atkinson said postgame that he has begun on-court work, which the coach called "a real positive sign for us."

He added, however, that Irving is out for Sunday's home game against the Miami Heat and that the team would "see going forward" about his status after that.

NEW YORK -- The number of major leaguers allowed to use otherwise-banned drugs to treat attention deficit hyperactivity disorder dropped to the lowest level since the sport started issuing annual reports in 2008.

The results come in a report issued Monday by Thomas Martin, the independent program administrator for the joint drug program of Major League Baseball and the players' association.

There were 91 therapeutic use exemptions for ADHD drugs in the year ending with the 2019 World Series. That was down from the previous lows, 101 last year, and 103 in 2017. Exemptions for hyperactivity disorder had ranged from 105 to 119 annually from 2008 to 2016, prompting some to criticize their issuance as too lenient.

Drugs prescribed to treat ADHD often contain amphetamine and methylphenidate, stimulants on baseball's banned list.

Harlequins full-back Mike Brown is set to miss the rest of the Premiership season after surgery on a knee injury.

The 34-year-old, who has won 72 caps for England, is expected to return to action within "six to nine months" according to the Premiership club.

"Losing Mike is a big loss. He's tried hard to train and play over the past few weeks," boss Paul Gustard said.

"Unfortunately his situation worsened, and it would be damaging to his long-term knee health to try and play."

Brown, who has made more than 300 appearances for Quins, has played five times this term after initially suffering the injury at the end of pre-season.

He was left out of England's squad for the 2019 World Cup.

Harlequins will also be without Scott Baldwin until the new year with the hooker needing surgery on a neck injury sustained in their Champions Cup tie against Clermont Auvergne.

RANSOMVILLE, N.Y. – Two more divisional sponsors have renewed for the upcoming racing season at Ransomville Speedway.

Investor’s Service and Ki-Po Chevrolet will both continue as key supporters of the racing program at Ransomville.

“We’re proud of the long-term relationships we have with our divisional naming partners,” said Jenn Martin, Ransomville Speedway general manager. “The title sponsorship of our weekly divisions is one of the most valuable and visible forms of activation that we offer.”

Investor’s Service will return as the sponsor for the DIRTcar Sportsman division. Ki-Po Chevrolet will continue in their role as the title sponsor of the full fender Street Stock division.