|
MINNEAPOLIS -- As the Minnesota Vikings filed into their locker room at the Metrodome for the last time, Leslie Frazier was there to greet them with a handshake and a hug. wholesale jerseys . The Vikings picked up one more victory at the soon-to-be-demolished stadium, perhaps a parting gift for the popular coach. Fittingly, the Detroit Lions left on the losing end. Cordarrelle Patterson scored two touchdowns, including the go-ahead catch in the end zone in the fourth quarter, and the Vikings beat the Lions 14-13 on Sunday afternoon in the final game of the Metrodomes 32 seasons. From Patterson to Adrian Peterson, player after player passionately voiced their support for Frazier, whose record over three-plus years is 21-33-1. Peterson promised to make his plea directly to the owners on Monday. Frazier urged the front office to bring him and his staff back. "I just have a lot of belief in my abilities as a coach and have a lot of belief in the guys on our team and a lot of belief in our staff, and for that reason you dont have to walk in fear," Frazier said, flashing a brief smile. "You just know that things are going to work out." Owner Zygi Wilf declined to comment about a decision on Frazier, who has one season left on his contract. General manager Rick Spielman was mum, too. The Lions held Calvin Johnson out because of a nagging knee injury. Matthew Stafford stopped his turnover streak and completed 22 of 33 passes for 217 yards and a third-quarter touchdown pass to Bush, but the Lions finished 7-24 at this stadium, which was inflated in 1982. They finished the year with six losses in their last seven games despite holding a fourth-quarter lead in all of them, putting coach Jim Schwartz on the metaphorical hot seat, too. "Its definitely been very rocky, and its not been easy to deal with," said running back Reggie Bush. "Its been an emotional roller coaster, going from being in first place to where we are now, thats not how you want to end the season." Schwartz fell to 29-52 over five full years. Both he and Frazier have made the playoffs once. "We cant worry about decisions we dont make," Schwartz said, adding: "Id certainly like to be back. I think we have unfinished business here. Weve come a long way in these years, but we still have some ground that we can make and Im anxious to have a chance to do that." There will be no more business in this building, which will be torn down next month to make room for a new domed venue on the same site. The Vikings will play outside the next two seasons at the University of Minnesotas facility. "I love the stadium. But when you see the pictures of the new one, youre anxious and excited to get into the new one," said Peterson, who was held out due to a sprained foot. He set the NFLs all-time single-game rushing record here in 2007 with 296 yards. Third-stringer Matt Asiata filled in with 14 carries for 115 yards. Jared Allen had two sacks to pass the double-digit mark for the seventh straight season. Cassel had the winning touchdown throw. He was the quarterback at the end of all five Vikings victories this year, two in injury relief of Christian Ponder. The Vikings also narrowly avoided setting a franchise record for most points allowed, leaving the 1984 team still holding that dubious mark. This still might not have been enough to save Fraziers job, however. "I enjoyed playing for Leslie. He came in each and every day with a demeanour to try to get this team ready to play, and I respect that about him and how he went about his business. There never was anybody, especially in his case, hanging his head when things didnt go our way," Cassel said. Patterson wasnt ready for the opening kickoff, slapping the goalpost and trying to fire up fans behind him when the ball sailed in the end zone. Chase Ford caught it for a touchback. Patterson quickly refocused, though. Late in the first quarter, he took a pitch in the backfield, immediately reversed course and ran right toward the sideline. He slipped between Ndamukong Suh and Devin Taylor, then snaked his way through the rest of the defence for a 50-yard gain, the longest rushing play in Vikings history by a wide receiver. NOTES: Patterson finished his rookie year with nine TDs, including six in the last five games. ... Bush and fellow RB Reggie Bush each finished with 500-plus yards receiving. They combined for 2,709 yards and 15 TDs. cheap nfl jerseys . The Texas Rangers right-hander will probably reconsider now. Wolf pitched five strong innings for his first big league win in his first start in the majors, David Murphy and Adrian Beltre homered in a three-run first inning, and the Rangers avoided a sweep with a 3-1 victory against the Oakland Athletics on Wednesday. wholesale nfl jerseys . LOUIS - Lance Lynn bounced back from his worst start of the season with 6 2-3 scoreless innings and the St.The Cleveland Cavaliers altered the NBA landscape when they re-acquired LeBron James earlier this summer and there were rumours that James would be getting help. Numbers Game breaks down the big trade to bring LeBron a running mate, as the Cavs acquired Kevin Love from the Minnesota Timberwolves. The Cavaliers Will Get: PF Kevin Love. Love, 25, is one of the games premier frontcourt players, coming off a season during which he scored a career-high 26.1 points per game, grabbed 12.5 rebounds per game and had a career-best 4.4 assists per game. The 6-foot-10 power forward has averaged double figure rebounds for five straight seasons, joining Dwight Howard as the only players to reach that threshold in each of the past five seasons. Already a dangerous offensive threat because of his ability to pass and score, Love has raised the bar as he increases his shooting range. He attempted a career-high 6.6 three-pointers per game last season (making 2.5) and his 37.6% from beyond the arc was the second-best of his career, leading to the highest effective field-goal percentage (.524) of his career. He has played in three NBA All-Star games and ranked third in the NBA in Player Efficiency Rating (26.9), behind Kevin Durant and LeBron James, last season. Joining forces with LeBron in Cleveland does seem to set Love up for continued success, though there is going to have to be some accomodation made to get players enough touches. For example, Love has had more than 17 field-goal attempts per game for the past three seasons, topping out at a career-high 18.3 per game last season. LeBron has actually seen his shot attempts go down -- last seasons 17.6 per game in Miami was a career-low -- but thats 36 shots per game coming into the Cleveland rotation. How will those shots be allocated while still placating PG Kyrie Irving (17.4 attempts per game last season) and SG Dion Waiters (14.2 attempts per game last season)? Take out Luol Deng (12.7 attempts per game in Cleveland) and Spencer Hawes (11.0 attempts per game) and it becomes a matter of balancing an extra dozen or so attempts per game among the primary shooters. Expect LeBron and Love to be the leaders, so that likely means Irving and especially Waiters, will have to get used to a lesser role offensively. The price to pay if youre going to be a championship contender instead of a 33-win lottery team, but thats going to be a challenge for first-year coach David Blatt to navigate. While hes a tremendous offensive player who should complement the rest of the Cavaliers talent well because hes a real upgrade as a scoring big man, Love hasnt been much of a defender. He doesnt have the hops to block shots (0.5 per game for his career) and while he holds his own against power forwards, Love isnt as effective defensively when hes forced to play in the middle. (There is some trade-off, however, as Love scored an outrageous 41.7 points per 48 minutes while playing centre last season). Love makes more than $15.7-million this season and has a player option worth in excess of $16.7-million for 2015-2016, which he has reportedly agreed not to exercise in order to sign a five-year, $120-million deal with Cleveland. Thats a long-term commitment to play for the Cavaliers, and presumably that means playing with LeBron for those years, but its at least worth noting that James is under contract for 2014-2015 with a player option for 2015-2016. Having accumulated a supporting cast that makes the Cavaliers the front-runner in the Eastern Conference, presumably LeBron will be inclined to stick around, but there are some contract details to get worked out. In any case, Love is the big piece that the Cavaliers need in order to rise up and contend immediately, making the most of their window with LeBron. The Timberwolves Will Get: F Anthony Bennett, SG/SF Andrew Wiggins and a protected 2015 first-round pick. 19-year-old Andrew Wiggins was the first overall pick in the 2014 NBA Draft following a freshman season at Kansas when he showed flashes of brilliance, but was also criticized for not producing on a more consistent basis. Consider the end of the season, for example. Wiggins dropped a season-high 41 points on West Virginia in his final regular-season game before scoring 52 points in two games in the Big 12 tournament and 19 in his first NCAA Tournament game before falling flat, scoring four points (on 1-of-6 shooting from the field). nfl jerseys china. Its not the end of the world, by any means, but the contrast over merely a few weeks shows the ups and downs that are part of Wiggins game at this point. Nevertheless, there is still ample reason that he was the number one overall pick in the draft this year. Wiggins has rare athleticism, with tremendous speed when he breaks out in the open floor and spectacular leaping ability when he attacks the rim. Wiggins athleticism should allow him to become a quality defender and, while ball-handling and shooting are areas for improvement, Wiggins has a chance to be great. It should take some time (considering he averaged 15.5 points on 40.5% shooting in NBA Summer League play), but Wiggins has the physical gifts to become a star player in the league and thats an exciting prospect for the Timberwolves, who sacrificed an already-established star in Love. With Wiggins signed for two years, plus two more team option years, on his rookie deal, the Timberwolves have time to watch Wiggins grow. There arent a lot of options in the T-Wolves rotation right now, so Wiggins should start on the wing, alongside veteran shooting guard Kevin Martin. With Love leaving, there will be lots of touches available offensively, and Martin, C Nikola Pekovic and Wiggins figure to be the players getting the most looks. Anthony Bennett, 21, was also the first overall pick, in 2013, but went through a miserable rookie season, finishing with 4.2 points and 3.0 rebounds per game, shooting 35.6% from the field. Those numbers were undeniably terrible, but he doesnt have to be a lost cause altogether. He was out of shape at the start of last season, as he recoverd from shoulder surgery and, following the season, had surgery to help with his sleep apnea. A healthier, leaner Bennett put up 13.3 points and 7.8 rebounds per game, shooting 42.6% from the field in NBA Summer League play. Thats a far cry from being ready to start, or fill a rotation spot in the NBA, but thats still an opportunity that is available to Bennett in Minnesota because, frankly, the Timberwolves dont have much in the frontcourt. Those who will battle for time at power forward in Minnesota include Bennett, Luc Richard Mbah a Moute, Robbie Hummel and perhaps some minutes to bigs Gorgui Deng and Ronny Turiaf, but thats not much competition if Bennett can get back on track. It should also be noted that he did start to come around a little bit, late in his rookie season, averaging 6.7 points and 4.1 rebounds per game from February through the end of the season. With the T-Wolves a long way from contending, they can afford to give Bennett the reps he needs to improve and its kind of important that he does because, after the 2014-2015 season, Minnesota will have to decide what they are going to do about the team options on Bennetts contract. The first-round pick, reportedly Miamis, is protected. If its a pick that ends up in the bottom 10 of the first round, it provides a little value, but is no difference-maker. From the 2003-2012 Drafts, picks 21-30 yielded, give or take a bit in each category, maybe two stars (Rajon Rondo, Kyle Lowry, David Lee?), 18 starters and 31 rotation players. That results in at least a rotation player slightly better than half (51) the time. If Bennett turns out to be a solid NBA player and Wiggins is an above-average starter (with star potential), then the Timberwolves get an adequate return for a player that they were potentially going to lose for nothing following next season. Its never ideal giving up the marquee player in an NBA trade, but rolling the dice on the potential of Wiggins and, to a lesser degree, Bennett, is a fair approach for Minnesota under the circumstances. The hard truth, though, is that its nearly impossible to win an NBA trade that sends a star player away, so doing their best under the circumstances still leaves the T-Wolves in a worse spot. Scott Cullen can be reached at Scott.Cullen@bellmedia.ca and followed on Twitter at http://twitter.com/tsnscottcullen. For more, check out TSN Fantasy on Facebook. cheap jerseys ' ' ' |
