Weekday Morning Sports Report – Monday 11/5/18

sportsreport
sportsreport

NFL – National Football League – Week 9
Last Night
Minnesota Vikings 24, Detroit Lions 9
Chicago Bears 41, Buffalo Bills 9
Indianapolis Colts (bye week)

Miami 13, N.Y. Jets 6
Atlanta 38, Washington 14
Kansas City 37, Cleveland 21
Pittsburgh 23, Baltimore 16
Chicago 41, Buffalo 9
Carolina 42, Tampa Bay 28
Houston 19, Denver 17
L.A. Chargers 25, Seattle 17
New Orleans 45, L.A. Rams 35
New England 31, Green Bay 17

Vikings 24, Lions 9 – Vikings hang 10 sacks on Stafford in 24-9 win vs. Lions
Danielle Hunter had 3 ½ of Minnesota’s franchise-record 10 sacks and a fourth-quarter fumble return for a touchdown, making for a miserable afternoon for Matthew Stafford and the Detroit Lions in a 24-9 victory by the Vikings on Sunday. Hunter, the fourth-year defensive end, also was credited with nine tackles and four quarterback hits as the Vikings (5-3-1) limited the Lions to 214 total yards.  After Dalvin Cook dropped a pitch from Kirk Cousins and A’Shawn Robinson recovered at the Detroit 28 with Minnesota leading 17-6, the Lions had a chance to catch up. They converted a fake punt to keep the drive alive.  Two plays later, Stafford ran right on the short side of the field and tried a dangerous flip to Kerryon Johnson. The ball fluttered to the turf, and Hunter scooped it up on his way to the easy score. The Lions had a streak of 25 consecutive games with at least 14 points stopped in humbling fashion.

Bears 41, Bills 9 – Chicago Bears rout turnover-prone Buffalo Bills 41-9
Jordan Howard scored two touchdowns and the Chicago Bears’ defense had two others in a 41-9 win over the Bills in what proved to be another comedy of errors for Buffalo and its anemic offense Sunday. Eddie Jackson scored on a 65-yard fumble return and Leonard Floyd returned a tipped pass 19 yards for another score some 3 1/2 minutes apart in the second quarter. Howard, set up by Tarik Cohen’s 38-yard punt return , then scored on an 18-yard scamper to cap a run in which the Bears scored four touchdowns over a span of 12 minutes, 20 seconds in the second quarter.  The Bears won their second in a row and improved to 5-3 to match their best start to a season through eight games since 2013. Chicago also matched its win total from last year.  Chicago’s defense forced four takeaways, and limited the Bills to 264 yards offense despite missing star linebacker Khalil Mack, who missed his second straight game with an injury to his right ankle.

Tonight
Tennessee Titans at Dallas Cowboys, 8:15 p.m.                   95.7 & 1400 WSJM Sports 7:30

NBA – National Basketball Association
Tonight
Miami Heat at Detroit Pistons, 7:00 p.m.
Houston Rockets at Indiana Pacers, 7:00 p.m.
Chicago Blackhawks at New York Knicks, 7:30 p.m.

NHL – Stevens dismissed by Kings
The struggling Los Angeles Kings fired head coach John Stevens just 13 games into his second season in charge. The move comes as the Kings sit at the bottom of the NHL’s Western Conference standings at 4-8-1. However, Los Angeles had won two of its last three following a six-game losing streak. Willie Desjardins (day-zhar-DAN’) was named the Kings’ interim head coach by general manager Rob Blake.

NASCAR – Harvick holds off Blaney to win
Kevin Harvick earned a shot at another NASCAR Cup championship by rocketing past polesitter Ryan Blaney in overtime to win at Texas Motor Speedway.  Another late caution led to a third restart in the final 35 laps, each time with Harvick leading. Harvick led 177 of the 337 laps.  It is the second year in a row that that the 2014 Cup champion has won the fall race at Texas to get into the final four.  With Joey Logano and Harvick locked in after winning the past two races, the series goes to Phoenix next week with only two spots up for grabs for the championship run at Homestead in two weeks.

AP TOP 25

1

Alabama (60)

9-0

2

Clemson

9-0

3

Notre Dame

9-0

4

Michigan

8-1

5

Georgia

8-1

6

Oklahoma

8-1

7

West Virginia

7-1

8

Ohio State

8-1

9

LSU

7-2

10

Washington State

8-1

11

UCF

8-0

12

Kentucky

7-2

13

Syracuse

7-2

14

Utah State

8-1

15

Texas

6-3

16

Fresno State

8-1

17

Boston College

7-2

18

Mississippi State

6-3

19

Florida

6-3

20

Washington

7-3

21

Penn State

6-3

22

NC State

6-2

23

Iowa State

5-3

24

Michigan State

6-3

25

Cincinnati

8-1

NCAAFB – West Virginia rises to 7 after 10 ranked teams lose
The top three teams are the same in the latest Associated Press college football poll, but there are several changes just below. Alabama remains the unanimous No. 1 selection following Saturday’s 29-0 shutout of LSU, which dropped the Tigers out of the top five. Clemson stays had No. 2, Notre Dame still holds onto No. 3, while Michigan moves up a notch to replace LSU at No. 4. Georgia is fifth, followed by Oklahoma, West Virginia, Ohio State, LSU and Washington State. The Mountaineers moved up five spots with Saturday’s one-point win at Texas. Iowa State was ranked for the first time this season, one of five teams to move into the ranking this week.

NCAAFB – Minnesota fires defensive coordinator
Minnesota defensive coordinator Robb Smith has been fired, with the Gophers allowing an average of more than 43 points per game in Big Ten play. Coach P.J. Fleck made the announcement Sunday night. He named defensive line coach Joe Rossi the interim defensive coordinator. Fleck hired Smith last year upon taking over the program at Minnesota, having spent two seasons with Smith as assistants together at Rutgers. The 43-year-old Smith was the defensive coordinator at Arkansas for four seasons before joining the Gophers. Star safety Antoine Winfield Jr. injured his foot in the conference opener at Maryland, and the defense hasn’t recovered. The Gophers gave up 430 rushing yards on Saturday in a 55-31 loss at Illinois. Four touchdowns by the Illini covered 67 yards or more.

NCAA – Air Force mascot falcon improving after injury at West Point
An Air Force falcon injured at West Point during a prank before Saturday’s annual rivalry game between the two service academies is back home and showing signs of improvement. Air Force Academy spokesperson Lt. Col. Tracy A. Bunko says 22-year-old Aurora “was able to fly around in her pen” on Sunday. Bunko calls the development “an extremely good sign” and says the academy is “grateful for the outpouring of support and optimistic for Aurora’s recovery.” Bunko says the falcon will continue to be evaluated and antibiotics will be given to prevent infection. Army officials at West Point apologized Sunday for the injuries to the falcon and promised a full investigation.

NYC Marathon – Ethiopia’s Desisa, Kenya’s Keitany win NYC Marathon
Lelisa Desisa of Ethiopia has won the New York City Marathon, holding off countryman Shura Kitata by 1.99 seconds. Mary Keitany of Kenya won the women’s marathon, becoming the second woman to win it four times. She also won in in 2014, 2015 and 2016 before coming in second last year to American Shalane Flanagan. Flanagan finished third today.

AHL – American Hockey League
Last Night
Grand Rapids Griffins 8, Cleveland Monsters 4

ECHL – East Coast Hockey League
Last Night
Kalamazoo Wings 3, Idaho Steelheads 1

MHSAA – Boys basketball practice begins today
It’s an earlier start than in previous years, but today is the first day of practice for boys high school basketball teams across the state of Michigan.  The boys season traditionally starts practice next week, however a conflict in the schedule for the State Championship games at the Breslin Center at Michigan State University prompted the MHSAA to move up the start of the boys basketball season.  The MHSAA switched the start date of the boys and girls season.  Practice for the girls starts next week.  The Girls State Finals are being held for the second straight year at Van Noord Arena at Calvin College in Grand Rapids.   The first boys games are on November 26.