MINNEAPOLIS (AP) The Minnesota Vikings have rarely shied from a ground-oriented approach on offense in seven seasons under coach Mike Zimmer, never more apparent than in their last game.
Dalvin Cook has made this strong-arm strategy viable, rather than some tired relic. With 30 rushes for 163 yards and three touchdowns – plus two catches for 63 yards and another score – Cook carried the Vikings to a potentially pivotal victory at Green Bay. As Kirk Cousins only attempted 14 passes, Cook became the first player with 30 carries for Minnesota since 2013.
”We’re going to have to ride this guy,” Zimmer said.
The Vikings have had a player reach 30-plus rushing attempts 17 times in their 60-year history, including six by single-game franchise record holder Adrian Peterson (35). The Vikings are 16-0-1 in those games.
When asked this week to assess Cook’s unique traits, Zimmer paused briefly before invoking the name of the NFL’s all-time leading rusher, Emmitt Smith.
”Really good feet. Quick accelerator. Powerful runner. Good vision,” Zimmer said.
The Vikings have run the ball on 49.6% of their plays, the third-most in the league. Baltimore, the NFL leader, employs a run-heavy quarterback in 2019 NFL MVP Lamar Jackson.
”We just run yards like Swiss chard,” Cook said, using the leafy green vegetable for a clever rhyme.
The nutritional value is unmistakable, as long as they’re controlling the ball and scoring points. That’s the way they tried to win with Cook’s predecessor, too. Peterson, coincidentally, will be in Minnesota on Sunday with his latest team, the Detroit Lions.
The Vikings (2-5) have a lot of catchup to do.
They blew double-digit second-half leads and lost be one point to Tennessee and Seattle. They were also no-shows in one-sided defeats to Green Bay, Indianapolis and Atlanta. Their performance against Detroit (3-4) will reveal a lot about whether they’re truly a darkhorse contender for the expanded playoffs or better off refocusing on the future.
That summary might sound familiar to the Lions, who were unsure if quarterback Matthew Stafford would be available after placing him this week on the COVID-19 reserve list.
”We’re doing some things really well,” coach Matt Patricia said. ”We just have to learn how to finish better. I think that’s true all the way across the board.”
BACKUP PLAN
If Stafford is not cleared in time to play, the Lions would have to choose between Chase Daniel or David Blough. The 34-year-old Daniel has started just five games in his career with seven touchdowns and five interceptions, though he helped lead Chicago to a 16-6 victory over the Vikings last season by going 22 of 30 with a touchdown in relief of an injured Mitch Trubisky.
Blough went 0-5 as a starter last year when Stafford was out with a broken back, with four touchdown passes and six interceptions after the undrafted rookie was acquired from Cleveland. That included a loss at Minnesota, when Blough had one touchdown, was sacked five times and intercepted twice in a 20-7 loss.
REMEMBER THEM?
Everson Griffen expected to face his former team this month, but the reunion was moved up two weeks when Dallas traded him to Detroit. The 11th-year defensive end with 77 career sacks will make his debut with the Lions on Sunday, a convenient addition to the lineup with defensive end Trey Flowers going on short-term injured reserve.
In addition to Peterson and Griffen, backup safety Jayron Kearse will make his return to Minnesota. Griffen could find himself lined up across from Vikings left tackle Riley Reiff, who’s been blocking as well as ever in his fourth season with the team. He played his first five years with the Lions.
HALL PASS
Marvin Hall has taken only one-fourth of Detroit’s offensive snaps, behind Marvin Jones, Kenny Golladay, Danny Amendola and rookie Quintez Cephus, but he has given the Lions a legitimate deep threat with an average of 24 yards per catch. With Golladay hampered by a hip injury this week, Hall could find more opportunity against a struggling Vikings secondary.
”The thing that he brings for us is speed,” Lions offensive coordinator Darrell Bevell said. ”You can feel it, and that can really change some things in the back end.”
CORNERBACK CRUNCH
The Vikings, who have surrendered 30.6 points per game for the fourth-worst average in the league and rank third-to-last in passing yards allowed, have been fighting a dual challenge of inexperience and injuries at cornerback all season. The only one who has played in every game is rookie starter Jeff Gladney. Chris Jones, a recent waiver claim from the Lions, could see his first action for Minnesota with five other cornerbacks dealing with injuries this week.
HOMEWORK TIME
The Vikings have lost five straight at U.S. Bank Stadium, since beating Blough and the Lions on Dec. 8, 2019. That’s their longest such streak since 2011 and approaching the franchise record, set between the 1966-67 seasons when the Vikings lost six consecutive games at Metropolitan Stadium and tied a seventh before stopping the skid.
Zimmer spoke to the players this week about restoring their home-field edge, even if the absence of fans has negated the usual noise advantage.
”We need to bring our own energy. We need to bring our own excitement. We need to play like the fans are there,” Zimmer said. ”Hopefully they can do it through it through osmosis or something.”
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EDMONTON – The Edmonton Oilers signed defenceman Travis Dermott to a professional tryout on Friday.
Dermott, a 27-year-old from Newmarket, Ont., produced two goals, five assists and 26 penalty minutes in 50 games with the Arizona Coyotes last season.
The six-foot, 202-pound blueliner has also played for the Vancouver Canucks and Toronto Maple Leafs.
Toronto drafted him in the second round, 34th overall, of the 2015 NHL draft.
Over seven NHL seasons, Dermott has 16 goals and 46 assists in 329 games while averaging 16:03 in ice time.
Before the NHL, Dermott played two seasons with Oilers captain Connor McDavid for the Ontario Hockey League’s Erie Otters. The team was coached by current Edmonton head coach Kris Knoblauch.
This report by The Canadian Press was first published Sept. 13, 2024.
NEWPORT, R.I. (AP) — Maria Sharapova, a five-time Grand Slam singles champion, led the International Tennis Hall of Fame’s fan vote her first year on the ballot — an important part to possible selection to the hall’s next class.
The organization released the voting results on Friday. American doubles team Bob and Mike Bryan finished second with Canada’s Daniel Nestor third.
The Hall of Fame said tens of thousands of fans from 120 countries cast ballots. Fan voting is one of two steps in the hall’s selection process. The second is an official group of journalists, historians, and Hall of Famers from the sport who vote on the ballot for the hall’s class of 2025.
“I am incredibly grateful to the fans all around the world who supported me during the International Tennis Hall of Fame’s fan votes,” Sharapova said in a statement. “It is a tremendous honor to be considered for the Hall of Fame, and having the fans’ support makes it all the more special.”
Sharapova became the first Russian woman to reach No. 1 in the world. She won Wimbledon in 2004, the U.S. Open in 2006 and the Australian Open in 2008. She also won the French Open twice, in 2012 and 2014.
Sharapova was also part of Russia’s championship Fed Cup team in 2008 and won a silver medal at the London Olympics in 2012.
To make the hall, candidates must receive 75% or higher on combined results of the official voting group and additional percentage from the fan vote. Sharapova will have an additional three percentage points from winning the fan vote.
The Bryans, who won 16 Grand Slam doubles titles, will have two additional percentage points and Nestor, who won eight Grand Slam doubles titles, will get one extra percentage point.
The hall’s next class will be announced late next month.
PHILADELPHIA (AP) — The driver charged with killing NHL hockey player Johnny Gaudreau and his brother Matthew as they bicycled on a rural road had a blood-alcohol level of .087, above the .08 legal limit in New Jersey, a prosecutor said Friday.
Gaudreau, 31, and brother Matthew, 29, were killed in Carneys Point, New Jersey, on Aug. 29, the evening before they were set to serve as groomsmen at their sister Katie’s wedding.
The driver, 43-year-old Sean M. Higgins of nearby Woodstown, New Jersey, is charged with two counts of death by auto, along with reckless driving, possession of an open container and consuming alcohol in a motor vehicle. At a virtual court hearing Friday, a judge ordered that he be held for trial after prosecutors described a history of alleged road rage and aggressive driving.
“’You were probably driving like a nut like I always tell you you do. And you don’t listen to me, instead you just yell at me,’” his wife told Higgins when he called her from jail after his arrest, according to First Assistant Prosecutor Jonathan Flynn of Salem County.
The defense described Higgins as a married father and law-abiding citizen before the crash.
“He’s an empathetic individual and he’s a loving father of two daughters,” said defense lawyer Matthew Portella. “He’s a good person and he made a horrible decision that night.”
Higgins told police he had five or six beers that day and admitted to consuming alcohol while driving, according to the criminal complaint. He also failed a field sobriety test, the complaint said. A prosecutor on Friday said he had been drinking at home after finishing a work call at about 3 p.m., and having an upsetting conversation with his mother about a family matter.
He then had a two-hour phone call with a friend while he drove around in his Jeep with an open container, Flynn said. He had been driving aggressively behind a sedan going just above the 50 mph speed limit, sometimes tailgating, the female driver told police.
When she and the vehicle ahead of her slowed down and veered left to go around the cyclists, Higgins sped up and veered right, striking the Gaudreas, the two other drivers told police.
“He indicated he didn’t even see them,” said Superior Court Judge Michael J. Silvanio, who said Higgins’ admitted “impatience” caused two deaths.
Higgins faces up to 20 years, a sentence that the judge said made him a flight risk.
Higgins has a master’s degree, works in finance for an addiction treatment company, and served in combat in Iraq, his lawyers said. However, his wife said he had been drinking regularly since working from home, Flynn said.
Johnny Gaudreau, known as “Johnny Hockey,” played 10 full seasons in the league and was set to enter his third with the Columbus Blue Jackets after signing a seven-year, $68 million deal in 2022. He played his first eight seasons with the Calgary Flames, a tenure that included becoming one of the sport’s top players and a fan favorite across North America.
Widows Meredith and Madeline Gaudreau described their husbands as attached at the hip throughout their lives. Both women are expecting, and both gave moving eulogies at the double funeral on Monday.
