A Sports Filled Weekend It Was

The Minnesota Vikings celebrated two momentous events on Sunday – the successful debut of Sam Bradford at quarterback and their first regular-season win at new U.S. Bank Stadium.

The Vikings defeated the Green Bay Packers 17-14 behind Bradford and a defense that sacked Aaron Rodgers five times.

The New England Patriots won and lost. They beat the Miami Dolphins 31-24 but lost quarterback Jimmy Garoppolo (shoulder) in the second quarter. Rookie Jacoby Brissett stepped in for Garoppolo (who had replaced suspended Tom Brady). The Pats say Garoppolo is day to day but they play on Thursday night against the Houston Texans and he will not be ready to go.

The Los Angeles Rams also made their home debut…at their old home, the Los Angeles Memorial Coliseum. They beat the Seattle Seahawks 9-3 with more than 91,000 fans packing the old building. The Rams had left Los Angeles for St. Louis after the 1994 season.

College Football

Louisville’s 63-24 win over Florida State shook up the AP rankings. The 3-0 Cardinals vaulted from 10th to third and got six first-place votes while the humiliated Seminoles fell from second to 13th. Alabama remained No. 1 after a harrowing 48-43 victory over Ole Miss; Ohio State is second after beating Oklahoma 45-24 on the road and Michigan is No. 4 after a 45-28 win over Colorado. Even with its 1-2 record, Oklahoma ranks 25th.

Baseball

The Boston Red Sox swept a four-game series from the New York Yankees for the first time since 1990. The Yankees blew one lead after another in plummeting from the wild-card race at Fenway Park. The Red Sox overcame deficits of three runs or more in three of the four games and won 5-4 Sunday night after trailing 4-0…The New York Mets’ three-game sweep of the Minnesota Twins gave them the lead in the National League’s wild-card race.

Elsewhere
Canelo Alvarez posted a ninth-round TKO of Liam Smith on Saturday night to win the WBO 154-pound championship in Arlington, Texas…Martin Truex Jr. won the Chase for the Sprint Cup Championship opener at Chicagoland Speedway on Sunday. Joey Logano was second…In Gee Chun won the LPGA’s Evian Championship in France by four strokes over fellow South Koreans So Yeon Ryu and Sung Hyun Park.
 
 
Post By: Larry Weisman, a longtime sportswriter for USA TODAY, blogs for Twistity.com. Follow him on Twitter @MrLarryWeisman