Weekday Morning Sports – Monday 9/11/17

sportsreport-281
sportsreport-281

95.7 & 1400 WSJM Sports     @wsjmsports     wsjmsports.com     Monday, September 11, 2017

NFL – National Football League – Week 1
Yesterday
Detroit Lions 35, Arizona Cardinals 23
Atlanta Falcons 23, Chicago Bears 17
Los Angeles Rams 46, Indianapolis Colts 9

Other Scores
Buffalo 21, N.Y. Jets 12
Baltimore 20, Cincinnati 0
Pittsburgh 21, Cleveland 18
Oakland 26, Tennessee 16
Jacksonville 29, Houston 7
Philadelphia 30, Washington 17
Carolina 23, San Francisco 3
Green Bay 17, Seattle 9
Dallas 19, N.Y. Giants 3

Lions 35, Cardinals 23 – Stafford’s 4 TD lift Lions to 35-23 win over Cardinals
Matthew Stafford threw two of his four touchdown passes to rookie Kenny Golladay in the fourth quarter Sunday, helping the Detroit Lions rally to beat the Arizona Cardinals 35-23.  The Lions picked off three of Carson Palmer’s passes, returning one for a score. They also knocked David Johnson out of the game after forcing him to fumble in the third quarter Sunday.  Detroit set an NFL record last year by rallying to win eight games after trailing in the final quarter and opened this season with another comeback.  The Cardinals scored the first 10 points of the game and led 17-9 late in the third quarter before giving up 26 straight points.  Stafford’s first pass was returned 82 yards for a touchdown by Justin Bethel, but the player with the richest contract in the NFL bounced back. He was 29 for 41 yards for 292 yards and threw 45- and 10-yard TD passes to Golladay , along with short passes to Theo Riddick and Marvin Jones for scores. Johnson, who led the league with 2,118 yards from scrimmage and 20 touchdowns last season, was limited to 23 yards rushing on 11 carries and had six receptions for 68 yards.

Falcons 23, Bears 17 – Ryan leads 2 TD drives in 4th, Falcons beat Bears 23-17
Matt Ryan threw an 88-yard touchdown pass to Austin Hooper and led two fourth-quarter scoring drives as the NFC champions held on to beat Chicago 23-17.  The butt of jokes following their epic Super Bowl collapse against New England, the Falcons survived as the Bears had a first down at the Atlanta 5 in the closing minute. Mike Glennon’s pass to a lunging Josh Bellamy on first down hit off the receiver’s hands, and Jordan Howard then dropped a simple catch at the 1. After another incompletion on third down, Glennon got sacked by Brooks Reed. Atlanta was clinging to a 13-10 lead early in the fourth when a scrambling Ryan fired to a wide-open Hooper near midfield. The second-year tight end from Stanford raced up the right side and stiff-armed Quintin Demps on the way to the end zone. The Bears then went 75 yards, with Glennon hitting rookie Tarik Cohen for a 19-yard TD midway through the fourth to cut it to 20-17. Atlanta’s Matt Bryant answered with a 37-yard field goal, making it 23-17. Coming off an MVP season, Ryan was 21 of 30 for 321 yards and a touchdown. Hooper had two catches for 128 yards.

Rams 46, Colts 9 – “Luckless” Colts routed by Rams
Jared Goff passed for a career-high 306 yards and a touchdown in his first victory as an NFL starter, and the Rams routed the Colts 46-9 in Sean McVay’s impressive debut as the youngest head coach in modern league history.  Todd Gurley had 40 yards rushing and 56 yards receiving while the Rams roared to a 37-3 lead in the third quarter. Los Angeles snapped a six-game skid at the Coliseum with its most impressive performance since returning home from St. Louis last year. Rams linebacker Alec Ogletree celebrated the win with a Gatorade shower for McVay on the sideline in the final minutes.  Los Angeles’ defense also excelled against fill-in Colts quarterback Scott Tolzien. Trumaine Johnson intercepted Tolzien’s first pass and returned it 39 yards for a touchdown, while Lamarcus Joyner returned another pick 29 yards for another score in the third quarter.  Tolzien passed for 128 yards in his fourth career NFL start in place of Andrew Luck, who wasn’t ready to return from a right shoulder injury.

Packers 17, Seahawks 9 – Packers beat Seahawks
The Green Bay Packers kept Seattle out of the end zone and turned a big defensive play into a score to earn a 17-9 win over the Seahawks. Seattle had to settle for three field goals and finished with just 225 net yards, with Russell Wilson completing 14 of 27 passes for 158 yards. The Seahawks were leading 3-0 when defensive lineman Mike Daniels stripped Wilson of the football to set up Ty Montgomery’s six-yard TD run on the next play.

Tonight
New Orleans Saints at Minnesota Vikings, 7:10 p.m.          95.7 & 1400 WSJM Sports 6:30
Los Angeles Chargers at Denver Broncos, 10:20 p.m.          95.7 & 1400 WSJM Sports after game 1

MLB – Major League Baseball
Last Night
Toronto Blue Jays 8, Detroit Tigers 2
Chicago White Sox 8, San Francisco Giants 1
Milwaukee Brewers 3, Chicago Cubs 1

Blue Jays 8, Tigers 2 – Hernandez hits two home runs, Jays beat Tigers 8-2
Teoscar Hernandez hit his first two home runs of the season, Darwin Barney had four hits and the Toronto Blue Jays beat Detroit 8-2 Sunday to assure the Tigers of just their second losing season in a decade. Hernandez, who played one game in April and then was brought up from the minors on Sept. 1, hit a two-run drive in the fourth and a three-run homer in the fifth, both off Anibal Sanchez (3-4). Hernandez made his big league debut last year, when he hit four homers for Houston. Hernandez also singled in the seventh. He became Toronto’s first rookie with a multihomer game since J.P. Arencibia at Texas on July 22, 2011, and the first with five RBIs since Anthony Gose against Boston on Sept. 8, 2012.

White Sox 8, Giants 1 – Day after hitting for cycle, Abreu 2 HRs, Chisox top Giants
Jose Abreu connected for two home runs a day after hitting for the cycle, leading Carson Fulmer and the Chicago White Sox over the San Francisco Giants 8-1 Sunday in an interleague matchup of last-place teams. Abreu hit a two-run drive in a five-run second inning off Giants star Madison Bumgarner (3-8). The first baseman added his 31st homer of the season and 12th in the last 26 games in the seventh. Abreu’s fourth multihomer game of the season and 10th of his four-year major league career came after he hit for the cycle in a 13-1 romp Saturday. Fulmer (2-1) won for the first time in the majors as a starter. The 23-year-old right-hander allowed one run on three hits, striking out nine in six innings.

Brewers 3, Cubs 1 – Brewers beat Cubs 3-1 for sweep, close within 2 games
Travis Shaw hit a two-run homer to back Zach Davies, and the Milwaukee Brewers beat the Chicago Cubs 3-1 Sunday to complete a three-game sweep and close within two games of the NL Central leaders. Chicago entered the series with a five-game division lead, a season high, but the defending World Series champions totaled three runs in the series. Milwaukee is tied for second in the NL Central with St. Louis. Davies (17-8) allowed one run and seven hits in seven innings, Anthony Swarzak pitched a hitless eighth and Corey Knebel finished for his 34th save in 39 chances.  Kyle Hendricks (6-5) gave up three runs and four hits in six innings.

AP Top 25

1

Alabama (58)

2-0

2

Oklahoma (2)

2-0

3

Clemson (1)

2-0

4

USC

2-0

5

Penn State

2-0

6

Washington

2-0

7

Michigan

2-0

8

Ohio State

1-1

9

Oklahoma State

2-0

10

Wisconsin

2-0

11

Florida State

0-1

12

LSU

2-0

13

Georgia

2-0

14

Louisville

2-0

15

Auburn

1-1

16

Virginia Tech

2-0

17

Miami

1-0

18

Kansas State

2-0

19

Stanford

1-1

20

TCU

2-0

21

Washington State

2-0

22

South Florida

2-0

23

Tennessee

2-0

24

Florida

0-1

25

UCLA

2-0

Tonight
Detroit (Jaye 1-0) at Cleveland (Carrasco 14-6), 7:10 p.m. Cosy-FM 6:45
Chicago White Sox (Lopez 0-3) at Kansas City (Hammel 8-10), 8:15 p.m.
Cubs are off

NCAA Football – Bama, Oklahoma 1-2 in poll
Alabama stays atop the latest Associated Press college football poll, but there’s a new No. 2. The Crimson Tide claimed 58 of 61 first-place votes following Saturday’s 41-10 win over Fresno State.  Oklahoma climbed from fifth to second with its convincing victory at Ohio
State. The outcome also dropped the Buckeyes from second to eighth.     Clemson holds at No. 3, followed by Southern Cal and Penn State.  Washington, Michigan, Ohio State, Oklahoma State and Wisconsin fill out the top 10. UCLA cracked the poll at No. 25, and Notre Dame fell out following a 20-19 loss to Georgia.

NCAA – Mississippi’s NCAA infractions hearing begins Monday
Mississippi’s football program will begin its appearance in front of the NCAA’s infractions committee panel, nearly five years after the governing body first launched its investigation. The hearing starts Monday in Covington, Kentucky, which is a suburb of Cincinnati. The Rebels are facing 21 allegations, including 15 that are classified as Level I, which the NCAA deems the most serious.

Tennis – US Open – Nadal takes Open
Top seed Rafael Nadal completed his dominant two-week run at Flushing Meadows with a 6-3, 6-3, 6-4 victory over Kevin Anderson. Nadal broke Anderson four times and never lost on serve in completing his third U.S. Open championship and first since 2013. Nadal has 16 Grand Slam titles, three off the record held by Roger Federer.

NHL – Hall of Fame D Pilote passes away at age 85
Hall of Fame defenseman Pierre Pilote, a three-time Norris Trophy winner who helped the Chicago Blackhawks win the Stanley Cup in 1961, has died. He was 85. Pilote passed away Saturday night, according to the Blackhawks. The team says he will be remembered “for his toughness, leadership and reliability on the ice.” Pilote played 13 of his 14 NHL seasons for Chicago. He captained the Blackhawks from 1961-68. His No. 3 jersey was retired by the team in November 2008. The Pilote family says in a statement released by the team that it’s proud of what he “accomplished in his professional career and thankful that his legacy will be preserved with the retirement of his (hash)3 by the team.” Pilote, a native of Kenogami, Quebec, had 80 goals and 418 assists in 890 career NHL games.

Golf – Champions – Colin Montgomerie wins PGA Tour Champions event in Japan
Colin Montgomerie made all the putts he needed on Narita Golf Club’s huge greens Sunday to win the Japan Airlines Championship _ the first PGA Tour Champions event in Japan.  The 54-year-old Scot two-putted for par from 50 feet on the par-4 18th, hitting his first to 1 1/2 feet, for a 5-under 67 and a one-stroke victory over Billy Mayfair and second-round leader Scott McCarron. Montgomerie finished at 14-under 202 and earned $400,000 for his fifth victory on the 50-and-over tour and first in nearly a year. He won 31 times on the European Tour and topped the tour’s money list a record eight times _ seven in a row from 1993-99 and the last in 2005.

Don Ohlmeyer, longtime network TV executive, dies at 72
Don Ohlmeyer, the “Monday Night Football” producer who came up with the phrase “Must See TV” in leading NBC to the No. 1 prime-time spot, died Sunday. He was 72. “It is with heavy hearts we share that Don Ohlmeyer, our beloved husband, father and grandfather, has passed away at age of 72 due to cancer,” Ohlmeyer’s family said in a statement. “Surrounded by loved ones, he died peacefully at his home in Indian Wells.” Longtime friend Al Michaels announced Ohlmeyer’s death while broadcasting NBC’s “Sunday Night Football” game between the Dallas Cowboys and New York Giants. Ohlmeyer won 16 Emmys, including the Lifetime Achievement Award. Ohlmeyer began his broadcasting career at ABC Sports under Roone Arledge, working on “Wide World of Sports.” Along with “Monday Night Football” work, he directed the network’s Olympic coverage and created “The Superstars.” Later at NBC Sports, he produced World Series and Super Bowl broadcasts. After running his own Ohlmeyer Communications Company, he returned to NBC in 1993 as president of its entertainment division. He came up with “Must See TV” in the 1990s, when NBC’s rating soared with such hits as “Seinfeld,” “Friends,” “ER” and “Frasier.” Ohlmeyer first worked for ABC as a gofer while studying at Notre Dame and became a full-time production assistant in 1967.

MHSAA – High School Sports
Tonight
Boys Soccer
Michigan Lutheran at Lake Michigan Catholic, 5:00 p.m.
South Haven at Berrien Springs, 5:00 p.m.
Buchanan at Edwardsburg, 5:00 p.m.
Dowagiac at Bridgman, 5:00 p.m.
Otsego at Parchment, 6:00 p.m.
Comstock at Vicksburg, 6:45 p.m.
Kalamazoo Loy Norrix at Three Rivers, 6:45 p.m.
Lawton at Kalamazoo Hackett, 6:45 p.m.
Kalamazoo Christian at Saugatuck, 6:45 p.m.
Marcellus at Bangor, 5:00 p.m.
Bloomingdale at Eau Claire, 5:00 P.M.
Hartford at Cassopolis, 5:00 P.M.