MIAMI GARDENS Blake Bortles Jersey Black , Fla. (AP) — Jakeem Grant won the longest game with the longest play.
Grant struck like lightning when he scored on a tiebreaking 102-yard kickoff return with 14 minutes to go, and the Miami Dolphins overcame two weather delays to win the longest game since the 1970 NFL-AFL merger, beating the Tennessee Titans 27-20 Sunday.
Delays for lightning lasted a total of 3 hours, 59 minutes, and the game took 7 hours, 8 minutes to play. The previous longest game since 1970 was a Bears overtime victory against the Ravens in 2013 that took 5 hours, 16 minutes.
Grant’s touchdown triggered a late flurry of big plays in a season opener that was lackluster for the first six hours.
After his score, Ryan Tannehill hit Kenny Stills deep for a 75-yard touchdown. Darius Jennings returned the ensuing kickoff 94 yards for a Titans score, and they were driving when Miami’s Reshad Jones helped to clinch the win with a 54-yard return after he intercepted Blaine Gabbert.
“I love the way we responded — the way we were able to overcome the delays, to come out with energy after sitting around,” Tannehill said. “To come away from this long day, this grind of a game, and get a win, it feels good.”
Titans starting quarterback Marcus Mariota threw two interceptions in the third quarter and then came out of the game with an elbow injury. Tight end Delanie Walker was carted off the field later in the period with a right leg injury Jimmy Vesey Jersey , and tackle Taylor Lewan suffered a concussion, all of which meant a miserable start for Mike Vrabel in his head coaching debut.
Walker’s injury appeared the most serious.
“I haven’t seen him since he left the field,” Vrabel said. “Our thoughts and prayers are with him.”
Miami led 7-3 when the game was suspended for nearly two hours late in the first half. The teams went to the locker room during the delay and stayed on the field for halftime, which was shortened to 3½ minutes.
Lightning forced a halt again midway through the third quarter, and the second stoppage lasted just over two hours. Perhaps 10,000 fans remained at the finish.
“That’s the job we have — to make sure we play through whatever situation,” Vrabel said. “I felt we handled it well, but in the end we didn’t do enough to win the game.”
Sandwiched between the delays was a brawl that started after Lewan appeared to be briefly knocked out . Jordan Phillips and Bobby McCain of Miami and Dion Lewis of Tennessee received offsetting unsportsmanlike conduct penalties for taunting, and Lewan missed the rest of the game.
Gabbert drove the Titans 75 yards to make the score 10-10, but Grant needed only 13 seconds to break the tie, splitting the coverage untouched and racing into the clear near midfield.
“I saw it was just him and the kicker,” Miami coach Adam Gase said. “I was going, ‘Please run by me.'”
“I left a lot out there,” Tannehill said. “There are a lot of plays I wanted to have back.”
INJURY REPORT
Titans: Mariota was hurt early in the third quarter when hit on the right side by William Hayes. Mariota missed one play, and then returned to throw two interceptions before again coming out of the lineup.
He said he couldn’t feel his fingers or grip the ball well, and hinted he shouldn’t have returned to the game.
“I’m not using it as an excuse, but I should have made sure I was making the best decision for the team,” he said.
Teammate Adoree Jackson hurt his shoulder on a 26-yard punt return in the third quarter. … LB Wesley Woodyard was shaken up and left the game in the third quarter.
FRACAS
Lewan was flattened on Andre Branch’s blindside block during an interception return by Jones. Lewan sprawled face down on the turf, then suddenly sprang to his feet, and players exchanged words and shoves.
NATIONAL ANTHEM
Dolphins receivers Stills and Albert Wilson knelt during the national anthem, and defensive end Robert Quinn raised his right fist. They followed the same practice before preseason games. No Titans appeared to protest.
UP NEXT
The Dolphins play at the New York Jets next Sunday.
The Titans face Houston in their home opener next Sunday.
The Winnipeg Jets had to wait nearly the entire season to make up for an embarrassing home loss to the Toronto Maple Leafs in the opener.
Josh Morrissey and Dustin Byfuglien scored 1:10 apart in the second period as the Jets beat the Maple Leafs 3-1 on Saturday night.
Winnipeg lost 7-2 to Toronto to open the season on Oct 4, and was also coming off a disappointing 6-2 loss in Chicago two nights earlier that ended a six-game winning streak.
”We kind of owed them one,” Morrissey said. ”We didn’t like the way the last meeting went at the start of the year … and with the way we played in Chicago the other night we really wanted to rebound.
”We had a lot of motivating factors.”
Andrew Copp had the other goal for the Jets, while Connor Hellebuyck stopped 28 shots in a matchup of the only two Canadian teams headed to the playoffs.
Winnipeg was eager to get back to playing a physical, defensively sound game after the loss to the Blackhawks.
”We were on the puck much better,” Jets captain Blake Wheeler said. ”That’s a (Toronto) group that wants time Womens Phil Taylor Jersey , wants space, wants to be creative.”
Patrick Marleau scored for Toronto, and Curtis McElhinney had 26 saves. The Maple Leafs were playing for the third time in in four nights, including the second of a back-to-back following Friday’s 5-4 victory at the New York Islanders.
”I’m disappointed,” Leafs coach Mike Babcock said. ”When you don’t have quite as much juice, you’re not quite as good. … It was tight. In the end, they were better.”
The Maple Leafs are all but assured of finishing third in the Atlantic Division. The Jets, meanwhile, look just as certain to wind up second in the Central.
Both teams are hoping to use these final few outings as playoff tuneups.
”It just shows you’ve got to be sharp each and every night, and sometimes the details of the game is the difference – most of the time it’s the difference,” Marleau said. ”Tonight was no different.”
Toronto’s only blemish at home in more than two months coming into this game was Monday’s 3-2 loss to last-place Buffalo that snapped a 13-game winning streak at Air Canada Centre.
Scoreless after a first period lacking much in the way of emotion, Toronto grabbed a 1-0 lead just 2:02 into the second when the league’s third-ranked power play went to work. Auston Matthews looked primed to shoot on Hellebuyck from the left faceoff circle, but passed to Marleau, who redirected his 26th of the season home from the top of the crease.
After a pad stop on Blake Wheeler’s deflection later in the period Zay Jones Jersey , McElhinney could do nothing at 8:30 when Morrissey’s blast from the point past a screen caught him moving the wrong way for the defenseman’s sixth.
McElhinney was then run into by Winnipeg’s Mark Scheifele after he stopped Wheeler’s breakaway seconds later, but no penalty was called on the play.
Playing without rookie defenseman Travis Dermott because of a lower-body injury suffered in the first, the Leafs went to the penalty kill when play resumed after Jake Gardiner cross-checked Scheifele hard into the boards, much to the chagrin of home crowd.
The Jets’ power play – which was fourth overall coming in – went to work, and Byfuglien snapped his seventh off the post and in past a screened McElhinney at 9:40.
Winnipeg pulled ahead 3-1 seemingly out of nothing on a broken play with 2:26 left in the period when Copp fired his sixth shortside off a pass from Adam Lowry.
”It’s tough when you give up a power-play goal,” Morrissey said. ”That’s some of the growth in our team – we got right back on our horse and really went after it.
”That’s something we’re going to have to do definitely going forward here and into the playoffs.”
Playing the second of a back-to-back, McElhinney saw his first action in place of Frederik Andersen since making 33 saves in a 4-0 win over Montreal on March 17.
Toronto went back to the man advantage midway through the final period after Winnipeg was whistled for too many men, but neither unit could connect despite extended zone time.
The Leafs pressed further with McElhinney out for an extra attacker, but couldn’t find a way past Hellebuyck before Ron Hainsey took a holding penalty on Copp with 67 seconds left in regulation to kill any hope of a comeback.
Hellebuyck had to be sharp to snag Nazem Kadri’s deflection of a shot by Marleau midway through the first before also blocking Connor Brown’s batted effort and rebound chance from in close with under two minutes left.
Brown had another opportunity with Hellebuyck swimming in his crease moments later, but couldn’t quite find the handle on a loose puck.
NOTES: Toronto came in 8-2 over its last 10. … Leafs forward Mitch Marner saw his 11-game point streak (five goals, 11 assists) come to an end. … Leo Komarov replaced Andreas Johnsson on Toronto’s fourth line after missing seven games with a lower-body injury. … Winnipeg D Jacob Trouba (concussion) returned to the lineup following a five-game absence.
GermanForce
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08.10.2018 03:12
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