ITPV » Diggs was supposed to go out of bounds

An exceptional medley of great awareness Foster Moreau Jersey , terrific balance and deft reflexes allowed Stefon Diggs to ad lib and seize both the ball and the moment in the Vikings’ demon-exorcising ”Minneapolis Miracle .”

Case Keenum threw his way on the play dubbed ”Seven Heaven,” although in countless rehearsals at practice never did the pass go to the deep receiver, according to teammate Jarius Wright.

Ten seconds and no timeouts remained when Keenum dropped back from his 39 on third-and-10 in the hushed U.S. Bank Stadium, another haunting playoff heartbreak looming for Minnesota . New Orleans had taken a 24-23 lead just 15 seconds earlier.

The Saints had three defensive backs guarding the sideline as Kyle Rudolph, Wright and Diggs all ran sideline routes from the right of their formation.

Diggs was the deepest, with his break coming at about 25 yards, and just as he swiveled his hips he noticed nothing but green grass and purple end zone behind rookie free safety Marcus Williams, who was closing fast.

Diggs turned back to see the ball heading his way.

”I was thinking, `Catch it, get out of bounds and maybe kick a field goal,” Diggs said. ”I took a picture before I turned around to catch the ball. There was only one guy there. If he slipped, then I was going to try to stay up and keep it going.”

Williams, who had a key interception on a floater to Diggs in the third quarter, arrived a tad early. A pass interference flag would stop the clock with about 5 seconds left, giving the Vikings a chance at a field goal.

Williams awkwardly whiffed on Diggs, taking out cornerback Ken Crawley as Diggs came down, tucked the ball in his right arm and stuck his left hand in the turf to stay up.

If he stumbles there http://www.raidersfootballauthentics.com/hunter-renfrow-jersey-authentic , maybe he gets caught and time runs out. But he kept his balance, his cool – and stayed in bounds – shooting toward the end zone like a sprinter coming out of the blocks.

His 61-yard touchdown catch was one of the NFL’s all-time last-play stunners and it erased four decades of heartache for a franchise that was victimized by Drew Pearson’s original ”Hail Mary” catch; Gary Anderson missing his only field goal of the season in the NFC title game; Brett Favre throwing across his body for a game-destroying pick in another NFC championship contest; and Blair Walsh shanking a short field goal against Seattle.

While the delirium echoed, Williams, the 42nd overall selection in last April’s NFL draft, sat sobbing in front of his cubicle in the Saints’ locker room.

”I’m going to take it upon myself,” Williams said after composing himself for a stand-up performance in front of the assembled media, ”to make sure nothing like this happens again to me.”

While the magical ending in Minnesota dominated the playoff discussions, there were other notable calls in the divisional round:

PAYTON’S CHALLENGES: Saints coach Sean Payton unsuccessfully challenged two calls on the same series in the fourth quarter: Wright’s 27-yard catch and Keenum’s knee not being down before he released the ball.

”Two very bad challenges by the Saints,” tweeted Tony Dungy. ”Not sure who is talking to Sean Payton in the Coaches booth but they have given him poor information.”

Payton explained afterward that the monitor in the team’s booth was malfunctioning, so he didn’t have an assistant coach warning him not to throw his red challenge flag.

MOVING ON: Tennessee’s 35-14 loss at New England turned out to be Mike Mularkey `s last as head coach of the Titans. He was fired Monday after leading them to their first playoff victory in 14 seasons.

A week after controlling owner Amy Adams Strunk said Mularkey ”will be our head coach moving forward,” she dismissed him, saying, ”It became evident that we saw different paths to achieve greater success.”

Of the six head coaches ousted this cycle, only Mularkey made it to the playoffs.

FORGETTABLE FOURTH-AND-1s: Steelers offensive coordinator Todd Haley made two curious calls on fourth-and-1 in Pittsburgh’s 45-42 loss to the Jacksonville Jaguars on Sunday.

One was a pitch to Le’Veon Bell, who was dropped for a loss, and the other an incompletion to Juju Smith-Schuster.

Maybe Haley didn’t know Ben Roethlisberger is 18 for 19 on fourth-and-1 keepers in his career.

LOOKING AHEAD? On Saturday, Bell riled up the Jaguars and their fans when he tweeted Dwayne Haskins Jersey , ”I love round 2’s … we’ll have two round 2’s in back to back weeks …”

Bell was assuming a rematch with the Patriots next weekend to avenge a 24-21 loss last month, the Steelers’ only defeat since a 30-9 home loss to Jacksonville early in the season.

Bell wasn’t the only one presuming a Steelers-Patriots conference championship rematch.

In response to a recent quote from Steelers safety Mike Mitchell, who said Pittsburgh would beat New England no matter where the AFC championship was played, the Jaguars had some fun following their big win Sunday, tweeting: ”You can play them on (at)EAMaddenNFL all offseason.”

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The Texas Rangers were great until the rain showed up. After that, they were holding on.

The Rangers led 5-0 when heavy showers forced a 29-minute rain delay in the top of the fourth inning Thursday night. The first batter after the delay hit a two-run homer to give the Rangers a 7-0 lead, but it was all Detroit Tigers after that.

The Tigers had the winning run at the plate with no one out in the ninth inning, but closer Keone Kela retired the next three batters to finish off a 7-5 victory and snap a three-game losing streak.

The Rangers didn’t arrive in Detroit until the early hours of Thursday morning after an extra-inning loss to the Astros the previous night.

”We had a tough night last night and some tough travel, but our guys showed up tonight,” Rangers manager Jeff Banister said. ”We needed to get a win to gain some momentum and gain some confidence.”

Yovani Gallardo (3-0) got the win, giving up four runs and eight hits in 5 1/3 innings. He walked one and struck out two while winning his third straight start.

Kela allowed a run in the ninth – the first he’s given up in 12 career innings against Detroit – before finishing off his 21st save.

Matthew Boyd allowed a season-high seven runs and seven hits in four innings. He is 0-3 with a 10.59 ERA in his last four starts.

”Everyone goes through good stretches and bad stretches at this level, and a lot of it depends on luck,” he said. ”Once the game is over, you have to put it away and focus on getting ready to take the ball in five days.”

Tigers bench coach Steve Liddle, who managed while Ron Gardenhire recovered from the heat exhaustion that caused him to leave Wednesday’s loss in Chicago, wasn’t pleased with Boyd’s pitch selection.

”He never threw his fastball, so they were sitting on his soft stuff all night Brian Burns Jersey ,” Liddle said. ”They saw what he was doing and made adjustments, but he never made any adjustments to counter that.

”You can’t throw the same thing over and over and expect to win games.”

Detroit lost is third straight and dropped to 2-14 since June 17.

”We were down a touchdown early and we had the winning run at the plate in the ninth,” Liddle said. ”That’s something positive we can take from this.”

The Rangers took a 2-0 lead in the second inning when Gallo became one of the few players to clear Comerica Park’s right-field stands with a home run. Gallo came into the game hitting .191 with 20 homers.

Nomar Mazara made it 3-0 with an RBI grounder in the third, and Tigers third baseman Ronny Rodriguez misplayed Adrian Beltre’s grounder to allow a fourth run to score.

Isiah Kiner-Falefa’s fourth-inning RBI single extended the Rangers’ lead to 5-0 on the final pitch before a 29-minute rain delay. The game had started 15 minutes late due to a brief rain shower.

On Boyd’s fifth pitch after play resumed, Guzman hit a two-run homer to put Texas ahead by seven.

The Tigers made it 7-3 in the bottom of the fourth on RBI singles by John Hicks, Jim Adduci and Rodriguez, but Gallardo got Jose Iglesias to hit into an inning-ending double play.

”It’s tough coming out of the rain delay,” Gallardo said. ”We were ready to start the game and it rained, and then I had to stay loose through the second one. I gave up those three runs, but we got out of it.”

Goodrum homered in the sixth to make it 7-4.

Rodriguez started the ninth with an infield single and Iglesias reached on an error by third baseman Jurickson Profar. Victor Reyes followed with an RBI single to make it 7-5, but pinch-hitter Jeimer Candelario bounced into a force at second.

Kela struck out Nicholas Castellanos and retired Goodrum to end the game.

TRAINER’S ROOM

Rangers: RHP Chris Martin (groin) was placed on the 10-day disabled list and RHP Ricardo Rodriguez was recalled from Triple-A Round Rock. … LHP Martin Perez (elbow) was scheduled to make his third rehab start for Round Rock on Thursday. Perez has not pitched for the Rangers this season after elbow surgery.

Tigers: Gardenhire was told by doctors to stay in the air-conditioned clubhouse with the heat index approaching 100 degrees at game time. Temperatures are forecast to be much cooler in Detroit on Friday. … RHP Drew VerHagen (broken nose) is expected to make one more rehab appearance for Triple-A Toledo before rejoining the Tigers.

BANISTER’S MILESTONE

The win was Banister’s 300th as a manager in his 574th game, making him the fastest manager to 300 wins in Rangers history. ”It’s a nice milestone for the organization and the ball club,” he said. ”I’ve been fortunate enough to be granted a great opportunity here.”

UP NEXT

Bartolo Colon (5-5, 4.76) will try to break a tie with Dennis Martinez for most wins by a pitcher born in Latin America when he starts against the Tigers on Friday. Colon is the last active major-league player to have played at Tiger Stadium, which closed in 1999. Jordan Zimmermann (3-0, 3.91) is scheduled to start for Detroit.

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