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Sports
Winston Leads
Vikings Concerned Dalvin Cook Has Torn ACL In Knee
DALVIN COOK
The Minnesota Vikings are concerned that star rookie run- ning back Dalvin Cook may have a season-ending torn ACL knee injury.
After losing 14-7 to the De- troit Lions on Sunday, Vikings head coach Mike Zimmer said Cook would go for an MRI, but the team suspected he had a torn ACL.
Cook had rushed for 66 yards on 13 carries and scored Minnesota’s lone touchdown be- fore leaving on a non-contact play. Players getting hurt on non-contact plays typically are bad signs about the extent of the issue.
The rookie second-round pick entered the game with 288 rush- ing yards and 82 receiving yards in three games.
Marcus Mariota To Undergo MRI On Hamstring
MARCUS MARIOTA
Marcus Mariota will un- dergo an MRI on his hamstring after leaving Sunday’s 57-14 loss to Houston due to an in- jury.
Mariota struggled as a passer going 6 of 10 for 96 yards and two interceptions against the Houston Texans, though he did rush for two scores. He did not return to the game after halftime due to his hamstring and was replaced by Matt Cas- sel, who was truly awful and threw two interceptions too.
Tennessee will have its fran- chise QB undergo an MRI.
The third-year QB was ex- pected to take a big step for- ward this season. His season stats were decent prior to the injury, but his Titans are now 2- 2. Given the way Cassel looked in the second half on Sunday, Tennessee would be in major trouble if Mariota were to miss any time.
Marshawn Lynch Wears ‘Everybody Vs. Trump’ Shirt To Stadium
4th-Quarter Comeback,
Marshawn Lynch typi- cally shies away from speaking with the media and sharing his personal opinions on contro- versial topics, but he appar- ently has no problem letting everyone know where he stands on Donald Trump.
On Sunday, Lynch showed up to Denver wearing a shirt that said “Everybody vs. Trump” across the front.
National anthem protests have become more widespread across the NFL since Trump encouraged team owners to fire any “son of a b—” who kneels, but Lynch was protesting the anthem before
Bucs Beat Giants 25-23
JAMEIS WINSTON
There’s no secret formula for Jameis Winston’s suc- cess with the Tampa Bay Buc- caneers.
When the third-year pro protects the ball as well or better than the opposing quarterback, the Bucs usually win.
Case in point was Sunday against the New York Giants when Winston threw for 332 yards and three touch-
downs without a turnover and brought his team from behind twice in the fourth quarter to beat Eli Manning 25-23.
“When Jameis plays like that, we’ll be hard to beat,” coach Dirk Koetter said. “He did a nice job.”
One week after throwing three interceptions in a lop- sided loss at Minnesota, Winston was at his best with thegameontheline—5for5 for 55 yards on the drive set- ting up Nick Folk’s 34-yard field goal as time expired.
Tampa Bay (2-1) won its sixth consecutive home game, dating to last season. In his past eight games at Raymond James Stadium, the 2014 Heisman Trophy winner has 14 TD passes vs. three inter- ceptions.
MARSHAWN LYNCH
that. He dodged a question about sitting during the an- them with a pretty clever re- sponse during the preseason, but his wardrobe selection on Sunday gives us a good glimpse into his motive.
Deshaun Watson Ties QB
Rookie Record With 5-TD
5 Winners From Bucs’ Final-Second Win Over Giants
DESHAUN WATSON
Houston Texans quarter- back Deshaun Watson put together a breakout perform- ance Sunday, throwing for 283 yards and scoring five total touchdowns as the Tex-
ans blew out the Tennessee Titans. Watson tied the sin- gle-game touchdown record for rookie quarterbacks.
In all, Watson finished 25-of-34 through the air with four touchdowns and an in- terception while rushing for 24 yards and a touchdown on four carries.
In the process, the Texans set a new franchise record for points in a game.
Watson was taken out of the game in the fourth quarter as the Texans led 54-14.
Performance Vs. Titans
It may have been an ugly win, but the Tampa Bay Buc- caneers were still able to walk out of Raymond James Sta- dium victorious on Sunday night following their 25-23 last-second win over the Gi- ants. The Bucs were able to improve to 2-1 thanks to Nick Folk's 34-yard game-winning field goal in the final minute of Tampa Bay's thrilling game. Overall, the game was cer- tainly an intriguing one no doubt especially with Tampa Bay's stars shining bight. With that said, here's a closer look at a few winners from the game.
TE O.J. Howard
Howard, who the Bucs selected in the first round of this year's draft, scored his first career touchdown against New York. Howard's 58-yard touchdown catch versus the Giants is the longest scoring reception by a Bucs rookie since 2012 and the third- longest receiving touchdown by a Buccaneers tight end in team history. Howard proved once again why the Bucs made a wise decision in drafting him in the first round and contin- ued to once again prove that he is poised to be one of Tampa Bay's most dangerous weapons, even as a rookie.
CB Brent Grimes
Grimes came back from an injury with a strong game, finishing the day with three
passes defensed and five tack- les against the Giants passing attack. Grimes also did an ex- ceptional job of covering and containing Odell Beckham Jr. throughout the entire game as well. Considering how talented Beckham Jr. is, Grimes managed to thrive in his role as he played a tremen- dous role in the defense's suc- cess.
QB Jameis Winston
Winston was definitely one of the Buccaneers' bright- est stars in Week 4 as well. He threw touchdown passes to Mike Evans, O.J. Howard and Cameron Brate. Win- ston also finished the day with zero interceptions and did a great job of moving the ball around.
WR Mike Evans
Evans helped the Bucs haul in their first touchdown of the day on a 6-yard touch- down pass from Winston. Winston escaped pressure and found Evans at the goal line for this particular play, but consistently found Evans numerous times which helped the Bucs gain yardage drive after drive which played a big role in the Buccaneers' win.
TE Cameron Brate
Brate was another inte- gral piece to the Buccaneers offense. He and Winston connected on a 14-yard touch- down pass to give Tampa Bay a 22-17 lead during the game.
Cam Newton Raises Fist After Scoring Touchdown
CAM NEWTON
Cam Newton made a po- litical display after scoring a touchdown in the Carolina Panthers’ game at the New England Patriots on Sunday.
Newton rushed for a 7- yard score in the fourth quarter to make it 30-16 for Carolina. After getting into the end zone, Newton raised a fist.
For the majority of his ca- reer, Newton declined to make political statements that could rock the boat. Even last year he said race wasn’t driving any criticism of him.
Recently though he has changed his approach and spo- ken up.
“My hat goes off to the
Colin Kaepernicks of the world,” Newton said last week via Jourdan Rodrigue of the Charlotte Observer. “He’s made the ultimate sacrifice [as a player] and I respect that wholeheartedly. I can’t let a moment go by without shed- ding light to that: A person that does have the talent to play, a person that should be in this league, but I feel as if he’s not getting his just due because of his views.
“But that’s a legend, right there. For him to think outside of himself, to raise awareness of something that, this is 365 days removed from his first ini- tial stand, and now here we are doing the same things. And now everybody is kind of un- derstanding what his reasoning was, and I respect that.”
Newton’s sudden political shows of support come at a time when the Panthers’ owner delivered one of the softest re- sponses to President Trump’s “son of a b—-” com- ments.
PAGE 12 FLORIDA SENTINEL BULLETIN PUBLISHED EVERY TUESDAY AND FRIDAY TUESDAY, OCTOBER 3, 2017