esday that its appeals committee confirmed A

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Detroit, MI (SportsNetwork. .com) - Matt Prater hit a late field goal to give the Detroit Lions a 16-14 victory over the Minnesota Vikings on Sunday in a tough NFC North matchup. Matthew Stafford went 17-for-28 for 153 yards and a touchdown, while Joique Bell totaled 103 combined yards for the Lions (10-4), who moved into a tie with Green Bay for first place in the NFC North thanks to their third win in a row. The Packers lost to the Bills earlier on Sunday, and the Lions currently hold the tiebreaker thanks to a win at home against the Packers in Week 3. Detroit and Green Bay both play on the road next week before they meet up in Green Bay on the final week of the season. Were not taking any game for granted, any play for granted, Stafford said. Its not going to be pristine every time, but were going to fight tooth and nail for wins and that showed up again today. Teddy Bridgewater went 31-for-41 for 315 yards with a touchdown and two interceptions for the Vikings (6-8), who had won their previous two coming into the game. Trailing by four, the Lions cut into their deficit on their first touch of the second half, as a 13-play, 74-yard drive was finished off by a 30-yard field goal by Prater. Pass catches of 18 yards from Calvin Johnson and 17 yards by Bell accounted for a large chunk of the yards. Minnesota came back with a long drive that covered 75 yards over 18 plays and ate up 11 minutes, but the team came away empty as Blair Walshs 26-yard field goal was blocked by Jason Jones. Detroit then went on the drive that won the team the game, as Eric Ebron caught a pass for 11 yards and Bell followed with a 15-yard run. Johnson then caught a pass for 23 yards, and the team gained 16 more yards to set up Praters 33-yard field goal for a 16-14 lead with 3:38 to play. Minnesota got the ball back near midfield thanks to a big return from Cordarrelle Patterson, but Patterson fell on a fourth down passing play to give the ball back to Detroit. The Vikings forced a punt and got the ball back with 45 seconds, but they were only able to get to midfield and Walshs 68-yard field goal attempt fell well short to end the game. We led almost all the way, but we cant turn the ball over twice and we cant miss field goals, Bridgewater said. Were just going to continue to try to get better. Walsh missed a 53-yard field goal on Minnesotas first possession, and the next three possessions ended in punts before the Vikings put points on the board. Starting at his own 16, Bridgewater found Charles Johnson for 20 yards and later hit Greg Jennings for 26 yards, which Detroit unsuccessfully challenged. On 2nd-and-goal at the 2, Matt Asiata bulled his way in to give the Vikings a 7-0 lead late in the first quarter. After a short possession from Detroit, Bridgewater and Johnson got together for a 40-yard play to get into Detroit territory. On 1st-and-goal at the 8, Bridgewater found Jennings in the flat for a score and a 14-0 lead. Another brief touch by the Lions saw the Vikings get the ball back, but Glover Quin came up with an interception and brought the ball down to the Minnesota 11. Two plays later, Stafford got the ball to Golden Tate and he took it in from seven yards out to make it a 14-7 game with 3:42 to play in the half. Bridgewaters second interception, this one from Darius Slay, gave the Lions the ball back at the Minnesota 32, and Prater hit a 29-yard field goal at time expired to make it a 14-10 game at the break. Game Notes Detroit has at least one interception in 11 straight games ... Bell had 62 yards on 15 carries, and 41 yards on four catches ... Tate finished the game with seven catches for 38 yards and the score, while Johnson had four catches for 53 yards ... Kyle Rudolph led Minnesota receivers with seven catches for 69 yards ... Detroit plays at Chicago next week ... Minnesota plays at Miami next week ... Detroit is 4-0 in division play this year, while Minnesota is 0-5. . The 26-year-old Redditch, England, native played three of his past four seasons under Rennie with the Carolina RailHawks of the North American Soccer League. . Dillon Brooks scored 26 points on 9-17 shooting for Canada while pulling down six rebounds and picking up six steals. Teammate Chris Egi had 20 points, 14 rebounds and four blocks. . - Golden State Warriors coach Mark Jackson sat on the scorers table at Oracle Arena on Wednesday morning.ZURICH, Switzerland -- FIFA has rejected Ukraines appeal against sanctions imposed after fans racially abused their own black player and made Nazi salutes at a World Cup qualifying match. FIFA previously criticized the "shameful" incidents at the Sept. 6 qualifier played in Lviv, which is bidding to host the 2022 Winter Olympics. FIFA said Wednesday that its appeals committee confirmed Arena Lviv is barred from staging qualifiers for the 2018 World Cup. The stadium hosted three matches at the 2012 European Championship. Ukraine must also play its first home qualifier on the 2018 program in an empty stadium. "FIFA also insists on strict punishments to send out a strong message that discrimination has no place in the game," the governing body said inn a statement. . The Ukrainian football federation, which was also fined 45,000 Swiss francs ($50,000), can appeal to the Court of Arbitration for Sport. FIFA said it warned the federation about future conduct. FIFA acted on reports from monitoring group Fare, which attended Ukraines 9-0 victory over San Marino on Sept. 6. Fare reported "Nazi salutes and racist monkey noises targeting Edmar," a Brazil-born Ukraine player who is black, and that "neo-Nazi banners were on display." In a ruling published in September, FIFAs disciplinary panel said that "the offensive, denigratory and discriminatory actions of a group of Ukrainian supporters were shameful." Ukraine lost to France last week in the World Cup playoffs. ' ' '

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