MINNEAPOLIS -- The Minnesota Vikings followed their winning formula again to precision and maintained the NFCs only perfect record.Adam Thielen caught a touchdown pass to cap Minnesotas opening drive and finished with a career-high 127 yards, and the Vikings defense flustered Brock Osweiler and the Houston Texans on their way to a 31-13 victory on Sunday.When your offense comes out on all cylinders like that, it just juices us up even more and wants us to play harder, defensive end Everson Griffen said. Weve just got to keep doing that.Marcus Sherels returned a punt 79 yards for a touchdown and Cordarelle Patterson scored on another sharp throw by Sam Bradford, who deftly guided the offense to a fifth straight turnover-free game in his fourth start for the Vikings (5-0).You play from ahead and give our defense a chance to get after the passer, Bradford said, I think its pretty tough on the other team.Brock Osweiler was overmatched by Minnesotas relentless pass rush and coverage, finishing 19 for 42 for 184 yards, one interception and a late touchdown pass to DeAndre Hopkins while taking four sacks. The Texans (3-2) were denied on 12 of 13 third downs, unable or unwilling to do much other than dump off short passes. Lamar Miller only had eight carries for 20 yards during a dud of a performance by the Texans that felt a lot like the 27-0 loss at New England two weeks ago.It was bad. It was bad, coach Bill OBrien said. It starts and ends with me. Ive got to do a much better job with this football team.With leading receiver Stefon Diggs out for the game with a groin injury, Thielen (career-high seven catches), Jarius Wright and Patterson capably stepped up for the Vikings. Whitney Mercilus had 1 1/2 sacks as Houston took advantage of a banged-up offensive line to apply plenty of pressure on Bradford, but with touchdowns on their first two drives the Vikings were in cruise control as they eagerly unleashed their defense again on another out-of-sync quarterback.I knew we had a great challenge ahead of us, but I felt confident in what we could do, Osweiler said. So Im very disappointed.LESS OF FULLERTexans rookie Will Fuller wasnt targeted until the first play of the second half and had only one catch, a head-scratching fourth-and-16 call in the third quarter at the Vikings 39 that netted 4 yards on a screen play. Fuller had seven catches for 81 yards and a touchdown last week in the win over Tennessee.SHERELS SHOWLike Thielen in 2013, Sherels went undrafted in 2010 and had to make the team through the rookie tryout camp. This was his fifth career punt return touchdown.Everybody loves Marcus, coach Mike Zimmer said, because he does anything you ask him to do.RHODES (MOSTLY) CLOSEDAfter stifling Odell Beckham Jr. on Monday night in the win over the New York Giants, Minnesota cornerback Xavier Rhodes hounded Hopkins. Rhodes was called for pass interference (34 yards) and holding (5 yards) to give the Texans their first two first downs during a second quarter drive that yielded a field goal, but Hopkins was held without a catch in the decisive first half. Hopkins finished with 56 yards on five receptions after the Texans went into catch-up mode.INJURY REPORTTexans: SS Quinitin Demps (calf) and CB Johnathan Joseph (concussion) both left with injuries in the second quarter, removing two more starters from a secondary already without CB Kareem Jackson (hamstring). ... In the third quarter, LG Jeff Allen left with a concussion and backup TE Ryan Griffin hurt his neck making an awkward tackle following Andrew Sendejos interception. Backup LB Brian Peters (quadriceps) was also hurt. He surprisingly handled kickoffs rather than Nick Novak, who made two of three field goals.Vikings: RG Brandon Fusco (concussion) was forced out on the first drive of the game, replaced by Zac Kerin and leaving the OL without three starters. With Rhett Ellison and David Morgan already inactive with knee injuries, a third TE went down when MyCole Pruitt hurt his knee in the third quarter. ... Patterson hurt his hip in the second quarter and stopped returning kickoffs but was back on offense for the TD, his first from scrimmage since Oct. 19, 2014.UP NEXTTexans: Host Indianapolis next Sunday night.Vikings: Take a well-timed bye week, before playing at Philadelphia on Oct. 23.---Online:AP NFL website: http://www.pro32.ap.org and AP NFL coverage on Twitter: http://www.twitter.com/AP-NFLDiscount Running Shoes Online . Ryan Garbutt had a goal and two assists as Dallas snapped a six-game losing streak with a 5-2 victory over the Edmonton Oilers on Tuesday night. Cheapest Running Shoes Online . Parker had 26 points and eight assists and San Antonio beat Toronto 112-99 Monday night. "We won that game because of Tony Parkers aggressiveness," Spurs coach Gregg Popovich said. "His juice; his aggression all night long. http://www.discountrunningshoescanada.com/ . The judges scored it 48-47, 48-47, 49-46 for Jones (19-1). It was the champions closest call. Despite the loss, it was a remarkable show by the confident Swedish challenger, who had the best of the early rounds and then hung on in the fourth and fifth. Running Shoes Canada Online . LOUIS -- Theres no telling how these wacky World Series games will end. Cheap Running Shoes Canada . Batiste, who briefly signed with the Eskimos in 2006, has spent time with several NFL teams including the Pittsburgh Steelers and Washington Redskins. It has been 20 years since Cigar ran his last race, in the 1996 Breeders Cup Classic at Woodbine, while more than 76 years have passed since Seabiscuit took his final bow with a victory in the 1940 Santa Anita Handicap. Yet their names live on, in more ways than one, and on Saturday their memories will be summoned once again in significant bicoastal races at Del Mar and Aqueduct.Cigar was the notoriously schizophrenic son of Palace Music who began life as a failed turf horse before a dramatic rebranding turned him into the preeminent main-track competitor of the decade. He retired just $185 shy of an even $10 million in earnings, pocket change he could have stumbled into with minimally more effort in any one of the 10 grass races he lost in 11 tries.On dirt, Cigar was nearly unbeatable. Apart from his first two maiden races, he won 17 of 20 starts on the main track, all of those against older opposition from whatever cream there was of several crops. His 16 straight wins from the autumn of 1994 to the summer of 1996 were the talk of the racing world. Wherever Cigar ran was the place to be.Cigar was voted Horse of the Year in 1995 and 1996. In 1997, the New York Racing Association renamed its NYRA Mile the Cigar Mile, which made perfect sense since the 1994 NYRA Mile marked Cigars first stakes win. For Saturday, the $500,000 Cigar Mile purse has lured a field that includes Anchor Down, Ocean Knight, Divining Rod, Connect, and War Story.Like Cigar, Seabiscuit had a distinctly bifurcated career. By the time he was purchased by Charles S. Howard in August 1936, the horse had been asked to run a ridiculous 47 times at ages 2 and 3 by a succession of Wheatley Stable trainers, including the legendary Sunny Jim Fitzsimmons.Once in the hands of Tom Smith, Seabiscuit was treated like a good horse, which is what he became. He won 24 of 42 starts for Howard, carrying 130 pounds or more a dozen times, and was Horse of the Year in 1938. How popular was Seabiscuit? Read the book. See the movie.When Del Mar inherited Hollywood Parks fall stakes commitments, the former Citation Handicap became the Seabiscuit. Switching names left West Coast racing without a proper homage to Citation, but Seabiscuits California roots were deep, and in his lone appearance at Del Mar he won a controversial match race against South American ace Ligaroti that set the sporting press on its ear.The cast lining up for Saturdays running of the $200,000 Seabiscuit, at 8-1/2 furlongs on the grass, includes Ring Weekend, What a View, Om, and Vyjacck, each coming out of a Breeders Cup appearance.ddddddddddddOm, the winner of the 2015 Del Mar Derby, might be the freshest among them. After making 10 starts over an 11-month stretch, the flashy son of Munnings was given a break last spring by trainer Dan Hendricks, then came back better than ever. He was second in the Del Mar Mile, second in the City of Hope Mile, and came one step away from winning the $1 million Breeders Cup Turf Sprint at Santa Anita on Nov. 5.It was a step he lost at the start, which cost Om and Gary Stevens striking position on the twisting downhill Santa Anita course. They found themselves last early, traveling well but going nowhere. Up in the stands, the pragmatic Hendricks had all but conceded the match.Basically, it was game over until he crossed the dirt, Hendricks said this week from his Santa Anita stable. Then it turned into another race.Did it ever. Stevens still had a ton of horse, and miraculously they began to find creases inside, between, and around the dozen opponents separating Om from the front-running Obviously. In the final 50 yards, they passed the classy Pure Sensation like he was tied to a post and were gobbling up Obviously when the wire arrived -- too soon. The difference was a nose, and $380,000 in prize money.Hendricks could be forgiven if he had pounded his head over the tough loss. After three decades as a trainer, he has never been so close to a Breeders Cup score. But 12 years in a wheelchair after a dirt-bike accident cultivate a certain equanimity when it comes to such mundane matters as a lost horse race. Hendricks preferred to look at the Cup result as at least half fulfilling.Luckily, we got through with a clean trip because he could have gotten blocked pretty easily considering as big a field as it was, Hendricks said. After the fact, we were just glad we were second and had a lot of fun with it. We cant complain.Best of all, Om is raring to go again.He actually came out of his race fresher and stronger, not losing any weight, than he has a lot of his other races, Hendricks said. Only running three-sixteenths of a mile might have helped.Om, owned by Kulbhushan and Shashi Sareen, will race next year at age 5, according to Hendricks.We never even thought about stopping, Hendricks said. Hes healthy, happy, and sound. I cant ask more for a horse than that. He should have a real big year.And it could start on Saturday. ' ' '