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EDEN PRAIRIE, Minn. -- The Green Bay Packers will be wise to treat Cordarrelle Patterson carefully this weekend.He has had their attention since his very first play against Minnesotas biggest rival.Patterson set an NFL record that can never be topped as a rookie for the Vikings on Oct. 27, 2013, when he caught the opening kickoff at the Metrodome and returned it 109 yards for a touchdown.The Packers promptly removed punter Tim Masthay from kickoff duty, replacing him with kicker Mason Crosby, but Patterson still tacked on a 51-yarder later that night.The Packers went on to win 44-31 and are 4-1-1 against the Vikings in Pattersons career, but he has produced some of his longest runbacks in games against Green Bay. Holding the all-time franchise record with 11 kickoff returns of 50 or more yards, Patterson has tallied five of them while playing the Packers. In six matchups against them, his average on 18 runbacks is 36.7 yards.We just try to get better each and every week and just focus on whatever team were playing that week, Patterson said, dismissing the notion of saving extra energy for facing the Packers.Patterson, whos in the final year of his contract, could benefit from the new rule that places touchbacks at the 25-yard line.Some kickers legs are not as strong as the others. Some of them cant kick it out of the end zone every time, and some of them will mishit it, Patterson said. Thats an opportunity Ive just got to take advantage of and just help my team out.The Vikings host the Packers on Sunday night in the debut of U.S. Bank Stadium, sending the series back indoors. Crosby is still handling kickoffs, ranking eighth in the league in touchbacks since entering the NFL in 2007.Hopefully we get a couple chances, Vikings special teams coordinator Mike Priefer said.Patterson produced a 61-yard return in the season opener at Tennessee.He doesnt lack confidence or athletic ability. It was really good for him. It was good for our blockers, Priefer said. We preach staying on the blocks and finishing blocks and doing the little things, because we have such a great returner back there. Our guys really block well for him.The Vikings special teams player under more scrutiny these days is kicker Blair Walsh, who missed one of two extra points and two of six field goals in the 25-16 victory over the Titans last week. He infamously hooked left that 27-yard field goal attempt in January that would have sent the Vikings to the next round of the playoffs, too.Hes our guy, but he has to make those kicks, Priefer said. He was disappointed just as much as we were disappointed that he missed them.All four of Walshs made field goals came in the second half, at least.You want to make the other two and be more consistent for your team, Walsh said, but I have been in the past and I know I will be in the future, so Im not going to let one game get under my skin.---Online:AP NFL website: http://www.pro32.ap.org and AP NFL coverage on Twitter: http://www.twitter.com/AP-NFL---Follow Dave Campbell on Twitter: http://www.twitter.com/DaveCampbellAP John Matuszak Raiders Jersey . In taking its goal tally to 99 in all competitions already this season, City delivered another demonstration of its lethal firepower at Etihad Stadium to set up a fourth-round match at home to another second-tier team -- Watford. 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KANSAS CITY, Mo. -- Tennessee Tech is picked to finish second in its division of the Ohio Valley Conference, and coach Steve Payne is hopeful that a fifth-year transfer from Tulane will help put the Golden Eagles over the top.He still hates the fifth-year transfer rule.As a coach, it puts you in a tough situation, he said. We want to promote academic progress or promote guys to be successful in school and when you do that, sometimes people are recruiting them behind your back.There are roughly 800 players in Division I basketball who will have transferred when the season begins next week. Many of them took advantage of NCAA rules that allow them to play immediately at another school if they have graduated from their previous institution, rather than redshirting under normal transfer rules.The rule is designed to reward athletes who have earned their degree and desire to pursue a graduate degree elsewhere. But it has instead become a loophole that allows athletes to go somewhere else for a number of different reasons, from playing time to the chance to play for a more prestigious school.That has become a source of consternation for coaches at all levels, but particularly those at low- and mid-majors, who rely on developing players over time -- only to see them leave as seniors.Its somewhere worse than a bad thing, Belmont coach Rick Byrd said. Its creating a situation where youve got schools recruiting from other schools. Youve got majors recruiting from mid-majors, literally. Youve got kids thinking about whether theyre going to stay with your program or go somewhere else when their senior year is over. Its like theyre a senior in high school again.The results can be crippling. Schools with NCAA Tournament aspirations can be reduced to league bottom-dwellers and their coaches from being hot commodities to being on the hot seat.Its a double-edged sword, Tennessee State coacch Dana Ford said.dddddddddddd We almost lost our best player (Tahjere McCall) this year to the rule, but fortunately he decided to stay. But then again, last years best player (Keron DeShields) was a fifth-year senior. Pick and choose, right?No one ever reached out for an official communication or contact (with McCall), but Im sure someone was calling somebody, Ford said. If not, they were not doing their job at their level, right?In interviews with numerous coaches and administrators, that appeared to be the biggest flaw in the rule: Schools are reduced to surreptitiously recruiting players off other campuses.There is too much money at stake. Wins are too valuable.If plucking away someone who can put a team over the top, then it makes sense to do it.One hundred percent of all coaches would say thats a very, very bad rule, said Kansas coach Bill Self, who has benefited from it in the past. Recruiting off somebody elses campus, that per se is not legal, but through third parties or whatnot, obviously there can be contact.Its hard to fault the player, either. Why would they want to play for a nondescript school in front of a thousand fans without any chance of success when they could be playing for a powerhouse on national TV, perhaps even win a national title and gain the exposure necessary to play in the NBA?The easy solution would be to repeal the rule, forcing fifth-year transfers to sit out like any other transfer. But the NCAA has so far refused to act, leaving coaches and administrators in a difficult situation.I dont really blame those guys if the rule is in effect, Austin Peay coach Dave Loos said. Even the people who are against the rule in the Power Five conferences will tell you, `Hey, if its a rule, Im going to take advantage of it. ' ' '