Defending champs fail to capitalize, eliminated

BUFFALO - New York's going to look back on this game and shake their head. Things went sour from the opening series - a 15-play drive that lasted over six minutes, which resulted in a blocked field goal on a 4th and goal from the 1-yard line. New York at one point trailed 35-7 and eventually made the loss official - 55-45.

New York's comeback started on the final play of the first half - a Hail Mary - that trimmed the deficit to 35-14. A touchdown to start the third quarter cut the Maulers lead to 35-21. The Knights cut it to 38-28 a possession later but couldn't draw any closer. Down 10, the Knights had an opportunity to recover a bouncing ball on an onside kick, but failed to capitalize on the opportunity again. The Knights finished with a franchise low 2-6 record, missing the playoffs for the second straight time coming off of a championship season.

Minneapolis accounted for 689 yards of offense and 33 first downs. The two teams combined for over 1,100 total yards and 21-of-26 on third down conversions. Wes St. Clair hung with Rocco Marconi as best he could, passing for 534 yards on 43-of-52 attempts for five scores. Three players finished with over 200 receiving yards in the game. James Cooley had 369 yards on 23 grabs, Park HeeChul caught 21 balls out of the backfield for 224 yards and a score and Ayanojyo Aburatsubo scored 2 more touchdowns to bring his total to a league-record 26 on the season on 19 catches (214 yards).

Full box score download: http://www.mediafire.com/download/uytxgndoes81idt/W15+Week+10+-+Minneapolis+at+New+York.zip

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