BUFFALO, N. Isaiah Hartenstein Jersey .Y. - Buffalo Bills coach Doug Marrone suddenly has a big hole to fill at defensive co-ordinator with Mike Pettine leaving to take over the Cleveland Browns. With Pettine hired on Thursday, Marrone is forced to enact the contingency plan the team began preparing once Cleveland honed in on his key assistant. "We have a plan in place," Marrone said, in a statement released by the team. "I want to take this opportunity to congratulate Mike on becoming the Browns new head coach and thank him for all of his time and efforts with our team this past season. He did an excellent job of improving our defence, and we wish him the best." Marrone did not reveal a timetable or list of potential candidates. Depending on whether any Bills assistants follow Pettine to Cleveland, Buffalo has several in-house assistants to consider, most notably linebackers coach Jim ONeil and defensive backs coach Donnie Henderson. ONeil has spent the past five seasons working under Pettine, including the first four with the New York Jets. Henderson is the most experienced, having split 29 years as a coach at the NFL and college levels, including stints as a defensive co-ordinator with the Detroit Lions in 2006 and Jets, 2004-05. Replacing Pettine is not something Marrone was anticipating a year after luring the former Jets defensive co-ordinator to Buffalo to become the most-high profile member of his first staff. Pettines departure is a significant blow to a defence that emerged as the Bills strength last season. And the loss has the potential of under-cutting much of the progress the Bills hoped would carry over into next season after a 6-10 finish that extended the NFLs longest active playoff drought to 14 seasons. Continuity also becomes an issue for a defence set to be led by a fourth co-ordinator in as many years. Pettine succeeded Dave Wannstedt, who was fired along with Chan Gailey and his staff a year ago. Wannstedt replaced George Edwards, who struggled during his two years as co-ordinator. Pettine, in one season in Buffalo, played a considerable role in transforming the Bills once-porous defence into an aggressive unit that finished second in the NFL with a franchise-record 57 sacks. Though the Bills were inconsistent against the run, they still finished 10th in the NFL in fewest yards allowed — Buffalos best ranking since finishing second in 2004. The Bills success on defence translated into four players earning Pro Bowl selections, including defensive tackle Marcell Dareus as a last-minute injury replacement. Also selected were defensive linemen Mario Williams and Kyle Williams and safety Jairus Byrd. In November, Pettine indicated he was in no hurry to leave Buffalo. He enjoyed the community and also wanted to continue what he began building with the Bills. Pettines approach and no-nonsense demeanour was popular among players and staff. During the Bills bye weekend off in November, Pettine and a number of assistants spent a weekend sharing a cabin in nearby Ellicottville. He also earned raves among several veterans, including Mario Williams, who led the team with 13 1/2 sacks. Pettine learned his defensive approach under Jets coach Rex Ryan. And its a style thats somewhat unique among NFL teams in placing a premium on players versatility and capability of playing several positions to confuse offences. The secondary benefited in finishing second in the NFL with 23 interceptions. The change at co-ordinator could have an effect on Byrds desire to return to Buffalo. Byrd played last season under a one-year contract after the Bills retained his rights by applying the franchise tag. The Bills have the option of tagging Byrd once more this off-season, but are also making a push to sign the player to a long-term contract. Despite initial reservations, Byrd enjoyed playing in Pettines system and working with Henderson. The defence also featured the Bills most promising youngster, linebacker Kiko Alonso, an NFL defensive rookie of the year candidate. Tyson Chandler Rockets Jersey . Mats Zuccarello and Derek Stepan scored shootout goals, and backup goalie Cam Talbot earned his second win in two nights as the Rangers shook off a late tying tally and beat the Maple Leafs 2-1 Monday night. Austin Rivers Jersey . Catch all the action on TSN starting at 10:30pm et/7:30pm pt. Toronto won at Denver and Utah, but lost in Portland and Sacramento. The Kings loss was the most recent game for the Raptors. https://www.rocketsrookiesshop.com/Robert-Horry-City-Edition-Jersey/ . -- The Minnesota Vikings have signed Jerome Simpson, the former Cincinnati Bengals wide receiver recently convicted on a felony drug charge.PHILADELPHIA - By keeping things simple, Ryan Miler has had success while playing sick.Miller returned from a two-game illness absence and made 29 saves, and Henrik Sedin had a goal and an assist to lead the Vancouver Canucks to a 4-0 victory over the Philadelphia Flyers on Thursday night.If youre thinking too much out there, youre overcommitting, youre overplaying, Miller said. When youre not feeling great, you settle it down.I think my dad has seen me play really good hockey when Im sick ever since I was a kid.Nick Bonino, Radim Vrbata and Jannik Hansen also scored for Vancouver, which snapped a three-game losing streak and broke out of a scoring slump. The Canucks tallied just two goals during their skid.We needed to get back in the win column, Hansen said. If you lose one or two in a row, thats not good. Three, thats starting trouble. We needed to get back on the winning track to keep up with the other teams.It was Millers fourth shutout this season and 33rd of his NHL career. He returned to the net after missing two games due to illness. Miller improved to 5-2-1 with a 1.63 goals-against average in his last eight games.I kept everything really simple, and when they did get loose I was able to get a good read on the shots, Miller said.Philadelphia dropped its second straight and fell further out of playoff contention. The Flyers entered Thursday 11 points out of a wild-card spot in the Eastern Conference.Flyers coach Craig Berube was disappointed with his teams response after surrendering the opening goal.The thing that bothers me is its only 1-0. Theres a lot of hockey left, Berube said. Compete, play and work. Thats the thing you can control, how hard you work and how hard you compete, and we stopped doing that.The Canucks scored two goals within 24 seconds of the second period.Vrbatas wrist shot from the right circle beat Ray Emery high on the stick side on the power play to put Vancouver up 3-0 just 2:21 into the period.Berube pulled Emery and replaced him with 33-year-old roookie Rob Zepp, who was playing in his fourth career game. Anthony Bennett Rockets Jersey. Zepp, who started over Emery in place of injured Steve Mason (lower body) in the last two games, promptly surrendered Hansens breakaway goal with 18:17 left in the period that made it 4-0. It was Hansens 10th goal of the season but first in seven games.Mason was injured Saturday in a loss to Boston and is expected to miss two weeks.Miller made several outstanding saves in the period, snaring Luke Schenns wrist shot from point-blank range with 13 1/2 minutes left and reaching out to rob Pierre-Edouard Bellemare 1 1/2 minutes later with another strong glove save. He extended a pad to deny Nick Schultzs slap shot with 10:35 left.He made a couple of unbelievable saves, Canucks coach Willie Desjardins said. If those go in, its a different hockey game.Miller had been winless in his last five trips to Philadelphia, but he improved to 4-7 in 12 games at the Wells Fargo Center since the 2010-11 season.That was on my mind a little bit, Miller said. Theyve rained on my picnics a few times. We needed to get a win, and its nice to give them a little bit of a knock. Theyve gotten me plenty of times.Vancouver jumped on the board with a pair of first-period goals. Bonino spun around from the right circle and whizzed a wrist shot past Emerys glove hand with 13:25 left. Sedin neatly deflected brother Daniels shot from the point over Emerys right shoulder on the power play with 6:39 remaining.As soon as they saw one go in, I think their confidence went up a little bit, Miller said. Its good to see the guys get rewarded for playing pretty well.NOTES: Philadelphia C Scott Laughton (upper body) didnt play after being injured Wednesday during a 1-0 loss at Washington. ... The Flyers dropped to 2-6-1 in the second of back-to-back games this season. ... Vancouver next plays the third game of a five-game trip at Carolina on Friday. ... Philadelphia was shut out in consecutive games for the first time since April 1-3, 2014. ' ' '