ranked opponent to reach the third round, rebounding from a surprise

NEW YORK, N.Y. - The Tampa Bay Buccaneers earned the first pick in next springs NFL draft with their 2-14 record.In their first season under coach Lovie Smith, the Bucs lost their last six games to secure the top pick over Tennessee, which had the same record under first-year coach Ken Whisenhunt. But Tampa Bay had the easier overall schedule in the weak NFC South, which was won by Carolina with a 7-8-1 record.Clearly, neither of the coaches who lost in Super Bowls — Smith in Chicago and Whisenhunt in Arizona — had much positive impact in their debut seasons.My comments last week were, Were going to get a good pick, Smith said after losing to New Orleans in the finale. Nothings really changed. I know were in a little bit better of a position, but going into this football game, we were going to have an opportunity to get a pretty good football player. When youre down there, thats one consolation, I guess, from the season weve had.Tampa Bay last had the top overall spot in 1987 and selected Miami Hurricanes QB Vinny Testaverde. He didnt fare well with the Bucs, but later led the Browns and Jets to the playoffs and spent 21 seasons in the NFL with seven teams.Rounding out the top five will be Jacksonville and Oakland, both 3-13, and Washington (4-12).Then come the New York Jets (4-12), Chicago (5-11), Atlanta, the New York Giants and St. Louis, all 6-10.Tennessee actually held the top spot as recently as in Week 16, but the Bucs dismal division — two teams in the Titans AFC South had better records than the winner of the NFC South — turned things around when the season concluded.So the Titans will go second.It can certainly help you, thats one of the things to be excited about, Whisenhunt said. Were going to get a good player, and well have a chance to get a good player with the second-round pick, because that will be like getting another first-round pick.Whatever opportunities are available at that point, I think that were going to look at free agency to help some things, too. Its important, its always important when you have a pick that high.The rest of the drafting order, not including playoff teams, will have Minnesota going 11th, with Cleveland 12th and New Orleans 13th; all of them were 7-9. Miami will go 14th and San Francisco 15th; both were 8-8.Four 9-7 teams did not make the post-season and will draft in this order: Houston, San Diego, Kansas City, Cleveland (from Buffalo). Philadelphia (10-6) will go 20th.Losers of the wild-card games will select 21st-24th. Losers in the division round get the 25th-28th positions.Teams that fall in the conference championships will go 29th and 30th. The Super Bowl winner, regardless of regular season record, picks 32nd and last.___AP NFL website: www.pro32.ap.org and www.twitter.com/AP_NFL Dewan Hernandez Raptors Jersey .5 million, two-year contract that runs through 2015. Venable, the son of former big leaguer Max Venable, will make $4. Fred VanVleet Jersey . 1. Did the Senators trade the wrong goalie? Lets make one thing clear: The Ottawa Senators acquired Ben Bishop from the St. Louis Blues for one reason and one reason alone. https://www.raptorsrookiesshop.com/Jeremy-Lin-City-Edition-Jersey/ . Jeter doubled high off the left-field wall and scored on Jacoby Ellsburys first hit in pinstripes in the fifth. Hiroki Kuroda (1-1) pitched 6 1-3 sharp innings in the Yankees 112th opener in New York. In what manager Joe Girardi said would be a season-long lovefest for Jeter, the shortstop was cheered every step of the way by an adoring crowd of 48, 142 -- even when his double-play grounder back to Orioles starter Ubaldo Jimenez (0-2) scored Solarte in the third inning for the first run. Lucas Nogueira Jersey . Ellis had a season-high 37 points and two key assists late, Dirk Nowitzki led a fourth-quarter rally with 14 of his 35 points, and the Mavericks spoiled Howards best offensive night in Houston with a 123-120 victory over the Rockets on Wednesday night. Marc Gasol Jersey . Ferrer was unable to find his rhythm in losing 6-4, 6-2 to Teymuraz Gabashvili in his opening match while Nadal struggled past fellow Spanish player Albert Ramos 7-6 (2), 6-4. Nadal eventually overcame his 103rd-ranked opponent to reach the third round, rebounding from a surprise loss to Ferrer in the Monte Carlo Masters quarterfinals.Bode Miller showed signs of bouncing back from his disappointing downhill result by leading the opening training session Tuesday for the super-combined. While many contenders sat out, Miller sped down the shortened Rosa Khutor downhill course in one minute, 56.42 seconds. Miller was a top contender for the downhill after some torrid training runs, but mistakes in the middle section of the course led to an eighth place finish. Aleksander Aamodt Kilde of Norway finished second in Tuesdays training, 0.66 seconds behind, and Paaul De La Cuesta of Spain was third, 0.dddddddddddd82 behind. Contenders Alexis Pinturault of France and Ted Ligety of the United States were fifth and 15th, respectively. Morgan Pridy of Whistler, B.C., was 11th with a time of 1:59.26. With two more training sessions before Fridays race, only 28 racers in the 56-man field started. Among those who didnt startwere downhill winner Matthias Mayer, Aksel Lund Svindal and Ivica Kostelic. Joachim Puchner of Austria crashed but came away with only a few bruises. ' ' '