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CHARLOTTE, N.C. -- Drayton Florence could go from playing football with his son in the backyard to NFL starter this week. Panthers coach Ron Rivera said Florence, who re-signed with Carolina on Thursday, could be pressed into a starting role this Sunday when the Panthers host Eli Manning and the New York Giants due to injuries at the cornerback position. Florence, a 10-year NFL veteran who has played in 143 career games and started 99, attended training camp with the Panthers and worked primarily with the starters during the preseason before being released in final roster cuts. Florence said he spent the past two weeks at his home in Jacksonville, Fla., playing football with kids, taking them to swim lessons and getting on his wifes nerves. "You have to be ready for everything," Florence said. "It was getting a little frustrating sitting on the couch, so Im glad they thought enough of me to bring me back." Rivera said injuries to cornerbacks Josh Thomas (concussion) and Josh Norman (thigh bruise) prompted the Panthers to re-sign Florence. Although both Thomas and Norman returned to practice on a limited basis Thursday, there is still plenty of concern over their status for Sunday. Two other Carolina cornerbacks -- DJ Moore (knee) and James Dockery (hand) -- did not practice Thursday. "The concern is not only if everyone is going to be cleared, but if theyre going to be 100 per cent," Rivera said. "As we look at it, a concussion is scary thing and a cornerback with a deep thigh bruise is a scary thing. We had to take a lot of things into account and we think (signing Florence) was a prudent move. ... We were down to two healthy cornerbacks." Rivera said he has plenty of confidence in Florence, saying he fit right in at practice Thursday. "It was like he never left," Rivera said. "He did a nice job understanding the concepts that were using for this game. Its interesting, but veteran guys like that do make the transition easily." Florence has played for San Diego, Jacksonville, Buffalo and Detroit and has 444 career tackles and 18 interceptions. Florence said hes happy to be back in Carolina, despite the way things abruptly and unexpectedly ended three weeks ago. He called it a humbling experience. "Anytime you get fired from your job its tough, but it would be a lot tougher to come back and be a disappointment," Florence said. Rivera also seems to have settled on a starting strong safety. He ruled out Quintin Mikell for the game Sunday and said he expects undrafted rookie Robert Lester from Alabama will get his first NFL start against Manning. Lester was promoted from the teams practice squad to the 53-man roster earlier this week. "We think Robert Lester is a young man thats got an opportunity," Rivera said. "Hes the next best available for us." Mike Mitchell will start at free safety for Carolina and Captain Munnerlyn will be the other starting cornerback. NOTES: To make room on the roster for Florence, the Panthers waived backup centre Brian Folkerts. ... Rivera said it is likely rookie RB Kenjon Barner (foot) will be held out until after the bye week. Mike Alstott Jersey . Left-handed reliever Boone Logan agreed to a $16.5 million, three-year contract on Friday, a person familiar with the negotiations told The Associated Press. Cheap Buccaneers Jerseys Authentic . First-half goals by Will Bruin and Oscar Boniek Garcia sucked the life out of the Impact as the Houston Dynamo bounced them from Major League Soccers post-season with a 3-0 victory on Thursday. http://www.cheapbuccaneersjerseysauthentic.com/. Nine-year veteran Danny Granger did not make his debut with the Clippers because of a technicality on the teams active list, which is signed by coach Doc Rivers before every game and relayed to the officials. 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Wayne Lyons intercepted two passes by Tommy Rees late in the fourth quarter, and No. 8 Stanford held off No. 25 Notre Dame 27-20 on Saturday night in the regular-season finale for both teams. The Cardinal (10-2) captured the Legends Trophy -- the kind of evidence Shaw covets -- given to the winner of the series. And theyll get a chance for an even bigger piece of hardware when they visit No. 13 Arizona State in the Pac-12 championship game next. "The first team meeting on Monday I showed them a picture of the trophy," Shaw said. "The freshmen hadnt seen it. It was here for three years, and it was gone. I wanted to make sure they looked at it. We talk about it, people can jump on and off our bandwagon, tell us they love us and tell us they hate us, but when theres a trophy on the line, all you do is point to the trophy. Theres no defence, theres nothing we can say or they can say about us. You win a game and you get a trophy." Stanford will go for its second straight Pac-12 title trophy and Rose Bowl berth at Arizona State on Saturday. The Sun Devils, whose only league loss came at Stanford, secured home-field advantage for the championship game after beating rival Arizona 58-21 late Saturday night. Stanfords final tuneup for the title game turned out to be a tough test. The Cardinal overcame two interceptions by Kevin Hogan and a penalty that wiped away another touchdown to win their 16th consecutive home game. Tyler Gaffney ran for 189 yards and a touchdown to cap his sensational Senior Day, and Hogan threw for 158 yards and TD pass to Devon Cajuste to help the Cardinal take a 21-6 lead in the third quarter. Rees nearly rallied the Fighting Irish (8-4) by throwing two touchdown passes later in the quarter. But interceptions on Notre Dames final two drives dashed the comeback. "We took it to them and we were fortunate to come out on top," Gaffney said. Along with injuries to both lines, the back end of Notre Dame defence also played short-handed. Safeties Elijah Shumate and Eilar Hardy did not travel to Stanford due to a violation of team rules, and the Cardinal took advantage. Gaffney plowed through the Irish line from a yard out to give the Cardinal a 14-3 lead early in the second quarter. The buncched formation was similar to the one Notre Dame stopped Stepfan Taylor on last year to win in overtime, a stinging loss that the Cardinal regrouped from to roll off eight straight victories, including the Pac-12 title and the Rose Bowl.dddddddddddd. Backup Anthony Wilkerson capped the opening drive of the second half in similar fashion. He ran for a 20-yard TD run on third-and-9 to put Stanford ahead 21-6. Notre Dame drove deep in Cardinal territory on its first and final drives of the first half before settling for field goals each time. With Stanford seemingly ready to turn the game into a rout, Rees threw touchdown passes to TJ Jones and DaVaris Daniels late in the third quarter before missing his targets late. "Not good enough obviously. Proud of the guys and my teammates and how we fought all year but you dont come to Notre Dame to go 8-4, and everyone understands that," Rees said. "You have to be better." The Cardinal will likely have to be better against the Sun Devils if they want to keep the Pac-12 title trophy another year. Stanford had no problem sustaining drives but struggled to finish them with touchdowns in the second half, twice settling for field goals. On one of them, a holding penalty on right guard Kevin Danser -- only the second one by a Stanford offensive lineman all season -- erased a touchdown rushing for Gaffney. Bennett Jackson and Austin Collinsworth each intercepted a pass by Hogan, and officials also called a 15-yard personal foul penalty on Alex Carter -- originally ruled targeting, which would be an automatic ejection, before it was overturned on a video review -- that led to a Notre Dame touchdown. Just as it has so many times over the past two seasons, the Cardinal defence still bailed out the offence in the end. Lyons intercepted an underthrown pass by Rees, the 36th straight game the Cardinal have forced a turnover. And after the Irish stopped Stanford three-and-out, Lyons leaped high to intercept another pass by Rees on Stanfords 30 with 2:24 left. "I was in the right place at the right time," Lyons said after his first multiple-interception