FOXBOROUGH, Mass. -- Fumbles plagued Stevan Ridley even when the ball was dry. A steady rain presents another challenge to the New England Patriots running back. It wasnt a problem for him Thursday. The Patriots continued their organized team activities on a soggy day and Ridley gripped the ball as if his job depended on it. It might if he keeps fumbling. "I told one of the young guys today, thats the quickest way to get off the field," Ridley said. "You can ask me first." Hes speaks from experience. Ridley lost fumbles in three consecutive games last season. After the third, in the first quarter against the Denver Broncos on Nov. 24, he was benched for the rest of New Englands 34-31 comeback win in overtime. He lost a total of four fumbles last season leading to three touchdowns and a field goal. So hes been focusing on avoiding a repeat this year. "All you can do is really squeeze (the ball) high and tight," Ridley said. "I think that was a lesson I had to go through and, hopefully, I wont have to go through it again, but who knows? "A little bit of adversity never hurts anybody. ... You take your mistakes, you learn from them and you grow and you just keep on pushing." The third-round pick from LSU fumbled just once as a rookie in 2011, but the Patriots recovered it. He lost two of his four fumbles in 2012 before the problem escalated last year. And his rushing production dropped -- from 1,263 yards and 12 touchdowns on 290 carries in 2012 to 773 yards and seven touchdowns on 178 attempts. So hes concentrating on improving his overall focus on every play. "I think if I can do that I can become a better player," Ridley said. "When you lose focus on the small things -- whether its small assignments, whether its carrying the football, whether its running a route, whether its blitz pickup -- those are things that cost you your playing time." LeGarrette Blount emerged as the top back late in the season, rushing for 431 yards and eight touchdowns in three straight games before both runners were shut down in a 26-16 loss at Denver in the AFC championship game. Blount left for the Pittsburgh Steelers as a free agent, leaving Ridley, Shane Vereen and Brandon Bolden as coach Bill Belichicks veteran backs. "You can go out there and be a starter one game and the next game youre two or three guys behind," Ridley said. "Thats what Coach stresses to us every week. We have to go out there and be as competitive as we can be. Hes going to play the matchups game and we just have to be unselfish enough to capitalize on the plays that we get." Ridleys four fumbles last year came on dry days. It rained during the last regular-season game, a 34-20 win over the Buffalo Bills, and the first playoff games, a 43-22 win over the Indianapolis Colts. Both games were at Foxborough. On Thursday, three months before the regular season, rain fell throughout practice. "Theres no contact so you should be running your routes perfect. You should be catching every ball thats thrown to you. You shouldnt be dropping anything on the ground," Ridley said. "Rain, sleet, whatevers out there, whatever the conditions are, you have to find a way to fight through that." Some had trouble. One receiver fell while trying to cut. "When you have a wet surface, you have to stick to your fundamentals," wide receiver Julian Edelman said. Wet or dry, Ridley knows he must do that all the time. "Were practicing either way. Coach says he doesnt care about the conditions -- rain, sleet, snow -- were playing in them," he said. "You just never know, but whatever it is there are no excuses." Ridley is entering the final season of his contract and tries not to think much about it. "I have to go out there and play football and hit it hard and run the ball and get wide open," he said. 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Brown Jersey .com) - The Carolina Hurricanes hope to remain perfect at home in January on Friday night as they welcome the Vancouver Canucks to PNC Arena.Melbourne, Australia (SportsNetwork.com) - Stanislas Wawrinka defeated an injured Rafael Nadal in Sundays mens final at the 2014 Australian Open. The eighth-seeded Swiss upset the world No. 1 star 6-3, 6-2, 3-6, 6-3 at Melbourne Parks Rod Laver Arena, where the Spaniard labored mightily with a back injury on Australia Day. Trailing a set and a break, Nadal actually left the court for a medical timeout in the second set, only to return to a chorus of boos. The Grand Slam title is the first of Wawrinkas career, in his 36th major event, as he becomes only the second-ever Swiss to corral a major singles championship, joining the great Roger Federer, who was blown out by Nadal in a semifinal here on Friday. "Rafa, Im really sorry for you, I hope your back is going to be fine, youre a really great guy, good friend and really amazing champion," Wawrinka said during the trophy presentation. "Last year I had a crazy match, I lost it. I was crying a lot after the match. But in one year a lot happened -- I still dont know if Im dreaming or not but well see tomorrow morning." In the fourth and final set on Sunday, Wawrinka broke Nadal for a 4-2 lead, only to see the gritty Spaniard break right back to hang in there. Wawrinka, however, promptly broke Nadal again and then served out the bout on his first match point by swatting one final forehand winner. Wawrinka blew through the first set and was ahead in the second when Nadal first showed signs of a back problems, as a retirement looked like a real possibility at the time, with Nadal striking sub-80-mph serves. The Lausanne native Wawrinka was aggravated during Nadals medical timeout, demanding that officials tell him why the Spaniard needed the break. Wawrinka then aggressively finished off the second set before Nadal fought back in the third. Nadal saved break points to hold in the opening game of the third set and then broke Wawrinka and held for a 3-0 lead. He won the third set as Wawrinka started piling up some errors, with the Swiss appearing unable to handle the pressure of being in his first Grand Slam final. But Wawrinka composed himself once again in the fourth and ultimately cruised to victory. Thhe Swiss slugger prevailed in 2 hours, 21 minutes by firing 19 aces among his 53 winners (53-19) and tallying three more service breaks (5-2) than Nadal on Day 14.dddddddddddd "He deserves to win the title," Nadal said of Wawrinka. "Im very happy for him, hes a great guy. "Im obviously disappointed and very sad about what happened. But thats life, thats sport. Ive really had a lot of great moments in my career. Thats a tough one. Just accept it and try to keep working hard for whats coming." Nadal has had a tough go of it with injuries at the Aussie Open. He missed last years edition during a seven-month layoff with knee injuries and illness, and his quarterfinal losses in 2010 and 2011 were affected by injuries. Wawrinka had been 0-12 lifetime against Nadal, including a round-of-32 Aussie Open loss in 2007, and had never taken a set off the Spanish great prior to Sunday. The 2009 champion Nadal was playing in his third career Aussie Open final (1-2) and second in three years. The 28-year-old Wawrinka appeared in his first career Grand Slam final. The 27-year-old Nadal played in his 19th career Grand Slam final overall (13-6), tying Ivan Lendl for second on the mens all-time list. Wawrinka will move up to a career-high No. 3 in the world on Monday after beating the top-two players in the world this week. He improved to 6-9 in his career finals overall, including 2-0 already in 2014, as he has yet to lose this year (10-0). The last player to beat the top-two seeds at a Grand Slam was Sergi Bruguera at the 1993 French Open. Nadal fell to 61-25 in his career finals, as he was trying to become the first man in the Open Era to win each Grand Slam twice. Wawrinka became the first player to beat both Nadal and Djokovic at a major event. The "Big Four" of Nadal, Djokovic, Andy Murray and Federer had won 34 of the previous 35 Slams. American legend and 14-time Grand Slam champion Pete Sampras was on the court for the trophy presentation Sunday. A win by Nadal would have tied him with Sampras on the mens all-time list. Wawrinka colleted $2.35 million for the biggest win of his career, while Nadal settled for $1.175 million. 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