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15.03.2019 04:49
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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. "I just have to be the same player Ive been." Anything else? "Try to go out there and be mistake-free." Cheap Old Skool Vans For Sale .J. -- New York Giants quarterback Eli Manning is going to start the off-season training program with a surgically repaired left ankle. Old Skool Vans Wholesale . -- Jerome Williams glanced at Philadelphias schedule and realized he would be facing the Oakland Athletics yet again, with another new team. http://www.cheapoldskool.net/ . The hard-serving 22-year-old from Thornhill, Ont., became the first Canadian to be ranked in the Top 10 on the ATP World Tour thanks to his runner-up performance at Rogers Cup in Montreal. Old Skool Vans Authentic . This is the final meeting of the season between these teams.? The Capitals were 5-4 winners in a shootout Oct. Cheap Old Skool Vans Wholesale .Morse gets a $1 million signing bonus and salaries of $7 million next season and $8 million in 2016 under the agreement announced Wednesday.DETROIT - Matthew Stafford, Calvin Johnson and the Detroit Lions hope this December will be different.Stafford threw for 311 yards and three touchdowns Sunday, and the Lions beat the Tampa Bay Buccaneers 34-17 to keep pace in the NFCs post-season race. Detroit had lost nine straight December games before handling the Bucs with relative ease.The Lions had not won a December game since beating San Diego in 2011. That was the win that wrapped up a post-season spot for Detroit, its only playoff appearance since the 1999 season.The Lions lost six of their last seven games last season, wasting another good chance to make the playoffs.Were not the same team as last year, tight end Joseph Fauria said. Were a new Lions team and were going to keep on rolling. Our fates in our hands.Detroit (9-4) is a half-game behind NFC North-leading Green Bay, which plays Monday night. If Detroit wins its next two games — at home against Minnesota and at Chicago — the Lions would almost surely be in the playoffs.Its getting fun around here, centre Dominic Raiola said. The more we just worry about whats going on right now, handle the day, the better off were going to be.Tampa Bay (2-11) was technically still in the playoff picture until Sunday, when the Bucs were finally eliminated.This is one of the roughest years that Ive been a part of and the thing I can take out of it is the fact that our guys played hard, Tampa Bay receiver Vincent Jackson said. Guys are still fighting, nobodys pointing fingers in this locker room, this organization and thats saying something. Its the quality of men that we have here.Here are a few things we learned from Detroits victory:SHARP STAFFORD: The competition hasnt been great, but over his last two games against Chicago and Tampa Bay, Stafford has a passer rating of 123.4. With Johnson looking healthy and fellow receiver Golden Tate still contributing, the Lions haave looked better offensively lately.ddddddddddddSOFT STRETCH: Detroit has won two in a row — the Lions beat Chicago on Thanksgiving by the same 34-17 score. Detroit also figures to be favoured next weekend when it faces Minnesota in the Lions final home game of the regular season.Detroit would love to take care of business in that game, then beat the Bears again the following week. The Lions finish the regular season at Green Bay, where they have not won since 1991, so Detroit could be in trouble if it needs to win that game to make the playoffs.TOUGH TO HANDLE: The main bright spots for the Bucs were Jackson and Mike Evans. Jackson had 10 catches for 159 yards, while Evans caught two touchdown passes.LUCKY BOUNCE: Staffords fourth-quarter pass hit someone at the line of scrimmage — Tampa Bays Gerald McCoy was in the area — and bounced right back to running back Joique Bell, who grabbed it out of the air and ran in for a 5-yard touchdown.We were on the sidelines, we drew that up 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. "I just have to be the same player Ive been." Anything else? "Try to go out there and be mistake-free." Cheap Old Skool Vans For Sale .J. -- New York Giants quarterback Eli Manning is going to start the off-season training program with a surgically repaired left ankle. Old Skool Vans Wholesale . -- Jerome Williams glanced at Philadelphias schedule and realized he would be facing the Oakland Athletics yet again, with another new team. http://www.cheapoldskool.net/ . The hard-serving 22-year-old from Thornhill, Ont., became the first Canadian to be ranked in the Top 10 on the ATP World Tour thanks to his runner-up performance at Rogers Cup in Montreal. Old Skool Vans Authentic . This is the final meeting of the season between these teams.? The Capitals were 5-4 winners in a shootout Oct. Cheap Old Skool Vans Wholesale .Morse gets a $1 million signing bonus and salaries of $7 million next season and $8 million in 2016 under the agreement announced Wednesday.DETROIT - Matthew Stafford, Calvin Johnson and the Detroit Lions hope this December will be different.Stafford threw for 311 yards and three touchdowns Sunday, and the Lions beat the Tampa Bay Buccaneers 34-17 to keep pace in the NFCs post-season race. Detroit had lost nine straight December games before handling the Bucs with relative ease.The Lions had not won a December game since beating San Diego in 2011. That was the win that wrapped up a post-season spot for Detroit, its only playoff appearance since the 1999 season.The Lions lost six of their last seven games last season, wasting another good chance to make the playoffs.Were not the same team as last year, tight end Joseph Fauria said. Were a new Lions team and were going to keep on rolling. Our fates in our hands.Detroit (9-4) is a half-game behind NFC North-leading Green Bay, which plays Monday night. If Detroit wins its next two games — at home against Minnesota and at Chicago — the Lions would almost surely be in the playoffs.Its getting fun around here, centre Dominic Raiola said. The more we just worry about whats going on right now, handle the day, the better off were going to be.Tampa Bay (2-11) was technically still in the playoff picture until Sunday, when the Bucs were finally eliminated.This is one of the roughest years that Ive been a part of and the thing I can take out of it is the fact that our guys played hard, Tampa Bay receiver Vincent Jackson said. Guys are still fighting, nobodys pointing fingers in this locker room, this organization and thats saying something. Its the quality of men that we have here.Here are a few things we learned from Detroits victory:SHARP STAFFORD: The competition hasnt been great, but over his last two games against Chicago and Tampa Bay, Stafford has a passer rating of 123.4. With Johnson looking healthy and fellow receiver Golden Tate still contributing, the Lions haave looked better offensively lately.ddddddddddddSOFT STRETCH: Detroit has won two in a row — the Lions beat Chicago on Thanksgiving by the same 34-17 score. Detroit also figures to be favoured next weekend when it faces Minnesota in the Lions final home game of the regular season.Detroit would love to take care of business in that game, then beat the Bears again the following week. The Lions finish the regular season at Green Bay, where they have not won since 1991, so Detroit could be in trouble if it needs to win that game to make the playoffs.TOUGH TO HANDLE: The main bright spots for the Bucs were Jackson and Mike Evans. Jackson had 10 catches for 159 yards, while Evans caught two touchdown passes.LUCKY BOUNCE: Staffords fourth-quarter pass hit someone at the line of scrimmage — Tampa Bays Gerald McCoy was in the area — and bounced right back to running back Joique Bell, who grabbed it out of the air and ran in for a 5-yard touchdown.We were on the sidelines, we drew that up and we knew exactly what the D-line was doing, Bell joked. Matt knew if he threw the ball up that one of the D-linemen would tip it up and it was a designed play. We went out there and we executed the play.Bell was solid all day. He rushed for 83 yards and a touchdown.PRESSURE: Stafford was sacked four times, but it was Tampa Bay quarterback Josh McCown who took the brunt of the punishment. He was sacked six times, and that doesnt even count a number of other hits he took from Ndamukong Suh and the rest of Detroits pass rushers.They got too much pressure on the quarterback and we know that, Bucs coach Lovie Smith said. I think its reasonable to say that weve got to do something to give ourselves a chance. Offensively we couldnt protect the quarterback, we couldnt run the ball and didnt get anything going throughout.___AP NFL website: www.pro32.ap.org and http://twitter.com/AP_NFL ' ' 'ell joked. Matt knew if he threw the ball up that one of the D-linemen would tip it up and it was a designed play. We went out there and we executed the play.Bell was solid all day. He rushed for 83 yards and a touchdown.PRESSURE: Stafford was sacked four times, but it was Tampa Bay quarterback Josh McCown who took the brunt of the punishment. He was sacked six times, and that doesnt even count a number of other hits he took from Ndamukong Suh and the rest of Detroits pass rushers.They got too much pressure on the quarterback and we know that, Bucs coach Lovie Smith said. I think its reasonable to say that weve got to do something to give ourselves a chance. Offensively we couldnt protect the quarterback, we couldnt run the ball and didnt get anything going throughout.___AP NFL website: www.pro32.ap.org and http://twitter.com/AP_NFL ' ' ' |
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