Ten months ago
Youth Nasir Adderley Jersey ,They had been spurned by Josh McDaniels. They had misjudged the seriousness of Andrew Luck‘s shoulder injury. They were coming off a disastrous season and looked like they had far too many holes to fill on both sides of the ball to get back to the playoffs.Chris Ballard turned the franchise around, and that’s why he’s PFT’s choice as the NFL’s executive of the year.Ballard got all the big decisions right: He hired Frank Reich as head coach after the embarrassment of the failed McDaniels hiring. He trusted the slow but steady process for getting Luck back on track, and had Luck back on the field and ready to go for the start of the season. He traded down in the draft, picking up three extra second-round picks, and then drafted guard Quenton Nelson, who did outstanding work protecting Luck as a rookie. With his second-round pick, he drafted Darius Leonard, perhaps the best defensive rookie in the NFL this year. The Colts are in the playoffs when few thought they would be, and Ballard deserves enormous credit for that.A close second for the executive of the year award would be Chargers General Manager Tom Telesco, who has done an excellent job putting together a team that has stayed together when it easily could have fallen apart
Nasir Adderley Jersey 2019 , playing in a tiny soccer stadium while functioning as the “other” team in Los Angeles. Telesco’s first-round picks — Derwin James in 2018, Mike Williams in 2017, Joey Bosa in 2016, Melvin Gordon in 2015 — are all playing big roles on this year’s playoff team.Some would argue for Bears General Manager Ryan Pace. He has certainly done good work, taking over a last-place team and building a first-place roster, but there are knocks against him as well. Mitchell Trubisky is developing into a fine quarterback, but Pace traded up to draft Trubisky when he could have stayed put or even moved down and drafted league MVP Patrick Mahomes. The Khalil Mack trade looks like a good move, but the bill hasn’t come due yet: Let’s see how Pace continues replenishing the roster while managing Mack’s big hit on the salary cap, and without the 2019 and 2020 first-round picks he traded away for Mack, before we declare that trade a slam-dunk success. And Pace has still failed to find a good kicker to replace Robbie Gould
Cheap Nasir Adderley Jersey , whom Pace cut three years ago. None of those issues mean Pace isn’t a good G.M., but they are enough to rank him below Ballard and Telesco.There were people who mocked Ballard last year when he said, “The rivalry is back on,” referring to the Colts losing McDaniels to the Patriots, just as they’ve lost so many big game to the Patriots. Some would say it wasn’t much of a rivalry, as the Patriots so often came out on top. But Ballard has made the Colts legitimate rivals to the Patriots, and legitimate contenders to be the Patriots’ successors as the best team in the AFC. ALLEN PARK, Mich. (AP) — Matt Patricia came to Detroit with a defensive background, so it will be no surprise if the Lions keep playing tight, low-scoring games.Turnovers can be particularly harmful in matchups like that
Youth Michael Schofield Jerseys , but Detroit got away with those mistakes in a win over the Chargers.Matthew Stafford threw two interceptions — and Matt Prater missed a field goal and an extra point — but the Lions overcame all that to beat Los Angeles 13-10 on Sunday. The Chargers matched Detroit’s two turnovers and had kicking problems of their own, so the Lions now have a win and a tie to their credit after playing two games that could have easily gone either way.“Any time you win, you try to use it as a step forward,” said Patricia, in his second season as Detroit’s coach after a successful run as New England’s defensive coordinator. “But I think they’re only step forwards if you really learn from the mistakes that you made within those games. I think if you mask any of that or try to just move past it or think that those mistakes aren’t going to happen again just because you won — I think it’s important for us to get it fixed and corrected.”Detroit (1-0-1) allowed 424 yards of offense against Los Angeles, but aside from the latter half of the fourth quarter in Week 1 against Arizona, the Lions have done a good job keeping teams off the scoreboard. That blueprint to keep teams out of the end zone and avoid mistakes on offense could serve Detroit well, especially after the team added defensive linemen Trey Flowers and Mike Daniels in the offseason.But the Lions didn’t do a good job avoiding miscues Sunday. Stafford had gone five straight games without an interception, but he was picked off twice on ill-advised deep throws. Prater’s misses could have been costly, too
Michael Schofield Jerseys Stitched , on a rare afternoon of shakiness from a kicker who has been terrific for Detroit.The Lions were fortunate that Los Angeles wasted opportunities of its own, especially on a third-quarter drive when the Chargers had two touchdowns called back for penalties and eventually lost a fumble near the goal line.One encouraging moment for the Lions came on the final drive, when Detroit was able to run out the clock after Stafford threw to Jesse James to convert third-and-6. The previous weekend, the Lions appeared poised to ice a victory in similar fashion at Arizona, but a timeout from the sideline halted a third-down play late in the fourth quarter.“It’s a building block for us mentally as a team, just where we are as a team, emotionally and everything,” offensive lineman Frank Ragnow said. “Just being able to say, ‘Hey we did it. We finished a game and we were able to come through at the end.'”WHAT’S WORKINGStafford’s receiving targets have already had some nice moments this season. Rookie tight end T.J. Hockenson had a good debut against the Cardinals, and receiver Kenny Golladay had eight catches for 117 yards and a touchdown against the Chargers. Golladay made a tough catch over the middle on the 31-yard touchdown in the fourth quarter that put the Lions ahead.WHAT NEEDS HELPDetroit’s running game has looked ordinary. Kerryon Johnson had only 41 yards on 12 carries Sunday
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