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TOPIC: Day after day a little more than two years ago
Day after day a little more than two years ago 4 years 9 months ago #15657
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FRISCO Deandre Baker Jersey , Texas (AP) — Randy Gregory and Jaylon Smith worked behind the scenes while the Dallas Cowboys practiced, the defensive end and linebacker hoping to prove they would be worth the wait.Both were considered second-round gambles for vastly different reasons — Gregory because of a battle with substance abuse that eventually led to three suspensions, Smith because of a devastating left knee injury in his final college game.With the Cowboys (11-6) headed to a divisional playoff game Saturday night at the Los Angeles Rams (13-3) on a team with a defense-first identity, Gregory and Smith are looking more like second-round payoffs.“Y’all will never understand the hard work, the lonely nights … the dark days that those guys had to face through their trials and tribulations,” defensive end DeMarcus Lawrence said. “That’s why it’s so much passion in this locker room, mostly on the field when we play together. We feel like we all had our dark days.”For Gregory, the darkest days were in the months after his third suspension , a yearlong ban that also meant he couldn’t be around the team. The first two times he was suspended — for the first 14 games of the 2016 season — he could still work out with the Cowboys. That’s when the bond with Smith developed.For Smith, it wouldn’t be quite as accurate to say the days were dark because his bright outlook was one of the things that attracted the Cowboys to him during the draft process. The former Notre Dame standout couldn’t run or jump at the combine, but he could flash a mesmerizing smile and talk hopefully about his future.While Gregory missed the 2017 season http://www.giantsauthorizedshops.com/authentic-oshane-ximines-jersey , Smith finally got on the field — but with mixed results as he continued playing with a brace designed to compensate for nerve damage in his left foot.This season, Gregory’s suspension was lifted. And Smith’s brace came off. Gregory, having missed 30 of 32 games over the previous two seasons, had six sacks after coming in with just one for his career. Smith took over as the play-calling leader in the middle of a top-10 defense.“It’s what makes us who we are,” Smith said. “Everyone has been through something in their life. Everyone has that edge and drive. Once you identify it and find it, you have to use it as fuel.”Gregory, who has turned down most interview requests this season, was drafted late in the second round in 2015 out of Nebraska, sliding out of a projected spot high in the first round because of off-field concerns. He tested positive for marijuana at the combine.After saying he wanted to make good on a promise to owner and general manager Jerry Jones to stay clean, Gregory made it through his rookie year without a suspension. He missed four games with an ankle injury and didn’t have a sack.Gregory’s first sack came in the 2016 regular-season finale, just before the yearlong suspension was announced. He waited an extra six months to apply for reinstatement to improve his chances. Letters from teammates, including safety Jeff Heath Julian Love Jersey , were part of the application.The 26-year-old Gregory occasionally misses practice in the middle of the week for trips to NFL-mandated checkups, along with frequent drug testing.“It’s not one of those things where he got reinstated so now he could relax,” Heath said. “He still has to work his butt off to be able to help us out on game days. Everybody loves him. That’s one of the reasons why it was so easy to write that letter because it was just the truth.”Smith went early in the second round a year after Gregory, with the Cowboys all but certain he wouldn’t play as a rookie because of the injury sustained in the Fiesta Bowl against Ohio State.While there were concerns whether Smith would even play in the NFL, Dallas was confident because team physician Dr. Dan Cooper performed the surgery. And the Cowboys trusted their training staff to stick with the painstaking rehab.Smith’s return was celebrated as a major milestone, but his struggles left lingering doubts while the Cowboys missed the playoffs a year after an NFC-best 13 wins.The 23-year-old’s playmaking in his second season on the field has erased many of those doubts. Case in point: Smith’s 69-yard fumble return for a touchdown in a win over Tampa Bay that clinched the NFC East for Dallas. By the way, Gregory caused the fumble with that sixth sack.“Ultimately where those guys have come from and where they are now has everything to do with them, the drive, the determination they’ve had to have great careers,” coach Jason Garrett said. “Both have different stories, but I think that’s the underlying theme.”They aren’t finished trying to prove their worth. KANSAS CITY, Mo. (AP) — Arrowhead Stadium was already emptying by the time Chargers quarterback Philip Rivers jogged to the locker room http://www.giantsauthorizedshops.com/authentic-darius-slayton-jersey , triumphantly waving his hand as a satisfying cascade of boos washed over him.He had finally beaten the Kansas City Chiefs.It sounded perfect.Article continues below ...Rivers led Los Angeles on a feverish fourth-quarter comeback Thursday night, capped by a debatable pass-interference call, a tense video review of the last touchdown and the gutsy decision to try a 2-point conversion. And for the first time in years against Kansas City, everything turned out perfectly for Rivers and the Chargers in a 29-28 victory that clinched their playoff spot.“This was big. Here or at home, whatever,” Rivers said, “we needed to beat these guys.”The Chargers (11-3) trailed 28-14 when Justin Jackson’s touchdown run with 3:49 to go gave them a chance. They quickly got the ball back from Patrick Mahomes and the NFL’s highest-scoring offense, and Rivers led a tense final drive that included a fourth-down dart to Travis Benjamin to keep it alive.That crucial penalty on Kendall Fuller in the back of the end zone gave the Chargers the ball at the 1, and Rivers found Mike Williams along the sideline on the next play. And when his TD catch with 4 seconds left was confirmed, coach Anthony Lynn sent his offense back onto the field.Williams hauled in the conversion to end five years’ worth of frustration.“We didn’t come here to tie. We came here to win. So to me it was a no-brainer,” said Lynn, whose team became the first since Minnesota in Week 15 of the 2002 season to win with a 2-point conversion in the final 10 seconds of regulation.The comeback allowed Los Angeles to forge a first-place tie in the AFC West Quinnen Williams Jersey , though the Chiefs (11-3) hold the tiebreaker with a better division record. More satisfying was the simple fact that Rivers and the Chargers had finally snapped their nine-game losing streak against Kansas City.They hadn’t beaten the Chiefs since 2013, the last year they made the playoffs.“Oh, it’s satisfying,” Benjamin said. “We talked about it. We knew it had been a couple years and we wanted to go into this game and change that and we did.”Rivers threw for 313 yards and two touchdowns with two interceptions, and Williams had seven catches for 76 yards and two scores while adding another on the ground. Jackson ran for 58 yards and a touchdown in place of the injured Melvin Gordon and Austin Ekeler.Mahomes was held to just 243 yards and two touchdowns for Kansas City, and his inability to pick up a first down in the closing minutes proved costly. The Chiefs forced the Chargers to burn two timeouts on their last drive, but Mahomes was sacked by Isaac Rochell and Kansas City had to punt.The Chiefs never got the ball back on offense.“They found a way to win and we didn’t,” Mahomes said. “You have to find a way in this league.”Hyped by the return of star safety Eric Berry, it looked for a while as if the Chiefs would simply resume their vexation of Rivers at Arrowhead. Steven Nelson leaped to snag a jump ball for a pick on the second play of the game, and Rivers tossed another just before halftime.Mahomes and Co. took advantage of their early momentum.Kansas City breezed downfield after Nelson’s interception, and the young MVP candidate threw a dart to Demarcus Robinson — while in the grasp of Chargers safety Adrian Phillips — for a 7-0 lead.Then after a punt, Darrel Williams took a screen pass for his first career touchdown.The Chargers finally reached the end zone in the second quarter http://www.jetsauthorizedshops.com/authentic-jachai-polite-jersey , when Mike Williams caught a short TD pass. But it came moments after wide receiver Keenan Allen hurt his hip while trying to make a leaping grab in the corner of the end zone — he briefly returned before sitting out the rest of the game.Mike Williams continued to pick up the slack the rest of the game.After the Chiefs pushed their lead to 21-7 on Damien Williams‘ touchdown run, the Chargers’ big, rangy wide receiver answered with a 19-yard end-around for a score. And when then Chiefs went on another methodical scoring drive to take a 28-14 lead with just over 8 minutes left in the game, Mike Williams helped to lead the Chargers to an answering touchdown to stay in the game.He made two more big catches in the final seconds to put them over the top.“Everybody needed to come together and make plays,” Mike Williams said, “and that’s what we did.TONY G’S AWARDThe Chiefs added TE Tony Gonzalez to their Hall of Fame at halftime. The six-time All-Pro played his first 12 seasons with the Chiefs before finishing his career in Atlanta. His name was unveiled next to that of WR Carlos Carson on the ring of honor inside Arrowhead Stadium.INACTIVE STARSGordon (knee) tried to warmup before telling Lynn he couldn’t play, joining Ekeler (concussion) on their inactive list. The Chiefs were missing RB Spencer Ware (hamstring) and WR Sammy Watkins (foot).INJURIESChargers: Allen received treatment on the sideline after nearly making his spectacular TD catch, and he returned briefly before slowly walking off. He left for the locker room and did not return.UP NEXTChargers: Return home for a prime-time game against the Ravens on Dec. 22.Chiefs: Visit the Seahawks for another prime-time game Dec. 23.
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