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Pridružen/-a: 28.06. 2018, 09:28
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 Objavljeno: 14 Nov 2018 08:26 Naslov sporočila: www.buffalobillsteamonline.com |
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Oakland offensive coordinator Greg Olson was quite clear about what the top priority will be for coach Jon Gruden’s new staff with the Raiders.
Everything from the smallest details like how practice is conducted to bigger decisions about personnel and scheme will be made with the thought of how it will help Derek Carr develop into a top-flight NFL quarterback.
”We grow as Derek Carr grows Customized Buffalo Bills Jerseys ,” Olson said Wednesday. ”We drafted this guy to be that franchise quarterback. We feel like he has the potential to be that guy that can be here and play for 10 more years. It’s up to us to try and get that out of him. We’ll do everything in our power to make sure that that happens, from practice to offseason programs, to what we’re doing defensively in practice, all those things will be designed to help Derek’s growth.”
Carr showed steady improvement from his spotty play as a rookie in 2014 when Olson served his first stint as offensive coordinator in Oakland to a breakthrough 2016 season under Bill Musgrave that garnered him MVP support and helped him earn a $125 million, five-year contract extension.
That steady ascension hit a speed bump last season as Carr played under his third coordinator in four years after Todd Downing replaced the fired Musgrave. Carr matched his career high with 13 interceptions and recorded his worst totals in yards, touchdowns and passer rating since his rookie year.
”This guy has to get some continuity,” Olson said. ”The fact that they signed Jon Gruden to a 10-year contract, that’s going to provide that stability that he needs and the continuity that he’s going to need. He’s going to be in a system now. He’s going to be coached by a head coach that’s going to be the play-caller. He’s completely hands on with the quarterback position, and that’s the first time Derek will have, first time he’s going to have an offensive head coach that has a quarterback background and will be hands on with him on a day-to-day basis. I just see that growth curve skyrocketing because of that.”
Olson and new defensive coordinator Paul Guenther spoke to the media for the first time since officially joining Gruden’s staff last week. Both coaches have ties to Gruden, with Olson having worked as Gruden’s offensive coordinator and quarterbacks coach in Tampa Bay in 2008 and Guenther considering Gruden’s younger brother, Jay, one of his closest friends after spending three years together as assistants in Cincinnati.
The two coordinators had talked to Jon Gruden over the years about the possibility of being on his staff if Gruden ever decided to return to coaching and leaped at the chance soon after Gruden returned to the Raiders.
”Cincinnati made a strong push to keep me there, but the opportunity to come out here with Jon and start this thing from the ground up was way too intriguing,” Guenther said. ”I just looked at it as an opportunity I couldn’t refuse.”
Guenther will be tasked with rebuilding a defense that struggled the past two seasons, leading to the midseason firing of coordinator Ken Norton Jr. The Raiders improved a bit in the final six games under John Pagano but didn’t make nearly enough impactful plays despite the presence of 2016 AP Defensive Player of the Year Khalil Mack.
The Raiders lacked enough consistent pass rushers and the secondary got picked apart at times with rookies Gareon Conley and Obi Melifonwu missing almost the entire season with injuries.
Guenther called Conley his ”favorite” cornerback in last year’s draft and believes the pieces are in place starting with Mack to build a capable defense.
”Having a talent like that and ability of a guy like that Johan Larsson Jersey , certainly you want to make it the centerpiece of the defense,” he said. ”We have to continue to develop our younger players to bring those guys up to speed and add people as we go through the draft and free agency. He’s a guy that you can really build a foundation through and around. He’s an exciting guy to be able to coach for sure.”
NOTES: Guenther called NaVorro Bowman a ”prototypical” middle linebacker and hopes he doesn’t leave in free agency. … Olson was noncommittal about the status of RB Marshawn Lynch, saying he would be doing him a ”disservice” by evaluating his play in 2017 before taking a more thorough look at the film.
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Running back Frank Gore came to Indianapolis with Super Bowl aspirations.
Three years later, he’s leaving without a ring or an assurance he’ll ever play another football game.
General manager Chris Ballard announced Wednesday the Colts do not intend to re-sign the 34-year-old, soon-to-be free agent, who is ranked No. 5 in career rushing.
”Frank is at a point where he knows we need to get younger,” Ballard said during the first day of the NFL’s annual scouting combine in Indianapolis. ”And I wanted to give Frank a chance to finish his career where he wants to.”
Not much followed the script after Gore opted to reunite with college teammate Andre Johnson with the Colts.
After quarterback Andrew Luck reached three consecutive Pro Bowls and made three straight playoff appearances, taking Indy one step deeper each season, Gore and others thought the Colts were on the verge of a breakout.
Instead, Luck hurt his throwing shoulder three weeks into the 2015 season and everything has gone south.
He has missed 26 of 48 games over the past three seasons, each of which ended with Indy missing the postseason. General manager Ryan Grigson, who signed Gore, was fired following the 2016 season and coach Chuck Pagano was fired in December.
Now, with Luck apparently on the road back to Indy, Gore is on his way out.
Ballard said Luck is expected to return to team headquarters in early April to continue rehabbing.
Getting Luck back in town would be a welcome change for the Colts, who monitored Luck’s recovery for the nearly six weeks he spent in Europe and the eight weeks he has spent in California since the end of the season.
”Is it going to help having Andrew back in the building? Absolutely Authentic Justin Bailey Jersey ,” Ballard said. ”But I think it will be good for Andrew to be around the locker room and among his guys, and I think he’d tell you the same thing.”
He and just about everyone else, though, will miss Gore’s leadership and optimism.
Despite playing behind a struggling, ineffective offensive line each season in Indy, he never complained. He simply kept working, talking positive and plugging ahead.
The results were impressive.
After falling 33 yards short of his ninth 1,000-yard season in 2015, he rebounded with 1,025 yards at age 33 in 2016 – making him the oldest 1,000-yard rusher since 35-year-old John Riggins in 1982. Then in December, the ageless Gore had a career-high 36 carries for 130 yards in an overtime loss in a Buffalo blizzard.
He even made passing some of the league’s best runners look routine.
Ballard said Gore actually broke his thumb during that Buffalo game and doctors told him they could repair it by inserting a pin. While Gore never hinted publicly he was hurt, it was a different story behind closed doors.
”Frank said `I’m a football player, I’m playing,”’ Ballard said.
Four days later, Gore was back on the field against Denver. Three weeks later Kyle Okposo Jersey , Gore played in his 48th and final game with the Colts – a 24-carry, 100-yard performance that left him just 76 yards short of passing Curtis Martin for No. 4.
The only other players ahead of Gore are Emmitt Smith, Walter Payton and Barry Sanders.
His nine 1,000-yard seasons are fifth behind Smith (11), Payton, Sanders and Martin (10), and he holds the league record with 12 consecutive seasons with 1,200 yards from scrimmage.
But he was always about more than numbers.
”He’s a legend in my mind,” new coach Frank Reich said. ”He set the standard for on what backs did in (pass) protection.”
And even though, he still wants a ring, he’s not willing to sacrifice his principles to get one.
”I know I still can play, and I know I want to help a team,” he said in late December. ”I don’t want to just be part of a team, I want to help a team, and I don’t want anyone to say I rode the bench to get a ring.”
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