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Jason McCourty Super Bowl LI Jersey , Calif. (AP) Clive Walford spent most of the first three months of the season as an afterthought on the Oakland
Raiders offense.
With the addition of Jared Cook as the starting tight end and an offense that relied much more on three-receiver sets than using multiple tight ends, Walford
got few opportunities to make plays for Oakland.
That all changed last week when starting receivers Michael Crabtree and Amari Cooper were sidelined and Walford was called on for a bigger role and delivered
in a major way in a 24-17 win for the Raiders over the New York
Giants.
Article continues below ... ”It’s just a waiting game. When your number is called, you have to make a play
Wholesale Durham Smythe Jersey ,” Walford said Tuesday. ”With our starting receivers down, I knew somebody would have to step up and make a play. That’s
what I did.”
Walford exceeded his receiving totals from the first 11 games combined, catching four passes for 57 yards in a season-high 25 snaps on offense. Walford
had been averaging fewer than nine snaps a game heading into the contest and had
just three catches for 10 yards.
Walford had a key catch on a field-goal drive in the first half that gave the Raiders the lead for good.
”I thought Clive came up big
Authentic Don Mattingly Jersey ,” coach Jack Del Rio said. ”He’s been patient all year. Obviously, it’s tough. We brought in Jared and Jared has a big role. A
lot of those things are things that Clive can do as well. Called on him in a
bigger role and he responded and had a nice game.”
The Raiders expected those kinds of performances out of Walford when they drafted him in the third round in 2015. He showed promise as a rookie with 28
catches for 329 yards and four touchdowns.
But an offseason ATV accident hampered Walford last season when he had 33 catches for 359 yards and three TDs. His numbers plummeted this year following
the addition of Cook, who is the team’s leading receiver with 43 catches for 546
yards.
But his teammates’ belief in Walford didn’t waver and left tackle Donald Penn said he made a point of telling Walford he wouldn’t congratulate him because he
expects those performances.
”You haven’t heard Clive complain once
Authentic Jose Cruz Jr. Jersey ,” Penn said. ”He’s a true professional about it. When his number is called, what does he go out there and do? He goes out
there and makes great plays and makes great catches. That’s how your number gets
called more. I’m happy for him. Clive did that last year and the year before for
us. That’s Clive and what he does.”
He just hadn’t gotten many opportunities because of Cook. The Raiders used multiple tight ends for at least 20 plays just once the first nine games. But
that changed after Crabtree got ejected early against Denver and Cooper had a
concussion and sprained ankle in the first half.
Crabtree was suspended laKANSAS CITY
Adidas Anze Kopitar Jersey , Mo. (AP) There is little disputing Alex Smith has had the best season of his 13-year professional career, whether you want to
quantify that claim with individual stats or team success.
He’s set career bests in yards passing and touchdowns. He threw just five interceptions. He led the league in quarterback rating.
And he led the Kansas City Chiefs to the AFC West title, giving the franchise back-to-back division championships for the first time.
Article continues below ...
All of that success could be forgotten as quickly as Saturday night, though.
That’s when the Chiefs play the Titans in the playoffs.
Kansas City hasn’t won a home playoff game in nearly a quarter century, a maddening drought that Smith can help to end with a victory at Arrowhead
Stadium.
And in doing so, Smith would turn what has been a largely successful five-year tenure with the Chiefs into a memorable one, elevating him from a
cluster of merely good quarterbacks to an echelon where only Len Dawson
currently resides.
”Everybody is good at this point
Wholesale Avonte Maddox Jersey , right? Everybody still left playing is really good,” said Smith, who already snapped the Chiefs’ long postseason
winless streak with a victory in Houston two years ago. ”The season is on the
line, you win or go home. I think that adds to the intensity.”
Especially considering Smith doesn’t know where home will be pretty soon.
The cash-strapped Chiefs could be forced to release Smith and turn the future of the franchise over to first-round pick Patrick Mahomes II next season.
Smith watched his understudy lead the Chiefs to a victory in Denver last weekend, sitting out the regular-season finale with nothing on the line.
So, the playoffs could also serve as Smith’s audition for other teams, a pressure-packed chance to show that the 33-year-old former No. 1 pick is only
now reaching his peak.
”The ramifications are so big
Wholesale Ronald Jones II Jersey ,” he said, ”but it’s still football at the end of the day.”
History suggests that Smith tends to rise to the occasion.
Even though he’s just 2-4 in the playoffs, and 1-3 as the quarterback in Kansas City, the losses have largely come despite his performance.
One of his best statistical games came in a shootout loss in Indianapolis in 2013, when he threw for 378 yards and four touchdowns without a pick, and Smith
was relatively efficient in a cold loss to the Steelers that ended last
season.
Chiefs coach Andy Reid mostly wrote off the idea of playoff experience helping on Wednesday, but he acknowledged that quarterback may be the one
position where it’s at least a little beneficial.
”Alex has been there
Cliff Avril Jersey Elite , done well there,” Reid said. ”I can’t tell you we sit there and evaluate that. We have Alex, we build on what he does and kind
of go with it.”
One area Smith hasn’t done well: Playing against the Titans.
Few other teams in the NFL have given him fits as Tennessee, which has beaten him three out of four meetings. The past two have been at Arrowhead Stadium,
which is supposed to provide the home team – and especially the home quarterback
– a distinct advantage.
But he was 19 of 35 for 202 yards with a touchdown and three picks in a September 2014 loss, and just 15 of 28 for 163 yards with a pick and no
touchdowns in a December 2016 defeat.
Most of the Titans’ coaches and personnel from that game will be back on Saturday.
”It’s hard to go beyond this last year,” Smith said. ”Close game
Authentic Ryne Sandberg Jersey , came down to the end – physical game. But beyond that it’s hard to read too much into those. You learn from that a little
bit, but there’s the whole chess game. New players, new schemes. Things like
that.”
New stakes, too. That game that Tennessee won on Ryan Succop’s field goal last season was late in the regular season, and this one is the win-or-else
wild-card round of the playoffs.
NOTES: The Chiefs put WR De’Anthony Thomas (broken leg) and RB Akeem Hunt (ankle) on injured reserve. They elevated WR Marcus Kemp from the practice squad
and signed RB C.J. Spiller, who has been on and off the roster much of the
season. … WR Albert Wilson (hamstring), CB Phillip Gaines
Authentic Sebastian Janikowski Jersey , DL Jarvis Jenkins (knee) and DT Rakeem Nunez-Roches (ankle) missed Tuesday’s practice.
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Detroit Lions Customized Jerseys ,st week and Cooper was still hurt, leading the Raiders to use multiple tight ends 43 times the past two games.
But Walford hasn’t let the emergence of Cook affect him at all.
”I’m a competitor
Josh Jackson Super Bowl LI Jersey ,” he said. ”I watched film on him. I know he’s a great player. I just thought I could benefit from him. That’s the
positive thing. I didn’t get down at all. I just figured I could learn from him
and Lee Smith.”
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