Detroit Lions TE Michael Roberts hopes Sunday’s touchdown is the ‘first of tons’ “December 17
Travis Fulgham Jersey 2019 , 2016.”Ask Michael Roberts when his last football touchdown was prior to his first NFL score on Sunday against the 49ers and he’ll tell you
the exact date. The Toledo Rockets, led by star running back Kareem Hunt,
dropped their season finale to Appalachian State 31-28. But red zone phenom
Michael Roberts kept them in the game early, grabbing a curl route and shaking
two defenders on his way to the end zone. 638 days later, Roberts finally found
the end zone again—he’s been counting the days... well, sort of. “To be honest,
I knew from a year and then I just added from there,” Roberts admitted to the
media on Wednesday.It has been a rough go in the time between touchdowns.
Roberts was selected by the Lions in the fourth round of the 2017 NFL draft, a
move that was met with some healthy skepticism. Though the Lions went into the
draft with a need at tight end, the defensive line had remained unaddressed
through three rounds, and a few popular players, including local product Ryan
Glasgow, were still on the board. Others preferred Jake Butt or George Kittle as
a tight end. So a lot was expected of Roberts in his rookie year. As a player
coming off a 16-touchdown senior year, many were hoping he’d be an immediate red
zone threat, especially with the struggles surrounding Eric Ebron. But his
rookie season didn’t go as planned. Roberts played in about 15 snaps per game
and was mostly used as a blocker or decoy
Travis Fulgham Jersey Mens , two roles he wasn’t all that familiar with. The man with gargantuan hands would only end up cradling a four catches in 2017 for a mere 46
yards. Even worse, his season ended with a team-given suspension for missing a
team meeting. Things looked even more dreary going into 2018. The Lions’ tight
end room was purged, leaving Roberts as the only holdover from the year prior.
It was his opportunity to break out, but the preseason left fans wanting more.
Roberts only had two catches for 29 yards in the exhibition season, and the rest
of the tight ends didn’t look much better.“I felt kind of quiet in the
preseason,” Roberts said. “I felt like I hadn’t done much.” But Roberts is
hoping Sunday’s touchdown—his first catch of the season—is “the beginning of
something” now that he’s gotten the proverbial monkey off his back and realized
a dream come true in San Francisco.“(It’s) kind of a weight lifted, but really
just a moment I’ve been dreaming about,” Roberts said. “I dream about that
moment so many times, and just the way it happened it was ideal for me.” Roberts
has a long way to go from here. He now only has five career catches and eight
targets in 16 games played. He’s clearly still working on developing a chemistry
with Matthew Stafford, and nothing is guaranteed. But Roberts is hopeful
Sunday’s touchdown is just the tip of the iceberg. “The first of tons, that’s
what I hope.”Brothers in Erie; 5 Questions about the Cleveland Browns Who is the
Cleveland Browns? Philosophers disagree. Could the Browns be a thing, or is
something Brown, perhaps afflicted with this attribute?Pressing questions
indeed, for when the football team of an Ohio metropolitan area happens to be
the Cleveland Browns, this moral quandary takes a serious turn. It’s pressing
still when this team faces the Detroit Lions on the last Thursday of August for
something called the “Great Lakes Freighter Trophy
Youth Travis Fulgham Jersey ,” clearly a rush week prank concocted by students at Miami University.This corporeal entity shares a similar stigma with the Lions, both
teams having found no wins in a 16-game NFL schedule. This does not make them
brothers, primarily because the ontological nature of the Browns is not yet
clear.Thankfully, we have Chris Pokorny from the SB Nation blog Dawgs by Nature
to help us understand these metaphysical implications. We didn’t ask about the
trophy. It’s better that way.You can read our answers to Pokorny’s questions
over on Dawgs by Nature.1. Can the Browns be improved by winning?CP: If you
asked former Browns GM Sashi Brown, they could only be improved by losing. 1-31
over the past two seasons has been painful as a fan and as a blogger. Can you
imagine how in the past 32 regular season games, I have only been able to blog
about one victory? Or go to work Monday morning with an extra pep in my step
because Cleveland won over the weekend? Worst of all, I started getting
apathetic to the losses, whereas even in all of the other losing seasons since
1999, I used to be just so devastated after any loss for a 24-hour period. All
of Cleveland’s losing did set things up very well for new GM John Dorsey this
offseason, though. So before, when they didn’t have enough talent to win, they
could only be improved by losing. Now, they can only improve if they find
stability on the coaching staff, and that’ll only happen if Hue Jackson starts
winning.2. What is the least frustrating dimension about this current Browns
roster?CP: As crazy as it may sound, I will say the quarterback position. We’ve
had so many years of frustration
White Travis Fulgham Jersey , quarterback controversy, poor handling of the position, etc. This year, it has been clear from Day 1, and the entire locker room has
been happily accepting of it: Tyrod Taylor is the starter this year, but Baker
Mayfield is the future who everyone loves and is excited about. That is a new
feeling for Browns fans, so the position has become the opposite of frustrating
for once.3. In a three-way cage fight death match between Punished “Venom” Tyrod
Taylor, Michigan State semi-god Drew Stanton and some idiot from Oklahoma named
Baker Mayfield, who wins if I arm each of them with a two-by-four? Also, I
guess... Who is probably the Browns quarterback by week 8?CP: Haha, man, you
weren’t kidding when you said these questions would be weird. WWE-style, when
all three quarterbacks are squaring off, the commissioner will come out to
announce a fourth entrant -- Brogan Roback. With a name like that, he is built
for the business and easily becomes the favorite to win. As far as who the
Browns’ quarterback is by Week 8
Danny Amendola Jersey , if everyone stays healthy, the feeling right now is that I’m 99% confident that Taylor would still be the starter.4. What fills the
metaphorical hole of Joe Thomas? Also, the literal hole.CP: Metaphorically,
nothing can fill the hole left by Joe Thomas. He was and still is a God. The
literal hole will be filled by Joel Bitonio, the team’s starting left guard the
past four years. Moving Bitonio to left tackle has been something fans have
speculated on for years, because he is the team’s next-best lineman. This
offseason, Bitonio stayed at left guard while Cleveland pilot-tested a few
players at left guard. They quickly saw it was a disaster near the beginning of
camp, so they moved Bitonio to left tackle and inserted rookie Austin Corbett in
at left guard. Bitonio has more than held his own at left tackle during the
preseason.5. Give hope.CP: Jarvis Landry and Josh Gordon could be the best
one-two receiving punch in the NFL. Myles Garrett has been a monster this
preseason. The Browns have lacked star-power for many years, and now they have
it. You can feel the national attention growing due to Hard Knocks, and this may
finally be the year Cleveland becomes a contender.Thanks to Chris Pokorny for
putting up with our nonsense. Welcome back to 5 Questions, everybody.
