News » KC averaged all those points weekly.

The Dallas Cowboys made a bold move for the present Monday http://www.vikingsauthorizedshops.com/authentic-dru-samia-jersey , trading a first-round pick for Oakland receiver Amari Cooper in Raiders coach Jon Gruden’s latest play for the future.The Cowboys gave up their top pick in the next draft in hopes of giving quarterback Dak Prescott another weapon just a few months after releasing franchise touchdown catch leader Dez Bryant in a cost-cutting move.Dallas (3-4) has struggled to score points while losing all four road games, including 20-17 Sunday at Washington . And Cowboys receivers haven’t made many big plays in their first season without Bryant and retired tight end Jason Witten, the club leader in catches.The Cowboys decided Bryant wasn’t worth $12.5 million in 2018 after three subpar seasons since signing a big contract following his only All-Pro year in 2014.Raiders general manager Reggie McKenzie said Cowboys executive vice president of personnel Stephen Jones called last week to say he’d check in on Cooper on Monday and offered the first-round pick that the Raiders were holding out for before making a deal.Cooper was the fourth overall draft pick by the Raiders out of Alabama three years ago. He started his career with consecutive 1,000-yard seasons and had two 100-yard games this year, but had just two targets and one catch since the second of those games.The 24-year-old Cooper �? five years younger than Bryant �? was placed in the concussion protocol after leaving Oakland’s last game against Seattle on Oct. 14.Dallas receivers have just one 100-yard game combined through seven games, by Cole Beasley in a Week 6 win over Jacksonville. The Cowboys are going into their bye week, and the Raiders are returning from their break to face Indianapolis at home Sunday.For Gruden, dealing his most accomplished receiver doesn’t compare to the preseason trade that sent two-time All-Pro pass rusher Khalil Mack to Chicago. But it is another example of the Raiders (1-5) looking to the future.Oakland figures to have a good shot at the No. 1 overall pick in 2019, and now has three first-rounders with the Cooper trade.“This is where we get a great opportunity to build,” McKenzie said. “We’ve got pieces now, but we can really rebuild on what we have. With this group, the coaches that I’ve got here Daniel Jones Jersey , knowing where we’re heading schematically on both sides of the ball and special teams, we’re going to build this thing . we’ve got the ammunition to build this thing really well.”Cooper was the third receiver started his career with back-to-back seasons with 1,000 yards receiving and 70 catches, following Odell Beckham Jr. and Marques Colston but has been unable to build on that success the past two years.He has just 70 catches for 960 yards since the start of 2016 as his inconsistency has become a bigger problem. Cooper has been held under 30 yards receiving in 13 of his past 26 games. Cooper has 3,183 yards and 19 touchdowns in three-plus seasons.The Raiders have now dealt two key pieces away from a 12-win team in 2016 and look to be in major rebuilding mode now.“It’s disappointing. Real disappointing,” McKenzie said. “It was starting to get that way last year when we somewhat took a nosedive, but I understand the NFL, the system will not allow you to keep them all.”It’s not the first time Cowboys owner and general manager Jerry Jones has made a big trade for a former top-10 pick at receiver, and the other two attempts didn’t go well.In 2000, Jones sent two first-round picks to Seattle for Joey Galloway before the first of three straight 5-11 seasons. Galloway, drafted eighth overall by the Seahawks in 1995, didn’t have a 1 Ed Oliver Jersey ,000-yard season in four years with the Cowboys.About this time 10 years ago, the Cowboys got Roy Williams from Detroit for three draft picks, including a first-rounder. The former Texas standout’s first full season with Dallas was his best, with 596 yards receiving and seven touchdowns.The Cowboys made the playoffs once in two-plus years with Williams, in 2009, when they won the franchise’s first postseason game since the last of five Super Bowl victories following the 1995 season. Williams was drafted seventh overall by the Lions in 2004. CHICAGO (AP) — Maybe it was the absence of all those high-powered offenses on byes.Perhaps it was the jitters for some younger teams, particularly their quarterbacks: Deshaun Watson, Mitchell Trubisky and Lamar Jackson.Or maybe defense actually still has a place in the NFL, especially in the playoffs.The most points anyone scored during wild-card weekend, when only Dallas won at home, was 24 by the Cowboys. In total, 145 points were scored http://www.billscheapshop.com/cheap-authentic-cody-ford-jersey , an average of 36.2 per game. The Chiefs averaged 35.3 all by themselves this season.As Nick Foles — St. Nick in Philly for his clutch work as a relief pitcher and, oh yes, as a Super Bowl champion — observed following the Eagles‘ 16-15 comeback escape in Chicago : “Our defense really kept us in this game. It was a hard-fought defensive battle tonight and we were able to come up big in the end.”Or as coach Anthony Lynn noted following the Chargers‘ 23-17 win at Baltimore in which Los Angeles forced three turnovers and held the Ravens to 229 total yards, 90 on the ground: “Our defense was outstanding. We held that team down to 100 yards rushing. No one has played that team the way our defense played today. I was really impressed with the way our defense stepped up.”All the winning defenses will need to step up a few more rungs next weekend. Consider that aside from the Chiefs scoring 565 points this season, the Rams got 527, the Saints 504 and the Patriots 436. All of them will be at home.The Colts (11-6) head to Kansas City (12-4) on Saturday, followed by the Cowboys (11-6) at the Rams (13-3). On Sunday, the Chargers (13-4) are at the Patriots (11-5), while the Eagles, who lost 48-7 at the Saints during the season, finish off the divisional round at New Orleans (13-3).While the NFL loves to tout all the scoring records set during the 2018 season, all of the yards gained and general wide-openness of weekly contests Devin Singletary Jersey , when it comes down to deciding who winds up in the conference title games, maybe the guys trying to stop those video-game offenses will have a say.It’s unlikely that any of the wild-card victors can win a Super Bowl without being balanced. The Eagles will need to play far better defense in the Big Easy or Drew Brees will have, well, an easy time picking apart a secondary playing mostly backups. The Chargers likely will require more than 24 points to succeed in Foxborough, where the Patriots had the NFL’s only unbeaten home record this season.Dallas needs more offensive imagination and another huge performance against the run to win at L.A. Only Indianapolis, which was superb on both sides of the ball at Houston, displayed enough of the formula needed to get the conference championship game.Then again, the Colts must slow down All-Pro quarterback Patrick Mahomes and crew at Arrowhead Stadium.“We’re not worried about who’s on the other side,” said Colts rookie linebacker Darius Leonard, himself an All-Pro. “We always talk about whoever’s playing on the opposite side is gray matter. So we’re always talking about doing what we can do and controlling what we can control, and that is going out, playing each play Kyler Murray Jersey , play by play and going from there.”What about the four teams coming off byes? Which ones are best suited to come up with a solid defensive showing?The two most suspect are the Chiefs and Rams. Sure, KC averaged all those points weekly. It also yielded 26.3, including 43, 54, 29 and 38 in its losses, and the 421 points opponents scored by far were the most any playoff team surrendered. The Rams allowed 384, easily the most of any NFC postseason qualifier; L.A. had seven games in which it allowed at least 30 points.New England also can be vulnerable on defense even though it’s been stingy at times when it comes to giving up touchdowns. The Patriots aren’t a force in the pass rush and against quality quarterbacks the linebackers and secondary have had trouble in coverage.New Orleans probably has the most well-rounded roster, with some standouts on defense to accompany Brees and All-Pro receiver Michael Thomas and the terrific running back duo of Alvin Kamara and Mark Ingram.And don’t think defense won’t be needed through the rest of January and into February.