The Detroit Lions have desperately tried to improve what has been a weakness Anthony Mantha Jersey , signing and drafting players to improve their running game.
Detroit ranked last in the NFL last season in rushing offense and has been among the league's worst on the ground offensively in recent seasons.
Lions general manager Bob Quinn has made it a priority to fix the problem.
He signed veteran LeGarrette Blount in free agency and moved up in the draft to select Kerryon Johnson in the second round.
The newcomers will compete with or perhaps push out Ameer Abdullah in what has become a crowded backfield with running backs Theo Riddick, Zach Zenner and Dwayne Washington also on the roster.
"We got a lot of talent," Johnson said Tuesday after a minicamp practice. "A lot of these guys are good. I'm stepping into a lot of competition. A lot of these guys have played in the past. A lot of these guys want to keep playing in the future.
"At the end of the day, it's going to make us all better."
Detroit selected Frank Ragnow 20th overall in the draft, counting on him to play alongside four returning starters to bolster the offensive line. The former Arkansas center looks as if he's getting a shot to play left guard with the first-string offense.
"He just kind of fits in with the group," coach Matt Patricia said. "You're not really looking at it and saying, 'That's out of place,' like it looks like it's out of place. I haven't noticed that at all."
Anyone watching the Lions, especially under former coach Jim Caldwell , noticed they simply couldn't run the ball well consistently.
That played a part in Caldwell getting fired and Matthew Stafford directing a one-dimensional offense that led to him being sacked 47 times last season.
In short-yardage situations, especially near the goal line, Quinn saw the Lions come up short all too often and frankly acknowledged their toughness was lacking.
"That bothered me," he said after the draft. "So Youth Derek Stepan Jersey , I took it upon myself to implement some changes in terms of what we want to do."
The first change Quinn made to address the issue in the offseason was adding the 31-year-old Blount in the opening days of free agency. He helped Philadelphia and New England win the past two Super Bowls and reunited with an executive he knew from their time together with the Patriots.
If the season started this week, it appears the 6-foot, 247-pound Blount would be the No. 1 running back.
"He's obviously a big dude," Stafford said last month. "Big, physical guy. Obviously, has played in some big-time games for some successful teams."
If Detroit doesn't block better, though, it may not matter who is running the ball.
The Lions didn't have a true fullback on their roster last season and now they have a pair of them, converting Nick Bellore from linebacker and drafting Nick Bawden in the seventh round. More importantly, they invested a first-round pick in Ragnow to effectively replace Travis Swanson.
"On paper should our run game be better? Yeah, probably," Quinn has said. "The pieces are there. Now it's really up to all of us in the building to kind of make sure these guys produce at a high level."
NOTES: Safety Glover Quin participated in minicamp after missing voluntary workouts earlier in the offseason. When Quin was asked if he was considering retirement, he paused for several seconds before saying Womens Tom Pyatt Jersey , "No."
BOSTON — On the verge of their first playoff series win in four years, the Boston Bruins may or not have star and leader Patrice Bergeron back for Game 5 of their first-round series with the Toronto Maple Leafs on Saturday night.
The Leafs, facing elimination as they seek their first series win since 2004 (and the Original Six franchise’s first Stanley Cup since 1967), know they will get one of their best players back Saturday as Nazem Kadri returns from a three-game suspension for a hit in Game 1.
But will it help?
The Bruins, playing without late-scratch Bergeron (upper body), took a 3-1 lead in the best-of-seven series with a 3-1 victory over Toronto on Thursday. They need one win to advance as Bergeron’s status remained unclear Friday.
The team canceled practice, but Bergeron was on the ice at the team’s practice facility with a handful of players early and no decision was announced about Saturday. He has not been ruled out and coach Bruce Cassidy called it “a positive” that Bergeron was skating.
Riley Nash slid into Bergeron’s spot on the top line and played a strong game, helping set up the first goal of the game just 28 seconds after faceoff.
Kadri, who charged Tommy Wingels while Wingels was on his knees against the boards, cost his team dearly when the NHL hit him with the suspension — thus costing the Leafs a 32-goal scorer and one of their best two-way players.
Now he’s back.
“Obviously, he’s a good player,” Leafs coach Mike Babcock said Friday. “It’s unfortunate for him that he missed three games, but the way I look at it on our team is you’ve got to be able to pick each other up. We weren’t able to do that.
“He comes back Womens Cam Newton Jersey , he’ll make us deeper and we’re excited to have him back. Plus, he’ll have good energy for us. It’s important to have that going into Boston.”
Kadri, who was “disappointed” at the punishment, said, “It’s exciting to get back in. I’ve been champing at the bit the last couple of games here and it’s been hard to watch knowing that you could be out there trying to help and trying to make an impact. I’m happy the time is come.”
The Bruins won the first two games of the series at home, then lost Game 3 in Toronto before riding goaltender Tuukka Rask to Thursday night’s road win.
“Tuukka was our savior tonight,” said Bruins rookie Jake DeBrusk, who made it 3-1 with a third-period goal.
Rask made 31 saves in the victory.
“Tonight we needed him to dig and be very good. And he was,” said Cassidy, whose team stumbled down the stretch to lose out to the Tampa Bay Lightning in the battle for the top spot in both the Atlantic Division and Eastern Conference before getting off to a strong playoff start.
Brad Marchand, who scored the winning goal, said, “(Rask) played a phenomenal game. He’s one of the best goalies in the world and he gives us an opportunity to win every night. He made a lot of big saves early on to give us a chance to get back in the game. We really need to give him a lot of credit for tonight.”
The Leafs know what they’re up against Mitch Unrein Jersey , needing three straight wins to upset the higher seed — and Babcock says the attitude is good.
“We talked about that here today,” he said. “The bottom line is — I don’t know how many of you saw this, but last night out there in Maple Leaf Square, they put that on TV. I talked about the national anthem the other day and then last night. To me, if you’re these players and you’ve seen that, you want to see it again.
“The only way we get to see it again is we’ve got to win to play. We’ve got to dig in. We’ve got to compete harder, we’ve got to play better. I thought we did tons of good things last night, we didn’t give up very much, we made a couple of mistakes on a couple of two-on-ones and they didn’t go our way. Dig in and make it go your way. I think you’ve got to enjoy part of the duress of this time of year. Embrace it.”
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