Inland Waterways » playing their best hockey before

There’s not much new to say about a New England Patriots team in the Divisional Round of the playoffs. Bill Belichick’s squad has made it this far in the playoffs at least, the past four years and nine of the past 11 seasons. It’ll be a familiar looking squad as well, as a lot of the featured players will be in their fourth go ‘round come Saturday. Rob Gronkowski, Julian Edelman, Dont’a Hightower, a good chunk of both the offensive and defensive lines, and of course Tom Brady have been around for all or most of the past four years. So what makes this team better? Why are they the favourites in the AFC, better than any of the four previous editions of the team? On offence, a lot of it starts with Gronk. The 25-year-old freak of nature has reclaimed his crown amongst tight ends after injuries derailed his last two seasons and opened the door for Jimmy Graham and Julius Thomas to receive all the accolades. While it wasn’t quite the all-time season he put up as a sophomore, Gronkowski finished first in just about every pass catching category for tight ends with 82 receptions for 1,124 yards and 12 Gronk-smashes. The emergence of Edelman has helped the Patriots offence the past couple years as well. Edelman went from an intriguing option the first four years of his career to pretty much Wes Welker the past two. Like Gronkowski, Edelman didn’t quite hit his career peaks this season, but finished with a very impressive 92 receptions for 972 yards. And then of course there’s Brady. While other sure-fire Hall of Famers of a certain age are having questions about their game deteriorating asked, Brady keeps humming along to the tune of, again, MVP consideration. Maybe it’s just a case of Brady getting his 2014 slump out of the way early. After struggling through a mediocre September, Brady silenced critics with a massive year the rest of the way. Brady finished with 4,109 passing yards and 33 touchdowns to just nine interceptions. It’s not his best season statistically but Brady led New England to home field advantage throughout the playoffs and is widely considered a top MVP candidate alongside Aaron Rodgers and JJ Watt. All told the Patriots finished 11th in the league in offensive yards with 365 per game but fourth in points scored with more than 29 per game. Another point for the “some things never change with the Patriots” department is the team’s shaky run game. New England finished 18th in the league running the ball and will rely on some combination of Jonas Gray, Shane Vereen, and Brandon Bolden to help take pressure off Brady and the passing game. The defence is a cast of familiar faces as well, save for a big addition in the secondary. Richard Sherman has taken any and all headlines given to cornerbacks in today’s NFL, but Darrelle Revis is still, say, Top Two in the league at his position. But even with Revis the team only finished middle of the pack against the pass, giving up more than 239 yards per game. New England has been better against the run and finished with the 13th ranked defence in terms of yards allowed but eighth in points given up. Making the Divisional Round is nothing new for the Patriots and past teams have advanced even farther into the playoffs more often than not in recent years. This team is generally considered to be even better than previous editions, so it would be an upset indeed if New England fell flat against the Baltimore Ravens – in Foxborough no less – come Saturday. Hunter Henry Jersey . - Titans quarterback Jake Locker will miss the rest of the season with a Lisfranc injury to his right foot, leaving Tennessee trying to rally with Ryan Fitzpatrick. Justin Jones Jersey .com) - A pair of programs shooting for their 10th win of the season get together at Madison Square Garden on Saturday, as the NC State Wolfpack tangle with 22nd-ranked West Virginia during the challenge round of the Gotham Classic. http://www.chargersauthenticshop.com/Chargers-Drew-Kaser-Draft-Jersey/ .com) - The Los Angeles Kings werent playing their best hockey before the league went on break during the Winter Olympics. Kellen Winslow Jersey . Ben Street scored twice for the Heat (17-5-1), who won their fourth game in a row and 13th in their last 14 outings. Brett Bulmer scored the lone goal for the Wild (6-11-0), who dropped their sixth straight contest. Craig Mager Jersey .com) - Delon Wright made all 12 of his free throws and finished with 21 points and six assists as No.The Toronto Raptors are having one of the best seasons in franchise history - in a year when nobody expected it. Many believed sneaking into the final playoff spot would be a success for the Raptors this season, but even that wasnt guaranteed. But with only 11 games remaining in the regular season, Toronto (40-31) sits in third place in the Eastern Conference, 2 1/2 games ahead of the Brooklyn Nets for tops in the Atlantic Division and a postseason spot all but official. This will be the first time since 2008 that the Raptors will play in the NBAs second season. With all of the good fortunes the Dinos have seen this year, who has been most integral to the teams success? DeMar DeRozan is the face of the franchise and is one of the longest tenured members of the Raptors. The 24-year-old made his first All-Star Game this season and is leading the team in points scoring 22.7 per game. This is DeRozans fifth year in the Association and he signed a four-year deal last season to stay north of the border for the foreseeable future. Will the team only go as far as DeMar will take them? Kyle Lowry has quickly become a fan favourite in only his second season in Raptors colours. The rugged point guard has shown bulldog-like toughness on a nightly basis, playing considerable minutes and being the man the team has looked to when they are in need of a spark. Analysts and fans alike thought the 28-year-old should have been in New Orleans for the All-Star Game. Averaging 17.6 PPG (scoring over 20 points in eight consecutive games) along with 7.7 assists per game makes a good case for that argument. His future is uncertain in Toronto with Lowry hitting the free agent market this summer, but the Raptors are glad to have him for the time being.dddddddddddd Is he the one to thank? Then theres Amir Johnson. At only 26, he can be considered a veteran, already playing in his ninth NBA season and is an important part of the Raps front court. He averages 11.1 PPG, 6.9 rebounds per game and is a strong force on the defensive side of the ball. Maybe the key success is coming from the sidelines. Head coach Dwane Casey is in his second year in charge of the Raptors and seems to have finally gotten through to his players. Toronto has gotten much better defensively only allowing 97.6 PPG, good enough for fifth in the NBA. Is the coachs defence-first mindset the reason the Raptors are headed to the post-season? The success could be attributed to General Manager Masai Ujiri. The Nigerian hasnt brought in a lot of highly touted talent since he took the job last off-season. Instead hes used the method of addition by subtraction to improve on the court. First, he shipped the much-maligned Andrea Bargnani off to the New York Knicks followed by sending Rudy Gay to the Sacramento Kings during the season. Toronto is 34-19 since Gay was traded out west. With the offence no longer going through Gay, the Raptors have been able to score more efficiently. Not to mention the players coming back to Toronto - namely Patrick Patterson and Greivis Vasquez – have helped the Raptors to get where they are today. Do we have to look to the front office for the reason behind the sudden improvement? So, who do you think is the most integral to the Raptors success this season? As always, its Your! Call. Cheap Jerseys China NFL Jerseys China NFL Jerseys Wholesale Discount Basketball Jerseys Cheap NHL Jerseys Authentic Cheap Baseball Jerseys Free Shipping Cheapest College Jerseys Sale Cheap Football Jerseys China Nike NFL Jerseys Canada Wholesale NHL Jerseys From China MLB Jerseys Outlet Canada Wholesale NBA Jerseys Canada Store Cheap Soccer Jerseys China Cheap Authentic Jerseys Canada ' ' '