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EAGAN Zach Brown Jersey , Minn. (AP) —easily be taken for granted at this stage of his career, given his streak of 61 consecutive games started that’s the longest active run by a tight end in the NFL.Whether his contributions have been fully appreciated or not, Rudolph has continually carried a significant presence for the team on and off the field.Three quarters of the way through the 2018 schedule, Rudolph is on pace for the second-most statistically productive season of his career with 46 receptions for 463 yards, trailing only 2016. His catch rate of 76.7 percent out of 60 targets is his highest since he was a second-round draft pick out of Notre Dame in 2011.Rudolph’s durability is at the forefront of his player portfolio these days. Attitude, intelligence and awareness have long been cited as strengths by his coaches and teammates. But any evaluation of the 6-foot-6, 265-pound Rudolph inevitably circles back to those oven mitts he has long used to haul in all those passes in traffic.“If the ball is in his general direction, he catches it. He brings it in one way or another, makes the tough catch,” quarterback Kirk Cousins said. “That’s a trait that I really appreciate. He’s proven it time and time again, so I’m excited to just continue to put the ball in his general area and let him bring it in.”Rudolph collected only two receptions in each of the two games preceding the game against Green Bay on Nov. 25.Coincidentally or not, the offense was ordinary at best on those days Devin Bush Jersey , a win against Detroit and a loss at Chicago. During the week leading up to the Packers game, Rudolph met with coach Mike Zimmer to air his concern, not out of self-importance but rather to reiterate his confidence in being able to help the team move the ball and score once it nears the end zone. Then Rudolph had seven catches by halftime, as the Vikings went on to beat Green Bay for their most important win in more than a month.“I felt like I could help our team and it kind of clicked there,” Rudolph said.With 39 touchdown receptions, Rudolph holds the career Vikings record for tight ends. He has 101 career starts, entering Minnesota’s game at Seattle on Monday night.“I still feel like I have a lot of football left in me, hopefully another 100,” Rudolph said.Many families around the Minnesota area would sure appreciate that. Rudolph was announced on Thursday as the team’s nominee for the Walter Payton NFL Man of the Year Award for community service.Rudolph and his wife, Jordan, have led and funded outreach at the University of Minnesota Masonic Children’s Hospital for sick kids enduring treatment. The Vikings produced a video celebrating the honor , featuring interviews with children http://www.steelerscheapauthenticstore.com/diontae-johnson-jersey-cheap , parents and staff who’ve been affected by his effort as well as an emotional Rudolph crying as he read their thank you letters to him.“Getting to know these people, getting to know their families, being welcomed into their families, we say all the time, ‘Some of our happiest memories are when we get to reconnect with these families once they’re out of the hospital,'” Rudolph said. ALAMEDA, Calif. (AP) — The story line around the Oakland Raiders last season was a consistent and frustrating one.After trading away star pass rusher Khalil Mack following a contract holdout, the Raiders never were able to fill that void on defense and were the worst in the league when it came to pressuring the quarterback and shutting down opposing offenses.While the constant questions about the lack of a pass rush might have grown tiresome, the Raiders know they will only stop when the defense takes some steps toward truly replacing Mack.“We take all of it,” said second-year defensive tackle Maurice Hurst, who led Oakland with four sacks as a rookie. “Every single game we play they’re going to mention our pass rush. We control the narrative for that. Obviously, last year wasn’t good enough and we get all the criticism for it. There’s a lot of eyes on us to develop and be special this year and change that narrative Justin Layne Jersey , change what they say about us, change our attitude and how we’re approaching things.”Hurst was part of a trio of rookie defensive linemen in Oakland last year who were drafted to complement edge rushers Mack and Bruce Irvin but became the main pieces after Mack was traded before the start of the season and Irvin was released midway through the year after struggling as the main man.Hurst showed some signs but had little help. Third-round defensive end Arden Key finished with just one sack in 16 games and second-round defensive tackle P.J. Hall had no sacks in 14 games.Those three are now being counted on as a big part of a young group up front that also includes a pair of rookie defensive ends in No. 4 overall pick Clelin Ferrell and fourth-rounder Maxx Crosby.“Now it’s our time to take it over and start to develop our own identity,” Hurst said. “That’s something that we didn’t do last year, is to develop an identity, and I think that’s what we are going to try and accomplish early on and just set a tone and keep it rolling throughout the season.”The numbers for the Raiders on defense were downright awful last season. Their 95 total quarterback pressures, according to SportRadar, were 29 fewer than the next worst team in the league. Oakland also finished with a league-low 13 sacks. In fact, Miami, New England and the Giants were tied for the second-fewest sacks with 30 but were closer to seventh best in the league than the last place Raiders.With no pressure coming whatsoever from the front seven and a secondary that struggled to limit big plays with a league-worst 10 passes allowed of at least 50 yards, the results were predictably poor.The Raiders ranked last in the league with 6.27 yards allowed per play and gave up a league-high 29.2 points per game for the worst mark in franchise history in yards and second worst in points.It was an unfamiliar spot for coordinator Paul Guenther, whose defenses ranked in the top of the NFL in his four seasons running the show in Cincinnati.“It’s something that you don’t always want to go through, having a rough year like we did http://www.steelerscheapauthenticstore.com/benny-snell-jr.-jersey-cheap , but obviously you start to learn how to build these things,” he said. “How to build your lineup card and what it should look like and how you envisioned it. That was the positive for me. I always tell the players, if you don’t learn from failure, you’re making a mistake. You have to learn from what we did good and what we did bad and build off of that in the future.”Guenther should have more pieces at his disposal this year with the maturation of last year’s rookies; the additions of Ferrell, first-round safety Johnathan Abram and second-round cornerback Trayvon Mullen through the draft; and free agent acquisitions like safety Lamarcus Joyner and linebackers Vontaze Burfict and Brandon Marshall.Burfict was an especially important addition at middle linebacker for Guenther, having spent time with him in Cincinnati. Burfict’s knowledge of the defense will allow Guenther to have more variety on defense this season.“It’s like having a quarterback that you’ve coached in there so you can get in and out of calls at the line of scrimmage,” he said. “Last year we didn’t do that as much. We did it a few times and I just felt like it was a lot for the guys in the first year of the system to put that added weight on them. I wanted them to kind of go out and play. Now in year two, add in a guy like him, and having another year under the system, the guys will pick it up a lot faster.”