Area of Hell » hargers turning point. The Bengals got the r

ENGLEWOOD, Colo. - With every dropped pass in September, speculation grew about just what was bothering Denver Broncos receiver Demaryius Thomas.His grandmothers death. Eric Deckers departure. Looming mega millions. Wes Welkers suspension.Thomas said it boiled down to something else entirely:Letting down Peyton.Thats the thought that invaded his mind when he was running free with two blockers in front of him against Indianapolis and Mannings pass inexplicably skipped off Thomas hands.Unable to forget it and move on, one drop turned into another. And another. And so on.Thomas, who piled up 217 catches for 3,117 yards and 28 touchdowns, counting playoffs, the last two years, was mired in the first bona fide slump of his five-year NFL career.Heading into the bye week last month with just one TD catch to go with four drops, Thomas consulted Hall of Famer Shannon Sharpe and Broncos Ring of Famer Rod Smith, both of whom told him he needed to clear his head.When he returned from the bye last week, Thomas went out onto the practice field on his own time and caught 250 passes on Monday, then put in extra work the rest of the week, one of the reasons his position coach, Tyke Tolbert, declared his slump over.All the chips are in on us seeing the old Demaryius, Tolbert said last week. Everybody at some point in time will go through some type of slump. And hes through his slump. Luckily for him, he got it out of the way early. So, I look forward to nothing but great things from Demaryius this Sunday through the rest of the season.Asked why he would declare Thomas slump over before his star even had a chance to prove it in a game, Tolbert said: I think his approach and the fact that all our guys are back now. We missed Wes the first couple weeks of the season. We shuffled guys around but everybodys back doing stuff theyve always done, so I see everybody has a more stable mindset right now. I see the improvement in practice. And I expect nothing more than to see it in the game.Tolberts words proved prophetic. Thomas caught eight passes for a franchise-record 226 yards and two long touchdowns in Denvers 41-20 rout of Arizona on Sunday when Manning threw for a career-best 479 yards.Manning saw the signs of a breakout, too.Demaryius challenged himself during the bye week, Manning said. He knew he wasnt playing up to his capabilities. He has high goals and high standards and for whatever reason, I think hes been thinking a lot. We did put him in the slot early with Wes out. Hes been thinking a lot and its just affected his concentration with catching the football.I think he just had a good look in his eye all week and he got back to his fundamentals.Thomas big day included touchdown catches of 31 and 86 yards. Were it not for a chop block penalty negating his 77-yard TD catch, Thomas would have posted just the sixth 300-yard receiving day in NFL history.Its all right, Thomas said. Everybody makes mistakes. We got back out there and were able to put up more points and to get a win, and thats really all that matters.The usually sure-handed Thomas, who even made the erratic Tim Tebow look good back in 2011, had a trio of drops against Indianapolis on Sept. 7. All came within 4 yards of the line of scrimmage with significant yards after the catch a possibility.I had to play slot because Welker was out and Im not used to that, Thomas said. I knew if it was like third-and-5, Peyton always went to Welker and I knew if Im not open, hes going to be on me. So I was thinking when I got the ball coming my way, I would drop it, and first one I dropped. I let it get to my head: Im letting down Peyton, Im letting down my team.So, breaking out of his funk, he said, was a matter of just being back in my position and being more comfortable.With an unclouded head and a clear conscience.___AP NFL website: www.pro32.ap.org and www.twitter.com/AP_NFL___Follow AP Pro Football Writer Arnie Melendrez Stapleton on Twitter: http://twitter.com/arniestapleton wholesale nba jerseys china . The Brazilian-born strikers brace drew him level with Real Madrid star Cristiano Ronaldo as the leagues leading scorers with 17 goals apiece through 16 rounds. "The important thing is to help the team win, not the goals," Diego Costa said. After a first half dominated by defence, Atletico pressed Valencia into its area and Diego Costa did the rest. nba jerseys china . PETERSBURG, Fla. http://www.cheapnbajerseyschinastore.com/. The pair ended pointless droughts when they each scored two goals in a 6-4 victory over the Winnipeg Jets that halted a two-game losing skid for the Stars (15-11-5). cheap nba jerseys china . Howard had 17 points and a career-high-tying 26 rebounds in his Houston debut, James Harden added 21 points and the Rockets cruised to a 96-83 win over the Charlotte Bobcats on Wednesday night. wholesale nba jerseys .Y. -- Syracuses streak lives on -- barely. CINCINNATI, Ohio -- Philip Rivers gloved hands found the right touch in the January cold. The Bengals? Still cant do anything right when its playoff time. San Diego took advantage of Andy Daltons three turnovers in the second half on Sunday, pulling away to a 27-10 victory that extended the Bengals stretch of playoff misery to 23 years and counting. With Rivers making accurate throws in the chilling rain, the Chargers (10-7) won their fifth in a row, beating the last team that had knocked them off. Theyll play next Sunday in Denver, which has the AFCs top seed. It was a shocking finish for the Bengals (11-6), who won the AFC North, went unbeaten at home and had their top-ranked defence for the playoffs. With everything in their favour, they fell apart, getting outscored 20-0 in the second half. "We asked a lot of our defence today and they came up with three big turnovers," said Rivers, who was 12 of 16 for 128 yards with a touchdown and no interceptions. "We didnt turn it over, which is always big in the playoffs." The Bengals now have the sixth-longest streak of playoff futility in NFL history, stretching all the way back to the 1990 season. Theyve lost their playoff opener three straight years, matching a league record as well, according to STATS LLC. Coach Marvin Lewis fell to 0-5 in the playoffs during his 11 seasons as head coach, but is expected to stick around and get another chance to try again. A lot of it fell on Dalton, who has a trilogy of bad playoff games. He fumbled and threw two interceptions in the second half that set up San Diegos win. Dalton finished 29 of 51 for 334 yards with a below--average passer rating of 67.dddddddddddd Combined with the Saints victory over the Eagles on Saturday night, the two No. 6 playoff seeds won for the first time since 2010, when the Packers won the Super Bowl. And the Chargers are thinking: Why not us? "We talked all week about this being the fifth round," Rivers said, referring to their five-game winning streak. "So the sixth round will be in Denver next week." This one was a reversal from the last time they met. The Bengals forced three turnovers for a 17-10 win in San Diego on Dec. 1, which became the Chargers turning point. The Bengals got the rematch at home, where they had scored 49, 41, 41, 42 and 34 points in their last five regular season games. They were blanked in the second half on Sunday, when Dalton went 17 of 34 for 170 yards with two interceptions, a fumble and three sacks. In first-round playoff losses each of the past three seasons, Dalton has thrown one touchdown pass and six interceptions. Rivers completed a team-record and NFL-best 69.5 per cent of his passes this season for 4,478 yards. He was only 5 of 6 in the first half for 48 yards with San Diego frequently backed inside its 20-yard line to start drives. He completed all of his six passes during a 10-play, 80-yard touchdown drive in the third quarter that put the Chargers ahead to stay, with his 4-yard pass to Ladarius Green giving San Diego a 14-10 lead. Dalton then made the mistakes that turned the game, allowing the Chargers to pull ahead. Ronnie Brown finished it off with a 58-yard touchdown run, the longest TD run against the Bengals in their playoff history. ' ' '