(SportsNetwork. Adidas y3 Sverige .com) - The modern-day NFL is a quarterback-driven league but if you take away the games most important position, two players stand above everyone else as the most impactful in the league, Houston defensive lineman J.J. Watt and New England tight end Rob Gronkowski. And its no coincidence that Watt and Gronk, who is preparing for Super Bowl XLIX against Seattle in Glendale, Ariz. on Feb. 1, were the only two unanimous selections to the 2014 All-Pro team. Both of those superstars are matchup nightmares. Down in South Texas, Watt is as versatile as it gets, a player capable of moving up and down the line of scrimmage in an effort to identify lesser offensive linemen. It doesnt matter if you are a guard, tackle or center, if Texans defensive coordinator Romeo Crennel or Watt himself think you are a weak link, youre going to have a 6-foot-6, 300-pound monster, who can somehow bench press a Ford F-150 while staying quicker than a hiccup, in your face. Gronkowski, meanwhile, is the offensive version of Watt, a 6-6, 270-pound traditional Y-back, who can put any linebacker on skates with his pure strength yet still beat them athletically in the passing game. If you try to defend the three-time All-Pro with a defensive back, it becomes a game of basketball where Gronk can use his imposing frame to box out the coverage. Thats why Jeremy Lanes critique of Gronkowski was such as a surprise. I actually dont think hes that good, the Seahawks nickel cornerback said Thursday. Hes OK. OK? A player like Jeremy Lane is OK, Gronkowski is on the fast track to Canton as long as he earns his stripes in the longevity department. You can give Lane credit for adopting the Legion of Boom swagger despite being a junior member of pro footballs best defensive backfield but why poke a bear who has better numbers through five NFL seasons than any other tight end in NFL history? The real stars of the Seahawks secondary are of course All-Pro corner Richard Sherman and star safeties Earl Thomas and Kam Chancellor. And no one talks more trash than Sherman yet even he deflected questions about stopping Gronkowski. I dont know -- Ill be sitting there with popcorn, Sherman said when asked what will happen when Chancellor, the hard-hitting strong safety who is the one who will be dealing with Gronkowski most of the time, and the Pats Pro-Bowler collide. It will be good football though. Dan Quinn, Seattles highly-respected defensive coordinator who is expected to become the next head coach of Atlanta after the Super Bowl, understands what he and his charges are up against. Hes a terrific tight end, Quinn admitted. I think hes a unique guy; the run game, the pass game, the catching radius, and I think at the end of it, just great hands to finish on routes. So when hes up in the air, generally hes strong handed to come down with it so those are a few of the things that impress us about him and why we regard him so highly. Lane didnt get that memo, however. He does have a big body, (but) from what Ive seen on tape, he dont like your hands being put on him, Lane said. So if we put our hands on him and shake him up a little bit, he wont catch that many balls as he should. Everyone is entitled to their own opinion, Gronkowski mused when told about Lanes critique. Did it tick you off? a reporter pressed. It may, Gronkowski responded. Anyone want to take bets on what happens if the 190-pound Lane gets his hands on Gronk? Adidas NMD Rabatt . Rudy Gay made the tying basket in regulation and a 3-pointer in overtime that gave Sacramento the lead for good, and Fredette scored a career-high 24 points to help the Kings beat the Knicks 106-101 on Wednesday night. Adidas NMD R1 Herr . A 23-year-old rookie, Stroman is 4-2 with a 3.44 earned run average in 12 games this season, the past seven of those being starts. He logged the first scoreless outing of his career on Friday versus Oakland in a no-decision. http://www.nmdsverige.com/ . 3 seed Phillip Kohlschreiber from Germany. Defending champion Marin Cilic also reached the semifinals -- his fourth in Zagreb -- defeating fellow Croat Ivan Dodig. German qualifier Bjorn Phau beat Dudi Sela of Israel to reach his first semifinals in nearly five years.KANSAS CITY – For the fourth time in seven games, the Blue Jays blew a lead of at least three runs. While it would be easy to lay this one on the bullpen - Steve Delabar, Brett Cecil, Sergio Santos and Esmil Rogers got tagged for eight runs in the final two innings - this loss, by a final score of 10-7 to the Royals, was a total team effort. So much so, in fact, that manager John Gibbons, Kansas Citys bench coach as recently as 2011, took a veiled shot at his club while praising his old team. “I will say one thing about that team over there, because I was there when they were young,” said Gibbons. “They play nine innings. I dont care, up or down, they compete and they get after your ass and thats why theyre going to end up winning it one day.” Perhaps Gibbons was upset with catcher Dioner Navarro, who put on a clinic of how not to play defence in the second inning. First, with Royals at the corners and one out, Navarro attempted to back hand a Dustin McGowan slider in the dirt. The ball skipped off Navarros shin guard and towards the Royals first base dugout. Billy Butler, the runner on third, scored. Later in the second, again with runners at the corners, Navarro inexplicably attempted to throw out Alcides Escobar trying to steal second. The throw was offline and bounced into centrefield, allowing Alex Gordon, who was on third, to score. Perhaps Gibbons was upset with Edwin Encarnacion who, with two runners on and one out in the seventh, didnt hustle down the first baseline on a ground ball back to pitcher Kelvin Herrera. Usually a routine play, Herreras throw brought first baseman Eric Hosmer off the bas,e but because Encarnacion was only halfway down the line, Hosmer had plenty of time to collect himself and step on the bag for the out. Perhaps Gibbons was frustrated with Colby Rasmus and Jose Bautista, who converged on Gordons lead-off fly ball to right centrefield in the seventh. Neither took charge - its Rasmus job to do so - and the ball bounced on the warning track for a lead-off double. The Jays had a 5-2 lead at the time. Gordon would score one hitter later when Salvador Perez hit a two-run home run off of Delabar, marking the start of the Kansas City comeback. Perhaps Gibbons was frustrated with Melky Cabrera, who did tack on two more hits for a league-leading 41, but who also had a poor night in left field. Twice Royals runners took an extra base on Cabreras arm. Once because he displayed no urgency in getting the ball back to the infield and Cabrera also missed a cut-off man in the Royals six-run eighth, allowing a second run to score on a single by Omar Infante. The Blue Jays fell to 12-14. Gibbons called it a “crappy game.” Under the cirumstances, he was being polite. McGOWANS STRONG OUTING; STROMAN MAKES STATEMENT As Dustin McGowan took the mound in Tuesday nights series opener against the Royals, Marcus Stroman was wrapping up, perhaps, his most impressive appearance in his brief professional career. The two are linked. The belief is that the Blue Jays are growing weary of McGowans inability to work deep into ballgames; manager John Gibbons has repeatedly offered that he liked McGowans work out of the bullpen last season, thinking hes better suited to a one or two-inning role. McGowan is a type-1 diabetic and, as first reported by TSN.ca, he wore his insulin pump in an attempt to regulate his blood sugar level - it tends to skyrocket during games - and alleviatee the fatigue that overtakes him in the middle innings. Adidas Superstar Rea. He pitched into the seventh inning for the first time this season, granted it was just one batter and Alex Gordon doubled, but it was a step forward. McGowan allowed three runs, two earned, on three hits, three walks and two strikeouts. He left with a lead, which was coughed up by the bullpen. “Real encouraged,” said McGowan. “I got deep in the game and thats all Ive been wanting to do. Sometimes the results are overshadowed by the innings you pitch, but as long as you get deep in games, good things happen once you get deep in games.” Stroman is among the clubs top pitching prospects and of those prospects, is considered to be the most major league ready. He showed it in Buffalo on Tuesday, hurling six hitless innings, striking out 10 and walking only one in what could be his final Bisons appearance before hes added to the 40-man roster and brought up to pitch in Pittsburgh this weekend. Gibbons has talked about using a six-man rotation through the next turn. The Blue Jays dont have another off day until May 19, which prevents Gibbons from rearranging the order of the rotation to facilitate additional days off for certain pitchers. If the Jays were weighing whether to go with McGowan or J.A. Happ on Monday in Philadelphia, after Stroman starts on Sunday in Pittsburgh, McGowans performance may have bought him at least one more start. GETZ ARRIVES; GOINS TO BUFFALO Chris Getz was shagging fly balls during Triple-A Buffalos batting practice on Monday afternoon when minor league field coordinator Doug Davis waved him in to give him the news he was on his way back to the big leagues. A former Royal who played in Kansas City for four seasons and not immediately aware of the Blue Jays next opponent, Getz was surprised to hear of his first stop destination. “It was pretty funny because I knew they had the off day and then Doug mentioned that, Hey, youve got a flight at 6:30 and youre heading to Kansas City,” said Getz. “Heading to Kansas City? I already played with them. Of course, Im playing against them, but it was cool to come back here and see a lot of familiar faces, teammates, but even the people working at the park. You get to know them over the years and theyre such good people here. I just kind of feel at home.” Getzs contract was selected from the Bisons in time for Tuesday nights opener with the Royals. He replaces Ryan Goins, who was optioned to Buffalo after a slow start at the plate. In 24 games and 66 plate appearances, Goins posted a slash line of .150/.203/.217 (.420 OPS), with one home run. “He was having good at-bats,” said hitting coach Kevin Seitzer. “I think if we were, as a group, doing better top-to-bottom, he would probably still be here. I dont know, thats not my decision, but I felt like his at-bats were getting better and better the last week, week-and-a-half.” This isnt it for Goins. The Blue Jays value his glove. Expect him to be back. “I told him, You go down there, be a good teammate, work hard, keep a good attitude which I know you will and apply the stuff that we worked on,” said Seitzer. “I said, I want you building confidence in everything youve done to this point to where you come back and dont go back.” Getz is a solid defensive second baseman who will bring a little more offence than Goins. For his six-year career with the White Sox and Royals, Getz, 30, is a .251/.310/.309 hitter. ' ' '