The hype trains touting NFL offseason activity typically start leaving

January Ugo Amadi Jersey , when new head coaches are hired and fan bases are fired up about the fresh start that sends hope soaring high like the football in the air on the opening kickoff of a game.There’s another round of departures in March, when the biggest-buck free agent contracts are signed to put some of the highest-profile players in the league on new teams snatching up missing pieces to their Super Bowl puzzles. Then, the first-round draft picks clamber aboard at the end of April.By December, well, the derailments are inevitable.From Le’Veon Bell to Jon Gruden to Leonard Fournette, here’s a pick-six of the biggest disappointments in the NFL this year:NO-SHOWThe millions of fantasy football players who snagged Bell for a seeming bargain in their auctions and drafts would wholeheartedly agree, though the Pittsburgh Steelers survived the absence of the two-time All-Pro running back due to the emergence of James Conner and, most recently, Jaylen Samuels.Bell bet on himself, steadfastly refusing to sign his franchise tender without the promise of a contract extension one of the sport’s most dangerous positions and ultimately accepting his ineligibility for the season . The Steelers didn’t blink, either, and Bell will assumedly restart his career with another team in 2019.CHALLENGE FOR CHUCKYThe Oakland Raiders, eyeing an eventual move to Las Vegas, gave Jon Gruden a 10-year contract worth about $100 million to return to the franchise he got his start with as a head coach.The Raiders are in this for the long haul, after burning through nine head coaches in the 16 seasons that passed after Gruden shed his silver and black. Their 3-11 record two years after a 12-4 finish, however, is a shaker of salt in the wound for the Bay Area loyalists on the verge of losing their team. Watching traded stars Khalil Mack and Amari Cooper thrive elsewhere has only made this season hurt worse. No team has been easier to score on this year than the Raiders Devin White Jersey , with an average of nearly 30 points allowed per game.SOPHOMORE SLUMPPart a strong crop of rookie running backs last season, Leonard Fournette finished fifth in the league in yards rushing per game as the Jacksonville Jaguars came so close to beating the New England Patriots in the AFC championship game. The Jaguars as a team would qualify as the league’s biggest letdown, so Fournette is hardly alone. But even with a mulligan for missing six games because of a hamstring injury, Fournette has taken a clear step back.The fourth overall pick in the 2017 draft has averaged only 3.4 yards per attempt (46th in the NFL) and 56.6 rushing yards per game (24th in the NFL). Last week in a three-point loss to Washington, Fournette spent most of the second half on the sideline while undrafted rookie Dave Williams ate into his playing time.TOUGH TIMES FOR TOP-10 QUARTERBACKSDrafting a quarterback in the first round is a decision made with as much long-term view as any in the league, and success for rookies at this high-pressure position can be awfully difficult without strong supporting casts.Still, more and more quarterbacks in their early 20s are coming to the NFL with the skills to be an instant success, and given the impatient nature of a results-driven culture there’s been no shortage of complaints about Sam Darnold (third overall pick), Josh Allen (seventh overall pick) and Josh Rosen (10th overall pick), particularly when judging them against first overall pick Baker Mayfield’s late-season surge with the Cleveland Browns. With a combined 30 touchdown passes against 38 interceptions, Darnold, Allen and Rosen have displayed a need for more experience and more help. The New York Jets, Buffalo Bills and Arizona Cardinals have a collective record of 12-20.KICKING IT AWAYSure, Chicago and Green Bay play on grass in cold climates, but Minnesota and Detroit have indoor stadiums. NFC North teams have enjoyed a long line of successful kickers. This year, though, has been a struggle L.J. Collier Jersey , with 12-year veteran Matt Prater of the Lions the only specialist whose season has become a story. The Vikings cut rookie Daniel Carlson after two games and three missed field goals that cost them a victory against the rival Packers, who had their own issues with Mason Crosby. Cody Parkey ranks 28th in field goal percentage for the Bears, one spot behind Crosby.SO MUCH FOR DRAMAThat last-second 2-point conversion the Los Angeles Chargers used to win at Kansas City and tie the Chiefs for the AFC West lead turned that division race into a December thriller. That’s the exception , though, with the Bears, New Orleans Saints and Los Angeles Rams already in possession of top-four seeds in the NFC and the New England Patriots and Houston Texans holding two-game leads in their divisions with two games to play. That three-team race in the NFC East has been muted by all that mediocrity. The Baltimore Ravens, at least, have made the AFC North a legitimate competition with the Steelers.
SAN FRANCISCO — The San Francisco Giants will attempt to complete their winningest homestand since their 2012 championship season when they go for a series sweep against the Colorado Rockies on Thursday afternoon.

Right-handers Chris Stratton (8-5, 4.14 ERA) of the Giants and Jon Gray (7-7, 5.52) of the Rockies are scheduled to duel in a rematch of a May 19 meeting in San Francisco won by the Giants 9-4.

With hard-fought 3-2 and 1-0 victories in the first two games of the series, the Giants improved to 7-2 on their homestand, with one game remaining.

They haven’t had an eight-win homestand since September 2012.

Giants manager Bruce Bochy credited his pitchers, who have held the opposition to three or fewer runs in 10 of their last 13 games, including six of nine on the homestand.

“There’s a large sense of confidence here at home,” he said. “What’s impressive is the pitching here. It’s keeping us in the game.”

Stratton has given up three or fewer earned runs in seven straight starts. That streak includes the May 19 game against the Rockies, when one of the four runs he allowed was unearned.

The 27-year-old has faced the Rockies three times in his career, twice as a starter Johnathan Abram Jersey , and has gone 1-0 with a 4.50 ERA.

The guy who has given him the most trouble has been Charlie Blackmon, who has four hits, including a home run, in seven at-bats against Stratton.

Blackmon had one of the Rockies’ two hits in Wednesday’s loss.

Colorado finds itself in an offensive slump entering the series finale. The Rockies have lost four in a row, having totaled nine runs in those games.

This comes on the heels of having exploded for 37 runs in their previous four games, all wins.

Gray has faced the Giants twice this season, and hasn’t seen the fifth inning either time.

After giving up five runs and nine hits in 3 2/3 innings in the May 19 loss, he was roughed up at home for four runs and six hits in 3 1/3 innings in a 7-4 defeat. He did not get a decision in the latter.

Gray has started five games in his career against the Giants, going 0-2 with a 5.24 ERA. Both losses came in San Francisco.

Gray has struggled this season with Giants shortstop Brandon Crawford, the hero of Wednesday’s win with the third walk-off home run of his career. Crawford has a double and two singles in four at-bats against Gray this season.

Andrew McCutchen also has scorched the 26-year-old in the past, going 7-for-12 with two doubles.

The Giants reached the midpoint of their season with a 42-39 record Wednesday night. That’s a 12-game improvement over last season, when they were already 22 1/2 games out of first place in the National League West.

The Rockies will play their 81st game Thursday. They had 47 wins at the midpoint of the 2017 season, nine more than they have this year.