Sweat, grass, dirt. It might have been the messiest Ramsey’s hands have been since he skipped the start of camp to remain in Tennessee with his girlfriend, Bre, and newborn daughter, Breelyn. That’s because the All-Pro cornerback, whose hands might be as valuable as anyone’s on that side of the ball, made a deal with Bre that he wouldn’t have to change diapers.
”We’ve been best friends since high school so we’ve always kind of talked about how the process would go a little bit,” Ramsey said. ”Of course, everything’s different when it actually happens, but for the most part, we have really good agreement that I won’t necessarily have to change diapers.”
So what is Ramsey’s part of the trade-off?
”She changes the diapers; I feed her,” he said.
Ramsey became a first-time father last Wednesday, the day the Jaguars reported for camp. He missed four practices to spend extra time with his family. Coach Doug Marrone excused his absences.
”It is good when everybody is together, everyone is back in and everyone is in a good place mentally,” Marrone said. ”Just having that balance in your life, making sure everyone is good at home, making sure everyone is OK, making sure everything is set. Then you can get here and then you can focus and put your mind on what you need to do. It is always good when you can get everyone back in here, and I am glad everything worked out well.”
Marrone had planned to work Ramsey in slowly, but the ultra-competitive, lock-down cornerback refused to stay on the sideline during his first day back. The Jaguars had to like what they saw, even though they’ve seen similar from him for two years now.
Ramsey played in every game in two seasons and emerged as one of the league’s top defenders.
He expects to be even better in Year 3.
”We’re going to see when the season starts, right?” he said. ”We’re going to see. And y’all will see. Y’all will see. I never give myself like goals. I guess you could say like Adidas Jason Pominville Jersey , `Oh, I’m going to have this many interceptions; I’m going to have this many” pass breakups.
”But what I can tell you, though, that I will do is I’ll make sure I prepare myself and I’m ready to go out there and give it my all so I’m not letting anybody down, my teammates, coaches, my family, y’all, fans. I can tell you that much.”
He gets one of his toughest tests in the team’s season opener at the New York Giants and against three-time Pro Bowl receiver Odell Beckham Jr.
”Let’s get this out the way right now: He’s a good receiver. We all know that,” said Ramsey, the fifth overall pick in the 2016 NFL draft. ”But y’all know me at the same time. Yeah, he’s good. But I’m good, too. If y’all want to say he’s the best at his position; I’m the best at my position, so we’re going to go at it. We’re going to give the people a show the first game of the season.
”He’s going to have some wins; I’m going to have some wins. I just plan on having more wins.”
Ramsey is the outspoken face of Jacksonville’s vaunted defense, a unit that was among the best in the league in 2017. The Jaguars return 10 starters on that side of the ball, including all four in the secondary, and expect to be even more dynamic in their second season together.
”At the end of the day, win games,” he said. ”If we can win games on the defensive side of the ball. We can always ask for more: More turnovers, more touchdowns, more opportunities giving the ball back to the offense. Just more of everything.”
Except diapers.
”It feels good” to be back, Ramsey said. ”Miss my little girl already, but it feels good. It was cool. It was good. Long few days, but everything that I could have dreamed of.”
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In combining for 42 goals in five regular-season games and 25 in their first three playoff games, the Nashville Predators and Winnipeg Jets often put on what coaches and players alike have described as a track meet on skates.
In Thursday night’s 2-1 win at Winnipeg that equaled the best-of-seven Western Conference semifinals at two games each Authentic Patrick Omameh Jersey , the Predators never let the Jets get out of the starting block. It used two personnel changes, plus renewed commitments to defense and puck support, to stifle the NHL’s second-highest scoring team during the regular season.
With home-ice advantage back in its grasp for Game 5 on Saturday at Bridgestone Arena in Nashville, Tenn., the Predators will probably stick with the defense-first approach that pushed them into the Stanley Cup Finals last year.
“It was something we really focused on, playing solid defensively,” Nashville goalie Pekka Rinne said. “That was an amazing team effort. We played a really solid game throughout the 60 minutes and it’s obviously a big win for us.”
Many Twitter coaches scoffed at Nashville coach Peter Laviolette when he scratched Kevin Fiala, who scored the double-overtime game-winner Sunday night in Game 2, in favor of the older, slower Scott Hartnell. But Hartnell’s 98th playoff appearance was a good one, as he gave the Predators a physical presence while neutralizing Winnipeg’s top defenseman, Dustin Byfuglien.
Inserting Yannick Weber for Alexei Emelin on the third defense pair with Matt Irwin added some quickness and reduced the Jets’ chances of power-play time, as Emelin tends to take penalties.
Nashville used a more conservative forecheck and steered puck-carriers away from the ice’s center, forcing Winnipeg to settle for longer shots at times. And when the Jets did produce high-danger chances, Rinne stood tall in his best game of the series with 32 saves.
That included an improbable stop with the knob of his stick, which denied Josh Morrissey the game’s first goal about midway through the first period.
Winnipeg center Bryan Little described his team’s attempts to attack the Predators’ defensive scheme as “skating into a wall.” The Jets will have to come up with some adjustments for Game 5.
“When they’re defending that well,” Winnipeg right winger Patrik Laine said, “we just have to get pucks in deep and get a lot of O-zone time. Just try to shoot a lot and create some loose pucks.”
Laine was one of the Jets’ few bright spots from Game 4, snapping a six-game scoring drought with his marker in the last minute of the match. Laine could have had a hat trick were it not for two quality saves by Rinne, one late in the first period and another in the third period.
Simply put, the matchup of the league’s best regular-season teams has turned into point and counterpoint. Both Jets wins have been answered by Nashville victories, and the teams are now in best-of-three mode.
“We’re heading home playing in front of our fans in a big game,” Nashville defenseman P.K. Subban said. “We know they are going to get better as the series goes on. This is exactly what the teams expected it to be. Now we got home ice back.”