As dripping teammates slowly ambled to the locker room and showers Sunday Kyle Williams Jersey , Robertson lined up on one sideline and sprinted across the field to the other sideline. Then and back, over and over again, for extra conditioning.
As the linebacker tries to make it all the way back from a debilitating back injury that threatened to take football away for good, he's leaving nothing to chance as he tries to make the Washington Redskins.
"It's been a long journey," he said.
A very effective pass rusher at Texas Tech, Robertson figured to be drafted before he herniated a disk in his back while working out before the draft. The injury led to a pinched nerve, and after Robertson insisted on running at his Pro Day workout for scouts, he never heard his name called during the NFL draft.
He signed a free agent deal with the Seattle Seahawks, but didn't stick, and had been working the graveyard shift loading trucks at UPS for three months when his agent called. The Redskins were interested.
Before hanging up, Robertson told him, "'They aren't ever going to let me go' and I've been here ever since."
And more and more, he seems likely to stick around for a while.
"Petey has been unbelievable," fifth-year coach Jay Gruden said before a recent practice. "Yeah Martinas Rankin Jersey , he's been great. Very, very athletic, and you're talking about a guy that can possibly help on special teams, as your fourth or fifth linebacker, and he's one because he can run."
When the Redskins signed Robertson last December, they initially used him at running back on the scout team because of a need there. He got in four games and made two tackles late in the season. A defensive end in college, the team has since tried him at inside linebacker, Gruden said, but "that wasn't quite his cup of tea."
"We moved him back down as an outside linebacker/defensive end in nickel. He's done very, very well."
And made an impression on teammates with his willingness to work.
"You know, when we had a lot of guys down and out, he got a lot of reps and you could see the burst that he has and the speed," offensive tackle Morgan Moses said. "He brings another aspect to the game and he works hard, man.
"There's not one thing you tell him to do that he's not going to do it. You tell him to go get some water 50 yards down the field Daryl Williams Jersey , he's going to run and get water 50 yards down the field. He just has that mentality."
It's an appreciation of a second chance Robertson wasn't sure he'd get.
The thought that football might be in his past "went through my mind every night, every morning," he said. "Before I went to bed, when I woke up. ... I knew it wasn't the end of the road for me. I knew it wasn't. I never gave up on the dream, but you always have that thought in the back of your mind: 'Is this it?'"
In the offseason, Robertson added back the 30 pounds he'd lost while away from the game during day-long weekday workouts with his cousin, Redskins star left tackle Trent Williams. Williams was rehabbing after a right knee injury, and Robertson knew he had to make a big impression once the Redskins opened training camp.
So far, he's doing just that, and enjoying it every step of the way.
"I wouldn't trade it for nothing," he said.
LOS ANGELES — The Denver Nuggets can not only improve their playoff chances Saturday at Staples Center, they can also end the Los Angeles Clippers‘ hopes of extending their season.
The Nuggets will take a four-game winning streak into Los Angeles, as the recent run of success has put them on the doorstep of playoff eligibility. They have a 44-35 record, leaving them a half-game behind eighth-place Minnesota Marquette King Jersey , which beat the Lakers Friday night and holds the final playoff spot in the Western Conference at the moment.
Denver does not hold the tie-breaker against the Timberwolves, but the ninth-place Nuggets are only one game behind three teams tied for fifth.
Denver and Minnesota will meet once more, in Minnesota on Wednesday, to conclude the regular season, with the Timberwolves holding a 2-1 advantage in head-to-head games this season if it comes down to that tiebreaker.
A Denver victory Saturday over a Clippers team that has lost three of its last four games would put significant pressure on a Minnesota squad that lost to the Nuggets on Thursday, 100-96.
The Nuggets essentially have been in payoff mode for a week now and have responded with clutch victories. All four victories in their win streak have been by four points or less, with two of them coming in overtime. All have come since March 30.
“We’re not folding,” Nuggets forward/guard Will Barton told the Denver Post. “Good play. Bad play. Guys just come together and we stand in it together. There’s just a lot of togetherness right now, and I love it.”
For the Clippers, they know that a loss Saturday will end their playoff chase. Their hopes were pushed to the brink on Friday night without even playing, as the Pelicans defeated the Suns, while the Timberwolves also won.
The Clippers’ chances were put on high alert after they were trounced at Utah on Thursday. Los Angeles is in 10th place in the Western Conference, 2 1/2 games behind Minnesota, with three games to play.
Against Utah on Thursday Justin Blackmon Jersey , the Clippers were never in the game and lost by 22 points. And that was a game in which players knew that a defeat would virtually crush any playoff hopes.
“It was the first game I thought we let go of the rope,” Clippers coach Doc Rivers said, according to the Los Angeles Times. “Like, you could see it early. It was disappointing. It happens. It’s life. We have to get over it. I have to watch the film. That was disappointing tonight.”
During a season in which the Clippers were devastated by injuries and watched All-Star Blake Griffin get traded to the Detroit Pistons, Rivers should get credit for even getting his team this far.
The Clippers are expected to finish the season with four point guards on injured reserve: Patrick Beverley (knee), Avery Bradley (groin), Milos Teodosic (foot) and Jawun Evans (sports hernia). Forward Danilo Gallinari (hand) is day-to-day. Rivers has used 35 different starting lineups.
“It’s been tough,” Rivers said, according to the Los Angeles Times. “Game to game, because of the injuries, because of the guys we have left, you don’t have the luxury of saying, ‘This is your lineup every night.'”
The Nuggets’ recent success has come despite second-leading scorer Gary Harris (knee) missing the last 10 games. He remains day-to-day. Forward Tyler Lydon (ankle) has been out since January.
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