conservative over the final 30 minutes

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A rare losing season without a playoff appearance led to significant front office changes for the Green Bay Packers.

A new structure is in place at the top of the front-office flow chart Youth Tre’Quan Smith Jersey , and new general manager Brian Gutekunst is signaling that the Packers might be a little more aggressive in free agency.

The ”draft-and-develop” philosophy will still be the foundation of the way that Green Bay builds the roster, Gutekunst said Monday at his introductory news conference at Lambeau Field.

”But I do think I will lead in my own personality and probably a little bit more aggressive in certain areas,” said Gutekunst, formerly Green Bay’s player personnel director.

”We’re not going to leave any stone unturned as far as every avenue of player acquisition.”

Predecessor Ted Thompson is now a senior advisor following a 13-year tenure highlighted by the Super Bowl-winning 2010 season.

The Packers went to four NFC title games and won six NFC North crowns under his watch.

Thompson also took heat from some vocal fans for being timid in free agency, especially at a time when two-time NFL MVP quarterback Aaron Rodgers is still in his prime at age 34.

The defense did not improve over the past four seasons despite being stocked with high draft picks.

Thompson had the titles of executive vice president, general manger & director of football operations – positions that will now be held by different executives under the structural change initiated by team president/CEO Mark Murphy.

”It’s very difficult for one person to handle all of those responsibilities, so really looking at it, I decided it would be in the best long-term interests of the organization to change the structure,” said Murphy, who oversaw the GM search.

Gutekunst, 44, will have complete control over roster decisions as general manager.

Coach Mike McCarthy, who is under contract through 2019 after receiving a one-year extension during the season, will now report directly to Murphy. He will have the authority to hire and fire the head coach.

Russ Ball Keith Yandle Jersey , the team’s salary cap expert and chief contract negotiator, was promoted to executive vice president/director of football operations after serving as vice president of football administration/player finance. Ball, who interviewed for the GM job, will also report directly to Murphy.

Murphy said he decided to make the change during a broad re-evaluation sparked by the GM search. He hoped that lines of communication would improve in order to break down ”silos” that had built up over the years.

”I just felt like there were too many silos in football, whether that be coaching and personnel, the college and the pro side, and breaking down those silos” was necessary, Murphy said.

Murphy is the highest-ranking administrator on a team without a traditional owner – the Packers are the NFL’s only publicly-owned franchise. In times when there might be close calls, Murphy would cast a tiebreaking vote.

”But I hope it never gets to that,” Murphy said. ”That’ll be the goal, is that we can work together and through good communication we’ll all be on the same page.”

He has more football experience than the average team president, having played safety under Hall of Fame coach Joe Gibbs for the Washington Redskins.

Also a lawyer, Murphy had extensive experience in sports administration before becoming Packers president/CEO in 2007, including athletic director stints at Northwestern and Colgate.

Entering his 20th season with the Packers Youth Rick Leonard Jersey , Gutekunst is also a football lifer, but on the personnel side. He spent the past two seasons as player personnel director. He also oversaw college scouting for four years, and worked 11 seasons as a regional college scout in the talent-rich Southeast.

Gutekunst got his start in Green Bay as a scouting intern in the summer of 1997, spent most of 1998 as a scouting assistant for the Kansas City Chiefs before returning to the Packers for good when then-GM and Hall of Famer Ron Wolf hired him as a scout on Dec. 30, 1998.

Gutekunst had interviewed for other GM openings in recent years. In fact, he got the call from Murphy offering him the Packers’ job while on a trip over the weekend to Houston to interview for the Texans’ vacancy.

The interview with the Packers on Friday ended up being his last one.

”I let Mark know on Friday that this was my dream job, that I absolutely love this place,” Gutekunst said.

Interjected Murphy: ”You didn’t tell your agent that.”

It all worked out in the end.

”I’m really glad that it came to where we are now,” said Gutekunst, as his wife and children watched from the front row of the auditorium.

The Packers also interviewed director-football operations Eliot Wolf, who is the son of the former GM and friends with Gutekunst; and former Buffalo Bills GM Doug Whaley.

Gutekunst said he hoped that he could keep Wolf as his ”right-hand man”, but wouldn’t hold him back if other opportunities arose.

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So many times during the Patriots’ run of success over the past two decades, the defense was watching as Tom Brady sealed another victory.

In Sunday’s 24-20 AFC championship victory over the Jacksonville , the defense got its chance to secure the Patriots’ record 10th Super Bowl appearance.

Jacksonville entered the game with the best red-zone scoring percentage in NFL Authentic Aaron Rodgers Jersey , scoring touchdowns on 67.9 percent of trips this season (40 on 56 drives). The Jaguars scored touchdowns on both of their red-zone trips in the first half, as quarterback Blake Bortles had his way with short and intermediate routes to pile up first downs.

It added up to a 20-10 fourth-quarter lead, and left Gillette Stadium in stunned silence as New England’s hopes of getting a chance to defend its Super Bowl title seemed to be dwindling.

But Jacksonville got conservative over the final 30 minutes, much like the Atlanta Falcons did with 28-3 lead in last year’s Super Bowl collapse against New England. The Patriots seized on it and the Jaguars’ offense never got closer than the Patriots’ 25 in the second half.

”We put ourselves in position to come back and just keep fighting,” defensive end Tray Flowers said. ”We knew they were going to run the ball, but we kept fighting and it was a fourth-quarter game.”

The most telling example came after the Patriots took their final lead of the game on Danny Amendola’s 4-yard touchdown catch in the back of the end zone.

The Jaguars initially went back to their success in the first half , starting the drive with an 8-yard completion from Bortles to Marqise Lee, followed by a 29-yard pass to Dede Westbrook to set Jacksonville up on New England’s 38.

But the Patriots reset, and after an incompletion by Bortles on first down, linebackers Kyle Van Noy and James Harrison got to Bortles for a sack, prying the ball loose. Jaguars tackle Cam Robinson recovered the fumble, but it set up a third-and-19.

New England kept the pressure on Bortles and he could only manage a 4-yard completion to James O’Shaughnessy.

”They had maybe one or two plays that we talk about this time of year,” safety Devin McCourty said. ”Sixteen games, a play or two may have success Youth Weston Richburg Jersey , but (Patriots defensive coordinator) Matt (Patricia) said it best: It wasn’t a big adjustment that you needed to do; it was just needing to play aggressively.”

With Jacksonville facing fourth-and-15 on its 43, cornerback Stephon Gilmore reached in front of Bortles’ pass to O’Shaughnessy to force a turnover on downs.

It was a special moment for Gilmore, who battled injuries and inconsistent play after signing a five-year, $65 million contract in the offseason.

”It wasn’t the biggest play I’ve made, but it was definitely one of the most important,” he said. ”To come from where I came from last year, and be a part of this great team … I love it and that’s why I decided to come here.”

For Bortles, it was his first loss this season when he didn’t commit a turnover. He was previously 8-0.

”We had a two-minute drive at the end of the game to win the AFC championship, so there’s not a whole lot more you can ask for than that,” Bortles said. ”You’ve got to take advantage of that and find a way to win the game.”

And now the Patriots will have a chance at their sixth Super Bowl trophy, which would tie the Pittsburgh Steelers for the most ever.

McCourty said the defense is invigorated by the opportunity.

”This team is battle-tested,” McCourty said. ”You go through ups and downs. You go through adversity. … We just keep giving ourselves a chance to win, and the hard work pays off.”

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