Dontae Johnson Color Rush Jersey from liuyt's blog

Diggs has only arrived at this stage of his life and his career Dontae Johnson Color Rush Jersey , a Vikings standout on the verge of a Super Bowl, with an unrelenting diligence and a dose of humility.

For all the natural talent of a consensus five-star recruit coming out of high school, he’s sure had to work hard to get here.

”He’s my guy. I love him to death. I appreciate all he does for this team, and I appreciate all he’s done for me,” fellow wide receiver Adam Thielen said. ”He’s pushed me harder than anybody has pushed me in my life.”

Remember those first three regular-season games in the NFL? Not really. He was a healthy scratch on the sideline.

That’s a long way from the 61-yard catch-turn-run sequence that Diggs produced as time expired on Sunday that sent the Vikings to the NFC championship game with a 29-24 victory over New Orleans .

”He continually has gotten better over the past three years,” tight end Kyle Rudolph said.

”It’s awesome to see guys like that who work so hard have an opportunity in such a big moment and for them to make the most of it.”

Treating each practice as if it’s a game is a common response from teammates asked about Diggs and his work ethic. Thielen and Diggs are widely considered to be two of the sharpest and savviest route runners in the league.

”He wants to win. Whether he’s getting the ball or he’s not getting ball, blocking or not, whatever he’s doing, he wants to win,” Vikings cornerback Mackensie Alexander said, adding: ”The thing I love about Diggs is he doesn’t let the game be bigger than him. He just kind of goes in the game, and it’s just another game. That allows you to play well.”

Setbacks became a recurring theme for Diggs, who chose to stay in his home state and play for Maryland so his family could watch him more often despite offers from powerhouse programs such as Auburn, Florida and USC.

With the Terrapins, though, he caught passes from four different quarterbacks over three seasons, with more than one starter used each year.

Injuries each season kept him from playing a full schedule, including a broken leg as a sophomore and a lacerated kidney as a junior.

When he declared for the draft a year early, there were also questions from NFL teams about his attitude and compliance.

After high stepping and somersaulting into the end zone in one game in 2013, coach Randy Edsall pulled him aside for a mild admonishment to remind him about the importance of reputation.

With substandard 6-foot height also a factor, Diggs fell to the fifth round for the Vikings to find one of the true steals of that 2015 draft. He made an immediate impact in his debut at Denver, with six receptions for 87 yards. Four games in Saquon Barkley Jersey Elite , he had 419 yards and two touchdowns.

”When I was going into the combine and stuff like that, I had 100 percent confidence in myself,” Diggs said on Wednesday, as the Vikings reconvened for practice in preparation for their game Sunday at Philadelphia.

”I had a lot of support along the way. I had some great coaches and some great teammates that pushed me in the right direction. I’ll never take all the credit.”

His production waned down the stretch of his rookie season, with quarterback Teddy Bridgewater still developing on the job.

In Sam Bradford’s first game for Minnesota in 2016, the lid-lifter at U.S. Bank Stadium against rival Green Bay, Diggs hauled in 13 catches for 182 yards and a score in front of a prime time Sunday night audience.

But a groin injury cost him one game and some momentum. Then he hurt his knee and missed another game.

His first two games at home in 2017 were showstoppers, with two touchdowns apiece, but that groin injury popped up again at Chicago and kept him out for the next two weeks. Thielen, meanwhile, surpassed him as Case Keenum’s favorite target.

There was Diggs in the huddle on Sunday, though, with 10 seconds left listening to Keenum tell the receivers he was going to give somebody a shot.

”It meant so much to me to see my quarterback believe in me the last play of the game,” said Diggs, who began crying hard enough to cut short and turn away from one of his on-field TV interviews after the winning touchdown.

His younger brother, Trevon Diggs, happened to be in the stadium that evening for his first live NFL game. He’s a cornerback and punt returner for Alabama who just won a national championship. Their father, Aron Diggs, died 10 years ago of heart failure .

”He started me in football. He played a huge part in what’s going on now. That’s the biggest thing. Kind of try and thank him prior to the game, him and God,” Diggs said, ”and try and keep that thing going.”

—

Jake Arrieta and Gio Gonzalez should be happy to see the calendar flip to July.

They’ll hope to put a rough June behind them when they face off Sunday in the finale of a four-game set between the Philadelphia Phillies and the Washington Nationals. The Phillies will try to win the series in the 1:35 p.m. matinee.

Arrieta (5-6 Mike Daniels Jersey , 3.54 ERA) had a 6.66 ERA in five June starts. Opponents hit .305 with a .907 OPS against him in the month, and the veteran right-hander allowed at least three earned runs in each outing.

In his last start, Arrieta gave up six runs (three earned) in five innings against the New York Yankees on nine hits, two of which were homers.

“The ball is getting hit, that’s it. Making mistakes, too many mistakes,” Arrieta told MLB.com after the start. “I was throwing quality breaking balls early in the count and then when I needed to go back to a similar spot or a little bit lower in the strike zone or out of the strike zone, I just put it too much in the zone and they hit it. It’s a pretty simple explanation.”

Arrieta had a 0.90 ERA in five starts during May, and he gave up just one run and two hits in six innings against the Nationals on May 6. Arrieta is 1-2 with a 5.02 ERA in 10 career starts against the Nationals.

Gonzalez (6-5, 3.68) had an even worse June. The 32-year-old lefty had an 8.44 ERA in five starts during the month. In three of those outings, Gonzalez gave up at least four earned runs and failed to pitch more than four innings.

Gonzalez had his worst start of 2018 the last time he took the mound. He gave up six runs and walked five batters in one inning against the Tampa Bay Rays on Monday.

“It wasn’t my night. I couldn’t get a strike,” Gonzalez, who missed the strike zone with 33 of his 62 pitches, told reporters after the outing. “Sometimes it happens. It’s part of the game.”

Gonzalez will be facing the Phillies for the 25th time in his 11-year big league career. He is 11-7 with a 2.60 ERA and 1.13 WHIP against the Nationals’ divisional rival. Gonzalez threw five scoreless innings against Philadelphia on May 4.

The Phillies, who are 5-4 against the Nationals this season, have won two of the first three games against their divisional foe in the series. At 44-37, they are two games ahead of Washington for second place in the National League East. The Phillies were 28-53 through 81 games a season ago.

The Phillies hope Odubel Herrera’s bat heats up. The center fielder homered in Saturday’s 3-2 victory after going 2-for-28 in his previous seven games. Herrera is hitting .286 on the season with 14 homers and 46 RBIs.

The Nationals, meanwhile, went 9-16 in June and are 42-39 at the halfway mark of the season.