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Gophers offense in good hands with receiver Eric Decker

Adam Weber was surprised Eric Decker was walking around their apartment pain free Sunday.

Weber’s roommate and go to wide receiver took a vicious hit and tweaked an ankle Saturday in Minnesota’s 35 21 loss to California and luckily had only three stitches on his chin to show for it.

“I told him, ‘There goes your modeling career,’ ” said Weber, the Gophers’ junior quarterback. “I was surprised about how well he was moving around. His face looked the worst, but it was probably good for him humbled him a bit.”

The Gophers (2 1), who open Big Ten Conference discount nfl jerseys play Saturday at Northwestern (2 1), are able to joke with custom mlb jerseys Decker now, but they dodged a major blow with Decker being healthy this week. He’s especially important to a team with the least productive rushing game in the conference and few other passing options for Weber.

Decker, who set a school record with his fourth consecutive 100 yard game last weekend, ranks second in the nation with 415 receiving yards and 27 catches through three games. Troy Stoudermire is second on the team with 10 catches.

Michael Floyd, another former local star receiver, was putting up similar numbers for Notre Dame when his season abruptly ended over the weekend with a broken collarbone against Michigan.

“This is a rough game,” said Decker, who said he felt bad for Floyd.

Decker took a brutal hit from Cal safety Sean Cattouse,throwback nba jerseys, who Decker thought led with his shoulder pads and helmet and hit him in the chest area and not in the head. Decker said he was more vulnerable with his hands extended, and ended up suffering whiplash dwight howard jersey when he hit the ground after the hit.

“I’m just thankful I caught the ball, held on to it and was able to get up and play the rest of the game,” he said. “I got the wind knocked out of me a little bit, but it took me about two minutes to catch it back.”

As a marked man,nhl jerseys cheap 356,throwback nba jerseys, Decker has tried to be aware of where defenders are on the field to protect himself. But there wasn’t much Decker or Weber could have done russell westbrook jersey on that kyrie irving jersey play.

“You love to score points, but hate to do that at the expense of really hurting somebody,nike nfl jerseys 408,” Weber said. “As a quarterback, it’s your job to keep your receiver safe. But in that situation I don’t know where else I could have put the football.”

Sophomore receiver Brandon Green, who ranks second on the team with 93 yards receiving on eight catches, said Decker’s willingness to risk his body to make those leaping catches is contagious.

“It just makes me want to play every play like it’s my last and do anything to help the team win,” Green said. “He really does make some customized nfl jerseys unbelievable catches.”

Last year, Decker’s big play ability was limited after eric bledsoe jersey suffering an injury steve nash jersey to the same left ankle in a loss to Northwestern. He could barely walk the next day but tried to play the following week against Michigan.

The high ankle sprain kept Decker from being a factor in final three games of the regular season. He also needed knee surgery before the Insight Bowl, which the Gophers lost to Kansas.

But since that point,throwback nba jerseys, Decker has been building his body back up to be tougher.

The 6 foot 2, 225 pound Cold Spring, Minn., native added 15 pounds of muscle since the spring, specifically to bounce back from physically challenging games.

“I was the type of guy that said I could play through anything last year,” Decker said. “Really, when it got down best nhl jerseys to it, it was worse than I mlb throwback jerseys thought. I really underevaluated it, but I know my body better (now).”