injury jumped by 36 percent, according to Football Outsiders. Injuries might now be so rampant that its practically impossible to build complete, high-quality units that survive intact for 16 weeks. A

FRISCO, Texas -- Running back Ezekiel Elliott said hes learning to handle the scrutiny that comes with playing for the Dallas Cowboys.A few hours before the Cowboys played Seattle last Thursday, Elliott visited a store that sold marijuana. Its legal to sell it in Washington state.You definitely have to think of the perception of things before you actually do certain things, Elliott said Monday. It may not seem like its a big deal to you yourself, but theres a bigger picture.Its definitely a learning experience about the scrutiny. You just have to be careful and not give anybody a chance to say anything.Owner Jerry Jones and coach Jason Garrett criticized Elliott for visiting the store.I dont think it was a good decision, Garrett said Saturday. He and I talked about that. It was just a poor decision on his part and young players sometimes just have to understand that perception can be reality.You have to understand youre under a microscope 24 hours a day, and theres no good reason for him to go into a place like that.Elliott, who said he doesnt expect to play Thursday against Houston, said he was sightseeing when he noticed the marijuana dispensary.I seen it walking around and I was curious, Elliott said. I didnt really think about what the repercussions could have been.It wasnt like I was trying to hide anything. I took pictures with people. It wasnt like I was up to no good.I was curious. I didnt think I was doing anything wrong. I wasnt breaking any laws. It was a bad decision, something I shouldnt have done. Swell Bottles Sale . This should be celebrated because it will not always be this way. With the amount of money given to players by their clubs these days, it is a wonder that so many of those teams allow the sport to continue to take away many of their assets so they can play for a different team in the middle of their season. sWell Traveler Bottle Sale 17 . Hamelin, who triumphed in the 500 on Saturday, edged out Victor An of Russia by 0.021 seconds to maintain his lead in the World Cup standings. Russias Vladimir Grigorev was third. In the relay, Canada took control six laps from the finish line to beat Russia and the Netherlands. http://www.swellwaterbottlesale.com/ . Three came down to the fourth quarter while quarterbacks continued to shine in all four games; so important to the overall quality of the game. Swell Water Bottle Clearance .ca looks back at the stories and moments that made the year memorable. Swell Bottle Wood Cheap . Hey!" The lower tier of the School End of Queens Park Rangers Loftus Road was packed solid with a very festive-sounding Chelsea choral section in this particular part of South Africa Road London, W12. This story appears in ESPN The Magazines January 2 Anything is Possible Issue. Subscribe today!It might seem like theres as much separation as ever between good and bad NFL teams. As I write this, Dallas and New England have a chance to go 14-2, while Cleveland could finish 0-16.But as the NFL regular season draws to a close, a deeper look at the numbers reveals the opposite: Teams are bunched in talent much more closely than they appear. The league is at a crossroads, and the next few years will determine which contending franchises will rise to new dominance -- or whether thats even possible anymore.The technical way to express how the gap between teams has shrunk is by standard deviation of team point differentials. Thats down 16.3 percent this season (through Week 14) to its lowest point in at least five years -- which is to say that even the best teams arent great and even the worst arent historically awful. The Patriots, for instance, are on track to outscore opponents by 146 points, which would be the biggest margin in the NFL but the third smallest to lead the league in a 16-game schedule. Behind them, the Chiefs, Giants and Lions have won more than two-thirds of their games while beating their foes by fewer than 100 points combined. Meanwhile, the Browns, prorated, will be outscored by 207 points -- surely hideous, but not in the all-time bottom 40 since 1940 and nowhere close to the winless 2008 Lions (minus-249) or 1976 Buccaneers (minus-287).Its mostly chance that teams look less squished together than they actually are. For one thing, the leagues bottom-feeders have been pretty awful but also awfully unlucky. Through Week 14, Cleveland, San Francisco, Jacksonville and Chicago were a combined 3-19 in games decided by a touchdown or less. And at the other end of the standings, a handful of winning clubs have played severely over their heads. Dallas and Oakland might be popular favorites to meet in the Super Bowl, but both teams are on pace to outperform their underlying statistics by more than two wins this season. The Cowboys and Raiders are worthy contenders, but theyre more similar to 10- or 11-win teams of the past than to 14- or 15-win juggernauts.Its between these extremes that you can really see the NFLs compression: With two games remaining, 12 teams were on track to win eight to 10 ggames and were therefore at the lower end of playoff contention.dddddddddddd Thats a large group; only nine clubs posted eight to 10 wins in each of the past two seasons. And I think one reason for the big number is that many of these teams have lopsided rosters.Consider Atlanta, tied atop the NFC South and gaining more yards per play and scoring more points than any other team in the NFL. The Falcons offense is in fact 11.1 points per game above average after adjusting for opponents, according to Pro Football References simple rating system, and their defense is 3.5 points per game below average. That difference is the largest since the 2013 Broncos, and that kind of disparity has become more common. Think of Houston, Indianapolis, Seattle ... Overall, eight teams have a gap of more than a TD per game between their offensive and defensive units this season -- twice as many as in any of the past three seasons.So welcome to the season, and possibly the era, of the B-plus NFL team. As a handful of franchises bottom out and others, such as Carolina and Cincinnati, sag unexpectedly, there have been unanticipated wins to go around for the likes of Miami and Tampa Bay. But not one of the teams posting gains this season is great yet, and some are literally only half-good.Any member of the burgeoning pretty-decent club might keep drafting well and evolve into, say, the next Steelers. But theres another possibility. From 2010 to 2015, the number of games that NFL teams key players lost to injury jumped by 36 percent, according to Football Outsiders. Injuries might now be so rampant that its practically impossible to build complete, high-quality units that survive intact for 16 weeks. After all, Green Bay didnt plan an unbalanced roster this year any more than Minnesota; injuries blew apart the Packers defense and severely set back the Vikings offense. It only takes one or two big names -- such as Clay Matthews or Teddy Bridgewater and Adrian Peterson -- to go down. As star athletes spend more time on the sideline, the standings are more likely to churn.Lull or tipping point? We cant be sure yet what 2016 will prove to be. But we can already see the NFL is heading someplace different. ' ' '