Jeff Kerr of CBSSports.com on the havoc being wreaked on the NFL schedule by positive tests for the dreaded Covid-19:

Week 5 of the NFL season has gone topsy turvy as there have been multiple schedule changes as a result of the coronavirus pandemic that’s sweeping the league. The Tennessee Titans are the determining factor in all the schedule hoopla as their matchup against the Buffalo Bills is in question and has recently been postponed. Tennessee is hosting Buffalo this week, but due to the outbreak of COVID-19 cases in the Titans facility, the game has been moved to Tuesday at 7 p.m. ET (from its original Sunday date). This game is contingent on the Titans having no more positive cases in the coming days, which would keep the facility shut down indefinitely. If all goes well, the NFL will be getting just their second Tuesday game in 70 years.

Of course, Tennessee’s COVID-19 outbreak impacts Buffalo, as the Bills were scheduled to play the Kansas City Chiefs on “Thursday Night Football” in Week 6. If the Tennessee-Buffalo game is played on Tuesday, the Week 6 matchup against Kanas City would be moved from Thursday to Sunday. If Buffalo-Tennessee is postposed, the Bills’ Week 6 matchup against the Chiefs will be played as originally scheduled Thursday.

The Buffalo-Tennessee game isn’t the only one impacted for Week 5. Since the New England Patriots have not practiced in their facility due to positive COVID-19 tests, their game against the Denver Broncos has been moved from Sunday to Monday. New England has a bye in Week 6, but Denver does not have a bye until Week 8 — some have argued the Broncos get a raw deal from the rescheduled game. In short, the Patriots returning to practice Friday is important for the NFL if the league wishes not to add a Week 18 to the scheduled.

Confused with all the schedule changes? Here’s a rundown for all four teams that had their Week 5 games affected.

Tennessee Titans

Game time for Week 5 officially rescheduled from Sunday at 1 p.m. to Tuesday, Oct. 13, at 7 p.m ET (at Tennessee).

Must have no new positive tests for the next three days for its facility to open on Sunday, putting the game on track for Tuesday.

Host the Houston Texans in Week 6 (Sunday, Oct. 18, at 1 p.m. ET) and the Pittsburgh Steelers in Week 7 (Sunday, Oct. 25, at 1 p.m. ET) — a rescheduled game from Week 4.

22 members of the organization have tested positive for COVID-19. Players and personnel have not been in the facility since their Week 3 game against the Minnesota Vikings. The facility closed on Sept. 29 and is unlikely to reopen Friday as another player tested positive following Wednesday’s testing.

Did not play in Week 4 as their game against the Pittsburgh Steelers was postponed until Week 7. Week 4 became the Titans bye week.

New England Patriots

Game time for Week 5 officially rescheduled from Sunday at 4:25 p.m. ET to Monday at 5 p.m. ET (host the Denver Broncos)

Will be the “early game” Monday with kickoff scheduled before the “Monday Night Football” game between the Los Angeles Chargers and New Orleans Saints.

Three positive COVID-19 cases confirmed on the roster: QB Cam Newton, CB Stephon Gilmore, DT Bill Murray (practice squad). All were placed on the reserve/COVID-19 list with Newton and Gilmore confirmed they were asymptomatic.

Practices canceled for Wednesday and Thursday after Gilmore tested positive for COVID-19. Players and coaches conducted remote meetings Thursday and are scheduled to return to practice Friday.

The scheduled bye week is Week 6 (no game on Sunday, October 18). Week 7 matchup on Sunday, Oct. 25, which they host the San Francisco 49ers at 4:25 p.m. ET.

The rescheduled game could give the Patriots a greater chance of returning Cam Newton to the lineup in Week 5.

Denver Broncos

No positive COVID-19 tests on the roster

Game time officially rescheduled from Sunday at 4:25 p.m. ET to Monday at 5 p.m. ET (at New England)

Will be the “early game” Monday with kickoff scheduled before the “Monday Night Football” game between the Los Angeles Chargers and New Orleans Saints.

Next up: Host the Miami Dolphins on Sunday, Oct. 18, (4:05 ET kickoff) and the Kansas City Chiefs on Sunday, Oct. 25 (4:25 ET kickoff).

The scheduled bye week is Week 8 (Sunday, Nov. 1).

Buffalo Bills

No positive COVID-19 tests on the roster

Game time for Week 5 officially rescheduled from Sunday at 1 p.m. to Tuesday, Oct. 13 at 7 p.m ET (at Tennessee).

If the game is played Tuesday — assuming Titans have no more positive COVID-19 tests — Week 6 game against Kansas City Chiefs will be moved from “Thursday Night Football” (Thursday, Oct. 15) to Sunday, Oct. 18. There is no scheduled time for this rescheduled Sunday game.

If the game isn’t played Tuesday — meaning Titans will have more positive COVID-19 tests in the coming days — the Bills will play Week 6 game against Kansas City Chiefs on “Thursday Night Football” as scheduled. Week 5 will become a bye week and the game against the Titans would be rescheduled.

Week 7 game is against the New York Jets on Sunday, Oct. 25 at 1 p.m. ET Scheduled bye week is Week 11 (Sunday, Nov. 22).

On Friday came word that both the Titans and Patriots are reporting no new positive tests, so the revamped schedule is hanging in there.

Elsewhere, the Jets are reporting a positive.  Mike Florio of ProFootballTalk.com:

The New York Jets are the latest team to have a COVID-19 concern.

Per multiple sources, the Jets have received a positive test result for a player. It’s a “presumptive positive.” The player currently is being re-tested to determine whether it’s a false positive.

The players and coaches have been sent home for the day, out of an abundance of caution.

More will be known in the coming hours, based on the results of the re-testing process. Regardless, the Jets won’t be working to prepare for Sunday’s game until they get the “all clear,” at the earliest.

Dan Graziano of ESPN.com looks at scheduling issues – and he joins the DB in proposing Week 17 becomes Week 18 and Week 17 becomes the collection point for postponed games:

As we wrote before the season began, flexibility is key. The Steelers-Titans Week 4 game was easy to move. It slides back to Week 7, when the Titans would have had their bye, while the Week 7 Steelers-Ravens game slides back to Week 8, when those two teams would have had their byes. The Patriots and Chiefs were able to move their Week 4 game back one day, from Sunday to Monday, in the wake of Cam Newton’s positive test last Friday. The league is juggling Week 5 and Week 6 schedules but so far believes it can get away with changing dates, and not weeks, for Bills-Titans, Broncos-Patriots and Chiefs-Bills.

It won’t always be this easy. After this week, four teams — the Packers, Lions, Titans and Steelers — will already have had their bye weeks. After next week, four more will have, and so on. As the bye weeks disappear, so do the easiest ways to reschedule games.

That means every team is going to have to stay loose and be prepared for imperfect solutions. Example: Bills-Titans this week couldn’t move back from Sunday to Monday because the Bills’ Week 6 game against the Chiefs was supposed to be on Thursday night three days later. So they moved Bills-Titans to Tuesday and Chiefs-Bills to the following Sunday. It’s not necessarily fair to the teams, but everyone involved has to accept that some degree of unfairness will invade this season. It’s either an imperfect, unfair season or no season at all.

The league could push back the start of the playoffs and dump all of the rescheduled games into a suddenly vacant “Week 18.” It might end up having no choice. But the NFL isn’t in love with that idea, mainly because it could create a situation in which the top-seeded playoff team in each conference — which gets a first-round bye — would go three weeks between its final regular-season game and its first playoff game. To which I say, OK, then let’s play with the schedule some more. Move the current Week 17 schedule back to Week 18 and then dump the rescheduled games into what used to be Week 17. Then the 1-seeds would still get their byes but wouldn’t have such a gap between the regular season and the start of their postseason. And any team that didn’t have to reschedule would effectively get an extra bye week right at the end of the season.

Or, here’s my suggestion: For this year only, go to eight playoff teams per conference, with no team getting a bye week. Let’s March Madness this thing. The TV networks that have to rearrange things in-season would get bonus playoff games, and more paths to the playoffs might be nice in a year in which teams have endured so much disruption. Look, baseball cut to a 60-game season with seven-inning doubleheaders. The NBA went to Disney World to finish its season and didn’t even invite every team. It’s 2020. Things are weird. Lean into it. The goofiest solution might turn out to be the best.

NFC NORTH

MINNESOTA

Help.

In Week 3, Cowboys DT TRYSTEN HILL viciously twisted the leg of Seahawks RB CHRIS CARSON resulting in a tangible injury.  He was fined $6,522.

In Week 4, S HARRISON SMITH of the Vikings, not a known prior offender, was deemed to have inappropriately hit Texans TE JORDAN AKINS (who was concussed).  As you can see, Smith was aiming for Akins chest strike zone, but the Texan lowered his helmet.

Vikings safety Harrison Smith heard from the league after being ejected from last Sunday’s game for a helmet-to-helmet hit on Texans tight end Jordan Akins.

Smith told reporters in Minnesota on Friday that he was fined $15,000 for the hit. He said that he is going to appeal the fine and said part of the reason is to hear what the league believes he should have done differently.

“Obviously, I wasn’t a fan of it,” Smith said of the ejection, via Chris Tomasson of the Pioneer Press.

Akins suffered a concussion on the hit and remains in the concussion protocol ahead of Sunday’s game against the Jaguars.

Hill actually committed another crime that day against QB RUSSELL WILSON, but the combined fines for his two actions are still less than what Smith got hit for what clearly was a bang-bang play.

NFC EAST

DALLAS

An important injury may be season-ending.  Ed Werder of ESPN.com:

The Dallas Cowboys are uncertain whether Tyron Smith will be able to play again this season and are considering placing the star left tackle on injured reserve because of a neck injury, a team source confirmed to ESPN’s Ed Werder.

“Right now, it’s a big, big question. All things are on the table,” Stephen Jones told the team’s website. “We have to look at Tyron’s best interest for his career. He’s been battling this. He’s everything you want in a man. He’s everything you want in a left tackle.

“Of course, he wants to be out there helping his teammates. But it seems like it’s one foot forward, and two steps back so far with that injury that he’s fighting. We’ll have to really look at that over the coming days and work with Tyron, work with the doctors and decide what’s in his best interest.”

Smith’s neck injury flared up in practice following the Cowboys’ season opener, and he missed the next two games before returning for Sunday’s loss to the Cleveland Browns. But he has suffered a setback, the source confirmed, and missed practice Wednesday.

A source also confirmed that Smith is seeking a second opinion to find the best way to resolve the issue.

“He’s further back than he was this time last week — would be the best way to describe it,” Cowboys coach Mike McCarthy said before Thursday’s practice, adding that Smith would work with the rehab group.

NFL Network first reported Thursday the possibility that Smith could miss the rest of the season.

Smith has missed games in each of the past five seasons, dealing with back, hamstring, knee and elbow injuries in addition to the neck injury.

Brandon Knight started in Weeks 2 and 3 for Smith against the Atlanta Falcons and Seattle Seahawks, but he took over last week at right tackle after undrafted rookie Terence Steele struggled. Knight could move back to left tackle, with Cameron Erving, who is eligible to return off injured reserve this week, and Steele battling for the right tackle spot.

NEW YORK GIANTS

WR GOLDEN TATE explains why he won the fight with arch-rival CB JALEN RAMSEY of the Rams.  Ryan Dunleavy of the New York Post:

Golden Tate avoided starting Round 2 against Jalen Ramsey.

In his first comments since a year-long family feud with Ramsey spilled into a Giants-Rams fight at the end of last week’s game, Tate did not address any of the specifics that led to the chaos.

But when it was pointed out Tate had no bruises on his face and that must mean he won the fight, the charismatic receiver broke stone-face for the first time in a nine-minute Zoom interview.

“I had my helmet on,” he said over laughter.

Ramsey is the father of two of Tate’s young nieces but broke off a relationship with Tate’s sister while she was pregnant with the ex-couple’s second child. The perceived disrespect — combined with Ramsey’s legal big hit on Tate during the game — had emotions running high when they met at midfield.

 “I don’t even want to backpedal and discuss that because I don’t think going back there is going to help us this week,” Tate said. “I really don’t want to draw any more attention or put any more highlights out there that don’t have anything to do with [the next game against] Dallas.”

Asked if he regrets anything that happened, Tate took a deep sigh and replied, “Next question.” Giants coach Joe Judge twice made clear he doesn’t want the altercation reflecting poorly on team ownership or the type of culture tolerated on his watch.

No video of the incident has been publicized and the Fox broadcast showed only a swarm of teammates pushing and shoving in the aftermath,, but Judge said it is the position of Tate and his teammates that Ramsey threw the first punch and Tate was protecting himself.

Tate “is not sure what’s going to happen” as far as the NFL’s investigation into discipline. Ramsey, who still has not addressed the incident with reporters, was waiting for Tate outside the postgame locker room but the situation was diffused before it escalated, according to ESPN.

“My sister and I talked about it in detail, but that was it,” Tate said. “I want to move forward to this week because that’s what’s important.”

We had to wonder if the sister of Golden would also be named after a precious metal or jewelry.

And the answer is – Breanna.  She was a track star at Ole Miss.

WASHINGTON

Jason Whitlock on the benching of Black QB DWAYNE HASKINS.

No one thinks Washington quarterback Dwayne Haskins is any good.

He ranks 29th in quarterback rating at 80.3, seven points lower than Chicago’s Mitchell Trubisky. In ESPN’s more comprehensive QB evaluation metric, QBR, Haskins ranks 32nd, dead last in the league at 30.6, nearly nine points below San Francisco backup Nick Mullens, who ranks 31st.

Dwayne Haskins, the 15th pick in the 2019 draft, is a certifiable bust.

Why did he spend all day trending on social media? Why did Twitter turn Haskins’ inevitable benching into an alleged example of NFL systemic racism?

The hashtag #BlackQBs was a top trend in the hours after NFL insiders reported Haskins’ demotion to third team.

Social media is the devil’s primary tool of racial polarization and division. Twitter is the sworn enemy of truth and the perverter of facts, context and nuance. It’s David Copperfield, the master of illusion.

Look before you. Here is Dwayne Haskins Jr. He stands 6-foot-4, weighs 220 pounds. The Washington Football Team selected Haskins in the first round primarily because the son of team owner Daniel Snyder went to the same high school as Haskins, and Snyder is enamored with the idea of having a black quarterback lead the football franchise based in our predominantly black nation’s capital.

The Washington Redskins were the first NFL team to win a Super Bowl with a black quarterback, Doug Williams. Since Williams won the Super Bowl 32 years ago, six black quarterbacks have been the starter in Washington — Tony Banks, Jason Campbell, Donovan McNabb, Robert Griffin, Josh Johnson and Dwayne Haskins.

Daniel Snyder bought the franchise in May of 1999. He was the owner of the team when Banks, Campbell, McNabb, Griffin, Johnson and Haskins led the organization.

Arguing that Dan Snyder has a problem with black quarterbacks is the equivalent of arguing that Robert De Niro has a problem with black women. The celebrated actor has six kids by three different black actresses.

Only the magic of Twitter could turn Haskins’ failure in Washington into the illusion of racial injustice.

It’s the same magic trick that justifies the mainstream media pretending that there is a nationwide pandemic of rogue cops indiscriminately killing black men. Yeah, you can cite a handful of examples. No different from pointing to O.J. Simpson, Rae Carruth and Greg Hardy and arguing that they’re proof of how black football players treat women.

But allegeding a systemic pattern of abuse? That’s Twitter manipulating the mainstream media, who in turn gaslight the public and promote racial warfare.

Dwayne Haskins was a terrible draft pick destined to fail quickly in the NFL. His college coach, Urban Meyer, publicly questioned Haskins’ level of maturity when he declared early for the draft. Doug Williams, now Washington’s VP of player development, has publicly questioned Haskins’ level of commitment to the work necessary to succeed in the NFL.

Ron Rivera, Washington’s head coach, is Puerto Rican and Mexican. He’s best known as Cam Newton’s head coach in Carolina. Rivera isn’t a white colonizer, oppressor or closet klansman.

A white man (Snyder), a brown man (Rivera) and a black man (Williams) who all seem to have an affinity for black quarterbacks walk into a football facility to evaluate the performance of a 23-year-old black quarterback. You would think the social justice warriors would consider this evaluation process Utopian.

Instead, it’s racist. It’s an example of the rampant discrimination football fosters.

You can’t win with this crowd. They’re not interested in the truth or unity. Their goal is separation, disharmony and racial animus. It’s Twitter’s greatest magic trick.

The people fighting to end racism are the primary promoters of racism.

The social justice crowd wants to end racism by calling everyone they disagree with racist. Name-calling doesn’t work. Neither do slogans and hashtags.

What works is what the Washington Football Team has been doing since at least 1988. They choose leaders based on qualifications and potential, regardless of color. They give people the chance to succeed or fail based on their effort, performance and ability to lead.

Dwayne Haskins’ performance has been mediocre. His effort and leadership have been even worse. Poor effort and leadership cost Haskins his job. You could see it in 2019 when he missed the victory formation snap because he was too busy taking celebratory selfies with fans.

Teams will tolerate mediocre performance from their young, high draft picks as long as the effort and leadership are strong. That’s why Sam Darnold and Daniel Jones remain the starting quarterbacks in New York.

Haskins failed for the same reason Josh Rosen bombed in Arizona and Miami. The intangibles compromised their performance.

A record number of black quarterbacks (10) opened the NFL season as starters. That’s the true black QB narrative.

Football deals with the complexities of race far more effectively and fairly than the Black Lives Matter, race-obsessed clowns who spend all day tweeting about equality they pray never comes.

So, with the benching of Haskins and Tyrod Taylor – we think we are down to eight Black starting QBs.  Mahomes, Watson, Jackson, Bridgewater, Newton, Prescott, Murray and Wilson – all probably in the top 15 QBs (maybe not Bridgewater, but he’s close).

NFC SOUTH

TAMPA BAY

Not only did the Buccaneers lose on Thursday night, they lost DT VITO VEA.  Kevin Patra of NFL.com:

Tampa Bay Buccaneers defensive tackle Vita Vea let out an audible groan as he went to the ground helping drag down David Montgomery for a tackle for loss. Replays showed why, as the big DT’s ankle got crushed into the turf late in the fourth quarter of the Bucs’ 20-19 loss in Chicago.

Bucs coach Bruce Arians confirmed Friday that Vea suffered a broken leg and is out for the rest of the season.

“It’s a big, big loss,” Arians lamented.

It’s a brutal ending for one of the best big men in the game, and a key to Tampa’s stout run defense. Vea was off to a phenomenal start to the 2020 campaign, collapsing the pocket like it was a whoopee cushion and blowing up ball carriers. There aren’t many people on the planet with Vea’s combination of size, speed and strength.

Vea compiled two sacks and 10 tackles through five games, with three QB hits and three tackles for loss. Thursday night alone, he generated a sack and three tackles, one for loss. He was on pace for a career-year before the injury.

The injury is a blow for the Bucs, who will miss the big man in the middle. With Vea out, expect Rakeem Nunez-Roches to see more time next to Ndamukong Suh and William Gholston along the Buccaneers defensive line.

NFC WEST

SAN FRANCISCO

The 49ers won’t have to choose between QBs NICK MULLENS and CHASE BEATHARD on Sunday.  Nick Shook of NFL.com:

San Francisco might soon wake up from its uncomfortable dream at quarterback.

On Friday, 49ers coach Kyle Shanahan told KNBR it’s likely Jimmy Garoppolo will return Sunday against the Miami Dolphins, per ESPN’s Nick Wagoner. The decision is not yet final because of Friday’s practice, in which Shanahan will get one more look at his signal-caller before making his return official.

It’s been an interesting two weeks for the 49ers without Garoppolo, who suffered an ankle injury in San Francisco’s Week 2 win over New York that forced him to miss Weeks 3 and 4 against the Giants and Eagles.

Garoppolo was replaced by Nick Mullens, who again displayed some promise in his first start of 2020, completing 25 of 36 passes for 343 yards and a touchdown in the 36-9 rout of the Giants and helping 49ers fans breathe easier in the absence of Garoppolo. Mullens was much worse the next week against Philadelphia, though, prompting Shanahan to bench him for C.J. Beathard late in the Niners’ loss.

While some fans might be in favor of making sure Garoppolo is absolutely healthy before trotting him back out there, the 49ers’ Week 4 loss is enough of a reason to bring back the quarterback if he’s able to go. Miami owns a 1-3 mark, but has played competitively in recent weeks — especially on the defensive side of the ball — meaning the 49ers will need their best available signal-caller. If that is Garoppolo, their chances obviously increase.

In a season in which injuries have ravaged the 49ers as much as the hardest-hit teams, if not more, it’ll be nice for them to get their franchise quarterback back before embarking on a difficult seven-game stretch that includes meetings with New England, Seattle, Green Bay, New Orleans and Buffalo, as well as two games against the Rams. They’ll need a better performance than they had Sunday night.

A tweet by Andrew Siciliano needs to be unpacked a bit, but it does show that the 49ers lineup of opponents to date has not been Murderer’s Row:

@AndrewSiciliano

Sunday will mark the first time all season that the 49ers will take the field against a team that has won a game.

@AndrewSiciliano

Week 1: Arizona 0-0

Week 2: NYJ 0-1

Week 3: NYG 0-2

Week 4: PHI 0-2-1

Week 5: MIA 1-3

The next seven after the Dolphins are:

Rams

at Patriots

at Seahawks

Packers

at Saints

at Rams

Bills

AFC WEST

LOS ANGELES CHARGERS

Coach Anthony Lynn concedes to reality and admits that QB JUSTIN HERBERT is now the Chargers starter.  Shelley Smith of ESPN.com:

Los Angeles Chargers coach Anthony Lynn on Thursday named rookie quarterback Justin Herbert the team’s starter going forward.

Lynn had said Tyrod Taylor, who was sidelined after a team doctor accidentally punctured his lung while giving him a painkilling injection, would start when he was 100% healthy. But after watching Herbert wow the league with impressive numbers against the Kansas City Chiefs in an overtime loss, a close loss to the Carolina Panthers and another close loss to Tom Brady and the Tampa Bay Buccaneers — all three were by less than one score — Lynn said he changed his mind.

“He impressed from the very beginning,” Lynn said. “This young man is going to continue to get better and I know we can win with him. I believe that.

“I did not take that decision lightly. It’s not a decision where he’s going to be looking over his shoulder… he’s our quarterback.”

Lynn said Taylor did not take the decision well — “he’s a competitor” — but believes Taylor will continue to mentor Herbert the rest of the season.

His next start will be his first on Monday Night Football, against the Saints in New Orleans.

Shalise Manza Young of YahooSports.com doesn’t like it:

Most of us, particularly those who have been athletes, would agree: If you lose your role or job through your own mistake or because someone is just better, so be it.

But losing your job the way Tyrod Taylor did — it’s just cruel.

On Thursday, Los Angeles Chargers coach Anthony Lynn told media that rookie Justin Herbert will be the team’s starting quarterback for the remainder of the season, and that Herbert will not be looking over his shoulder.

Herbert was eventually going to move into the starting job. After all, the Chargers drafted him sixth overall in the spring, so the regime clearly believed he’d be its quarterback of the future.

It’s how he became the starter, and more how unfair it is for Taylor.

Taylor led Los Angeles to a season-opening win over the Cincinnati Bengals, but suffered broken ribs in the game. The next week, in the minutes before the Chargers were to face the Kansas City Chiefs, Taylor received a painkiller injection near the fracture site to allow him to play.

The effects last only for a few hours, so the procedure is typically done as close to kickoff as possible.

That shows how much Taylor wanted to be on the field with his teammates, to run the offense against a division opponent and the reigning Super Bowl champions. Anyone who has dealt with broken ribs can tell you how uncomfortable they are. Add in the contact football players absorb, even quarterbacks, and, well, he would have been in a heap of pain the day afterward, though it’s fair to ask why athletic trainers cleared Taylor to play at all. If he needed shots to get through the week of practice, where he would have been wearing a non-contact jersey, was letting him play in a game where he would’ve been a target of pass rushers in his best interest?

It all led to one massive, career-altering problem: The team doctor who administered the shot punctured one of Taylor’s lungs and he hasn’t been able to play since.

The NFL Players Association has opened an investigation, and has a 60-day window to file a grievance on Taylor’s behalf. A league source said things are currently “on hold” with the process, as any potential grievance would hinge on whether Taylor would suffer material losses — in other words, a loss of money because of incentives tied to starts, wins, etc.

Grievances can be messy and drawn out, which certainly means there’s space for the Chargers to do the right thing and pay Taylor due to a mistake of their medical staffer. All of the guaranteed money in his two-year contract came last year.

Immediately after that Week 2 game, Lynn was adamant that Taylor wouldn’t lose his job. And once the news of exactly why he’d missed the game against the Chiefs leaked out, it was completely understandable.

The situation had shades of Brady-Bledsoe from two decades ago: In 2001, Drew Bledsoe, thought to be the New England Patriots’ entrenched starter, took a hit from the New York Jets’ Mo Lewis in Week 2 that left him concussed and with internal bleeding and a collapsed lung. Backup Tom Brady stepped into the huddle and the rest is history.

Will Herbert lead the Chargers to the Super Bowl this season, assuming the COVID-plagued league gets to that point? At the moment, it seems unlikely since they’re 1-3 after last Sunday’s late loss to Brady and the Tampa Bay Buccaneers, but perhaps this year more than any other, a team’s health and depth will be paramount. If a club can avoid having its team facility becoming a coronavirus hotspot, it might be in a far better position than other franchises (looking at you, Titans).

Taylor doesn’t have the resume of his contemporaries, like fellow 2011 draftees Cam Newton or Andy Dalton. He has been a serviceable starter, a Pro Bowler in 2015 who should get credit for helping turn the Buffalo Bills from constant laughingstock to playoff entrant. He is lauded for his professionalism, and Lynn said Thursday that Taylor is the only player he has been around to receive a captain’s vote from 100 percent of his teammates. He will remain a captain through the year.

AFC NORTH

BALTIMORE

QB LAMAR JACKSON is back at practice.  NFL.com:

Lamar Jackson’s two-day absence is over, and it seems as if all is right again for the Ravens quarterback.

Jackson participated in Baltimore’s Friday practice and didn’t display any limitations, per The Athletic’s Jeff Zrebiec, including going without a knee brace after he was listed on the injury report with a knee issue.

The Ravens added an illness to the details of Jackson’s appearance on the injury report Thursday, which became the first time that he’s missed consecutive days of practice in his young career, raising understandable concern. That worry can be set aside now, it seems, though we should wait for Friday’s afternoon injury report for a final determination.

AFC EAST

MIAMI

An injury to one of the Dolphins’ first round picks.  Cameron Wolfe of ESPN.com:

The Miami Dolphins placed rookie left tackle Austin Jackson on injured reserve Friday, meaning he will miss at least three weeks and likely longer with a foot injury suffered in Sunday’s loss to the Seattle Seahawks.

This is the most significant update amid a flurry of Dolphins injury situations ahead of Sunday’s game at San Francisco. Miami also will be without starting defensive end Shaq Lawson (shoulder) and tight end Durham Smythe (knee) vs. the 49ers. Receiver Jakeem Grant is questionable after missing practice Friday with an illness that is not COVID-related.

Flores would not say whether Jackson will be able to return this season, but he indicated that he is looking for a “long-term replacement” for him, indicating his absence is expected to be longer than the three-week minimum injured-reserve stay. Jackson’s injury has caused significant ripples throughout the offensive line and the team.

The most obvious position affected is quarterback. Flores did not discuss whether Jackson’s injury had any impact on his decision to keep veteran QB Ryan Fitzpatrick as the starter vs. the 49ers, but it’s likely the Dolphins will want to feel good about their offensive line before throwing Tua Tagovailoa into a football game for the first time since his devastating hip injury nearly 11 months ago.

Jackson, the No. 18 pick in the 2020 draft, was playing well locking down Fitzpatrick’s blindside, and his absence could lead to multiple offensive linemen switching roles.

THIS AND THAT

BATTLE OF WITS or BATTLE OF HALF-WITS

Armchair QBs had a field day with the final minutes of Tampa Bay at Chicago Thursday night.

First, there was the decision of Bruce Arians, down by a point, to take a FG on 4^th and 1 at the Chicago 7 with about 5 minutes left.  The same Bruce Arians who went for it (and got it) on 4^th and 1 from his own 19 much earlier in the game.

Analytics nerd edjsports weighed in:

@edjsports

Bruce Arians with a BIG 4th down error.

Kicking the field goal on 4th & 1 cost the #Bucs 8% pre-snap GWC.

#TBvsCHI #GoBucs #DaBears

And this:

@edjsports

After the made field goal, Tampa Bay’s GWC increases by a WHOPPING… 0.2%.

#TBvsCHI #GoBucs #DaBears

Tampa Bay’s win probability was hanging in the 60% mark at that point, but it soared to 83% when the Bears punted.

Then came two very un-Brady like drives.  The first was a 3-and-out with 2 incomplete passes that clicked off just 27 seconds with only 1 timeout used by the Bears.

After the punt the Bears moved into field goal range.  They kicked the winning FG with 1:13 left, but cost themselves about 30 seconds with an incomplete pass.

Too much time for Brady most thought, but he went just 2 for 5 for 16 yards as Tampa Bay failed to convert a 4^th and 5 when the GOAT threw incomplete well past the stakes.

Then came Brady’s motion to the ref with four fingers that led to the reasonable assumption that he had lost track of downs.  Curtis Crabtree of ProFootballTalk.com:

If Tom Brady didn’t know it was fourth down on his incomplete pass to Cameron Brate Thursday night, neither he or head coach Bruce Arians are willing to say so.

Brady was asked after the game if he knew it was fourth down when he tried to rip a pass into a well-covered Brate down the field.

“I knew we needed a chunk and I was thinking about more yardage and then, you know, it was just, it was bad execution. We had a great opportunity there. So just didn’t execute when we needed do,” Brady told reporters after the game.

“We just… you’re up against the clock and I knew we had to gain a chunk so I should have been thinking more first down instead of chunk on that down.”

After the play, Brady didn’t immediately head toward the bench and was holding up four fingers in the air as if he anticipated another down was forthcoming.

There was not.

Brady fired incomplete for Mike Evans on first-and-10. Dumped a check down to Ke’Shawn Vaughn for four yards on second down, fired off the hands of Rob Gronkowski on third down before the throw to Brate was broken up by DeAndre Houston-Carson on fourth down.

Arians also said that Brady was aware of what down it was.

“Yeah, he knew. He knew,” Arians said.

PROTECTING OFFICIALS

Since the start of the season, not a single NFL head coach has tested positive for the dreaded Covid-19 and several of them (Payton, Lynn come to mind) should be Covid resistant.  But the NFL will allow officials to flag them if they dare remove their masks so that the their complaints aren’t muffled.  Josh Alper of ProFootballTalk.com:

The NFL Referees Association complained to the league about Ravens head coach John Harbaugh yelling at officials from a short distance without a face covering in Week Three and the league has let coaches know they can be punished for doing the same in any future games.

Tom Pelissero of NFL Media reports that NFL senior vice president of officiating Perry Fewell sent a memo to teams on Friday concerning the subject of maskless coaches interacting with officials. It said that officials have been told “if an individual not wearing a face covering approaches them inappropriately, they have the authority to take administrative or officiating action.”

According to the memo, those actions include assessing a 15-yard penalty for unsportsmanlike conduct to a coach in violation of the policy.

Several coaches and their teams have been fined for not wearing masks during games this season. The memo also mentions suspensions and draft pick forfeiture as possible punishments for continued violations.