NFC NORTH

DETROIT

Dan Campbell wasn’t surprised by the outcome Thursday night at Arrowhead.  Eric Woodyard of ESPN.com:

While the football world might have been stunned by the Detroit Lions’ 21-20 win over the reigning Super Bowl champion Kansas City Chiefs, there was one person who wasn’t: Dan Campbell.

The third-year Lions head coach prepared his squad for Thursday’s upset at Arrowhead Stadium, as Detroit opened the regular season 1-0 for the first time since 2017.

“I didn’t learn anything, I got verification on what I already knew, and this is a resilient team,” Campbell said. “It already was a resilient team and we added pieces to that resilient team, so we’re built to handle some stuff and we did that today against a very good opponent.”

With the Lions trailing 17-14 entering the fourth quarter, that resiliency was on display as they won their fourth consecutive road game that has been decided by one score, dating back to last season. Running back David Montgomery put the team ahead for good with an 8-yard rushing touchdown up the middle with 7:11 remaining to spoil the Chiefs’ championship celebration, with fans exiting early on the night Kansas City’s Super Bowl LVII championship banner was revealed.

“We expected to win this game. We came in here and we knew what we needed to do, and we knew it wasn’t going to be easy and we did that,” Campbell said. “Really what it means is that’s one [win]. That’s one. So, we’ve got to clean up our issues. It hurt us on some stuff today and be ready for Seattle in 10 days. That’s what it is.”

Slow starts have doomed the Lions over the past two years, as they posted an NFL-worst 2-14 record in Weeks 1-9 in 2021 and 2022 combined. But that wasn’t the case this time around.

Dating back to early offseason workouts, even before padded practices, Lions defensive back C.J. Gardner-Johnson proclaimed that “this s— different,” in Detroit with the current players.

Gardner-Johnson signed with the Lions as an unrestricted free agent this offseason on the heels of a Super Bowl LVII appearance with the Philadelphia Eagles.

When the Lions’ defense stood its ground on a crucial third-and-1 play with 5:51 left in the fourth, as defensive lineman Josh Paschal pulled down Chiefs receiver Rashee Rice on a running trick play, Gardner-Johnson was further convinced this team is legit.

“This win means that this ain’t the same Detroit. I keep reiterating that. From the joint practices to all the other practices, winners know what winners look like,” Gardner-Johnson said. “This team is full of winners. Being on teams that’s been successful, I’m just happy to be a part of guys that want to play ball and go out here and get a W. No matter who out there on the field or what’s on the clock, these guys are going to fight. S—, we’re all going to fight.”

With the victory, the Lions also snapped the longest active drought since defeating a defending Super Bowl champion (1997). Detroit has now won five of its past six road games but isn’t satisfied as it enters Week 2’s home game against the Seattle Seahawks on Sept. 17.

“It feels great. My rookie year, I feel like those games were losses for us every time, just chalk it up, but now I feel like we’re going to win every game,” said Lions receiver Amon-Ra St. Brown, who finished with six catches for 71 yards and a touchdown. “I go into every game thinking we better win, and if we don’t, there’s something wrong. That’s just the mentality I feel like we all have, and I feel like that’s what helps us going into games, that confidence, that swagger that we have.

“I love this team, they’re a bunch of guys that I love to go to war with.”

– – –

Here’s a good look at QB JARED GOFF from Elizabeth Merrill of ESPN.com.  She’s a top writer – and it gives you a sense of Goff’s journey:

Thursday night, Goff enters the most important season of his NFL career. His Lions are playing the reigning Super Bowl champion Kansas City Chiefs in the 2023 NFL Kickoff game, and Detroit is a chic pick to win the NFC North and maybe even go to the Super Bowl. All of this is a big deal in a football-obsessed city that has not won a playoff game in more than three decades, and Goff will experience it while playing under a contract that expires after the end of next season.

But Goff says he feels no pressure.

“Not any more than I’ve experienced in my past,” he says. ” … People have been like, ‘Oh, it’s a make-or-break year for you’ for it seems like half of my career at this point.

“I don’t know what that means, make or break. But why wouldn’t every quarterback be in a make-or-break year? It seems like every guy should have that mentality. That’s why I think it’s a good thing for me. It keeps me on my toes.”

Goff is 28 but looks younger and seems older. He has seen a lot. In his eight years in the NFL, he’s been a No. 1 draft pick, by the Los Angeles Rams, then a bust; a franchise quarterback, then a castoff. Goff, who played in a Super Bowl and fell out of favor with Rams coach Sean McVay, was halfway expected to fade into oblivion in January 2021, when he found out he was being traded to Detroit just moments before it was all over social media.

What happened next was well-documented: Matthew Stafford won a Super Bowl with McVay and the Rams, and Goff went to the cold, harsh reality of Detroit. He lost 19 of his first 24 games. But then they ripped off eight wins in the last 10 games of the 2022 season, including a “Sunday Night Football” victory in the last game of the season that denied Green Bay a playoff spot.

And here now are the Lions, contenders. And here is Goff, coming off arguably his best season ever. But the transformation of Jared Goff — he’d surely roll his eyes at that label — is about more than flipping critics or regaining respect. It’s about finding a home in one of the unlikeliest places, finding your people and never letting go of an unwavering belief. It’s about the flinty side of Goff, which he rarely exposes but which burns deep inside.

“I’m trying to word this without saying anything bad about anyone,” Goff says. “I think anytime you’re traded, a team is basically telling you, ‘We don’t believe in you; we’re done with you.’

“You’re no longer 16 years old playing this game anymore. These people are making business decisions based on you. And I think that flipped the switch for me to say, ‘OK, I can do the same thing, and I don’t need 32 teams to believe in me. I need one, and the other 31 can kick rocks.”

Goff’s circle of friends consists mostly of a group of guys he hung out with in high school in Novato, California. He calls them all his best friends. When Goff is with them, he says, “I don’t feel like I’m an NFL quarterback. I’m just the same guy I was when I was 12 years old.”

He played golf with them Jan. 30, and they had just eaten dinner that night when he received the call that the Rams were trading him. His dad, Jerry, called after Jared hung up with the Lions, and a number of people tried to boost his spirits that night. At some point in the haze, Nancy offered some of the best advice.

“Dad and I moved many, many, many times,” she told him, “and some of the moves that we thought were the worst move that could’ve happened ended up being a pathway to some of the best times we had.”

Jerry Goff made his Major League Baseball debut as a catcher with the Montreal Expos in 1990. In 1991, he had returned to the minors. His whole career, he bounced around in Canada, Pittsburgh, Houston, and a number of Double-A and Triple-A affiliates. Rejection, and having a team come to the conclusion that it didn’t need him, was a way of life.

Jerry calls Nancy “the backbone of the operation.” She’d pack up the apartments and head out, with no GPS or cellphone, to the next destination. To make a new home. One time, when Jerry didn’t make a big league team out of spring training, she had to take their car from Florida to Buffalo. Nancy, a Californian, wasn’t used to driving in a snowstorm with a baby in the back. But they made it.

And it was fun, even with the chaos. Nancy learned to rent furnished apartments, and Jerry learned to adapt. They passed on to Jared how to roll with it when things didn’t go your way.

“If you’re prepared and you’re in shape and you’re mentally right,” Jerry says, “you can put your head on the pillow at night and whatever happens, happens.”

Jared was too young to remember much, but he went on the road with the family when Jerry played for the Astros, and during his last run at baseball in 1997 with the Amarillo Dillas of the Texas-Louisiana League.

They were different athletes. Jerry reacted more to his failures. If Nancy showed up to a game in the second inning, she could tell by her husband’s body language whether he had gotten a hit. “I was my own worst enemy out there,” he says. “I was always bat to bat, play to play.”

From an early age, Jared was the opposite — cool-headed, but also viciously competitive. He threw for 7,687 yards with 93 touchdowns and 18 interceptions in three seasons at Marin Catholic High, and pledged to play at the University of California, Berkeley, the school his parents attended.

But then Cal fired coach Jeff Tedford and hired Sonny Dykes, and the new staff had to re-recruit him. Tony Franklin, Dykes’ offensive coordinator, initially wasn’t blown away by Goff. He watched video and assessed him as a good but not great quarterback. Then he went to see Goff play in the state championship in Los Angeles. Marin Catholic lost, but Goff, to Franklin, seemed unflappable.

Franklin called Dykes and told him, “This kid is really special. He has got it.” He watched him fight until the last play, and he saw a skill set. Goff was barely 18 when he skipped his last semester of high school to join the team for spring drills. In the third game of his freshman season, No. 4 Ohio State came to town. “We were really bad,” Dykes says, “and they were really good. Jared got hit about 20 times in that game.”

But Goff stood in the pocket and absorbed hit after hit. Afterward, Dykes said, his linemen felt terrible and apologized to him. But they didn’t need to. Goff told them it was his job to go in there and help them win. They’d finish 1-11.

Dykes, now the head football coach at TCU, calls Goff one of the toughest players he’s ever been around. He says Goff changed the program. The Golden Bears’ 8-5 record and victory over Air Force in the Armed Services Bowl in Goff’s junior year accounted for Cal’s best season under Dykes. After the bowl game, Goff declared for the NFL draft.

“I really do believe that inside him, he’s got a burning desire to be great and to win,” Dykes says. “It’s probably not the first thing you think of when you see him, or really even talk to him, But it’s there, I can assure you.”

Tony Franklin knew Goff was being traded before Goff did. He’d been a football coach for 40 years, and he knows that when a coach says things such as, “He’s our quarterback, right now,” that it usually means a team is about to move on.

In late January 2021, shortly after McVay said that to reporters in Los Angeles, Franklin knew Goff had to be down. So he set up a Zoom call with his former student and prepared a PowerPoint presentation to boost his spirits.

Franklin, now retired from coaching, says he did not like the way McVay took the credit for the Rams’ successes, including the team’s run to Super Bowl LIII in 2018, and blamed Goff when things went bad. (McVay did tell reporters in February 2021 that it was unfair to solely blame Goff for the team’s offensive struggles. “I have a big hand in that,” McVay said at the time. “I have to look myself in the mirror and take ownership of that.”)

But one thing was certain: The 6-foot-4, 217-pound quarterback was clearly on the outs by Week 12 of the 2020 season, when he turned the ball over three times in a 23-20 loss to San Francisco. After the game, McVay told reporters that “our quarterback has to take better care of the football.”

The disconnect began long before the Rams were overmatched in a 13-3 loss to New England in the Super Bowl. It went beyond a coach’s expectations and the quarterback who wasn’t fulfilling them. They never were a personality match; McVay the Type A-plus-plus-plus coach who burned with the intensity of 20 hot cups of coffee, Goff an iced latte.

“[I’m] Type A,” Goff insists. “But I don’t want to make anyone upset and cause any conflict, really.”

Franklin is, of course, biased, but he calls Goff the most underappreciated quarterback in the NFL. He says Goff’s footwork rivals Peyton Manning’s and blames Goff’s L.A. regression, in part, on the Rams’ lack of offensive threats after running back Todd Gurley suffered a string of injuries and eventually was cut.

If anyone ever doubted Goff’s passion, Franklin says, then they didn’t watch the Week 16 game of the 2020 season against Seattle when Goff dislocated his right thumb. He popped a broken thumb on his throwing hand back into place and finished the game.

But in January 2021, after the Rams lost to Green Bay in the divisional round of the playoffs, Goff went home with his football life in limbo.

“[Jared] got his ass whipped,” Franklin says. “He got humiliated in front of the world. You know, you’re the first pick in the draft, you take a team to the Super Bowl, you’re All-Pro. You have a couple of seasons that are not quite as good. And the next thing you know, in the quiet of the night, your head coach throws you under the bus, runs over you with the tire tracks and you’re traded.

” … if you’re just human, if you’re just any human being in the world, that can destroy you, it can destroy your confidence, it can destroy a lot of things.”

But before the trade, Franklin presented his PowerPoint. He talked about how Goff got to the NFL, and how to get to the next phase. He went through his days at Cal and what made him good, and segued into his first season in L.A. He broke down the positives and the negatives of Goff’s career in L.A., then used some words from motivational speaker Tony Robbins.

Franklin encouraged Goff to get angry and use it to prove everyone wrong. Goff, multiple coaches say, is at his best when he’s angry. Franklin closed by talking about gratitude, then told him to write his own story. “You’re the writer,” he said. “You get to edit, delete it, produce it and star in it.”

When Franklin told him he’d probably be traded, Goff couldn’t bring himself to believe it. It blindsided him, he said, because he had never had any conversations with the Rams about being moved.

“That’s where the disrespect was felt,” Goff says, “and I think they understood that afterwards …

“But yeah, I was home, got a phone call from Sean, [and he] told me I was getting traded. Ten seconds later, it’s on Twitter.”

Goff called Christen Harper, his then-girlfriend and now his fiancée, and told her the news. Harper is a Californian too and knew nothing about Michigan. But she didn’t hesitate. “Let’s go,” she told him. “Let’s move out there.”

The Lions had just hired Dan Campbell as their head coach 10 days earlier. In his introductory news conference, Campbell said his team would be built on kicking opponents in the teeth. He also mentioned something about biting a kneecap off.

Jerry Goff, who became a firefighter after his baseball dreams died, knew Jared would hit it off with his new coach. They’re both workers, Jerry says, from blue-collar backgrounds.

And although Jared doesn’t openly display what he calls a “guttural fire” that Campbell does, they are, seemingly, kindred spirits — two men who have spent much of their careers trying to prove they belong. That mutual respect, and enthusiasm, was clear in Week 13 of the 2021 season, against Minnesota. The Lions had gone 15 games and 364 days without a win, and when Goff threw the game winner, an 11-yard strike as time expired, he ran to the sideline and jumped into his coach’s arms.

It seemed cathartic, and the start of something they were building together.

“I think the thing that I always tell people that is mostly misconstrued about him is that he’s like a meathead,” Goff says, “and he’s just like an AHHHH, guy. He’s so damn smart and so … Extremely high emotional intelligence as far as reading a room and knowing how to treat people and knowing when to push and when to pull and when to get on guys and when to love them up.

“That’s what makes him such a great leader and [what] gets so much respect from our team. And then on the football aspects, he’s as smart as anybody I’ve been around. He gets the whole game, all 22, defense, offense, O-line, D-line, he sees it all and understands it all.”

At minicamp in June, Campbell told reporters Goff is a better quarterback than he was in Los Angeles. He said the Lions have asked him to do “a lot more, in my opinion, than what they were actually doing out there.” With more responsibility, Goff flourished in 2022, hitting 65.1% of his passes for 4,438 yards. Under first-year offensive coordinator Ben Johnson, the Lions also found late-season success by playing to Goff’s strengths and using more play-action, which was a staple of the Rams’ offenses.

Detroit finished the season fifth in the NFL in scoring (26.6 points per game), and Goff led the league in touchdown-to-interception ratio (29-7). According to ESPN Stats & Information research, he ranked second in completions of 25 yards or more (35), behind Patrick Mahomes. But many of Goff’s completions were on short passes that were followed by long runs, as his air yards per attempt was 6.9.

When Goff was struggling during a 1-6 start, speculation arose that the Lions might use one of their first two picks in the 2023 draft to select a quarterback. They instead drafted help for Goff: Jahmyr Gibbs, a running back who’s an adept pass-catcher, and tight end Sam LaPorta.

Goff is having fun. He says Campbell and Johnson let him be himself and lead the team. It’s a stark difference from his early days in Detroit, when his life was uprooted.

“It was hard, and I didn’t tell anyone how hard it was,” Goff says. “I think it took me until now, this offseason, to realize how hard that was because it was just like I put my head down and worked, blocked everything out and just tried to get better every day.

“I was fine in the moment, and then you look back and you’re, man, that was a tough time, that was tough work because now you’re on the other side of it in some ways.”

Quarterbacks coach Mark Brunell says when Goff came to Detroit, he was focused on going forward instead of looking back. But Goff’s experiences, winning and losing, going to a Super Bowl and completely changing course in a new city, shape who he is and how he leads. Earlier this week, teammates made him a captain for the third straight season — he’s one of six, alongside Alex Anzalone, Charles Harris, Jalen Reeves-Maybin, Amon-Ra St. Brown and Penei Sewell.

Brunell likes Goff’s demeanor and says it’s not always California cool.

“There are times where he gets really excited and he gets really ticked off, which I love,” Brunell says. “It’s good that his teammates see that. I think it sends a really strong message that what he does is very important to him and that he just simply does not want to let anybody around him down. He understands that he’s the starting quarterback for the Detroit Lions and that guys are really counting on him.”

At the end of the 2022 season, Detroit ripped off wins in eight of their last 10 games, including a victory that knocked the Green Bay Packers out of the playoffs. Todd Rosenberg via AP

Sometimes, it’s OK to look back. Goff has finished a workout with his trainer, Dave Martin, and settles into a small office in his Redondo Beach gym, which is filled with signposts of an up-and-down career. So far.

He’s talking to his marketing agent, Nima Zarrabi, about a John Madden autograph when their conversation drifts to a 2018 “Monday Night Football” game between the Rams and the Chiefs when Goff won an epic 54-51 quarterback duel with Mahomes.

Zarrabi asks Goff whether he has the game ball in his office.

“No,” Goff says, “I have this really dope picture, though.”

He retrieves a framed photo, and there’s Goff, temporarily in the conversation of top-tier quarterbacks. He has launched his 40-yard game-winning pass in the picture, and the ball is frozen in midair over a scoreboard that reads Chiefs 51-47 and over the outstretched arm of Chris Jones.

“That was such a crazy game, Bro,” Zarrabi says.

Almost two months later, they’re at a shopping mall in a suburb of Detroit. Goff has an appearance at a sporting goods store that day. Zarrabi and his colleague Ryan Tollner, the founder of Rep 1 Sports, have seen fan bases turn on their quarterback; in Goff’s class, they also landed Carson Wentz.

Goff, wearing sweats and a T-shirt, isn’t exactly sure what to expect. In Los Angeles, he could move around without being noticed. But at this event, there are at least 200 people in this decaying mall, waiting to interact with Goff. Zarrabi and Goff glance at each other in bewilderment over the loyalty, and the manners.

A man gives him what appears to be a bobblehead that is so old that it is not a replica of anyone. He tells Goff that if he wins the Super Bowl, he can put the bobblehead next to the trophy. Goff signs something for an older gentleman, who looks him square in the eyes. He tells Goff that he’s the perfect person for Detroit and that he’s happy he’s there.

Goff signs his autographs, then crosses a long, empty mall parking lot to BJ’s, a casual chain restaurant. A server asks if he’s Jared Goff, and Goff says yes.

“Oh, wow,” the server says, “awesome, man.”

Goff orders a cheeseburger and enjoys his dinner in the place he’s supposed to be.

MINNESOTA

QB JUSTIN JEFFERSON has some comments on a possible extension.  Kevin Seifert ofESPN.com:

– Minnesota Vikings receiver Justin Jefferson continues to take a decidedly nonchalant position on talks to extend his contract, saying Thursday that he would like a new deal but isn’t sure whether it will happen before Sunday’s opener against the Tampa Bay Buccaneers.

“Of course I would want a contract to be done,” Jefferson said. “But at the end of the day, it is all up to them and what the ownership want to do with that.”

General manager Kwesi Adofo-Mensah reiterated last week that the team intends to get a deal done, but he acknowledged that some players prefer to cut off talks once the regular season begins.

Jefferson would not reveal Thursday whether he has a preference, saying instead that “it’s up to them.”

Jefferson, 24, has accumulated more receiving yards in the first three years of his career (4,825) than any other player in NFL history. The Vikings have him under contract for two more years — at $2.4 million this season and $19.7 million in 2024 — and could use the franchise tag on him in 2025 if they don’t have a deal before then.

Those circumstances, along with the exploding market for NFL receivers, have created a complex set of negotiations. Jefferson implied as much Thursday when asked whether he has sought advice from other players who have been in similar situations.

“I’m in a different situation,” Jefferson said. “I’ve done something that no one has ever done in the history of the game. So my situation is a little bit different than everyone else’s. Of course, I’m going into my fourth year, trying to talk about contract two years early. There’s so many different parts that go in towards it. That’s why I leave it up to my agent and just keep my mindset on the field.”

Jefferson did, however, say that he hopes to continue his career with Vikings quarterback Kirk Cousins, who has thrown virtually every pass Jefferson has seen in his NFL career.

Cousins has said he hopes to finish his career in Minnesota, but his contract is set to expire after the 2023 season.

Jefferson, when asked whether he would make Cousins’ future part of his own negotiations, knows that his preference for his quarterback has its limits.

“It’s a part of the business. It’s kind of really hard to say so,” Jefferson said. “Of course I would love for Kirk to continue to be my quarterback. … But, again, I don’t control that. That’s up to the team and up to Kirk. But of course I would love to have Kirk and continue my journey with Kirk.”

One interested party in Jefferson’s negotations is Cincinnati Bengals two-time Pro Bowl receiver Ja”Marr Chase, who is still a year away from being able to renegotiate.

“I’m hoping he sets the mark for me,” Chase said Thursday of his former LSU teammate.

NFC EAST

DALLAS

Will WR BRANDIN COOKS be a difference maker for Dallas?  Saad Yousouf of The Athletic:

On the Dallas Cowboys’ second day of practice in full pads for training camp in Oxnard, Calif., wide receiver CeeDee Lamb joined 96.7 FM The Ticket and was asked if there’s much of a difference between what head Mike McCarthy is focusing on as he takes over the offense from Kellen Moore.

Lamb’s answer was reflexively quick.

“Yeah, the aggressiveness to go deep,” Lamb said. “I feel like that’s the biggest difference from this year to last year. I think we threw like maybe four or five go balls last year, overall, in the whole season.”

“That’s weird,” Corby Davidson, one of the hosts, chimed in.

“Yeah, very weird, actually” Lamb said. “We connected on like three or four of them, and we threw like five. Still not enough when you play 17 games in the regular season and two postseason (games).”

According to TruMedia, 16.5 percent of the Cowboys’ routes were go routes, which ranked 23rd in the league. The math was different than Lamb’s recollection, as the Cowboys completed 27 go balls for eight touchdowns, with Lamb accounting for nine of those catches for four touchdowns. But Lamb’s comments are an indicator of how much players were itching to push the ball deeper with increased frequency.

McCarthy could desire to throw the ball deeper with all his might but it does little in terms of results unless there is proper personnel in place to execute. To that end, the Cowboys’ trade for Brandin Cooks goes a long way in furthering McCarthy’s vision.

“Just understanding when we added him, going back and looking at his resume, looking at the guys he’s played with, the quarterbacks and the coaches he’s played under, I knew we were getting a true professional,” Dak Prescott said. “I guess you can say he’s exceeded my expectations. It’s really just the man he is, honestly. The way he’s come in, he’s led this group, he’s taken every responsibility that we’ve given him head on and has mastered that. Now, it’s about just going out there and putting it to real game action. A player like that, the chemistry was expedited just with the way he prepares and how talented he is, understanding where all 22 guys are on the field and their purpose. It’s exciting having a guy like that and adding him to that room, knowing he brings a lot of value not only to our offense but particularly that room as a leader.”

Cooks’ speed makes him the poster child for a renewed emphasis on the deep ball but he’s also a receiver who carries a complete route tree and plays, as what Stephen Jones dubbed years ago in looking for receivers, a “Dak-friendly” style. He’s a supreme route runner whose production in the offense will be directly correlated to the timing that develops with Prescott. As was the case of immediate, and sustained success with Amari Cooper, Prescott favors that kind of receiver.

“If that’s the ideal look, whether that’s the matchup or whether the coverage looks great for that, yeah, I’m going to take advantage of it and I’m going to push the ball downfield,” Prescott said. “But (Cooks) is a guy, just go back and look at his resume, he can stretch the field, he can beat a lot of guys one-on-one.”

Traditionally, the West Coast offense favors the short passing game that’s reliant on the quarterback getting the ball out quick and receivers getting the opportunity to turn it up field for hefty yards after the catch. There will be plenty of that involved but, as Prescott said during OTAs, the Cowboys’ offense is better labeled the Texas Coast offense, a friendly fusion.

“It’s definitely got some West Coast principles but has a little bit of what we’ve done in the past and marrying them together with a lot of detail,” Prescott said. “In a sense, a system that’s not out there.”

At the most basic level, the deep passing game is about converting on big plays. Last season, the Cowboys had 10.8 percent of their attempts fly 20 or more yards downfield, which was 18th in the league. That’s a ranking that should go up but, according to Prescott, only if it happens organically.

“I think it’s just matchups,” Prescott said. “Obviously, I’m looking forward to it, being able to stretch the field, having a guy like (Cooks) to take the top off but the last thing I can do is chase that. I can’t come back there, knowing I’ve got him there and look for that only and not underneath for what’s there. Once again, that just goes into the whole play call and what’s the purpose of the play call.”

The entire operation will start up front. Last season, the Cowboys averaged 2.64 seconds on dropbacks, from the snap to releasing the ball or getting sacked. That was tied for the fourth-lowest time in the league. None of the Cowboys’ goals in the passing game will come to fruition if the offensive line falters.

“It’s protection first,” McCarthy said. “I think any time you develop a passing game, you have to have a starting point.”

From there, it’s on Prescott. He mentioned this summer that he’s been challenged cerebrally with the new offense in ways that he hasn’t been in the past and he’s enjoyed it. Assuming he gets the required protection up front, Prescott, entering his eighth NFL season, will need to use those few seconds to process things mentally and execute physically.

“When that shot’s called, that look is ideal for that, take advantage of it but if not, just get through the progressions, check it down, live to play another play. I think that just goes in hand with (McCarthy’s) play calling and that play-calling purpose, as well as understanding who I’ve got around me, not just on the offensive side but as I said, the defense as well.”

Much of the spotlight on Prescott this season will be dissecting his decisions of unleashing the deep ball versus crisp intermediate passes versus checkdowns and even the occasional tuck and run. Coming off a career-high in interceptions (15), Prescott will need to thread the needle of being aggressive but not to aggressive, and understanding the bigger picture in play.

“That just goes into this (Cowboys) defense,” Prescott said. “I don’t know that it’s something that’s been heavily emphasized but just go back and look at last year and you look at some of the turnovers, you can say, ‘Yeah, you’re forcing it there, that was higher risk than reward.’ In that sense, when you have a defense like this, it’s just about understanding that they’re going to get you the ball back so just stay within the play.”

The difference between the offense and the defense is one of the more fascinating storylines for the Cowboys. One side of the ball, defense, is spilling over with playmakers and comes in with continuity in scheme and talent, as well as welcomed upgrades. The other side has a familiar cast of characters but many featured in new roles and a systematic change from the top.

As Lamb said, one of the most exciting changes in the system is expected to be the emphasis on throwing the ball down the field. If executed properly, it could be one of the most exciting developments of the season.

Trying to find stats that would support the contention that the 2022 Cowboys were a dink-and-dunk team.

Here is air yards per completion – where they are among the leaders:

1          Miami Dolphins           8.1

2          Buffalo Bills                 7.5

3          New Orleans Saints    6.9

4          Philadelphia Eagles    6.7

5          Las Vegas Raiders     6.7

6          Atlanta Falcons           6.6

7          Chicago Bears            6.5

8          Dallas Cowboys        6.3      

9          Seattle Seahawks       6.3

10        Cleveland Browns       6.2

Receptions of Air Yards per Target might be a better stat.  Dallas was middle of the pack:

1          Atlanta Falcons         10.4

2          Las Vegas Raiders     9.8

3          Buffalo Bills                 9.6

4          Miami Dolphins           9.6

5          Chicago Bears            9.4

6          Denver Broncos          9.4

7          New Orleans Saints    9.4

8          Philadelphia Eagles    9.0

9          Green Bay Packers    8.8

10        Washington                 8.8

11        Baltimore Ravens       8.8

12        New York Jets             8.7

13        New England              8.6

14        Dallas Cowboys        8.6      

15        Cleveland Browns       8.6

16        Pittsburgh Steelers     8.6

WASHINGTON

Magic Johnson on his part-ownership of the Commanders.  Ben Standig of The Athletic:

Magic Johnson said there’s a way for new Washington Commanders ownership to help the players maximize their season: Don’t create negativity.

“You don’t have to worry about problems from this ownership,” Johnson said Thursday. “You just have to concentrate on Sundays. You ain’t going to read no headlines. You’re not going to have to worry about nothing. No questions from (the media) about stuff off the field.”

Johnson is one of the limited partners in managing partner Josh Harris’ ownership group that purchased the franchise for a North American-record $6.05 billion in July from Dan Snyder. Washington faced a multitude of controversies during Snyder’s reign, particularly the previous three-plus years amid investigations into allegations of sexual and workplace harassment against Synder and others in the organization.

“Your job is just to concentrate on doing your job and having fun,” Johnson told the players. “Every Sunday, every Thursday, or every Monday. That’s it. That’s exactly what I told them.”

In the D.C. area this week ahead of the Commanders’ regular-season opener Sunday against the Arizona Cardinals, Johnson visited the team’s practice facility in Northern Virginia. He spoke with reporters following an event with 200 kids at Washington Boys & Girls Club.

As for the game, his first as an NFL owner, Johnson said he knows the scene at a sold-out FedEx Field is “going to be emotional.”

“My wife is coming. We go to a lot of games. We are a sports family. Cookie and I sit there and (think), ‘We never thought this day would happen.’ That I would be an NFL owner and she would be an NFL owner,” Johnson said. “It’ll be an emotional moment, a great moment. Then, when that kickoff happens, I’m gonna be ready for the Commanders to kick some you know what.”

The are no Black majority owners in the NFL. Johnson also has ownership stakes with MLB’s Los Angeles Dodgers, the WNBA’s Los Angeles Sparks and MLS’ Los Angeles FC.

“It’s important because now all African-Americans and minorities in this country feel like they’re owners of this team, too,” Johnson said, “because I’m sitting in this position, and so I can’t wait.”

Washington’s players, most of whom were born after the NBA Hall of Famer retired in 1996, peppered Johnson with questions.

“They really want to win,” Johnson said. “They wanted to hear what I had to say about that. How did I approach the game? How did I prepare for the game? What drove me? I kept telling them I’ve never been satisfied. I’m a guy who wants more, who’s always wanted more. I have 14 championship rings — and I want a Super Bowl ring. How can I help them achieve that?”

“Guys were excited to have him here today,” wide receiver Terry McLaurin said. “Coach (Ron) Rivera asked some of the leaders how they felt about that, and of course, we welcomed that opportunity to talk to him but also hear his story. And he took a lot of really good questions. I love how transparent he is, along with Mr. Harris.”

Johnson shared stories with the grade-school kids about how his hometown Boys & Girls Club in his native Michigan helped put him on the path to college and the NBA — but also taught him how to manage life’s responsibilities. The Commanders separately donated $50,000 to the local chapter of the Boys & Girls Club, while Johnson imparted some of those lessons after handing out $1,000 and $5,000, respectively, to two lucky kids with the understanding they would open a bank account.

AFC WEST

KANSAS CITY

Everyone has been assuming that Andy Reid could “fix” WR KADARIUS TONEY after the receiver played and talked his way out of New York.

Tyler Sullivan of CBSSports.com on his opening night struggles:

Sometimes you start off on the wrong foot. In the case of various Chiefs receivers, however, it was more like they started off the 2023 season with feet for hands. The Lions were able to come into Arrowhead Stadium and crash Kansas City’s Super Bowl celebration by handing them a sobering 21-20 loss in the NFL’s regular-season opener. While Detroit played well enough to win this game, it also didn’t come without errors from the Kansas City side, specifically Kadarius Toney and a copious amount of drops.

In the wake of losing All-Pro tight end and No. 1 pass-catching option Travis Kelce for this game due to a knee injury, an opportunity presented itself for Chiefs wideouts to step up and carry the load. Instead, they — quite literally — let it slip through their fingers. Toney was the main culprit, although others — like 2022 second-round pick Skyy Moore — didn’t help out the cause.

Toney was credited for two drops on the night. That included a demoralizing drop on a throw by Patrick Mahomes that hit him in stride and squarely in his hands during a third-and-6 play in the third quarter. Instead of Toney hauling in the pass and turning upfield to attempt to move the chains, the ball bounced out of his hands and into the arms of Lions rookie defensive back Brian Branch, who took the ball 50 yards to the house for a pick-six that tied the game at 14 apiece.

A couple of drives later, the Chiefs were threatening to find the end zone, but faced a third-and-2 play from the Detroit 17. Mahomes dropped back and there seemed to be some confusion between Toney and fellow Chiefs receiver Richie James, who shielded him from the play and resulted in another drop rather than converting the first down.

Moore was the other key culprit in the overall rough night for Chiefs pass catchers. In their last gasp of the night, Andy Reid left the offense on the field for a fourth-and-25 attempt, which Mahomes nearly converted. After dancing around the pocket, the defending league MVP threw a pass at the first-down marker that hit a leaping Moore in both hands, but he couldn’t haul it in.

As a team, Kansas City had four drops on the night, which is tied for second most in a game with Mahomes as the team’s starting quarterback. He also registered just 12 yards on 12 targets to wide receivers in the second half, which is his fewest yards per attempt (1.0) targeting receivers in a half in his career.

Needless to say, the Chiefs need Kelce back in the fold as soon as possible.

AFC NORTH

CINCINNATI

Just in time for the season, QB JOE BURROW has his new deal – and a new standard for QBs.  Ben Baby of ESPN.com:

The Cincinnati Bengals have secured the future for their long-term quarterback.

Joe Burrow reached an agreement on a five-year, $275 million extension with the team that includes $219.01 million guaranteed, making him the highest-paid player in NFL history, sources told ESPN’s Adam Schefter on Thursday.

The contract averages $55 million per year. The deal ends months of negotiations and rewards a player who has flipped Cincinnati’s fortunes.

On Wednesday, Burrow spoke to reporters for the first time since he strained his right calf in late July, and he reiterated his desire to spend his long-term future with the Bengals.

“This is where I want to be,” Burrow said. “This is where I want to be my whole career. We’re working toward making that happen. You’ve seen what the front office has done and what Zac [Taylor] has done in their time here. I’m a small part of that. I’m excited to be a part of that.”

Burrow’s deal was reached after other top NFL quarterbacks received new contracts. In late July, Los Angeles Chargers quarterback Justin Herbert signed a five-year deal that averages $52.5 million a year, according to Schefter. The Philadelphia Eagles’ Jalen Hurts and the Baltimore Ravens’ Lamar Jackson also signed lucrative extensions that briefly made them the highest-paid players.

In both of his news conferences since the start of training camp, Burrow reiterated that there was clarity in communication with Cincinnati’s front office on what he was looking for in his new contract. He also said the contract was “the last thing” he was worried about as the Bengals prepared for their Week 1 game against the Cleveland Browns.

“I’m going to keep playing well,” Burrow said. “I feel great about the organization and everybody in the locker room and in the coaching staff. [The contract] is the icing on the cake to me. I’m just excited to be out here.”

Burrow’s new deal is fitting given how much he has transformed the Bengals in only three seasons.

In 2019, the Bengals were the NFL’s worst team and finished the season with two wins, matching the lowest total in franchise history. That put them in position to draft Burrow, who led LSU to a national championship and won the Heisman Trophy.

After Burrow’s rookie season was derailed by a season-ending ACL and MCL injury in his left knee, he rebounded in 2021 to lead Cincinnati in its best campaign in three decades. The Bengals won their first playoff game since January 1991 and reached the Super Bowl for the first time since 1989. Burrow was named the AP NFL Comeback Player of the Year.

In 2022, Burrow enjoyed his best pro season despite recovering from surgery to repair a ruptured appendix days before the start of training camp. He finished 10th in QBR and hit the minimum attempts threshold to be the NFL’s career leader in completion percentage (68.2%).

“He’s a motivated player, he’s a motivated teammate, he’s a motivated leader,” Bengals director of player personnel Duke Tobin said at the team’s annual media luncheon in July. “He puts the time in to make sure that he is ready to go and then he drives others to be ready to go.

“So all the things we liked about him from the very start have been true and he’s kept that up.”

Burrow enters Week 1 coming off the right calf injury he suffered at the beginning of training camp. However, he is in position to play at Cleveland in an intrastate matchup against an AFC North rival. He was a full participant at practices Wednesday and Thursday, with the latter being a fully padded practice.

With Burrow agreeing to terms on a long-term deal, the Bengals can continue their pursuit of the first Super Bowl trophy in franchise history. At the team’s annual media luncheon in July, team president Mike Brown said the team was well positioned to make another deep run, with Burrow among those leading the charge.

“We’ve got an excellent coaching staff,” Brown said. “Zac’s a great head coach. We have good players. Our quarterback is an exceptional player. We have a shot, and we’ll see where it goes this year. It would be fun if we could put it together.”