AROUND THE NFL
Daily Briefing
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If The Season Ended Today in the NFC – the 49ers would be seeded above the Eagles, even though it is Philadelphia that has clinched a playoff berth.
*zyx-Green Bay North 13-3 1 9-2
x-LA Rams West 12-4 1 8-3
yx-Tampa Bay South 12-4 1 7-4
yx-Dallas East 11-5 1 9-2
x-Arizona WC1 11-5 2 7-4
San Francisco WC2 9-7 3 6-5
x-Philadelphia WC3 9-7 2 7-4
New Orleans South 8-8 2 6-5
The Saints aren’t very good right now, at least on offense, but they have a decent shot at the playoffs – if the Rams can beat their nemesis the 49ers:
The 49ers can now only make the playoffs with a Week 18 win or tie vs. the Rams OR a loss or tie by the Saints against the Falcons.
Peter King with insights on both conferences and Week 18
One week to go, and it won’t be one of the more dramatic final weekends we’ve seen in the NFL. News you can use this morning:
Seedy things I: Green Bay clinched the NFC 1 seed by routing the feeble Vikes. Tennessee passed Kansas City and will clinch the AFC 1 seed by winning at 4-12 Houston on Sunday.
Seedy things II: Only one of the 14 seeds is set in stone—Green Bay at the NFC 1. Eleven teams have clinched playoff spots. We just don’t know their order yet.
The Bengals don’t stink. Cincinnati clinched the AFC North for the first time since 2015, and Joe Burrow set the NFL record for most passing yards in two straight games. He’s thrown for 971 yards in the past two weeks in routing Baltimore and nipping Kansas City. What’s he playing? Madden?
Fly Eagles Fly. Philly limped into Denver on Nov. 14 with a 3-6 record. Iggles are 6-1 since and clinched a wild-card berth, 20-16 over WFT. The last four have come against teams with 4, 6, 4, and 6 wins, but still, nice resuscitation job by rookie coach Nick Sirianni.
There’s only one win-and-in game next week. Pretty easy for the NFL to make Chargers-Raiders game 272 (the regular season finale) next Sunday night. Barring the hapless Jags beating the Colts, the LA-LV winner is the AFC 7 seed and the loser goes home.
The Saturday games have been picked as ESPN gets two of the NFL’s biggest brands in seeding games. NBC be in Vegas:
Saturday, January 8
4:30 PM EST Chiefs (11-5) at Broncos (7-9)
8:15 PM EST Cowboys (11-5) at Eagles (9-7)
Monday, January 10
8:20 PM EST Chargers (9-7) at Raiders (9-7)
The NFL has not announced their official Sunday schedule yet with only the NFC games in Arizona and Los Angeles showing as 4:25 pm as they must:
We found this a FootballZebras.com which is helpful:
Saturday, Jan. 8
Games with #1 seed implications
Chiefs 1/2/3/4 at Broncos (4:30 p.m.) ABC ESPN — Brad Rogers
Games with seeding order implications
Cowboys 2/3/4 at Eagles 6/7 (8:15 p.m.) ABC ESPN — Ron Torbert
Sunday, Jan. 9
Games involved for the division title
Patriots 1/2/3/5/6/7 at Dolphins — Alex Kemp
Jets at Bills 2/3/4/5/6/7 — John Hussey
49ers 6/7/0 at Rams 2/3/4/5 — Jerome Boger
Seahawks at Cardinals 2/3/5 — Shawn Smith
Games to clinch a playoff berth
Colts 5/6/7/0 at Jaguars — Clay Martin
Saints 7/0 at Falcons — Craig Wrolstad
Steelers 6/7/0 at Ravens 6/7/0 — Shawn Hochuli
Chargers 5/6/7/0 at Raiders 5/6/7/0 (8:25 p.m.) NBC — Clete Blakeman
Games with #1 seed implications
Titans 1/2/3/4 at Texans — Land Clark
Bengals 1/2/3/4 at Browns — Bill Vinovich
Games with seeding order implications
Panthers at Buccaneers 2/3/4 — Tony Corrente
No playoff implications
Packers1 at Lions — Scott Novak
WAS Football Team at Giants — Adrian Hill
Bears at Vikings — Brad Allen
We would think that in the NFC, Saints at Falcons will go late because New Orleans has to play at the same time as the Niners.
We think Carolina at Tampa Bay can stay early to give FOX a relevant early game, because even if Tampa Bay loses, the Rams have the division title at stake vis a vis the Cardinals who are playing late.
More playoff thoughts from Kevin Seifert of ESPN.com:
The Chiefs’ loss to the Bengals means that the AFC’s eventual No. 1 seed will have at least five defeats, tied for the most for the AFC’s top team since the NFL began the seeding process in 1975. The most recent such team with five losses was the 2002 Raiders, who advanced to Super Bowl XXXVII.
The Bengals won the AFC North for the first time since 2015, thanks to their 34-31 victory over the Chiefs. But will history remember that it took flags on two consecutive fourth-down plays at the goal line to keep the Bengals’ winning drive alive? The Bengals can clinch the No. 1 seed in the AFC in Week 18 with a win over the Browns and losses by the Titans, Chiefs and Patriots or a win and a Bills win plus losses by the Titans and Chiefs.
The Titans clinched a playoff berth and the AFC South with a victory over the Dolphins. At some point, we need to take a step back and recognize what the Titans have done under coach Mike Vrabel. After making the playoffs once in the nine years before he arrived in 2018, they have now had four consecutive winning seasons, three consecutive trips to the playoffs and now two consecutive division titles. The Titans can clinch the top seed in Week 18 with (A) a win at Houston, (B) losses by the Chiefs, Bengals and Patriots or (C) losses by the Chiefs and Bengals combined with a win by the Bills.
The Titans’ win eliminated the Colts’ chance to win AFC South. The Colts could have clinched a playoff spot with a victory over Las Vegas, but they lost 23-20. The Colts can clinch a playoff spot with (A) a win at the Jaguars, (B) losses by the Ravens, Chargers and Steelers (Week 17) or (C) losses by the Chargers and Steelers (Weeks 17 and 18) and a Dolphins win.
The Bills clinched a playoff berth, thanks to their 29-15 victory over the Falcons along with the Ravens’ loss to the Rams. That’s three consecutive trips to the postseason for the Bills under coach Sean McDermott. They’ll clinch the AFC East for the second consecutive year if they beat the Jets at home in Week 18.
The Patriots clinched a playoff berth after beating the Jaguars 50-10 and getting a 34-3 loss from the Dolphins against the Titans. New England could still clinch the AFC East with a Week 18 victory at the Dolphins and a Bills loss. To clinch home-field advantage as the No. 1 seed, the Patriots would need a Week 18 win and losses by the Bills, Titans and Chiefs.
The Chargers’ win over the Broncos eliminated the Broncos, Dolphins and Browns from playoff contention. More importantly for the Chargers: It set up a win-and-in situation for their Week 18 game at the Raiders. That game also will be a win-and-in scenario for the Raiders, who have won three consecutive games to get back into the race. The Raiders also can get in with losses by the Colts and Steelers (in either Week 17 or 18).
The Saints avoided playoff elimination by defeating the Panthers. They can clinch a playoff berth with a win at the Falcons combined with a loss by the 49ers.
The 49ers didn’t clinch a playoff spot on Sunday, but they can do it in Week 18 with a win at the Rams or a loss by the Saints.
The Rams weren’t able to clinch the NFC West on Sunday, thanks to the Cardinals’ win, but Los Angeles can do it with a Week 18 win over the 49ers or a Cardinals loss. The Cardinals can clinch the NFC West with a win over the Seahawks and a Rams loss. But Arizona can’t get to the No. 1 seed.
The Vikings were eliminated from playoff contention, marking the first time in coach Mike Zimmer’s eight-year tenure when they have missed the playoffs in consecutive seasons. Washington also was eliminated from playoff contention, but given the Week 1 loss of starting quarterback Ryan Fitzpatrick and its late-season COVID-19 outbreak, it’s frankly amazing that this team was still in the race in Week 17. The Falcons were the third NFC team eliminated from playoff contention on Sunday with their loss to the Bills. And as mentioned, the Broncos, Dolphins and Browns were eliminated in the AFC.
Despite losing five consecutive games, the Ravens aren’t out of it yet. To get into the playoffs, they will need to beat the Steelers in Week 18 and get losses by the Colts, Browns, Chargers and Dolphins.
The Steelers can clinch a playoff berth by winning their final two games — on Monday night against the Browns and in Week 18 at the Ravens — and getting a loss by the Colts.
Peter King with TV thoughts:
The Saturday ESPN doubleheader won’t be too dramatic. Before the season, the NFL opened two more Week 18 windows on Saturday for the Worldwide Leader, to be picked one week out. The NFL picked KC-Denver early and Dallas-Philadelphia late, theorizing Kansas City will play hard with a prayer for the AFC 1 seed, and theorizing Dallas will want to play hard for the NFC 2 seed. The 2 seeds are valuable because they ensure two home games if teams win the first. This is some wrinkle for ESPN: It’s the first time in history both division meetings between rivals appear on ESPN. (Eagles at Cowboys was the ESPN Week 3 Monday-nighter.)
As of this moment, my money would be on a New England-Buffalo show for the first-ever Monday night wild-card game. The AFC, in fact, is gold for first-round matchups, if form holds. Imagine Raiders or Chargers at Kansas City in the 7-2 game, Colts-Burrow in the 6-3 game (Burrow’s going to be must-see as long as the Bengals are in it), and Patriots-Bills in the other one. Imagine three Buffalo-New England games in a 43-day span, with the rubber match on a frigid Jan. 17 night in the northeast.
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NFC NORTH
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MINNESOTA
Peter King lets QB KIRK COUSINS have it:
I think it is so fitting that the Vikings season went up in flames Sunday thanks to a good man getting very bad advice about vaccines. (I don’t absolve Kirk Cousins of blame here, not at all, because he’s an educated person. But it’s still so hard to believe that an educated person with the fate of an NFL franchise on his shoulders would not do everything he could to not test positive and to stay available for his team.) Minnesota was walking on the edge of a cliff all season with Cousins’ willful decision to stay unvaccinated, and it’s sadly ironic that a positive Covid test finally prevented Cousins from playing a survival game against his arch-rivals in the penultimate game of the season.
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NFC EAST
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DALLAS
America’s Team has the refs against them, or at least that is the sentiment implied by Todd Archer of ESPN.com:
A couple of the Dallas Cowboys felt they played against two opponents Sunday: the Arizona Cardinals and the officials.
The Cowboys lost to the Cardinals 25-22, injuring their playoff seeding, and were flagged 10 times for 88 yards by Scott Novak’s crew, including four offensive holding penalties that negated two first-down runs.
“It’s just we couldn’t get a rhythm,” wide receiver CeeDee Lamb said. “The refs wouldn’t let us get a rhythm.”
Added defensive end DeMarcus Lawrence: “I’m gonna let the NFL handle that. I know it’s a possibility we see both of these teams in the playoffs. You know hopefully the NFL can sit down with their team, review the film, learn from their mistakes and get better from it.”
It was the fourth time this season the Cowboys have had double-digit penalties and the most they have had since a 14-penalty, 166-yard day against the Las Vegas Raiders on Thanksgiving when both teams had complaints regarding Shawn Hochuli’s crew.
“If you look around the league, this isn’t just the first time it’s happened,” linebacker Leighton Vander Esch said. “There’s other games around the league that have been dictated by, I don’t know if it’s incompetence or what it is, but it don’t make sense to me. I feel like it’s not hard to fix that, especially if it’s so blatant on the field and it’s so obvious, why someone up top is not radioing down and be like, hey, get this right. That’s not hard. That’s just the ethics of the game — getting it right. Like hey, you made a mistake here. Fix it. Here’s the right call.”
Owner and general manager Jerry Jones said he expected there to be flags after seeing the team’s report on Novak’s crew, but he was not as critical of the officiating as he was after the Raiders loss. Novak’s crew averaged 8.2 penalties per game, second highest to Carl Cheffers’ crew (8.3), according to ESPN Stats & Information research.
“This group calls a lot of ticky-tack,” Jones said, catching himself before adding, “They call a lot of penalties, and that was going to be a concern for us today.”
Added coach Mike McCarthy: “I think the timing of our penalties, for us personally, was something that was a challenge for us to overcome.”
The Cowboys were called for four offensive holding penalties compared to just one on the Cardinals, which the Dallas defensive line noted.
“Playing against the refs again, like usual, it seems like an every-week occurrence,” said Randy Gregory, who had an animated discussion with an official as he walked to the locker room at halftime. “We just have to tune that out and just deal with it.”
Lawrence said he was called for an offside penalty after the play clock had hit zero, but he and Vander Esch were more upset that a fourth-quarter fumble was ruled down by contact with the Cowboys trailing 25-22. Because the Cowboys were out of timeouts before the 2-minute warning, they were unable to challenge the play, although replays were far from 100 percent clear that the play would have been overturned.
“I just don’t understand how with the technology we have nowadays, even if we don’t have timeouts or whatever it may be, to call a freaking challenge and challenge it. It’s so obvious,” Vander Esch said. “Certain things are so obvious in the games that refs are messing up, why they aren’t fixing it. It doesn’t make any sense to me. To me, we’re playing more against the refs than we are the other team. That is what it is. … It’s been multiple times this season.”
The Cowboys, like the Buccaneers with WR CHRIS GODWIN, have a late injury to a key wide receiver. Jon Machota of The Athletic:
If the teams face each other again, it will be without Cowboys wide receiver Michael Gallup, who suffered a significant left knee injury while making a 21-yard leaping touchdown grab in the second quarter.
Jones said after the game that Gallup, the team’s No. 3 receiver, is likely out for the season with an ACL injury. Cedrick Wilson will be looked upon to step into that No. 3 role, which he did well earlier in the year when Gallup was sidelined with a calf injury and again Sunday in the second half.
Dallas closes the regular season out next Saturday night at Philadelphia. The game was originally scheduled for Sunday at noon CT, but the NFL flexed it to prime time. Although the Cowboys might be locked into their playoff spot by then, the current plan is for starters, like Prescott, to play.
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NEW YORK GIANTS
Peter King is wavering in his support for Joe Judge:
I think I’m re-thinking my categorical statement that Joe Judge should be back coaching the Giants next year. Just thinking … The Giants lost a serviceable quarterback, Daniel Jones, to a neck injury, and the loss of a serviceable quarterback should not turn your team to dung. Yet the Giants have lost five straight and looked horrible doing it. I felt the Giants simply had to stop turning over the coach or GM or both every other year. But I saw something Sunday that really bothered me: the screwed-up kickoff return in Chicago. Giants returner Pharoh Cooper waved everyone away near his goal line, let the kickoff bounce, and it didn’t bounce into the end zone—it bounced sideways. Panic ensued and the Giants had to hustle to recover it. The play is made worse by the fact that Judge is a veteran special-teams coach. John Mara has to give serious consideration to blowing it all up again. I’m not saying he absolutely should. I’m saying I now think everything is on the table about the Giants future.
I think this is either a coincidence, or scary, or both if you’re a Giants fan: Remember in 1978, when public pressure helped cause the Giants to import an independent, tough and thorough GM in George Young? In the four season prior to hiring Young, the Giants won 19 games. In the last four seasons, the Giants have won 19 games. I mean, I’m just saying.
Joe Judge defends his process, if not the results. Jordan Raanan of ESPN.com:
The results on the field haven’t shaken New York Giants coach Joe Judge’s belief that the organization is headed in the right direction. Not one bit.
Judge delivered an impassioned 11-plus-minute answer after Sunday’s 29-3 loss to the Chicago Bears to a question about why fans should have faith the sputtering franchise will turn it around. In it were examples of the culture that has been built, a locker room that has been fumigated, and the work ethic and effort the current players have shown during the week and on game days. There also were claims of former players calling to tell Judge they missed the Giants and current players (upcoming free agents) making their pleas to return.
“This ain’t a team that is having fistfights on the sidelines. This ain’t some clown show organization or something else,” Judge said. “You talk about the foundation built. The toughest thing to change in a team, in a club, is the way people think. You understand that? That is the toughest thing. You can get new players. You can have your damn locker room all you want. You have to change how people think. You have to change how they f—ing believe in what you’re doing. And they have to trust the process. And that is a lot easier said than done when they’re looking up right now and you’ve got one game left and the most you can win is five this season.
“But I guarantee you this: Those men are going to walk in Wednesday and be ready to roll. We’re going to practice hard on Wednesday, practice hard on Thursday and Friday. And we’re going to play for each other when we get on the field next week.”
The Giants (4-12) have dropped five straight games. And if they put forth another poor performance next Sunday when they face the Washington Football Team, Judge knows what to expect.
“Every fan has a right to boo my ass out of the stadium,” he said. “Got that? That don’t bother me. I don’t want it. I don’t think anyone wants to get booed. But the reality of it, that’s all right. … The fans are every bit right to ask what you’re asking.”
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NFC SOUTH
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NEW ORLEANS
Peter King on the loss that may cost the Saints the playoffs:
I think the debacle that was last Monday night’s Dolphins-Saints game should not be forgotten. (I write once a week, so this is my first chance to address it.) The Saints got jobbed. When three teams with Sunday games and 20 or more players test positive for Covid, each got its game postponed one or two days. Not New Orleans, which had 22 players test positive in the days before the game. Why? Figure it out. Moving three Sunday games can be done; the networks have the game inventory to cover the holes. Moving a Monday game would mean no “Monday Night Football.” So the Saints had to make do. The Saints were picking guys off the street as late as Sunday to have enough players to play. Four hours before the game, Sean Payton saw two people he didn’t recognize in the equipment room. They were getting fitted for equipment—shoes, shoulder pads, jerseys. Payton met Ethan Westbrooks and Justin March, linebackers. They’d gotten into town late Sunday. They were suiting up Monday. Westbrooks, cut by the Raiders in mid-August, hadn’t played in a regular-season game since 2018. He played 15 plays in the 20-3 loss to Miami. March played 12.
I think if there’s a stronger word than debacle—travesty, maybe—use it for Miami 20, New Orleans 3. Someone there told me there was an eerie scene at the Superdome. “Fans didn’t care,” this person said. “They said, ‘We’re not watching a real football game.’ So they started leaving at halftime, and early in the third quarter.” This is what the NFL wants? This is one of 272 regular-season events the NFL wants to hold up as representative of a great, competitive game?
The DB would add that of the 22 players who were missing, many were healthy and available to play – only sent to the sidelines by NFL testing protocols.
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TAMPA BAY
Peter King on how the Buccaneers won “one of the most dramatic games of this or any NFL season”:
n the locker room when one of the most dramatic games of this or any NFL season had ended, Tampa Bay coach Bruce Arians told his players—all except the most famous former one, Antonio Brown—how proud he was of them.
“You’re either with us or against us,” Arians said after the Bucs outscored the Jets 18-0 in the last 17 minutes Sunday to beat New York 28-24. “And I want you to know I’ll take the guys in this locker room and go play anyone in the world.”
Arians took a big gamble with Brown last year, and he made a significant contribution to a Super Bowl win. Arians took a bigger gamble this year after Brown used a phony vaccination card, got suspended for three games by the league, and the Bucs allowed him to stay on the team post-ban. That was even after Arians said Brown would be gone if he made one mistake.
Now there’s no turning back for either man. It’d be stunning if Brown, barring a major turnaround in his life, got another chance in the league after blowing this golden one and his previous three with the Steelers, Raiders and Patriots. And Arians will be forever known as the man who drew his line in the sand, then changed his mind on Brown, and got burned by Sunday’s insubordination.
“It’s a shame,” said Arians. “I feel bad for him. He just can’t help himself.”
Brown may need professional help, but it’s impossible to project that from the outside. What he did Sunday was irrational and almost scary.
This is what happened on a strange afternoon in New Jersey:
With about 3:30 left in the third quarter, the Bucs driving and the Jets leading 24-10, Arians said he asked Brown to go back in the game. According to Arians, Brown said, “Nope. I’m not going in.” The Athletic reported Brown’s ankle was sore, and that’s the reason why he wouldn’t go in. Whatever the reason, Arians told me he was “very” angry with Brown, who went to the bench area and began taking off his jersey and pads. At first, vet receiver Mike Evans tried to stop Brown, but, according to Arians, “he had that look in his eye that I haven’t seen for a long time.” Evans couldn’t stop Brown, who took his jersey, pads and black T-shirt off, tossing the shirt into the stands. He left the field, giving the peace sign to fans as he went up the end zone tunnel.
Meanwhile, Brady marched the undermanned Bucs receivers downfield, and two minutes later finished a TD drive with a four-yard pass to Cam Brate. When I asked Arians what Brady thought of the scene, he said, “I don’t think Tom knew. I knew and Mike Evans knew, but if anyone else did, I don’t know that. We kept playing the game.”
Brady led a 93-yard drive in the closing minute and threw a perfect 33-yard scoring pass to the inexperienced Cyril Grayson, who will probably be taking some of Brown’s playing time now. That won the game with 15 seconds left. Fifteen seconds is how long Tampa led the spunky Jets on this strange day.
“It’s all a credit to Tom,” Arians said. “Give the Jets credit. They played their asses off, but Tom never blinked. He’s the MVP of this league.”
Arians said the team, post-game, was excited, and he loves the young receivers that remain. But prime wideout Chris Godwin, out for the year with a knee injury, and now Brown, are two of Brady’s favorites—and maybe THE favorites. Without them, look for Brady to work long hours with Grayson, Jaelon Darden and Tyler Johnson to be sure they’re ready when the postseason begins.
For now, Brady sounded loyal to Brown, and urged those who might demonize him not to rush to judgment. “I think everyone should be very compassionate and empathetic toward some very difficult things that are happening,” Brady said, not being specific.
“I hope he can get fixed,” said Arians.
Liz Roscher of YahooSports.com collects the spin from Brown’s camp:
Arians reportedly told Jay Glazer that Brown had refused to return to the game in the second half when he was told to. But according to NFL Network’s Ian Rapoport, Brown felt he was too injured to return to the game at that point. He’d missed several weeks with an ankle injury — which happened to almost exactly coincide with his fake vaccine card suspension — and had been limited leading up to Week 17 after tweaking it in practice.
“What he told the staff, from what I understand, is that he was not going into the game because, in his mind, he did not feel he was healthy,” Rapoport said. “The response then from the offensive coaches and from Bruce Arians was, ‘If you are not gonna go into the game when we tell you to go into the game, then you cannot be here.’ At that point, they threw him off the sidelines and then cut him from the team.”
Brown’s reported claim that he was too injured to play adds a new wrinkle to everything we already know. It’s certainly plausible it was the cause, because an ankle injury would have prevented him from playing last month had he not been suspended by the NFL.
However, Brown didn’t seem to be favoring his ankle when he was jumping around in the end zone and running to the locker room.
And considering Brown’s history of being difficult, the injury story Rapoport relayed feels too simple and one-sided to be the whole truth. It may have played a part, but there’s probably more to this strange incident we have yet to hear about.
Sportrac on the short term cost:
Antonio Brown needed:
8 more catches to unlock a $333,333 bonus.
He also needed 55 receiving yards to unlock another $333,333 bonus.
He also needed just 1 receiving TD to unlock another $333,333 bonus.
This was a costly outburst.
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NFC WEST
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LOS ANGELES RAMS
Peter King on the Rams:
More than that, the Rams are thriving in this ridiculous time. And about 35 of their players, having tested positive in December, now do not have to test through the end of the season, because the NFL gives players who tested positive a 90-day holiday—with a CDC nod of approval—from the testing protocols. More than half of the roster is free of the testing burden, and the Covid burden. Think how handy that will be if the Rams advance in the playoffs. Half the roster can practice and play with an uncluttered mind.
“We are playing football, and playing winning football, through the biggest pandemic of our lifetime,” said Scott, the team’s Infection Control Officer. “Today, these four important players are available. Tomorrow, they’re not. Sometimes I just pinch myself. Really, it’s incredible.”
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The Rams took similar precautions on their trip east Saturday. The traveling party was cut down to 75 people on a 239-seat charter—the players, by seniority, get the 30 cushy first-class seats that can lay flat—and eight buses take the 75 people to and from the team hotel and stadium. Nine or 10 people per bus seems weird. “It’s tough to have camaraderie the same as always,” Whitworth said, “because everything is designed to separate us. It’s a little isolating.”
The Rams aren’t perfect. Matthew Stafford turned it over three times for the second straight game Sunday; the Rams won’t continue to survive three stunted drives per game in the playoffs. “I hate going over all of these—I’m tired of doing it,” Stafford said in a moment of introspection after the game. The two picks were surprisingly careless, particularly the pick-six by Chuck Clark to open the scoring. It conjures Detroit Lions thoughts, and those can’t continue as the Rams think about seriously contending for the Super Bowl.
But it seems the more the Rams play together, the more they go into a sort of happy survival mode. Vets like Miller and Beckham both seem so happy to be on a contender, and their play reflects it. The two biggest plays in the game were made by the mid-season imports.
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King looks back at the slugs taken ahead of WR COOPER KUPP in the draft of 2017:
it’s curious to look back on the 2017 NFL Draft, and to see how Kupp lasted so long. The top receivers picked that year:
Pick 5 overall: Tennessee, Corey Davis, Western Michigan.
7: L.A. Chargers, Mike Williams, Clemson.
9: Cincinnati, John Ross, Washington.
37: Buffalo, Zay Jones, East Carolina.
40: Carolina, Curtis Samuel, Ohio State.
62: Pittsburgh, JuJu Smith-Schuster, USC
69: L.A. Rams, Cooper Kupp, Eastern Washington.
FYI: Chris Godwin went 84th to Tampa, Kenny Golladay 96th to Detroit. How crazy is the draft? With five seasons of evidence, the best wideouts to come out in 2017 were the sixth (Smith-Schuster), seventh (Kupp) and 11th (Godwin) receivers picked.
Two reasons Kupp lasted as long as he did: He ran a 4.62-second 40 time at his Eastern Washington Pro Day. And level of competition rendered his average season of 107 catches and 1,608 yards in four years at Eastern Washington suspect. As one evaluator told me in December: “We didn’t know if he was a MAC receiver, one of those guys who puts up incredible numbers because of level of play.”
The other day, driving home from practice in California, Kupp had this to say about his 40 time:
“The last time I put my hand in the ground and ran a straight-line 40 yards is at the Scouting Combine. It’s just not really conducive to understanding what a receiver has to do, and what’s important to playing the position. That’s the last time I did it, and I don’t plan to do it again, ever.”
But that 40 time, luckily for him, helped him get to the Rams, a team that uses his skills perfectly.
The Rams saw him at the Manning Passing Camp, and had him on their hot list. GM Les Snead tells King:
“So we monitored him. He played against some NFL corners in college and produced. [Kupp did play against Marcus Peters at Washington in 2014, catching eight balls for 145 yards and three touchdowns.] We have a saying around here. If you can get open consistently and catch the ball consistently, don’t over-analyze it. Just respect it and try to add that player to your team.”
When he ran the 4.62 time before the ’17 draft, coach Sean McVay exulted in a call with Snead. “Now we might be able to get him in the third!” McVay told Snead.
Snead: “We strategically were jacked. An FCS kid running in the 4.6s is probably gonna fall in the draft. But he did what a receiver needs to do at this level—accelerate, decelerate, get in and out of breaks in a very efficient and quick manner and separate from a good corner. There was something else. He played receiver with a Peyton Manning-esque, quarterback brain.
“For us, now, I think you got an old-school quarterback brain in Cooper Kupp, and a traditional pocket passer in Matthew Stafford with a lot of experience. And Peyton Manning picking him to run routes for him on that field down in Louisiana is where it all began for us.”
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SEATTLE
While most COVID positives are incidental, not all are. One of the latter belonged to Seahawks WR TYLER LOCKETT. Mookie Alexander of SBNation:
Seattle Seahawks wide receiver Tyler Lockett missed the team’s road game against the Los Angeles Rams after testing positive for COVID-19, marking his first gameday absence since his leg fracture ended his 2016 season just two weeks before the playoffs. Lockett is one of literally hundreds of players who have contracted the virus just within the past month or so, as the Omicron variant rips through the world at rapid pace.
In a press conference earlier this week, Lockett revealed his experience with COVID and while he wasn’t hospitalized, the virus nevertheless took a toll on his body.
“It was very exhausting,” said Lockett (via Seahawks.com). “I could barely move. My throat was hurting. I had chills. My chest was hurting. I was very, very anxious. My mind was just wandering because I was probably thinking too much. I was throwing up. I threw up the first day a couple times, but just once after that, I just had no energy, so I was barely eating. I think I lost like eight pounds.
“I was just tired and exhausted. I don’t want to say I had breathing problems, but I couldn’t fully breathe out of my chest like I wanted to. You know how you just get that big air? Sometimes I got it, sometimes I didn’t. Again, I felt like I was good with breathing. It was just very unfortunate. I was out for a whole week.”
Lockett was vaccinated at the time he tested positive, but had not yet received his booster shot, which provides the best possible protection against both infection and hospitalization. It looks as if Omicron is chopping down the two-dose efficacy against infection, but vaccination is still working well to prevent severe illness.
It is worth noting that last season, with no vaccine available at the time, Lockett had considered opting out due to a heart condition and a history of asthma in his family. He ultimately did play the 2020 season and became the first Seahawks player to ever record 100 catches in a season.
But let this final quote from Tyler serve as a reminder that these are human beings first and foremost and athletes second.
“It makes you frustrated as an individual, because when you’ve dealt with the symptoms of COVID-19, and you’ve seen how it was on you, it’s like, we really don’t know how it’s going to affect other people,” he said. “For me, yeah it sucked seeing people say, ‘Is Tyler going to play? Is Tyler going to play? I need him to help my fantasy.’ I’m just trying to make it through this. People forget, people just see COVID-19 as whatever, but if you actually get it or you go through it or other people in your family go through it, you see how detrimental it is and you see how people do die from this stuff. That’s why I said for me, it’s unfortunate that I couldn’t play, but I’m also thankful that I was able to still be here and still enjoy my life and all that different type of stuff too.”
– – –
Even as 44-year-old QB TOM BRADY thrives, that doesn’t mean that 33-year-old QB RUSSELL WILSON can’t be in decline. Mike Sando of The Athletic with some numbers:
Is Wilson declining? Something changed. Seattle has a 12-13 record in Wilson’s last 25 starts dating to Week 7 last season. The record was 18-7 in the 25 Wilson starts before that, even though Seattle was statistically worse on defense and special teams from an expected points added (EPA) standpoint while winning 72 percent of those games, according to TruMedia.
Wilson’s statistical production has fallen along the way. He has averaged 7.3 yards per attempt in his last 25 starts, down from 8.3 in the 25 starts before that. His passer rating has fallen from 110.6 to 97.4. His rate of pass attempts gaining more than 15 yards is down. His EPA per pass play has plummeted despite no change in EPA lost to sacks. His turnovers have nearly doubled to 20 from 11. He has nine fewer touchdown passes and seven more interceptions, despite taking fewer sacks and fewer hits on a similar number of pass plays, according to Pro Football Focus charting.
“I think you have to assume he is a declining player,” an exec from a team with an established quarterback said. “Having said that, recent history is full of examples of older quarterbacks who had a down year and came back to play incredibly well.”
Rodgers’ production sagged a couple years ago for reasons beyond his own ability, although some thought he was declining at the time. Joe Montana and Peyton Manning came back from injuries late in their careers. Some mistakenly thought Drew Brees was nearly finished later in his career.
“I would still put him (Wilson) in Tier 1, but I feel like he is trending more to that high-level 2,” an evaluator said. “I don’t see him being that ‘blue’ guy right now. There are other guys trending up into that category, whether you look at Cincinnati or the Chargers. If he is in a situation where there is a good line, I think he can be just as good as any of those high Tier 2 guys, and he may give you flashes of those blue-level quarterbacks.”
Wilson missed three games this season after breaking a finger on his throwing hand. Kurt Warner could be a relevant comp in that regard. Warner’s play slipped following a thumb injury suffered during his tenure with the St. Louis Rams. He bounced to the New York Giants and later led the Arizona Cardinals to the first Super Bowl appearance in team history, cementing his credentials for the Hall of Fame.
Wilson wore a glove on his throwing hand Sunday against the Lions. He completed 20 of 29 passes for 236 yards with four touchdowns.
“Those hand injuries are tricky for a quarterback — the grip for them is like a golfer’s grip, and everything starts there,” an NFC exec said. “Mechanically, watching Wilson, I saw him short-arm the ball like he was afraid to have his hand hit something on the follow-through. Warner got some rehab, wore a glove and looked pretty good throwing for 400 (yards) in the Super Bowl.”
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AFC WEST
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LAS VEGAS
We can think of Bruce Arians with Chuck Pagano’s Colts. Have there been any other interim coaches who took their team to the playoffs? Rich Bisaccia might do it with Jon Gruden’s Raiders. Besides the hit job on Gruden, the Raiders have had a bunch of other things go against them as Jason LaCanfora reminds us:
The Raiders could have given up on their season several times. They have been through an emotional ringer in their first season playing in front of fans in Las Vegas, and they bowed up again Sunday and beat a physical and confident Colts team that was on quite a roll. I’ll admit I didn’t think they had it in them, especially when their early lead quickly wilted, but they have managed to stick their heads back up every time I thought this season was about to get away from them for good. And they saved their best win of the season for Week 17, at a time when not many thought they could. Especially with the latest blow coming in all-world tight end Darren Waller ending up on IR – after losing Henry Ruggs to a homicide DUI and head coach Jon Gruden to his offensive emails – I figured they would get run over by Jonathan Taylor and the Colts. And if you had told me Derek Carr was going to throw two picks I’d have said no way. But now a path to the playoffs remains very much in front of them.
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AFC NORTH
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BALTIMORE
Jason LaCanfora sees losing four games by five points as a negative, not just a sign of bad luck:
The Ravens had adversity, for sure, with injuries and COVID issues, but losing five in a row, and four of them by a total of five points, isn’t good enough when you sit at 8-3. The Titans and Raiders had plenty of adversity as well. This team never felt as good as its record when it did reach the top seed in the AFC — before more injuries — and the most pivotal offseason in recent Ravens history awaits, with Lamar Jackson about to count about $23M against the cap, and no extension in sight, and this team needing major upgrades on the offensive and defensive lines.
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CINCINNATI
What QB JOE BURROW did the last two weeks would have been impressive against anyone, but throw in that it was the rough-and-tumble Ravens and the mighty Chiefs:
@FieldYates
Joe Burrow over the last two weeks:
Week 16: 525 passing yards, 4 TD, 0 INT
Week 17: 446 yards, 4 TD, 0 INT
He’s the only player ever with back-to-back games of 400 yards, 4 TD and 0 INT.
– – –
Austin Mock of The Athletic offers reasons to like the Bengals in the AFC playoffs:
Since their bye week in Week 10, the Bengals have gone 5-2 with wins over the Chiefs, Ravens, Broncos, Steelers and Ravens. In those games, their average margin of victory is 15.6 points. Their two losses both came at home to the Chargers (one score game in the fourth quarter before a scoop and score went against them) and 49ers (in overtime) in games where if you look at the box score, they were statistically coin flips. The Bengals, led by Joe Burrow and likely Offensive Rookie of the Year Ja’Marr Chase, have a top-10 offense in EPA/Play this season.
The Bengals defense hasn’t been stellar this year as they’re a below average unit in EPA/Play and in my model but I think the offense is good enough to overcome those inefficiencies. The Bengals are guaranteed to host one playoff game and if the offensive output from Burrow and Chase the last few weeks is going to continue, watch out. My simulator currently gives the Bengals a 13.4% chance of winning the AFC and I also think that they have some value on their Super Bowl odds but will be taking the bigger edge on the AFC Championship.
– – –
Thoughts on the Bengals from Mike Sando of The Athletic:
2. The Bengals clinched the AFC North with the best quarterback and best wide receiver in the division. They could have the brightest future too.
It couldn’t get much better for the Bengals than beating the surging Kansas City Chiefs 34-31 at home on the game’s final play to clinch the AFC North title. But these things make it better:
QB Joe Burrow: 30-of-39 passing, 446 yards, four touchdowns
WR Ja’Marr Chase: 11 receptions, 266 yards, three touchdowns
Burrow has played only 26 games. Chase has played in 16 and already has 1,429 yards with 13 touchdowns. He has topped 200 yards twice and 100 yards three other times. No young QB-WR combination appears set up for greater sustained success over the next five seasons, probably longer. There is also second-year receiver Tee Higgins, who had a 194-yard game against Baltimore last week and has 1,091 yards for the season.
Chase’s 72-yard touchdown catch-and-run in the video above defied logic. The Chiefs had him surrounded, only to have Chase escape multiple defenders, multiple times. The Next Gen Stats mid-play screenshot below shows Chase with the football near the 40-yard line along the left side, with four defenders right there: linebacker Nick Bolton, linebacker Willie Gay, safety Tyrann Mathieu and cornerback Mike Hughes. Advance the play a few frames and you’ll see five defenders seemingly with a chance at Chase.
Chase’s 1,429 yards are second-most in NFL history through the first 16 games of a player’s career, according to Pro Football Reference. Odell Beckham Jr. had 1,612 yards in his first 16 games, spread across two seasons. Justin Jefferson is third with 1,400 last season, followed by Anquan Boldin (1,377) in 2003 and Randy Moss (1,313) in 1998.
Those are special talents, every one of them. So is Chase.
Five NFL execs polled before the season combined to project the Bengals as the 14th-best team in the AFC. Questions surrounded Burrow, who was coming off knee reconstruction. Chase had sat out the 2020 college football season and was struggling to catch the football during camp. Since when did it make sense giving the Bengals the benefit of any doubt?
I called one of those execs Sunday night and asked what he thought the key was to Cincinnati winning the AFC North.
“The state of the North,” he replied. “You have a quarterback who stayed too long (Ben Roethlisberger), a quarterback who gets hurt in Cleveland (Baker Mayfield) and a quarterback who has been in and out of the lineup in Baltimore (Lamar Jackson). Everything revolves around the quarterback, and they have the best-playing quarterback in that division.”
Which is not to say the Bengals won the division by default.
“Give them credit,” the exec said. “They made some phenomenal offseason additions.”
The exec mentioned cornerback Chidobe Awuzie, nickel Mike Hilton, defensive end Trey Hendrickson and, of course, the fifth player selected in the 2021 draft: Chase.
“For them to lose Carl Lawson and then sign Hendrickson has been huge,” the exec said. “Logan Wilson (drafted in 2020) has been a really good second-level linebacker for them. Jessie Bates (drafted in 2018) has developed into one of the top safeties in the league. They have done a lot with Burrow, Chase and (Joe) Mixon on offense, but they have done a really good job, especially in that market, of bargain hunting and getting good value.”
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AFC SOUTH
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JACKSONVILLE
A note from Peter King:
A loss to Indianapolis by 2-14 Jacksonville clinches the top pick in the draft for the second year in a row. I’ll tell you the most amazing streak of futility currently in the NFL: The Jaguars in 2022 will pick in the top 10 of the draft for the 14th time in the last 15 years. Where the Jags’ top pick has fallen, overall, in the last 14 years: 8, 8, 10, 10, 5, 2, 3, 3, 5, 4, 29, 7, 9, 1.
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AFC EAST
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MIAMI
There are bad losses, and then there are really bad losses. Jason LaCanfora ofCBSSports.com:
The Dolphins losing to the Titans would have been no crime.
Sure, it would have provided more evidence to those who say their seven-game winning streak was more the product of who they played than what the Dolphins had become. But playing a decent ball game and falling a little short would have kept attention on their second-half rally, and not their overall inability to get over the hump.
Then they went out and got curb-stomped. And now it’s open season. And fair to wonder that, if owner Stephen Ross is hearing some of the same scuttlebutt many connected in NFL circles are about Michigan coach Jim Harbaugh being coveted by other organizations, might Ross opt to make his pitch as well? Ross has long been a primary member of the Harbaugh fan club, and if he were to ever consider a return to the NFL, it would be hard to see Ross not wanting to be part of that mix unless he had a full and complete belief that his franchise was on a road to glory under current management.
Seven straight wins can certainly get attention. But facing a playoff-bound team for the first time in a few months and having it go as horrifically as this game with the Titans did will give you plenty of pause. How about Tua Tagovailoa going 6-for-16 for 71 yards in the first half? How about giving up just short of 200 rushing yards to a team without its top running back? How about losing 34-3 to a team that completed just 13 passes?
One has to wonder if the 2022 schedule will be as kind to Miami as it has been in the second half of this season. And one has to wonder how close the Dolphins are to joining the NFL’s elite.
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NEW YORK JETS
The DB laid eyes on QB ZACH WILSON for the first time on Sunday, and he was just fine. Maybe, even better than that.
But apparently the silly sneak on 4th-and-2 was his call. Steve Serby of the New York Post:
If you are a Jets fan, or a Jets coach, or Joe Douglas, or Woody Johnson, you hated the way Bucs 28, Jets 24 ended; you hated that your rookie quarterback decided that a fourth-and-2 keeper up the middle from the 7 was smart; you hated that the rookie coaches trusted him to make the smart decision; and you hated that Tom Brady marched 93 yards down the field — most of it without a timeout — to beat you in the last minute.
And you would be wise to temper your enthusiasm over the way your Quarterback of the Future comported himself for 57 minutes and 43 seconds against The Quarterback of The Past and Present.
You would be wise to refrain from jumping to knee-jerk conclusions because you witnessed how it ended for Sam Darnold, and too many other Quarterbacks of The Future before him.
But until the mindless Only-the-Jets moment that might have left you temporarily deflated, or numb from previous countless assaults on your green-and-white soul, you should remember how for 57 minutes and 43 seconds, Zach Wilson had gotten Tom Brady’s GOAT, that he had stared eyeball-to-eyeball with him and would not blink, that he was the picture of poise, that he was throwing with pinpoint accuracy and elite decision-making, that he would not throw an interception for the fourth consecutive week.
Wilson had functioned at a level that helped everyone forget about all the roller-coaster moments and all the growing pains.
He didn’t have his three top receivers? He didn’t have left tackle George Fant (knee) and running back Michael Carter (concussion) for the second half?
Yawn.
It was stunning how Wilson elevated the play of everyone around him and energized Gang Green and MetLife Stadium at the same time.
For the first time, he looked every bit the second-overall pick of the draft.
“We took a step in the right direction, and I think guys gotta understand that,” Wilson said, “because it’s exactly what we needed. We needed to give those guys a game, and we came in ready to play. … Guys gave it their all.”
Robert Saleh might want to remind him that there are no medals for trying, but for 57 minutes and 43 seconds, Wilson had filled the place with more hope than the place has seen in two years.
“I think I’m just starting to get a better grasp of the offense,” Wilson said.
Wilson (19-for-33, 234 yards, 1 TD) converted three third downs on the drive that culminated in a 9-yard TD pass to Braxton Berrios in the second quarter.
“For me it was just where can I feel space, and then just go through my reads and progressions,” Wilson said, “and just get our playmakers the ball. How efficiently can I be going through the reads?”
Now, for those last two minutes and 17 seconds: When Brady recognized Winning Time, the rookie quarterback did not. And neither did the rookie coaches.
Saleh, up 24-20, had called timeout and he was not kicking any field goal, because 27-20 is never safe against Brady, and you’re 4-11 anyway. Riverboat Robert. Good.
Wilson keeping it into the belly of the beastly Buc defense for no gain? Bad.
“Quarterback has an option based on the look that he has to sneak the ball,” Saleh said. “In that situation, we wanted the ball handed off [on an end-around] to Berrios, but we did a very poor job as a coaching staff communicating that in the huddle, and Zach executed the playbook as it’s designed.”
A quarterback keeper on fourth-and-1 is an option. Not on fourth-and-2.
The only voice Wilson should have heard was offensive coordinator Mike LaFleur’s telling him: “Just hand it to Berrios no matter what!”
The voice in Wilson’s head should have been telling him: “Just hand it to Berrios no matter what!”
He didn’t hear it. If next time they really do want that handed off, then we’ll communicate that,” Wilson said.
But common sense abandoned him at the worst time.
“I did what I thought was necessary to do right there,” Wilson said.
Wrong.
Woulda been a first down and game over if he just handed it to Berrios no matter what. “It just makes you sick,” Saleh said.
Brady, of course, finished the job.
“Good game,” Brady told Wilson afterwards. “Head up, and just keep working.”
Maybe one day, Zach Wilson will do more than just scare Tom Brady.
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THIS AND THAT
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MORE MADDEN
Good stuff from Peter King who rode across the country with him:
When the trip ended, one of my friends at the magazine asked me what Madden was like.
“He’s curious,” I said.
In the middle of Nebraska one brilliant afternoon on I-80, Madden said to driver Willie Yarbrough: “Hey Willie. Pull over.” Madden noticed a field of bright red/purple wildflowers. He grabbed “Wildflowers Across America” from a drawer, got out, and walked toward the flowers, leafing through the softcover book. His aha moment came after eight or 10 minutes. Spotted Knapweed! “I’m gonna tell millions of readers in Sports Illustrated that you love wildflowers, and your reputation will be ruined!” I said to him. He loved it. But that was him.
He loved football and could see on tape the microscopic coaching points that he’d use on TV; I was up with him till 1:30 in Wyoming (first) and western Iowa (second) prepping for Cowboys-Giants that Sunday at the Meadowlands. Those nights, and the long stretch through Pennsylvania near the end, were the times we’d talk.
I didn’t do a lot of interviewing on the trip. There was a lot more conversing. He was well-read. I took two or three pages of notes early on about his love of John Steinbeck, particularly his book “Travels with Charley.” Steinbeck wrote about a 1960 road trip around America with his standard poodle Charley, and once Madden read that, well, he just had to do it at some point in his life. People sometime talk about claustrophobia as something crippling and horrible, and for Madden the football coach, it was. But as he said before we stopped for dinner in Elko, Nev., on the first night: “If the claustrophobia thing didn’t happen, I wouldn’t know what this country is, or what these people are like. I would have been like everybody else: run, run, run. Airport, airport, airport. Hotel, hotel, hotel. City, city, city. I wouldn’t have found time to see things like I see them now.”
And he was so grateful for that. On our second day, which wound on I-80 through Utah and Wyoming (mostly at night), just above Colorado, then all 455 miles from western Nebraska to the Iowa border, we were watching Giants-Dolphins gametape from the previous Sunday. Out of the blue, with untied sneakers propped up on the edge of a table he said: “We really saw a lot of stuff today, didn’t we? Think of all the things we saw that we wouldn’t see on a plane.”
Deer, antelope, rabbits, Wildflowers Across America, spotted knapweed, a weird llama that looked like it was on steroids, a fun steakhouse in Kearney, Neb., called Grandpa’s, and a nice family he met in Kearney, the Kerry Kimple clan, who told Madden what Nebraska life was like. Four or five times on the trip, Madden marveled at how the people in Kearney loved living there, and the people in cities loved living there. “It makes you feel better about America,” he said. “The thing works.”
He thought all people who wanted to work in public life should see the country like this. He was maniacal about it. After taking the trip, I agreed wholeheartedly. Today in particular. That was Madden. He wasn’t a political person. But he opened his eyes. He was an observer of the human condition, and he liked what he saw.
I did too, and I’m grateful he took me along for the ride.
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DAN REEVES
Another tough loss for the NFL was the passing of Coach Dan Reeves on New Years Day.
King on Reeves and a flaw in the Hall of Fame selecton process:
Reeves appeared in nine Super Bowls—third most of any person in history—as a player, assistant coach or head coach. As a running back, he went undrafted but made the Cowboys in training camp in 1965. In 1966, he helped start the Cowboys’ run of greatness—Reeves had a team-best 1,314 rushing-receiving yards and the Cowboys won the NFL’s Eastern Conference for the first time. The greatest play of his NFL life, easily, was the 50-yard touchdown pass he threw in the fourth quarter to put Dallas ahead 17-14 in the Ice Bowl, the 1967 NFL Championship Game played in minus-23 wind-chill at Green Bay. What a hero Reeves would have been if Bart Starr hadn’t snuck in for the winning score at the end of the fourth quarter.
As a head coach, he won 201 games, 11 in the playoffs. He led Denver to three Super Bowls and Atlanta to one, but never won one. He also won coach of the year in each of his stops—twice in Denver, once each with the Giants and Falcons. It’s fair to say a major reason Denver became a flagship franchise in the NFL was Reeves’ stern leadership. He won 117 games in 12 Denver head-coaching seasons.
Sounds like a Hall of Fame résumé. But Reeves has always fallen short of election. Lots of reasons for that, but two big winners who didn’t win Super Bowls—Reeves and Marty Schottenheimer—both are on the outside of Canton looking in. Coaches have traditionally been judged on rings won, not regular-season wins … fair or unfair.
I think there’s another, more significant, reason. The Hall asks voters to vote for coaches as coaches, and players as players. The twain does not converge. So when John Madden was elected to the Hall in 2006, it was based on his 10-year coaching career, not on his contributions as perhaps the greatest NFL analyst of all time and his connection to the most popular NFL video game ever. When Dick LeBeau was elected in 2010, it was for his 62 career interceptions in 14 years as a Detroit Lion, not as one of the best defensive coordinators in history.
It seems silly to separate a person’s accomplishments. I’m not sure—as one of the Hall voters—that the selectors did not consider all accomplishments when considering their two cases. I can tell you for me, it was difficult not to consider everything, though I did consider Madden a Hall of Fame coach and LeBeau a Hall of Fame player.
Reeves deserves a bust in Canton. He should be enshrined for Contributions to Pro Football. A man who was the biggest offensive weapon on the first great Dallas team, who threw a touchdown pass in the Ice Bowl, who was a gritty piece of the Cowboys at the birth of America’s team, who was a key offensive assistant on seven Dallas teams in the seventies, who coached the Broncos to three AFC titles in four seasons, who won Coach of the Year with three different franchises, who won more games than all but eight coaches in NFL history.
That’s a Hall of Fame résumé.
Madden did not go into the Hall as quickly as he should have, and yet it is a Hall of FAME. And there was no one more FAMOUS in the NFL than Madden.
We note that the last three coaches to go into the Hall of Fame – Jimmy Johnson, Bill Cowher and Tony Dungy – all have benefited from network TV gigs. So, to a lesser extent, did this year’s coaching finalist Dick Vermeil.
Reeves, like Marty Schottenheimer, Chuck Knox, Mike Shanahan and others, has not had that benefit.
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