AROUND THE NFL
Daily Briefing
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If The Season Ended Today in the AFC – the Titans keep marching through a tough schedule towards the top seed. And the biggest brands – Pittsburgh, New England, Kansas City – are all in the playoffs where they weren’t a few weeks ago. The Colts have inched to within a half game of the playoff line:
W-L Div Conf
Tennessee South 8-2 1 5-1
Buffalo East 6-3 1 5-3
Baltimore North 6-3 1 4-3
Kansas City West 6-4 1 2-4
Pittsburgh WC1 5-3-1 2 3-2
New England WC2 6-4 2 5-1
LA Chargers WC3 5-4 2 3-2
Las Vegas 5-4 3 4-2
Cincinnati 5-4 3 3-2
Indianapolis 5-5 2 4-3
Cleveland 5-5 4 3-4
Denver 5-5 4 2-4
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Peter King lobbies for an end to Shove Of War touchdowns:
I think I am bothered by the pile-shoving-for-touchdown we’re seeing more and more. Seems like we see at least one a week. Sunday in Washington, it looked like forward progress by Antonio Gibson was stopped or paused at about the 1.5-yard line in a huge scrum, and then came two or three WFT horses up front to push the pile into the end zone. It’s not illegal, but maybe it should be. Look at that play—it’s a rugby scrum. Is that what football should be? This isn’t the biggest issue in the league, obviously, but for safety and aesthetics sake, it’s not what the league should want.
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NFC NORTH
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GREEN BAY
RB AARON JONES is going to be out for the Packers:
@RapSheet
From @GMFB: #Packers RB Aaron Jones is expected to miss some time with an MCL sprain.
Which is a good time, says Peter King, for RB A.J. DILLON to emerge. That and other thoughts on the Packers:
Of the 149 games played in this NFL season, I would wager not a single one has said more, about more significant things, than Green Bay 17, Seattle 0 in a Wisconsin snow squall Sunday, the first wintry day of the season. What it said:
The Packers can win without vintage Aaron Rodgers. Green Bay won by 17 with Rodgers throwing a Red Zone pick, looking out of sorts after his 10-day Covid sabbatical, not throwing a touchdown pass, and playing like a game the Lombardi Packers might have played. In fact, 56 years ago Sunday, Green Bay beat the Rams 6-3 with Bart Starr having an invisible day and Jim Taylor bulling out 117 yards from scrimmage. Sound familiar? What I’m saying is Sunday’s game, with Rodgers showing the effects of being drained from his 10 days away, was a very good thing for a team that might have to win a variety of ways in January and February
Brian Gutekunst is not a lummox. With the world screaming for the Packers to get a wideout in the 2020 draft, Gutekunst, the embattled Green Bay GM, bypassed trading up for a receiver in the second round and picked a 247-pound fire hydrant of a back, A.J. Dillon, with the 62nd overall pick. Dillon won this game. He carried likely Hall of Fame linebacker Bobby Wagner into the end zone on one TD to make it 10-0 early in the fourth quarter, nimbly caught-and-ran a 50-yard pass from Rodgers a few minutes later, and bulled for an insurance TD at the two-minute warning. So maybe Gutekunst should have traded up for a Van Jefferson type midway through round two, but this Dillon is a winter back who could be vital this postseason. Gutekunst’s first-round corner from Georgia, Eric Stokes, didn’t allow a completion Sunday, while one of the smartest free-agent finds of the year, linebacker De’Vondre Campbell (cap number: $1.19 million) led the team in tackles.
The Green Bay defense, even without its two best players, is a top five NFL unit. In fact, the Pack should be third, surrendering 309.9 yards per game, when this week’s stats are finalized after Rams-Niners tonight. This was the masterpiece, particularly without Za’Darius Smith and Jaire Alexander, the D’s top two players, likely not back from injuries till December.
Green Bay is the NFC’s top seed this morning. The Pack was last year too, but home-field didn’t help when Tampa Bay came to town for the championship game. Something feels different this year. That something different is Green Bay has a good defense and a war-horse running back, and maybe Rodgers doesn’t have to score in the thirties every week to win big ones. We didn’t see that coming.
Dillon heard all the chatter after he was drafted. Stupid Packers. They don’t need a back! Where’s the receiver?! “I saw it,” Dillon told me post-game. “I heard it. I just kind of put that with bulletin board material. I really always wanted to be an all-purpose back. APB. I knew I could be.”
Then he got into practice, and Aaron Rodgers treated him well—“Like a real teammate,” he said—and Aaron Jones treated him “like a brother.” Though Dillon didn’t get a lot of chances last year, he was sure he’d do well when called. In camp this summer, he was honored to be kidded by Rodgers, who he watched as a fan growing up in Connecticut. “Your legs get smaller this offseason?” Rodgers said to Dillon, an ice-breaker after the Rodgers drama of the offseason. Smaller? Dillon had the biggest legs of any back in the league. Dillon wasn’t sure if his QB was kidding, but he told him no, he put some strength and pounds on each of them.
“All of it, to me, is so cool,” Dillon said Sunday night. “The day after the draft, I watched like a three-hour documentary on the Packers and what Green Bay was. Being on this team is an indescribable feeling, really. Sometimes I still gotta like pinch myself before I get into practice. Or I’m driving over to practice and I’m like, ‘Oh wow, this is real, I’m a Packer’ when I’m pulling up and see Lambeau. I’ve walked into the Green Bay Packers Hall of Fame like three times now, just to see it. Now I know the history, and I’m so honored to be a part of the family here.”
But then the games get played, and it’s not time for gee-whiz stuff anymore. The fourth quarter of this game was huge for Dillon, and for the Packers. Four minutes into the fourth quarter, this was a 3-0 game, and Green Bay had a third-and-goal from the 3-yard line. The play-call was a pile-mover, Dillon up the gut trying for the three yards to give the Packers a cushion. In his way: Wagner and the surprisingly stout Seattle D. “I felt a lot of trust from the coaches when I heard the call,” Dillon said. He blasted up the middle, and Wagner got hold of him, and Dillon used his powerful calf muscles to almost back his way into the end zone, Wagner holding on for dear life.
“You’re a legend,” Dillon the fan told Wagner after the game. But fan beat legend on this play, and Green Bay went up 10-0.
On the next Packer series, Dillon took a swing pass to the left and showed his nimble side. It’s not often a 247-pound back keeps his balance athletically on the sideline, making sure he stays in while bouncing off tacklers. “I’ve been working all off-season on my receiving, all the time on the JUGS machine and running after the catch,” he said. “Good to see it’s paying off. It makes me really happy.” That set up the insurance score, a two-yard Dillon TD at the two-minute warning.
Dillon, for the game, had 23 touches for 128 yards and two TDs. Now, with Jones (MCL) expected to miss time, Dillon hopes to be as productive in two big games the next two Sundays: Vikings on the road, Rams at home.
With this win, Green Bay goes to 8-2, with a tiebreaker lead over Arizona for the top spot in the NFC with seven games left. Next week, Green Bay will be indoors at the arch-rival Vikes. The Packers have won seven of 11 in Minneapolis since 2010, and Rodgers has a 50-7 touchdown-to-interception margin against Minnesota in his career. It’s also one of the first times in a while the Packers enter a big division game knowing Rodgers doesn’t have to carry them for Green Bay to win. Newbies like Dillon are seeing to that.
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QB AARON RODGERS will not wear a mask in the presence of the media.
After Sunday’s win, Rodgers held his press conference via Zoom. His other option would have been to answer questions in-person while wearing a mask.
According to those at the Packers press conference, Rodgers opted against answering specifically why he chose Zoom over a masked, in-person press conference.
And this:
Rodgers admitted that he had “a lot of emotions” upon taking the field prior to Green Bay’s 17-0 win over Seattle, a win that moved the Packers to 8-2 and into first place in the race to claim the NFC’s lone playoff bye. Rodgers said that he was “a little misty” upon leaving the field with his teammates.
“It was good to feel those types of emotions and good to be back with the guys,” Rodgers said, via ESPN’s Rob Demovsky. “I just don’t take these things for granted, walking off the field as a winner. It’s fun beating that squad. We’ve had some battles over the years. Just walking out with Preston [Smith], who I have so much love and appreciation for, and then hearing that type of response from the crowd — it was a little extra special today.”
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MINNESOTA
The Vikings finally won a close game on Sunday. CBSSports.com::
After going through multiple gut-wrenching losses this season, the Vikings finally held on to win a nail-biter. Mike Zimmer showed he’s willing to gamble and he did that by going for it on fourth-and-2 late in the game instead of kicking a long field goal. If the play had failed, the Chargers would have gotten the ball back with a chance to tie. However, Dalvin Cook ended up converting the first down to ice the game. It was fitting that Cook sealed the win because he had a big day, rushing for 94 yards and a TD. The Chargers spent so much energy trying to slow down Cook that they apparently forgot that Justin Jefferson existed. The receiver ended the game with 143 yards on just nine catches. Defensively, the Vikings flummoxed Justin Herbert, holding the Chargers QB to just 195 yards. It was a huge win for a Minnesota team that has had a tough time coming up with huge wins this year.
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NFC EAST
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WASHINGTON
The victory over Tampa Bay came with a cost. John Keim of ESPN.com:
Washington coach Ron Rivera said the team fears that defensive end Chase Young suffered a torn ACL in his right knee in its 29-19 victory Sunday over the Tampa Bay Buccaneers.
Rivera said it was “potentially an ACL” but that Young will undergo further tests Monday.
“Hopefully it’s not as bad as we think right now,” Washington receiver Terry McLaurin said. “It’s hard to see a guy like that go down for us. He’s a dominant player for us. He’s a leader for us.”
Young suffered the injury with 7 minutes, 49 seconds left in the second quarter when he rushed quarterback Tom Brady on a third-and-2. Young went to the ground without much contact and writhed in pain.
When the cart came onto the field, Young waved it off and opted to limp more than 30 yards to the tunnel, with the help of teammate Brandon Scherff for part of the walk and then with athletic trainers.
“It’s definitely sad,” Washington defensive tackle Jon Allen said. “It’s going to be tough, but knowing Chase’s personality, knowing the way he works and the kind of guy he is, he’ll come back stronger than ever.”
Young addressed the defensive players at halftime, trying to keep them focused and imploring them to finish strong. Teammates said it was in his same matter-of-fact tone that he uses during other times he talks to the team.
He spent the second half on Washington’s sideline, hobbling around on crutches or sitting on the bench.
“Just seeing him back out there, walking off on his own power, was big for us,” Washington safety Bobby McCain said. “That gave us a sense of hope. He’s a leader and a team captain; having him there was big for us, talking to our young guys, old guys. Not being on the field, at least he can lead in some way.”
Washington was already down one starting defensive end, as Montez Sweat suffered a broken jaw on Oct. 31 at Denver. He will miss four to six weeks. If Young is out, Casey Toohill and James Smith-Williams would start at the end positions with rookie Shaka Toney as a primary backup. Smith-Williams and Toohill both are in their second season. All three are seventh-round picks replacing first-rounders.
“I’m sure fans were nervous, but I felt comfortable because I’ve seen what they do in practice and what they did in limited opportunities,” Allen said. “Chase Young is Chase Young, but I have no doubt they’ll step up and play good football.”
Young has not had the season he or Washington had hoped. He has just 1.5 sacks — one year after being named NFL Defensive Rookie of the Year after 7.5 sacks.
Rivera has harped on Young needing to be more disciplined as a pass-rusher, both with his technique and with his approach.
Last week, Young, the No. 2 pick in the 2020 draft, said he was not bothered by criticism of his play from the outside.
On Monday, the torn ACL was confirmed.
And this:
Rapoport reported Sunday that quarterback Ryan Fitzpatrick is not expected to return this season after his Week 1 hip subluxation. Fellow front-seven star Montez Sweat is also on injured reserve with a fractured jaw and out at least two more weeks.
– – –
This note from Peter King on QB TAYLOR HEINICKE:
In his two meetings with Tom Brady, the unknown (formerly) Heinicke had completed 68 percent of his throws and outscored Brady 52-50.
Can anyone else make such a claim?
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NFC SOUTH
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CAROLINA
Peter King:
An 8-game sprint with Cam Newton?
That certainly was cool, Cam Newton running for a touchdown on his first snap as a second-time Panther, and passing for a touchdown on his second snap. His role, Matt Rhule told me, wasn’t established till Sunday morning at the hotel in Arizona, when coaches asked him if he felt he could execute the few plays he’s practiced late in the week. “I sure can,” Newton said. Said Rhule: “Credit to Cam. That pass play, for you football historians, is sprint right option—that’s the Dwight Clark catch from Joe Montana in the NFC Championship Game.”
P.J. Walker won his second start as a Panther, the 34-10 rout of Arizona. Maybe that gives Rhule cause to think he should keep using Newton as a relief pitcher for the time being, continuing with next week’s home game against Washington. We’ll see, but I doubt it. “Honestly,” said Rhule, “I am gonna go pass out on the plane. We’ll get Cam in on Monday, keep showing him new plays, we’ll see how much he is ready to play. I’m not to that point in my brain that I can make a decision like that.”
Rhule also said the Newton signing “is just about today—just about this year. We wanted to do what we could to win this game, then win the next one. We’ll worry about next year next year.”
The cost:
Cost Paid By Carolina
The breakdown of costs, according to Over The Cap, projecting 2021 compensation for Newton and including $18.8 million in guaranteed salary owed to Darnold in 2022:
Bridgewater: $31,015,625
Darnold: $23,632,685
Newton: $6,000,000
Total: $60,648,310
By the way, $4.5-million guaranteed for Cam Newton? Why? Where was the competition for Newton? In 2020, when Newton was a free agent and not tarnished nearly to the point he is now, New England paid him $3.75 million for a full season. Now the Panthers pay him at least $4.5 million for a half-season, and as much as $6 million.
The Bottom Line
Carolina has committed $60.6 million for quarterback play in 2020 and ’21 (including money owed to Darnold, unlikely to be the starter in 2022), employed the 21st-rated passer in the league in ’20 and 29th-rated passer in ’21, and is 9-16 in those two seasons. Wrong on Bridgewater, wrong on Darnold, we’ll see on a tarnished Newton. Barring Newton turning back the clock six years, the team will likely not have the quarterback of the long-term future on the roster when the 2022 offseason begins.
Per Forbes, Panthers owner David Tepper is the 142nd-richest man in the world, with a net worth of about $15.8 billion. He doesn’t have to spend it all looking for a quarterback.
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TAMPA BAY
Bruce Arians (and QB TOM BRADY) after Tampa Bay’s loss. Jenna Laine ofESPN.com:
Moments after the Tampa Bay Buccaneers fell to the Washington Football Team 29-19 on the road Sunday, coach Bruce Arians said his team — now 6-3 after two straight losses — has some “soul-searching to do,” and he chided it for penalties and mental errors that continue to be costly.
“It’s very disappointing,” Arians said. “It’s very alarming to watch the energy at every practice and show up with a lack of execution and energy that it takes to win on Sunday. We’ve got a lot of soul-searching to do.”
Against the league’s worst pass defense — a team the Bucs were favored to beat by 10 points and that would lose its star defensive player Chase Young midway through the second quarter — quarterback Tom Brady completed only three passes of more than 20 yards and was intercepted twice.
The Bucs surrendered 256 passing yards and a touchdown to Washington quarterback Taylor Heinicke, with Antonio Gibson rushing for two more against the league’s top-rated run defense. The defense allowed Washington to orchestrate a 19-play touchdown drive that ended all hope of a comeback.
Self-inflicted wounds — particularly penalties — have been the Buccaneers’ Achilles’ heel all year. After an 11-penalty loss at the New Orleans Saints two weeks ago, Arians called on the team’s leaders to hold each other accountable, but that hasn’t stopped the errors. The Bucs also had three drops, making it 15 for the year, according to ESPN Stats & Information research.
“Energy and passion are very fixable,” Arians said. “The penalties — they’ve gotta get corrected sooner or later. The first play of the game — they’re shifting and we jump offsides. They don’t even run a play and we jump offsides. The stupidity has to go away if we’re gonna go anywhere.”
Tight end O.J. Howard jumped offside on the very first snap when Washington shifted. A neutral-zone infraction on defensive end William Gholston advanced Washington 5 yards forward just before halftime. A false start on right tackle Tristan Wirfs pushed the Bucs back 5 yards just before halftime.
In the third quarter, a defensive pass interference call on Dee Delaney took Washington from the Tampa Bay 14 to the 1-yard line before a TD by Gibson made it 23-13.
“It has nothing to do with ability,” Arians said. “It’s about execution and being a smart football team. We’re a very dumb football team. And that’s a reflection on the coaches.”
“We came out there flat-footed for whatever reason,” inside linebacker Devin White said. “Everybody wasn’t on the same page. Everybody didn’t have the same amount of energy. And that’s something we preached all week.
“We had a great week of preparation, but it don’t mean nothing if we don’t execute on Sunday.”
As for Brady, it was just the third time in his career that he threw two interceptions in the first half. The first one bounced out of the hands of rookie wide receiver Jaelon Darden. The second came when he overthrew Mike Evans on a slant route, and it wound up in safety Bobby McCain’s hands.
“It has nothing to do with the receivers. It was him,” Arians said of Brady, who suffered the second-largest road upset in his career and just his second back-to-back defeats as a Buccaneer.
Visibly upset, Brady spoke to the media for only 1 minute, 43 seconds after the loss.
“We just never really played on our terms. We played behind the whole game. They played a good game. They had a good plan,” Brady said. “It doesn’t matter who you play if you have a bunch of self-inflicted errors too. We’ve gotta go out and execute the plays that were there.”
Arians also said that CB RICHARD SHERMAN won’t return “anytime soon” with his calf injury.
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NFC WEST
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LOS ANGELES RAMS
Peter King on the ODELL BECKHAM, Jr. signing:
Don’t think the injury to Robert Woods will make Odell Beckham Jr., a starter tonight in Santa Clara against the Niners. More likely, Beckham will be active but only be in the field for 10 to 20 snaps in the packages he’s practiced and feels confident in running. The Woods snaps, more likely, will go to two receivers you’ve never heard of: seventh-round rookie Ben Skowronek from Notre Dame, who has impressed Sean McVay with his physicality at 6-3 and 220, and undrafted Cal Poly wideout J.J. Koski.
Beckham is more likely to be brought up to speed after tonight with the Rams’ bye week coming up. They’ll need his experience and big-play ability in touch road games particularly at Green Bay, Arizona, Minnesota and Baltimore in the home stretch.
I’m told that when McVay was recruiting him, he was upfront with Beckham about his opportunities. McVay told him he couldn’t guarantee him X number of targets per game from Matthew Stafford. “But I can tell you if you’re open, Matthew will get you the ball,” McVay said.
Some coaches who have looked at Beckham tell Mike Sando of The Athletic why they don’t expect too much from him:
The first coach who studied Beckham did so through the lens he would apply when evaluating true No. 1 receivers. He saw a player who, in his opinion, did not come close to meeting that standard. This coach cited examples of plays where he thought Beckham:
Ran routes less aggressively when facing 2-deep coverages, which limit big-play opportunities
Rarely accelerated through in-breaking routes, especially when safeties or linebackers lurked
Lacked elite change-of-direction ability to elude defenders
Lacked elite speed to consistently beat cornerbacks one-on-one
Showed savvy on back-shoulder catches and scramble drills
This coach pointed to specific plays where Beckham failed to separate against a range of cornerbacks: Chicago’s Jaylon Johnson and Duke Shelley, the Chargers’ Michael Davis, Minnesota’s Patrick Peterson and Cameron Dantzler, Pittsburgh’s Joe Haden, Denver’s Ronald Darby and Arizona’s Marco Wilson.
“It’s a tricky eval,” this coach said. “Could he be (Randy) Moss at New England? Probably not. He has probably lost too much physically. But could he be a good player? Yes. You wonder how many organizational chess pieces you have to move to accommodate him, because with a player like that, you are trying to coax it out of him. You don’t just tell him to be quiet and do his job.”
Sticking strictly with the on-field eval, this coach thought Beckham showed good (but not great) ability on a small percentage of the routes he ran with Cleveland this season.
“You could call someone else and he could say, ‘Shit, I don’t know what they are doing with him in Cleveland, and a change of scenery might be good for him,’ ” this coach said. “That is exactly how you say it when it’s a tough eval, right? The personnel guy makes the cutup of the seven times Odell tried hard, he brings it in to the GM and says, ‘Yeah, I think this is worth half-a-year rental.’ But if you study all the plays, you have to imagine him running up the field fast and running by guys.”
Broader context: The second coach who studied Beckham also thought Beckham had lost the burst that made him dynamic. He thought Beckham might regain past form with another year of rehab.
Unlike the first coach, the second coach thought Beckham’s effort was generally good, including as a run blocker.
“Everybody is wondering about him, but the bottom line is, Cleveland is a running offense, so when they do pass, it’s a lot different stuff in terms of play-action,” the second coach said. “It is not like the offense where Eli (Manning) could spread that thing out and they could do a lot of different things with him. I think he will have more success out there in L.A. because the one thing he can do is catch. If he can catch, Matt (Stafford) will throw him the ball.”
Stafford’s presence in Los Angeles has led coach Sean McVay to shift away from the play-action structure the Rams favored when Jared Goff was behind center. The Goff-era Rams were most productive when the offense ran through running back Todd Gurley in 2018 (that Rams offense was even more productive than the current one through nine games).
Subbing Stafford for Goff, losing strength on the offensive line and not having a Gurley equivalent makes these Rams different — more dynamic in pure passing, but more of a finesse team as well. Replacing the recently injured Robert Woods, known for his grit and aggressive blocking, with Beckham, who is not known for those things, changes the complexion more.
“Stafford is night-and-day different from Baker (Mayfield) — night and an extra day,” the second coach said. “Stafford can get it to whoever he has to get it to, he can make every throw, he can drop back and pass. Baker played well against Cincinnati, they jumped all over them, but you look at it, a lot of play-action, running game was going, they jumped on him, it was over.”
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SEATTLE
WR DK METCALF did not take his ejection without objection:
@RapSheet
#Seahawks WR DK Metcalf, who was ejected after getting into it with two #Packers then tried to get back into the game by walking into the huddle, will be evaluated for a likely fine, not suspension, source said. Standard procedure.
– – –
Peter King:
I wonder if we’re seeing the end of the Russell Wilson era in Seattle. It’s dumb to make any long-term judgments about a great player on such a rotten day, when Wilson returned after finger surgery and looked inaccurate and ineffective, getting shut out for the first time in 166 Seattle starts. His receivers didn’t help him, rarely getting free enough for him to have a chance at a long gain. But as I watched the futility of this game, I just started thinking it might be time for the Seahawks to think of alternatives to Wilson, particularly if he gets mopey again next offseason. For now, with Seattle 3-6, Arizona looming next week, and San Francisco and the Rams on the horizon after that, making the playoffs will be tough. Sabers were rattled last year by Wilson and his agent, and I just wonder if an 8-9 season might make Seattle GM John Schneider and coach Pete Carroll wonder if rewriting the script and getting three first-round picks and maybe one top player from a Carolina or Denver or Pittsburgh or Miami or Philadelphia is smarter than trying to keep Wilson happy. Schneider is a confident man. He convinced Carroll that a short quarterback would be a star back in 2012, and Wilson in the third round followed. I doubt he’d be afraid of doing it again.
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AFC WEST
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LAS VEGAS
After apparently consulting with his lawyer friends, Peter King opines on Jon Gruden’s law suit:
The Gruden lawsuit: He learned from the master
First thought when Jon Gruden’s attorneys filed suit accusing the NFL and commissioner Roger Goodell of a campaign to “publicly sabotage Gruden’s career:” This is exactly what Al Davis would have done. And Gruden, who learned about all things Davis when the Raiders owner was still in full control of the franchise and Gruden was his coach from 1998-2001, has learned well. Make it personal. Attack the top level of the game. Use words and phrases like “malicious” and “Soviet-style character assassination” to turn the focus on the commissioner. Al Davis was famous for his holy wars on the late Pete Rozelle, the NFL commissioner from 1960 to 1989. This has the makings of a latter-day Al war. The tenor of the Gruden suit hits the exact same notes of a personal campaign, Gruden versus Goodell. Gruden’s suit says, in part, “Through a malicious and orchestrated campaign, the NFL and commissioner Roger Goodell sought to destroy the career and reputation of Jon Gruden.”
Background: Al Davis was the litigious thorn in the NFL’s side for years. Against the league’s (and Rozelle’s) will, Davis tried and failed to move the Raiders to Los Angeles in 1980, continuing the fight till the move to LA in 1982. He was the only owner to take the shocking stance of siding with the United States Football League in its antitrust suit against the NFL in 1986. ESPN’s 30 for 30 series documented the Davis-Rozelle/NFL feud, and in 2007, NFL Films labeled it the greatest feud in NFL history. Davis’ battle with the league was going on, still, in the four years Gruden coached the team, with commissioner Paul Tagliabue his latest foil.
There could be other issues at play here, one of them Covid-related. Gruden was furious at being fined $100,000 for, the league said, faulty face-covering in the early games of the 2020 season; later he was fined an additional $150,000 for repeated team violation of Covid protocols. Could that be part of this? We’ll see. And, as someone who knows Gruden told me over the weekend, “He’s just bitter about a lot of things, going back to how it ended for him in Tampa. My feeling is he thinks his NFL career is over, so he’s got nothing to lose now.”
The NFL is culpable in the Gruden case in at least one way: It hung onto emails someone knew had damning evidence against Gruden for homophobic and misogynistic and racist language. But it will be a stretch to prove the league leaked the documents. In the middle of a season that was going surprising well for the Raiders in their new Las Vegas home, the league would certainly argue that it made no sense to undercut the team’s success by releasing the emails in midseason, and risking the profitable business in a market hungry for the NFL. The league, I’m sure, will say it had nothing to do with Andrew Beaton of the Wall Street Journal obtaining some of them, and calling the Raiders to say he was about to write about them.
The charges in the suit will be very hard to prove. But the process of discovery could mean shining a light on more of the emails in the WFT probe, which has been called for by the attorneys of the former WFT employees who say there was a toxic atmosphere for women inside the organization.
So King believes, that if in the course of any litigation, the NFL should immediately release to the media any emails it comes across, no matter how old or unrelated, that do not conform to the current media standards (presumably shared exactly by the NFL) as to what is offensive?
Attorney Paul Mirengoff of Powerline, thinks Gruden has been wronged, but like King, wonders if he will be able to prove who did him in with the media member who took the leak apparently protected.
Jon Gruden has filed a lawsuit (the Complaint is here) in Nevada accusing the NFL and its commissioner of leaking emails to “publicly sabotage” his career and pressure him to resign from his job as head coach of the Las Vegas Raiders. Gruden was fired from that position due to the leaked emails.
Gruden alleges that “through a malicious and orchestrated campaign, the NFL and Commissioner Roger Goodell sought to destroy the career and reputation of Jon Gruden.” Gruden further asserts:
When [the Defendants’] initial salvo [of leaked emails] did not result in Gruden’s firing or resignation, Defendants ratcheted up the pressure by intimating that further documents would become public if Gruden was not fired. They followed through with this threat by leaking another batch of documents to the New York Times for an October 11, 2021 article. On October 7, 2021, Jon Gruden was the head coach of the Raiders on a 10-year, $100-million contract. By October 11, 2021, he had been forced to resign.
The lawsuit sets forth seven causes of action. They include intentional interference with contractual relations, tortious interference with future economic interests, and negligence (in case Gruden can’t prove the emails were leaked intentionally).
The lawsuit characterizes the actions of Goodell and the NFL as “Soviet-style character assassination.” Actually, the Soviets favored assassination in the strong, original sense. Maybe Gruden’s lawyers meant “American-media” or “Democrat operative” style character assassination.
It might be countered that Gruden assassinated his own character. After all, his own writings caused many to form a strongly negative view of his character and led to his firing.
However, Gruden has been wronged, for the reasons I set forth in this post. As I stated:
Gruden wrote [the emails] to his friend Bruce Allen, then the president of the Washington Redskins as the team was called at the time. The emails were discovered because of an investigation of alleged sexual harassment within the Redskins’ organization. They were made public because. . .I’m not sure. No other emails from the investigation have been. Maybe Goodell wanted them released because he was a target of some of the abuse.
(Emphasis added)
Gruden was not part of the Redskins’ organization (he wasn’t even an employee of the NFL when he wrote the emails; he was working for ESPN on Monday Night Football) and the content, as offensive as some of it was, had nothing to do with sexual harassment. Yet, these are the only emails — of the 650,000 said to have been uncovered in the investigation — that were leaked to the press.
It does seem that someone wanted to destroy Jon Gruden’s career.
Was it Roger Goodell? As I noted, he had a motive, given Gruden’s disparagement of him and some of his policies. In one email, Gruden called the commissioner a “clueless anti-football pussy.”
The NFL denies leaking the emails.
Other parties might also have had a motive. The team formerly known as the R—– has denied that it leaked the emails. It’s not clear why the team would want to sabotage Jon Gruden, but it’s possible that the target was Gruden’s correspondent Bruce Allen, whom the team had fired. (Another possible motive, distracting people from the sexual harassment claims against the club, is discussed below.)
It’s also possible, I suppose, that someone with ties to the Raiders’ organization wanted the emails leaked in order to get the team out from under its long-term, very expensive deal with the legendary coach. Gruden hadn’t set the NFL on fire during his second stint with the Raiders.
The suit claims that releasing the emails was an attempt to shift attention away from the underlying issue of sexual harassment within the Redskins’ operation. (See paragraph 44 of the Complaint.) That claim is at odds with the much more plausible theory that someone wanted to sabotage Gruden’s career (as opposed to wanting to help the Washington team).
If the motive was to draw attention away from the team’s misconduct, the ploy didn’t work. In fact, it had the opposite effect. The selective leaking of the Gruden-Allen emails brought attention back to the matter and, more importantly, amped up pressure to release all of the emails.
Congressional Democrats have gotten into that act. They issued a subpoena for the email trove. (The NFL did not produce the materials by the deadline date. Congress has no business sticking its woke nose into this matter.)
It’s clear to me that Gruden has an actionable grievance against someone. Whether he can meet his burden of proving that it’s against the NFL and Goodell will depend on what facts emerge from discovery in this case.
And that discovery, as King also hints, could be something the NFL will want to avoid.
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AFC NORTH
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CLEVELAND
Charles Robinson of YahooSports.com thinks the Browns are at the same point we saw with the Titans when they adroitly moved on from QB MARCUS MARIOTA to QB RYAN TANNEHILL. Little noticed at the time, monumental in history. But who are the candidates for a Tannehill Ascension:
Back in 2018, when the Tennessee Titans were trying to keep Marcus Mariota healthy and turn his career in the right direction, the feeling inside the organization was simple: Time was running short, excuses were running long, and at some point, the constant roller coaster of good and bad had to stop.
This is how Ryan Tannehill’s second career was born in Tennessee. And it started with the Titans opening their minds to other options at quarterback heading into the final year of Mariota’s rookie contract. Yes, the organization badly wanted it to work with Mariota, who was the second overall pick in the 2015 draft and had flashed some brilliance in between injuries and inconsistency. So much so that the Titans picked up the fifth-year option in his rookie contract for a hefty $20.9 million.
At the time, Tennessee decided it wanted one more definitive look. That look came with a catch — with the front office deciding to open the door to other options, knowing that Mariota may never get on track. That avenue eventually led Tennessee to trade for Tannehill, who arrived and reworked his contract into a one-year, $7 million deal with escalators for playing time.
That choice — to pursue an insurance option rather than hope for a revelation — helped lay a foundation for the Titans to move toward the consistent success they enjoy today. And it’s precisely what the Cleveland Browns have to start thinking about with Baker Mayfield.
In fairness, there first has to be an acceptance that there are currently many things wrong with the Browns. The defense hasn’t been disciplined enough and isn’t playing anywhere near the level of talent on the roster. The offensive line and running backs have been a turnstile of injuries. The wide receivers have needed a significant infusion of healthy talent — even when Odell Beckham Jr. was on the team. And there’s no denying that all of these issues are tied together and have a hand in impacting Mayfield.
So this isn’t all about one player. But it is about understanding that Mayfield has also been part of the problem. Or more to the point, Mayfield’s health and general consistency have.
Before a quarterback can become consistent, he has to be healthy. And through the midway point of Mayfield’s fourth season, he has been riddled with various injuries that have impacted his play, from the bruised hand late in the 2019 season to the bruised ribs in 2020, to a partially torn labrum, shoulder fracture and (as of now) a knee injury that forced him out of Sunday’s game. That Mayfield has played through most of these issues is a testament to his mental toughness. But there has been a price to pay on the field this season, as he continues to struggle with his consistency in key moments.
Is that a five-alarm fire for Cleveland? No. Particularly not with Mayfield having been a solid quarterback during the balance of his career. But the Browns are also in a crucial period of studying what Mayfield is and where his career projects. At the moment, he looks like an inconsistent quarterback who needs optimal conditions around him in order to reach his potential, which isn’t the worst thing you can say about a QB. Many good quarterbacks are built like this.
But are they worth $40 million a season?
That’s the rub here. Mayfield doesn’t look remotely in the zip code of any of the recent quarterbacks who signed mega-extensions. Nor can the Browns consider making any extension decision, given how this season is unfolding. If anything, they’re further away from that extension now than when the season started. And with that being the case, Cleveland should take the Titans’ approach.
Make the best of the rest of the season and do everything possible to get Mayfield healthy and into whatever groove is attainable. But also start doing homework on other quarterbacks who may become available next offseason. Whether it’s an aging Aaron Rodgers, or a damaged-goods Deshaun Watson — or even a possibly-not-available-but-maybe-he-will-be Russell Wilson — look onto every roster and think long and hard about options. Every option, whether it’s a shoot-for-the-moon replacement or something along the lines of the Titans’ reclamation project/insurance policy when they traded for Tannehill.
While that might not be what Mayfield wants, it’s what is best for the franchise at this point. And Cleveland is paying Mayfield his $18.8 million fifth-year option in 2022 anyway, so unless there is an acquisition to flat-out replace him, he should see a competitive addition as an opportunity to have a monster season and then put the Browns into a corner in their next extension negotiations.
As it stands now, the only way Cleveland could consider extending Mayfield before 2022 would be if he goes on an epic tear to close out the season — or if he takes a very team-friendly deal with a structure offering little downside for the Browns. Neither of those seems particularly likely at this moment.
Cleveland will enter next offseason with the same quandary on its hands as this past one: not being entirely sure if Mayfield is a franchise quarterback, and not being able to do an extension until that gets answered. But unlike the last go-round, the Browns have to take a page from the Titans and Mariota and lay all of their options on the table before 2022 kicks off.
Because one way or another, Mayfield’s future will reveal itself next season. And the long-term impacts of that revelation on Cleveland will be undeniable. Especially if the Browns aren’t prepared for it to fall apart again.
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PITTSBURGH
EDGE T.J. WATT injured himself while sacking Lions QB JARED GOFF. His status going forward is unclear. Chris Adamski of the Pittsburgh Tribune-Review:
Pittsburgh Steelers star outside linebacker T.J. Watt gingerly walked off the field during the third quarter and did not return to Sunday’s tie against the Detroit Lions.
Watt suffered a hip/knee injury colliding with teammate Joe Schobert in the process of making a sack of Jared Goff late in the third quarter of the game that finished 16-16.
Watt remained on the field for several minutes and was attended to by training and medical personnel while teammates surrounded him. Fans at soggy Heinz Field began a chant of, “T.J.! T.J.!”
Watt, though, eventually walked off the field on his own power. He stood on the sideline for the remainder of the game, wearing a raincoat and winter cap as rain fell throughout the latter portions of the game.
After the game, all coach Mike Tomlin would say was that Watt was “being evaluated.”
Defensive captain Cameron Heyward said Watt “was in good spirits” when they spoke, but Heyward deferred to Steelers medical staff in regards to any other details. Tomlin is expected to update Watt’s status during his news conference Tuesday.
This from twitter:
@ProFootballTalk
Steelers LB T.J. Watt will have scans in the morning on his injured knee and hip per source. Both injuries happened on the same play.
And this:
@Steelersdepot
Per @rapsheet, Steelers’ T.J. Watt Reportedly ‘Expected to Miss Some Time’ with Hip, Knee Injuries #Steelers
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AFC SOUTH
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TENNESSEE
Peter King on Mike Vrabel’s Titans going 5-0 against a Murderer’s Row (after JAX) after falling to the Jets:
Mike Vrabel, head coach, Tennessee. Titans laid a gigantic egg Oct. 3 at the Jets to fall to 2-2. Since then, the Titans:
*Trounced Jacksonville by 18.
*Came back from four deficits to beat Buffalo, the second seed in the 2020 AFC playoffs, by three.
*Went up 27-0 at the half and beat Kansas City, the defending AFC champ, by 24.
*Got down 14-0 early at Indianapolis, another 2020 playoff team, but came back to win a 71-minute OT game by three.
* With Derrick Henry gone for two months, beat NFC power Los Angeles on the road by 12.
*Beat another NFC power team, the Saints, at home by two on Sunday.
V
rabel sets a tone for his team and his players take no crap from anyone. To go 5-0 against five defending playoff teams is a great accomplishment, particularly playing the last two without your best player. That’s why Vrabel is coach of the week.
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AFC EAST
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BUFFALO
Peter King has WR STEFON DIGGS among his Players of the Week:
Stefon Diggs, wide receiver, Buffalo. Entering Sunday’s redemption game at the Meadowlands, Diggs was averaging two catches and 22 yards less per game than in his all-pro season of 2020. Diggs had but one 100-yard receiving game in his first eight games. So he, Josh Allen and offensive coordinator Brian Daboll did something about that in the 45-17 rout of the Jets. He caught eight passes for 162 yards and a TD, leading the Bills to scores on seven of their 11 drives. Smart for the Bills to focus on Diggs against the weak Jets’ secondary.
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NEW ENGLAND
WR JAKOBI MYERS finally scored! Kevin Patra of NFL.com:
The streak is finally over.
Jakobi Meyers caught a short pass from backup quarterback Brian Hoyer late in the New England Patriots’ 45-7 blowout win over the Cleveland Browns and dove into the end zone for the first touchdown of his three-year career.
Teammates swarmed the 2019 undrafted free agent who entered Week 10 with 1,522 career receiving yards, the most by any player with zero TD catches in NFL history.
“It felt amazing,” Meyers told NFL Network’s Mike Giardi after the game. “Just the fact that everybody came down and celebrated with me that was special. I really appreciated it.”
The TD came in Meyers’ 39th regular-season game and on his 135th career catch. The Pats’ top target seemed snake-bitten when it came to the end zone, having multiple touchdowns overturned by penalty.
Meyers’ teammates were thrilled the streak of futility is finally over.
“It was the highlight of the game,” fellow receiver Kendrick Bourne said, via the Boston Herald. “He’s been working so hard. He works hard every day, and he deserves it. I told him he might go on a touchdown streak now.”
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NEW YORK JETS
TUA will return when the Jets look to make it three in a row on Sunday:
Dolphins coach Brian Flores has named Tua Tagovailoa as the team’s starting quarterback for its game against the Jets in Week 11.
Tagovailoa did not start Thursday night’s 22–10 win over the Ravens, but did finish the game after quarterback Jacoby Brissett went down with a knee injury.
The second-year quarterback had been dealing with a fracture in his throwing hand. He completed eight of 13 passes for 158 and added a one-yard rushing touchdown.
“I thought Tua did a good job of fighting through the discomfort,” Flores said last Thursday. “He banged his finger too during the game too, which is what we were trying to avoid. So I think this situation with Tua, obviously I’ve said many times, he’s our quarterback.”
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THIS AND THAT
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BAD CALL?
Peter King calls out an official by name as his Goat of the Week:
Goats of the Week
Barry Anderson, umpire, Saints-Titans game. The bad calls just keep on coming—and where is New York to bail out such calls? Walt Anderson in the officiating command center in New York and the replay official on-site can do something about clearly incorrect calls like Barry Anderson’s with two minutes left in the first half of a 6-6 game. On this play, Tennessee quarterback Ryan Tannehill was intercepted by Saints safety Marcus Williams in the end zone. A millisecond after Tannehill’s release, linebacker Kaden Elliss slammed into the quarterback’s upper back. No contact with the head. Standing four or five yards away, his eyes fixed on the action, Barry Anderson threw his yellow flag and told ref Jerome Boger it was roughing-the-passer, hit to the head of the quarterback. Boger announced the foul, nullifying the interception, and suffixed the call with “Blow to the head of the quarterback.” Except there was no blow to the head. As Kevin Harlan said in the CBS booth: “He hit him in the nameplate!” With new life and a fresh set of downs, Tannehill finished off a TD drive.
Not to call out King and Harlan, but we looked at the video here. We are not endorsing the call, but there was contact between the facemask of Ellis and the back of Tannehill’s head. Again, a chintzy call, but there was head-to-head contact.
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DAUNTING TAUNTING
Peter King is still incensed by Tony Corrente’s taunting call that aided the Steelers at the expense of the Bears:
I think I’ve watched the Cassius Marsh sack of Ben Roethlisberger and his subsequent celebration/”taunting” of the Steelers eight or 10 times now. I listened to Perry Fewell of the officiating department explain how it is certainly taunting, and that ref Tony Corrente made the correct call in flagging Marsh for taunting.
I realize this is old news, seven days old, but my thoughts:
• Pure insanity.
• I don’t care what words are used to justify Corrente’s call, which was over-officious to put it mildly. Taunting has to be far more obvious, flagrant and close than what Marsh did. Marsh was celebrating/flexing from about 50 feet away from the Steelers sideline; it did not appear he said anything. Fewell said “posturing” by Marsh was part of the call. Posturing, which apparently means adopting a confident posture and staring at the opposing sideline from 50 feet away.
• The question I asked one person with inside knowledge of the officials, the officiating department and how judgment calls are made: How many of the 17 NFL referees would have thrown the flag on Marsh for that play? He said close to half, probably not half. I don’t know the answer to that, but I do know this: One is too many.
• The definition of taunting, per Oxford: “Intended to provoke someone in an insulting or contemptuous manner.” Usually on taunting and near-taunting situations, you’ll see players from the team being taunted react or challenge the taunter. Watch the replay. Did it seem to provoke anyone on the other team? Not one Steeler walked toward Marsh or gestured toward him or challenged him. Competition Committee chair Rich McKay said of taunting in September: “Taunting is trying to entice that other player into some type of activity that is not allowed in football.” There was none of that in what Marsh did. I wish the NFL would just have the sense to say, internally or externally: “Tony Corrente went too far. He’s an excellent official, but that’s well shy of what taunting is.”
• Bruce Arians: “Now you can’t look to the other bench. That’s a new one. Pretty soon you just tape your mouth shut and play.”
• Then Marsh gets fined for it, getting docked $5,972 for the flag. This is just sinful.
• Good for Tom Pelissero and Ian Rapoport in reporting Sunday morning the major errors the Corrente crew made in the game, including a wrong call on a low block that cost the Bears a touchdown, and the no-call on a late hit on Justin Fields. Two major downgrades in one game will be a big factor in Corrente’s post-season prospects. And the hip-check by Corrente on Marsh? I’m guessing it was an accident. But the fact that it happened at all, on the night of one of the worst-officiated games of the year, is a lousy coincidence.
• Why, by the way, didn’t the replay official upstairs or Walt Anderson in New York correct any of the bad calls? Both men have open lines to Corrente and can tell him to pick up the flag on a bad call. Crickets.
• There’s nothing weak about admitting a mistake, or saying a well-meaning rule put on the books to improve the game is in the process of over-reaching. But all week, the NFL just compounded the mistake. Calls like the Marsh one make a farce of the game. If that’s taunting, I’m Carrot Top.
Has the reputation of any official ever been altered more by one game and one call?
Prior to last Monday night in Pittsburgh, the 70-year-old Corrente had largely navigated 24 years as a referee without incident. Highly-respected, numerous playoff games, a courageous return from cancer. And now this.
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