If the Season Ended Today, the Steelers are two up with nine to go on the Ravens, the Chiefs have a 3-game lead in the West and we decide to put Cincinnati on the board at 2-5-1 as they still have three games left with the NFC East.

Pittsburgh        North   7-0                   5-0

Kansas City     West    7-1                   7-1

Buffalo            East     6-2                   5-2

Tennessee      South   5-2                   4-2      

Baltimore         WC      5-2                   3-2

Indianapolis     WC      5-2                   2-2

Cleveland        WC      5-3                   3-3      

Las Vegas                   4-3                   2-2

Miami                         4-3                   2-2

Denver                                   3-4                   3-3

Cincinnati                2-5-1               2-5-1

– – –

Adam Schefter of ESPN.com collects some trade rumors before the Tuesday deadline:

Washington Football Team defensive end Ryan Kerrigan has requested a trade, but Washington has told teams that it won’t deal the star pass-rusher, a source told ESPN.

Another source insisted to ESPN on Sunday that Kerrigan has not requested a trade. Multiple people around the NFL believe that Kerrigan values loyalty to the franchise and his family over money.

Kerrigan, 32, is in the final year of his deal with Washington. The four-time Pro Bowler said earlier this year that he wanted to stay with Washington “for the long haul,” but his playing time has decreased this season.

Kerrigan has four sacks this season and is the Washington franchise’s career sacks leader with 94. He has played his entire 10-year career with Washington.

Why the NFL trade deadline is different this year: COVID-19 tests, cap-space questions and more

The NFL’s trade deadline is Tuesday at 4 p.m. ET, and sources told ESPN that several players and teams could potentially make deals:

• The Houston Texans are listening to offers for their wide receivers, most notably Brandin Cooks and Kenny Stills. Other teams have inquired about Will Fuller.

• The Atlanta Falcons are interested in trading defensive end Takkarist McKinley, a 2017 first-round draft pick.

• Cleveland Browns tight end David Njoku also could be on the move after requesting a trade earlier this season. Njoku later walked back his request, but the Browns have a surplus at tight end with two-time Pro Bowler Austin Hooper and rookie Harrison Bryant.

• The New York Giants are willing to trade older, high-priced veterans such as guard Kevin Zeitler and wide receiver Golden Tate. New York already traded pass-rusher Markus Golden to Arizona last month.

• The winless New York Jets would listen to trade offers on almost anybody on their roster. The Jets parted with two high-profile veterans last month, releasing Le’Veon Bell and trading defensive lineman Steve McLendon to the Tampa Bay Buccaneers.

• The Miami Dolphins have taken a call on star cornerback Xavien Howard, but it would take a “Laremy Tunsil type” of offer to pry him loose. Miami famously traded Tunsil and Stills to Houston last year for a package that included two first-round draft picks and a second-rounder.

• Seattle Seahawks tight end Jacob Hollister is available in trade talks.

• The Philadelphia Eagles were listening to offers on tight end Zach Ertz, but the star tight end is on injured reserve and now barred from being traded, according to new NFL rules. Philadelphia has a similar situation with injured wide receiver DeSean Jackson, but the Eagles would listen to any offers for wide receiver Alshon Jeffery.

• The New England Patriots have given few indications that they would be sellers at the deadline, but a loss Sunday to the AFC East rival Buffalo Bills could change that.

• The Minnesota Vikings are open to trading safety Anthony Harris if someone is willing to take on his salary and expiring contract. Harris, 29, is playing this season on the Vikings’ franchise tag, worth approximately $11.4 million.

• Cincinnati Bengals wide receiver John Ross III could be on the move after publicly stating this past week that he wants to be traded if his playing time doesn’t increase.

NFC NORTH

CHICAGO

Jeff Kerr of CBS Sports.com says Bears WR JAVON WIMS did something “ugly”.  We think punching someone wearing a helmet in the head is more like stupin.

Javon Wims committed one of the uglier incidents seen in a NFL game this season and was ejected as the centerpiece of a third quarter brawl between the Chicago Bears and New Orleans Saints. In a crazy melee, Wims tapped Chauncey Gardner-Johnson after a play and punched him in the helmet. As Gardner-Johnson waited for a penalty to be thrown, Wims punched Gardner-Johnson again before other players got involved in the scrum.

Janoris Jenkins came to Gardner-Johnson’s aid by jumping on Wims and wrestling him to the ground. Gardner-Johnson didn’t appear to throw any punches back as a few Saints teammates rallied to his defense. Wims was ejected immediately and will face a fine and possible suspension for the incident.

On the next play, Nick Foles threw an interception to Marshon Lattimore, which led to a field goal that gave the Saints a third-quarter lead. It was their first lead over the Bears since their first possession of the game.

Coach Matt Nagy made no excuses afterwards:

“I am really, really bothered, by that third-quarter incident,” Bears coach Matt Nagy said, via NFL Network’s Stacey Dales. “It bothers me. I’m proud of the guys that played hard. The guys that were selfless.”

The NFL acts quickly per Michael David Smith of ProFootballTalk.com:

Bears wide receiver Javon Wims has been suspended for the next two games for sucker punching Saints cornerback Chauncey Gardner-Johnson on Sunday.

The NFL announced the suspension, which was issued by V.P. of Football Operations Jon Runyan, less than 24 hours after the Sunday afternoon incident.

The suspension will force Wims to miss the Bears’ games this Sunday at Tennessee, and the following Monday night at home against the Vikings. He will be eligible to return to the Bears on Tuesday, November 17.

Wims has the right to appeal the suspension within the next three days. If he appeals, the appeal will be heard by either Derrick Brooks or James Thrash, the two appeals officers who were jointly appointed by the NFL and the NFL Players Association.

Wims is going with the spit defense per Tom Pelissero of NFL.com:

@TomPelissero

#Bears WR Javon Wims told team officials that #Saints CB C.J. Gardner-Johnson spit on him, in addition to ripping out Wims’ mouthpiece, during Sunday’s game before Wims sucker punched Gardner-Johnson, per sources.

@TomPelissero

Gardner-Johnson is the same player who got punched by his teammate, #Saints star Michael Thomas, in practice last month.

Evan Saacks (@evansaacks) went to the broadcast tape – and he does find clear evidence of Gardner-Johnson ripping at Wims mouthpiece which lay on the Soldier Field turf for a while. So far, nothing but Wims’ word on the spitting.

NFC EAST

NEW YORK GIANTS

The Giants hope to pry Nick Cesario away from the Patriots says Jason LaCanfora ofCBSSports.com:

Should the Giants ownership opt to make a change at general manager by 2021, which many within the game believe is inevitable, Patriots personnel executive Nick Caserio will be near the top of their list of candidates, league sources said.

The team has long had interest in Caserio, who has withdrawn from opportunities to take general manager positions in the past and been prevented from pursuing others. New England is nearing a potential full-scale rebuild, while the Giants continue to lose games and struggle to contend even in the lowly NFC East. There were some within the organization who believed the Mara family should have made a general manager switch a year ago, when Joe Judge was hired to replace fired coach Pat Shurmur, and that pressure is mounting again, sources said, with the Giants plodding through what is shaping up as another lost season.

The Giants have been in a spiral of hirings and firings, with neither Shurmur nor Ben McAdoo lasting beyond two seasons. Caserio and Judge have strong ties from their years together in New England, and the allure of remaining in the Northeast is something that some close to Caserio believe would appeal to him. The Texans tried to hire Caserio in the past, and some involved in their general manager search remain quite high on him, but the Texans are short on draft picks and there are concerns throughout the industry about how that franchise might be restructured.

The Giants have traditionally given their general managers a very long tenure and that franchise has always kept a close eye on the Patriots given their connection to New England coach Bill Belichick, who rose to prominence as a young defensive coach in New York on Bill Parcells’ staff. Belichick has managed to prevent Caserio from leaving in the past but sources said his current contract makes it clear he can depart for any GM opening, and there is a heavy expectation within the sport that a half dozen of those jobs will be open by January.

NFC WEST

SAN FRANCISCO

This is why TE GEORGE KITTLE and QB JIMMY GAROPPOLO hobbled off from Sunday’s game in Seattle per Ian Rapoport and Mike Garofalo of NFL Network:

@RapSheet

Sources: #49ers star TE George Kittle has a small fracture in his foot that was revealed while doing further testing and will miss extended time.

@MikeGarafolo

#49ers QB Jimmy Garoppolo is expected to miss an extended period of time with a high-ankle injury suffered yesterday, sources say. Could land in IR.

This timetable from Adam Schefter:

@AdamSchefter

Jimmy Garoppolo is expected to be sidelined a minimum of six weeks and possibly longer if surgery is needed, per source.

George Kittle is out eight weeks with a broken bone in his foot, which means his season could be over.

Bill Barnwell does a quick look at viability for Garoppolo going forward:

@billbarnwell

Garoppolo has an unguaranteed $24.1 million base salary and a $26.8 million cap hit next year. The 49ers might love Garoppolo, but can they afford to go into 2021 paying that much for a guy who has that sort of injury history as a starter?

@billbarnwell

Garoppolo’s history as a starter:

2016: separated shoulder in second start

2017: five healthy starts after joining SF

2018: Tore ACL in third start

2019: Healthy 16-game season

2020: High ankle sprain in second start, re-aggravated in fourth start after returning

AFC WEST

DENVER

QB DREW LOCK led an epic comeback as the Broncos won for the third time in their last four outings.  Jeff Legwold of ESPN.com:

Broncos quarterback Drew Lock stood in front of the team’s offense at halftime Sunday and said it was time for the group to “man up” and that he had to be first in that line.

And in the 30 football minutes that followed that short speech, Lock erased two of the worst quarters he has played in his football life, the Broncos scored 28 second-half points — 21 of those in the fourth quarter — and Denver snatched a 31-30 victory from the Los Angeles Chargers on the game’s final play.

“I just got up in front of the offense and said, ‘Listen, it’s so easy for us to come in here and yell and scream and get mad about what we’re doing bad, but we just need to man up, and when the plays come our way, we need to make them, myself included. I’m not yelling at y’all, I’m obviously talking to myself right now, screaming to myself right now,”’ Lock said. “And that’s exactly what we did.”

NFL Week 8 takeaways: Steelers’ statement victory, Tua’s first win, Patriots’ fumbled chance

Lock, coming off a 24-of-40 passing, two-interception day in the 27-point loss to the Kansas City Chiefs, had been bombarded with criticism from outside the team’s complex in the days leading up to Sunday’s game. Criticisms about his mechanics, a possible regression and concerns that even in the Broncos’ Oct. 18 win over the New England Patriots he had been just 10-of-24 with two interceptions.

And Sunday, it all looked to be boiling over. Trailing 14-3 and with 60 net yards on offense, the Broncos were booed off the field by most in the 5,700 on hand; Lock was just 9-of-15 passing and still without a touchdown throw since the season opener. That was when the second-year quarterback said a wave of perspective hit him.

“Maybe people had opinions of us in six games, with three different quarterbacks, multiple O-lines, guys on defense getting knocked out,” Lock said. “I think people just like to make opinions and jump to it quick, and I hope we can keep proving them wrong.”

“We’re a bunch of fighters, OK? We play hard, we play physical, we play for each other, we’re going to play as a team … and we had to keep doing that,” Broncos coach Vic Fangio said. “And we made a couple plays, got a couple stops and we got it turned. … The best way you can get confidence is you have good play. You don’t need to be sitting on some psychologist’s couch to get confidence or read a book to get confidence, you’ve got to go out and play good.”

Most involved, including Lock, credited Phillip Lindsay’s touchdown 55-yard touchdown run with just over six minutes left in the third quarter for popping things loose. Overall in the second half, the Broncos had 291 yards on offense, as Lock went 14-of-18 passing for 155 yards with three touchdowns in the fourth quarter alone.

“I’ve been here my whole life, and I know how it is,” Lindsay said of the halftime boos. “This organization is a great organization, it’s not used to having losing seasons, they’re used to winning all the time. That’s what I was used to growing up; that’s what I want to get back to.”

Lock tossed the winning touchdown pass, a 1-yarder to rookie wide receiver KJ Hamler — Hamler’s first career touchdown catch — with no time left on the clock. Hamler said following the game it was the first game-winning catch he had made in that kind of situation at any level of football.

It all came a week after notable defensive players such as defensive end Shelby Harris and linebacker Bradley Chubb had expressed plenty of frustration at the 10th consecutive loss to Kansas City. After that game, Lock had said Harris and Chubb had earned to right to say, “You need to pick your s— up” and said he would welcome them saying it to him if he wasn’t pulling his weight.

“There was yelling after the Chiefs game, much-deserved and needed yelling,” Lock said. “And it was kind of déjà vu coming in the locker room [Sunday at halftime], all the yelling and screaming, the offense isn’t playing well, blah, blah, blah. … But the plays came and there wasn’t one that we turned down. … It was awesome to be the quarterback of this team.”

The Broncos are now 3-4 following the team’s third win in the past four games after an 0-3 start.

LAS VEGAS

First it was the Chargers with QB TYROD TAYLOR.

Now, a pregame medical mishap sent T TRENT BROWN to a Cleveland hospital.  Jason Owens of YahooSports.com:

Las Vegas Raiders right tackle Trent Brown missed Sunday’s win over the Cleveland Browns with what head coach Jon Gruden classified as an illness.

It turns out that a pregame IV resulted in air being injected into Brown’s bloodstream, NFL Network reports. The injection required immediate medical attention and required Brown to be hospitalized, where he will remain overnight for testing.

Pro Football Talk’s Mike Florio reports that Brown’s representation is seeking a full investigation of the incident by the NFL Players Association.

What happens when air enters the bloodstream?

Air injected into the bloodstream and causing an embolism can have serious consequences. According to Healthline, air bubbles that enter the brain, heart or lungs can cause a heart attack, a stroke or respiratory failure. A minor embolism can produce minor symptoms, according to the medical website.

The severity of Brown’s reported embolism is unclear.

Brown was slated to start Sunday after missing last week’s game against the Tampa Bay Buccaneers when he landed on the reserve/COVID-19 list. The initial lack of clarity around Brown’s condition led to speculation that his absence was COVID-19 related. It wasn’t.

“We’re just going to say he got ill here in the locker room,” Gruden told reporters after the game. “I’m told that everything is OK.”

Quarterback Derek Carr said that the team “was scared for Trent,” according to The Athletic’s Vic Tarfur.

“They wheeled him out, and we didn’t know what was happening,” Carr said.

Brown’s reported pregame injection mishap is the second this season in the NFL with serious consequences.

AFC NORTH

BALTIMORE

Perhaps worse than losing to the Steelers, the Ravens lost ace T RONNIE STANLEY for the rest of the season on Sunday.

Ronnie Stanley, the Baltimore Ravens’ starting left tackle, was carted off the field during the first quarter of Sunday’s game against the Steelers. Stanley, who on Friday signed a five-year, $99 million extension, had his left leg placed in an air cast before he was carted off the field. It turns out, according to coach John Harbaugh, Stanley will not return for the remainder of 2020, as a result of a broken ankle that’ll send the veteran to injured reserve.

A five-year vet, Stanley sustained the injury after getting inadvertently hit in the back of his leg by Pittsburgh linebacker T.J. Watt with under a minute remaining in the first quarter. Stanley was blocking Steelers defensive tackle Cameron Heyward when he sustained the injury. Stanley was replaced by D.J. Fluker, an eight-year veteran who signed with the Ravens this offseason. Along with Stanley, Ravens starting right guard Tyre Phillips was forced to leave Sunday’s game after suffering an ankle injury during the first quarter.

CINCINNATI

The one-win Bengals lost 80% of their starting line before playing the mighty Titans.  And now they are the two-win Bengals.  Mike Florio of ProFootballTalk.com:

From last week to this week, the Bengals had 80-percent turnover on their offensive line. Other than right guard Alex Redmond, the rest of the starters were new, due to injury.

They held together very well, allowing zero sacks and drawing praise from quarterback Joe Burrow.

“They played great,” Burrow told PFT by phone after the upset win over Tennessee. “They really did. I can’t say enough good things about those guys.”

For the last Bengals win, Burrow got the game ball (and he put it back in the bag). This week, the game ball went to center Billy Price, a 2018 first-rounder who had fallen out of the starting lineup in 2020. He stepped in and stepped up for Cincinnati on Sunday.

“It was much deserved,” Burrow said of Price. “They did really, really well. . . . I was proud of that whole group.”

Burrow said that Price was instrumental in helping new players know where they needed to be and what they needed to be doing. Burrow said he personally directed most of the protections, but that he constantly conveyed confidence to the lineman in order to let them know “I believe in them,” and “[l]et them know that they’re professionals and they’re gonna do their jobs well.”

Indeed they did, allowing the Bengals to enter their bye week with a huge win. And maybe to come out of the bye week with more wins.

“I think the games we have coming up are all very, very winnable,” Burrow said. “We have a stretch here that we can rattle off four or five wins in a row that I think would be big for this organization and big for this team. I don’t think we’re out of it yet and if we continue to play the way we did today I think we have a good chance.”

There definitely are some winnable games on the horizon, but the next game up features the only unbeaten team in the NFL, in PIttsburgh.

Still, it’s great to hear the confidence from Burrow. Whatever happens this year, the future is bright for Burrow and the Bengals.

CLEVELAND

Michael Baca of NFL.com on WR ODELL BECKHAM Jr.’s future, or lack thereof, with the Browns.

One week removed from an ACL tear that ended his season, Odell Beckham‘s next destination is already a topic of discussion.

There’s a “very real possibility” Beckham has played his final game with the Cleveland Browns, NFL Network Insider Ian Rapoport said on NFL Game Day Morning on Sunday.

Based on the wide receiver’s contract, the Browns cannot cut Beckham if they did want to move on, according to Rapoport. Beckham is set to earn $15.75 million in total compensation next year. Of that, $12.791 million is guaranteed for injury and converts to a full guarantee if he’s on the roster the third day of the league year. Beckham isn’t expected to be healthy by then, which leaves the option to trade the three-time Pro Bowler.

If the Browns did want to trade Beckham, it would probably be around the spring or the summer of 2021, Rapoport says.

Beckham’s two-year stay in Cleveland has seen its ups and downs. Rapoport points out that Beckham never really embraced Cleveland and that a good rapport with quarterback Baker Mayfield never materialized. As we saw last week once Beckham exited the game in the first quarter, Rapoport says, Mayfield and the Browns offense may be playing better in his absence.

Ahead of the 2019 season, the Browns acquired Beckham via trade with the New York Giants in exchange for a first-round pick (No. 17 overall), a third-round pick (No. 95) and safety Jabrill Peppers. Beckham’s first year in Cleveland was a disappointment as the receiver posted career-low numbers for a season where he appeared in all 16 games. The Browns also finished 6-10 and fired first-year head coach Freddie Kitchens as a result.

Through seven games this year, Beckham seemed to turn things around as the Browns started 5-2 under first-year coach Kevin Stefanski. Beckham caught 23 balls for 319 yards and three touchdowns this season while also posting 72 yards rushing off just three carries, one of which was for another score.

First and foremost, a full recovery will be of the utmost importance for the soon-to-be 28-year-old. But the speculation where he goes from here will be yet another cliff-hanging chapter in the NFL career of OBJ.

PITTSBURGH

The Steelers have picked up LB AVERY WILLIAMSON from the Jets.

Avery Williamson believes in miracles.

The Jets linebacker has been traded from the league’s last team without a win to its last team without a loss.

Per multiple reports, Williamson has been traded to the 7-0 Steelers.

A fifth-round pick of the Titans in 2014, Williamson spent four seasons in Tennessee and the last two with the Jets. He started the last six games for the Jets.

Pittsburgh reportedly is shipping a 2022 fifth-round pick to the Jets for Williamson and a seventh-rounder in 2022.

Williamson has a base salary of $2.75 million with up to $750,000 in per-game roster bonuses, per a source with knowledge of the deal. The current terms result from a renegotiation that wiped out the last year of his contract; he’ll be a free agent in 2021.

AFC SOUTH

JACKSONVILLE

QB GARDNER MINSHEW won’t play Sunday and a rookie from the Pacific Northwest even more unknown than Minshew was a year ago goes up against the Texans in a game with first overall pick implications.  Michael David Smith of ProFootballTalk.com:

Jaguars quarterback Gardner Minshew will miss Sunday’s game against the Texans.

Jacksonville head coach Doug Marrone said today that Minshew’s thumb injury is going to force him to sit for at least one game.

In a bit of a surprise, Marrone said it will be rookie quarterback Jake Luton, not veteran backup Mike Glennon, who works with the first-string offense this week.

Luton, who threw 28 touchdown passes and only three interceptions at Oregon State last season, was a sixth-round pick of the Jaguars. Marrone said he thinks it’s time to see what the kid can do.

AFC EAST

MIAMI

Shalisa Manza Young of YahooSports.com loves what Miami coach Brian Flores is getting done.

After the New England Patriots shut down the Los Angeles Rams in Super Bowl LIII, holding one of the best offenses in the NFL that season to just three points, nearly every headline praised the way Bill Belichick shut down the wünderkind, Rams coach and anointed offensive guru, Sean McVay.

Of course, the stories had merit. Belichick rose to prominence as defensive coordinator of the 1980s New York Giants, winning his first Super Bowl ring when McVay was still in diapers.

But it wasn’t just Belichick who frustrated the Rams that night. While it was ultimately the Patriots’ defensive players who made the difference on the field, they got their play calls from Brian Flores, the coordinator-without-the-official-title who had designed the game plan with Belichick.

Flores isn’t one to say so, but he deserved a lot more credit for New England’s win than he received at the time. He deserves more credit than he receives now, too.

After Sunday, when Flores’ Miami Dolphins beat the Rams 28-17 behind a first half that saw Miami defenders force four takeaways, maybe he’ll start to get it.

The Dolphins won their third straight game and are now 4-3 and in second place in the AFC East, and perhaps most impressively their plus-58 point differential is one of the best in the conference.

When you consider that the 2019 Dolphins were dead last in points allowed at 30.9 per game, the swift turnaround — after Sunday they’re allowing just 18.6 PPG — is impressive.

The 2020 Rams aren’t quite the same offense as the 2018 Rams, but they arrived at Hard Rock Stadium with a 5-2 record, scoring just over 25 points per game, converting 44.6% of their third-down chances, and getting into the end zone on nearly two-thirds of their trips to the red zone.

The final statistics from Sunday don’t tell the full story, not with Los Angeles outgaining Miami by more than 300 yards and holding a nearly 13-minute advantage in time of possession.

But in the first half on Sunday, Flores’ dominance of McVay continued.

The Rams got on the board first with a three-play, 15-yard touchdown drive after an Aaron Donald strip-sack of rookie Tua Tagovailoa.

The rest of the first half from there? Punt. Interception. Punt. Fumble. Punt. Interception. Fumble. Field goal.

For the game, the Dolphins had six batted passes.

“Our execution has to be better. I have to coach better and I have to put our players in better positions and that’s the bottom line,” a frustrated McVay said after the loss.

With just under five minutes left in the second quarter, the Rams were moving, having picked up three first downs. But on second-and-9, linebacker Jerome Baker ran straight through the line on the snap and was in Jared Goff’s face before the quarterback knew it.

Baker hit Goff on the arm, knocking him over, and the ball intended for Gerald Everett floated inside of where the tight end was, where Eric Rowe picked it off.

Rowe said the Dolphins heard all week about the Rams defense, but knew they were strong too.

“We were like, they need to worry about our defense. That was our focus of mind,” Rowe said. “People keep sleeping on our defense, and that’s fine, but we’re going to show up every week.”

Over the last decade or so, the Patriots assistant coach to get the most media attention is offensive coordinator Josh McDaniels. But those behind the scenes had long recognized that Flores had the makeup to be a head coach, even as he made the slow, familiar climb through the organization that so many Belichick assistants make, starting in the scouting department before moving to the coaching staff.

It’s early still, but Flores looks like he’ll be the best of the head coaches who rose to prominence under Belichick. McDaniels’ one stint as a head coach, with Denver, ended before two full seasons; Eric Mangini got two bites at the head coaching apple for a total of five seasons; Matt Patricia’s tenure in Detroit currently stands at 12-26.

Unlike so many others, Flores isn’t trying to be a facsimile of Belichick, or at least the Belichick we see in the public eye. He’s a tremendous leader, and his players believe in him. Even after a historically bad start last season, when they were outscored 102-10 in their first two games and fell to 0-7, Miami finished the season winning five of its last nine.

One place Flores is like Belichick: right now he’s winning with defense. At the midpoint of the season, Miami is second in the league in third-down defense (and points allowed (18.6 per game).

After Sunday, Flores, Rowe and Co. likely won’t be overlooked again.

NEW ENGLAND

Bill Belichick acknowledges reality:

@ZackCoxNESN

Bill Belichick on @OMFonWEEI: “I mean, look, we paid Cam Newton $1 million. It’s obvious that we didn’t have any money. It’s nobody’s fault. That’s what we did the last five years. We sold out. We won three Super Bowls, played in a fourth and played in an AFC Championship Game.”

Thoughts from Mike Sando of The Athletic:

Let’s sample what went through some insiders’ minds after reading what Belichick had to say.

“I have always wondered if they just decided to tank this year,” an exec said, “especially once they had the opt-outs.”

OK, but why sign Cam Newton, then?

“You pay nothing, you get a compensatory pick and Cam was fool’s gold anyway,” this exec said. “People were like, ‘Oh my God, all these other teams did not sign Cam.’ OK, Cam was not signing with the Broncos to be their backup. My hunch is, Belichick would much rather tear it down and rebuild it quickly than try to hang on for a few years at 9-7.”

Another theory: New England didn’t think Brady would actually leave.

“Bill is saving up for next year and blowing smoke and hoping people believe him, crying poor, whatever,” a veteran coach said. “There is nothing to it. He knows it. They got stuck when Brady called their bluff and left. They didn’t improve the team and Brady said he’s out, going to go get some sunshine, bring his boy Gronk out (to Tampa Bay), have some drinks with the head coach and have some fun and call it a career.”

As for the salary cap, the table below compares the Patriots players with the 10 largest cap hits to their counterparts for the Kansas City Chiefs and Pittsburgh Steelers. Blue shading identifies players who have been named to a Pro Bowl or have been named first-team Associated Press All-Pro. Linebacker Dont’a Hightower, tackle Marcus Cannon and safety Patrick Chung would have ranked in the top 10 for New England if they had not opted out of the season through the NFL’s COVID-19 protocols. All three are key contributors, but not dynamic game-changers. None would add blue shading to the table. All would help the Patriots perform better than they did during a 24-21 loss to the Buffalo Bills on Sunday.

“Who do they have on their team right now who would start as a weapon for any other team in the NFL?” an exec said. “(Julian) Edelman maybe as a slot receiver? That’s it.”

– – –

Judy Battista of NFL.com on the decline of the Patriots:

Late last week, Bill Belichick gave an unusual interview to his former assistant coach, Charlie Weis, on SiriusXM NFL Radio. It was unusual in its candor and unusual in that it sounded as if Belichick was offering up a series of excuses — tight salary cap, opt outs, COVID-19 disruption — for a New England Patriots season that has devolved to the point where the division torch is not being passed by the Patriots so much as it is being dropped and kicked into the gutter like a discarded soda can.

Whatever the reason — the lack of quality skill-position targets that so frustrated Tom Brady last season is high on the list and the absence of Brady himself is paramount — the AFC East is finally emerging from its two-decades-long Patriots-induced slumber. The Patriots have won the division 11 straight years, but the Bills and Dolphins are now in position to make the Patriots afterthoughts. To be clear, no team in the division looks as dominant as the best of the Brady-led behemoths did, but then again, this version of the Patriots bears very little resemblance to those teams, too. After losing to the Buffalo Bills on Sunday in a game that featured the stop-and-start offense that has plagued them for the last month, the Patriots have dropped four games in a row for the first time since 2002, which just happens to be the last time they failed to make the playoffs with a healthy Brady. That leaves them at 2-5, four games behind the Bills in the win column and two games behind the Miami Dolphins. The last time the Bills won the division was 1995; the Dolphins won it in 2008, when Brady suffered a season-ending knee injury in Week 1.

“Frustration level is definitely high,” said Patriots running back Damien Harris, who rushed for 102 yards in the loss to Buffalo. “Moral victories mean nothing in this organization.”

That’s too bad, because the Patriots could use a pick-me-up and the offense did show some life in the second half. But maybe that’s the bad news, too: The Patriots looked better on Sunday than they did in losses to the Broncos (Week 6) and 49ers (Week 7), but they still lost. That’s the kind of pain the Patriots used to inflict on opponents. Now it is the Patriots grasping for something to build on from the ashes of another game.

That the single best unit in the division this weekend might have been the Dolphins’ defense — which made Tua Tagovailoa’s debut a success by forcing two fumbles and two interceptions of his Rams counterpart, Jared Goff — only amplifies the Patriots’ issues. The Bills and Dolphins have improved — in the Dolphins’ case, while still in the middle of a rebuild — while the Patriots are substantially worse, suffering from the accumulated losses of players who opted out of the season, like Dont’a Hightower, and, of course, the departure of the quarterback who papered over a whole lot of roster holes. There is distance now between the Bills and Dolphins and the Patriots. Just as daunting for the Patriots, there is space between them and other conference contenders for three wild-card spots. There are 10 teams in the AFC with more wins than the Patriots, and two others also have two wins. Seven AFC teams will make the playoffs.

It is tempting, with the season near the halfway point, to assume the Patriots are dead and buried. That is folly. No coach is better at shape-shifting his team to suit its strengths than Belichick, and we have seen the Patriots build in a second-half crescendo for years. But it is obvious that Belichick has little confidence in his offense right now — the Patriots opted to kick a field goal on third-and-1 from the Bills’ 15-yard line with 12 seconds remaining at the end of the first half, rather than take a shot at the end zone first. Belichick said after the game that he didn’t take the chance because it was a “low percentage play.”

Maybe it is for this version of the Patriots. Perhaps someday we’ll figure out what happened after Cam Newton tested positive for COVID-19 and the team’s schedule was scrambled to cause such an obvious regression from the first few weeks of the season. But the Patriots have come out on the other side with no apparent expectation that Newton can accurately deliver a 15-yard pass and, even more obviously, no succession plan after Brady’s departure. Belichick reiterated after Sunday’s game that Newton is the starter, which is an indictment of backup Jarrett Stidham, who was thought to be the potential heir apparent. Luckily for the Patriots, they play the winless Jets next week (and in Week 17). Other than their matchups with the Jets, the only other remaining game the Patriots are likely to be fully expected to win is against the Texans (currently 1-6) in Week 11. Worse, in coming games against the Ravens, Cardinals, Chargers and Dolphins, the Patriots will see up close what they are missing — a team and roster on an upward trajectory.

The opportunity the rest of the division has waited for has finally arrived. The Bills got their second victory in a row, and their running game showed signs of life in doing it, although they are just the third team in NFL history to start a season 6-2 despite having a negative point differential. The Dolphins have won three in a row to leapfrog the Patriots, but Tagovailoa’s shaky start (he lost a fumble, and completed just 12 passes for 93 yards) is likely to renew questions about whether the Dolphins benched Ryan Fitzpatrick too soon.

“Thank God we’ve got a good defense,” Tagovailoa said after Sunday’s win.

The Bills cleared a mental hurdle with their defeat of the Patriots — it was the first time Sean McDermott had beaten the Patriots as a head coach, Josh Allen’s first victory versus New England as the quarterback and only the fourth Buffalo win over the Patriots since 2010 — and the relief was apparent in the smile on McDermott’s face after the game.

“It gets me emotional,” McDermott said, describing what beating the Patriots means to Bills fans, who have not been able to attend home games this season.

This is not really the moment for sentiment, especially for the Bills, who started 6-2 in 2019, too, before going 4-4 in the second half and losing in the Wild Card Round.

The Bills and Dolphins can see clearly what they have to do in the second half of this season. The AFC East window is finally wide open. And the Patriots are in the process of chucking that smoldering torch out of it.

More from Ian O’Connor of ESPN.com:

Bill Belichick brought a smart plan to Buffalo, even with two undrafted receivers as his top outside playmakers, and even with a third-quarter onside-kick call in his hip pocket that should have stayed there. The New England Patriots were driving toward a potential winning touchdown, toward Belichick’s 36th victory in 41 games against the Bills as Patriots coach, before Cam Newton did something Tom Brady rarely did in the closing seconds of a game.

He found a way to lose it.

Did Brady jump out of his chair, or at least muffle a cheer, when Newton’s fumble was recovered by Buffalo with 31 seconds left in a defeat that left the Patriots with their first 2-5 record since Brady was a fourth-string rookie in 2000? Maybe, maybe not. But asked the other day if he believes Brady finds satisfaction in the divergent paths of his Tampa Bay Buccaneers and Belichick’s Patriots, Brady’s friend and former Michigan teammate Aaron Shea, who played six seasons with the Cleveland Browns, responded, “Tom would never say that, but we all know who Tom Brady is. He’s the ultimate competitor. … I definitely think Tom has personal motivation when it comes to [Belichick], and I would too. If you got divorced, would you want your wife or husband to go with someone better?”

There is no rivalry in the NFL, or in American sports, quite like the rivalry between Brady and Belichick. Published league standings should include the eight divisions of the AFC and the NFC, and a ninth, unaffiliated division featuring two teams. Brady. Belichick. Entering Tampa Bay’s Monday night game with the New York Giants, the quarterback has a commanding three-game lead over the head coach, who now owns his first four-game losing streak since 2002.

“It’s the third time we’ve been in this situation this year, and unfortunately haven’t been able to make enough plays to win,” Belichick said after the Bills ended their seven-game New England losing streak. Later, he added, “I think we did a lot of things well enough to win, but not quite well enough to win, because we didn’t win.”