THE DAILY BRIEFING
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If the Season Ended Today in the NFC, you can go 10-deep and still not see the Packers or Rams:
Philadelphia East 10-1 1 6-1
Minnesota North 9-2 1 6-2
San Francisco West 7-4 1 6-2
Tampa Bay South 5-6 1 5-2
Dallas WC1 8-3 2 7-3
NY Giants WC2 7-4 3 3-4
Washington WC3 7-5 4 4-4
Seattle 6-5 2 4-4 Atlanta 5-7 2 4-5
Detroit 4-7 2 4-4
The Seahawks are stuck at 6 wins (2 losses and a bye in the last three weeks) and have been overtaken by the 49ers who move into the 3rd seed with the shutout of New Orleans.
The Commanders are in, the Giants are also fading and the teams meet twice in the next three weeks. The big difference? Washington goes on bye between the two games, while New York hosts the mighty Eagles.
The 7-4 Giants have only one easy game – hosting the Colts on January 1 and it is not that easy. The rest are two with the Commanders, two with the Eagles and a trip to Minnesota on Christmas Eve.
The Seahawks will be underdogs at Kansas City and they host the 49ers. Even if they can’t win those two, they have two with the reeling Rams to get to 8 wins, then home games with the Panthers and Jets could decide their fate.
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King also has a Flex Alert for Week 14:
The NFL’s Denver problem. With the Broncos locked into one high-profile stinker in a standalone Christmas-afternoon game at the equally moribund Rams, the league has till tomorrow to flex out of the Week-14 Sunday nighter, KC at Denver.
The cleanest option is to take Miami at Chargers from CBS, and give them KC at Denver for their 4:05 window. We’ll see.
Anything else would seem to involve moving multiple games around.
King:
The NFL will think seriously about flexing out of a Sunday night Patrick Mahomes game on Dec. 11. Weird to think about, because Mahomes and Kansas City are ratings gold. But Mahomes flogging the incompetent Broncos—just when you think Denver can’t play worse on offense, this shockingly bad team always does—would not be ratings gold. Denver has done nothing to show it can play competitively with Kansas City. Having Mahomes on in prime time is great, but not if the game’s a slaughter in the middle of the second quarter. Three other candidates for the league to consider: Dolphins-Chargers, Eagles-Giants, Bucs-Niners. Tampa Bay-San Francisco has been protected by FOX, which would have to lift that (and maybe it would if it could get a Mahomes game cross-flexed in exchange). Taking the Philly game away would leave FOX very light in the early Sunday window, with only two games there. The Giants will be on a major slide if they lose to Washington this week anyway. I’d flex into the Tua-Herbert show. Miami’s been underexposed, and America should get to know an exciting team it could be seeing a lot of come the postseason. Roger Goodell will make the call by late tonight, to be announced Tuesday, if there’s a flex.
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NFC NORTH
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CHICAGO
The loss of a game and the loss of a player for the Bears. Alyssa Barbieri of USA TODAY:
It was a brutal day for the Chicago Bears. Not only did they get blown out 31-10 by the New York Jets, but there were a number of significant injuries to key starters.
That includes wide receiver Darnell Mooney, who suffered what’s believed to be a season-ending ankle injury, according to NFL Network’s Tom Pelissero. Mooney will undergo further testing on Monday.
In 2022, Mooney caught 40 passes for 493 yards and two touchdowns in 12 games with Chicago.
With Mooney expected to land on season-ending injured reserve, the Bears are down their most consistent receiver. Now, Chicago is left with Chase Claypool, Equanimeous St. Brown, Byron Pringle, Dante Pettis, N’Keal Harry and rookie Velus Jones Jr. at receiver.
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GREEN BAY
QB AARON RODGERS might not be playing on January 8 when the Packers play what could be his final game as a member of the team. Joseph Salvador of ESPN.com:
Packers quarterback Aaron Rodgers left Sunday night’s game against the Eagles early with what he called a rib injury, and he’s reportedly been nursing an avulsion fracture in his right thumb since Week 5. After the game, Rodgers discussed whether he would sit out games at some point, considering the Packers’ 4–8 record and slim playoff hopes.
“As long as we’re mathematically alive, I’d like to be out there,” Rodgers said.
When asked if there’s a possibility that he’d sit out games due the accumulation of injuries, he said, “I don’t think so.” Rodgers also clarified that he suffered the rib injury in the first half and aggravated it in the third quarter, leading to him leaving the game for good.
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The four-time MVP also said he was dealing with major pain and it was difficult to breathe. He added he was initially concerned he might have sustained a punctured lung, but he said that was not the case. He is set to have additional tests Monday.
Green Bay is currently third in the NFC North has lost seven of its past eight games. It’s unclear whether Rodgers will be able to play Sunday at 1 p.m. ET against the Bears.
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MINNESOTA
Peter King with some numbers on the greatness of WR JUSTIN JEFFERSON:
Justin Jefferson eclipsed Randy Moss for the most receiving yards in a player’s first three years in NFL history Thursday night. Moss had 4,163 yards in 48 games in his first three years, 86.7 yards per game. Jefferson has 4,248 yards in 44 games, 96.5 yards per game. And Jefferson has six games left this season to burnish those numbers, obviously.
The prospect of Jefferson, if he plays without injury the rest of the season, getting close to 5,000 receiving yards in his first three years would show, again, how much this game has changed in the last 40 years. Lynn Swann’s career ended in 1982. In nine seasons, Swann had 5,462 yards receiving, and he made the Pro Football Hall of Fame (obviously in no small part because of his great postseason performances with the Steelers). Jefferson is well on his way to eclipsing Swann’s career numbers in the middle of next year—at the ripe old age of 24.
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NFC EAST
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WASHINGTON
A locker room quote from RB BRIAN ROBINSON, captured by Peter King:
“I been wanting to say this in front of the team since everything happened back in August. Everyone in this room has shown me unconditional love and support, just to help me get to this point for real. I couldn’t be more thankful for all the people in this room.” – –Washington running back Brian Robinson, after rushing for 105 yards—his first career 100-yard rushing game—and scoring on a 14-yard TD catch Sunday. These were his words in the locker room after coach Ron Rivera presented him with a game ball for his play in Washington’s 19-13 win, just three months after he was shot twice in a Washington carjacking. Touching moment.
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NFC SOUTH
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ATLANTA
Arthur Smith may be doing more with less than any NFL coach. At least, that seems to be the opinion of Washington commander Ron Rivera. Daniel Flick of ESPN.com:
The Atlanta Falcons and Washington Commanders fought through the wet conditions at FedEx Field for 59 minutes, setting up a goal-to-go showdown between a pair of teams who pride themselves on their play at the line of scrimmage.
In the end, the Commanders walked away with a 19-13 victory after Falcons quarterback Marcus Mariota’s pass was tipped and intercepted in the endzone by Washington corner Kendall Fuller – and many have placed the blame on Falcons coach Arthur Smith’s shoulders.
After six consecutive runs, the Falcons ran a variation of an option that had “several different options,” per Smith, before following it up with the Mariota pass on 2nd and Goal from the four-yard line, all but bringing the team’s hopes of victory to a close. Both calls were questionable when considering Atlanta had just picked up back-to-back first downs on straightforward downhill runs, where the only variation was inside versus outside zone.
As such, Smith has come under scrutiny – but not from Commanders coach Ron Rivera, who voiced support for the second-year coach entirely impromptu.
“That’s a very good football team, it really is,” Rivera said. “What Arthur Smith is doing is tremendous – he’s bringing along a good group of football players, and as they continue to get their opportunities, they are going to be a better team, they really are, they’ve done some good things.”
As for the last offensive play, Mariota added that he “thought it was a great play call,” noting that running back and intended target Cordarrelle Patterson was open, but Commanders defensive tackle Da’Ron Payne simply made a good play to knock the ball down.
It was the moment in what was a critical game for both sides, as the Falcons entered with a record of 5-6 and the Commanders at 6-5, both just on the outside looking in for the NFC playoff race.
And is it played out, Atlanta came up short, and Washington, which has now won six of its last seven games, continued its hot streak … but the two teams proved to be quite similar throughout, with Rivera mentioning the shared identity both have when discussing how close the game was.
“Well, it’s kind of emblematic of the two teams,” said Rivera. “I mean, if you look at them, we’re both in the same category in my opinion. The character being they’re going to be a downhill physical team on both sides of the ball.”
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CAROLINA
QB SAM DARNOLD was functional in Sunday’s win for a Panthers team that is still in the hunt in the NFC South. Josh Alper of ProFootballTalk.com:
Sam Darnold‘s first appearance of the 2022 season went well enough for him to book a second.
The Panthers beat the Broncos 23-10 and Darnold went 11-of-19 for 164 yards and a touchdown through the air in the win. He was also credited for a touchdown when he fell on his own fumble and rolled into the end zone in the third quarter of the game.
Head coach Steve Wilks said in his postgame press conference that Darnold will start against Geno Smith and the Seahawks when the Panthers return from their bye for a Week 14 matchup of former Jets quarterbacks.
“We talk about that all the time, just really trying to manage the game,” Wilks said, via Augusta Stone of the team’s website. “When I say manage the game, I’m talking about being smart, not forcing it in there, always ready to take your check down. Particularly when we get in field goal range, not taking a sack, throwing the ball away, just being aware of the situations. I thought he did a good job of that today.”
If Darnold can continue to do a good job the rest of the way, he’ll head into free agency with something to show for what was looking like a lost season before Sunday’s performance.
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TAMPA BAY
The 5-6 Buccaneers may not be able to close the deal in the NFC South after a key injury. ESPN.com:
Tampa Bay Buccaneers right tackle Tristan Wirfs is expected to miss multiple weeks with an ankle/foot injury, a source told ESPN’s Jeremy Fowler.
Wirfs has some ligament damage but should be able to avoid surgery unless a second opinion reveals more, the source said. The hope, according to the source, is that Wirfs will be out only three to four weeks.
The injury happened in overtime of Sunday’s 23-17 loss to the Cleveland Browns. On a second-and-9 play, Wirfs was pass-blocking defensive end Jadeveon Clowney, with outside linebacker Jeremiah Owusu-Koramoah attempting to hurdle running back Ke’Shawn Vaughn, who inadvertently pushed Owusu-Koramoah into the back of Wirfs’ legs.
The loss of Wirfs, just the ninth offensive lineman since 1990 to be named a first-team All-Pro in his first two seasons, is the latest blow to the Bucs’ offensive line.
Tampa Bay has already lost Pro Bowl center Ryan Jensen in training camp, Pro Bowl left guard Ali Marpet to retirement and right guard Alex Cappa — a Pro Bowl alternate last season — to free agency. Aaron Stinnie, who was challenging for the starting left guard job, was also lost for the season during camp after tearing his left ACL and MCL.
“It’s awful,” quarterback Tom Brady said Sunday. “It’s awful for us, it’s awful for him. He’s a great player for us. The other guys in are going to have to do a good job, but it’s hard to replace him.”
It doesn’t seem to be season-ending, per Ian Rapoport:
@RapSheet
Source: #Bucs OT Tristan Wirfs is expected to miss 3-4 weeks because of his ankle injury. The knee is fine. Considering how it looked, a pretty good outcome for the standout O-lineman.
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NFC WEST
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SAN FRANCISCO
A shutout for the 49ers and that makes DC DeMeco Ryans into Peter King’s Coach of the Week:
DeMeco Ryans, defensive coordinator, San Francisco. After the Niners gave up 30 second-half points to Kansas City Oct. 23, this supposed top-five D didn’t look like a top-20 D. But Ryans stuck with his plan (“We had to eliminate big plays, and we worked hard to do things to make sure that game didn’t happen again,” linebacker Fred Warner said Sunday) and good things resulted. The Niners haven’t given up a point in the second half in any of the four games since the KC debacle, and Ryan’s crew pitched a rare NFL shutout over the Saints in Santa Clara on Sunday.
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The shutout win was marred by irritated knees in the running back corps. Nick Wagoner of ESPN.com:
Only two weeks after returning from a sprained medial collateral ligament in his right knee, San Francisco 49ers running back Elijah Mitchell suffered a similar injury to his left knee.
Mitchell departed Sunday’s 13-0 win over the New Orleans Saints in the third quarter with what the Niners believe is a sprained MCL in his left knee. He’s scheduled for further testing on Monday. Mitchell was originally designated as questionable to return, but the Niners ruled him out near the end of the quarter.
The first (right) knee sprain happened in a Week 1 loss to the Chicago Bears and kept Mitchell out until a Week 10 win against the Los Angeles Chargers. Unlike last time, however, the Niners and Mitchell are optimistic that though he could miss some time, this won’t last as long.
Starter Christian McCaffrey and third-string running back Jordan Mason filled in for Mitchell the rest of the way, though McCaffrey was dealing with what coach Kyle Shanahan called “knee irritation.”
“We’ll see how Elijah goes,” coach Kyle Shanahan said. “Most likely Elijah will be out a little bit and that will give opportunities for those [other] guys.”
Mitchell suffered the injury on a first-down carry for no gain with 13 minutes, 53 seconds left in the third quarter. He said after the game that he got twisted up on the play but didn’t believe the injury was as serious as the one he suffered in Chicago.
At the time of his departure, Mitchell had seven carries for 35 yards and two catches for 8 yards. McCaffrey finished with 11 carries for 32 yards and four catches for 17 yards. Mason helped close the victory out late with five attempts for 25 yards.
Shanahan said McCaffrey’s knee irritation happened during the game, adding afterward, “Hopefully, Christian will be all right, too.”
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LOS ANGELES RAMS
The Rams injury list from Sunday includes the head coach. Myles Simmons ofProFootballTalk.com:
The Rams have had plenty of problems this season, with the defending champions’ record now at 3-8.
But even head coach Sean McVay could not avoid the injury bug that has hit Los Angeles hard in 2022.
Early on in Sunday’s loss to the Chiefs, tight end Roger Carter was running from the sideline to the field for a punt when he ran into McVay’s head. McVay’s headset flew off as Carter hit his head coach’s jaw.
“I’m thinking, ‘Have a little awareness running by me.’ I mean, oh my gosh,” McVay said postgame, via Gary Klein of the Los Angeles Times. “It’s really not that big a deal. I think it probably looked worse when you end up replaying it. … I don’t think I broke my jaw, so I’ll be fine.”
McVay said the Rams have enough guys who needed to be attended to that he didn’t need to be examined.
“As long as it’s not [hurting] my ability to think and to be able to talk, we’ll be fine,” he said.
Having lost five in a row, the Rams will host the Seahawks in Week 13.
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AFC WEST
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DENVER
Peter King seems to have received some guidance:
I think I will not be surprised if Nathaniel Hackett makes it to the end of this season as Denver coach. But I will be extremely surprised if he isn’t one-and-done.
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This from the Broncos sideline Sunday. Jeff Kerr of CBSSports.com:
Wilson has been terrible and the Broncos offense has been a disaster as a result. Denver is last in the NFL in points per game, not scoring over 23 points in any game this year and only over 20 points twice. In Sunday’s loss to Carolina, the Broncos scored just 10 points — leading to even more frustration on a team that boasts one of the best defensive units in the league.
Broncos’ defensive tackle Mike Purcell had enough — and let Wilson know about it in a very public moment.
“Frustration,” Purcell said, via ESPN. “We all want to spark on something. We are all in this together, period. That’s the quarterback of our offense, they’re about to take the field.
“Obviously, [the defense wasn’t] doing our job, but got to get a spark somewhere. They’re about to take the field, that’s all it was.”
Didn’t help Purcell was called for an unnecessary roughness penalty on an Eddy Pineiro field goal attempt to extend the Panthers’ lead to 20-3 with 13:33 left. The defense knows they can’t give up 20 points if Denver wishes to have a chance to win. Purcell just reached a boiling point for a team that lost seven of its last eight games.
Wilson brushed off the incident too. He has just eight touchdown passes in 2022 while being one of the highest-paid quarterbacks in the game. He understands where Purcell — who plays for a defense that allows just 17.6 points per game — is coming from.
“He came off after they kicked a field goal, he was pissed off” Wilson said. “He just said, ‘We’ve got, we’ve got to F’in’ go,’ and I agree. We’re on the same page — there’s no animosity there at all.”
Prior to Sunday’s 23-10 loss at Carolina, all 10 Denver’s games had been decided by 9 or fewer points. Now, that is 13 or fewer points.
The Broncos have only reached 20 points twice in 11 games. Their high is 23.
This from Mike Sando:
Wilson made his 10th start of the season Sunday. For the eighth time in those 10 starts, his Broncos failed to reach 17 points. Since 2000, only Akili Smith has made more starts in the first 12 weeks of a season without his team scoring at least 17 in any of them.
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LAS VEGAS
A member of The 12 backfired on the Seahawks Sunday, firing up Raiders RB JOSH JACOBS. Peter King:
This Josh Jacobs is a fabulous player. We’ve got 15 more pennant-racy things to talk about today than the 4-7 Raiders—but what happened in Decibelville Sunday, that 40-34 overtime win for the Raiders in Seattle, was extraordinary.
“It all started before the game,” Jacobs, the hero of Week 12 in the NFL, told me from the Raiders’ giddy locker room in Seattle. “This fan, when we came out of the tunnel, held up a sign: ‘3-7. NOT BAD FOR A TEAM WITH NO TALENT.’ And he was screaming at us, all this bad stuff. I just looked up at him and said, ‘Thank you for that. I needed that today. You turnt me up.’”
Jacobs needed it because he entered the game with a sore calf, and the Raiders didn’t know how long he’d last. Oh, he lasted. Never in his college or pro career had he touched the ball 39 times in a game. Never had he gained 303 scrimmage yards in a game. Never had he rushed for a touchdown as long as 86 yards. He did all of those things Sunday, the final winning one on his last touch of the day in overtime.
But there were losses for Jacobs too. This was a gnarly, feisty game. You think when a guy rushes for 229 yards and walks off in triumph that it was a game of joy with few trials. Not so. Seattle’s got a puncher’s defense, a physical Joe Frazier-type of D that makes you earn every inch. Jacobs was waaaay down when he failed to convert a fourth-and-one run with nine minutes left, leaving Seattle a short field; that touchdown gave the Seahawks a 34-27 lead. But the Raiders came back to force OT. And on the first play of the Raiders’ second overtime drive, the call was a Jacobs burst over right guard.
“We were running outside zone a lot, and I saw the linebackers pointing outside. So we ended up running inside zone, and I knew if I got through the line, it was a foot race after that,” Jacobs told me.
I asked Jacobs if he thought he was the best running back in football, and he demurred, saying he loved watching and learning from Nick Chubb and Derrick Henry. Let’s compare the three men who lead the NFL in rushing entering December:
Jacobs: 1,159 yards, 5.4 per rush, nine touchdowns.
Henry: 1,048 yards, 4.2 per rush, 10 touchdowns
Chubb: 1,039 yards, 5.2 per rush, 12 touchdowns.
Yes, Jacobs has a 111-yard lead for the rushing title with six games left. On Sunday, he cared more about the win. He also cared about the fan with the sign.
“He’s the first one I wanted to find after we won,” Jacobs said. “I went over to him and said, ‘Thank you.’”
Jacobs was a game-time decision to even play. Tashan Reed of The Athletic:
Josh Jacobs lay on his back and looked up to the sky. Alex Bars extended a hand to help him up, but the running back needed a moment. When he planted his foot into the turf at Lumen Field while attempting to change direction after making a catch, it got stuck. Jacobs eventually accepted Bars’ hand and made his way to his feet, but he was hobbled. He shook his head as he staggered toward the sideline in obvious discomfort.
Jacobs had aggravated the calf injury that he suffered during practice Friday, which had nearly caused him not to play against the Seahawks on Sunday. The pain was significant through Saturday, and he wasn’t sure he’d be ready to roll until a pregame workout a couple of hours before kickoff, but he felt good enough then to make a pledge to his teammates.
“It’s kind of crazy,” Jacobs said. “Coming in not knowing if I was going to play, I was looking the guys in they eyes and telling them they going to get everything they got out of me.”
To live up to his words, Jacobs had to find a way to keep going. He missed the following play — a 5-yard touchdown catch by Foster Moreau to tie the score at 34 with the fourth quarter winding down — and the final two plays of regulation as he negotiated with the training staff.
“They didn’t want me to finish the game,” Jacobs said, “but I kind of convinced them that I could go.”
Jacobs went to explode for an 86-yard, winning touchdown scamper in overtime to give the Raiders their 40-34 win over the Seahawks. It capped one of the greatest performances in NFL history: He rushed 33 times for 229 yards and caught six passes for 74 yards to combine for 303 yards from scrimmage, tied for the eighth most in NFL history and a Raiders record.
“I’m running out of superlatives,” coach Josh McDaniels said. “He’s a football player; that’s probably the greatest compliment I can give him.”
Jacobs’ production was more than enough, but what he had to push through to achieve it makes the accomplishment even greater. That wasn’t lost on those around him.
“It doesn’t matter the adversity, what he’s going through, good day or bad, man, he runs with so much heart,” left tackle Kolton Miller said. “It pushes you to go with him. Whatever you’re dealing with, he inspires us, for real. The way he talks, the way he runs, you can see the heart in him. You love to see that.”
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LOS ANGELES CHARGERS
A factoid from Sam Farmer of the LA Times:
@LATimesfarmer
The two-point conversion was implemented in 1994.
This was the first week when multiple games (Jaguars, Chargers) were decided by game-winning points that came on two-point conversions in the final two minutes of the fourth quarter.
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AFC NORTH
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CINCINNATI
After watching the Benglas outslug the Titans, Dan Graziano of ESPN.com assesses their chances of prevailing in the AFC North race with Baltimore:
I was covering the Cincinnati Bengals-Tennessee Titans game on Sunday, for example, and while it wasn’t the highest-scoring game you’ll ever see, it was a nail-biter. Two AFC heavyweights in a physical fight that came down to Joe Burrow and Tee Higgins making a big fourth-quarter play, and the Bengals’ defense doing just enough to contain Derrick Henry. It was a worthy rematch of their January playoff game, and it was the kind of game that makes you hope they play each other in the postseason again this year.
“That’s the kind of game,” said Burrow, the Bengals’ brash, young quarterback, “that great teams win.”
The Bengals believe they can be great. They’ve won seven of their past nine, and thanks to the Jacksonville Jaguars’ upset of the Baltimore Ravens on Sunday, they’re tied for first place in the division they won last year.
The Titans … well, they know they’re going to be all right. They still have a comfy lead in their division, and it’s not as if they got blown out or embarrassed. They have their issues. They need to score more points. But Mike Vrabel’s bunch finds a way, and it’s fair to expect Tennessee to be in the playoff picture in the AFC all year. This win meant more to the Bengals than the loss did to the Titans.
But it was fun watching two playoff-caliber teams duke it out three days before the start of December, and it reminded me of what’s coming. The games from here take on a little bit more meaning, a lot more intensity, and come with enough emotions to make the weekly overreactions column a little more fun.
The Bengals will repeat as AFC North champs
As they dressed, did their interviews and packed their bags to leave the visitors locker room after the game Sunday, Bengals players were locked in on the TV showing the final minutes of the Ravens-Jaguars game. It was back and forth, but every positive Jacksonville play on the final drive elicited cheers of excitement. And when the Jaguars stopped Baltimore at the end to clinch the win, there was celebration.
The Bengals and Ravens now have the same record with six games to play. And while Cincinnati is in bad tiebreaker shape thanks to a 1-3 division record that includes a head-to-head loss to the Ravens, it is a supremely confident team that’s hitting its stride at the right time. The Bengals are not to be dismissed as division contenders, or even Super Bowl contenders. No other likely playoff team reached last year’s Super Bowl, and their proximity to that experience makes them as confident as anyone in the league right now.
Verdict: NOT AN OVERREACTION
It’s not going to be easy. Baltimore’s schedule looks a lot softer than Cincinnati’s the rest of the way. The only team left on the Ravens’ schedule that has a winning record is the Bengals, who host Baltimore in a Week 18 game that could decide this division. Meanwhile, Cincinnati goes home to play the Kansas City Chiefs next week and still has to play the Cleveland Browns (who kind of own them, and are getting Deshaun Watson back), the Bucs and the New England Patriots on the road, then the Buffalo Bills and Baltimore at home to close out the season.
The Bengals are a lot more likely to trip up once or twice on their schedule than the Ravens are. That said, Baltimore just blew another fourth-quarter lead and lost to Jacksonville while the Bengals were beating the Titans. Lamar Jackson’s offense isn’t exactly clicking right now. Burrow’s is, and it’s likely to get Ja’Marr Chase back next week. If Baltimore lets the Bengals hang around to the point where that Week 18 game is for the division, I wouldn’t bet against Burrow pulling it off.
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CLEVELAND
After an overtime win against Tampa Bay that kept them on the fringes of contention, QB DESHAUN WATSON returns to action as QB JACOBY BRISSETT slides into the background. Peter King:
Brissett’s been an excellent leader and okay player, and 4-7 is about what the public thought the Browns would be when Watson returned. “Y’all feel like I’m about to die or something,” Brissett told reporters Sunday. “I still have a job to do.” But that job now morphs into helping Watson win six games down the stretch. I still think asking Watson to play great after 23 months out of the saddle is a huge ask, but we’ll see. Who sits for two years, then has to play the most important position in the game for the six most important games of the season, and can do it at a winning level week after week?
The players are off till Wednesday. Watson will be in the building Monday and Tuesday working out and getting a start on the gameplan. He’ll take over the offense Wednesday in a 10:45 a.m. walkthrough practice, then a real practice at 1:15 that afternoon. Will the circus be around for the game in Houston—protests or vociferous booing? Likely. And with Cleveland being on the road for four of its last six games (also at Cincinnati, Washington and Pittsburgh), Watson can expect road crowds to remember exactly why he was suspended for 11 weeks in the first place.
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AFC SOUTH
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JACKSONVILLE
Peter King on Jacksonville’s two-point success:
I love coaches who don’t leave games up to coin flips. Doug Pederson and Brandon Staley both chose to try to win in regulation rather than be subject to the vagaries of overtime. Back when Pederson was in Philadelphia, I remember him putting to go-for-the-win ethos this way: You have two choices. You can go for the tie, then risk losing the toss in overtime and never see the ball again. Or you can go for the win—you can pick out your best short-yardage play or plays and choose one, figuring that there’s a better chance of gaining two yards with a play you love than there is trying to win a game in overtime.
On Sunday, Jacksonville got the ball with 2:02 left in the game, starting at its 25-, down to Baltimore 27-20. “I knew at the start of the drive that if we scored, I was going for two,” Pederson told me.
But as the drive went on, Pederson realized his favorite two-point play was a play designed for elusive running back Travis Etienne, and Etienne was out with a foot injury suffered earlier in the game. He didn’t love anything else on his play sheet. But when Trevor Lawrence threw for a TD with 14 seconds left, the offense came off the field all fired up, urging Pederson to go for two.
He probably would have anyway, but the attitude of his team convinced him. “Then I thought about our players,” Pederson said. “Zay Jones was hot right then—he’d made a couple of great catches. We had a play for him—a stutter-move and quick out to the front pylon. So that was the call.”
Jones had a step on the corner, Trevor Lawrence threw it perfectly, and suddenly it was 28-27, the biggest win of Jacksonville’s season. When Pederson hugged Lawrence afterward, the QB said: “Thanks for trusting me there.” That, Pederson said, is a huge part of a quarterback’s growth.
And this from King as QB TREVOR LAWRENCE becomes one of his Players of the Week:
Trevor Lawrence, quarterback, Jacksonville. I mentioned to Doug Pederson after Jacksonville’s very unlikely comeback win over the Ravens that this felt like a coming-of-age victory for Trevor Lawrence, who hadn’t had one since being the first pick of the 2021 draft. “You’re absolutely right,” Pederson said. Lawrence, at the two-minute warning, down 27-20, took the Jaguars 75 yards in nine plays, then converted the two-point play to win the game. Two plays wowed me. Fourth-and-five at the Jax 30- early in the drive—Lawrence found Marvin Jones on a quick route to the left to convert. On third-and-six from the Ravens’ 29- with 36 seconds left, he found Zay Jones, who made a circus chance deep down the left side for 29 yards. Against a solid defense with a very good secondary, Lawrence was 29-of-37 for 321 yards, with three TDs and zero picks. Just a great performance from a top prospect who hadn’t looked the part, in total, in his first 1.5 NFL seasons.
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RB TRAVIS ETIENNE wasn’t there at the end of the big win, but he may not be out this week. Josh Alper of ProFootballTalk.com:
The Jaguars used 18 fourth quarter points to beat the Ravens on Sunday and they picked them up without the help of running back Travis Etienne.
Etienne left the game in the second quarter after hurting his foot and did not return. After the game, head coach Doug Pederson said that the team held him out of precaution rather than because Etienne had been ruled out of returning.
“We didn’t rule him out,” Pederson said, via the team’s website. “We thought he could go. We’ve got to get more information tonight and check him out. He was walking around the sideline, and he felt fine. I just don’t want to risk it with him right now. It was just my decision to keep him out, but we’ll check him out tonight and have probably a better update tomorrow.”
Etienne missed his rookie season with a Lisfranc injury and has 133 carries for 728 yards and four touchdowns this season.
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AFC EAST
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MIAMI
Can T TERRON ARMSTEAD play effectively with his new pectoral injury? Marcel Louis-Jacques of ESPN.com had this on Sunday:
Dolphins left tackle Terron Armstead was ruled out of Miami’s 30-15 victory over the Houston Texans after suffering a pectoral injury in the first half.
Armstead left the field and walked to the locker room shortly before halftime with the Dolphins up 30-0 and did not return for the beginning of the third quarter. Brandon Shell entered the game in his stead.
Dolphins coach Mike McDaniel said after the game that the team will know more about Armstead’s injury on Monday. He added that the injury was not one that Armstead could have returned to the game with, regardless of the score.
Armstead, a team captain, has started all but one game this season, playing through a toe injury that he suffered in Week 1. He missed the Dolphins’ game against the Minnesota Vikings in Week 6 after seeing a specialist about the injury.
Armstead was Miami’s marquee free agent signing this offseason and ESPN’s top-ranked free agent in last year’s cycle. The 31-year-old signed a five-year, $75 million contract in March after spending the first nine seasons of his career with the New Orleans Saints.
And Ian Rapoport dropped this:
@RapSheet
#Dolphins LT Terron Armstead suffered a pec strain, per me and @TomPelissero
, that is not as bad as originally feared. He’ll miss some time, but the hope is he would be back on the field at some point relatively soon. Armstead has played through a lot in his career…
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NEW YORK JETS
Peter King on a flaw in the Jets schedule – from a Jets perspective:
I think this little quirk of the schedule would bug me if I’m the Jets. New York plays regular-rest road games at Minnesota and at Buffalo the next two Sundays. The Vikings have 10 days between their Thanksgiving game and the game with the Jets. The Bills have 10 days between their Thursday game (this week) and their Dec. 11 games with the Jets. Once, okay. Twice? In a row? The Jets are playing not only better teams but significantly more rested teams.
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QB MIKE WHITE did what was needed to beat the Bears – and he should keep his starting job going forward. Charles Robinson of YahooSports.com:
In most quarterback controversies, there is always an economy of language that develops inside teams. Players get more concise about what they prefer in a particular quarterback’s skills. Coaches tend to speak more bluntly about what’s going right or wrong at the position. Eventually, a chosen leader emerges from the locker room chorus.
Rarely does this crescendo occur after one successful game. In the case of the New York Jets, it sure sounds like it did. So much so that in one commanding 31-10 Jets win over a beaten up Chicago Bears team, new starting quarterback Mike White may very well have won his entire locker room.
In turn, Zach Wilson may have lost it — although there’s an argument to be made that Wilson has been steadily losing parts of it for weeks. Perhaps the majority of that attrition happened last week, when Wilson responded with a stern “no” when asked if he felt like he let the defense down in the wake of a 10-3 loss to the New England Patriots. As Wilson eventually found out when he was benched by head coach Robert Saleh, it’s one thing for an offense to struggle to keep up with a playoff-ready defense, it’s quite another to lack the self-awareness to understand when you’re actively hurting that same unit.
When a quarterback showcases that kind of ignorance, it puts the throne of leadership up for grabs. After Sunday, White took a seat in that throne and the rest of the roster sounded ready to hoist him on their shoulders for the rest of the season.
Consider that one week ago, wide receiver Garrett Wilson was saying of the Jets’ offense: “This s*** is sorry. We’re out here looking sorry and we know that we’re not sorry. That’s why it really hurts. We know we’re better than that.”
One week later, Wilson was gushing about the offense finally clicking and complimenting the preparation and execution of White. Wideout Elijah Moore, whose chemistry with Zach Wilson sounded broken, left the field telling SNY TV cameras “That’s real New York Jets football,” then joked in the locker room about rediscovering his relationship with the football as players around him serenaded him for being “free” again.
And the defense? Linebacker C.J. Mosely talked about the game being fun, while cornerback Sauce Gardner told reporters about the positive vibe in the franchise over the course of the week.
That vibe seemed to be everywhere by Sunday night, in videos and interviews and spilling onto players’ social media accounts. It was a far cry from one week ago when players were explaining away how they’d “liked” tweets that appeared to be critical of Wilson’s demeanor after the Patriots loss.
All of this might have been attributed as nothing more than players expressing joy over a dominant win and a quarterback who helped to balance out complementary football — except for one phrase from Saleh that stood out. While it might not have been a direct shot at Wilson, Saleh seemed to echo some past problems when talking about how White was executing the offense with ease. The same offense that basically had to be refined last offseason to keep the cannon-armed Wilson from getting too overloaded with details.
“He didn’t need to be anybody but Mike White,” Saleh said. “We didn’t need to turn into the Greatest Show on Turf. We just wanted him to play within himself and play efficient. I thought he did that. … He made the easy look easy.”
All of the positivity and applause for White is remarkable considering the Jets know his big day came against a Bears secondary that was obliterated by injuries. Granted, White’s numbers were obese when compared to Wilson’s past few games: 22-of-28 passing for 315 yards, three touchdowns and a ridiculous 149.3 passer rating. Most notable about those three passing touchdowns? Wilson has four total this season. In seven starts.
Also notable is how White did it. There was nothing wildly complicated about it. He efficiently pulled off a swath of short, easy passes, fit a few intermediate balls in tough spots and let the wideouts do the dirty work on some-medium level passes that turned into big plays. He spread the ball around to 10 different players and breathed life into some receivers who had basically been on the scrap heap for months.
When you listened to White, it certainly didn’t sound like that happened by accident. If anything, it sounded like the kind of leadership the franchise has been thirsting for.
“Personally the way I approach the quarterback position is being a calming presence in the huddle, especially when things aren’t going well,” White told reporters. “Because that’s when things can start to spiral and snowball. It’s just distributing the ball and letting them be who they are. They’re all in that locker room for a reason. This is the NFL. Everybody that wears pads on Sundays are very good. You just gotta get them the ball and get their confidence going.”
There’s little doubt that confidence was flowing Sunday. And there’s even less doubt that White appears to be the only one who can now cost himself the starting job. Wilson isn’t going to be forced back into the lineup after seeing the team’s reaction to White. Not to mention the reality that he made players around him better rather than worse.
Wilson couldn’t say that very often this season. Maybe never. That’s why this locker room is clearly following someone else to Minnesota next week. And maybe beyond.
This from Matthew Berry:
(White’s) yards per attempt (11.3) and expected points added per dropback (0.65) were both better than every single game Wilson has ever played. He put up the best numbers of any QB to face the Bears this season, and that list includes the likes of Tua, Dak, and Rodgers.
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THIS AND THAT
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COACHES ON THE MOVE
Mike Sando of The Athletic tries to discern how the NFL’s coaching carousel will spin for Sean McVay, Sean Payton and Jim Harbaugh:
This NFL season has reached a point where there’s enough football remaining for teams to change their narratives, but with two head coaches fired already, the urgency increases each week.
We’ve heard all season about Sean Payton’s interest in returning to the sideline, complete with speculation on potential landing spots, including one that seems very misguided. There is reason to wonder whether another Super Bowl-winning head coach, Sean McVay, might again consider seeking refuge in a broadcast booth if his 3-8 Los Angeles Rams are headed for a rebuild. And after Jim Harbaugh coached Michigan to a resounding victory against Ohio State on Saturday, inching closer to a potential national championship, my mind turned to what Harbaugh termed “unfinished business” in the NFL following his pursuit of the Minnesota Vikings’ job in January.
1. Here’s what is interesting about the head coaching dynamics, from McVay to Payton to Harbaugh and beyond.
Coaches, execs and agents are looking at Houston, Arizona and Denver as the places most likely to join Carolina and Indianapolis in the market for head coaches, with some thought that the Rams could have a vacancy depending up on what McVay chooses to do, while the Chargers could consider a change if their up-and-down season were to head downward again. There will generally be a surprise or two as well.
Two of the three more interesting potential candidates aren’t even working in the league.
Sean McVay: McVay is so interesting because so much has changed for him so quickly. He led the Rams to their first Los Angeles-era Super Bowl victory in February. He got married in June. He has lost key players to injury with great frequency, from quarterback Matthew Stafford to left tackle Joe Noteboom to No. 1 wideout Cooper Kupp, No. 2 wideout Allen Robinson (on Sunday) and more. His team has a 3-8 record. Stafford’s wife, emotional after a concussion Stafford suffered, has reflected on the quarterback’s future, at one point saying, “I just need the man I fell in love with to be the same man for my kids and the life that we are going to live.”
If McVay considered taking a break from the game by stepping into the broadcast booth nine months ago, how must he feel now? He did sign a contract extension with the Rams, which would potentially limit his options down the line, except that coaches find it flattering and empowering when teams hand over draft choices to secure their services. Who doesn’t love to be wanted? McVay’s former boss, Jon Gruden, fetched two first-round picks, a second-rounder and $8 million for the Raiders when Tampa Bay acquired him two decades ago.
“All these coaches want to be traded for because it shows how much control they’ll have in their new place,” an exec from another team said on the condition of anonymity because of the sensitivity of the topic. “Lots of coaches have left and come back. McVay would be a commodity every single year he wasn’t coaching.”
McVay is only 36. He is not finished coaching. People close to him have said he’d never feel fulfilled professionally if broadcasting one game each week were the extent of his work. But any coach with a new Super Bowl ring on his finger might prefer making easier money and spending time with his newlywed wife over the grind that could await the Rams if Stafford is nearer the finish line than anticipated. Watching McVay get smacked in the head while standing on the sideline Sunday in Kansas City — rookie undrafted free agent Roger Carter slammed into McVay by accident — provided some symbolism for a season gone awry unexpectedly.
“I think he goes to Amazon for a bajillion dollars because they wanted him before,” an other exec said. “It will bring something sexy.”
Sean Payton: A veteran agent noted that deals between teams and big-time coaches such as Payton typically are negotiated well ahead of time, in private. The Raiders’ deal with Gruden a few years ago comes to mind. The situation with Payton is much different because the Saints hold his rights. That is one of two reasons why it’s not easy finding logical landing spots for Payton. Money is the other reason. Not every owner is willing to pay top dollar.
“I don’t know if New Orleans has gotten into any discussions on compensation,” the agent said. “It is way more complicated.”
Some have linked Payton to the Chargers, but multiple execs would be shocked if he landed there. First, there are no assurances the Chargers will make a change. They have a winning record, and current general manager Tom Telesco already hired two coaches previously. GMs typically don’t get to hire a third. But most significantly, execs think there is zero chance the Chargers would do the three things required for landing Payton: trading away premium draft choices, paying Payton near the top of the coaching market and ceding significant personnel authority to him. That simply is not how the Chargers operate.
The Rams would be a more logical fit for Payton if McVay were to leave, delivering star power to an organization that has coveted it. The short list of other teams that might be most willing to pay near the top of the market could include Carolina, Denver and possibly Houston among teams that have openings or are expected to make changes, in the estimation of some execs. The Broncos’ job, if it opens, could be a tougher sell because of the Russell Wilson situation, but someone with Payton’s pedigree might be able to provide the necessary coaching, and if not, no one could really blame him for the results. He’d have time to find his own alternative.
“I have heard Sean Payton doesn’t want anything to do with that, but it could be a short list of teams willing to meet all the conditions,” an exec said.
Jim Harbaugh: Harbaugh is in his eighth season coaching at Michigan, twice as long as he’s lasted anywhere else, despite succeeding every step of the way. He lasted four years as head coach of the 49ers and four as head coach at Stanford and three as head coach at University of San Diego. He has Michigan at 12-0 and coming off a 45-23 victory at archrival Ohio State, with the Big Ten Championship Game looming against Purdue and a shot at the national championship in reach. It’s unknown whether he’ll emerge as a serious NFL candidate for the second offseason in a row.
The Colts make for an interesting potential landing spot because Harbaugh helped them to an AFC title game as their quarterback. However, the coaches Indy owner Jim Irsay has hired over the past couple decades had mellower personalities. No one would mistake Tony Dungy, Jim Caldwell, Chuck Pagano or Frank Reich for the blustery Harbaugh. But desperate times could call for desperate measures. Buying out Harbaugh from his Michigan deal would reportedly cost $3 million, a manageable sum for billionaire owners.
“I lean toward yes on Indy,” an AFC exec said. “It’s gotta be a spot where there is affection for him. He is quirky. I think Irsay has affection for him. You are getting a guy who has won in the league, went to a Super Bowl, has done it all. And he has won there in Indy as a quarterback. I would think Denver could make sense as well, that Harbaugh had some affinity for (Russell) Wilson.”
A former general manager thought Harbaugh could be a fallback candidate if one of the teams with deep pockets strikes out on Payton or another high-profile choice. When Carolina hired Matt Rhule, the risk was in the fact that Rhule was coming from the college ranks without nearly the NFL experience Harbaugh would bring. But it’s also possible the 2023 version of Harbaugh could carry different expectations after exerting so much authority at a premier college program for nearly a decade.
“Harbaugh has done a miraculous job the last two years there,” an agent said, “but he went into the Minnesota interview like the job was his, he was just going to sign a deal and leave. That did not sit well with Minnesota, and these owners talk. Once you have had the kind of power Harbaugh has had at Michigan, it is much harder to work in the NFL with the limitations you have there. What ends up happening is, when you go to the pros, you are dealing with men and owners who have bigger egos than you.”
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BROADCAST NEWS
Peter King on the NFL’s Thanksgiving ratings:
Thanksgiving was ratings magic, the best regular-season day the league’s had in modern TV history. Giants-Cowboys was the most-watched regular-season game ever, and 138 million Americans watched at least one minute of football Thursday. By putting music acts on at halftime of the games—including Bebe Rexha in Detroit (don’t ask me) and the Jonas Brothers in Dallas—the Lions and Cowboys probably drew marginal fans to watch the music. That all counts. “Football’s already so ingrained in Thanksgiving,” EVP of NFL Media Hans Schroeder said Saturday. “Then you consider five of the six teams came in with winning records and Detroit came in hot, and all three games were competitive down to the wire. Plus we had young stars in every game.” Schroeder credited the Lions for putting a good act on at halftime, and he said even with the success of alternative streaming platforms, “Broadcast TV is still the best place for us. We’ve got to keep finding new ways to engage young fans.”
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OH MY, ODELL
A strange episode on a plane puts a different light on what the future might hold for WR ODELL BECKHAM, Jr. ESPN.com:
Odell Beckham Jr. was removed from a flight at Miami International Airport on Sunday after police said the free agent wide receiver was “in and out of consciousness” and refused to leave the airplane when asked.
Beckham’s attorney, Daniel Davillier, disputed that account, saying his client had been sleeping and that the incident was the result of an “overzealous flight attendant.”
According to a statement from the Miami-Dade Police Department, officers were called to the airport for a medical emergency after the flight crew expressed concern that Beckham was seriously ill.
“The flight crew was concerned for a passenger [Mr. Odell Beckham], as they tried to wake him to fasten his seat belt, he appeared to be coming in and out of consciousness, prior to their departure,” the police statement said. “Fearing that Mr. Beckham was seriously ill, and that his condition would worsen through the expected 5 hour flight, the attendants called for police and fire rescue. Upon the officers arrival, the flight crew asked Mr. Beckham several times to exit the aircraft, which he refused.”
Police said the airplane was evacuated and that Beckham ultimately got off the plane when asked by officers.
Later Sunday, Davillier released a statement saying the entire incident was “completely unnecessary.”
“At no time was Mr. Beckham disruptive or combative,” Davillier said. “He was willing to comply with the seatbelt requirement, but the flight attendant wanted to prove that he had the authority to have Mr. Beckham removed from the flight.”
Beckham also appeared to address the incident in a series of tweets Sunday morning, writing, “Never in my life have I experienced what just happened to me… I’ve seen it alll..” and calling the situation “comedy hr.”
American Airlines, which was operating the Miami-to-Los Angeles flight, said in a statement that the plane returned to the gate because of “a customer failing to follow crew member instructions and refusing to fasten their seatbelt.” The flight took off almost two hours after initially scheduled.
Police said Beckham made other arrangements after being removed from the flight. He was not arrested in the incident.
Carlos Gauna, a passenger in business class, told The Associated Press that he recognized Beckham before boarding the flight and later used his cellphone camera to record him walking through the airport terminal with police. He said Beckham had been seated in first class.
“He just walked quietly. Police escorted him out,” Gauna said, adding that the flight was full and he heard “grumblings” among other passengers.
Gauna said the aircraft was taxiing toward takeoff when the captain announced that “a situation with a passenger” required a return to the terminal. Gauna said an ambulance arrived and paramedics boarded the aircraft and spoke with Beckham before police removed him.
Beckham, who has not played this season while recovering from a torn ACL suffered in last season’s Super Bowl, was expected to meet with teams this week ahead of a possible signing.
The Dallas Cowboys are believed to be the front-runners to sign Beckham, with the Kansas City Chiefs, Buffalo Bills, New York Giants and San Francisco 49ers also in the mix.
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