Let’s do the If The Season Ended Today for the AFC, because we don’t want to wait until Wednesday morning.  If Pittsburgh wins:

Pittsburgh        North   11-0     8-0

Kansas City     West    10-1     8-1

Tennessee      South     8-3     6-3

Buffalo             East       8-3     6-2

Cleveland        WC1      8-3     5-3

Miami              WC2      7-4     4-3

Indianapolis     WC3      7-4     3-4

Las Vegas                    6-5     4-3

Baltimore                       6-5     4-5

New England                5-6     4-4

Kansas City     West    10-1     8-1

Pittsburgh        North   10-1     7-1

Tennessee      South     8-3     6-3

Buffalo             East       8-3     6-2

Cleveland        WC1      8-3     5-3

Miami              WC2      7-4     4-3

Baltimore         WC3      7-4     5-4

Indianapolis                   7-4     3-4

Las Vegas                    6-5     4-3

New England                5-6     4-4

If the Ravens spring a surprise win, we put them in the playoffs for now.

If the Steelers and Chiefs tie at 15-1, and Pittsburgh’s loss is in the AFC, we think the Chiefs will end up ahead in the seeding battle based on strength of victory.  The Chiefs do have a game left at New Orleans (Week 15, CBS).

The Colts have a win over Indianapolis if it comes to that.

Here is what Peter King sees as he looks at the standings:

I think this is some Week 12 standings detritus:

• Amazing to see that the 12-week AFC wild cards would be Cleveland, Miami and Indy—just ahead of Baltimore, Las Vegas, New England.

• Cleveland a five seed. Wild.

• With everything they’ve been through, the 5-6 Niners have a real chance to get hot and steal a Wild Card spot. Only a game out.

• One thing plaguing Pittsburgh? The Steelers are 10-0, yet have just a half-game lead on KC for the AFC top seed.

• Two very big things may depend on Tampa’s two meetings with Atlanta in the final three weeks of the season: a playoff berth for the Bucs, and the realistic chances of Raheem Morris to get the full-time gig with the Falcons.

• God rest ye merry football fans: The Dec. 25 late-afternoon Friday game, Minnesota at New Orleans, could have huge meaning for both teams. Could mean playoffs or not playoffs for the Vikes, and home-field for the Saints.

– – –

Two other thoughts from Peter King on the 2020 version of NFL football:

• The football’s been good, mostly. You know what’s struck me? Some of the best games have been played under pretty tough circumstances. Think, for instance, of Atlanta’s best game of the season (well, maybe till the rout of the Raiders on Sunday). The Falcons were 0-5, fired the coach and the GM, had the following week disrupted by some COVID cases, practiced only once, and went to Minnesota and routed the Vikings 40-23. Tennessee went 17 days without practicing during its early-season outbreak, and responded by beating Buffalo 42-16. New England had to fly to Kansas City on the day of the game in Week 4, without starting quarterback Cam Newton, and 40 minutes into the game, mighty KC was up by three. Scoring’s up, penalties are down. Players seem happier not beating themselves up as much in practice.

• Virtual football is weird, but it has its advantages. Juju Smith-Schuster told me last week his dog Boujee wonders why he’s home so much. He used to be gone from about 8 a.m. to 3 p.m. or so on weekdays. Now the Steelers do their morning classroom meetings by videoconference, with players home for them, and Smith-Schuster leaves the house around 11 for practice and he’s home by 2:45-ish. “Sometimes he looks at me like, ‘Why you still here?’ ‘’ Smith-Schuster said of Boujee.

Virtual learning hasn’t been as much of a chore as you think. “The little things for special teams, offense and defense throughout the week—that’s something we miss,” Smith-Schuster said. “But the thing with virtual that helps a lot—it gives us time to be separated, to stay at home in our own comfortable space, avoiding COVID and also gives us time to rest our bodies, or do treatment while we’re in meetings. As far as my teammates and how we like it, so far we love it.”

NFC NORTH

DETROIT

On Saturday, the Lions fired GM Bob Quinn and Coach Matt Patricia.  Is QB MATTHEW STAFFORD the next to go?  Dave Birkett of the Detroit Free Press:

The easy thing to do for whoever is in charge of leading the next iteration of your Detroit Lions is to ride Matthew Stafford into the sunset of his career. But if this organization is serious about remaking itself into a perennial Super Bowl contender, having and executing a new long-term vision at the quarterback position is where it begins.

Stafford is the best quarterback most Lions fans have rooted for in their lifetime, and it’s possible now is not the absolute time to move on.

That option, though, must at least be on the table as the franchise embarks on what could be an arduous rebuild.

Stafford’s long-term future in Detroit has been a topic of endless discussion in recent years, mostly from media types pontificating about what the team should do. Few in the organization have seemed willing to embrace change at quarterback, for obvious reasons, and Stafford has genuinely enjoyed playing in Detroit.

But ESPN analyst Dan Orlovsky, Stafford’s good friend and former teammate, gave credence to the idea Stafford and the team would consider a mutual parting when I talked to him this summer.

“I’ll keep it 100 with you,” Orlovsky said at the time. “Like, listen, he’s either going to win there this year or a winner’s going to come get him. … Maybe I’m stupid and naïve and biased, I just think eventually he’ll either win there or will be on a winner (somewhere else if he doesn’t) because of it.”

Orlovsky went a step further Saturday on Twitter after the Lions fired head coach Matt Patricia and general manager Bob Quinn, writing the time has come for a “full start over and move on from Stafford.”

“It’s time from both the organization standpoint and the players position as well,” Orlovsky wrote. “It didn’t work out.”

Whether Orlovsky is speaking for Stafford only he knows, but either way his point rings true: Neither Stafford nor the organization has reached the heights they hoped when the Lions took Stafford with the No. 1 pick of the 2009 draft, and both might be better off going their own way in 2021.

Whoever the Lions hire as their chief football decision maker will have tight turns to navigate when it comes to Stafford’s future, which is why his long-term vision for the quarterback position is paramount.

Stafford, who turns 33 in February, has two years left on the contract extension he signed in 2017, and trading him, by my calculations, would leave the Lions with a dead money cap hit of $19.45 million.

That’s not ideal in a shrinking salary cap environment, though it can be managed. But the bigger issue would be the void trading Stafford would leave – one that, given how difficult it is to live in No Man’s Quarterback Land in the NFL, can only rightfully be filled by finding a successor in the draft.

Detroit Lions quarterback Matthew Stafford on the sideline during the 48-17 loss to the New York Jets on Monday, Sept. 10, 2018, at Ford Field in Detroit.

Entering Sunday, the Lions project to have the ninth pick in the 2021 draft, which leaves them in no position – even if they acquire an extra first-round pick by trading Stafford – to take top quarterback prospects Trevor Lawrence or Justin Fields.

The two worst teams in the NFL this season, the New York Jets and Jacksonville Jaguars, seem locked into taking quarterbacks with the top two picks, and the Lions will be jockeying with several other quarterback-needy teams – Washington, the Carolina Panthers and maybe the Atlanta Falcons – for draft position.

Moving on from Stafford would have been easier last year, when the Lions had the third pick of the draft and their choice of future stars Justin Herbert or Tua Tagovailoa. They passed on both, and now must wait their turn to attack the position.

BYU’s Zach Wilson, North Dakota State’s Trey Lance and Florida’s Kyle Trask are all first-round possibilities, but none has the star quality of Lawrence or Fields, and none is guaranteed to be on the board whenever the Lions pick.

That’s problematic in that if the Lions want to trade Stafford – or if Stafford asks for a trade in hopes of finding a better situation – the ideal time to do so would be at the start of free agency in March.

Keeping Stafford and drafting a young quarterback might be the best option, a la the Green Bay Packers and Jordan Love last spring, though that would take a new coach capable of handling all the hard feelings it would cause.

Stafford is a good player and an above average quarterback. He’s talented and tough, though after 12 seasons in Detroit, his injuries are starting to mount and he understandably seems beat down. To Orlovsky’s point, perhaps a change of scenery would help him create the legacy he wants for himself on the field.

For now, Stafford seems destined to go down as a quarterback good enough to get three coaches fired, and I don’t write that to insinuate he was behind the undoings of Patricia, Jim Caldwell or Jim Schwartz.

In this league, though, teams are looking for a quarterback until they find one, and once they feel they have one, they start the continuous process of looking for the right coach or GM.

Stafford is good enough to be that guy for most teams in this league, like Philip Rivers was with the Chargers for 16 years or Matt Ryan is with the Atlanta Falcons now.

Like Rivers and Ryan, Stafford has reached the point of his career where it seems unlikely he will be able to achieve the ultimate success, at least in Detroit.

Lions owner Sheila Ford Hamp called Stafford an “extremely talented young man” and “tough as nails” in her post-firing Zoom on Saturday, but she rightfully took a pass on hitching the organization’s wagon to him long-term.

“Well, since I’m not the coach, I’m probably not the right person to ask that question to,” she said. “We’ll see what the new coach has to say.”

Any quarterback change will take buy-in from ownership, and a football man in charge who isn’t afraid of the unknown.

Stafford has proven to be a good player and a better person in Detroit, but for the next regime, that should not be enough.

Peter King:

Nothing should be off the table for the moribund Lions, including divorcing Matthew Stafford. I’m not positive it should happen, but it’s crazy to say to new coach/GM candidates: You’ve got to keep Stafford. Stafford has a $10-million roster bonus due on the fifth day of the 2021 league year. His 2021 cap number is $34.95 million, which is 20 percent of the projected $175-milion NFL salary cap in 2021. By cutting or trading Stafford, Detroit would incur in 2021 a dead cap hit of $24.85 million, which obviously must be considered. This must also be considered:

The Lions have not won a division title in Stafford’s 12 seasons.

The Lions have not won a playoff game—nor hosted one—in Stafford’s 12 seasons.

The Lions appear headed for their third straight fourth-place finish in the NFC North, and their seventh straight year outside of the NFL’s top-10 yardage teams.

The simple fact is that sometimes in football, a franchise needs to be blown up. The Patriots did it in 2000, and Drew Bledsoe, the highest-paid player in football at the time, was gone a little more than a year later. The Ravens did it in 2007, a year after going 13-3 with the stable Brian Billick. Carolina did it in the past year, dumping Ron Rivera and Cam Newton in a matter of months. Those are anecdotal stories. But they are also proof that if something just feels wrong, why continue to try to make it work? Break free. Start over. At least look at the possibilities.

The Lions have not won a playoff game in 29 years. That point shouldn’t have much to do with a decision on Stafford. But on a team with holes as deep as the one Detroit has dug, nothing should be off the table.

The media is uniting behind 49ers DC Robert Saleh as the natural choice for the Lions coaching vacancy.  And, as NinersNation points out, he could bring an OC and GM:

BetOnline.Ag released their early odds for who would be the next head coach of the Detroit Lions, and San Francisco 49ers defensive coordinator Robert Saleh was listed as the favorite:

Robert Saleh                 +550    

Eric Bieniemy                +600    

Lincoln Riley                  +650    

Jim Harbaugh                +700    

Kellen Moore                 +750    

Darrell Bevell                 +800    

Brian Daboll                   +1000  

Byron Leftwich               +1000  

Dan Mullen                    +1200  

Josh McDaniels             +1200  

Kevin O’Connell             +1200  

Matt Campbell               +1200  

Arthur Smith                  +1400  

Dabo Swinney               +1400  

Leslie Frazier                 +1400  

Matt Eberflus                 +1400  

Nick Saban                   +1400  

Joe Brady                     +1600  

While hiring offensive geniuses seems to be the new wave in the NFL, finding a coach that could teach players, relate to them, and have his team prepared is a more logical approach than searching for “the next McVay.” Saleh’s ties to Michigan are strong. He was born and raised in Dearborn, Michigan, which is two miles from the Lions facility. Saleh grew up a Lions fan who idolized Barry Sanders. Saleh’s family still lives in Dearborn, and even played at Northern Michigan in college and coached at Michigan State.

Losing Saleh to Detriot would be the worst-case scenario for the 49ers. The Lions fired their general manager Bob Quinn. They’ll also need someone to call the offense. Saleh could pluck Adam Peters, the current Vice President of Personnel for the Niners, to be his GM in Detroit along with Mike McDaniel. The latter has been the genius behind the 49ers running game as offensive coordinator. That’d give the Lions a powerful combo that would be difficult to top.

One of Matt Patricia’s biggest downfalls was relating to the players. He was a robot that could not connect to human beings. Many of his former players came out in support of Detriot firing Patricia on Saturday. It was ugly. Saleh is the opposite, and you see it every time he speaks to the media.

On Wednesday, his Saleh’s media availability, one of the reporters was holding their baby on the Zoom call. The in-your-face, high-energy Saleh, who is known as a “football guy” and can be seen running stairs before each game, turned into a complete softy. He related that situation to his at home, as Saleh currently has six kids ranging from a year and a half to ten years old.

Saleh is personable. That’ll help in interviews. He’s also quite good at his job. We’ve seen Saleh adjust his entire philosophy over the past couple of seasons. In 2018, the 49ers were a predominant Cover-3 defense. In 2019, they shifted to more Cover-4/7 principles that helped the defense avoid giving up the big play. This season, as there has been a lack of pass rush, Saleh has gotten creative and is blitzing 14% more to generate pressure. The gameplans have been great. The execution has not.

The defense has also been put in some bad situations, which will affect your volume stats like points per game, but San Francisco remains in the upper half of the league in every defensive stat that holds any weight. That, and his close to Michigan, would make for a great hire in Detroit. Appreciate Saleh while he’s still around.

GREEN BAY

Matt LaFleur touts his QB, AARON RODGERS, for MVP.  Matt Schneidman of The Athletic:

At 10:24 p.m. (CT) on April 23, 2020, Packers general manager Brian Gutekunst jump-started Aaron Rodgers’ 2020 MVP campaign.

That’s when he traded up four spots to select a 21-year-old quarterback with the 26th pick in the NFL Draft.

Rodgers was blindsided. He was frustrated. He was confused.

With four years left on his contract and an NFC Championship Game appearance he made possible just 3 months old, Rodgers wondered whether the only organization for which he’d played felt the same way about him as he did about it.

Rodgers has said and will continue to say that Gutekunst’s drafting of Jordan Love didn’t directly make him want to prove that his 36-year-old right arm could still sling it with anyone, but we all know that’s a lie. By selecting Love, the general manager told one of the best quarterbacks ever that he, at most, had two years left with the franchise he had made his own over the past 13 years.

At that moment, the Aaron Rodgers Spite Tour took off. And through 11 games, it has been nothing short of spectacular.

Its latest installment came Sunday night in the Packers’ 41-25 win over the Bears (5-6), during which Rodgers completed 21 of 29 passes for 211 yards and four touchdowns with a 132.3 passer rating. Rodgers has completed 68.5 percent of his passes for 3,100 yards and 33 touchdowns this season while throwing only four interceptions and achieving a league-high passer rating of 117.6.

The Chiefs’ Patrick Mahomes may lead the MVP race, but his State Farm acting compatriot isn’t far behind.

“This is as good as I’ve ever seen anybody play,” Packers head coach Matt LaFleur said. “Just his ability to go out there and get us in the right looks and, shoot, even when I make a bad call, he definitely makes us look good. So that’s a credit to him.

“In my eyes, he’s an MVP player. No doubt about it. And I wouldn’t want any other quarterback on our football team.”

In 2011, when Rodgers won his first MVP, he completed 68.3 percent of his passes for 4,643 yards and 45 touchdowns while throwing six interceptions. When he won his second, in 2014, he completed 65.6 percent of his passes for 4,381 yards and 38 touchdowns while throwing five picks. Through 11 games this season, Rodgers’ completion percentage is better than in both of those years. He’s also on pace for 4,509 passing yards, 48 touchdown passes and six interceptions.

The Packers went 15-1 in 2011 and 12-4 in 2014, and they sit 8-3 through 11 games in 2020 with a three-game NFC North lead and one team (Tennessee) with a winning record left on the schedule. In other words, when the regular season is finished, Rodgers’ numbers and team record will more than likely closely resemble those when he was twice crowned the NFL’s best player.

“I think the beauty in this year is the subtleties of simplicity that I feel like Matt implemented in the offseason,” Rodgers said. “It’s really allowed me to feel super-comfortable with the plan every week, with my responsibilities, with my checks. I think that’s why I’ve been playing well.

“Obviously, I’ve got my legs underneath me and my health has been great, thanks to the work I’ve put in but also the way I’ve been protected this year.”

Rodgers’ protection this season has never been better than it was Sunday night.

Even without standout nose tackle Akiem Hicks, the Bears still feature one of the league’s best front sevens, headlined by Khalil Mack, Robert Quinn and Roquan Smith. Rodgers wasn’t sacked or hit. Star center Corey Linsley missed more than three quarters with a knee injury, and Elgton Jenkins seamlessly slid to center while rookie sixth-rounder Jon Runyan Jr. filled in admirably at left guard. Lucas Patrick left early with a toe injury, and right tackle Billy Turner shifted to right guard as Rick Wagner came off the bench to play right tackle.

The only starter not to change positions or suffer an injury Sunday was left tackle David Bakhtiari. Such has been the story of the Packers’ offensive line this season.

In three games this season, Rodgers hasn’t been sacked, and in seven others he’s been sacked only once. Only in a 38-10 loss to the Buccaneers was he sacked multiple times (four). Even with so many moving parts weekly, the Packers’ No. 1 pass-blocking offensive line has allowed their old man under center to operate with relative ease.

“For a soon-to-be 37-year-old, that’s my dream,” Rodgers said. “That’s an amazing feeling to go home and not be feeling like an almost-37-year-old. I’ve been feeling really, really good all season, so I appreciate those boys upfront.”

NFC SOUTH

NEW ORLEANS

This note from Jeff Duncan:

@JeffDuncan_

The Saints — yes, the Saints! — now lead the NFL in total defense (284.9 ypg) after yesterday’s rout of the Broncos.

The Saints have never finished a season as the No. 1 defense in the league. They have finished 2nd three times: 1983, 1991 and 1992.

The Bronocs, without a realistic QB, had 112 yards on Sunday.

TAMPA BAY

There was thought last year that QB TOM BRADY had opened up a bit to Tony Romo before a broadcast.

Those same thoughts arose on Sunday.   Ed Werder put it this way:

@WerderEdESPN

Tony Romo with some educational insights into the problems Tom Brady has with Bruce Arians offense – not enough pre-snap motion, no run game or play-action – none of the things that make it easier to play QB.

Here is what Jason Whitlock heard:

@WhitlockJason

If you read between the lines on Romo all game, Brady told him he doesn’t like Bruce Arians’ offense and that they need to run New England’s offense. Romo has been harping on it all game. Brady tossed Arians under the bus.

And Ryan Russilo:

@ryenarussillo

Everything Romo is saying about Brady is on point right now. Arm is not the issue. Saying “they line up and read after the snap too much.” Why would you change everything he was comfortable with in an offense?

Although listeners also heard Romo find fault with Brady’s receivers when none was apparent to most eyes.

This from Dan Orlovsky of ESPN.com on Monday morning:

@danorlovsky7

Don’t be so stuck in your ways that you won’t change…

“Right now Bruce Arians is wasting Tom Brady. He got served on a silver platter the greatest quarterback to ever play, and all you had to do was use him the right way.”

This on Brady’s postgame reaction:

Buccaneers quarterback Tom Brady faced the virtual music with reporters after Sunday’s loss to the Chiefs.

But he didn’t face it for very long. The post-game press conference ended after less than two-and-a-half minutes, with this question from Jenna Laine of ESPN.com prompting a polite answer and a quick exit.

“Hey, Tom, as you head to your bye week, there have been some folks who have had some chatter about, you know, you still look like you are running someone else’s offense,” Laine said. “One of your former teammates even said on TV that he thinks that you need a new head coach. What do you make of all of that?”

Laine was referring to former Patriots linebacker Rob Ninkovich, who made the suggestion last week during an appearance on ESPN. Here’s Brady’s response.

“It’s just external noise that when you are losing, that’s what you deal with,” Brady said. “I love playing with the guys that I play with, the coaches, the whole organization has been unbelievable. I think I have to go out and certainly do a better job the last four weeks of the year. So, I appreciate it. Let’s have a good week.”

Brady has done a good job of taking the blame, even as members of the coaching staff publicly nudge it his way, something that Patriots coach Bill Belichick never did. The broader question continues to be whether Brady is running the offense the way he wants to run it, or whether he’s running someone else’s vision of what the offense should be.

Brady and the Buccaneers enter the bye week at 7-5. While Tampa Bay should be able to nail down a wild-card berth, it’s hard to imagine the Bucs thriving in January.

The Bucs have lost three of their last four in a tough stretch of Saints, Panthers, Rams and Chiefs.  They have the late bye this week – then four games against teams with losing records – Vikings, at Falcons, at Lions, Falcons.  But Minnesota and Atlanta are playing with a pulse.

NFC WEST

LOS ANGELES RAMS

The Rams turned it over four times Sunday in losing to the 49ers and QB JARED GOFF’s hands were on three of them.  Lindsey Thiry of ESPN.com:

Los Angeles Rams coach Sean McVay didn’t mince words after a 23-20 loss to the injury-plagued San Francisco 49ers on Sunday.

“Our quarterback has got to take better care of the football,” McVay said tersely after the game.

Jared Goff produced three turnovers against the 49ers in what has become a growing trend for the fifth-year quarterback over the past four games.

“We’re not taking good enough care of the football and that’s something that’s got to change, otherwise I’m going to continue to sit up here and say this week in and week out,” McVay said. “It just can’t continue to happen.”

The Rams had a total of four turnovers, including a lost fumble by running back Malcolm Brown on the Rams’ opening drive.

“It comes down to us executing and ultimately myself executing and taking care of the football and throwing it where it needs to be thrown and being smart with it,” said Goff, who has four seasons remaining on a $134 million extension that included $110 million guaranteed.

Goff has had three games with multiple turnovers since a Week 8 28-17 loss to the Miami Dolphins, when he threw two interceptions and was strip-sacked twice.

This season, Goff has thrown 10 interceptions and has lost four fumbles. His 14 turnovers rank as the second most in the NFL, tied with Minnesota Vikings quarterback Kirk Cousins, and a spot behind Philadelphia Eagles quarterback Carson Wentz, who has 18 turnovers.

“They’re all different,” Goff said about his giveaways. “At the end of the day, they need to be eliminated. I don’t think there’s one thing that needs to stop, it just needs to be a little bit smarter with the ball and better decision-making.”

McVay didn’t hesitate to provide a variety of suggestions to cure Goff’s ball-security issues.

“It might be keeping two hands on the ball, it might be that if somebody is swarming around you that you can’t just throw it away when you don’t see where you’re going, being able to trust your guys to separate,” McVay said. “But overall, any time that you turn it over as many times as we did and he did, it’s just got to be better. He’s capable of it, but we just got to be able to get it done.”

The Rams’ defense produced three turnovers and a touchdown, but it wasn’t enough to overcome the offensive woes as Goff completed 19 of 31 passes for 198 yards, with two interceptions. He had a 52.9 passer rating.

In the first quarter, Goff threw a pass directly to 49ers cornerback Richard Sherman, who easily came away with the interception. Then with less than a minute to play in the half, the Rams trailing 7-3, Goff scrambled 3 yards before defensive back Jimmie Ward tackled him and knocked out the ball. And Goff fared no better after halftime, as rookie defensive tackle Javon Kinlaw intercepted a pass and returned it 27 yards to give the 49ers a 14-3 lead.

Goff has had an especially difficult time recently handling pressure, according to ESPN Stats & Information. He has thrown six interceptions under pressure this season — including Sunday’s third-quarter pick, which is tied with Wentz for the most in the NFL.

The defeat drops the Rams to 7-4 and served as their fourth straight loss to Kyle Shanahan and the 49ers, who improved to 5-6.

“We’re not going to win many games when we take care of the football like that, so give them credit,” McVay said. “But in a lot of instances we didn’t do enough to win the football game, I don’t care who you’re playing.”

Peter King drops a stat:

Eight straight games for Jared Goff scoring 30 or less. In this scoreathon season, Sean McVay’s got to be in pain—in part for being 3-3 in his last six, in part for the Rams averaging 21.2 points a game in that stretch.

AFC WEST

DENVER

Peter King on the NFL’s thinking in making the Broncos play without a real NFL QB:

The forfeit concept doesn’t seem like it’s going to be a part of the game. Lots of issues with it, even if a team suffers some positive tests by ignoring strict adherence to protocols. If a game’s not played, does the perpetrating team get a loss in the standings, and does its foe that week get a win just for having the good fortune of being on the schedule that week? If a game’s not played, by agreement with the players union, players are not paid that week; that’s not going to work. The NFL seems to believe a bit in Hammurabi’s Code this season: If the Broncos’ quarterbacks messed up in protocol behavior (they admit to being lax with mask-wearing in an off-day film session with one positive player in the room who they didn’t know was positive at the time), then the Broncos should suffer for it. That’s not the reason the NFL gave for not allowing Denver to push Sunday’s game back a day or two, but it’s a sort of eye-for-an-eye byproduct. The NFL said if the Broncos had enough able-bodied players, well, tough luck.

Earlier in the column I addressed the October letter to teams from Goodell. But the Denver-New Orleans game filled my email box with messages from (if I may generalize) ticked-off Broncos fans. Wrote Dan Wilson: “I’m hoping in your column this week you can give some insight into why Broncos fans were subjected to the travesty of what should have been a football game, but really didn’t resemble much of one. Why would the NFL reschedule other games but not this one? Why single out the Broncos?”

I agree that it would have been more equitable, without much of a downside except for inconveniencing the Saints, to push the game to Tuesday, when three of the Denver quarterbacks, had they continued to test negative, would have been eligible to play because they’d have tested negative for five days since last being in close contact with the positive player. The NFL moved the Baltimore game (twice) because the league said it wanted to get past the period that players would most likely test positive for the same strain of the virus that was sweeping the team. Dawn Aponte of the league’s football operations team told me Sunday that when the league approved 16-man Practice Squads, part of the reasoning was that the league “would not postpone or reschedule a game simply because of perceived or actual competitive implications—and that went all the way through multiple players up to an entire position group.”

Added Polian: “So it’s up to each club to make sure that they have enough players to cover any kind of occurrence that would take place. In this particular case, they [the Broncos] did have four quarterbacks, but if you’ll remember that [Bucs coach] Bruce Ariens at the very beginning of training camp talked about quarantining one quarterback, keeping him out of the line of fire, so that he’s available in case this very thing should happen. Denver did not do that.”

Starting quarterback Drew Lock put the blame on his shoulders Sunday on social media for not being disciplined enough when the quarterbacks came in last Tuesday for some voluntary tape study. Masks were worn, but not all the time. Distance was fudged, the players not keeping six feet apart at all times, and it was clear from someone who watched the tape of the session, with the four quarterbacks in the room, that Lock and the quarterbacks were too comfortable with each other. Lock stepping up didn’t absolve him in the eyes of his coach, whose staff had to figure out a game plan with no quarterbacks, to play against one of the best teams in football. Not optimal. “I was disappointed on a couple levels,” coach Vic Fangio said. “That our quarterbacks put us in this position and that our quarterbacks put the league in this position. We count on them to be the leaders of the team and leaders of the offense and those guys made a mistake and that is disappointing . . . There was a failing there and that’s disappointing.”

KANSAS CITY

WR TYREEK HILL is one of Peter King’s Offensive Players of the Week:

Tyreek Hill, wide receiver, Kansas City. Seven catches for 203 yards, with touchdowns of 75 and 44 yards . . . in the first 14 minutes of the game. Man, the gift of speed is being used wonderfully by Hill, with an assist from a quarterback who lays the ball out for him so perfectly. Check out Hill’s first-quarter receptions alone, in yards gained: 34, 23, 1, 75, 19, 7 and 44. For the game, Hill totaled 13 catches for 269 yards and three touchdowns.

LOS ANGELES CHARGERS

DE JOEY BOSA dominated so much in Buffalo that he was one of Peter King’s Defensive Players of the Week, even in defeat:

Joey Bosa, defensive end, Los Angeles Chargers. In a 10-point loss at Buffalo, the feisty Bosa was the best player on the field: three sacks, eight tackles, three more tackles for loss, a fumble recovery. Imagine Bosa at peak health for 16 Sundays, every year. That would mean the Chargers would be playing more than 16 games every year.

AFC SOUTH

HOUSTON

The Texans have taken an upward turn after Bill O’Brien was deposed:

So the Texans are 4-3 since firing Bill O’Brien, and though they won’t have the juice barring a miracle to mount a playoff run, they’ve at least shown they’re an attractive job for the next coach. Maybe they give Romeo Crennel a shot at the full-time gig, but seeing that he’ll be 73 next opening day, it’s probably more likely they open the job to all comers. Though it’s a factor that the front office is in shambles and they’ll be at a major draft disadvantage with first and second-round picks in 2021 traded away, Deshaun Watson is a fantastic magnet. In the midst of all the Houston mayhem, Watson’s having his best year.

INDIANAPOLIS

Tough health news out of Indianapolis, and it does not involve Covid.  Nick Shook ofNFL.com:

Rigoberto Sanchez’s NFL career is going on pause for a more important battle.

The punter on Monday announced he has been diagnosed with cancer and will be undergoing surgery Tuesday to remove the cancerous tumor recently found by doctors.

“Like I said before, it’s always God’s plan and it will always be bigger than my plans,” Sanchez wrote in his announcement. “So grateful to be surrounded by doctors that helped me catch the cancerous tumor before it spread all over my body. I will be getting surgery on Tuesday and I know that it will not be an easy bump in the road, but I know I have my amazing wife supporting me along with family and friends reaching out.

“Unfortunately, there are things you can’t control in life and this is one of them. No plans or preparation would have gotten me ready for this kind of adversity, but like I told my wife, we can’t flinch. Keep striving to come back stronger than ever.

“Makes me sick that I’ll have to miss some time playing beside my brothers, but I know they will hold it down.

“I will be watching. Love y’all.”

Though Sanchez mentioned in his announcement that he’ll “have to miss some time,” the actual timetable remains unknown.

Sanchez is in his fourth professional season, all spent with the Indianapolis Colts, who signed him as an undrafted free agent out of Hawaii in 2017. The punter and kickoff specialist has appeared in 59 games over his career.

JACKSONVILLE

It looks like Doug Marrone will finish out the season, but the GM responsible for his roster has been given the heave-ho.

Peter King approves:

News item: Jaguars fire GM Dave Caldwell. That’s all? Caldwell survived eight years (well, eight years minus a month) despise losing 12, 13, 11, 13, 6, 11, 10 and 10 games in his eight years. Amazing to be able to keep a job in the dog-eat-dog world of the NFL with seven double-digit-loss seasons out of eight. But that one season, coming within 10 minutes of a Super Bowl in 2017, allowed Caldwell to hang around this long. A matter of time before the same fate befalls coach Doug Marrone.

More from Michael DiRicco of ESPN.com:

The Jacksonville Jaguars have fired general manager Dave Caldwell after a third consecutive season of double-digit losses.

Caldwell has been the Jaguars’ GM since January 2013 and has presided over only one winning season. The Jaguars are 39-86 in his tenure and have lost 10 or more games in every season under Caldwell except 2017. Sunday’s 27-25 loss to the Cleveland Browns dropped Jacksonville to 1-10 this season.

“I’ve met with Dave Caldwell to express my appreciation for his service to the Jacksonville Jaguars as our general manager,” owner Shad Khan said in a statement. “Dave was exceptionally committed and determined to bring a winner to Jacksonville, but unfortunately his efforts were not rewarded with the results our fans deserve and our organization expects. Our football operation needs new leadership, and we will have it with a new general manager in 2021.”

Head coach Doug Marrone and his staff will continue to serve the team through the rest of the season. Trent Baalke, the team’s director of player personnel, will serve as the interim GM through the end of the season.

The Jaguars have lost 10 straight games after winning their season opener against the Indianapolis Colts. Only the winless New York Jets have a worse record this season.

The Jaguars’ 86 losses under Caldwell is tied with the Cleveland Browns for the most in the NFL in that span, according to ESPN Stats & Information.

Caldwell had some success in the draft but not as much with his first-round picks. None of them from 2013 to ’16 remains with the team. Former executive vice president of football operations Tom Coughlin, who was fired last December, had the final say on all football matters and was ultimately responsible for the team’s drafts from 2017 to ’19.

Offensive tackle Luke Joeckel (2013) is no longer in the league. Quarterback Blake Bortles (2014) lasted five seasons and put together a solid 2017 season. Instead of allowing him to play on the fifth-year option, the Jaguars signed him to a contract extension. However, Bortles struggled so badly in 2018 that he was benched and the team decided to move on even though it would cost it $16.5 million in dead money in 2019. He was cut a day after the team signed quarterback Nick Foles to a four-year, $88 million contract.

Defensive end Dante Fowler (2015) was traded to the Los Angeles Rams last season.

Cornerback Jalen Ramsey (2016) — arguably one of the best defensive players in franchise history — grew unhappy with management, asked for a trade, and sat out two games with a back injury before he was sent to the Rams in October 2019 for two first-round picks and a fourth-round pick.

Running back Leonard Fournette (2017) was cut this past September.

Caldwell also drafted center Brandon Linder (2014), defensive end Yannick Ngakoue (2016) and linebacker Myles Jack (2016) and was instrumental in signing defensive end Calais Campbell, safety Barry Church and cornerback A.J. Bouye in free agency in 2017. The Jaguars, however, were unable to sign Ngakoue to a second contract and he was traded to Minnesota in August for second- and fifth-round picks in 2021.

The Jaguars also were unable to sign receiver Allen Robinson to a second contract and did not use the franchise tag on him, which allowed him to leave in free agency.

Caldwell was primarily responsible for free agency (Coughlin did have veto power) and while the class in 2017 may go down as the best in franchise history, the past two groups of free agents have been a major disappointment. The Jaguars made Andrew Norwell the highest-paid guard in the NFL (he’s now third highest) and he has been average at best, though he’s in the midst of his best season. Receiver Marqise Lee has played just six games since re-signing and was released in the offseason.

Other major free-agent disappointments: receiver Donte Moncrief, tight Austin Seferian-Jenkins, linebacker Jake Ryan, tight end Geoff Swaim, and tight end Niles Paul. Nickelback D.J. Hayden and receiver Chris Conley have been the best players signed in the last two seasons.

Even with the success of the 2016 draft and 2017 free agency, the Jaguars just didn’t win enough games in Caldwell’s tenure. He hired coach Gus Bradley in 2013 to begin a rebuild and the team’s struggles the first two seasons (7-25) were expected, but the Jaguars won only eight games in 2015-16 and the team fired Bradley with two games remaining in the 2016 season.

Khan brought in Coughlin in January 2017 and gave him the final say on football decisions, but Coughlin and Caldwell worked closely together to try to build on the team’s 2017 success. The 2018 season quickly deteriorated into a disaster after a 3-1 start because of injuries to the offensive line, tight end, and Fournette, who also struggled to stay in shape and ended the season with major questions about his work ethic and maturity.

The Jaguars brought in Foles in March 2019 and gave him a franchise-record $50.125 million guaranteed. Foles — who had never played a complete season in which he entered the season as his team’s unquestioned starter — got hurt in the first half of the season opener. He struggled when he returned and was eventually benched for sixth-round rookie Gardner Minshew.

The Jaguars were one of the league’s worst teams in the second half of the season, losing five games in a row by more than 17 points — the first time that has happened since the 1986 Tampa Bay Buccaneers.

Khan gave Caldwell a two-year contract extension through the 2021 season after the 2017 season.

Peter King with some names for the GM vacancies in Jacksonville and elsewhere:

Sense I get from conversations with two veteran team executives over the weekend: The field of general managers is better than the field of coaches. “The GM list is very impressive—very impressive,” one said. “Coaches are okay. But I won’t be surprised to see a team on the fence with their current guy willing to get rid of him because of the crop of candidates out there.” Rick Smith (ex of Houston), ESPN’s Louis Riddick (lost out to Dave Gettleman with Giants), riser Champ Kelly, Indy’s Ed Dodds and Will McClay of Dallas are all strong, and there’s a pool of six or eight more that some teams are investigating.

TENNESSEE

Ho hum – RB DERRICK HENRY is again an Offensive Player of the Week for Peter King:

Derrick Henry, running back, Tennessee. The more I watch Henry, the more I think he’s got the physicality and the hole-picking of Earl Campbell. What power, and what balance. Henry is also like Patrick Mahomes in this way: He has so many ridiculously impactful games that when you see him rush 27 times for 178 yards (6.6 per carry) and three touchdowns, you just ho-hum it and say, Yeah, seen that a lot. But he’s run the Titans to the top of the AFC South with five games left. “Derrick for MVP!” A.J. Brown said on NFL Network.

AFC EAST

MIAMI

Miami wins without TUA, but he’s still the starter as Brian Flores doesn’t understand why the media would keep asking.  Kevin Patra of NFL.com:

The Miami Dolphins played it safe with rookie quarterback Tua Tagovailoa, sitting him during Sunday’s 20-3 win over the New York Jets due to a thumb injury suffered during last week’s practice.

Tua being inactive came after Flores benched the rookie in the fourth quarter of the Week 11 loss to Denver. Ryan Fitzpatrick started Sunday’s win — his third straight victory as a starter — and didn’t light the world on fire, generating 257 passing yards and two TDs against a woeful Gang Green squad.

Flores insisted that Tagovailoa will be the starter in Week 13 if healthy.

“Yeah, if he’s healthy, he’s the guy,” Flores said, via the team’s official transcript. “I don’t know how many different ways we have to continue to say that. You keep asking, I’ll keep answering the same way. Again, he’s dealing with something with the hand. We’ll take it day-to-day. He’s a tough kid. He wants to be out there. Thankfully, we have other guys who stepped up. We can talk about Tua, but we had 52 other guys who went out there and played their butts off today in all three phases. We were able to get a division win on the road. We’re excited to win. We’ll enjoy the win and then turn the page and move on to the next opponent, the Bengals.”

Tua struggled in his last start, leading to questions about whether the Dolphins’ playoff hopes would be in better hands with Fitzpatrick under center. For his part, Flores has never publicly wavered on his decision to move to Tagovailoa.

“We’ll see how he does in practice over the course of the week,” Flores noted of Tua’s injury. “He’s a tough kid. It was very close to him being able to go, but we have to make good decisions for him as well. We’ll see how he does over the course of this week in practice.”

It’s possible that Tua’s thumb injury lingers, allowing the Dolphins the excuse of keeping Fitzpatrick as the starter without calling it a benching of the rookie.

For his part, Fitzpatrick knows that Tua is the future, and he’s ready to support his teammate, regardless of whether that means he’ll once again be relegated to a backup role for a potential playoff team.

“I do think that’s important and I think just in the quarterback room in general having each other’s backs and supporting each other,” FitzMagic said. “I think that’s very important because it is such a tough position to play. I’ve now been put in a different role and when my number’s called, I’m going to go out there and win games for this team. So Flo (Brian Flores) is the head coach and we listen and respect what he says and we go from there.”

NEW ENGLAND

Peter King on what’s up for the Patriots after the win over Arizona:

Here comes the strangest road trip of the year: Pats at Chargers on Sunday, Pats in isolation at L.A. hotel for a few days (other than to practice), Pats at Rams on Thursday. New England kills two of its three 2020 Pacific Time road games in one six-day trip.