| As we head into Monday night, a note from Scott Kacsmar: @ScottKacsmarThe only 4Q lead changes in Week 7 were in the NFC North games. |
| NFC NORTH |
| DETROITKevin Patra of NFL.com recaps Detroit’s statement win in Minnesota: Dan Campbell told us from Day 1 what type of club he planned to build. Any lingering questions about whether the Lions coach pulled it off were washed away Sunday in Minnesota. The once infamous “bite a kneecap off” press conference looks more prophetic by the week as Campbell’s club builds on a remarkable résumé of resiliency. As impressive as Week 6’s domination in Dallas unfolded, losing its best player, Aidan Hutchinson, to a season-ending injury cast doubts about Detroit’s ability to remain a legit Lombardi challenger. Week 7’s bout against the 5-0 Vikings offered the testing ground. On the road, against a division leader who’d thrashed opponents. A blitzing defense that could give Jared Goff trouble and an offense with Justin Jefferson, who could pick apart the remade secondary. “It was going to come down to the wire,” Campbell said after Sunday’s 31-29 win, via The Athletic. “The team knew this. We talked about patience. Patience. Keep your composure. Communication. Attitude. Our guys did that. We hung in there, and we didn’t bat an eye. … Great team win. Complementary football across the board. Offense, defense, special teams when we need it most. Really proud of these guys. It’s a huge win on the road, tough environment. … Don’t want to say must-win, but we needed that in a lot of ways.” The first 15 minutes spelled trouble. Detroit suffered from penalties, sacks, a stuffed fake punt, a busted run-fit and zero first downs until the last play of the first quarter. The Lions got punched in the face, knocked down by a swift Viking hook. Then, Campbell’s club got up. On the way, they took chunks of flesh — as the coach once said they would. The Lions feasted. Jahmyr Gibbs bit off a 45-yard touchdown with a gorgeous juke in space. The offensive line picked up a Brian Flores blitz and Goff splashed a dime to Amon-Ra St. Brown for a touchdown. Brian Branch made a diving interception. Another Gibbs TD. In 10 minutes, a 10-point deficit became an 11-point lead. More adversity lay ahead. Kevin O’Connell’s offense got on track in the second half, Jefferson heated up and Minnesota chipped away at the Lions’ lead. Then, University of Michigan product Josh Metellus punched the ball away from David Montgomery, leading to a scoop-and-score from Ivan Pace Jr. late in the fourth quarter. In a blink, Campbell’s club once again found itself down. In the past, that gut punch would have been the final blow. But the Lions didn’t stay lying prostrate on the mat. The Hutchinson-less defense got a big three-and-out, and Goff swiftly guided the Lions into field-goal range with breathtaking ease. Jake Bates smashed home the game-winning field goal. NFC North lead taken. “We knew this game was gonna be like that,” Gibbs said. “Two great teams. Dan told us the whole week, ‘Patience.’ So, you know, everything was gonna fall in line and we was gonna click. We just kept that, took every play at a time.” Jefferson is known for doing The Griddy. Campbell’s club is known for being gritty. “We just like football,” defensive tackle D.J. Reader said. “Nobody’s got doubt. I don’t think anybody on our team has doubt that we’re gonna get it done. I think there’s a lot of outside doubt with what happened last week, losing guys, what we’re gonna be like, but I think inside our building, everybody’s very confident. Guys are super confident about who they are.” Sunday showed that Campbell has indeed built the kneecap-biting squad he’d always envisioned, one that always gets up swinging regardless of how many punches it’s taken. This from Dan Graziano of ESPN.com: The Lions are the best team in the NFC, even without Aidan HutchinsonOne of the big stories of the week was how Detroit would handle the loss of Hutchinson, its star edge rusher who fractured his left tibia and fibula in the Lions’ Week 6 victory in Dallas. Possibly the best player on one of the league’s most loaded rosters, Hutchinson is also a heart-and-soul type of player on the Detroit defense. The Lions have already made calls about potential trades for edge rushers, and they’ll continue to be a team to watch ahead of the Nov. 5 trade deadline. But in the meantime, they needed to go into a hostile environment Sunday and win a game against an undefeated division rival coming off its bye week. And they did. The Lions and Vikings share the NFC’s best record, and through Sunday’s early window, the Lions held the conference’s top point differential (by one point over the Vikings). Verdict: NOT AN OVERREACTIONYes, the loss of Hutchinson creates a major problem for the Detroit coaches to solve. But the Detroit coaches are an elite group of problem-solvers and motivators, and the reason to love the Lions remains the culture that Dan Campbell and his staff have created there. This is a team with a strong foundation, a great deal of confidence and an us-against-the-world mentality. It’s also a team that held a 17-point lead in the second half of the NFC Championship Game on the road in San Francisco nine months ago. The Lions can maul you with their offensive line and control things with their running game, and quarterback Jared Goff has nine touchdowns and 15 incomplete passes during the Lions’ current four-game winning streak. The Lions’ 120 points over their past three games are their most in a three-game span since November 1997 (125), per ESPN Research. With the Eagles and 49ers sorting through a bunch of early-season issues, and with a head-to-head road victory over the Vikings in their pocket, the Lions are the NFC’s team to beat.– – -Albert Breer of SI.com starts the QB JARED GOFF for MVP campaign, and you’re not going to hear the DB say it’s a bad idea: Jared Goff is an MVP candidate. And to try to illustrate my feelings on that, I reminded Detroit Lions coach Dan Campbell of something he said to me about his quarterback a couple of years ago—on why, when everyone saw Goff as a salary dump in the Matthew Stafford trade, he saw something else. As the story goes, Campbell was the New Orleans Saints’ tight ends coach and assistant head coach in 2018, when Goff was the Los Angeles Rams’ rising second-year quarterback. The two teams played in the NFC title game that winter, in January ’19. One of Campbell’s most vivid memories from it was how, in maybe the loudest, most intense environment he’d ever been in, the other team’s quarterback was so calm and level, as he coolly ended Campbell’s season. Campbell filed it away, drew on it as the Lions negotiated the trade of Stafford, and benefited from it once again Sunday in Minneapolis. That quality Goff showed on that afternoon in January 2019 loomed large when Detroit stumbled out of the gate on this Sunday in October ’24. Simply put, everything that could go wrong did go wrong. A fake punt on the Lions’ first series failed. The Vikings scored two plays later, with Aaron Jones bouncing an inside run to the outside and running 33 yards to paydirt. Goff then took a sack on third-and-3, Sam Darnold hit a big one to Justin Jefferson and it was 10–0 before you could blink. Which is exactly where the never-blink aspect to Goff’s makeup came into play. “It’s what you don’t see,” Campbell told me after the game. “It’s what you can’t see with your eyes. That’s the most important thing for any player that’s in this league, that wants to be a player you can count on. That’s what he’s got in his brain and what he’s got in his heart. The guy’s a competitor. He doesn’t get frazzled. He’s tough. He’s durable. That’s what makes him dangerous. That’s what makes him a winner. “That’s what makes him the type of guy that when the chips are down and things have not gone your way, he’s going to find a way to move the ball for us and make a big throw and help us win. That’s what I don’t second guess or worry about at all. He’s that type of player. That is a rare trait in this league. When you’ve got talent, and he’s got talent, but it’s the other thing. How many times have we seen these quarterbacks, and they’ve got all the gifts, but when you need them, they crumble? This guy doesn’t.” It was clear from the underneath throws to Amon-Ra St. Brown and Jahmyr Gibbs on the drive that straddled the first and second quarter, which set up a 45-yard burst from Gibbs (with some Vikings’ ankles broken in the process) for the team’s first touchdown. It was seen again in how he stood in against a six-man pressure to throw a dime to the post to St. Brown for a 35-yard score on the team’s next possession. Then, there were throws he made to Gibbs and St. Brown on the final possession, with the Lions down 29–28, and down to their last shot to win the game. “We’re sitting there with under two minutes, a minute and a half, and we hit the pass to Saint across the middle that really puts us in position for [rookie Jake] Bates to kick the game-winner,” Campbell says. “Believe me, he had more than that, but those are the ones I think of.” Thing is, some people will look at it, and think that Goff’s success is a product of what’s around him. To a degree, that’s true. But that’s true of a lot of quarterbacks who’ve won MVP awards in the past. This is also true: Goff’s passer rating Sunday was a sparkling 140.0, and had it been 10 points higher, he’d have become the first quarterback ever to hit 150 in three consecutive weeks. He’s sixth in the NFL in passing yards and touchdown passes, second in completion percentage, and first among starting QBs in yards per attempt and passer rating. But, again, this is about more than all of that. It’s about the belief, too, that the Lions have when faced with the kind of adversity that hit Sunday. And that’s no surprise for Detroit anymore, to the point where Campbell, on purpose this time, didn’t give him a game ball. “I didn’t give him one,” Campbell says. “He may get one. Why not? But what about Gibbs and St. Brown? I always give [more] out on Wednesday. We love the guy. I know exactly who he is.” And as for the idea he could win MVP? “You’re not going to hear me disagree with that,” Campbell says. “I’m not going to fight you.” Yup, Campbell knows what he’s got—just what he hoped he was trading for three years ago. Even if this is a little better than even he might’ve expected. It’s not quite the same as what Breer was selling, but here are the best passer ratings in a span of three games (same season, 40+ attempts) Jared Goff, Lions 153.1 2024 9/30 to 10-/20Nick Foles, Eagles 152.8 2013 11/3 to 11/17Kurt Warner, Rams 152.3 1999 9/26 to 10/10 |
| GREEN BAYAfter putting the Packers behind with blunders, QB JORDAN LOVE won the game against the Texans in the clutch. Josh Alper of ProFootballTalk.com: Packers quarterback Jordan Love drove his team 44 yards in the final 104 seconds of Sunday’s game against the Texans to set up Brandon McManus’s game-winning field goal try and he was able to celebrate after the new Packer lifted the team to a 24-22 win. Love’s four completions on that drive helped win the game, but the quarterback’s earlier mistakes helped put the Texans in the lead in the first place. Love threw a pair of interceptions during the game and he has now thrown eight in his five starts this season, which is the most in the league and something that makes life more difficult on the Packers’ attempts to win week in and week out. After the game, Love said he’s going to “keep moving on” in the face of negative plays because he believes taking risks is necessary to reap rewards. “You just gotta play the game,” Love said, via the team’s website. “You’ve gotta go out there and play it. You can’t try and not be aggressive and take checkdowns all day. You’ve got to be out there and be aggressive and go win those games. I’m always going to play the way I play, and learn from mistakes, and grow from them.” Love threw 11 interceptions in 17 games last season, so this is a significant change in how he’s playing the game in his second year as the team’s starter. The Packers are 5-2, so they’ve been able to survive the bad plays for the most part but there’s still work to be done on maximizing Love’s positives while minimizing the risk that comes with turnovers. |
| NFC EAST |
| DALLASLB MICAH PARSONS comes out of the bye questionable for this week and the 49ers per Todd Archer of ESPN.com: Dallas Cowboys pass rusher Micah Parsons is unsure whether he will play Sunday against the San Francisco 49ers after missing the past two games with a high left ankle sprain. Parsons, who spent the Cowboys’ bye week getting treatment on his ankle, said the decision will come down to himself, the medical staff and coaches. “I don’t think there’s anything I can’t do physically,” Parsons said Monday. “It’s just more they want to make sure I’m at my best. They kind of know what my best looks like, so it’s just one thing I’ve got to keep working and showing it. They’re monitoring the situation.” Parsons suffered the injury in the fourth quarter of the Cowboys’ Sept. 26 victory against the New York Giants. The Cowboys beat the Pittsburgh Steelers in Week 5 without Parsons, but suffered a 47-9 loss to the Detroit Lions in the second game he missed. The Cowboys allowed 492 total yards, 184 yards rushing, and the Lions scored on nine of 12 possessions. These are the first games Parsons has missed due to injury. He missed one game in 2021 because of COVID-19. |
| NEW YORK GIANTSBrian Daboll was hoping for a “spark” when he put QB DREW LOCK into Sunday’s thrashing by the Eagles, but the Giant offense continued to fizzle. QB DANIEL JONES will start again next week. Bobby Kownack of NFL.com: There’s a silver lining, albeit a small one, to Daniel Jones’ ineffective day in the Giants’ 28-3 loss to the Philadelphia Eagles: He’ll still have a chance to redeem himself. Nothing went right for Jones, whose offense spent most of the day stuck in the mud before his fourth-quarter benching, at which point the quarterback had thrown for just 99 yards on 14-of-21 passing as the G-Men trailed by 25 points. Despite the struggles, though, New York head coach Brian Daboll told reporters early on in his postgame news conference that Jones remains his guy. “Made a change in the fourth quarter when it was 28-3, we had 100 yards, just to create a spark,” Daboll said of the switch to Drew Lock. “Daniel will be the quarterback going forward. But obviously we didn’t do enough offensively. Hardly had any yards. No points.” The Giants offense did actually get three on the board right before halftime, but was otherwise stymied and shut out by a swarming Eagles defense. And although Jones certainly carries some of the burden for the team’s anemic outing, little else went right around him. With left tackle Andrew Thomas out for the season following Lisfranc surgery, Big Blue’s ground game had nothing going. Outside of QB scrambles, New York gained just 43 yards on the ground, as Tyrone Tracy Jr. led the way with 23 yards. Jones found himself constantly under duress and took six sacks, but he also failed to hit the big plays that occasionally became available to him. Even wideout Malik Nabers’ return from a two-game absence couldn’t kickstart things; the rookie led the club in receiving with 41 yards on four catches. Asked what makes him think Jones is capable of creating explosive plays when he’s failed to do so for the past couple of years, Daboll — as the Giants did for most of the day — somewhat punted the question. “We have some guys around him that can create explosive plays,” he said. “We’ll just go back to the drawing board and do the very best we can to try to improve that area. For two weeks in a row, but it’s been a little bit longer than that, we haven’t created ’em. And we need to.” Still, New York didn’t turn things around given multiple drives sans Jones, instead finding similar struggles behind Lock against an Eagles squad that had eased off the throttle with a 25-point lead. Jones had eight of his nine drives, which went for a total of 94 net yards, end in punts. On Lock’s three drives (excluding running out the clock on a fourth), New York added just 13 more net yards and three more punts, and the backup QB also fumbled twice. It was the type of game the Giants will want to throw away to get back on track, and that’s what they’ll aim to do with Jones leading the way. |
| WASHINGTONQB JAYDEN DANIELS does not have a serious rib injury and could play as soon as Sunday against the Bears. Ben Standig and Larry Holder of The Athletic: Washington Commanders rookie quarterback Jayden Daniels is considered “week to week” after sustaining a rib injury during the first quarter of the team’s lopsided Week 7 win over the Carolina Panthers on Sunday. Commanders coach Dan Quinn provided the time frame during a Monday news conference, saying it’s not a long-term issue and the team is hopeful Daniels can play in Week 8 against the Chicago Bears. It’s a matchup potentially involving Daniels, the No. 2 pick in the 2024 NFL Draft, and Bears quarterback Caleb Williams, the player taken one spot ahead of Daniels at No. 1. “We’ll take him through all the steps at practice and assess how he’s doing and keep working through that,” Quinn said. “We’re hopeful he can play, but we’ll also make sure to take every precautionary step and do it smartly for the player and the man.” Quinn confirmed Daniels was injured when he was flipped by a defender at the end of a 46-yard run in the first quarter. Daniels remained in the game and had rushes of seven and three yards, as Washington capped the drive with Austin Seibert’s 23-yard field goal. Daniels was checked out on the sideline in the blue medical tent during the subsequent defensive series. He re-emerged as the Commanders regained possession following Carolina quarterback Andy Dalton’s second interception. Daniels walked onto the field and attempted practice throws before being waived back in favor of backup Marcus Mariota. The rookie then walked toward the locker room. Daniels was initially announced as “questionable to return,” but was ruled out at halftime with the Commanders leading 27-0. At the start of the second half, he returned to the sideline out of uniform, but with a smile on his face and was waving to the crowd. |
| NFC SOUTH |
| ATLANTAThe Falcons opted to draft QB MICHAEL PENIX, Jr. in the first round and left improving the pass rush for later. Marc Raimondi of ESPN.com on how that is going: Atlanta Falcons coach Raheem Morris joked last week that Carolina Panthers quarterback Andy Dalton looked like Michael Vick on one play, spinning away from Falcons defenders en route to a big gain on the ground. It was easy for Morris and Falcons fans to laugh after a blowout win over the struggling Panthers. But there wasn’t much humor coming a week later, after Atlanta’s 34-14 loss to the Seattle Seahawks on Sunday, when the team’s lack of a pass rush stood out again. Morris said after the game the Falcons came out “flat” without “the energy required to win,” and that things weren’t clicking on offense, defense or special teams. He wasn’t wrong, but that hasn’t always been the case for Atlanta this year. The Falcons are 4-3 and have had ups and downs in what has mostly been a positive season. The one thing consistent through seven weeks, though? It’s the pass rush. Or lack thereof. The Falcons have a league-worst six sacks, and their pass rush win rate (34.4%) is the sixth-worst in the NFL. Dalton could only do so much evading Falcons would-be tacklers. Seahawks quarterback Geno Smith was able to do much more. Going into the fourth quarter, when the game was still on the line, Smith was actually pressured on 12 of his 27 dropbacks (44%). But the Falcons mustered only a single sack, by edge rusher James Smith-Williams, who specializes more in run stuffing. Smith was 6-of-9 for 92 yards and a touchdown when the Falcons got pressure. He was able to avoid the rush and make big plays. “We’ve gotta hit the quarterback in a timely fashion,” Morris said in his postgame news conference. “We’ve gotta get him on the ground when we send people, can’t let him scramble around, do some of those things and we gotta go back and find ways to fix it.” Getting to the quarterback was an area the Falcons knew they had to address in the offseason. A pass rusher was their primary target with the No. 8 pick in the draft, but then quarterback Michael Penix Jr. fell to Atlanta, and the team felt it could get its future at the position — despite having already signed Kirk Cousins to a four-year, $180 million contract. Falcons general manager Terry Fontenot tried to trade back into the first round of the draft to get a pass rusher, but wasn’t able to do so. Atlanta was able to get University of Washington edge rusher Bralen Trice in the third round, but he was lost for the season due to a torn ACL in the preseason. Still seeing that glaring need, Fontenot traded a 2025 third-round pick to the New England Patriots for edge rusher Matthew Judon in late August, on the eve of the season. Judon had 15.5 sacks in 2022 but a season-ending bicep injury cut short his 2023 campaign. So far, Judon has just 1.5 sacks through seven games. He’s tied for the team lead in sacks with interior defensive lineman Grady Jarrett. Other than Smith-Williams’ sack Sunday, Judon’s 1.5 sacks represent the only sacks Atlanta has from the edge. Arnold Ebiketie, a second-round pick in 2022, has played well in recent weeks getting pressure, but doesn’t have a sack on the season. Another edge rusher, Lorenzo Carter, was placed on injured reserve Saturday due to a concussion. The Falcons signed Demone Harris from the practice squad to replace Carter, and he had pressure against Seattle, but also fell into Smith for a roughing the passer call in the third quarter on third down that led to a Seahawks touchdown on the next play. The Falcons have not had a respectable pass rush in nearly a decade. They were near the bottom in every pass rush statistical category in 2023 and haven’t had a double-digit sack producer since Vic Beasley in 2016. Last week, Falcons defensive coordinator Jimmy Lake said the pass rush tactics in practice and in games were getting better, but the results had not been seen just yet. “The process that our guys are going through, it is correct, and we’ve just gotta trust that the results are gonna come, the results are gonna come,” Lake said. “And we’re really, really, really close.” Close wasn’t good enough Sunday, and the Falcons are only a game over .500 with road games against divisional opponents Tampa Bay Buccaneers and New Orleans Saints coming in the next three weeks. Could Atlanta, whose front-office has been aggressive in trying to improve the team over the last few months, swing a trade for someone like Maxx Crosby before the deadline? Morris was asked about a potential deal on the Dukes and Bell radio show last week. “Nothing,” Morris said, “would shock me.” |
| NFC WEST |
| LOS ANGELES RAMSShanna McCarriston of CBSSports.com notes the continued scoring of RB KYREN WILLIAMS: Kyren Williams’ TD party continuesThis is becoming a weekly segment, and until he stops scoring touchdowns every week, we will continue to update you on his streak. Rams running back Kyren Williams improved his touchdown streak to nine straight games. Greg Bell holds the franchise running back record for consecutive games scoring a TD with 10, taking place during the 1988 and 1989 seasons. Williams is inching closer to that record. Williams finished with 76 yards on 21 rushing attempts and TWO touchdowns in a win against the Las Vegas Raiders. |
| SAN FRANCISCOWR BRANDON AIYUK will be well-compensated as he watches the rest of the season from the sidelines. Nick Wagoner of ESPN.com: – On a day when the San Francisco 49ers celebrated the return of one wide receiver, they lost another — possibly for the season. Brandon Aiyuk, who has led the Niners in most receiving categories in the past two seasons, suffered what the team fears is a torn anterior cruciate ligament in his right knee in Sunday’s 28-18 loss to the Kansas City Chiefs. If the further testing Aiyuk has coming in the next 24 hours confirms that diagnosis, Aiyuk will need surgery and miss the rest of the season. “That’s what it looks like, but we don’t know for sure,” coach Kyle Shanahan said. “Been wrong before. So, praying that we are.” At the start of the day, Aiyuk was the only healthy 49er among the team’s top three wideouts. Jauan Jennings was ruled out Friday with a hip injury, while Deebo Samuel arrived at Levi’s Stadium with an illness that was announced about 30 minutes before the game with the caveat that Samuel was expected to play. Samuel walked onto the field just before the game started and participated in the coin toss but was moving slowly. He played four snaps but quickly retreated to the sideline and did not return. He had no catches or carries before his day was over. “Throat, stomach things, just real fatigued,” Shanahan said. “Struggled to breathe, couldn’t catch his breath … he kept trying to fight through it, but once he was struggling with the breathing and everything, we had to shut him down.” While the Niners are hopeful that Jennings and Samuel will be back for next week’s game against the Dallas Cowboys, Aiyuk’s situation appears more serious. With 48 seconds left in the second quarter, Niners quarterback Brock Purdy found Aiyuk between two Kansas City defenders for a gain of 15 yards. Chiefs defensive backs Chamarri Conner and Trent McDuffie converged on Aiyuk as he took a low hit, leaving his knee in a precarious position. Aiyuk stayed down as Niners medical personnel came out to help before he was able to get up, slowly limp to the sideline and head to the medical tent. He went to the locker room soon after and a return was ruled out as the third quarter opened. He had two catches for 23 yards at the time of his departure, leaving the receiver duties to veterans Chris Conley and Ronnie Bell and rookies Ricky Pearsall and Jacob Cowing. “It sucks,” tight end George Kittle said. “I love Brandon Aiyuk, the energy that he brings, what he can do on the football field, routes, catching the ball. He’s an incredible football player … You can’t really replace, in my opinion, one of the best receivers in the NFL.” The 49ers signed Aiyuk to a four-year, $120 million extension in August after an extended contract dispute that almost resulted in him being traded to multiple teams, including the Pittsburgh Steelers and Cleveland Browns. In 2023, Aiyuk had 75 receptions for 1,342 yards and seven touchdowns en route to second-team All-Pro honors. But he was off to a slower start this year with 25 catches for 374 yards and no scores. Still, Aiyuk’s loss is no small thing, especially when paired with the other significant injuries that continue to pile up for the Niners. If Aiyuk misses an extended period, he would join running back Christian McCaffrey (Achilles tendinitis), linebacker Dre Greenlaw (torn Achilles), defensive tackle Javon Hargrave (torn triceps) and safety Talanoa Hufanga (torn ligaments in his wrist) among key 49ers to be out for a significant amount of time. That would also put additional pressure on Pearsall, the No. 31 pick in April’s draft, to produce quicker than expected. Pearsall made his debut Sunday, just 50 days after suffering a gunshot wound to the right side of his chest in an attempted arm robbery in San Francisco. “What BA does for our offense and who he is and as a teammate and the brother of ours, man, it’s sad,” Purdy said. “Wish him nothing but the best and praying for him. So that’s my guy. And when he goes down like that, obviously we have other guys that can step up and do their job really well … we all just got to come together as a group collectively, the receiver unit and all of us.” |
| AFC WEST |
| KANSAS CITYThe Chiefs entered Sunday’s game with a streak of 11 consecutive wins (including four in the postseason) without a game of more than 27 points scored. Now, it is 12 straight wins without a game more than 28 points scored. |
| LAS VEGASQB GARDNER MINSHEW II will get the Raiders starting QB job by default for the forseeable future as QB AIDEN O’CONNELL has a fractured thumb. Myles Simmons ofProFootballTalk.com: The Raiders won’t have quarterback Aidan O’Connell for at least a month. Per NFL Media, Las Vegas is placing O’Connell on injured reserve due to the fractured thumb he suffered during Sunday’s loss to the Rams. He is expected to be sidelined for four-to-six weeks. O’Connell, 26, had just replaced Gardner Minshew in the starting lineup for Week 6. He suffered the thumb injury in the first half of Sunday’s game when his hand hit Rams defensive back Kam Curl after a pass. O’Connell has completed 63 percent of his throws for 455 yards with two touchdowns and two interceptions in four appearances this year. With O’Connell out, Gardner Minshew will presumably slot back in as Las Vegas’ starting quarterback. His turnover problems continued against the Rams on Sunday, as he threw three interceptions and lost a fumble in the 20-15 loss. Minshew has completed 65.5 percent of his throws for 1,168 yards with four touchdowns and a league-high eight interceptions in 2024. |
| LOS ANGELES CHARGERSKris Rhim on the relationship between Coach Jim Harbaugh and QB JUSTIN HERBERT: The Los Angeles Chargers’ Week 1 matchup with the Las Vegas Raiders marked a seminal moment in the relationship between quarterback Justin Herbert and coach Jim Harbaugh. After the national anthem ended, Harbaugh pounded Herbert’s shoulder pads with his palms. Herbert, unprepared, attempted to go for a hug, but Harbaugh continued the barrage of slaps and punches to Herbert’s pads. The pad-punching stems from Harbaugh’s 14-year playing career, a tip he learned from Bears teammate and Hall of Fame running back Walter Payton to ease his nerves. Harbaugh has continued that ritual each game and Herbert’s willingness to participate surprised some players. “Justin has always hated cameras and things where he’s the center of attention,” left tackle Rashawn Slater said, “but I see him smiling when [Harbaugh] does it, so I’m like, that must be a sign that he really respects Coach.” One of the hallmarks of Harbaugh’s coaching career has been his relationships with the quarterbacks he has coached. From Josh Johnson at the University of San Diego to Colin Kaepernick with the San Francisco 49ers, Harbaugh has helped elevate the quarterbacks of his teams. But his relationship with Herbert is different. Harbaugh has been enamored with the 26-year-old Herbert since he took the job, fascinated by Herbert’s size, intelligence and even his clothes. Herbert, typically reserved and deflective of public praise, appears to have stepped outside his comfort zone to embrace Harbaugh. “He’s a guy that everyone wants to follow and play for,” Herbert said. It’s a relationship that will be crucial to a Chargers franchise that expects to contend for the organization’s first Super Bowl on the backs of Harbaugh and Herbert. The results on the field have fluctuated through six weeks, with Herbert recording career lows in almost every passing category, for the 3-2 Chargers ahead of “Monday Night Football” against the Arizona Cardinals (8:45 p.m. ET, ESPN+). “It is a little bit of a bromance,” tight end Hayden Hurst said. “I think Jim wants to really emulate Justin. He’s got all the physical traits that Jim said he doesn’t have, so it’s kind of funny. I think they complement each other well.” Like many players, Herbert often gives his teammates high-fives and slaps their helmets as they come off the field after big plays. But Harbaugh told Herbert earlier this season that that ritual needed to end. “He said not with the right hand,” Herbert said. “I can do high-fives with the left hand.” Harbaugh wants Herbert to protect the franchise’s most valuable hand. A fractured right index finger ended Herbert’s season in Week 14 last year, and the Chargers went winless in that span, so Harbaugh’s logic is sound. Still, that interaction admittedly made outside linebacker Joey Bosa jealous. “What about me? My fingers are already so destroyed. It doesn’t even matter,” Bosa joked. “But no, [Harbaugh] treats him how he should treat him, and I think their relationship is fun to watch.” That relationship can often look like Harbaugh mimicking Herbert in the way a younger brother might with an older one. Harbaugh said he wants to be best friends with Herbert, and that “if you don’t like — you don’t love — Justin Herbert, there’s something wrong with you.” At the same news conference, Harbaugh said he’d begun wearing the same Nike sneakers as Herbert, asking the equipment staff to get him a pair of “those Justin Herbert” shoes. He stepped to the left of the podium to show reporters the white and black sneakers. That admiration extends to other areas, like in a team meeting earlier this season when Herbert began doing calf raises and Harbaugh followed suit. “Jim’s looking him up and down and started doing calf raises, too,” Hurst said while hysterically laughing. Harbaugh played quarterback for 14 years in the NFL but never had Herbert’s passing ability; it’s one of the reasons why he admires Herbert. Harbaugh told reporters that if he had the choice of genes to trade with Herbert during his playing career, Herbert’s arm talent would be at the top of the list. Harbaugh also once said he began coaching backup quarterbacks Easton Stick and Taylor Heinicke differently because Herbert is “unreplicable.” On the field, the relationship hasn’t yielded overwhelming success for Herbert. In fact, Herbert is off to the worst statistical start of his career. For all of Harbaugh’s affection for Herbert, offensive coordinator Greg Roman has employed Herbert’s arm less than prior coaches. “If we throw 500 times or 50 times, we just have to be executing as an offense,” Herbert said. “Selfishly, I love to throw the football, but I want to get this offense to be as best as we can and what that looks like changes from week to week.” |
| AFC NORTH |
| CLEVELANDThe Browns had two QBs hurt by the Bengals – and QB DESHAUN WATSON is done for 2024. Daniel Oyefusi on the Sunday’s events and how things set up for the rest of the year: An MRI revealed that Cleveland Browns quarterback Deshaun Watson has a season-ending ruptured right Achilles, a source told ESPN’s Adam Schefter on Monday. Coach Kevin Stefanski had said after his team’s 21-14 loss to the Bengals on Sunday that it appeared Watson had suffered a season-ending injury. Watson suffered the injury when his leg appeared to get hyperextended on a noncontact play as he tried to carry the ball on the first snap after the two-minute warning. Watson immediately gave himself up and fell to the ground. Shortly thereafter, a cart came onto the field and carried off an emotional Watson. The entire Browns sideline came onto the field as he was placed on the cart. Multiple players expressed frustration postgame with fans who appeared to cheer after Watson’s injury. Watson was met with boos in pregame introductions, which were quickly drowned out by cheers for running back Nick Chubb, who made his season debut after last year’s severe knee injury. “We don’t boo guys that are injured on the field, especially when the cart comes out,” defensive end Myles Garrett said after the game. “We should be ashamed of ourselves as Browns and as fans to boo anyone and their downfall.” Said Stefanski: “I don’t think it’s ever OK to cheer when someone’s injured. I’m sure it’s not every person in the building doing that, but that’s disappointing.” The Browns had made Jameis Winston inactive as the emergency third quarterback, so second-year player Dorian Thompson-Robinson entered the game to replace Watson and was 11-of-24 passing for 82 yards and two interceptions. He suffered a finger injury in the fourth quarter, however, and was replaced by Winston, who was 5-of-11 passing for 67 yards and a touchdown to David Njoku. Stefanski said he considered both Thompson-Robinson and Winston as No. 2 quarterbacks and went with Thompson-Robinson because the team did not include a short-yardage package with Winston in the game plan. On Sunday, Stefanski did not commit to a starting quarterback for next Sunday’s game against the Baltimore Ravens, saying he wanted to see the extent of Thompson-Robinson’s injury. Watson, in his third season in Cleveland, has struggled this season, posting the lowest QBR of all qualified passers. He was 15-of-17 for 128 yards Sunday before the injury. The injury ends another disappointing season for Watson, his third since the Browns traded three first-round picks and gave him a fully guaranteed $230 million contract to bring him to Cleveland before the 2022 season. He suffered a displaced fracture to the glenoid in his right shoulder that required him to miss the final eight games after season-ending surgery last November. Watson, 29, has a history of serious leg injuries in college and the NFL. While at Clemson, he played through a torn ACL in his left knee. As a member of the Houston Texans, he tore the ACL in his right knee and missed the final nine games of his rookie year in 2017. Watson will finish the third year of the five-year deal he signed upon being traded from the Texans to the Browns with just 19 cumulative starts. He served an 11-game suspension in 2022 after more than two dozen women accused him of sexual assault and inappropriate conduct during massage sessions. The Browns still owe Watson $46 million in each of the next two seasons. He has a salary cap hit of $72.9 million for 2025. |
| PITTSBURGHMike Tomlin installed QB RUSSELL WILSON as the starter and the Steelers lit up what was once Robert Saleh’s defense. Kevin Patra of NFL.com: Early in Sunday night’s tilt with the New York Jets, Russell Wilson looked like a quarterback who hadn’t played a lick of competitive football since last Christmas Eve. The former eight-time Pro Bowler settled in and hit some deep shots, pushing the Pittsburgh Steelers to a 37-15 win. “I thought he was excellent,” head coach Mike Tomlin said of Wilson. “I thought he got better as the game went on, but I’m not surprised by that. It’s been a while since he played some ball, but I thought he settled in, knocked the rust off and distributed the ball around and played well.” The boo-birds were out early from the hometown crowd as Wilson spiked a few early passes into the turf. After an opening drive field goal, Pittsburgh went three-and-out on three consecutive drives. Some fans even began to chant for Justin Fields. However, a Beanie Bishop Jr. interception turned into a late first-half touchdown settled Wilson, and the offense marched up and down the field from there, scoring on its final five possessions of the game, including four TDs. “First of all, I really believe in being neutral,” Wilson said when asked about the adverse reaction early from the crowd. “Not being too high, not being too low. … Coming into this game, we had a couple things early that we could’ve had. I felt like it was playoff baseball in the sense I started 0 for 2, but felt like I was gonna get hot. I kept telling coach, I’m gonna get hot here. And sure enough we did.” Wilson generated 264 pass yards, two pass touchdowns, zero interceptions and a 109.0 passer rating in Week 7 while adding a rushing score. It marked the most pass yards by a player in their Steelers debut, breaking Earl Morrall’s record of 249 in Week 1, 1957. Wilson had a higher passer rating in Week 7 (109.0) than Fields did in any of his six starts in 2024 (Fields’ highest was 104.0 in Week 4 at IND). “The reality is there’s so much more out there, Wilson said. “That’s the good news. There’s so much more out there, and we’ll get better as we go. We’re gonna keep working. There’s a lot more football left, but to be where we are is a good place.” The inaccuracy scuttled the Steelers offense early and led to the call for the early hook. But Tomlin stuck with the 35-year-old, and it paid off. Wilson hit several deep shots to George Pickens, which helped open up a previously restricted offense. His touch and ability to get through his progression improved the Steelers’ passing attack from what we saw early in the season, particularly in the red zone. “I think throwing that first touchdown to George was the moment I was like, alright, there’s gonna be a lot more of these I believe,” Wilson said. “Sometimes it takes the first home run, that first double off the wall, whatever it may be. Obviously it’s October, so I’m talking baseball, but I just think when you put all the hard work in and guys are doing the work, at some point it’s gonna turn in your favor, and it did tonight.” The performance wasn’t wholly unlike some of Wilson’s best games last season in Denver. If he hits those 50/50 sideline balls to Pickens, the Steelers offense will be dangerous. In the games they miss, it could be a slog. On Sunday night, it worked exceedingly well. The 37 points put up was the most by a Pittsburgh squad since Week 11, 2021, when Ben Roethlisberger was under center (41-37 loss to the Los Angeles Chargers). |
| AFC EAST |
| BUFFALOGood for S DAMAR HAMLIN who is playing the best ball of his life. Shanna McCarriston of CBSSports.com: Damar Hamlin records second INTBuffalo Bills safety Damar Hamlin had never recorded an interception in the NFL before this year. Now, through seven weeks, he has two. The safety suffered cardiac arrest on the field in January of 2023, and in an incredible comeback, played in five games last season, none of them starts. This season, Hamlin has started all seven games and has now picked off opposing quarterbacks twice, including on Sunday against the Titans. |
| MIAMIQB TUA TAGOVIALOA will practice this week – and seems likely to start on FOX on Sunday. NFL.com: Miami Dolphins head coach Mike McDaniel told reporters on Monday that Tua Tagovailoa will practice on Wednesday for the first time since he suffered a concussion on Sept. 12 and the team is hopeful he will be able to play in their Week 8 game against the Cardinals. Tagovailoa will need to clear the league’s concussion protocol in order to play on Sunday. “Our plan is to start him practicing on Wednesday,” McDaniel said. “The clearing (of the league’s concussion protocol) doesn’t come until after some of the activity, but we’re doing so in the hope of everything going well so that he can play Sunday. But that is to be determined.” McDaniel added: “The reason he’s coming back now is because the medical experts have deemed it safe for him to return. So I don’t mess with timelines or try to overcook or forecast. You lean on experts on matters of the career, and that’s what we’re doing here.” Tagovailoa told reporters later on Monday that he was “very excited” to return to action and said that it has been “frustrating” to watch from the sidelines for the past month. The Dolphins (2-4) placed Tagovailoa on injured reserve on Sept. 17, a move that sidelined him for a minimum of four games. Due to Miami’s Week 6 bye, Sunday’s game against the Cardinals was the earliest potential date for a return to the field. |
| NEW ENGLANDThe Patriots probably thought they weren’t getting a “soft” football team when they installed Jerod Mayo as the head coach. Kevin Patra of NFL.com: First-year New England Patriots head coach Jerod Mayo eviscerated his own club following Sunday’s 32-16 loss to Jacksonville in London, the Pats’ sixth consecutive defeat. “Look, disappointing game,” Mayo said, via the team’s official transcript. “We came out, started fast.What I would say is, look, we’re a soft football team across the board. You talk about what makes a tough football team. That is being able to run the ball, that is being able to stop the run, being able to cover kicks. We did none of those today. They controlled the ball for most of the day. Their run game averaged over four-and-a-half yards a carry. Our run game, not sure what the average was, but it wasn’t good. Look, back to the drawing board. I mean, we can’t sit here and pout. We just got to put a game together.” New England scored on its first two possessions and led 10-0 before things crumbled. The Jaguars scored 25 straight and 32 of the final 38 points in the game. The Patriots ran 15 times for 38 total yards. Take out quarterback Drake Maye’s three carries for 18 yards, and the output looks even worse for Mayo’s club — 12 carries for 20 yards for a 1.6-yard per carry average. Meanwhile, the Jags galloped for 171 rushing yards on 39 carries without starting running back Travis Etienne. It drew a response from Bill Belichick: @mikekadlickBill Belichick speaks out on Jerod Mayo calling the #Patriots soft (via @PatMcAfeeShow): “Defensively, the #Patriots led the league last year in rushing defense. Yards per carry: No. 1 in the league, and this year they’re way down in the 20s somewhere. …It’s the same guys. They re-signed [Anfernee] Jennings, they re-signed [Jahlani] Tavai, they re-signed [Kyle] Dugger. Marcus Jones and [Christian] Gonzalez have been healthy… You got [Deatrich] Wise, you got [Davon] Godchaux, you got Keion White, you got [Marte] Mapu. It’s a lot the same players… I’m kind of hurt for those guys. Because to call them soft, they’re not soft. They were the best team in the league last year against the run… I feel bad for the defensive players on that one because those guys, that’s a tough group.” |
| THIS AND THAT |
| BROADCAST NEWSDespite their Week 7 win, the Jaguars have been banished from Sunday Night Football in Week 9 – and replaced by division rival Indianapolis: The NFL on Monday announced that it has flexed the Indianapolis Colts-Minnesota Vikings game in Week 9 to the Sunday night slot on NBC, bumping the Jacksonville Jaguars-Philadelphia Eagles game to Sunday afternoon. The Nov. 3 game between the host Vikings and the Colts was originally scheduled as a 1 p.m. ET kickoff. The Jaguars-Eagles will kick off at 4:05 p.m. on CBS. Indianapolis is also scheduled as the “Sunday Night Football” game two weeks later at the New York Jets in Week 11. The Colts are 4-3 entering Week 8 and the Vikings are 5-1. The last time the Colts played at Minnesota was amazing. On December 17, 2022, the Colts led 33-0 at halftime – and lost to the Vikings 29-36 in OT. It’s a FOX doubleheader weekend with Dallas at Atlanta early and Detroit at Green Bay late the two big games. Denver at Baltimore and Miami at Buffalo are the two best early games on CBS. |
| THE SIX MOST HOPELESS FRANCHISESHere is Bill Barnwell’s list. We think the Raiders, Panthers and Browns have to be on it. And they are – but they are not the team Barnwell has at the bottom: It wasn’t a good week to be a bad football team. Week 7 started with a Thursday night blowout, as the Broncos took a 30-point lead on the Saints in New Orleans before allowing a garbage-time touchdown. Sunday night ended with the Jets melting down in Pittsburgh, as the Steelers scored 31 unanswered points after an Aaron Rodgers interception before halftime and eventually won 37-15. In between, four other teams with losing records also lost by double digits. A fifth, the Browns, were only saved from that fate by a late touchdown pass by Jameis Winston, although they might have had the most painful day of all: An organization that spent the week committing to Deshaun Watson lost its quarterback to what appears to be a season-ending torn Achilles. The 2-5 Raiders fell to the Rams by five points, but they also came out of the game missing a quarterback after newly promoted Aidan O’Connell suffered a broken thumb. Which struggling team is in the worst shape moving forward? None are in great shape to make it to the postseason, but which of the league’s worst teams are furthest away from building the sort of roster that would compete for a Super Bowl? To repurpose a famous phrase from the Harbaugh family (who won’t be appearing in this piece), “Who has it worse than us?” There are nine candidates, and I’ll eliminate three as honorable mentions, all of whom are in the AFC East. The 2-5 Jets are in a tailspin and appear to have fired Robert Saleh with no meaningful or tangible positive impact, but they’re closer to a potential playoff berth than most of the other teams on this list. The 1-6 Patriots haven’t looked good on defense since Week 1 and have their coach calling them soft, but there’s plenty to like in rookie quarterback Drake Maye’s first two starts. And the 2-4 Dolphins might still be able to recover once they get Tua Tagovailoa back from his concussion, which might happen as early as next week against the Cardinals. That leaves us with six teams as candidates for the most hopeless franchise in football. I’ll start with the team we focused on seven days ago in this space, although things feel much different now: Cleveland Browns (1-6)Pros: Defensive talent, cap spaceCons: Quarterback, talent on rookie contractsI wrote last week about how Deshaun Watson and the Browns were off to one of the worst offensive starts in recent NFL history. This week, things somehow got worse. After starting 15-of-17 for 128 yards and playing what had been his best football of the season, Watson suffered what’s suspected to be a season-ending torn Achilles. He was replaced by Dorian Thompson-Robinson, who gave way to Jameis Winston after suffering an injury of his own. The Browns’ chances of advancing to the postseason are now 2.5%, per ESPN’s Football Power Index (FPI). Hopes that the Browns would make an impact on the 2024 postseason have faded, but what was already a unique situation with Watson just got even more complicated. There probably wasn’t going to be a path to trade him, even if they had attached significant draft capital to their embattled quarterback. Now, after a serious injury, there’s no way they are getting out of the remaining $92 million due to him over the next couple of seasons. Cleveland will get some cap relief because of the injury, but it won’t be enough to make a significant dent in accounting for its financial commitment to him. For coach Kevin Stefanski & Co., this is a chance to draw a line under the Watson era. The money is a sunk cost. As I wrote last week, cutting Watson before the 2025 season wouldn’t make much sense financially. Releasing him before the 2026 campaign would be more plausible. Given that his deal is fully guaranteed, that would be more about accounting than saving any sort of cash. The most logical thing for the Browns might be holding onto Watson as the most expensive backup in NFL history while pursuing a new starter, potentially with their top pick in next year’s draft. The good news for the Browns? They have the second-most cap space in all of football ($44.6 million), a product of converting virtually all of Watson’s base salary into a signing bonus. They’re $41 million over the projected cap in 2025, but they can create space by again converting his base salary into a bonus and moving on from veterans such as offensive tackle Jack Conklin. Extending cornerback Greg Newsome, who would be playing on a fifth-year option for 2025 at $13.4 million, would also create short-term space. The problem, though, is the other element of the Watson deal that isn’t quite as conspicuous as the money: the missing draft picks. The Browns sent three first-round picks, a third-round pick and two fourth-rounders to the Texans to acquire Watson and a sixth-round selection. That’s three players they would be expecting to start for their current team, all on rookie contract deals. While the Texans made various trades with those picks, the selections themselves became Eagles defensive tackle Jordan Davis, Lions running back Jahmyr Gibbs and rookie Jaguars wide receiver Brian Thomas. To replace those missing draft picks, Cleveland has needed to spend money in free agency or give playing time to less-pedigreed players. This is a team that currently fields the league’s seventh-oldest roster on a snap-weighted basis. It has had to invest money to sign players such as edge rusher Za’Darius Smith, defensive tackle Dalvin Tomlinson and safety Juan Thornhill in free agency, paying market-value prices in the process, while trading for (and extending) wideout Jerry Jeudy in another deal with the Broncos. Another deal saw the Browns swap second- and third-round picks with the Jets for receiver Elijah Moore. While the Browns had more young talent than just about any other team after years of tanking and trading down to amass extra draft picks, the Watson deal emptied their cupboard of premium picks for a few seasons. The only starter who appears to have emerged from the 2022 and 2023 drafts, when they didn’t have first- or second-round picks, is cornerback Martin Emerson. There are a couple of rotational players from that group, including running back Jerome Ford and tackle Dawand Jones, but the latter has taken a major step backward in his second season. The Browns will need to keep accounting for those missing picks in the years to come, using future selections to fill in those absent players or continue to try and squeeze out middle-class free agent signings. They’ll also need to address an offensive line that suddenly looks overmatched after the departure of star coach Bill Callahan. Jedrick Wills Jr. hasn’t lived up to expectations on the left side and is a free agent after the season, while the oft-injured Conklin is likely a cap casualty. The rest of the offense might also need an overhaul. Running back Nick Chubb returned from a multiligament knee injury and scored a touchdown Sunday, but he’s a free agent in 2025 and might not want to return to a franchise that just made him take a pay cut of more than $10 million to remain there. Moore hasn’t worked out, and while Jeudy signed an extension, he has been abysmal so far. This team might need a new quarterback, running back, wide receiver and two new starting tackles, all while paying its backup quarterback $46 million. While the defense has regressed to 17th in expected points added (EPA) per play this season after leading the league in coordinator Jim Schwartz’s debut season, there’s still plenty of star talent on that side of the ball in pass rusher Myles Garrett, cornerback Denzel Ward and linebacker Jeremiah Owusu-Koramoah. If Stefanski and general manager Andrew Berry can right the ship on offense, the defense should be able to hold up its end of the bargain. There’s just a lot of work to be done. After the Watson fiasco, there’s virtually no margin for error. New York Giants (2-5)Pros: Defensive line talent, star receiver on rookie deal, young rosterCons: Quarterback, offensive infrastructureSome of the most dangerous words you’ll hear from a head coach are to “spark the team.” When a coach benches his starting quarterback in order to “spark the team,” what he’s really saying is things are broken and he has run out of ways to fix them. That there’s nothing the current quarterback can do and the backup might luck into some solution out of sheer physical talent and variance. That’s where Brian Daboll found himself in the fourth quarter with Daniel Jones and Drew Lock on Sunday afternoon. While the Eagles appeared to throw things back to 2022 and their Super Bowl-caliber defense by overrunning a porous Giants offensive line all afternoon, Jones and the rest of the Giants’ offense generated just 94 net yards and nine first downs across nine possessions during the first three quarters. Daboll turned to Lock, who proceeded to go 3-of-8 for 6 yards. New York didn’t have a single play of more than 13 yards all game, and it was lucky to avoid turning the ball over, as it recovered all three of its fumbles during the game. While Jones has gotten to spend most of the year throwing to a No. 1 receiver in Malik Nabers, the presence of the rookie sensation has been the only thing sustaining the Giants’ offense. Jones ranks 29th in yards per dropback (5.1), ahead of only Will Levis, Deshaun Watson and Jacoby Brissett. Jones has a 94.3 QBR throwing to Nabers and a 30.2 mark throwing to every other New York receiver. The 2022 version of Jones worked despite a low-ceiling passing attack because he rarely turned the ball over and completed more than 67% of his passes. He had five interceptions on 472 attempts that season. He has already thrown four picks on 240 attempts this season. His completion percentage is down to 62.5%, with a completion percentage over expectation (CPOE) of minus-2.4%. And while he averaged 25 yards and just under two first downs per game on scrambles during that 2022 campaign, he’s scrambling for just 9.5 yards per game and has two total first downs on scrambles in six weeks. I’d argue Jones isn’t the biggest problem with this team. The offensive line was a disaster Sunday without left tackle Andrew Thomas, who is out for the season after suffering a foot injury. I thought the Giants would add 2022 seventh overall pick Evan Neal to the starting lineup, but Daboll instead used Joshua Ezeudu as the replacement for Thomas on the left side, leaving Neal active without playing a single snap on offense or special teams for the seventh consecutive game. Ezeudu, who had played just three snaps before Sunday, allowed two early sacks. The Giants tried to give him help with tight ends, but that just opened up right tackle Jermaine Eluemunor to be beat on the other side. The interior of the line wasn’t much better. Jones was sacked seven times and pressured on 43% of his dropbacks against a Philadelphia defense that was below league average in sack and pressure rate coming into the game. On a day when Saquon Barkley lit up the Giants for 187 yards from scrimmage, the New York career of the player the organization chose over Barkley began to come to an end. Jones has a $23 million injury guarantee for 2025, and playing behind this offensive line, the chances of the oft-sidelined quarterback suffering a serious injury have to be concerning to the front office. Being forced to pay Jones $23 million if he’s unable to pass a physical would set the Giants back. It would be a surprise if the team didn’t bench him before the end of the season to avoid triggering his injury guarantee. The bright spot for the Giants is on the defensive side of the ball, where the league’s youngest unit held Barkley, Jalen Hurts and the Eagles to one third-down conversion all game. The defensive line has been one of the league’s best at generating pressure after acquiring pass rusher Brian Burns this offseason, although edge rusher Kayvon Thibodeaux is now on injured reserve with a wrist injury. Tyler Nubin looks like a building block at safety, although the decision to move on from Xavier McKinney isn’t looking great, given that the former Giants starter is having a Defensive Player of the Year-caliber campaign in Green Bay. McKinney, Barkley and Thomas were three of the more notable draftees from the Dave Gettleman era; Thomas is the only one left on the roster. The Giants were in rough cap shape when general manager Joe Schoen took over in 2022, and after Jones’ unexpected success led the organization to offer him a long-term deal, they’ve struggled to create much room. A sign-and-trade for Burns also added significant expenditure. New York would have about $64 million in space next year if it cut Jones after the season, a move that would free it up to go after whichever of the veteran quarterbacks it might target, with Kirk Cousins or Sam Darnold as potential examples. There’s enough in the way of promising players here to imagine the Giants getting competitive relatively quickly if they can make the right decision at quarterback and solidify the offensive line. Tennessee Titans (1-5)Pros: Defensive line talent, young roster, cap spaceCons: Quarterback, offensive infrastructureTitans fans must be sick of the same old story. Tennessee has held halftime leads in three of its five losses. In another, it held a lead after the third quarter. The Titans went up 10-0 on the Bills in the second quarter Sunday and appeared to be giving Josh Allen and the Buffalo offense trouble, but the Bills immediately answered back to score. While the Titans held a 10-7 lead at halftime, the Bills responded with 27 points after the break, eventually winning comfortably. While blowing halftime leads is crushing in the moment, the ability to get leads heading into the break is usually a positive indicator of a team’s future performance. Getting an early lead is generally proof that it’s doing something right and not just racking up points in garbage time. Only two teams blew more halftime leads in all of 2023 than the Titans have this season. Unfortunately, one of those teams was the Titans, who blew a league-high five halftime leads that eventually became losses a year ago. The 2024 team has generally conspired to blow leads because of ill-fated decision-making and turnovers by starting quarterback Will Levis. While he was sidelined for Sunday’s game by a shoulder injury, backup Mason Rudolph came in and turned the ball over twice. The Titans have turned the ball over on just under 17% of their drives this season, the third-highest rate in football. In addition, with Levis as the primary culprit, they have taken sacks on 9% of their dropbacks, which is the league’s fifth-worst rate. Teams can’t amass negative plays this often and survive without producing loads of explosive plays, and the Titans have only 16 plays of 20 yards or more, which is tied for 27th. They’re 29th in third-down conversion rate and 28th in EPA per play. Simply finding a solution in a quarterback who cuts down on turnovers would be a massive upgrade. Rudolph has been better there historically than Levis, so while he turned the ball over twice against the Bills, the former Steelers passer probably gives them a better chance to win in the big picture over the remainder of the season. Tennessee’s quarterback of the future isn’t on the roster and has to be the first priority for general manager Ran Carthon this offseason. The problem is the offensive infrastructure around that potential quarterback isn’t really strong. The Titans are starting veteran free agents at running back and all three wide receiver spots. The offensive line has homegrown starters in four of the five spots, but the jury is still out on their effectiveness. Rookie left tackle JC Latham generally has looked good so far, but this line needs to continue improving. The Titans still field an excellent run defense, as Jeffery Simmons and T’Vondre Sweat anchor a unit that ranks fifth in EPA per run snap this season. Beyond that, though, this is again a unit where about half of the regulars are homegrown talents. The only player left from the 2020 and 2021 drafts is Dillon Radunz, who kicked inside to guard after failing to make an impact at tackle. It’s too early to give up on the 2022 draft that eventually led to then-general manager Jon Robinson’s firing, but top pick Treylon Burks went back to injured reserve this week after suffering a knee injury in practice. The Titans are better than their record, although it might take a better quarterback for them to reveal their strengths by stopping the turnovers. Playing in a weak division will help. But this team might not have a single star currently on a rookie contract, with Latham and Sweat as the team’s best hopes. Heck, their only stars on offense or defense might be Simmons and cornerback L’Jarius Sneed. They can be more of a blank slate than most, but other franchises have more upside and top talent. Las Vegas Raiders (2-5)Pros: Cap space, location, true superstar on defenseCons: Quarterback, offensive infrastructure, generation of missing talentThe Raiders are a more extreme example of the Titans. Do you like turnovers? They love giving away the football. After substitute quarterback Gardner Minshew turned the ball over four times in Sunday’s 20-15 loss to the Rams, the Raiders have 10 turnovers in their past three games and 16 turnovers through their first seven. That’s four more than any other team and more than the Texans had across the entire 2023 season (14). A whopping 19% of Las Vegas’ drives have ended in a turnover. Now, it’s not impossible to win with a wild turnover rate. The Cowboys are just ahead of them (17.2%), and the Chiefs are in 29th (16.4%). The difference is that when we remove drives ending in turnovers from the equation, the Chiefs are fourth in the league in points per possession, while the Cowboys are 16th. The Raiders are 24th. Minshew, the starter for most of the season before O’Connell briefly entered and exited the lineup with his thumb injury, ranks in the bottom quarter of the league in sack rate. Vegas is 28th in third-down conversion rate. If a team turns the ball over and takes sacks as often as the Raiders have, it needs to be wildly explosive or move the chains consistently. This team does neither. To be fair, injuries have been a problem here. Even before O’Connell, the Raiders lost Davante Adams to a “hamstring injury” and Jakobi Meyers to an ankle issue, costing them their top two wideouts. Christian Wilkins, the team’s big-money addition at defensive tackle, is on injured reserve with a broken foot. Edge rusher Malcolm Koonce suffered a season-ending knee injury in practice last month. The strengths of this team were supposed to be the receivers and the pass rush, and they’ve both been compromised by injuries. The biggest problem is the same one that has faced this organization for years. I wrote about it repeatedly at the end of the Jon Gruden era in 2021, then again when it traded for Adams in 2022. After nearly a decade of poor drafts and short-sighted decision-making, the Raiders are missing virtually an entire roster’s worth of homegrown players. Across an eight-year window from 2016 to 2023, they essentially would have done better drafting out of a magazine with 10 minutes of prep like your friend who forgot about his fantasy draft: Earlier versions of the Raiders tried to make up for the absences by getting very aggressive in free agency. The 2024 team is fielding the league’s fifth-youngest roster, which is at least a testament to change. They’re playing a young group of receivers after the injuries, paced by rookie tight end Brock Bowers, who has been fantastic. The offensive line has three starters on rookie deals, while the same is true for five of the six regulars in the secondary. Young, cheap talent doesn’t necessarily equal breakout players, but the Raiders were often too confident that signing veteran free agents would solve their problems. I’m not sure they’re any more likely to whiff by giving the same chances to young players. Tom Telesco appears to have done well in his first draft as general manager, with Bowers as the clear hit. The Raiders don’t have any meaningful commitments at quarterback and project to enjoy nearly $108 million in cap space, the fourth-highest total for any franchise. But there’s a lot of work to be done to get them to the point where they could be a seriously competitive playoff team, mostly because of those subpar drafts and the impact they had on the organization. And by the time those coffers could be replenished, Maxx Crosby, the team’s one true star, will be out of his prime seasons as a pass rusher. This is mostly a blank slate, but there’s a lot of work still to be done from a franchise that has routinely attempted to take shortcuts along the way. Carolina Panthers (1-6)Pros: Running gameCons: Quarterback, defense, missing recent draft capitalHope you enjoyed Week 3! Andy Dalton’s first start after the benching of Bryce Young was a success, as the veteran quarterback threw for 319 yards and three touchdowns in a win over the Raiders. Since then? The Panthers rank 26th in points per drive and 27th in EPA per play. Dalton has averaged 5.5 yards per pass attempt and thrown more interceptions (six) than touchdown passes (four). The Panthers have lost four straight by an average of nearly 22 points. We know Dalton isn’t the future in Carolina, but as the team gave up on Young, the hope was Dalton would right the ship and restore some level of competency to the offense. He has been better than the 2023 No. 1 pick, but Sunday was about as ugly as the worst moments of the Young era. Dalton ended the first drive by throwing an interception on a screen pass directly to Commanders edge rusher Dante Fowler, who returned it for a pick-six. On a fourth-and-1 in the following quarter, Fowler burst through the Carolina line so easily he nearly managed to take the handoff from Dalton before dumping Chuba Hubbard for a loss of 2 yards. It’s one thing to get blown out by T.J. Watt. It’s another to face one of the league’s worst defenses and turn Fowler into an honorary Watt brother. Hubbard and the running game have been the biggest positive this season. The organization invested heavily at guard over the offseason to bring in Damien Lewis and Robert Hunt, and while they didn’t save Young’s job, they’ve considerably improved the run blocking. The line was looking like a plus before holdovers Austin Corbett and Taylor Moton went down with injuries. Left tackle Ikem Ekwonu has taken strides forward in his third season, although it’s still unclear if the Panthers will pick up the 2022 first-round pick’s fifth-year option next spring. If Jonathon Brooks steps in and forms a one-two punch with Hubbard, the running game will be an obvious strength for coach Dave Canales and the offense. Everything else doesn’t feel great. The Panthers revamped the defense this offseason, letting pass rusher Brian Burns and linebacker Frankie Luvu walk out the door. The additions made in their place were mostly minor, with Jadeveon Clowney as the most prominent defender to join the team. The hope was likely that the unit would come together around a pair of young standouts in defensive tackle Derrick Brown and cornerback Jaycee Horn, but Brown was lost for the season after tearing his meniscus in the Week 1 loss to the Saints. The results have been brutal. The Panthers are allowing a league-high 3.1 points per possession, tying them with the 2007 Dolphins for the third-worst performance for any team through seven weeks since that 2007 season. Only the 2019 Falcons and 2020 Raiders were worse on the defensive side of the ball through seven games. The same offenses that have averaged 33.7 points per game against Carolina have generated a weighted average of just 20.8 points per contest against the rest of their opposition. Even that undersells just how bad the Panthers have been. Facing a dominant Commanders offense Sunday, they immediately allowed quarterback Jayden Daniels to stretch his legs on a 46-yard run. Shortly afterward, Daniels suffered a rib injury that forced him from the game, leaving Washington to rely on Marcus Mariota for the remainder of the contest. Mariota came off the bench and went 18-of-23 for 205 yards with two touchdowns. A passer who has perennially ranked among the league’s most sackable quarterbacks was taken down just once on 24 dropbacks by a feeble Carolina pass rush. While acknowledging the offense hasn’t helped matters by handing coordinator Ejiro Evero’s unit the second-worst average starting field position in football, the defense simply isn’t close to being competent. It ranks last in pressure rate and 31st in sack rate. We’ve already seen Carolina look toward younger players by cutting veteran Troy Hill and replacing him with rookie fifth-rounder Chau Smith-Wade, but this has been the league’s fourth-oldest defense on a snap-weighted basis this season. It’s unfathomable to be both this bad and this experienced on that side of the ball. Assuming the Panthers are done with Young as their quarterback of the future, the coast is clear for them to acquire their next solution under center during the 2025 offseason. The problem is they can’t even credibly claim to be one quarterback away. The defense needs to be overhauled with young talent. The offense still doesn’t have a No. 1 wide receiver and might not have a very good left tackle. They’re also missing the players and picks they sent to the Bears for the Young pick, having basically nothing to show for trading away their top wide receiver along with two first-round picks and two second-rounders. New Orleans Saints (2-5)Pros: Offensive infrastructureCons: Cap disaster, veteran rosterInjuries, injuries, injuries. The Saints looked like a pleasant surprise when they began the season 2-0 and dropped a combined 91 points on the Panthers and Cowboys. A week later, they lost star center Erik McCoy in the first quarter of what would be a loss to the Eagles, and the injuries haven’t stopped since. By Thursday night, they were down their starting quarterback, top two wide receivers, all three starting interior linemen and whatever position you want to say Taysom Hill plays. They went down to their third-string left guard during the game. And with the defense already down starting safety Will Harris, cornerback Paulson Adebo fractured his fibula and will miss the rest of the season. Perhaps unsurprisingly, the Saints have fallen apart. They’ve lost five straight games, and while the first two were by a combined five points, the ensuing three have been by an average of 20 points. Their playoff chances have fallen from 80.8% after Week 2 to 7.3% on Monday. With a road game against the Chargers on the way, another loss would require coach Dennis Allen’s team to defy most of league history. Just three teams since the AFL-NFL merger in 1970 have endured a six-game losing streak and still managed to advance to the postseason. To be fair, the Saints might feel like things could have broken slightly differently. Facing the Eagles in Week 3, Allen’s defense had Philadelphia backed up for a third-and-16 with a five-point lead and 1:16 to go, only for Philly to run Dallas Goedert on a mesh concept across the field and pick up a 61-yard gain. Saquon Barkley scored the winning touchdown on the next play. The following week, New Orleans handed the rival Falcons two scores with a muffed punt and a pick-six, only for the Saints to battle back and take a 24-23 lead with 1:04 to go. With the Falcons out of timeouts, a 30-yard pass interference penalty on Adebo set up a 58-yard Younghoe Koo field goal, giving Atlanta the victory. The Saints are responsible for those mistakes, but the line between winning and losing in those games was thin. I can’t say the same about the three most recent contests. And while the offense has understandably slowed down because of injuries, what has really been concerning to watch is the decay of the defense. Even as recently as last season, while New Orleans had to endure roster turnover and some inconsistent moments, Allen was still fielding one of the league’s best defenses. Safety Tyrann Mathieu & Co. ranked seventh in EPA per play. The Saints rank 17th this season and 26th from Week 4 onward, when they’ve simply cratered. Adebo and others were already struggling with sloppy play in coverage and a steady stream of penalties, but this defense looks shockingly undisciplined. They put one of the worst displays of tackling you’ll ever see from an NFL team in the loss to the Buccaneers, with a long Chris Godwin catch-and-run as the most prominent example: The Bucs had no trouble running past the Saints, in part because New Orleans wasn’t reliably containing runs and didn’t have consistent gap discipline. The Broncos then gashed them for 225 rushing yards and two touchdowns across 35 carries Thursday night. That’s two of the league’s worst running teams since the start of 2023, utterly overwhelming what was supposed to be a solid run defense. The pass defense has been better, but it hasn’t exactly been great. The Saints have just four sacks over their past four games. Cameron Jordan, the team’s legendary edge rusher, has no sacks after being moved into a situational role. Mathieu dropped what should have been the easiest interception of his career. They have had problems blowing coverages; Bo Nix had two receivers running so wide open on a first-quarter play that he seemed to get confused and threw incomplete between them. While the Saints will get Derek Carr back from his oblique injury, this team has no hope of competing without a very good defense. Any defense can have a bad game, but the Saints looked awful against the Buccaneers and didn’t play much better the following week. This is the league’s fifth-oldest defense, and it returns the vast majority of the players it had over the past two seasons, so there shouldn’t be many teething issues here. And, of course, here’s where the other shoe drops. The Saints are, as usual, in dire cap straits. They project to be $81.4 million over the 2025 cap. In the past, general manager Mickey Loomis and the front office have gotten out of their cap woes by restructuring as many contracts as possible, allowing the team to retain their core players while scattering the money from their deals over future caps to come. That’s great if players continue to stay healthy and play well. Once they get injured or the team wants to move on, though, it has to account for all of that dead money. The Saints have endured that with Michael Thomas and Drew Brees, but they’ve continued to push as much money as possible into the future to try and stay competitive. That has felt like a flimsier proposition with each passing year, with New Orleans going from being all-in for a Super Bowl during the final days of the Brees era to all-in for a 10-win division title and home playoff game with Carr. Even that feels out of reach now. Because the Saints have stretched that restructure rubber band so thin over the past eight years, even if they did face reality and decide to start rebuilding, they can’t even have a clear-the-books season and fix things in one fell swoop. Here’s a table of every significant New Orleans veteran and how much money the team would save by trading them or cutting them next offseason, either as a standard release or as a post-June 1 move: Can The Saints Clear Up Their Cap Situation?Pos Player Cut pre-6/1 Cut post-6/1 TradeQB Derek Carr $1,326,000 $21,458,000 $11,326,000CB Marshon Lattimore -$255,600 $20,000,000 -$255,600T Ryan Ramczyk $6,016,676 $18,000,000 $6,016,676RB Alvin Kamara $18,939,000 $25,000,000 $18,939,000EDGE Cameron Jordan -$3,924,000 $3,439,000 -$9,985,000ATH Taysom Hill $277,000 $10,000,000 $277,000C Erik McCoy -$885,000 $10,100,000 -$885,000LB Demario Davis -$2,980,000 $5,750,000 -$480,000G Cesar Ruiz -$7,800,000 $0 $1,350,000EDGE Carl Granderson -$9,800,000 $0 -$2,070,000S Tyrann Mathieu $16,000 $7,250,000 $16,000DT Nathan Shepherd $735,000 $4,820,000 $735,000 It’s tough to squeeze $82 million out of that mix when teams are allowed to designate only two players as post-June 1 releases. (The Saints can make additional moves once the calendar actually passes that date, but they need to be cap compliant for the new league year in March.) To take a page out of colleague Katherine Terrell’s book, here’s the easiest way for them to get cap compliant if they want to start over: Trade Derek Carr. Even if it just means landing a seventh-round pick in return, trading Carr would allow New Orleans to avoid paying his $10 million bonus and free up $11.3 million in space. While he has a no-trade clause, it’s tough to imagine him sticking around for what would be a lame-duck season. Designate Hill and Marshon Lattimore as post-June 1 releases. While the Saints can make more money by designating other players as post-June 1 departures, the only real way to make cap space in moving on from either of these players is to use the June 1 distinction. Of course, while this frees up an extra $30 million in 2025, it also pushes nearly $28 million in dead money for Hill and Lattimore into the 2026 cap. Release Ryan Ramczyk and Alvin Kamara. Ramczyk (knee) could retire this offseason, and the Saints might rework his deal to create more short-term cap room, as they did with Brees and Malcolm Jenkins before their retirements. Kamara is entering the final year of his deal, and while he has been productive this season, they can’t justify a $22.4 million base salary for their star back in the final year of his deal. This is another $25 million off the books. Restructure Jordan’s deal. His two-year, $28 million extension that created cap space a year ago might turn out to be the worst deal in football, given that he has barely been productive and was taken out of the starting lineup in Year 1. Only $1.5 million of his $12.5 million base salary in 2025 is guaranteed, but the structure of his deal and the various restructures the Saints have made put them in an accounting bind. They could designate Jordan as a post-June 1 release, but giving the veteran one more year frees up $10 million, which will eventually make it onto the 2026 cap. That’s $82.3 million in new cap space, but it involved the Saints moving on from their starting quarterback, running back, multiposition playmaker and lead cornerback. In this scenario, they also wouldn’t re-sign pass rusher Chase Young or tight end Juwan Johnson, whose contracts void after 2024. They’ll need to clear out more space to fill out their roster. And they’re still left with nearly $38 million in new dead money on their 2026 cap, when they’ll deal with several of the other veterans remaining on this list. Which team has it worst?I have to go with the Saints. While they could have competed for a playoff berth before the injuries, the defensive collapse I’ve witnessed over the past few weeks and the sheer amount of time it will take to return to being a cap-compliant team on a growth track is staggering. They are a couple of years away from even being in position to start a multiyear rebuilding process. While the Browns are stuck with the worst contract in the league as part of the Watson fiasco, they have more young and prime-aged talent on their roster than the Saints. And while the Panthers are a mess, they at least have some flexibility and can clear out room without many major commitments. The Panthers probably have hit bottom. The Saints still have a long way to go. |
