The Daily Briefing Monday, October 24, 2022

AROUND THE NFL

DETROIT

Concussion spotters in Dallas removed Detroit’s best wide receiver from Sunday’s game – even though he did not have a concussion.

The Lions announced during Sunday’s game against the Cowboys that wide receiver Amon-Ra St. Brown had been ruled out with a concussion, but today the team said St. Brown actually did not suffer a concussion.

Lions head coach Dan Campbell said today that St. Brown was removed from the game because of the new league rule that all players who exhibit ataxia, which is poor muscle control that causes clumsy movements, are automatically taken out of the game. Campbell said medical staff watched tape of St. Brown’s motion on the field and took him out.

 “They look at the video, and so when the video, plus what they saw there, it’s automatically you’re out now,” Campbell said.

Campbell said St. Brown will remain in the concussion protocol and continue to be evaluated, but from all indications he’ll be clear to play on Sunday against the Dolphins.

Of relevance – the NFL says it takes more than one person to be wrong for the NFL to remove a player in error – and they the spotters have access to secret angles the rest of us can’t see.  Peter King:

This is presented as a public-service section of the column, because you should know about the anonymous people who one day this year might rule a key player — like your starting quarterback — out of a game. It happened in the Week Five Dolphins-Jets game when quarterback Teddy Bridgewater was declared out for the game under the league’s one-day-old ataxia standard, adopted in the wake of the Tua Tagovailoa wobbling after a big hit but being allowed to return to the game. Now, if a player shows any instability, also known as ataxia, he’s out for the day.

The Bridgewater case was odd because when TV cameras focused on him, no instability was seen. I asked the NFL’s medical director, Dr. Allen Sills, what happened to force Bridgewater out.

Sills said there are five independent officials upstairs watching a plethora of live and TV angles to check for players who might need to be checked out medically during the game. The five: two certified athletic trainers who act as spotters, one unaffiliated neurotrauma consultant (this is in addition to the two UNCs who work on either sideline during the game), and two video consultants who can quickly find all relevant replays when a player in question is hurt. If a player looks somehow impaired, the spotter or UNC can radio down to the sidelines to have the player examined. The booth can also communicate directly to the referee on the field and tell him to remove an impaired player.

No video angles shown publicly indicated Bridgewater was wobbly. It goes without saying that the spotters and the UNCs absolutely should err on the side of caution in these cases, but if a similar thing happens — for example — in a Kansas City playoff game as happened in the Dolphins-Jets game, there’s going to be an outcry from people wondering, “Why is Patrick Mahomes out of this game?”

Sills on the Bridgewater play: “What I can share with you in that particular case is the team in the booth, not one individual, thought they saw a stumble on one of the video views that they had, as well as the player grasping his head, or something to that effect. In their mind, with this new standard that they had literally been given the day before, they felt that that reached the level of calling down an identification [of an injured player] to the sideline.

“This is a process that will be an evolution. Are people being more cautious and conservative? Sure…In this process, we have spotters, UNCs, visiting team medical liaisons, team athletic trainers, team physicians. That’s over a thousand people that we’re trying to bring to that level of consistency…We want the standard to be what I call clear and obvious. There’s always going to be some element of medical judgment. But that’s not one person. That’s not ever happening. Our system is built around teams of professionals making those decisions.”

It’s certainly a better plan than the one that was in place — the one that allowed Tagovailoa’s head to thump hard on the turf against Buffalo, that witnessed him wobble unsteadily, then allowed him to return to the game. But I’d urge the league to be more transparent each time a player is removed from a game with no obvious sign of impairment. The league owes it to the public to explain what was seen that forced a player out for the day.

There is extensive video from Miami news stations that showed the entire play, from Bridgewater going down until the moment he was summoned to the bench.  He did not “stumble”.  He did not put his hands near his head.

And, reading between the lines of Sills’ second paragraph, he’s not really backing up the decision of the New York medicos to take out Miami’s QB.  We’ll see what evolves from the Texas team taking out St. Brown.

GREEN BAY

Nuggets from Scott Kacsmar on fading QB AARON RODGERS:

The Packers are 3-4 after seven games for the first time in the Rodgers era (they were 3-3-1 in 2018).

Rodgers has also not passed for over 260 yards in nine straight starts, the longest streak of his career.

NEW YORK GIANTS

Scott Kacsmar, the father of the Game-Winning Drive, is stunned:

I can’t believe this is a real stat, but Daniel Jones is the first quarterback in NFL history to lead five game-winning drives in the first seven games of the season. There were 16 other quarterbacks to do it four times, but never 5-of-7 before this run.

– – –

Albert Breer of SI.com likes the mix of bold and sound that he sees with Giants coaching:

There was a really nice nuance to how the Giants closed out the Jaguars on Sunday. The team’s last defensive call, from ultra-aggressive coordinator Wink Martindale, was a max-coverage look—with the thought being that the Jaguars would be in a hurry anyway, so there was no need to send rushers. So as the ball was snapped, if you take a look, just three Giants rushed, leaving eight guys to cover the five Jaguars skill players, essentially allowing for doubles on everyone.

So when Trevor Lawrence zinged the ball to Christian Kirk short of the goal line, the Giants had numbers—corner Fabian Moreau got the initial hit, knocking Kirk back at the catch point, with Julian Love and Xavier McKinney then flying in to wrestle him to the ground. And as this played out, a couple things were overtly apparent:

 * The Giants continue to be a really good fundamental team, and as such tackled well on the final snap of a game played in the Florida humidity.

 * The Giants played with great awareness, too, very clearly knowing where the goal line was behind them, and doing all they could to defend it.

This, of course, sounds like little stuff, but it’s not. Brian Daboll’s coaching staff has shown itself to be a pull-out-all-the-stops kind of group (see: Daniel Jones’s 11 carries and 107 rushing yards, Saquon Barkley in the Wildcat, tight end reverses, etc.), and that’s a big reason they’re 6–1. But that stuff only gets you so far unless you’re doing the basics well, too, and Daboll seems to be crushing it in that area, too.

– – –

TE DANIEL BELLINGER has a broken eyebone.  Bob Brookover at NJ.com:

It was another difficult week on the injury front for the 6-1 Giants and the worst of the news was about rookie tight end Daniel Bellinger, who left Sunday’s win over the Jaguars in Jacksonville after being jabbed in his left eye by linebacker Devin Lloyd.

ESPN’s Jordan Ranaan reported Monday afternoon that Bellinger suffered a fracture around the eye socket and septum and Giants coach Brian Daboll said later in the day that the tight end will need surgery.

Daboll said he did not know if Bellinger would be back this season and that the Giants would miss the rookie who had emerged as one of quarterback Daniel Jones’ favorite targets.

“I think it’s probably too early to say when I expect him back,” Daboll said. “I’m hopeful for it, but you never know with these kinds of things.”

With his one catch for 13 yards Sunday, Bellinger ranked third on the team with 16 receptions and fifth with 152 receiving yards. His 16 receptions are also tied with Tampa Bay’s Cade Otton for the most among rookie tight ends. Otton has 11 more receiving yards.

Bellinger is also tied for the most touchdowns among rookie tight ends with three. He has two receiving TDs and one rushing. Indianapolis’ Jelani Woods has three receiving touchdowns.

The Giants are left with third-year veteran Chris Myarick and fourth-year veteran Tanner Hudson as tight ends on the active roster. Myarick has five catches for 32 yards and a touchdown this season and Hudson has three catches for 40 yards. Both are considered more blocking than receiving tight ends.

Lawrence Cager, who has played in four career games with the Jets and Cleveland, is the only tight end on the team’s practice squad.

In addition to Bellinger, the Giants lost left guard Ben Bredeson and rookie right tackle Evan Neal to knee injuries in the first half Sunday. Daboll described both injuries as being “week to week.”

Rookie Josh Ezeudu replaced Bredeson Sunday and third-year veteran Tyre Phillips filled in for Neal.

WASHINGTON

Albert Breer’s contacts in NFL ownership are afraid they won’t be able to take Daniel Snyder’s team away from him:

There’s a fear among a certain corner of NFL owners that things are setting up for Commanders owner Daniel Snyder to come out of this mess in possession of his team. And here’s how they fear it’ll go down. The NFL’s investigator, Mary Jo White, will have inconclusive findings on the charge that Snyder was hiding ticket revenue, which will then allow the league to tie that to the fact that the workplace culture in Washington has improved and effectively move the goal posts, letting the Commanders’ owner off the hook.

This fear is founded in part on an old school–new school split that seems to be emerging inside ownership ranks.

The older-school group, led by families who have had their teams for decades, are more concerned with the light under which this puts the larger group and the damage that Snyder’s done to the league’s image in general. The newer-school group, made up of more recent additions to the club, are more myopic about the topic and concerned with the fallout looming if they try to remove Snyder as owner.

The concern, as I see it, is threefold for those against removing Snyder. First, there’s a fear the precedent of voting him out would set—and what that could mean for owners in the future, even in the case of past transgressions. Second, there’s inevitability that such a move would lead to an enormous legal fight with the notoriously litigious Snyder. Finally, there’s the glass-houses dynamic that ESPN detailed in its exposé into the situation a week and a half ago.

All of this makes White a pivotal figure. Colts owner Jim Irsay’s impassioned plea to his peers to consider ridding the group of Snyder came a couple of hours before the late-afternoon, owners-only, privileged session Tuesday at the league’s fall meeting. There, with Irsay’s words on the record, commissioner Roger Goodell told the owners it’d be best for everyone to remain quiet on the subject until White’s report was completed.

But that didn’t stop the owners from talking in small groups among themselves during breaks and in other corners of the hotel about the future of the Commanders. And it didn’t slow fear that, in the end, the league is going to give Snyder a path to slither out of all this.

– – –

Meanwhile, the Commanders team itself is a half-game below the playoff line.  John Keim of ESPN.com on QB TAYLOR HEINICKE going on a spending spree:

Washington Commanders quarterback Taylor Heinicke did more than help his team win Sunday. He also pocketed $125,000. And he’ll use that money to build on his collection of Jordan sneakers.

Heinicke receives a bonus every time he plays 60% of the offensive snaps in a Commanders victory, which he did Sunday in the 23-21 win over the Green Bay Packers. He’ll continue a tradition that began last season when he earned seven such bonuses.

“Every time we get the win, when I’m in the training room the next day I always buy myself a pair of [Jordans],” Heinicke said.

And the shoes’ color scheme always relates to the team they beat.

“Tomorrow I’ll probably buy myself green and yellow Js,” he said, referring to the Packers’ colors.

He can earn up to $1.5 million in bonus money for wins. That’s how much extra he earned last season in total bonuses, which was $500,000 more than his base salary. His base salary this year is $1.5 million.

Even bigger than adding to his shoe collection, Heinicke rallied Washington (3-4) to a needed win in relief of the injured Carson Wentz. Washington placed Wentz on injured reserve with a fractured right ring finger Saturday, meaning Heinicke will start at least three more games.

The Commanders have won two in a row, but remain two games behind Dallas for third place in the NFC East. Still, they’re only a half-game out of a wild-card spot heading into next week’s matchup at Indianapolis.

CAROLINA

Peter King’s thoughts on the CHRISTIAN McCAFFREY trade from the Carolina perspective:

The Panthers are gold right now. Even with the win over Tampa Bay Sunday (I bet David Tepper was very quietly perturbed), they enter the last 10 games of the season 2-5, with the third overall pick in the 2023 draft. That’s almost certain to fluctuate in the next 10 weeks. But this is a draft stocked with quarterbacks. None is perfect, though. The Panthers may well get to have their pick of Bryce Young (Alabama), C.J. Stroud (Ohio State) or Will Levis (Kentucky), wherever they pick. After trading their best player, and with a mishmash at quarterback, it’ll be a surprise if they don’t pick in the top five next April, with some draft capital to move up if need be. They already had picks near the top of the first, second and fourth rounds, and this deal adds the Niner picks in rounds two, three and four.

Young, Stroud and Levis might not be Burrow, Herbert and Allen from recent top tens, but one or two will get hot in February and March. If it happens that the Panthers need to trade up a slot or two for the passer of their dreams, five picks in the second, third and fourth rounds will be good chips to play.

Credit GM Scott Fitterer for playing poker correctly. Even though the Rams were involved, L.A. never got close to the Niners’ offer of three picks in the top 130 (estimate) of next year’s draft plus a 2025 pick in round five. Fitterer got more for a back with McCaffrey’s injury history than he had a right to hope for.

Re tanking: It shouldn’t be a dirty word. If I’m a Panthers’ fan, I want my team to tank so as to gain the highest possible pick next year. What difference does it make if Carolina is 3-14 or 6-11? Winning five or six would mean the Panthers likely wouldn’t have their pick of the litter at quarterback, and that’s all that should matter to the franchise in the next six months.

– – –

Don’t think we realized that Steve Wilks is not interim-coaching his hometown team.  Peter King:

I think the greatest moment of Week Seven was this one — Charlotte native and Charlotte-raised and Charlotte-schooled Panthers interim coach Steve Wilks getting the game ball for his first win as the head coach:

“This is for you, brother,” owner David Tepper said, handing Wilks the ball. Wilks didn’t make a speech. He just said to the mass of players, “FAMILY ON THREE!” And the who crew did 1-2-3 FAMILY! I loved it mostly because. Wilks doesn’t have a great chance to get the full-time job, but he can always say, I got a team ready to play Tom Brady, and I got a team ready to embarrass Tom Brady’s team. That is really cool.

Wilks is inclined to roll with QB P.J. WALKER this week against the Falcons, even as semi-pedigreed BAKER MAYFIELD and SAM DARNOLD may regain their health:

Panthers interim head coach Steve Wilks said after Sunday’s win over the Buccaneers that it will be hard to pull quarterback P.J. Walker out of the lineup and it doesn’t look like anyone’s going to try to do it this week.

Wilks called Walker’s performance “very impressive” in a conversation with PFT on Sunday night and said he was pleased with how Walker has “endured and stepped up through this whole situation.” At his Monday press conference, Wilks was asked if that performance convinced him Walker should start against the Falcons in Week Eight.

 “As of right now, I don’t see a reason not to,” Wilks said.

Baker Mayfield and Sam Darnold were both practicing at the end of last week as they work to get back from ankle injuries and Wilks said he didn’t know if either player would be available this week. That uncertainty joins Walker’s performance in putting him in position to make another start.

NEW ORLEANS

Peter King:

Since wideout Michael Thomas was rewarded with a five-year, $96-million contract in July 2020 after setting the NFL record with 149 catches in 2019, here are some relevant stats:

Saints regular-season games: 40.

Thomas starts: 8.

100-yard receiving games by Thomas: 2.

Games with TD catches for Thomas: 2.

TAMPA BAY

Scott Kacsmar, no fan of QB TOM BRADY, has this to say:

In 2014, Tom Brady infamously said “When I suck, I’ll retire.” Well, he didn’t do that after the 2019 season where he finished 4-5 down the stretch and threw a pick-six in the playoffs on his final pass with the Patriots. He came back for more with Tampa Bay, and enough things went his way to win a seventh Super Bowl immediately.

But instead of retiring in the perfect spot on top with nothing else to prove, he had to come back for more in 2021. Getting shut out 9-0 to Taysom Hill and the Saints in prime time ended his MVP bid, and the Rams ended his repeat dream in the divisional round game that would have been a fitting end to his career.

But retirement lasted just 40 days so that he can come back to a team with downgrades at coach, tight end, offensive line, and healthy receivers. But hey, who doesn’t want to piss off their family so they can pad the passing totals into unreachable territory for a 3-4 team that’s fading fast?

Good thing the NFC South and the NFC in general are this bad, but this has to be the lowest point of Brady’s 23-year career. He is 3-4 for the first time since 2002, his first full season as a Week 1 starter for New England. But in the last two weeks, Brady has lost as a 9.5-point favorite in Pittsburgh to a rookie quarterback and Mitch Trubisky, and now he’s lost as a 13.5-point favorite to a Carolina team that wasn’t expected to win more than a game or two after firing the head coach and trading away star running back Christian McCaffrey.

Brady had two other losses (2012 Arizona and 2019 Miami) as a favorite of 13.5+, but at least those games were competitive late. This was a 21-3 embarrassment unlike anything we have seen in Brady’s career.

Tampa Bay had zero turnovers, zero missed field goals, and they only had four penalties for 30 yards. So, it wasn’t even some fluky upset where they kept coughing up the ball, or got railroaded by officials, or the kicker went insane and kept missing. None of that. Tampa Bay was forced to punt six times on the first eight drives, and it was stopped twice on fourth down in the game.

However, the third play of the game seemed to set the tone for the day to follow. Brady had Mike Evans wide open for a 64-yard touchdown, but the veteran inexplicably dropped the ball. The drive ended in a punt, which would become common the rest of the way.

And these nuggets:

The Buccaneers are the first team since the 2009 Steelers to lose consecutive games outright as a favorite of at least 9.5 points. They are the only team on record (since 1978) to do it without turning the ball over in either game.

In fact, this is the second time in Brady’s career he lost a game by at least 18 points despite zero turnovers. He also lost 34-10 to the Titans in 2018.

SAN FRANCISCO

Albert Breer of SI.com on how the 49ers beat out the Rams for the services of RB CHRISTIAN McCAFFREY:

• The 49ers were the first team to call, on Friday, Oct. 14, when they made their first offer. The Bills checked in later on that day, too. At that point, the Panthers told San Francisco, Buffalo and other teams that would subsequently call, that a first-rounder alone might get it done, and that a first-rounder and a later pick would get it done.

• Last Monday, GM Scott Fitterer pulled McCaffrey aside to give him the landscape, tell him that he planned to listen to offers and also that he’d be comfortable hanging on to him. The talk lasted about five minutes, and McCaffrey told Fitterer that he appreciated the heads-up.

• More calls poured in Tuesday, with some teams just fishing—offering a third-rounder or a fourth-rounder to see whether a discount was in the offing. The Broncos and Eagles were among those teams (both have GMs who like to investigate pretty much everything). The day clarified who was really in and who wasn’t.

• In the interim, Fitterer, in conjunction with owner David Tepper, assistant GM Dan Morgan and cap chief Samir Suleiman, huddled to come up with a blueprint for what they wanted out of a deal, and the first-round value was central to that, in giving the team a piece of capital it could use to get a quarterback and augment the existing young core.

• By Thursday, the 49ers and Rams had emerged as leaders, but neither had a first-rounder in 2023, which would force those two to be creative and find a way to generate a return that would satisfy the Panthers.

• Coming to the final price required compromise. The Panthers’ initial proposal used the draft value chart by slotting the 49ers’ pick in each round as the 32nd pick. Conversely, San Francisco was using the chart with its picks slotted 14th, which is around where it is now (with the team 3–3 heading into Week 7). Obviously, that created disparate proposals. So they found a middle ground in the 20s.

• That’s how the Panthers and 49ers came to the final deal—second-, third- and fourth-rounders in 2023 and a fifth-rounder in ’24. In the end, the tiebreaker between the 49ers’ and Rams’ offers was the fact that the Rams didn’t have a fourth-rounder in ’23. That one’s gone, thanks to last year’s Sony Michel trade. And the final point value of the package, as the 49ers and Panthers calculated it, wound up between 31 and 34 (very low first- and very high second-round picks).

• The Rams’ final offer: second- and third-rounders in 2023, fourth- and fifth-rounders in ’24 and Cam Akers. The Bills were also in it until the end—sort of. Buffalo called early, as we said, and kept tabs on the situation throughout, which was easy enough with the strong ties between the Bills’ and Panthers’ front offices. In the end, the asking price never came down to the point where Buffalo was compelled to make a hard offer.

• The 49ers are now without their slotted picks in the first four rounds of the 2023 draft. But they have one third-round comp pick coming in April for Mike McDaniel’s hire in Miami and comp picks for the hires of Robert Saleh by the Jets and Martin Mayhew by the Commanders. And they should have later comp picks coming for a couple of departed ’22 free agents, too.

• Obviously, the 49ers’ connections here made them comfortable. And they run deep. John Lynch and Ed McCaffrey were teammates at Stanford in 1989 and ’90 and, at one point in that second year, hooked up for a long connection in a game when Lynch was still playing quarterback. And Lynch’s nephew actually plays for Ed McCaffrey at Northern Colorado. Which, of course, only adds to all the links you’ve already heard about.

SEATTLE

The first place Seahawks have a relatively encouraging report on WR DK METCALF after he left Sunday’s game in a cart.  Brady Henderson of ESPN.com:

Seattle Seahawks wide receiver DK Metcalf won’t need surgery after injuring his left knee in the team’s victory over the Los Angeles Chargers on Sunday, coach Pete Carroll said Monday on his weekly radio show.

Carroll told Seattle Sports 710-AM that the Seahawks received “a really good report” from the scan Metcalf got early Monday. Carroll said the report showed that Metcalf “hurt his patellar some” and that it may be related to an old injury. He said Metcalf is determined to practice Wednesday, though Carroll was skeptical that he will.

“I was just with him in the training room and he’s really positive about it. I don’t know what that means in terms of coming back and how soon and all of that, but his attitude is exactly where you would want it to be. … Anyway, so I told him to be hard-head about it and I’ll try to help him not hurt himself as we go through the process,” Carroll said.

The Seahawks (4-3) host the New York Giants (6-1) on Sunday at Lumen Field.

Metcalf was hurt late in the first quarter of the Seahawks’ 37-23 win at SoFi Stadium when he tried to make a leaping catch near the end zone and landed awkwardly on his left knee. He immediately went to the Seahawks’ sideline, was carted into the locker room and was quickly ruled out for the rest of the game.

Metcalf, who signed a three-year, $72 million extension this summer, entered Sunday with 30 catches for 406 yards and two touchdowns. Before the injury, he had one catch for 12 yards, drew a defensive pass interference penalty and was also flagged for offensive PI.

The Seahawks’ wide receiver corps was already banged up, with Tyler Lockett playing through a hamstring injury that kept him from practicing all week and Penny Hart inactive because of a hamstring injury of his own. Lockett finished with seven catches for 45 yards and made it out of the game OK, Carroll said.

Veteran Marquise Goodwin had his best game of the season with four catches for 67 yards and two touchdowns. The 31-year-old speedster signed a minimum-salary deal with the Seahawks in May, missed time in camp with a hamstring injury and has started to emerge as Seattle’s third receiver.

DENVER

Peter King:

I think it’s notable that more than a few former teammates of Russell Wilson in Seattle have joined in the piling-on of Wilson in the wake of his awful start in Denver. This from former Seattle fullback Michael Robinson on NFL Network, on Wilson: “How can you stand up there, and you know the offense looks like this, and you know all these questions are out here about you and this offense, and you say, ‘Oh, we just need to execute better. Let’s ride.’ If you’re a teammate in that locker room, you’re like, Dude! Be human! Please!!! Call somebody out! Be upset about something! Don’t just act like this is business as usual. Because at the end of the day, I think this is on the horizon for this team, and I hope it’s not. But I think it’s on the horizon. Mutiny is afoot. The guys in that locker room are gonna start to turn around and say, ‘Wow. Russell got paid … The new head coach is all happy, he got his money, he’s all good. But what about us? What about the guys in the locker room?’ “

I think that was a wow to me: Mutiny is afoot. But look at the guts of what Robinson is saying. The defense is playing at a top-five-in-the-league level, and every week they see a hyped quarterback, rightfully so, performing at a Trubisky level as the season slips away after an offseason of enormous hope.

Mike Florio of ProFootballTalk.com fans the flames for a possible coaching change:

Despite sky-high expectations, the Broncos have fallen to 2-5. They’re facing the Jaguars in London on Sunday. Quite possibly, Denver will enter the bye at 2-6.

What will that mean for head coach Nathaniel Hackett, who arrived before the team’s new owners did?

Here’s what it could mean, and maybe what it should mean. Some coordinators can become effective head coaches, some can’t. Hackett has proven through seven games that he can’t.

Should he get the rest of the year to prove what we already know? Some guys (like Brian Daboll and Kevin O’Connell) can figure it out right away. Others show us sooner than later that they can’t.

There’s no shame in not thriving as an NFL head coach. Few NFL coaches are able to become an effective head coach. Hackett, like Norv Turner and Wade Phillips, may be better suited to being a coordinator.

For ownership that didn’t hire Hackett, they need to ask themselves whether it makes sense to make an in-season shift to defensive coordinator Ejiro Evero. With Evero possibly in line to get head-coaching consideration elsewhere for 2023, why not give him an eight-game on-the-job audition? If they’re already thinking about parting ways with Hackett after the season, why not do it as the bye week arrives and nine games remain to be played?

Regardless, the honeymoon is long since over for Hackett. That’s becoming more and more obvious, every week.

Hackett seemed salty at the start of his post-game press conference on after Sunday’s 16-9 loss to the Jets, when asked about the team’s struggles on offense.

“I’m sick of being up here saying the same thing over and over again,” Hackett said. “The opportunities are there. At some point we have to take it, there’s no excuses. We’ve been in every single game. We have to win these games. As a team, as an offense, defense, everybody. We’ve had these opportunities, we have been in these situations. It’s frustrating being up here having to say the same thing because like I said, those opportunities are there. We have to make them. It’s that simple, it’s the NFL. It’s going to be hard. Especially close games which we’ve been in, you have to come through and win those games.”

Later came a question commonly posed to coaches of struggling teams. How much has the heat increased, given that they’ve won only two of seven games?

“The heat’s always on,” Hackett said. “Anything you want, you want to always try to give yourself a chance to get to the playoffs. We’re behind the eight ball right now, 2-5. We have to find a way to fight ourselves out of this hole.”

Inevitably, Hackett was asked another question that struggling coaches here. Would he consider giving up play-calling duties?

“I think we’ll always look at everything,” Hackett said. “I always look at myself, first and foremost. If there’s something that we all agree that I might hold the team back or anything like that, sure. I don’t think that’s the case. I think there are plays to he had there. I think we have been in and out of the huddle. Everything with communication has been really good. But we’ll look at everything. We’ll always look at everything to try to improve and help this offense.”

Ultimately, the best approach could be to give the whistle to Evero, make the defense the centerpiece of the team, and streamline/simplify the offense. It worked for the Seahawks during quarterback Russell Wilson‘s early years in Seattle. It may be the only way to make things work in Denver.

Whatever ownership decides, the winds of change already seem to be blowing in Denver. The Wal-Mart moguls who are operating the team surely won’t chase one mistake with another one. They’ll make firm and conclusive decisions as needed. And it feels as if something is needed, sooner than later, for a Broncos team that rolled the dice on Hackett becoming an effective head coach.

Again, there’s no shame in the fact that it’s not working. One of the keys to running a non-dysfunctional organization is to not compound a mistake by making another one while trying to justify the first one.

If nothing else, making a bold and big move could help persuade the paying customers that new management isn’t messing around. That vibe is exactly what the Broncos currently seem to need.

LAS VEGAS

Albert Breer of SI.com says don’t sleep on the Raiders and RB JOSH JACOBS:

Wherever the Raiders are going the rest of the year, they’re going on the back of Josh Jacobs, who I’ve come to regard as underrated. We can argue until we’re blue in the face about the merits of taking a tailback in the first round like the Raiders did in 2019. What you can’t argue is that then-GM Mike Mayock got the right one.

Las Vegas is turning its season around, and it’s happening with an offense centered on Jacobs—he rushed for 144 yards and two scores two weeks ago in the team’s first win over the Broncos. He had 154 yards and a score on 21 carries against the Chiefs in a down-to-the-wire loss. And, finally, he ran for 143 yards and three touchdowns on 20 carries in Sunday’s win over the Texans.

Remember, the new Raider regime declined Jacobs’ fifth-year option in May, and had him play in the Hall of Fame game in August as a disciplinary measure. It sure looks like the tough-love approach has worked. And Jacobs’ response has helped give Josh McDaniels’ first Raider team a real identity.

While we’re there—the team’s schedule is pretty workable over the next month (at Saints, at Jaguars, Colts, at Broncos), so it’s not hard to see where they could go from 2–4 to back in the thick of things in a hurry.

LOS ANGELES CHARGERS

Good news/bad news on WR MIKE WILLIAMS who has an ankle injury that will cause him to miss some time, but could be worse.  ESPN.com:

Los Angeles Chargers wide receiver Mike Williams suffered a high ankle sprain in Sunday’s loss to the Seattle Seahawks, a source told ESPN’s Adam Schefter on Monday.

Williams “will miss some time,” the source told Schefter.

In the fourth quarter of the Chargers’ 37-23 loss, the team’s medical staff assisted Williams off the field to the medical tent because of an injury to his right ankle that required him to then be placed on a cart to exit toward the locker room.

CINCINNATI

QB JOE BURROW has been outside the MVP discussion so far.  That could change, especially after Sunday moving forward.  Peter King:

The other day on SiriusXM NFL Radio, Cincinnati running back Joe Mixon made what seemed to be a curious statement, as the Bengals were the 14th highest-scoring team in football: “Nobody has got an offense like us and we can put up points on anybody.” Burrow did something about that Sunday against Atlanta, with the most explosive passing day of the season in the NFL: 34 of 42, 481 yards, three TD passes, one TD sneak, no picks, with scoring passes of 60, 32 and 41 — all in the first half, giving the Bengals a 28-7 lead at the half.

PITTSBURGH

John Breech of CBSSports.com on the INTS of QB KENNY PICKETT – his “loser” of the week:

Loser: Kenny Pickett. The Steelers rookie went through some growing pains on Sunday night and everyone in Pittsburgh went through those pains with him. Pickett threw three interceptions against the Dolphins and the worst part for Pittsburgh is that all three interceptions came on drives where the Steelers had moved the ball inside of Miami’s 25-yard line. Pickett obviously could still end up being a successful QB, but he has to play smarter football.

In a piece headlined “Maybe Don’t Draft a QB with “Pick” In His Name?” Scott Kacsmar writes the thoughts of many Steelers fans:

After he lost to the Jets, I said Kenny Pickett had about the most encouraging three-interception debut a quarterback could have in the NFL.

After he lost 38-3 in Buffalo, I said Picket had about the most encouraging 35-point blowout loss in his first start that a quarterback could have.

After Pickett became the 28th quarterback since the 1970 merger to throw at least seven interceptions in his first four NFL games, I’m not so sure how encouraged I still am about him.

Pickett is the first quarterback since Ryan Leaf (1998) to throw at least seven interceptions and fewer than three touchdown passes in his first four NFL games. Yikes.

I could brush off literally all three picks against the Jets since they involved tipped balls and a Hail Mary. Even the bad throw in Buffalo was him being desperate down multiple touchdowns late in the half. Then the first pick on Sunday night was a play where Chase Claypool just fell.

But those last two picks in the fourth quarter of a winnable 16-10 game? Ugly stuff from the rookie to waste a good defensive effort over the last three quarters after it looked like the Steelers were going to get blown out on the road again. In fact, this is only the third NFL game in the last five seasons (2018-22) with no points scored after halftime.

INDIANAPOLIS

QB MATT RYAN has a shoulder separation – but he will still be on the bench after it heals says Coach Frank Reich.  The Colts are turning instead to second-year QB SAM EHLINGER who was wonderful in the preseason and can make yards with his feet.  Kevin Patra of NFL.com:

The Indianapolis Colts have seen enough turnovers from Matt Ryan.

The Colts are benching the starting quarterback in favor of Sam Ehlinger this week against the Washington Commanders, coach Frank Reich announced Monday.

“We are going to make a significant change to the starting lineup,” Reich said. “We are going to elevate Sam to be the starting quarterback. Extremely difficult decision, obviously, given the respect and admiration we have for Matt Ryan and what he’s done and what he’s brought here. He’s a pro’s pro. This guy is special, special, special.”

Reich noted that Ryan is dealing with a Grade 2 shoulder separation, and Nick Foles would be the No. 2 QB this week. But Reich added the QB change would have been made regardless of the signal-caller’s injury status.

The plan is for Ehlinger to start the rest of the season.

“Excited for Sam and the opportunity this presents for him,” Reich said. “We’ve always thought from Day 1 that Sam had some kind of special sauce. He’s continued to show it. I’ve been particularly impressed with Sam this year in practice. Once the season started, the look he’s giving on scout team, the quality of his throws, the way he’s commanding himself out there, the total package. Just feel like, at this point, that’s the best decision for our team going forward.”

It’s a stunning fall after the Colts acquired Ryan in a trade with the Atlanta Falcons this offseason. Indy had pomp and circumstance upon the trade, with the club believing he was an upgrade on Carson Wentz and the final piece to a playoff team.

Through seven weeks, it’s another swing-and-miss for general manager Chris Ballard, who has been unable to stabilize the QB position in Indy since Andrew Luck retired in 2019.

Ryan has struggled this season behind a faulty offensive line for the 3-3-1 Colts. He’s completed 68.4 percent of his passes for 2,008 yards with nine touchdowns and a league-high nine interceptions. Ryan has fumbled 11 times, losing three. He’s also been sacked 24 times, tied for most in the NFL entering Monday night.

In Sunday’s loss to rival Tennessee, Ryan threw two brutal interceptions, including a game-changing pick-six.

“Our poor production on offense is not on one person — it’s not on Matt Ryan — but we also know, as Matt and I talked it through, as head coach and quarterback. As head coach, ultimately it doesn’t matter, I’m judged on wins and losses,” Reich said. “Quarterback’s judged on points and production and turnovers. We understand that’s how it is in this league.”

Ehlinger, a 2021 sixth-round pick, has never started an NFL game and appeared in just three contests as a rookie, throwing zero passes and rushing three times for 9 yards. However, Reich might view the young quarterback as a more mobile option behind a struggling O-line, who could bring more RPO options to the offense.

The 24-year-old Ehlinger will be the Colts’ seventh starting QB under Reich.

The change feels like an act of desperation from a coach and a front office on the hot seat. It’s possible owner Jim Irsay pushed for the move, but Reich said Monday the decision was collective.

“Mr. Irsay’s been incredibly supportive,” Reich said. “We do talk every week, talk in the locker room after game, usually either talk that night by phone or sometimes in the next day or two. Did have a conversation with both he and Chris late last night for an hour or so, just talking everything through. … His vote is always going to carry — it’s a one-man crew in that respect — but what I appreciate about him is this is a collective decision. This is ‘Let’s talk this through, let’s talk this through.’ He might lead the way in certain ways, but it’s really owner, GM, head coach talking through a decision of this magnitude.”

The seismic decision in Indy could have lasting reverberations as Ryan couldn’t slow the QB carousel. Ryan is making $24.7 million this year and is due $12 million guaranteed, with a $35 million cap hit in 2023.

Okay, we will say it – the Colts will have the best quarterback play in their division the rest of the season.

This from Zak Keefer of The Athletic says the seeds for this move were planted in preseason:

Privately, this is a move they’d been mulling for weeks, unconvinced that they were getting the consistency at quarterback they needed, worried that the dam would eventually break on a season that’s felt wobbly from the start.

It certainly didn’t hurt that the most important voice in the room — that of owner Jim Irsay — was more than a little curious as to what his team would look like if the Colts made the bold decision to bench their 37-year-old starter, Matt Ryan, in favor of a second-year quarterback who’s never thrown an NFL pass.

General manager Chris Ballard, the man who shipped a third-round pick to Atlanta last spring in exchange for Ryan, didn’t necessarily disagree. He’s long thought Sam Ehlinger’s had something to him.

“We think Sam Ehlinger has a really bright future,” Ballard said back in August after keeping the 2021 sixth-round draft pick on his roster.

What he couldn’t know at the time: Ehlinger would be his starting quarterback eight weeks later.

In recent weeks, the third decision-maker, head coach Frank Reich, wasn’t ready — “Matt’s our quarterback,” he said on Sunday, after the Colts’ 19-10 loss in Tennessee, their fifth in a row to their division rival. And publicly, Reich billed Ehlinger’s promotion to the backup job 10 days ago as nothing more than a schematic move, something that would give the offense another weapon in short-yardage situations.

In reality, there was far more to it. Ryan’s inconsistencies early in the season were obvious to anyone watching. The fumbles were a problem, his interceptions were costing them games and his leash was getting shorter. It wasn’t all on the QB, not with an offensive line that’s regressed into one of the worst in the league and a run game that ranks third from the bottom, but some inside the building were starting to think a change was needed.

That was the premise on which the Colts traded for Ryan in the spring, remember, what they sold the longtime Falcons QB on before he approved the deal: behind an elite offensive line and with a dominant running back in Jonathan Taylor, he’d be the perfect fit.

“I told this to Matt,” Reich admitted Monday, “we did not hold up our end of the bargain.”

He’s right about that.

But no matter now.

This is a mess, and the Colts are grasping at straws in an attempt to clean it up.

Seven games in, the results are ugly, the issues damming: Ryan leads the league in fumbles (11), interceptions (nine) and sacks taken (24). Somehow, the Colts are 3-3-1.

But something needed to change, and Irsay knew it. He let his top lieutenants know over the past few weeks. Ballard was on board with the move. And deep down, after Sunday’s loss, Reich realized it, too. The only way the Colts would ever find out if Sam Ehlinger could play is if they gave him a shot.

And so, nine months after the three of them huddled in Irsay’s office following the team’s stunning end-of-season collapse in Jacksonville — the very night Irsay made it clear the Colts would not, under any circumstances, bring back Carson Wentz back for a second season — the three met again, after another dispiriting divisional loss, to map out another unforeseen change at the most important position on the field.

They spoke for an hour. The verdict: Ryan’s headed to the bench, and Ehlinger’s getting his shot.

The second-year QB will make his first career start Sunday against the Washington Commanders at Lucas Oil Stadium.

He’ll be the Colts’ sixth starter since Andrew Luck retired in August of 2019, following Jacoby Brissett, Brian Hoyer, Philip Rivers, Wentz and Ryan.

“You want to measure twice and cut once,” Reich said Monday. “You want to make sure you make this move that it is truly the best thing for the team and you don’t want to rush into this kind of a judgment. I don’t think we did that. It wasn’t like we’re sitting here saying, ‘Let’s wait until he throws another interception and then we’re going to make a switch.’”

No, they didn’t rush into this, because this call was weeks in the making. And it was a hard one, because of the respect Reich has for Ryan and the admiration he’s earned inside the locker room.

But the coach, in his fifth year in Indianapolis, can feel his seat getting warmer, and Ryan — inconsistent as he’s been — probably gives him a better shot to win in the short term. Ehlinger, like any young quarterback, will make his fair share of mistakes in the coming weeks. But the upside is higher, and Ehlinger’s scrambling ability might prove to be a spark this offense desperately needs.

TENNESSEE

How bad is the ankle injury sustained by QB RYAN TANNEHILL?  The AP:

Tennessee coach Mike Vrabel says that quarterback Ryan Tannehill is doing ”good” and progressing a day after leaving the stadium with a fourth straight victory and his right foot in a walking boot.

The first test will come Wednesday for Tannehill, and several other banged-up Titans. All eyes are on Tannehill, who has yet to miss a start since becoming Tennessee’s starter in mid-October 2019, posting a 36-18 record in the regular season.

”We need everybody, and the quarterback is vital to the execution,” Vrabel said Monday when asked how much tougher practice could be without the starting quarterback. ”And we’ll continue to see where Ryan is, and we’ll get everybody ready that we feel like needs to get ready.”

Tannehill is a big reason the Titans (4-2) have rebounded from an 0-2 start to the top of the AFC South they’re trying to win for a third straight season. Their 19-10 victory over Indianapolis capped a second straight sweep of their divisional rival.

Tannehill hurt his ankle on the opening play of the fourth quarter and missed only one snap.

The other option for Sunday’s visit to Houston (1-4-1) is rookie Malik Willis with Logan Woodside on the practice squad. Willis had three snaps against the Colts, two coming with the Titans trying to rev up the offense and tap the rookie’s legs. Neither has started an NFL game.

MIAMI

Peter King:

“Nope.”

— Tua Tagovailoa, asked if he spoke to his first NFL head coach, Brian Flores, at Sunday night’s Steelers-Dolphins game. There’s speculation, informed speculation, that Tagovailoa didn’t love his handling by Flores, who reportedly wanted the franchise to trade for Deshaun Watson while Tagovialoa struggled. Flores now is a Steelers assistant.

NEW ENGLAND

Albert Breer on a landmark tonight – if the Patriots win:

Such great symmetry that Patriots coach Bill Belichick would pass the legendary George Halas on the NFL all-time wins list with a win over the Bears—which is what could happen Monday night. Belichick’s a student of history and said last week that he holds Halas up there with Paul Brown in the highest regard among coaches. Getting to 325 wins, especially with the demands on coaches these days, is pretty incredible. It’d also put Belichick 23 behind record-holder Don Shula, with 10 games left this season. Which would mean Belichick has a shot to get there probably at some point in the 2024 season (he’ll be 72 then).

NEW YORK JETS

The win in Denver cost the Jets the services of RB BREECE HALL for the rest of 2022. Myles Simmons of ProFootballTalk.com:

After Sunday’s game, Jets head coach Robert Saleh told reporters the team believed young running back Breece Hall tore his ACL.

Now, that fear has been confirmed.

According to multiple reports, further testing revealed Hall tore his ACL and suffered a minor meniscus injury.

Hall had to exit New York’s win over Denver in the second quarter on Sunday. He had a 62-yard touchdown run in the contest, finishing the game with four carries for 72 yards.

Hall’s promising rookie year will end with him netting 463 yards and four touchdowns on 80 carries. He also caught 19 passes for 218 yards with a touchdown.

The Jets selected Hall with the 36th overall pick in this year’s draft out of Iowa State.

And there is another big loss. T ALIJAH VERA-TUCKER is out for the season due to a triceps injury.