| Adam Schefter on a big Sunday in Week 5 @AdamSchefterTypical NFL Sunday: 🏈Titans overcame an 18-point deficit to defeat Arizona, 22-21.🏈Panthers overcame a 17-point deficit to defeat Miami, 27-24.🏈Broncos overcame a 14-point deficit to defeat Philadelphia, 21-17.🏈Saints overcame an 11-point deficit to defeat the Giants, 26-14.🏈Commanders overcame a 10-point deficit to defeat the Chargers, 27-10. An addon in the comments: @Dgursky65Also, the Bills overcame a 10 point deficit in the 4th quarter……………………………………………………………………only to lose on a last second field goal to the Patriots………………IN Buffalo!🏈😱 Thursday – The Rams overcame a 13-point deficit, only to lose in overtime at home to the 49ers. Not double-digit deficits, but the Buccaneers were down by 7 at the Seahawks with 3:18 to go and won in regulation. And the Vikings scored the winning TD with :25 seconds left against the Browns while down 4.- – -Skycams, and their wires, were involved in two plays Sunday – and one went undetected. The first involved the Jets as reported by Saad Yousuf of The Athletic: The New York Jets were shortchanged a play on their first drive of the game Sunday afternoon against the Dallas Cowboys. On third-and-goal from the 7-yard line, Jets quarterback Justin Fields attempted a screen pass to running back Breece Hall. The ball hit Cowboys defensive end Dante Fowler Jr. in the facemask and ricocheted upwards, where it hit the Fox Skycam. The play was ruled an incomplete pass, and the Jets settled for a field goal to take a 3-0 lead. According to the NFL rulebook, Rule 7, Section 2, Article 7, the ball hitting the Skycam should have resulted in the down being replayed. “If a loose ball in play strikes a video board, guide wire, sky cam, or any other object, the ball will be dead immediately, and the down will be replayed at the previous spot,” the rulebook states. “In the event the down is replayed, the game clock will be reset to the time remaining when the snap occurred, and the clock will start on the All penalties will be disregarded, except for personal fouls or unsportsmanlike conduct fouls, which will be administered prior to the replaying of the down.” The officials got it wrong in real time, and replay assist did not jump in to correct it. The Jets also could have challenged the ruling, but opted not to. Instead of getting one more shot at the end zone from the 7-yard line, New York’s longest drive of the season — 13 plays — ended in three points. The referee at MetLife was Alex Moore. Then in London, a Vikings field goal hit a SkyCam wire. Drew Lerner ofAwfulAnnouncing.com: During the fourth quarter of the NFL International Series game in London between the Minnesota Vikings and Cleveland Browns, Vikings kicker Will Reichard appeared to strike a cable during a field goal attempt, which subsequently pushed the ball wide-right. Had the kick gone through the uprights, the Vikings would’ve tied the game. Unfortunately for Reichard and the Vikings, no one noticed the cable altering the kick’s trajectory until later in the day. Had it been noticed in real-time, the down would’ve been replayed and Reichard would receive another attempt. The Vikings went on to win the game despite the Skycam snafu, but the incident raised questions about how such an incident can be missed. After all, those three points could have easily been the difference between winning and losing. According to the NFL, replay officials simply didn’t have a “clear view” of the kick, and therefore didn’t alert the officials for a possible replay of the down. Appearing on Football Night in America, Pro Football Talk’s Mike Florio relayed the NFL’s response to viewers. “Per a source with knowledge of the situation, the NFL concluded that it had no clear view of the ball striking the cable,” Florio wrote on his site. It’s pretty clear when you know what you are looking for – maybe not so much in real time: https://twitter.com/i/status/1974925411604902312 |
| NFC NORTH |
| DETROITWill the Lions be missing T TAYLOR DECKER? Michael David Smith of ProFootballTalk.com: The Lions had their fourth straight impressive win on Sunday in Cincinnati, but there was an area of concern at left tackle, where starter Taylor Decker was out with a shoulder injury and backup Giovanni Manu was not up to the task of protecting Jared Goff’s blind side. Lions coach Dan Campbell described Manu’s performance as “up and down,” but that’s being generous. Manu did not play well, and if he’s going to fill in for Decker again, the Lions need him to play a lot better. “There were some [plays] that weren’t good, and he’ll learn from them, and he’s got to learn from them,” Campbell said of Manu. Campbell said that if Decker misses more games, they may keep Manu on the sideline and look for a new replacement. That could be Dan Skipper or Devin Cochran, the other offensive tackles on the team. Campbell stressed that the Lions want Decker back on the field, but only when they’re sure he won’t aggravate his injury. “We’ll see where Decker is at — that’s always our first choice, to see where Decker is, but I don’t want to put Decker in there for a few games if that means he won’t be available at the end of the year. That makes no sense,” Campbell said. Campbell said Decker has been trying all year to tough it out with his shoulder injury, but in each of the first four games of the season his shoulder felt a little worse, and the Lions finally decided they needed to give him time to heal. “Every week, the recovery has been less and less,” Campbell said. “There’s diminishing returns every week and we felt like we need to give this guy a little time, and I don’t know how long. But this is so we get him back. Let’t get some strength in the shoulder so he feels good.” The Lions will feel a lot better when a healthy Decker is protecting Goff again. |
| NFC EAST |
| WASHINGTONA big win for the Commanders on the return of QB JAYDEN DANIELS. John Keim of ESPN.com: The Washington Commanders got the return they wanted. So, too, did Jayden Daniels. Daniels, playing for the first time in two weeks — and for the first time near his hometown of San Bernardino — reminded everyone the danger he provides to the Washington offense. He threw for 231 yards and a touchdown while rushing for another 39 yards in the Commanders’ 27-10 win over the Los Angeles Chargers. “It means a lot,” he said. “First game back to be in my hometown. You can’t write a better story. “I dreamt of moments like this.” It was a tale Washington needed. The Commanders (3-2) were coming off a loss to Atlanta and had numerous injuries impacting the starting lineup. Receivers Terry McLaurin and Noah Brown missed the game with injuries. The team needed Daniels to provide a spark. Daniels missed the past two weeks with a sprained left knee and had to play Sunday with a brace. But it didn’t alter his game a lot: He still carried the ball eight times and took some shots from the Chargers’ defense but never stayed down on the ground. “You all tell me. How did the knee look?” Daniels said when asked about his recovery. The answer: pretty, pretty good. “He’s got that vibe to him,” safety Jeremy Reaves said, “that under-the-pillow cool. Heck of a player, composed. He can beat you in so many different ways. “He’s a different cat, the one you don’t see come around too often.” Daniels, the NFL’s Offensive Rookie of the Year in 2024, completed a 50-yard pass to receiver Luke McCaffrey with 34 seconds left in the first half that set up a 29-yard Matt Gay field goal for a 10-10 halftime score. Daniels was patient as McCaffrey ran a post on the right side — and with a defender getting a hand in the quarterback’s face as he threw. Daniels completed the scoring — and capped a 99-yard drive — when he backpedaled from pressure, rolled slightly to his right and lofted a perfect pass to Deebo Samuel in the corner of the end zone for an 8-yard score. “He just has an X factor about him,” Washington coach Dan Quinn said of Daniels, “on third and fourth downs that he can create and make plays. The last play, he threw a fantastic pass to Deebo, so he has those spaces in him.” But what Quinn especially liked were the times when Daniels threw the ball away to avoid unnecessary hits. Daniels also slid at the end of runs — something he did not do when he got hit in the knee vs. Green Bay in Week 2, sidelining him. Nor was he flustered by the Chargers’ pass rush. According to ESPN Research, Daniels was pressured on 39% of his dropbacks but completed 4 of 7 passes in those situations for 88 yards and a touchdown. “He showed a lot of poise,” Quinn said. “He made good decisions. Sometimes he threw the ball away and he got down. That’s something we talked about and worked on. Plays that don’t show up on the stat sheet but to me and to him knowing that it’s a big deal for us to play at our best.” Daniels completed four passes for 20 or more yards after having three in the first two games combined. Marcus Mariota subbed for Daniels the past two games, leading the offense to a combined 61 points. Washington offensive coordinator Kliff Kingsbury — and numerous teammates — praised Mariota. But Kingsbury also called Daniels “generational” last week. He’s also a competitor who wanted to play each of the past two weeks. During the week, when asked when he felt like himself, Daniels said, “Two weeks ago.” But, he admitted, the team didn’t see it until last weekend. That’s why Washington kept telling him, “No.” He was not medically cleared to return until early during the week. Daniels said nearly two weeks ago that he didn’t like the brace but that he would play with it if it’s what the doctors wanted. Daniels and Washington’s offense started slow. He completed 1 of 3 passes in the first quarter for 7 yards and ran twice for two yards. And then it changed. Daniels completed a 16-yard pass to receiver Jaylin Lane on third and 16 to kick-start the first touchdown drive with Washington trailing 10-0. In the last three quarters Daniels threw for 224 yards and ran for 37. As defensive end Von Miller said, Daniels had to “get out and knock the cobwebs off and just play like the guy we know he can play. He was aggressive, too.” Then Daniels and the Commanders put on a show for his friends and family who attended the game, requiring at least two suites after making the 70-mile drive from San Bernardino. A number of other friends sat in the stands. But no one was happier to see him return than the Commanders. “It was great to get him back out,” Quinn said. “It was going to be hard to keep him out tonight, coming back to where his career began.” |
| NFC SOUTH |
| CAROLINAWith RB CHUBA HOWARD out, the Panthers won on the legs of RB RICO DOWDLE and the arm of QB BRYCE YOUNG. It didn’t look like the latter would be a star after two turnovers in the first five plays but Darin Gantt of Panthers.com on how he came back: There might have been people in Bank of America Stadium who lost a little faith in Bryce Young, especially after he turned the ball over twice early, and the Panthers were down 17-0 before they ran their sixth offensive play. None of those people were Derrick Brown. After putting his defense in some unfortunate positions early, on a day when that side played great late, Young walked up to Brown on the sidelines as they were in the middle of a shift change. “Everybody wants him to just fail at this in those situations,” Brown said in a victorious locker room, after the Panthers’ 27-24 double-comeback win over the Dolphins, to improve to 2-3. “But I mean, the dude comes off, straight to me on the sidelines, and says, ‘Go get it back for me and we’ll go.'” Derrick Brown is not a man given to hyperbole, and Bryce Young is not a man given to brash public statements. But in that moment, Brown saw something from his quarterback, and Young saw something too. “I mean, he’s getting where he wants to be, man,” Brown said. |
| NEW ORLEANSQB SPENCER RATTLER produces a crazy stat Sunday. Jordan Dajani of CBSSports.com: The New Orleans Saints scored their first victory of the 2025 season on Sunday, as Kellen Moore and Co. defeated the New York Giants, 26-14. This marked victory No. 1 for Moore as coach, and the Saints’ first win since Week 14 last year, which coincidentally also came against the Giants. Sunday was also historical for quarterback Spencer Rattler. According to CBS Sports Research, Rattler is the first quarterback drafted by the Saints to win a game with the Saints since 1998. The last quarterback to accomplish this was Danny Wuerffel, who was selected by New Orleans in the fourth round of the 1997 NFL Draft. Rattler was selected by the Saints in the fifth round back in 2024 out of South Carolina. He entered this week 0-10 as a starter for the Saints, but finally found that elusive first victory in front of his home fans. Rattler completed 20 of 30 passes for 225 yards and one touchdown on Sunday, and added 21 yards on the ground. New Orleans went 0 for 3 in the red zone, but did win the turnover battle 5-0. In fact, Jaxson Dart’s offense turned the ball over on five straight possessions during a horrific stretch that lasted from the second quarter to the fourth quarter. It wasn’t the cleanest victory of all time, but it was an important victory for the Saints in more ways than one. Have QBs drafted by the Saints won victories for other teams in the last 28 years? Here are the QBs drafted by New Orleans since 1990: 2025 Tyler Shough 2024 Spencer Rattler2023 Jake Haener 2021 Ian Book 2020 Tommy Stevens 2015 Garrett Grayson2010 Sean Canfield 2005 Adrian McPherson2002 J.T. O’Sullivan 2000 Marc Bulger 1997 Danny Wuerffel1994 Doug Nussmeier 1990 Mike Buck 1990 Gerry Gdowski Bulger won 41 games in his NFL career, all the wins for the Rams. J.T. O’Sullivan won 2 games for San Francisco in 2008. We think that’s it. |
| TAMPA BAYHow good was QB BAKER MAYFIELD on Sunday? Jenna Laine: @JennaLaineESPNFor Baker Mayfield, this marked just the fourth game in NFL history of 375 passing yards on 85% (he actually completed 87.9%) on his throws… He joins Justin Herbert (2023), Lamar Jackson (2021) and Tom Brady (2009) as the only other players to accomplish it. |
| NFC WEST |
| ARIZONAA detailed breakdown of the Cardinals collapse from Bill Barnwell of ESPN.com: The story: The team that doesn’t know how to win versus the team that desperately does not want to win Let’s get this out of the way: This was the worst loss of Week 5. As someone born and raised on the East Coast during an era when the Cardinals weren’t one of the league’s better teams, I’ll admit that I don’t have a ton of personal friends who are Cardinals fans. The ones I do know had the same reaction to Sunday’s loss on social media or via text: This was the worst Cardinals loss they’d ever seen. There have been a few agonizing ones, too, with the 24-23 defeat to the Bears on “Monday Night Football” that inspired the late Dennis Green’s famous “They are who we thought they were!” speech as perhaps the most memorable. But I can’t even chalk this one up to recency bias. Outside of losing a more important game, I really can’t imagine a more nonsensical and despairing way to lose a football game. Let’s start with the first inexplicable play. Up 21-6 in the fourth quarter, it looked like the Cardinals were about to turn the lights out on the hapless Titans. They pulled a lineman as part of a gap scheme run on third-and-1 and didn’t even do a great job of blocking it up, but the Titans weren’t about to get in their way. Emari Demercado didn’t really need to make a cut and didn’t encounter any defenders at the first, second or third levels. On the easiest explosive run Demercado will ever have in his career, he went untouched 72 yards to the end zone. But the ball went only 71 yards. Just as L’Jarius Sneed caught up at the goal line, Demercado relaxed and let the ball fall to the ground. He saw it bounce on the ground in front of him but simply decided to let it roll through the back of the end zone for a touchback. Sneed knew. Demercado began to celebrate. If he didn’t know, he was about to find out. You don’t need me to tell you — or tell NFL players — that they shouldn’t run the risk of dumping the ball out of their hands anywhere close to the goal line. There’s no benefit. Holding the ball for an extra beat or two and letting it go then looks just as cool. This was going to be the fifth and longest touchdown of Demercado’s career. And given that the Titans had yet to score 21 points in a game all season before Sunday, going up 27-6 with just under 13 minutes of regulation left was going to end the contest. What makes this even more painful, of course, is that Demercado was surely reminded of this last week, when Indianapolis receiver Adonai Mitchell dropped a ball just before the goal line in what ended up turning into a 27-20 Colts loss to the Rams. NFL players don’t get to watch a lot of random football during the season — they’re working on Sundays and it’s hard enough to prepare for the team you’re actually playing — but Demercado even played on Thursday night last week. I know his coaches were watching what was happening on Sunday, and I’m sure every single staff around the NFL saw the Mitchell disaster and reminded their players to not do the one simple thing that can cost you six points as you’re streaking to the end zone. Demercado doing it anyway is unconscionable. That’s a disaster, but it felt more like an unnecessary mistake than a critical, game-altering failure in the moment, because the Titans had been absolutely hopeless. They had racked up a total of 120 net yards across their 10 prior drives, including three consecutive three-and-outs to start the third quarter. They were entering their eighth consecutive quarter without a touchdown or even as much as a trip inside the red zone. And so, of course, Cam Ward and the Titans morphed into the 2023 Dolphins. Ward drove the Titans 80 yards in six plays, hitting Calvin Ridley for a 47-yard completion on third-and-10 along the way. The Titans scored their first touchdown since Week 3, but when coach Brian Callahan curiously decided not to go for the 2-point conversion, Joey Slye promptly missed the extra point. Arizona still held a 21-12 lead. After a Cardinals three-and-out, the Titans drove downfield, at which point something even wilder happened. Facing a third-and-2 on the Arizona 20-yard line, Ward scrambled and had a pass tipped at the line, which fell into the arms of Dadrion Taylor-Demerson. With 4:53 to go in a two-possession game, that’s probably something close to a wrap on the Titans if Taylor-Demerson simply goes down and is touched by a Titans player. Instead, something happened that would even seem outlandish in a movie where a dog is one of the team’s star players. Taylor-Demerson went down under his own power and fumbled. Kei’Trel Clark, the first player to see the ball on the ground, couldn’t stop and kicked it forward toward his own end zone. Despite the fact that there were three Cardinals hovering directly over the football like they were roasting s’mores, the ball somehow squeezed out of their grasp and into the end zone, where Tyler Lockett — whose Titans career was only relevant for Immaculate Grid purposes before Sunday — fell on it for a touchdown. Suddenly 21-19. From that point on, it might have felt like fate. The Cardinals punted after racking up 15 yards on their next drive. And while the Titans needed to get into field goal range from their own 18-yard line with one timeout and 1:53 to go, they didn’t have much trouble. Ward hit three straight short completions, found Chig Okonkwo for a first down and then hit his big shot, going over the top of Clark in coverage to Ridley for 38 yards. With the game on the line, the Cardinals didn’t give a corner who’s only in the lineup because of injuries any help over the top against Tennessee’s top wide receiver. After an attempt to let the Titans score failed, the Cardinals used their timeouts on kneel-downs and watched Slye hit a chip-shot field goal to end the sort of game that would cause the home fans to cancel their season tickets for 2026. Realistically, we’re going to remember the two once-in-a-lifetime plays the Titans stacked for their victory and treat this more as a unforeseeable, unrepeatable meltdown by the Cardinals than some sort of turning point for the previously winless Titans. And that’s probably fair. Per NFL Next Gen Stats, the average win probability for the Titans at any point during this game was 12.1%, the lowest for any winning team in any game since 2016. Ward deserves credit for some of the throws he made late in this matchup, but the problems the Titans had coming into this game didn’t disappear. Everything beyond those two plays will fade, but this wasn’t simply a fluke loss for Arizona. The Cards stumbled through a game they should have dominated against arguably the worst team in the NFL and left the door open before running directly into it and knocking themselves out. The Cardinals scored touchdowns on three of their first four possessions, one of which was aided by a short field, and then went to sleep on offense. Their five drives in the second quarter produced a total of 27 yards, including what might be the worst intentional grounding penalty I’ve ever seen. Kyler Murray’s attempted pass was 15 yards away from the nearest receiver and a full 9 yards short of the line of scrimmage. After halftime, Murray drove the Cardinals into field goal range, only for a premature snap to hit him in the helmet, leading to a Titans fumble recovery. Murray then left the game briefly before returning, but the offense could do nothing; outside of the Demercado run that ended so tragically, the Cardinals managed 28 net yards and two first downs on their 16 ensuing plays after Murray was hit by the snap. Arizona’s game management simply wasn’t good enough. Facing a third-and-8 from their own 35-yard line with 2:12 to go and a two-point lead, the entire playbook should have been open. The Titans still had a timeout, but with the two-minute warning stopping the clock, the maximum amount of time the Cardinals could have taken off with a run would have been only 12 seconds. Instead, of all people, the Cardinals handed the ball to Demercado. This time, the Titans had an unblocked linebacker at the second level, had edge defender Dre’Mont Jones fight off a block and tackled Demercado for no gain. Of course, this isn’t the first time that the Cardinals have struggled to get their offense going for the vast majority of a game. Just last week, facing a difficult Seahawks defense, Drew Petzing’s group racked up six points and averaged 16.3 yards per possession across their first nine drives before scoring touchdowns on each of their final two attempts in the fourth quarter. In Week 3, they topped 50 net yards only once on a drive against the 49ers, and that required 33 penalty yards. In the opener against the Saints, leading 20-10 in the third quarter, Murray & Co. mustered only five first downs and 49 net yards combined across their final four drives, opening the door for the Saints to come within a contested catch of tying the game in the final minute. There is absolutely no consistency to this offense, and that’s a product of the run game dissipating. Losing James Conner and Trey Benson to injuries hurt, but the rush attack was struggling even before the Cardinals were forced to turn to their third-string backs. While they did hit a big play to Demercado on Sunday, they have not been able to rely on their run game keeping the offense on schedule. Between 2023 and 2024, the Cardinals ranked eighth in the league in success rate on designed runs. This season, they’re 31st by the same metric. Correlation isn’t always causation, but it does seem notable that Cardinals offensive line coach Klayton Adams left Arizona this offseason to join Dallas and take over as their offensive coordinator. Guess what has happened there? Led by a resurgent season from Javonte Williams, a Cowboys run game that ranked 12th in success rate on designed runs between 2023 and 2024 is now second in 2025. The Cardinals were renowned for their usage of heavy personnel groupings and used a Day 2 pick on blocking tight end Tip Reiman in last year’s draft, but they’ve gotten away from that this season. Petzing was in 12 or 13 personnel (which use two or three tight ends) more than 44% of the time last season; that has gone down below 36% this year. Some of that is injury-related, with Reiman missing all of Week 2 before being carted out of Sunday’s loss with a serious ankle injury. But in Week 4, with the Cardinals flailing on offense for most of the game, Reiman played more snaps on special teams (13) than offense (six). Now, with Reiman expected to miss significant time, those sort of personnel groupings aren’t even on the table. With the run game rolling in 2023 and 2024, the Cardinals were a top-10 offense by EPA per play with Murray in the lineup. But too much of the offense is falling on his shoulders now, leading to inconsistency as the Cardinals rely on Murray creating outside of structure. There aren’t even consistent roles for their best players. Marvin Harrison Jr. had four catches for 79 yards in the first half and was targeted just once after the break. In Week 3, he had just two targets before halftime. And he has one target out of a stack or bunch formation over the past four weeks. At what point do the Cardinals need to be creating designed opportunities for the guy they drafted with the fourth overall pick in last year’s draft, especially during stretches where the offense has gone missing? Coach Jonathan Gannon should be distraught. The Cardinals were a completion away from hitting victory formation against the 49ers in Week 3 and lost. They were badly outplayed by the Seahawks in Week 4, but a late comeback should have pushed them to overtime, only for Chad Ryland’s kickoff to land short of the landing zone and the Seahawks to hit one completion before a 52-yard field goal. They should have won this game going away. The Cardinals could be 4-1 right now. Instead, they’re 2-3 and staring down the Colts and Packers over the next two games before their bye. We assume that players like Demercado, who didn’t do any unnecessary showboating as he ran out of gas at the goal line, don’t see the goal line in their vision as they pass into the end zone – and don’t take account in the delay until their body actually gets there. |
| AFC NORTH |
| BALTIMOREAs the Ravens spiral downward, Coach John Harbaugh stands by DC Zach Orr. Jamison Hensley of ESPN.com: – Ravens coach John Harbaugh said he’s sticking with defensive coordinator Zach Orr following Sunday’s 44-10 loss to the Houston Texans, the latest defensive meltdown in a season that continues to spiral for Baltimore. “I do not think that that’s the answer,” Harbaugh said when asked if he will consider changes with Orr and the defensive staff. “We have to go to work, is what we need to do. We need to stick together, is what we need to do. We need to find ourselves. And that has to do with coaches and players [working] together.” The Ravens fell to 1-4 for the second time in the franchise’s 30-year history because they couldn’t stop quarterback C.J. Stroud and the Texans offense. The 44 points are the most allowed by the Ravens in a home game in Harbaugh’s 18 seasons as coach. It was a low point for the Baltimore defense, which allowed five touchdowns to a Texans team that had scored only six touchdowns this season. The struggles on defense have been a season-long trend for Baltimore and Orr, who replaced Mike Macdonald in 2024 and is in his second season as the unit’s playcaller. The Ravens have given up 177 points this season, their most in a five-game span in team history. “We have to get our s— together,” outside linebacker Kyle Van Noy said. “Just being brutally honest. Coaches can give us the plays, but we have to execute. It doesn’t matter who you are in there. Do your job. [If the] coaches ask you to do something, do it. Myself included.” If the season hadn’t been challenging enough for Baltimore, injuries have taken a toll. The Ravens on Sunday were without seven Pro Bowl players from last year, including two-time NFL Most Valuable Player Lamar Jackson. Baltimore dropped to 4-10 in games without Jackson, who is sidelined with a hamstring injury. This was the fifth straight loss when Jackson has been unable to play. It’s unknown whether Jackson will be able to play next Sunday against the Los Angeles Rams. “No excuses,” Van Noy said. “I just watched the Niners have injuries, go out there and play football. No excuses for injuries. [As] professionals, you get paid to play, so we have to play better.” The other Pro Bowl players sidelined for the Ravens were: safety Kyle Hamilton (groin), offensive tackle Ronnie Stanley (ankle), cornerback Marlon Humphrey (calf), middle linebacker Roquan Smith (hamstring), fullback Patrick Ricard (calf) and defensive tackle Nnamdi Madubuike (neck), who is out for the season. Baltimore was forced to start five rookies on defense to fill in for the injured players. “I thought we would play better,” Harbaugh said. “I thought we would tackle better. It was not up to standard. We had good enough players out there to play a lot better than we did.” The 34-point loss is tied for the second-worst margin of defeat under Harbaugh and represented Baltimore’s largest home defeat since 2013. Harbaugh called it “a complete disappointment.” “We’re going to have to find a way to turn it around and figure out who we are this next week and then into the bye [week],” he said. “And after the bye, we’re going to have more than half the season left, and we’re going to have to find ourselves. So that’s what our aim will be going forward.” The Ravens’ postseason hopes are dwindling. In the Super Bowl era, only 4.1% of teams (16 of 382) that lost at least four of their first five games were able to rebound and make the playoffs, according to ESPN Research. Ravens running back Derrick Henry said he “definitely” believes the coaches’ messages are connecting with the players. “I still believe in these guys,” Henry said. “It’s easy to be negative. Everybody can have the ‘Poor me’s,’ and ‘Why this? Why that?’ But I’m not blaming anybody. I look at myself first and see what I need to do better, and then we all go in there as a group, as a unit, and try to fix everything and turn this thing around as quickly as possible.” When Van Noy was asked if he has seen enough accountability after recent losses, he paused five seconds before responding. “That’s a good question,” Van Noy said. “I think I’ll be able to answer that better after the week, to be honest — just being blatantly honest. I feel like there’s accountability, but we will see.” |
| CINCINNATIQB JAKE BROWNING has been an interception machine, so Coach Zak Taylor is pondering a change after Sunday’s loss to Detroit. Ben Baby of ESPN.com: – Bengals coach Zac Taylor sounded open to the possibility of a quarterback change after Jake Browning struggled again in a 37-24 loss to the Detroit Lions on Sunday. Taylor said he plans to evaluate why the offense struggled in a third straight defeat. Browning threw three interceptions before he led the Bengals to three touchdowns in the final quarter to trim the final margin. “After a game like that, we’re going to look at all personnel to make sure we’re doing the right thing,” Taylor said when asked if he still believes in Browning moving forward. “I won’t shy away from that because it’s a very fair question after the amount of turnovers that we had.” Browning was 26-of-40 passing for 251 yards, 3 touchdowns and 3 interceptions. But all three TDs and 133 of those yards came in the fourth quarter, after Cincinnati was walloped early for a third consecutive week. Browning, who replaced the injured Joe Burrow, was booed after several drives in the first half. At one point, he was booed as he led the offense on the field. The veteran backup didn’t disagree with the fans’ reaction. After the loss, Browning said he let down the team and the fans and didn’t play well enough to put Cincinnati in a winning position. Browning’s first interception, a deep ball intended for wide receiver Ja’Marr Chase, came after the majority of his passes were short throws. Browning has thrown eight interceptions in four games this season. When he started seven games in 2023, also in place of the injured Burrow, Browning threw seven interceptions in nine contests. “I got to pick my spots better,” Browning said. “I threw three picks that were just bad. And there’s no hiding from that. It was bad football. From me.” The Bengals have three other quarterbacks. Brett Rypien is on the 53-player roster, and Mike White and Sean Clifford are on the practice squad. |
| AFC SOUTH |
| INDIANAPOLISThe Colts dominated the Raiders with a balanced offense and a defense that held Las Vegas out of the end zone. But they did lose PK SPENCER SHRADER, who had just been named AFC Special Teams Player of the Month. Amanda Foster of Colts.com: When Spencer Shrader went down after taking a hard hit during a PAT in the second quarter, long snapper Luke Rhodes was the first man to kneel and take his helmet off as he stayed by his kicker. Punter Rigoberto Sanchez was among the next group of Colts players to rush to Shrader, giving the medical staff space while still making sure Shrader knew he had their support. Shrader, whose kicking leg was run into on his follow-through on the kick (which was successful), stayed down on the turf for long enough for his entire team to go out on the field and surround him. The kicker eventually got up and walked off the field under his own power, but with a heavy limp. Not long after, Shrader was ruled out of the game with a knee injury. “It doesn’t look good, but I don’t have the full update,” head coach Shane Steichen said after the game. Shrader’s injury was a somber moment in the Colts’ dominant 40-6 win over the Las Vegas Raiders on Sunday, to the point where Rhodes said he didn’t even know the final score of the game because he was so concerned about Shrader. “I saw him at halftime, he’s pretty shaken up,” Rhodes said after the game. “Just hate to see it. He was kicking obviously really good, he’s a really good kid in the locker room, works hard every day. Has the right mindset, and just hate it for him.” |
| JACKSONVILLEMichael DiRocco of ESPN.com on ATH TRAVIS HUNTER after four games. Jacksonville Jaguars quarterback Trevor Lawrence, facing a third-and-15 from his own 6-yard line, did not want the checkdown. Instead, he looked for rookie Travis Hunter in the middle of the field. The pass was high, but Hunter jumped and snagged it — with San Francisco 49ers safety Marques Sigle on his back. The 28-yard gain, in addition to earning a first down and sparking the Jaguars’ second touchdown drive in a 26-21 Week 4 road victory, was the longest play in Hunter’s monthlong NFL career. “Travis set a great angle for me to throw it and made a great play on the ball,” Lawrence said. “The safety came back in and tried to break it up, and it’s a great catch by Travis.” It was the first “wow” play from the reigning Heisman Trophy winner who is known for playing on offense as a receiver and on defense as a cornerback. The Jaguars traded four picks to move up to No. 2 overall to draft Hunter in April. They wanted the same kind of big plays he made for Colorado in 2024, when he caught 96 passes for 1,258 yards and 15 touchdowns — while also tallying 11 pass breakups, four interceptions and 36 tackles. So far, though, Hunter has yet to reach that level. He ranked seventh among rookies in receiving yards per game (29.5), with zero touchdowns and one pass breakup entering Sunday. Hunter has played 58% of the Jaguars’ offensive snaps and 38% of the defensive snaps leading into Monday’s matchup against the Kansas City Chiefs (8:15 p.m. ET, ESPN), according to ESPN Research. He’s the fourth player since 2007 to play 100-plus offensive and defensive snaps combined in the same season. However, some, such as Hunter’s college coach and Pro Football Hall of Famer Deion Sanders, are questioning whether the Jaguars are using Hunter effectively, especially on offense. And others, such as former NFL defensive back and current ESPN analyst Ryan Clark, are wondering if the Jaguars are asking too much of Hunter to learn both positions. But no matter what the critics are saying, Hunter’s coaches are being careful about his workload and are noting the concerns, but at the same time are confident in their ever-evolving approach. “There’s absolutely a push-and-pull of saying, ‘What’s too much? What’s enough?'” Jaguars offensive coordinator Grant Udinski said. “Because we want to try to maximize, and at the same time optimize, his time on the field. “We’re always exploring what’s the best way we can get him on the field and let him go play fast, go play free without detracting from all the other things he has to do.” EXPECTATIONS FOR HUNTER entering the season were high, especially after Jaguars general manager James Gladstone called the 22-year-old someone who could “alter the trajectory of the sport.” Through four weeks, however, the stats don’t show much of an impact: 13 catches for 118 yards and 11 tackles and one pass breakup. Lawrence has targeted Hunter the third most (21) among Jaguars receivers, behind receiver Brian Thomas Jr. and tight end Brenton Strange. Hunter is averaging 2.38 yards after the catch, which is the seventh best among 79 qualifying receivers. His team-best 3.13 yards of separation between himself and the defender is 30th among those 79 receivers — ahead of players such as Puka Nacua, Amon-Ra St. Brown and Tee Higgins, according to NFL Next Gen Stats. “I don’t know much about his defensive role or playtime. Offensively, he is in the mix for sure,” said one veteran NFL coach whose team plays the Jaguars in the early part of the schedule. “They are trying to find ways to get him the ball but not forcing it to him. He appears to be best on underneath option routes and situations where they can get him in space. A bit limited in terms of his overall route tree.” On defense, Hunter has allowed eight receptions for 89 yards on nine targets, with 44 of his 68 coverage snaps coming in zone defense, per NFL Next Gen Stats. “I’m just doing exactly what my team [has] asked me to do,” Hunter said. When asked what he thinks he has done well, he responded: “Just being a teammate.” There have been flashes of the elite ball skills and big-play ability he showed in college on both sides of the ball. In addition to the 28-yard catch against the 49ers, Hunter had a 21-yard catch-and-run the week before against the Houston Texans on a first-and-20 play from the Jaguars’ own 23-yard line in the third quarter. That helped extend a drive that ended with a field goal in their 17-10 Week 3 victory. Against the Carolina Panthers in Week 1, Hunter got behind the coverage for a potential touchdown, but Lawrence’s pass was intercepted by Jaycee Horn. Horn matched up with Hunter a few times in the opener and said he was impressed. “He’s a good player. He makes plays,” Horn said of Hunter. “He’s got good instincts, got a good feel on both sides of the ball. “… It’s a tough job to do both, but I think he can do it.” Hunter has learned one receiver position — what they call the F, or slot — and has worked only as an outside cornerback and is on the field when the Jaguars are in nickel (with Jourdan Lewis sliding to nickel when that happens). Head coach Liam Coen said the plan is for Hunter to play only those spots as a rookie. It looked like Hunter’s defensive workload was gradually increasing when he played 80 snaps combined in Weeks 2 and 3 after playing only six in the season opener, but he played just nine defensive snaps in Week 4 against San Francisco — all of which came in the first quarter. However, it wasn’t because he made a mistake in coverage on a third-down catch by Ricky Pearsall on the final play of the first quarter. Coen said Hunter dinged his shoulder on a tackle and the Jaguars opted to use him only on offense the rest of the game because of the return of cornerback Montaric Brown. Brown had been the team’s No. 3 corner behind Tyson Campbell and Lewis in training camp before getting hurt. |
| AFC EAST |
| NEW ENGLANDAfter beating the Bills in Buffalo with a skilled performance is QB DRAKE MAYE into the top 10? Jacob Robinson of The Athletic on Maye and WR STEFON DIGGS: Prior to Sunday night, Stefon Diggs’ last appearance at Buffalo’s Highmark Stadium came as his career seemed to be trending toward irrelevance. (And the Bills lost by three.) Last night, the former Bills receiver returned with a vengeance, recording a game-high 10 receptions and 146 receiving yards as the Patriots’ No. 1 receiver. (And the Bills again lost by three.) The 31-year-old’s upward trend is aligned with that of the Patriots themselves. Mike Vrabel has them looking like a playoff team after last night’s 23-20 upset win in Buffalo, which felt like the unofficial end of post-Tom Brady malaise. New England outplayed the previously undefeated Bills, moving to 3-2 thanks to Drake Maye’s nearly flawless second half, when he completed 13 of 14 passes for 184 yards, including one that would’ve been impressive even as a throwaway. It might feel premature, but the 23-year-old is truly approaching the superstar tier of NFL quarterbacks — not as the next Brady, but as the first Maye.– – -This seems petty: Ari Meirov@MySportsUpdateThe University of North Carolina staff has been directed by Bill Belichick not to post or repost anything related to the #Patriots — which explains why there were no posts about Drake Maye’s performance Sunday night in the win over Buffalo, per @RossMartinNC Maye, of course, played his college ball at UNC. Before we went to press, UNC reversed course (unknown as to whether it was with or without Belichick’s approval): The directive changed. Quickly. After Ross Martin of 247Sports.com reported that North Carolina posted no social-media messages praising former Tar Heels quarterback Drake Maye because coach Bill Belichick has directed that Patriots content is off-limits, a backlash ensued. With widespread criticism of the pettiness reflected by the approach, North Carolina posted on Monday morning a tweet praising Maye, along with a clip from his performance on Sunday night in Buffalo. It’ll be interesting to see whether Belichick is asked about the situation during his next press conference. (He might prefer that to questions about the quality of his football team.) If Belichick gets any such questions, it’s a good bet that he’ll grumble about not knowing anything about “Instaface” or whatever — even if he knows that world far better than he’d ever admit. |
| THIS AND THAT |
| ARTHUR JONESFormer Raven and Colt DT Arthur Jones passed away on Friday. Matt Hladik ofYahooSports.com sees reports implying he had a heart problem: The NFL world suffered a tragic loss Friday with the death of former Baltimore Ravens and Indianapolis Colts defensive tackle Arthur Jones. Jones, the older brother of former NFL defensive end Chandler Jones and UFC legend Jon “Bones” Jones, was just 39 years old. He last played in the NFL with Washington in 2017 before announcing his retirement at the end of the season. While an official cause of death has not been announced, a report from the Baltimore Banner hints at what may have caused Jones’ sudden passing. “Medical personnel were dispatched to Jones’ home in Central New York’s Onondaga County around 11 a.m. in response to a medical emergency, according to a police spokesperson,” said the Baltimore Banner’s Jonas Schaffer. “Jones had a preexisting medical condition, the spokesperson said, and he was pronounced dead at his home.” Another report from Syracuse.com said first responders were dispatched to Jones’ residence when his defibrillator went off. |
| BUNNY BUSINESSIt’s going to be busy four months if we want to properly enjoy the Super Bowl Halftime Show we have been awarded by the NFL. First, an on-line course in Borikén culture as summarized here so we can comprehend the stage decorations and cultural rhythms of Bad Bunny and his show. And then, an on-line course in Spanish, as Bad Bunny wants us to be able to follow his brilliant lyrics. Bad Bunny responded to homeland security secretary Kristi Noem’s threats to send federal immigration enforcement agents to the Super Bowl next year, joking during Saturday Night Live that everyone was happy about his planned half-time performance, “even Fox News”. The 31-year-old Puerto Rican singer who has criticized the Trump administration’s aggressive immigration policies hosted the season premiere of Saturday Night Live, using his opening monologue to address controversy around his 2026 Super Bowl performance. “It’s good to be back. This is my second time hosting and my fourth time being here,” he said as he took the stage. “I’m doing the Super Bowl half-time show. I’m very happy and I think everyone is happy about it.” The line was followed by a quick montage of Fox news contributors, each saying one word that was clipped together to say, “He should be the next President.” During the opening, the artist included some words in Spanish that he devoted to “all the Latinos and Latinas in the entire world and here in the United States”. “More than being an accomplishment of mine, it’s an accomplishment for everybody, demonstrating that our mark and our contribution to this country will never be able to be removed or erased by anybody,” he said in Spanish. Afterwards, he said in English, “If you didn’t understand what I just said, you have four months to learn.” Writing in Rolling Stone, Vanessa Diaz, a Professor of Chicana Studies at Loyola Marymount, provides us with the proper way to look at the selection of Bad Bunny: Bad Bunny announced his Super Bowl halftime performance in a fully Puerto Rican way: wearing a pava hat, chanclas, and a Hector Lavoe-inspired suit, while sitting atop a football goalpost at sunset on a beach in Puerto Rico. This announcement came just a week after Bad Bunny ended his historic 31-day residency at El Coliseo de Puerto Rico with a record-breaking livestream of the final show via Amazon Music. It was the most-watched single-artist performance in the history of the platform. Now Bad Bunny is preparing to achieve yet another major cultural milestone as the first Super Bowl halftime artist to perform solely in Spanish. But this historically significant moment comes with political implications that have led to deeply divided viewpoints. Latin music is the fastest-growing genre in the U.S., with revenues of $1.4 billion. And Bad Bunny is Latin music’s biggest star. But at the same time, Latinos and the Spanish language are being targeted as migrants are violently kidnapped on street corners and disappeared by the Trump administration. Bad Bunny himself said he skipped touring across the U.S. because of the potential for ICE presence at his concerts, as ICE raids in major mainland American cities have been much more prevalent than in Puerto Rico. Still, this has led some to question why he is choosing to do a performance in the U.S. now. His status as a Spanish-speaking Latino, his statement about ICE, and his longstanding opposition to President Donald Trump have also made him a natural target for conservative backlash. Conservative political commentator Benny Johnson called him a “massive Trump hater” and “anti-ICE activist” with “no songs in English.” Other commentators online suggest that he should be detained or deported ahead of the show. While negative responses to the halftime announcement echo centuries-long sentiments of Latinos as perpetual foreigners, it also reflects the fact that most Americans still do not know that Puerto Rico, where Bad Bunny was born, raised, and still lives, is a territory of the U.S., and Puerto Ricans have U.S. citizenship. So, every single one of his 31 residency shows took place in the U.S. By forcing residents of the 50 states to come to him, his residency de-centered what the U.S. mainland means by making Puerto Rico itself the mainland for his shows. Similarly, Bad Bunny as the Super Bowl halftime performer is an opportunity to decenter a white, English-speaking mainstream and grapple with the fact that Latin music — in Spanish — is mainstream. That Bad Bunny has become mainstream is irrefutable, given he was the most streamed artist on Spotify for three years from 2020 to 2022, has the most-streamed album in the history of Spotify (Un Verano Sin Ti), and saw multiple tracks from his latest album, DeBÍ TiRAR MáS FOToS, reach Number One this year on the Billboard Hot 100, Apple Music, and Spotify. DeBÍ TiRAR MáS FOToS was lauded by many as both his most Puerto Rican album and his most political album, neither of which negatively impacted its popularity. In this way, Bad Bunny’s popularity has not cheapened his message. It has strengthened it. So, as he prepares to take the Super Bowl stage, some wonder if he will be able to maintain his political messaging, which includes calls for Puerto Rican independence, trans rights, and an end to U.S. imperialism. It is right to question what will be possible in the context of this tightly controlled space that has historically silenced protest. However, this year, Kendrick Lamar’s halftime show included pointed political statements through the use of his prison yard-inspired stage design, the formation of a living American flag that split in half, and a cameo by Samuel L. Jackson as Uncle Sam. In 2020, when Bad Bunny performed at the Super Bowl halftime show with Jennifer Lopez and Shakira, the headliners fought to keep a political statement in the performance by showing young children in cages, which represented the inhumane immigration policy of the first Trump presidency. Giving Bad Bunny the space to spotlight his culture and politics is a bold move for Apple Music, Roc Nation, and the NFL, in light of the anti-Latino sentiment ravaging the country. But it is a choice that makes sense. The Super Bowl halftime show is about money and viewership. Bad Bunny has already brought in the cash and will most certainly bring in the viewers, even if they aren’t all white and English-speaking. There’s a reason companies like Adidas, Pepsi, and Ritz Crackers have chosen to partner with Bad Bunny. These brands are mainstream, just like Bad Bunny. As right-wingers melt down over the choice and many of Bad Bunny’s fans rejoice, what is clear is that everyone has an opinion on what is sure to be one of the most culturally significant performances in the history of the Super Bowl. I am reminded of something Bad Bunny declared during his Coachella set: “Nunca antes hubo alguien como yo” (“There has never been someone like me before”). Maybe there has never been anyone like Bad Bunny before. But given the cultural breakthroughs he continues to make, there will certainly be more like him in the future. To get us started, here is a translation of his great hit “Me Porto Bonito” or “I’ll Behave Well”: The smell remained in the carof your perfumeYou’re horny and I’m hornyThat’s what unites usShe knows she’s hotAnd they don’t show her offIf I was your manI’ll post a photo on Friday and Monday So that everyone seesHow sexy you are, you areI have to hook up with youI’m loose in the streetsBut I’ll get off for youIf you ask meI’ll behave wellAnd I’ll post a selfie so that they seeHow sexy you are, you areThe other girls need to reach your levelI’m loose in the streetsBut I’ll get off for youIf you ask meI’ll behave well Ey, eyYou’re not a “bebecita”You’re a “bebesota”A freak, ma’, you can tellShe likes threesomesWhen she’s highIf her boyfriend is a loserShe gets rid of himAnd wow, mamiWhere do I leave my resumeI know you’ve been single for a monthAnd I immediately took a riskIf you want I’ll make you a babyOr I’ll bring you the plan BUff, mami, you look so sexyIn the 2000s she listened to RBDAnd now she wants perreoAll night against the wallShe’s obsessed, CBD Mami, you are eliteDon’t limit yourselfLet me give youWhat you deserve and levitates youLet’s go to the hiding placeDon’t get angry with meThat the satellite won’t be able to reach here Mami, post somethingGive me contentUpload your a** more oftenI’m always hanging outTo see if we coincideAnd we finally meetMa’, I never forgetOur hookupsThere’s no one like youWho has pleased meYou think I say the same thingTo all the girlsShe wants to have sexBut doesn’t want anything serious But in confidence, she confesses to meShe says she’s not interested in anyoneBut when she goes out, she gets naughty (hey) So that everyone seesHow sexy you are, you areI have to hook up with youI’m loose in the streetsBut I’ll get off for youIf you ask meI’ll behave well |
| MARK SANCHEZThis Monday update on the Indianapolis incident involving former NFL QB Mark Sanchez. Noe Padilla and Jade Jackson of the Indy Star: Fox Sports analyst and former NFL quarterback Mark Sanchez will face at least one felony charge for his role in a weekend fight that ended with him being stabbed by a 69-year-old man, officials announced. “We are literally talking about people fighting about a parking spot,” Marion County Prosecutor Ryan Mears said during a news conference announcing the more serious charge. Sanchez, 38, was stabbed in a drunken fight and a 69-year-old man was sent to the hospital with serious injuries, according to a probable cause affidavit filed in the case. He was in town to call Sunday’s Colts game against the Las Vegas Raiders. Sanchez was charged Oct. 4 with battery resulting in injury, public intoxication, and unlawful entry of a motor vehicle for his role in the altercation. Sanchez’s cash bond on the misdemeanor charges was set at $300. An initial hearing in the case is scheduled for Oct. 7, according to online court records. “I don’t care who you are. I don’t care what you do for a living. I don’t care where you live. If you come into our city, commit violence, we will use all the tools that are at our disposal to hold you accountable,” said Indianapolis Police Chief Chris Bailey. Court documents revealed that the fight started shortly before 12:30 a.m. Oct. 4 in downtown Indianapolis after Sanchez confronted a 69-year-old man who had parked his work box truck at a loading dock to collect used cooking oil. Video from the Indianapolis Marriott Downtown shows Sanchez grabbing and throwing the man in an alleyway near Loughmiller’s Pub & Eatery, according to court documents. The man told police that he pepper-sprayed Sanchez, but the former NFL quarterback just wiped it away. Thinking that Sanchez was “trying to kill” him, the man pulled out his knife and struck Sanchez two or three times, according to police. The man suffered injuries to his left cheek and was treated and released from the hospital, police said. Sanchez was taken to the hospital in critical condition, but was later listed as stable. Mike Florio weighs in: More charges are possible. Mears said multiple search warrants are pending. “This is by no means the end of this investigation,” Mears said. “This by no means that these are going to be the final charges that we move forward with.” Sanchez was stabbed during the incident, after (as police have preliminarily concluded) the victim believed Sanchez was going to kill him. Sanchez was arrested on Saturday while hospitalized. On Sunday, after he was released from the hospital, he was taken to jail for booking. He was released on $300 bond. Fox has made no announcements regarding Sanchez beyond the initial statement that Sanchez was injured an hospitalized. The most obvious question becomes whether Fox will impose any type of discipline on Sanchez as a result of the incident, up to and including potential termination of employment. There’s a reason for Fox to tread lightly. It’s possible that Fox will face civil liability for failing to properly supervise Sanchez during his time in Indianapolis, where he was preparing to call the Raiders-Colts game. |
