AROUND THE NFL
Daily Briefing
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Did you have these five teams as the only remaining unbeaten after Week 3?
Raiders, Broncos, Panthers, Rams, Cardinals
The Cardinals visit the Rams in Week 4 – so we will be down to at least just four.
Ravens at Broncos
Panthers at Cowboys
Raiders at Chargers
Tough tests for the other three.
The Rams are probably giving off the best overall vibe of the five at this point.
But the Raiders have a special achievement:
@JoshDubowAP
38 teams have opened with 3 straight games against teams that won 10+ the pvs season per @sportradar. Only the #Raiders went 3-0
The Raiders have beaten Baltimore, Pittsburgh and Miami – the Ravens and Dolphins in overtime.
On the other end of the scale –
Five teams have yet to win.
Jets, Colts, Jaguars, Lions, Giants
The Colts are probably the surprise to be in that grouping – but Seahawks, Rams and at Titans was a tough start.
The Colts are at Miami this week. Other 0-3 games
Jaguars at Bengals (Thursday)
Titans at Jets
Giants at Saints
Lions at Bears
At the 1-2 level, Scott Kacsmar sees a possible changing of the guard.
@ScottKacsmar
The top 4 teams in win% for 2013-2020 are all 1-2 right now.
He is referring to New England, Kansas City, Pittsburgh and Seattle.
– – –
Peter King:
I think this is a great indicator of one of my favorite football sayings, You never pick up one year where you left off the previous year: The eight division winners in 2020 are a combined 12-12 after three weeks.
– – –
This from Sam Farmer of the LA Times:
@LATimesfarmer
L.A. beat both Super Bowl teams on the same day. Strange.
– – –
Peter King is among those noting that the rookie QBs from the Class of 2021 have not been very good:
So you want to play rookie quarterbacks. On Sunday, four rookie quarterbacks started: Trevor Lawrence (first overall pick) in Jacksonville; Zach Wilson (second) for the Jets; Justin Fields (11th) for Chicago; and Mac Jones (15th) for New England. In the case of Jones, he won the job fair and square over Cam Newton. In the case of Fields, he was playing because of injury to starter Andy Dalton. In the cases of Lawrence and Wilson, it was almost pre-ordained on draft day that they’d be starting opening day. Each did.
The results of those four games and the performances by the young passers:
The rookie QBs went 0-4.
They lost by 12, 15, 20 and 26 points.
They threw four touchdown passes with 12 interceptions, and were sacked 19 times.
The combined passer rating of the four rookies: 43.1.
Every time I hear the public yammering for rookie quarterbacks to play—as has been the case since Labor Day in Chicago, with fans fist-shakingly angry at coach Matt Nagy for playing Andy Dalton over Fields—I think of three things:
One: We’re not at practice every day, and we don’t see what the coaches see to be able to make that judgment.
Two: Most of these rookies are going to teams with moribund offenses with either major protection issues or talent issues, thus the reason for being drafted so high. Why throw them to the wolves so fast?
Three: Four megastars drafted in this century—Drew Brees, Tom Brady, Aaron Rodgers and Patrick Mahomes—either barely played or started one game as rookies. They turned out okay.
Moral of the story: Play for the long term. If Urban Meyer decides today to give Lawrence a sanity break and start C.J. Beathard for a while or for the season, good for him. There’s such a short-term view of players drafted to be long-term saviors. It’s scary, really.
You can add QB DAVIS MILLS, playing ahead of DESHAUN WATSON on Thursday night for Houston, to the list of unproductive rookies in Week 3. For the 49ers, TREY LANCE served in the TAYSOM HILL role to JIMMY GAROPOLLO’s Drew Brees (Lance played 3 snaps, one a rushing TD).
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NFC NORTH
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GREEN BAY
The normally taciturn QB AARON RODGERS was visibly emotionally involved in the outcome of Sunday’s game – and afterwards said this:
“How can you not be romantic about football?”
—Green Bay quarterback Aaron Rodgers, to Michele Tafoya of NBC, after Rodgers led the Pack to the game-winning field goal as time expired in Green Bay’s 30-28 win at San Francisco.
– – –
Why was WR DAVANTE ADAMS around to be-devil the 49ers late in Sunday night’s game? Surely, he had a concussion.
Kevin Patra of NFL.com:
Green Bay Packers star wide receiver Davante Adams took a brutal shot from 49ers defensive back Jimmie Ward in the fourth quarter of Sunday night’s 30-28 walk-off win but missed just one play before returning to spearhead the victory.
Ward’s helmet struck an airborne Adams, and the Packers receiver remained on the turf initially. There was no penalty called on the play.
Adams walked off under his own power and was briefly checked by Packers medical personnel. However, his quick re-entry left some wondering how Adams could be cleared so quickly.
Monday morning, the NFL released a statement stating that protocol was followed. NFL Network’s Tom Pelissero added that the unaffiliated neurotrauma consultant is from San Francisco and a leading expert on concussion.
“As with any play that leads to a medical evaluation, we followed up with the Unaffiliated Neurotrauma Consultant and team medical staff to review the sequence of events,” the statement read. “All concussion protocols were fully followed. Adams was cleared by both the Unaffiliated Neurotrauma Consultant and the team doctor. Additionally, the team medical staff continued to monitor him throughout the remainder of the game as is standard practice.”
After the game, Adams said he was not concussed on the play.
“It wasn’t a concussion,” the wideout said. “On the sideline, they evaluated and saw right away. I was straight. More than anything on the ground was my chest, having trouble catching a breath, but definitely good now.”
Adams added that the hit wouldn’t affect his status for Week 4’s matchup against the Pittsburgh Steelers.
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NFC EAST
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NEW YORK GIANTS
Jason LaCanfora of CBSSports.com:
Daniel Jones is better than I thought, but the Giants are cooked and this coaching staff continues to make cringe-worthy decisions. This kid just ran all over the WFT defense 10 days ago, but on long rest on a day when you have zero offense going you don’t call more QB option stuff for him to complicate life for Atlanta’s struggling defense? What am I missing here? They’re already clashing with their first-round pick and their big free agent receiving signing. They have been a mess for quite some time and show no signs of cleaning it up no matter what Joe Judge mutters
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NFC SOUTH
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CAROLINA
No more Darnold to D Arnold for the Panthers as Carolina get CB CJ HENDERSON from the Jaguars:
The Carolina Panthers on Monday acquired cornerback CJ Henderson and a fifth-round pick from the Jacksonville Jaguars for tight end Dan Arnold and a third-round pick, the teams announced.
The Panthers’ 2021 first-round pick, cornerback Jaycee Horn, is out for an extended time, possibly for the season, with multiple broken bones in his right foot.
The Panthers liked Henderson, the ninth pick of the 2020 draft, coming out of Florida.
It’s an aggressive move for a 3-0 Carolina team that leads the NFC South by a game over Tampa Bay (2-1) and New Orleans (2-1) heading into Sunday’s game at Dallas.
Horn, son of former NFL wide receiver Joe Horn, suffered the injury in the third quarter of Thursday night’s 24-9 win at Houston. Coach Matt Rhule confirmed Friday that Horn suffered three broken bones in the noncontact injury and would be out indefinitely.
Carolina signed Arnold to a two-year deal during the offseason in an attempt to upgrade the tight end position. He caught only seven passes for 84 yards in the first three games with no touchdowns.
The decision to move on from Arnold speaks volumes to what Rhule thinks of 2021 third-round pick Tommy Tremble out of Notre Dame. Rhule recently referred to Tremble as this year’s Jeremy Chinn.
Chinn was a strong candidate for NFL Rookie of the Year in 2020 as an outside linebacker/safety.
The Panthers spent the weekend looking for Horn’s replacement. They also inquired about Pro Bowl cornerback Richard Sherman, 33, a league source told ESPN.
Henderson, 22, gives Carolina a younger option with veterans A.J. Bouye and Rashaan Melvin already on the roster. Carolina likes Bouye more as a nickelback.
Henderson started eight games in 2020 before shoulder and groin injuries sidelined him for the rest of the season. He started the first two games but missed this past week’s game with a groin injury suffered in Week 2 against Denver.
Based on what we saw of Tremble on Thursday, plus this move, we might head to our Fantasy League waiver wire after this.
Frank Schwab of YahooSports.com with more on Henderson – and how the 9th overall pick in the 2020 draft is now roughly worth TE DAN ARNOLD (and a two-round draft move down):
Cornerback CJ Henderson wore out his welcome with the Jacksonville Jaguars as fast as a top-10 pick possibly can.
Henderson was the ninth pick of the draft just a year ago. He started eight games as a rookie, two more in his second season, and now he’s being traded to the Carolina Panthers for pennies on the dollar.
The Panthers gave up tight end Dan Arnold and a third-round pick for Henderson and a fifth-round pick.
That’s not much return for a player who was the No. 9 overall pick ahead of some good players just 17 months ago.
Jaguars give up on top-10 pick
The Jaguars could have gotten offensive line help with Jedrick Wills, Mekhi Becton or Tristan Wirfs. They could have landed a receiver like CeeDee Lamb, Henry Ruggs or Jerry Jeudy. Defensive tackle Javon Kinlaw or cornerback AJ Terrell could have helped the defense.
Instead, the Jaguars got 10 games out of Henderson.
Henderson was a big, rangy cornerback out of Florida, and the team clearly thought he could help replace Jalen Ramsey, who was traded to the Los Angeles Rams. The Jaguars have been trying to trade Henderson since the offseason, and he was inactive on Sunday.
The Panthers just lost cornerback Jaycee Horn, their first-round pick, to a foot injury. Henderson obviously comes with some baggage, considering Jacksonville is dumping him three weeks into his second season. But they give up very little for a talented player. Arnold had seven catches for 84 yards.
Henderson should be a player the 0-3 Jaguars are building around. Instead, the Panthers hope he helps them make a playoff push.
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NEW ORLEANS
Three takes on the Saints from some scribes at The Athletic:
The Saints looked great in Week 1, stumbled badly in Week 2, then beat the Patriots on the road in Week 3. What’s your read on New Orleans through three games?
Holder: This might be a new normal for the Saints. There could be some ebbs and flows to their season. They don’t seem likely to be a team that will suffer an extended losing streak simply because they’re too talented. But it’s very difficult to get a true read on their offense through three games. It feels like the Saints will remain in the playoff race all season, but whether they are a team that can win in the postseason is a question that can’t yet be answered.
Howe: Still don’t have one. Their defense has nice potential, but their offense’s ceiling still feels limited. Their two wins have come against a Packers team that looked disinterested and a Patriots team that was uncharacteristically uncompetitive. And while the Saints deserve credit for the Patriots’ flat showing, it’s a challenge to reach a sweeping conclusion about their long-term potential based off those games.
Pompei: They probably aren’t as good as they looked in their opener and not as bad as they looked against the Panthers. The truth about the Saints is probably somewhere in between, which is what it looked like in their victory against the Patriots Sunday. I expect them to be a contender all season long.
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NFC WEST
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ARIZONA
With the Rams on the horizon, QB KYLER MURRAY is on a role of extreme accuracy as noted by Mark Dalton of the Cardinals:
@CardsMarkD
Kyler Murray completed 28 of 34 passes in today’s win for career best completion % of 82.3.
It was @k1 second straight game with a completion % above 80 after his 29-36 outing (80.56) day last week vs MIN.
Today @k1 became the first QB in franchise history with completion % above 80.0 in consecutive games
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SAN FRANCISCO
Is Kyle Shanahan a good head coach? Scott Kacsmar takes the “no” position in a twitter exchange with a reader:
@ScottKacsmar
Some guys are just meant to be coordinators and there’s nothing wrong with that.
I think we’re going to start talking about 2019 Shanahan like we should talk about 2017 Wentz. There’s no going back. That was the outlier. This is the norm.
@MrChris_G
Stupid take from a national idiot who doesn’t follow each team. Kyle actual leads like a head coach his scheme is second to that he has lead this team and kept this locker room together through tough years and honestly other coaches would done way worse. Do your homework
@ScottKacsmar
He’s also the only coach in NFL history to sandwich a SB season in between 22 losses. But I hope you keep this energy once he’s led them to four irrelevant finishes in five seasons with one of the worst records in close games among active coaches.
– – –
As QB AARON RODGERS moved the Packers down the field at the end, CB JOSH NORMAN was sidelined – and is now hospitalized:
San Francisco 49ers cornerback Josh Norman left Sunday night’s game against the Packers with bruised lungs and remains in a hospital where he was taken for diagnosis and treatment, a source told ESPN’s Ed Werder on Monday.
Norman made his first start for San Francisco in their 30-28 loss to Green Bay last night with head coach Kyle Shanahan praising his competitive style and veteran presence.
He was signed to a one-year deal with the Niners earlier this month to bolster a cornerback group that had just two rookies — Ambry Thomas and Deommodore Lenoir — behind outside starters Jason Verrett and Emmanuel Moseley and nickel corner K’Waun Williams.
Norman, 33, spent last season with the Buffalo Bills, starting three games and appearing in 12, including the playoffs. He had 24 tackles, a forced fumble, a fumble recovery and an interception in nine regular season games.
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LOS ANGELES RAMS
Peter King on the Rams big win:
We start on the phone with Sean McVay, the crazy coach with a throbbing head, after Rams 34, Super Bowl champion Tampa Bay 24 at SoFi.
“I got a killer headache,” he said an hour after the game, in his car on the way home. “Probably from acting like such a maniac on the sidelines all day.”
Did you see? McVay set a record in Head Coach 40-Yard Dash, sprinting down the sideline to greet DeSean Jackson. He got in quarterback Matthew Stafford’s face after the first Cooper Kupp touchdown reception, wide-eyed, and gleefully celebrating. He was over-the-top happy all day.
Beating the Super Bowl champs was a statement win for the Rams, obviously. But it continued a statement first month outside the walls of the Detroit State Penitentiary for Stafford, who might be in a two-man race exiting September for NFL MVP with Raiders QB Derek Carr. While piloting the Rams to a 3-0 start, he’s completed 70 percent of his throws with nine touchdowns, one pick and a 129.8 rating. Outpointing Brady with a 343-yard, four-TD, no-turnover game was his finest early hour for the Rams. His finest play may have been the concerto touchdown with Kupp midway through the third quarter that gave the Rams the winning touchdown. The play was a triple-move from 10 yards out, with Kupp deking toward the sideline, then inside, then back outside, with Stafford waiting-waiting-waiting against a formidable rush till he knew Kupp had beaten corner Carlton Davis and was ready to receive.
Up 28-14 with 22 minutes left, McVay exulted. “You’re a bad M-Fer!” McVay, grinning crazily, told Stafford when he came to the sidelines.
Great start for the Rams, but there are miles to go before they sleep. This is the sense I get with their team: There’s trust on both sides of the ball in Stafford’s ability to give them the best chance to win. The defense knows it doesn’t have to be perfect. When the offense puts up 95 points in three games, and two of the foes (Chicago and Tampa) are good on defense, Aaron Donald and Jalen Ramsey know they’re going to get lifted up by the offense. Not sure they knew that a year ago, when the Rams averaged 23 points per game. I got the sense in training camp that this team was euphoric to have Stafford, and the first three weeks have borne that out.
“He just brings everything to life,” McVay said. “Here’s my favorite part about what he did today. He missed some throws in that game early where we had looks that we wanted. And he just couldn’t want for his next opportunity to respond. He expects to make all those plays, but he’s unaffected when he doesn’t and he just can’t wait for his next opportunity to compete to do it. I can be my normal basket-case self, and he’s just so calm, so resilient and poised.”
The NFC will be an interesting pennant race. It’s too early to forecast deeply, but it seems safe to project the Rams and Bucs will be big factors in late January. We knew that about Brady’s Bucs. We’re getting more sure of it each week about Stafford’s Rams.
– – –
Dan Graziano of ESPN.com on whether or not it is an overreaction to call the Rams the new Super Bowl favorite:
The Rams are the new Super Bowl favorites
This was a Buccaneers team that returned every single starter and a good chunk of the backups and sparked more than one day of morning TV talk about whether it could go 17-0 in the NFL’s newly expanded season. Fortunately, that question was definitively answered early enough, but the fact that the Rams answered it should not be overlooked.
The Buccaneers are not overrated. They are excellent, and far more stunning things have happened than them becoming the first team in 17 years to repeat as Super Bowl champs. This was as worthy a measuring-stick game as the Rams will have all year, and they more than measured up.
Stafford threw four touchdown passes, including two more to Cooper Kupp, whom Stafford clearly drafted in fantasy this year. The Rams pressured Tom Brady on 27% of his dropbacks, which is way over the 17.8% he has endured since joining the Bucs, and sacked him three times. They won by 10, but they controlled the game from the outset. If you watched only this one game, you’d have to conclude the Rams were the better team. Statement made.
The verdict: OVERREACTION. Yes, the Rams absolutely could win Super Bowl LVI. No, no other team has looked better this season — not even the other 3-0 ones. The Cardinals barely beat the Vikings in Week 2. The Panthers haven’t scored like the Rams have. The Raiders have needed overtime twice. The Broncos’ opponents are a combined 0-9. This isn’t to denigrate any of these other 3-0 starts, just to say that if you had to rank them, it makes sense to rank the Rams’ 3-0 start highest.
It’s still too early to anoint them favorites, if only because of what still lies between them and the No. 1 seed. They still have nondivision road games in Green Bay and Baltimore, as well as all eight of their division games in what shapes up to be (Seattle’s second-half disappearing act Sunday notwithstanding) the toughest division in the league. There is only one bye per conference now, and the relative strength of the NFC West logically makes it less likely that the team that gets it would emerge from that gauntlet.
The other nit to pick about the Rams is that they don’t appear to be the deepest roster in the league. A little top-heavy — with superstars, of course, but a lot of times your success rests on the quality of the second- and third-stringers who eventually have to fill in for injured players. Running back Sony Michel did a decent job in relief of the injured Darrell Henderson on Sunday, but greater challenges surely await. And until we see the Rams either avoid or navigate those, we need to hold off on crowning them favorites — no matter how good they looked against the defending champs.
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AFC WEST
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KANSAS CITY
Coach Andy Reid with a medical issue per NFL.com:
Kansas City Chiefs head coach Andy Reid is “doing well” and “resting” hours after he left Arrowhead Stadium via ambulance following Sunday’s 30-24 loss to the Los Angeles Chargers.
“Head coach Andy Reid felt ill at the conclusion of the game,” the team said in a statement. “He was evaluated by our medical staff in the locker room, and [as] a precaution, was transported to The University of Kansas Health System for further evaluation. Coach is doing well, currently resting and in stable condition.”
The Chiefs announced that Reid was feeling ill after the game and assistant head coach/special teams coordinator Dave Toub spoke to the media in place of Reid. Shortly thereafter, NFL Network’s James Palmer reported Reid has left the stadium in an ambulance for precautionary reasons.
Palmer added that players were informed that Reid should be OK and that they were not aware that Reid was not feeling well.
– – –
Peter King notes Kansas City’s lack of dominance:
Maybe this says nothing. I think it says something.
Excepting the 2020 season-ending loss to the Chargers when Kansas City rested several front-line players including Patrick Mahomes, KC is 8-2 in its last 10 regular-season games. Every one of those games was decided by less than a TD.
The 10 scoring margins: 6, 1, 4, 3, 3, 6, 6, 3, 4 and 2 points.
The average score in those 10 games: Kansas City 29, Foes 27.
There’s something to be said for winning the tight games, and KC’s won most of them. But that’s two straight in the loss column. Something to watch.
From a gambling perspective, this translates to 1-12-1 against the spread in their last 14 games.
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LAS VEGAS
Peter King notes QB DEREK CARR’s ascension to the top line of QBs in 2021 while naming him a Player of the Week:
Derek Carr, quarterback, Las Vegas. I can see Carr becoming a regular in this space. He brought the Raiders back from a sluggish start and a 14-0 first-quarter deficit with six scoring drives in the last 53 minutes. His 386-yard passing day was impressive enough but it was a tough pass that wasn’t a TD throw that was most impressive. On second-and-15 from the Vegas 20-yard line, in a 28-28 game with two minutes left in OT, Carr got pressured but had the presence to throw a beautiful 34-yard rainbow in perfect stride to wideout Bryan Edwards. That set up the winning Daniel Carlson field goal and kept the Raiders unbeaten. Carr’s writing a tremendous story that not many people saw coming.
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LOS ANGELES CHARGERS
Peter King on rookie coach Brandon Staley coming out ahead with his decision making (with some info King left out in bold):
A few words about Brandon Staley. So the Chargers went looking for their Sean McVay last winter, an energetic and charismatic young coach to lift the football IQ of the team and to discover new wrinkles other teams aren’t out ahead on. They settled on the 38-year-old Staley, and Sunday’s 30-24 win made the call by the Spanos family and GM Tom Telesco look pretty good.
There’s a good chance Staley would have been severely second-guessed if his strategy in the final minute of the fourth quarter had backfired. He was first-guessed, actually, by Tony Romo on the CBS telecast for not bleeding time off the clock before scoring the go-ahead TD with 32 seconds left (with the score tied 24-24).
The two calls: With 48 seconds to play, the Chargers had a fourth-and-four at the KC 35-yard line, with a 20-mph crosswind buffeting the field at Arrowhead Stadium. Staley chose to go for the first down (instead of a 53-yard FG). False start. Now fourth-and-nine. Again he went for it (instead of a 58-yard FG), and the Chargers did convert . . . by a pass-interference penalty on Kansas City. Then, on first-and-goal from the 4-yard line with 36 seconds left (and with Kansas City down to one timeout), the Chargers could have slammed the ball into the line once or twice, forcing the Chiefs to use their last timeout and allowing the clock to bleed all the way down to five or six seconds left before trying the chip-shot game-winner. Instead, Justin Herbert threw a 4-yard touchdown pass to Mike Williams on first and goal.
Staley went aggressive on both plays, going for the first down and the touchdown. Afterward, I explained each situation to McVay; I just wanted his opinion.
“That’s more guts than I’d have had had my first year as a head coach,” McVay said of Staley, his friend and 2020 Ram defensive coordinator.
From the Chargers’ locker room in Kansas City, Staley told me why. “When we jumped offside on fourth-and-four,” he said, “I personally needed a second to gather myself. My instinct was to go for it, but I just needed a second and so we had our timeouts and I felt like we’d send the field-goal team out there. And then I wanted Kansas City to feel a little bit of relief, you know? And then I was like, We’ll take a timeout, we’ll put the offense back out there. I felt like, to win a game like this versus that team, you have to be able to live with the people that you put the ball in their hands. Like, whose hands are you gonna put the ball in to win this game? I just really felt like Justin Herbert was gonna win us the football game. And that’s exactly what he did.”
Now, from the 4-yard line, the Chargers didn’t wait. They tried to score right away, which seemed counter-intuitive with Mahomes on the other team. “There was a really fierce cross-wind today,” Staley said. “What I told the offense was, I want to be able to finish this game with the offense on the field. I wanna score a touchdown here. I felt like from an operational standpoint, both kickers, both punters, really had a tough time kicking through the wind. And you’re unpacking a snap, hold, procedural stuff. I just felt like, we really wanted to score the ball with our offense on the field. I could live with scoring right away, because they’d need a touchdown to beat us, with one timeout left.” Plus, Staley didn’t want to waste a down just to kill some clock. What if they threw two incompletions and then had to covert the TD on fourth down in a deafening stadium? He just thought taking every shot he had was the smart way.
One last thing about Staley’s aggressiveness. It might not be the same against a different opponent, on a calmer day. “Kansas City’s a spurt team, a lot like the Golden State Warriors,” he said. You’d better be able to outscore a spurt team. That’s why you put the ball in Herbert’s hands, not on a kicker’s leg. It’s going to be fascinating to watch Staley’s coaching style—and to watch the development of his strategic decision-making.
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AFC NORTH
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BALTIMORE
Peter King on PK JUSTIN TUCKER’s history-making 66-yard FG:
Justin Tucker’s kick. This is some odd stuff:
• In Tucker’s first game ever at Detroit, in 2013, Baltimore trailed by a point when he lined up to try a 61-yard field goal in the last minute. The kick was good. Baltimore won by two.
• In Tucker’s second game ever at Detroit, on Sunday, Baltimore trailed by a point when he lined up to try a 66-yard field goal in the last minute. The kick was good. Baltimore won by two.
Actually, it a little hairier than that antiseptic picture I painted on Sunday. First, the NFL record for longest field goal was 64 yards. So this was an attempt to kick the longest field goal in the 102-year history of pro football. And this was on the last play of the game. Tucker makes it, Baltimore wins. Tucker misses, and the Ravens go home 1-2.
“When you’re that far away, it’s just not a normal kick where you treat it like any other kick,” Tucker said. “You do have to kind of juice it a little bit. You gotta let adrenaline just take over. The technique may change just a little bit. It was actually more like a kickoff, where you just lay into it, like you’re a competitor in a long-drive contest. You just let it rip and you kind of hope it stays straight. And that ball stayed straight as an arrow.
“I did see it hit the crossbar, and I thought that it might have just gone straight up and then fallen short. But when I saw that it did clear the goal post, I can’t even tell you how excited I was to get that result. Everything just went perfectly. It had to—the snap, the placement, the kick, the ball went exactly how far it needed to go. Exactly.”
Pause.
“I am floating,” Tucker said. “I won’t be able to sleep for days.”
Scott Kacsmar noted this:
@ScottKacsmar
Justin Tucker hitting from 66 yards in the same afternoon slot when Prater, the former Lion, the former record holder (65 yards), missed a 68-yd kick that was returned for a TD sounds too made up.
But it really happened.
– – –
In Detroit, they are fuming that Tucker should have been firing from 71 yards. Charles Curtis of USA TODAY:
We’re all still marveling at Justin Tucker’s 66-yard game-winning field goal that bounced off the crossbar and in to give the Baltimore Ravens a last-second win, that broke an NFL record … and which broke the hearts of many a Detroit Lions fan.
But right before that kick, the play clock appeared to tick down to zero before the snap to Lamar Jackson led to an incomplete pass.
Should that have been flagged for delay of game? That would have pushed the kick back beyond 66 yards away and probably would have given the Lions the win.
Let’s break it all down:
Here’s the play
As you can see and hear, even CBS’s Greg Gumbel saw the play clock wind down to zero and there’s an extra beat in there before the snap. Sometimes, you see the clock hit zero but the snap goes off as it happens. Here? There’s an extra second (and maybe two?) before.
Referees were asked about it
And here’s the answer, per a pool report:
@ChrisBurkeNFL
Per the pool report, referee Scott Novak said that he hasn’t had a chance to review the possible delay of game so he has “no idea” whether there was a missed call.
“I don’t know if they’re synced up or not,” Novak said of the play clock on screen vs. the in-stadium clock.
That’s the issue here — was CBS’s play clock synced up to the clock that officials saw? Because it could be a lot of nothing if it was a second behind …
Even Gene Steratore noted it
He talked about the lag!
@GeneSteratore
Delay of Game is officiated by the Back Judge, who’s responsible for watching the in-stadium play clock & the snap. There’s a small, <1 second delay due to the mechanic.
The lag at the end of #DETvsBAL appeared longer than that, which if called, would’ve been a 5 yard penalty.
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CINCINNATI
Bryan DeArdo of CBSSports.com loved how the Bengals played in beating the Steelers:
Bengals (Grade A+)
Cincinnati outplayed the Steelers in all three phases. The Bengals’ offensive line played significantly better than the Steelers’ offensive line. They provided mostly solid protection for Joe Burrow, who threw three touchdown passes for the third time in his career and the first time since Week 7 of the 2020 season. The Bengals’ offensive line cleared the way for running back Joe Mixon to rumble for 90 yards on 18 carries. Defensively, the Bengals could have claimed residence in Pittsburgh’s backfield. They constantly hounded Ben Roethlisberger, who was sacked four times and hit on numerous other occasions. The pressure led to inaccurate throws from Roethlisberger, who threw two interceptions to Bengals linebacker Logan Wilson. The first pick set up the game’s first score, a 17-yard touchdown pass from Burrow to Tyler Boyd. The second set up Burrow’s 9-yard touchdown pass to Ja’Marr Chase that extended the Bengals’ lead to 24-7 late in the third quarter.
The 24 points scored by the Bengals marked the most points for Cincinnati in a game in Pittsburgh since they scored 28 there in 2006.
In fact, the Bengals have not scored more than 27 points against Pittsburgh in their last 29 games with the Steelers. Cincinnati is now 7-22 vs. the Steelers overall in that span.
But after a 10-game losing streak to the Steelers, Cincinnati has now won two straight.
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PITTSBURGH
Jason LaCanfora of CBSSports.com makes the case that QB DWAYNE HASKINS, who was boarding the bus to Bustville when the Steelers came a calling, is a better current option than Hall of Famer In Waiting QB BEN ROETHLISBERGER:
If the Pittsburgh Steelers are going to establish a modicum of an identity on offense, and some balance and consistency either running or throwing the ball, it may require a quarterback change to do so. The scope of this offense with Ben Roethlisberger at the helm has been suffocated since last November, and there is no reason to anticipate that changing at all in his age 39 season.
The Steelers need to think about sitting Big Ben, sooner rather than later. It may be the only way to salvage something on that side of the ball, as so many position groups continue to languish and struggle. Having a QB at the end get hit this much and being this constricted in your attack – they have amassed four touchdowns on offense all season; they averaged 4.4 yards per pass attempt until garbage time of Sunday’s lopsided loss to the Bengals – behind a line that is suffering, makes no sense.
It may sound crazy to some, and I’m not saying that Mason Rudolph or Dwayne Haskins is the answer at QB, but they need to start exploring whatever else they can get out of the quarterback position before it’s too late. They need someone with more agility and mobility who might be able to extend a play or buy time for the offense or at least provide a semblance of a threat running read-option concepts that might help first-round pick Najee Harris finally see some space to run (the Steelers had a pathetic three yards per carry Sunday).
Because this offense has been horribly broken since the middle of last season, and it’s only getting worse. Big Ben somehow attempted 21 passes for 92 yards in the first half. A lot of teams average more per carry than they averaged per pass. It’s not even that shocking for this group anymore, especially as its reconfigured offensive line is imperiled and the running game clearly needs a boost of some sort. At this point in time, that could really only come from a schematic change to their approach, and perhaps from a quarterback who could take off and run with it, even if not super effectively.
Roethlisberger is getting tossed around week after week, and turning the ball over a ton. His interception while trying to navigate the pocket, throwing it right to linebacker Logan Wilson while down 10 in the third quarter, basically ended any chance of making this a ball game. It was his second pick of the game on an afternoon in which balls often sailed high and in which drops were also a problem.
Bottom line, the Steelers have played eight games since their unbeaten streak was snapped last December; they are 2-6 in those games and have the NFL’s worst rushing attack. Roethlisberger is 238-for-375 in that span (63%) for 2,305 yards (just 6.15 yards per attempt), with 15 touchdown passes, a staggering 11 interceptions and a lowly QB rating of 81.69.
The more beat up he gets, the worse this will get. Something needs to change. We said in this space last December the Steelers needed a new starting quarterback, and them punting on pursuing a true upgrade is already problematic. The reality is, though, that at this point even going to either backup could be a step up.
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AFC SOUTH
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INDIANAPOLIS
0-3 with some medical issues. This from NFL.com:
Indianapolis Colts guard Quenton Nelson (ankle) was carted to the locker room and ruled out against Tennessee. Nelson is believed to have suffered a high-ankle sprain, NFL Network Insider Ian Rapoport reported. X-rays were negative, but the guard will undergo more tests Defensive end Kwity Paye (hamstring) and cornerback Rock Ya-Sin (ankle) were also ruled out.
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JACKSONVILLE
Peter King is unimpressed with QB TREVOR LAWRENCE so far:
Trevor Lawrence, quarterback, Jacksonville. He’s now thrown multiple interceptions in each of his first three NFL starts. His second one Sunday was an absolute dagger—and stupid. Clinging to a 19-17 lead in the final minute of the third quarter, on a second-and-six call from his 25-yard line, Lawrence threw a duck off his back foot, and the ball was picked by Arizona’s Byron Murphy—who looked like the intended receiver—and returned for a 29-yard touchdown. The first pick in the draft has had a very bad first month in the NFL. Jags lost, 31-19.
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AFC EAST
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BUFFALO
John Breech of CBSSports.com on the big game for QB JOSH ALLEN and the Bills passing game:
If anyone in Buffalo was worried about Josh Allen after watching him struggle through the first two weeks of the season, they’re probably not worried much anymore after watching him dice up Washington on Sunday during the Bills’ dominating 43-21 win over the Football Team.
After playing at an MVP level in 2020, Allen had some high expectations on him going into the 2021 season and through the first two weeks of the year, he wasn’t living up to those, but there’s a good chance the narrative is going to change this week. In one of the most impressive performances of his career, Allen threw for 358 yards and four touchdowns, which tied a career high. The Bills quarterback also tacked on a rushing touchdown to give him five totals scores for the day, which also tied a career high.
Allen’s at his most dangerous when he’s throwing with pinpoint accuracy while scrambling and he showed why against the Football Team. On his first TD pass of the day, Allen rolled out of the pocket and threw a 28-yard dart to Emmanuel Sanders.
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Allen struggled with his accuracy through the first two weeks of the season — completing just 55.6 percent of his passes — but it looks like he’s finally figured things out. Against Washington, Allen completed 74.4 percent of his passes, which is even more impressive when you look at the throws he was making. These weren’t checkdowns: He was throwing downfield and he averaged 8.2 yards per pass.
Washington’s defense isn’t as good as it was last year, but it’s still Washington’s defense and Allen made it look like a D-III college team.
The bottom line is that when Allen is playing like this, the Bills are a Super Bowl contender and right now, they’re looking like one of the best teams in the AFC.
The Bills are now 23-2 when Allen completes more than 60% of his passes and 7-15 when he does not.
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Are the Bills the best team in the AFC? Dan Graziano thinks it is likely:
The Bills are the best team in the AFC.
Buffalo’s offense might not have looked like its dominant 2020 self in the first two games of the season, but it woke up in a massive way Sunday. Josh Allen threw four touchdown passes and ran for another score in a 43-21 victory over Washington. (Remember when Washington was supposed to have one of the league’s best defenses? We were all so young.)
It was the second game in Allen’s career in which he had more than 300 passing yards, four passing touchdowns and a rushing touchdown. The only other quarterbacks who ever had more than one such game are Drew Brees, Aaron Rodgers and Peyton Manning, so that’s pretty solid. This looked like the Bills offense we remember from November and December of 2020, when it was pretty much setting fire to the league on a weekly basis.
The verdict: NOT AN OVERREACTION. The Bills were the AFC runner-up last season, so it was never going to be a stretch to think they might take one more step and become the conference’s best team. The Chiefs, who have won the conference two years in a row, fell to 1-2 with a division loss to the Chargers, and the Browns’ Week 1 collapse is really the only reason Kansas City isn’t 0-3.
Now, the Bills did lose to the Steelers in Week 1, which puts them in a group of AFC teams that are 2-1 so far. And the Broncos and Raiders are each 3-0. But meaning no disrespect to what those teams have done so far, it’s fair if you want to use Buffalo’s 2020 season and our preseason opinion of the Bills as a means of elevating their expectations over those of Vegas and Denver.
Still, there are 14 more regular-season games and the playoffs left to decide all of this, so it really doesn’t matter what we think (or even what the reality is) through Week 3. But if you had the Bills representing the AFC in the Super Bowl this season, you’re feeling a lot better about that pick after they outscored their opponents 88-21 over Weeks 2 and 3.
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MIAMI
Jason LaCanfora of CBSSports.com on the rib injury to QB TUA TAGOVAILOA:
The Dolphins placed quarterback Tua Tagovailoa on injured reserve Saturday, meaning the 2020 first-round pick will miss at least three games as he recovers from his fractured ribs.
Tagovailoa hasn’t had much good fortune since Miami selected him, and this setback comes at an inopportune time, with ownership mulling an acquisition of Texans’ embattled franchise quarterback Deshaun Watson and Tagovailoa’s durability and future in South Florida already a subject of conservable debate. Head coach Brian Flores has made it clear to those around him how much he prizes availability at the quarterback position (and prefers bigger, strapping pocket passers all things considered), spending his time as an assistant in New England around Hall of Famer Tom Brady.
Numerous personnel men and coaches around the league have heard, dating back to last season, that Flores would have preferred to select Justin Herbert over Tagovailoa, although team and league sources say general manager Chris Grier consults with Flores on all big personnel moves and in general tries to provide the personnel the coaches covet. Regardless, Flores was quick to hook Tagovailoa from games his rookie season, injuries have been a problem for the passer since his time at Alabama, and the Dolphins have done considerable work on Watson, with owner Stephen Ross quite intrigued by the quarterback, sources said.
Tagovailoa’s injury doesn’t make it any more likely a deal gets done, as Miami has been unwilling to meet the Texans’ very steep price for Watson to this point, and there remains very real concern that any team that traded for Watson would not get to play him anyway, as the NFL could place him on the Commissioner’s Exempt List at any point. That would mean he gets paid not to play as the league and local authorities continue to investigate the claims of sexual misconduct and sexual assault made against him by at least 22 women in Houston. The Texans are currently paying Watson not to play or take part in practice as they await further word of any legal or NFL discipline he might face.
Rib injuries can linger for quarterbacks, and, given the porous state of Miami’s offensive line and how many hits Tagovailoa has been taking, it’s fair to wonder how the Dolphins manage to navigate him through what is now a 17-game season. The Dolphins face the undefeated Raiders on Sunday, host the Colts in Week 4 and travel to the Super Bowl champion Buccaneers the following week. Tagovailoa is eligible to come off IR for the Dolphins’ Week 6 showdown with the Jaguars in London on Oct. 17.
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NEW ENGLAND
Jason LaCanfora of CBSSports.com sees vacancies emerging on the QB MAC JONES bandwagon:
Mac Jones, Patriots underwhelming
The Mac Jones hype train has slowed to a halt, I presume? What ugly football the Patriots continue to play as this rookie QB takes his lumps.
I was way off on this team. They are not special in any regard, the post-Tom Brady era is not going well for Bill Belichick and I remain unimpressed with this group overall. The defense is not fearsome in any regard and they are incredibly limited on offense. So much for Foxboro being some sort of fortress; the Pats got punked by the Dolphins and Saints already at home and struggled to truly put the lowly Jets away despite Zach Wilson handing them the ball four times.
For all the talk about Jones being superior to other kid QBs in his decision making, he sure threw up some jump balls Sunday and looked really jittery against the Saints pressure. They had 68 net yards at the two-minute warning of the first half, trailing by multiple scores and effectively out of hope in a game in which the rookie QB was picked off three times. The offensive line has not been good, they do not run the ball with the power and effectiveness of a year ago (when they were by no means world-beaters but had Cam to open things up) and Jones led them with 28 ground yards on six carries against the Saints. Woof.
Long-term, he’ll probably be fine, I guess. But, continuing a trend here, you gonna tell me this offense would be worse with an athlete like Cam Newton at the helm? What happened to this revved up passing game, with them spending all that money on receivers and tight ends? The trio of Hunter Henry, Jonnu Smith and Nelson Agholor have combined for a grand total of 45 catches for 290 yards (6.44 yards per catch!) and one touchdown reception through three football games. That is three free agents through nine combined man games. That is awful. The trio amassed eight catches for 57 yards TOTAL on Sunday.
The Pats couldn’t crack 50 yards rushing as a team. Good luck with that. I thought this was a wild-card team. I was probably way off on that.
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THIS AND THAT
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THE MONDAY NIGHT PLAYOFF GAME
Perhaps with some guidance from the NFL, Peter King has lots of thoughts about the Monday Night Playoff Game!
4. I think I am on record, and have been since writing last March about the near-certainty of the advent of the Monday night wild-card game, that it’s a great idea for the NFL to plant the flag on a mid-January Monday night and make it a permanent wild-card time slot.
5. I think for the crowd that will say, It’s unfair for a team to have to play a wild-card game and then travel to play a rested team on a short week in the divisional round, I’ll give you these four points:
• Last season, the first with six wild-card games, there were three on Saturday and three on Sunday. The NFL this year will eliminate the 1:05 p.m. ET Saturday slot and play a game in the 8:15 p.m. ET Monday window now. Those two teams who would have played the early-afternoon Saturday game would likely (but not certainly) be coming off competitive games the previous Sunday just to get to this game. Consider Indianapolis, the road 1:05 Saturday team last year. The Colts were fighting for a division title, tied entering the last weekend with Tennessee at 10-5 for the AFC South lead. Indy played all-out to beat Jacksonville at 4:25 p.m. Sunday of Week 17 while hoping the Texans would beat Tennessee. If Tennessee lost, the Colts would have been the 4 seed and gotten a home playoff game. Tennessee won, sending Indy to the 7 seed and on the road in the first playoff game. So, ask head coaches who had to scratch and claw to make the playoffs this question: Would you rather your most important game of the season be a quick-turnaround short-week game, on the road, after a grueling regular season . . . or would you rather have two extra rest days to play your most important game of the season, with the proviso that if you win the wild-card game you’ve got to play a short-week road game in the divisional round?
• Poll 32 coaches on that question. I’m sure it wouldn’t be 32-0 either way, but I am just as sure the majority would say they’d want more rest on the front end. I asked ex-coach Jimmy Johnson this exact question. He thought for about five to eight seconds, then said: “I would think, the way coaches think, it’s a one-game season when you get to the playoffs, and what gives you the best chance to win that one game in the wild-card round? You’d like to have the rest for that first game. It’s not like you’re thinking about the next games—you’re just thinking you want to have the best chance to win that first one. Because you’re not guaranteed that second one. If you win the first one, then you worry about the second one, even if it’s on a short week.”
• A team in excellent health might be okay with playing a short-week wild-card game, with a 50-50 chance of an extra day of rest in the divisional round. But how many teams will be in excellent health after a 17-game grind? And if a team plays Monday of wild-card weekend, it’s guaranteed the extra day of rest. If that team plays Saturday of wild-card weekend, it’s no lock that it will get the extra day of rest and play Sunday in the divisional round.
• Those who object to moving to Monday and having the winner play a short-week road game—I understand the disadvantage. But you can’t speak about the unfairness of playing a short-week divisional game without noting the advantage of a long week to prepare for the wild-card game.
6. I think it is very likely that one of the 4-seed-versus-5-seed games will be the 2021 wild-card Monday nighter on Jan. 17, 2022. Why? Because the way the playoffs work, the lowest-seeded remaining teams play at the highest-seeded teams. The 1 seed will host the team with the lowest seed in the divisional round, and the next-best remaining team will host the second-worst seed. At the end of Sunday’s games, every team left in the playoffs will know its fate the following weekend. If 7 beats 2 and 3 beats 6 in the wild-card round, for instance, the divisional round will feature 7 playing at 1 and the 5/4 winner at 3. Any other way would raise the chance of not knowing one conference’s divisional matchups till 11:30 p.m. ET Monday. Interesting note: Last year, both 5 seeds won road wild-card games against the 4 seeds. (Baltimore won at Tennessee, Tampa Bay won at Washington.) Just guessing that the NFL would have put Baltimore-Tennessee on Monday night and kept Tampa Bay (and Tom Brady) as the Saturday prime-time game. But either way, look for a 5-at-4 game on Monday night.
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