| NFC NORTH |
| CHICAGOTyler Dunne, something of a muckraker as Skip Bayless once was, has landed on the Bears doorstep. Dustin Baker of VikingsTerritory.com: The Chicago Bears didn’t need any drama before their big Ben Johnson reveal on September 8th. An explosive report just showed up at the Bears’ doorstep at the worst possible time, raising serious questions about the team’s direction and leadership. But drama they got. GoLongTD‘s Tyler Dunne published a scathing account of Bears quarterback Caleb Williams‘ rookie season, along with shedding light on Chicago’s questionable 2024 draft process. The timing? Vicious. Bears fans were minding their business, and then Tyler Dunne entered their orbit. The Bears fired head coach Matt Eberflus last November, a much-anticipated termination because most fans soured on him the season prior. Accordingly, most NFL media and Bears faithful were happy to scapegoat Eberflus as the franchise’s scourge, refusing to believe that Caleb Williams could be at fault. Dunne disagreed. He explained, “Williams verbalized the call in the huddle, it was wrong half the time, and then players would be lined up wrong all over the field. Verbiage was truncated. Huddling was minimized. The playbook, dumbed down.” “The Bears offense devolved into an exercise of trial and error to fit whatever the USC rookie demanded. All of which would’ve been manageable if Williams was willing to work. He was not. For all the talk about wanting to be great, this new quarterback didn’t seem to have the desire.” And that’s just a small excerpt from Dunne’s piece. The lengthy article accuses Williams of aloof behavior and generalized carelessness. Dunne added, “When he wasn’t storming away from a coach, he was telling veteran wide receivers how to run their routes before taking a game rep himself. In the meeting room, he barely said a word and didn’t pay attention. Coaches often caught Williams on the wrong page of the gameplan completely. He blew off film sessions and lifts. Chicago made him a captain. Games began. Chaos reigned.” Of course, the timing couldn’t be worse. The Bears will kick off their season on Monday night, and until the Dunne reporting, Chicago embarked on a favorite pastime: summer optimism. Some have picked the Bears to reach the postseason, much like the Justin Fields years, when many of the team’s loyalists claimed that Fields was on the verge of an MVP breakout campaign. Every summer, Chicago has a grand plan to win a playoff game for the first time in a decade and a half, and something later goes wrong — usually many things. This time, the summer was spoiled by investigative reporting. Predictably, a healthy faction of Bears fans wanted nothing to do with Dunne’s work, calling it fake news, a “hit piece,” and overall propaganda. Check any segment of social media, and you find Bears loyalists trashing the article because it is counterproductive to the optimism of the Ben Johnson era as head coach. Also remember — Dunne doesn’t write fiction. The article is well-sourced, and Dunne’s track record does not involve nefarious, just-for-fun slander. The Bears will have Johnson on the sidelines for the first time, while Williams will attempt to deconstruct the narrative borne by Dunne. Moreover, J.J. McCarthy will lead Minnesota in his first-ever start, and ironically, McCarthy is a passer that Chicago could’ve drafted if it did its homework in 2024 and didn’t want Williams when it was all said and done. Dunne, in the first part of his piece, didn’t let up. He wrote: “When it was time to discuss Williams, the tenor in the room changed drastically. His film was massaged in a manner to present the USC quarterback at his absolute best. Nobody dared to chuckle. The Bears didn’t dissect his wretched performance against Notre Dame on tape, only discussing that three-interception, 48-20 defeat through rose-colored glasses. No magnifying glass was panned over this quarterback’s flaws.” The reporting suggested that Chicago’s scouting process was a sham, with leaders intentionally highlighting the negative aspects of North Carolina quarterback Drake Maye’s college film. On Maye, one source told Dunne: “They made fun of him. … They laughed. The GM laughed Drake Maye off the screen, and cut the tape off.” The team allegedly used a similar process to rule out LSU’s Jayden Daniels, who won the Offensive Rookie of the Year award and guided the Washington Commanders to the 2024 NFC Championship. One scout told Dunne, “The quarterback process? I would not even call it a process. The Caleb Williams draft pick was the most embarrassing lack of a process — a fair, impartial process to scouting — that I’ve ever seen in my life. There wasn’t any type of actual comparison on a fair slate to which quarterback is actually better. They had it all lined up. It was a rigged trial.” Just a debacle. |
| NFC EAST |
| WASHINGTONWeek 1 has seen 16 quarterbacks with some known degree of Black heritage start NFL games. But there is more cultural diversity among them with QBs PATRICK MAHOMES and SPENCER RATTLER having White mothers and QB KYLER MURRAY is one-quarter Korean. And on Sunday, this was revealed about QB JAYDEN DANIELS. Kerrie Jacobs-Bryant of TalkSport.com: Jayden Daniels is sporting a new look on his helmet this season. The Washington Commanders star led his team to an opening day win over their NFC East rival New York Giants and did so with a Japanese flag decal in tribute to his heritage with his great grandmother of Japanese descent. During Daniels’ stellar rookie season which saw him take the Commanders to the NFC Championship game, named the NFL Offensive Rookie of the Year and selected to the Pro Bowl, it was just the American flag on his helmet But now in his sophomore campaign, Daniels – one of five players who will wear a gold NFL shield on his jersey this season after winning the OROTY award – has opted to also sport the flag of Japan on the back of his helmet as well, much to the initial confusion of many. The Commanders QB threw for 3,568 yards, 25 touchdowns and nine interceptions on his way to rallying Washington all the way to the NFC title showdown where they were blown out 55-23 to the eventual Super Bowl winners, the Philadelphia Eagles. It has since been revealed that Daniels’ maternal great grandmother is of Japanese descent, and he has added the decal to his helmet as a nod to her roots and identity on the field. JP Finlay of NBC4 Sports in DC, Maryland and Virginia, giving the context and back story on why he was wearing the Japanese flag in a post on X (formerly Twitter), Daniels’ mother and agent, Regina, all but confirmed this. Quote tweeting Finlay’s post about it, she responded with two emojis, one of a red heart and the other of the hands making a heart, underlining her pride in her son’s decision. After the contest, the 24-year-old gave his own – albeit very brief – account of why he has chosen to wear the flag of Japan for this season. “My great grandmother is Japanese so I’m showing love to her,” he said. This on Daniels’ health from Josh Alper of ProFootballTalk.com: The Commanders added quarterback Jayden Daniels to their injury report Monday. They list Daniels with a right wrist injury. The Commanders didn’t practice, but they estimate Daniels would have been a full participant. Daniels played all 70 snaps on Sunday and showed no sign of injury. He went 19-of-30 for 233 yards and a touchdown and ran for 68 yards on 11 carries in the 21-6 win over the Giants. Punter Tress Way (back) was estimated as a non-participant, and wide receiver Noah Brown (knee) and running back Austin Ekeler (shoulder) were listed as limited. Tight end John Bates (shoulder), defensive tackle Daron Payne (calf) and defensive end Deatrich Wise Jr. (knee) were full participants. The Commanders play the Packers on Thursday Night Football. |
| NFC WEST |
| SAN FRANCISCOA costly win for SF: @AdamSchefterBrock Purdy has a left shoulder and toe injury that make him uncertain for Sunday’s game in New Orleans. Kyle Shanahan said the team will see how the practice week goes. If Purdy cannot play, 49ers backup QB Mac Jones would be in line Followed by @SharpFootballPurdy hurt… Kittle out… CMC’s calf muscle is paper mache this is not up for debate, it’s a fact, they are cursed 49ers health by season: 2024: #1 most injured2023: #29 most injured ◄ 12-5, lost SB2022: #9 most injured ◄ 13-4, lost NFCCG2021: #3 most injured2020: #1 most injured2019: #6 most injured ◄ 13-3, lost SB2018: #4 most injured |
| AFC WEST |
| KANSAS CITYAfter Denver finished off the Titans, others had the same thought as the DB. This is Levi Damien of Raiders Wire: It’s been a decade since the Chiefs failed to win the AFC West. That’s a hell of a run. One that no one has been predicting will end this season. However, something just happened in the division that hasn’t happened in a lot longer than that. The Chiefs lost their opener on Friday to the Chargers in Sau Paulo Brazil. Sunday the Raiders beat the Patriots and the Broncos beat the Titans. So while the Chiefs lost, the rest of the division won. Putting the reigning AFC champs in sole possession of last place in the division to begin the season. How long has it been since this happened? Well, it’s been at least 23 years. If 2002 sounds like a memorable year, it should. That’s not just when the realignment happened, it’s the year Raiders went to the Super Bowl. The Raiders began the 2002 season 4-0 before dropping four straight to sit at 4-4. Then they put it together and won seven of their last eight games, two playoff games including the AFC Championship to head to the Super Bowl. Yeah, it’s just one week. And therefore it’s not likely a symbol of things to come. But it’s a fun thought just the same. Well, to start with there are some folks, including the DB, who are predicting the Chiefs won’t win the AFC West this year. But, what about sole possession of last place at any time in the season? That is not quite what is cited here. And in 2012, the Chiefs finished 2-14 in sole possession of last place, two games behind the 4-12 Raiders. Then in 2015, the Chiefs started 1-5 and were in sole possession of last place after Week 6 – before winning 10 straight games to finish 11-5. We more on to 2021, and after Week 5 of that season, the Chiefs were 2-3 and in sole possession of last place in the AFC West. They won the next week to get into a tie for 4th and would go on to finish 11-5. So the last time the Chiefs were in sole possession of last was not as far back as we thought it might be – after Week 5 of 2021 at 2-3. |
| AFC NORTH |
| BALTIMORERecently, no lead has seemed safe for John Harbaugh and the Ravens. This from Charles Curtis of USA Today: The Baltimore Ravens blew a HUGE lead on Sunday night — if you went to bed when it was 34-19 or 40-25 as it was in the third and fourth quarters respectively, I don’t blame you! — and this stat is just damning. The Buffalo Bills ended up with the win at the buzzer thanks to a furious Josh Allen-fueled comeback and a Matt Prater field goal with no time left on the clock, and it was just awful for Ravens fans. Here’s the thing: They’ve seen it before, especially with head coach John Harbaugh. According to the Associated Press’s Josh Dubow: “John Harbaugh’s 17 blown double digit leads in second half are most since at least 1991.” SEVENTEEN! And, listen, dude’s a Super Bowl winner. He’s a head coach with a 172-105 record. Respect to him. But what’s this all about? It’s not great! But, and this is where it gets crazier. Thirteen of those 17 blown double-digit leads have come since the start of the 2022 season. That is in a span of 52 regular season games. Josh Alper of ProFootballTalk.com with more: Sunday night’s game was the first time that the Ravens have lost a game while scoring 40 points, but there was a familiar feel to watching them go from being up 40-25 to losing in Buffalo. It was the seventh time since the start of the 2022 season that they have lost a game they were leading by double digits in the second half. They have blown 17 such leads since John Harbaugh became the team’s head coach and he acknowledged on Monday that the number is too high. Harbaugh said the team has to “be really intentional” when they find themselves in those positions in the future. “Maybe part of it is we’ve been ahead a lot,” Harbaugh said at a press conference. “We’ve had a lot of two-score leads. We’ve kept a lot of those, but I think we’ve lost six of them if I’m not mistaken. That’s too many. I don’t care how many two-score leads you have. I do believe we need to be really thoughtful of how we approach the situations going forward. Let’s give it some thought. Let’s give some thought to our play-calling, let’s give some thought to our defensive play-calling, let’s give some thought to our mindset.” The reasons why the leads disappear have varied and Harbaugh said they feel they have a “pretty good handle” on what went wrong in Buffalo. That starts with not doing a good enough job against Bills quarterback Josh Allen and the Ravens will have to come up with a better plan for that because there’s a good chance that they’ll have to beat the Bills to get through the AFC in January. |
| AFC EAST |
| BUFFALOMike Kadlick of SI.com: Thanks to the arm of quarterback Josh Allen and the leg of kicker Matt Prater, the Bills mounted a monumental, 15-point, fourth-quarter comeback over the Ravens to close out the first Sunday of the NFL season. After Allen called out those who left Highmark Stadium early on Sunday night, the fans who stuck around were treated to the playing of “Mr. Brightside” as the field cleared. The classic early 2000s tune by The Killers has become quite the anthem in the sports world, signifying an in-sync, fired-up fan base. As Bills Mafia serenaded those remaining on the turf, tight ends Dawson Knox and Dalton Kincaid took it upon themselves to run around the stadium and sing along. Check out the awesome clip here: Such a cool moment for such a deserving fanbase. “Mr. Brightside” isn’t really a conquest song like “We Are The Champions”, but it seems to work for the Bills and other teams. Here is some historical bits on the song, excerpted from Wikipedia: “Mr. Brightside” is the debut single of American rock band the Killers. It appears on their debut studio album, Hot Fuss (2004). Written by band members Brandon Flowers and Dave Keuning, it was one of the first songs the Killers ever wrote. The song was first released on September 29, 2003. It became more popular when re-released in 2004, peaking at number 10 in both the United States and the United Kingdom. It is the Killers’ best-selling song in the US, where it has sold over 3.5 million copies It is one of only two songs (the other being Ed Sheeran’s “Shape of You”) to have been certified 10× Platinum by the British Phonographic Industry for 6 million units. “Mr. Brightside” was named “Song of the Decade” by UK radio stations Absolute Radio and XFM, and in April 2010 Last.fm revealed that it was the most-listened-to track since the launch of the online music service, with the track being played over 7.66 million times Lyrically, “Mr. Brightside” depicts a true story of Brandon Flowers’ jealousy and paranoia when he walked into a bar in Las Vegas and found his girlfriend cheating on him. “I was asleep and I knew something was wrong,” he said. “I have these instincts. I went to the Crown and Anchor, a bar in Vegas, and my girlfriend was there with another guy.” To this day “Mr. Brightside” still has the highest popularity rating that iTunes offers, even after being available for purchase for nearly 20 years.Additionally, sales of Hot Fuss album reached over 5 million sales by 2006. The online music streaming service Last.fm reported in 2010 that “Mr. Brightside” was the most downloaded song on the website.By July 2014, the song sold more than 820,000 copies in the United Kingdom, making it the UK’s No. 12 most downloaded rock track of all time In 2021, American Songwriter ranked the song number one on their list of the 10 greatest Killers songs. The DB admits to having “Mr. Brightside” on our main playlist – but we would be hard-pressed to name any of the nine other Top 10 tracks for The Killers. Upon further review, we are familiar with “Somebody Told Me” which is #3 and “Human” which is #4. Flowers was raised in the Church of Latter Day Saints, and remains a practicing member to this day. |
| MIAMIThis from Rex Ryan as relayed by Ryan Phillips of SI.com: It’s safe to say Rex Ryan is not a fan of Mike McDaniel. On Monday’s episode of Get Up, Ryan ripped the Miami Dolphins’ head coach after their blowout loss to the Indianapolis Colts in Week 1. He got heated when discussing Miami’s performance, then unleashed a nickname for McDaniel that was very high school. “Maybe he’s on a different level, McGenius guy or whatever the hell he is. Nerd boy,” Ryan said. “But anyway, their team has no respect for their coach. They play like that… They’re soft, I’m with you on that. Every part of their football team. They have tons of talent on this team… they don’t play with any passion.” And we saw this: @EliesenDanChris Grier who has been the Dolphins General Manager for 9 years and 8 months, is the longest tenured NFL general manager without a playoff win in NFL history. |
| THIS AND THAT |
| BROADCAST NEWSRichard Dietsch of The Athletic with a mostly positive review of Tom Brady’s season two debut: This is the year Tom Brady rightfully gets judged against the best NFL television analysts. He has more than 20 games of broadcasting experience now— including calling a Super Bowl — and his position on the top team for one of the major network rights-holders means viewers should judge his work on the same scale as they would Troy Aikman, Cris Collinsworth, Tony Romo and Kirk Herbstreit, who lead the other main NFL packages. As always, when it comes to creative performance, whether your field is film, art, broadcasting or writing about sports broadcasting, judgment is always subjective. (Shout-out to all the people who think I stink!) As I watched most of Washington’s 21-6 win over the New York Giants, Brady was much more comfortable in the booth for his first game of his second year. You can hear it in his voice — he’s more eager to show his personality — and you could see in specifics when he used the telestrator. It was more defined and faster than last year. For instance, he was ahead of the play on the field late in the first quarter when he used the telestrator to let viewers know that Giants quarterback Russell Wilson would be looking for wideout Malik Nabers and tight end Theo Johnson on the right side. Seconds later, Wilson threw a pass to the right that was too hot for Johnson to catch. He was excellent on a replay early in the second quarter, explaining how the Giants wanted Commanders linebacker Bobby Wagner to go over the top of a pick on an end-zone read. (Wagner ran underneath the pick and blew up the play.) He made a joke about no one in the game spitting on anyone, which was genuinely funny and timely, and he was all over a grounding penalty on Washington before it happened to end the first half. Brady remains at his best when he explains why things happen based on his specific experience playing. He should never hesitate to bring up such examples. He made fun of himself for mispronouncing Noah Igbinoghene’s name in the fourth quarter. Good stuff. What remains a real issue is that Brady rarely is critical of coaches. (It’s always easier to be critical of players.) He almost got there with a time-out situation at the end of the first half but it’s more of a generic “big mistake there by the Commanders” as opposed to specifics on a coordinator or coach. On the Giants going for it on fourth down in the fourth quarter,” Brady said. “It feels just a little desperate, as it should.” Again, you’d love for him to be more definitive on a head coaches’ call beforehand. As for officiating, as viewers, we did get some acknowledgments of a missed call or something that was “ticky-tacky,” in Brady words, and that’s better than last year. Not close to Aikman level — but better. I’d contend Brady can never reach a certain level of broadcasting, given the innate conflicts he has as a member of the Raiders organization — and I’d legit love him to prove me wrong on that, because I think it would be great for viewers. There’s a line he goes up to so far, and that’s it. The NFL did remove some of its restrictions, and that should help. If you want me to offer a grade for Sunday, it was a B. If you want a QB comparison, he’s in the Baker Mayfield or Kyler Murray tier right now. This week’s game was one of four Fox games airing in the 1:00 PM ET window, so you had to seek out the game to hear Brady. Next week, Brady will be on center stage as Fox will air the Eagles at Chiefs in the showcase 4:25 p.m. ET window. It’s Brady’s first big test of 2025 and close to 30 million people will be watching. With all due respect to Dietsch, maybe there just wasn’t all that much stuff for Brady to be “critical of the coaches” on in this game. |
