The Daily Briefing Thursday, October 7, 2021

NFC NORTH

CHICAGO

Matt Nagy played the ANDY DALTON is our starting QB line for as long as he reasonably could – and a little bit longer.  But on Wednesday, he handed over the reins to QB JUSTIN FIELDS.  Jeff Dickerson of ESPN.com:

The changing of the guard at quarterback in Chicago is now complete.

Chicago Bears head coach Matt Nagy changed course Wednesday and announced that rookie Justin Fields is the team’s starting quarterback moving forward, regardless of veteran Andy Dalton’s (knee) health status.

The Bears (2-2) travel to Las Vegas to take on the Raiders (3-1) on Sunday.

For weeks, Nagy insisted that Dalton remained the Bears’ starter when healthy, but Fields’ performance in last week’s 24-14 victory over the Detroit Lions forced the organization to scrap its original quarterback plan.

“After this past weekend with Justin and the growth that we saw, the discussions that we had was to be able to go in this direction,” Nagy said.

Fields completed 11 of 17 passes for 209 yards and one interception versus the Lions, but he had five passes that went for 20-plus yards as Chicago’s offense bounced back from a historically bad performance in Cleveland the week before.

“It is a big decision, but we feel very good about it and are looking forward to it,” Nagy said.

On the year, Fields is 25 of 52 (48.1%) for 347 yards, two interceptions and 55 rushing yards on 17 attempts and one touchdown.

Dalton started the first two games for Chicago but suffered a bone bruise in his left knee in the first half of Week 2’s win over the Cincinnati Bengals. Dalton has been inactive the past two games.

“The No. 1 thing that I understood as a head coach and that we all understood as an organization is knowing that when you make a trade up to go get a guy to develop and be the franchise quarterback, you always know that there’s going to be that want to get him in there ASAP,” Nagy said.

“At the same point in time, again, we had our plan with Andy and developing Justin. And so, I think that for me, I knew it came with the territory, and all we wanted to do was do everything we can to do what’s best for this team. And again, I’d be lying to you if I sat here and told you it wasn’t really hard to have that discussion with Andy. Those are not easy discussions because there’s the human side of it, and I don’t care who you are, if you’ve got a good heart, that stuff hurts.”

Nagy informed the quarterbacks of the switch on Tuesday.

“It was definitely good news to hear,” said Fields, whom the Bears traded up nine spots to draft 11th overall in the spring.

“I would say I was a little bit surprised, but I mean, not really crazy surprised. But definitely a little bit of surprise. I feel like he was pretty straightforward with me and Andy. And I think my teammates believe in me, so just grateful for the opportunity and just trying to get ready to work.”

The expectation is that Dalton’s knee will be healed enough for him to be the No. 2 quarterback on Sunday in Las Vegas.

“One thing that Andy has earned from me and our coaches is a hell of a lot of respect, because that guy is a freaking stud,” Nagy said. “I’m so glad he is on our team and I appreciate the way he understood it and the way he handled it, but he also cares immensely about this team and I appreciate that.”

GREEN BAY

Cut by the Cowboys yesterday, LB JAYLON SMITH did not spend long on the market.  Michael David Smith of ProFootballTalk.com:

Jaylon Smith is on the way to Green Bay.

Smith, the veteran linebacker who was cut by the Cowboys this week, officially agreed to terms with the Packers this morning after getting close to a deal yesterday. Smith’s agents confirmed the deal with multiple reporters.

The Cowboys took Smith 34th overall in the 2016 NFL draft, getting a consensus Top 10 pick whose stock tumbled following a devastating knee injury in his final college game. Smith worked hard to rehab the injury and became a Pro Bowler in 2019.

But the Cowboys came to regret the massive contract extension they signed Smith to before the 2019 season and decided to cut him this week to avoid the risk of injury. Smith’s contract had a $9 million injury guarantee for the 2022 season.

Now Smith will try to bolster a Packers defense that has struggled this season. The Packers want to go all-in to win in what may be Aaron Rodgers‘ last year in Green Bay, and they see Smith as a piece of that puzzle.

MINNESOTA

RB DALVIN COOK speaks on the state of his ankle.  Andrew Krammer of the Minneapolis Star-Tribune:

Running back Dalvin Cook donned his helmet and practice jersey, lightly jogging through warmups at the start of Wednesday’s practice. But the Vikings shelved their injured star for the rest of the afternoon, trying to heal his sprained right ankle without him missing any more game time.

“That’s the plan,” Cook said Wednesday. “I don’t feel like I’m headed in the wrong direction. I feel like I’m headed in the right direction to get myself back to where I need to be at. You have those days, but we just played a game.”

Cook, one of four injured players sidelined at practice, exited Sunday’s loss to the Browns in the third quarter after coming up “gimpy,” coach Mike Zimmer said. He returned in the closing minutes and finished with 11 touches and played 49% of the snaps, his lowest rate since leaving last year’s loss in Seattle early with a groin injury.

But Cook is confident he can continue playing through the swollen ankle until he’s “back to being 100 percent.”

“Part of this game is playing through pain,” he said. “Playing through injury is something different. Playing through pain, that’s what comes with this game, and that’s what I’m dealing with, a little pain.”

Nose tackle Michael Pierce (elbow), linebacker Nick Vigil (ankle) and receiver Ihmir Smith-Marsette (toe) also did not practice. Linebacker Anthony Barr was a full participant for the first time since suffering a knee injury in early August. He’s expected to play against the Lions, marking his first game in 13 months. How much he plays could be determined by his endurance.

“I wasn’t confident enough in my conditioning and how I was feeling to be out there last week,” Barr said. “With two weeks of practice, about to be three, I’ll start kind of getting my feet wet a little bit, be a little more normal.”

NFC EAST

DALLAS

Cowboys T La’EL COLLINS, who may have tried to bribe a drug test collector, is suing the NFL.  He says the NFL lied to an arbitrator about a pertinent fact.  Mike Florio ofProFootballTalk.com:

Cowboys tackle La’el Collins has filed a lawsuit against the NFL attacking the remainder of his five-game suspension, based on arguments that the substance-abuse policy doesn’t permit suspensions for missed tests and that the NFL misrepresented to an arbitrator that Collins previously had been suspended four games.

Both sides have issued statements regarding the situation.

Said the NFL, “The suit is meritless as already determined by two jointly-appointed NFL-NFLPA impartial arbitrators who have reviewed this. We will seek to have this case dismissed as soon as possible.”

Collins’s lawyers understandably struck a far different tone.

“La’el has filed this proper action to defend his name and reputation,” said Peter Schaffer, and NFLPA-certified agent and lawyer who has represented Collins in this matter. “We hold the NFL in the highest regard and believe that they should be held to a high level of ethics prior to imposing the ultimate discipline, i.e. a suspension. The NFL’s statement is a perfect example of their bullying tactics The NFL wants to defend against an action where they made material misrepresentations to have La’el suspended by making material misrepresentations in the press response. The response is replete with misrepresentations. For example there was one arbitrator not two. We look forward to getting La’el back on the field as fast as possible.”

Collins has sought a temporary restraining order, aimed at ending his suspension immediately.

As to the argument that the league misrepresented that Collins previously had been suspended four games, a league source with access to the relevant records tells PFT that Collins never had been suspended under the substance-abuse policy, before the current suspension. The hearing in his arbitration undoubtedly was transcribed, and the ruling allegedly cites the fact that Collins previously was suspended four games. It’s bizarre, to say the least, that the league claimed that Collins previously had been suspended, and that the arbitrator bought it.

That seems to be the kind of obvious flaw that should have resulted in greater scrutiny of the league’s position, along with an effort to hold the league accountable for making such a clear misrepresentation to the arbitrator. Not surprisingly, the league’s statement fails to address this specific angle.

WASHINGTON

FT Washington will be without TE LOGAN THOMAS for a while.  John Keim ofESPN.com:

The Washington Football Team, already down their best offensive lineman, now will be without their best tight end for at least four weeks.

Washington placed Logan Thomas on injured reserve Wednesday because of a hamstring injury he suffered in the first quarter of Sunday’s 34-30 win at Atlanta. According to a source, the team expects him to miss four weeks, which would put him back on the field for the first game after its bye week — a Nov. 14 matchup vs. Tampa Bay.

In Thomas’s first three games, he caught 12 passes for 117 yards and two touchdowns. Last season, he caught 72 passes for 670 yards and six touchdowns. The former quarterback’s previous career-high in catches was 16 in 2019 with Detroit. “That’s tough to see Logan go down,” Washington receiver Terry McLaurin said. “He’s a big target even when he’s covered. You want to talk about contested catches, even when he’s covered he’s open.”

Washington signed tight end Jace Sternberger off Seattle’s practice squad Wednesday. Sternberger caught 12 passes for 114 yards and a touchdown for Green Bay last season.

Veteran Ricky Seals-Jones will become Washington’s No. 1 tight end with rookie John Bates as the No. 2. Washington also has Sammis Reyes, a former college basketball player from Chile who has never played in a regular-season football game at any level.

Seals-Jones has three catches for 38 yards and a touchdown this season. He has 63 career receptions. Bates has yet to catch a pass.

“Logan’s done a great job throughout the years and we’re going to miss him,” quarterback Taylor Heinicke said. “It’s Ricky’s turn. He did a great job against Atlanta. You’ve seen him progress throughout camp and this year and making some plays. We feel very confident in Ricky.”

The offense already will be without veteran guard Brandon Scherff for at least two weeks with a sprained MCL in his knee. Scherff injured his knee Sunday.

NFC SOUTH

ATLANTA

The Falcons lead the NFL in points allowed and have given up 30+ points in 3 of their 4 games.

CAROLINA

Before he could be released, the Panthers swooped in an traded for CB STEPHON GILMORE who is from nearby Rock Hill, South Carolina.  Jordan Dajani ofCBSSports.com:

The Carolina Panthers have made a huge addition in the secondary. On Wednesday, the Panthers announced that they had traded a 2023 sixth-round pick to the New England Patriots in exchange for star cornerback Stephon Gilmore.

CBS Sports NFL Insider Jonathan Jones reported that the Rock Hill, South Carolina, native had interest in playing close to home, and Carolina was able to swing a deal for the 31-year-old who was the 2019 NFL Defensive Player of the Year, a two-time first-team All-Pro, a four-time Pro Bowl selection and Super Bowl LIII champion. 

It was reported Wednesday morning that the Patriots planned to release Gilmore as they and his camp could not come to terms on a restructured contract. There was always the possibility that he could be traded before the move became official at 4 p.m. ET, however, and that’s exactly what happened. This is not the first addition the Panthers have made in the secondary, as they also traded for cornerback C.J. Henderson from the Jacksonville Jaguars. Carolina has suffered a couple of injuries in the secondary, as the Panthers lost first-round pick corner Jaycee Horn to a broken foot and safety Juston Burris to a groin injury.

Gilmore has not played this season, as he tore his quad in Week 15 last year and opened up 2021 on the PUP list. According to ESPN’s Adam Schefter, Gilmore is eligible to come off the PUP list after Week 6. GM Scott Fitterer told reporters Wednesday that he expects Gilmore to come off PUP at that point and be ready to play Week 7 vs. the Giants. The Panthers currently have the No. 3 defense in the league in terms of total yards allowed per game, and they are looking to maintain that pace.

Gilmore was originally selected with the No. 10 overall pick in the 2012 NFL Draft out of South Carolina by the Buffalo Bills. After five seasons in Buffalo, he signed with the Pats in free agency ahead of the 2017 season. In 124 career games, Gilmore has recorded 114 passes defensed and 25 interceptions. He is entering the final year of his contract, so an extension is something to keep an eye on — at least down the road. According to ESPN’s Jeremy Fowler, Gilmore and the Panthers are open to him playing out the final year of his deal at $5.8 million. Joe Person of The Athletic backed this up, saying that this transaction is not a “trade and sign” situation.

NFC WEST

SAN FRANCISCO

Ailing QB JIMMY GAROPPOLO is still a possibility for Sunday in Arizona.  Matt Maiocco of NBCSports.com:

Jimmy Garoppolo was not cleared to practice Wednesday, but 49ers coach Kyle Shanahan declined to rule the quarterback out from playing Sunday against the Arizona Cardinals.S

Garoppolo is experiencing swelling and soreness in his calf. Trey Lance will take the first-team repetitions during practice Wednesday.

Shanahan said when the team’s medical staff rules out Garoppolo from playing, he will make that announcement.

Garoppolo sustained a right calf contusion early in the 49ers’ game last Sunday against the Seattle Seahawks. He did not return to action in the second half.

Tight end George Kittle (calf) and left tackle Trent Williams (shoulder) are day-to-day. Kittle went into last week’s game listed as “questionable,” and played 70 of the 49ers’ 76 offensive snaps. Williams left in the second half with his injury.

– – –

WR DEEBO SAMUEL is becoming The Man in the San Francisco passing attack.  Nick Wagoner of ESPN.com:

San Francisco 49ers wideout Deebo Samuel has amassed plenty of his 490 yards this season on big plays. But to fully grasp why Samuel is the league’s surprise receiving leader through four weeks, take a closer look at two catches that gained just 28 of those yards in a game the Niners didn’t even win.

During San Francisco’s 30-28 loss to the Green Bay Packers on Sept. 26 at Levi’s Stadium, Samuel made the first of those two catches with 8:39 left in the third quarter, picking up 16 yards on third-and-9 at Green Bay’s 9. The second came on third-and-10 at the Packers’ 24 and went for 12 yards. Both receptions led to Niners touchdowns.

For Samuel, those catches weren’t just important for the team, they were also a form of on-field validation.

Why? Because they came on “swirl” routes, also known as a “corner curl,” in which the receiver makes it look like he’s running to the corner but curls back toward the line of scrimmage. Samuel has wanted to sharpen those routes since he arrived as a second-round pick in 2018.

Because it’s such a staple of coach Kyle Shanahan’s offense, Samuel spent the offseason working relentlessly to graduate from versatile gadget guy to all-around athlete capable of beating defenses in every way imaginable.

When Samuel caught the 16-yarder, he was wide open but had to climb the ladder to haul it in. On the other catch, he had Packers cornerback Jaire Alexander draped all over him, perhaps cognizant of the route from the previous connection. Samuel, who was the fourth read for quarterback Jimmy Garoppolo on the play, shortened the route and then lived up to his nickname to outmuscle Alexander for the ball.

“We call that play almost every day at practice and that route is never thrown,” Samuel said. “It just so happened to come. … That’s probably one of the hardest routes to run. I don’t like running it but it’s part of the playbook.”

In addition to leading the NFL in receiving yards, he is first in yards after the catch (266) and fifth in yards per reception (17.5). Those 490 receiving yards are the second-most through four games in 49ers franchise history, trailing only Jerry Rice’s 522 in 1995 and the most by any wideout in the NFL through four games since Julio Jones in 2018.

And though Samuel has a pair of long touchdown catches (79 and 76 yards) boosting his fast start, it doesn’t feel like a fluke because he’s evolved into a more complete player.

“It’s a very cool thing to watch because Deebo’s a player that if you take the time and you’re able to show him exactly what you want, he is willing to do whatever it takes to improve upon it,” offensive coordinator Mike McDaniel said. “And it’s your job as a coach to best articulate that through film to show him how he can get better. I know he wants to be great. And the best thing about him is he is not satisfied. He’s been able to really expand his route tree. … He’s expanded the way that we’ve been able to get him to the ball.”

The expansion of Samuel’s game is no accident. In fact, it’s two years in the making. Last year, Samuel hoped to return for his second season in better shape, so he’d be better equipped to handle all that the Niners asked of him as a rookie. Because the 49ers use pre-snap motion at one of the highest rates in the league, Samuel was almost always on the move and would often find himself struggling to stay on the field without breaks.

Samuel was on track toward for better fitness until breaking his foot during a June 2020 workout in Nashville with teammates. After the season started, Samuel suffered a pair of hamstring injuries that limited him to seven games. Before departing for the offseason, Samuel sought counsel from Shanahan and receivers coach Wes Welker.

Welker challenged Samuel to train in a way that would wear him out and then keep going, thus bolstering his wind. Samuel accepted the challenge, spending the offseason at House of Athlete in Weston, Florida, a facility owned by former NFL receiver Brandon Marshall. The five-days-a-week work would start with some early morning running on a track followed by weightlifting and then another running session. Samuel even did hot yoga twice per week. For on-field work, Samuel would hop over to Receiver Factory in South Florida, working with the likes of Stefon Diggs, Jarvis Landry, Justin Jefferson, Emmanuel Sanders and others.

“It was just doing everything possible to come back in better shape and just be the best version of me I can,” Samuel said.

When Samuel returned to the Bay Area, he was clearly more fluid in and out of breaks, particularly on deeper routes. Once limited to mostly short passes, handoffs and intermediate, in-breaking routes, Samuel now finds himself running a full route tree. He’s been targeted 42 times, tied for fourth-most in the NFL and his 33.3% target share on routes run ranks fourth among receivers with more than 25 routes run.

While Samuel is still getting plenty of opportunities to catch and run near the line of scrimmage, his air yards per target is up to 7.9 from 2.36 in 2020. He’s been targeted 15 or more yards down field 10 times after he’d had 20 such targets in his first 22 NFL games.

Samuel’s knack for playmaking even has 49ers defenders taking a peek when the offense is at work, wondering what Samuel might do next.

“Deebo is a very special, unique player,” linebacker Fred Warner said. “He’s built like a running back, he runs like a running back but he’s a receiver. He attacks the ball like a receiver, he can make plays down the field like a receiver. Especially in our type of offense, you can use him a lot of different ways. Maybe there’s people who are used similarly but they’re not Deebo.”

– – –

Some QB TREY LANCE trivia from Brian Witt of NBCSports.com:

After taking over for Jimmy Garoppolo at the start of the second half, Lance eventually connected with Deebo Samuel for a 76-yard touchdown pass. It was the second of Lance’s career after he threw a 5-yard touchdown to Mohamed Sanu in San Francisco’s Week 1 win over the Detroit Lions.

In both situations, the TD passes came on Lance’s first completion of the game. In doing so, he became the first NFL quarterback in more than 40 years to have his first two career completions go for touchdowns.

Lance broke the streak not long after and finished the game having completed nine of 18 pass attempts for 157 yards with two touchdowns and zero interceptions. He also rushed seven times for 41 yards on the ground.

SEATTLE

Seattle only had 234 offensive yards last week against the 49ers, but the Seahawks won because they converted TDs on all 4 trips into the red zone.

AFC WEST

LAS VEGAS

Mission accomplished for Chargers EDGE JOEY BOSA – he is in the head of Raiders QB DEREK CARR.  Paul Gutierrez of ESPN.com:

Las Vegas Raiders quarterback Derek Carr took umbrage Wednesday with Los Angeles Chargers defensive end Joey Bosa’s critical comments of his play, intimating that they could serve as motivation.

“I just thought it was unfortunate that he’d even think to say it,” Carr said. “Maybe he was just trying to get under my skin. Which, he did piss me off. So, good job for that. But that’s not a bad thing, either.”

It was after the Chargers’ 28-14 win Monday when Bosa was asked about pressuring Carr, who was hit seven times and sacked four times.

“We knew once we hit him a few times, he really gets shook,” Bosa said at the time. “And you saw on [Christian Covington’s fourth-quarter] sack he was pretty much curling into a ball before we even got back there.

“So, great dude, great player. He’s been having a great year, but we knew once we get pressure on him, he kind of shuts down and he’s not as effective with a crowded pocket, so that was the key to it.”

The Raiders were limited to 51 yards of offense in the first half and trailed 21-0 at halftime. But Carr got going in the third quarter and was driving Las Vegas for a potential game-tying TD when Covington sacked him for a 6-yard loss on third-and-3 with about 11 minutes left in regulation.

Carr, who entered the game leading the NFL in passing yards, finished with a season-low 196 yards through the air and two TDs with an interception. He found support in his own locker room and from his coach and offensive coordinator in Jon Gruden and Greg Olson.

“We love our quarterback,” Gruden said Tuesday. “And we think he’s having a hell of a year and going to continue to do so.”

Carr, meanwhile, said he still loves Bosa.

“And he knows that,” Carr said. “We’ve gone back and forth. He was probably mad because I was talking a lot of crap to him during the game. It was an emotional day for them. Saw a lot of things about their whole team after. Good thing it’s a new week. He’s entitled to that opinion and saying those things. But it’s almost like he watched the game in reverse.

“The game that I watched, we came out and fought a little bit after they got after us a little bit up front. Fine. The opinions I care about are what Gru and Oly told me when I came in the building yesterday and today, and it will always be that way. Especially with my teammates. But we’ll see them again. He’s entitled to say that. Great player, great dude. I just don’t think he watched the game in the same order I did.”

The teams will meet for the second time this year in the season finale – on January 9 in Vegas.

AFC NORTH

CINCINNATI

The Bengals can match their 2020 season win total with a 4^th win Sunday at home against Green Bay.

AFC SOUTH

JACKSONVILLE

The Urban Meyer apology tour continued on Wednesday, but he says he has never considered resigning after being filmed canoodling in a bar.  And we would say he has millions of reasons not to.  Michael DiRocco of ESPN.com:

– Jacksonville Jaguars coach Urban Meyer said he never considered resigning in the wake of two viral videos that emerged showing him with at least one woman who was not his wife at his restaurant in Columbus, Ohio.

But he did apologize again Wednesday, once to players and staff in a full team meeting in the morning and again to the fans to close his regularly scheduled news conference. Meyer also said he supported owner Shad Khan’s public rebuke of his actions.

“I had at least three or four conversations with Shad. The message is loud and clear, and I agree with [it],” Meyer said. “Also met with the team on Monday, individually, and then today [as a group]. Had a very pointed conversation with them, owning a stupid mistake that I made. A job of a coach is … No. 1, health and safety of a player. No. 2 is motivate them or bring out the greatness in them. And No. 3 is give them everything possible to be successful and give them a great locker room and then get the heck out of the way.

“And I apologize for a distraction with a huge week coming up, especially after they made so much improvement from Week 1 to Week 4.”

“I know a lot of the guys respected it, how he addressed this this morning,” said Jaguars quarterback Trevor Lawrence. “Obviously it’s not an easy situation and you don’t want to be in this situation, but I think he’s done right by us and it was a good meeting this morning, just up front with us, apologized.”

Meyer, 57, first apologized Monday morning for his actions on Friday, one day after the Jaguars’ 24-21 loss at Cincinnati. Meyer said he and family members went to his restaurant — Urban Meyer’s Pint House in Columbus — and that people at a nearby event asked to take photos with him. Meyer said he should have left when people tried to get him to dance with them.

A nine-second video showing Meyer sitting with his back to the bar in an Ohio State pullover while a young woman danced close to his lap was posted to social media Saturday night. Roughly an hour after his Monday news conference, however, another video emerged on social media that appeared to show Meyer touching a woman’s bottom while he was sitting at the bar. The woman appeared to be wearing the same clothes — jeans and a white top — as the woman in the first viral video.

That prompted Khan to issue a public reprimand on Tuesday.

“I have addressed this matter with Urban. Specifics of our conversation will be held in confidence,” Khan said in a statement. “What I will say is his conduct last weekend was inexcusable. I appreciate Urban’s remorse, which I believe is sincere. Now, he must regain our trust and respect. That will require a personal commitment from Urban to everyone who supports, represents or plays for our team. I am confident he will deliver.”

Meyer said Wednesday that he met with each position group individually on Monday because it was a more intimate setting in which to apologize rather than in an entire team meeting.

“I wanted to get in their space,” Meyer said. “I have a good relationship with this whole team. I’m not a big team meeting guy. I do a lot of it that way, where I’ll go to, you know, the running backs, where there’s a group of four. Team meetings are very … it’s just a big environment.

“In my opinion, you don’t get much done in a team meeting. You get a lot done when you’re in personal space with people. I’ve always done that.”

Meyer also said that Khan did not fine him nor has he been contacted by anyone in the NFL’s front office. He said eight to 10 members of the Jaguars’ leadership council called him over the past several days to offer their support.

“They were over-the-top supportive and said, ‘We got you, man. We moved forward,'” Meyer said. “A common thing was, ‘Coach, we all did stupid things.'”

“We all really appreciate him, but we all know we all got a job to do,” said Jaguars linebacker Josh Allen. “He’s a great coach. He’s a great man and he’s gonna bounce back and we all gonna bounce back. We’re going to play even harder for him.

“We’re ready to play. He’s got our back, and we’re going to have his back. That’s how we going.”

Said Lawrence: “I feel good about our team. Nothing’s changed. We’re still really tight, so we’re just looking forward to playing the Titans this weekend and getting back on track.

“He’s still my head coach. I still respect him, regardless of what happens.”

Meyer also said he still has a strong relationship with his wife, Shelley, and they can move beyond what happened.

“I don’t want to get into our personal life, but 37 years we’ve been together and it’s been awesome, man,” Meyer said. “And this speed bump’s not going to get in the way of that.”

Meyer closed his news conference by apologizing to the fans.

“I would just like to say also to the 904 and Duval and our owner, you know, like, ‘Why did I decide to come out of what I was doing and do this?'” Meyer said.

“Jacksonville, I know very well. I know our fans have been hanging in there with us, and I apologize to them and want to make that perfectly clear.”

AFC EAST

BUFFALO

The Bills have been a scoring machine since stumbling against the Steelers in Week 1, scoring 118 points in the last three weeks.  The trend is 16, 35, 43, 40.

NEW ENGLAND

Pat Lane of SBNation is not happy with how Bill Belichick and the Patriots handled the departure of CB STEPHON GILMORE:

The Bill Belichick-led New England Patriots have had curious personnel decisions in the past, but the Stephon Gilmore situation takes the cake.

It’s hard to imagine getting less value for a player who is at or near the top of the league at his position. Think about the trades that Belichick has been criticized for before this. He traded Jimmy Garoppolo for a second-round pick; Chandler Jones for Jonathan Cooper and a second; Logan Mankins for a fourth-rounder and Tim Wright; and Richard Seymour for a first. Those are all significantly better than Wednesday’s trade with the Carolina Panthers. The best thing you can say about the move is that Gilmore didn’t go to an AFC contender that is going to crush you in the playoffs, though I’m sure the 2019 NFL Defensive Player of the Year now has Nov. 7 circled on his calendar.

There are multiple factors as to why this is the worst of all the decisions Belichick has made, but the biggest one is that we all knew that it was coming. Both Gilmore and J.C. Jackson are both going to be free agents after this season, and it was going to be impossible for the Patriots to sign both starting cornerbacks. We knew that, they knew that, everyone knew that. Instead of moving on from one of them in the offseason, however, the Patriots decided to hold onto both of them.

Jackson has looked like a true No. 1 corner this season, which means he’s getting paid accordingly next offseason. That is going to force the Patriots to have to make a tough decision on the tendered restricted free agent, but they should’ve never have had to make Wednesday’s decision on Gilmore.

I’m sure you can point to March as a reason why the Patriots were forced to move on. They no longer have a ton of cap space because they gave it to all the free agents now on the books. But they knew exactly what their cap space would look like moving forward. There was zero reason to hold off on trading Gilmore during the draft. I’m sure the offers that they got for the 31-year-old that April weekend might not have been up to their liking, but I’m also sure that they were all better than a 2023 sixth-round pick. By trying to wait for the best possible return, they got the worst possible return. Belichick is usually better at reading the market than that.

The other thing to consider is that Gilmore wanted, and deserved, a new contract. With the Patriots unable and unwilling to give him more money after last year’s $4.5 million advance, a trade made all the sense in the world. There was almost no reason to keep him around, especially since you would get a chance to see if Jackson had what it took to be the CB1 in New England. You did get a chance to see that, but only because Gilmore started the season on the PUP list because he was hurt/holding in.

It’s hard to fathom how the Patriots ended up here. They saw the writing on the wall for at least a year. They had a reset season in 2020 and are starting a rookie quarterback in 2021. And yet, they refused to move on from a player who was coming off a quad injury and wanted a new contract.

New England has no one to blame for this situation other than themselves. The defense has played well without Gilmore, but that isn’t the point. The point is that the organization had a valuable asset, knew it was going to lose value, and just continued to hold onto it anyway.

Not having Gilmore makes the team worse, but not getting even close to a good return for him compounds the issue.

THIS AND THAT

THE FUTURE OF DeMAURICE SMITH

The first vote was not a slam dunk, so there is some question about the future of DeMaurice Smith as head of the player’s association.  Mike Florio ofProFootballTalk.com on today’s big vote:

With the NFLPA’s constitutionally-created Selection Committee failing to rubber stamp a new contract for executive director DeMaurice Smith, the next step comes on Friday.

Via Mark Maske of the Washington Post, the board of player representatives is scheduled to vote Friday on whether to approve a new contract with Smith, or whether to declare the position open and conduct a full search.

If two-thirds of the board of player representatives vote to keep Smith without a search, the Executive Committee would then be required to negotiate a new contract with Smith. Given that the Selection Committee, which consists of the Executive Committee plus the three longest-tenured player representatives, voted 7-7 to keep Smith without a search, some members of the Executive Committee may be inclined to play hardball with Smith when negotiating a new deal. Any who have decided they don’t want him to continue may want to make Smith an offer they know he’ll refuse.

If Smith fails to get a positive vote from at least two-thirds of the player representatives, the Selection Committee then will be required to identify two to four candidates for the job. Smith, to have a chance to continue in the job, would have to be selected as one of those candidates. The next Executive Director would then be elected in March.

In 2018, attorney Cyrus Mehri tried to run for the job, but the Selection Committee unanimously voted to keep Smith, preventing an election. It’s unclear whether Mehri currently has interest in the job.

Here’s another name that has bubbled up as a potential candidate: Anthony Gonzalez. The former first-round pick of the Colts and member of Congress recently announced he won’t run for re-election in 2022. He’d have to resign from his position in the House of Representatives to take the NFLPA job, if he decides to pursue the position and prevails.

Smith’s 12-year tenure has become tenuous because of the 2020 CBA negotiations. In lieu of taking another lockout that would have inevitably resulted in a 17-game regular season, Smith advocated an agreement to a 17-game season, along with the financial benefits flowing therefrom. The vote ended up being closer than it should have been, with plenty of veteran players complaining loudly about it.

Few players currently in the NFL endured the offseason lockout in 2011, and none have lived through an in-season work stoppage. Football players want to play football and get paid for it. The imbalance in financial resources and longevity between the owners and the players makes it very difficult for the players to win a labor dispute that results in games being lost.

By doing a deal in 2020, Smith opted to avoid acrimony and the potential for lost games in 2021. By doing a deal before the pandemic began, Smith also avoided what surely would have been far less favorable terms after the owners lost billions during the 2020 season.

Regardless, and as Smith has said time and again, the players have to decide what they want to do. But like a team that is thinking about changing coaches, the first question the players need to ask themselves is whether the next executive director will be better, worse, or the same as the current one. Maybe, given everything that happened last year, they need to go through a full-blown search process to come to that conclusion.

On Friday, we’ll find out whether that will be happening.

BROADCAST NEWS

The NFL is delivering huge ratings in 2021, even as other TV viewership shrinks.  Bill Shea of The Athletic:

The National Football League has recovered its TV mojo.

The league said Wednesday morning that its games are averaging 17.3 million viewers on linear television and streaming, its highest average through the first four weeks of a season since 2015.

Audience is up 17 percent over 2020’s pandemic-ravaged season that saw almost all live TV sports suffer viewership declines. The top 21 telecasts on U.S. TV so far this year are NFL games, the league said. Additionally, it said the persons-using-television metric for overall TV is down 8 percent year over year but the share of TVs tuned to the league’s games is up 26 percent over 2020.

Helping boost the audience numbers has been some close games and a wildly-hyped reunion. It didn’t break or match any significant records, but Sunday night’s mega-hyped Tom Brady-Bill Belichick game returned both a close game and great audience numbers.

By now you know that Brady and the Tampa Bay Buccaneers escaped rainy Foxboro with a 19-17 victory, sealed only when the New England Patriots’ kicker bounced a likely game-winner off an upright.

No one really expected the rebuilding Patriots, even with Bill “Rick Sanchez” Belichick at the helm, to beat the defending Super Bowl champions, but it ended up being competitive — Mac Jones looks like the best of 2021’s rookie passers, and the Bucs secondary is a M*A*S*H unit — which helped sustain viewership. An early obvious rout would have sapped the audience total.

NBC initially estimated that the game averaged 27.2 million TV viewers, and 28.5 million with digital numbers included. When adjusted numbers came out Tuesday morning, the TV portion was 26.7 million (with 9.66 million in the advertiser-coveted age 18-49 demo) and the overall average with streaming was 28 million. Last week, I predicted 25 million+ if it wasn’t a rout.

The adjusted overall average was about 10 million more viewers than a typical 2021 NFL game heading into Week 4. And it had the biggest TV audience since Super Bowl LV in February, NBC said.

Additionally, the game had more total viewers than five wild-card and two divisional playoff games from last season.

There was some chatter among sports media pundits that the game’s main Brady storyline (and the subplot of him setting the NFL record for career passing yards) could be enough to propel the game into the regular-season record books. That wasn’t the case, but within our present broadcast media industry context, it’s a fantastic number and all involved are surely pleased.

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Overall, the NFL’s Week 4 games averaged 18.1 viewers across linear TV and digital, which is up 41 percent over 2020’s Week 4 games.

It helps that 15 games this season have ended on a game-winning score in the final minute of regulation or in overtime (including the Jets and Giants getting their first 2021 wins in OT on Sunday). That’s the most such late scoring drama through the first four weeks of a season since at least the 1970 AFL-NFL merger, the league said. The next most, 14 games, came in 2012.

CBS said its 4:25 p.m. national broadcast window on Sunday, led by Green Bay over Pittsburgh, averaged 22.29 million viewers, which was up 19 percent from the same Week 4 window a year ago (Bills-Raiders, 18.69 million).

The Chiefs’ 42-30 win at the Eagles led CBS’ 1 p.m. regional window that averaged 17.35 million viewers, which was up enormously from the same time in Week 4 last season (10 million average led by a Chargers-Buccaneers games). The network said Sunday’s 1 p.m. window was its most-watched in October since 2015.

On the season, CBS said it’s averaged 17.87 million NFL viewers, which is up 22 percent from last season’s 14.68 million after four weeks and is the network’s best first four weeks since averaging 18.28 million in 2014.

Fox’s single-game window averaged 18.28 million viewers, with Panthers-Cowboys and Cardinals-Rams getting the most coverage. Last year, the equivalent window averaged 17.21 million viewers, meaning 2021’s Week 4 was up 6 percent for Fox.

Anthony Crupi of Sportrac says the FOX and CBS Sunday windows are a big part of the NFL’s 2021 ratings success.

Tom Brady’s Nielsen-juicing impact on the 2021 NFL season appears to be contagious, as the league in Week 4 enjoyed one of its highest-rated outings in years. And while the quarterback’s triumphant visit to his old stomping grounds did not disappoint, the gains made outside the primetime window were impressive in their own right.

Thanks in part to a pair of overtime wins for the beleaguered representatives of the New York market and a rare showdown between two of the NFL’s senior-most quarterbacks, each of the six TV windows posted significant ratings increases compared to the year-ago deliveries. Yes, NBC’s Bucs-Pats broadcast scared up a predictably huge audience—not only did the most recent installment of Sunday Night Football notch a multiyear high for the network, but it now stands as the year’s ninth most-watched program of 2021, out-rating seven of January’s 12 playoff games—but the improvements made in the less celebrated time slots are worthy of a closer look.

Fueled by the Giants’ 27-21 OT win down in New Orleans, a five-TD showing by Patrick Mahomes in Philly and a masterful performance by the Dallas offense against the undefeated Panthers, the regional windows on CBS and Fox skyrocketed 33% year-over-year with an average draw of 17.8 million viewers. If you’re looking for a better result for the localized Sunday afternoon games, you’ll have to go all the way back to Week 15 of the 2016 season.

Separately, Fox’s regional coverage, which included Panthers-Cowboys in nearly 40% of markets served and Cardinals-Rams in another 20%, averaged 18.3 million viewers. CBS’ 1 p.m. ET window, which was dominated by the Chiefs-Eagles matchup (60%), drew 17.4 million viewers, good for a 73% boost compared to the year-ago slot (Chargers-Bucs with 75% coverage).

Season-to-date, CBS’ Sunday NFL broadcasts are averaging 17.9 million viewers, a gain of 22% versus last year’s first four weeks (14.7 million). CBS is currently delivering its highest Sunday football ratings since 2014.

If the late window was complicated by the Jets’ shocking overtime victory over the depleted Titans—but for the fans in the home markets, viewers who had expected to see Pittsburgh and Green Bay kickoff in the 4:25 p.m. game instead were shuttled over to MetLife Stadium—the overall deliveries remained worthy of the national designation. Once Tennessee and New York had finally settled their differences (a period which neatly coincided with the entire first quarter of the Steelers-Packers broadcast), 90% of the country was fed the signal from Lambeau Field.

CBS’ coverage of the rare meeting between Ben Roethlisberger and Aaron Rodgers averaged 22.3 million viewers, up 20% versus the analogous Bills-Raiders dust-up in 2020. While the two veterans had played a combined 436 games over the course of their careers heading into Sunday’s outing, they’d only crossed paths twice before—first in December 2009, when Pittsburgh eked out a 37-36 win at home, followed by a return engagement in Super Bowl XLV. Rodgers got the better of that one, in what stands as his only NFL title to date.

Earlier in the week, two decidedly less-ravaged QBs duked it out in Cincinnati, as Jags rookie and No. 1 NFL Draft pick Trevor Lawrence aired it out against Joe Burrow, the league’s overall top selection in 2020. NFL Network’s standalone Thursday Night Football telecast averaged 8 million viewers, good for a 48% boost versus last year’s Broncos-Jets curio (5.71 million).

At press time, final ratings for ESPN’s Monday Night Football are delayed by Nielsen processing issues; that said, the preliminary data indicates that the Raiders-Chargers telecast made it a perfect six-for-six in terms of the NFL windows that put together year-to-year gains.

Lest we forget the contribution from the NFL’s primetime showcase, NBC’s Sunday Night Football package is currently averaging 21.7 million viewers, and nearly 23 million when streaming impressions are added to the linear TV deliveries. Per Nielsen, 8.33 million of those NBC viewers are members of the much-sought-after adults 18-49 demo; by way of comparison, the 44 general-entertainment series that have aired since the fall TV season began are averaging 4.46 million viewers and fewer than 830,000 members of the dollar demo. No help seems to be forthcoming from the crop of freshman shows, as the season’s eight newcomers are currently averaging just 3.66 million viewers and just shy of 635,000 in the under-50 crowd.

FOOTBALL OUTSIDERS ODDS

Using DVOA as the base language, FootballOutsiders sees the Bills moving to the forefront of Super Bowl contenders with a nearly 20% chance of hoisting Lombardi.