THE DAILY BRIEFING
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NFC NORTH
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CHICAGO
Damage control for QB JUSTIN FIELDS. Charean Williams of ProFootballTalk.com:
Justin Fields didn’t have a good night on Sunday, throwing for only 70 yards and running for 20 in a 27-10 loss to the Packers. It dropped the Bears quarterback to 0-3 against the Packers in his career.
His night got worse when, after the game, a reporter asked Fields whether the loss hurt more because of how much Bears fans want to turn around the lopsided rivalry since Aaron Rodgers became Green Bay’s starter.
Fields got himself in trouble with Bears fans, saying, “Yeah, it hurts more in the locker room than the Bears fans. At the end of the day, they aren’t putting in any work. I see the guys in the locker room every day. I see how much work they put in. Coming out of a disappointing loss like this, it hurts.”
On Wednesday, Fields tried to clarify his comments from Sunday.
“Yeah, I was mad after the game. I’d like to address this now to get everything cleared up,” Fields said, via Courtney Cronin of ESPN. “There was a thing I said on Sunday after the game where I said the fans don’t put in work. First off, I was frustrated after the game. Number one, I didn’t want to talk to you guys. I wasn’t in the mood to come and talk to you guys. So, I should’ve done a better job of explaining what I meant by that.
“What I meant by that is I’m talking about work regarding the game on Sunday, winning the game. I don’t know any fans. I don’t know what they’re doing in their personal lives. I respect every fan that we have. I’m glad that we have fans. I would never disrespect anybody on what they do or what they love to do. It came off like that. Some social media outlets, they quoted my quote, and they got a big buzz out of it. So, of course, they did a great job doing that. Of course social media is going to do that. But I just wanted to clear that up.”
Fields said he learned an important lesson after stirring up social media with his comments.
“I talked to my dad about it, and as long as I’m going to be in this position there’s going to be stuff like that that pops up, so just knowing that as long as I’m in this profession that it’s never going to go away, so just got to either be really clear to everything that I say, be really descriptive to what I mean, or really just don’t say anything at all,” Fields said.
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GREEN BAY
Unlike QB TOM BRADY, QB AARON RODGERS says that the stuff he has going on when he is 45 will not include playing in the NFL. Josh Alper of ProFootballTalk.com:
The two oldest starting quarterbacks in the NFL will face off in Tampa this weekend and that leads to questions about how much longer Tom Brady and Aaron Rodgers will be fixtures in the NFL.
Brady is 45 and Rodgers said over the summer that he won’t be playing until he’s that old, but the Packers’ trip to face the Buccaneers means that he faced questions about his longevity again on Wednesday. Rodgers noted that you try to stay as long as you can “when you’ve achieved at a high level for a long time,” but said he still thinks he’ll be on to something else before he reaches his 45th birthday.
“I won’t be, I’ll be doing something else,” Rodgers said, via Jim Polzin of the Wisconsin State Journal. “I have a lot of other interests outside the game. Game’s been really, really good to me. I feel I’ve given my all to the game. At some point, it’ll be time to do something else, and I strongly believe that’ll be before 45.”
Sunday’s game will be the fifth time the two quarterbacks have faced off as starters and it could be the final time given the uncertain futures of both players. Rodgers said he didn’t feel particularly nostalgic about that prospect, but there will likely be more than a few fans savoring the chance to see the two players on the same field one more time.
Rodgers will turn 39 on December 2.
There have been 8 seasons where a QB who is 39 years of age or older passed for 4,000+ yards. 5 belong to Brady. Warren Moon, Brett Favre and Philip Rivers have the other 3.
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NFC EAST
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NEW YORK GIANTS
One Giants player, WR KENNY GOLLADAY, is not wearing a smile despite the 2-0 start.
Paul Schwartz of the New York Post:
Kenny Golladay played only two snaps last week and the Giants’ high-priced wide receiver is not happy about it.
Whether the lack of activity was because of his practice habits or because this new coaching staff does not believe he earned more time on the field, Golladay sees, in his view, a certain truism:
“I should be playing, regardless,’’ he said Wednesday at his locker after practice.
Why is that?
“That’s a fact,’’ he said.
The Giants are 2-0 and Golladay has not been part of the success. And he is clearly confused and agitated that head coach Brian Daboll has not found a place for him within the offense.
Golladay played 46 snaps (77 percent) in the 21-20 victory over the Titans and had two receptions for 22 yards. In Week 2, he was a spectator — two snaps — as the Giants came back to beat the Panthers 19-16.
“I didn’t like the decision, whatsoever,’’ Golladay said. “Even people on the team were like ‘What’s going on?’ ’’
Daboll and general manager Joe Schoen inherited Golladay. More to the point, they inherited Golladay’s bloated contract — four years, $72 million — and knew the 28-year old receiver was unmovable in 2022. His base salary for this season is fully guaranteed at $13 million — he counts $21.1 million on the salary cap — and if he was released, it would create more than $25 million in dead money and actually add nearly $5 million to this year’s cap.
Golladay led the NFL with 11 touchdown catches in 2019 with the Lions, and the Giants in 2021 believed they were getting a 6-foot-4 target who would be a weapon in the red zone and make contested catches all over the field. He was part of a dysfunctional Giants offense last season and in 14 games caught only 37 passes for 521 yards and no touchdowns.
It was a slog for Golladay all summer. Schoen said Golladay underwent an unspecified medical procedure in the offseason, keeping him off the field in the spring. His training camp was uneven.
Daboll insists he is running a meritocracy and that playing time goes to those who earn it, regardless of pedigree, salary or standing on the roster. Richie James, picked up from the 49ers, and Davis Sills, a former practice squad player, have received more time on the field than Golladay.
Daboll informed Golladay last week that he would not be part of the wide receiver rotation against the Panthers. Golladay said he “agreed to disagree’’ with Daboll when he was told of his reduced role.
“It wasn’t like there was an argument or any back and forth,’’ Golladay said. “I just accepted what he said.”
Is his relationship with Daboll fractured?
“I mean, it is what it is, it’s a business,’’ Golladay said. “I’m not here to be friends with coaches. They’re just co-workers to me.’’
Daboll has maintained that Golladay handled the demotion professionally.
“That’s why it’s a little bit confusing, because everybody in this building tells me I do everything the right way and be a pro at whatever I do,” Golladay said. “So it’s a little confusing.’’
Golladay stopped short of saying he would request a trade — dealing him is untenable — if his playing time does not increase.
“We’re not going to get into all that right now,’’ he said. “We’re going into Week 3, we’re gonna see how it goes. There’s a lot of football left.’’
Based on his conversations with Daboll and seeing the game plan for Monday night’s game against the Cowboys, Golladay senses he will have more of a role.
“I think it’s probably gonna be a little different,’’ he said. “I’m preparing like I’m gonna be playing but who knows?’’
This is the first speed bump for Daboll, who has turned around the Giants’ recent history of early-season losing. Kadarius Toney, another receiver considered to be a starter and key contributor, played only seven snaps in the opener. Golladay said last week was the first game in his life that he was healthy and yet was not involved in the action on the field.
“I came here to play,’’ he said. “I’m pretty sure they’re also paying me to play. They want to see more I guess.
“I really don’t agree with it or like it. But I can only control what I can control, and that’s coming to work every day. If I was in the game [vs. the Panthers], I feel like everything that was done in the game I for sure could’ve done. We won at the end of the day, which is good.”
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PHILADELPHIA
QB CARSON WENTZ talks about going against the team that drafted him, nurtured him and then sent him packing. Josh Alper of ProFootballTalk.com:
Commanders quarterback Carson Wentz took a walk down memory lane in Week One when he faced a Jaguars team coached by his first NFL head coach Doug Pederson and he’ll take another one this weekend.
The Eagles will be coming to Washington for an NFC East matchup that marks his first matchup with his original team since he was traded to the Colts before the 2021 season. Wentz acknowledged that it’s “a different kind of everything” in Philly with Pederson gone and two years of roster changes since he left, but the memories of his “wild ride” with the team are still strong.
Wentz said that he will “definitely will have some mixed emotions” given how things ultimately played out with the Eagles and that adds something to the game, although he will be doing his best to keep that from overwhelming him on Sunday.
“I’m excited for it,” Wentz said, via Nicki Jhabvala of the Washington Post. “But . . . you try not to make the game bigger than it needs to be. Every week is a big week. It’s hard to win in this league. And so I know once the first kickoff goes, it’ll be football again.”
The reunion won’t be the only one this year. Wentz and the Commanders will be on the road for a Week 10 Monday night game and the Philly crowd should make it a bit more difficult to push aside about the history that the quarterback brings with him to these games.
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WASHINGTON
The NBA has run off the owner of the Phoenix Suns and Jonathan Jones ofCBSSports.com sees a parallel to Washington’s Daniel Snyder:
With Robert Sarver announcing his intentions Wednesday to sell the Phoenix Suns and Phoenix Mercury, some eyes in the sports world return to Washington and embattled Commanders owner Dan Snyder.
Last week, the NBA released its findings on Sarver after a year-long investigation into workplace misconduct and inappropriate behavior. Along with the published report, the NBA fined Sarver $10 million and suspended him for a year. A week later, after pressure from inside and outside the Suns organization, Sarver committed to selling both the Suns and the WNBA’s Phoenix Mercury.
“As a man of faith, I believe in atonement and the path to forgiveness,” Sarver wrote in a statement Wednesday. “I expected that the commissioner’s one-year suspension would provide the time for me to focus, make amends and remove my personal controversy from the teams that I and so many fans love.
“But in our current unforgiving climate, it has become painfully clear that that is no longer possible – that whatever good I have done, or could still do, is outweighed by things I have said in the past. For those reasons, I am beginning the process of seeking buyers for the Suns and Mercury.”
Pressure mounted on Sarver from his minority owner and sponsors to sell the team. Jahm Najafi, the team’s second-largest stakeholder, called for Sarver’s resignation. PayPal said it wouldn’t renew as a team sponsor if Sarver stayed.
While Snyder has faced pressure from Congress and dealt with an unhappy fanbase, one source noted that the unique pressures Sarver faced aren’t in front of Snyder. Earlier this year, Snyder bought out his minority owners and owns 100% of the Commanders.
And just an hour before Sarver’s news broke Wednesday, the Commanders announced a new sponsor for the team’s training facilities.
Snyder, who has not been involved in day-to-day operations with the Washington Commanders since July 2021, is the subject of two more investigations looking into alleged misconduct. Mary Jo White, a former SEC chairwoman, is leading the investigations.
The NFL famously decided not to release a written report following a year-long investigation by Beth Wilkinson into workplace misconduct. The league fined Snyder $10 million, and he has not represented the team at league meetings or been involved in the day-to-day operations since.
The league said in February it would release a written report from White once complete. The first allegation centers on former team employee Tiffani Johnston, who alleged Snyder sexually harassed her at a work dinner in 2005 or 2006. The other investigation is looking into alleged financial improprieties regarding Washington’s ticket revenue.
Synder has denied allegations of wrongdoing.
Jeff Miller, the NFL’s EVP of communications, public affairs and policy, said last week that White is still pursuing these investigations and has no timeline on when her findings will be made public.
The NFL and commissioner Roger Goodell have declined to make public the findings from the Wilkinson report. Goodell has said because the league promised anonymity to witnesses and victims, the league cannot release even a heavily-redacted report.
Snyder testified virtually in front of the U.S. House Committee on Oversight for more than 10 hours back in July. The details of that testimony have yet to be made public.
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NFC SOUTH
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TAMPA BAY
After thinking about it overnight, appeals officer James Thrash decided that WR MIKE EVANS should remain the lone player suspended from Sunday’s fracas in New Orleans. Grant Gordon of NFL.com:
Tampa Bay Buccaneers wide receiver Mike Evans’ one-game suspension has been upheld and he will miss Sunday’s game against the Packers, the league announced Wednesday.
Evans’ appeal was heard on Tuesday by former NFL wide receiver James Thrash, who was jointly appointed by the NFL and the NFLPA.
The nine-year veteran was suspended on Monday for his role in a fight during the Buccaneers’ win over the Saints on Sunday. Evans remains eligible to return to Tampa Bay’s active roster on Sept. 26.
It its ruling, the league stated that Evans’ suspension without pay comes due to “violations of unnecessary roughness and unsportsmanlike conduct rules.”
The fracas began with an altercation between Buccaneers quarterback Tom Brady and running back Leonard Fournette, and Saints defensive backs Marshon Lattimore and Marcus Maye, with Fournette and Lattimore shoving each other. Evans ran into the fray and blindsided Lattimore with a heavy shove that escalated the fight.
Evans and Lattimore were ejected from the game, which Tampa Bay won, 20-10. Evans previously was suspended in 2017 for one game following another incident with Lattimore.
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With Evans suspended, Matthew Berry, now of NBC Sports, is touting RB LEONARD FOURNETTE:
If there’s one silver lining here, it’s that Leonard Fournette—who recently promised the fantasy community points—is set up for a big-time fantasy performance:
His percentage of team rushing attempts is very strong
He’s heavily involved in the pass game
He’s getting a high percentage of red-zone touches
Basically, everything we want to see from a bellcow RB is happening. The points will come.
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NFC WEST
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SAN FRANCISCO
QB JIMMY GAROPPOLO’s new contract with the big paycut contained some performance clauses that could/should recoup a chunk of that lost pay now that QB TREY LANCE is done for the season (confirmed on Wednesday by Coach Kyle Shanahan after Lance’s ankle surgery).
Jimmy Garoppolo didn’t just lead his San Francisco 49ers to a Week 2 win over the Seattle Seahawks after starting quarterback Trey Lance suffered a season-ending injury. He also earned himself $350,000 in bonus cash in the process.
Garoppolo restructured his contract during the preseason after opposing teams balked at the idea of trading for a veteran quarterback who would take up $25 million of salary cap space. Rather than be released by the Niners and tossed onto the free agent scrap pile, the 30-year-old took a pay cut to $6.5 million in guaranteed salary.
That isn’t the be-all, end-all of his deal, however. Garoppolo and his representatives negotiated a generous per-game incentive structure in case of an emergency like the one that befell Lance Sunday afternoon. The outcome could mean $5.6 million in extra money by the time the 2022 regular season is over.
If Garoppolo can avoid injury and finish up the year, he’ll earn $4 million in incentives — $250,000 per game. If he can win all 16 of those games he’ll tack on an extra $1.6 million — $100,000 per victory.
That pales in comparison to the $26.5 million he would have made had he held onto the starting job and convinced the 49ers to delay the Lance experiment one more year. It’s not pocket change either.
Garoppolo wasn’t asked to do much in his 2022 debut. He only threw 21 passes for an offense that ran the ball 45 times in a blowout win. Only three of those attempts traveled more than 15 yards downfield.
Now he’s playing for up to $350,000 per game as well as putting together a sizzle reel for any interested teams who’d like to sign him next offseason. That’s proper motivation for the reinstated starting quarterback of a team with real Super Bowl aspirations. Expect a few more fireworks from the Niners’ QB going forward.
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SEATTLE
QB GENO SMITH has become the first player in NFL history to complete 80% or better of his passes in three straight games (he also did it in his final start in place of QB RUSSELL WILSON in 2021).
He also has moved to trademark a slogan per Mike Florio of ProFootballTalk.com:
After the Seahawks beat the Broncos last Monday night, Seattle quarterback Geno Smith trotted out a new catch phrase. He’s now looking to cash in on it.
Via Josh Gerben on Twitter, Smith filed last week for trademark protection of the term “they wrote me off but I ain’t write back though.”
The application reveals that Smith intends to use the phrase on a wide variety of items.
Whether those items sell in sufficient numbers to justify the endeavor remains to be seen. But it’s hard to fault a guy for showing some entrepreneurial spirit when it comes to something he said after a big win.
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AFC WEST
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LOS ANGELES CHARGERS
Will QB JUSTIN HERBERT play this week with his cracked rib? Nick Shook ofNFL.com:
Justin Herbert’s rib cartilage fracture didn’t prevent him from going through his usual Wednesday routine. How that impacts his status for Sunday remains to be seen.
Herbert was limited in Wednesday’s practice, according to the Chargers’ official practice report. Despite the designation, coach Brandon Staley presented a fairly optimistic outlook on Herbert’s condition.
“Justin is day to day. I think he’s gotten a lot of rest since the last game, but I think the nature of the week is certainly going to be a case-by-case, day-by-day basis,” Staley said. “I know that he’s feeling more comfortable. I know that he was able to do some light throwing, some rotational work, but we’re just going to take it day by day and see where his comfort level is and truly trust him and let him be the guide of where we’re at and make sure we’re prepare either way.”
Herbert was injured during a Week 2 loss against the Chiefs when he took a hard hit to the ribs late in the fourth quarter.
Herbert’s injury is one that will affect every aspect of daily life, because as NFL Network’s Bridget Condon detailed during a Wednesday appearance onNFL NOW, one cannot consistently rest their core, especially when attempting to throw a football. That means Herbert’s status will likely rely as much on pain tolerance as anything, but as we learned in the Thursday night game against Kansas City, the kid is pretty tough.
The Wednesday update isn’t much of an update, generally speaking, but it’s still good news for Chargers fans hoping the longer period of time between games would bode well for Herbert’s chances in Week 3. He’s not out of the woods yet, but the sun seems to be peeking through the trees.
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AFC NORTH
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BALTIMORE
QB MATTHEW STAFFORD may not have the only balky elbow. Charles Robinson ofYahooSports.com:
If Lamar Jackson were 45-year-old Tom Brady or a 38-year-old Aaron Rodgers, Wednesday might have come and gone as a product of wisdom, patience and arm maintenance. Instead, when the 25-year-old Baltimore Ravens quarterback showed up wearing a black full-length compression sleeve on his throwing arm and didn’t attempt a pass in Wednesday’s practice, it elicited the kind of response you’d expected.
Raised eyebrows, questions and some wonderment about what exactly the problem is.
“Just a normal, course-of-the-season type thing,” Ravens coach John Harbaugh told reporters. “He practiced today so, he’ll play on Sunday.”
While he apparently went through practice, Jackson told reporters he didn’t throw a pass Wednesday and he was also included on the injury report with a right elbow injury. He was also wearing a type of sleeve with elbow padding that a league source said is typically utilized by team trainers to stimulate blood flow and minimize joint swelling. The source, who saw pictures of Jackson in the sleeve, said it’s comparable to the sleeve worn by Los Angeles Rams quarterback Matthew Stafford — whose elbow required a minimized workload and rest starting last season and lasting through training camp.
While it wasn’t clear precisely what caused the injury, Jackson did appear to hit his throwing arm on fullback Patrick Ricard in the third quarter of Sunday’s loss to the Miami Dolphins.
“Guys get hit or land on their elbow [in games] and can be dealing with soreness and swelling for a few days, so you’ll see them sleeved up as a practice precaution,” the source said. “I don’t think it’s unusual unless he’s wearing it constantly and then taking a day off throwing every week. If that’s what this is, then that can be a red flag. … He’s on the first injury list after [the game on Sunday], so that’s usually something where he probably got hit and just had some swelling or tightness and they’re being careful and making sure he’s good to go [Sunday].”
Jackson, who has yet to nail down a long-term contract extension, didn’t appear concerned about having to wear the sleeve and told reporters he was prepared to throw Sunday.
“I’m going to throw Sunday — a lot Sunday,” Jackson said. “… I’m good. The [elbow] pad came with the sleeve. It wasn’t added or anything like that. I will be out there Sunday. I’ll be out there in practice [Thursday]. I’m good.”
Through two games and a 1-1 record, Jackson is off to arguably the best start of his career, completing 64% of his passes for 531 yards and six touchdowns against only one interception. He’s also ran for 136 yards and a touchdown. He’s facing a New England Patriots defense on Sunday that will be using Jackson as a measuring-stick game after holding the Miami Dolphins’ Tua Tagovailoa and the Pittsburgh Steelers’ Mitchell Trubisky to one passing touchdown each during a 1-1 start.
The versatility and skill level of Jackson represents a much bigger challenge, which was never more evident than when Patriots coach Bill Belichick affirmed that he sees the Ravens quarterback as an MVP-level player who can throw from the pocket and will eventually be paid like one.
“Without a doubt, it’s the type of the player, MVP type of candidate,” Belichick said of Jackson. “I think he’s more than answered [questions about his ability as a pocket passer]. But, we’ll see what his contract is. That will answer [questions].”
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CINCINNATI
The Bengals have lost TE DREW SAMPLE. He will require knee surgery and be out for “several months” per coach Zac Taylor.
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It’s not quite QB AARON RODGERS, but QB JOE BURROW tries to calm the roiled waters in Bengals Nation. John Sheeran of CincyJungle.com:
R-E-L-A-X.
Joe Burrow didn’t spell it out like Aaron Rodgers did all those years ago to the media, but he did say the word.
When asked about his frustration level regarding the team’s 0-2 start, the Cincinnati Bengals’ quarterback preached patience for the long season left on the schedule.
“We’re not panicking. [We’re] two games, and we’ve got 15 games left. Let’s all just take a deep breath and relax, we’re going to be fine. We’re not worried about it.”
The last player you want publicly hitting the panic button at 0-2 is the franchise quarterback. Burrow exuding calmness in the face of a winless start was the expectation, as it is for him to spark a quick turnaround in the coming weeks. While his offensive line has been subpar, the passing game ultimately goes as far as he does.
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AFC SOUTH
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INDIANAPOLIS
Why did QB MATT RYAN fail to put points on the board in Jacksonville? Vic Tafur chips in an answer in The Athletic:
That was quite a performance by the 0-1-1 Colts. Matt Ryan had 3.08 seconds per dropback to throw (second most in the league) and couldn’t do anything.
What the heck?
Well, let’s check the computer chips implanted in the players’ shoulder pads. Michael Pittman Jr. and Alec Pierce were sidelined, and their replacements averaged the least amount of separation of any group in the league, according to NFL Next Gen Stats. The league average is 2.91 yards and Ashton Dulin averaged zero yards of separation, while Dezmon Patmon and Michael Strachan came in at 0.99 yards and 1.64 yards, respectively.
Pittman should be back and that’s all I need to take the inflated line against a young Chiefs secondary.
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TENNESSEE
This from Scott Kacsmar on the early woes of the AFC South:
@ScottKacsmar
Titans lost 41-7 to Buffalo and their playoffs odds went UP (+174 to +140) because of how bad the Colts were in Jacksonville.
Jacksonville sits in 1st
JAX 1-1
IND 0-1-1
HOU 0-1-1
TEN 0-2
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AFC EAST
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MIAMI
CB XAVIEN HOWARD bears watching for Sunday with the Bills after he misses practice. Charean Williams of ProFootballTalk.com:
Dolphins cornerback Xavien Howard missed practice Wednesday with a groin injury. That’s not good news for the Dolphins four days before they play the Bills’ high-flying offense.
Howard missed a game last season with a groin injury.
Coach Mike McDaniel did not address Howard’s injury before practice.
The three-time Pro Bowler has six games and two pass breakups this season.
Offensive tackle Terron Armstead, who played Sunday despite a toe injury, did not practice Wednesday with his injury.
Tight ends Hunter Long (ankle) and Cethan Carter (concussion protocol) remained out, and edge rusher Melvin Ingram Jr. took a veteran’s rest day.
Receiver Cedrick Wilson Jr. (ribs) and linebacker Channing Tindall (illness) were limited.
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THIS AND THAT
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JOSH McCOWN
Dan Pompei of The Athletic traveled to Rusk, Texas to track down former QB Josh McCown who he thinks is the next big coaching prospect:
Assuming you drive like a Texan, Rusk High School is about two and a half hours from Houston, where Josh McCown last played in the NFL. It’s also two hours from Dallas, where McCown began his college career at SMU. And it’s about 15 minutes away from Jacksonville High School, where McCown was named East Texas Player of the Year 25 years ago.
McCown coaches quarterbacks at Rusk, which has roughly 600 students. He also helps wash, fold and hand out players’ jerseys. He tightens facemasks on helmets. He gets in the huddle to encourage the freshman B team. Riding a golf cart through the stadium, he picks up trash.
He is very much in his element here, but next year, there’s a good chance McCown will be somewhere the spotlight burns much hotter.
After the 2020 season, when McCown was still a quarterback on the Texans roster, he interviewed for Houston’s head coaching vacancy. The Texans hired David Culley instead, then asked McCown to be associate head coach. It was an enticing opportunity, but his squiggly-line football career had already demanded too many sacrifices of his wife, Natalie, and their children, Bridget, Owen, Aiden and Aubrey.
McCown needed to prioritize his family and get his shoes back on the red dirt from which he came. He told the Texans no thank you and signed up at Rusk, where he coached Owen last year (he’s at the University of Colorado now) and now coaches Aiden, both senior starting quarterbacks.
After firing Culley this past offseason, the Texans interviewed McCown again. He met with them twice, spending time with general manager Nick Caserio, executive vice president Jack Easterby and owner Cal McNair. Longtime Houston NFL writer John McClain, plugged in with the hometown team, reported McCown was the favorite for the job.
Then recently-fired Dolphins coach Brian Flores filed a lawsuit against the NFL alleging racial discrimination in coach-hiring practices. The Texans were widely criticized for considering McCown, with no NFL coaching experience, ahead of qualified African American candidates. Houston ended up promoting defensive coordinator Lovie Smith.
Other NFL teams have made runs at McCown over the past two years. The Jaguars interviewed McCown before they hired Doug Pederson. The Colts, Eagles, Vikings and probably others have tried to entice him to join their coaching staffs. In 2023, there is a chance he could be the first person to essentially go straight from being an NFL player to an NFL head coach since Norm Van Brocklin did it 61 years ago.
He is sensitive to the perception that he’s trying to cut in front of others who have paid their dues in a traditional manner. But McCown is not trying to jump the line. He’s been standing it in for decades.
The first person who told McCown he should think about coaching was Bill Parcells. As the Dolphins’ executive vice president of football operations in 2008, Parcells traded McCown to Carolina before he ever threw a pass for Miami. He thought McCown had a more promising future in coaching than playing.
“I had been in football all my life and could recognize people that genuinely love the game,” Parcells said. “With Josh’s persistence as a player and the way he approached his job, I could tell he was very passionate about football — he loved football. Then you consider he’s a bright guy, and he’s been with a lot of different coaches. All of that could serve him well in coaching.”
When Parcells had that talk with him, McCown was in his eighth year of what would become a 19-year quarterbacking odyssey. Hanging in his home office in Rusk are 13 jerseys he has worn going back to high school. Two more are waiting to be framed. In his garage, McCown keeps bins of old playbooks the way most people store holiday decorations.
McCown’s NFL head coaches, in order, were Dave McGinnis, Dennis Green, Rod Marinelli, Lane Kiffin, Tony Sparano, John Fox, Jim Harbaugh, Smith, Marc Trestman, Mike Pettine, Hue Jackson, Todd Bowles, Doug Pederson and Romeo Crennel. Going back to his junior year of high school, McCown has had 27 offensive coordinators — they changed every year.
On his first team, the Cardinals, he handed off to Emmitt Smith for Smith’s final NFL carry. In his last game, for the Eagles at age 40, he completed his first playoff pass and played most of the game with his hamstring torn entirely off the bone.
In between, lessons. So many lessons.
Green had a vision for building a team and enacted it. Kurt Warner educated him on the benefits of coming early and staying late. Through Marinelli’s example, he came to understand the importance of sticking with a process. Mike Martz taught him to operate without fear of failure. From Al Davis, he learned about never compromising, no matter the circumstances. McCown discovered how to take ownership by watching Chad Pennington. Jake Delhomme showed him he could find common ground with every person in the locker room. Trestman demonstrated how to teach thoroughly, leaving no space for doubt.
McCown was a captain for one year and a wide receiver for three games. He was cut five times, traded twice, retired and returned.
Coaching represents more than an opportunity to strategize and compete.
“Life takes you a bunch of places, and those experiences develop skill sets that you can sit on, or you can pass on and maybe try to bring more good into the world that way,” he says. “Coaching in the game of football is a way for me to do that, to pass that forward and have an influence the way some of these good men have had in my life.”
McCown was a backup for most of his career, a coaching advantage he has discussed with Colts head coach Frank Reich, another longtime backup.
“When you are a starter, there are so many things you don’t see because you are so focused,” McCown says. “When you are a backup, you have this wider lens because the pressure of playing is not necessarily at the forefront. You may notice the starting nickel having a bad day. Something is going on with him. You see how it’s handled as an organization, or how you can step up and encourage somebody.”
For about a decade, McCown was considered an elder statesman. Head coaches, general managers and even owners engaged him in ways they didn’t most players, giving McCown a rare window into their thought processes. Eagles general manager Howie Roseman says McCown helped him do his job better by communicating what he saw on and off the field.
When Marinelli was the Bears’ defensive coordinator, he left notes in McCown’s locker to inspire him about coaching. He told him to read Bill Walsh’s “The Score Takes Care of Itself: My Philosophy of Leadership,” and literature about Notre Dame coach Frank Leahy. Chris Ballard, then a member of the Bears front office, would seek out McCown in the weight room. Knowing McCown wanted to influence people, Ballard told him his impact could be more significant as a coach than player.
“There’s no doubt I saw a future in him,” Ballard says.
As he came in and out of every situation imaginable as a player, McCown focused on bringing value any way he could. Sometimes it was by throwing passes, but McCown won’t be remembered for that — he had a 23-53 record as a starter and a 79.7 career passing rating.
His best work wasn’t between white lines. It was between his and his teammates’ lockers. When McCown showed up at an Eagles OTA practice this spring, former teammates — even the defensive linemen — swarmed him.
McCown’s athletic gifts were considerable but understated. At the 2002 combine, he ran the 40-yard-dash in 4.59 seconds and the 20-yard shuttle in 3.9 seconds while vertical jumping 38 inches. Former teammate Joe Haden said he saw McCown make a 360-degree dunk. His greatest gift in sports, though, seems to be his ability to connect. For the wayward, McCown offers the kind of therapy you’d typically get in rocking chairs on a wraparound front porch over a pitcher of sweet tea.
It’s no mystery why he was paired, at one point or another, with JaMarcus Russell, Colin Kaepernick, Jay Cutler, Johnny Manziel, Robert Griffin III and Deshaun Watson.
Cutler, as easy to get close to as a rose bush, had little in common with McCown. Their relationship, however, can only be described as a bromance.
“He’s one of those people you just enjoy being around,” Cutler said on his “Uncut” podcast. “He brings you up. He’s got great advice. … He helped me through some times in my life, and he’s always been there for me.”
During the 2020 football season, McCown was on the Eagles roster but spent most of the week coaching Owen and Aiden in Rusk. Late in the season, when starter Carson Wentz slumped and the team started to struggle, Pederson asked McCown to stay in Philadelphia — not to replace Wentz but to counsel him.
“He was able to pull things out of me in an encouraging way, which bodes well for him to be a successful coach,” Wentz says. “Coaches can demand a lot, but they can do it with a sense of love and encouragement. I can see that from him. In this league, a loss can feel like the world is going to end, but he always reminded me how fun this is and how much of a blessing this is. He is a really good friend I look up to as a man, not just a football player.”
McCown says he has seen coaches lose credibility with front-line players because of the way they treat others on the back end of the roster. But showing everyone respect never has been an effort for McCown, who was voted the “good guy” award winner by the media in three cities.
Ballard says McCown reminds him of Reich in the way he can make people around him believe, even through adversity. The 2012 Bears had a 7-1 start before losing five of their next six. Ballard credits McCown’s leadership for keeping the team together and enabling Chicago to win its final two games and finish 10-6.
McCown is the rarest of leaders — one who can drive the car from shotgun.
“When you’re around Josh, you see his ability to relate with everyone on the team and help your culture,” Roseman says. “He makes your organization better.”
Every week during the season, McCown walks into a 138-year-old building that houses the Cherokee Parcel Post in the County Courthouse Square in Rusk. He prints about 150 pages, give or take, laminates and collates them into 10 playbooks. Back at the high school, he gives one to each quarterback and receiver.
To McCown, a significant component of coaching is transferring information. And if the information doesn’t get through, he will tell you it’s the fault of the transferer. So he tries different methods. For the playbooks, he draws out pictures. High school players don’t have time for post-practice meetings, so McCown records practice plays on his phone. Then he posts the clips on Snapchat and gives his players coaching tips on the app — he knows they will see it that way.
He tries to be a sounding board for Aiden the way he was for Cutler, Wentz and so many others. And he acts as a conduit between Aiden and Rusk head coach Thomas Sitton. McCown wants to know what plays Aiden believes in and what routes he likes to throw — he is sure players have a better chance of being successful when they feel they have an ownership stake in the game plan.
According to Sitton, McCown simplifies the game for his players and builds their confidence with consistent encouragement. To McCown, it’s just “loving on kids.”
“He’s got a great servant heart, always putting others before himself,” Sitton says. “He’s an unbelievable asset to our staff to us coaches and to our kids. He’s one of the top people I’ve met in my entire life, and I love him to death. We’re blessed and honored to be coaching with him.”
McCown has some experience working with high schoolers. In between quarterbacking jobs, he was an assistant at Marvin Ridge High School in Waxhaw, N.C., for the better part of two years. And while he played for the Eagles, he worked part-time for Myers Park High School in Charlotte.
McCown could be happy doing what he’s doing where he’s doing it for the long haul. He’s not looking much beyond Friday night. But after this year he will be out of sons to coach.
McCown tries to study two to three NFL games a day from a variety of teams. He keeps current on college and high school trends as well. He talks football with Ballard, Reich, Vikings head coach Kevin O’Connell, Eagles offensive line coach Jeff Stoutland and Texas-San Antonio coach Jeff Traylor, one of McCown’s coaches at Jacksonville. He will tell you that if he ever became a head coach, his offense would be based on West Coast principles and his defense would include elements he opposed in practices on units run by Fox, Smith and Bowles.
“There is something unique about the competitive greatness of the NFL and the demand of the excellence that’s exciting and challenging,” he says. “Working with the elite athletes and finding out what they are capable of doing is really neat. Whether it’s high school, college or the pros, I’m probably more open now than ever to whatever level. But I’d be remiss to say there’s not an eye on the NFL because that’s where my history is and it’s what I know.”
He has picked the brain of Steve Nash, the longtime NBA star who became the head coach of the Brooklyn Nets in 2020 without ever having coached at any level. “Their world is a little different than ours, but hearing his thoughts on making that jump was interesting,” McCown says. “It’s going to happen for some guy in the NFL.”
That doesn’t mean McCown diminishes the value of experience. He acknowledges there is much he cannot possibly know about being an NFL head coach. But he was older than his quarterbacks coach in five of his NFL seasons. If he were a head coach in the NFL this year, he would be older than 10 others.
“I think the preference would probably be to get some applied experience in terms of coaching in a position room,” Ballard says. “But look, if anybody could make the jump and do it, he could. If he was successful doing it, I wouldn’t say that’s a shock. Josh is a really special guy.”
Sitton points to McCown’s vision, his ability to think outside the box and grasp the big picture and says he has no doubt McCown could be a phenomenal head coach at any level.
When it comes to being a head coach in the NFL, some are born ready, and some are never ready. There aren’t many in between. But McCown is not angling to be a head coach next year. He says he’d be receptive to any NFL job.
“I’ll clean toilets if it’s the best thing for the organization,” he says. “It’s about bringing value to a team.”
Someday soon, McCown may bring value to a team on a Sunday afternoon by leading it through a tunnel and into a stadium he played in when he was an NFL quarterback. But for now, he needs to sweep the equipment room floor.
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BILL BARNWELL RANKS THE 0-2 TEAMS
ESPN’s Bill Barnwell takes a long look at the 5 teams that started 0-2. As usual with Barnwell, we’ve done some editing for space:
Every NFL season starts with hope inside a locker room and within a fan base. A loss in Week 1 is damaging. A second consecutive loss in Week 2 is an immediate crisis. Teams can make it to the postseason after starting 0-2, but a two-game losing streak to begin the season puts their backs against the wall before the campaign has even really begun.
Since 2002, 98 teams have started 0-3. One of those teams (the 2018 Texans) made it to the playoffs, while the 2013 Steelers would have joined them if the league had 14 playoff teams at the time. Going 0-3 is basically hopeless, and 0-2 doesn’t feel too great, either.
Since 2022, just 9.6% of teams that started 0-2 have made it to the postseason, and while that seems survivable, no 0-2 team has made it to the postseason since 2018. The 17-game season gives teams an extra week to catch up to the rest of the league, but only one of the seven teams that started 0-2 a year ago posted a winning record, and that team — the 9-8 Colts — missed out on a playoff berth because it lost to the Jaguars in Week 18.
With five teams starting 0-2 in 2022, history tells us it would be a surprise if even one of them made it to the postseason. I’ll hold out hope that at least one of them turns things around. Let’s run through those five 0-2 teams (in order of least to most likely to make the playoffs) and detail what has gone wrong for them and what they can do to fix things before their seasons collapse.
5. Atlanta Falcons
The losses: vs. New Orleans, at L.A. Rams
Facing a schedule that began with two likely NFC playoff contenders, the Falcons have given a solid accounting of themselves. They outplayed the Saints for most of Week 1 before collapsing in the fourth quarter, with a brutally conservative decision from coach Arthur Smith breaking their back.
Last week’s loss to the Rams flipped the script, as the Falcons turned things on in the second half.
With slightly better execution, the Falcons could be 2-0. Mariota fumbled away a red zone opportunity with a big lead in the third quarter against the Saints. They had one red zone whiff in each game so far, while opposing offenses have scored seven touchdowns and a field goal in eight trips. Kicker Younghoe Koo, who went 27-of-29 on field goal tries last season, already has two misses (one was a blocked 63-yarder to end the Saints game).
The Falcons have to be pleased with Mariota, even if he is slightly below league average in most passing categories through two games. Smith unsurprisingly has built in plenty of movement for Mariota, whose nine pass attempts on play-action boots are the fourth most in the league.
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What has been notable, though, is the Falcons have not gotten the desired results from their most promising young players. Cornerback A.J. Terrell, who emerged as a bona-fide superstar in 2021, already has allowed as many touchdowns (three) as he did throughout all of last season. Saints receiver Michael Thomas outmuscled Terrell on a pair of fades for touchdowns in Week 1, and the Rams liked it enough on tape to go to the same matchup for an Allen Robinson II touchdown last Sunday. No player has allowed more expected points added (EPA) as the nearest defender in coverage so far. Terrell is still a great player, but Atlanta likely counted on being able to put Terrell on an island this season.
Tight end Kyle Pitts also seemed set for a mammoth season, but he has fewer receiving yards than the likes of Johnny Mundt and Zach Gentry through two games.
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I watched all of Pitts’ red zone routes and expected to see a player who was getting double- or triple-teamed by opposing defenses, but that hasn’t been the case.
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Smith rejected criticism of Pitts not getting opportunities by dismissing the idea as fantasy football, but it’s not something we see elsewhere around the league. The Rams prioritize getting Cooper Kupp touches because he’s their best receiver. The Bills find ways to get Stefon Diggs the football. Chiefs coach Andy Reid mixes in all kinds of looks for Travis Kelce. It’s only two weeks, so I’m not too concerned, but it’s hardly unreasonable to suggest the Falcons aren’t creating opportunities for Pitts to be a difference-maker in key situations.
Realistically, given how many replacement-level players the Falcons are using for meaningful snaps, they aren’t going to be able to do much unless Pitts and Terrell are bona-fide All-Pros. If they harbor any sort of competitive aspirations, they can take heart in the fact that there are only three 2-0 teams in the NFC through two weeks, while the rest of the NFC South is a combined 3-3. With the Seahawks and Browns coming up, Atlanta has its best shot at taking home an early win or two before the slate gets tougher.
4. Carolina Panthers
The losses: vs. Cleveland, at NY Giants
When Matt Rhule was coaching in college, the third year was the season in which his teams flourished. Temple went 2-10 in his first season, 6-6 in Year 2 and 10-4 in Year 3. Baylor started 1-11, then improved to 7-6 and 11-3 during Rhule’s third and final season in Waco, Texas. Panthers fans would have been thrilled with double-digit wins in Rhule’s third season, even given that he gets three extra games to work with at the pro level. At the very least, Carolina needed to show significant progress this season.
Through two games, it’s difficult to see signs of that progress. The Panthers have lost to the Browns (a team playing out the string while waiting for Deshaun Watson’s 11-game suspension to expire) and the Giants (a team using the season to eat its salary-cap vegetables and evaluate Daniel Jones). The losses have come by two and three points, so the Panthers have been competitive, but these are the sorts of teams they need to be beating.
I will admit I’m surprised by Carolina’s offensive philosophy. After hiring Ben McAdoo as coordinator, the Panthers are flinging the ball around on early downs like they’re the Bills. They actually have the league’s highest early-down pass rate in neutral situations this season, ahead of those Bills, Chiefs and various other teams with superstar quarterbacks.
What this really comes down to is first down. The Panthers have thrown the ball at the league’s fifth-highest rate on first down.
What makes this even weirder is the Panthers have had a healthy start from running back Christian McCaffrey, who has missed most of the past two seasons because of various injuries. McCaffrey’s passing-game routes suggest they either don’t want to use him in his old role or don’t think it’s important. He has been targeted 10 times through two weeks, but one was on a throwaway by Mayfield and the other was starting what ESPN’s Scott Van Pelt would call a “pitchy pitchy woo woo” attempt with eight seconds left in regulation against the Browns.
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Mayfield is not off to a great start. His completion percentage is 9.5% below what NFL Next Gen Stats would expect from an average quarterback through two weeks, which is the fifth-worst mark in the league amongst starters. His overall success rate as a passer — 29% — is the second-worst mark, ahead of only Justin Fields, who has barely been allowed to throw the football. Drops can impact those numbers, but Next Gen Stats has credited the Panthers with only one drop so far.
The Carolina defense has been better in the early going, ranking 12th in DVOA through two weeks, albeit against middling quarterbacks. Only two defenses have hit opposing quarterbacks more frequently through two weeks than Carolina, though that contact has led to only four sacks. The defense has been able to keep games close by surviving in the red zone, where seven opposing drives have yielded only two touchdowns and five field goals.
For this team to start winning games, the defense is going to have to lead the way and force turnovers.
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It’s difficult to pin down what the Panthers hope to be good at, let alone where they’re actually succeeding in Rhule’s third season. They can rush the passer. They’ve done a good job of punting and covering kicks with Johnny Hekker. They’ve generally been efficient running the football, as McCaffrey & Co. rank eighth in rushing DVOA.
They’ve been competitive against middling opponents, but their next five games come against the Saints, Cardinals, 49ers, Rams and Buccaneers, each of whom posted winning records a year ago. Panthers fans were restless at the end of last season. Now, having gotten off to an 0-2 start before what will likely be a leap in terms of opponent quality, I can’t imagine they’re going to be any more patient.
Rhule is 2-14 in his past 16 games, and one of those wins was against a Cardinals team starting Colt McCoy at quarterback. While Rhule’s college teams seemed to get better with each passing year, the Panthers are getting worse. I’m not rooting for Rhule to be fired, and I don’t think getting rid of their coach in midseason would materially help them. If Carolina starts 0-4 or 1-5 and falls out of the playoff picture before college basketball season begins, though, it’s difficult to imagine him being back with the organization in 2023.
3. Las Vegas Raiders
The losses: at L.A. Chargers, vs. Arizona
The Raiders were in total control of their home opener against the Cardinals in Week 2. With 8:45 left in the fourth quarter, Josh McDaniels’ team held a 97.5% win expectancy and a 16-point lead. They were one fourth-down stop away from regaining possession from Arizona and beginning to bleed out the clock in the same way McDaniels’ Patriots offenses had so many times over the years.
And then, Arizona quarterback Kyler Murray went supernova. The Cardinals converted that fourth-and-4, scored a touchdown and outlasted the Raiders’ defense on a 20-second 2-pointer. After a punt, Murray converted one fourth down, picked up another on a holding call and then scrambled into the end zone on the final fourth down of regulation. The Raiders allowed another 2-pointer to send the game to overtime, and while they were able to get a stop by forcing a pass out of Marquise Brown’s hands on another fourth down, Hunter Renfrow’s fumble handed the Cardinals a stunning victory.
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The Raiders aren’t playing appreciably better or worse than they did during their playoff run in 2021. Those Raiders were outscored by 3.8 points per game. These Raiders have been outscored by 5.5 points per game. Those Raiders were 21st in DVOA. These Raiders are 20th in DVOA so far. Same team, different results.
To be fair, the specific way Las Vegas is getting to be below average is different. The offense carried the load last season. This season, the defense is 15th in the league in DVOA, while the offense is 24th. Derek Carr’s three-interception game in the opener didn’t help matters, but the Raiders have been bizarrely bad on second down
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For all the attention the Raiders attracted after trading for wideout Davante Adams, the glaring weakness on the offense wasn’t really addressed. The offensive line looked bad before the season, and when the organization chose to give up on 2021 first-rounder Alex Leatherwood, one of the few hopes for high-ceiling production went out the door. Starting center Andre James suffered a concussion in Week 1, which led to practice-squad player Lester Cotton Sr. making his first career start. Right tackle Jermaine Eluemunor, a utility lineman with the Patriots, has allowed two sacks in two games.
McDaniels and general manager Dave Zeigler are attempting to address their issues, as they swapped late-round picks with their former employers to acquire tackle Justin Herron and brought in former starters Oday Aboushi and Kelechi Osemele for visits. The Raiders were rotating through linemen in Week 1 when everyone was healthy, and it’s possible they could land on a solid five-man group as the season goes along. It also wasn’t difficult to anticipate they would struggle up front given their personnel, and after two weeks, they rank 26th in pass block win rate.
If you’re an optimist, you’re probably going to suggest the offense is too talented to stay in the bottom quarter of the league, while the defense is proving it’s ready to exceed expectations. If you’re a pessimist, you might expect a defense that has been able to limit teams to a 33.3% conversion rate on third downs to struggle keeping that up over an entire season.
The bigger concern is that playing below-average football with even average luck won’t cut it against a difficult schedule. ESPN’s Football Power Index projects the Raiders to face the league’s eighth-toughest schedule from here on out. There’s a brief respite after their Week 6 bye, but before that point, they will travel to Tennessee in what feels like a must-win game for both teams, host Denver and take a trip to Kansas City to face a Chiefs team that beat them by an average of 33 points per game a year ago.
It’s possible for a team to start 1-4 and make the postseason, but for the Raiders to feel like they can push back into playoff contention after the bye, Carr & Co. probably need to win two out of their next three games.
2. Tennessee Titans
The losses: vs. NY Giants, at Buffalo
Slipping on a banana peel against the Giants was one thing. Getting absolutely blown off the field by the Bills was another. While nobody would mistake the Giants for the league’s best team, the Titans were supposed to have Buffalo’s number. In 2020, Tennessee blew out Josh Allen and the Bills in Nashville. Last season, in a home rematch, the Titans ran all over Buffalo’s league-best defense before stopping Allen on a fourth-and-goal sneak to seal a 34-31 victory.
The Titans haven’t stopped much of anything through two weeks.
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The identity the Titans carefully carved out during their run between 2019 and 2021 doesn’t seem to remotely resemble the team we’ve seen through two weeks. In part, that’s because the player who was most closely identified with their rise to prominence in the AFC has struggled. A year ago against the Bills, Derrick Henry carried the ball 20 times for 143 yards and three touchdowns, including an electrifying 76-yard scamper to the house.
On Monday, Henry had 13 carries for 25 yards. He scored on a 2-yard plunge on fourth-and-1, but that was his only first down of the game.
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Henry had 21 carries for 82 yards in the loss over the Giants, but again, he struggled for efficiency (38.1% success rate) and explosiveness (a long gain of 18 yards). Just one of those 21 carries produced a first down. An average back in those same situations, per NFL Next Gen Stats, would have gained 93 yards and four first downs. Henry has two first downs on 34 carries when an average back would have gained seven; that five-conversion difference is the most through two weeks.
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The Titans are struggling with injuries, which is worrisome for a team more top heavy than most. Harold Landry III, who broke out as the team’s leading edge rusher a year ago, went down with a torn ACL just before the season began. The Titans still managed to sack Jones five times in Week 1, but I would chalk at least some of that up to an underwhelming interior on the Giants’ offensive line. Facing a better line in Week 2, Tennessee took down Allen once on 39 dropbacks.
When the Titans haven’t gotten pressure, their pass defense has ranked 28th in QBR, aided mostly by a terrible decision by Jones to toss up an interception in the red zone.
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Tennessee also lost left tackle Taylor Lewan to a knee injury on its opening snap of the game on offense, which cost the team its best offensive lineman. The Titans already were installing a new right tackle in Nicholas Petit-Frere; Lewan’s injury forced coach Mike Vrabel to turn to Dennis Daley, who was just acquired from the Panthers three weeks ago.
On top of that, the Titans have been uncharacteristically sloppy.
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At their best, the Titans have been a physically imposing team built around controlling the line of scrimmage, winning on third down and in the red zone and creating big plays through Henry and the play-action attack. Right now, they’re something very different. They can feel blessed that the AFC South has started a combined 1-5-2 through two weeks, but they aspired to more than another division title heading into this season. Now, with what amounts to an eliminator game coming up against the 0-2 Raiders in Week 3, Tennessee has no choice but to improve quickly.
1. Cincinnati Bengals
The losses: vs. Pittsburgh, at Dallas
The good news for the Bengals is they were able to correct the brutal minus-five turnover margin they posted in Week 1, as they didn’t throw any interceptions and recovered both fumbles in their game against the Cowboys on Sunday. The bad news is, well, just about everything else. Backup quarterback Cooper Rush rode Dallas’ opening script to touchdowns on his first two drives, Joe Burrow was sacked six times on 42 dropbacks and a last-second field goal by Brett Maher gave the Cowboys a 20-17 victory.
Let’s start with the offense, which has scored a total of three touchdowns across 23 meaningful possessions. The Bengals rank 32nd in offensive DVOA through two weeks. As was the case in the opener, we saw their new-look offensive line struggle in Week 2. While the left side of the line was the issue in Week 1, the chief culprit against the Cowboys was right tackle La’el Collins, who was blistered by former teammate Micah Parsons during his return to Dallas. Neither Collins nor fellow tackle Jonah Williams could handle Parsons, and the line on the whole struggled to protect against Dallas’ games up front.
As Geoff Schwartz noted on Twitter, the offensive line’s struggles have sped up Burrow in the pocket, which has led to missed opportunities and extra pass pressures.
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I also wonder if the Bengals might want to go back to when Burrow was truly devastating in college and work more out of empty sets. He is 14-of-17 for 132 yards and a QBR of 86.6 out of empty this season, with his QBR dropping to 34.9 out of all other looks. It might seem illogical to take a quarterback who doesn’t feel protected and remove extra blockers from the formation, but the empty sets might allow Burrow to have a clearer sense of his protection and create quicker solutions in the passing game.
One other solution would be to run the ball, but nothing has working there.
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Cincinnati’s defense has been much better, especially considering the offense offered up a pick-six and left the defense facing short fields in the opener.
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To be fair, things could be worse. The Browns and Ravens both blew fourth-quarter leads Sunday, which kept the Bengals’ AFC North rivals from starting 2-0. The Steelers are also 1-1, and their best player is out indefinitely. Starting 0-2 isn’t ideal, but it’s not quite as bad when the rest of the division starts 1-1. The Bengals have too much talent on the offensive side of the ball to rank last in the league in DVOA for any extended length of time.
The Bengals have to hope the easiest solution to their problems is getting to face the Jets, who have allowed a total of 54 points to the Ravens and Browns over the first two weeks. If that solves the Bengals’ problems, we can write this off as two bad weeks, although the defending AFC champs probably would have hoped to get more than one win in three games against three backup quarterbacks masquerading as starters.
Given that the strength of the Jets’ defense is its pass rush, there’s a chance Burrow scuffles again in Week 3. Remember that the Jets beat the Bengals last season in a game in which backup quarterback Mike White threw for more yards and posted a better passer rating than Burrow. I don’t think the Bengals are buried, but if history repeats itself against Gang Green, their defense of their conference title might be all but finished.
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