THE DAILY BRIEFING
AROUND THE NFL
| DAMAR HAMLIN
Alaina Getzenberg of ESPN.com recaps what the cardiac arrest of S DAMAR HAMLIN:
Buffalo safety Damar Hamlin had his heartbeat restored on the field after suffering cardiac arrest during the team’s game Monday night against the Bengals, and he is currently in critical condition at a Cincinnati hospital, the Bills said in a statement early Tuesday morning.
The chilling scene midway through the opening quarter of the Monday night showdown between the two NFL powers led the league to postpone the game about 90 minutes after kickoff.
CPR was administered to Hamlin, 24, on the field for multiple minutes after he collapsed following his tackle of Bengals wide receiver Tee Higgins. Hamlin received oxygen, according to the ESPN broadcast, as he was placed in the ambulance and taken off the field some 16 minutes after he collapsed and then was driven to nearby University of Cincinnati Medical Center.
According to the Bills, he is currently sedated and listed in critical condition. The University of Cincinnati Medical Center did not anticipate making any statement early Tuesday morning.
The majority of the Bills team remained at Paycor Stadium well into Monday night. The team, including all players outside of Hamlin, then departed shortly after midnight and returned to Buffalo.
“Our thoughts are with Damar and the Buffalo Bills. We will provide more information as it becomes available,” the league said in a statement just after 10 p.m. ET. “The NFL has been in constant communication with the NFL Players Association which is in agreement with postponing the game.”
In a conference call shortly after midnight, the NFL did not provide an update on potentially rescheduling the game as the league enters the final week of its regular season.
The injury took place after Hamlin tackled Higgins following the star Bengals wideout’s reception over the middle near midfield. Higgins led with his right shoulder and hit Hamlin in the chest. Hamlin quickly got up afterward, was on his feet for about three seconds and then abruptly collapsed. Athletic trainers came out to help immediately, and a stretcher then was brought to the field as the trainers protected his head.
The entire Bills sideline surrounded Hamlin as he received care. Multiple Bills players were visibly distressed and comforting one another as he was being cared for by athletic trainers. Many players turned away from watching Hamlin in distress.
The first attempt to move Hamlin resulted in him being brought back down onto the field, but he was ultimately placed into an ambulance, which left the stadium at about 9:25 p.m. ET and headed to the University of Cincinnati Medical Center. Hamlin’s family came down from the stands to be with him in the ambulance.
After Hamlin exited the field, Bills players knelt together in a circle and then returned to the sideline, with the defense heading back on the field to resume play. Buffalo wide receiver Stefon Diggs called everyone over for a word. However, instead of resuming play, Bengals coach Zac Taylor walked over to Bills counterpart Sean McDermott and met with the game officials present. The decision was then made to temporarily pause the game, which the Bengals were leading 7-3, before the league ultimately chose to postpone it.
“What was most important was that it wasn’t about proceeding with the game,” NFL executive vice president of football operations Troy Vincent said during the conference call. “Frankly, that aspect never crossed my mind or their mind internally. We asked that [referee] Shawn [Smith] communicate with both Taylor and Coach McDermott getting the players together. Frankly, it was just about getting a pulse of where they were at that particular time.”
Vincent said that there was not a discussion between him and commissioner Roger Goodell about a five-minute period for players to get warmed up and that resuming play did not cross their minds.
“The NFLPA and everyone in our community is praying for Damar Hamlin,” the union said in a statement. “We have been in touch with Bills and Bengals players, and with the NFL. The only thing that matters at this moment is Damar’s health and well being.”
Diggs and Taylor were among those who went to the hospital later Monday night, while some fans gathered outside it, as well. Meanwhile, reaction came from across the sports world on social media, with star Bills quarterback Josh Allen among those asking for prayers and Higgins sending his own to Hamlin and his family.
“Emotions you can imagine in both locker rooms, and I commend both of those coaches,” Vincent said. “Tough situation to go back in and look at 53 men in the locker room and not that they asked but just to try and calm people down. It was obvious on the phone with them that the emotions were extremely high. It was a very volatile situation, and I thought the coaches, they led tonight. They led their locker rooms.”
Hamlin was selected in the sixth round of the 2021 NFL draft out of Pittsburgh, with the Bills taking him with the No. 212 overall pick.
He has been starting for the Bills this season in place of injured safety Micah Hyde, who suffered a neck injury in Week 2 and has been on injured reserve ever since. Hamlin entered Monday tied for the second-most tackles on the team (91), and he has one forced fumble and 1.5 sacks this year, making 13 starts.
Bills defensive coordinator Leslie Frazier recently indicated that Hamlin has developed over the course of the season, including noting in the past couple of weeks that he has stepped up more as a vocal leader and improved as a tackler, with a lot thrown on his plate quickly after he had to step in for Hyde.
In that same Week 2 game against the Tennessee Titans in which Hyde was hurt, Hamlin’s close friend and former college teammate, Bills cornerback Dane Jackson, was taken off the field with a neck injury. Jackson missed one game.
Hamlin has a foundation, Chasing M’s, that has been raising money for a toy drive. His stated goal was $2,500, but by early Tuesday morning, donations had surged to more than $3 million.
One of the nation’s top cornerbacks in the class of 2016 out of McKees Rocks, Pennsylvania, Hamlin chose to play for Pitt over Ohio State and Penn State. He delivered, becoming a three-year starter and one of the most reliable players on a defense that required much from him at the safety position.
In his final season at Pitt in 2020, Hamlin was a second-team All-ACC selection, leading the Panthers with 67 tackles and seven pass breakups. After Hamlin was drafted, Pitt coach Pat Narduzzi told WGRZ-TV: “He’s got that heart. He’s got the leadership. I mean, our entire defense revolved around him. Damar will go up there, show his skills off. I think he’s so versatile.”
Vincent took issue with the report that the teams were told they had “five minutes to warmup” before the game would resume. Mike Florio:
Vincent was asked about the report that the teams at one point were given five minutes to warm up before continuing.
“I’m not sure where that came from,” Vincent said. “Frankly, there was no time period for the players to get warmed up. Frankly, the only thing that we asked was that [referee] Shawn [Smith] communicate with both head coaches to make sure they had the proper time inside the locker room to discuss what they felt like was best. So I’m not sure where that came from. Five-minute warmup never crossed my mind, personally. And I was the one . . . that was communicating with the Commissioner. We never, frankly, it never crossed our mind to talk about warming up to resume play. That’s ridiculous. That’s insensitive. And that’s not a place that we should ever be in.”
The NFL provided no updates during the call regarding the health of Damar Hamlin, and the league emphasized that no decisions have been made about the continuation of the game.
“That’s not the consideration right now,” Miller said. “Our concern is for the player and his well-being. At the appropriate time, I’m sure that we’ll have a conversation around the next steps regarding the game.”
Several doctors took to Twitter with this diagnosis:
Bernard Ashby MD, MPP, FACC
@BAshbyMD
The video of Damar Hamlin from a cardiologist’s perspective resembled commotio cordis – a phenomenon that occurs when a sudden blunt impact to the chest causes cardiac arrest.
Timely defibrillation is life saving & prevents anoxic brain injury. I pray an AED was near.
The DB can report from family sources in the Cincinnati medical community that “commotion cordis” was indeed the quick diagnosis of those on the scene and that he was quickly treated with an AED.
Prior cases have involved baseballs or hockey pucks striking players in the chest.
The most famous case involved Chris Pronger of the Detroit Red Wings and it looked similar to Monday night:
@RyanClifford
Chris Pronger suffered commotio cordis after taking a slap shot to the chest in 1998.
Praying for a similar recovery and outlook for Damar Hamlin…Pronger was back on the ice weeks later and played 12 more seasons en route to the Hockey Hall of Fame. 🙏 https://twitter.com/i/status/1610135711960776708
Hamlin hoped to raise $2,500 in a toy drive for a Pittsburgh charity. Fans were quick to donate. CNN:
An online toy drive fundraiser started by Buffalo Bills safety Damar Hamlin topped $3 million in donations in the hours after the NFL star collapsed on the field during a game Monday night.
The 24-year-old is in critical condition after suffering a cardiac arrest following a tackle during the first quarter of a game against the Cincinnati Bengals. CPR was administered on the field before he was driven out of the stadium in an ambulance to a Cincinnati hospital.
As fans awaited news on Hamlin’s condition, donations poured in to a GoFundMe fundraiser he started in 2020 to raise money to purchase toys for children, writing at the time, “As I embark on my journey to the NFL, I will never forget where I come from and I am committed to using my platform to positively impact the community that raised me. I created The Chasing M’s Foundation as a vehicle that will allow me to deliver that impact.”
The fundraiser topped $74,000 just one hour after Hamlin’s collapse and quickly grew to $2,033,270 just before 1 a.m. ET Tuesday, then soared to more than $3 million just an hour and twenty minutes later with more than 119,000 donations.
“Following his injury on the field tonight, fans across the country are showing their support for him and his family by donating to his fundraiser,” GoFundMe tweeted Monday night.
Bills fans – nicknamed the Bills Mafia – are known for having a charitable heart. In 2021, they celebrated their victory over the Baltimore Ravens by donating money to the favorite charity of Ravens quarterback Lamar Jackson, who the team lost in the third quarter due to concussion protocol.
And in the 2020 season, Bills fans donated more than a million dollars to a children’s hospital after Bills quarterback Josh Allen’s grandmother died, the team said.
Bills fans charitable spirit seems to mirror Hamlin’s. CNN affiliate WKBW caught up with the NFL player just last month at his toy drive event in Buffalo, where he signed autographs for children.
“Something I’ve always been into just giving back, something I’ve been doing back home in Pittsburgh for three years, I’ve been doing the toy drive, so just being able to extend it to Buffalo now is just something I love doing,” Hamlin told the station at the December 19 event.
Support for Hamlin flooded in Monday night from fans and players across the sports community. The NFL Players Association tweeted that the organization and “everyone in our community is praying for Damar Hamlin.”
JIM HARBAUGH
Jim Harbaugh may be vacillating on his commitment to Michigan after Saturday’s loss in Arizona. Chip Patterson of CBSSports.com:
Michigan coach Jim Harbaugh could be seeing yet another round of NFL interest after the No. 2 Wolverines’ season concluded with Saturday night’s 51-45 loss to No. 3 TCU in the Fiesta Bowl College Football Playoff semifinal. If offered a job to return to the pros, Harbaugh is expected to leave his alma mater, according to The Athletic.
“I think it is a done deal if he gets an offer,” one source close to the coach told The Athletic.
What is unknown is whether teams who are gathering information on Harbaugh are also planning to make him an offer. Harbaugh has long been named as a potential NFL target in the exploratory phases of a coaching search because of his previous success. Harbaugh was 44-19-1 as the San Francisco 49ers coach from 2011-14.
The Denver Broncos were among the teams “doing homework” on Harbaugh as a potential candidate to fill their coaching vacancy, according to NFL Network. The Broncos were singled out in part because of the connections between Harbaugh and Condoleeza Rice, who is a member of the team’s ownership and part of the search committee to replace Nathaniel Hackett. Rice is also a prominent part of the university community at Stanford, where Jim Harbaugh was coach prior to his move to the NFL.
Harbaugh, who has a 74-25 record in eight seasons at Michigan, interviewed with the Minnesota Vikings last season after leading Michigan to its first Big Ten title since Lloyd Carr and the program’s first CFP appearance, but in reaffirming his commitment to the Wolverines he declared that NFL flirtations would not be a recurring theme every year. He told the Detroit Free Press it was a “one-time thing” and though he was intrigued by the prospects of chasing a Super Bowl he was also enthusiastic about pursuing a national championship with the Wolverines. Though Harbaugh himself did not offer details on the dealings with Minnesota, multiple reports indicated that Harbaugh was not offered the job and the franchise eventually hired Kevin O’Connell as its coach.
Now Harbaugh’s “one-time thing” claim will apparently be put to the test if any of these franchises doing their homework decide to engage the Michigan coach in their coaching search. |
| NFC NORTH |
|
GREEN BAY
Faced with a choice between competitive fairness and a huge rating, the NFL chose the latter when it sent the final Sunday Night Football Game to Green Bay.
Peter King, before the announcement, gave his approval:
My gut feeling is the NFL will still play Rodgers in primetime in a win-and-in Sunday game. Why wouldn’t the league do that? If the Seahawks beat the Rams in Seattle next weekend, Detroit would be eliminated. I would maintain Rodgers playing to put Green Bay in the playoffs is the single biggest story of Week 18, and Dan Campbell’s kneecap-biters would not lay down even if they’d been eliminated a half-hour before the game. It’s the most intriguing competitive game of the weekend.
Seth Walder of ESPN was not happy:
@SethWalder
The entire reason the NFL doesn’t schedule the times of the Week 18 games is to avoid the situation it just created by putting Lions/Packers on SNF.
Lions coach Dan Campbell professes not to be concerned. Shanna McCarriston ofCBSSports.com:
By the time the Detroit Lions suit up to face the Green Bay Packers on “Sunday Night Football,” they may already be out of the playoffs. If the Seattle Seahawks defeat the Los Angeles Rams on Sunday at 4:25 p.m. ET, the Lions have no chance of extending their season past Week 18. This will not change Detroit’s approach to its final matchup, however, as head coach Dan Campbell said the Lions will still be looking for a victory either way.
The Packers have a win-and-in scenario as they prepare to face the Lions. Campbell is not planning to do Green Bay any favors if the Lions’ own destiny has been written before the game.
“Either we’re playing to get in or we’re playing to be spoiler, and that’s it,” Campbell said, via Detroit Free Press. “So either way, we win.”
No matter what the scenario is, Campbell plans to have his team ready to compete.
“I know we’ll put up a hell of a fight, one way or another,” he added.
The Lions have improved as the season has gone on, and given who Campbell is as a coach, it’s no surprise he wants his team to show its best no matter what is at stake.
At one point, the Packers were 4-8, but a late-season surge has put them in playoff position, despite the odds being stacked against them for most of the season. They are currently on a four-game win streak and looking to continue rolling against Detroit. |
|
MINNESOTA
The offensive line is a concern for the Vikings reports Kevin Seifert of ESPN.com:
The Minnesota Vikings could enter the playoffs with a patchwork offensive line after their injury list once again grew during Sunday’s 41-17 loss to the Green Bay Packers.
The litany includes:
• Right tackle Brian O’Neill, who suffered a “pretty significant” calf injury Sunday, coach Kevin O’Connell said Monday, and will miss the team’s regular-season finale this weekend at the Chicago Bears. O’Connell did not rule out O’Neill for the playoffs but said he had been seeking additional information from outside doctors Monday morning. Veteran Oli Udoh will fill in for him this week and possibly beyond.
• Backup center Austin Schlottmann, starting his fourth consecutive game in place of the injured Garrett Bradbury, suffered a fractured left fibula Sunday. Backup guard Chris Reed filled in at center and is on track to start Sunday against the Bears.
• Bradbury has missed four games because of a back injury and hasn’t practiced at all since he was involved in a car accident Dec. 20. O’Connell said “there is hope” that Bradbury can return for the playoffs but said the first step is to “get him some real practice reps to see how that thing responds.”
• Backup tackle Blake Brandel, who started three games earlier this season in place of left tackle Christian Darrisaw, has been on injured reserve since tearing an MCL in Week 14. O’Connell said there is a chance that Brandel could return for the playoffs as well.
O’Connell had planned to huddle with general manager Kwesi Adofo-Mensah early this week to discuss possible free agents and other roster moves to backfill depth at center and tackle.
Meanwhile, with his team in play for the NFC’s No. 2 seed, O’Connell said he was still working through plans for using starters and backups Sunday against the Bears. But asked whether he would sit prominent players such as quarterback Kirk Cousins and receiver Justin Jefferson, O’Connell said: “I think it would probably be more subtle than that, just knowing that the 2-seed is still available for us.” |
| NFC EAST |
|
NEW YORK GIANTS
A good point from Ari Meirov:
Ari Meirov
@MySportsUpdate
Daniel Jones’ turnovers by season:
2019: 23
2020: 16
2021: 10
2022: 8
Peter King:
Daniel Jones, quarterback, Giants. Jones is in the right place. He needs to sign with the Giants for the near-term this offseason. He fits. On Sunday, after the 38-10 rout of the Colts, fans were chanting his name, loving him for probably the first heavy-decibel time in his four seasons in New Jersey. He threw two TD passes, perfect throws, and had two TD runs. He’s fast enough to outrun linebackers, but when one’s in his way, he has no problem stiff-arming them to the ground — he did it with Bobby Okereke of the Colts Sunday — or bashing into them to win a few yards.
Jones has led the Giants out of the debacle of the Joe Judge era and bought into everything rookie coach Brian Daboll is selling. “Early on,” he said from the Meadowlands Sunday, “it was competing at practice. It was the spirit we developed, the desire to improve every day no matter what was being said about us. Guys want to compete. They love the innovation, the creativity. Guys love how this staff plays to our strengths. I’ve learned a ton of football from him.”
The other thing I’ve heard a lot about with Daboll is how he simplifies things. He keeps the important things important. The outside stuff, meh. Last week, in the first team meeting before the game against the Colts, Daboll wanted to address the elephant in the organization: If the Giants won this game, they’d qualify for the playoffs for the first time in six years. Daboll asked the players if everyone knew what a win would mean Sunday. Yes, they nodded or spoke; we win, we’re in the playoffs.
Fine, Daboll said. That’s out of the way. Now let’s get back to doing what we have to do to get better.
It’s just common sense. State the facts to the players, work with them, and keep working with them till they do the job right and you win. Teaching, coaching, persistence — those are things that go a long way with Daboll. And they’re going a long way with Jones too. |
| NFC SOUTH |
|
TAMPA BAY
Peter King approves of an age 46 season for QB TOM BRADY:
Some numbers here, after Brady’s remarkable 34-of-45, 432-yard, three-TD, no-TO performance in the Bucs’ 30-24 victory over Carolina:
1. Clinched the 19th division title of Brady’s 23-year NFL career.
2. Was the third time in the last five Tampa games that Brady was down double-digits in the fourth quarter and came back to win.
3. Was the 42nd time in Brady’s career that he came back from a double-digit deficit to win.
Any doubt he can play next year, at 46, if he chooses?
– – –
Coach Todd Bowles is aligned with Brady in terms of not resting those who are healthy this week. Jenna Laine of ESPN.com:
Despite the NFC South title already being in hand and the outcome of next week’s game against the Atlanta Falcons having no impact on playoff positioning, Tampa Bay Buccaneers coach Todd Bowles said Monday that the plan is to play their starters — including 45-year-old quarterback Tom Brady — in Week 18.
“We can get better at a lot of things, so right now, we plan on playing him,” said Bowles, whose team is, at 8-8, locked into the No. 4 seed. “We’ll see how the week goes going forward, but we can get better at a lot of things that we need to work on, and we don’t need our foot off the gas.”
After struggling to protect Brady, push the ball downfield and put points on the board all season, the Bucs’ offense put together arguably one of its best performances of the season Sunday, defeating the Carolina Panthers 30-24 with Brady accounting for four touchdowns — three passing and one on a quarterback sneak. All three touchdowns through the air were caught by Mike Evans, the franchise record holder in just about every receiving category, who hadn’t caught a touchdown since Week 4.
The offensive line has been on shaky footing since training camp, when it lost Pro Bowl center Ryan Jensen and Aaron Stinnie, who was competing for the starting left guard spot, to knee injuries. All-Pro right tackle Tristan Wirfs just returned from a high ankle sprain and reaggravated it last week against the Arizona Cardinals, while left tackle Donovan Smith missed two games at the beginning of the season with a hyperextended elbow and last week’s game with a foot injury. Backup swing tackle Josh Wells also just went to injured reserve with a knee injury.
“We don’t have many [offensive linemen] to begin with,” Bowles said. “It’s not like training camp where you have 80 guys, 90 guys. We’re limited to begin with, but some guys need some work on things, and as the week goes forward, we’ll progress and make those decisions. But right now, everybody needs to plan on playing.”
Starting a 45-year-old quarterback in a Week 18 game that has no impact on playoff position is risky. Last year, Brady started in Week 18 to ensure the Bucs could secure the No. 2 playoff seed.
Brady has never missed games when healthy. He missed the 2008 season after tearing his left ACL, and he missed the first four games of 2016 due to a suspension. He said Sunday that the decision would be up to Bowles but acknowledged he would be disappointed if he didn’t play.
Playing Brady and the rest of the starters could ensure the Bucs finish the season with a winning record, and it could help them keep momentum, something they experienced when they won eight straight and captured a Super Bowl in 2020.
But injuries have heavily impacted the team more so over the past two seasons in Brady’s quest for an eighth Super Bowl ring. Their receiver situation became so dire in last year’s NFC divisional round of the playoffs against the Los Angeles Rams that tight end Cameron Brate had to line up in the slot. Every member of their secondary has missed games this season. They have only two healthy outside linebackers in Joe Tryon-Shoyinka and Anthony Nelson. And last week, Brady’s blind side was protected by third-string tackle Brandon Walton.
“It’s football. You can’t play 16 games and then worry about the 17th,” Bowles said. “You can’t play three preseason games and 16 games and practice every day and say, ‘You may get hurt on the 17th game.’ You can get hurt the first week. You can get hurt in training camp. If you worry about that, you’re probably gonna get hurt anyway.
“We signed up to play football and coach football. That’s what we’re gonna do. And everybody that loves football, that loves to play, will play the game. Injuries are gonna happen. It doesn’t mean it happens in Week 17, a playoff game or preseason. You just gotta coach it and you gotta play it. You worry about injuries, you probably don’t need to be playing a sport.”
When asked whether he’d consider pulling players in the second half, Bowles said that it’s possible and that the coaching staff would meet to discuss it. The Bucs did that in 2020 in a Week 16 blowout win over the Detroit Lions, and Brady started the next week, in the final game of the season at the Falcons, and finished that game. |
| AFC WEST |
|
DENVER
Chris Myers tweets thoughts on why the Broncos job may be more appealing to Sean Payton than some think.
@The_ChrisMyers
Why Sean Payton to Broncos could add up!
He ran a successful offense with a qb below 6 feet w/Brees so he could resurrect Wilson.
Denver has a good defense & ownership with wealth also the coach is enjoys his time in Idaho not to far from Bronco country!
#NFL #Broncos |
|
LAS VEGAS
Who had QB JARRETT STIDHAM doing a BROCK PURDY imitation? Peter King:
Jarrett Stidham, quarterback, Raiders. Derek Carr hadn’t thrown for 310 yards in a game all season in this Josh McDaniels offense that’s so quarterback-friendly. Sunday, against the best defense in football, Stidham threw for 365, and he only lost because all-world edge rusher Nick Bosa pushed left tackle Kolton Miller back into Stidham on the first series of overtime in a 34-all game, and Stidham’s pass fluttered into the air, and Niners safety Tashaun Gipson picked it off to set up the winning field goal. I found it highly interesting that Davante Adams, in mourning over his close friend Carr getting benched for a kid who’d never started an NFL game, was generous in his praise for Stidham afterward. Receivers like when quarterbacks hang in if it means taking big shots, and that’s what Adams noticed about Stidham. “He played an amazing game,” Adams said. “He apologized for not being able to finish it off, and every single person on the team said, ‘Man, get out of here. You balled out.’” Stidham had one game left, against Kansas City Saturday, and then will be a free agent. The Raiders would be smart to sign him short-term and draft a young quarterback to compete for the job — for 2023 and beyond. |
|
LOS ANGELES CHARGERS
The winner of the Jaguars-Titans game is the prize for the Chargers if they can win on Sunday. Lindsay Thiry of ESPN.com:
A postseason berth in hand for the first time in four seasons and coming off a 31-10 blowout victory over the defending Super Bowl champion Rams, the Los Angeles Chargers will go into their regular-season finale against the Denver Broncos with the intent to clinch the No. 5 seed in the AFC playoffs.
“Our approach is definitely going to be to try to win this ball game and play as well as we can play heading into the playoffs,” coach Brandon Staley said Monday. “I think that there’s certainly an advantage to being the 5-seed, from where I stand.”
The Chargers have won four straight games to improve to 10-6. They clinched a playoff spot in Week 16, then moved into the No. 5 seed on Sunday after defeating the Rams and watching the Baltimore Ravens fall to the Pittsburgh Steelers.
Staley left open the possibility that some players might not be available on a case-by-case basis because of injuries but expressed no intent to rest players Sunday.
“Going into the playoffs, you’ve got to be playing football to get to where you want to go,” Staley said. “So we’re going to try and maximize our group heading into the playoffs, that’s for sure.”
Coming off his first game since undergoing groin surgery following Week 3, edge rusher Joey Bosa came out of Sunday feeling healthy and OK, according to Staley. Bosa played 29 snaps (49%) and recorded two tackles.
Safety Derwin James Jr. was inactive Sunday as he continued through concussion protocol,
“He’s working through the protocol,” Staley said. “You’ll be able to know his practice status on Wednesday.”
James practiced twice last week in a limited capacity, according to the Chargers’ participation report, before he was ruled out of the matchup versus the Rams. |
| AFC NORTH |
|
PITTSBURGH
Peter King:
The Steelers rallied to beat Baltimore in the final minutes, have won five of six, four on the road, and after starting 2-6, they’re an absolute load to play. “We’re the Steelers,” said Cam Heyward. “We have certain expectations.” By the way, they’re 8-8, and a win against the Browns next week would give Mike Tomlin a 9-8 record, and his 16th non-losing season in 16 years helming the franchise. |
| AFC SOUTH |
|
JACKSONVILLE
Teal will be for real Saturday night in Duval. Michael DiRocco of ESPN.com:
The people have spoken: The Jacksonville Jaguars will wear their all-teal uniforms for Saturday night’s AFC South title game against the Tennessee Titans at TIAA Bank Field.
The Jaguars equipment staff conducted a Twitter poll asking fans which uniform combination the Jaguars should wear in their regular-season finale, and the teal jersey, teal pants and teal socks combo was the clear winner, garnering 37.5% of the 21,949 votes collected when the poll closed Monday evening.
We want @Jaguars fans to choose our uniform combination for the regular season finale! Which combo should we wear against Tennessee?
Jersey/Pants/Socks
Teal/Teal/Teal 37.5%
Teal/Black/Black 26.2%
Teal/White/White 13.4%
Teal/Black/Teal 22.9%
“Teal is for real,” said George Pellicer, the head equipment manager for the Jaguars.
Uniform combinations are a big topic among fans each week — especially if the Jaguars wear one they don’t like — so Pellicer said he felt it would be fun to give Jags fans a say for what is arguably the biggest regular-season game in franchise history: The winner of Saturday’s Jaguars-Titans game also wins the division.
“We just wanted to let the fans get engaged,” Pellicer said. “They comment all the time [on Twitter] about what they think we should wear. We wanted to give them a chance to have a voice. We’re not going to make everybody happy, but we’re trying to appease the masses.”
Pellicer said his favorite combo would be the last one in the poll (teal/black/teal) but that he really likes the all-teal look as well. The Jaguars had to lock in which jersey they would wear for the Week 18 game before the season even began, so that part of the uniform was nonnegotiable. The rest of the ensemble was fair game.
“I think that’s going to look awesome,” Pellicer said. “It’s going to be national TV, the stadium’s going to be rocking.” It will be the fifth time this season the Jaguars have worn teal jerseys. The other four instances were on the road against the Washington Commanders and at home against the Las Vegas Raiders, New York Giants and Houston Texans. It’s the second time they will wear all teal.
The Jaguars are 1-3 in those four games.
The equipment staff’s Twitter account (@JagsEquip) has 4,490 followers, but the poll got a boost when former players Fred Taylor and Maurice Jones-Drew — who rank first and second, respectively, on the franchise’s all-time rushing list — retweeted it.
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Quarterback Trevor Lawrence and wide receiver Christian Kirk also retweeted the poll.
Pellicer said most of the players would prefer to wear black jerseys every week, but that’s the Jaguars’ alternate color and league rules allow teams to use their alternate color jersey only three times per season, and the Jaguars have already done that.
There is one other thing that fans comment on or ask for: a teal helmet. That will have to wait a while, apparently.
“There are no teal helmets in the works as of right now,” Pellicer said. |
|
TENNESSEE
QB JOSH DOBBS gets his chance to take the Titans to the playoffs on Saturday night. Joe Rexrode of The Athletic:
The Titans will start Josh Dobbs at quarterback when Tennessee faces Jacksonville on Saturday, coach Mike Vrabel said Monday. Here’s what you need to know:
The winner of Saturday’s game will win the AFC South and earn a playoff berth.
Tennessee signed Dobbs, 27, off the Lions’ practice squad a little more than a week before he started Week 17’s game against the Cowboys.
The matchup against Dallas was the first start of his NFL career. He threw for 232 yards, a touchdown and an interception.
Backstory
The Steelers drafted Dobbs in the fourth round of the 2017 NFL Draft. He’s played seven total games during his NFL career, suiting up for the Steelers six times. Dobbs has also spent time with the Jaguars and Browns.
Rookie Malik Willis has started three games this season and has struggled. He attempted just 61 passes in his eight appearances. Among all QBs who have started at least three games in a single season since 2000, none have averaged fewer pass completions per start (8.33) or passing yards per start (78) than Willis.
Why Titans chose Dobbs over Willis
The struggles of Willis at quarterback made it necessary for the Titans to look elsewhere for help — and also put into question the decision to make Willis the backup in the first place — and the Titans are going with the former University of Tennessee great. Dobbs has not pushed seriously to be an NFL starter, but right now, he projects as a better option than Willis, who was supposed to get a redshirt season when he was taken in the third round. Dobbs will be the guy to try to bring a third straight division title to Nashville. — Rexrode
The thought has crossed the DB’s mind that the drafting of Willis in the 3rd round – ahead of QBs BAILEY ZAPPE and BROCK PURDY – and his subsequent lack of readiness to play might have been another reason Titans GM was sent packing.
But we found this from May where Cody Benjamin of CBSSports was all in on the selection of Willis:
The 2022 NFL Draft wasn’t necessarily prolific in terms of big quarterback moves, with only one signal-caller coming off the board in the first round and at least three other projected Day 1 possibilities falling to the third. That doesn’t mean QBs were ignored, however. By the end of the draft, eight different teams had combined to draft nine passers, and at least a third of those rookies could end up opening the 2022 season under center.
Here’s how we’d rank all nine QB picks in the 2022 draft, according to value:
1. Malik Willis (Titans)
Pick: Third round, 86th overall | College: Liberty
Plenty had Willis pegged as a top-10 pick going into the draft, which tells you exactly the kind of upside Tennessee is getting. Yes, he hails from a small school and simple offense, and yes, he’s unlikely to see meaningful snaps (at least as a traditional QB) right away. But you can’t teach electric arm and leg talent. Willis has shades of Michael Vick, Lamar Jackson and Jalen Hurts in terms of dual-threat athleticism. If he succeeds Ryan Tannehill, either in 2022 or right afterward, that’s a steal in the third round.
2. Kenny Pickett (Steelers)
Pick: First round, 20th overall | College: Pittsburgh
He gets dinged for being the “safest” option of a comparatively weak QB class, but the fit is tremendous. A reliable, if unspectacular, pocket passer who already called Heinz Field home, he should be a plug-and-play (and more athletic) successor to Ben Roethlisberger for a team built to compete now. Who knows what his ceiling is, but the floor seems relatively high.
3. Sam Howell (Commanders)
Pick: Fifth round, 144th overall | College: North Carolina
Good on Washington for grabbing some Carson Wentz insurance, and even better on them for halting Howell’s slide. The stocky Tar Heels product has inconsistencies in his game, and he may well end up being a feisty “relief pitcher” a la Ryan Fitzpatrick, but you can do a lot worse in the fifth. Howell’s bruising running ability and deep-ball touch could promise big-play potential.
4. Desmond Ridder (Falcons)
Pick: Third round, 74th overall | College: Cincinnati
They needed someone to push Marcus Mariota, their proclaimed post-Matt Ryan placeholder. Ask some scouts, and Ridder is the smartest, savviest, most selfless QB of the class. Ask others, and they point to middling accuracy and passing touch. It’s a fine gamble for Atlanta, but you might’ve liked to get a bit more upside through the air. He could prove us all wrong very early.
5. Matt Corral (Panthers)
Pick: Third round, 94th overall | College: Ole Miss
Like the Ridder/Falcons pick, Carolina needed to add to its QB room, which was “headlined” by Sam Darnold. And Corral, by all accounts, has starting-caliber confidence, arm strength and athleticism. He also has a smaller frame and haphazard tendencies, which don’t necessarily bode well for a Panthers team transitioning the O-line. Might Baker Mayfield have been a better bet?
6. Chris Oladokun (Steelers)
Pick: Seventh round, 241st overall | College: South Dakota State
He’s not guaranteed a spot on their final roster, with Mason Rudolph and Mitchell Trubisky set to compete behind Pickett, but this is the kind of late-round flyer you wanna be taking: despite average size and inexperience, Oladokun boasts NFL arm talent and a knack for off-script plays — two requisites in today’s league.
7. Bailey Zappe (Patriots)
Pick: Fourth round, 137th overall | College: Western Kentucky
Hey, maybe New England will make us all look foolish down the road (they did select a certain future Hall of Fame QB in the sixth round once), and Zappe certainly brings the on-schedule production they crave. But scouting reports suggest he lacks starting-caliber throwing power, and they just spent the 15th overall pick on Mac Jones a year ago. A fourth-rounder for, in the best-case scenario, a long-term backup is perhaps a bit pricey.
8. Brock Purdy (49ers)
Pick: Seventh round, 262nd overall | College: Iowa State
Mr. Irrelevant won’t be threatening Trey Lance anytime soon, entering with questions about his build and athletic profile. But he’s drawn high reviews for his smarts, experience and timing-based success — all key traits for a Kyle Shanahan offense.
9. Skylar Thompson (Dolphins)
Pick: Seventh round, 247th overall | College: Kansas State
No foul in bringing in some added depth for the new regime, and Thompson reportedly brings functional arm talent and athleticism. But he’s known to bail from the pocket (a potential no-no for new coach Mike McDaniel) and, more importantly, will already be 25 as a rookie. |
| AFC EAST |
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BUFFALO
With DAMAR HAMLIN stricken on Monday night, the DB is hard-pressed to see how the NFL can resume the game and still not effect Sunday’s Week 18 schedule and the subsequent start of the playoffs.
Putting aside all the emotional issues (and we are not saying they should be put aside), can you possibly decide on Tuesday to finish the game on Wednesday (we assume it would be picked up at the point of suspension, possibly in an empty stadium) – and then turn around and play on Sunday as scheduled – Cincinnati hosting Baltimore, Buffalo hosting New England.
Do you move those two games back to Monday – then put the Bengals and the Bills in the latest playoff starts? But is that fair to Baltimore and New England – and to the other teams that might not know their opponents until Tuesday (or in the case of the Dolphins or Steelers might not know if they are in the playoffs until then).
So do you leave the Bills-Bengals games as unplayed?
W-L Div Conf
1 yx-Kansas City West 13-3 1 8-3
2 yx-Buffalo East 12-3 1 8-2
3 x-Cincinnati North 11-4 1 7-3
4 Jacksonville South 8-8 1 7-4
5 x-LA Chargers West 10-6 2 7-4
6 x-Baltimore North 10-6 2 6-5
7 New England East 8-8 1 2 6-5
8 Miami East 8-8 1(b) 3 6-5
9 Pittsburgh North 8-8 -1(a),-1(b) 3 4-7
To do so would seem to clinch the AFC North for the Bengals, but also lock them into the number 3 spot.
Buffalo (13-3) would get the #1 seed if they beat New England and Kansas City lost to the Raiders. Now, if Buffalo had won out, they would have been the top seed with their head-to-head win giving them the tiebreaker with KC.
Even without the continued uncertainty with Demar Hamlin, from purely a logistical standpoint, the NFL has a tough, tough decision coming up. |
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NEW YORK JETS
OC Mike LaFleur is the designated target of Jets media. Rich Cimini of ESPN.com with his defense from his head coach, Robert Saleh:
– Even though the New York Jets’ playoff hopes were undermined, in large part, by a struggling offense, coach Robert Saleh insisted Monday he won’t let outside noise influence his decision on the future of offensive coordinator Mike LaFleur.
Saleh said he still has full confidence in LaFleur even though the Jets have scored only four touchdowns during their current five-game losing streak. The Jets (7-9) were eliminated from playoff contention Sunday with a 23-6 loss to the Seattle Seahawks, extending their futility streak to eight straight quarters without a touchdown.
Preferring to look at the big picture instead of recent results, Saleh said the Jets are in the second year of “a commitment to go young everywhere — coaches, players, staff, everybody. It’s so important to take a deep breath … and make sure we’re telling ourselves the truth rather than allowing narrative and panic to set in.”
Last season, the Jets had a rookie coach in Saleh, a rookie coordinator in LaFleur and a rookie quarterback in Zach Wilson, the No. 2 overall pick. The plan was to have them grow together, but there hasn’t been much improvement.
Under LaFleur, 36, the Jets were 28th in scoring last season and they’re 27th this year, as they’ve dealt with Wilson’s acute growing pains and injuries to rookie running back Breece Hall and the offensive line.
Saleh is close friends with LaFleur’s older brother, Green Bay Packers coach Matt LaFleur, and has known Mike LaFleur since he was a teenager. When Saleh landed the Jets’ job in 2021, his first significant hire was Mike, also a former 49ers assistant.
“I’ve been in (Mike) LaFleur’s shoes,” said Saleh, recalling how he was on the hot seat as the San Francisco 49ers’ defensive coordinator after the 2018 season. “It would’ve been very easy for Kyle (Shanahan) to fire me, very easy to say, ‘You know what? We went 4-12, you’re the scapegoat, get the heck out of the building.’
“But to his credit, we sat down … he committed to me, and the rest is history.”
The 49ers won the NFC championship in 2019, elevating Saleh’s profile as a head-coaching candidate. He said it takes discipline to make objective evaluations and “not come away with knee-jerk reactions that would derail what could be a pretty damn good football coach — or a good player, for that matter. That’s where Zach comes into play.”
LaFleur and Wilson, replaced in the lineup by Mike White, have been the lightning rods during the team’s late-season collapse.
With regard to LaFleur, Saleh acknowledged the results haven’t been good enough, but he believes there has been some growth on offense, mainly by individual players. On Sunday, rookie wide receiver Garrett Wilson became the first Jets player since 2015 to reach 1,000 receiving yards in a season.
“There were stretches where we had one of the more prolific offenses in the league for a couple of games in a row, here and there,” center Connor McGovern said. “It’s just a consistency thing. It’s not just on LaFleur, it’s not just on the players. It’s the entire New York Jets not being consistent.”
Commenting on Wilson’s future, which appears uncertain after two benchings, Saleh reiterated there’s no desire to move on from him. While he wouldn’t commit to Wilson as the 2023 starter, he said it’s premature to cut bait after only two seasons. He doesn’t want to repeat past mistakes by the organization, noting there are “so many” former Jets enjoying success.
One of them, Seattle’s Geno Smith, beat them Sunday.
“If there’s a franchise that should recognize, ‘Maybe we should give these young men a little bit of time,’ it’s this organization,” Saleh said. |
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THIS AND THAT |
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BROADCAST NEWS
Fred Gaudelli is calling it quits as an in-game producer for NBC/Amazon and his last regular season game will be Detroit at Green Bay. Peter King:
The Gaudelli impact
After 33 years of producing big games and innovating things like the first-down line, Gaudelli, 62, will move out of the production truck and into a less-frenetic full-time executive producer gig for NBC and for Amazon Prime. The all-consuming way Gaudelli did the job — including honchoing the schedule with the league, fighting for the best games — took a toll on him. “These jobs aren’t conducive to great health,” he said Saturday.
Gaudelli produced 33 years worth of prime-time football — 11 on ESPN’s Sunday Night Football, five on ABC’s Monday Night Football, 16 on NBC’s Sunday Night Football and this season on the first year of a streaming series on Amazon. It’s this last season that, to me, is especially notable.
Thursday night on Amazon Prime Video was a big jump for the NFL. Goodell compares it to the NFL equalizing revenue-sharing in the early sixties, putting games on cable in the eighties, launching satellite and DirecTV deals in the nineties. To Goodell, in 2022, one person was best suited to usher in a new media product and the streaming principle: Gaudelli.
With cable and satellite TV in decline, Goodell knew how important year one of Amazon was. “Streaming,” he told me, “really had to be done. I’ve often said I think it’ll change the way people watch football. There are all kinds of elements with that launch. But the production was one where for credibility purposes, we knew that it had to be true — that’s the best way to put it for me. It had to be when NFL fans watched, they said, ‘Wow, this is great. This is a first-rate experience.’
“So, going into the season, Amazon was maybe the highest priority from a media standpoint for us — making sure that launched properly. Knowing that Freddie was in the seat…that part of the launch was not a concern of mine. It was comfort. I knew he knew what to do, how to do it and I knew he was going to produce a fantastic product for our fans. That was really one of the most significant things for me in discussions with Amazon even before the deal was over.”
Goodell used the word “true.” Over the years, I’ve admired how Gaudelli was “true” on what was sometimes a tightrope. The networks and the league have a close and symbiotic partnership; it’s in the league’s best interests for the networks to show games in a positive light. But Gaudelli has shown his journalistic side too. Gaudelli told me, “You’re always walking that line with the league, but with all due respect to the league, we’re there to serve the fans.”
Twice this year Gaudelli walked the line on Amazon Prime games. In week four, Miami at Cincinnati, one storyline going in was that, four days earlier, Miami quarterback Tua Tagovailoa had been staggered after a first-half hit, came out for a bit, then returned to play after halftime. In Cincinnati, he was staggered again after a blow, and his fingers stretched out in an unusual grasping form. Gaudelli showed the odd Tua hand reaction, went to break, then asked his sports medicine consultant, Mike Ryan, what it meant. Ryan said it could be a sign of neurological trauma. Gaudelli passed the info in to play-by-play man Al Michaels’ ear from the truck and said he was going to show the replay once coming out of the break, and Michaels should use the medical information.
Gaudelli heard from the league, which was displeased about the graphic replay, which went viral. But if Goodell wants “true,” Tagovailoa in the fencing posture had to be shown. Not over and over and over, but once or twice. Gaudelli knew it.
“You can’t sanitize football,” Gaudelli said, and that should be very high in his obituary in 40 or 50 years.
The next Thursday, Amazon had a stinker between two disappointing teams, Indianapolis at Denver. The Broncos were hapless on offense, and Russell Wilson threw two fourth-quarter interceptions, and the game went to overtime tied at 9. Fans started streaming out of Invesco Field. Fans leaving an overtime game — in Denver, one of the hotbeds of the NFL game? Inconceivable.
Gaudelli showed multiple shots of fans streaming for the exits, and even one outside showing a sea of people leaving the stadium. My first thought: The league’s not going to like that. My second thought: The Broncos will hate that.
“That’s what live television is all about,” Gaudelli said. “You’ve got to cover what’s happening, all of it.”
I asked Goodell about that aspect of Gaudelli’s game coverage. “Listen, there’s probably lots of things we wish he wouldn’t have done or shown,” Goodell said. “If you ask him, his standard would be, ‘That’s my obligation to be able to do that.’ I would never ask him to back down on something he thought was an obligation. That’s where you have that trust. Fred’s in the seat and Fred will manage it well.
“At the end of the day, you knew the guy was the best in the business. He was going to make sure your product was better and what else could you ask for ultimately, right?”
At Amazon, Gaudelli continued to give games, even bad ones, the big-game feel. Over the years, that’s been one of his strengths. Working with Michaels and John Madden, and then with Cris Collinsworth, Gaudelli never skated by — it was a mutual thing. Michaels, Madden and Collinsworth were worker bees, and one of the reasons Gaudelli is stepping away is he knows there’s only one way to do the job of producing a national TV game that millions watch. “The only time I ever shut it off is when I go to bed,” he said. He calls his desire to know every factoid about a game he can learn a “curiosity addiction.”
That has bled into the brains of two generations of people in trucks, at ESPN, ABC, NBC and now Amazon. One peer at NBC said Gaudelli’s lasting legacy should be teaching tens of young TV people the right way to do games — with smart details, looking to innovate each year. For his part, Gaudelli’s thankful he was hired 16 years ago by Dick Ebersol to start Sunday Night Football; Ebersol, he said, provided “a masters class in life and business.”
“If you’d asked me at 18, ‘How do you want your career to go?’ I couldn’t have written it any better,” he said. Good way to go out. |
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SACKS CREATED
Interesting:
Donte Harris
@TayMoney3
: “Sacks Created” is a stat where we credit the player who earned the first pass rush win on a sack play, rather than the player who finished the sack (it can be the same person).
Here are the 2022 leaders (the DB put their “actual sacks” total next in parenthesis):
Hassan Reddick, Eagles 18.5 (16)
Matt Judon, Patriots 15.5 (15.5)
Chris Jones, Chiefs 15 (13)
Brian Burns, Panthers 15 (12.5)
Javon Hargrave, Eagles 14 (11)
Za’Darius Smith, Vikings 12.5 (10)
Alex Highsmith, Steelers 12 (12)
Nick Bosa, 49ers 12 (17.5) |
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