| Is it too early for If The Season Ended Today? Nah NFC ConfSan Francisco West 3-0 3-0Philadelphia East 3-0 2-0Tampa Bay South 3-0 1-0Green Bay North 2-1 2-0Minnesota WC1 2-1 1-1Detroit WC2 2-1 1-1Washington WC3 2-1 1-1 LA Rams 2-1 0-1Arizona 2-1 2-1Seattle 2-1 1-1 We note that the Buccaneers already have a 2-game lead in the NFC South, with a head-to-head win over Atlanta AFC ConfLA Chargers West 3-0 3-0Indianapolis South 3-0 3-0Buffalo East 3-0 3-0Cincinnati North 2-1 2-0Pittsburgh WC1 2-1 2-0Jacksonville WC2 2-1 1-1Baltimore WC3 1-2 1-1Las Vegas 1-2 1-1Denver 1-2 1-2New England 1-2 1-2Kansas City 1-2 0-1Cleveland 1-2 0-2 @NFL_MemesRavens play the Chiefs next week meaning either Baltimore or Kansas City is going to have started the season 1-3 – – – We had been under the assumption that a field goal above the uprights was good, like a strike in baseball in theory, if any part of the football was above the upright. Now, we learn, that the rule says the entire ball has to be inside the outer edge of the upright. By the former standard, we thought Tyler Loop’s 41-yard field goal try for Baltimore in the 4th quarter was good. By the latter? Not so much as some of the ball sure seemed to wobble outside that line. Josh Alper of ProFootballTalk.com has more: The officials ruled that the Ravens made a field goal in the fourth quarter on Monday night, even though it wasn’t clear that the kick, which went over the left upright, was actually good. That question, however, is not reviewable. Although field goals and extra point tries can be reviewed on replay, they are not reviewable when the kick is higher than the top of the uprights, according to the NFL’s rules. “Whether a field goal or Try attempt crossed above the crossbar and inside the uprights is reviewable, but only if the ball crosses the plane of the goal post below the top of the uprights, or if the ball touches anything,” the NFL’s replay policies say. So what constitutes a ball going inside the uprights, when the ball is higher than the uprights? The whole ball has to be inside the outer edge of the upright for the kick to be good. “The entire ball must pass through the vertical plane of the goal, which is the area above the crossbar and between the uprights or, if above the uprights, between their outside edges,” the NFL’s rulebook says. No replay angle definitively showed whether the Ravens’ field goal was inside the outer edge of the upright, and even if an angle had shown it, the play wasn’t reviewable anyway. The real solution is for the NFL to raise the height of the uprights even higher than the 35 feet they were set at under a new rule in 2014. As kickers keep getting better, field goals pass over the higher uprights even more frequently, and if the officials make a mistake, the NFL currently has no way of fixing it. There were four angles shown on the ESPN coverage. The lack of depth perception makes it very hard to say definitively, it was close. Check it out here. Is this a job for Hawkeye technology? Sensors on the outside of the top of each upright? Could it track a moving object? And kicked footballs are wobbling…- – – The Canadian Football League will no longer have fields that are 150 yards long (110 in yard lines plus 40 in end zones). Mike Florio of ProFootballTalk.com: The CFL is going to look more like the NFL. The Canadian cousin to American football is making some changes, aimed at making the game more entertaining. Via the Canadian Press, CFL Commissioner Stewart Johnston said Monday that the CFL will be shrinking the length of the field from 110 yards to 100 yards. Also, the time between plays will be extended, from 20 seconds after the ball is set to 35 seconds from the end of the prior play. End zones will shrink from 20 yards to 15, with the goalposts moved to the back of the end zone, from the front. The CFL field will continue to be 65 yards wide; the NFL gridiron has a width of 53 yards. Benches will always be on opposite sides of the field, making substitutions easier. The league also will revise the procedures for awarding a one-point “rouge.” “This is going to create more touchdowns, more touchdowns creates more highlights and highlights drive through all forms of media,” Johnston told reporters regarding the changes. “And that does drive fandom.” Traditionalists won’t like the changes. Players already don’t. Per the Post, B.C. Lions quarterback Nathan Rourke called the tweaks “garbage,” and he claimed that players and coaches weren’t consulted. Johnston defended the effort. “We understand the passion of our fans,” Johnston said. “But I’ve also heard as I’ve gone market to market that a lot of our fans are yearning for some change. . . . I truly believe this is going to elevate our game and as people think about it and what we’re trying to achieve, I believe we’re going to have a really good reception.” The question is whether the effort to attract more fans will alienate the existing ones. The CFL is willing to take that risk in the hopes of boosting interest, and in turn revenue. Because even in Canada, it’s always aboot the money. The next thing you know, a machine will call balls and strikes in baseball. |
| NFC NORTH |
| DETROITThe Lions were bold on 4th down Monday night – and won the game. Blake Silverman of SI.com: Dan Campbell has a long history of going for it on fourth down when others might shy away. He may have outdone himself with a gutsy call in the Lions’ 38-30 win over the Ravens on Monday Night Football, though. And according to Gamblin’ Dan, the bold decisions are only getting easier. He kept his team on the field on fourth-and-2 around midfield with just under two minutes left in the game as Detroit led by a touchdown. On play-action, Jared Goff made a perfect pass to Amon-Ra St. Brown for 20 yards that set up a long touchdown run from David Montgomery on the next play to all but ice the game. It was a risky move that paid massive dividends for Campbell and the Lions, who’d rather decide any game with their own doing. Following the huge primetime win, the Lions coach spoke to the decision on fourth down, and praised his players for making his choice clear. “I got a tremendous amount of trust in those guys and that’s been built up now in five years,” he said in his postgame press conference via Nolan Bianchi of The Detroit News. “And that helps. And that offensive line and the way they were playing, it felt like that was the right call. “It’s those guys. It’s the players, man. They’re the ones who make this stuff come to life and they’ve earned that trust. They step up and make huge plays at critical times and it’s unbelievable, it really is. It’s a thing of beauty.” After Montgomery’s touchdown that opened the lead up to two scores, the Ravens scored themselves to get the lead back to one possession before the Lions were able to recover the onside kick and seal a signature win. |
| NFC EAST |
| DALLASFrom the shins up, the Cowboys offense is healthy. But from the shins down, they have lost three starters in the last two weeks, two Sunday in Chicago. Todd Archer of ESPN.com: Three games into the season, the Dallas Cowboys are down three starters on offense for multiple weeks. Pro Bowl wide receiver CeeDee Lamb could miss three to four weeks with a left high ankle sprain suffered in Sunday’s loss to the Chicago Bears, and rookie right guard Tyler Booker, the Cowboys’ first-round pick, is looking at a four-to-six-week absence due to a high ankle sprain, a source told ESPN. Owner and general manager Jerry Jones said Monday that both players will miss “games” and said injured reserve is a consideration. “We’re looking at that,” Jones said. “We’ll watch it a few more days. We don’t have to decide right now.” The Cowboys lost center Cooper Beebe in Week 2 with a broken bone in his right foot that landed him on injured reserve. It is not the way Jones wanted to go into Sunday’s game against the Green Bay Packers. “We’re early in the season and you look, I mean I really would say that we got enough here to get this done,” Jones said. “We got enough. We really do. But it is frustrating just not just for this game but the fact that you’re looking at potentially games. That’s frustrating. We’re going to have players back though that are coming … But yeah, that’s a setback for us. Lamb, of course, is a real serious loss for us.” If Lamb and Booker are placed on injured reserve, they would miss at least the next four games. It’s not clear when Booker was hurt since he played all 74 offensive snaps Sunday. |
| NEW YORK GIANTSDid the Giants hit the bullseye with the selection of QB JAXSON DART? We will begin to get answers this week as the rookie starts against the Chargers. Chris Cwik of YahooSports.com: It’s the start of a new era for the New York Giants. When the team takes the field in Week 4, it will be led by rookie quarterback Jaxson Dart, according to multiple media reports. Dart will replace Russell Wilson as the team’s starting quarterback. The rookie’s first start will come against the Chargers on Sunday. Dart was always expected to see some time as the starter in 2025 after he was selected by the Giants with the No. 25 overall pick in April’s draft. Dart put himself on an accelerated program after a strong preseason in which he threw three touchdowns and no interceptions in three games. Despite the presence of veteran Jameis Winston, Dart’s preseason performance was enough to push him into the No. 2 quarterback spot on the depth chart to start the regular season. There were reports that the Giants even had a package of plays prepared for Dart ahead of the team’s Week 1 game against the Washington Commanders, but he did not receive playing time in the contest. That may have benefited Dart in the end. Wilson struggled mightily in the team’s first game of the season. The 36-year-old completed just 17 of 37 passes for 168 yards. He did not throw for any touchdowns in the team’s 21-6 loss to the division-rival Commanders in Week 1. Wilson’s struggles didn’t go unnoticed by Giants head coach Brian Daboll, who refused to commit to Wilson as the team’s Week 2 starter immediately following that first loss. A day later, however, Daboll changed his tune and said the team would stick with Wilson. That decision lasted three total games. After an excellent Week 2 performance by Wilson, in which he decimated the Dallas Cowboys’ leaky secondary, the veteran came back to Earth in Week 3. With the game in a prime-time slot, Wilson was exposed on national television, going 18 of 32 for 160 yards and two interceptions. On Monday, Daboll said “we’re evaluating everything.” Wilson’s struggles in the end zone, in particular, gained a lot of attention on social media following the team’s Week 3 loss to the Kansas City Chiefs. While the game was already likely out of hand, Wilson threw three uncatchable passes out of the back of the end zone with the Giants desperately needing a touchdown with roughly three minutes to play. For Wilson, the benching could prove to be the last of his NFL career. After putting together a Hall of Fame résumé with the Seattle Seahawks, Wilson saw his numbers decline precipitously after being traded to the Denver Broncos. Despite a solid season in 2023, the Broncos moved on without the veteran. Wilson joined the Pittsburgh Steelers in 2024, tossing 16 touchdowns in 11 starts before again hitting the free-agent market. He signed with the Giants, hoping to get one more starting opportunity. Wilson got that wish, opening the 2025 NFL season as the Giants’ starter, but Dart wound up pushing him back to the bench. With the move, the Giants are playing for the future. Dart showed some promising skills during the preseason, earning the trust of the Giants’ coaching staff much sooner than expected. But the regular season is a completely different animal, and Dart will need to prove he can handle the speed of the pro game when the games really matter. While Dart did not appear in the team’s game in Week 1, he did see action in Weeks 2 and 3, running the ball twice. Dart has yet to throw a pass in the regular season. Dart assumes the starting role with plenty of experience under his belt. In his four years in college, Dart appeared in 45 games. After playing sparingly at USC as a freshman, Dart transferred to Ole Miss, where he won the team’s starting job. Dart posted solid numbers with the team as a sophomore and junior before taking his game to another level as a senior. In his final season at Ole Miss, Dart threw for a conference-leading 4,279 yards. He threw 29 touchdowns against six interceptions, also leading the conference with a 69.3 completion percentage. Dart also emerged as a rushing threat, running for nearly 500 yards and scoring three rushing touchdowns as a senior. Those stats were strong enough to push Dart into the first round of the 2025 NFL Draft. Now that he’s finally worked his way into the starting role, Dart will look to prove he can be a true franchise quarterback in New York. The Giants have been searching for a stabilizing presence under center since the days of Eli Manning. It would be only fitting if his replacement came from the same college. |
| PHILADELPHIAThe Eagles can’t wait to get to Tampa Bay: @JClarkNBCSI’m told the Eagles are changing their travel schedule to Tampa this year. They are going a day ahead of schedule, on Friday, to acclimate to the heat. They may have a workout in Tampa on Saturday. The Eagles have lost 3 of their last 4 games at the Bucs The Eagles also visited Tampa in Week 4 in 2024 and were soundly defeated, 33-16. With that loss Philadelphia fell to 2-2, having also lost to the Falcons and barely beaten the Saints and Packers. Since then, the Eagles are 19-1. |
| NFC SOUTH |
| ATLANTAWR coach Ike Hilliard takes the hit for Sunday’s shutout loss. Marc Raimondi of ESPN.com: The Atlanta Falcons fired wide receivers coach Ike Hilliard on Monday, one day after being routed by their NFC South rivals, the Carolina Panthers. Offensive passing game coordinator T.J. Yates will assume Hilliard’s duties, the team said. The Panthers blew out the Falcons 30-0 on Sunday in Charlotte, North Carolina. It was Carolina’s largest margin of victory in a decade. The Falcons’ offense sputtered in the disastrous performance, never reaching the red zone. Quarterback Michael Penix Jr. had the worst game of his young career, throwing two interceptions, including a backbreaking pick-six. Penix has not thrown a touchdown pass to a wide receiver or a tight end this season. His lone touchdown pass was to running back Bijan Robinson on a checkdown that Robinson took 50 yards in Week 1. Atlanta has just one touchdown over its past eight quarters. Hilliard, 49, was in his second season with the Falcons. He previously was the wide receivers coach for the Pittsburgh Steelers, Washington and Buffalo Bills. Yates, 38, has been with the Falcons since 2021. A former NFL quarterback, he was the team’s wide receivers coach in 2022 and 2023 before becoming quarterbacks coach last season. Raheem Morris offered some thoughts. Madison Williams of SI.com: Michael Penix Jr. was benched in the fourth quarter of the Falcons’ blowout 30-0 loss to the Panthers on Sunday. Despite his rough outing, coach Raheem Morris plans to stick with Penix as the starting quarterback moving forward over Kirk Cousins. When explaining more of his reasoning for remaining with Penix, Morris said that the quarterback was “off” on Sunday. “He was off,” Morris said on Monday. “I don’t want to take away the fact that he did not play well. But there are definitely ways to get him going. He heals himself, he has high standards for himself. So yesterday, he definitely got down on himself. Yesterday, he was definitely not his normal, happy, competitive self. Got a little down on himself, got a little upset. And there’s different ways that we can help him bring him back, and there’s other people on our team that can bring him back.” Penix completed 18 of 36 passes for 172 yards and two interceptions. He received a quarterback rating of 12.5, a career low for him. While it was a very disappointing performance from Penix, Morris is feeling “confident” about his quarterback’s ability to bounce back in Week 4. He praised the young quarterback later on in his press conference. “Confidence is high. Confidence is very high with this man,” Morris said. “He’s our guy, man, and you’re going to have these games. You don’t want to have them a lot, but you’re going to have them. … We’ve got a quarterback in the back that it’s happened to, and those things can happen. But, I’ve got a lot of confidence that he’s going to bounce back and be ready to deal. I’ve seen him have a bad practice. That’s the first time we’ve seen him have a bad game.” We’ll see how Penix does in Week 4 against the Commanders. |
| NEW ORLEANSWhat is the line as the Saints head to Buffalo this week? Before we read the story below, we guess 17.5. Josh Alper of ProfootballTalk.com: The Saints are coming off a blowout loss to the Seahawks and oddsmakers think they are in store for another thumping in Week 4. They will head to Buffalo to face the Bills and sportsbooks currently have the Bills favored by 16.5 points in the game. That’s the largest point spread so far this season and tied for the ninth-largest point spread since the start of the 2020 season. Only one of the bigger eight underdogs won outright — the Jets beat the Rams in 2020 despite being 17-point underdogs — and six of the other seven underdogs failed to cover the spread. Per Pro Football Reference, the current point spread would make the Saints the biggest underdogs they’ve been in a game since Week 9 of the 1975 season. They were also 16.5-point underdogs against the Vikings that week and covered the spread in a 20-7 loss. They were 18-point underdogs to the Raiders the previous week, but lost that game 48-10. |
| TAMPA BAYWe’re not sure we would have elevated the Buccaneers significantly in our Power Rankings after a 2-point win at home against the Jets with QB TYROD TAYLOR, but Pete Prisco of CBSSports.com is gushing. After spending time with the Tampa Bay Buccaneers in the spring and summer, I came away thinking they would be a Super Bowl contender. Now I am convinced of it. The Bucs have navigated through a laundry list of injuries, including crippling ones to their offensive line, to open the season at 3-0 as they head to a monster game this week with the Philadelphia Eagles. Tampa Bay has won all three games on the final possession, two of those on the road, which is a testament to Baker Mayfield’s ability to rise up in the big moments and shows his team is capable of handling adversity. The Bucs beat the New York Jets Sunday on a last-second field goal to win a game that they dominated, but somehow found themselves trailing late after a blocked field goal was returned for a touchdown by the Jets. Some teams would wilt in that moment, but Mayfield calmly drove them to the game-winning score. The amazing thing about that: They played the entire game with none of their projected starting offensive line from the preseason lining up in the spots they were planning to play. Center Graham Barton was the left tackle, left guard Ben Bredeson was at center and the other three spots were manned by backups, with left guard Elijah Klein and right guard Luke Haggard making their first NFL starts. OK, so it wasn’t always pretty. Mayfield was outside the pocket a lot, got pressured a bunch and the line had five holding penalties, but they still had 347 yards of offense. Winning that type of game not only shows this is a good team, but it also shows the Bucs have depth — deep depth on that line. Let’s not forget they are also without receivers Chris Godwin and Jalen McMillan and veteran Mike Evans left the game with a hamstring injury in the third quarter. Yet Mayfield was able to make the plays when needed, including on the final drive. Navigating through injuries is key for any team, but it also can unify a group. That seems to be the case in Tampa. General manager Jason Licht has done a nice job building the roster to be able to handle these injuries. Some of the wounded are on their way back, with indications being that All-Pro left tackle Tristan Wirfs could be back this week. That would help solidify the line against the Eagles, which is a must versus that aggressive group. The Bucs are up to No. 3 in my Power Rankings this week, but the top-ranked Eagles will be the real test in Tampa on Sunday. They are two of the three remaining undefeated teams in the NFC — San Francisco is the other — so this Week 4 game will be important for down-the-road seeding. Mayfield is playing MVP-like ball, even if his numbers aren’t gaudy. Winning in the clutch behind that line with those receivers just solidifies him as one of the league’s best quarterbacks. With every game, with every key moment, the pending long-term contract numbers go up for Mayfield — which they should. He has truly resurrected his career and has this team believing in him as their guy. Doing it in the clutch helps back that up, but doing it with all the injuries only strengthens that belief. The Bucs are for real. They are Super Bowl contenders, but you better believe they would love to get some of those injured bodies back on the field just to help make it a little easier. Prisco actually only elevated the Buccaneers one spot to number three, displacing the Packers after their loss at Cleveland. And this from Drew Brees, appearing on FOX: NFLonFOX“Who in [the NFC South] really scares you? Nobody. The only difference between the Saints and the Bucs is the Bucs found a way to make a play at the end of these last 2 games.” @drewbrees on how his 0-2 Saints can turn it around– – -It’s not necessarily good news for WR MIKE EVANS – but it could be worse. Michael Baca of NFL.com: Baker Mayfield won’t have his No. 1 target for the next few weeks. Buccaneers wide receiver Mike Evans is expected to miss multiple games due to the hamstring injury he suffered in Sunday’s win over the New York Jets, NFL Network Insiders Ian Rapoport, Tom Pelissero and Mike Garafolo reported on Tuesday, per sources. Evans pulled up from a route in discomfort and limped to the sideline in the second half on Sunday. He’d eventually be ruled out for the remainder of the game, ending his day with four catches for 33 yards and a touchdown. Pelissero added that the hope is that Evans, who missed three games in 2024 due to a hamstring injury, will be able to return in a sooner timeframe in 2025. Tampa Bay lost all three of those games Evans missed last season, and his absence is a cause for concern for a WR corps that has dealt with multiple injuries this year. Chris Godwin has yet to play this season as he readies himself for a return from the dislocated ankle he suffered last season. Jalen McMillan, who broke out in Godwin’s absence in 2024, is on the mend from a neck injury suffered in the preseason. Evans leads the Buccaneers with 27 targets through three games, totaling 14 receptions for 140 yards and one TD on the young season. Rookie WR Emeka Egbuka, who’s tied with Evans for a team-high 14 receptions and leads the team in receiving yards (181) and TDs (three), could see an even bigger role in the coming games. The Buccaneers (3-0) are set to host the defending champion Eagles in Week 4 and go on the road to face the Seahawks in Week 5. Whether or not Evans can return for a Week 6 home game against the 49ers is the question. |
| NFC WEST |
| LOS ANGELES RAMSTed Nguyen of The Athletic with some thoughts on the Rams offense this year, especially against the Eagles. Why the Rams offense is going old-school, and has the Eagles offense figured things out? The Rams ultimately lost a heartbreaking game against the Eagles in which they had a double-digit lead and had two kicks blocked, but the silver lining is that their offense looks like an elite unit with room to get even better. When Stafford got traded to the Rams in 2021, Sean McVay started to shift from the under-center, compressed formations, run-heavy offense that he ran with Goff. The offense became more spread out, used shotgun and pistol more, and passed at a higher rate because it had Stafford. The offense started to shift back last season to McVay’s original approach, going under center on 45 percent of plays, which ranked second only to the Detroit Lions. So far, this season, they’ve shifted even more in that direction, going under center on 65 percent of snaps. Part of the reason for this shift is in direct response to Eagles defensive coordinator Vic Fangio, who has influenced the league’s 2-high meta. The trend of keeping two safeties deep to stop explosives left them vulnerable upfront, so McVay countered with more under-center, gap-scheme runs and using more play action when throwing. That shift worked exactly as intended against Fangio’s defense. The Rams had the second-highest success rate that any offense has had against Fangio’s Eagles defense (54.8 percent) and ran for the third-most yards against them as well. In the second half, the Eagles got into base personnel and lined up in their 6-1 front to stop the run. The Rams still moved the ball efficiently, but didn’t execute in the red zone. Some of the blame should go to McVay’s lack of aggressiveness in the second half, but it is encouraging to see the Rams dominate the line of scrimmage in this fashion. |
| AFC NORTH |
| BALTIMOREThe highest scoring team in the NFL is now 1-2. Ryan Phillips of SI.com: The Baltimore Ravens lost another high-scoring game Monday night and, in the process, made NFL history. Not the good kind. The Detroit Lions topped the Ravens 38-30 in an entertaining, back-and-forth affair. Detroit improved to 2-1, while Baltimore fell to 1-2. Both losses have been of the agonizing variety. The Ravens have now scored 111 points this season, which is the most through three games by a team with a losing record in NFL history, according to ESPN. Ouch. They’re leading the NFL in scoring through three weeks, but have just one win to their season thus far. Baltimore’s offense has been piling up points this season, but the team has lost two shootouts. In Week 1, the Ravens fell to the Buffalo Bills 41-40. They then followed that up by hammering the Cleveland Browns 41-17 in Week 2. Add in the 30 points in a losing effort tonight, and you get a team that has scored a ton of points but doesn’t have much to show for it. Lamar Jackson and his offense only had 318 total yards against the Lions, but averaged 5.9 yards per play and scored 30 points. One major issue was the seven sacks for 55 lost yards the Ravens allowed. A key fourth-quarter fumble by Derrick Henry led directly to a Lions field goal that increased their lead to seven points. It was the second time a late fumble from Henry has cost Baltimore dearly this season. While the offense has moved the ball all season, the defense has allowed 96 points, second most in the NFL behind only the 0-3 Miami Dolphins. On Monday night, the unit surrendered 38 points to Detroit and allowed 426 yards, including an incredible 224 yards rushing. Lions rushers averaged 5.9 yards per carry, and Jahmyr Gibbs and David Montgomery both finished the night with two touchdowns apiece. John Harbaugh & Co. need to solve their woes on defense fast or this season could go completely off the rails. The Ravens travel to Kansas City in Week 4 to face the 1-2 Chiefs. One of those teams will leave the game 1-3. |
| CINCINNATIMichael David Smith of ProFootballTalk.com on the NFL’s biggest interception thrower: Bengals quarterback Jake Browning has only played half of this NFL season. But he has already thrown more interceptions than any other quarterback. Browning, who didn’t play at all in Week One and entered the Week Two game after Joe Burrow was injured, has five interceptions this season. No one else in the NFL has more than four this season. Browning has reached the five-interception mark after throwing just 59 passes. He ranks 30th in the NFL in pass attempts, but none of the quarterbacks who have thrown more passes than him has thrown as many interceptions. Browning has thrown interceptions on an NFL-high 8.5 percent of his passes. Sunday’s loss to the Vikings was an ugly day for Browning, and a departure from the last time he started for an injured Burrow, in 2023. That year, one of the reasons the Bengals stayed competitive without Burrow, going 4-3 in the games Browning started, was that he threw just seven interceptions in 243 attempts. If the Bengals are to keep their season from collapsing without Burrow, they need Browning to look more like the quarterback we saw in 2023, and less like the quarterback we’ve seen in a game and a half of 2025. |
| AFC SOUTH |
| HOUSTONOur sense from a distance has been that DB C.J. GARDNER-JOHNSON is at his best on a winning team, but not necessarily built to be a stalwart through adversity. The Texans may think the same thing. Kevin Patra of NFL.com has a nice turn of phrase to imply that: Chauncey Gardner-Johnson lasted just three games in Houston. The Houston Texans are releasing the starting safety, NFL Network Insider Ian Rapoport reported, per sources informed of the situation. Houston acquired Gardner-Johnson in a March trade with the Philadelphia Eagles in exchange for guard Kenyon Green and a late-round 2026 pick swap. The move comes as a surprise after CJGJ started the first three games for the 0-3 Texans. He compiled 15 tackles and allowed six catches on eight targets, per Pro Football Focus. Heralded for his physical play, Gardner-Johnson’s boisterous nature has led him to become a nomad. After three seasons in New Orleans, he spent a season with Philly, one with Detroit, then went back to the Eagles for their Super Bowl run. The trash-talker didn’t make it out of September before Houston moved on. It’s unclear what the impetus is behind the early-season release. The Texans are left with two true safeties on the roster, Calen Bullock and M.J. Stewart. Veteran safety Jimmie Ward was reinstated from the Commissioner’s Exempt List on Monday, but was then placed on the physically unable to perform list. He is eligible to return after this week. |
| INDIANAPOLISCody Benjamin of CBSSports.com remembers that the Saints, with QB DEREK CARR, were the talk of the NFL at this time last year – and they have rarely won since. Are the Colts headed for a similar tumble or are they really good? Can you believe the Indianapolis Colts named Daniel Jones their starting quarterback in the year 2025? Neither can the three teams that have lined up against the AFC South squad to open the season. Except those teams didn’t embarrass Jones, the ex-New York Giants castoff. They got embarrassed by him. Jones’ improbably hot start for the Colts is one of the stories of the young season. He famously went two full games without needing coach Shane Steichen to call for a punt. He’s locally hailed as “Indiana Jones.” His tall delivery from inside the pocket, wearing double digits in blue and white, is legitimately the most reminiscent of a certain Hall of Fame Colts sheriff since said legend retired. No, we’re not calling Jones the next coming of Peyton Manning. But we might be calling his Colts the best contender out of Indy since the days of Manning’s successor, Andrew Luck. This is a 3-0 team after three weeks, and not only that, the Colts have outscored their opponents a combined 103-56. No one — not the Buffalo Bills, not the Detroit Lions, not the Philadelphia Eagles, no one — has a better point differential going into Week 4. And Jones, playing the most important position, has been equally elite. Colts’ performance through Week 3Week Opponent Result Jones TD:INT Jones YPA Jones rating1 Dolphins W, 33-8 3:0 (2 rush) 9.4 115.92 Broncos W, 29-28 2:0 (1 rush) 9.3 107.03 Titans W, 41-20 1:0 9.1 113.4 Daniel Jones’ NFL ranks through Week 3Category Stat NFL rankPassing yards 816 3rdCompletion rate 71.6% 4thPasser rating 111.7 3rdY per pass 9.3 1stAir yards per pass 8.0 10th This is all fine and dandy, you say, but we’ve seen even career backups flash magical stuff before. That doesn’t mean all is well in the big picture. Take, for example, Josh Dobbs, who briefly became the talk of the NFL when replacing an injured Kirk Cousins with the Minnesota Vikings in 2023, showcasing starting-caliber dynamism before fizzling out as quickly as he burst onto the scene. And teams are the same way, forever liable to capture league-wide attention before buckling beneath their own inflated expectations. Look no further than the 2024 New Orleans Saints, who began last season on a similarly surprising tear. After going 9-8 the year prior, they ran it back with the serviceable, if unspectacular, Derek Carr under center, only to explode out of the gate, scoring at least 44 points in each of their first two games en route to a 2-0 start atop the NFC South. By the end of the season, they were 5-12, scraping to the finish line under an interim coach and quietly itching to replace Carr with a younger, higher-upside option at quarterback. Why are we to believe the Colts are any different? While everyone starts to sing their praises for unearthing a hidden gem in Jones, who wasn’t even guaranteed the starting job until the end of a prolonged summer competition with the erratic Anthony Richardson, shouldn’t we be pumping the brakes and preaching caution? Isn’t Indianapolis a prime candidate to prove fraudulent? A total mirage? Not so fast. There are actually a slew of reasons to believe this sudden stampede in Indianapolis is poised to proceed. They start with the unlikely hero at the helm of the offense. Jones has the tools to stay on trackDaniel Jones isn’t just playing efficient football right now. (And “efficient” is an understatement; his yards-per-attempt marks evoke Brock Purdy’s breakout as a first-time full-timer with the San Francisco 49ers.) He’s also attacking as a downfield thrower, which is something he almost never did — at least with consistency, let alone productivity — as a maligned Giants starter. Hence two of his top targets, Alec Pierce and rookie tight end Tyler Warren, each averaging more than 13 yards per catch. Jones’ 2025 targets have an average separation of 3.2 yards, per NFL Pro Stats, which is the fourth-lowest among quarterbacks, and he’s thrown more tight-window passes (20.5%) than all but three other signal-callers. While he ranks in the middle of the pack in terms of deep pass percentage, this means he’s posting career-best marks while fitting the ball into narrow windows. In other words, he’s never been more accurate. It speaks to both a passing touch and general confidence he rarely had in New York. But here’s the best part: Jones isn’t slinging it with improved poise and precision by waiting forever to let pass catchers run free. He’s absorbed just two sacks through three games, the fewest taken by any quarterback, while facing a 32.3% pressure rate — the 12th-best mark in the NFL. Basically, he’s getting clean pockets in Indianapolis, and even when he isn’t, he’s making quick decisions as the point guard. It’s not so unlike what Jalen Hurts turned in as Steichen’s seismically improved quarterback of the Philadelphia Eagles back in 2022, when Steichen called the Birds’ plays en route to a Super Bowl bid. No one’s mistaking Jones for Hurts just yet, but the former is far from a net-zero on the ground, too. We saw plenty of Jones’ mobility as the Giants’ quarterback, most notably during his 2022 rejuvenation, in which he operated as a true running mate to Saquon Barkley with 750 rushing yards and seven scores. We also forget that 2022 wasn’t Jones’ only above-average work in an oft-ghastly setup with the G-Men; he also threw twice as many touchdowns (24) as picks (12) as a rookie under Joe Judge. Indy is better built to weather bumpsNow it’s totally fair to be skeptical that Jones can maintain this pace of production throughout the rest of the 2025 season. His grand 2022 campaign, remember, resulted in New York paying lucrative money to keep him around, only for Jones to crumble behind porous protection in the ensuing seasons. But that’s where the Colts present much differently than the Giants, the Derek Carr-led 2024 Saints and other franchises who proved wholly fractured. You don’t usually start 3-0 by accident, and unlike New Orleans of last fall, Indianapolis is equipped to remain firmly in the race for a division crown. Start with the overall age of the rosters: The Saints were one of the oldest lineups of the 2024 season, and they showed their seasoned nature in a hurry, with injuries denting both sides of the ball. Their O-line was also in a state of transition, with longtime tackle Ryan Ramczyk on his way to retirement. And Dennis Allen, the man in charge of the whole squad, had never once proven to be a winning leader at the NFL level, particularly on the offensive side of the ball. It shocked no one when he was dismissed after a seven-game losing streak, cementing his career head coaching record as 26-53. The Colts, on the other hand, are more like a middle-of-the-road team in terms of average age. Better yet, their O-line is in peak form, paving the way for an MVP-caliber start from running back Jonathan Taylor, whose 338 yards through three games easily leads the NFL. (Indy ranks third in rush yards per game behind only the Bills and Washington Commanders, two Super Bowl hopefuls, thanks to Taylor’s pristine vision and rushing lanes.) And Steichen, though criticized for failing to turn the raw Richardson into a steady passer, has a career winning record as a head man, nearly dragging Gardner Minshew to a playoff run in his first year on the sidelines. There is some infrastructure here. Now throw in the fact the Colts play in the AFC South, where the reigning champion Houston Texans look incapable of driving the ball, the new-regime Jacksonville Jaguars are perpetually on uneasy offensive footing, and the Tennessee Titans boast one of the most undisciplined outfits in the NFL. Throw in the fact they have the 13th-easiest remaining schedule, per ESPN, with five more games against divisional opponents. Is it really that much of a stretch to suggest Jones has a clear path to a postseason bid? It wouldn’t be his first, by the way. We like to act as if he’s never once shown enough to warrant that stage, but the record books show that he was bona fide franchise-quarterback material in his first-ever playoff appearance, throwing for 301 yards and running for another 78 to upset the Minnesota Vikings on the road. The Vikings are apt to be woven into the conversation, too, because we saw just last season what a supportive situation can do for a first-round talent-turned-skittish journeyman. Sam Darnold may have ended 2024 with a whimper, but there was no denying his authority for basically 95% of his time under Kevin O’Connell’s direction; his career-best gunslinging had a direct hand in Minnesota winning 14 games. Do we anticipate that kind of record for Jones’ Colts by 2025’s end? That might be a stretch. But we’re also not discounting what’s been done in Indianapolis to start this season. A drop-off may come, because — let’s face it — the Dolphins and the Titans aren’t exactly previews of what’s likely to come on the biggest stages. But you can only handle the opponents you’re given, and so far, the Colts are absolutely doing that. |
| TENNESSEEIt’s not a good sign for Coach Brian Callahan that he is handing over the playcalling – and not to the OC!. Andy Backstrom of YahooSports.com: The Tennessee Titans are 0-3 and rank 28th in the NFL with 17 points per game after drafting quarterback Cam Ward with the No. 1 pick this past spring. The Titans have lost nine straight regular-season games, a streak that dates back to the 2024 campaign, and have scored more than 20 points only twice in that span. And, so, second-year head coach Brian Callahan is making a change. He announced Tuesday that he’s handing over play-calling duties to quarterbacks coach Bo Hardegree, who served as the Las Vegas Raiders’ interim offensive coordinator during the final nine games of the 2023 season after Josh McDaniels and his OC, Mick Lombardi, were ousted midseason that year. Even though Hardegree will now be calling the shots, Nick Holz will remain the Titans’ offensive coordinator. “He took it well,” Callahan said, when asked how Holz handled Hardegree getting tapped to call plays. “He’s a professional. He understands that that’s the way that these things go sometimes. But his role isn’t changing in terms of what he’s doing and how he’s doing it. His role in the process, his role on gameday, all those things are exactly the same as they were before.” Callahan maintained that Hardegree will still be in charge of a third-down game plan, wide receivers coach Tyke Tolbert and senior offensive assistant Mike McCoy will still be responsible for red zone, Holz will still prep all the base downs and running backs coach Randy Jordan remains the point man for screen plays. “So all those things are all going to stay the same,” Callahan said. “It doesn’t change that process any bit whatsoever. It’s just the plays are, at the end of the day on Sunday, coming out of somebody else’s mouth. I’ll be still very present in the process. I’m involved in it, but it’s going to allow me to do more around the team and in other phases besides offense and special teams and defense.” In the nine games Hardegree was the Raiders’ interim offensive coordinator, Las Vegas went 5-4. At the time, the Raiders were quarterbacked by 2023 fourth-round rookie Aidan O’Connell. He piled up 1,905 yards and 11 touchdowns through the air during that stretch. Along the way, the Raiders averaged 22.9 points per game, a significant increase from the 15.8 per game they averaged over the first eight games that season. In addition to helping O’Connell turn some heads as a first-year signal-caller out of Purdue in 2023, he also coached Derek Carr during his fourth Pro Bowl season and was an offensive assistant for the New England Patriots in 2021 when rookie quarterback Mac Jones reached the Pro Bowl himself. As a play-caller, Hardegree will have an even bigger role assisting Ward in his development. “Bo interviewed with some teams for some coordinator jobs,” Callahan said Tuesday. “He’s widely respected around the league. I’ve got a lot of respect for how he goes about his business. I know the type of coach he is. I know what he’s capable of. And I know how he goes about his process.” Perhaps most notably, Hardegree interviewed for the Chicago Bears OC job this past offseason. Callahan sees Hardegree as a rising star in the industry. While he has the 41-year-old on staff, he’s taking advantage of Hardegree’s schematic and coaching skills while Callahan’s giving himself more time to focus on his head coaching role. “One of the things I told the team and told the players after our [Week 3 loss to the Indianapolis Colts] is that, look, everyone owns a mirror, right?” Callahan said. “We can all look at it. We can all see where we need to be better and what can help us be better. And I think this is one of the best things for us at the moment to help me do a better job as a head coach and be more present and available for the football team and less involved in just the day-to-day minutia of getting ready to call a game.” |
