AROUND THE NFL
Daily Briefing
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Kevin Seifert of ESPN.com is among those hearing the NFL is planning on about 15,000 fans in the stands for Super Bowl 55 in Tampa:
The NFL is moving forward with plans for a reduced-capacity Super Bowl LV, to be played Feb. 7 even if the league ultimately adds an 18th week to its regular season, sources told ESPN’s Adam Schefter.
At this point, the NFL is planning to hold capacity to 20% at Tampa’s Raymond James Stadium, which normally holds 65,000 fans. With temporary seating, its capacity could have been enlarged to nearly 75,000. Fans will be in pods 6 feet apart and masks will be required.
During the regular season, the NFL has left attendance decisions to home teams in conjunction with state and local authorities. Half of the league’s teams have had paid attendance for at least one game; the Tampa Bay Buccaneers have hosted an average of 10,961 fans at two home games.
As it maneuvers through the COVID-19 pandemic, the NFL has kept open the possibility of pushing back the Super Bowl for up to four weeks in order to complete its regular season. But it would prefer to keep it on schedule if at all possible, and at this point all rescheduled games have been fit under the existing 17-week structure.
If the league needs an extra week to finish the regular season, it will eliminate the extra week that is normally scheduled between the Super Bowl and the NFC and AFC Championship Games.
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NFC EAST
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DALLAS
The Cowboys are getting rid of some of their so-called defenders. Kevin Patra ofNFL.com:
The Dallas Cowboys aren’t done shedding veteran defensive players.
After trading Everson Griffen to Detroit for a conditional sixth-round pick on Tuesday, the Cowboys plan to move on from two more defensive players.
NFL Network’s Tom Pelissero reported Wednesday that the Cowboys informed defensive tackle Dontari Poe and cornerback Daryl Worley that they will be released if they can’t trade them Wednesday.
The trade deadline isn’t until Nov. 3, but Dallas is ready to move on already. Making it known they’ll cut the duo is the last-ditch effort to get any team to offer anything for either veteran.
Poe signed a two-year, $9 million contract in Dallas this season as part of an offseason revamp along the line that has utterly failed. Poe has been dreadful this season against both the run and pass. Despite playing 253 snaps — most of any Cowboys interior defender this season — the 30-year-old has generated just seven tackles and zero sacks. Pro Football Focus charted Poe with one single hurry in seven games, his only pressure of the season.
Worley has been no better, giving up chunk plays in the passing game, and has allowed 10 of 12 targets his way to be completed. Worley has played 246 snaps for the Cowboys this season, behind only Jourdan Lewis and rookie Trevon Diggs.
Moving on from the veterans is the start of a needed overhaul for a Cowboys defense that has been historically bad through seven weeks. Dallas ranks last in points per game allowed (34.7 — worst in franchise history), last in offensive TDs per game allowed (3.9), last in rushing yards per game allowed (178.3), and 27th in total yards allowed (27th). The 34.7 points per game would be the second-highest in a single season by a team in the Super Bowl era if Dallas keeps up the pace.
Changes on defense are needed if Dallas is to turn it around and recapture the NFC East lead.
Cowboys fans seeing the decisions to move on from veteran defensive players are likely sharing a similar thought: When might DC Mike Nolan be the one to get his walking papers?
For now, Dallas will settle for reshuffling the deck and hoping for better results from a defense that hasn’t stopped the leaking at all this year and has struggled to adapt week-to-week. If the moves don’t change anything, it’s only a matter of time before the finger finally lands on Nolan.
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The Cowboys have a backup quarterback in the pipeline – but he won’t be ready this week.
Ian Rapoport
With their top two QBs sidelined, the #Cowboys are bringing back an old friend: Cooper Rush is expected to sign to Dallas’ practice squad once he passes COVID protocols and a physical, per source. That should be next week.
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WASHINGTON
Would the WFT try to dispose of QB DWAYNE HASKINS at the deadline? Jim Trotter ofNFL.com also noodles the idea of the Jets dumping QB SAM DARNOLD.
When it comes to NFL trade deadlines, the reality of what transpires often fails to match the breathless speculation of what could be. It’s not unlike a Super Bowl that fails to live up to the hype. We crave the drama, the suspense, the big moment that leaves our mouths agape, but too often the moment ends with a period instead of an exclamation point.
It is against that backdrop I approach this year’s deadline, which is next Tuesday, Nov. 3 at 4 p.m. ET. Rather than succumb to the reality that we probably won’t see any jaw-dropping deals, let’s play the “what if?” game with the league’s most important position: quarterback. More specifically, let’s focus on quarterbacks on rookie deals … drafted high in the first round … whose circumstances could make them intriguing trade bait.
The names that come immediately to mind are the New York Jets’ Sam Darnold and Washington Football Team’s Dwayne Haskins — for different reasons. The winless Jets are expected to go through a full rebuild in the offseason, while 2-5 Washington has left little doubt that it does not consider Haskins the answer to its problems.
History tells us that neither will be moved by the deadline, as none of the 30 quarterbacks taken in the first round from 2010 to ’19 was traded or released in the middle of a season while still on his rookie contract. (Seven were traded or waived at the end of a season.) But in the words of football philosopher Bruce Arians: No risk it, no biscuit. So perhaps the front offices with the Jets and Washington will decide to play the market sooner than later. Doing so will require courage, conviction, luck and supportive ownership. Just ask Arizona Cardinals general manager Steve Keim.
In 2018, Keim traded away third- and fifth-round picks to move up five spots to draft QB Josh Rosen 10th overall. One year later, the Cardinals GM dealt the former UCLA star to Miami on the second day of the draft, having used the No. 1 overall pick on Oklahoma quarterback Kyler Murray. Although initially viewed as bold, that decision’s a no-brainer in hindsight, with Murray establishing himself as one of the league’s bright young stars in only his second season and Rosen now on the practice squad in Tampa Bay, his third team in three years.
Keim made that trade in the offseason, which obviously is different from making it in-season, but many of the thought processes are the same when deciding to admit there might be something better, even when you’ve made a significant investment — financially and otherwise — in a young quarterback.
“It’s a tremendous amount of pressure,” Keim said this week by phone, “and if you’re wrong, I mean, it potentially — or most likely — ends your career, because you’re taking a huge risk. In some respects organizationally, you think it’s a step back. OK, now we have to develop another young guy. What about financial commitment you’ve already had? What about the draft pick you used? It’s all those things.”
One of the things that made it easier for Keim to pull the trigger was that he got to see Rosen play for a year. The known outweighed the unknown. The guesswork had been eliminated, to some degree.
“The bottom line is you’ve got to trust your instincts and evaluation,” Keim said. “If you’re sitting there and you’re watching tape, and you think you’ve got potentially Clyde Drexler in your locker room, but you’re watching Michael Jordan on tape, you’ve got to take Michael Jordan. You don’t take a player who you think is a little bit of an upgrade or potentially an upgrade. If you think a guy is a generational talent, and you’re picking No. 1, you’ve got to be able to look in the mirror. You’ve got to know that you owe it to your organization to do what’s right for everybody — the organization, the community, the coach — and not just you personally for your career. Otherwise, ultimately, you’re going to end up watching Michael Jordan play somewhere else and you’re always going to regret it.”
Which brings me to the Jets. Darnold has demonstrated the ability to be a good player, injuries notwithstanding. He has made the best of a bad situation, trying to make chicken salad out of … something less desirable. The reality is, the 0-7 Jets are a Dumpster fire with no extinguisher in sight. As the league’s only winless team, New York has been outscored 203-85 — a -118 point differential that’s 51 points worse than any other team (Dallas is next at -67). This makes Gang Green the current front-runner for the first pick in the 2021 draft.
With the Jets hurtling toward an extreme makeover in the offseason, would it be smart for them to reset the clock and start over with a young franchise quarterback in the first year of a team-friendly contract rather than stay with a talented young signal-caller who could be in line for a sizable raise after the 2021 season? Put another way: Is it wiser to go with what could be a much better player while saving money and adding draft capital? Second-year general manager Joe Douglas was not with the team when Darnold was drafted, so saving face is not an issue.
The expectation is that the Jets will wait until the offseason to make any dramatic moves, because then they will know their actual draft position and can act from a position of certainty. But if an offer crosses Douglas’ desk in the next week that’s too good to pass up, well, who knows?
The circumstances are far different for Washington. It is not in the driver’s seat for the first pick despite having already suffered a five-game losing streak this season. In fact, seven teams have fewer victories — and the fact that the Football Team plays in the NFC East, where no one has more than two wins, means it could be in the hunt for the division title. (Hard to believe I just typed that.) But unlike with the Jets, Washington clearly does not believe Haskins is a talented player. New head coach Ron Rivera benched the second-year pro and 15th pick of the 2019 draft after just four starts this season, the last of which saw him throw for 314 yards and rush for a touchdown in a loss to Baltimore.
Haskins was not drafted by the current management. Rivera has no allegiances to him beyond the fact that he’s currently on the roster. So if any quarterback taken in the first round were to be traded midseason while playing on a rookie contract, this would appear to be it. Except a dance partner is needed, and Washington has done a pretty good job of poisoning the waters with its handling of Haskins. Multiple general managers have told me they can’t envision anyone giving up draft picks for the former Ohio State star at this point of the year.
Still, all it takes is one team to see potential in Haskins. Were that to happen, we might actually have something interesting to talk about at the trade deadline.
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NFC SOUTH
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CAROLINA
The Panthers have released CB ELI APPLE, once a first round pick of the Giants. Nick Shook of NFL.com:
Apple signed a one-year deal with Carolina in May, but dealt with multiple injury issues, landing on injured reserve to start the season. He played just six special teams snaps in Week 4 before playing 26 snaps in Week 7 vs. the New Orleans Saints, recording three tackles.
Apple left practice Tuesday with what was described as a hamstring issue, according to The Athletic’s Joe Person. Hours later, he was released by the team.
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TAMPA BAY
Is Peyton Manning trying to stir things up with QB TOM BRADY? Michael David Smith of ProFootballTalk.com:
Buccaneers quarterback Tom Brady threw a pass to tight end Rob Gronkowski that appeared to find Gronk between three Green Bay defenders and drew praise as a great pass on the game broadcast. But Peyton Manning says it wasn’t a great pass at all.
On the Detail show Manning does for ESPN, Manning broke down the play and said Brady was actually trying to hit Mike Evans — and then Manning took another shot at Brady for appearing not to realize it was fourth down on the Bucs’ last play of their loss to the Bears.
“Do you think Tom was throwing to Gronk?” Manning asked. “Troy Aikman thought he was. Thought it was one of the best throws he made all game. I’m not so sure. I’m going to go out on a limb and say he’s coming out here to Evans.”
Manning broke down Brady’s options on the play and what was going through Brady’s mind.
“I’m going to throw kind of a high ball to Evans that’s going to be Evans’ ball or nobody else’s, but guess who runs right underneath it? It’s Gronk,” Manning said. “Will we get Tom to admit who he was throwing to? I don’t think so. He wouldn’t admit that he didn’t know it was fourth down. There’s no way he’s going to admit he wasn’t throwing to Gronk, especially after Aikman says, What an unbelievable throw.”
Manning said that because reporters aren’t allowed in NFL locker rooms this year, Brady isn’t getting the scrutiny he otherwise would.
“You don’t have to explain it, especially via these Zoom interviews these guys are getting to do,” Manning said. “How lucky are these guys? No press conferences with reporters right in your face, asking you, Who were you throwing to? Why did you take that sack? Were you going for it on fourth down? Did you know it was fourth down? The Zoom interviews, they’re easy to do, so you don’t have to explain it.”
Manning may have been partially joking about Brady, with whom he has long had a friendly rivalry. But there also seemed to be some truth in what Manning was saying, that he thinks Brady has gotten a pass for some big mistakes this season.
It’s the DB’s sense, that from a passing status, we are seeing vintage Brady in 2020, not old and broken down Brady. What say the stats?
2020 STATS WITH RANK IN BRADY’S CAREER AFTER 7 GAMES
Yards 1,910 9th
Comp % 65.7% 8th
TDs 18 3rd (tie)
Rating 102.7 6th
So all numbers in the top half of a 20-year sample.
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NFC WEST
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SEATTLE
Bob Condotta of the Seattle Times on the acquisition of DL CARLOS DUNLAP from the Bengals:
In win-now mode and desperate to improve a defense that is on pace to allow more yards than any team in NFL history, the Seahawks on Wednesday agreed to trade for veteran defensive end Carlos Dunlap of the Cincinnati Bengals, giving up offensive lineman B.J. Finney and a 2021 seventh-round pick in the process.
A source confirmed the parameters of the trade to the Seattle Times.
The 31-year-old Dunlap has 82½ sacks in his career — making him second in Bengals franchise history — and nine a year ago, but had been seeing decreasing playing time the last three weeks and had made it known he wanted out of Cincinnati, going so far at one point as to post a tweet saying his house was for sale following Sunday’s loss to the Browns.
The Seahawks were happy to oblige in giving Dunlap a fresh start — and a chance to play for a contender — in an attempt to shore up an ailing pass rush.
Seattle must pay Dunlap $4.8 million for the rest of the season, with the Bengals not willing to take on any of his salary, and his contract also includes a non-guaranteed $11.25 million for the 2021 season.
Getting rid of Finney and his roughly $2 million cap hit for the rest of the season will help the Seahawks fit in Dunlap, but it could mean Seattle having to shuffle some other money around — including bonuses due Dunlap, Seattle appears to be taking on an additional $3.4 million in cap space. The Seahawks entered the day with an estimated $3.7 million in salary cap space, via OvertheCap.com.
And Dunlap’s 2021 salary could lead to a renegotiated contract of some sort over the next year or so, or the Seahawks cutting Dunlap and getting out of the 2021 salary and considering this something of a half-year rental.
Either way, the immediate impact is bringing in a player the Seahawks hope can improve their defense right now.
The Seahawks are coming off their first loss of season, 37-34 at Arizona, a defeat that only accentuated the team’s defensive issues.
Seattle did not have a sack in the game and has just nine in six games, tied for 24th in the NFL, and did not register an official quarterback hit in 52 drop backs against Arizona and Kyler Murray Sunday night.
Dunlap played just 12 snaps in the Bengals’ loss to Cleveland Sunday and has not started the last three weeks with Cincinnati in a rebuilding mode. Rumors began to circulate early Wednesday of a trade when it was reported that the Bengals told Dunlap not to come to practice.
Because of COVID-19 testing protocols — which include a six-day intake period for new players — Dunlap will not be available to play for Seattle until its Nov. 8 game at Buffalo, meaning he will miss this Sunday’s game at San Francisco.
But that’s also one reason to make a move now, to get him in as quickly as possible.
The move comes a day after the Cowboys dealt defensive end Everson Griffen to Detroit, not Seattle, which led to wondering if the Seahawks were going to get anything done prior to the trade deadline next Tuesday.
The Dunlap move now marks the fourth major trade for a veteran in the past 12 months to try to improve a defense that has not been the same since the dismantling of the Legion of Boom during and after the 2017 season.
A year ago this month Seattle traded a fifth-round pick to Detroit for Quandre Diggs (Seattle also getting a seventh-round pick in 2021 that may be the one that was sent to the Bengals).
In the offseason Seattle traded a fifth-round pick to Washington for cornerback Quinton Dunbar and then made a major trade with the Jets to get safety Jamal Adams, including dealing each of its next two first-round picks.
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AFC NORTH
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BALTIMORE
The Ravens take advantage of more permissive Covid-related practice squad rules to sign WR DEZ BRYANT.
Dez Bryant is back in the NFL.
The Baltimore Ravens signed the three-time Pro Bowl wide receiver to their practice squad, the team announced Tuesday. Bryant has been out of the league for two years.
Bryant appeared to acknowledge the deal in a tweet Tuesday: “My emotions running high right now… I’m thankful…I can’t stop crying”
The biggest question is when Bryant will suit up for the Ravens. Baltimore’s wide receivers rank last in the NFL in receptions (58) and receiving yards (737).
Bryant, 31, could become a physical possession-type receiver for reigning NFL MVP Lamar Jackson and can complement the speed of Marquise Brown.
The addition of Bryant might lead to a high-profile reunion on Dec. 3, when the Ravens play host to the Dallas Cowboys on Thursday Night Football. Bryant starred for the Cowboys for eight seasons, totaling 531 receptions for 7,459 yards and a franchise-record 73 touchdown catches.
“Obviously, that’s kind of like an ‘OG’-type guy,” Ravens tight end Mark Andrews said when asked about Bryant on Monday. “He’s been around the league for a long, long time. He actually followed me on Twitter a year or two ago, so I’m excited to meet him, and I’m excited to [be] around him hopefully, and just learn.”
This marked Bryant’s second workout with Baltimore in two months. When Bryant left in August without a contract, he was told to improve his conditioning, a source said.
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CINCINNATI
Longtime Bengals DL CARLOS DUNLAP is gone to Seattle. Josh Alper ofProFootballTalk.com:
Carlos Dunlap has been looking for a way out of Cincinnati and the Seahawks have been looking for pass rushing help, so it’s not a great surprise that they’ve found each other.
According to multiple reports, the Bengals have agreed to trade their longtime edge rusher to Seattle. The compensation set to go to Cincinnati in return for Dunlap is unknown.
Dunlap was told to not to come into the team’s facility on Wednesday as the Bengals worked to find a new home for him. Dunlap has been unhappy with a diminished role on the defense this season and was involved in a sideline argument with an assistant coach in last Sunday’s loss to the Browns.
Given how much the Seahawks need to juice their pass rush, Dunlap should have opportunities to play a bigger role with his new team once the deal is official and he’s in the NFC West.
For more, see SEATTLE.
Or this from Joe Harrington of the Cincinnati Enquirer:
The Cincinnati Bengals traded two-time Pro Bowler and a former Walter Payton Man of the Year Nominee on Wednesday for Seattle Seahawks’ offensive lineman and seventh round draft pick.
Carlos Dunlap, who recorded 81.5 sacks in his 11 seasons with the Bengals, will head to Seattle for offensive lineman B.J. Finney and a draft pick, ending a tumultuous few weeks for the Bengals.
Dunlap, a key member for five Bengals’ playoff teams under former coach Marvin Lewis, saw his playing time limited in 2020 as the Bengals have started the season 1-5-1.
Dunlap is second in franchise history in sacks, trailing only Eddie Edwards’ 83.5. He compiled 490 tackles and 60 pass deflections in 155 games and 115 starts.
But so far in 2020, Dunlap had been limited mostly to a third down specialist and following the Bengals’ 37-34 loss to the Browns on Sunday, used social media to voice is frustration and put his Cincinnati home for on the market.
The 2020 season
After Marvin Lewis was fired after the 2018 season, the Bengals hired head coach Zac Taylor. In Taylor’s first season, Dunlap recorded nine sacks and 63 tackles, the second-most tackles in one season for Dunlap. It was the most sacks that he had since 2015.
But the Bengals had the worst record in the NFL and finished with the No.1 pick in the draft as the club shifted more into a rebuilding project.
Since the start of the 2020 season, Dunlap has let it be known he was unhappy with his role as he saw his playing time diminish.
Dunlap saw a season-high 75 defensive snaps, according to Pro Football Reference, against Philadelphia, and that had decreased each week since:
Jacksonville: 51
Baltimore: 29
Indianapolis: 28
Cleveland: 12
Dunlap changed his social media handle to voice his displeasure on his role and made several comments about his future.
On Oct. 8, the Bengals left Dunlap off the depth chart.
About 10 days later, Dunlap and fellow former Pro Bowl defensive lineman Geno Atkins voiced their frustration about being phased out of the gameplan.
Dunlap traded to Seattle
Everything seemed to come to ahead before the second Cleveland Browns game of the season when he continued to post cryptic posts and then was shown on the sideline arguing with the coaching staff during the loss to the Browns.
On Oct. 28, the Bengals told Dunlap to stay home as they worked on a trade.
The Bengals dealt Dunlap to the Seattle Seahawks for B.J. Finney and a seventh round pick later that day
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PITTSBURGH
Jeremy Fowler of ESPN.com says QB BEN ROETHLISBERGER (or QB TOM BRADY) will soon own the record for getting knocked down with a football in their hand.
As great NFL quarterbacks aim for the record books, sometimes they get knocked into them.
The distinction of the most-sacked quarterback ever will soon belong to the Tampa Bay Buccaneers’ Tom Brady or the Pittsburgh Steelers’ Ben Roethlisberger, who’ve gone down behind the line of scrimmage a combined 1,017 times over 38 regular seasons.
The record belongs to Brett Favre, who surpassed John Elway (516) in his final NFL season in 2010 and finished with 525. A decade later, Favre can pass on the badge of honor.
But with Roethlisberger and Brady sitting at 511 and 508, respectively, the next-closest active quarterback is Aaron Rodgers with 455. Whoever survives this two-man battle of durability could hold the record for a while.
“It’s unbelievable durability to take those (hundreds of) sacks and keep producing like these guys have,” said Sebastian Vollmer, Brady’s right tackle with the New England Patriots from 2009 to 2016. “They get hit extra hard sometimes. It’s a beating. They fight through injuries. Some people think quarterbacks are soft, but man they are tough.”
Clearly this is a longevity stat. Elite quarterbacks who play more than 15 years and thrive in the pocket will take their shots.
And these future Hall of Famers aren’t exactly sack magnets. Based on pure dropbacks (not scrambles), Roethlisberger gets sacked 6.4% of the time compared to 4.7% for Brady; those figures are not even close to cracking the top 10 for quarterbacks with 200-plus sacks since Elias Sports Bureau started tracking in 1963.
Greg Landry tops that list at 12.1%, and not far behind are David Carr (10.5%), Randall Cunningham (10.1%) and Roger Staubach (9.6%).
Brady and Roethlisberger got here with vastly different styles. Brady has never been sacked more than 41 times in a season, making quick decisions at the line and navigating the pocket with a few shuffles of his feet.
Roethlisberger took at least 46 annually from 2006 to 2009 due to his willingness to improvise and hang around the pocket for six, seven, eight seconds to find the open man. Over time, he has developed into a potent quick-strike passer to protect his body.
This season, Brady is getting the ball out of his hands in 2.60 seconds per dropback compared to 2.27 for Roethlisberger. Since 2016, the averages are 2.66 and 2.54, respectively. Their evasive ways in 2020 are impressive, with Brady recording zero sacks in four of his seven games and Roethlisberger taking no more than two sacks in a game.
Even so, they’ve dominated for the better part of two decades, winning a combined eight Super Bowls and counting.
With the help of several pass-rushers who have sacked both quarterbacks and offensive linemen who have blocked for them, here’s how these quarterbacks ended up here.
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AFC SOUTH
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HOUSTON
A Texans player tested positive for Covid while on his bye. Sarah Barshop ofESPN.com:
The Texans have closed their facility after a player tested positive for COVID-19, the team announced Wednesday.
It is the Texans’ bye week, but the facility is closed for a deep cleaning and the team is performing contract tracing.
“Late last night, we received notice that a Texans player tested positive for COVID-19,” the team said in a statement. “In accordance with NFL protocols, the player immediately self-isolated and our Infection Control Officer and other members of the Infection Response Team began working with the NFL to perform contact tracing. Our facility will be closed today to players for deep cleaning. We are in close consultation with the NFL, as well as our team of independent doctors and specialists, and will follow their guidance regarding our scheduled bye week operations. The health and safety of our team, as well as our entire staff, are of highest priority.”
NFL trade deadline tracker: Latest deals, rumors and everything we’re hearing
This is the first positive test for the Texans since the start of training camp. Houston hosted the Green Bay Packers on Sunday.
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AFC EAST
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NEW ENGLAND
Are the Patriots shopping CB STEPHON GILMORE? Mike Florio ofProFootballTalk.com:
Rumors have emerged regarding the possibility of the Patriots trading cornerback Stephon Gilmore. Coach Bill Belichick was asked about the rumors on Wednesday.
As usual, Belichick didn’t have much to say.
“Yeah, I don’t know anything about those,” Belichick said.
Some think there’s reason to consider it because there’s been some slippage in his play, and because Belichick has a long history of moving on from a player one year too early than one year too late.
“Steph works hard,” Belichick said regarding Gilmore’s performance in single coverage against the other team’s best receiver. “He’s always ready to go. We’ve changed up what he does based on our game plan and who we’re matched up against, the team we’re playing that particular week. But he’s a very flexible player that understands what we’re trying to do and how it all fits together and works hard to do his part in it.”
At times (like against the Seahawks and receiver DK Metcalf), Gilmore has struggled in single coverage. Belichick was asked whether other teams are attacking Gilmore this year.
“I don’t know,” Belichick said. “I think you’d have to ask those teams what their game plan was and all that, but he’s in single coverage a lot. The teams we play, they’ve thrown the ball to a lot of different people. So I don’t know. I wouldn’t say it’s going to any one particular guy.”
Regardless, some will wonder whether Belichick is willing to move Gilmore now, getting what he can before any potential decline in Gilmore’s play becomes more obvious. With the Lions becoming uncharacteristic buyers as the trade deadline approaches, maybe they’ll make a move for the 2019 NFL defensive player of the year.
Darren Hartwell of NBCSports/Boston on what started the rumors:
Ready to go down a rabbit hole?
The NFL trade deadline is less than a week away, and there’s speculation the New England Patriots may consider trading All-Pro cornerback Stephon Gilmore.
The MMQB’s Albert Breer reported the Patriots had conversations about dealing Gilmore as recently as August, while our Tom E. Curran has laid out why moving the reigning NFL Defensive Player of the Year may make sense for the 2-4 Patriots.
Curran: If Pats are sellers at the deadline, Gilmore could go
That’s the backdrop for a report Wednesday from WEEI’s “The Greg Hill Show” that Gilmore’s house is now on the market.
Where’s the evidence, you ask? Well, Twitter detectives did some digging and found a house in Foxboro — a short drive from Gillette Stadium — that was just listed for sale Tuesday on Realtor.com.
Real estate documents confirm that house is on the market and belongs to Gilmore’s wife, Gabrielle.
Here’s the kicker: The “Property Details” section of the house’s listing includes a notable final line: “All offers if any due on Tuesday, November 3rd @ 5PM.”
Did we mention the NFL trade deadline is Tuesday, November 3 at 4 p.m. ET?
That could be pure coincidence. It’s also possible the Gilmores are simply relocating to another home in the area. (Gilmore’s wife, for what it’s worth, seemed to get a kick out of the housing speculation.)
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THIS AND THAT
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AIKMAN RATINGS thru Week 7
For the second week in a row, the Buccaneers and Cardinals sit 1-2 in the Aikman Combined Ratings. With Tampa Bay winning easily at Las Vegas, while the Cardinals edged the Seahawks, the Buccaneers grew their lead from 0.2 points to 6.1.
After an easy win at New England, the 49ers vaulted from 7th to 3rd. The four NFC West teams now sit in 2nd (Arizona), 3rd (San Francisco), 5th (Rams) and 7th (Seahawks).
The Titans and Buccaneers continue to lead in Aikman Offense and Aikman Defense respectively. But Tampa Bay has the 7th-ranked Offense, but Tennessee is only 26th in Defense and thus just 9th in the Aikman Combined.
We also note that the Dolphins, at #13, are first among AFC East teams, seven spots ahead of the 5-2 Bills.
In the NFC East, Washington is the highest-rated team at #18 after its easy win over the Cowboys who have fallen to #31.
Aikman Off Def Comb NFL Off Def Comb
1 5-2 Buccaneers 96.2 76.9 173.1 8 5 13
2 5-2 Cardinals 97.7 69.3 167.0 1 24 25
3 4-3 49ers 91.0 72.9 163.9 6 11 17
4 6-1 Chiefs 97.6 66.2 163.8 4 23 27
5 5-2 Rams 90.9 72.7 163.6 5 12 17
6 6-0 Steelers 90.6 71.8 162.4 24 1 25
7 5-1 Seahawks 99.2 59.6 158.8 11 29 40
8 5-1 Ravens 89.6 69.2 158.8 28 5 33
9 5-1 Titans 101.3 55.4 156.7 16 16 32
10 5-1 Packers 100.3 56.1 156.4 18 7 25
11 5-2 Browns 94.3 61.2 155.5 11 25 36
12 4-2 Colts 83.0 72.4 155.4 22 2 24
13 3-3 Dolphins 87.5 67.0 154.5 25 8 33
14 2-4 Chargers 89.3 63.5 152.8 14 13 27
15 4-2 Saints 97.5 53.7 151.2 20 3 23
16 1-5 Vikings 89.5 59.4 148.9 21 20 41
17 5-2 Bears 75.6 71.2 146.8 23 15 38
18 2-5 Washington 77.2 69.2 146.4 29 10 39
19 1-6 Falcons 89.7 56.5 146.2 3 32 35
20 5-2 Bills 88.1 58.1 146.2 7 22 29
21 3-4 Panthers 87.9 58.2 146.1 9 19 28
22 3-3 Lions 89.1 56.9 146.0 26 14 40
23 2-4 Patriots 77.3 67.2 144.5 27 9 36
24 3-3 Raiders 92.8 48.1 140.9 19 17 36
25 2-4-1 Eagles 82.3 58.5 140.8 15 18 33
26 2-4 Broncos 71.1 69.5 140.6 31 4 35
27 1-6 Texans 87.1 51.9 139.0 10 30 40
28 1-6 Jaguars 84.5 53.5 138.0 17 31 48
29 1-5-1 Bengals 81.6 54.9 136.5 13 27 40
30 1-6 Giants 69.8 64.2 134.0 30 21 51
31 2-5 Cowboys 84.1 49.0 133.1 2 28 30
32 0-7 Jets 63.8 65.4 129.2 32 26 58
NFL Average 87.4 62.5 149.9
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BROADCAST NEWS
A tiny schedule change in Week 10
Pittsburgh’s schedule has been altered yet again. But this time, its upcoming game hasn’t been moved to a new week. Just to a later hour, Jeremy Bergman of NFL.com reports.
The Steelers’ Week 10 game against the Cincinnati Bengals in Pittsburgh has been moved from 1 p.m. ET to 4:25 p.m. ET, the league announced Tuesday. The contest will still be broadcast on FOX.
The small scheduling change leaves just five games in the early window and six in the late window on Sunday, Nov. 15, which just so happens to be the date of the final round of The 2020 Masters Tournament.
Remember, Week 10 is when CBS gave up all early games to show the Masters.
Here is what the FOX slate now looks like:
Early (1 p.m. ET)
Tampa Bay at Carolina
Philadelphia at New York Giants
Jacksonville at Green Bay
Washington at Detroit
Houston at Cleveland
Late (4:25 p.m. ET)
Seattle at LA Rams
San Francisco at New Orleans
Cincinnati at Pittsburgh
CBS Late (4:05 p.m. ET)
LA Chargers at Miami
Denver at Las Vegas
Buffalo at Arizona
NBC Sunday night (presumably not flexed)
Baltimore at New England
So what happens if the Masters goes into a long playoff?
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STATS ARE FOR LOSERS
Long after the Bears-Rams game was over, the Bears lost a sack and Rob Huntze of St. Louis lost $997.000. David Perdhum of ESPN.com:
A stat correction that changed a sack to a tackle for loss in the Chicago Bears-Los Angeles Rams game Monday caused a $997,000 fantasy football heartbreak for a 41-year-old insurance agent in St. Louis.
For 30 minutes after Monday’s game ended, Rob Huntze thought he had won the $1 million first prize in a DraftKings contest.
Everything had worked out perfectly for Huntze down the stretch of the Rams’ 24-10 win. One of Huntze’s lineups that featured both the Bears’ and Rams’ defenses had scored 92.79 points, the most out of the 176,470 entries. His computer screen showed a $1 million first prize.
He texted with friends and called his parents to share the exciting news and took his dog Achilles for a quick walk.
When he returned, he wanted to refresh his computer screen again, “just to see myself on top,” he said. “And, then, boom.”
A sack that had been credited to the Bears’ defense late in the fourth quarter was changed to a running play, a 3-yard loss by Rams quarterback Jared Goff. That 3-yard loss dropped Huntze into a tie for sixth place with 18 other entries, and his prize money dropped from $1 million to $3,078.94.
“Heartbreaking on many levels,” a resigned Huntze told ESPN on Tuesday.
The play in question occurred with three minutes left in the fourth quarter. On third down, Goff faked a handoff to the right side and bootlegged back to the left. Bears linebacker James Vaughters didn’t bite on the fake and teamed with defensive tackle Akiem Hicks to bring Goff down 3 yards behind the line of scrimmage.
Hicks was initially credited with a sack, but the official scorer later changed the play to a 3-yard loss on a run by Goff. Rams wide receivers appeared to be blocking downfield, an indication of a designed run. Sacks are not credited on designed runs.
“It had to be a sack,” Huntze said. “There’s no other way to look at it.”
“Plays such as this one are routinely discussed by the Stats Crew and updated accordingly,” Michael Signora, NFL senior vice president of football and international communications, told ESPN in an email. “In this instance, because the play happened so close to the end of the game, it was reviewed by the Stats Crew and then updated prior to publishing the Game Summary, commonly referred to as the Game Book.”
Stats corrections are not uncommon and regularly affect fantasy contests. Huntze said he lost out on $5,000 due to a stat correction in a previous fantasy contest, but this time it was much more painful.
After the correction, five entries finished tied for first with 91.19 points and split the $1 million prize. Huntze’s entry, robocles (37), would have won first by itself, earning him the entire $1 million. Instead, he said his 43 entries won a total of $3,554.
Wild swings on late plays happen weekly in fantasy football, but going from winning $1 million to just over $3,000 had the daily fantasy community buzzing over Huntze’s bad fortune.
An avid daily fantasy player who has qualified three times for DraftKings’ world championship, Huntze said he believed Monday’s contest was going to be his “big breakthrough.” Despite the $997,000 letdown, he plans to be back in action Thursday night.
“I want a little redemption story,” he said.
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