CHICAGO

As Jay Cuda has pointed out there is only one team that has not won a game since Elon Musk bought X/Twitter last October.  And the same QB has started every game.  Courtney Cronin of ESPN.com:

Chicago Bears wide receiver DJ Moore was open, and not just slightly open. There wasn’t a Tampa Bay Buccaneers defender within five yards of Moore until he reached the top of his route with 13:36 to go in the second quarter Sunday and his team holding onto a four-point lead.

Moore clapped his hands as he crossed the left hash on Tampa Bay’s 40-yard line to get the attention of quarterback Justin Fields, who had a clean pocket. His pass protection was strong, and he had ample time to throw. Yet this gotta-have-it moment for the Bears’ offense resulted in a sack for an 11-yard loss, one of six Fields sacks in the 27-17 defeat.

The Bears’ offense is struggling to find answers amid an 0-2 start that raises questions about Fields’ development, which has looked more like a regression after an offseason that was designed to set him up for success with new personnel around him and the same playcaller in offensive coordinator Luke Getsy.

“I think he did a lot of good things in the game,” Bears coach Matt Eberflus said of Fields. “You could see that. You could see his operation is better with the offense, you could feel that.

“But again, we’re just searching for consistency, to be able to create those explosive plays, get the ball to [Moore], get the ball to [Chase Claypool].”

Fields was 16-of-29 for 211 yards, one touchdown pass, two interceptions and a 23 QBR. Two strong drives that resulted in touchdowns — on Chicago’s first and eighth possessions — were muddied by problems that helped extend the Bears’ losing streak to 12 straight.

Time to throw: The first thing general manager Ryan Poles said he wanted to see from Fields this season to determine the QB’s growth was to get “those sack numbers to come down.”

Fields has been sacked 101 times since entering the league in 2021. The Bears currently rank last in the NFL in sack percentage, which is indicative of poor pass protection and the quarterback holding onto the ball too long. According to ESPN Stats and Information, nine of the 10 sacks Fields has taken this season have come after four-plus seconds. Since 2021, 79 of Fields’ sacks came after four-plus seconds, which is 16 more than any other quarterback.

On the third-and-13 play from Chicago’s own 47-yard line with Moore open, Fields had 4.63 seconds to throw, but he was sacked. Through two games, Fields is averaging the fifth-slowest time to throw at 2.98 seconds.

Later in the second quarter, another instance when Fields had 4.9 seconds to throw resulted in a sack just outside of Tampa Bay’s red zone. Fields hesitated, according to Eberflus, to hit Roschon Johnson, who was open on a seam route, because the spacing of his receivers threw off his timing.

“We got to do a better job with our spacing there, with our receiver spacing,” Eberflus said. “There was a little bit of an issue there with the spacing part of it, and we’ve got to do a better job executing there.”

Fields was strip-sacked two plays later when he had 5.19 seconds to throw. Bears center Lucas Patrick saved the drive by diving onto the ball. A promising drive ended with a 52-yard field goal.

Downfield passing: Fields is averaging 6.5 yards per attempt. His 5.0 air yards per target were the lowest of any quarterback in Week 2, according to Next Gen Stats. The Bears are last in the league in completion percentage over expectation (11.1), and only 26% of Fields’ throws have gone past the sticks.

Coming off an opening loss to the Packers, Fields aimed to be less conservative and throw the ball down field more. There were moments when that happened:

A 33-yard strike to Moore on the first play of Chicago’s opening drive when the Bears reached the end zone.

A 20-yard tight-window throw to Claypool in the back of the end zone in the fourth quarter.

A dose of play-action designed to put Fields on the run in the second quarter yielded a great deep ball to Cole Kmet, but a defensive play broke up the reception.

“When you have good protection, it makes my job easier, and we of course were able to throw down field,” Fields said.

Unfortunately for the Bears, between Chicago’s two touchdown drives, the Bears averaged 2.1 yards per play and only gained 72 yards.

Playcalling: Aside from Johnson’s 29-yard run against the Bucs, Chicago’s once dominant rushing attack — it led the league last season — fell flat for a second straight week. Fields’ running has been non-existent, with only four designed runs. Fields rushed for 1,143 yards last season, nearly breaking Lamar Jackson’s single-season rushing record for a QB of 1,206.

Some of that has to do with how defenses are taking away Fields’ running lanes with zone coverage. The quarterback has faced zone on 74% of his dropbacks, which is the third-highest rate among QBs. As a passer, Fields’ efficiency has dropped facing zone through two games compared to last year (69 QBR vs. 17).

The lack of run support and plays called to utilize Fields’ strongest asset — his legs — have put him in uncomfortable situations. Fields has dropped back to pass 66 times in two games. On 43 dropbacks where he’s had three-plus seconds to throw, 23 have resulted in incompletions or sacks.

The final series for the Bears’ offense put Fields and the offense in a bind. Getsy dialed up screen passes to the same side of the field on back-to-back plays. Bucs linebacker Lavonte David said “everybody knew what was coming” when Fields threw an inside screen that resulted in a pick-six by Shaquil Barrett.

“In that situation it’s tough,” Fields said. “If you call a deeper pass, you don’t want to drop back into the end zone and have a potential to take a safety. I think that’s a tough spot regarding playcalls for Luke in that position. He went with his gut and seven ended up making a good play. It is what it is.”

This from Jay Cuda:

@JayCuda

Justin Fields has had 1 game with 320+ passing yards since he graduated from high school.

Patrick Mahomes has had 60.

To be fair – we count Mahomes having played in 128 games since high school, Fields has played in only 63.

Still Mahomes hits 320 about half the time, Fields once every 60.

NEW YORK GIANTS

The initial prognosis was three or four weeks out of the lineup for RB SAQUON BARKLEY after his sprained ankle late in Sunday’s game.  That timeframe may be shortening.  Jordan Raanan of ESPN.com:

New York Giants coach Brian Daboll refused to rule out Saquon Barkley despite an ankle injury his star running back suffered in Sunday’s 31-28 victory over the Arizona Cardinals.

The Giants play the San Francisco 49ers on Thursday night.

When a reporter suggested that Barkley would miss time, Daboll cut him off.

“I wouldn’t count on that,” he said. “Not just yet.”

When pressed on whether Barkley would at least miss Thursday night, he wouldn’t go there, either.

“I’m not saying that he’s out yet,” Daboll said when a reporter suggested they would be without Barkley against the 49ers. “He’s a quick healer. I’m not saying he’s in, he’s out. We’re going to take it all the way up with him to Thursday.

“But he feels a lot better [Tuesday].”

Daboll said they would let the decision go up to Thursday. Barkley was projected as a “did not practice” on Monday and Tuesday, with the Giants only holding walk-throughs in Arizona. They plan to fly to California on Wednesday.

It still remains likely that Barkley misses time because of the injury. When the diagnosis came out Monday it was suggested that he was expected to miss three weeks, a source told ESPN’s Adam Schefter.

The Giants (1-1) do have 11 days before games after playing in San Francisco.

It still seems likely that Barkley misses multiple games despite Daboll saying he’s making “considerable progress” and that he’s a fast healer. Barkley missed three games in 2019 with an ankle injury and four in 2021 with an ankle problem. Both times he struggled upon his return and took several weeks to return to his previous form.

In his first four games back from the ankle injury in 2019, Barkley averaged just 41.25 yards per game. In his first four games back from the ankle injury in 2021, he averaged just 46.0 yards per game and later admitted he wasn’t himself.

It would benefit the player and team not to rush Barkley back.

“I just say with every injury until you are with the player, you see the player — you might heal a little different than I heal, he might heal different than another player heals,” Daboll said. “Again, Saquon is a lot better than I thought he would be, or some other people thought he would be [Tuesday].

“We’ll just take it day to day with him and if he can make it, great. If he can’t, we’ll see if he can get better by the following week.”

The Giants have three options at running back — Matt Breida, Gary Brightwell and Eric Gray — if Barkley misses Thursday’s contest. Breida is expected to step in and play the biggest role. Daboll mentioned this week that they’ve spent several seasons together (dating back to their time in Buffalo) and that he “knows the offense.”

Breida also is the most trustworthy option as a pass-blocker, which will likely give him a chunk of passing down snaps.

Brightwell should also get some carries while Gray could be used sporadically as a runner and pass-catcher. The rookie out of Oklahoma struggled with his pass blocking this summer.

“The three guys we have behind Saquon, they are all here for a reason. We’re comfortable with all those guys, whether that is run or pass. … We have confidence in them.”

ATLANTA

Randy Mueller is among those who have noticed that the Falcons defense has gone from bad to good in a relatively short period of time.

When I sat down Monday morning to dive into the film of the Green Bay Packers’ loss to the Atlanta Falcons on Sunday, my intent was to give a report card on how the day went for Green Bay quarterback Jordan Love. After less than 15 minutes of film work, my mindset had totally shifted. The Falcons defense made me take notice. The story for me was the level of buy-in, commitment and intensity that makes that side of the ball the best defense that nobody is talking about, one that has given up the third-fewest yards in the NFL through two games.

Yes, Atlanta was facing two brand new NFL starting quarterbacks, but Weeks 1 and 2 were the Falcons defense’s best two-game stretch of yards per play allowed (4.2) since at least 2000, according to TruMedia. And they’ve allowed two explosive plays after giving up 15, 15 and 12, respectively, in the same period the past three seasons.

And before you say, “It’s about time,” remember that the Falcons have had to rely solely on the draft and sit on their hands when it came to spending money because of the prior regime’s cap decisions. They couldn’t really commit new money to their roster until a purge happened. And the big overhaul could not happen until they jettisoned Matt Ryan’s contract, for starters. That took guts to execute, and I applaud them for being calculated and committed.

When you take over a rebuild of an NFL franchise, you have to be very intentional with your moves, and the sooner you can be aligned as a football staff, the smoother the transition will go. A new general manager can identify most easily the players and coaches from their old team who fit the new vision. I always examine how many staffers and players follow a new leader to another franchise. If the number is very low, it’s almost a red flag. People have to trust that the new decision-maker is worth following, and it’s not always a given. It is alarming for me if the numbers don’t follow.

Let’s look at the case of Falcons GM Terry Fontenot. He had to wait two full seasons to clear up cap space in order to make any progress. That tests the patience of fans, the media and even those inside a building. Finally this offseason the timing aligned for that transformation to happen.

Although this collection of contributors is far from complete, Fontenot reached into his past to build the current version of the Falcons. First, he plucked Ryan Nielsen from his former team, the New Orleans Saints, to coordinate the Falcons defense. Fontenot’s and Nielsen’s familiarity allowed them to quickly rebuild a defense that finished near the bottom in most categories in 2022. That was not the fault of now-retired former defensive coordinator Dean Pees. They just didn’t have the horses.

Based on their past, Fontenot and Nielson knew they had commonality in identifying criteria, skills and fit when envisioning additions and subtractions to the roster. This is really important. There was no learning curve necessary for them.

So it made total sense that their first targets were defensive lineman David Onyemata, a former fourth-round pick of the Saints who signed for three years and $35 million, and linebacker Kaden Ellis, another Saints pick who spent the first four years of his career in New Orleans and signed for three years and $21.5 million. Both became immediate starters, and they were joined by rotational interior defensive lineman Albert Huggins, who was with the Saints in 2021 and 2022. How about that haul from your biggest rival?

Then came longtime stalwart Calais Campbell and his 99 career sacks on a one-year, $7 million deal. Pro Bowl safety Jessie Bates came from Cincinnati to lead a secondary that had no center fielder.

This is a makeover of epic proportions, but the Falcons were not done.

They acquired Jeff Okudah, the No. 3 pick in the draft in 2020, from the Detroit Lions in exchange for the equivalent of a cup of Starbucks (a fifth-round pick), and though he continues to battle injuries, that is a no-brainer as far as risk-reward goes.

These new additions joined two outstanding home-grown players on the Falcons defense, cornerback AJ Terrell and defensive tackle Grady Jarrett, who are stand-alone stars. So this team has been built in every which way. They have made good decisions and even have depth in their front seven. Starting inside linebacker Troy Anderson suffered a concussion in Week 1, and his fill-in — 2022 undrafted free agent Nate Landman, might be the biggest steal of the whole crew. The former practice squad player jumped out at me on tape with really good instincts, a nose for the ball and his willingness to hit anything that moves.

Having done this once in New Orleans in 2000, I know how everything has to align for it to come together. It’s early, but let’s put the Falcons on that early Executive of the Year watch, especially if Arthur Smith’s offensive philosophy continues to be executed as it has these first two weeks. It’s hard to find a team that is playing complementary football to this level these days.

CAROLINA

Is it a good sign that the Panthers are “protecting” QB BRYCE YOUNG in his second game?  Michael David Smith of ProFootballTalk.com on Frank Reich’s strategy:

During Monday night’s game, the Panthers twice took quarterback Bryce Young out and replaced him with Andy Dalton in short-yardage situations. That led to questions about whether coach Frank Reich is concerned about the diminutive Young getting hurt on quarterback sneaks.

Reich was asked about that and said he thinks Young can sneak if he needs to, but he acknowledged it would be nice to limit Young’s exposure to injuries in pileups.

“Some of those things you just want to limit the exposure of Bryce to,” Reich said. “Bryce can do any of it, but you got an experienced veteran. There’s no golden rule that says he can’t come in and play a couple plays in the game. Look what the Saints did. I know Taysom Hill’s a different story, but why not do that to a lesser extent if it can be utilized in a positive way?”

Dalton didn’t actually sneak the ball on either of his plays. One play, a fourth-and-1, was called off because of a false start penalty, and on the other play, a third-and-1, Dalton took advantage of the defense expecting a quarterback sneak and instead flipped the ball to Miles Sanders, who ran for five yards. But putting Dalton in on short yardage seems to suggest that if the Panthers are going to run a quarterback sneak, Reich would prefer that Dalton does it.

Reich said he has made similar quarterback switches in the past, noting that he used his backup quarterback in short yardage during his time with the Colts as well.

“That’s not unprecedented by any stretch of the imagination,” Reich said. “We had Jacoby Brissett, we brought him in on some short-yardage situations.”

It sounds like an approach Reich will continue to take, with Dalton perhaps getting a snap or two a game when the Panthers want to sneak it, or make the defense think they might sneak it, and not put Young in a situation where he’s being smothered by 300-pound linemen.

SAN FRANCISCO

Mike Florio of ProFootballTalk.com is interested in Kyle Shanahan’s explanation of how the Niners and other teams get ready on a short week:

49ers coach Kyle Shanahan’s reward for an unexpectedly tight Week 2 win over the Rams was to get ready for the next train that was already rolling down the tracks.

The 49ers host the Giants on Thursday night, roughly 96 hours after the conclusion of their victory in L.A.

Shanahan was asked by reporters on Tuesday whether the preparation is rushed by a Sunday-to-Thursday turnaround.

“You feel extremely rushed,” Shanahan said. “I saw the players a few hours ago and it was the first time I saw them. I told them it was Wednesday morning and by the end of our first meeting, it was Thursday. . . . Tomorrow morning is Friday but by 10 o’clock it’s the day before the game. So, it’s weird.

“We’re throwing four days into two days, as a coaching staff we throw two days into one day. So it’s kind of a ‘something’ show as we do it, but then it’s about retaining it when it slows down. We’ve got to put them all through it, the players. So we just throw it all at them, we go on and walk through it twice, we go watch it. Then it’ll slow down at night when they leave. But that’s usually about sleeping and catching up.

“Then tomorrow kind of when you get to the hotel it’s like now it’s normal even though it’s not. But now it’s Saturday night and slow it down a little bit. I always love that Thursdays are night games because I think it’s important on the day of the game to kind of review your whole week, which is the day before on all the stuff that came in so you don’t hesitate in the game.”

The inability of coaching staffs to fully prepare can contribute to the periodic “poofest” quality of Thursday night games. Also, injured players who might have been ready on Sunday sometimes aren’t ready on Thursday.

The league’s mantra regarding short-week football is that the injury rate is no different on Sundays than it is on Thursdays. That’s a red herring. It’s not about injuries that happen during the game. It’s about teams — players and coaches — being ready to play.

Based on Shanahan’s explanation, they’re as ready as they’re going to be. But they clearly could be more ready. More rested. More prepared. More effective.

Regardless, the ship has sailed on the Thursday night debate. It’s here to stay. The only question that remains is when (not if) the NFL starts playing on Tuesday and Wednesday nights, too.

Interesting that Shanahan would not have Thursday day to review things if the Niners were playing the early game in Detroit on Thanksgiving.

LOS ANGELES RAMS

Who is WR PUKA NACUA?  Sarah Barshop of ESPN.com:

– Puka Nacua’s 10th catch on Sunday set the record for most catches in a rookie’s first two games. His 11th put him over 100 yards receiving for the second game in a row. But his 12th showed just who the fifth-rounder out of BYU is on the football field.

On fourth-and-2 and trailing the San Francisco 49ers by 10 with 10:18 remaining, the Los Angeles Rams were driving down the field. Quarterback Matthew Stafford found Nacua in the middle of the field for a 9-yard completion where he was met by two defenders after his first step, but he trudged forward for at least 1 more yard. The drive would end in a field goal and the Rams came up short in their comeback attempt, but it was just one of many plays where Nacua hasn’t relented a single yard.

Nacua has an NFL-high 111 yards after the catch this season, the most by a Rams player in the team’s first two games since wide receiver Cooper Kupp had 146 in 2021, according to ESPN Stats & Information data. He and Kupp are the only Rams wide receivers with 100 in their team’s first two games in the past 15 seasons.

That fourth-down catch was one BYU wide receivers coach Fesi Sitake saw many times during Nacua’s two seasons playing for the Cougars.

“He would catch anywhere from a 5- to a 10-yard route and just turn right upfield and on contact would get hit, but then just finds a way to drag a defender or two, another 2 or 3 yards,” Sitake said. “And you add those up on six, seven catches, those are 20 hidden yards that you get from just sheer grit and toughness and all that stuff.

“That’s the epitome of Puka.”

That Nacua has the opportunity to lead the league in targets is because the Rams have been without Kupp, their star receiver and Super Bowl LVI MVP. Kupp will miss at least two more games after he was placed on injured reserve before the start of the season because of a lingering hamstring issue.

Nacua leads the league with 35 targets — 10 more than Vikings wide receiver Justin Jefferson and 11 more than the Miami Dolphins’ Tyreek Hill, who rank second and third. Nacua’s 15 receptions in the Rams’ Week 2 loss is the most in a game by a rookie in NFL history. The tally also is tied for the second-most in a game in Rams history, trailing only Tom Fears’ 18 in 1950.

All this from an unheralded fifth-rounder Rams coach Sean McVay called “a real pleasant surprise” during training camp. Those who have known Nacua for longer than McVay, though, saw this success coming.

“I thought that he would be a great pro, and I thought that everybody that passed on him would regret it,” BYU offensive coordinator Aaron Roderick said. “And looks like I’m right.”

WHEN HE SEES Nacua make a contested catch, Roderick flashes back to a November evening in Boise, Idaho. Trailing by four at the end of the game, in front of a sold-out Boise State crowd, Roderick called three straight plays to get Nacua the ball.

“And then it was fourth-and-goal from the 5,” Roderick said. “Everyone in the stadium knew we were throwing the ball to Puka. And we threw it to him anyway. We’re not going to try to trick ourselves here. And all we did was just throw him a fade, and he made an unbelievable contested catch. It was pass interference; they didn’t call it, but it didn’t matter. He came down with it with both feet in bounds, and we won.”

Sitake remembers the conversation over the headset.

“We all just kind of unanimously agreed,” Sitake said, “if we’re going to put the game on the line, we’re giving it to our best player. We had other games in the past where we didn’t do that, and we learned our lesson and we just said, ‘You know what? If we’re going to lose this game, we’re going to lose it going to Puka.’ We go up, and it was a play that literally only he could have made.”

Multiple scouts and personnel executives told ESPN before the draft that it was Nacua’s ability in contested ball situations that stood out on film.

Roderick called Nacua “the best I’ve ever seen” at those contested catches, saying he has “a unique ability to be playing at a really high speed and find the ball in flight, and then adjust his body with relationship to where the defender is and come down with it.”

“We’d just throw go routes in games to him, and he didn’t even have to be open,” Roderick said. ” … He’ll just run and lull the defender to sleep, and then, we call it ‘late hands,’ where he’ll put his hands up at the last second where the defender doesn’t have a chance to react to it.”

That physicality from Nacua has been noticed at the NFL level. McVay said the rookie “plays with really aggressive hands.”

“You can just see through the catch point and then on contact,” McVay said. “He’s heavy at contact. He’s got great contact balance. I think he made a lot of good plays without the ball in his hands as well as with the ball in his hands. He embodies that toughness.”

Roderick told the Rams scout he spoke to about Nacua that the receiver “practices so hard, we had to dial him back.”

“Like, whoa, chill out, you’re going to hurt yourself,” Roderick said. “He doesn’t know any other speed than full speed. I’m sure they’ve had to teach him there that they don’t kill each other in practice in the NFL.”

– – –

Injury history played a large part in him dropping to the fifth round of the draft in April.

Nacua broke his foot during his freshman season at Washington, where he played for two years before transferring to BYU. Nacua also dealt with nagging injuries there, including an ankle injury during the 2022 season.

Multiple scouts and personnel executives told ESPN before the draft that they had Nacua in the Round 5 or 6 range, and a few teams felt he was a priority free agent because of injuries.

Leading up to the draft, Sitake said Nacua was open about the idea that he might not be a high pick, in part because he had seen brothers Kai and Samson go through the process.

“I thought he handled it the right way by saying, ‘I really don’t know where I’m going to go and, quite frankly, don’t care,'” Sitake said. “‘I believe in myself, and whoever takes me is going to be really glad that they did.’

“And so I was happy to see him go into the draft with that type of mindset because I’ve seen many others who haven’t done that, and it’s been a letdown, it’s been a disappointment and affected them mentally. … I think a lot of his success right now is he’s playing very free, because I think he took a lot of unnecessary pressure off of himself starting from that draft process and what his expectations were.”

– – –

Former BYU quarterback Jaren Hall, a Minnesota Vikings fifth-round pick in April, said when he heard “how quickly he was learning with Cooper Kupp and in the film room with Matthew [Stafford] and Cooper, listening to them, I just knew he’d find a spot and he’d be trusted really quickly.”

When Rams offensive coordinator Mike LaFleur watches rookies, he can look at their eyes when they’re in the huddle, “and you can tell the guys that are swimming, the guys that aren’t, and he definitely has a calm demeanor about himself.”

“His understanding of the game comes really natural to him,” Stafford said.

Some of that came from learning from Kai, who played at BYU before appearing in 25 NFL games between 2017 and 2021. When Kai had time to talk to his family on Mondays and Tuesday during the season, he said he “was able to just kind of give them whatever I was getting throughout that week,” teaching his younger brothers how to prepare for their dream of an NFL career.

“It definitely was an advantage for him to get that from an older brother,” Kai said, “someone who was living it day by day and just hearing it constantly of like, ‘this is how you need to perform.'”

And now that Puka is a pro, it’s the veterans in the Rams’ receivers room — Kupp, Van Jefferson, Demarcus Robinson and Tutu Atwell — Nacua has been leaning on.

“They’ve helped accelerate my learning,” Nacua said. “It’s been so fun to get to ask questions. I hope they never get annoyed with me.”

Two weeks in, it’s hard to imagine anyone getting annoyed with a record-breaking rookie.

Nacua was born in Las Vegas, then his family moved to Provo, Utah after his father passed away in 2012 at age 45.  His older brother, Kai, is his father figure.  He also went to BYU and has been under contract with 6 NFL teams.  Kai was with Michigan of the USFL this spring.

CLEVELAND

The Browns have declared that RB JEROME FORD will be the next man up in the place of injured RB NICK CHUBB.  Ford, who is from Armwood HS near Tampa, played collegiately at Alabama and Cincinnati – teaming with Desmond Ridder in 2021 and amassing 1,319 rush yards and 19 rushing TDs.  Drafted in the 5^th round in 2022, he had 48 rush yards in 14 games before being thrust into the spotlight on Monday.

Bryan DeArdo of CBSSports.com looks at other options beyond Ford:

Browns head coach Kevin Stefanski confirmed Tuesday that Chubb suffered a significant knee injury and is done for the season. Chubb’s injuries included multiple torn ligaments, according to NFL Media. With Chubb out, Stefanski said that backup Jerome Ford, who rushed for 106 yards on 16 carries against the Steelers, will now be the team’s “featured back.”

However, the Browns will still look to add another player at the position, per Stefanski. Current free agent and former Browns running back Kareem Hunt visited with Cleveland on Tuesday, CBS Sports HQ Senior NFL Insider Josina Anderson reported, making a reunion all the more likely. According to Cleveland.com, Cam Akers, who was reportedly placed on the trade block by the Rams, is also among the options the Browns are exploring.

A four-time Pro Bowler, Chubb had 64 yards on 10 carries prior to getting injured. He had 106 yards on the ground in the Browns’ Week 1 win over the Bengals.

The loss of Chubb is significant for the Browns, who went into Monday night with legitimate playoff hopes. Now, the Browns will have to keep those hopes alive without one of the NFL’s best running backs and overall players.

As for who they should possibly add to help cushion the blow of losing Chubb, here are some options.

Kareem Hunt

As mentioned above, Hunt is already visiting the Browns. He is still available on the free agent market and, given that he’s played for the Browns for the previous four seasons, he has immense knowledge of the playbook and could be a plug-and-play addition to the backfield. In 17 games played last season, the 28-year-old rushed for 468 yards and three touchdowns while catching 35 passes for 210 yards and another score. If Cleveland wants to roll with Ford as its primary back, Hunt would be a nice secondary option who can take on a bigger workload if needed.

Leonard Fournette

Fournette is in a similar situation to Hunt. The veteran went unsigned this offseason and is currently looking for the right opportunity to arise, which could possibly be with the Browns post-Chubb. The 28-year-old can work both in between the tackles and as a pass catcher, which would complement Ford well. With the Buccaneers last season, Fournette totaled 1,191 yards from scrimmage and six touchdowns. That included 73 receptions for 523 yards.

Cam Akers

Cam Akers’ relationship with the Rams has seemingly deteriorated, with the back being a healthy inactive last week. Now, reports are that L.A. is putting him on the trading block as it rolls forward with Kyren Williams as its primary ball-carrier. With a need for some help in the backfield, the Browns naturally make sense post-Chubb. The former second round pick rushed for 786 yards (4.2 yards per carry) in 2022 with seven touchdowns. In the Week 1 opener against Seattle, he rushed for just 29 yards on 22 attempts, so he might be best looked at as a complementary piece to Ford as he ascends to replace Chubb.

Jonathan Taylor

If they want a straight-up Chubb replacement, you can’t get much better than Jonathan Taylor. The Colts back is currently on injured reserve, but can still be traded. Of course, his health would be the first thing Cleveland would have to verify before swinging such a deal, but, when healthy, Taylor is among the league’s best running backs. Leading up to the season, the Colts did grant Taylor’s camp permission to seek a trade, but nothing came to fruition. As he gets closer to being eligible to return off IR, it will be interesting to see if those trade talks heat up. Getting a player of Taylor’s caliber in the fold would main Cleveland’s running game as one of the most feared in the league and would probably be a welcome development for the veteran as well.

– – –

Former NFL safety Ryan Clark and former NFL WR Nate Burleson have had a debate about whether Steelers S MINKAH FITZPATRICK went outside the spirit of the game with his hit on Chubb.

Ryan Clark

@Realrclark25

If a defender goes high and a player gets concussed he’s dirty! If a defender goes low and a player gets a lower extremity injury he’s dirty. Where can he hit a runner then y’all? I mean sheesh. The growing softness of this game and the sensitivity of those who watch it saddens me.

To which Burleson responded:

Nathaniel E Burleson

@nateburleson

RC, you know I love you like a brother so I mean this with all due respect… You are wrong on this one fam. The reason there is outrage about that hit on Chubb isn’t about the game or it’s fans getting soft. The problem is Minkah who is a veteran DB torpedoed at Chubbs leg while he was already being taken down by a defender.

If your response is:

“He didn’t know Chubb was already being tackled. ”

• Well, pick your head up!

“He didn’t want to go high.”

•Well, aim for the multiple areas above the knee & below the head like hip, ribs or shoulder.

“Chubb is a power back so it takes multiple guys to bring him down.”

• Fine, but let’s apply the same chop block rules like we do in the trenches.

For me it’s 1 of 2 things… Malicious or a weak attempt at tackling someone. I don’t know Minkah well enough to call him dirty so I won’t.

I’ll leave all defensive players with this… Would you hit your own teammate like that in a live scrimmage? That’s a rhetorical question because the answer should be NO, so keep that in mind the next time you think about aiming at someone’s knees on during a game.

              With love, ~ Nate B

And this from Clark:

Ryan Clark

@Realrclark25

Respect brother. I disagree, and being in that position as a defender is something people who haven’t can’t fully understand. It is not Minkah’s job to protect other players. It’s his job to get them on the ground, & defend every blade of grass.

I’m extremely sad that such a good human, and amazing player was severely injured.

Josina Anderson Xs/tweets out this update on Chubb:

@JosinaAnderson

I’m told there were initial discussions of #Browns RB Nick Chubb potentially needing 2 surgeries to address his injuries following MNF in Pittsburgh—with the 1st surgery coming w/i the next 7-10 days & the 2nd occurring several weeks after, per source. This is preliminary talk.

I’m also told RB Nick Chubb’s injuries includes his meniscus, per source. #Browns

@JosinaAnderson

If it’s any consolation #Browns fans…I did hear Nick Chubb was in good spirits today, considering the gravity of the circumstances—getting around in crutches with his knee braced to inhibit flexion.

It makes sense there’d be some wait time before surgery-which is fluid -to allow  swelling to recede, then surgically deal with stability and micro repairs & whatever else, in whatever sequence. Assessments can evolve once doctors commence any procedure.

Chubb is the soul of the team. Miracles can happen in restoring the body.

I’ve gone through my own.

Stay faithful, Cleveland.

NEW ENGLAND

An altercation in the stands went terribly wrong Sunday night.

A person attending Sunday night’s Miami Dolphins-New England Patriots game at Gillette Stadium said the man who died after what officials called an “incident” there was punched in the head two times.

In an interview with several local media outlets, Joey Kilmartin said he saw Dale Mooney, a 53-year-old from Newmarket, New Hampshire, confront a rival Dolphins fan whom he had been arguing with during most of the game.

“He [Mooney] went over to Section 311, and he basically engaged in mutual combat with another fan,” Kilmartin told The Boston Globe. “A lot of people started trying to pull them apart. … It looked like somebody was in the middle of them. And then a man in the Dolphins jersey reached over, and he connected with two punches to the victim’s head. It wasn’t something crazy or out of the ordinary until, 30 seconds later, the guy wasn’t getting up.”

Police and personnel responded to the facility’s upper deck shortly before 11 p.m. and found Mooney “in apparent need of medical attention,” the Norfolk County district attorney’s office said Monday in a news release. Mooney was taken to a hospital, where he was pronounced dead, according to the release.

The results of an autopsy are expected this week, a spokesperson for the district attorney’s office said.

Massachusetts State Police are investigating what transpired.

“Numb. I just feel numb. I just can’t even believe this is for real,” Mooney’s wife, Lisa, told Boston’s WCVB-TV. “I want to know what happened. What caused this?”

Gillette Stadium officials said in a statement they were “heartbroken” to learn about the death of Mooney, whom they described as a lifelong Patriots fan and a 30-year season-ticket holder.

“We continue to work with local authorities to assist them with their ongoing investigation,” the statement indicated. “We extend our sincerest sympathies and heartfelt condolences to Dale’s family and to all those who are mourning his loss.”

This indicates Mooney’s death wasn’t strictly caused by the punch or punches.  Mike Reiss of ESPN.com:

The death of a New England Patriots fan involved in a fight at Sunday night’s game at Gillette Stadium may not have been a result of “traumatic injury” but rather from a “medical issue,” an official said Wednesday.

Norfolk County District Attorney Michael Morrissey said in a statement Wednesday morning that preliminary autopsy results “did identify a medical issue” that led to the death of Dale Mooney, of Newmarket, New Hampshire. Mooney was 53.

“Our investigation has included numerous law enforcement interviews and the examination of multiple angles of video capturing the scuffle prior to Mr. Dale Mooney’s collapse,” Morrissey said. “Preliminary autopsy results did not suggest traumatic injury, but did identify a medical issue. Cause and manner of death remain undetermined pending further testing.”

NEW YORK JETS

WR GARRETT WILSON is tired of losing 14 straight to the Patriots, even though he only lost two of them.  Rich Cimini of ESPN.com:

The New York Jets have lost 14 straight games to the New England Patriots. Enough is enough, according to Jets wide receiver Garrett Wilson.

“It’s time that things change around here,” Wilson said Tuesday during his weekly appearance on ESPN New York’s “Bart & Hahn” show. “I don’t like talking about it too much, but this is one of the first steps. Fourteen straight is unacceptable. That’s unacceptable. I’m 0-2 against them. That’s unacceptable.”

The Jets (1-1) will get a chance to end the streak Sunday at MetLife Stadium.

“I inherited — I walked into a team that, we haven’t beaten the Patriots,” the 2022 NFL Offensive Rookie of the Year said. “I feel like that’s why they brought me here, brought me and Sauce [Gardner] here and the guys here — to make things like that change. It’s time we do what we get paid for.”

Wilson wasn’t old enough to drive the last time the Jets beat the Patriots. It was Dec. 27, 2015, when he was 15 years old.

The streak is on the verge of historic levels. With a win, the Patriots (0-2) would tie their longest win streak versus any single opponent in franchise history. It also would tie the NFL’s longest active winning streak against one opponent. The Kansas City Chiefs have won 15 straight over the Denver Broncos.

The longest streak in league history is 20 — the Miami Dolphins (1970-1979) over the Buffalo Bills.

“It’ll fuel me throughout the week, honestly,” said Wilson, who has scored the Jets’ only two touchdowns this season.

THIS AND THAT

HALL OF FAME CLASS OF ‘24

In its infinite collective wisdom, the Hall of Fame voters declared T Joe Thomas and CB Darrelle Revis worthy of enshrinement in their first year of eligibility in 2023 (if you have some time, we can recite some reasons that Thomas should have been kept waiting).

So with WR Andre Johnson and others waiting in the wings, who might skip the line this year?  We think the AP got it right here in citing TE Antonio Gates and DL Julius Peppers.

Three-time All-Pros Julius Peppers and Antonio Gates headline the list of nine first-year eligible players picked among the 173 nominees for the 2024 class of the Pro Football Hall of Fame.

The other first-year eligibles are receivers Brandon Marshall and Jordy Nelson; running back Jamaal Charles; offensive linemen T.J. Lang, Josh Sitton and Max Unger; and defensive tackle Haloti Ngata.

The nine new candidates combined for 42 Pro Bowl berths and 12 first-team All-Pro selections, with five of the nine winning Super Bowls and Peppers and Gates making all-decade teams. Peppers also won the Defensive Rookie of the Year award in 2002, and Nelson was picked as Comeback Player of the Year in 2016.

Peppers and Gates were both college basketball players before finding their greatest success in football.

Peppers was one of the league’s most dominant linemen after being picked second overall by Carolina in 2002 following a two-sport career in college at North Carolina.

He had 12 sacks as a rookie and never really slowed down in a 17-year career that included stops in Chicago and Green Bay before ending back with the Panthers. He was an All-Pro in 2004, 2006 and 2010.

Peppers finished his career with 159.5 sacks — the fourth most since they became official in 1982 — and had 10 seasons with double-digit sacks. Only Hall of Famers Bruce Smith (13) and Reggie White (12) had more.

Gates played only basketball in college before turning into one of the NFL’s top tight ends ever when he switched to football as a pro after going undrafted.

The Chargers took a chance on him, and it paid off in a big way as he became an All-Pro in just his second season in 2004. He was an All-Pro again the next two seasons and went on to have a 16-year career for the team.

Gates finished with 955 catches for 11,841 yards and 116 touchdown receptions — an NFL record for tight ends. Only Hall of Famer Tony Gonzalez and Jason Witten have more catches or yards as a tight end.

The list will be reduced to 25 semifinalists in November and to 15 finalists in January before the selection committee discusses and chooses the Class of 2024 that will be enshrined in August.

The 15 finalists will be trimmed to 10 and then five during the selection meeting early next year. The final five candidates will need to get 80% of the votes from the panel to get into the Hall.

The roster of nominees consists of 67 offensive players, 50 defensive players and 12 special-teamers.

Finalists from 2022 renominated for next year are Devin Hester, Torry Holt, Andre Johnson, Reggie Wayne, Willie Anderson, Jared Allen, Dwight Freeney, Patrick Willis and Darren Woodson.

The committee will also consider former Lions and Steelers coach Buddy Parker in the coaching category and three senior candidates: Randy Gradishar, Steve McMichael and Art Powell.

They also will get in if they get support from at least 80% of voters.

NICK SABAN ON COACH PRIME

From Alex Scarborough of ESPN.com:

Nick Saban has taken notice of the success Deion Sanders has had at Colorado this season.

Saban said that although he hasn’t seen all of Colorado’s games this season, he did catch last week’s double-overtime victory over Colorado State.

Sanders, a Hall of Fame cornerback in the NFL, has led Colorado to a 3-0 start, including a season-opening victory over national champion runner-up TCU.

“I have a tremendous amount of respect for Deion Sanders,” Saban said Wednesday. “First, he’s a great person and he’s done a great job of marketing the program to create a lot of national interest.

“But I see their team playing well on the field. They play with discipline, they do a good job of executing, they’ve been able to score points, playing decent on defense. So all those things, to me, are indicators that he’s a really good coach.”

In fact, Saban said he’s always thought Sanders was a good coach.

Sanders went 27-6 in three seasons at Jackson State — his first college coaching experience — including back-to-back Southwestern Athletic Conference championships in the FCS.

Before that, Sanders coached in high school as the offensive coordinator at Trinity Christian School in Cedar Hill, Texas. He also was part of the coaching staff for the annual Under Armour All-America Game.

“He’s always been successful whether it was Jackson State, high school or now in Colorado,” Saban said. “His teams have always been well coached.”

The Buffaloes were 1-11 last year before Sanders took over last offseason and rebuilt their roster, bringing in 86 new scholarship players, including high school signings and transfers.

During a recent interview with “60 Minutes,” Sanders heaped praise on Saban; the two coaches often appear side-by-side on Aflac commercials.

“I love and I adore and I respect and every time I do a commercial with Coach Saban — it’s a gift,” Sanders said. “Just sitting in his presence and hearing him and throwing something else out there so I can hear his viewpoint on it, because he’s forgotten more things than I may ever accomplish.

“So I’m a student looking up to this wonderful teacher saying, ‘Just throw me a crumb of what you know.'”

Sanders and No. 19 Colorado visit No. 10 Oregon on Saturday at 3:30 p.m. ET, while Saban and No. 13 Alabama host No. 15 Ole Miss at the same time.