NFL - NEWS & NOTES

so sad, but when you split the sheets, do it !

 

Derek Carr to Michael Crabtree touchdown gives Raiders walk-off win over Chiefs

In perhaps the wildest game of the year so far, Derek Carr led the Oakland Raiders on an 85-yard scoring drive in the final 2:25 to steal away a 31-30 victory over the Kansas City Chiefs on Thursday night.

Carr completed a 2-yard touchdown pass to Michael Crabtree with no time remaining to tie the game and Giorgio Tavecchio‘s extra point just slipped inside the right upright to give the Raiders the one-point win.

 

Raiders running back Marshawn Lynch was ejected after contact with an official. He was escorted to the locker room with six minutes remaining in the first half.

The teams began pushing and shoving after Chiefs cornerback Marcus Peters earned an unsportsmanlike conduct penalty on a hit on Raiders quarterback Derek Carr. The Raiders took exception with several offensive linemen getting into it with the Chiefs.


Lynch, who was not in the game at the time, sprinted off the sideline and grabbed a fistful of line judge Julian Mapp’s jersey before shoving Mapp. It appeared he might have thought it was a Chiefs player before realizing it was an official.

Not that it mattered: Any contact with an official is an automatic ejection.

Lynch had two carries for 9 yards before leaving.

 

Minnesota Vikings...

Kyle Rudolph says Vikings can win with any of their three quarterbacks...

No team in the NFL has more uncertainty at the quarterback position than the Vikings, who are starting Case Keenum now but could go back to either Sam Bradford or Teddy Bridgewater when their respective knee injuries are fully healed. But Vikings tight end Kyle Rudolph says that uncertainty is not a problem.

Rudolph said on PFT Live that he and the Vikings’ other receivers have confidence in all three of their quarterbacks.


“These are all guys that can help us win football games,” Rudolph said. “Unfortunately in this business you deal with injuries. We seem to deal with more than everyone else in the last couple years but it happens. I think all these guys have handled it extremely well and have been ready for their opportunities.”

It’s unclear what the Vikings’ quarterback depth chart will look like when and if all three quarterbacks are healthy and ready to play, but Rudolph says that won’t matter to the rest of the team.

“I think the biggest thing is just for us as pass catchers, keeping a consistent routine and a consistent work habit throughout the course of the week,” Rudolph said. “We can’t worry about eight weeks from now, we can’t worry about next week, all we can focus on is taking each and every game and making sure we maximize those reps in practice.”

With the Vikings in first place in the NFC North, they have every reason to feel confident they can get to the playoffs, despite having no idea who their starting quarterback will be if they get there.

 

Marcus Peters hit was stupid and Lynch' shove was stupid... stupid is what stupid does.

 

wow - what a crazy ending to last night's game. 3 plays with no time on the clock ran due to penalties. holding calls kept the drive alive as well. crazy.

 

No way Lynch didn't know that was an official.

 

Mike Mitchell fine wasn’t for hit on Alex Smith

On Thursday, there was a report that Steelers safety Mike Mitchell was appealing a $48,620 fine for hitting Chiefs quarterback Alex Smith late and low during last Sunday’s game.

Mitchell was fined that amount, but it wasn’t for hitting Smith. PFT has confirmed with the league that Mitchell received a $9,115 fine for the hit on Smith.

The $48,620 fine was for a helmet-to-helmet hit on Chiefs running back Charcandrick West while West was trying to catch a pass. The hit, which was not penalized, left West with a concussion that caused him to miss Thursday night’s loss to the Raiders.

That fine is the amount laid out on the NFL’s fine schedule for a second offense for a hit on a defenseless player. Should Mitchell continue to rack up hits judged to violate player safety rules, he’ll run the risk of a suspension.

 

Lynch got a 1-game suspension. How despicable that he is appealing it. Let's not even get to the fact that the refs would possibly strike if it got revoked.

 

Anthony Barr not fined for his hit on Rodgers...

 

Orchard Park, N.Y. -- Last Monday, Deonte Thompson was leaving the New England Patriots' facility after a workout with the team. He was about to take a flight home and play the waiting game when the Buffalo Bills called.

"Don't get on that flight,'" Thompson recalled them saying. "Get here ASAP."

Just 24 hours later, Thompson was a member of the Bills. Six days later, he caught four passes for 107 yards, including a crucial 44-yard grab on the game-tying drive in a 30-27 win over the Tampa Bay Buccaneers. In less than a week, Thompson went from unwanted to the Bills' first 100-yard wide receiver since Sammy Watkins amassed 154 yards on Christmas Eve last season.

"That's exactly what coach said in here: a whole bunch of unwanted guys stepped up to the plate today and made a name for themselves," Thompson said after the game. "I can't thank God enough. On the sideline, that's all I kept saying, 'Thank you, God.' He put me in a great situation. Great things happened today."

Thompson has been with the Bills for six days and he's already second among wide receivers with 107 yards this season. If you count the 11 catches for 125 yards and a touchdown he had in five games with the Bears before they cut him, Thompson leads all Bills wide receivers in yards by 57.

 

Will, congratulations on your Vikings being in first place.

 

Patriots pummel Falcons

The Patriots didn’t have to come back this time.

They just started bashing the Falcons from the start, and never let up.


New England rolled to a 23-7 win over the Falcons, extending their streak of unanswered points against Atlanta to 54 before the Falcons got on the board late.

 

Minnesota Vikings...

Everson Griffen has one sack in each of Minnesota’s seven games...

The Vikings’ offense has plenty of questions marks. The team’s defense has one really big exclamation point in defensive end Everson Griffen.

Griffen, now in his eighth season, has nine sacks in seven games. He’s also the sixth NFL player since the sack became an official stat in 1982 to have at least one sack in each of his team’s first seven games.


He already has more sacks in 2017 than he managed in all of 2016, and he’s on pace for 20.5 for the season.

Griffen, who had two sacks in Sunday’s win over the Ravens, may get a chance to add to that total by facing someone other than Joe Thomas next week, when the Vikings face the winless Browns in London.

As a team, the Vikings have 21 sacks for the season, an average of three per game. More importantly, the Vikings are 5-2, which matches their same record through seven games a year ago but with much more momentum and optimism than 2016, which began with five straight wins and quickly fell apart.

 

LA Rams- 33, Arizona- 0

The latest “London game” was a one-sided affair and got even worse when Cardinals veteran QB Carson Palmer was forced from the game with an arm injury. Following the game, HC Bruce Arians announced his quarterback had suffered a broken arm that will require surgery and keep Palmer out of the lineup for an estimated eight weeks. This leaves the Cardinals to rely on backup QB Drew Stanton, who struggled mightily in his relief duty. As you could presume by the score, the Cardinals didn’t really even put up a fight and none of their stars managed useful stat lines for fantasy players. Palmer totaled 122 passing yards before leaving the game, RB Adrian Peterson, coming off his surprising breakout game in Week Six, rushed 11 times for 21 yards and the WRs didn’t fare any better. John Brown (2/37), J.J. Nelson (2/35) and Larry Fitzgerald (3/29) were all shut down. Fantasy players can expect more of this with Palmer out of the lineup.

The story for the Rams was very similar to most of their games this season as they found a variety of ways to score points, often aided by their strong defense. QB Jared Goff tossed one touchdown and 235 yards, primarily looking for rookie WR Cooper Kupp, who saw ten targets, catching four balls for 51 yards and a touchdown. The Rams once again got RB Todd Gurley (4/48) involved in the passing game and he also rushed for over 100 yards for the fourth time this season. WR Sammy Watkins was again a disappointment, catching three passes for 42 yards.

 

LA Chargers- 21, Denver- 0

The Broncos were without WR Emmanuel Sanders, who was injured in last week’s embarrassing loss to the Giants and this week was not any better as the team was shut out for the first time since 1992. QB Trevor Siemian once again showed that his early season performances were a fluke. Since a pair of top-four fantasy finishes to open the season, Siemian has finishes as the QB28, QB20, QB9 and QB24, pending the completion of this week’s games. This looked like a sweep spot for Broncos RB C.J. Anderson and WR Demaryius Thomas, but both flopped. Anderson totaled 61 yards, while Thomas caught two passes for nine yards. He did have an 81-yard reception called back on his own offensive pass interference call.

The Chargers offense did not look crisp, getting stuffed at the goal line early in the game. Two of their three touchdowns came from WR Travis Benjamin, one on a 42-yard connection with QB Philip Rivers and the other on a 65-yard punt return. Rivers ended with 183 yards and two touchdowns, while RB Melvin Gordon was held in check, totaling 44 scoreless yards. Second-year TE Hunter Henry continues his methodical breakout, leading the team with 73 yards on four receptions. A hobbled WR Keenan Allen caught three passes for 41 yards.

 

Time to ban fog?

 

fog -- and they still want a london franchise ? yeah good one.

 

London fog is a myth. It was actually smog from the coal burning days. I lived there for nearly 3 years and saw fog very rarely, maybe as often as NYC gets it.

 

Had a really good response to this one, but the powers that be have edited me.