NFL - NEWS & NOTES

Bills scorched em. Looks like the Bills and Phins are the class of the AFC East right now.

 

Chargers lose another heartbreaker, as Raiders win on replay review



Chargers quarterback Justin Herbert thought he had the signature win of his rookie year. And then instant replay intervened.

Herbert was outstanding today against the Raiders, throwing for more than 300 yards and three touchdowns, including an apparent game-winner to Donald Parham Jr. as time expired. But on instant replay, Parham didn’t maintain control as he hit the ground, the pass was ruled incomplete, and the Raiders won 31-26.

Herbert was poised and in command of the offense throughout, and although he took some very hard hits and did have to come out of the game for one play, he never let up. It was another heartbreaking loss for Herbert in a rookie year that has had plenty of them. The Chargers keep coming up just short.

On the play before that pass to Parham, Herbert hit Mike Williams in the end zone with one second left, but Williams couldn’t hold on as Isaiah Johnson hit him. Herbert did everything he could, except find a way to win.

The Raiders employed a run-first offense to try to keep Herbert off the field, and it was fairly successful, with Las Vegas totaling 26 carries for 160 yards. Derek Carr didn’t have a great game, but he did have two touchdown passes and no interceptions.

With the win, the Raiders improve to 5-3, and they have a good chance of making a playoff run during the second half of the season. The Chargers fall to 2-6, and just keep finding ways to lose.

NBC

 

Dolphins outlast Cardinals for 34-31 win



The NFL’s current scheduling procedures call for the Dolphins and Cardinals to play each other every four years and that sounds like a bad thing given the way Sunday’s game between the teams played out.

Cardinals quarterback Kyler Murray and Dolphins quarterback Tua Tagovailoa turned in starring performances in an entertaining game that you’d like to see more often. As it stands, though, Murray’s going to have to wait a while for a shot at beating the Dolphins.

Zane Gonzalez was short on a 49-yard field goal attempt just after the two minute warning and the Dolphins were able to run out the clock on a 34-31 win. Tagovailoa got the final yard needed for the fateful first down and that was a fitting end for the rookie’s day.

Tagovailoa was 20-of-28 for 248 yards and two touchdowns. His second scoring pass was Mack Hollins‘ first catch as a Dolphin and it tied the score with just over 11 minutes left to play in the game. He then drove the team for a 50-yard Jason Sanders field goal that put them up with 3:30 left.

Sanders’ kick was set up by the biggest defensive play of the game. The Dolphins stuffed Chase Edmonds on fourth-and-one at the Dolphins’ 40-yard-line to give Tagovailoa a short field to work with.

The choice to use Edmonds on that play and on two plays ahead of the missed field goal is one that should lead to questions for head coach Kliff Kingsbury. Murray ran 11 times for 106 yards and a touchdown, including 15 yards on that drive and 28 yards on a previous fourth down run.

Murray also completed 21-of-26 passes for 283 yards and three touchdowns, but he was incomplete to Christian Kirk one play before Gonzalez’s kick. That made for a tough finish for the 2019 first overall pick and he’ll try for a better outcome against the Bills next week.

Tagovailoa and company will be back home to face the Chargers. They’ll carry a four-game winning streak into that matchup of 2020 first-round quarterbacks.

NBC

 

Steelers rally for and then hang onto a 24-19 victory over Cowboys



The Steelers didn’t blow out the Cowboys as expected. In fact, they needed a comeback to remain undefeated.

But Pittsburgh got it done, moving to 8-0 for the first time in franchise history. The Steelers did it in front of an NFL season-high 30,024 fans.

Ben Roethlisberger, who missed a few plays late in the first half to seek medical attention for his left knee, threw an 8-yard touchdown pass to Eric Ebron with 2:14 remaining. It was the Steelers’ first lead of the day, and it held up . . . barely.

The Steelers trailed 13-0, 13-9 at halftime and 19-9 in the fourth quarter. Pittsburgh closed the game with 15 unanswered points, getting a 31-yard touchdown pass from Roethlisberger to JuJu Smith-Schuster, a 43-yard Chris Boswell field goal and Ebron’s score.

Roethlisberger went 11-of-16 for 144 yards and two touchdowns in the fourth quarter.

Boswell missed an extra point, had one blocked by Tyrone Crawford and the Steelers failed on a 2-point conversion.

The Steelers’ special teams nearly cost them. Or maybe it was the Cowboys’ special teams nearly won them the upset of the season.

The Cowboys had Rico Dowdle return a Boswell kickoff from the 50-yard line — after a Randy Gregory 15-yard unsportsmanlike conduct penalty following the Steelers’ touchdown — 64 yards to the Pittsburgh 36. They used a trick play on a punt return for a 73-yard play.

The Cowboys were competitive despite starting their fourth quarterback of the season. Garrett Gilbert, who signed less than a month ago, was making his first career start against a defense ranked fifth in yards allowed.

The Steelers had only two sacks, but the second was huge. Cam Heyward and T.J. Watt split a sack of Gilbert on fourth down with 1:37 left.

The Cowboys did get the ball back with 38 seconds left and moved from their own 19 to Pittsburgh 23 with four seconds remaining. Gilbert’s pass into the end zone was incomplete, knocked away by Minkah Fitzpatrick, who also had a second half interception in the end zone to prevent Cowboys’ points.

Gilbert went 21-of-38 for 243 yards with a touchdown and an interception.

Roethlisberger, who returned from his knee injury to play all of the second half, was 29-of-42 for 306 yards and three touchdowns. Smith-Schuster caught six passes for 93 yards and a score.

The Cowboys had 364 yards, outgaining the Steelers by 9 yards. But two turnovers and seven penalties, several of them at crucial times and at least a couple controversial, didn’t help the Cowboys’ cause.

Cowboys rookie cornerback Trevon Diggs departed in the second half with a left foot injury.

NBC

 

Sunday Night Football: Saints in driver’s seat in NFC South after crushing Bucs 38-3



The Saints didn’t seem to take kindly to those who picked the Buccaneers to win the NFC South. New Orleans reminded everyone who has won the division the past three seasons and who the favorite is this season.

The Saints crushed the Buccaneers 38-3 on Sunday Night Football.

The Saints moved to 6-2 in the division, while the Bucs fell to 6-3. But New Orleans has swept the Bucs, so it holds the head-to-head tiebreaker.

The Saints won the first meeting, 34-23, in the season opener. The Bucs could only wish that Sunday night was that close.

It was a blowout from start to finish as the Saints imposed their will.

The Saints gained 420 yards against the league’s third-rated defense, while holding the Bucs to 194 yards. It was so dominant that former Bucs quarterback Jameis Winston got mop-up duty for the Saints.

The Saints led 31-0 at halftime.

Drew Brees went 26-of-32 for 222 yards and four touchdowns. He threw touchdown passes of 14 yards to Tre'Quan Smith, 7 yards to Adam Trautman, 12 yards to Emmanuel Sanders and 3 yards to Josh Hill. Alvin Kamara also had a 1-yard touchdown run.

Michael Thomas returned to catch five passes for 51 yards, and Taysom Hill did a little of everything with seven rushing attempts for 54 yards, two pass completions for 48 yards and one catch for 21 yards.

Tom Brady was 22-of-38 for 209 yards and three interceptions. David Onyemata, Malcolm Jenkins and Marcus Williams had picks for the Saints. Brady was sacked three times, including twice by Trey Hendrickson.

Antonio Brown caught three passes for 31 yards in his Bucs’ debut, and Mike Evans had four catches for 64 yards.

The Bucs had only five rushing attempts for 8 yards, including a kneel down by Blaine Gabbert on the final play.

NBC

 

Panthers call Christian McCaffrey day-to-day with shoulder injury



Panthers head coach Matt Rhule didn’t have anything to say regarding running back Christian McCaffrey‘s injury after Sunday’s loss to the Chiefs, but he provided a bit of an update on Monday.

Rhule confirmed at his Monday press conference that McCaffrey hurt his shoulder late in his first game back from the ankle injury that sent him to injured reserve after Week 2. McCaffrey returned for one play before going back to the sideline.

A report on Monday indicated his status for Week 10 is in doubt, but Rhule would only say that he’s day-to-day and that the team expects to know more by Wednesday’s practice.

McCaffrey scored twice while rushing 18 times for 69 yards and catching 10 passes for 82 yards on Sunday.

NBC

 

Monday Night Football: Nick Folk 51-yard FG as time expires lifts Patriots to 30-27 win over Jets



The New England Patriots rallied from a 10-point fourth quarter deficit and Nick Folk‘s 51-yard field goal as time expired lifted the Patriots to a 30-27 victory over the New York Jets on Monday night.

A 20-yard pass from Cam Newton to Jakobi Meyers with eight seconds left to play to move the Patriots into field goal range. Folk then delivered the deciding blow with a kick right down the middle to hand the Jets a ninth straight loss to open the season.

With Joe Flacco starting at quarterback in place of an injured Sam Darnold, the Jets appeared well on their way to getting their first win of the season. Flacco completed 18 of 25 passes for 262 yards with three touchdowns as the Jets built their lead into the final quarter. However, the Patriots did just enough to complete the rally with a Flacco interception by J.C. Jackson helping New England complete the comeback as well.

The loss keeps the Jets in pole position for the No. 1 pick in next year’s NFL Draft. It’s the first time in history the Jets have opened a season 0-9. The Jets ran just four plays in the fourth quarter for a total of three yards and only held the ball for 1:24 as the Patriots completed the comeback.

After a Sergio Castillo 35-yard field goal gave the Jets a lead on their opening possession, the Patriots immediately answered with Newton scoring on a 5-yard run to take a 7-3 lead.

Flacco connected with Breshad Perriman for a 50-yard touchdown behind cornerback J.C. Jackson as the Jets went back on top. A 50-yard field goal from Castillo gave the Jets a 13-7 advantage.

After a 45-yard field goal from Nick Folk closed the gap for New England with 1:03 left in the half, Flacco and the Jets quickly found the end zone before the break. Jamison Crowder caught a 20-yard touchdown with a beautiful toe-tap catch along the sidelines as the Jets lead grew to 20-10 at halftime.

Rex Burkhead scored on a 1-yard run in the third quarter to close the gap for New England back to 20-17. However, Flacco and Perriman would hook up again on a 15-yard score as the Jets took a 10-point lead into the fourth quarter. Perriman caught five passes for 101 yards and two touchdowns for the Jets.

A promising 17-play drive for the Patriots came up short of the end zone as they settled for a 29-yard Folk field goal to cut the lead to 27-20 with 6:04 remaining.

J.C. Jackson picked off Flacco with 5:50 left to play to breathe new life into the Patriots chances. After facing a third-and-20, Newton hit Jakobi Meyers for a 19-yard gain with Newton sneaking for three yards on fourth-and-1 to keep the New England drive alive. Newton then connected with Damiere Byrd for 31 yards down to the Jets’ 3-yard line.

Three straight runs from Newton finally cracked the end zone and Folk’s extra point tied the game at 27-27 with 1:57 left to play.

After a three-and-out from the Jets, Newton led the Patriots 45 yards in eight plays over the final 47 seconds to give Folk the opportunity to end the game. Newton completed 27 of 35 passes for 274 yards and scored two touchdowns on the ground for New England. Meyers caught 12 passes for 169 yards.

Damien Harris, who led New England with 71 yards on 14 carries, left the game late in the fourth quarter and did not return.

NBC

 

Matt Nagy: Bears will look at everything, including my play calling



With the Bears on a three-game losing streak, head coach Matt Nagy is acknowledging that it might be time for him to give up play calling.

Nagy acknowledged that he might not be the one calling the plays when the Bears take the field on Monday night against the Vikings.

“Where we’re at right now as an offense, struggling the way we are, you have to be willing to look at everything, including myself,” Nagy said. “So we’ll see where that goes. We play Monday, we will make the best decision possible here. I think that’s part of some of the decisions we look at, for sure.”

Nagy sounded a little testy when reporters asked him when he’ll make his decision about whether to keep calling plays.

“I don’t know and in all honesty, and with all due respect, if anything was to happen I’m not sure that you guys would know,” Nagy said.

The Bears’ offense has been even worse with Nick Foles as the starting quarterback than it was with Mitchell Trubisky, although Trubisky is currently injured and wouldn’t be able to get the job back even if Nagy wanted to give it to him. So while a quarterback change isn’t coming, a play calling change may be.

NBC

 

It's getting embarrassing, now. This happens every week, and it's starting to sound like a Trump press conference. Nagy gets asked whether he'll give up play calling, he vamps, then lies, then gets irritated at the question. And then next week he calls a s****y game and we start the cycle all over again.

The smart people wanted Pace fired a year ago (at least). The smart people knew Nagy had to give up playcalling a few weeks into the season at the absolute latest. Nagy is not one of the smart people, unfortunately.

 

Ben Roethlisberger and three other Steelers go on COVID-19 reserve



Steelers quarterback Ben Roethlisberger was placed on the NFL’s COVID-19 reserve list today.

The Steelers announced that Roethlisberger, offensive lineman Jerald Hawkins, running back Jaylen Samuels and linebacker Vince Williams are all on the reserve list and have to isolate for at least five days and test negative before they can be around the team again.

Players can go on COVID-19 reserve either because they tested positive or because they were exposed to someone who tested positive. The Steelers did not say whether any of the players placed on the list today tested positive.

Steelers tight end Vance McDonald was placed on the Reserve/COVID-19 list yesterday. The Steelers have also had at least one staff member test positive.

According to the team’s announcement, it is still possible that Roethlisberger and the other players will be able to play on Sunday against the Bengals, if they test negative this week.

NBC

 

Cowboys’ Trevon Diggs may miss rest of season with broken foot



An injury-plagued Cowboys season just got worse.

Cowboys rookie cornerback Trevon Diggs suffered a broken foot in Sunday’s loss to the Steelers and may miss the rest of the season, Ian Rapoport of NFL Network reports.

The injury typically takes 4-6 weeks to heal, but realistically, within six weeks the Cowboys may be mathematically eliminated from playoff contention, and so Dallas may just decide to shut him down. The Cowboys do expect Diggs to make a full recovery and be ready to go in 2021.

The 51st overall pick in this year’s NFL draft, Diggs has played well for the Cowboys as a rookie and is a big part of the reason that the Dallas defense has played much better in recent weeks than it did early in the season. The Cowboys like what they’re seeing from Diggs, but they may not see him on the field again this year.

NBC

 

Owners to consider 16-team postseason contingency plan



In 1982, the NFL used a 16-team postseason to determine a champion following a nine-game regular season resulting from a strike. In 2020, a 16-team postseason could happen again.

On Tuesday, owners will consider a proposal that would expand the playoffs if any games are lost to the pandemic.

As explained last week, the league’s preference continues to be playing 256 games in 17 weeks. Plan B consists of an eighteenth week, for games that had to be postponed and couldn’t be fit within the 17-week window.

Plan C, an expanded postseason, could happen if even only one game can’t be played despite an 18-week season.

The move, if adopted by the owners, has a clear financial component. It would, put simply, restore losses arising from canceled regular-season games. As explained last week, the NFL Players Association would have to agree to an expanded playoff field; the union would give it serious consideration, if it preserves money lost by players due to lost regular-season games.

Having 16 teams instead of 14 teams in the postseason won’t necessarily cure the perception of unfairness based on some teams playing fewer than 16 games. If the ninth seed in either conference misses the window based on the inability to compare records on an apple-to-apples basis, that team and its fans will be as unhappy as an eighth seed that would have been left out of a 14-team field thanks to winning percentages due to teams playing fewer than 16 games.

NBC

 

Dalvin Cook makes an unlikely MVP run



The NFL’s MVP in most years needs a full season to become clear. This year, an unlikely candidate could be making a second-half push for consideration.

Although it has become largely a quarterback prize, running backs can still win it. It last happened in 2012, when Vikings running back Adrian Peterson stole it from Broncos quarterback Peyton Manning. It could happen in 2020, if Vikings running back Dalvin Cook keeps doing what he started doing in Week Three.

Cook, despite missing a game and a half with a groin strain, leads the league with 858 rushing yards in seven games played. (Others have played as many as nine games.) That’s a rate of 122.6 rushing yards per game, and it projects to 1,837 rushing yards over the course of a full season.

With eight games to play in 2012, Peterson had 775 yards; he finished with 2,097.

Cook also is averaging 147.3 yards from scrimmage per game, putting him on track for 2,209 yards from scrimmage for the season.

His current trend points to an even better finish. Setting aside the Seahawks game, which he exited with 65 rushing yards, Cook has rushed for 680 yards in his last four games. That’s an average of 170 rushing yards per game. If he somehow could sustain that pace for the next eight games, Cook will finish the season with 2,218 rushing yards.

It’s highly unlikely that Cook will continue his four-game pace, especially given the ever-present risk of injury. But if he remains healthy and effective and passes the single-season record of 2,105 yards in what will be NFL’s final 16-game season, how does Cook not get MVP votes? If the Vikings turn their 1-5 start into a playoff berth thanks to Cook’s uncanny performances, he arguably becomes the favorite.

Although the definition of the MVP term is often malleable and subject to various interpretations, Cook has shown without question that he is the most valuable member of the 2020 Vikings.

Currently, Seahawks quarterback Russell Wilson remains the favorite at +125 (bet $100 to win $125). Cook has odds of +4000, a significant change from last week’s number of +8000.

Don’t be shocked if that number starts to shrink, especially if Cook keeps doing what he has been doing in recent weeks. By the time it’s all said and done, quarterbacks like Wilson and Patrick Mahomes and Aaron Rodgers could neutralize each other’s numbers, creating an opening for Cook to do what he’s been doing all year: Take it to the house.

NBC

 

NFL unanimously approves contingency plan for 16-team postseason



NFL owners today unanimously approved a plan to expand the postseason to 16 teams if a COVID-19 outbreak forces the regular season to be shortened.

Commissioner Roger Goodell confirmed after a virtual league meeting that every owner was in agreement on the plan, which will include eight teams in each conference making the postseason in the event that not all 32 teams can play all 16 games — something the league still hopes to avoid.

“We are committed to completing the season as scheduled,” Goodell said.

The owners decided not to re-seed the teams once they qualify for the postseason, which had been an aspect of the proposal.

Despite the possibility of having to use the contingency plan, Goodell stressed that the NFL believes it can do a thorough job of contact tracing and isolating people who have tested positive or had high risk contacts, and that will, the league hopes, be sufficient to prevent an outbreak that causes games to be canceled.

NBC

 

Going Gonzo here;
With precision thrusts and jabs the Buffalo Bills stomped the balls off the Seattle Seahawks today.

Josh over 400 yards in the air and ran one in too. Buffalo had a net 4 turnovers after subtracting the zero they muffed.


Kudos Dan.........Seahawks were never in that game......Bills looking good but watch out for Da Fish.

Are you and the Wife planning on Having a Turkey Dinner on Nov 26th or will you enjoy a Cozido a Portugusa.

 

The Fish? Squish the fish!

My Irish wife is ALL IN on Thanksgiving and we’re looking forward to having some Murican friends over for peru (that’s “turkey” in Portuguese).

 

The Fish? Squish the fish!

I know have some Sushi.........lol..........the Dolphins have won 4 in a row.

 

Report: Christian McCaffrey won’t play this week



He may be day-to-day, but in four days he won’t be playing football.

Joe Person of TheAthletic.com reports that Panthers running back Christian McCaffrey won’t play this weekend against the Buccaneers, due to a shoulder injury suffered in Week Nine against the Chiefs.

As Person notes, the original day-to-day assessment apparently has become week-to-week.

McCaffrey suffered the injury late in Sunday’s loss. Clearly bothered by it on the sideline, he returned for a snap before exiting the game for good.

He suffered a high ankle sprain in Week Two against the Buccaneers, and he missed seven weeks. Without McCaffrey, Mike Davis returns to the top of the depth chart.

NBC

 

Good game tonight

 

Colts defeat the titans. 34-17
Colts now have the edge in the AFCS.