NFL - NEWS & NOTES

Gase knows his time with the jets is over, it’s just a matter of time until he gets the ax. The owner is probably drooling over the possibility of drafting Lawrence so he would want a piece of garbage coach to finish the season and earn him that pick. Rich Kotite where are you, oh this is your son Adam Gase. Thank you

 

Colt McCoy destroys the Seahawks. Imagine what the Browns would be like if they had a better QB like Brian Hoyer?

 

Can anyone tell me if the bears have had a good QB since Sid Luckman? The bears should just sign Trubisky to a long term contract and skip the trading of first rd picks to just draft another lame one.

 

The Pittsburgh Steelers are no longer undefeated. And the Washington Football Team is in playoff contention.

In a game that the Steelers dominated for the first half but the Football Team took over in the second, Washington kicker Dustin Hopkins made two late field goals and the Football Team won 23-17.


The loss drops the Steelers to 11-1 on the season, and the 1972 Dolphins can pop their champagne. The Football Team improves to 5-7.

The Steelers are now tied with the Chiefs in the race for home-field advantage throughout the AFC playoffs, and the Football Team is tied with the Giants in the NFC East.

The game saw Alex Smith throw a lot of short, safe passes, and his favorite receivers were Logan Thomas and J.D. McKissic. Smith isn’t playing spectacularly, but he’s playing good, solid football, two years after a horrific leg injury that could have ended his career.

Steelers quarterback Ben Roethlisberger also didn’t hit many big plays downfield, and he didn’t get any help from the running game, which was a complete non-factor against a good Washington defensive line.

The Steelers are still Super Bowl contenders, but their dreams of 16-0 have come to an end, and their path to the Super Bowl gets more precarious if they can’t edge out Kansas City for home-field advantage. Washington is, realistically, not a Super Bowl contender. But the Football Team is absolutely in contention in the NFC East, and Ron Rivera’s team is playing tough football down the stretch.

NBC

 

Josh Allen passed for 375 yards and four touchdowns as the Buffalo Bills cruised to a 34-24 victory over the San Francisco 49ers on Monday night.

Allen completed 32-of-40 passes with each of his touchdown passes coming to different receivers. Buffalo’s defense also turned away the 49ers twice on drives inside their own 5-yard line.

Cole Beasley caught nine passes for 130 yards and a touchdown and Stefon Diggs added 92 yards on 10 catches as the 49ers defense struggled to slow down Buffalo’s attack. Gabriel Davis, Dawson Knox and Isaiah McKenzie also caught touchdown passes for the Bills.

The 49ers were playing their first home game in their temporary residence in Arizona due to relocation from the Bay Area due to local COVID-19 restrictions. Meanwhile, it was the Bills’ second game in the stadium in the last four weeks after their loss to the Cardinals on a last second Hail Mary on Nov. 15.

The 49ers managed to turn away the Bills on their opening drive as the Bills marched 74 yards to the 1-yard line before a turnovers on downs on an incomplete pass intended for Lee Smith.

The Bills then answered with a goal line stand of their own after a 97-yard San Francisco drive ended on a stuffed Jeff Wilson Jr. run.

However, a fumbled exchange before Allen and Zack Moss led to a quick score on a 2-yard pass from Nick Mullens to Brandon Aiyuk to give the 49ers a 7-0 lead.

Buffalo would score on their next four possessions with three drives ended with touchdowns.

Beasley caught a 5-yard touchdown and Knox added a 4-yard score before Tyler Bass‘ 37-yard field goal gave the Bills a 17-7 lead at halftime.

A 45-yard field goal from Robbie Gould closed the gap to 17-10 before the Bills pulled away. Allen and McKenzie connected on a 23-yard touchdown to take a 24-10 advantage. After Mullens was intercepted by Micah Hyde on a deflected pass, Bass added a 28-yard field goal to push the lead to 27-10.

Mullens hit fullback Kyle Juszczyk for a 6-yard touchdown but the Bills answered with Davis’ 28-yard touchdown to go up 34-17. Mullens was intercepted by Tre'Davious White at the goal line on a pass intended for Wilson to thwart any comeback chances for the 49ers. Mullens and Jordan Reed added a 5-yard touchdown pass inside the final minute to close the final margin to 34-24.

Mullens completed 26-of-39 passes for 316 yards with three touchdowns and two interceptions. Aiyuk caught five passes for 95 yards and a touchdown in his first game back from the COVID-19 list.

NBC

 

Lamar Jackson returns to carry Ravens to 34-17 victory over Cowboys



Baltimore Ravens quarterback Lamar Jackson returned to the lineup Tuesday night after recovering from COVID-19 to lift his team to a 34-17 victory over the Dallas Cowboys.

Jackson rushed for 94 yards and accounted for three touchdowns as part of a 294-yard rushing effort by the Ravens. Gus Edwards rushed for 101 yards on just seven carries, J.K. Dobbins had 71 and a touchdown and Mark Ingram added 28 yards as the Ravens carved up the league’s worst rush defense. The Cowboys allowed a franchise record 307 rushing yards to the Cleveland Browns in October. The showing by the Ravens marks the third most rushing yards ever allowed in a game by the franchise.

Jackson only threw for 107 yards on 12-of-17 passing as the Cowboys couldn’t stop the ground game.

After a Greg Zuerlein field goal gave Dallas the early lead, Jackson broke off a 37-yard touchdown run to put Baltimore in front.

A 66-yard kickoff return from Tony Pollard set up a short field for the Cowboys. Andy Dalton connected with Michael Gallup for a 13-yard touchdown to put Dallas back in the lead, 10-7.

Jackson hooked up with Miles Boykin for a 38-yard touchdown and Justin Tucker added a 35-yard field goal as Baltimore took a 17-10 lead into halftime.

The Cowboys had chances to stay in the game but Zuerlein missed three field goal tries and a fourth possession resulted in a turnover on downs as Dallas just couldn’t get points on the board. Zuerlein’s misses came from 40, 53 and 52 yards out.

Marquise Brown caught a 20-yard touchdown from Jackson and Tucker converted a 22-yard field goal as the lead grew to 27-10 by the midpoint of the fourth quarter.

Dalton managed to lead the Cowboys to the end zone one more time with a 2-yard touchdown pass to Amari Cooper. However, Dobbins would add a 5-yard touchdown on Baltimore’s final possession of the night.

Dalton finished with 285 yards passing with two touchdowns and an interception for Dallas. Ezekiel Elliott added 77 yards on 18 carries on the ground.

NBC

 

Josh Allen Is The AFC Offensive Player Of The Week
Dustin Hopkins Named NFC Special Teams Player Of The Week
Kyle Van Noy Nabs AFC Defensive Player Of The Week
Gunner Olszewski Named AFC Special Teams Player Of The Week
Leonard Williams Is The NFC Defensive Player Of The Week
Aaron Rodgers Named NFC Offensive Player Of The Week

 

The Cleveland Browns and New York Giants are headed to prime time.

The NFL announced Wednesday that the battle between the 9-3 Browns and NFC East-leading Giants will take the Sunday Night Football slot in Week 15 on Dec. 20.

The battle between playoff contenders will kick off at 8:20 p.m. ET on NBC. The bout was originally scheduled for an afternoon kickoff.

The change pushes the Dallas Cowboys-San Francisco 49ers matchup out of the prime-time slot to 1 p.m. ET on CBS.

Despite the popularity of the longtime rivals, and the ratings usually garnered, the NFL moving the match out of prime-time underscores the disappointing seasons for the injury-ravaged Niners and struggling 3-win Cowboys.

NFL.com

 

It’s about time they flexed out of a Cowboys game. The league loves making us sit through some really crappie games because they want to air that team whether they are good or not

 

Quad injury limits Christian McCaffrey in practice



Panthers running back Christian McCaffrey hurt his shoulder in his first game back from an ankle injury and now his return from that shoulder injury is being impacted by another ailment.

Head coach Matt Rhule told reporters that McCaffrey was limited in Wednesday’s practice and the shoulder won’t be the only reason cited on the team’s injury report. A quad injury is also part of the picture for McCaffrey right now.

According to Rhule, McCaffrey tweaked his quad while working out last week and it tightened up on him Wednesday.

Between the two injuries, McCaffrey has only played in three games this season. McCaffrey said his shoulder was feeling “really great” earlier this week, but it remains to be seen if the quad issue is going to jeopardize his return to action.

NBC

 

The Chiefs kicked off their practice week without wide receiver Tyreek Hill.

Hill was not on the field for the start of the team’s preparations for the Dolphins because of an illness. It’s the first time that Hill has missed practice this season and it will mark his first time on the injury report since a heel issue led to him being listed in Week 6.

Offensive lineman Yasir Durant was also out sick on Wednesday and head coach Andy Reid told reporters that neither illness is related to COVID-19.

Hill has 74 catches for 1,079 yards and a league-high 13 touchdowns this season.

Linebacker Damien Wilson was the only other player out of practice on Wednesday. He was sidelined by a knee injury.

NBC

 

Now they are saying that there’s a chance that the salary cap can remain the same next season. That’s a big relief to

 

TONIGHT...

 

Wow. I didn't really think about how good the Rams D is.

 

Me neither. Top 10 in all categories... not too shaby.

 

Denzel Ward not practicing Thursday, Browns hopeful he can play Monday



The Browns are holding out hope that cornerback Denzel Ward will be able to return to action against the Ravens on Monday night.

Ward has missed the last two games with a calf injury and head coach Kevin Stefanski said that Ward would not take part in Thursday’s practice. While that would seem to be a poor omen for his chances of returning to game action, Stefanski said he doesn’t think it is out of the question.

“I wouldn’t call it a long shot. . . . I’m hopeful. But I can’t peg it with a percentage,” Stefanski said, via Jake Trotter of ESPN.com.

Stefanski also said wide receiver KhaDarel Hodge will be out on Thursday. Hodge missed last Sunday’s win over the Titans with a hamstring injury.

NBC

 

Matt Rhule doesn’t expect Christian McCaffrey to play Sunday



It appears Panthers running back Christian McCaffrey will miss his 10th game of the season on Sunday.

McCaffrey missed practice on Thursday after getting in a limited session on Wednesday. Head coach Matt Rhule said at a press conference later in the day that he does not expect running back Christian McCaffrey to play against the Broncos in Week 14.

McCaffrey has missed the last three games with a shoulder injury, but looked to be on the mend when he said he was feeling “really great” earlier this week. He picked up a quad injury at some point last week, however, and Rhule said it tightened up on Wednesday.

The quad issue continues an injury-plagued year for McCaffrey. He missed six games with an ankle injury he suffered in Week Two and returned to score a pair of touchdowns in Week 9 before hurting his shoulder.

NBC

 

Thursday Night Football: Cam Akers runs through Patriots in 24-3 Rams victory



For the second week in row the New England Patriots were a part of a blowout result at SoFi Stadium.

But this week they were on the wrong side of the ledger.

Cam Akers rushed for 171 yards, Jared Goff threw for a touchdown and ran for one as well, and Kenny Young delivered a 79-yard interception return touchdown off Cam Newton as the Los Angeles Rams cruised to a 24-3 victory over the Patriots on Thursday night.

Akers is just the ninth running back to gain at least 150 yards on the ground against a Bill Belichick team in New England in either the regular season or postseason. Derrick Henry was the last to do so last January in the playoffs for the Tennessee Titans. Akers has now rushed for 327 yards for the Rams over the last three weeks against the Patriots, Arizona Cardinals and San Francisco 49ers.

After authoring a 45-0 win over the Chargers last week, the Patriots could not get anything together against the Rams. They had three possessions into the L.A. red zone in the first half with only three points to show for it.

Young’s pick-six turned away one red zone drive with a fourth down stop of Newton on the following possession thwarting another. Nick Folk‘s 29-yard field goal on the third straight trip inside the 20-yard line served as the only points of the game for New England. The Rams Defense also delivered six sacks on the night with Michael Brockers getting two and Aaron Donald a sack-and-a-half on the night.

Newton completed 9-of-16 passes for 119 yards before eventually being replaced by Jarrett Stidham in the fourth quarter. Stidham completed 5-of-7 passes for 27 yards. Damien Harris was held to 50 yards on 11 carries.

Goff scored on a 1-yard touchdown run to cap the opening drive of the game for the Rams. They would add a 35-yard field goal from Matt Gay on their second drive of the night in pushing the lead to 10-0.

The Patriots would then threaten the end zone on their next three drives while coming up with just the lone Folk field goal as the Rams took a 17-3 lead into the break after Young’s pick-six.

Goff and Cooper Kupp connected on a 2-yard touchdown in the third quarter to serve as the final margin for the Rams.

Goff was 16-of-25 for 137 yards with a touchdown, interception and rushing touchdown.

NBC

 

Aaron Donald now leads the NFL with 12.5 sacks



Rams defensive tackle Aaron Donald added 1.5 sacks to his season total on Thursday night, and he’s now the league leader.

Donald has 12.5 sacks this year, the most in the NFL. Pittsburgh’s T.J. Watt is second with 12.

The 24-3 win was a dominant performance by the Patriots’ defense, and Donald led the way by getting seven pass pressures. The Patriots were struggling with Donald all night.

Donald said after the game that it felt like a measure of revenge after the Patriots beat the Rams in Super Bowl LIII.

The 29-year-old Donald is a two-time NFL defensive player of the year. Lawrence Taylor and J.J. Watt are the only three-time winners of that award. Donald may soon join them.

NBC