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Tonights game...

 

After penalty for hit on QB, ref told Joe Tryon, “I think we may have screwed that up”



Buccaneers first-round rookie Joe Tryon had an impressive debut in last week’s preseason game, but his biggest play, a sack of Bengals quarterback Brandon Allen, was called back by a penalty that the official who flagged it later told Tryon shouldn’t have been called.

Tryon was wearing a microphone during the game for a video produced by the Buccaneers, and the video shows umpire Roy Ellison approaching Tryon after the penalty to indicate he had seen a replay and shouldn’t have thrown the flag.

“That was a good play on the roughing the passer,” Ellison told Tryon.

“I didn’t mean to hit him like that,” Tryon replied.

“I think we may have screwed that up,” Ellison admitted.

Although there was some contact between Tryon’s helmet and Allen’s helmet, the hit appeared to be a fairly ordinary example of a quarterback sack. The kind of play the Buccaneers hope Tryon will make often, and hope the officials don’t flag.

PFT

 

Jets DE Carl Lawson undergoing MRI on Achilles after being carted off during practice

The Jets' new season of optimism suffered a blow Thursday.

Free-agent addition Carl Lawson suffered a lower leg injury during practice and is undergoing an MRI on his Achilles tendon, NFL Network Insider Ian Rapoport and NFL Network's Mike Garafolo reported. Lawson was carted off the field during joint practices between the Jets and Packers.

Lawson reported feeling a pop when he suffered the injury, Garafolo added, leaving the Jets in a nervous state as they await the results of the scan. If torn, Lawson would miss the 2021 season.

Lawson arrived in New York as a much-needed improvement to the Jets' edge-rushing group, bringing with him a growing reputation for getting after the quarterback. Though Lawson's sack total (5.5 in 2020) hasn't quite matched up, his ability shines in Next Gen Stats, where he finished among the league's top disruptors with 60 total disruptions (one QB hurry, pressure or sack per play) in 2020. Lawson's disruption rate of 15.2 percent was stellar, landing him on our top 10 list of disruptors for 2020.

A good portion of the Jets' defensive ambitions were riding on Lawson's arrival and ability to pressure opposing passers. New York will hope to avoid the worst news in the next 24 hours.

NFL.com

 

It didn’t look good when Jets edge rusher Carl Lawson went down with an injury at Thursday’s practice, it didn’t sound good when word broke that he needed an MRI to determine the severity of an Achilles injury and any hope of good news went out the window on Thursday afternoon.

The Jets confirmed the worst fears about Lawson’s injury. He has a ruptured Achilles and the team announced that he will miss the entire 2021 season as a result.

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Devonte Smith is playing tonight for the Eagles vs the Patriots...

 

Jets WR Corey Davis says he's 'made a lot of huge strides' in building chemistry with QB Zach Wilson

With one high-priced New York Jets free agent watching his season end prematurely, another big acquisition will need to step up for a rebuilding Gang Green.

With the excruciating loss of edge rusher Carl Lawson for the season due to a torn Achilles, more pressure will be put on New York's young offensive crew. Unfortunately, there is no one-for-one replacement for Lawson on the Jets roster. As good as Robert Saleh and his scheme is, watching its best pass rusher go down before the season started is a mortal blow to an already questionable defense.

Naturally, the weight will ratchet up on rookie quarterback Zach Wilson and the offense. One player who will need to shoulder a lot of that burden is receiver Corey Davis, whom the Jets signed to a three-year, $37.5 million contract this offseason.

During camp, Davis has reportedly gotten open with ease and been one of the more consistent players. Following Thursday's joint practice with the Green Bay Packers, during which the wideout caught a TD pass, Davis said his rapport with Wilson is coming along.

"I feel like it's definitely getting there," Davis said, per the New York Post. "We've made a lot of huge strides in the last week and a half, two weeks. Zach is a lot more comfortable in the pocket, delivering the ball really accurately. My part, I'm getting open, creating a lot more space for him to make it easy. We're definitely getting there."

In the preseason opener last week, Davis and Wilson gave a glimpse of what could be in store. The duo connected on a pair of 9-yard passes in limited reps, including making a third-and-6 out route look easy.

For all the excitement early in camp about rookie Elijah Moore, Davis will play a crucial role in any step forward the Jets make in their first season under Saleh. The former No. 5 overall pick can beat CBs in one-on-one matchups. He showed that in Tennessee last year.

How quickly Wilson grows and how bumpy his rookie campaign runs will depend significantly on how the chemistry with Davis cultivates in the coming weeks.

NFL.com

 

Jon Gruden on 'sickening' Raiders-Rams practice fight: 'It's just child's play to me'

Anger raged Thursday afternoon during the Raiders-Rams joint practice in Los Angeles ahead of Saturday night's preseason bout.

A scuffle ensued during the special teams portion of practice, with coach Jon Gruden pulling the plug on the joint session, getting his players on the bus to leave after tempers couldn't be settled on the field. The Rams finished the rest of their practice, per reporters on the scene.

"I thought we had great work today until special teams, right at the end of the special teams period," Gruden said. "I have no idea what that was, but that's enough of that crap. That's not good for football, that's not good for anything, that's the end of that practice session."

Asked if there was any message to the team after calling the practice off early, the coach said the players know it's not professional.

"There's no message. They know. They know better," he said. "Everybody knows better. And again, it wasn't everybody fighting. It'll be on TV. You'll see a bunch of guys screaming and yelling. But it was two guys in a special teams period, and then it was a lot of trash-talking that escalated. It's just sickening, really. It's just stupidity. I'm done with that. It's just child's play to me."

Rams coach Sean McVay was mum about the scuffle, saying simply: "It's unfortunate we didn't get to finish up (the joint session), but that's kind of where I'll leave that at."

The Raiders and Rams will face off Saturday night at 10 p.m. ET on NFL Network. We'll see if another brawl ensues. If it does, there will be more than a perturbed coach for players to deal with.

NFL.com

 

Browns sitting Baker Mayfield, most starters again this weekend



When Browns head coach Kevin Stefanski announced that most of the team’s starters would sit out last week’s preseason opener, he said he’d discuss plans for the rest of the preseason “when appropriate.”

The appropriate time to discuss plans for this Sunday’s game against the Giants came after the completion of their two joint practices with the NFC East club on Friday. Stefanski said that quarterback Baker Mayfield and most of the players who were out last week will sit again this weekend.

Stefanski said, via Mary Kay Cabot of Cleveland.com, that his decision was influenced by the quality of the work that the team did over the last two days.

The Browns close out their preseason schedule against the Falcons on August 29 and that will be the final chance for Mayfield and others to get snaps before heading to Kansas City in Week 1.

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Larry Fitzgerald doesn’t have “the urge to play right now”



Larry Fitzgerald remains a free agent. For now.

The star receiver said he isn’t coming back anytime soon but didn’t rule out a return at some point this season.

“I just don’t have the urge to play right now,” Fitzgerald said Friday on his SiriusXM show “Let’s Go” with Jim Gray. “I don’t know how I’ll feel in September, October, November moving forward, but I just, today, I just don’t have the urge, and I think I have to be respectful of that. Football is not one of those games you want to walk out there and play and not be fully engaged and ready to prepare and do the things necessary that you need to do.”

Fitzgerald, who turns 38 at the end of the month, played 17 seasons in Arizona. He made 11 Pro Bowls and, in 2008, Fitzgerald earned his only All-Pro honor.

For all he has accomplished, Fitzgerald has never won a ring. If he decides he wants to play an 18th season, Fitzgerald could wait until late in the season to sign with a contender.

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Undrafted rookie Jaret Patterson appears close to earning a roster spot in Washington



Undrafted rookies always have an uphill battle to make the roster, but Washington undrafted rookie running back Jaret Patterson appears close to securing a spot on the Football Team.

Patterson had 16 carries for 71 yards and a touchdown in the preseason win over the Bengals, and also caught all three passes thrown to him for 25 yards, and coach Ron Rivera praised his effort after the game.

“I thought it was solid, I really did,” Rivera said. “He’s an explosive and young dynamic back. We gave him some opportunities early on with the first bunch and he did a nice job with that. Then when the second bunch was in there, two-on-two, I thought that he really showed his ability. And again, you’ve got to be able to do it consistently, so we’ll see. He’ll get some more opportunities. We still have one more preseason game to go.”

Patterson had an outstanding college career at Buffalo, running for 3,884 yards in 33 games, including a 409-yard, eight-touchdown game last season that was one of the best in college football history. NFL teams weren’t sure he had the athletic makeup to be a pro runner, but Rivera said Patterson is at his best in game situations.

“I think he’s a guy that does thrive in these types of situations. It’s his style of football, you know, the way he plays and his stature. He does a nice job with what he has, and he’s very effective,” Rivera said.

Patterson also returned one kickoff for 37 yards, and with that special teams contribution as well as playing on offense, he may have secured his roster spot.

PFT

 

Jaret Patterson is pretty good hope he makes the Washington Football Team would be a nice K/R IMO

 

Word is that the Falcons will sit most if not all of the starters again tonight against Miami.

The interesting take here is that the Falcons and Dolphins had a couple of days of joint practice sessions with the 1s vs 1s, 2s vs 2s in the full 11-on-11 sessions. The coaching staff had said beforehand that they would use those sessions as key reps and evaluations. So they've seen some player combinations already and might try different things in the actual game just to get a look at as many players/combinations/situations as possible.


One important note from last week that I have to throw out there... SI had a recap where they said Willie Beavers had a shot at the starting RT spot but played poorly. No, that was third round draft pick Jalen Mayfield who played the first half at right tackle (and was truly dreadful). Beavers was listed on the team's depth chart that week as the #1 RT, but he actually played left tackle in the game. That's noteworthy because the former Vikings draft pick is a strong contender for the swing tackle role, so the chance to evaluate him on the left side was key to his chances.

I'd rate him as competent but not stellar for that game. The noteworthy play is that he was charged with one sack - which the commentators called a coverage sack with one (former Falcons QB D.J. Shockley) saying that QB A.J. McCarron had to get rid of that ball rather than eating it. What was more interesting to me was the strange way that Beavers was beaten by his defender. There wasn't a clear camera angle, but the RB ran from behind Beavers to chip the defender before going out into the flat. Beavers immediately had a strange off-balance step outside while the defender broke inside away from the chip. In other words, the RB may have bumped his own teammate and knocked him off balance.



My players to watch tonight:

LG Josh Andrews = had one TERRIBLE series last week (not bad otherwise) including a turnstile block that doesn't even seem possible for a guard. My guess is he flubbed the assignment rather than the execution on that one and released the man he should have blocked. With Matt Gono still out injured, Atlanta has a huge question mark at left guard if Andrews can't rebound.

RT / LG (?) Jalen Mayfield = was absolutely dreadful at RT against the Titans. His outing was so bad that the coaching staff started practicing him at guard this week. If Beavers takes the swing tackle role and Andrews falters or gets hurt, the team might actually need Mayfield to play left guard. Andrews is a 30-year old rent-a-player on a one year deal anyway, so guard is a better opportunity for Mayfield to crack the starting lineup over the long run anyway.

QBs A.J. McCarron and Feleipe Franks = were blasted by the press, but the head coach said their outings weren't that bad. From what I saw, I mostly agree with the coach. The first two series for McCarron sum it up perfectly: four of his throws were completed (including a first down conversion on third down), two were thrown away intentionally, and one was incomplete on a miscommunication with a receiver. BUT.... two of the completions were nullified by penalties, and the team had negative six yards of net offense to show for those two drives.

The fans and the media saw the offense going backwards and two drives that were complete failures for McCarron. But the coaching staff saw him consistently hitting his targets. So it's understandable that the coach was a lot more upbeat about his outing than the beat writers.

What I saw last week was that both of them started to press last week when it was obvious they weren't getting any help from their receivers or their line. Their best passes were nullified by penalties or dropped. McCarron was stuck with the poor outing from Mayfield at RT, while both the RT and RG who played in front of Franks have already been released. McCarron started to make some dicey decisions - with one resulting in an interception. Franks was too quick to give up on the play and run, though one of his scrambles was the lone offensive highlight of the night.

What I want to see this week is if they can shake it off and how they fare with a different combination of linemen, and hopefully better performances from whatever receivers are on the field. (Last week the top three WRs, top three RBs and top three TEs did not play at all. Some of last week's "starters" were third and fourth stringers.)

 

A fun Falcons memory involving Fitzgerald... when Bobby Petrino abandoned the team, interim coach Emmitt Thomas immediately made some personnel changes to get some prospects on the field. One of those moves was to get a young CB prospect up from the practice squad. His first game was against Arizona, covering Larry Fitzgerald for the entire game.

Welcome to the NFL, Brent Grimes...

 

when he was a Vikings if I remember right he had that weird stance,well I hope Willie Beavers works out cause he was good and bad as a Vikings

 

I think Ben looks pretty good so far... 14-0, Steelers over Lions.

 

Seahawks WR John Ursua carted off with knee injury



The Seahawks had to see two players leave the playing field on the back of a cart in the first half of Saturday night’s preseason game against the Denver Broncos.

After linebacker Ben Burr-Kirven was injured on the opening kickoff, wide receiver John Ursua went down late in the second quarter.

Ursua was running a route opposite Broncos rookie cornerback Patrick Sutrain II when he quickly went down to the turf. He was evaluated on the field before hopping on the back of the cart to head to the locker room.

Ursua, a seventh-round pick of the Seahawks in 2019, has been battling for a roster spot after spending most of last season on the practice squad.

Both Ursua and Burr-Kirven were immediately ruled out due to knee injuries.

PFT