NFL - NEWS & NOTES

Colts players think Jonathan Taylor should be in the MVP conversation



Colts running back Jonathan Taylor joined the short list of players who have scored five touchdowns in a single game during Sunday’s 41-15 rout of the Bills

Taylor now leads the NFL in touchdowns for the season and he also broke a tie with Derrick Henry for the league’s rushing lead without anyone else close to him as we head toward Thanksgiving. It’s a point the league calendar when thoughts start to turn to the postseason, including which player will be winning awards a few nights before the Super Bowl.


Taylor’s fellow running back Nyheim Hines and Colts linebacker Darius Leonard think that Taylor should be a candidate for the biggest individual prize of them all.

“He’s sending a message to the league,” Hines said, via Mike Wells of ESPN.com. “It’s been amazing watching him play. Great to watch him finish runs and make people miss. He’s a complete back . . . If there’s any skill position [for MVP], Jonathan Taylor needs to be in it. Him and Cooper Kupp. JT is the first in line for a non-quarterback player.”

According to the NFL, Taylor is the third player — Clinton Portis and Gale Sayers are the others — under 23 to score five touchdowns in a game and the third player — LaDainian Tomlinson and Lydell Mitchell are the others — with at least 100 scrimmage yards and a rushing touchdown in eight consecutive games. He’s also joined Tomlinson, Portis, and Adrian Peterson as the only players with more than 1,000 rushing yards and 10 rushing touchdowns in their first two seasons.

If he keeps doing things that put him in that kind of company, Hines is likely to have company on the Taylor for MVP train.

PFT

 

ThanksGiving Schedule...

 

The Browns may get a pair of key offensive pieces back for their Sunday night matchup against the Ravens this week.

Head coach Kevin Stefanski told reporters inn his Monday press conference that running back Kareem Hunt and right tackle Jack Conklin should return to practice this week. There’s also a chance that they could play in Week 12.


“I’m hopeful,” Stefanski said. “I think they’re progressing well.”

Both Hunt and Conklin have been on injured reserve for several weeks. Hunt suffered a calf injury in Cleveland’s Week Six loss to the Cardinals. Conklin suffered a dislocated elbow in the Browns’ Week Eight loss to the Steelers.

Hunt has recorded 361 yards and five rushing touchdowns in six games. He also has 20 catches for 161 yards.

With Hunt out, D'Ernest Johnson has taken on na larger role in Cleveland’s offense. Blake Hance has started the Browns’ last three games at right tackle.

 

Cowboys expect Tyron Smith to play Thursday, CeeDee Lamb “doing really well”



The Cowboys have been without left tackle Tyron Smith the last three weeks, but they expect him to be on the field for their Thanksgiving Day game against the Raiders.

Executive vice president Stephen Jones said on 105.3 The Fan that the team feels Smith will return from his ankle injury barring any unexpected developments in the next couple of days. The Cowboys know that they won’t have wide receiver Amari Cooper back from the COVID-19 reserve list and they could also be without CeeDee Lamb.


Lamb left Sunday’s loss to the Chiefs with a concussion and Jones said the team is hopeful he’ll be able to clear the concussion protocol quickly.

“He’ll start his protocol right away,” Jones said. “Then, he’s doing really well. So, he’ll have an opportunity to play. If he were having issues today, then you’d probably be a little leery, but the fact that so far he’s doing well. But he’ll have to go through testing. So, we won’t really know that until Thursday.”

The offense didn’t ignite on Sunday, so there will be plenty to be thanful for in Dallas if Lamb is well enough to get on the field this week.

PFT

 

Giants-Buccaneers Preview


TAMPA, Fla. (AP) Bruce Arians believes there's nothing wrong with the Tampa Bay Buccaneers that playing smarter and with more passion can't solve.

The Super Bowl champions have lost two straight games in which Tom Brady and a usually reliable defense haven't been at their best. They'll try to get back on track when they host the New York Giants on Monday night.

Turnovers, costly penalties and an inability get off the field on third down defensively undermined the Bucs (6-3) in road losses to the New Orleans Saints and the Washington Football Team.

Arians is confident, though, the NFC South leaders can right the ship.

''I mean we've played up to our potential, it's just the last two weeks on the road we haven't,'' the coach said.

''We're still in first place, and we've got a lot of good things going on as far as (being) No. 1 in pass offense and sacks (allowed), and all the things we're doing offensively and defensively,'' Arians added. ''But there are some things we have identified on the road that have cost us two ballgames.''

The Giants (3-6), who could get injured running back Saquon Barkley back this week, have won two of their past three.

They're rested coming off last week's bye and have played the Bucs tough the last two seasons, rallying from an 18-point deficit to win at Tampa Bay in Daniel Jones' first NFL start in 2019 and losing to the eventual NFL champions after leading at halftime of a prime-time matchup a year ago.

Jones, who has thrown for 2,059 yards, eight touchdowns and five interceptions, is excited about the challenge of facing the Brady-led Bucs again.

''Anytime you play these Monday night games, it's an opportunity for us and you get up to play these games,'' the third-year Giants quarterback said.

''Certainly, a lot of respect for Tom Brady, what he's accomplished, how he's played the position for as long as he has, but ... we're playing against the Bucs defense and preparing to play against them,'' Jones added. ''We're looking forward to it.''

Brady is third in the NFL with 2,870 yards passing and has thrown for a league-leading 27 TDs despite playing much of the past six weeks without injured tight end Rob Gronkowski and wide receiver Antonio Brown.

The 44-year-old, seven-time Super Bowl champion aims to rebound against the Giants after throwing a pair of interceptions in each of his past two games.

New York expects to see him at his best.

''They're going to make a Mount Rushmore of football players at some point, the first face they chisel will be that guy's face. He's the best player who ever walked,'' Giants offensive coordinator Jason Garrett said.

GIANTS DEFENSE

After struggling for six games, the Giants' defense has finally started playing like the unit that carried the team last season.

It has given up 39 points in winning two of the last three games. The key factor has been third down. Carolina was limited to 2 of 15 in New York's 25-3 win on Oct. 24. In a Monday night game at Kansas City, Patrick Mahomes and the Chiefs were 5 of 12 on third down, edging the Giants 20-17. Coordinator Pat Graham's unit held a potent Raiders offense to 4 of 12 in a 23-16 win before the break.

The Giants are a plus-4 in the last three games in the turnover differential.

O-LINE STABILITY

For the first time this season, the Giants have started the same offensive line in three straight games: Matt Peart at left tackle, Matt Skura at left guard, Billy Price at center, Will Hernandez at right guard and Nate Solder at right tackle.

That might change this week with Andrew Thomas returning to practice after missing the last three games while on injured reserve with foot and ankle injuries.

Thomas has been the left tackle since being taken No. 4 overall in the 2020 draft. He was having an exceptional season before being hurt, so expect him back on the left side if he plays.

WE MISS 'EM

So much is made of the plethora of playmakers Brady has at his disposal, a group that includes receivers Mike Evans, Chris Godwin and Brown and tight ends Gronkowski, O.J. Howard and Cameron Brate.

With Brown (ankle) and Gronkowski (ribs) sidelined by injuries, though, the team's depth has been tested.

''I think the other guys stepped up, but you take two great players out, possible Hall of Famers, yeah, you're going to miss them,'' Arians said.

The Bucs are 5-0 with Brown in the lineup this season, 1-3 without.

''Any time you take out a player of that caliber you're going to miss him. I think Tyler (Johnson) has done a good job, but he's not AB. There's nobody that we're going to put out there that's AB,'' Arians said. ''When you have Mike (Evans), Chris (Godwin) and AB, you've got three No. 1s. That's tough to defend.''

 

Monday Night Football: Buccaneers cruise to 30-10 victory over Giants



Tom Brady threw for 307 yards and two touchdowns and Ronald Jones ran for a score as the Tampa Bay Buccaneers handled the New York Giants in a 30-10 victory on Monday night.

Brady completed 30-of-46 passes and was intercepted once on the night. However, the Giants were incapable of keeping pace against the Buccaneers. Brady took a seat on the bench for the final seven minutes of action with Blaine Gabbert getting some snaps in garbage time for Tampa Bay.


The victory broke a two-game skid for the Buccaneers after losses on the road to the New Orleans Saints and Washington Football Team.

The Buccaneers intercepted Daniel Jones twice as the Giants offense sputtered. They also had a turnover on downs with a failed fourth-and-1 chance from the Buccaneers 25-yard line on their opening drive of the second half.

Jones was just 23 of 38 for 167 yards with a touchdown and two interceptions for the Giants on Monday night. Jones was only sacked twice but was regularly harassed by the Buccaneers pass rush. The Giants managed just 215 yards of total offense and Saquon Barkley had just six carries on the night for 25 yards.

Brady and the Buccaneers marched 73 yards on their opening drive of the game with a 13-yard touchdown pass to Chris Godwin getting them out to a 7-0 lead.

The Giants did manage to answer with points as Graham Gano‘s 37-yard field goal made it a 7-3 game.

After a 25-yard field goal from Ryan Succop extended the Buccaneers lead, the Giants took advantage of Tampa’s lone turnover to get into the end zone. A wide receiver screen to Mike Evans deflected into the air and was picked off by Adoree Jackson to give New York the ball at the Buccaneers’ 5-yard line. Two plays later, Jones hit offensive lineman Andrew Thomas on a tackle-eligible play for a 2-yard touchdown as the Giants tied the game at 10-10 with 9:14 left in the second quarter.

Tampa Bay immediately fired back with a 71-yard drive capped by a 6-yard touchdown run from Ronald Jones to extend the lead to 17-10 before halftime.

After the Giants turned it over on downs, Brady hit Mike Evans for a 5-yard touchdown to make it a 24-10 game. Jones then threw an ugly interception to Buccaneers defensive lineman Steve McLendon that led to a 40-yard Succop field goal.

After Jones was picked off by safety Mike Edwards, Succop added a 30-yard field goal to make it a 30-10 margin.

PFT

 

Taysom Hill lands four-year extension, salary tied to position he plays



When Saints quarterback Taysom Hill restructured his contract with the team earlier this year, four voidable years were added to the deal in order to create $7.75 million in cap space for the current season.

The move left the 2021 season as the last one that tied Hill to the Saints, but that’s no longer the case. Adam Schefter of ESPN reports that Hill has agreed to a four-year extension with the team and that his payout will be tied to what position he plays in New Orleans.


Hill’s deal will have a base value of $40 million if Hill remains in his current role, but he could earn up to $55 million more if he becomes the starting quarterback during that period. There is $22.5 million in guaranteed money.

Hill missed three games with a concussion this year and he didn’t play any snaps against the Eagles on Sunday due to a foot injury. He has 20 carries for 104 yards and three touchdowns and four catches for 52 yards to go with 56 passing yards and an interception on the year.

PFT

 

Early look at Playoff Battles...

 

Report: Matt Nagy has been told he’ll be fired after Thanksgiving game



A Pulitzer-prize winning Chicago reporter has dropped a bomb on the Bears beat.

Mark Konkol, who previously worked for the Chicago Sun-Times, reports at Patch.com that the Bears have informed coach Matt Nagy that he’ll be fired after Thursday’s game at Detroit.


A “top source with knowledge of the decision” told Konkel that Nagy was informed of his looming fate on Monday. Konkol does not cover the Bears, but there’s no hesitation or equivocation in his report.

As noted by Konkol, the Bears have NEVER fired a coach during the season. (Of course, the owner was the coach for four different 10-year stints.)

The Bears have not yet responded to a request for comment from PFT.

 

Jason Garrett has been fired. Garrett's a good human and I don't cheer for good people to lose their jobs. But thank god this guy isn't calling plays for the Giants any longer. Let's hope this just begins a landslide of firings that includes getting the Mara family out of the scouting department (two family members hold senior scouting positions...), Gettleman out of the GM chair and (sadly because I HATE changing coaches every two years) Joe Judge out of the HC office.

<blockquote class="twitter-tweet"><p lang="en" dir="ltr">Jason Garrett has been relieved of his duties as offensive coordinator.</p>&mdash; New York Giants (@Giants) <a href="">November 23, 2021</a></blockquote> <script async src="https://platform.twitter.com/widgets.js" charset="utf-8"></script>

 

That was quick. I just read this morning about the play calling being bothersome and now he's gone. I understand this has been on-going tho and its probably the right thing to do.

 

Matt Nagy on report he’s been informed of post-Thanksgiving firing: “That is not accurate”



Tuesday’s report that Bears coach Matt Nagy has been told he’ll be fired after Thursday’s game against the Lions has been refuted by Nagy himself.

Meeting with reporters, Nagy was asked about the report from Pulitzer-winning reporter Mark Konkol that Nagy has been told he’s out after the Thanksgiving game. “This is not accurate,” Nagy said of the report.


Nagy also said he has not spoken with chairman George McCaskey or team president Ted Phillips. Nagy also avoided answering directly questions as to whether he has received an assurance that he’ll finish the season as head coach.

“My focus right now is on these players and on Detroit,” Nagy said.

Nagy seemed to be pragmatic about the situation, with no frustration about the reports or rumors. Instead, he wants to focus solely on his job of coaching the team, and he insisted that he’ll let none of it distract him.

PFT

 

Steelers anticipate getting T.J. Watt, Joe Haden, Minkah Fitzpatrick back at practice this week



The Steelers were shorthanded on defense for Sunday night’s 41-37 loss to the Chargers and head coach Mike Tomlin said on Tuesday that he expects some reinforcements at practice this week.

Tomlin said at his press conference that he anticipates having linebacker T.J. Watt, cornerback Joe Haden, and safety Minkah Fitzpatrick to rejoin the team after missing all of last week. Watt hurt his hip and knee in Week 10, Haden has been dealing with an ankle injury, and Fitzpatrick went on the COVID-19 reserve list early last week.


On the other side of the ball, Tomlin said that tight end Eric Ebron (knee) and left guard J.C. Hassenauer (pec) are questionable for this week.

Practice participation will likely determine if they will be back to face the Bengals and Wednesday’s injury report will bring the first word on how much work everyone is able to do.

PFT

 

Texans cutting former Pro Bowl RB Phillip Lindsay

Phillip Lindsay's career began on a historic high note. Tuesday might be a new low for the running back.

The Houston Texans are cutting Lindsay, NFL Network Insider Ian Rapoport reported, per a source. Lindsay will head to waivers following his release.

Lindsay's move to Houston followed an unceremonious departure from Denver, where he rose from undrafted free agent to Pro Bowler in 2018, the first UDFA to achieve such a feat in NFL history. His story was as much about production as it was heartwarming, with the Denver-area native and Colorado University graduate racking up 1,278 scrimmage yards and 10 total touchdowns as a rookie. He followed that with another 1,100-plus scrimmage yards season in 2019.

The Broncos added former AFC West foe Melvin Gordon to the mix in 2020, taking away touches from Lindsay and eventually writing him right out of Denver's future scripts. Lindsay's carries fell from 224 in 2019 to 118 in 2020, and he appeared in 11 of Denver's 16 games.

Houston stood as an ideal place for Lindsay to try to reclaim what made him special in Denver, but with Mark Ingram, David Johnson and Rex Burkhead also trying to do the same with the Texans, Lindsay didn't see many opportunities. He carried the ball 50 times in 10 games, averaging 2.6 yards per carry, and saw just four targets in the passing game, catching three for 37 yards and a touchdown.

Houston also parted ways with Ingram – the team's leading rusher -- trading him to New Orleans in late October. If ever there were a backfield to define committee, it's Houston's.

A lack of touches and poor fit could explain why it didn't work out for Lindsay. We'll see if he's able to prove it was only that and not something greater, depending on where he lands.

NFL.com

 

Frankly it should have happened in the offseason. Garrett isn't a good match for Jones, or the players on the roster in general. The fact that he was retained at all was a sad surprise and the results are... as expected.

 

Freddie Kitchens Will Take Over As Giants Offensive Play Caller

 

Also as expected. Kitchens has been the "break glass in case of emergency" OC since the day Garrett was hired. There was a lot of speculation that Garrett was a forced marriage and that Kitchens would have been the OC if Judge had his druthers. I don't necessarily buy into the idea that Mara is a meddler but as fans get less patient the accusations to this affect have been getting stronger. Kitchens called one game last year using Garretts playbook when Garrett got dinged for Covid. It was basically just a more interesting version of what Garrett does. So I have hope that with this weird ass offensive personnel Kitchens can at least call better situational calls...

 

The Adrian Peterson era in Tennessee lasted just three games.

The Titans announced on Tuesday that they’ve waived Peterson after gaining 82 yards on 27 carries with a touchdown. He also caught four passes for eight yards.


Peterson had his most productive game for Tennessee on Sunday, when he took nine carries for 40 yards. But he played only 15 offensive snaps.

Dontrell Hilliard, who played the majority of offensive snaps in the loss to Houston, was signed to the 53-man roster on Tuesday.

Peterson will become a free agent if he clears waivers.

If this is the end of the road for Peterson, he’ll finish No. 5 on the all-time list in rushing yards with 14,902.

The Titans made a total of 13 roster moves on Tuesday, including signing Hilliard, defensive back Buster Skrine, and outside linebacker John Simon to the 53-man roster.

Defensive back Chris Jackson and receiver Marcus Johnson have been placed on injured reserve. Jackson is eligible to return in two weeks but Johnson is out for the season, as it’s his second stint on IR this year.

The club also signed veteran receiver Golden Tate, running back Rodney Smith, receiver Austin Mack, and defensive lineman Kevin Strong to the practice squad.

Tate, 33, was released by the Giants in March and hasn’t been with a team this season. He had 35 catches for 388 yards with two TDs in 12 games for New York last season.

Tennessee also designated fullback Khari Blasingame to return from injured reserve, starting his 21-day window to be activated to the 53-man roster.