NFL - NEWS & NOTES

Side Note - The Washington Commanders never punted last night vs the Bengals.

 

Yep, its a long list and its a joke what the Chiefs get away with. Their D in particular has this rep for being the most physical in the league, imo at least partially cos Spags has this rep for being one of the most aggressive play calling DC's in the league. And i really feel when you watch them play, one thing feeds off the other and def feeds into the perceptions of the officials, almost becoming self-reinforcing. They are the most physical D in the league cos officials allow them to be, and (at least some)officials allow them to be that physical because of the perception "that's who they are". I have no other explanation for it. Their DB's in particular get away with play that i consistently see other teams in the league's DBs not get away with.


Furthermore.....I also don't believe in conspiracy(where's that Ravens fan ky jelly or whatever his name is), or it being rigged. But i do very much believe in the existence of subconscious bias on the part of refs/officials to the benefit of the "best" team(s) in a given sport. Refs are people and tucked away in some part of the brain of all people is the instinct for self-preservation/personal safety from harm. Whether that be from actual physical harm, or reputational harm among our peers or career harm. To some extent this exists in everyone.

Why do the best teams get the calls? If it was random chance then mathematically sometimes the best teams would get screwed on calls against the worst teams too, but this actually rarely happens. And im not just talking football now, i see it all the time in other sports too. My belief is that sometimes in those crucial moments in games, which often times are late in games, there is a sub-conscious leaning that can take place to favour the "best" team because that is the safer course of action for the human being deciding, even if they are not fully aware of it themselves in the moment. How else do you explain such a blatantly bad no PI call, other than a slight leaning on the part of the refs, benefitting the team that has the aura around them wherever they go(Chiefs), over the team that doesn't(Falcons). Now apply that question to all the other times like we mentioned and the "isolated incident" excuse simply doesn't hold. Its the Chiefs now. It used to be the Patriots.

There is prob a degree of variance from person to person(official to official). And not all bad calls can be explained this way, there's still incompetence. See Bears vs Colts last week, or that call years ago when the Saints hosted the Rams in the NFCCG. But there is something to it imo. I don't know what the answer is(literally robots?), but i do believe the problem is real. It exists.

 

The NFL completely took PI calls out of the picture, its not even reviewable now (thanks Goodell). Tra Blake, the referee said that the official in charge of that area didnt see interference; "From the angle that they had at the time, they did not feel that there was a foul committed." So, basically the referee is admitting the official responsible just didnt see it.

Im wondering how long it takes Goodell and the 'good ol' boys' that run this League to realize they have a real problem on their hands and there is a real easy fix to it and they are actually the ones who caused this problem. 1) The responsible official needed to ask for help and learn to be in the right position, like move your feet or something. 2) Review the damn call if there is any doubt! Why in hell a play like that is not reviewable is way beyond me.

 

Neither team punted, and neither team turned the ball over. Since the NFL-AFL merger, that was the first game ever that had no turnovers or punts.

 

Interesting and good stuff. Apparently, I read an incomplete article.

 

Here's a fun fact...

The Commanders’ offense is on a remarkable streak of success, with 17 consecutive drives, going back to Week One, ending with either a score or a kneeldown.

In Monday night’s win over the Bengals, the Commanders had eight possessions. They ended with five touchdowns, one field goal, and a kneeldown at the end of each half.

In last week’s win over the Giants, the Commanders also had eight possessions. They ended with seven field goals and a kneeldown.

And in Week One, the Commanders lost to the Buccaneers but finished their final offensive possession with a touchdown.

For more than two full games now, the Commanders haven’t had a turnover. They haven’t punted. They haven’t been stopped on a fourth down conversion attempt. They haven’t missed a field goal. Of all the ways an offensive drive can end, the Commanders have only had either a score or a kneeldown, going all the way back to their final drive of Week One.

It’s a remarkable testament to Commanders rookie quarterback Jayden Daniels, who is avoiding turnovers and marching the Commanders into scoring territory, over and over again.

PFT/Smith

 

Ours was a local league, we only had 20 players, but lost 13 week 1 from the Bengals loss..

The season ended this past weekend, with one guy thankfully taking the Bills for the win. We get to start over now...

 

Chiefs sign Kareem Hunt to 53-man roster

Kareem Hunt did not play for the Chiefs in Sunday night’s win over the Falcons, but it looks like the running back is in the team’s plans for this week’s matchup with the Chargers.

Field Yates of ESPN reports that the Chiefs have signed Hunt to their 53-man roster. Hunt signed to the team’s practice squad last week in the wake of Isiah Pacheco’s injury.

Running back Keaontay Ingram was waived in a corresponding move.

 

Chargers safety Derwin James lost his appeal of his one-game suspension and thus will miss Sunday’s game against the Chiefs.

Hearing officer Derrick Brooks, jointly appointed by the NFL and NFLPA, upheld the suspension Tuesday, the NFL announced.

The league suspended James on Monday for repeated violations of rules intended to protect players’ health and safety.

He has five unnecessary roughness penalties in his past 18 games, the most in the league by a defensive player. All five involved blows to the head of an opponent with his shoulder or helmet.

James has seven unnecessary roughness penalties in his career.

Jon Runyan, the NFL’s vice president of operations, cited James’ past transgressions in a letter to James after James’ most recent illegal hit.

James lowered his helmet and made direct helmet-to-helmet contact with Steelers tight end Pat Freiermuth during the third quarter, drawing a penalty.

PFT

 

T.J. Watt will soon become the second-fastest player to 100 career sacks

Steelers pass rusher T.J. Watt will soon record the 100th sack of his career, and he’ll do it in the second-fewest games of any player in NFL history.

Watt has 99.5 career sacks in 107 career games. Assuming he gets at least half a sack in the next five games (a very safe assumption), he’ll have No. 100 faster than anyone except Reggie White, who recorded his 100th career sack in his 96th career game.

After White, the player who needed the second-fewest games to get to 100 sacks was DeMarcus Ware, who did it in 113 games. Bruce Smith is next, with his 100th career sack coming in his 115th career game.

Sacks only became an official statistic in 1982, so this doesn’t encompass all of NFL history, but over the last four decades, only White has reached 100 sacks faster than Watt is about to.

PFT

 

Cowboys dumped the Giants last night, 20-15. Giants WR, Nabers left the game late with a concussion... he says he's "all good".

Prescott went 22-of-27 for 221 yards and two touchdowns.

Jones, 29 of 40, 281 and no TD.

 

These types of injury usually take a little time, so only time will tell.

 

Never seems to be any good news for the Browns...
___________

BEREA, Ohio -- Cleveland Browns coach Kevin Stefanski ruled out tight end David Njoku for Sunday's game against the Las Vegas Raiders.

Njoku returned to practice on Thursday for the first time since suffering an ankle injury in the season opener, but Stefanski said Njoku will not practice on Friday and will miss his third straight game.

Stefanski also ruled out starting offensive tackles Jedrick Wills Jr. and Jack Conklin. Wills injured a knee against the New York Giants, his first game back from his season-ending knee injury last year. A source told ESPN's Jeremy Fowler that an MRI came back clean. Conklin has not played this season as he returns from a severe knee injury he suffered in Week 1 of the 2023 season. He suffered a hamstring injury last week that Stefanski said was a "minor setback" but would not keep him out for multiple weeks.

Running back Pierre Strong Jr., who suffered a hamstring injury in Week 2, was also ruled out.

 

Christian McCaffrey injury update:

Running back Christian McCaffrey had a historic year in 2023, but his 2024 season is not off to as positive of a start. McCaffrey is on injured reserve and has been sidelined all season with an Achilles injury, which took him all the way to Germany to see a specialist on the issue.

San Francisco 49ers general manager John Lynch gave an update on the team's plan to get their star running back ready to be back on the field.

"We needed to quiet it down," Lynch said discussing McCaffrey's tendinitis, via KNBR. "The plan was to give it the time to do that and then at some point in a thoughtful way to ramp him back up."

The GM also addressed reports of the Germany trip and confirmed where No. 23 is now.

"What he does and where he goes, he's got people who work on his body and have for a long time," Lynch said. "Now he's back here and we'll have to hit certain markers and try the ramp up. God willing, the thing has quieted down and we can build him up in a smart, thoughtful way."

The exact details of the plan to "build him up" and how long he will be sidelined for this season is not yet known.

McCaffrey will be sidelined for at least two more weeks, given his IR designation. The earliest he can come back is Week 6 against the Seattle Seahawks.

Earlier this week, coach Kyle Shanahan noted that the team would have a "better idea" on McCaffrey's status over the "next couple weeks."

"The whole point of putting him on IR is to guarantee that we couldn't do anything for at least four weeks," Shanahan said. "And two weeks into it, the whole point was just to rest him for two weeks and not do that."

CBS

 

Maxx Crosby, Davante Adams ruled out for Raiders in Week 4

The Raiders won’t have their two best players on the field when they play the Browns on Sunday.

Defensive end Maxx Crosby and receiver Davante Adams were two of several players head coach Antonio Pierce ruled out for Week 4 in his Friday press conference.

Crosby is dealing with a high ankle sprain and did not practice on Wednesday and Thursday. This will be the first game Crosby’s missed in his pro career, as he’s appeared in 86 straight games since the Raiders selected him in the fourth round of the 2019 draft.

He has 3.0 sacks with five tackles for loss and five QB hits so far this season.

Adams suffered a hamstring injury during Thursday’s practice.

“No, I don’t know [a timeline], I just know he’s out for this week,” Pierce said. “But he’s kind of like Maxx. You’ve got to give those guys week-to-week — really, day-to-day. You never know how they respond. They’ve been doing this a long time in their career. But I just know for this week, he’ll be out.”

Adams leads the Raiders with 18 catches and 209 yards so far this season.

Additionally, Pierce has ruled out offensive tackle Thayer Munford (knee/ankle), linebacker Divine Deablo (oblique), cornerback Decamerion Richardson (hamstring), and tight end Michael Mayer (personal).

PFT

 

Report: DeMarcus Lawrence is expected to miss multiple weeks with foot injury

The Cowboys will be without DeMarcus Lawrence for some time after he suffered an injury in Thursday’s win over the Giants.

Per Tom Pelissero of NFL Media, Lawrence is expected to be out for multiple weeks due to a foot injury.

Lawrence suffered the injury during the first drive of the second half of last night’s game.

The Cowboys are also dealing with a high ankle sprain for star linebacker Micah Parsons. It’s currently unclear how long he will be sidelined by that injury.

Lawrence, 32, has registered 3.0 sacks, four tackles for loss, and five quarterback hits so far in 2024.

 

I really wonder Will...........is McCaffrey season over ?..........I had a friend tear his Achilles and it takes a LONG time to heal.