NFL - NEWS & NOTES

Patriots’ Saturday COVID-19 tests produce no new positives

The Patriots may have dodged a bullet after quarterback Cam Newton tested positive for COVID-19.

Every Patriots player was tested today after Newton’s test from Friday came back positive, and every player tested negative, according to multiple reports.

That doesn’t necessarily mean the Patriots are out of the woods: It can take up to several days for an infected person to test positive, so it’s still possible that a teammate did contract the virus from Newton and just hasn’t tested positive yet.

Still, zero positive tests is good news. The Patriots may still be able to fly to Kansas City on Sunday and play against the Chiefs as soon as Monday.

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NFL Network's Tom Pelissero reported Saturday night that the Patriots' normal Saturday morning COVID-19 testing turned up no new positive cases, according to a source familiar with the situation.

Pelissero added that everyone will be tested again Sunday morning and, if the results are again all negatives, they could potentially travel to Kansas City on Monday for a game on Monday night. Under normal protocols, Pelissero noted, game day travel isn't permitted. But given the unique circumstances, it's a possibility that has been discussed as the NFL continues to evaluate the situation.

The league has already said the game will be Monday or Tuesday as long as there are no further issues, Pelissero reported.

 

Saints' Burton false positive. Game is on.

 

The postponed Patriots-Chiefs Week 4 game is being planned for Monday night, pending the results of the latest POC tests, NFL Network Insider Ian Rapoport and NFL Network's Tom Pelissero report, per sources.

Monday night is the preferred rescheduled date for both teams, according to Rapoport and Pelissero.

The game was postponed on Saturday morning after Patriots quarterback Cam Newton and Chiefs practice squad QB Jordan Ta'amu both tested positive for COVID-19. Both players have been placed on the reserve/COVID list and are ruled out of the Week 4 matchup.

Since Saturday morning's positive tests, there have been no new positive cases after a round of normal testing conducted by both teams.

NFL.com

 

The NFL will have two Monday night games this week.

After the Patriots’ game at Kansas City was delayed following Cam Newton‘s positive test for COVID-19, the league decided to have the Patriots and Chiefs kick off on Monday night at 7 p.m. ET. The game will stay on CBS.

The regularly scheduled Monday Night Football game, Falcons at Packers, will be delayed to 8:50 p.m. ET. That game will stay on ESPN.

Although these are hardly ideal circumstances — the NFL doesn’t like to compete with itself, and ESPN certainly doesn’t like having to share Monday night viewership with CBS — the league is trying to do the best it can, and has decided that a Monday night doubleheader is the best way to go.

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Quick score, Lions. 7-0 over Saints

 

Browns 7, Cowboys 0 .... early.

 

Seattle is up 7-0

 

Bengals are leading the jaguars 24-13

 

Browns running back Nick Chubb, one of the best in the league at his position, has suffered a lower leg injury in Dallas.

In obvious pain after Cowboys defensive lineman Tyrsten Hill landed on Chubb’s lower leg, Chubb eventually walked off the field and then to the locker room.

Officially, he’s questionable to return with a knee injury.

Kareem Hunt, who was questionable for the game with a groin injury, now becomes more of a focal point for the Cleveland offense.

Chubb exited the game with 43 yards on six carries.

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Ravens bounce back with 31-17 win



The Ravens suffered their first loss of the season against the Chiefs last Monday night, but there’s no losing streak in Baltimore.

Lamar Jackson threw two touchdowns to tight end Mark Andrews and set a career-high with a 50-yard touchdown run in a 31-17 win over the Washington Football Team. The victory gives the Ravens a 3-1 record on the season with a visit from the Bengals on tap in Week Five.

Jackson’s final snap of the game came with just over six minutes left in the game. He hit Willie Snead for 10 yards on a third-and-11 and it looked like the Ravens might keep the offense on the field for a moment before opting to let Justin Tucker kick a field goal. Robert Griffin III came in to run out the clock, but wound up throwing an interception that allowed Washington to tack on a late touchdown.

An onside kick was recovered by Baltimore, however, and the second attempt to run out the clock was more successful.

The offense had some highlights, but Washington’s defense was able to keep them from running away with the game. The offense wasn’t able to find enough things that worked to close the gap. A silver lining is that Dwayne Haskins finished the game 32-of-45 for 314 yards.

While a good chunk of the yards came with the Ravens up by a comfortable margin, he showed a good connection with Terry McLaurin and likely showed head coach Ron Rivera that he’s not closing in on the “cutoff point” that Rivera mentioned last week.

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Texans score 15 straight, but Vikings hold on



The Texans made a run early in the second half, but back-to-back touchdowns by the Vikings appeared to provide them with the breathing room they needed to win their first game of the 2020 season and they needed every inch of it.

Deshaun Watson threw a 24-yard touchdown to Kenny Stills on a fourth down to cut the Vikings lead to 31-23 and then led a quick drive back down the field after the defense forced a punt. They got down to fourth down again and Watson hit Will Fuller in the end zone for what was ruled a touchdown.

Replays showed that Fuller lost the ball when he hit the ground, however, and the Vikings were able to escape with a win. The Texans are now 0-4 with a home game against the Jaguars on tap for next weekend.

The Vikings will move on to face Seattle and they’ll be hoping for the same kind of offensive balance that they had on Sunday. Dalvin Cook had 27 carries for 130 carries and two touchdowns to continue his strong start to the season and quarterback Kirk Cousins was 16-of-22 for 260 yards. He did most of his work with Adam Thielen — eight catches for 114 yards and a touchdown — and Justin Jefferson, who had four catches for 103 yards.

That’s two big games in a row for the first-round pick and that’s a promising sign that things could be moving in a better direction for the Vikings after a rough start to the season.

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Saints shake off early rust to win in Detroit



In the first quarter today in Detroit, the Saints looked like a team that had just been through an ordeal and wasn’t ready to play. Then they fixed things.

The Saints, whose ability to play at all was briefly called into question by a false positive COVID-19 test, fell behind the Lions 14-0 but then scored 35 consecutive points and held on to win 35-29.

It was another ugly game for Lions coach Matt Patricia’s defense, and a game that will call into question Patricia’s job security. The Lions fell to 1-3.

The Saints improved to 2-2, and did so in impressive fashion. They were playing without the reigning NFL Offensive Player of the Year Michael Thomas, they lost starting right tackle Ryan Ramczyk to a concussion, and their offense continued to move the ball down the field. Although the Saints were expecting to be better than 2-2 a quarter of the way through the season, they have to be pleased with the way they played today.

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Bengals beat Jaguars for first win of Joe Burrow era



For the first of what they hope will be many times, the Bengals have won a game with Joe Burrow as their starting quarterback.

Burrow, the first pick in this year’s draft, played a solid game today in Cincinnati as the Bengals beat the Jaguars 33-25. Burrow completed 25 of 36 passes for an even 300 yards, with one touchdown and one interception, and he looked poised and in control of the offense. It was a promising game for a promising franchise quarterback.

Bengals receiver Tyler Boyd had an excellent game, and Joe Mixon finished with 151 rushing yards.

The Jaguars got 351 yards out of quarterback Gardner Minshew, and he’s often making plays without getting much help. Undrafted rookie running back James Robinson remains a bright spot for the Jaguars this season as well.

But the Jaguars just don’t have a lot of talent on this roster, and the Bengals delivered a promising win to a limited-capacity crowd in Cincinnati.

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It wasn’t always pretty, and Russell Wilson threw his fewest touchdown passes of the season.

But the Seahawks got it done on the road, holding off the Dolphins 31-23. It is the second 4-0 start for Seattle in team history, joining the 2013 team.

Jason Sanders kicked five field goals, with his fifth cutting the Seahawks lead to 17-15, but it was the Dolphins’ failure to reach the end zone that did them in. They had 415 yards and reached the Seattle 23, 11, 27, 25 and 11 before settling for field goals.

They finally scored a touchdown with 1:50 remaining, but it was too little, too late.
Jacob Hollister recovered the onside kick for the Seahawks.

The Seahawks scored 14 points in 1:24 of game clock in the fourth quarter essentially to put it out of reach.

Wilson hit David Moore for a 17-yard touchdown with 5:24 remaining before Shaquill Griffin intercepted Ryan Fitzpatrick and returned it 16 yards to the Miami 33.

Two plays later, after a catch-and-run by DK Metcalf, Chris Carson ran for a 1-yard touchdown. Carson, who briefly left the game for a concussion check, had a 1-yard touchdown run in the first quarter, too.

Wilson, who had 14 touchdowns in the first three games, went 24-of-34 for 360 yards with two touchdowns and an interception. Metcalf caught four for 106, and David Moore three or 95 yards and a score.

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Panthers win second straight, beat Cards 31-21



The Panthers figured out their red zone problems from a week ago, and suddenly, they have a winning streak.

The Panthers beat the Cardinals 31-21 Sunday, getting to 2-2 on a day when their offense looked far more polished than one should in the first month of a new administration without its best player.

They beat the Chargers last week despite settling for too many field goals (they were 1-of-6 in the red zone), but looked utterly competent on offense. In doing so, they won a second straight game, after losing 10 in a row going back to last season.

With Christian McCaffrey watching from the sidelines (he’s on IR with an ankle injury for at least another week), quarterback Teddy Bridgewater spread the ball around creatively, and the backup running backs did their part too.

Bridgewater was 26-of-37 for 276 yards, with two touchdowns and an interception.

With Mike Davis adding 84 rushing yards and a touchdown and Reggie Bonnafon chipping in 71 yards from scrimmage and a touchdown, the Panthers kept long drives going and kept the Cardinals (2-2) at bay.

While they were without standout safety Budda Baker, the Cardinals Defense looked out of sorts all afternoon (or morning, on their body clocks), as they lost their second straight game.

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Browns hold off Cowboys in blowout that turned into shootout



The Cowboys trailed the Falcons by 15 points late in the fourth quarter only to rally for a victory in their home opener. That was on everyone’s mind at AT&T Stadium on Sunday as the Cowboys headed into the fourth quarter down 41-14.

Dallas made it interesting with 24 unanswered points to draw within three points.

But Odell Beckham ran for a 50-yard touchdown with 3:25 left and Denzel Ward intercepted Dak Prescott a the 4-yard line with 1:36 left to end all suspense. The Browns won impressively 49-38 in one of the most entertaining games of the year.

The Browns moved to 3-1, and the Cowboys fell to 1-3.

Beckham and Myles Garrett were among the stars.

Beckham scored three touchdowns, catching scoring passes of 37 and 4 yards, and beating the Cowboys Defense on the end around late. It initially appeared Aldon Smith had Beckham for a loss on the play, but Beckham slipped by him and outran the rest of the Cowboys defense to the end zone.

The Browns then got a two-point conversion after Cody Parkey‘s PAT was blocked, Jaylon Smith knocked the ball into the end zone as he tried to pick it up and Stephen Carlson recovered in the end zone.

Beckham finished with two carries for 73 yards and five catches for 81 yards.

The Browns gained 508 yards with 307 coming on the ground. They lost Nick Chubb in the first half, but D'Ernest Johnson carried 13 times for 95 yards and Kareem Hunt had 11 attempts for 71 yards and two touchdowns.

Garrett made two sacks and forced a fumble in his homecoming back in Arlington.

Prescott became the first quarterback in NFL history with 450 or more yards in three consecutive games. He passed for 502 yards and four touchdowns but all for naught. He threw the late interception and also lost the fumble on the strip-sack by Garrett, which helped the Browns to a 31-14 halftime lead.

Amari Cooper caught 12 passes for 134 yards and a touchdown, and rookie CeeDee Lamb had five catches for 79 yards and two touchdowns.

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Buccaneers outlast Chargers, 38-31



Neither team was at full strength by the end of the game.

But at the end of the day, that old guy in Tampa Bay still has it.

Tom Brady outdueled a quarterback nearly half his age, leading the Bucs to a 38-31 win over the Chargers.

Brady came back from an early pick-six to finish with 369 yards and five touchdowns, as the Bucs improved to 3-1

He did it with an odd lot of players, as he started the game without Chris Godwin and Leonard Fournette, and lost O.J. Howard and LeSean McCoy over the course of the day.

Howard left late with an Achilles injury.

But Brady spread the ball among his targets, even finding Rob Gronkowski for a late contribution. He hit five different guys for touchdowns, and Mike Evans had 122 yards despite leaving the game briefly with an ankle injury.

That negated an otherwise strong day for Chargers rookie quarterback Justin Herbert.

He had a bombs-away day, while throwing to Keenan Allen and a bunch of unknowns. Herbert finished with 290 yards and three touchdowns (going to men named Tyron Johnson, Donald Parham, and Jalen Guyton). There was a late interception, and he’s still 0-3 as a starter, but he showed enough to make it worth considering riding with him rather than going back to Tyrod Taylor.

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