NFL - NEWS & NOTES

There’s more money in regular season games.

 

Thursday Night Football: Justin Herbert TD dive lifts Chargers to 30-27 OT win over Raiders



Justin Herbert dove through the pile for a 1-yard touchdown in overtime to lift the Los Angeles Chargers to a 30-27 victory over the Las Vegas Raiders on Thursday night.

Herbert had fumbled on the previous play on a similar attempt to dive over the line of scrimmage only for the ball to be recovered by Los Angeles in the end zone. But since only the fumbler can advance a fumble inside the final two minutes, the ball came back to the 1-yard line to give Herbert a second attempt at the winning score.

The Raiders had taken the lead moments earlier on a 23-yard field goal from Daniel Carlson on the opening drive of overtime as their drive stalled out inside the Chargers’ 5-yard line. A pair of runs by Josh Jacobs were stuffed and a third down pass to fullback Alec Ingold was knocked down to force the Carlson field goal as the Raiders took a 27-24 lead.

After a third defensive pass interference call of the night against Trayvon Mullen, Herbert hit Jalen Guyton for a 53-yard strike down to the Las Vegas 2-yard line. The Chargers turned to three straight runs for Herbert with an unnecessary roughness call Nick Kwiatkoski moving the ball to the 1 before Herbert’s dive into the end zone.

Herbert completed 22-of-32 passes for 314 yards and two touchdowns for the Chargers.

The loss delivered a blow to the Raiders’ playoff chances. They’re one colossal mistake from Gregg Williams away from a five-game losing streak.

But the Chargers tried to Charger the game away several times.

With the game tied 24-24 with just two minutes left in regulation, Chris Harris Jr. intercepted Mariota on a pass thrown behind Zay Jones to flip the script with two minutes remaining. Harris returned the pick to the Raiders’ 33-yard line before he was caught by Mariota.

Mariota was playing in place of an injured Derek Carr, who left the game on the second series of the night with a groin injury and would not return.

The Chargers would quickly go three-and-out that saw Justin Herbert sacked for a loss on third down to force a 51-yard field goal try. Michael Badgley missed the ensuing kick wide left to keep the game tied at 24-24 with 53 seconds left to play. It was Badgley’s ninth field goal miss of the season and 12th miss overall on 29 attempts, which are the most of any kicker in the league and his second miss on the night.

The Raiders would only be able to get just beyond midfield before trying to have Carlson attempt a 65-yard field goal to win the game. Instead, the hold was mishandled and A.J. Cole had to fall on it as the game headed to overtime.

Mariota had played well in relief of Carr for most of the night. He completed 17-of-28 passes for 226 yards with a touchdown and an interception along with a rushing touchdown and 88 yards on the ground.

NBC

 

Needed to throw it 60.

 

I’m surprised Baker has that much arm. I don’t see him throwing the ball at a strong enough rate to think he could get it that far

 

Here's my (not so bold) prediction:

The Browns, currently sitting at 9-4, will beat both the Giants and the Jets in the next two weeks and will enter week 17 at 11-4. Regardless of what happens in week 17 against the Steelers, the Browns will end their 18 year playoff drought this year. The teams they could end up being tied with at 11-5 are the Titans, Colts, Ravens and Dolphins. All five of those teams could also end up at 11-5 and all five would have the same in-conference record. The Browns own the head to head tie breaker against both the Titans and the Colts, but not against the Ravens. The only sticky wicket is the Dolphins. They still have the Patriots, Raiders and Bills to play.

It should be a fun three weeks in Cleveland.

 

Yes. The Dolphins are the team that matters. The Dolphins need to win out for any of this to happen. Baltimore would also at least need the Browns to win out to be out at 11-5. The Colts can miss instead of the Browns as well. I also believe the Colts would have to win out for the Browns to miss the playoffs. The Browns are looking good plus they can just win out and not leave it to chance.

 

Randy Moss: I’m the best receiver ever, T.O. is second, Jerry Rice third or fourth



Almost everyone thinks Jerry Rice is the greatest wide receiver in NFL history. Randy Moss does not. Instead, Moss calls himself the best receiver ever, Terrell Owens second, and Rice comes in after them.

Asked on Owens’ podcast who he considers the best, that’s the order Moss put them in.

“I’ll put myself first, I’ll put T.O. second,” Moss said. “I would put Jerry probably third or fourth. I’m talking about dominating the game and changing the game of football. I don’t live on statistics because if you live on statistics and live on championships that’s all political. You’ve seen guys released or cut from a team just by a couple words in the media. You’ve seen guys given contracts or you’ve seen guys not given contracts just because of the color of their skin. You’ve got to throw politics out of the game of football, and look at the impact of what each individual was able to make in the game of football.”

Owens seemed to agree, noting that Rice played most of his career with either Joe Montana or Steve Young.

“When you think about Jerry and the quarterbacks he played with, he never had a drop-off in quarterback. He went from one Hall of Fame quarterback to another,” Owens said.

Moss did say he wasn’t trying to diminish what Rice accomplished.

“I don’t want the fans and the people watching your podcast to get it messed up that we dislike or discredit anything Jerry Rice was able to do or ever accomplish,” Moss said. “I don’t want people to think myself and T.O. is slandering or bashing anything Jerry did, because Jerry was at the top.”

Moss made some of the most spectacular plays of all time, but he doesn’t have a body of worth that compares with Rice’s. And Owens would be further down any objective list of the greatest receivers in NFL history. Outside of Moss as a guest on Owens’ podcast, no one would put Rice third among all receivers in NFL history.

NBC

 

Moss could have been the best ever, but he chose to be lazy and not give it his all.

 

Moss is an idiot

 

T.O. Had more drops than an eye dropper

 

Saturday Football is Back!

 

7-0, Bills... end of 1st Q.

 

TD, Josh Allen... scampered! 14-0, 2nd Q.

 

14-7 now, Broncos take advantage of a muffed punt by the Bills.

 

As I recall, they did that in the late 80s or early 90s and it seemed to go okay

 

Everyone will play in London before one of their bye weeks

 

For the first time this century, the Buffalo Bills are the AFC East champions.

The Bills beat the Broncos 48-19 today in Denver, clinching the division title. It’s their first time finishing first in the AFC East since 1995, when Jim Kelly was their quarterback, Thurman Thomas their leading rusher and Marv Levy their coach. It’s been a long time.

Bills quarterback Josh Allen had an outstanding game and is continuing to prove himself as one of the best young quarterbacks in football. Allen can make plays with his big arm and with his legs, and he’s going to give the Bills a chance to beat anyone in the postseason.

Stefon Diggs also played well as Allen’s No. 1 receiver, including a 55-yard catch that was one of the prettiest throw-and-catch combinations of this NFL season. With Allen throwing to Diggs, the Bills are a challenge for any defense.

And they were especially a challenge for the Broncos’ defense today because Denver was severely depleted by injuries at cornerback. At times it just seemed unfair how easy it was for Allen to march the Bills down the field.

Broncos quarterback Drew Lock struggled mightily, and he’s had enough bad games this season that a major question facing Denver has to be whether he’ll be their quarterback in 2021. There are a lot of changes coming in Denver.

But in Buffalo, there’s a lot to celebrate. Including a home playoff game for the first time since the 1990s glory days.

NBC

 

Packers move to 11-3 with 24-16 win on Saturday night



The Packers will remain in position for the top seed in the NFC playoffs heading into the final two weeks of the season.

An impressive first half was enough to overcome a sluggish second half in a 24-16 win over the Panthers. The victory moves the Packers to 11-3 on the season, which means they’ll remain ahead of the Saints regardless of what happens when New Orleans faces the Chiefs on Sunday.

Green Bay scored touchdowns on their first three possessions of Sunday’s game, but were limited to a field goal the rest of the way. The Panthers pass rush found success and dropped Aaron Rodgers for five sacks over the course of the evening.

The last of them was made by Brian Burns on a third down after the two minute warning and it got the Panthers one last chance with the ball. Teddy Bridgewater couldn’t generate anything offensively, however, and the Packers were able to take a knee to ice the win.

Panthers head coach Matt Rhule made an interesting decision to kick a 33-yard field goal on a first down with 2:04 left in the game. The Panthers had one time out left and Joey Slye‘s kickoff went into the end zone, which made the two minute warning a second clock stoppage that the Panthers were able to use to their advantage.

It wasn’t enough of an advantage to overcome what the Packers did in the first half, but the second half slowdown is sure to be a concern for Green Bay moving forward. They only picked up 49 yards of offense after the break and allowed the Panthers back into a game that looked like a blowout for the first stages of the game.

Working to correct such problems is always easier after a win and the Packers got one that moved them closer to home field advantage in the postseason.

NBC

 

Saints WR Michael Thomas (ankle) placed on injured reserve

The Saints will be without Michael Thomas for the remainder of the regular season after placing the star wideout on injured reserve, the team announced Saturday.

Thomas (ankle) had already been ruled out this week versus the Chiefs after not practicing this week. The All-Pro wideout has been dealing with the ankle injury since the start of the 2020 season and has missed seven games due to the injury.

The move comes just as New Orleans gets its quarterback back. The team activated Drew Brees from injured reserve Saturday as well.

With the Saints already clinching a playoff berth and currently sitting at the No. 2 seed, they can afford to be without Thomas for the final three games. The hope is that he gets the chance to be 100 percent entering the playoffs.

In seven games this season, Thomas has 40 receptions for 438 yards. With his regular season now over, the he'll have zero touchdowns in what has become a marred 2020 campaign.