I think Todd has had enough of the speculation, and is going to play, and have a huge day against that team of beta boys on Sunday.



Edit: Oh wait....I'm so sorry. Mods, I didn't know there was already a "Anybody get a sense Gurley..." thread prominently displayed on page one of this Rams fan forum.

View attachment 31229

Perhaps someone could combine the threads.....using my title?

after the NFC Championship I'm curious if he'll really be out for us....

In the worst news of the day they chose a generic soda as their official soft drink.

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How America Lost Dinner
People want to cook and eat together. Modern life has other plans.
AMANDA MULL9:12 AM ET

Right now, a box of food from a meal-kit company is probably moldering in my apartment building’s mail room. I haven’t been down there in a few days, so maybe there isn’t one at this very moment. But more than two years of living in this building has taught me there’s basically always at least one box, forgotten and slightly stinky. When I visit friends, I often walk past a similar scene next to their elevators: cartons from Blue Apron or HelloFresh, waiting to find out if they’ll ever become the dinners they were meant to be.


Forgetting you mail-ordered a bespoke set of ingredients for a selection of restaurant-style recipes is a luxurious predicament to be in, but the frequency with which those meal kits seem to be abandoned points to the very same problem they were invented to fix: Consumer surveys have found that most people who buy meal kits do so in hopes of saving time. As it turns out, it takes time to unpack, cook, and clean up after a meal-kit dinner, too.
While Blue Apron reported more than a million subscribers back in 2017, the meal-kit market today is struggling to retain subscribers. People seem no closer to consistently finding time or energy to cook. Instead, many turn to popular chains such as Chipotle and Sweetgreen; the fast-casual takeout market is only expanding. People who want to save time in the kitchen “meal prep,” the lifestyle-influencer world’s preferred term to describe cramming enough cooking into one day to spread the results out over an entire week of meals.

It isn’t just buying groceries and figuring out meals that apparently have become more untenable in the past several decades. The very act of feeding yourself in America has changed in fundamental ways. Dinner is the meal in which the social ramifications of those changes are perhaps most acutely felt. People in the United States eat alone more frequently than they ever have before. After decades as the idealized daily performance of the country’s communal life, dinner as it’s commonly imagined has begun to vanish.

For most of history, dinner was no great shakes. For years, the evening meal—or any meal, for that matter—didn’t have a place in the home to become an event. “Rooms and tables had multiple uses, and families would eat in shifts, if necessary,” the dining historian Mackensie Griffin writes for NPR. “If there weren’t enough chairs for all members of the family, the men would sit and the women and children might stand.” While the concepts of a dining room and dining table technically were imported to America from Europe in the late 1700s, it took until the mid-1800s for them to filter down from early adopters like Thomas Jefferson to middle-class households, according to Griffin.

Once everyone got to sit down, dinner gradually transformed from merely the day’s late meal to a cultural institution in which all members of the family got the chance to fulfill their social roles. In the American imagination, men came home from work to gaze upon the beautiful wives, obedient children, and comfortable homes their salaries provided. Women spent their days making sure the domestic realm met those expectations. Dinner was theoretically when that labor could be left behind and the spoils of modern success could be enjoyed.
This cultural rebranding began in earnest after World War II. As white Americans decamped for shiny new suburbs and reimagined their lives in spacious single-family homes, social pressure to project an image of domestic tranquility became intense. These residential areas lacked the restaurant and bar option of denser cities, so family life became more centered around the home than ever before. Embodying the American dream every night was considered both patriotic and morally necessary, and having the money for this kind of domesticity was thought to be a sign that people prioritized hard work and family values. Eating together every night didn’t just mean you were well fed; it also meant you were a good person.

Today, half a century after these ideals took hold in the American psyche, plenty of cultural pressure still exists for both women and men to fulfill them, at the dinner table and beyond. Americans still want the economic stability and work-life balance that would enable them to regularly cook and eat with loved ones, even if they want the institution of dinner itself modernized. And, certainly, people still find ways to sit down and eat together as frequently as possible.


But there has also been tremendous upheaval in the structures of American life and work. Women—the people traditionally forced into meal management—have voluntarily entered the workforce in droves or been forced into it for financial reasons. Average commute times get longer seemingly every year, ensuring that working adults get home later and later. And almost all middle-class work now involves a great deal of time spent on a computer, which means millions of Americans’ jobs don’t end for the day when they leave the office. For many, their work never really ends at all.

Predictably, these drastic changes in how Americans spend their days have led to similarly enormous differences in how they spend their evenings. Women now devote a little more than half the average time per day cooking that they did in 1965. Men offset some of that labor by cooking a bit more on average, but their increased time in the kitchen is not nearly enough to make up the difference. Fast food has proliferated to fill that gap, especially among low-wage workers who lack the most resources and control of their own time. More recently, the rapid expansion of pricier “fast-casual” chains that claim healthier and fresher offerings suggests that an even broader proportion of the population is now looking for quick fixes. Going out to dinner is fun, but if it feels like the only option, it can drain bank accounts and make people feel unable to care for their bodies.
This net loss in meal time can beget a nagging tension. There’s that lingering moralistic pressure that it’s important for you to cook wholesome food, sit down with people you care about, breathe, enjoy. But for many people, the trade-offs it would take to get there push the ideal dinner farther and farther out of reach. This can weigh especially hard on parents, who often simply don’t have the time that preparing family meals requires. In a 2011 survey from the Pew Research Center, 84 percent of parents said they had dinner with at least one of their children at least a few times per week; only half said it happens every night. A 2014 poll found that more than half of adults felt that they had fewer meals with their families now than when they were kids.

The most detailed meal stats are kept on parents, and for most of modern history, surveying the country’s landscape of married people and parents would give you a pretty solid idea of how even young adults were living. In 1968, for example, 83 percent of people between 25 and 37 years old were married. But in 2018, only 46 percent of people in the same age range had tied the knot. Today, there are 23 million more households that consist of adult roommates than there were in 1995. From February 2018 to February 2019, 45 percent of American meals were eaten alone.
Eating alone or with an inconsistent set of friends, dating partners, and housemates can make cooking at home a tricky proposition. Food marketers are fast at work developing products to serve the burgeoning band of solo eaters, but many grocery packages and recipes are developed for multiple people eating the same dish the night it’s made. (Good luck buying a single chicken breast.) People navigate this by eating out, grabbing takeout, or ordering from a delivery app. A 2017 Gallup poll found that 72 percent of adults under 35 had eaten dinner at a restaurant in the previous week, and 41 percent had done it two or more times. The numbers were far lower for adults over 55. Among young adults making less than $30,000 a year, most still had a restaurant dinner. Cooking is less expensive in the long term, but a well-stocked kitchen and time to prepare meals are often very difficult to come by for the working poor.



Eating dinner alone is still eating, of course. But food can have far more value than just calories. As public-health campaigns are keen to remind people, there are good reasons to cook dinner and eat with your family. Cooking gives people better control and understanding of what they consume, which usually leads to more healthful choices than whatever a restaurant serves up. Preparing food and eating with friends or loved ones is also the kind of intimate bonding that strengthens social ties. Researchers have compared isolation’s impact on health to that of smoking cigarettes, and Americans are deeply lonely. Those who worry about the deterioration of dinnertime aren’t simply scolds.
They might be scolding the wrong people, however. By all indications, Americans want to cook and eat together. They’ll subscribe to delivery ingredient boxes by the millions, buy a staggering number of Instant Pots and air fryers, and make the internet sometimes feel like one giant recipe swap. It isn’t that they’ve gotten lazy or gluttonous. The very structure of American life has changed to make the basics of stability difficult to attain, down to something as simple as eating with your partner or child, or having a partner or child at all. The problem of dinner is far larger than what you’re going to eat.

Might be tough watching the Rams vs. 49ers in NorCal.


SONOMA, Calif. (AP) — More than 1.5 million people in Northern California were in the dark Thursday, most for a second day, after the state’s biggest utility shut off electricity to many areas to prevent its equipment from sparking wildfires as strong winds sweep through.
Unprecedented in scope, the deliberate outages by Pacific Gas & Electric forced schools and businesses to close and otherwise disrupted life for many people, bringing criticism down on the company from the governor and ordinary customers alike.
PG&E cast the blackouts as a matter of public safety, aimed at preventing the kind of blazes that have killed scores of people over the past couple of years, destroyed thousands of homes, and run up tens of billions of dollars in claims that drove the utility into bankruptcy.

The shut-offs could be just a glimpse of what lies ahead for California as climate change contributes to more ferocious blazes and longer fire seasons.
“It’s just kind of scary. It feels worse than Y2K. We don’t know how long,” Tianna Pasche of Oakland said before her area was powered down. “My two kids, their school situation keeps moving every second. It’s not clear if we need to pack for a week and go out of town or what to do. So I’m just trying to make sure we have water, food, charging stations and gas.”
But she added: “If it saves a life, I’m not going to complain about it.”
On Wednesday, PG&E cut power to an estimated 600,000 customers in the San Francisco Bay Area — where wind gusts reached 70 mph (110 kph) early Thursday — as well as wine country north of San Francisco, the agricultural Central Valley and the Sierra Nevada foothills, where a November wildfire blamed on PG&E transmission lines killed 85 people and all but incinerated the town of Paradise. The city of San Francisco itself was not in the shut-off zone.
PG&E warned that customers might have to do without power for days after the winds subside because “every inch” of the system must be inspected by helicopters and thousands of workers on the ground and declared safe before the grid is reactivated.
Ahead of the outages, announced earlier this week, Californians rushed to stock up on flashlights, batteries, bottled water, ice and coolers, took money out of ATMs and filled their gas tanks.
The University of California, Berkeley canceled classes for a second day because the campus had no electricity. Oakland closed several schools.

One of the areas where the power was shut off was the suburban town of Moraga, where about 100 homes were ordered evacuated as a wildfire spread in the hills early Thursday.
Gov. Gavin Newsom said PG&E should have been working on making its power system sturdier and more weatherproof.
“They’re in bankruptcy due to their terrible management going back decades,” he said. “They’ve created these conditions. It was unnecessary.”
Faced with customer anger, PG&E put up barricades around its San Francisco headquarters. A customer threw eggs at a PG&E office in Oroville. A PG&E truck was hit by a bullet, but authorities could not immediately say whether it was targeted.
“We realize and understand the impact and the hardship,” said Sumeet Singh, head of PG&E’s Community Wildfire Safety Program. But he urged people not to take it out on PG&E employees.
In the El Dorado Hills east of Sacramento, Ruth Self and her son took the outage there in stride while leaving a Safeway supermarket that had been stripped nearly bare of bottled water and ice. Self said she wasn’t upset, given the lives lost in Paradise, where people were burned in their cars trying to escape.
“I just can’t imagine,” she said. “Hopefully (the outages) are only for a couple days. I think it’s more of a positive than a negative. Ask me again on Friday night when I haven’t had a shower in two days, when I’ve had to spend two days playing card games.”
Meanwhile, Southern California Edison warned that it might cut power to nearly 174,000 customers in nine counties, including Los Angeles. San Diego Gas & Electric notified about 30,000 customers they could lose electricity in backcountry areas.

a bittersweet congrats to @RamFanWA for winning last weeks contest.....hope you lose it all in the sportsbook !!!

on to 9er week. Another big NFCW matchup pits the undefeated ( gawd I hated typing that)SF 49ers against the struggling (uggg) Los Angeles Rams. Can the Rams bounce back from 2 straight losses and handle the bitter rivals in LA?


Prizes are back to normal this week, 3000 credits for closest score including the winning team, and 6000 credits for exact score.

Please remember to pick a team in your post.

Thanks for playing.

Just feels that way to me. He doesn’t look the same. I find it hard to believe McVay wouldn’t be using him more if Gurley was the same guy. And now he’s got a mysterious bruised thigh that may very well keep him out of the most important game of the year. Sounds weird. The old Gurley would tape it up and practice.

I think the end is near for our $70M bellcow, fellas.

Florida Man 2.0: Behind Minshew's mustache lie 'genius tendencies'

SUNRISE ISN'T FOR at least another hour. The air reeks of that sweet, sweet Florida sulfur. The only light comes from the glint of a rusted streetlamp off the community trash compactor, yet still -- still -- Gardner Minshew is smiling as he pulls out of his apartment complex in Jacksonville on a dank morning last week.

He is talking about escapes.

"I've been learning to play the guitar," he says, gesturing toward the radio that's playing the Allman Brothers. His grin is wider than his (considerable) mustache. "It's been going ... slowly. But I kind of love it."

As we cross the bridge into downtown, Minshew asks if I have heard of something called Yousician (I haven't). He explains that it is an app, created in Finland, that features instrument tutorials and -- critically, he says -- a virtual instructor that listens and corrects you as you try to play. Each night, after he's done with football practice and football study and football preparation, Minshew puts in his earphones and slips away from all that is bubbling around him, zoning out with his automated music teacher as he tries to master the chords and frets.

Minshew took up the guitar about a month ago, he says, which makes sense because that is also when the speed of his life suddenly went from a syrup drip to a freight train. There was the injury to Jaguars starting quarterback Nick Foles and coach Doug Marrone calling Minshew's name. Then came the string of completed passes that first day -- 13 in a row to start his career in a 22-for-25 performance -- followed by the closer-than-close rally in the second game. Then came Thursday night bedlam against Tennessee. And the fourth-quarter miracle a week later in Denver.

Now there are T-shirts with Minshew's face on them and beer cans with Minshew's face on them. There are awards and endorsements. The Jags are selling Minshew-branded ticket plans, and there is a litany of stories about Minshew's glorious facial hair and his rakish headband and his tattered jean shorts and his (occasional) preference for stretching while wearing nothing but a jockstrap.

In a season that has seen backup quarterbacks dominate the headlines -- seven took the field for an injured starter in the first four weeks alone -- the fascination with Minshew is its own universe, where interviews and candy deals and so, so, so many memes mesh together with the endless speculation on the radio and the TV and just about every dive bar east of Tallahassee: Can Minshew, who was expected to be little more than a serviceable backup, actually keep this up? Is he for real? And, if he is, what will the Jags do in another month when Foles is healthy and they have to choose between their $50 million franchise player and a guy who looks like Florida Man crossed with Peyton Manning?

All of it would be a lot for anyone to take, let alone a sixth-round draft pick who wasn't sure he'd even make the team this season. Given the hysteria of his newfound circumstances, then, Minshew knew he needed to find an outlet, which is where the guitar comes in.

His initial goal, he tells me from the same well-worn sedan he drove at Brandon High School in Mississippi eight years ago, is simple: Get good enough to play "Wagon Wheel," the Southern classic about a man hitchhiking his way toward a woman in North Carolina. He has a venue in mind too: Every summer, Minshew's family takes over Cabin 1, right by the entrance at the Neshoba County Fair, known more colloquially as Mississippi's Largest House Party. Minshew loves the fair and giggles like a little boy when I ask what it would be like for him to sit outside of Cabin 1 and strum "Wagon Wheel" while everybody he knows and loves in the world sings along.

His eyes go wide. "Man," he says as he parks his car and heads into work as a starting quarterback in the NFL. "You know what? Honestly, if I could do that it would really be the pinnacle."

THERE ARE, OBVIOUSLY, some considerable physical skills that helped Minshew -- who is barely 6 feet tall and who attended four colleges in search of consistent playing time -- find success. To offset his (relative) undersize, he is so strong he can lift weights with the linebackers, and his intensity during practice runs so hot that one of his old quarterbacks coaches, Alex Williams, remembers Minshew literally hitting himself in the face if he missed an easy throw during a training drill. ("Not hard or anything, but still," Williams says.)

Nearly everyone who comes into contact with Minshew, however, ends up with the same conclusion: His biggest weapon is his brain. Mike Leach, who coached Minshew at Washington State in his last (and best) college season, tells me, "He has genius tendencies," and those smarts were a big part of what led the Jags to take a flier on Minshew in the sixth round of April's draft. Tom Coughlin, the Jags' head of player personnel, immediately highlighted Minshew's ability to be "quick" in carrying what he learned in the film room to the field. "He's very smart; he's very sharp," Coughlin said then. "He will suck up all that information, and then, based on what we have seen, he will go onto the practice field and carry it with him."

Turns out, Coughlin was right -- only it wasn't on the practice field. When Minshew thrived so quickly after taking over in Week 1, Marrone was legitimately surprised, he says, because the playbook had been designed for Foles, not Minshew.

"The game plan is written for a different quarterback and he just goes in there and executes it?" Marrone tells me after the team's workout one day. "A lot of players don't have the head to do that."

Minshew has always had the head to do that, even before it was quite this on-display. After two unremarkable seasons at East Carolina, Minshew had actually agreed to take a job with Nick Saban at Alabama as a graduate assistant, thinking he'd probably get into coaching once his college eligibility was done. Before he made it official, though, Leach recruited him to Washington State, asking Minshew just one question -- "How would you like to lead the nation in passing?" -- that led Minshew to play one more season (in which he finished the year second in passing) and sent him on his course to the NFL.

Minshew doesn't have a good explanation for his mental acuity; football plays, and football players, just unspool in his mind. It happens in fantasy sports too: Tre Polk, who is one of Minshew's closest friends from Brandon, says Minshew stunned their dynasty league this past summer when he opted to redraft nearly his entire team (which is named Trust the Process) and start from scratch.

"It was ridiculous," Polk says. "He must have known something about Melvin Gordon, and he worked out with Josh Jacobs and liked what he saw so he took him, and he took the Patriots defense, and he grabbed Austin Ekeler ..." Polk goes on for a few minutes like this before putting on the bow. "Bottom line: He redrafted, like, his whole team, and he's tied for first place. He just sees the game in a different way."

I ask the obvious follow-up: Who is Minshew's quarterback?

"That's the thing," Polk says. "I keep waiting for him to pick himself up, but no one took him. Gardner Minshew is available in Gardner Minshew's fantasy league."

Polk laughs. "Gardner actually took Kyler Murray."

IT SHOULD BE said: Minshew has some experience with sudden celebrity. He became the starter at Brandon during his sophomore year, when Polk, who had been playing in front of him, broke his arm. (Stop me if you've heard this before.) Minshew entered, cinched a hammerlock on the starting job and promptly led the team to the state title game twice in three years. "They've been putting microphones in his face since before his voice broke," says his dad, Flint. "He threw for 11,000 yards and 105 touchdowns -- he's used to people knowing his name. But this is on a different level."

The ingredients, though, remain the same. Sports -- particularly high school sports -- all but demand conformity, but Minshew's devotion to being himself is both fierce and endearing. In high school, his closest group of friends included football players, sure, but also John Wilson and Connor Aultman, two "uncool nerds" -- Wilson's words -- whom Minshew sat with in an advanced English class. Since Minshew often had to skip lunch for football work, the trio persuaded their teacher to let them grill paninis on Wilson's George Foreman Grill in the few minutes before the lesson began.

But simply cooking the sandwiches wasn't enough. "We all like to do stupid stuff," Aultman says, and so they christened themselves the Panini Party club, with Wilson as president, Minshew as the undersecretary for Sweet Baby Ray's barbecue sauce and Aultman as chairman of the butter department (necessary for greasing up any panini). Initially, they began each meeting by saying the Pledge of Allegiance to a pair of American flag pants that Minshew wore with remarkable frequency but ultimately hung up a flag on the wall outside the classroom, Aultman says, in order to "class it up."

That is Minshew: a jock who will explain his various feats on the field by saying things like "It's just ball" but is also comfortable getting weird and talking about "The Things They Carried" with the guys from English. Another friend, Michael Sanderson, says he'll never forget how, during Minshew's senior season, when he was setting state football records, Minshew barely put any football highlights on Instagram but proudly posted his ACT score when he registered a 30.

(As an aside, Sanderson also plays a key role in a possible origin story for Minshew's trademark jean shorts. Sanderson's recollection: "We were at my house playing video games one night, and Gardner left to, like, go to the bathroom. I have an older sister and she wasn't home, and when Gardner came back in the room he had put on her denim shorts and was like, 'I think these look good!'" Sanderson adds, "It wasn't great.")

For his part, Minshew doesn't see any particular novelty in any of this; he just likes who he likes. After a big road win his senior year, Minshew motioned for Wilson, who kept stats, to sit next to him on the bus ride home rather than sitting with one of his receivers or linemen. ("He could have left us in the dust years ago for someone cooler," Wilson says now.) In a few weeks, when the Jaguars have a bye, Minshew won't spend it on vacation or decompressing on the beach; he'll put on a tuxedo and go to Memphis to be a groomsman in the wedding of another friend, Josh Stowers. After Minshew became the starter, Stowers wondered to himself whether that meant Minshew might want a more relaxing week off and back out.

"But then I actually went to the game in Houston [in Week 2]," Stowers tells me, "and when I saw Gardner afterward, the first thing he said wasn't about playing or anything. He sees me, grabs me and shouts, 'I'm so excited for Nov. 9!'"

IN JACKSONVILLE, Minshew's everyman approach has had a similar effect. While team leaders such as star running back Leonard Fournette praise his authenticity -- "You can tell none of this is an act" -- the affection trickles down the food chain too: A handful of guys on the Jags' equipment staff have started growing Minshew mustaches, and Andrew Wingard, who plays mostly on special teams, and Michael Walker, who is on the practice squad, say their celebrity roommate is the same as when they could actually go to dinner without getting interrupted for 50 picture requests.

There have been some concessions, though: Topgolf, for the moment, is out. The trio still try to go to the movies but saw "It: Chapter 2" last week at a smaller theater and made sure to slip in the back just before it started. A favorite local restaurant, River and Post, has promised to seat the group in the back going forward so they can actually get through a salad without being interrupted.

"We used to go to Publix on Tuesdays to grocery shop, but last time we tried that, we couldn't even make it in the door before people stopped him," Walker says. "I had to give Gardner my keys so he could sit in the car. We'll have to get a list from him from now on, I guess."

Wingard confirms that they'll shop for Minshew but says it's no problem "because Gardner did a thing with Snickers, so we've got a lifetime supply of dessert now, plus he just drops clothes and hats and whatever else is suddenly getting sent to him on our beds for us."

Wingard shakes his head with appreciation. "The other day he got me this dope Florida Snapper beanie. It's maroon, and it's awesome."

Outside the team, Jacksonville's fascination with Minshew runs deep. Part of it, naturally, is what he does on the field: Minshew has thrown nine touchdown passes against only one interception, has won the Rookie of the Week award three times in five weeks, and is the first player in NFL history to pass for at least 200 yards and have a rating of at least 95.0 in each of his first five career games.

That is only a piece of it, though. Dan Hicken, a longtime sports anchor and radio host in Jacksonville, says the love for Minshew is also about what he represents. In a city that has forever been insecure when it comes to the NFL -- Is the team going to get moved? Will the Jags ever get any national respect? -- the discovery of a seeming gem like Minshew is made even more enthralling because of the litany of nightmares that came before.

"This is a team that took Blaine Gabbert and passed on J.J. Watt," Hicken says. "We haven't seen too many quarterbacks who can take the team down the field in the fourth quarter. We haven't seen too many guys that get the national TV shows talking about us. We like that the mustaches are everywhere; we like that people are noticing Jacksonville. Fans here care about that stuff."

They care too about that Southern mix of bravado and humility. They like that Minshew was a star in high school but then struggled to find his way. They like that he went to Troy and then a junior college and then East Carolina and then to Washington State, "just searching for an opportunity," as Minshew puts it. When the story emerged about how Minshew, in hopes of getting a medical redshirt so he wouldn't lose a year of eligibility after things went sour at East Carolina, actually attempted to break his own hand with a hammer, Jags fans "went nuts," Hicken says, because it showed that "he just wanted what everyone wants: to never stop playing."

(That scheme, by the way, wasn't impulsive; Minshew's best friend, Houston Smith, tells me that he actually conspired at some length with Minshew on the phone before Minshew attempted it, discussing other ways Minshew might try to hurt himself. "Slamming a car door on his hand was the other top choice," Smith says, somewhat ruefully. "I wouldn't say I endorsed the decision, but I also knew I wasn't going to be able to stop him.")

Ultimately, all of it melds together to make Jags fans feel like Minshew is one of them. Minshew doesn't hide his pleasure about playing in the South either -- "These are my type of people," he says -- and the fascination with Minshew, Hicken says, might well rival the love Jacksonville had for Tim Tebow.

"He's even got the look," Hicken tells me. "Look at him: He's basically the guy that like 95% of Jacksonville wants to go drink a beer with."

ABOUT HALF AN hour after the Jags game ends this past Sunday, Minshew slips on a hooded sweatshirt and goes to the interview room at the stadium in Charlotte. The Jaguars have lost to the Panthers 34-27, and Minshew -- despite throwing for 374 yards and two touchdowns -- is appropriately stricken.

He talks in a hushed tone about the team's effort and takes full responsibility for three fumbles -- "They're all on me" -- even though one came when an offensive lineman was pushed straight into him and another was during a desperation drive in the final moments. He returns to the locker room and wraps tight end James O'Shaughnessy, who is on crutches and wearing a knee brace after a second-half injury, in a long bear hug.

In some ways, the whole scene feels just a little bit surreal: As recently as this summer, the Jaguars were reportedly considering other options because they weren't sure Minshew was ready to be their backup. Now he looks comfortable and assured as the starter and does all the things a starting quarterback is supposed to do -- the game, the media, the locker room -- including waving to a group of Jags fans with mustaches and headbands who have congregated near the path to the team bus. Even after a loss, the Minshew myth will only grow because, if nothing else, Minshew was one of the few reasons the Jags even had a hope of winning on a day when their run defense was shredded.

Walking just ahead of Minshew is Foles. The Super Bowl winner with the Eagles isn't doing interviews, but he is continuing to work out with the Jaguars as he recovers from his broken collarbone. The earliest Foles could return is the Jaguars' Nov. 17 game against the Colts, and Marrone doesn't have a plan for what will happen then because, he says, "I don't have to have a plan right now."

That's fair enough, certainly -- Marrone has plenty on his plate that is more pressing. But it also won't do much to stop the speculation about whether the Jaguars -- who were so sure they'd found their quarterback of the future that they promised Foles about $50 million in guaranteed money -- might consider now going with Minshew, who won't make anywhere near even $1 million in any of the next three seasons.

Around the league, the consensus seems to be that money will talk -- Minshew "is playing well and is a gamer like in college, but they'll go back to Foles," says one AFC front-office executive -- but the groundswell of adoration for Minshew among the fans doesn't figure to wane anytime soon. "If they're playing well, it'll be almost 100% in favor of Minshew," Hicken says. "Foles hasn't had the chance to connect here."

Watching from afar, Leach, Minshew's former coach, says the one thing he isn't worried about is Minshew regressing because he gets caught up in the blossoming frenzy surrounding him. Minshew had a similar appeal during his time in Pullman, and Leach says that for all of Minshew's quirks and idiosyncrasies, he always saw Minshew's love for football over fame as the ultimate trump.

"In varying degrees, everyone in this business and in this world has some phoniness to him, and Gardner's got far less than most," Leach says. "All the attention in the world is not more important to him than playing well, and I get the feeling that it has always been that way."

Minshew says as much during our car ride, even admitting that there are moments when his sudden notoriety is more tiresome than exhilarating. "I'm glad people are excited," he says, "but I could take it or leave it." He adds, "I'm a little sick of mustache questions, to be honest. I just want to focus on the stuff that's real."

At this point, that isn't a short list. Real is working on making quicker decisions in the pocket and not dancing around quite as much. Real is the fact that, with O'Shaughnessy out, one of his favorite passing options is suddenly unavailable. And real is the 4-1 Saints, who arrive in Jacksonville this Sunday.

"I have a sense of urgency all the time," Minshew tells me, "because I've never had a reason not to." And so he grinds and pushes and presses, uncertain and unconcerned about what comes next. It can be stifling sometimes, but when he wants a break, he says, there is always Yousician. Truth is, "Wagon Wheel" still needs work.

This site has a well organized pregame smack talk thread;


Just make sure you wash your hands before returning.

OT McGlinchy is a great run blocker, and probably a near pro bowl level RT. I think he was top 3 run blocker last year.

If Rams can't beat them while they are missing both OTs and their power game FB, the rams don't deserve
much this year beyond 9-7. 3-3= exactly what Bill Parcells says it is: mediocre.

The Rams will win, even without Todd

Rams game in GREEN.
FOX SINGLE


█ Anchorage
█ Fairbanks
█ Honolulu (Green)

█
Philadelphia @ Minnesota
Kenny Albert, Charles Davis

█
Seattle @ Cleveland
Chris Myers, Daryl Johnston

█
Washington @ Miami
Sam Rosen, Ronde Barber

█
San Francisco @ LA Rams (LATE)
Dick Stockton, Mark Schlereth

█
Atlanta @ Arizona (LATE)
Thom Brennaman, Chris Spielman

Apologies if everyone’s already seen this.

“Hey! They’re blowing the whistle! Stop moving.”

Cool story!

First-ever diamond within a diamond, found in Russia, is said to be 800 million years old

An exceedingly rare gem known as a Matryoshka diamond has been unearthed by miners in Russia.

The diamond, named for its resemblance to traditional Russian nesting dolls, was discovered in Yakutia at the Nyurba mining and processing division of Alrosa.

Experts believe it is the first known diamond in history to have this unique nested quality. They also estimate the diamond to be around 800 million years old.

Scientists studied its structure using Raman and infrared spectroscopies, as well as X-ray microtomography. Based on their studies, according to Alrosa, scientists hypothesize that the internal diamond came first and the external one formed during later stages of growth.



"The most interesting thing for us was to find out how the air space between the inner and outer diamonds was formed. We have two main hypotheses. According to the first version, a mantle mineral captured a diamond during its growth, and later it was dissolved in the Earth's surface. According to the second version, a layer of porous polycrystalline diamond substance was formed inside the diamond because of ultra-fast growth, and more aggressive mantle processes subsequently dissolved it. Due to the presence of the dissolved zone, one diamond began to move freely inside another on the principle of matryoshka nesting doll," Oleg Kovalchuk, Deputy Director for innovations at Alrosa's Research and Development Geological Enterprise, said in a statement.

The Matryoshka diamond is just 0.62 carats.



"As far as we know, there were no such diamonds in the history of global diamond mining yet. This is really a unique creation of nature, especially since nature does not like emptiness. Usually, some minerals are replaced by others without cavity formation," Kovalchuk explained.

The diamond will now be sent to the Gemological Institute of America for futher testing.

Yeah, it’s waaaaay early, but still... just for funsies, anyway.

After seeing the first 5 games, almost a third of the season, here are my opinions as to extending some key ‘20 Ram UFA’s. Caution: I’m coming down on the ruthless side so some posters might be surprised or offended.

Whitworth. Goner.
Blythe. He’s 50-50, but probably allowed to walk unless he really shines in the next 11 games.

I think that’s it on the significant O UFA’s. Now let’s do the much longer D list. And let’s don’t forget that the D currently seems to be the side struggling the most.

Fowler. Goner, because he just hasn’t earned that big payday as yet.
Brockers. Probably a goner. Salary too high based upon so-so production on field.
Talib. Goner. Father Time has caught up with this formerly great CB and his salary would be too high, anyway. More bang for the buck with other FA CB’s or a high draft pick.
Peters. Goner, unless he really blows it up in these next 11 games. Too hit and miss, too immature. I think the Rams move on.
Littleton. Extend. A no-brainer.
Zuerlein. Extend. Another no-brainer.
Troy Hill. Very iffy, better be willing to sign inexpensively.
Hager. Another iffy, better shine plus be willing to sign inexpensively.
Bortles. Goner because he’ll get a nice offer to perhaps be a starter elsewhere.
Fox. Can’t decide just yet. Need a larger sample. Better be willing to sign inexpensively, too.
Christian. Probably a goner. Seems very replaceable.

So I guess I only see 2 likely extensions out of the 11 significant upcoming UFA’s on D.

How do you guys see it?

One of my friends (fucking 69ers fan!) pointed out Goff's stats since that shitty bears game last year:

In 12 games: 12 TDs, 14 INTs, 5 Fumbles Lost, 56% Completion Percentage

We still have a winning record in those 12 games (7-5) so it's not all bad. He has shown flashes of brilliance, too.

Hopefully he can have a big game against the Forty Whiners this weekend and turn this season around. We know what he can do, now he needs to do it!

This topic stems from the TV thread but deserves its own thread. The quote in the title of this thread is from a business journal from the 1920s. There are so many examples of items we buy that were designed not to last. Now many people are accustomed to being used and abused as a consumer. Would like to know your experience with items you had to buy over and over.

Samson Ebukam: "I'm going to do my best to keep the seat warm" for Clay Matthews

THOUSAND OAKS, Calif. – Rams OLB Clay Matthewswill miss at least 4-6 weeks with a broken jaw, leaving big shoes to fill in the pass rush.

His expected replacement for the time being, fellow linebacker Samson Ebukam, embraces the challenge.

"I'm going to do my best to keep the seat warm for him, though, because I know what kind of an impact player that he is," Ebukam said. "Definitely try to do my best just to live up to his reputation."

Matthews, a six-time Pro Bowler and former First Team All-Pro selection in 10-plus NFL seasons, had accumulated a team-high six sacks, plus 19 total tackles and two forced fumbles prior to the freak accident of an injury against the Seahawks last week.

While that stature is built upon lots of experience, it's not like Ebukam is lacking any.

In two-plus seasons, he has appeared in 37 out of a possible 37 regular season games since being drafted by the Rams in 2017. Last year, he played in all 16 games, starting in 14 of them and posting a career-high 39 tackles and three sacks in the process."He’s played a lot of important snaps for us," Rams head coach Sean McVay said. "He’s a guy that we have a lot of confidence in."

"He’s played a lot of important snaps for us," Rams head coach Sean McVay said. "He’s a guy that we have a lot of confidence in."

While Ebukam has been in a reserve role this year, he had no complaints about playing behind Matthews.

"I mean, you just got to take it like it is," Ebukam said. "That's a future Hall of Famer that they put in front of you, so I'm not going to sit here and question it because he's been eating on the field. I just want to do that whenever I get the chance."

He's proven he has the ability to when those opportunities come his way.

Within that career-best season in 2018 game a career game for Ebukam. In the Rams' 54-51 win over the Chiefs, he returned an interception and a fumble for touchdowns.

However, much like Matthews' reputation, Ebukam wants his to stretch beyond just one game.

"Yeah, quite a lot," said Ebukam, when asked if fans bring that game up often when they run into him. "I understand why. In my mindset, that's last year and this year's new. Got to be able to do that on a regular basis."

His teammates are confident he's capable of doing so.

"You're not going to be able to place a guy like (Matthews), but Samson's played a lot of football," Rams safety Eric Weddle said. "We'll be fine. Next man up."

While he took advantage of the time off players and coaches had over the weekend, it's evident that what Matthews means to this defense isn't lost on Ebukam.

What's also evident is that he'll be ready.

"I just kind of relaxed, reset my mind and everything," Ebukam said. "Knowing that Clay's down and that my role is going to expand, I just leave everything up to God, man, you know? I'm just going to go out there, have fun and play like I always play, and everything will work out in the end I believe."

Somebody will likely see this story to post.

I am not sure the discussion from it is productive around here... Everyone here loves the Rams, so it is what it is at this point.

Therefore, for now, it looks just like news and I’ll post, then lock.

———

RAMS SUFFER RELOCATION LAWSUIT SETBACK, SCOTUS UNLIKELY TO HEAR CASE

The Los Angeles Rams and the NFL have gone to great lengths in an attempt to avoid the public hearing details of a lawsuit stemming from the team’s relocation from St. Louis back in 2016.

The two sides previously appealed a Missouri Supreme Court decision that concluded settlement negotiations between the team and plaintiffs would be heard in a St. Louis courtroom rather than privately through arbitration.

Unfortunately for the league and the team, a ruling to deny a stay in the case by the United States Supreme Court on Tuesday makes it clear that the public will soon find out the details. Said ruling also likely confirms that SCOTUS will not hear the case.

It’s more than likely that said ruling was under the guise of collective bargaining. The suit alleges breach of contract and includes the league’s 31 other teams as well as the Rams.

The land’s biggest court has in the past sided with collective bargaining between unions and companies rather than hear cases of internal strife.

If that’s the case, plaintiffs have a right for the case to be heard in a court of law rather than privately in arbitration.

What does this all mean? Short of the two sides coming to terms on a financial agreement, Rams owner Stan Kroenke and NFL Commissioner Roger Goodell will likely have to take to the stand.

The league certainly doesn’t want the private dealing of said relocation made public record. This could lead to a financial windfall for the plaintiffs.

It’s starting already, first off the 9ers are undefeated and in first place, so props for that, but now Garapalo is back to being the next Brady and Shanny the next Belichick. Guy on the radio was talking about McVay’s time in Washington, he said McVay was the charismatic one and he’s turned into a very good coach but Shanny was the real genius. McVay’s success is tied to his system which is being figured out whereas what Shanny does is flexible like New England.
Interesting take, of course going to nfc championships and the SB puts a target on your back for every team in the league and drafting in the top 5 allows the 9ers to stockpile talent. They’ve also gotten to fatten up on the afc north, but you can’t play teams with losing records all year unless you’re NE so I guess we’ll see.

How Colts got best of Chiefs' Patrick Mahomes in NFL Week 5

The Colts arrived at Arrowhead Stadium on Sunday night looking to avenge their 31-13 loss to the Chiefs in the Divisional Round of last season's playoffs. While this game seemed ripe for another Kansas City rout, Indianapolis had other plans. Frank Reich's squad pulled off one of the biggest surprises of the 2019 season, stifling Patrick Mahomes and Co. on the way to a 19-13 victory.

It was the type of performance that should have defensive coordinators around the league studying the tape to see what strategies they can borrow from Indianapolis to slow down one of the most explosive offenses around. However, in this case, you could say the Colts had the right defensive game plan at the right time, and it might not be easily replicated.

Why was it the right time? Well, for one, Mahomes wasn't as effective after aggravating an ankle injury in the first half. He was forced to stay in the pocket more (72% of dropbacks before the injury; 86% of dropbacks after the injury), limiting his opportunities to create on the move. There's also no denying that the absence of receivers Tyreek Hill and Sammy Watkins, with the latter playing just two snaps Sunday night before exiting with a hamstring injury, helped the Colts frame their strategy and ultimately limit the Chiefs to just 13 points, which is half the previous single-game low for a Mahomes-led Chiefs offense (26 points vs. the Cardinals in Week 10, 2018).

That said, it was the way the Colts shut down Kansas City that really surprised us and further established a troubling pattern for the Chiefs. As we highlighted last week, all signs pointed to the meeting with the Colts being the perfect matchup for Mahomes to feast on what had previously been a zone-heavy defense, one that was coming into the game shorthanded due to injuries at linebacker and in the secondary. Entering Week 5, Mahomes had the lowest tight-window-throw percentage (11.7%) of all qualifying QBs since the start of the 2018 season, while the Colts forced tight-windows throws at the lowest percentage (8.1%) in that same time frame.

Furthermore, under defensive coordinator Matt Eberflus, the Colts had played zone coverage at the highest rate in the NFL (80.0%) since he was hired before the 2018 season, per Pro Football Focus. Mahomes had dominated against zone coverage in the first four weeks this season, completing 53 of his 70 attempts for a ridiculous 830 yards and 7 TDs. His out-of-this-world 11.9 yards per attempt and 147.9 passer rating vs. zone coverage led all qualifying QBs, compared to a much more mortal 8.3 yards per attempt and 95.6 passer rating vs. man coverage.

But as we all know, on any given Sunday, anything can happen, and this contest did not play out the way we had envisioned it. Eberflus completely reversed his coverage tendencies, dialing up a man-heavy coverage scheme for the first time as Colts DC on Sunday night. He employed man coverage on 73.3 percent of Mahomes' dropbacks, almost three times the rate of his previous high in a game during his Colts tenure (25.6% in Week 1 vs. the Chargers, 2019), according to PFF.

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On the Chiefs' first two drives Sunday, which also happened to be their longest drives of the night, Eberflus used man coverage on 10 of Mahomes' 18 dropbacks (55.6%), per PFF. Mahomes was sacked once and only completed 5 of his 9 attempts for 34 yards vs. man coverage on those drives. But Mahomes destroyed the Colts' zone coverage on those two possessions, completing all seven of his passes for 110 yards and a TD. Seeing the early returns, Eberflus leaned even more into eschewing zone for man coverage, as he only employed zone coverage for three of Mahomes' 27 remaining dropbacks (11.1%).

Overall, Mahomes went 8 of 9 for 115 yards with a TD vs. zone coverage compared to 12 of 28 for 186 yards facing man coverage. All four of the Colts' sacks came when they were playing man coverage, and the Colts allowed less than half the yards per dropback in man (5.1) than they did in zone (11.9), according to PFF. The Colts' switch to a man-heavy scheme also forced Mahomes to throw into tight windows at a much higher rate than we expected heading into the game, with a 17.9% tight-window-throw percentage (fifth-highest in a game in his career), per Next Gen Stats.

As you might expect, this development was not lost on Mahomes after the game. In fact, he sees the Colts' maneuvering on defense as part of an emerging trend that the Chiefs haven't quite figured out how to counter.

"They played good defense. They played man coverage, they rushed with four people and they found ways to get pressure and to cover long enough," Mahomes said in his postgame remarks. "For us, Detroit did it last week, New England did it in the playoffs. I mean, we're going to have to beat man coverage at the end of the day. We've got the guys to do it, so now it's about just going out there and executing it whenever teams present it to us."

Now, if Watkins and Hill are healthy, leaning on man coverage would have been a far less enticing option for Eberflus. Hill practiced on a limited basis last week and seems to be getting close to returning from the shoulder injury he suffered in Week 1, and there's been no indication to this point that the Chiefs expect Watkins to miss significant time. Defenses set to face Kansas City won't be able to simply copy the Colts' strategy and expect the same results. However, it will be interesting to see if defensive coordinators at least try to stifle Mahomes and the Chiefs by playing tight man coverage regardless of their usual base defensive scheme. Most coaches would love to use man coverage on the majority of their plays, but the prevailing perception is that most secondaries don't have the talent to sustain that without giving up explosive plays.

Through five weeks, Mahomes is the only QB to face man coverage on over half of his dropbacks (53.8%), per PFF. While he has faced two of the most man-heavy teams in the NFL in the Lions (62.4%, second-highest rate in the NFL) and Ravens (41.9%, sixth-highest), the Colts game showed a zone-heavy play-caller that wasn't afraid to be flexible based on the Chiefs' weaknesses as the current roster stands. It goes to show the value that a field-stretcher like Hill brings to this offense.

In Mahomes' career, defenses have employed man coverage at a significantly higher rate (47.6%) when Hill isn't running a route compared to plays where he is running a route (29.7%). So, defenses play more man coverage against Mahomes without Hill as a threat, and they are more successful when doing so. Mahomes' efficiency vs. man drops across the board without Hill running a route, whether it's completion percentage (63.5% to 55.5%), yards per attempt (9.9 to 8.0), or passer rating (126.3 to 85.9). Mahomes has also been sacked at a higher rate vs. man coverage without Hill than he is with Hill (he's been sacked six times in each situation despite having 48 more dropbacks vs. man coverage with Hill running a route).

Next up for the Chiefs is a home game against the Texans, who have a Bill Belichick acolyte (Romeo Crennel) calling the shots on defense. Crennel plays man coverage at the seventh-highest rate this season (41.6%), joining the rest of Belichick's defensive coaching tree in the top seven (but that's a story for another time). Kansas City has not made any definitive announcement regarding Hill's status for the game, but getting him back would be a huge addition for this offense in what could be an epic shootout with Deshaun Watson and his talented receiving corps.

Whether Hill and Watkins are active or not, keep an eye on how the Chiefs fare against Houston's man defense. It will tell the story of whether a disturbing trend will continue to plague Kansas City or quickly die at the hands of the reigning NFL MVP.

I am no Baker Mayfield fan, but Sherman telling the media that Mayfield refused to shake his hand before the coin toss was an outright lie. It tells you something that he would try to impugn the character of another man, by publicly lying about him. I hope they roast Sherman over this, he deserves it.

By the way. Here's the proof that he's a liar.

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Three teams in NFC West in Top 10


Here are the power rankings after Week 5 of the NFL season:
32. Miami Dolphins (0-4, Last week: 32)
Here’s the truth: Nobody wants to lose all 16 games and this Redskins game is one of the few on the schedule in which the Dolphins don’t appear overmatched, but it’s much better for Miami to lose. It doesn’t do much good to tank if you’re going to beat a team that could steal the No. 1 overall pick from you.
31. Washington Redskins (0-5, LW: 31)
Here are some of the coaches that have failed to finish their time with Daniel Snyder’s Redskins with a winning record: Marty Schottenheimer (seventh in NFL history with 200 career wins), Mike Shanahan (two Super Bowl titles), Joe Gibbs (Hall of Fame), Steve Spurrier (one of the best college coaches ever), Norv Turner (one of the NFL’s better offensive coordinators for more than two decades). I get why Jay Gruden had to go, but we all know he’s not the problem. If those coaches couldn’t win with the Redskins, who can?

30. New York Jets (0-4, LW: 30)
If Adam Gase had any track record of real success without Peyton Manning, I’d give him more of a pass for this offensive debacle with the Jets. Not many coaches are going to turn Luke Falk into a productive passer. But Gase hasn’t really shown much outside of when he coached Manning, and that was years ago. And Manning might have had just a little more to do with that success than Gase.
29. Cincinnati Bengals (0-5, LW: 29)
Watching the Bengals offense do absolutely nothing for three quarters against a bad Cardinals defense gives me no hope this is going to get better anytime soon.
28. Arizona Cardinals (1-3-1, LW: 28)
Three of the four winless teams are headed by coaches in their first year on the job. At least Kliff Kingsbury doesn’t have to worry anymore about when his first win will come. That has to be a horrendous feeling.
27. Atlanta Falcons (1-4, LW: 26)
Now that the Redskins have broken the seal on head coach firings for the 2019 season, you have to assume Falcons coach Dan Quinn is in win-now mode, starting immediately. The Falcons have shown almost nothing this season, especially on defense. Quinn fired all of his coordinators after last season and took over defensive play calling.
26. Pittsburgh Steelers (1-4, LW: 25)
Mike Tomlin deferred after winning the coin toss in overtime. I suppose there’s some argument to be made for it, but I’m not sure I buy his argument for it. “Man, did you see our kickoff return in this football game? Did you see their kickoff team?” Tomlin said. “Every time they put the ball on about the 2-yard line and [Justin] Tucker hung the ball at about 4.5 seconds, we couldn't get back to the 15. Why would I sign up for that?” The Ravens punted on their first overtime possession, but just because the result was positive doesn’t mean the decision was right.
25. Denver Broncos (1-4, LW: 27)
It took Vic Fangio a really long time to get his first win as an NFL head coach. It came a month and a couple weeks after his 61st birthday. One positive for the Broncos this season is a big leap for second-year receiver Courtland Sutton. Sutton’s long touchdown early in Sunday’s win over the Chargers set the tone. He’s going to be a good one.


24. New York Giants (2-3, LW: 24)
Lost in the Daniel Jones excitement was the issue with the Giants’ pass defense. The Vikings went from a near revolt over the lack of a passing game to Kirk Cousins shredding the Giants for 278 yards in the first half of an easy win. Everyone is going to be able to move the ball up and down the field on them.
23. Tennessee Titans (2-3, LW: 22)
I remember when Lane Kiffin sent out Sebastian Janikowski for a 76-yard field-goal attempt. I had more confidence in that one going in than Cairo Santos hitting a 53-yarder in the fourth quarter on Sunday. And that field goal really meant very little to the Titans’ chances of winning. We see bad decisions every week by coaches each week in situations that call for them to go for it on fourth down, but Mike Vrabel’s decision to try a long field goal with a struggling kicker on fourth-and-4m trailing 14-7 to the Bills, will end up being the worst of the 2019 season.
22. Cleveland Browns (2-3, LW: 12)
That was one disheartening performance. The Browns have played five games and didn’t play well in four of them (if you watched the Jets game, you know it wasn’t an impressive win). The most troubling part might be Baker Mayfield’s extreme regression from a fantastic rookie season. It’s hard to believe Mayfield isn’t good, after what we saw from him last season. But he clearly doesn’t look like the same player.
21. Jacksonville Jaguars (2-3, LW: 21)
D.J. Chark was a raw athlete who didn’t do much last year as a rookie. In year two, he has been phenomenal. It was a boom or bust type of pick, and the Jaguars nailed it. He might already be one of the NFL’s best receivers.
20. Tampa Bay Buccaneers (2-3, LW: 20)
It’s hard to believe Mike Evans got shut out in a game. Saints cornerback Marshon Lattimore played a great game, but it’s still shocking. Especially since O.J. Howard continued his disappearing act. The Bucs are confounding in many ways.
19. Los Angeles Chargers (2-3, LW: 15)
I’m not sure there’s another franchise in all of sports more endlessly frustrating than the Chargers. The Chargers had a moment of hope they could come back and beat an 0-4 Broncos team when they got an interception deep in Denver territory on Sunday. Then Philip Rivers immediately threw an interception into the end zone. That’s the Chargers, in one sequence.
18. Detroit Lions (2-1-1, LW: 18)
Next two Lions games: next Monday night at the Packers, then home vs. the Vikings. If the Lions are going to be a factor in the NFC North this season, that seven-day stretch is the key.
17. Baltimore Ravens (3-2, LW: 16)
I’m losing faith in the Ravens. Had Mason Rudolph stayed in the game, it seemed the Steelers would win. The Steelers still almost won with Devlin Hodges, who most NFL fans had never heard of before about 2 p.m. Eastern time on Sunday. Baltimore’s resume of wins (Dolphins, Cardinals, Steelers down to their third-string quarterback) doesn’t look too good.
16. Houston Texans (3-2, LW: 17)
Since nobody but quarterbacks win MVPs anymore (more on this in the Panthers section), keep an eye on Deshaun Watson. Patrick Mahomes’ last two weeks has dropped him back to the pack. Watson had a bad game in Week 4 but bounced back with a perfect game (158.3 rating) on Sunday. He has 11 touchdowns and one interception. It wouldn’t surprise me at all if he ends up as the popular MVP pick at midseason and goes on to win it.
15. Oakland Raiders (3-2, LW: 23)
Come down a rabbit hole with me … could Jon Gruden win NFL coach of the year? Oakland has gone from 4-12 last year to three wins before mid-October this year, and that happened after the Raiders traded for a Hall of Fame talent at receiver and he never played a down for them. On Sunday, Oakland moved the ball well against a phenomenal Bears defense and didn’t even have No. 1 receiver Tyrell Williams. I’m not sure if Gruden can get enough wins to get the Raiders a wild-card spot, but if he does …
14. Indianapolis Colts (3-2, LW: 19)
Sunday night’s Colts win might end up as the most impressive victory a team gets this season. Not many teams will win at Kansas City (or New England) this season. Colts defensive coordinator Matt Eberflus is becoming an interesting figure. NFL teams want to hire offensive coaches. But Eberflus sure looks like a good head coaching candidate.
13. Carolina Panthers (3-2, LW: 14)
It’s a little silly to talk about MVP after five games. But it’s clear Christian McCaffrey should win that silly “MVP after five weeks” award. He won’t win MVP for the season because you need to be a quarterback to win these days, but the stretch he’s on right now is special. What a player.


12. Minnesota Vikings (3-2, LW: 13)
We shouldn’t be negative after a win. However, “Kirk Cousins plays well against bad team and Vikings win” isn’t exactly a shocking headline. The Vikings didn’t give him $84 million to tear up the Giants secondary. But, at least this week should be smoother in Minnesota.
11. Dallas Cowboys (3-2, LW: 5)
I’m not really impressed much by what the Cowboys did after falling behind 31-3. That was a shockingly bad performance. Things change fast in the NFL and the Cowboys could look great again by Halloween, but this looks accurate now: They went 3-0 against three bad opponents and were overrated by everyone as a result.
10. Chicago Bears (3-2, LW: 8)
Chase Daniel has had a truly fascinating career. He has received endless praise, often cited as a top-tier backup. He has made more than $34 million in career salary. But he has never played particularly well in the NFL, which seems important. He has seven career touchdowns, five interceptions and an 88.6 passer rating over 10 seasons. Yet, we’re probably still not done hearing how Daniel was totally worth that big new deal he just signed, because he’s such a good backup. I’m not sure there has been another player who has been paid more and received more praise for doing so little. (And yes, I’m not dropping the Bears too much because they were playing in London with their backup quarterback and lost a very close game. They’ll bounce back.)
9. Buffalo Bills (4-1, LW: 10)
One thing to keep in mind: rookie running back Devin Singletary should be a difference maker for the offense when he gets healthy. He has missed three games in a row. The Bills don’t need a ton of offensive punch either; this defense is really good.
8. Philadelphia Eagles (3-2, LW: 11)
I’m not going to dissect their win over the Jets too much. I suppose it could have been better but they led 14-0 before anyone had even gotten through their first order of crab fries at the Linc. Everyone knew the Jets could play for three weeks straight and not score 14 points. After the last two weeks, this looks like your eventual NFC East champion.
7. Los Angeles Rams (3-2, LW: 4)
Greg Zuerlein has made some huge kicks. He missed, it happens. If that kick is a little bit to the left, we’re praising the Rams for an enormous road win. There’s plenty of time for the Rams to dig out of this relatively minor NFC West hole they find themselves in. In a strange way, the performance in a loss was encouraging.
6. Seattle Seahawks (4-1, LW: 9)
If you see any list of current players who look like future Hall of Fame locks, make sure Russell Wilson is on it. Or else the list doesn’t make sense.
5. Green Bay Packers (4-1, LW: 6)
Since we said many kind words about the Packers on Sunday, let’s add this little concern: It’s troubling how much the Packers rely on Davante Adams. Their pass catchers other than him aren’t good enough. If there’s any receivers available in a trade (Emmanuel Sanders? A.J. Green?) the Packers need to pay whatever it costs.
4. San Francisco 49ers (4-0, LW: 7)
Nick Bosa looks like he was worth every bit of the hype he had at Ohio State, and definitely worth the No. 2 overall pick for the 49ers. He was fantastic against the Browns and looks like a defensive rookie of the year favorite.
3. Kansas City Chiefs (4-1, LW: 2)
I’m not sure Monday was the day to do victory laps over Patrick Mahomes’ expected regression from a 50-touchdown season. He could barely move by the end of the game due to an ankle injury. That affected him. The problem for the Chiefs is they obviously can’t sit Mahomes, but it might take a while before he is totally healthy again if he keeps playing.
2. New Orleans Saints (4-1, LW: 3)
The Superdome crowd chanting Teddy Bridgewater’s name after his touchdown passes Sunday speaks to his popularity. It’s an awesome story he’s authoring. I know the comeback of the player of the year award is hyper-focused on a player who suffered a calamity the year before, but giving Bridgewater that award this season would be just fine, given the 2016 injury he has come back from.

1. New England Patriots (5-0, LW: 1)
As discussed previously, a team like the Chiefs had to realistically look at the Patriots and their schedule and plan on either winning about 14 games or settling for the No. 2 seed in the AFC. Kansas City’s margin for error in that regard is almost gone. It’s hard to call a team a lock to have home-field advantage through the playoffs before Week 6, but it’s getting harder to come up with a realistic scenario in which the Patriots aren’t the top seed.

49’er week!

I saw on another team board they organize pregame talk this way. Also, good way to get talk going for this big game!

News and pregame materials start coming out today.

GO RAMS!

Rams tight ends capitalize on opportunities against Seahawks

Their involvement was not by design, according to Rams QB Jared Goff, but tight ends Gerald Everett and Tyler Higbee made the most of the chances that came their way in last Thursday's loss to the Seahawks in Seattle.

“Just by the way the game flow goes," Goff said. "I think there’s no intent to it, it’s just that those were the guys that were open on those plays."

Their performances are impressive considering where they were statistically at halftime.

Higbee did not have a single catch and Everett just two for 28, but went on to finish with 3 for 47 and seven for 136 respectively.

For Everett, his 136 receiving yards set a new career-high. Higbee's 47 marked a season-best.

Rams head coach Sean McVay said Everett and Higbee getting more involved in the second half was a credit to the reads Goff made.

“I think Jared did a good job getting through progressions and finding guys," McVay said. "I thought Gerald and Tyler did a nice job in making the most of their opportunities.”

Everett was especially effective, securing a reception for a positive gain on four of L.A.'s six scoring drives against Seattle. Higbee had timely catches of his own, too, as each of his three second-half receptions came on each of the Rams' scoring drives that helped them regain the lead in the third quarter.

The duo's efforts did not go unnoticed nationally, either.

Scouting service Pro Football Focus considers a grade of 90.0 or higher to be "elite." The two Rams who earned a place in that category Week 5?

Everett and Higbee.

While their performances weren't enough to avoid a divisional defeat, they did offer the Rams more positives to build off of as they shift their preparation toward next week's home game against the San Francisco 49ers.

"We’ve got to compete harder," Everett said. "We prepared well during the week and we were really confident coming into this game, and it just came down to the wire.”

Andrew Whitworth reflects on reaching 200 career starts

THOUSAND OAKS, Calif. – Four-time Pro Bowler. Two-time First Team All-Pro.

Now, Rams LT Andrew Whitworth can add another accolade to his resume: 200 career starts.

With his start against the Seahawks in Week 5, the 14-year veteran became the 22nd NFL offensive lineman since 1970 to accomplish the feat.

"It's obviously a testament to having a really great career and being able to stay healthy and out there," Whitworth told theRams.com Monday afternoon. "It's one of those things that puts you in extremely rare company, so it's a little surreal because you don't think of it that way."

Per SportsRadar Research, Whitworth is the only active NFL offensive linemen with 200 career starts. The others closest to joining him are Eagles OT Jason Peters (187), Redskins OT Donald Penn (179), 49ers OT Joe Staley (176), Seahawks OT Duane Brown (163), Ravens OG Marshal Yanda (156), Falcons C Alex Mack (154) and Raiders OG Richie Incognito (153), according to Pro Football Reference.

Among the 22 who have achieved the feat, Whitworth is only one of seven who made at least 100 of his starts at tackle.

The key to reaching the rare feat, according to Whitworth, is a combination of durability, talent and evolving as a player.

Though he plays left tackle, the former LSU standout got his first NFL start at left guard in 2006 and spent time at the position during the 2007, 2008, 2009 and 2013 seasons in addition to left tackle. After suffering a season-ending ankle injury in Week 11 of the 2008 season, he went on to start every game in 2009.

"There's durability, and then you've got to be good enough," Whitworth said. "Most guys don't get kept long enough to play that long, anyway, so it's usually your play suffers and then also the injuries. I think it's a mixture of both, and how those injuries affect you. It's just always being willing to reinvent yourself. Little things that bother you or you've injured over time, you find a way to play and you have the ability to be able to do that. Some guys, it's just that (those injuries) become so limiting, they just can't play anymore, or there's only one way they could've played and they get an injury that doesn't allow them to play that way anymore. So for me, it's been reinventing my body, finding different ways to move and being able to survive."

Whitworth said the evolution piece is one of the things he takes the most pride in, given how pass-rushers have also developed over the course of his career.

"I can legitimately argue with those guys (also on the list) how much different this game is to sustain in, because I played in the old game and I know what it was like every Sunday, just playing against guys who lined up all over you who were big, heavy dudes and you weren't worried about chasing freak athletes like (Broncos LB) Von Miller and those guys around every week," Whitworth said. "Now, the game's changed. I mean, these guys you're facing at tackle in this league are unbelievable. Every team seems to have a version of one.

It used to be, when I got in the league, you might face a dominant player, but then you had four or five weeks of playing a guy who's just a good run player and a decent edge rusher. But it seems like every team now has an elite edge rusher type of guy who is going to get a ton of (opportunities)."

For Whitworth, it is the required toughness more than the earned exclusiveness that ultimately makes him appreciative of the accomplishment.

"It's special, man. It's something for your kids and your family to be proud of," Whitworth said. "It's just something personally, it's one of those little things that it's not really a boastful thing as much as, just proud that you're tough enough, stayed healthy enough and went through enough to still be playing at this level and play in a premium position for that long."