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Some Pics I took at the Home Opener in LA!
- By biggame1190
- RAMS / NFL TALK
- 20 Replies
Fun divisional shut out folks! Enjoy the pics!
MMQB: 9/17/18
- By Prime Time
- RAMS / NFL TALK
- 9 Replies
These are excerpts to read the whole article click the link below. Good luck finding anything about the Rams(Other than 1 snarky reference to Suh). I didn't.
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https://www.si.com/nfl/2018/09/17/n...ws-penalty-matt-ryan-josh-gordon-missed-kicks
Bortles Unchained, Mahomes Unstoppable: Week 2 Was For Making Statements
By Albert Breer
Getty Images
The groundwork for the Jaguars’ breakthrough—and the difference from January to September—was laid in a coaches meeting on Thursday. This is the time of week when coach Doug Marrone charts the game-day course for his assistants, and it was clear to offensive coordinator Nathaniel Hackett coming out of last week’s meeting what that course was.
“He always has a plan for us, how to beat each team, what he thinks we need to do,” said Hackett from a jubilant postgame locker room. “Coach Marrone talked about if we potentially got into a four-minute situation, how he wanted me to handle it. And he gave me the green light—he gave me the green light to do whatever I want.
“My personality is to naturally always be very aggressive.”
Marrone knew as much, of course. He also knew that green light ran counter to how last season ended for the Jaguars, which was exactly the point.
In the AFC Championship Game in January, Jacksonville lost to these Patriots after going for the jugular for three quarters and building a double-digit lead, only to revert to the football equivalent of playing four corners and blow the game in the final 15 minutes. It was easy in the aftermath for the Jaguars and their coaches to vow it wouldn’t happen again. It’s harder to actually change.
But Marrone did, and Hackett didn’t need to be asked twice to sign up for it.
The four-minute situation arrived with 3:28 left in the fourth quarter on Sunday and the Patriots having cut the Jags’ lead to 31-20. Dede Westbrook had just been dropped for a 6-yard loss on the first play of the next possession, and that left Jacksonville in second-and-16. The conventional call in that situation would be, of course, to hand the ball off twice, force Bill Belichick to spend his last two timeouts, and punt.
There would be none of that.
“They get into really big fronts [in four-minute], they get into goal-line and stuff like that,” Hackett said. “We figured they’d want to get in goal-line against us, and we thought we had a great matchup with Niles Paul on the field. So we just got a nice max protection, and Blake made just an unbelievable, great decision, like he had been doing all day—he was feeling really good. We were rolling with the hot hand.”
Bortles found Paul for 22 yards. The Patriots never got the ball back.
Final: Jaguars 31, Patriots 20.
Bortles: 29-45, 377 yards, four TDs, one INT.
Upshot: If the Jaguars get quarterbacking like this, they can be positively scary.
While others wondered if the Jags would trade for Alex Smith, or try to clear cap room for Kirk Cousins, or draft Lamar Jackson, the team was busy hammering out a three-year, $54 million contract to keep Bortles, the No. 3 overall pick of the 2014 draft, in town. And Hackett’s feelings about the quarterback mirrored those across the organization.
Bortles, the Jacksonville brass believed, was never really given a fair shot. Despite being seen universally as raw coming out of Central Florida, he was starting four games into his career and had three different offensive coordinators in his first three NFL seasons. As Hackett saw it, Bortles was just going out and playing football at that point, rather than playing quarterback. It would take time to go from the former to the latter.
That’s what Hackett and Bortles have been working on since Hackett got the coordinator’s job full-time in January 2017. Last year the focus was on Bortles controlling his urge to take shots, accepting the checkdown more often, and using his legs more effectively.
This year they’re working the shots back in, but only as they come organically. The aforementioned 22-yard conversion of that second-and-16 is one example, of course. But there was another play six snaps later that was meant to be a shot, and instead became an example of Bortles growth.
It was third-and-three, with 1:11 left.
“We were going to try to take a shot to DJ Chark,” Hackett said. “He ran a post—I thought [New England’s Stephon] Gilmore did a really good job covering it—and Blake casually went back around, didn’t worry about it being a four-minute situation. It was just third down, and he just flipped the ball over there to Corey [Grant], and Corey did what Corey does.” The play went for five yards and a first down, sealing the win.
“That allows you to be more aggressive,” Hacket said of Bortles’ poise and composure, “just like how we called a bunch of passes today. [Bortles] was continually getting completions, he was using his feet, he understood how to continually move the chains. What do you ask for from a quarterback? You don’t ask them to make every throw, you don’t ask them to make all the tough throws. You ask them to make the right throw.”
Grant, Hackett told me, was the fifth receiver in Bortles’ progressions on that play. All that was left after that one was a single kneel-down. And when it was over, there was plenty to take away.
The Jaguars manhandled the Patriots at the line of scrimmage. Rob Gronkowski was held to 15 yards on two catches. Jacksonville’s young receiver group showed its potential, with sophomore Keelan Cole making one of the craziest one-handed catches you’ll see—“I’m not gonna lie,” said Hackett, “it was hard to call a play after that, I was so jacked up”—as part of a 77-yard afternoon.
But more than anything, you saw a quarterback who too often hasn’t lived up to his promise absolutely looking like a third overall pick.
“Everybody has written the story on him—they’ve decided what they think,” Hackett said. “He’s been through a whole bunch, going on his fifth year. How I look at it, he’s had a bunch of different coaches, a bunch of different systems. This is him going into his second year in the same system. He’s very confident in himself, he always has been, he’s an aggressive person naturally. And he doesn’t listen to the outside noise. Whether it’s positive or negative, he never has.
“I can’t tell you enough about how mentally strong and how tough this guy is, and that’s what you want in a quarterback. He’s learning every day, he’s getting better, and he needs to continue to get better. He’s still not where he needs to be, but he’s on his way and that’s all you can ask for.”
This much is for sure: If there’s more of that coming, the Jaguars will take it.
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Crazy Sunday in the NFL that lacked the overriding headline of Week 1’s Aaron Rodgers heroics but made up for it with a frenzy of action across the board. Including …
• Patrick Mahomes’ six-touchdown effort in Pittsburgh, allowing the Chiefs to hold off the Steelers, 42-37 in a wild shootout and climb to 2-0
• Kickers coming into play again, costing the Browns big time for the second week in a row and the Vikings in a game that could well be the difference, for both Minnesota and Green, between a 1 or 2 seed and a 5 or 6 seed.
• Speaking of costing the Browns, Cleveland went to Sunday’s game hours after the announcement that the team was letting Josh Gordon go.
• Ryan Fitzpatrick’s second consecutive 400-yard, four-touchdown effort—this one against the world champion Eagles—with one game left in Buccaneer starter Jameis Winston’s suspension.
• Matt Ryan and the Atlanta offense coming alive to outgun Cam Newton and company and keep pace with those division-leading Buccaneers.
• The Giants offensive line, even with expensive left tackle acquisition Nate Solder and second-round pick Will Hernandez in the lineup, still struggling mightily.
• The Broncos and Dolphins moving to 2-0, joining the surprising Bengals after Cincy’s Thursday night AFC North win over the Ravens.
• The Bills and Cardinals seemingly circling the drain, so much so that one Buffalo player decided to up and retire during halftime of Sunday’s loss to the Chargers.
To me, though, there’s no more compelling story from the Week 2 slate than the Jaguars slaying the demons of Januarys past at TIAA Bank Field, and doing so by not hiding, but rallying behind the quarterback they swore to everyone they still believe in, whether or not anyone else does.
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IT DIDN’T TAKE LONG FOR MAHOMES TO MAKE HISTORY
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Eleven quarterbacks threw for more than 300 yards on Sunday, but there’s no question who the shining star of Week 2 was, and it’s the same guy who was a revelation in Week 1—22-year-old Chiefs QB Patrick Mahomes. And I’m saying that because not just from watching him, but from what I’m hearing about him.
Sunday’s game was significant in that the Steelers have been a thorn in Kansas City’s side, and a reason for a retooling this offseason. Andy Reid was 1-4 against Pittsburgh since arriving in K.C. in 2013, and the last couple of losses convinced the Chiefs brass that they needed to build a tougher and sturdier roster, which is part of what led to the defense being overhauled in March and April.
The Chiefs did get over the hump on Sunday. But it wasn’t because of all those changes. More so, it was about the change under center.
“Nice to beat those guys,” texted one team official. “This QB is special.”
Mahomes, as he did against the Chargers in Week 1, made it look easy against the Steelers, smoothly connecting on 23-of-28 for 326 yards and six touchdowns without a pick. He now has 11 touchdown passes for the season, two more than any other quarterback has ever had through two weeks in the Super Bowl era.
I’d encourage you to take a look at the story we did last week with Mahomes—he detailed a number of plays from the Week 1 win over the Chargers that showed his growth as a passer, and one he’d like to have back, and explained how baseball taught him to make some of the trick-shot throws he does.
And I’d warn you too, that there will be an adjustment coming from opposing defenses that may cause Mahomes to stumble a little. It happened to Carson Wentz two years ago, when opponents started sitting on the short stuff and forcing the then-Eagles rookie out of his comfort zone. It happened with Marcus Mariota the year before that.
The good news is that Mahomes is ready for that, too.
“As teams get more and more tape, they’re going to try different stuff,” Mahomes told me. “They’re going to try to confuse me. But at the same time, Coach Reid prepares me for every situation. We make adjustments through the whole game, and that’s something that I’m going to keep working on, keep getting better at—being able to make adjustments quick on the fly, and then get the ball into the hands of all these playmakers I have and let them make the plays.”
That cat-and-mouse game ahead should be a blast to watch.
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IT WASN’T THE AARON RODGERS RULE. STILL …
The Packers thought it was over when rookie corner Jaire Alexander picked off Kirk Cousins with 1:37 left in Sunday’s showdown with the Vikings. Referee Tony Corrente and crew had other ideas, throwing a flag on Green Bay linebacker Clay Matthews for roughing the passer that seemed dubious at best.
On the play, Matthews came shoulder first into Rodgers’ midsection. At first it looked as if the flag was for violation of the new so-called Aaron Rodgers Rule (born of Vikings linebacker Anthony Barr’s season-altering hit on Rodgers last October), which prohibits defensive players from landing on quarterbacks with most of their body weight. But according to the pool report from ESPN.com’s Rob Demovsky, it was actually for violation of a rule prohibiting scooping the quarterback off his feet.
Here’s the report …
Demovsky: Tony, can you explain the penalty on Clay Matthews and what you saw there on the late hit?
Corrente: That was the play in the fourth quarter.
Demovsky: Yes sir.
Corrente: When he hit the quarterback, he lifted him and drove him into the ground.
Demovsky: Is that enforced under the new helmet rule?
Corrente: Not at all. It has nothing to do with the rule of full body weight. It has nothing to do with helmet-to-helmet. He picked the quarterback up and drove him into the ground.
Demovsky: What could he have done differently on that play?
Corrente: Not picked him up and drove him to the ground.
If you go back and look at the play, Matthews comes in neither high nor low. The only reason Cousins leaves his feet seems to be because he had forward momentum following through into his throw, with the Packers linebacker connecting in the midst of that follow through.
The end result? After the penalty, Cousins took eight plays to navigate the 60 yards left, throwing a touchdown pass to Adam Thielen, then a two-point conversion toss to Stefon Diggs to tie the game and force overtime. The extra 15 minutes settled nothing, the teams went home with a tie, and there are certainly scenarios to consider that could cost the Packers four or five spots in the seeding relating directly back to this weekend.
I personally hate the call, and not because I’m trying to be a tough guy. I hate the call because I don’t know what Clay Matthews was supposed to do there, no matter what Corrente thought he might be capable of.
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FALCONS RALLYING AROUND SARK?
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I’d heard enough questions about Matt Ryan’s arm strength in the Thursday night opener, from inside the league and out, to compel me to ask the question of the Falcons quarterback on the phone after Atlanta’s 31-24 win over Carolina on Sunday. Was something wrong in Philly?
“No, I was healthy,” Ryan responded. “I just didn’t play well enough, and sometimes that happens. There are nights where you just don’t play your best. And I felt like I played a lot better today.”
There’s no doubt about that. Ryan threw for 272 yards and two touchdowns on 23-of-28 passing as the Falcons bounced back from a bad opener in Philly, and maybe, just maybe, created some optimism for embattled offensive coordinator Steve Sarkisian’s unit.
And the team could use it. The tough loss in the opener was followed by even tougher news that both middle linebacker Deion Jones and strong safety Keanu Neal were headed for injured reserve—delivering a pretty heavy blow to a talented young defense that seemed to be on the verge of turning the corner. That, of course, put the onus back on the offense to pick up the slack.
“You never want to see guys go down like that, especially leaders and such productive players for us,” Ryan said. “But I think one of the things that helps is Dan [Quinn] does such a great job of guys to come along, developing them. We spend a lot of time in the offseason with the young guys, getting them up to speed. I thought our guys that came in and replaced them today did a nice job.
“But offensively, our mindset was, Whatever we have to do to win, we just gotta do. We have to find a way to get it done.”
It’s not a totally unfamiliar spot for the group, either. Over Quinn’s first two years, Ryan, Julio Jones and company carried the Falcons through a rebuild on the other side of the ball. It worked, too, with Kyle Shanahan’s offense taking off in Year 2 and the driving the team all the way to the Super Bowl.
That offense set a high bar. But there’s at least hope—and it showed up late in this game—that Sarkisian will see a second-year leap like his predecessor did.
“I thought he did an excellent job on our last touchdown drive,” Ryan said of the 7-play, 75-yard possession. “He did a great job setting things up, calling things out of certain personnel groupings that we worked through the entire game. Knowing we’ve worked on those things when we get the looks, and just his timing on the calls on the last drive for the touchdown was great.
“He had guys open—we hit [tight end Austin] Hooper for a [30-yard] gain in 22 personnel, which was huge, hit a screen the next play for about 10—I just think his timing on things was really good today. And I think his comfort level certainly plays a part in that.”
It looked different, too, than it did 10 days earlier, which in this case was a good thing.
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TEN TAKEAWAYS
1. Chalk one up for the new Dolphins culture—coach Adam Gase conceded to me last week that his 2017 team probably wouldn’t have handled the double rain-delay opener as well as the ’18 Dolphins did, and this Sunday gave the team another one of those “we might not have pulled this off last year” moments.
One reason Gase overhauled the locker room this offseason (Ndamukong Suh and Jarvis Landry out; Frank Gore, Josh Sitton, Danny Amendola, Albert Wilson in) was because of what he saw last December—the team beat New England on a Monday night, only to lay an egg six days later in Buffalo. Suffice it to say, in jumping out on the Jets early at MetLife Stadium, and then holding them off late, these Dolphins, now 2-0 and leading the AFC East, showed they could handle prosperity a little better than last year’s gang.
2. While we’re on the Dolphins, we have to mention Frank Gore moving to fourth on the NFL’s all-time rushing list—he passed ex-Jet/Hall-of-Famer Curtis Martin on Sunday. Of the 12 players directly behind Gore on the list, 10 are enshrined in Canton, an 11th (Adrian Peterson) is a sure thing to get there, and the 12th is a maybe (Edgerrin James).
So I called the man who drafted Gore into the league 13 years—and of course Scot McCloughan, who texted with Gore on Sunday night, didn’t hesitate when talking about about his Canton candidacy. “No doubt about it, he’s a Hall-of-Famer,” said McCloughan, who was the Niners’ GM in 2005 when he drafted Gore in the third round out of Miami. “He’s all football, through and through. Still to this day, he cries when they lose. That’s how much it means to him.
This guy’s not as talented as some others I’ve been around, but he’s more of a football guy. Guy’s a stud.” Remember, when McCloughan drafted him, Gore had two reconstructed shoulders, two reconstructed knees and a bad 40 time. He had to have conviction then. So it’s no wonder he has conviction now.
3. One of the biggest disappointments of Week 1 was a Saints defense that looked loaded going into the season and listless once it started. A 21-18 New Orleans win over Cleveland on Sunday was a modest step forward for a unit that believed it boasted two Defensive Player of the Year candidates (Cam Jordan, Marshon Lattimore) and a few guys set to break out (most notably safety Marcus Williams) coming into the year.
“Week 1 gave you the look at when everybody’s not on the same accord, these are the things you have to look back on,” Jordan told me. “So Week 2 we did exactly what we needed to do to gain confidence. That being said, we’re still building. … It’s going to be a hard battle uphill, especially after what we had last week. But we’re on the right steps. For us to contain an offense with Jarvis Landry, with Tyrod Taylor, with Carlos Hyde, that’s a pretty solid one.
Had they had Josh Gordon, that’s a deep-threat receiver. But apparently, so is this Callaway kid, right? It’s something we’re going to have to continue on because next week we’ve got Julio Jones, and the young kid [the Falcons] drafted, Calvin Ridley, and Mohamed Sanu. It’s gonna put it on us.” Saints-Falcons be a good referendum on both groups.
4. We went to a couple of special teams coaches on Sunday night looking for an explanation for the kicking fiasco of Week 2. So let’s start with the two most glaring cases from Sunday—Cleveland’s Zane Gonzalez (among four missed kicks, he botched a go-ahead extra point in the fourth quarter and a potential game-tying field goal after that) and Minnesota’s Daniel Carlson (three missed field goals, two in overtime). One special teams coach pointed to roster moves in each case.
The Browns actually picked Gonzalez over Cody Parkey at the 2017 roster cutdown, and Parkey went on to put together a very solid year in Miami after that, then signed a four-year deal with the Bears. The Vikings, meanwhile, switched punters, bringing in Matt Wile on Sept. 2. That also meant switching holders, which can mess with a rookie like Carlson. And then there’s an overarching element that touches these two kickers and all the others: When the PAT was basically a 20-yard field goal, kickers would use it to work through their kinks in game conditions, and they don’t have that anymore.
5. The Giants spent a lot of capital to fix that offensive line of theirs. Nate Solder is on a four-year, $62 million deal. Will Hernandez cost them the 34th pick. And Ereck Flowers and Jon Halapio are making those investements not matter much.
New York averaged a grand total of 2.1 yards per rushing attempt and Eli Manning was sacked six times on Sunday night. That calls into question the win-now move to draft Saquon Barkley second overall, over Sam Darnold in April, a decision that will probably only be debated for the next 30 years or so in New York. (Credit to a Dallas defensive line with a ton of potential, too).
6. I liked the undermanned Bills’ fight on Sunday against the Chargers. They could’ve easily folded up the tent (and yes, one of the 46 guys who dressed actually did) down 28-3, but they made the final score respectable in the end, which is a credit to what Sean McDermott has built there over the last 20 months. This year was always going to be rocky.
There’s more than $50 million in dead money. Only five pre-McDermott Bills draft picks remain on the roster. But a rip-the-band-aid-off season was necessary in Buffalo, and so it’s good that the brass there has the credibility of a playoff season in its back pocket to keep the players engaged through what’ll be a long few months.
7. My underrated play of the day—Aaron Rodgers escaping the rush on third-and-6 with 2:23 left in the game, on a bad wheel, to throw the ball away. If he’d taken the sack, and Everson Griffen was all over him, it might have knocked Green Bay out of field goal range. Instead, Rodgers saved the yardage, and Mason Crosby drilled a 48-yarder on the next play to make it 26-21. Without Rodgers making that heads up play, one that shows up looking like a whole lot of nothing in the stat sheet, the Packers might have lost in regulation.
8. Case Keenum is 12-1 in his last 13 regular season starts, and 13-2 if you include playoffs. And while I’m not going to give him all the credit, Keenum has come through when the Broncos have needed him. Last week he put together a seven-play, 75-yard drive in the fourth quarter to give Denver the go-ahead touchdown. This week, 10-play, 62-yard march set-up Brandon McManus’ game-winning 36-yard chip shot.
9. For what it’s worth, Derek Carr was pretty good in defeat Sunday, going 29-of-32 for 288 yards and a touchdown. And Amari Cooper had 10 catches for 116 yards. Yes, the defense needs work. Yes, that’s partly Jon Gruden’s doing, given the Khalil Mack trade. But maybe we should hang around a little while before dismissing Chucky as a dinosaur?
10. Damontae Kazee’s ejection for his hit on Cam Newton on Sunday—which was an easy call, and the correct one—brought me some clarity on all the fuss over the rules changes. We were all worried about the helmet rule.
And as far as I can tell, it hasn’t created nearly the problem that the body-weight rule has. The reason? I think it’s because it’s been a long time since coaches were teaching the kind of hitting that the helmet rule is meant to eliminate, while the body-weight rule requires a very real adjustment to the way things have been done recently.
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https://www.si.com/nfl/2018/09/17/n...ws-penalty-matt-ryan-josh-gordon-missed-kicks
Bortles Unchained, Mahomes Unstoppable: Week 2 Was For Making Statements
By Albert Breer
Getty Images
The groundwork for the Jaguars’ breakthrough—and the difference from January to September—was laid in a coaches meeting on Thursday. This is the time of week when coach Doug Marrone charts the game-day course for his assistants, and it was clear to offensive coordinator Nathaniel Hackett coming out of last week’s meeting what that course was.
“He always has a plan for us, how to beat each team, what he thinks we need to do,” said Hackett from a jubilant postgame locker room. “Coach Marrone talked about if we potentially got into a four-minute situation, how he wanted me to handle it. And he gave me the green light—he gave me the green light to do whatever I want.
“My personality is to naturally always be very aggressive.”
Marrone knew as much, of course. He also knew that green light ran counter to how last season ended for the Jaguars, which was exactly the point.
In the AFC Championship Game in January, Jacksonville lost to these Patriots after going for the jugular for three quarters and building a double-digit lead, only to revert to the football equivalent of playing four corners and blow the game in the final 15 minutes. It was easy in the aftermath for the Jaguars and their coaches to vow it wouldn’t happen again. It’s harder to actually change.
But Marrone did, and Hackett didn’t need to be asked twice to sign up for it.
The four-minute situation arrived with 3:28 left in the fourth quarter on Sunday and the Patriots having cut the Jags’ lead to 31-20. Dede Westbrook had just been dropped for a 6-yard loss on the first play of the next possession, and that left Jacksonville in second-and-16. The conventional call in that situation would be, of course, to hand the ball off twice, force Bill Belichick to spend his last two timeouts, and punt.
There would be none of that.
“They get into really big fronts [in four-minute], they get into goal-line and stuff like that,” Hackett said. “We figured they’d want to get in goal-line against us, and we thought we had a great matchup with Niles Paul on the field. So we just got a nice max protection, and Blake made just an unbelievable, great decision, like he had been doing all day—he was feeling really good. We were rolling with the hot hand.”
Bortles found Paul for 22 yards. The Patriots never got the ball back.
Final: Jaguars 31, Patriots 20.
Bortles: 29-45, 377 yards, four TDs, one INT.
Upshot: If the Jaguars get quarterbacking like this, they can be positively scary.
While others wondered if the Jags would trade for Alex Smith, or try to clear cap room for Kirk Cousins, or draft Lamar Jackson, the team was busy hammering out a three-year, $54 million contract to keep Bortles, the No. 3 overall pick of the 2014 draft, in town. And Hackett’s feelings about the quarterback mirrored those across the organization.
Bortles, the Jacksonville brass believed, was never really given a fair shot. Despite being seen universally as raw coming out of Central Florida, he was starting four games into his career and had three different offensive coordinators in his first three NFL seasons. As Hackett saw it, Bortles was just going out and playing football at that point, rather than playing quarterback. It would take time to go from the former to the latter.
That’s what Hackett and Bortles have been working on since Hackett got the coordinator’s job full-time in January 2017. Last year the focus was on Bortles controlling his urge to take shots, accepting the checkdown more often, and using his legs more effectively.
This year they’re working the shots back in, but only as they come organically. The aforementioned 22-yard conversion of that second-and-16 is one example, of course. But there was another play six snaps later that was meant to be a shot, and instead became an example of Bortles growth.
It was third-and-three, with 1:11 left.
“We were going to try to take a shot to DJ Chark,” Hackett said. “He ran a post—I thought [New England’s Stephon] Gilmore did a really good job covering it—and Blake casually went back around, didn’t worry about it being a four-minute situation. It was just third down, and he just flipped the ball over there to Corey [Grant], and Corey did what Corey does.” The play went for five yards and a first down, sealing the win.
“That allows you to be more aggressive,” Hacket said of Bortles’ poise and composure, “just like how we called a bunch of passes today. [Bortles] was continually getting completions, he was using his feet, he understood how to continually move the chains. What do you ask for from a quarterback? You don’t ask them to make every throw, you don’t ask them to make all the tough throws. You ask them to make the right throw.”
Grant, Hackett told me, was the fifth receiver in Bortles’ progressions on that play. All that was left after that one was a single kneel-down. And when it was over, there was plenty to take away.
The Jaguars manhandled the Patriots at the line of scrimmage. Rob Gronkowski was held to 15 yards on two catches. Jacksonville’s young receiver group showed its potential, with sophomore Keelan Cole making one of the craziest one-handed catches you’ll see—“I’m not gonna lie,” said Hackett, “it was hard to call a play after that, I was so jacked up”—as part of a 77-yard afternoon.
But more than anything, you saw a quarterback who too often hasn’t lived up to his promise absolutely looking like a third overall pick.
“Everybody has written the story on him—they’ve decided what they think,” Hackett said. “He’s been through a whole bunch, going on his fifth year. How I look at it, he’s had a bunch of different coaches, a bunch of different systems. This is him going into his second year in the same system. He’s very confident in himself, he always has been, he’s an aggressive person naturally. And he doesn’t listen to the outside noise. Whether it’s positive or negative, he never has.
“I can’t tell you enough about how mentally strong and how tough this guy is, and that’s what you want in a quarterback. He’s learning every day, he’s getting better, and he needs to continue to get better. He’s still not where he needs to be, but he’s on his way and that’s all you can ask for.”
This much is for sure: If there’s more of that coming, the Jaguars will take it.
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Crazy Sunday in the NFL that lacked the overriding headline of Week 1’s Aaron Rodgers heroics but made up for it with a frenzy of action across the board. Including …
• Patrick Mahomes’ six-touchdown effort in Pittsburgh, allowing the Chiefs to hold off the Steelers, 42-37 in a wild shootout and climb to 2-0
• Kickers coming into play again, costing the Browns big time for the second week in a row and the Vikings in a game that could well be the difference, for both Minnesota and Green, between a 1 or 2 seed and a 5 or 6 seed.
• Speaking of costing the Browns, Cleveland went to Sunday’s game hours after the announcement that the team was letting Josh Gordon go.
• Ryan Fitzpatrick’s second consecutive 400-yard, four-touchdown effort—this one against the world champion Eagles—with one game left in Buccaneer starter Jameis Winston’s suspension.
• Matt Ryan and the Atlanta offense coming alive to outgun Cam Newton and company and keep pace with those division-leading Buccaneers.
• The Giants offensive line, even with expensive left tackle acquisition Nate Solder and second-round pick Will Hernandez in the lineup, still struggling mightily.
• The Broncos and Dolphins moving to 2-0, joining the surprising Bengals after Cincy’s Thursday night AFC North win over the Ravens.
• The Bills and Cardinals seemingly circling the drain, so much so that one Buffalo player decided to up and retire during halftime of Sunday’s loss to the Chargers.
To me, though, there’s no more compelling story from the Week 2 slate than the Jaguars slaying the demons of Januarys past at TIAA Bank Field, and doing so by not hiding, but rallying behind the quarterback they swore to everyone they still believe in, whether or not anyone else does.
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IT DIDN’T TAKE LONG FOR MAHOMES TO MAKE HISTORY
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Eleven quarterbacks threw for more than 300 yards on Sunday, but there’s no question who the shining star of Week 2 was, and it’s the same guy who was a revelation in Week 1—22-year-old Chiefs QB Patrick Mahomes. And I’m saying that because not just from watching him, but from what I’m hearing about him.
Sunday’s game was significant in that the Steelers have been a thorn in Kansas City’s side, and a reason for a retooling this offseason. Andy Reid was 1-4 against Pittsburgh since arriving in K.C. in 2013, and the last couple of losses convinced the Chiefs brass that they needed to build a tougher and sturdier roster, which is part of what led to the defense being overhauled in March and April.
The Chiefs did get over the hump on Sunday. But it wasn’t because of all those changes. More so, it was about the change under center.
“Nice to beat those guys,” texted one team official. “This QB is special.”
Mahomes, as he did against the Chargers in Week 1, made it look easy against the Steelers, smoothly connecting on 23-of-28 for 326 yards and six touchdowns without a pick. He now has 11 touchdown passes for the season, two more than any other quarterback has ever had through two weeks in the Super Bowl era.
I’d encourage you to take a look at the story we did last week with Mahomes—he detailed a number of plays from the Week 1 win over the Chargers that showed his growth as a passer, and one he’d like to have back, and explained how baseball taught him to make some of the trick-shot throws he does.
And I’d warn you too, that there will be an adjustment coming from opposing defenses that may cause Mahomes to stumble a little. It happened to Carson Wentz two years ago, when opponents started sitting on the short stuff and forcing the then-Eagles rookie out of his comfort zone. It happened with Marcus Mariota the year before that.
The good news is that Mahomes is ready for that, too.
“As teams get more and more tape, they’re going to try different stuff,” Mahomes told me. “They’re going to try to confuse me. But at the same time, Coach Reid prepares me for every situation. We make adjustments through the whole game, and that’s something that I’m going to keep working on, keep getting better at—being able to make adjustments quick on the fly, and then get the ball into the hands of all these playmakers I have and let them make the plays.”
That cat-and-mouse game ahead should be a blast to watch.
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IT WASN’T THE AARON RODGERS RULE. STILL …
The Packers thought it was over when rookie corner Jaire Alexander picked off Kirk Cousins with 1:37 left in Sunday’s showdown with the Vikings. Referee Tony Corrente and crew had other ideas, throwing a flag on Green Bay linebacker Clay Matthews for roughing the passer that seemed dubious at best.
On the play, Matthews came shoulder first into Rodgers’ midsection. At first it looked as if the flag was for violation of the new so-called Aaron Rodgers Rule (born of Vikings linebacker Anthony Barr’s season-altering hit on Rodgers last October), which prohibits defensive players from landing on quarterbacks with most of their body weight. But according to the pool report from ESPN.com’s Rob Demovsky, it was actually for violation of a rule prohibiting scooping the quarterback off his feet.
Here’s the report …
Demovsky: Tony, can you explain the penalty on Clay Matthews and what you saw there on the late hit?
Corrente: That was the play in the fourth quarter.
Demovsky: Yes sir.
Corrente: When he hit the quarterback, he lifted him and drove him into the ground.
Demovsky: Is that enforced under the new helmet rule?
Corrente: Not at all. It has nothing to do with the rule of full body weight. It has nothing to do with helmet-to-helmet. He picked the quarterback up and drove him into the ground.
Demovsky: What could he have done differently on that play?
Corrente: Not picked him up and drove him to the ground.
If you go back and look at the play, Matthews comes in neither high nor low. The only reason Cousins leaves his feet seems to be because he had forward momentum following through into his throw, with the Packers linebacker connecting in the midst of that follow through.
The end result? After the penalty, Cousins took eight plays to navigate the 60 yards left, throwing a touchdown pass to Adam Thielen, then a two-point conversion toss to Stefon Diggs to tie the game and force overtime. The extra 15 minutes settled nothing, the teams went home with a tie, and there are certainly scenarios to consider that could cost the Packers four or five spots in the seeding relating directly back to this weekend.
I personally hate the call, and not because I’m trying to be a tough guy. I hate the call because I don’t know what Clay Matthews was supposed to do there, no matter what Corrente thought he might be capable of.
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FALCONS RALLYING AROUND SARK?
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I’d heard enough questions about Matt Ryan’s arm strength in the Thursday night opener, from inside the league and out, to compel me to ask the question of the Falcons quarterback on the phone after Atlanta’s 31-24 win over Carolina on Sunday. Was something wrong in Philly?
“No, I was healthy,” Ryan responded. “I just didn’t play well enough, and sometimes that happens. There are nights where you just don’t play your best. And I felt like I played a lot better today.”
There’s no doubt about that. Ryan threw for 272 yards and two touchdowns on 23-of-28 passing as the Falcons bounced back from a bad opener in Philly, and maybe, just maybe, created some optimism for embattled offensive coordinator Steve Sarkisian’s unit.
And the team could use it. The tough loss in the opener was followed by even tougher news that both middle linebacker Deion Jones and strong safety Keanu Neal were headed for injured reserve—delivering a pretty heavy blow to a talented young defense that seemed to be on the verge of turning the corner. That, of course, put the onus back on the offense to pick up the slack.
“You never want to see guys go down like that, especially leaders and such productive players for us,” Ryan said. “But I think one of the things that helps is Dan [Quinn] does such a great job of guys to come along, developing them. We spend a lot of time in the offseason with the young guys, getting them up to speed. I thought our guys that came in and replaced them today did a nice job.
“But offensively, our mindset was, Whatever we have to do to win, we just gotta do. We have to find a way to get it done.”
It’s not a totally unfamiliar spot for the group, either. Over Quinn’s first two years, Ryan, Julio Jones and company carried the Falcons through a rebuild on the other side of the ball. It worked, too, with Kyle Shanahan’s offense taking off in Year 2 and the driving the team all the way to the Super Bowl.
That offense set a high bar. But there’s at least hope—and it showed up late in this game—that Sarkisian will see a second-year leap like his predecessor did.
“I thought he did an excellent job on our last touchdown drive,” Ryan said of the 7-play, 75-yard possession. “He did a great job setting things up, calling things out of certain personnel groupings that we worked through the entire game. Knowing we’ve worked on those things when we get the looks, and just his timing on the calls on the last drive for the touchdown was great.
“He had guys open—we hit [tight end Austin] Hooper for a [30-yard] gain in 22 personnel, which was huge, hit a screen the next play for about 10—I just think his timing on things was really good today. And I think his comfort level certainly plays a part in that.”
It looked different, too, than it did 10 days earlier, which in this case was a good thing.
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TEN TAKEAWAYS
1. Chalk one up for the new Dolphins culture—coach Adam Gase conceded to me last week that his 2017 team probably wouldn’t have handled the double rain-delay opener as well as the ’18 Dolphins did, and this Sunday gave the team another one of those “we might not have pulled this off last year” moments.
One reason Gase overhauled the locker room this offseason (Ndamukong Suh and Jarvis Landry out; Frank Gore, Josh Sitton, Danny Amendola, Albert Wilson in) was because of what he saw last December—the team beat New England on a Monday night, only to lay an egg six days later in Buffalo. Suffice it to say, in jumping out on the Jets early at MetLife Stadium, and then holding them off late, these Dolphins, now 2-0 and leading the AFC East, showed they could handle prosperity a little better than last year’s gang.
2. While we’re on the Dolphins, we have to mention Frank Gore moving to fourth on the NFL’s all-time rushing list—he passed ex-Jet/Hall-of-Famer Curtis Martin on Sunday. Of the 12 players directly behind Gore on the list, 10 are enshrined in Canton, an 11th (Adrian Peterson) is a sure thing to get there, and the 12th is a maybe (Edgerrin James).
So I called the man who drafted Gore into the league 13 years—and of course Scot McCloughan, who texted with Gore on Sunday night, didn’t hesitate when talking about about his Canton candidacy. “No doubt about it, he’s a Hall-of-Famer,” said McCloughan, who was the Niners’ GM in 2005 when he drafted Gore in the third round out of Miami. “He’s all football, through and through. Still to this day, he cries when they lose. That’s how much it means to him.
This guy’s not as talented as some others I’ve been around, but he’s more of a football guy. Guy’s a stud.” Remember, when McCloughan drafted him, Gore had two reconstructed shoulders, two reconstructed knees and a bad 40 time. He had to have conviction then. So it’s no wonder he has conviction now.
3. One of the biggest disappointments of Week 1 was a Saints defense that looked loaded going into the season and listless once it started. A 21-18 New Orleans win over Cleveland on Sunday was a modest step forward for a unit that believed it boasted two Defensive Player of the Year candidates (Cam Jordan, Marshon Lattimore) and a few guys set to break out (most notably safety Marcus Williams) coming into the year.
“Week 1 gave you the look at when everybody’s not on the same accord, these are the things you have to look back on,” Jordan told me. “So Week 2 we did exactly what we needed to do to gain confidence. That being said, we’re still building. … It’s going to be a hard battle uphill, especially after what we had last week. But we’re on the right steps. For us to contain an offense with Jarvis Landry, with Tyrod Taylor, with Carlos Hyde, that’s a pretty solid one.
Had they had Josh Gordon, that’s a deep-threat receiver. But apparently, so is this Callaway kid, right? It’s something we’re going to have to continue on because next week we’ve got Julio Jones, and the young kid [the Falcons] drafted, Calvin Ridley, and Mohamed Sanu. It’s gonna put it on us.” Saints-Falcons be a good referendum on both groups.
4. We went to a couple of special teams coaches on Sunday night looking for an explanation for the kicking fiasco of Week 2. So let’s start with the two most glaring cases from Sunday—Cleveland’s Zane Gonzalez (among four missed kicks, he botched a go-ahead extra point in the fourth quarter and a potential game-tying field goal after that) and Minnesota’s Daniel Carlson (three missed field goals, two in overtime). One special teams coach pointed to roster moves in each case.
The Browns actually picked Gonzalez over Cody Parkey at the 2017 roster cutdown, and Parkey went on to put together a very solid year in Miami after that, then signed a four-year deal with the Bears. The Vikings, meanwhile, switched punters, bringing in Matt Wile on Sept. 2. That also meant switching holders, which can mess with a rookie like Carlson. And then there’s an overarching element that touches these two kickers and all the others: When the PAT was basically a 20-yard field goal, kickers would use it to work through their kinks in game conditions, and they don’t have that anymore.
5. The Giants spent a lot of capital to fix that offensive line of theirs. Nate Solder is on a four-year, $62 million deal. Will Hernandez cost them the 34th pick. And Ereck Flowers and Jon Halapio are making those investements not matter much.
New York averaged a grand total of 2.1 yards per rushing attempt and Eli Manning was sacked six times on Sunday night. That calls into question the win-now move to draft Saquon Barkley second overall, over Sam Darnold in April, a decision that will probably only be debated for the next 30 years or so in New York. (Credit to a Dallas defensive line with a ton of potential, too).
6. I liked the undermanned Bills’ fight on Sunday against the Chargers. They could’ve easily folded up the tent (and yes, one of the 46 guys who dressed actually did) down 28-3, but they made the final score respectable in the end, which is a credit to what Sean McDermott has built there over the last 20 months. This year was always going to be rocky.
There’s more than $50 million in dead money. Only five pre-McDermott Bills draft picks remain on the roster. But a rip-the-band-aid-off season was necessary in Buffalo, and so it’s good that the brass there has the credibility of a playoff season in its back pocket to keep the players engaged through what’ll be a long few months.
7. My underrated play of the day—Aaron Rodgers escaping the rush on third-and-6 with 2:23 left in the game, on a bad wheel, to throw the ball away. If he’d taken the sack, and Everson Griffen was all over him, it might have knocked Green Bay out of field goal range. Instead, Rodgers saved the yardage, and Mason Crosby drilled a 48-yarder on the next play to make it 26-21. Without Rodgers making that heads up play, one that shows up looking like a whole lot of nothing in the stat sheet, the Packers might have lost in regulation.
8. Case Keenum is 12-1 in his last 13 regular season starts, and 13-2 if you include playoffs. And while I’m not going to give him all the credit, Keenum has come through when the Broncos have needed him. Last week he put together a seven-play, 75-yard drive in the fourth quarter to give Denver the go-ahead touchdown. This week, 10-play, 62-yard march set-up Brandon McManus’ game-winning 36-yard chip shot.
9. For what it’s worth, Derek Carr was pretty good in defeat Sunday, going 29-of-32 for 288 yards and a touchdown. And Amari Cooper had 10 catches for 116 yards. Yes, the defense needs work. Yes, that’s partly Jon Gruden’s doing, given the Khalil Mack trade. But maybe we should hang around a little while before dismissing Chucky as a dinosaur?
10. Damontae Kazee’s ejection for his hit on Cam Newton on Sunday—which was an easy call, and the correct one—brought me some clarity on all the fuss over the rules changes. We were all worried about the helmet rule.
And as far as I can tell, it hasn’t created nearly the problem that the body-weight rule has. The reason? I think it’s because it’s been a long time since coaches were teaching the kind of hitting that the helmet rule is meant to eliminate, while the body-weight rule requires a very real adjustment to the way things have been done recently.
Peter King: 9/17/18
- By Prime Time
- RAMS / NFL TALK
- 2 Replies
These are excerpts to read the whole article click the link below. Btw if you're looking for any love from PK about the Rams stomping the Cardinals, forget about it. There are only two small mentions. Pathetic.
MVP Watch
In semi-regular installments throughout the season, I’ll give you my ranking of the five most valuable players in the NFL. Expect weekly fluctuation to ensue.
Todd Gurley, running back, Rams. Two routs, 220 scrimmage yards, four touchdowns so far.
Brandin Cooks, 12 catches for 246 yards, a 20.5-yard average through two games. Sean McVay is euphoric.
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Players Make Plays, and Patrick Mahomes Has Made a Perfect 10 For The High-Flying Chiefs
By Peter King
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Before the Chiefs and Steelers met Sunday at Heinz Field, Pat Mahomes the dad met Patrick Mahomes the son for their traditional pre-game hug. Pat Mahomes the retired baseball pitcher and Patrick Mahomes (yes, “Patrick;” his mom has decreed the son will be called a different name than the father) the young Chiefs quarterback have been doing this since seventh grade.
If dad is at the game, he’s hugging his son and saying the same thing on this breezy 80-degree afternoon at one of the coolest places to play pro football—the confluence of the Three Rivers—that he’s said before youth, high school and college football games.
“Players make plays,” Pat Mahomes said to his son. “Go out there and have fun.”
Pat Mahomes’ 11-year major-league career ended just down the street 15 years earlier—his last MLB stop was with the Pirates in 2003—but he wasn’t thinking much about that sitting in his normal-fan end-zone seat Sunday. Mostly, he was thinking about the eerie calm of his son.
“It’s just crazy,” said Pat Mahomes late Sunday night after his flight home to Texas landed in Dallas. “Watching him, he’s so calm. The thing that’s funny to me is he really doesn’t realize what he just did. He went into Pittsburgh, where they’ve won more Super Bowls than any team in history, and he won. He really doesn’t think about that stuff. He doesn’t think about being in Heinz Field playing Roethlisberger. He just goes and plays football.”
Players make plays. Patrick Mahomes leads the NFL in making them. He’s quickly becoming the big story of this NFL season. In the Chiefs’ 42-37 win over the Steelers—the first win for Kansas City in Pittsburgh since 1986—Mahomes threw six touchdown passes and no interceptions. Watching a good portion of it on CBS, I’m surprised Ian Eagle finished the game with a voice. What Mahomes is doing has never been done.
No player, never mind a player in his second and third NFL starts, has opened a season with a 10-to-0 touchdown-to-interception ratio in two games. Now, it’s only an eighth of the season, but Mahomes has gone on the road twice, played playoff contenders with Hall of Fame-contender quarterbacks (Philip Rivers, Ben Roethlisberger), gone 2-0, put up 80 points, and thrown touchdown passes to four wideouts, a tight end, a running back and a fullback.
It’s not just the raw numbers. It’s the way he’s done it. Watch Mahomes play, and you see an eight-year vet, or someone who plays like one. No happy feet, no real highs of emotion, calm in the pocket even when there’s traffic.
He’s in such a perfect system, with speedy and talented wideouts, the defending NFL rushing champion and a tight end bettered in today’s game only by the great Gronk. Andy Reid just spreads the field—five of the six touchdown passes Sunday came on two-by-two formations—and lets Mahomes find the open guy. He doesn’t care who it is.
I spoke to Patrick Mahomes while he and his dad walked to the team bus after the game. Patrick Mahomes was polite. He dished out credit like John Stockton dished the basketball. He sounded absolutely unsurprised by what’s happened in the first two games.
“What’s happened speaks to Coach Reid and everything he’s taught me in the last year,” Mahomes said. “He’s prepared me to go out and play fast. In this system, if you can play fast, you can take advantage of things against the defense. And the talent and the legends I have around me—I’m just really trying to get the ball out of my hands and into these playmakers’ hands.”
This was an odd game. The Chiefs went up 21-0 on three TD throws from Mahomes in the first quarter. The Steelers came back with a 21-0 second quarter, on three TD throws from Roethlisberger. So the Steelers, and their crowd, came out revved up when the Chiefs got to the ball to start the third quarter.
Bang: first play, Mahomes to Tyreek Hill for 36 yards. Four plays later came Mahomes’ favorite play of the day. From the Steeler 25, two receivers left (tight end Travis Kelce on the inside) and two split right, Mahomes took a shotgun snap and stared down Chris Conley, the receiver to Kelce’s left.
That seemed to keep rookie safety Terrell Edmunds outside, on Conley. Now came Mahomes’ eyes back to center field, to Kelce. He zinged a laser to Kelce up the left seam. I wouldn’t have been surprised to see Mahomes go to either receiver on his right, really; the spacing on this play, and in this offense in general, is superb.
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“I kind of eyed the safety off,” Mahomes said, “and that gave Travis enough room. I actually threw it a little low, but he made a heck of a play to catch it.”
“I thought that was the amazing part of the game,” dad Pat Mahomes said later. “The Steelers come back to tie it, and on the first series out of halftime, he just drives the length of the field and throws another one. Right there, everybody realizes he’s a player.”
We see. “I mean, there’s a little bit of a surprise,” Patrick Mahomes said. “I knew with this offense anything could happen, but coming out of the gate like this, it’s pretty awesome.”
I wondered what Pat Mahomes the pitcher thought of how his son had been schooled so far. He praised Reid lavishly (“He’s taught my son how to be a professional”) but he saved special praise for Alex Smith. Last year, Smith knew when the Chiefs traded the 2018 first-round pick to move up in the 2017 first round to take Mahomes his days were numbered. Smith, of course, lasted one more season.
But he taught Mahomes what he knew about football. “How to prepare, mostly,” Mahomes the quarterback told me. “He taught me how to make sure I was ready for any situation that presented itself in a game. I owe him a lot.”
Dads understand and appreciate help given to their children. So Pat Mahomes told Smith several times last year how much he appreciated what he did for his boy. Unspoken was the fact that they both knew Patrick was there to take Smith’s job.
“That’s what’s so admirable about what Alex did all season for him,” Pat Mahomes said. “I know how it was when I came up [to the Minnesota Twins, in 1992]. I remember one time that year asking Jack Morris how he threw his split-finger fastball. He said, ‘Get away from me, you little MF. You’ll be trying to take my job next year.’ ”
When Patrick was 6, in 2001, his father played for the Texas Rangers. Alex Rodriguez was a first-year Ranger, having signed a $252-million deal to move from Seattle. “Alex would take Patrick down to the cage, and he’d take batting practice, and then he’d break down the tape with Patrick and teach him about his swing. Patrick loves A-Rod,” Pat Mahomes said. “Being around those clubhouses was great for him. It taught him the value of hard work in sports, and how professional athletes should act.”
The lessons worked. Patrick fell in love with football, and football is loving him back right about now. “We’re not done,” offensive coordinator Eric Bienemy told Mahomes after the game in Pittsburgh.
“I know,” Patrick Mahomes said. “I’ve got a long way to go.”
The path looks pretty clear.
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The Rest of Week 2
It’s been quite a fortnight.
Buffalo cornerback Vontae Davis, who made the Pro Bowl three years ago, walked into the locker room at halftime Sunday in western New York and quit football. He didn’t tell his teammates. He just took off his uniform and walked away from the game.
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In non-quitting news:
• Ryan Fitzpatrick, Ryan Tannehill, Case Keenum, Andy Dalton: 8-0.
• Matthew Stafford, Derek Carr, Deshaun Watson, Eli Manning: 0-8.
• Florida is 6-0. New York/New Jersey is 1-5.
• Wish my two-game MVP a happy 23rd birthday today. Patrick Mahomes has more touchdown passes (10) through two weeks than former MVPs Aaron Rodgers, Matt Ryan and Cam Newton (nine) combined.
• Teams are scoring eight points per game more through two weeks, and an all-pro defender, Calais Campbell, has a theory.
• Marcus Mariota (elbow) was on the bench Sunday, and his fellow top-of-the-draft quarterback in 2015, Jameis Winston, may join him there when he comes off suspension in eight days.
Let’s dive in:
Ryan Fitzpatrick. (Getty Images)
Fitzpatrick, Bucs Ball Out; Winston Texts: ‘Awesome game!’
When Tampa Bay players came back to the locker room after conquering the Super Bowl champion Eagles at Raymond James Stadium on Sunday afternoon, the receiver group found a group text on their phones. “Awesome game!” was the message … from Jameis Winston.
Of course, Winston is missing the first three games of the season because of league discipline stemming from his alleged groping of an Uber driver in 2016, and Ryan Fitzpatrick has Tampa Bay off to a 2-0 start with the kind of quarterbacking that’s put Winston’s starting job in jeopardy. “That was great to hear from him,” said wideout Mike Evans from the Bucs’ locker room. “Jameis did an awesome job in camp, and he supported Fitz all the way. But he’s a team guy.”
Tampa Bay hosts Pittsburgh next Monday. When Winston returns to the team the next day after the suspension lapses, the Bucs will have a short week to prepare for a road game in Chicago in Week 4. Then their bye comes.
So coach Dirk Koetter will have a ready-made reason to stay with Fitzmagic—It’d be unfair to stick Jameis in the lineup after being off for three weeks and then preparing in a short week—before having a real decision to make when, in Week 6, the Bucs travel to Atlanta. Still, it’s hard to imagine Koetter going back to Winston the way Fitzpatrick is playing. In the first 133 games of Fitzpatrick’s 13-year career, he had one 400-yard passing game. He’s had two in his last two games.
“We can be as explosive as any team in the league,” Evans said. “We’re not surprised by this success. I think there’s a lot more out there. Ryan’s working really hard, spreading the ball around, and he’s playing great football with great playmakers around him.” All true. Hard to imagine Koetter fiddling with that success when the top pick of the 2015 draft returns in eight days.
Cousins Picks Fine Time To Be Great
“I don’t really know how to feel after a tie,” Kirk Cousins said from Green Bay on Sunday after Vikings 29, Packers 29. Let me help: Angry, because Vikings kicker Daniel Carlson missed 49 and 35-yard field goals in the scoreless OT …
Fortunate, because a bad roughing-the-passer call on Green Bay’s Clay Matthews wiped away a Cousins interception in the final two minutes with the Packers up eight … Proud, because the Packers are THE rival for Minnesota, and Cousins played the kind of game befitting a three-year, $84-million quarterback.
Quite a weekend for Cousins. The Vikings stayed at the Red Lion Hotel Paper Valley in Appleton, a half hour drive from Lambeau. Lots of teams stay there. “I came to Lambeau in 2003 for a game in 2003 as a high-school freshman, and I stayed at the same hotel I stayed at last night,” Cousins told me. “It hasn’t changed much.” (I can attest to that. My first time at the Paper Valley was in 1990, and when I returned a couple of years ago, a quarter-century hadn’t brought a significant facelift.)
Then the game. If you’ve been able to doubt Cousins on one major element, it’s his play in very big games, or in playoff-deciding games. His uninspired performance in a Week-17 loss to the Giants in 2016—I’ll always believe—is one reason why Washington was okay acquiring Alex Smith and watching Cousins sign with Minnesota last March.
But a 425-yard game, four-touchdown, 118.8-point rating game put a pretty big dent in that narrative for Cousins. Down 20-7 entering the fourth quarter, Cousins threw three touchdown passes, the last with 31 seconds left in the game to Adam Thielen. Amazing throw. Two Packer defenders had a shot to tip it away at the goal line, but the ball threaded some invisible needle and landed perfectly in Thielen’s gut.
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“I knew it was gonna be tight,’’ Cousins told me. “I got hit as I threw, so I didn’t even see it, but I knew when I threw it Adam might have to play DB and knock it away.” But that just made it 29-27. Cousins had to execute a two-point play to tie. His fade to Stefon Diggs in the left end was perfect. But it wasn’t good enough. Carlson couldn’t hit the winner.
Now for the Matthews penalty. With 1:45 left in the game and the Vikes trailing 29-21, Green Bay’s Jaire Alexander picked off Cousins and returned it to the Minnesota 18. But ref Tony Corrente called roughing the passer on Clay Matthews; Corrente said later Matthews “lifted [Cousins] and drove him into the ground.” If Matthews did lift Cousins, and it’s not clear he did, it was maybe an inch. And the “drove him into the ground part?”
It looked very much like the kind of safe tackle the league is encouraging players to make in these days of uber-caution around touching the quarterback. Said Cousins: “I haven’t seen it. I’m sure it was probably a generous call, and two or three years ago, it probably doesn’t get flagged. But that’s one of those plays the Packers felt made a huge difference in the game, and there are some we felt made a huge difference in the game. Both sides can point to several plays I’m sure.”
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He’s right. It’s not the only call on this day that influenced a game. But this is Green Bay-Minnesota. The big calls in this rivalry get magnified, and they’ll be talked about in Mankato and Manitowoc for years.
Jags-Pats: Revenge is sweet
Regardless what Doug Marrone says, he’s got to have some regret over going conservative in the fourth quarter of the AFC title game. The Jags led New England 20-10 early in the fourth quarter, but sandwiched around two Patriot touchdown drives, Jacksonville tried to play clockball instead of football. New England won 24-20.
“We’ve got a little bit of a different style now,” defensive lineman Calais Campbell said Sunday night. “We’re more confident. We saw how close we got last year, and we know we’re better.” That carried into Sunday, when the Jags gained a gaudy 481 total yards, and Blake Bortles threw for a gaudier 377 against the Bill Belichick defense. Jags 31, Pats 20. And when it was 24-3 with 20 minutes to go, most of America probably turned the channel.
I thought it was a redemptive day for Bortles, the 26-year-old quarterback who might just have needed more time to establish himself than the average Mahomes. Because Bortles certainly looks good now.
He balances when the throw and when to run, and he’s become smart at each. Amazing, too, that with three key receivers from recent seasons (Marqise Lee, Allen Robinson, Allen Hurns) missing this year, Bortles has found a new nucleus, led by the acrobatic Keelan Cole. “We compete at practice every day,” Campbell said. “We’re a pretty good defense, and I can tell you, Blake makes us struggle a lot. We’ve got a good group that we know can compete with any of the top offenses.”
With Tennessee and the Jets at home on the horizon before a tough October stretch, the Jags could put some distance between themselves and the rest of a mortal AFC South by month’s end.
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The Award Section
Offensive Players of the Week
Patrick Mahomes, quarterback, Kansas City. “Looks like Kansas City hit a home run with Mahomes,” Tony Romo said during Jags-Pats. You think? Mahomes, with his dad the former big-league pitcher in the stands at Heinz Field watching, threw for 326 yards, six touchdowns and no interceptions. Andy Reid is putting a load on Mahomes’ plate early on, and all the kid’s doing is responding big-time.
Blake Bortles, quarterback, Jacksonville. He outplayed Tom Brady. Seriously. Now Bortles had help from his pressure defense. But Bortles had the game in hand by halftime (17 of 25, 200 yards, three touchdowns, no picks) and did everything he could to avenge the toughest loss in Jags’ history—the 24-20 AFC Championship Game in Foxboro eight months ago. For the game, Bortles threw for 377 yards, four touchdowns and one pick. Revenge is sweet.
Kirk Cousins, quarterback, Minnesota. Cousins is 30, grew up in the Midwest, is a football lifer … and this was the first time he played football at Lambeau Field. Nice debut. He threw for 425 yards (144 more than Aaron Rodgers), four touchdowns (three more than Rodgers), for a 118.8 rating (21.4 points higher than Rodgers) in the 29-29 tie.
With the Vikings down by 13 entering the fourth quarter, Cousins forced OT with touchdown throws of 3, 75 and 22 yards—then put the Vikes in position for two overtime field goals, both of which were missed. A rather amazing chapter in Cousins’ football life.
Defensive Players of the Week
The Colts defense, led by Darius Leonard (left), smothered the Redskins offense on Sunday. (Getty Images)
Darius Leonard, linebacker, Indianapolis. The rookie second-round pick from South Carolina State had the kind of game prospects can only dream of: 18 tackles, a sack, a pass defensed, a forced fumble and a tackle for loss. The Colts held Washington to nine points—no touchdowns—in its home opener.
Special Teams Player of the Week
Kevin Byard, safety, Tennessee. The third-year safety, a Pro Bowler last year, is the upback on the Titans’ punt team. Surprisingly, on the Titans’ first punt of the game, the snap wen to Byard, a southpaw, and he threw a little pushed shotput kind of throw up the right side of the field, traveling 27 yards in the air. It fell where gunner Dane Cruikshank was running, right at midfield, and Cruikshank sprinted up the right side for the last 50 yards. Touchdown.
Geronimo Allison, wide receiver, Green Bay. It can’t be all glamour and Aaron Rodgers touchdown passes for Pack wide receivers. Sometimes, as happened Sunday in the first half of the big rivalry game with Minnesota, you’ve got to be on the punt-block team and smother a Viking punt for a touchdown. Heck of a hustle play by Allison.
Coach of the Week
Dave Toub, special teams coach, Kansas City. He called the coolest punt-return play I’ve seen in a while, and it worked. In Pittsburgh, knowing the Steeleras wouold have great respect for Tyreek Hill in the return game, Toub put De’Anthony Thomas about 10 yards ahead of him, and when the Steelers made their first punt of the game, Hill gave way to Thomas, who surprised the Steelers and returned the punt from the Chiefs’ 42 to the Pittsburgh 10. There’s a reason why Toub has had head-coach interviews. He’s smart, he’s bold, and innovative in a part of the game that smart teams take advantage of.
Bill Lazor, offensive coordinator, Cincinnati. This offense sputtered too much last season, and the Bengals seriously considered drafting Lamar Jackson to pressure Andy Dalton so 2018 wouldn’t be Groundhog Day again in Cincinnati. Lazor has emphasized precision and balance, and so far, the 2-0 Bengals have had both. They’re rushing for 4.4 yards a carry (Joe Mixon: 38 for 179 yards), and Dalton’s two-game rating is 108.5, with six TDs and a single pick. Replacing Ken Zampese with Lazor when the Bengals were 0-2 last year was messy for Marvin Lewis, but it’s paying off this year.
Goat of the Week
Zane Gonzalez, kicker, Cleveland (not for much longer). Last week, he had the potential game-winning field goal blocked in overtime. Yesterday, in New Orleans, he missed, in order, in the last 23 minutes: an extra point, wide left; a 44-yard field goal, wide left; an extra point, wide left, that would have given the Browns a lead with 1:24 left; and a 52-yard field goal, wide right, that would have forced overtime at the gun. I cannot imagine what Zane Gonzalez—or 23 million Browns fans around the planet—must feel like this morning.
Daniel Carlson, kicker, Minnesota. The fifth-round kicker from Auburn might not be the Vikings’ kicker much longer. He missed three field goals in the 29-29 tie at Green Bay, including 49- and 35-yard kicks in overtime. Both were wide right. And the second one hurt badly. The Vikings got the ball right in the center of the field for Carlson, and let the clock run down to four seconds. On a beautiful day with light-to-no wind, Carlson shanked it.
Damontae Kazee, safety, Atlanta. I know the Falcons won, but Kazee’s play and resulting ejectionreally rankled me. Eighteen minutes into a game that began with a debilitated defense (including the injury absence of crucial safety Keanu Neal), Kazee, starting because Neal was out, made a stupid and totally uncalled for hit on Cam Newton.
Kazee dove head-first at a sliding Newton, who was clearly giving himself up. The hit left Newton shaken and laid out on the ground. Kazee, rightfully, was ejected … leaving the Falcons down two safeties five quarters into the 2018 season, in an important division game. His teammates saved Kazee’s bacon with the 31-24 win.
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‘Sleep is my P.E.D.’
Six-time Pro Bowl guard Marshal Yanda, who turned 34 on Saturday, on extending an NFL career while trying to preserve his health for life after football.
Marshal Yanda. (Getty Images)
“The first thing I learned is how far I had to come when I got to the NFL. I was a junior college transfer, so I was a raw player even as a senior at Iowa—then I was gone after two years there. In my first training camp with the Ravens I was so awful I thought they might cut me, even though I was a third-round pick.
So my first, second, third, fourth year in the NFL, I kept attacking practice every day. Some players peak when they’re seniors in college, or their first or second year in the NFL. I was not peaking. I kept getting better as the years went by. I’ve achieved stuff I never knew I could—Pro Bowl, all-pro—but I didn’t think about that stuff. I took care of today. I took care of the weights. I took care of practice. I took care of watching film.
“I’ve learned how much I love this game. It’s just more important to me every year so I just continue to grind out every little thing that’s gonna make me better, whether that’s eating, sleeping, lifting, whatever I can do. A great meal for me has changed. I’m into quinoa now for my carbs. So I’ll eat quinoa, and my protein is chicken, and then I use a Vitamix blender and I blend up spinach and kale for my vegetables.
“Kale is ruthless. It is! I don’t like drinking it. I put a little hot sauce in there too, to try and give it some zing so you can drink it.
“I eat brown and white rice, a mixture. I bought a rice cooker a couple of years ago, and you can cook the quinoa in there too. Also, I drink a gallon of water every day.
“Sleep is huge. Sleep is my P.E.D., my performance-enhancing drug. I’m usually asleep by 9:30. Sleep experts say you want to stay on a schedule. You want to try to go to bed at the same time and get up at the same time.
“For pain management and flexibility, I picked up yoga this offseason. I did it twice a week. For stretching and range of motion, like range of motion in my hips, it’s good. My hips are looser. In my stance, I just feel a little bit loose and a little more spring in my steps. With my shoulders too … stretching my shoulders is big now.
We lift all these weights all the time and it’s always build and build and build and they get you to stretch, but usually I stretch after I lift and I’m fatigued from my lift, I don’t want to necessarily stretch like you should. I kind of go through it fast because I’m tired and I just want to get to the shower and relax. But now I literally spend an hour on stretching, deep stretches, and I definitely feel like I’ve gotten more range of motion and I feel better in my hips and my knees and my shoulders.
“I think about my health more as I get older. I’ve been fortunate—and I’m knocking on wood—I haven’t had any head or neck injuries, and no concussions. That’s pretty amazing. I still think the good of the game and what the game has given me, and how many experiences that the people I’ve gotten to meet, and the neat stuff that I’ve gotten to experience, and my entire family’s gotten to experience, will end up outweighing the stiffness and the soreness and stuff as I get older.
The longer I’ve been in the game, I’m learning what I’m doing now is going to help me not only stay in football longer but help my health later in life.”
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Numbers Game
The NFL is just 31 games into a 256-game regular season, but something interesting, and perhaps very predictable, is happening. Offense is exploding. Entering the final game of Week 2, check out this trend/outlier through two weeks of this season and last:
2017 Season
Games Played: 32
Points Scored: 1,249
Average Per Game: 39.03
2018 Season
Games Played: 31
Points Scored: 1,465
Average Per Game: 47.26
Point Per Game Differential: +8.23
Again, it’s too early to call this the new normal. But in the offseason, the NFL took more pains to protect the quarterback (we saw it with calls like the Clay Matthews “roughing the passer” on Kirk Cousins at a crucial moment in Green Bay on Sunday) and to penalize players for using their helmets on tackles, which is likely going to adversely affect defenders.
And when I asked respected veteran defensive lineman Calais Campbell on Sunday night about the eight-point rise in scoring early this year, he said: “Look at the rules. I know the NFL is trying to make the game safer, but the safer they make it, the easier they make it for the offense. Offense makes good TV. The quarterbacks are the rock stars of the league, and they want to protect them. My job’s harder.”
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Things I Think I Think
1. I think it’s crazy and sad that the first thought among so many in our business and so many fans once Josh Gordon’s looming release became public Saturday was this: Should our team sign him?Gordon, one of the most troubled substance-abusers in recent NFL annals, on Saturday gave the Browns concern “that perhaps he was struggling again with his sobriety or on the verge of relapsing,” according to Mary Kay Cabot of the Cleveland Plain Dealer. To refresh memories:
• Gordon was suspended two games for substance-abuse in September 2013.
• He was suspended 10 games for substance-abuse in August 2014.
• He was suspended for the final game of 2014 by the Browns for an undisclosed violation of team rules.
• He was suspended for the full season in 2015 for substance abuse.
• After being reinstated for the 2016 season, he was suspended for the first four games of the season.
• Before finishing his 2016 suspension, he entered an in-patient substance-abuse facility. He missed all 16 games in 2016.
• He was reinstated midway through 2017 and played five games for the Browns.
• He missed much of training camp this season “as part of my overall health and treatment plan,” he said in July.
• He played the first game this season, against Pittsburgh, and reported to the team facility Saturday with a hamstring injury the team believed did not happen at practice during the week.
• He has played in six games since Christmas Day 2014, a total of six games out of the Browns’ last 51.
Jay Glazer reported Sunday that Browns GM John Dorsey had received feelers from three teams about dealing Gordon, with the likelihood he will be traded Monday.
Two questions: Can we let a 27-year-old man try to conquer his addictive demons first? And what is the rush to do this—have the teams drooling over Gordon taken time to consider that, since entering the league six years ago, he has been suspended five times and at least once was self-admitted to a rehab facility?
I’m not suggesting Gordon be banned from football for life. I am suggesting that there is evidence—circumstantial evidence, but there’s some heavy smoke here—that there’s something amiss with Gordon. And this is moving way too fast for any team to satisfactorily examine Gordon.
2. I think these are my quick-hit thoughts from Week 2:
a. Catch of the Year: the 22-yard one-hander by Jacksonville’s Beckham impersonator, Keelan Cole.
b. John Dorsey should sign the second-most-accurate kicker ever, Dan Bailey. Zane Gonzalez is as shaky as the mohel in “Seinfeld.” Oh, you missed that one?
c. Cleveland’s defense means business. The Browns will win a few games this year, and soon. Unless they’re incredibly, ridiculously, stupidly cursed.
d. Things are just peachy in Buffalo, where the Bills are 0-2 and a guy retired at halftime of the home opener.
e. Great stat/factoid by CBS: Blake Bortles has the third-highest career quarterback rushing average, behind Mike Vick and Bobby Douglas. Never would have predicted that.
f. That roughing-the-passer call on Clay Matthews that enabled the Vikings to tie the game late in the fourth quarter at Lambeau? A gift. Not roughing-the-passer. Not close. Well, it’s close in the NFL in 2018, but in real football, that should never have been called.
g. Ref Tony Corrente in an NFL pool report, on that call: “When he hit the quarterback, he lifted him and drove him into the ground.” Not how I saw it. I saw Matthews hit Kirk Cousins a split second after the ball was released, and not violently drive him to the ground at all.
h. Ravens: 42-42, with one playoff appearance, since winning the Super Bowl in the 2012 season.
i. Geno Atkins has already played 120 snaps in two games, and he looks as dominant as ever.
j. I picked the Bengals to win the AFC North, so I think what we’re seeing is real. But I do not expect Cincinnati to average 34 points a game.
k. You’ve got to be better than that, Joe Flacco.
l. One day, about 15 years from now, a few years after Adam Vinatieri enters the Pro Football Hall of Fame, we’ll ask: Who was the better kicker—Vinatieri or Justin Tucker? “Justin Tucker hits 55-yard field goals as casually as I start my car.” Great line, Will Brinson.
m. Two games, four sacks for Von Miller. Quite a start. You’re catching up, Myles Garrett, but you’re not there yet.
n. Pretty nimble, Matt Ryan.
o. If Philip Rivers’ weapons stay healthy, the Chargers will make the playoffs. Book it.
p. How scary is the Kansas City offense at full strength? The weaponry is just so diverse and so good, a defense can’t devote itself to stopping any one player.
q. Jon Gruden had to have gotten on the plane last night in Denver and said to himself, “This is what I came back for? And now I gotta back on the plane this weekend to go play the 2-0 Dolphins?”
r. Incredible to think the Browns could be 2-0 with a reliable kicker.
s. Houston shouldn’t be worried. Concerned, yes. The Texans just lost to Blaine Gabbert, outgained the Titans by 154 yards, got embarrassed on a trick special-teams play, and sacked the quarterback only one time. This team’s better than that—or should be at least.
t. Brandin Cooks, 12 catches for 246 yards, a 20.5-yard average through two games. Sean McVay is euphoric.
u. Michael Thomas, 28 catches (in two weeks!) for 269 yards. Asshole Face would be euphoric about that if he weren’t so concerned about his drab team.
v. I didn’t think the Lions would have allowed 78 points in the first two games, that’s for sure.
w. Congrats to Frank Reich, who won his first NFL game as a head coach about 10 miles from where he played college football (FedEx Field to College Park). That’s a much better defensive team than we thought in Indy.
3. I think you probably know if Le’Veon Bell holds out till Week 10—the last point at which he can report to the Steelers and still become a 2019 free-agent—he saves the most wear-and-tear on his body heading for the free market next March.
That’s the only way this holdout, now, makes any sense. Blowing $853,000 per week by not reporting … man, that is one luxurious way to go by Bell. Imagine: Bell has to be thinking he’s going to going to make almost $8 million more next March by not playing the first half of this season than he would by playing through Week 9 and putting up his typical rich numbers. What a weird holdout.
4. I think I’m not trying to be Mr. Negative here, but the Giants looked so bad Sunday night, and so incapable of protecting Eli Manning and blocking for Saquon Barkley, that I could see them starting 0-7. On the docket the next five weeks: at Houston, where the 0-2 Texans will be a desperate team in the home opener; New Orleans at home; at Carolina, with a formidable rush; the Eagles and their deep defensive front on a short-week Thursday at home, and then at Atlanta on a Monday night.
5. I think I want to know who among you had the Bucs as the most explosive team in the NFC with Ryan Fitzpatrick at quarterback after two weeks. Come on. Who?
6. I think the ticky-tack, overly generous, totally field-tilting penalty of defensive pass interference reared its head again Thursday in Cincinnati. Joe Flacco, from the Bengals’ 32-yard line, threw a rainbow ball to John Brown in the end zone, and Bengals corner Dre Kirkpatrick grabbed Brown’s jersey. Lightly grabbed would be a better term.
He certainly didn’t impede Brown from making a catch. Mike Pereira, the FOX rules analyst, said in the booth he’d never have thrown the flag: “There was a slight grab, but it didn’t affect his ability to get to the pass.” And for this marginal call, the Ravens got a first down at the Cincinnati 1-yard line … and soon had a touchdown before the half, cutting a 21-point deficit to 14.
7. I think even 15 yards, in this case, would have been excessive. But 31? Just way excessive. There are two or three of these every week, and the league refuses to change the rule because the old-timers think defensive coaches would abuse the rule by coaching up corners to grab receivers or tackle them whenever defenders are clearly beaten downfield.
Then give back judges the freedom to make flagrant DPI a spot foul; if an official sees a defender tackling a receiver downfield, call the flagrant foul and place the ball at the spot of the foul. But I can tell you this: Last year, I asked Stanford coach David Shaw about whether he sees coaches abuse the rule in college football—which does not have DPI be a spot foul. He said he doesn’t see it much at all.
8. I think, finally, for all those who will say leave well enough alone or there’s not any real reason to make this change, I’ll ask you the same question I asked when the NFL was discussing moving the extra-point ball-placement line from the 2-yard line (where teams were about 99-percent accurate on PATs) to the 15-yard-line.
I asked: If you were inventing a game, would you include a play with 99-percent certainty of scoring a point? Of course not. Same in this. In inventing football, would you make the maximum offensive pass-interference call a 10-yard penalty and leave open the penalty yardage for defensive pass interference—so the same degree of interference on defense could be 55 yards while it maxes out at 10 yards for the offense? You wouldn’t do that, if you had any sense of competitive fairness.
MVP Watch
In semi-regular installments throughout the season, I’ll give you my ranking of the five most valuable players in the NFL. Expect weekly fluctuation to ensue.
Todd Gurley, running back, Rams. Two routs, 220 scrimmage yards, four touchdowns so far.
Brandin Cooks, 12 catches for 246 yards, a 20.5-yard average through two games. Sean McVay is euphoric.
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Players Make Plays, and Patrick Mahomes Has Made a Perfect 10 For The High-Flying Chiefs
By Peter King
Getty Images
Before the Chiefs and Steelers met Sunday at Heinz Field, Pat Mahomes the dad met Patrick Mahomes the son for their traditional pre-game hug. Pat Mahomes the retired baseball pitcher and Patrick Mahomes (yes, “Patrick;” his mom has decreed the son will be called a different name than the father) the young Chiefs quarterback have been doing this since seventh grade.
If dad is at the game, he’s hugging his son and saying the same thing on this breezy 80-degree afternoon at one of the coolest places to play pro football—the confluence of the Three Rivers—that he’s said before youth, high school and college football games.
“Players make plays,” Pat Mahomes said to his son. “Go out there and have fun.”
Pat Mahomes’ 11-year major-league career ended just down the street 15 years earlier—his last MLB stop was with the Pirates in 2003—but he wasn’t thinking much about that sitting in his normal-fan end-zone seat Sunday. Mostly, he was thinking about the eerie calm of his son.
“It’s just crazy,” said Pat Mahomes late Sunday night after his flight home to Texas landed in Dallas. “Watching him, he’s so calm. The thing that’s funny to me is he really doesn’t realize what he just did. He went into Pittsburgh, where they’ve won more Super Bowls than any team in history, and he won. He really doesn’t think about that stuff. He doesn’t think about being in Heinz Field playing Roethlisberger. He just goes and plays football.”
Players make plays. Patrick Mahomes leads the NFL in making them. He’s quickly becoming the big story of this NFL season. In the Chiefs’ 42-37 win over the Steelers—the first win for Kansas City in Pittsburgh since 1986—Mahomes threw six touchdown passes and no interceptions. Watching a good portion of it on CBS, I’m surprised Ian Eagle finished the game with a voice. What Mahomes is doing has never been done.
No player, never mind a player in his second and third NFL starts, has opened a season with a 10-to-0 touchdown-to-interception ratio in two games. Now, it’s only an eighth of the season, but Mahomes has gone on the road twice, played playoff contenders with Hall of Fame-contender quarterbacks (Philip Rivers, Ben Roethlisberger), gone 2-0, put up 80 points, and thrown touchdown passes to four wideouts, a tight end, a running back and a fullback.
It’s not just the raw numbers. It’s the way he’s done it. Watch Mahomes play, and you see an eight-year vet, or someone who plays like one. No happy feet, no real highs of emotion, calm in the pocket even when there’s traffic.
He’s in such a perfect system, with speedy and talented wideouts, the defending NFL rushing champion and a tight end bettered in today’s game only by the great Gronk. Andy Reid just spreads the field—five of the six touchdown passes Sunday came on two-by-two formations—and lets Mahomes find the open guy. He doesn’t care who it is.
I spoke to Patrick Mahomes while he and his dad walked to the team bus after the game. Patrick Mahomes was polite. He dished out credit like John Stockton dished the basketball. He sounded absolutely unsurprised by what’s happened in the first two games.
“What’s happened speaks to Coach Reid and everything he’s taught me in the last year,” Mahomes said. “He’s prepared me to go out and play fast. In this system, if you can play fast, you can take advantage of things against the defense. And the talent and the legends I have around me—I’m just really trying to get the ball out of my hands and into these playmakers’ hands.”
This was an odd game. The Chiefs went up 21-0 on three TD throws from Mahomes in the first quarter. The Steelers came back with a 21-0 second quarter, on three TD throws from Roethlisberger. So the Steelers, and their crowd, came out revved up when the Chiefs got to the ball to start the third quarter.
Bang: first play, Mahomes to Tyreek Hill for 36 yards. Four plays later came Mahomes’ favorite play of the day. From the Steeler 25, two receivers left (tight end Travis Kelce on the inside) and two split right, Mahomes took a shotgun snap and stared down Chris Conley, the receiver to Kelce’s left.
That seemed to keep rookie safety Terrell Edmunds outside, on Conley. Now came Mahomes’ eyes back to center field, to Kelce. He zinged a laser to Kelce up the left seam. I wouldn’t have been surprised to see Mahomes go to either receiver on his right, really; the spacing on this play, and in this offense in general, is superb.
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“I kind of eyed the safety off,” Mahomes said, “and that gave Travis enough room. I actually threw it a little low, but he made a heck of a play to catch it.”
“I thought that was the amazing part of the game,” dad Pat Mahomes said later. “The Steelers come back to tie it, and on the first series out of halftime, he just drives the length of the field and throws another one. Right there, everybody realizes he’s a player.”
We see. “I mean, there’s a little bit of a surprise,” Patrick Mahomes said. “I knew with this offense anything could happen, but coming out of the gate like this, it’s pretty awesome.”
I wondered what Pat Mahomes the pitcher thought of how his son had been schooled so far. He praised Reid lavishly (“He’s taught my son how to be a professional”) but he saved special praise for Alex Smith. Last year, Smith knew when the Chiefs traded the 2018 first-round pick to move up in the 2017 first round to take Mahomes his days were numbered. Smith, of course, lasted one more season.
But he taught Mahomes what he knew about football. “How to prepare, mostly,” Mahomes the quarterback told me. “He taught me how to make sure I was ready for any situation that presented itself in a game. I owe him a lot.”
Dads understand and appreciate help given to their children. So Pat Mahomes told Smith several times last year how much he appreciated what he did for his boy. Unspoken was the fact that they both knew Patrick was there to take Smith’s job.
“That’s what’s so admirable about what Alex did all season for him,” Pat Mahomes said. “I know how it was when I came up [to the Minnesota Twins, in 1992]. I remember one time that year asking Jack Morris how he threw his split-finger fastball. He said, ‘Get away from me, you little MF. You’ll be trying to take my job next year.’ ”
When Patrick was 6, in 2001, his father played for the Texas Rangers. Alex Rodriguez was a first-year Ranger, having signed a $252-million deal to move from Seattle. “Alex would take Patrick down to the cage, and he’d take batting practice, and then he’d break down the tape with Patrick and teach him about his swing. Patrick loves A-Rod,” Pat Mahomes said. “Being around those clubhouses was great for him. It taught him the value of hard work in sports, and how professional athletes should act.”
The lessons worked. Patrick fell in love with football, and football is loving him back right about now. “We’re not done,” offensive coordinator Eric Bienemy told Mahomes after the game in Pittsburgh.
“I know,” Patrick Mahomes said. “I’ve got a long way to go.”
The path looks pretty clear.
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The Rest of Week 2
It’s been quite a fortnight.
Buffalo cornerback Vontae Davis, who made the Pro Bowl three years ago, walked into the locker room at halftime Sunday in western New York and quit football. He didn’t tell his teammates. He just took off his uniform and walked away from the game.
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In non-quitting news:
• Ryan Fitzpatrick, Ryan Tannehill, Case Keenum, Andy Dalton: 8-0.
• Matthew Stafford, Derek Carr, Deshaun Watson, Eli Manning: 0-8.
• Florida is 6-0. New York/New Jersey is 1-5.
• Wish my two-game MVP a happy 23rd birthday today. Patrick Mahomes has more touchdown passes (10) through two weeks than former MVPs Aaron Rodgers, Matt Ryan and Cam Newton (nine) combined.
• Teams are scoring eight points per game more through two weeks, and an all-pro defender, Calais Campbell, has a theory.
• Marcus Mariota (elbow) was on the bench Sunday, and his fellow top-of-the-draft quarterback in 2015, Jameis Winston, may join him there when he comes off suspension in eight days.
Let’s dive in:
Fitzpatrick, Bucs Ball Out; Winston Texts: ‘Awesome game!’
When Tampa Bay players came back to the locker room after conquering the Super Bowl champion Eagles at Raymond James Stadium on Sunday afternoon, the receiver group found a group text on their phones. “Awesome game!” was the message … from Jameis Winston.
Of course, Winston is missing the first three games of the season because of league discipline stemming from his alleged groping of an Uber driver in 2016, and Ryan Fitzpatrick has Tampa Bay off to a 2-0 start with the kind of quarterbacking that’s put Winston’s starting job in jeopardy. “That was great to hear from him,” said wideout Mike Evans from the Bucs’ locker room. “Jameis did an awesome job in camp, and he supported Fitz all the way. But he’s a team guy.”
Tampa Bay hosts Pittsburgh next Monday. When Winston returns to the team the next day after the suspension lapses, the Bucs will have a short week to prepare for a road game in Chicago in Week 4. Then their bye comes.
So coach Dirk Koetter will have a ready-made reason to stay with Fitzmagic—It’d be unfair to stick Jameis in the lineup after being off for three weeks and then preparing in a short week—before having a real decision to make when, in Week 6, the Bucs travel to Atlanta. Still, it’s hard to imagine Koetter going back to Winston the way Fitzpatrick is playing. In the first 133 games of Fitzpatrick’s 13-year career, he had one 400-yard passing game. He’s had two in his last two games.
“We can be as explosive as any team in the league,” Evans said. “We’re not surprised by this success. I think there’s a lot more out there. Ryan’s working really hard, spreading the ball around, and he’s playing great football with great playmakers around him.” All true. Hard to imagine Koetter fiddling with that success when the top pick of the 2015 draft returns in eight days.
Cousins Picks Fine Time To Be Great
“I don’t really know how to feel after a tie,” Kirk Cousins said from Green Bay on Sunday after Vikings 29, Packers 29. Let me help: Angry, because Vikings kicker Daniel Carlson missed 49 and 35-yard field goals in the scoreless OT …
Fortunate, because a bad roughing-the-passer call on Green Bay’s Clay Matthews wiped away a Cousins interception in the final two minutes with the Packers up eight … Proud, because the Packers are THE rival for Minnesota, and Cousins played the kind of game befitting a three-year, $84-million quarterback.
Quite a weekend for Cousins. The Vikings stayed at the Red Lion Hotel Paper Valley in Appleton, a half hour drive from Lambeau. Lots of teams stay there. “I came to Lambeau in 2003 for a game in 2003 as a high-school freshman, and I stayed at the same hotel I stayed at last night,” Cousins told me. “It hasn’t changed much.” (I can attest to that. My first time at the Paper Valley was in 1990, and when I returned a couple of years ago, a quarter-century hadn’t brought a significant facelift.)
Then the game. If you’ve been able to doubt Cousins on one major element, it’s his play in very big games, or in playoff-deciding games. His uninspired performance in a Week-17 loss to the Giants in 2016—I’ll always believe—is one reason why Washington was okay acquiring Alex Smith and watching Cousins sign with Minnesota last March.
But a 425-yard game, four-touchdown, 118.8-point rating game put a pretty big dent in that narrative for Cousins. Down 20-7 entering the fourth quarter, Cousins threw three touchdown passes, the last with 31 seconds left in the game to Adam Thielen. Amazing throw. Two Packer defenders had a shot to tip it away at the goal line, but the ball threaded some invisible needle and landed perfectly in Thielen’s gut.
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“I knew it was gonna be tight,’’ Cousins told me. “I got hit as I threw, so I didn’t even see it, but I knew when I threw it Adam might have to play DB and knock it away.” But that just made it 29-27. Cousins had to execute a two-point play to tie. His fade to Stefon Diggs in the left end was perfect. But it wasn’t good enough. Carlson couldn’t hit the winner.
Now for the Matthews penalty. With 1:45 left in the game and the Vikes trailing 29-21, Green Bay’s Jaire Alexander picked off Cousins and returned it to the Minnesota 18. But ref Tony Corrente called roughing the passer on Clay Matthews; Corrente said later Matthews “lifted [Cousins] and drove him into the ground.” If Matthews did lift Cousins, and it’s not clear he did, it was maybe an inch. And the “drove him into the ground part?”
It looked very much like the kind of safe tackle the league is encouraging players to make in these days of uber-caution around touching the quarterback. Said Cousins: “I haven’t seen it. I’m sure it was probably a generous call, and two or three years ago, it probably doesn’t get flagged. But that’s one of those plays the Packers felt made a huge difference in the game, and there are some we felt made a huge difference in the game. Both sides can point to several plays I’m sure.”
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He’s right. It’s not the only call on this day that influenced a game. But this is Green Bay-Minnesota. The big calls in this rivalry get magnified, and they’ll be talked about in Mankato and Manitowoc for years.
Jags-Pats: Revenge is sweet
Regardless what Doug Marrone says, he’s got to have some regret over going conservative in the fourth quarter of the AFC title game. The Jags led New England 20-10 early in the fourth quarter, but sandwiched around two Patriot touchdown drives, Jacksonville tried to play clockball instead of football. New England won 24-20.
“We’ve got a little bit of a different style now,” defensive lineman Calais Campbell said Sunday night. “We’re more confident. We saw how close we got last year, and we know we’re better.” That carried into Sunday, when the Jags gained a gaudy 481 total yards, and Blake Bortles threw for a gaudier 377 against the Bill Belichick defense. Jags 31, Pats 20. And when it was 24-3 with 20 minutes to go, most of America probably turned the channel.
I thought it was a redemptive day for Bortles, the 26-year-old quarterback who might just have needed more time to establish himself than the average Mahomes. Because Bortles certainly looks good now.
He balances when the throw and when to run, and he’s become smart at each. Amazing, too, that with three key receivers from recent seasons (Marqise Lee, Allen Robinson, Allen Hurns) missing this year, Bortles has found a new nucleus, led by the acrobatic Keelan Cole. “We compete at practice every day,” Campbell said. “We’re a pretty good defense, and I can tell you, Blake makes us struggle a lot. We’ve got a good group that we know can compete with any of the top offenses.”
With Tennessee and the Jets at home on the horizon before a tough October stretch, the Jags could put some distance between themselves and the rest of a mortal AFC South by month’s end.
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The Award Section
Offensive Players of the Week
Patrick Mahomes, quarterback, Kansas City. “Looks like Kansas City hit a home run with Mahomes,” Tony Romo said during Jags-Pats. You think? Mahomes, with his dad the former big-league pitcher in the stands at Heinz Field watching, threw for 326 yards, six touchdowns and no interceptions. Andy Reid is putting a load on Mahomes’ plate early on, and all the kid’s doing is responding big-time.
Blake Bortles, quarterback, Jacksonville. He outplayed Tom Brady. Seriously. Now Bortles had help from his pressure defense. But Bortles had the game in hand by halftime (17 of 25, 200 yards, three touchdowns, no picks) and did everything he could to avenge the toughest loss in Jags’ history—the 24-20 AFC Championship Game in Foxboro eight months ago. For the game, Bortles threw for 377 yards, four touchdowns and one pick. Revenge is sweet.
Kirk Cousins, quarterback, Minnesota. Cousins is 30, grew up in the Midwest, is a football lifer … and this was the first time he played football at Lambeau Field. Nice debut. He threw for 425 yards (144 more than Aaron Rodgers), four touchdowns (three more than Rodgers), for a 118.8 rating (21.4 points higher than Rodgers) in the 29-29 tie.
With the Vikings down by 13 entering the fourth quarter, Cousins forced OT with touchdown throws of 3, 75 and 22 yards—then put the Vikes in position for two overtime field goals, both of which were missed. A rather amazing chapter in Cousins’ football life.
Defensive Players of the Week
The Colts defense, led by Darius Leonard (left), smothered the Redskins offense on Sunday. (Getty Images)
Darius Leonard, linebacker, Indianapolis. The rookie second-round pick from South Carolina State had the kind of game prospects can only dream of: 18 tackles, a sack, a pass defensed, a forced fumble and a tackle for loss. The Colts held Washington to nine points—no touchdowns—in its home opener.
Special Teams Player of the Week
Kevin Byard, safety, Tennessee. The third-year safety, a Pro Bowler last year, is the upback on the Titans’ punt team. Surprisingly, on the Titans’ first punt of the game, the snap wen to Byard, a southpaw, and he threw a little pushed shotput kind of throw up the right side of the field, traveling 27 yards in the air. It fell where gunner Dane Cruikshank was running, right at midfield, and Cruikshank sprinted up the right side for the last 50 yards. Touchdown.
Geronimo Allison, wide receiver, Green Bay. It can’t be all glamour and Aaron Rodgers touchdown passes for Pack wide receivers. Sometimes, as happened Sunday in the first half of the big rivalry game with Minnesota, you’ve got to be on the punt-block team and smother a Viking punt for a touchdown. Heck of a hustle play by Allison.
Coach of the Week
Dave Toub, special teams coach, Kansas City. He called the coolest punt-return play I’ve seen in a while, and it worked. In Pittsburgh, knowing the Steeleras wouold have great respect for Tyreek Hill in the return game, Toub put De’Anthony Thomas about 10 yards ahead of him, and when the Steelers made their first punt of the game, Hill gave way to Thomas, who surprised the Steelers and returned the punt from the Chiefs’ 42 to the Pittsburgh 10. There’s a reason why Toub has had head-coach interviews. He’s smart, he’s bold, and innovative in a part of the game that smart teams take advantage of.
Bill Lazor, offensive coordinator, Cincinnati. This offense sputtered too much last season, and the Bengals seriously considered drafting Lamar Jackson to pressure Andy Dalton so 2018 wouldn’t be Groundhog Day again in Cincinnati. Lazor has emphasized precision and balance, and so far, the 2-0 Bengals have had both. They’re rushing for 4.4 yards a carry (Joe Mixon: 38 for 179 yards), and Dalton’s two-game rating is 108.5, with six TDs and a single pick. Replacing Ken Zampese with Lazor when the Bengals were 0-2 last year was messy for Marvin Lewis, but it’s paying off this year.
Goat of the Week
Zane Gonzalez, kicker, Cleveland (not for much longer). Last week, he had the potential game-winning field goal blocked in overtime. Yesterday, in New Orleans, he missed, in order, in the last 23 minutes: an extra point, wide left; a 44-yard field goal, wide left; an extra point, wide left, that would have given the Browns a lead with 1:24 left; and a 52-yard field goal, wide right, that would have forced overtime at the gun. I cannot imagine what Zane Gonzalez—or 23 million Browns fans around the planet—must feel like this morning.
Daniel Carlson, kicker, Minnesota. The fifth-round kicker from Auburn might not be the Vikings’ kicker much longer. He missed three field goals in the 29-29 tie at Green Bay, including 49- and 35-yard kicks in overtime. Both were wide right. And the second one hurt badly. The Vikings got the ball right in the center of the field for Carlson, and let the clock run down to four seconds. On a beautiful day with light-to-no wind, Carlson shanked it.
Damontae Kazee, safety, Atlanta. I know the Falcons won, but Kazee’s play and resulting ejectionreally rankled me. Eighteen minutes into a game that began with a debilitated defense (including the injury absence of crucial safety Keanu Neal), Kazee, starting because Neal was out, made a stupid and totally uncalled for hit on Cam Newton.
Kazee dove head-first at a sliding Newton, who was clearly giving himself up. The hit left Newton shaken and laid out on the ground. Kazee, rightfully, was ejected … leaving the Falcons down two safeties five quarters into the 2018 season, in an important division game. His teammates saved Kazee’s bacon with the 31-24 win.
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‘Sleep is my P.E.D.’
Six-time Pro Bowl guard Marshal Yanda, who turned 34 on Saturday, on extending an NFL career while trying to preserve his health for life after football.
Marshal Yanda. (Getty Images)
“The first thing I learned is how far I had to come when I got to the NFL. I was a junior college transfer, so I was a raw player even as a senior at Iowa—then I was gone after two years there. In my first training camp with the Ravens I was so awful I thought they might cut me, even though I was a third-round pick.
So my first, second, third, fourth year in the NFL, I kept attacking practice every day. Some players peak when they’re seniors in college, or their first or second year in the NFL. I was not peaking. I kept getting better as the years went by. I’ve achieved stuff I never knew I could—Pro Bowl, all-pro—but I didn’t think about that stuff. I took care of today. I took care of the weights. I took care of practice. I took care of watching film.
“I’ve learned how much I love this game. It’s just more important to me every year so I just continue to grind out every little thing that’s gonna make me better, whether that’s eating, sleeping, lifting, whatever I can do. A great meal for me has changed. I’m into quinoa now for my carbs. So I’ll eat quinoa, and my protein is chicken, and then I use a Vitamix blender and I blend up spinach and kale for my vegetables.
“Kale is ruthless. It is! I don’t like drinking it. I put a little hot sauce in there too, to try and give it some zing so you can drink it.
“I eat brown and white rice, a mixture. I bought a rice cooker a couple of years ago, and you can cook the quinoa in there too. Also, I drink a gallon of water every day.
“Sleep is huge. Sleep is my P.E.D., my performance-enhancing drug. I’m usually asleep by 9:30. Sleep experts say you want to stay on a schedule. You want to try to go to bed at the same time and get up at the same time.
“For pain management and flexibility, I picked up yoga this offseason. I did it twice a week. For stretching and range of motion, like range of motion in my hips, it’s good. My hips are looser. In my stance, I just feel a little bit loose and a little more spring in my steps. With my shoulders too … stretching my shoulders is big now.
We lift all these weights all the time and it’s always build and build and build and they get you to stretch, but usually I stretch after I lift and I’m fatigued from my lift, I don’t want to necessarily stretch like you should. I kind of go through it fast because I’m tired and I just want to get to the shower and relax. But now I literally spend an hour on stretching, deep stretches, and I definitely feel like I’ve gotten more range of motion and I feel better in my hips and my knees and my shoulders.
“I think about my health more as I get older. I’ve been fortunate—and I’m knocking on wood—I haven’t had any head or neck injuries, and no concussions. That’s pretty amazing. I still think the good of the game and what the game has given me, and how many experiences that the people I’ve gotten to meet, and the neat stuff that I’ve gotten to experience, and my entire family’s gotten to experience, will end up outweighing the stiffness and the soreness and stuff as I get older.
The longer I’ve been in the game, I’m learning what I’m doing now is going to help me not only stay in football longer but help my health later in life.”
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Numbers Game
The NFL is just 31 games into a 256-game regular season, but something interesting, and perhaps very predictable, is happening. Offense is exploding. Entering the final game of Week 2, check out this trend/outlier through two weeks of this season and last:
2017 Season
Games Played: 32
Points Scored: 1,249
Average Per Game: 39.03
2018 Season
Games Played: 31
Points Scored: 1,465
Average Per Game: 47.26
Point Per Game Differential: +8.23
Again, it’s too early to call this the new normal. But in the offseason, the NFL took more pains to protect the quarterback (we saw it with calls like the Clay Matthews “roughing the passer” on Kirk Cousins at a crucial moment in Green Bay on Sunday) and to penalize players for using their helmets on tackles, which is likely going to adversely affect defenders.
And when I asked respected veteran defensive lineman Calais Campbell on Sunday night about the eight-point rise in scoring early this year, he said: “Look at the rules. I know the NFL is trying to make the game safer, but the safer they make it, the easier they make it for the offense. Offense makes good TV. The quarterbacks are the rock stars of the league, and they want to protect them. My job’s harder.”
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Things I Think I Think
1. I think it’s crazy and sad that the first thought among so many in our business and so many fans once Josh Gordon’s looming release became public Saturday was this: Should our team sign him?Gordon, one of the most troubled substance-abusers in recent NFL annals, on Saturday gave the Browns concern “that perhaps he was struggling again with his sobriety or on the verge of relapsing,” according to Mary Kay Cabot of the Cleveland Plain Dealer. To refresh memories:
• Gordon was suspended two games for substance-abuse in September 2013.
• He was suspended 10 games for substance-abuse in August 2014.
• He was suspended for the final game of 2014 by the Browns for an undisclosed violation of team rules.
• He was suspended for the full season in 2015 for substance abuse.
• After being reinstated for the 2016 season, he was suspended for the first four games of the season.
• Before finishing his 2016 suspension, he entered an in-patient substance-abuse facility. He missed all 16 games in 2016.
• He was reinstated midway through 2017 and played five games for the Browns.
• He missed much of training camp this season “as part of my overall health and treatment plan,” he said in July.
• He played the first game this season, against Pittsburgh, and reported to the team facility Saturday with a hamstring injury the team believed did not happen at practice during the week.
• He has played in six games since Christmas Day 2014, a total of six games out of the Browns’ last 51.
Jay Glazer reported Sunday that Browns GM John Dorsey had received feelers from three teams about dealing Gordon, with the likelihood he will be traded Monday.
Two questions: Can we let a 27-year-old man try to conquer his addictive demons first? And what is the rush to do this—have the teams drooling over Gordon taken time to consider that, since entering the league six years ago, he has been suspended five times and at least once was self-admitted to a rehab facility?
I’m not suggesting Gordon be banned from football for life. I am suggesting that there is evidence—circumstantial evidence, but there’s some heavy smoke here—that there’s something amiss with Gordon. And this is moving way too fast for any team to satisfactorily examine Gordon.
2. I think these are my quick-hit thoughts from Week 2:
a. Catch of the Year: the 22-yard one-hander by Jacksonville’s Beckham impersonator, Keelan Cole.
b. John Dorsey should sign the second-most-accurate kicker ever, Dan Bailey. Zane Gonzalez is as shaky as the mohel in “Seinfeld.” Oh, you missed that one?
c. Cleveland’s defense means business. The Browns will win a few games this year, and soon. Unless they’re incredibly, ridiculously, stupidly cursed.
d. Things are just peachy in Buffalo, where the Bills are 0-2 and a guy retired at halftime of the home opener.
e. Great stat/factoid by CBS: Blake Bortles has the third-highest career quarterback rushing average, behind Mike Vick and Bobby Douglas. Never would have predicted that.
f. That roughing-the-passer call on Clay Matthews that enabled the Vikings to tie the game late in the fourth quarter at Lambeau? A gift. Not roughing-the-passer. Not close. Well, it’s close in the NFL in 2018, but in real football, that should never have been called.
g. Ref Tony Corrente in an NFL pool report, on that call: “When he hit the quarterback, he lifted him and drove him into the ground.” Not how I saw it. I saw Matthews hit Kirk Cousins a split second after the ball was released, and not violently drive him to the ground at all.
h. Ravens: 42-42, with one playoff appearance, since winning the Super Bowl in the 2012 season.
i. Geno Atkins has already played 120 snaps in two games, and he looks as dominant as ever.
j. I picked the Bengals to win the AFC North, so I think what we’re seeing is real. But I do not expect Cincinnati to average 34 points a game.
k. You’ve got to be better than that, Joe Flacco.
l. One day, about 15 years from now, a few years after Adam Vinatieri enters the Pro Football Hall of Fame, we’ll ask: Who was the better kicker—Vinatieri or Justin Tucker? “Justin Tucker hits 55-yard field goals as casually as I start my car.” Great line, Will Brinson.
m. Two games, four sacks for Von Miller. Quite a start. You’re catching up, Myles Garrett, but you’re not there yet.
n. Pretty nimble, Matt Ryan.
o. If Philip Rivers’ weapons stay healthy, the Chargers will make the playoffs. Book it.
p. How scary is the Kansas City offense at full strength? The weaponry is just so diverse and so good, a defense can’t devote itself to stopping any one player.
q. Jon Gruden had to have gotten on the plane last night in Denver and said to himself, “This is what I came back for? And now I gotta back on the plane this weekend to go play the 2-0 Dolphins?”
r. Incredible to think the Browns could be 2-0 with a reliable kicker.
s. Houston shouldn’t be worried. Concerned, yes. The Texans just lost to Blaine Gabbert, outgained the Titans by 154 yards, got embarrassed on a trick special-teams play, and sacked the quarterback only one time. This team’s better than that—or should be at least.
t. Brandin Cooks, 12 catches for 246 yards, a 20.5-yard average through two games. Sean McVay is euphoric.
u. Michael Thomas, 28 catches (in two weeks!) for 269 yards. Asshole Face would be euphoric about that if he weren’t so concerned about his drab team.
v. I didn’t think the Lions would have allowed 78 points in the first two games, that’s for sure.
w. Congrats to Frank Reich, who won his first NFL game as a head coach about 10 miles from where he played college football (FedEx Field to College Park). That’s a much better defensive team than we thought in Indy.
3. I think you probably know if Le’Veon Bell holds out till Week 10—the last point at which he can report to the Steelers and still become a 2019 free-agent—he saves the most wear-and-tear on his body heading for the free market next March.
That’s the only way this holdout, now, makes any sense. Blowing $853,000 per week by not reporting … man, that is one luxurious way to go by Bell. Imagine: Bell has to be thinking he’s going to going to make almost $8 million more next March by not playing the first half of this season than he would by playing through Week 9 and putting up his typical rich numbers. What a weird holdout.
4. I think I’m not trying to be Mr. Negative here, but the Giants looked so bad Sunday night, and so incapable of protecting Eli Manning and blocking for Saquon Barkley, that I could see them starting 0-7. On the docket the next five weeks: at Houston, where the 0-2 Texans will be a desperate team in the home opener; New Orleans at home; at Carolina, with a formidable rush; the Eagles and their deep defensive front on a short-week Thursday at home, and then at Atlanta on a Monday night.
5. I think I want to know who among you had the Bucs as the most explosive team in the NFC with Ryan Fitzpatrick at quarterback after two weeks. Come on. Who?
6. I think the ticky-tack, overly generous, totally field-tilting penalty of defensive pass interference reared its head again Thursday in Cincinnati. Joe Flacco, from the Bengals’ 32-yard line, threw a rainbow ball to John Brown in the end zone, and Bengals corner Dre Kirkpatrick grabbed Brown’s jersey. Lightly grabbed would be a better term.
He certainly didn’t impede Brown from making a catch. Mike Pereira, the FOX rules analyst, said in the booth he’d never have thrown the flag: “There was a slight grab, but it didn’t affect his ability to get to the pass.” And for this marginal call, the Ravens got a first down at the Cincinnati 1-yard line … and soon had a touchdown before the half, cutting a 21-point deficit to 14.
7. I think even 15 yards, in this case, would have been excessive. But 31? Just way excessive. There are two or three of these every week, and the league refuses to change the rule because the old-timers think defensive coaches would abuse the rule by coaching up corners to grab receivers or tackle them whenever defenders are clearly beaten downfield.
Then give back judges the freedom to make flagrant DPI a spot foul; if an official sees a defender tackling a receiver downfield, call the flagrant foul and place the ball at the spot of the foul. But I can tell you this: Last year, I asked Stanford coach David Shaw about whether he sees coaches abuse the rule in college football—which does not have DPI be a spot foul. He said he doesn’t see it much at all.
8. I think, finally, for all those who will say leave well enough alone or there’s not any real reason to make this change, I’ll ask you the same question I asked when the NFL was discussing moving the extra-point ball-placement line from the 2-yard line (where teams were about 99-percent accurate on PATs) to the 15-yard-line.
I asked: If you were inventing a game, would you include a play with 99-percent certainty of scoring a point? Of course not. Same in this. In inventing football, would you make the maximum offensive pass-interference call a 10-yard penalty and leave open the penalty yardage for defensive pass interference—so the same degree of interference on defense could be 55 yards while it maxes out at 10 yards for the offense? You wouldn’t do that, if you had any sense of competitive fairness.
It's Amazing
- By Mackeyser
- RAMS / NFL TALK
- 11 Replies
Rams are having a tremendous start and you wouldn't even know the Rams played beyond references to Gurley's 3 TDs.
I realize the league is filled with compelling stories. Heck, this might be one of the best years the NFL has had in a long time.
That said, when the Pats or Steelers are dominating or when the Seahawks or 49ers were... it seems every other freaking story was about them.
How can a team be almost invisible based in Los Angeles with one of the top offenses in the NFL, the best defense in the NFL, one of if not the best special teams in the NFL, the biggest point differential and maybe as many as 6 or more future HoFers playing on the same team at the same time.
Beyond the blurb in the power rankings and a game recap, this team is like Rodney Dangerfield to the media.
I realize the league is filled with compelling stories. Heck, this might be one of the best years the NFL has had in a long time.
That said, when the Pats or Steelers are dominating or when the Seahawks or 49ers were... it seems every other freaking story was about them.
How can a team be almost invisible based in Los Angeles with one of the top offenses in the NFL, the best defense in the NFL, one of if not the best special teams in the NFL, the biggest point differential and maybe as many as 6 or more future HoFers playing on the same team at the same time.
Beyond the blurb in the power rankings and a game recap, this team is like Rodney Dangerfield to the media.
A Power Ranking of Week 2’s Kickers
- By Prime Time
- RAMS / NFL TALK
- 5 Replies
https://www.theringer.com/nfl/2018/...ield-goals-extra-points-week-2-vikings-browns
A Power Ranking of Week 2’s Bad Kicking Days
Sunday seemed like an all-time bad day for NFL placekickers. But was it the worst ever? And which misses clanked the loudest?
By Danny Heifetz
“Do you not see how insane it is that we rely on kickers for three points when they have nothing to do with football?” Bleacher Report basketball writer Tom Haberstroh said earlier this week. “The game of football is to go from one end of the field to the next. Why is there a 16-and-a-half [foot] beam in the middle of the sky?”
Perhaps he has a point. Sunday seemed like an all-time bad day for placekickers: Missed field goals and extra points robbed the Browns of their first win since Christmas Eve 2016 and doomed viewers to the second tie in two weeks. Not counting the night game, kickers missed 18 opportunities on Sunday, three shy of the single-day high point for this century.
(Also of note: Amid the kicking chaos, former Cowboy Dan Bailey, who has the second-highest conversion percentage of all time, remains unsigned as he is reportedly waiting for the right opportunity.) In true Ringer fashion, we ranked how bad each game was for NFL kickers, starting with the best and counting down to the worst.
Honorable Mentions: Caleb Sturgis, Los Angeles Chargers; Stephen Hauschka, Buffalo Bills; Ryan Succop, Tennessee Titans; Matt Bryant, Atlanta Falcons; Graham Gano, Carolina Panthers; Harrison Butker, Kansas City Chiefs; Adam Vinatieri, Indianapolis Colts; Josh Lambo, Jacksonville Jaguars; Robbie Gould, San Francisco 49ers; Matt Prater, Detroit Lions; Brandon McManus, Denver Broncos.
Congratulations to these fine gentleman, who were all perfect on Sunday. They will continue to go underappreciated by their fan bases, but they are winners in this post.
T–no. 9: Jason Myers, New York Jets; Stephen Gostkowski, New England Patriots; Ka’imi Fairbairn, Houston Texans; Dustin Hopkins, Washington Redskins; Jason Sanders, Miami Dolphins; Jake Elliott, Philadelphia Eagles
These kickers missed various attempts but will have their failings forgotten because of other moments in the game. This group includes a couple of missed 54-yarders in the first quarter (Gostkowski, Fairbairn) and some missed kicks in games their teams were going to lose anyway (Myers, Hopkins).
No. 8: Chandler Catanzaro, Tampa Bay Buccaneers
The Buccaneers defeated the defending Super Bowl champion Eagles 27-21 with the aid of quarterback Conor McGregor, but they were in danger of losing in regulation because of a missed extra point from Catanzaro after the Bucs went up 13-7 in the second quarter. For most kickers, missing one chip-shot field goal is an aberration. For Catanzaro, it’s a pattern.
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The Bucs won, 27-21, but it was still frightening to see Catanzaro in red again. Catanzaro will have a hard time earning the trust of a fan base still reeling from the Roberto Aguayo experiment.
No. 7: Chris Boswell, Pittsburgh Steelers
Boswell made 92.1 percent of his field goal attempts and was 13-of-14 on kicks longer than 40 yards last season, going a perfect 4-for-4 from beyond 50. He missed a 49-yarder on Sunday when the Steelers were down 14-0 in the first quarter, but it’s hard to knock a kicker with Boswell’s track record—even despite his OT miss in last week’s disastrous tie against Cleveland.
Later, though, the Steelers scored a touchdown to cut the Chiefs’ lead to a touchdown and Boswell missed the extra point. The Steelers converted a two-point attempt on the next drive, erasing Boswell’s miss.
No. 6: Wil Lutz, New Orleans Saints
If the Saints had given the Browns their first win since December 2016, there would have been plenty of blame to go around, but some would have surely fallen to Lutz, who missed a 44-yarder in the second quarter. Part of the miss falls on the shoulders of Drew Brees, who took an 11-yard sack directly before this play, but anyone who almost let the Browns win should live in ignominy for a week.
No. 5: Mason Crosby, Green Bay Packers
Crosby had the chance at a 52-yard game-winner, but missed. It’s hard to blame Crosby, who made his other five field goal attempts in the game and converted two extra points. Still, the kick would’ve won a game that eventually ended in a tie.
No. 4: Greg Zuerlein, Los Angeles Rams
There are two automatic kickers in the NFL: Justin Tucker, who played on Thursday, and Legatron, who left the Rams-Cardinals game with a groin injury on Sunday. Rams punter Johnny Hekker made a 20-yard field goal, handled kickoff duties, and nailed the only extra point he tried in Zuerlein’s absence. The Rams converted all three of their two-point attempts on Sunday, so maybe Sean McVay swears off extra points altogether the rest of the season.
No. 3: Mike Nugent, Oakland Raiders
A second-quarter Marshawn Lynch touchdown gave the Raiders a 12-0 lead, but Nugent’s extra point was blocked. The Broncos ended up kicking a game-winning field goal with seconds left to win by a single point.
No. 2: Zane Gonzalez, Cleveland Browns
The Browns finished in a humiliating tie last week with the Steelers when Gonzalez’s game-winning field goal attempt was blocked. On Sunday, we saw what happens when he can get the kick off. Gonzalez, 23, had a solid first half with a pair of 39-yard field goals, but his second half was a meltdown.
With the Browns up nine, Gonzalez missed an extra point halfway through the third quarter and, with the Browns still up nine, a 44-yarder less than a minute into the fourth quarter.
The mistakes might have been forgotten because of a slew of other mistakes that hurt Cleveland, but on fourth-and-5 with 1:16 left in the game, Tyrod Taylor found Antonio Callaway for a 47-yard touchdown that should’ve given the Browns the lead –– assuming Gonzalez hit the extra point. You know what they say about people who assume.
With the game tied, 18-18, the Saints scored a field goal to take the lead quickly, but they left Cleveland enough time to work with. Taylor took the Browns from their own 25 to the Saints’ 34 in two plays, giving Gonzalez a chance at a 52-yarder to send the game to overtime, and …
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Gonzalez missed eight points’ worth of kicks in an indoor game that Cleveland lost by three. When the other kicker comes over to console you on the bench after the game, you know it’s been a bad day.
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No. 1: Daniel Carlson
In the fifth round of April’s NFL draft, the Vikings traded two sixth-round picks to move up and take Auburn’s Daniel Carlson. He was the first kicker taken in the draft, and now he might be the first kicker cut this season. Carlson’s 48-yard attempt in the first half, which would have cut the Packers’ lead to four, missed wide right. With the game tied 29-29 in overtime, Carlson got a chance at a redo from almost the exact same distance. He missed it wide right again.
Giving Aaron Rodgers the ball back in that scenario usually means a loss, but the Vikings defense forced a punt, and on the ensuing drive Kirk Cousins led the the offense to the Packers’ 17-yard line, setting Carlson up for a 35-yard field goal. You already know how this went (hint: wide right), but it’s more entertaining hearing it from Brazilian announcers.
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A Power Ranking of Week 2’s Bad Kicking Days
Sunday seemed like an all-time bad day for NFL placekickers. But was it the worst ever? And which misses clanked the loudest?
By Danny Heifetz
“Do you not see how insane it is that we rely on kickers for three points when they have nothing to do with football?” Bleacher Report basketball writer Tom Haberstroh said earlier this week. “The game of football is to go from one end of the field to the next. Why is there a 16-and-a-half [foot] beam in the middle of the sky?”
Perhaps he has a point. Sunday seemed like an all-time bad day for placekickers: Missed field goals and extra points robbed the Browns of their first win since Christmas Eve 2016 and doomed viewers to the second tie in two weeks. Not counting the night game, kickers missed 18 opportunities on Sunday, three shy of the single-day high point for this century.
(Also of note: Amid the kicking chaos, former Cowboy Dan Bailey, who has the second-highest conversion percentage of all time, remains unsigned as he is reportedly waiting for the right opportunity.) In true Ringer fashion, we ranked how bad each game was for NFL kickers, starting with the best and counting down to the worst.
Honorable Mentions: Caleb Sturgis, Los Angeles Chargers; Stephen Hauschka, Buffalo Bills; Ryan Succop, Tennessee Titans; Matt Bryant, Atlanta Falcons; Graham Gano, Carolina Panthers; Harrison Butker, Kansas City Chiefs; Adam Vinatieri, Indianapolis Colts; Josh Lambo, Jacksonville Jaguars; Robbie Gould, San Francisco 49ers; Matt Prater, Detroit Lions; Brandon McManus, Denver Broncos.
Congratulations to these fine gentleman, who were all perfect on Sunday. They will continue to go underappreciated by their fan bases, but they are winners in this post.
T–no. 9: Jason Myers, New York Jets; Stephen Gostkowski, New England Patriots; Ka’imi Fairbairn, Houston Texans; Dustin Hopkins, Washington Redskins; Jason Sanders, Miami Dolphins; Jake Elliott, Philadelphia Eagles
These kickers missed various attempts but will have their failings forgotten because of other moments in the game. This group includes a couple of missed 54-yarders in the first quarter (Gostkowski, Fairbairn) and some missed kicks in games their teams were going to lose anyway (Myers, Hopkins).
No. 8: Chandler Catanzaro, Tampa Bay Buccaneers
The Buccaneers defeated the defending Super Bowl champion Eagles 27-21 with the aid of quarterback Conor McGregor, but they were in danger of losing in regulation because of a missed extra point from Catanzaro after the Bucs went up 13-7 in the second quarter. For most kickers, missing one chip-shot field goal is an aberration. For Catanzaro, it’s a pattern.
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The Bucs won, 27-21, but it was still frightening to see Catanzaro in red again. Catanzaro will have a hard time earning the trust of a fan base still reeling from the Roberto Aguayo experiment.
No. 7: Chris Boswell, Pittsburgh Steelers
Boswell made 92.1 percent of his field goal attempts and was 13-of-14 on kicks longer than 40 yards last season, going a perfect 4-for-4 from beyond 50. He missed a 49-yarder on Sunday when the Steelers were down 14-0 in the first quarter, but it’s hard to knock a kicker with Boswell’s track record—even despite his OT miss in last week’s disastrous tie against Cleveland.
Later, though, the Steelers scored a touchdown to cut the Chiefs’ lead to a touchdown and Boswell missed the extra point. The Steelers converted a two-point attempt on the next drive, erasing Boswell’s miss.
No. 6: Wil Lutz, New Orleans Saints
If the Saints had given the Browns their first win since December 2016, there would have been plenty of blame to go around, but some would have surely fallen to Lutz, who missed a 44-yarder in the second quarter. Part of the miss falls on the shoulders of Drew Brees, who took an 11-yard sack directly before this play, but anyone who almost let the Browns win should live in ignominy for a week.
No. 5: Mason Crosby, Green Bay Packers
Crosby had the chance at a 52-yard game-winner, but missed. It’s hard to blame Crosby, who made his other five field goal attempts in the game and converted two extra points. Still, the kick would’ve won a game that eventually ended in a tie.
No. 4: Greg Zuerlein, Los Angeles Rams
There are two automatic kickers in the NFL: Justin Tucker, who played on Thursday, and Legatron, who left the Rams-Cardinals game with a groin injury on Sunday. Rams punter Johnny Hekker made a 20-yard field goal, handled kickoff duties, and nailed the only extra point he tried in Zuerlein’s absence. The Rams converted all three of their two-point attempts on Sunday, so maybe Sean McVay swears off extra points altogether the rest of the season.
No. 3: Mike Nugent, Oakland Raiders
A second-quarter Marshawn Lynch touchdown gave the Raiders a 12-0 lead, but Nugent’s extra point was blocked. The Broncos ended up kicking a game-winning field goal with seconds left to win by a single point.
No. 2: Zane Gonzalez, Cleveland Browns
The Browns finished in a humiliating tie last week with the Steelers when Gonzalez’s game-winning field goal attempt was blocked. On Sunday, we saw what happens when he can get the kick off. Gonzalez, 23, had a solid first half with a pair of 39-yard field goals, but his second half was a meltdown.
With the Browns up nine, Gonzalez missed an extra point halfway through the third quarter and, with the Browns still up nine, a 44-yarder less than a minute into the fourth quarter.
The mistakes might have been forgotten because of a slew of other mistakes that hurt Cleveland, but on fourth-and-5 with 1:16 left in the game, Tyrod Taylor found Antonio Callaway for a 47-yard touchdown that should’ve given the Browns the lead –– assuming Gonzalez hit the extra point. You know what they say about people who assume.
With the game tied, 18-18, the Saints scored a field goal to take the lead quickly, but they left Cleveland enough time to work with. Taylor took the Browns from their own 25 to the Saints’ 34 in two plays, giving Gonzalez a chance at a 52-yarder to send the game to overtime, and …
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Gonzalez missed eight points’ worth of kicks in an indoor game that Cleveland lost by three. When the other kicker comes over to console you on the bench after the game, you know it’s been a bad day.
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No. 1: Daniel Carlson
In the fifth round of April’s NFL draft, the Vikings traded two sixth-round picks to move up and take Auburn’s Daniel Carlson. He was the first kicker taken in the draft, and now he might be the first kicker cut this season. Carlson’s 48-yard attempt in the first half, which would have cut the Packers’ lead to four, missed wide right. With the game tied 29-29 in overtime, Carlson got a chance at a redo from almost the exact same distance. He missed it wide right again.
Giving Aaron Rodgers the ball back in that scenario usually means a loss, but the Vikings defense forced a punt, and on the ensuing drive Kirk Cousins led the the offense to the Packers’ 17-yard line, setting Carlson up for a 35-yard field goal. You already know how this went (hint: wide right), but it’s more entertaining hearing it from Brazilian announcers.
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SNF: Giants at Cowboys
- By CGI_Ram
- RAMS / NFL TALK
- 22 Replies
NY Giants vs. Dallas Cowboys: How they match up in Week 2 for Sunday Night Football
Art Stapleton Updated 8:53 a.m. ET Sept. 16, 2018
ARLINGTON, Texas - The New York Giants and the Dallas Cowboys are 0-1 heading into their Sunday night showdown and a loss would leave one of these NFC East foes with a daunting climb out of an improbable hole to reach the playoffs.
Here's a look at what to expect as these division rivals square off in a compelling early-season encounter.
Giants at Cowboys
AT&T Stadium, Arlington, Texas
Sunday, 8:20 p.m.
TV: NBC
Line: Cowboys by 3
What's at stake
Giants: Faith in the new regime, and the notion that falling to 0-2 will create a tremendously difficult path toward contention for a playoff spot. Pat Shurmur and his staff are operating with this being one season, and ultimately, one game with mistakes from Week 1 being just that. For a fan base scorned by last season, and the struggles of recent seasons before that, proof that Big Blue has turned the corner would be a strong performance Sunday night.
Cowboys: Dallas is dealing with questions on offense about how much Dak Prescott can do without Dez Bryant and Jason Witten. If the Cowboys lose at home in prime time after their ugly loss to the Panthers last week, the heat will be on Jason Garrett, at least from outside of the organization.
Key matchup
Giants CB B.W. Webb vs. Cowboys WR Cole Beasley: Beasley will present the toughest matchup within the Cowboys' offense. No Dez and no Witten, but Beasley gave Big Blue fits last season in the opener. Webb has been OK, but really wasn't challenged much by the Jaguars. If Prescott has a big game, Beasley will be a significant part of it.
How they'll win
Giants: Saquon Barkley can become the first rookie since Cadillac Williams in 2005 with 100+ rushing yards in each of his team’s first two games of the season. His 68-yard touchdown was a thing of beauty, but Barkley would settle for more consistency this week. Ereck Flowers is a man under fire at right tackle, especially with Cowboys star DE DeMarcus Lawrence lining up over him. The Giants need to play far better across the offensive line, and if they do that, Eli Manning should be able to make plays in the passing game. Look for Odell Beckham Jr. to get in the end zone at least once if the Giants are to win. Defensively, the Giants must play much better on the edges with Kareem Martin, Connor Barwin and Lorenzo Carter looking to compensate for the absence of Olivier Vernon, who will miss his second straight game.
Cowboys: Ezekiel Elliott will put the kind of pressure on the Giants' defense the way Leonard Fournette did at the start last week. The Panther held Elliott in check, but the Giants were vulnerable on the edge. If Elliott can bust a few runs to the outside, Prescott will be that much more effective. The offensive line is still missing C Travis Frederick. RG Zack Martin and LT Tyron Smith need to exert themselves up front. The Cowboys are far more stout than they've been defensively, but the status of DE Randy Gregory (doubtful) would hurt up front. Lawrence dominated the Giants in last season's first meeting and could find a way to do the same this time. The secondary lacks big names, but if the combination of defensive backs can keep the Giants out of the end zone, they could surprise.
