Oh Look the Patriots Win... Again
P.J. Williams figured the moment he'd waited for the whole game simply wasn't coming.
Having played the Tom Brady version of the Buccaneers more than any other squad has—the Saints faced them twice in the regular season, and so again in the playoffs terminal year—showed New Orleans a few things. And in those three games, 1 was that Tampa Bay had built in the sort of crossing routes that leveraged the legendary quarterback'due south accuracy, and the open-field talent of the receivers around him to have the ball on the motion and go.
So the Saints had a robber coverage in for points of the game that allowed Williams to float, feign that he was dropping into the deeper part of the field and follow Brady's eyes to the brawl. Trouble was, until the fourth quarter, the Buccaneers had adjusted to New Orleans's desire to take away the middle.
Then came second-and-10, Buccaneers' ball from their own 25, down 29–27. Brady needed only a field goal to give Tampa full control of the NFC South race heading into the good day.
The quarterback took a deep drop out of shotgun, planted, hitched and decisively let information technology go right to Chris Godwin—and, unbeknownst to Brady himself, Williams as well.
"Really all day, we've been looking for those in-cuts and they didn't do a lot of that all game," Williams said over the jail cell, from the Saints' postgame locker room. "And so we knew definitely in crisis-time situations they was gonna practice that, and I was a costless histrion, just reading the quarterback. And then he took me correct to the ball, and information technology was at that place, man. It was the play that we were waiting for pretty much all game—and a play that I was planning to steal from the jump."
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Williams laughed and said, "When you see that ball coming to y'all, man, there'due south no improve feeling than that. It's a crazy feeling."
Williams'south eyes got big, his hands went upwards and he burst past Godwin and teammate Chauncey Gardner-Johnson to the ball, and flew correct down the right purlieus with it. 1 stutter-step past Leonard Fournette, and one more than flare-up by a slew of Buccaneer linemen, and the NFC South race was on once again.
The Saints didn't win the Super Bowl last twelvemonth, similar the Bucs did. But they did win the segmentation, as they had the three years previous, as well. And even with Drew Brees now spending his Sundays in a studio, they weren't about to let get of their reign over the Southward so like shooting fish in a barrel.
Williams'southward pick, sealing the Saints' 36–27 win, was only 1 thing proving that on an afternoon over which the Bucs were served plenty of reminders.
Stephen Lew/USA TODAY Sports (P.J. Williams); Kirby Lee/USA TODAY Sports (Adrian Phillips); Danielle Parhizkaran/NorthJersey.com/USA TODAY Network (Mike White)
Difficult to believe it, but we're through eight weeks now, and this coming week should be an eventful 1. Just before we go at that place, we're going to take a look dorsum in this week'due south MMQB. Inside the cavalcade, you'll find …
• A potential Patriots' rebirth.
• The AFC'southward new atomic number 82 dog scores another impressive win.
• How the Jets punch higher up their weight class.
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• The Steelers' winning a street fight.
But we're starting with the world champions, and the squad that's given them more trouble than anyone the final two years.
When Williams and I talked, he'd already heard the news about Jameis Winston—he and Winston were college teammates at Florida Country and accept remained close since—and past at present y'all know it's nigh certainly not good.
Based on initial testing, the belief is Winston tore his left ACL, after planting his human foot and getting aptitude back in the open up field by Tampa star Devin White. That is, obviously, a terrible result for Winston, and one that had coach Sean Payton emotional postgame, every bit he reflected on how difficult Winston drove himself to brand sure this second take a chance he was getting worked at the highest level possible.
The Winston injury happened with 12 minutes and change left in the second quarter and the game tied at seven. A concussion had already sidelined Taysom Hill for this one, then in came journeyman Trevor Siemian, who promptly went three-and-out on his offset series.
That might milkshake some teams, simply not these Saints.
Where perception had forever held that Drew Brees was the Saints, reality has shifted over the years. Payton, Mickey Loomis and Jeff Ireland, specifically, caught fire in the typhoon through the concluding five cycles or so, which allowed for a squad less reliant on Brees to exist built. So, the thinking went, the bottom wouldn't fall out whenever Brees decided to walk away. And that'due south why when Brees did walk away in March, the Saints were ready for it (by and large).
At this betoken, they're taking pride in it.
"That's been our mindset all year," Williams said. "Just having a new quarterback and getting used to the offense this way; that's been our mindset all year, that [the defense] was gonna have to pace it up for them until they caught fire, and as well with a whole lot of players being hurt and coming dorsum and stuff like that. We knew that we had to be a big staple of this team. That'southward been our mindset from the leap, I experience similar.
"And we know nosotros can be one of those top-5, slap-up defenses."
But it's one thing to experience that style and another to know it, and this was 1 of those weeks when the Saints could discover out for themselves where they stood. While New Orleans swept Tampa in the regular flavour last yr, there was a caveat to it—the wins came in Weeks 1 and 9, before the Buccaneers became the Buccaneers. So when they met a third time in the playoffs, Tampa looked similar a unlike team, considering information technology was a different team, and that squad ran the Saints off their own field past a score of xxx–20.
That put it on the Saints to take it up a notch, and did they ever on Sunday.
The offensive plan was, to exist off-white, affected by the unexpected quarterback change to Siemian, whom the Saints signed off the Titans' exercise squad last November, and who hadn't taken a single snap for the team until this weekend. The run/pass split certainly reflected that (32-to-xl), as did New Orleans's seizing control in time of possession (the Saints controlled the ball for over 33 minutes).
On defense, the blueprint didn't waver: Accept away the run, take away the big play and try to allurement the Bucs into a turnover or two through looks like the aforementioned robber telephone call that defensive coordinator Dennis Allen drew upward.
And just in case the players needed whatever more than reminders, the coaches drove the betoken home during the week by emphasizing how in this specific rivalry, the turnover battle has meant everything. The Saints won information technology 3–0 and three–2 in their regular flavour wins last yr, while the Bucs won it 4–0 in the divisional round of the playoffs. Of form, creating turnovers against Brady is never easy. Merely having done information technology earlier sure did help.
"We played him three times, and we played him good. It'due south non like he killed the states at whatever moment," Williams said. "Our defense played pretty good against him all three times, and we knew pretty much how to beat him and how to be able to get out in that location and get a win. … Nosotros knew we had to stride it up for our offense, and we went out there and executed."
So as what had been a 23–7 lead, buoyed past touchdowns on both sides of halftime, started to cook abroad with Brady's piloting 75- and 69-k drives to cutting the pb to two, Williams wondered if his take a chance would come. Things got worse when a communication mishap betwixt Marshon Lattimore and rookie Paulson Adebo sprung Cyril Grayson, simply promoted from the Tampa do squad, for a fifty-yard touchdown with 5:44 left to put the Bucs up 27–26.
Siemian then led a 12-play, 70-thousand drive, setting up Brian Johnson for a 23-yard, become-alee field goal with ane:41 left. Information technology seemed, in the moment, to be style too much fourth dimension to give Brady. Merely back there, Williams was lurking, and with Allen's robber telephone call came a piffling extra confidence too—Williams's showtime 2 picks of the yr had come on the same call.
But even Williams didn't envision it happening as cleanly as it did, with Brady'due south optics locked on him and guiding the sixth-yr player to ane of the biggest plays of his career.
"And and then running with the ball and having the chance to get into the end zone? That makes it even meliorate, even though my coaches might get a picayune mad for not downing information technology," Williams said. "Only hey, we won the game."
They did. And they proved a point pretty emphatically in the process—that there was ever more to the Saints than simply the quarterback.
Unfortunately for them, by the looks of it, that'll be something they're going to have to keep proving.
FAMILIAR-LOOKING PATRIOTS
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Devin McCourty's now in his twelfth yr equally a Patriot. And he sees being in that position, with that amount of experience, as a responsibility.
So when I asked him over the phone from California on Sunday night whether he takes pride in passing the torch on to a team filled with guys who lack his championship bona fides, like it was one time past to him, he didn't hesitate.
"Yes, definitely," he said. "I was very fortunate, like you lot said, to come into this league and exist on a team where Kevin Faulk taught me a lot, when Vince Wilfork taught me a lot, Jerod Mayo. Those guys told me stories about Ty Police, most Lawyer Milloy, about Rodney Harrison. Those guys told me stories near all the defenders who came earlier me. I think everything I've learned from those guys, I've tried to pass downwardly to these guys and create that culture here.
"As you get older, and if you lot're on the aforementioned team, that's what you hope to bring."
This weekend, information technology sure looked like McCourty has been bringing it, because New England'due south impressive 27–24 win over the Chargers in L.A. had old Patriot markings all over it.
Takeaways at key times? Check.
Law-breaking complementing the defense and vice versa? Check.
Bill Belichick'south getting a immature quarterback to hunt his tail a piddling? Bank check.
The New England quarterback's making key throws down the stretch? Bank check.
All in all, this was as identifiable a Patriots' type of win as we've seen in a while, and maybe since going back to before Brady left for Tampa. And nowhere was that more apparent than in the 4th quarter, starting at the 10:twenty marking, with the Chargers in 3rd-and-10 from their own 22, up 17–sixteen. At that point, ex-Charger Adrian Phillips already had one pick on the afternoon, right before halftime, to set up a field goal right before the suspension.
As McCourty saw it, Phillips'due south next pick tied back to the that one.
"A lot of talk was if we were able to cover them and if our pass rush could get home," he said. "And I thought yous saw a mix of both of that. I mean, to take a good pass defense, you need rush and yous need coverage. And I thought the first interception that A.P. had was [Kyle Van Noy]—KV did a bully job. They ready the play to become [Austin] Ekeler one-on-i with him out of the backfield on the angle route, and he played good defense force and that allowed the brawl to tip in the air. And then the second interception was force per unit area.
"We got pressure in that location. [Jared] Cook stops, yous recollect he'due south gonna hook upward, and [Justin] Herbert throws information technology trying to probably throw the ball away."
Cook looked left, Herbert went right, Phillips went to the ball, picked it off and covered the 26 yards left to house information technology, and give the Patriots (afterwards a two-betoken conversion) a 24–17 lead.
From there? Because of how the criminal offense played, the defense only needed one more stop, and it got that stop right abroad, forcing a 3-and-out to ready the game-defining bulldoze from the Patriots. With 9:xv left, New England embarked on a xiv-play, 54-grand bulldoze, which took 6:56 off the clock and forced the Chargers to burn all iii of their timeouts. It concluded with a 30-yard field goal to put the Patriots up 27–17 with just two:nineteen left.
Mac Jones was 4-for-4 for 43 yards on the drive, and snuck for the possession's initial first down on a third-and-1. And all forth the way, in that location was a steady stream of runners and receivers churning out yards and staying in bounds to keep the clock rolling, with the idea beingness that the Chargers wouldn't accept much of a chance once they got the ball back, which is exactly what happened.
"Coming into the season, everyone kept trying to make our team one-dimensional—What is the defense gonna do to aid the offense? The defense has to practice this and that," McCourty said. "The whole fourth dimension, we talked about just playing complementary football. That'south the merely way to win football game games in this league. The teams are likewise skillful to play on one side, and I think yous're seeing our team just develop and learning not but to play on each side of the ball merely learning how to play off each other."
And that'due south where, now, McCourty thinks losses can go wins.
These Patriots may not be the old Patriots, but they were a missed field goal abroad from beating the Bucs and took the Cowboys to overtime. They lost to the Dolphins afterward losing a fumble at the goal line on what would've been a go-ahead touchdown. Simply put, they were losing games that the Patriots haven't really lost over the years.
And then this is where you'd say possibly the Patriots had to learn how to win—only that sounds similar a little much given the presence of guys like McCourty, Matthew Slater, Dont'a Hightower and David Andrews, who've won multiple championships in New England. More than and then, McCourty argues at present, getting in that location this year was about learning to win with the group of guys on hand.
"I think the biggest thing is you gotta learn how to win as a team," he said. "I think, like you said, manifestly [Matthew] Judon knows how to win. I would say even Mac does, being at Bama. We got winners here but you gotta learn how to win as a team. And I think Bill said it earlier this season: It's nearly playing well in the critical situations, when offensively they know we need to run the ball and stay in bounds and have proficient plays. And nosotros do that. …
"I recollect we've learned what our blueprint is. Nosotros know what we gotta practise each week to become out there and play well. Similar, we're not a team that's just gonna coil information technology out at that place. And my whole time being here, we've never had that kind of group. So I definitely call back we have confidence, and I said it probably a couple weeks ago, you're record is what information technology is. That's who y'all are. There'southward nix else to really say. There'south a lot of teams who accept confidence. It'south well-nigh going out and doing it. I remember that'south what we're doing a good chore of now."
To this point, it's gotten them from 2–four to 4–four. And given them life again in a wide-open AFC race, with a lot more out at that place for them—simply like it used to exist.
X TAKEAWAYS
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The AFC's new No. i seed has really shown something the last few weeks. The Titans closed out October with wins over last year's 2 AFC finalists and, on Sunday, another against their master (only?) in-division competition, in the Colts. The win itself was pretty wild. The Titans had to weather condition an early xiv–0 deficit, took a 4th-quarter lead on a pick-half-dozen thrown out of Carson Wentz's left hand, and got another pick to ready a game-winning field goal from a safety who drew a 42-thousand pass interference flag at the cease of regulation to assist force overtime. Through it, there were a few things I think we could take on Mike Vrabel's crew.
• They can definitely win in different means at present. Against the Colts, MVP candidate Derrick Henry went for but 68 yards on 28 carries. Last calendar week, it was 86 yards on 29 carries against the Chiefs. And over those two weeks, the Titans yet managed to score 61 points in winning both games. I asked Ryan Tannehill nigh information technology postgame, whether they've constitute something there. He respectfully said … non really. "It's something that we've known," he told me. "Evidently, Derrick's a huge part of what we do; he'south a heck of a football game thespian and does some amazing things for us. But nosotros're non all-in on ane person or one surface area. We have other playmakers effectually the field that can make plays, and they showed upwards today for us."
• That includes a defence force that'south struggled a bunch the last couple of years. Even at present, they're merely 21st in total defense force. But of belatedly, the unit's best players keep coming up with plays to make upward for the imperfections. 2 weeks agone confronting the Bills, it was Jeffery Simmons's goal-line stop. The concluding ii weeks, information technology'due south been turnovers created past Kevin Byard—a forced Patrick Mahomes bollix in Week seven, and the aforementioned interception this week, which came just subsequently the six-minute mark of overtime (and after Byard'southward costly quaternary-quarter pass-interference call). "They came up big in big spots for us. Especially that interception in overtime," Tannehill said. "G.B. made an unbelievable play and put us in shut range for a field goal there. And we had a penalty offensively, but we were able to overcome information technology and prepare upward Randy [Bullock] for that field goal."
• Overcoming that penalty that Tannehill referenced—a 10-yard illegal-block flag on A.J. Brown that pushed the Titans momentarily out of field-goal range—was just one instance of the fight the Titans showed all afternoon. And it started right away, with a nightmarish first quarter, highlighted by a Tannehill pick on his start throw, sandwiched past Colts scores that fabricated information technology xiv–0 less than halfway through the first quarter. "We've been downwardly a couple times this season and found a way to fight back," Tannehill said. "Nosotros got a resilient group who are able to withstand that. Nosotros knew coming in it was gonna be back and along, and at that place was nonetheless a lot of football left out in front upward to that point. So non the manner we wanted to start, but in that location was a ton of belief up and downwards that sideline and we were gonna get going. All nosotros needed to do was put some points on the board and turn the game effectually."
That happened a couple of possessions later, and the rest barbarous into identify, as things have for a few weeks now. And side by side week, Tennessee will get another test, with a trip to L.A. to face up the seven–one Rams on Sun Night Football game on tap.
The Jets are all over the map—and that's O.Grand. At one indicate in the summer, Robert Saleh told the media that in that location would be days when it looked like his guys could compete for a title, and others when information technology looked like they'd all just started playing the sport. Such, he continued, was the nature of having equally young a team as he did. Certain enough, nosotros're budgeted midseason at present, and it's right at that place for everyone. Ane week, the Jets are losing 54–13 (last week, to the Patriots), the next they're knocking off the conference's meridian team (this calendar week, they trounce the Bengals 34–31).
"Function of being a immature football team is seeing some inconsistencies equally they try to figure out this game and they try to learn," Saleh told me, on his ride dwelling house Sunday night. "When they piece it all together in a game, information technology tin can be pretty explosive. And so we're playing all these immature guys, and they're gaining all this feel, and the thought is they're gonna go consistent, and faster, while they're still able to admission all their explosive ability."
And the key to getting that sort of progress, something that showed up on Sunday for the Jets, is getting guys involved quickly. Mike White, in for Zach Wilson at quarterback, completed his first 11 throws. He got the ball to rookies Michael Carter and Elijah Moore in the first quarter. And the confidence White instilled there—"From there it was like, 'Shoot, permit's just become play,' " Saleh said—carried through in the Jets' coming dorsum from 17–7 and 31–20 deficits. Later, a more veteran defensive line took over. Shaq Lawson went first, showing subject in getting his hands upwardly after ID'ing an RPO (he'd done information technology all afternoon) to popular a Joe Couch throw upwardly in the air, and pick it off inside the Bengals' 20. Then, on what wound up being Cincinnati's final possession, Sheldon Rankins chased down Burrow on third-and-11, forcing ane last punt with a hustle play of his ain. Even afterward that, there were rookie mistakes as the Jets tried to run out the clock. Moore ran out of premises on the ensuing starting time-and-ten. Carter fell shy of the sticks subsequently, trying to get out of premises. And when those guys still establish a mode to become a couple of kickoff downs to end the game? Saleh went bananas for them (and the cameras caught it likewise).
"This youthful grouping is trying to effigy out how to win, and there'south so many other moments where it'southward like, 'Man, these rookies are gonna kill me,' " Saleh said, laughing. "But, information technology'southward a young grouping, and when in that location's adept things to cheer well-nigh, I'thousand gonna cheer." And beating the Bengals and the Titans in the same month, this early on in the building process, is plenty for Saleh to cheer about. "We've browbeaten two of the better teams in the AFC. And what'due south exciting is that this youthful group is able to compete with some of the heavyweights in our conference," he said. "As we develop consistency and conviction, the explosiveness of this team as it gains experience, it gains NFL man-strength, all that stuff. Information technology'south a good conviction builder considering nosotros know we've got the right guys in the building—nosotros know we've got a heck of a typhoon grade, a heck of a gratis agency course, and we've got the correct people here. It'southward merely a matter of going together and building this thing the right way." And then yeah, they've got a long way to get. Only steps like Sunday'due south are pretty good ones to accept. And with the side by side ane being Th, Saleh affirmed to me, even afterwards the acquisition of Joe Flacco, that the Jets are going to ride with White for now: "He's starting Thursday night."
The Steelers showed the Browns who'southward boss. And in an old-school game, they did it in an one-time-schoolhouse mode—past controlling the trenches. "We knew going into the game they were gonna accept to run the ball and protect Baker [Mayfield]," veteran Cam Heyward told me, before the brusk drive dorsum to Pittsburgh. "It was gonna be 1 of those type of games. Whoever won the line of scrimmage was gonna probably win the game, and that happens with guys staying in our gaps, getting off blocks. We needed every stop we got, and we had to proceed contesting." Heyward, as you can tell, wasn't beating effectually the bush-league on this, and the implication was obvious. Mayfield came in hobbled, with a bad left shoulder, so the Steelers bet that the Browns' program would be to accept the heat off their quarterback. They also bet that it would pay off if they could shut downward the vaunted Cleveland run game and force Bakery to throw information technology. Check and cheque.
The Browns rushed for less than 100 yards for just the 5th fourth dimension in Kevin Stefanski's 24 games as caput coach, and Pittsburgh sacked Mayfield 4 times. "They're non gonna brand him susceptible to being hitting a lot, and then they're gonna effort and run the ball early on, there'southward gonna be a lot of rhythm passes early on on," Heyward connected. "When we were able to terminate him on first downward, I think information technology really opened upwardly our chances to become a couple of sacks on him." And every bit the Steelers got the Browns out of that comfort zone by generating long-yardage situations for the Browns' offense, information technology started to clothing on Cleveland. Indeed, in the fourth quarter, the Browns ran for but 21 of their 96 yards, forced to put the game in Mayfield'south hands. And then died their last 2 possessions, afterward the Steelers took the atomic number 82 for good, with almost eleven minutes left—the first on a fumble forced by Joe Schobert and picked up by T.J. Watt, and the 2nd on a turnover on downs deep in Steeler territory. All this, past the fashion, is what brought Pittsburgh existent satisfaction. They know the Browns well. They knew this fight would be waged in an old-school way.
They drilled fundamentals during their bye calendar week to be set for it. And and so, on Sunday, they carried out what they needed to in a style they're pretty familiar with. "We know the AFC North is the toughest partition in football game," Heyward said, "merely we like it that fashion."
The Lions and Texans really took information technology on the chin on Sunday. At one point, both games were at 38–0, and about as non-competitive equally you could imagine NFL contests being. Texans-Rams tightened up at the very cease (the Rams wound up winning 38–22 afterwards a garbage time rally) and Eagles-Lions didn't (Philly won 44–6), but in the both cases, the losing coaches struck a similar tone, falling on the swords for their players. "I got outcoached today; I didn't assistance these guys at all," Lions double-decker Dan Campbell said. "Nosotros weren't ready to play today, and that'southward on me." And from Texans motorbus David Culley: "I am disappointed and frustrated, only I am not discouraged with this football team. I saw at the end that this is a squad that is not going to quit. We have to simply play and coach amend. We know what that process is, and we know what we take to do. We are just non there yet." So the best thing we've been able to say virtually these teams thus far actually echoes what Culley said—neither have quit. But seeing the way today started did make me wonder about players league-wide. And it's non whether guys in these spots would quit. It'south whether they'd be distracted. The trade deadline'south 2 days abroad. Guys on both teams take heard plenty from people outside the building that anyone could be traded. And I'd imagine it'd exist difficult non to allow that get to you, especially when the team you lot're with isn't going anywhere soon. Then over again, the Eagles were in a similar spot (with rumors swirling around their available vets) and managed it pretty well.
While we're in that location, I don't look too much activeness Monday and Tuesday. As I wrote on Friday, teams just don't have the cap space to practise it right now, so my guess is most of the moves will look similar to what we've seen and so far, which hasn't exactly revved the new cycle—some aging vets, some reclamation projects and some bit pieces might go moved, and that'll likely be that. With, of course, one exception. And on that 1 exception? I however think information technology'south iffy (fifty-50 at best) that a deal for Deshaun Watson will get done. There's nevertheless besides much risk for teams like the Dolphins, given the lack of hard information out there. And Houston doesn't lose or risk much by waiting—actually, the simply result would be if his legal situation gets worse—and would have enough to gain by kick the can down the route, starting with just knowing exactly where some of the draft picks coming back will land (remember, whatever picks the Texans get, they can't utilise them until Apr anyway).
Photo credit: Mike Dinovo/USA TODAY Sports
I empathize Niners fans' calling for Trey Lance. I too think Kyle Shanahan's continuing to play Jimmy Garoppolo is about two things. Showtime, it'south what'south best for the team right at present. I've talked to enough opponents of the Niners to know how Lance's record is viewed beyond the NFL, and it'south clear he has a ways to go. And that dovetails into the 2d point, which is that it's what's practiced for Lance himself, equally a role player who barely played at all in 2020; and fifty-fifty in 'nineteen, because of the forcefulness of his college team, rarely played from backside or out of long-yardage situation. And all that left Garoppolo to play, well, merely fine in his return to his hometown of Chicago, coming back off an injury. "I don't think anything was bothering him as much in the game. Seemed healthier," Shanahan said. "Just I idea he had a hell of a game and thought guys made some plays for him, likewise. Idea it was a real good twenty-four hour period for the offense." Garoppolo threw for 322 yards, 83 of which, to exist off-white, came on a screen to Deebo Samuel. And that performance was enough to get the Niners to 3–iv heading into a critical stretch, with the Cardinals this Sunday and the Rams the Monday to follow. After those two, we should take a clearer motion-picture show of how the Niners will handle their quarterbacks the balance of the year.
Cooper Rush made himself a lot of coin on Sunday night. In the grand scheme of things, Dallas'southward 20–16 win on Sunday night was an excellent show of the depth and rest of the team'southward talented roster—with the team'southward being able to grind out a win without Dak Prescott, and buy their leader's bilious dogie some rest. Only for Cooper Rush, this one was worth a whole lot more that. Here's Blitz'south history in the league …
• Fabricated the Cowboys' roster in 2017 equally a UDFA, then passed Kellen Moore that October to become the team's primary fill-in and served in that role through 'nineteen.
• In the spring of 2020, he was displaced by Andy Dalton. That May, his one-time friend Jason Garrett brought him to the Giants. He lasted three weeks—signed to the practice squad on Sept. five and released from information technology on Sept. 29.
• Rush rejoined the Cowboys on Halloween of last year, first signing to the practice squad, then going up to the 53 for a week in early on November, before and so finishing the season out on the do squad.
Yes, this is the guy who sliced through the Vikings' defence force, leading the Cowboys on an eight-play, 75-one thousand drive that popped at its terminate, with Zeke Elliott'due south converting a tertiary-and-11 with some violent running after hauling in a swing pass in the flat, and Amari Cooper Mossing Cameron Dantzler for a 5-g touchdown to win it. And yes, this guy will cash in because of it, about likely in a Chase Daniel or Josh McCown kind of fashion.
The Packers should go more than credit than they have for that win on Thursday night. Mostly, considering that win showed an uncommonly loftier level of resilience, specially from a squad that we all thought might exist careening off the tracks in the backwash of its 38–iii loss to the Saints on opening mean solar day. Since and then, the Packers have won seven direct, and the seventh of those—a 24–21 nail-biter over the previously-unbeaten Cardinals in Arizona—said a lot about a group of players that'due south had to manage a lot of racket (some of it cocky-created) over the terminal iii months. Going into the game …
• The Packers were without Davante Adams, Allen Lazard and Marquez Valdes-Scantling, having to arrange to that on the fly.
• They were already managing longer-term absences of star corner Jaire Alexander, edge rusher Za'Darius Smith and eye Josh Myers.
• Left tackle David Bakhtiari still hasn't returned to game action, coming back from offseason ACL surgery.
• They lost starting tight end Robert Tonyan in-game.
• They were without defensive coordinator Joe Barry, who was knocked off the sideline by a positive COVID-19 test.
Still, there they were, answering a seven–0 deficit after one quarter with 17 direct points, earlier coming up with the biggest play when it mattered nearly—with Rasul Douglas'southward thwarting a would-exist, go-alee, 99-yard touchdown bulldoze from Kyler Murray and the Cardinals by corralling a ricochet off A.J. Green's helmet in the end zone to salt away the win. And that cemented that this Packers team still knows how to win. Peradventure more to the point, Matt LaFleur knows how atomic number 82 a winner, with a pair of NFC championship game appearance in his first two years and, past the looks of it, a chance to go even further this time effectually. Also worth noting: LaFleur is now off to the best 40-game outset of any coach in NFL history, going 33–7, simply outpacing Don Shula (31–vii–2), Chuck Knox (32–8) and George Seifert (32–8).
When it comes to Washington owner Dan Snyder, the NFL needs to practise more. At the stop of Tuesday's press briefing with Roger Goodell, I had one more question to ask that I never got the chance to (I don't call back I'm alone there). And that one was directly frontward—I wanted to see if the commissioner thinks that Snyder has carried himself the way an NFL possessor should. My reason for wanting to know has to practise with the investigation into Snyder's workplace culture the league just spent eight figures on, yes. Just just as much, it was almost an idea that he's pushed for years. In fact, if y'all look at the 2014 suspension letter he wrote to Colts owner Jim Irsay in response to charges of operating a vehicle while intoxicated and iv counts of possession of a controlled substance, you'll meet it's right there. "I have stated on numerous occasions that owners, management personnel and coaches must be held to a higher standard than players," Goodell wrote. "We discussed this during our meeting and you expressed your support for that view, volunteering that owners should be held to the highest standard."
Information technology's impossible for anyone to believe that Goodell has actually adhered to that premise over the last decade, of grade, absent-minded maybe for coming down on Irsay with that six-game interruption (and even that one was actually sort of light, considering it's the equivalent of a steroid pause). And that's for reasons I detailed in my column on Midweek on Goodell. Fact is, plenty of owners accept skated over the years, and based on what's gone on in Washington, a $10 million fine and phony suspension (Snyder hasn't missed a game, is notwithstanding involved in the team's business ops, and has PR people pushing back on the notion that he'southward suspended backside the scenes) won't cover it. Maybe the league can't force Snyder to sell the team. But there are ways to put pressure on Snyder—and I've heard already that the idea of doing that has been discussed in the by amid owners. Frankly, I think the wheels should be turning on information technology at present. It's difficult to come with a unmarried manner that Snyder made either his squad or the league ameliorate over the terminal 20 years. One time one of the NFL's flagship franchises, Washington is now in the midst of some other ground-up build with hopes of reimagining a brand that's come to stand for next to nix. And Snyder'south the constant, and that's before even getting to what was in that study. The bottom line is, if Goodell's word means anything, he needs to hold Snyder accountable for that. First past letting the world know what investigator Beth Wilkinson plant out. And 2d by working with other owners to evaluate Snyder's place in one of the most exclusive clubs in all of sport.
As always, I've got ten quick-hitting thoughts from you coming out of Sunday …
1) There was real, tangible progress from Justin Fields out there on Sunday in the Bears' 33–22 loss to the 49ers, and yous could run across it on third and fourth down in particular.
2) Hats off to Boston Scott, who just seems to go along hanging around. The Eagles' tailback rushed for 60 yards on 12 carries on Sunday. Ton of respect for the guys who've done their role to effort to make it that fashion.
3) I don't think Sam Darnold'south caput injury changes the dynamic at all for Carolina, re: Watson. The Panthers checked in with the Texans last week. It was the first time they had in a couple of months. It didn't go anywhere. Barring something irresolute in the 36 hours to come, I think this will only become something they revisit in February.
iv) The Seahawks are three–5 heading into their bye, and I'm not certain I tin can take a whole lot from that win over the Jaguars, who were coming off a win, and their bye, and somehow looked worse than earlier. Maybe Seattle just made it look that fashion.
5) Micah Parsons is a freak evidence. He was recruited past Alabama and Ohio Country to be an edge rusher, and wound upwards at Penn State playing off the ball, and at present he'due south legitimately both in the NFL. As a rookie.
half dozen) With Jerry Jeudy back, I'm hoping nosotros get to see the Broncos' skill group at full forcefulness sometime soon. I recall it's going to brand Denver an attractive location for veteran quarterbacks with wandering eyes in the leap.
7) Nice work by the Bills, methodically wearing the Dolphins down, and knocking them out in the quaternary quarter. The win was no work of art, but these sorts of games during the domestic dog days go a long fashion toward determining who's hosting in the playoffs.
viii) Tua Tagovailoa, who's a flawed quarterback, is fighting his ass off amid all the trade rumors. The numbers weren't not bad on Sunday (58.2 passer rating). Simply the endeavor was.
9) The Cardinals are gearing up for Kyler Murray to miss time—his injury, I'k told, is tricky, so setting a timeline is, too. Arizona hopes to know more than Monday.
10)Greg Olsen'south doing a actually prissy job every bit a rookie broadcaster.
Half dozen FROM Sabbatum
Nick Rex/Lansing State Periodical/USA TODAY Network
one) Lots of teams are scrambling at present to do work on Michigan State'south Kenneth Walker Iii, who's firmly lodged his name in the Heisman discussion. He's up to 1,194 yards and fourteen touchdowns through 8 games, and came up biggest when his squad needed him about in rushing for 197 yards and five touchdowns against archrival Michigan on Sat, falling just shy of a 3rd 200-m effort on the season. Earlier in the twelvemonth, Walker was seen more than every bit a dorsum that played with adept vision and try, but lacked dynamic skill. Now, teams are going dorsum into the file on him, and the Wake Forest transfer has the expect of a guy who might be a Solar day two pick.
2) While we're on Michigan State, Mel Tucker's done a heck of a job there, and it's not off-base to call up NFL teams might at least explore his interest in returning to the pros at some point. Tucker spent a decade (2005 to '14) in the league, serving every bit defensive coordinator for iii teams over that time (Browns, Jaguars, Bears) and fifty-fifty doing a stint as Jaguars interim coach later on Jack Del Rio was fired in '11.
3) Even though Michigan couldn't hold onto a 16-point pb in East Lansing, Wolverine DE Aidan Hutchinson was another star who showed up in a big way. I got two NFL comps for him on Dominicus morning: Ryan Kerrigan and Chris Long. "I don't think he'due south a corking athlete," said ane AFC exec. "But he's very strong and plays his ass off. He's not a top-five guy. Maybe he gets drafted 10 to 15, but he'southward not the level of, say, a Bosa."
four) Speaking of comps, I got 1 for Pitt's Kenny Pickett, who threw for another 519 yards in the Panthers' 38–34 loss to Miami on Sat: Ex-Florida QB/current Buccaneer Kyle Trask. On the surface, that might non seem like much to be excited about. Merely Trask went late in the second round terminal year, and in a twelvemonth where it looks like teams are going to exist scratching for quarterback talent, information technology's non hard to see a scenario where Pickett is intriguing enough to go someone to attain.
5) The Georgia defense force continues to perform at an off-the-charts level, and junior linebacker Nakobe Dean is one guy who's been specially fun to watch—he had a pick-six in Saturday's bludgeoning of rival Florida. He's not quite as fast as former Bulldog linebacker Roquan Smith, but is the aforementioned sort of playmaker and may be more versatile. He's playing his mode into the starting time-circular conversation, one of 4 guys in the Georgia front end seven with a shot to go that high in April, joining laissez passer rushers Adam Anderson and Travon Walker, and mountainous nose tackle Hashemite kingdom of jordan Davis. What's interesting about the group is it may lack a truly aristocracy, top-10-pick type of talent (though sophomore 3-tech Jalen Carter might get there), but all seven starters could go inside the first ii rounds.
6) Penn Country has a redshirt sophomore corner with a familiar name you'll want to know: Joey Porter Jr. The son of the sometime Steelers corking has had a fantastic third year in State Higher, and held up well on Saturday night pitted against Ohio State's all-world receiver group.
All-time OF THE NFL INTERNET
Jameis'due south crutches trip the light fantastic should immediately be enshrined in the Pro Football Hall of Fame. (I'm gonna get ahead and waive the waiting period.)
Don't mess with Lisa Turtle!
P.J. Williams on Jameis—"We're gonna go out and win it for you." Beloved information technology.
Wentz has made a lot of progress the last two months. I'll go alee and telephone call this a step dorsum.
New Orleans people are the best
So much we're gonna miss the side by side couple months with Jameis down.
Saints receiver showing support for Falcons WR Calvin Ridley, who stepped away from football this weekend to address his mental health.
I'grand all for this becoming a staple of halftime entertainment league-broad.
I'll loftier road this 1 and assert Rich's feeling that Hutchinson did, in fact, strength that fumble in the Michigan/Michigan Country game.
I was really with Mitch on this 1. Got a different result, thought.
Fantastic clip.
Amazing work by both guys.
4 days later, nevertheless mesmerizing.
This, too, is mesmerizing.
Tweet Male monarch stays Tweet King.
Vincent Carchietta/Us TODAY Sports
Mon Night SPOTLIGHT
Every week, nosotros'll talk to a prominent player about to stride on the MNF stage. This week, ahead of Giants-Chiefs, we defenseless up with New York's third-year quarterback, Daniel Jones.
MMQB: Have you been watching the Manning Cast at all?
DJ: A niggling bit. I've watched it here and there; they've got some good stuff. It's been fun to watch.
MMQB: Do you lot and Eli accept rules set up for Monday night?
DJ: I haven't talked to him yet; I'm gonna talk to him later on today about it. But yeah, hopefully he keeps the stuff private that should be individual.
MMQB: Because he probably knows more about you than most quarterbacks they meet.
DJ: Aye, definitely.
MMQB: What has he meant for your career, getting to play with him equally a rookie and being around him since?
DJ: First and foremost, he's the perfect example of what a successful guy playing for this squad, playing in this metropolis, representing this franchise, what information technology all looks like. How he played on the field, how he carried himself off the field, the leader he was in this organization, who he was in the building to all the people that work here—it'due south kind of that example that he set, and what that looks like. So existence with him my get-go year, being able to run into that immediate was actually important for me. So building the relationship with him since then, it'southward been having the power to stay in touch on, and talk to him, ask him what he thinks about certain things. He'due south not in our meetings so he doesn't know this system similar he did [Pat] Shurmur'south system. Only he knows football, he knows existence a quarterback, beingness a leader of the team. Those conversation, it's been really helpful.
MMQB: Alright, so being the quarterback for that team, in that metropolis, what have yous found the fundamental is?
DJ: I call up information technology'due south the ability in this day and age, people say to ignore information technology, and you definitely don't seek out what'southward going on, yous're talking to the media every calendar week, your family sees it, your friends come across it, and so you gotta know what'south being said and what's going on. And beingness able to hear some of that, not seek it out, simply understand that and exist able to focus on what you're doing, focus on your work, and non let that touch on football, just keeping what yous're doing on a day-to-day basis, preparing, studying, practicing well, making certain that's getting your energy, that's getting your focus, that's what'south most important. He always did that well.
MMQB: I talked to Joe Judge later on the game concluding week, and he said a primal to the win was going back to basics and drilling fundamentals during the calendar week. What does that look like for a quarterback?
DJ: I think a lot of it has to do with my footwork. Coach [Jason] Garrett talks well-nigh being able to plough on the tape, watch your feet, and that'll tell yous whether yous played well or non. Are yous property the brawl? Are your feet staying in identify? Or are you moving up in the pocket, and the ball'due south coming out? Are you lot beingness consistent? And you can tell by but watching your feet, watching your ain move. The urgency, the consistency in that movement from play to play is a big part of it. That's been the biggest thing, I think.
MMQB: Did it show upwardly against the Panthers [in Calendar week 7]?
DJ: Yeah, I retrieve then.
MMQB: Then where do you remember the difference was in the team terminal week versus the 1–five outset?
DJ: I think when you look at the start to the season, we've washed a lot of practiced things, and played well at times. It hasn't been consistent plenty. The large office near playing these games, playing in this league, playing against adept teams, is that they're gonna make plays, they're gonna have times where they stop yous, they're gonna make large plays and score. So I thought [last Sunday] nosotros did a better job of handling some of that stuff, handling plays that didn't go our way. Offensively, nosotros certainly didn't score enough points in that first half. We got blimp on the 1-yard line; there were a couple things that didn't go our way. Just evidently the defense force stepped up and played huge, and offensively nosotros kept at it, kept pushing, kept doing what we could, and eventually broke for usa. I just recollect it was that persistence and understanding of what the game was.
MMQB: Part of that'south consistency in personnel as well—how tough take the injuries around you fabricated it to get at that place?
DJ: We've certainly had our fair share of injuries to key guys. But I think overall guys accept done a adept task of stepping in and playing well. Y'all look at last calendar week, all the same a lot of those guys out and nosotros found a way to tailor what we were doing to the guys that were playing, and their skill sets, and those guys stepped upward and played large. We've got a lot of practiced players; we're deep at a lot of positions. That'south understanding who we've got and how the game'southward gotta be played.
MMQB: Y'all're going against a defensive coordinator, in Steve Spagnuolo, who a lot of people in your edifice are familiar with. Is at that place anything you lot've been able to glean from them?
DJ: I've had a lot of those conversations with some of those people, and you lot look at what he'south doing now versus what he was doing when he was with the Giants, I think some of the calls and some of the specific defenses have probably changed a trivial scrap, from what I've gathered. Merely some of the more philosophical ideas, his approach, you see that stuff prove upwardly. Maybe more than general ways that he thinks, and how he wants to call a game, rather than the specific calls and what they're running. It's helpful to hear some of those ideas.
MMQB: Is there a key going up confronting that defence force then?
DJ: They've got good players. They've got guys upwards front who can rush. And and then they like to bring pressure. So it's about treatment that, seeing the pressure, being decisive and getting the ball out—seeing where information technology'southward coming from, recognizing it and making good decisions. They're gonna exist geared up and ready to get; they've got a lot of guys that tin can bear upon the game. We'll have to be ready for that.
MMQB: In a calendar week similar this, practise you pay any attention to the QB matchup, with Patrick Mahomes on the other side?
DJ: I wouldn't call it a measuring stick. Their defence force is playing against our law-breaking. Certainly have a lot of respect for him. He's a not bad player. He'due south done a lot in this league, and I look forward to continuing to sentinel him play. Merely I don't necessarily see it every bit a matchup similar that.
MMQB: You gonna tell Eli to have it easy on you?
DJ: Ha! I'll probably ask him to do that.
WHAT You NEED TO KNOW
In lite of the Ridley story, I feel like anybody needs to go watch the piece Jay Glazer did with Lane Johnson. And so I'm gonna leave it here for you. Accept a great week, everyone, and we'll see y'all this afternoon for the MAQB.
More NFL Coverage:
• Week 8 Takeaways: Feisty Divisional Games, Blowouts and More
• The Titans Keep to Deserve Our Appreciation
• Trade Deadline Primer: Buyers, Sellers, Dream Deals
• Snyder Won't Accept Responsibility; Goodell Won't Make Him
Source: https://www.si.com/nfl/2021/11/01/mmqb-week-8-saints-beat-tom-brady-patriots-jets-titans-win
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