NFL News

[Futureshock]

MIKE VRABELC, TENNESSEE TITANS


ESPN's Adam Schefter reports Monday is "off the table" for a rescheduled Steelers-Titans Week 4 game.


The hope that rescheduling the game for Monday would allow for more testing and contact tracing among Titans players and staff, while giving the team at least one day of practice. In a Thursday statement, the NFL said the Steelers-Titans game would "be rescheduled for later this season" after another Tennessee player and staffer tested positive for COVID-19. The Titans can't return to their team facility until Saturday. It's time to get Steelers and Titans out of your Week 4 lineups.

SOURCE: Adam Schefter on Twitter
Oct 1, 2020, 9:27 AM

[Fraquar]

Yeah sure. They have 3 of them over there so it's worked out so well. Losers gonna lose.

You do realize that is why the Lions drafted Ansah?

[CGVT]

Ah yes. The always obnoxious, passive/aggressive, "You do know that..."

[TheLondonLion]

Cam tests positive and game postponed. That’s ruined Red Zone for the second slate of games. Only two on now

[The King]

They are pushing it to Mon/Tues....for now.

[The King]

I’m suprised they didn’t have a few extra “bye weeks” built into the schedule.

[Forsh]

Cam tests positive and game postponed. That’s ruined Red Zone for the second slate of games. Only two on now

so just flip back and forth between 2 games haha

[TheLondonLion]

so just flip back and forth between 2 games haha

That’s not red zone. That’s low energy. I’d gladly accept it for a Lions W though.

[Futureshock]

Bill O’Brien: I respected the decision, because we just didn’t do enough

Posted by Charean Williams on October 5, 2020, 6:55 PM EDT

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Bill O’Brien saw it coming even when others might not have.

Only four games into the season, O’Brien got a call from Texans chairman Cal McNair who delivered the bad news. The Texans made a change Monday, firing O’Brien as coach and General Manager.

“I respected the decision,” O’Brien said in a video conference call. “Look, I know in this business when we lost to Minnesota, a game that we had a chance to win. Give Minnesota credit. They did a great job. But I knew that something like this could happen. That’s the business.”

If the Texans hadn’t traded DeAndre Hopkins, maybe they’re not 0-4 and O’Brien still has his job. If the Texans hadn’t lost to the Vikings, who have former Texans head coach Gary Kubiak as offensive coordinator and former Texans head coach Dom Capers as a senior defensive assistant, O’Brien likely still would have his job today.

But Hopkins now is in Arizona, and the Texans are 0-4. Only one team ever has rebounded from an 0-4 start to make the playoffs and that’s the 1992 Chargers, though yes, the playoff field is expanded this year.

“Every decision we made was always in the best interest of the team,” O’Brien said when asked if he had any regrets about any personnel decisions. “We had long conversations. We put a lot of research into them. There were things that happened within the walls of the organization that outside public really will never know. That’s just the way it is, and I totally understand that. We had a lot of great conversations that went into these decisions, a lot of research. We had a lot of people who helped us along the way. We made what we believed were the best decisions for the team. That’s what we always did.”

O’Brien finished his six-plus years with a 52-48 record. The Texans made the postseason four times, going 2-4. They never advanced past the divisional round.

O’Brien repeatedly said during the 10-minute call, “We just didn’t do enough.”

“I’m sorry that we couldn’t get this team over the hump,” O’Brien said. “We didn’t get it over the hump last year, the year before, and obviously early on this year. But it wasn’t for a lack of effort. We did win four division championships in six years. So we did a lot of good things here, but we didn’t do enough. We didn’t bring a Super Bowl to Houston. I believe eventually someone will. I believe this is a championship game that needs to get things turned around right now, but I believe in this team.”

[edindetroit]

The NFC East has a combined record: 3-12-1!

[Futureshock]

The NFC East has a combined record: 3-12-1!

My goodness is FMP coaching them too?

[Futureshock]

Brian Flores: We don’t feel Tua Tagovailoa is ready to start yet

Posted by Josh Alper on October 7, 2020, 9:46 AM EDT

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Dolphins head coach Brian Flores wasn’t emphatic when it came to saying Ryan Fitzpatrick would remain the team’s starting quarterback when he was asked on Monday, but the team ultimately opted to stay the course for their Week Five game against the 49ers.

On Wednesday, Flores shed some light on how he came to that decision. Flores said that Fitzpatrick has had “rough plays” over the first four weeks of the season, but that the team still feels he gives them the best chance to win because of where Tua Tagovailoa is in his development.

“As far as him being a starter, we just don’t feel like he’s ready yet,” Flores said, via Hal Habib of the Palm Beach Post.

Flores added that they were confident enough in Tagovailoa’s progress to play him in a game should the situation call for it, but it will apparently take a little more confidence before the first-round pick ascends to the top of the depth chart.

[Futureshock]

At least they'll be able to Chase their dreams...



Alex Smith moves up depth chart, will back up Kyle Allen with Dwayne Haskins third

Posted by Michael David Smith on October 7, 2020, 9:25 AM EDT

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Not only has the Washington Football Team benched quarterback Dwayne Haskins, but he’s not even second string anymore.

Kyle Allen will start on Sunday against the Rams and Alex Smith will back him up, according to NFL Network.

Dwayne Haskins, the 2019 first-round draft pick who started the first four games of the season, has been demoted to third string.

Smith hasn’t played since suffering a devastating leg injury two years ago, but he’s now in line for a return, if Allen struggles or gets hurt. It’s a great story for Smith, a puzzling story for Haskins, and an indication that everything is wide open in Washington.

[Futureshock]

NFL limits tryouts to five players a week max, with one exception

Posted by Charean Williams on October 6, 2020, 7:39 PM EDT

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All owners, coaches and General Managers participated in a conference call Monday, with the NFL announcing several changes to COVID-19 protocols.

We learned that among the changes, the league and union agreed to a longer onboarding process for free-agent tryouts, lengthening the waiting period for a tryout to happen.

On Tuesday, the league notified teams of a change to the number of players allowed to tryout in a given week.

Mike Garafolo of NFL Media reports teams now are allowed a maximum of five players per week.

The only exception is if a team places more than three players on injured reserve in a given week. In that case, they are allowed to work out twice as many players as they placed on IR.

[Futureshock]

Another BB disciple having bad relationships with their best players? Nah. Has to be fake news...


Report: Bill O’Brien argued with J.J. Watt, Anthony Weaver during final weeks on job

Posted by Mike Florio on October 7, 2020, 1:48 PM EDT

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Now that the Texans have abruptly fired coach/General Manager Bill O’Brien, they need to justify doing so.

Here’s one way to do it: Paint O’Brien as unhinged and suggest that the team was falling apart around him.

To that end, Aaron Wilson of the Houston Chronicle reports that O’Brien “got into an argument with defensive end J.J. Watt and defensive coordinator Anthony Weaver on the practice field” during O’Brien’s final weeks on the job. Wilson adds that O’Brien got into “verbal altercations with other staff members.”

While it may have been a final-straw scenario, it’s neither new nor out of character for O’Brien to be on the feisty side. In late 2016, O’Brien and quarterback Brock Osweiler got into a loud confrontation that reportedly turned physical. In 2018, O’Brien nevertheless got a new contract. In 2020, he got a second title.

O’Brien was who he always is. While some players and coaches may have run out of patience with him, especially at a time when nerves are frayed by the pandemic and other realities of modern life, O’Brien didn’t undergo an organic personality change.

Leaks from the organization highlighting instances of O’Brien being O’Brien, while predictable, fail to make this anything other than what it seems to be: A decision to dump O’Brien the coach after six-plus years on the job based on the performance of the team after only four games with O’Brien serving as the G.M.

If you don’t buy that, ask yourself one question. If Houston had beaten Minnesota on Sunday, would the Texans have fired him?