NFL News

[Futureshock]

Michael Thomas, C.J. Gardner-Johnson altercation results in Thomas not playing Monday

Posted by Mike Florio on October 11, 2020, 5:52 PM EDT

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The Saints have ruled receiver Michael Thomas out for Monday night’s game against the Chargers not because of his ankle but for another reason.

Per a league source, the reason is this: Thomas got into an altercation with safety C.J. Gardner-Johnson.

It’s unclear whether Gardner-Johnson will play on Monday night. He’s a starter, so it would definitely hurt the New Orleans defense to not have him.

Monday’s game will be the fourth missed by Thomas since suffering a high-ankle sprain in a Week One win over Tampa Bay. He wasn’t placed on injured reserve; in hindsight, the Saints possibly wish they had.

Last year, Thomas set the single-season record for receptions with 149.

[Futureshock]

Report: Dan Quinn firing “all but finalized”

Posted by Josh Alper on October 11, 2020, 4:57 PM EDT

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The Falcons fell to 0-5 on Sunday and it appears that the loss to the Panthers was the final nail in the coffin for head coach Dan Quinn.

Jeff Schultz of TheAthletic.com reports that Quinn’s firing has been “all but finalized” and that an announcement of his dismissal could come in the next two days.

Quarterback Matt Ryan said after Sunday’s game that he hopes that won’t be the case.

“I hope not. I think Dan’s been nothing but a great coach since he’s been here. We haven’t done a good enough job as a team and as players,” Ryan said, via Tenitra Batiste of 92.9 The Game.

The Falcons are 14-23 since the start of the 2018 season and that’s a lot for a coach to overcome even if he has a history of success in Atlanta. The fact that the Falcons have blown huge leads in a couple of their losses hasn’t helped and that’s why Ryan is poised to have a new head coach this week.

[Futureshock]

What is it about Pittsburgh? They get a RB that's solid, but a little heavy. He loses weight and becomes a top RB in the league. They draft a TE that is fairly light to be a TE. Switch him to WR and he's awesome. PIT is the antithesis of the Lions.


Big day for Chase Claypool carries Steelers to 38-29 win

Posted by Josh Alper on October 11, 2020, 4:25 PM EDT

Getty Images

It was longer than expected between games for the Steelers, but they picked up where they left off in Week Three.

The Steelers beat the Texans that week and then had their Week Four game against the Titans rescheduled after a COVID-19 outbreak in Tennessee. They shook off the rust by beating the Eagles 38-29 in Pittsburgh on Sunday.

Rookie wide receiver Chase Claypool played a starring role in the win. He ran for a touchdown to open up the scoring and then caught three touchdown passes from Ben Roethlisberger over the rest of the afternoon.

Claypool’s final score came after Jake Elliott missed a 57-yard field goal that would have put the Eagles up 32-31 with just over three minutes left to play in the game. Claypool reeled in a 35-yarder from Roethlisberger to create more breathing room and put the final points of the day on the board.

The second-round pick finished the day with seven catches for 110 yards. Roethlisberger was 27-of-34 for 239 yards overall on a day when Diontae Johnson missed much of the action with a back injury and JuJu Smith-Schuster was quiet.

The Eagles had a chance to try to make things interesting after Claypool’s final score, but Bud Dupree sacked Wentz on first down and he was intercepted on a desperate heave on fourth down. That served as a punt and the Eagles weren’t able to stop the Steelers from picking up the first down they needed to run out the clock.

Pittsburgh is now 4-0 and they’ll stay home to face the Browns in Week Six. The 1-3-1 Eagles will get another AFC North team and they’ll need to wrangle Lamar Jackson in order to pick up their second win of the season.

[Futureshock]

SCHEDULE CHANGES
I am dizzy now...

NFL makes eight schedule changes

Posted by Mike Florio on October 11, 2020, 3:04 PM EDT

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The NFL’s latest surgical procedure on the schedule amounts to an octuple bypass.

The league has announced revisions to the schedule for eight games, sparked by the postponement of Sunday’s game between the Broncos and Patriots and the delay of the Bills-Titans game to Tuesday.

Here are the moves:

Broncos-Patriots moves to Week Six at 1:00 p.m. ET.

Chiefs-Bills moves to Monday, October 19, at 5:00 p.m. ET. (It will be televised nationally on FOX and NFL Network.)

Jets-Dolphins moves from Week 10 to Week Six at 4:05 p.m. ET.

Jets-Chargers moves from Week Six to Week 11 at 4:05 p.m. ET.

Jaguars-Chargers moves from Week Eight to Week Seven at 4:25 p.m. ET.

Chargers-Broncos moves from Week 11 to Week Eight at 4:05 p.m. ET.

Chargers-Dolphins moves from Week Seven to Week 10 at 4:05 p.m. ET.

Dolphins-Broncos moves from Week Six to Week 11 at 4:05 p.m. ET.

Other than the Bills-Chiefs delay from Thursday to Monday, all changes flow from the delay of the Broncos-Patriots game. The Chargers will see four games change, the Broncos have three, the Dolphins have three, and the Jets have two.

The complexity of the moves shows the lengths to which the NFL will go to avoid staging an eighteenth week of games. Given the moves required so early in the season and in light of the ongoing spread of the virus and unwillingness of the league and union to put everyone in a bubble, more changes are inevitable — as is an 18th week.

__________________________________________________ ________________________________________

Any Ro-kate Scientists around to make sense of this mess????

[Forsh]

What is it about Pittsburgh? They get a RB that's solid, but a little heavy. He loses weight and becomes a top RB in the league. They draft a TE that is fairly light to be a TE. Switch him to WR and he's awesome. PIT is the antithesis of the Lions.


Big day for Chase Claypool carries Steelers to 38-29 win

Posted by Josh Alper on October 11, 2020, 4:25 PM EDT

Getty Images

It was longer than expected between games for the Steelers, but they picked up where they left off in Week Three.

The Steelers beat the Texans that week and then had their Week Four game against the Titans rescheduled after a COVID-19 outbreak in Tennessee. They shook off the rust by beating the Eagles 38-29 in Pittsburgh on Sunday.

Rookie wide receiver Chase Claypool played a starring role in the win. He ran for a touchdown to open up the scoring and then caught three touchdown passes from Ben Roethlisberger over the rest of the afternoon.

Claypool’s final score came after Jake Elliott missed a 57-yard field goal that would have put the Eagles up 32-31 with just over three minutes left to play in the game. Claypool reeled in a 35-yarder from Roethlisberger to create more breathing room and put the final points of the day on the board.

The second-round pick finished the day with seven catches for 110 yards. Roethlisberger was 27-of-34 for 239 yards overall on a day when Diontae Johnson missed much of the action with a back injury and JuJu Smith-Schuster was quiet.

The Eagles had a chance to try to make things interesting after Claypool’s final score, but Bud Dupree sacked Wentz on first down and he was intercepted on a desperate heave on fourth down. That served as a punt and the Eagles weren’t able to stop the Steelers from picking up the first down they needed to run out the clock.

Pittsburgh is now 4-0 and they’ll stay home to face the Browns in Week Six. The 1-3-1 Eagles will get another AFC North team and they’ll need to wrangle Lamar Jackson in order to pick up their second win of the season.

You keep talking like Claypool was a TE. He played WR in college. They just worked him out at TE at the combine because of his size ... then he tested himself back to WR

[Futureshock]

Well, we lucked out on another hot tub specialist:


GREEDY WILLIAMSDB, CLEVELAND BROWNS
Browns CB Greedy Williams (shoulder) was placed on injured reserve and is out indefinitely.


Williams is struggling with a nerve issue in his injured shoulder, per ESPN's Adam Schefter. Williams has yet to suit up for the Browns this season, with Terrance Mitchell playing in his place for much of the season's first five weeks.

RELATED:

• Terrance Mitchell

SOURCE: Adam Schefter on Twitter
Oct 12, 2020, 12:04 PM

[whatever_gong82]

What is it about Pittsburgh? They get a RB that's solid, but a little heavy. He loses weight and becomes a top RB in the league. They draft a TE that is fairly light to be a TE. Switch him to WR and he's awesome. PIT is the antithesis of the Lions.


Big day for Chase Claypool carries Steelers to 38-29 win

Posted by Josh Alper on October 11, 2020, 4:25 PM EDT

Getty Images

It was longer than expected between games for the Steelers, but they picked up where they left off in Week Three.

The Steelers beat the Texans that week and then had their Week Four game against the Titans rescheduled after a COVID-19 outbreak in Tennessee. They shook off the rust by beating the Eagles 38-29 in Pittsburgh on Sunday.

Rookie wide receiver Chase Claypool played a starring role in the win. He ran for a touchdown to open up the scoring and then caught three touchdown passes from Ben Roethlisberger over the rest of the afternoon.

Claypool’s final score came after Jake Elliott missed a 57-yard field goal that would have put the Eagles up 32-31 with just over three minutes left to play in the game. Claypool reeled in a 35-yarder from Roethlisberger to create more breathing room and put the final points of the day on the board.

The second-round pick finished the day with seven catches for 110 yards. Roethlisberger was 27-of-34 for 239 yards overall on a day when Diontae Johnson missed much of the action with a back injury and JuJu Smith-Schuster was quiet.

The Eagles had a chance to try to make things interesting after Claypool’s final score, but Bud Dupree sacked Wentz on first down and he was intercepted on a desperate heave on fourth down. That served as a punt and the Eagles weren’t able to stop the Steelers from picking up the first down they needed to run out the clock.

Pittsburgh is now 4-0 and they’ll stay home to face the Browns in Week Six. The 1-3-1 Eagles will get another AFC North team and they’ll need to wrangle Lamar Jackson in order to pick up their second win of the season.

Remember that the guy running things in Pittsburgh used to be in the Front Office as the Pro Scouting Director for Detroit back in the 1990's, Kevin Colbert, from 1990-1999. He then became the Pittsburgh Steelers General Manager in 2000, where he's been since then.

I almost forgotten this truth nugget: when Matt Millen took over the Detroit Lions in 2001, he fired the late Ron Hughes, who was quite adept in finding NFL talent. Both Mr. Colbert and Mr. Hughes helped the Pittsburgh Steelers win 2 Super Bowls in the first decade of the 2000s.

[Futureshock]

Remember that the guy running things in Pittsburgh used to be in the Front Office as the Pro Scouting Director for Detroit back in the 1990's, Kevin Colbert, from 1990-1999. He then became the Pittsburgh Steelers General Manager in 2000, where he's been since then.

I almost forgotten this truth nugget: when Matt Millen took over the Detroit Lions in 2001, he fired the late Ron Hughes, who was quite adept in finding NFL talent. Both Mr. Colbert and Mr. Hughes helped the Pittsburgh Steelers win 2 Super Bowls in the first decade of the 2000s.

I didn't know that... (j/k)

[chemiclord]

Stash and develop Haskins as QB3.
Haskins is only 23 years old and has talent, unlike the current backups in Detroit. It's only been 17 months since Haskins was drafted. Washington set him up to fail with their shitty offense:

And going to Detroit would be setting up Haskins for success... how... exactly?

[Futureshock]

To have success in Detroit a player has to come nearly complete (as a good player) or seek outside coaching. Like Stafford, Decker, Slay and Golladay.

Haskins would be out of the league in a year if he came to Detroit. That's one really bad idea.

[whatever_gong82]

To have success in Detroit a player has to come nearly complete (as a good player) or seek outside coaching. Like Stafford, Decker, Slay and Golladay.

Haskins would be out of the league in a year if he came to Detroit. That's one really bad idea.

Sad, but true.

[Futureshock]

You know what else is sad? Watching day after day, week after week, year after year; opportunities just come and go. Our opponents get better and take advantage of said opportunities. Even if we have more cap space and a bigger need. BQ is such a cowardly panzy that he will never be successful unless someone makes him (like BB used to) go for it. My goodness I can't stand a coward.


Falcons won’t have a fire sale (but they won’t rule out selling)

Posted by Mike Florio on October 12, 2020, 10:25 PM EDT

Getty Images

The Falcons fired their coach and General Manager after only five weeks. That doesn’t mean they’ll have a fire sale.

Falcons president and CEO Rich McKay explained on Monday that the Falcons won’t be selling off assets in order to convert them into future draft picks.

“If somebody came to us with a trade for a player and it made sense to us, it was in that player’s interest, our best interest and we could do it would be consider it?” McKay said. “Maybe. And that’s something we would look at. But this will not be a situation where we’re gonna predetermine the roster for the next head coach and General Manager. We’re gonna let them come in, let them evaluate this roster, let them see the moves they want to make.”

So the Falcons won’t be making any moves. Unless, as McKay said, someone makes them a offer that makes sense, that’s in the player’s interest, and that’s in the team’s interest.

Actually, most potential trades will be in the player’s interest, given that the new regime may not want them. If there’s a place where they can land now with a stable coaching staff and front office, why not do it?

“Last year, we made one trade,” McKay added, referring to the deal that sent receiver Mohamed Sanu to the Patriots for a second-round pick. “And it was a trade that we thought was in the best interest of the player, it was definitely in our best interest, we thought. And we executed that trade.”

Indeed they did. And they did without launching a fire sale. Which is one of the ways to get maximum value for a player. Once the team is yelling SELL!, the leverage plummets.

[Futureshock]

MIKE WILLIAMSWR, LOS ANGELES CHARGERS

Mike Williams caught 5-of-8 targets for 109 yards and two touchdown in the Chargers' Week 5 loss to the Saints.


Playing through a hamstring injury, Williams posted his first 100-yard game of the season and secured his first two touchdowns of the year, catching four- and 64-yard scores. The 64-yarder was a busted coverage by CB Patrick Robinson. Williams made another incredible sideline grab late in the fourth quarter with the game tied 27-27 and five seconds to play. Mike Badgley missed the 50-yard field goal that would have won the game. Williams will be a WR3 in Week 7 against the Jaguars following the bye and would get a boost up the ranks if Keenan Allen (back) is unable to play.

Oct 12, 2020, 11:42 PM

[Futureshock]

CHRISTIAN KIRKWR, ARIZONA CARDINALS
Christian Kirk caught 5-of-7 targets for 78 yards in Arizona's Week 5 win over the Jets.


It was arguably Kirk's best performance of 2020 as he was consistently used as both a downfield weapon and on intermediate routes for the first time all year. His seven targets also tied DeAndre Hopkins (6/131/1) and Larry Fitzgerald (4/35) for a team-high mark. Clearly the team's No. 2 wideout ahead of Andy Isabella (2/30) and Fitzgerald, Kirk remains a volatile WR3/4 who finds himself in a salivating matchup against Dallas' cornerbacks room in Week 6.

Oct 11, 2020, 6:06 PM

[Futureshock]

NELSON AGHOLORWR, LAS VEGAS RAIDERS
Nelson Agholor caught both of his targets for 67 yards and one touchdown in the Raiders' Week 5 win over the Chiefs.


Agholor split the defense for a 59-yard touchdown down the middle in the second quarter, catching the first of Derek Carr's three touchdowns. Agholor now has three touchdown grabs, but the 67 yards marked a new season best. He has just 11 targets on the year.

Oct 11, 2020, 5:26 PM