Month: December 2017

The Patriots struggled with the Jets. And the Packers could be without Aaron Rodgers the rest of the season. Is it time to panic? NFL Nation takes temperatures across the league.

Mike McCarthy & Co. were able to overcome Rodgers’ previous collarbone fracture and win the NFC North, although that run required several improbable twists and turns. The Lions blew a division that seemed to be theirs for the taking, as they had a comfortable advantage with tiebreakers before losing to the 2-8 Bucs at home, falling to a 61-yard game-winning field goal by Justin Tucker, and blowing a fourth-quarter lead with a pick-six before losing to the 5-9 Giants in overtime.

Second quarter: Giants 10, Broncos 3 The Broncos finally looked like the woke up. Trevor Siemian hit Demaryius Thomas for a 40-yard gain and that got them to the 10-yard line … where three incomplete passes led to a field goal attempt.

Second quarter: Giants 10, Broncos 0 The Broncos got a break when Demaryius Thomas’ fumble was overturned but then a few plays later, Trevor Siemian was picked off by Landon Collins. He then .. Idk, growled?

There are no guarantees on how quickly a collarbone will heal, and Rodgers would miss the rest of the season if he elects to have surgery (note: Rodgers will have surgery, and the quarterback’s season potentially could be over). If doctors advise that Rodgers can heal with rest, though, the data points from those passers suggests Rodgers will miss between six and eight weeks.

The strong defensive front of the Texans will have to finish the season without Whitney Mercilus and J.J. Watt �� a pair of pieces that just won’t be replaced.

O’Brien You don’t replace JJ and Whitney with one guy each. It’s multiple guys. The train doesn’t stop running.

Trading Manning might make sense from a bird’s eye view, but the Giants are going to be hesitant to make any move that obviously hurts the team in the immediate. There are jobs on the line, and Giants general manager Jerry Reese could be signing his own pink slip if he trades Manning.

If the Giants want to part ways with Manning, the best time would probably be after the 2018 season. Cutting the quarterback in spring 2019 would save the team $17 million in cap space and leave the team with just $6.2 million in dead money.

At that point Manning will be 38, and that seems like a much more likely end to his tenure with the Giants than any midseason trade.

A loss to the Kansas City Chiefs isn’t a death sentence. Deshaun Watson threw five touchdowns, and the AFC South remains winnable. But man, Sunday night was rough.

Cleveland has won four of the last seven games with Tennessee, but the Titans won 28-26 in Nashville last season.

Mark Ingram, RB, Saints: In his first game following Adrian Peterson’s trade to Arizona, firming up Ingram’s starter status, Ingram scored a whopping 30.0 PPR and 25.0 non-PPR fantasy points, the second- and third-best totals in his 83 career NFL games. Most notably, Ingram received four carries within three yards of the goal line — that out of five offensive snaps in those situations — converting two of them for touchdowns. That’s a plus for a player who at times has struggled on those opportunities, occasionally landing in coach Sean Payton’s doghouse, and it bodes well considering the Saints’ favorable second-half schedule.

With 2:10 left in the Dallas Cowboys’ game against the Green Bay Packers in Week 5, Ezekiel Elliott was stopped on a key fourth down and the ball was awarded to the Packers. The chains moved and everyone got set up for a Packers’ first down.

Except Cowboys coach Jason Garrett threw a red challenge flag, the replay showed a different spot for the ball, and suddenly the referees needed to measure for a first down.

It since has grown to a sizable number of NFL and WNBA players and even spread abroad when a German professional soccer team took a knee during pregame ceremonies in solidarity last Sunday.

This was the first play of the second half for the Raiders offense, down 24-10.

As you can see on the play, the safety was shading left, offering no help in covering Cooper who clearly breaks free instantly. Had Manuel even looked his direction, and of course had Cooper caught it, he had nothing but open space in front of him. That would have almost certainly been a touchdown. A 75-yard touchdown at that.

Making that play would have been a huge boost to bring the Raiders back to within one score to lead out the second half. It may have been a momentum shift. But instead they went three-and-out, then went three-and-out again, before going on a scoring drive late in the third quarter.

It’s difficult to tell every single time this happened without access to the coaches tape. But based on just these two plays, Del Rio is right. And no matter how many drops Coop has, he’s still a starting receiver. If he is in there, he shouldn’t be ignored.