Tag: 2019 Regular Season

2019 rookie report: Will Harris

From snap counts to competing for a starting role, we review the rookie season of Detroit Lions third-round pick safety Will Harris.

Another third-round safety selected by the Detroit Lions, many expected Will Harris to surprise like Tracy Walker did in the 2018 season.

Though he had a fairly quiet training camp, Harris showed up big in the preseason, giving some much-needed optimism about Detroit’s safety situation.

Harris started the season as the Lions fourth safety behind Walker, Quandre Diggs, and Tavon Wilson. In the first game of the year, he appeared on the field for 17 percent of defensive snaps. His role was primarily special teams, and things were expected to remain that way for the season.

Harris’ snap counts remained low for the first three games of the season, but he saw a huge uptick in usage on defense in the Lions’ Week 4 matchup against the Kansas City Chiefs.

Quandre Diggs was forced to leave the game early due to an injury, giving Harris his first experience as a starter in the NFL. He held his own, making three tackles and not allowing a touchdown against him.

Following the bye week, the rookie found himself thrust into the starting lineup again, this time filling in for veteran Tavon Wilson. Harris was used as the team’s third safety and put up a career-high six tackles in that game while maintaining solid coverage on opposing receivers.

Harris resumed his role as the team’s fourth safety the next week, but little did he know that he’d find himself as the clear-cut starter soon after. Before the Week 7 game against the New York Giants, Detroit traded away Diggs to the Seattle Seahawks.

Harris looked fine as the starting strong safety for the first game, but he began to look more and more like a rookie as the season continued.

By the end of Week 9, Harris had played two consecutive games where he saw the field for every defensive snap. He had just allowed the first touchdown against him to a tight end of the Chicago Bears and was giving up an average passer rating of 113.7 when targeted.

Missed tackles became a big issue for the rookie as well. Harris had whiffed on six tackles by Week 10. But to his credit, he hasn’t missed one since. Nonetheless, this proved to be a big liability for him, which lead to his benching later in the season.

Though his duties were relegated to being on the field just for three-safety sets, he did have to fill in for injuries often during the remainder of the season.

Harris finished his rookie season with 36 total tackles, three passes defended, and a sack. While he struggled in coverage for most of the year, he did finish strong. He allowed less than 60-percent of passes against him to be completed and didn’t miss a tackle in the final six games of 2019.

The rookie still has a lot of room for improvement. With Walker returning, and the Lions expected to make a move for a starting-caliber safety via the draft or free agency, it is expected that Harris returns to his backup role where he can learn and develop his skills.

There’s a lot of potential here for the young, physical safety. With a new defensive coaching staff taking over, have some optimism that Harris can develop into a full-time starter by the end of 2020.

Redskins weren’t alone in injury woes during 2019 NFL season

The Redskins felt the injury bug in 2019, but a new study shows that injuries were up league-wide last year, and Washington wasn’t alone.

If you know anything about the Washington Redskins, it’s that they’ve danced a gruesome dance with the injury bug over the past several years.

Everyone knows about the Alex Smith injury, or the Robert Griffin III downfall earlier in the decade, but any fan of the Redskins knows exactly how destructive injuries have been to the team over the last 8-10 years. In 2019 alone, the Redskins placed 21 players on the injured reserve list from the start of the season onwards.

So, it’s safe to blame injuries as the main factor in all of the turmoil and loss that’s been seen in Washington, right? Not exactly. According to a report from the Associated Press, injuries across the NFL are up, and it seems like every team is dealing with more and more time spent in the training room, rather than on the field. This, of course, has resulted in millions of dollars in lost wages.

While much of the recent focus has been on protecting high-priced quarterbacks and limiting head injuries — concussions were up slightly over last year — keeping wideouts and the defenders who try to stop them healthy has occupied most of the NFL’s medical personnel. Cornerbacks and safeties were second and third on the list.

According to the study, wide receivers were the most-injured position in 2019, with 82 total players seeing their year come to an end early in 2019. Cornerbacks were not far behind with 78 players placed on the IR. The dollar figure placed on these injuries was upwards of $500 million.

When you look at the Redskins IR list at the end of the season, it fits the mold pretty well. Washington saw players like Paul Richardson Jr., Trey Quinn, Quinton Dunbar, Jimmy Moreland, Deshazor Everett, Fabian Moreau, Montae Nicholson, and Danny Johnson end up on the injured reserve. That’s not a great look, but according to this report from the AP, the Redskins weren’t alone in that fight against the injury bug.

It may be disappointing to hear that you can no longer blame the injury bug for the Redskins place at the bottom of the league, as other teams are just as familiar with its presence. However, you can at least rest easy knowing that Washington has put a new head trainer and athletic staff into place, hoping to eradicate the injury risks of football going forward.

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VOTE: Seahawks QB Russell Wilson for NFL’s FedEx Air Player of the Year

For his impressive 2019 season, Seattle Seahawks quarterback Russell Wilson has been nominated for the NFL’s FedEx Air Player of the Year.

For his efforts during the 2019 season, Seattle Seahawks quarterback Russell Wilson has been nominated for the NFL’s FedEx Air Player of the Year.

Wilson earned the Air Player of Week 9 honor earlier this season.

The Seahawks fell to the Packers in the divisional round, but not before posting an impressive win over the Eagles in their wild-card matchup. For Wilson, it came to an end too quickly.

“I think as you go throughout your career, you get to the point where you want to win championships,” Wilson said Monday during his exit interview. “You want to help everybody else win them. You want to do everything you can to be great.”

On the year, Wilson threw for 4110 yards, 31 touchdowns and a passer rating of 106.3.

Wilson is competing against Ravens’ Lamar Jackson and Chiefs’ Patrick Mahomes for the top honor.

You can vote Wilson the FedEx Air Player of the Year by clicking on the above Twitter link or at the NFL’s website, which can be found here.

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3 key things to know about Chargers vs. Chiefs

Chargers Wire’s Gavino Borquez lists three key things to know about the matchup between the Los Angeles Chargers and Kansas City Chiefs.

The Los Angeles Chargers close out their 2019 regular season on the road against the Kansas City Chiefs on Sunday, Dec. 29.

Here are three key things to know about the Week 17 matchup:

Playing to win

With the AFC West already locked up, you would think that the Chiefs would be resting their starters, but Kansas City still has something on the line — a first-round bye. With a victory and a New England Patriots loss, the Chiefs would clinch the No. 2 seed. Coach Andy Reid said that the starters will be playing, so we will see quarterback Patrick Mahomes, wide receiver Tyreek Hill and tight end Travis Kelce among others.

Won’t be easy for Philip Rivers

All eyes will be on Rivers, as this could mark the last game for him in the blue and gold. If that’s the case, you would like the veteran quarterback to go out on a good note, but that may not be the case. The Chiefs’ pass defense is one of the best in the league, allowing a rating of 80.9 to opposing quarterbacks (4th) and 219 yards per game (8th). The last time Rivers played Kansas City earlier this season, he threw four interceptions and only one touchdown.

Perfect game to make a final case

Another player that might not be back in 2020 is running back Melvin Gordon. Since returning from his holdout, it’s been an up-and-down season for the 26-year old. Gordon has 566 rushing yards and eight total touchdowns in 11 games. There’s a good chance that he could put out a solid audition tape for the Chargers or his new team this weekend facing a Chiefs defense that is allowing 5.0 yards per carry (30th) and 129.5 yards per game (27th).

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Chargers open up as huge underdogs to Chiefs in Week 17

The Los Angeles Chargers are looking to be huge spoilers in the last game of the 2019 regular season.

The Los Angeles Chargers (5-10) have opened up as 8.5-point underdogs to the Kansas City Chiefs (11-4) in Week 17 of the regular season, per BetMGM.

The Chargers lost their most recent meeting to the Oakland Raiders, which dropped their division record to 0-5. No running game and an outmatched defense made it difficult for Los Angeles to pull away with a victory in their last game played at Dignity Health Sports Park.

The Chiefs are coming off a nearly blowout victory over the Chicago Bears, 26-3. The Bears had no answer for Kansas City’s high-powered offense, led by quarterback Patrick Mahomes and tight end Travis Kelce.

Looking ahead to this weekend’s matchup, Los Angeles is hoping to avoid going winless in division play. Meanwhile, Kansas City is playing to win despite having the AFC West locked up, as they have a chance for a first-round bye.

The Chiefs have had the Chargers’ number, winning nine of their last 10 meetings.

Gannett may earn revenue from audience referrals to betting services. Newsrooms are independent of this relationship and there is no influence on news coverage.

Update on Chargers’ head-scratching inactives

Here’s why Chargers’ Denzel Perryman, Roderic Teamer and Jerry Tillery were inactive ahead of the Week 14 matchup against the Jaguars.

The Los Angeles Chargers pulled away with a monstrous victory over the Jacksonville Jaguars on Sunday. While there was plenty of excitement surrounding the win, there was still one thing that was puzzling.

Prior to the matchup, linebacker Denzel Perryman and safety Roderic Teamer had been ruled out, and then that was followed up with first-round selection Jerry Tillery being among the eight inactives.

Following the game, coach Anthony Lynn didn’t provide too much information, saying that it was “coach’s decision” but did say he sent them home rather than having them stand on the sidelines in street clothes.

Today, the reason why they were sent home came out.

According to ESPN’s Eric D. Williams, Perryman and Teamer missed a morning meeting in Jacksonville, which led to Lynn sending them home on Saturday.

Perryman has been the team’s starting middle linebacker for the past few seasons, but rookie Drue Tranquill has slowly been taking over the role throughout the course of the year.

As for Tillery being an inactive, Lynn said it was for matchup purposes. He rolled with veteran Sylvester Williams in the game to help stop the Jaguars’ run game.

“I wanted to see Sylvester. Sometimes it’s a matchup deal and they were going to run the football. Leonard (Fournette) is having a breakout year. So I needed a bigger body in the middle of our defense, and that’s why Sylvester was up. But Jerry has done nothing wrong. He’s working his tail off, I like his development. It was just a matchup deal,” Lynn said.

Third-round pick Trey Pipkins was also another inactive that raised eyebrows. The team is happy with Pipkins’ production, but with Russell Okung and Sam Tevi back in the starting lineup, it’s more difficult to rotate them in and Trent Scott is currently the preferred backup.

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Cowboys ‘can’t put a finger on’ reason for losses, while all fingers point to Garrett

Players in Dallas claim they can’t explain why they’ve lost 7 of their last 10 games, but others have already laid the blame on the coach.

The result was the same for the third week in a row, but the tone was noticeably different. Cowboys fans have gotten used to the bewildering losses; there have been seven of them in the past ten games. But in the wake of the team’s latest collapse, a 31-24 road loss to the Bears, the players, coaches, and ownership of this outfit are suddenly unrecognizable.

Gone is the optimism. Gone is the quiet confidence. Those qualities that have defined this organization all year long have now been replaced by something else. Something harder. Something with an edge. Despite their losing record, the Cowboys still sit atop their division. They still have the inside track to the fourth seed in the NFC playoffs. They still have their sights set on hosting a home game on Wild Card Weekend. But what they don’t have is answers to what has happened over the course of this disastrous season.

“Can’t put a finger on it,” said quarterback Dak Prescott in his postgame address. “I wish I could right now. If I could, obviously we wouldn’t be in this situation; we’d be getting over this and out of this slump. That’s the most frustrating part. We have the skill level, we have the players, we have the chemistry at times. But we’re not playing together as a team complementary enough when we need to, and we’ve got to figure out what it is.”

“It’s just frustrating,” running back Ezekiel Elliott echoed to reporters after the loss. “It’s not clicking. We’re not playing well. And you can’t really put your finger on it. That’s the tough part.”

NFL Network analyst and ex-Cowboy Michael Irvin took issue with that assessment.

“No, you can’t put a finger on it,” Irvin said on the air, “because it requires both hands. That’s how many issues they have had. It’s not a one-finger thing.”

Ultimately, Irvin is correct: it’s not just one thing. Baffling playcalling in key situations, a terrible kicking game, slow starts, atrocious tackling, lack of takeaways, bad special teams, poor clock management, injuries, stupid penalties, and a stubborn insistence on sticking with underachieving players have all contributed to 2019’s overall disappointment. That’s ten.

But to include within that tally the most glaring failure of a team that would seem- on paper- to be far better than their record indicates, Cowboys fans need exactly one finger more. And most of them are aiming it squarely in the direction of coach Jason Garrett.

Some expected owner Jerry Jones to fire Garrett on the spot Thursday night, maybe even leaving him behind in Chicago after the embarrassing defeat. And it’s grown from just a contingent of angry fans; scores of broadcasters- including some within the Cowboys family who have known Garrett for decades- are all but openly giving Jones their blessing to let the axe fall.

“I absolutely think the world of Coach Garrett personally,” Irvin said of his former teammate, “but I don’t know how you continue down this road with what you’ve seen on this field the last two weeks.”

If Jones has lost Michael Irvin as the Cowboys’ head cheerleader, things are catastrophically bad.

Jones has been vocal, too, albeit with what some have perceived as mixed messages. His offseason refusal to extend Garrett’s contract very plainly set the bar for the season at a place Garrett has never taken the team during his tenure. Recent quotes have made it crystal-clear that Jones expects a Super Bowl.

Dallas hasn’t been just losing games. They’ve been taken behind the woodshed and humiliated, even if the final scores never look that bad. Worse than just coming up short, the Cowboys have looked unprepared. Uninterested, even. Many during the Thursday night telecast and postgame interviews were using the word “quit” to describe what they saw most prevalently from the current Dallas roster.

Even through this brutally bad stretch of games, though, Jones has continued to stand by his embattled coach and his roster of underperforming players. Jones has preached unwavering belief and tough love every time he’s been at a microphone throughout this 2019 campaign that once held so much promise.

But like everyone else affiliated with the Dallas Cowboys these days, the man at the very top had a very different tone when he spoke after Thursday’s sobering loss.

“So much for words,” Jones said afterward. “Seriously. So much for words.”

Maybe it’s only the fact that the aforementioned goal of a championship ring is still mathematically possible that’s preventing Jones from using his one finger to show Garrett the door.

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How the Seahawks’ defense has authored a remarkable second-half turnaround

With the acquisitions of Jadeveon Clowney and Quandre Diggs, the Seahawks turned their defense from uncertainty to absolute in a few weeks.

The Seattle Seahawks came into the 2019 season with very few remaining remnants of the Legion of Boom. Earl Thomas was in Baltimore. Richard Sherman was in San Francisco. Kam Chancellor and Cliff Avril were retired. Michael Bennett was in Foxboro on his way to Dallas. Outside of linebackers Bobby Wagner and K.J. Wright, there wasn’t much left of a defense that set the pace for the modern era of professional football, leading the NFL in scoring defense every season from 2012 through 2015.

In the place of those former stalwarts, head coach Pete Carroll and defensive coordinator Ken Norton, Jr. had a lot of uncertainty. Young cornerbacks Shaquill Griffin and Tre Flowers looked to be the outside starters. With former slot star Justin Coleman off to Detroit with a rich free-agent contract, Carroll and Norton went decidedly old-school with a base three-linebacker set most of the time, with Mychal Kendricks adding his talents to the Wagner/Wright battery. Seattle picked up ex-Lions pass-rusher Ezekiel Ansah on a one-year, $9 million deal, as Ansah was coming off a shoulder injury that limited him to seven games and two starts for Detroit in 2018. Seattle also selected TCU defensive end L.J. Collier in the first round of the 2019 draft — a move that was met with quite a few raised eyebrows.

The safety position was the most impacted to start the season. There is no way to replace a player of Earl Thomas’ talents, so Seattle tried to do it in the aggregate. Veteran Bradley McDougald was the one reliable element, but McDougal isn’t a deep post safety at this point in his career. He played mostly box safety in Seattle’s preferred iterations of Cover-1 and Cover-3, though he would move back in Cover-2 looks. Seattle tried to work with youngsters like Delano Hill, Tedric Thompson, and Marquise Blair in the deep third, but it really wasn’t working out.

Through the first nine weeks of the season, Seattle ranked 21st in Football Outsiders’ opponent-adjusted defensive DVOA against the pass, and 27th overall. The Seahawks hit the half-season mark at 6-2, primarily because Russell Wilson was putting together his best season to date in what’s already been a remarkable career.

Carroll and general manager John Schneider knew more was required on the defensive side of the ball if their team was to be a credible postseason contender, and they knew that before the 2019 campaign started. So, they pulled off two season-altering trades for very little in return. In early September, they offloaded pass-rushers Barkevious Mingo and Jacob Martin and a 2020 third-round pick to the Texans for 2014 first overall pick Jadeveon Clowney, an edge weapon with virtually unlimited potential but inconsistent production through his first five NFL seasons. The Texans liked to play Clowney in a “spinner” role, as opposed to letting him pin his ears back from the end of the defensive line and unleash hell upon enemy quarterbacks. It became clear that Carroll’s coaching staff would use Clowney in a more traditional — and successful — way.

But the deal that really turned Seattle’s defense around barely made a blip on the national radar. On October 23, Seattle traded a 2020 fifth-round pick to the Lions for safety Quandre Diggs and a 2021 seventh-rounder.

It took a bit of time for Clowney and Diggs to get their feet under them, they’ve each made major differences in a defense that has become one of the NFL’s best. Since Week 10, Seattle has raised its profile to fourth in pass defense DVOA, and fourth in defensive DVOA, behind only the 49ers, Steelers, and Ravens.

(Cary Edmondson-USA TODAY Sports)

Clowney’s value was most obvious in Seattle’s most important win of the season to date — the 27-24 Week 10 overtime win over the 49ers. Coming into that game, Seattle’s defense had put up just 14 sacks, with 17 quarterback hits and 107 quarterback hurries. Seattle amassed five sacks, four quarterback hits, and 14 quarterback hurries against Kyle Shanahan’s offense, and Clowney — who had been relatively quiet to that point — had one sack, all four of Seattle’s quarterback hits, and six of the team’s 14 hurries. In addition, he was at least partially responsible for the sacks picked up by teammates Al Woods and Quinton Jefferson.

Clowney has been limited by a core muscle injury since then, missing Seattle’s Week 12 win over the Eagles, though he did return for Sunday’s win over the Vikings, adding one quarterback hit and one quarterback hurry. But while Clowney was down, Ansah got healthier and decided to heat up, with 1.5 sacks and three quarterback hurries against Philadelphia, and three quarterback hits against the Vikings.

Diggs’ effect on the secondary, it could be argued, has been even more transformative than Clowney’s on the defensive line.

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Ranking Chargers’ 5 remaining regular-season opponents

Chargers Wire’s Gavino Borquez ranks the Chargers’ remaining opponents from the toughest to the weakest.

The Los Angeles Chargers have five opponents to face before their 2019 season comes to an end.

Sitting at 4-7, their playoff chances aren’t mathematically diminished, but they will still have a tough road ahead, and they will likely have to get some help from other teams if they wish to keep playing in January.

With that, we decided to rank the Bolts’ remaining regular season opponents from the toughest to the weakest to show what they will be tasked with in the final stretch of the year.

1. Week 15 vs. Minnesota Vikings (8-3)

The Vikings are looking to be crowned NFC North champs, and they have certainly been playing like it in all facets of the game.

Quarterback Kirk Cousins is having one of his best seasons yet, passing for 2,020 yards, 18 touchdowns and one interception since Week 5. Running back Dalvin Cook has been a threat out of the backfield. Wide receivers Adam Thielen and Stefon Diggs are still one of the most dynamic duos.

Meanwhile, their defense continues to be impactful on a weekly basis, particularly the front seven, who’s allowing 94.2 yards per game on the ground and has gotten to the quarterback 31 times.

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Chargers’ Casey Hayward should be talked about among NFL’s best cornerbacks

Casey Hayward has made his mark as one of the league’s top cornerbacks.

It’s easy to overlook players when their team isn’t being headlined nationally. The Chargers, who are 4-7, have a handful of players on the roster who deserve more recognition at their perspective position. Among the crop is cornerback Casey Hayward.

A second-round selection of the Packers in 2012, Hayward didn’t receive a second contract offer in 2016. General manager Tom Telesco quickly noticed he was on the market and brought him to Southern California, where he’s become not only the team’s best corner, but tops in the entire league in a three-year span.

Lining up across the league’s top wide receivers, “Showcase” has stymied nearly every single one. As a result, he has made two Pro Bowls and two All-Pro second teams while producing the fifth-most interceptions (13) and second-most pass breakups (57) among NFL players since 2016.

Why isn’t he getting the attention he deserves?

For one, his statistical production has dropped the past two seasons. Hayward hasn’t popped on the stat sheet, because quarterbacks don’t throw in his direction due to the fear of a negative play.

When quarterbacks dare to pass in his direction, he’s making plays on the ball. Using his high football intelligence and instincts, he reads the eyes of the quarterback and goes off route concepts. Hayward reads formations better than any other player at his position.

Hayward has allowed only one catch over the last four games and has given up a reception on just 47.2% of his targets this season.

Hayward has proved that he deserves to be talked about as the current greatest cornerback, over the likes of the 49ers’ Richard Sherman, the Rams’ Jalen Ramsey, Patriots’ Stephon Gilmore and the Broncos’ Chris Harris Jr.

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