Sports blog information from USA TODAY.
Here’s a look at who the Jets will play during the 2022 regular season:
The Jets’ 2022 regular-season schedule was revealed Thursday night.
New York will also play three preseason games: one away game against the Eagles (August 12, 7:30 p.m.), a home match against the Falcons on Aug. 22 at 8 p.m., and the annual Snoopy Bowl against the Giants (TBD).
Here’s a week-by-week look at the Jets’ schedule for the 2022 regular season.
Thursday Night Football is usually bad. But this year …
Thursday Night Football has a well deserved reputation for forgettable games. The NFL has long used Thursday as a test kitchen to see just how much fans are willing to wolf down when there’s limited competition. While the first Thursday of the season is reserved for a stellar matchup between Super Bowl contenders, the rest of the year-long slate is perhaps best known as the place the Jaguars get their contractually-obligated national broadcasts.
This doesn’t mean there aren’t good games on Thursdays, just that they can be tough to find. The introduction to each week of NFL action is generally a low-wattage showdown with few postseason implications. While a fair chunk of Thursday Night Football’s broadcasts will feature playoff teams, postseason previews and division-deciding matchups are generally uncommon. Some of that is thanks to how a 32-team, 17-game schedule shakes out. And some is because hey, it’s Thursday, what else are you gonna watch?
Let’s talk about each of the 17 Thursday night games the NFL is set to unveil upon the world. Some will be great. Others will exceed expectations. And Falcons-Panthers, uh, might be fun? I dunno, we’ll see.
Here’s when we’ll know if the Patriots are THE PATRIOTS again.
The Patriots made it back to the postseason after missing the playoffs in their first year without Tom Brady on the roster since 1999. Then, Bill Belichick pretty much stood still.
New England held its ground as the rest of the AFC improved around it. The Miami Dolphins added Tyreek Hill, Terron Armstead, and Chase Edmonds. The Patriots brought in DeVante Parker, who the Dolphins no longer wanted. The Buffalo Bills signed Von Miller; Belichick traded for Mack Wilson. The New York Jets had arguably the best draft class of 2022. New England took an FCS interior lineman in the first round and a projected fourth round pick in the second.
This leaves a challenging path to traverse in Mac Jones’ second season as the team’s starting quarterback. The Patriots have mostly stayed the same — or, following the departures of players like JC Jackson and Shaq Mason, potentially gotten worse — while the rest of the conference around them made demonstrable strides to get better. Now they aren’t just working to conquer the Bills, but also have to fend off the Dolphins and the Jets just to stay in the postseason race.
Those aren’t the only teams with whom they’ll have to compete. Here are the most important games Jones is staring down in year two of his NFL journey. Win these, and the Patriots might just be THE [expletive] PATRIOTS again.
The Chiefs have to prove they’re still a giant in a competitive AFC.
The Kansas City Chiefs may be approaching a crossroad. While they made it to the AFC Conference Championship for the fourth straight season, an upset loss to the Cincinnati Bengals and the lingering concerns of a defense that ranked 24th in total DVOA and 27th in yards allowed have cast doubt over their upcoming season. Factor in the departures of Tyreek Hill (via trade) and Tyrann Mathieu (via free agency), and the arrival of stars like Russell Wilson, Davante Adams, and JC Jackson to AFC West rivals and there’s reason to believe 2022 could be worse than 2021.
Of course, all this worrying could be for naught. Kansas City still has Patrick Mahomes and Andy Reid. The veteran departures from a championship roster have been backfilled but savvy free agent pickups and a well-received rookie class. It’s been six years since anyone other than the Chiefs has won the West, and that inertia could be enough to fend off a renewed challenge from the rest of the division.
We won’t know whether this offseason’s retooling is a success until we see Kansas City back on the gridiron. When that happens, here are the five most important games of their regular season — the ones that could determine whether they make a fifth-straight appearance in the AFC title game.
The Seahawks better have their tablets charged up for 2022.
Not all NFL schedules are created equal. The farthest distance between teams in the AFC North is only the 507 miles between Cincinnati and Baltimore. Meanwhile, the Dallas Cowboys have to travel at least 1,360 miles to travel to each of their NFC East counterparts.
While these road trips are no longer the burden they may have once been, it’s still an exhausting process. And since we know exactly which teams will travel where to fulfill the NFL’s 2022 regular season schedule, we know who’ll be the most exhausted when it comes to away games this fall.
The process isn’t as simple as figuring out which teams are marooned the farthest from their division rivals. A rotating schedule of cross-conference opponents can mean bonus trips from coast to coast. Last year’s addition of a 17th game to the regular season means half the league’s teams have nine round-trip flights to catch instead of eight.
As a result, some teams will have quite a bit more time to spend on their tablets as they fly than others. The Seattle Seahawks in particular will log twice as many frequent flier miles compared with 11 different teams this season. Here are the five franchises who’ll travel the most and the least in 2022, per Bookies.com’s Bill Speros.
[mm-video type=video id=01g23hc2k3c5fn3c817m playlist_id=none player_id=01evcfkb10bw5a3nky image=https://images2.minutemediacdn.com/image/upload/video/thumbnail/mmplus/01g23hc2k3c5fn3c817m/01g23hc2k3c5fn3c817m-fd5259eb161521e41f23c561a5d99fcf.jpg]
C.J. Uzomah already likes what he’s seen from Jets QB Zach Wilson.
C.J. Uzomah already likes what he’s seen from Jets QB Zach Wilson in their limited time together this offseason.
The new Jets tight end thinks Wilson will make “huge strides” during his sophomore season. Uzomah is partly basing that on the film he watched in order to learn Mike LaFleur’s offense.
“He’s talented as hell,” Uzomah said Wednesday. “He’s smart. He’s a smart kid. He’s an unbelievable player and he has an unbelievable football mind and I’ve been excited just over the couple months I’ve been here of what he knows and what he’s expecting of us.”
The two have talked a lot this offseason already as Uzomah picks up the offensive playbook and Wilson looks to learn from Uzomah’s experience in Cincinnati. The former Bengal should play an integral role – alongside fellow TE Tyler Conklin – in Wilson’s development during his second season. Wilson didn’t have much reliable pass-catching or blocking talent at tight end in 2021, something Uzomah and Conklin will offer this upcoming season.
The Jets put Wilson in a great position to succeed with the additions of Uzomah, Conklin and OG Laken Tomlinson. They also used early picks on WR Garrett Wilson and RB Breece Hall. Now, Wilson needs to apply all that intellect and talent Uzomah spoke about and bolster his production.
[pickup_prop id=”21826″]
[listicle id=679191]
Trainer Lorenzo Spikes says 2022 draft pick Alontae Taylor sees ‘the little things’ to excel with Saints, via @MaddyHudak_94:
The New Orleans Saints are skilled at finding diamonds in the rough – both in free agency and in the NFL draft – and no prospect exemplifies that like rookie defensive back Alontae Taylor. The No. 49 pick has a clear duality: Taylor the person, and Taylor the player. Both check a lot of boxes that the team not only searches for in draft prospects but covets in veteran players. A cursory search on Day 2 of the 2022 NFL draft left me impressed by Taylor’s traits on and off the field. He fits New Orleans’ athletic prototype at 6-foot-1 and 199 pounds – with 32 1/4-inch arms – Taylor certainly has the physical makeup you’d covet in a defensive back.
Yet, the initial reaction focused on, frankly, irrelevant factors in evaluating the prospect. Mainly, team-based need and previously-traded draft capital. After losing their No. 101 pick in the pre-draft trade with the Philadelphia Eagles (along with a slew of future picks), the team sent Washington Nos. 16, 98, and 120 picks to trade up for Chris Olave. This left New Orleans with no picks after Taylor’s selection until Round 5; a consequent skewed importance was placed on the Tennessee player. If you take a step back, assess the team’s draft history in the secondary, and look past initial grades, it’s all but a quintessential Saints pick. I was intrigued by the potential and already-tested versatility of Taylor, so I spoke with someone who has worked closely with him since the seventh grade: former Florida Gators wide receiver and Taylor’s trainer, Lorenzo “Zo” Spikes.
Ron Rivera made sure to let quarterback Carson Wentz know the Commanders were taking Sam Howell before he found out elsewhere.
[mm-video type=playlist id=01eqbykgy681k112p8 player_id=none image=https://washingtonfootballwire.usatoday.com/wp-content/plugins/mm-video/images/playlist-icon.png]
When Washington head coach Ron Rivera met with the media Saturday evening to discuss the Commanders’ draft class, one thing stood out in discussing new quarterback Sam Howell.
Washington, which drafted Howell at No. 144 overall, now has three quarterbacks on the roster: Starter Carson Wentz, last season’s starter, Taylor Heinicke, and Howell.
In discussing Howell and the value he presented to Washington, Rivera said he also spoke to Wentz before the Commanders drafted Howell.
I had an opportunity to talk with Carson before we made the pick; I wanted to make sure he understood that this is just all about developing a young guy more so than anything else,” Rivera said.
“He’s our number one going forward, and he just appreciated the fact that I gave him the heads up, which I thought was really cool. He was actually pretty excited because he just thinks that there are a lot of good things about Sam.”
Interesting. First, it’s a good thing Rivera called Wentz and told him Washington was adding a quarterback and that Wentz was “excited” to work with Howell.
However, why should the coach feel the need to reach out to his new quarterback to inform him the team was taking a rookie in the fifth round?
This shouldn’t be a big deal. I doubt Wentz is concerned with Howell, as Rivera and Washington have done everything to make him feel comfortable and wanted. But everyone remembers when Wentz was upset when the Eagles selected Jalen Hurts in the second round of the 2020 NFL draft.
This one is different. Howell was NOT a second-round pick. While many believed he was at the least a second-round talent, the Commanders weren’t picking him until the value became too great to ignore.
No one outside of Washington media and fans understands quarterback controversies better. What happens when Wentz has his first two-interception game? Will fans clamor for Howell? We’ve seen this story many times through the years.
Ultimately, it shouldn’t matter. If Wentz can’t handle Washington adding a fifth-round rookie, you know he’s not your guy anyway.
DeAngelo Hall will step away from Washington’s radio team. Former Washington linebacker London Fletcher will replace him.
DeAngelo Hall enjoyed a 14-year NFL career, and 9 1/2 of those seasons came with the Washington Redskins — now Commanders. Shortly after Hall’s terrific playing career ended, he entertained going into coaching but found multiple media opportunities.
Hall worked with NBC Sports Washington, offering analysis on his former team and Fox Sports 1. Hall would join the NFL Network in 2019 as a regular on both “NFL Total Access” and “Good Morning Football.”
In 2020, Hall proved you could come home again, joining Washington’s brand new radio broadcast of play-by-play announcer Bram Weinstein and analyst Julie Donaldson — the Commanders’ senior vice president of media and content.
Now, after two seasons on Washington’s radio team, Hall is stepping aside, according to 106.7 The Fan in Washington, D.C. Another former Washington star, linebacker London Fletcher, will replace Hall.
Hall, a native of Chesapeake, Virginia, played college football at Virginia Tech before being drafted No. 8 overall in 2004 by the Atlanta Falcons.
Fletcher, like Hall, had a decorated career in Washington. The 16-year NFL veteran spent the final seven seasons of his career with the Commanders. Fletcher was inducted into the franchise’s Ring of Fame in 2019.
Fletcher played in 256 consecutive games, starting 215 straight games — an NFL record for a linebacker.
Dual-threat RB Keneth Gainwell has huge expectations for year two with the Philadelphia Eagles
[jwplayer gFJVnpk2]
The Eagles have several needs heading into the NFL draft, but running back is not a position of need thanks to Miles Sanders, Boston Scott, and second-year stud, Kenneth Gainwell.
A star at the University of Memphis, Gainwell likely would have been selected way earlier than the fifth round, where he was selected by Philadelphia to bring his deal-threat abilities to Shane Steichen’s offense.
Gainwell was solid as a rookie, and he’s looking for a more expanded role in 2022 behind Miles Sanders, who’s in the final year of his rookie deal.
While working out in Florida, Gainwell sat down with Josh Tolentino of The Inquirer to discuss his offseason training program and his expectations for year two in Philadelphia.
“I’m trying to go into Year 2 and go crazy,” Gainwell said during The Inquirer’s recent visit with him. “Year 1 was good for me. But I feel like Coach Sirianni, he knows what he got out of me. I’m coming back and I’m going to go off.”
A fifth-round selection in 2021, Gainwell was without a doubt the Eagles’ best value pick after finishing his rookie season with 544 yards from scrimmage and 6 touchdowns. Per Reuben Frank, Gainwell is one of just two Philadelphia rookies drafted in the fifth round or later with 500+ scrimmage yards and 6+ touchdowns; the other was Calvin Williams in 1990.
According to PFF, 28% of Gainwell’s runs went for first downs or touchdowns, and if the Eagles are to take the next step as an offense in 2022, Sirianni will need to utilize him even more.
[listicle id=665632]
[listicle id=665357]
[listicle id=665636]
[lawrence-related id=665699,665676,665614,665546]
