Sports blog information from USA TODAY.
All the biggest highlights and best plays from the Christmas Day matchup between the Packers and Browns.
The Green Bay Packers and Cleveland Browns are facing off in a Christmas Day matchup at Lambeau Field on Saturday.
The Packers need a win to get a step closer to the No. 1 seed in the NFC, while the Browns need one to stay alive in the AFC playoff hunt.
Here are all the best Packers highlights and big plays from the contest:
The Kansas City Chiefs have a long week to fix issues before they face the Buffalo Bills.
The Kansas City Chiefs need to go back to the drawing board after suffering their first loss of the season — also their first loss in the last 14 games they’ve played. At times when it mattered most last year, the Chiefs were able to overcome mistakes and scoring deficits. On Sunday, that good fortune ran out as they fell 40-32 to the Las Vegas Raiders.
After the game, Chiefs HC Andy Reid pointed to some glaring problems that hurt his team during the game.
“We hadn’t had all these penalties, so that part was new,” Reid said. “Then, we really haven’t given up that many big plays. So, those things, we’ve just got to make sure that we clean that up. If you kind of narrow it down, that’s the problem. And I could’ve put our offense in a better position that second half. That didn’t take place. We weren’t able to move the ball very well, so I’ll be able to look at that too.”
Penalties, in fact, were a huge problem for a team that is typically disciplined. By the end of the game, the team had committed 10 penalties totaling 94 yards. Looking back at the game tape, several were unnecessary and came on what could have been game-changing plays. Look no further than Kelechi Osemele’s shoulder-tugging hold, which nullified a 58-yard touchdown to Tyreek Hill. On the flip side, while penalties cost the offense some big plays, the defense struggled to stop them.
“Listen, they just got behind us,” Reid said. “And I’ll look at the tape and see exactly what went on there, but I would say a couple of them were just beat, and then other ones I’m not sure we were doing the right things. That’s how these things go when you have big plays on you.”
Big plays are the bane of any defense, but they were also a big reason why Steve Spagnuolo’s group gave up 40 points, the most of his tenure in Kansas City. Two long touchdowns of 50-plus yards with Charvarius Ward in coverage were glaring. The Raiders also had a long run of 43 yards, one where Devontae Booker could have been stopped at the line of scrimmage by Ben Niemann.
All of these issues are correctable according to Reid.
“Well, I think penalties, you can correct those,” Reid said. “Then, the big plays, you can correct those. We’ve got to take care of business there. We’ve got to get in a rhythm in the second half, do a better job there, off of this game and offensively. . . . I thought the offense, we struggled just a little bit the first few possessions, and you’ve got to take care of that.”
In addition to creating a rhythm on offense, the team has to work on creating some big plays of their own. The longest rush of the day for Kansas City was 10 yards. The longest pass went for just 37 yards.
Reid anticipates that the frustration from this loss and the accompanying mistakes will boil over in the form of some good, hard work in practice this week. Hopefully, that work will culminate into a better result as the Chiefs take on Buffalo in Week 6.
“These guys, they were frustrated, they worked hard,” Reid told reporters on Monday. “They never gave up through the four quarters, they kept battling, but we just try to be as real as you can. I try to give them a real observation at the end of the game and penalties and big plays were what’s real. . . . I think if you can handle real as a coach and a player then you should be able to fix it and with some heartfelt work, and so that’s what we’ll do this next week. We’ll get ourselves together, put a good game plan together and execute it and we look forward to that challenge of playing Buffalo.”
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A look at Dak Prescott’s quarterback sack rates with and without Travis Frederick.
Inserting the Dallas Cowboys offensive line into any conversation about dominant positional groups has been a constant for years. That designation still stands, but the cracks in the dam may be starting to show. Pro Football Focus, whose grades are oft-debated, has released another super specific top-10. This one is for pass-blocking in terms of long-developing plays and the Cowboys are not on it.
A lot of credit has been given to the big guys up front when it comes to the play of quarterback Dak Prescott, and to be fair, they often deserve it. But when it comes to sacks, it’s often hard to divvy up the praise, or conversely, dish out the blame. It’s often said that sacks are a quarterback stat, and historically there are some quarterbacks that make this seem undeniably true.
Peyton Manning was sacked an average of just 18 times per season, with a career high of 29. He didn’t play with the same team for the entirety of his career, let alone the same offensive line. Seattle Seahawks quarterback Russell Wilson lives on the opposite end of the spectrum, having been sacked less than 40 times just once, in his rookie campaign when that number was 33.
The style of the player may matter most. Manning is perhaps the most traditional quarterback who’s ever played, while Wilson, who extends plays with extreme regularity opens himself up to be brought down behind the line more often. The difference is so stark that Wilson, in 138 less regular season games, has been sacked 44 more times. Just perusing the all-time sack percentage list lends credence to the idea that mobile quarterbacks suffer in this one specific metric.
Prescott, who mixes his mobility with his pocket passing, becomes a tough nut to crack. In 2019, he was sacked the least he’s ever been all while dropping back to pass more than ever. His sack percentage of 3.7 was good for fourth in the league, behind Drew Brees, Patrick Mahomes and Jared Goff. In 2018, it was the opposite. He was the sixth worst in terms of sack rate at a whopping 9.6% and was brought down 56 times.
If sacks are truly a quarterback stat, this season may be the litmus test in Dallas. In 2018, center Travis Frederick missed the entirety of the year due to the Guillain-Barré that helped usher in his retirement just months ago. Without Frederick at the helm, Prescott suffered the first time around. He loses a major resource in identifying defensive schemes and communicating to his line in a timely manner, and if history is any indication, its up to him to save his own skin.
Former Seattle Seahawks quarterback Jake Heaps recently stated on 710 ESPN Seattle that the team could have Ugo Amadi as a nickel starter.
Former Seattle Seahawks quarterback Jake Heaps recently stated on 710 ESPN Seattle that the team should have Ugo Amadi in mind as the starting nickel corner.
“I don’t know if you can say confidently that he is the outright, penned in nickel corner starter, but for me, I think they should be going into this year thinking that way,” Heaps said. “Ugo Amadi, when he stepped in and they actually gave him a chance … late in the season, and Pete Carroll even said they should have gotten him out there (sooner).”
Heaps praised Amadi’s ability to make substantial contributions in the form of big plays on the field.
“This guy is a playmaker,” Heaps said. “When you watch his film or his tape from college, he’s a playmaker and I think that’s what Ugo Amadi brings to the table is if you actually roll him out there, and let him play 70% of the snaps during the season, he’s going to be better, he’s going to make plays for you and he’s a guy that is reliable.”
However, Heaps went on to state that Amadi’s run defense is questionable and is the reason why he is not the clear-cut starter at nickel yet.
“You’ve got to remember, you’re taking Mychal Kendricks out, a player like him or Cody Barton, and you’re putting Ugo Amadi in there, and typically, their nickel corners have been excellent run defenders,” Heaps said. “That’s the one question that you just don’t know because he hasn’t played enough snaps to have a full answer (for) that and unfortunately, I think that’s been a mistake for them, is that they don’t have a clear-cut answer as to ‘is Ugo Amadi our penned-in starter.’ If not, I think he has everything it takes to be that guy and be their next great nickel corner in the future.”
Amadi’s rookie year certainly looked promising. We will see if he gets more playing time in the future.
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