Tag: Christian Kirk

49ers lose Ambry Thomas fumble return touchdown on unsportsmanlike conduct penalty

Ambry Thomas made a great play and lost a TD return because of his teammates

A strange play in the San Francisco 49ers’ game with the Jacksonville Jaguars on Sunday.

In the third quarter, Ambry Thomas ripped the ball from the Jaguars’ Christian Kirk and returned it for an apparent touchdown.

However …

Trevor Lawrence appeared to get away with a late hit long after Thomas was in the end zone.

Aggies in the NFL: Where to watch in Week 10 of the NFL Schedule

See where all your favorite Aggies are playing during the tenth Sunday and Monday of the 2023 NFL regular season.

Week 10 of the 2023 NFL Season was not the most exciting matchup, as the one-win Carolina Panthers traveled to Chicago to face the Bears on Thursday Night Football, as both franchises are still rebuilding.

Former Divison III quarterback Tyson Bagent made his fourth start this season, already surpassing a feat that many deemed impossible for the former Harlon Hill Trophy winner, as Justin Fields continues to rehab this season.

However, what’s becoming somewhat forgettable week to week is that Panthers’ starting quarterback Bryce Young, who was the first overall pick in the 2023 NFL Draft, has been somewhat underwhelming in his first season. The streak continued on Thursday night with just 185 passing yards and zero touchdowns through the air.

Both teams relied on their defenses, while only one offensive touchdown was scored after Bears running back D’Onta Foreman found the end zone from four yards out late in the third quarter. Trailing 16-13 with just 1:40 left in the fourth, Panthers head coach Frank Reich opted to try a 59-yard field goal instead of going for it on fourth down, leading to kicker Eddy Pineiro’s missing the kick, handing the Bears their third win on the season.

As we do every week during the regular season, plenty of Aggies are well-represented within the NFL, including some of the best players on both sides of the ball. Here are the matchups, game times, and broadcasting information for several Aggies playing in the NFL this Sunday and Monday.

5 Jaguars players to watch vs. the 49ers in Week 10

Here are five Jaguars players to watch in their Week 10 game against the 49ers:

With the Jacksonville Jaguars coming off a bye week and their best stretch of the season, now is the perfect time to host the San Francisco 49ers.

The 49ers will travel to Jacksonville after also coming off their bye. And since both teams had an extra week of preparation, Jaguars head coach Doug Pederson and 49ers head coach Kyle Shanahan should have their squads playing at their best.

San Francisco is loaded with talent, its head coach is one of the best in the league. So Jacksonville will need a team effort in order to come away with a victory.

Here are five Jaguars players to watch against the 49ers in Week 10:

5 Jaguars who exceeded expectations in the first half of 2023

Which Jaguars player has been a pleasant surprise to you so far this year?

After a slow 1-2 start, the Jacksonville Jaguars have developed into the team NFL fans were expecting. The Jaguars have won their last five games and are sitting at 6-2 coming off their bye week.

Now, Jacksonville looks like an AFC contender with loads of talent that’s living up the billing. The offense was expected to carry Jacksonville to success after wide receiver Calvin Ridley’s arrival and anticipated development from quarterback Trevor Lawrence.

However, it’s the defense that has really stepped up in the Jaguars’ biggest moments. While the team hasn’t looked quite like the team everyone expected, a handful of players have elevated their play, making Jacksonville a true threat.

Here are the Jaguars’ five biggest overachievers through the first eight weeks of 2023:

Aggies in the NFL: Where to watch in Week 9 of the NFL Schedule

See where all your favorite Aggies are playing during the ninth Sunday and Monday of the 2023 NFL regular season.

Week 9 of the 2023 NFL Season was interesting, to say the least, as the Tennessee Titans, led by rookie quarterback Will Levis, showed promise in the passing game while traveling to Pittsburgh (PA) to face the Steelers on Thursday night.

With former Texas A&M QB Ryan Tannehill out with an injury, Levis, who was coming off of his incredible four-touchdown performance against Atlanta last week, slowed down against the vaunted Steelers defense, throwing for 262 yards, including a game-sealing interception as the Titans drove with just seconds remaining in the game.

Outside of the defense accounting for four sacks, Steelers’ signal caller Kenny Picket was aided by a running game that put up 166 yards on the ground, sealing a close 20-16 victory, vaulting the Steelers to a surprising 5-3 on the year.

As we do every week during the regular season, plenty of Aggies are well-represented within the NFL, including some of the best players on both sides of the ball. Here are the matchups, game times, and broadcasting information for several Aggies playing in the NFL this Sunday and Monday.

Aggies in the NFL: Where to watch in Week 8 of the NFL Schedule

See where all your favorite Aggies are playing during the eighth Sunday and Monday of the 2023 NFL regular season.

Week 8 of the 2023 NFL Season started in Buffalo, New York, as the Bills looked to get back on track after barely escaping the New York Giants the week prior, facing the Tampa Bay Buccaneers on Thursday night. As usual, Bill’s Unicorn quarterback Josh Allen threw 324 yards and two touchdowns, including 41 rushing yards and a score in a game that brought him back to form.

Defeating the Bucs 24-18, journeyman signal-caller Baker Mayfield provided a solid effort in the loss, throwing for an efficient 257 yards and two touchdowns while making things interesting in the final minutes after connecting with former Aggie WR Mike Evans for a late score and two-point conversion. As the bills bled the clock to end the game, Week 8 was officially underway.

As we do every week during the regular season, plenty of Aggies are well-represented within the NFL, including some of the best players on both sides of the ball. Here are the matchups, game times, and broadcasting information for several Aggies playing in the NFL this Sunday and Monday.

Christian Kirk: Lulls ‘will get us beat’ if they keep happening

The Jaguars can’t afford to keep sputtering on offense after starting strong, says Christian Kirk.

The Jacksonville Jaguars started fast against the New Orleans Saints, recording 75-yard touchdown drives on two of their first three possessions. Then the offense hit a brick wall.

The next seven drives for the Jaguars finished with five punts, a turnover on downs, and a field goal. Finally, after the drought allowed the Saints to tie the game with 15 straight points, Jaguars wide receiver Christian Kirk broke free for 44-yard touchdown that proved to be the game-winner.

It was a fourth straight win for a Jaguars team that is starting to re-emerge as an AFC contender. But the mid-game stretch of offensive futility is a problem the team can’t keep running into, says Kirk.

“We hit that lull that we’ve been seeing the past couple of weeks,” Kirk said after the win. “I know that’s going to be a point of emphasis for us, just finding ways to not find ourselves in these situations, especially when we have a lead like we did.

“When you get into a lull like that you give good teams an opportunity to come back, so that stuff will get us beat, ultimately. I’m just glad we were able to make a play when it mattered, but we definitely have some room for improvement.”

Against the Buffalo Bills in Week 5, the Jaguars scored 11 first quarter points before punting three times and fumbling away the ball twice in a five-drive stretch.

“You just can’t have those let downs and lulls in football games,” Jaguars coach Doug Pederson said Friday. “We’ve got to continue to work on that, we’ve got to continue as coaches to look at those lulls and see if there’s something we can do different schematically.

“Then, it’s the players, the ultimate focus and ultimate concentration for the entire game, that’s a tough thing to do especially when you’re in that environment on a short week. The fatigue begins to set in the second half of the football game then the first thing to go is your mind. All things that we’re learning as a team together and we continue to work on them.”

The Jaguars built a double-digit lead in the first half of each of their last four games.

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Aggies in the NFL: Where to watch in Week 7 of the NFL Schedule

See where all your favorite Aggies are playing during the seventh Sunday and Monday of the 2023 NFL regular season.

Week 7 of the 2023 NFL season started off with a bang as the Jacksonville Jaguars traveled to face the New Orleans Saints on Thursday night, as Jags quarterback Trevor Lawrence (20/29, 204 yards, 1 TD) connected with former Aggie WR Christian Kirk (six receptions, 90 yards 1 TD) for an incredible lead-taking drag route, as kirk out ran every defender in his sight as he trotted to the end zone with just minutes remaining in the fourth quarter. The Jags escaped with a 31-24 win.

On the other side, Saints QB Derek Carr threw the ball 55 times for 301 yards, only connecting for one touchdown to WR Michael Thomas, while running back Alvin Kamara pretty much took on the second wide receiver role, recording 12 receptions for 91 yards paired with 62 yards on the ground.

Oh, and let’s not forget the Cleveland Brown’s incredible 19-17 win over the 49ers, as former Aggie standout defensive end Myles Garrett, who may not have recorded a sack, but relentlessly pressured quarterback Brocky Purdy throughout the afternoon.

As we do every week during the regular season, plenty of Aggies are well-represented within the NFL, including some of the best players on both sides of the ball. Here are the matchups, game times, and broadcasting information for several Aggies playing in the NFL this Sunday and Monday.

Christian Kirk overcomes early adversity before scoring a crucial touchdown to lift the Jaguars over the Saints on Thursday Night Football

Christian Kirk runs away from the Saints defense for the game winning touchdown

The Thursday Night game between the Jacksonville Jaguars and the New Orleans Saints turned out to be incredibly entertaining with a former Aggie being part of some key points in the matchup.

With the Jaguars up 7-0 and a huge momentum swing after a Saints missed field goal Trevor Lawerence led Jacksonville back out on the field for a chance to double up. To the glee of Saints fans after Christian Kirk hauled in a wide-open pass on a drag route, New Orleans CB Paulson Adebo knocked the ball loose for a fumble giving the ball right back to Derek Carr.

Fortunately for the Jaguars, their defense limited the damage, and Kirk would get a little bit of redemption with a 9-yard reception for a third-down conversion that ended in a touchdown drive. Not being able to pull away late in the fourth the Saints tied the game on a spectacular touchdown grab by Saints WR Michael Thomas followed up by an Alvin Kamara two-point conversion.

Tied 24-24 with under four minutes left in the game, Lawrence found Kirk running shallow across the field and turned a short pass to a 44-yard touchdown as he raced past the Saints defense for the 31-24 lead. The Saints miss an opportunity to score allowing Jacksonville to kneel out the clock.

Kirk finished the game with six catches for 90 yards and one touchdown. On the year the currently sits at 39 receptions for 474 yards and 3 touchdowns. Christian Kirk has become Trevor Lawerence’s favorite target and their connecting counties to pay dividends.

Contact/Follow us @AggiesWire on Twitter, and like our page on Facebook to follow ongoing coverage of Texas A&M news, notes, and opinions. Follow Jarrett Johnson on Twitter: @whosnextsports1.

Six points with David Dorey

Friday’s quick look at six fantasy items to know

The NFL had a rash of injuries to quarterbacks last week, so let’s hope that’s just an aberration and not the start of even more players getting hurt. The scoring has been down overall, and the incidence of monster performances by fantasy players have also declined. That makes for less fantasy points to go around, and yet amplifies the impact for when a player can log multiple touchdowns or pile up the yardage.

One of the more important facets of Week 7 is that the looming trade deadline is 4 p.m.. on October 31st. – the Tuesday following the Week 8 games. We saw a number of trades last season and it feels like that will repeat, since several top-record teams still have glaring holes to fill if they want to do anything in January.

To start, let’s look at why waiting in defenses and kickers may seem hard for some, but it is reasonable. And kickers are the worst.

  1. How we did on fantasy defenses – The Top-5 are the difference makers and in a position that is typically the lowest scoring in most fantasy leagues, anything beyond those first five are not that different – usually a point or two per game overall. Here are how the Average Draft Position (ADP) shook out against the current Points Per Game (PPG) for the defense.
    ADP PPG Draft Rank PPG ADP Actual Rank
    1 14 49ers 1 11 Steelers
    2 9 Eagles 2 3 Cowboys
    3 2 Cowboys 3 4 Bills
    4 3 Bills 4 7 Jets
    5 30 Patriots 5 16 Seahawks
    6 10 Ravens 6 17 Bengals
    7 4 Jets 7 9 Saints
    8 11 Jaguars 8 20 Chargers
    9 7 Saints 9 2 Eagles
    10 20 Commanders 10 6 Ravens

    The Cowboys and Bills were the only two that have delivered so far, the Cowboys are starting to fall after the effect of their first three weeks starts to be watered down. Three of the Top-8 have delivered so far, but teams that reached for the 49ers a few rounds earlier than the rest should regret spending too much. That’s almost always the case for the first defense drafted each year.

  2. How we did on fantasy kickers –
    ADP PPG Draft Rank PPG ADP Actual Rank
    1 15 Justin Tucker 1 ND K. Fairbairn
    2 29 Daniel Carlson 2 11 Jake Elliott
    3 13 Tyler Bass 3 ND Brandon Aubrey
    4 24 Evan McPherson 4 ND Brett Maher
    5 5 Harrison Butker 5 5 Harrison Butker
    6 8 Jason Myers 6 10 Greg Zuerlein
    7 19 Cameron Dicker 7 ND Nick Folk
    8 28 Younghoe Koo 8 6 Jason Myers
    9 10 B McManus 9 14 Jake Moody
    10 6 Greg Zuerlein 10 9 B McManus

    Okay, so look at the above table – only Harrison Butker paid off commensurate with where he was taken. Those first four kickers taken in the Average Draft didn’t deliver as a fantasy starter, let alone yield any advantage. The Top-4 in current points-per-game were Jake Elliot taken as the 11th kicker drafted, and three other guys who were not drafted in most fantasy leagues.

  3. WR Mecole Hardman (KC) – The Chiefs swapped late round picks to bring Hardman back to Kansas City after logging just one catch for the Jets this year. Here’s what he did in the four seasons with the Chiefs:
    Year GMS Catch Yds YPR TDs Rush Yds TDs
    2022 8 25 297 11.9 4 4 31 2
    2021 17 59 693 11.7 2 8 46 0
    2020 16 41 560 13.7 4 4 31 0
    2019 16 26 538 20.7 6 4 17 0

    So the question is if Hardman can do what no other Chiefs’ wideout has this year – matter. As in provide consistent fantasy relevant stats. Hardman provided about 600 yards each season, though through 2021 Tyreek Hill was there, and Hardman had a season-ending groin tear in 2022. He’s only gained 100 yards in one game, but he should provide something has been missing – touchdowns. The Chiefs wideout combine for only four touchdowns in their six games but last year, Hardman alone scored four times in the first eight games prior to injury, including in all three of his final games. It is something to watch for because the Chiefs need to improve passing touchdowns.

  4. TE Michael Mayer (LV) – The Raiders spent their 2.03 pick on the receiving tight end that led all Notre Dame receivers last year.  At 6-5, 249-pounds and running a 4.7 40-time, Mayer has all the marks of an elite NFL tight end. He’s one to watch with the Raiders that have taken to spreading the ball around more (to the displeasure of Davante Adams) and Mayer led the team last week with five catches for 75 yards against the Patriots. His involvement at the Bears should indicate if he is ready for a bigger role or if last week was just the product of a specific matchup.
  5. WR Darnell Mooney (CHI) – The trade deadline is nearing, and Mooney getting traded seems like an ideal situation. The Bears have found their No. 1 wideout with DJ Moore, and the season is already over at 1-5. They can get draft capital for a player who hasn’t used much but who had a 1,000-yard season in 2021 and can offer a speedy field stretcher. And Mooney’s career has already peaked in Chicago, so a change in team can only be a positive.
  6. RB Derrick Henry (TEN) – The Titans’ long-time star running back is likely heading into free agency next spring and he turns 30 in January. The 2-4 Titans could get something for him in a trade and look like a team heading into a rebuilding mode next year, even if HC Mike Vrabel reaches his sixth season. The Buccaneers lead the NFC South and yet rank No. 32 in running backs. It would take a top team to be interested in a “win now at all costs” sort of deal, and Tampa Bay is the only such team that needs an upgrade in the backfield. The Ravens could be argued as needing one as well, but they’ve slogged along with a mediocre backfield for several years.

About last night…

Credit: Matthew Hinton-USA TODAY Sports

Jacksonville 31, New Orleans 24

The game was a slow affair for the first half that ended 17-6 thanks to two rushing scores by Travis Etienne. It seemed to be another low-scoring and sloppy Thursday night contest. But the Saints came back to tie it 24-24 with six minutes left to play, even compensating for a pick-six in the third quarter. But Christian Kirk  turned a short catch into a 44-yard touchdown with three minutes left to play, and the Saints marched down the field to reach the Jacksonville 6-yard line with 40 seconds left to play. Derek Carr threw four incompletions, one catchable in the end zone to Foster Moreau.

Trevor Lawrence passed for 204 yards and one touchdown thanks greatly to Christian Kirk’s (6-90, TD) 44-yard catch and run for a score. Evan Engram totaled five catches for 45 yards as the next best receiver while Calvin Ridley yet again flopped with only one catch for five yards. Lawrence may have been questionable with a sprained knee, but he led the Jags with 59 yards on eight rushes. Travis Etienne ran for 53 yards on 14 runs with the two scores, and caught three passes for 24 more yards. The 5-2 Jaguars maintain their lead in the AFC South and  head to Pittsburgh for Week 8.

Derek Carr threw for 301 yards and a score but it took 55 passes. Alvin Kamara led with 12 receptions for 91 yards and Chris Olave turned a team-high 15 targets into seven catches for 57 yards. Michael Thomas (3-42, TD) caught the rare touchdown. Kamara also ran for 62 yards on 17 carries for a total of 31 plays in the game. Taysom Hill ran for a score while Jamaal Williams (5-14) finally got back to the field.  The loss drops the Saints to 3-4 and they play at the Colts next week.