Tag: FTW

Jared Goff put up one of the rarest stat lines in NFL history and still couldn’t overcome Josh Allen

Jared Goff was historically perfect but Josh Allen ascended to a different plane of existence.

I want you to visualize something as you read this.

Pretend you don’t know the results of Sunday’s matchup between the Buffalo Bills and Detroit Lions. Pretend you didn’t see Dan Campbell try an onside kick with 12 minutes left in the fourth quarter in a 10-point game.

If I told you that Jared Goff threw for 494 yards (8.3 yards per attempt), five touchdowns, and had zero interceptions, you’d think his Lions won in a rout, right? That is essentially a perfect game from a starting quarterback. It is tantamount to playing flawlessly.

I see no fault in it. That’s an obvious Lions blowout win on paper.

Well, dearest readers, the Lions wasted this Goff effort and lost. Why?

Because for as perfect as Goff was, NFL MVP favorite Josh Allen (430 yards from scrimmage, two passing touchdowns, two rushing touchdowns) might as well have been levitating for the Bills. That’s right, Allen was even better than Goff in a performance where he had five touchdown passes and nearly 500 passing yards.

I mean … Allen’s leading receiver was Ty Johnson! No disrespect to Johnson, but the Bills shouldn’t be beating the NFL’s best team on the road when he’s the leading receiver! Also, Allen’s defense couldn’t get a single stop and was basically in prevent mode for most of the afternoon.

None of that mattered.

No one would deny the guy wearing the No. 17 Buffalo jersey on Sunday. Allen was out there making casual basketball-style passes to his playmakers in the fourth quarter, folks.

He is not of this world:

Goff was great and literally made NFL history in the process, but Allen was on a different plane of existence. That was the difference in a decisive Buffalo victory:

The Lions are banged up on defense and really need to get healthy. There’s no need to panic about losing to Allen’s Bills. Detroit will be right there in January, regardless. This is just one of those days where you tip your cap to Allen, who, at all costs, was not going to lose.

Dan Campbell was so spooked by Josh Allen that he had the Lions try the most absurd onside kick

Dan Campbell broke his own rules and was punished for it.

Dan Campbell is known for making incredibly aggressive fourth-down calls. They have endeared him to Detroit Lions players and fans alike, specifically because of how much trust he shows in his juggernaut Super Bowl-caliber team. People love that kind of moxie.

However, after an extremely early onside kick call against the Buffalo Bills on Sunday, Campbell might want to reconsider how he approaches these special teams’ sequences moving forward.

With the Lions getting ripped apart by likely NFL MVP Josh Allen, Campbell showed too much fear about trying to stop the superstar quarterback. In a futile fourth-quarter comeback attempt, Campbell followed a Lions touchdown by having them try an onside kick … with 12 minutes left in the fourth quarter. Mind you, it was only a 10-point deficit at the time.

None of that is a typo. You read that right, dearest readers.

In effect, Campbell broke his own rule about trusting his team because he didn’t show much faith in the Lions stopping Allen and a scorching-hot Bills offense with almost an entire quarter to play. Campbell was appropriately rewarded for his overzealousness (and fear) with an easy return by Mack Hollins, who set up yet another Bills touchdown in a 48-42 Buffalo win.

Even Jim Nantz seemed perplexed by the call:

Given that onside kicks must always be announced and have an extremely low percentage of being recovered by the kicking team, Campbell had too much dip on the chip here. Yes, the Lions defense couldn’t do anything to Josh Allen. But an onside kick with 12 minutes left is basically giving a short field to an unstoppable Bills offense. It is tantamount to punting the game away if you don’t recover the ball. This was not a fourth-and-short play with the NFL’s premier offensive line.

It was literally calling for a lucky bounce of the ball.

Campbell had to know all of this, and he did it anyway. It’s pretty jarring to see him actually NOT trust this Lions team. Suffice it to say, that’s not the Campbell we’re used to seeing.

Andy Reid provided an encouraging update on Patrick Mahomes’ scary injury in win over Browns

Patrick Mahomes seems OK after all.

A 13-1 season for the two-time defending Super Bowl champion Kansas City Chiefs almost went down in flames on Sunday.

In the late fourth quarter of a double-digit win over the lowly Cleveland Browns, Patrick Mahomes was dangerously sandwiched between two Browns defenders. His ankle was rolled up on during the sequence, and he had to leave the game early at potential risk of a serious ailment.

According to head coach Andy Reid, Mahomes seems to be OK. Mahomes did not, in fact, break his ankle, either. But it is a “sore” high-ankle sprain, and he is officially week-to-week.

It’s a good thing the Chiefs will likely have the No. 1 seed in the AFC, giving Mahomes more time to rest for the playoffs. This could have been a lot worse for Kansas City.

Joe Burrow seemed so frustrated with the Bengals in fiery exchange with Zac Taylor

Joe Burrow is fed up with the Bengals.

It’s been a trying season for the Cincinnati Bengals and Joe Burrow. The Bengals entered 2024 with Super Bowl aspirations. Instead, they are just 6-8 and sit on the outside of the AFC playoff picture with only three games left in the regular season.

Even in the midst of a double-digit Bengals win over the Tennessee Titans on Sunday, it seems Burrow is so frustrated with his team’s malaise.

As the Bengals ran out the clock on Tennessee, Fox cameras captured Burrow having a heated discussion with head coach Zac Taylor on the sideline, who seemingly tried comforting his starting quarterback about something as he sat on the bench.

(Warning: NSFW language is apparent in the sequence below.)

The problem for the Bengals here is that Burrow could’ve been angry about many different things.

  • He could’ve been frustrated over Cincinnati’s general inconsistency. Which, fair. Elite quarterbacks hate wasted football seasons more than anyone.
  • He could’ve been incensed about the Bengals’ mediocre defense that let the Titans hang around more than they should’ve. Cincinnati’s defense hasn’t pulled its weight all year. Again, fair.
  • He could’ve been furious about safety Jordan Battle losing the ball as he crossed the goal line for a touchdown. I’d keep this kind of criticism more private, but whatever, that’s fair, too.
  • He could’ve been mad at himself for throwing two picks — including an interception to big man T’Vondre Sweat — against one of the NFL’s worst defenses. Burrow holds himself to a high standard, so I wouldn’t be shocked to learn it was this.

Even in a victory, the Bengals had a laundry list of issues to run through, not all of which were likely related to Sunday’s game.

So, if Burrow is irate about the state of the Bengals, who could possibly blame him?

The Saints ruined potential comeback vs. the Commanders by calling the worst play in football

The Saints ran an unbelievably stupid play with the game on the line.

On Sunday afternoon, the New Orleans Saints almost pulled off an amazing, unlikely comeback against the Washington Commanders. Led by Spencer Rattler’s late-game heroics, New Orleans drove down the field in less than two minutes at the end of the game, getting a late touchdown to tight end Foster Moreau to make it 20-19.

Interim Saints head coach Darren Rizzi made the bold call to go for two and the win. That’s admirable. We love to see it. New Orleans had nothing to lose. Except the Saints called the worst possible play at any level of football — a half-field speed out at the goal line — to get it.

It should surprise no one that the Commanders defended the sequence well and preserved their win rather easily.

I don’t understand the logic of a professional offensive coordinator thinking this was a good plan in that situation.

Why divide and ignore half the field as an offense? Why jumble all your receivers in one place, making it easier for the defense to cover their routes? Why not spread everyone out, giving yourself as many options as possible for one of your playmakers to get open for the win?

It boggles the mind. This sequence describes the Saints’ miserable season to a tee.

Mac Jones helped the Jaguars tank by weirdly giving up on a red-zone play vs. Jets

Mac Jones has absolutely zero awareness.

With Trevor Lawrence injured, Mac Jones has been trying to rehabilitate his NFL career as the Jacksonville Jaguars’ starting quarterback. I say “trying” because it’s not going well. Jones is one of the worst quarterbacks in professional football on an efficiency basis.

The eye test says much of the same. Though, I suppose the woeful Jaguars shouldn’t be too mad about Jones being awful if it helps their 2025 draft pick this coming April.

We saw this firsthand on Sunday afternoon when the Jaguars faced a second-and-goal against the New York Jets. As Jones rolled out to find a Jets receiver on a broken play, he stopped playing altogether.

I’m not joking.

Jones literally stopped dead in his tracks and pulled up in bounds to take a sack for a seven-yard loss for no reason. As a result, the Jaguars would have to settle for a field goal. Man, c’mon:

Even if Jones didn’t trust a throw to any of the Jaguars’ pass-catchers, he has no reason to take the sack here. He waved the white flag just because. He could’ve at least tossed the ball out of bounds instead of taking the negative play the way any competent quarterback did.

Ah, but that’s the rub. Jones is not a competent quarterback, and this kind of sequence isn’t remotely surprising for him.

No, Jim Nantz, the winner of Bills vs. Lions will not be ‘America’s Team’

The Cowboys don’t deserve this title but they’re not losing it to either of these teams.

I completely understand the sentiment that the Dallas Cowboys don’t deserve the title of “America’s Team.” It is more a marketing scheme than anything directly connected to their on-field success, of which they have very little for roughly the past 30 years.

Much like the gross commercialization of the holiday season, the title of “America’s Team” has never been about what actually matters to the Football Industrial Complex. That’s why Jim Nantz’s claim that the winner of the Buffalo Bills and Detroit Lions’ titanic matchup on Sunday effectively becomes “America’s Team” is so false.

Because the NFL — and all of its main broadcast partners — will unfortunately never EVER center the Bills and Lions quite like they do the Cowboys. In fact, they’ll never center anyone like Dallas. Full stop.

I get that there’s a great likability factor between the Bills and Lions. I know it’s hard to really dislike either team and that both current iterations of the respective organizations are a ton of fun to watch.

But until they inexplicably get all these random national TV games they don’t deserve, until all the major sports networks and outlets turn seemingly every little (irrelevant) tidbit of Cowboys drama into a story everyone has to hear about, the winner of Bills-Lions does not get this nickname. Nantz is just trying to hype up his game for the watching audience … as if everyone who loves football in America isn’t going to watch anyway.

It’s gonna take a lot more than one regular season game in December to supplant the myth (because that’s all they are) that is the Cowboys.

Nick Sirianni tried to mend A.J. Brown’s and Jalen Hurts’ relationship by having the Eagles focus on team celebrations

A.J. Brown and Jalen Hurts really do have a toxic relationship.

After long-time Philadelphia Eagles defensive end Brandon Graham revealed there was apparently tension between Jalen Hurts and A.J. Brown earlier this week, there seems to have been a lot of simmering drama between the two Eagles stars. It’s not a great look for a great Philadephia team currently in possession of the NFC’s No. 2 playoff seed.

While Graham would try to retract his controversial comments after the fact — claiming he made an erroneous assumption about Hurts’ and Brown’s relationship — it appears where there’s smoke, there is fire.

According to NFL Network’s Ian Rapoport, Hurts and Brown “maybe aren’t the best of friends” in charitable terms. That’s probably OK, provided the two can continue playing well together on the field without being close pals. I’m not sure I buy that, especially since their drama appears to be mostly related to the action between the lines. Also, most of the great sports teams that I’ve heard about for my entire sports-watching life have stars who clearly like each other.

Still, the sentiment is plausible.

Think about it. Do you really like all your coworkers at your job? Or do you just coexist with them? And do y’all produce well anyway?

You can be honest! This is a safe space!

On this front, Eagles head coach Nick Sirianni reportedly tried to mend fences between Hurts and Brown. How? He had the Eagles actively practice and ponder team celebrations this week in an attempt to foster unity and an atmosphere of togetherness while getting them to recognize what they can accomplish when everyone is on the same page.

That’s all well and good, but … oof. Whatever the schism is between Hurts and Brown, these are not things you want to hear about the quarterback and No. 1 receiver on a hopeful Super Bowl contender in mid-December.

The Eagles are trying to win the second Super Bowl in franchise history this winter. At the time of this writing, they still have an outside shot at catching the Detroit Lions for the NFC’s No. 1 overall seed, too. Both realities are certainly quite possible, provided Hurts and Brown can let bygones be bygones. Their dynamic is simply too critical to the Eagles’ hopeful success.

That’s the other, much more pressing question here, dearest readers.

Have you ever heard of a starting quarterback and the best receiver on a championship-winning actively disliking each other?

Yeah, that’s not a thing, folks.

Hurts and Browns had better get it together, or this promising Eagles season might go down the drain.

Randy Moss revealed he had cancer and support poured in from the football world

Everyone is in Randy Moss’s corner.

It’s been a scary few weeks for the legendary Randy Moss, and we finally know what he’s been dealing with lately. In an Instagram Live post from his personal account on Saturday, Moss revealed he has been recently receiving treatment for cancer.

Moss said that doctors found cancer outside his bile ducts, which was affecting his liver function. That may have led to the confusion of a previous erroneous report claiming the First-Ballot Hall of Fame receiver actually had liver cancer. Moss revealed that he underwent a six-hour procedure on Thanksgiving and that he’s intermittently visited the hospital ever since.

The 47-year-old Moss will receive radiation treatments in the coming weeks, and he says he plans to return to ESPN “soon.”

Most importantly, Moss described himself as a “cancer survivor” as he appears to be through the worst of this awful news. Fittingly, he unveiled an awesome slogan for his cancer fight, “Let’s Moss Cancer,” a reference to Moss embarrassing cornerbacks throughout his career by simply jumping over the top of them.

Indeed. Let’s Moss Cancer, everyone.

With Moss’s cancer news now public, support rang in from the football world on Twitter:

The Bears forced Caleb Williams to contemplate losing for the first time in his career

The Bears are a vortex of misery and despair.

As a high school football player in the Washington, D.C., area, Caleb Williams took his team to a championship. While in college with USC, Williams never quite took the Trojans to such lofty heights, but he did win 23 of 33 career games while also taking home the 2022 Heisman Trophy.

The Bears are a different story. The Bears, led by overmatched general manager Ryan Poles, are a poorly-oiled machine that only produces pain and angst. The Bears — and their rampant losing in the most preventable ways — are something that Williams apparently wasn’t prepared for.

You gotta feel for the kid for clearly having more hope coming into the league.

Alas, the Bears will do that to you.

On Thursday, Williams expressed unique candor about what it’s been like to suffer through the Bears’ current seven-game losing streak. They have not won a game since mid-October. Taking it a step further, they haven’t won stateside since early October.

All of this is uncharted territory for Williams. Even he couldn’t have seen the Bears’ penchant for futility coming:

To Williams’ credit, he does show a lot of maturity here.

Characterizing this whole lost Bears season as a worthy learning experience for someone who expects to be a great quarterback in the NFL one day is exactly what you want to hear. It’s the cookie-cutter explanation, but it’s the right one. You hope Williams can grow from this challenging situation and learn how to channel this mess into sustained success.

Still, by that same token, if Williams is showing this much public honesty about the Bears’ failures, he’s also showing cracks in his armor. It doesn’t seem like he understood just how deep the Bears’ frustrations really went before they made him a No. 1 overall draft pick. That’s quite troubling, to say the least.

Let me help him out.

The Bears have had one winning season since current chairman George McCaskey took the team over in 2011. Including 2024, they have finished in last place in the NFC North six times in that same span. When we expand this purview, the Bears have just six postseason appearances and only three playoff wins this century.

Put another way: the Bears have a well-worn reputation as an NFC cellar dweller.

Maybe Williams will be the player to change that. He definitely has the requisite game-changing ability to transform an afterthought into a marquee NFL franchise. But for now, all of the Bears’ failures sure seem like a shock to his system.

For a quarterback as talented as he is, I don’t blame him.