Tag: fumbles

Kentucky QB Will Levis falls past the Saints in 2023 mock draft

Kentucky QB Will Levis fell past the Saints in a recent 2023 mock draft, but they could consider him if given the opportunity:

We’re still weeks away from draft season kicking off in earnest, but the discourse surrounding the 2023 NFL draft is already off to a heated start. One polarizing prospect is Kentucky quarterback Will Levis — anonymous scouts are still dealing out quotes about his potential as the draft’s No. 1 overall prospect, but the mock draft industrial complex has chilled on him amid a difficult senior season for the Wildcats.

Levis even fell past the New Orleans Saints in a recent mock draft from our own Luke Easterling over at Draft Wire. The Saints selected Tennessee Volunteers quarterback Hendon Hooker at No. 43 overall, who we’ve advocated for in spite of his season-ending knee injury, with Levis falling to the Washington Commanders at No. 48. Would the Saints let Levis get past them if given that opportunity?

Maybe so. He fits their established prototype for the position as an experienced college passer with size and athleticism at a listed 6-foot-3 and 232 pounds, and real arm talent. Levis entered his senior year with plenty of momentum after completing 66% of his attempts last year while throwing for 2,826 yards with 24 touchdown passes, adding another 376 rushing yards and 9 touchdown runs on the ground. It was a strong start for the Penn State transfer.

The issue was whether he could cut down on the turnovers (throwing 13 interceptions in 13 games, and fumbling 3 times) and endure a lot of changes in his supporting cast: Levis lost his offensive coordinator Liam Coen (who was once in the mix for a job with the Saints), his offensive line coach Eric Wolford (who ironically replaced Saints line coach Doug Marrone at Alabama), multiple starters along the offensive line, and his leading receiver Wan’Dale Robinson.

He responded to all of that adversity by throwing for 2,218 yards and 17 touchdown passes in 10 games, lobbing 10 interceptions through those 10 games. Levis has completed 65.9% of his passes and improved on his yards per attempt average (going from 8.0 to 8.4), but he hasn’t been a factor as a runner with just 2 touchdown carries and more yards lost than gained on the ground — he’s actually at negative-97 rushing yards right now. Tack on 3 fumbles (the same as last year, but in 3 fewer games; Levis fumbled twice in an ugly last-minute sequence during Kentucky’s loss to Ole Miss in October) and it isn’t looking pretty.

Still, scouts claim they love him when they can’t put their names to that testimony where the public can read it, and he’s routinely getting picked in the first round of mock drafts. He wouldn’t be the first quarterback to enjoy greater stability and thrive in a better situation at the pro level. But is that the kind of prospect you spend a first-round pick on? What about a second rounder?

It’s a curious situation, and it’ll take months to suss out. There are still games to play, not to mention all-star events like the Senior Bowl, interviews and athletic testing at the annual NFL Scouting Combine, plus private meetings and workouts with interested teams in the spring. Levis should be on the Saints’ radar just like every other quarterback in the upcoming draft class, but they might have better options. The next step for Levis comes in Saturday’s Governor Cup’s rivalry game with the Louisville Cardinals, with kickoff scheduled for 2 p.m. CT on the SEC Network.

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Twitter reacts to Melvin Gordon’s latest fumble: ‘Stop giving him the ball’

The Broncos have to stop putting the ball in Melvin Gordon’s hands.

Denver Broncos running back Melvin Gordon fumbled again on Sunday, marking the fifth time he has fumbled this season and the 12th time he’s fumbled in 41 games with the team dating back to the 2020 season.

Gordon’s fumble in Week 11 came at the three-yard line when Denver was facing a third-and-one in the second quarter. Had the Broncos picked up a first down and went on to score a touchdown, Denver would have taken a 17-7 lead over the Raiders just before halftime.

Instead, Gordon’s fumble set the Broncos back four yards and the team’s ensuing fourth-down field goal attempt was blocked. Denver ended up taking a 10-7 lead into halftime and later lost the game 22-16 in overtime.

Gordon’s fumble was a momentum-swinging play that cost the Broncos points in a game that ultimately ended up being a one-score game. At some point, Denver’s staff has to realize that Gordon’s lows outweigh his highs.

Here’s a sampling of how Twitter reacted to Gordon’s latest fumble on Sunday.

Special teams miscues ‘bugging the heck’ out of Pete Carroll, Seahawks

The Seattle Seahawks have been struggling on special teams as of late and are working to tighten up the unit and rectify the miscues.

The Seattle Seahawks have had relatively consistent special teams play over the years, but things have looked a bit different in the last couple of games.

“Golly, it’s just bugging the heck out of all of us because we are really good on teams on 98% of it, but then we have a play that wrecks the game for you in a sense,” coach Pete Carroll said during his Monday press conference. “We really have had those almost disastrous plays that just don’t fit us at all.”

From muffed punts to botched returns and fumbles and Michael Dickson’s snafu in the end zone on Sunday, the struggles have been real.

“We are working hard, we made a big plea to the guys that we have to clean up every snap, not just some here or some there,” Carroll continued. “We’ve been really consistent with our coverage and the kickers are doing well, so it’s unfortunate. Mike’s decision last week and then this one, we just made a real error on the one that happened this week. Man, those are big plays.

“We are going to do everything in our power to fix it.”

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Jaguars will talk to Trevor Lawrence about wearing gloves in rainy games

Jaguars offensive coordinator Press Taylor says coaches will “present the idea” of gloves to Trevor Lawrence if they play in the rain again.

Jacksonville Jaguars quarterback Trevor Lawrence had a case of the butterfingers during a rainy, windy Week 4 game against the Philadelphia Eagles. His four fumbles were costly in the 29-21 loss and could result in Lawrence wearing gloves if the Jaguars encounter rough weather again.

“We’ll talk about anything that will help us,” Jaguars offensive coordinator Press Taylor told reporters Thursday. “We’ll present the idea of possibly wearing gloves if that’s something he wants, but again, the quarterback’s got to be comfortable.

“Really, the players in general have to be comfortable going into the game. If that’s something he feels comfortable with, then that’s something we’ll do. If he feels like that gives him the best ability to hold onto the football in situations like that, now I haven’t been in many games that were like that in terms of just the amount of rain and all that. Yeah, we will explore all avenues just to give us the best possible situation if that comes up again.”

Two of Lawrence’s fumbles came on strip sacks when Eagles pass rusher Haason Reddick was in his lap after beating right tackle Jawaan Taylor. Another was a failed snap and the first fumble of the day for Lawrence came when the ball simply slipped out of his hand.

“The unfortunate part, in that game at least, was that there were two completely unforced,” Taylor said of the fumbles. “We had a quarterback center exchange and then we had one that just slipped out of our hand. So those were the really disappointing ones. When it happens in the pocket, it’s going to happen from time-to-time. You want to do everything you can to not let that happen, but we understand that. The two unforced were the ones that really, really hurt us.”

The Eagles scored 22 points off the Jaguars’ five turnovers on the day in Week 4.

Vic Fangio still has ‘great confidence’ in Broncos RB Melvin Gordon

Broncos coach Vic Fangio still has confidence in Melvin Gordon despite the RB’s recent fumbles.

The Denver Broncos have split carries between veteran Melvin Gordon and rookie Javonte Williams this season, which has helped keep both backs fresh.

The results have been mostly positive, with the biggest complaint from fans being that both backs should be getting more carries each week. After Gordon’s recent fumbles, though, fans are starting to call for only Williams to have a larger role.

During his Zoom press conference Monday, Broncos coach Vic Fangio was asked about his confidence level in Gordon following his recent fumbles.

“I have great confidence in Melvin,” Fangio said. “Melvin’s one of the top backs in this league. He has fumbled it twice in the last three weeks as you mentioned. That’s something he has to put extra emphasis on to protect the ball moving forward, and that’s something that him and [running backs coach] Curtis [Modkins] will do.”

That’s a diplomatic answer from Fangio, who of course wasn’t going to throw his player under the bus and hurt the RB’s confidence. If Gordon doesn’t clean up his ball security, though, the calls for Williams to be more involved will only become louder as the season goes on.

Williams is the team’s RB of the future, and fans want him to be the No. 1 back of the present as well. Fangio doesn’t seem ready to make that decision just yet, but it’s a situation worth watching in the coming weeks.

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Broncos should make Javonte Williams their featured running back

Javonte Williams is fumbling half as often as Melvin Gordon (including college carries). It’s time for the Broncos to make Williams their new primary running back.

Late in the third quarter of Sunday’s game against the Philadelphia Eagles, Denver Broncos quarterback Teddy Bridgewater opted not to tackle defensive back Darius Slay, who returned a fumble 82 yards for a touchdown to give Philly a 14-point lead going into the fourth quarter.

Bridgewater’s apparent lack of effort has become a hot topic in Denver, but that situation never would have happened if veteran running back Melvin Gordon had not fumbled on his 4th-and-1 rushing attempt.

Gordon should have protected the ball better, and the Broncos’ coaching staff perhaps shouldn’t have had him on the field in the first place.

Gordon has rushed 118 times for 522 yards this season with a respectable average of 4.4 yards per carry. Javonte Williams, meanwhile, has 103 carries for 514 yards this season with an even more impressive 5.0 yards per carry.

Despite his aggressive, productive running style, Williams has seemingly been underused this season. The rookie has received fewer than 10 carries in five times this year (including Sunday) and he’s received more than 15 carries in just one game (and he rushed for 111 yards in that contest).

Williams has proven he can be a reliable lead running back, and Gordon hasn’t been able to shake a fumble problem that has hindered his entire career.

Granted, Williams did fumble in Week 3 and he had a near-fumble in Week 8 but officials ruled that his knee was down before the ball came out. So Williams’ ball security hasn’t been perfect, but it has been better than Gordon’s, who has two fumbles this year and six dating back to last year.

Gordon has put the ball on the ground 20 times in his career, with 10 fumbles over the last three years (37 games). Williams obviously has a much smaller sample size in the NFL, but dating back to his time at North Carolina, Williams has half the number of fumbles (five) as Gordon in his last 37 games (college and pro).

Denver’s staff has split reps between Gordon and Williams pretty evenly, but it’s clear that Gordon is the team’s go-to back in important situations. Given Gordon’s fumbling problem and Williams’ productiveness this season, their roles should be switched going forward.

Gordon is scheduled to become a 29-year-old free agent in the spring and it’s hard to imagine the Broncos re-signing him. Williams is the team’s future, and he deserves to finish the season as the current No. 1 running back.

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Did Sean Payton break Jameis Winston by fixing Jameis Winston?

Did Sean Payton break Jameis Winston by fixing Jameis Winston?

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If I’d gone back before the season started and predicted Jameis Winston would exit Week 3 with seven touchdown passes against two interceptions and a 2-1 record, I probably would’ve drawn a lot of skepticism. But here we are.

Sean Payton has coached Winston into correcting some of the mistakes that plagued his NFL career so far. He hasn’t fumbled once in three games after doing so 50 times in his first 72 games. He’s thrown two interceptions on 63 pass attempts, a rate of 3.2% — his lowest interception rate since 2017, and the third-best of his pro career. He’s still put the ball in danger more often than you’d like, but he’s making tangible progress.

But at what cost? Winston has already taken 7 sacks, putting him on track for the second-most sacks of his career. He’s shown a willingness to take a sack and shield the ball with both hands on his way to the turf when nothing is open downfield, which is smart. Trying to force something and risk a turnover is what got him bounced out of Tampa Bay.

Here’s the bad news. This strategy has worked, for the most part, except in high-leverage situations when under pressure. His miraculous touchdown pass to Marquez Callaway could have just as easily been an interception had a defensive back been in better position. When things break down around him and he’s out of options, Winston is still throwing recklessly.

Those bad habits are never fully going away. It’s been a part of his DNA dating back to Florida State’s run in the College Football Playoff way back when. He’s always going to have bad snaps where he just heaves the ball as high and far as he can, praying that Mike Evans or Deonte Harris or Kelvin Benjamin is somewhere down there to bail him out.

What’s concerning is that Payton’s no-nonsense coaching is starting to bleed into Winston’s more routine plays. As observed by Pro Football Focus’ Seth Galina, Winston wasn’t just taking a sack when he had to. He was passing up opportunities to make a play with receivers running open downfield:

This is similar to what we saw from Teddy Bridgewater during his extended stint as a starter in 2019, and again from Taysom Hill in 2020 — drawing the ire of fans for not pulling the trigger when the look was there. It’s a byproduct of the unreal standards Drew Brees set over so many years in New Orleans, setting impossible expectations for his successors. Like the fans, Payton has grown used to turnover-free football. But when Brees was able to protect the ball while also slicing up defenses to find the open man, the quarterbacks following after him are falling short. They’re hesitating to take the shot for worry of something going bad.

That’s a far cry from the Winston we’ve seen before, who was fearless to a fault. Credit to him for being receptive to coaching, but it might have gone too far. He’s got to hang in there and make a play when it’s available. You can always take a sack and live to try another down, but you can only do that three times before you’ve got to punt.

Things should look different in just a few weeks once receivers Tre’Quan Smith and Michael Thomas return from their injuries to liven up the offense. That gives Winston some more proven options to work with and opens up Payton’s playbook. As Brees himself pointed out Sunday night, Winston is new to this offense. So are most of his supporting cast. Once more experienced players get in the mix we should see the whole unit’s confidence take a boost and its efficiency rise with it.

Hopefully we’ll get to see more of the big arm and vertical passing element that was hyped up all summer. If Winston continues to leave big-play opportunities untouched, we’ve got something to worry about.

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Taysom Hill closing in on Aaron Brooks’ single-season fumbles record

New Orleans Saints QB Taysom Hill is closing in on Aaron Brooks’ single-season fumbles record, a mark he probably isn’t excited about.

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There have been some highlights from Taysom Hill’s four-game starting stint with the New Orleans Saints. But nearly every one of those bright moments has been punctuated with a momentum-killing fumble.

And the pace he’s on has to be concerning. Hill has fumbled 10 times in 13 games, and, again: he’s only seen four starts as the full-time quarterback. He hasn’t played often enough to warrant that sort of giveaway rate.

For perspective: Hill is in danger of breaking the team record Aaron Brooks set back in 2003, when he coughed up 14 fumbles in 16 games as the starting quarterback. Brooks fumbled 11 or more times each year from 2001 to 2004.

That isn’t exactly the sort of company Hill would like to join, and he doesn’t have Brooks’ success as a passer to outweigh the fumbles. Both of them pail in comparison to Drew Brees, who has only fumbled 10 times in a single season once, in 2009.

It’s clearly something Hill must clean up. Saints coach Sean Payton can talk him up as his next quarterback for life after Brees, but this is one flaw they can’t afford to live with.

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Cowboys defense answers bell, turnover Bengals en route to 30-7 win

The Dallas Cowboys defense has been much maligned. Their effort in the Week 13 loss to the Baltimore Ravens was questioned by coaches, media and fans, including famous alum of the organization. Their response in Week 14 though was what one would …

The Dallas Cowboys defense has been much maligned. Their effort in the Week 13 loss to the Baltimore Ravens was questioned by coaches, media and fans, including famous alum of the organization. Their response in Week 14 though was what one would hope. They got lined up across a struggling offense and took advantage of every opportunity. The Cowboys forced fumbles on the Cincinnati Bengals first three possessions, racing out to a 17-point lead en route to a 30-7 victory.

The win moved Dallas to 4-9 on the season, dropping the Bengals to 2-10-1 on the year. The victory likely ended any chance the Cowboys had of catching Cincinnati in draft order, but for the coaching staff and the players, it was a much needed respite from the difficulties of a lost season.

The Cowboys’ offense wasn’t spectacular, in fact they failed to capitalize on the first short field and at the beginning of the second half when Tony Pollard had a 50-plus yard kickoff return, only scoring field goals on both possessions. The defense though took matters into their own hands. Aldon Smith recovered the second of the Bengals three first-quarter fumbles for a touchdown, and when the Bengals were driving to answer the score, Darian Thompson stopped their drive inside the red zone with his second forced turnover in two weeks.

The Cowboys scored 10 points in the fourth quarter, including a late Andy Dalton pass to Tony Pollard on fourth-and-1, giving the former Bengals QB a touchdown in front of his former home crowd.

The Bengals showed Dalton respect, introducing him prior to the game, and the defense came through for him.

Dalton finished the game 16 for 23, passing for 185 yards and two scores, connecting with Amari Cooper in the first quarter to extend Dallas’ lead to 17-0 at the time.

Cooper hauled in four of five targets for 51 yards. Ezekiel Elliott rushed 12 times for 48 yards and caught two passes for 11 more.

On defense, Dallas was paced by Jaylon Smith’s 11 tackles, while Tyron Crawford notched his first two sacks of the season in the fourth quarter. DeMarcus Lawrence contributed with a forced fumble that was recovered by CB Jourdan Lewis on the opening drive.

Dallas squares off against the San Francisco 49ers in Week 15.

With the New York Giants losing, the Cowboys find themselves still with a chance to win the NFC East.

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Ezekiel Elliott looks ahead to leading Cowboys while looking back to fix fumbles

The star RB has taken it upon himself to lead his team without Dak Prescott around, but he’s leading his own troubleshooting efforts, too.

A defense. An offensive line. Their starting quarterback. Confidence in their coaching staff. An identity. The 2020 Dallas Cowboys are lacking a lot of things at the moment, but after the thorough whooping they took on national television Monday night in their own house, perhaps none of the team’s deficiencies is more immediately troubling right now than that of an obvious leader.

With Dak Prescott lost for the season, who is the Cowboys’ on-the-field leader? The mantle may well fall to Ezekiel Elliott, despite the fact that the star running back is dealing with his own personal issues. With four lost fumbles already on the season, Elliott is having a hard time holding on to the football. But he may now be the one responsible for holding together the entire football team as they navigate some rough waters.

The five-year veteran was asked Wednesday if he feels the need to take on more of a pronounced leadership role with No. 4 on the rehab trail.

“I think I do. I think I do need to, just because Dak, he carried so much of that role. And that has to be filled. So I think I do.”

And it starts, Elliott says, by being more vocal when the team is struggling.

“I think you have to,” Elliot said, per the Cowboys website. “I think you have to lock in a little bit more because, obviously, what you’ve been doing hasn’t been getting it done. You need to exhaust all resources trying to get this thing back on track. So that’s what we’re doing. We’re exhausting all of our resources and we’re doing everything we can to get this thing back on track.”

The voice of veteran leadership is seemingly in short supply in Dallas, given the absurd number of injuries that have taken the team’s most experienced players off the field. Gerald McCoy never made it past the first week of practice. Tyron Smith and La’el Collins are gone. Zack Martin is in concussion protocol. On the defensive side, Sean Lee has yet to suit up in 2020. Leighton Vander Esch broke a collarbone. It’s difficult to lead the troops from the trainer’s table.

If Prescott’s injury had happened in 2019, one could argue Jason Witten or Travis Frederick would have become the Cowboys’ de facto leader. Heck, Michael Bennett felt the need last Thanksgiving to try to get the locker room right after being in town for only a month.

Amari Cooper is surgically smart, but awfully soft-spoken. Aldon Smith is still getting re-acclimated to life in the league. Andy Dalton has been there, done that… but is also too new to start lighting guys up around the Cowboys facility. Linebacker Jaylon Smith says all the right things in interviews, but his answers to reporters’ questions often come across as empty, eye-rolling soundbites. Getting spotlighted by analysts for poor play- jogging after the ball carrier in critical moments and taking atrocious pursuit angles- doesn’t exactly help earn leadership points.

Therein lies the dilemma for Elliott. He’d be the natural choice to automatically assume the primary leadership role in the current climate… except for those glaring fumbles that are contributing mightily to the deep holes the Cowboys are finding themselves in most weeks. Elliott got benched during Monday Night Football; now he’s supposed to stand up and set the example?

Well, yes.

He started by accepting full blame for the 38-10 drubbing. Then the two-time rushing champ set out to personally fix his fumbling problem.

“Honestly,” Elliott shared, “what I did is, [over the] past couple days, I went and got cutups of all my fumbles ever, and looked at them and looked at what I did wrong and what I could’ve done better. That’s what I’ve been doing this week, just kind of studying my fumbles and seeing where things went wrong and what I can do to keep that ball tighter and have better ball security.”

Exactly what Elliott found in those tapes- reportedly dating all the way back to high school- he says is for him to know and learn from… and for opposing defenses to hopefully not find out.

“If you want, you should just turn it on and go find out. I don’t want to give away all my weaknesses right here,” Elliott joked before continuing. “I just need to not put myself in vulnerable situations. I’ve just got to lock in and focus. I don’t think there’s a specific answer. All I can do is watch as much film as I can, gather as much information as I can, and try to use that to help me. But I don’t think there’s an exact answer on how to fix these fumbling problems I’ve had this year.”

Cowboys Nation may be suddenly panicking about Elliott’s recent case of fumblitis, but his head coach says that to judge the All-Pro based on a handful of negative plays paints an incomplete picture.

“I think we all recognize, Zeke’s played a tremendous amount of football,” McCarthy told the media on Wednesday. “He’s been carrying the football, probably, his whole life. So his instinct and awareness, I would definitely classify him as very high in that category of all the running backs I’ve been around in my career. But I think what’s most important- of this tough moment we’re going through with our turnover ratio- is to recognize the importance he places on himself. I get to see Zeke every day. I get to see Zeke in the front row of the team meeting, I see Zeke in the front row of the quarterback-center meeting this morning, his conversation to the team after the game.”

After the Arizona loss, Elliott sucked it up and vowed to his teammates that he will break his turnover habit.

“I just wanted to let them know how terrible I felt, just from my performance,” Elliott explained. “And that I’m supposed to be a guy that this team and this offense can rely on and lean on when things get rough, and I just wasn’t that last Monday night. [I told them] That I was sorry, and I promise I’m going to turn things around for this team.”

Elliott was the focal point of the Week 6 offensive attack before his back-to-back fumbles altered the plan. If Elliott can, in fact, make ball security a non-question moving forward, it will allow Kellen Moore the option of using the whole playbook instead of having to rely on the playing-from-way-behind chapters.

The Cowboys will try once again to put that theory to the test Sunday in Washington.

“We’re going to get this thing right. We are trying to figure out what we’ve got to do. We’ve got to come together. We are going to surround each other. We are going to support each other. We’ve got a big game this week, a division game on the road. We’ve got to go figure out how to get a win.”

Spoken like a true leader. Whether the Cowboys follow, though, remains to be seen.

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