Tag: Packers

Chiefs Kadarius Toney, Jerick McKinnon expected to be available vs. Packers

Kansas City #Chiefs receiver Kadarius Toney, running back Jerick McKinnon are expected to be available for Week 13 vs. the Green Bay #Packers.

The Kansas City Chiefs are expected to have the services of two essential offensive weapons this Sunday night against the Green Bay Packers. Veteran running back Jerick McKinnon and speedy wide receiver Kadarius Toney are on track to play in the nationally televised matchup following absences in Week 12 due to injury.

Chiefs head coach Andy Reid addressed the media on Friday during his usual end-of-the-week post-practice press conference to give a positive update on the team’s injury issues. “No injuries to report today,” was the enthusiastic announcement from Reid as every available player practiced on Friday.

Nick Bolton, who has been on injured reserve, is still practicing. Still, the indication is that he will be held out a little longer as he recovers from his wrist injury and is already designated as out for Sunday.

McKinnon is listed as questionable to return after sitting out last week to deal with a nagging groin issue that has hampered his production this season. He remains a vital part of the passing game, especially as the featured third-down running back, becoming a reliable receiver for Patrick Mahomes last season with a string of red zone touchdown receptions.

Toney has dealt with lingering issues from the knee injury he suffered at the start of training camp and has shown signs of returning to form in recent games. He missed last Sunday’s victory over the Las Vegas Raiders due to ankle and hip pain as he seeks to re-establish himself in the offense and produce consistently alongside emerging rookie receiver Rashee Rice.

Saints promote practice squad safety Johnathan Abram to their 53-man roster

The Saints promoted practice squad safety Johnathan Abram to their 53-man roster after another injury for Marcus Maye:

An injury to Marcus Maye has prompted the New Orleans Saints to promote practice squad safety Johnathan Abram to their 53-man roster, per NFL Network’s Tom Pelissero. Abram made several appearances earlier this season as a standard elevation from the practice squad — but NFL rules dictate that players must be signed to the 53-man roster in order to suit up for more games after hitting that three-game limit.

Maye was a new addition to the injury report on Wednesday with a shoulder issue, so it makes sense to bring up Abram in case he’s needed on Sunday against the Detroit Lions. The Saints have other backups on the roster like Lonnie Johnson Jr., Ugo Amadi, and J.T. Gray, but it won’t hurt to make Abram available too.

Abram totaled 8 tackles in three games with the Saints earlier this year. Before arriving in New Orleans, the 27-year-old started 34 of his 36 games with the Raiders as a teammate of Derek Carr’s and spent time with the Green Bay Packers and Seattle Seahawks.

As for Maye: availability has been a concern with him ever since he signed with the Saints. He was limited to 10 of 17 games last season due to injuries and missed three games this season with a DUI suspension. His five-year run with the New York Jets was marred by injuries, too. He’s in the second year of his three-year contract and needs to prove he’s someone the Saints can count on moving forwards.

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Saints add an undersized cornerback to their practice squad

The Saints added an undersized cornerback to their practice squad: Shemar Jean-Charles, who has played for the Packers and 49ers:

The New Orleans Saints made an interesting pickup for their practice squad in signing cornerback Shemar Jean-Charles, per NewOrleans.Football’s Brooke Kirchhofer. Jean-Charles is undersized by the Saints’ standards at a listed 5-foot-10 and 184 pounds, but they’ve been flexible with those thresholds in the secondary after rigidly sticking to a prototype of about 6-foot-1 and 201 pounds for several years.

So what sets Jean-Charles apart? The former Green Bay Packers fifth-round draft pick has appeared in 25 games through the last three years, though he’s played many more snaps on special teams (371) than on defense (43) between his time in Green Bay and, more recently, the San Francisco 49ers. He’s played on five of the six kicking units in his pro career and at Appalachian State in college. He may have gotten on New Orleans’ radar during joint practices with the Packers last summer.

It makes sense for the Saints to add another defensive back with injuries mounting in the secondary. Top corner Marshon Lattimore is on injured reserve for a few more games and other players like free safety Marcus Maye (shoulder) are banged up, too. If Jean-Charles’ path to playing is on special teams, that’s worth looking into as well. You can never have enough corners.

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Raheem Mostert’s huge NFC championship game still haunts Aaron Rodgers

Aaron Rodgers is still mad at Raheem Mostert for the RB’s monster 2019 NFC championship game performance.

Aaron Rodgers has accomplished a ton in his Hall-of-Fame NFL career, but the 49ers have been directly responsible for keeping him from having even more success. One of the times they stood in his way came in January of 2020 when Raheem Mostert spearheaded a 37-20 win over Rodgers’ Packers in the NFC championship game at Levi’s Stadium.

The former 49ers RB posted 29 carries for 220 yards and four touchdowns in San Francisco’s NFC championship game victory. Rodgers still hasn’t gotten over Mostert’s performance in the win.

In a clip shown on the in-season edition of ‘Hard Knocks’ on HBO, which features Mostert’s current team the Miami Dolphins, Rodgers is shown chatting with Mostert after Miami’s 34-13 win over the Jets on Black Friday.

ESPN’s Nick Wagoner posted the video clip on Twitter:

Rodgers after playfully shoving Mostert says, “I’m still mad about a few years ago.”

It’s not made explicitly clear that Rodgers is talking about the 2019 NFC championship game, but it’s hard to believe he’s referring to anything else. Mostert was injured and not playing the three times the 49ers and Packers faced off after that NFC championship game.

Escaping Mostert may not be easy for Rodgers since they’re in the same division now. Having to face a reminder of the 2019 NFC championship game twice a season may make the loss a little harder to get over for the former Packers QB.

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Where the Saints stand in the NFL playoff picture after Week 12

Where do the New Orleans Saints stand in the NFL playoff picture after Week 12? Another loss has them on the outside looking in:

Yikes. The New Orleans Saints came out of their bye week and took a loss to the Atlanta Falcons which didn’t just shuffle the NFC South standings — it also dropped the Saints down past several conference rivals in the NFL playoff picture.

Here is how the Saints stack up among their peers:

NFL Power Rankings Week 13: Seahawks sink to 16, Broncos into top 10

Here’s how we rank all 32 NFL teams heading into Week 13.

Common sense says the Philadelphia Eagles can’t keep getting away with this. On Sunday Philly won yet another close call, this time defeating the Buffalo Bills in overtime. Eagles fans would probably prefer a more comfortable point differential at this point in the season, but they’ll certainly take the league’s best record. Once again Philadelphia is at the top of our power rankings. Despite yet another heartbreaking overtime loss for Josh Allen and the Bills, we decided not to penalize them as they took the No. 1 team down to the wire.

The team that took the biggest tumble in our rankings this week was the Cleveland Browns, who lost to Russell Wilson and the red-hot Denver Broncos. More concerning than what happened on the field was the sight of Myles Garrett wearing a sling on his left arm after the game. Cleveland is down from No. 5 to No. 10.

As for the Seattle Seahawks, they have lost three of their last four games – and their only win was thanks to a last-second field goal by Jason Myers over the lowly Washington Commanders. Seattle’s latest loss to the San Francisco 49ers dropped them three more spots in our rankings, so they’re down to No. 16 in the league. The Niners remain in second place behind Philly, who they will face next week.

Seahawks seek help in the trenches in this 2024 NFL mock draft

One of the teams that made the most progress was the Green Bay Packers, who upset the Detroit Lions on the road and have won three of their last four overall. The Pack are now up to No. 13 in our rankings.

The biggest jump this week belonged to the Atlanta Falcons, who rose up eight spots after taking possession of first place in the NFC South from the New Orleans Saints. Atlanta remains a tough out despite their criminal misuse of Bijan Robinson and no real quarterback to speak of. Let’s get to the full rankings.

Here’s how we rank all 32 NFL teams heading into Week 13.

Third time’s the charm? Derek Carr seeking first career win vs. Falcons

Third time’s the charm? Derek Carr is seeking his first career win against the Falcons after two previous defeats:

Derek Carr accomplished a lot in his nine years with the Raiders, but the quarterback has yet to beat every team in the NFL. Now with the New Orleans Saints, he’ll have an opportunity to notch his first win over the Atlanta Falcons on Sunday after twice coming up short.

Carr’s first loss to Atlanta came back in 2016, when he threw for 299 yards with 3 touchdown passes without a turnover, but it wasn’t enough (the Falcons triumphed 35-28, pulling away with a big fourth-quarter scoring output). It was an admirable performance in a losing effort.

Things weren’t as impressive in his second outing. The Falcons bulldozed Carr’s Raiders 43-6 in 2020, nearly three years ago to the day of their last meeting (Nov. 29). Carr was sacked three times and threw an interception to Falcons linebacker Deion Jones which was returned 67 yards for a touchdown, also losing three fumbles. It wasn’t much to write home about.

So hopefully Carr can bounce back and take care of the Falcons on Sunday for the Saints. He’s had two opportunities to get his first-ever wins over other teams earlier this season, but he exited both games with injuries. He left the Green Bay Packers game after taking the lead but was pulled from the Minnesota Vikings matchup while facing a steep deficit. Let’s hope for smoother sailing on Sunday in Atlanta.

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NFL Twitter roasts Jack Harlow’s oddly small halftime set

NFL fans on Twitter roasted Jack Harlow’s underwhelming halftime show on Thanksgiving

The Atlanta Falcons play on Sunday, but many fans are enjoying their Thanksgiving afternoon with their families watching football.

The Detroit Lions and Green Bay Packers got things started on Thursday afternoon, but the most interesting thing to happen was Jack Harlow’s odd halftime show.

The Lions were trailing, 23-6, to the Packers at halftime when Harlow came out in front of an agitated Detroit crowd. Not only was Harlow’s performance flat, but his stage was unusually small.

Fans on Twitter had a field day poking fun at the Lions halftime show.

How have the Saints fared when playing on Thanksgiving?

The Saints don’t play on Thanksgiving this year, but they have played on Turkey Day four times. Do they have a winning record on the holiday?

The New Orleans Saints don’t play this year on Thanksgiving, and they don’t have a long history of playing on Turkey Day. Along with the Atlanta Falcons, the Saints have played the most Thanksgiving games in the division. The Saints and Falcons have ironically faced off on Thanksgiving for two of each team’s four games on the holiday. Only five NFL teams have played fewer Thanksgiving games than the Saints, and three have been around for less than 30 years.

How has New Orleans performed in their limited action? The first of the Saints four Thanksgiving games in 2010 against the Dallas Cowboys. New Orleans’ debut was dramatic and came down to the wire. The most memorable play was Malcolm Jenkins chasing down Roy Williams to force a touchdown-saving fumble.

The Saints returned to Thanksgiving in 2018 and 2019 against the Falcons in sort of a home and home Thanksgiving series. The venue was irrelevant. The Saints came out with the win in both years, highlighted by Shy Tuttle stiff arming Matt Ryan into Christmas. Unfortunately, the Saints final game on the fourth Thursday of November ended with an ugly loss to the Buffalo Bills in 2021. That was their largest margin of defeat that year. All-time, New Orleans is 3-1.

This year’s slate of NFL games on Thanksgiving (and Black Friday):

  • Green Bay Packers at Detroit Lions (11:30 a.m. CT)
  • Washington Commanders at Dallas Cowboys (3:30 p.m. CT)
  • San Francisco 49ers at Seattle Seahawks (7:20 p.m. CT)
  • Miami Dolphins at New York Jets (2 p.m. CT on Friday, Nov. 24)

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NFC Playoff Picture: Where the Saints stand after Week 11’s games

NFC Playoff Picture: Where the Saints stand after Week 11’s games

The New Orleans Saints were resting on their bye during Week 11’s games, and there’s a lot to learn about the state of the NFC playoff picture. If the postseason started today, the Saints would be hosting a home playoff game.

But about the other teams? Who is still in the hunt for a playoff seed? Let’s break it down: