FMIA Week 6: Robert Saleh’s “Hell on Wheels” Jets, and Rust Belt Fever in the NFL

Week six boldface names:

The New York Football Giants, despite an awful hiccup in play-calling just before halftime, came to play Sunday night. Linebacker Bobby Okereke in particular. Good to see no white flags out of that flagship franchise.

Joe Burrow, I saw what you did. It was cool. And I’m going to tell America about it.

No unbeaten teams left. Eagles and Niners bite dust.

One winless team left. Carolina, 0-6. Goodness flickered in the first quarter for Bryce Young, but it’s going to be a long year for the Panthers.

Thirty-two days. That’s how long after having surgery to repair a full torn Achilles Aaron Rodgers walked onto the field at MetLife Stadium Sunday without crutches or assistance … and threw football after football downfield. Well, okay then.

Robert Saleh: “It’s amazing after what happened to him how determined he is, and how positive he is. That’s why wins like this mean so much. They feed him.”

The Lions, 13-3 since last Halloween, are passing every test, as they did against the Creamsicle people Sunday in Tampa.

Craig Reynolds, I aim to be sure that a kid from Kutztown (Pa.) University gets his due. You made the block of the year, so far, in the NFL.

Roger Goodell, either this week at the league’s fall meetings in New York or sometime soon, will be getting a contract extension through at least 2027, when Goodell would be 68. A formality. It’s been close to done since May.

Commissioners. In the last 63.5 years, America has had 13 presidents (Eisenhower, Kennedy, Johnson, Nixon, Ford, Carter, Reagan, Bush I, Clinton, Bush II, Obama, Trump, Biden) and three NFL commissioners (Rozelle, Tagliabue, Goodell), who are thankful there were no term limits.

Peter King should be a history teacher!

Baker Mayfield is an honest dude. The Bucs QB creamsicled all over himself after being routed by the Lions at home: “I sucked today. We sucked today. It was awful.”

Neil Hornsby, the Pro Football Focus guy. The Brit with the thick accent. You may know him. Get to know him for something entirely different.

Matt Prater: Will we talk about him for Canton one day? Doubt it, but man, what a weapon. Detroit’s not made many personnel mistakes in the past three or four years, but not re-signing Prater after 2020 and watching him make 15 bombs for the Cardinals in the last 2.3 years has to hurt.

Tyreek Hill is great, and as long as he and Tua Tagovailoa stay upright the Dolphins will be one of the toughest outs in the NFL. I don’t get the selfie stuff, but hey, I’m 66.

Jim Schwartz, take a bow.

Jake Moody, you’ve got to make that 41-yarder … but kudos to a diving Denzel Ward coming off the left end and pressuring the kick, preserving the Browns’ stunning upset of the Niners.

The Niners will be fine—I think—as long as their physical style doesn’t knock out their greatness before November. Without Deebo Samuel and Christian McCaffrey, this is a nice team, not a championship one.

Hey, Calais Campbell: 233 NFL games, 100 sacks. Now that’s a cool milestone for a former Man of the Year and a teammate hundreds of NFL players admire. “Cool to be part of an elite club,” Campbell said of the 100-sack fraternity.

Hey, Desmond Ridder: There’s action in the bullpen, the manager’s on the top step of the dugout, and you’re on your last batter. If you’re lucky.

Bill Belichick coached his 500^th NFL game Sunday in Las Vegas. Another loss, 21-17. You’d be impressed to know he’s got a 330-170 career record, the second-most wins ever … but the shine comes off it a bit when you realize the Patriots are 3-10 since last Thanksgiving.

Cooper Kupp, welcome back.

Now, on with the show.

“Tony Adams,” Saleh began, on his road home. “Undrafted rookie free agent a year ago out of Illinois. We get him in camp and you’re not expecting much out of an undrafted kid, you know? Anyone who says they’re expecting much is fooling themselves. The story on Tony coming out of college is he played every position—corner, nickel, safety. Because of all that versatility, it kind of hurt him in the sense that nobody was really sure what he was. We thought if we just put him at one position, I think he’ll be alright. So we put him at safety. That’s part of our philosophy on defense: Here’s your five things that you’ve got to do, and you’re going to do them better than anybody in the world. That’s our philosophy. He just gets better and better and better. And he got to the point where we had to make a decision. Credit [GM] Joe Douglas. You can play roster roulette and cut him at the end of the training camp or you say goodbye to a draft pick. If we lose this kid, we are gonna be sick to our stomachs. So we kept him and cut [2021 fifth-rounder] Jason Pinnock, and good for Jason—he found a home with the Giants.

“This year, Tony absolutely attacked training camp. Just got better every day. Earned the starting spot. The way he communicates, his explosiveness, his range, his instincts. Missed a couple games with a hamstring, but came back last week and now he’s got a chance to be a pretty darn good one.

“On his big play, again, credit to Ulbrich. We were showing a certain pressure that strains their protection system. When the ball was snapped, Tony kept his eyes on the quarterback. Big play, but Tony didn’t panic in the moment. He had his feet on the ground and when the quarterback threw the ball he made a break on it.”

The Jets, minus Rodgers, are 3-3. Wins over Josh Allen, Russell Wilson, Jalen Hurts. Three-point loss to Patrick Mahomes. Manageable schedule after this week’s bye. Who knows about this crazy alien Aaron Rodgers and whatever crazy power he has to heal faster than mortals? Sit back and enjoy the ride. This is one fun team to watch.

“These guys inspire me,” Saleh said. “They inspire the league. Think about the things we’ve done.”

Think about the things they might do.

Big day for the traditional northern tier teams.

Cleveland (3-2) shocked the unbeaten 49ers at home, as a frenetic crowd in the old city on Lake Erie starts to think this could be a legit playoff season.

Buffalo (4-2) shook off a lousy night on offense and survived the Giants at home.

And Detroit (5-1), flexed to a national TV doubleheader game for the first time in forever, had probably 25,000 Honolulu-blue-clad fans in the house in Florida and beat the Bucs 20-6.

How crazy is this: If the season ended today, all three would be in the playoffs. And that has never happened before. This is the 64th season that all three franchises have been playing pro football, and Detroit, Cleveland and Buffalo have never made the playoffs in the same season.

Let’s focus on Detroit. The win in Tampa was a perfect win for this edition of the Lions. Because it featured the perfect play. With 2:45 left in the first and the score tied at 3, Detroit had the ball at the Tampa 27-yard line. Jared Goff threw to Amon-Ra St. Brown over right end, and St. Brown turned upfield. It looked like cornerback Carlton Davis was fixing to drive St. Brown out of bounds in a pretty solid collision around the 18-yard line.

But here came running back Craig Reynolds from behind St. Brown.

“I just see Craig come out of nowhere,” St. Brown told me post-game, “and he hit Carlton Davis. Just blasted him. I saw it happen right in front of me. Craig made a huge block. Without Craig, that play’s a 10-yard gain at most. Without Craig, that play’s not happening.”

At about the 18-, Reynolds leveled Davis, knocking him off his feet completely. And St. Brown scooted in for the touchdown. I don’t remember a block from a running back as devastating as that one. To me, it said everything about the physicality and selflessness of the 2023 Lions, the team Dan Campbell has built to have both traits.

“It’s the way we play football,” St. Brown said. “We block hard. We run after the catch. We’re selfless teammates. We want what’s best for everyone on this team. We’re a tight group, especially on offense. We love each other. That’s just a testament to the chemistry that we built, the coaching our coaches have instilled in us since the spring. We’ve got to keep it going.

“We knew we were built for this. A game like this is just verification of it.”

Browns 19, Niners 17. If you saw it, you know Cleveland got a huge break when rookie kicker Jake Moody of the 49ers booted what would have been the winning 41-yard field goal 10 inches wide right with six seconds left. Such is life with a rookie kicker. But even if San Francisco won this game with that field goal, those players would have gotten on their four-hour charter flight back to the West Coast knowing, Holy crap. That is one great defense we just faced.

Defensive coordinator Jim Schwartz changed up quite a bit on the Niners. He called a season-high 71-percent man coverage snaps, per Next Gen Stats, which turned out to be hugely significant because Cleveland, a zone team most often under Schwartz, got good pressure and an excellent game from its best cover corner. Denzel Ward loves playing man. In this game, per NextGen, he allowed just two receptions for 12 yards, continuing his trend as the stingiest cover corner in the NFL. NextGen has Ward, in 2023, surrendering just 101 yards on 30 targets. A corner giving up 3.4 yards per target? Outstanding. And the Browns reveled in his coverage, and in their pressure, Sunday.

The Browns’ front didn’t let Brock Purdy breathe. Once Christian McCaffrey (oblique) and Deebo Samuel (shoulder) were lost for the game (Samuel was gone late in the first quarter, and McCaffrey played one snap in the second half), the element of physicality near the line of scrimmage was gone.

Almost forgotten was that a third-string quarterback, P.J. Walker, led Cleveland to the win. He wasn’t great, but he didn’t throw the game away, he wasn’t intimidated, and he was light years better than the starter in Cleveland’s last game against Baltimore, Dorian Thompson-Robinson, who was awful in losing to Baltimore two weeks ago.

Walker told me post-game that Deshaun Watson—who missed his second game with a rotator cuff contusion—was an extra coach on the field during the game. “He walked me through what he saw on the mistake I made on that interception [by Deommodore Lenoir, intended for Amari Cooper].” That pick, in the fourth quarter, led to San Francisco’s go-ahead touchdown, and he said Watson encouraged him to make he sure he throws a pass in that situation “to give our guy a chance.” Walker’s throw was significantly off-target.

Beating the best team in football—hard to argue any team other than San Francisco deserved that title after five weeks—was clearly the highlight of Walker’s eight-start NFL career. “This means a lot,” he said. “Just to go out there and just to know that the guys in this locker room got my back, and they’re ready to go to battle with me, it means the world. I just want them to know I got their back as well.”

I know why Joe Burrow, aside from his passing proficiency, is so well-liked and -respected by his teammates. We saw it Sunday in Cincinnati’s game against Seattle. Burrow threw a three-yard TD pass to rookie sixth-round pick Andrei Iosivas from Princeton in the second quarter, giving the Bengals a 14-7 lead; it turned out to be the winning touchdown in a 17-13 victory. In the excitement after the catch, Iosivas, a level-headed young guy on his 24^th birthday, didn’t hang onto the ball, thinking there was a penalty on the play. There was not. In the midst of the celebration, Burrow ignored the excitement, went to the ballboy on the sideline, asked where the touchdown ball was, and fetched it from the end zone. With a wide grin, Burrow ran to Iosivas and handed it to him.

“Great play bro,” Burrow said to Mr. Princeton.

“Wow!” Iosivas said to Burrow. “Thanks for getting me the ball!”

“No problem.”

Imagine you’re Iosivas. You’re an Ivy League receiver, happy to be picked anywhere in the NFL draft, and you go to a place with three star wideouts and the highest-paid player in NFL history, Burrow, throwing to them. You make the team and in game six you catch your first TD pass—and the quarterback, one of the biggest stars in the game, goes foraging for the ball to make sure you get it. Now that’s cool.

“I saw it,” said Jimmy Burrow, the QB’s dad, who was at the game. “I was proud of Joe. It’s crazy he would think of that in a critical moment of the game. But he likes that kid and I’m sure he thought, ‘The kid should have the ball.’”

I asked the dad where that ultimate team thing came from.

“Good question,” Jimmy Burrow said. “He cares so much about his teammates. When there’s an opportunity to celebrate, with a rookie especially, he thinks it’s a priority, I guess. He understands it’s part of the culture of the Bengals, and part of his responsibility as a leader, to do things like that. I do think it’s a big deal.

“Something else happened today like that. We’ve got a new punter [rookie Brad Robbins], and his family came up to introduce themselves to me. They told me Joe came up to him in the locker room when he got there and asked, ‘What’s your name? Where are you from?’ The kid told him, and Joe said, ‘Good to meet you. I’m Joe.’

“That’s just Joe.”

As Iosivas said, “He’s a great teammate. He knows what it means to be the new guy, the late-round draft pick. He’s super-constructive, never toxic. When you mess up, he comes over and just tells you what to do, how to fix it. It’s incredible having him as my quarterback.”

Heard of Neil Hornsby? He’s the bloke from England who turned an obsession with football beginning in 1983 into a business called Pro Football Focus, now PFF, and now into United States citizenship.

“Are you an American citizen today because of football?” I asked Hornsby Saturday.

“One hundred percent correct,” Hornsby said, in the thick British accent that’s made more than one NFL type think: What does HE know about football? “There’s no other reason. I would not have come here if it wasn’t for football. I got a Visa because I was bringing a business to America that was going to create jobs. I got to love America, and it made me want to be a citizen.”

It happened Thursday, in a United States District Court in Cincinnati, the Honorable Douglas R. Cole presiding. Hornsby and wife Claire, with 58 others from around the globe, became naturalized U.S. citizens.

It’s been quite a trip. Hornsby was studying physics at Liverpool University in 1983 when he saw an NFL highlight show on British TV. He was smitten, particularly with Dan Marino. As the years went on, though his professional career in Luton, England, was fine and he was making good money as a consultant, Hornsby couldn’t get enough of the NFL. He rounded up four or five fellow football nerds and began spending 30 to 40 hours a week in the fall grading every player on every play in every NFL game early this century. In 2009, the Giants began paying for some of the data, ands slowly, more and more teams bought in, and in 2014, Cris Collinsworth bought a majority share of the company from Hornsby for what writer Matthew Coller reported was $6 million.

The combination of play-time data, micro-analyzing every play by every player, and the collection and dissemination of NFL coaches video by categories catapulted PFF into power positions on many teams. In preparing for Super Bowl LII six years ago, Eagles coaches told me the winning play—the TD pass from Nick Foles to Zach Ertz, singled on Devin McCourty—came from intense study of the video folder of PFF’s stacks and bunches. “I was gobsmacked by that,” said Hornsby.

Hornsby, 59, parted ways with PFF in late 2021 and is seeking a new venture or ventures. Whatever he does, it’ll likely be based in his adopted hometown of Cincinnati. “I love the people at PFF,” he said. “I love my neighbors. They’ve been so open. I think they’re more excited about me and Claire becoming citizens than we are.

“When I left PFF in 2021, Claire and I realized we wanted to stay here. I like the space, I like the freedom, I like the neighbors, I like the people—here and in football and in journalism.

“I have to say, both Claire and I were surprised how emotional we were in the citizenship ceremony. Sixty people becoming citizens from 30 countries—Bhutan, Cambodia, Cameroon, the Congo, Ecuador, Mali, Senegal, Tajikistan, Togo, all these places and more. This is Cincinnati! This isn’t New York! And at the end of the ceremony—this was quite something—the judge said, ‘Welcome home.’”

One of the stunning, out-of-nowhere stories in the first six weeks of the NFL season is the emergence of a fifth-round receiver, Puka Nacua of the Rams.

Nacua, on what he’s learned in the first five months of his NFL life:

“I think having my own silent confidence. I’m not a big vocal guy. I feel like I don’t really say too much or act very flashy. But I have that confidence in myself because I do belong here and the work that I put in will help me stay here. To walk in with that and to do the things that are necessary to earn that confidence and then kind of just trust. I trust [Matthew Stafford] so much that I feel like I can catch the ball with my eyes closed. I know that he wouldn’t put me in a situation that wasn’t the best for me. I trust Cooper Kupp so much that when he’s telling me, Hey, the corner’s going to play you like this, I know he’s seen it and I trust him. I’ve learned to trust smart people who’ve been there for a long time. They’ve communicated to me at the highest level.

“I’ve been the little brother in my family for a long time. I learned a lot about football from that. The ability to compete and always wanting to be better than the guy that’s right in front of me, as much as I might love him, has been so important to my development. We’d compete, then we’d go home and we’d eat dinner at the same table and love each other. I think that encompasses the game of football, especially in the locker room, of being able to compete against these guys to the maximum level but then also have the camaraderie and the brotherhood that is involved in the game of football.”

A recurring element in the column this year: a video memory of one of my favorite memories of 40 years covering pro football.

After Bill Belichick won his second Super Bowl with the Patriots in February 2004, I spent a month working on a Belichick profile for Sports Illustrated. Educational, particularly the trip to his boyhood home in Annapolis, Md., meeting his parents and standing in young Bill’s starkly plain room in the house.

One of the things I’ll always remember from this story: Belichick’s mom, Jeannette, saying to me, “Would you like to see Bill’s room?”

Why yes. Yes I would.

As Belichick seems to be skating on thin ice for the Patriots after two decades of success, I found myself thinking of my story from 2004:

Last point: Belichick’s not altogether the dour guy the public thinks. I talked to several of his former assistant coaches, going back to the Cleveland days, while researching this piece. Lots of interesting things. In Cleveland, before the coaching staff headed off on vacation every June, Belichick would distribute the proceeds from his TV and radio shows to his assistants—maybe $12,000 a man—and take nothing for himself. “Bill remembered what it was like to be an assistant coach,” his former line coach, Kirk Ferentz, now the head coach at Iowa, told me. “He gave everyone a second Christmas. You think that doesn’t make you loyal?”

Bill Belichick, complex guy. But one of the best to ever do it, regardless of how it ends in New England.

Offensive players of the week

Cooper Kupp, wide receiver, L.A. Rams. Kupp’s back after his second straight big game returning from a hamstring injury (118 yards last week against Philly, 148 Sunday against the Cards). Sunday’s output, which included his first TD reception in 53 weeks, was his best yardage total in two years. Good to see Kupp play with abandon at age 30, looking like the player who was a huge reason for the Rams’ Super Bowl title.

Craig Reynolds, running back, Detroit. Made the skill-position block of the season to break open the Lions-Bucs game late in the first half in the land of the Creamsicle. With Amon-Ra St. Brown steaming around the right end after taking a pass from Jared Goff inside the Tampa 25-yard line, Reynolds obliterated a would-be tackler, corner Carlton Davis, at the Tampa 18-yard line. St. Brown scored, the Lions never trailed, and Detroit moved to 5-1 thanks to selfless plays like the block from Reynolds.

Defensive players of the week

Tony Adams, safety, N.Y. Jets. With the Jets heavy ‘dogs against the unbeaten Eagles, and facing Jalen Hurts without both starting corners, New York needed a hero in the secondary to have an edge in an emotional game at the Meadowlands Sunday. The edge came at the two-minute warning, with the Eagles up 14-12 and driving for insurance. Adams picked off Hurts, and on the next snap, Breece Hall scored the winning TD on a run against a matador Philly defense.

Myles Garrett, defensive end, Cleveland. He’s had starrier individual games, but I loved how omnipresent he was all day against the formidable Niners offense. Per NextGen Stats, his four pressures generated in 15 one-on-one matchups against star left tackle Trent Williams was the most surrendered by Williams in the last 24 games. Williams warned the world a week ago this was going to be a very tough game to win, and the combination of Jim Schwartz’s schemes and so many top defenders playing at their peak led to a Cleveland victory.

Bobby Okereke, linebacker, New York Giants. “Okereke’s playing like Fred Warner out here!” said Cris Collinsworth at the end of the third quarter, when he stoned Latavius Murray for a two-yard loss at the Giants’ one- on the last play of the third quarter. He had 11 tackles and a forced fumble.

Cam Taylor-Britt, cornerback, Cincinnati. There could have been nine different Bengals in this space, and my apologies to Mike Hilton, Trey Hendrickson, Sam Hubbard et al for overlooking them in favor of Taylor-Britt. He’s here because of the acrobatic, parallel-to-the-ground interception he made off Geno Smith, the two additional pass breakups, and the seven tackles against the physical Seattle offense. A terrific game by Taylor-Britt when the Bengals desperately needed it.

Special teams players of the week

Matt Prater, kicker, Arizona. The all-time mad bomber among kickers. Prater’s 55-yard field goal in the first quarter at the Rams Sunday was the 74^th field goal of 50 yards or longer in his 17-year NFL career. For some perspective, the list of the greatest kickers ever—Hall of Famers or likely Hall of Famers—with 50-yard-plus field goals: Justin Tucker 58, Adam Vinatieri 45, Morten Andersen 40, Jan Stenerud 17.

Devin Duvernay, receiver/returner, Baltimore. The NFL’s first-team all-pro punt-returner in 2021 broke the longest one of his career—a 70-yard weaving, sprinting gem of a return, from his 13-yard line to the Titans’ 17-yard line—to set up a Justin Tucker field goal when the Ravens were having trouble finishing drives in the first half. When you play the Titans, you figure it’s going to be a ground conflict, and the special-teams yardage becomes vital. In the Ravens’ uneven 24-16 win in London, Duvernay had 132 return yards, crucial to the Baltimore cause.

Coaches of the Week

Jim Schwartz, defensive coordinator, Cleveland. Schwartz designed a scheme that continually frustrated Brock Purdy, the quarterback who strafed Dallas for four touchdown passes and 42 points last week. Twelve drives for the Niners, six three-and-outs, only one drive over 55 yards. The Browns have allowed 200.4 yards per game and a stingy 51.4-percent accuracy rate by opposing passers in their 3-2 start. That’s going to keep the Browns, with their struggling offense, in a lot of games.

Mike Westhoff, assistant head coach, Denver. Denver didn’t beat Kansas City Thursday night, but I picked Westhoff for a play that I replayed a dozen times because it epitomized coaching. I thought it was superb preparation of the Broncos’ field-goal defense team by Westhoff and his special-teams coordinator, Ben Kotwica, against one of the best special-teams coordinators in football, Kansas City’s Dave Toub. It’s the kind of play that makes football such a compelling game: very bright coach against very bright coach. The situation: mid-second quarter, Kansas City ball, fourth-and-two at the Denver six-yard line. KC sent out Harrison Butker to kick a chip-shot field goal. As the play clock wound down, upback Noah Gray, a tight end, got under center and the holder, punter Tommy Townsend, and tackle/special-teamer Wanya Morris hurried behind Gray. A fake, obviously. The Tush Push. I guarantee Westhoff and Kotwica drilled these young players on Denver’s special teams on the very-low-leverage-sneaks in training camp. Now it would come in handy. As the KC players re-jiggered the play, the Denver line morphed too. Outside linebacker Josey Jewell and defensive end Matt Henningsen got low between the tackles, with three other defensive linemen crowding the line, and when the ball was snapped, Jewell and Henningsen led the charge against the sneak by Gray. A great effort by Denver resulted in the leverage of the middle of the line winning against a 240-pound tight end (Gray) and 498 pounds of pushers (Townsend and Morris). And KC got stopped.

This play mattered, because if Kansas City converted, a field goal or touchdown likely would have followed, and the score would have been 19-0 or 23-0 starting the fourth quarter. A three-score game, not two-, which it was. It changed the eventual complexion of the game.

Goats of the Week

Jake Moody, kicker, San Francisco. We continue to see highly drafted kickers (mostly) and punters coming up small. Moody, the Michigan man drafted 99^th overall last April, pushed a 41-yarder that would have been the game-winner in Cleveland a foot wide right with six seconds left. The Niners are unbeaten no more. Browns, 19-17.

Desmond Ridder, quarterback, Atlanta. With the Falcons down eight and in the red zone with five minutes to play, Ridder had the kind of nightmarish sequence that could cost a quarterback his job. The three deadly plays:

• Second-and-goal, Washington 2-yard line: Ridder rolled right, tight end MyCole Pruitt had half a step on his man in the end zone, and Ridder threw it over his head.
• Third-and-goal, Washington 2-yard line: Delay of game.
• Third-and-goal, Washington 7-yard line: Could have been delay of game again; the whole operation was slow. Ridder threw an ill-advised poorly aimed pass to Drake London in the end zone, picked off by Washington’s Benjamin St-Juste. Watch the replay. Threw off his back foot, way short for his man, and right into St-Juste’s hands. How can a player with legitimate college experience like Ridder play like this?

Amazingly, Ridder had two more chances. He went four-and-out with three minutes left, then threw another pick, intended for Bijan Robinson, with 31 seconds left. Hard to imagine Arthur Smith, who set an NFL record for pained sideline closeups, isn’t thinking about going to Taylor Heinicke next week at Tampa Bay.

I.

--Pugh, in his first start after being signed as an emergency left guard for New York, with his announcement for introductions of the Giants’ starting offense on NBC’s Sunday night telecast of the New York-Buffalo game.

II.

--Niners quarterback Brock Purdy, after his first poor start and his first regular-season loss as an NFL player, against a feisty Cleveland defense.

III.

--Mark Sanchez, Fox analyst on Eagles-Jets, after Jalen Hurts threw a pick that led to the Jets taking the lead just after the two-minute warning of the fourth quarter. Hurts may have flushed it, but he did nothing with his last opportunity in the final 1:40.

IV.

--Tony Romo on CBS, watching New England quarterback Mac Jones continue his brutal season with a second-quarter pick at Las Vegas.

V.

--Tennessee defensive tackle Jeffery Simmons, who is decidedly not one of the Titans whose effort is in question, after the team lost to Baltimore in London to fall to 2-4.

VI.

--Former NFL player Mark Schlereth, on underachieving wide receiver Jerry Jeudy, on his “Schlereth and Evans Show” on 104.3 The Fan radio in Denver.

In the wake of the 19-8 victory over Denver Thursday, here’s why the Broncos, Raiders and Chargers must feel absolutely hopeless about winning the AFC West in the next 10 years against 28-year-old Patrick Mahomes:

Mahomes vs. AFC West: 28-3.

Average margin of victory in the 28 wins: 15.0 points.

Mahomes TD/INT margin in 31 AFC West games: 67-17.

I mean, Mahomes had a totally meh game Thursday night and Kansas City won by double-digits. How depressing for the other three teams in the division.

I.

Denver coach Sean Payton and Baltimore coach John Harbaugh:

• Started their NFL coaching careers a quarter-century ago on Ray Rhodes’ staff with the Eagles—Payton as quarterback coach, Harbaugh as special-teams coordinator.
• Are now six games into their 16^th seasons as NFL head coaches.
• Have each won 162 NFL games (regular season and playoffs).
• Have each won one Super Bowl and one Coach of the Year award.

II.

Nick Folk, since the start of the 2019 season, is 70-for-70 on field-goal attempts inside the 40-yard line.

Curious: Folk made 90.4 percent of his field-goal attempts for New England in the last three years. Entering his age-39 season, Folk was not re-signed by the Patriots, and he signed with Tennessee. New England picked Maryland kicker Chad Ryland in the fourth round of the ’23 draft, three years after picking Marshall kicker Justin Rohrwasser in the fifth round. Rohrwasser never played in an NFL game. Ryland is four-for-eight early in his NFL career. What, exactly, is wrong with Folk, and why did Bill Belichick spend so much draft capital and scouting energy trying to replace him?

In 2023, Folk leads the NFL with 16 field goals in 16 attempts. Classic case of, It was not broke, but Belichick tried to fix it.

Reach me at peterkingfmia@gmail.com.

A preamble: We lament the bad things about instant reaction and how easy it is for readers and fans to react irreverently and sometimes rudely to people like me. For the first 15 years I was a sportswriter, a reader who wanted to comment on a story of mine would have to sit down, write a letter, and mail it to me. I might not see the letter for a week or two, and most of the time that was it—I didn’t have a column with letters in it. Obviously, today, it’s easy for people to respond and give their opinions with social media and email being so prevalent. I try to give some readers every week a voice. I think it’s important for those who disagree with me to be able to have their say as much as, or more than, those who praise me. I want to point that out because it’s important to realize we work to serve people who read us, and it’s good to hear things from you, even if the things aren’t positive.

I read the vast majority of the emails you send—there are about 200 of them per week, on average. I don’t have a staff that filters them out and sends me some; I’m the staff. Believe me when I say I appreciate all of them.

On the violence and war against Israelis. From Frank Worthington: “To not mention the abhorrent violence we saw in Israel this weekend at the hands of Hamas terrorists speaks volumes. Get out of your deep blue Brooklyn bubble and show some empathy for the tragedies befalling the Israeli people.”

Frank, you and 15 or so others pointed this out. It is my fault. Different weekend last week. On Thursday, I flew to the Bay Area to be with my daughter and family for the occasion of my granddaughter’s fifth birthday, for my grandson’s soccer game, to hang out with them for the first time in a few weeks, and then to cover the Cowboys-49ers game. The section of the column that I write about non-football things was filed to my editor at 2:45 p.m. ET Friday, before the Hamas attacks, with one thing about Simone Biles added from my NBC co-worker Sarah Hughes on Sunday. From the time the kids got out of school Friday to Monday morning, I was unaware of world events. The news was not on in my daughter’s house, and I’m not much for social media these days, so I did not know about the events regarding Israel till I turned on NPR Monday. The carnage is horrendous and Hamas’ attacks on the Israelis utterly indefensible. Reading about the butchery over the last few days was stomach-turning. I stand with all who say the Hamas attacks must be stopped, and stopped now. I’ve been glad to see so much of the world united in support of Israel. I support Israel as well.

Didn’t like my criticism of The Ringer. From Matt Weissman: “I think you went a bit overboard on your critique of The Ringer ranking Brock Purdy so low. It was one writer on staff, not the whole entity. He seems to have gotten it wrong. It happens. Especially in today’s world of ranking everything every week. I am sure that writer would like to have it back. It seemed like a petty, unnecessary potshot at a rival organization.”
Thanks for the note, Matt. I got a few emails about me pointing out The Ringer ranked Brock Purdy the number 25 quarterback in the league last week. [Purdy was ranked 22^nd after his four-TD game and 42-10 victory against Dallas.] If you read my column, Matt, I would guess I spend an average of 1,000 words a week pointing out what I consider to be really good things from media members in the previous week. So if I find something I disagree with, on the subject leading my column that week, I can’t point that out? In this case, I found something I felt was off-base; I felt after watching Purdy and this offense through five weeks that if you can rank Purdy 25^th or 22^nd in the league, there’s something wrong with your methodology. Obviously the writer, Steven Ruiz, who I think is good and thorough, didn’t want to take it back. He feels the way he feels, and I disagree. These things happen in a free society.

You’re anointing Purdy too fast. From Terry B.: “We get it. You’re the president of the Brock Purdy Fan Club. I wish you sportswriters would let a guy play for a few seasons before calling him the MVP and the next big thing.”

You might be right about rushing to judgment on Purdy, Terry. But I’m not sure that’s what I did after Purdy won the 13^th NFL game out of 13 in which he’s played a majority of time. He just beat the Cowboys by 32, eighteen months after being the last pick in the draft. Obviously, he had his worst game as a pro in Cleveland, and who knows? He might not be as good as he looked in his first 13 games. We’ll see.

His subject line was “A sincere concern …” From Russ Jones, of Albuquerque, N.M.: “What on EARTH do you expect people to read on Monday mornings once you retire?”

Ha! So nice of you to write, Russ. There are lots of great NFL writers out there who you will love (and may already be reading). When I’m gone, in the words of my granddaughter Hazel, “It be fine.”

1. I think that was a great game Sunday night. Really great. Loved it. Magnetized by it. Five thoughts:

• At the end of the first half, with 14 seconds left, the Giants did an all-time dumb thing. First and goal at the one-yard line, Giants up 6-0, and there’s a run by Saquon Barkley. He got stoned. Tick, tick, tick, tick. Instead of having urgency and getting to the line immediately, the Giants dawdled. Tyrod Taylor dawdled. And the clock ran out. Just awful. That cannot happen. And Brian Daboll aired out Taylor walking off the field. If Taylor audibled to the run, as was indicated post-game, he’s got to be sure if the run is short of the end zone, he can spike it so the Giants get a field goal. And that didn’t happen. Inexcusable.
• The winning TD pass, from Josh Allen to Quintin Morris with 3:48 left in the game, was a superb throw into a tiny window. Amazing, too, that Morris had not been targeted for a single pass all season.
• The Giants played magnificently on defense, holding the Bills without a touchdown for three quarters. Linebacker Bobby Okereke, who came from Indy in free-agency last spring, played the game of his life—11 tackles, two for losses, two passes deflected, and a forced fumble. He was everywhere. Noble effort for four quarters by the Giants.
• Now to the end of the game. Tyrod Taylor to Darren Waller on an untimed down, after Waller got interfered with over the middle in the end zone as time expired. So here came one last down, from the one-yard line. Bills corner Taron Johnson grabbed Waller’s jersey and got away with it. Not the most egregious non-call for DPI that I’ve seen, but it was interference, and it was not called.
• Finally, some praise for Justin Pugh, in his first game for the franchise since 2017. Less than a year after getting major knee surgery, he signed and played with the Giants. Amazingly, he hadn’t played tackle with any regularity since 2017, and he had to play 38 pass-blocking snaps at left tackle Sunday night, per NextGen. He allowed just three pressures. That pressure rate—just 7.9 percent—is the lowest of any Giants left tackle in 2023.

2. I think I will never understand if I see the replay 64 more times how the officials didn’t call a fumble on Cleveland quarterback P.J. Walker on an intentional-grounding call late in the first half deep in Cleveland territory. Probably cost San Francisco a field goal. Might have cost San Francisco the game.

3. I think Jim Schwartz was the best hire, head coach or coordinator, in the 2023 hiring cycle. If the Browns can win enough games in the teens, they’ll make the playoffs.

4. I think the football story of the week was Kalyn Kahler’s investigation for The Athletic into the poor culture of the Arizona Cardinals under owner Michael Bidwill. A few points:

a. Per Kahler: “Avoiding Bidwill’s wrath was made more difficult because he sometimes involved himself in minor or mundane workplace tasks. One former employee said he became upset when a new hire’s cell phone number was assigned the 480 area code used in the Phoenix suburbs instead of the 602 area code for the city center. Another time, after a department opted to turn off the fluorescent lights above their cubicles in favor of softer lighting, one employee said Bidwill flipped the fluorescent lights back and announced: ‘Here we work with the lights on!”

b. Kahler noted there was no human resources director from 2008 to 2021, and that a new HR person was hired in 2021 and lasted two months and didn’t even put the job experience in his LinkedIn page, and she quotes an employee who talked about what an oppressive place it was to work. “People [employees] just didn’t say anything,” one Cardinals front-office worker said. “They complain under their breath, and they go into their car at lunch and they cry.”

c. I found Bidwill’s statement to The Athletic, in response to the reporting on a toxic workplace culture, highly interesting: “As I have said personally to every member of the Cardinals organization, I certainly have room to grow and with the benefit of hindsight, would have done some things differently over the years. I also know that my direct approach doesn’t always land well, and I’m working on that. I have always been driven by the desire to learn and improve and more importantly, to use those lessons in building the best organization possible. Over the last several years, we have taken significant steps to improve our culture and build a stronger community. We are a better and more inclusive organization today than we were yesterday and I’m extremely excited about what we can be tomorrow.”

d. No denials. No pushback on story after story of “this is an awful place to work.” In essence, all of Kahler’s reporting was confirmed by the man she was quasi-eviscerating. Great job of reporting, and great to shine the light on one of the teams we don’t know much about because of its low profile in a much louder NFL.

e. Let’s not forget the burner-phone charges levied by former Cardinals executive Terry McDonough, who claims he was ordered by Bidwill to use an untraceable phone to communicate with suspended GM Steve Keim while he was banned because of a DUI. McDonough is backed on his version of this story by former head coach Steve Wilks. Here’s hoping the NFL acts faster on this charge from McDonough than the glacial pace it used in investigating Daniel Snyder.

5. I think anyone who is not concerned about Deshaun Watson’s shoulder should start being concerned. He hasn’t practiced fully in 24 days. He missed his second game Sunday, off a bye, and best guess is he could miss at least one more still.

6. I think it’s not impossible Kirk Cousins gets traded, but I think it’s unlikely … unless an injury at quarterback forces a playoff-contending coach very familiar with Cousins, who could play to his strengths, to look for a quarterback. My guess is if the 49ers got an injury to Brock Purdy, they’d go with Sam Darnold. But if Miami loses Tua Tagovailoa before the Oct. 31 trade deadline, who knows if Mike McDaniel would want to roll the dice with Cousins for the rest of the year. There’s one other factor: Cousins has a no-trade clause. He’s very likely not going to waive it, no matter how bad the situation gets in Minnesota in the next two weeks, unless it’s—as I said—to a coach he knows well, with an offense he could master.

7. I think the one other thing about football trades, particularly at quarterback, is how difficult it is to transition in-season to a new offense. If a team is jonesing for Cousins, it’s going to have to be a team willing to cut the offensive playbook way back so Cousins can feel somewhat comfortable playing early. Also: A team interested in this player has to understand that Cousins won’t be abandoning his family to devote himself 100 percent to his next job. That shouldn’t be considered a slight to his profession, but rather an appreciation for a guy whose family is very important to him.

8. I think compensation will be difficult too, because you’d be paying for a two-month player. Cousins will be free after this season. The Rams paid second- and third-round picks for Von Miller to make a Super Bowl run. Would there be another similarly desperate team in the next two weeks? Doubtful.

9. I think the latest episode of the NFL Icons series (MGM+, formerly EPIX, Saturday at 10 p.m. ET) has a revealing look into the psyche of the greatest running back ever, Jim Brown. Two of the all-time greats have died a half-year apart. Last week I told some stories about the late Dick Butkus. Now hear the great Jim Brown, from NFL Icons, on why he didn’t like to run out of bounds to avoid contact: “Let me be emphatic about that: For me to run out of bounds because of a collision is to admit weakness. If a 185-pound cornerback is going to make me go out of bounds, I’m going to be building up his ego. I’m going to try to drop a forearm into his chest. Sometimes when you do that, miracles happen. Sometimes you get away. And then if I get an extra yard, I get an extra inch, that’s a part of my psyche. So I can’t turn it on and turn it off. I have to turn it on and keep it on until the game is over.”

10. I think these are my other thoughts of the week:

a. Loved this story by Mike Silver in the San Francisco Chronicle on longtime activist and 49er institution Harry Edwards, 80, who is suffering from terminal bone cancer.

b. It’s heartening to see Silver reflect on Edwards’ civil rights accomplishments while he’s still alive. Those are well worth remembering. As is this statement from Edwards about facing death with valor: “This is just about the end of the line for me. It’s not a morbid or fearful situation. We have an obligation to show those coming after that this inevitable phase of life can be handled with courage, dignity, grace and even a modicum of humor.”

c. Cautionary Tale of the Week: ESPN’s foray into sports betting, examined here clinically by Robbie Whelan, Katherine Sayre and Jessica Toonkel of The Wall Street Journal, would scare me a lot if I knew people who are casual or manic sports bettors.

d. Why the scare tactic? Because most sports fans are inextricably tied to ESPN for at least part of their fan experience. And now they’re going to be hit over the head with endless ads and daily shows and pleas to “Gamble, gamble, gamble!” I’ve said this a lot, and not to be an angry old man, but 10 or 15 years from now, just wait to see the flood of middle-aged people in this country addicted to gambling. The day’s coming. It’s inevitable. It’s sad.

e. The WSJ writers on Disney CEO Bob Iger’s 10-year agreement with sports-gambling company Penn National, a deal that had its roots when Iger re-took the top Disney job last November:

Iger had told interviewers that he had seen the writing on the wall for the traditional TV business, which was showing signs of being on its deathbed.

Overall, Disney was struggling. Its foundering share price had drawn attacks from activist investors … Its streaming business was bleeding cash and its whole traditional television business, more than just ESPN, was suffering … Disney is currently exploring potential strategic partners for ESPN and has had talks with major sports leagues about it.

Iger quickly set about trimming fat, announcing $5.5 billion in budget cuts and the elimination of 7,000 positions, around 3% of Disney’s total global workforce.

Soon, Iger warmed up to sports betting. His adult sons’ use of sports-betting apps opened his eyes to its popularity with a younger audience, he told associates. He said that it is “inevitable” that sports-watching and sports-betting will go hand-in-hand, and he blessed Pitaro’s efforts to find Disney a partner. Getting involved with gambling was the only way to ensure that ESPN [was] able to continue to attract younger audiences, he reasoned.

… Many on-air stars are eager to get involved with ESPN Bet, and the company plans to announce an expanded talent lineup to host and promote its gambling-related products and shows. ESPN forged a partnership with former NFL punter and foul-mouthed YouTube star Pat McAfee … He will promote ESPN Bet to his audience.

ESPN is also considering alternative broadcasts of games focused on betting, similar to the popular version of Monday Night Football hosted by former NFL stars and brothers Eli and Peyton Manning that airs on ESPN2 and ESPN+, and plans to promote betting to its growing fantasy-sports audience.

f. It’s coming, and you cannot stop it.

g. Now for some baseball. Great line by Jason Gay of The Wall Street Journal: “Phillies have an incredible number of players who look like they could work in a reptile shop.”

h. My opinion on the “clubhouse/locker room as sanctuary” controversy from the baseball playoffs: Philadelphia’s Bryce Harper was doubled off first base to end game two of the N.L. division series at Atlanta, and in the Braves’ clubhouse after the game, with reporters present, Atlanta’s Orlando Arcia yelled out, “Ha ha, attaboy Harper!” Totally fair game for reporters to report, in my opinion.

i. I’ve heard scores of things in locker rooms, on sidelines, in tunnels coming off the field. Some I wasn’t meant to hear. But if I hear something, it’s fair game … unless a player or coach prefaces the remark with, “This is off the record.” Which has happened. I may try to talk the coach or player into letting me use it. But in the Super Bowl-winning locker room last year, I was talking to Skyy Moore, who scored the winning touchdown, and Patrick Mahomes approached and bear-hugged Moore (who’d had a rough rookie year) and said in Moore’s ear: “Waited till the last game, huh? Love you! Way to get it in there!” Fair game. I used it. Of course there was nothing bad in there, but my point is, if I hear it and it helps my story, I’m using it.

j. If I thought Arcia was just kidding around, I’d have noted it in the story. But I still would have used it.

k. One other baseball note: It’s totally weird that two of this season’s three 100-win teams, the Dodgers and Orioles, got swept 3-0 in their division series. Baseball has set up a system that requires winning either three or four series to be declared champions. So of course unusual things can happen. That’s baseball. I wouldn’t go changing the system because of it. Next year the Dodgers and Orioles, just as easily, could win their division series 3-0.

l. The Dodgers’ cornerstone players are Clayton Kershaw, Mookie Betts and Freddie Freeman. Kershaw got one out and gave up six runs in game one of the series against Arizona. Betts and Freeman went 1-for-21 with zero RBI in the series. It’s not usual, but it’s happened in baseball for decades and decades. Very good teams fall flat in a series.

m. And the Braves need to look at their game-four at-bats against a nice but not dominant starter, Ranger Suarez. On his second at-bat, the all-world leadoff hitter, Ronald Acuña Jr., swing at three pitches out of the strike zone—and grounded out to the pitcher. The Braves were over-eager and swinging at balls all night in game four, and that’s a big reason why the Phils won in four.

n. Well, Colorado was a good 2023 college football story for a few weeks anyway. Amazing thing happened to the Buffs Friday night. They led Stanford 29-0 at the half, gave up 364 passing yards and four passing TDs in the second half to the 11^th-rated pass offense in the Pac-12, and lost in overtime 46-43. So Stanford, a month after losing at home to Sacramento State, wins in one of the most electric environments in college football.

o. Watched USC-Notre Dame Saturday night. Major takeaway: USC quarterback Caleb Williams looked altogether shaky against pressure. Three first-half picks, and an Irish defender had a shot to pick him off on his first possession of the second half. Some bad decisions with guys in his face. What exactly do you think he’ll face behind the offensive lines of most teams vying for a top pick in the 2024 draft?

p. Interview of the Week: Edward Felsenthal of Time Magazine on Paul Hollywood is interesting.

q. Hollywood is the star of the cross-culture hit “The Great British Baking Show” (called “Bake Off” in Great Britain), which I really like. He gives one reason why people like this show—and why people probably like him too:

“When I was just starting Bake Off, I was approached by The Gadget Show in the U.K. And basically they said, ‘There’s been another line of bread-making machines. Would you like to have a look at them?’ I said, ‘Not really, no.’ And they said, ‘Well, would you like to go head-to-head with them? We make the bread in the bread machine, you make a bread, and then we do a blind tasting with the public.’ So I went head-to-head with seven bread machines and I got 96 percent of the vote. You can’t beat homemade breads made by hand.”

r. Ecclesiastic Story of the Week: Dan Shaughnessy of The Boston Globe, on the fourth-round pick of the Boston Celtics in 1953, and what he did with his life after college.

s. Headline gave it away: “The Celtics draft pick who chose the priesthood over the NBA.”

t. Great quote from the 91-year-old priest, former Holy Cross guard Earle Markey, to Shaughnessy, on what made the decision for him—basketball, as the fourth-round pick of the Celtic in 1953, or the priesthood:

“I was asking myself: What am I going to do with my life?

“I still had an open field in front of me. I decided that I wanted to live a life in which—at the end of my life—I had done good for other people. A victory with the Celtics would not compare with celebrating Mass or doing things for other people. They were different worlds.”

u. Love this factoid from Shaughnessy: “Markey didn’t learn he’d been selected by the Celtics until an envelope arrived at his Holy Cross mailbox a few days after the draft.”

v. What? Markey wasn’t at Barclays Center, watching the draft unfold?

w. Writing Song of the Night: “You Turn Me On (I’m a Radio),” by Joni Mitchell. What a voice. The greatest of my lifetime.

x. Ever play Poop Bingo? I have. Many times. Many days. Many games. It’s the favorite game of grandkids Freddy and Hazel in California, and we played four games last weekend on my trip there. Not too complicated. You place markers on the animals or animal poop square that the game-host calls out. You hit on four squares in a row and you win. I came close twice, but I just couldn’t get the wombat poop card or dung beetle poop card to come up for me. Such a shame.

Detroit at Baltimore, Sunday, 1 p.m. ET, Fox. Lions are 0-3 in Baltimore since the Ravens moved there in 1996 … by an average of 26 points per game. The last time in Baltimore, Joe Flacco outdueled Matthew Stafford 44-20, and the late Alex Collins scored twice in the fourth quarter to wrap it up. Going way out on a limb: Baltimore might win this game, but as the players re-adjust to Eastern Time after being in England for a week, I doubt it’ll be by 24.

Miami at Philadelphia, Sunday, 8:20 p.m., NBC. Game of the week. Two Alabama products facing off: Miami’s Tua Tagovailoa at Philadelphia’s Jalen Hurts (okay, let’s add “Oklahoma” to his LinkedIn profile) in a matchup of 5-1 QBs and teams. It’s got some compelling history to it too. Thirty years ago this season, Don Shula won his 325th NFL game (regular season and playoffs) over the Eagles, passing George Halas as the winningest coach in NFL history. The game was in south Philadelphia, at the Vet. The Miami quarterback—who came in for the injured Scott Mitchell in the second half—was Doug Pederson.

San Francisco at Minnesota, Monday, 8:15 p.m., ESPN. Kyle Shanahan can judge for himself the ghost of Niners’ past—he longed for Kirk Cousins to run his offense before trading for Jimmy Garoppolo in 2017—versus the reality of his present, named Brock Purdy. One factor to consider: Purdy makes one-39^th of Cousins’ compensation this year, $889,000 to the elder’s $35 million.

Defense everywhere.
Browns, Lions, Jets, Rams and Bills.
O-lines in trouble.