PFT Clips
One of the most memorable games in Monday Night Football History took place in Week Three of the 2006 season, when the Saints beat the Falcons in their return to New Orleans for the first time since Hurricane Katrina. Twenty years later, NFL Commissioner Roger Goodell wanted a Falcons-Saints Monday night game in New Orleans on the 2026 schedule.
NFL VP of broadcasting planning Mike North says the 2026 schedule has a Week Four Monday night game between the Falcons and Saints at the Superdome because Goodell himself requested that it happen around the time of the 20th anniversary.
“It’s really to the Commissioner’s credit, it was, ‘We’re gonna play Falcons at Saints on Monday night this year, fit it in in that kind of three-week window.’ So, it wasn’t a requirement it had to land in a special week, but it was a requirement, straight from the boss, that it landed on our schedule,” North said.
Some in New Orleans wanted the 2026 game played in Week Three, as the 2006 game was, but North said playing the game in Week Four proved to be a better fit for the NFL’s overall schedule.
“Relative to the exact date of the anniversary, honestly, we figured if we were within a couple of weeks, we were in good shape,” North said. “Fans remember that moment, the electricity, the excitement. If we were a week early, or closer to the day, or a week later, weren’t gonna throw away our best schedule just by being off a couple days. Plus, as you know, there’s a lot of events going on in that region. I don’t have the stadium availability off the top of my head, but relative to the Dome itself, the arena across the street, there’s concerts, there’s basketball games, there’s other things going on at times. It wasn’t a, ‘This game has to be in this week.’”
The 2006 game, remembered most for Steve Gleason’s blocked punt that was recovered by Curtis Deloatch for the Saints’ first touchdown, was a classic. The 2026 game will be an opportunity for New Orleans to celebrate that great moment in Saints history.
Missouri running back Ahmad Hardy was shot on Sunday at an outdoor concert in Mississippi. On Thursday, an arrest was made.
Via the Associated Press, 20-year-old Rashodrick Harris was detained in Paducah, Kentucky. As of Friday afternoon, he was awaiting extradition to Mississippi.
Hardy underwent surgery after the shooting. He returned to Missouri on Wednesday.
Per the report, three other persons of interest were taken into custody. They were released without any charges being filed.
Harris was identified as a suspect by surveillance video. His arrest warrant was issued based on information from a witness.
It’s unclear whether Hardy’s availability for the 2026 season will be impacted by the shooting and the surgery. He rushed for 1,649 yards in 2025, second most among all FBS players.
When it comes to compliance with its media policy, the NHL doesn’t mess around.
On Friday night, the league announced that it has stripped the Las Vegas Golden Knights of a second-round pick in the 2026 NHL draft for “flagrant violations” of the NHL’s media policies. The NHL also fined coach John Tortorella $100,000.
Via Jesse Granger of The Athletic, Tortorella declined to speak to reporters after the Golden Knights clinched a berth in the Western Conference finals. The Golden Knights also refused to open the dressing room after the game. Only three players were made available to reporters.
“The imposition of these penalties comes after previous warnings were issued to the Club regarding their compliance with the Media Regulations and other associated policies,” the NHL said in a statement.
The team has the ability to appeal the punishment.
In the NFL, players are from time to time fined for not complying with the media policy. More often, players fail to comply and the media (which needs to go along to get along with the team they cover) won’t file a complaint.
NFL teams and/or coaches are almost never punished for violations of the media rules. Then again, teams almost always ensure that the obligations are fulfilled.
Even as the NFL becomes a multi-billion dollar behemoth that can bully anyone and everyone, the league still realizes that media coverage constitutes free advertising. An ever-growing number of outlets devote tremendous time, effort, and attention to covering — and necessarily promoting — the sport, at no cost to the stewards of it. And so, even if the league reserves the right to take issue with some of the coverage, the league continues to embrace it.
As it should. Because the price for it is always right.
Former NFL defensive end Josh Mauro died last month at 35. Via the California Post, authorities have determined that Mauro’s death occurred as a result of an accidental drug overdose.
Officially, the cause of death was “acute combined fentanyl, cocaine, and ethanol intoxication.”
Mauro, who played college football at Stanford from 2010 through 2013, went undrafted in 2014. After four years with the Cardinals, Mauro spent one with the Giants and one with the Raiders. He returned to Arizona for the final two season of his career, in 2020 and 2021.
He appeared in 80 career regular-season games, with 40 starts.
Anthony Richardson wants a trade, and the Colts would love to trade him. But what has been described as a “soft market” by Adam Schefter of ESPN leaves the quarterback with the team for now . . . and maybe the foreseeable future.
Richardson skipped the beginning of the team’s voluntary offseason program, but he showed up May 4 for Phase 2 of the workouts.
“The Colts are still giving me a chance to go out there and work, work hard and potentially get on the field,” Richardson said, via the Indianapolis Star. “Glad to be able to stay in the NFL and put the work in. Just showing up at OTAs, it was a blessing in disguise for me, because I just wanted to work and they allowed me to do that so I’m thankful for that.”
Richardson, the No. 4 overall pick in 2023, lost the starting job to Daniel Jones last season. Coach Shane Steichen last week sidestepped a question about whether Richardson would compete with Riley Leonard, a 2025 sixth-round pick, for the backup job to Jones.
Richardson didn’t get into specifics about his future.
“If I don’t put that work in to be a better player then I won’t be in the NFL,” Richardson said. “I just want to work hard and constantly think about my opportunity that I have now and try to take advantage of it.”
Richardson is recovering from a right eye injury after a freak pregame accident on Oct. 12 that left him with a fractured orbital bone.
One of the great mysteries of the 2026 offseason has been solved.
Jaguars quarterback Trevor Lawrence did not actually get a haircut as part of the team’s schedule-release video.
Technically, hair on his head was cut. But it was a wig.
It’s the second offseason okey-doke regarding football’s answer to Samson. An AI-image fooled some folks last month. Last night’s video created a false impression the old-fashioned way — with a prop.
One of these days, Lawrence will cut his hair short. When he does, no one will actually believe it happened.
The Steelers signed first-round offensive tackle Max Iheanachor to his four-year rookie deal, the team announced Friday.
Iheanachor, who played at Arizona State, was selected with the 21st overall pick.
He is the seventh of 10 picks to sign, leaving only second-round wide receiver Germie Bernard, third-round quarterback Drew Allar and seventh-round running back Eli Heidenreich unsigned.
Iheanachor, a key cog in Arizona State’s offensive line, did not allow a sack in his senior season. He appeared in 32 career games, starting 31 for the Sun Devils.
He was an All-Big 12 Second Team selection in 2025.
“I’m very excited about Max,” Steelers coach Mike McCarthy said, via Teresa Varley of the team website. “He’s great for us. A stud of a young man. Throughout the process, you heard about him a little bit early, and he just kept growing and growing and growing through the evaluation. He kept climbing up our board. We were excited that he was there.
“I think it’s an excellent pick for us. He’ll be a great addition to our offensive line.”
At a time when NFL rules regarding game broadcasts have taken a back seat to the importance of flexibility to program a growing number of standalone windows, there’s at least one bright line.
Per the NFL, the absolute maximum number of prime-time appearances for any one team is eight.
More specifically, a team can be scheduled for up to seven prime-time games. That team then can be flexed into an eighth prime-time game.
This rule becomes relevant to the Rams in 2026. They have seven prime-time games on the schedule as published. In Week 17, their game at the Buccaneers could be selected for Saturday night on Peacock. Also, L.A.'s Week 18 game against the Seahawks could be selected for the final game of the season (or, in theory, the Saturday night window on ESPN).
In the end, it would be Week 17 or Week 18 — but not both.
Unless the rule changes. As the NFL focuses more and more on creating the most compelling configurations of games possible, eventually the rules will be there are no rules.
Chiefs quarterback Patrick Mahomes is “making progress” in his rehab from major knee surgery, coach Andy Reid said Thursday. Reid, though, made it clear that it’s still uncertain whether Mahomes will receive clearance to return for the season opener.
But Mahomes is back playing golf, and his left knee looked good on the social media video he posted of a tee shot during his 15 and the Mahomies Vegas Golf Classic on Friday.
That’s a good sign as he continues to work his way back.
Mahomes underwent surgery on Dec. 15, a day after he tore the ACL and LCL in his left knee.
The NFL scheduled the Chiefs in primetime windows despite the lack of a timetable for Mahomes’ return.
“The Chiefs are an incredible story,” NFL executive Hans Schroeder said Friday, via Josh Dubow of the Associated Press. “They’re one of the most popular teams in the league right now. They’ve been on an incredibly successful run for a number of years now, and have built a hugely popular fan base. We went into the year planning to play the Chiefs in the same number of windows. We didn’t know anything more than you did, but we’re certainly hoping Patrick would be back Week 1. . . . We felt really good about it and certainly feel better after seeing Andy’s comments this morning with how Patrick’s rehab’s going.”
The NFL is increasingly moving games off Sundays to play them on other days of the week, when TV networks and streaming platforms will pay more money for them. And no team epitomizes the NFL’s changing approach more than the Seahawks.
The Seahawks’ 2026 schedule features games on every day except Tuesday.
Seattle will host the first game of the 2026 NFL season, as is customary for the defending Super Bowl champions. But the major changes this year is that the game will be on Wednesday, September 9, rather than being played in the normal Thursday night opening slot.
The rest of the Seahawks’ schedule features 10 games on Sundays, a Thursday night game, two Monday night games, a Saturday game in Week 15, and the Christmas night game, which falls on a Friday this year. The Seahawks’ 17th and final game will be on either a Saturday or a Sunday.
The only other team in NFL history to play on six different days of the week was the 2024 Chiefs, who also were the defending Super Bowl champions and also played every day but Tuesday. No team has ever played on all seven days of the week, but with the way the NFL is changing its schedule, that will probably happen soon.
