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Giants-Steelers on ‘Monday Night Football’: What We Learned from Pittsburgh’s 26-18 win
Giants struggle, then fumble away opportunity. New York’s offense mustered a combined 10 points in its last two games, and through three quarters, the Giants had scored nine points via three field goals. They’d gained 222 yards entering the fourth, but were just 3 for 8 on third down and hadn’t threatened to reach the end zone since their second drive of the night.
Urgency proved to be the best motivator, as a two-touchdown deficit seemed to wake up this Giants offense, which enjoyed some surprise success on the ground in the fourth. But in the end, the Giants wasted their best chances. New York regained possession after forcing a Wilson fumble, then fumbled it away by leaving right tackle Jermaine Eluemunor on an island against all-world edge rusher T.J. Watt, which unsurprisingly resulted in a strip-sack on a crucial third down.
That was only the latest example of the Giants failing to provide their tackles with some pass protection assistance, and ended up being the most costly (and frustrating, considering it potentially could have been avoided with a chip from a running back). That is the story of the Giants for most of this season: They commit plenty of errors from a strategic and execution standpoint (see: their comical failed two-point conversion) and when they earn chances to fight their way back, they sink themselves. Jones’ game-sealing interception could be seen coming from miles away. These are your 2024 Giants.
Blogging the Boys
Don’t be fooled by Cowboys hollow comeback attempt against the 49ers
Nobody, including the 49ers, saw that fourth-quarter comeback coming. And that’s really why it happened; San Francisco was already in prevent mode and clearly stopped taking the Cowboys seriously. The proven All-Pro connection between QB Dak Prescott and WR CeeDee Lamb took advantage of the complacency, and suddenly the 49ers looked like Apollo Creed in the first round of his first fight with Rocky.
But don’t be fooled by what Dallas nearly accomplished, because most opponents aren’t going to make that same mistake. Beating up the Cowboys is old hat for the 49ers and they have every reason to not respect us. It only took them one quarter of competent football to turn the game into another laugher. When they got up 27-10, they just got sleepy and bored.
The issues that have plagued the Cowboys all season were still there on the final drive. Mike McCarthy’s unimaginative offensive scheme left bad options for Prescott, who threw four straight incompletions to kill the comeback. While he did throw a dime to KaVontae Turpin on one attempt, putting the game on Turpin’s suspect hands was hardly the optimal design.
This game was much more about the hole that Dallas found themselves in than nearly climbing out of it. How sad is it that Ezekiel Elliott averaging 3.4 yards per carry felt like progress? Watching rookie RB Isaac Guerendo rip off 85 yards after Jordan Mason’s injury rubbed salt in the wound; another guy the Cowboys missed out on in the 2024 Draft. And even as the passing game found some redemption near the end, Prescott’s crushing interceptions when the 49ers were still playing defense were more damning.
What’s becoming clear is that it doesn’t matter how motivated or prepared this Dallas team is, they just don’t have the pieces this year. Their right tackle is sabotaging the offense and injuries have neutered the defense. Things could get better on that side of the ball once Micah Parsons and DaRon Bland return, but they won’t offer much help to their chronic weakness against the run.
The biggest missing piece of all is at head coach. McCarthy is clearly no longer in touch with the modern game or how best to play to the strengths and mitigate the weaknesses of his offense. Too much focus is placed on Dak Prescott’s leadership because his head coach is a feckless void of it. When his boss called out the offensive scheme and play-calling last week, McCarthy’s response was as flat as his performance.
Blogging the Boys
Cowboys day after thoughts: Loss to San Francisco frustrating, but passion absent these days
A day of reflection makes the Cowboys loss to San Francisco feel all the more frustrating and empty.
This is a serious question: When was the last time you had fun rooting for the Dallas Cowboys?
Maybe you say the season opener against the Cleveland Browns, but personally that day was pretty chaotic with the aforementioned Prescott contract happening just hours before kickoff.
If I had to truly answer when the last time was that I had fun I think that I would say the penultimate game of the regular season for Dallas in 2023, the last time we saw them win in their home building. That was the night that the Cowboys beat the Detroit Lions in controversial fashion, CeeDee Lamb set the individual team receiving records, and Jimmy Johnson finally went into the Ring of Honor.
It felt like all proverbial stars were aligning, even with the controversial ending. The Cowboys were being set up for the most opportune playoff run ever since Jimmy himself was on the sidelines, and pretty much everything from that moment forward has been a collective basket of Not Fun.
We are no longer early in the season. It is not Week 3. This week brings Halloween and the weekend will see the calendar flip to November while the clocks turn back. It is deep enough to have a strong opinion and the main one is that none of this is fun.
Can fun be re-established before it is too late? That feels unlikely.
We are stuck here. For the time being. And for some time after that.
Pro Football Talk
Cowboys DE Sam Williams suspended three games for Personal Conduct Policy violation
Williams is on season-ending injured reserve after tearing an ACL and MCL in training camp.
In August of 2023, Williams was arrested on charges of reckless driving, possession of a controlled substance and the unlawful carrying of a weapon.
He will lose a total of $211,807 in salary for the three-game suspension, but he will not miss playing in any games. Even though Williams is on injured reserve, he serves the suspension now rather than in 2025.
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NFL Week 8 inexplicable moments: Hail Mary, Jets defense, more
Everyone on the planet has had that experience, at one point or another, when they want to emulate someone cool. You see a person wearing something fashionable or walking a certain way and you think, if even for a moment, you could put on that piece of clothing or move the same way and be just as trendy. I can say from firsthand experience and embarrassment that it often doesn’t work, but that’s part of being a human being.
Football is no different, and it certainly seems like the Bears saw what the Lions did against the Cowboys a couple of weeks ago and wanted to be just as cool as their divisional rivals. As a response to last season’s Skippergate, the Lions spent much of the fourth quarter against Dallas seemingly trying to get their offensive linemen touches with the football.
In a key moment against the Commanders on Sunday, the Bears took their shot. On third-and-goal from the 1-yard line with Chicago trailing by five points, it brought in backup offensive lineman Doug Kramer to serve as the fullback in front of Roschon Johnson. The Bears then attempted to hand the ball to Kramer to plunge in for a lead-taking touchdown, only for the center to fumble the exchange, which the Commanders recovered.
One of the important factors with cool, of course, is timing. The Bears didn’t pick up that lesson. The Lions were getting their offensive linemen involved while they were up by 38 points and had a win expectancy of 100%. The Bears tried to hand off to a player who has never touched the ball in the NFL, who didn’t record a carry in college and likely rarely toted the rock in high school. They did this on their most important snap of the game up to that point, which was also his third offensive snap of the contest.
Calling a third-down, gotta-have-it play where a team hands the ball off to an offensive lineman who had 18 career offensive snaps before Sunday?
The offense is passing up the opportunity to do that with any of its more experienced and athletic players. The team is dramatically increasing the risk of something terrible (a fumble) happening in the hopes an offensive lineman would be better than a fullback at scoring in the same situation. That’s a risk-reward that just doesn’t add up, and it ended up costing the Bears critical points in a game they eventually lost.
NFL.com
Colts’ Shane Steichen on if QB Anthony Richardson will start in Week 9: ‘We’re evaluating everything’
Colts head coach Shane Steichen told reporters Monday that the team is “evaluating everything” when asked if Anthony Richardson will start against the Vikings on Nov. 3.
Richardson is coming off another poor passing performance which amounted to a 23-20 loss to the Texans on Sunday. He completed 10 of 32 passes for 175 yards with one touchdown and a crucial interception that set up Houston in scoring position.
In addition to his passing struggles, Richardson made headlines on Sunday when he took himself for out in the third quarter for one play, explaining after the game that he was “tired.”
On the season, Richardson owns a league-worst 44.4% completion percentage and he’s tied third in the NFL with seven interceptions in six starts. The Colts QB’s two lost fumbles in 2024 also ties him third in the league in giveaways. Richardson has made plays with his feet, totaling 136 rushing yards and four TDs, but his inaccuracy issues, particularly on short throws, have stagnated a Colts offense that features capable playmakers.
Joe Flacco, who started two games (1-1) this season when Richardson was out due to injury, is the would-be starter should Steichen decide to bench the former No. 4 overall pick.
Over the Cap
Looking Ahead to the Jets 2025 Roster and Salary Cap Decisions
While it is probably too early to say it’s over for most teams in the NFL it sure feels like it is over for the New York Jets. The overhyped Jets fell to 2-6 following their 5th straight loss, this time to the hapless Patriots whose own head coach called them soft after being non-competitive for most of the last four or five weeks. The Jets offense has been unproductive. They cant run the ball. They cant keep the QB upright. The QB looks like end of career Peyton Manning except without the Denver Broncos supporting cast around him. The questions are coming up about options for the Jets in 2025 so lets look ahead at where the team stands next season.
The Jets are currently 15th in projected cap space for 2025, but that number is a bit misleading as it includes Davantae Adams $35.6 million salary which nobody expected him to ever earn with the Raiders when he signed that deal nor with the Jets when they traded for him. His release will open up about $30 million in salary cap space to put the Jets near the $80 million mark for cap room, which is right around 5th in the NFL. That’s the good news.
The Jets rank 10th in the NFL in unrestricted free agents with 20 players coming off the roster next year so they will have a head start on remaking the roster if they let those players walk, which they should do in almost every case despite the fact that the players with voiding contracts would leave the Jets with about $24 million in dead money.
The first question the Jets will need to answer is what is next for Aaron Rodgers. Rodgers, following his Achilles injury, looks nothing like the player who was winning MVP’s in Green Bay. He looks pretty much immobile and too often seems like he is on another page than most of his receivers. Whether it is age, injury, interest in outside things, or some combination of all of it, it is hard to really create a scenario where he returns outside of running the table and making a late push for a wildcard. Even then it may be time to step aside rather than run it back hoping that he finds some magic fountain of youth.
The salary cap charge for releasing Rodgers next year is $49 million, which would reduce the Jets cap room by $25.5 million, basically bringing the team back to where they are with Adams on the books. If Rodgers were to retire or the organization made the decision to June 1 him they could split that number across two years, but my thought is if you are going to blow it up, just take your lumps now since the salary cap should allow them to do it.
With Rodgers and Adams gone the Jets would officially be back into rebuilding mode, likely with a new general manager and coaching staff. The team would face big decisions about whether they go into full tear down mode or attempt to string things together with some of the current players. Any GM will be faced with major decisions on the few players the Jets have who are considered good talent. These players include Garrett Wilson, Sauce Gardner, Alijah Vera-Tucker, Breece Hall, and Quincy Williams.
For those asking about trades next week I cant see it. The Jets big pieces I mentioned here would bring back more in 2025 than they would now and quite frankly those should be a decision for a new regime next year. If they can flip Adams now that would be fine but I don’t see that one unless he asks out after this weeks debacle. Really based on contract structure I would float DJ Reed as the only player who makes sense to trade now. He has an expiring contract and should have some value around the NFL.
Teams are competitive even in years they tear things down like this if they make the right draft selections and personnel decisions. The Commanders are 6-2, the Vikings are 5-2 and the Broncos are 5-3 this season. The Broncos and Vikings are one and two in NFL at $81 million and $68 million in dead money while Washington is at $40 million. Teams like the Texans and Bears who have gone through these kind of teardowns recently are playing competitive football. Of course if you get it wrong you wind up like Carolina, but that is no different than what the Jets have produced for the last 10 years anyway so what do they really have to lose?
NFL.com
Patriots trading OLB Josh Uche to Chiefs for 2026 sixth-round pick
The Chiefs are acquiring pass rusher Josh Uche from the New England Patriots in exchange for a 2026 sixth-round pick, NFL Network Insiders Ian Rapoport and Mike Garafolo reported Monday, per sources informed of the deal. New England later announced the deal.
Uche was a healthy scratch in Sunday’s win over the New York Jets, indicating he was likely to be moved.
A second-round pick in 2020, Uche has been a rotational edge rusher throughout his four-plus seasons in New England. He’s started just four career games. An 11.5-sack breakout season in 2022 didn’t last. Uche netted just three QB takedowns in 2023 and has two through seven games in 2024.