It’s mid-November and 3 unexpected things are true:
The Texans, 5-4 and the AFC wild-card team this morning, are the story of the year and have a manageable schedule over the next eight weeks.
2. C. J. Stroud is named Offensive Rookie of the Year. He’s in the MVP race. (At least on my ballot, it is. )
3. DeMeco Ryans is my Coach of the Year for 10 weeks.
Let’s move on to Cincinnati, where the Texans trailed by seven points on Sunday, where Stroud took a 27-17 lead and with 3:41 left, he was simply looking to run out of time. Then, in one of the few glaring mistakes Stroud made in that rookie season slap, knocked down third- and second-placed Tank Dell and his former Big Ten friend Cam Taylor-Britt got him back.
Stroud is 22 out of 32, and after the game, he’d been on this stage 63 times before, and he wasn’t too disappointed by that. There’s a sense of calm in Stroud’s orbit, the kind of calm a 22-year-old has. “The old man shouldn’t have done it.
“I mean, this game is a players’ game,” Stroud said from Houston’s locker room. “I’ve had a lot of respect for Cam Taylor-Britt over the years. He’s a player. Of course, I just pulled out the bag and kicked a punt. But the kind of user that I am, a guy who plays one game at a time, isn’t going to kill me. And my teammates on the bench helped me a lot. I just said, “You’re a smart brother. “
Within two minutes, the score was 27, and the Cincinnati crowd dominated the room. With 42 seconds left, third-and-six to the Texans’ 29, Stroud made four plays, maybe five, to get within range of the basket. Play the countdown.
In the group, Stroud appeared to be 22 years old.
Stroud told me, “I just told them, guys, ‘Let’s go through and win this game. They’ve given us everything we want in this organization. Let’s make a play. ‘”
With the game in play, you need to take 4 seconds to tell your guys you believe and then they believe. It also means that you need to be quick on the line, and as the clock ticks down. . . :05, : 04, :03. . . Stroud slapped his hands urgently but without nervousness 4 times to push middle Michael Deiter: “Buy it!Grab it now! When Stroud was given the ball, he waited, waited with calm feet and smart coverage until he saw closer Dalton Schultz, running down a seam path from the left slot, with his Taylor-Britt frifinish (Nebraska corner when Stroud was Ohio State’s quarterback) in coverage.
Throw it up. Throw it up so Schultz, with a 6-inch lead, can jump and catch it, but Taylor-Britt was never able to pull it off.
The ball traveled 32 meters in the air and may simply not have been put in the best spot. That’s what the Texans have detected over the course of nine games: the pressure, the momentum, doesn’t come to this guy; He throws it in the decisive moments of the game, as well as in practice. Like this release. . . Schultz’s entire jump to the Cincinnati 46-yard line. Two more hits set the Texans up for a 38-yard box drive through Matt Ammendola to win it, 30-27, on the gun.
“I made this play a little more complicated than it needed to be, flipping it [three times, unusually],” Stroud said. “But in this league, it’s a challenge. It’s hard to get wins. We’re all fine. Today I enjoyed the attention they gave us. Everyone is watching to see if the Texans can face a challenging scenario and win. I like that. I love the attention. I love the pressure. That’s the challenge for our team: “I tell them we don’t go into any game thinking we can’t win, that we probably wouldn’t win. I’m not made that way.
Stroud finished back-to-back games with passes of 75 and 55 yards to beat the Bucs and Bengals, respectively, in the final seconds. Who would have thought that the game of the year in this department would be the Jags vs. Texans on Thanksgiving weekend, with more pressure on Jacksonville than Houston?That’s the kind of effect C. J. Stroud has had on the Houston Texans and the AFC playoff race.
Departure on Sunday. Five out of 12 games have won with a :00 draw goal.
Detroit is 15-4 since Halloween 2022. Buffalo is 13-7. But that’s not the statistic of the week. Is:
The Vikings are 1-4 when Justin Jefferson plays, and 5-0 when he’s not playing.
Josh Dobbs, Bernie Kosar. La same story, three decades apart. Jimmy Johnson will stick to his (perceived) criticisms.
AFC South. It’s alive. Houston is now one game behind Jacksonville, and the Texans have 3 home friendlies on the horizon: Arizona, Jacksonville (20-point win over the Jags in Week 3), Denver.
I’m going to make that trade, and at the end, you’re going to say, “This is the biggest piece of evidence in NFL history. “
Unbelievable stat about Zach Wilson, he’s a great guy. But, man, he’s on one of the worst quarterback streaks in NFL history.
C. J. Stroud, the No. 2 overall pick two years after Wilson, is doing something no rookie quarterback has done in Next Gen Stats history. And the other people who invented the S2 cognitive test that attacks Stroud, which assesses how well athletes can proceed. information, say right now, “Maybe we’ll readjust our measures. “
How did Belichick deliver Mac Jones, a shell of the player selected 15th in the 2021 draft, after the farewell?
The Steelers are so weird. Outplayed in nine and a half games out of first place in the AFC North, with playoff merit over the Ravens, who are in first place.
The Bengals find themselves in a big void in the playoffs after 10 weeks, heading into a week-long game Thursday in Baltimore, 0-2 in the division, 1-4 in the conference.
Deshaun Watson, it’s your most productive game since your best moment in Houston.
Detroit offensive coordinator Ben Johnson had a big game in the Chargers’ 41-38 win at SoFi on Sunday. Tony Romo still couldn’t scream about him. I’m just wondering: Which young quarterback will get the gift of being coached by Johnson next year?
Keenan Allen is one of those players. His hands, his travel, his durability. When I looked at him on Sunday, I thought, “He’s a Hall of Famer. “
Most sacks in his first 100 games: Reggie White, 105; T. J. Watts, 88; J. J. Watts, 87. 5. This will be a great Thanksgiving dinner theme for the Watts.
Frank Reich would have done it on Thursday 4 at 10 p. m.
Travis Kelce. De Europe to North America and then South America, in five days, with Taylor Swift turning the lyrics of her song “Karma” into a tribute to Kelce on Saturday night in Argentina. This makes senseless the question asked by journalist 10 a few days ago to Kelce in Frankfurt: “Are you in love?
Seattle hangs in there. Now 6-3, 5-1 in convention games. But here’s a winning streak: for the Rams, the Niners, the Cowboys, the Niners, the Eagles. But if the Hawks are 8-6 after that, they’re going to make the playoffs.
The exit meeting. Employees have one when they leave their job. Jared Goff sought one out with Sean McVay, Sam Farmer of the LA Times detailed.
The Andy Reid bowl. Kansas City owns it. Can Philadelphia borrow it?
Tommy DeVito: “My mom makes my bed. ” Duuuuuude, you’re 25 years old!
Luggage trolley. Yes, there is a mention of it in this column. And Steve Sabol. Et the Fairmont La Nouvelle-Orléans. Et a safe quarterback from Kiln, miss.
Email of the Week: Someone wrote to me about Germans going crazy about football and I thought it wasn’t the decline of Western civilization. He asked me, “Have your political perspectives ingrained the concept of never putting America first and giving assets?”To other countries?”
The silent book club. Nice story. ” These are my people. “
Yael Averbuch West is the protagonist of a wonderful story about her return to football in the NWSL. Best of all, she was Montclair’s babysitter.
How do you see Stroud play and do you think he’s a poor decision-maker or slow to process data?When a rumor surfaced that he had bombed the S-2 cognitive test, which was meant to measure the speed and intelligence needed for important procedures. The data was quickly leaked, and a constant internal crusade against Stroud began. Little do you know the gang is talking chapters about Stroud, and in his five games against Michigan, Georgia and Michigan State during his final thirteen months as a school player, he finished 73 percent of his shots for 377 yards and four touchdowns per game. It was a bad “procedure”.
On the Friday of draft weekend, I went to Houston and talked to him about it. I wasn’t bitter, just a little nervous about it. “The film speaks for itself,” he told me. If you turn on the tape, you will be able to view and answer questions. I can proceed very, very quickly. In the movie, you can see me go from the first option to the moment option and then back to one, and then to 3 or 4 if necessary. I can prove it. I can use my feet.
“But you know, everything happens for a reason. I’m not angry. I’m lucky, I’m super lucky to be a Texan. The second pick in the NFL Draft, male. A little boy from the Inland. Empire [of California] All smiles, man.
That team had an 11-38-1 record over the past 3 seasons. General manager Nick Caserio chose DeMeco Ryans as his coach and they agreed on Stroud as the quarterback of the future. “That’s what life is all about, running to build a good one,” Stroud said when taken to the Houston media and asked about the option of going to a bad team.
That helped surround Stroud with a coaching staff, adding post-coach Jerrod Johnson, senior assistant Shane Day and coordinator Bobby Slowik, who all brought forward-thinking concepts to the Texans. “They’re as smart at isolating matchups and attacking defenses as they’ve ever been. “”He’s been attacked a lot,” said Chase Daniel, a former NFL quarterback who knows Slowik and played for Day with the Chargers the past two seasons. Daniel worked for Team 33, NFL Network and The Athletic in his first year out of football.
That all-important shot to Dalton Schultz in Cincinnati in the last minute is a prime example. The coaches know how accurate Stroud is and they knew that with Schultz’s tall merit on the field, he would win any top-tier ball in the competition, and he did. Stroud said he and Slowik get along well because “we have open communication. There’s a lot of honesty. He accepts the truth with me and I accept it with him. It’s one of the most important relationships you can build with a quarterback, it’s been good. I know he accepts as faithful to me to play.
That pitch to Schultz also illustrated one of Stroud’s strengths this year: getting around the field. He threw for more than 1,513 passing yards over the line, leading the league, according to Next Gen Stats. Even more impressive: Stroud leads all quarterbacks with 9. 6 yards per counterload attempt this season, according to Next Gen. (Brock Purdy, with 8. 7 yards per attempt, ranks second. )Recruits fight charges while getting their feet wet in the garter. No rookie in the 8 years he’s been holding Next Gen’s stats is within three feet of Stroud’s consistent 9. 6-yard performance.
Think about it and think about the “book” about Stroud’s incorporation into the project, and what it was. The blitz clearly forces quarterbacks to speed up their thinking and decision-making procedure, and Stroud, as a rookie, is by far the best of any quarterback in the league and 2. 6 yards per attempt more than Patrick Mahomes.
And Stroud is rising. He has thrown for 826 yards over the past two weeks in wins over Tampa and Cincinnati. He threw two interceptions, one of the lowest in the NFL; His 2,626 passing yards rank second in the league. “He’s a rookie quarterback who puts up good numbers, and he doesn’t look or feel like a rookie quarterback in everything he does,” Daniel said. “He doesn’t play well for a rookie, he plays well for any quarterback. “
Houston lost to Carolina, so Ryans will have no trouble convincing his guys to take any team seriously. But the Texans, one game behind the Jags in the AFC South, have merit in the schedule for the last 8 weeks. Five of their last 8 games are at home, adding a three-game home game (Cards, Jags, Broncos) starting Sunday. Their only game opposed to a department leader was Jacksonville, and Houston won its first game until 20 in September.
Every year, a team in the league shocks the world and plays as the 10 most sensible team. When was the last time we thought of Houston as something fun to watch?The Texans certainly are now.
Crazy division. Crazy day.
It was a wild win for the Browns in Baltimore, the last-second game 33-31. That meant the department’s 3 most sensible groups would finish Week 10 part of a separate game (Baltimore 7-3, Cleveland 6-3, Pittsburgh 6-3), with the damaging Cincinnati in the brush at 5-4. Week 11: Bengals vs. Ravens on Thursday, Steelers vs. Browns on Sunday.
Cleveland’s comeback was so far-fetched that Victor Wembanyama’s decision came to the postgame verbal exchange I had with Cleveland coach Kevin Stefanski about the 7-0 deficit in the first minute on a Deshaun Watson pick. “They dropped us into that hole early,” Stefanski “For that first passing play, you’ve been given to raise your limit to Kyle Hamilton. He’s like Wemby [the 7-foot-4 Spurs rookie] who plays really well. You just have to say, “Okay, start this game all over again. “
Hamilton’s sixth-round pick was incredibly athletic, and it had to have deflated for the Browns. Deflation also settled for goals in the box in Cleveland’s first 3 goals, and Watson injured his ankle in a first-half shot. Midway through the third quarter, it was Baltimore, 24-9. I led a 10-minute drive to make the score 24-17. Baltimore extended the lead to 31-17, but within a minute of In the fourth quarter, the Browns scored two touchdowns: on a pass from Watson to Elijah Moore and on a 34-yard interception by Greg Newsome.
With Watson favoring his left ankle, his functionality is even more impressive. It’s the first time Cleveland enthusiasts can just look at their $230 million quarterback and say: Maybe it’s worth it. Two 75-yard touchdown drives and a well-oiled final drive. to the game-winning basket. Cleveland took control in the 42nd minute with 4:55 remaining, trailing 31-30. Watson’s 14th straight second-half finish after a two-minute warning, a well-placed 17-yard pass to Amari Cooper, gave Cleveland life. Watson’s 16-yard rush put the Browns away from the bases on the field, and 3 more runs brought them within 18 yards. Cleveland scored 24 points over much-vaunted Baltimore D, which had recently crushed Detroit and Seattle, in the final 20 minutes.
“Deshaun has the mentality that he’s going to do whatever it takes to win,” Stefanski said. “He had an ankle injury in the second half. He played with his feet. He hurried inside. He found that the boys were open. He did what he does. A big component of what he does is managing this football team. He selected the captain for a reason. I just saw him lead the football team there in the second half.
I asked Stefanski if there were times when he wondered if Watson would be worth the money and the bad press. Did you hesitate?” No,” he said, Stefanski. No I know if there’s a more emphatic way of saying “constant trust. “Win football matches. He’s done it all his life, that’s just the way he is. I have full confidence in him. I’ve done it.
The State of the Nine
I’ve watched a lot of the Niners 34, the Jags 3, who snapped the Niners’ three-game winning streak and the Jags’ five-game winning streak. Five observations:
1. La 31-point victory very close to the Cowboys’ 32-point rout a month ago. That’s what happens when this team has its full roster of players, and wide opener Deebo Samuel and left-hander Trent Williams were back in the lineup. . A huge boost.
Chase Young made his presence felt with four taps from Trevor Lawrence, and had a sack combo from Lawrence with his friend from Ohio State, Nick Bosa. Young’s play has been smart for Javon Hargrave, with a bigger impact and a step forward running. defense as well.
Brock Purdy’s game (19-of-26, 296 yards, 3 touchdowns, no picks) also factored in his near-perfect game against Dallas. Its accuracy was detected on a few occasions. Kyle Shanahan said Purdy’s first touchdown, through his frame but perfectly placed on Tyson Campbell and Andre Cisco, directly into the hands of Brandon Aiyuk, made him nervous. Let’s face it as true with accurate passers: Purdy is now the highest-rated passer. in the league after a few weeks of inactivity, in conditions like these. ” Thanks to him, we have a chance to win every week,” Fred Warner said after the game.
There are times when Jacksonville looks like a real Super Bowl contender. But the Jags’ losses to Houston and San Francisco show that this is rarely a top-tier defense. And Lawrence wants to play better in games like this, as opposed to forging defenses, to take his position in the upper echelon of quarterbacks. And the schedule arguably wouldn’t be friendly to Jacksonville after visiting Tennessee on Sunday. The next four: in Houston, Cincinnati, Cleveland, Baltimore.
5. Both groups said goodbye. St. Francis seemed rested, refreshed. Jacksonville seemed nervous, not ready. ” The break came at the best time for us,” Warner said. “We needed him a lot to be fit and reflect. The way we went into practice this week I knew we were going to play well.
It’s about time, Jets.
I can’t think of anything more offensively inept in all the time I’ve covered the NFL than this: In the Jets’ last 4 and 3 games (games opposite Las Vegas, Chargers, Giants, Philadelphia, and the final 20 minutes of the game against Denver), the Jets have possessed 55 possessions. They scored two offensive touchdowns. Both came on one-play pucks. The Eagles landed strategically to allow Breece Hall to score an 8-yard touchdown on the court in Week 6. Zach Wilson hit Hall on a quick pass for a 50-yard touchdown against the Giants on the week. 8.
The rest of the readers in 17 quarters or more? No touches.
I know why Robert Saleh and the Jets have beaten Wilson fervently and consistently over the past two months. They think if they put Wilson on the bench, he’ll be done. And they need me to get extended mentorship from Aaron Rodgers, which makes sense. But the challenge with not bringing in any of the replacements, Tim Boyle or Trevor Siemian, is that you’ve been given a team to play against. If the other 21 starters play at Wilson’s level, they’ll be benched. It would be an understandable double popularity if Wilson showed promise. . . if, say, the team were allowed to get into the end zone inside the two-minute caution in Las Vegas on Sunday night instead of throwing a pass into the hands of Raiders linebacker Robert Spillane. Losing the game.
With games against Buffalo and Miami in six days next week and the Jets 4-5, it’s Pollyannaish who continues to wait for Wilson to see the light of day. It could, but it won’t. The best chance to win the must-see games going forward is to energize the team with a quarterback change. It’s time.
Thirty years ago this week, on November 14, 1993, I wrote for Sports Illustrated and traveled to Dallas to cover the Cards-Cowboys game. On the Monday before the game, Cleveland coach Bill Belichick fired Bernie Kosar. Two days later, Dallas signed him and practiced for 3 days, then played most of Dallas’ 20-15 win in the position of the injured Troy Aikman. It’s not exactly the same as Josh Dobbs and the Vikings, but it’s close. Some graffiti I wrote after the game, in a while after leaving Jimmy Johnson’s post-game brewery in the bowels of the old Texas Stadium:
IRVING, TX – NOVEMBER 10: Dallas Cowboys coach Jimmy Johnson (L) stands next to new Cowboys quarterback Bernie Kosar at a press convention on November 10, 1993. Kosar signed to update the injured Troy Aikman and is expected to start in opposition to the Phoenix Cardinals. (Photo credits deserve to be read by TIM ROBERTS/AFP via Getty Images)
AFP Getty Images
With the Cowboys leading 3-0, Kosar replaced Jason Garrett at quarterback in the first quarter and led the Cowboys in back-to-back touchdowns: 65 yards on nine plays and 86 yards on six plays. In the fourth quarter, he scored a combination of a short drive that ended with a basket by Eddie Murray.
From then on, Johnson was exuberant. Seldom had his friends noticed him so happy. He sat down with offensive coordinator Norv Turner, wiped his same old beer on the ice and talked about beating the odds. “This is what other people have told us over the years,” Johnson said. “You can’t sell Herschel Walker; He’s a wonderful player. You can’t exercise in Austin; It’s too hot. You can’t win a Super Bowl that fast; it takes time. You can’t sign Bernie Kosar and play with him right away; You will never be informed of the formula in time.
The Cowboys programmed 67 plays into Kosar’s wise head. They had to inform him of a new numbering formula for running and passing games. After the game was over, Kosar took off his new uniform with No. 18 (he had worn it during his years in Cleveland). ) and seemed like the happiest guy in the world. ” What a difference a week makes,” he said. They let me shoot there. “
“I don’t need to make Bernie larger than life,” Johnson said. “Troy is our quarterback. But I’ll be carrying Bernie Kosar on my team for the rest of my training career. For him, splitting the time into 3 practices and doing what he did is just amazing. He runs and throws the same thing he did when I first saw him: lanky, gun, as if he were on the sand field. Don’t compare their throwing motion, don’t compare their position. Don’t compare their fluency, evaluate their victory.
LONDON, ENGLAND – OCTOBER 15: Tennessee Titans #6 Nick Folk scores a basket in the fourth quarter of the London 2023 NFL Games game between the Baltimore Ravens and Tennessee Titans at Tottenham Hotspur Stadium on October 15, 2023 in London, England. via Alex Pantling/Getty Images)
Getty Images
Tennessee kicker Nick Folk, 39, is on a historic streak of oldest kickers; in fact, for all kickers. Since his 36-year-old season in 2020, Folk has scored 91. 3 percent of his goals into the box (115 of 126), adding up to 65 from inside 40 meters. Recent Hall of Fame kicker Morten Anderson scored 79% of his goals in the box between the ages of 36 and 39; Soon-to-be Hall of Famer Adam Vinatieri landed 85. 4 percent of his kicks during the same four-year period. Only three much younger kickers (Younghoe Koo, Matt Gay and Daniel Carlson) were more accurate, and none went through more than one percent. point old, since 2020.
People are a beautiful story, from 2018 football, and when you understand his family background, you can better understand why he can throw big kicks and be flat. What Nick Folk learned about making it as an NFL kicker:
“I think the most important thing is perseverance. If you take a look at my career, it’s full of ups and downs. Continue to focus on the adventure and persevere in the adventure. Results come with hard work. How much work are you willing to do?? A clever example is what happened in New England. I had an appendectomy the week of Thanksgiving 2019 and then re-signed. Next year, they select a kicker and I get COVID. I was on the COVID education team, but I finished. winning the job. Back on the practice squad to start 21, pitching this season. I signed a two-year contract on March 22. They select a kicker on April 23. I was traded here in Tennessee. All I can control is my kicks. That’s what I do: focus on the adventure. Perseverance is what I would say to any young kicker.
“Many of my family members worked in the medical field. They had to deal with high levels of pressure. My mother, Dr. Lorraine Stiles, a pediatrician. My grandfather, Dr. Quentin Stiles, a heart surgeon, and he and his team pioneered many bypass paints a long time ago. He told me stories of hearts beating in his hands. He faces life and death on a daily basis. My grandmother, Dr. Claire Stiles, anesthesiologist, for the first time. elegance with women at Harvard Medical School. My aunt, Lorraine Stiles, a high-risk OB-GYN. One day she told us the story of a woman who wasn’t feeling well and looked at her and found that they almost didn’t. I had time to save the baby and the mom, and they took them to surgery and almost bit them with a stick. Here we pass again. I think either of us made it.
“Pressure was part of his daily life. I would say it’s part of how I was raised through my family, from my parents to my grandparents and everyone and everyone else. They have understood what life is all about. “What I’ve learned in my paintings is that there are much more important things happening in the world. We’re playing a game. It’s very serious for each and every one in the locker room, for each and every one in every team, but at the end of the day, there are much more important things there.
“I’m just trying to live in the moment with everything I do. When I go out kicking, the truth is that we’re just a big team and my job is to kick it. My homework is the same as the other 10 guys are striving to do their homework. There’s not what I would call extra pressure. I’ve kicked a million balls in my life. What’s one more?
“[Kicking so well now], I think a lot comes down to experience. You need to collect data on the smart years, the smart moves, and the bad years, the bad moves. I think my teammates know that I’ve done everything I can to prepare myself and be able to perform at the most productive point for them.
“Another thing: the maximum kick is as follows. “
A recurring detail in this year’s column: a video recollection of one of my favorite memories from 40 years of covering soccer.
Back then, just three decades ago, when Sports Illustrated dominated the media, I wrote a lot about Brett Favre. This was convenient when Green Bay won the Super Bowl in January 1997 and I had to meet Favre after the game at the Fairmont Hotel in New Orleans, the site of the team’s postgame party.
My for 1997:
Offensive Players of the Week
Deshaun Watson, quarterback, Cleveland. —He played one of the best halves of his life to beat Baltimore and ultimately prove he can be the quarterback of the franchise that Cleveland paid $230 million for 20 months ago. Watson, gambling with a sprained ankle or contusion suffered in the first half, was brilliant in the 33-31 comeback. . . and overcame a six-round pickout on his first pass of the game through Baltimore defenseman Kyle Hamilton. Watson was 14 of 14 in the second half as he pulled Cleveland out of a 24-9 deficit with 20 minutes left.
With apologies to Dak Prescott, who threw for 404 yards and five touchdowns in the Giants’ 49-17 rout, Lamb is my pick this week. No NFL receiver has played 3 games straight with at least 10 catches and 150 yards until Lamb’s existing run. His last 3: 12-for-158, 11-for-191, and Sunday at Texas against the exhausted Giants, 11-for-151. “I’m the most productive receiver in the game. I don’t have any doubt about it,” he said after the meeting. There’s a question, CeeDee, but you do a smart job of distancing yourself.
Kyler Murray, quarterback, Ariz. In his first game in 11 months after tearing his ACL last year, Murray pitched and led the Cardinals to competitiveness. He threw for 249 yards, rushed for 33 and a touchdown, and in the game-winning basket. , traded a third down on a clever 13-yard scrum, hitting closer Trey McBride for a tough 33-yard finish. It simplifies the goalkeeping of the box. The cards range from 2 to 8 and suddenly they no longer seem to be a lock for recruiting Murray’s successor, if they ever wanted one.
Josh Dobbs, quarterback, Minnesota. Eleven days after first walking into the Vikings’ practice facility, receiving his virtual playbook and meeting his new head coach, Dobbs is 2-0 as the Vikings’ QB (and I know only exits matter, but that’s BS, and I give him the win against Atlanta). After beating the Saints on Sunday, he is now the leading player in league history with 400 passing yards, 100 rushing yards and 0 interceptions in his first two games with a team.
Defensive Players of the Week
Defensive Showdown with Sheldon Rankins Houston. I picked a great day to play the most productive game of his career and the first three-sack day in his eight-year NFL life. (He had played one game with multiple sacks (2) in his 100-plus NFL games. ) Rankins’ 12-yard sack of Joe Burrow in the third quarter led to a Houston touchdown to make it 20-7, and his third sack came less than two minutes into the fourth quarter as it contained Cincinnati. an equalizer instead of a green TD light.
Robert Spillane, linebacker, Las Vegas. The former Steeler, who plays like he has a lot of Tomlin in him, hid and hid as Jets quarterback Zach Wilson tried to win the game at one-and-eight from the Raiders’ 20-yard line. with 1:15 remaining and Vegas up, 16-12, on Sunday night. Wilson pitched and Spillane ran in front of Allen Lazard for the draft. There was some drama in the sequence, but it was THE play of the game for Vegas, now 5-5 and likely to be reborn with Antonio Pierce.
Special Teams Player of the Week
Ihmir Smith-Marsette, punt/punt support, Caroline. No was the most elegant punt return in NFL history on Thursday night, however, Smith-Marsette’s 79-yard return through the Bears’ punt policy was deft and athletic, especially when he paused/simulated. Chicago punter Trenton Gill from end to end. On a team desperate to score, Smith-Marsette recovered Carolina’s only touchdown of the night in a 16-13 loss. I was given a laugh game quiz for You: What game did Smith-Marsette play in her freshman year at the top school?(Answer in 10w. I think ten things).
Coach of the Week
Bobby Slowik, offensive coordinator, Houston. La regeneration of Houston’s offense, C. J. Stroud and the first offensive coordinator is a sight to behold. The Texans have seven issues and 78 passing yards consistent with a more wonderful game than the lousy 2022 team, and they’re doing it. with an imaginative game design between a coordinator and a quarterback, both looking to be perfect as NFL rookies. Wonderful chemistry was built between Slowik and Stroud in less than seven months. The Texans racked up 544 yards on the road against a damn smart Cincinnati defense.
Goat of the Week
Mac Jones, quarterback, New England. It wasn’t just a big interception thrown by Jones that lifted the Patriots’ game in Frankfurt on Sunday. It may have simply been an interception that destroyed his career. With New England trailing 10-6 and on the Colts’ 1-and-5 with 4:2 and five left, the game seemed destined to be won by the Pats. But unnecessarily throwing off his back foot, with no pressure, from the 22-yard line, Jones aimed a comfortable throw to a wide-open Mike Gesicki for what would have been the green-light landing. The challenge of the ball being five yards from Gesicki. The intended receiver appeared to be Colts safety Julian Blackmon, who made the pick that doomed Jones and the Pats.
I.
–Dustin Hopkins, the Cleveland kicker who atoned for a late, lost PAT that would have tied the game at 31 by scoring the game-winning basket in the Browns’ 33-31 win at Baltimore.
II.
— Ravens coach John Harbaugh after Baltimore blew a 15-point lead with 20 minutes remaining against Cleveland.
III.
–Tommy DeVito, the Giants’ starting quarterback, to Jordan Ranaan of ESPN. com. DeVito’s formative (and current) home is 18 km from MetLife Stadium and the Giants’ educational facility. I’m not sure what to make of that statement, in Otherwise I don’t think I would have spread the fact that at 25 years old my mother still makes my bed.
IV.
– Scott Zolak, radio analyst for the Patriots, the Colts-Pats game in Germany, when the Patriots inexplicably failed to block a punt on a Colts fourth down from the Indy 25-yard line, allowing Rigoberto Sanchez to punt and bounce a 69-yard shot. boot that rolled to the New England 18-yard line.
v.
–Jason McCourty on the NFL Network TV show about the Patriots’ loss to the Colts, referencing the final game of the game in New England: Zappe faces a quad deck and is picked.
Remarkable: The voices of Zolak and McCourty, former Pats, exuded disgust at the play of the AFC’s worst team.
Why the Chase Young industry could become an absolutely risk-free deal for the 49ers:
San Francisco owns the projected 101st overall pick in the 2024 draft as a compensatory pick for squandering DeMeco Ryans and Ran Carthon in Houston and Tennessee, respectively. The Niners traded this competitive pick to Washington for Edge Rusher Young.
Let’s say Young is leased to the 49ers and signs a flex-agent contract for, say, $23 million per year in March 2024. The Niners will most likely get a compensatory third-round pick in the 2025 draft in return. unless they sign one or two more beloved agents, which is unlikely given their current salary design and desire to re-sign their more sensible players. If Young leaves and the 49ers get a third-round pick in return, the pick will likely be between 97 and 101. Just for fun, let’s call it the 99th pick.
This exchange can be simply:
Imagine profiting from Young for 11 or 12 games, and then a larger draft pick than the one you traded for him.
I.
Giants coach Brian Daboll’s record two seasons against the NFC East groups Cowboys and Eagles: 0-7. Margins of defeat in the last five games: 26, 6, 31, 40 and 32.
Do the Giants have a non-compete clause with Dallas and Philadelphia?
II.
The Colts’ return flight from Germany landed in Indianapolis at 2:35 a. m. m. de today. Interestingly, when Indy plays a night game in Jacksonville or Houston, the Colts land in Indiana around 3 a. m. m.
III.
Miami’s trip to Germany to face Kansas City was the first time Miami coach Mike McDaniel, a 40-year-old Yale graduate majoring in history, traveled to Europe. All the vacation of his life was spent in North America, in a damp and warm place.
“I’ve been in love with the oceans,” McDaniel said. I think I was 14 the first time I got on a plane and saw an ocean. I’ve related rest to the sand and the beach.
The return from Miami-Kansas City in Germany was. . . interesting. In German time (6 a. m. EST), until last Monday:
5:23 a. m. : The Buffalo-Cincinnati game ends Sunday night. It wasn’t broadcast on TV at my hotel, the Meliá Frankfurt City, but I followed it on the Internet while I was writing my column on FMIA.
6:58 a. m. : The latest record of Monday’s column is sent to editor-in-chief Sarah Hughes in New York City.
7:13 a. m. : Departure from the hotel by rental to Frankfurt airport and flight to Amsterdam, connecting with JFK in New York.
11:15 a. m. : Flight to Amsterdam. Se was supposed to depart at 1:35 p. m. , but the flight to New York was delayed until 4:00 p. m. I drank Heinekens. (Well, I had to do something. ) By the way, is there any explanation as to why Heineken in Amsterdam, the home of Heineken, has a bigger taste and foam than Heineken in the U. S. ?Is there a U. S. economy? Probably not. Running without sleep tends to make beer taste like liquid gold.
16:19: Flight to JFK. I took a nap like a horse for 3 hours.
(Change to Eastern Standard Time. )
5:57 pm: Landing at JFK. I stood in line at the passport at 6:13 p. m. I crossed the line at 7:39 p. m. I’ve been given my purse. I went home. On the way home, I put the Monday night Westwood One call on my phone and heard Kevin Harlan call Derius Davis’ 87-yard punt pass for the Chargers. And I thought: The Bills and Bengals had just left Paycor Stadium to go home. After Sunday afternoon, as I left my hotel for the return trip, and as I approached my home in Brooklyn, I heard the first landing on Monday afternoon. It’s a long day.
8:37 p. m. : I walked into my apartment in Brooklyn.
9:04 p. m. : Coucher. Il 3:04 a. m. on Tuesday in Frankfurt. A 20-hour, door-to-door journey.
Contact me at peterkingfmia@gmail. com.
Lots of comments this week about what I missed in the NFL last week while I was in Germany. When I go down the road to cover a game, I can’t put in the time I normally put into each game. It’s a trade-off: Is it worth the time I spend with Patrick Mahomes, Andy Reid, and other players and coaches one-on-one, alone (and in this case, for Football Night in America with an on-field interview?with Mahomes). after the game)? I consider part of my job to be to foster relationships with players and coaches so that when I see them, I can understand things. I wondered why I do what I do when I covered the games. In this particular case, he managed to talk to Josh Dobbs about his memorable win in Atlanta and wrote a column segment about being a part of five NFL teams in forty-five weeks.
This week’s correspondence:
Blame Mark Davis of Baltimore. De Glenn Cheng: “I read that you blamed Mark Davis for the Raiders’ rotation at the coaching and general manager level. And in response, I’d say this: He had to fire McDaniels. McDaniels: Obviously, “I lost the team. I think that says a lot about the fact that in one short week, the assistant coaches came up with a game plan that only beat the Giants, but also beat them.
I was given about 50 notes/reactions to what I wrote about the Raiders, and the usual theme was: what a fool you are. Mark had to fire Josh McDaniels. And look how we played with the game of McDaniels. I never said McDaniels deserved mercy. What I meant is that Mark Davis had 8 coaches in the 11 years he led the team. Consistent average tenure with coach in the top seven: 29. 1 games. This is not normal, this doesn’t make sense and is not a recipe for success. I like this guy, but he wants to acknowledge that he did a poor job of opting for men to mentor this franchise and trust someone else to do this task.
I missed Blanda on my list of kickers. From Howard Goldman of Bloomfield Hills, Michigan: “George Blanda is rarely on your Top 10 Kickers list?I’ll grant you’re not an expert, but that’s the credit given to a wonderful athlete who plays many positions.
It’s hard to count a kicker who has kicked 31 times 100 percent of his career from 40 meters or more.
“I’m not America first,” he thinks. From Frank Ignatius: “The Americans invented a game and built a league that has become a multi-billion dollar industry. We help the NFL with TV balloons, official merchandise, tickets, travel, fantastic cash, gambling, and untold amounts of additional NFL-related expenses. We pass down our fandom over several generations, in the same way that some cultures pass on their religion. Can you explain why other Germans “deserve” to watch Mahomes vs. Mahomes?Do you feel that your political perspectives have ingrained the concept of never putting America first and ceding our assets to other countries when there are so many desires here in the United States?
This is not a political question, Frank; It’s all about football and business. I think your email is most productive sent to Kansas City owner Clark Hunt. Hunt was looking to play one of his nine home games this year in Germany because he sees it as an opportunity to invest in a new fan. base and raises the price of your franchise. The team president told me he was so passionate about football that he was looking to get back for a game before the NFL deadline. I don’t feel the outrage of exporting five of the 272 regular-season games. to places crazy about football.
Football will kill football, he thinks. From Greg Atkin of Windsor, Ontario: “I’m not sure you realize how important football is. American football will never succeed on a global scale. The all-out drive to make football a good fortune overseas smacks of pride. It’s a gift I read every week. It would be great to read a single paragraph criticizing even the NFL once. As it stands, its pillars are becoming more and more subservient.
American football will never succeed on a global scale. . . Interesting thought. Every NFL game overseas sells out. After the first in Munich last year, Tom Brady said: “It’s one of the most productive football reports I’ve ever had. This year, when tickets went on sale for Frankfurt’s first match, 1. 4 million people came forward to buy them. It’s not about being bigger than football in the world. Obviously, the NFL may not be. But the game reaches many enthusiasts overseas. Why don’t you take a look at it and continue the experiment?
An adjustment in Australia? From Steve Murch of Alpena, Michigan: “A game in Australia has primary timing issues. Jet lag causes all sorts of weather problems, no matter what day of the week or weekend it is. Due to the HUGE time difference, the match deserves to be the start of the season.
As I detailed last week, Steve, a noon game on Friday in Sydney would mean a 9:00 p. m. game. And the start on Thursday, which may simply be the opening game. To do that, you’d have to have two groups to Australia probably a week in advance, I guess. But with the league down to just 3 preseason games, there’s a two-week gap between the final preseason games and opening weekend. Two groups may barely make the 15-hour flight from the West Coast a week early, then return after the game and enjoy a mini-break (Saturday, Sunday, and Monday) before starting practice for Week 2 games. There is no doubt that it would take two groups that really wanted to do it. . For the record, the Rams, who own the NFL’s global rights to Australia, will play nine home games in 2026 and 2028, so I’m guessing it would be the first two years that this could happen.
It’s like comparing apples and basketballs, Jason. De Jason Eli: “With Josh Dobbs, a teammate, getting reps with his current team, having to outdo his teammates in the box while winning, I was wondering if you were going to spend the next part of the decade telling everyone that QBs are interchangeable and easy to upgrade and create the QB market like you did with running backs.
Quarterbacks are interchangeable, Jason, but in many cases, running backs are much less difficult to upgrade. Look at the case of the Philadelphia Eagles, who allowed running back Miles Sanders to become a free agent during the offseason instead of competing with Carolina’s four-year-old. $25. 4 million contract, with $13 million guaranteed. The Eagles traded a fourth-round pick in Detroit for D’Andre Swift to upgrade Sanders. Swift will make $1. 77 million this year in the final year of her contract. Comparison of Sanders’ production in Philadelphia in 2022 and Swift’s production in Philadelphia in 2023:
Would you have committed $13 million for Sanders, 26, for virtually the same production as Swift, 24, for a fraction of the cost?It’s sad for a lot of star running backs, but it’s a reality in the NFL.
Matthew helps me follow along with my segment Récompenses. De Matthew Boda from Calgary: “Reading about FMIA and its predecessor MMQB has been a priority every Monday morning for many years. You haven’t chosen to nominate a Goat of the Week in two of the last 3 weeks. What is your purpose in writing this awards segment? You chose between thirteen and only 7. And where does the goat of the week go? You chose two goats 3 times, one goat 3 times, and 0 goats 3 times. What’s wrong?”
Thanks for following us, Matthew. I only call one or more goats when I feel there were one or more. Last week, for example, there possibly would have been one, but I didn’t watch the games, so it’s hard to locate one unless there’s one that’s making headlines for a serious mistake.
I think the biggest mystery in sports, not just football, but all sports, is how hard it is to expect who will be a smart NFL quarterback out of school football. In the five drafts from 2018 to 2022, 15 quarterbacks were decided. in the 15 most sensible. This morning, 8 failed, were average or worse: Zach Wilson, Trey Lance, Justin Fields, Mac Jones, Dwayne Haskins, Baker Mayfield, Sam Darnold, Josh Rosen. The jury chose two others, Daniel Jones and Kyler Murray. Only five (Burrow, Herbert, Tagovailoa, Allen, Lawrence) are counterfeit or better deyetents. This year, as I look at each and every team in need of QB, I wonder how the Giants, Patriots, Bears, Seahawks, and Bucs will make sure they don’t be part of the majority who missed QB Prospecting 101.
I think I like to dig deeper and try to perceive all the characteristics of a coach on a specific play, and that gave me ideas for an idea with Carolina and Chicago playing an unforgettable game on Thursday night. Mike Florio and I discussed this long-running piece on the Friday morning PFT show. Let’s play. You call, okay? The situation:
one. Carolina Trails, 16-13, with 1h40. Panthers ball, fourth-and-10 at Chicago’s 41-yard line. The Panthers can attempt a 59-yard area goal for the tying game, or they can put the ball in Bryce Young’s hands; convert the fourth and 10 and continue the advance, and don’t convert and return the ball to Chicago with 90 seconds left.
b. The tests say: pass on the first try. According to Next Gen Stats, the Panthers have a 24% chance of making the first down and a 23% chance of making the basket. What’s more, Next Gen says pitching here gives Carolina a 15. 2% chance of winning; the basket gives Carolina an 11. 2 percent chance.
The thing for me is this: Let’s say Carolina’s Eddy Piniero makes it to the basket. The Bears get the ball back, let’s say at their 25-yard line with 1:30 left and the 3 timeouts. They’re forty-five yards tall and all the while they’d want to try a 48-yard winning basket.
Young had traded all 3 fourth-down attempts he attempted in the fourth quarter, but none from inside 10 yards. As Florio said, the team goes anywhere and here is an opportunity for Carolina to give a beleaguered player a chance to be a hero. .
Frank Reich decided to pass to the basket and landed a few meters from the goal area. I bet Reich would like to oppose that decision. I bet when the Panthers went to Charlotte, I wanted to have put the ball in Young’s hands. . But – and this is the vital point – still only one in 4 Young would have converted, so it’s not as if Reich’s decision would have ensured the loss. Carolina probably would have lost anyway. Still, Young has a greater chance of turning things around and eliminating him.
I think, oh my God, how Travis Kelce’s life has changed. Germany on Sunday, Kansas City on Monday, Argentina on Friday, Kansas City again on Sunday, today begins the practice week for the Philadelphia-KC Super Bowl rematch next Monday. There’s just one bad streak here: Kelce scored 4 goals when Miami stifled him in their politics last week. I probably wouldn’t be surprised if he gets a minimum of 10 next Monday against the Eagles. Patrick Mahomes doesn’t need to impose it on anyone, but I think he knows he can’t wait for young receivers to thrive.
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4. I think I wanted to let you know that last week. First, check out the photo above of an appearance I made on Mike Florio’s daily PFT show, with co-host Charean Williams, when I was in Germany 10 days ago. Now think about this. As I did this trick from the practice facility where the Dolphins worked, I took into account those variables that were part of those 20 minutes of television:
I think that’s the old one in me. But having 3 other people 4500, 450 and 1100 miles from our studio and having my video camera as an iPhone on a continent away, surely blows my mind. to stream flawless TV without delay.
I think I’m sure how this whole Michigan thing will end, but I wonder if Jim Harbaugh will be out of high school football in the next two or three months, if an NFL team will be able to cope with this headache. Raiders, Commanders?
I think, to put it bluntly, here are my characteristics for Bill Belichick on the open market, if Robert Kraft “splits” from Belichick (2-8 this year, 27-34 post-Brady) after the season. :
one. I think the Cowboys can be in the game only if they don’t win the division, make some incomplete outings down the stretch, and don’t win in the playoffs. In that case, you might see Jerry Jones chasing Belichick, repeating the story of twenty years ago. Before you say that Belichick would never paint for Jerry, let’s not forget 2003, when we all thought Bill Parcells would never paint for Jones.
Interesting regional thinking: Belichick grew up in Annapolis, 23 miles from FedEx Field. At first glance, this seems odd: a progressive new owner aligning himself with a trophy master who may simply be a dinosaur. Wouldn’t Josh Harris need a dynamic coach?But if Harris thinks age is just a number with Belichick, you might see him kicking the tires.
c. Chargers LA. I doubt Dean Spanos has a relatively blank check for Belichick. But if Los Angeles doesn’t win in the playoffs or ends up with no money, Spanos could sniff out Belichick. In addition, Belichick is 18 wins away from Don Shula’s training. Who knows how many wins he will have after this year?Fifteen? Sixteen? I’d have to think I could win at least 8 games a year with Justin Herbert.
It doesn’t make sense if the assets and Ryan Poles need the quarterback and offense to focus on Belichick, who turns 72 next year. So this is going to take a long time.
8. I think my football story of the week is L. A. ‘s Sam Farmer. Times about Jared Goff and his progression in Detroit. The most appealing element is that Goff admits to Farmer that he insisted on a meeting with coach Sean McVay when he sent through the Rams. One of his most productive friends with the Rams, Andrew Whitworth, met Goff right after the trade. As Farmer reported:
The quarterback then informed him that he was on his way to a meeting with McVay.
“I was like, ‘Wait, what?’ Whitworth recalled. And he said, ‘I told Sean he still wanted to go out with us. . . ‘And I said, ‘You’re crazy. ‘ Why should you faint?And he said, ‘I need you to tell me to my face what I did wrong. I need to hear it. How can I improve?’ He sought to put an end to his situation.
Recalling that two years later, Goff didn’t go into detail about what he said in his last meeting with McVay, saying only, “They gave me some answers and they gave me a lot of conclusions. He spoke openly. “
I think I’d like to wish good luck to former NFL quarterback Matt McGloin, who on Tuesday chose to do something far more vital than gamble a game for a living. McGloin, from Scranton, Pennsylvania, is one of the new commissioners from Lackawanna County, Pennsylvania, McGloin’s home county. The victory comes a decade after the former Penn State quarterback started his first of seven NFL games for the Raiders. He beat Texans Matt Schaub/Andre Johnson/DeAndre Hopkins in Houston on Nov. 10, his only win in the NFL.
10. Je here’s my other mind of the week:
one. Veterans Day Week Story: WNBC-TV’s Gilma Avalos in New York City with a service dog, Marley, and a PTSD veteran on Long Island. Save a pet, help a veterinarian. Great tagline for Paws of War, which means dogs (Marley about to be euthanized) needs a house with vets.
“He’s for me. I’m here, dude. I haven’t left you. Good job, Paws of War.
c. La NFL is rarely the only league that has taken steps to superfine players and field them for a surely general game. Giannis Antetokounmpo kicked out of a game for observing an enemy!
d. Me hooked on the reruns of “M*A*S*H”. I hadn’t seen in 40 years, I’d never been to reruns, but now my wife and I see almost a night or two. writing, acting, and very moving.
e. Je just watched the one at the end of Season 3, when Colonel Henry Blake rejoiced and rejoiced at the end of his excursion and learned that he would be returning to his paradise in southern Illinois, and excitedly described how much he enjoyed it. And I missed him. He and his wife are gone, and then Radar O’Reilly enters the operating room with the news that the plane carrying Colonel Henry Blake has been shot down over the Sea of Japan. “There are no survivors,” he said. Pants!My God, why would they kill a glorious fellow like Henry Blake!
The ruthless fact of war, of course, is that it kills very intelligent people. It’s the way “M*A*S*H” is incredibly real. There’s a string of tears running down my cheeks for a repeat of a 48-year-old movie. old sitcom. That’s why this exhibit is so amazing.
American Story of the Week: Kim Severson of The New York Times, on our love for drive-thru restaurants:
As Severson writes, we’ve become accustomed to spending so much time alone during the pandemic and are evidently hungry for more alone time after the pandemic.
I. Severson writes:
Self-service traffic increased 30% between 2019 and 2022, according to a report by foodservice research firm Technomic. At the same time, the number of people dining at fast-food restaurants in the first part of 2023 decreased by 47% to the same era in 2019. Drive-thruses now account for two-thirds of all fast-food purchases, according to a September report through Revenue Management Solutions.
As it gains momentum, the fast-food industry, estimated at $113 billion, is getting involved. Popeyes executives cut the length of the dining rooms in half. Taco Bell is experimenting with getting rid of them altogether in favor of more compromised car lanes. A plans to open a two-story, four-lane drive-thru in Atlanta next year that can accept 75 cars at a time and deliver food from the kitchen on a conveyor belt.
. . . The most surprising explanation might be a profound societal shift: Other people have emerged from the pandemic with less tolerance for interactions with strangers. Ronald Gross, a retiree with three grandchildren who lives in Brooklyn Park, just north of Minneapolis, sits in his car in the Taco Bell parking lot on a recent sunny afternoon dining on chipotle bird fondant.
Before the pandemic, I ate at restaurants like McDonald’s. Now he prefers self-service. ” I’ve lost the habit,” he says. I think I’m like a lot of other people who don’t necessarily like to be social anymore. “
j. How enlightening.
k. Americana Story of the Week II: Betsy McKay of The Wall Street Journal, on the decline of classic e-book clubs and the meteoric rise of a new kind of e-book club.
“I’m not going to read an e-book that other people say you have to read. I did it in school and I’ll never have to do it again.
m. Il is the bankruptcy of the “Silent Book Club” of Easton, Massachusetts, which meets in a brewery and all the members read other books. This is called “introverted hour of satisfaction. “
The Silent Book Club grew by approximately 75% this year to 525 chapters worldwide. Co-founders Guinevere de los Angeles Mare and Laura Gluhanich founded the club as overbooked pros in San Francisco, so they would have time to read without the hassle of hosting.
The West Seattle chapter, introduced last fall, is so popular that its meetings are held in at least 10 locations, plus coffee shops, bars and a record store. Participants also gathered to read on the beach.
Erin Meany, a self-proclaimed introvert, waited in her car in the parking lot, hesitating to get in until a friend arrived. Then he saw other people coming in with books. ” I said, ‘Okay, I can do it. ‘These are my other people,” said the 29-year-old clinical social worker.
Journalistic work of the week: Nikita Nikolaienko and Ian Lovett of the Wall Street Journal with a spy-on-spy story about how a fatal attack on a Ukrainian village seemed like an internal task in which one of its own citizens briefed the Russians:
or. According to the Journal’s journalists:
HROZA, Ukraine — When the Mamon brothers were growing up in this farming village near the Russian border, Andriy Kozyr stopped by the family from time to time. One day, upon returning from a structure abroad, he brought back a scooter and a toy gun, as well as cognac for his parents.
That’s how other people stayed in Hroza before the Russians arrived early last year. The invasion divided the town into enemy camps. Kozyr enlisted in the Ukrainian army and was killed in combat. The Mamon brothers went to paint for the Russian forces occupying Hroza.
After Ukraine retook the village just over a year ago, citizens looked at each other suspiciously, not knowing which of their neighbors they could trust. His distrust was not misplaced. On October 5, dozens of citizens gathered at the cemetery on the outskirts of Hroza for Kozyr’s funeral, then walked to the village café. At 1:25 p. m. , a missile ripped through the building, killing 59 other people in and around the café. For days, in the playground next to the old building, there were white-framed bags.
The attack was so exact in its timing and location that the surviving families were convinced that one of their own had called for the attack. How else would the Russians have found out about the funeral?Otherwise, why would they attack a small village with little army presence?, killing one-fifth of its population?
That’s why journalism is so important. We want to know how the global works, and without the sleuths on the ground (literally, I think, in the middle of the war in Ukraine), we would never know.
q. Podcast of the Week: My friend Tim Rohan has a wonderful multi-part module in Meadowlark’s Sports Explains the World series: “Volleyball and Service: From Wimbledon to the Front. “This is the Ukrainian tennis player Sergiy Stakhovsky, who stunned world tennis by getting rid of reigning champion Roger Federer at Wimbledon in 2013. . . and who is now fighting alongside the Ukrainian army to repel the Russian invasion. What a story.
Unbelievable: Stakhovsky beat Novak Djokovic in European junior tennis and then beat Federer at Wimbledon. A decade later, you understand why he’s doing something he considers much more important. Rohan traveled to Ukraine to discover the true story.
I think one of the reasons it’s so compelling is that along the way you get an excellent (and easy) hitale lesson about the crash and the roots of how the crash happened. Definitely worth your time. One thing I love about podcasting is how you can dive deep into a charming story you’ve never experienced. I had never heard of Sergiy Stakhovsky. Now I feel like the world knows him, thanks to Tim Rohan.
Stakhovsky’s departure for the war cost him his marriage (he also has three children) because his wife believes he put his family first. It is distressing for him because of his love for the country. It’s anything I surely felt I had to do. He told Rohan, “We all walk a fine line, but someone has to stick to it. “
you. Congratulations to my friend Rich Eisen on the NFL Network’s 20th anniversary this month. It will be recorded for me on Peter King’s podcast, which will be published on Tuesday (we recorded it in Frankfurt last week).
I told Rich that I thought Mike Mayock’s progression was a fundamental key to making the network a television channel for big off-season events, because I enjoyed how Mayock, both one and both years in the Scouting Combine, would give a six-minute monologue about the league’s 32 teams. So if you’re wondering why you’re waiting until Saturday Combine to tell you who Carolina picked in round seven, well, here’s why: Along the way, you got 32 clever riffs from Mayock about the state of both teams. League. Rich pointed out another vital thing in the network’s initial good fortune. I’m not going to mess it up here. Check out the podcast this week to hear their insights.
w. Rewards Section Quiz Answers: Ihmir Smith-Marsette played freshman water polo at the top school in Newark, New Jersey.
X. RIP, D. J. Hayden, who returned from severe core disorders while at the University of Houston to have a smart motorist in the NFL, most commonly with the Raiders. He died along with five others in a car crash in Houston on Saturday, a horrific crash that claimed the lives of six other people too soon.
y. Et, congratulations to a wonderful user and former soccer friend of Mary Beth King from Montclair, New Jersey, Yael Averbuch West. MB and Yael were teammates on the Montclair Kangaroos team at the time. As general manager of Gotham of the National Women’s Soccer League FC, Yael came up with a story of how to get back from the worst to the first. Gotham FC finished last in the 12-team league last season, then won the NWSL championship on Saturday night in San Diego, beating OL Reign, 2-1. It’s a shame to see Reign’s Megan Rapinoe’s last football game end with a probable Achilles tendon tear in the 3rd minute. )Very satisfied for Yael, who made football his life from a very young age and played with relentless skill. Apparently, he built a champion with the same record.
Cincinnati at Baltimore, Thursday, 8:15 a p. m. ET m. , Amazon Prime Video. In fact, I need to see this game of the year for Amazon in its 16-game package. Joe Burrow and the Bengals are desperate, 4-2 in this series since 2021, against the Ravens, who will have to be boiling after Sunday’s loss to Cleveland. Baltimore won at Cincinnati two months ago, but Burrow had a calf issue at the time. Both played knockout matches and matches on Sundays and are ready to return to the short week. Do you have enough legs to win?
New York Jets at Buffalo, Sunday, 4:25 p. m. , CBS. Convening a house meeting with the non-Aaron Rodgers Jets is a big challenge for the Bills. But Zach Wilson has a W against the Bills in 2022 and 2023. maybe I deserve to say that the Jets’ defense has those W’s, and the 4-for-6 Bills desperately want them because of next month’s brutal schedule.
Philadelphia at Kansas City, Monday, 8:15 p. m. , ESPN/ABC. In the history of the Andy Reid Bowl since Big Red migrated from Philadelphia to Kansas City in 2013, KC has a 4-0 record against Philadelphia, adding to last year’s narrow Super Bowl victory. I would expect the score here to be insane, with Kansas City coming out of a 15-day break and struggling offensively and the Eagles coming out of a 15-day break and flying high.
DeVito-Howell on Sunday at FedEx Field. Scalpers are saying goodbye.
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