News, Notes & Rumors for week 8

nfl

NOTE:  Check out the live News, Notes and Rumors show on Monday and Friday at 6 PM Eastern on The Bill Smith Radio Show or the archive of the shows on https://fryingpansports.com/radio-show/.  On Monday Samantha Bunten of NBC Sports and I discuss the Browns game and the results of the weekend.  On Friday Tony Williams Giants beat writer for Metro New York joins Samantha and me to preview the upcoming games.

 

News:

Eagles Coach Chip Kelly’s offense has now gone 8 quarters without scoring a TD.  The team is now 3-5 and have lost 2 in a row.  Kelly has been forced to slow down the super speed O because of injuries and turnovers.  The only thing keeping the Eagles in the race for the NFC Least title is the bad records of the other teams in the division.  The future of this O is still very much in question.

 

Cowboy WR Dez Bryant went off on the sideline during a loss to the Lions.  He is right that he is the most talented receiver on the team and needs to get the ball more often.  QB Tony Romo is struggling this year to get the ball out.  If they want to win they had better find a way to get the ball to Dez.

 

Bengals OT Andrew Whitworth suffered a knee injury and will have an MRI this week.

 

Cardinal WR Larry Fitzgerald is the youngest player ever to amass 800 passes in his career.  He will be a first ballot Hall of Famer as soon as he is eligible.

 

Lions WR Ryan Broyles has a ruptured Achilles’ and will be lost for the season.  He has struggled with injuries in his brief career.

 

Pats RT Sebastian Vollmer was carted off the field with a knee injury.

 

Dolphins WR Brandon Gibson suffered a knee injury and is expected to miss the rest of the season.

 

 

 

 

Notes:

Giants 15 Eagles 7 – The G-Men kicked the Eagles to a win with 5 field goals.  The Giant D was not the key.  The Eagle O was totally inept and did not score a point.  The lone TD of the game came on a fumble recovery and return by the Eagle special teams member Najee Goode.  The O converted only 3 of 12 third down attempts and turned the ball over 3 times.  QB Mike Vick left the game in the first quarter with a hamstring injury but it did not matter.  He was 6 for 9 for 30 yards and a pick.  QB Matt Barkley threw only 1 interception and a fumble lost.  But behind Barkley the team was not close to getting the ball into the red zone let alone the endzone.  The Eagles had just 48 yards on 19 rushing attempts.  Giant QB Eli Manning threw for 246 yards and did not have a pick.

 

Broncos 45 Redskins 21 – Neither team could give the ball away fast enough.  The teams combined for 9 turnovers including 3 interceptions thrown by Payton Manning.  But Manning also threw 4 TDs and the combination of Robert Griffin and Kirk Cousins together threw only 1 TD.  Griffin was hurt again and replaced by Cousins.  The Broncos overcame the turnovers to dominate the fourth quarter and the final score.

 

Patriots 27 Dolphins 17 – The Dolphins were up 17-3 at half time.  Pats QB Tom Brady threw for 116 yards with a TD and a pick.  Brady’s throwing hand was badly swollen.  Most would expect the Pats lost but the D came through with 6 sacks and 3 turnovers.  The key adjustment in the second half was the Pats began to blitz often.  That stopped the Fish’s O cold.  The Pats scored 24 straight points in the 2nd half to put the game away.  The Pats ran for 152 yards.  Despite the injuries the Pats just find a way to win.

 

49ers 42 Jaguars 10 – The people of London have not seen such a one sided affair since they had to evacuate their troops from Dunkirk.  49er QB Colin Kaepernick ran for 2 TDs and threw for another.  RB Frank Gore ran for a pair of scores as well.  Jags QB Chad Henne did his best throwing for 228 yards with a TD and no interceptions.  But the Jags converted just 4 of 14 third down opportunities and the 49ers only faced 3rd down 9 times.  They converted 6 of the 9.  The Jags need a QB and will likely get the first pick in the 2014 draft to select one.

 

Raiders 21 Steelers 18 – Raider QB Terrelle Pryor opened the scoring with a 92 yard run for a TD.  RB Darren McFadden added 2 rushing TDs.  The Raider D held the Steelers to just 35 yards rushing on 19 carries and allowed just 4 first downs on 15 tries by the opponent.  Ben Roethlisberger threw the ball 45 times and was picked twice with 5 sacks.  After two consecutive wins it looked like they had turned things around.  But the loss to the Raiders showed there are still a bunch of issues in Pittsburgh.

 

Lions 31 Cowboys 30 – The Boys kicked a field goal with 1:02 left in the 4th to take the lead to 30-24.  Then they let Lions QB Matthew Stafford drive the length of the field to score the winning TD with 12 seconds on the clock.  The issue was the scheme.  The Boys doubled the TE and left Calvin Johnson man to man.  Stafford hit him with the pass that setup the final score.  Stafford threw for 488 yards including 14 catches for 329 yards to Johnson.  The Boys had a 20-10 lead with 11:32 left in the game but could not hold on.  The Cowboy pass defense is a mess.

 

Bengals 45 Jets 9 – The Bengals D made Geno Smith look like a rookie.  They sacked him 3 times and picked him off twice.  In the first quarter the Jets netted 1 yard on 9 plays.  The Bengals played long ball against the Jets defensive backfield.  The line gave Bengal QB Andy Dalton time and he threw a career high 5 TDs.  The Bengal D contributed 2 pick 6’s.  The over hyped Jets D looked slow and confused by the young Dalton.

 

Saints 35 Bills 17 – It was just another day at the office for Drew Brees.  He threw 5 TDs and passed for 332 yards and no interceptions.  The Bills were totally overwhelmed and looked like they would rather be anywhere other than the Super Dome.  Bills QB Thad Lewis was OK.  He went 22 for 39 for 234 yards with a TD and a pick but also lost 2 fumbles.  The Bills can’t compete against a top level NFL team.

 

Chiefs 23 Browns 17 – QB Jason Campbell is the 20th guy to start a game for the Browns since the team came back in 1999.  At least the Browns did not trade him in the middle of the 3rd quarter like they did Charlie Frye on his start game 1 against the Steelers in 2007.  For my complete analysis of this game check out Browns Chiefs Live Game Notes here on https://fryingpansports.com/.

 

 

Rumors:

With the trading deadline this Tuesday at 4PM EDT, the rumors this week revolve around possible trades.  Normally there is a lot of talk and very little action around the NFL trade deadline.  This season could be different because of the large number of injuries that have occurred.

 

WRs seem to be the most needed addition to teams looking toward the playoffs.  The Colts are interested in trading for one as are the Packers.  The Colts have already traded their first pick in 2014 to the Browns for RB Trent Richardson.

 

The Browns have the for sale sign out on just about everyone.  According to Jason La Canfora of CBS Sports they are willing to trade TE Jordon Cameron as well as WR Josh Gordon.  The 49ers are looking to move both WR Jonathan Baldwin and CB Nnamdi Asomugha.

 

The Falcons may consider trading TE Tony Gonzalez after their loss to the Cardinals.  They would ask him if he wanted to be traded first.  He resigned this year only to try to get a championship ring.  Now that the Falcons are 2-5 that is not likely to happen in Atlanta.

 

The Jags have the for sale sign out but have very few players that would attract interest.  DE Jason Babin is the one player in which a contender might have interest.

 

The Giants are willing to trade DE Justin Tuck according to La Canfora.  He also believes that the Vikes are trying to move DE Jared Allen and the Raiders could be willing to trade RB Darren McFadden.  With the emergence of RB Andre Ellington, the Cards might trade RB Ryan Williams.  The Saints would like to trade former 1st round bust RB Mark Ingram.

 

The Cards will have to trade WR Larry Fitzgerald or restructure his contract because of a very large base in 2014.

 

The salary cap issues are going to force the Cowboys to make some serious moves next season.

 

 

 

 

That’s what I think.  Tell me what you think.

 

Bill Smith is a former coach of several semi-pro teams, has officiated both football and basketball, done color on radio for college football and basketball and has scouted talent. He edits https://fryingpansports.com.  He has also published several novels on and a non-fiction work at http://www.merriam-press.com/.  Follow him on twitter @NNRonDSN to get the schedule of Special News, Notes and Rumors broadcasts.  You can hear the previous shows on https://fryingpansports.com/radio-show/ and the live show Mondays at 6 PM Eastern time on The Bill Smith Radio Show.  

He also edits .  

To keep up with the News, Notes & Rumors podcasts, follow me on twitter @NNRonDSN.

 

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