Category: NFL News

The Dolphins lost handedly to the Bills, 31-10, and added injury to insult by losing Tua Tagovailoa.

The Dolphins quarterback was diagnosed with a concussion after a scary collision on a fourth-down run when he lowered his head into Bills defensive back Damar Hamlin. Tagovailoa had a series of concussions in 2022 that left him considering retirement.

Tagovailoa threw three interceptions, with Ja’Marcus Ingram getting two of the picks. He returned one 25 yards on the Dolphins’ first possession to set up James Cook’s first of three touchdowns. Ingram later had a 31-yard pick-six. Christian Benford had the other pick for the Bills, setting up a 19-yard field goal drive.

Ed Oliver and Von Miller each had a sack for the Bills.

Tagovailoa went 17-of-25 for 145 yards with a touchdown, and his replacement, Skylar Thompson, was 8 of 14 for 80 yards. Thompson beat out Mike White for the backup job, and after his release, White signed with the Bills’ practice squad.

The Dolphins could try to sign White to their active roster if Tagovailoa misses time, which seems likely considering his history.

Cook’s touchdowns came on a 17-yard reception and runs of 1 and 49 yards. He had 11 carries for 78 yards and the one catch for 17 yards.

Josh Allen was 13-of-19 for 139 yards and a touchdown as the Bills gained only 247 yards.

The Bills have beaten the Dolphins 12 of the past 13 games the teams have played, including the postseason.

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The margins between winning and losing in the National Football League can be razor thin.

That’s why it’s time to take a closer look at one of Week 2’s biggest showdowns between a couple of 1-0 teams, the San Francisco 49ers and the Minnesota Vikings. We’ll examine the two biggest matchups, one on each side of the football, and figure who has the advantage each in each key area. Let’s get to it.

WARNING: we are entering Week 2, so Week 1 and recent, past seasons are all we have to look back on as far as data points go

Vikings offense vs. 49ers defense

New Minnesota quarterback Sam Darnold, who was Brock Purdy’s 49ers backup in 2023, looked like a new man in Vikings head coach Kevin O’Connell’s offense during their 28-6 Week 1 road win at the New York Giants. He completed 19 of his 24 passes, including a career-high 12 in a row to start the game, for 208 yards, two touchdowns and an interception. His 79.2% completion was the third-best in Week 1, he was only sacked once and his sole interception came on a tipped pass. One game is an incredibly small sample size, but Darnold played like top-five quarterback among Week 1 passers as his 113.2 passer rating was the fifth-best in the NFL.

His top target, 2022 NFL Offensive Player of the Year Justin Jefferson, is unquestionably a top-five wide receiver in football. He became just the third player all-time to total at least 1,000 receiving yards (1,074) while playing in 10 or fewer games. Since his dominant OPOY run in 2022, Jefferson has been elite at separating and producing on intermediate throws, passes traveling 10 to 19 yards through the air, ranking top-five in targets (93), catches (62) and receiving yards (1,129) in that span. 

Justin Jefferson intermediate area receiving
since 2022

Targets  

93

4th

Receptions

62

3rd

Receiving Yards

1,129

4th

* Intermediate Area= 10-19 yards

** Jefferson won the 2022 NFL Offensive Player of the Year award

On the…

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Why Jacoby Brissett wore special hoodie at Patriots press conference originally appeared on NBC Sports Boston

This past weekend was a pretty good one for New England Patriots quarterback Jacoby Brissett, highlighted by his role in helping the team open the 2024 NFL season with a 16-10 win over the Cincinnati Bengals.

But it wasn’t a perfect weekend for the 31-year-old veteran, at least when it comes to college football.

Brissett was drafted by the Patriots in 2016 out of North Carolina State, where he played two seasons from 2014 through 2015. The Wolfpack, who entered Week 2 of the college football ranked No. 24 in the AP poll, played the No. 14 ranked Tennessee Volunteers on the road Saturday night in one of the most anticipated games on the NCAA schedule.

Unfortunately for Brissett, the Volunteers dominated the Wolfpack in a 51-10 victory.

We learned on Wednesday that, because of this result, Brissett lost a friendly wager to Patriots head coach Jerod Mayo and rookie quarterback Joe Milton, both of whom are Tennessee alums.

The punishment?

Brissett had to wear an orange Tennessee hoodie at his press conference Wednesday. Check out the scene in the video below, in which Mayo gives the hoodie to his QB:

Brissett will try to lead the Patriots to their first 2-0 record since 2019 when they host the Seattle Seahawks in Sunday’s Week 2 matchup at Gillette Stadium. Kickoff is scheduled for 1 p.m. ET.

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FRISCO, Texas — Game 1 with Mike Zimmer as the Dallas Cowboys defensive coordinator can’t be labeled as anything but a rousing success thanks to his unit’s performance in Dallas’ 33-17 shutdown of the Cleveland Browns. 

Dallas pressured Cleveland Browns quarterback Deshaun Watson on 42.9% of his dropbacks (the third-highest rate in the NFL in Week 1) for six sacks, the most for any defense in the league in Week 1, while limiting the Browns ground game to under 100 yards, 93 to be exact. An outstanding effort across the board. 

“I thought the guys did a really nice job of basically staying on the reservation, doing what we’re asking them to do, being in the right place,” Cowboys defensive coordinator Mike ZImmer said on Monday. “They played extremely hard, they always have. I was very impressed.”

Cleveland Browns quarterback Deshaun Watson and the Browns offense simply couldn’t keep Cowboys three-time All-Pro edge rusher Micah Parsons in check, surrendering a sack and multiple pressures. Parsons deflected a Watson pass that landed right in the hands of Dallas middle linebacker Eric Kendricks for an interception with 1:46 left in the half. Kendricks, who joined the Cowboys as a free agent this offseason, racked up two sacks in addition to the interception. The Browns had just one first-down conversion in the entire first half and finished the game with only two first-down conversions on 15 third downs, a 13.3% conversion rate allowed. That was the second-best in the NFL behind only Dallas’ Week 2 opponent, the New Orleans Saints, and their 10% third-down conversion rate allowed in a 47-10 beatdown of the Carolina Panthers. 

“Zim is in everybody’s head bro,” Parsons said postgame on Sunday when told that stat. “He has that type of fear factor. That type of respect. You want to play for that guy man. He’s just such a good dude. I have a lot of respect for him.”

Dallas capitalized on…

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Bears overreactions: Will OL waste Caleb Williams’ rookie year? Early indictment of Shane Waldron? originally appeared on NBC Sports Chicago

The start of the Caleb Williams era in Chicago looked eerily similar to a number of different Bears eras of the past.

There was a quarterback and an offense struggling to get out of neutral, while a dominant defense carried them to a wild 24-17 comeback win over the Tennessee Titans.

The Bears trailed 17-0 in the second quarter, but a blocked punt touchdown and pick-six by cornerback Tyrique Stevenson allowed the Bears to become the first team in NFL history to win a game in which they trailed by 17 points and failed to tally 150 yards of offense.

On the day, Williams went 14-for-29 for 93 yards. He didn’t turn the ball over, but the rookie quarterback missed throws he normally makes, had several passes batted at the line, and struggled to get on the same page with receivers other than DJ Moore. The Titans’ front seven pushed the Bears’ offensive line around all day, which contributed to Williams’ rushed play.

After the win, the No. 1 overall pick promised that improvements would be made with the understanding that growing pains are expected for a rookie quarterback.

The Bears were the big winners of the NFL offseason. “Hard Knocks” arrived at Halas Hall to chronicle the dawn of a new day for the NFL’s charter franchise. With Williams at the helm and a host of new weapons in the fold, this was supposed to be a different Bears team.

In Week 1, it was much of the same. Defense and special teams ruled the day while the offense weighed them down.

There are 16 weeks for that to change (it probably will), but that’s not what the overreactions mailbag is for. So, let’s take a deep dive into a 1-0 mailbag filled with thoughts of dread and some early second-guessing.

Caleb was bad the offensive line was worse. Poles needs to find some other interior lineman ASAP otherwise you’ll waste Caleb Williams rookie season much like Justin…

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Getty Images

Welcome to the Week 1 grades. 

The 2024 NFL season is off and running and like we do every year, we’re going to be grading every game that’s played between now and January. 

The first week of the season is usually the most unpredictable week of the year and the Bengals found that out the hard way on Sunday against New England. In a game where the Bengals were favored by 7.5 points, the Patriots were able to pull off a shocking upset. 

The slow start for the Bengals has become an annual problem in Cincinnati: The Bengals are now 1-10 over the first two weeks of the season under coach Zac Taylor. 

The Bengals weren’t the only AFC North team to get off to an ugly start. The NFL teams in Ohio went 0-2 on Sunday with the Browns getting blown out by the Cowboys. 

So what kind of grades did the Browns and Bengals get? Let’s check it out, along with all the other grades from Week 1. 

New England 16-10 over Cincinnati

Dallas 33-17 over Cleveland

Pittsburgh 18-10 Atlanta

Buffalo 34-28 over Arizona

Chicago 24-17 over Tennessee

Houston 29-27 over Indianapolis

Miami 20-17 over Jacksonville

New Orleans 47-10 over Carolina

L.A. Chargers 22-10 over Las Vegas

Seattle 26-20 over Denver

Tampa Bay 37-20 over Washington

Detroit 26-20 over L.A. Rams (OT)

Philadelphia 34-29 over Green Bay (Friday in Brazil)

Kansas City 27-20 over Baltimore (Thursday)

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NFL power rankings: Where 49ers stand entering MNF vs. Jets originally appeared on NBC Sports Bay Area

It’s here, it has arrived and it’s beautiful. For the most part.

Week 1 of the 2024 NFL season was eventful. And telling. The top dogs proved worthy of their preseason hype, the bottom feeders overall were a tough watch, rookie debuts were a mixed bag and key players on contending teams went down with injuries.

Here’s where the 49ers and the rest of the league stand entering the star-studded “Monday Night Football” affair:

Gross. Next.

Daniel Jones stinks. The “revamped” offensive line and defense were mediocre. More of the same for Big Blue this season? Poor Malik Nabers.

Bo Nix completed 26 passes for a whopping 138 yards. Yuck. The defense is average, but this offense might be terrible.

It doesn’t matter how disjointed the Bengals are right now. A win over a Super Bowl hopeful is impressive. It might be the highlight of New England’s season, though.

Gardner Minshew is serviceable and as long as he gets Davante Adams the ball there won’t be much drama. There also won’t be many wins, either. This team isn’t good.

Will Levis likely isn’t the answer but Tennessee needs to ride it out and see. It will be a season of peaks and valleys. Mostly valleys.

A very nice debut for Jayden Daniels, who looks like Lamar Jackson lite. However, that defense …

Sam Darnold truthers rise up. He’s not Kirk Cousins but he should be able to keep this offense afloat. The expectations still aren’t high but this could be a fun team to root for.

Kyler Murray and the Birds started hot, but that defense killed all their momentum. Expect plenty of shoot-outs this season.

Please, please get Justin Herbert some proven weapons in the passing game. This team is built to win now, but the offense doesn’t reflect that. Fortunately for Jim Harbaugh and Co., J.K. Dobbins appears healthy. Please don’t let that be a jinx.

The defense kept Trevor Lawrence in the game but he didn’t do much with it. I have major…

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Sunday afternoon’s showdown in Cleveland between the Dallas Cowboys and the host Browns in Week 1 is historic. 

It’s the only the second Week 1 matchup between the NFL’s No. 1 scoring offense and the NFL’s No. 1 total defense since the 1970 NFL/AFL merger. The Cowboys’ led the league with 29.9 points per game, and  the Browns led the league in total defense allowing 270.2 total yards per game, the fewest since the 2014 Legion of Boom Seattle Seahawks. Sunday will assuredly be a strength versus strength matchup when the 2023 NFL passing touchdowns leader Dak Prescott and 2023 NFL receptions leader CeeDee Lamb take the field against 2023 NFL Defensive Player of the Year Myles Garrett and Pro Bowl cornerback Denzel Ward. 

Let’s break it all down and predict a winner. 

All NFL odds are via SportsLine Consensus.

Where to watch Cowboys vs. Browns

Date: Sunday, Sep. 8 | Time: 4:25 p.m. ET
Location: Huntington Bank Field (Cleveland)
Channel: FOX Stream: fubo
Follow: CBS Sports App   
Odds: Browns -2.5; O/U 42

When the Cowboys have the ball

Obviously, Dallas’ No. 1 scoring offense starts and ends with the Prescott-to-Lamb connection. What they do well is in direct conflict with what the Browns do well. No receiver in the entire NFL had more targets (70), catches (49) and receiving yards (734) against man coverage in 2023 than Lamb. Prescott averaged the NFL’s best completion percentage (66%) and the second-most yards per pass attempt against man coverage (8.8) in the entire league. 

On the flip side, no defense ran more man coverage in 2023 than the Browns, who did so on 40.9% of their of their snaps. The key to who has the edge when Prescott drops back to pass is Dallas’ pass protection. It is rolling out two rookies as starters on its offensive line in 2024: third-round pick Cooper Beebe at center and first-round pick Tyler Guyton at left tackle. 

Guyton will specifically be tasked…

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