T.J. Watt did not wait long to put his stamp on the Pittsburgh Steelers’ new season. Early in the fourth quarter Sunday at Acrisure Stadium, the outside linebacker jumped a dump-off from Cooper Rush, intercepted the ball at the Atlanta 35, popped back to his feet, and ran it in for the first pick-six of his NFL career. The score pushed Pittsburgh ahead 20-10 on the way to a 20-13 win over the Atlanta Falcons in Mike McCarthy’s first regular-season game as Steelers head coach.

Rush tried to get the ball out quickly to Bijan Robinson in the backfield. Watt read it, stepped in front of the throw, and finished the play after he hit the turf without being touched, according to NBC Sports. FOX Sports listed the return at 35 yards. ClutchPoints posted on X: “TJ WATT PICK-SIX OFF COOPER RUSH”

TJ WATT PICK-SIX OFF COOPER RUSH 😱

Steelers extend their lead over the Falcons by 10 early in the 4th quarter!pic.twitter.com/yJCs6Glteu

— ClutchPoints (@ClutchPoints) September 13, 2026

Watt finished with two sacks, three tackles for loss, and the interception, per NBC Sports. It was his second career defensive touchdown. He had previously scored on a fumble return.

Why the Falcons were already in trouble

Atlanta arrived with its quarterback room gutted. The Falcons ruled Tua Tagovailoa out with an oblique injury suffered in Thursday practice and kept Michael Penix Jr. inactive as he continues to work back from last season’s torn ACL, Athlon Sports reported. That left Rush, signed in July, as the starter, with undrafted rookie Jack Strand behind him, as The Washington Post noted Friday.

Rush also dealt with back spasms Saturday. He still started, according to reporting that cited NFL insider Adam Schefter in the Times of India. Against Pittsburgh’s edge rush, the plan collapsed. Rush completed 12 of 22 passes for 143 yards, one touchdown, and two interceptions, per the Falcons’ game center.

The pick-six was not a coverage bust so much as a pressure play. Watt collapsed the pocket, sat on the easy outlet, and punished a quarterback who had little time to work through progressions. Robinson still produced — 83 rushing yards and eight catches for 90 yards and a score — but Atlanta never reached the red zone, per ESPN.

How the Steelers built the win

Chris Boswell opened the scoring with a 43-yard field goal. Atlanta answered after a Jaylen Warren fumble, as Rush hit Robinson for a 23-yard touchdown and a 7-3 lead. Boswell cut it to 7-6. Aaron Rodgers then found Pat Freiermuth from six yards out for a 13-7 halftime edge, according to NBC Sports.

Nick Folk trimmed the deficit with a 51-yard field goal late in the third. Watt’s return made it 20-10. Folk added a 43-yarder, and Pittsburgh ran out the clock. Rodgers completed 24 of 40 passes for 221 yards and the Freiermuth touchdown with no interceptions, per the Falcons’ box score. The Steelers managed only 58 rushing yards as a team. The defense covered the rest.

A light rain shower and 74-degree conditions hung over Acrisure Stadium, per theScore. It was the kind of gray September afternoon Pittsburgh has seen for decades. The difference this time was the man on the sideline. McCarthy, a Greenfield native hired in January after Mike Tomlin stepped down, opened his regular-season tenure at home, CBS Pittsburgh reported.

The hole Watt still wants to close

The splash play fit the motivation Watt has stated for months. On the “Deebo & Joe” podcast, he said he has “not won a freaking playoff game” and called that unacceptable, Sportsnet Pittsburgh reported ahead of Week 1. In a July 2025 interview on “In Depth with Graham Bensinger,” Watt told NBC Sports that winning a Super Bowl motivates him and that going without a playoff win is “absolutely unacceptable.”

That drought is confirmed. Watt has played five postseason games and lost all five, per his Pro-Football-Reference playoff log. Pittsburgh’s last postseason victory came after the 2016 season, before he arrived.

Sunday does not change that ledger. It does show the identity Watt wants this defense to carry into January: pressure that forces the ball out early, then a finisher who can take it the other way. One Week 1 win under McCarthy is a start. Watt has said, more than once, that a start is not the standard he will accept.

The Baltimore Ravens opened the Jesse Minter era with a 41-23 win at Indianapolis, but they left Lucas Oil Stadium thinner at wide receiver than they arrived. Rookie Ja’Kobi Lane, the third-round pick who spent August turning heads in camp, lasted only the first half of his regular-season debut before the team shut him down with a wrist injury.

The Ravens confirmed the ruling on their official account: “WR Ja’Kobi Lane (wrist) has been ruled out.”

WR Ja'Kobi Lane (wrist) has been ruled out.

— Baltimore Ravens (@Ravens) September 13, 2026

NFL Network’s Mike Garafolo added the detail that matched what viewers saw on the CBS broadcast. Lane caught a touchdown that holding wiped off the board, then finished the half with one catch for 11 yards on three targets and did not return. Garafolo posted: “Ravens have ruled out WR Ja’Kobi Lane with a wrist injury. Tough day for the rookie, who had a TD negated by penalty and is now out for the game and maybe more.”

#Ravens have ruled out WR Ja’Kobi Lane with a wrist injury. Tough day for the rookie, who had a TD negated by penalty and is now out for the game and maybe more.

— Mike Garafolo (@MikeGarafolo) September 13, 2026

Ian Rapoport of NFL Network reported the same ruling shortly after.

#Ravens rookie WR Ja'Kobi Lane has been ruled out due to a wrist injury.

— Ian Rapoport (@RapSheet) September 13, 2026

The Athletic’s Jeff Zrebiec noted the depth crunch that followed: Baltimore was already without Devontez Walker (groin, inactive) and then lost Zay Flowers as well. That left Rashod Bateman, practice-squad elevation Chris Moore, and return specialist LaJohntay Wester as the healthy active wideouts.

Ravens ruled out WR Ja'Kobi Lane with a wrist injury. Ravens now without three of their top 4 WRs. They are down to Rashod Bateman, Chris Moore and LaJohntay Wester.

— Jeff Zrebiec (@jeffzrebiec) September 13, 2026

Flowers’ first-half explosion, then the hamstring

Flowers made the first half look simple. He caught five passes for 150 yards and a 54-yard touchdown from Lamar Jackson, every reception a first down, according to ESPN. Then, with about 5½ minutes left in the second quarter, Sauce Gardner tackled him after a 12-yard catch. Flowers grabbed his left hamstring. He did not play after halftime and was later ruled out.

That hamstring had already cost him two weeks of practice late in camp. He returned as a full participant last week and carried no injury designation into Sunday. The aggravation changes the Week 2 picture immediately. Baltimore hosts the New Orleans Saints next Sunday at M&T Bank Stadium.

Lane’s snaps told a different story than the stat line. Per TruMedia numbers cited by NBC Sports, he played 24 first-half snaps, second-most among Ravens receivers before he left. The negated score came in the second quarter on a holding penalty. It is still unknown exactly when the wrist flared. The team has not specified fracture, sprain, or next imaging.

*Touchdown catch negated by holding. Final score: Ravens 41, Colts 23, per ESPN.

Why the room suddenly looks thin

Minter’s staff wanted size next to Flowers and Bateman. Lane, 6-foot-4 out of USC and the No. 80 overall pick, was the answer they drafted. Fourth-rounder Elijah Sarratt was a healthy scratch Sunday. Walker never got active. Once Flowers and Lane left, Jackson’s remaining targets were Bateman plus two players who were not in the original Week 1 plan as every-down receivers.

Derrick Henry covered a lot of that gap. He ran for 144 yards and three touchdowns, and Jackson still threw for 324 yards in the win, per CBS Baltimore. The offense did not stall. It did get narrower. That is the scheme problem for Declan Doyle heading into the home opener: 11 personnel without the two receivers who had the most juice in the first half.

Lane’s camp tape showed contested catches and red-zone size. The regular-season sample is one half and a sore wrist. Garafolo’s “maybe more” line is the honest current status — not a diagnosis. The Ravens will evaluate both Lane and Flowers this week before posting the first official Week 2 injury report.

No timeline has been announced for either player. Any projection that Lane returns Sunday against New Orleans remains unconfirmed.

MINNEAPOLIS — The Green Bay Packers will open the 2026 season without starting left guard Aaron Banks. The veteran is inactive for Sunday’s 3:25 p.m. CDT kickoff against the Minnesota Vikings at U.S. Bank Stadium after a week of limited work with knee tendinitis, according to Packers News.

Banks practiced on a limited basis all week and entered the day as a game-time decision. He told reporters Thursday it would “probably be a game-time decision,” per Packers Wire. The decision went the other way after pregame warmups. The official Week 1 inactive report from NFL.com lists Banks among Green Bay’s six scratches.

The Packers signed Banks to a four-year, $77 million deal in March 2025, as detailed by Packers Wire. He started 14 of 15 games at left guard last season. Losing him on opening day leaves a hole next to left tackle Jordan Morgan and in front of quarterback Jordan Love against a Vikings defense built to create pressure.

Who is replacing Aaron Banks at left guard?

Early reports pointed to fifth-round rookie Jager Burton, the Kentucky interior lineman Green Bay drafted at No. 153 overall in the 2026 NFL Draft, according to Packers.com. Burton took first-team reps at guard during camp while Banks managed the knee. That remains the depth-chart logic on paper.

Pregame work told a different story. Scott Emerich posted on X that the Packers were lining up with Donovan Jennings at left guard

With Aaron Banks on the inactive list Packers lining up with Donovan Jennings at LG in pregame.

— Scott Emerich (@ScottEmerich19) September 13, 2026

Packers writer Jason B. Hirschhorn separately posted that Green Bay appeared to be rolling with Jennings over Burton or Anthony Belton

With Aaron Banks inactive, the Packers appear to be rolling with the Hurdy Gurdy Man at left guard over Jager Burton or Anthony Belton. pic.twitter.com/fpTd4nXI4x

— Jason B. Hirschhorn (@by_JBH) September 13, 2026

Those warmup looks are not an official starting-lineup announcement from the team. They are the strongest on-the-ground indication available before kickoff. Jennings, an undrafted free agent from South Florida in 2024, has two career regular-season appearances and six offensive snaps entering 2026, per reporting from Packers On SI.

The rest of the projected line still has movement. Right tackle Zach Bako-Bewele is active after offseason knee surgery and will play, Packers News reported from Minneapolis. Jacob Monk is expected at right guard. Sean Rhyan stays at center. That group has to handle Minnesota’s first-down looks and third-down pressure without the guard Green Bay paid to stabilize the interior.

The absences stack up beyond the offensive line

Banks is not the only starter missing. Edge rusher Micah Parsons is on the reserve/physically unable to perform list while recovering from a torn ACL suffered in December 2025 and must miss at least the first four games, CBS Sports reported after the Packers made the roster move. General manager Brian Gutekunst has said Green Bay expects to be close once that four-game window closes.

Running back Josh Jacobs is on the commissioner’s exempt list and cannot practice or play while the NFL reviews his case under the personal conduct policy, the league announced in late August via NFL.com. Jacobs later entered a no-contest plea to two misdemeanor charges; the league said his exempt status did not change, according to the New York Post.

That puts the early-down load on MarShawn Lloyd, who has six career regular-season carries for 15 yards from one 2024 appearance, per Pro-Football-Reference. Green Bay also added Kaleb Johnson in an August trade with Pittsburgh and still has Chris Brooks. Offensive coordinator Adam Stenavich has already framed Week 1 as a committee, per CBS Sports.

Green Bay’s full inactive list, confirmed by NFL.com and Vikings.com, is Banks, linebacker Ty’Ron Hopper, offensive lineman Travis Glover, wide receiver J. Michael Sturdivant, defensive tackle Warren Brinson and defensive tackle Anthony Campbell.

The scheme problem is simple. Love needs a clean first step from the pocket. Banks was the paid piece who was supposed to lock the left A-gap and give the run game a downhill shoulder. Jennings or Burton will be asked to do that job against a Vikings front that can twist, overload and send extra rushers. If the interior loses leverage, Green Bay’s answers shrink to quick game and designed movement. That is a hard way to open a division road game in a building already loud for Kyler Murray’s Minnesota debut, as previewed by the Minnesota Star Tribune.

Banks’ next realistic target is Week 2 at the New York Jets. Nothing in the team’s public comments Sunday upgraded that beyond hope. The Packers have to play this one with the line they dressed.

Zay Flowers tore through the Indianapolis Colts secondary for 150 yards and a touchdown in a half. Then a familiar hamstring problem ended his afternoon. The Baltimore Ravens still closed out a 41-23 win in their season opener Sunday at Lucas Oil Stadium.

Flowers caught five passes on six targets before exiting. He opened the game with a 49-yard grab that set up Lamar Jackson’s 5-yard scoring run. Later he motioned out of the backfield, took a short sidearm throw from Jackson, and raced 54 yards for a touchdown. That play gave him 138 yards with more than six minutes left in the second quarter. NFL Network’s Mike Garafolo posted on X: “Go off, Zay Flowers. Up to 138 receiving yards. It’s not yet halftime.”

Go off, Zay Flowers. Up to 138 receiving yards. It’s not yet halftime. pic.twitter.com/IH3PHsDDHM

— Mike Garafolo (@MikeGarafolo) September 13, 2026

The next catch stopped him. Flowers hauled in a 12-yard pass and Sauce Gardner tackled him. He grabbed the back of his left hamstring, sat on the turf for a few seconds, and walked to the sideline. According to ESPN, the injury occurred with about 5½ minutes left in the first half. He missed Baltimore’s final series of the half. The team first listed him as questionable. ESPN’s Jamison Hensley later reported he was ruled out. Hensley posted on X that Flowers had been officially ruled out

Ravens WR Zay Flowers (hamstring) has officially been ruled out

— Jamison Hensley (@jamisonhensley) September 13, 2026

Flowers had already missed two weeks of practice with a hamstring issue that surfaced during joint sessions with the Minnesota Vikings late in camp. He returned as a full participant this week and carried no game designation. On Wednesday he told reporters he felt ready. “I feel great. I feel better than ever,” he said, via Ryan Mink of the team site, as reported by NBC Sports.

The Ravens still built a 31-13 halftime lead. Derrick Henry scored three rushing touchdowns on the day. Jackson added a rushing score of his own. Baltimore finished with a 41-23 victory, per the ESPN box score.

New offensive coordinator Declan Doyle attacked immediately with his best playmaker. Flowers created separation against Justin Walley and Charvarius Ward. He also produced after the catch, including the 54-yard score that started from four yards past the line of scrimmage. Colts defensive coordinator Lou Anarumo had no consistent answer in the first 30 minutes. That is why Flowers averaged 30 yards per reception before he left.

On the sideline he stood apart from the offensive huddle without his helmet. He gestured toward his leg while speaking with general manager Eric DeCosta, according to The Athletic. Rookie Ja’Kobi Lane also left with a wrist injury and was ruled out, leaving Rashod Bateman, LaJohntay Wester, and practice-squad elevation Chris Moore as the active wideouts.

Flowers signed a four-year, $140 million extension in early August that includes $108 million guaranteed, as first reported by ESPN. Sunday was his first regular-season game under that deal. The Ravens now turn to Week 2 against the New Orleans Saints. Hamstring aggravations often require caution. No official timeline or MRI result has been announced.

The Minnesota Vikings opened the 2026 season at U.S. Bank Stadium without J.J. McCarthy available behind Kyler Murray. The team posted its Week 1 inactive list Sunday afternoon and included the former first-round quarterback as its emergency third option against the Green Bay Packers.

Minnesota’s official announcement named McCarthy inactive along with cornerback Zemaiah Vaughn, safety Jakobe Thomas, running back Demond Claiborne, center Nick Samac, tackle Caleb Tiernan and defensive lineman Elijah Williams, per the Vikings’ game-day report. The club added that McCarthy would only enter if Murray and Carson Wentz could not continue.

The Minnesota Vikings account posted the same inactive graphic on X: “#Vikings Week 1 inactives”

#Vikings Week 1 inactives pic.twitter.com/0rbXGKanRh

— Minnesota Vikings (@Vikings) September 13, 2026

Alec Lewis of The Athletic listed the group the same way, tagging McCarthy as the emergency third quarterback

The Vikings' inactives vs. Packers—

• RB Demond Claiborne
• CB Zemaiah Vaughn
• S Jakobe Thomas
• C Nick Samac
• T Caleb Tiernan
• DL Elijah Williams
• QB J.J. McCarthy (emergency 3rd QB)

— Alec Lewis (@alec_lewis) September 13, 2026

Why Wentz is the Week 1 backup

This was not a last-minute surprise. Head coach Kevin O’Connell told reporters Wednesday that Wentz would back up Murray for the opener and that McCarthy would be No. 3. O’Connell called the backup job a week-to-week decision and said the choice “gives us the best chance to win this Sunday,” according to CBS Sports.

O’Connell pointed to Wentz’s body of work when he explained the call. “Carson has got almost a hundred career starts,” he said, per ESPN’s Kevin Seifert. The coach wanted a veteran who could operate on limited reps while the staff spent the week getting Murray comfortable in his first start as a Viking.

Murray won the starting job in August after a training-camp competition. McCarthy, the No. 10 pick in the 2024 draft, had been the presumed successor after Sam Darnold left. That plan cracked in 2025. McCarthy started 10 games and finished 140-of-243 for 1,632 yards, 11 touchdowns and 12 interceptions, a 57.6% clip and 72.6 passer rating, according to NFL.com career stats. He also ran for 181 yards and four scores.

Injuries stacked up around those numbers. McCarthy missed his entire rookie year with a torn meniscus. A high-ankle sprain in 2025 opened the door for Wentz to start five games. A late-camp ankle issue then kept McCarthy out of the preseason finale at Denver, Seifert reported. He practiced in full this week. The staff still chose experience for the first live series of the year.

How the quarterback room got here

Minnesota initially kept four quarterbacks after cutdown day, then waived Max Brosmer on Aug. 31 to claim offensive linemen, The Athletic reported. Brosmer later returned on the practice squad. General manager Nolan Teasley said last week he expected McCarthy to be on the Week 1 roster. No trade was announced. Trade talk around McCarthy remains unconfirmed speculation unless a team and the Vikings agree on compensation.

That sequence left Murray, Wentz and McCarthy as the three quarterbacks on the 53. For one Sunday in a division game, O’Connell preferred the quarterback who has already started nearly 100 NFL games to the 23-year-old with 10. The scheme ask is simple: protect Murray’s first start, keep the offense on schedule, and treat the No. 2 job as a weekly evaluation rather than a season-long verdict.

McCarthy can still climb. O’Connell left that door open on Wednesday. Until the weekly call changes, Minnesota will open the season with its former top-10 pick watching Murray’s debut from the inactive list.

CHARLOTTE, N.C. — Caleb Williams did not ease into the 2026 season. On a sunny 86-degree afternoon at Bank of America Stadium, the Chicago Bears quarterback turned two first-half scrambles into touchdowns and posted speeds no other NFL quarterback has matched over the last year-plus.

Williams completed 12 of 16 passes for 196 yards and one touchdown in the first half, adding 52 rushing yards and two scores as the Bears built a 31-24 lead, according to the Chicago Sun-Times. The News & Observer logged the same line: 12-of-16, 196 yards, one passing score, two rushing touchdowns, 136.5 passer rating.

The first burst came with 5:52 left in the first quarter. Williams kept it around left end from the 9 and beat the edge. Next Gen Stats posted the tracking number immediately after: “Caleb Williams reached a top speed of 20.35 mph on his 9-yard scramble TD run, the third-fastest speed by a QB as a ball carrier since the start of last season (Williams also owns the top two speeds).” The account added that he had reached 20-plus mph six times since the start of last season, with no other quarterback topping two such plays.

Caleb Williams reached a top speed of 20.35 mph on his 9-yard scramble TD run, the third-fastest speed by a QB as a ball carrier since the start of last season (Williams also owns the top two speeds).

Williams has reached 20+ mph six times since the start of last season. No…

— Next Gen Stats (@NextGenStats) September 13, 2026

Chicago already had answered Carolina’s opening-drive score. D’Andre Swift punched in a 1-yard run later in the quarter. Early in the second, Williams dropped a 22-yard touchdown to Cole Kmet. Bryce Young answered with a 51-yard strike to Jalen Coker and a 7-yard scramble of his own. Cairo Santos then hit a 40-yard field goal.

Williams closed the half. With 22 seconds left, he took off on a 29-yard touchdown run down the left sideline to make it 31-24. Next Gen Stats followed with a second reading: “Caleb Williams reached a top speed of 20.80 mph on his 29-yard TD run, the second-fastest speed of his career.” After that play, the same account updated the 20-plus mph count to seven since the start of 2025, more than every other quarterback combined.

Caleb Williams reached a top speed of 20.80 mph on his 29-yard TD run, the second-fastest speed of his career.

Since the start of 2025, Williams has reached 20+ mph seven times as a ball carrier. All other QBs have five such plays.#CHIvsCAR | #DaBears pic.twitter.com/D5xEAoUmj6

— Next Gen Stats (@NextGenStats) September 13, 2026

Why the speed still matters in Ben Johnson’s offense

Williams’ legs were never a secret at USC. What changed Sunday was how those bursts sat next to clean pocket throws. The Kmet score was a loft to the left corner. The 196 first-half passing yards came on 75 percent completions. The runs were not designed keepers from the start of the play. They were scrambles after the first read closed.

That mix is the point of Year 2 under Ben Johnson. When a quarterback can hit 20 mph after leaving the pocket, linebackers have to stay attached to the run fit a beat longer. That extra step is what opened the Kmet window and later the space Swift used on short-yardage plunges. Carolina scored on four of six first-half possessions, per the Sun-Times, so Chicago needed the offense to win the half on its own.

The Bears’ 31 first-half points ranked as their third-highest total since 2000, the Sun-Times noted. Swift had 10 carries for 67 yards and a touchdown at the break. Young, for his part, went 11-of-17 for 193 yards, two passing scores, one interception, and a rushing touchdown before Malik Muhammad picked him off on a deep shot as the half expired.

Late in the fourth quarter, ESPN had Chicago in front 52-31 after a 61-yard Kyle Monangai touchdown run in the third and a 1-yard Williams pass to Jahdae Walker in the fourth. That score was still unofficial as the clock ran, but the first-half explosion had already decided the tone of the opener.

The Bears’ next game is Sunday, Sept. 20, at Soldier Field against the Minnesota Vikings, per the NFL schedule. That will be Chicago’s home opener. Williams will walk into it having already shown, on the first Sunday of the year, that the speed from last season did not leave when the passing numbers climbed.

Josh Allen walked into Week 1 already voted the NFL’s top quarterback by coaches and executives. Then he spent a humid Sunday in Houston playing like it.

In Sports Illustrated’s annual poll compiled by Albert Breer, Allen collected 49 first-place votes and 427 points from 104 ballots, finishing ahead of Matthew Stafford and Patrick Mahomes. Mahomes, who had owned the top spot for years, dropped after a knee injury limited him last season. Allen appeared on 101 of 104 ballots. The survey closed after roster cutdowns and published Sept. 8.

That ranking met a live test at NRG Stadium (still called Reliant Stadium by several outlets) against DeMeco Ryans’ defense. Kickoff was 1 p.m. ET on CBS. By halftime the Bills led 24-21 after putting up more points in 30 minutes than they scored in full games against Houston in 2024 or 2025, Houston Chronicle beat writer Jonathan M. Alexander noted in the paper’s live blog. Allen scrambled right to extend plays, the exact look Houston wanted to take away.

Moore’s first Bills touchdown ends the trade debate for a day

Buffalo sent a 2026 second-round pick to Chicago in March for DJ Moore and a fifth-rounder, a deal some national writers called expensive after Moore’s quiet 2025. Moore answered in the second quarter. Allen hit him for a 43-yard touchdown with 1:29 left in the half, Moore’s first score in a Bills uniform. ClutchPoints posted the clip: “DJ Moore gets his first TD as a Buffalo Bill. What a throw by Josh Allen and what a catch by Moore!”

DJ MOORE GETS HIS FIRST TD AS A BUFFALO BILL 🦬

What a throw by Josh Allen and what a CATCH by Moore!pic.twitter.com/o1I40qyRrm

— ClutchPoints (@ClutchPoints) September 13, 2026

Moore also drew a 46-yard pass-interference flag on Kamari Lassiter in the end zone, setting up Allen’s 1-yard plunge. That sequence, plus Allen’s earlier 21-yard scramble for a score, gave Buffalo 21 points in the second quarter alone. NBC Sports had Allen 8-of-11 for 163 yards and a touchdown at the break, plus two rushing scores and 24 yards on four carries. Moore had three catches for 76 yards at that point.

The official trade terms were confirmed by the Bills when the league year opened. Moore reunited with head coach Joe Brady, who coached him in Carolina. Brady’s scheme finally had a true downfield option after two seasons of shorter throws. Houston’s secondary, built to squeeze those routes, instead gave up the long ball and the flag.

Temperature in Houston sat in the mid-90s with a heat index over 100, per in-game weather notes. Allen still kept plays alive with his legs when the pocket collapsed. Ryans’ front had sacked him eight times in their last meeting. This time Allen slipped the edge and finished runs.

C.J. Stroud answered before the half with a 12-yard touchdown to Nico Collins. David Montgomery scored twice on the ground. The game stayed tight. Late in the fourth quarter, ESPN’s live tracker had Buffalo ahead 36-31 after Allen found Joshua Palmer for a 34-yard score, with Houston still possessing the ball and time remaining. Those late numbers can still change. The first-half tape is the clearer statement: Allen beat the scheme Houston designed for him.

Allen entered the day 0-4 in Houston for his career. That history is why the poll result carried extra weight. Coaches and general managers already saw the two-way threat. On Sunday he showed the scramble-right escape and the deep-ball timing with a new No. 1 receiver in the same half.

What comes next is whether Brady keeps feeding Moore downfield and whether Houston’s coverage can adjust. One afternoon does not settle a season. It does explain why 49 first-place votes landed on Allen before a snap was taken.

JACKSONVILLE, Fla. — Trevor Lawrence carved up Cleveland for four touchdown passes Sunday, and the Jacksonville Jaguars walked out of EverBank Stadium with a 34-10 win that left the Browns searching for answers after one half of football.

The Jaguars led 24-0 at halftime and 34-3 late in the third quarter before Cleveland scored a late consolation touchdown. Lawrence finished 18-of-23 for 245 yards and a 150.6 passer rating, connecting with Parker Washington, Josh Cameron, Brenton Strange and Jakobi Meyers for scores, according to ESPN.

Deshaun Watson, named the Week 1 starter over Shedeur Sanders in late August, completed 16 of 22 passes for 205 yards, one touchdown and one interception. The Browns did not score until Andre Szmyt’s 26-yard field goal at the 8:31 mark of the third quarter, set up by Raheim Sanders’ long kick return. Watson hit Denzel Boston for a 46-yard touchdown with 1:52 left.

Heat sat in the mid-90s under partly cloudy skies. Jacksonville’s offense stayed on schedule. Cleveland did not. The Browns went 1-for-8 on third down, drew 11 penalties for 75 yards and never forced Lawrence off his spot for long, per the team box score.

Lawrence exploited a defense that never settled

Lawrence attacked quickly. He found Washington for a 30-yard touchdown on Jacksonville’s second drive and Cameron for a 4-yard score before the first quarter ended. A 47-yard Cam Little field goal and Strange’s 14-yard catch made it 24-0 at the break. Meyers added a 32-yard touchdown early in the third.

That sequence is why the first half felt like a mismatch. Jacksonville’s receivers often worked free. Cleveland’s defense spent too much time on the field after the offense stalled. The Athletic’s Zac Jackson described it as a preparation gap against Liam Coen’s plan more than a single blown coverage.

Watson’s line looks cleaner than the tape. He did not get the offense moving until garbage time. He is in the final year of the fully guaranteed deal Cleveland gave him in 2022 and had not started a regular-season game since tearing his Achilles in October 2024. Head coach Todd Monken said before the season that Watson gave the group the best chance to move the ball on the road. Sunday did not support that claim on the field.

Fox Sports columnist Ralph Vacchiano posted on X after the first half: “If the Cleveland Browns continue to look as bad as they did in the first half of their opening game, Arch Manning is going to announce his intention to return to Texas next year by the end of the day.”

If the Cleveland Browns continue to look as bad as they did in the first half of their opening game, Arch Manning is going to announce his intention to return to Texas next year by the end of the day. pic.twitter.com/Lq5XL72g1d

— Ralph Vacchiano (@RalphVacchiano) September 13, 2026

The joke landed because Cleveland holds extra 2027 draft capital and Manning remains a projected high pick if he leaves Texas after this college season. That is speculation, not a report of any Browns plan. The team already has Sanders, Dillon Gabriel and others on the roster. No official comment from the Browns after the game indicated a change at quarterback.

Monken’s first game, and the question that follows

Monken replaced Kevin Stefanski after the 2025 season and is Cleveland’s 19th full-time head coach. Pittsburgh hired Mike McCarthy and Baltimore hired Jesse Minter in the same cycle, so three AFC North teams opened 2026 with new voices, as outlined by The Athletic.

Monken won the job as an offensive coach. He called plays for Lamar Jackson in Baltimore and ran Georgia’s offense during two national titles. Cleveland’s unit produced 272 total yards and almost no rhythm until the final drive. That is the opposite of the operation he said he wanted when he named Watson the starter on Aug. 24, per NFL.com.

Some local coverage and fan sites argued Sanders had the better summer body of work. Monken still chose experience for a road opener. ESPN’s Jeremy Fowler reported before kickoff that the staff would judge Watson on performance week to week even if they were not framing it as an immediate open competition. That remains unconfirmed as official policy after one game.

Cleveland visits Tampa Bay next week. Jacksonville travels to Denver. One loss does not decide a season. A 24-0 hole in a coach’s first game does force the next conversation: how long the Browns stay with Watson if the offense stays this stuck.

Omar Cooper Jr. needed one catch to show why the New York Jets traded up for him. He needed only a few more snaps to leave the field on a cart.

The Jets announced during the third quarter of Sunday’s season opener at Nissan Stadium that the rookie wide receiver would not return against the Tennessee Titans. Officials also downgraded safety Minkah Fitzpatrick to doubtful. The team posted the update on X: “Cooper has been downgraded to OUT and Fitzpatrick has been downgraded to DOUBTFUL”

Cooper has been downgraded to OUT and Fitzpatrick has been downgraded to DOUBTFUL https://t.co/WX4cQZb4jK

— New York Jets (@nyjets) September 13, 2026

Cooper, 22, started in the slot and made an immediate mark. On third-and-9 from the Titans’ 34-yard line with 12:10 left in the first quarter, he turned a Geno Smith throw into a 30-yard catch-and-run that reached the 4. Tight end Kenyon Sadiq scored on a 3-yard end-around two plays later for a 7-0 lead, according to ESPN and the New York Post.

The ankle injury followed shortly after that play. CBS sideline reporter Aditi Kinkhabwala reported Cooper was carted off, SNY noted. The Jets first listed him as questionable to return, then ruled him out once the second half began.

What the injury means for New York’s passing game

Cooper was the No. 30 overall pick in the 2026 NFL Draft after the Jets moved up from No. 33. He joined first-round tight end Kenyon Sadiq (No. 16) and edge rusher David Bailey (No. 2) as New York’s three first-round selections. At Indiana he finished with 115 receptions for 1,798 yards and 22 touchdowns over four seasons, per ESPN college stats.

The Jets drafted him for yards after the catch and slot versatility. That 30-yard play was the exact skill set. Losing him on the opening drive forces more volume onto Garrett Wilson and Adonai Mitchell, with Sadiq and Mason Taylor handling tight-end work. Isaiah Williams also saw work in camp and could absorb extra snaps if Cooper misses time.

Severity remains unconfirmed. The team said it would evaluate the ankle after the game. RotoWire listed an estimated return of Sept. 20, but that is projection only, not an official timeline.

Fitzpatrick’s groin strain is a separate problem. The veteran, acquired from Miami in March and signed to a three-year, $40 million deal, lasted six snaps before leaving. Andre Cisco replaced him. Nickel Jarvis Brownlee Jr. also left with a calf injury in the second quarter but returned in the second half, ESPN reported.

The Jets still controlled the game. They led 10-3 at halftime, added a Breece Hall touchdown and two Jason Sanders field goals after the break, and won 23-10. Smith finished 19-of-24 for 215 yards. Hall ran for 102 yards. The offense did not collapse without Cooper. That is useful information heading into Week 2 against Green Bay.

Nashville’s mid-September heat sat in the upper 80s to low 90s. The home crowd grew quiet after the opening drive and later booed the Titans’ offense off the field on a three-and-out, per live reports from the stadium.

Cooper’s next step is imaging and a Monday or Tuesday update from head coach Aaron Glenn. Until then, the Jets treat the ankle as a Week 1 loss, not a season-altering one—unless further tests change that picture.

Baker Mayfield put the ball on the ground three times Sunday, and the Tampa Bay Buccaneers never recovered. Cincinnati turned that sloppiness into a 33-27 Week 1 win at Paycor Stadium, where a rebuilt Bengals defense spent the afternoon ripping the football away from a quarterback five days removed from a new contract.

The sequence that went viral came early in the second quarter. Mayfield slipped the first wave at the line, cut toward the goal line, and lost the ball as Barrett Carter punched it free. Safety Bryan Cook fell on it in the end zone for a touchback. NBC Sports confirmed the play as Mayfield’s second lost fumble of the half. ClutchPoints posted the clip on X: “Baker Mayfield eludes the defense at the line of scrimmage but fumbles at the goal-line as the Bengals recover”

Baker Mayfield eludes the defense at the line of scrimmage but fumbles at the goal-line as the Bengals recover 🤯
pic.twitter.com/vkaa9jL1kN

— ClutchPoints (@ClutchPoints) September 13, 2026

That scramble did not arrive in a vacuum. On Tampa Bay’s second possession, Carter and Myles Murphy split a sack. Murphy forced the fumble. Linebacker Demetrius Knight Jr. scooped it and ran 27 yards for Cincinnati’s first touchdown of 2026, as reported by Sports Illustrated and NBC Sports. FOX19’s in-game notes described Carter hitting Mayfield “as Baker Mayfield is about to score” on the later goal-line play, with Cook recovering for the touchback — FOX19.

Between those two Mayfield giveaways, Bucky Irving lost another fumble, punched out by Cook and recovered by Boye Mafe. Three straight Buccaneers drives ended with the ball on the grass. Cincinnati scored after each one. Joe Burrow hit Mike Gesicki from two yards. Chase Brown finished an 80-yard march from five yards out. By halftime the Bengals led 24-10, a deficit Charean Williams of NBC Sports traced directly to those three lost fumbles.

Why the ball kept coming out

This was not a mystery of scheme so much as a failure to finish plays against a front that Cincinnati spent the offseason rebuilding. The Bengals ranked last in the NFL on defense in 2025. On Sunday they attacked Mayfield’s first step and his carry. Carter arrived from the second level. Murphy and Mafe won on the edge. When Mayfield tried to buy a first down with his legs, he ran with the ball away from his body. Carter’s strip at the goal line was the cleanest example: the quarterback had already beaten the first collision, then exposed the football as he reached for the pylon.

The FOX broadcast caught the shift in Cincinnati’s sideline. Analyst Daryl Johnston, per FOX19, credited the organization’s offseason investment on that side of the ball and said the early payoff arrived faster than expected. Heat sat on the field at 84 degrees with a light wind, a detail logged in the game environment notes, and the Bengals’ new pieces played like they had been waiting for a home opener to announce themselves.

Mayfield still moved the offense when he kept the ball. He finished 23-of-28 for 216 yards with no interceptions, added a 9-yard rushing touchdown in the fourth quarter, and watched Irving punch in a 10-yard score before half, according to the ESPN scoring summary and box. Josiah Trotter’s 38-yard pick-six of Burrow pulled Tampa Bay within 27-20 late in the third. None of it erased the math. Mayfield lost three fumbles. Irving lost one. Cincinnati lost none.

Mafe added a fourth-quarter strip-sack of Mayfield, recovered by T.J. Slaton, after Tampa Bay had climbed back into one-score range. That was the third Mayfield fumble lost on the afternoon. McPherson’s long kicks — 55 and 58 yards — kept stretching the lead every time the Buccaneers found a pulse.

The timing made the tape harsher. On Tuesday the Buccaneers announced a three-year extension for Mayfield through 2029. The Athletic and NFL.com reported the deal at $165 million. This is Mayfield’s ninth NFL season and his fourth in Tampa. He has started every game for this franchise since 2023. Sunday was the first live snapshot of that new contract, and the first live snapshot of Cincinnati’s remade defense. One unit protected the football. The other did not.

Tampa Bay now sits 0-1. The film session will start with ball security, not the scramble that made the rounds at halftime. Mayfield can still create first downs with his legs. He cannot keep offering the defense a second chance after he already beat the first one.

JACKSONVILLE — The Jacksonville Jaguars built a first-half rout of the Cleveland Browns on Sunday, then absorbed the kind of scare that can flatten a season-opening party. Wide receiver Brian Thomas Jr. left the Week 1 game with a shoulder injury and was listed as questionable to return.

The Jaguars announced the update on the team’s official account: “Injury Update: WR Brian Thomas Jr. is questionable to return with a shoulder injury.”

Injury Update: WR Brian Thomas Jr. is questionable to return with a shoulder injury.

— Jacksonville Jaguars (@Jaguars) September 13, 2026

Thomas had three catches for 40 yards before he walked to the locker room with trainers, according to NBC Sports. Multiple reporters on site described the same scene: Thomas leaving the field under his own power, then disappearing into the tunnel while Jacksonville kept pouring on points.

The timing made the hit land harder. Jacksonville scored on its first four possessions and led 24-0 at halftime. Trevor Lawrence had already thrown three touchdown passes by that point, finding Parker Washington, Josh Cameron and Brenton Strange, per the ESPN box score. A 47-yard field goal from Cam Little stretched the lead before Strange’s 14-yard score made it a three-score game.

Late in the second quarter, Thomas returned. RotoWire, citing ESPN Jaguars reporter Michael DiRocco, reported that Thomas checked back in for Jacksonville’s final drive of the half, which ended in a punt. Sporting News earlier relayed that Associated Press reporter Mark Long saw Thomas on the sideline with his helmet on, a sign the staff was preparing him to go back in.

The team has not released a more specific diagnosis. No official has described the grade of the sprain, a possible stinger, or a timetable beyond Sunday’s in-game designation. That is the confirmed record as of late afternoon: shoulder, questionable, then a return for at least one series.

Why the Brian Thomas Jr. injury matters in this offense

Thomas is not a complementary piece. Jacksonville drafted him 23rd overall in 2024 out of LSU and immediately made him a featured target. As a rookie he caught 87 passes for 1,282 yards and 10 touchdowns in 17 games, per NFL.com.

The 2025 follow-up dropped off. He played 14 games, finished with 48 receptions for 707 yards and two scores, and missed time with ankle and shoulder issues. He also took nine career rushes for 69 yards and one touchdown across those two seasons. Jacksonville still asked him to stretch the field and occupy a corner. When he left Sunday, the snaps flowed toward Parker Washington, Jakobi Meyers, Travis Hunter and rookie Josh Cameron.

That dip is the backdrop for every snap he takes in 2026. The Jaguars won the AFC South last season at 13-4, then lost 27-24 to the Buffalo Bills in the wild-card round at EverBank Stadium, as detailed by Jaguars.com. The hope in Jacksonville was a cleaner year from Thomas after the target share tightened and the drops piled up. A shoulder problem on opening day — after he also came down on the same joint in a late-August joint practice with Tampa Bay — is the exact start the building did not want.

Coach Liam Coen had called Thomas a “full go” in the week leading into the opener after that camp scare. Sunday’s exit put that reassurance back on the table. The offense did not stall without him. Lawrence kept attacking. Washington’s 30-yard touchdown and later production from Meyers showed the room can survive a series or two. Depth is not the same as replacing a 4.3 burner who can take the top off a coverage.

A rough debut for Todd Monken in Cleveland

Cleveland walked into a 95-degree, partly cloudy afternoon at EverBank Stadium, per game conditions listed by theScore, and never found a first down rhythm. Deshaun Watson started for the first time since 2024. The Browns managed a 26-yard field goal in the third quarter and little else. Late in the fourth, Jacksonville led 34-3.

It is Todd Monken’s first regular-season game as an NFL head coach. The Browns hired the former Ravens offensive coordinator in January, the team announced on ClevelandBrowns.com. He is one of three new head coaches in the AFC North this year, joining Mike McCarthy in Pittsburgh and Jesse Minter in Baltimore, a split The Athletic laid out before Week 1.

Jacksonville’s early script exposed that reset. The Jaguars ran four scoring drives before Cleveland posted a point. A fumble by Browns rookie receiver KC Concepcion on a screen helped set up one of those scores, NBC Sports reported. Cleveland also lost running back/returner Dylan Sampson to a knee injury.

None of that changes the medical question hanging over Thomas. Returning for a two-minute series in a blowout is not the same as clearing the joint for a full week of practice. The Jaguars can protect the lead without him. They cannot map the next month until the training staff finishes the exam that started in that locker-room trip.

For now the facts are narrow and official: shoulder injury, questionable, three catches for 40 yards, then a return late in the second quarter. Everything beyond that — missed time in Week 2, a snap-count limit, a clean bill — remains unconfirmed.

CHARLOTTE — Rome Odunze did not wait long to answer the Week 1 questions. Listed as questionable with a right calf strain, the Chicago Bears wide receiver was active for Sunday’s season opener at Bank of America Stadium and then won a jump ball that looked straight out of a highlight reel.

Caleb Williams dropped the throw downfield. Odunze went up over Carolina cornerback Will Lee III and came down with a 47-yard catch, a play the Bears’ official site labeled a “can’t-miss highlight” after he “leaps over Panthers cornerback Will Lee III to haul in a pass.” The grab set up a D’Andre Swift touchdown, per FOX Sports.

NFL insider Jordan Schultz posted the clip on X with a blunt caption: “WOW: #Bears WR Rome Odunze just went full-on Randy Moss.”

WOW: #Bears WR Rome Odunze just went full-on Randy Moss. pic.twitter.com/AOGld0tHR3

— Jordan Schultz (@Schultz_Report) September 13, 2026

The comparison fits the physical picture. Odunze, 6-foot-3, won the ball at its highest point in a one-on-one. Midgame tracking from The Athletic had him at one catch for 47 yards at that stage; later snapshots from StatMuse showed two receptions for 52 yards, long of 47. The game was still in the third quarter as of late afternoon Eastern time, with Chicago holding the lead in a shootout that had already featured Williams scoring on the ground and Cole Kmet catching a touchdown.

Calf, not the old foot, was the Week 1 worry

The injury that followed Odunze into Sunday was not last year’s stress fracture. He strained his right calf at practice Sept. 3, missed two midweek sessions, then returned limited Thursday and Friday. The Bears still tagged him questionable. Odunze did not treat it that way.

“I’m feeling ready to go,” he told reporters Friday, per ESPN’s Courtney Cronin. “I doubt I’m questionable. … I plan on playing.”

Coach Ben Johnson stayed more careful, saying the staff was “hopeful” and did not want to force a long-term decision for one September game, according to the same ESPN report. The inactive list settled it. Odunze was not among the seven Bears held out, a group that included safety Xavier Woods and quarterbacks Tyson Bagent and Miller Moss, as listed by Windy City Gridiron and confirmed by NBC Sports.

The foot story is older. A 2025 stress fracture limited Odunze to 12 regular-season games. He finished that year with 44 catches for 661 yards and six touchdowns, numbers confirmed by the Bears’ official player page and his career stat line. He returned for two playoff games and caught four passes for 88 yards. In July he told The Athletic the foot felt “amazing” and that “new normal” talk from the spring had been overread. The calf issue this week is a separate, short-term strain.

Why the catch matters beyond the clip

Chicago traded DJ Moore to Buffalo in March, a deal first reported by The Athletic and confirmed by the Associated Press. That move left Odunze, the No. 9 pick in 2024 out of Washington, as the clearest candidate to be Williams’ primary outside receiver. Luther Burden III and tight end Colston Loveland give Johnson other answers. None of them win a 50-50 ball quite the way Odunze just did.

Williams is in Year 3. Johnson is in Year 2 after an 11-6 debut, an NFC North title, a wild-card win over Green Bay and a divisional loss to the Rams, per Pro-Football-Reference. The scheme wants the ball down the field. A healthy Odunze is the receiver built to finish those throws. One leaping catch does not finish a season. It does show the trait that made him a first-round pick: body control at the catch point when a corner is draped on him.

Charlotte was hot — mid-80s to around 90, per game-day notes from FOX Sports — and the first half turned into a track meet. Williams ran for scores. Bryce Young hit Jalen Coker for a 51-yard touchdown. In that noise, Odunze’s leap was the play that told the building he was not a decoy.

Those 2025 numbers came with a late-season hole. If the calf holds and the foot stays quiet, the third-year version of Odunze is the piece this offense has been waiting to use every week, not 12. Sunday’s catch was one snap. It was also the first real look at what Chicago wants him to be.

Cincinnati’s defense scored the first points of the 2026 season Sunday at Paycor Stadium. Linebacker Demetrius Knight Jr. scooped a Baker Mayfield fumble and ran 27 yards for a touchdown, flipping a 3-0 deficit into a 7-3 lead in the first quarter of the Week 1 opener against the Tampa Bay Buccaneers.

The play started with pressure. Barrett Carter and Myles Murphy split the sack on Mayfield. Murphy punched the ball loose. Knight picked it up at the Tampa Bay 27 and scored. Evan McPherson added the extra point. According to ESPN, the return came at the 6:18 mark of the first quarter after the Buccaneers had opened with a Chase McLaughlin 34-yard field goal.

ClutchPoints posted the highlight on X: “Demetrius Knight Jr. gets the scoop and score as the Bengals take the lead off of a Buccaneers’ fumble”

Demetrius Knight Jr. gets the scoop and score as the Bengals take the lead off of a Buccanneers' fumble 🔥pic.twitter.com/RICYaM1TDY

— ClutchPoints (@ClutchPoints) September 13, 2026

Tampa Bay coughed it up again on the next series. Greg Auman of FOX Sports posted on X that Bucky Irving lost a fumble, setting Cincinnati up at its own 33 while the Bengals looked to build on the 7-3 lead.

Bucs with a second turnover in the opening quarter, with Bucky Irving losing a fumble to set Bengals up at the Cincinnati 33. Bengals looking to build on a 7-3 lead early.

— Greg Auman (@gregauman) September 13, 2026

Joe Burrow then found Mike Gesicki for a 2-yard touchdown pass, pushing the lead to 14-3 before the quarter ended. Chase Brown later added a 5-yard rushing score. The Buccaneers answered with Irving’s 10-yard run, but Cincinnati still led 24-10 at halftime after three consecutive Tampa Bay fumbles, per NBC Sports.

The Bengals had ranked last in the NFL in defense in 2025 and missed the playoffs three straight years despite Burrow’s production. Cincinnati addressed that this offseason, including a trade for Dexter Lawrence from the New York Giants in exchange for the No. 10 overall pick, as reported by The Athletic. Lawrence signed a one-year extension through 2028 after the deal.

FOX analyst Daryl Johnston said on the broadcast that the unit already looked different. “When you make the commitment that this organization has made on the defensive side of the ball, you don’t expect to reap the benefits as quickly as this defense has done here in Week 1,” Johnston said, according to the Cincinnati Enquirer. “This is a completely different defense than we saw last season.”

It was the first time since September 2007 that Cincinnati recovered fumbles on three straight opponent drives. The crowd at the Open in Orange home opener, on a 90-degree afternoon, reacted immediately after Knight’s score. Linebackers coach Mike Hodges jumped on the sideline, per live reporting from The Athletic.

Tampa Bay later cut into the lead. Rookie Josiah Trotter intercepted Burrow and returned it 38 yards for a touchdown in the third quarter. McLaughlin added a 51-yard field goal. As of late in the fourth quarter, Cincinnati led 30-20, according to the ESPN box score. The Buccaneers had lost four fumbles.

Whether the takeaways hold up as a season-long trend remains to be seen. The scheme change and added interior pressure from Lawrence and the edge group created early disruption that last year’s unit rarely produced. Cincinnati next plays at the Houston Texans on Sunday, Sept. 20, at 1 p.m. ET on CBS, per the Bengals official schedule.

Lamar Jackson did not wait to look like himself. In the Baltimore Ravens’ season opener Sunday at Lucas Oil Stadium, the two-time MVP answered Indianapolis’s first score with a 5-yard rushing touchdown, then kept a second drive alive with a 16-yard scramble that should have been a sack.

The Ravens and Jackson did not reach a contract extension before kickoff. ESPN’s Adam Schefter reported Saturday that there would be no last-minute deal of the kind Dak Prescott signed with Dallas on opening day in 2024, and that any new agreement is “on hold, likely until 2027.” ESPN sources told Schefter that Jackson has been reluctant to discuss a long-term extension and has focused on the Colts game and the season ahead. Schefter posted the same report on X: “There will be no last-minute, buzzer-beating, day-of-the-opener lucrative contract extension for Ravens QB Lamar Jackson — the way there was for Cowboys QB Dak Prescott on opening day two years ago, per league sources. Any deal is on hold, likely until 2027.”

There will be no last-minute, buzzer-beating, day-of-the-opener lucrative contract extension for Ravens QB Lamar Jackson — the way there was for Cowboys QB Dak Prescott on opening day two years ago, per league sources. Any deal is on hold, likely until 2027. pic.twitter.com/lrUiOZXRer

— Adam Schefter (@AdamSchefter) September 12, 2026

Jackson is in Year 4 of the five-year, $260 million deal he signed in 2023. That contract runs through 2027. A March restructure dropped his 2026 cap number but pushed the 2027 hit above $84 million, a figure Baltimore cannot carry without a new deal or further surgery on the books. Owner Steve Bisciotti has said he wants Jackson back and is willing to make him the highest-paid quarterback. General manager Eric DeCosta has called himself optimistic about getting something done before next March. Those talks did not produce an agreement this offseason.

The on-field start made the business conversation louder. ESPN Ravens reporter Jamison Hensley posted after the first quarter: “It was a spectacular first quarter for Lamar Jackson. He was 5-of-6 passing for 101 yards. Jackson also ran the ball twice for 21 yards, including a 5-yard TD. Jackson has the Ravens on the move again on the third drive of the game. Baltimore will start the 2Q at the Colts’ 29.”

It was a spectacular first quarter for Lamar Jackson.

He was 5-of-6 passing for 101 yards. Jackson also ran the ball twice for 21 yards, including a 5-yard TD.

Jackson has the Ravens on the move again on the third drive of the game. Baltimore will start the 2Q at the Colts' 29.

— Jamison Hensley (@jamisonhensley) September 13, 2026

The first scoring drive was short and clean. After a long kickoff return, Jackson hit Zay Flowers for 49 yards on play-action. New offensive coordinator Declan Doyle then called a designed run. Jackson walked into the end zone from 5 yards. The extra point put Baltimore ahead 7-6.

The second drive showed the part that still separates Jackson from most quarterbacks. Facing pressure on third down with under six minutes left in the first quarter, he spun out of what looked like a sure sack and picked up 16 yards. Derrick Henry finished the drive with a 4-yard touchdown. ClutchPoints posted the scramble clip: “Lamar Jackson MAGIC is back. What a run by the Ravens QB!”

Lamar Jackson MAGIC is back ✨

What a run by the Ravens QB!pic.twitter.com/oKne5WLyV2

— ClutchPoints (@ClutchPoints) September 13, 2026

That escape is why Baltimore cannot treat 2027 as a distant problem. Jackson represents himself. He has a no-trade clause and a no-tag clause after this contract expires. If he plays out 2027, the Ravens cannot franchise him and would risk losing him in free agency. The Athletic’s Jonathan Jones reported the relationship between Jackson and the organization is healthy and that both sides intend to keep working together. That does not change the cap math.

Doyle’s offense is built to get Jackson on the edge and use play-action off Henry. The early explosives — the 49-yard shot to Flowers, the designed keeper, the scramble — match what the staff sold in camp. Jackson’s rushing numbers dropped last season while he dealt with hamstring, back, knee, ankle and toe issues. Sunday he looked healthy and decisive.

Jackson’s 5-yard score was the 36th rushing touchdown of his career, tying him with Michael Vick and Aaron Rodgers for 11th among quarterbacks, per Ravens Wire. Henry added two first-half rushing scores of his own as Baltimore built a large lead.

The Ravens’ focus, as Schefter noted, is the season in front of them. Jackson has said the same. That stance is consistent with how he has handled contract talk once games start. It also leaves Baltimore staring at an $84 million-plus cap charge in 2027 unless the two sides reopen talks after this year.

If Jackson keeps producing at this level, the price only moves one direction. The market has already reset higher since his last deal. Patrick Mahomes’ latest contract set a new bar. Jackson’s dual-threat production and the no-tag protection give him leverage most quarterbacks do not have. The Ravens know it. They said as much when they restructured rather than wait out a stalemate this spring.

Sunday’s first quarter did not create the contract problem. It only made the cost of waiting more visible. Baltimore still has time. The tape from Indianapolis showed why the franchise cannot afford to waste it.

NASHVILLE, Tenn. — New York Jets safety Minkah Fitzpatrick lasted six snaps in his first regular-season game with the club before a left groin strain ended his afternoon against the Tennessee Titans on Sunday at Nissan Stadium.

Fitzpatrick went down near the Titans sideline on Tennessee’s opening possession, grabbing at his left groin after Cam Ward pulled up on a scramble, according to The Associated Press. He walked off under his own power and entered the medical tent. Andre Cisco replaced him at safety.

ESPN Jets reporter Rich Cimini posted the first on-field report: “S Minkah Fitzpatrick to the sideline with what appears to be a groin injury. Andre Cisco now at safety.”

S Minkah Fitzpatrick to the sideline with what appears to be a groin injury. Andre Cisco now at safety. #Jets

— Rich Cimini (@RichCimini) September 13, 2026

The Athletic’s Zack Rosenblatt then reported both Fitzpatrick and rookie wide receiver Omar Cooper Jr. as questionable. Rosenblatt posted: “Minkah Fitzpatrick (groin) and Omar Cooper (ankle) are questionable to return.”

Minkah Fitzpatrick (groin) and Omar Cooper (ankle) are questionable to return.

— Zack Rosenblatt (@ZackBlatt) September 13, 2026

Status timeline: questionable, then doubtful, then out

The Jets moved fast through the injury designations. Cimini later wrote that Cooper was ruled out with an ankle injury while Fitzpatrick was downgraded to doubtful.

Omar Cooper, ankle, ruled OUT. Minkah Fitzpatrick, doubtful, with a groin. #Jets

— Rich Cimini (@RichCimini) September 13, 2026

New York Post Jets beat writer Brian Costello then reported the final in-game call: “Minkah Fitzpatrick (groin) has been ruled out.” —

Minkah Fitzpatrick (groin) has been ruled out

— Brian Costello (@BrianCoz) September 13, 2026

SNY’s Jets account posted the same ruling shortly after.

Minkah Fitzpatrick (groin) has been ruled out for the rest of today's game pic.twitter.com/O4YoPJ3jZ5

— SNY Jets (@snyjets) September 13, 2026

ESPN described the injury as a strained left groin and noted Fitzpatrick did not record a statistic before leaving.

That sequence matters. Walking off is a better look than a cart. Ruling him out in Week 1 still tells you the staff did not like what it saw once trainers got a closer look. Groin strains vary widely. The team has not announced a grade or a Week 2 timetable.

On a partly cloudy, 87-degree afternoon in Nashville, the Jets were already managing a thin secondary. Nickel Jarvis Brownlee Jr. left in the second quarter with a calf injury and later returned, per Cimini’s ESPN dispatch. Rookie nickel D’Angelo Ponds was inactive. When Brownlee was out, Dane Belton slid into the slot.

Why this snap count hits the Jets secondary so hard

New York traded for Fitzpatrick in March and signed him to a three-year, $40 million deal after sending Miami a 2026 seventh-round pick, the Jets announced. The club wanted a veteran voice next to second-year safety Malachi Moore and a proven closer in a defense that recorded zero interceptions in 2025, a first in NFL history, as reported by AP when the trade broke.

In 14 games for Miami last season, Fitzpatrick finished with 82 combined tackles (59 solo), one sack, one interception, one forced fumble and two fumble recoveries, per the Dolphins’ official 2025 defensive stats. Those numbers are why New York paid mid-tier starter money. They are also why six plays feels like a punch in the mouth.

Cisco is not a panic replacement. He started for the Jets last year before injuries limited him to eight games and he re-signed on a one-year deal. He held up in the preseason and earned the No. 2 safety job. The drop-off is in range and communication. Fitzpatrick can play deep, in the box, or in the slot. Coordinator Brian Duker coached him in Miami. That familiarity was part of the trade pitch. Cisco does not give Duker the same chess piece.

The Jets still controlled the game after he left. Late in the fourth quarter they led 20-3, with Breece Hall and Geno Smith moving the ball and Kenyon Sadiq scoring New York’s first touchdown of the year on a 3-yard run, according to live scoring from ESPN. That scoreline does not erase the roster question. Week 2 is Green Bay at MetLife. If Fitzpatrick’s groin keeps him out, the secondary that was rebuilt to stop giving up free yards is already operating without its highest-paid piece.

There is extra context on the other sideline. Robert Saleh is coaching Tennessee after four seasons in New York. Aaron Glenn is in Year 2 as Jets head coach. The opener was billed as a culture reset. The first defensive series instead produced a veteran on the ground and a blue tent.

Fitzpatrick is 29, a New Jersey native from Old Bridge, and a three-time All-Pro. He was named a 2026 team captain. The next official word will come from Glenn after the game or on the Week 2 injury report. Until then, treat the long-term outlook as unconfirmed. The only facts on the board are the designation, the snap count, and who took his place.

The New York Jets loaded up on first-round talent in April. On Sunday in Nashville, two of those picks announced themselves immediately.

Kenyon Sadiq scored on a 3-yard end-around and Omar Cooper Jr. ripped off a 30-yard catch-and-run on the Jets’ first offensive series of the 2026 season. New York turned that start into a 20-3 lead over the Tennessee Titans entering the fourth quarter at Nissan Stadium.

The Jets selected Texas Tech edge David Bailey at No. 2, Oregon tight end Sadiq at No. 16 and Indiana receiver Cooper at No. 30. Tennessee answered with Ohio State wideout Carnell Tate at No. 4 and Auburn edge Keldric Faulk at No. 31. Five first-round rookies shared the field in Week 1.

Sadiq’s speed shows on first touchdown

Sadiq missed the entire preseason after hernia surgery. He still looked ready. He caught a 7-yard pass from Geno Smith, then took a handoff in motion and cut left for the score with 10:45 left in the first quarter. Jason Sanders’ extra point made it 7-0.

Jordan Schultz posted on X: “Helluva start to the young career of #Jets rookie TE Kenyon Sadiq. They love him in Florham Park.”

Helluva start to the young career of #Jets rookie TE Kenyon Sadiq. They love him in Florham Park. ✈️ pic.twitter.com/vK0RXffmHd

— Jordan Schultz (@Schultz_Report) September 13, 2026

Sadiq ran a 4.39-second 40-yard dash at the combine, the fastest time ever recorded by a tight end. Offensive coordinator Frank Reich used that speed on a play Sadiq ran at Oregon. The Jets needed playmakers after years of thin skill-position depth. Sadiq and Cooper gave them two on one drive.

Cooper, starting in the slot, converted a third-and-9 with the 30-yard gain that set up first-and-goal. He showed the yards-after-catch burst that made him a first-round target. He later left with an ankle injury and was ruled out, according to ESPN.

Nashville hit 95 degrees. Heat index values climbed toward 100. The Jets still controlled the clock. They ran 19 plays on one second-quarter drive that ended in a 33-yard Sanders field goal and a 10-3 halftime lead, per NBC Sports.

Bailey adds a sack as Jets pull away

Breece Hall punched in a 4-yard touchdown run in the third quarter after the Titans were flagged for 13 men on the field. Sanders later added a 51-yard field goal. The Jets led 20-3.

Bailey, the No. 2 overall pick, recorded his first NFL sack when he dropped Cam Ward for a 1-yard loss on third down, according to The Tennessean. The Jets’ new pass rush finally generated pressure after finishing near the bottom of the league in sacks a year ago.

Tate recorded his first NFL catch, a 12-yard reception. Faulk saw rotational snaps on the Titans’ defensive line. Both teams treated the opener as a chance to evaluate young talent after 3-14 seasons in 2025.

The Jets still have Garrett Wilson and Hall as established weapons. Bailey is expected to develop into a consistent pass-rush threat. Cooper’s status for Week 2 against Green Bay remains uncertain after the ankle issue. Sadiq’s availability after limited camp work will be watched closely.

Reich’s scheme created early mismatches. Motion and an end-around exploited a Titans defense that had not seen Sadiq’s speed in live action. The Jets converted that into points and time of possession. That formula traveled well on a hot afternoon in Nashville.

Russell Wilson did not ease into his first Sunday as a CBS analyst. Hours before the Cincinnati Bengals opened the 2026 season at Paycor Stadium, the former Super Bowl-winning quarterback said Joe Burrow could be gone if this year does not end in the playoffs.

On The NFL Today, Wilson framed 2026 as the year Burrow has been pointing toward after three straight postseason misses. He then went further.

“If it doesn’t go well in Cincinnati this year, Joe Burrow is gone. I think he wants to leave.”

Russell Wilson, CBS Sports, Sept. 13, 2026

NFL on CBS posted the clip Sunday. Wilson added that Burrow has said he is tired of losing and is focused on making this “that special year.” He also asked where Burrow would land, saying some strong teams still need a quarterback.

"If it doesn't go well in Cincinnati this year, Joe Burrow is gone."@DangeRussWilson 👀 pic.twitter.com/fbRWVZLuYN

— NFL on CBS 🏈 (@NFLonCBS) September 13, 2026

That is Wilson’s read, not a team announcement and not a trade request from Burrow. Five days earlier, Burrow told the club’s website the opposite.

“I’m here for the long haul. I’m not going anywhere,” Burrow said in an exclusive interview with Geoff Hobson of Bengals.com. He described his “now or never” talk as a daily standard, not an exit plan. The Athletic and USA TODAY carried the same comments.

Why Wilson’s take landed on Week 1

Cincinnati has not played a postseason game since the 2022 season. The Bengals lost the AFC title game in January 2023, then finished 9-8, 9-8 and 6-11. That drought is the backdrop Wilson used.

Burrow is 29 and entering Year 7. When he plays a full season, he ranks with the league’s best. In 2024 he threw for 4,918 yards and 43 touchdowns in 17 games. Last year a turf toe injury limited him to eight starts. He has played 10 or fewer games in three of his six NFL seasons (2020, 2023, 2025), per StatMuse and ESPN.

Health is the first problem. Supporting cast is the second. Cincinnati spent the offseason trying to fix a defense that could not keep games within reach. The front office traded for Dexter Lawrence and added veterans on that side of the ball. Burrow has praised that work and compared this roster, in tone if not talent, to the urgency he felt at LSU in 2019.

Wilson is doing what new studio voices often do: he took a live storyline and pushed it to a hard conclusion. He is also a quarterback who changed cities more than once. That history colors how he hears another passer talk about losing. It does not make the prediction official.

The contract makes a midseason exit unlikely

Burrow signed a five-year, $275 million extension in September 2023 and is under contract through 2029, according to contemporaneous reporting from the Associated Press and contract trackers such as Over The Cap. Cincinnati would have to choose to move him. He cannot simply walk.

That is why Wilson’s line is analysis, not reporting of a deal. No team source has said Burrow asked out. No league source has said the Bengals are shopping him. USA TODAY and Pro Football Network treated the comments as a pregame opinion, which is what they are.

Burrow grew up in Ohio, started at Ohio State and has said he is proud to represent Cincinnati and the Brown family. Those ties do not freeze a career if the losses pile up for a fourth year. They do explain why he keeps answering the same question the same way.

The Bengals hosted Tampa Bay in the Open in Orange home opener at 1 p.m. ET on FOX. Kickoff was the first real test of whether this roster can keep Burrow on the field and give him a defense that does not erase his production. Wilson put a winter date on that test before the first snap. Burrow, speaking last week, put the date on every practice instead.

If Cincinnati misses the playoffs again, the questions will return in January with more force. That is the part Wilson got right. The part he stated as fact — that Burrow is already gone in his own mind — is still Wilson talking, not Burrow.

C.J. Stroud’s first drive of 2026 ended with the ball on the ground. Greg Rousseau stripped the Texans quarterback on a sack near Houston’s own 30, and Ed Oliver recovered for Buffalo. Tyler Bass then drilled a 46-yard field goal with 7:28 left in the first quarter, putting the Bills ahead 3-0 at Reliant Stadium.

The play came after a false start on left tackle Aireontae Ersery pushed Houston backward. Stroud tried to scramble out of the shotgun. Rousseau got there first. The NFL account posted video of the turnover shortly after it happened

FUMBLE 🚨

BUFvsHOU on CBS/Paramount+
Stream on @NFLPlus pic.twitter.com/PDHWA4i8xH

— NFL (@NFL) September 13, 2026

According to the Houston Chronicle, the Bills took over at the Texans’ 34. Play-by-play from ESPN confirmed the sack-fumble: Stroud went down for a loss, the ball came out, and Oliver came up with it. Buffalo’s ensuing drive stalled after a too-many-men penalty on fourth-and-1, so Bass settled for three points instead of a touchdown.

Houston answered. David Montgomery punched in a 1-yard run just before the end of the first quarter after Stroud found Nico Collins for 25 yards on third-and-8. Montgomery later added an 18-yard scoring run. Josh Allen answered with rushing touchdowns of his own. The game remained in progress in the second quarter as both offenses found the end zone.

A “prove-it” opener for Stroud and Houston

This was never going to be a quiet Week 1 for Stroud. The former Offensive Rookie of the Year threw for 4,108 yards, 23 touchdowns and five interceptions in 2023, per NFL.com. Production slipped the next two seasons. He finished 2025 with 3,041 passing yards, 19 touchdowns and eight interceptions in 14 games after missing three with a concussion.

Houston’s defense still ranks among the league’s best. That raises the bar for the offense. The Texans have never reached a Super Bowl. Many around the league view this as the year they need the quarterback to close the gap.

Contract talks add another layer. Stroud is signed through 2027 after the team exercised his fifth-year option. On Saturday, both sides agreed to pause extension discussions until after the season, according to reporting from ESPN’s Adam Schefter and Ian Rapoport. A strong 2026 would change the numbers. A slow start would not.

The home crowd arrived for the franchise’s 25th season opener under partly cloudy skies and temperatures in the low 90s. Reliant Stadium, back under that name this year, filled with the usual mix of hope and impatience that follows a quarterback who once looked like a lock. The first series did not quiet those questions. The next few drives showed Houston could still move the ball on the ground and through Collins.

Allen entered 0-4 in Houston for his career. The Bills still found ways to score after the early gift. Houston’s front, including Jadeveon Clowney’s sack of Allen on Buffalo’s opening series, limited the damage. That is the formula the Texans will lean on all year: elite defense, enough offense, and fewer early mistakes from the quarterback.

The fumble itself was not all on Stroud. Protection broke down. The scramble attempt invited the strip. Still, losing the ball that close to your own goal line in the first quarter of a “prove-it” season is the kind of play that sticks. Houston has the talent to outrun one turnover. It cannot make a habit of them if it wants the offense to match the defense.

Deshaun Watson’s first regular-season snap in nearly two years lasted five plays. Then the Cleveland Browns’ opening drive against the Jacksonville Jaguars ended the way so many of his August practices did: with the ball in the other team’s hands.

On Sunday at EverBank Stadium, Watson threw an interception in the first quarter of Cleveland’s Week 1 game, a short pass intended for Jerry Jeudy that Jaguars linebacker Foyesade Oluokun undercut and returned 22 yards to the Jacksonville 41. The play is confirmed in the ESPN play-by-play: Watson’s pass short left, Oluokun at the Jaguars’ 19, DaVon Hamilton credited with pressure.

Cleveland had the ball first after winning the toss. Dylan Sampson’s kickoff return set the Browns up at their own 40 on a steamy Florida afternoon, according to News 5 Cleveland. Watson hit tight end Blake Whiteheart for 14 yards, Quinshon Judkins ran for 4, and rookie wide receiver KC Concepcion caught a 9-yarder that pushed Cleveland to the Jacksonville 33. The next throw never got there.

Watson missed Jeudy short. Oluokun, dropping into the zone, was waiting. NBC Sports reported that Jacksonville turned the takeaway into a 30-yard touchdown from Trevor Lawrence to Parker Washington, a diving catch that made it 7-0.

Why the throw looked familiar

The Athletic’s Zac Jackson, who covered Watson through camp, did not need a second look. He posted on X: “The same pick he threw in practice four times a week”

The same pick he threw in practice four times a week for the entire month of August.

— Zac Jackson (@AkronJackson) September 13, 2026

That is analysis from a reporter who watched the August work, not an official diagnosis. But the tape of this play matches the pattern camp observers described: a late or underthrown ball into a zone window a linebacker can sit on. Watson did not appear to account for Oluokun. The throw never reached Jeudy’s body. OutKick described the same sequence — two early completions, then a drop-back in which Watson never located the linebacker.

This was not a random first-series mistake. First-year coach Todd Monken named Watson the Week 1 starter over Shedeur Sanders on Aug. 24 after a full-camp competition, the team announced on the Browns’ official site and NFL.com. Monken said the call came from the full body of work and that it was not meant to be week-to-week. The decision landed two days after Watson was booed at home in the preseason. The first live series of 2026 put that choice back on the field.

Watson last started on Oct. 20, 2024, before a ruptured Achilles ended that season, per CBS Sports. He missed all of 2025 rehabbing the injury. Sunday was his first regular-season start since then and his 20th as a Brown.

What the opening series set in motion

Lawrence did not waste the field position. After Oluokun’s return, Jacksonville drove 59 yards in eight plays. The capper was Lawrence’s 30-yard strike to Washington at the 8:11 mark of the first quarter, per ESPN. Lawrence later added a 4-yard touchdown to Josh Cameron before the quarter ended. By early in the second quarter, the Jaguars led 24-0, with Lawrence at 13-of-18 for 166 yards and three touchdowns on the ESPN box score snapshot. Watson sat at 4-of-6 for 28 yards, one interception, two sacks and a 37.5 rating at that same checkpoint. The game was still in progress.

The scheme problem is simple. Oluokun is a veteran zone player who reads the quarterback’s eyes. Jeudy worked the left side. Watson threw short of the route instead of driving the ball or checking down. Camp reports from cleveland.com documented a cluster of similar picks in early August. Jackson’s post connected that work to the first live series. That connection is his observation. The interception itself is not in dispute.

Watson still owns a strong career mark against Jacksonville as a starter, and Cleveland had won its last three meetings with the Jaguars coming in, per CBS Sports. None of that showed up on the first drive. The heat at EverBank was obvious from the sideline substitutions Zac Jackson noted later in the half. The Browns’ offense never settled after the pick.

Sanders remains the backup. Monken has not made a change official, and nothing in the first-quarter reporting indicated a benching. The question hanging over the rest of the afternoon is whether this throw was a rust snap after 693 days between regular-season games, as the Akron Beacon Journal framed Watson’s layoff, or the same read he never cleaned up in August.

Patrick Surtain II has seen both sides of the AFC West’s defining rivalry. For years the Kansas City Chiefs owned it. Now the Denver Broncos cornerback says the script has flipped heading into Monday Night Football at Arrowhead Stadium.

“They had our number in years past but now it’s all of a sudden how can we get over that hump (like) we did these past few years. So now it’s like tables are turned but also we understand they’re a great team still,” Surtain said, according to Chris Tomasson of the Denver Gazette.

Chris Tomasson posted the same remarks on X on Sunday: “They had our number in years past but now it’s all of a sudden how can we get over that hump (like) we did these past few years. So now it’s like tables are turned but also we understand they’re a great team still.”

#Broncos CB Pat Surtain on turning things around in series vs. Chiefs: “They had our number in years past but now it’s all of a sudden how can we get over that hump (like) we did these past few years. So now it’s like tables are turned but also we understand they’re a great team…

— Chris Tomasson (@christomasson) September 13, 2026

Kickoff is set for 8:15 p.m. ET Monday at GEHA Field at Arrowhead Stadium on ESPN and ABC, per the NFL. Denver opens as the defending AFC West champion. Kansas City opens as the team trying to climb out of a 6-11 season.

How the series actually flipped

From 2015 through 2023, Kansas City won 16 straight games against Denver. Since that streak ended, the Broncos have taken four of the last five meetings, according to the Denver Gazette and the Broncos–Chiefs rivalry record.

Two of those recent wins came with Patrick Mahomes inactive. Denver routed Kansas City 38-0 in the 2024 regular-season finale when Mahomes sat with the top seed already locked up. Last Christmas the Broncos won 20-13 at Arrowhead against third-string quarterback Chris Oladokun after Mahomes tore his ACL and LCL against the Chargers on Dec. 14, 2025, as reported by the Kansas City Star and confirmed in season recaps.

The 2025 Broncos finished 14-3, won the AFC West for the first time since 2015, and earned the No. 1 seed. They beat Buffalo 33-30 in overtime in the divisional round. Bo Nix broke his right ankle late in that game and missed the AFC championship, a 10-7 home loss to New England with Jarrett Stidham starting, according to the Associated Press and the 2025 Broncos season record.

Surtain also told Tomasson the Chiefs will have revenge on their minds. “Yeah, no doubt,” he said. “It’s not going to be easy. … So I think we just got to come out firing.”

Why Monday is a different test

Mahomes is back. He practiced fully last week, carries no injury designation, and is expected to start nine months after surgery, according to USA TODAY and the Chiefs’ final injury report posted by the team. Nix is also expected to play after his own offseason recovery from the ankle fracture.

Kansas City will be without starting left tackle Josh Simmons (back) and safety Chamarri Conner (knee). An undrafted rookie, Kahlil Benson, is in line to protect Mahomes’ blind side against a Broncos front that led the NFL in sacks the past two seasons, per the Gazette and Chiefs Wire.

That matchup is the scheme story. Denver’s pass rush, led by Nik Bonitto and a secondary anchored by Surtain, ranked among the league’s stingiest on dropbacks last year. Kansas City signed running back Kenneth Walker III this offseason to take pressure off Mahomes. Linebacker Justin Strnad told the Gazette the Chiefs paid Walker because they want to run the ball and ease the load on their quarterback.

Sean Payton has said he expects Mahomes to move well enough to threaten both in and out of the pocket. Surtain’s public stance is simpler: treat him as Mahomes until the tape says otherwise.

Arrowhead on a Monday night still sounds different than a December game against a backup. The crowd will be loud. The Chiefs have not hosted a healthy Mahomes against these Broncos in more than a year. Denver has not beaten that version of Kansas City on the road in a long stretch of the Mahomes era, a point the Gazette noted when it wrote that the Broncos have lost seven straight at Arrowhead with Mahomes starting.

Surtain is not claiming the rivalry is settled. He is claiming the old automatic result is gone. Monday night is the first chance to prove whether that holds when both quarterbacks are on the field.

The Pittsburgh Steelers shut down contract talks with Joey Porter Jr. on Sunday and kept the starting cornerback off the field for their 2026 opener against the Atlanta Falcons at Acrisure Stadium.

Gerry Dulac of the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette posted on X: “Steelers are done talking contract w Joey Porter Jr and will not have further discussions about a new deal, per team sources.”

Steelers are done talking contract w Joey Porter Jr and will not have further discussions about a new deal, per team sources.

— Gerry Dulac (@gerrydulac) September 13, 2026

That report landed as the club’s self-imposed deadline arrived with kickoff. Pittsburgh has long refused to negotiate new deals once the regular season starts. General manager Omar Khan restated that stance this month, according to The Athletic.

Porter inactive as talks freeze

The team listed Porter inactive about 90 minutes before the 1 p.m. ET FOX kickoff, the official Steelers inactive report showed. The listed reason was a back injury. Drew Allar, Gennings Dunker, Kevin Jobity Jr. and Gabriel Rubio also sat. Will Howard was the emergency third quarterback.

Team sources told Dulac and Ray Fittipaldo of the Post-Gazette that Porter was healthy enough to play. He spent most of training camp on the physically unable to perform list after a back issue during a July mobility test, then practiced in a limited “ramp-up” last week and entered Sunday as questionable.

Asked earlier whether the holdup was the back or the contract, Porter said it was “a little bit of both,” The Athletic reported. He had already left open the chance he would not play without a new deal.

Porter, 26, is in the final year of the four-year rookie contract he signed after Pittsburgh took him 32nd overall in 2023. He is scheduled to earn about $3.9 million in base salary this season on a deal worth roughly $9.6 million, per Over The Cap.

The 2023 first-round corners in his class reset the market this offseason. Seattle’s Devon Witherspoon and New England’s Christian Gonzalez signed extensions averaging more than $33 million per year, the Post-Gazette noted. Pittsburgh has not viewed Porter as a top-five corner at that price, Dulac has reported throughout the summer.

What it means for McCarthy’s debut

Mike McCarthy opened his Steelers tenure without his top outside corner. McCarthy, a Pittsburgh native, replaced Mike Tomlin in January after Tomlin stepped down following 19 seasons, the Associated Press reported at the time.

Asante Samuel Jr. was expected to start opposite Jamel Dean, Brooke Pryor of ESPN reported, per CBS Sports. The Steelers also elevated Doneiko Slaughter from the practice squad. Porter has typically drawn the opponent’s top receiver. That assignment against Drake London now falls to the rest of the secondary on a mild September afternoon in Pittsburgh.

A trade remains possible but unconfirmed. ESPN’s Adam Schefter and Ian Rapoport reported the Steelers would listen and have sought a premium pick, possibly a first-rounder, while no serious talks have developed at that price, according to the New York Post and Pro Football Rumors. Porter has said he is still willing to stay. That is reported interest, not a completed deal.

Pittsburgh can still use the franchise tag after the season. Multiple outlets have projected the 2027 cornerback tag in the $23 million range. Cam Heyward called the tag “stupid” last week, 93.7 The Fan reported, arguing it hampers players. That is Heyward’s opinion, not a league ruling.

Whether Porter plays Week 2 at New England on Sept. 20 is the next checkpoint. The Steelers can keep him on the roster, listen to offers, or wait until January and tag him. Sitting him as inactive with a back designation is the official path they chose Sunday. Fining him for a holdout would require a different designation than the one on the inactive list; no team announcement of fines has been made.

McCarthy has to win with the players who dressed. Porter’s absence turns a simple coverage plan into a rotation test in the first game of a new coaching staff. That is the on-field cost of a negotiation that never closed.

The Pittsburgh Steelers opened the Mike McCarthy era Sunday at Acrisure Stadium without Joey Porter Jr., listing the starting cornerback as inactive for their Week 1 meeting with the Atlanta Falcons. Pittsburgh’s official inactive report, posted by Steelers.com, named Porter as the only player from Friday’s injury report who would not dress. Kickoff was set for 1 p.m. ET on FOX.

The club listed the absence as a back injury. That is only half the story.

Porter is in the final year of the rookie contract he signed after Pittsburgh took him 32nd overall in 2023. Talks on a long-term extension ran into the team’s self-imposed deadline before the regular season. The Steelers have a standing policy of not negotiating once the season starts. According to the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette, sources said Sunday they will not break that policy for Porter.

Healthy enough to play, still not in uniform

That deadline and the injury designation collided on game day. Ray Fittipaldo of the Post-Gazette reported that sources said Porter was healthy enough to play, even after the team ruled him out. He posted that report on X: “Joey Porter Jr. was ruled out for the Steelers’ opener, but sources say he is healthy enough to play”

Joey Porter Jr. was ruled out for the Steelers' opener, but sources say he is healthy enough to play https://t.co/kizss0q7aP via @PittsburghPG

— Ray Fittipaldo (@rayfitt1) September 13, 2026

Fittipaldo later confirmed Porter was officially inactive

Joey Porter Jr. is officially inactive for the game.

— Ray Fittipaldo (@rayfitt1) September 13, 2026

and wrote from the stadium that Porter never appeared during pregame warmups. Mark Kaboly, another longtime Steelers beat voice, called it a healthy scratch in so many words: “Joey Porter Jr. is inactive. A healthy scratch, so to speak” —

Joey Porter Jr. is inactive. A healthy scratch, so to speak

— Mark Kaboly (@MarkKaboly) September 13, 2026

Porter himself had mixed the two issues all week. The Athletic reported that when asked whether the back or the contract was keeping him out, he answered, “A little bit of both.”

On availability without a new deal, he told reporters he needed to check upstairs first. According to ESPN, Porter said, “I don’t know. I would have to talk to the guys upstairs and my agents about that one.”

The back problem is real in the medical file. Porter aggravated it during a mobility test when camp opened in July and spent most of the preseason on the physically unable to perform list, a sequence first reported when the team announced the PUP move and later detailed by The Associated Press. McCarthy called the negotiations an “impasse” in August, per that AP account. Pittsburgh activated Porter off PUP on Aug. 30, then kept him in what McCarthy described as a ramp-up. He practiced on a limited basis last week and entered Sunday listed as questionable.

Friday, after that limited work, Porter told the Post-Gazette he thought he was prepared to play and that the back was moving the right way. Sunday, he was still in street clothes.

Why the standoff hardened before kickoff

The money gap is the simplest explanation. Porter wants to be paid with the top of the cornerback market. The Post-Gazette noted that 2023 first-round peers Devon Witherspoon and Christian Gonzalez recently signed deals averaging more than $33 million a year. Porter, by contrast, is due about $3.9 million this season on a $9.6 million rookie contract.

Pittsburgh already extended several players from that same draft class, including Nick Herbig and Darnell Washington. Porter did not get across the line. McCarthy’s staff also has Jalen Ramsey and Jamel Dean in the secondary, which gives the front office a different kind of leverage than it had when Porter was the clear No. 1 outside corner.

The franchise tag is the club’s next official lever. The Athletic reported that Over The Cap projects a first-time non-exclusive corner tag in 2027 around $23.2 million, well under the $30 million-plus average annual value several corners signed this offseason. That math helps explain why Pittsburgh can wait. It also helps explain why Porter may not want to wait on the field.

A trade is the other path, and it is unconfirmed. ESPN’s Adam Schefter and Ian Rapoport reported that Porter had previously requested a trade, is open to playing elsewhere, and that an early-season deal is possible. They also reported the Steelers will listen — at a premium price, possibly a first-round pick — and that no serious talks have developed at that number. That remains reported information, not a completed transaction.

What it means on the field for McCarthy’s first Sunday

Asante Samuel Jr. draws the start opposite Dean, with Brandin Echols and elevated practice-squad defensive back Doneiko Slaughter available behind them, per The Athletic. Samuel started three games for Pittsburgh last season after a midseason signing. That is a workable plan for one afternoon. It is not the same as lining up the 6-foot-2 boundary corner who has been Pittsburgh’s preferred matchup piece on the outside.

Atlanta is also shorthanded at the position that usually stresses a secondary. The Falcons declared Tua Tagovailoa and Michael Penix Jr. inactive, leaving Cooper Rush to start, according to the club’s official inactive list. That matchup softens the immediate cost of sitting Porter. It does not solve the longer problem if he stays out through September.

McCarthy and Aaron Rodgers are using this opener to reintroduce an offense they last ran together in Green Bay. Rodgers has said this is his final NFL season. McCarthy, a Greenfield native, is coaching his hometown team for the first time after Mike Tomlin stepped down in January following 19 seasons and a wild-card loss to Houston, a departure confirmed by the team and The Associated Press. The offense wanted a clean first impression. The defense wanted its best cover man. It did not get him.

History around the building cuts against treating the ramp-up as the whole reason. The Post-Gazette noted T.J. Watt returned from a short pre-opener ramp-up in 2021 and played a full workload. Cam Heyward has done similar hold-in cycles and still suited up. Porter practiced last week. Sources told two local beat writers he could have played. The inactive list still came out with his name on it.

That is the signal. Pittsburgh protected its negotiation calendar. Porter protected his leverage. The season started anyway, with Samuel on the boundary and Porter’s future sitting in the same building as the new coaching staff — close enough to hear the crowd, not close enough to take a snap.

Patrick Mahomes is cleared to start Monday Night Football. The Kansas City Chiefs quarterback carries no injury designation for the Week 1 home opener against the Denver Broncos, nine months after tearing the ACL and LCL in his left knee.

Kickoff is set for 8:15 p.m. ET on Monday, Sept. 14 at GEHA Field at Arrowhead Stadium, on ESPN and ABC, according to the NFL’s 2026 schedule release. Mahomes practiced in full Thursday through Saturday. The official Chiefs injury report listed him as a full participant with no game status attached. NFL.com confirmed he will start.

Rapoport: Rehab Looks Ahead of Schedule

The latest medical picture came Sunday from Ian Rapoport on NFL GameDay Morning. Rapoport said Mahomes is returning from a torn ACL and LCL “far, far faster than anyone would have possibly thought.” He also said he watched Kansas City in training camp and called Mahomes’ work “eye-popping.”

Rapoport’s understanding, as he framed it on air and later on X, is that Mahomes’ strength is even from side to side, that function matches on both legs, and that the graft is fully healed. He also said camp production — touchdowns, interceptions, completions, playmaking — ranked among Mahomes’ better summers in years. Those camp numbers are Rapoport’s reporting, not an official team release.

Rapoport posted the same update Sunday: “From @NFLGameDay Morning: #Chiefs QB Patrick Mahomes makes his return after ACL/LCL surgery, with equal strength on both sides. His rehab has been impressive.”

From @NFLGameDay Morning: #Chiefs QB Patrick Mahomes makes his return after ACL/LCL surgery, with equal strength on both sides. His rehab has been impressive. pic.twitter.com/RBy6uBoncW

— Ian Rapoport (@RapSheet) September 13, 2026

That report sits on top of a public timeline that has held since December. Mahomes tore the ligaments late in a 16-13 loss to the Los Angeles Chargers on Dec. 14, 2025, per The Associated Press. Surgery followed the next day in Dallas with Dr. Dan Cooper. Kansas City finished 6-11 and missed the playoffs for the first time since 2014. Mahomes closed 2025 with 3,587 passing yards, 22 touchdowns and 11 interceptions in 14 starts.

The Chiefs cleared him for full training-camp work in late July, The Athletic reported from St. Joseph. He sat out the preseason. Coach Andy Reid still pointed him toward this opener. Mahomes has said the date was the target from the start.

This has always been the goal, to get out there and play Week 1.

Patrick Mahomes, via Sports Illustrated

The Brace, the Blind Side, and Denver’s Pass Rush

Clearance is not the same as a clean pocket. CBS Sports reported Mahomes will wear a protective brace on the repaired left knee, which can trim how freely he slides and scrambles. That matters against this opponent. Denver led the NFL with 68 sacks in 2025, a franchise record, according to Broncos Wire. Nik Bonitto finished with 14. The Broncos also won the AFC West at 14-3.

Kansas City will ask that repaired knee to work behind a shuffled line. Left tackle Josh Simmons (back) is out. Safety Chamarri Conner (knee) is out as well, per the team report. ESPN’s Nate Taylor reported the expected fill-in at left tackle is Kahlil Benson, an undrafted rookie from Indiana. Reid said Benson has shown he can play. Still, an undrafted rookie on the blind side, in prime time, against last year’s sack leader is a real scheme problem. Denver can pin an edge and force Mahomes to move off his spot. If the brace slows that first step, the Broncos will try to make him throw on schedule.

Broncos defensive coordinator Vance Joseph is not treating the return as a discount. “I think Patrick’s gonna be Patrick,” Joseph told The Associated Press. “In my opinion, he wouldn’t play if he couldn’t be himself.”

That is the bet Kansas City is making. Mahomes has said he built the strength to play his game, not a reduced version of it. Monday night at Arrowhead will test that claim in the loudest room on the schedule. The crowd will be on him from the first snap. Denver will be, too.

Derrick Barnes beat the Saints to the punch before kickoff. The Detroit Lions linebacker walked into Ford Field on Sunday in a matching Spider-Man suit with his son, Trey, then dropped into the classic crouch on the concourse floor. The NFL posted the clip Sunday afternoon, writing that Barnes “showed up in matching Spider-Man suits with his son.”

The video is short. Barnes and Trey hit the pose together, red-and-blue suits lined up, while the stadium around them fills for Week 1. Ford Field is indoors, so there is no weather story here. There is a father-and-son one. The Lions hosted New Orleans at 1 p.m. ET on FOX, per FOX Sports.

Replies stacked up under the league post. Jacob wrote, “the real accomplishment was convincing your kid to wear the same thing twice” —

the real accomplishment was convincing your kid to wear the same thing twice

— Jacob (@JacobGoinBrazy) September 13, 2026

Maria Mel called Barnes a Sunday ball-carrier stopper who then “moonlight[s] as Peter Parker with his mini-me”

Barnes is out here locking down ball carriers on Sundays and then moonlighting as Peter Parker with his mini-me. 💀

— Maria Mel (@Mariamelx58) September 13, 2026

Ryan put football second: “Kid gets the suit, dad matches it”

That’s how you do Sunday. Kid gets the suit, dad matches it, football second.

— Ryan “Radar Revolt” (@RadarRevolt) September 13, 2026

Why the moment landed before the whistle

Barnes is in Year 6 in Detroit, a 2021 fourth-round pick out of Purdue who has spent his whole NFL career with the Lions. The costume clip works because it is specific. Trey is not a prop on the sideline. He is in the same suit, doing the same pose, in the building where his dad works Sundays.

Barnes and his wife, Kylie, have two children. Trey was born in 2024. Their daughter, Blake Ivy Barnes, arrived on March 10, 2026, which Barnes marked on Instagram. In April he posted an anniversary note to Kylie: “Happy 3 year anniversary my love. No man could ask for a better mother or wife. I love you.” The post is on his account at https://www.instagram.com/p/DXH_hSqCevp/.

That family timeline sits next to a football one. Barnes tore the MCL and PCL in his right knee in Week 3 of 2024 against Arizona and landed on injured reserve after three games, as reported then by the Detroit Free Press and later summarized by CBS Sports. He played all 17 games in 2025 and posted 78 tackles, 4.0 sacks, three passes defensed and his first regular-season interception.

Figures above follow the season lines published by Pro Football Reference via Barnes’ player page compilation and the 2025 recap from CBS Sports. Minor tackle-total differences appear across official team and league stat feeds; the 17-game, 4.0-sack, one-interception 2025 line is consistent across those recaps.

The on-field job that starts after the costume comes off

The Lions kept Barnes in March 2025, announcing a contract extension through the 2027 season. Additional terms were not listed in the team release. Independent reporting at the time put the deal in the three-year, roughly $24 million to $25.5 million range with about $16 million guaranteed, per the official Detroit Lions announcement and contemporaneous coverage from the Free Press.

The football reason the clip matters this week is the role change behind it. Alex Anzalone signed with Tampa Bay in the offseason. That opened more passing-down work for Barnes. Team writer Tim Twentyman reported from camp that Barnes has shifted from a mostly on-ball SAM job — the strong-side linebacker who often sets the edge — toward more WILL snaps, the weak-side spot that asks a linebacker to play in space when Detroit is in nickel (five defensive backs, two linebackers).

“I’m super excited for the role and the challenge,” Barnes said during training camp, according to Twentyman’s camp notes on DetroitLions.com. “Got to come out here every day and earn it.”

That is the scheme piece. Nickel is the league’s base look on passing downs. If Barnes can cover from the WILL and still rush when the call asks for it, Detroit does not have to yank him on third-and-long. He already showed the playmaking version of that job in 2025, when those 4.0 sacks matched his previous four seasons combined, per CBS Sports.

None of that required a Spider-Man suit. The suit is what people shared. The tape is what decides whether Week 1 is remembered for the pose or for the snaps that followed it.

The Los Angeles Chargers open the 2026 season at SoFi Stadium on Sunday against the Arizona Cardinals, and the first look at the new Mike McDaniel Chargers offense is the story of the afternoon. Kickoff is set for 4:25 p.m. ET on CBS, according to FOX Sports and the team’s official schedule.

McDaniel is calling plays in Los Angeles after the Dolphins fired him in January following a 35-33 record in four seasons as Miami’s head coach, The Associated Press reported at the time. The Chargers announced his hire later that month, pairing him with Justin Herbert and Jim Harbaugh after two straight 11-6 seasons and another wild-card exit, per AP.

Hours before kickoff, NFL Network’s Ian Rapoport said on NFL GameDay Morning that McDaniel finally has the quarterback to run concepts he kept on the shelf in Miami. Rapoport posted the clip on X: “there are a lot of plays he has never been able to call” because Herbert has the arm to throw them

From @NFLGameDay Morning: With Justin Herbert as his QB, #Chargers OC Mike McDaniel will be able to call plays in his own playbook he's never been able to call. pic.twitter.com/m7OdOnOLt1

— Ian Rapoport (@RapSheet) September 13, 2026

Heavy transcribed a longer stretch of the same appearance, in which Rapoport said McDaniel’s staff plans to “unleash and unlock so much of McDaniel’s playbook that he has not been able to call for years.” That is reported commentary from a credentialed insider, not an official team statement. The Chargers have not published a specific list of new calls.

Why Herbert changes the math for McDaniel

McDaniel’s Miami offenses leaned on pre-snap motion, wide-zone runs and throws that left Tua Tagovailoa’s hand in a hurry. That formula still produced a historic burst in 2023. Through five games, Miami averaged 513.6 yards, the second team ever to top 500 yards per game over that span, FOX Sports reported then. A 70-20 win over Denver in Week 3 put the unit on a record-setting early pace before the attack cooled against better defenses and in the playoffs.

Herbert is a different physical problem. McDaniel told ESPN in May that he wants Herbert to “own the position,” tying a quicker drop to the same arm that can still attack the far hash. ESPN’s research on that story found Herbert threw six touchdowns and three interceptions last season on releases inside 2.4 seconds, then lost efficiency in the 2.4-to-3.5-second window. The plan, as McDaniel described it, is to manufacture those fast answers so Herbert is not asked to play hero ball behind a line that allowed 60 sacks in 2025, per StatMuse and ESPN team stats.

Herbert bought the pitch early. After McDaniel built a cut-up of several hundred plays from Herbert’s career and from his own Miami tape, Herbert told ESPN, “It was a well-put-together presentation that I really saw the vision.” That meeting, first detailed by Chargers reporter Kris Rhim, is the closest thing the building has offered to a public blueprint.

The 2025 Chargers still won 11 games. They just scored like a middle-of-the-pack club. Los Angeles ranked 20th in points (21.6 per game) and finished 18th in net passing yards per game at 212.2 under Greg Roman, according to Pro-Football-Reference and ESPN. Roman is gone. The question Sunday is whether McDaniel’s motion and timing can raise that floor without asking Herbert to hold the ball into the rush that flattened last January’s 16-3 wild-card loss to New England.

Playoff numbers remain the open wound. Herbert is 0-3 in the postseason — a blown 27-0 lead against Jacksonville in the 2022 wild-card round, four interceptions at Houston after the 2024 season, and 159 yards with six sacks in a 16-3 loss to the Patriots this past January, as compiled by Sporting News and AP. That history does not erase his regular-season arm talent. It does explain why Week 1 against a Cardinals team that went 3-14 last season, per CBS Sports, is being treated as a lab test more than a measuring-stick game.

What Sunday at SoFi actually tests

SoFi’s roof will keep the forecasted mid-70s, dry afternoon off the field, but the sides stay open. Harbaugh, 6-0 in NFL season openers as a head coach when counting his 49ers years, told reporters this week, “It’s September. It’s time to play our first game,” according to the Los Angeles Times.

Arizona arrives with new coach Mike LaFleur and veteran quarterback Jacoby Brissett. Rookie running back Jeremiyah Love, the No. 3 pick, is questionable with an ankle injury but expected to play, Ian Rapoport reported via FOX Sports. The Cardinals have ruled out cornerback Garrett Williams (Achilles), safety Dadrion Taylor-Demerson (ribs) and lineman Isaiah Adams (knee). The Chargers listed defensive back Deane Leonard out (abdomen) and linebacker Tuli Tuipulotu questionable (hip).

Scheme-wise, the first quarter should tell more than the final score. If McDaniel is serious about the 2.4-second standard, Herbert will throw on rhythm to Ladd McConkey and get Omarion Hampton on the edge of wide-zone looks before Arizona can set the box. If the Chargers fall behind the sticks, the “plays he has never been able to call” Rapoport described — deeper outs, late-developing shots Herbert can drive into shrinking windows — become the tell. That second layer is analysis, not a confirmed call sheet.

The last meeting was a 17-15 Cardinals win in Glendale on Oct. 21, 2024. Los Angeles still leads the series 11-5. A home opener against a rebuilding NFC West club is the softest landing McDaniel could draw. The tape after 4:25 p.m. ET will show whether Herbert’s arm really did keep part of that playbook locked for four years in Miami.

Three days after a 27-7 loss to the San Francisco 49ers in Melbourne, the Los Angeles Rams are paying a second bill for Week 1. Reigning Defensive Player of the Year Myles Garrett will undergo arthroscopic knee surgery and be placed on injured reserve, sources told ESPN and The Athletic on Sunday, Sept. 13.

The move costs Garrett at least four games. His earliest possible return is Week 6 against the Arizona Cardinals on Oct. 18. That is the confirmed medical and roster picture. What followed on social media was the argument: whether the Rams treated the NFL’s first regular-season game in Australia like a game they intended to win.

Kawakami: Rams “punted” the Australia game

San Francisco Standard columnist Tim Kawakami did not wait for a press release. He posted Sunday that the Rams “mostly just punted this game,” pointing to the decision to fly in a day before kickoff. He added that L.A. “obviously didn’t tip off their media fans on this, though. Oops.” —

I think the Rams mostly just punted this game. There is no other rational conclusion for flying in a day before an Australia game.

They obviously didn't tip off their media fans on this, though. Oops. https://t.co/enSiiH94Yv

— Tim Kawakami (@timkawakami) September 13, 2026

When a reader noted that the strategy made even less sense in a division game, Kawakami answered with another theory. He wrote that he suspects the Rams were “mad about the trip,” pulled the 49ers into the same long haul, “then over-explained it 30 different ways.” —

I suspect the Rams were mad about the trip, decided to screw with the 49ers by pulling them into it, too — which I respect! — then over-explained it 30 different ways.

Still might work out fine for the Rams. But their Media Friends thought it was genius even for this game. https://t.co/1fyDN9PlEo

— Tim Kawakami (@timkawakami) September 13, 2026

That is analysis, not a leaked memo. Sean McVay has not said the Rams mailed the opener in. After the loss he told reporters he does not believe travel explains the performance, a stance reported by CBS Sports. He called it “a good humbling day” and took the blame himself.

Two travel plans, one lopsided score

The facts of the itinerary are not in dispute. The 49ers landed in Melbourne a week early. The Rams arrived about 28 hours before kickoff, then planned to leave immediately after, a contrast laid out by The Athletic and recapped in the official game wrap on NFL.com.

McVay’s staff spent two years studying the trip and sent personnel overseas to track sleep, a point ESPN’s Peter Schrager shared before the game. The model copied L.A.’s short-stay London win over Jacksonville in 2025. Australia is not London. The flight is roughly 15 to 16 hours. The time gap from California is about 17 hours. A midseason London hop is a different stress test than a Week 1 kickoff at Melbourne Cricket Ground.

The building told on the Rams. A crowd of 100,021 packed the MCG, the seventh-largest regular-season crowd in NFL history, according to the Associated Press. Kyle Shanahan later called the old cricket ground “gladiator-ish.” The 49ers looked settled. The Rams looked late.

Kyren Williams scored the first NFL touchdown on Australian soil on a 5-yard run early in the second quarter. That was the high-water mark. San Francisco scored the last 24 points. Brock Purdy finished 25-of-34 for 205 yards and three touchdowns to Mike Evans, Demarcus Robinson and Deebo Samuel. Matthew Stafford went 15-of-25 for 155 yards, no scores, one interception, and left the game late. The Rams managed 290 yards.

Deebo Samuel, who spent a week in the city, put the travel gap in plain language to Australian television. He said he does not think a team can fly 16 hours and be ready to play, per BBC Sport.

Why playing Garrett made the trip costlier

Garrett’s knee was not a surprise that appeared in Melbourne. He missed most of training camp with swelling. He wore a sleeve on his left leg at practices. He still played. He finished without a tackle, sack or quarterback hit in his Rams debut, then told reporters it was “the worst version of myself,” as quoted by The Athletic.

Kawakami’s sharpest question followed the IR news. He wrote that if he worked in Los Angeles, his column would have asked why the Rams played Garrett in a game they were “clearly punting” that required two 15-hour flights. —

Told @dylanohernandez on the podcast yesterday that if I worked in LA, my column would've been:

What were the Rams doing playing Myles Garrett in a game they were clearly punting and involved two 15-hour flights???? Quadruple out-smarted themselves. https://t.co/4K9OcCZB9B

— Tim Kawakami (@timkawakami) September 13, 2026

He later added that the 49ers also rolled the dice with Nick Bosa and George Kittle, but “they were TRYING to win.” The Rams, in his view, wanted both the short trip and the showcase debut. “And the Rams got an L and Garrett on IR.” —

49ers gambled, too, with Bosa + Kittle in that game. But they were TRYING to win so they risked it.

Rams wanted it both ways–too cool to fly in early and really want to win but also wanted to show off Garrett (which I understand).

And the Rams got an L and Garrett on IR. https://t.co/xk2OaSIiAq

— Tim Kawakami (@timkawakami) September 13, 2026

That last line is opinion. The roster consequence is not. Under NFL injured-reserve rules, a player designated to IR must miss at least four games. Los Angeles now faces the New York Giants, Denver Broncos, Philadelphia Eagles and Buffalo Bills without the edge rusher it acquired from Cleveland on June 1 for Jared Verse and three draft picks, including a 2027 first-rounder.

Aaron Donald, back from a two-year retirement, did not play in Melbourne while he continued his ramp-up. Multiple reports say the Rams hoped Donald and Garrett would share a defensive line. That pairing now waits until Week 6 at the earliest.

McVay’s public position remains that the 49ers beat his team, not the itinerary. The film supports a simpler read of the third quarter: Puka Nacua was ruled down inches short, Stafford was stuffed on a quarterback sneak from the 1, and Purdy then drove 99 yards for the knockout score. Scheme and execution failed in that window. Jet lag does not excuse a sneak stuffed at the goal line. It can explain why the rest of the afternoon never got off the ground.

The Rams do not need Kawakami to tell them the opener went wrong. They need Garrett healthy, Donald on the field, and a Week 2 answer against the Giants that looks nothing like Melbourne.

The Los Angeles Rams already opened 0-1 in Australia. On Sunday they lost their best pass rusher for at least a month. Reigning Defensive Player of the Year Myles Garrett will undergo arthroscopic knee surgery and be placed on injured reserve, sources told ESPN and NFL Network, sidelining him a minimum of four games after a quiet debut in Melbourne.

Adam Schefter posted the same report on X, crediting Tom Pelissero: “Rams standout Myles Garrett will undergo arthroscopic surgery on his knee and will be placed on injured reserve sidelining him a minimum of four games.” —

Rams standout Myles Garrett will undergo arthroscopic surgery on his knee and will be placed on injured reserve sidelining him a minimum of four games, as @TomPelissero reported.

— Adam Schefter (@AdamSchefter) September 13, 2026

Pelissero, writing for The Ringer, said the hope is that Garrett returns once the four-week IR window closes. —

Rams star Myles Garrett will undergo arthroscopic surgery on his ailing knee and is headed to injured reserve, sources tell @ringer @netflixsports.

Garrett has been dealing with lower-leg pain and wasn’t himself in Thursday’s opener. The hope is he’s back in four weeks. pic.twitter.com/naTKJDV06R

— Tom Pelissero (@TomPelissero) September 13, 2026

A team source also confirmed the surgery and IR plan to The Athletic. A team official told the Los Angeles Times the same.

Myles Garrett knee surgery follows a limited Rams debut

Garrett missed most of training camp with swelling in the knee, coach Sean McVay said at the time, according to ESPN. He still suited up Thursday night in the United States — Friday morning locally — when the 49ers beat the Rams 27-7 before 100,021 fans at Melbourne Cricket Ground, the NFL’s first regular-season game in Australia.

The edge rusher finished without a tackle or a sack. NFL.com credited him with a team-high five quarterback pressures. After the game he called the tape “the worst version of myself that I’ve put out there,” per ESPN. He also said he spent more energy protecting the knee than reading San Francisco’s protection.

That matches what showed up in the box score. Brock Purdy threw three touchdown passes. The Rams recorded no sacks. Matthew Stafford went 15-of-25 for 155 yards and an interception before leaving late, as ESPN and the Washington Post reported.

Los Angeles paid a steep price to get Garrett in June, sending pass rusher Jared Verse and multiple draft picks — including a 2027 first-rounder — to Cleveland, per ESPN. Last season in Cleveland he set the NFL single-season sack record with 23 and won Defensive Player of the Year in a unanimous vote, according to NFL.com and USA Today.

Aaron Donald could make his 2026 debut on Monday night

The same Sunday report that buried Garrett offered the Rams a sliver of relief inside. Schefter wrote on X: “When the Rams play next Monday night vs. the Giants, they will be without Myles Garrett but they very well could have back Aaron Donald.” —

When the Rams play next Monday night vs. the Giants, they will be without Myles Garrett but they very well could have back Aaron Donald. https://t.co/5AifisxJTo

— Adam Schefter (@AdamSchefter) September 13, 2026

That is not a team confirmation. It is a reporter’s read. Donald, 35, ended a two-year retirement on Aug. 30 and signed a one-year deal worth $20 million, with incentives that can reach $30 million, NFL.com and The Athletic reported. The club kept him off the Australia trip so he could keep ramping up after two seasons away. Schefter and Ian Rapoport reported that plan on Sept. 8. —

Sources: Rams standout DT Aaron Donald will not travel to Australia for Thursday night’s opener against the 49ers and will be inactive, per me and @rapsheet. The Rams want to give Donald more time to ramp up before making his much-anticipated return after two seasons of… pic.twitter.com/avAbPTtPUA

— Adam Schefter (@AdamSchefter) September 8, 2026

The NFL lifted Donald’s roster exemption last Friday, per the transaction log cited by CBS Sports. That makes him eligible for the home opener Sept. 21 against the Giants on ESPN. How many snaps he plays, if he plays at all, remains an open question. Two years off is two years off. Conditioning and timing, not reputation, will decide the first package.

If he does work in, the job changes. Without Garrett on the edge, interior push becomes the cleanest way to wreck protection. Donald built a Hall of Fame case doing exactly that: collapsing the pocket from the three-technique so outside rushers can finish. The Rams still have Byron Young, Kobie Turner and Braden Fiske. They do not have a second 23-sack edge until Week 6 at the earliest.

Schefter listed those four absences on X after the IR report.

Games that Rams DE Myles Garrett now will miss by undergoing arthroscopic knee surgery and being placed on injured reserve:

🏈Giants
🏈at Broncos
🏈at Eagles
🏈Bills pic.twitter.com/CQxq3o1hx1

— Adam Schefter (@AdamSchefter) September 13, 2026

The Rams’ official schedule matches the dates: Giants at SoFi, then Denver, Philadelphia and Buffalo, with Arizona the first game Garrett can rejoin the 53, per the team site.

That stretch is the problem. Four of the first five games sit in prime time. The front that was supposed to hunt quarterbacks now has to survive on depth and, if Schefter is right, a 35-year-old tackle easing back from retirement. Some analysts will argue Donald’s presence alone changes how Giants coach John Harbaugh and quarterback Jaxson Dart attack first-and-second down. That is analysis, not a promise. Dart has not seen this version of Donald on a live snap in three calendar years.

The medical picture on Garrett should stay narrow. Multiple outlets describe an arthroscopic procedure and a standard four-game IR stay. Nobody from the club has published a detailed diagnosis or a guarantee he plays Oct. 18. Until the Rams say more, the floor is four games and the ceiling is unknown.

Los Angeles Rams edge rusher Myles Garrett will undergo arthroscopic knee surgery and is headed to injured reserve, multiple reports said Sunday, sidelining the reigning Defensive Player of the Year for at least four games after a quiet debut in Australia.

Tom Pelissero of The Athletic and Netflix first reported the procedure. He posted on X: “Rams star Myles Garrett will undergo arthroscopic surgery on his ailing knee and is headed to injured reserve”

Rams star Myles Garrett will undergo arthroscopic surgery on his ailing knee and is headed to injured reserve, sources tell @ringer @netflixsports.

Garrett has been dealing with lower-leg pain and wasn’t himself in Thursday’s opener. The hope is he’s back in four weeks. pic.twitter.com/naTKJDV06R

— Tom Pelissero (@TomPelissero) September 13, 2026

A team source later confirmed the IR move to The Athletic. The Los Angeles Times reported a team official said Sunday that Garrett will have the surgery. NFL.com said NFL Network’s Ian Rapoport also confirmed the plan.

Under NFL rules, a player placed on injured reserve must miss at least four games. That knocks Garrett out of meetings with the New York Giants, Denver Broncos, Philadelphia Eagles and Buffalo Bills. The earliest he can return is Week 6 on Oct. 18 against the Arizona Cardinals at SoFi Stadium, per the Rams’ official schedule.

Adam Schefter posted the same four-game gap on X: Giants, at Broncos, at Eagles, Bills —

Games that Rams DE Myles Garrett now will miss by undergoing arthroscopic knee surgery and being placed on injured reserve:

🏈Giants
🏈at Broncos
🏈at Eagles
🏈Bills pic.twitter.com/CQxq3o1hx1

— Adam Schefter (@AdamSchefter) September 13, 2026

Quiet debut in Melbourne made the knee issue impossible to hide

Garrett’s first game in a Rams uniform came Thursday night at the Melbourne Cricket Ground, in front of 100,021 fans for the NFL’s first regular-season game in Australia. The 49ers won 27-7. San Francisco scored the final 24 points and stuffed Matthew Stafford on a fourth-and-goal sneak from the 1, according to the Rams’ game recap and ESPN.

Garrett finished without a tackle, sack or quarterback hit. Rams Wire listed him at 62 percent of defensive snaps, well below the 82.3 percent he averaged in Cleveland last season. Pressure totals varied by tracker. The official box score stayed empty.

After the game, Garrett did not dress it up. “This was the worst version of myself that I’ve put out there,” he said, per NBC Sports and multiple postgame accounts. He added that he spent too much of the night protecting the knee instead of attacking the 49ers’ protection.

Coach Sean McVay had said after the game that Garrett was healthy “to my knowledge,” Rams Wire reported. Garrett told a different story. The knee had already cost him most of training camp. McVay said in August that swelling limited him and that Garrett had put himself around 85 percent, according to Sporting News.

He still suited up. He still rotated. He never looked like the rusher who set the NFL single-season sack record with 23 in 2025 for Cleveland.

What the next month actually costs Los Angeles

The Rams paid a steep price to get him. On June 1 they sent Pro Bowl edge Jared Verse, a 2027 first-round pick, a 2028 second-rounder and a 2029 third-round pick to the Browns, the teams announced and The Athletic and AP detailed. That deal helped make Los Angeles a preseason Super Bowl favorite. It also helped pull Aaron Donald out of retirement.

Donald signed a one-year, $20 million contract on Aug. 30, The Athletic reported. He did not travel to Melbourne. The NFL lifted his roster exemption last week, opening the door for a Week 2 debut. Schefter wrote Sunday that when the Rams host the Giants on Monday night, Sept. 21, they will be without Garrett “but they very well could have back Aaron Donald” —

When the Rams play next Monday night vs. the Giants, they will be without Myles Garrett but they very well could have back Aaron Donald. https://t.co/5AifisxJTo

— Adam Schefter (@AdamSchefter) September 13, 2026

That pairing now waits until Week 6 at the earliest. Donald is 35 and two full seasons removed from game speed. Garrett is 30 and coming off a scope. The hope, Pelissero reported, is a four-week absence. Arthroscopic cleanup can follow that calendar. It is not a guarantee.

Defensive coordinator Chris Shula now has to manufacture pressure without his most expensive edge. Byron Young led Rams edge snaps in Week 1, per Rams Wire. Josaiah Stewart and Desjuan Johnson filled the rest. That group could not get Brock Purdy on the ground in Melbourne. The next four opponents include two road games against recent playoff teams and a Monday night home date with Josh Allen.

The scheme problem is simple. Los Angeles built this front to win with two rushers who force extra attention: Garrett off the edge, Donald inside. Without Garrett, offenses can slide protection and chip Young. Donald’s return would help collapse the pocket from the interior. Until both are on the field together, the Rams are asking a rotation that just got posted for seven points in Australia to hold serve against a harder stretch of the schedule.

Garrett remains a clear talent upgrade on Verse when healthy. That is not the question. The question is whether a 30-year-old rusher who missed most of camp, produced nothing in Week 1 and now needs a scope returns as the same player the Rams traded a first-round pick and a young Pro Bowler to acquire. The team is treating this as a problem to solve in September rather than January. That is the optimistic read. The tape from Melbourne is the caution.

Green Bay will open the 2026 season at Minnesota without Josh Jacobs, and the latest league reporting finally puts a clearer frame around how long the Packers running back could stay off the field. Jacobs remains on the Commissioner’s Exempt List for Sunday’s 4:25 p.m. ET kickoff at U.S. Bank Stadium, with no discipline announced yet under the NFL’s personal conduct policy.

The new wrinkle arrived Sunday from Adam Schefter, who reported that time already spent on the exempt list could count as time served if the league later issues a suspension. Some league sources, Schefter wrote, expect that credit in the end. That is the first concrete hint Packers fans have received on timing since the NFL parked Jacobs on paid leave on Aug. 30.

What the NFL can count — and what it still has not decided

Jacobs has not been suspended. He is on administrative leave. The distinction matters for both the roster and his paycheck. Players on the Commissioner’s Exempt List cannot practice or attend games, but they continue to receive salary and, with the club’s permission, may use the facility for meetings, individual work, and treatment, as NFL.com outlined when the league made the placement official.

ESPN has pointed to Article 46, Section 5 of the collective bargaining agreement on the credit question. Time on the exempt list can be applied to a later suspension, with the player required to return salary for any games that get counted that way. Schefter’s Sunday report tracks that language. It is not the same thing as a ruling. The commissioner still has to finish the review and set a number.

Schefter also noted the policy baseline. In the CBA, he wrote, there is a six-game minimum for domestic violence cases, and the actual number “could be more or less, depending on mitigating factors.” That last clause is the live issue. Wisconsin prosecutors charged Jacobs with misdemeanor battery and criminal damage to property, not a state domestic-violence count. The NFL’s personal conduct policy still covers dating violence and similar cases on its own track. How the league classifies the May 23 incident will decide whether six games is the floor, a starting point that can be reduced, or a number that grows.

While Packers running back Josh Jacobs remains on the Commissioner Exempt list, the NFL could count time spent there as time served for any potential suspension. Some league sources expect this to be the case in the end. In the Collective Bargaining Agreement, there is a six-game… pic.twitter.com/eupWMrOALk

— Adam Schefter (@AdamSchefter) September 13, 2026

Court case closed, league case is not

The criminal case moved faster than the original calendar. Jacobs pleaded no contest on Sept. 10 in Brown County Circuit Court to both misdemeanors, according to NFL.com and ESPN. Judge Marc Hammer accepted the battery plea and imposed a $1,000 fine plus costs. The criminal-damage count sits under a deferred agreement: no further criminal acts, no contact with the victim, supervision, counseling, and restitution. Meet those terms for 12 months and that count can be dismissed.

Jacobs addressed the court directly. “I fully understand the seriousness of the situation, and I take full responsibility,” he said, per ESPN. His attorneys said he had already started counseling. A no-contest plea is not a trial. It ends the courtroom fight. It does not bind the NFL.

The league said so the same day. “There is no change to his status as he remains on the Commissioner’s Exempt list,” the NFL said after the plea, as reported by the New York Post and others. Discipline under the personal conduct policy does not require a conviction, and the league does not have to wait on any remaining court dates.

What the NFL still wants is the video. The criminal complaint described home-surveillance footage from Jacobs’ garage that, prosecutors said, lined up with the woman’s account of being thrown to the ground and striking her head. The court later sealed that evidence. Ian Rapoport, speaking Sunday on NFL Network and relayed by NBC Sports, said the league plans to interview Jacobs and is “trying all sorts of legal maneuvers” to obtain the video before it issues a suspension. Whether that footage reaches the league office is unconfirmed. It is the variable most likely to move the final number.

Green Bay’s backfield has to function without him today

None of that puts Jacobs in Minneapolis this afternoon. The Packers listed MarShawn Lloyd as the starter on their unofficial depth chart last week, with Chris Brooks and Kaleb Johnson behind him, per the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel. Offensive coordinator Adam Stenavich has already called it a committee. That is scheme talking, not spin. Matt LaFleur’s offense still wants to run the ball. The room behind Jacobs does not have a proven feature back.

Lloyd has the first crack because he took the bulk of the work when Jacobs missed camp time with a groin injury. Brooks is the veteran protector. Johnson arrived from Pittsburgh the same day Jacobs went on the exempt list, a roster move that only makes sense if Green Bay expected a long absence. Even if the NFL later credits this Week 1 game toward a ban, Jacobs still has to return, practice, and get back into game shape. A player who has not practiced since the league froze him in late August is not a plug-and-play Week 2 starter the day the paper drops.

General manager Brian Gutekunst said in early September he would “certainly expect” Jacobs to play again this season, Forbes reported, while adding the team would let the process play out. That remains the club’s public posture. It is not a timeline.

The honest status heading into kickoff is this: Jacobs’ court case is finished. The NFL’s case is not. Schefter’s reporting suggests the games he is already missing will not be wasted if a suspension follows. Rapoport’s reporting suggests the league is still gathering evidence, including video the court has sealed. Until commissioner Roger Goodell takes him off the list and posts a number, Green Bay’s running game on Sunday is Lloyd, Brooks, and Johnson against a division rival — and every additional week on the exempt list is both a problem for the Packers and, if the CBA credit holds, a week already served.

The Indianapolis Colts put Alec Pierce back on the field for their 2026 opener against the Baltimore Ravens, then immediately managed his workload. NFL Network’s Mike Garafolo reported Sunday morning that Pierce is not on the injury report but is not expected to be a full go after offseason ankle and heel surgery, with one source putting the plan at about 20 to 30 plays.

Garafolo said on NFL GameDay Morning: “He’s not on the injury report, although I don’t expect him to be a full go. Hard to put an exact number on it, but I had someone tell me about 20 to 30 plays expected for Pierce.” He later posted the same update on X —

From @NFLGameDay Morning: #Colts QB Daniel Jones returns to action nine months after tearing his Achilles while WR Alec Pierce is back after offseason ankle surgery. Won’t be a full go but will play a bunch. pic.twitter.com/oooMyAefME

— Mike Garafolo (@MikeGarafolo) September 13, 2026

That report matches what Stampede Blue and Draft Sharks circulated Sunday. ESPN’s Jeremy Fowler separately reported that Pierce would play a decent number of snaps without his usual allotment, per RotoWire.

Why the Colts are capping Pierce’s snaps

Pierce had a cleanup procedure in late March after a platelet-rich plasma injection failed to settle an ankle problem that lingered through the 2025 season, Colts.com reported in June. He missed training camp on the physically unable to perform list, returned to practice after his Aug. 27 activation, and practiced in a limited role all week.

The Colts still made him active. Indianapolis listed linebacker Austin Ajiake as its only injury inactive, with Pierce cleared to dress, according to the Indianapolis Star.

The plan showed up on the first series inside Lucas Oil Stadium, where the roof was closed for the 1 p.m. ET kickoff on CBS. Pierce played four of nine snaps on the opening touchdown drive and caught one pass for 13 yards, Garafolo posted during the first quarter —

Alec Pierce on the field for four of the #Colts’ nine snaps on that scoring drive. On the board with one catch for 13 yards. https://t.co/bKU5PTCLm6

— Mike Garafolo (@MikeGarafolo) September 13, 2026

That usage is the point. Pierce led the NFL in yards per catch last season at 21.3 and finished with 47 receptions for 1,003 yards and six touchdowns in 15 games, per NFL.com. Shane Steichen still wants the vertical threat that forces safeties off the hash. He does not need 60 snaps from a receiver five and a half months removed from surgery.

Josh Downs and Keenan Allen can handle the shorter work. If Pierce’s 20-to-30-play window lands mostly on passing downs and red-zone shots, Indianapolis keeps the deep ball in the call sheet without emptying his tank in Week 1.

Daniel Jones is back, with Jonathan Taylor carrying the run game

Daniel Jones started his first game since tearing his right Achilles on Dec. 7 against Jacksonville. He told reporters earlier this month he felt 100 percent and had finished every rehab phase except live hits, Colts Wire reported via WTHR.

Feeling cleared and running the football are different asks. Jones rushed 45 times for 164 yards and five touchdowns in 2025, according to Pro-Football-Reference. Garafolo told NFL GameDay the Colts may keep those designed runs light early, a caution the Star also relayed Sunday morning. That remains a reported plan, not a team announcement.

Jonathan Taylor is the cleaner answer. He carried 323 times for 1,585 yards and 18 rushing touchdowns last season, per NFL.com. Indianapolis opened the game by driving 65 yards and giving Taylor a 1-yard score, as shown on the ESPN gamecast.

The 2025 Colts scored 466 points (eighth in the NFL) and gained 5,880 yards (ninth), then dropped their last seven games after Jones’ injury and finished 8-9. The first-half version of that offense ran through Taylor, Pierce’s deep shots, and Jones throwing on time. Week 1 is a measured version of the same idea.

Baltimore presents a real test. New coach Jesse Minter opens his tenure on the road, and the Ravens are missing defensive tackle Nnamdi Madubuike and linebacker Teddye Buchanan, per Ravens Wire. That should help Taylor between the tackles. It does not change the Colts’ medical math. Pierce and Jones are available. They are not being asked to look like December 2025 on the first Sunday in September.

Fantasy managers in PPR leagues should treat Pierce as a volatile play, not a locked-in WR2. A few targets, especially near the goal line, can still pay off. A full-route tree will have to wait.

Malik Nabers injury status is still unresolved hours before the New York Giants open the season against the Dallas Cowboys on Sunday Night Football. The wide receiver is the only Giant carrying a game designation on the final injury report, listed as questionable after three full practices this week, per the team’s official report on Giants.com.

Kickoff is set for 8:20 p.m. ET at MetLife Stadium, according to Sporting News. Inactive lists typically post about 90 minutes before kickoff, so the public answer should arrive by roughly 6:50 p.m. ET if it has not leaked sooner.

Schefter: Nabers’ Week 1 status remains “murky at best”

On ESPN’s “Sunday NFL Countdown,” Adam Schefter said the Giants still do not have a clear answer from their top receiver. Schefter called Nabers’ status for tonight “murky at best,” and noted that New York added wideout help on Saturday without getting a firm yes or no from No. 1. NBC Sports relayed the same report Sunday afternoon.

Schefter posted a video roundup of Sunday’s headlines that included the Nabers update —

Some of today’s top headlines, including an update on Malik Nabers’ status: pic.twitter.com/uEpkzHgOvn

— Adam Schefter (@AdamSchefter) September 13, 2026

NFL Network’s Mike Garafolo treated the uncertainty as real, not a stall. He wrote that some “true game-time decision” labels are tactics, but he believes the Giants “truly don’t know” whether Nabers will go and are hoping he can play —

Sometimes we’re told “true game-time decision” and it’s a stall tactic. And sometimes teams truly don’t know until closer to game time. I honestly believe it’s the latter for the #Giants here, hoping Malik Nabers can be a go. Not ideal for fantasy purposes, I get it. But reality. https://t.co/lwIV95A0c4

— Mike Garafolo (@MikeGarafolo) September 13, 2026

That framing matches what Nabers himself has said all week. The call is his.

What Nabers and John Harbaugh have actually said

Nabers tore the ACL and meniscus in his right knee in Week 4 last season against the Los Angeles Chargers and was ruled out for the rest of 2025, The Associated Press reported at the time. He had reconstruction on Oct. 28, then a second cleanup procedure in the offseason to remove scar tissue, according to The Athletic.

The Giants kept him off the physically unable to perform list to start camp, which let them raise his workload through the summer. He practiced in full Wednesday, Thursday and Friday. Harbaugh said Wednesday, “I think he’s ready to go,” then immediately left the door open through Sunday, The Athletic reported.

Nabers would not lock in a yes. On Thursday, speaking to team reporters, he put the decision in faith-and-feel terms:

I’ll let God tell me. I’ll let God tell me, keeping my faith, and he’ll let me know and I’ll know when it’s time.

— Malik Nabers, Giants.com transcript, Sept. 10, 2026

He also told reporters he could take three full practices and still sit, because the staff is leaving the choice with him. In a separate session covered by the New York Daily News, he said he would not put his career at risk after a long rehab. That is confirmed player comment, not a medical prognosis. No team doctor has publicly graded the knee for Sunday night.

Giants Wire reported that Nabers was seen kneeling in prayer on the sideline before Friday’s lighter session. Harbaugh, asked about the wait, called it ordinary NFL process and said the staff would prepare for every outcome.

Why the Giants still look unprepared to count on him

Full practice participation is not the same as a Week 1 clearance. Nabers has said game speed is different from practice, with “bullets flying” and split-second choices about how he uses his body, per the Giants.com transcript. That is the scheme problem as much as the medical one. New York’s passing game is built to get the ball out to its best separator. If he is not trusted to plant, cut and take a hit for four quarters, the staff cannot script him as a featured piece in John Harbaugh’s first game as Giants coach.

Roster moves point the same way. ESPN Giants reporter Jordan Raanan reported Saturday that New York signed wide receiver Dalen Cambre to the 53-man roster and elevated Braxton Berrios from the practice squad —

The Giants are signing WR Dalen Cambre to the active roster. Had an open roster spot.

Other moves:

Elevated Braxton Berrios for Week 1 vs the Cowboys as expected. Will be the team's returner and contribute as WR.

Elevated LB Malik Hairston. Will play special teams.

— Jordan Raanan (@JordanRaanan) September 12, 2026

The Berrios elevation was planned. Harbaugh had already said the club would treat Berrios like a 53-man player and use him as a returner, the team noted in its Week 1 tracker. Signing Cambre is the more telling hedge. If Nabers is inactive, the projected remaining group is Darnell Mooney, Malachi Fields, Odell Beckham Jr., Cambre and Berrios.

That is analysis, not an official depth chart. It does explain why Dallas’ new-look secondary may spend the afternoon preparing two game plans: one that has to account for a Pro Bowl-level separator, and one that does not.

Injury report snapshot

Nabers is the only Giant listed with a game status. Several teammates practiced fully and carry no designation. Dallas has ruled out running back Malik Davis (hip), per the official Week 1 injury report and Cowboys Wire.

Nabers’ production is why this decision carries weight. As a rookie in 2024 he caught 109 passes for 1,204 yards and seven touchdowns in 15 games, per StatMuse. In four games last season before the ACL tear, he had 18 catches for 271 yards and two scores.

None of that settles Sunday night. The confirmed facts are the questionable tag, three full practices, the player’s own caution, and the extra receivers on the roster. Whether he runs out of the tunnel is still unconfirmed. Watch the inactive list. Until then, treat every “he’s playing” or “he’s sitting” claim as speculation unless it comes from the Giants, Nabers, or a reporter citing them directly.

Morgan State University’s Magnificent Marching Machine takes the MetLife Stadium turf tonight as part of a first-of-its-kind Hamilton NFL halftime, built into the New York Giants’ 25th-anniversary remembrance of Sept. 11.

The Giants host the Dallas Cowboys in the first Sunday Night Football game of the 2026 season, kickoff set for 8:20 p.m. ET on NBC. According to the team’s official announcement on Giants.com, published Sept. 10, the show pairs Broadway voices with two college bands and a drum soloist on a New York stage that has carried the franchise’s 9/11 history for a quarter century.

What the Giants scheduled for halftime

The team called the set a first for the league: a special Hamilton arrangement by composer Alex Lacamoire and Don P. Roberts, performed with Morgan State’s Magnificent Marching Machine, Penn State’s Blue Band and soloist Jaheim Lee. Nicholas Christopher appears as Aaron Burr. Mandy Gonzalez, Morgan Anita Wood and Candace Quarrels appear as the Schuyler Sisters.

The Giants repeated that billing on X on Sept. 10: “We want to be in the room where it happens!”

We want to be in the room where it happens!

Sunday's halftime show is a special performance from Broadway's @HamiltonMusical, featuring alumni cast members and a special collaboration with @MorganStateU's Magnificent Marching Machine, @PSUBlueBand, and drummer Jaheim Lee. pic.twitter.com/JNwjkmghJp

— New York Giants (@Giants) September 10, 2026

BroadwayWorld carried the same performer list the day the Giants posted it. Nothing in the team statement lists Lin-Manuel Miranda as a live performer. Miranda did send a recorded message that Morgan State shared while announcing the booking, according to ClutchPoints.

In that video, Miranda thanked the band for “doing impossible things” and said he could not wait to see them at halftime, per the same report. He also pointed to “Don and Joram” — a reference that tracks with Roberts on the arrangement and Dr. Jorim Reid, Morgan State’s director of bands, listed on the university’s band staff page.

Why Morgan State is on this field

The Baltimore Banner first framed the booking for a local audience on Saturday. The Banner reported that Morgan State called itself “deeply honored” and cast the night as another chance for the band to serve as university ambassadors.

Morgan State said the same on X on Sept. 12, writing that the performance “will bring Hamilton to the NFL stage” with Penn State’s Blue Band.

Hello Lin-Manuel Miranda 👋🏾

The Morgan State University community is deeply honored that the Magnificent Marching Machine has been invited to perform during halftime of the NFL’s Sunday Night Football game between the New York Giants and Dallas Cowboys.

The performance will… pic.twitter.com/u8HSbuGoz3

— Morgan State University (@MorganStateU) September 12, 2026

The Magnificent Marching Machine is a 150-student ensemble, according to both The Banner and the university’s band site. That roster has already worked NFL sidelines, the World Series, presidential inaugurations and, this calendar year, the Tournament of Roses Parade. In 2024 the band became the first from an HBCU to take part in D-Day commemorations in Normandy.

Those dates matter tonight. A high-step HBCU show band and a Big Ten marching unit do not share a rehearsal language by default. Lacamoire’s charts and Roberts’ drum-line work have to lock Broadway phrasing to two different marching styles in a tight NFL window. Reid’s group sells power and visual snap. Penn State’s Blue Band sells precision after a long weekend of its own.

Per Onward State, the Blue Band played Penn State’s game against Temple at Lincoln Financial Field on Saturday, then rolled up I-95 for Sunday Night Football. That is two stadiums, two charts and two television windows in 24 hours.

The rest of the Giants’ 9/11 night

Halftime sits inside a longer memorial the club laid out on Giants.com. The 2001 Giants landed at Newark the morning of the attacks. Twenty-five years later, the organization is putting first responders on the field before John Harbaugh’s first regular-season home game as head coach.

Players and coaches from both clubs are slated to wear commemorative NYPD, FDNY and PAPD apparel and “Never Forget” shirts. The Giants asked fans to be seated by 8 p.m. for introductions.

The football game still has to be played. Dallas opened as a roughly three-point favorite in several public listings, including CBS Sports. That is the undercard to a night the Giants designed as a civic service first.

For Morgan State’s students, the assignment is narrower and harder. They have to hit marks on a primetime clock, stay in the tone of a memorial and still sound like themselves. If the charts hold, NBC’s audience will hear an HBCU band, a Big Ten band and a Broadway pit speaking the same language for about 12 minutes in the Meadowlands.

Lamar Jackson will start the Baltimore Ravens’ 2026 opener in Indianapolis without a new contract, and the question around him is no longer whether he gets paid. It is how high the next number can climb. ESPN senior NFL reporter Jeremy Fowler said Jackson is in position to test the league’s first $70 million-a-year quarterback contract, a mark that still sits above the current market even after Patrick Mahomes reset it this summer.

Jackson is entering Year 9 in Baltimore and Year 4 of the five-year, $260 million extension he signed in 2023, a deal that runs through 2027 and included $185 million guaranteed, according to ESPN. That contract is not in dispute. The timing of the next one is.

Why Jackson Can Push Toward $70 Million

Fowler laid out the leverage in a breakdown posted Sunday. Jackson is two years from unrestricted free agency. His contract includes a provision that blocks the franchise tag after 2027, so Baltimore cannot simply keep him on a one-year designation if talks stall. He also holds a no-trade clause. Those terms are confirmed in the contract details compiled by Over The Cap and in analysis from CBS Sports.

The cap math tightens the vise. After the Ravens converted most of Jackson’s 2026 base salary into a signing bonus this spring, his 2026 cap charge dropped to about $34.4 million. The bill comes due in 2027, when the charge jumps to roughly $84.3 million. Fowler rounded that figure to “like $80 million.” Either way, it is an awkward number to carry into a season unless a new deal spreads the cost.

“Can he be the league’s first $70 million a year quarterback? Seems crazy, but now you have Patrick Mahomes at $64 million.”

Jeremy Fowler, ESPN

Fowler posted the same argument on X: “How far is NFL from first $70M QB? Feels like Lamar Jackson is in position to test those limits.”

How far is NFL from first $70M QB? Feels like Lamar Jackson is in position to test those limits. pic.twitter.com/s7CEHQbFjy

— Jeremy Fowler (@JFowlerESPN) September 13, 2026

The Mahomes comparison is the market floor, not a rumor. The Chiefs reworked Mahomes’ contract in June into an eight-year, $504.75 million structure that averages $64 million a year once the new money begins in 2027, as reported by CBS Sports and The Associated Press. Dak Prescott sits next at about $60 million. Jackson’s current average of $52 million already looks dated against that board.

Mayfield’s three-year, $165 million extension, agreed Tuesday and reported by The Athletic, is the latest reminder that the market does not wait for Baltimore. Fowler’s larger point is what comes next offseason. Jayden Daniels, Drake Maye, Caleb Williams and Bo Nix become extension-eligible. C.J. Stroud can join that group if Houston takes another step. Those deals would lift the ceiling again. Jackson, Fowler said, would sit at the top of that list if he plays like himself.

No Extension Before Kickoff, by Design

This is not a last-second standoff in the locker room. Adam Schefter reported Saturday that Jackson has been reluctant to discuss a long-term extension and has focused on the Colts game, according to league sources. The Ravens have not held “substantive, significant” talks on a new deal. No agreement is expected soon, even though owner Steve Bisciotti has said he wants Jackson back and is willing to make him the highest-paid quarterback in the league. That report is from ESPN.

Jonathan Jones of The Athletic, as relayed by Ravens Wire, described the relationship as healthy. The absence of a deal, in that telling, is not another 2023-style fight. It is a bet. Jackson represents himself. Once the regular season starts, he has historically shut the contract conversation down. Waiting also lets the 2024 draft class reset the market before he signs.

That is the scheme, not the drama. Baltimore created short-term cap room this spring to add pieces, including edge rusher Trey Hendrickson. The tradeoff parked a balloon payment in 2027. If Jackson produces in a new offense under first-year coordinator Declan Doyle and first-year head coach Jesse Minter, the Ravens will be negotiating from behind a player they cannot tag and cannot trade without his approval.

The football context matters because last year did not help his asking price on the field. Baltimore finished 8-9, missed the playoffs for the first time since 2021, and closed John Harbaugh’s 18-season run, per Pro-Football-Reference and the team’s 2025 results. Jackson dealt with injuries and was not the dual-threat force that won him two MVPs. A bounce-back year under Minter would flip that tape. A rough year would not erase the contractual leverage. It would only change how other teams value him in 2028.

Kickoff in Indianapolis is set for 1 p.m. ET at Lucas Oil Stadium on CBS, per the Colts and ESPN’s Ravens schedule. The roof is scheduled to be closed. The contract talk will travel with the team anyway. It just will not be settled before the first snap.

What happens next is straightforward. Jackson plays 2026 on the existing deal. Baltimore either extends him in 2027 to cut that $84.3 million charge and keep him past 2028, or it risks a true free agent at the position that defines the franchise. Fowler’s $70 million figure is analysis, not a signed term sheet. The leverage that makes the figure plausible is already in the contract.

Parker Washington will start the Jacksonville Jaguars’ 2026 opener on the last year of his rookie contract. After months of talks, the two sides could not close an extension before kickoff against the Cleveland Browns on Sunday at EverBank Stadium.

NFL Network’s Cameron Wolfe reported Saturday that an agreement before Week 1 is “unlikely.” Wolfe wrote that Jacksonville explored a deal in the range of the three-year, $75 million contract Arizona recently gave Michael Wilson, but no deal was in place Saturday night. Wolfe posted the update on X: “It’s ‘unlikely’ Jaguars & WR Parker Washington agree to a contract extension by start of season, per source.”

It’s “unlikely” Jaguars & WR Parker Washington agree to a contract extension by start of season, per source.

I’m told Jags explored deal in Cardinals’ Michael Wilson range (3-year, $75M) but no deal for now.

Washington, coming off career year, betting on himself in pivotal 2026 pic.twitter.com/85WccmFtWe

— Cameron Wolfe (@CameronWolfe) September 12, 2026

ESPN independently confirmed Wolfe’s reporting. NBC Sports and Pro Football Rumors carried the same account.

Why Parker Washington’s contract talks stopped

Insider Jordan Schultz reported that negotiations “have come to a halt” and that Washington plans to bet on himself by playing 2026 without a new deal. Schultz posted on X: “Sources: Contract talks with the #Jaguars and star WR Parker Washington have come to a halt.”

Sources: Contract talks with the #Jaguars and star WR Parker Washington have come to a halt.

Washington, the former 6th-round pick, plans to bet on himself by entering the season without a new deal after months of negotiating. pic.twitter.com/0OAouLJsXq

— Jordan Schultz (@Schultz_Report) September 12, 2026

In a follow-up, Schultz said the gap was compensation, not the relationship. He wrote that Jacksonville still has “big plans” for Washington in Year 2 under Liam Coen and that the relationship “remains in a healthy place.”

Ultimately, sources say that Parker Washington and the #Jaguars simply could not agree with the compensation on a new deal.

Jacksonville has big plans for him in this year two offense under Liam Coen, and despite not agreeing to an extension, my understanding is that the… https://t.co/uaQkH0vPXC

— Jordan Schultz (@Schultz_Report) September 12, 2026

That framing matters. This is reported as a price disagreement, not a falling-out. General manager James Gladstone said earlier this month there had been “solid progress” and that the club was willing to keep talking after Week 1, according to Ryan O’Halloran of the Florida Times-Union. Whether those in-season talks restart now sits in the unconfirmed column. Nothing official from the team Sunday morning said negotiations were closed for the year.

Washington, 24, took a quieter line when asked about the talks last week. “The talks are continuing,” he said. “I want to be here. The Jags want me to be here,” per NBC Sports, citing O’Halloran. He is scheduled to become an unrestricted free agent in 2027 if no new deal lands.

Jacksonville drafted Washington in the sixth round, No. 185 overall, out of Penn State in 2023. He signed a four-year rookie contract worth about $4.03 million, with a 2026 cap charge of roughly $3.72 million, per Over The Cap. That number is the point of the standoff. A former late-round pick is now being measured against mid-tier starter money after one breakout year.

What Washington produced in 2025 — and why the price jumped

Washington’s market changed because the tape did. He played 16 games with seven starts last season and finished with 58 catches for 847 yards and five touchdowns, all career highs, according to the Jaguars’ official player page. He also returned 25 punts for 341 yards and two touchdowns.

The jump was scheme as much as volume. Injuries to Travis Hunter and Brian Thomas Jr. pushed Washington into a larger role. Trevor Lawrence started trusting him on deeper shots, and Washington answered late in the year — 145 yards and a score at Denver in Week 16, then 115 yards at Indianapolis the following week, per his season log. He added seven catches for 107 yards and a touchdown in the wild-card loss to Buffalo.

That is why Wilson’s Cardinals deal became the comparison. Wilson signed after a 1,000-yard season. Washington did not hit 1,000, but he led Jacksonville in targets (95), catches, yards, and receiving touchdowns in 2025, per reporting summarized by Larry Brown Sports. Some analysts will argue $25 million a year prices a one-year spike. Washington’s camp can answer that he is 24, already a dual threat on offense and returns, and just now getting a full-time offensive role.

Lawrence has described the work behind that jump. In late August, Schultz asked him about Washington’s camp and relayed Lawrence’s answer that Washington is “a grinder” who is sometimes in the building around 4:30 or 5 a.m.

I asked #Jaguars QB Trevor Lawrence about WR Parker Washington, who has been the star of training camp:

"He's a grinder. Sometimes he's in here, like 5:00am, 4:30am. He's in here crazy hours. I think he might sleep here." pic.twitter.com/xGm8H1HASi

— Jordan Schultz (@Schultz_Report) August 28, 2026

What it means for Sunday — and for Coen’s second year

The Jaguars host the Browns at 1 p.m. ET on CBS, per Sporting News and the team schedule. The National Weather Service calls for a mostly sunny kickoff, a high near 91, and heat-index values over 100, with a chance of afternoon storms after 3 p.m. Local coverage from Action News Jax said feels-like temperatures inside EverBank Stadium could exceed 100. That is the physical setting for Washington’s first snap as a contract-year starter: thick September heat, a packed home opener, and no new deal in his pocket.

Jacksonville is coming off a 13-4 season, an AFC South title, and a wild-card loss in Liam Coen’s first year as head coach, according to the 2025 season record. The club has not reached the playoffs in consecutive seasons since 1998 and 1999. A second straight postseason run is the on-field target. Washington is one of the pieces Coen is counting on to get there, even without the paperwork finished.

Playing it out is a real bet. Another 800-yard season, or a true WR1 workload next to Hunter, Thomas, and Jakobi Meyers, would likely raise Washington’s number. A slow start or a crowded target share would give Jacksonville more leverage later, including the franchise tag in 2027. That is analysis, not a reported plan.

For now, the confirmed facts are narrow. Talks did not produce a deal before Week 1. Both sides still describe the relationship as intact. Washington is active and expected to play Sunday. The rest — whether Gladstone reopens the file in October, whether $75 million was a true offer or only a range the team “explored” — remains reported, not signed.

The Las Vegas Raiders will open the 2026 season without their best pass catcher. All-Pro tight end Brock Bowers is officially out for Sunday’s home game against the Miami Dolphins after a knee procedure this week, according to the team’s final Week 1 injury report.

Kickoff is set for 4:25 p.m. ET at Allegiant Stadium. Bowers did not practice Wednesday, Thursday or Friday. Running back Ashton Jeanty, who missed the end of camp with an ankle sprain, practiced fully all three days and carries no game designation.

How Bowers went from expected to out

The absence landed late. Bowers played in the preseason finale on Aug. 27 and practiced on Sept. 2. Then the picture changed. On Wednesday, ESPN’s Adam Schefter reported that Bowers underwent a meniscus trim Tuesday in Dallas with Dr. Daniel Cooper and was expected to miss “a game or two,” citing league sources shared with Ian Rapoport

Raiders All-Pro tight end Brock Bowers underwent a meniscus trim Tuesday in Dallas with Dr. Daniel Cooper and now is expected to miss “a game or two”, league sources told @rapsheet and me. Bowers got banged up “a little in camp” and the injury was diagnosed last week and surgery… pic.twitter.com/42ANGHbYSC

— Adam Schefter (@AdamSchefter) September 9, 2026

That same day, coach Klint Kubiak still sounded upbeat. “We’re expecting to have all our guys ready for Sunday,” he said, per The Athletic.

By Friday, Kubiak reversed course. Speaking from the team’s Henderson facility, he said the situation “all happened pretty quick,” then added that Bowers “got it cleaned up, and we’ll get him back soon.” Asked whether a one- or two-game absence was realistic, he declined to set a date. Schefter later said the short timeline was coming from people around the player and may prove optimistic. Until Bowers practices next week, Week 2 against the Chargers is unconfirmed.

This is not a new knee for Las Vegas. Bowers missed five games in 2025 with a PCL sprain and bone bruise, finishing with 64 catches for 680 yards and seven touchdowns in 12 games. The trim is a shorter procedure than a full repair, but Kubiak would not treat the calendar as settled fact.

Jeanty is the one piece that held

Jeanty’s ankle looked worse than it was. He went down diving for a Kirk Cousins pass on Aug. 23 and left practice without putting weight on the leg. He returned as a full participant Wednesday and stayed there through Friday.

“I feel really good,” Jeanty told reporters, per ESPN. He also said he knew immediately the sprain was not long-term. The official report lists no limitation. That does not mean a 25-carry night is guaranteed. ESPN’s Dan Graziano has reported that Las Vegas could ease him in after the missed camp work and give rookie Mike Washington Jr. a rotational slice. Washington sits behind Jeanty on the Raiders’ depth chart. The designation still says play, not manage. The snap split is the open question.

Mayer inherits the job — and just got paid to keep it

Michael Mayer is listed directly behind Bowers and will start. On Saturday, one day before the opener, the Raiders announced a multi-year extension for the 2023 second-round pick. The Athletic and the Associated Press reported the new years are worth $45 million with $30 million guaranteed. The team did not release those figures itself.

The timing is not subtle. Kubiak’s offense lived in two-tight end looks last year in Seattle. Mayer was already going to play. Bowers’ absence turns him into the primary in-breaking option for Cousins, who won the Week 1 job over No. 1 pick Fernando Mendoza.

The tape from 2025 backs the add. In four games without Bowers, Mayer caught 18 passes for 196 yards and one touchdown on 24 targets, per RotoWire. Mike Clay’s tracking put him near a 93 percent snap share and a 25.5 percent target share in those games. The weekly finishes swung from TE4 to TE40 because Las Vegas did not throw enough to stabilize the floor. That volatility still exists. The opportunity does not.

RotoBaller’s updated Week 1 tight end list has Mayer 10th. FantasyPros’ expert consensus sits him 14th. Both treat him as a short-term starter, not a season-long TE1. Bowers should stay rostered. Panic-trading a 23-year-old All-Pro over a trim is a different mistake.

Those are the only two Raiders on the final sheet. Miami listed linebacker Ronnie Harrison Jr., tight ends Will Kacmarek and Seydou Traore, and safety Dante Trader, all without a game tag after Friday’s full work. Dolphins reporter Travis Wingfield posted the same report Friday: “Everybody ready to roll for Miami”

The final Week 1 injury report for Dolphins-Raiders.

Everybody ready to roll for Miami pic.twitter.com/GNox4WVM19

— Travis Wingfield (@WingfieldNFL) September 11, 2026

Where the targets go without Bowers

Kubiak loses the easiest throw in the offense. Bowers occupied the middle of the field and forced linebackers to choose. Without him, Tre Tucker, Jalen Nailor and Jack Bech should see more looks underneath. Tucker is the clearest flex candidate among the wideouts because he already worked the short area. Nailor has the longest history with Cousins from Minnesota. Bech is a deeper-league dart. None of them automatically inherit a 25 percent target share. Ian Thomas remains the blocking tight end in 12 personnel.

Cousins’ ceiling drops a notch. He is a veteran who wants a reliable checkdown, and that player is on the sideline. He is a better superflex QB2 than a one-quarterback streamer until Bowers practices. Jeanty becomes the plan if the passing game stalls. That is scheme, not hope: a new offensive line headlined by center Tyler Linderbaum and a back who can catch give Las Vegas a way to stay on schedule without its All-Pro tight end.

The practical decisions for Sunday are narrow. Start Jeanty. Start Mayer if you need a tight end. Leave Bowers on the bench, not the waiver wire. Treat Washington as a handcuff. Treat Tucker as a matchup swing, not a locked WR3. And treat any Week 2 return date for Bowers as reported, not promised. Kubiak already spent one week talking past the injury. The next update that matters is whether Bowers is on the practice field Wednesday.

Lamar Jackson enters Sunday’s season opener against the Indianapolis Colts with a new head coach, a new offensive coordinator and fresh pieces around him. He does not have a new contract.

The two-time MVP and the Baltimore Ravens will not complete an extension before kickoff at Lucas Oil Stadium, according to ESPN. League sources told Adam Schefter that Jackson has focused on the game and the season ahead and has been reluctant to discuss a long-term deal. Any agreement is on hold, likely until 2027.

Adam Schefter posted on X: “There will be no last-minute, buzzer-beating, day-of-the-opener lucrative contract extension for Ravens QB Lamar Jackson”

More about Ravens QB Lamar Jackson not having a new deal before the start of the season Sunday:https://t.co/qvzkZpaOLJ

— Adam Schefter (@AdamSchefter) September 12, 2026

Jackson, 29, is in Year 4 of the five-year, $260 million contract he signed in 2023. That deal runs through 2027 and includes a no-trade clause plus a provision that blocks the franchise tag after it expires. The Ravens restructured the contract in March to create cap space, dropping his 2026 hit to about $34.4 million while pushing the 2027 number to $84.3 million.

Owner Steve Bisciotti has said publicly he wants Jackson back and is willing to make him the highest-paid quarterback in the league. General manager Eric DeCosta expressed optimism as recently as Sept. 2. Substantive talks never materialized this offseason.

The delay does not signal a rift. Jonathan Jones of The Athletic reported after speaking with league and team sources that the relationship is the healthiest it has been. Both sides intend to keep working together for years. A league source told Jones people who assume there is “beef” are wrong.

Jackson represents himself, which makes in-season negotiations harder. Once the regular season starts he typically shuts down contract talk. That pattern held here. Mike Garafolo posted on X that Jackson and the Ravens are “likely not talking contract until after this season. All football now for Jackson.”

Lamar Jackson and the #Ravens likely not talking contract until after this season. All football now for Jackson. https://t.co/dUyYK1fDzz

— Mike Garafolo (@MikeGarafolo) September 12, 2026

New Staff, New Pieces, Same Quarterback

Jesse Minter takes over as head coach after John Harbaugh’s 18-year run ended with an 8-9 finish and a January firing. Harbaugh later joined the New York Giants. Tight end Isaiah Likely (three years, $40 million) and fullback Patrick Ricard followed him there.

Minter hired Declan Doyle as offensive coordinator. Doyle, 30, called plays for the first time after a year as Chicago’s coordinator under Ben Johnson. The Ravens also added size at receiver with third-round pick Ja’Kobi Lane and fourth-round pick Elijah Sarratt, plus first-round guard Vega Ioane to the interior line.

Jackson still has Zay Flowers, Mark Andrews and Derrick Henry. Henry rushed for 1,595 yards and 16 touchdowns last season. Those pieces give Baltimore a high floor. Jackson still sets the ceiling.

The 1 p.m. ET kickoff on CBS gives Minter and Doyle their first live look at how the new offense travels. A strong start would only strengthen Jackson’s leverage when talks resume. A slump would complicate the $84 million cap problem waiting in 2027.

Baltimore opens as a 3.5-point favorite. The focus Sunday stays on the field, not the negotiating table. That is how Jackson wants it.

The Green Bay Packers walk into U.S. Bank Stadium on Sunday without two of the names that defined their 2025 roster. Running back Josh Jacobs remains on the Commissioner’s Exempt List and cannot practice or play. Edge rusher Micah Parsons stays on the reserve/physically unable to perform list while he finishes rehab from a torn ACL. Kickoff against the Minnesota Vikings is set for 3:25 p.m. CT on CBS, with the game indoors and weather outside the stadium a non-factor.

Neither Jacobs nor Parsons carries a standard game designation. Both are unavailable. The league placed Jacobs on the exempt list on Aug. 30, according to NFL.com. Only Commissioner Roger Goodell can remove him. No return date has been announced. Fantasy managers have to leave him on the bench or in an IR slot where league rules allow it.

Parsons must miss at least the first four games after Green Bay moved him to reserve/PUP at the roster deadline. General manager Brian Gutekunst has said the Packers expect to be “pretty close” once that window ends, a comment first reported by Ryan Wood of USA Today via RotoWire. Parsons has previously pointed to Week 6 against Dallas as a realistic target. Week 5 at home versus Chicago is the earliest he can play.

What the official Week 1 injury report actually says

The Packers listed left guard Aaron Banks (knee), right tackle Zach Bako-Bewele (knee) and linebacker Ty’Ron Hopper (Achilles) as questionable. Defensive tackle Warren Brinson is out with a calf injury after missing every practice this week. That is the official Friday report published by Packers.com.

Banks has been managing knee tendinitis. Bako-Bewele is working back from offseason patellar tendon surgery. Both were limited all week. Banks told reporters Thursday he expected a game-time call. ESPN Packers reporter Rob Demovsky posted an encouraging midweek update: Jordan Morgan upgraded to a full participant, and Banks said he got through limited work without a setback.

Some good news on the Packers OL: Jordan Morgan upgraded to a full participant and Aaron Banks said he’d gotten through his limited work without any setback as the last two days.

The full injury report: pic.twitter.com/N0w1Q3s1QY

— Rob Demovsky (@RobDemovsky) September 10, 2026

Morgan practiced fully Thursday and Friday and carries no designation. Javon Hargrave, Devonte Wyatt and Barryn Sorrell were limited during the week but also avoided final tags. Jordan Love, Christian Watson, Jayden Reed, Matthew Golden and Tucker Kraft stayed off the report entirely.

If Banks or Bako-Bewele sits, Green Bay would turn to Donovan Jennings, rookie Jager Burton or Anthony Belton. That is a continuity problem for an offense already missing its lead back. The Vikings listed no players with game designations on their final report.

MarShawn Lloyd inherits the backfield, not Jacobs’ workload

Jacobs’ absence is the biggest fantasy shift. MarShawn Lloyd is expected to lead a group that also includes Chris Brooks and Kaleb Johnson, the former Steelers third-round pick Green Bay acquired on Aug. 30 for a 2028 sixth-round choice, per the Packers’ official announcement.

Lloyd has explosiveness on tape from USC. He has almost no NFL sample. FantasyPros projects about 14.4 carries and 1.8 receptions this week and ranks him around RB27. That is RB2/flex territory, not a one-for-one swap for Jacobs. Consensus models cluster near 15 touches. Brooks figures to handle some passing-down and short-yardage snaps. Johnson is a speculative stash until the rotation shows itself on the field.

The risk is scheme plus protection. Brian Flores still runs a pressure-first defense that mixes looks and sends extra rushers from odd angles. A shaky or patched offensive line makes it harder for a young back to find clean first-level creases. Lloyd should get the first chance to control the job. The volume is not guaranteed.

Love is healthy. The matchup is not friendly.

Love is cleared and off the report. Treat him as a matchup-dependent QB2 more than a locked-in QB1. Flores’ unit lives on confusion before the snap. Green Bay’s receivers split targets. Watson profiles as the strongest WR2 of the group. Reed sits in WR3/WR4 range. Golden is a WR4 until the target share settles. Kraft is the cleanest start among the skill players — a TE1 who should stay involved near the goal line after agreeing to a four-year extension, according to reporting from Adam Schefter via FOX Sports.

Parsons’ absence also cuts the Packers D/ST ceiling. Green Bay loses its best pressure creator. Brinson is already out. Hopper is questionable. Hargrave, Wyatt and Sorrell being available keeps the interior from collapsing, but sack and turnover upside drops without Parsons. This is not an elite Week 1 defense play.

Sunday’s inactive list, due 90 minutes before kickoff, will settle the offensive-line questions. Until then, the picture is clear enough for lineup decisions: Jacobs stays out, Lloyd is a volume-based flex, Love carries real matchup risk, Kraft is the safest Packers skill start, and Green Bay’s defense is a step down from what it will be when Parsons returns.

The Indianapolis Colts take the field Sunday against the Baltimore Ravens with almost every skill-position piece available. Kickoff is 1 p.m. ET at Lucas Oil Stadium on CBS, and the roof and window are scheduled to stay closed for the home opener, per the club’s gameday board. That matters less than the injury sheet. Linebacker Austin Ajiake is the only Colt ruled out. The offense — Jonathan Taylor, Tyler Warren, Josh Downs, Daniel Jones — is cleared. Wide receiver Alec Pierce is the one name that still forces a lineup decision.

Ajiake is out. The fantasy hit is small.

The Colts downgraded Ajiake from questionable to out Saturday with a hamstring injury. The team posted the change itself: “LB Austin Ajiake (hamstring) has been downgraded to out for #BALvsIND.”

LB Austin Ajiake (hamstring) has been downgraded to out for #BALvsIND. https://t.co/QefKxwOqqz

— Indianapolis Colts (@Colts) September 12, 2026

Ajiake missed Friday’s practice after the injury surfaced late in the week, according to the Indianapolis Star. He played 16 games last season and took about 70 percent of special-teams snaps, NBC Sports reported. He was not projected as a defensive starter. Standard-league managers can ignore the absence.

Indianapolis then elevated rookie cornerback Kenneth Harris from the practice squad for the opener, a move confirmed by both the Star and NBC Sports. Harris is insurance in a secondary already missing Cam Taylor-Britt for a one-game suspension, per Ravens Wire. That is a depth story, not a fantasy one.

Pierce will play. His snap count is the open item.

Pierce practiced on a limited basis Wednesday, Thursday and Friday with a heel injury and still received no game designation. Head coach Shane Steichen told Colts.com on Friday that Pierce looked “fresh” and “good.” Availability is confirmed. Volume is not.

The reason the snap question exists sits in the calendar. Pierce opened camp on the physically unable to perform list after March ankle-and-heel surgery and was activated Aug. 27, The Athletic reported. That left him a short runway into Week 1 and no preseason game tape. Stephen Holder of The Athletic described the Week 1 snap count as still to be determined, a point relayed by CBS Sports and Heavy.

That is why Pierce is a boom-or-bust WR4, not an automatic flex. FantasyPros has him around WR41–WR42 this week with a 7.6-point projection. Analyst Derek Brown called him a must-sit because the role could shrink to opportunistic deep shots. The speed is real — he led the NFL in yards per catch last season — but a part-time route tree caps the floor.

If Indianapolis holds him back, Josh Downs and Keenan Allen stand to pick up the slack. Both stayed off the final report. Downs is the safer PPR flex of the two because his game lives on short and intermediate catches. Allen is healthy after a late-summer signing, but he is a WR3 until the target split shows up on the broadcast.

Taylor and Warren do not need a disclaimer

Taylor does not appear on the injury report. He is the lead back, and the blocking around him cleaned up as the week went on. Center Sedrick Van Pran-Granger moved from a limited Wednesday (illness) to full work Thursday and Friday. Tight end Drew Ogletree did the same after a neck issue, per the club’s practice notes collected by USA TODAY and Stampede Blue.

FantasyPros consensus ranks Taylor as the RB3 for Week 1. CBS Sports grades him a 9.3 on its start/sit scale against Baltimore. That is a lock in every format that starts running backs.

Warren belongs in the same bucket. He dealt with an offseason adductor/groin issue, then left the report midweek. FantasyPros’ Week 1 tight-end board, updated Sunday morning, slots him third among TEs with an A-minus start grade. The Ravens have been stingy against the position, but Warren’s target share last season — and the possibility Indianapolis plays from behind as a home underdog — keeps him in TE1 range.

Jones is healthy on paper. Week 1 is still a first look.

Jones is off the report after tearing his right Achilles on Dec. 7, 2025, against Jacksonville, a timeline laid out by CBS Sports. He practiced without limits this week. On Sept. 3 he told reporters, via Colts Wire, that he felt “100 percent” and that the last remaining test was live contact.

This is that test. He did not take a regular-season snap after the surgery and sat out the preseason. The rushing upside that juiced his 2025 numbers may be more measured until he shows he will step up and take a hit. In one-quarterback leagues, that makes him a cautious start. In superflex, he is a reasonable QB2.

Baltimore is without defensive tackle Nnamdi Madubuike (neck) and linebacker Teddye Buchanan (knee), Colts Wire noted. That interior gap is relevant for Taylor’s gap runs and for how long Jones has to throw. It does not change the snap-count math on Pierce.

The short version heading into a 1 p.m. window: start Taylor and Warren. Treat Downs as the preferred Colts flex if you need one. Leave Pierce on the bench until the first series shows whether he is a featured receiver or a situational vertical piece. Jones can wait unless your league starts two quarterbacks. Ajiake’s hamstring does not move any of those calls.

The Philadelphia Eagles will open the 2026 season without the tight end they drafted in the second round. The club placed Eli Stowers on injured reserve Saturday with quadriceps and hamstring injuries, one day before a 4:25 p.m. ET home opener against the Washington Commanders, according to NBC Sports Philadelphia.

The move ends any chance Stowers makes his NFL debut in Week 1. It also locks him out for at least four games. Under NFL injured-reserve rules, he cannot return before Week 5 at the earliest.

Jeff McLane of The Philadelphia Inquirer reported the team’s wording: the Eagles downgraded Stowers to out “with quadriceps and hamstring injuries” and placed him on the Injured Reserve List. Stowers had been limited in practice all week. After Friday’s session, he told reporters the plan was to play Sunday.

#Eagles have downgraded TE Eli Stowers to out for tomorrow’s game with quadriceps and hamstring injuries. He has been placed on the Injured Reserve List.

Stowers was limited during practice. After practice, he said the plan was for him to play in the opener vs. the Commanders.…

— Jeff McLane (@Jeff_McLane) September 12, 2026

How a hamstring issue became a weeks-long absence

Stowers first showed up on the injury report with a hamstring strain in late August, during joint work with the New England Patriots. He was limited Wednesday, Thursday and Friday of Week 1 prep and carried a questionable tag into the weekend, per ESPN.

The quad problem arrived later. Zach Berman of The Athletic wrote that Stowers reported new discomfort, underwent imaging, and was diagnosed with a strain that will require a weeks-long absence, as relayed by Pro Football Rumors. Berman also posted the transaction itself on X.

Eli Stowers was placed on IR with quadriceps/hamstring injuries.

Britain Covey was elevated from practice squad.

— Zach Berman (@ZBerm) September 12, 2026

Philadelphia selected Stowers 54th overall out of Vanderbilt after a 62-catch, 769-yard senior season and elite combine testing, including a 45.5-inch vertical, the team noted in its draft announcement. He is still a converted quarterback learning NFL blocking. Missing four-plus weeks delays that work more than it changes the Week 1 game plan. He was already fighting for snaps behind Dallas Goedert after a quiet camp.

Three tight ends, one open roster spot

The Eagles kept four tight ends on the initial 53-man roster: Goedert, Johnny Mundt, Stowers and E.J. Jenkins, per CBS Philadelphia. Grant Calcaterra is already on injured reserve with a designation to return. Stowers now joins him. That leaves Goedert, Mundt and Jenkins active for Sunday.

Goedert remains the featured tight end after a one-year return. Mundt is the blocker. Jenkins has scant NFL receiving production. New coordinator Sean Mannion has talked about using more multiple-tight end looks, which makes the missing fourth body matter on early downs even if Stowers was not ready to win routes yet.

The corresponding roster move was not another tight end. The Eagles elevated receiver and returner Britain Covey from the practice squad for the Commanders game, NBC Sports reported. That choice tells you how the building is thinking this week: special teams first, tight end addition later if at all.

Why Zach Ertz keeps coming up

Stowers’ absence does not create a signing. It does reopen a rumor that never fully died. Ertz, 35, remains a free agent after tearing his ACL in December with Washington. He caught 50 passes for 504 yards and four touchdowns in 13 games last season, per NFL.com. Adam Schefter reported in August that Ertz had been cleared for football activities.

League sources told EJ Smith of PHLY in late August that a reunion was “on the table,” though nothing was imminent, as summarized by Pro Football Rumors. Howie Roseman, asked after cutdown day, praised Ertz and said he has talked with him during the rehab, while adding he likes the current tight end room, according to The Athletic.

The sentimental hook is real. Ertz has 579 regular-season catches as an Eagle, 10 behind Harold Carmichael’s franchise mark of 589, per Football Database. Career-wide he sits at 825 receptions, 8,592 yards and 57 touchdowns over 13 seasons. He also caught the Super Bowl LII winner in this building. None of that is a contract.

The football question is narrower. Ertz is a route-runner, not a point-of-attack blocker, and he is coming off a nine-month ACL recovery. Mundt already covers the blocking snaps. Goedert already covers the primary targets. Signing Ertz would be a bet that Mannion wants a third reliable pair of hands on third down, and that the veteran can practice enough this month to help before Stowers is eligible. It would not be a starter swap.

Athlon Sports argued Sunday morning that Philadelphia only turns to Ertz out of desperation, pointing to the Covey elevation as proof the staff did not treat the open 53-man spot as a tight end emergency. That reading matches what the roster actually did in the last 24 hours. Speculation is loud. The confirmed transactions are quieter: Stowers on IR, Covey up, three tight ends dressing.

Lincoln Financial Field will be loud for a division opener either way. The tight end room that takes the field is thinner than the one Howie Roseman built on cutdown day, and the rookie the Eagles spent a second-round pick on will watch from the training room. Whether that gap stays in-house through October is the next roster test, not a done deal.

The Cincinnati Bengals take the field Sunday at Paycor Stadium with their offense intact. That is the headline from the team’s final Week 1 injury report ahead of the 1 p.m. ET opener against the Tampa Bay Buccaneers on FOX.

Fantasy managers who drafted Joe Burrow, Ja’Marr Chase, Tee Higgins or Chase Brown get the confirmation they needed. Cincinnati listed seven players on the Friday report. Defensive end Shemar Stewart is the only one carrying a game designation. Stewart is doubtful with a knee injury.

Morning fog is expected to burn off into a warm, humid afternoon in Cincinnati, with the National Weather Service calling for a high near 88 degrees and light west wind. Kickoff weather should not change the availability picture. Official inactive lists had not been posted as of early Sunday morning.

What the official Bengals injury report shows

The club last updated the sheet Friday, Sept. 11. Chase appears with a knee listing and a non-injury rest tag. He practiced fully Wednesday and Thursday, then sat out Friday. Cincinnati did not give him a questionable, doubtful or out tag, which under NFL reporting rules means the team expects him to play.

That Friday sit-out is rest management, not a new setback. Chase hyperextended his left knee in a late-August camp session. Head coach Zac Taylor spent the week signaling he felt good about the star receiver’s progress, and local beat coverage on Friday treated him as cleared. The Cincinnati Enquirer reported that Chase, Higgins and cornerback DJ Turner II will all play Sunday.

Higgins practiced in full all three days with a foot listing and also received no game status. Earlier in the week Taylor described the issue as a heel contusion. The official report now reads “foot.” Either way, three full practices and a blank status column remove most of the Week 1 concern.

Paul Dehner Jr. of The Athletic posted the first sheet of the season Wednesday: “First #Bengals injury report of the year. Full participation from everyone.”

First #Bengals injury report of the year. Full participation from everyone. pic.twitter.com/ujQs3Vyveo

— Paul Dehner Jr. (@pauldehnerjr) September 9, 2026

Chase Brown, Mike Gesicki and Andrei Iosivas do not appear on the report.

Why Chase and Higgins still belong in starting lineups

Do not overread Friday’s rest day. Two full practices plus no designation is how clubs protect a receiver coming off a hyperextension when the game is 48 hours away. Chase remains a locked-in WR1. 4for4 ranked him the top FanDuel wide receiver for Week 1 as of Saturday afternoon. Pat Fitzmaurice’s FantasyPros board also had him first. Consensus projections at FantasyPros slot him just behind Puka Nacua, still inside the elite tier.

Higgins is a confident WR2 start. Full-week participation answers the only question that mattered. His red-zone role still gives him a usable floor even if Chase commands the first look.

Both receivers being unrestricted lifts Burrow. Cincinnati’s quarterback has his two primary targets with no announced snap limits. He is a QB1 this week. Some boards go higher: Fantasy Football Calculator and Footballguys ranked him the overall QB1 for the opening slate, while the FantasyPros expert consensus had him second behind Lamar Jackson as of Sunday morning.

Chase Brown’s volume case holds

Brown never hit the injury report. Unofficial depth charts from Ourlads and CBS Sports list him ahead of Samaje Perine and Tahj Brooks. That is the lead-back job on paper.

The scheme argument is straightforward. Chase and Higgins force defenses to honor the perimeter, which thins the box. Brown also works as a receiver, so he does not need 20 carries to matter. Cincinnati spent camp adding more under-center and play-action looks, a change The Athletic’s Paul Dehner Jr. flagged in the spring and that Brown himself described at camp, per NBC Sports. If those calls show up Sunday, Brown gets cleaner downhill lanes. Treat him as a must-start in typical lineups.

Gesicki and Iosivas stay secondary. Chase and Higgins will take most of the targets. Gesicki is a matchup streamer at tight end. Iosivas belongs on deeper benches unless one of the starters is a surprise inactive.

Stewart’s absence is a defense problem, not an offense problem

Stewart’s knee issue traces to a hyperextension on the first day of training camp. Taylor said then the damage was not season-ending and that Stewart would miss several weeks, per ESPN. He returned to practice this week, then slid from full to limited to out. NBC Sports and CBS Sports both list him as the lone Bengal with a doubtful tag.

That matters for Bengals D/ST managers more than for Burrow owners. If Stewart sits, rookie Cashius Howell is the next name in the edge rotation behind Boye Mafe and Myles Murphy. The pass-rush mix becomes less settled in a 50.5-total game, per lines listed by FOX Sports.

Turner was limited Thursday and Friday with a hamstring injury but carries no designation. Taylor said after Friday’s practice that the starting corner is good to go, according to the team site. Allen, Hill and Lawrence missed time this week for rest and are cleared.

Tampa Bay’s own sheet still lists Jalen McMillan, Sean Tucker and Justin Skule as doubtful, with Christian Rozeboom questionable, per the Buccaneers’ Friday report. That is Cincinnati’s matchup context, not a Bengals availability issue.

Check the inactive list about 90 minutes before kickoff. Until that posts, the Friday report is the last official word: Cincinnati’s offensive stars are healthy enough to play without announced restrictions, and Week 1 lineups should treat them that way.

The Houston Texans and C.J. Stroud will not finish a long-term contract before kickoff. Both sides made a late push to get a deal done, then agreed to wait until after the 2026 season, league sources told ESPN and NFL Network on Saturday.

Adam Schefter posted the update on X: “The Houston Texans and quarterback C.J. Stroud made a run at completing a contract extension before the regular season begins, but both sides agreed they now prefer to wait until after this season to work out a long-term deal, per @RapSheet and me.”

The Houston Texans and quarterback C.J. Stroud made a run at completing a contract extension before the regular season begins, but both sides agreed they now prefer to wait until after this season to work out a long-term deal, per @RapSheet and me. pic.twitter.com/Tj0iuo4MCn

— Adam Schefter (@AdamSchefter) September 12, 2026

The Athletic and NFL.com independently confirmed the same pause. No last-minute signing had surfaced by Sunday morning as Houston prepared to host the Buffalo Bills at 1 p.m. ET at NRG Stadium.

Why the Texans and Stroud stopped now

General manager Nick Caserio had already drawn a hard line. If the sides could not agree before Week 1, talks would stop until next offseason, he told reporters earlier this month, according to ESPN.

Stroud still plays 2026 on the final year of his four-year, $36.28 million rookie contract. Houston exercised his fully guaranteed fifth-year option in April, locking in $25.9 million for 2027. He remains under team control through that season either way.

The pause is not a walk-away. Stroud has said he wants to stay in Houston and has left the business side to agent David Mulugheta. The timing, though, favors a bet on himself. The quarterback market is still climbing. Patrick Mahomes reset the top of the scale this spring, and a new wave of young starters — Caleb Williams, Drake Maye, Bo Nix, Jayden Daniels — becomes extension-eligible after this season. A $70 million average annual value is no longer a fantasy number for 2027, ESPN reported.

Houston has shown it will pay elite young talent. The club signed Will Anderson Jr. to a $50 million-per-year deal this spring. Multiple reports have said the Texans were willing to put Stroud in that $50 million-plus range. That offer was not enough to close the gap before Sunday.

What last season left on the table

Stroud has started every meaningful game since Houston drafted him No. 2 overall in 2023. He is 28-18 in the regular season and has taken the Texans to the playoffs in each of his three years. A fourth straight berth would be a franchise first. Houston’s previous postseason streaks never ran longer than two seasons.

The 2025 tape is the reason this deal did not get done early. Stroud missed three games with a concussion and went 9-5 in 14 starts. He completed 273 of 423 passes for 3,041 yards, 19 touchdowns and eight interceptions, plus 48 carries for 209 yards and a rushing score, per team and league records. The club finished 12-5 and reached the divisional round.

January changed the leverage. In two playoff games he completed 41 of 79 passes for 462 yards, two touchdowns and five interceptions. A 30-6 wild-card win at Pittsburgh gave way to a 28-16 loss at New England in which he threw four interceptions, including a pick-six. That is the clip front offices remember when the number jumps from $50 million toward $60 million or higher.

The regular-season numbers in 2025 were cleaner than 2024. The postseason was not. That split is why Houston could live with waiting and why Stroud could, too.

What Sunday starts for both sides

Week 1 against Josh Allen is a loud room to open a prove-it year. NRG will be packed for a 1 p.m. CBS window, the same building where Houston has given Allen trouble in recent visits. Stroud does not need a contract announcement to change how he plays. He needs the ball out on time, fewer late-down mistakes, and another deep playoff run if he wants the 2027 market to work in his favor.

The Texans do not need a new deal to keep building. They already control 2026 and 2027. They also know the cost of waiting. If Stroud looks like the 2023 version again, the next offer will be larger than the one that just died on the table.

For now the business is closed. The season is not.

The Philadelphia Eagles shut the door on Eli Stowers’ Week 1 debut Saturday, placing the rookie tight end on injured reserve with quadriceps and hamstring injuries one day after he told reporters he expected to play against the Washington Commanders.

The team made the move official on X: “We have downgraded TE Eli Stowers to out for tomorrow’s game with quadriceps and hamstring injuries. He has been placed on the Injured Reserve List.”

We have downgraded TE Eli Stowers to out for tomorrow’s game with quadriceps and hamstring injuries. He has been placed on the Injured Reserve List. We have also elevated WR Britain Covey for the game. pic.twitter.com/4hGlWIiBY6

— Philadelphia Eagles (@Eagles) September 12, 2026

NFL Network’s Mike Garafolo first flagged the downgrade and the four-week absence. “The Eagles downgraded rookie TE Eli Stowers (hamstring) to out,” Garafolo posted, adding that the IR designation keeps him out the first four weeks.

The #Eagles downgraded rookie TE Eli Stowers (hamstring) to out. He’d been listed as questionable.

He was also placed on IR so he’s out the first four weeks.

— Mike Garafolo (@MikeGarafolo) September 12, 2026

In a follow-up, Garafolo noted the swing from Friday’s optimism to Saturday’s imaging. Stowers had told reporters he was confident he would play before the quad issue was added to the hamstring listing.

Stowers was telling reporters yesterday he was confident he’d play to being placed on IR with a quad injury added to the previously listed hamstring. The #Eagles’ second-rounder’s debut will have to wait a bit. https://t.co/mGzcN9Gnex

— Mike Garafolo (@MikeGarafolo) September 12, 2026

How a questionable tag became a four-week stay

Stowers practiced in a limited role Wednesday through Friday and carried a questionable tag on the final injury report, as CBS Sports logged before the Saturday reversal. The hamstring problem dated to late August. Zach Berman of The Athletic first listed Stowers as a non-participant with a hamstring on Aug. 24, and Sports Illustrated later tied the original strain to joint work with the New England Patriots.

Friday still pointed the other way. After a limited session, Stowers said, “I believe [I’m playing], that’s the plan,” according to Heavy. Inquirer beat writer Jeff McLane posted the same message on X.

#Eagles rookie TE Eli Stowers (hamstring) said he expects to play Sunday. pic.twitter.com/1lC5oIZ4a7

— Jeff McLane (@Jeff_McLane) September 11, 2026

The picture changed overnight. After Stowers reported fresh discomfort, imaging showed a quadriceps strain on top of the hamstring, NBC Sports Philadelphia reported. That combination, not the original hamstring alone, pushed the Eagles from a game-time call to injured reserve.

NFL rules require a player placed on IR at this stage to miss at least four games. Per the official 2026 Eagles schedule, that locks him out against Washington on Sunday, at Tennessee in Week 2, at Chicago in Week 3, and at home against the Rams in Week 4. The first date he can return is Week 5 on Oct. 11 at Jacksonville in London. RotoWire lists that Oct. 11 date as the estimated return window. The club does not have to activate him the moment he is eligible.

Why the Eagles can wait — and why camp made the call easier

Philadelphia drafted Stowers 54th overall in April out of Vanderbilt, a converted quarterback who won the 2025 John Mackey Award after 62 catches for 769 yards and four touchdowns, per The Vanderbilt Hustler and Vanderbilt athletics. Career receiving and rushing totals add up to 1,890 all-purpose yards (1,773 receiving, 117 rushing), matching the compiled college line.

That production did not carry into August. Stowers caught three of five preseason targets for 12 yards, RotoWire reported. In an Aug. 26 camp report, PhillyVoice’s Jimmy Kempski wrote that Stowers had not shown the burst that showed up at the combine, looked tentative as a blocker, and had not made catches much past 10 yards. Kempski’s verdict then: “Stowers is unplayable.”

That evaluation is one writer’s camp read, not a team designation. It does help explain the roster math. Dallas Goedert still runs the position. Johnny Mundt is the veteran blocker. E.J. Jenkins is the extra body. Grant Calcaterra is already on IR, NBC Sports noted, so the active tight end group for Sunday at Lincoln Financial Field is Goedert, Mundt, and Jenkins. Philadelphia also elevated Britain Covey from the practice squad for return work.

The scheme piece matters more than the snap count. Stowers lined up in the slot on most of his college routes. The Eagles drafted him as a mismatch piece who could flex out, not as a finished in-line blocker. Missing four games costs him the live reps that were supposed to close that gap — hand placement, play-action protection, and the speed of NFL linebackers in space. That is the delay. It is not a verdict on whether the traits that produced a 45.5-inch combine vertical will ever show up.

Stowers sounded like he already understood the longer clock on Friday, before the quad finding. “Everybody’s road and development, it’s different for every single person,” he said, per NBC Sports Philadelphia.

Some coverage has floated a Zach Ertz reunion now that an IR spot is open. That remains speculation. No team announcement or confirmed agreement exists. The only confirmed transactions Saturday were Stowers to IR and Covey’s elevation.

Sunday’s opener still goes on at 4:25 p.m. ET on FOX. Stowers will watch it from the injured list. The earliest he can change that is October.

Cooper Rush will take the first snap of Kevin Stefanski’s Falcons tenure Sunday even after back spasms hit him a day before kickoff.

The veteran quarterback experienced the spasms Saturday, but Atlanta said he remains the starter for the 1 p.m. ET game at Acrisure Stadium. ESPN’s Adam Schefter reported the update: “Falcons starting QB Cooper Rush, who was replacing the injured QB Tua Tagovailoa, experienced back spasms Saturday but the team said he still will start Sunday at Pittsburgh.

Falcons starting QB Cooper Rush, who was replacing the injured QB Tua Tagovailoa, experienced back spasms Saturday but the team said he still will start Sunday at Pittsburgh.

— Adam Schefter (@AdamSchefter) September 12, 2026

The team confirmed the same in a Saturday statement, according to the Atlanta Journal-Constitution. ESPN later reported Rush will still play.

Tua Tagovailoa and Michael Penix Jr. are already out. Tagovailoa strained an oblique during Thursday’s practice and was ruled out Friday. Penix, recovering from a torn left ACL suffered in November 2025, will be inactive. That left Rush, signed July 29 to a one-year, $1.3 million deal, as the next man up. He is making his 17th career start.

Rush went 9-7 across 16 previous starts, most of them with the Dallas Cowboys from 2021-24. He started two games for the Baltimore Ravens in 2025 and lost both. Over 42 regular-season appearances he has completed 61.1 percent of his passes for 3,766 yards, 20 touchdowns and 14 interceptions.

Undrafted rookie Jack Strand of Minnesota State–Moorhead will back him up. Strand made the 53-man roster out of camp and told reporters Friday he would be ready. “Just got to be ready to go in,” he said, per the AJC.

Stefanski’s offense leans on play-action and a physical run game, the same approach that produced two Coach of the Year awards in Cleveland. Rush has little first-team work with Atlanta’s starters. He took one series in camp before Tagovailoa’s injury handed him every first-team snap Thursday and Friday. Against a Steelers defense coached by Mike McCarthy, the Falcons will likely lean on Bijan Robinson and ask Rush to stay on schedule rather than push the ball downfield.

The Steelers open as 6.5-point favorites at home on FOX. Rush’s back issue adds another variable on a short week for a quarterback who has not started a regular-season game since last season.

If the spasms worsen, Strand would become the fourth different Falcons quarterback to see the field in a matter of days. Atlanta carried four quarterbacks on the initial roster for exactly this reason.

The Pittsburgh Steelers added secondary insurance Saturday for their Week 1 home opener, elevating defensive back Doneiko Slaughter from the practice squad with Joey Porter Jr. still listed as questionable against the Atlanta Falcons.

The club announced the move on its official site and on X: Slaughter goes onto the game-day Active/Inactive Roster and reverts to the practice squad after the game. Kickoff is 1 p.m. ET Sunday at Acrisure Stadium on FOX.

We have elevated DB Doneiko Slaughter to the Active/Inactive Roster from the Practice Squad. @BordasLaw https://t.co/p7UGWRcdsW

— Pittsburgh Steelers (@steelers) September 12, 2026

Slaughter is not expected to start. He gives Pittsburgh another body if Porter sits. According to NBC Sports, the elevation arrived with Porter’s availability still unresolved and an official answer due no later than 90 minutes before kickoff, per standard NFL inactive-list timing.

Why Porter’s status is still open

Porter is the only Steelers player carrying a Week 1 game designation. The team listed him as questionable with a back injury after limited work Wednesday, Thursday and Friday, per the injury report compiled by The Football Database. He never practiced fully this week.

That back issue dates to training camp. The Steelers placed him on the physically unable to perform list in late July, according to ESPN, after he aggravated the injury during a mobility workout. They activated him off PUP in time for the 53-man roster. Head coach Mike McCarthy described the next phase as a ramp-up. The ramp-up did not reach full participation before Sunday.

The medical designation sits next to a contract clock. Porter, 26, is in the final year of the four-year rookie deal he signed after Pittsburgh took him No. 32 overall in the 2023 draft. Over The Cap lists a 2026 base salary of $3.924 million and a cap charge of about $4.92 million. He has sought an extension all offseason. No deal is in place as of Sunday morning.

When reporters asked in early September whether he would play Week 1 without a new contract, Porter left the door open. “I don’t know,” he said, per NFL.com, adding that he needed to talk with the front office and his agents. Asked separately if he would play if healthy, he answered, “Yeah, for sure… maybe,” according to reporting from The Athletic cited by the same NFL.com piece.

General manager Omar Khan has said the organization will not negotiate once the regular season starts. That makes Sunday a practical deadline. Some coverage has treated the back listing as cover for a hold-in. That remains speculation. The team has kept the designation as a back injury, and Porter was limited every day this week. Both the injury and the contract talks can be true at the same time. Neither has been closed out in public.

What the Steelers would do without him

If Porter is inactive, the first outside snap likely goes to Asante Samuel Jr., who spent camp taking first-team work while Porter was on PUP. That is the projection from For The Win and Steelers On SI, not an official depth-chart decree. Jamel Dean and Jalen Ramsey remain the other primary pieces. Slaughter’s value is versatility. The official release notes he can play corner or safety and has special-teams work in his background. He has not appeared in a regular-season NFL game.

Atlanta still presents a live test on the perimeter. Drake London is the Falcons’ featured receiver. Cooper Rush is expected to start at quarterback with Tua Tagovailoa and Michael Penix Jr. out, a matchup detail confirmed in Week 1 injury coverage. A Steelers secondary without Porter would ask Samuel and Dean to handle more isolated snaps and would lean on Ramsey’s flexibility in the slot and at safety.

Porter’s 2025 tape is the reason the snaps matter. He played 14 games and finished with 52 combined tackles, 35 solo, one sack, one interception and 14 passes defensed, per The Football Database and StatMuse.

Those numbers do not make him an automatic lock for a top-of-market extension. They do explain why Pittsburgh built extra corner depth and why the Slaughter call-up landed on the same weekend as an unresolved starter. An elevation is cheap insurance. It is not confirmation that Porter is out. It is confirmation the front office refused to walk into a home opener one corner short.

McCarthy has until roughly 11:30 a.m. ET to post the inactive list. Until then, Porter remains questionable, Slaughter remains the extra name on the call sheet, and the first game of the McCarthy era still turns on whether Pittsburgh’s best cover corner takes the field.

Houston posted a quiet final injury report before Sunday’s 1 p.m. ET opener against the Buffalo Bills at Reliant Stadium, then asked fantasy managers to look past the blank “game status” column. Right tackle Trent Brown (wrist) and linebacker Wade Woodaz (thumb) practiced fully Wednesday through Friday and carried no designation, per the team’s official Week 1 report.

That report does not mean the Texans are whole. Wide receiver Tank Dell, right tackle Braden Smith and rookie defensive tackle Kayden McDonald are on injured reserve. Players on IR do not appear on the weekly participation sheet and cannot play. Houston has no last-minute mystery among its active skill players. Dell’s absence still changes the Week 1 math for C.J. Stroud, Nico Collins and whoever lines up behind him.

Dell remains an IR stash, not a Week 1 option

Houston placed Dell on injured reserve with a designation to return when it set the 53-man roster, a move confirmed by the Houston Chronicle. He cannot return before the Texans visit the Tennessee Titans on Oct. 11. Eligibility that week is not the same as activation. He is still building speed after missing all of 2025 while recovering from the December 2024 knee injury — a dislocated knee and multiple torn ligaments suffered against Kansas City.

General manager Nick Caserio summed up the gap last week. “I’d say he’s close,” Caserio said. “He is not quite there,” according to the Democrat and Chronicle.

The 26-year-old still belongs in an IR slot. Across his first 25 NFL games in 2023 and 2024 he caught 98 passes for 1,376 yards and 10 touchdowns. That history with Stroud is the stash case. It is not a reason to expect him on the field before mid-October.

Jayden Higgins will not fill the hole. The second-year receiver tore his ACL in an August joint practice and is out for the season, NFL.com and multiple outlets reported. Those two absences push more targets toward Collins and leave Kayshon Boutte, Jaylin Noel and Xavier Hutchinson competing for the snaps opposite and inside of him. Boutte, acquired from New England in late August, projects outside. Noel has slot traits. Neither has earned a locked Week 1 start in standard leagues until Houston shows the rotation. Tight end Dalton Schultz and the running backs can cover the short passing game in the meantime.

Brown’s full week steadies Stroud without making him a must-start

Brown’s wrist never knocked him off the practice field this week. Three full sessions ended the availability debate. He will start at right tackle in place of Smith, who suffered a torn plantar fascia in late August and landed on IR on Sept. 1, Pro Football Rumors and RotoWire reported. Brown gives Houston a veteran opposite left tackle Aireontae Ersery. That pairing lowers the protection panic. It does not turn Stroud into an automatic QB1.

Stroud finished 2025 with 3,041 passing yards, 19 touchdowns and eight interceptions in 14 games, per NFL.com. The production swung week to week. Buffalo’s front, even with a new defensive staff, still presents a difficult first test. Dell’s absence removes the vertical answer that used to stress coverage. Collins keeps a ceiling in the lineup. Until a second receiver proves he can win, Stroud profiles as a high-end QB2 and a reasonable superflex start, not a one-QB lock.

Montgomery and Collins are the cleanest Week 1 starts

Brown’s presence also helps the ground game. David Montgomery arrived from Detroit atop Houston’s backfield after rushing for 716 yards and eight touchdowns on 158 carries in 2025, according to NFL.com. Buffalo allowed 136.2 rushing yards per game last season, a figure logged by The Football Database. Montgomery’s physical style and goal-line role give him a usable RB2 floor. Woody Marks should handle passing-down work. Managers in standard leagues can wait one week to see how the snaps split before starting Marks.

Collins is the safest Texans play on the board. He caught 71 passes for 1,117 yards and six touchdowns in 15 games last season, per NFL.com. With Dell and Higgins out, the target share concentrates. Buffalo can shade coverage his way. Volume still keeps him in the high-end WR1 group, even if the Bills limit the explosive plays.

McDonald’s ankle drop trims the D/ST ceiling

McDonald hurt his ankle Wednesday, missed Thursday and went on injured reserve Friday. The Texans signed defensive tackle Jaden Crumedy the same day, the team announced and Jonathan M. Alexander of the Houston Chronicle reported. Alexander posted the transaction on X: the Texans placed McDonald on IR and signed Crumedy.

The #Texans placed rookie DT Kayden McDonald on IR, per the team.

They’ve signed DT Jaden Crumedy.

— Jonathan M Alexander (@jonmalexander) September 11, 2026

A late addition cannot replace what Houston drafted McDonald to do on early downs. That matters against James Cook, who ran for 116 yards and a touchdown on 17 carries in last season’s meeting, per StatMuse. Will Anderson Jr. took a rest day Thursday and still has no game designation. Danielle Hunter and Derek Stingley Jr. did not appear on the report. The pass-rush core is intact.

That group sacked Josh Allen eight times and intercepted him twice in Houston’s 23-19 win on Nov. 20, 2025, as ESPN and The Athletic documented. The turnover history keeps the Texans D/ST in the conversation for managers who lack a cleaner matchup. Starting them against Allen is still a calculated risk, not a comfort start.

Collins and Montgomery are the plays you can defend in a lineup. Stroud is a QB2 with a path to more if a second receiver appears. Dell sits in IR until at least Oct. 11. Houston’s defense can wreck a drive and still give points back to Buffalo’s quarterback. The Friday report removed the guesswork on Brown and Woodaz. It did not restore the roster Houston drew up in July.

The Buffalo Bills take a mostly healthy roster into Joe Brady’s first game as head coach Sunday, when they visit the Houston Texans at 1 p.m. ET on CBS. The official Bills injury report still leaves three names unresolved for Week 1: running back Ty Johnson (hamstring), defensive back Jordan Hancock (quad) and defensive lineman T.J. Sanders (knee), all listed as questionable.

Brady said Friday the staff would wait until game time on all three. According to the team’s own recap on BuffaloBills.com, he put it plainly: “We’ll take it up to game time and see what that looks like.”

The Buffalo Bills PR account posted the Friday designations on X: “Friday injury report” —

Friday injury report pic.twitter.com/XiZGw5u0Af

— Buffalo Bills PR (@BuffaloBillsPR) September 11, 2026

What the practice week actually showed

The three players did not travel the same path. Hancock missed Wednesday, practiced limited Thursday and finished Friday as a full participant, per the final report compiled by Sports Illustrated. That is the cleanest week of the trio and the strongest case to play.

Johnson stayed out Wednesday and Thursday, then returned limited Friday. He had not practiced since leaving Buffalo’s Blue & Red stadium workout on Aug. 8, a gap the Democrat and Chronicle timed at more than a month. Conditioning, not scheme fit, is the question. Hamstrings punish rust. Brady still described Johnson as someone the staff can trust without a heavy practice load, calling him, on BuffaloBills.com, “a guy that I trust that doesn’t need a lot of the physical work.”

Sanders practiced limited Wednesday, sat Thursday, then returned limited Friday. Brady framed the knee issue as a midweek tweak rather than a long-term problem. “Something that showed up in practice. It was just a little tweak or something, but all is well,” he said, as relayed by NBC Sports.

Those practice tags match the league listings on NFL.com and the Friday wrap from Bills Wire. As of Sunday morning, official inactives had not been posted. Kickoff remains hours away.

Why the three names matter — and why the bigger names do not

Johnson is not James Cook. He is the third-down and protection piece, plus a kick-return option. If he sits, Buffalo has already created a fallback. The team elevated running back Frank Gore Jr. from the practice squad Saturday, a move reported by RotoWire. That is a depth call, not a change to the starting backfield.

Hancock’s value is nickel depth and special teams. Buffalo kept a thin true-corner group on the initial 53, so a healthy Hancock gives coordinator Jim Leonhard another body if Houston motion forces extra defensive-back packages. His Friday full practice is the reason he is the least worrisome of the three.

Sanders is the one who can change snap counts. Buffalo rotates its interior line to keep Ed Oliver and the rest of the front fresh. If Sanders is inactive, those remaining linemen work longer series against a Texans offense that still has C.J. Stroud and Nico Collins even with Tank Dell and Jayden Higgins on injured reserve, as reported by the Democrat and Chronicle.

The more important list is the one that is empty. Khalil Shakir, Terrel Bernard, C.J. Gardner-Johnson and Michael Hoecht all dealt with camp issues and none received a Week 1 designation, a point first laid out in the Friday report coverage from ClutchPoints and confirmed across the official sheet. Shakir gives Josh Allen a known target. Bernard still runs the second level. That is the core Brady wanted for a debut on the road.

The real test is protection, not the injury report

Health only buys Buffalo a chance. Last season in Houston, the Texans sacked Allen eight times in a 23-19 win, a career high for the quarterback, per the Associated Press. Will Anderson Jr. and Danielle Hunter led that rush. Allen is 0-4 in Houston, including the postseason, a mark restated this week by the Associated Press via FOX Sports.

Brady, promoted from offensive coordinator on Jan. 27 and still calling plays, has to solve that pressure with the same quarterback and a new title. Heir to Sean McDermott after a five-year deal announced by the Associated Press, he inherits the matchup that defined Buffalo’s last trip here: four-man rushes that still got home, and an offense that spent too many downs going backward.

That is the scheme problem. Houston does not need exotic blitz volume if the interior wins and the edges close the pocket. Buffalo’s answer is heavier personnel, quicker answers for Allen and clean communication on the first road Sunday of a new staff. Johnson’s pass protection would help on obvious passing downs. Sanders’ presence would help the front stay on schedule. Neither is required for the game plan to function. Allen, Shakir, Cook and the starting line still are.

Sunday’s inactive list will settle the three questionable tags. Until then, Buffalo’s report is manageable: three depth pieces in limbo, the franchise quarterback healthy, and a first-year head coach walking into a building where this team has not won with Allen under center.

Philadelphia Eagles left tackle Jordan Mailata did not need a sports-science briefing to read the Rams’ trip to Melbourne. After Los Angeles dropped its season opener, 27-7, to the San Francisco 49ers in the NFL’s first regular-season game in Australia, the Bankstown native said he would have gotten on the plane earlier.

Mailata spoke at Eagles availability as Philadelphia prepared for Sunday’s home opener against the Washington Commanders. The Athletic’s Zach Berman posted the comments Saturday. Mailata said, “I would have recommended going out early.” He added that a 24-hour turnaround is not enough to shake off the flight itself and that a team needs at least a couple of days

Jordan Mailata on the Australia travel question: "I would have recommended going out early. …I've done it in economy, premium economy, business class. And I've done it all. I have routines for all three if I can't get business class. But I recommend it just because the flight…

— Zach Berman (@ZBerm) September 12, 2026

NBC Sports Philadelphia captured the same exchange Friday, when Mailata walked through the routines he uses in economy, premium economy and business class on the long haul home

"I would have recommended going out early" 😅

Jordan Mailata shares his wisdom on flying to Australia after the Rams and 49ers took very different approaches before their Week 1 matchup in Melbourne 🇦🇺 | @acmemarkets pic.twitter.com/V3RnjCDnwR

— NBC Sports Philadelphia (@NBCSPhilly) September 11, 2026

Two plans, one lopsided result

The 49ers and Rams treated the same 15-hour crossing like two different sports. San Francisco arrived about a week before kickoff, landing on Sept. 4 local time so players could reset to a 17-hour time change, according to Sporting News. The Rams flew Tuesday night from Los Angeles, landed Thursday morning in Melbourne and kicked off roughly 28 hours later at Melbourne Cricket Ground, as The Athletic reported from Australia.

Los Angeles then planned to leave almost as soon as the game ended. The stay on the ground was about 35 hours. That was the point. Coach Sean McVay wanted the week to feel like a normal West Coast rhythm, the same short-turnaround idea the Rams used before a 35-7 win over Jacksonville in London last season, Sports Illustrated reported before the trip.

London is not Melbourne. The flight is shorter. The time jump is smaller. Mailata has made the Australia run in every cabin class. He was not guessing about what the body does after 15 hours in a seat.

What the tape showed after the late arrival

San Francisco led 10-7 at halftime, then scored 17 unanswered points. Brock Purdy threw three touchdown passes. Matthew Stafford finished 15-of-25 for 155 yards and an interception and left the game late, per ESPN. Kyren Williams’ 5-yard run was Los Angeles’ only score. The 49ers stuffed Stafford on a fourth-and-goal sneak from the 1 in the third quarter, then drove 99 yards the other way, the Rams’ official recap confirmed.

That sequence is the travel argument in football terms. A late-arriving team can still hit a first-half script. Sustaining drives, winning the line in the red zone and answering a long scoring drive are the plays that ask for fresh legs and a settled clock. The Rams did not get those snaps.

McVay rejected the jet-lag explanation after the game. “I don’t believe that’s why we didn’t play well enough,” he said, according to CBS Sports. Kyle Shanahan also refused to pin the result on itineraries, telling ESPN that both sides would have heard the same question win or lose.

New 49ers receiver Mike Evans was less diplomatic. Told the Rams had been in country about a day, he said a few extra days would have been the better call, Newsweek reported.

Why Mailata’s view carries weight

Mailata grew up in Bankstown, in western Sydney, and still treats the U.S.-Australia flight like a position meeting. He told reporters he keeps separate plans for each cabin if business class is not available. On the video circulated by NBC Sports Philadelphia, he described staying up through the first meal, sleeping in blocks and forcing the body onto local time instead of hoping one night in a hotel does the job.

He also watched the game as a fan of the country, not the Rams. Berman posted a separate Mailata comment Saturday in which the tackle said he felt FOMO seeing two NFL clubs at the MCG and called a crowd of about 100,000 “freaking awesome,” beers and all, at a 10:30 a.m. local kick

Jordan Mailata on the game in Australia: "I actually had FOMO. Seeing those two teams out there back home, I had FOMO. It was awesome seeing the game down under, back home. The phenomenal thing was seeing 100,000 people there. There is interest back home. Very proud of my…

— Zach Berman (@ZBerm) September 12, 2026

The announced attendance was 100,021, per the San Francisco Chronicle. That is the part of the week the league wanted. The competitive question is whether a team can sell the sport in a new market and still play like itself after a 15,000-mile turnaround.

Some of this is analysis, not a lab result. The 49ers may simply have been the sharper team on Sept. 11 in Melbourne. Los Angeles spent two years sending staffers and “guinea pig” players on scouting trips, the Los Angeles Times reported, and McVay is entitled to defend a plan built on that work. The on-field product still looked a step slow after the only score.

Philadelphia has no Australia date this week. The Eagles host Washington on Sunday at 4:25 p.m. ET on FOX at Lincoln Financial Field, NBC10 Philadelphia confirmed. Mailata will play that one on his own body clock. The Rams have to live with the one they chose.

Malik Nabers practiced in full all week. The Giants still listed him as questionable Friday for Sunday night’s NFC East opener against the Dallas Cowboys at MetLife Stadium.

The designation is unusual after three full sessions. It leaves fantasy managers and Giants fans waiting until close to the 8:20 p.m. ET kickoff on NBC. Nabers tore his right ACL and meniscus in Week 4 last season. He had a second procedure in the spring to clean up scar tissue. The third-year receiver has said the final call is his.

“I’ve been wanting to play for so long now, but at the end of the day, I can’t put my career at risk,” Nabers told reporters Thursday, according to CBS Sports. Head coach John Harbaugh said Wednesday he thinks Nabers is ready, then handed the decision to the player. Adam Schefter of ESPN reported the questionable listing Friday. —

Giants are listing WR Malik Nabers as questionable for Sunday night’s game against the Cowboys.

— Adam Schefter (@AdamSchefter) September 11, 2026

What a limited or missing Nabers does to the target tree

Nabers is the clearest WR1 on the roster when healthy. His absence or a snap count would force Jaxson Dart to spread the ball. The Giants released veteran Darius Slayton on Sept. 7, per CBS Sports. That already thinned the room to Nabers, Darnell Mooney, rookie third-round pick Malachi Fields and Odell Beckham Jr.

Mooney signed a one-year deal this offseason after a down year in Atlanta. He can work the slot and intermediate areas. Fields, listed at 6-foot-4, won contested catches in camp and preseason. Some beat reporters expect him to start opposite Nabers if the latter sits. Beckham made the 53-man roster after sitting out 2025. He would see more snaps in a four-receiver group, especially in a familiar Sunday-night setting at MetLife.

Theo Johnson practiced fully after a late-August shoulder issue and carries no game designation, according to the Giants’ injury report. Isaiah Likely, signed to a three-year deal from Baltimore, is expected to handle a featured tight-end role. Two-tight-end looks become more useful if Dallas crowds the perimeter. Quick throws to the middle give Dart answers against an aggressive Cowboys pass rush.

Dart completed 63.7 percent of his passes for 2,272 yards, 15 touchdowns and five interceptions in 12 starts as a rookie. He also ran for 487 yards and nine scores. Without Nabers winning isolation routes, the offense leans more on timing, play-action and the running backs in the short game. Offensive coordinator Matt Nagy’s scheme asks Dart to operate more from under center than he did a year ago.

The Sunday-night crowd at MetLife will be loud for a rivalry game. How much of that noise Nabers hears from the field remains the open question. Managers starting him need a backup ready. Anyone streaming Johnson or targeting Fields and Mooney as flex plays should watch the inactive list 90 minutes before kickoff.

Harbaugh’s first regular-season game as Giants coach already carries extra weight. A healthy Nabers simplifies the plan. A managed or missing Nabers tests whether Dart and the new supporting pieces can keep the offense on schedule against a Cowboys defense that has historically started fast in this matchup.

Pittsburgh and cornerback Joey Porter Jr. are running out of time. The Steelers host the Atlanta Falcons on Sunday at 1 p.m. ET, and the club’s long-standing rule against negotiating extensions once the regular season starts leaves the two sides with less than 48 hours.

ESPN reporter Jeremy Fowler said Saturday he has not sensed optimism throughout the process. “They have less than 48 hours to try and work out a long-term deal,” Fowler said on the network. “I haven’t sensed optimism on this situation throughout.” He added that Porter has been practicing, “but it has been slow,” and that the stalemate has reached the point where the corner is entertaining trade options. Fowler posted the update on X:

Clock is ticking on Joey Porter Jr. and the Steelers pic.twitter.com/kc5QHg3LOX

— Jeremy Fowler (@JFowlerESPN) September 12, 2026

Porter, listed as questionable with a back injury after limited work all week, spoke Friday after a walkthrough. He did not sound like a man expecting a breakthrough.

I mean, at this point we got, what, 42 [hours]? I don’t know how many we got until game day, but clock’s ticking, so it is what it is. At this point, we’re going to be prepared. Regardless of the situation, we’re going to want to play ball. I’m trying to be optimistic about anything and everything and all possible outcomes. … I hope it could get done, hopefully before then, but if it happens, it happens.

— Joey Porter Jr., via ESPN

The Steelers have made last-minute deals before the opener in past years, including with Cameron Heyward. This one has dragged since the spring. General manager Omar Khan has said the team still wants Porter to finish his career in Pittsburgh, but the sides have not closed the gap. NFL Network’s Mike Garafolo reported earlier this week that Pittsburgh finally submitted an offer; sources told him the parties remained far apart.

Why the talks stalled

Porter is entering the final year of his 2023 rookie contract. In 14 games last season he posted 52 tackles, one interception and a career-high 14 passes defended, per StatMuse. He allowed no touchdowns in coverage in several reports of his 2025 tape. That production arrived while the cornerback market reset. Christian Gonzalez signed a four-year extension with New England at $33.75 million per year. Devon Witherspoon landed a similar figure in Seattle.

Porter pushed back Friday on reports that he is demanding to be the NFL’s highest-paid corner. “I don’t know where that came from,” he said. “Whoever made that, I really don’t pay too much hype into it.” Mike DeFabo of The Athletic posted the comment:

Joey Porter Jr. disputed reports that he wants to be the highest-paid corner.

“I don’t really know where that came from, whoever made that up. It’s the internet.”

— Mike DeFabo (@MikeDeFabo) September 11, 2026

Pittsburgh already locked up three other members of the 2023 draft class — Nick Herbig, Darnell Washington and Keeanu Benton — to multi-year deals this offseason. Paying a fourth young starter at the top of the corner market would squeeze a roster that also carries Jalen Ramsey. New head coach Mike McCarthy, who replaced Mike Tomlin and is reuniting with Aaron Rodgers, inherits the decision. The secondary is expected to be a strength; leaving Porter’s future unresolved heading into Week 1 creates an unnecessary variable.

Porter’s father, former Steelers linebacker Joey Porter, coached and played in the league. The younger Porter said Friday he understands the business side. He also said his back and conditioning will factor into whether he plays Sunday. Asante Samuel Jr. is the next man up if Porter sits.

If no agreement is reached before kickoff, talks freeze until after the season. Pittsburgh could use the franchise tag in 2027, currently projected near $23 million at the position. That would be cheaper than a market deal but would not resolve the relationship. Fowler’s earlier reporting indicated Porter’s camp has discussed a trade request or an in-season holdout if the team’s message is that he should play out the year.

Sunday’s opener at Acrisure Stadium is McCarthy’s first regular-season game in Pittsburgh and Rodgers’ latest chapter. The Steelers made the playoffs in 2025 and lost 30-6 to the Houston Texans in the wild-card round. They need their starting corner healthy and invested. The clock Fowler described is real. Whether the two sides use the remaining hours is the only question left.

One day before they open the 2026 season in Minneapolis, the Green Bay Packers and tight end Tucker Kraft reached agreement on a four-year contract extension with a $75 million base value, sources told ESPN. The deal can reach $92 million and includes a $26.5 million signing bonus.

Adam Schefter posted the terms Saturday on X: “four-year, $75 million extension worth up to $92 million” —

ESPN sources: Green Bay TE Tucker Kraft and the Packers reached agreement today on a four-year, $75 million extension worth up to $92 million that includes a $26.5 million signing bonus. Kraft’s agents Jack Bechta and Ryan Hays of JB Sports just signed off on the agreement to… pic.twitter.com/8ZDCJCW117

— Adam Schefter (@AdamSchefter) September 12, 2026

Schefter added that agents Jack Bechta and Ryan Hays of JB Sports signed off with Packers executive vice president Russ Ball and general manager Brian Gutekunst.

NFL.com reported the same structure via NFL Network’s Ian Rapoport, who said the extension runs through 2030. Rapoport posted that Kraft will average $19.66 million over the first three new years of the deal —

Buzzer beater: The #Packers and TE Tucker Kraft agreed to terms on a lucrative 4-year extension through 2030, sources say.

Kraft will average $19.66M over the first 3 new years of the deal done by @jackbechta of JB Sports. Overall, it’s 4 years for $75M with $92M as max value. pic.twitter.com/Fz9teY8wSa

— Ian Rapoport (@RapSheet) September 12, 2026

The Athletic’s Matt Schneidman and Jeff Howe wrote that league sources described an agreement that had not yet been fully finalized when they published Saturday morning. That distinction matters. Multiple national reporters independently described the same numbers, but the club had not posted an official announcement at the time of this report.

Kraft’s new-money average of $18.75 million ranks third among tight ends, behind San Francisco’s George Kittle ($19.1 million) and Arizona’s Trey McBride ($19 million), according to ESPN. CBS Sports noted that the position still has not produced a $20 million annual salary on base value. ESPN, citing Rapoport, also reported Kraft is slated to take in $31.5 million in Year 1.

Why Green Bay paid a tight end coming off a torn ACL

Kraft last played on Nov. 2, 2025, against Carolina. He tore the ACL in his right knee on a run-blocking play in the third quarter of a 16-13 loss at Lambeau Field, The Athletic confirmed the next day. Tests ended a half-season in which he had 32 catches for 489 yards and six touchdowns in eight games, per the Packers’ official career page.

That production was not empty volume. Kraft averaged 15.3 yards per catch in 2025 and 9.1 yards after the catch per reception across his first three seasons, team records show. Matt LaFleur’s offense uses him as a move tight end: bunched alignments, delayed releases, and midfield throws that turn into broken tackles. Paying him now, before he plays a snap in 2026, is a bet that the knee holds and that Jordan Love still has a mismatch piece between the hashes.

The Packers have spent the offseason locking pass catchers. The Athletic reported Kraft is the third Green Bay skill player to sign a large extension this cycle after Jayden Reed (three years, $50.25 million) and Christian Watson (four years, $92 million). Gutekunst had said publicly he wanted Kraft’s deal done. Kraft, for his part, said earlier this year he wanted to stay a Packer for life.

Teammates voted him a captain Monday for the second straight season, The Athletic reported. That vote landed while he was still working back from surgery. It tells you how the locker room reads him: not as a luxury piece, but as a core player the offense is built around.

Career totals match Green Bay’s official receiving ledger at packers.com. The 2024 season remains his high-water mark in volume. The 2025 sample, cut short in Week 9, was his most efficient.

Week 1 status: expected to play in Minneapolis

Kraft is not on the Packers’ Week 1 injury report and is expected to play Sunday against the Minnesota Vikings, RotoWire and other beat reports said this week. Kickoff is 3:25 p.m. CT at U.S. Bank Stadium, per the NFL schedule.

That is his first regular-season game since the Carolina injury. In June he told reporters he expected to start the season without a pitch count after rehabbing in Green Bay, The Athletic reported at the time. A full snap load in Week 1 is still something to watch on the broadcast. Recovery from an ACL tear is not binary. Green Bay’s medical staff has been cautious with similar injuries in recent years.

The football context around the contract is a 9-7-1 team that lost a wild-card game at Chicago, 31-27, on Jan. 10 after leading 21-3 at halftime, the Packers recap shows. Green Bay finished second in the NFC North and entered the postseason as the No. 7 seed. The club is trying to keep its young offense together rather than reset it.

Kraft, a 2023 third-round pick out of South Dakota State, has spent his entire NFL career in Green Bay. The extension, if completed as reported, keeps him under contract through his age-30 season. That is the point of the Saturday agreement: the Packers decided the tape from 2024 and the first half of 2025 outweighed the scar on the right knee.

Philadelphia will open the 2026 season with a new voice calling the offense and a new place for that voice to sit. First-year offensive coordinator Sean Mannion will work from the coaches’ booth Sunday when the Eagles host the Washington Commanders at Lincoln Financial Field, the first time in Nick Sirianni’s tenure that the team’s offensive play-caller has not stood next to him on the sideline.

Kickoff is 4:25 p.m. ET on FOX, per Sporting News. The booth decision is not a midweek rumor. Sirianni first indicated Mannion would “probably be up” on Wednesday, according to Bleeding Green Nation, then explained the choice after Friday’s availability.

Sirianni has kept his offensive coordinator at field level through five previous seasons. This week he treated the location as a football problem, not a tradition. Speaking to reporters Friday, he told NBC Sports’ Pro Football Talk the staff wanted “the best opportunity for us to win the game,” and that there is “no right way to do it or wrong way to do it.”

Asked whether losing Mannion at his shoulder would change how he works, Sirianni waved it off. Headset talk still happens. Face-to-face conversations, he said in the same PFT report, are “very minimal.” That is the operational bet: keep the information moving, even if the coordinator is no longer two steps away.

Why Sean Mannion chose the booth after testing both spots

Mannion did not guess. He called the first preseason game from the sideline in Baltimore, then moved upstairs against New England so he could feel both vantage points, a process he described in an August availability posted by the team and later recapped as the staff built the regular-season plan. He is 34 and a first-time NFL play-caller after one season as Green Bay’s quarterbacks coach, a profile laid out this week by Athlon Sports and The Athletic.

On Thursday he told NBC Sports Philadelphia the box gives him more space, a tablet, and “a little bit unique” vision from the higher vantage point. He said he felt comfortable in both places. The view, plus trust in the sideline staff, settled it.

His cleanest explanation came in the same session: after doing both, the booth was “the best decision for our staff for communication with the quarterbacks and the best decision for the team.” 94WIP’s Eliot Shorr-Parks posted video of Mannion walking through that choice on Sept. 10 —

Sean Mannion explains why he decided to coach from the booth on Sunday: pic.twitter.com/5Pyh3sJQaH

— Eliot Shorr-Parks (@EliotShorrParks) September 10, 2026

The last preseason dress rehearsal did not sell anyone on the finished product. Cincinnati beat Philadelphia 30-13 on Aug. 28 at the Linc, with backups on the field, as ESPN recapped. The Eagles finished the exhibition slate 0-3. That scoreboard is not Sunday’s scoreboard. It did give Mannion another live look at how the staff talks when the clock is running.

When you’re in the box, obviously you have a little bit more space. You’re not pacing around. You have the tablet.

Sean Mannion, to NBC Sports Philadelphia, Sept. 11, 2026

What changes for Jalen Hurts on Sunday

The quarterback is the one who has to live with the phone. Jalen Hurts told reporters this will be the first time in his NFL career his primary play-caller works from the booth. His last experience with that setup, per The Morning Call, was at Alabama in 2018 under Mike Locksley.

Hurts did not fight the move. He called it a coach preference and said he will support whatever helps Mannion “see the game and find his flow,” a line reported by both NBC Sports Philadelphia and The Philadelphia Inquirer. He also named the cost. There is “a wall being in the box.” The workaround is the red phone between series, plus Parks Frazier, the quarterbacks coach who stays at field level and already sits in Hurts’ daily work.

That split is the real scheme piece, not the furniture upstairs. A booth caller sees coverage rotation, nickel changes, and the second-level fit before the snap. He does not see Hurts’ eyes the same way a sideline caller does. Frazier becomes the translator on the grass. Mannion said that constant staff talk — not a single face-to-face huddle — is what made the upstairs seat viable, per NBC Sports Philadelphia.

Defensive coordinator Vic Fangio already works from the booth every week. NBC Sports Philadelphia noted it has been more than a decade since Philadelphia kept a full-time offensive play-caller up there. The building is used to one coordinator in the box. It is not used to both coordinators living on headsets while Sirianni stays on the sideline.

Greenard’s status is confirmed on the club’s final report, as compiled by Bleeding Green Nation and CBS Sports. It is a separate issue from the booth. It still changes the picture around the game. Philadelphia’s pass rush will open without the veteran edge it added this offseason, while a first-time play-caller tries to get Hurts and Saquon Barkley on schedule against a division defense.

Some of this will look slower on television than it feels on the headset. A sideline coordinator can grab Hurts after a three-and-out and point at a leverage problem. A booth coordinator has to compress that same thought into a phone call, then trust Frazier and the rest of the staff to carry it onto the field. If the operation is clean, viewers will barely notice. If a substitution lags or a check arrives late, the booth will be the first place people look.

Sirianni and Hurts have not lost a season opener together, a mark recorded by The Morning Call. That streak does not travel automatically into a new offense. Mannion still has to sequence first-down calls, stay out of second-and-long, and give Hurts answers against Washington’s front. The booth only helps if the picture upstairs is clearer than the noise downstairs.

Sunday is the first live test that counts. The location is confirmed. The results are not.

Chicago opens the 2026 season Sunday at Bank of America Stadium with its top wide receiver still on the injury report. The Bears listed Rome Odunze as questionable for the 1 p.m. ET kickoff against Carolina after a right-calf strain limited him all week. Kickoff is set for noon CT on FOX, per the club’s 2026 schedule.

Odunze strained the calf in a Sept. 3 practice, left early, then sat Monday and Tuesday. He returned as a limited participant Thursday and Friday. The Bears did not practice Wednesday and issued an estimated report that also listed him as limited, according to ESPN.

The player and the coach are not saying the same thing. Odunze told reporters Friday he expects to play. “I plan on playing,” he said after practice, a clip that circulated on X:

#Bears WR Rome Odunze: “I’m feeling ready to go. I doubt I’m questionable… I plan on playing.” pic.twitter.com/kzsHqMUT01

— Mason Williams (@mvsonwilliams) September 11, 2026

Head coach Ben Johnson sounded more careful. “He’s looked good from my perspective, but we’ve also got a long season coming up on us, and we want to do what’s right for him for the long term as well,” Johnson said, per the team’s official update.

Why a calf strain changes the math

A calf is not a shoulder bruise. It is the muscle a receiver uses to explode off the line, plant, and separate. Odunze can be active and still lose the burst that made him a vertical threat last year. That is the real Week 1 problem for fantasy managers: not only in-or-out, but full snaps versus a managed rotation.

Last season’s history hangs over the decision. Odunze missed five games in 2025 with a stress fracture in his foot and finished with 44 catches for 661 yards and six touchdowns in 12 games, ESPN reported. He scored in each of Chicago’s first four games, then faded while playing through the foot. Johnson has every incentive to avoid a second early-season setback in Year 2 of his offense.

Final inactives typically post about 90 minutes before kickoff. Until then, Odunze remains a high-upside start with a real snap-restriction risk. If a manager has a cleaner WR2 or flex, sitting him is defensible. If the Bears clear him with no public limit, the ceiling is still there.

Who inherits the targets if Chicago holds him back

Caleb Williams does not lose passing volume just because one perimeter option is limited. The ball has to go somewhere. The two clearest beneficiaries are tight end Colston Loveland and wide receiver Luther Burden III.

Loveland led Chicago in receiving yards as a rookie in 2025: 58 catches, 713 yards, six touchdowns in 16 games, per NFL.com. He already functions as Williams’ security blanket when the pocket collapses. If Odunze sits or plays a reduced route tree, Loveland’s target floor rises, especially on third down and in the red zone. Carolina allowed the eighth-most receiving yards to tight ends last season, Bears Wire noted.

Burden is off the injury report after a training-camp groin issue and is expected to play without a designation. He posted 47 catches for 652 yards and two scores in 15 games last year. His value lives in space — screens, crossers, designed touches. If Odunze is out, some analysts expect Burden to absorb the leftover perimeter work. That is analysis, not a confirmed snap projection.

Receiving totals from the 2025 regular season, compiled via StatMuse and official league pages. Odunze’s per-game target rate was the highest of the three.

Williams stays in the lineup either way. An injury to a featured receiver can increase checkdowns and designed quarterback runs as much as it can shrink downfield shots. Carolina then has to choose: crowd Loveland in the middle, or stay wide on Burden and leave windows inside. That is why Chicago’s passing game remains usable in fantasy even if Odunze is capped.

The rest of the injury report

Odunze is not the only name. Backup quarterback Tyson Bagent (back) did not practice this week and is questionable. Johnson said the club is comfortable with Case Keenum as the No. 2 if needed, the Bears announced. Left tackle Ozzy Trapilo (knee) is also questionable while working back from a patellar tendon tear suffered in January’s wild-card win over Green Bay. The Chicago Sun-Times reported Braxton Jones is expected to start and that Trapilo is unlikely to play this early. Safety Xavier Woods (groin) is the fourth questionable player.

Friday’s practice at Halas Hall carried a small seasonal tell. The Bears stretched to Drake’s “Ran to Atlanta,” a track with an “Iceman turnt” hook that doubles as a nod to Williams’ nickname, the Sun-Times noted. The mood around Odunze was upbeat. The designation on the sheet was not.

Charlotte will be hot. Local forecasts call for temperatures near the upper 80s at kickoff and a heat index that can push into the mid-90s, according to WBTV. That does not decide Odunze’s status. It does matter if Chicago asks a recently strained calf to work extra routes in humidity.

Week 1 injury reports run conservative on purpose. The only facts that change a lineup Saturday night are these: Is Odunze active? Does Johnson hint at a snap limit? Does Chicago dress extra receiver depth? If the answer to the first question is yes and the second is no, Odunze stays in starting lineups. If the Bears manage him, Loveland and Burden become the priority adds.

Rome Odunze is the first name fantasy managers will hunt when the Chicago Bears post inactives Sunday morning. The third-year receiver is listed as questionable with a right calf strain for the 1 p.m. ET season opener at Carolina, a designation the Bears confirmed on their final injury report after he practiced limited Wednesday through Friday.

Odunze does not sound like a player preparing to sit. After Friday’s session he told reporters he doubts the tag. “I plan on playing,” he said, a line captured by Chicago Sun-Times beat writer Jason Lieser

Rome Odunze, listed as questionable vs. Panthers: “I doubt I’m questionable… I plan on playing.” pic.twitter.com/N8nMmuqd3l

— Jason Lieser (@JasonLieser) September 11, 2026

ESPN reported the same comments and the injury timeline: Odunze strained the calf in a Sept. 3 practice, sat Monday and Tuesday, then returned for limited work.

Head coach Ben Johnson has not closed the door. He also has not handed Odunze a blank check. “He’s looked good from my perspective, but we’ve also got a long season coming up on us and we want to do what’s right for him for the long term as well,” Johnson said, per the team’s official update. That is the tension fantasy lineups have to price in: availability versus snap count.

Why a calf changes more than a box score

A receiver can dress and still lose the burst that creates separation. Odunze’s value sits in that first step and the deep ball Caleb Williams has to trust. If Chicago trims his routes to protect the muscle, he can occupy a starting slot and still finish as a low-volume WR3. That is the downside managers cannot ignore before lock.

The Bears already built a hedge. On Saturday they elevated wide receiver Kaden Davis and quarterback Miller Moss from the practice squad, the club announced. The team account posted the same move — https://x.com/ChicagoBears/status/2098826954140995632. Davis is not a secret WR1. He is extra insurance if Odunze is inactive or capped.

Charlotte will be hot. The National Weather Service forecast calls for a high near 91 degrees at Bank of America Stadium after patchy morning fog, with light wind. Heat will not decide Odunze’s status. It will decide how hard Chicago is willing to run him if the calf is still tight.

If Odunze is limited, the targets move inside

General manager Ryan Poles spent the offseason reshaping the perimeter. The Bears sent DJ Moore to Buffalo in March, a deal first reported by The Athletic and confirmed by NFL.com. That left Odunze, Luther Burden III, and tight end Colston Loveland as the core of Williams’ passing tree in Year 2 under Johnson.

Loveland is the cleanest Week 1 add if Odunze sits or plays part-time. He led Chicago in receptions and receiving yards as a rookie. Remove the outside threat, and Johnson can manufacture looks from 12 personnel — two tight ends, with Cole Kmet still on the depth chart — and force Carolina to choose between covering the middle or the slot.

Burden is the different swing. His 2025 tape showed yards after catch and manufactured touches: screens, crossers, quick isolation routes. Those concepts do not need Odunze to be healthy. They need Williams to get the ball out. If Chicago leans that way, Burden becomes a viable flex even in standard leagues.

Williams himself does not automatically lose fantasy volume. An injured WR1 can shrink the route tree. It can also push a coordinator to keep the quarterback on schedule with shorter answers and designed movement. Johnson’s Detroit background favored both. The Panthers then have to pick a poison: crowd Loveland, and Burden works the edge; shade Burden, and Williams attacks the seams.

Those 2025 totals come from season records compiled by StatMuse. Odunze’s per-game rate still topped the group when he was on the field. He also missed five games with a stress fracture in his foot, a separate issue Johnson has said is not tied to this calf strain, according to reporting from ESPN.

The rest of Chicago’s Week 1 health list

Odunze is not the only name on the sheet. Backup quarterback Tyson Bagent (back) did not practice all week and is questionable. Johnson said the staff is comfortable with Case Keenum as the No. 2 if Bagent cannot dress. Tackle Ozzy Trapilo (knee) and safety Xavier Woods (groin) are also questionable, per the CBS Sports Week 1 tracker and the team’s report. Trapilo is still working back from a serious knee injury; Braxton Jones is listed as the starting left tackle on Chicago’s unofficial depth chart.

Carolina’s side is cleaner. Edge rusher Patrick Jones II is out with a back injury. Running back Jonathon Brooks carries no designation and is expected to play, CBS Sports noted.

Week 1 reports run conservative on purpose. Limited practice does not equal a snap restriction, and a player’s own confidence is not a medical clearance. The only hard information that matters arrives about 90 minutes before kickoff, when NFL clubs must submit inactives. Until then, the honest read is this: Odunze is the favorite to be active, Johnson has reason to manage him, and Loveland plus Burden absorb the leftover targets if that management shows up on early downs.

If the Bears give Odunze a full route tree, start him. If they signal a cap — or if he is inactive — flip the lineup toward Loveland first and Burden second. Do not guess between those two outcomes on a Friday quote.

Caleb Williams needs two touchdown passes Sunday to match a Chicago Bears franchise mark that has stood since Sid Luckman’s era. The third-year quarterback has thrown multiple scores in seven consecutive games, including the 2025 postseason, and sits one outing from tying Luckman at eight, according to NBC Sports research.

The Bears open the 2026 season at the Carolina Panthers on Sunday at 1 p.m. ET at Bank of America Stadium. Chicago finished 11-6 last year, won the NFC North, beat Green Bay in the wild-card round and lost to the Los Angeles Rams 20-17 in overtime in the divisional round. Williams threw for 3,942 yards and 27 touchdowns in the regular season, breaking Erik Kramer’s 30-year-old franchise record of 3,838 yards set in 1995.

The Bears remain the only NFL team without a 4,000-yard passer. Williams came 58 yards short last season. Head coach Ben Johnson has spent camp pushing the details that could close that gap.

Johnson Sees Progress in Placement and Aggression

Williams completed 58.1 percent of his passes in 2025, the lowest rate among qualified quarterbacks. That number did not stop Chicago from jumping from last in total offense in 2024 to sixth last season. Johnson still wants the completion rate closer to 70 percent.

“He’s doing all the things that good quarterbacks do,” Johnson said, per ESPN. “So he’s going the right way. I know we talk about him every session we get. Guys, he’s had a really good camp and I’m really looking forward to seeing how it comes together for him 17-plus games this year.”

Johnson pointed to ball placement as the clearest area of growth. Williams has treated warmup routes on air as a laboratory. The throws have carried into team periods without dulling the aggression that produced late-game wins last December and January.

“He’s taken a lot of pride in where he’s putting the ball throughout practice,” Johnson said. “You see it early on in our warmup periods to routes on air, and it’s translating over to the team periods as well. And yet, he still hasn’t lost that stinger of being aggressive and trying to push the limits a little bit.”

That mix explains the current streak. Williams finished the regular season with two-touchdown games in each of his last five starts. He added two more in the playoffs: 361 yards and two scores in the wild-card win over Green Bay, then two scores (and three interceptions) in the overtime loss to the Rams. The seven-game run includes those postseason appearances.

The scheme under Johnson rewards exactly that combination. Chicago generated the second-most explosive plays in the league last year. Williams’ willingness to push the ball downfield created those chunk plays even when the completion percentage lagged. The next step is delivering the same aggression with tighter location so receivers can turn those throws into yards after the catch more consistently.

A 4,000-yard season now looks reachable if the accuracy work holds. Williams averaged 231.9 passing yards per game last year. Sixteen more yards per game over 17 contests would put him over the mark. The Panthers defense, coming off its own division title, will test whether the camp emphasis on placement survives live bullets.

Carolina and Chicago both return former No. 1 overall picks at quarterback. Bryce Young and Williams will open a season in which both franchises expect to take another step. For Williams, the first chance arrives with a franchise record hanging one completion sequence away.

The Bears have never had a quarterback string together eight straight multi-touchdown games. Luckman set the standard in an offense that looked nothing like the one Johnson now runs. Williams has a chance to match it on the first Sunday of the new year.

The Detroit Lions created $35.68 million in 2026 salary-cap room on Saturday by restructuring the contracts of wide receiver Amon-Ra St. Brown and tackle Penei Sewell, according to Over The Cap and Pro Football Rumors. The moves landed one day before Detroit’s Week 1 home opener against the New Orleans Saints at Ford Field.

ESPN’s Adam Schefter posted the same development, citing Spotrac and putting the savings at more than $30 million. Schefter wrote: “Lions restructured the contracts of WR Amon-Ra St. Brown and LT Penei Sewell and created over $30 million in salary cap space, as @spotrac reported.” —

Lions restructured the contracts of WR Amon-Ra St. Brown and LT Penei Sewell and created over $30 million in salary cap space, as @spotrac reported. pic.twitter.com/xriRDc8Ahv

— Adam Schefter (@AdamSchefter) September 12, 2026

Spotrac detailed the St. Brown conversion first. The account reported that Detroit turned $26 million of his salary into a signing bonus and opened $20.8 million this year. —

The #Lions converted $26M of WR Amon-Ra St. Brown's salary into signing bonus, creating $20.8M of cap space.

The 26-year-old has 3-years, $88M remaining on his contract, including over $28M to be earned this season.

— Spotrac (@spotrac) September 12, 2026

How the two restructures actually work

This is not new money. It is cap space moved from 2026 into later seasons. A restructure converts a large piece of base salary into a signing bonus, then spreads that bonus over the remaining years of the deal plus any void year. The current cap hit drops. Future hits rise.

Jason Fitzgerald of Over The Cap laid out the math. St. Brown’s 2026 charge fell by $20.8 million after the $26 million conversion. His later cap numbers climb by $5.2 million per year. Sewell had $18.6 million converted. That cut his 2026 number by $14.88 million and added $3.72 million to each future season, including a new void year in 2030, per Over The Cap and Pro Football Rumors.

Detroit now sits at about $38.2 million in available cap space, second in the NFL behind the San Francisco 49ers at roughly $45.5 million, according to Over The Cap’s league rankings and USA TODAY. The Lions entered Saturday near the limit after final cuts. The 53-man regular-season cap counting rules take hold at the start of the week, which is why clubs often complete these conversions before kickoff.

What the extra room gives Brad Holmes

General manager Brad Holmes now has options he did not have Friday. He can absorb a midseason trade, sign a veteran off the street, or carry unused dollars into 2027. USA TODAY and Pro Football Rumors both flagged tight end Sam LaPorta and safety Brian Branch as upcoming extension candidates. Unused 2026 space can roll over and help those talks. None of those deals is confirmed.

A November trade is speculation, not a report. Some analysts have linked any team with this much room to available pass rushers. No Lions official has named a target. The only confirmed fact is the cap number.

St. Brown signed a four-year, $120.01 million extension in April 2024, per contemporaneous reporting from NFL.com and contract trackers. He still has three years and about $88 million remaining. Sewell signed a four-year, $112 million extension the same week, with $85 million guaranteed at the time, according to NFL.com. He has four years and about $92 million left; $32 million of that remaining money is guaranteed through 2027, per Pro Football Rumors.

Both players came from Holmes’ first draft class in 2021. St. Brown, a fourth-round pick, just finished 117 receptions, 1,401 yards and 11 touchdowns in 2025, according to NFL.com career stats. That marked his fourth straight 1,000-yard season. He is a four-time Pro Bowler. Sewell, the No. 7 overall pick, earned first-team All-Pro honors in 2023, 2024 and 2025 and made his fourth straight Pro Bowl last season, per the Lions’ official bio.

The line is changing around him. Detroit released longtime left tackle Taylor Decker this offseason and moved Sewell to the blind side. First-round rookie Blake Miller is slated for Sewell’s old right-tackle job, according to Pro Football Rumors. That shift is why Schefter labeled Sewell a left tackle in Saturday’s post.

The Lions went 9-8 in 2025 and missed the playoffs after a 15-2 season the year before, per StatMuse and the 2025 season record. They host the Saints on Sunday at 1 p.m. ET on FOX, per the team’s published 2026 schedule. The cap work does not change who starts. It changes what Holmes can do if the roster needs help in October or November.

The Los Angeles Rams opened 2026 as the league’s clearest Super Bowl favorite. Two days after a 27-7 loss to the San Francisco 49ers in Melbourne, former Rams cornerback Aqib Talib called that result the best thing that could have happened to them.

Talib made the case Friday on the Gridiron podcast with Skip Bayless. The Rams had closed the preseason 3-0 and stacked the roster with Myles Garrett, Trent McDuffie, and a returning Aaron Donald. Expectations followed. So did a statement win by a 49ers team that arrived a week early and never let the game get away.

According to ClutchPoints, Talib said the Rams built a “super team” in the offseason and watched every opponent raise its level. “You create a super team in the off-season, and your expectations go through the roof,” Talib said. “The better you are as a team, the better your opponent is going to get up to play against you.”

Gridiron posted a clip of the segment Saturday. Talib added: “Best thing that could’ve happened for this Rams team.” —

“Best thing that could’ve happened for this Rams team.”
👀#nfl #football #rams #49ers pic.twitter.com/WwDsbuvXc5

— Gridiron (@_gridironpod) September 12, 2026

What actually happened in Melbourne

The game was the NFL’s first regular-season contest in Australia, played at the Melbourne Cricket Ground in front of 100,021 fans and streamed on Netflix. The 49ers won 27-7, per the official NFL Game Center.

Brock Purdy completed 25 of 34 passes for 205 yards and three touchdowns. Mike Evans scored in his San Francisco debut. Christian McCaffrey and Kaelon Black combined for 133 rushing yards. The 49ers scored the final 24 points after the Rams took a 7-3 lead on a Kyren Williams touchdown run.

Matthew Stafford finished without a touchdown pass and was pulled late for Stetson Bennett. The Rams managed 290 total yards and converted 2 of 9 third downs, according to ESPN box-score data. Myles Garrett recorded no tackles, sacks, or quarterback hits in his Rams debut. Aaron Donald did not play; Sean McVay held him out of the long trip, as first reported by The Athletic.

Bayless framed the night as public humiliation on a global stage. “They got annihilated, dominated, and humiliated on a solo stage game on Netflix,” he said on the same podcast, “and I believe that they will rise from this because it will bring them all back into a focus they did not have.”

Why the loss happened — and why Talib’s point lands

The 49ers did not invent a new scheme. They played their style: Fred Warner and Nick Bosa disrupted Stafford, the run game stayed on schedule, and Purdy used his legs to keep drives alive. The Rams’ late arrival in Australia became part of the story. Several broadcast and postgame voices described L.A. as tired. That is analysis, not an official diagnosis, but the second-half collapse matched the travel narrative that followed the team out of Melbourne.

Talib’s argument is older than this roster. Heavy favorites often walk into Week 1 carrying every opponent’s best shot. The Rams’ offseason — Garrett from Cleveland, McDuffie from Kansas City, Donald out of retirement — made them the shortest-priced Super Bowl favorite in years. After the loss, those odds lengthened from roughly +500 to +600, per ESPN betting coverage.

That does not make Talib a prophet. It does make the next 10 days useful. The Rams host the New York Giants on Monday Night Football, Sept. 21, at SoFi Stadium. Donald could debut. The offense that led the NFL in scoring in 2025 gets a home crowd and a shorter week of travel. Focus, if it was missing in Melbourne, has a chance to return before the schedule gets harder.

One loss in Australia does not rewrite the roster. It does reset the conversation from coronation to work. That is the part Talib and Bayless got right.

The Minnesota Vikings will open the 2026 season Sunday at U.S. Bank Stadium with a rare luxury: nobody on the 53-man roster carries a questionable or out designation. Kickoff against the Green Bay Packers is set for 3:25 p.m. CT on CBS, and the Week 1 injury report is the cleanest Kevin O’Connell has handed in for an opener in years.

That is the confirmed news from Friday’s final report. What it does not settle is how sharp this team will be after a limited preseason, or how much safety Harrison Smith can give Brian Flores after missing the entire offseason program.

What the Vikings injury report actually shows

Three rookies appeared on the sheet earlier in the week and then cleared it. Safety Jakobe Thomas sat Wednesday with an illness, practiced in a limited role Thursday and went full Friday. Safety Jacob Thomas (ankle) and tackle Caleb Tiernan (ankle) were limited Wednesday and Thursday, then full Friday. None received a game designation, according to the official listing on vikings.com and the recap published by The Daily Norseman.

The Daily Norseman flagged the same report on X on Sept. 11: “Vikings-Packers Final Injury Report” —

Vikings-Packers Final Injury Report https://t.co/CvHrfKqOis

— The Daily Norseman (@DailyNorseman) September 11, 2026

Left tackle Christian Darrisaw and Smith were the other names. Both listings were not injury related. Darrisaw did not practice Friday. Smith was limited. Vikings Wire and the Star Tribune both described those as planned veteran rest days. Tiernan remains the listed backup to right tackle Brian O’Neill.

Green Bay’s sheet is heavier. Per the official report on packers.com, defensive tackle Warren Brinson (calf) is out. Guard Aaron Banks (knee), tackle Zach Bako-Bewele (knee) and linebacker Ty’Ron Hopper (Achilles) are questionable. Edge rusher Micah Parsons remains on the physically unable to perform list after last season’s knee injury and must miss at least four games. Running back Josh Jacobs is on the commissioner’s exempt list and cannot play Sunday, the NFL announced.

Smith is available. His snap count is not

Smith agreed last weekend to return for a 15th season on a one-year deal worth $12.25 million, with incentives that can push the value to $16.25 million, as first reported by NFL Network and confirmed by the team. He had been a post-June 1 release in March and spent months deciding whether to retire. The Athletic and ESPN both reported the contract terms.

O’Connell said Friday that Smith will be active. “He’s in great shape,” the coach told reporters, per the Star Tribune. The snap plan sits with Flores. Smith is listed as the starting free safety on the unofficial depth chart, but he missed OTAs, training camp and the preseason. That is why a limited role is the honest expectation, not a slight.

The value is alignment. Flores’ defense moves pieces after the snap. Smith has spent years making those calls in real time. If the secondary loses Jordan Love’s eyes on a motion or a condensed split, Smith is the player who can reset the picture without a timeout. That is analysis, not a guarantee he will play 60 snaps.

Murray’s debut, and why rust cuts both ways

Kyler Murray starts. Minnesota signed him to a one-year, veteran-minimum deal in March after Arizona released him, then named him the starter on Aug. 11 over J.J. McCarthy. Carson Wentz is the No. 2. McCarthy is third. Murray has not taken a regular-season snap since Oct. 5, 2025, when a foot injury ended his Cardinals season, the Pioneer Press reported.

He will see a familiar face across the ball. Jonathan Gannon, Murray’s head coach in Arizona from 2023 through 2025, is now Green Bay’s defensive coordinator. The Athletic framed the Week 1 problem cleanly: Gannon knows the throws Murray likes and the ones he will force. Murray now has Justin Jefferson and Jordan Addison. That is a different supporting cast than the one Gannon coached against in the desert.

Health does not erase Week 1 slop. O’Connell kept starters on a short leash in August. Murray played six preseason snaps, per CBS Sports. Joint work with the Baltimore Ravens in camp is not the same as a packed building and a division opponent. The first two games of this season already showed the pattern. Seattle beat New England 13-10 in the kickoff game behind three fourth-quarter interceptions from Drake Maye and 10 Seahawks penalties. San Francisco beat the Rams 27-7 in Melbourne after Los Angeles arrived about 28 hours before kickoff.

Minnesota finished 2025 at 9-8, third in the NFC North, after winning its last five and missing the playoffs. Green Bay went 9-7-1 and got in as the No. 7 seed. A clean injury report gives the Vikings a chance to play their plan. It does not play the snaps for them.

The Minnesota Vikings added a modest piece of cap flexibility Friday when they revised the contract of starting cornerback Isaiah Rodgers, two days before they host the Green Bay Packers in the Week 1 NFC North opener. The move converts up to $1.5 million in 2026 playtime incentives into a signing bonus and creates additional salary-cap room, according to ESPN’s Jeremy Fowler.

Fowler reported that the change also serves as “a nod to his status as a proven starter.” Rodgers, 28, started 15 games last season and is due roughly $5 million this year under the original structure of the two-year deal he signed in March 2025. NBC Sports later noted the incentives had been tied to an 85 percent snap threshold.

The timing is not accidental. Minnesota recently brought back safety Harrison Smith on a one-year deal after months of retirement speculation and also signed veteran linebacker Kyle Van Noy. Those additions tightened an already constrained cap picture. Converting Rodgers’ incentives into bonus money that can be prorated across void years gives the front office a little more room to operate if an in-season need arises.

Secondary Gets Smith Back as Love Arrives

Rodgers is listed as a starter on the unofficial Week 1 depth chart opposite Byron Murphy Jr. Smith’s return puts a familiar veteran next to him in the secondary that will face Jordan Love on Sunday. Kickoff is 4:25 p.m. ET at U.S. Bank Stadium, with CBS carrying the game.

Love offered a dry reaction when asked about Smith’s decision to play a 15th season. “I thought he was retired,” the Packers quarterback said, according to video posted by ESPN’s Rob Demovsky. Love added that Green Bay will prepare as if Smith is on the field and called him “a very good player.”

Last season the two clubs split the series. Green Bay won 23-6 at Lambeau Field in Week 12. Minnesota answered 16-3 at home in Week 18. Combined, the Vikings defense held the Packers to 26 points across those two games.

Rodgers finished 2025 with 66 tackles, four passes defensed, two forced fumbles and an interception he returned 87 yards for a touchdown. That pick-six came in Week 3 against Cincinnati, part of a historic afternoon in which he also returned a fumble 66 yards for another score. He played college football at UMass after starring at Blake High School in Tampa.

Kyler Murray makes his Vikings debut Sunday after winning the starting job over J.J. McCarthy. Minnesota hopes a more consistent offense takes pressure off a defense that already spent last season covering for inconsistent quarterback play. Brian Flores’ unit still has to contain Love, who will operate without Micah Parsons after the edge rusher’s knee injury.

The Rodgers revision itself is a small accounting move rather than a new long-term commitment. He remains in the final year of his contract and will be an unrestricted free agent in 2027. Spreading the converted bonus across future cap years functions as short-term relief with limited dead-money risk if he leaves. That is the kind of quiet, practical adjustment teams make when they have already spent on veterans they want on the field in Week 1.

U.S. Bank Stadium will be loud for the rivalry opener. Smith’s presence and Rodgers’ new financial recognition give the secondary a settled look heading into the first test of the 2026 season.

Odell Beckham Jr. walked into Friday’s media session with a hat pulled low, then confirmed what teammates already knew. The blonde hair is back. Young Giants receivers asked for it. They called the look a core memory from his first run in New York. Beckham, 33, said he felt the same pull.

“I don’t know. It just was somethin’ I was feelin’,” he told reporters, including Charlotte Carroll of The Athletic. “I kinda got a request from a couple of the young guys. It was, we need to see the blonde.” He added that he cannot keep bleaching it forever. “Now was the time.” Carroll posted the clip on X Friday:

Odell Beckham Jr. on going back to blonde #giants pic.twitter.com/8UfG9pcRzX

— Charlotte Carroll (@charlottecrrll) September 11, 2026

According to the New York Post, Beckham kept the full reveal for Sunday Night Football. The Giants host the Dallas Cowboys at MetLife Stadium at 8:20 p.m. ET on NBC. It is John Harbaugh’s first regular-season game as Giants head coach and Beckham’s first regular-season snap in a Giants uniform since 2018.

Harbaugh’s first night and a familiar rivalry

Harbaugh took the Giants job in January after 18 seasons in Baltimore. The franchise announced the hire on its official site. Giants.com listed him as the 21st head coach in team history. He inherits a team that finished 4-13 last season. Ownership wanted a proven winner who reports directly to John Mara.

The Cowboys game gives him an immediate measuring stick. The teams open the season against each other for the eighth time in 15 years. Per the official Giants schedule, kickoff is Sunday, Sept. 13. Harbaugh has already told the fan base he intends to build a team that can beat Dallas. That line, delivered at a spring town hall, set the tone for a more aggressive locker room.

Beckham’s return fits the same theme. He signed a one-year veteran-minimum deal in June. He made the 53-man roster after a strong camp. He will wear No. 13 again. The blonde hair is the last visual piece of the reunion.

I just want to give this city, this organization, these fans, every last bit of me.

Odell Beckham Jr., via the New York Post

He said he will dedicate the MetLife return to the fans who still treat him like the player who made the one-handed catch against these same Cowboys in 2014. That night made him a star. Sunday night gives him a stage that feels scripted.

Mentor role with Nabers still in recovery

Beckham has taken a quieter job this time. He is no longer the No. 1 receiver. Malik Nabers remains the featured target when healthy. Nabers tore his ACL and meniscus in Week 4 last season and needed a second procedure this spring. The Giants listed him as questionable Friday after three full practices. His status could stay unresolved until 90 minutes before kickoff.

Beckham has talked with Nabers about the final mental step of coming back from a major knee injury. Younger receivers asked for the blonde look because they grew up watching those early Giants tapes. The request itself shows how the room now sees him: part player, part living archive.

His recent production is modest. He played nine games with the Dolphins in 2024 and caught nine passes for 55 yards. He appeared in 14 games with the Ravens in 2023 and posted 35 catches for 565 yards and three touchdowns. Those numbers explain why New York signed him as depth and leadership rather than a featured option. Harbaugh coached him in Baltimore. That relationship helped the reunion happen.

Sunday night will test whether the veteran still creates separation against a Cowboys secondary that has talent on the outside. It will also test whether Harbaugh’s emphasis on discipline and physicality shows up in the first quarter. The crowd at MetLife will be loud when Beckham’s name is called. The lights for Sunday Night Football will make the blonde hair easy to spot.

The Giants need more than nostalgia. They need production from a receiver room that lost snaps to injury last year. Beckham’s job is to give the young players a standard and give Harbaugh another veteran who already knows how the coach wants things done. The hair is the easy story. The harder story starts when the ball is snapped.

TAMPA, Fla. — Jalen McMillan is unlikely to open the season in Cincinnati. Todd Bowles made that plain Friday after practice, listing the wide receiver doubtful for Sunday’s 1 p.m. ET game at Paycor Stadium, per the Buccaneers’ Week 1 game center.

Sean Tucker joined him on the doubtful line. Justin Skule did, too. The designations landed on the team’s final report one day before kickoff and still stood Saturday, with no official change overnight.

McMillan has worked back from a knee injury suffered in early August. He practiced all three days this week, but only on a limited basis. Tucker missed Wednesday with a hamstring injury from the final preseason game, then returned as a limited participant Thursday and Friday. Bowles said neither player suffered a setback. “It’s just where they are,” he told reporters, according to the Tampa Bay Times.

Rick Stroud of the Times posted the update from Friday’s availability: Bucs coach Todd Bowles announced that WR Jalen McMillan (knee) and RB Sean Tucker (hamstring) are doubtful vs Bengals but WR Emeka Egbuka was full go. —

Bucs coach Todd Bowles announced that WR Jalen McMillan (knee) and RB Sean Tucker (hamstring) are doubtful vs Bengals but WR Emeka Egbuka was full go. pic.twitter.com/d0e7pE9rIn

— Rick Stroud (@NFLSTROUD) September 11, 2026

The official report matches that readout. McMillan (knee), Tucker (hamstring) and Skule (oblique) are all doubtful. Inside linebacker Christian Rozeboom is questionable with a foot injury. Egbuka, outside linebacker Rueben Bain Jr. and guard Billy Schrauth practiced fully and carry no game designation, according to the team’s Friday injury report.

Egbuka is cleared; the rest of the receiver room has to cover McMillan

Egbuka’s toe sprain dated to joint practices with the New York Jets about a month ago. He still missed several weeks. This week he practiced in full all three days. Bowles called him “full go,” ESPN reported from the Friday session in Tampa.

That matters because Mike Evans is gone. McMillan was slated for a larger share of that vacated work. If he sits, Baker Mayfield’s first look still goes to Chris Godwin Jr., who is entering his 10th season after a strong camp. Mayfield described him as “as good a Chris Godwin as I’ve seen,” per ESPN.

Behind them sit second-year receiver Tez Johnson, who caught five touchdowns as a rookie in 2025, plus Kameron Johnson and rookie Ted Hurst III. Hurst took extra reps while McMillan and Egbuka were out. Bowles said those snaps helped the rookie lock down the playbook, not just show the physical traits the staff already liked.

That is the scheme problem on Sunday. Cincinnati will see a lot of 11 personnel. If McMillan is inactive, Hurst and Tez Johnson inherit the leftover snaps opposite Godwin and Egbuka. The routes do not change as much as the timing does. Mayfield will be throwing to a group that has had uneven practice reps together since August.

Tucker’s absence thins a two-back plan

Tucker is the third running back. Take him off the 53 and the active group shrinks to Bucky Irving and Kenny Gainwell unless Tampa Bay elevates Josh Williams from the practice squad. Williams, an LSU product, spent time on the active roster last season and returned to the practice squad after final cuts, the club announced on Sept. 1.

Bowles did not treat that move as automatic. “We’ve got a lot of moving parts going that we’ve got to do so it’s not automatic,” he said, per the Times. That is the honest read: Williams is the next body, not a locked-in gameday elevation until the inactive list posts.

Irving still handles the early-down and receiving work. Gainwell is the change-of-pace piece. Without Tucker, short-yardage and a third-down insurance snap fall on those two unless Williams is up. Against Joe Burrow, Ja’Marr Chase and Tee Higgins, Tampa Bay cannot afford a one-dimensional running game if the defense is on the field too long.

Skule’s oblique issue is a swing-tackle problem more than a starter problem, but it still eats a roster spot if he cannot dress. Rozeboom’s foot keeps the inside linebacker rotation in flux. Bain practiced fully after a shoulder issue and is expected to play.

Bowles is 4-0 in season openers as Tampa Bay’s head coach and 6-2 in Week 1 games for his full head-coaching career, Sports Illustrated noted this week. That streak does not change the math on Sunday. Doubtful, in league terms, means a player is unlikely to play. McMillan and Tucker practiced. They did not practice enough for the staff to trust a full workload on the road.

The next checkpoint is the inactive list, due about 90 minutes before kickoff. Until then, plan on Godwin, Egbuka and the young receivers carrying the passing game, and Irving and Gainwell carrying the backfield.

Steve Young did not treat Brock Purdy’s first start of 2026 as a simple box-score win. After San Francisco beat the Los Angeles Rams 27-7 in the NFL’s first regular-season game in Australia, the Hall of Fame quarterback used his Friday appearance on The Rich Eisen Show to make a narrower point: Purdy has to keep using his legs.

Purdy finished 25-of-34 for 205 yards, three touchdowns and one interception. He also ran five times for 29 yards, including an 18-yard scramble, and was not sacked, according to The Mercury News. That rushing piece is what Young wanted to talk about.

Young’s case for the extra yards

Young spent 13 seasons with the 49ers from 1987 to 1999 and won three Super Bowls in San Francisco, per the Pro Football Hall of Fame. He has been telling Purdy for years to master the pocket first. On Friday he said the next step is already showing up.

“You have to, it’s the game today. It’s too many free yards.”

Steve Young, The Rich Eisen Show, Sept. 11, 2026

NFL on ESPN posted the clip the same day. Young argued that Matthew Stafford can still live as a pure pocket passer, but most quarterbacks cannot. He named Josh Allen, Patrick Mahomes and Lamar Jackson as the standard and said Purdy had to learn that sophisticated passing first. Now, Young said, the job is to expand and use those legs in spots that change a down, not as a gimmick. The clip is here:

49ers legend Steve Young breaks down the importance of Brock Purdy incorporating running in his game on the @RichEisenShow 🙌

"You have to, it's the game today. It's too many free yards." pic.twitter.com/V6Bprpf5j9

— NFL on ESPN (@ESPNNFL) September 11, 2026

That is analysis from a former 49ers quarterback, not a team announcement. Young was not claiming Purdy has become a dual-threat star. He was saying the threat has to exist.

What actually happened in Melbourne

The game kicked off Friday morning at the Melbourne Cricket Ground and Thursday night in the United States. An announced crowd of 100,021 packed the oval, the seventh-largest regular-season crowd in NFL history, Reuters reported. Kyle Shanahan later called the building “gladiator-ish,” per the Associated Press.

Los Angeles led 7-3 early in the second quarter on a 5-yard Kyren Williams run. San Francisco scored the next 24 points. Purdy’s interception, a pass intended for George Kittle that Quentin Lake took, could have flipped the day. It did not. He answered with scoring throws to Demarcus Robinson (39 yards), Mike Evans (2 yards) and Deebo Samuel (15 yards).

The third score finished a 99-yard drive after the 49ers stuffed Stafford on a fourth-down sneak from the 1-yard line. Purdy escaped right and found Samuel. That is the play Young is talking about. The yards were not designed wildcat work. They were leftover space when the pocket moved and the Rams’ rush, including Myles Garrett, failed to finish.

The run game made those pockets cleaner. Christian McCaffrey rushed 10 times for 68 yards. Rookie Kaelon Black added 14 carries for 65 yards in his NFL debut, NBC Sports Bay Area reported. Combined, that is 133 rushing yards from the two backs. San Francisco finished with 174 rushing yards on 30 carries.

Stafford, last season’s MVP, managed 155 yards and no touchdowns. Raheem Morris’s defense, with Morris now calling plays in San Francisco after years on the Rams staff, held Los Angeles to one score and 290 yards, according to the AP.

Why Young’s timing matters

Purdy has heard this lecture before. Young has said publicly in prior years that Shanahan should put Purdy on the move more often. The difference Friday was the tape. Purdy still lived on short throws early — many of his first completions traveled little or no distance past the line — then hit Robinson on the 39-yard post once the Rams sat on the underneath game. The scramble to Samuel later was the other half of the same idea: keep the defense honest when the pocket breaks.

Some of Young’s other comments on the same show went further. He said anyone who sleeps on a healthy 49ers roster is making a mistake, a line reported by EssentiallySports. That is still opinion. One game in Melbourne does not settle the NFC West, especially with Seattle already 1-0 after beating New England.

What is confirmed is the next date. San Francisco hosts the Miami Dolphins on Sunday, Sept. 20, at 4:25 p.m. ET at Levi’s Stadium, per the NFL schedule and FOX.

Purdy does not need 80 rushing yards a week for Young’s standard to hold. He needs enough designed and off-schedule movement that a defense cannot pin its ears back. Against a Rams front that added Garrett and still recorded zero sacks, that version showed up. The Dolphins will be the next test of whether it was a Melbourne adjustment or the start of the season Young has been asking for.

Green Bay Packers running back Josh Jacobs pleaded no contest Thursday in Brown County Court to misdemeanor battery and criminal damage to property, resolving the criminal case three days before Green Bay opens the season at Minnesota.

ESPN Packers reporter Rob Demovsky posted the plea as it happened: “Josh Jacobs is pleading no contest to the misdemeanor charges.” —

Josh Jacobs is pleading no contest to the misdemeanor charges.

— Rob Demovsky (@RobDemovsky) September 10, 2026

According to ESPN, the court fined Jacobs $1,000 plus costs on the battery count and accepted a deferred judgment on the property-damage count. A review date is set for Sept. 10, 2027. Jacobs left the courthouse without speaking to reporters.

In court, Jacobs said, “I fully understand the seriousness of the situation and I take full responsibility.”

What the court required

Demovsky reported the five conditions attached to the no-contest plea on the property-damage charge. —

On the criminal damage to property charge, the court accepted Josh Jacobs no contest plea on five conditions:

1. No further criminal acts
2. No contact with the victim
3. Supervision
4. Counseling
5. Pay restitution to the victim

— Rob Demovsky (@RobDemovsky) September 10, 2026

• No further criminal acts
• No contact with the victim
• Supervision
• Counseling
• Restitution to the victim

Jacobs’ attorneys — David Chesnoff, Richard Schonfeld and Clarence Duchac — said in a statement that the property-damage charge will be dismissed after 12 months if he completes the agreement. “With this agreement, Josh has accepted responsibility for his conduct and resolved this matter,” they said, according to ESPN.

The Athletic reported that one of Jacobs’ attorneys said he has already started counseling on his own. Local courtroom coverage from WBAY said prosecutors did not seek jail time, citing Jacobs’ lack of a prior record, and recommended a fine on the battery count. The judge convicted him on that count and approved the deferred agreement on the second.

WISN reported that the case is not a domestic-violence case as defined by Wisconsin law. That state-law label does not control the NFL’s separate personal-conduct review.

How the case reached Thursday

The charges stem from a May 23 incident at Jacobs’ home in Hobart. The Brown County District Attorney’s Office filed two Class A misdemeanors on Aug. 27 after an investigation that followed a May 26 arrest. According to the criminal complaint summarized by ESPN, garage surveillance video captured part of the confrontation. The complaint states the woman was trying to leave through the garage when Jacobs “grabbed her and threw her to the ground and she struck her head, suffering an injury.”

Police had initially booked Jacobs on additional counts, including a felony strangulation charge. Prosecutors later filed only the two misdemeanors. The initial appearance had been set for Nov. 17, during Green Bay’s bye week, before the date moved to Sept. 10, per Packers Wire.

What it means for the Packers and the NFL

The NFL placed Jacobs on the commissioner exempt list on Aug. 30, an administrative paid leave that bars him from practicing and playing while the league reviews the matter, according to NFL.com. He remains there until Commissioner Roger Goodell removes him.

The plea does not finish that process. It does clear the criminal docket and gives the league a completed court record. ESPN reported the league is likely to take Jacobs off the exempt list and issue a suspension. The collective bargaining agreement’s baseline for domestic-violence cases is six games. That figure is a starting point under league policy, not a announced penalty. No NFL or Packers statement on discipline had been issued as of Thursday afternoon.

Green Bay still opens Sunday at Minnesota without him available. Coach Matt LaFleur said last week he wanted more clarity from the hearing and, after charges were filed in August, that he anticipated Jacobs remaining on the roster. The team has already added running-back depth while the review continues.

A no-contest plea is not a guilty plea. In practical terms, it lets the court impose the same sentence it would after a conviction and ends the trial path. Jacobs accepted the fine, the year of conditions, and the public record that now sits in front of the league office. The next move belongs to Goodell, not Brown County.

PITTSBURGH — Mike McCarthy would not say Thursday whether Joey Porter Jr. needs a full practice before he can play Sunday. The first-year Steelers coach left the door open on his top cornerback three days before the season opener against the Atlanta Falcons.

Ray Fittipaldo of the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette reported the exchange: When asked if Joey Porter Jr. had to practice full at least once to play on Sunday, Mike McCarthy was noncommittal. He does have beliefs on how much players should practice if they’re going to play but said it’s fluid this year because he’s still trying to get to know his players —

When asked if Joey Porter Jr. had to practice full at least once to play on Sunday, Mike McCarthy was noncommittal. He does have beliefs on how much players should practice if they’re going to play but said it’s fluid this year because he’s still trying to get to know his players

— Ray Fittipaldo (@rayfitt1) September 10, 2026

Chris Adamski of the Pittsburgh Tribune-Review added that McCarthy again described Porter as working through the “ramp-up” stage and offered little else. Adamski posted: About as expansive of a Joey Porter Jr update we will get. Mike McCarthy keeps using the phrase “ramp-up” —

About as expansive of a Joey Porter Jr update we will get. Mike McCarthy keeps using the phrase “ramp-up” pic.twitter.com/MpbnVX9V6E

— Chris Adamski (@C_AdamskiTrib) September 10, 2026

Contract talks remain far from finished

Porter is in the final year of his rookie contract after the Steelers took him 32nd overall in 2023. Pittsburgh made an offer this week, according to NFL Network’s Mike Garafolo, but the sides are not close. Garafolo reported the proposal was “not good enough” to be deemed close, per Pro Football Rumors.

General manager Omar Khan has restated the organization’s long-standing policy: the Steelers do not negotiate extensions once the regular season begins. That makes Sunday a hard deadline. The Athletic noted the same last-minute pattern under Khan, from T.J. Watt in 2021 to other deals signed days before openers.

Porter himself left the question open earlier this month. Asked if he would play without a new contract, he answered “Yeah for sure,” then added “Maybe,” according to reporting in The Athletic.

The market moved while talks dragged. Christian Gonzalez signed a four-year, $135 million extension with New England this week. Devon Witherspoon, Denzel Ward and Trent McDuffie all landed deals at or above $30 million per year. A top-five corner deal for Porter that might have cost just over $24 million in March would now exceed $30 million annually, per the same Athletic analysis.

Availability and the Falcons matchup

Porter spent training camp on the physically unable to perform list with a back issue the team described after a mobility test. He came off the list before final cuts, practiced in limited fashion this week, and was the only Steelers player listed on Wednesday’s injury report (limited, back).

McCarthy has said he is game-planning as if Porter will play and that healthy players on the 53-man roster are expected to be available. He has also said the staff will “see what happens” if Porter sits. The fluidity McCarthy cited Thursday tracks with a first-year coaching staff still learning its roster after Mike Tomlin stepped down.

Sunday’s opponent gives Pittsburgh some cover if Porter is limited or sits. Tua Tagovailoa will start for Atlanta after a modest preseason: 10-of-13 passing for 117 yards and two fumbles (one lost), according to ESPN. Michael Penix Jr. remains inactive while he finishes his ACL recovery. The Falcons still have Drake London and Bijan Robinson. Porter’s length and coverage grade last season (52 tackles, 14 pass breakups, one interception) would help against Tagovailoa’s short-to-intermediate game.

Kickoff is 1 p.m. ET Sunday at Acrisure Stadium. McCarthy, a Pittsburgh native coaching his hometown team for the first time in the regular season, has treated the Porter situation as business separate from football. That line is getting thinner by the hour.

Aaron Rodgers did not close the door on a return to Lambeau Field after he stops playing. He did something sharper. He said the invitation itself might never come, and that he might decline it if the same people are still running the Green Bay Packers.

Speaking Thursday on Wilde and Tausch on ESPN Milwaukee/Madison radio, the Pittsburgh Steelers quarterback framed a future ceremony as a four- or five-year conversation, not a sure homecoming. He said fans would still value what he did in Green Bay. Then he drew a line inside the building.

“I think there’s certain people in the building who wouldn’t be totally on board, and maybe I wouldn’t be on board if they were still there as well.”

Aaron Rodgers, Wilde and Tausch, Sept. 10, 2026

The show’s account posted the clip on X:

Aaron Rodgers on being invited back to Green Bay to be celebrated by the #Packers when his career is over:

“I think there’s certain people in the building who wouldn’t be totally on board, and maybe I wouldn’t be on board if they were still there as well.” pic.twitter.com/MntddhYoVY

— Wilde and Tausch (@WildeAndTausch) September 10, 2026

Rodgers named no one. That matters. The comments are confirmed. The targets are not.

The names still in the building, and the names that are not

The context writes itself, even if Rodgers refused to fill in the blanks. General manager Brian Gutekunst still runs the roster. Head coach Matt LaFleur is still on the sideline. Both were in place when Green Bay traded Rodgers to the New York Jets in 2023, a split ESPN noted again Thursday.

Former team president Mark Murphy is gone. He retired in 2025 and was replaced by Ed Policy, the longtime chief operating officer and general counsel. Murphy had already put a public marker down. At the 2023 shareholders meeting, he said the Packers would bring Rodgers back and retire No. 12 “at the appropriate time,” according to The Athletic and ESPN.

That promise now sits with a different president. Policy extended LaFleur this year and kept Gutekunst in the same football structure, per Sports Business Journal. If Rodgers’ hesitation is about the 2023 trade group, the clock on that group has not run out.

Gutekunst has not answered in kind in public. On The Rich Eisen Show in 2025, he said he roots for Rodgers and that the organization still holds “so much appreciation” for what the quarterback did in Green Bay. That is the last clear on-record note from the GM. There was no Packers statement Thursday.

How the ending still sits with Rodgers

Rodgers did not pretend the last chapter was clean. On the same radio hit, he said the general manager wanted him out and that the team was waiting on one season that did not produce an MVP. He said he disliked how the exit was handled and that he could have handled his side better. He also said the move likely made the handoff to Jordan Love easier.

That is his version of 2021 through 2023: the skipped offseason, the list of complaints, the failed phone tag before the Jets deal. ESPN’s Rob Demovsky walked that history again Thursday. None of it erases 18 seasons, four MVPs, or Super Bowl XLV. Rodgers said he would not let the ending rewrite the rest.

A month earlier, before a preseason game against Green Bay in Pittsburgh, he had already set a condition. He told Packers reporters there first has to be “an invite back,” ESPN reported on Aug. 12. He wanted that game at Lambeau. He talked about dinner at Chives and nine holes at Green Bay Country Club. The schedule put it in Pittsburgh instead. He never got the visitor’s locker-room walk across the hall.

Why the calendar, not the crowd, is the real issue

The football case for a ceremony is not the debate. The timing is. Rodgers has said there is “zero debate” that 2026 is his last season, a point he repeated at Steelers camp and after signing a one-year deal in Pittsburgh, per CBS Sports and NFL.com. If he stays retired, the Pro Football Hall of Fame clock starts after the season. A first-ballot case would put him in Canton in 2032. The Packers Hall of Fame typically waits four years. Jersey retirements in Green Bay have followed a similar pause.

Brett Favre is the closest comparison, and it is an imperfect one. Favre’s exit was colder. The Packers still retired No. 4 and put him in the team hall in 2015, four years after he stopped playing and a year before Canton. Rodgers’ split was messy. It was not that messy. That is why Thursday’s hedge landed. He is not arguing the resume. He is arguing the room.

Those numbers, compiled by the NFL and recapped by the Associated Press, are why a Lambeau night is expected, not optional, once enough time passes. Policy can honor Murphy’s pledge without Gutekunst or LaFleur having to share a podium. He can also wait until the football staff turns over. Rodgers just said he might wait with him.

That is the live tension three days before Rodgers opens the season against the Atlanta Falcons at Acrisure Stadium. The Steelers still need him to play. The Packers still have Love under center. The reunion, if it happens, will not be a snap-count problem. It will be a people problem. Rodgers made that plain. He did not name the people. Until someone in Green Bay answers, that is all that is confirmed.

Drew Lock looked at the Patriots’ alignment on fourth-and-1 and decided the ball had to go to No. 11. The play had never been run in practice. He threw it anyway.

Lock’s short pass found Jaxon Smith-Njigba, who turned a four-yard catch into a 45-yard touchdown that tied the New England Patriots at 10-10 with 11:28 left in the fourth quarter. Seattle won the NFL’s 2026 season opener 13-10 at Lumen Field on Wednesday night after raising its Super Bowl LX banner.

Lock told John Boyle of Seahawks.com the play was new to him. “It is like a classic football play. But, no. No, definitely never ran it. Looked kind of funny before the snap. I didn’t really seem like they had anybody ready to match Jaxon based on what I knew we were about it run. He’s the third read in that play, and when 11 is just standing there, you got to give him the pill.”

Sam Darnold left after five snaps with a right hip injury on a sack by Dre’Mont Jones. Coach Mike Macdonald said X-rays and a CT scan ruled out a fracture, which he called “great news,” though more tests including an MRI were scheduled and Darnold’s status for Week 2 at Arizona on Sept. 20 remains unclear, per Seahawks.com and ESPN.

Lock finished 16-of-22 for 187 yards and the one score. Smith-Njigba caught eight passes for 122 yards, more than half of Seattle’s receiving total. The defense intercepted Drake Maye three times in the second half, the last a toe-tap by Josh Jobe in the end zone with 21 seconds left after New England reached the Seattle 16.

Lumen Field had already been loud from the banner ceremony and Kam Chancellor’s introduction. The fourth-down score sent the crowd into another surge. Tight ends A.J. Barner and Eric Saubert sealed the edges downfield as Smith-Njigba cut once and outran the pursuit.

Smith-Njigba said after the game he was glad the call was a pass. “They thought it was a run. I believe they sent a blitz. My job was to find the zone, and Drew did a great job finding me,” he told reporters, as quoted across multiple outlets including The Athletic.

Lock keeps a whiteboard next to his bed and draws every play because backups get almost no first-team reps. Cooper Kupp noted Lock took virtually none with the starters during the week. That preparation showed when the play clock and the Patriots’ look both pointed to a run.

The scheme fit the moment. New offensive coordinator Brian Fleury dialed play-action on fourth-and-short. New England loaded the box. Lock bootlegged left, threaded the ball through traffic, and hit the third read because the first two were covered and Smith-Njigba was standing alone. Seattle’s defense then took over, which is how Lock said he wants to play when Darnold is out.

“Knowing the type of defense that we have, there is no rush to push the ball down the field. Let’s find ways to get the ball in our guys’ hands. … You got the best defense in the world, in my opinion, let’s keep the ball moving forward and see what the scoreboard looks like at the end of this.”

— Drew Lock, via Seahawks.com

The Seahawks official account posted the highlight shortly after the score: “Catch and run. 45 yards. TOUCHDOWN!” —

Catch and run. 45 yards. TOUCHDOWN! @jaxon_smith1

📺: NBC pic.twitter.com/6jud9zrgap

— Seattle Seahawks (@Seahawks) September 10, 2026

Seattle now has 10 extra days before traveling to Arizona. Lock will get the first-team work this week while the team waits on Darnold’s MRI results. The offense was sloppy — 10 penalties for 98 yards, including an illegal shift that wiped out a would-be touchdown — but the defense and one unpracticed throw were enough.

Miami Dolphins coach Jeff Hafley did not reach for a slogan this week. He reached for Bruce Springsteen.

In an interview published Thursday by the Palm Beach Post, Hafley recited Springsteen lines as if they were part of the game plan. “When this game is over, I won’t walk out a loser,” he said, repeating words that belong to “No Surrender,” not to a coach’s press-sheet. Three days before his first NFL regular-season game as a head coach, that is the tone he wants in the building.

Palm Beach Post columnist Hal Habib posted the piece on X on Thursday, calling the music a window into how Hafley thinks —

Dolphins coach Jeff Hafley: 'When this game is over, I won’t walk out a loser.' He's quoting a fellow Jersey guy, Bruce @springsteen. Hafley's musical tastes open a window into who he is, why he does what he does and what inspires him. https://t.co/KBakM2RJ58

— Hal Habib (@gunnerhal) September 10, 2026

A Jersey soundtrack for a first-year Dolphins coach

Hafley, 47, grew up in Montvale, New Jersey, about 75 miles from the Asbury Park streets Springsteen made famous, according to the Palm Beach Post. He told the paper that people from the state claim “blue-collar toughness” as a point of pride: grit, energy, humor, sarcasm. He listed “No Surrender,” “Tougher Than the Rest,” and “Blood Brothers” among the songs that still land. He used Springsteen’s little-known track “Happy,” later released on the Tracks box set, as his wedding song.

One line from “The River” stays with him: “Is a dream a lie if it don’t come true, or is it something worse?” Hafley told the Post the lyric hit harder as he got older. That is not locker-room wallpaper. It is a first-year coach staring at a roster that oddsmakers have already written off.

The Dolphins named Hafley head coach on Jan. 19, 2026, pairing him with general manager Jon-Eric Sullivan after firing Mike McDaniel and longtime GM Chris Grier. Owner Stephen Ross praised Hafley’s “tenacity and grit” in the team’s announcement. Hafley spent 2024 and 2025 as Green Bay’s defensive coordinator after four seasons as Boston College’s head coach (22-26) and earlier NFL stops with the 49ers, Browns, and Buccaneers, plus Ohio State in 2019.

Why the message fits this roster

Miami is not asking Hafley to preserve last year’s identity. An Associated Press season preview framed 2026 as a reset: Tua Tagovailoa, Tyreek Hill, and Jaylen Waddle are gone. Malik Willis, a former Packers backup, is the starting quarterback. De’Von Achane remains the offensive constant after a 1,350-yard rushing season and a new contract. Hafley will call the defense from the sideline, with Sean Duggan working upstairs.

The scheme choice is the point. Hafley is not selling tempo and space as the franchise’s first language. He is selling physical play and simple rules so players can run without hesitation. On Wednesday, according to WFLX, the Dolphins piped crowd noise through practice to mimic a road opener. Hafley told reporters he wants a clear mind and fast feet. “Let it rip,” he said, and live with the film later.

That is the football translation of “No Surrender.” A team this young cannot bluff experience. It can decide, down after down, not to play scared. Hafley said the same thing about his own calls: he will not sit on ideas to look smart in December. If the players can execute it, he will throw it on Sunday.

Win totals via CBS Sports and DraftKings; 2023–25 results are official regular-season records.

Books have Miami’s 2026 over/under at 3.5 wins, among the lowest in the league, CBS Sports reported this month. The Palm Beach Post noted the same number. That is the market’s read, not a team announcement. It does explain why Hafley keeps talking like an underdog from North Jersey instead of a coach inheriting a finished product.

Week 1 in Las Vegas, with The Boss still on the radio

The Dolphins open Sunday at the Las Vegas Raiders, 4:25 p.m. ET, on FOX, per the NFL schedule. Hafley told team reporters he may finally exhale during the anthem, long enough to think about the people who got him here. Then the noise takes over.

Springsteen’s 20-date Land of Hope and Dreams American Tour stopped at Amerant Bank Arena in Sunrise on April 23, according to Springsteen’s official site. Whether Hafley was in the building is unconfirmed. On Thursday, Springsteen released the first cut of the tour’s Philadelphia finale, NME reported. The timing is coincidence. The overlap is not: a Jersey coach in South Florida, asking a thin roster to play as if the dream is still alive.

Hafley is not promising a playoff run. He is asking the Dolphins to sound like the record he grew up on — stubborn, a little sarcastic, and unwilling to walk out a loser when the clock hits zero.

AJ Brown injury leaves Patriots without their new No. 1 receiver

A.J. Brown’s first night in a Patriots uniform ended with a limp, a walking boot, and a Thursday MRI. New England’s new wide receiver left Wednesday’s 13-10 loss to the Seattle Seahawks in the third quarter with a right ankle injury and did not return, as ESPN reported from Lumen Field.

By Thursday morning, NFL Network’s Ian Rapoport and Mike Garafolo reported Brown is believed to have suffered a high-ankle sprain. X-rays were negative for a fracture. Brown was scheduled for an MRI on Thursday to determine how much time he will miss. Rapoport posted the update on X: “X-Rays were negative for a fracture. Brown has an MRI today to determine how much time he’ll miss.” —

#Patriots WR AJ Brown, who left last night’s opener because of an injury, is believed to have suffered a high-ankle sprain, per me and @MikeGarafolo.

X-Rays were negative for a fracture. Brown has an MRI today to determine how much time he’ll miss. pic.twitter.com/CEeCEqWBFK

— Ian Rapoport (@RapSheet) September 10, 2026

That diagnosis is reported, not yet confirmed by the Patriots. Coach Mike Vrabel offered no medical detail after the game. “I don’t have any update yet,” Vrabel said, according to NBC Sports. “Wasn’t able to return, obviously.”

How the play happened

The injury came on New England’s first series of the second half. Drake Maye threw low on third down. Seahawks cornerback Nehemiah Pritchett broke up the pass and his knee landed on the outside of Brown’s right ankle, ESPN reported. Brown stayed down, grabbed the back of his right leg, then walked slowly to the sideline. He went into the medical tent without his right cleat and later headed to the locker room with trainers, per the Boston Globe.

Before he left, Brown had three catches for 26 yards on four targets. He also drew a pass-interference penalty on an underthrown deep ball that set up rookie tight end Eli Raridon’s 2-yard touchdown, the first score of the 2026 season.

Lumen Field was loud from kickoff. Seattle had just raised its Super Bowl LX banner in front of 68,744 fans on a 74-degree night, according to game data compiled by theScore. The noise did not let up after Brown went down. New England’s offense stalled without him.

What the MRI has to settle

A high-ankle sprain damages the ligaments that connect the tibia and fibula above the ankle joint. Recovery depends on the grade. Physical therapist Jeff Mueller, reviewing the play on X, sketched the range many doctors use for this injury: “AJ Brown – suspecting high ankle. Worst case: 6-8 weeks or w/ fib fracture. Best case: 3-4 weeks RTP.” —

Updated thoughts:

1. Sam Darnold – CT negative, ruled out fracture, getting MRI today. Could still have labral tear. If repaired, season over. Hope for no surgery needed

2. AJ Brown – suspecting high ankle
Worst case: 6-8 weeks or w/ fib fracture
Best case: 3-4 weeks RTP https://t.co/iHl3dlmCTS

— Jeff Mueller, PT, DPT (@jmthrivept) September 10, 2026

That is speculation from tape, not a team diagnosis. The negative X-rays already cut off the fracture path Mueller flagged overnight. The MRI will show whether the syndesmosis is stable and how much time New England is looking at.

The Patriots host the Pittsburgh Steelers on Sunday, Sept. 20, per the team schedule. That gives Brown 11 days between games. Even a mild sprain would make Week 2 a long shot. A more typical high-ankle sprain often keeps NFL receivers out two to six weeks, a range a team source cited to The Athletic. Placing Brown on injured reserve would open a roster spot but would require him to miss at least four games. That move has not been announced.

Maye’s night collapsed after Brown left

Maye finished 23 of 33 for 178 yards, one touchdown and three interceptions, all in the fourth quarter, according to ESPN. His passer rating was 54.9. The last pick, intended for Mack Hollins, was taken by Josh Jobe in the end zone with 21 seconds left and New England in field-goal range.

Maye had last season’s MVP runner-up résumé. He also had no Brown after early in the third quarter, and the Seahawks’ defense kept squeezing the pocket. Per Pro Football Focus, Seattle pressured him on 38.1 percent of dropbacks. Under pressure he completed 3 of 8 passes.

Romeo Doubs did not catch any of his three targets. One of those incompletions was tipped and became an interception, the Boston Globe noted. Hollins led New England with 51 receiving yards after Brown exited. If Brown sits, Doubs, Hollins and DeMario Douglas become Maye’s primary options against Pittsburgh.

After the game, Doubs said Brown told the receiver group he would be all right, per reporting circulated by MassLive’s Mark Daniels and quoted by Mueller on X. That is a teammate’s message, not a medical clearance.

Seattle had its own scare — and better news Thursday

The low-scoring opener had an injury on the other sideline first. Sam Darnold lasted five snaps. Dre’Mont Jones sacked him on third down of Seattle’s opening drive. Darnold limped to the tent, then to the locker room, and was ruled out before halftime with a hip injury, as NFL.com detailed.

Coach Mike Macdonald said postgame that tests ruled out a fracture. Drew Lock then completed 16 of 22 passes for 187 yards and a 45-yard touchdown to Jaxon Smith-Njigba in a 13-10 win, per The Athletic.

Thursday brought a clearer picture for Seattle. Adam Schefter reported that Darnold underwent an MRI in the morning and that team doctors were still reviewing how much time he will miss. “It is expected to be some, but for now the team believes it, as one source described, ‘dodged a bullet.’” —

Seahawks QB Sam Darnold underwent an MRI on his hip this morning that team doctors still are reviewing to determine how much time he will miss. It is expected to be some, but for now the team believes it, as one source described, “dodged a bullet.” pic.twitter.com/w3SIU8pi7x

— Adam Schefter (@AdamSchefter) September 10, 2026

Ian Rapoport separately said Darnold is expected to miss next week’s game at Arizona but could return in a few weeks, according to Sporting News. That remains reporting, pending the Seahawks’ official week-to-week designation.

What it means for New England

The Patriots paid a 2028 first-round pick and a 2027 fifth-rounder to get Brown from Philadelphia on June 1, ESPN noted. They needed a physical outside receiver who could win contested catches and force coverages off Maye. One night in Seattle showed the gap. After Brown left, New England managed no points and three turnovers.

The scheme problem is simple. Without Brown, Seattle could sit on Hollins and Doubs and bring pressure. Maye’s deep ball, already off target on the play that injured Brown, had no reliable outlet. Holding Brown out until the ankle is stable is the cautious path. Rushing him back for Week 2 would put a high-ankle sprain on a receiver whose game is built on cutting and contact.

Thursday’s MRI is the next hard fact. Until those results are released, Brown’s absence should be treated as multi-week and unconfirmed in length — not as a secret long-term deal or a season already lost.

The 2026 NFL season already has a Super Bowl rematch in the books. Now it heads 8,000 miles away.

After the Seattle Seahawks beat the New England Patriots 13-10 on Wednesday night, the Los Angeles Rams and San Francisco 49ers open their seasons Thursday at Melbourne Cricket Ground. Kickoff is 8:35 p.m. ET. Local time in Australia is 10:35 a.m. Friday. It is the first regular-season NFL game ever played in Australia, and it streams nationally on Netflix rather than Amazon’s Thursday Night Football package.

According to NFL.com, the league pushed the traditional Kickoff Game to Wednesday so this international matchup could occupy Thursday night in the United States. The Rams are the designated home team.

How to watch Rams vs. 49ers

Netflix holds national rights. Pregame coverage starts at 6:30 p.m. ET, per Netflix. Fans in the two local markets also get an over-the-air simulcast: KNBC in Los Angeles and NBC Bay Area in San Francisco, as reported by USA TODAY.

Noah Eagle has the play-by-play. Hall of Fame linebacker Luke Kuechly makes his booth debut as analyst. Tom Pelissero and MJ Acosta-Ruiz work the sidelines. Terry McAulay is the rules analyst. Elle Duncan hosts the studio show with Michael Irvin, Nick Foles and Clay Matthews.

CBS Sports listed the Rams as 3.5-point favorites with a 48.5-point total heading into kickoff. The line has sat in that range most of gameday.

Two teams, two clocks

The game is a laboratory as much as a rivalry. The 49ers arrived about a week early and practiced in Melbourne so they could reset to local time. The Rams flew out of Los Angeles on Tuesday night, landed Thursday morning in Australia, and plan to leave soon after the final whistle. The Athletic reported they will spend roughly as many hours in the air as they will on the ground.

Sean McVay is trying to keep his roster on California time. A 10:35 a.m. kickoff in Melbourne lands near late afternoon on a Pacific body clock, the window some performance researchers treat as a physical peak. Kyle Shanahan took the opposite bet: give the roster several days to feel normal again after a 15-to-16-hour flight and a 17-hour time change. Whoever loses will hear about the itinerary first.

The Associated Press preview from Melbourne described a stadium built for more than 100,000, with the NFL treating the date as the start of a nine-game international slate. The atmosphere will be unlike a Thursday night at SoFi or Levi’s. Morning light. A cricket ground. A crowd that did not grow up with this rivalry.

What the Rams are bringing

Matthew Stafford won the 2025 AP MVP after throwing for 4,707 yards and 46 touchdowns, according to NFL.com. Puka Nacua and Davante Adams remain the headliners on the outside. The offseason work happened on defense.

Los Angeles traded for Kansas City cornerback Trent McDuffie, then signed his former Chiefs teammate Jaylen Watson. In June the Rams sent Jared Verse and three draft picks to Cleveland for Myles Garrett, the reigning Defensive Player of the Year who set the single-season sack record with 23, as The Associated Press reported. Aaron Donald then ended a two-year retirement and signed a one-year deal. He will not play Thursday. McVay ruled him out while he ramps up after two seasons away, a status confirmed by Sporting News and team reports.

That still leaves Garrett opposite Trent Williams. The Rams want one-on-one rushes and tight coverage behind them. Without Donald in the middle, San Francisco can slide extra help to Garrett and dare interior players to win first downs against Christian McCaffrey.

What the 49ers are bringing back

San Francisco is healthier at the top of the roster than it has been in a year. Nick Bosa (ACL) and George Kittle (Achilles) are off the injury report and will play, CBS Sports reported Thursday. Dre Greenlaw is cleared. Mike Evans, signed in March after 12 seasons in Tampa Bay, was removed from the injury report this week and is expected to start.

The depth chart still has holes. Ricky Pearsall had season-ending PCL surgery in August, per The Associated Press. Deebo Samuel returned on a one-year deal after a season in Washington. Brock Purdy remains the quarterback. The 49ers’ problem the last two years has not been talent on paper. It has been keeping that talent on the field for four quarters.

Scheme-wise, this is Shanahan’s outside zone against a Rams front built to wreck it. If Bosa can rush without rust and McCaffrey can force McDuffie and Watson to tackle in space, San Francisco can keep Stafford off schedule. If Garrett wins early downs, the 49ers’ rebuilt receiver room has to beat press coverage on third-and-long.

Wednesday’s Kickoff Game was a reminder that Week 1 can look ugly. Drake Maye threw three fourth-quarter interceptions in Seattle’s 13-10 win, including a game-sealing pick by Josh Jobe in the end zone, according to The Associated Press via FOX 13 Seattle. Maye called the final throw “unacceptable.” The Rams and 49ers will try to look sharper on a Friday morning in Melbourne.

The NFL is investigating Philadelphia Eagles chief security officer Domenico “Big Dom” DiSandro after comments former linebacker Emmanuel Acho made on his Speakeasy podcast, longtime Eagles reporter Derrick Gunn reported Wednesday. The league has not confirmed the inquiry. Neither have the Eagles.

Gunn posted on X that the NFL is “still investigating” DiSandro based on Acho’s early-August episode. Acho “never mentioned a name,” Gunn wrote, “but it has been widely speculated he was referring to Big Dom.”

"The NFL is still investigating Eagles head of security Dom DiSandro based on comments made by Emmanuel Acho on his Speakeasy Podcast back in early August … Acho who played for 3 NFL teams never mentioned a name . But it has been widely speculated he was referring to Big Dom "

— Gunn On One with Derrick Gunn (@GunnOnOne) September 9, 2026

According to Pro Football Talk, Acho told the story after 49ers coach Kyle Shanahan publicly took blame for a July crash that a state database had wrongly pinned on the other driver. Acho used his own playing days as the comparison.

What Acho said — and what he did not say

Acho said he rear-ended another car while heading to practice, then called a member of his team’s security staff. That person, Acho recalled, told him to send the first officer away. A second officer would arrive and assign fault to the other driver.

“He says, ‘Acho, when the cop shows up, send the cop away. I’m going to send you another cop. And that other cop is going to say it wasn’t your fault. It was their fault.’” — Emmanuel Acho, Speakeasy, as reported by Pro Football Talk

Acho said the second officer did show up and did assign fault to the other driver. Once that driver learned he played for the Eagles, Acho said, she claimed she and her daughter were hurt. Team security then offered two home tickets and signed jerseys. The other party, Acho said, dropped the injury claim.

He did not name the team. He did not name the security official. He played for three clubs: the Cleveland Browns, who drafted him in the sixth round in 2012; a brief New York Giants practice-squad stop in 2013; and the Eagles, the only team for which he appeared in a regular-season game. Per NFL.com, that Eagles stretch covered 20 games in 2013 and 2014.

That résumé is why speculation landed on Philadelphia. It is also why the leap from “unnamed security person on one of three teams” to “Big Dom is under league review” still sits in the reported-but-unconfirmed column. The Spun noted it has not independently confirmed the investigation. The New York Post said it asked the NFL for comment Thursday morning and had not received a reply.

Who Big Dom is inside the Eagles building

DiSandro is not a sideline extra. He is the Eagles’ chief security officer, senior adviser to general manager Howie Roseman, and director of gameday coaching operations. He joined the club in 1999 after Penn State and South Philadelphia roots, then moved into the top security job after Butch Buchanico retired. Players have called him family. Jason Kelce nicknamed him “Papa Bear.”

The Athletic reported in May that Philadelphia signed him to a contract extension, keeping the NFL’s most visible security official in the building. Roseman has publicly praised his feel for people and his work vetting draft prospects. That is the job description the league is now, according to Gunn, examining against Acho’s account.

DiSandro has already drawn league discipline in other settings. The NFL fined the Eagles $100,000 and barred him from the sideline for the rest of the 2023 regular season after a sideline clash with then-49ers linebacker Dre Greenlaw. In 2025, the league fined the club $75,000 after DiSandro used a cellphone in a prohibited bench area during a preseason game; an appeal was denied, two people told the Associated Press.

Why the league would look — and why the facts still have gaps

If Acho’s story is accurate as told, the conduct is not a harmless locker-room favor. Steering a crash investigation by swapping officers would implicate team security and a police department. That sits far outside the NFL’s personal-conduct policy DiSandro is paid to teach players.

Context matters. Shanahan’s July 14 crash in Palo Alto became a league-wide story because the 49ers waited 11 days to disclose it, and a state database initially blamed the other driver. Palo Alto police later called that a clerical error. Shanahan said he was at fault after dropping his phone. That sequence is what pulled Acho into the subject on Speakeasy, according to Mike Florio.

Florio argued that if the league is investigating DiSandro, it should ask the same questions of the Browns and Giants — and, in his view, of security directors around the league. That is analysis, not a finding. No public evidence has tied a named officer, a dated police report, or an official Eagles statement to Acho’s anecdote.

Former Eagles cornerback Asante Samuel did not wait for those details. He ripped Acho on X as a “gossip queen” and said an investigation exists “because fool is dying for attention.”

Like I said before, watch who you do business with. We have an investigation going on because fool is dying for attention and a gossip queen smfh https://t.co/OEDG9wVkGg

— Asante Samuel (@pick_six22) September 9, 2026

Philadelphia opens the 2026 season Sunday at Lincoln Financial Field against the Washington Commanders. DiSandro’s gameday title puts him on the headset and on the sideline when that game kicks off, unless the league or the club says otherwise. As of Thursday afternoon, neither has.

Sam Darnold lasted five snaps on banner-raising night. Then he limped off Lumen Field, and the defending Super Bowl champions spent the rest of Wednesday’s kickoff game finding out whether their quarterback would be around to start the title defense.

Seattle still won. The Seahawks beat the New England Patriots 13-10 after falling behind 10-0, with Drew Lock directing a fourth-quarter rally and the defense picking off Drake Maye three times, the last a Josh Jobe interception in the end zone with 21 seconds left, according to The Athletic.

The score is settled. Darnold’s hip is not.

What the tests have shown so far

Darnold injured his right hip when former Seahawk Dre’Mont Jones sacked him on third-and-6 to end Seattle’s opening drive. He completed 1 of 2 passes for 13 yards, went to the medical tent, then to the locker room, and was ruled out before halftime.

Coach Mike Macdonald said after the game that imaging had ruled out a fracture. “At this point, we were able to rule out a fracture,” Macdonald told reporters. “So there is some more testing to be done. … Right now I think fracture is out, which is great news,” as reported by the Seattle Times.

ESPN’s Adam Schefter reported that Darnold was taken to Harborview Medical Center for a CT scan. The initial result was “encouraging but inconclusive,” and an MRI was scheduled for Thursday. Schefter posted that update here:

Sources: Seahawks QB Sam Darnold has been at Harborview Medical Center in Seattle, undergoing a CT scan on his hip. The initial test was encouraging but inconclusive, and Darnold now is scheduled to undergo an MRI on Thursday.

— Adam Schefter (@AdamSchefter) September 10, 2026

By Thursday afternoon, the MRI had been completed and team doctors were still reviewing it. Schefter reported Darnold is expected to miss some time, but a source told him the Seahawks believe they “dodged a bullet.” The post:

Seahawks QB Sam Darnold underwent an MRI on his hip this morning that team doctors still are reviewing to determine how much time he will miss. It is expected to be some, but for now the team believes it, as one source described, “dodged a bullet.” pic.twitter.com/w3SIU8pi7x

— Adam Schefter (@AdamSchefter) September 10, 2026

That matches later reporting from NBC Sports and Sporting News. No official return date has been announced. Week 2 at Arizona on Sept. 20 remains the first live checkpoint.

Why a labral tear is still the concern

A CT scan is built to find bone. It is less useful for cartilage and the hip labrum, the ring of tissue that helps keep the femoral head stable in the socket. That is why the MRI matters.

Physical therapist Jeff Mueller, PT, DPT, posted Thursday: “CT negative, ruled out fracture, getting MRI today. Could still have labral tear. If repaired, season over. Hope for no surgery needed.” —

Updated thoughts:

1. Sam Darnold – CT negative, ruled out fracture, getting MRI today. Could still have labral tear. If repaired, season over. Hope for no surgery needed

2. AJ Brown – suspecting high ankle
Worst case: 6-8 weeks or w/ fib fracture
Best case: 3-4 weeks RTP https://t.co/iHl3dlmCTS

— Jeff Mueller, PT, DPT (@jmthrivept) September 10, 2026

That is analysis from an injury specialist, not a team diagnosis. A surgically repaired labral tear would likely end Darnold’s 2026 season. A strain, bone bruise, or non-surgical labral issue could mean days or a few weeks. Macdonald’s “great news” line only covered the fracture question. Soft tissue is still open.

The mechanism fits the worry. Jones rode Darnold down on a coverage sack. Darnold’s right side absorbed the landing. He waved trainers off at first, then favored the hip as he left the field. That is the sequence described across NFL.com and ESPN.

Lock bought Seattle a night. The schedule will test him next

Lock went 16-for-22 for 187 yards and a touchdown. The biggest throw came on fourth-and-1 early in the fourth quarter: a short completion to Jaxon Smith-Njigba that Smith-Njigba turned into a 45-yard score to tie the game at 10-10. Jason Myers later hit a 26-yard field goal for the lead.

Maye’s three fourth-quarter interceptions decided the game more than any Seattle drive. The Seahawks still committed 10 penalties for 98 yards and produced almost nothing before Lock’s late push. That is a thin margin if Darnold sits.

Seattle visits the Arizona Cardinals on Sunday, Sept. 20, at 4:25 p.m. ET at State Farm Stadium. The extra days after a Wednesday opener help the training staff. They do not answer whether Lock starts that game. Ian Rapoport reported Thursday that short-term injured reserve remains possible even with encouraging early scans —

From @GMFB: #Seahawks QB Sam Darnold (hip) awaits results of his MRI today, but overall the initial results were encouraging. Short-term IR is still a possibility. pic.twitter.com/m7jZElPaDb

— Ian Rapoport (@RapSheet) September 10, 2026

The crowd at Lumen Field had just seen the Super Bowl LX banner go up. The building went quiet when Darnold grabbed at his hip and walked off. Lock and the defense gave the night back. The MRI review will decide how long that arrangement lasts.

SEATTLE — Romeo Doubs sat shirtless at his locker long after most of his new teammates had dressed and left. The New England Patriots had just blown a 10-0 lead and lost the 2026 season opener 13-10 to the Seattle Seahawks at Lumen Field. Doubs finished with zero catches on three targets. One of those targets was a drop that helped flip the game.

The former Packers receiver signed a four-year, $68 million deal in March to become a featured piece of Drake Maye’s offense alongside A.J. Brown. On Wednesday night he did not catch a pass. After the game he was asked whether confidence was an issue. “No. Like I said, I just wasn’t locked in enough on the football. The results speak for themselves. I’ll be better moving forward,” Doubs said, according to Carlos A. Lopez of SleeperHQ.

Andrew Callahan of the Boston Herald described the scene in the visitors’ locker room: Doubs sat by himself for long stretches after the building had mostly cleared. He posted the observation on X

Doubs is taking tonight hard, sitting by himself for long stretches in a locker room that has almost entirely cleared out.

He had 0 catches on 3 targets, including the drop. https://t.co/FcXGIRvIVC

— Andrew Callahan (@_AndrewCallahan) September 10, 2026

The Patriots controlled the first three quarters of a Super Bowl LX rematch. Maye hit rookie tight end Eli Raridon for a 2-yard touchdown in the second quarter, a score set up by a pass-interference flag drawn by Brown. Andy Borregales added a field goal early in the third to make it 10-0. Seattle starter Sam Darnold had already left with a hip injury after five snaps. Backup Drew Lock was in the game. New England still looked in command.

Then the fourth quarter arrived. Maye threw three interceptions on the Patriots’ final three possessions. The first came on a deep ball intended for Doubs that Rodney Thomas II tipped to Nehemiah Pritchett. Lock answered immediately. On fourth-and-1 he found Jaxon Smith-Njigba for a 45-yard touchdown that tied the score at 10-10, per The Athletic.

On the next Patriots drive Maye rolled right and threw a crossing route to Doubs that should have moved the chains. Doubs had a step. The ball hit his hands and fell. He later said he turned upfield before securing it. “That had nothing to do with Drake. That was 150% me,” he told reporters, as quoted by NBC Sports Boston. The very next play Maye was intercepted by Julian Love. Jason Myers kicked a 26-yard field goal for a 13-10 Seattle lead.

Maye still drove New England to the Seattle 16-yard line with 26 seconds left. Instead of taking the field-goal try that would have tied the game, he forced a pass toward Mack Hollins in the end zone. Josh Jobe made a toe-tap interception to end it. Maye finished 23-of-33 for 178 yards, one touchdown and three interceptions. All three picks came in the fourth quarter. He called the performance “unacceptable” and said he lost patience after taking what the Seahawks defense gave him early, according to ESPN.

Brown left in the third quarter with what multiple reports described as a high-ankle sprain. X-rays were negative. He was scheduled for an MRI on Thursday to determine how much time he will miss, per ESPN and NFL Network. He finished with three catches for 26 yards. With Brown out, Doubs became the top remaining wideout. He did not produce.

The drop and the earlier deep-ball target were not isolated mistakes. Seattle sat in zones and dared Maye to stay patient. For three quarters he did. Once Brown exited and first downs became harder to find, Maye started hunting big plays downfield. Those throws produced all three interceptions. Doubs, still building timing with a new quarterback, was not ready for the jump-ball or the late-game crossing route that required him to finish the catch before turning upfield.

Teammates did not pile on. Mack Hollins stood near Doubs’s locker and said every player in the room has made mistakes. Morgan Moses called Doubs’s willingness to take questions “the definition of a leader,” according to the Boston Globe. Doubs himself kept repeating the same line: he will be better.

The Patriots do not play again until Sept. 20 against the Pittsburgh Steelers. That extra time may matter if Brown’s MRI confirms a multi-week absence. New England already traded Kayshon Boutte in August. The receiving group behind Brown is now Doubs, Hollins, DeMario Douglas and Kyle Williams. Doubs was paid to be more than a depth piece. One night does not erase a $68 million contract, but it does put the next ten days of practice under a microscope.

Maye and Doubs both said the same thing after the game. The film will not lie. The results already spoke.

The New England Patriots did not just drop a Super Bowl rematch in Seattle. They left Lumen Field on Wednesday night without the receiver they acquired to make Drake Maye’s job easier. A.J. Brown’s Patriots debut ended early in the third quarter of a 13-10 loss to the Seahawks, and Thursday’s reporting turned that exit into the team’s first real problem of 2026.

New England led 10-0. Then the fourth quarter swallowed the lead. Maye threw three interceptions on the Patriots’ final three possessions. The more lasting concern is the right ankle injury that took Brown off the field, sent him to the locker room, and later put him in a walking boot.

What happened to AJ Brown in Seattle

Brown caught three passes for 26 yards on four targets before the injury, per the Week 1 receiving totals. His biggest play never showed up in the box score. On a second-quarter flea-flicker, Maye underthrew him downfield. Brown still drew a 34-yard defensive pass interference penalty that put New England at the Seattle 2-yard line and set up a 2-yard touchdown to rookie tight end Eli Raridon, as detailed by the Boston Globe.

The injury came on New England’s first series of the second half. Maye threw low on third down. Seahawks cornerback Nehemiah Pritchett broke up the pass, and replay showed Pritchett’s knee landing on the outside of Brown’s right ankle as the receiver went to the ground. Brown stayed down, grimacing. He walked off slowly, removed his right cleat, spent time in the medical tent, and later went to the locker room. The Patriots first listed him as questionable, then ruled him out before the fourth quarter.

Boston Herald reporter Andrew Callahan posted that Brown left the visitors locker room in a walking boot on his right foot —

A.J. Brown suffered an ankle injury and left the #Patriots locker room in a walking boot on his right foot. Here's all we know: https://t.co/yg38k80kAK pic.twitter.com/FMJmDyY6js

— Andrew Callahan (@_AndrewCallahan) September 10, 2026

The diagnosis so far: reported high-ankle sprain, MRI pending

The Patriots have not issued an official medical designation beyond ruling Brown out of Wednesday’s game. The clearest update Thursday came from NFL Network. Ian Rapoport and Mike Garafolo reported that Brown is believed to have a high-ankle sprain, that X-rays were negative for a fracture, and that an MRI on Thursday would determine how much time he misses.

Rapoport posted the same report on X: Brown is believed to have a high-ankle sprain, X-rays showed no fracture, and the MRI will set the timeline —

#Patriots WR AJ Brown, who left last night’s opener because of an injury, is believed to have suffered a high-ankle sprain, per me and @MikeGarafolo.

X-Rays were negative for a fracture. Brown has an MRI today to determine how much time he’ll miss. pic.twitter.com/CEeCEqWBFK

— Ian Rapoport (@RapSheet) September 10, 2026

That remains reported, not team-confirmed. The Athletic, citing a team source, also described a right high-ankle sprain and said additional testing Thursday would establish severity. High-ankle sprains often sideline NFL receivers for multiple weeks. The grade still matters. Until the MRI results are public, any specific return date is speculation.

New England does not play again until Sept. 20 against the Pittsburgh Steelers at Gillette Stadium, per the Patriots schedule. That 10-day gap is the only built-in cushion.

How the game slipped after Brown left

The scoreboard still showed New England in control when Brown went down. Andy Borregales hit a 50-yard field goal to make it 10-0. Seattle, already without Sam Darnold after a first-drive hip injury, needed Drew Lock to finish the night. Lock did. He completed 16 of 22 passes for 187 yards and found Jaxon Smith-Njigba for a 45-yard touchdown on fourth-and-1, tying the game at 10, according to The Athletic.

Maye then gave the game away in pieces. Nehemiah Pritchett intercepted a deep ball intended for Romeo Doubs. Julian Love picked him off on third-and-14. Josh Jobe closed it with an end-zone interception on third-and-5 from the Seattle 16, with New England close enough to attempt a tying field goal. Maye finished 23 of 33 for 178 yards, one touchdown, three interceptions and 47 rushing yards on seven carries.

I lost patience and it cost us. It’s unacceptable.

Drake Maye, postgame, via NFL.com

That is the confirmed football. The analytical question is why the margin got so thin so fast. Brown’s value was never going to live only in three catches. He occupied a corner and a safety. Once he left, Seattle could tighten the box and crowd the middle. Doubs finished without a catch on three targets. DeMario Douglas had five catches for 20 yards. Mack Hollins led the team with four receptions for 51 yards. Rhamondre Stevenson ran 18 times for 51 yards and added five catches for 44.

The defense bought time. Christian Gonzalez allowed one catch for 4 yards on five targets and posted the highest PFF grade on the Patriots, per PFF. New England held Seattle scoreless into the third quarter. The problem was simple: once the game tightened, Maye had fewer answers outside the hashes.

What it means next — and what it does not

Declaring the season over after one September night is noise. The Patriots still have Doubs, Douglas, Hollins, Hunter Henry and Stevenson. They can lean on the run and force Maye to live underneath until Brown’s MRI sets a calendar. They also paid a 2028 first-round pick and a 2027 fifth-rounder to get Brown from Philadelphia in June, as reported by The Associated Press. That investment only works if he is available for the stretch that matters.

Romeo Doubs told reporters Brown addressed the locker room and said everything would be all right, according to the Boston Herald. That is the human beat from the room. It is not a medical clearance.

The honest landing spot Thursday afternoon is narrow. The loss is confirmed. The walking boot is confirmed. The negative X-rays and the planned MRI are reported by credentialed NFL insiders. The length of the absence is not. If Brown misses one game, New England should have enough pieces to survive Pittsburgh. If the sprain keeps him out several weeks, Maye loses the perimeter threat the offense was built around this offseason. That is the concern worth carrying out of Week 1. The panic can wait for the MRI.

The Los Angeles Rams are not trying to become Australian by Friday morning. They are trying to stay on California time long enough to play a football game, then leave.

ESPN’s Peter Schrager reported Thursday that the Rams’ sleep schedule is now locked. The team slept on the overnight flight from Los Angeles, checked into the hotel for a single night in Melbourne, and planned to wake up and play the San Francisco 49ers about 12 hours later. Schrager wrote that this was not a last-minute guess. The organization sent 15 staffers to Australia over the past two years and tracked sleep rhythms before choosing the plan. No turning back now.

The Rams are all in for the night.

It's 9:45 PM in Melbourne. They slept on the flight over and will sleep now in the hotel for one night and they'll wake up and play a football game in 12 hours.

This isn't some trial and error approach. They've sent 15 staffers over last 2…

— Peter Schrager (@PSchrags) September 10, 2026

That report landed on game day for U.S. viewers. Kickoff is set for 8:35 p.m. ET Thursday, which is 10:35 a.m. Friday at the Melbourne Cricket Ground, according to Sporting News. The Rams touched down just before dawn Thursday and hope to fly home before sunset Friday, AP News reported from Melbourne.

Why the Rams refused to flip their body clocks

Sean McVay’s staff treated the trip like an extreme version of a normal road week. Practice at home. Fly after the work is done. Land with enough time for a walk-through, one night of sleep, and a 5:35 p.m. Pacific body-clock kickoff.

McVay said after a short Thursday workout at Marvel Stadium that the group felt fresh. “We’re well-rested. We feel good,” he told reporters, per AP News. He added that many players slept through the night on the flight and that the goal was another good rest before Friday.

Rams president Kevin Demoff made the bedtime explicit. Speaking at a team event outside Crown on Thursday, he said the target was lights out at 8 p.m. local time, with a natural wake-up around 3 or 4 a.m. and a 6:30 or 7 a.m. departure for the stadium, The Age reported. That window lines up with late morning in Los Angeles, which is the point. Keep the circadian rhythm. Do not let Melbourne reset it.

Sleep researcher Leon Lack of Flinders University argued weeks ago that the Rams’ short stay could help because a 10:30 a.m. local kickoff is an early start for a team that has fully shifted to Australian time. For a roster still running on Pacific hours, that same snap is closer to late afternoon, when reaction time and muscle output typically peak, he told the Sydney Morning Herald. That is analysis, not a guarantee. It is the logic behind the Rams’ bet.

Two NFC West plans, one 17-hour gap

The 49ers chose the opposite experiment. They left the Bay Area on Sept. 2 and landed in Melbourne on the morning of Sept. 4 after a 15-hour charter, then spent a week practicing, sleeping, and adjusting to local time, NFL.com reported. Kyle Shanahan has said people he consulted do not feel normal until the third or fourth day after a flight this long.

By kickoff, San Francisco will have been on the ground about a week. Los Angeles will have been there roughly 28 hours. The Athletic reported that the Rams chartered a double-decker Qantas jet with beds for all 53 active players and planned to be back in the air within two hours after the final whistle.

The flight itself was built for sleep, not scrolling. The Rams left LAX at 10:10 p.m. Tuesday on a Qantas Airbus A380 with lie-flat seats. Those jets still lack Wi-Fi, a point Joe Pompliano flagged as the one real drawback on a 15-hour hop that becomes more than 30 hours in the air over three days.

The Rams are taking a Qantas Airbus A380 from Los Angeles to Melbourne.

That is the largest and most expensive commercial passenger airliner ever built and there are enough lie-flat seats for every player and some coaches.

But those airplanes also don't have wifi, which doesn’t… https://t.co/2f5lGbaq9t

— Joe Pompliano (@JoePompliano) September 9, 2026

No signal is not a glitch in this plan. It is closer to a feature. If the performance staff wants players down after dinner, a dark cabin and a dead phone help more than a movie queue.

McVay has used a compressed international schedule before. The Rams arrived in London on Saturday last season and beat Jacksonville on Sunday, a model NFL.com noted this week. Melbourne is not London. The time change is 17 hours, not five, and no team has tried this exact Pacific crossing with one night in the hotel.

Shanahan has declined to turn the travel split into a prophecy. He told The Age that too many variables decide a three-and-a-half-hour game for anyone to crown one itinerary before kickoff. The New York Post reported that Shanahan himself did not sleep through the night in Melbourne until Tuesday, which is the cost of the acclimation path: you pay the jet-lag bill early so Friday morning feels ordinary.

The Rams are paying it late, or trying not to pay it at all. If Matthew Stafford looks sharp in the first quarter, McVay’s process gets a trophy. If the defense fades after halftime, the same process becomes the explanation. Either way, the loser flies home with a case study attached to the box score.

Melbourne gets the spectacle either way: a packed MCG, the NFL’s first regular-season game in Australia, and two division rivals who spent two years studying the same problem and reached opposite answers.

Aaron Rodgers did not ease off ESPN on the eve of another season. On Part 2 of teammate Cam Heyward’s Not Just Football podcast, released Thursday, the Pittsburgh Steelers quarterback again labeled the network a “gutless organization” and compared its handling of the Dianna Russini–Mike Vrabel controversy with its coverage of San Francisco 49ers owner Jed York’s August arrest in Ohio.

The clip spread quickly on X. Matthew Luciow posted a portion of the exchange Thursday morning —

Aaron Rodgers on Dianna Russini and ESPN:

“I also said your a gutless organization because they haven’t said anything. They spend so much time on certain issues but you won’t talk one second on the Dianna Russini situation. What just happened let’s see the owner of the 49ers… pic.twitter.com/389CmxhH0v

— Matthew Luciow (@matthewluciow92) September 10, 2026

in which Rodgers argued ESPN spent far more energy on York than on a former employee’s relationship with a sitting head coach.

“They spend so much time on certain issues, but you won’t talk one second on the Dianna Russini situation.”

Aaron Rodgers, Not Just Football with Cam Heyward, Sept. 10, 2026

Rodgers then pointed to York. He said the 49ers owner “solicited a prostitute for $140 in Ohio” and that the arrest “literally was the number one topic” on ESPN.com’s featured slot. Court records obtained by ESPN did report that York arranged a meeting after answering an undercover ad and that the initial figure cited in those records was $140. York was arrested Aug. 23 in East Palestine, Ohio, then pleaded no contest the next day to misdemeanor disorderly conduct and possessing criminal tools.

That part of Rodgers’ complaint is easy to check. ESPN published multiple follow-ups, including a later incident-report story and coach Kyle Shanahan’s comments that the case had “no effect” on the team, per another ESPN dispatch. Whether the York item sat as the site’s single featured story, as Rodgers described it, is his characterization. The volume of coverage is not in dispute.

What ESPN actually published on Russini

Rodgers’ claim that ESPN said nothing is not accurate. On Sept. 3, the network ran a detailed account by Ben Strauss of The Athletic’s internal review. That ESPN report said Russini’s relationship with Patriots coach Mike Vrabel “was in clear violation of The Athletic’s standards,” even as the review found no clear evidence she used her platform to promote Vrabel or his teams.

The photos that started the story ran in April in the New York Post. Russini resigned from The Athletic that month. The New York Times later examined how the relationship collided with newsroom rules in a June feature. The NFL, according to CBS Sports, declined to open a personal-conduct investigation into Vrabel.

Rodgers is not arguing the facts of those photos. He is arguing the editorial choice. In his view, a reporter who covers the league and holds awards votes sits closer to competitive integrity than an owner’s off-field arrest. He asked why ESPN would “throw Jed York under the bus” while, as he put it, a reporter had “intimate relations with a coach who has a vote for MVP” and Coach of the Year.

Russini has been an Associated Press NFL awards voter. AP ballots published after the 2024 awards listed her name, per AP News. Whether she still holds a 2026 ballot, and how she voted in 2025, has not been independently confirmed here. That distinction matters. A conflict of interest is a fair question. An unreleased ballot is not proof of a fixed result.

The business backdrop Rodgers is hinting at

Rodgers also floated a broader theory: that “there’s a lot more to it” and that the NFL will “protect the shield.” That is speculation. It is not a documented league directive.

The business link he is circling does exist. In February, AP News reported ESPN closed its acquisition of NFL Network and related assets, with the league taking a 10 percent equity stake in ESPN. Shared ownership does not prove a blackout on any one story. It does explain why a quarterback who already distrusts the network keeps connecting coverage decisions to the league’s media partners.

This is not a new fight for him. On Aug. 3, Rodgers used The Pat McAfee Show — which airs on ESPN — to ask how much time the network spent on Russini. According to AS USA, citing Pro Football Talk, ESPN had no comment then. There is no public ESPN response to Thursday’s podcast remarks as of this writing.

Rodgers is entering what he has described as his final NFL season after leading Pittsburgh to the AFC North title in 2025. He passed for 3,322 yards, 24 touchdowns and seven interceptions in the regular season, per ESPN team statistics, then lost 30-6 to Houston in the wild-card round. The football file is settled. The media argument is the one he keeps reopening.

The useful question is narrower than the language he used. ESPN did cover Russini. It covered York harder and faster. Awards voting and newsroom disclosure are legitimate pressure points. A charge that the network said “nothing,” or that the league buried the file to protect itself, still needs more than a podcast theory to stand as fact.

Patriots blow 10-0 lead after Maye’s third fourth-quarter pick

The New England Patriots led the Seattle Seahawks for most of Wednesday night’s season opener at Lumen Field. They still lost 13-10. Drake Maye threw three interceptions in the fourth quarter, and the last one ended the Super Bowl LX rematch with New England already in range for a tying kick.

Trailing 13-10, the Patriots reached the Seattle 16-yard line with 26 seconds left, well inside Andy Borregales’ range after his earlier 50-yard field goal, according to ESPN. On third-and-5, Maye faded off his back foot and lofted the ball toward Mack Hollins in the end zone. Josh Jobe toe-tapped the interception with 21 seconds remaining.

A field goal would have sent the game to overtime. Maye did not get that far.

Ari Meirov posted on X: “The final Drake Maye INT is difficult to explain. Just a reckless decision considering the circumstances.” —

The final Drake Maye INT is difficult to explain.

Just a reckless decision considering the circumstances. pic.twitter.com/RdDllHIi9B https://t.co/KbeLcX2MBk

— Ari Meirov (@MySportsUpdate) September 10, 2026

The call was quick game. The throw was not

The replay on the NBC broadcast showed both Patriots tackles cutting at the snap. That is the tell for a quick-game concept: get the ball out in about two seconds. Maye held it. Pressure arrived. The ball floated short of Hollins and into Jobe’s hands.

Andrew Callahan of the Boston Herald posted on X after speaking with players: “This play was supposed to be a quick-game concept, according to multiple Patriots players in the locker room. Obvious breakdowns contributed to the final INT.” —

This play was supposed to be a quick-game concept, according to multiple #Patriots player in the locker room. Obvious breakdowns contributed to the final INT. https://t.co/6dIXce20g7

— Andrew Callahan (@_AndrewCallahan) September 10, 2026

Callahan later wrote in the Boston Herald that Will Campbell and Morgan Moses cut-blocked on the snap and that Maye was supposed to get rid of the ball immediately. Maye himself described the protection the same way. He told reporters he was trying to get rid of it, saw Hollins in the back of the end zone, and “didn’t put enough on it to get it out,” per ESPN.

I thought we had a good plan to try to start chipping away and be patient. Lost patience and it cost us.

Drake Maye, postgame, via ESPN

He called the night “unacceptable.” Head coach Mike Vrabel, speaking after the game, said the Patriots wanted to be aggressive, “not reckless,” and added, “You can’t throw three interceptions. Drake knows that,” according to NFL.com.

How a 10-0 lead vanished

Seattle opened the night by raising its Super Bowl banner in front of 68,744 at Lumen Field on a 74-degree evening, then lost starting quarterback Sam Darnold five plays in to a hip injury. Drew Lock took over. New England still built a 10-0 lead: Maye’s 2-yard touchdown to rookie tight end Eli Raridon in the second quarter and Borregales’ 50-yarder early in the third, per the ESPN box score.

The fourth quarter flipped on three Maye turnovers. Nehemiah Pritchett intercepted a deep ball intended for Romeo Doubs after a tip. Lock immediately hit Jaxon Smith-Njigba for a 45-yard touchdown on fourth-and-1 to tie the game. Julian Love picked Maye on the next series. Jason Myers kicked a 26-yard field goal for the 13-10 lead. Jobe finished it.

Maye finished 23 of 33 for 178 yards, one touchdown and three interceptions. All three picks came on throws of 20-plus air yards, NFL.com reported. He went 20 of 23 on throws under 10 air yards. Lock went 16 of 22 for 187 yards and the Smith-Njigba score.

Maye became the second quarterback in 25 seasons to throw three interceptions in the fourth quarter of a season opener, joining Baker Mayfield in 2019, ESPN noted. His only multi-interception game last season, including the playoffs, was Super Bowl LX against these same Seahawks.

A.J. Brown left in the third quarter with a right ankle injury and did not return. NFL Network’s Ian Rapoport and Mike Garafolo reported Thursday that Brown is believed to have a high-ankle sprain, with X-rays negative and an MRI scheduled. That remains reported, not a team confirmation. All three of Maye’s interceptions came after Brown exited.

Why the decision failed, and what comes next

Seattle sat in deep zones early and dared Maye to take the checkdowns. He did, and New England moved the chains. In the fourth, he hunted explosives into coverage. The first pick was a jump ball to Doubs. The second was a late seam toward DeMario Douglas that Love undercut. The third was a forced ball when the offense only needed a sack, an incompletion, or a spike to set up Borregales.

Quick game works when the quarterback trusts the first window. Cut blocks buy that window, then leave the passer exposed if he holds. Maye held. The Seahawks’ edge defender hurdled the cut and closed. That is scheme meeting a decision, not bad luck.

New England hosts Pittsburgh on Sept. 20. The film will start with those three fourth-quarter throws. Maye already put the standard on himself. Patience built the 10-0 lead. Impatience gave it back.

Cleveland Browns quarterback Deshaun Watson entered a not guilty plea Wednesday in Cleveland Municipal Court on a speeding citation issued last month, according to Fox 8. The case is a traffic matter, not a football decision. It still lands three days before Watson’s first regular-season start since October 2024.

Ohio State Highway Patrol troopers cited Watson on Aug. 26 for allegedly driving 86 mph in a 60 mph zone on Interstate 480 in Cleveland. ESPN reported the plea came Wednesday morning and that a bench trial is set for Sept. 23, four days before Cleveland’s home opener against the Carolina Panthers.

What the I-480 stop showed

The ticket came two days after head coach Todd Monken named Watson the Week 1 starter. cleveland.com, citing WKYC, said the stop happened about 8:30 a.m. while Watson was driving a 2022 Ram pickup. Body-camera footage reviewed by WKYC showed Watson handing over his identification and answering the trooper’s questions. He did not argue the citation or identify himself as the Browns quarterback before taking the ticket.

Fox 8 posted the same outline on X on Sept. 9: Watson is preparing for Jacksonville while fighting a speeding ticket —

Browns quarterback Deshaun Watson will face the Jaguars’ defense Sunday, but right now he’s fighting what most of us face at some point – a speeding ticket. https://t.co/bFm99ANIsW

— fox8news (@fox8news) September 9, 2026

A bench trial on a Wednesday does not automatically pull a starting quarterback off the practice field. It does put a court date on the calendar during the first two weeks of the regular season. NBC Sports noted that Sept. 23 is a work day and that paying the citation would close the file faster than a trial.

The Browns have not issued a public statement on the ticket as of Thursday afternoon. Watson’s status as the Week 1 starter has not changed.

Why Watson is under center in Week 1

Monken announced the decision Aug. 24 on the team’s website. He said the staff reviewed the full offseason, training camp, preseason snaps and joint practices, then concluded Watson gave Cleveland “the best chance to move the ball and score points” on the road, per the Browns.

The job was not uncontested. Shedeur Sanders shared first-team reps through camp. Dillon Gabriel remained in the quarterback room. Monken still chose Watson’s 72 career starts over Sanders’ limited sample, with six of Cleveland’s first nine games scheduled away from Huntington Bank Field.

Watson is a Week 1 captain only. Monken is rotating the “C” weekly rather than locking in season-long captains, NBC Sports reported this week. That distinction matters. The source material called Watson a team captain. The team’s actual designation is narrower.

Sunday’s game at the Jacksonville Jaguars, set for 1 p.m. ET on CBS, will be Watson’s first regular-season start since he tore his right Achilles in October 2024. He missed the rest of that season, then sat out all of 2025 after tearing the same tendon again. The Browns’ 2026 schedule sends Cleveland to Tampa Bay in Week 2 before the Sept. 27 home opener against Carolina and a Thursday night game against the Pittsburgh Steelers on Oct. 1.

Those numbers come from StatMuse. They explain the tension around this start better than a traffic citation does. Cleveland traded three first-round picks to Houston in 2022 and signed Watson to a fully guaranteed five-year, $230 million contract. He has started 19 games in four seasons with the Browns.

The gap from his Houston peak is the football story. Watson made three Pro Bowls with the Texans and led the NFL with 4,823 passing yards in 2020. At Clemson he won the 2016 College Football Playoff national title. That version of Watson is the one Monken is betting can still create off-script throws on early downs in Jacksonville and Tampa, where heat and road noise will test timing more than any municipal court date.

The broader legal history is settled civilly and should stay in that lane. Beginning in March 2021, 27 women filed lawsuits accusing Watson of sexual misconduct, most tied to massage appointments during his Texans years. Grand juries in Texas declined to indict him. The NFL suspended him 11 games in 2022 for violating the personal conduct policy and fined him $5 million. The Associated Press reported in February that the final two civil cases were dismissed after confidential settlements. Watson has denied the allegations. Those cases are separate from the speeding citation.

A 26-mph overage on I-480 does not change a depth chart. The optics do pile onto a quarterback who already carries a heavy contract, a long injury layoff and a fan base that booed him in the preseason. The confirmed facts are narrower: a ticket on Aug. 26, a not-guilty plea on Sept. 9, a bench trial on Sept. 23, and a start at Jacksonville on Sept. 13 unless the Browns say otherwise.

The Dallas Cowboys will open the 2026 season without one of their best offensive linemen. Three-time Pro Bowl left guard Tyler Smith is headed to injured reserve after thumb surgery and is expected to miss four to six weeks, coach Brian Schottenheimer announced Monday.

Smith underwent the procedure Tuesday in Los Angeles to repair a torn ligament in his left thumb. Dr. Steven Shin performed the surgery. The earliest Smith can return is the Oct. 8 Thursday night game against the Tampa Bay Buccaneers, according to ESPN.

Smith tried to play through the problem during training camp. Grip strength matters for an interior lineman, and it reached the point where he could not operate at a high level. “At the end of the day, he felt like he couldn’t do the things he had to do at a high level,” Schottenheimer said, per The Athletic. “This is a long season, so let’s go get it fixed.”

T.J. Bass will start at left guard Sunday night when Dallas visits the New York Giants at MetLife Stadium. The Cowboys placed a second-round restricted free-agent tender on Bass this offseason. The undrafted Oregon product has played in 48 games with 10 starts since 2023, including five starts last season.

Schottenheimer expressed confidence in the replacement. The Cowboys tendered Bass because they trust him as a football player, the coach said Monday, according to CBS Sports.

Roster moves fill the hole

Dallas moved quickly on Wednesday to add interior depth. The team signed Nick Leverett from the practice squad to the 53-man roster. Leverett can serve as the backup interior lineman on gameday while Smith is out, ESPN’s Todd Archer reported. Archer posted on X: “The Cowboys are signing OL Nick Leverett to the active roster from the practice squad, per source.”

The Cowboys are signing OL Nick Leverett to the active roster from the practice squad, per source. With Tyler Smith (thumb) out 4-6 weeks, Leverett can serve as the backup interior lineman on gameday.

— Todd Archer (@toddarcher) September 9, 2026

To replace Leverett on the practice squad, Dallas signed veteran guard Laken Tomlinson. Archer posted on X: “With Nick Leverett added to the 53-man roster, the Cowboys have signed veteran OL Laken Tomlinson to the practice squad.”

With Nick Leverett added to the 53-man roster, the Cowboys have signed veteran OL Laken Tomlinson to the practice squad. He has started 162 games for his career, including seven last year with Houston.

— Todd Archer (@toddarcher) September 9, 2026

Tomlinson, a 2015 first-round pick by the Detroit Lions, has started 162 of 173 career games. He earned a Pro Bowl nod in 2021 with the San Francisco 49ers. Dallas is his seventh NFL team after stops with the Lions, 49ers, Jets, Seahawks, Texans and a brief Ravens practice-squad stint last winter.

The 323-pound guard started seven games for Houston in 2025. He gives the Cowboys a proven body they can elevate if another interior injury hits.

Smith’s absence lands on an offense built around Dak Prescott, CeeDee Lamb and George Pickens. The line had looked healthy coming out of camp. Now the unit that is supposed to keep Prescott clean and open run lanes must do it without its highest-paid guard for at least the first month.

Bass has started next to center Cooper Beebe and left tackle Tyler Guyton before. Communication should not be new. Still, Smith is the best player on that line. Losing him for four games against the Giants, Commanders, Ravens and Texans tests the depth the front office just reinforced.

Owner Jerry Jones said Smith arrived at training camp in Oxnard with the ligament issue and later exacerbated it, according to The Dallas Morning News. The team and player ultimately chose surgery rather than keep trying to tape and brace their way through it.

Smith signed a four-year, $96 million extension last September that made him the highest-paid guard in the league at the time. The Cowboys will now find out how well the rest of the group holds up until he returns.

Caleb Williams no longer wonders how Sunday will feel with a new play-caller in his ear. Four days before the Chicago Bears open the 2026 season at Carolina, the third-year quarterback pointed to something simpler than scheme wrinkles or new targets: he knows the offense now.

Williams told Bears Roundtable the difference from last September is confidence in himself, the playbook, defensive recognition and getting the ball out. Nicholas Moreano posted the comments on X on Sept. 8: “Obviously getting a new coach, you’re wondering how you’re going to gel on game day… I would say that’s the biggest thing, the confidence in myself and the playbook… recognizing defenses and checking the ball down, getting the ball into my guys’ hands, delivering a good ball.”

Bears QB Caleb Williams on how he feels going into this season compared to last year:

"I would say I'm not necessarily second-guessing coach or anything like that. Obviously, getting a new coach, you're wondering how you're going to gel on game day, how things are going to work…

— Nicholas Moreano (@NicholasMoreano) September 8, 2026

That quote lands at the right moment. The Bears play the Panthers on Sunday at 1 p.m. ET. Last year they opened with growing pains in a new system. This year Williams walks in after a full season of reps with head coach Ben Johnson.

From Fragile Start to Proven Tandem

Williams and Johnson did not click overnight. Early in 2025 camp, Williams later said he sometimes felt like he was drowning in details and wondered whether Johnson even liked him. Johnson, for his part, wanted to know if the former No. 1 pick was truly coachable. Those accounts appear in reporting from The Athletic and the Chicago Sun-Times.

By January the relationship had flipped. Williams called Johnson “monumental” after the wild-card win over Green Bay and handed him a game ball. The Bears finished 11-6, won the NFC North and beat the Packers 31-27 in the wild-card round before falling 20-17 in overtime to the Rams in the divisional round at a snowy Soldier Field, per the 2025 season recap and NFL.com.

Williams threw for a franchise-record 3,942 yards, 27 touchdowns and seven interceptions on 58.1 percent completions, according to NFL.com career stats. Sacks dropped from 68 as a rookie to 24. Johnson still wants the completion rate closer to 70 percent. Williams’ own words this week show he is chasing that number through the unglamorous stuff: identification, checkdowns and a catchable ball.

The dip in completion percentage last year was real. So was the jump in production and winning. Johnson’s offense asks Williams to attack when the picture is clear and to live another down when it is not. That is the growth Williams described: seeing the defense, dumping it off, trusting the playmakers.

What It Means in a Loaded NFC North

Johnson has already framed 2026 as a regression-candidate year from the outside. He told reporters in July the team has its own motivation. Williams echoed that internally this week: the standard lives inside Halas Hall, not in the betting markets or the division preview pieces.

The division will not wait. Green Bay remains a physical, well-coached rival. Detroit still has the offensive pieces that made it a yearly threat. Minnesota turned to Kyler Murray as its starter after a camp competition with J.J. McCarthy, the Associated Press reported in August. Murray gives the Vikings a dual-threat veteran in Kevin O’Connell’s scheme. The Bears host Minnesota in Week 2.

Williams’ comfort will be tested immediately. Carolina is not a pushover at home. Johnson’s staff has spent the offseason stressing accuracy, timing and the scramble-drill explosiveness that still sits in Williams’ toolbox. The quarterback’s own checklist now includes the boring completions that keep drives alive. That is how an 11-win team becomes something more than a one-year spike.

The Bears put talent around him again. They will lean on him again. The difference Williams described is that he no longer has to guess whether the coach in the headset believes the same things he does on third-and-6. Last January in the snow, that belief almost carried them past the Rams. This September, it is the starting point instead of the destination.

Chicago Bears general manager Ryan Poles has spent the offseason watching his head coach refuse to treat last year’s NFC North title and playoff win as a finished product. In conversations with The Athletic, Poles credited Ben Johnson with shutting down any chance the building would ease up after the 11-6 campaign and first postseason victory since 2010.

“I don’t think we have to worry about any complacency issues on coach Johnson’s watch,” chairman George McCaskey told The Athletic earlier this month. Poles himself pointed to Johnson’s insistence that 2026 starts at square one. The coach told the organization there would be no carrying over last winter’s results.

That same standard showed up Tuesday at Halas Hall. Johnson named Braxton Jones the starting left tackle for Sunday’s opener at Carolina, according to ESPN and the team’s official site. Jones, a 2022 fifth-round pick who has started every Week 1 game of his career, won the job after a camp competition that also included Theo Benedet. Ozzy Trapilo, last year’s midseason starter, remains on his own recovery timeline from a patellar tendon injury suffered in the playoffs.

Johnson did not lock the position down beyond Sunday. “It’s every position that’s being evaluated,” he said, per ChicagoBears.com. “I just talked to the skill guys on offense. Right now I don’t know when we line up in certain personnel groups who’s going to be our receivers. It’s early. By the time we get to Friday, Saturday, that’s when we’ll stamp them. They’ve earned that during the course of the week. I don’t think it’s any different for the offensive line.”

“Just because I’m saying that here on a Tuesday doesn’t mean that’s how it always shakes out. He’s gotta earn that, Braxton does, as do all the players that are going to be active on game day. They gotta earn it. They gotta show us that they deserve to be out there.”

— Ben Johnson, via ESPN

Jones, who re-signed on a one-year deal this offseason, has started 44 games at left tackle. Injuries have interrupted him in three of the last four years, including a benching last season before he returned later in the year. He called the latest nod a chance to rewrite the next chapter after missing time in camp with right-knee tendinitis.

The same daily-accountability message reaches Caleb Williams. Johnson has used Green Bay Packers tape of Aaron Rodgers this offseason as a teaching tool for the third-year quarterback’s work off-script, The Athletic’s Dan Wiederer reported Wednesday. Johnson highlighted Rodgers’ defined urgency once the pocket broke — the belief that an extended play could still produce a downfield throw or a defensive pass-interference flag — and the way Green Bay receivers reacted instantly.

“They were very defined with what they were doing. You could tell they coached it,” Johnson said. The Bears studied their own 2025 scramble-drill film and saw too many missed opportunities when Williams left the pocket. Johnson wants the same pocket mobility and downfield urgency from his quarterback this year.

Johnson’s approach is not abstract. After an 11-6 regular season, a wild-card win over the Packers and an overtime loss to the Rams in the divisional round, the coach told the building the 2025 run was not a foundation to rest on. Poles noticed more players working at Halas Hall during the offseason and extra throwing sessions organized by Williams. The GM said Johnson “nipped that immediately.”

The Week 1 depth chart therefore functions as a snapshot, not a contract. Jones protects Williams’ blind side Sunday in Charlotte unless the tape from the rest of the week says otherwise. Trapilo continues individual and post-practice work with no timeline announced. Receivers and the rest of the offensive line face the same Friday-Saturday cutoff Johnson described.

That is the culture Poles praised: no one is satisfied, and no starting job is safe past the next practice. The Bears open the season at Bank of America Stadium on Sunday at noon CT on FOX.

The Philadelphia Eagles open the 2026 season Sunday against the Washington Commanders with a first-year offensive coordinator who already has the locker room talking. Sean Mannion, hired in January to replace Kevin Patullo, has drawn unusually strong early reviews from veteran linemen who spent the spring and summer learning a new system.

Left tackle Jordan Mailata first labeled Mannion an “evil genius” during the offseason program. He has not backed off the description. In comments detailed by The Athletic, Mailata said the coordinator’s meetings stand out because Mannion explains how a defense will see each concept.

“I think when we’re being taught the scheme, just the explanation of how the defense is going to see it and what the plan is,” Mailata said. “You see it, and you’re like, ‘That’s actually pretty smart, why didn’t I think about that?’ … There’s a purpose to everything in the plan.”

— Jordan Mailata, via The Athletic (Sept. 9, 2026)

Center Cam Jurgens has echoed the same point. According to The Athletic, Jurgens said Mannion’s strength is “talking through (the offense), why it should be a certain way.” Veteran tight end Johnny Mundt, who played with Mannion in Los Angeles and Minnesota, called the instruction “thorough and very clear.”

Those comments matter because the 2025 offense took a clear step backward. Philadelphia finished 19th in scoring at 22.3 points per game and 24th in total yards at 311.2 yards per game under Patullo, according to AP News and league data compiled by Pro-Football-Reference. The unit that helped win Super Bowl LIX the year before became predictable. Drives stalled. Big plays vanished for stretches.

Mannion, 34, arrives with two years of NFL coaching experience after nine seasons as a backup quarterback. He played under Sean McVay with the Rams and later worked under Matt LaFleur in Green Bay. The scheme he is installing leans on wide-zone runs, more under-center snaps, pre-snap motion and play-action. Those elements are designed to make the run and pass look alike so defenses hesitate on who is covering whom and how the front seven should attack.

Mailata has said the new terminology made him feel like a rookie again after eight years in one system. That adjustment is the test. Meetings can sound sharp. Sunday at Lincoln Financial Field will show whether the line, Jalen Hurts and Saquon Barkley can execute the plan at game speed against a familiar NFC East opponent.

Kickoff is set for 4:25 p.m. ET on FOX, per the NFL schedule. The Eagles have not lost a Week 1 game in the Nick Sirianni-Jalen Hurts era. A cleaner, more purposeful offense would give that streak a stronger foundation than last year’s version provided.

Players keep returning to the same idea: Mannion does not just install plays. He explains why each motion or blocking angle exists and how it should scramble a defense. That buy-in is the first measurable result of the hire. The next one arrives in four days.

Deshaun Watson will start Sunday in Jacksonville. That is the only part of Cleveland’s quarterback plan that is settled on the field. What happens after Week 1 is less certain. What happens on the roster is not.

NFL Network’s Tom Pelissero wrote Wednesday that the Browns are expected to keep Watson on the 53-man roster for the full 2026 season, whether he stays under center or Shedeur Sanders eventually takes the job. “It’s a good bet Cleveland will keep him on the roster all season,” Pelissero wrote in his Week 1 notebook.

That is reported intent, not a team announcement. The on-field hierarchy is official. Head coach Todd Monken named Watson the Week 1 starter on Aug. 24, and the club’s unofficial depth chart released Tuesday lists Watson first, Sanders second and rookie Taylen Green third. Kickoff against the Jaguars is 1 p.m. ET Sunday at EverBank Stadium, per the team and the NFL Week 1 schedule.

Why Cleveland would keep Watson even after a benching

Pelissero’s reporting splits the decision into two buckets. The first is the quarterback room. Sanders is a second-year player. Green is a sixth-round rookie. Dillon Gabriel opened the year on injured reserve. Watson, in the final season of the five-year, $230 million deal he signed after the 2022 trade from Houston, is the only passer in that room who has started a full NFL season.

Cleveland, per Pelissero, sees that experience as useful while Monken installs a new offense. That is analysis from a credentialed reporter, not a quote from Monken or general manager Andrew Berry. It also matches how the staff talked when the job was awarded. Monken said Watson “gave us the best chance to move the ball and score points” on the road in Week 1, according to the Browns’ announcement, and he told reporters the choice was not meant to be week to week.

History cuts against a long leash. Watson has started 19 regular-season games for Cleveland. He last played in October 2024 before tearing his right Achilles, then missed all of 2025 after a second tear of the same tendon, as reported by The Athletic. The Browns have used at least three starting quarterbacks in each of the last three seasons. A short public leash and a long roster commitment can exist at the same time. That is the bind this contract created.

The cap math makes a midseason cut expensive

The second reason is money. Watson’s 2026 salary-cap charge is $40,959,128, with a $46 million cash payout, according to Over The Cap. The deal includes void years used for cap accounting. To use a designated post-June 1 release and split the remaining dead money, Cleveland has to keep him on the roster into March 2027. Over The Cap lists March 12 as the deadline to terminate the contract and take that treatment.

A midseason release would not create cap space. It would accelerate the remaining charges. Dawgs By Nature, citing cap reporting around the void-year structure, laid out the contrast: keep Watson through the season and designate a post-June 1 cut, and the remaining hit splits into roughly $36 million in 2027 and $51.5 million in 2028. Cut him during 2026, and the big 2027 figure stays concentrated instead of spreading.

Those figures come from contract trackers, not from the Browns’ front office. They explain why Berry would treat a midseason divorce as a last resort. The team already reworked the deal in March to create short-term space, as USA Today and Over The Cap detailed. Pushing money out bought 2026 flexibility. It also locked Cleveland into carrying Watson if it wants the cleaner 2027-28 landing.

What the roster around him actually looks like

Watson is not walking into the same supporting cast that failed him in 2024. The initial 53-man roster and Tuesday’s depth chart show a rebuilt line: rookie left tackle Spencer Fano, the No. 9 pick, and free-agent center Elgton Jenkins with the first unit. The News-Herald noted this week that all five projected starting linemen are new from a year ago.

The receivers listed with the ones and twos include Jerry Jeudy, first-round pick KC Concepcion Jr. and second-round pick Denzel Boston. On defense, Denzel Ward and Grant Delpit remain. The edge job that belonged to Myles Garrett now belongs to Jared Verse, who arrived June 1 when Cleveland traded Garrett to the Rams for Verse and draft picks, the Browns announced. Carson Schwesinger is the listed middle linebacker.

That surrounding talent is why some inside the building can argue Watson still has a chance to play well. It is also why Sanders’ wait matters. If Watson cannot stay healthy or move the ball, the next look belongs to a quarterback the franchise already invested a 2025 draft pick in. Keeping Watson on the roster does not block that succession. It only delays the cap bill.

Game week in Berea started in earnest Wednesday after the team’s Tuesday off, with the opener four days away, per the Akron Beacon Journal. The starter for Sunday is Watson. The roster plan, according to Pelissero, is to leave him there into the spring. Those two facts can both be true. One is about who takes the first snap. The other is about who still counts against the cap in March.

Sam Darnold won Super Bowl LX. Seven months later, the throws he missed still sit with him.

The Seattle Seahawks quarterback told Sports Illustrated’s Albert Breer in July that his night against the New England Patriots was “not great.” He said the decisions were sound. The ball placement was not. Those comments landed in Breer’s feature Wednesday morning, hours before Seattle opens its title defense against the same opponent at Lumen Field.

Kickoff is 5:20 p.m. PT on NBC, the NFL’s first Wednesday season opener since 2012, per FOX Sports and the league schedule.

The throws Darnold still sees

Darnold completed 19 of 38 passes for 202 yards and one touchdown in Seattle’s 29-13 win on Feb. 8 at Levi’s Stadium, according to the official box score. He did not turn the ball over. Kenneth Walker III ran for 135 yards and won Super Bowl MVP. Jason Myers kicked a Super Bowl-record five field goals.

That was enough. It was not the game Darnold pictured.

“There are a lot of balls I’d like back in the Super Bowl,” Darnold told Breer. “But I think I made the right decisions; I went to the right guy. It’s just a matter of putting the ball on the spot.”

Sam Darnold, to Sports Illustrated, July 2026 interview published Sept. 9, 2026

He named the targets. Rolling left, he left a touchdown throw behind Jaxon Smith-Njigba. He missed Rashid Shaheed on two posts. Before halftime, he missed Smith-Njigba again on a one-on-one shot in the end zone.

Breer’s reconstruction of those plays, based on Darnold’s account and the film, is specific. Connecting with Smith-Njigba on the first miss would have made it 10-0 in the first quarter. The late-half miss to Smith-Njigba, if completed, would have been 13-0 at the break instead of 9-0 after Myers’ 41-yard kick with 11 seconds left. A second deep shot to Shaheed, after Seattle had gone up 19-7, would have closed the door earlier than Uchenna Nwosu’s pick-six eventually did.

Those hypotheticals are Darnold’s and Breer’s reading of the tape, not official scoring. The actual Super Bowl board is not in dispute.

Christian Gonzalez broke up the pre-halftime throw to Smith-Njigba, which is why Myers came on for three points instead of seven, as contemporaneous game reports described. An earlier deep miss to Smith-Njigba, with the receiver behind the defense, was documented the night of the game by Sports Illustrated.

Why the ball sailed

Darnold did not blame the play calls. He blamed the finish.

In the same SI conversation, he traced late-season accuracy issues to mechanics. His stance widened as 2025 wore on. He prefers a narrower base so his hips can rotate cleanly. An oblique injury in mid-January, before the divisional round, made that harder. Deep balls and timing throws were the first things to drift.

That matches what the Super Bowl looked like on the broadcast. Protection broke on the first Smith-Njigba miss, forcing a scramble and a touch throw he overcooked. The pre-half shot was one-on-one in the end zone against Gonzalez, one of the better cover corners in the league. The posts to Shaheed asked him to drop the ball over the top with the pocket moving. Those are the exact throws that punish a wide base.

Seattle could live with it in February because the defense sacked Maye six times, forced three turnovers, and never let New England on the board until the fourth quarter, as The Associated Press and the box score confirm. Walker’s 27 carries kept the clock and the chains moving. Myers never missed.

Darnold still hates the version of the night he authored.

“You dream of winning the Super Bowl,” he told Breer. “But I didn’t dream of winning the Super Bowl that way, if that makes sense. I wish I had played a little bit better.”

He said a similar thing in June on “Bussin’ With The Boys,” calling himself “kinda bummed” that the offense did not score in the 40s, according to contemporaneous reports from NBC Sports and CBS Sports. The July sit-down with Breer is the more detailed inventory of the misses.

A rematch with a different roster

Wednesday’s game is the first Week 1 Super Bowl rematch since Denver hosted Carolina in 2016. Forecasts call for a warm, dry night at Lumen Field, with temperatures in the upper 70s and little wind, according to FOX 13 Seattle.

The supporting cast is not the same. Walker signed with the Kansas City Chiefs in the offseason, a move confirmed when he missed Seattle’s ring ceremony after agreeing to a multiyear deal, as Fox News reported. Offensive coordinator Klint Kubiak left for the Raiders’ head-coaching job. Darnold now works with a new play-caller and a backfield that does not include last year’s Super Bowl MVP.

That is the real test inside the missed-throw talk. In Santa Clara, Seattle’s defense and running game covered for 50 percent passing. A title defense that has to replace Walker cannot count on the same margin.

Darnold’s own standard is the point. He went to the right receiver. He wants the ball there on time. New England gets the first look at whether that correction has taken.

Amazon Music on Wednesday announced the Season 5 lineup for Amazon Music Live, the pre-taped concert series that streams immediately after Thursday Night Football on Prime Video, Twitch and the Amazon Music app. Noah Kahan opens the run after the Atlanta Falcons visit the Green Bay Packers on Sept. 24, followed by Don Toliver, Lainey Wilson and Doja Cat through Oct. 29, according to Amazon.

The Green Bay Packers host two of the four featured games. That is not an accident. Lambeau Field already draws a national audience on Thursday nights. Pairing those windows with a folk stadium closer and a Doja Cat birthday taping gives Amazon two high-recognition nights without asking the artists to fly into Wisconsin after kickoff.

Kahan’s episode takes viewers inside his Great Divide World Tour farewell shows at T-Mobile Park in Seattle, Billboard reported. Those Seattle dates wrapped the North American stadium leg in late August. He opens the Oceania portion of the tour Friday, Sept. 25, in Melbourne, then continues through Europe before the trek ends Dec. 7 in Paris.

Amazon Music posted the slate on X: “Amazon Music Live is going on the road” and listed the four dates —

Amazon Music Live is going on the road 🎶
Your favorite artists’ tours are coming to Amazon Music Live after Thursday Night Football.

September 24: Noah Kahan
October 1: Don Toliver
October 15: Lainey Wilson
October 29: Doja Cat

Tune in on Amazon Music, Prime Video, Twitch,… pic.twitter.com/9y0982Vu5W

— Amazon Music (@amazonmusic) September 9, 2026

The full Amazon Music Live schedule after Thursday Night Football

The Week 6 game is a rematch of Super Bowl XLVIII, when Seattle beat Denver 43-8 in February 2014. Wilson’s episode was taped Oct. 10 at Mohegan Sun, the same building where she played her first arena show in 2023, per Billboard. Doja Cat’s Forum date is a special birthday concert during the North American leg of her Tour Ma Vie run; that show airs a week later after Carolina plays at Lambeau.

Don Toliver’s Barclays Center night closed the second North American leg of his OCTANE tour. Billboard noted he logged his first Billboard 200 No. 1 album with OCTANE in January and brought guests including Cardi B and Busta Rhymes through the trek.

The series has used this post-game window since 2022. Earlier seasons featured Lil Baby, Megan Thee Stallion, Lil Wayne, A$AP Rocky, 21 Savage, Ed Sheeran and others. Season 5 changes the production model. Instead of a standing Los Angeles stage, Amazon is clipping landmark tour stops and dropping them into the TNF tail. That lets the company book artists who are already on the road and still give Prime Video viewers a full concert after the final whistle.

For football fans, the practical effect is simple. Stay through the credits on Sept. 24 and Oct. 29 and you get a Packers Thursday plus a major live album moment without changing the channel. The concerts are not happening on the Lambeau sideline. They are edited tour films timed to the broadcast.

Minnesota did not shop J.J. McCarthy on cutdown weekend, and the reasons were not only football ones. With the Vikings preparing to host the Green Bay Packers on Sunday at 4:25 p.m. ET on CBS, Tom Pelissero laid out in his Substack newsletter, The Sweep, why a 23-year-old quarterback who lost the starting job in August never left the 53-man roster.

The hook is fresh reporting. The underlying decision is 10 days old. On Aug. 30, 15 trades closed around the league, according to Sports Illustrated. McCarthy was not in any of them. Adam Schefter of ESPN posted that night that McCarthy “finished cutdown day on the Vikings’ 53-man roster” despite speculation he could be moved or cut —

Despite any speculation that he could be released or traded, Minnesota QB J.J. McCarthy finished cutdown day on the Vikings’ 53-man roster. pic.twitter.com/gtyecBT1ce

— Adam Schefter (@AdamSchefter) August 30, 2026

Coach Kevin O’Connell named Kyler Murray the starter on Aug. 11, giving the veteran the first-team work through the rest of camp, The Associated Press reported. McCarthy, the No. 10 pick in 2024, dropped behind him. That did not make him disposable.

Injuries, a 6-4 record and a locker-room vote

Pelissero wrote that any trade “would’ve been difficult for many reasons,” starting with availability. McCarthy has played 10 games in two NFL seasons. A torn meniscus wiped out his rookie year. Ankle, concussion and hand issues chopped up 2025. He never stacked healthy weeks long enough to turn flashes into a settled job.

One of those flashes came on the road in Detroit last November. McCarthy accounted for three touchdowns in a 27-24 win at Ford Field, including a third-down scramble and a late throw to Jalen Nailor that iced the game, as detailed by the team’s site after the Week 9 victory.

The full 2025 ledger was thinner than the record. McCarthy went 6-4 as a starter and finished 140 of 243 for 1,632 yards, 11 touchdowns and 12 interceptions, plus 181 rushing yards and four scores.

Pelissero added that Minnesota “had no intention of just giving away a 23-year-old quarterback for nothing,” calling McCarthy well-liked in the locker room. That matches what McCarthy himself said after the starter decision. Speaking to The Athletic, he called the choice “out of my control” and repeated, “This is the place I want to be.”

First-year general manager Nolan Teasley struck the same tone last week. He said he expected McCarthy to be on the roster for Week 1 and reminded reporters the quarterback “has only started 10 games and his story’s not written,” per Reuters.

The $4.85 million problem the CBA would not let Minnesota fix

Football reasons still leave a cap math problem. Teams routinely eat money to grease trades. Minnesota could not do that here.

Pelissero reported the Vikings “had no way to pay down the roughly $4.85 million in guarantees remaining on McCarthy’s contract because the CBA prohibits teams from renegotiating a drafted player’s contract for three years.” League operations language backs the restriction: drafted rookie deals cannot be renegotiated until after the last regular-season game of the third contracted year, according to NFL Football Operations.

McCarthy signed in 2024. 2026 is that third year. The season has not been played. Minnesota cannot rework the deal to swallow cash and make a modest draft pick look cleaner to a buyer.

Independent contract trackers show a larger remaining cash picture than Pelissero’s $4.85 million figure. Over The Cap lists McCarthy’s four-year rookie deal at about $21.85 million, fully guaranteed at signing, with 2026 guaranteed salary of $2.78 million and 2027 guaranteed salary of $3.78 million. The exact $4.85 million number is Pelissero’s reporting, not an independently confirmed subset of that ledger. Releasing him would have left Minnesota paying guaranteed money for a player who was no longer on the roster. Trading him without a pay-down would have asked another club to take on that cost for a quarterback coming off injuries and a 72.6 rating.

That is why the market stayed quiet. Young quarterbacks still have value. This one carried an awkward price tag and an incomplete tape.

What it means Sunday — and next spring

Murray takes the first snap against Green Bay at U.S. Bank Stadium. The game is indoors. Outside, the forecast around Minneapolis calls for a high near 66 with a chance of showers, per local game-week coverage, but the noise that matters will bounce off the roof once the Packers’ defense starts spinning looks at a new starter.

Murray signed a one-year veteran-minimum deal in March that includes a no-tag clause, Pro Football Talk reported. Play well, and he can hit free agency in 2027 as one of the more attractive quarterbacks on the market. Play poorly, and Minnesota’s quarterback room looks unsettled again.

McCarthy is still in that room. Carson Wentz is, too. The depth chart behind Murray has not been announced as locked for Week 1, and several reports have floated the possibility McCarthy opens as QB3. That is unconfirmed by the team. What is confirmed is the roster decision: Minnesota kept him through the deadline.

The scheme question for Sunday is simple and hard at once. How does Green Bay spy Murray, crowd Justin Jefferson and still account for play-action? Pelissero posed a version of that matchup in the same newsletter. Minnesota’s longer question sits one chair over. McCarthy is 23, under contract through 2027 and still cheap relative to the position. The Vikings declined to cash him in for a late-round pick. They also could not dress up the contract to get more.

That is not a secret handshake. It is the CBA colliding with a young quarterback who has won more than he has lost and has not stayed healthy long enough for anyone to be sure what that record means.

Four days before the Chicago Bears open the 2026 season in Charlotte, Ben Johnson is still working one specific cut of film with Caleb Williams. The tape does not come from last year’s NFC North title run. It comes from Green Bay. Johnson wants his quarterback to treat the scramble drill the way Aaron Rodgers once did — as a designed chance at a chunk play, not a broken play that ends when the pocket collapses.

That emphasis, reported Wednesday by Dan Wiederer of The Athletic, sits at the center of Chicago’s Week 1 plan. Williams already proved he can buy time. Johnson now wants him to throw with the same urgency Rodgers showed when he left the pocket.

What Johnson saw on the Rodgers tape

Inside Halas Hall this offseason, Johnson studied Packers clips of Rodgers at his peak. The lesson was not the highlight-reel arm angle. It was the structure around the scramble. Receivers kept running. Linemen stayed attached. Everyone treated the extra two seconds as an expected part of the call.

“They were very defined with what they were doing,” Johnson said. “You could tell they coached it.”

Ben Johnson, via The Athletic, Sept. 9, 2026

Johnson told Wiederer that Rodgers played those snaps as if a downfield throw or a defensive pass-interference flag was coming. That belief, Johnson said, is the piece Williams still has to lock in. The Bears quarterback creates space. The next step is using it before the window closes.

Williams left completions on the table in 2025 when he broke contain and looked downfield. According to The Athletic, he connected on only about 40 percent of those throws. That number is why Johnson framed the drill as a “huge jump” still available to an offense that already climbed from last in total yards in 2024 to sixth in 2025.

The 2025 production — and the gap Johnson wants closed

Williams set a franchise single-season passing record last year. He finished 330-of-568 for 3,942 yards, 27 touchdowns and seven interceptions in 17 games, per the Bears’ official player page and Pro-Football-Reference. He also ran for 388 yards and three scores on 77 carries.

Pro Football Focus credited him with 363 scramble yards inside that rushing total. The yards were real. The downfield throws off those same scrambles were not efficient enough for Johnson.

The completion dip is the trade-off Chicago accepted while pushing the ball farther downfield. Johnson still wants a cleaner answer when protection fails. Some of that is quarterback decision-making. Some of it is receiver work after the first route dies. Tight end Cole Kmet, who spent years around Rodgers in Green Bay’s building, has been one of the players asked to relocate instead of jogging to a stop.

Williams has bought into the teaching. He told The Athletic the scramble piece can help Chicago become one of the league’s most explosive offenses. That is analysis from the quarterback, not a guarantee. What is confirmed is the coaching point: play fast, stay on schedule even when the play is off schedule, and treat the extra second as an opportunity rather than chaos.

Why it matters Sunday in Charlotte

The Bears visit the Carolina Panthers at 1 p.m. ET Sunday at Bank of America Stadium, a date listed on the club’s 2026 schedule and Carolina’s schedule page. FOX has the broadcast. It is Year 2 of the Johnson-Williams pairing after an 11-6 division title and a playoff win over Green Bay, followed by a 20-17 overtime loss to the Rams in the divisional round.

Johnson has floated a more aggressive idea in meetings: call a play that is built to break, then have Williams set in the pocket and leave it on purpose with receivers already spaced. He called that “a little bit outside the box.” It remains speculation until it shows up in a live game. The safer read, based on the film work Wiederer described, is simpler. Chicago wants defined landmarks on every scramble so Williams is not hunting heroes while his receivers guess.

Preseason award talk has followed both men. Williams sits in the next tier of 2026 MVP odds behind Josh Allen, Lamar Jackson and Joe Burrow, listed around 12-1 at DraftKings in ESPN’s odds roundup. Some analysts have also named Johnson a Coach of the Year candidate after his first-year jump, including a June projection from Bears Wire. Those are betting-market and pundit views, not official honors. The only thing Johnson has put on the table this week is a concrete fix: get the scramble drill to look coached.

If Williams hits that throw on the move Sunday — the one that was there last year and sailed — the Rodgers tape will have done its job. If he tucks it and runs for six, Johnson will have more film to put on the screen Monday.

Sam Darnold started three playoff games and a Super Bowl with a Grade 1 external oblique strain that was serious enough for the Seattle Seahawks to ready Drew Lock as a replacement. NFL Network’s Tom Pelissero reported the diagnosis and the team’s contingency plan Wednesday in his Substack newsletter, The Sweep.

Darnold first appeared on the injury report two days before the NFC divisional-round game against the San Francisco 49ers. Pelissero wrote that the strain was significant enough that Seattle prepared Lock to start. Darnold did not throw in pregame warmups that night. He still took the first snap and every subsequent one through Super Bowl LX.

The left-side strain — Darnold’s non-throwing side — is a difficult injury for any passer because the obliques drive trunk rotation and transfer power from the lower body into the throw. Pelissero described it as “a tricky and sometimes painful one for a thrower in any sport.” Darnold spent the rest of the postseason working through a rehab progression while preparing for the biggest games of his career, according to the same report.

Contemporary accounts from that week match the new details. Backup Lock took first-team reps after Darnold left Thursday practice and handled early pregame throws to the starters while Darnold stayed inside, as the Tacoma News Tribune and ESPN documented at the time. Darnold later told reporters the injury “wasn’t fun by any means” and that it “hurt really bad,” per ESPN after the Super Bowl.

Playoff numbers while managing the strain

Those five touchdowns and zero interceptions came while Darnold received pain-killing injections before playoff games and practiced on a limited throwing schedule, according to reporting from NFL.com and the New York Post during Super Bowl week. The Seahawks still won all three games. Kenneth Walker III and a defense that sacked Drake Maye six times and forced three turnovers carried Super Bowl LX, a 29-13 victory at Levi’s Stadium.

New England entered that game with its own quarterback issue. Maye injured his throwing shoulder on a scramble in the AFC Championship Game and required a pain-killing shot before Super Bowl kickoff, Maye later confirmed to reporters and Pelissero noted in the same newsletter. Both quarterbacks were therefore playing through injuries that affect throwing mechanics. Seattle’s defense made the difference.

Darnold has been open about his own Super Bowl tape. On the June episode of “Bussin’ With the Boys,” he said he was “kind of bummed” about the way the Seahawks won because he felt he missed too many throws, according to NFL.com. He still protected the football for four consecutive elimination games after leading the league in interceptions during the regular season.

That context matters tonight. The Seahawks host the Patriots at Lumen Field at 5:20 p.m. PT on NBC in a Super Bowl rematch that opens the 2026 season. Both Darnold and Maye are healthy. Seattle’s offense now operates under new coordinator Brian Fleury after Klint Kubiak left for the Raiders. The question is whether Darnold’s deep-ball timing and pocket quietness — areas he identified this offseason as needing work — look different without the strain that limited his practice reps last January and February.

Lock remains the primary backup. The Seahawks never needed him in the postseason. Pelissero’s reporting shows how close they came to finding out on the first playoff weekend.

Five days from a Monday night opener at Arrowhead, ESPN analyst Mina Kimes is asking a question Kansas City has not heard much since last winter: What if the Chiefs look like the Chiefs again?

Kimes made that case Tuesday on The Mina Kimes Show featuring Lenny, then repeated the argument on X. Kansas City finished 6-11 in 2025, missed the playoffs for the first time since 2014 and watched Patrick Mahomes leave the field in December with a torn ACL. Kimes still sees a rebound. The comments, first circulated Wednesday by ClutchPoints and HITC, land as Andy Reid prepares Mahomes for Denver in Week 1.

What if the Kansas City Chiefs are just the Kansas City Chiefs again?

Mina Kimes, The Mina Kimes Show featuring Lenny, Sept. 8, 2026

The 2025 collapse left room for a statistical rebound

Kimes started with luck, not scheme. She pointed to close games and missed field goals as signs that 2025 should regress toward the mean. That part of the record is not in dispute.

According to The Athletic, Kansas City went 12-0 in one-score games in 2024 and 1-9 in those same situations in 2025. Only one other team since 2000 had 10 one-score games and finished 1-9 or worse. A later Athletic review found opponents made 31 of 32 field goals against the Chiefs last season, the worst opposing-kick luck in the league.

Those swings do not rewrite every problem. Kansas City still lost six straight to close the year and failed to win the AFC West for the first time since 2015. They do explain why a 6-11 record can hide a more average underlying team. Kimes said every “nerd regression sign” points up. She also said the offense ranked 12th in DVOA efficiency last season, a figure she cited on the podcast and that has not been independently published in full in the sources reviewed for this story.

Mahomes is the other half of that bet. He tore the ACL and LCL in his left knee late in a Week 15 loss to the Chargers, per NFL.com. Reid said Tuesday there is a “pretty good chance” Mahomes starts Monday unless something changes in the next few days, CBS Sports reported. Reid also said Mahomes has not missed a practice and looks like himself aside from a brace. That is the official word as of Sept. 8. It is not a final injury-report designation. Kansas City’s first weekly report of the regular season had not been released as of this writing.

Walker gives the run game a different look

Kimes’ offensive optimism rests on a better run game. That is the cleanest roster change of the offseason. Super Bowl MVP running back Kenneth Walker III signed a three-year deal in March after Seattle’s title run. The Athletic first reported the agreement. ESPN later put the base value at $43.05 million with $28.7 million guaranteed.

The why is simple. Kansas City’s backs produced almost no explosives last year. Walker forced missed tackles and piled up 20-yard runs in Seattle. General manager Brett Veach wanted that burst behind Creed Humphrey, Trey Smith and Kingsley Suamataia. If Walker holds up as a three-down back, Mahomes faces fewer obvious passing downs on early series. That is analysis, not a guarantee. Walker still has to pass-protect in Reid’s offense, and Mahomes is coming back from major knee surgery.

A younger defense is the louder unknown

Kimes spent more time selling the defense. She said she is talking herself into it. The construction is real. The results are not here yet.

Kansas City traded All-Pro corner Trent McDuffie to the Rams in March for a 2026 first-round pick and additional selections, The Athletic reported. The Chiefs used high draft capital on LSU corner Mansoor Delane and Oklahoma edge rusher R Mason Thomas, then signed nose tackle Khyiris Tonga to a three-year, $21 million contract, per Chiefs.com. Second-year corner Nohl Williams is now a featured piece next to Delane.

Kimes called Thomas a preseason standout and labeled Tonga one of her favorite quiet signings at nose tackle. Thomas did flash in August. He beat a tackle and nearly picked off Baker Mayfield in Tampa Bay, the Kansas City Star wrote. That tape is why people are buying the get-off. The Week 1 picture is murkier. Thomas has been dealing with a hamstring injury and was listed as questionable in recent reports, including RotoWire. His availability Monday is unconfirmed.

The secondary bet is even thinner. Delane and Williams are young. McDuffie is gone. Last year’s group was a problem. Youth can improve. It can also get hunted on Monday night by Bo Nix and Denver’s skill players. Kimes is describing potential. She is not describing a finished unit.

Kimes posted the short version Tuesday night: the Chiefs “were *historically* unlucky last year,” added young defensive pieces and still have “the best QB of his generation.”

The Chiefs….

1. Were *historically* unlucky last year

2. Have/added a bunch of exciting young players on defense

3. Are led by the best QB of his generation

Are we overlooking the turnaround potential? pic.twitter.com/mGoXDW5Vpp

— Mina Kimes (@minakimes) September 8, 2026

Kansas City hosts Denver on Monday Night Football at 8:15 p.m. ET on Sept. 14 at GEHA Field at Arrowhead Stadium, per NFL.com. A home opener under the lights will tell more than any podcast clip. If Mahomes plays, Walker hits the hole and the new corners survive the first series, Kimes’ bounce-back theory gets its first live test. If not, the 6-11 hangover lasts another week.

The Chicago Bears open the 2026 season Sunday at Carolina, and the Rome Odunze injury is the item Halas Hall is watching closest. Head coach Ben Johnson told reporters Tuesday that the third-year wide receiver will not practice and is day-to-day with a foot problem that is not last year’s stress fracture. Johnson still said he is hopeful Odunze plays in Charlotte.

Sunday’s game is at Bank of America Stadium at noon CT on FOX, per the club’s published 2026 schedule and the Panthers’ matching Week 1 listing. That leaves Chicago four days to decide how much work Odunze can handle after he left last Thursday’s practice and sat out Monday’s short session as well.

Johnson separates this foot issue from last season

Johnson did not hide the absence. He called Odunze “more day-to-day right now” and added that he did not expect him on the field Tuesday, while still pointing toward Sunday, according to NBC Chicago.

He’s more day-to-day right now. But we’re hopeful he’ll be ready to go on Sunday.

Ben Johnson, via NBC Chicago, Sept. 8, 2026

Adam Jahns of CHGO Sports posted the same update from Johnson’s briefing: Odunze would not practice Tuesday, the designation is day-to-day, and Johnson said the problem is not last year’s injury.

Bears coach Ben Johnson said that WR Rome Odunze won’t practice today. He’s considered day-to-day with his foot injury — which Johnson said is NOT related to last year’s issue. The hope is that Odunze will play on Sunday against Carolina.

— Adam Jahns (@adamjahns) September 8, 2026

The Chicago Sun-Times reported the same picture from Halas Hall: Odunze remains out with an apparent foot injury, and Johnson said this issue is not related to the stress fracture that cost him five regular-season games in 2025. Beat coverage collected by Sporting News also attributed that distinction to Kevin Fishbain of The Athletic.

Reuters, citing Field Level Media, placed the new problem on a Thursday practice and repeated Johnson’s hope that Odunze is available Sunday. NBC Sports’ injury notes, drawing on The Athletic’s Dan Wiederer, said last season’s fracture was in the left foot and that this week’s issue is on the right side, so the two are not the same injury.

That split matters. Odunze already spent last fall managing a stress fracture and plantar fasciitis, then returned for the playoffs after missing five games, as Pro Football Rumors detailed this summer. In 12 regular-season games in 2025 he caught 44 passes for 661 yards and six touchdowns. He added four catches for 88 yards in two playoff games. Johnson has called him Caleb Williams’ security blanket when the pocket collapses. Sitting him extra days is the cautious read, not a declaration that he is out Sunday.

The Bears do not have to post an official injury report until this week’s regular-season window. As of Wednesday afternoon, no official Week 1 report had been published. Wednesday’s listing is the next hard checkpoint.

Burden is back. The backfield is, too.

If Odunze is limited, the first extra targets go to Luther Burden III. The second-year receiver missed a chunk of camp after a groin strain on Aug. 8. CBS Sports reported at the time that Chicago hoped he would be ready for the opener.

He has closed that gap. After the preseason finale, Johnson said Burden “looks 100% to me,” per the Sun-Times. On Tuesday, Chicago Tribune beat writer Sean Hammond posted Burden’s own status check: the receiver said he is good to go after missing several weeks of camp.

If there was any doubt, Bears WR Luther Burden III says he’s good to go after missing several weeks of camp.

— Sean Hammond (@sean_hammond) September 8, 2026

Burden’s 2025 tape explains why Johnson can live with that plan. He finished with 47 catches for 652 yards and two touchdowns in 15 games, according to his NFL.com career line, and he did much of that work after the catch. Chicago traded DJ Moore to Buffalo in March, a move The Athletic reported as Moore plus a fifth-round pick for a 2026 second-rounder. Odunze and Burden now sit at the top of the wideout room with tight end Colston Loveland.

The run game is in better shape than it looked last week. D’Andre Swift left Thursday’s practice with cramps, then returned Monday. Kyle Monangai, out since an Aug. 16 hyperextended knee, practiced the same day. The Chicago Tribune and Sun-Times both had them on the field for a 40-minute session at Halas Hall. Pro Football Network framed both returns as the cleanest Week 1 news out of the backfield.

Those rushing totals come from the Bears’ 2025 leaders tracked by StatMuse and from year-end grades published by Bears Wire. Chicago ranked third in the league at 144.5 rushing yards per game last season. Johnson can lean on that if the passing game is short a starter.

Why this matchup still turns on how Johnson uses Williams

This is Year 2 of Johnson’s offense after an 11-6 NFC North title, a wild-card win over Green Bay, and a divisional overtime loss to the Rams, per Pro-Football-Reference and Bears Wire. The scheme still wants two vertical threats and a runner who can win after the catch. Odunze is the former. Burden is the latter.

If Odunze plays through the new foot issue, expect fewer deep shots early and more of Williams working the middle of the field. If he sits, Burden and Loveland absorb the volume, and Swift-Monangai keeps Carolina’s linebackers from sitting on those routes. That is scheme, not guesswork: Johnson built last year’s attack around play-action and layered crossings. Take away the outside threat and the crossings have to carry the day.

None of that is a prognosis. Johnson has not ruled Odunze out. He also has not put him on the practice field this week. The honest read heading to Charlotte is simple. The Bears want him. They will not rush the foot. Burden, Swift, and Monangai give them a way to open the season if they have to wait.

The 2026 NFL season opened Wednesday night, and a fresh report put an old Buffalo question back on the table. According to Heavy, citing Tom Pelissero’s newsletter The Sweep, the Bills called the Cleveland Browns about Myles Garrett on the same day news leaked that Cleveland was sending the two-time Defensive Player of the Year to the Los Angeles Rams.

Pelissero wrote that the Rams were the only team Cleveland negotiated with before moving Garrett. Buffalo, he reported, had checked on the star edge rusher “periodically” for about two years and heard the same answer each time: he was not available. That framing, also detailed by Dawgs By Nature and ClutchPoints, is reported sourcing, not a team announcement. Talks with Buffalo never reached a formal offer, per Pelissero.

The trade itself is not new. The Browns and Rams announced it June 1. Cleveland sent Garrett west for Jared Verse, a 2027 first-round pick, a 2028 second-round pick and a 2029 third-round pick, the Browns and NFL.com confirmed. The Athletic later reported the 2029 third-rounder becomes a first-rounder if Los Angeles trades Garrett inside the AFC North.

Garrett left Cleveland after a 23-sack season in 2025 that broke the NFL single-season record and earned him a second Defensive Player of the Year award, per the Associated Press. Pelissero first flagged the deal on X as it broke: “The Browns are finalizing a trade sending superstar Myles Garrett to the Rams”

Blockbuster! The Browns are finalizing a trade sending superstar Myles Garrett to the Rams, sources tell @AdamSchefter, @RapSheet and me.

Cleveland is expected to receive two-time Pro Bowl edge Jared Verse, a 2027 first-round pick and additional compensation. pic.twitter.com/mMuF0QJHBM

— Tom Pelissero (@TomPelissero) June 1, 2026

Why Cleveland only finished the deal with the Rams

Buffalo could have stacked future picks. What it could not match, Pelissero reported, was a young, cost-controlled edge rusher on a rookie contract. Verse, the No. 19 pick in 2024 and that year’s Defensive Rookie of the Year, was the piece Cleveland wanted as it reset the roster clock.

Browns general manager Andrew Berry said as much the next day. “The opportunity was too great,” he told reporters, according to the AP. In the team’s official statement, Berry called Verse “chief among the considerations,” pointing to two Pro Bowls, a rookie-of-the-year résumé and two years left on a cheaper deal. Garrett turned 30 last December. Cleveland’s contention window and his prime no longer lined up.

That is scheme and cap talking, not mystery. A 30-year-old pass rusher on a large contract helps a team trying to win now. A 25-year-old Pro Bowl edge plus staggered draft capital helps a team that still has to solve quarterback. The Rams were willing to pay that price because they already had the other half of the bet.

Los Angeles did not stop there. The Rams traded for All-Pro corner Trent McDuffie and signed former Kansas City teammate Jaylen Watson in March, as reported by the Los Angeles Times and AP. On Aug. 30, Aaron Donald ended a two-and-a-half-year retirement and rejoined the club on a one-year deal worth $20 million with incentives that can reach $30 million, The Athletic and NFL.com reported. Head coach Sean McVay has not committed to Donald playing Thursday against San Francisco in Melbourne.

The offense already featured 2025 AP MVP Matthew Stafford, who threw for 4,707 yards and 46 touchdowns, per NFL.com. Puka Nacua led the league in receptions last season. Davante Adams led it with 14 touchdown catches. That is why oddsmakers and preview desks have treated the Rams as Super Bowl favorites. It is analysis, not a trophy.

What Buffalo actually added around Josh Allen

The criticism of the Bills has been simple for years: surround 2024 MVP Josh Allen with enough finishing pieces, then get out of the AFC. Allen is 8-6 in the playoffs and still has not reached a Super Bowl. Last season ended in a 33-30 overtime loss to Denver in the divisional round. Owner Terry Pegula fired Sean McDermott after that collapse and promoted offensive coordinator Joe Brady, the AP reported.

Buffalo did spend. The Bills traded a 2026 second-round pick to Chicago for DJ Moore and a fifth-rounder, the Bills and The Athletic confirmed. Moore gives Allen a true outside target after a receiver group that ranked among the league’s least productive a year ago. Bradley Chubb signed a three-year, $43.5 million deal in March after an 8.5-sack bounce-back in Miami. Safety C.J. Gardner-Johnson signed a one-year deal days later. Neither is Garrett. Chubb is a proven starter opposite Greg Rousseau. Gardner-Johnson has played on recent contenders and gives new coordinator Jim Leonhard a veteran who can move.

That is the honest comparison. The Bills improved the pass-catching room and the edge. They did not acquire the best defensive player in football. Pelissero’s report says they asked. It also says Cleveland never opened a second negotiating room once Verse was on the table.

Buffalo opens the regular season Sunday at Houston. The calendar already circled a later date. The Bills visit the Rams on Monday Night Football in Week 5, Oct. 12, a matchup Buffalo Rumblings flagged the day the trade landed. Allen will see Garrett then. The question hanging over Orchard Park is whether this roster, under a first-year head coach, can finish a job that has stopped in January seven straight years.

Pat Surtain II did not hedge when asked about Bo Nix this week. The Broncos’ star cornerback said his quarterback looks sharper than he did a year ago and is prepared to announce himself on a bigger stage.

Surtain told reporters Nix is “even better than before,” adding that the third-year quarterback is “ready to show the world what he’s about” and “ready to make a statement.” DNVR Broncos beat reporter Zac Stevens posted the comments Tuesday. —

Bo Nix is “even better than before,” according to Pat Surtain II.

“He’s ready to show the world what he’s about”

“He’s ready to make a statement” pic.twitter.com/VWtcT5feGf

— Zac Stevens (@ZacStevens) September 8, 2026

The remarks land five days before Denver opens the season on Monday Night Football at Kansas City. After a 14-3 regular season and an AFC Championship Game appearance in 2025, the Broncos enter 2026 with elevated expectations that rest largely on whether Nix takes another step in Sean Payton’s offense.

What Nix produced in Year 2 — and what still needs work

Nix started all 17 regular-season games in 2025. He completed 388 of 612 passes (63.4 percent) for 3,931 yards, 25 touchdowns and 11 interceptions, according to the team’s official career statistics page. That completion rate dropped from 66.3 percent in his rookie year. He made up ground with his legs, rushing 83 times for 356 yards and five touchdowns. Career rushing totals through two seasons sit at 786 yards and nine scores.

Those numbers, compiled from denverbroncos.com and confirmed across Pro Football Reference and NFL.com listings, show a quarterback who produced volume and wins while still hunting cleaner timing. Payton’s scheme leans on rhythm throws and precise route depths. When Nix’s feet and eyes stay in sync, the offense clicks. When they drift, the completion percentage dips and he is forced to create off-schedule.

Nix himself framed the next jump in late August. He told Jeff Legwold of TSN that he wants the playbook to feel automatic so he can keep his eyes downfield instead of thinking through the operation. “When you have a second-nature thought process and you know the play and you’re not thinking about operation, or emotion or a route concept or a handoff point, you can attack the defense in a little bit more of a strategic way,” Nix said. “So my eyes are up a little bit more. I just feel comfortable. I’m excited about the growth and know that there’s plenty left, but also I feel strongly where I’m at.” The comments appeared in TSN on Aug. 25.

A similar version of the same thought process appeared earlier in camp coverage from The Athletic. The theme is consistent: less thinking about the call, more attacking the coverage.

Why Surtain’s endorsement carries weight heading into Arrowhead

Surtain has lined up across from Nix for two full seasons of practices and games. That daily view is why his wording matters more than a generic teammate compliment. In early September he also described the cerebral side of Nix’s game as “off the charts” and pointed to the quarterback’s competitive edge, comments captured by Zac Stevens and published at DNVR.

Denver’s defense, led by Surtain, ranked among the league’s stingiest units a year ago. The offense now has to match that standard against a Chiefs team that will likely have Patrick Mahomes under center in his return from knee surgery. Kickoff is set for 8:15 p.m. ET Monday at Arrowhead Stadium, per the NFL schedule.

Nix’s ability to scramble bought time and first downs last season. The next test is staying in the pocket long enough for Payton’s timing concepts to develop while still using that athleticism as a weapon rather than a first option. If the processing truly slows down the way Nix described in August, Surtain’s “statement” line becomes more than locker-room encouragement. It becomes the difference between another strong season and a real Super Bowl push.

The Broncos have extra days to prepare after the preseason. Payton has already adjusted the practice week to account for the Monday night start and the expected noise at Arrowhead. How cleanly Nix operates in that environment will be the first real data point on whether the leap his teammates keep describing is actually here.

The Dallas Cowboys filled the roster hole created by Tyler Smith’s thumb surgery on Wednesday, signing guard-center Nick Leverett from the practice squad to the 53-man roster ahead of Sunday night’s Week 1 trip to the New York Giants.

ESPN Cowboys reporter Todd Archer first reported the move, writing that Leverett “can serve as the backup interior lineman on gameday” with Smith out four to six weeks —

The Cowboys are signing OL Nick Leverett to the active roster from the practice squad, per source. With Tyler Smith (thumb) out 4-6 weeks, Leverett can serve as the backup interior lineman on gameday.

— Todd Archer (@toddarcher) September 9, 2026

Several outlets, including Sports Illustrated and Blogging The Boys, later confirmed the promotion.

Smith’s absence is already official in practical terms. Head coach Brian Schottenheimer told reporters in Frisco on Monday that the three-time Pro Bowl left guard would have surgery Tuesday to repair a torn ligament in his left thumb and would go on injured reserve designated to return, according to ESPN and The Athletic. Under NFL injured-reserve rules, that designation costs him at least the first four games.

“Unfortunately, when you’re an offensive lineman, grip strength and things like that are really important,” Schottenheimer said, per NFL.com.

Brian Schottenheimer, Sept. 7, 2026

That is the scheme problem in one sentence. A left guard’s job is to lock onto a defensive tackle, hold the point on inside zone, and keep Dak Prescott’s launch point clean. A torn thumb ligament steals the clamp. Smith tried to play through it in camp. Owner Jerry Jones later said on 105.3 The Fan that Smith arrived in Oxnard with the injury and “really exacerbated” it after the team returned to Frisco, The Dallas Morning News reported.

T.J. Bass starts; Leverett is the insurance policy

T.J. Bass, not Leverett, takes Smith’s starting job. Schottenheimer made that clear Monday. Bass, a 2023 undrafted free agent out of Oregon, has played 48 regular-season games and started 10, including five in 2025, according to CBS Sports. Dallas valued him enough this offseason to place a second-round restricted free agent tender on him.

Leverett’s role is depth. The 29-year-old went undrafted out of Rice in 2020, started 10 games for Tampa Bay in 2022, and later spent time with the Patriots and Cardinals. Dallas signed him to the practice squad in November 2025, put him on a reserve/future deal in January, cut him at final cuts on Aug. 30, and brought him back to the practice squad the next day. He appeared in one game for the Cowboys last season, a special-teams snap count, per NFL.com and transaction records compiled by Sports Forecaster.

Career totals: 23 games, 11 starts. That is not starter-caliber insurance for a $96 million left guard. It is a veteran who can play guard or center if Bass or Cooper Beebe goes down on Sunday night.

Smith’s honors need a clean line. He is a three-time Pro Bowler and a 2023 second-team All-Pro, not a two-time All-Pro, per his career record and Pro-Football-Reference. He signed a four-year, $96 million extension last September that made him the highest-paid guard in the league at the time, the Associated Press reported.

What the line looks like Sunday — and why the next month is hard

The expected Week 1 front from left to right is Tyler Guyton, Bass, Beebe, Tyler Booker, and Terence Steele. Booker is the 2025 first-round right guard, not a tackle. Guyton is the 2024 first-round left tackle. Beebe is the 2024 third-round center. That group is young and expensive at the edges, thinner in the middle without Smith.

The schedule does not ease them in. Dallas opens at MetLife Stadium on Sunday, Sept. 13, at 8:20 p.m. ET on NBC, then draws Washington, Baltimore in Rio de Janeiro, and Houston before a Thursday night home date with Tampa Bay on Oct. 8 — the earliest date Smith can return, the Fort Worth Star-Telegram and ESPN have laid out. A six-week recovery would push him toward the Oct. 18 trip to Green Bay.

After Leverett’s promotion, Archer reported that Dallas signed veteran lineman Laken Tomlinson to the practice squad. Tomlinson has 162 career starts, including seven last season with Houston

With Nick Leverett added to the 53-man roster, the Cowboys have signed veteran OL Laken Tomlinson to the practice squad. He has started 162 games for his career, including seven last year with Houston.

— Todd Archer (@toddarcher) September 9, 2026

That move had not been independently confirmed by the club at the time of this report.

Smith will not be available to punch a defensive tackle in the chest in East Rutherford. Bass has done this job before. Leverett’s job is simpler: dress, know the calls, and keep the interior from going empty if someone else limps off. For a line built around Smith’s power, that is the entire Week 1 calculation.

The Green Bay Packers open the 2026 season Sunday at U.S. Bank Stadium without the two players who most defined their 2025 roster. Micah Parsons is on the reserve/physically unable to perform list after last December’s torn ACL. Josh Jacobs is on the commissioner’s exempt list and cannot practice or play. Minnesota, installed as a short home favorite, gets the first look at Kyler Murray in Kevin O’Connell’s offense in a Packers vs Vikings Week 1 matchup that oddsmakers treat as a coin flip.

Kickoff is 4:25 p.m. ET Sunday, Sept. 13, on CBS, per the NFL schedule. The Vikings are -1.5 at most books, with a total of 46.5, according to Sports Illustrated. The line opened with Green Bay as a 1.5-point favorite and flipped after Jacobs’ placement and Parsons’ four-game absence became official, SI reported.

What Green Bay is missing — and what that does to Sunday

Parsons arrived from Dallas before the 2025 season and posted 12.5 sacks in 14 games before tearing his left ACL on Dec. 14 at Denver. Surgery on Dec. 29 included meniscus work. The Packers moved him to reserve/PUP, which requires him to miss the first four games. General manager Brian Gutekunst said the club expects him to be “pretty close” once that window opens, with Week 5 against Chicago the first date he can play, The Athletic reported. That is confirmed roster status, not a rumor.

Jacobs is a different problem. The NFL placed him on the commissioner’s exempt list on Aug. 30 after he was charged in Brown County, Wis., with misdemeanor battery and misdemeanor criminal damage to property tied to a May incident. He cannot practice or attend games while the league reviews the matter. Only the commissioner can lift the designation. His attorneys called it an administrative step, not a final ruling, in a statement carried by NFL.com. No suspension length has been announced. That remains unconfirmed.

MarShawn Lloyd is in line for the first crack at lead-back work. Gutekunst said Lloyd is “ready,” after two injury-limited seasons and just six career carries, per Forbes. Green Bay also traded for Kaleb Johnson after Jacobs came off the 53. Expect a committee, not a clone of Jacobs’ 2025 workload.

The offensive line is the other live question. Left guard Aaron Banks (knee tendinitis) and right tackle Zach Bako-Bewele (offseason knee surgery) missed most of camp’s team periods. Asked Monday whether either will play Sunday, Matt LaFleur said, “We’ll see,” according to the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel. Anthony Belton and rookie Jager Burton have taken the extra snaps. Continuity is thin heading into a Brian Flores defense that lives on disguised pressure.

Tight end Tucker Kraft, coming off his own 2025 ACL tear, is on the Week 1 radar and has been listed among players to monitor. Kraft has said he wants a normal snap load; the club may still manage him. That is developing, not final, until the Wednesday-Friday injury report.

Minnesota’s opener, and why the market moved

O’Connell named Murray the starter on Aug. 11 over J.J. McCarthy, the team announced on vikings.com. Murray signed a one-year deal in March after Arizona released him. He went 38-48-1 as the Cardinals’ starter, The Athletic noted. His job Sunday is simpler on paper than it will look in the building: get the ball to Justin Jefferson early, use his legs when Flores’ look turns into a blitz, and avoid the empty possessions that buried Minnesota for much of 2025.

The Vikings are healthier than Green Bay but not whole. Linebacker Tyler Batty is on injured reserve with a torn ACL. Jamal Adams is on IR after a right quadriceps tendon tear in the preseason opener, NBC Sports reported. Safety Jacob Thomas, a preseason standout, is working back from an ankle sprain and may be limited. Those absences thin the second level. They do not erase the home-field edge inside a closed roof that usually plays loud on rivalry Sundays.

The series still leans Green Bay all-time, 67-61-3, per the rivalry record. Minnesota has taken three of the last four, including a 16-3 win in the 2025 finale when Green Bay sat its starters. The other 2025 meeting went the other way: Packers 23-6 at Lambeau on Nov. 23.

Prediction markets treat the game as a toss-up. Kalshi priced Minnesota around 53-54 percent to win outright as of Tuesday, per CBS Sports and Kalshi’s team page.

How the game is likely to be won

Green Bay’s pass rush without Parsons still has Devonte Wyatt and Javon Hargrave inside. Hargrave came off active/PUP in August and practiced. That interior can collapse the pocket. It does not replace Parsons walking a tackle into the backfield on third-and-7. Murray’s mobility is the counter. If he extends plays and finds Jefferson on the first two series, the Packers’ thinner edge group has to chase. That is scheme, not slogan.

Green Bay’s path is the run and the perimeter. Lloyd and Johnson have to make Flores respect early-down action so Jordan Love is not staring at five- and six-man pressures behind a line that has not practiced as a unit. Christian Watson and Jayden Reed remain the swing receivers if protection holds. If Banks or Bako-Bewele sits, Love’s time to throw shrinks. That is the matchup that decides whether this stays a one-score game.

This is analysis, not a report of a secret plan: Minnesota’s talent edge at quarterback and at home, plus Green Bay’s confirmed absences, is why the number moved. The Packers still have Love, a proven receiver room, and a front that can keep a game ugly. They do not have their best rusher or their best runner for the opener.

Pick, framed as opinion: Vikings 23, Packers 17. Take Minnesota and lean under if the first half turns into field position and third-down stops. That is a projection, not a fact.

Week 1 fantasy football kicker rankings reward matchups more than last year’s reputation. Kickoff is Wednesday night in Seattle, then the rest of the slate runs through Monday in Kansas City, per the FOX Sports Week 1 schedule. The best real-life kicker is not always the best fantasy start. Stalled drives in scoring range can beat a kicker who only taps extra points after touchdowns.

This ranking is an analysis piece built from the Week 1 slate, public projections, and roster rates — not a claim that one platform’s model is official. FantasyPros consensus projections, updated Sept. 8, 2026, still favor volume names such as Brandon Aubrey and Jake Bates. The streaming edge sits elsewhere.

Why field-goal volume beats the “best kicker” label

Fantasy scoring at kicker is simple. Made field goals pay more than extra points, and long makes pay extra in most leagues. That is why a mid-tier offense against a defense that bends, then holds, can outscore a juggernaut that punches the ball into the end zone every trip.

Las Vegas hosts Miami on Sunday at 4:25 p.m. ET, also listed on the CBS Sports Week 1 schedule. Multiple 2026 previews have ranked the Dolphins near the bottom of the league’s defensive units, including a last-place front-seven grade from Sharp Football Analysis. That is the profile fantasy managers hunt at kicker: enough movement to reach the 30, not enough finish to erase the field-goal attempts.

Matt Gay signed with the Raiders in March and is the Week 1 starter, per his team history and ESPN player page. He is rostered in about 1.6 percent of ESPN leagues and roughly 2 percent on FantasyPros. That is waiver-wire territory in most 12-team formats. A source rankings packet circulating this week listed Sleeper’s Week 1 projection for Gay at 7.7 points and first among kickers; that platform figure could not be independently confirmed on a public Sleeper page and should be treated as unconfirmed.

Gay’s 2025 accuracy was uneven. Pro Football Focus has him at 17 of 23 field goals (73.9 percent), including 4 of 9 from 50-plus. The appeal this week is opportunity, not a sudden return to his 2021 Pro Bowl form. Four field goals plus a PAT or two would be a massive streaming week. That outcome is possible. It is not guaranteed.

The rest of the Week 1 kicker board

Jake Bates draws New Orleans at Ford Field. Detroit is a heavy favorite, and FantasyPros ties Bates with Aubrey at 8.6 projected points. The risk is the same one that follows every high-powered offense: extra points instead of threes. Cameron Dicker faces Arizona as Mike McDaniel’s Chargers offense debuts. NBC Sports confirmed McDaniel’s hire as Los Angeles’ offensive coordinator. Dicker’s floor is high if the Chargers move the ball and settle from 40-plus once or twice.

Spencer Shrader won Indianapolis’ job after the Colts released Blake Grupe, according to Colts Wire. Baltimore at Lucas Oil Stadium is a field-goal spot if the Ravens’ defense forces stalled Colts drives. Some models love Shrader this week. Others do not. Sports Illustrated’s Michael Fabiano had him 21st on Sept. 7. Treat any “Sleeper ranks him second” claim as reported, not independently verified.

Aubrey remains the consensus season-long No. 1. Dallas at the Giants on Sunday night is a points game, which can cap field-goal volume. Tyler Loop travels to Indianapolis. The Ravens added Jake Moody to the practice squad after a shaky preseason, but coach Jesse Minter said he still expects Loop to kick Week 1, per The Associated Press.

Rookie Trey Smack opens his NFL career at Minnesota. Green Bay drafted him in the sixth round and released Brandon McManus, as detailed by CBS Sports. Jason Myers kicks Wednesday night against New England. Harrison Mevis works Thursday in Melbourne against San Francisco, a rare regular-season Australia kick in a dome-like cricket ground setting that removes weather from the equation.

Cam Little against Cleveland is the other classic stream: Jacksonville can move the ball without finishing. Ka’imi Fairbairn has a points-floor game against Buffalo. Chase McLaughlin sits 15th because Tampa Bay at Cincinnati projects as a touchdown-heavy script. If the Buccaneers keep settling from 35 yards, he jumps this board in a hurry.

If a kicker is still on waivers after Wednesday’s Seattle-New England kickoff, Gay is the first add. The roster rate is tiny. The matchup is the softest on the board. That combination is the entire point of streaming the position in Week 1.

Five days before the New York Jets open the 2026 season in Nashville, Garrett Wilson drew a hard line through the new lockers, the bigger sauna and the temporary weight space in Florham Park. The upgrades are real. The results are not. According to The Athletic, the veteran wide receiver said the building only becomes special if the roster finishes the job on Sundays.

“As players, it’s on us,” Wilson said. “The weight room is awesome. That thing will help us stay buff, but the reality is on Sundays we gotta go out and play good football, and then all of a sudden the weight room is a great weight room because it helped us kick ass.”

Garrett Wilson, via The Athletic, Sept. 8, 2026

Wilson did not leave the point there. He sketched the standard he wants attached to the Atlantic Health Jets Training Center: a 12-5 team that makes the rooms look earned. He said owner Woody Johnson is already doing his part by asking what the players need and turning over “every stone.” The rest, Wilson argued, is internal. Look in the mirror. Fix what you control. If the locker room shares that mindset, he believes the Jets get where they want to go.

How Florham Park actually changed

The spending did not start this month. After the NFLPA’s 2025 report cards graded Johnson with an F and the locker room a D-plus, the Jets tore out the old wood stalls before the 2025 training camp. The team’s own announcement described 92 customized lockers with automated video screens, a larger sauna, a barbershop and a 2,000-pound 3D ceiling logo. The Jets say they are the first NFL or NCAA club with fully automated locker displays. Construction wrapped in the five weeks between minicamp and camp, a timeline also laid out by the team and by The Associated Press.

Phase two is underway now. In May, the club confirmed it is replacing the old weight room with a two-story Player Performance Center that will run about 250 percent larger than the original space and fold strength, recovery and nutrition into one building, per the Jets. Players are lifting in a climate-controlled temporary structure the team says is already 70 percent larger than the old room. That is the “awesome” weight room Wilson is talking about: good enough to use, not finished, and useless if the scoreboard stays the same.

The union grades moved with the work. Players later gave ownership a B and the locker room an A-minus in the 2026 NFLPA survey results obtained by ESPN and reported by the New York Post. Johnson had called the prior cards “bogus.” The grade jump does not settle that argument. It does show the roster noticed the checks he wrote.

Zack Rosenblatt, who reported the Wilson comments for The Athletic, posted the larger ownership feature Tuesday morning:

Before Aaron Glenn would take the Jets job, he needed a moment alone with Woody Johnson.

“When we sat down, he flat-out told me: Listen, I made mistakes,” Glenn said to me. “I made these mistakes and I’m going to try to make it right.”

In the 19 months since, the Jets have… pic.twitter.com/inZPLJ6MFF

— Zack Rosenblatt (@ZackBlatt) September 8, 2026

Why Wilson’s warning lands now

The Jets last reached the playoffs in 2010. From 2011 through 2025 they went 85-160, a .347 clip confirmed by StatMuse. Last year they finished 3-14 under first-year head coach Aaron Glenn, last in the AFC East, and scored 300 points while allowing 503, per StatMuse’s 2025 team page. Wilson himself missed most of that season after a knee injury around Week 10 and finished with 36 catches for 395 yards.

That is the context for the 12-5 line. Wilson is not predicting a record. He is describing the only proof that makes a $ locker room feel like a winning locker room. New video screens do not create separation against press coverage. A larger sauna does not fix third-and-7. The Jets added Geno Smith at quarterback, Frank Reich as offensive coordinator and veteran voices such as Demario Davis and Minkah Fitzpatrick. Those moves can help Wilson, who signed a $130 million extension in 2025, get back to the 1,000-yard form of his first three seasons. They still have to execute against Tennessee on Sunday.

Glenn has told The Athletic that Johnson admitted past mistakes when the two first sat down. Defensive tackle Harrison Phillips, in the same feature, said he has been “blown away” by how much the owner wants to support the roster. That is confirmed player sentiment, not a guarantee the support turns into wins. The scheme still has to put Wilson in space. The offensive line still has to keep Smith upright. The defense Glenn now calls still has to get off the field.

Wilson’s other message was quieter and more useful. He framed Johnson’s spending as a prompt, not a rescue. The owner asked what the players needed. Wilson is asking the same question of himself and of the men who will walk into Nissan Stadium on Sept. 13. Facilities can keep a team healthier. They cannot hide a 15-year drought.

Peyton and Eli Manning did not send a graphic. They staged a break-in. On Tuesday, Omaha Productions released ManningCast: Heist, a roughly 15-minute Ocean’s Eleven-style short that unveils the sixth-season slate for the brothers’ alternate Monday Night Football broadcast — and confirms they will call Super Bowl LXI.

According to The Hollywood Reporter, the film packs about 40 cameos across Hollywood, the NFL locker room and the commissioner’s office. Anne Hathaway, Paul Rudd, Glen Powell, Jon Hamm and Larry David headline the entertainment side. Roger Goodell appears on camera. Jason and Travis Kelce do, too.

The gag is simple. Peyton finds Week 6 booked on the same night as his book club. Eli floats a voicemail to Goodell. Peyton doubts the commissioner will pick up. So the brothers recruit a crew, slip into NFL headquarters and try to hack the schedule. ESPN’s Kalan Hooks reported the plot Tuesday after speaking with both Mannings. Houston Texans coach DeMeco Ryans and Serena Williams join the raid on screen. Coaches including Sean McVay and Mike McDaniel turn up as the building’s last line of defense.

ESPN posted the campaign on X: “2 Brothers, 40 Cameos, 0 Clue.” —

2 Brothers, 40 Cameos, 0 Clue.

Peyton & Eli take matters into their own hands to adjust the ManningCast schedule. @omahaprod pic.twitter.com/FLpL0Lbmfw

— ESPN (@espn) September 8, 2026

Why a heist, and why now

Peyton told Hooks the brothers grew up on football and movies in equal measure. Previous schedule drops — “ManningCast Auditions,” then “ManningCast: The Musical” — already chased scale. This one aims higher. “When we weren’t playing football growing up, we were watching movies,” Peyton said in that ESPN interview.

Omaha Productions president Jamie Horowitz framed the caper as a stand-in for the show itself. He told The Hollywood Reporter the ManningCast is built as a place where guests talk football without the usual television armor. Writer-producer DJ Gallo developed the heist concept. Head of production Therese Andrews said planning started in late 2024 and cameras first rolled at the Pro Bowl in early 2025, which let the company lock early cameos and keep adding names for months.

Powell’s appearance also fits an existing Omaha thread. He stars in Hulu’s Chad Powers, the comedy drawn from the character Eli created on ESPN’s Eli’s Places, with both brothers listed as executive producers, as The New York Times has reported.

That crossover is the point. Horowitz told The Hollywood Reporter that elaborate off-night projects help explain why Paul Rudd, Kevin Hart or David Letterman keep walking onto a football altcast. A standard X’s-and-O’s show can still book talent. A mini-movie that treats Goodell as a mark, and Hathaway as part of the crew, makes the invitation easier to accept.

The sixth-season slate — and the first Super Bowl ManningCast

ESPN and Omaha published the games Tuesday in an ESPN press release. Eleven regular-season dates are set. One more regular-season edition will come later. The season ends Feb. 14, 2027, with Super Bowl LXI at SoFi Stadium in Inglewood, California — ESPN’s first Super Bowl and the first championship game on the ManningCast.

The joke inside the short tracks the real calendar. Week 6’s Monday night game is Washington at San Francisco on Oct. 19. That date is not on the ManningCast list. Peyton keeps his book club. The brothers still get the Super Bowl.

Peyton told Hooks they will work the championship broadcast on site in Los Angeles. They have played in Super Bowls. They had not expected to call one. Eli asked if Peyton would help move a couch to the West Coast. Peyton declined.

New this season is Manning Mode, an on-screen X’s-and-O’s window powered by Next Gen Stats and Adrenaline’s TruPlay AI. The brothers will step into it during games, with guests and without, to put live tracking and predictive looks on the same screen as the usual riffing. ESPN2 will air a 30-minute SportsCenter special Tuesday at 6 p.m. ET walking through the heist film and the slate.

The production already has a 2027 follow-up in motion. Peyton said work started months ago. Eli called the next one their biggest and dumbest yet. That is the house style now: treat a schedule announcement like a studio picture, keep Goodell in the ensemble, and use the joke to advertise a broadcast that still has to hold a three-hour Monday night.

Fantasy drafts are in the books. Lineups are not. Week 1 of the 2026 NFL season starts Wednesday night in Seattle and stretches through Monday in Kansas City, which means the first real test of those quarterback rooms arrives in days, not weeks.

The opener will not decide a season. It will, however, set early waiver priorities, bench decisions and the tone for managers who drafted a rushing quarterback or took a flier on a new starter. The 2026 Week 1 schedule puts several high-upside passers in spots that look friendlier than their average draft position suggested.

Consensus boards still lean toward the usual names. A FantasyPros Week 1 projection set updated Sept. 8 has Jalen Hurts, Justin Herbert, Joe Burrow and Lamar Jackson clustered at the top. The rankings below follow a different order — closer to the board published Tuesday by ClutchPoints — and put more weight on matchup and early-season health than season-long ADP.

Why Burrow sits first against Tampa Bay

Joe Burrow draws the Tampa Bay Buccaneers at Paycor Stadium on Sunday. Cincinnati has opened seasons slowly more than once in the Burrow era, and that history is the reason some managers still hesitate. The other side of the ledger is simpler: when Burrow is available, the Bengals’ passing game still runs through him.

He missed significant time in 2025 with a toe injury and still returned to produce down the stretch. Heading into Week 1 he has been a full participant in recent practices, and Ja’Marr Chase and Tee Higgins have also been back on the field after minor early-camp issues, per reporting from SI’s Bengals beat.

Tampa Bay allowed a heavy volume of quarterback production in 2025. ClutchPoints, citing Pro-Football-Reference data, ranked the Buccaneers among the softer defenses against the position. That is analysis, not a guarantee. It is also why Burrow’s projected 35-plus attempts in some models make him a clean QB1 this week rather than a “wait and see” play.

Jackson’s dual-threat case in Indianapolis

Lamar Jackson visits Lucas Oil Stadium on Sunday. The last time he played a full, healthy season, in 2024, he threw 41 touchdown passes and finished with 434.4 PPR fantasy points, per StatMuse. His career rushing total sits at 6,522 yards through 2025, according to NFL.com career stats.

2025 was a different story. Hamstring and back issues limited him to 13 games and a career-low 349 rushing yards. Jackson has said those injuries kept him from running the way he wanted. That is confirmed player comment, not projection. If the legs are back, Indianapolis has to account for both the throw and the scramble.

The Colts added Sauce Gardner in a 2025 trade. He played only four games after the deal before a calf injury ended his year, per team and league records compiled on his Wikipedia career summary. Zay Flowers signed a four-year, $140 million extension in August, Pro Football Rumors reported. Derrick Henry remains the Ravens’ lead back. Those pieces matter because they force a defense to choose which threat to load up against.

Lawrence gets Cleveland without Myles Garrett

Trevor Lawrence hosts the Browns. Cleveland named Deshaun Watson the Week 1 starter over Shedeur Sanders in late August. Dillon Gabriel and rookie Taylen Green remain in the room. That depth chart is real. Treating it as four co-equals on Sunday is not.

The bigger schematic change is on the other side of the ball. Cleveland traded Myles Garrett to the Rams in June for Jared Verse and draft capital, a deal confirmed by both clubs and reported by The Athletic and The Associated Press. Removing a 23-sack edge rusher changes how an offense can hold the pocket.

Jacksonville’s receiver group — Travis Hunter, Brian Thomas Jr., Jakobi Meyers and Parker Washington — gives Lawrence more than one answer if Cleveland sits in two-high. Lawrence was a second-half fantasy riser in 2025. That is a trend, not a lock. The matchup is why he belongs in the top tier this week even if he was not a first-round pick in every league.

Sleepers: Dart, Mayfield, Willis

Jaxson Dart starts Sunday night against Dallas. The second-year Giant took over as a rookie in Week 4 of 2025, finished with 2,272 passing yards, 15 passing touchdowns, 487 rushing yards and nine rushing scores in 12 starts, per RotoWire’s season recap. He also missed time with a concussion. That injury history is why some boards still slide him behind safer names.

Malik Nabers, coming off an ACL tear, is trending toward playing Sunday, according to ESPN’s Dan Graziano as relayed in multiple Giants reports Tuesday. Cam Skattebo has been practicing after a 2025 ankle dislocation. Neither status is official until the final injury report. A Cowboys-Giants prime-time game has historically produced points. That is the bet on Dart as a top-five weekly play, not a finished product.

Baker Mayfield goes to Cincinnati on the same Sunday slate. Tampa Bay ended extension talks this summer with no new deal, The New York Post reported. Mayfield will play 2026 on the final year of his contract. Over three seasons in Tampa he has thrown for 4,044 and 4,500 yards in two of those years and 95 passing touchdowns in all, per StatMuse. Motivation is speculation. The volume against a Bengals defense that has started seasons slowly is the football reason to start him.

Malik Willis makes his first regular-season start as Miami’s quarterback in Las Vegas. The Dolphins signed him to a three-year, $67.5 million deal in March after two efficient relief seasons in Green Bay, a contract confirmed across league reporting and his Wikipedia transaction log. The Raiders finished 3-14 in 2025, tied for the league’s worst record. Willis has a strong arm and real rushing juice. He also has six career starts. That is the risk in the “sleeper” label.

Stafford’s ranking is the one most tied to logistics. The Rams and 49ers play Thursday in Australia, a 8:35 p.m. ET kick on Netflix per the official NFL Week 1 schedule. Short rest and travel are not injuries. They are reasons a weekly ranking can slide a proven passer behind louder Week 1 scripts.

None of this is a finished box score. Watson could struggle and open the door for Sanders later. Nabers could be limited. Burrow could look like the cautious version of himself that has shown up in some openers. The job this week is not to predict 17 games. It is to start the quarterbacks whose matchups and health give them the cleanest path to 20-plus fantasy points on Sunday.

Matthew Stafford did not win Albert Breer’s annual quarterback poll. He still forced the league’s decision-makers to redraw the top of the board. In the Sports Illustrated survey published Tuesday, coaches, general managers and other quarterback evaluators projected Stafford as the No. 2 quarterback in the NFL by the end of the 2026 season, behind only Buffalo’s Josh Allen.

The timing matters. The Rams open Thursday night against the San Francisco 49ers in Melbourne, Australia, with the reigning MVP still the center of Sean McVay’s offense. The poll does not decide that game. It does show how sharply Stafford’s 2025 season changed the way the people who build rosters talk about a 38-year-old passer.

How Matthew Stafford broke the old top-four lock

Breer asked voters to name the five quarterbacks they expect to sit at the top when the season ends, not merely who looks best in September. He collected 104 ballots, including 21 general managers and 20 head coaches, with every team represented, per Sports Illustrated. Allen took first with 427 points and 49 first-place votes. Stafford landed second with 356 points and 33 first-place votes after finishing seventh a year ago.

That five-spot jump put him ahead of Patrick Mahomes and ended a two-year stretch in which Mahomes, Allen, Lamar Jackson and Joe Burrow owned the top four. Mahomes slipped to third. Burrow held fourth. Jackson fell to fifth.

The vote is a projection, not a trophy. Voters still treated Stafford like a pocket passer who can stay in that conversation. One rival general manager, quoted by Breer, called him “as elite a passer as there is in the league.” — https://www.si.com/nfl/nfl-coaches-gms-execs-vote-best-qb-end-of-2026

Breer posted the full results Tuesday morning on X:

🚨🚨 MY ANNUAL QB POLL 🚨🚨

Every year, post-cutdown, I ask dozens of top NFL people this: Who will the @NFL's Top 5 QBs be at the END of the year. Among the '26 voters …

➡️ 104 voters.
➡️ 21 GMs.
➡️ 20 HCs.
➡️ All 32 teams repped.

The results ⤵️https://t.co/pQ5tJpbQdQ

— Albert Breer (@AlbertBreer) September 8, 2026

The 2025 tape that moved the votes

Stafford won NFL MVP in 2025 after leading the league in passing yards (4,707) and touchdown passes (46) with eight interceptions, according to NFL.com. He started all 17 regular-season games. That combination — volume, scoring and a low interception count at age 37 — is what the poll respondents kept circling.

The scheme helps explain it. McVay still builds the Rams attack around timing, motion and Stafford’s ability to finish throws from a clean pocket. Puka Nacua and Davante Adams returned, which cut down the offseason churn at receiver. When the protection holds, Stafford does not need to invent plays with his legs. He needs a platform and a window. League evaluators still trust that package more than they trust most younger arms.

ESPN’s staff ranking of the top 100 players for 2026 placed Stafford at No. 9 overall, up from No. 71 a year earlier. Sarah Barshop wrote that he enters the season sixth in NFL history in passing yards (64,516) and seventh in touchdown passes (423). That list is a media composite, not the same exercise as Breer’s coaches-and-execs ballot. The player-voted NFL Top 100 ranked Stafford even higher, at No. 4, per NFL.com.

Those three lists answer different questions. Breer’s poll asks who will be the best quarterback in February. ESPN’s ranking stacks every position. The players’ vote reflects peer reputation after an MVP year. Stafford sits near the top of all three. That is the point Los Angeles is betting on.

What the ranking does — and does not — change for the Rams

Stafford signed a one-year extension in May, a deal reported at $55 million by multiple outlets and later described by The Athletic as covering this season and creating a path to 2027 if he wants another year. He has also said the choice is year to year. That is confirmed as his public stance, not a promise that he will play in 2027.

McVay has no interest in the favorite’s label. In comments published by the Los Angeles Times, he told reporters, “None of that means a damn thing.” He added that the Rams still have to work, stay humble and deal with the adversity he called inevitable.

That is the correct read two days before kickoff in Australia. A poll cannot block Nick Bosa. It cannot keep Stafford’s back quiet for 17 more games. It does tell you why the Rams kept building around him instead of forcing a succession plan this week. Evaluators around the league still see the same thrower they saw last fall: a veteran who wins from the pocket and does not look finished at 38.

If that version of Stafford shows up Thursday, the ranking will look obvious. If it does not, McVay already wrote the rebuttal. The votes were about last year and the projection from it. The season starts on the grass in Melbourne.

The Buffalo Bills open the 2026 season Sunday at Houston with a new head coach, a new defensive scheme and the same Super Bowl-or-bust mandate that has defined the Josh Allen era. Sean McDermott is gone after nine seasons. Joe Brady, the former offensive coordinator, takes over as the NFL’s youngest head coach. Jim Leonhard runs a more aggressive 3-4 defense. DJ Moore and Bradley Chubb arrived this offseason. Allen, who turned 30 in May, remains the constant.

Owner Terry Pegula made the stakes plain after firing McDermott following a 33-30 overtime loss at Denver in the 2025 AFC Divisional Round. The franchise that reached four straight Super Bowls from 1990 to 1993 and lost them all still waits for its first Lombardi Trophy. That drought now stretches 32 seasons. Bills Mafia feels every year of it. Here are four bold predictions for how this group answers the pressure.

Josh Allen wins his second MVP

Allen already owns one AP NFL Most Valuable Player award, earned after the 2024 season when he threw 28 touchdown passes, ran for 12 more and led Buffalo to a 13-4 record. A second trophy in 2026 is realistic if Brady loosens the reins. The new coach will continue calling the offense, the same role he held the past two seasons when the Bills ranked among the league’s most efficient units.

Allen still does the most with whatever supporting cast surrounds him. Last January in Denver he put the ball in position to win even on a night that ended in overtime defeat. Give him Moore as a true vertical threat, keep James Cook producing, and the dual-threat numbers climb again. Patrick Mahomes has the rings. Lamar Jackson piles up yards. Allen has spent years putting Buffalo in position to finish drives when it matters. That combination, plus a fresh staff, points toward MVP No. 2.

“I’m embracing it. I’m understanding it. And I’m meeting it full on.”

Joe Brady, after being introduced as head coach, per AP News

DJ Moore makes All-Pro

Moore is the first clear No. 1 receiver Allen has had since Stefon Diggs’ final Buffalo season in 2023. The Bills sent a 2026 second-round pick to Chicago in March to get him. Moore is listed at 6-foot, 213 pounds and turns 29 this season. He is not the burner he was at 22, yet he still separates and wins contested balls.

In four of his first eight NFL seasons he topped 1,100 receiving yards. His 2023 peak with the Bears produced 1,364 yards. Last year the numbers dropped to 50 catches and 682 yards on a struggling Chicago offense. Allen is a different quarterback than the ones Moore played with in Carolina and Chicago. Training-camp tape already showed Allen launching deep balls that Moore tracked over the shoulder. A 1,400-yard season and first-team All-Pro honors would not be a stretch if the chemistry holds.

Moore himself sounded ready when he arrived. “He’s a field general,” he said of Allen, according to AP News. “You see him out there trying to conduct things, and the way he does it is successful.”

Buffalo’s defense finishes top three in scoring

McDermott’s defenses ranked first, second and fourth in points allowed from 2021 through 2023. They slipped to 11th in 2024 (21.6 points per game) and 12th in 2025 (21.5). The unit rarely delivered in January. The 13-seconds collapse against Kansas City in the 2021 playoffs still lives in franchise memory. Last year’s overtime loss in Denver featured another late defensive breakdown and a controversial interception call.

Leonhard, a former Bills safety who spent the last two seasons on Sean Payton’s Denver staff, is installing a 3-4 that asks the front to attack rather than sit back. Bradley Chubb, signed to a three-year deal after Miami released him, gives the edge rush a proven veteran. If the new scheme produces more turnovers and shorter fields, and if Brady’s offense keeps the ball, a return to the top three in scoring defense is the logical next step. Leonhard has already called tackling last year’s biggest flaw, per AP News.

The Bills win Super Bowl LXI

Allen is closer to the end of his prime than the beginning. The next three-to-five seasons represent the window. Pegula said after the McDermott firing that the roster was already built to win now. Brady inherits that roster plus Moore and Chubb. The new Highmark Stadium opens in Week 2 against Detroit. The crowd that packed the old building for years of near-misses will be louder in the new one.

Regular-season success has never been the problem. Buffalo has made the playoffs in seven straight years and won a postseason game in six of them. The January wall is what remains. A more aggressive defense and an offense that can still put 30 on the board give this group its cleanest shot since the early 1990s. The prediction is simple and, for Bills fans, overdue: in February the words “The Bills win the Super Bowl” finally get said out loud.

None of these outcomes is guaranteed. Scheme change takes time. Moore must stay healthy. Leonhard’s first year as an NFL coordinator will have growing pains. Yet the pieces are in place, the quarterback is still elite, and the calendar says now. Sunday in Houston starts the test.

Week 1 tight end rankings start with Bowers

Week 1 of the 2026 NFL season starts Wednesday night in Seattle, but most fantasy tight ends play Sunday, Sept. 13. The position is deeper than it looked a year ago. Still, the top of the board is not a toss-up. FantasyPros consensus rankings, updated Sept. 8, put Brock Bowers first, Trey McBride second and Colston Loveland third in half-PPR.

League scoring changes the math. If tight ends score like wide receivers in your format, the top three matter more than the streamers. If they do not, the middle of this list is where lineups are won.

Las Vegas hosts Miami on Sunday at 4:25 p.m. ET, per the 2026 Week 1 schedule. Kirk Cousins is the Raiders’ Week 1 starter after coach Klint Kubiak named him over No. 1 pick Fernando Mendoza, CBS Sports reported. That pairing is the cleanest tight-end setup on the opening slate.

Why Bowers sits alone at TE1

Bowers does not need a gimmick matchup. He needs volume. He is the only proven pass catcher on a Raiders roster that will ask Cousins to find him early and often. Rotowire, via CBS Sports, noted Bowers is opening the year with Cousins after a 2025 knee issue limited him to 12 games.

To set the bar, go back to 2024. Bowers caught 112 passes for 1,194 yards and five touchdowns in 17 games. Derek Brown of FantasyPros wrote that Bowers ranked seventh in target per route run, sixth in yards per route run and second in first-read share that season. Brown’s projection is blunt: 2026 Bowers can look like 2025 Trey McBride if Las Vegas keeps the target tree thin.

Miami is not a locked-down Week 1 defense. FantasyPros ranks the Dolphins’ season-long defense strength of schedule 27th, and their Week 1 projection (5.8 fantasy points) sits in the lower half of team defenses. That is not a license to invent a “No. 23” label. It is a favorable spot for a tight end who wins from the slot and down the seam.

Loveland’s Year 2 case is about work, not hype

Chicago visits Carolina at 1 p.m. ET. Loveland led the Bears as a rookie with 58 catches, 713 yards and six touchdowns in 16 games, per team statistical recaps. The second-half spike is the real story. After a quiet start, he became Caleb Williams’ safety valve.

The human detail is not a slogan. It is a JUGS machine in his house. Kalif Raymond told reporters Loveland texts him on off days and the two have caught about 200 balls together. Sports Illustrated published the comments Sept. 5. Clay Harbor posted the same clip on X:

Kalif Raymond with cool insight on Colston Loveland’s work ethic.

He has a Jugs machine at his house and on off days catches 200 balls and is always trying to get his teammates to join him.

Colston Loveland. 📈 #DaBears #Bears #ChicagoBears pic.twitter.com/c5ItMjJDQr

— Clay Harbor (@clayharbs82) September 4, 2026

Loveland is not talking like a finished product. In April he told NFL.com, “I’ve had a year under my belt, similar playbook.” The next part is the standard he set for himself: no little mistakes, no slack. That is why he belongs in the same Week 1 tier as McBride even if the raw target share may trail Arizona’s tight end.

McBride remains startable even in a new scheme

Arizona plays at the Chargers on Sunday afternoon. New coach Mike LaFleur took the job in February, the Associated Press confirmed, after three seasons as the Rams’ offensive coordinator. Some fantasy managers worry LaFleur will spread the ball to win games rather than feed McBride.

The tape argument still favors starting him. McBride ranked No. 26 in ESPN’s 2026 player rankings. Josh Weinfuss wrote that even with Marvin Harrison Jr. and Michael Wilson on the roster, McBride could remain Arizona’s top receiving option, and that LaFleur’s West Coast scheme should help him in space, per ESPN. That is reporting plus projection, not a promise of another 126-catch season.

Sit McBride only if you already roster Bowers or Loveland and the rest of your lineup is screaming for a dart throw. Even then, most managers should start him.

The next tier: Warren, Fannin, Goedert

Tyler Warren draws Baltimore at home. That is a physical defense, but Indianapolis still has to throw to keep games from turning into a slog. Warren belongs in starting lineups this week.

Harold Fannin Jr. goes to Jacksonville. The Jaguars profile as one of the stronger Week 1 defenses in FantasyPros DST projections. Fannin is still a start in most leagues because Cleveland’s passing game lacks proven wide receivers. Rookies KC Concepcion and Denzel Boston will play, the Akron Beacon Journal reported this summer, but Week 1 readiness is an open question. Fannin is the known target.

Dallas Goedert hosts Washington. The Commanders are improved. They will also spend snaps chasing A.J. Brown and DeVonta Smith. That is the scheme reason Goedert can sneak into the TE1 range this week even if he is not a season-long lock.

Sleepers and fades

Dalton Kincaid at Houston is the sleeper with the widest range. Brown wrote on FantasyPros that a near full-time route share would make Kincaid a league-winner. That remains speculation. Last year’s issue was usage, not talent. Houston is a tough road spot. Treat him as a boom-or-bust TE2, not a must-start.

Isaiah Likely, now with the Giants after a three-year deal reported by The Athletic, faces Dallas on Sunday night. He can be the second read behind Malik Nabers. That is a real path. It is not yet a locked TE1 role.

Travis Kelce and Mark Andrews are still names. They are not automatic Week 1 smash spots. Denver visits Kansas City on Monday night. Baltimore goes to Indianapolis. Both veterans belong on rosters. Neither needs to be forced over a hotter young tight end if you already have one.

These ranks are analysis, not official league projections. They blend Week 1 matchups, confirmed quarterback situations and 2025 usage. If your league starts two tight ends, Goedert through Likely are the playable band. If you have Bowers, stop hunting.

Peyton and Eli Manning did not send a press release and call it a day. On Tuesday, Omaha Productions and ESPN rolled out the sixth-season ManningCast 2026 schedule inside a 15-minute Ocean’s 11-style short film that sends the brothers, in black jumpsuits, into NFL headquarters to rewrite their own slate.

ESPN posted the campaign on X with a blunt tagline: “2 Brothers, 40 Cameos, 0 Clue. Peyton & Eli take matters into their own hands to adjust the ManningCast schedule.” —

2 Brothers, 40 Cameos, 0 Clue.

Peyton & Eli take matters into their own hands to adjust the ManningCast schedule. @omahaprod pic.twitter.com/FLpL0Lbmfw

— ESPN (@espn) September 8, 2026

The plot, as laid out by ESPN, starts with a scheduling problem only Peyton Manning could invent. Week 6 lands on book-club night. Eli’s solution is simple: call commissioner Roger Goodell. Peyton’s reply is dryer. He does not think the commissioner checks voicemail. So they recruit a crew and try to hack the league computer instead.

The crew is stacked. According to The Hollywood Reporter, the film packs about 40 cameos, including Anne Hathaway, Paul Rudd, Glen Powell, Jon Hamm, Larry David, Serena Williams, Jason and Travis Kelce, Marshawn Lynch, and Goodell himself. Production started in early 2025 at the Pro Bowl and stretched across the year as Omaha writer-producer DJ Gallo and the Mannings booked whoever would say yes.

Gronkowski Turns Patriots History Into the Punchline

Rob Gronkowski is not a background extra. In the clip, he treats the break-in like a red-zone concept. Per ClutchPoints, Gronkowski says: “Pulling off a heist is the same as running the perfect play. It’s all about execution. When I was on the Patriots, we used to break into the league headquarters all the time.”

That line lands because everyone in the room already knows the history. In 2007, the NFL fined Bill Belichick $500,000 and stripped New England of a first-round pick after the team videotaped opposing coaches’ signals from an unauthorized location, a case documented at the time by NFL.com. Years later, Deflategate produced another first-round penalty and a suspension for Tom Brady. Gronk does not litigate either case. He just shrugs at the elephant and keeps moving.

Peyton and Eli leaned into the same joke when ESPN asked who they would actually call for a real heist. Both picked Gronk. Peyton added that Gronkowski’s performance was “very believable,” and that “you get the sense he’s done this before.”

The Mannings have spent five seasons roasting themselves on air. Letting a longtime rival do the same to the Patriots dynasty is consistent with the show’s tone. New England still owns six Super Bowl titles and nine appearances from 2001 through 2018. The joke works because the hardware is real and the brothers have already lost to that machine more than once.

The Actual Schedule, Plus Manning Mode

The heist is the wrapper. The slate is the news. According to the official announcement from the ESPN Press Room, Monday Night Football with Peyton and Eli returns for 11 regular-season games on ESPN2 at 8 p.m. ET, plus the first ManningCast Super Bowl. One extra regular-season date will be named later.

That Super Bowl date is confirmed league-wide. Super Bowl LXI is set for Feb. 14, 2027, at SoFi Stadium in Inglewood, Calif., on ESPN and ABC, ESPN’s first Super Bowl and the Mannings’ first championship-game alt-cast. They told ESPN they will work the game on location in Los Angeles rather than from their usual home setups.

New this year is Manning Mode, an on-screen Xs-and-Os window powered by Next Gen Stats and Adrenaline’s TruPlay AI. Peyton and Eli will step into it during games, with guests or alone, to show real-time tracking data, predictive looks, and the kind of film-room talk that used to stay in a quarterback meeting. It is the latest attempt to keep the alt-cast from turning into the same couch conversation every Monday.

A 30-minute SportsCenter special on the heist film airs Tuesday at 6 p.m. ET on ESPN2, with the brothers talking through the production and previewing the slate.

The video itself is promotion dressed as a short movie. Omaha Productions president Jamie Horowitz told The Hollywood Reporter the heist is a metaphor for the show: a place where athletes, actors, and coaches can talk football without the usual broadcast armor. That pitch explains why Hathaway, Rudd, and Goodell keep showing up. The Mannings keep making the ask bigger. The names keep saying yes.

Whether Manning Mode changes how people watch is an open question. The schedule, the Super Bowl date, and Gronk’s one-liner are not. The brothers got the games they wanted on camera. They also got another year of reminding the league that their version of Monday night still runs on jokes first and diagrams second.