1. I think, if you have read this column, you know that I am not a big fan of ball carriers getting pushed from behind to advance the ball downfield. This doesn’t mean that I don’t think the Eagles, or any team, should run a quarterback sneak this way, because, obviously, it is within the rules to do so, and why not take advantage of a play that is in the rules? But I thought Eagles coach Nick Sirianni summed up his team’s use of the play superbly Sunday after Philadelphia beat the Rams in Los Angeles. Hard to argue with Sirianni when he says:
So we watched our evolution of the play and the growth of that play; it’s just a great example of what we want to be as a team. If we stayed the same in our quarterback sneaks from 2021 until now, defenses would have caught up to it. But we’ve grown in the areas, and we’ve grown in our fundamentals. Jalen, I don’t know if he squats any more than 600 now, but he’s grown in the weight room. Then we watch the rest of the league, and quite frankly, they can’t do it like we can. We’ll play by the rules of what they say to do. It’s a good play for us. The [NFL] Competition Committee can look at it, but until then, people have to stop it.
2. I think what’s so interesting, and so refreshing, in this time when everyone has to know everything about everything RIGHT NOW, is that no one knows if the Bill Belichick reign will end this year or in 2027 or 2031 or 2036. I kind of like that. Mystique. How rare.
3. I think, Andy Reid will make very little of passing Tom Landry with his 251st regular season win Sunday, putting him fourth on the all-time list. I remember talking to Reid after he passed Chuck Noll a few years ago, and he immediately said, “That is absolutely not what today is about.” But regardless of him downplaying what this means, make no mistake that it signifies a coach who has done it the right way for a long, long time being rewarded.
4. I think I always get a kick out of these player trades that include late-round draft picks. The latest: Chase Claypool plus a 2025 seventh-round pick from Chicago to Miami for a 2025 sixth-round pick. Chicago picked 218th in the seventh round last year; Miami picked 197th in the sixth. It’s a borderline absolutely insignificant trade.
5. I think there are many good signs about Sam Howell as a long-term Washington quarterback, but this is certainly not one of them: Howell is on pace to take 99 sacks this year. Lord, the Commanders had better fix that, and Howell had better learn to fight another play.
Commanders’ blowout loss to Bears raises questions
Mike Florio and Peter King weigh in on the Commanders blowout loss to the Bears on Thursday night, breaking down where things went wrong for the offense, Ron Rivera’s defense and more.
6. I think I cannot remember a quicker devaluation of a football player than J.C. Jackson in 18 months.
March 16, 2022: Jackson, after four years with the Patriots, signs the richest cornerback contract in the free-agent market—five years, $82.5 million—with the Chargers.
Oct. 4, 2023: Jackson, after playing seven games and earning $38.5 million with the Chargers, is traded back to the Patriots along with a 2025 seventh-round pick for a sixth-round pick. Hard to project the difference in draft positions two years down the road, but in terms of draft value, it’s likely to approximate the difference between the 40th and 41st pick in the draft. Not sure I’d have wanted to be Chargers coach Brandon Staley or GM Tom Telesco and have to explain to owner Dean Spanos how a $38.5 million mistake like that was made.
7. I think the easy thing to say there is, “Patriots win again,” but Jackson is due $12 million (non-guaranteed, granted) over each of the next three seasons after this one. I wonder how long he’ll last with a premier price tag. My guess is that number has to get slashed.
8. I think I always enjoy the list of projected future head coach that Sports Illustrated NFL writer Conor Orr puts together every fall. Here is this season’s edition. His two locks for jobs in this coaching cycle: Detroit offensive coordinator Ben Johnson and Carolina defensive coordinator Ejiro Evero. Logical call on Johnson, gutsy call on Evero. Owners don’t usually like to hire coaches off the staff of 3-14 teams, and Carolina just might be that. I like the inclusion of Aaron Glenn (defensive coordinator, Detroit), Lou Anarumo (defensive coordinator, Cincinnati) and Brian Johnson (offensive coordinator, Philadelphia). Good job, Conor.
9. I think it’s notable that three of the coaches I mention there—Evero, Glenn, Brian Johnson—are Black, and several other minority candidates are in there, including Eric Bieniemy of the Commanders. I was reminded of that when I noted Deion Sanders, in Time magazine’s upcoming cover piece on him, saying this to writer Sean Gregory: “We can play, but we can’t coach? … Seventy percent of us can be in the locker room, but we can’t lead ourselves? It don’t add up … The Bible says, in Ecclesiastes, there’s a time and a season for every activity under the sun. I believe it’s time that we make those strides.”
King ‘had to see’ Sanders in action at Colorado
Peter King joins Dan Patrick to share his experience watching Deion Sanders’ magic in person, discussing the appeal to stay at the college level, as well as unpack the NFL Week 4 slate.
10. I think these are my other thoughts of the week:
a. Keep At It Story of the Week: Dominique Mosbergen, Peter Loftus and Gregory Zuckerman of the Wall Street Journal on University of Pennsylvania immunologist Drew Weissman and molecular biologist Katalin Kariko ignoring the many doubters on their campus and in the medical community and inventing mRNA technology that contributed to development of the Covid-19 vaccine.
b. Weissman and Kariko won the 2023 Nobel Prize for medicine last week. From the Journal story:
As drugmakers raced to develop vaccines against Covid-19, it was mRNA technology that powered widely used shots from Pfizer, BioNTech and Moderna. The Nobel committee credited Karikó’s and Weissman’s work with saving millions of lives.
“The laureates contributed to the unprecedented rate of vaccine development during one of the greatest threats to human health in modern times,” the committee said in awarding Karikó, 68, and Weissman, 64, the annual prize in physiology or medicine. Karikó is the 13th woman among 227 people to win the prize.
“We focused on doing the science,” Karikó said Monday. “That’s why we persevere, we are resilient.”
c. I’ve read two more stories in the ensuing days about the skepticism of fellow researchers, doctors and scientists about the work of Kariko and Weissman. What if they got discouraged? Quit? Would the vaccines have been as powerful? Would there have even been an effective vaccine for Covid? How lucky are we that they stuck to it?
d. “That’s why we persevere; we are resilient.”
e. TV Story of the Week: Michelle Beisner-Buck of ESPN on Seattle linebacker Boye Mafe. The story’s about Mafe soldiering on after the death of his mom to pancreatic cancer, and how he uses sign language in part to pay tribute to her before every game. And it’s got an emotional twist at the end from Beisner-Buck.
f. Mafe on sign language: “To me, it’s a beautiful language. My sister did it; my brother did it. I thought it was the cool kids’ club.”
g. Stay till the end, for Beisner-Buck’s message to her mom.
“Mom, I know you’re at home, and you’re watching this, and I know that you are battling. I want you to keep fighting and don’t give up. And always remember [she signals I love you in sign language] that I love you.”
h. It is weird, bizarre, odd, strange, whatever word you want to use, to see George Costanza (Jason Alexander) doing discount wireless commercials in a blue T-shirt. In anything, really.
i. “Was that wrong?”
j. “Should I not have done that? If anyone had said anything to me that that sort of thing was frowned upon …”
k. Football Story of the Week: The venerable Frank Cooney, of The Sports Xchange, on the death of Hall of Fame tight end Russ Francis in a small plane crash last week.
SAN FRANCISCO – NOVEMBER 15: Tight end Russ Francis #89 of the San Francisco 49ers warms-up on the sideline during a game against the New Orleans Saints at Candlestick Park on November 15, 1987 in San Francisco, California. The Saints won 26-24. (Photo by George Rose/Getty Images)
l. What a character. And what a story by Cooney, who used to cover him in the Bay Area.
m. Cooney writes so well of the way Francis lived, and the way he played football. Two points in the story stood out—one about being a daredevil, one about a game against the Raiders in which he was sure he’d been wronged:
On off days he would go skydiving. One offseason a few of us raced old motorcycles upwards of 110 miles per hour on a deserted, bumpy airstrip on the windward side of Kailua, Oahu, in his beloved Hawaii.
“Russ, aren’t you afraid of dying, of killing yourself?” one person in our group asked that day.
“Not at all,” Francis responded. “I’m afraid of not living the fullest while I can.”
—
The game: Francis’ Patriots at Raiders, playoffs, 1976, late fourth quarter, Pats up 21-17, third-and-six. Raider tough guy Phil Villapiano grabbed Francis’ arms as a pass comes his way. Incomplete. No flag. Francisco screamed that he was held. No flag. Pats missed a field goal, and the Raiders took over and drove for the winning TD. Sometime after that, Francis and Villapiano met at an NFL-sanctioned event in Hawaii, where Francis lived much of his life.
—
Francis, who had an airline sightseeing gig on the island, took Villapiano and his wife, Patsy, for a free tour.
Okay, there was a price to pay.
“We are up there looking down at the whales,” said Villapiano. “Russ tilts the plane hard to the right and we are looking out an open door at the whales. We were strapped in, but it was hairy. Russ says, ‘So, was it holding?’ I look down at the whales and say, ‘Hell yes it was holding.’ Russ straightened up the plane.”
n. They don’t make ’em like Russ Francis anymore.
o. Journalism Passage of the Week: Marcus Thompson of The Athletic with a wish-I’d-written-that section from his story watching Shedeur Sanders, son of Deion, on the field before the game against USC nine days ago.
Colorado’s star quarterback stood on the sidelines, close enough to the field so the whole section could see him. His head nodded slightly to whatever beat he was hearing. He stared into the sea of white shirts and soaked in the cheers of the Buffaloes faithful. Then, matter of factly, he raised his left fist to flaunt … his Audemars Piquet Royal Oak 15500 watch with 30 carats of VVS diamonds. The roar of the fans escalated.
Sanders then calmly stepped down and jogged off. The “2” medallion dangling from his diamond-encrusted Cuban link necklace bounced off his chest as he ran. He didn’t say a word. His expression didn’t change. Because for Shedeur, to borrow from rapper David Banner, stuntin’ is a habit. Put it in the air.
But the thing about Sanders the quarterback is he’s proving to have substance to pair with his flamboyance. His talent, his toughness, his intelligence are making his flair feel more and more appropriate.
Every Sanders pass and run from Week 5 loss to USC
Look back on every pass and run from Shedeur Sanders in Colorado’s Week 5 loss to USC, where the QB finished 30 of 45 for 371 yards and four touchdowns and 14 carries for 50 rushing yards and one TD score.
p. Thompson’s story is well worth your time. We covered the same thing last week. His story was better than mine. I tip my cap to you, sir.
q. Dog Passage of the Year, from Alina Dizik of the Wall Street Journal:
Joy Claire admits it—her dog’s grooming takes precedence over her own.
Each month, she takes her 60-pound goldendoodle for a five-hour salon makeover that includes a wash, blow dry, nail trim and blueberry facial to get rid of tear stains. Penelope Poodlepanths gets the teddy-bear cut, a teased-out coif accessorized with a bow. Ms. Claire pays $250, including tax and tip.
“She’s my best friend, so it’s always in the budget for her,” says Ms. Claire.
r. So many questions. Biggest one: a blueberry facial to get rid of tear stains?
s. I loved reading this from Twins manager Rocco Baldelli, after Minnesota snapped an 18-game playoff losing streak Tuesday by beating Toronto in front of a roaring home crowd:
“The ballpark today, I think, was a great representation today of how the community feels about us and what we do. I thought the place was going to split open and melt. Honestly. It was out of this universe out there on the field. The fans took over the game. They helped us win today.”
t. On the first day of the baseball playoffs last Tuesday, the Disney family (ESPN, ESPN2 and ABC) aired 11 hours and 43 minutes of playoff baseball. Per a report from Awful Announcing, the six hours of morning/early afternoon programming on ESPN featured three short promos for the quadruple-header of postseason baseball, and nothing else about the games. “According to a closed captioning search, they were the only mentions of the MLB Playoffs from 8-2 on ESPN,” Awful Announcing said.
u. I’m sure we’ll see a hundred reasons why the baseball ratings on ESPN stink. And none will mention that no one on those ESPN shows ever talks about baseball. Must be a rule of some kind.
v. Man, those baseball playoff games in Philadelphia are events. What a great atmosphere.
w. Man, that baseball attendance in St. Petersburg for the Rays is awful. Two of them, both with crowds below 21,000. First: The Rays should be playing in Tampa, but that’s no excuse. Second: Stop with the “weekend afternoon” excuse for bad attendance. Third: Think of all the markets dying for a big-league baseball team: Portland, Nashville, Montreal, so many others. Think of fans there watching the Rays’ games in that mausoleum, retching, wondering why there’s a team in that market.
x. How about the path of the Texas Rangers in the past two weeks: three road games in Anaheim, four road games in Seattle … end of regular season, stay on road … two road games in Tampa, two road games in Baltimore. Think of the flight pattern: Dallas due west to Anaheim (3 hours, 15 minutes), Anaheim due north to Seattle (2 hours, 45 minutes), Seattle due southeast to Tampa (5 hours, 25 minutes), Tampa due northeast to Baltimore (2 hours, 15 minutes). That is Americana, south to west to northwest to southeast to east, all in two weeks.
y. The 2023 World Gymnastics Championships concluded Sunday with Simone Biles winning two more world titles, on balance beam and floor. That brings her already-record total world medals to 30, with 23 of them gold. The 26-year-old finishes these world championships with five medals: four gold in team, all-around, beam and floor, plus silver on vault. Her new combined world and Olympic medal count is 37, the most of all time. Yikes. That is greatness personified.
Biles wins floor exercise gold medal at Worlds
Simone Biles’ high-flying floor routine earns her the gold medal in the floor exercise at the World Artistic Gymnastics Championships, giving her four golds at this year’s competition.
z. Speaking of Hall of Fame Chicago middle linebackers: Happy 65th, Mike Singletary.
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