Falcons
Falcons DT Grady Jarrett reflected on the roughing-the-passer call against him in the fourth quarter of Week 5’s game against the Buccaneers and thinks it cost them the game.
“I’m not saying that it cost us the game, but it cost us an opportunity to go win the game,” Jarrett said, via Ashton Edmunds of the team’s official site. “If it’s costing people games, it’s going to cost people’s livelihood’s, it’s costing people opportunity. You never know who will go down and make a crazy play. When people watch it to be entertained, they love to see some game winning drives and then when you do it the right way, that’s what makes it so frustrating because you did follow the rules.”
Jarrett feels it would be beneficial to review pivotal penalty calls.
“And you didn’t do anything bad, so let’s get the game what the game is owed, and that’s the best product we can put on the field. That’s the thing that really drives you just a little crazy. In full speed, it may look more malicious than it really is because the refs are human as well, so let’s just take a little bit off the plate and be able to review something like that just for the defensive sake so we can get something.”
In the end, Jarrett is hopeful that a conversation can start within the league office about how to address roughing-the-passer calls.
“When you do it right, I don’t believe you should be punished for it,” Jarret said. “It’s not just the player, it’s the team, it’s the city, and it’s everything for everyone involved. It’s highly highly emotional and we just don’t want it to go down like that. Hopefully something can come from this and a change can happen but at the end of the day, I would hope that some conversation would be had.”
Panthers
- CBS Sports’ Jason La Canfora, based on conversations with multiple coaches and executives around the league, doesn’t think former Saints HC Sean Payton is a realistic possibility for the Panthers.
- He notes Saints GM Mickey Loomis wants to trade the rights to Payton out of the NFC, so keeping him in the division is even less desirable. La Canfora also says people who know Payton well don’t think he’d mesh with owner Dave Tepper and Carolina’s lack of a quarterback also makes it a challenging situation to step into. One GM said: “That’s only an attractive job if you have a chance to get a quarterback. They might get the first overall pick. But by the time we get to January, I don’t think this is the job everyone wants. Far from it.”
- La Canfora writes it’s long been accepted in NFL circles that the relationship between the front office and former HC Matt Rhule was beyond broken by the middle of last season.
- He also adds there’s a theory from people with insight into the Panthers’ front office dynamic that interim HC Steve Wilks was hired for exactly this situation and has a real chance to hang onto the job in 2023. A rival executive says: “You can’t bring in the defensive coordinator at Missouri in the offseason to replace your $10 million head coach, but if he wins a few games as the interim guy, it’s a much easier sell. I think he ends up getting the job. I truly believe he was brought in with this in mind. Nothing that has happened there has surprised me to this point.”
- La Canfora, citing sources again, points out Wilks is close with Panthers VP of football operations Steven Drummond who has become a key confidante of Tepper. Another executive went so far as to compare Drummond’s influence in the organization to Texans executive Jack Easterby: “It’s the same dynamic as Easterby, it just doesn’t get as much attention.”
- Others who know Tepper think he’ll lean toward hiring a coach with an offensive background given the team’s struggles under Rhule, per La Canfora. Giants OC Mike Kafka is one name, and he could be at least interviewed. Bills OC Ken Dorsey has ties to the Panthers and the front office, while Lions OC Ben Johnson has raised his profile more than almost any other coach so far this season.
- La Canfora quotes one longtime NFL executive who has been involved in multiple successful coaching hires on Johnson: “The more I study him, the more I like. Pay attention to how his players talk about him. Look at the film and what he’s doing, not just with [QB Jared] Goff but that entire offense. It’s pretty special.”
- Multiple GMs told La Canfora they expected GM Scott Fitterer to push for Cowboys DC Dan Quinn, as the two were former colleagues in Seattle. Quinn, however, could have better options.
- Yahoo Sports’ Charles Robinson writes that more than anything, the failure to solve the quarterback position doomed Rhule’s tenure. His first swing was a big deal for veteran QB Teddy Bridgewater in 2020, and Tepper left that season feeling like he overpaid for an average at best player.
- Robinson adds that affected Tepper’s trust in Rhule’s quarterback judgment, and when the team had an opportunity to trade for QB Matthew Stafford that offseason, Tepper pumped the brakes to do more due diligence on Stafford’s health. That opened the door for the Rams to swoop in.
- After that, Carolina’s next plan was to go all in on trading for QB Deshaun Watson but his legal issues killed the possibility of a trade for another year. They elected to trade for QB Sam Darnold instead of drafting a rookie and the spiral continued.
- Panthers OC Ben McAdoo said he elected to sign with Carolina last offseason despite Rhule being on the hot seat because he wanted an opportunity to be an offensive coordinator: “When you have opportunities, you always bet on yourself in this business.” (Mike Kaye)
- As for whether he felt worried that he’d be fired alongside Rhule, McAdoo responded: “Every day you come in and your key card works, it’s a good day.” (Joe Person)
- McAdoo indicated practice squad QB Jacob Eason took some first-team reps this week. (Ellis L. Williams)
Saints
Regarding earning NFC Offensive Player of the Week in Week 5, TE Taysom Hill feels like the honor is based on the contributions of the Saints’ collective group.
“There’s been a lot of conversation about me, but I feel like any time you win awards like that it’s the collective group,” Hill said, via John Deshazier of the team’s official site. “We ran the football for over 200 yards (235, on 48 carries as a team), you don’t do that unless the guys up front play really well. I look at that more as like a collective award. The biggest thing is that we were able to get the win and we did what we had to do to do that.”
When asked if he thinks his production last Sunday will lead to more playing time, Hill responded that he trusts their coaching staff to make the best decisions for the team.
“I trust our coaches and what we’re doing,” Hill said. “I think some weeks, there’s some advantages, more emphasis and things like that, and those guys spend so much time breaking the film down, putting together a plan to make sure that myself and the rest of our skill guys are put in the right opportunity to be successful.”
Hill explains that he expected some opportunities in the second half of Week 5 due to New Orleans’ game plan going into the game.
“As I enter a gameplan or a game or whatever, I think that’s kind of the expectation, that these plays are going to get called,” Hill said. “At halftime, we make some adjustments but as you guys know, that halftime goes so fast, I think most of the time we come out and say, ‘These are the things that we want to get to.’ Going into a game, you expect those plays to get called anyway, so I will say I don’t think it really changes my mind-set. I think it helps having a heads up, because you have an expectation of what to plan and prepare for going into the second half.”
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