As the final four weekends of the NFL’s regular season arrive, it is time to wonder: Is this it for legendary quarterbacks Tom Brady and Aaron Rodgers?
Brady’s contract with the Tampa Bay Buccaneers expires after this season, making him eligible for unrestricted free agency. He already has lined up his next career as a broadcaster with Fox. He has fulfilled his long-stated goal of playing until he’s 45. There is little left for him to accomplish and nothing left for him to prove. Many regard him as the greatest quarterback to ever play. He inarguably is the greatest winner, with his seven Super Bowl triumphs.
He has endured on-field adversity and off-field scrutiny this season. He has not been the same quarterback who led the league last season in passing attempts, completions, passing yards and touchdowns. The Buccaneers are under .500 and were overwhelmed, 35-7, on Sunday by the San Francisco 49ers in Santa Clara, Calif.
But there have been some moments of the old on-field magic, including down-to-the-wire victories over the Los Angeles Rams and New Orleans Saints. The Buccaneers, who host the Cincinnati Bengals on Sunday, are in first place in the laughably dreadful NFC South and could host a first-round playoff game. Brady does lead the league in passing attempts and completions, even if his passer rating is down sharply to 88.9 (from 102.1 last season).
NFL Network reported Sunday that all options remain open for Brady. That is true basically by definition for him. All options remained open last offseason even after he announced his retirement, as he un-retired a little less than six weeks later. If Brady opts to keep playing but moves on from the Buccaneers, he could tie his next destination to that of Sean Payton, the Super Bowl-winning coach for the Saints who is out of the league this season. The NFL punished the Miami Dolphins, remember, for tampering with Brady and Payton, who share an agent.
Rodgers just turned 39 and has played through a broken thumb and a rib injury as the Green Bay Packers have stumbled to 5-8. They return from their bye to host the Rams on Monday. Rodgers has said he wants to remain in the Packers’ lineup as long as they are mathematically in the NFC playoff race. If they are eliminated, he has said, he is open to discussions about ending his season early; the Packers would give a starting audition to Jordan Love.
To retire, Rodgers would have to pass up the $59.5 million guaranteed to him for next season. He has said he does not plan to make a decision until after this season. The Packers would have to absorb a $40.3 million salary cap hit to trade him, although they could split that over two seasons by trading him after June 1.
San Francisco could be an intriguing possibility for either quarterback. Both have deep ties to the Bay Area. The 49ers have a championship-ready team and are on their third starting quarterback, with rookie Brock Purdy following Trey Lance and Jimmy Garoppolo.
Garoppolo is eligible for free agency in the offseason. If the 49ers opt to make Lance and Purdy wait their turns, they perhaps could be in the mix for Brady or Rodgers.
|
That dip in their play last month is a fading memory. The Eagles are rolling again. The victory over the Giants was dominant. A win Sunday at Chicago would put them at 13-1 entering their Dec. 24 game at Dallas. |
|
|
There’s not much good to say about the game against the Texans, other than that the Cowboys didn’t lose. They must play better Sunday against the Jaguars, who are formidable, at least compared with the Texans. |
|
|
The pass rush was ferocious during the triumph over the Jets. That is a major issue after Von Miller’s knee injury unexpectedly became season-ending. |
|
|
Their winning streak is at five. They’re playing well at the right time, but they can’t afford missteps the next two weekends against the Bucs and Patriots, with the Bills and Ravens looming to close the regular season. |
|
|
After racing to a 27-0 lead against the Broncos, they allowed Denver back into the game. The Chiefs didn’t lose, at least, and overcame Patrick Mahomes’s three interceptions. But that should be a wake-up call. |
The 49ers are on a six-game winning streak and are the NFC’s No. 3 seed. They have a two-game lead over the Seattle Seahawks with four games left in the regular season entering Thursday night’s matchup between the two teams in Seattle.
But as their list of significant injuries continues to grow, it will be interesting to see if they are a legitimate Super Bowl threat in the NFC.
Wide receiver Deebo Samuel left the field on a cart during Sunday’s triumph over the Buccaneers. Coach Kyle Shanahan said after the game that Samuel most likely had suffered a high-ankle sprain. Samuel also suffered a knee injury. That came one week after Garoppolo suffered a broken foot that may have ended his season, putting Purdy in the lineup.
Purdy played well enough Sunday to inspire confidence that the Niners maybe, just maybe could be a factor in the postseason. He had two touchdown passes and a rushing touchdown in the first half before the 49ers basically shut things down after halftime with a huge lead.
But Samuel’s injury is likely to linger through the regular season and perhaps into the playoffs. Even if he returns to the lineup, it will remain to be seen how effective he will be. That means that the 49ers will enter the postseason not only with a rookie starter at quarterback, but also with a potentially diminished supporting cast around him. They still have tailback Christian McCaffrey, tight end George Kittle, wideout Brandon Aiyuk and the NFL’s top-ranked defense.
But it is becoming increasingly difficult to believe that this version of the 49ers will be on equal footing when it comes time for a road game against, say, the top-seeded Philadelphia Eagles. It’s easy to get carried away with Purdy’s performance after one start. But if he were ready to be an immediate NFL standout, he probably would not have lasted until the final pick of the draft.
|
If they hadn’t squandered their late lead against the Bucs in their pre-bye game, there would be a four-way tie in the NFC South right now. But it didn’t happen, and the Saints are the worst team in the NFL’s sorriest division. |
|
|
The Colts return from their bye to face the Vikings and Chargers. They suffered three progressively worse pre-bye losses after the victory at Vegas in Jeff Saturday’s first game as interim coach. |
|
|
The Bears emerge from their bye with losses in six straight and nine of 10 games. They might not win again with the Eagles, Bills, Lions and Vikings left on the schedule. |
|
|
That was a decent effort to make it interesting against the Chiefs. Russell Wilson’s concussion could make Brett Rypien the starter at QB. |
|
|
The narrow loss at Dallas shows the Texans are still competing. That’s something, at least. |
Watson’s two games with the Browns
Two games into Deshaun Watson’s tenure with the Cleveland Browns, his team is all but out of the Afc Playoff Race, and there is little indication Watson will resemble the quarterback the Browns thought they were getting at any point this season.
The Browns have managed one touchdown on offense in two games since Watson was reinstated after serving his 11-game suspension. That came when Watson threw a third-quarter touchdown pass to tight end David Njoku in Sunday’s 23-10 defeat at Cincinnati. Though Watson was better against the Bengals than he was in his Browns debut a week earlier at Houston, he still wasn’t particularly great. He threw an interception in a 26-for-42, 276-yard passing performance.
The loss dropped the Browns to 5-8. They are 12th in the AFC playoff race, two games out of the seventh and final spot. They host the division-leading Baltimore Ravens Saturday. Watson’s return has yet to make the Browns relevant on the field, and they are about to be 20 percent through his five-year, $230 million guaranteed contract.
Free agent wide receiver Odell Beckham Jr. remains unsigned after making visits to the Dallas Cowboys, Buffalo Bills and New York Giants.
Two of those teams have signed other veteran wideouts potentially able to make more immediate contributions. The Cowboys added T.Y. Hilton, and the Bills added Cole Beasley.
Beckham is working his way back from the torn ACL in his left knee he suffered while playing for the Rams in last season’s Super Bowl. It’s not certain when he’ll be ready to play and how much he’ll be able to contribute, if anything, during the postseason.
Effects of Murray’s knee injury
The torn ACL in his right knee that Arizona Cardinals quarterback Kyler Murray suffered during Monday night’s loss to the New England Patriots could complicate the decisions ownership must make about Coach Kliff Kingsbury and General Manager Steve Keim.
The Cardinals’ struggles seemingly have put Kingsbury’s and Keim’s jobs in jeopardy. It might make sense for the team to perform an organizational overhaul, even if that would require taking a sizable financial hit after the Cardinals previously signed Kingsbury and Keim to contract extensions through the 2027 season.
But with Murray’s injury, which could keep him sidelined well into next season, it’s debatable whether prospective GM and coaching candidates would consider Arizona a desirable destination. Murray’s injury puts the entire organization in flux, and it could result in the Cardinals deciding to maintain the status quo for another year. It will be an intriguing decision.
The post Analysis | NFL Reset: Team rankings, Brady and Rodgers, the 49ers’ chances appeared first on .
This post first appeared on World News Headlines, Live News, Breaking News - Topworldnewstoday.com, please read the originial post: here
