Bengals quarterback Joe Flacco did not miss any snaps after briefly going into the locker room in the fourth quarter of Sunday’s loss to the Jets, but it looks like he will be on the team’s injury report this week.
Head coach Zac Taylor said at a Monday press conference that Flacco is day-to-day with a shoulder injury. Flacco left the field after being sacked by Jets edge rusher Will McDonald, but returned for the final offensive possession of the game and said he was feeling well after the game.
“I had something happen, wasn’t feeling 100 percent,” Flacco said, via a transcript from the team. “Just trying to make sure something was right. . . . Landed a little awkward. I feel good right now.”
Jake Browning started three games before the Bengals traded for Flacco and was warming up before Flacco returned to the field on Sunday. He would be in line to start against the Bears if Flacco isn’t good to go in Week 9.
Ravens quarterback Tyler Huntley did enough. Bears quarterback Caleb Williams did not.
The Ravens snapped their four-game losing streak and ended the Bears’ four-game winning streak today, as Baltimore won 30-16. Huntley completed 17 of 22 passes for 186 yards and a touchdown, and also ran eight times for 53 yards.
The game ended with Williams struggling to manage the clock, throwing a spectacular pass to get the Bears into goal-to-go territory, but then wasting time as the Bears failed to score in the final minute of the fourth quarter. Williams had also thrown a costly interception earlier in the fourth quarter.
Ravens running back Derrick Henry’s second-quarter touchdown run was the 111th rushing touchdown of his NFL career, moving ahead of Bears legend Walter Payton for fifth in NFL history. Henry added another touchdown in the fourth quarter to seal the win.
The Ravens, who are still clinging to playoff hopes, needed this win, and they got it to improve to 2-5. The Bears fall to 4-3.
NFL kickers have been benefiting this season from a new rule that gives them more time to break in the K-balls, the special footballs the NFL provides for use on kicking plays. Kickers like to have time to work the balls to their liking, and this season the NFL changed its rules so that kickers can have the balls they’ll be kicking on Sunday in advance, and prepare them to make them easier to kick.
But there’s one exception to the rule that K-balls are brought in for all kicking plays: In a hurry-up situation when the field goal team is scrambling onto the field while the clock is running, the officials just keep the offensive ball on the field, rather than using the K-ball. That happened before halftime in two different games today. And both times, the kickers missed without the K-ball.
For the Bears, it was kicker Cairo Santos missing from 58 yards after sprinting onto the field just before time expired on the second quarter. For the Panthers, it was kicker Ryan Fitzgerald missing from 32 yards after Andy Dalton took a sack and the field goal team unexpectedly had to hurry onto the field.
A sample size of two missed kicks does not, of course, prove that the regular footballs are much harder to kick than the K-balls. And for all the talk of the K-balls benefiting kickers on long field goals this season, the accuracy rate on field goals from 50 yards and beyond isn’t much different than it was last year: Heading into today’s games, NFL kickers had made 70.2 percent of their field goals from 50 yards or longer this season. Last year, NFL kickers made 69.9 percent of their field goals from 50 yards or longer.
But kickers always prefer to use their own broken-in footballs. And it’s notable that today, when two kickers were prevented from doing so, both of them missed.
A report on Saturday indicated that Falcons quarterback Michael Penix would miss Sunday’s game against the Dolphins because of a knee injury and the Falcons made it official 90 minutes ahead of kickoff in Atlanta.
Penix is inactive for the game and Kirk Cousins will make the start for the Falcons. It will be Cousins’ first start since he was benched in favor of Penix after Week 15 of the 2024 season. Easton Stick is active as the No. 2 quarterback.
The Falcons are also going to be without wide receiver Drake London. London had no injury designation on Friday, but was downgraded to questionable with a hip injury on Saturday.
Dolphins at Falcons
Dolphins: QB Quinn Ewers, DB Elijah Campbell, CB Juju Brents, S Jordan Colbert, WR Tahj Washington, DT Zeek Biggers, TE Julian Hill
Falcons: QB Michael Penix, WR Drake London, EDGE Jalon Walker, CB Billy Bowman, DT Zach Harrison, OL Michael Jerrell, DL LaCale London
Bears at Ravens
Bears: TE Cole Kmet, CB Tyrique Stevenson, RB Roschon Johnson, QB Case Keenum, DT Chris Williams, LB Ruben Hyppolite
Ravens: QB Lamar Jackson, WR Devontez Walker, T Carson Vinson, OL Emery Jones, DT Aeneas Peebles, CB Jaire Alexander, S Sanoussi Kane
Bills at Panthers
Bills: WR Joshua Palmer, CB Brandon Codrington, LB Matt Milano, OL Chase Lundt, DT DaQuan Jones, DE Landon Jackson
Panthers: QB Bryce Young, WR Hunter Renfrow, RB DeeJay Dallas, OL Nick Samac, TE James Mitchell, DT Cam Jackson, DT Jaden Crumedy
Jets at Bengals
Jets: QB Tyrod Taylor, WR Garrett Wilson, KR Kene Nwangwu, TE Stone Smartt, DL Jay Tufele, LB Kobe King, CB Sauce Gardner
Bengals: CB Marco Wilson, OL Matt Lee, WR Jermaine Burton, TE Cam Grandy, DT McKinnley Jackson, DE Cam Sample
49ers at Texans
49ers: QB Brock Purdy, RB Jordan James, WR Ricky Pearsall, C Jake Brendel, DE Bryce Huff, DE Yetur Gross-Matos, DT CJ West
Texans: WR Nico Collins, T Trent Brown, WR Christian Kirk, QB Graham Mertz, DL Darrell Taylor, OL Jarrett Kingston
Browns at Patriots
Browns: QB Shedeur Sanders, CB Jarrick Bernard-Converse, S Damontae Kazee, RB Raheim Sanders, G Zak Zinter, T Cornelius Lucas, DT Adin Huntington
Patriots: WR Efton Chism, QB Tommy DeVito, S Kyle Dugger, DL Eric Gregory, LB Caleb Murphy, OL Caedan Wallace, DL Keion White
Giants at Eagles
Giants: S Jevon Holland, WR Jalin Hyatt, CB Paulson Adebo, T James Hudson, DL Chauncey Golston, G Evan Neal, QB Jameis Winston
Eagles: EDGE Azeez Ojulari, CB Adoree’ Jackson, C Cam Jurgens, WR A.J. Brown, QB Sam Howell
In 1947, the NFL launched the injury report as a way to fight illegal gambling. This week, the NBA’s fresh gambling scandal arising from manipulated legal prop bets makes the NFL’s injury report more important than ever.
And, of course, a major problem arose on the day after the prop hit the fan for pro basketball.
To summarize, Ravens quarterback Lamar Jackson practiced on Friday, despite his lingering hamstring injury. He took a full slate of reps with the scout team. He did not take any reps with the first-team offense. The Ravens listed him as fully participating in practice. Under the language of the NFL’s “Personnel (Injury) Report Policy,” it’s clear that the Ravens applied the incorrect label to Jackson for Friday’s practice. He should have been listed as “limited.”
The NFL is reviewing the situation. And the policy, a copy of which PFT has obtained, contains specific information about the potential penalties the Ravens may face. The Commissioner, under the policy, “may deprive the offending club of a selection choice or choice, and/or may fine the offending club and/or may fine or suspend with or without pay any involved individuals as appropriate.”
In reaching a decision as to discipline, the Commissioner is required to consider “all relevant facts and circumstances, including the nature and materiality of the violation, the prior record of the party committing the violation, prior treatment of similar violations, the extent to which the club and relevant individuals cooperated with the investigation, the actual competitive impact of the violation if ascertainable, and the extent to which public confidence in the NFL, its teams, owners and team personnel has been or may be affected.”
That last factor becomes extremely important, given the timing. It all happened one day after the NBA’s latest gambling scandal became the biggest story in American sports. It was the worst possible time for any team to apply an inaccurate designation to the practice participation of its starting quarterback, accidentally or otherwise.
It’s pretty simple. The use of “full” created the impression that Jackson was ready to play. The truth — that he took no first-team reps — paints a very different picture. The fact that he was ruled out on Saturday makes it all look even worse.
And it could get even worse for the Ravens. The policy contemplates the possibility that it wasn’t an accident or a clerical error. The league’s investigation will include an exploration of whether the “club or any involved person deliberately set out to violate the Injury Report Policy or made a calculated decision to risk the possible penalties for such violation as an acceptable cost of attempting to gain an unfair competitive advantage (i.e., as a ‘cost of doing business’).” If such behavior is established by a preponderance of the evidence (“more likely than not”), the Ravens and specific individuals involved will be subject to additional penalties.
So either it was all a big mistake by the Ravens (which would still be a violation of the policy) or it was a deliberate effort by the Ravens to create the impression that Lamar Jackson would be starting on Sunday, in order to dupe the Bears into preparing for him and not for Tyler Huntley. If it’s the latter, the outcome for the Ravens could be not good.
Hovering over all of this is the potential gambling angle. Obviously, any evidence that anyone who knew the truth about Lamar’s status utilized the misdirection for gambling purposes would open another can of worms — including (based on the policy) potential termination of employment and lifetime banishment from the league.
There’s currently no evidence that the mischaracterization of Jackson’s status has any connection to gambling. Given the overall environment, and based on the terms of the policy, the NFL has no choice but to investigate that wrinkle.
Two years ago, the failure of the Falcons to update the injury report to reflect that running back Bijan Robinson was ill led only to punishments for the violation of the policy, with no mention of whether the gambling/inside information aspect was even explored. Now, it’s impossible to separate the two — even if the league may be tempted to not expose to the world that it has a Terry Rozier-style scandal of its own.
