The Raiders probably will not have their quarterback for Sunday’s matchup with the reigning Super Bowl champions.
NFL Media’s Ian Rapoport reports Geno Smith is dealing with a shoulder injury and is considered unlikely to start against the Eagles.
That puts Kenny Pickett in line to start at quarterback against his former team in Week 15.
Smith missed the last quarter of Sunday’s loss to the Broncos with the injury to his throwing shoulder. Head coach Pete Carroll noted postgame that Smith’s shoulder “really locked up” but added that early tests did not “show any damage” indicating a major injury.
In 13 games this season, Smith has completed 67 percent of his passes for 2,648 yards with 16 touchdowns and a league-leading 14 interceptions.
Pickett has appeared in three games for Las Vegas this season, completing 10-of-14 passes for 105 yards with a touchdown. He played five games for Philadelphia last year, with the club winning his one start.
Eagles quarterback Jalen Hurts had five turnovers on Monday and the last came in overtime to ensure that the team would lose its third straight game.
That game was against the Chargers in Los Angeles, but there were a lot of Eagles fans in the house and many of them were grumbling about the way the quarterback played during the loss. Boos were also easy to hear during the team’s Black Friday home loss to the Bears and it doesn’t take long for discontent among football fans to move to calls to make a quarterback change.
A change in Philly would involve moving Tanner McKee or Sam Howell into the starting lineup, but Eagles head coach Nick Sirianni made it clear on WIP this morning that it’s not something being entertained by the team.
“I think that’s ridiculous. . . . I know every time I go out in that field with Jalen Hurts as our quarterback, we have a chance to win the game,” Sirianni said. “That’s something that’s been proven. We’ve won a lot, a lot of football games.”
It’s a testament to how much the Eagles have struggled to find a consistent offensive attack that there are questions about Hurts less than a year after he was named the MVP of the Super Bowl. Given that recent history, Sirianni’s response is no surprise although it will also come as no surprise if the question comes his way again should the Eagles fail to correct things before flaming out in the postseason.
The Eagles waived long snapper Cal Adomitis on Tuesday, the team announced.
Adomitis joined the team Sept. 30 when the Eagles placed their regular long snapper, Charley Hughlett, on injured reserve with a core injury. Hughlett is now eligible to return, so it appears he will resume his duties this week.
Adomitis, 27, played in nine games for the Eagles, seeing action on 81 special teams snaps.
He spent his first three NFL seasons in Cincinnati but was cut by the Bengals at the end of training camp in August. Adomitis remained a free agent until signing with the Eagles before Week 5.
After Monday night’s loss to the Chargers, the Eagles took the red eye home to Philly. On Sunday, their fans will be ready to give them the evil eye — and then some.
The last time the Eagles played at Lincoln Financial Field, the boo birds were mutherflocking the home team. It was a mess, with the Bears overpowering the Eagles.
And the next opponent is the Raiders, arguably the worst team in the league.
The Eagles are favored by 11.5 points. Anything other than the 31-0 dismantling delivered by Las Vegas to the Chiefs in Week 7 will be viewed as a disappointment. And any sputtering of the offense will be met with loud displeasure by fans who expected much more than another post-bye swoon.
Bottom line? That goofy positivity rabbit could yield a gathering of Grinches, if the 2025 late-season Eagles don’t start playing less like the 2023 late-season Eagles and more like the 2024 late-season Eagles.
It’s a no-win situation. Even with a blowout win, plenty of Philly fans will fear that losses are looming at Buffalo and in either of the upcoming games against the Commanders. The risk of blowing the NFC East to the Cowboys is real, and things could get really ugly if the Eagles fail to do to the Raiders what the Raiders did to the Eagles in Super Bowl XV.
The NFL’s curious decision to overturn a touchdown reception by Ravens tight end Isaiah Likely reintroduced needless confusion into the question of what a catch is, and what a catch isn’t.
Adding to that confusion, indirectly, was last night’s failure to overturn the ruling on the field that Eagles quarterback Jalen Hurts had possession of the ball long enough to fumble it. (It didn’t matter to the outcome of the play, since the Chargers recovered the ball. But if it had trickled out of bounds, the ruling that Hurts had the ball long enough to fumble it would have determined which team was awarded possession.)
The possession rule is virtually identical to the catch rule. From Rule 3, Section 1, Article 7 (Player Possession): “To gain possession of a loose ball that has been caught, intercepted, or recovered, a player (a) must have complete control of the ball with his hands or arms and (b) have both feet or any other part of his body, other than his hands, completely on the ground inbounds, and, after (a) and (b) have been fulfilled, clearly perform any act common to the game (e.g., extend the ball forward, take an additional step, tuck the ball away and turn upfield, or avoid or ward off an opponent). It is not necessary that he commit such an act, provided that he maintains control of the ball long enough to do so.”
Watch the play. If Hurts possessed the ball long enough to fumble it, Likely had it long enough to catch it.
Also, and as previously explained, if Steelers quarterback Aaron Rodgers had the ball long enough to complete the process of catching it, Likely had it long enough to catch it. (It’s impossible to reconcile the two rulings, and the NFL knows it.)
Bottom line? It took the NFL years to create the impression that it has finally figured out what a catch is. In one fell swoop on a December afternoon in Baltimore, the league has thrown the entire question back into the “who the hell knows?” category.
Congratulations.
