The NFL adopted a new policy regarding five player safety rules this offseason and the announcement of fines for Week 2 showed that there were three fouls in those categories.
Bills safety C.J. Gardner-Johnson was fined for a hip-drop tackle while Broncos linebacker Alex Singleton and Commanders defensive back Jeremy Reaves were fined for hits on defenseless players.
The new league policy calls for players to be suspended if they are guilty of three fouls of the same type in one season. The other fouls in the category are blindside blocks, launching and horse-collar tackles. Players can appeal the fines and they will receive half the fine amount back at the end of the season if they only commit one foul in a particular category.
There were also three qualifying fines in Week 1 and no player has picked up more than one fine through two weeks.
Broncos Clips
The Broncos have good news and bad news at running back on their final injury report ahead of Sunday night’s game against the Rams.
J.K. Dobbins and RJ Harvey are on the good news side. Dobbins (hip) and Harvey (hamstring) were both full practice participants the last two days and they do not have injury designations for Sunday. Harvey missed last Sunday’s win over Jacksonville and Dobbins was injured during the game.
The bad news involves rookie Jonah Coleman. He missed practice all week with an ankle injury and has been ruled out.
Wide receiver Marvin Mims (foot) was limited in practice and is questionable to play after missing last week’s win.
Puka Nacua is set to miss another game.
Rams head coach Sean McVay said at his press conference that the wide receiver will miss practice again on Friday and he will be listed as doubtful to play against the Broncos on Sunday night. Nacua also missed the Week 2 win over the Giants with a hip injury.
McVay said earlier this week that they are erring on the side of caution with bringing Nacua back and said Friday that the team hopes the wideout will be able to play against the Eagles in Week 4.
Safety Kam Kinchens (hamstring) will also be listed as doubtful to play against Denver. Tight end Colby Parkinson (knee) will be listed as questionable.
The Brian Flores case against the NFL and several teams (Dolphins, Texans, Giants, and Broncos) has recently focused on a document produced by Korn Ferry, in connection with a coaching search the company performed for the Ravens.
Korn Ferry and the NFL want the document to remain under seal and, as a result, not available to the public. Flores has challenged the designation.
In most federal civil cases, the presiding judge delegates disputes that arise during the discovery process to a magistrate judge. In this case, the magistrate judge has issued a ruling.
The ruling, as reported by Daniel Kaplan, is also under seal. For now.
The apparent reason for the decision is to give the party that lost the issue a chance to appeal to the presiding judge. And the fact that the decision is sealed doesn’t necessarily mean Korn Ferry lost. In order to issue the preliminary ruling, the magistrate judge likely had to quote from or otherwise describe key aspects of the currently secret document.
If the case goes to trial, the document undoubtedly will be presented and discussed in open court. But that’s a long way away. Securing the publication of the document sooner rather than later could create a bad P.R. look for the league, which could not only spark meaningful settlement talks but also prompt the media, the fans, and those with oversight of the league to sit up and take notice of the manner in which the sausage gets made.
For now, the question is whether the losing party on the issue of the sealed document will appeal within the 14-day time period for doing so. And whoever files the appeal necessarily will have been the losing party.
Rams wide receiver Puka Nacua sat out practice again Thursday. He has missed the past four practices after injuring his hip in the Sept. 17 practice.
It puts his availability for the Week 3 game in question.
Nacua missed the Week 2 victory over the Giants, watching as Davante Adams caught eight passes for 195 yards and two touchdowns.
Coach Sean McVay said Wednesday the Rams will be deliberate in Nacua’s return given it’s a soft-tissue.
Wide receiver Jordan Whittington (quad) returned to practice Thursday with limited work. He did not play in Week 2.
Offensive lineman Alaric Jackson (knee) and tight end Terrance Ferguson (ankle) were full participants Thursday after being limited a day earlier.
Tight end Colby Parkinson (knee) and safety Kam Kinchens (hamstring) were non-participants a second consecutive day.
Inside linebacker Nate Landman (shoulder) remained limited.
Graham Bensinger’s recent interview with Seahawks coach Mike Macdonald made headlines not just for its content but for how the content was obtained — making Bensinger himself part of the story.
As a result, Bensinger posted the following statement on Twitter:
“Due to ongoing media requests for comment, I want to clarify the timeline surrounding a portion of our recent interview with Mike Macdonald that has received attention this week.
“The complete Mike Macdonald interview, including the conversation now at issue, was provided to Seahawks PR last Wednesday, September 16 — five days before it was published on YouTube Monday. During that time, no concern was raised about the exchange, and we were never asked to remove it. For the last couple of years, our typical practice with long-form interview releases has been to include some of the pre-interview conversation.
“Coach Macdonald reached out to me directly yesterday morning expressing concern. I immediately told him we would remove that portion, and we did. Unfortunately, it had already been clipped from our interview by online outlets and circulated elsewhere. I told Coach that, in hindsight, I regretted allowing that exchange to be included and that it was my error in judgment.
“I have tremendous respect for Coach. We spent significant time together in Seattle, and I came away impressed not only by what he has accomplished in such a short period of time, but by the person he is. The last thing I want is for one exchange to overshadow that story. I also have great respect for Sean Payton, whom I had the opportunity to profile previously.”
It will be interesting to see whether the Seahawks agree that the full conversation, including the segment regarding the 2024 brouhaha with the Broncos, was sent to them on September 16. Also, it feels like Bensinger is opting to blame the Seahawks for not spotting an interaction that, as Macdonald has said, was never meant to be aired.
Besides, why was Bensinger giving the thing to the Seahawks in advance anyway? This isn’t Hard Knocks; it’s an independent interview that does not need to be reviewed or approved by the subject of the interview before publication.
And while the situation has helped remind everyone that Graham Bensinger continues to operate in an increasingly crowded media space, this specific incident could complicate his efforts to attract willing participants from the NFL ecosystem for future sit-down interviews.
Despite his immense success in a short time with one of the 32 most coveted jobs in football, Seahawks coach Mike Macdonald is still learning.
As it relates to his recent sit-down with Graham Bensinger, Macdonald has learned that nothing is off the record unless both sides to the conversation agree that it is. Macdonald also has learned to assume that every mic is a hot mic, and that every camera is capturing images.
He’s also learning to be careful about who he trusts, and about when and where he lets himself get comfortable.
More broadly, Macdonald is learning why Bill Belichick behaves the way he does. If you say as little as possible, the chances of saying something you come to regret will be minimized.
Earlier this week, Macdonald was asked about his decision to submit to interviews in the aftermath of winning the Super Bowl.
“If someone’s interested in talking and you feel like it’s an honest process, then why not?” Macdonald told reporters on Monday. “I don’t have a long relationship with Graham [Bensinger], but I was really impressed with how they did their business. There are other podcasts that you had prior relationships with folks, and I respect the work that they do, and we have prior relationships that you want to honor. It’s probably that simple.”
As the owner and operator of a media outlet, I’ll never complain about coaches, players, and others from the NFL universe providing compelling content. Plenty of it comes from the press conferences to which coaches are required to submit. When they stray beyond that, they need to be careful.
Careful about what they say. Careful about who they say it to. Careful about who they trust.
As to Bensinger, he won the battle of capturing a compelling sound bite. He may have lost the broader war, however. By possibly operating under the premise that it’s better to seek forgiveness than to request permission — and by clinging to the technicalities of invoking off-the-record protection — Macdonald surely won’t be inclined to sit down with him again. And, if Macdonald does, he’ll be far more guarded.
Others may have similar trepidations about submitting to interviews and/or allowing themselves to be charmed into getting too comfortable.
For Macdonald, he got way too comfortable. One source not connected to either the Seahawks or Broncos deemed it “reckless.”
Complicating matters for Macdonald is that he now reports to ownership that didn’t hire him. And while winning is ultimately all that matters, early impressions matter, too. And it’s one thing for outsiders to question Macdonald’s judgment and discretion. If Vinod, Neeru, and/or Neal Khosla feel a little differently about Macdonald after this incident, it could come back to haunt him if/when the wins aren’t as consistent or convincing.
The top three Broncos running backs are all on the injury report.
Jonah Coleman did not practice on Wednesday due to an ankle injury. Coleman scored his first NFL touchdown in last Sunday’s win over the Jaguars and the rookie ran 10 times for 39 yards in the game.
Coleman saw more playing time because J.K. Dobbins left the game with a hip injury and RJ Harvey was inactive with a hamstring injury. Both of those backs were listed as limited participants.
Wide receiver Marvin Mims (foot) was also a limited participant. He missed practice all of last week and did not play against Jacksonville.
Rams wide receiver Puka Nacua missed Week 2 with a groin injury and his outlook for this week’s game against the Broncos remains unclear.
Head coach Sean McVay said that Nacua would have missed Wednesday’s practice — the team only held a jog-through — and they’ll see what he’s able to do on Thursday. McVay said Nacua is “frustrated,” but that the team doesn’t believe this is a long-term issue and will exercise caution to ensure it doesn’t become one.
“I don’t think so. I think it’s more along the lines of just seeing how that responds,” McVay said, via Nate Atkins of TheAthletic.com. “When you’re a skill player and you’re really trying to hit high-speed yards and really open up, then some of the things can be like pre-hernia is what he’s feeling. You err on the side of caution. Usually, time is the best thing that allows that thing to heal and then when you get to a certain point, I think you feel pretty good moving forward.”
If that doesn’t happen by Sunday, Davante Adams will remain the top wide receiving option for the Rams.
Broncos head coach Sean Payton got his chance to address Seahawks head coach Mike Macdonald’s comments about a 2024 disagreement between the teams at his Wednesday press conference.
Macdonald said earlier in the day that he called Payton to apologize after comments he intended to be off the record about Payton getting upset about the Seahawks’ use of fan videos from training camp to prepare for a 2024 game went public. Payton said he and Macdonald are good and said he called Seahawks General Manager John Schneider “shooting before I started looking” because he didn’t know how the Seahawks had obtained the videos.
The videos were posted on social media and Payton said that the incident wound up in a positive way because it allowed the Broncos to address videotaping of their practices.
“Talking with them, it allowed us to figure out how to handle our training camp relative to videos,” Payton said. “I don’t think anything was intentional by fans. We did some research online of what was available and that’s kind of how we changed our policy.”
Payton called the entire episode “eye-opening” in terms of how information from open practices can circulate and both sides will likely be sticking to official game tape to prepare for their Week 6 game.
