The final bit of discipline has been announced for the fight at the end of Monday night’s Panthers-49ers game.
San Francisco receiver Jauan Jennings, who struck Panthers safety Tre’von Moehrig as the clock was running out, was fined $12,172 for the infraction.
The contact was similar to the hit that resulted in a suspension of Lions safety Brian Branch, after he hit Chiefs receiver JuJu Smith-Schuster. The league didn’t suspend Jennings, apparently in light of the fact that he had been provoked by a blow to the crotch from Moehrig a few minutes earlier. Moehrig also seemed to be expecting the assault from Jennings. Smith-Schuster was extending a hand to Branch when Branch struck him.
Still, enough time had passed to make it not a fully forgivable knee-jerk reaction to a junk-punch. Last week, the NFL apparently did not fine Steelers safety Jalen Ramsey for striking Bengals receiver Ja’Marr Chase, immediately after Chase had spit on Ramsey.
Moehrig was suspended for his infraction; the officials did not see it as it happened. And the message to all players is becoming more and more clear. If you jump across the line that separates acceptable behavior from flagrant disrespect, you will be suspended, not fined.
The notion that the Browns are in some way sabotaging the career of quarterback Shedeur Sanders is laughable. That said, the Browns do at times seem to be ambivalent at best about their fifth-round rookie.
After Sanders made an impressive preseason debut, the sideline exchange between Sanders and G.M. Andrew Berry was a tad awkward. Sanders was excited. Berry was measured.
After Sanders became the first Browns rookie quarterback to win his first start since 1995 (when the Ravens were the Browns), Sanders didn’t get a game ball.
Now, as Sanders prepares to attempt to become the franchise’s first rookie quarterback to win his first two starts since 1950, the message from the team is equivocal and hesitant.
Adam Schefter of ESPN.com, in a very early drop of a Sunday Splash! report, says that the Browns are “open to giving Sanders an extended look for the rest of this season,” with the outcome hinging on how he plays.
That should be obvious. If he plays well, he keeps playing. It shouldn’t need to be leaked and reported. Ride the wave, don’t tap the brakes.
That doesn’t mean the Brown should build false hype. But why act like a parent who responds to a kid coming home with a 100 on a test by saying, “Let’s wait until we see your full report card, Bart”?
It feeds into the vague notion that the Browns aren’t fully enamored with the player they perhaps drafted not to be the potential long-term answer but a shorter-term asset. It’s a product of the franchise’s obsession with analytics. They saw “value” in getting Sanders where they did, a chip that could be flipped at some point down the road. And they ignored the practical impact of bringing two rookie quarterbacks to town.
And so, while it’s kooky to say Sanders is being sabotaged, it’s not a stretch to say that something seems off. And when something seems off, that’s when imaginations run wild.
Of all teams, the Browns should be celebrating the possibility that their 42nd starter since the team returned to the NFL in 1999 could delay a 43rd name from joining the back of the never ending jersey. With two first-round picks next year (theirs and Jacksonville’s) wouldn’t it be nice to not have to roll the dice with one of them on an unproven commodity at quarterback?
It’s still way to early to know what Sanders will become. Fo now, why not lean into the possibility that he’s capable of playing the position better than most of the quarterbacks who have spun through the revolving door has done? And if the concern is that the hype train will eventually slam into the station, why did you draft him?
Whatever the reason for the Browns’ apparent attitude toward Sanders, it’s just odd. At a time when they’re still dealing with the ramifications of the single worst transaction of the salary cap era (if not ever), the Browns should allow themselves to view the glass as potentially eventually half full — not inevitably empty.
Browns defensive end Myles Garrett is on a run of 14 sacks in his last five games that has put him on pace to set the NFL’s single-season sack record before the end of the season.
Garrett is up to 18 sacks on the year and needs five over the final six weeks in order to pass Michael Strahan and T.J. Watt. Garrett said on Friday that his current position means that he’s thinking about more than just whether he’ll end the season as the new record holder.
“I don’t even think about it as a want — I just think about something that I’m going to knock down,” Garrett said, via Joe Reedy of the Associated Press. “It’s already been written in my mind that it’s going just how far I’m going to take it. So, just going to go out there and do what I do, and whatever number I end up at.”
Garrett will be tangling with 49ers left tackle Trent Williams on Sunday and Williams joked this week about losing sleep because of the prospect of facing “one of the best to ever play.” If Williams and his teammates aren’t able to slow down Garrett’s roll, he’ll move even closer to a statistical testament to that status.
The weather could get interesting in Cleveland on Sunday for the 49ers-Browns game, with cold, wind, and rain turning to snow as the day progresses.
On Friday, Browns coach Kevin Stefanski was asked what he’s expecting.
“All of it,” Stefanski said.
The reality is that the conditions won’t be truly known until it’s time to play.
“We’ve been in this situation a lot,” Stefanski said, “where the weather doesn’t look good, and then sometimes you get down there and it was maybe overhyped or wasn’t accurate. At times, you don’t think it’s a big factor, and then it’s raining for a half. So you definitely have contingencies built into your game plan. I know [defensive coordinator] Jim [Schwartz] does in how he calls the game and some of the techniques we use, certainly offensively there are plays and things that you do in good weather that you wouldn’t necessarily do just for the ball handling part of it. So you’re always ready. But I just, having gone down there a few times, you just have to wait till game day because it just seems to change so often.”
Via Weather.com, rain is expected to give way to snow in the afternoon. Winds will range from 25 to 35 miles per hour, with higher gusts possible.
Are the Bears who we thought they were? We’re about to find out.
After starting 0-2, Chicago has won eight of nine games. They’re the unlikely, for now, first-place team in the NFC North, at 8-3.
Everything changes today.
The Bears had a convincing win against the Cowboys in Week 3, 31-14. After that, the Bears accomplished a pair of 25-24 escapes against the Raiders and Commanders. Both games could have been, and arguably should have been, lost.
They handled the Saints (it felt closer than 26-14) before losing by 14 to the Ravens in their last game without Lamar Jackson. After that, the Bears staged four straight come-from-behind wins against the Bengals, Giants, Vikings, and Steelers, with each game decided by five points or fewer. It wasn’t exactly murderer’s row.
Something much closer to murderer’s row is now here. The Bears play the Eagles in Philly today. Next, a visit to the Packers. Then, the Browns come to town, followed by a three-game test to close things out: Packers, at 49ers, Lions.
A loss today would drop the Bears to 8-4, giving the Packers first place in the division at 8-3-1. Next Sunday’s game at Lambeau Field becomes pivotal.
That’s not to say the Bears can’t handle it. They’ve been winning. But they need to keep winning against collectively better opposition, or they’ll slip into the wild-card morass from which multiple teams with winning records will not emerge.
Yes, we’ll soon learn much about what the 2025 Bears truly are. Kickoff is coming at 3:00 p.m. ET.
