Week 11 had plenty of news on the field, but just as much off of it. We take a look at some of those newsmakers.
Garrett Leaves Mess Behind On TNF
An intense rivalry game turned into an embarrassment for the Cleveland Browns, Pittsburgh Steelers and the NFL on Thursday. Sadly, at the end of the game on Thursday, an ugly incident occurred involving Myles Garrett taking the helmet of Steelers quarterback Mason Rudolph and hitting him over the head with it. Certainly, there was a lot more that went into this incident beyond just that, but that is the thing everyone has been talking about since the game.
To try to react quickly to the incident, the NFL has suspended Myles Garrett indefinitely. It appears, at the minimum, that he will be out for the rest of this season; however, it is likely that the suspension could extend beyond that.
In addition to Garrett, Maurkice Pouncey (an offensive lineman for the Steelers) has been suspended for three games, and Larry Ogunjobi (a defensive lineman for the Browns) has been suspended one game.
As for the game itself, the Cleveland Browns beat the Steelers at home 21-7 behind Baker Mayfield, who threw for two touchdowns and 193 yards. In the win, Nick Chubb rushed 27 times for 92 yards also.
For the Steelers, Rudolph went 23 for 44 for 221 yards, a touchdown and a whopping four interceptions. He was also sacked four times.
Kaepernick Works Out For Teams
Colin Kaepernick had the opportunity to work out for NFL teams on Saturday; however, it did not exactly go completely smoothly. There has already been a lot of turmoil and conspiracy theories around the NFL hosting Kaepernick for a workout, and Saturday just added to some of the suspicions.
Apparently, in a last-second change, Kaepernick moved his workout to a new venue at a new time on Saturday. According to Adam Schefter of ESPN, there was concern by Kaepernick and his camp about transparency, claiming that the NFL would not let Kaepernick’s people record the workout, nor would they allow the media to come in.
Kaepernick has long been shadowed in controversy stemming from his playing days, where he took a knee during the national anthem as a sign of protest. Still, the workout on Saturday reportedly showed that Kaepernick is still very talented, and, with the number of teams that are desperately in need of a quarterback, it continues to feel peculiar that Kaepernick still finds himself without a job.
Only time will tell, but maybe Saturday’s workout is the beginning of the end for Kaepernick’s time on the unemployment line.
Eagles’ Sproles Out; Ajayi In
For the Philadelphia Eagles, running back Darren Sproles is out for the season. According to the Eagles, he is done due to a partial tear of his right hip flexor. This season Sproles only played in six games. In that time, he had 17 rushes for 66 yards and six receptions for 24 yards.
Over the years, Sproles has been a lethal weapon for teams like the New Orleans Saints and Philadelphia Eagles due to his versatility in the backfield. In fact, over the course of his career (183 games), Sproles has 732 rushes for 3,552 yards and 23 touchdowns while accounting for 553 receptions for 4,840 yards and 32 touchdowns. It appears, though, that for the 36-year-old, this might be the end of the road.
With Sproles out, the Eagles moved quickly to pick up another veteran option at running back by signing free agent Jay Ajayi. Despite being just 26, Ajayi was unable to latch on anywhere this season.
Last year, with Philadelphia and Miami, he rushed 208 times for 873 yards and a touchdown. He also had 24 receptions for 158 yards. His best season, though, came in 2016 with the Dolphins, where he rushed 260 times for 1,272 yards and eight touchdowns. The Eagles are hoping that the rested Ajayi can bounce back for them as the season starts to wind down.
Tagovailoa Out For Season
Generally, things that happen in college football are not discussed in this NFL post, but when something affects one of the likely top draft choices, it does.
On Saturday, in Alabama’s 38-7 win over Mississippi State, Tua Tagovailoa left the game with an injury. That injury appears to not only have ended his season, but it has left some wondering what his future in football might be as well.
Tagovailoa apparently dislocated his hip with a posterior wall fracture. Alabama’s team doctor has urged the public in a statement that Tagovailoa will be able to make a full recovery, but the validity to that we will have to wait and see.
Tagovailoa is seen as a top pick and one of the top quarterbacks, so it will be interesting to see if a return is possible and, if so, how it affects his draft status moving forward.
