The magnitude of the Patriots' upcoming matchup against the Bills on Sunday is already being felt nearly a week out, underscoring just how far New England has come this season. With the division on the line, as the Patriots could become AFC East champions with a win, there will inevitably be extra eyes on the game. That also means injured players on both teams will be doing all they can to get back into the starting lineup
With his 259.16 fantasy points so far this season, fifth most among quarterbacks and a larger total than he had in any of the previous three years, Matthew Stafford has leapfrogged Larry Fitzgerald, Matt Ryan and Philip Rivers to assume the eighth overall spot. Rivers' return could shake up the leaderboard: Stafford's entry into the top 10 pushed Rivers back to 11th in scoring. With Rivers signing with the Indianapolis Colts' practice squad on Tuesday, giving him a good chance at playing for the quarterback-starved team during the season's final four weeks, he has a chance to vault back into the top 10 in place of Matt Ryan.
Indianapolis Colts coach Shane Steichen was still processing the devastating loss of starting quarterback Daniel Jones when he was blindsided by another QB injury. Monday morning -- in the aftermath of a consequential loss at the Jacksonville Jaguars in which Jones sustained a torn right Achilles tendon -- backup signal-caller Riley Leonard reported to work with a sore right knee from the previous day's game. Now, Leonard's status was in question.
We had four non-first-round rookie quarterbacks take snaps this week -- Riley Leonard, Shedeur Sanders, Brady Cook and Tyler Shough. We had three interceptions behind the line of scrimmage -- two in one game between the Bengals and Bills. And we had the most important play in NFL history: a third-and-2 from the Chargers' 21 on which Jalen Hurts threw an interception to Da'Shawn Hand, who fumbled the ball on the return,
After the downfall of Bill Belichick and the disaster that was the Jerod Mayo era in New England, it was important for Robert Kraft to hire an experienced and proven head coach to bring the Patriots back to relevance, and quickly. It's a big reason he was in on Mike Vrabel from the start, and is the foundation for which he was hired.
The Dallas Cowboys needed a break over the weekend. They just finished a span of four games in 18 days with their 44-30 loss to the Detroit Lions on Thursday, which ended a three-game win streak and dropped them to 6-6-1 on the season. Bodies were sore. Minds were worn. "I do think it's good for our players to get their bodies back right," coach Brian Schottenheimer said as preparations began for Sunday's home game against the 5-8 Minnesota Vikings ( 8:20 p.m. ET).
