#nfl

#nfl

We were on the sidelines after [former 49ers tight end Garrett] Celek's score when Jimmy [Garoppolo] asked, 'What is it, like National Tight Ends Day?'

Note: Odds at time of publication, courtesy of ESPN BET Sportsbook. Bowen: Tough to bet on the Steelers right now given the lack of team speed and the poor level of play we are seeing on the defensive side of the ball from Mike Tomlin's club. Pittsburgh has given up 30-plus points in each of its last two games, and the Colts' balanced offensive structure can create matchup issues and explosive-play opportunities. I'm taking Indy to cover the spread here.Last week: Bucs -5.5 at Saints (Bucs won, 23-3)

"I've never seen a quarterback throw the deep ball better than this," Simmons said of Maye during a recent episode of his eponymously-named podcast. "He doesn't miss ever. "When we have a guy down the field and he's got a step, Maye hits him in stride, it feels like 90 percent of the time," added the longtime sports personality.

Yeah, I think the guys like the visor, so I'll stick with the visor,

Less than an hour after reportedly dealing Keion White to the 49ers, the Patriots reportedly traded away the team's longest-tenured player in safety Kyle Dugger. According to NFL Network's Tom Pelissero, the Patriots are trading both Dugger and a 2026 seventh-round pick to the Pittsburgh Steelers in exchange for a 2026 sixth-round pick. Much like the reportedly miniscule return that New England is set to receive in its trade involving White (2026 sixth and seventh-round pick), the Patriots are selling low on a player in Dugger who struggled to carve out a definitive role in Mike Vrabel's revamped defense.

Any 49ers-Giants matchup should ooze excitement. Maybe that's because each franchise has four wins in their playoff matchups, two of which the Giants pulled out at Candlestick Park en route to Super Bowl wins in the 1990 and 2011 seasons. Maybe it's a West Coast vs. East Coast thing. Regardless, it will be a world away from Houston's dreary den in which the 49ers sleepwalked their way to a 26-15 defeat last Sunday and fell to 5-3.

Unstoppable last week, running back Christian McCaffrey had a measly 25 yards rushing on eight carries. And the Niners gave up big plays to Houston all day, clearly missing defensive end Nick Bosa and linebacker Fred Warner, both of whom are out for the season. There was occasional hope for a comeback. That aforementioned first time the 49ers got a first down led to a quick touchdown right before halftime that made the score a seemingly manageable 16-7.

Solak, Seth Walder and Matt Bowen bring different perspectives into how they approach sports betting. Solak leans on his expertise in player evaluation and the X's and O's to find edges, while Walder relies on statistical models to pick out plus-expected value bets. Bowen, a former NFL safety, predicts positive matchups and game winners from tape study and his understanding of the league.

NFL Commissioner Roger Goodell and Folds of Honor Founder Lt. Colonel Dan Rooney met with the Islam family inside the 47th Precinct and presented 7-year-old Ahyan Islam and 5-year-old Azhaan Islam with fully paid scholarships for their academic lives. According to Goodell, the scholarship was a token of appreciation for their father's service and ultimate sacrifice. Islam was working a paid security detail shift inside of 345 Park Ave., where the NFL offices are housed,

ASHBURN, Va. -- Washington Commanders quarterback Jayden Daniels will play Sunday after missing one game because of a hamstring injury, coach Dan Quinn said. Washington (3-5) has lost three consecutive games entering Sunday's game against Seattle (5-2). The Commanders have been hit hard with injuries this season and won't have receiver Terry McLaurin, who will miss his fifth game with a quad injury.

Another week of wild finishes leaves us no closer to figuring out the NFL. And eight weeks in, I wouldn't have it any other way. Any Given Sunday isn't just a movie starring Al Pacino and Jamie Foxx; it's the perfect description of what we're seeing every week. The league is a topsy-turvy showcase of the best athletes on Earth, and it's reminding us why football is such an incredible game to play, watch, and argue about.

So a lot of things that are a part of my game, I need to feel that [they] are 100 percent before I could put myself out there. Because I'm not only hurting the team, but I'm hurting myself. Being able to accelerate and run by people, slam on the brakes - that's my game. My injury hindered a lot of that. But I feel really good right now.

Interim coach Mike McCoy on Friday declared defensive tackle Jeffery Simmons and wide receiver Calvin Ridley out for the AFC South contest. Both Ridley and Simmons missed all three practices this week due to hamstring injuries. Simmons' hamstring injury occurred late in the second quarter last Sunday against the New England Patriots. He only played 12 snaps and was ruled out by halftime. James Lynch led all defensive linemen with 44 snaps mostly in place of Simmons whose 4.5 sacks lead the Titans this season.

"Medically, they feel like it's just not, [Rapp's] not in a spot where he can actually play at a level where we can function to do the job," McDermott said. "But give TRapp credit, man, he's gutted it out for the better part of six-plus weeks having hurt it in training camp when he did was really probably 14 or so days into training camp. So, he's just a warrior that way and got to a point where just couldn't do it anymore. So, that's where we're at."

I'm being a little facetious here, but with nearly two months of football in the books, we do have a much better sense of how each NFL team's acquisitions have fared in their new digs. Some players haven't made it onto the field at all, while others have transformed their new franchises. Coaches have shifted team cultures into better places or no longer have working keycards. A lot has already happened, even if there's much more to come.

From reproductive rights to climate change to Big Tech, The Independent is on the ground when the story is developing. Whether it's investigating the financials of Elon Musk's pro-Trump PAC or producing our latest documentary, 'The A Word', which shines a light on the American women fighting for reproductive rights, we know how important it is to parse out the facts from the messaging.

LAKE FOREST, Ill. -- Chicago Bears wide receiver Rome Odunze had not caught a touchdown in weeks, and his rookie season was coming to a close. This was not what the No. 9 overall selection in the 2024 draft had envisioned. He had gone from a Washington team whose only loss in 2023 was in the CFP National Championship Game to a Bears team that lost 10 straight en route to a 5-12 finish.

It's never a good sign when a coach is asked if he's going to stick with his starting quarterback, but that question surfaced at various points across the NFL the past two days. Some coaches, like the New Orleans Saints' Kellen Moore, declared their starter would keep that role. That came after Spencer Rattler threw three interceptions and lost a fumble as the Saints lost 26-14 to the Chicago Bears, falling to 1-6. On Monday, Moore said it's "a week-to-week thing."

He intercepted Marcus Mariota and returned it 68 yards for a touchdown in the third quarter of the Cowboys' 44-22 win over the Commanders. "I was like, 'Oh, I got it. We'll get this one,'" Bland said, via Patrik Walker of the team website. "Even though the sun was beaming in my face a little bit, it was good. . . . I was more so just telling myself to not drop it because it was just me and the end zone."

Four takeaways. That's where the bar has been set for Chicago's defense after pushing past an 0-2 start, which included one of the worst defensive performances in franchise history in a 52-21 loss at Detroit in Week 2. It's become a rallying cry for the Bears, who took the ball away four times against Dallas in Week 4 and four more times in Las Vegas one week later.