Month: September 2025

—The  International games start this Sunday with Minnesota facing Pittsburgh at 9:30 a.m. Eastern Time on the NFL Network from Dublin. The Steelers like to play in Dublin because the Rooney family has its roots there. Both teams are 2-1, and Carson Wentz will start in place of  J.J. McCarthy, who has a high ankle sprain. Aaron Rodgers remains the Steelers starter.

–The premier game of the  weekend is the CBS doubleheader game with Baltimore at Kansas City. Both are at 1-2 and desperate for a win. Baltimore has to protect Lamar  Jackson, who was sacked seven times Monday night  by the  Lions.

–The four night games are Seattle at Atlanta Thursday night, Green Bay at Dallas on Sunday night, and a Monday doubleheader of Jets at Miami and Cincinnati at Denver. The Packers and Cowboys have a lot of history and tradition with each other, and they will show Ice Bowl clips, but Green Bay should win easily and none of the games are all that compelling.

–One of the best games pits two 3-0 teams with the Eagles at Tampa Bay, but it is one of three FOX 1 p.m. games so it won’t get national coverage. The big challenge for the Eagles will  be dealing with steamy heat, so they will arrive early, but the key  for them is to hydrate all week long.

–Indianapolis, a surprising 3-0 team, gets its biggest test yet yet when they go to Los Angeles to meet the 2-1 Rams, who lost to the Eagles on a blocked field goal on the final play after the Rams couldn’t hold a 26-7 lead.

–Sunday was the kind of “Any Given Sunday” that helped the NFL become what it is today: Five games were decided on the final play.

The most dramatic was Philadelphia coming back from a 26-7 deficit to take a 27-26 lead only to have the Rams line up to try a game-winning field goal but the  Eagles blocked it and scored to seal the win and are one of six 3-0  teams. Often called a boring team  because of their run-oriented offense. they showed they can come from behind with Jalen Hurts at quarterback.

–Tampa  Bay and San Francisco also boosted their records to 3-0 with last-play victories over the Jets and Cardinals, but the 49ers lost Nick  Bosa for the season and backup quarterback Mac Jones is day to day with a knee injury so Brock Purdy may return against the Jaguars.

–Green Bay suffered its first loss on the final play against the Browns after the Browns overcame a 10-0 deficit and blocked a Packers field-goal attempt to set up their own game-winning field goal.

–Two surprising teams, the Colts and Jaguars, seem set for a battle for the AFC South title after the Colts beat the Titans and Jaguars beat the Texans. The Colts and Jaguars are 3-0 and 2-1, while the Texans and Titans are 0-3. 

–The Ravens fell to 1-2 after a Monday night loss to the Lions, who have won two in a row after an opening-game loss to Green Bay. Lamar Jackson was sacked seven times, and the Ravens may not be as good as they were thought to be this year.

When Liam Coen was named the head coach of the Jaguars, he had three main priorities to improve the offense,

They were establishing a good running game, improving the line to help the running game and protect the quarterback.

Two  games is a small sample size, but Coen appears to have accomplished two of the goals. They lead the league in rushing and, according to analyst Warren Sharp, they are seventh in the league in protecting quarterback Trevor Lawrence.

But the passing game is a work in progress. Lawrence makes  too many errant throws and the receivers either drop too many passes or don’t run routes well. Sharp said a third of his incompletions are due to receiver error.

According to Sharp, the receivers drop 11 percent of his passes, which is most in the league, and 21 percent of the drops are in the red zone. The result is that Lawrence is completing slightly less than 59 percent of his passes overall.

And it is not like Coen is asking for big throws. He likes the short passing game, and 32 percent of the throws are behind or at the line of scrimmage.

Also, while Travis Hunter has proved he can play two positions, former receiver Steve  Smith Sr. says Hunter must learn to run better routes. And Brian Thomas Jr. has yet to show the form he did as a rookie and sometimes acts as if he is wary to get hit.

With a critical division game coming  up Sunday against Houston, it’s time for the Jaguars to get their passing game rolling. A victory would put the Jaguars at 2-1 and the Texans at 0-3. The Colts will be 3-0 if they beat the Titans.

But the  Jaguars have to upgrade their passing game to beat the Texans.

The feature game of the week is Detroit at Baltimore on Monday night. Both teams are 1-1 with Detroit losing their opener to Green Bay and Baltimore losing its opener to the Bills.  The Ravens have won the last five meetings with the Lions last victory in 2005. The Ravens are favored by 2.5 points. Last year, they both won their division titles with Lions at 15-2 and the Ravens at 11-5. Both lost in playoffs, Detroit to Washington and the Ravens to the Bills. The loser drops to 1-2 so it is critical for both teams.

–The other two prime time games don’t figure to be good attractions with the 2-0 Billls likely to rout 0-2 Miami Thursday night, and the Chiefs figure to get their first win against the 0-2 Giants.

–Fox has two 4:25 p.m. games with the Cardinals a one-point choice over the 49ers, who will have  Mac  Jones making his second start over injured Brock Purdy. Both are 2-0. The 1-1 Cowboys are a slight favorite over the winless Bears.

–The defending champion Eagles host the Rams with the winner going to 3-0. Jalen Hurts has yet to throw a touchdown pass in the victories over Dallas and Kansas City, but they still win. It will be interesting to see if they can do the “tush push: without jumping offsides.

–The surprising Colts with Daniel Jones at quarterback are favored to go to 3-0 when they play the winless Titans. If the winless Texans beat the Jaguars, they will both be 1-2, and the Colts could have a two-game lead in  the  division.  

–Just seven months ago, the Kansas City Chiefs were a game away from becoming the first team of the Super Bowl era to threepeat. Instead, they were routed by the Eagles, 40-22 in the Super Bowl. Now after losing to the Eagles in the rematch, 20-17, the Chiefs are off to an 0-2 start for the first time in the Patrick Mahomes era and facing questions about whether they’re in a rebuilding stage. Mahomes doesn’t have enough weapons, and Travis Kelce suddenly seems near the end. A pass went off his hands at the goal line and turned into an interception that was the turning point in the game, although Mahomes said he could have made a better pass and it appeared to be tipped. Meanwhile, the defending champion Eagles are 2-0 in their quest for a repeat. The Eagles weren’t particularly impressive, but they find ways to win and their “tush push” keeps drives alive, although there may be another attempt to ban it after the officials failed to call the Eagles for being offsides on the play once Sunday. Coach Nick Sirianni said to the naked eye it might not be as obvious they were offsides as in slow motion, but they have to clean up the play. 

–The Bengals beat the Jags 31-27 but probably lost their season when Joe Burrow suffered a turf toe injury and will undergo surgery for ligament damage that will sideline him three months, if not the entire season. Backup Jake Browning led the Bengals to a victory over the Jaguars for the second time in three years but is unlikely to take them to the playoffs, so the Burrow injury may open the door for another team in the AFC to make the playoffs. Burrow’s injury also raised questions about whether the Bengals need to do a better job of getting him a good offensive line so he doesn’t become another Andrew Luck. 

–The Colts are a surprise team with a 2-0 start with Daniel Jones at quarterback after the Broncos tried to block a 60-yard field goal attempt at the end and were called for leverage. The Colts then kicked a 46-yard field goal to win the game. The Broncos probably shouldn’t have attempted to block the long kick. Even coach Sean Payton said it was a mistake not to go into their usual  field-goal formation because it was such a long kick instead of the one that they use to try to block game-winning field goals, and it resulted in the leverage penalty. Payton admitted the officials made the right call.

–The NFC West is the only team with three teams at 2-0 as the 49ers beat the beat the Saints 26-21 with Mac Jones replacing the injured Brock Purdy, while the Rams beat the Titans 33-20, and the Cardinals beat the Panthers, 27-22. It should be a good division race. All four teams play the four AFC South teams. 

–The Lions bounced back from the opening loss to Green Bay to spoil Ben Johnson’s homecoming and beat the Bears, 52-21. The Bears are off to an 0-2 start under Johnson, one of nine teams at 0-2. The odds are against them making the playoffs. Only 32 0-2 teams since 1990 made the playoffs.  

The best game of the week and maybe the season is the Fox doubleheader game Sunday in a rematch of last year’s Super Bowl with Philadelphia at Kansas City. The league often doesn’t get a rematch because teams only play four interconference games a year. The league would prefer this game in prime time but Fox and CBS are allowed to protect a few games this year so Fox probably protected it. It is the only Fox late game so it will be a truly national game. Kansas City has a lot of incentive because they lost the Super Bowl and lost the opener last week to the Chargers so the Chiefs want to avoid an 0-2 start. Philadelphia is fortunate Jalen Carter wasn’t suspended for spitting at the start of the Dallas game last week. The key for the Chiefs is their offensive line protecting Patrick Mahomes better than they did in the Super Bowl.

–The weekend starts with the Washington at Green Bay Thursday night. Both teams won their openers. The teams didn’t play last year so this will be Jayden Daniels first game against the Packers.  The Packers have a new defensive weapon in Micah Parsons, who had a sack and three pressures in limited duty in his first game against the Lion last week.

–The Sunday night game pits Tampa Bay at Houston. The Texans need a victory to avoid an 0-2 start going into next week’s division game at Jacksonville. The Texans lost their opener at the Rams. Tampa Bay is playing its first two games on the road after winning at Atlanta last week. If the Bucs win this one, they have a good shot at a 3-0 start since they host the Jets next week in their first home game.

–The Monday night game features the Chargers at the Raiders. Both won their openers so both are going for a 2-0 start. A win would put give the Chargers a 2-0 start in the division since they beat the Chiefs in their opener. The Chargers swept the Raiders last year. But the Raiders have a new coach in Pete Carroll after Antonio Pierce was fired after going after going 4-13 last year.

–Indianapolis hosts Denver Sunday as it goes for a 2-0 start after a surprising rout of Miami with Daniel Jones at quarterback. Jones is trying to jump start his career after being a bust with the Giants. He beat out Anthony Richardson in training camp. Denver is also going for a 2-0 start after beating the Titans in their opener.

–The big question is what are the ramifications of the Bills coming back from a 40-25 deficit in the last four minutes to beat the Ravens. The Ravens became the first team to score 40 points and rush for 235 or more yards and lose. Was the victory a springboard to a Super Bowl season for the Bills since their two remaining challenging games are at home against the Chiefs and Eagles. They figure to sweep their six division games Their next five games before the bye are against the Jets, Miami, Saints, Patriots and Falcons. After the bye the non divisional games besides the Chiefs and Eagles are against the Panthers, Bucs, Texans, Steelers and Browns. The table is set for the Bills.

–For the Ravens, the question is how they bounce back from another devastating loss. They have a habit of blowing leads or failing in crunch time in big games. Last year they lost in the playoffs to the Bills when Mark Andrews dropped a two point conversion that would have tied the game. This time they had 40 points with 11:42 left  and didn’t score again. Derrick Henry’s fumble and coach John Harbaugh’s decision to punt the ball back to Josh Allen instead of going for it on 4th and 3 at the Ravens’ 38 with a minute and a half left sealed their fate. It likely means that if they play the Bills in the playoffs, they will have to go to Buffalo again. 

–The Green Bay Packers and the San Diego Chargers turned in two of the biggest victories with the Pack beating Detroit and the Chargers beating the Chiefs. And the Pack got early dividends from the trade for Micah Parsons when he got a sack and three pressures. Now both the Lions and Chiefs are a game back in their divisions. Last year Detroit lost its second game to the Rams and then reeled off 11 wins in a row. The Chiefs won their first nine last year.

–The Eagles got their bid for a repeat off to a good start by beating the Cowboys despite the Jalen Carter ejection for spitting. Now they go to Kansas City for a Super Bowl rematch that will be  good test for them against a Chiefs team that is desperate for a win.

–The Cincinnati Bengals weren’t impressive in their 17-16 victory over the Browns  but they found a way to win after having slow starts in recent years. Even Joe Burrow said they lost those kind of games last year. The Bengals were swept by the Ravens last year and missed the playoffs with a 9-8 record so maybe a fast start (they host the Jaguars next week) will get them in the playoff picture.

After the Rams said Matthew Stafford, who was having back problems, was cleared to start and the Browns and Saints named Joe Flacco as their starters, the 32 teams all had their starters to open the season. Now we will find out how many to start all 17 games. The 33rd quarterback is likely Kirk Cousins, who still may get a chance to start if a teams winds up deciding to trade for him.

Here is a division-by-division rundown on the quarterbacks:

AFC EAST

Buffalo, Josh Allen; Miami, Tua Tavogailoa; New England, Drake Maye; New York Jets, Justin Fields.

Overview: Allen is easily the best quarterback in the division and should lead the Bills to another division title.

AFC NORTH

Baltimore, Lamar Jackson; Cincinnati, Joe Burrow; Pittsburgh, Aaron Rodgers; Cleveland, Joe Flacco.

Overview: Jackson is trying to make the Super Bowl for the first time while Burrow is trying for the second time. Rodgers and Flacco are stopgaps until the teams find their quarterbacks of the future.

AFC SOUTH

Houston, C.J. Stroud; Jacksonville, Trevor Lawrence; Tennessee, Cam Ward; Indianapolis, Daniel Jones.

Overview: Stroud is the best best in the division, while the Jaguars hope Lawrence can start living up to his potential with new coaching. Ward is a rookie, while Jones got the job because Anthony Richardson has been so disappointing. This is Jones second chance after being a bust with the Giants, but he is probably a stopgap.

 AFC WEST

Kansas City, Patrick Mahomes; San Diego, Justin Herbert; Denver, Bo Nix; Las Vegas, Geno Smith.

Overview: Mahomes is trying to bounce back from last year’s Super Bowl loss after failing to get a three-peat and will try to join the select group with four rings. Herbert just wants to prove he can get there. They meet Friday night in Brazil. (The NFL should never take a matchup this good out of the U.S.)  Nix will try to get Denver a wild card spot. Smith followed Pete Carroll to the Raiders, who aren’t a contender.

NFC EAST

Philadelphia, Jalen Hurts; Washington, Jayden Daniels; Dallas, Dak Prescott; New York Giants, Russell Wilson.

Overview: Hurts is trying to join the select group of quarterbacks who have repeated. Daniels is a star in waiting, while Prescott needs to bounce back from an injury filled year. Wilson is just a stopgap.

NFC NORTH

Detroit, Jared Goff; Green Bay, Jordan Love; Minnesota, J.J McCarthy; Chicago, Caleb Williams.

Overview: Goff and Love are the two best quarterbacks in the division and McCarthy will start after being injured his rookie season. Williams has a new coach in Ben Johnson, who hopes to help him reach his potential.

NFC SOUTH

Tampa Bay, Baker Mayfield; Atlanta, Michael Penix; Carolina, Bryce Young; New Orleans, Spencer Rattler.

Overview: Mayfield is the best quarterback in the division.  Penix replaced Kirk Cousins in Atlanta. Young has yet to live up to his billing as the top pick but improved last year after being benched. Rattler is a stopgap.

NFC WEST

LA Rams, Matthew Stafford; San Francisco, Brock Purdy; Seattle, Sam Darnold; Arizona, Kyler  Murray.

Overview: Stafford has had a back problem, and it remains to be seen how effective he is. Purdy hopes to lead the 49ers to  a rebound season. Darnold joins the Seahawks after turning his career around in Minnesota. Murray is still trying to be more consistent.   

In retrospect, it seems inevitable and a no-brainer that network TV executives would pair Pat Summerall and John Madden in the broadcast booth for NFL football games.

They were a natural pairing with Summerall’s low-key style giving Madden the time and opportunity to entertain fans with his bombastic style.

But as the new book Madden & Summerall: How they  Revolutionized NFL Broadcasting by author  Rich Podolsky points out,  a lot of things had to fall in place for them to ever share the booth.

It is often forgotten that Summerall was at the top of the profession before he was teamed with Madden. He was fortunate enough to join the Giants late in his career and made a lot of connections in New York, then started in radio and worked his way up to become part of the No. 1 CBS broadcasting team with Tom Brookshier.

They might have spent their careers together except for one problem: This was the Mad Men era in New York, and Summerall and Brooksheier loved to drink and stay out all night. In one bizarre escapade, they unhitched a horse from a hansom cab and tried to walk him up the steps to the Plaza Hotel. Summerall pointed out they had a reservation. The horse didn’t.

After  nearly seven years together, the TV executives decided it was time to split up Summerall and Brookshier after they got negative reviews for their broadcast of Super Bowl XIV. The two leading candidates to pair with Summerall were Vin Scully and Madden, who got started in broadcasting  almost by accident as he was looking for something to do after retiring as the Raiders coach. Madden had a lot to learn and did only six games in 1980. His bigger splash instead was doing a Lite Beer commercial.

Scully, if course, was the legendary Dodgers baseball announcer, but even though Madden was inexperienced, Summerall was the better choice to pair with Madden  because he gave Madden the time between plays to become the Madden we all know. Scully was a storyteller himself, so he wouldn’t have meshed as well with Madden.

Summerall and Madden became the best broadcasting duo in TV history, and when Fox got the NFC rights when CBS declined to match their offer, they quickly signed Madden and Summerall to give them credibility since they had never done NFL games. Thought Madden and Summerall were not buddies like Summerall was with Brookshier, their chemistry in the booth couldn’t have been better.

But there were some bumps along the road. Although Madden didn’t drink, Summerall continued to drink until his friends staged an intervention. He agreed to go to Betty Ford, stayed for 33 days and stayed sober for the rest of his life, although the drinking had taken a toll and he finally needed a liver transplant.

Eventually Summerall started making mistakes, and Fox executives decided it was time for him to retire and called a press conference. But Summerall couldn’t give it up and said at the press conference he wasn’t retiring (although he eventually did so). Fox wanted to pair Madden with Joe Buck but he decided to do Monday Night Football with Al Michaels instead.

The liver transplant gave Summerall nine more years, but after a fall, he broke his hip and had a hip replacement. The hip replacement went well, but he collapsed preparing for his second rehab and had an embolism and died of a blood clot at age 82. Naturally, his widow asked Madden to give the eulogy.

Madden wound up working 13 years with CBS, eight with Fox, four with ESPN and two with NBC before retiring. He eventually made the Hall of Fame as a coach and gave his famous speech about the busts talking to each other at night after the HOF closed each evening.

But Madden wasn’t the retiring type, and his wife suggested the league give him a role, so he was made special assistant to the commissioner and a member of the safety committee.

Madden wound up having a triple bypass and became less mobile as his football injuries caught up with him. He still seemed healthy but died in a car while being driven to a routine doctor’s appointment. They had a small private service, but the eulogies poured in and even Scully said Madden and Summerall had the perfect partnership.

Madden and Summerall now belong to the ages and will be remembered as long as NFL games are broadcast. They set a standard that is not like to be matched. Credit Podolsky for writing a book that will help future generations understand what they meant to pro football. And they can always watch the games they broadcast on videotape. 

—The opening weekend of the season will feature five national games — four in prime time. Three of the five are on network TV. Don’t be surprised if there is a lot of sloppy play because teams don’t practice as much as they did back in the day. The league ended things like two-a-days in training camp to make the game safer which means it takes teams two or three game to get in top shape. Upsets are common in the oddsmakers dont have a good handle on the teams yet. And the odds on 11 of the games are about a field goal. And eight are division games.

–Not a great week for the survivor pools. Denver is a popular choice as a 7.5-point choice over the Titans, the worst team in the league last year, but who knows how rookie Cam Ward will play in his debut. The Cardinals are a 6.5-point choice over the Saints, but the Cardinals tend to be inconsistent. The Eagles are 7.5-point choices over the Cowboys and the Commanders are a 6.5-point pick over the Giants, but both are division games.The Bengals are a 5.5-point pick over the Browns, but the Bengals often start slowly and lost their opener last year when they were heavily favored,   

–The weekend starts with the usual Thursday night with the defending champions at home. But the Eagles will host the Cowboys. Granted, the Eagles and Cowboys are divisional rivals, and the Cowboys tend to be a popular team, but owner Jerry Jones just traded their best player, Micah Parsons, and the Eagles could dominate this game.

   –The game of the weekend is the Sunday night matchup between Buffalo and Baltimore. The Bills are a slight favorite and are favored in every game this year. But Baltimore is confident think they have their best team since they  got Lamar Jackson. Both Jackson and Josh Allen are looking to make the Super Bowl for the first time this year and it is a critical matchup for both teams.

  –Kansas City and San Diego play in a rare Friday night game because technically the high school football season doesn’t start for another week, although many high schools now start before Labor Day and will be playing this Friday. As part of their deal to get an antitrust exemption, the NFL agreed not to play on Friday nights during the high school season. This is a critical division game for both teams and quarterbacks. The Chiefs and Patrick Mahomes want to rebound after their Super Bowl loss while Justin erbert wants to prove he can take the Chargers to the Super Bowl. The game is on YouTubeTV but will be free. The Lions-Packers game is another  important division game and will be the Sunday doubleheader game. The Monday night game is also a division game with Minnesota at Chicago, but neither is considered a Super Bowl contender.