The Atlanta Falcons hosted Sunday Night Football for the only time this season. There will be a Monday Night Football game late in the season in Las Vegas and a Thursday Night Football game in Atlanta against rival Tampa Bay on Oct. 3. Photo by Donnell Suggs/The Atlanta Voice
The Atlanta Falcons lost 22-17 to the Kansas City Chiefs tonight and have now played three games this season. Even though Atlanta’s overall record is 1-2, the most important part of the season is going to take place during the following three weeks.
Atlanta will host NFC South division rivals New Orleans (Sunday, Sept. 29) and Tampa (Oct. 3) before traveling north on I-85 to play the Carolina Panthers on Sunday, Oct. 13 following a bye week. This season and any hope for a playoff berth will rest on a division title and being able to open division play at home has to become a huge advantage for Falcons head coach Raheem Morris, quarterback Kirk Cousins, All-Pro safety Jessie Bates III, and the rest of the franchise.
The Falcons have missed the playoffs for six consecutive seasons and the last time Atlanta won a division title was in 2016, the year National Fooball League MVP Matt Ryan and friends made it all the way to the Super Bowl. Yes, that Super Bowl.
Atlanta quarterback Kirk Cousins (18) attempts a pass during the Falcons 22-17 loss to the Kansas City Cheifs on Sunday, Sept. 22, 2024. Photo by One Circle Entertainment/The Atlanta Voice
A special night
Sunday Night Football saw rapper T.I. perform a medley of his classic songs before the game and singer/songwriter Kandi Burruss sing the National Anthem. Two players from Apalachee High School were the honorary captians of the game. The team was in attendance and received a standing ovation late in the first quarter following an interception by safety Justin Simmons in the end zone.
Team owner and philanthropist Arthur Blank, Roddy White and Warrick Dunn were among a number of Falcons that were inducted into the franchise’s Ring of Honor on Sunday night.
This was Atlanta’s only Sunday Night Football game of the season. There will be a Thursday Night Football game against rival Tampa Bay in Atlanta on Oct. 3 and a Monday Night Football game in Las Vegas against the Raiders late in the season on Dec. 16.
Get ready for an electrifying NFL showdown as the Philadelphia Eagles host the Miami Dolphins this weekend. Sunday Night Football promises to deliver another unforgettable showdown, tune in to SiriusXM to catch all the action, as we preview these two powerhouse squads.
Listen live to your choice of the home, away, or national feed on the SiriusXM App. Kickoff is October 22 at 8:20pm ET.
The Eagles showcase the dynamic duo of QB Jalen Hurts and RB D’Andre Swift. In Hurts’ last ten home starts, Hurts has 24 touchdowns with a 104.6 rating. He’s also excelled in Sunday Night Football in his career, with his last appearance resulting in a career-high 157 rush yards.
D’Andre Swift has been a powerhouse for the Eagles, currently ranking fifth in the NFL with 452 rush yards this season. Let’s also not forget the formidable receiving corps of of A.J. Brown and DeVonta Smith, with Brown ranking 2nd in the NFL in receiving yards (672).
The Eagles’ defense is equally fierce, with Haason Reddick and Josh Sweat applying consistent pressure on quarterbacks. Corners James Bradberry and Darius Slay form an impressive tandem, with over 100 passes defended each since 2016.
Philadelphia Eagles Home Feed
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Away: Miami Dolphins
The Miami Dolphins, on the other hand, have been lighting up the NFL with their explosive offense. They lead the league with 2,992 total yards and 223 points scored in their first 6 games. Quarterback Tua Tagovailoa is in top form, with 1,876 passing yards and 14 touchdown passes this season. He’s the only QB with a 90+ rating in all 6 games this year.
Running back Raheem Mostert has been a touchdown machine, leading the NFL with 11 total touchdowns this season. He’s a big-play threat, especially in primetime. The Dolphins’ receiving corps is anchored by the electric Tyreek Hill and the emerging star Jaylen Waddle. Hill leads the NFL with 814 receiving yards.
On the defensive side, Bradley Chubb and Christian Wilkins have been making their presence felt, consistently getting to the quarterback. Cornerback Xavien Howard adds stability to the secondary, with 5 tackles in Week 6.
While the Jets hope brighter days are ahead as they hope to shake off the bad mojo surrounding the team since Aaron Rodgers’ Achilles injury, the schedule brings the mighty Kansas City Chiefs to town. The defending Super Bowl champions that, oh yeah, also feature the best quarterback in the sport in Patrick Mahomes.
The Jets pulled off a stunner last season by defeating the Buffalo Bills at home. Nearly a year later, Gang Green will look to have a Buster Douglas-like moment. Douglas pulled off one of the great boxing upsets in history when he took down heavyweight champ Mike Tyson in 1990 in a fight nobody thought he could win.
“He’s a special talent,” Jets coach Robert Saleh said about Mahomes. “Some of the throws he makes are disgusting from a defensive perspective, but they’re super talented.
“He knows how to bide time and the offense … they’ve done a really nice job since the last time we had the chance to play them back in the Super Bowl.”
Saleh was referring to his previous NFL life as the defensive coordinator of the 49ers when Mahomes and the Chiefs beat San Francisco for the NFL crown after the 2019 season.
“Their O-line is really talented, much more talented than it was, the skill guys have speed, [Travis] Kelce’s gotten a heck of a lot better, that back, number 10 [Isiah Pacheco], he’s an absolute dog with the ball in his hands, a very physical runner.
“And then, of course, Andy [Reid], sometimes I wonder if he just draws it in the dirt as the game goes on, with some of the concepts that they have. It’s going to be a challenge, for sure.”
When the Week 4 Sunday Night Football matchup between the Jets and Chiefs was first revealed, everyone anticipated an O.K. Corral-like duel between Rodgers and Mahomes. Instead, Zach Wilson versus Mahomes is basically a sidebar to Taylor Swift (rumored to be in attendance to watch Kelce at MetLife Stadium).
Wilson’s tenure as Jets quarterback has been dreadful, and his stats this season are even worse than his first two years in the league. He has passed for 467 yards, two touchdowns, and four interceptions while completing 52.4% of his passes, which is a career low. Wilson also has a QB rating of 57.
The Jets signed free agent veteran Trevor Siemian to the practice squad this week as an insurance policy since Tim Boyle is the only other quarterback on the Jets roster outside of Wilson. On a national TV stage, Sunday’s game against the Chiefs could make or break Wilson.
Throughout his career, Wilson has faced intense criticism from fans and the media. However, the best quarterback in Jets history, Joe Namath, is now calling out Wilson for his inept performance against the Patriots.
The walls were caving in on Wilson last season as he was eventually benched after failing to accept any accountability after losing to the Patriots last November. He was later benched again after he started for the injured Mike White.
You can’t totally blame the Jets misfortunes on Wilson as Gang Green was counting on Rodgers to snap its 12-season playoff drought and contend for a Super Bowl.
But this is the hand that the Jets were dealt after declining to sign a better solution at the backup QB spot. The Jets have one of the best defenses in the NFL and a solid special teams unit. Wilson has to perform better or risk getting benched.
With Siemian now with the Jets, Sunday could be Wilson’s last opportunity to show Saleh and the Jets coaching staff he gives them the best chance to win. Jets fans are angry and want results, something Wilson hasn’t given them enough.
“This narrative outside of this locker room is different from the narrative that’s in this locker room,” Wilson said. “I truly believe the guys in this locker room all have each other’s back.
“I got theirs and I feel like they got mine. We’re going to keep doing everything we can to improve and those guys are doing a good job of realizing, you know what, no one understands what’s going on besides us in this locker room.
“We’re going to do everything we can to keep improving and getting better.”
If there was ever a game in which the Jets needed their defense to step up significantly, this is it. Gang Green has registered just one sack in its last two games against the Cowboys and Patriots.
The defensive line of the Jets was supposed to be one of the strongest in the NFL, but that hasn’t proven to be the case thus far. They also still need to create turnovers, which they capitalized on in the 22-16 OT victory against the Bills.
Jets cornerback D.J. Reed told reporters before the season that they had an opportunity to have a historic defense like the 1985 Bears or the 2013 Seahawks, but that remains to be seen. Although the Jets are good, they’ve had lapses, whether it’s not getting off the field on third downs against the Cowboys or allowing a 58-yard touchdown to Patriots tight end Pharaoh Brown.
“I really believe that is something we are built for because our defense is so rule-based and principle-based,” Jets defensive coordinator Jeff Ulbrich said.
“I really believe it allows our guys to problem solve better than when you got a lot of one-off defense, you got a lot of defense that provides a little bit of an illusion to the quarterback, but the players don’t know in and out, so when you do get a principle that is something you haven’t practiced, something that is one-off.
“I think it gives your players the better opportunity to problem solve their way through that, but at the same time, even when you play it right, you got tremendous speed on that side of the ball and you got a quarterback that absolutely knows how to deliver the deeper balls.”
The Jets just need to learn how to deliver that upset punch.
Over the past couple of years, games between the Cincinnati Bengals and Baltimore Ravens have featured signature moments for two of the game’s top young quarterbacks.
In 2019, Baltimore’s Lamar Jackson picked up the highlight of his MVP season with a 47-yard touchdown run that featured a spin move straight out of a video game. Two years later, Cincinnati’s Joe Burrow torched a depleted Baltimore defense and set a franchise record with 525 passing yards in a Bengals rout. Burrow’s 941 yards in sweeping Baltimore last season were the most passing yards vs. a single team in a season in NFL history.
In what is expected to be a tight AFC North this season, Sunday’s game between the Ravens and Bengals (8:20 p.m. ET, NBC), who are both 2-2, could play a fairly large role in who wins the division.
And the winner likely will be determined by the quarterback position. Burrow is coming off a Super Bowl run, and Jackson is playing above his 2019 MVP level. With contract decisions for both quarterbacks looming, what happens Sunday and the rest of the season could shape the future of the AFC North.
“The quarterback’s a major component in how our team goes,” Bengals coach Zac Taylor said ahead of Sunday’s prime-time game. “For him to play his best in the big moments, as he has, is critical.”
Burrow will be eligible for a contract extension next offseason. Off to a slower start than Jackson thus far, he is 16th in the league in Total QBR (49.4) and 17th in completion percentage (64.1). He’s seventh in the league in passing yards (1,099) and tied for sixth in touchdown passes (eight). He has also been sacked 16 times, which is third most in the NFL.
Jackson halted contract negotiations with the Ravens once the regular season began and is playing on his fifth-year option. In essence, he’s betting on himself, and the early returns have suggested it was a wise move. Jackson is tied for fifth in QBR, tied for first with 11 TD passes and the only QB among the top 25 in rushing, as his 316 yards put him ninth in the league.
With the Pittsburgh Steelers at the beginning of the Kenny Pickett era and the Cleveland Browns yet to see what Deshaun Watson brings to their offense — he’s currently serving an 11-game suspension for violating the league’s personal conduct policy following allegations of inappropriate conduct and sexual assault in massage sessions, Jackson and Burrow are the most established quarterbacks in the division. How the AFC North ultimately shakes out could very well come down to how these two play, and that narrative takes shape Sunday night.
BURROW’S FIRST GAME against Baltimore was memorable for all the wrong reasons.
As a rookie in 2020, the No. 1 overall draft pick and former Heisman Trophy winner had the toughest game of his career. He posted a career-low 4.2 Total QBR, which scores games on a 1 to 100 scale, in a 27-3 shellacking in Week 5.
Six weeks later, Burrow suffered a season-ending knee injury. After an aggressive rehabilitation period, he turned the situation into a footnote, as he rebounded in ’21 as one of the NFL’s most effective quarterbacks, leading the league in completion percentage over expectation, according to NFL Next Gen Stats.
The Bengals’ hopes when they drafted Burrow were quickly realized in February, when the team made its first Super Bowl appearance since 1989 before losing 23-20 to the Los Angeles Rams.
Some of the success could be chalked up to the struggles he had as a rookie.
“It was a chance [for] him to have a season to look back and learn those different styles that you’ll see and those environments you’ll be in and play styles from defenses,” Taylor said. “To come back and have a great year, obviously he’s looking to build off of that this year.”
Bengals running back Joe Mixon said the meetings against Baltimore have displayed Burrow’s ability to extend plays and make big throws. But Burrow’s poise also has been on display in crucial moments.
“He’s gonna be that guy,” Mixon said. “He’s going to have a killer mentality. If you look at him or if you see him in the huddle or see him on the big screen he just looks like he’s about to deliver.”
In both games against Baltimore last year, Burrow starred. He engineered Cincinnati’s comeback in Week 7, throwing for 416 yards and three touchdowns. Two months later, Burrow threw for 525 yards in another victory over the Ravens. His 91.4 Total QBR from that game remains a career high.
At the beginning of the season, Burrow said he doesn’t care about the numbers as long as the team wins. Through four games, the third-year quarterback’s performances have varied between a four-turnover outing in a Week 1 loss to Pittsburgh to a steady showing in last week’s win over the Miami Dolphins.
But there’s a version of himself that he enjoys the most.
“The one that throws for 530 yards,” Burrow said.
AS MUCH AS Burrow has helped transform Cincinnati, no one has changed the trajectory of the Ravens over the past decade more than Jackson.
Baltimore was stuck in mediocrity after winning the Super Bowl in 2012. The Ravens were 44-45 (.494) from 2013 until Jackson took over as starting quarterback midway through the 2018 season.
Once Jackson replaced Joe Flacco as the starter, Baltimore has been one of the best teams in the NFL and had one of its most electrifying offenses. Jackson’s record as a starting quarterback (39-14) ranks behind only Patrick Mahomes (53-14) among active quarterbacks since 2018.
“He’s the one that drives our team,” Ravens tight end Mark Andrews said.
Jackson has accounted for 84% of the total yards for the league’s third-highest-scoring offense despite injuries on the offensive line and a plodding rushing attack. Baltimore has started three different left tackles in the first four weeks, and the Ravens’ running backs have 251 rushing yards, which ranks 30th in the league.
Jackson’s big plays have carried a team that has the NFL’s 30th-ranked defense. His 13 total touchdowns are more than 28 other offenses this season. Jackson has produced the longest run (79 yards) and the second-longest pass (75) this season.
“He is dynamic,” Jets coach Robert Saleh said. “He’s very deserving of everything he asks for, if you ask me. But his arm, his legs, his mind, his toughness, his tenacity — you’ve got to worry about it all.”
Even though Jackson is averaging a career-high 8.54 yards per carry, he has made significant strides throwing the ball, which has changed the identity of Baltimore’s offense. The Ravens once had the league’s most run-heavy attack, but Jackson has dropped back to pass 60% of the time.
Jackson is showing more patience, moving around to buy time instead of scrambling downfield. He has also become more confident throwing into tighter windows and more effective at reading defenses.
“The hard thing with him is … he got better,” Patriots safety Devin McCourty said.
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Stephen A. Smith calls out the Ravens’ defense after its tough start to the season.
LEAGUE SOURCES TOLD ESPN’s Adam Schefter in September that Jackson declined an offer worth about $250 million. Sources told Schefter that Jackson’s wish was for a fully guaranteed deal, similar to the record-setting $230 million, fully guaranteed contract the Browns gave Watson.
The sides agreed to suspend contract negotiations until after the season. Without an extension, Jackson doesn’t have any guaranteed money beyond his $23.016 million base salary for this season. Still, Baltimore remains tethered to the idea of Jackson as its franchise quarterback.
“I said at the beginning that it will happen when it’s time, and when it’s time, it will happen,” Ravens coach John Harbaugh said before the start of the season. “So, Lamar is playing quarterback, he’s going to be playing quarterback here for a long time.”
Cincinnati knows Burrow could be in line for a big payday in 2023, the first year he is eligible to sign a contract extension. Team president Mike Brown is no stranger to paying a premium for quality quarterbacks. In 2005, Cincinnati gave quarterback Carson Palmer, the team’s previous No. 1 overall pick before Burrow, a six-year extension worth up to $119 million, making him one of the game’s highest-paid players at the time.
Before the start of this season, Brown acknowledged his fondness for Burrow and that he knows a future paycheck will have to be written soon.
“Right now, our obvious, most important issue will be with our quarterback,” Brown said in July. “It’s not quite ready or ripe yet, but it’s right down the track. We see the train coming.”
