Nick Foles Breaks Collarbone, Mark Sanchez Takes Over
Late in the first quarter of the Philadelphia Eagles game against the Houston Texans, Eagles quarterback Nick Foles left the game with an injury to his non-throwing shoulder. He would not return to the game. After X-rays were taken, it was discovered that Foles has a broken collarbone and will miss at least a month. He won’t need surgery on his collarbone, so that’s a positive. If backup quarterback Mark Sanchez plays well for the Eagles and has them in playoff contention when Foles is ready to comeback, head coach Chip Kelly is going to have himself quite the quarterback controversy.
Arian Foster Suffers Another Injury
This past Sunday Houston Texans running back Arian Foster suffered a groin injury. Foster decided against further medical testing because Houston has a bye week this week and he believes it just needs time to heal. Groin injuries can very easily be re-aggravated if not treated properly, so the Texans must be careful with how the league’s second-leading rusher handles this injury.
Ryan Mallett Ready To Take Starting Job
After the Texans lost to the Eagles on Sunday, backup quarterback Ryan Mallett tweeted out: “I'm staying focused for when the time comes ... seize the opportunity #justwaiting.” With current starter Ryan Fitzpatrick struggling week to week and underutilizing the talented wide receivers they have in Houston, it’s just a matter of time before head coach makes the decision to go with Mallett. My only question is this: why has it taken this long for this to become an issue?
49ers Offense Needs to Find Identity
After the San Francisco 49ers had one of the worst offensive performances they’ve had in recent memory, 49ers running back Frank Gore has come out and said that the 49ers need to make their mind up, decide what it is they do best, and go out there and just do it. Gore also went on to say he believes in offensive coordinator Greg Roman and that he thinks Roman is a great coordinator. After such a poor showing this past Sunday, we’ll see how the 49ers respond next week when they have to travel to New Orleans and take on the Saints.
Michael Vick Set to Start in Week 10
New York Jets quarterback Michael Vick got the start in Week 9 against the Kansas City Chiefs. While the Jets lost the game by a score of 24-10, Vick had a mediocre game highlighted by the lack of turnovers. He left in the fourth quarter with a head injury but only missed one series. Jets head coach Rex Ryan said Monday that if Vick is healthy, he’ll be the quarterback getting the start in Week 10.
DeMeco Ryans Out for Season, Tears His Achilles
The injury from the Eagles-Texans game that everyone is talking about is the one to Eagles quarterback Nick Foles. The one that is going to have the biggest impact on the Eagles is the loss of inside linebacker DeMeco Ryans. He was very productive for the Eagles defense and was their signal caller. Ryans provided a leadership role that the Eagles were lacking before he got there. They will be without that for the rest of the season now since Ryan tore his Achilles on Sunday. This has the potential to really derail the Eagles’ defense.
Patriots Dismantle Broncos
The most talked about game of Week 9 was the matchup between the New England Patriots and the Denver Broncos, even more so the matchup between Patriots quarterback Tom Brady and Broncos quarterback Peyton Manning. Without a doubt, Brady and the Patriots got the better of this matchup. The Broncos led 7-3 early in the game and the Patriots responded by outscoring the Broncos 43-21 the rest of the game. What was most impressive is how the Patriots defense made Manning look human again. Even though Manning threw for 438 yards, he only had two touchdowns and also threw two interceptions. This is a matchup everyone hopes to see again come playoff time.
Chargers Get Embarrassed in Miami
The San Diego Chargers traveled to Miami on Sunday to take on the Dolphins in the early game. The Chargers looked like one of the best teams in the NFL just a few weeks ago. Now they have everyone wondering if they’ll even make the playoffs after falling to the Dolphins 37-0. Going into their bye week the Chargers will certainly have their work cut out of them as far as what they need to improve upon. It doesn’t matter that they are a West Coast team traveling across the country to play an early game, there’s no excuse to get blown out the way they did.
Seahawks Continue Struggles, Barely Beat Oakland at Home
Going into Week 9 the one game that looked like a sure thing was the Oakland Raiders going into Seattle and losing to the Seahawks. The way the game started out, a Seahawks victory was all but guaranteed. Well, the Raiders didn’t go away. They fought their way back into the game and ended up only losing by six points. The Seahawks have to be doubting themselves at this point. Before this week they had lost two games in a row and now almost lost a home game to the winless Raiders. With the Arizona Cardinals still going strong at the top of the division and the Seahawks being two games back, they need to figure things out before the Cardinals wrap up the division early.
Robert Griffin III Denies Reports That Locker Room has Turned On Him
Early on Sunday before any games started, reports surfaced that the locker room had turned on Washington Redskins quarterback Robert Griffin III and Griffin had “alienated himself.” Reports also said that a lot of players felt the team should be going with backup quarterback Colt McCoy instead of Griffin. After the Redskins lost on Sunday Griffin was asked about the reports and said he can’t worry about the negativity swirling around him. He said that he believes one day it’ll stop. Well, we knew he wasn’t going to come out and confirm that he’s alienated himself from the locker room so this response isn’t surprising at all. It is, however, something to keep an eye on moving forward.