Now likely a backup QB, Winston ‘here to assist the best way I possibly can’ ... Ankle surgery set for Rams’ Talib ... Eagles’ Jeffery could be back on Sunday
Officially, we still don’t know who will pass the Bucs (as it were) this week in Chicago.
Tampa Bay head coach
Dirk Koetter refused Tuesday and again Wednesday to state publicly whether Ryan
Fitzpatrick will continue to start at quarterback, or if
Jameis Winston has his No. 1 job back. Even while admitting that behind the scenes a decision has been made.
But judging by Winston’s bubbly, non-stop, ‘I’m-justhere-to-help’ comments Wednesday, you have to think Koetter has decided to stay with Fitzpatrick. And why not, as long as Fitzpatrick is molten hot.
Winston sat out the first three weeks of the regular season after the NFL suspended him for having admitted to sexually assaulting an Uber driver three years ago. In his stead from Weeks 1-3, the 35-year-old Fitzpatrick became the first player in NFL history to pass for 400plus yards in three consecutive games, with a TD total (11) and passer rating (124.8) both second in the league only to Kansas City wunderkind Patrick Mahomes.
“We know what we’re going to do. Both guys know what we’re going to do,” Koetter said Tuesday. “I hope everybody can appreciate that it doesn’t do us any good to tell our opponents what we’re going to do. That will work itself as the week goes on.”
It might already have done so by Wednesday morning, when Winston spoke to reporters.
“I’m excited to be back,” Winston, the No. 1 overall draft pick in 2015, said at a news conference. “The most important thing is the success we’re having ... I’m here to assist the best way I possibly can. With me being back, nothing’s changing. I’m just happy to be part of it.
“I’m not a selfish player. It’s about our team. We’re out here doing big things and we’ve got to continue to do that.”
If someone had given Winston a script of things to say after an announcement that “FitzMagic” remained starter, these are the exact kind of words he’d have been asked to say.
What’s more, NFL Network’s Ian Rapoport said Wednesday morning that “all signs” point to Fitzpatrick continuing to start.
Tampa Bay is 2-1 behind Fitz, having followed up big upset defeats of New Orleans and defending NFL champion Philadelphia with a narrow home-field defeat Monday night to Pittsburgh.
But, if everybody is reading too much into the tea leaves, Koetter reitered Wednesday that the “whole” team “loves” Winston, who reportedly has tried to be a model citizen after repeat alleged incidents of disrespecting and even abusing women from his time at Florida State until the Uber incident.
“He’s happy to be here, and we’re happy to have him,” Koetter said Wednesday. “He’s handled it like a pro.”
Normally, coaches don’t say a player handled a starting appointment like a pro. Just a demotion. However short or long it might be.
TALIB GONE
The day before they play host to the Minnesota Vikings on Thursday Night Football, the Los Angeles Rams placed cornerback Aqib Talib on injured reserve. He will undergo surgery on an ankle he hurt last Sunday against the Los Angeles Chargers. If so designated by the Rams, Talib could return from IR in November.
Reports this week said there’s a small chance the Rams’ other elite starting corner, Marcus Peters, might be able to play against the Vikings. But don’t hold your breath.
JEFFERY RETURNS
The Philadelphia Eagles finally have back a key 2017 offensive cog back, in WR
Alshon Jeffery. He’d missed all practices and games since February’s Super Bowl win after undergoing shoulder surgery. The former Chicago Bear had played all last season with a torn rotator cuff, after sustaining the injury in August.
“Alshon’s doing well. He’s cleared,” Eagles head coach
Doug Pederson said Wednesday. “We’re excited to get him in the mix and see where he’s at. But we’ll make a final determination (as to his availability for Sunday’s game at Tennessee) later in the week.”
What have the Eagles been missing without Jeffery?
“Just continuity,” Pederson said. “We just finally get our quarterback (Carson Wentz) back, and we have had some injury at the running back position and receiver position. So, just getting some continuity and some flow with that group, getting them to play together is something that, in these next few weeks, will be important for us.”
RODGERS UPDATE
For the third straight week,
Aaron Rodgers missed Wednesday’s first practice of the week, as he continues to rehab what he has termed a sprained left knee. The Green Bay Packers quarterback is “still in a day-to-day mode,” head coach Mike McCarthy told a news conference. “He’ll work with the rehab group ... Any time your quarterback doesn’t practise, it’s different.”
The past two weeks – a loss at Washington and a tie vs. Minnesota – Rodgers did not practise at all during the week but played on Sunday.
TITANS QB UPDATES
While Blaine Gabbert remained in concussion protocol Wednesday, Tennessee QB Marcus Mariota is improving from his elbow injury and is slated to start Sunday vs. Philadelphia, Titans head coach Mike Vrabel said.
“Marcus will be the starter,” Vrabel said. “We’re excited about that because he’s getting better.”
Mariota echoed that at his news conference.
MCRIBS LIMITED NO MORE?
Buffalo Bills RB LeSean
McCoy said Wednesday “I’m playing” at Green Bay on Sunday. McCoy missed last Sunday’s win at Minnesota with torn rib cartilage.
“I have an urgency to get out there, get the run game going,” McCoy told reporters.
But his head coach would not go so far.
“We’re just going to take it one day at a time right now” with McCoy, Sean McDermott said.
EXTRA POINTS
New England placed RB
Rex Burkhead on injured reserve with an apparent neck injury. If the Patriots should designate him for return, Burkhead could return in November … The Pats also signed former Baltimore/Houston/Indianapolis OLB John Simon ... Oakland placed PK Mike
Nugent on IR (hip injury) and signed free agent Matt
McCrane to replace him on the active roster. McCrane, a 165-pound undrafted rookie, spent time earlier this season with the Arizona Cardinals ... The Houston Texans announced that S Andre Hal’s Hodgkin’s Lymphoma is in remission. “Dre never wavered in his belief that he would beat it, and he has,” Texans head coach
Bill O’Brien said.