Unhappy Flacco’s ride with Broncos might be nearing end
Have we seen the last of Joe Flacco as a Denver Bronco?
Not that he’s going to be traded by this afternoon’s deadline.
On Monday, Broncos head coach Vic Fangio announced the 12th year pro and 2012 Super Bowl MVP has “a disc or neck injury and he’ll definitely miss this week. Then we’ll re-evaluate after (next week’s) bye and see where he’s at.”
Fourth-year journeyman backup Brandon Allen will start on Sunday against visiting Cleveland, Fangio said.
It’s hard to believe Flacco would have much trade value anymore even if healthy, as the Broncos have yet to score more than 24 points in any game in 2019, and have scored as many as 17 only twice.
Flacco just isn’t his old Baltimore, prime-time self anymore. He sure seemed at wit’s end with his Broncos coaches following Sunday’s last-second 15-13 loss at Indianapolis. Maybe it wasn’t a coincidence, less than 48 hours before the trade deadline, but he went off on those coaches at his post-game news conference.
This after Fangio and his staff chose to run the ball on three of their last four snaps — all with the Broncos leading 13-12 and in possession on Indy’s side of the field — before lamely punting back to the Colts with 1:55 left on the clock.
“I just look at it like, we’re now a 2-6 football team, and we’re afraid to go for it in a two-minute drill, you know?” Flacco said.
“Like, who cares if you give the ball back to (the Colts) with 1:40 left? They obviously got the (winning) field goal anyway.
“And once again: We’re a 2-6 football team. And it just feels like we’re kind of afraid to lose a game.”
Wowsers. Sounds like Joe wants out.
Kansas City Chiefs head coach Andy Reid didn’t exactly sound pessimistic on Monday about the chances of having QB Patrick Mahomes back for Sunday’s home game against red-hot Minnesota.
During Green Bay’s 31-24 win at K.C. on Sunday night, NBC’s TV crew relayed the fact that Mahomes claimed he would have played if it were a playoff game.
“Isn’t that what you love about him?” Reid said Monday.
“That’s him. Who wants to slow that down, right? That thinking, at least. Then, it’s important that the medical people take care of it from there. But that’s how you want him. You want him wired that way. He wanted to play last night.”
Mahomes will continue to receive medical care and close analysis from the club’s professionals.
“I look at the visual part,” Reid said.
“Can he do the things that he needs to be able to do to play in a game?
“Then, I’m always asking, ‘How are you feeling?’ If I ask, he normally tells me how he feels. I probably would add that into the equation. But the doctors have to do that. I don’t claim to be a doctor at all.”
Will Mahomes practise this week starting on Wednesday, as he did on a limited basis last week, only days after dislocating his right knee cap?
“Yeah, unless he has a cold or is sick, I would imagine,” Reid said.
What’s it going to take for NFL officials to stop blowing plays dead until and unless they’re absolutely certain a ball carrier was down, with the ball securely in hand?
Tampa Bay likely lost at Tennessee because a fumble a Buccaneers defender returned for a score was nullified because one official blew the play dead.
“Everybody but one guy saw the ball out and (that official) blew a quick whistle,” Buccaneers head coach Bruce Arians said on Monday.
“My biggest thing is, referees aren’t held accountable. Coaches get fired, general managers get fired and players get cut.
“Referees aren’t held accountable and it’s a shame.”
Preach, Bruce, preach.
J.J. Watt is done for the season early. Again.
An MRI determined Sunday night that the former superstar Houston Texans defensive end tore a left pectoral muscle. He’ll miss the remainder of the 2019 season.
This is the third season in the past four that Watt will have been unable to play more than half of his team’s games. He played in only three games in 2016 and only five in 2017 because of various arm, back and leg injuries.
He’s in his ninth NFL season. From 2011-15, he didn’t miss a game and three times was named the league’s defensive player of the year.
“This game can be beautiful and it can also be brutal,” Watt wrote on social media.
“Absolutely gutted that I won’t be able to finish the season with my guys.”