Meeting set to talk about progressing past protests
NFL Commissioner Roger Goodell, owners of each team, representatives of the players’ union and players will meet today to discuss ways to “move from protest to progress.”
Among the topics will be enhancing their platforms for speaking out on social issues, and the league’s policy that suggests but does not mandate players standing for the national anthem.
There is a quiet mandate, though, for those discussions: figuring out how to get the attention back on those social issues, not how they are being publicized.
Goodell emphasized the need for productive dialogue among the owners and players when he sent a memo to the teams last week. He also invited players’ union chief DeMaurice Smith and a group of players to attend the regularly scheduled meetings.
Titans defeat Colts
Marcus Mariota threw a 53-yard touchdown pass to Taywan Taylor with 5:29 left to led the Tennessee Titans past the Indianapolis Colts, 36-22, on Monday night in Nashville.
Mariota didn’t move much after missing a game with a strained left hamstring, but still managed to throw for a season-high 306 yards to help the Titans (33) snap a two-game skid.
Jacoby Brissett tried to rally the Colts (2-4) to a second straight overtime. But Titans linebacker Wesley Woodyard forced him out of bounds shy of the first down marker on fourthand-inches with 2:19 left.
Derrick Henry then clinched the win for Tennessee with a 72-yard TD run with 47 seconds remaining on the clock.
Elliott gets hearing
Attorneys for Dallas Cowboys star Ezekiel Elliott are set for an emergency hearing in federal court in New York as they try again to stop the running back’s sixgame suspension over domestic violence allegations.
Elliott’s legal team filed a request for a temporary restraining order Monday and will get a hearing today in the Southern District of New York.
Last year’s NFL rushing leader is suspended for Sunday’s game against the 49ers after a federal appeals court overturned an injunction that had allowed him to play this season.
The case is shifting to New York because the 5th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals in New Orleans ordered the dismissal of Elliott’s lawsuit in Texas.
Surgery for Rodgers
Green Bay Packers coach Mike McCarthy says quarterback Aaron Rodgers will have surgery on his broken right collarbone and might be lost for the season.
“He’ll be out a significant amount of time; potentially the season could be over,” McCarthy said.
Brett Hundley is now the starting quarterback.
Winston status iffy
Jameis Winston has a sprained AC joint in his throwing shoulder, an injury the Tampa Bay Buccaneers hope will not cost him any more playing time.
The third-year quarterback was hurt during the first half of Sunday’s loss at Arizona. X-rays were negative, and Coach Dirk Koetter said an MRI performed Monday revealed no structural damage.
Winston has started 37 consecutive games to begin his career after entering the NFL as the No. 1 overall pick in the 2015 draft.
Bridgewater gets OK
Teddy Bridgewater has been cleared to rejoin the Minnesota Vikings for practice, roughly 14 months after a dislocation and multiple ligament tears in his left knee put his leg and career at risk.
Coach Mike Zimmer said Bridgewater will be eased back in with the team beginning Wednesday.
Bridgewater, 24, remains on the physically unable to perform list. The Vikings have three weeks to evaluate him before having to decide whether to add him to the active roster.