NFL | Tom Brady is absent, then garland his teammates

The Buccaneers have lost three of their last four games, with Todd Bowles’ team even suffering the biggest upset of the season on Sunday in Pittsburgh. The Steelers beat them, 20-18, as they trailed by 9.5 points.

Miguel Bujold
The Press

Dissatisfied with the way things were going in front of him, Tom Brady yelled at his linemen as only he can do on the sidelines. But this time it didn’t quite work out as the Steelers’ defensive front continued to get the better of the quintet.

Normally, Brady’s tantrums don’t cause too much talk, but this time the moment for anger seemed a little less well chosen, to say the least: Brady had missed the « walkthrough » (mental rehearsal ) of the Bucs, on Saturday, because he attended the wedding of Robert Kraft, the owner of the Patriots… Remember that Brady had also been absent for ten days in the middle of training camp for personal reasons (see divorce from with Gisele Bundchen). Silverware and the title of the greatest of all time or not, Brady’s « messages » may be getting a little less with his teammates.

The amazing thing about the regular performance of Brady (25 for 40 for 243 yards) and the Bucs offense is that the Steelers defense was playing without TJ Watt, Minkah Fitzpatrick and his first three cornerbacks.

Dak’s return is timely

Dak Prescott said he would have played Sunday night in Philadelphia if the decision had been up to him. Instead, it was Cooper Rush who got the start, his fifth in a row, and it didn’t go too well.

Rush threw 3 interceptions in the Cowboys’ 26-17 loss to the Eagles, his first of his career. The Cowboys had the merit of not having given up, they who were already trailing 20-0 after a half.

Very effective in the first 30 minutes of play, Jalen Hurts and the Eagles offense lost their rhythm when their right tackle, Lane Johnson, left the game with a concussion. His replacement Jack Driscoll had his hands full, especially against Micah Parsons, one of the main candidates for the title of the best defensive player after the first third of the season.

Prescott is expected to return to action next Sunday when the Cowboys host the Lions at AT&T Stadium. Besides, one can certainly wonder if Jerry Jones and the Cowboys did not prefer that Prescott return to play at home against Detroit, then Chicago the following week, instead of facing the Eagles in Philadelphia…

Major changes in Carolina?

The situation is not really improving for the Panthers, who continue to get bogged down despite a formation that is not devoid of good players.

In their first game since the firing of head coach Matt Rhule, they lost 24-10 in Los Angeles and the highlight of their afternoon was the tussle between receivers coach Joe Dailey and wide receiver Richie Anderson. The player was eventually chased off the sidelines by interim head coach Steve Wilks.

Last week, rumors surfaced that the Panthers were seriously considering trading running back Christian McCaffrey. With a head coaching job to fill and their best player on the trade market at his peak, it’s clear that the Panthers are about to build on a new foundation.

Club owner David Tepper never hesitates to take any means to win and you can bet he will do everything in his power to help his organization get their hands on one of the best young quarterbacks in the game. next draft, whether it’s Bryce Young (Alabama) or CJ Stroud (Ohio State). The experiments with Sam Darnold and Baker Mayfield have been resounding failures so far.

Crucial game Thursday night

The seventh week of activities will begin with a meeting between two teams that have been disappointing since the start of the season, the Saints and the Cardinals, in Arizona. The losers of this game will end up with a 2-5 record and will likely have to win eight of their last 10 games in order to qualify for the playoffs, which is highly unlikely. Thursday’s game is therefore extremely important for both sides.

The Saints can blame their long injury list (Jameis Winston, Michael Thomas, Jarvis Landry, Chris Olave, Marshon Lattimore and Terron Armstead all missed Sunday’s game against Cincinnati) for their poor start. It’s a bit different with the Cards, who have all sorts of trouble scoring runs.

Head coach Kliff Kingsbury and quarterback Kyler Murray admitted the offensive performance was unacceptable after Sunday’s 19-9 loss at Seattle and the pressure on Kingsbury is mounting. Good news for the Cardinals, DeAndre Hopkins has finished serving his 6-game doping suspension and should be in uniform Thursday night.