ATLANTA (AP) — Atlanta cornerback Asante Samuel left the Falcons’ game Thursday night against the New Orleans Saints after aggravating his right shoulder injury.
ASHBURN, Va. (AP) — From head to toe, three things are immediately noticeable when Washington Redskins receiver Pierre Garcon takes the field.
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ATLANTA (AP) — Defensive tackle Peria Jerry is inactive for the Atlanta Falcons against the New Orleans Saints on Thursday night because of a quadriceps injury.
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—Pittsburgh Steelers quarterback Ben Roethlisberger told reporters Thursday that he’s still hurting from the sprained right shoulder and dislocated ribs that has forced him out of the previous two games.
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SANTA CLARA, Calif. (AP) — Alex Smith is trying to understand how he lost his job as starting quarterback of the San Francisco 49ers a month after being named NFC Offensive Player of the Week.
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The Atlanta Falcons will have both Asante Samuel and Dunta Robinson when they host the New Orleans Saints on Thursday night. Samuel had been “questionable” after missing all of this week’s practices with a shoulder injury. Robinson popped up on Tuesday’s injury report due to an illness, but practiced on a limited basis on Wednesday and had been “probable” for Thursday night’s game.
The Saints received some good news on Thursday night as right tackle Zach Strief will return after missing the last three games with a groin injury. Strief’s absence, combined with injuries Charles Brown and Bryce Harris, forced the team to insert newly-signed Will Robinson at right tackle during Sunday’s 31-21 loss to the San Francisco 49ers.
New Orleans : WR Courtney Roby, TE David Thomas, OT Charles Brown, DT Tom Johnson, DE Junior Galette, LB Scott Shanle, S Isa Abdul-Quddus
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EAST RUTHERFORD, N.J. (AP) — For Victor Cruz, the sky- literally – is the limit.
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Investigation underway after prank goes public
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It’s not a common story, but it’s not unusual, either. A veteran quarterback, established in the locker room and on the field, signs a new contract as a team’s seeming incumbent. Through injury or sheer performance, that established quarterback sees himself cast aside by a younger, lower-drafted quarterback who displays an unusual acumen for the game, and the potential to take his teammates and coaches to heights they’ve not seen before.
Of course, the story most in line with this narrative right now is the one that has Colin Kaepernick unseating Alex Smith as the San Francisco 49ers’ starting quarterback through the foreseeable future. 49ers head coach Jim Harbaugh announced that yesterday, after Kaepernick unleashed a scary skill set in the team’s 32-7 win over the Chicago Bears, and a follow-up win over the New Orleans Saints.
It’s unknown how this would have played out had Smith not been concussed against the St. Louis Rams a few weeks back, but as it was when New York Jets defender Mo Lewis paved the way for Tom Brady by jostling Drew Bledsoe’s internal organs in 2001, things happen. That alleged NFL code by which starters can’t lose their jobs due to injury is as quaint and outdated as the single-bar facemask.
It wasn’t the first time a surprise quarterback jumped up and bit a seeming sure thing this season — in fact, it wasn’t the first time it happened in the NFC West. In March, the Seattle Seahawks signed former Green Bay Packers backup Matt Flynn to a three-year, $19.5 million contract and penciled him in as the quarterback of the near future. They selected Wisconsin’s Russell Wilson in the third round a month later, with the idea that Wilson would learn Seattle’s offense over time.
But a funny thing happened on the way to the regular season. Flynn didn’t play badly in minicamps and practices, but it was clear from Day 1 that Wilson had attributes Flynn didn’t possess. The rookie outstripped the veteran in mobility, velocity, accuracy, and the most important thing a quarterback must possess — the faith of his teammates. From the summer on, Seahawks players were telling me about Wilson’s intangibles.
“When Russell’s in there, we just feel like something good’s going to happen,” one player said.
When Harbaugh, who’s as astute about these things as any coach in the league, takes the temperature of his team, he has to know that his guys believe in Kaepernick before he endorses the second-year player’s potential over Smith’s known production. Based on what Kaepernick’s teammates are saying, that seems to be the case.
“It’s no secret, bro — that dude can play ball,” receiver Michael Crabtree told Yahoo’s Mike Silver after the Bears game. “It was too much for them. Colin’s a baller. That’s one dude I know I don’t have to worry about.”
During the Saints game, NFL Films caught a telling exchange between receiver Randy Moss, who didn’t catch a single pass in the win and still wanted to ensure that Kaepernick knew what he was accomplishing. When Kaepernick berated himself after an incompletion to Moss, the veteran told the second-year guy to keep his head up.
“Ain’t nothing to be mad about,” Moss said . “Hey, you’ve been waiting on your chance to shine, and you shined, dog …Way to go! Proud! Man, smile! I’m talkin’ about smile, bro. You had a heck of a game, man.”
Moss also displayed his admiration for Kaepernick’s game by executing a great seal block on Saints cornerback Jabari Greer when the quarterback ran for a touchdown.
Implied, though not stated, in Crabtree’s quote is that there are some worrisome aspects to Smith’s game. He’s become a very efficient quarterback since he bottomed out through his first few NFL seasons after he was taken first overall in the 2005 NFL Draft, but there seems to be a very definite sense as to what Smith is, and what Smith is not. As Wilson did with Flynn, Kaepernick showed in a very short time that he could create plays out of pressure, improvise out of read-option sets, pick apart defenses, and make stick throws into tight windows as well as the upper echelon.
For a team that was a couple of muffed punts away from the Super Bowl last season with Smith, and still went hard after Peyton Manning in the offseason, Kaepernick seems — at least in the short term — to be the answer to a lot of prayers in the Bay Area.
What Kaepernick must now do is what Wilson has done, especially in the last month — take all those intangibles and produce in big moments, over and over.
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It’s not a common story, but it’s not unusual, either. A veteran quarterback, established in the locker room and on the field, signs a new contract as a team’s seeming incumbent. Through injury or sheer performance, that established quarterback sees himself cast aside by a younger, lower-drafted quarterback who displays an unusual acumen for the game, and the potential to take his teammates and coaches to heights they’ve not seen before.
Of course, the story most in line with this narrative right now is the one that has Colin Kaepernick unseating Alex Smith as the San Francisco 49ers’ starting quarterback through the foreseeable future. 49ers head coach Jim Harbaugh announced that yesterday, after Kaepernick unleashed a scary skill set in the team’s 32-7 win over the Chicago Bears, and a follow-up win over the New Orleans Saints.
It’s unknown how this would have played out had Smith not been concussed against the St. Louis Rams a few weeks back, but as it was when New York Jets defender Mo Lewis paved the way for Tom Brady by jostling Drew Bledsoe’s internal organs in 2001, things happen. That alleged NFL code by which starters can’t lose their jobs due to injury is as quaint and outdated as the single-bar facemask.
It wasn’t the first time a surprise quarterback jumped up and bit a seeming sure thing this season — in fact, it wasn’t the first time it happened in the NFC West. In March, the Seattle Seahawks signed former Green Bay Packers backup Matt Flynn to a three-year, $19.5 million contract and penciled him in as the quarterback of the near future. They selected Wisconsin’s Russell Wilson in the third round a month later, with the idea that Wilson would learn Seattle’s offense over time.
But a funny thing happened on the way to the regular season. Flynn didn’t play badly in minicamps and practices, but it was clear from Day 1 that Wilson had attributes Flynn didn’t possess. The rookie outstripped the veteran in mobility, velocity, accuracy, and the most important thing a quarterback must possess — the faith of his teammates. From the summer on, Seahawks players were telling me about Wilson’s intangibles.
“When Russell’s in there, we just feel like something good’s going to happen,” one player said.
When Harbaugh, who’s as astute about these things as any coach in the league, takes the temperature of his team, he has to know that his guys believe in Kaepernick before he endorses the second-year player’s potential over Smith’s known production. Based on what Kaepernick’s teammates are saying, that seems to be the case.
“It’s no secret, bro — that dude can play ball,” receiver Michael Crabtree told Yahoo’s Mike Silver after the Bears game. “It was too much for them. Colin’s a baller. That’s one dude I know I don’t have to worry about.”
During the Saints game, NFL Films caught a telling exchange between receiver Randy Moss, who didn’t catch a single pass in the win and still wanted to ensure that Kaepernick knew what he was accomplishing. When Kaepernick berated himself after an incompletion to Moss, the veteran told the second-year guy to keep his head up.
“Ain’t nothing to be mad about,” Moss said . “Hey, you’ve been waiting on your chance to shine, and you shined, dog …Way to go! Proud! Man, smile! I’m talkin’ about smile, bro. You had a heck of a game, man.”
Moss also displayed his admiration for Kaepernick’s game by executing a great seal block on Saints cornerback Jabari Greer when the quarterback ran for a touchdown.
Implied, though not stated, in Crabtree’s quote is that there are some worrisome aspects to Smith’s game. He’s become a very efficient quarterback since he bottomed out through his first few NFL seasons after he was taken first overall in the 2005 NFL Draft, but there seems to be a very definite sense as to what Smith is, and what Smith is not. As Wilson did with Flynn, Kaepernick showed in a very short time that he could create plays out of pressure, improvise out of read-option sets, pick apart defenses, and make stick throws into tight windows as well as the upper echelon.
For a team that was a couple of muffed punts away from the Super Bowl last season with Smith, and still went hard after Peyton Manning in the offseason, Kaepernick seems — at least in the short term — to be the answer to a lot of prayers in the Bay Area.
What Kaepernick must now do is what Wilson has done, especially in the last month — take all those intangibles and produce in big moments, over and over.
