Think (Jonathan) Smith, not Sanders, for UCLA. Deion Sanders best stay at Colorado.
Could Dan Mullen get a wandering eye with UCLA and Virginia Tech open? The Hokies make sense.
Marcus Freeman admits he doesn’t have the answer to Notre Dame’s woes. Uh-oh.

Everything we thought we knew about college football is wrong.

Arch Manning is mid. Notre Dame’s defense stinks. All that returning production for Clemson meant very little. Vanderbilt is a wrecking crew.

Just like we drew it up in August, yeah?

Three weeks into the season, the coaching carousel already has shifted into gear, with more firings to come.

Here are four questions left on my mind after college football’s Week 3:

Would Deion Sanders consider UCLA?

Coaching searches begin (on the internet, at least) with the hot boards filled with white whales. Fans want their school to force the wish-list candidates to say no, in hopes of getting an improbable yes.

But, seriously, why would Coach Prime say yes to a UCLA job Chip Kelly wanted to leave so badly, he bolted for a coordinator position? Kelly’s successor performed so badly, he lasted just 15 games. UCLA’s program looks a mess within the Big Ten.

Sanders has built a little kingdom at Colorado. Nobody interferes with his operation. Colorado allows him to bring in his own video crew, turning Buffaloes football into an informercial for Prime. Sanders recruits without ever leaving campus, and, at Colorado, he’s not traveling to play road games at Ohio State.

In a vacuum, a Big Ten job is a better job than a Big 12 job. In this instance, I fail to see the upside of Sanders coaching at UCLA, in Southern California’s shadow, and leaving his Boulder fiefdom behind.

UCLA plays home games miles away from campus, a couple of towns over, in front of sparse crowds. Reported budgetary concerns don’t make for a great sales pitch, either. Neither does playing road games three time zones away against Big Ten powers.

Likewise, UNLV’s Dan Mullen will have other, better opportunities than UCLA, as long as the wins keep coming for his Runnin’ Rebels. Mullen’s name surfaces on speculative candidate lists for UCLA, but I wouldn’t see that as a smart move for Mullen, who did his best work in Starkville, Mississippi.

If I’m running UCLA’s search, I’d peek at Tulane’s Jon Sumrall. He’s thriving at the erudite school in “The Big Easy.” Sumrall’s Green Wave are in contention for the Group of Five’s playoff bid. He previously excelled at Troy.

Sumrall played at Kentucky, and he’s spent most of his career in the South. A move to the left coast would be a shift, but he’s bound for a “Super Two” job eventually. UCLA’s best move could be nabbing a rising, proven coach before someone else in the Big Ten or SEC snaps him up.

Another intriguing name: Former Northwestern coach Pat Fitzgerald. If you can win at Northwestern, you can win at UCLA.

Northwestern fired Fitzgerald after a player hazing scandal surfaced. After the firing, Fitzgerald took Northwestern to court, and he reached a legal settlement with his former employer last month. He’s maintained he had no knowledge of the hazing within Northwestern’s program. The school, in a statement announcing the settlement, said it uncovered no evidence that Fitzgerald condoned the behavior or that any player reported the conduct to the coach.

In sum, the findings and legal settlement could make Fitzgerald hirable.

One more … would Pasadena, California, native Jonathan Smith leave Michigan State in favor of a SoCal homecoming? UCLA should find out. Think Smith, not Sanders.

Dan Mullen for Virginia Tech? That’d be interesting

I mentioned Mullen’s best work occurred in Starkville, and I’ve always said Blacksburg, Virginia, is the Starkville of Appalachia.

Well, I’m saying that now, anyway.

Mullen is a good coach whose career got sidetracked by the LS-Shoe game, followed by one bad season at Florida. He’s got a mind for X’s and O’s, and he proved at Mississippi State he can develop three-star prospects into four-star talents.

North Carolina should have hired Mullen instead of experimenting with Bill Belichick. UNC’s mistake can become an opportunity for ACC rival Virginia Tech.

Mullen, in his first season coaching UNLV, is 3-0 and piling up points with transfer quarterback Anthony Colandrea, a former Virginia Cavalier.

Mullen won in the SEC’s West Division at the height of its power. He’d win in the ACC.

Marcus Freeman says dreaded ‘E’ word

Notre Dame coach Marcus Freeman wants us to believe “it’s not the (play) call, it’s the execution,” after the Irish got gutted for a second consecutive game under new defensive coordinator Chris Ash.

Ah, the dreaded ‘E’ word. Execution. Coaches who bemoan their team’s execution usually wind up with an average product on their hands, because it’s often easier to fix play-calling than it is to eradicate bad execution.

In truth, Notre Dame’s abysmal defensive performances in losses to Miami and Texas A&M are a combination of questionable calls and shaky execution.

Notre Dame’s hesitancy to blitz Carson Beck in Week 1 became a head-scratcher. The Irish didn’t apply enough pressure on Aggies quarterback Marcel Reed, either. They have one sack through two games after amassing 40 sacks last season under coordinator Al Golden, who’s now in the NFL. Freeman’s experiment to incorporate more zone coverage has failed, too.

“I don’t have the answer for you right now,” Freeman said of his team’s defensive woes.

No answers, faulty execution and questionable calls tend to result in the dreaded ‘M’ word: mediocrity.

Kirby Smart gets (oddly) philosophical

After Georgia’s comeback overtime victory at Tennessee, Kirby Smart took a shot at nebulous naysayers, who, apparently were “whistling by the graveyard.”

“I don’t mean this directed at Tennessee, but I told our players, there’s a lot of whistling by the graveyard,” Smart said. “A lot of people don’t know what that saying means, but there’s a lot of whistling by the graveyard, and that ain’t who we are.’

“We’re not going to go down without a fight,’ he added.

I don’t think Smart knows what that saying means, either.

Whistling past the graveyard means acting upbeat and unafraid in a dire situation, to distract yourself from the reality of doom. I fail to comprehend how it applies to Georgia and the supposed naysayers.

Perhaps, Smart meant to say Georgia’s enemies ought to know better than to “dance on the grave” of the Bulldogs, a different adage that would better fit this situation.

Georgia looked to be on the ropes in the first quarter at Neyland Stadium, but it came very much alive in the second half and overtime.

As Georgia Tech learned last season, the final shovel of dirt onto an upset of Georgia can prove to be the heaviest lift.

Blake Toppmeyer is the USA TODAY Network’s senior national college football columnist. Email him at BToppmeyer@gannett.com and follow him on X @btoppmeyer.

Todd Marinovich, subbed ‘Robo QB’ by sportswriters, played college football at USC before being a first-round pick of the Los Angeles Raiders.
Marv Marinovich, one of the original ‘worst sports fathers,’ put Todd through rigorous daily training sessions as a child.
“Marinovich: Outside the Lines in Football, Art, and Addiction” is Todd’s effort to tell his well-chronicled story in his own words.

Marv Marinovich was one of the original “worst sports fathers,” decades before the obsession with young athletes spilled over to social media, years before there was even an Internet.

‘I didn’t make it through a full tackle football season until high school,” Todd Marinovich, his father’s prodigy turned USC quarterback and Los Angeles Raiders first-round NFL Draft pick, recalls in his new memoir. ‘Why? Marv bodychecked my coaches when he disagreed with their decisions.”

His father, Marinovich told USA TODAY Sports, “did not miss a (expletive) practice in any sport I played, from youth until I went to SC.”

It was Marv who caught flak from in-laws critical of punishments such as forcing the 9-year-old Todd to run alongside the car from Huntington Beach to Newport Beach after the boy had not played his best in a basketball game. Sportswriters call his son ‘Robo QB” and ‘the first test-tube athlete.‘ … Parenting authorities say his methods signal an abhorrent and dangerous trend among upper- and middle-class parents: over-programming their children and depriving them of childhood. Child-rearing experts say ‘hot housing,’ or the forced maturing of young children, has become a frightening national trend in academic and social life as well as sports.

— Los Angeles Times, June 17, 1990

The process of ‘letting go” has been cathartic. Marinovich met once a week with co-author Lizzy Wright. He shared his story of soaring to the NFL after his college sophomore year and his downward spiral out of it with drug abuse. He is at peace with ‘Marv,” the father he called by his first name.

A term of affection? ‘There’s probably some deep psychological or subconscious thing that I might have been doing, but it truly was,’ Todd says.

Their relationship was complicated: The every day (even Christmas) football training routine, the hand signals from the bleachers, the healthier ‘Marv-sanctioned” versions of cake and ice cream he had to bring to birthday parties while other kids ate the real thing.

Todd became a father of two who now manages youth football, and fatherhood, in a completely opposite way and with deep perspective.  

‘The most challenging endeavor of my life is being a parent,” he says.

USA TODAY Sports spoke with him about what young athletes and their parents can learn from his story.

Pull out the good you remember from your parents and coaches

‘Marinovich: Outside the Lines in Football, Art, and Addiction” is Todd’s effort to tell his well-chronicled story in his own words. It’s through the eyes of a father to Baron, a sophomore in high school, and Coco, a freshman.

Baron plays quarterback, and also receiver, the way Todd started out.

‘What’s really cool about having a son and a daughter is they get to have their own experience with the game,” says Todd, now 56. ‘It’s beautiful, and it’s not always fun.

‘I just am a huge fan of team sports, where you learn that it’s not about ‘me.’ My son’s getting his own experience that’s so different than mine, and I just get to be a spectator and watch it. It’s hard not to want to get too involved.”

He laughs heartily.

 ‘I know,” he says. “Marvisms are coming up left and right when I’m teaching. … But being on the other receiving end of that kind of coaching, I just try to emulate my favorite coaches all in one, and they all had something special that they did that affected me as a player.”

Marv had been a football captain at USC in 1962, and he played ever so briefly in the NFL, before his body broke down. He moved on to breaking ground as an NFL strength and conditioning coach.

And he set out to make his son a perfectly engineered athlete who was ahead of his time. Squats and shamrock shakes (“swamp water,” Todd thought as he digested them before a youth game) were a must.

It was Todd against the world, entangled in an endless loop of ‘Bull in the Ring,” a training technique Marv particularly loved where two football players grapple like Greco-Roman wrestlers.

“It’s a great drill,” Todd admits, “and you find out really quick who your players are.”

He found himself using it in recent years when he volunteered to coach football at a local high school on Hawaii’s big island, where he lives now.

But Todd’s team practiced for an hour and headed to the beach. He took a similar approach when he coached in a kids flag football league.

‘I don’t go more than 40 minutes because I can’t concentrate for more than 40 minutes,” he says. “How am I gonna expect a 10 year old to stay with me for 40 minutes? I don’t understand when my son calls me and says they’re out from 2 to 6, on the field. What the heck? I mean, come on, guys.

“You’ve gotta make it fun and throw in some coaching along the way. So many coaches ruin high school experiences or even youth where the kid doesn’t want to do it again, because it’s no fun. So I try to be super encouraging because you can always find something, even if they’re new to the game, that they’re doing right.”

IT’S THE FALL SEASON: Here’s how we reset as youth sports parents

It’s easy to treat kids as adults and expect too much, too early

The way Todd breaks down Marv today is similar to how Andre Agassi describes his own autocratic sports father: It’s as if dad loved them so much, it turned into obsession.

When Marinovich reached high school, he became starting quarterback at nationally-renowned Mater Dei High in Santa Ana, California, as a freshman. When he told his father the news, he saw something that loosely resembled a smile.

Writes Todd: ‘He wouldn’t say he was proud, but I knew it.”

‘People tagged him for all kinds of things of just being like that stage mother,” he tells USA TODAY Sports. ‘That’s what he was passionate about, training athletes, and football was the vehicle for a while. And so I was just immersed in it. That’s what the family did. It was just part of our culture. So did he influence that? Yeah, but he wasn’t like, ‘You gotta play this.’ If I just wanted to do basketball, he would have been fine with it. He just wanted me to  perform at a high level and train.

‘It wasn’t, truly, about living through me, like some people have said because he never did much in the NFL. It was none of that. I have always known that he wanted the best for me. He did the best he could at the same time. Did I agree with some of it? No, but that’s part of growing up.”

When he was 10, Todd opened the garage (the fitness “dojo” as he called it) and found Marv explaining the day’s training regimen with four Los Angeles Rams players.

They called him Marv and they got excited when they said it. Todd loved feeling close to dad, so he tried it, too.

‘Hey, Marv.”

Everyone paused, Todd feeling palpable tension before his father broke out in laughter.

‘Okay, Red Rocket, you can call me Marv too.‘

‘The thing that I seem to be able to do that my dad couldn’t is know appropriate for the age,” Todd says. ‘He was working for like an All-Pro, eight-year veteran and a nine year old. There’s just no difference with the way he used to do it.”

Marv told a 2011 ESPN ’30 for 30” he stretched his son’s hamstrings in the crib. Todd said he could probably run 4 miles at four and 10 miles at 10.

When he didn’t perform well, though, he felt family life held in the balance.

Traci, his older sister, remembers being in the car on a disciplinary run home. His mom, Trudi, didn’t have the courage to tell Marv how she felt about what their life had become.

One weekend, Trudi wrote him a brief note and whisked their son away to San Diego, where Todd had ice cream, beach time and freedom.

“She just knew when I needed that break from Marv,” Todd says. “And throughout my struggles, she’s just been that unconditional love. It’s a mother’s love, and I put her through some sleepless nights, I know that. And my amends to her is trying to live right, and she’s been there. Thank God. I’ll tell you what: I don’t think I would be here (without her).”

Don’t let your teammates down, it’s not about ‘me’

Todd felt that freedom playing basketball, too.

‘You’re in range when you step in the gym,” Gary McKnight, his middle school coach, would tell him. “And if you don’t shoot, I’m sitting you down.’

‘Within his constructs, you could really have fun,’ Todd says. ‘It wasn’t my main sport. It was more I’m just doing this for fun. And when you’re in that state, you tend to perform better.”

The team became a machine, he says, going 177-7 over three years.

McKnight played to strengths and gave everyone a distinct role. You tried not to step out of it.

Leaning on other people would become a consistent theme in Todd’s life, through all the turmoil yet to come from USC to the Raiders to rehab.

“In an undercover way, I was getting these fundamentals or principles ingrained,” he says. “You realize that’s what it’s about. It’s not about me. When I start getting into me, I am completely (expletive). Every time. But if I’m thinking about the guy next to me, not wanting to let them down, and showing up, that whole thing about showing up, you show up, no matter what. There’s no calling in sick. That doesn’t exist. You cannot do that because they got doctors there. So that’s just priceless stuff that you only learn through time.

“I thought when I was doing it, it was about winning.”

Win, he did, at Capistrano Valley High, where he transferred and set a then-a national record for passing yards; at USC, where he won a Rose Bowl; and even with the Raiders for a fleeting moment over a small stretch.

But when he looks back on his career, he thinks more about the guys with whom he spent it.

Among many others, there was Jeff Peace, the linebacker from a rival high school Todd went against when they competed for a league title. “He just snuffed me,” Marinovich says. They became roommates at USC and are still tight.

There was Marcus Allen, the Hall of Fame running back and Raiders teammate who roused him from bed the morning after another bender with ecstasy, cocaine and liquor and got him to practice.

And there was Marv.

The spirit of a coach/parent lasts a lifetime

Father and son lived together, alone, when Todd’s parents separated as he played at Capistrano Valley. It was Marv without emergency brakes, as Todd put it, and a period where he was a budding addict.

At USC, the quarterback was under the care of Larry Smith, an old-school coaching assistant to Bo Schembechler at Michigan.

‘He got a hard package to handle,” Todd says. “It’s not that way anymore, but any authority really was Marv. So when I left Marv, Larry became Marv. Larry was trying to tell me what to do, like, cut my hair? Well (expletive) you. You can’t wear sandals? I was over the ‘Yes, sir, no, sir,’ and it just happened, and Larry had come from that kind of background in the Midwest. It was the army, pretty much what you were in. That was like the furthest thing that I wanted the game of football to be.

‘I just thought it was definitely more creative and free spirited than that. So it was a volatile time that second season. It just came to a head.”

The two erupted in an argument on the sidelines captured on television at the 1990 Sun Bowl after an up-and-down season. It was decades before the transfer portal.

‘I was enjoying my college experience,” Todd says. ‘I did not want to do the NFL as a sophomore. I just felt like that was my only option.”

A month later, he was arrested for cocaine possession after a long night of revelry with his buddies. His first two experiences with rehabilitation came when he was still with the Raiders.

“I was winding down as my career was going up,” he says.

When his NFL career ended after eight games over two seasons, he faced more arrests and rehab stints. Father and son had drifted apart when he left for USC. But eventually, they found themselves back together.

“Even as hardcore as he was, he was always in times of doubt … there to give me that quiet confidence of, no, I do belong here, and yeah, I can overcome,” Todd says, “and throughout my whole journey, being strung out on heroin, he was there, saying, ‘You can do this.’”

Toward the end of his life, Marv, who died in 2020, had Alzheimer’s. Father and son lived together for long stints.

Over nearly 16 months, Buzzy, as Todd then called Marv, brought a wood sculpture to life, while Todd painted nearby. It was Todd’s turn to provide support.

‘It’s just crazy being on the other end of this illness,” Todd says. ‘It’s just bizarre, but I’m so grateful that I was there. If I would have done what I wanted – my head said just run from that because he’s not the same person – I would have missed lots of just priceless (moments). Because it was all about the now. We weren’t talking about yesterday; that’s gone with that illness. It’s just locking into the now and enjoying each other.”

It’s how he approaches life as he paints for a living in Hawaii. He talks to his son, Baron, who plays at Costa Mesa High in Orange County, after practices and games.

He bonds with his daughter, Coco, over art, his new life’s passion. It was their mother, Alix, his wife at the time, who suggested he paint.

“I find that place in creating art where time is nonexistent,” he says. “I felt similar coaching. And that’s a beautiful thing. That’s a sweet spot that I try to be in as much as possible.”

He steps into painting, and he never knows how long he’ll be there. Sometimes 10 minutes, sometimes 10 hours. Either way, he says, there are no shortcuts.

It’s a lesson he learned from football, and from Marv. He uses a different name this time.

“Dad really flourished into like a best friend toward the end,” he says. “It was really an amazing journey with him.”

Steve Borelli, aka Coach Steve, has been an editor and writer with USA TODAY since 1999. He spent 10 years coaching his two sons’ baseball and basketball teams. He and his wife, Colleen, are now sports parents for two high schoolers. His column is posted weekly. For his past columns, click here.

The Cincinnati Bengals were dealt a brutal blow in their Week 2 win over the Jacksonville Jaguars when Joe Burrow went down with a toe injury.

Burrow exited the game in the second quarter, required help getting to the locker room and was later ruled out for the remainder of the contest. The star quarterback has been diagnosed with a turf toe injury and is expected to need surgery that will sideline him a minimum of three months, per ESPN’s Adam Schefter.

With Burrow set to miss time, the Bengals are likely to turn to backup quarterback Jake Browning to lead the team. The 29-year-old led Cincinnati to a come-from-behind win over Jacksonville, has a career record of 4-3 as a starter and has completed 69.8% of his career passes for 2,177 yards, 14 touchdowns and 10 interceptions.

That said, the Bengals will still need to add extra depth behind Browning. They have just one other healthy quarterback in the organization, practice squad veteran Brett Rypien.

What type of quarterback might the Bengals bring in? ESPN reports the team is already ‘calling around to other free-agent quarterbacks’ to fill out their room.

That said, if Cincinnati wants to get aggressive in its quest to stay afloat without Burrow, it could target a couple of higher-end trade candidates to add depth and talent to the team’s quarterback room.

Here’s a look at the top quarterback options the Bengals could consider.

Kirk Cousins

OK, let’s just get this one out of the way. Any time a major quarterback injury occurs, Cousins’ name will be bandied about as a potential trade option, and with good reason. The 37-year-old has long been a quality NFL starter but finds himself stuck in a backup role behind Michael Penix Jr. with the Atlanta Falcons.

Cousins would give the Bengals a proven starter who could take advantage of the team’s high-quality receiving tandem of Ja’Marr Chase and Tee Higgins. Zac Taylor also comes from the Sean McVay coaching tree, and Cousins enjoyed success playing under McVay during their time together in Washington.

The main problem with the Bengals acquiring Cousins? The veteran quarterback is in the second year of a four-year, $180 million contract. Paying him and Burrow (who is playing on a five-year, $275 million deal) would get expensive even if Cincinnati simply treated Cousins as a rental.

As such, Cousins isn’t a realistic option for the Bengals, especially if they are confident in Browning as a temporary starter. Cincinnati will probably seek a cheaper option to jockey for position on its quarterback depth chart.

Jameis Winston

If the Bengals are going to trade for a quarterback, Winston might be the prime candidate. The No. 1 overall pick in the 2015 NFL Draft has made 87 starts during his career and has the type of gunslinger mentality that could work in a Bengals offense sporting great talent at the skill positions.

Winston is playing on a two-year, $8 million deal that is commensurate with the pay of NFL backup quarterbacks. The Bengals could easily absorb that salary, install Winston as the backup behind Browning and ready the 31-year-old veteran to start should Browning stumble.

Winston went 2-5 in even starts with the Cleveland Browns last season, completing 61.1% of his passes for 2,121 yards, 13 touchdowns and 12 interceptions.

Taylor Heinicke

If the Bengals prefer to dip into free agency to address the need for depth behind Browning, Heinicke may represent the best available option. The 32-year-old has a 13-15-1 record in 29 career starts and has completed a respectable 62.5% of his career passes for 6,663 yards, 39 touchdowns and 28 interceptions.

Heinicke spent the 2024 season with the Los Angeles Chargers and returned to them on a one-year extension in 2025. He lost the backup job to Trey Lance during the preseason, leading to his release ahead of the NFL’s 53-man roster deadline.

Tyler Huntley

Could Huntley continue his tour of the AFC North by signing with the Bengals? The 2022 Pro Bowler is currently on the Baltimore Ravens practice squad but could join Cincinnati if he signs to the team’s 53-man roster.

Huntley started five games for the Miami Dolphins last season, going 2-3 and completing 64.7% of his passes for 829 yards, three touchdowns and three interceptions. The 27-year-old brings a nice mix of short accuracy and mobility – he ran for 135 yards and two touchdowns on 26 carries last season – to the table.

Logan Woodside

If the Bengals want to add a different player from an AFC North practice squad, Woodside could be an option. He is presently with the Pittsburgh Steelers but could join the Bengals’ 53-man roster if offered a deal.

Woodside, 30, was originally a seventh-round pick by the Bengals in 2018. He failed to make the team and has bounced around as a journeyman since, but he landed back with Cincinnati in 2024. He re-signed with them on a one-year deal for 2025 but was released in July. Perhaps after Burrow’s injury, the Bengals will consider bringing him back.

Desmond Ridder

Ridder is the other quarterback the Bengals could consider re-signing. He was signed to the team’s training camp roster after Woodside’s release and remained with the team until the team trimmed its roster to 53 men.

Ridder was a third-round pick by the Atlanta Falcons in the 2022 NFL Draft. He has a career record of 8-10 as a starter and has completed 63.6% of his passes for 4,002 yards, 16 touchdowns and 14 interceptions. The 26-year-old has played for four teams over the last three seasons and may relish a chance to return to Cincinnati, where he starred collegiately for the Bearcats, if given the opportunity.

Trevor Siemian

Siemian signed with the Bengals during the 2023 NFL offseason to compete with Browning for the backup job. Browning won and Siemian was released, but could he return now that the Bengals could use an experienced backup?

Siemian has a 15-18 record in 33 career starts over 11 seasons in the NFL. He has completed 58.5% of his passes for 7,751 yards, 44 touchdowns and 32 interceptions and most recently guided the New York Jets to a 2-1 record across three starts in 2023.

Siemian is currently a member of the Tennessee Titans’ practice squad. Brian Callahan, the Titans coach, used to be Cincinnati’s offensive coordinator, so that added familiarity could make Siemian a good fit to come right in and battle for the backup job behind Browning.

Joe Burrow suffered a significant turf toe injury that is expected to sideline him for at least three months after being sacked in the Cincinnati Bengals’ Week 2 win over the Jacksonville Jaguars.

Burrow’s latest injury is serving as a moment of reckoning for the Bengals’ much-maligned offensive line and the front office that built it.

Cincinnati’s offensive line has been one of the worst such pass-blocking units in the NFL since Burrow’s rookie season in 2020. Behind the Bengals’ blockers, Burrow has routinely been among the NFL’s most sacked quarterbacks and has suffered three significant injuries.

Just how bad has the Bengals’ offensive line been during Burrow’s tenure? Below is a breakdown of the notable stats about the unit’s struggles.

Bengals offensive line stats

The Bengals have not been able to perform consistently in pass protection at any point during Burrow’s six seasons in Cincinnati.

Case in point, the Bengals have ranked in the bottom-six of pass-block win rate in each season, per ESPN research. That includes a last-ranked finish in 2024.

2020: 29th
2021: 30th
2022: 30th
2023: 27th
2024: 32nd
2025: 28th

It’s worth noting that PFF also has not graded the Bengals’ pass-blockers as particularly high since 2020, either. Here are their ranks (numbers include all protectors):

2020: 27th
2021: 29th
2022: 31st
2023: 22nd
2024: 29th
2025: 24th

Cincinnati’s inability to consistently pass block has resulted in Burrow being pressured frequently. Since his debut in 2020, only Russell Wilson (218 sacks) has been sacked more frequently than Burrow (201 sacks).

Meanwhile, Burrow’s 2.83 times sacked per game during his career ranks as the ninth-most in NFL history among quarterbacks with at least 50 games played, per StatMuse. Only three current NFL quarterbacks – Deshaun Watson, Justin Fields and Daniel Jones – have been sacked more frequently.

Below is a look at the full leaderboard.

Neil Lomax: 3.35
Deshaun Watson: 3.34
Randall Cunningham: 3.01
Justin Fields: 2.96
Daniel Jones: 2.92
Phil Simms: 2.91
David Carr: 2.84
Daunte Culpepper: 2.838
Joe Burrow: 2.83
Russell Wilson: 2.81

When it comes to quarterback sacks, it’s never good to be keeping company with the elder Carr brother, whose career was famously hindered by a porous offensive line that allowed him to be sacked a record 76 times as a rookie.

Nor is it good to be one of the three quarterbacks in NFL history, along with Warren Moon and Sam Darnold, to be sacked a record nine times in a playoff game.

And it’s worth noting these sacks are happening despite Burrow having a relatively quick time to throw. He got the ball out of his hands in an average of 2.55 seconds last season, good for 32nd-longest among 47 quarterbacks to play at least 100 plays last season, per Sumer Sports.

How Bengals have tried to fix offensive line

The Bengals have long known about the issues plaguing their offensive line. During Burrow’s six seasons with the team, Cincinnati has routinely tried to revamp the position with major free agent signings and draft picks.

Notably, the Bengals signed current left tackle Orlando Brown Jr. as a big-ticket free agent. They gave the former Kansas City Chiefs left tackle a four-year, $64 million contract to man the position in Cincinnati, hoping he would prove to be an upgrade over Jonah Williams.

In his first two seasons after signing with the Bengals, Brown graded as Pro Football Focus’ 45th tackle (of 81 qualifiers) in 2023 and its 66th (of 81 qualifiers) in 2024. He has performed better to start the 2025 season, improved to a ranking of 15th out of 66, but is responsible for two of the Bengals’ sacks surrendered.

The Bengals have seen a similar trajectory from right tackle Amarius Mims, who was a first-round pick in the 2024 NFL Draft. He graded as PFF’s 65th tackle of 81 qualifiers in 2024 and presently ranks 60th out of 66 for the 2025 season.

The same tale can be told about many of the Bengals’ offensive line investments during Burrow’s career. With the exception of center Ted Karras, few of the team’s free agent acquisitions have made a consistent, positive impact along the line.

Among their draft picks, the Bengals have only selected seven since choosing Burrow in the 2020 NFL Draft. All those drafted before 2024 – Jackson Carman, D’Ante Smith, Trey Hill and Cordell Volson – are no longer with the team.

Despite these shortcomings, Bengals director of player personnel Duke Tobin remained confident the unit would figure things out in 2025 even as it sought improvement.

‘(The guards) can get better, but we put a lot of stress on them because we throw the ball a lot and there’s a lot of really good defensive tackles in this league,’ Tobin said in February, per the Bengals’ official website. ‘There are some improvements that can be made. I’ll be really curious to see how the new line coach jells with developing a couple of the younger guys we have. We’ll add to the group.

‘We have a darn good offense. People complain about our offense. The offensive line is half of our offense, and our offense produces points. And we produce points at a high level in the league. So you can tell me half of our offense is bad but yet is still at the top of the league? I don’t believe you. Can we get better in spots? Yes. But I don’t accept the fact we’re grossly flawed there.’

Perhaps Tobin’s optimism will eventually prove warranted if Brown continues to play at a higher level and recent draft picks like Mims and rookie guard Dylan Fairchild can improve as the season progresses.

But after Burrow was sacked five times in six quarters of action and lost for three months to an injury, it’s fair to wonder whether Tobin is feeling differently about Cincinnati’s offensive line.

Sunday gave us plenty of fantasy football fireworks. But these early weeks are all about separating what’s real from what’s a fluke.

That applies to your fantasy team, too. You might be 2-0, but if your record is built on unexpected blow-up performances from players like Wan’Dale Robinson, you may not want to get too comfortable.

It isn’t just the strong showings that matter. Disappointing performances might even be more important. Figuring out whether a slow start is just a bad game or something more concerning is key to making smart roster moves.

With that in mind, here are the top buy and sell trade targets for Week 3.

Fantasy football players to buy in Week 3

WR Terry McLaurin, Washington Commanders

It hasn’t been a fast start for McLaurin, but there’s reason for optimism. His target share jumped from 14% in Week 1 to 26% in Week 2.

A slow start should’ve been expected after he missed training camp while sorting out his contract. If a manager in your league is frustrated, this could be the last chance to get McLaurin at a discount.

WR Brian Thomas Jr., Jacksonville Jaguars

Through two weeks, Thomas has 19 targets but just five receptions. This is going to go one of two ways: either the Jaguars pull back on his usage, or he starts converting those looks into the WR1 production we expected.

Bank on the second outcome. Thomas is too talented to be ignored, and the chemistry with QB Trevor Lawrence should improve.

WR Matthew Golden, Green Bay Packers

Golden has been on the field for 63% of the Packers’ snaps so far, and that number is set to rise with Jayden Reed sidelined until at least November with a broken collarbone.

Golden flashed in camp and the preseason, and now he has a chance to carve out a real role. If he produces, Green Bay will have a hard time phasing him out even when Reed returns.

WR Calvin Ridley, Tennessee Titans

Ridley isn’t off to a great start, catching seven of 14 targets for 84 yards.

His production should improve as Cam Ward continues to settle in at quarterback, which we saw glimpses of in Week 2. It should also get easier once the Titans move past two of the league’s toughest defenses, the Broncos and Rams.

WR Drake London, Atlanta Falcons

London has been underwhelming with 11 catches for 104 yards through two games. His four targets in Week 2 may cause panic for his managers.

Don’t overreact. London saw 15 targets in Week 1, and has been a favorite of QB Michael Penix Jr. dating back to last season. Usage matters more than results this early, and London is still heavily involved.

Fantasy football players to sell in Week 2

WR Jameson Williams, Detroit Lions

The Lions offense exploded for 52 points in Week 2, and Williams contributed 102 receiving yards and a touchdown. But his usage remains shaky.

Williams saw just four targets and caught two. Too often he hovers around five or six targets a game, making him a boom-or-bust play rather than a reliable producer. If you can sell high off this performance, now’s the time.

WR Cooper Kupp, Seattle Seahawks

Kupp rebounded from a rough opener with seven catches for 90 yards on nine targets, but there are still concerns.

He’s the clear WR2 behind Jaxon Smith-Njigba, Tony Horton is carving out a role, and Seattle ran 18 plays with just one wide receiver on the field in Week 2. On top of that, Kupp doesn’t look as explosive, with his longest catch going for 17 yards.

QB Kyler Murray, Arizona Cardinals

Murray is only a viable sell if you have another viable starter or strong waiver options. But he has sneaky value if you can target the Joe Burrow manager in a trade.

Murray hasn’t lived up to his dual-threat potential. His fantasy points per game have been remarkably flat:

2022: 18.9
2023: 18.9
2024: 18.1
2025: 16.7 (with 18.3 in Week 1)

If you’re fine with 18 points per game, keep him. But that production is replaceable, and a QB-needy manager, such as someone still reeling from Burrow’s injury, may pay up for it

WR Travis Hunter, Jacksonville Jaguars

Hunter’s two-way responsibilities are cutting into his fantasy upside. With Jarrian Jones injured, his defensive workload spiked in Week 2, and his offensive snap share dropped.

While his total snaps looked similar to Week 1 because Jacksonville ran more plays, the trend is concerning. The Jaguars also seem comfortable leaning more on Parker Washington and Dyami Brown. That makes Hunter a risky weekly play. Now may be the best time to move him.

Georgia’s overtime win against Tennessee propelled them to the No. 1 spot in the NCAA Re-Rank.
Miami jumped three spots to No. 2 after a decisive victory over South Florida.
Texas A&M, Vanderbilt, and Georgia Tech made significant leaps into the top 20.

Georgia’s overtime win at Tennessee moves the Bulldogs to No. 1 in the USA TODAY Sports NCAA Re-Rank 1-136, while Miami takes a three-spot leap to take over at No. 2 after rolling over South Florida.

Former No. 1 Penn State is down to No. 3. At this point, the Nittany Lions’ wins against Nevada, Florida International and Villanova aren’t enough to keep them in the top spot. But that equation will change after Penn State meets Oregon to end September. The Ducks are up to No. 5 after opening Big Ten play with a win against Northwestern.

There are three big movers in the top 20. The first is No. 8 Texas A&M, which moves up 10 spots after a 41-40 win at Notre Dame. The Irish are down six to No. 14 after dropping their first two games by a combined four points.

Two other teams rising up the re-rank are No. 17 Vanderbilt, up 18 after dominating South Carolina, and No. 18 Georgia Tech, up 11 after beating Clemson 24-21.

The Tigers take the most noteworthy tumble in this week’s 1-136. Clemson is down to No. 48 after falling to 1-2, with a sloppy win against Troy sandwiched by even uglier losses to No. 6 LSU and A&M.

But Clemson has competition for the title of nation’s most disappointing team through Week 3. One is No. 80 Kansas State, which is 1-3 after losing to No. 53 Arizona. Another is No. 49 Florida, which slots in one spot behind the Tigers after tossing five interceptions in a loss to LSU. A third is No. 95 Virginia Tech, now 0-3 after getting embarrassed at home by Old Dominion.

College football NCAA Re-Rank 1-136

Mixed martial arts star Conor McGregor has ended his bid for the Irish presidency.
McGregor failed to secure the necessary nominations to appear on the ballot.
He cited an ‘outdated Constitution’ and establishment politics for his withdrawal.

Conor McGregor will not be Ireland’s next president.

The mixed martial arts star is ending his presidential bid, announcing via social media on Sunday, Sept. 14, that he is withdrawing his candidacy for next month’s election. McGregor had not yet met the requirements to be included on the ballot and sought help in recent weeks from Tesla billionaire Elon Musk and local authorities throughout his home country.

‘This was not an easy decision, but it is the right one at this moment in time,’ McGregor wrote on X. ‘While I will not contest this election, my commitment to Ireland does not end here. I will continue to serve my people by using my international platform to promote Irish interests abroad, to strengthen our economic opportunities, and to advocate for transparency and responsibility in public life at home.’

McGregor, 37, had until a Sept. 24 deadline to be nominated by at least 20 members of the Oireachtas (Ireland’s version of parliament) or at least four local authorities to be included on the presidential ballot, according to the country’s election laws. Ireland’s presidential election is scheduled to take place on Oct. 24.

McGregor’s social media post on Sunday cited ‘the straitjacket of an outdated Constitution that is selectively upheld by the main Oireachtas parties, and exploited to prevent a true democratic Presidential election being contested, but rather fixed to ensure only Establishment approved candidates may be selected on the ballot.’

McGregor initially launched his campaign days after a White House visit with United States President Donald Trump last March. But the polarizing former UFC champion, who ran on an anti-immigration platform, was seen as a longshot due to a lack of party affiliation and his checkered past outside the octagon. He received a formal endorsement from Musk last week in the wake of reports that Ireland deputy prime minister Simon Harris was urging local officials to vote along party lines and keep independent candidates such as McGregor out of the election.

Previously, he pleaded guilty to assault over a 2019 incident in which he punched an elderly man during an argument inside a Dublin bar. McGregor became one of the UFC’s biggest attractions beginning in 2008, and the first fighter to hold UFC championships in multiple divisions simultaneously. He owns a 22-6 career record. His last professional match occurred in 2021.

McGregor insisted on Sunday his first foray into Irish politics will not be his last.

‘You will see me canvassing again in the future, fighting for your rights and representing the best interests of our nation,’ McGregor wrote. ‘This is not the end, but the beginning of my political journey. I am driven by a commitment to improve lives, defend rights, and serve the Irish people with dedication and integrity.’

To say Joe Burrow has been beat up in his career is an understatement.

The Cincinnati Bengals’ quarterback has an injury history that dates back to his college years at Ohio State – pre-LSU – and includes pretty significant injuries in just about every year he’s had as a pro, besides last year.

His most recent injury, a turf toe ailment he sustained in Week 2’s game against the Jacksonville Jaguars, is just the latest in a long line of injuries. It’s also yet another injury that can partially be blamed on the poor state of the offensive line blocking in front of him, as he suffered the turf toe while taking a sack.

In 2021, Burrow led the league with 51 sacks taken. In the ensuing postseason, he endured 19 sacks, the most ever taken by a quarterback in a single playoff run. That included seven sacks in Super Bowl 56, which the Bengals ultimately lost.

Over the years, the sacks, hits and injuries have piled up. Here’s a complete look at Burrow’s injury history:

Joe Burrow injury history: Full timeline of ailments

Aug. 22, 2017: Burrow, a backup quarterback at Ohio State, undergoes surgery after breaking a bone in his throwing hand during practice. The surgery knocks him out of a competition with Dwayne Haskins Jr. for the QB2 spot.
Jan. 13, 2020: Burrow, the starting quarterback for LSU, tears his rib cartilage in the first half of the 2020 CFP National Championship against Clemson. He remains in the game and wins the national title.
Nov. 22, 2020: In Week 11 of Burrow’s rookie season with the Bengals, he takes a low hit while throwing his pass. He tears his ACL and MCL and suffers additional damage to his PCL and meniscus in his left knee.
Dec. 5, 2021: Burrow dislocates his pinky finger on his throwing hand while taking a sack on the first series of the game. He remains in the game, throwing for 300 yards with one touchdown and two interceptions.
Jan. 2, 2022: Burrow aggravates previous knee injury on one of the final plays in a game against the Chiefs. NFL Network’s Ian Rapoport reports later that Burrow told head coach Zac Taylor he could have gone back in.
Feb. 13, 2022: Burrow sprains his MCL while taking a sack in the fourth quarter of the Super Bowl. The injury requires rehab, but Burrow avoids surgery.
July 27, 2023: Burrow strains his calf during a training camp practice and is carted off of the field. He returns in time for the regular season.
Nov. 16, 2023: Burrow tears a ligament in his wrist in the first half of a Week 11 game against the Ravens. He misses the rest of the season.
Sept. 14, 2025: Burrow sustains a turf toe injury in a Week 2 game against the Jaguars while taking a sack in the second quarter. The Bengals declare him out for the game, and the following day, reports emerge that Burrow needs surgery to repair the torn ligaments in his foot. He is due to miss at least three months.

Bengals QB depth chart

Cincinnati has two quarterbacks on its active roster, plus an additional signal-caller on its practice squad.

Joe Burrow (injured)
Jake Browning
Brett Rypien (practice squad)

Browning has been with the Bengals since 2021, when Cincinnati signed him to its practice squad. He filled in for Burrow over the back half of the 2023 season after the starter injured his wrist. Browning led the team to a 4-3 record down the stretch with a 70.4% completion rate, 1,936 yards, 12 touchdowns and seven interceptions in his seven starts.

Rypien signed with the Bengals’ practice squad in August, three days after the Vikings released him. Cincinnati is Rypien’s seventh stop in an NFL career that dates back to 2019, when he signed with the Broncos as an undrafted free agent. He is former NFL quarterback Mark Rypien’s nephew.

Jake Browning saved the Bengals on Sunday, but Cincinnati could be in trouble if Joe Burrow is sidelined for long with a toe injury.
The Lions rediscovered their mojo in major way by scoring 52 points against former offensive coordinator Ben Johnson and the Bears.
One week after a disastrous debut against the Colts, the Dolphins lost their composure in crunch time against the Patriots.

Two weeks of NFL games might not yield enough data to establish many firm trends. But with the regular-season cadence now in full swing, the hypotheticals of the offseason have now given way to realities that can’t soon be ignored.

Sunday’s slate featured plenty of games that helped dispel some pressing questions from the openers, with the likes of the Baltimore Ravens and Detroit Lions bouncing back in a big way. But other teams confirmed some of the emerging narratives around them – for better or worse.

With the Monday night twin bill of the Tampa Bay Buccaneers at the Houston Texans and the Los Angeles Chargers at the Las Vegas Raiders still to go, here are the biggest winners and losers of Week 2 in the NFL:

NFL Week 2 winners

Brandon Aubrey

How many times does a kicker outshine a quarterback? While Dak Prescott did more than his part to propel the Dallas Cowboys to a 40-37 overtime win against the New York Giants, Aubrey was his team’s unquestioned hero. In a game that lacked any sense of uncertainty throughout a twisty fourth quarter, Aubrey’s 64-yard field goal to force extra time never seemed in doubt. By comparison, his 46-yard game-winner was a relative chip shot. With both, he became the first player in NFL history to convert a game-tying field goal with no time remaining in the fourth quarter and a game-winning field goal with no time remaining in overtime in the same game. And if he continues on this track, it’s likely that more historic achievements are on the way.

Jerry Jones

For a few moments Sunday, Jones was staring down the prospect of his team’s first 0-2 start since 2010 – and the very real possibility of being winless headed into the Week 4 matchup against the Green Bay Packers and Micah Parsons. Instead, the Cowboys can catch their breath with Brian Schottenheimer earning his first win. The owner even managed to command the spotlight once again with his postgame announcement that the team had signed defensive end Jadeveon Clowney.

Jake Browning

Losing a starting quarterback for more than a half would render many teams unable to compete, much less generate a comeback. No one will confuse Browning’s capabilities with that of Joe Burrow, but when the Cincinnati Bengals’ star quarterback was sidelined by a toe injury, the backup once again mustered just enough of a spark in his team’s time of need. The signal-caller stepped in and kept a team reliant on its aerial attack rolling by throwing for 241 yards and two touchdowns. Driven by what he said after the game was a ‘delusional’ approach, Browning completed nine of 10 passes on the game-winning 92-yard drive, which he punctuated by diving into the end zone. Other teams might be put off by the volatility in his game, as evidenced by his three interceptions on the day, but Browning has entrenched his place as one of the league’s better stopgap solutions. With Burrow needing toe surgery that will sideline him for at least three months according to ESPN’s Adam Schefter, however, he’ll have to be more than that

Daniel Jones

It was easy to write off the Indianapolis Colts quarterback’s Week 1 outing as an aberration given the lack of resistance he faced in dicing up the Miami Dolphins. Dismissing his follow-up performance in a 29-28 win against the Denver Broncos will be decidedly more difficult. Jones confidently attacked a defense that ranked as last season’s third-stingiest in scoring, racking up 316 passing yards and leading Indianapolis to a record 10 consecutive scoring drives to open the season. The veteran still requires a good amount of support on several fronts, but he’s living up to what Shane Steichen and Chris Ballard envisioned for the offense.

Detroit Lions’ mojo

After the NFL’s highest-scoring offense in 2024 dropped a dud in the season opener, first-year Lions offensive coordinator John Morton implored outsiders not to panic. Sunday’s performance will go a lot further toward assuaging any fears than his words did. The 52-21 outburst against the Chicago Bears helped reinforce that Ben Johnson didn’t take all the magic of this attack with him when he left town. Between Jared Goff tossing five touchdowns and three players – Amon-Ra St. Brown, Jahmyr Gibbs and Jameson Williams – topping 100 yards from scrimmage, the highest scoring output of the season so far felt like a needed return to form. And if it wasn’t clear that Dan Campbell’s crew still had plenty of confidence, Kerby Joseph celebrating an interception by re-enacting Johnson’s ‘stumble bum’ play call was a masterful jab against Detroit’s former play caller and a division rival.

San Francisco 49ers’ fill-ins

Just one week into a fresh slate, the 49ers were once again hounded by a familiar problem: injuries. San Francisco was without both quarterback Brock Purdy (shoulder, toe) and tight end George Kittle (hamstring) but still managed to squeeze out a 26-21 win over the New Orleans Saints thanks to its understudies. The long-awaited Mac Jones-Kyle Shanahan partnership proved fruitful, with the backup tossing three touchdowns in a clean and efficient outing. At tight end, Luke Farrell caught his first career touchdown pass, while unlikely Week 1 hero Jake Tonges added four catches for 31 yards. Meanwhile, in replacing Jake Moody, kicker Eddy Pineiro got off to a shaky start with his first-quarter missed extra point but settled in to make all four of his remaining kicks (two field goals, two XPs).

Parker Romo

If you didn’t have a kicker revenge subplot circled for ‘Sunday Night Football,’ you could be forgiven – especially because it didn’t become apparent until Saturday that the Atlanta Falcons would be benching Younghoe Koo for Romo. But after signing with the Falcons just last week, Romo gave his former team the boot by converting all five of his field goals – tied for the second most by any player in a team debut – and an extra point in a 22-6 win against the Minnesota Vikings. After spending time with six other teams in the last three years, Romo might have found a place he can stick around for a while.

NFL Week 2 losers

Kansas City Chiefs

Falling to the defending Super Bowl champions is hardly deflating in and of itself. But accompanying the 20-17 loss to the Philadelphia Eagles was the unshakeable reality that these Chiefs don’t have nearly the same margin of error as past editions do. The offense’s slippage has been years in the making, but a unit that last year managed to claw its way to wins no longer can establish a firm grip, with Patrick Mahomes once again left to compensate for a lack of support across the board on offense. Mahomes rushed for a career-high 66 yards against a defense that flipped its Super Bowl script by repeatedly blitzing the quarterback, and he was essentially bottled up as a passer until he fired a 49-yard scoring strike to Tyquan Thornton with three minutes remaining. With Travis Kelce again forced into a featured playmaker role due to the absences of leading receivers Rashee Rice (suspension) and Xavier Worthy (shoulder injury), the tight end committed a costly miscue with a drop near the goal line that was intercepted and returned 41 yards by rookie safety Andrew Mukuba. Now 0-2 for the first time since 2014 – three years prior to Mahomes’ arrival – Kansas City can’t say with any certainty it can mount yet another surge come playoff time. And while getting Rice and Worthy back will boost a woefully undermanned receiving corps, there aren’t any quick fixes in sight for the short term.

Bengals’ hopes of running it back

As previously mentioned, few teams can truly weather a long-term injury to a star signal-caller. With Burrow set to be sidelined until at least mid-December, according to Schefter, the team could be staring down yet another lost season. But while the toe injury might just be the product of happenstance, it’s difficult to ignore that it came on a play that featured interior pressure, with Jaguars defensive lineman Arik Armstead walking back right guard Dalton Risner before bagging the sack. Persistent issues on the inside are just one of many problems that Cincinnati has shrugged off and tasked Burrow with overcoming. Now, Browning could be forced to navigate the shortcomings of both the offensive front and a shaky defense still trying to find its footing. Browning led Cincinnati to a 4-3 mark in 2023 when Burrow was lost for the second half of the season, but asking him to keep things running for months with this formula – even with elite playmakers in Ja’Marr Chase and Tee Higgins – might be leaning a bit too much into the delusional mindset the backup quarterback cited after Sunday’s game.

J.J. McCarthy’s encore

The Vikings quarterback’s debut went down as a masterclass in how a young quarterback can pull out of a tailspin, as McCarthy notched fourth-quarter touchdowns in a comeback win over the Bears. In a loss to the Falcons, however, the second-year signal-caller never managed to crack the defense’s code. With left tackle Christian Darrisaw still out, McCarthy took six sacks and committed three turnovers (two interceptions, one lost fumble). A run game that again struggled to pose much of a threat surely played into the troubles, with the team’s running backs accounting for just 53 yards on 14 carries. But McCarthy looked unsettled, whether it was repeatedly holding onto the ball for too long or airmailing his last interception. Resist any definitive conclusions for a player who already has proven to have such a wide range of possible outcomes on any given snap, but it seems clear that the Vikings will have to bake in at least a few more rocky outings from McCarthy this year.

Brian Daboll

Russell Wilson’s all-out aerial assault – he went 7-of-9 for 264 yards on passes of 20-plus yards, according to Next Gen Stats – showed what the offense is capable of in its highest form). But Wilson’s confounding heave deep in overtime not only robbed New York of an opportunity for a game-winning drive but also set Dallas up in prime position to get Aubrey into range for the deciding kick. In a back-and-forth contest that could have gone either way, it’s difficult not to dwell on the Giants’ self-imposed errors, which were highlighted by 14 penalties for 160 yards. With the Chiefs and Los Angeles Chargers closing out Big Blue’s September schedule, scrutiny seems bound to rachet up even more in the coming weeks.

Sean Payton

Many coaches downplay the importance of the early season. Not Payton. ‘We need to start fast,’ the Broncos coach said before the start of the season, citing how the team had stumbled out of the gates in his first two years with the franchise. It’s now clear he won’t get his wish in Year 3. After Bo Nix floundered in the opener, it was the defense that was responsible for the most costly slip-ups against Indianapolis, with the linebackers struggling to bottle up Jonathan Taylor (25 carries, 165 yards) or handle their coverage assignments. Yet Denver was still in prime position to hold its lead until defensive end Eyioma Uwazurike’s leverage penalty on Spencer Shrader’s missed 60-yard field goal allowed for the winning attempt to come 15 yards closer in. With matchups against the Chargers, Bengals and Eagles looming, Denver could see its sluggish start worsen. Said Payton after the game: ‘We did a lot of things late in that game to keep us from winning. It will be painful to watch that film.’

Steelers’ defense

It’s possible that the excitement of Aaron Rodgers’ debut and a close Week 1 win drowned out any alarm regarding this unit. But there’s no ignoring the problem following a 31-17 loss to the Seattle Seahawks. The Steelers leaned on a handful of big plays, including two sacks and two interceptions, to offset the many liabilities of a group that ceded 6.2 yards per play. But the breaking point came late in the fourth, when Kenneth Walker III somehow took a third-and-goal toss from the Pittsburgh 19 all the way to the end zone, putting the game out of reach on a play seemingly designed to be a concession. Yes, there were plenty of other meaningful mistakes, including rookie Kaleb Johnson gift-wrapping a touchdown when he didn’t attempt to recover a kickoff that glanced off him as well as Rodgers throwing two interceptions and another pass that should have been picked. But the Steelers have now given up 30 points in as many games as they did all last year, and this group isn’t built to win this way.

Miami Dolphins’ composure

The Dolphins’ 33-27 loss to the New England Patriots didn’t approach the levels of dysfunction that defined the Week 1 drubbing by the Colts. Still, a team in turmoil short-circuited when it counted most. After Tua Tagovailoa threw his second interception of the day late in the fourth quarter, Miami was granted another chance and got the ball down to New England’s 26-yard line with a little more than a minute remaining. But the offense committed a false start and delay of game that doomed the rest of the drive, with Tua Tagovailoa taking a fourth-down sack to end any threat. Afterward, both Tagovailoa and coach Mike McDaniel bemoaned the communication and procedural problems. A dilapidated defense – largely the product of embattled general manager Chris Grier’s moves – might be more difficult to overcome in the long term, but the simple operational breakdown was a reminder of why so many in the organization are on the hot seat.

New York Jets’ revival

Maybe everyone was flying a bit too high on this new regime after one week. The 30-3 drumming at the hand of the Buffalo Bills might be more indicative of the turbulence that the rebooting franchise is sure to face. Most disappointing was the run defense, as New York couldn’t control the line of scrimmage and allowed 224 yards and three touchdowns on the ground. But Justin Fields also underwent a major regression with his decisiveness and precision, completing just three of 11 passes for 27 yards before being knocked out of the game with a concussion. For all of the team’s failures, however, Gang Green at least appears to be continuing to demand accountability, with coach Aaron Glenn saying after the loss, ‘Apparently, I didn’t have the guys ready to play. … It’s not OK to lose like that.’

Xavier Legette

No need to get into the myriad ways Legette has been a letdown for the Carolina Panthers since the team selected him with the No. 32 pick last April. On Sunday, the receiver hit a new nadir with one catch for -2 yards on eight targets. Unlike last year, Legette’s lack of production can’t be pinned on the passing attack’s larger problems, as Bryce Young bounced back from a shaky start and formed solid connections with rookie first-rounder Tetairoa McMillan (six catches, 100 yards) and veteran Hunter Renfrow (seven catches, 48 yards, two touchdowns), both newcomers to the offense. Legette’s usage might not take an immediate hit, but he risks losing relevance if he can’t foster a better connection with Young.

James Hudson

In Week 1, the Giants sorely missed standout left tackle Andrew Thomas, who has been sidelined by a foot injury. His absence was even more glaring at the start of Sunday’s game. Hudson, the replacement on Wilson’s blind side, was flagged for four penalties on the opening drive. New York settled for a field goal and quickly gave Hudson the hook, replacing him with fifth-round rookie Marcus Mbow. Swing tackles can’t be expected to be saviors, but some degree of is required for the role.

The 2025 WNBA playoffs are off and running with Game 1 completed in every first-round series. There were two blowouts, one convincing defensive performance and a thrilling finish involving the defending champions.

The top-seeded Minnesota Lynx, No. 2 seed Las Vegas Aces and No. 3 seed Atlanta Dream each got comfortable wins at home, while the New York Liberty needed overtime to beat the Phoenix Mercury in a game that also featured an injury to Liberty star Breanna Stewart.

The best-of-three format in the WNBA playoffs first round also means four teams now face win-or-go-home matchups in Game 2, with tip times scheduled this week for every series that will decide the four teams to advance to this year’s WNBA semifinals.

Here’s a look at the latest scores, results and schedule for the 2025 WNBA playoffs:

WNBA playoffs 2025: Scores, results and schedule for first-round series

No. 1 Minnesota Lynx vs. No. 8 Golden State Valkyries

Lynx lead series, 1-0

Game 1: Lynx 101, Valkyries 72
Game 2: Lynx at Valkyries, 10 p.m. ET on Wednesday (ESPN)
Game 3: Valkyries at Lynx, TBD on Friday (ESPN2)*

No. 2 Las Vegas Aces vs. No. 7 Seattle Storm

Aces lead series, 1-0

Game 1: Aces 102, Storm 77
Game 2: Aces at Storm, 9:30 ET on Tuesday (ESPN)
Game 3: Storm at Aces, TBD on Thursday (ESPN2)*

Watch WNBA playoffs with Fubo

No. 3 Atlanta Dream vs. No. 6 Indiana Fever

Dream lead series, 1-0

Game 1: Dream 80, Fever 68
Game 2: Mercury at Fever, 7:30 p.m. ET on Tuesday (ESPN)
Game 3: Fever at Mercury, TBD on Thursday (ESPN2)*

No. 4 Phoenix Mercury vs. No. 5 New York Liberty

Liberty lead series, 1-0

Game 1: Liberty 76, Mercury 69
Game 2: Mercury at Liberty, 8 p.m. ET on Wednesday (ESPN)
Game 3: Liberty at Mercury, TBD on Friday (ESPN2)*

*if necessary