Time to Schein: Jason La Canfora talks Detroit Lions
ALLEN PARK -- The Detroit Lions only had 10 men on the field during the Green Bay field goal attempt that could have won the game for the Packers on Sunday. It turns out it wasn"t an isolated incident.
The Lions also only had 10 men on the field for the Packers" earlier field goal attempt, a 44-yard make in the opening quarter. It was actually Lions coach Jim Caldwell who noted the team was short staffed on the first attempt when asked what had happened on the game-ending play.
"Actually twice it happened and both of those are my fault," Caldwell said in his Monday press conference, the day after the Lion"s win at Lambeau Field. "We just have to make sure we get it done. But we had it on the rush side, I didn"t want to call a timeout because the side we were rushing on, we had the number of people that we could have on that particular side. The backside didn"t hurt us as much."
Caldwell wasreferring to the team"s alignment along the line of scrimmage. On both kicks, Detroithad a maximum six defenders on the line.
This isn"t the first time Detroit has had issues with field-goal personnel this season.
Earlier in the year, against Denver, the team sent cornerback Darius Slay from the sideline late after noticing they had just 10 on the field. Caught up in the chaos, Slay lined up incorrectly and the Lions were flagged for an illegal formation. That gavethe Broncos a second chance to kick the field goal, which they converted.
Caldwell said the team is always making adjustments, but the two situations were not related.
"Anything where it"s an issue, we talk about it, we get it ratified, we get it adjusted and hopefully that sticks," he said. "Sometimes it doesn"t, but in this particular case, we haven"t had that issue with seven men on that side of the line of scrimmage."
Asked to clarify how the team ended up short on not one, but two field goals, Caldwell declined additional comment.
"It"s my fault," he said. "I have to do a better job. Next question."
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Peyton Manning is the NFL All-Time Passing Yards Leader! | Chiefs vs. Broncos | NFL
Take your time, Matt Forte, we"re good here.
Chicago Bears running back Jeremy Langford managed a week-leading 29 fantasy points (and 36 in PPR scoring) on Sunday, in what was his first NFL start. That ranked among the 10 best performances since 2001 among players who were making their first career starts.
Most FPTS in 1st career start, since 2001PlayerTeamPosYearFPTSPPR PTSDevonta FreemanATLRB20153742Miles AustinDALWR20093747Torrey SmithBALWR20113439Trung CanidateSTLRB20013437Keiland WilliamsWASRB20103135Anquan BoldinARIWR20033141Pierre ThomasNORB20073042Shaun AlexanderSEARB20013032Jeremy LangfordCHIRB20152936Carlos HydeSFRB20152931Cam NewtonCARQB20112929Maurice Jones-DrewJACRB20062935Todd BoumanMINQB20012929
Langford also now has consecutive games of 20-plus fantasy points and 51 total in two games filling in for the injured Forte. Forte hasn"t had consecutive games with at least 20 fantasy points since Weeks 7-8 of 2014.
This sets up an interesting debate between the two players entering Week 11, as Forte was listed as questionable for Sunday"s game before being scratched because of a sprained MCL. If Forte needs to miss a third consecutive week, Langford has certainly proved his worth already in fantasy.
Pittsburgh powerhouse
The Pittsburgh Steelers on Sunday managed their second consecutive victory, defeating the Cleveland Browns 30-9 thanks in part to the week"s most passing yards by any team (399). Yes, members of the Steelers passing game put up some lofty fantasy point totals in Week 10.
Almost all of that can be attributed to Ben Roethlisberger, who, despite beginning the game as the No. 2 quarterback, was pressed into action after starter Landry Jones suffered an ankle injury during the first quarter. Roethlisberger threw for 379 of the team"s 399 yards, managing 27 fantasy points in a relief effort to finish third overall (and second among quarterbacks) for the week (entering Monday). His 1.9 percent start rate likely matches the percentage of owners who simply failed/forgot to take him out of their lineup.
It was a particularly rare occurrence being a game played in relief; only six quarterbacks since 1960 have scored as many as 27 fantasy points in a game that they did not start.
Most FPTS by QB as a non-starter, since 1960PlayerYearTeamFPTSStarting QBFran Tarkenton*1961MIN33George ShawChad Henne2012JAC30Blaine GabbertBilly Wade1961CHI28Ed BrownBen Roethlisberger2015PIT27Landry JonesEarl Morrall1970BAL27Johnny UnitasLarry Rakestraw1967CHI27Jack Concannon* NFL debut
Roethlisberger also now has seven games of 20-plus fantasy points since Week 8 of the 2014 season; only Aaron Rodgers (11), Tom Brady (9) and Philip Rivers (8) have more during that time span. That should help alleviate any lingering concerns his fantasy owners have about Roethlisberger"s foot injury, which was responsible for him beginning Week 10 on the sideline.
Turning to the Steelers" wide receivers, Antonio Brown managed double-digit receptions for the second consecutive week, giving him a whopping 82 fantasy points in PPR scoring in those two games combined. That was not only by far the top two-game score thus far in 2015; it tied Brown for the ninth-best two-game total by any wide receiver since 1960 (counting only consecutive team games played within the same season):
Most PPR FPTS by WR in consec. team games, since 1960PlayerSeasonTeamFPTSJerry Rice1995SF97Drew Bennett2004TEN94Chad Johnson2006CIN92Josh Gordon2013CLE91Calvin Johnson2013DET86Drew Bennett2004TEN86Wes Chandler1982SD85Jerry Rice1990SF84Antonio Brown2015PIT82Miles Austin2009DAL82Raymond Berry1960BAL82
Brown is now on pace for 229 standard and 355 PPR fantasy points, which would fall only 22 and 25 points shy of his 2014 final totals (251 and 380). That"s extremely impressive if you consider that Brown, entering Week 10, had played 241 snaps without Roethlisberger this season; Brown played only two snaps without Roethlisberger on the field in all of 2014.
Martavis Bryant, meanwhile, scored 21 fantasy points, good for fourth best among wide receivers. That gave him 170 fantasy points through his first 15 career games, which is the eighth-best total by any wide receiver through that many games since 1960.
Most FPTS by WR in 1st 15 career games, since 1960PlayerYear (s)TeamFPTSOdell Beckham Jr.2014-15NYG234Bob Hayes1965-66DAL218Randy Moss1998MIN217Charlie Brown1982-83WAS186Louis Lipps1984-85PIT185John Jefferson1978-79SD174Anquan Boldin2003ARI171Martavis Bryant2014-15PIT170Mike Evans2014TB168Julio Jones2011-12ATL162Joey Galloway1995SEA155Denver doldrums
Denver Broncos quarterback Peyton Manning might have set the all-time record for career passing yards, but there weren"t many other highlights to be found in his game. He was intercepted four times, resulting in a minus-7 fantasy point total, and was benched in the third quarter. Many fantasy owners felt the pain, as Manning was started in 52.3 percent of leagues.
There have been only 13 worse games, fantasy-wise, by individual players since 1960, with the most recent by John Skelton, who had a minus-8 score in Week 14 of 2012. The worst individual performance during that time span was Ryan Leaf"s minus-10, in Week 3 of the 1998 season; you might remember him as the player selected one spot after Manning in the 1998 NFL draft.
Manning, who is destined for the Hall of Fame, will join some exclusive company once he gets there. Three current members of the Hall of Fame had games during their NFL careers that were at least as bad as Manning"s: Sonny Jurgensen (minus-8 in 1965), Joe Namath (minus-9, in 1975, minus-8 in 1976) and Johnny Unitas (minus-7 in 1966). Another Hall of Famer, George Blanda, had such a game in the AFL (minus-8 in 1962).
Interestingly enough, Manning"s minus-7 wasn"t the worst overall score of the week: The New Orleans Saints" defense had minus-8. That"s tied for the worst score by any individual defense this season, joining the Jacksonville Jaguars (Week 3) and San Francisco 49ers (Week 2).
Miscellany
St. Louis Rams rookie Todd Gurley"s 14 fantasy points Sunday represented his worst individual performance since his NFL debut in Week 3, but that"s only because of the high bar he had set in his previous five games. Those 14 points still give him 107 through his first seven NFL contests, which places him among the 15 best running backs since 1960 through that many career games:
Most FPTS by RB in 1st 7 career games, since 1960PlayerSeasonTeamFPTSEric Dickerson1983RAMS171Billy Sims1980DET143Marcus Allen1982RAID137Curt Warner1983SEA123Ricky Watters1992SF122Gale Sayers1965CHI121Adrian Peterson2007MIN120Joe Cribbs1980BUF117Don Woods1974SD116Marshall Faulk1994IND112Herschel Walker1986DAL111Earl Campbell1978HOU108Todd Gurley2015STL107Fred Taylor1998JAC107Kevin Mack1985CLE106
The Kansas City Chiefs" Charcandrick West scored 27 fantasy points, tied for the second-best score by any running back, and giving him at least 17 points in each of his past three games; they were his second, third and fourth games filling in for the injured Jamaal Charles. For some perspective, the last time that Charles managed at least 62 fantasy points during any three-game span was Weeks 14-16 of the 2013 season, when he totaled 97 (fueled by his 51-point Week 15).
Sunday"s tight end surprise story was that of the Chicago Bears" Zach Miller, who scored 22 fantasy points to lead his position for the week (entering Monday Night Football). That set a new personal best for him, topping his 18 scored in Week 17 of 2009, and it also gave Miller 30 fantasy points in his past two games, with all of those 30 fantasy points spanning three quarters (the fourth quarter of Week 9 and first two quarters of Week 10). To put that into perspective, Miller scored 30 fantasy points in his previous 19 games combined entering Week 9 of 2015.
History of the Philadelphia Eagles- Volume I: In the Beginning (Photo: Bill Streicher, USA TODAY Sports)
The Philadelphia Eagles could place backup safety Jerome Couplin on the season-ending injured reserve list on Sunday, according to a report from Jimmy Kempski of Philly Voice.
Couplin suffered a shoulder injury in the Eagles overtime victory over Dallas last Sunday and did not return. He was held from the teams practice all week as a result of the injury and was ruled out of todays contest against the Miami Dolphins.
The Eagles have placed six players on their injured reserve list this season.
Seattle Seahawks Read Superlatives About Jimmy Fallon
Ricardo Lockette hopes someday to make an even more triumphant return to a football field.
But the Seattle receiver seemed happy enough with his entrance Sunday before the Seahawks game against Arizona.
About an hour before kickoff Lockette walked through the tunnel and onto the field accompanied by family, with the early arrivers in the crowd giving him a rapidly growing ovation as they noticed.
Euphoric, Lockette called the reception he received. To have that many people cheer for you thats been praying for you is something further than my dreams could reach and I am forever in debt for that. It was one of the best days of my life.
Lockette, wearing a brace to protect his neck, spent a few minutes being warmly greeted by club officials and others and also spent a while talking to NBCs Michele Tafoya.
Then he headed upstairs where he joined in the celebration to raise the 12th Man Flag (which was raised by Cpl. Clayton Pitre, a Congressional Gold Medal recipient. Pitre, 91, was one of the first African-Americans allowed to join the Marines in World War II).
Lockette had surgery to repair ligaments in his neck after taking a vicious hit while covering a punt in the Cowboys game on Nov. 1. Lockette laid motionless on the ground, and teammates instantly fell to the ground after turning to see him at midfield.
It was one of the craziest things Ive been a part of, Lockette said. Im laying on the ground. You cant feel your legs. You cant feel your arms. And you cant really respond. You dont really know whats going to happen in the next couple of seconds. You dont know if youre going to black out. You dont know if youre ever going to get feeling in your body. You dont know if this is it.
He paused and gathered his thoughts.
You just have a real blank mind and then all the important things start to matter, he continued. You start to think about your family. Am I going to play with my kids again? Just the important stuff. The crazy thing is, once I got my voice back and once I was able to talk again, all I cared about was winning the game.
Many Seattle teammates and coaches, including Pete Carroll, responded with the same L gesture Lockette gave as he was taken off the field in Dallas after suffering a neck injury.
Lockette had surgery to repair ligaments in the neck on Nov. 2 and spent a week at the Baylor Medical Center in Dallas before returning to Seattle last Monday. He has been at the teams facility since.
Lockette said he has to wear a neck brace for six weeks before he can begin rehab. But he said he expected to play again.
For sure, he said. Im a rock star.
Lockette, who was placed on season-ending injured reserve on Saturday, will be an unrestricted free agent at the end of the season. He was on a one-year deal for the veteran minimum of $660,000 this year.
Cardinals Iupati suffers neck injury
The game was delayed for about 10 minutes in the second quarter when Arizona guard Mike Iupati suffered a neck injury.
Iupati was injured with 9:19 remaining in the quarter when he lowered his head into the shoulder of Seattle safety Kam Chancellor while trying to lead the way for a run by Chris Johnson.
Iupati fell back and lay motionless and was quickly surrounded by teammates and trainers in a scene eerily reminiscent of Lockettes injury in Dallas.
The team later reported that Iupati had a neck injury but had movement in all of his extremities. He was taken to Harborview Medical Center.
Among the Seattle players looking over Iupati were Will Tukuafu and Demarcus Dobbs, both teammates of Iupati with the San Francisco 49ers.
Iupati, who played at the University of Idaho, is in his first year with the Cardinals after signing as a free agent
He was replaced by third-year veteran Earl Watford.
Richardson, Irvin injured
The Seahawks suffered two potentially costly injuries as linebacker Bruce Irvin went out with a knee injury in the fourth quarter and receiver Paul Richardson with a pulled hamstring in the second quarter.
Coach Pete Carroll called Irvins injury a knee sprain of the MCL.
As for Richardson, he was apparently injured when making a 40-yard reception in the second quarter for what was his only catch of what was his first game back since tearing his ACL in a playoff game against Carolina last January.
Richardson was activated off the Physically Unable to Perform list on Saturday and saw some regular time before being injured.
Tyler Lockett also walked off gingerly late in the game but Carroll said he simply has a sore ankle and that he would be fine.
Note
Defensive end Cliff Avril led the Seahawks onto the field before the game with a flag of France, a show of support after the terrorist attacks in Paris on Friday. Arizona also did the same, with defensive backs Patrick Peterson and Tyrann Mathieu leading the team onto the field each holding one side of a French flag.
Elizabeth Banks" Sons Are Marrying Jimmy"s Daughters
Elizabeth Banks is all smiles while stepping out for the after-party to Saturday Night Live on Saturday evening (November 14) in New York City.
The 41-year-old actress and director hosted the show that night.
During one skit, Elizabeth joined a girl group with Aidy Bryant, Kate McKinnon, Cecily Strong, and Vanessa Bayer called Infinity Plus Five. They sang about their crushes on girls. Watch below!
And in case you missed it, watch the touching cold open in which Cecily sent a bilingual message to Paris.
First Got h***y 2 U
Click inside to watch the rest of Elizabeth Bankss SNL sketches
What to watch for during Saturday"s Democratic Debate
Atlanta Republican presidential candidates called for deeper military engagement in the Middle East as Democrats prepared to face renewed questions over national security in the wake of Friday"sterrorist attacks in Paris, which claimed at least 128 lives and injured more than 200.
The French tragedy instantly shifted the focus of the 2016 presidential race, one that has, so far, often been defined more by character and quirks than global experience. But the threat of ISIS is now a key issue for candidates and its one that American voters tend to see Republicans as being more qualified to handle.
CBS announced that its Democratic presidential debate, scheduled for 9 p.m. Eastern TimeSaturday, would focus primarily on national security, raising the political stakes for candidates Hillary Clinton, Bernie Sanders, and Martin OMalley, all of whom have resisted calling for US troops on the ground in Syria. (Last month, President Obama ordered some 50 special forces soldiers to the region to fight ISIS.)
Last night"s attacks are a tragic example of the kind of challenges American presidents face in today"s world and we intend to ask the candidates how they would confront the evolving threat of terrorism," CBS News Washington bureau chief Chris Isham said.
Critically, the deadly incursion by Islamic militants into a Western capital gives new urgency to Americas role as a leading coalition member in Syria, where the West is trying to contain the spread of ISIS through diplomacy and coordinated air strikes. Its an effort deeply complicated by the involvement of Russias Vladimir Putin, who ordered his countrys own separate air strikes against rebel and ISIS targets in October. ISIS claimed responsibility for the Paris attacks, saying it came in retaliation of Western air strikes against ISIS targets in Syria.
The attacks in France prompted Republican candidates to call for a stronger focus on the threat from Syria. That threat, said Ben Carson, is partly about immigration, given reports that at least one of the Paris attackers was among the thousands of male refugees from Syria who have flooded into Europe during the four-year civil war.
Tough times can be clarifying, writes John Avlon, editor in chief of the Daily Beast. They raise the stakes and impose a sense of perspective. They make so many of the debates that preoccupy us seem small. He adds: The politics of the 2016 election have been for the most part petty, bitter and divisive. These attacks should help dispel the fascination with the assorted celebrities, ideologues and demagogues masquerading as serious presidential candidates. Experience matters when the 3am call comes....
At the same time, the attacks underscore a growing concern in the campaign over national security, an issue largely owned by Republicans. In a Gallup poll from earlier this year, 55 percent said Republicans are better capable of protecting US interests compared to 32 percent who said the same for Democrats. Thats the biggest such gap in the history of the poll, which began in 2002, Gallup said, and comes after Democrats, in 2007, earned the most national security trust given the poor handing of the Iraq War by President George W. Bush, a Republican.
Among Democrats, Hillary Clinton has emerged as the most hawkish of the three remaining candidates.Clinton, the former Secretary of State, has joined Vermont Sen. Bernie Sanders and former Maryland Gov. Martin OMalley, in refusing to call for a larger ground war in the Middle East. On the other hand, Clinton alone has advocated for a more robust approach against ISIS. That could, of course, change atSaturday night"sdebate.
For Republicans, the link between the Paris attacks and ISIS fit concerns about the scope of the threat from the would-be Islamic caliphate in Syria and Iraq.
The hawks are back in town since the rise of ISIS, Domenico Montanaro writes for National Public Radio. National security this year, unlike in 2011 and 2012, ranks as a top issue for Republican primary voters. And the candidates are talking about foreign policy specifics now, even as developments in Paris continue to emerge.
Ben Carson, for one, blamed Obamas leadership for what he called the lack of a coherent vision to fight ISIS with the full resources of the US military. I think Americas involvement should be trying to eliminate them, completely destroy them, he said.
Texas Sen. Ted Cruz said the Paris attacks prove that Obamas focus on air strikes isnt enough to contain what he called an unmistakable escalation of ISIS ambitions.
Calling for defensive policies such as preventing ISIS militants posing as Syrian refugees from entering the US, Senator Cruz also called for a more offensive-minded US policy, ensuring that militants understand that they face the undying enmity of America. The message, said Cruz, needs to be that anyone who signs up to fight against the West is signing [their] own death warrant.
As candidates approach a US election, the Paris attacks could be a game-changer.
To the extent that the United States has viewed [ISIS} as a regional problem that can be contained, the debate will now be transformed, write Peter Baker and Eric Schmitt, in The New York Times.
A day that began with Britains Prime Minister David Cameron hailing the drone strike believed to have killed a high-profile ISIL member in Syria as "a strike at the heart" of the movement ended, late Friday, with Frances President Francois Hollande declaring a national state of emergency and closing his countrys borders following a string of attacks in Paris that left more than 120 people dead.
The Paris massacres, for which the Islamic State in Iraq and the Levant (ISIL) has claimed responsibility, occurred the same day a suicide bomber killed 21 Iraqis in Baghdad. They capped a week in which twin suicide bombings in a Shia neighborhood of Beirut killed 43, while Western governments concluded that the Russian airliner that crashed killing 224 people last month in Egypts Sinai peninsula had, in fact, been downed by a bomb.
Terrorism spectacular mass-casualty attacks on civilians designed by perpetrators to build their notoriety is suddenly back in the headlines. And thats a marked shift from recent years in which media attention has focused on the rise of ISIL, which has eclipsed Al-Qaeda both on the ground and in the fears of Western security officials.
Osama bin Ladens movement had relied heavily on transcontinental spectacular attacks on civilian targets to spread its message the East Africa embassy bombings and 9/11; the London, Madrid, Istanbul and Bali bombings, and a steady stream of sectarian bombings in Iraq and Pakistan, for example. But it largely kept itself in the shadows, operating clandestinely so as to stay out of the sights of Western and allied military powers.
ISIL may have shared some of Al-Qaedas ideology and originated in the movements Iraqi affiliate, but its focus has been quite different: It took advantage of the collapse of state power in both Iraq and Syria to brazenly raise its flag over territory it sought to hold, and even govern. Despite the grotesquerie of its propaganda videos depicting captives being gruesomely tortured to death, ISIL fought a conventional guerrilla war using highly mobile forces to stretch its enemies defenses, swarming against designated targets to overwhelm and conquer them. But ISILs drive to conquer territory has enabled its adversaries to counter it with conventional military tactics this weeks recapture of the Iraqi city of Sinjar by Kurdish Peshmerga forces supported by U.S. air power being a prime example.
Such an enterprise, of course, is often inconclusive the legendary British military officer T.E. Lawrence ("of Arabia") compared it to "eating soup with a fork," the mobility of the guerrilla force making it difficult to destroy once it retreats from any territory where it has mustered. Still, such a conflict remains relatively predictable or, more accurately, its unpredictability is confined to a defined territory, which in the case of ISIL is Iraq and Syria.
The past weeks events (and those of the past 14 years) serve up a reminder that mass-casualty attacks on civilian populations in enemy capitals whether planned and executed long-distance, or simply carried out by sympathizers or fighters returning from the Syria-Iraq theater to their home countries cant be effectively countered through conventional military means in the way that ISILs territorial ambitions potentially could be.
ISIL claimed responsibility for bombing the Russian airliner, saying it was revenge for Moscows military intervention in support of Syrias President Bashar al-Assad. And it claimed responsibility for the Beirut bombing which targeted a stronghold of Hezbollah, the Lebanese Shia movement that has intervened in Syria to prop up Assads forces and for Fridays Baghdad bombing aimed at the funeral of a pro-government fighter killed in the battle to recapture Sinjar.
ISIL had not, thus far demonstrated a capacity to exercise command-and-control over long-distance operations despite a growing number of acolytes in locales as far-flung as Nigeria and Afghanistan, but events over the past week certainly underscore a threat of mass-casualty attacks inspired by the group (or perhaps, by its nearest rivals) in distant capitals.
Organized mass-casualty attacks on civilians designed not simply to strike fear into an enemy population and boost the political pretensions of the perpetrators, but also to attract recruits and funding. As much as Fridays mass brutality will unite most of France in revulsion at the carnage, its perpetrators and their backers are betting that their wanton cruelty will inspire more radicalized youths in Europe and beyond to join the movement. (Lets not forget, a disconcerting number of French youths expressed admiration for the Charlie Hebdo attackers.) Theyll also hope to generate the sort of polarization in France that will produce further disaffection that they can exploit to swell their ranks.
Experts have long concurred that effectively countering such tactics relies more on police work, and winning the support of the communities in which radical groups try to recruit, than it does on military strategy.
