Before the Jets game, Jerod Mayo challenged Christian Gonzalez. The Patriots head coach saw his young cornerback not playing at the standard he set at the start of the season.
Gonzalez struggled against Stefon Diggs and Brian Thomas in back-to-back weeks, and for a team dependent on the second-year pro to be a human eraser, Mayo needed more. Gonzalez gave him that Sunday, frustrating Davante Adams.
“He challenged me, but it’s more on me,” said Gonzalez. “Regardless if he challenged me or not, I still gotta go into the game knowing I’m going to be challenged from the other team.”
Adams caught just two of five targets with Gonzalez in coverage, and the Pats stopped a six-game losing streak with a heart-stopping 25-22 victory. Such is the life Gonzalez leads. He has spent most of the first eight weeks shadowing the opposing team's best receiver, generally to good and, sometimes, great results. He faces another test this weekend when he'll likely match up with the Titans' Calvin Ridley, who's coming off a 10-catch performance.
“Love it,” said Gonzalez of the difficult assignments. “That’s the only way to get better. Go up against the best, and you’re gonna see the best every week. They’re NFL-caliber receivers, so you’re always gonna see a great receiver. It’s a lot of fun. It only makes me better.”
Getting words out of Gonzalez is not an easy task. He smiles a lot but speaks economically. He was mic'd up against the Jets, and there was a shortage of material. But that's not the important stuff. What matters most is his play and how he's growing into a role.
"Not an overly vocal guy," said Brian Belichick, who's seen and coached a few good defensive backs in his day. "Somewhat reminiscent of Stephon Gilmore, but communicates with his teammates to get it right. I've noticed a couple cool moments this year, like, compared to his rookie year, where at some point, (he's) almost getting frustrated and, like, no, we've got to get this right, talking to guys, getting it going, taking more of that ownership, leadership role of being a guy who's going to cover really good players and be - and is - a really good defensive back in the league, and owning that as a leader on the defense, and that's been great. So everything he's doing, hopefully he keeps doing, and keeps improving because it's been really a joy to watch."
“He’s got that dawg mentality of not going to let this guy win," said cornerback coach Mike Pellegrino. "He wants to be great and does all the extra things to be great. I’m very impressed with his work ethic. He’ll take extra reps, he’ll take scout team reps, anything that has to do with football. He’s locked in. He’s very good in the classroom. Very good. Very good at his film study on his own. That is unique at corner.”
On a team with precious few building blocks, if Gonzalez continues to track in this direction, the Pats will have their next great corner in a long line of 'em, from Mike Haynes to Ty Law to Darrelle Revis and the aforementioned Gilmore. It's not everything, but it'd be a hell of a start for an organization trying to find its way out of the bottom and back to respectability.
TOO MUCH, TOO SOON?
I wrote about the dilemma the Indianapolis Colts were facing just a couple of weeks ago in this space. In the 2023-24 NFL Draft, the Colts selected Anthony Richardson No. 4 overall, believing his incredible talent could be molded into a franchise quarterback, ignoring his limited collegiate experience.
Instead, the 22-year-old Richardson missed most of his rookie season after shoulder surgery, then had to be slow-played all spring and summer as he recovered from that injury. After missing nearly three full games with another injury - during which backup Joe Flacco played well (65.7%, 7 TDs, 1 INT) - Richardson has been benched for poor performance.
"Joe will be our quarterback going forward," said head coach Shane Steichen Wednesday. "Tough decision but one I thought was in the best interest of our football team. Feel like Joe gives us the best chance to win right now."
According to Richardson, Steichen didn't fully explain his decision.
"Of course, it hurts as a competitor," he said. "You know, you definitely don't want to be told you're not the guy anymore for the upcoming week.
"But, you know, it's all good. I'm using this moment as an opportunity to grow and just learn from my mistakes."
Richardson is completing just 44% of his passes and has a whopping nine turnovers. But there's also the matter of him tapping out of Sunday's game at Houston. Initially, it appeared that the second-year pro was hurt; Flacco entered the game for a play before the Colts kicked a field goal, and Richardson reconvened with the offense once they got back to the sideline. After the game, when asked about what happened, he said he was "tired' after scrambling around on the two previous plays. That did not go over well.
"Obviously, in those situations, he knows on those type of deals, you can't take yourself out," said Steichen Monday. "To learn and experience more, he's got to grow from it."
One of the team's captains and longest-tenured Colt, center Ryan Kelly, was forthcoming about that moment.
"We had a conversation about it, and I think he knows that's not the standard he needs to play up to, and the rest of the team holds him, too," he said. "I'll kind of leave the conversation we had at that. I know he's going to take some criticism for that, and rightfully so, that's a tough look. But also, he's out there giving it all for his team, right?"
Kelly added, "Welcome to being the No. 4 pick, man. That's the life in the NFL of a quarterback. If you're the starting quarterback for an NFL team, there's a certain demand and a standard you're held to. You can debate whether that's right or wrong; there are 52 other guys to hold the burden as well, but you can't win games without a great quarterback. At the end of the day, that person has to be accountable for his actions, and certainly, that's who he is, right?"
Per the Indianapolis Star, of the 74 quarterbacks selected in the first round since 2000, only two became the starter, were benched, and then re-inserted into the starting lineup by the team that drafted them - Chicago's Rex Grossman and Alex Smith in San Francisco.
The Colts are 4-4 and are currently a half-game out of the AFC's 7th and final playoff spot.
THEY TRADED FOR WHAT?
After allowing Jameis Winston to throw for over 300 yards and seeing their five-game win streak snapped, 29-24, the Ravens - dead last in pass defense - made a deal a week ahead of the trade deadline.
When I saw the tweet, I assumed it was for defensive help. Silly me. Baltimore instead doubled down on their high-powered offense, executing a pick swap (the Ravens sent a 2025 5th rounder) to grab wideout Diontae Johnson (and a 2025 6th rounder) from Carolina. Not only that, but the Panthers agreed to pick up a large chunk of his remaining salary (he's in the final year of his deal).
Johnson now joins a wide receiver room that includes Zay Flowers, Rashad Bateman, and Nelson Agholor, and while not a pressing need, certainly gives defenses another thing to think about. Johnson's always been a sharp route runner and has consistently beaten 1-on-1 coverage, which never hurts.
However, the pass defense has been a massive issue under first-year coordinator Zach Orr. Their pass rush has been lacking, and their coverage has been downright dreadful. Part of that has been injury-related. Star corner Marlon Humphrey has been having a good year, but he has dealt with a slew of injuries over the last couple of seasons. First-rounder Nate Wiggins has also missed some time, including in the loss to the Browns.
But now there's the added mystery of Sunday's benching of big-money safety Marcus Williams. He dressed but did not play, and head coach John Harbaugh called it a "personnel decision" and "internal" business.
“I’m not going to try to get into too much about who’s going to play and who’s not going to play in the game, but I’ll just reiterate what I said before: Marcus is a heck of a player,” Harbaugh said. “I have the utmost confidence in him as a player, as a person, as a pro. He’s a great person; he’s a hard worker. Plays hard, practices hard, does everything at the highest level, and I anticipate him playing great football for us all season and very soon.”
Excuse me?
Williams, riding the struggle bus in coverage, declined to comment on the situation. His replacement, Eddie Jackson, dropped three potential interceptions in the game and was beaten on the game-winning touchdown pass. Ouch, babe, and I mean that. They need to do something to help that group.
“We’re going to continue to turn over every stone with our defense and with every other part of our team, too, to get as good as we can get it over the course of a long season," said Harbaugh. "Ups and downs, challenges, good plays and not good plays, so there’s a lot of things we can improve on. We’ll do whatever we can do.”
ARE THE CARDINALS GOOD?
Have you checked out the NFC West standings? All four teams are within a half-game of each other, but despite sharing the same record with San Fran and Seattle, Arizona is currently in first place.
The Cardinals have won two in a row, including a thrilling comeback to beat the Dolphins on Sunday. Former Patriot Chad Ryland drilled the game-winning field goal, his second in two weeks.
"Our guys know if we have the ball at the end of the game, two minutes, one minute, three minutes, four minutes, we feel really good about operating and winning the game," said head coach Jonathan Gannon. "It's fun to watch that because I know that they're connected. They're playing for each other, and they're doing everything in their power to win the game.
"There's resiliency in that locker room."
Gannon is at the heart of this resurgence. He had the Cards playing competitively last season despite a disjointed roster, and even with some early-season struggles, he has infused confidence in this group.
"(Gannon) will make you believe you can do anything," said linebacker Kyzir White. "He's a great leader."
"I think our team knows that if they play good, clean football, they can beat anybody," added Gannon.
Of course, it doesn't hurt that Kyler Murray has elevated his play. He has thrown 11 touchdowns and has been intercepted just three times. Plus, his ability to use his legs - always a strength - has gone to a different level. Murray leads the NFL with 4 passing TDs (and 0 INT) and a 116.5 passer rating on extended plays (4+ second time to throw).
"We can't get complacent," said a maturing Murray. "I don't know who we would think we are to even get complacent. That's my mentality. It's too hard to win. We can't take a week off. We can't take a day off. To think that we just won two, we're going to win three because we feel good..."
The Cards host the Bears this weekend.
NERD NUMBERS
- Drake Maye is the third rookie QB in the common draft era with 100+ rushing yards and 5+ passing TDs through his first 3 career starts (Others: Jalen Hurts and Deshaun Watson).
- Josh Allen is 12-2 against the Dolphins in his career, including playoffs. Allen averages 318.6 offensive YPG in his regular-season career vs. Fins (most by any player with 10+ starts vs. a single opponent since starts were first tracked in 1950).
- The Saints' six-game losing streak is their longest since Weeks 5-11, 2, was the season before they hired Sean Payton and signed Drew Brees. They have not lost seven straight games since Weeks 2-9, 1999.
- Bryce Young has a 2.1 career pass TD percentage (13 TDs on 629 att), the 3rd-lowest by any QB with at least 600 pass attempts since 1950. The next-lowest #1 overall pick? JaMarcus Russell (2.6%).
- Joe Burrow is 14-5 in November or later since 2021. That's the 2nd-best W-L in the NFL behind Patrick Mahomes (22-6).
- Besides having the top-ranked scoring defense, the Chargers allow the fewest 1st downs/game (15.9) and the 4th-best red zone defense (41.7 red zone TD %). The Pats host LA week 17 in a game that, conceivably, could be flexed.
- Each of the last 4 teams to win on a “Hail Mary” has lost the ensuing game. The Commanders visit the 2-6 Giants.
