It may not feel this way right now, but the Patriots got lucky with the Milton Williams injury during Thursday Night Football against the Jets. The big free agent signee was being doubled by the center and left guard, while teammate Christian Barmore worked on a single block. As Barmore tried to penetrate off the right guard's inside shoulder, possibly setting up an interior stunt, he instead got ridden into Williams just as Williams had firmly planted his left leg. He instantly recoiled and dropped to the turf. When I looked at the All-22 version from behind the Pats' defensive line, I'm not sure how Williams didn't break his ankle or tear up his knee. Instead, it's a high-ankle sprain - no picnic - but with the strong possibility of a late-season return.
"He's the heartbeat of our d-line,' Cory Durden told me. "That's a big part. That was hard."
Now, the Patriots' defense will have to live without one of its most impactful players this weekend in Cincinnati, and then face the Giants, Bills, and Ravens at the bare minimum before Williams is eligible to come off injured reserve. Again, not ideal, but if there was a position group to lose someone, this unit is, on paper, most equipped to survive an absence like this.
"There are definitely a lot of guys in the room that are willing and capable of stepping up and will get their chance on Sunday," Khyiris Tonga said.
Williams was seen in the locker room Thursday and in good spirits; however, his head coach, Mike Vrabel, didn't want to spend any real time talking about what the 26-year-old has meant to the team (and it's been quite a lot).
"We won't have Milt [Milton Williams]... So, that's really where our focus is," he said earlier in the week. "It’s not so much a reflection as it is just focusing on how we get the guys ready to perform and continue to improve.
"I think the thing we're trying to get everybody to understand is how much this is a progress league, and to be able to improve as the season goes on. And so, we'll have to do that without Milt, who's one of our contributors and is a big part of what we've done. But we'll have to do it without him here for a few weeks."
The interior defensive line is a close-knit group, with Williams as the ring-leader. But the Pats have high-end talent in Barmore and good pieces in Tonga, Durden, rookie Joshua Farmer, Eric Gregory, and practice squad player Jeremiah Pharms to help fill the void. Durden, in particular, has been a bit of a revelation, especially as a pass rusher, with a win-rate north of 21%. The sample size is not huge - 109 rushes (as compared to Barmore's 286 and Williams' 282) - but even with increased snaps in each of the last two weeks, Durden's still been effective (nearly 16% win rate).
"I'm approaching it the same way. Just trying to be productive," Durden said, adding he feels like he's found a home here. "Everybody wants to work hard. The coaching staff kinda has the same energy. It's easy to be around those kinds of guys."
Durden is upholding his end of the bargain, but it's been a mixed bag recently for the rest of the gang. Tonga is coming off his most uneven performance in months, and Barmore, despite his first sack of the season, has been subpar the last couple of weeks. Throw in Farmer missing time with an ankle injury, and the DL isn't humming like it was through the back end of September and all of October. However, those performances show that it's in there.
"We're not stressed out, but we definitely know everyone's got to step up and do their part and just do a little bit more," Tonga said. "Milt's a leader for us, man. We feel it, and we're gonna miss him. We know he wants to be out there with us, but we've got to hold it down for him."
"We gonna be good," Barmore said. "We ready. We always ready."
ONE AND DONE?
I, for one, believed the Pete Carroll hire in Las Vegas, while on the surface a bit odd, would work because Carroll is a damn good head coach. But after another listless loss, this time 33-16 to the Cowboys on Monday Night football, I'm wondering if Carroll's first year in Vegas will be his last.
Even before the Dallas drubbing, the 74-year-old was already getting questions about his future with the organization.
"No, I don't think like that. I really don't. I can't go there," Carroll said. "It's been 20-something years, just in these last two opportunities, head coaching, that it hasn't been in my mind at all. So, I'm not going to start now."
Maybe he should. The Raiders are 29th in DVOA, ahead of only the Bengals, Jets, and Titans, and they have lost eight of their last nine games since beating the Patriots in the opener. If those two teams played again this week, I'd bet Bedard's house on the Pats winning by double digits.
To add to Carroll's troubles, his hand-picked offensive coordinator hasn't figured out a way to succeed with his hand-picked quarterback. Geno Smith has scuffled in Chip Kelly's scheme, throwing more interceptions than touchdowns, to go along with the lowest QBR of his (starting) career (ahead of just Dillon Gabriel and Cam Ward). And yet...
"I thought Geno played really well for the most part last night, and he was under pressure the entire time in the drop-back game," Carroll said the day after the Cowboys' loss. "He had to move. It wasn't perfect... but I continue to really believe in him. I have no hesitation in telling you that. He's an incredible player, and he's busting his tail, and he's working really hard at it. He has not backed off one step throughout the process, and so we're counting on that he's going to keep working it, and he'll come through for us."
After trading for Smith, the Raiders gave him a two-year extension worth $75 million, but they could pull the plug after this season and 'only' be on the hook for $18.5 million in dead cap for 2026. Hardly prohibitive, and if Carroll is one-and-done, and Vegas is picking in the top-5, it could very well be a certainty. That's not how ownership, including minority boss Tom Brady, drew this up in the off-season, but what is it they say about the best-laid plans? Sometimes they go to hell (maybe that's just my saying...whatever. Work with me).
PIED PIPER BREAKS RECORD BUT CAN'T SAVE CARDS
Based on what you saw last season, did you ever think that Jacoby Brissett would now be the record-holder for most completions in a game? Me neither, but here we are. Brissett snapped the mark shared by Jared Goff and then-Patriot QB Drew Bledsoe by hitting on 47-of-57 for 452 yards and two scores Sunday against San Francisco. It didn't matter - not much does for the Cardinals - as they lost 41-22.
"I promise you I couldn't care less about that part, man," Brissett said. "I hope somebody breaks it tomorrow. I just want to win, like, whatever the case we got to do, whatever I got to do, like I said, I'd [happily] throw for three yards and we win. The never quit [mentality], I'm never gonna do that. That's just not even in my DNA. They'll have to drag me out before that happens."
"He probably won't be too happy about it [the record]. He's concerned about winning," head coach Jonathan Gannon said.
Brissett has been responsible for four of the Cardinals' top five offensive outputs of the season as he continues to play better than the incumbent starter, Kyler Murray, who remains on injured reserve with a foot injury (though the plan is for him to return at some point). But Arizona is in a free fall, losing seven of its last eight, and everyone's job is on the line, including Gannon's.
"Not a controllable for me. I didn’t hire myself. I’m not going to fire myself,” Gannon said Monday. “I know it comes up. That’s the business we’re in. If you don’t want to be in that business - we laugh, we joke - go work somewhere else.
“I’m going to control the controllables for myself. I come to work and do the best job that I can and try to get our team in position and win a game.”
Now 3-7, the Cardinals are five games back in the division and four behind the final Wild Card spot. Unless you believe in miracles - and this isn't the 1980 USA Olympic hockey team - then it's gotten late early for Gannon and company, even with Brissett on a heater.
"The mindset is to get an opportunity to come into the building the next day, you get to wake up - some people don't do that," Brissett said. "You've got to take advantage of the day and the next day, and then the next day that you get an opportunity.
"And hopefully the process helps you get the results you want. But sometimes it's just going back to the process."
The Cards host the 6-4 Jaguars on Sunday.
BAD PLACE TO BE
The Falcons surprised the football world when they drafted Michael Penix with the 8th overall pick in the first round, just a month or so after giving Kirk Cousins a Brinks truck loaded with money. At the time, GM Terry Fontenot said they couldn't bypass a player they loved who just so happens to play the game's most crucial position. In the next breath, Fontenot said the best scenario would be for Penix to sit for multiple years while Cousins led the team to playoff wins and, hopefully, a Super Bowl. About that...
Cousins didn't make it out of the year as the starter, and Penix didn't change the Falcons' fortunes either. In fact, Penix needs surgery to repair a partial tear of the ACL in his left knee and will be lost for the remainder of the season (and the typical timeline for such an injury puts the start of next season in jeopardy). At 3-7, Atlanta now must turn back to Cousins, whose arm appears to be shot, while facing fundamental questions about the direction of the franchise under Fontenot and second-year head coach Raheem Morris.
“You have to find a way to win games,” Morris said after the latest loss, 30-27 to Carolina. “It definitely is on me. There is no such thing as a losing team, only a losing leader. I’m the leader, and we lost.”
The Falcons have the second-longest playoff drought in the NFL (behind only the Jets). It doesn't appear to be ending this year. But at least they will get a high pick. Oh wait. In another stroke of genius, Fontenot traded away the team's 2026 first-round pick to the Rams to get pick #26 in this most recent draft, where he selected talented but troubled edge rusher James Pearce. Mind you, Atlanta had already chosen another pass rusher, Jalon Walker, 11 picks earlier.
"With trades, it always gets to that point where you have to weigh out what you're actually doing and what you're doing it for," Fontenot said back in May. "We look at the trade charts and all that stuff, but at some point, you have to look at who's the player..."
"What are we really getting, and is it worth it? That's what you really have to do at some point. When you have that kind of conviction and belief in the player, then that's when you're willing to do it – and we do."
That conviction has gotten the Falcons exactly 2.5 sacks, one forced fumble, and one recovery (vs. the Pats). Meanwhile, the QB they couldn't live without, Penix, hasn't shown enough to make you think he's the guy (25th in EPA, 29th in completion percentage), or played enough to make you think he isn't. That shouldn't be surprising, considering he had four collegiate seasons cut short by injury. Nice little spot Fontenot's got them in, wouldn't you say?
NERD NUMBERS
- The Patriots are the first team with an 8+ game winning streak in a season after winning fewer than 5 games each of the last 2 seasons since the 1999 Colts. Those Colts went 3-13 in 1997 and 1998, then finished 13-3 in 1999 (lost in Divisional Rd).
- The Patriots have allowed fewer than 24 points in 10 games (most in the NFL).
- With 83 rush yards in Week 12, Derrick Henry (12,230) will pass HOFers Jim Brown (12,312), Marshall Faulk (12,279), Edgerrin James (12,246), and Marcus Allen (12,243) for 11th-most career rush yards in NFL history.
- Mark Andrews (468) needs 4 receptions to pass Derrick Mason (471) for the most receptions by any player in Ravens franchise history. Andrews can join Travis Kelce (KC) as the only TEs to lead their franchise in career receptions, receiving yards, and TDs.
- Caleb Williams has led 5 game-winning drives in 4th quarter/OT in 2025 (T-most in NFL). That's the most game-winning drives in a single season in Bears franchise history.
- The Packers have now allowed 20 or fewer points in 7 of their first 10 games in 2025. That's the first time GB has done so in 7+ of their first 10 games since 2010 (won SB XLV).
- J.J. McCarthy has a 129.5 passer rating and averaged 8.5 yds/att in the Vikings' first 2 drives of each game in 2025 (both top 5 in NFL among qualified QBs). McCarthy has a 50.4 completion percentage, 4-8 pass TD-INT ratio, and 51.0 passer rating on all other drives (each is last among qualified QBs in 2025).
- Jaxson Smith-Njigba has 7 games with 100+ receiving yards in 2025 (most in the NFL). That's the most in a season in Seahawks history (HOF Steve Largent, 6 games in 1979).