PITTSBURGH — One of my favorite moments of Sunday's Pittsburgh Steelers game against the Cincinnati Bengals was when it was clear Mason Rudolph would have to enter the game for the injured Aaron Rodgers.

It wasn't that long ago Rudolph would have been booed out of the stadium. It wasn't that long ago Rudolph was basically run out of town.

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SEATTLE — On June 2, during an offseason of uncertainty for the Seattle Seahawks, veteran nose tackle Jarran Reed was asked what he liked most about his team.

“Everybody on my side of the ball wants the defense to be the reason why,” said Reed, after the Seahawks dealt quarterback Geno Smith and wide receiver DK Metcalf but brought back ...Read more

There is a stubborn narrative in football that insists on placing the most important and dynamic players on the field — quarterbacks — into neatly defined boxes.

There’s the devil-may-care “Gun Slinger,” the veteran (it’s always someone over 30) “Field General,” and, most damningly, the robotic, unremarkable but reliable “Game...Read more

PHILADELPHIA — A.J. Brown was wrong about one thing.

The Eagles offense isn’t a bleep show.

It isn’t any kind of show at all.

At this point, it’s just plain ol’ bleep.

If that sounds harsh, well, harsh is a pretty good word to describe the experience of watching the Eagles offense right now. The play-calling lacks imagination. The ...Read more

DENVER — The football rested at the 26-yard-line, and from the east sideline emerged Patrick Mahomes, jogging onto the field before stopping to snap his right chinstrap and then his left. His gait steadied as he approached the huddle and barked out a call, four minutes to play, game tied.

What more could the Kansas City Chiefs want, right?

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PHILADELPHIA — Lane Johnson is dealing with a Lisfranc sprain in his foot that is likely to sideline the Philadelphia Eagles’ star right tackle for multiple weeks, league sources confirmed to The Philadelphia Inquirer on Monday.

NFL Network was first to report the update on Johnson, who left Sunday’s 16-9 Eagles win over the Detroit Lions...Read more

Nahshon Wright had just made a huge play for the Chicago Bears, and in spectacular fashion.

The fifth-year cornerback leaped high in full sprint with his hand stretched over his head to intercept a pass by Vikings quarterback J.J. McCarthy in the end zone to preserve a 10-3 Bears lead late in the second quarter.

No wild celebration followed. ...Read more

INGLEWOOD, Calif — This is a family paper, so the quote is edited, but you can probably figure it out.

When Seahawks linebacker Ernest Jones IV was asked about quarterback Sam Darnold after Seattle's 21-19 loss to the Los Angeles Rams on Sunday, he went full CeeLo Green.

Darnold had four interceptions in the defeat, all of which were his ...Read more

DENVER — As Denver’s Will Lutz lined up for a would-be game-winning 35-yard field goal last season in Kansas City, the Chiefs were amid a preposterous run of conjuring late-game magic.

You didn’t know how, or why, or where it would come from. But it was almost a living, breathing part of who they were: a team that virtually always came ...Read more

LOS ANGELES — Wake up from your post-World Series slumber, Los Angeles.

There's another title contender in town.

For anyone else who was too busy following the Dodgers last month to notice what was going on at SoFi Stadium, the Rams are for real.

They are first-place real. They could be Super Bowl real.

You could feel it in the stands, ...Read more

PHILADELPHIA — It’s the goal-line stand that will have everyone talking, and rightly so, since it was the sort of set of plays from which hard-nosed, November NFC football is made.

The Detroit Lions had the ball, second-and-goal from the 6, trailing by seven points, late third quarter. Safety Reed Blankenship hit Jahmyr Gibbs on first down ...Read more

NEW YORK — Justin Fields‘ time as the Jets starting quarterback appears to be over.

The Jets will start Tyrod Taylor in Week 12 at Baltimore, sources confirmed to the New York Daily News. The news that Taylor would start this weekend was first reported by The Athletic.

Taylor will be starting against the Ravens, who selected him in the ...Read more

ATLANTA — The news keeps getting worse for the Atlanta Falcons.

Starting quarterback Michael Penix Jr. will miss at least the next four games after the team placed him on the injured list Monday.

“We are working through the medical process to determine the severity of the injury,” the Falcons said in a team statement. “He will be ...Read more

MADRID, Spain — There they were — Tua Tagovailoa and Laremy Tunsil — standing in the middle of the field in Madrid facing one another for the overtime coin flip.

The reason for the rebuild (Tagovailoa), and the mechanism that provided a massive assist (the Tunsil trade), served as a reminder that seasons and talent are too often ...Read more

PITTSBURGH — The good news for Pitt is that Georgia Tech doesn't have anything that resembles the offensive and defensive lines of Notre Dame.

That's a good thing because it means that the Panthers will have a fighting chance against the Yellow Jackets next Saturday.

Yes, the game is in Atlanta, but the Panthers won't be overmatched and they...Read more

PHILADELPHIA — The NFC North hates to see Vic Fangio’s defense coming.

One week after limiting the Green Bay Packers to seven points on the road, the Philadelphia Eagles defense stifled the Detroit Lions Sunday night at Lincoln Financial Field, handing the league’s second-ranked scoring offense a 16-9 loss. For the first time this season,...Read more

PITTSBURGH — Pittsburgh Steelers safety Jalen Ramsey and Cincinnati Bengals receiver Ja’Marr Chase were talking trash to each other throughout Sunday’s game at Acrisure Stadium, but it was something else that apparently came from Chase’s mouth that got Ramsey ejected.

Ramsey said he threw a punch at Chase after the Bengals receiver spit...Read more

NEW YORK — The New York Giants‘ 27-20 loss to the Green Bay Packers at MetLife Stadium, in the team’s first game since Brian Daboll’s firing, wasn’t even Sunday’s main event.

A report about concussed franchise quarterback Jaxson Dart was leaked to ESPN, saying that “people both inside and outside the Giants organization spoke with...Read more

PITTSBURGH — I’m sure those gusty winds helped. But let’s give credit where it’s due: The Pittsburgh Steelers beat the snot out of Ja’Marr Chase on Sunday.

They hit him. They punched him (maybe for good reason). They swarmed him. They disrupted him. They got right up in his face and trash-talked him — and they ultimately frustrated ...Read more