Previously slated to return in Week 14, Christian McCaffrey has run into another setback. The All-Pro Panthers running back suffered a quadriceps injury during the team’s bye week, and Matt Rhule said it tightened up during Wednesday’s practice, David Newton of ESPN.com notes. Rhule pointed to an offsite workout for the cause of McCaffrey’s latest malady, Joe Person of The Athletic tweets. A high ankle sprain and a shoulder ailment have limited McCaffrey to just three games this season. Rhule said earlier this week McCaffrey was set to play against the Broncos on Sunday. This latest update could change that status. Given McCaffrey’s long-term importance to the Panthers, it would not exactly surprise at this juncture if the team opted to hold him out for the rest of the season. But it is too early to tell on that front, and Rhule said Wednesday that McCaffrey wants to return as soon as possible.
Here is the latest from the NFC South:
- The Panthers placed eight players on their reserve/COVID-19 list this week after two tested positive for the coronavirus. This appears to have stemmed from an outside gathering of players, with NFL chief medical officer Dr. Allen Sills indicating a bye-week gathering led to the virus cases, via Person (on Twitter). Seven of those players — including starters Shaq Thompson, D.J. Moore, Curtis Samuel and Derrick Brown — remain on Carolina’s COVID list.
- Antonio Brown should be in the clear on finishing the 2020 season, and a recent change for his civil trial date could affect his 2021 free agency. A Florida judge moved the Buccaneers wide receiver’s trial date — for a civil case stemming from Britney Taylor’s rape allegation — to Dec. 6, 2021, Tom Pelissero of NFL.com tweets. The NFL suspended Brown eight games this season, but Taylor’s allegation did not factor into that ban. The Taylor suit threatens to lead to another Brown ban, but that issue will be tabled for a while.
- Tom Brady‘s assimilation to Bruce Arians‘ offense has not gone especially smoothly, despite the future Hall of Famer’s sporadic success in his first Bucs season. Particularly, the bevy of deep passes Arians’ offense calls for have resulted in Brady struggling as of late. From Weeks 8-11, Brady was just 5% (1-for-19) on passes that traveled 20-plus yards in the air, and ESPN.com’s Jenna Laine notes the Bucs staff had discussed adjusting the offense before their bye week. Arians said recently coverage recognition, and not ability, contributed more to Brady’s deep-ball issues. It will be interesting to see if the staff made larger-scale changes to the offense during the bye, considering Brady’s penchant for quick-strike, shorter passes. The Bucs, who have lost back-to-back games, will face the Vikings on Sunday.
- The Falcons are set to interview Saints assistant GM Terry Fontenot for their GM post. One of three known candidates to succeed Thomas Dimitroff, Fontenot has been with the Saints for more than 15 years.
Arians=TOOLBAG…..
Arians has seriously misused Tom Brady.
Brady strengths: defense recognition, audibles, very fast release.
Brady weaknesses: long ball.
Brady did well on his long balls in the past as they were occasional and thrown when the defenders had been left five or six yards behind (i.e. scope to throw less accurately).
Arians, let the man audible.
Randy Moss makes any QB do well on long balls. But overall, totally agree.
Brady chose Arians and Tampa. While Arians has certainly had opportunities to help Brady (at the very least in the media), Brady knew the deal when he chose that team. There were several others who wanted him. He could have picked the Raiders for instance, who were built on a short and intermediate system at the time with a strong o-line.
A big reason that Brady picked the Bucs was Tampa’s receivers. Mike Evans is at his best when going for jump balls deep. Godwin works best inside with deep routes on the outside. Howard is a vertical threat at TE. The entire offense, not just Arians, would have to adjust. Brady is the one is who is out of place, not Bruce Arians. Brady constantly is showered with praise as the greatest of all time, accompanied by character laudations and affirmations of his incredible skill. If all of that is true, he shouldn’t have to be locked into a specific system to succeed. He must be adaptable. Even the most West Coast oriented offenses need the ability to hit a deep pass (for instance, Derek Carr) when called for. Arians has already adapted parts of the offense to better suit Brady and signed requested players for him. It’s time for Brady to step up.
‘Arians said recently coverage recognition, and not ability, contributed more to Brady’s deep-ball issues.’
Arians has this completely backwards. Pretty sure Tom Brady has zero problems recognizing coverage. I’m also pretty sure at 43 he’s lost a step physically. Why you wouldn’t tailor your offense to suit Brady is beyond me.
Arians is letting his ego get in the way of a pretty decent shot at a title.
Arians has misused a couple guys. Ronald Jones should get majority of the snaps at RB. He has proved when you get the ball in his hands it can go to the house. Baffles me how sparatic Arians is with his usage.
As for Brady, it is all physical. None of the coaches are going to say that. He is 43 and his arm is not Brett Farve’s. Arians needs to let Brady do what Brady does. Good things will happen if you let him read the defenses. Brady is one of the best at reading the defense pre-snap.
I kind of blame both parties for this. Ariana obviously needs to be flexible and implement a chemistry-based short passing game that suits an aging Brady’s strengths. The Antonio Brown signing could really help, but it does not seem as though Brady is on the same page quite yet.
However, TB also deserves at least a bit of criticism for opting to sign with Tampa and Arians when he knew full well what type of offense was being instituted. Bruce is used to an air raid type attack with slingers such as Big Ben, Andrew Luck, and even Jameis (not saying he’s good, but that’s the type of quarterback he is). He could have signed with Indianapolis if he wanted to be protected behind an elite offensive line with a more familiar scheme
The 2020 Bucs are the football version of Velvet Revolver.
It was supposed to be a supergroup, but they were all past their prime and never did anything good together.
That’s a little forced. Velvet Revolver put out a good bit of material. I mean, it’s not like we’re talking SuperHeavy.
Bruce is wearing his hat a bit too tight if he thinks a QB on the threshold of playing 300 games is having coverage recognition issues.