GREEN BAY, Wis. — Martellus Bennett is playing for the New England Patriots now, and Green Bay Packers linebacker Clay Matthews found some humor in it.
The Packers cut Bennett last week with the designation that he failed to disclose a physical condition, and then Bennett fired back by saying he needed surgery but claimed that team physician Dr. Pat McKenzie tried to make him play, which is exactly what Bennett did after the Patriots claimed him off waivers.
“We all got a good laugh from it,” Matthews said. “It is what it is. Martellus is in their locker room now and not here anymore. So now we’re just focused on the guys we have in here.”
Although Matthews wouldn’t say outright that Bennett was willing to play hurt for Tom Brady but not Packers backup Brett Hundley, the Packers Pro Bowl linebacker said: “He seemed to suit up and looked good on Sunday night.”
“You know what, I think everybody knows the story there — we don’t need to talk about it much more,” Matthews added. “Like I said, we’re focused on the guys in the locker room, but it’s an interesting story that will probably be talked about for a while.”
Martellus Bennett said while with the Packers that he was going to undergo shoulder surgery, but he wound up playing for the Patriots on Sunday. AP Photo/Jack Dempsey
“Like I said, we all know the story,” Matthews said. “We’ve got more than capable tight ends on the team who’ve been around here for a while. They’re more than up for the challenge, whatever it is, each and every week.”
Matthews joined current Packers players Jordy Nelson and Aaron Rodgers, who, among others, defended McKenzie. Former players also have spoken out on his behalf.
“My experience has been fantastic with Pat,” Matthews said. “I think he’s an awesome doc. I think he puts our health in front of the team first and foremost. In fact, I think a lot of people have gotten on his case because he’s too conservative. So I wouldn’t put much merit into those comments made. I think it really speaks volumes to hear everybody’s rebuttal and come to his aid in that regard as opposed to the other person.”
SANTA CLARA, Calif. — Only hours after his baby boy’s death, San Francisco 49ers wide receiver Marquise Goodwin arrived at the team hotel to check in before Sunday’s game against the New York Giants.
After his wife, Morgan, encouraged him to play, the usually dapper Goodwin arrived in sweats, having come directly from the hospital after their son was delivered stillborn in the early hours of Sunday morning.
Goodwin hadn’t slept after spending the night by his wife’s side and he was about to play in a professional football game wholly unprepared, save for the two most important influences in his life: his faith and his wife.
San Francisco wide receiver Marquise Goodwin has a quiet moment in the end zone following his touchdown against the Giants on Sunday. Kyle Terada-USA TODAY Sports
“Honest to God truth, the only reason I made it through the game is because of my faith in God,” Goodwin said Tuesday. “I mentally and physically was not prepared to play in the game. At all. I really didn’t even practice that week, I was just going through a lot. Just trying to get my body rested from the week before and the week before that. Coming into the game, I wasn’t really in it because I had just lost my baby. My wife, we prayed about it and I guess she felt that God moved her to allow me to go play and she encouraged me. She raised my spirits up and helped me get ready for the game.
“So that’s what’s so cool about the situation is, my wife, how supportive she is and how encouraging she is, all these great things that she does for me to help me go out there and play the way that I did. I think it speaks more about her character than mine because here she is, she could be holding me back, she could make me feel guilty about having to go and play football, which is just a game in the grand scheme of things and what we dealt with was a real-life situation, a death. Not only a death but a death to our infant child. So, situations like that, you only make it through that with your faith in God.”
On his long touchdown catch, Goodwin blew a kiss to the sky before crossing the goal line and then knelt in the end zone to pray as the emotion poured out of him.
“All the pain that I was feeling at the time, it just came over me at once,” Goodwin said. “It wasn’t something that was planned. If you had lost something that you wanted more than anything, something that you expected because you could see it without seeing it, you would know how I felt in that situation. So just to be able to score a touchdown and ultimately help my team get a win was just a great moment in my life and it’s a moment that I’ll remember forever because I could have easily not been at the game and that never would have happened. Nobody would have ever known about this story and we wouldn’t be able to help ourselves and then be able to help other people along the way (in) healing. I’m grateful that I was able to play in the game and get a touchdown.”
In the midst of the highlight-reel touchdown catch and crushing block, Goodwin could also be seen kneeling over an injured Giant in prayer. It’s part of a faith-based approach Goodwin said he adopted when he got old enough to understand it and has been a regular part of his life since.
“I pray for everybody throughout the game, even my opponents,” Goodwin said. “Outside of the game we still have to live life, still have to lead normal lives and we still need our bodies. Praying for him is pretty simple because if I was down, I would want people to pray for me. I just believe in helping other people.”
After the game, Goodwin quickly exited the locker room to be by his family’s side. He and his wife soon made the decision to share their story on social media. For Goodwin, that choice to share something so personal was made in an effort to tell their story without others making assumptions or spreading false rumors.
As it turned out, sharing his family’s story in such a public way has resulted in what Goodwin calls a “tremendous amount of support” from people all over.
“Morgan and I appreciate all the love that we’ve gotten,” Goodwin said. “We didn’t realize that sharing our journey with this baby would gain so many people (supporting). We do have a lot of people that followed us through our journey so maybe we can help people who have dealt with similar things that we have gone through and learn things from people who have been through our situation.”
With the 49ers off this week for the bye, Goodwin and his wife have returned home to Texas to be around family as they attempt to move forward.
Speaking about such a tragic loss only a couple of days after it happened, Goodwin already has a message for others who might be dealing with something similar.
“Never stop believing,” Goodwin said. “The reward will last longer than the pain. Just because something that you wanted your whole life didn’t quite work out as you planned it to — a lot of the times it’s not supposed to work out how you want it to — it will grow you as a person and make you better. I know my wife and I will be better after this situation and we’ll know how to handle it next time even better.
“And faith, faith (is) No. 1, believe that God has a plan for everything. No matter what the outcome is, as long as you pray to him and be genuine because he knows when you’re genuine and when you’re not and maintain the faith, I think things will turn around for you. I know things will turn around for you. And ultimately, you will always be victorious when it’s all said and done.”
INDIANAPOLIS – Colts coach Chuck Pagano defended the team’s medical staff on Monday a day after questions arose on how they handled quarterback Jacoby Brissett’s concussion situation in Sunday’s game against the Pittsburgh Steelers.
“Our guys, if they’re not 100 percent, they’re not going to put them back out there. Period,” Pagano said.
Brissett went into the concussion tent on the sideline after he took a shot to the back of the head from Steelers defensive lineman Stephon Tuitt on a third-down scramble with less than two minutes left in the third quarter. Backup quarterback Scott Tolzien took the field on the Colts’ next series, only to have Brissett run on at the last second.
Colts quarterback Jacoby Brissett remains in the concussion protocol after he was injured Sunday against Pittsburgh. Marc Lebryk/USA TODAY Sports
Brissett’s postgame media session was cancelled after the team announced that he developed concussion symptoms following their 20-17 loss to the Steelers.
Pagano said they plan to send the NFL the video of the play to review because there wasn’t a flag thrown on the play and it appeared to be a helmet-to-helmet hit on the play. He was asked if evaluating for concussions on the sideline is a difficult thing for the NFL to handle.
“No, I think it’s simple,” he said. “I think they got the thing set up the way it’s supposed to be set up. A guy gets hit and there’s a helmet-to-helmet shot and we all see it – you can go back and look at the TV copy, you guys saw the same thing I saw. You’re not supposed to be able to do that (helmet-to-helmet hits), but it happened. We pull him out, they go through the protocol, check off all the boxes, dot the I’s, cross the T’s. No, they’re doing what they’re supposed to do.”
Brissett did not speak to the media on Monday because he’s still in the concussion protocol. The Colts don’t play again until Nov. 26 because they have their bye this weekend. Tolzien will start against the Tennessee Titans if Brissett is still in the protocol.
Case Keenum tells reporters that he’s a big Teddy Bridgewater fan and says that he raises the “cool factor of the quarterback group.”
LANDOVER, Maryland — The Minnesota Vikings are 7-2 and Case Keenum has started seven of the games as their quarterback.
You had that, right? Back in August, when you were making your NFL season predictions, you had the Vikings at 7-2 with Keenum the quarterback? Sure you did.
You probably also had the New Orleans Saints at 7-2, rolling into Buffalo in Week 10 and hanging 47 on the No. 6-ranked scoring defense without a single Drew Brees touchdown pass.
And you had both of those teams a game behind the 8-1 Philadelphia Eagles, with the Los Angeles Rams duking it out atop the NFC West with the Seattle Seahawks and the Carolina Panthers comfortably between those first-place Saints and the third-place Atlanta Falcons in the South.
If you did predict all of this — heck, if you predicted any of it — we’d like your thoughts on this week’s lottery numbers. And by “we,” I mean me and Case Keenum, who seems as amused about what’s going on with him and the Vikings as anyone.
“Just feels good, is all,” Keenum said after throwing for 304 yards, four touchdowns and two keep-em-in-the-game second-half interceptions in the Vikings’ 38-30 victory over Washington here Sunday. “I love this squad, I love this team, I love this offense, I love these coaches and we’re having fun.”
Yeah, 7-2 is fun, no doubt, and the Vikings are feeling no pain right now. They’ve won five games in a row, increasing their point total each week, and hold a two-game lead in the NFC North on both the Detroit Lions and Green Bay Packers. This past week, they put Week 1 starting quarterback Sam Bradford on injured reserve and activated former starter Teddy Bridgewater. The latter’s return to the starting lineup might feel like a foregone conclusion to lots of folks around the team, and certainly to most on the outside. But career backup Keenum doesn’t seem too bothered by any of it.
“Teddy’s a fan favorite. He’s my favorite, too,” Keenum said. “I may have a Teddy Bridgewater jersey at home. Teddy definitely raises the cool factor of the quarterback group. Tremendously.”
That’s Keenum, talking about the guy everybody thinks is about to take his job. That’s where the Vikings are right now. They’re 7-2 and don’t seem all the way sure about how.
“Case played outstanding,” Vikings coach Mike Zimmer said, then in the next breath, “I wish the two throws he had in the second half he would not have made. But you know, he’s an excitable guy and he needs to understand what are the good plays and what are the bad plays sometimes.”
Said Keenum the Excitable: “I need to not make a bad play worse. I gave them a couple of gifts.”
Adam Thielen had eight catches for 166 yards and a touchdown in the win over Washington. AP Photo/Alex Brandon
You wonder, looking ahead, how long this can last. The Vikings play two very tough games in the next 11 days — home this Sunday to the first-place Rams and then at Detroit on Thanksgiving. Two straight road games in Atlanta and Carolina follow that, and by the time they’re through that gauntlet we’ll have some better idea about how good the Vikings are, what their best option is at quarterback and what their chances are of becoming the first team to play a Super Bowl in its home stadium.
There was talk after the game from Zimmer about being able to play better with a big lead, but he said it while kind of shaking his head — as if amazed like the rest of us that that’s a problem the Keenum-led Vikings confront. And the defense sure didn’t love seeing Kirk Cousins & Co. put 30 points on the board. But the standings label the Vikings a contender, and that means there’s a foundation for something cool.
The NFC is upside down. The Seahawks are chasing the high-octane Rams. The Saints have a smothering defense and their run game can’t be stopped. Carson Wentz is the conference’s best quarterback so far. The Falcons can’t seem to get clicking. The Cowboys are playing without their offensive engine. The Panthers and Lions keep finding ways to win ugly. The Packers are doing what they can without Aaron Rodgers.
The top team in the conference took the week off. The teams right behind the Eagles kept the heat on. There’s no way to know what the rest of the season holds for Keenum, Bridgewater and the gang, but if you’re in first place in the NFC right now and you’re thinking “Why not us?” — who can blame you?
