CHICAGO — Bears rookie safety Eddie Jackson had a historic performance in Sunday’s first half against the Carolina Panthers.
Jackson became the first player in league history to score multiple 75-plus-yard defensive touchdowns in one game, according to the Elias Sports Bureau.
A fourth-round pick out of Alabama, Jackson scooped up a live ball that bounced off the hands of Carolina’s Curtis Samuel — officially scored as a fumble by Panthers quarterback Cam Newton — and returned it 75 yards for a touchdown on the game’s opening drive.
Bears rookie Eddie Jackson made history on Sunday with this 75-yard fumble return touchdown and a 76-yard interception return for a touchdown on Sunday. AP Photo/Charles Rex Arbogast
Jackson is the first player with two defensive touchdowns in a game since Tennessee’s Zach Brown in Week 17 of 2012. He’s also the first player to return both a fumble and an interception for a touchdown in the same game since former Chargers defensive back Antonio Cromartie accomplished the feat in Week 8 of 2007.
Largely thanks to Jackson’s heroics, the Bears led Carolina 17-3 at halftime — the first time the Bears had been up by 14 points at halftime since the 2015 season versus the Rams. Chicago won that game 37-13.
ASHBURN, Virginia — The Washington Redskins will be without their best corner for a second consecutive week, as Josh Norman was ruled out for Monday’s game against the Philadelphia Eagles with a fractured rib.
Norman had held out hope that he’d play Monday, having increased his activity Thursday and Friday. He was limited, but he did participate in individual drills. Norman did not practice Saturday, and coach Jay Gruden said he had yet to be cleared by doctors.
A 5-1 start has made the Eagles early favorites in the NFC, creating a good problem for coach Doug Pederson, who vows to keep his players focused.
A win by the Eagles would give Philadelphia a season sweep and a virtual 3½-game lead in the division over the Redskins.
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Meanwhile, fellow starting corner Bashaud Breeland was listed as questionable with a sprained MCL. Breeland said after practice that he felt good and Gruden said “he’s looking better,” but the Redskins won’t have his likely status until after Sunday’s walk-through.
Losing Norman is a crucial blow for the secondary, as he was playing at a high level, holding down the left side. His ability to play multiple coverages — and in a variety of ways — enables him to sometimes fool quarterbacks about what he’s playing.
The Redskins, however, like their youth and depth at corner, and they will start third-year Quinton Dunbar while also using rookie Fabian Moreau. Both players are capable of helping and playing well.
If Breeland can’t play, both Dunbar and Moreau would start with second-year Kendall Fuller continuing as the main slot corner.
Dunbar started in place of Norman vs. San Francisco last week. He’s considered a long, rangy corner who loves to play press-man coverage, which would help him against a physical receiver such as the Eagles’ Alshon Jeffery. The Redskins have allowed 46 catches by receivers, second fewest in the NFL — though they’ve only played five games.
Three other starters are questionable: left tackle Trent Williams (knee), running back Rob Kelley (ankle) and linebacker Mason Foster (shoulder).
Gruden said Friday that he expected Kelley to play, and that Williams remained “gimpy” and that they’d know more about his chances Sunday. Backup safeties Deshazor Everett (hamstring) and Stefan McClure (knee) are questionable.
Baltimore Ravens owner Steve Bisciotti expressed confidence in coach John Harbaugh, general manager Ozzie Newsome and quarterback Joe Flacco after his team was upset at home by the Chicago Bears to fall to 3-3.
“I look at them, and then I look at us as a team, and I don’t think they’re doing anything wrong,” Bisciotti said on the “Ravens Rap” show. “I think a lot of this comes down to … I hate to tell you that all our planning comes down a lot to a bounce of the ball.”
Bisciotti was referencing the two interceptions on Sunday that bounced off the hands of Ravens receivers.
He spoke about how one game can change perceptions. If Baltimore would have beaten the Bears, the Ravens would be 4-2 and own one of the top four records in the AFC. But the loss dropped Baltimore to the middle of the pack.
“I have to evaluate people on their ability to do their job over a long period of time, and that doesn’t satisfy short-term thinkers,” Bisciotti said. “That frustrates me to no end, but I understand it. I’m not telling you or anybody else how to be a fan; I’m just not going to let you influence how I’m going to be an owner.”
Since winning the Super Bowl in 2012, the Ravens have gone 34-36 (.486) and missed the playoffs in three of the past four seasons. Bisciotti, though, said that shouldn’t discount the fact that Harbaugh led Baltimore to the postseason in his first five years.
Over that same period, Flacco is the NFL’s 35th-rated passer (81.2) with 84 touchdowns and 69 interceptions. In the previous four drafts, Newsome has only drafted two Pro Bowl players.
“You have to trust me that if there was a weak link, I would extricate myself from that problem,” Bisciotti said. “This is, unlike my business, a collaboration of everything going right. You really have to understand it before you start pointing fingers.”
ATLANTA — Hall of Famer Bob Griese can relate to Matt Ryan’s pain.
Griese, a six-time Pro Bowl quarterback with the Miami Dolphins, first made it to the Super Bowl during his MVP season in 1971. Griese, like Ryan, dropped his first Super Bowl appearance — a 24-3 loss to the Dallas Cowboys in Super Bowl VI.
Griese didn’t let the disappointment deter his focus on the NFL’s ultimate prize.
“Well, there’s been a lot of us that have lost our first Super Bowls,” Griese said. “But fortunately, in our case, we went back and won the second and third time. The mentality — and Coach [Don] Shula struck this from the time we lost the Super Bowl until the time we were in camp the following year — was, ‘We’re going to have to play as hard as we did the season we went to the Super Bowl just to get back because there’s no guarantees you’re going to get back.’ “
Bob Griese and the Dolphins bounced back from a loss in Super Bowl VI to defeat the Redskins for the championship the next season. Focus on Sport/Getty Images
The window for a return Super Bowl trip might be small but not impossible for Ryan and the Atlanta Falcons, who face the New England Patriots on Sunday in a rematch of Super Bowl LI. Griese is also one of three quarterbacks to lose in their first Super Bowl appearances and then return to win one at some point in their careers. The other two are also in the Hall of Fame: Len Dawson and John Elway.
Dawson, with the Kansas City Chiefs during the 1966 season, fell to Bart Starr and Green Bay in Super Bowl I, 35-10. Three seasons later, Dawson and the Chiefs topped Joe Kapp and the Minnesota Vikings in Super Bowl IV, 23-7.
Elway, the Denver Broncos legend, dropped his initial Super Bowl appearance with a 39-20 loss to Phil Simms and the New York Giants in Super Bowl XXI. He returned the next year but fell to Doug Williams and the Washington Redskins in Super Bowl XXII, 42-10. He lost a third Super Bowl — 55-10 to Joe Montana and the San Francisco 49ers in Super Bowl XXIV — before winning back-to-back Super Bowls 11 years after his first appearance. Elway defeated Brett Favre and Green Bay 31-24 in Super Bowl XXXII, then beat Chris Chandler and the Falcons 34-19 in Super Bowl XXXIII.
“Losing a Super Bowl is the most disappointing loss you can have,” Elway said. “It’s so devastating because you get to that final game and are one of only two teams left. For me, losing a Super Bowl only increased my desire to win one. The pain you felt in losing a Super Bowl felt like fuel on the fire.
“The one thing I’d tell any young quarterback who has lost a Super Bowl is to keep chasing that dream, because it’s worth it in the end, for what it means and for your legacy.”
Elway was 26 when he lost his first Super Bowl. He won his last at 38.
Griese was 26 when he lost his first Super Bowl appearance to Roger Staubach and the Cowboys. It ate at him, sure, but it certainly motivated him.
“It weighs on you,” Griese said. “When you lose, that’s the last game of the year. When we got back to Miami, we met one time. I don’t know if we looked at the film or not. I know that I wanted to get the film and look at it and see what they did that we weren’t expecting and how we can do better on our mistakes.
“It’s a loss, and you’ve got to carry that loss over to the regular season the following year. But there’s nothing you can do other than just try and be your best and win every game the next season.”
Two straight losses have Ryan and the Falcons at 3-2 heading into their matchup with the Patriots. In a wide-open NFC there is ample time to get back on track toward at least another playoff run. Griese, now a radio voice for the Dolphins, saw Ryan up close on Sunday and has monitored his mindset from afar.
“You read some stuff and you see some stuff on what’s he’s doing: putting it behind,” Griese said of Ryan. “You do everything you can to move forward. You watch the film. You learn from the film because teams are going to try and do the same things. But the [Super Bowl] loss, you just put it out of your mind and just play one game and win every game if you can, though you can’t. And you just make an effort to get back that way.”
The 32-year-old Ryan, now in his 10th season, appears to be following that playbook, at least publicly. He believes he’s been candid through the offseason and preseason regarding his thoughts about losing the Super Bowl, which he says he watched several times soon after the game before moving on. Although the reigning MVP is intent on putting the loss behind him, Ryan admitted it still stings, even if he doesn’t dwell on it daily.
“I mean, I think it’s always going to be part of you,” Ryan said. “I think that’s every athlete, right? There’s things throughout your life that motivate you to be the best player that you can be and gets you out of bed in the morning.
“For sure, I think from a big-picture standpoint, you certainly use all those kinds of things as motivation. But honestly, it’s about this 2017 team and seeing how good we can be. … That’s the mindset that you have to have.”
