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Nick Wagoner, ESPN Staff WriterDec 6, 2024, 06:48 PM ET
Close- Nick Wagoner is an NFL reporter at ESPN. Nick has covered the San Francisco 49ers and the NFL at ESPN since 2016, having previously covered the St. Louis Rams for 12 years, including three years (2013 to 2015) at ESPN. In his 10 years with the company, Nick has led ESPN’s coverage of the Niners’ 2019 Super Bowl run, Colin Kaepernick’s protest, the Rams making Michael Sam the first openly gay player drafted to the NFL, Sam’s subsequent pursuit of a roster spot and the team’s relocation and stadium saga. You can follow Nick via Twitter @nwagoner
SANTA CLARA, Calif. — For the third straight game, the San Francisco 49ers will be without star left tackle Trent Williams as he continues to recover from a left ankle injury.
The Niners officially ruled out Williams on Friday ahead of Sunday’s matchup against the Chicago Bears. They also will be without safety George Odum (knee), linebacker Dre Greenlaw (Achilles) and running back Jordan Mason (ankle).
There is, however, at least some hope for defensive end Nick Bosa. Although Bosa did not practice this week as he recovers from left hip and oblique injuries, he showed enough signs of improvement to be listed as doubtful for Sunday, according to coach Kyle Shanahan.
Whether that’s enough to have Bosa available remains to be seen, particularly since the Niners have a short week coming with a Thursday night game against the Los Angeles Rams.
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The 49ers have struggled mightily without Bosa and Williams, arguably two of the best players in the league at their positions and undoubtedly two of the most difficult to replace on the team.
Since Williams arrived via trade in 2020, San Francisco is 49-28 when he plays and 3-8 when he doesn’t. Since Bosa arrived in 2019, the Niners are 62-28 when he plays and 5-12 when he doesn’t.
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Jamison Hensley, ESPN Staff WriterDec 4, 2024, 03:05 PM ET
Close- Jamison Hensley is a reporter covering the Baltimore Ravens for ESPN. Jamison joined ESPN in 2011, covering the AFC North before focusing exclusively on the Ravens beginning in 2013. Jamison won the National Sports Media Association Maryland Sportswriter of the Year award in 2018, and he authored a book titled: Flying High: Stories of the Baltimore Ravens. He was the Ravens beat writer for the Baltimore Sun from 2000-2011.
OWINGS MILLS, Md. — The Baltimore Ravens suspended wide receiver Diontae Johnson for one game for conduct detrimental to the team, the team announced Wednesday.
“Diontae’s suspension stems from refusing to enter our game against the Philadelphia Eagles,” Ravens general manager Eric DeCosta said in a statement.
DeCosta called the disciplinary action a “difficult decision.”
Johnson will miss the Ravens’ Dec. 15 game at the New York Giants. Baltimore is currently on a bye.
The Ravens had been vague about Johnson’s standing with the team after he suited up but did not play a snap in Sunday’s 24-19 loss to the Eagles. It was even more curious that Johnson never entered the game because starting wide receiver Rashod Bateman was sidelined in the second half with a knee injury. Johnson could be seen standing by a heater on the sideline for most of the game.
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Johnson, 28, has played only 39 snaps for Baltimore since being acquired from the
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Rob Demovsky, ESPN Staff WriterDec 5, 2024, 06:00 AM ET
Close- Rob Demovsky is an NFL reporter at ESPN and covers the Green Bay Packers. He has covered the Packers since 1997 and joined ESPN in 2013. Demovsky is a two-time Wisconsin Sportswriter of the Year as selected by the NSSA. You can follow him on Twitter at @RobDemovsky.
The play will be part of Jordan Love’s highlight reel forever — a 53-yard bomb the Green Bay Packers quarterback threw to Christian Watson on the first offensive play of last year’s Thanksgiving Day game on the way to an upset of the Detroit Lions.
The story behind that play might eventually fade away, but not for Mike Sanford, Love’s offensive coordinator and position coach during his final college season at Utah State in 2019.
When Sanford read that LaFleur texted Love on the morning of the game to say he had changed his mind and wanted to open with a safer play — only to have Love convince his coach to stick with it — Sanford knew it was a big moment for the Packers’ first-year starting quarterback.
“He stuck his neck out,” Sanford said.
And that told him Love had reached a critical point for any quarterback who hoped to become a star.
“He’s never going to be like, ‘No we have to do that,'” Sanford said. “But he’ll be like, ‘No, I like that, we should stick with it.’ I had those same interactions with him before games when we were putting together the openers.”
STARTING WITH A DEEP BALL!@jordan3love to @ChristianW2017 ?#GBvsDET | #GoPackGo
?: FOX pic.twitter.com/BArevnhjYs
— Green Bay Packers (@packers) November 23, 2023
From that point on, LaFleur knew what he had in Love: a quarterback who studied the game to the point that if Love were going to push back, he would provide sound reasoning to support his case.
If that wasn’t the moment that told everyone Love could be one of the game’s elite quarterbacks, it at least served as a strong suggestion he might soon join that fraternity.
“I think he just felt confident in the play,” LaFleur recalled during an interview with ESPN. “Whether I did or not, he’s the one pulling the trigger, so if he feels confident in it, then I’m going to let it ride.”
Fifty-three weeks later, with the Packers (9-3) making their return to Ford Field for the first time since that Thanksgiving game to face the first-place Lions (11-1) on Thursday night (8:15 p.m. ET, Prime Video), Love has not given LaFleur reason to think differently.
“Oh my gosh, he’s the best,” LaFleur said. “I think he’s really coachable.”
LAFLEUR’S TRUST IN Love was 3½ years in the making — the first three in which Love worked as Best of NFL Nation
• EVERY QUARTERBACK HAS his own starting point when he begins to prepare for a game. For Love, it sometimes starts with a look at plays other teams around the league have used. In a week with a Sunday game followed by another Sunday game, Love does that on Tuesday, when players are usually off while the coaches huddle in game-planning meetings. It is not a day off for Love. “I’m usually on my own while the coaches are game planning,” Love told ESPN. “I make a notes page of plays I see other teams running that look good.” Love will then send those plays to LaFleur and his staff. Just how many of Love’s suggested plays make the game plan each week? “Sometimes they make it,” Love said. “Sometimes they don’t.” The best recent example of one that did was a 25-yard pass to Watson in the Week 11 win at Chicago. While LaFleur revealed after the game that the play was born out of a suggestion from Robert Saleh, who began Editor’s Picks
2 Related “Maybe Year 1, he’s just trying to do his job,” Vrable said. “Year 2, right now, I think that communication, that growth when we’re talking about third downs or what we like, Jordan’s like, ‘I like that, but I like that one more.’ As opposed to Year 1, a lot of guys … just want to please people, as opposed to [saying] what you truly feel.” If Love has become more assertive, since it worked in his favor last season against the Lions, he’s done it respectfully. To date, there have been no subtle shots about playcalling or game plans that haven’t worked out. And rarely, if ever, does anyone see him get frustrated with another player during a game. In fact, Myers, who is one of Love’s closest friends on the team, could not think of a time when Love chewed out a teammate. Not even behind closed doors. “I actually haven’t,” Myers said. In that regard, Love has differed from Rodgers. “Yeah, well, give him, what, 14 more years,” joked Myers, who played with Rodgers for two seasons, “and we’ll see.” When told of Myers’ comment, Love let out a hearty chuckle. “I think that’s true,” Love said. “I was here with Aaron, but I wasn’t here with him when he first started, but he probably wasn’t the same player or didn’t react the same. I think a lot of it is, when you’ve been playing for so long, you demand greatness and want people to be locked in if they’re not.” THERE’S REASON TO think Love might never change. In fact, Packers cornerback NFL Playoff Machine
Simulate your own scenarios and check the latest playoff picture. Playoff Machine » That, according to Sanford, would be out of character for Love. “My favorite trait in any leader, particularly at the quarterback position, is authenticity,” Sanford said. “Jordan is authentically a real dude. Here’s what I see: I see the Packers have a massive fan base, and when there are things wrong, they just want to see their quarterback go rip Romeo Doubs’ ass for dropping a ball that led to a pick. “That’s not who Jordan is. Jordan will have the conversation, but he’s not going to go out of his way to make people think, ‘I’m really a tough leader and I can have the hard conversation.’ And there’s so much of that in football. There’s so much fake stuff.” That doesn’t mean Love avoids confrontation. “He’s a competitor, and when somebody is making a mistake when he knows they’re capable of more, I’m sure, in his own way, he will say something,” LaFleur said. THE GENESIS OF Love’s ascent to quarterback stardom can be debated. Some might not think he’s there yet, even though he is tied for the second-largest NFL contract, thanks to the four-year, $220 million contract extension he signed in July. But to those who think he is among the elite, the epiphany may have come in that 29-22 victory at Detroit on Thanksgiving Day 2023. If the previous week’s win over the Chargers — a 322-yard, two touchdown game that included a 24-yard scoring pass to Doubs with 2:33 to play — was the moment things changed for Love, then the win over the Lions reinforced it. It was part of his 18-touchdown, one-interception regular-season finish that convinced the Packers he was their franchise quarterback. “That was a big one,” Myers said. “I think that was right around the start where [the Packers] were really starting to take off. I think that launched us in the right direction and we’ve kind of been playing some good football since, for the most part. Big moment. Cool moment.”
• Playoff picture » | Standings » | More »
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Brooke Pryor, ESPN Staff WriterDec 3, 2024, 01:09 PM ET
Close- Previously covered the Kansas City Chiefs for the Kansas City Star and Oklahoma University for the Oklahoman.
PITTSBURGH — Steelers pass rusher Alex Highsmith is “fully expected to be back” this week for Sunday’s rematch with the Browns, coach Mike Tomlin said Tuesday.
Highsmith neared a return last week, but he didn’t practice Wednesday and was limited Thursday and Friday before being inactive for Sunday’s game against the Bengals.
While Highsmith is expected to return, the Steelers could be without wide receiver Calvin Austin III, who entered the concussion protocol when he took a hard hit against the Bengals. Austin has touchdowns in each of the last two weeks, including a fourth-quarter snag in the Week 12 loss to the Browns.
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Tomlin couldn’t hide his excitement about the prospect of having a healthy complement of outside linebackers for the first time in weeks.
“It’s pretty exciting, isn’t it?,” Tomlin said with a grin. “Let’s see where the roads lead, man, we got a week of prep. … I’m so excited about the potential of getting Alex Highsmith back and the development of [Nick] Herbig, the acclimation of Preston [Smith]. You can’t run out of rush men, particularly in December, and so it’s exciting.
“Make no mistake there’s enough work for all parties involved, and we’re excited about sorting that out as we prepare.”
Highsmith was playing at a high level before his three-game absence. Against the