There's certainly a scenario where we could be looking at a 3 month absence.
All right.
Welcome in to the Brew Report for Friday, October 17th.
Week 6 is now underway, and a thriller of a Thursday night game.
The Broncos outlast the Seahawks in overtime.
This was not pretty, and that'd be my first takeaway from this one is these are two very, very, very good teams.
And I, I feel like because this is on a Thursday night, because these teams are both coming off of important division games, the Seahawks were coming off an absolute war against the Niners, the Broncos were coming off of a street fight against a desperate Chargers team in Los Angeles.
Maybe we got a little less than 100% of each team.
And so what was a really good matchup might have been diminished a little bit, and it did feel like in the early portions of this game, at the very least, this was a little bit of teams trying to scratch through and find a rhythm, coming off of, again, short weeks, emotional games, tough starts, all the rest of it.
So, like that piece of it, it's just.
In the early portions of the game, at least, it felt like these teams weren't really whole.
Uh, my second takeaway is the Broncos' defense is back.
And you have to give Sam Darnold credit because he kept firing even after the miscue in the 4th quarter where he's picked off by Brandon Jones.
But then at the beginning of overtime, the decisive play to set up the Will Watts field goal to win it was Jaquan McMillan .
Um, finding a way to pick off Sam Darnold in that moment, a really nice play on the ball.
Arnold tried to go deep, to Rashid Shaheed didn't look like maybe he saw McMillan there.
McMillan's able to make a play on that ball, and the Denver Broncos wind up with the win.
In large part because of their defense, and I think this is just the way the game was played.
We saw what the Denver Broncos are capable on that side of the ball.
They had a staggering 17 quarterback hits in this game.
Sam Darnold had to drop back 51 times because the Seahawk run game without Jadian Price, without Zach Charbonnet, had trouble finding its footing early.
And they hit him, and they hit him, and they hit him.
17 quarterback hits , 5 sacks.
Nick Bonito had himself a night.
Zack Allen was effective.
Again, this is a front that doesn't even have Jonathan Cooper yet, and they were able to take over this game and even late when the Seahawks were able to come back.
And again, I thought it was a gutsy effort by Sam Darnold, but, they leaned heavily on Jackson Smith and Jigba.
Even then, you can see it in the, in, in, in, in his feet, and there's a cumulative effect, and I think it had an effect on him even on the last throw of the game, certainly on the earlier interception of Brandon Jones, where you could see this is a quarterback who's been knocked around a bunch and was feeling the effect of all the punishment he had taken.
So, without Patrick Certan out there in the secondary, without Jonathan Cooper on their defensive front, um, Without, I, I think without some of their best players, the Broncos' defense goes out there and they're able to carry the team through to victory.
I, I don't know how much this means for the Seahawks.
It is at least interesting now that the 49ers have are up by 3 games in the loss column in the NFC West on both the Seahawks and the Rams.
The 49ers very much in the cap bird seat again.
They're up 3 games in the NFC West in the loss column.
We'll see what happens in their game on Sunday.
They're 3-0 in the division.
They have taken the road games against both the Seahawks and Rams already.
They have to play those teams again, but those, both those games will be in Santa Clara.
And so, you know, the Seahawks.
Have a little bit of a disastrous five-game stretch here as the defending world champions, where finding a way to win, win the NFC West again, um, with the Niners sitting where they were, will be an uphill battle.
And finally, my, my, my final takeaway from this one.
The Denver Broncos have just survived a brutal start to their schedule, and their resume right now, it hasn't always been pretty, but their resume right now might be as, might be as as impressive as anybody's in all of the NFL.
Now, their two losses are the two undefeated teams.
To the Chiefs and the 49ers.
Again, there are 3 undefeated teams in the NFL right now.
2, both the Broncos' losses are to 2 of those 3 teams.
So, the Broncos have lost to really good teams.
They've also beaten really good teams.
They beat the defending world champions , they've beaten the Rams, and they've beaten the Jaguars.
Now, all those games were at home .
But they're able to find ways to win those 3 games.
They came back from a double-digit deficit against the Jaguars.
They won down big against the Rams and against the Seahawks.
They actually blew a lead and were able to hold on and win the game in overtime.
So, this is a tough Bronco team.
Um, Sean Payton has been demanding with them, and I think you're seeing the result of that.
He has tough training camps.
He likes to calluse his team.
He runs that place in a very old school way, and I think the result is you're seeing a hard-edged team.
So this team's got a very high floor.
The ceiling, I think, will be , will be set.
By where we see Bo Nix and that passing game go.
I think the run game is gonna be fine.
JK Dobbins is a good back.
RJ Harvey is a good back.
They'll get Jonah Coleman, they're really promising rookie back.
So, to me, like how far the Broncos can go now with that floor, very, very high because of the program, because of the defense, all the rest of it.
I think the, the, the ceiling now gets set by where Bo Nix and Jaylen Waddle and Cortland Sutton, and Marvin Mimms, and Evan Ingram in that passing game can go.
All right.
My personal plan for the week, this is our second topic.
is for you to read my story on game management, which is gonna run on the MMQB on Friday morning.
Thank you to my editors, John Plum and Mitch Poldis for coming up with the story, a little bit of a fire, fire drill situation and putting it together, um, after everything that happened last weekend.
And, and the, the, the spirit of this story.
Um, was spurred on by what happened to the commanders on Sunday, what happened to the Eagles on Sunday, what happened to the Cowboys a couple of weeks ago, and how situational football has become such a big topic of conversation.
And so we dove into the level of investment that teams make in this area of the game and trying to get all that stuff right and how the level of investment in that area of the game is greater than it's ever been.
And yet we still have all of these moments, and you can see again where the investment has gone and how much time teams are allotting to it both in the summer and during the regular season, how there are people who are dedicated game management coordinators on some of these staffs now.
And in a lot of cases where the most important executives or some of the most important executives for really good teams are the ones that are in charge of game management.
And actually on the headset on Sunday, John Ferrari in Philadelphia, former league office employee, he's the assistant general manager in Philly.
He handles game management for Nick Siriani.
In New England, you have John Stryker , who's the VP of Football operations and strategy.
He is Mike Vrabel's right-hand man in just about every way.
He's the voice in Vrabel's ear on Sunday when it comes to game management.
Dave Gary was hired from the league office by the commanders 3 years ago, um, and one of his main responsibilities is game management.
Now, he's since moved on, you guys can discuss that as cause and effect if you want.
I don't know if that's really it in this case, as for what happened on Sunday with the commanders and Jaden Daniels, but Gardi was in a very elevated position as well.
And so teams are investing a lot in these areas.
And yet there are still a lot of problems.
Why?
Well, again, we dive into that.
I think it has a lot to do with the mountain of information that everybody has now.
It's so much more information than we've ever had on these things before.
And How do you synthesize it?
How do you boil it down to something that can be communicated quickly within the time frame that they're working on, working in through that forty-second play clock and used effectively.
That's the challenge for all of these teams.
And again, I , uh, I, I would ask that all of you guys, again, this is my personal plan presented by State Farm for the week.
I would ask that all of you guys take a look at that story.
I think you'll really enjoy it.
There's a lot of good stuff in there.
Finally, our third topic.
The Philadelphia Eagles announced on Thursday that Jalen Hurts is suffering from blood clots.
Um, and he will not play in Sunday's game, home game against the Carolina Panthers.
It's a scary situation.
Now, here's the statement that the Eagles put out on Thursday.
On Thursday, October 8th, Jalen visited the training room after practice requesting treatment for his calf.
That's a week ago today.
Um, he informed the medical staff that he had been pleaded during the Rams game on October 4th.
This was his first treatment session for the calf injury following the game, after having practiced in full both Wednesday and Thursday.
On Friday, Jalen received treatment, practiced in full, and was added to the practice report.
Out of an abundance of caution, an ultrasound was performed on Saturday following the team's flight to London and walkthrough.
The ultrasound revealed a superficial blood clot.
Our medical staff and doctors in London reviewed the results and concluded that that activity and mobility were important and that Jalen could safely play.
Doctors recommended a follow-up ultrasound within 72 hours of the game and the return flight to Philadelphia.
Jalen played without limitation in the game on Sunday, that of course being the loss to the Jaguars, um, received treatment on Monday and Tuesday and practiced in full on Wednesday, as reflected in the in in the practice report.
Throughout our time in London and this week, we have remained in communication with the league office regarding the matter.
On Wednesday night, a follow-up ultrasound revealed movement in the small blood clot.
Jalen will be out for Sunday's game versus the Panthers as we determine the appropriate course of treatment.
His health and safety are our highest priority.
All right.
Well, for, obviously, for, for Jalen Hurts himself, this is a scary situation and something that has to be handled with a whole lot of care.
And so, for, uh, for Hurts, for the people around him, that's obviously priority number one.
So what does it mean for the Eagles going forward ?
Well, now Tanner McKee is the starting quarterback.
He's somebody who's been in their building for quite some time, somebody that they do trust.
So, having Tanner McKee out there in the short term, I think it's manageable, but it'll be a little more difficult to manage based on the state of their offensive line after the trade of Cam Juergens , after the retirement of Lane Johnson.
Um, they're playing very inexperienced guys at center, at guard, at tackle right now.
So there are a lot of moving parts up there.
Um, It's again, manageable in the short term, not ideal.
The question is how long Jalen Hurts could be out.
My understanding is it depends on how deep the blood clot is, and there's certainly a scenario where we could be looking at a 3-month absence.
It doesn't mean that's what's going to happen necessarily.
Um, and I think it'd be foolish to say one way or the other for certain where this is going to wind up, but there is a scenario where this could cost him the rest of the season.
So whether or not that happens, we'll see, and it's gonna be based on the results of the test and And again, we'll see where all that goes.
Um, but obviously, I think everybody's first thoughts are with Jalen Hurts because it's a scary situation that, that seems like it could have been worse, and God he's all right, and we'll see where it goes from here.
Obviously, a very tough blow for the Eagles.
Um, as they try to dig out from, from underneath a 2 and 3 start, um, playing against a Panthers team that's played really well and is coming off a bye on Sunday at Lincoln Financial Field.
Appreciate you guys coming out.
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Appreciate you guys coming out.
Enjoy the big weekend.
Enjoy week six, and we'll see you guys early next week.