NFL Week 10: Suspension of Cowboys' Ezekiel Elliott begins while Jerry Jones feuds

After successfully delaying his suspension since Week 1, Ezekiel Elliott will sit out Week 10. (AP Photo/Ron Jenkins)

Top story lines | Injury news
Fantasy football | ATS betting tips/Picks

Looking for another great, must-see game this week?

For the second straight week, you might be out of luck with a ton of matchups that seem lopsided. Still, strange things have been known to happen and standings can quickly change with 18 teams at .500 or better.

The Dallas Cowboys will see what they can do without running back Ezekiel Elliott, who will miss the game against the Atlanta Falcons as he begins serving his six-game suspension.

[Were the courtroom challenges worth it for Elliott and the NFLPA?]

There’s no question that the loss of Elliott, who has rushed for over 100 yards in three of his last four games, comes at a bad time for the Cowboys, who are 5-3 and trying to keep up with the 8-1 Eagles (who have a bye) and maintain distance from the 4-4 Redskins. The absence of Elliott creates opportunity for Alfred Morris, Darren McFadden and Rod Smith against a 4-4 Atlanta Falcons team coming off a dispiriting 20-17 loss to the Carolina Panthers. The Falcons’ season in a snapshot? It was a wide-open Julio Jones dropping a pass from Matt Ryan in the end zone last week.

The New England Patriots, the team that triggered the Falcons’ malaise with the Super Bowl LI comeback, end Sunday’s slate of games with a trip to Denver, where the Broncos are a disappointing 3-5. The 6-2 Patriots’ defense may be nothing special, allowing an average of 138.5 rushing yards in its last two wins, but the 3-5 Broncos are offensively challenged, particularly with C.J. Anderson playing with an ankle injury. And watch just to see if Martellus Bennett (more below) plays.

Something historic is at stake in the game between the New York Giants and San Francisco 49ers and we’re not talking about whether 49ers Coach Kyle Shanahan will indulge his wife and play Jimmy Garoppolo at quarterback. A loss to the 1-7 New York Giants would mathematically eliminate the 0-9 49ers from playoff contention, according to NBC Sports Washington’s Joe Ferreira, and that would be the earliest a team has been eliminated since the Denver Broncos in 1967.

Of course, this might be the week the Niners win because the Giants are coming off a week dominated by “one Giant said” tabloid whispers of the sort more usually associated with the Jets. If the Giants struggle, there’s a chance embattled Ben McAdoo benches Eli Manning, a move that might seem unthinkable in any other year. Several players told NJ.com it would be “crazy,” but another said he thought reaction among Giants players would be about 50-50.

At FedEx Field, the 4-4 Washington Redskins are coming off a big road victory over the Seattle Seahawks last week, but the Minnesota Vikings, at 6-2, are coming off a bye week. Case Keenum will remain the Vikings’ quarterback, but Teddy Bridgewater last week was cleared to play after recovering from the knee injury he suffered in August 2016. Although he’d be a big plus for Minnesota, this looks like Keenum’s week for a team that relies on defense.

In the NFC South, the 6-2 New Orleans Saints play at 5-3 Buffalo while 6-3 Carolina hosts 4-4 Miami on Monday night. In other games, 4-4 Green Bay plays at 3-5 Chicago; the 3-5 Los Angeles Chargers play at 5-3 Jacksonville; the 4-5 New York Jets play at 2-6 Tampa Bay (with Jameis Winston resting his injured shoulder for a few weeks); the 3-5 Cincinnati Bengals play at 5-3 Tennessee; 0-8 Cleveland plays at 4-4 Detroit; 6-2 Pittsburgh is at 3-6 Indianapolis; and 3-5 Houston is at the 6-2 Los Angeles Rams.

Week 10 byes: The Chiefs, Eagles, Raiders and Ravens are off.

Top story lines

This is not what the NFL needs: In a season marred by injuries to star players and a furious debate about player demonstrations during the national anthem, the one thing the league does not need is a fight Jerry Jones wanting to go to the mattresses against Commissioner Roger Goodell and yet … here we are.

The revolt exposes rare fissures within the NFL as it continues to be buffeted by controversies that threaten what was once considered an unassailable business model, as The Post’s Mark Maske and Kent Babb write. Never mind that just months ago, Jones was one of the owners who voted to proceed with a new contract for Goodell. That was before the commissioner suspended Ezekiel Elliott, for six games.

This isn’t just Jones taking control of a process that once omitted him and, he believed, overpaid the commissioner. It is perhaps the NFL’s most powerful owner questioning the wisdom and intentions of his fellow owners — a declaration of war.

“You don’t have to, in football, like what your coach [says] or like what you’re doing,” Jones, 75, who if he is serious about firing Goodell would need 24 of 32 votes to do so, said last month. “You have to buy into it, though. But you don’t necessarily have to like it. As a matter of fact, about 95 percent of anything I’ve ever done in football was work and, if you will, painful.”

Martellus Bennett swaps Aaron Rodgers for Tom Brady: After quarterback Aaron Rodgers underwent surgery for a broken collarbone, the tight end who signed with Green Bay as a free agent, suddenly announced on social media that he was going to retire after the season. Then, in the middle of the week, Bennett was suddenly released for “failure to disclose” a shoulder injury. Bennett accused the Packers of trying to take advantage of him, writing on Instagram: “The packers examined my shoulder on my visit March 10 and cleared it,” he wrote. “They even gave me an xray as well. It got worse during the season, specifically against the Cowboys so I asked to have it checked out and we checked it. After a few days of contemplating to play with it or get surgery, I chose surgery. Now here we are …”

No sooner was he waived, though, than the New England Patriots were able to pick him up and he was practicing with the team he spent last season with. “Dr. [Pat] McKenzie didn’t make [me] feel safe and was pushing to play, which I thought was weird. Not that he was trying to get me to play thru it but the way he was saying things. I didn’t trust him. So I got 3 other opinions from doctors who all said I need to get it fixed. So I decided to do that. And they decided to waive me the some bulls— excuse. Failure [to] disclose.”

Among others, Jordy Nelson and Rodgers stepped up to defend McKenzie, with Rodgers writing on Instagram: “I’ve been working with Dr. McKenzie for 13 years, and as well as being a phenomenal doctor, he’s also become a close friend. He’s done surgery on me twice, and I trust him and his opinion implicitly,” Rodgers wrote. “Doc has always tried to protect me and my future, even if it meant protecting me from myself and my desire to get back on the field before I should.”

Bennett is listed as questionable for Sunday night’s game.

In other news…

A Thursday tipping point? The Thursday night game between the Seattle Seahawks and Arizona Cardinals was remarkable for two things: Injuries and more injuries. So many, in fact, that Doug Baldwin of the Seahawks said the “games should be illegal.”

Richard Sherman, who hasn’t missed a game since 2011, was lost for the season with a ruptured Achilles’ tendon, becoming the latest big star to suffer a serious injury this year.

Many people see that Thursday’s game should be the tipping point for the NFL to reconsider the games, but then owners also have to consider dollar signs, receiving $1.86 billion from NBC, CBS, Twitter and Amazon over the two-year Thursday night TV and streaming package that ends after this season.

Richard Sherman
Deshaun Watson
Andrew Luck
Aaron Rodgers
Odell Beckham Jr.
Brandon Marshall
Zach Miller
Jason Peters
Joe Thomas
Marshall Yanda
JJ Watt
Whitney Mercilus
Eric Berry
Dalvin Cook
David Johnson
Darren Sproles
Ryan Tannehill
Julian Edelman
Allen Robinson

Way too many.

— Adam Schefter (@AdamSchefter) November 10, 2017

Seahawks’ procedure questioned: The NFL and NFLPA are looking into whether the Seahawks followed concussion protocol in evaluating Russell Wilson on Thursday night. Wilson missed only one play, returning to the game the next time the Seahawks had the ball.

Hernandez had extensive brain degeneration: A Boston University researcher revealed that an examination of the brain of Aaron Hernandez showed that he suffered the most severe chronic traumatic encephalopathy found so far in a person of his age.

Injury News

Luck heads to Europe: Andrew Luck, according to an ESPN report, is in Europe seeking treatment for his shoulder. Luck will miss the entire season after having shoulder surgery in January and had to be shut down after throwing a few weeks ago. He isn’t the first to seek treatment in Europe — Peyton Manning and Kobe Bryant have done so as well.

Key players listed as questionable Friday include: 

Martellus Bennett (shoulder)

Delanie Walker (ankle)

Kenny Golladay (hamstring)

Dez Bryant (knee, ankle)

Geoff Swaim (knee)

Danny Trevathan (calf)

Kyle Long (finger)

Derek Carrier (hamstring)

Marqise Lee (knee)

Jamison Crowder (hamstring)

Niles Paul (concussion)

Jordan Reed (hamstring)

Brandon Scherff (knee)

Trent Williams (knee)

Jonathan Casillas (neck)

Olivier Vernon (ankle)

Muhammad Wilkerson (shoulder, foot)

Gerald McCoy (shoulder)

Danny Amendola (knee)

Martellus Bennett (shoulder)

Stephon Gilmore (concussion, ankle)

Emmanuel Sanders (ankle)

Fantasy football advice

Best/worst matchups: Look to Houston’s ground game, now that Deshaun Watson is out. (Read more.)

Five moves you must make: Some critical decisions for Week 10. (Read more.)

Week 10 cheat sheet: The choicest tips for Week 10. (Read more.)

Week 10 Start/Sit: Eli Manning to the rescue? (Read more.)

The Fantasy Football Beat: The Post’s fantasy football experts assess the rest-of-the-season MVPs. (Listen.)

ATS Betting Tips/Picks

The top trends and insights from Las Vegas. (Read more.)

Let's block ads! (Why?)

Read Again https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/sports/wp/2017/11/12/nfl-week-10-suspension-of-cowboys-ezekiel-elliott-begins-while-jerry-jones-feuds/

Bagikan Berita Ini