Your weekly update of the non-Panthers things happening in the rest of the league.
We’re in the midst of yet another lost season for the Carolina Panthers. For man, we’re at the stage where watching Panthers football is an obligation that must be met before being allowed to actually enjoy watching the sport when other teams are playing. Let’s catch up on what those other teams are doing.
NFC South
Atlanta Falcons
Fresh off a win against your Carolina Panthers, the Falcons got some more good-ish news for their brand. Super Bowl LXII (62) will be played in Atlanta in 2028.
Tampa Bay Buccaneers/ New Orleans Saints
The two played each other so we’ll lump them together. It looks like the first two weeks of the season were a mirage for the Saints. After throttling the Panthers and Cowboys, the Saints have lost four straight, and now they have rookie 5th round pick Spencer Rattler trying to keep the ship afloat while Derek Carr nurses an oblique injury. He wasn’t dreadful against the Bucs, but he wasn’t good, and it’s going to be hard for the Saints to win games in the immediate future. Carr hasn’t yet practiced after suffering the injury.
Meanwhile the Bucs have a strong argument that they’re the best team in the NFC South. Baker Mayfield had a complete game with four touchdowns and three interceptions and is now leading the league in touchdown passes.
The rest of the NFL
Jets trade for Davante Adams
Jets owner/GM/coach/offensive coordinator Aaron Rodgers landed one of his old buddies from Green Bay when the Jets traded for disgruntled Raider wide receiver Davante Adams. They sent back a third round pick that can become a second round pick if Adams is an All Pro or plays for the Jets in the AFC Championship or Super Bowl. So it’s a third round pick.
The Bills traded for their own wide receiver in the AFC East WR arms race
The Bills traded for Amari Cooper in a move that was largely overshadowed by the Davante Adams trade. They are also giving up a third round pick and a future seventh round pick while getting back a sixth round pick along with Cooper. The former Browns wide receiver had been wasting away with DeShaun Watson as his quarterback.
The Lions did not forget about last year’s controversial loss to the Cowboys
The Lions lost to the Cowboys in Week 17 after a botched ineligible receiver call negated what would have been the game winning 2-point conversion. They did not forget. On the first play of the game, Dan Skipper, the player that was erroneously announced as the eligible receiver on the controversial play last year, reported as an eligible receiver for a David Montgomery run. They went full F you later in the game after building a massive lead on the Cowboys, lining up offensive linemen at wide receiver and running a hook and ladder to tackle Penei Sewell. This is the kind of creative pettiness the NFL needs more of.
Also, the Cowboys might be bad.