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NFL

Panthers' Reid ejected for hit on Roethlisberger

PITTSBURGH – Carolina Panthers free safety Eric Reid was ejected in the third quarter Thursday night for a hit to the head of a sliding Ben Roethlisberger that left Roethlisberger’s Steelers teammates defending their quarterback.

Reid lowered his head with Roethlisberger already well into his slide and delivered shoulder-to-helmet contact to the six-time Pro Bowl selection at the end of his 17-yard scramble.

Reid was flagged for the third-quarter play and then ejected as officials ruled there was unnecessary roughness due to forcible contact to the head and neck area of a sliding quarterback.

The veteran defensive back said he wasn’t intending to hurt Roethlisberger and apologized to him afterward, but was still at a loss for why he was ejected.

“I didn’t even know you could be ejected in the NFL,” Reid said. “It was a bang-bang play. I was trying to do my job. I understand the NFL is trying to protect the quarterback, but when they run the ball, they’re a running back.

“There’s a guy running the ball, so I’m doing my job. . . . If anything, there should be more [focus] on getting down earlier, so it wouldn’t have to be close. I’m running full speed. I’m just trying to do my job.”

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Safety Eric Reid explains why he went for the hit on Ben Roethlisberger, with no ill intention.

Roethlisberger, for his part, told reporters Reid told him “Sorry, didn’t mean it. No intent there” and added with a smile that he didn’t remember whether Reid had hit his helmet on the hit.

Carolina coach Ron Rivera didn’t believe Reid’s hit warranted an ejection.

“I really don’t,” he said. “I don’t think he hit him hard enough to eject him.”

Roethlisberger’s teammates took exception to the play as soon as it happened, with offensive lineman Maurkice Pouncey leading a group of Steelers in confronting Reid while he was still on the field.

Pouncey said Roethlisberger has offered to pay any fines Pittsburgh players get for their part in the shoving match that followed.

“Ben’s the franchise quarterback,” Pouncey said. “He means a lot to this organization, obviously to this football team. I could see if he was pulling his shoulder down trying to hit a guy, but he was giving himself up. That shouldn’t happen, but Eric Reid did apologize, so I give him credit for that.”

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For his part, Reid believes there is no consistency with the call, and he noted how Carolina quarterback Cam Newton got hit in the crown of the helmet and no penalty was called.

Newton agreed the calls have been inconsistent, noting he was hit in the helmet last week as well and there was no call.

“It is what it is,” Newton said. “Last week was a perfect example of the same scenario. I’m not here to judge what flag is called, but there is an inconsistency. I do understand that. I’ve been seeing that for a long time.”

The Panthers in late September became the first team to take a chance to Reid, who filed a collusion grievance against the NFL when no team would sign him after last season with San Francisco. Reid claimed the league colluded to keep him off a roster after he spent the previous season kneeling during the national anthem to protest social injustice.

He has continued to kneel during the anthem at Carolina and has not dropped the grievance.

New Panthers owner David Tepper, who had not addressed the decision to sign Reid until prior to Thursday’s game, was asked if he had to give approval first.

“What did I say when I first came here?” Tepper said. “I said the first thing I want to do is? . . . Win. What was the second thing I said I wanted to do? That was also win. What was the third thing I wanted to do? Enough said.”

Information from The Associated Press was used in this report.

NFL

Peterson upbeat despite Redskins' O-line injuries

ASHBURN, Virginia — Washington Redskins running back Adrian Peterson, in the midst of a career rejuvenation, had a natural reaction to his offense’s injury news Monday. The Redskins lost three starters, two of whom helped open holes for some of his 600-plus yards in the first half of the season. It could change the direction of not only the Redskins’ season, but determine his success as well.

“Me and my friend Maker’s Mark, we had a long night,” Peterson said.

But Peterson knows whiskey isn’t the answer to what ails the Redskins. More success from him, however, would be the antidote to their problems. And they say his numbers don’t have to change a whole lot just because of injuries to those blocking for him.

When the Redskins play at Tampa Bay on Sunday, they will be missing three of their original starting offensive linemen — left tackle Trent Williams (dislocated thumb), left guard Shawn Lauvao (torn ACL) and right guard Brandon Scherff (torn left pectoral muscle). And a fourth, right tackle Morgan Moses, did not practice because of a knee injury.

There’s a chance the starting five offensive linemen will include two players who weren’t on the roster until Monday.

Redskins running back Adrian Peterson will be without three of the team’s original starting offensive linemen against the Bucs on Sunday. Geoff Burke/USA TODAY Sports

“You’ve just got to stay positive and keep pressing,” said Peterson, the NFL’s ninth all-time leading rusher. “It’s not the end of the world, and it’s not the end of the season for us. We all have to perform better. That’s the mindset that I have. … There’s something different when you lose three starters to where your mindset shifts to, ‘I just gotta do more than what I was doing before.'”

That’ll be hard to accomplish. Peterson has rushed for 604 yards, fifth best in the NFL, surpassing what many expected from him after he signed with Washington in mid-August. The Redskins are 5-3 and in first place in the NFC East because of Peterson and their defense. They control the ball on offense and have limited offenses — save for New Orleans and Atlanta.

In the Redskins’ five wins, Peterson has rushed for 561 yards and four touchdowns. Only the Rams’ Todd Gurley and the Chiefs’ Kareem Hunt have rushed for more yards in their teams’ wins; both have eight victories.

Peterson also needs more help to continue climbing career lists: He’s 380 yards from passing Eric Dickerson for eighth in rushing and needs two more rushing touchdowns to pass ex-Redskin John Riggins for sixth on the all-time list.

For the Redskins to keep winning, Peterson must remain a vital part — no matter who’s blocking.

“He just goes through his reads like he normally would,” Redskins coach Jay Gruden said. “It doesn’t matter who’s blocking for him — at guard, center, tackle, tight end, fullback — if we had one — or receiver. He’s just going to go through his progressions and make his cuts and do what he does. It doesn’t matter.”

The Redskins use a lot of different run schemes; Peterson said opponents sometimes express amazement to him after games over the diversity of Washington’s rushing attack. The Redskins use inside and outside zone as well as power gap schemes. They’ll pull the guards; they use jet-sweep action to slow backside pursuit.

They’re hoping that’s one reason Peterson can still succeed.

“A lot of times that helps you because you have the ability to run gap scheme or zone scheme, whatever it may be,” said center Chase Roullier, the only original starter healthy enough to practice Wednesday. “And you can run it based on what the new guys coming in are better at. You can adjust the game plan with that, depending on how that goes. I don’t think there’s going to be any issue plugging those guys in and continuing to win games.”

But Peterson also has discussed how much he has had to learn in this offense, from the style of the run plays to taking handoffs out of pistol or shotgun formation. He has carried a career-high 44 times out of gun formation, averaging 4.16 yards per carry — his best stat out of that look since 2013. Gruden said Peterson’s comfort level on these runs is more about him taking the right path and less about those who are blocking.

“He’s getting more comfortable,” Gruden said. “We still have downhill runs and will get him going on those, too. The big thing with him is being patient with his reads. Obviously we’d rather have Brandon and Trent in there. But [Peterson] is still going to read it out. If reading inside zone, I’m pressing the line and reading one gap at a time … Hopefully he doesn’t have to read a three-technique [defensive lineman] in the backfield.”

The Redskins only had a long walk-through Wednesday, wanting to get through more plays than usual to help the new players acclimate faster. So Peterson couldn’t get any timing down with them, something he said he’ll try to do Thursday and Friday.

“Once we get going to another tempo that I can say little things to them I might see or notice that I’d like them to do differently or might work better,” he said. “Right now it’s just getting to know those guys and talking to them so they feel more comfortable. But most importantly just knowing that they’re going out and playing hard and fast is what we really need right now.”

One change could be less pulling action from the linemen. That’s an area where Scherff excelled, and without him it might become a reduced part of the plan. But just running the same plays doesn’t mean Peterson will have the same success. There have been times he has made his blockers look good; there were other times his blockers put him in a position to do well — and once he gets past the first wave, his jump cuts lead to more yards.

When Peterson arrived in August, he bemoaned the situation he found himself in with Arizona last season — running behind a makeshift line. However, the feeling has always been that Washington’s backups were better than the Cardinals’ starters. That theory will be tested.

“It’s always hard to tell [in practice] because it’s not live action,” Peterson said. “You always say the play looked great in practice when you draw it up and when you run through it in practice. But when you’ve got guys coming 100 miles an hour, things change. We have confidence in the guys we had here before we brought in these guys. The new guys have to step up.”

NFL

Cowboys' season in jeopardy after another disappointing loss

ARLINGTON, Texas — On the second play from scrimmage, Amari Cooper caught his first pass with the Dallas Cowboys for an 11-yard gain, leading the fans to yell, “Coooooop.” By the end of the third quarter, the “Coooop” had turned to boos.

The Cowboys are only at the midway point of the season, but Monday’s 28-14 loss to the Tennessee Titans seemed crushing.

The Cowboys felt energized by the trade with the Oakland Raiders for Cooper as well as the change from Paul Alexander to Marc Colombo at offensive line coach. Coming off the bye week, they felt like they had a solid week of preparation with quarterback Dak Prescott calling it “chippy,” but in a good way.

Jason Garrett and Dak Prescott can’t afford another non-playoff season if they want to stay in Dallas. AP Photo/Ron Jenkins

To come up empty at AT&T Stadium, where they had been perfect thus far this season, can be viewed only as deflating. With eight games left, the Cowboys (3-5) still have a mathematical chance to win the NFC East or earn a wild-card bid, but all of their faults were on display against the Titans.

“When you’ve played eight games and only won three, that’s a cause for concern,” said owner and general manager Jerry Jones, who added there is no scenario in which he would make an in-season head-coaching change with Jason Garrett.

On the Cowboys’ third possession, Prescott forced a pass to a double-covered Cooper in the end zone from the Tennessee 6-yard line on second down. Instead of another chance on third down or a chip-shot field goal, Prescott went to his new weapon haphazardly and was intercepted.

The Titans answered with a 15-play, 80-yard drive to tie the score.

“That was the difference, simple as that,” Prescott said. “Our defense gets us a turnover there. We’re up seven points. We go down there and I try to force the ball and give it right back to them. That’s a 14-point swing. They go back down the other end and get a touchdown and tie it up. It’s 14-0 if we convert on that. So I mean that’s the difference right there, 14 points.”

On the Cowboys’ first possession of the second half, Prescott was sacked by Jayon Brown and fumbled. Wesley Woodyard recovered, and like the Titans did after Prescott’s first turnover, they turned it into a touchdown for a 21-14 lead.

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It was the fourth lost fumble Prescott has had in eight games. He had three lost fumbles last season and four as a rookie.

A Cowboys defense that started fast wilted. Dallas allowed touchdown drives of 80 and 69 yards in the first half and saw Marcus Mariota do to them what the Cowboys want Prescott to do. The Titans converted 11 of 14 third-down tries. Mariota was methodical in the passing game (21 of 29, 240 yards, two touchdowns) and ended the Cowboys’ chances with a 9-yard touchdown run with 4 minutes, 38 seconds to play.

There is only a one-game difference between 3-5 and 4-4, but mentally those records are miles apart.

With road games coming up against the Philadelphia Eagles, who are coming off their bye week, and the Atlanta Falcons, who have won three in a row, the Cowboys find themselves with their season the line. Oh, the Cowboys are winless away from home, matching the loss total (four) they had away from home in Prescott’s first two seasons as the starter.

For Prescott and Garrett, more than the season might be on the line. Their futures — short- and long-term — are on the line.

“It’s disappointing,” Prescott said. “We didn’t get the job done. It starts with me. Starting with me first and all the way throughout this whole team. Very disappointing coming off the bye week — cleaned things up, felt good going into this one. To come out with this loss, being 3-5 is very disappointing.”

NFL

Jerry says 'no' to in-season coaching change

ARLINGTON, Texas — Dallas Cowboys owner and general manager Jerry Jones had a one-word answer when asked if there was any scenario in which he would make an in-season head-coaching change in 2018 following his team’s 28-14 loss to the Tennessee Titans on Monday night.

“No,” Jones said.

Jones has made only one in-season head-coaching change since purchasing the Cowboys in 1989 and that was elevating Jason Garrett to his current role in favor of Wade Phillips after the Cowboys got off to a 1-7 start to the 2010 season.

The loss to the Titans dropped the Cowboys to 3-5 at the midway point of the season, leaving them two games behind the NFC East-leading Washington Redskins. The Cowboys play the 4-4 Philadelphia Eagles on Sunday at Lincoln Financial Field.

“I think we realize we have eight games to go, we’ve got a long way to go in this season,” Jones said. “We want to play better than we played tonight, so I certainly think each individual and coach and front-office person is going to have to do better, including me.”

At the bye, Jones traded for wide receiver Amari Cooper, sending the Cowboys’ first-round pick in 2019 to the Oakland Raiders, and Garrett opted to make a change with the offensive line coach, moving on from Paul Alexander in favor of Marc Colombo.

When asked if there could be a change with offensive coordinator Scott Linehan, Jones said, “I’m not anticipating any more coaching changes.”

The Cowboys hoped those moves would energize them coming into the Tennessee game, but the Cowboys failed to score a point in the second half.

“I very candidly didn’t see this coming,” Jones said. “I thought we would be sitting here with a positive result. This is a surprise to me and is a setback. Now when you’re halfway through the season, losing a ballgame in the NFL, if that causes you to be deterred or to not think that there’s a future ahead of you, then you’ve picked the wrong world to operate in. That’s not the life we’ve chosen.”

Since taking over for Phillips, Garrett has posted a 70-58 record with just two playoff appearances and one postseason victory. He was named the NFL’s Coach of the Year in 2016 after the Cowboys went 4-12 in 2015, their worst mark since Jones’ first year when they went 1-15.

“I don’t like the way we played tonight,” Jones said. “Had we played a lot better tonight and had the loss, then I would be more positive about that. We’ve got to play better. We’re not in anything if we don’t play better. We have to play better. We did not play good for whatever reason after that first spurt of energy in the early part of the game. We just didn’t play very well.”

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