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NFL

LeSean McCoy's star fades in Bills' latest loss to Patriots

ORCHARD PARK, N.Y. — A few hours before the Buffalo Bills kicked off their only prime-time game of the season Monday night against the New England Patriots, coach Sean McDermott was asked if running back LeSean McCoy was important to Buffalo’s chances to beat its long-dominant AFC East foe.

“Correct,” McDermott told WGR 550, chuckling at how obvious the answer seemed.

McDermott was prescient, but not in the way he would have preferred. McCoy, who McDermott said was in full health after being cleared Sunday from the concussion protocol, gained 12 yards on the Bills’ first play after taking a direct snap in a Wildcat formation. His next 11 runs went for a total of 1 yard in a 25-6 loss to the Patriots that dropped the Bills to 2-6.

For a six-time Pro Bowl running back who counts $9 million against the Bills’ salary cap this season, something seemed lacking against a Patriots defense that allowed the league’s eighth-highest yards per carry entering Week 8.

With the NFL’s trade deadline approaching at 4 p.m. Tuesday, it is fair to question whether McCoy’s star has faded and what value he could bring to the Bills over the remainder of his contract, which expires after the 2019 season.

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Although McCoy led the Bills with six catches for 82 yards on Monday night, he entered the game ranked 34th in the NFL in yards per carry (3.87) this season and 37th since the start of the 2017 season (3.95). His most recent touchdown — rushing or receiving — came in Week 15 of last season.

A noticeably sullen McCoy sat with his head down at his locker for several minutes after Monday’s game before answering questions from reporters, at times seemingly holding back tears.

“The hard work I’ve put in my whole life, my career, for it to happen like this every game, it’s tough,” he said. “You see the defense out there, just grinding. It is frustrating.”

McCoy has 257 yards on 75 carries this season, a 3.4 yards-per-carry average that is by far the worst of his 10-year career.

“I ain’t expect to have no season like this,” he said. “I’m not really playing well at all. We’re not doing much on offense. … What do I got, 200 yards? In the [eighth game]? That’s never happened to me. Yeah, it’s different. It’s a different season. I’m 30 years old, playing since when I’ve been in high school. This stuff [has] never happened to me. It is tough.”

McCoy, 30, believes his skills have not declined.

“I still can play,” he said. “Defenses know I still can play. You see the way they approach me when I’m in the game.”

LeSean McCoy took some snaps in a Wildcat formation Monday night but was bottled up. Jeffrey T. Barnes/AP Photo

Entering Week 8, McCoy was averaging 2.7 yards per carry in the first halves of games. Some blame for that lack of production should fall on the offensive line, which lost stalwart center Eric Wood and guard Richie Incognito to retirement last offseason, but McCoy’s struggles to consistently gain positive yards and make game-breaking runs have become striking.

The Bills had an opportunity to escape Monday with a win over the Patriots (6-2) because of their defense’s ability to hold New England’s offense to field goals. However, the Bills’ inability to establish their ground attack compounded the more expected issues at quarterback that showed up again in the fourth quarter, when Derek Anderson threw a game-clinching interception that was returned for a touchdown by Devin McCourty.

Anderson left the game with trainers on the Bills’ final drive after taking a big hit on a sack. McDermott said Anderson’s injury was being evaluated after the game and did not provide further details.

Trading McCoy might not drastically change the Bills’ offense in the second half of the season. Backup Chris Ivory appeared more effective Monday night, gaining as many yards (13) on one run as McCoy had the entire game. Ivory, who entered Monday night ranked 56th among all NFL running backs in yards per carry since the start of the 2017 season, finished with 34 yards on six carries.

Asked about how Tuesday’s trade deadline, McCoy responded, “Who knows,” but made it clear he does not want out of Buffalo.

“This is my team,” he said. “They’ve done a lot to me. Loyalty to me. I’m happy here. But it doesn’t matter whether I was here or anywhere else, playing a season like this, you would be mad. I don’t think it’s a matter of where I’m at. It’s just what’s been taking place and how things are going offensively.”

NFL

Start gearing up for Rams-Saints to decide the NFC
1:50 AM ET

  • Kevin SeifertNFL Nation

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    • ESPN.com national NFL writer
    • ESPN.com NFC North reporter, 2008-2013
    • Covered Vikings for Minneapolis Star Tribune, 1999-2008

MINNEAPOLIS — Oh man. Do we really have to wait six days for Sunday? Can’t we just access a time machine and fast forward to Nov. 4 in New Orleans? Because on that day, the Superdome will host what sure looks like one of the most important games of the 2018 season.

It’s not always smart to separate contenders and pretenders midway through an NFL season. But as Week 8 fades from view, it’s difficult to avoid putting the Los Angeles Rams (8-0) and New Orleans Saints (6-1) atop the NFC playoff race. And, hey, what do you know? The Rams and Saints will meet at the Superdome in Week 9.

A full analysis of the NFC would acknowledge that the Carolina Panthers are 5-2 and still have both games remaining against the Saints. Quietly, the Washington Redskins (5-2) hold the muddy NFC East lead. But the Rams’ unbeaten mark and the Saints’ six-game winning streak, including two consecutive victories on the road, demonstrate clear separation from the rest of the field.

We all know what powers the Rams, namely a talent-rich roster combined with an innovative offensive scheme. What’s impressive about the Saints, however, is that no obvious pattern has emerged from their winning ways. This team is as capable of winning games with an explosive passing game as it is with one that barely reaches triple-digit yardage.

“We feel like we’re battle-tested and have won in a lot of different ways already in the first part of this season,” Saints quarterback Drew Brees said after his team dismantled the Minnesota Vikings, 30-20, at U.S. Bank Stadium in a game that wasn’t even as close as the score appeared.

If you’ve only been monitoring the Saints from afar, you might be shocked to learn that they won handily despite the least explosive passing game of Brees’ 13 seasons with the Saints. He threw for only 120 yards, fewer than any game in his career in which his team scored 30 points, according to ESPN Stats & Information. Overall, the total was Brees’ lowest for any full game he has played since signing with the Saints in 2006.

Brees has thrown for 396 and 363 yards in wins this season, but we learned Sunday night that he doesn’t need to for the Saints to thrive. They plowed through the Vikings with a decidedly ball-control offense that had Brees throwing 82 percent of his passes within five yards of the line of scrimmage — his highest such percentage in any game with the Saints. His average pass traveled just 2.8 yards past the line of scrimmage.

Brees said he considered the passing game “a complement” to the overall offense, an accurate, jarring and exceedingly positive development for the Saints as a Super Bowl contender.

“[It was] positive plays that put us in manageable situations so we could sustain drives to stay on the field and keep their explosive offense off the field,” Brees said. “… It wasn’t a conservative approach. It is just a smart approach.”

Alvin Kamara and the Saints beat the Vikings and are set up for a big Week 9 meeting with the Rams next week. Hannah Foslien/Getty Images

Really? The Saints, quarterbacked by Brees and coached by Sean Payton, were driven to keep another team’s offense off the field? Yup. Why challenge one of the NFL’s better defenses when your own defense is setting up easy scores? The turning point Sunday night came late in the second quarter, when cornerback P.J. Williams forced a fumble by receiver Adam Thielen as the Vikings were driving to extend a 13-7 advantage. Cornerback Marshon Lattimore recovered and returned it 54 yards. Two plays later, tailback Alvin Kamara’s one-yard touchdown run gave the Saints a lead they would never relinquish.

“I feel like they gave us their best shot the first couple drives,” Williams said. “We stayed good. We stayed tight.”

The Vikings never recovered from that gut punch, running out the clock on the rest of the half — despite having two timeouts — and playing the second half seemingly in slow motion. The Saints went on a 20-0 run over the next 27:04.

“We were in a slugfest until the third quarter and then we felt them break,” Saints defensive end Cameron Jordan said. “At some point, they didn’t want it anymore.”

Take a moment to consider what the Saints have done this month. In a span of three weeks, they have crushed the Redskins by 24 points, handed the Baltimore Ravens their only home loss of the season and broken the will of the Vikings by halftime. They are now 4-0 on the road for the first time since 2009, when they won Super Bowl XLIV.

And now they’ll return home to host the Rams, whose scheme has looked invincible at times but showed some vulnerability as they held off the Green Bay Packers, 29-27, on Sunday. Quarterback Jared Goff missed on nine of 12 pass attempts when pressured, averaging just 4.0 yards per attempt. The Saints sacked Vikings quarterback Kirk Cousins, hitting him a total of nine times according to the official game book, and forced two turnovers.

If the Saints can produce that kind of havoc on the road, imagine what they could bring against the Rams at home.

It’s rare to see a midseason matchup between the two best teams in a conference. We got the AFC version in Week 6, when the New England Patriots handed the Kansas City Chiefs their first loss of the season in an exciting, action-packed 43-40 battle. And now we have a chance to see the NFC’s top teams duel on Sunday at the Superdome. Buckle up. Only six more days to go.

NFL

Source: Fuller to miss 6-9 months after surgery

Houston Texans wide receiver Will Fuller will undergo surgery on his torn right ACL this week and is expected to miss six to nine months, a source told ESPN’s Adam Schefter.

Under this timeline, Fuller, 24, is expected to be ready at some point during next summer’s training camp.

Fuller suffered the injury midway through the fourth quarter of Thursday’s win over the Miami Dolphins while attempting to catch a deep pass from Deshaun Watson in the end zone. Fuller was checked out on the field but was able to walk off under his own power.

He finished the game with five catches for 124 yards, including a career-long 73-yard touchdown.

“[Fuller has] been playing well,” coach Bill O’Brien said Friday. “But that’s the thing about this league. I think if you go through every team, everybody’s dealing with injuries. It’s such a cliché, but the coaching staff, the players, we all have to pitch in and figure it out and figure out how we’re going to construct the offense. And maybe some things will be the same, and maybe some things will be a little bit different.

“Most importantly right now, I’m very disappointed for Will because Will’s a great guy. He’s really been playing at a high level.”

The No. 21 overall pick in 2016, Fuller has missed nine games in his first three NFL seasons. He has dealt with hamstring injuries, including one this season that caused him to miss a game. He also missed the first three games of the 2017 season with a broken collarbone.

He is averaging 11.7 yards per target this season. According to ESPN Stats & Information, among players averaging six targets per game, that ranks second in the NFL.

Before tearing his ACL this season, Fuller had 32 catches for 503 yards and four touchdowns.

NFL

Garoppolo: Came to terms with 'freak accident'

SANTA CLARA, Calif. — San Francisco 49ers quarterback Jimmy Garoppolo acknowledged Friday that in the days after tearing his ACL, he spent plenty of time replaying that situation, as well as others before it, in his head before soon coming to a point of acceptance and moving on.

“I think just the overall acceptance of it initially, it was tough,” Garoppolo said. “I have never had a serious injury like this so it’s different, but we’re very positive now.”

Given a little more than a month to reflect on the play that led to the season-ending knee injury he suffered on Sept. 23, Garoppolo said his future approach in similar situations could change but only to an extent.

“I’ve always been pretty cautious, so that was kind of the freak accident of the play,” Garoppolo said, addressing reporters Friday for the first time since the injury. “I don’t know if it was just instinct or what, to cut back like that. But it is what it is. Your style of play, I think, will alter initially. But eventually, everyone keeps telling me you’ll get back to how your legs were before, just as strong if not stronger. It’s all about putting in the work right now — coming back stronger than I was before, mentally being better and just overall being better.”

Garoppolo, speaking while standing with crutches, suffered the injury against the Kansas City Chiefs when he scrambled down the sideline and opted to stay in bounds to try to gain more yards rather than stepping out of bounds. He took an awkward step near the sideline as his left leg buckled underneath him and he ran into Chiefs cornerback Steven Nelson. After the game, Chiefs defensive end Justin Houston said Garoppolo was at fault for not stepping out of bounds.

Garoppolo had his surgery performed in Los Angeles, where he spent the first couple of weeks post-injury watching the Niners from a couch. He’s made progress in the time since, attending his first game in a team box last week against the Los Angeles Rams.

The 49ers are 0-4 since Garoppolo’s injury and 3-28 in games started by a quarterback other than him over the past three seasons. They are 6-2 with him as the starter in that span.

At some point, the Niners hope Garoppolo can be on the sideline for games or practices, though that can’t happen until he is able to protect himself from further injury.

Aside from the torn ACL, Garoppolo said there were a “couple little things” that also needed repairing but nothing else was torn. Garoppolo is now far enough removed from the surgery that the stitches have been removed, the scar has healed and he can begin doing rehab in a swimming pool.

Doctors have told Garoppolo he’s approximately another two weeks from being able to get rid of the crutches and start walking on his own again. Aside from that, there’s no timeline for any football activities, though there’s hope he will be able to begin throwing again in the spring.

“It will be a good test for sure,” Garoppolo said. “It’s a long process and so you can’t look too far ahead and start thinking about things that don’t matter right now. So, I think [it’s] just staying locked in every day and trying to get better.”

In the meantime, Garoppolo intends to do what he can to help the Niners in any way possible. When his rehab schedule allows, he’s already been attending team meetings and has made himself available in the locker room to answer any questions his teammates might have.

“I’m trying to approach it as a coach almost,” Garoppolo said. “You can do all the mental stuff the same like you did before, if not more because you have more time now. During the game, you’re not out there, so you’re seeing it all from the press box or on TV, whatever it is. So, it’s a different perspective, but I’m trying to use it to my advantage.”

Although Garoppolo will miss valuable snaps this year, he also can still learn plenty from watching, according to coach Kyle Shanahan.

“Obviously he can’t go through this season and get that experience, but there’s still a lot of experience he could get,” Shanahan said. “He can go through the game plan each week, prepare like he is playing, at least mentally, get something out of the games … Those are things he has to go through fully mentally. You’d love for him to do it both physically and mentally. One was taken away from him so he’s still got to get something out of this, and you can get a lot on the other half of it.”

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