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For years, Justin Herbert has been widely considered a prototype for an NFL quarterback. Scouts, coaches, executives and many in the media have gushed over his arm and legs, marveled at his mechanics and drooled over his potential. Heading into every year following his splendid rookie season, the NFL has been bracing for his inevitable breakthrough. It’s time we all admit that we were just wrong. After six NFL seasons, plus two ugly games this year, we should all accept Herbert for what he is: a good quarterback but not one destined for greatness. Herbert is no longer being held back by a poor situation. In 2026, he’s holding back the Los Angeles Chargers. It’s true that his offensive line is terrible at times and his receivers drop way too many passes. But the best quarterbacks find ways to elevate their teams. And it’s clear that Herbert doesn’t do that, at all. His shortcomings were on full display Sunday, as the Chargers fell to 0-2 with a 26-14 home loss to the Las Vegas Raiders. Herbert was just 15 of 27 for 192 yards with a touchdown pass and two interceptions. He was outplayed by Raiders quarterback Kirk Cousins, just like he was outplayed by Arizona quarterback Jacoby Brissett one week ago. Was it entirely Herbert’s fault that the Chargers lost to two teams that were supposed to be awful to start the season? Of course not. But that’s not the standard of a franchise quarterback. And it’s certainly not the standard for a quarterback Jim Harbaugh recently said “will be known as the greatest, best ever to play the position of quarterback” when his career ends. The truth is, Herbert is not even on the fringe of the fringe of that conversation. And even with his record pace to 25,000 career passing yards, he doesn’t seem destined to pass Dan Fouts or Philip Rivers on the list of the greatest Chargers quarterbacks of all time. Now, Herbert does put up numbers. There’s no denying that. But he’s been expected to transcend the numbers, especially when Harbaugh hired Mike McDaniel as his offensive coordinator this season. McDaniel was the guy who was finally going to get the greatness out of Herbert. It’s why the Chargers were considered a dark-horse Super Bowl contender. It’s crazy now to think that just two weeks ago their title odds were equal to the Eagles’ and better than those of the Broncos, Patriots, Bengals and 49ers.While the season is still young, the 28-year-old Herbert is not. Moreover, the McDaniel addition hasn’t helped at all. And the only logical conclusion is that Herbert is simply missing what makes quarterbacks great. Ernie Accorsi, the former New York Giants general manager who passed away on Saturday, once described the bar like this: “Can they take their team down the field with the championship on the line and into the end zone?” In other words, how do quarterbacks perform in the biggest moments? Well, Herbert is 0-3 in the playoffs for his career, and he performed pretty poorly in each of those three games. But it’s more than just the results. It’s about making his team better than the sum of its parts, even in the regular season. It’s about making his teammates better than they are. Herbert couldn’t even do that against the Cardinals or the Raiders, two clubs universally predicted to finish last in their respective divisions. His supporters might point out that Chargers tight end David Njoku deflected a pass into Herbert’s first interception on Sunday. But the truth is the pass was underthrown and behind Njoku, who was a few yards behind the defense and would’ve had an easy big gain if the ball had been thrown in front of him. Herbert’s second interception, late in the fourth quarter, was an ill-advised, forced throw into traffic to the wrong side of Derius Davis’ hands. Herbert’s lone touchdown pass, to be fair, was outstanding. He evaded pressure, stepped up and sidearmed a dart to tight end Oronde Gadsden, giving the Chargers a short-lived, third quarter lead. But that’s Herbert. For every good play, there’s at least one bad play. One step forward, one step back. And more often than not, the step back comes at a terrible time. Which brings up one more Accorsi-ism: He said the definition of leadership was “watching Johnny Unitas step off the bus.” His point was that the old Baltimore Colts knew they had a shot every game just because Unitas was their quarterback, because of his presence. They were that confident that he’d find a way to pull a game out. There’s just no way the Chargers can say that about Herbert. He’s good yet frustratingly overrated. He’s a white-knuckler, not a man that inspires confidence in the big spots. And that’s a huge problem for the 0-2 Bolts. Their upcoming schedule is brutal — at Buffalo, at Seattle, versus Denver, at Kansas City, at the L.A. Rams, versus Houston and at Baltimore. The Chargers need a great quarterback to avoid bottoming out. But that’s just not who Herbert is. He’s never going to be among the best doing it, much less the best to ever do it. He is, instead, the most overrated. Everything about this season for the Washington Commanders was riding on the health of QB Jayden Daniels. They were sure that their 5-12 disaster a year ago was mostly because he missed 10 games with injuries. They believed that with him healthy again, they could really be a contender again. Then Daniels was carted off the field on Sunday with a dislocated left elbow and a towel over his head. And that moment might mark the figurative end of the Commanders’ season — and Dan Quinn’s coaching tenure in D.C. And yes, it’s that serious, because it’s hard to see how the 0-2 Commanders can recover if Daniels is sidelined for an extended period of time. He looked great against the Cowboys on Sunday before his first-half injury, throwing for 96 yards and running for 69 more. The Commanders were in the game prior to that point. Then they fell apart and lost, 37-20. The extent of Daniels’ injury isn’t known, but as cruel as it may be, it’s hard to see Quinn surviving another season without his biggest star and best weapon. The Commanders don’t have the defense or running game to push through Daniels’ absence. It would take a brilliant coaching job by Quinn to even reach the heights of .500. And that might not be enough to keep him on the job for a fourth year, not after he shook up his coaching staff and took over the defensive playcalling as a way to get the Commanders back on track. Maybe it would be unfair to make Quinn pay for two seasons lost to devastating Daniels injuries. But it sure seems likely that if the Commanders miss the playoffs again for any reason, owner Josh Harris and GM Adam Peters will opt to go into 2027 with a new coach and a fresh start. It felt like all of Chicago went silent when QB Caleb Williams went down on Sunday afternoon. It had to cross everyone’s mind that a special season might have just slipped away for the Bears. The good news after the game — a wretched 9-3 loss to the Minnesota Vikings — was that Williams had only suffered a hamstring injury and was walking without much of a limp. But even Bears coach Ben Johnson admitted that hamstring injuries can be “pretty damaging.” And it’s possible the damage is already done. That’s because even though the extent of Williams’ hamstring injury wasn’t immediately known, hamstring injuries tend to linger. And that’s especially problematic for players who make their living with their legs. Just ask Ravens QB Lamar Jackson, who was never the same last year after pulling his hamstring in Week 4 — an injury from which the Ravens never recovered, either. A fully healthy Williams really is the key to everything in Chicago. He’s grown so much in his first two seasons and looked primed to be an MVP contender this year, now with a stronger grasp of Johnson’s offense. Yes, he was struggling on Sunday in the rain against a tough Vikings defense. But even in that game, he showed how good he is at making something out of nothing and keeping defenses off balance. His presence alone is a huge part of what makes the Bears’ powerful running game go, too. Tyson Bagent might be a fine backup, but he’s just not nearly the QB Williams is. Few are. And unfortunately, it’s possible Williams won’t be himself again this season. That would be a shame, because there was a chance for this to be a super season in Chicago, if you catch my drift. This will get lost in the headlines about Williams, but don’t dismiss the brilliant job Brian Flores’ Vikings defense did against the Bears — and the miracle they’ve pulled off so far this season. A week ago, the Bears put up 59 points and 552 yards. Flores’ defense held that unit to 297 yards and three points. Williams was out there for all but the final seven-and-a-half minutes Sunday, and the Vikings had him throttled. Flores’ defensive masterpiece comes on the heels of a brilliant fourth quarter against Green Bay, in which the Vikings forced two turnovers and twice stopped the Packers on fourth down in the red zone to spark a wild comeback victory. The Vikings are now 2-0 despite some bad quarterback play from Carson Wentz, who took over for injured starter Kyler Murray, and it’s all because of Flores’ defense. Maybe one club out there team will remember that in the coming offseason, and look beyond the fact that he’s suing the NFL for racially discriminatory hiring practices, and offer him a head coaching job. He certainly deserves it. He’s the best defensive coordinator in football right now, and he was a better head coach than you probably remember in Miami, where he guided a rebuilding franchise to a 24-25 record and two winning seasons in three years. He deserves a second chance, regardless of whether that lawsuit is settled. There were signs last season, and they are even more obvious now: These aren’t the same old Philadelphia Eagles. They’re not going to wear teams down with a best-in-the-league offensive line anymore, and they’re not going to beat teams into submission with a punishing, clutch defense. So if they’re going to win as much as they’re used to winning, it’s going to be on the shoulders of quarterback Jalen Hurts. That was really clear on Sunday in Tennessee when Hurts nearly cost the Eagles the game by throwing two terrible interceptions, but then bailed them out with a brilliant final drive. Down 20-17 with 1:56 to go, Hurts drove the Eagles 65 yards for a touchdown, completing 6 of 8 passes for 61 yards and a 3-yard scoring pass to Darius Cooper along the way. That included two brilliant throws to — and catches by — DeVonta Smith, proving they can be a heck of a duo even without A.J. Brown. Afterward, his teammates were clear that Hurts was the main reason the Eagles escaped with a win. “That motherf—er balled out today,” left tackle Jordan Mailata said. “Jalen really got in his bag today.” In NFL Fallout, Ralph Vacchiano breaks down the impact of the biggest events every Sunday.​Latest Sports News from FOX Sports

When you make a throw that Tom Brady calls an “absolute piss missile,” you’re almost certainly going to win his LFG Player of the Game. That was the case for Dak Prescott on Sunday. The Dallas Cowboys quarterback completed 26 of 31 passes for 279 yards and four touchdowns without an interception in their 37-20 win over the Washington Commanders. The throw that Prescott made that Brady called an “absolute piss missile” came on a 35-yard completion to CeeDee Lamb, dropping a deep pass through a tight window along the sideline. That throw was arguably Prescott’s most impressive of the day, helping Dallas move down the field on a drive to extend its lead back to three scores. However, Prescott had a pair of more noteworthy passes on Sunday. He tied and later broke Tony Romo’s record for the most touchdown passes thrown by a player in Cowboys history. His 24-yard touchdown pass to Lamb that gave the Cowboys a 37-20 lead was 249th, surpassing Romo’s mark of 248. Prescott shared nothing but respect for Romo and some other iconic Cowboys quarterbacks, but he also acknowledged that he has more work to do — and he raised the bar for himself. “It’s a blessing,” Prescott told Brady. “Growing up, being a Cowboys fan and watching Tony [Romo] set the bar — and like you said, Troy [Aikman], Roger [Staubach] and some of the greats that have come before me — I’m honored. It’s something I don’t take lightly. Like I told you guys in the production meeting, I’m just getting started. There’s a lot of better things than records, and I think records are meant to be broken. “So, I’ll go and try to set this one high, which makes it harder for the next guy to break. But it’s a huge honor.” That record-setting throw shows just how far Prescott has come since he entered the league as a fourth-round pick in 2016. While Prescott had many people to thank for the achievement, though, there was one person who was top of mind for him on Sunday: his late mother, Peggy. “I just know she would be proud,” Prescott said. “I know she’s looking down. I know she’s celebrating. I’m emotional just thinking about it. But it starts with her. I wouldn’t be the man I am, I wouldn’t have the confidence and I wouldn’t be resilient if it weren’t for everything she taught me and just everything God’s put me through. I’m super thankful for my Lord and Savior, always getting me through everything. Just trying to be the best version of myself each and every day and giving to the people and the world something to follow.” Records aside, Sunday was a much-needed day for the Cowboys. Dallas looked unimpressive in its Week 1 loss to the New York Giants, and a loss to Washington would’ve put the Cowboys in a bad spot. Their next five games are also against teams that were projected to go at least .500 entering the season. So, when you add all of that together, Prescott was proud of how the Cowboys picked up a decisive victory on Sunday. “How resilient we are,” Prescott told Brady on what stood out about the Cowboys’ performance on Sunday. “We understood that we know who we are, but we had to go put it out there on display. We had to show the world and we just wanted to bounce back. “Obviously, we can’t start 0-2, and you can’t start 0-2 in the division. So, just getting back home, getting back in front of our home crowd and getting a win was huge for us and our confidence. We can use that as we go to Rio next week and play a good Ravens team.”​Latest Sports News from FOX Sports

The Chicago Bears and Minnesota Vikings combined to score 98 points in Week 1. However, when the two got together for a rain-soaked game at Soldier Field, they could only manage a combined 12 points. Defense ruled the day in this NFC North division tilt, with the Minnesota Vikings earning a 9-3 victory to improve to 2-0. The Bears dropped to 1-1 but will have bigger worries in the form of their starting quarterback’s hamstring. Here are my takeaways: After putting himself in the MVP conversation with an impressive performance against the Carolina Panthers, Williams struggled mightily against the Vikings, ending the game on the sideline with a right hamstring injury suffered while trying to scramble for a touchdown. Williams, who was taken to the locker room on a cart, was replaced by Tyson Bagent. The USC product failed to consistently handle Minnesota’s pressure, finishing 15-of-26 (57.7%) for 138 yards, with no touchdowns and an interception. Williams was sacked three and finished with 42 rushing yards, posting a 56.2 passer rating. Specifically, Williams struggled against Minnesota’s pressure. Per Next Gen Stats, the Vikings blitzed 81.8% of the time, and Williams finished 12-of-21 for 124 yards, with no touchdowns and an interception, posting a 54.5 passer rating when blitzed. Penalties were also an issue for Williams and the Bears. A week after leading the NFL with 12 penalties, the Bears finished with eight accepted penalties for 58 yards, including four on just one offensive drive for the Bears. The Vikings forced four Chicago punts, holding the Bears to 5-of-14 on third down. While Williams is more than capable of making the “wow” plays, he still has room to grow in consistently leading the offense and playing a clean game. And with the injury, Chicago will have to wait and see how long the team’s superstar quarterback will be out. A lot had been made throughout the league of Chicago’s innovative head coach chasing the league’s scoring title, held by the 2013 Denver Broncos. But on this day, the Bears couldn’t muster a touchdown against Minnesota’s blitz-heavy defense. Specifically, the Vikings did a nice job of slowing down Chicago’s potent running game, holding D’Andre Swift to just 38 rushing yards on 12 carries for a 3.2 per-carry average. Swift totaled 124 yards and three touchdowns in Week 1, earning the NFC Offensive Player of the Week award. How bad was it for Swift? The Bears had first-and-goal from the 1-yard line on the opening drive of the second half with a chance to take the lead, but defensive tackle Jalen Redmonnd forced Swift to fumble at the goal line and Minnesota cornerback Isaiah Rodgers recovered to save the touchdown. Rodgers also blocked a 23-yard Cairo Santos field goal in the fourth quarter that would have tied the game.The Bears had four rushes of at least 25 yards in Week 1. The rest of the league combined for five. Chicago’s longest run against Minnesota was 17 yards. Johnson’s quest for the scoring title is admirable, but Chicago’s focus should be on winning football games, no matter what the score. Chicago’s defense played much better against Minnesota backup quarterback Carson Wentz, who did a nice job of managing the game for the Vikings. Wentz understood the assignment, leaning into a dominant defense by the Vikings in inclement weather. Wentz finished with 140 passing yards, but more importantly, he didn’t turn the ball over. The Vikings leaned on running back Aaron Jones, who finished with 105 rushing yards. Wentz did a nice job of managing the offense, but a healthy Murray offers more explosive playmaking ability and should return to the starting role when healthy.​Latest Sports News from FOX Sports

After three full weeks of college football, there are four teams at the top of my top 25 who have yet to show flaws: Indiana, Georgia, Miami and Notre Dame. That does not mean that these teams are flawless. There’s still time and a number of ranked opponents for each of them to face before we can come to a definite conclusion on just how perfect — or imperfect — these teams are. But suffice it to say that after Ohio State and Texas’ outstanding meeting last weekend, we’d all like to see Miami vs. Indiana and Georgia vs. Notre Dame — or some permutation of those four — only to make the winners of those games face off to find out which team really is the best. And we’d like to make them do it all over again at the end of the season. Call it the NFL. It’d work, and we’d love it. For now, we’ve got my rankings. A quick housekeeping note on teams we said goodbye to after this week: Former top-10 Texas A&M dropped a game to unranked Kentucky at home. SMU lost to a Louisville team that has a streaky passer but gifted runner at quarterback. Virginia lost to what might be an up-and-coming West Virginia team, and Houston dropped its first ranked matchup against Texas Tech on the road. Those four teams are out and four new ones in. With that, here are my top-25 rankings after a wild Week 3! Week 3 game: 35-26 win vs. Maryland The Hokies are off to their first 3-0 start since 2017. That means Virginia Tech has never seen a loss with James Franklin at head coach. Week 3 game: 41-34 win vs. South Carolina Mississippi State quarterback Kamario Taylor is the best quarterback not enough people have seen throw a football. He only needs to flip his wrist for the ball to seemingly effortlessly travel 50 yards through the air. He completed 18 of 26 passes for 251 yards, four touchdowns and an interception. Week 3 game: 55-0 win vs. Northern Iowa Iowa — yes, Iowa! — has scored 40 points or more in two of its first three games while pitching two shutouts to begin the season 3-0. Coach Kirk Ferentz and his Hawkeyes get their first real challenge against Michigan next week, though. Week 3 game: 31-10 win vs. Sacramento State The Bison continue to play fundamental, sound football — the kind that could lead to it stealing the only Group of Six spot in the 12-team College Football Playoff this season. And they ought to be favored to win every game they play the rest of the season. Week 3 game: 52-17 win vs. UTEP The partnership between quarterback Bryce Underwood and wide receiver Andrew Marsh continued to prove fruitful. Saturday, 10 of the 19 completions Underwood threw were to Marsh, who racked up 105 yards with a touchdown. Week 3 game: 42-9 win vs. Kennesaw State The Vols rushing attack was on full display with four players — including true freshman quarterback Faizon Brandon — running the ball at least seven times each. Tennessee amassed 268 rushing yards and averaged 6.5 yards per carry against the defending Conference USA champs. Week 3 game: 33-0 win vs. Utah State Utah has outscored opponents, 122-24, through three games and looks like a Big 12 title contender. The team has Houston and BYU on its schedule but no Texas Tech. Still, it certainly looks like it could beat all three given the chance with the kind of defensive prowess it has shown so far. Week 3 game: 48-16 win vs. Eastern Washington Washington quarterback Demond Williams Jr. put together a Heisman Trophy highlight tape against an FCS opponent with 373 passing yards, four passing touchdowns and just one interception. Week 3 game: 41-31 win vs. SMU Louisville put itself in position to contend for the ACC title with this win. The strength of Jeff Brohm’s team, though, isn’t quarterback Lincoln Kienholz but a robust run game. The Cardinals rushed for 265 yards at 7.2 yards per carry against the Mustangs, and Kienholz seemed to make as many great throws as what-are-you-doing throws in this game. That meams their quarterback is also their ceiling for success. Week 3 game: 44-39 win vs. Auburn In his first year in Gainesville, John Sumrall’s Florida has scored 40 or more points in each of its first three games of the season for the first time since 2007. That is in large part due to running back Jadan Baugh continuing to be one of the best in the country. In the win against Auburn, he rushed for 162 yards and three touchdowns. Week 3 game: 55-13 win vs. Buffalo The Nittany Lions put up 573 yards on offense and held Buffalo to just 173 yards — a 400-yard margin. Even more impressive is that Matt Campbell’s defense allowed the Bulls to convert just one of 14 third-down attempts. However, his offense was just two of 10 on third down, and that has to change before Penn State begins conference play. Week 3 game: 27-17 win vs. Troy Tigers quarterback Austin Simmons didn’t play great football, completing just more than half his passes — 10 of 19 — for 91 yards. But he didn’t have to be. The Tigers were not disciplined, committing nine penalties for 90 yards, but they didn’t have to be. That tells me a lot about the talent Eli Drinkwitz has on his roster to improve to 3-0, and that’s with star running back Ahmad Hardy still on the sidelines. Week 3 game: 84-0 win vs. Portland State After an embarrassing loss on the road to Oklahoma State last week, the Ducks took out the 55-gallon drum of whoop-ass and poured it all on the Vikings. Starting quarterback Dante Moore was elite in the pass game, completing 19 of 23 passes for 280 yards with four touchdowns. But backup quarterback Dylan Raiola was perfect — 11 of 11 for 124 passing yards with three touchdowns. Week 3 game: 42-35 win vs. Rutgers Yes, the Trojans won. Yes, the Trojans remain undefeated. But my goodness, Gary Patteron’s defense looks suspect after consecutive weeks of giving up 30 points or more to Louisiana and Rutgers. It’s a familiar refrain, and USC fans are learning what Oklahoma fans learned: Marrying a suffocating defense with a Lincoln Riley offense is frustratingly difficult. Is a close win against Rutgers better than a loss to Oklahoma State? Asking for Oregon fans. Week 3 game: 41-23 win vs. Colorado State Cougars running back LJ Martin remains an absolute force, and he is the best tailback in the Big 12. In BYU’s win, he rushed for 176 yards with three touchdowns on just 15 carries. Week 3 game: 32-24 loss vs. Ole Miss After all that — and there was a lot of THAT — Lane Kiffin’s LSU Tigers fell short of earning the only win on the schedule that I believe he had to win to justify his enormous annual salary. That is, the enormous salary his roster demands and the grief he put college football fans through by simply being a trolling, petulant 51-year-old man with little-to-no manners. Week 3 game: 28-26 win vs. Houston Texas Tech quarterback Will Hammond led the Red Raiders to their first ranked win of the year on the strength of 17 of 27 passing with 287 total yards and a touchdown. Sure, they were inches from being forced to play at least one overtime period, only to narrowly escape and remain unbeaten. Week 3 game: 50-36 win vs. Florida State I genuinely despise how Alabama has chosen to wait until there are three minutes left in the third quarter to decide to separate from inferior competition for consecutive weeks. It’s also a luxury Kalen DeBoer’s team simply will not be able to rely on when it plays Georgia on October 10. Get your shells together or get rolled, Tide. Week 3 game: 59-3 win vs. Kent State On Saturday, Jeremiah Smith became the all-time leader in receiving yards in Ohio State history. He needed just two years and three games to break that record. This is fitting for Smith, who will leave Ohio State as the man considered the very best wideout in Buckeyes history, regardless of record, future NFL Draft selection or individual awards won. Week 3 game: 32-24 win vs. LSU If you’re going to award the Heisman Trophy to the best player in college football based on what he’s done against elite competition through three games, you’re going to award it to Ole Miss quarterback Trinidad Chambliss. Against LSU and his former coach, he threw for 363 yards with three total touchdowns and one interception. And now he’s led Ole Miss to an undefeated start with two wins against Associated Press Top 25 teams. Week 3 game: 33-20 win vs. Wake Forest Quarterback Darian Mensah has not only forced his way into the Heisman Trophy conversation but has also made the best case for winning it so far this season. Through three games, he’s completed 70 of 79 passes — that’s 89.9 percent! — for 873 yards with 11 passing touchdowns. Week 3 game: 27-10 win vs. Michigan State The Fighting Irish played a mostly clean game against the Spartans with zero turnovers and just three penalties in a workmanlike win against Michigan State. Yes, this game was a little too close for a team that expects to play for the national title, but it’s not as poor of a reflection as if Notre Dame had only won this game by one score. Week 3 game: 45-17 win vs. Arkansas Kirby Smart’s Bulldogs are off to their most dominant start ever. Through three games, they’re plus-145 in scoring margin — the Dawgs’ best start in 100 years. And they’ve done it without needing a potent passing game. Georgia quarterback Gunner Stockton has attempted just 32 passes all year. Week 3 game: 38-0 win vs. Western Kentucky And thus ends the delicious assortment of cupcakes for the defending national champions. They beat North Texas. They hammered HBCU Howard. And they crushed Western Kentucky. It will be nice to see what the Hoosiers look like once they start punching teams that have the ability to more adequately defend themselves. Week 3 game: 30-6 win vs. UTSA Following a week of making news for the wrong reasons off the field, the Texas Longhorns took care of business with a dominating win against the Roadrunners, holding the UTSA offense to just 142 total yards and allowing just one of 11 third-down conversions. The stat book won’t reflect a brilliant performance for quarterback Arch Manning, who completed 17 of 33 passes and accounted for 214 total yards with two touchdowns. But it was enough to keep the Longhorns unbeaten and No. 1.​Latest Sports News from FOX Sports

There was so much build up, hype and emotion surrounding Lane Kiffin’s much-anticipated return to Ole Miss. The LSU head coach has a nose for the headlines and managed to stay firmly on top of them ever since he left Oxford for Baton Rouge ahead of last year’s College Football Playoff. The hostility and resentment has remained ever since amongst Rebels fans who were angry at how the Kiffin era ended. Perhaps all is forgiven now (or not) — because Ole Miss came out and beat LSU, 32-24, at Vaught-Hemingway Stadium on Saturday night in the most electric college football scene we’ve seen so far this season. Rebels quarterback Trinidad Chambliss shined in prime time, and his defense made a goal-line stand to seal the victory with less than a minute to play. As the final seconds ticked off the clock, you could see it on everybody’s faces. Justice for Ole Miss, disappointment for Kiffin and LSU. “Our team is resilient, and I love them so much,” Chambliss said on the broadcast post-game. “I’m speechless. “Hotty f****** Toddy!” Here are takeaways from this Week 3 showdown: 1. An Epic Night For Trinidad Chambliss… In the first half, Chambliss was in complete control. He was calm under pressure, poised in the pocket, sharp with his passes and firmly in command of the offense. He completed 21 of 27 passes for 248 yards with two touchdowns by halftime, leading Ole Miss to a comfortable 24-7 lead. The sixth-year quarterback looked every bit like a potential top pick in the 2027 NFL Draft. Then he made a costly error by throwing an interception on the Rebels’ first drive of the third quarter, which swung momentum toward LSU and the Tigers went on to tie the game, 24-24, early in the fourth. But a little adversity didn’t bother Chambliss. He looked more like himself in the fourth quarter when he capped a 13-play touchdown drive with a 14-yard run into the end zone. Then the Rebels had the guts to go for two, and after drawing LSU offsides twice, running back JT Lindsey ran in for the conversion. 2. …And The Ole Miss Defense, Too With about six minutes remaining, LSU’s offense would have to score a touchdown and go for two to win. Tigers quarterback Sam Leavitt marched his team down the field but ultimately failed to convert from inside the 10 on four tries. In the end, defensive end Kam Franklin tipped Leavitt’s final pass, which was then intercepted by cornerback Jaylon Braxton to all but end the game. “We’ve worked our butts off this week and this whole year,” said Chambliss, who ended up completing 33 of 48 passes for 363 yards with two touchdowns and an interception, plus one rushing score. “We don’t quit.” The Rebels’ defense kept Leavitt in check in the first half. The Arizona State transfer quarterback managed just 51 passing yards and looked rattled. And aside from the third quarter — where LSU had two touchdown drives and tied the game — they held the nation’s No. 3 offense to just 330 total yards by the end of the night and made the play of the game when it mattered. 3. Lane Kiffin’s Return Was Nearly Legendary The pregame scenes were exactly what we thought they’d be. Cameras caught Kiffin moments before leading his team out of the tunnel, escorted by multiple security officers. He was stone-faced, ready for whatever sights and sounds might greet him while his LSU players behind him were clapping and getting hyped. The Tigers ran out onto the field at the same time as the Rebels, and while the stadium was roaring with cheers for the home team, they weren’t loud enough to mask the boos directed at Kiffin. During warmups, Kiffin and Ole Miss head coach Pete Golding, who are close friends, hugged and dapped each other up on the field. The bad blood was not between them — if anything, Kiffin leaving Ole Miss for LSU helped Golding get his first head coaching job. Of course, there was chirping elsewhere. On his way off the field following warmups, Kiffin threw a football into the recruiting section. Then, former Ole Miss running backs coach Kevin Smith, who followed Kiffin to Baton Rouge, had some things to say to Rebels fans: Throughout the game, shrewd chants directed at Kiffin were heard on the broadcast. They say drama like this goes away if you do one thing: win. LSU failed to do that, despite Kiffin’s second-half adjustments that nearly brought the Tigers back. But don’t worry, Kiffin will most likely find a way to stay on top of the news cycle. And worst case, thanks to the new nine-game SEC schedule, the Tigers and Rebels will meet again next season in Baton Rouge. 4. It Only Gets Tougher From Here This Week 3 battle was considered one of the most highly anticipated games of this season as soon as Kiffin left Ole Miss for LSU before last year’s playoff. Now that it’s over, and both teams are past all the hoopla, well, the tests only get harder. LSU will go home and immediately begin preparing to host No. 9 Texas A&M. Both teams are coming off a loss, desperate not to lose another SEC game in order to keep their CFP hopes intact. The Tigers’ slate in October is somewhat manageable with matchups against Kentucky, Mississippi State and Auburn, but then a challenging November awaits with Alabama, Texas, Tennessee and Arkansas coming in consecutive Saturdays. There are really no breaks for Ole Miss, either. Once they get into mid-October, the Rebels play Missouri, Texas, Auburn, Georgia and Oklahoma in straight weekends. And they hope to get star running back Kewan Lacy back after he left Saturday’s game in the second half with an upper body injury. The SEC could get anywhere from four to six teams into the CFP, and there are plenty of landmines down the stretch for both of these teams even after getting through this one.​Latest Sports News from FOX Sports

Clemson found a way to beat North Carolina on Saturday. But according to FOX Sports college football studio analysts Chris Petersen and Bruce Feldman, the bigger questions surrounding head coach Dabo Swinney aren’t going away. “To me, he’s been slow to change and slow to adapt in three things,” Petersen said. “No. 1, the transfer portal, he didn’t want to there. The second thing is NIL money. His roster’s at like $30 million, and the top teams are at $40-plus million.” “And the third thing is the quarterback. A lot of these good teams, they go get a proven quarterback in the transfer portal and recruit a really hot-shot young guy, develop him, and make sure he’s going to be good. But if he’s not, they go get a transfer quarterback that they know is good, and he hasn’t done any three of those things.” After kicking off the season with an ugly 51-10 loss to LSU, Clemson followed that up with a 22-7 home win over Georgia Southern. But after the Tigers fell behind early against the Tar Heels on Saturday and faced a 17-6 deficit heading into halftime, fans at Memorial Stadium began voicing their frustration with Swinney. Clemson responded with a strong second half, led by sophomore running back Gideon Davidson’s season-high 105 rushing yards and a touchdown, to rally for a 28-20 comeback win. The Tigers, who have traditionally refrained from building their roster through the transfer portal, are coming off a 2025 campaign in which they began the year ranked No. 4 in the country but finished 7-6. The seven wins were the fewest for Clemson since 2010, Swinney’s second full season as head coach, and just the second time since 2010 that the Tigers failed to win double-digit games. Moreover, the Tigers have made the College Football Playoff just once since 2020, making the playoff in 2024, the inaugural year of the 12-team format. “The problem for Clemson is they owe him $55 million. There is no offset in Dabo’s deal. Dabo’s not leaving money on the table from what we’ve heard,” Feldman said about Swinney’s future with the Tigers. “Also, Clemson is not like Texas A&M where they have all these big oil-money people throwing money around.” Clemson travels to Cal next weekend for an ACC road game before hosting No. 5 Miami the following week. “If he doesn’t adapt, he’s going to become the ‘Blockbuster’ of college football coaching, once dominant and now out of business,” FOX Sports Studio Host Mike Hill said of Swinney.​Latest Sports News from FOX Sports

There might not be a more fitting place for Chris Richards to talk college football than Wembley Stadium. The U.S. men’s national team defender, who currently plays for Crystal Palace in the English Premier League, joined the “Big Noon Kickoff” crew in London ahead of Saturday’s Kansas-Arizona State matchup at Wembley. Right away, the conversation turned to Richards’ love for college football … and being an Alabama fan. Richards greeted the crew with a “Roll Tide” before admitting that former Alabama running back and current “Big Noon Kickoff” analyst Mark Ingram is his favorite Crimson Tide player. Richards said he grew up watching college football and views Saturdays down South as something special. “I’m an Alabama fan. College football down south is a religion,” Richards said. “Waking up every Saturday to the games is a treat.” “Big Noon Kickoff” analyst Urban Meyer then asked Richards whether he sees any similarities between the passion of SEC fans and Premier League fans. “SEC country is a different beast, but you definitely get some wild fans out here,” Richards said. “It’s fun.” Richards is certainly familiar with Wembley Stadium, having played there as a member of Crystal Palace during the club’s memorable 1-0 victory over Manchester City in the 2025 FA Cup Final.With the historic stadium serving as the setting for Saturday’s Big 12 showdown between Arizona State and Kansas, Richards was asked what it’s like to play in one of the world’s most iconic venues. “It’s amazing. It’s magical,” Richards said. “To have a college football game here is gonna be amazing for Brits to experience.” Richards’ fame rose to new heights this past summer as he helped lead the U.S. men’s national team to a memorable World Cup showing, fulfilling a childhood dream. “As a kid I always dreamed of playing in a World Cup, and I never dreamed of it being on my home soil,” Richards said. “So for those two things to happen, it was a match made in heaven.”​Latest Sports News from FOX Sports

NFL offenses were literally too busy scoring in Week 1 for coaches to have much time for scoreboard watching, but the final numbers were unexpectedly high. A whopping 791 points, or a combined 49.4 per game, were scored in Week 1, matching the most for any Week 1 in the Super Bowl era. “I was definitely surprised to look up at the scoreboard on Sunday and see some of the scores at halftime,” Tampa Bay Buccaneers offensive coordinator Zac Robinson said. “The Carolina-Bears game, it was crazy. I typically don’t see that in Week 1.” The Chicago Bears had a 31-24 lead on the Carolina Panthers at halftime and ended up winning 59-37. That was one of six games that had 60-plus total points scored, two more than any other opening weekend in NFL history. Week 2 opened with the Buffalo Bills beating the Detroit Lions 41-31, suggesting the Week 1 scoring explosion might not be an outlier. The Jacksonville Jaguars had a 31-0 lead on the Cleveland Browns three minutes into the second half on Sunday, but Jaguars offensive coordinator Grant Udinski was busy enough in postgame that he didn’t fully appreciate just how many points were scored until he caught up by watching the NFL RedZone’s wrap-up, which shows every single touchdown scored during Sunday’s slate in one glorious clip. “RedZone does the touchdown montage at the end of the day, and I took a quick break from looking at Denver and getting stuff ready for this week, and you notice: ‘Man, this montage is going on forever,'” Udinski told me. “Then you start looking at scores, and you say, ‘Oh, OK, this makes more sense.’ It wasn’t until you got tape in from around the league that you realized all the stuff that some of those offenses, like Chicago did, and really lit it up.” Three teams — the Panthers, Houston Texans and New Orleans Saints — scored 30 or more points and lost, something that’s happened just once ever in Week 1 (2002). So why such a spike in scoring? Is it a trend likely to continue deep into the 2026 season, or a symptom of ever-changing approaches to preseason games — where fewer starters play to avoid the risk of injury — and even training camp practices, which don’t have nearly as much contact and actual tackling as they used to have? “I watched some around-the-league stuff, and it felt like guys just were making plays,” Robinson said. “There [were] a ton of plays being made after the catch … defenses are so limited with what they can do based on the rules [before] you get to live tackling, and it’s a different ballgame.” The lack of physicality in preparing for an NFL season can make even the best defenses look rusty in their first games. The Denver Broncos, who had a top-three defense last year in points and total yards allowed, recorded 28 missed tackles in their humbling 31-10 loss to the Kansas City Chiefs on Monday night. High-leverage situations favored offenses in Week 1. Not a single NFL team converted half their third-down opportunities last year. Yet, in Week 1, nine teams were better than 50%, and three were above 70% on conversions. Red zone? The most efficient offense in the NFL got touchdowns on 70% of their trips inside the opponents’ 20-yard line, but in Week 1, there were nine teams that got touchdowns on every red-zone opportunity they had. “The lack of opportunities to go live and tackle, whether it’s preseason or training camp, I think less and less teams have live periods where you’re actually tackling ball carriers to the ground,” Udinski told me. “It’s hard to account for those yards when you’re practicing some of the things that show up with different angles of tackles. “Even sacks on quarterbacks, where a guy might be blown down before a defensive end gets a hand on a quarterback, and now, they’re in a game and the quarterback can escape and extend plays. A play might have gotten blown dead, but next thing you know, you’re in a scramble and you’ve had limited reps in scramble drills.” One more factor to consider in the high scoring: NFL games are rarely hotter than in Week 1 with mid-September highs, and six openers had temperatures at kickoff recorded at 89 degrees or hotter. You combine that conditioning concern with players testing their stamina by playing a full game in most cases for the first time in eight months. “There are no two-a-days. They’re never on the field for three and a half hours on a given day,” Udinski said. If the record scoring was a surprise to some, it wasn’t to Las Vegas oddsmakers, as the 16 Week 1 scoring totals had eight games go over their over/under point totals and eight games fall short. Thursday’s Bills-Lions game had an over/under of 54.5 points — four points higher than any Week 1 game — and the two teams still cleared the over by 16.5 points in the end. The scoring explosion was led by the Bears, and their head coach, Ben Johnson, has expressed a team goal of becoming the highest-scoring team in NFL history. Scoring 59 in an opener is a great start toward that, as the record for an entire season is 37.9 points per game, which was scored by the 2013 Broncos. So, Chicago can be three touchdowns a game worse than they were Sunday and still fulfill their goal of becoming the highest-scoring team ever. That’s how high the bar was set by Week 1 this season.​Latest Sports News from FOX Sports

It’s been a little more than a year since the Dallas Cowboys traded Micah Parsons and began rebuilding the defense in the image Jerry Jones preferred. He spent the millions he didn’t spend on Parsons to make them big, physical and tough, so they could stop the run and stop being pushed around. The result of his efforts was disastrous on Sunday night, of course. They were “out-physicaled” by the New York Giants, in the words of Cowboys coach Brian Schottenheimer after their 28-20 loss. They couldn’t get any consistent pressure on the quarterback. They gave up 165 yards on the ground. They only stopped the Giants twice on 11 third downs. So it was nothing like the brick wall Jones envisioned when he shipped Parsons to the Packers before the start of last season. But it certainly was ironic. “What that defense desperately needs,” an NFC scout told me, “is a guy like Micah Parsons.” It’s way too early to judge this Dallas defense yet, and maybe the next Parsons is there somewhere, waiting to break out. But that emergence needs to come quickly, before the Cowboys waste yet another season, because this defense doesn’t seem to have what Parsons used to give them: a playmaker, a game-wrecker, and someone to make something happen when it really counts. And after one night, it’s not even clear who that breakout star could be. Maybe safety Caleb Downs, the Cowboys’ first-round draft pick, who at least had a mild impact — particularly when he lined up at safety instead of in the slot. He even got a sack and two other pressures, even though he blitzed just three times, according to Next Gen Stats. But Quinnen Williams, who cost the Cowboys defensive tackle Mazi Smith plus a first- and a second-round pick in a trade and then got a three-year, $105.9 million contract extension in August? He pressured the quarterback just once in 28 tries, according to Next Gen Stats, even though he was single-teamed 17 times. And Kenny Clark, the centerpiece of the Parsons trade? Not a single pressure in 28 tries despite being mostly matched up against Francis Mauigoa, a rookie guard. Obviously, those two weren’t even speed bumps for the Giants’ inside-outside rushing attack either — an attack that ran over and around the Cowboys at a clip of five yards per carry. And the entire defense forced only one turnover, even though the Giants tried to help by putting the ball on the ground four times. Or to put it another way: Not a single defensive player had a tangible impact on the game. “We just probably had a little unrealistic expectations in terms of what we could do, especially on the defensive side of the ball with all the new faces and a brand new coordinator,” Cowboys VP Stephen Jones said in an interview on 105.3 The Fan in Dallas on Monday morning. “It’s not like they were popping explosives. They were grinding it out. We didn’t make the plays to get them off the field.” Some of the blame for that goes to what Jerry Jones alluded to in his radio interview the next day — the massive amount of changes the Cowboys made to a defense that gave up more points than any other team last season. They had five new starters on defense, and 60% of their snaps on Sunday night went to players who didn’t play at all for the Cowboys in 2025. And, of course, they have a new, first-time defensive coordinator in 34-year-old Christian Parker, who came over from the Philadelphia Eagles and promised an aggressive new scheme that blitzed on 44.4% of the Giants’ pass plays. But it’s not like they rattled Giants quarterback Jaxson Dart, who completed 23 of 29 passes for 230 yards and three touchdowns and ran eight times for 59 yards (not including his three kneel-downs). And when there was no blitz, there was no pressure — two pressures on 20 four-man rushes, per Next Gen Stats. In most cases, there was no coverage either. Dart was 17 of 19 for 200 yards and two touchdowns against a four-man pass rush, and all three of his touchdowns were to wide-open receivers. He had unbelievable success throwing to open players across the middle and players uncovered in the flat. Running back Devin Singletary caught four dump-off passes for 22 yards that Next Gen Stats said included a startling 40 yards after the catch. So where was the coverage? Where was the pressure? Where were the playmakers? “When there’s no pressure and guys are that open, it makes it seem like guys are just standing around,” the scout told me. “Maybe they were unsure where to go or what to do in the new scheme. They can fix that. “But they had to be asking themselves, ‘Why couldn’t someone just make a play?’” Here’s a better question: Who would that playmaker be on this defense? Who can do that on a consistent basis, the way Parsons once did?” Schottenheimer thinks the playmakers are there. “Every day we went against them in practice,” he said. “The defense we saw in practice was not what we saw [Sunday] night.” Jerry Jones still thinks his bold plan for the post-Parsons era will somehow come together, too. “I saw nothing on review yesterday that tells us that we should depart away from the plan,” Jones said. “The facts are we got a lot of new people on defense doing different things than they’ve been doing. So that’s got to come together. If we keep our head down and keep working on it, it will be better than it was Sunday night.” Maybe that’s true. Maybe Williams will re-emerge as the force he once was with the Jets — albeit four years ago. Maybe Clark will become the run-stuffing dominator Jones insisted he was when he came over from Green Bay. Maybe Rashan Gary, who cost the Cowboys a fourth-round pick this offseason, will become the player who had 7.6 sacks in the first seven games last season, instead of the player who’s had none in the 10 games since. Or maybe the playmaking will come from behind the line. Downs has breakout potential. Cornerback DaRon Bland once had nine interceptions in 2023 (though only one in the 20 games he’s played over two-plus years since then). They have a lot of hopes in Dallas for speedy linebacker DeMarvion Overshown, too. But that’s the problem. The Cowboys always have hope and promise. What they need out of this defense is production, starting when they return home to face the Washington Commanders on Sunday afternoon. And they need someone who can make it happen every time he steps on the field. “The thing about [Parsons] was that even if he had a bad game, he changed things just by his presence,” an offensive assistant coach told me. “You had to game-plan around him. You had to account for him on every snap. Because if you forgot about him for a second, he was up in your face.” “That made everyone else’s job easier. That made his teammates more dangerous. And that made the Cowboys always difficult to play against. “I just don’t think they have a player like that anymore.”​Latest Sports News from FOX Sports

Tom Brady doesn’t want to hear the excuses for the Los Angeles Rams from their season-opening loss against the San Francisco 49ers in Melbourne, Australia. In the season-opening edition of #AskTom, Brady made it evident that he doesn’t care about the narrative that the Rams might have been jet-lagged from their last-minute flight to Australia before their 27-7 loss to the 49ers. “There was one thing I thought about during all that: How much garbage people were talking about the stupid travel,” Brady said. “You know what matters? Playing good football. I don’t give a s— if you show up five minutes before the game, an hour before the game, a week before the game — when you show up and you walk out on the field, complete the passes, make the blocks, make the tackles and play good football. There’s nothing more important than execution. “Yeah, all the things might set up better execution on game day — travel, food — but at the end of the day, go out there and play well. That’s how I settled the debate.” The Rams didn’t arrive in Melbourne until just over 24 hours before kickoff, a move that was widely questioned in the lead-up to the season-opening matchup. The 49ers, meanwhile, made their way Down Under over a week before the game, getting acclimated before their dominant win. That was just one of a few things that Brady hit on in his mailbag. He also fielded a question on the Super Bowl LI call sheet he showed during the Week 1 broadcast of the Washington Commanders-Philadelphia Eagles game before explaining certain routes and offensive concepts. Here’s the first full Ask Tom of the 2026 season. Q: Does terminology change from year-to-year, or do I have Josh McDaniels’ full playbook now? Brady: You might have some words in the playbook, but you never know what Josh is cooking up. That Super Bowl call sheet was all dependent on who we had on the team, what our strengths were, going against who Atlanta had as their defenders and what we thought their weaknesses were. I thought the most important thing I was showing during that game is we worked really hard for two weeks to get all those plays segmented in the right places and, ultimately, Josh had to call them at the right time. There’s still a lot of in-game adjustments happening, but I just wanted the viewer to know that the process for putting calls in the call sheet is an arduous process. It’s all about continuous conversations by everybody, working to get all the calls in the right box so that when that situation comes up, it’s really easy for Josh to find it, queue what he wants to call and then relay it to me as quickly as possible. It’s not just a random set of plays. It’s not a playbook; it’s a call sheet. In the playbook, there’s maybe 1,500, 2,000 different calls you can make. We boiled that down to 100, 120. Out of those, maybe 65, 70 actually got called and there’s always a little bit of adjustments throughout the game to make sure you’re giving yourself the best chance to win during that day, too. Q: Do you have to memorize the call sheet? If we wiped that, do you have to write that in yourself? Brady: No, it’s literally impossible. There’s no way that could happen. There’s just way too much vernacular, so to speak, on those call sheets; they’re very detailed. You have to know every motion — it could be a Zip, Zap, Zat, Whack, Hat, Home, Condo — I’m really not [making up words]. It just sounds like [I’m making up words]. It’s called football speak, and it’s a language in itself. Listen, I was really s—ty at Spanish, French and all of that. I wasn’t bad at football. I knew my football language. Q: On the “Gronk & Jules” show, they said that you would tell them to commit if you’re going to run the wrong route. How would you know when that’s going to happen? Brady: I think there were a couple of players — Jules and Gronk — who didn’t mind ad-libbing a little bit because, sometimes, let’s say you have an inside route called, but the defender jumps inside. I would never mind if, rather than pressing him inside, I would rather press him inside and work him a little bit to the outside to still find the open spot. There was no point in running to a covered area of the field. You don’t want to break into another guy’s zone, so to speak. What you really want to do is still find a soft spot, but that soft spot moves four or five yards in each direction. I think the one guy that I really look to in the NFL right now who has incredible feel, and has for a long time, is Travis Kelce. He and Patrick [Mahomes] have a great chemistry between the two of them. Travis is never going to run to a spot that’s covered. He’s always going to pull up a little bit short or run through that area to find the next open zone. That’s what great football players do. And that takes a lot of time to get to that place as well, between a quarterback and receiver. But when it works, it’s magic. Q: Jules and Gronk were some of the best at that, that you played with? Brady: They really were. I put Wes Welker in that mix. I put Mike Evans and Chris Godwin in that mix. I put James White in that mix. Kevin Faulk in that mix. They didn’t want to run into covered areas, and I don’t blame them, because if you’re running into covered areas, guess what I wasn’t doing? They were covered, I wasn’t throwing them the ball. Q: What’s your take on the 49ers-Rams travel debate? How did you handle long flights before games? Brady: That’s a great question. It’s really top of mind, too. There was one thing I thought about during all that: How much garbage people were talking about the stupid travel. You know what matters? Playing good football. I don’t give a shit if you show up five minutes before the game, an hour before the game, a week before the game — when you show up and you walk out on the field, complete the passes, make the blocks, make the tackles and play good football. There’s nothing more important than execution. Yeah, all the things might set up better execution on game day — travel, food — at the end of the day, go out there and play well. That’s how I settled the debate.” Q: You called one of Jalen Hurts’ completions in Week 1 a “Butterfly with sore legs.” You made my English teacher proud on Sunday. Can you tell us a little bit about your literary upbringing? Brady: I like to tip my cap to Mr. Ralph Stark, my sophomore English teacher at Junipero Serra High School. Thank you for all of the C-plus grades you gave me that helped me continue my athletic career. I wasn’t the best student; you know that. I was always pretty good on your quizzes. I had a lot of friends that helped me; they took the test in Period 2 when I had the test in Period 4 and they helped me with some of the answers. But I owe it to Mr. Stark and all my other English teachers that helped me through the Shakespearean period that I was really talented at as well.​Latest Sports News from FOX Sports