The big ones appear to be Pittsburgh @ Tennessee and Seattle @ Arizona

ALBERT BREER from https://www.si.com/nfl/2020/10/21/nfl-mailbag-cowboys-mike-mccarthy-jets-trevor-lawrence

I love the Bears’ defense, and their ability to pull out wins in tight spots. They may have the NFL’s most physically imposing front, anchored by Khalil Mack, Robert Quinn and Akiem Hicks, Roquan Smith’s starting to live up to his enormous potential and a secondary led by Eddie Jackson and Kyle Fuller has gotten a nice boost from rookie Jaylon Johnson.

They may not be quite what the 2018 defense was, but I think they’re close.

Which brings us to the offense. The line is an issue. Running back depth is paper thin. And Nick Foles has been fine, but he’s not the sort of quarterback who’s going to cover up all the issues the team has. Now, could they get better? Sure. Rookies Cole Kmet (who I think is a real one) and Darnell Mooney should continue to ascend, and that’ll help. GM Ryan Pace could add a piece on the line before the deadline. It’s realistic to expect improvement.

To me, how much improvement they see on the offensive side—and maybe I’m Captain Obvious on this—determines how far they will go, and could be the difference between being a fringe playoff team, and one to be taken seriously in January. Stay tuned.

Aaron Donald has never sacked Nick Foles.

Will that change tomorrow? 🤨
#DaBears #RamsHouse pic.twitter.com/6YKbtF6b6R

— GMFB (@gmfb) October 24, 2020

Rams' 4 biggest causes for concern vs. Bears in Week 7 https://t.co/IXOkAgb512

— Rams Wire (@TheRamsWire) October 24, 2020

from Daily Covid-19 cases will hit six digits soon, expert warns, as US reports a one-day high of more than 83,000 infections

https://www.cnn.com/2020/10/24/health/us-coronavirus-saturday/index.html

The US just marked a harrowing milestone: It recorded its highest one-day number of Covid-19 infections Friday at more than 83,000 — more than 6,000 higher than the country’s previous record set in July.

And as the fall surge continues, the daily numbers will get worse, experts warn.
“We easily will hit six-figure numbers in terms of the number of cases,” Michael Osterholm, director of the Center for Infectious Disease Research and Policy at the University of Minnesota, told CNN Friday night. “And the deaths are going to go up precipitously in the next three to four weeks, following usually new cases by about two to three weeks.”

***
from Fauci says it might be time to mandate masks as Covid-19 surges across US

https://www.cnn.com/2020/10/23/health/fauci-covid-mask-mandate-bn/index.html

Covid-19 has been worsening across the United States, with cases rising in 32 states Friday and holding steady in 17 more. The University of Washington’s Institute for Health Metrics and Evaluation said the country was entering a winter surge as new infections passed 75,000 in a single day on Friday and more than 800 deaths were reported.

Mask mandates may be tricky to enforce, but it might be time to call for them, Fauci said.

“There’s going to be a difficulty enforcing it, but if everyone agrees that this is something that’s important and they mandate it and everybody pulls together and says, you know, we’re going to mandate it but let’s just do it, I think that would be a great idea to have everybody do it uniformly,” he said.

As cooler weather comes, people need to “double down” on measures that work, Fauci said. “Universal mask wearing” is one, he said, as is keeping a distance from others and frequent hand washing. “They sound very simple. But we’re not uniformly doing that and that’s one of the reasons we’re seeing these surges,” Fauci said.

Jourdan Rodrigue@JourdanRodrigue
I had noticed that RB Cam Akers carries a football around the facilities with him and even into his car – finally got a chance to ask him about it today – he says he carries it around everywhere with him just to get a feel for it, something he’s done for years at this point.

PFF LA Rams@PFF
Highest-graded OL by position:
C – Corey Linsley – 88.4
G – Wyatt Teller – 94.4
T – Andrew Whitworth – 90.1

Antonio Brown and the Buccaneers are working towards an agreement

Andrew Brandt@AndrewBrandt
In the last year the Steelers ate a $21 million Cap charge to trade him; the Raiders ate two draft choices to cut him; and the Patriots ate a $9 million signing bonus to cut him.
Good luck Buccaneers.

Tom Brady has been a driving force behind Tampa’s interest. Now both sides working to make it happen. https://t.co/rIyKcYN3Mu

— Adam Schefter (@AdamSchefter) October 23, 2020

After 7 years and 88 middling starts in Miami, we thought we knew what Ryan Tannehill was. Then he transformed into the most efficient passer on the planet.

I wrote about what Tannehill’s resurgence in Tennessee can teach us about quarterbacks. https://t.co/RyepXtf8jp

— Robert Mays (@robertmays) October 23, 2020

—
from that:

it’s not hard to see why the Titans’ offense has been a better fit for Tannehill than Adam Gase’s setup in Miami. Tennessee has an excellent offensive line (with recently injured Taylor Lewan in the lineup), the sport’s most imposing running back in Derrick Henry, and a collection of complementary pass catchers that includes ascending stars A.J. Brown and Jonnu Smith. In offensive coordinator Arthur Smith, the Titans also have a play caller capable of unlocking all that talent. Smith has tapped into every possible way to make a QB’s life easier, and he isn’t afraid to smash those buttons over and over again. Smith has done a fantastic job utilizing the after-the-catch ability of his skill-position talent (no QB in the NFL got more YAC production last season than Tannehill), but the offense’s use of play-action is what really stands out.

"tHe BeArS aRe fRaUdS"

actually they're 5-1 with a top-5 defense

"ok but who have they beaten"

Tom Brady, Matt Ryan, Matt Stafford, a solid Panthers team

"yeah but they should have won those games"

actually they were underdogs in all of them

"…whatever they're frauds" pic.twitter.com/xmUY6vhkTk

— Jeremy Layton (@JeremyLayt0n) October 23, 2020

Earlier today Dr. Fauci was asked “when was the last time Trump was at a coronavirus task force meeting”….mind you yesterday the country recorded the largest number of daily cases since the start at almost 80K

Dr. Fauci’s answer👇🏻 pic.twitter.com/qQO9LtAdyZ

— Icculus The Brave (@FirenzeMike) October 23, 2020

What is the reason for the slow starts on defense? Seem to give up a lot in the first half and then lock down the second half.

Jourdan Rodrigue@JourdanRodrigue
It’s a great question, and I think there are two parts to it — also addressed this week by Staley. First, he spoke about adjusting from the first half to the second half:

“I think sometimes when you get to see an offense for a half,” Staley said, “you get a real strong sense of how they’re trying to attack you and then now you’re able to apply the game plan, maybe flip the script a little bit, get to some things that maybe you weren’t able to get to in the first half. But it comes down to execution of your assignment and your technique.”

So it seems to me that Staley has a plan for his defense, from week to week, that is opponent-specific, and after gaining an understanding of what that opponent is doing (and hopefully not making too many execution errors, such as missed tackles), the Rams focus hard on adjustments. They try to go from reactive to assertive, and that usually happens in the second half, when, by the way, the Rams are allowing less than five points per game, on average (No. 1 in the NFL). Obviously, they would like to see those adjustments happen earlier in the game.

But, of course, that doesn’t work quite as well if the defense is making unforced errors, like missing tackles. That was a particular problem last week against San Francisco, and Staley attributed it to the team missing some of its normal energy and failing to be as nasty as possible at the contact point.

“We’ve got to be more aggressive,” Staley said. “We certainly emphasize it, we drill it. … We certainly have had guys in position, so I don’t think it’s a schematic deal. I just think we have to be a little bit more aggressive at the finish. I think that mindset, of really being physical on the finish and getting as many guys as we can to the football so if a guy misses we are there for another physical finish. … At the beginning of that game, we were a little off and didn’t have the same energy that our entire team is capable of having, that we’ve displayed, and it showed in that first half.

“It’s just coming out with the right energy, the right mindset. Not trying to feel your way at the beginning of the game. You make sure that you’re going to happen to the beginning of the game — not let it happen to you.”

Why are the Rams still playing Kenny Young?

Jourdan Rodrigue@JourdanRodrigue
Who else would they play instead at inside linebacker? Kenny Young, by the way, is only averaging approximately half of the snaps on defense, and is getting sent on blitzes at a higher rate than his counterpart, Micah Kiser, so it’s possible they are keeping him in on more passing downs to try to manufacture pressure, and also to help contain in coverage. The other option would be Troy Reeder, and bless his heart, but you don’t want Reeder in coverage.

One thing I want to continue to point out about the Rams’ inside linebackers is how obvious it has become that the position is the least “valuable” on the field for the Rams, and one they felt comfortable scheming around while knowing they had to address other needs in free agency and the draft. They waived seventh-rounder Clay Johnston, their only drafted inside linebacker, during roster cutdowns. Even after losing Travin Howard to a knee injury in training camp, the Rams opted to only keep three active inside linebackers on their roster. They also didn’t promote anybody from the practice squad, even when Kiser was out in Week 5.

Much of this methodology lies in the fact that Staley believes strong safeties should be more like linebackers in his ideal scheme (John Johnson has played 100 percent of the defensive snaps so far this season and calls plays). It will be interesting to see how that plays out in the future (assumedly via the draft), because I have to think the Rams would at least like to have a solid coverage linebacker in there against teams like San Francisco, which loves to try to stretch the Rams wider than they are comfortable being.

Early voting in Texas is already at 71% of their TOTAL voter turnout from 2016 and we're still 11 days away from the election. That's the highest percentage for any state in the nation BY FAR. Simply remarkable stuff going on down there.https://t.co/Ziv1Asqfm5

— Brett Kollmann (@BrettKollmann) October 23, 2020

The amazing thing isn't that Big Whit continues to produce. It's that he really struggled in the first few games a year ago. https://t.co/8i0KZGF5SH

— BTHRams (@BTH_Rams) October 23, 2020

Andrew Siciliano@AndrewSiciliano
Ladies and gentlemen, your 1st place 2-4-1 Philadelphia Eagles.

Jason La Canfora@JasonLaCanfora
The Eagles will win the division by least three games … And that’s if they go 7-9

I love this terrible division pic.twitter.com/nRXwtz25z6

— Master (@MasterTes) October 23, 2020