Eric Williams

NFL Reporter

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Kyler Murray is playing like an MVP candidate in leading the Arizona Cardinals to the top spot in the NFC West, showing that head coach Jonathan Gannon and general manager Monti Ossenfort were right to stick with the former No. 1 overall pick rather than find a new QB.

Murray can play at an elite level, and the Cardinals would have been hard-pressed to find someone of similar ability through the draft, free agency or trade. 

“I felt like he was a premium player, and I think that I felt in my mind if we put the right people in place and coach them the right way, he could elevate his game to another level, which I think he has,” Gannon said. “[And] I don’t think he’s hit his ceiling yet.”

Now in his sixth season, the Oklahoma product has finally matured, showing command of the Arizona offense. Murray has played particularly well in the past month. During Arizona’s four-game winning streak, he has completed 70.8% percent of his passes for 872 yards, with four touchdowns and one interception for a 104.0 passer rating.

In a lopsided win over the Jets on Sunday, Murray connected on a franchise-record 17 straight attempts, completing 91.7% of his passes overall for 266 yards and a score. He also rushed for 31 yards and two touchdowns. 

In the process, Murray passed Jake Plummer for third-most passing yards in franchise history with 17,705. For his effort, Murray was named NFC Offensive Player of the Week. 

Murray also showed his toughness on Sunday. He took a vicious hit on a sack by New York’s Quincy Williams, and then went on to throw a touchdown to rookie Marvin Harrison Jr. on that drive. 

“I’m kind of glad it happened,” Murray said about the play in which his helmet flew off. “It felt good. It’s playing football. I don’t get hit too often, so I get it, it’s kind of an adrenaline rush. It’s a physical, violent game. It’s part of the game. I appreciate it.” 

Murray had the most significant move up the MVP odds leader board, going from 20/1 last week to 15/1. Lamar Jackson remains the leader, followed by Josh Allen and Patrick Mahomes. After his five-interception performance last week, Lions QB Jared Goff dropped from 7/1 to 20/1.

Here’s my top five as we head into Week 11. 

1. Lamar Jackson, Ravens
Current MVP Odds: -110 (bet $10 to win $19.09 total)

The reigning league MVP continues to play at an elite level in leading the Ravens. And he’s been particularly clutch with the game on the line. In the fourth quarter this season, Jackson has completed 64.3% of his passes for 723 yards, with seven touchdowns and no interceptions for a 120.1 passer rating.

Jackson also has been lethal completing passes in the intermediate area of the field (10 to 19 yards). According to Next Gen Stats, Jackson has completed a league-high 73.9% of his passes for an NFL-high 10 touchdowns with no interceptions on those throws.

Tom Brady’s 3 Stars of Week 10: Lamar Jackson, Ja’Marr Chase, Leo Chenal | DIGITAL EXCLUSIVE

2. Josh Allen, Bills
Current MVP Odds: +350 (bet $10 to win $45 total)

On Sunday, Allen had two interceptions in one game for the first time this season, but Buffalo still managed to hold off the Indianapolis Colts. Allen could potentially be looking at more turnover-worthy plays when the Bills host the undefeated Chiefs this week.

Kansas City blitzes 36.5% of the time, fourth highest in the league. However, Allen has thrown for 705 yards, with a league-high 11 touchdowns and zero interceptions against the blitz this season, according to Next Gen Stats.

3. Jalen Hurts, Eagles
Current MVP Odds: +1200 (bet $10 to win $130 total)

Interesting stat line for Hurts: He averaged 33 passes a game in the first four weeks of the season. But since the Eagles’ bye week, he has thrown just 21 times per game and is responsible for 16 total touchdowns (eight passing, eight rushing) and just one interception during his team’s five-game winning streak.

So, offensive coordinator Kellen Moore’s emphasis on Saquon Barkley and the running game is paying dividends for Philadelphia. 

4. Kyler Murray, Cardinals
Current MVP Odds: +1500 (bet $10 to win $160 total)

Speaking of the running game, Arizona offensive coordinator Drew Petzing’s ability to marry his diverse running game with the play-action passing game has led to an explosive offense for Murray and the Cardinals.

Arizona averages 5.24 rushing yards per carry, No. 2 in the NFL. That success running the ball has opened the play-action passing game for Murray. According to Next Gen Stats, Murray has completed 72% of his passes for 817 yards, with four touchdowns and two interceptions for a 109.7 passer rating on play-action passes. 

5. Jayden Daniels, Commanders
Current MVP Odds: +2000 (bet $10 to win $210 total)

Washington’s rookie quarterback had an uneven performance in a one-point loss to the Pittsburgh Steelers, completing just 50% of his passes for 202 yards, with no touchdowns and no interceptions. 

However, Daniels still leads all rookies in passing yards (2,147), completion percentage (68.7%), passer rating (101.7) and is No. 3 in rushing yards (464). 

Honorable mention: Patrick Mahomes, Derrick Henry, Saquon Barkley, Jared Goff, Joe Burrow

Eric D. Williams has reported on the NFL for more than a decade, covering the Los Angeles Rams for Sports Illustrated, the Los Angeles Chargers for ESPN and the Seattle Seahawks for the Tacoma News Tribune. Follow him on Twitter at @eric_d_williams.

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Captain Harry Kane is unhappy with the number of players who have withdrawn from the latest England squad, insisting “England comes before club”.

Nine players have dropped out of the squad for Lee Carsley’s final two matches as interim manager before Thomas Tuchel takes charge in January.

“I think England comes before anything. England comes before club,” Kane told ITV Sport.

“England is the most important thing you play as a professional footballer and Gareth [Southgate] was hot on that and he wasn’t afraid to make decisions if, you know, that started to drift from certain players.”

When asked if the desire to play for England has drifted this international break, Kane said: “Yeah, it’s a shame this week obviously.

“I think it’s a tough period of the season, maybe that’s been taken advantage of a little bit.

“I don’t really like it if I’m totally honest. I think England comes before anything, any club situation.”

Trent Alexander-Arnold, Cole Palmer, Phil Foden, Jack Grealish, Bukayo Saka, Declan Rice, Aaron Ramsdale and Levi Colwill have dropped out.

Everton’s Jarrad Branthwaite was one of the replacement players called up to the squad, until he became the ninth player to withdraw.

Liverpool’s Jarell Quansah is set to be his replacement, having trained with the team for the past two days.

England likely must beat Greece in Athens on Thursday and Republic of Ireland at Wembley on Sunday if they are to be promoted to League A of the Uefa Nations League.

It’s far too harsh to call it the “rookie wall,” but this year’s much-praised class of first-year quarterbacks — led by the Commanders‘ Jayden Daniels, the Broncos‘ Bo Nix, the Bears‘ Caleb Williams and the Patriots‘ Drake Maye — has seen its precocious start drop off a bit from its peak a month ago.

In Week 6, we noted that the rookies had combined for 12 touchdown passes — the most by rookies in any week in any season in NFL history — but in four weeks since, they’ve totaled 13, closer to normal rookie production.

It’s the reality of being a rookie quarterback in the NFL. The rookies have gone 1-3 in each of the last two weeks. Amazing upset bids can come up short, like Nix’s Broncos against the Chiefs, scuttled by a blocked field goal. Promising comebacks can do the same, as Daniels threw an 8-yard pass on fourth-and-9 in trying to rally Washington in a one-point loss to the Steelers.

And Williams has seen a decidedly rough patch where the Bears offense stalled so completely that offensive coordinator Shane Waldron was fired Tuesday. After a 4-2 start, the Bears have dropped three straight and averaged 9 points a game in that slide. Williams hasn’t had a single touchdown in those three games, and after completing 65% of his passes in the first six games, he’s at 51% in the past three.

One thing this year’s rookie quarterbacks have managed to avoid consistently are interceptions. Of this year’s rookie starters, only Maye (3.3%) has an interception percentage above 2%. For comparison, all the rookies in 2022 were over 2%. This year, the class average is 1.77%, down from 2.06 last year, 2.94% in 2022 and 3.21% in 2021.

This is a challenging week for the four rookies: Daniels has a spotlight game Thursday night at Philadelphia, Williams will get his first shot with new offensive coordinator Thomas Brown at home against the Packers, and the Broncos host the division-leading Falcons. Maye has the easiest of the lot, at home against the Rams, but chances are it’s another 1-3 week ahead for the rookie QB starters.

Will the Bears and Caleb Williams rebound after firing OC Shane Waldron?

Adonai Mitchell finally arrives

The top tier of this year’s rookie receiver class — nine taken in the first 34 picks — has been outstanding in making an immediate impact, but the rest of the drafted receivers have struggled to get catches, let alone touchdowns.

Patriots second-rounder Ja’Lynn Polk has 80 receiving yards all season, Jets third-rounder Malachi Corley has 6 yards, and Steelers third-rounder Roman Wilson, limited by injuries, has played in one game, with no catches.

Colts second-round pick Adonai Mitchell had also struggled for much of his rookie season. Entering Sunday’s game, he had just 12 catches on 32 targets — that’s a 37.5% catch rate, third-lowest in the entire NFL (with as many targets) behind Polk (37.0%) and Packers receiver Dontayvion Wicks (37.2%).

But facing the Bills last Sunday, Mitchell stepped up in a big way, filling in for an injured Michael Pittman Jr. and connecting with quarterback Joe Flacco. Mitchell had six catches on six targets for 71 yards, five good for first downs. It came in a losing effort, but for the first time this season, he showed the promise he had in scoring 11 touchdowns at Texas last season.

Tyrone Tracy Jr. emerges for New York

The Giants have lost five straight games, but a bright spot continues to be rookie running back Tracy, a fifth-round pick who played at Iowa and Purdue. Since taking over as the primary back six weeks ago, Tracy ranks fifth in the NFL with 516 rushing yards, and his average of 5.4 yards per carry is good enough that only the Ravens‘ Derrick Henry and the Eagles‘ Saquon Barkley have better averages on as many carries over the past six games.

The Giants are contemplating a quarterback change from Daniel Jones, but a smart decision would just be to use Tracy more in the red zone. New York has the worst red-zone offense in the NFL, not only in terms of scoring, but with five red-zone turnovers as well. They’ve had 82 plays inside the opposing 20 and have turned to Tracy on just 13 of them — about 15% — and ramping that number up, either in the run game or passing, would help whoever plays quarterback.

Another rookie shining for Rams

No team has gotten more from its rookies than the Rams, and the depth of that group — 18 rookies on the 53-man roster at one point — can be seen in undrafted rookie linebacker Omar Speights. He made the roster as a special-teams player, but an injury to Troy Reeder has put Speights on the field on defense in the past three weeks. He had eight tackles in 39 snaps in Monday’s loss to the Dolphins, after totaling just six all season. The impact on both sides of the ball from the Rams’ rookie class is something that will give them an inexpensive core for years to come, and Speights only adds to that cache of young talent.

Greg Auman is an NFL Reporter for FOX Sports. He previously spent a decade covering the Buccaneers for the Tampa Bay Times and The Athletic. You can follow him on Twitter at @gregauman.

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“From the moment we started the recruitment process, Gareth and Richard were our number one targets,” said Town’s director of football Micky Moore. “It is a massive coup for Shrewsbury Town to have them here.

“I’ve known Gareth for a long time. He was the stand-out candidate. And he is someone I have always admired for the outstanding work he did at Wycombe.

“He brings to this football club an enthusiasm and a wealth of knowledge having managed more than 150 games in League One. He is exactly what we need.

“I’m sure, in time, we will be able to build a football club that will really make the town and our supporters proud.”

Long-serving Shrewsbury chairman Roland Wycherley is in the process of trying to step down as the owner of the Shropshire club.

Ainsworth, who has worked as a match summariser in the media over the past 12 months, is Wycherley’s 15th and probably final appointment after 28 and a half years at the helm.

“I would like to extend a very warm welcome to Gareth and Richard at this difficult time,” said Wycherley. “I wish them every success in their endeavours as they work to restore the feel-good factor to our club.”

Shrewsbury sit 24th in League One, having swapped places with Burton Albion as a result of their 2-0 defeat by the Brewers last weekend.

First-team coach Sean Parrish took caretaker charge of both that and Tuesday’s 3-0 EFL Trophy hammering at Walsall.

Town are scheduled to return to action on 23 November with a lunchtime home game against title favourites Birmingham City.