Arians: Cardinals-Jets flag fest was ‘well-officiated game’

There were 19 accepted penalties, for 147 yards, in the Arizona Cardinals’ 28-3 victory against the New York Jets Monday night.

The flag fest made for a very slow game that was difficult to watch. And you would think the coaches of the team wouldn’t be happy with the officials for being so officious.

‘There were a lot of fouls’

You would also be wrong, at least when it came to Cardinals coach Bruce Arians.

“I thought it was a well-officiated game,” Arians told Alex Marvez and Bill Polian on Late Hits. “There were a lot of fouls. And too many times, they’re getting missed now.

‘When there’s that many penalties, they should be thrown’

“I know people get upset when there’s that many flags, but when there’s that many penalties, they should be thrown. And there could have been more.”

 

Chiefs’ NT Poe goes from ‘playing around’ as receiver in practice to scoring catch

When you’re 6-foot-3 and 346 pounds, your involvement with the offense is usually limited to tackling someone or opening a hole.

The only time you might touch a football is the way Dontari Poe initially touched it as a nose tackle for the Kansas City Chiefs.

‘In practice, I used to play around with the Jugs machine’

“Just in practice, I used to play around with the Jugs machine,” he told Alex Marvez and Bill Polian on Late Hits. “And I just used to catch ’em, try my best. Catch a couple of ’em one-handed, just to show off and play around a little bit.”

That is, until one day when Chiefs coach Andy Reid called Poe over to discuss having a role on offense.

‘Thank God he put it in this week’

“And we ran a couple plays and, thank God, he put it in this week, and there it is,” Poe said of “Hungry Pig Right,” the play on which he caught a screen pass from Alex Smith for a one-yard touchdown in the Chiefs’ 26-10 victory against the Oakland Raiders.

His only concern was making sure he held onto the ball, which was wet from the rain that had been falling during the game. Poe was wearing gloves.

“Like a real wide receiver,” Polian pointed out.

“Yeah, something like that,” Poe said with a laugh.

 

 

O’Brien: Texans use ‘a lot of different guys’ to replace Watt

The Houston Texans aren’t even pretending to act as if they don’t miss J.J. Watt, the three-time NFL Defensive Player of the Year who is out for the season after undergoing back surgery.

Yes, they have done a good job of getting after the quarterback, ranking sixth in the league with 16 sacks. But it’s taking a group effort to fill Watt’s void at defensive end.

‘Jadeveon Clowney has played real well’

“Any time you lose a guy like that who’s had 75-plus sacks in the time that he’s played, that’s tough,” Texans coach Bill O’Brien told Jim Miller and Pat Kirwan on Movin’ The Chains. “You can’t really replace that one guy, but what you can do is use a lot of different guys to help. And I think the fact (is) that Jadeveon Clowney has played real well, Whitney Mercilus has played very well, John Simon has given us some good pass rush. (Defensive coordinator) Romeo (Crennel’s) scheme helps out quite a bit.

“The other night (in the Texans’ victory against Indianapolis), Benardrick McKinney did a nice job on some blitzes. So it’s a group of players that are doing a real good job together and I think we’re playing good defense.

‘We need to stop the run better’

“We need to stop the run better. We didn’t do as good a job of that against the Colts and that’s going to be a big key for us (Monday night) against Denver because Denver’s a really good running team.”

 

Kubiak: Broncos ‘have got to start playing better’

Gary Kubiak’s health is good after a scary encounter with a complex migraine.

The same can’t be said about his team, the Denver Broncos, who have lost their last two games and need to find ways to improve before taking on the Houston Texans Monday night.

‘It’s good to be back on the field’

“I feel good,” Kubiak told Jim Miller and Pat Kirwan on Movin’ The Chains. “A rough couple days, but spent some time with people trying to figure out a few things and have got me feeling really good. And I actually was in here over the weekend getting back after it and started getting ready for Houston, so it’s good to be back on the field and it makes you really appreciate what you’re doing.”

Watching the Broncos play their last two games had to make Kubiak appreciate even more his club that won Super Bowl 50 last February. The coach saw far too many similarities in the team’s Week 6 loss against San Diego — for which special-teams coach Joe DeCamillis served as interim coach — and its loss against Atlanta the previous week.

‘Penalties have been a big issue’

“The game looked a little bit like the one we played a couple of weeks ago,” Kubiak said. “We got off to some slow starts, got behind some people and really struggled to get ourselves back in both games late, but too late.

“We’ve got to start playing better. Penalties have been a big issue — 12 penalties last week, two turnovers last week — so got to play better team football. So we got a good long week to think about it and get ready to play Houston.”

 

Quinn: Jets should stick with Fitzpatrick

Even after Monday night’s disastrous showing against the Arizona Cardinals, Ryan Fitzpatrick has at least one person who believes he should remain the starting quarterback for the New York Jets.

Former NFL QB and SiriusXM co-host Brady Quinn thinks it would be a mistake for the Jets to pull the plug on Fitzpatrick and go with Geno Smith, who relieved Fitzpatrick against the Cardinals, for the rest of the season.

‘Fitzpatrick is your best chance at this point’

“I still think Ryan Fitzpatrick is your best chance at this point,” Quinn told Bruce Murray on the SiriusXM Blitz. “So I don’t know that you just go into experimental mode and start throwing in Bryce Petty and Christian Hackenberg just to see what they are. I think maybe you wait until the last few weeks of the season to do something like that.

‘They can be competitive’

“But at this point there’s still enough time, they’re still talented enough. I think they can be competitive. They just have to figure some things out and do it fast.”