After Further Review: Earl Thomas has no reason to apologize for own emotion

David Steele

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After Further Review: Earl Thomas has no reason to apologize for own emotion image

This looks like a divorce petition. Or, a sign that it’s what you get when you put that divorce off too long.

The grievous injury suffered by Earl Thomas Sunday in Arizona reaffirmed every player's worst fears of playing while waiting for a contract, whether an extension or through a franchise-tag year. Khalil Mack held out during the preseason because of it, and Le’Veon Bell is holding out now because of it. This has been repeated constantly throughout all three players’ money fights.

It caught Thomas. The “just get out there and play, you’re already making millions" crowd is shrugging through this. The folks who don’t object to players using what little leverage they have flinched hard as they saw one of the NFL's best players at any position over the last decade get carted off for the second time in three years.

They didn't begrudge him for the one-finger salute to the Seahawks' side of the field, either. That was not the time to demand any player, much less that one, to instantly turn off the emotion that got him onto the field and drove him to that elite level of play, despite the extreme risk to his future and to his utterly reasonable desire to get what he's worth.

Thomas got vocal support from a valued and respected teammate afterward: "If he doesn't come (to report and play), he's not a team player, if he does come, and he gets hurt, then he shouldn't have came," linebacker Bobby Wagner said. "It's a position we get put in often. I think that's why you have to be able to play football and be able to handle the business side of the game."

As for his teammate's reaction to having his season end the same way twice, and under these circumstances, and reacting as he did, Wagner said, "If I was him, I’d be pissed off."

Thomas also got love from a departed member of the Legion of Boom.

Richard Sherman’s tweet reminded all that nearly all of the charter members left the Seahawks broken. Sherman is in San Francisco after his torn Achilles last season, and Kam Chancellor retired because of a neck injury. Only Brandon Browner left in full health … as a free agent.

The NFL is worse off today because Thomas is out of uniform, regardless of what uniform he would have worn the rest of this season. It’s also worse when the sacrifices of players like him not only go unrewarded, but mocked and belittled.

This time, the glove was on the other finger.

— Trubisky joins the Bears’ party

Just three weeks ago, on the opening Sunday night of the season, the Bears’ best offense was their defense, and their most dangerous scoring threat was Khalil Mack. Ever since, the questions rose as to when Matt Nagy’s offensive schemes and Mitchell Trubisky’s execution and decision-making would catch up.

In Week 4, they caught up. After Trubisky's six touchdown passes, after the 48-10 bludgeoning of the Buccaneers and after the 3-1 Bears stayed in first place going into their bye week, the quarterback hinted that the long wait for the offense was over.

"Coach Nagy called a great game, and it was just great execution all the way around," he said after throwing for more touchdowns than any Bears quarterback in a single game other than Sid Luckman during World War II. "When all 11 guys are on the same page like that, you see things start to clicking. That was kind of the breakthrough that we were hoping for and we were expecting to do on offense."

For the first time, the commitments to Trubisky, then Nagy, then the offensive upgrades this offseason truly paid off. Not a moment too soon, either: "It’s awesome to take some pressure off them and put some points off the board," Trubisky said of the defense.

Sunday was his 16th career start; he took over for Mike Glennon four games into his rookie season. In the first 15, he totaled nine touchdowns, with just one game with more than one, and four with more touchdowns than interceptions (each of them a 1-0 ratio).

The ratio in start No. 16 was 6-0.

— Matt Ryan vs. his own defense

Matt Ryan is the reverse Trubisky. Here’s what he’s faced the last two weeks, according to ESPN:

That’s not shocking, for a couple of reasons. Throwing for more than 350 yards and three touchdowns and still losing isn't that unusual, despite it never happening to one player in consecutive games before. Kirk Cousins did that against the Rams just Thursday night, with 400-plus yards. Tom Brady did it last season with 500-plus yards … in the Super Bowl. It’s the nature of the game.

The other reason is that the Falcons’ defense is the anti-Bears defense. With the losses of Keanu Neal, Deion Jones and Ricardo Allen for the season, one can only bark "next man up" so many times. Last week, Drew Brees just went Drew Brees on them to get the Saints a win in overtime. This week, Andy Dalton … went Andy Dalton.

For all his accomplishments, Ryan is always going to catch grief over Super Bowl 51, and even over his penchant for untimely mistakes earlier in his career. But if he were ever to become a truly sympathetic figure for the public to root for, this is it. He’s going to be on the wrong end of shootouts more often than anyone would want.

— In Indy, it could be worse

Don’t be too hard on Frank Reich. As gaffes by Colts head coaches go, the man he replaced, Chuck Pagano, still has the upper hand.

IYER: Ripping Reich for call is short-sighted

— For Bill O’Brien, it could be worse

Is the Bill O’Brien Watch canceled? It is, for now. The Texans’ first win of the season, 37-34 at the gun in overtime over the Colts, was welcome, and no one will throw it back because it was largely handed to them. But they didn't exactly cover themselves in glory, coughing up a 28-10 third-quarter lead. They’ve been all over the map in their under-performing so far: unable to stop the Patriots’ offense in the opener, bungling the final drive against the Titans, then letting an inept Giants team dominate them for three quarters.

Squeezing this one out is the first sign of light for a team that’s too talented to have stared down the barrel of an 0-4 start. Their next two games, at home against the Cowboys and Bills, fit the description of "winnable." But they’d better jell fast before that hole gets deeper.

MORE: NFL coaching stock watch, Week 4

— Getting late early in Minnesota

Whose fans should have felt their hearts sink more from the Bills’ 22-0 demolition in Green Bay? Not necessarily Bills fans, even after the tease of last week in Minnesota. And not Packers fans, of course.

How about Vikings fans? They’ve got to be baffled by what’s going on with their team. There were troubling elements of the tie against the Packers, and worrisome ones about the loss to the Rams on Thursday night. The Bills game sandwiched in between, though … that only looked worse a week later, and it looked bad enough at the time. That’s three straight winless games, with an NFC title game rematch in Philadelphia coming next.

They should be running the ball better, but they’re not. They should be protecting Kirk Cousins better, but they're not. Cousins should be taking care of the ball better, but he’s not. The defense should be closer to dominant than it is, even with Eversen Griffen missing for the foreseeable future, but it’s not. And all of it looks worse compared to the success of last season and the expectations for this one.

One month into the season, the 1-2-1 Vikings are ahead of the Lions in their division … and that’s it.

David Steele

David Steele Photo

David Steele writes about the NFL for Sporting News, which he joined in 2011 as a columnist. He has previously written for AOL FanHouse, the Baltimore Sun, San Francisco Chronicle and Newsday. He co-authored Olympic champion Tommie Smith's autobiography, Silent Gesture.