Sports

49ers quarterback Brock Purdy opened Monday night's game by capping a 15-play drive with a touchdown pass to wide receiver Jauan Jennings, but the rest of the half did not go nearly as well for him.

Purdy threw interceptions on the next three 49ers possessions and two of them set the Panthers up in 49ers territory. The 49ers defense stepped up to limit the Panthers to three points off of the turnovers and the Niners won the game 20-9, but that kind of carelessness with the ball is usually a recipe for disaster.

After the game, Purdy said he was fine with "the decisions of going to those spots" on the interceptions but that he "needed to just drive the ball a little bit more" on the throws. Purdy was then asked if the toe injury that caused him to miss eight games factored into not driving the ball the way he wanted to on Monday.

"No, toe is fine," Purdy said, via 49ersWebzone.com. "Feels good out there. It's really just seeing the play develop, anticipating and letting it rip at the end of the day. So, it had nothing to do with my toe."

49ers head coach Kyle Shanahan said that Purdy was "a hair late" throwing the ball on the interceptions. The 49ers will need to get their timing right in the coming days because Myles Garrett and a Browns defense coming off a 10-sack game will be waiting to try to force them into more mistakes in Cleveland.

From the moment the NFL released the 2025 schedule, it became immediately clear that Thursday's Chiefs-Cowboys game will be the most-watched regular-season game ever.

The current record came three years ago, on Thanksgiving Day 2022. Then, 42.1 million watched the Cowboys beat the Giants, 28-20. The audience surpassed a Monday night game from 1990 between the 10-1 Giants and 10-1 49ers, which had attracted 41.5 million.

Seven of the nine largest audiences games landed on Thanksgiving. The other happened in 1985, when the Dolphins gave the Bears their only loss of the season on a Monday night in December.

Even if both squads didn't have their postseason backs essentially against the wall, the game between the franchises that fancy themselves "America's Team" was destined to set the record — especially with the new Nielsen system that is operating like reverse Ozempic for audience size.

Here's something else to consider, as the fourth Thursday in November approaches. With the second game of the day destined to finish first, the first game of the day could finish second.

It's a prediction that was made on Monday by John Ourand of Puck, in his Varsity newsletter. The underpinnings: it's a consequential game between two currently popular teams, the new Nielsen bump, and the simulcast on Tubi, which added 13.6 million viewers to Fox's broadcast of Super Bowl LIX.

With the Lions ascending in recent years, the early game has shifted from captive audience to appointment viewing. This year, it's must-see TV. And it's not crazy to think that 42.1 million will be beaten by both of the Thanksgiving afternoon games.

Throughout his career, Ravens quarterback Lamar Jackson has been able to make plays with his legs like no other quarterback in NFL history. But not this year.

Although Jackson's passing stats are as good as ever this season, he has declined significantly in his ability to gain ground running the ball, and to use his mobility to avoid sacks.

Jackson has run the ball just 46 times for 237 yards and one touchdown through eight games this season. He's averaging career lows in rushing attempts, yards and touchdowns per game. In fact, totaling seven carries for 11 yards on Sunday against the Jets, Jackson is all the way down to an average of 29.6 rushing yards per game this season. Less than 30 yards rushing per game is unheard of for Jackson; prior to this year, Jackson had never averaged less than 50 rushing yards per start in any season of his career.

Jackson is also struggling to run away from the pass rush. He has been sacked on 11 percent of his dropbacks this season, by far the highest sack percentage in any season of his career. Jackson has already been sacked more times this year, while throwing just 195 passes, than he was all of last year, when he threw a career-high 474 passes.

In the first game of this season, Jackson was moving as he always has: He ran the ball six times for 70 yards and a touchdown against the Bills. Since then, he hasn't gained even 50 yards in any game, and hasn't run for a touchdown.

Jackson missed three games with a hamstring injury and is currently dealing with a toe injury, but the Ravens shook off a 1-5 start to win five games in a row and are now in first place in the AFC North. A healthy and mobile Jackson in the playoffs could make the Ravens a dangerous opponent, but so far this season we haven't seen the Jackson of old.