Sports

Last year, Broncos cornerback Patrick Surtain II was named the NFL's Defensive Player of the Year. This year, Surtain says that honor should go to his teammate, Broncos outside linebacker Nik Bonitto.

Bonitto says it's way too soon to say that.

Asked after Sunday's win over the Jets about Surtain campaigning for him, Bonitto instead turned the attention to Surtain, who was largely responsible for Jets receiver Garrett Wilson catching just three passes for 13 yards.

"It's obviously an honor. Pat, he's the best in the game right now," Bonitto said. "What he did today was special. Every week we always go out to him to guard the best guy and we don't hear from him ever again throughout the game. It's a testament to him and obviously that's a great honor just coming from him."

Bonitto said he has a lot more games to play before he wants anyone talking about him as a Defensive Player of the Year candidate.

"It's a long season. I still have a lot of room to grow in my game. A lot of games to just keep playing and keep trying to stack these wins. I've got a lot of ways to go before we start even having those conversations," Bonitto said.

With Bonitto leading the league in sacks and on pace to tie the NFL record for sacks in a season, those conversations will keep coming, if Bonitto keeps sacking the opposing quarterback.

Jets head coach Aaron Glenn's decision to stick with quarterback Justin Fields during Sunday's 13-11 loss to the Broncos in London was met with some criticism and it wasn't the only decision that led to further questions after the game.

The team's lack of urgency to try to score points after converting a fake punt near midfield at the end of the first half led to an angry outburst from wide receiver Garrett Wilson along with heavy scrutiny from those watching the game. After the game, Glenn said he didn't want to risk giving the ball back to the Broncos with a chance to score even though failing on the fake punt would have done just that and the Jets could have snapped the ball with seconds left to at least try a Hail Mary.

On Monday, though, Glenn acknowledged that he should have taken that shot as time expired.

"I said guys, let's just get out the half, right, because we're getting the ball in the second half," Glenn said, via a transcript from the team. "But yes, I would say, if I could take, man let's run it down, let's get ready to throw the Hail Mary. So, I'm with you on that. That's a mistake that I made and I hold myself accountable for that."

Glenn came to the Jets from the Lions and Detroit has been very aggressive under head coach Dan Campbell. Glenn has talked about coaching the same way and the team could have used more of that approach in their sixth loss of the season.

The Titans made major changes at the top of their organization this offseason when they gave president of football operations Chad Brinker more control over the team and hired General Manager Mike Borgonzi, but they opted to hold onto head coach Brian Callahan after he went 3-14 during his first season on the job.

Brinker and Borgonzi might like a mulligan on that decision because they fired Callahan on Monday. Sunday's lifeless loss to the Raiders made Callahan's career record 4-19 and Borgonzi said at a press conference that the lack of progress was the reason why the Titans decided to pull the trigger now.

"I have a tremendous amount of respect for Brian, as a person, and as a coach in this league," Borgonzi said, via the team's website. "We are looking for growth right now, and we did not see that at this point. But he's an excellent coach, person, and I wish him the best moving forward."

The timing of the change makes Cam Ward the fourth straight quarterback picked first overall to see his first NFL coach fired during their rookie season. Even if firing Callahan is understandable given his record, it's a less than ideal way to break in a young quarterback. Picking the right choice for 2026 will be crucial for Ward and the Titans, but Brinker said the team isn't writing off the rest of the season with interim head coach Mike McCoy as a lost cause.

"Mike and I will lead that search," Brinker said. "But what our focus is right now is pouring everything we can into Mike McCoy and giving him every opportunity from here on out, starting this week. We have the Patriots coming to town, and we want to do everything we can to support him the way he needs to be supported so we can go out there and win a football game. So that's really what our focus is right now."

The Patriots are coached by Mike Vrabel, who held the same job with the Titans before being fired after the 2023 season. That wasn't that long ago, but his return will offer a reminder of how quickly and how far the Titans have fallen from the best days of his tenure.