Broncos Star Gets Honest About Jets QB Justin Fields After Historic Day
The Denver Broncos, and specifically their defense, had a historic day in Week 6 against the New York Jets. However, Broncos outside linebacker Jonathon Cooper is asserting that there was no personal motivation against Jets quarterback Justin Fields.
The Broncos sacked Fields 9 times during the contest.
It was a strong effort from Cooper and the Broncos’ defense when the offense did not have its best at different points.
Jonathan Cooper Gets Real About Justin Fields After Broncos Beat Jets
GettyDenver Broncos defensive ends Jonathon Cooper and John Franklin-Myers.
One fan asked Cooper on X what Fields had done to him, since the Broncos star and Jets QB were college teammates at Ohio State for two seasons from 2019 through 2020. The two reached the CFB National Championship in their final season together.
Naturally, Cooper expressed his affinity for Fields, citing their last campaign in Columbus.
“Lead me to a national championship,” Cooper posted on X on October 13. “I love him fr forever my brother.”
The 9th and most important sack of the day.
In addition to the Broncos snapping droughts of various lengths through different combinations of metrics, they held Fields to 45 yards passing on 52.9% completion. The passing yards are his fewest in a game that he finished as a starter.
Moreover, the Jets lost 55 yards on those sacks, giving them a net loss of 10 yards in the game.
That is the fewest passing yards allowed in Broncos history, the first time a team has been held to negative passing yardage since 2023, and the fewest in the NFL since 1998, per Stathead.
Notably, the Broncos also own the NFL record for fewest passing yards in a game, finishing with a loss of 53 yards against the then-Oakland Raiders in a 51-0 shutout during the 1967 regular season campaign.
Jonathon Cooper Helps Tide Star Take Down Former Buckeyes Teammates
Cooper and Fields’ Buckeyes lost that National Championship Game 52-24 against the Alabama Crimson Tide
Eight Broncos players recorded at least one half-sack in the game.
Cooper, who signed a four-year, $54 million contract extension last November, led the Broncos with 2.0 sacks on Fields in the win over the Jets. In a twist of fate, Cooper is now teammates with Pat Surtain II, the reigning Defensive Player of the Year and a star for that Tide team.
Surtain drew attention in this game for helping limit Jets star wideout Garrett Wilson, who was Cooper and Fields’ teammate on that Buckeyes National Championship squad.
Up next, Cooper and the Broncos return home to face the New York Giants in Week 7.
Former Broncos QB Russell Wilson, who was also Fields’ teammate on the Pittsburgh Steelers in 2024, is now with the Giants, and would have been a good matchup for the Denver defense to pad its sack totals.
However, he ceded QB duties to rookie first-round pick Jaxson Dart in Week 4. Wilson is now a backup who has been mentioned in trade speculation.
Justin Fields Accepts Blame for Jets Passing Game Woes vs Broncos
Fields came under intense scrutiny during and after the game. However, Jets head coach Aaron Glenn pushed back against a question about whether the coaching staff was considering benching the former No. 11 overall pick (2021, Chicago Bears) after falling to 0-6.
“Come on, man. What kind of question is that?” Glenn said in response, after acknowledging that Fields’ numbers were poor in the game. “Sometimes this league is [up and down], and there’s a number of guys that have bad games. That doesn’t mean you just bench them. Come on. You know better than that.”
Fields, who has a 799-4-0 line on 65% completion this season, accepted blame for the Jets’ passing game woes against the Broncos, saying, it “starts with me.”
“It wasn’t good enough and that starts with me”
Justin Fields talks about the passing game struggles in today’s loss:
Glenn defended Fields
again on Monday after the loss to Cooper and the Broncos.
Browns Get Troubling News on Polarizing QB Deshaun Watson
The Cleveland Browns can’t seem to shake the ongoing conundrum that is quarterback Deshaun Watson and the hold his health and contract have over the team’s present and future.
Watson is in the fourth year of his $230 million deal, which runs through 2026 and is fully guaranteed. The team has restructured the contract multiple times, which has pushed payments off into the future and means that Cleveland will take substantial financial hits involving Watson through 2029 — potentially three years after he’s off the team.
Watson is currently rehabilitating from a twice-torn Achilles tendon that he suffered in October of last year, an injury ESPN insider Adam Schefter updated via a report on the Monday edition of “The Pat McAfee Show.”
“He’s a good month away from being cleared for any football activity,” Schefter said, per Daniel Oyefusi of ESPN.
Deshaun Watson’s Return May Cause Browns Real Financial Problems
The troubling portion of that update from the Browns‘ perspective isn’t that Watson is a full month away from getting back on the field, it’s that he’s
Mike Florio of Pro Football Talk laid out the situation on August 6.
If [Watson] can play, the Browns will have to move him to the 53-man roster or release him. That could prompt the Browns to disagree with Watson, even if it sets the stage for a formal grievance — with Watson saying he’s healthy enough to play and the Browns saying he’s not.
The stakes are high for the Browns. If they opt not to put him on the roster with their existing clusterfudge of quarterbacks, releasing him would set the stage for a devastating 2026 cap charge of $131.161 million. The best outcome for the Browns is to get Watson to want to spend the season on the PUP list.
If Watson remains on the PUP list for the entirety of the campaign, the league will afford the Browns significant salary cap relief. The organization will also be able to collect on the health insurance policy it took out on Watson, which will put actual money back into the franchise’s proverbial pocket.
Browns Set at QB With Dillon Gabriel, Shedeur Sanders and Bailey Zappe
Cleveland doesn’t need Watson to play in 2025, even after trading Kenny Pickett before the regular season and Joe Flacco last week.
The Browns have promoted rookie Dillon Gabriel, who is 0-2 and will make the third start of his NFL career against the Miami Dolphins on Sunday, October 19.
Fellow rookie Shedeur Sanders is now QB2, while fourth-year veteran Bailey Zappe is the third-string signal-caller/emergency quarterback on Sundays.
Cleveland may add a fourth QB to the practice squad after trying out Austin Reed, formerly of the Chicago Bears, late last week. But in any case, the Browns don’t need Watson.
As such, Watson getting healthy and pushing to rejoin the active roster is the last thing Cleveland wants.
