Los Angeles wide receiver Mike Williams is hit by Denver safety Justin Simmons after making a catch during Sunday’s game in Denver. Williams left the game in the third quarter with a season-ending knee injury. Jack Dempsey/Associated Press
The Chargers will be without wide receiver Mike Williams for the reminder of the season because of a torn anterior cruciate ligament in his left knee.
Williams was injured Sunday after making a catch late in the third quarter of the team’s 28-24 victory at Minnesota. An MRI scan on Williams’ left knee revealed the extent of the injury.
In his absence, rookie first-round draft pick Quentin Johnston is expected to see an increased role after being used in a limited basis to open the season.
Williams finishes the season with 19 receptions for 249 yards and a touchdown, which he scored against the Vikings on a pass from fellow wide receiver Keenan Allen.
In his seventh season out of Clemson, Williams has dealt with a variety of injuries throughout his career but has managed to appear in at least 13 games each year since 2018.
He missed the Chargers’ AFC wild-card playoff loss at Jacksonville in January after suffering a back injury in the regular-season finale.
Johnston has been in a part-time role as the team’s fourth wideout behind Williams, Allen and Joshua Palmer. He has five catches for 26 yards.
When Williams and Allen both missed time in 2022, Palmer emerged as a reliable target for quarterback Justin Herbert, finishing with 72 receptions for 769 yards and three scores.
RAIDERS: Quarterback Jimmy Garoppolo is in concussion protocol, putting his status in question for when Las Vegas visits the Los Angeles Chargers on Sunday.
Garoppolo was injured in Sunday night’s 23-18 loss to the Pittsburgh Steelers. Coach Josh McDaniels said Monday that he didn’t know when the injury occurred, but Garoppolo took several hits in getting sacked four times and his head bounced off the turf on one play in the fourth quarter.
Steelers safety Minkah Fitzpatrick was flagged for roughing the quarterback.
If Garoppolo can’t play, the Raiders will go with 15-year veteran Brian Hoyer or rookie Aidan O’Connell.
McDaniels said the discussions haven’t yet started on which QB to select, saying the decision will be what’s the “best thing for the team.”
“We’ll be hard at work having to manage that situation the best we can as it progresses,” McDaniels said.
Injuries have been a problem for Garoppolo. He suffered a season-ending knee injury in San Francisco’s third game of the 2018 season, and in 2020 he missed eight games with ankle injuries.
STEELERS: Pittsburgh’s charter flight home following a Sunday night win in Las Vegas made an emergency landing in Kansas City early Monday.
Team spokesman Burt Lauten posted on X, formerly known as Twitter, that “everyone on the plane is safe and we are making necessary plans to arrive back in Pittsburgh later today.”
KDKA-TV, which has a pair of journalists on the team plane, reported the plane landed in Kansas City just before 5 a.m. EDT. The station reported the plane was dealing with an oil pressure failure in one of the engines.
MATT RYAN was reportedly one of a handful of veteran quarterbacks to reach out to the Jets to express interest in joining the team. New York decided to not pursue Ryan or Carson Wentz. And, for now anyway, is sticking with Zach Wilson.
Ryan is an analyst with CBS Sports and even though he hasn’t officially retired from the NFL, it doesn’t appear he has the Jets on his radar after all.
“No, not on my end,” Ryan said Monday. “I’m really enjoying what I’m doing working with Andrew (Catalon), Tiki (Barber) and AJ (Ross). They’ve been fun to work with. But, to clear it up, my agent is one of the best at what he does — Todd France is incredible. And he wouldn’t be doing his job if he wasn’t looking into certain situations. But he and I talked. I got no interest in doing that right now. I’m enjoying what I’m doing.”
The 2016 MVP spent the 2022 season with the Indianapolis Colts after a 14-year run with the Atlanta Falcons. It was a rough year for Ryan, who completed 67% of his passes for 3,057 yards with 14 touchdowns, 13 interceptions and 15 fumbles.
THURSDAY’S GAMES
EAGLES 25, BUCCANEERS 11: Jalen Hurts threw for a touchdown, ran for another and led the Eagles on a game-ending drive that lasted more than nine minutes as visiting Philadelphia remained unbeaten with a victory over Tampa Bay.
The defending NFC champions, who won their first eight games a year ago, are off to a 3-0 start in consecutive seasons for the first time since 1992-93.
Hurts improved to 20-1 over his last 21 regular-season games. He tossed a 34-yard TD pass to Olamide Zaccheaus that helped Philly build a 13-3 halftime lead, and his 1-yard scoring run gave the Eagles a 17-point advantage early in the second half.
The Eagles led 25-3 by the time the Bucs finally got into the end zone on Baker Mayfield’s 1-yard TD throw to Mike Evans. A 2-point conversion trimmed Philadelphia’s lead to 14 with 9:22 remaining, but Hurts and the Eagles never let Tampa Bay get the ball back.
Hurts was 4 of 5 passing and ran for a first down on that final drive.
The Bucs (2-1) lost for the first time with Mayfield at quarterback, turning the ball over twice after playing turnover-free against Minnesota and Chicago. The Bucs’ usually reliable defense struggled, too, yielding 201 yards rushing.
BENGALS 19, RAMS 16: Joe Burrow shook off a lingering calf injury, throwing for 259 yards as Cincinnati beat the visiting Los Angeles Rams on Monday night to get their first win after starting the season with two losses.
Joe Mixon’s 14-yard touchdown run in the third quarter gave the reigning AFC North champs their first lead of the season. Meanwhile, Logan Wilson picked off Los Angeles quarterback Matthew Stafford twice and the Bengals sacked him six times.
Stafford threw a 1-yard scoring pass to Tutu Atwell with just over a minute left in the game, and the PAT got the Rams to within three points, but Mitchell Wilcox fell on the ensuing onside kick to seal the win for the Bengals (1-2).
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