Eric Reid and Malcolm Jenkins, two of the most prominent players in the protest movement, clashed on Sunday. The winners were NFL owners

Tempers flared in Philadelphia on Sunday before the Eagles’ game against the Carolina Panthers as Eric Reid and Malcolm Jenkins, two central figures in the NFL protests against social injustice, got into a scuffle at the coin toss.

Reid, now with the Panthers, was the first member of the San Francisco 49ers to join Colin Kaepernick in taking a knee during the national anthem in 2016. And the safety has remained one of the most outspoken players on the subject of racial injustice in the United States since.

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At the heart of the disagreement is Jenkins’ role within the Players Coalition, a collection of NFL players committed to addressing issues of social injustice. “He was corrupt from the jump,” Reid said in the locker room postgame. “He knew what he was doing from the offset. His goal was to sell us, and he did that.”

It is a deep, complicated issue.

Jenkins, a safety with the Eagles who had been raising a fist for two seasons during the anthem, had been in discussions with NFL commissioner Roger Goodell and the league’s player liaison Troy Vincent about a deal that would see the owners donate a large sum to community initiatives.

In exchange, it was expected the players would end their protests during the anthem. “If they were to agree to this, do you think you’d be more comfortable with ending the demonstrations?” Jenkins texted the group earlier this year, according to ESPN. Reid and others saw the deal as a pay-off. After the plan was announced, Reid and other members of the coalition opted to leave the group.

Sunday was the first time Reid and Jenkins had shared a field since their relationship fractured.

Dov Kleiman (@NFL_DovKleiman) #Eagles Malcolm Jenkins and #Panthers Eric Reid had confrontation after the coin toss before the game started.



Reid had major concerns with Malcolm Jenkins' Players Coalition that raised nearly $100 million to causes considered important to African-American communities. pic.twitter.com/qBsfDr4yLi

“I believe Malcolm [Jenkins] capitalized on the situation,” Reid said after the game. “He co-opted the movement that was started by Colin to get his organization funded. It’s cowardly.”

Reid went unsigned throughout the offseason and training camp after leaving the 49ers, despite the fact that he is a good player still in his prime. He was eventually picked up by the Panthers in week five after the team suffered injuries. Reid was in the process of litigation against the league, claiming he had been blackballed in a lawsuit similar to the one filed by Kaepernick (Jenkins was one of the players who spoke up in support of Reid).

But the bad blood runs deep. While a free agent, Reid had criticized the Players Coalition as “an NFL funded subversion group.” Reid’s emotions spilled over during the coin toss on Sunday, and he had to be held back by teammates. It continued throughout the early portion of the game, as the safety was flagged for a personal foul penalty for tossing tight end Zach Ertz to the ground.

Disagreements and physical confrontations are expected in the NFL – even teammates go at it. That’s the sport. What happened pre-game in Philadelphia, though, was much more than the usual to and fro. It was about ethics and perceived rights and wrongs. Justified or not, Reid feels the movement he, Kaepernick and others worked for was co-opted and sullied by Jenkins. The Eagles safety crossed the picket line, in other words. “I would say he’s a neo-colonialist,” Reid told reporters postgame. “He is a sell-out.”

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Jenkins’s defense – in as much as he needs one – is clear: nothing can be solved without dialogue. That dialogue needs to be between players and their varying opinions and interests as much as the owners and their employees. “Eric Reid is somebody I’m rooting for,” Jenkins responded after the game. “I’m very proud of [him]. Putting his livelihood on the line to fight for those who don’t have voices.”

This has always been the dichotomy among NFL’s workforce. United, they’re a powerful force. Yet too often they are divided, and the NFL’s owners are only too happy to exploit that.

“The players had real leverage,” an NFL owner told ESPN in January. “But we knew we could sit back and watch them implode.” That implosion spilled from group chats to the field on Sunday. And in doing so, did the cause the players have fought for a disservice.

MVP(s) of the day

A split award this week. First up…

Andrew Luck, QB, Indianapolis Colts. Remember when we were all worried about Andrew Luck’s health after the Colts subbed him out for a Hail Mary attempt? Maybe his shoulder hadn’t fully healed. Perhaps he was rushed back.

Since then, he’s thrown more passes than any quarterback in the NFL – and he leads the league in touchdowns in that span too.

Peak-Luck is a joy to behold, a blend of John Elway’s post-snap recklessness mixed with a dash of Peyton Manning’s pre-snap cunning. The Bills stood no chance as Luck gutted them to the tune of four touchdowns, completing 17 of his 23 attempts for 156 yards. At times it looked easy.

Luck’s past three performances have been his best stretch of games since he dragged a dud of a group to the AFC Championship game in the 2014 season. The Colts are a flawed, young team but the biggest question hovering over their franchise has been answered: Luck is going to be fine.

DeShaun Watson, QB, Houston Texans. Watson’s on-field performance wasn’t as striking as Luck’s. But the fact he was even on the field was a marvel. Check this out, via Jay Glazer of Fox Sports:

Jay Glazer (@JayGlazer) The Texans, concerned about the effect air pressure could have on Deshaun Watson’s bruised lung and injured ribs, sent Watson to Jacksonville via bus — a 12-hour ride — instead of taking flight w team. Amazing what Watson has been playing through @NFLonFOX

Yes, you read that right. Watson was healthy enough to have Yannick Ngakoue and Dante Fowler Jr sandwich him at a combined 30 miles an hour, but not to take a flight. Instead, he was forced to take a 12-hour bus to Jacksonville, which sounds almost as painful as his lung injury.

It takes me 30 minutes, minimum, to recover from a stubbed toe. Watson played every offensive snap in a pro football game with a partially collapsed lung. He didn’t play brilliantly, completing just 12 of his 24 throws for 139 yards and a touchdown. And he carried the ball seven times for a measly 13 yards. But the fact he was even able to take a snap is ludicrous. The 20-7 win sent the Texans top of the AFC South too.

Facebook Twitter Pinterest Deshaun Watson played through pain as the Texans went top of the AFC South. Photograph: Reinhold Matay/USA Today Sports

Video of the day

On Mitch Trubisky’s eight-yard rushing touchdown, the quarterback actually ran 71-yards, per NFL Next Gen Stats.

ThriveFantasy (@ThriveFantasy) A LONG 8-yard touchdown run for @Mtrubisky10#NEvsCHI

pic.twitter.com/06VEGrUM1i

Trubisky somehow pirouetted away from a pair of Patriots pass-rushers, turning his back towards the end zone and winding up back at the 30-yard line. The Bears quarterback has truly embraced the art of the no-no-no-yes play in his second year. You won’t find a better example than the beauty above from Sunday.

Somehow that wasn’t the most frenzied play of the day. With time expiring, Trubisky launched a Hail Mary, caught by Kevin White, that came up half a yard short of tying the game and sending it to overtime.

The Patriots were perfectly prepared for the play. Watch how cornerback Jonathan Jones peels off his man as the ball is in flight and tackles low on White, stopping the receiver from churning his legs towards the end zone. As Devin McCourty pointed out post-game, that’s exactly how Bill Belichick teaches it, because of course he does. New England designate one player to attack the ball in the air – usually Rob Gronkowski, but Josh Gordon picked up the reins this week with the tight end injured – while the rest of the defenders prepare to tackle in case the receiver catches the ball.

NFL Retweet (@NFLRT) KEVIN WHITE WAS A HALF YARD SHORT OF THE (ONLY) PLAY OF HIS CAREERpic.twitter.com/HMjTbXbvTA

Situational football at its finest. Feel free to groan at Belichick’s brilliance once again.

Stat of the day

Scott Hanson (@ScottHanson) Last 3 weeks... Jags have trailed at the Half:

20-0

24-0

13-0



Ugh.

There’s a lot going on here. First, there’s Jacksonville’s offense, which is a horrible mess. Losing Leonard Fournette for an extended period of time hurts. The running back is capable of shifting the pile, popping explosive runs, and forces opposing defenses to load the box, making things easier on Blake Bortles, who has been brutal the past couple of weeks. Doug Marrone finally relented on Sunday and benched his quarterback.

The true story here is Jacksonville’s defense, though. Last year, the Jaguars young group broke through. They played suffocating man-coverage. Linebackers and safeties interchanged assignments. They played with a swagger we haven’t seen since the Legion of Boom was doing its most dastardly work in Seattle.

This year the group has been so-so by their own high standards. The Jaguars entered the weekend fifth in defensive DVOA, the single best measure of defensive success. They’ve been good, not great. All the characters are the same, but something seems off.

Elsewhere around the league

• The Kansas City Chiefs are still the most exciting team in the league. If they were suffering from a hangover after their loss to the Patriots last week, they weren’t showing it. They destroyed the Bengals (who were 4-2 coming into the game), 45-10 and Patrick Mahomes is making the game look very easy indeed, he threw for four touchdowns again. The Chiefs’ meeting with the 7-0 Rams on 19 November is one to look forward to.

• Credit to Mike Vrabel and Doug Pederson, both losing coaches on Sunday, who showed aggressiveness in unusual spots: Vrabel in going for two on the final play of the game when an extra-point would have tied the score; Pederson in going for it on fourth-down multiple times on early drives. If you’re a results-oriented person, you’ll probably criticize both calls. But if like me, you prefer to focus on the process, you’ll appreciate a pair of coaches who followed the numbers and backed up the typical coaching rhetoric by playing to win.

• Patriots running back Sony Michel appeared to suffer a nasty knee injury in Chicago. The rookie has been a revelation for the Patriots. He brings a different element to their offense and was just hitting his stride. Losing him for a prolonged period would have a big impact on the AFC race and possibly the Super Bowl.

• Adam Thielen tied an NFL record on Sunday with his seventh consecutive 100-yard game to begin a season. he made nine catches for 110 yards and a touchdown in his team’s 37-17 victory over the Jets. He’s now one-game behind Calvin Johnson’s all-time record for consecutive games with 100-yards at any point in a season.

Facebook Twitter Pinterest Adam Thielen continued his extraordinary season on Sunday against the Jets. Photograph: Al Bello/Getty Images

• The Browns have played four overtime games in seven games. That’s the most since 2011.

• Cam Newton had 68 yards passing in the first three quarters and 201 in the fourth, as he helped dig the Panthers out of a 17-0 hole against the Eagles. Newton went 17 of 23 for 210 yards and two touchdowns in the fourth quarter, with a two-point conversion tacked on for good measure. Carolina beat the Super Bowl champions 21-17.

• Justin Tucker had made 222 consecutive extra-point attempts before Sunday. His first ever miss was a costly one: the Ravens lost their game against the Saints by a single point.