Month: November 2026

Jessie Bates’ forced touchback is one of NFL’s best defensive plays this year in Falcons-Bucs

Jessie Bates’ forced touchback is one of NFL’s best defensive plays this year in Falcons-Bucs

Jessie Bates is widely considered one of the best safeties in the NFL. The Atlanta Falcons star is particularly good at forcing takeaways, and he just proved it again during one of the wildest plays of the season so far in his team’s Week 8 matchup with the Tampa Bay Buccaneers.

Bucs QB Baker Mayfield fumbled the snap, picked up the ball, started to scramble, then lateraled it to running back Bucky Irving in what looked like a college football option play. Irving was making his way to an open end zone when Bates came in with his signature Peanut Punch to knock the ball free inside of the one-yard-line and out of the end zone for a touchdown.

Talk about a game-breaking play. Watch Bates’ forced fumble here:

That should have been six points for the Bucs. Instead, Bates made a heroic play to jar the ball loose, and it bounced perfectly in Atlanta’s favor to result in a touchback.

Every team in the NFC South entered the week under .500. It’s been a rough start to the season for both Tampa and Atlanta, but there’s always an opportunity in the worst division in football, and it’s creating games that are way more intense than they have any right to be.

Bates is a stud. The Falcons are lucky to have him.

by Editor

Justin Jefferson’s juggling touchdown is a catch only he could make

Justin Jefferson’s juggling touchdown is a catch only he could make

Sunday’s game between the Detroit Lions and the Minnesota Vikings might be the most fascinating contest on the Week 8 slate. Certainly the matchup between Brian Flores’ defense and the high-scoring Lions offense is a heavyweight tilt, but the undercard of the Vikings offense against a suspect Detroit defense is intriguing as well.

Most notably because it gives the Vikings offense a chance to get on track. While Minnesota is the last remaining undefeated team in the NFL, the Vikings have scored just ten touchdowns this year — nine on offense and one from a punt return — the second-lowest mark in the league.

Only the winless Los Angeles Chargers have scored fewer touchdowns.

But it helps when you have Justin Jefferson.

The star wide receiver got the Vikings in the end zone on this goal-line fade route, hauling in a throw from Kyler Murray. But this is not the kind of catch you see every day:

Jefferson gets his left hand to the football, but somehow completes the catch while falling to the Ford Field turf, pinning the ball to his left shoulder after it bounced off his hand, and as he crashed down to the field.

Here is one more look at it:

The Vikings offense might be trying to find its footing today, but Jefferson certainly has the hands part covered.

by Editor