- Amanda Gorman’s Inaugural Poem, “The Hill We Climb,” Restricted by Florida School The New York Times
- #AmandaGorman responds to ban of her inaugural poem MSNBC
- Amanda Gorman is ‘gutted’ by school district’s decision to restrict her poem after a parent complained it contained ‘hate messages’ CNN
- DeSantis’ book ban is here. Don’t say gay, don’t say ‘slave’ at this Miami-Dade school | Opinion Miami Herald
- Controversy over a Miami-Dade school removing a book based on Amanda Gorman poem CBS Miami
Tag Archives: Climb
Stock futures climb fractionally as investors look to new year
Stock futures climbed fractionally Wednesday morning as traders look to the end of a losing year and prepare for 2023.
Futures tied to the Dow Jones Industrial Average added 48 points, trading near flat. S&P 500 and Nasdaq 100 futures added 0.12% and 0.11% respectively.
Tuesday kicked off the start of a holiday-shortened trading week. The Dow rose 37.63 points, or 0.11%, to close at 33,241.56. The S&P 500 fell 0.40%.
The Nasdaq Composite shed nearly 1.4%, driven down by an 11% drop in Tesla stock after The Wall Street Journal reported that the electric vehicle maker would continue a weeklong production pause at a Shanghai facility. Tuesday marked the seventh straight day of losses for the stock.
It comes at the end of a tumultuous year for the electric-vehicle maker as owner Elon Musk executed a chaotic purchase of Twitter. Tesla’s share value is down 69% this year.
“A year ago, Musk was a hero and there was panic buying to the upside,” said Eric Jackson, founder of EMJ Capital, on “Closing Bell: Overtime.” “Right now … it’s panic selling.”
With three trading days left in 2022, the stock market is on track for its worst year since 2008. The Nasdaq has performed the worst of the three indexes, losing 33.8% this year as investors rotated out of growth stocks amid rising recession fears. The Dow and S&P 500 are on track to lose 8.5% and 19.7%, respectively.
Investors will look for insights into the state of the economy in manufacturing data from the Richmond Federal Reserve and pending home sales coming Wednesday morning. Market participants will be looking for numbers that can signal the economy is cooling, which they hope could indicate to the Fed that interest rate hikes can continue slowing.
Bond yields to climb ‘for the wrong reasons’ next year, strategist says
LONDON — Government bond yields are likely to rise in 2023 “for the wrong reasons,” according to Peter Toogood, chief investment officer at Embark Group, as central banks step up efforts to reduce their balance sheets.
Central banks around the world have shifted over the past year from quantitative easing — which sees them buy bonds to drive up prices and keep yields low, in theory reducing borrowing costs and supporting spending in the economy — to quantitative tightening, including the sale of assets to have the opposite effect and, most importantly, rein in inflation. Bond yields move inversely to prices.
Much of the movement in both stock and bond markets over recent months has centered around investors’ hopes, or lack thereof, for a so-called “pivot” from the U.S. Federal Reserve and other central banks away from aggressive monetary policy tightening and interest rate hikes.
Markets have enjoyed brief rallies over the past few weeks on data indicating that inflation may have peaked across many major economies.
“The inflation data is great, my main concern next year remains the same. I still think bond yields will shift higher for the wrong reasons … I still think September this year was a nice warning about what can come if governments carry on spending,” Toogood told CNBC’s “Squawk Box Europe” on Thursday.
September saw U.S. Treasury yields spike, with the 10-year yield at one point crossing 4% as investors attempted to predict the Fed’s next moves. Meanwhile, U.K. government bond yields jumped so aggressively that the Bank of England was forced to intervene to ensure the country’s financial stability and prevent a widespread collapse of British final salary pension funds.
Toogood suggested that the transition from quantitative easing to quantitative tightening (or QE to QT) in 2023 will push bond yields higher because governments will be issuing debt that central banks are no longer buying.
He said the ECB had bought “every single European sovereign bond for the last six years” and, “suddenly next year … they’re not doing that anymore.”
John Zich | Bloomberg | Getty Images
The European Central Bank has vowed to begin offloading its 5 trillion euros ($5.3 trillion) of bond holdings from March next year. The Bank of England, meanwhile, has upped the pace of its asset sales and said it will sell £9.75 billion of gilts in the first quarter of 2023.
But governments will continue issuing sovereign bonds. “All of this is going to be shifted into a market where the central banks are notionally not buying it anymore,” he added.
Toogood said this change in issuance dynamics will be just as important to investors as a Fed “pivot” next year.
“You notice bond yields, are they collapsing when the market falls 2-3%? No, they are not, so something is interesting in the bond market and the equity market and they are correlating, and I think that was the theme of this year and I think we have to be wary of it next year.”
He added that the persistence of higher borrowing costs will continue to correlate with the equity market by punishing “non-profitable growth stocks,” and driving rotations toward value sectors of the market.
Some strategists have suggested that with financial conditions reaching peak tightness, the amount of liquidity in financial markets should improve next year, which could benefit bonds.
However, Toogood suggested that most investors and institutions operating in the sovereign bond market have already made their move and re-entered, leaving little upside for prices next year.
He said that after holding 40 meetings with bond managers last month: “Everyone joined the party in September, October.”
CDC recommends masks again in New York City, Los Angeles and other communities as COVID cases climb
A growing number of communities are now seeing COVID-19 cases and hospitalizations at levels high enough to warrant indoor masking and other measures to curb the virus, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention warned Thursday. A number of major cities are now mulling a return to masking measures.
According to the agency’s weekly update, 13.7% of Americans now live in communities now rated at “high” COVID-19 Community Levels, up from 4.9% of the population last week. An additional 38.1% of Americans are in “medium” areas and 48.2% are in “low” areas.
More than ten large counties with more than a million residents are now at this “high” tier:
- Los Angeles County, California (10,039,107 residents)
- Maricopa County, Arizona (4,485,414)
- Kings County, New York (2,559,903)
- Queens County, New York (2,253,858)
- San Bernardino County, California (2,180,085)
- Santa Clara County, California (1,927,852)
- New York County, New York (1,628,706)
- Suffolk County, New York (1,476,601)
- Bronx County, New York (1,418,207)
- Nassau County, New York (1,356,924)
- Pima County, Arizona (1,047,279)
The list includes much of the New York metro area. Officials in the state recently urged schools to return to indoor masking to curb the spread of COVID-19 as well as the respiratory virus RSV and influenza. Authorities in Los Angeles have also warned that indoor masking rules might return there as cases have mounted.
The updated figures come as CDC officials say they have been mulling new “pan-respiratory” benchmarks to measure the spread of all three viruses, as a possible replacement for the COVID-19 Community Levels framework.
If incorporated into the CDC’s COVID-19 recommendations, that could mean flu and RSV cases would also factor into when the agency urges Americans to don masks and take other precautions to help curb a surge that could overwhelm hospitals.
“We have also been working on trying to develop, as rapidly as possible, metrics that would be useful at state or regional levels for being able to visualize the level of overall respiratory viral activity,” the CDC’s Barbara Mahon said this week at a meeting of the agency’s outside advisers.
Mahon said the agency hoped the metrics would be “ready to come out soon.”
“Bumpy days ahead”
While Biden administration officials say they are confident this year’s surge in RSV seems to have peaked in most parts of the country, and there are early signs that flu hospitalizations may have also peaked, both remain near levels as bad as some of the worst previous seasons on record.
The pace of new COVID-19 hospitalizations has also climbed nationwide, up 13.8% from the week prior. In nursing homes this week the CDC tallied the worst rate of COVID-19 infections in residents since last February.
Roughly two in three cases are now estimated to be the BQ.1 or BQ.1.1 variants.Moderna and Pfizer say their lab data suggests their updated shots will offer added protection against these Omicron strains.
But the immune-evasive strains recently forced the FDA to bench the last available antibody treatment for COVID-19 patients.
Federal health authorities and some experts have encouraged doctors seeing vulnerable and immunocompromised patients to resort back to treatments like convalescent plasma, though they acknowledge that they can be hard to come by. Federal funding to support blood collection and boost plasma supplies earlier in the pandemic expired in 2021.
“We are seeing a clear uptick in infections of COVID pretty much in every region of the country, up about 40% over the last couple of weeks. So three challenges all arriving at the same time. There’s going to be some bumpy days ahead,” Dr. Ashish Jha, the White House’s top COVID-19 official, told the Health Action Alliance at an event Thursday.
Jha said he urged people to seek out treatments for the disease as well as an updated COVID-19 booster.
Thanks in part to an expected slowdown in vaccinations over holiday weekends, CDC figures suggest the average pace of new COVID boosters administered has now plummeted 66% from its mid-October peak. On Wednesday, Mahon lamented the pace of shots as now “woefully slow.”
Around 15.5% of adults and 34.2% of seniors now have an updated COVID booster, as of figures published Thursday. By comparison, CDC survey data estimates nearly 60% of seniors had an annual flu shot through November last year.
“The good news here is what happens, how this all plays out, how disruptive is it, how many people are going to get sick, so much of that is dependent on us,” Jha added.
Oil prices climb after OPEC+ keeps output cut targets, China eases COVID curbs
MELBOURNE, Dec 5 (Reuters) – Oil prices rose as much as 2% on Monday after OPEC+ nations held their output targets steady ahead of a European Union ban and a price cap kicking in on Russian crude.
At the same time, in a positive sign for fuel demand, more Chinese cities eased COVID-19 curbs over the weekend, though a patchwork easing in policies sowed confusion across the country on Monday.
Brent crude futures were last up 72 cents, or 0.8%, to $86.29 a barrel at 0430 GMT, while U.S. West Texas Intermediate (WTI) crude futures gained 70 cents, or 0.9%, to $80.68 a barrel.
The Organization of the Petroleum Exporting Countries (OPEC) and allies including Russia, together called OPEC+, agreed on Sunday to stick to their October plan to cut output by 2 million barrels per day (bpd) from November through 2023.
Analysts said the OPEC+ decision was expected as major producers wait to see the impact of the EU import ban and Group of Seven (G7) $60-a-barrel price cap on seaborne Russian oil, with Russia threatening to cut supply to any country adhering to the cap.
“While OPEC remained steady on output over the weekend, I expect they will continue to balance the market,” said Baden Moore, head of commodity research at National Australia Bank.
“(A) Roll-off of the SPR releases, and implementation of the EU sanctions and price cap act to tighten the market, although we’d expect the market has already positioned for this outlook,” he said, referring to the U.S. strategic petroleum reserve.
The European Union will need to replace Russian crude with oil from the Middle East, West Africa and the United States, which should put a floor under oil prices at least in the near term, Wood Mackenzie vice president Ann-Louise Hittle said in a note.
“Prices are currently weighed down by expectations of slow demand growth, despite the EU oil import ban on Russian crude and the G7 price cap. The adjustment to the EU ban and price cap is likely to support prices temporarily,” Hittle said.
A key factor that has weighed on demand is China’s zero-COVID policy, but that appears to be easing now after protests were followed by several cities, including Beijing and Shanghai, relaxing restrictions to varying degrees.
Hittle added that the EU’s looming embargo on Russian oil products, in addition to crude oil, from Feb. 5 should support crude demand in the first quarter of 2023, as the market is short of diesel and heating oil.
Reporting by Sonali Paul in Melbourne and Emily Chow in Singapore; Editing by Cynthia Osterman and Kenneth Maxwell
Our Standards: The Thomson Reuters Trust Principles.
Weekly mortgage demand flattens, as interest rates climb even higher
A man enters a Bank of America branch in New York.
Scott Mlyn | CNBC
Mortgage rates rose again last week, throwing even more cold water on demand from both current homeowners and potential homebuyers. Weekly application volume fell 0.1% last week from the previous week, according to the Mortgage Bankers Association’s seasonally adjusted index.
The average contract interest rate for 30-year fixed-rate mortgages with conforming loan balances ($647,200 or less) increased to 7.14% from 7.06%, with points increasing to 0.77 from 0.73 (including the origination fee) for loans with a 20% down payment.
“Mortgage rates edged higher last week following news that the Federal Reserve will continue raising short-term rates to combat high inflation. The 30-year fixed rate remained above 7 percent for the third consecutive week, with increases for most loan types,” said Joel Kan, MBA’s deputy chief economist.
Refinance demand, which has been positively crushed by the sharp rise in interest rates, fell another 4% for the week and was down 87% compared with the same week one year ago. Mortgage rates started this year around 3%, so there are very few borrowers left who could benefit from a refinance at today’s higher rates. Refinance demand is now at a 22-year low.
Mortgage applications to purchase a home increased 1% for the week. While that wasn’t a major move, it was the first increase in six weeks. Purchase demand, however, is still down 41% from a year ago and close to a seven-year low.
The adjustable-rate mortgage (ARM) share of activity increased to 12% of all applications. ARMs offer lower interest rates, and while they are considered riskier loans, their rates can be fixed for up to 10 years.
Mortgage rates have been moving sideways to start this week, but that could change Thursday, as investors await the October reading from the government’s consumer price index.
Potentially deadly fungal infections climb during COVID pandemic, WHO says
The World Health Organization warned Tuesday that reported invasive fungal infections increased significantly among hospitalized patients during the COVID-19 pandemic.
In a release alongside its recently released list of priority fungal pathogens, the United Nations health agency said emerging evidence indicates that the incidence and geographic range of fungal diseases are expanding around the world due to the increases in travel as well as climate change.
“Emerging from the shadows of the bacterial antimicrobial resistance pandemic, fungal infections are growing, and are ever more resistant to treatments, becoming a public health concern worldwide,” Dr. Hanan Balkhy, WHO’s assistant director-general of antimicrobial resistance, said in a statement.
The list categorizes the pathogens into three categories, including critical, high and medium priority.
BIDEN’S COVID BOOSTER PITCH, ROOTED IN FEAR OF DEADLY WINTER SURGE, LIKELY TO FAIL
Candida auris is a yeast responsible for many infections. Resistant to most antifungal drugs, this fungus causes several deaths worldwide. Optical microscope view.
((Photo by: BSIP/Education Images/Universal Images Group via Getty Images))
Of the 19 invasive fungal diseases, four were categorized as “critical priority,” including Cryptococcus neoformans, Aspergillus fumigatus, Candida albicans and Candida auris.
The report says that drug-resistant infections are estimated to cause 1.27 million deaths and contribute to nearly 5 million deaths annually.
A recent study published in the journal Nature estimates that of the 150,000 fungal species described, only about 200 of them are infectious to people.
Aspergillus fumigatus, fungus responsible for severe infections as aspergilloma, disease in humans and birds such as bronchopulmonary aspergillosis and aspergilloma. Seen under an optical microscope.
((Photo by: BSIP/Education Images/Universal Images Group via Getty Images))
EARLY, SURPRISING SURGE OF RSV IN KIDS HAS HOSPITALS, MEDICAL CENTERS CONCERNED
Invasive forms of fungal infections often impact severely ill patients and those with underlying conditions.
Photomicrograph of the encapsulated yeast Cryptococcus neoformans, 1961. Image courtesy Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) / Dr Lucille K. Georg.
((Photo by Smith Collection/Gado/Getty Images))
Populations at greatest risk of infection include those with cancer, HIV/AIDS, organ transplants, chronic respiratory disease and post-primary tuberculosis infection.
There are only four classes of antifungal medicines currently available.
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The WHO said its ranking by experts — the first fungal priority pathogens list — marks the first effort to prioritize the issue.
It calls for more evidence to inform the response to these threats, including preventing the development of antimicrobial resistance, and address the impact of antifungal use on resistance across the One Health spectrum.
Stocks climb after Wall Street rallies, Singapore GDP
An employee works at the Tokyo Stock Exchange in Tokyo, Japan, on Jan. 13, 2022.
Toru Hanai | Bloomberg | Getty Images
Shares in the Asia-Pacific jumped on Friday, taking the lead from Wall Street overnight as investors shook off a strong inflation report.
The Nikkei 225 in Japan was 3.46% higher, while the Topix gained 2.69%. Japan’s yen plunged to its lowest levels against the U.S. dollar since 1990 overnight before paring losses, and is still trading at 147-levels.
The Hang Seng index in Hong Kong gained 3.37%, with the Hang Seng Tech index gaining 3.94%. In mainland China, the Shanghai Composite was up 1.57% and the Shenzhen Component rose 2.12%.
In Australia, the S&P/ASX 200 gained 1.91%. South Korea’s Kospi advanced 2.53% and the Kosdaq climbed 4.28%. MSCI’s broadest index of Asia-Pacific shares outside Japan was 2.69% higher.
Singapore’s GDP grew 4.4% in the third quarter and is expected to further tighten its monetary policy.
In the U.S., inflation data showed consumer prices increased more than expected in September, with CPI rising 0.4% from August, and 8.2% from September last year. Core inflation accelerated even faster in September.
Stocks had a volatile session but ultimately rebounded to close higher, with each major index gaining more than 2%. The Dow Jones Industrial Average soared 1,500 points from its lows to the highest level on Thursday in the U.S.
“Equity investors seemingly decided that a stronger U.S. inflation [report] today still doesn’t negate expectations of a sharp declines in prices ahead,” Rodrigo Catril, currency strategist at National Australia Bank, wrote in a note Friday. He added that the rally could have been a result of short-covering.
— CNBC’s Jeff Cox, Carmen Reinicke and Alex Harring contributed to this report.
European markets climb as global markets rally; Stoxx 600 up 1.6%
Stocks on the move: Greggs, Accelleron up 5%
Shares of British bakery chain Greggs gained 5.6% in early trade after reporting a rise in quarterly sales despite the deepening cost of living crisis and plummeting consumer confidence in the U.K.
Accelleron shares added 5% as investors picked up the stock at a discount following the former ABB turbocharging unit’s weak market debut on Monday.
CNBC Pro: Want a ‘defensive move’ with up to 5% return? Buy this fund, says strategist
It’s been a volatile year for both stocks and bonds, with major Wall Street indexes just ending their worst month since March 2020, and Treasury yields remaining elevated.
However David Dietze, chief investment strategist at Point View Wealth Management, says “pockets of opportunity” still exist.
“Short-term defensive measures probably are warranted,” Dietze told CNBC’s “Street Signs Asia” on Monday, and named his favorite fund to play the market right now.
Pro subscribers can read more here.
— Weizhen Tan
Watch fourth quarter earnings guidance more than third quarter actual numbers, S&P Global says
Fourth quarter earnings forecasts companies give when reporting third quarter results will be far more important to the market’s future direction than the actual third quarter numbers themselves, S&P Global believes.
“October brings earnings, with Q3 estimates already declining 7%, and the whisper numbers a bit more than that,” Howard Silverblatt, senior index analyst wrote over the weekend. “The larger concern (than the actual numbers for Q3, when consumers were still spending) is the guidance for Q4, as consumers have pulled back, inflation continues and the Fed’s `adjustments’ will have a more substantial impact.”
Third quarter earnings for the S&P 500 are projected by analysts to grow 6.1% compared with the same quarter a year ago, and almost 18% over the second quarter of 2022, S&P Global said.
Next year’s estimates call for a 14.3% earnings growth over 2022, and a corresponding forward P/E ratio of 15.0.
Silverblatt also looked at typical performance for the S&P 500 in the month of October. “Historically, the index posts gains 57.4% of the time, with an average gain of 4.18% for the up months, a 4.67% average decrease for the down months and an overall average decrease of 0.46%,” he wrote.
— Scott Schnipper
CNBC Pro: Here’s what’s next for stocks, according to Wall Street pros
September is finally behind us, much to the relief of many equity investors who endured a difficult month, with all major U.S. indexes posted steep losses.
With a historically weak month now firmly in the rearview mirror, what is the outlook for stocks as we enter into the fourth quarter of the year?
CNBC Pro combed through the research to find out what Wall Street thinks.
Pro subscribers can read more here.
— Zavier Ong
European markets: Here are the opening calls
European stocks are heading for a higher open on Tuesday, building on gains seen in yesterday’s trading session.
The U.K.’s FTSE index is expected to open 30 points higher at 6,934, Germany’s DAX 126 points higher at 12,324, France’s CAC 40 up 58 points at 5,850 and Italy’s FTSE MIB 245 points higher at 21,043, according to data from IG.
The higher open expected in Europe comes after a rebound on Wall Street Monday. There, stocks rallied to start the new month and quarter on a positive note, as Treasury yields eased from levels not seen in roughly a decade. It was the best day since June 24 for the Dow, and the S&P 500′s the best day since July 27.
Earnings come from Greggs on Tuesday and euro zone producer prices data for August is released.
— Holly Ellyatt
NFL Power Rankings: Eagles and Dolphins Climb After Big Week 2 Wins
We are back with The Ringer’s NFL Power Rankings as we close the books on Week 2 of the 2022 season. The Cincinnati Bengals are in a surprising freefall after losing outright as favorites in back-to-back weeks. Maybe their Week 1 loss to Pittsburgh was a special-teams-induced fluke, but in Week 2 they suffered a complete offensive and defensive meltdown against the Dallas Cowboys and backup quarterback Cooper Rush. Then there’s Miami and Philadelphia, a pair of surprising 2-0 teams who won big in Week 2 and are among the biggest risers. Check out the rest of my updated power rankings below as I try to sift through all of the chaos that is THIS LEAGUE.
The Best of the Best
1. Buffalo Bills (2-0, last week’s ranking: 1)
2. Kansas City Chiefs (2-0, last week: 2)
3. Tampa Bay Buccaneers (2-0, last week: 3)
4. Los Angeles Chargers (1-1, last week: 4)
Spotlight: Chiefs Are Both Lucky and Good
Patrick Mahomes has been pretty spectacular this season: He’s leading the league in passer rating (127.9, well above his career rating of 106.5), is tied for the league lead in touchdown passes (7) and he’s second in the league behind Josh Allen in EPA per dropback, per TruMedia. But he’s also been quite lucky. On Thursday, Chargers cornerback Asante Samuel Jr. dropped two interceptions (one of which was initially ruled a pick but controversially overturned upon review) and two other potential Mahomes interceptions were negated by defensive penalties.
Per Pro Football Focus’s charting, 24 different quarterbacks through Sunday’s games have logged at least two turnover-worthy plays. Mahomes, who has recorded four through two games, is the only QB other than Dallas’ Cooper Rush (who made his first start of the season on Sunday) without an actual turnover.
Mahomes’s turnover luck will likely regress to the mean, but the Chiefs’ 2-0 start, including the Week 2 win over a division rival, gives Kansas City an early advantage in a loaded AFC West. The Chiefs lead the entire league in offensive EPA per play and tout a defense currently ranked 10th in yards per play allowed (4.99). Veteran DL Chris Jones and rookie first-round edge rusher George Karlaftis lead the team with 12 and nine QB pressures, respectively, and have anchored a pass rush that currently ranks fifth in pressure rate (40.4 percent). Kansas City’s front seven made its presence felt against the Chargers, pressuring Justin Herbert 11 times and hitting him five times (with one sack) in the second half as the Chiefs mounted their comeback. If the Chiefs can maintain this sort of consistent pressure, they’ll be one of the most complete teams in the NFL. As it stands now, the Chiefs remain one of the two powerhouses in the AFC.
Flawed Postseason Contenders
5. Green Bay Packers (1-1, last week: 5)
6. Baltimore Ravens (1-1, last week: 7)
7. Philadelphia Eagles (2-0, last week: 12)
8. Miami Dolphins (2-0, last week: 13)
Spotlight: Miami’s Speed Unlocked a New Tua
The gaudy box score statistics (469 passing yards, six touchdowns) for Tua Tagovailoa in the Dolphins’ 21-point comeback win over Baltimore heavily inflate perception of his performance. Ravens defensive coordinator Mike Macdonald struggled to dial up pressure consistently, and the Ravens’ young, injury-ridden secondary allowed big plays on multiple blown coverages, including two fourth-quarter touchdowns to Tyreek Hill that Tagovailoa underthrew. And Miami head coach Mike McDaniel, along with perhaps the NFL’s most electric receiving duo in Hill and second-year standout Jaylen Waddle, just created so much easy offense for Tagovailoa—Hill and Waddle each averaged more than three yards of separation on 22 combined targets en route to 361 receiving yards and four scores, per NFL’s Next Gen Stats.
But that doesn’t mean Tagovailoa still didn’t put together the best performance of his young career. He threw two ugly interceptions and led another drive that netted just two yards in the first half, but he—surprisingly—didn’t collapse as a result.
McDaniel told the media after the game that, “The absolutely worst thing could have happened” when Tagovailoa threw the first interception and started pressing on his way to the second interception. But then he finally responded.
“It’s awesome to be critical of yourself,” McDaniel said. “It is good. He has a high standard for himself. But after the first game, I just wanted to see the guy enjoy playing football … This is huge because he stopped worrying about the last play and he went and played and took his responsibility serious[ly] to his teammates about ‘Hey, I’m going to lead this team confidently.’
“I think it was a moment that he’ll never forget, that hopefully he can use moving forward.”
Better than either of the deep Hill touchdowns and any sexy McDaniel RPO or pass at the line of scrimmage, Tagovailoa threw with extreme accuracy into tight windows and a lot of that confidence McDaniel was speaking about on third down. Against Baltimore he completed seven passes on throws beyond the sticks on third down, two more than any other single game in his career, per TruMedia. The game looked fun for Tagovailoa for the first time in a long time, and that’s a massive win for the Dolphins’ postseason aspirations.
Playoff Dreams
9. Los Angeles Rams (1-1, last week: 6)
10. Cincinnati Bengals (0-2, last week: 8)
11. Minnesota Vikings (1-1, last week: 9)
12. Denver Broncos (1-1, last week: 10)
13. San Francisco 49ers (1-1, last week: 11)
14. Arizona Cardinals (1-1, last week: 14)
Spotlight: Cardinals Counting on Kyler to Save the Day
Kyler Murray is going to have to be a real-life superhero every single week for Arizona to make the playoffs, let alone make an actual run in the postseason. In back-to-back games to start the 2022 season, the Cardinals have come out flat. The team’s -46 scoring differential in the first three quarters of games through two weeks is the league’s lowest, per TruMedia. The receiving corps is struggling without DeAndre Hopkins (still suspended for four more games), head coach Kliff Kingsbury’s opening scripts for Murray and the offense have been stale and conservative, and they’ve fallen into deep holes in each of their first two games.
The difference in Week 2 compared to the opener against Kansas City is that Murray was able to pull his team out. Trailing the Raiders 23-7 in the fourth quarter, Murray orchestrated back-to-back eight-point possessions to force overtime, and did so with multiple absurd plays out of structure on critical downs. On the first fourth-quarter touchdown drive, Murray dropped a dime to Marquise Brown on fourth-and-4 as the receiver fought through defensive pass interference. And on the drive to force overtime, Murray scrambled for two fourth-down conversions, including a touchdown run, then completed a two-point conversion from seven yards out with one of the best passes of the NFL season thus far.
As entertaining as it was to watch, such heroics aren’t sustainable. Even without top offensive line or receiving units right now, Kingsbury needs to be more aggressive with Murray—specifically early in games and on first and second downs—to avoid having to pray for Murray to go Super Saiyan in the fourth quarter every single week.
On the Bubble
15. New Orleans Saints (1-1, last week: 17)
16. Tennessee Titans (0-2, last week: 15)
17. Indianapolis Colts (0-1-1, last week: 16)
18. Dallas Cowboys (1-1, last week: 18)
19. Cleveland Browns (1-1, last week: 19)
20. New England Patriots (1-1, last week: 21)
Spotlight: Patriots Offense Lacks Weapons and Creativity
The Pats offense is in such an unfortunate place. Second-year quarterback Mac Jones looked a lot more comfortable running a higher percentage of 11 personnel against Pittsburgh in Week 2 than he did against Miami in the opener, but no personnel grouping can mask a gross lack of playmaking talent and overall creativity. Patriots play caller Matt Patricia and Jones simply can’t get anything going on first and second reads right now. The skill position players lack dynamism or the ability to create yards after the catch and fight through contact, and the vanilla play calling—especially on early downs—isn’t creating any easy offense for Jones.
New England ranks dead last in EPA per play (-0.25) on early downs, and the team’s average distance to first down on subsequent third downs is 7.5 yards, which is the eighth-highest average in the NFL. After finishing tied for fifth in yards per attempt (7.0) on throws made within 2.5 seconds of the snap in 2021, Jones ranked 31st in the same category (3.5) through Sunday’s Week 2 games. Patriots pass catchers rank 28th in yards after the catch per reception (4.1). And Patricia has called play-action a league-low seven times (two in Week 1 and five in Week 2).
All of the numbers just illustrate how unsettled and unproductive this offense is right now. Jones’s dropback pressure rate is the fourth-lowest in the NFL through Week 2 at 24 percent, but he isn’t able to maximize a clean pocket. He ranks just 18th in EPA per clean dropback through two games, per TruMedia. The Patricia-Jones pairing needs to figure things out in a hurry if the Patriots are going to win games against better teams than the Steelers.
Long Shot Playoff Hopefuls
21. Las Vegas Raiders (0-2, last week: 20)
22. Jacksonville Jaguars (1-1, last week: 27)
23. Washington Commanders (1-1, last week: 23)
24. New York Giants (2-0, last week: 25)
25. Detroit Lions (1-1, last week: 29)
26. Pittsburgh Steelers (1-1, last week: 22)
27. Seattle Seahawks (1-1, last week: 24)
Spotlight: Brian Daboll is Actually Rebuilding the Giants
No one had high expectations for the Giants going into 2022 (that includes me; I had them no. 27 in The Ringer’s preseason rankings). They had the worst odds of any NFC East team to win the division (+700), and only the Seahawks and Falcons had worse odds to win the conference. The hard pivot from the Dave Gettleman-Joe Judge era to first-year head coach Brian Daboll and first-year general manager Joe Schoen was an intentionally fresh start to a long-term rebuild for a team that hasn’t won a playoff game since 2011. Fast-forward to Week 3, and Daboll’s Giants are one of six 2-0 teams in the league. They’re finding ways to win games they shouldn’t, and their new head coach is dancing at the center of it all.
Daboll is leading by example. He’s holding players accountable and appears to be creating a confident, inspired culture his players are gravitating toward. Underdogs in Tennessee in Week 1, Daboll helped the Giants survive a boneheaded Daniel Jones interception in the red zone and unearthed a version of Saquon Barkley that New York has been desperate to see. Barkley led all running backs on the week with 194 total scrimmage yards and took a shovel pass from Jones into the end zone for the lead on a gutsy two-point conversion attempt late in the fourth quarter.
“He’s a man of his word,” Barkley told the media of Daboll’s decision to go for two. “He told us he was going to be aggressive, and he told us he was going to lean on the players to make plays. In that situation, he did exactly that. When you have a coach like that, it definitely will make you go out there and fight for him and execute in that situation.”
The players gave Daboll and Schoen the game ball after that win and continued to show grit in a 19-16 triumph over the Panthers in Week 2. Daboll made another bold decision in effectively benching veteran wideout Kenny Golladay, who has the highest cap hit of any receiver in the NFL this year, in favor David Sills, who spent the past three seasons on and off the Giants’ practice squad and entered Sunday’s game with just two catches in his career. Golladay played just two offensive snaps against Carolina after playing 46 in Week 1, while Sills caught three passes for 37 yards, running 40 routes. It’s that level of accountability and confidence (and fearlessnesses) that’s going to right the ship in East Rutherford long term.
“We don’t waver,” Daboll told his players on Sunday. “This is going to be a long, hard journey. It is, for all of us. And the result is great, I love it. But remember, if we would’ve lost this game, it’s still about the preparation and our process.”
Process over results is everything this rebuilding Giants team needs right now. Titans kicker Randy Bullock could have made the 47-yard field goal in Week 1 and the Giants wouldn’t be sitting here tied for the early lead in the NFC East. The ball can always bounce the other way in hard-fought games. But the Giants’ collective buy-in to Daboll and his coaching philosophies is an obvious positive, regardless of the results.
Eyeing the No. 1 Overall Pick
28. Atlanta Falcons (0-2, last week: 30)
29. Carolina Panthers (0-2, last week: 26)
30. Houston Texans (0-1-1, last week: 31)
31. New York Jets (1-1, last week: 32)
32. Chicago Bears (1-1, last week: 28)
Spotlight: Bad News Bears
The Bears’ offensive problems are many: Justin Fields is holding the ball too long, his receivers aren’t getting open, and the offensive line is bad. This isn’t a “chicken or egg” situation; it’s a “the entire coop is up in flames, please make it stop” situation.
Against a Packers defense that gave up 184 receiving yards to Minnesota’s Justin Jefferson alone the week prior, Fields on Sunday averaged 4.36 net yards per attempt across 17 dropbacks, the lowest of any quarterback not named Davis Mills in Week 2. Including his Week 1 game in torrential rain with San Francisco’s defense beating down on him, Fields is Pro Football Focus’ lowest-graded signal caller (39.0) through two weeks.
Darnell Mooney is clearly the team’s most talented wideout and leader in routes run with 38 through Week 2, but he has just two receptions for four yards this season. And the slew of misfits behind Mooney in the wide receiver room—Equanimeous St. Brown, Dante Pettis and Byron Pringle—have combined for just five total receptions. That’s SEVEN total completed passes to wide receivers in two games. No one is creating consistent separation, and the offensive line isn’t helping anything develop downfield.
Fields has faced pressure on 48 percent of his dropbacks through two weeks, the second-highest average of any quarterback this season, per TruMedia. He’s completed just four passes and thrown two picks on those 19 dropbacks. But even on the 21 dropbacks he hasn’t been pressured, Fields has completed just 11 passes for 76 yards and a score while averaging 2.60 seconds to throw, which is tied for the third-slowest average time to throw on non-pressured dropbacks of any quarterback this season.
Chicago can’t bank on the weather to help them out or rely on volatile late-game heroics to consistently win this season, but the bigger concern is just how badly Fields’s development will be stunted while playing in a situation cultivating bad habits (like taking unnecessary sacks) over worthwhile experience. According to PFF, Fields converted pressure into sacks at the sixth-highest rate (24 percent) in the NFL last season, and that same stat is now 26.3 percent through Week 2.
Stats current through Sunday’s games.