Some of the NFL's biggest moments of late have come not on the field but the sideline.
Spats. Shoves. Snubs. Snapbacks.
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New York Jets interim head coach Jeff Ulbrich walks off the field after an NFL football game against the Buffalo Bills in East Rutherford, N.J., Monday, Oct. 14, 2024. (AP Photo/Adam Hunger)
New York Jets quarterback Aaron Rodgers walks on the field during the second half of an NFL football game against the Buffalo Bills in East Rutherford, N.J., Monday, Oct. 14, 2024. (AP Photo/Adam Hunger)
Dallas Cowboys team owner Jerry Jones stands on the field during warmups before an NFL football game against the Detroit Lions in Arlington, Texas, Sunday, Oct. 13, 2024. (AP Photo/Gareth Patterson)
Dallas Cowboys head coach Mike McCarthy, left, and quarterback Dak Prescott (4) watch play against the Detroit Lions in the second half of an NFL football game in Arlington, Texas, Sunday, Oct. 13, 2024. (AP Photo/LM Otero)
Denver Broncos quarterback Bo Nix (10) points during the second half of an NFL football game against the Los Angeles Chargers, Sunday, Oct. 13, 2024, in Denver. (AP Photo/Geneva Heffernan)
Las Vegas Raiders defensive end Maxx Crosby (98) reacts during the second half of an NFL football game against the Pittsburgh Steelers in Las Vegas, Sunday, Oct. 13, 2024. (AP Photo/David Becker)
Philadelphia Eagles head coach Nick Sirianni speaks during a news conference with son Miles after an NFL football game against the Cleveland Browns on Sunday, Oct. 13, 2024, in Philadelphia. (AP Photo/Chris Szagola)
It started with Aaron Rodgers refusing a bro hug from Robert Saleh after a touchdown in September before things went sour at the the New York Jets training center.
Two instigators who raised eyebrows in Week 6 quickly backtracked with Maxx Crosby denying his two-handed shove to the chest of an assistant Raiders coach was out of malice and Eagles coach Nick Sirianni apologizing for taunting his own fanbase at the Linc following a narrow win over the Browns.
Jerry Jones had a very unhappy 82nd birthday watching his Cowboys' fourth straight home loss, a 47-9 thrashing from the Detroit Lions. But Jones said after the worst home loss since he bought the team in 1989 that he's not considering dumping coach Mike McCarthy like Woody Johnson canned Saleh five days earlier.
Dallas' home skid includes lopsided losses to the Packers in the playoffs and the Saints this season along with a 28-25 loss to the Ravens after falling behind 28-6.
So, Saleh's stunningly early pink slip heading into Week 6 with the Jets just one game out of first place in the AFC East didn't lead to any copycats like so many other things in NFL do — at least not right away.
Rodgers and Saleh made light of their awkward moment in the aftermath of their rout of the Patriots, but the laugh track ended following two subsequent ugly offensive performances in back-to-back losses and Saleh was shown the exit as he was preparing the Jets for their showdown against the Bills on Monday night.
Rodgers insisted he played no role in Saleh's firing, which came as Saleh was reportedly considering stripping Nathaniel Hackett of his offensive play-calling duties, something Jeff Ulbrich did in his first major move as interim head coach on Thursday.
Ulbrich replaced Hackett with Todd Downing, the Jets’ passing game coordinator and quarterbacks coach. Hackett — who is close to Rodgers from their time together in Green Bay — chose to remain with the team and retained his offensive coordinator title.
Rodgers, who nearly had his first 300-yard passing game since 2021 in New York's 23-20 loss to Buffalo on Monday night that dropped them to 2-4, said during the week that he takes a lot of the blame for the team's struggles and feels some responsibility for the changes because he hasn’t played up to his standard.
Rodgers, by the way, levied some serious criticism at the officials Monday night for throwing 22 combined flags for 204 penalty yards: “It seemed a little ridiculous. Some of them seemed really bad. Including the roughing passer on me. That’s not roughing the passer.”
Sirianni apologized Monday for gesturing and jawing at fans in the final moments of a win during which restless fans booed a listless performance and “Fire Nick!” chants permeated pockets at Lincoln Financial Field. After the team's fourth win in its last dozen tries, Sirianni defended his antics, saying he was simply “excited” to get a victory. He added the Eagles “don’t necessarily like it” when fans boo at home games.
Sirianni struck a conciliatory tone for his behavior a day later after his boorish behavior was ripped by fans and media.
“I was trying to bring energy yesterday. Energy, enthusiasm,” Sirianni said Monday. “I’m sorry and disappointed at how my energy was directed at the end of the game. My energy should be all in on coaching, motivating and celebrating with our guys.”
The Raiders have been the among the league leaders in drama this season with Devante Adams' trade request, a quarterback shuffling and now their superstar Crosby shoving Mike Caldwell, the Raiders' run game coordinator and linebackers coach, during the Raiders' 32-13 loss to the Steelers.
Crosby called it a “love push” in a post on X, and also addressed the situation at his locker with reporters after the game, saying, "Mike Caldwell is a great dude. We have a great relationship, and we do that all the time. ... That's how we play football. We're grown men. We're alpha males. We don't greet each other the same.
“So ... like he was just hyping me up and I hyped him up like, 'Let's go!' We're down, but it just showed that we're not quitting. And so that was literally all it was,” Crosby added. "... The camera, they made it look bad. It looked like I was throwing him out the club but that was not what happened at all.”
A week earlier, the Raiders lost in Denver, where Bo Nix clapped back at coach Sean Payton, who laid into his rookie quarterback as he retreated to the sideline following an off-script incompletion in the end zone.
Payton called his passionate reaction “my love language," and added that Nix still has “some Ferris Bueller in him," a babyboomer jab that made a lot more sense Sunday when the Broncos offense took much of the day off in their loss to the Chargers, falling behind 23-0 in the fourth quarter. At halftime. Nix had just three completions for 22 yards, plus an interception that safety Elijah Molden returned 25 yards.
With contributions from AP Pro Football Writer Dennis Waszak Jr., and AP Sports Writer Dan Gelston.
AP NFL: https://apnews.com/hub/nfl
New York Jets interim head coach Jeff Ulbrich walks off the field after an NFL football game against the Buffalo Bills in East Rutherford, N.J., Monday, Oct. 14, 2024. (AP Photo/Adam Hunger)
New York Jets quarterback Aaron Rodgers walks on the field during the second half of an NFL football game against the Buffalo Bills in East Rutherford, N.J., Monday, Oct. 14, 2024. (AP Photo/Adam Hunger)
Dallas Cowboys team owner Jerry Jones stands on the field during warmups before an NFL football game against the Detroit Lions in Arlington, Texas, Sunday, Oct. 13, 2024. (AP Photo/Gareth Patterson)
Dallas Cowboys head coach Mike McCarthy, left, and quarterback Dak Prescott (4) watch play against the Detroit Lions in the second half of an NFL football game in Arlington, Texas, Sunday, Oct. 13, 2024. (AP Photo/LM Otero)
Denver Broncos quarterback Bo Nix (10) points during the second half of an NFL football game against the Los Angeles Chargers, Sunday, Oct. 13, 2024, in Denver. (AP Photo/Geneva Heffernan)
Las Vegas Raiders defensive end Maxx Crosby (98) reacts during the second half of an NFL football game against the Pittsburgh Steelers in Las Vegas, Sunday, Oct. 13, 2024. (AP Photo/David Becker)
Philadelphia Eagles head coach Nick Sirianni speaks during a news conference with son Miles after an NFL football game against the Cleveland Browns on Sunday, Oct. 13, 2024, in Philadelphia. (AP Photo/Chris Szagola)
ROME (AP) — Pope Francis is installing 21 new cardinals, many of whom are key figures in his reform agenda: A Dominican preacher who acted as the spiritual father for Francis' recent gathering of bishops, a Neapolitan “street priest” like himself, and a Peruvian bishop who has strongly backed his crackdown on abuse.
Francis’ 10th consistory to create new princes of the church is also the biggest infusion of voting-age cardinals in his 11-year pontificate, further cementing his imprint on the group of men who will one day elect his successor. With Saturday's additions, Francis will have created 110 of the 140 cardinals under 80, thus eligible to vote in a conclave.
This consistory also brings the number of voting-age cardinals well over the 120-man limit set by St. John Paul II. But 13 existing cardinals will turn 80 next year, bringing the numbers back down.
This consistory is notable too because the 21 men being elevated aren’t the same ones Francis named Oct. 6 when he announced an unusual December consistory.
One of Francis’ original picks, Indonesian Bishop Paskalis Bruno Syukur, the bishop of Bogor, asked not to be made a cardinal “because of his desire to grow more in his life as a priest,” the Vatican said. Francis quickly substituted him with the Naples archbishop, Domenico Battaglia, known for his pastoral work in the slums and rough parts of Naples.
Battaglia is one of five Italians getting the red hat, keeping the once-dominant Italian presence in the College of Cardinals strong. Turin is getting a cardinal in its archbishop, Roberto Repole, as is Rome: Baldassare Reina, who on the same day Francis announced he was becoming a cardinal also learned that Francis had promoted him to be his top administrator for the diocese of Rome.
Francis, who is technically bishop of Rome, has been conducting a years-long reorganization of the Rome diocese and its pontifical universities. Reina – who is also grand chancellor of the pre-eminent Pontifical Lateran University – will be expected to execute the reform.
Another Italian is the oldest cardinal: Angelo Acerbi, a 99-year-old retired Vatican diplomat. He is the only one among the 21 new cardinals to be older than 80 and thus ineligible to vote in a conclave. Francis' picks on Saturday also include the youngest cardinal: the 44-year-old head of the Ukrainian Greek Catholic Church in Melbourne, Australia, Mykola Bychok.
Yet another Italian is one of two Vatican priests who do jobs in the Holy See that don’t usually carry the red hat: Fabio Baggio is undersecretary in the Vatican development office. Francis also decided to make a cardinal out of George Jacob Koovakad, the priest who organizes the pope’s foreign travels.
Other picks have high-profile roles in Francis’ reforms.
The archbishop of Lima, Peru, Carlos Gustavo Castillo Mattasoglio, made headlines recently because of an extraordinary essay he penned for El Pais newspaper in which he called for the suppression of an influential Peruvian Catholic movement, the Sodalitium Christianae Vitae, which also has a presence in the U.S.
Castillo called the group a “failed experiment” of the church in Latin America, one of several conservative, right-wing movements that cropped up in the 1970s and 1980s as a counterweight to the more left-leaning liberation theology.
“My hypothesis is that the Sodalitium obeys a political project,” Castillo wrote. “It is the resurrection of fascism in Latin America, artfully using the church by means of sectarian methods.”
Francis has recently expelled the Sodalitium's founder and several top members following a Vatican investigation.
Castillo is one of five new Latin American cardinals named by history’s first Latin American pope. They include the archbishop of Santiago del Estero, Argentina, Vicente Bokalic Iglic; the archbishop of Porto Alegre, Brazil, Jaime Spengler; the archbishop of Santiago, Chile, Fernando Natalio Chomali Garib and the archbishop of Guayaquil, Ecuador, Luis Gerardo Cabrera Herrera.
Francis has long sought to broaden the geographic diversity of the College of Cardinals to show the universality of the church, particularly where it is growing. Asia got two new cardinals: Tarcisio Isao Kikuchi, the archbishop of Tokyo; and Pablo Virgilio Sinogco David, the bishop of Kalookan, Philippines. Africa also got two new cardinals: the archbishop of Abidjan, Ivory Coast, Ignace Bessi Dogbo, and the bishop of Algiers, Algeria, Jean-Paul Vesco.
“There hasn’t been an African pope, but it’s a possibility in the church," Dogbo said in an interview on the eve of his installation. "And I think that this eventuality — which is not necessarily a demand — if this eventuality were to arise, the universal church would have to be ready to take it on.”
Francis also tapped the archbishop of Tehran, Iran, Dominique Joseph Mathieu, the bishop of Belgrade, Serbia, Ladislav Nemet, while the lone North American cardinal named is the archbishop of Toronto, Frank Leo.
The Lithuanian-born cardinal-elect, Rolandas Makrickas, has a special job in this pontificate: As the archpriest of the St. Mary Major basilica, he hosts Francis every time the pope returns from a foreign trip, since the pope likes to pray before an icon of the Madonna in the church. Additionally, Makrickas oversaw a recent financial reform of the basilica and would have been involved in identifying the future final resting place for Francis, since the Argentine pope has said he will be buried there.
Perhaps the most familiar new cardinal to anyone who has been following Francis’ reform agenda is the Dominican Timothy Radcliff, the spiritual father of the just-concluded synod, or gathering of bishops. The years-long process aimed to make the church more inclusive and responsive to the needs of rank-and-file Catholics, especially women.
A British theologian, the white-robed Radcliffe often provided clarifying, if not humorous interventions during the weeks-long debate and retreats. At one point he set off a mini-firestorm by suggesting that external financial pressures influenced African bishops to reject Francis' permission to allow blessings for gay couples. He later said he just meant that the African Catholic Church is under pressure from other well-financed faiths.
As the synod was winding down, he offered some valuable perspective.
“Often we can have no idea as to how God’s providence is at work in our lives. We do what we believe to be right and the rest is in the hands of the Lord,” he told the gathering. “This is just one synod. There will be others. We do not have to do everything, just try to take the next step.”
Associated Press religion coverage receives support through the AP’s collaboration with The Conversation US, with funding from Lilly Endowment Inc. The AP is solely responsible for this content.
Newly appointed cardinal Vicente Bokalic Iglic, archbishop of Santiago del Estero, Argentina meets journalists in the Vatican press room ahead of his elevation, Friday, Dec. 6, 2024. (AP Photo/Andrew Medichini)
Newly appointed cardinal Mykola Bychok, head of the Ukrainian Greek Catholic Church in Melbourne, Australia, poses as he meets journalists in the Vatican press room ahead of his elevation, Friday, Dec. 6, 2024. (AP Photo/Andrew Medichini)
Newly appointed cardinal Mykola Bychok, head of the Ukrainian Greek Catholic Church in Melbourne, Australia, poses as he meets journalists in the Vatican press room ahead of his elevation, Friday, Dec. 6, 2024. (AP Photo/Andrew Medichini)
Newly appointed cardinal P. Timothy Peter Joseph Radcliffe, British theologian spiritual father of the just-concluded synod meets journalists in the Vatican press room ahead of his elevation, Friday, Dec. 6, 2024. (AP Photo/Andrew Medichini)
Newly appointed cardinal Ignace Bessi Dogbo archbishop of Abidjan, Ivory Coast, meets journalists in the Vatican press room ahead of his elevation, Friday, Dec. 6, 2024. (AP Photo/Andrew Medichini)
Newly appointed cardinal P. Timothy Peter Joseph Radcliffe, British theologian spiritual father of the just-concluded synod poses as he meets journalists in the Vatican press room ahead of his elevation, Friday, Dec. 6, 2024. (AP Photo/Andrew Medichini)
Newly appointed cardinal P. Timothy Peter Joseph Radcliffe, British theologian spiritual father of the just-concluded synod poses for photos as he meets journalists in the Vatican press room ahead of his elevation, Friday, Dec. 6, 2024. (AP Photo/Andrew Medichini)
Newly appointed cardinal Vicente Bokalic Iglic, archbishop of Santiago del Estero, Argentina poses as he meets journalists in the Vatican press room ahead of his elevation, Friday, Dec. 6, 2024. (AP Photo/Andrew Medichini)
Newly appointed cardinal Rolandas Makrickas Lithuanian-born archpriest of the St. Mary Major basilica poses as he meets journalists in the Vatican press room ahead of his elevation, Friday, Dec. 6, 2024. (AP Photo/Andrew Medichini)
Newly appointed cardinal Mykola Bychok, head of the Ukrainian Greek Catholic Church in Melbourne, Australia, poses as he meets journalists in the Vatican press room ahead of his elevation, Friday, Dec. 6, 2024. (AP Photo/Andrew Medichini)
Newly appointed cardinal Ignace Bessi Dogbo archbishop of Abidjan, Ivory Coast meets journalists in the Vatican press room ahead of his elevation, Friday, Dec. 6, 2024. (AP Photo/Andrew Medichini)
Newly appointed cardinal P. Timothy Peter Joseph Radcliffe, British theologian spiritual father of the just-concluded synod poses as he meets journalists in the Vatican press room ahead of his elevation, Friday, Dec. 6, 2024. (AP Photo/Andrew Medichini)
