@djrood1000 asks, "When did AJ Barner become WR1?"
A: OK, let's not get carried away. There's still a receiver on the team that leads the NFL in receiving yards, by a large margin.
Barner did, however, lead the team with 10 catches on Sunday and he had 70 yards, the second most on the team and the second highest total in his two-year career. And after a strong rookie campaign, Barner is emerging as a very, very good starting tight end in this league, a player capable of blocking in the run game and pass protection, and also of making plays as a pass-catcher. Oh, and he has also become a short-yardage weapon, taking snaps for QB sneaks.
"He's accepted the challenge," Macdonald said. "It's kind of like people on defense playing two different positions. You've got to learn all the blocking schemes and pass protections, be solid in running multiple routes and be sure handed when Sam finds you. He's been found in those situations, and it's great. That's a great example of Sam working through his progressions and finding him late in the down, and he's doing that at a high level. A lot of those catches that AJ had, he's not the number one in the progression and Sam's, clicking through it, and that's a positive. There are a couple of plays that we want back with AJ yesterday. He knows that, and he'll grow from it. He's been a tremendous asset to our team, and we expect him to take the next step."
@YouTube_Izu asks, "Is my No. 1 offensive lineman, Greyamous Zabel OK?"
A: Greyamous? Is that a new nickname now for him? Anyway, I'm guessing this question came in Monday before Mike Macdonald gave an update, but in case anyone missed it, the news on Grey Zabel is positive.
"Really fortunate," Macdonald said Monday. "We avoided a significant injury, which is really positive. The words I heard were day-to-day. You know how that goes, it could be day-to-day it could be a week, could be more than that. But nothing significant, which is a huge positive."
That positive news doesn't guarantee Zabel will be back for this week's game against the Titans, but it does mean that Zabel avoided more serious injury that could have keep him out for most if not all of the remainder of the season.