Bucs at Cowboys Tonight, Payton Takes the Call Sheet Back, and OBJ Gets One More Chance

LAS VEGAS — Thursdays in October are for taking stock, and this league gave us plenty to count. Sean Payton just took play-calling back from his own coordinator four games into the experiment. The NFL officially unfined the fun. And Odell Beckham Jr., eleven years after he broke the league with one catch, is back on a practice squad hoping for one more chance. Let's get into it.

Payton takes the headset back

The Davis Webb experiment in Denver is over after four games. NBC Sports confirmed Thursday morning that Sean Payton will resume calling offensive plays Sunday against the Chargers, taking the call sheet back from the first-year coordinator he handed it to in February.

It didn't take a detective to see this coming. The Broncos managed 176 yards of offense in a 31-10 Week 1 loss to Kansas City. They've trailed at halftime of every game. Through three weeks they'd scored 10 first-half points total. The offense sits 26th in EPA per play. Sunday's 24-14 loss to San Francisco dropped Denver to 2-2, two games behind the unbeaten Chiefs, and Payton spent his postgame presser dodging the play-calling question instead of answering it.

Former Broncos receiver Brandon Stokley, now on Denver's 104.3 The Fan, broke it open Wednesday night, reporting Payton would take over play-calling this week. One note of caution: KOA's Benjamin Allbright wrote that a team source "hadn't heard it and it didn't look that way in practice" — so until Payton says it himself, there's a sliver of daylight. But NBC's confirmation is about as solid as these things get.

The timing is deliberate. Denver gets the Chargers at home Sunday, then a Thursday night trip to Seattle in Week 6 — a game carrying real bad blood after Seahawks coach Mike Macdonald's eyebrow-raising comments about Payton surfaced two weeks ago. Payton wants his sea legs back before that one. Smart.

The celebration crackdown ends

In a genuinely good development, the NFL and the NFLPA announced Wednesday that players will no longer face discipline for "imitating drinking a beverage" during celebrations. The fines on 49ers fullback Kyle Juszczyk and Cowboys tight end Jake Ferguson — both flagged for mimed drink-chugging in Week 2 — have been rescinded on appeal. Ferguson's was reportedly $13,000.

The numbers behind this are wild. The league issued 20 celebration fines across Weeks 2 and 3 alone — all appealed. Total fines of all kinds hit 88 through Week 3, with celebration penalties ranging from about $8,800 to nearly $15,000. NFLPA executive director JC Tretter said the union pushed for education before punishment when plays fall into a gray area, and this time the league actually listened.

Juszczyk's appeal reportedly included the obvious point: the NFL sells beer sponsorships all game long, then fines a guy for pretending to sip one. Hard to argue with. What's still banned: anything imitating smoking or drug use, sexual or violent gestures, gun motions, throat slashes, and the nose wipe. Drink up, fellas — just don't mime anything else.

OBJ gets one more chance

The Vikings signed Odell Beckham Jr. to their practice squad on Wednesday, eight days after the Giants cut him. The fit makes sense on paper: Minnesota is 4-0 and banged up at receiver, with Justin Jefferson missing last week on an ankle injury and Jordan Addison on this week's injury report with a hamstring.

The reunion angle is the real story. Beckham's offensive coordinator during that magical 2021 Rams stretch — 27 catches, five touchdowns, then 21 more grabs in the playoffs before the ACL tear in the Super Bowl — was Kevin O'Connell. Now O'Connell is the head coach in Minnesota, and he sounded genuinely excited Wednesday about getting Beckham acclimated to the offense.

Let's be honest about what this is: a 33-year-old (34 next month) who played 20 snaps and drew one target in three games for the Giants, joining a practice squad. But the Vikings don't need 2016 OBJ. They need a veteran who knows O'Connell's offense cold and can run a real route if Jefferson and Addison are both limited Sunday against the Saints. Low risk, real upside, great story. We're rooting for it.

Tonight: Bucs at Cowboys

Week 5 kicks off at 8:15 p.m. ET on Prime Video with the 0-4 Buccaneers visiting the 2-2 Cowboys at AT&T Stadium. Baker Mayfield is out again — the dislocated right thumb he suffered in Week 3 will cost him at least three weeks, per ESPN's Adam Schefter — so undrafted rookie Jalon Daniels makes his second straight start after throwing for 148 yards, a touchdown and two picks in last week's 17-14 loss to Green Bay.

Dallas is favored by 8.5, and it's not hard to see why: Dak Prescott is coming off a 335-yard comeback win over Houston, and CeeDee Lamb leads the league in catches and receiving yards. We've got the full game-day breakdown here — no need to rehash it. Just know the Bucs haven't started 0-4 since 2013, and Thursday night in Jerry World is a rough place to try to fix that.

Around the Week 5 slate

A few more things on the radar before Sunday:

Eagles vs. Jaguars in London (Sunday morning): Philadelphia's offensive line is in genuine crisis — more on that in our full breakdown of the Cam Jurgens trade — and ESPN's analytics give Jacksonville a 73.4% win probability. The Jags are rolling; the Eagles are reshuffling. London could get loud.

Broncos vs. Chargers: Payton's first game back on the call sheet. Denver's slow starts have been the story all season — if the offense comes out humming in the first quarter, we'll know exactly what changed.

Vikings vs. Saints: The 4-0 Vikings host New Orleans with a banged-up receiver room and a brand-new practice-squad legend. The Saints, fresh off a 45-24 Monday night rivalry loss to Atlanta, are desperate.

Ravens vs. Falcons: Baltimore's new center won't debut — Jurgens is still in concussion protocol, with his Ravens debut targeted for next week against Cleveland. Rookie Olaivavega Ioane holds the fort one more Sunday.

Bills vs. Rams (Monday night): Week 5's finale. Buffalo and Los Angeles both need it, and Monday night has delivered all season.