A three-time Super Bowl champ just went ‘nuclear’ on Aussie at centre of social media storm

There are just four weeks left in the NFL regular season, with a number of Australians playing for potential Super Bowl contenders.

So, what’s the latest on all of them and which player has been at the centre of a social media storm?

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Read on for the full wrap of all our countrymen playing in the NFL right here!

DANIEL FAALELE (Right guard, Baltimore Ravens)

Let’s start with Daniel Faalele, who has been in the headlines for all the wrong reasons recently and whose poor play is creating a storm on social media.

The Ravens right guard has been a constant target of criticism this season and while honestly some of it on social media has bordered on bullying, the actual analysis has for the most part been accurate.

There have been countless moments where Faalele has either looked lost out on the field, missed his blocking assignment or been beaten by either speed off the line or pure physicality, with a string of examples often going viral online.

He hasn’t been helped by the fact that the Ravens offensive line as a whole has struggled all season long, but Faalele in particular has come under scrutiny.

It was warranted on the weekend, with Faalele credited by Pro Football Focus with four pressures allowed while he scored the offensive line’s lowest grade (45.3) in pass protection.

Ravens head coach John Harbaugh said he thought both guards Faalele and Andrew Vorhees played “exceptionally well” in the run game but that they were “too inconsistent” in the pass game.

“Every player has plays they want back,” he added.

“I can think of one where Daniel was hard-setting, like a hard-play action where it was more of a drop-back pass type of protection, he got overextended and got beat like that.

“That really shouldn’t happen. He should be setting a different way there — he knows that. So, that was a mistake, (but) lots of other times, it was good.”

Harbaugh is right that Faalele has had some nice moments in run blocking throughout the year, but his pass protection in particular has left a lot to be desired at times.

It has left an injured and underdone Lamar Jackson scrambling to extend plays or sacked in the backfield for a loss, with the Ravens quarterback even spotted having a heated discussion with the Australian in their latest loss to the Steelers.

“Some frustration brewing on the Ravens sideline after that interception,” Tracy Wolfson reported.

“Lamar threw his helmet, he then had a talk with Daniel Faalele, who said ‘They know it’s coming every time’ and then Zay Flowers came over as well and added to the discussion. It’s all hands on deck to try get this offence going.”

Baltimore Banner columnist Kyle Goon, meanwhile, wrote on X, formerly known as Twitter, that there was a crowd of reporters waiting by Faalele’s locker after the Steelers game but that the media policy is that the media generally can’t talk to players before they are fully dressed.

According to Goon, a shirtless Faalele took his shirt in his hand and nodded to reporters before walking off and not returning for questions.

The Athletic’s Baltimore beat writer, Jeff Zrebiec, recently wrote that Faalele is “by far the most-maligned” player on the Ravens roster.

So, is it fair? Well, it depends who you ask. As Zrebiec went on to point out, if you asked most Ravens fans you would be told — among other things — that Faalele is “the sole reason the Ravens will not win the Super Bowl, the sole reason Lamar Jackson has battled a litany of injuries for the past two months and the sole reason this Ravens offence bears little resemblance to the highly productive ones from the recent past”.

Zrebiec wrote that “some” of the criticism of Faalele, who was an incredibly raw prospect when he first entered the NFL, is fair.

“Faalele, a converted tackle, has had his fair share of struggles since becoming a starter last year,” Zrebiec added.

“He has some really good reps, but those are glossed over in favour of the plays where he’s on the ground, a step behind or blocking air. It’s just a mixed bag with him and the lows are really low.

“However, it also needs to be said that the entire offensive line has not played up to its potential this year and that includes the accomplished duo of Ronnie Stanley and Tyler Linderbaum. And really, the criticism is better directed toward the front office, which hasn’t found a guard they believe is better than Faalele and Andrew Vorhees.”

That is a very valid point as while Faalele has struggled, some of the blame has to go towards Harbaugh and the rest of the coaching staff for continuing to play him and not exploring other options.

Admittedly, there aren’t many options and that is a major issue the Ravens will need to address in the offseason while reserve offensive lineman Ben Cleveland was just suspended three games for violating the league’s substance abuse policy, further limiting the alternatives available to Harbaugh.

There was never a guarantee when Faalele first entered the league that he was going to be a success despite his size and while he still has the physical make-up to continue developing into a better player, he is now in his fourth season and the Ravens are desperate to capitalise on their Super Bowl window with Jackson and Derrick Henry at running back.

Elsewhere, WMAR2 News’ Travis Case wrote that Faalele “continues to get beaten”.

“On most downs, it appears he doesn’t know who he should be blocking, what the play is, where he is, or what day it is,” Case wrote.

“There’s a pile of tape already amassed that shows him completely whiffing on run and passing plays this season alone.

“Too many plays are dead before they start because he’s missing his assignment by a mile.”

Case’s assessment of Faalele’s play was not even the most brutal. That was left to former NFL tight end and three-time Super Bowl champion turned commentator Shannon Sharpe, who went on an extended rant where he tore the Australian to shreds on his podcast ‘Nightcap’.

Among some of the most brutal lines were:

— “You shouldn’t be allowed to be that big and that sorry. He can’t block the sun out of his eyes, let alone a defensive lineman or a blitzer coming.”

— “As bad as he’s been playing this entire season, how bad must his backup be? … If the backup that bad, he ain’t even a high school player.”

— “If he’s the solution, what’s the problem? If he the answer, what’s the question? It’s hard for me to believe that there are linemen worse than what he is. I refuse to believe that.”

JORDAN MAILATA (Left tackle, Philadelphia Eagles)

Mailata is still one of the best left tackles in the league, but his level of play has dropped off this season along with the previous dominance of Philadelphia’s offensive line as a whole.

Mailata, Lane Dickerson and Cam Jurgens were all incredible last season as the Eagles went all the way to win the Super Bowl, but Dickerson has battled injuries while regression has hit the rest of this offensive line hard.

The run game in particular has struggled, while playcaller Kevin Patullo definitely warrants his share of the blame.

So, could the Eagles be headed to a similar collapse to that of 2023 which saw calls for head coach Nick Sirianni to be fired?

Well, Mailata made clear in a radio interview that he definitely doesn’t think that is the case.

“I’ll tell you right now: This is nowhere near close to 2023,” Mailata said on 94WIP.

“Let’s nip that in the bud right there. At least, as a player in the locker room that was part of the 2023 team and part of this team. It’s nowhere near. Nowhere near.”

That year the Eagles opened with a 10-1 record before falling apart near the end of the regular season and were later eliminated in the wildcard round by the Tampa Bay Buccaneers.

It has been a similar story this year for the Eagles, who started 8-2 but have now dropped three-straight games.

Mailata, however, thinks there is a key difference between that failed season and this one.

“I think the way we attack every day with the attention to detail. I would probably say the detail right now is our in-game execution. That is lacking,” he said.

“Now, we can go back to practice and that will probably be a big emphasis of putting ourselves in these situations where they keep hurting us in games. That’s all you can do.

“I feel like that wasn’t there in ’23. It’s there this year. The coaching technique, it’s there this year. It wasn’t there in ’23. So I just want to dead it, if you know where that came from. I want to dead it right then and there.”

Philadelphia’s latest loss came in overtime to the Los Angeles Chargers and Mailata was at the centre of a number of key moments.

Mailata was called for a hold on what would have otherwise been an A.J. Brown touchdown but later made up for it with a key block on a long Saquon Barkley touchdown run, although the Australian may well have been guilty of a hold on that play too.

The referees missed it, but there was no doubting another huge play from the Eagles left tackle later in overtime as he sold the false start to get the Chargers to jump and gift Philadelphia a first down.

It didn’t end up being enough, however, with the Eagles going down in a thriller.

JEREMY CRAWSHAW (Punter, Denver Broncos)

The Australian rookie has, for the most part, had an impressive rookie season as evidenced in the fact he leads all punters in Pro Bowl fan voting.

There was one incredibly shaky game for Crawshaw against Las Vegas, where he shanked a punt and in general looked to be off in the first half.

“I think it was more – the drop. It’s not the kick off the foot. When you, generally speaking, when you have some mis-hits like that, it’s how it comes off your hands,” Broncos coach Sean Payton said of Crawshaw’s nightmare half.

But otherwise, Crawshaw has overcome his pre-season yips to be a steady special teams presence for the 11-2 Broncos, who lead the AFC West.

In particular, Crawshaw bounced back from that Raiders game with a few key plays in a big win against the Chief the week after, averaging 52.8 yards per punt while pinning Kansas City inside its 20-yard line three times.

“It’s tough to come back when you come back from a game like last week, when you have a little bit of a mis-hit earlier in the game,” Lutz said of Crawshaw.

“To be able to stay levelheaded and come back from that is impressive. That’s when you know you have the right guy in the room. I’m proud of Jeremy for sticking with it.”

MICHAEL DICKSON (Punter, Seattle Seahawks)

Dickson hasn’t been called on much this season. After all, this Seahawks team has produced one of the most explosive and efficient offences in the NFL.

In other words, they aren’t punting much. But when they are Dickson continues to prove why he is one of the most dependable punters in the league, even having one of his three punts downed inside the five on Monday as Seattle blew out Atlanta 37-9.

TORY TAYLOR (Punter, Chicago Bears)