Tua Tagovailoa leaves with concussion as Bills top Dolphins again; weekend picks for NFL and college football

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This is an article version of the CBS Sports HQ AM Newsletter, the ultimate guide to every day in sports. You can sign up to get it in your inbox every weekday morning here.

🏈 Good morning to all, but especially to ...

THE BUFFALO BILLS

Meet the new-look Bills. No big names on the outside? We'll win in the run game. Lost a bunch of veterans in the secondary? Here comes our pass rush and our opportunistic youngsters behind them. The Bills beat the Dolphins, 31-10, Buffalo's 12th victory in its last 13 meetings with Miami. It's one of the most dominant runs in the league.

On a humid night in South Florida, the Bills looked right at home, building a 24-10 lead at halftime behind three James Cook touchdowns and interceptions by JaMarcus Ingram and Christian Benford. If Miami had hopes of a comeback, they disappeared when Tua Tagovailoa threw a pick six to Ingram. One drive later, Tagovailoa suffered another concussion. More on that in a bit.

Focusing on Buffalo, I'm really impressed by both lines of scrimmage. We've seen Josh Allen play hero in plenty of wins. Heck, he had two touchdowns rushing and two passing just five days ago. But tonight, he took a back seat. His lone touchdown pass was a short one to Cook, and Allen ran just twice while nursing an iffy non-throwing hand. Cook did the heavy lifting. And the defense took it from there.

😁 Honorable mentions

Jayson Tatum made his 2025 NBA Finals prediction. Yes, his Celtics are in it.
The Heat will unveil the Dwyane Wade statue Oct. 27.
Kirk Cousins says his Achilles feels good. Next up? Playing better.
Junior Bridgeman is buying a 10% share of the Bucks, his former team.
South Alabama scored the most points by an FBS team since 1991.
Flavor Flav awarded Jordan Chiles a bronze clock after her Olympic bronze medal controversy.
Mauricio Pochettino's USMNT introductory press conference is today.
Welcome to the big leagues, Kumar Rocker!
Young players named Jackson are taking over MLB.
Bowden Francis has taken no-hitters into the ninth inning of two of his last four starts. Here's how he turned his season around.
Five-star 2025 shooting guard Isiah Harwell became Houston's highest-ranked commit.

🏈 Tua Tagovailoa suffers concussion, does not return. What's next?

Buffalo Bills v Miami Dolphins — Getty Images

We could talk about how the Dolphins have no answers for the Bills, how everything seemed off, how they bungled the end of the first half, how the offensive line is a mess, as are the receivers after Tyreek Hill and Jaylen Waddle or how the defense doesn't look inspiring. It's all true.

But football, as much as we love it and as much as it is quite literally almost all of this newsletter, is a game. One's well-being is not. And watching Tagovailoa go head-first into Damar Hamlin, fall to the ground and assume the "fencing position" -- a telltale sign of a head injury -- was brutal on a human level, not on NFL level.

It's Tagovailoa's third diagnosed NFL concussion. He suffered the other two in 2022, but he was able to play last season concussion-free after quite literally studying how to fall. But football -- this beautiful, brutal sport -- is unforgiving. It doesn't care about your injury history. It doesn't care about your contract (four years and $212.4 million, signed just a month and a half ago, in Tagovailoa's case). It isn't here to keep people healthy. Quite the opposite.

Two seasons ago, Tagovailoa's injuries forced the league to re-examine and change its concussion protocol. He admitted he thought about retirement after that. Last night, Hall of Famer Tony Gonzalez said that Tagovailoa should retire. CBS Sports HQ injury expert Marty Jaramillo suggested "retirement has to at least be in play."

That's a call only Tagovailoa can make, as his coach, Mike McDaniel, acknowledged. But Thursday was another time things were put in perspective. In the big picture -- Tagovailoa's health -- and the small picture -- the Dolphins' outlook -- it was truly awful.

😕 Not so honorable mentions

Haason Reddick could sit out the entire season.
This Bengals cornerback is unimpressed with Xavier Worthy.
The Bears may be down two key wide receivers.
Lakers star Anthony Davis doesn't want to play center.
The Warriors haven't made much progress on extensions for Jonathan Kuminga or Moses Moody.
A now-cut Twins minor-league catcher was allegedly telling opponents what pitch was coming.
Corey Seager's season is over (sports hernia).
Logan Webb blamed a hangover for his poor MLB All-Star Game performance.

🏈 NFL Week 2 picks, previews and more

Week 1 is for overreacting. Week 2 is for seeing how many of those Week 1 overreactions were warranted. This week features 16 teams hoping to avoid the infamous 0-2 start. Only two teams over the past five seasons have started 0-2 and made the playoffs, and the Jaguars and Browns are among the teams trying to avoid falling into a major hole early. Trevor Lawrence is playing in a stadium (kinda) named for him, and he's hoping to right the ship after a disastrous finish last year. In his picks, John Breech says ...

"If you've ever wondered what it's like to set $230 million on fire, just ask the Browns because that's basically what they've done with Deshaun Watson. ... Although both teams lost in Week 1, the difference is that the Jaguars actually looked competent for a good chunk of their game. The pick: Jaguars 23-20 over Browns"

That's where I'm at, too.

The Bengals are well-known for their slow starts, and with drama surrounding Ja'Marr Chase (who didn't sign an extension that would have tied Justin Jefferson's) and Tee Higgins (he had to clear up he's not faking an injury), it's not a great time to be facing the two-time reigning-champion Chiefs. Too bad! Here are Jordan Dajani's thoughts:

"Joe Burrow is 3-1 against Patrick Mahomes, but he's just 1-8 in his career in Weeks 1-2. Mahomes on the other hand is 11-2 in Weeks 1-2. ... Steve Spagnuolo is going to throw pressure at Burrow, and then the Bengals defense couldn't stop Rhamondre Stevenson. Isiah Pacheco could have a big game. The pick: Chiefs -5.5 | Projected score: Chiefs 30-23"

Here are our experts' picks:

Pete Prisco | Will Brinson | John Breech | Jordan Dajani | Tyler Sullivan

We here at the CBS Sports HQ AM newsletter, by the way, went 4-0 last week. I'm not saying you should listen to me, but you shouldn't not listen to me. I've probably cursed myself now. Anyway, my picks for this weekend:

Jets over Titans
Giants over Commanders
Rams over Cardinals

Here's more:

An excellent deep dive on 49ers-Vikings
What Malik Willis brings to the Packers

🏈 College football Week 3 predictions, best bets, plus Colorado-Colorado State rivalry renewed

You never truly know where college football is headed any weekend. You may not have seen a ton of fun looking at last week's slate, and then Northern Illinois stunned Notre Dame in front of Touchdown Jesus and tens of thousands of Fighting Irish fans. (Here's another story behind that, by the way.)

So what are we looking at this weekend? Let's start with tonight's headliner, which is much more than just an appetizer. No. 20 Arizona heads to No. 14 Kansas State in a Wildcat battle. It's one of Tom Fornelli's Games of the Week in his Six Pack, and his pick is ...

"The biggest question marks I have about this game involve K-State QB Avery Johnson, who is a tremendous athlete but hasn't really been utilized as such to this point. Rather, he's been a drop-back passer. ... Whatever the case, neither defense has been solid against the pass. If it becomes an air battle, I have a lot more faith in what Arizona has with Noah Fifita and Tetairoa McMillan. The Pick: Arizona +7.5 (-110)"

Oh yeah, and Colorado visits Colorado State as the Deion Sanders/Shedeur Sanders/Travis Hunter show hits the road again (preview here). I enjoyed Shehan Jeyarajah's story on how the other coach -- Jay Norvell -- has things moving toward a long-awaited breakthrough. Having Tory Horton certainly helps.

These programs have been jawing again, and after a double-overtime Buffaloes win last year, the latest chapter in this rivalry is a must-watch.

Here's more:

Previews: No. 1 Georgia at Kentucky | No. 4 Alabama at Wisconsin | No. 9 Oregon at Oregon State | Tulane at No. 15 Oklahoma | No. 16 LSU at South Carolina | No. 18 Notre Dame at Purdue
Top storylines
SEC picks | Big Ten picks | Jerry Palm's best bets
Cameron Rising (hand) is likely out.
Group of Five Power Rankings
Why teams have two byes

🔥 How the Pac-12 survived, and which schools could be next?

It's a dog-eat-dog (conference-eat-conference?) world, and the Pac-12 finally got its seat at the table, even if it's just a taste for now. The Pac-12 -- down to just Oregon State and Washington State two days ago -- nabbed Boise State, San Diego State, Colorado State and Fresno State from the Mountain West. Those four schools will officially join the Pac-12 in the summer of 2026.

Oregon State and Washington State had about $250 million in resources, and buying the four newcomers will cost roughly $113 million. The move, it should be noted, came after the Mountain West opted not to extend its football scheduling partnership with the Beavers and Cougars.

Oregon State and Washington State were the butt of countless jokes over the past several months. They were wandering the post-realignment wilderness, and last week's news made things even shakier. But they persevered. They'll both play in-state rivals this weekend -- Oregon-Oregon State and Washington-Washington State -- a yearly tradition impressively preserved. Dennis Dodd and John Talty have the backstory on how we got here.

Still, the Pac-12 needs two more schools to reach the NCAA minimum of eight. Here's who we're hearing could be next:

UTSA, Rice, North Texas, Memphis (American Athletic Conference)
Air Force, UNLV (Mountain West)

Shehan has key questions (and answers) for what's next, and as for men's basketball, Isaac Trotter divided the six programs into three tiers, with San Diego State on top.

📺 What we're watching this weekend

Friday

🏈 UNLV at Kansas, 7 p.m. on ESPN
⚾ Red Sox at Yankees, 7:05 p.m. on Apple TV+
🏈 No. 20 Arizona at No. 14 Kansas State, 8 p.m. on Fox

Saturday

🏈 No. 4 Alabama at Wisconsin, noon on Fox
🏈 No. 16 LSU at South Carolina, noon on ABC
🏈 No. 24 Boston College at No. 6 Missouri, 12:45 p.m. on SEC Network
🏈 No. 18 Notre Dame at Purdue, 3:30 p.m. on CBS and Paramount+
🏈 No. 9 Oregon at Oregon State, 3:30 p.m. on Fox
🏈 Texas A&M at Florida, 3:30 p.m. on ABC
🏈 No. 5 Ole Miss at Wake Forest, 6:30 p.m. on The CW Network
🏈 Colorado at Colorado State, 7:30 p.m. on CBS and Paramount+
🏈 No. 1 Georgia at Kentucky, 7:30 p.m. on ABC

Sunday

🏈 Jets at Titans, 1 p.m. on CBS and Paramount+
🏈 49ers at Vikings, 1 p.m. on CBS and Paramount+
🏈 Saints at Cowboys, 1 p.m. on Fox
🏈 Buccaneers at Lions, 1 p.m. on Fox
🏀 Wings at Fever, 3 p.m. on NBA TV
🏈 Bengals at Chiefs, 4:25 p.m. on CBS and Paramount+
🏀 Sun at Aces, 6 p.m. on CBS Sports Network
⚾ Dodgers at Braves, 7 p.m. on ESPN
🏈 Bears at Texans, 8:20 p.m. on NBC