Speaker 1: Be Around the NFL Podcast in search generic money tag Here.
Speaker 1: Welcome to another edition of the Around the NFL Podcast.
Speaker 1: My name is Dan hands As I come to you
Speaker 1: from a virtual room Phil I need philled with heroes,
Speaker 1: Mark Sessler, Gregg Rose, a Ball and yes, the great
Speaker 1: Chris Westling. What's up? Boys? Hey man, there he is
Speaker 1: sounds back in. Yeah, west on the Flagship Show. You
Speaker 1: know it's gonna be good. How are you, buddy? Well,
Speaker 1: we can't promise anything beyond the next hour, but I'll
Speaker 1: give it my best for for that hour. Um, feeling okay,
Speaker 1: Just trying to get rid of this pain. That's been
Speaker 1: the main that's been the main problem all along, is
Speaker 1: just pain. My doctors are pretty happy that the tests
Speaker 1: are showing that the cancer itself is under control. It's
Speaker 1: just that we found nothing to give me relief from
Speaker 1: from so Um, that's the next I guess the next frontier. Unbelievable.
Speaker 1: Well that is great news in one part and frustrating
Speaker 1: news in the second bar because we know how long
Speaker 1: this has been going on now. But you're a tough
Speaker 1: s ob, my friend. And in that facial hair is
Speaker 1: looking it's looking hot. I mean, whether you're struggling. The
Speaker 1: facial hair is not struggling. Well, I have to keep
Speaker 1: up with my son, not not facial hair wise, but
Speaker 1: but cuteness wise. You know, he's getting all the Instagram
Speaker 1: love lately. So I think we should have got to compete.
Speaker 1: The special focus on not assigning West to anything related
Speaker 1: to Chicago's offense in terms of reducing pain, um and annoyance.
Speaker 1: That feels fair. Um so with the West returning to
Speaker 1: the flagship show. And yes, this is our comprehensive look
Speaker 1: back at the Sunday that was in week nine of
Speaker 1: the National Football League. West was our eye in the
Speaker 1: sky checking in on the various games and the to
Speaker 1: the gang here had our game assignments and of course,
Speaker 1: uh Nick Shuk will join us a little bit later.
Speaker 1: He hits a couple of games every Sunday. So we
Speaker 1: got the whole thing working. And and before we get
Speaker 1: going sciss oh I'm sorry. Yes, so that you know
Speaker 1: the cough button didn't well that was that was a disaster.
Speaker 1: And that's that's the second um time I've been uh
Speaker 1: completely embarrassed. Uh you know on Live Era if that
Speaker 1: we want to call it with the with the car,
Speaker 1: we could edit it out, but we won't. No, I
Speaker 1: know we will not. Like I I understand where this
Speaker 1: is going. Apologies to the hundreds of thousands of people
Speaker 1: that were um dismayed by that. That was gross. And yeah,
Speaker 1: you you mentioned the numbers of listeners. Um, that's a
Speaker 1: nice segue. Mark good recovery, even if it was accidental. Ricky,
Speaker 1: come in here real quick. We did. Our first recap
Speaker 1: of week nine was Thursday night football, Uh, Packers Niners tilt.
Speaker 1: That was sleepy to say the least, especially if you
Speaker 1: were a fan of the team up there by the bay.
Speaker 1: And during this happened during you know, the grips of
Speaker 1: the presidential race and the counting of the ballots, and
Speaker 1: and we we wondered at the end of that brief
Speaker 1: recap if anyone was listening and to send us a
Speaker 1: little hashtag. And I happen to be wearing a Godzilla
Speaker 1: T shirt. So Ricky suggested, why don't you make it
Speaker 1: Godzilla if you're still listening at the end of the recap,
Speaker 1: hit us up on Twitter. Well, it turns out by
Speaker 1: Saturday morning, hashtag Godzilla was trending in the UK, so amazing,
Speaker 1: incredible testament to our listeners loyalty right there. We put
Speaker 1: over the whole sound Yeah yeah, eric I, which I
Speaker 1: found to be a bit of a reveal magnificent that
Speaker 1: she basically just trowned out these responses from these loving listeners.
Speaker 1: But we put the over under it ten responses, and
Speaker 1: I think that it was closer to UM ten thousand.
Speaker 1: I mean that's stretching it a bit, but I'm going
Speaker 1: to say ten thousand channel and see if some creature
Speaker 1: isn't crawling out of there like that. So yes, that
Speaker 1: was very cool too. So all right, so thank you
Speaker 1: to listeners. We've got a lot of games to get to.
Speaker 1: Let's start out with a great inter conference showdown. Josh
Speaker 1: Allen in the gun, takes his snaff, gonna keep it himself,
Speaker 1: runs to his right, gets inside the five into the
Speaker 1: end zone, touchdown, Buffalo. Josh Allen then only took one
Speaker 1: play to cash in on Tournavian's white amazing interception touchdown Buffalo,
Speaker 1: John Murphy. It's not like he was up late. A
Speaker 1: lot of Americans up late this weekend. Boys gave way
Speaker 1: a little bit, but he got the call out w
Speaker 1: g R. Josh Allen threw for four fifteen and three touchdowns.
Speaker 1: He rushed for another score, leading the Bills to a
Speaker 1: forty four to thirty four win over the Seahawks and
Speaker 1: Orchard Park. Alan entered this game in a personal slump,
Speaker 1: but Seattle's defense was the perfect remedy. Even with Carlos
Speaker 1: Dunlop on the field and Jamal Adams three havoc near
Speaker 1: the line of scrimmage, it didn't matter because Seattle can't
Speaker 1: cover anybody. And that was my big takeaway from the game.
Speaker 1: This has been something that's kind of been on the
Speaker 1: radar um of a lot of people, myself included that
Speaker 1: the Seahawks defense is just such an issue that, uh
Speaker 1: it's hard to take them serious as a true Super
Speaker 1: Bowl contender. And I thought it was interesting what Pete
Speaker 1: Carol and uh Ken Norton did here. And I would
Speaker 1: be curious if the scientists could give me a little
Speaker 1: more inside if this is typically how they run their defense.
Speaker 1: But they just went mad with the blitzing. They were
Speaker 1: just bringing the house at Josh Allen, and I don't
Speaker 1: know if they they scouted Allen and said, if we
Speaker 1: can just disrupt him that way, we're going to um
Speaker 1: find a way to take advantage of mistakes, as Allen
Speaker 1: is prone to, of course, but it got to the
Speaker 1: point where it was just they were coming after him
Speaker 1: every time and if they weren't getting home. And they
Speaker 1: did get home, they had seven sacks sales defense, but
Speaker 1: when they didn't get home, it was you know, an
Speaker 1: open prairie field in the secondary, and the Bills just
Speaker 1: kept piling up points. I got off to a seventeen
Speaker 1: point lead, um as you might expect Russell Wilson and
Speaker 1: the Seahawks mount to come back and make it a
Speaker 1: one score game in the second half. But Wilson, again,
Speaker 1: just like in their first loss of the season, he
Speaker 1: has such a thin line of error that and I
Speaker 1: talked about the Seahawks as a team if they don't
Speaker 1: if he doesn't play perfectly or close to it, they
Speaker 1: have a good chance to lose if they're playing a
Speaker 1: good team. And he had four turnovers in this game,
Speaker 1: two interceptions, two lost bumbles that accounted for sixteen Buffalo
Speaker 1: points and that's how it went. I I think that
Speaker 1: Pete Carroll is gonna have regrets, and I want to
Speaker 1: watch this game more closely. But I heard his you know,
Speaker 1: comments after the game where he said we had a
Speaker 1: real nice plan for their running game and that they
Speaker 1: were very surprised that they totally ditched the run, which
Speaker 1: seems crazy to me. This is the NFL, and no
Speaker 1: one watching the Bills, despite them running the ball pretty
Speaker 1: well the last two weeks, would consider them a better
Speaker 1: running team than a passing team. They had two good
Speaker 1: matchups the last two weeks, and they ran the ball
Speaker 1: well against them. But it's the NFL. You always gotta
Speaker 1: start by stopping the pass. And to put it even
Speaker 1: in more context, the Bills have been stopped by a
Speaker 1: pretty consistent game plan over the last month in terms
Speaker 1: of Josh Allen of backing off, not blitzing, uh, making
Speaker 1: him sit back there and make decisions and slowly, you know,
Speaker 1: move the ball down the field and see if that's
Speaker 1: how he's gonna make a mistakes. So it seemed just
Speaker 1: listening to you that it plays right into the Bill's hands.
Speaker 1: I can see how Pete Carroll's approach. Um, to answer
Speaker 1: your question, Dan, the Seahawks are not known for blitzing
Speaker 1: and getting after quarterbacks. They don't really get after quarterbacks
Speaker 1: at all. Right, Um, it could be games planned specific
Speaker 1: maybe the book on Josh Josh Allen according to the
Speaker 1: circles that Pete Carroll runs in is this is the
Speaker 1: guy you have to pressure because he can get rat
Speaker 1: But like Greg said, this is a passing offense. And moreover,
Speaker 1: they're a passing team. They're a bad defense, and they're
Speaker 1: a bad running team. So what do they have left?
Speaker 1: The passing game? And I don't think it's any coincidence.
Speaker 1: They looked a lot better with Smoky Brown healthy. He's
Speaker 1: a bit of a Jenga piece for them, had not
Speaker 1: been playing well, had been injured and missing time, and
Speaker 1: they really missed him. Um to me, this this team
Speaker 1: lives and dies with Josh Allen. He is their offense.
Speaker 1: Yeah what I mean? You know? Pete care also said
Speaker 1: after the game, I didn't recognize that contest. I didn't
Speaker 1: recognize that game that they've been in every week. Well,
Speaker 1: but it doesn't happen every week. In terms of Russell
Speaker 1: Wilson throwing two killer picks, um being destroyed by Jerry
Speaker 1: Hughes losing two fumbles, he's been pristine. They've been relying
Speaker 1: on a completely pristine version of Russell Wilson. When that
Speaker 1: falls apart, this happens as well so to that point,
Speaker 1: and credit Brian day Ball and the Bills attack. They
Speaker 1: call up their first twenty two plays of the game
Speaker 1: twenty or passes. So this was a concerted effort to
Speaker 1: attack Seattle's defense through the air. Alan threw for a
Speaker 1: hundred and fifty six yards in the first quarter alone.
Speaker 1: By the half, he was up your three hundred yards
Speaker 1: with three touchdowns already, so it was in two touchdowns already.
Speaker 1: It was really another ugly affair for Seattle's defense, and um,
Speaker 1: Quentin Dunbar stood out to me as someone that was
Speaker 1: a major target, uh in that secondary. He was getting
Speaker 1: picked on all day by Stefan Diggs and to the
Speaker 1: point where he eventually got benched in the fourth quarter.
Speaker 1: Lyndon Stevens comes in and um, yeah, you tell me,
Speaker 1: and um, you know Jamal Adams return, he did, he
Speaker 1: was there. He's he makes impact plays near the line
Speaker 1: of scrimmage. But there are also several plays in this
Speaker 1: game where he's running through the secondary chasing guys after
Speaker 1: they lose him en route. So it's like, I don't know. Obviously,
Speaker 1: Adams is a big gain to this team in terms
Speaker 1: of his playmaking ability, uh near the line. But for
Speaker 1: a team that can't cover anyone that was never his
Speaker 1: fourte with the Jets either, Um, they just have a
Speaker 1: lot of issues. And for the Bills and Josh Allen,
Speaker 1: especially after those four great weeks and then four so
Speaker 1: so to bad weeks, for Allen to get back here
Speaker 1: now be seven and two, UM and being in control
Speaker 1: of the division, Uh, you've got to be feeling very good.
Speaker 1: It's such a massive win for them. And we said
Speaker 1: it coming off last last week, how should you feel
Speaker 1: about them? And and and I said, in a sense,
Speaker 1: they should feel okay because they have the players to
Speaker 1: play better in their six and two so the whole
Speaker 1: season is still in front of them. They have big
Speaker 1: time goals. But to get a convincing win like this
Speaker 1: where you put forty up there, their defense they're kind
Speaker 1: of playing the same game as the Seahawks where their
Speaker 1: defense just needs to be average. Seahawks have not had
Speaker 1: an average defense. I think the Bills defense should get
Speaker 1: to be an average and maybe maybe this at least
Speaker 1: turning the ball over against you know, getting forcing four
Speaker 1: turnovers is a start in that direction. And all right,
Speaker 1: so let's move now to too great all three late
Speaker 1: games went down to the final play just about. So
Speaker 1: let's cycle through a couple of them, starting with a
Speaker 1: trip to the desert. This will be a forty nine
Speaker 1: yard and the kicks, so we're tied with one's short.
Speaker 1: It was the middle and blew it dead. What a
Speaker 1: break for the Dolphins. I thought the same thing as
Speaker 1: Jimmy Ceppalo, Jason Taylor, Joe Rose w q A M.
Speaker 1: You know, I had a lock on the line here
Speaker 1: at the Cardinals and Zane Gonzalez lines up fore yard
Speaker 1: or straight down the mill. This is the hey son,
Speaker 1: this is the NFL. We don't fall short on anything
Speaker 1: sub fifty in this league in perfect condition. So that
Speaker 1: was a stunner for the Cardinals. Uh. And that was
Speaker 1: the difference because to a tongue of Valoa and the
Speaker 1: Dolphin really showed up to play in the desert. They
Speaker 1: escaped the desert. Well, I'm gonna just keep saying the
Speaker 1: desert with a well earned thin. And that's four straight
Speaker 1: wins for the Dolphins. Greg, I mean, unbelievable. I I
Speaker 1: made you know, a little sound going into because it's wow.
Speaker 1: The Cardinals Dolphins making it all the way to the
Speaker 1: second spot in the show. But it it uh, it
Speaker 1: deserved it. I've had a bad streak of picking bad
Speaker 1: games um coming into the Sunday, I've had a lot
Speaker 1: of clunkers. So this one was good. This one, you know,
Speaker 1: maybe gets me on a winning track here because it
Speaker 1: was one of the most fun games I've had to
Speaker 1: watch all year. To versus Kyler and to a tongue
Speaker 1: of Voloa, I think has to make Dolphins fans so excited.
Speaker 1: And we can go into kind of the strategy of
Speaker 1: what went into that field goal attempt and everything that
Speaker 1: happened in the the last couple of minutes. But I want
Speaker 1: to take it back to the end of the third quarter.
Speaker 1: It was thirty one, the Cardinals were rolling. It felt
Speaker 1: like maybe the Dolphins had given their best shot their
Speaker 1: back up against their own goal line. It's third and nine,
Speaker 1: and after that point at twa had one of the
Speaker 1: best drives I've seen all season by any quarterback. A
Speaker 1: third and nine where they come after him, they get
Speaker 1: the pressure quickly, they get the matchup they want really quickly,
Speaker 1: and he throws a perfectly accurate throw to Hopkins on
Speaker 1: third and nine to the right shoulder or else that
Speaker 1: might have been a pick six, but it was so
Speaker 1: accurate he gets it done. Then another third down where
Speaker 1: he evades a number of different Cardinals rushers, looks athletic,
Speaker 1: picks up the first down, has a seventeen yard throw
Speaker 1: to to Parker, and then down towards the goal line,
Speaker 1: he makes an athletic play just kind of with a
Speaker 1: twitchiness that makes you feel like, wow, this guy has
Speaker 1: got some of his juice back in his legs. And
Speaker 1: you know, cap the drive with a beautiful touchdown pass
Speaker 1: and that drive just made me feel like I already
Speaker 1: felt like it when they made the decision because they
Speaker 1: have I think they have to see what too was
Speaker 1: all about. But that drive was kind of the moment
Speaker 1: where it was like, well, of course this was the
Speaker 1: right move because they need to have this guy on
Speaker 1: the field and see what he can do the rest
Speaker 1: of the way. And he is already showing the type
Speaker 1: of potential that he has in a game like this.
Speaker 1: I mean, that's seventeen yard run that he had was
Speaker 1: that was electrifying. And you know, we we're up here
Speaker 1: where you're watching all these games at the same time,
Speaker 1: and I and I thought that, you know, lost in
Speaker 1: last week's Miami victory was to uh just did not
Speaker 1: look good at all. I mean, he in the whole
Speaker 1: offense didn't. And I think they want to surround him
Speaker 1: with a strong run game and they are battered at
Speaker 1: running back. They just can't do that right now, and
Speaker 1: so a lot of it falls to him and today
Speaker 1: was such a positive step. And you know, Dolphins fans
Speaker 1: have gone decades without a quarterback to root for. We
Speaker 1: all know that. You know, post Dan Marino, you saw
Speaker 1: something today and I think it goes beyond just two
Speaker 1: a two. This is a mentally tough team. They're really
Speaker 1: well organized. They do something with special teams every week. Uh,
Speaker 1: every time I look up Emmanuel Agba, who was a
Speaker 1: cast off in Cleveland, it's making plays. It's a bunch
Speaker 1: of guys who probably the average fan has not heard of,
Speaker 1: but we'll hear of soon because this team team is intriguing.
Speaker 1: Their five and three, they are a threat. Yeah. Greg
Speaker 1: mentioned that you have to see what ta has this
Speaker 1: year just because you have to make a decision next
Speaker 1: year at quarterback. But I thought it was interesting. Go
Speaker 1: back a week and Jay glazer Um with Fox Sports
Speaker 1: reported that the Dolphins made this decision for this year
Speaker 1: they believe that to it gives them a better chance
Speaker 1: than Ryan Fitzpatrick the rest of this season. And that
Speaker 1: was eye opening to me because you just don't see
Speaker 1: the situation in the NFL. You see a lot of
Speaker 1: times where the the team isn't good, so why not
Speaker 1: go with the rookie. But the Dolphins were playing well,
Speaker 1: reaching their peak in an open um a f C East,
Speaker 1: and they decide to go with a rookie because they
Speaker 1: think he's better. And you know, there was also another
Speaker 1: report connected to to AH that circulated this weekend. ESPN
Speaker 1: is Adam Schefter reported that the first and second round
Speaker 1: picks the Dolphins have acquired from the Texans played a
Speaker 1: role in the decision to start to A. As crazy
Speaker 1: as this sounds, they have enormous draft capital uh at
Speaker 1: the highest level of the drafts this upcoming spring, and
Speaker 1: they are not ruling out the idea of going after
Speaker 1: another quarterback if they don't like what they see from
Speaker 1: two US. So they want to get him on the
Speaker 1: field as soon as possible, which all makes sense. It's
Speaker 1: also kind of mind block boggling because he's played four
Speaker 1: quarters and now it's like he's playing for his job.
Speaker 1: They made that report even before he got the starting job,
Speaker 1: to be fair, but it totally makes sense, right, But
Speaker 1: then it popped up again this weekend though maybe his
Speaker 1: phrase differently, but people out there right now, Yeah, he
Speaker 1: he wrote a world for some reason, you know, noticed
Speaker 1: it a week later. Um, and it it makes sense.
Speaker 1: And I and I think it's because you've got to
Speaker 1: see him play in a game to know. And I'm
Speaker 1: sure they love what they saw today because he's crafty,
Speaker 1: I mean, and that he doesn't necessarily, you know, have
Speaker 1: every trait that you look for in a number one
Speaker 1: overall pick. His arm is not stronger than the NFL average. Um,
Speaker 1: he said he felt like he was running quicksand today
Speaker 1: he's not slow, but he's definitely not um a run
Speaker 1: first guy. But man, his decisiveness and his way he
Speaker 1: keeps his eyes down the field and the way he
Speaker 1: made defenders missed two as a runner, even if he's
Speaker 1: not like the fastest guy, and just kind of a
Speaker 1: feel for the game that it's hard to define from
Speaker 1: a quarterback. It looks like he has that and some
Speaker 1: of these quarterbacks coming into the league, but they just
Speaker 1: seem so much more ready than they've been. I mean
Speaker 1: crafty can also mean a very high ceiling. I think
Speaker 1: Ben Roethlisberger and Philip Rivers are crafty. You know, Teddy
Speaker 1: Bridgewater's crafty too, on a different state, but that's the
Speaker 1: type of quarterback I think two is gonna be and
Speaker 1: man like out. I'm not gonna say he outshined Kyler Murray,
Speaker 1: who was unbelievable, but he in the end he got
Speaker 1: the better of him. Is crafty. That guy does something
Speaker 1: crafty every week. Right, I'm gonna get on Cliffs kings
Speaker 1: Cliff kingsbar for the second time in three weeks, Um
Speaker 1: for being a little gun shy in a big moment.
Speaker 1: Didn't love bringing out Zane in the first place. There
Speaker 1: that games spelt set up for two of v Kyler
Speaker 1: and these two guys were gonna settle it um. And
Speaker 1: I kind of thought that Kyler Murray after they fell
Speaker 1: behind there on the Jason Sanders field goal the second one,
Speaker 1: that he was going to lead him down the field
Speaker 1: to score. And they got a little bit of rotten
Speaker 1: luck the Cardinals where they kept on falling short of
Speaker 1: the first down marker by a yard or so. It
Speaker 1: happened on three different occasions and led to a turnover
Speaker 1: on downs. It led to the missfield goal with them
Speaker 1: maybe a little better luck or a better spot from
Speaker 1: the officials were not I'm not talking about this right now,
Speaker 1: but I would have loved to keep Kyler Murray on
Speaker 1: the field fourth and one when a long field goal
Speaker 1: is the alternative. That didn't quite add up to me,
Speaker 1: and you ended up getting burned by not being aggressive.
Speaker 1: Plus you've named someone saying, so there's going things are
Speaker 1: going to be. It's gonna be an up and down.
Speaker 1: I was like a lot of people, just like the
Speaker 1: announcer there that I just I put my head down
Speaker 1: after I saw it was, you know, middle of the uprights.
Speaker 1: I don't know. I just sometimes don't watch the field
Speaker 1: goals all the way through. And then here it was good.
Speaker 1: Here the announcers say it's short, just because you'd never
Speaker 1: expect the fort never that he he had a fit
Speaker 1: if fifties six yard or earlier this season. But to
Speaker 1: your point on the short yardage, as great as Kyler
Speaker 1: Murray played, and we should point out he had four
Speaker 1: touchdowns and only five in completions, and he ran for
Speaker 1: a hundred and six yards and his his running is
Speaker 1: the most unstoppable playing football. This was the best game
Speaker 1: I think he's ever had running. He did have that
Speaker 1: that fumble that was returned for a touchdown um where
Speaker 1: he kind of ran into it. And then on the
Speaker 1: third and one play you mentioned right before the field
Speaker 1: go the throw was there. People killed them for the
Speaker 1: play call in terms of throwing the ball, but he
Speaker 1: just kind of short hopped the throw. So on on
Speaker 1: one of his best days I've ever seen him, he
Speaker 1: just had a couple of regrettable plays. And he can't
Speaker 1: make plays like that against the Dolphins. They'll make you pay.
Speaker 1: I like this Dolphins. They're fun. They're a good team.
Speaker 1: Henry Hotson, Neil Reynolds, all those Dolphins fans are having
Speaker 1: a little bit of fun this this year. All right,
Speaker 1: let's move on to another epic finish in the late games.
Speaker 1: One second on the clock, Herbert's gonna take the snap,
Speaker 1: four man roch Lava to the right high Cad grabbed
Speaker 1: in the air, shaking touchdown. They went over to six eight.
Speaker 1: Donald perram So has a review here. We're looking at
Speaker 1: the replays. That ball popped out on the ground, rolling
Speaker 1: on the field has been changed. The receiver did not
Speaker 1: know Jack Pot Vegas wins Brett Musberger. That's his call.
Speaker 1: Jack Pott, Vegas wins Baby kr LV. Yes. For a moment,
Speaker 1: it looked as if the Chargers would finally have a
Speaker 1: storybook ending of their own in the final seconds, but no,
Speaker 1: Lucy pulled the ball away from Charlie Brown once more.
Speaker 1: Raiders thirty one bolts in Hollywood park Um, actually twice.
Speaker 1: This one was crazy. I mean, we we talked about
Speaker 1: the Chargers every we blowing games, but this one twice
Speaker 1: in the final five seconds of game time, Herbert appeared
Speaker 1: to connect with the receiver on a game winning score.
Speaker 1: You had Mike Williams with five seconds to play. He
Speaker 1: nearly comes down with the ball, doesn't survive the ground. Uh,
Speaker 1: then you have partners partum parum, partum parum, Donald partum,
Speaker 1: who appeared to have the game winner until we got
Speaker 1: to the sixth or seventh ree play. And it's only then.
Speaker 1: And that's what makes it again, with the teams that
Speaker 1: are truly the teams that are in the pain, the
Speaker 1: true top tiers of the pain rankings, it's that little
Speaker 1: extra bit of pain that separates him and the Chargers
Speaker 1: of the team that the first six replay show a
Speaker 1: game when he catched the seventh three play shows the
Speaker 1: ball clearly hitting the ground, So instead of a season
Speaker 1: saving win, it's likely curtains for the Chargers. At the
Speaker 1: two and six and the five and three Raiders, they
Speaker 1: probably know they got away with one tonight. Mm hmm.
Speaker 1: I I don't know what to say anymore about this
Speaker 1: Chargers team. I mean, it's it's epic. I know, like
Speaker 1: the pain ranking, you don't change him each week and all,
Speaker 1: but this, this stretches wild. This, this doesn't happen. This,
Speaker 1: this last couple of years of Anthony Lynn is just wild.
Speaker 1: The different ways that they lose, and this felt like
Speaker 1: it was going to kind of be a flip situation, um,
Speaker 1: you know, just because they're the ones with the ball
Speaker 1: at the end. Herbert played great. Some of his deep
Speaker 1: passes were just outrageous. Uh in this game again, But
Speaker 1: it's the same thing every week. He plays great and
Speaker 1: they find a way to lose. I just I mean,
Speaker 1: I think from a game to game experience, the Chargers
Speaker 1: are something there's no there's really no rivalry like what
Speaker 1: they're going through with these last minute um implosions. There's
Speaker 1: nothing to touch it. At the same side, I would
Speaker 1: not put them in any pain ranking right now watching
Speaker 1: their quarterback the way he plays, it's just to me
Speaker 1: from a from a larger bird's eye view, and like
Speaker 1: I like, I think Chargers fans like they have a
Speaker 1: right to feel, you know, heartbroken after a game like
Speaker 1: this and all these other string of um issue games.
Speaker 1: But at the same time, like you are watching someone
Speaker 1: who is going to change the NFL and change the
Speaker 1: Chargers forever. I mean, he's literally going to completely alter
Speaker 1: that franchise. And every time they have the ball, you
Speaker 1: feel that they can do anything. And their downfield passy
Speaker 1: game is so active, so vibrant, so dangerous. I thought
Speaker 1: they gave the Raiders a complete run for the money
Speaker 1: and could probably beat any team in the league if
Speaker 1: they were I think, frankly a little bit better coached
Speaker 1: with some of this last minute stuff, I mean, and
Speaker 1: it probably puts ownership into a weird position to seeing
Speaker 1: depending on how the season ends, because now you have
Speaker 1: like a precious jewel at the center of your offense,
Speaker 1: you want to treat it correctly. You don't want to
Speaker 1: be in these games situations where you don't trust the
Speaker 1: coaching staff, so they've got to prove to ownership that
Speaker 1: they can pull these games out. You got the rest
Speaker 1: of the season to do it, but the DNA tells
Speaker 1: us they cannot so far. Yeah, I totally agree with you, Mark,
Speaker 1: I I know, I think about sports paying a little
Speaker 1: bit differently than most people because when you've got Justin
Speaker 1: Herbert and and maybe he's not Dan Marino where he
Speaker 1: comes in and you haven't seen a quarterback like this
Speaker 1: before in your entire lifetime as a rookie, maybe he's
Speaker 1: not quite that, but to see a guy this aggressive
Speaker 1: and making that many chunk plays and big plays under
Speaker 1: pressure every week and you're waiting for it to stop,
Speaker 1: and it never stops. It just keeps doing it week
Speaker 1: in and week out. To me, that's the best hope
Speaker 1: you got. That there's no pain at all there. I mean,
Speaker 1: I know they keep losing in them now, but they've
Speaker 1: already got Derwin James out for the year. They're not
Speaker 1: going to be a super Bowl winner. To me, this
Speaker 1: is a good feeling team just because of what you
Speaker 1: got going on in the most important position in sports.
Speaker 1: I know, you guys, that's a nice viewpoint to have.
Speaker 1: From thirty five thousand feet. But if you're living and
Speaker 1: dying with your favorite team, you're not feeling too hot
Speaker 1: right now, You're right? I agree. Justin Herbert changes the
Speaker 1: trajectory of this organization. We've talked about it when they
Speaker 1: moved to l A, like, who do you build this
Speaker 1: team around to get people excited? There is Justin Herbert,
Speaker 1: the twenty two year old who's doing it week after week.
Speaker 1: But I mean that is the big picture. The small
Speaker 1: picture is that this season is in what's too many
Speaker 1: seasons as the charges for and do you have regrets
Speaker 1: about how games and the fact that they're piling up
Speaker 1: week after week and Herbert as great as he's played like,
Speaker 1: it's it's incredible. I think he has one win and
Speaker 1: four losses and he could easily be close to undefeated
Speaker 1: right now. But they just they just don't know how
Speaker 1: to close these games. Let's give a little bit of
Speaker 1: credit to Isaiah Johnson because he is a second year
Speaker 1: cornerback for the Raiders. He's the one that knocked the
Speaker 1: ball out of Mike Williams hands in the end zone
Speaker 1: and then with one second to play, he was involved
Speaker 1: with knocking away from Parnham too, So he played a
Speaker 1: major role in the Raiders, a team that no one
Speaker 1: is in love with, but you have to respect that
Speaker 1: they're five and three halfway through the season and they're
Speaker 1: gonna be around in the playoff picture to the end.
Speaker 1: That's what I think. I like them. So I saw
Speaker 1: Derek Carr make a couple of amazing plays we all,
Speaker 1: you know, the the the diving, you know, put his
Speaker 1: body into peril um for his team, the way he
Speaker 1: dove over that one player. I mean, just making a
Speaker 1: couple of money throws down field. Like I feel like
Speaker 1: my opinion of Derek Carr has sort of been the same.
Speaker 1: I've been disappointed with him for a really long time. Um,
Speaker 1: it's gonna take a little bit more for me to
Speaker 1: get out of that headspace entirely. But this year's version
Speaker 1: of Derek Carr is what Raiders fans have been saying
Speaker 1: he's been when I've never never bought into it. I mean,
Speaker 1: this is a this is a tough, tough quarterback. I
Speaker 1: will not even try just go on with your sound effects.
Speaker 1: I am. I think it's go on. I think it's
Speaker 1: the best Derek ever. I think maybe he saw Dan's
Speaker 1: inspirational words. I think this is the best season he's had.
Speaker 1: I always thought that that his quasi m v P,
Speaker 1: where people said he was in the m v P
Speaker 1: mix was a lot of smoking mirrors. And you know what,
Speaker 1: Derek car you're gonna get each and every week. He's not.
Speaker 1: I'm not even saying he's a top eight quarterback to me,
Speaker 1: so I'm not going crazy. But he's very steady, he's
Speaker 1: improved some of his weaknesses. And uh, they're They're a
Speaker 1: team that's a problem. They really are. By the way, though,
Speaker 1: I do want to say, like the Chargers make their
Speaker 1: own bad luck. Their special teams messes up every week.
Speaker 1: They're the worst special team in the history of football.
Speaker 1: Dead last last year in d v O A dead
Speaker 1: last this year, they fumble it and set up three
Speaker 1: points at the end when their defense actually closed this
Speaker 1: game out very very well. Uh. And then Anthony Lynn
Speaker 1: didn't take a time out during that last drive. It
Speaker 1: blew twenty five seconds off the clock just because he's
Speaker 1: had a total mind freeze, and they didn't say a
Speaker 1: word about it. On the total mind freeze, twenty five
Speaker 1: seconds on the last drive of the game would have
Speaker 1: given him at least one more play at the end.
Speaker 1: There to try to go. That's what I mean. We're like,
Speaker 1: if you're gonna if you have a crafty front office
Speaker 1: and ownership group, you have to take a strong look
Speaker 1: at this. We all love Anthony Lynn the guy, but
Speaker 1: there's this doesn't happen just due to bad luck. There
Speaker 1: are decisions that you could diagnose week after week. The
Speaker 1: point back to coach, Yes, you're not buying the Derek Carlove.
Speaker 1: I can see that. No. I think it's it's another
Speaker 1: it's another recency biased. I mean, it's crazy. There's a
Speaker 1: reason why he was mentioned in the m VP debate
Speaker 1: because he was the one carrying that offense. This year.
Speaker 1: It's a Josh Jacob centric offense and Henry Ruggs is
Speaker 1: is the wild card, like he's one who provides the spacing.
Speaker 1: I don't think it's like Derek Carr's playing out of
Speaker 1: his mind. Now. I respect the way he's playing. He's
Speaker 1: been the hardest guy for me to grade because I
Speaker 1: feel like they kind of coach around him at times. Um,
Speaker 1: it's not a quarterback centric. He's not the engine that
Speaker 1: makes that offense go. That's why he's hard to grade. Um,
Speaker 1: And I think he was quite a bit better a
Speaker 1: few years ago. Um one last thought on Len missed
Speaker 1: that scientist heat. Yeah, yeah, that was nice. When last
Speaker 1: week Greg you had noted he had a kind of
Speaker 1: like a visceral guttural reaction on the sideline when the
Speaker 1: game got away from on the last play, it happened again.
Speaker 1: When they finally made the decision, they made the announcement
Speaker 1: that it was incomplete, he like real reached up instinctually
Speaker 1: and grabbed at his face guard, his pandemic face guard,
Speaker 1: and just like yanked at it, like he just lost
Speaker 1: control of his own body. He was just like in
Speaker 1: like a nightmare that he can't wake up from. Tough times. Oh,
Speaker 1: before we move on, I had to see what happen
Speaker 1: been with our good buddies Matt Money Smith and Daniel Jeremiah,
Speaker 1: who called the games for the Chargers. Uh so, Ricky,
Speaker 1: can you queue up to when they announced that it's
Speaker 1: it's not gonna happen, that it's become clear it's an
Speaker 1: incomplete pass and now the Raiders are celebrating because they
Speaker 1: saw it. Took six or seven different replays to finally
Speaker 1: come up with that angle. I've never seen anything like it.
Speaker 1: I've never seen anything like it. I'll tell you DJ.
Speaker 1: The h the signal went up from John Jenkins, and
Speaker 1: I didn't want to call it a touch I really didn't.
Speaker 1: I just I saw it and I was like, IM
Speaker 1: tired of doing this. I empired to call in touchdown
Speaker 1: only to happen board yet again. It will be taken
Speaker 1: off the board and it will result in another loss
Speaker 1: for the Chargers. Money's dying. He's gotta make like a
Speaker 1: mix tape of like money in DJ and these last
Speaker 1: second calls that you give to a Chargers family. If
Speaker 1: you broke up with a Chargers fan, you give them
Speaker 1: that mixtape. He's they're killing them. The Chargers are killing
Speaker 1: that Money Smith, all right, let's move on. Snap gives
Speaker 1: it to John of the Taylor off right tackle. He's
Speaker 1: got a hold cross the forty yard black spilt turning
Speaker 1: all the way down to the ball comes out. If
Speaker 1: we'recovered by Chuck Clark along in her sideline Colts forty
Speaker 1: checked up by Mad Colonolds, Philip Rivers plenty ten five
Speaker 1: touch down Ravens. Chuck Clark picks up the fumble that
Speaker 1: was forced by Marcus Peters and the defense puts the
Speaker 1: Ravens right back in the game. Jerry Sandusky w b
Speaker 1: a L. With the offense scuffling, it was the Ravens
Speaker 1: defense that got things going. On Sunday, Chuck Clark's sixty
Speaker 1: five yard fumble, recovery and touchdown put Baltimore on its
Speaker 1: way over the Indianapolis Colts at Lucas Oil Stadium. Mark,
Speaker 1: this wasn't the get right game we expected from the
Speaker 1: Ravens exactly, but they got it done. They did, and
Speaker 1: it was for their offense. I thought it was, you know,
Speaker 1: another one of these tale of two halves type contests.
Speaker 1: They had fifty five yards at halftime, two point two
Speaker 1: yards per play, eighteen yards on the ground. This is
Speaker 1: a team that you know, bullrush the Steelers for two
Speaker 1: hundred down the stretch last week. They were not that team.
Speaker 1: And you know, you preview these games and you'd call
Speaker 1: like a strength on strength the Cults run defense versus
Speaker 1: the Ravens, and usually one of those two just don't
Speaker 1: add up. I mean, by the end of the game
Speaker 1: you could point to both sides and saying that they
Speaker 1: got they got the work done, because that fifty five
Speaker 1: yard first half had a lot to do with I
Speaker 1: think a Cults defense that has incredible team speed. UM
Speaker 1: had exactly a great game plan to diagnose Lamar Jackson.
Speaker 1: Al Kadeen Mohammed had a play where he blew up
Speaker 1: Lamar Jackson for a thirteen yard loss. Denico Autry was
Speaker 1: snuffing out Lamar on a third down right before the
Speaker 1: half that just prevented Baltimore from getting on track. There
Speaker 1: were one guy after the next. I thought DeForest buck
Speaker 1: he got in there. I mean Darius leonard Is. It's
Speaker 1: a week after weeks story. When he's in there. There
Speaker 1: a completely different defense. They made life so tough on Baltimore,
Speaker 1: and you know, you went in a hat time thinking
Speaker 1: this offense might just completely be broken, and because maybe
Speaker 1: enough teams have shown and put up tape on how
Speaker 1: to beat Baltimore. At this point, the Ravens defense gets
Speaker 1: a ton of credit for me, because you get the
Speaker 1: Chuck Clark touchdown, you get um a huge turnover in
Speaker 1: the second half that led to a Ravens TV and touchdown,
Speaker 1: and this is good coaching. Marcus Peter had an interception
Speaker 1: that essentially they called it just sort of a dropped ball.
Speaker 1: Harbor went back and challenged it and essentially they called it.
Speaker 1: I mean it was an interception that Peters himself fumbled.
Speaker 1: Um the Ravens recovered. But that turned things around and
Speaker 1: led to a hard fought Ravens touchdown on the ground
Speaker 1: by Gus Edwards. And to me that Baltimore found their
Speaker 1: offense a little bit in the second half. They fought
Speaker 1: and found their way back into this thing. The Cults
Speaker 1: offense is a hot mess from what I see. There
Speaker 1: is no anchoring force. Philip rivers Um has his games,
Speaker 1: but this was not one of them. They really struggle.
Speaker 1: His longest completion was twenty one yards. So as much
Speaker 1: as the Cults defense Um nearly gave this game the
Speaker 1: Indian the first half, I think Baltimore's defense showed up
Speaker 1: to be the one by the end of the game
Speaker 1: that kept a really sinking offense alive until they found
Speaker 1: some life themselves. That Peter's interception call, to me, was
Speaker 1: the play of the game. Yep, that changed everything. And
Speaker 1: it was a very shaky call. I think us the
Speaker 1: average sports fan at a bar, how how that should
Speaker 1: be called? And he would say in completion, not a reception.
Speaker 1: It was a very shaky call. Give the Ravens credit
Speaker 1: because they completely shut down the Colts after that um
Speaker 1: And to me, we can blame Philip Rivers again, but
Speaker 1: that they've got the same problem they've had all year,
Speaker 1: these rookies that they're counting on Jonathan Taylor and Michael Pittman,
Speaker 1: and you can throw Paris Campbell in there as a
Speaker 1: second year guy. This is supposed to be the big
Speaker 1: play element in their offense. Taylor and Pittman's specifically were
Speaker 1: brought in to fix the lack of big plays. Taylor
Speaker 1: has been terrible, absolutely brutal this year and he he
Speaker 1: was bad again today, had very costly fumble. Pittman's not
Speaker 1: making big plays, Paris Campbell's injured, t Y Hilton's out.
Speaker 1: You're asking Philip Rivers to be a big play quarterback
Speaker 1: when he's got no big play elements on his office. Right,
Speaker 1: They had one yard in the third quarter, and it's
Speaker 1: it's due to a lack of those guys you mentioned
Speaker 1: showing up where you thought by now that would be
Speaker 1: it would be the opposite, But they're they're playing against
Speaker 1: Ravens defense that other than that, Chief's game has been
Speaker 1: the best in the league, you know, statistically, and they're
Speaker 1: pretty close they're pretty close to the best in the
Speaker 1: league statistically with that that Chief's scheme, they they are
Speaker 1: a better Ravens defense overall, I think this season than
Speaker 1: a year ago. And Lamar is now twenty five and five.
Speaker 1: You know, the Ravens are twenty five and five and
Speaker 1: games that Lamar started and that the two biggest reasons
Speaker 1: for that are the run game and their defense. And
Speaker 1: for the most part, I know they struggled to run
Speaker 1: the ball today, but still, you know, one of the
Speaker 1: top two or three rushing team in the league. For
Speaker 1: the most part, they have that this year. They I
Speaker 1: don't know how far they can get by what they're
Speaker 1: passing him doing this little, but they have the run game,
Speaker 1: they have the defense, and there's still a lot to
Speaker 1: deal with. Jonathan Taylor did not receive a carry after
Speaker 1: his first quarter fumble until six fifteen to play in
Speaker 1: the fourth quarter. He finished with a season low six
Speaker 1: carriers for twenty seven yards. Uh The Colts averaged three
Speaker 1: and a half yards per carry as a team, and
Speaker 1: this doesn't feel like it's gonna work. They have a
Speaker 1: good defense, but if they can't really run the football,
Speaker 1: putting that much on Philip Rivers plate in twenty. This
Speaker 1: seems like a experiment that will be doomed to fail
Speaker 1: unless they figure out something. Well, they need the guy,
Speaker 1: they need everyone healthy, and they need t Y Hilton healthy,
Speaker 1: and then maybe maybe it's always hurt now though maybe
Speaker 1: early December or mid December they are a different offense.
Speaker 1: But right now they don't have the juice. Big t
Speaker 1: NF this week Colts Titans, you know, because you're right,
Speaker 1: those two are to me are pretty well below the
Speaker 1: top tier in the a f C. You could argue
Speaker 1: the Titans on that um, but that you know, the
Speaker 1: Colts find a way to win that game, and then
Speaker 1: they're feeling okay, all right, let's move forward. Three seconds left.
Speaker 1: He's back steps up, throws it for the goal line,
Speaker 1: and the pass is broken up at the goal line.
Speaker 1: Make a Fitzpatrick and that ends the football. In the
Speaker 1: end of the game, the Pittsburgh Steelers are eight and
Speaker 1: oh and they barely survive a great effort by the Cowboys.
Speaker 1: Oh man, my goodness, gentlemen, I felt like like light
Speaker 1: up a cigar there, Wow, relaxed vibe there in the boot.
Speaker 1: Makea Fitzpatrick put the finishing touch on a strong game.
Speaker 1: By breaking up Garret Gilbert's desperation end zone heave with
Speaker 1: deflection allowed the Steelers to escape Jaral World with nineteen
Speaker 1: win Mark. When we previewed this game, we talked about
Speaker 1: the possibility of a Steelers blow out a biblical proportions.
Speaker 1: What happened, Well, I mean, I think you know, when
Speaker 1: a bunch of talking heads get together and make predictions,
Speaker 1: they often go wayward. This went completely wrong. I think
Speaker 1: that you know, a Garrett Gilbert's a little bit better
Speaker 1: than people planned for. Um, And you know this was
Speaker 1: This was Pittsburgh's defense all year long. They have been
Speaker 1: getting to the quarterback and causing total havoc that didn't
Speaker 1: happen in the first half here, and Pittsburgh's offense just
Speaker 1: looked completely out of sync. Uh. You know, maybe, Mike Nolan, Um,
Speaker 1: I don't think it's ideal that you say my offense
Speaker 1: or my defense will start to look like what it's
Speaker 1: supposed to be in weeks eight and nine. But two
Speaker 1: weeks in a row they've looked pretty solid. A guy
Speaker 1: like Layton Vanderesh to me, Um, I'm seeing some speed,
Speaker 1: I'm seeing a little bit of a little hint of
Speaker 1: the old Layton Vanderesh of old um Neville Gallimore, their
Speaker 1: third round pick. Um had a huge game today and
Speaker 1: Big Ben, you know, he he looked to me seriously
Speaker 1: injured when he hit when he had that knee hit
Speaker 1: in the first half, and um he allead. I mean,
Speaker 1: this is sort of a big the experience of Big Ben.
Speaker 1: He has these injuries and then he has sort of
Speaker 1: the flashy hobbling around and makes the heroics row and
Speaker 1: he had a touchdown drive right before the half that
Speaker 1: probably saved the Steelers. Team came back in the second half.
Speaker 1: Didn't look totally impacted by it, but it you know,
Speaker 1: it's it just sort of lessons what Big Ben can do.
Speaker 1: I think in general, I would point to Jayalen Smith,
Speaker 1: though there were this is someone who's not going to
Speaker 1: enjoy watching film this week. Cowboys linebacker Jalen Smith Dallas
Speaker 1: was up nineteen to fifteen and the fourth quarter, um
Speaker 1: Alden Smith had a fumble recovery of Big Ben and
Speaker 1: was racing down the sideline. This probably could have given
Speaker 1: Dallas a legit chance to win. Jalen Smith was nailed
Speaker 1: with the legal contact wipe that out and the Steelers
Speaker 1: go on to a field goal drive that gives them
Speaker 1: a night lead. Uh. They then with nine net with
Speaker 1: four minutes left, Jalen Smith is hit with a killer
Speaker 1: roughing the passer call on third and ten that would
Speaker 1: have ended a Dealers drive. The Steelers. I thought it
Speaker 1: was ticky tacky, but I mean it's still you know,
Speaker 1: if I'm gonna go by what Romo says, they both
Speaker 1: they basically said you cannot do what he just did,
Speaker 1: and so a lot of these calls feel ticky tacky
Speaker 1: to me. This is not nineteen seventy six. They don't
Speaker 1: allow them to exact punishment like they did in the past.
Speaker 1: But that was a killer flag that led to the
Speaker 1: Deontay Johnson or the Clay Let's see the Eric Ebron
Speaker 1: touchdown with you know, minutes later, Deonte Johnson had a
Speaker 1: forty two yard catch and run, which was really the
Speaker 1: first big play that Pittsburgh had, and then they just
Speaker 1: hung on. I mean, this was not the Pittsburgh performance
Speaker 1: that you'd want. What I think they did effectively, though,
Speaker 1: was that when Garrett Gilbert had a chance to really
Speaker 1: give the Cowboys a game winning drive, they went five
Speaker 1: man rush, They got in his face, they made life tough,
Speaker 1: and they destroyed him on fourth down and he had
Speaker 1: one chance at the end, you know, to to do it.
Speaker 1: And um, I think Gilbert showed them a lot. He
Speaker 1: looked better to me than Andy Dalton did in that
Speaker 1: one game. And Gilbert, you know, do not forget, was
Speaker 1: the uh rather fascinating. Orlando Apollo's a f um passer
Speaker 1: of the year. And also that team went on to
Speaker 1: win the championship in that league. So Gilbert is someone
Speaker 1: that I think coaches around the league um know about.
Speaker 1: Steve Spurrier said that the only difference between him and
Speaker 1: Nick Foles is that Nick Foles makes twenty million a
Speaker 1: year and Gilt I mean, is it fair to get
Speaker 1: on them for starting Gilbert was signed off for practice squad.
Speaker 1: I don't think that he had a full grasp of
Speaker 1: the offense. And they said that Garret Gilbert though, basically
Speaker 1: stepped in and learned the offense quicker than Cooper or
Speaker 1: than Cooper Rush. So you know, look at he came
Speaker 1: in and he looked good, look good for what you'd
Speaker 1: think a fourth string quarterback would do. So I know
Speaker 1: what it means for Dallas, But this was an odd
Speaker 1: game Pittsburgh. I think just had that one week where
Speaker 1: they were not themselves. Yeah, I don't think Garret Gilbert
Speaker 1: looks so good that you kill the Cowboys for starting
Speaker 1: someone else. Um. He was definitely an upgrade, but I
Speaker 1: thought he had a lot of very narrow escapes out
Speaker 1: of the pocket that could have gone the other way.
Speaker 1: And credit to him for getting out the pocket and
Speaker 1: making escapes Houdini like, but he could have easily had
Speaker 1: a series of turnovers instead of getting out of the pocket. Um.
Speaker 1: Any seasoned watcher of the Steelers knows that under Tomlin
Speaker 1: they have these games once or twice a year where
Speaker 1: it's a team they should win by three touchdowns and
Speaker 1: they go in and they usually lose that game. Today
Speaker 1: they were lucky they were playing against the four string
Speaker 1: quarterback UM and a bad defense. But I thought to me,
Speaker 1: what was into you know, outside of t J. Watt
Speaker 1: and Cameron Heyward taking over, he had another game, UM,
Speaker 1: just dominating down the stretch. To hear Romo talk about
Speaker 1: you can't keep giving the Steelers offense more chances because
Speaker 1: look at their wide receivers. Can't keep Claypool, Deante Johnson,
Speaker 1: Juju Smith, Schuster and Ebron under control. Play after play,
Speaker 1: sooner or later, one or all those guys are gonna
Speaker 1: bust bust loosen to me, when you look at this
Speaker 1: Steelers offense this year compared to previous years, that they
Speaker 1: have a loaded wide receiver corps. They can't run the
Speaker 1: ball well though, they really struggle on the ground. I
Speaker 1: guess when you're two and six, you're gonna be aggressive.
Speaker 1: Mike McCarthy allowing Gilbert to throw the ball on third
Speaker 1: and goal to Pittsburgh five with twelve minutes to play
Speaker 1: in the fourth quarter ends with a catastrophic interception. If
Speaker 1: you play a little more conservative there, you kick a
Speaker 1: field goal. I believe you're up eight points in that situation. Instead,
Speaker 1: that was the beginning of the end for the Cowboys.
Speaker 1: I want to say one thing on the other side
Speaker 1: with Big Ben, because I know it's not a popular
Speaker 1: sentiment on this podcast or really anywhere, but I think
Speaker 1: Big Ben is a tough guy, and I thought it
Speaker 1: was interesting he's an old man at this point. He
Speaker 1: is a tough guy, agree with and I get I
Speaker 1: get the the the fun kind of element of it
Speaker 1: that he plays up injuries, and I think that's there's
Speaker 1: an element of truth to that, but at this point
Speaker 1: in his career, he takes a hit on his knee
Speaker 1: where he could you could tell he's in a lot
Speaker 1: of this comfort. Not only is he staying the game,
Speaker 1: he takes them all the way in for a touchdown
Speaker 1: where they only passed the ball in the drive, links
Speaker 1: into the locker room, and then comes out through throws
Speaker 1: two more touchdowns. That's why he's going to all of fame.
Speaker 1: I just I've I've really enjoyed watching him his whole
Speaker 1: career as a quarterback put everything else on the side,
Speaker 1: and that was today was just another example of that.
Speaker 1: For me. It's like a classic Big Ben game. Yeah.
Speaker 1: I think that's why he's interesting because you don't see
Speaker 1: that combination of a guy who is actually tough yet
Speaker 1: plays up injuries as if he's got a hangnail and
Speaker 1: he's gonna kill him. Um. It's a weird combination. And
Speaker 1: he's handed his whole career and this team is tough.
Speaker 1: It's a fine line between you know, you think in
Speaker 1: they're lucky UM, and they're you know, one of the
Speaker 1: lesser eight and O teams that that we've seen UM,
Speaker 1: and the flip side, which is whow they've proven they
Speaker 1: can win games in the last you know, fifteen twenty
Speaker 1: minutes of each game. If that's a learned trait, they
Speaker 1: have it. They've done it basically seven out of eight
Speaker 1: weeks where that game was in doubt within the fourth
Speaker 1: quarter and they close, and they do it time after time,
Speaker 1: and I think there's something to that. You're putting a
Speaker 1: little you're putting a little deposits into the Mojo bank.
Speaker 1: You're getting cash cash out in the playoffs. That is
Speaker 1: very well done. Greg, let's move to the music. City
Speaker 1: Folds tries to screen at Montgomery on the right side.
Speaker 1: Vick Jeff is there. The ball comes loose, the kite
Speaker 1: pick it up fifty ten five times. Ten k tumped
Speaker 1: into the house. Mike Keith with the call w g
Speaker 1: f X, Welcome to Nashville. Desmond King this slot corner,
Speaker 1: making his Titans debut after a trade deadline, moved from
Speaker 1: the Chargers, scooped up a loose ball, took it to
Speaker 1: the house sixty three yards. Knockout blow for the Titans
Speaker 1: and seventeen win over the three falling Bears, who have
Speaker 1: lost three in a row. Greg Tennessee's beleaguer defense found
Speaker 1: the right, get right opponent. They did, and um, they
Speaker 1: should get credit. You know, they didn't have Clowney on
Speaker 1: the field. They did a great job. But when when
Speaker 1: it's when it's weakness on weakness and one and one
Speaker 1: weakness dominates, I tend to just put more on the
Speaker 1: weakness on the bigger weakness that's the Bears. And so
Speaker 1: to me, it's more about the Bears offense than it
Speaker 1: is about the Titans defense. Let's let's count the ways
Speaker 1: the Bears offense was embarrassing in this game. The Titans
Speaker 1: were kicking their um kickoffs short to the upman and
Speaker 1: letting the Bears start at the thirty yard line because
Speaker 1: they were so confident the only way the Bears could
Speaker 1: score a touchdown would be Cordurell Pattersons. Okay, just started
Speaker 1: the thirty um. There was what I like to call
Speaker 1: a six and out where you go three and out
Speaker 1: and then you do a fake punt and then you
Speaker 1: go three and out again. So that's like a Bear
Speaker 1: and I've seen that a few times over the years,
Speaker 1: Like this is that was ay. They had a six
Speaker 1: and out. So what they got to that six and
Speaker 1: out because Barkibias Mingo ran the ball for eleven yards
Speaker 1: on the fake punt. He was their leading rusher the
Speaker 1: Bears through through eight drives of the game. The Titans
Speaker 1: went into this I got a couple more. The Titans
Speaker 1: got went into this game as the worst third down
Speaker 1: defense in NFL history just about. The Bears were two
Speaker 1: for fifteen on third downs. And finally, here's what to
Speaker 1: me summarizes the Bears offense. There's so many plays in
Speaker 1: this game where it was third and long and they
Speaker 1: tried to do give up plays like where they would
Speaker 1: throw the ball four yards on third and fifteen, or
Speaker 1: do they throw a screen on third special but they
Speaker 1: couldn't complete those. Those guys were covered like they you know,
Speaker 1: they like the Titans knew they were going to throw
Speaker 1: the ball three yards on third and fifteen, and so
Speaker 1: they couldn't even complete those. And the touchdown that King
Speaker 1: had was on one of those plays, which was a
Speaker 1: screen that they were all over and they ended up,
Speaker 1: you know, forcing a fumble and returning it. So it
Speaker 1: was just it was one of the toughest I know,
Speaker 1: they put it some points in garbage time, but it's
Speaker 1: one of the toughest offensive games I've ever seen. I mean,
Speaker 1: PF said basically graded it as the worst Bears first
Speaker 1: half since two thousand and six. And so I had
Speaker 1: people telling me, hey, look at Foles his box score.
Speaker 1: It's the same as Justin Herbert's. No it's not. No,
Speaker 1: it's not Don't tell me things like that. Don't tell
Speaker 1: me that when I have to watch this offense week
Speaker 1: after week, that is reducing my joy of football. Um.
Speaker 1: And if you're a defensive coordinator studying for how to
Speaker 1: stop the Bears, are you done by like Monday night?
Speaker 1: Have you figured it out by Monday night? I can't
Speaker 1: believe did that to you and came in your mentions
Speaker 1: like that. I would imagine most of them would be disgusted. Well,
Speaker 1: I I labeled them at that They had, you know,
Speaker 1: quickly moved right back into the painfully annoying zone which
Speaker 1: they specialize in every week. And it's like there is
Speaker 1: no growth, no development with a the players here or
Speaker 1: the scheme. It's it's all devolving. And so I mean,
Speaker 1: if they stick around with this, they stick to this
Speaker 1: coaching staff after this season. If I'm a Bears fan,
Speaker 1: you get a little bit close to that Chris wesleyan
Speaker 1: zone of I might have to ignore this team until
Speaker 1: they show me that they actually are striving for competence.
Speaker 1: I like, I like the idea of an in ordinous team.
Speaker 1: I would just like to point out, aren't there like
Speaker 1: two different levels of incompetence going on with this Bears offense.
Speaker 1: You have the normal incompetence, which is every week, and
Speaker 1: then you have today where they were without what four
Speaker 1: starting offensive lineman. Yes, you have to at least point
Speaker 1: that out. Yeah, that that's absolutely fair. But you can
Speaker 1: also point out, like the Titans had twelve transactions on Saturday,
Speaker 1: twelve transactions related to COVID nineteen and injuries and practice squad.
Speaker 1: They're missing their left tackle Roger Staffold got hurt their
Speaker 1: shoulder today. Their first round pick Isa Wilson comes in there.
Speaker 1: He was struggling. They didn't do well. They had seven
Speaker 1: three and ounce in eleven drives. They actually were out
Speaker 1: gained in this game by a hundred and fifty yards um.
Speaker 1: They the Bears defense played awesome, about as well as
Speaker 1: they I think, you know, they've played great all year
Speaker 1: and this was, you know, another great performance where I
Speaker 1: think that the Titans had three points in their first
Speaker 1: six drives. There were there were more punts in the
Speaker 1: first half of this game than any NFL game all season.
Speaker 1: So the Bears defense did their job, but Derrick Henry,
Speaker 1: like on a third and two, drags the pile and
Speaker 1: they end up scoring a touchdown on a perfect throw
Speaker 1: and a perfect catch that like no defense could stop
Speaker 1: to a J. Brown And that's what good teams do.
Speaker 1: The Titans they found a way. But Vaybell called it
Speaker 1: a crossroads game and it they are all sorts of
Speaker 1: banged up um on both sides of the ball and
Speaker 1: got COVID issues that they this Thursday night game is
Speaker 1: gonna be tough for them, I mean teams right now.
Speaker 1: It's like, I feel like we need someone on the podcast.
Speaker 1: It's like stat Boy that just comes in to give
Speaker 1: context at the end of each game and list the
Speaker 1: a numerable COVID and injury issues on each team because
Speaker 1: it's just like such a huge part of every week
Speaker 1: fun gig. By the way, the fastest go route Allen
Speaker 1: Robinson will ever run is the one out of Chicago
Speaker 1: and free agency. Let's move on. Also to play Devil's
Speaker 1: advocate with myself, Joe Burrow was missing three offensive linemen
Speaker 1: and had the best game of his career against that
Speaker 1: Titans defense. Right, well done. Moving on, this would be
Speaker 1: an NFL record field goal to win the game. This
Speaker 1: will be a sixty seven yard attempt. She's had to
Speaker 1: be careful to hold the water slide, big leg, but
Speaker 1: kick us up and it is one ride. Bitch? Oh good?
Speaker 1: What is good? Kansas City gets the victory to go
Speaker 1: eight and one at the bye week on all hard
Speaker 1: fot victory. Mitch Holt is with it called w d
Speaker 1: a f You know, one of these days, Joey Slye
Speaker 1: is gonna reward that rule's faith with one of these
Speaker 1: seventy yards. But it would it wouldn't be Sunday slide
Speaker 1: missed as you heard why right. Paters fall thirty three
Speaker 1: to thirty one to the Chiefs at Arrowhead Mark. Carolina
Speaker 1: did just about everything right in this game, but they
Speaker 1: still couldn't find a way to close out the chance. Uh.
Speaker 1: This this was I am really proud of the Panthers.
Speaker 1: I don't feel that way about football teams that often.
Speaker 1: They came in and fought so hard, and the Chiefs
Speaker 1: by the game's end and everything that you'd expect the
Speaker 1: Chiefs to do. We can get into that. But Kansas
Speaker 1: City rolled into this prepared for a fist fight. I
Speaker 1: give them credit for being The Panthers rolled in into
Speaker 1: that and they were just so aggressive. UM their opening
Speaker 1: drive fifteen plays, seventy five yards, they wiped out nine
Speaker 1: minutes of the opening quarter, and that included a drive
Speaker 1: where they went forward on fourth and three UM to
Speaker 1: allow them to move on and get a touchdown to
Speaker 1: Christian McCaffrey his first game back. He looked pretty good.
Speaker 1: They're not using just him though. They still have a
Speaker 1: little bit of Mike Davis going on here. On the
Speaker 1: next drive though, okay, they refused. I just thought that
Speaker 1: they put thee They put their foot on the pedal
Speaker 1: and did not let up. They got into a fourth
Speaker 1: down City situation. Your seconds into the second quarter, they
Speaker 1: roll up a fake punt Joseph Charlton and the punter
Speaker 1: hits Brandon Zilstrap for twenty seven yards and it leads
Speaker 1: to a touchdown drive by Curtis Samuel passed to Curtis Samuel.
Speaker 1: There is later in the game, Teddy Bridgewater what I
Speaker 1: think is one of the plays of the season, a
Speaker 1: dangerous scramble into peril fifteen yards on third and fourteen,
Speaker 1: and it says everything about what Matt Rule and Teddy
Speaker 1: Bridgewater want to do together and the faith that Matt
Speaker 1: Rule mentioned Teddy Bridgewater in the offseason when we talked
Speaker 1: with him. They come out, they come out of that
Speaker 1: and with ten minutes to go in the game, they
Speaker 1: dial up a fake punt because in some of these
Speaker 1: teams that get overly cautious and just gonna hand the
Speaker 1: ball back to Kansas City. It didn't work, it didn't
Speaker 1: go their way, but you cannot kill him for it.
Speaker 1: They just absolutely went for every chance they could to
Speaker 1: get an advant an edge. At one point, they were
Speaker 1: down one at the end and they fought their way back.
Speaker 1: I don't know, just they never they have an element
Speaker 1: to them under Matt Rule where they refused to give
Speaker 1: up that said. You're still dealing with Patrick Mahomes, who
Speaker 1: threw four touchdowns. He has nine touchdowns and two you
Speaker 1: know over the last couple of weeks he looked absolutely
Speaker 1: beautiful today. Um, it's just bend, but don't break against
Speaker 1: the Chiefs and then suddenly you break. They're too powerful
Speaker 1: on offense and this you know, the Panthers do a
Speaker 1: few good things on defense, But the idea of containing
Speaker 1: Patrick Mahomes the whole time impossible. But the offense fought
Speaker 1: and fought, and this is a fun Carolina offense to
Speaker 1: watch their parts work right now. Teddy has had good weeks.
Speaker 1: He's had bad weeks. He said, throws he can't make.
Speaker 1: He said throws that maybe you'd be surprised he can make.
Speaker 1: But to me, the most impressive thing about his season
Speaker 1: is if you've watched every game, you'd never know he
Speaker 1: had a career threatening injury. He has not changed the
Speaker 1: way he's played. He has, like you said today, Mark
Speaker 1: sacrificing his body like at the first down, sticks diving
Speaker 1: what five six yards in the air going forward to
Speaker 1: get that first down. He has thrown caution to the
Speaker 1: wind um in a good way, like not to the
Speaker 1: point where he's to get himself injured. But he knows
Speaker 1: when to slide, when to go down, when to go
Speaker 1: for the extra yards. And you just never know that
Speaker 1: he had a major knee injury. Yeah, his courage in
Speaker 1: the pocket, his his pocket presence, I think is his
Speaker 1: best trait. But that's it's also why and it's not
Speaker 1: like I focused on this game, but these great effort.
Speaker 1: Panthers games, you want to finish one. And they had
Speaker 1: their chance. They had their chance to win an arrowhead.
Speaker 1: They had the ball and they only needed a field goal.
Speaker 1: They had fifty seconds. It's not all the time, uh
Speaker 1: or more than that with no time out. It's not
Speaker 1: all the time in the world. But he you know,
Speaker 1: they threw two checkdowns in the middle of the field, um,
Speaker 1: you know to start the drive and it was almost
Speaker 1: over right there. And those those are mental errors and
Speaker 1: there's something he'll learn from. But you know, they a
Speaker 1: better like a braidy or a breeze. They're throwing those
Speaker 1: balls out of bounds because they know those two yards
Speaker 1: you know, throws over the middle ultimately kill you. And
Speaker 1: they kind of ran out of time there because I
Speaker 1: really was excited to hopefully see a Joey Sly winner.
Speaker 1: But you're not gonna hit it from sixty nine. Thought
Speaker 1: he had the distance though, Dan what he missed it
Speaker 1: by about Yeah this time he might have actually been
Speaker 1: yet clear the crossbar, but it wasn't dead on this time. Yeah.
Speaker 1: Mahomes is just such a treasure to watch. He's now
Speaker 1: thirty two and eight in his career as a starter,
Speaker 1: he's got the MVP Award, he's got the Super Bowl
Speaker 1: m v P. He is up to twenty five touchdowns
Speaker 1: this year with one interception, and his numbers west. Uh,
Speaker 1: I mean, give me an update where he is on
Speaker 1: your quarterback ranks, although I suspect I know where he is.
Speaker 1: He's at sixty completion percentage, passer rating of one sixteen,
Speaker 1: and he's at career high marks in completion percentage, touchdown interstitation,
Speaker 1: touchdown to interception ratio, and passer rating. Uh. Is this
Speaker 1: the best you've seen him? Look? No? No, I think um,
Speaker 1: his his first year as a starter, when he was
Speaker 1: the clear cut m v P. I think that's the
Speaker 1: best I've seen him. Look Um, he's been number three
Speaker 1: most of the season in the QB Index. I think
Speaker 1: Aaron Rodgers has had a better season. I'll have to
Speaker 1: look because he might pass Russell Wilson, who has had
Speaker 1: three turnovers and what two of the last three weeks.
Speaker 1: But Aaron Rodgers to me, goes to number one on
Speaker 1: the list. All right, let's keep moving. Thirteen yard touchdown,
Speaker 1: rod and the Jags are a two point converged it
Speaker 1: away from a tie with a minute thirty to go here,
Speaker 1: they go for the tie, and here's the snap of
Speaker 1: the two. So throw right side at egg cup plate
Speaker 1: too low for Shark, and the Texans lead by two
Speaker 1: with a minute thirty to go. Mark VanderMeer with the
Speaker 1: call k I lt so close, Jku, Tom Luton luten
Speaker 1: loot so close. The Jaguars rookie nearly pulled off to
Speaker 1: come back in his starting debut, but that two point
Speaker 1: conversion attempt at g J Shark no good. Texans hold on.
Speaker 1: Greg Houston has shown an ability to keep any team
Speaker 1: in the game this year. Add the Jags to that list. Yeah,
Speaker 1: they've shown the ability to beat the Jags there too,
Speaker 1: and oh against them and nobody else. Uh and uh.
Speaker 1: You know, this game I think can be best described
Speaker 1: by explaining the exploits of Josh Lambeau. I didn't think
Speaker 1: I was going there, but it's a it was a
Speaker 1: Lambeau type of game. Early missed extra point. Oh, ends
Speaker 1: up mattering a little bit when you have to go
Speaker 1: for two at the very end with Jake Luton, who
Speaker 1: has spent about twenty five seconds celebrating his touchdown on
Speaker 1: what should have been a legacy drive, and then like
Speaker 1: you know, and I don't blame him. He's a seventh
Speaker 1: roud rookie. You played, you know pretty well. Uh, and
Speaker 1: then realized we've got to go for two and totally
Speaker 1: short armed. If if there is such a thing as
Speaker 1: like getting nervous and your shoulder feeling a little heavy. Uh.
Speaker 1: He threw it in the dirt nowhere near his receiver
Speaker 1: on the two point conversion. But that that wasn't all
Speaker 1: of Lambeau's contribution. He had a fifty nine yard or
Speaker 1: in this game. How about that, Josh Lambeau, And he
Speaker 1: went out of his way to get in the middle
Speaker 1: of two other guys who were fighting, which I've never
Speaker 1: seen a kick or do like two guys kind of
Speaker 1: John And then Lambeau's in there instigating, And if you
Speaker 1: look at him, it's not too shocking because Lambeau and
Speaker 1: a lot of these kickers are jack these days. But
Speaker 1: Lambo is like another level of kicker jack. So you know,
Speaker 1: he's like the Jaggers, a lot of fight, a lot
Speaker 1: of spirit. And they lost in the end. Late Thursday,
Speaker 1: very late Thursday, I was watching election coverage and decided
Speaker 1: it was time to put up my long awaited kicker
Speaker 1: Power rankings and maybe maybe Josh Lambo didn't see himself
Speaker 1: on that list and said, you know what, I need
Speaker 1: to start kind of putting myself out there missing a
Speaker 1: p A T is not gonna do it. But where
Speaker 1: was Where was Jason Sanders? Jason Sanders was snubbed because
Speaker 1: Ngaku is so good at onside kicks, But I immediately
Speaker 1: regretted that when I was watching. Also, like entries like
Speaker 1: two through five were um a split up centens sentence
Speaker 1: explaining that no one's going to uh knock out the
Speaker 1: Ravens kicker from number one's not to get one. Sanders
Speaker 1: hit twenties straight now, I know, in like a couple
Speaker 1: of bombs today under pressure. All right, he's number eight now,
Speaker 1: but number two through five is kept empty out of
Speaker 1: respect for Justin Tucker. I think that's only fair. I
Speaker 1: would have before today, I wanta had Chris Boswell Hire
Speaker 1: on the list, who only had one bag year really
Speaker 1: in his career and has been a Tier one kicker
Speaker 1: outside of that one big year hit a rough day
Speaker 1: to day and that may have been his his lines
Speaker 1: fault because he was Tyrone Crawford who was coming through
Speaker 1: the line every single time on the kicks I mean,
Speaker 1: I can hear Texans fans out there being like we've
Speaker 1: never won a game, because you know, you guys are
Speaker 1: just talking about, Hey, this is what happens with two
Speaker 1: one in six teams go against each other. Just the
Speaker 1: difference to me was Jon Watson ran the ball today
Speaker 1: in key situations and scrambles. He had more rushing yards
Speaker 1: than any game he's had since the week seventeen of eighteen,
Speaker 1: and I've been waiting for that. He's so athletic and
Speaker 1: like he just doesn't take take off and sometimes he
Speaker 1: needs to, and he did it a lot of a
Speaker 1: lot of times on third down. He was very sharp overall.
Speaker 1: Uh and Jake Luton had great numbers, made some good plays.
Speaker 1: Was lucky that he only had one fumble and one interception.
Speaker 1: It could have been more. And was playing the team
Speaker 1: that lost their two best two of their three best
Speaker 1: pass ushers to COVID and their best cornerback Bradley Roby.
Speaker 1: So it's not a good Texans defense and they definitely
Speaker 1: had some mishaps today. But for a for a rookie quarterback,
Speaker 1: he looked, you know, quite good. He had a nice day.
Speaker 1: Let's check in on two more losing teams first and
Speaker 1: ten from the thirty handoff, Calvin shakes attack, look and
Speaker 1: the race is on and it is a loose touchdown.
Speaker 1: Seventy r touchdown this time by the best in the business, baby,
Speaker 1: Dalvin Cook. Paul Allen spice. I think Paul Allen's the
Speaker 1: best of the business, kfa N Dalvin Cook, Yes, superstar,
Speaker 1: like he's running back. I'm gonna I'm not listen, come
Speaker 1: after you if you want. I think he put himself
Speaker 1: on the m v P radar on Sunday with his
Speaker 1: second consecutive yard game from scrimmage, which included the game
Speaker 1: icing seventy yard touchdown sprint in a win over the
Speaker 1: Lions at US Bank Stadium. You know, Dalvin Cook, he
Speaker 1: scored a touchdown in every game he's played. He has
Speaker 1: four games this year four we're halfway through the season
Speaker 1: where he scored at least two touchdowns in the game.
Speaker 1: He is one of those guys, one of those very
Speaker 1: and it's actually a great conversation. And obviously you know
Speaker 1: what Paul Allen feels about this. We talk about who's
Speaker 1: the best running back in football CMC. Obviously he needs
Speaker 1: to be in the conversation Alvin Kamara needs to be
Speaker 1: in the conversation, and obviously I think Dalvin Cook needs
Speaker 1: to be in the conversation. I think that's the big three.
Speaker 1: If Derrick Henry in maybe Okay, if you want to
Speaker 1: put Henry in there too, I would have him just below.
Speaker 1: But I get that for sure. Reigning rushing champion and
Speaker 1: he is a monster. But anyway, uh, yeah, he You know,
Speaker 1: for the Viking is to get back into the playoff picture.
Speaker 1: I was talking about on Thursday that I harbored some
Speaker 1: type of hope, however psychotic it is that the Vikings
Speaker 1: are actually gonna get back in the playoff picture in
Speaker 1: the NFC. Cook's gonna have to be this type of
Speaker 1: special guide like Adrian Peterson was in two thousand twelve,
Speaker 1: by the way, the last running back to win m
Speaker 1: v P in the NFL. He was with the Vikings,
Speaker 1: of course, and that two thousand yards season. He's gonna
Speaker 1: need to go bonkers the rest of the way. And
Speaker 1: what's happening here, Wes and I know, Uh, Kirk Cousins
Speaker 1: is always a subject of fascination, but maybe not as
Speaker 1: much in the past, uh this season because he's just
Speaker 1: his play has come down and he's just seemed like
Speaker 1: just another guy. But this is kind of what happens
Speaker 1: when you're running back is playing this well and you
Speaker 1: get things calmed down and Cousins can just operate in
Speaker 1: his own little realm and do his little play action
Speaker 1: game and you don't put too much on his plate.
Speaker 1: All of a sudden, those two eight yard, three touchdown,
Speaker 1: no turnover games start to pop up again with him,
Speaker 1: and that's what he's been. He's been kind of back
Speaker 1: to good Kirk Cousins the last two weeks. Yeah, as
Speaker 1: because of Dalvin Cook. I mean that it's so much
Speaker 1: easier to play the position when you have the most
Speaker 1: explosive skill position player in football, and that's what Dalvin
Speaker 1: Cook has been. The way he ran last week a
Speaker 1: hundred and sixty six yards after contact according to Pro
Speaker 1: Football Focus, that was the best I've seen any running
Speaker 1: back look all year by quite a bit. You can
Speaker 1: say Alvin Kamara is better in the passing game. Sure,
Speaker 1: you don't want if you could pick any running back
Speaker 1: to be one on one with a linebacker safety, you're
Speaker 1: taking Alvin Kamara. But the way Dalvin Cook ran the
Speaker 1: ball so much more explosive than any running back I've seen,
Speaker 1: and today was more of the same. He is shot
Speaker 1: out of a cannon. Um. It's not every year you
Speaker 1: see a running back with the synchronisy with his offensive
Speaker 1: line and his own physical talent coming to the forefront
Speaker 1: for a long stretch like we saw with their Henry
Speaker 1: late last year. We saw with Levy on Bell a
Speaker 1: couple of times. With the Steelers, we saw I think
Speaker 1: for probably a couple of early last year Christian McCaffrey. UM.
Speaker 1: But it's not every year you see this. And it's
Speaker 1: fun to watch Dalvin Coke, who looks phenomenal when he
Speaker 1: gets the ball right now, it's like they you know,
Speaker 1: they're big on the toss. They pitch it to him
Speaker 1: and it's like as soon as he gets the ball,
Speaker 1: it's like he's going downhill and he never gets taken
Speaker 1: down by first conduct contact. He had over nine yards
Speaker 1: to carry us today he went over two hundred yards
Speaker 1: rushing on just twenty two carries. I mean, he every
Speaker 1: time he touched the ball it was a chunk play.
Speaker 1: And the Lions are just such a mess. There's just
Speaker 1: no progress with this team, and you try to start
Speaker 1: to get a little excited around them, um when they
Speaker 1: had that mini winning streak and you saw their schedule
Speaker 1: and he said, okay, okay, there's a chance here. But
Speaker 1: they're right back to square one. And Matthew stafford Um,
Speaker 1: obviously he's having a really tough season for a lot
Speaker 1: of reasons, and he has speaking of COVID nineteen, it
Speaker 1: touches all these games cause he didn't practice this week
Speaker 1: because he was in the protocol even though he wasn't uh,
Speaker 1: he wasn't infected with COVID, but he was in the
Speaker 1: protocol because of close contact. But he comes out and
Speaker 1: he's up and down with the rest of the team
Speaker 1: before leaving with concussion, uh for a concussion test. I
Speaker 1: don't know if he actually got diagnosed or not, but
Speaker 1: but Chase Daniel finished this game. I mean, just a
Speaker 1: really bummer of a game for the Lions and the Vikings.
Speaker 1: They're hanging on the periphery with a schedule that is
Speaker 1: not too bad, looks pretty good. The Bears are the
Speaker 1: only team with a winning record in their next four
Speaker 1: and that's next week and that's the Bears, so they
Speaker 1: at least have a chance to win. You know, three
Speaker 1: of those four gets to five in the NFC that
Speaker 1: you know that might be still uphill sliding, but I
Speaker 1: wouldn't put it past him. I wouldn't put it past
Speaker 1: them getting right back in the mix and then Kirk
Speaker 1: Cousins having like a bad week sixteen and then they right.
Speaker 1: But to your point about Cousins like the environment that
Speaker 1: he's in the three games they've won, I think he
Speaker 1: threw the ball fourteen times twenty today and me be
Speaker 1: twenty one the other. You know, you don't have to
Speaker 1: trust Kirk Cousins if you can do this exactly. And
Speaker 1: it reminds me a little bit of what they do
Speaker 1: to Baker Mayfield in Cleveland when they're playing well, which is,
Speaker 1: don't have this guy throw the ball forty times, same offense.
Speaker 1: Same with Kirk Cousins paying him a lot of money.
Speaker 1: You all the money should be going into the bank
Speaker 1: account of Dalvin Cook right now, All right, west, Any
Speaker 1: final thoughts before we hand off to Nick Shook. That
Speaker 1: was that was the best hour I've had in weeks. Um.
Speaker 1: I enjoyed talking ball with you guys. That made me
Speaker 1: forget about a lot of things and just get caught
Speaker 1: up in in reality. And uh, it was a fun hour.
Speaker 1: Thank you guys for the escapism than we love you.
Speaker 1: It's always better. And Chris Westling's around all right, West
Speaker 1: have a good rest of your Sunday. And now we
Speaker 1: welcome in Nick Shook Shook looking big somehow, you look
Speaker 1: even bigger. I don't know what's going on with the BOD,
Speaker 1: but it's completely out of control. And that's a compliment,
Speaker 1: you know, just the weekly worked d and you know
Speaker 1: it's the grind, it never stops, and all those other
Speaker 1: jimisms that I can just feed you, even though I
Speaker 1: don't subscribe to most of them. Put out a book already.
Speaker 1: Let's let's get up and going. All right, let's move on.
Speaker 1: Chook helped us out with two games. Let's start with
Speaker 1: one in a town? Is that a thing? Here's Ryan
Speaker 1: gonna put it up for grabs. Jones, here's what open
Speaker 1: well the Atlanta touchdown Western with the call w z
Speaker 1: g C good call. Matt Ryan and Julio Jones are
Speaker 1: in the vintage groove of late the veteran QB through
Speaker 1: for two eight four yards and three touchdowns, including that
Speaker 1: twenty one yard strike the Jones. The Falcons roll to
Speaker 1: at seven, went over the Broncos, who can't get at
Speaker 1: a neutral choke. The Falcons have played pretty well since
Speaker 1: the younger two point oh era took hold. Yeah, you know,
Speaker 1: I don't want to say necessarily that firing dan Quinn
Speaker 1: was the answer, but it definitely I think woke the
Speaker 1: Falcons up. But really what really happened was they got
Speaker 1: a lot of key guys back on defense and they've
Speaker 1: played well in the last few weeks. I know, Um,
Speaker 1: we've talked about it on the podcast before. I know
Speaker 1: Gregg's tweeted me about it. Uh, they look like a
Speaker 1: different team because of the reinforcements they got, like Keian
Speaker 1: O'Neil and the you know, continued improvement of some of
Speaker 1: their linebacking corps A Lucan, A Lucan something like that.
Speaker 1: I always struggle with his name. He's really it's pret
Speaker 1: clere to watch. And and for the most part, um,
Speaker 1: that's all they really needed. I mean, when they played
Speaker 1: earlier in the season, their offense did enough, they just
Speaker 1: couldn't do enough defensively to kind of even things out.
Speaker 1: And and today, you know, they got stops early. They
Speaker 1: they stifled drew lock in the entire Broncos offense, and
Speaker 1: they used that to score a bunch of points and
Speaker 1: build themselves a lead and managed to hang on. And
Speaker 1: I think if you in any football game, if you
Speaker 1: you take that kind of approach, you're we're more than
Speaker 1: likely gonna win. Uh. They almost falcon it away, but
Speaker 1: not this week, not in Atlanta. But but you know what,
Speaker 1: the Falcons are falconing. This is what the falcon do.
Speaker 1: They start out slow. Uh, they totally bury themselves and
Speaker 1: then they go on a run that like makes Arthur
Speaker 1: Blank think they turned the corner. That they do it
Speaker 1: every year. Literally, their defense, it's always the same script
Speaker 1: to It's the defense, especially starts poorly and then comes on.
Speaker 1: Now they've started this little run a little earlier. If
Speaker 1: it wasn't for that ridiculous Todd Gurley, you know, touchdown
Speaker 1: that he's scored by mistake, they'd be four and oh
Speaker 1: and three of those four wins would be fairly convincing,
Speaker 1: which is hard to do in the NFL. I don't
Speaker 1: care who you're playing, they're they're a pretty good team
Speaker 1: that at least for the national games, they'll be on
Speaker 1: the rest of the way, and they do have a
Speaker 1: few It's like I'll watch this team and that's that's
Speaker 1: the like low bar, I want a team to clear,
Speaker 1: they're gonna clear that. To your point, the Falcons are
Speaker 1: three and thirteen. If you combine the first eight games
Speaker 1: of the last two seasons, three and thirteen, and there's
Speaker 1: seven and two in the back nine of two seasons.
Speaker 1: So I mean, I don't know how it. I think
Speaker 1: that's the point you're making, Greg, I don't know how
Speaker 1: this really helps the organization because you not getting a
Speaker 1: high end draft pick if you keep this up, but
Speaker 1: you're also instilling some sense of hope and you make
Speaker 1: the games on a base level. And Mark, you and
Speaker 1: I have struggled, and of course Nick as well have
Speaker 1: struggled with this with years. You would you would sign
Speaker 1: off if your team was just fun to watch and
Speaker 1: sometimes you win, sometimes you lose instead of just getting
Speaker 1: your ass kicked year after years. So the Falcons make
Speaker 1: things interesting to watch, but they're not actually you know,
Speaker 1: moving in a positive direction. It seems. You know, It's
Speaker 1: kind of funny because a few weeks ago we were
Speaker 1: talking about trade. Everybody trade Matt Ryan, trade, Julio Jones. Well,
Speaker 1: you can't trade Matt Ryan because it's financially prohibitive, but
Speaker 1: people talked about it, and and now now that they've
Speaker 1: actually kind of lured out who they are a little
Speaker 1: bit um, that's like the last thing in anybody's mind,
Speaker 1: and rightfully so. And today, Uh, he made the most
Speaker 1: of not having a fully healthy receiving corps, you know,
Speaker 1: missing Calvin Ridley, but he was spreading the ball around
Speaker 1: to all kinds of different guys. Oham's a kiss um
Speaker 1: Russell gauge among the group of guys you got involved.
Speaker 1: He had a touchdown pastor Julio Jones who ran a
Speaker 1: beautiful post corn that left the safety looking for his
Speaker 1: jockstrap if those are still a thing. Uh, I mean
Speaker 1: it was. It was just a good day offensively for them.
Speaker 1: And and I do give credit to the Broncos because
Speaker 1: we do have to talk about the Broncos at some
Speaker 1: point in this game, because they had a really strong
Speaker 1: fourth quarter, but they slept walk through the first three
Speaker 1: quarters and the Falcons took full advantage. I think that's
Speaker 1: what a winning football team does. It's just it's kind
Speaker 1: of a bummer that they dug themselves such a whole,
Speaker 1: and especially with the losses that they suffered earlier, you know,
Speaker 1: but the lost to Chicago, the loss of Dallas, those
Speaker 1: are games, like Greg said, they should have won. I mean,
Speaker 1: right now they'd be looking at what five and four,
Speaker 1: and it's like, you had a chance to build up
Speaker 1: that miracle win last week and then you go and
Speaker 1: you lay an egg against the Falcons. Yeah, but you
Speaker 1: know what two weeks ago, I don't know if they
Speaker 1: should have lost that game. If Todd Gurley figures out
Speaker 1: how to stop his momentum like a superhuman or something
Speaker 1: instead of falling forward into the end zones, I mean,
Speaker 1: it all kind of evens out. But it's frustrating with
Speaker 1: this team because, like if you trying to plan down
Speaker 1: the line with this team is where they where are
Speaker 1: they gonna go? Are they gonna be this team? And
Speaker 1: they're gonna be that first half of the team again
Speaker 1: next year? I think market I had to get in
Speaker 1: a few times, but he was muted and it was
Speaker 1: it was sad to is that what happened to me? Yeah,
Speaker 1: was waiting for you to talk what an absurdity? Well,
Speaker 1: I was just gonna ask if this, if this like
Speaker 1: special road leads to Raheem Morris getting hired, that would
Speaker 1: not be that would be an improbable is what you said.
Speaker 1: The first time I muted, I am dealing with a
Speaker 1: hideous cough, and so I have to keep muting, um
Speaker 1: the button to cough so I can survive this show.
Speaker 1: And then you know, in probably or not probably, I
Speaker 1: guess I've not un muted on the other end of
Speaker 1: these And sometimes I thought I was muted, and then
Speaker 1: I coughed and everyone heard it. So it's a second
Speaker 1: trauma on top of what we're dealing with. To begin
Speaker 1: with you, it would be an Arthur Blank thing, though,
Speaker 1: because he that's how dan Quinn kept saving his job
Speaker 1: with these strong finishes. But I don't know. I mean,
Speaker 1: it's a long way to go. If he goes nine
Speaker 1: and two, you gotta keep him, I think. So I
Speaker 1: have a great When was the last time that an
Speaker 1: interim head coach got the job full time? I'm with you,
Speaker 1: nix see, I think you can fall for that, and
Speaker 1: then like they have to go or he's not. He's
Speaker 1: been in the building for a long time. When he
Speaker 1: took over the coordinator role last year, they immediately improved.
Speaker 1: If he goes nine and two and you've known the
Speaker 1: guy for four or five years, look, they should know
Speaker 1: already whether they really think he's um a strong candidate
Speaker 1: or not. But I wouldn't I wouldn't rule it out.
Speaker 1: It doesn't mean it's a continuation of Quinn. I would
Speaker 1: just do a wide search because that you know, Nick,
Speaker 1: and I know what happens when you when you fall
Speaker 1: for someone like Freddie Kitchens. And this is not Freddie Kitchens,
Speaker 1: but it's like you fall for that late season you
Speaker 1: know bump, and then suddenly you're into a real you know,
Speaker 1: you gave up on someone who could have changed the team.
Speaker 1: We got a long way to go. We got a
Speaker 1: pretty good look at Rhee Morris and Tampa not too
Speaker 1: long ago. Also, but whatever, hey, um Todd Gurley is
Speaker 1: on pace for the funniest seventeen touchdown season in the
Speaker 1: history of the NFL. Seventeen touchdowns. All right, let's move
Speaker 1: on Smith. Out of the gun, back to Krawl has
Speaker 1: tod over, I'll intercepted, picked up by Logan Ryan, and
Speaker 1: he slides down the seal the deal. Interception sealed the
Speaker 1: deal for the Giants, who nearly blew a big lead
Speaker 1: but managed to hold on for three to twenty win
Speaker 1: over the Washington football team. Shook this was another game
Speaker 1: that featured an ugly lower leg injury for a Washington
Speaker 1: starting quarterback. Yeah, I mean, I hope it's not something
Speaker 1: that just like is ingrained in the franchise at this point.
Speaker 1: That would be three in their history and and two
Speaker 1: within the last few years. But the guy who suffered
Speaker 1: one and managed to come back miraculously was actually pretty
Speaker 1: effective in this game and wasn't through that interception. But yeah, yeah, well,
Speaker 1: here's the thing. Before he threw the interception, Uh, he
Speaker 1: was in position to lead them on a potential game
Speaker 1: winning drive, and then through the interception, and then oh,
Speaker 1: through one more interception, just a really seal of things.
Speaker 1: But he's like trying to how can I somehow lose
Speaker 1: Comeback Player of the Year. Yeah, the greatest comeback player
Speaker 1: of the Year story of all time, you know. And
Speaker 1: here's the thing with the whole Comeback Player of the
Speaker 1: Year award. I am too worried every time Alex Smith
Speaker 1: drops back to pass for me to consider him for
Speaker 1: an award when I'm worried that he's going to survive
Speaker 1: the game just because of how bad his leg injury.
Speaker 1: I mean, that is an incredible thing to overcome, which
Speaker 1: I guess is inspiration for the award, But at the
Speaker 1: same time, I just want to see him make it
Speaker 1: through a game before we think about, you know, comeback
Speaker 1: Player of the Year awards. Oh and he also like
Speaker 1: probably needs to lead him to victory a couple of times.
Speaker 1: I think, you know what happened, I think to win
Speaker 1: games to win it. But anyway, what happened to Kyle exactly?
Speaker 1: He suffered what what was it? A broken ankle? It
Speaker 1: was pretty gruesome. He was parted off the field afterwards. Um,
Speaker 1: and yeah that's and so it wasn't It wasn't quite
Speaker 1: as serious as it looked. Um that there. You know,
Speaker 1: I don't know what the full diagnosis is, but it
Speaker 1: wasn't as grizzly in terms of the actual injury. So
Speaker 1: the question is is does Ron Rivera now you know,
Speaker 1: kind of like wave the White I can activate Dwayne Haskins,
Speaker 1: I mean, because he hasn't been a factor since he
Speaker 1: benched him. It was the Kyle Allen Alex Smith Show. Uh,
Speaker 1: just do we turn back to the rookie is your
Speaker 1: I think they announced that players are backup. I think
Speaker 1: they said so they're gonna go with Alex Smith one
Speaker 1: and oh they go with Alex Smith. Yeah, I think
Speaker 1: they decided the dog out. Yeah, he decided to give
Speaker 1: He gives them a better chance. That's why it was
Speaker 1: the backup. I suppose you you watch this game. I
Speaker 1: mean the they averaged eight yards per play to the
Speaker 1: Giants four point seven. They lost the turnover battle five
Speaker 1: to nothing, which is you would not expect it it
Speaker 1: to only be a three point game, so they moved
Speaker 1: the ball. I guess you think the Alex Smith story
Speaker 1: has a little, uh, a little run here. Yeah, I
Speaker 1: think it's got some legs, especially with a team that
Speaker 1: doesn't really have much else to play for, still trying
Speaker 1: to figure out how to play under a new head coach.
Speaker 1: And and if he believes that Alex Smith is the guy,
Speaker 1: then let him run for as long as possible. I mean,
Speaker 1: if he's gonna get ample opportunity, at least will have
Speaker 1: a chance to prove it. Um, he was adequate or
Speaker 1: a little bit better than that at times today. But
Speaker 1: again their offense runs into the same issues, whether it's
Speaker 1: turnovers the two at the end it kind of inflates
Speaker 1: that total, or just not being able to convert on
Speaker 1: third down. I think what was their third down conversion rate,
Speaker 1: it was three of eight, so not exactly what you're
Speaker 1: looking for in a team just trying to win a game.
Speaker 1: And that's how uh you know. On the other side,
Speaker 1: the Giants, you know, force five turnovers only win by
Speaker 1: three because their offense isn't exactly the best either, although
Speaker 1: Daniel Jones was a lot better this week than he
Speaker 1: was a week ago. And the frustrating thing with Daniel Jones,
Speaker 1: I'm sure you guys have plenty opinions on this as well,
Speaker 1: is he'll drop a dime in the bucket to score
Speaker 1: a potential game time touchdown and then below the two
Speaker 1: point conversion passed because he double clutches and hesitates because
Speaker 1: he's thrown so many interceptions that is probably in the
Speaker 1: back of his mind. He's that kind of guy. You
Speaker 1: can't rely on him. And even though it's twenty three
Speaker 1: or thirty four today for two or twelve yards in
Speaker 1: a touchdown, it's still like, what is you're dealing with
Speaker 1: this guy? Twice? He fumbled twice. I hear them honking about, well,
Speaker 1: I didn't turn the ball over to you don't get
Speaker 1: any credit that people didn't pick up your fumbles. I
Speaker 1: never understood that like either are either fumble or not,
Speaker 1: and like fumbling just as bad as an interception, any
Speaker 1: fumbled twice. That don't just mean I like Daniel Jones.
Speaker 1: You do not like Daniel Jones. You want I'm just saying,
Speaker 1: like the Tonamo Bay at this point, I mean, we
Speaker 1: get it. This is like the four shows in a
Speaker 1: row where you've destroyed this person. They closed with three
Speaker 1: punts and then the game ended. I mean the Giants
Speaker 1: now fumbles bubbles that are recovered by your own team
Speaker 1: are as bad as pick six is with Greg No,
Speaker 1: I said, but I I I do believe that all
Speaker 1: fumbles are equal, whether you lose them or not. Like
Speaker 1: it's silly to make a case between them. That's all
Speaker 1: I agree. You were saying something work No, not at
Speaker 1: this I've given up on the show. A um, get
Speaker 1: well soon, my friend. We are almost only have one
Speaker 1: more game to get to Sunday Night football. Sun Freeze
Speaker 1: hangs in the pockets and wide open in bounces. The
Speaker 1: question Smith for the touchdown, tray Kuan Smith in the
Speaker 1: end zone. They left him alone, kept his feet in
Speaker 1: touchdow stage tray Kuan Smith, Yes, all alone in the
Speaker 1: back of the end zone, gets his feet down, al
Speaker 1: Michaels with the call, and that was just the first
Speaker 1: and many scores for the New Orleans Saints, who romped
Speaker 1: the Tampa Bay Buccaneers thirty eight to three in Tampa
Speaker 1: in one of the most surprising outcomes of the season.
Speaker 1: Saints moved to six and two, uh extend their winning streak,
Speaker 1: and the Bucks now three losses, two of them to
Speaker 1: the Saints. And that's a problem, Nick Shook, I R.
Speaker 1: You were surprised, as everyone else here. Yeah, so surprised
Speaker 1: in fact that I might have to change my mid
Speaker 1: season Super Bowl pick. And I know that sounds draft stick,
Speaker 1: but this was an embarrassing showing from the Buccaneers, who
Speaker 1: had strung together some really nice games, notably that went
Speaker 1: over the Packers when they overcame attend nothing deficit and
Speaker 1: really ran away with that one. And you thought, well,
Speaker 1: this would set up to be a competitive game, um,
Speaker 1: you know, because you could kind of discount their first
Speaker 1: meeting this year too. While the Buccaneers didn't have everything
Speaker 1: figured out offensively, and they had really seemed to hit
Speaker 1: their stride in the last few weeks and then fell
Speaker 1: completely flat. And not only did they go down twenty
Speaker 1: eight and nothing like it was nothing. Uh. They they
Speaker 1: didn't have any semblance of the defense that had been
Speaker 1: such a strength for them. Uh in the week's prayer,
Speaker 1: and I know field position kind of affected that a
Speaker 1: little bit. But you know, giving them the ball, given
Speaker 1: the Saints the ball deepen in their own territory, did
Speaker 1: not help. But overall, a team that is expected to win,
Speaker 1: at least in my opinion, doesn't put together performances like
Speaker 1: this against division rivals in in a division that they're
Speaker 1: probably not gonna win now, um, unless you know, they
Speaker 1: lock out in the Saint lose a few games, and
Speaker 1: they can kind of re game the lead that way
Speaker 1: because if it comes down to a tie, obviously they
Speaker 1: don't have the tiebreaker anymore. It's one of the most
Speaker 1: surprising games of the year. You have to say that.
Speaker 1: I mean, in more importantly, it's one of the most
Speaker 1: influential games of the year because you said it. The
Speaker 1: Saints have an easier schedule than the Bucks. After this,
Speaker 1: they're up one in the lost column and they're up
Speaker 1: you know, to with the tie break. Now, it's not
Speaker 1: crazy to blow what what amounts to a two game
Speaker 1: lead the Bucks could still win this division. But for
Speaker 1: the Saints to play this well and the Bucks to
Speaker 1: have no answers, especially the Saints defense, uh, just makes
Speaker 1: you feel like, Wow, this Saints team is getting better
Speaker 1: as they go. They survived a few games without Michael,
Speaker 1: They survived half a season without Thomas, They survived a
Speaker 1: few games without Sanders and Thomas and Marcus Callowie who
Speaker 1: was back there giving them some death depth. Marcus Davenport
Speaker 1: has been really good for them since he came back
Speaker 1: in David on you Mata and that Saints defensive line
Speaker 1: through Brady or don't. I looked at the stats and
Speaker 1: you know, the the QB hits and the sacks, it's
Speaker 1: like it's nine in three and that feels big. But
Speaker 1: it felt like it was even more than that because
Speaker 1: because Brady was pressured so many times where he had
Speaker 1: to let go of the ball early and they had
Speaker 1: no answer. They really missed Ali Marpet their guard. But
Speaker 1: you know, you can't. You can't put on a thirty
Speaker 1: eight to three loss on your guard being absent. That
Speaker 1: was just a blood right. And the Bucks are one
Speaker 1: of the most or the most blessed team in the
Speaker 1: league in terms of health of their offensive line. That's
Speaker 1: the first time anyone on their line had missed the
Speaker 1: start this season. So you know, everyone deals with diversity
Speaker 1: eventually on your front line. And I don't remember, you know,
Speaker 1: I've watched so many, just like you guys Tom Brady
Speaker 1: games over the years, hundreds of games. Uh, and you
Speaker 1: remember the low lights because there are so few and
Speaker 1: far between. So yes, he has had tough moments during
Speaker 1: his long Patriots run where you were like, oh, this
Speaker 1: is he looks. I don't remember him looking this frustrated,
Speaker 1: this down. Uh, this is certainly in that small group
Speaker 1: handful of games where it's just like, man, the frustration
Speaker 1: on his face. And even you know, the turnovers, and
Speaker 1: I know at certain point just got a desperation situation
Speaker 1: his third pick where essentially just threw it up for grabs.
Speaker 1: I mean that is something Benny Denucci does, uh, in
Speaker 1: that type of spot. So to see him so out
Speaker 1: of sorts, to see the defense so out of sorts,
Speaker 1: Lavante David on numerous occasions, multiple occasions, waving his arms
Speaker 1: frantically trying to get the rest of the defense in
Speaker 1: the right position as the Saints game chunk plays and touchdowns,
Speaker 1: and they let Taysom Hill, who has been you know,
Speaker 1: a divisive figure, uh for Saints fans to let him
Speaker 1: come in and have a huge game in prime time.
Speaker 1: I mean, I don't want to call it a lot
Speaker 1: rab magneefee call for the Bucks. But also don't be
Speaker 1: so quick to say no, Greg, because this is the
Speaker 1: type of loss or it's just like huh we we
Speaker 1: we brushed the Giants game under the rug last week
Speaker 1: with the Bucks and said, ah, you know, not everybody's
Speaker 1: gonna dominate sixteen weeks, and then they followed up with
Speaker 1: this epic stinker. It leaves, it's gonna leave some It's
Speaker 1: gonna leave a mark. I'll put it that way. It will.
Speaker 1: And they gotta play the Chiefs, you know, coming up,
Speaker 1: so they'll keep getting tested. I only discounted because you know,
Speaker 1: these teams have been changing. Godwin comes back in, he's
Speaker 1: still not quite right with his fingers. Antonio Brown added
Speaker 1: to the mix. This team has shown their high level
Speaker 1: is extremely high, and now we've learned their lowest game
Speaker 1: is extremely low. And that's that's worrisome. But you have
Speaker 1: seven games to figure out, you know what what you're
Speaker 1: gonna do these teams are still kind of learning each other,
Speaker 1: especially Brady Uh in Tampa. But it's the worst loss
Speaker 1: of his career. I mean there there were in terms
Speaker 1: of point um uh the deficit. That was the biggest
Speaker 1: loss he ever had. So the first time he's ever
Speaker 1: lost to a division an opponent twice in a season.
Speaker 1: So so do we are hitting We were hitting some
Speaker 1: uncharted territory and we didn't think. We didn't think the
Speaker 1: floor was this low. No one expected them to have
Speaker 1: a floor. Not in a game that was advertised as
Speaker 1: a potential back and forth and trading of of the
Speaker 1: passing touchdown record, it ended up being only one guy
Speaker 1: finding the end zone, but to a couple of points.
Speaker 1: I mean, one of the adversity thing, you know, not
Speaker 1: having a guy like Calli market if this is what
Speaker 1: you're contending team, if this is how they perform, when
Speaker 1: you have a situation where you're dealing with some adversity,
Speaker 1: that's extremely concerned and going forward because there's no guarantee.
Speaker 1: In fact, there's probably a guarantee that you're not going
Speaker 1: to be a hundred percent or near a hundred percent
Speaker 1: healthy once you get to the playoffs, and you're probably
Speaker 1: going to run into a team like this or this
Speaker 1: specific team. Again, there's I can't trust this team in
Speaker 1: a playoff matchup with the Saint time know, it's really
Speaker 1: hard to beat a team three times in one year.
Speaker 1: But after what I saw tonight, combined with what I
Speaker 1: saw in Week one, I mean, i gotta take the Saints.
Speaker 1: Not necessarily running away, but I'm pretty confident in that pick,
Speaker 1: which is not where you want to see these Buccaneers
Speaker 1: end up. And then also it's it's just the fact
Speaker 1: that defensively, you know, we've we've kind of praised in
Speaker 1: the last few weeks how Todd Bowls has helped them,
Speaker 1: you know, whether it's schematically or personnel wise, has helped
Speaker 1: them kind of reached I don't know, what maybe might
Speaker 1: be their peace mind sight by the end of the season.
Speaker 1: Makes me wonder, did you try to get too complex?
Speaker 1: You talked about Danny talked about all the confusion on
Speaker 1: the field with the Bonte Davia trying to get guys
Speaker 1: in place. That's not something that should be happening in
Speaker 1: week nine. You should have, like though, it felt like,
Speaker 1: if anything, they weren't as aggressive as they normally are.
Speaker 1: They you know, if Bowls has a weakness like Rex,
Speaker 1: like like a lot of these sorts, like Dennis Allen
Speaker 1: on the other side, frankly, where they're a little bit
Speaker 1: of a game plan defense. When it goes bad, sometimes
Speaker 1: it goes really bad. But they actually felt a little
Speaker 1: less aggressive tonight, and Breeze played really well. We should
Speaker 1: give most of the credit to the Saints for just
Speaker 1: putting it on them in all three phases. Breeze made
Speaker 1: great decisions. He was so calm when he did get pressured,
Speaker 1: just like evading the free blitzer, you know, throwing open
Speaker 1: Taysom Hill was awesome. Like everyone on their team made
Speaker 1: plays for him, Deante Harris, uh Sanders like people like
Speaker 1: everyone on their team just dominated. And it's worth pointing
Speaker 1: out the Bucks have never been in any big games.
Speaker 1: None of these guys as a team have ever been
Speaker 1: in a big game. And the Saints have been in
Speaker 1: a billion big games. I mean by right, and I'm
Speaker 1: just saying this team the team, they're a team and
Speaker 1: they and it's amazing. They've won thirteen to three the
Speaker 1: last two seasons. And guess what, they're halfway there again.
Speaker 1: They're probably gonna win twelve or thirteen games. New Orleans
Speaker 1: and guess what Drew Brees, for all the flaws in
Speaker 1: his game at this stage of his career, probably gonna
Speaker 1: throw over thirty touchdowns and complete sixty eight percent of
Speaker 1: his passes, and the offense is gonna be a top
Speaker 1: ten offense no matter what metric you're looking at. The
Speaker 1: Saints are gonna be again. He's got Jai James Jamis
Speaker 1: doesn't lose to the Saints. I should mentioned marcusn't here.
Speaker 1: By the way, Mark was feeling a little under the weather,
Speaker 1: so he took the rest of the night off and
Speaker 1: and he doesn't get to enjoy this Taysom Hill performance
Speaker 1: because this is the first time Tayso Hill truly felt
Speaker 1: like he was unleashed in a way that really jacked
Speaker 1: up the game plan at the opposing defense. To defining
Speaker 1: things from this game that still really stick out to me. One,
Speaker 1: what do winning teams do when they're presented opportunities like takeaways?
Speaker 1: They capitalize on them. The Staines capitalize on every single
Speaker 1: one that they got tonight, whether it was field position
Speaker 1: or whether it was turnovers, they made sure that they
Speaker 1: turned that into points. And the other one, whether really
Speaker 1: the defining plays or sequence of this game for me,
Speaker 1: when it was already out of hand, with Sean Payton
Speaker 1: having no respect for the opposing defense, putting Tayston Hill
Speaker 1: back there and running the same play multiple times to
Speaker 1: the strong side of power, motioning a blocker from left
Speaker 1: right and then from right to left and just daring
Speaker 1: the Buccaneers to stop it. They didn't stop it. It
Speaker 1: got him inside the five on one possession. He ran
Speaker 1: it two more times in the second half on the
Speaker 1: same drive and they didn't stop it then either. And
Speaker 1: I think that type of confidence and also understanding that
Speaker 1: you've got your opponent in the palm of your hand,
Speaker 1: that's really, really, uh an encouraging sign for the Saints.
Speaker 1: And and I'm you know, I'll say it now. I
Speaker 1: think I'm back on the Saints train. I didn't know
Speaker 1: who they were early in the season. They did go
Speaker 1: through a few valleys and go through some through some struggles,
Speaker 1: but going forward, I'm pretty confident this team. Now. Who,
Speaker 1: by the way, who gets more piste than al Michael's
Speaker 1: when there's a blowout? Oh yeah, he was disgusted by
Speaker 1: the second quarter. He never recovered because this was the
Speaker 1: big game. This this was like the one of the best,
Speaker 1: if not the best on their schedule, and the bucks um,
Speaker 1: you know, go out there and give a stinker, which
Speaker 1: which is disappointing. Not enough people saw Jamis Winston go
Speaker 1: creep into the back of Drew Brees post game interview
Speaker 1: and eat the w like you did on that gift,
Speaker 1: so I knew that. You know, My favorite part is
Speaker 1: imaginating Jamis Winston waiting like ten minutes after the game
Speaker 1: so he could creep back like everyone else is back
Speaker 1: in the lack of eight. That's w Yeah, Jamis revenge
Speaker 1: good for him. And you know Al and I love Al.
Speaker 1: I already miss Alan. He's still here because you know
Speaker 1: he's not gonna be here whatever. So I appreciate every
Speaker 1: game that Al Michael's calls on Sunday Night, Alice show business,
Speaker 1: and Al is about ratings and he's about the bottom
Speaker 1: line and he was not happy with this, and that's
Speaker 1: something that makes me love him even more for some reason,
Speaker 1: seeing how upset against and Collinsworthy just rolls along in
Speaker 1: his folksy way. But Al was stewing best learn a
Speaker 1: bad mood. Stewing. Al is also about the math people
Speaker 1: out in the desert too. Don't forget about that. Well yeah,
Speaker 1: always all right, that's it. Good show tonight. We got
Speaker 1: Chris westling back and that was awesome, heroic performance. I mean,
Speaker 1: he's going through a lot. I meant a lot to
Speaker 1: hear what he said to us that it was the
Speaker 1: best hour of his week because he wasn't sure, he
Speaker 1: wasn't gonna he was gonna do this show throughout the
Speaker 1: Dave and so we were lucky to have him, right
Speaker 1: and he I mean he was being modest, but before
Speaker 1: we started taping even he says he didn't want to
Speaker 1: mess with our flow because he hadn't been doing shows
Speaker 1: for the last couple of weeks. Hell no, West makes
Speaker 1: our show better, uh, through his knowledge and his personality
Speaker 1: and just the fact that he's our friend. Uh. So
Speaker 1: this is whenever we get to do the show with him,
Speaker 1: it makes our day better. And we hope to get
Speaker 1: more of those as the season in the year progresses. Shook,
Speaker 1: you've done it again. You've been six men of the year. Like,
Speaker 1: who's your favorite six men of the year. Oh, it's
Speaker 1: gotta be your boy. Yeah, come on, j Smith, come on,
Speaker 1: it's got the pipe man. Yeah, that's you. That's you.
Speaker 1: You love being you love taking your shirt off. It's
Speaker 1: just you're just like j R. And uh. Yes, Mark
Speaker 1: feeling a little bit under the weather, but hopefully he'll
Speaker 1: be back with us on Tuesday as well. Thank you
Speaker 1: everybody for listening. Until then, the stand Hands is signing
Speaker 1: off for a quiet storm. The Old Boss who still
Speaker 1: don't have that ship nickname lockdown yet working on it.
Speaker 1: Uh quiet Storm, the Mailman and Ricky Hollywood behind the
Speaker 1: virtual glass until Tuesday. S