Speaker 1: They Around the NFL podcast knows You're gonna like it
Speaker 1: in my city. But that is a deep cut from
Speaker 1: the Chris Wesley podcast studio. It's Around the NFL. The
Speaker 1: Week fifteen preview, Dan Hansas, Did I say my name yet?
Speaker 1: You've you just said your name? Okay, I want to
Speaker 1: make sure I didn't say twice? Many more names though, twice.
Speaker 1: But what's the newest one. The new one is God
Speaker 1: of Bongo. But let's stay on. Uh, let's stay focused.
Speaker 1: Here's a lot to games, a lot of games to
Speaker 1: get to. No more buys, so a lot to dig into.
Speaker 1: Greg Rosenthal, Mark Sessler, um gang, you know what this
Speaker 1: week is, Week fifteen, tell us gotta have it Sunday,
Speaker 1: gotta have it, gotta have it. There are seven teams
Speaker 1: by my count. You want me to share the teams
Speaker 1: now or as we go along there any of them
Speaker 1: playing on Saturday, because we do have you know, the
Speaker 1: three NFL Network games. I know, and you know what,
Speaker 1: all six teams got to have it? Not really, but well,
Speaker 1: I was just trying to be a good soldier there.
Speaker 1: But they're great games, and we're gonna get to those games.
Speaker 1: There are seven teams and I'm gonna forget the top
Speaker 1: of the show and not tell you the seven teams
Speaker 1: if I try to do it as the games come.
Speaker 1: So I'm gonna tell you right now. Seahawks on Thursday night,
Speaker 1: so we already got that out of the way. Panthers, Jaguars, Lions,
Speaker 1: and Jets facing off Patriots Giants, and maybe we could
Speaker 1: add to that list if we wish. It's guaranteed that
Speaker 1: not everyone's gonna have it or get it no matter
Speaker 1: what they in just one case. Yes, so we're gonna
Speaker 1: get to all these games. I'm gonna break it down.
Speaker 1: Let's start, yes, on the Saturday schedule. Greg, Are you
Speaker 1: ready for this? I'm so ready? Are you cold? Uh? No,
Speaker 1: it's just like there's only so many jackets I have.
Speaker 1: I'm trying not to rewear them. Let's let's go, because
Speaker 1: that's that's straight outerwear. No, this is inner where it's cold.
Speaker 1: It's a nice jacket right side. All right, Let's start
Speaker 1: with the game one of maybe the game of the week,
Speaker 1: and it's at high Mark Stadium in Western New York.
Speaker 1: It is the Miami Dolphins eight and five, A little
Speaker 1: bit humbled the last couple of weeks against the Buffalo Bills.
Speaker 1: Our friend Colleen Wolfe is going to be there. The
Speaker 1: conditions Mark Sessler are said to be there, might get
Speaker 1: some on lake effects, snow, wintry. And my first instinct
Speaker 1: as I set this game up and I mentioned that, which,
Speaker 1: by the way, you can watch an NFL network is
Speaker 1: TA and the Dolphins offense in those conditions, I'd be
Speaker 1: noivous if I'm a Miami fan. Well, it does seem
Speaker 1: like the talking point this week is, you know, Ken
Speaker 1: Mike McDaniel possibly figure out how to adjust and get
Speaker 1: this Dolphins attacked back on track after coin. Isn't it
Speaker 1: fair to ask that question? Just it's just funny to
Speaker 1: me that, um, the way football coverage goes, it's like
Speaker 1: everyone something. It's like my Mike mc daniel was not
Speaker 1: born last Monday. I think he's he understands that there's
Speaker 1: been some issues and they got to work the way
Speaker 1: out of it. And I would say the one thing
Speaker 1: I want to watch those that a lot a lot
Speaker 1: of it. I think that Staley and Shanahan they use
Speaker 1: press coverage effectively to you know, get get to what's
Speaker 1: throwing the ball into the middle of the field to
Speaker 1: prevent throws there, that's where he wants to throw it,
Speaker 1: and they did confuse that system. And so that's the response.
Speaker 1: And when the Bills played Miami way back when in
Speaker 1: scorching hot Southern Florida, they only played two snaps and
Speaker 1: pressed me on coverage. So it's like, how are they
Speaker 1: going to try to duplicate what these two other coaching
Speaker 1: staffs have done or go their own way? Because Greg,
Speaker 1: I think you said it like before the Niners played Miami,
Speaker 1: you said if they were if this it goes effectively
Speaker 1: for Shanahan and company, that other teams are gonna try
Speaker 1: to copy. We saw them do it last week against
Speaker 1: the Chargers. Charges did it. Will Buffalo take the same approach?
Speaker 1: I think they'll try. They'll certainly be trying to take
Speaker 1: away the middle of the field. They're gonna try to
Speaker 1: force Jalen Wile, I think, in particular to start winning
Speaker 1: his one on one matchups because he was awfully quiet
Speaker 1: last week. I'm not worried about Tyreek kill, but I
Speaker 1: think you look at the Bills and their week says
Speaker 1: and what they came into the season, worried about cornerback
Speaker 1: is still a worry, and it was a worry back
Speaker 1: in Week two because that's how you lose a game
Speaker 1: where the Dolphins only had the ball for like thirty
Speaker 1: five snaps. That was a bizarre game back then. But
Speaker 1: you think about all the things we were worried about.
Speaker 1: If you were going to try to poke some holes
Speaker 1: in the Bills coming into the season, and there are
Speaker 1: none of them are going well. They their first round
Speaker 1: pick can't get on the field at cornerback. They're still
Speaker 1: rotating through guys trying to figure it out. Trade Avious
Speaker 1: White didn't return at cornerback till about week eleven. Isn't
Speaker 1: really totally up to speed. Their wide receiver position has
Speaker 1: been so underwhelming that they brought Cole Beasley back this week,
Speaker 1: and they brought John Brown in a big spot throw
Speaker 1: and pass it to him back last week. I actually
Speaker 1: think this Bill's offensive line is a little vulnerable. So
Speaker 1: these are a lot of things. But what I'm trying
Speaker 1: to say is this is not the Bills team that's
Speaker 1: just gonna stomp on teams. They they found ways to win,
Speaker 1: But to me, Miami still has the talent to go
Speaker 1: up and down the field on them, even in tough conditions.
Speaker 1: UM totally disagree with that. I think the dollins are
Speaker 1: in the world are hurt right now because I think
Speaker 1: the Ta has not looked the last two weeks. He's
Speaker 1: looked overmatched, um by the scheme whatever it is. His
Speaker 1: accuracy is off. He looks these throne floaters and now
Speaker 1: I'm thinking of him, and not to overplay to a
Speaker 1: can't throw game, but TA in bad conditions up there.
Speaker 1: I just think it sets up well for the Bills
Speaker 1: and everything you said that it makes sense, Greg about
Speaker 1: some of the things that they were hoping to get
Speaker 1: shored up as the season went along, and they haven't.
Speaker 1: But then you point to last week against the Jets,
Speaker 1: and the offense is still not quite right ever since
Speaker 1: SHOs Allen heard his elbow. Let's let's be honest there.
Speaker 1: But what they were able to do without Von Miller,
Speaker 1: with with Greg Russo, Shack Lawson, Um, they got after
Speaker 1: the quarterback, they destroyed Mike White, and I just like
Speaker 1: I could see that happening again here. I could see
Speaker 1: Tah really struggling to get through this game. Um, and
Speaker 1: I almost confident enough to do a certain thing. It's
Speaker 1: not in the zone, but it's not even in the zone. Yeah,
Speaker 1: which is people feel the way you feel about Miami
Speaker 1: right now. And I think, you know, on the Buffalo side. Uh,
Speaker 1: there's a quote I want to if we can go
Speaker 1: to this sound real quick up that that Josh Allen
Speaker 1: had that I think effectively Sho's next level. Maybe you
Speaker 1: should be in the power chair. Let's roll with it.
Speaker 1: It doesn't look like an offense that's not roll in
Speaker 1: the Super Bowl right now. Okay, I kind of love
Speaker 1: it because it's like this reporter said, you know that
Speaker 1: Josh Allen simply saying it looks like this offense isn't
Speaker 1: good enough to win this. We know they're kind of
Speaker 1: slumping there. Slump means the reporter said, and Josh Allen
Speaker 1: just said, okay, cool, and then he, like the in
Speaker 1: the extended clip, kind of shakes his head like give
Speaker 1: me a break with this, Like what do you want
Speaker 1: this guy out of room? He has been playing through
Speaker 1: the elbow thing, and and Sean McDermott said that it's
Speaker 1: gotten a little bit better each week, and he thinks
Speaker 1: it's in a much he's been throwing more in practice
Speaker 1: than he has in the last three or four weeks.
Speaker 1: And so I just think that at one point. The
Speaker 1: Bills will figure this out on offense, but they aren't
Speaker 1: the explosive unit that destroyed the Rams in week one
Speaker 1: and you thought they're just gonna roll over people. It's
Speaker 1: been like diminishing by week and they do seem to
Speaker 1: trying to work their way through things. But I do
Speaker 1: trust that they will. I do too, But they're there.
Speaker 1: What they're great at now is being a veteran team
Speaker 1: that knows how to win in these spots and overcome
Speaker 1: a lot. The Bills fans and the media have these
Speaker 1: bizarre expectations. It's like it's got They've got to be
Speaker 1: the best team in the league by far. You lost
Speaker 1: Michael Hydeen Von Miller, literally the two most valuable players
Speaker 1: on your defense. If you had to pick them, maybe
Speaker 1: Mulana's there for number three. Uh, other things haven't worked out,
Speaker 1: and that's what I'm worried about in this match. Why
Speaker 1: should the Bills even show up on set? I'm picking
Speaker 1: them to win. My point is that they're a great
Speaker 1: team that they've been in these spots. They are. They
Speaker 1: have the combination of youth and experience that every team
Speaker 1: in the NFL, which is they have, and so they'll
Speaker 1: find ways to win because they still have Josh Allen.
Speaker 1: I think Josh Allen will run well. But I think
Speaker 1: the biggest mismatch for the Dolphins here is their defensive
Speaker 1: line versus the Bill's offensive line. They the Dolphins trashed
Speaker 1: the Chargers last week and the Justin Herbert had to
Speaker 1: overcome that, and I think Josh Allen can overcome that
Speaker 1: by running the ball. But I don't think this is
Speaker 1: a matchup where you're suddenly going to see a Bill's Uh.
Speaker 1: Those I like this because everyone saw have a game
Speaker 1: where we're just our headspaces are totally different. We should
Speaker 1: be talking about how nervous the Dolphins should be based
Speaker 1: on their recent play. Uh. And there's also a very
Speaker 1: high bar with Buffalo because we expected them and they
Speaker 1: were earlier in the season just the juggernaut. But they're
Speaker 1: still second in total offense, fourth and scoring third in
Speaker 1: yards per play. I understand it hasn't been as impressive
Speaker 1: in the last month or so, but that's that team
Speaker 1: is still there. They've gone through funks before last year
Speaker 1: we saw the same thing and then they turned it
Speaker 1: on were unstoppable down the stretch. UH. Feeling good about
Speaker 1: Buffalo here especially. I mean, I know, you know, these
Speaker 1: teams are all built in theory to play in any weather.
Speaker 1: You can't just say, you know, we're going to construct
Speaker 1: a team that's gonna die in the snow. But I
Speaker 1: think Miami is the outlier where it's like I don't
Speaker 1: trust Miami necessarily in a game like this, and it's
Speaker 1: like a Buffalo can't handle their business at home in
Speaker 1: this crazy weather, Like who are they? What are they doing?
Speaker 1: I mean, I'm with you, Dan, I expect Buffalo to
Speaker 1: take this one. And this is uh an a f
Speaker 1: C East title game more or less. I know, it's
Speaker 1: not a hat and T shirt game, as Kirk Cousins
Speaker 1: would say. But if the if the Dolphins win this game,
Speaker 1: they have a real shot to win the a f
Speaker 1: C because they'd have swept the Bills. They'd only be
Speaker 1: one back with three to play. If the Bills win
Speaker 1: this game, it's over for the rest of the division essentially.
Speaker 1: And I'm with you. I think the Bills will win
Speaker 1: because I think they're tougher and deeper. But I just
Speaker 1: think there it's an interesting team because they're not going
Speaker 1: to be the juggernaut. I think they're gonna have to
Speaker 1: like show their toughness through a lot of or maybe
Speaker 1: they will turn into that when it really counts, but
Speaker 1: right now they're on. You know, it's tough to be
Speaker 1: a team like the Bills when you had that big
Speaker 1: arrival season last year and then had this really exciting
Speaker 1: playoff run that ended in heartbreak, but you're still hyper impressive.
Speaker 1: Then everyone expects you to just be amazing. And it's hard.
Speaker 1: It's a long season and and there's been some peaks
Speaker 1: and valleys, and it should be said. And I know
Speaker 1: the Jets defense is very good. Thirty two yards by
Speaker 1: the Bills last week, which was a season low by
Speaker 1: a hundred yards, and they punched on their first five possessions.
Speaker 1: So if that Dolphins front can get after it, maybe
Speaker 1: was like, go get me Cole Beasley. Want Cole Beasley back.
Speaker 1: Let's move to the early game. So that's them Eastern game.
Speaker 1: Um uh, Miami Buffalo. Now we got the early game,
Speaker 1: one pm, Eastern Colts at Vikings and Boys. It's gone
Speaker 1: too far. It has gone too far. The Vikings hate
Speaker 1: has officially gone too far. When the people in the
Speaker 1: desert are giving the Vikings a field goal in this
Speaker 1: game against the Colts. I thought it was four, But
Speaker 1: either way, it's even more disrespectful than when they were
Speaker 1: underdogs to the Lions. I completely agree. I'm dispensed with
Speaker 1: any d I'm locking up the Vikings because sometimes things
Speaker 1: look too obvious, and maybe that's sometimes when you get noivous,
Speaker 1: But you know, geez, what is it? What could you
Speaker 1: be watching with the Cults right now and say that
Speaker 1: they're gonna go to Minnesota and they're gonna stop Justin
Speaker 1: Jefferson from having a hundred and two and thirty yards
Speaker 1: and Kirk Cousins, who played really well last week in
Speaker 1: that loss, from really getting his stat line where it
Speaker 1: always is, because you know how consistent Cousins is. Ultimately,
Speaker 1: even Dalvin Cook going off, I just don't see the
Speaker 1: only way you really could beat up the Vikings is
Speaker 1: their terrible past defense. And what can the Colts not
Speaker 1: do right? I don't think the Indie strengths don't fit
Speaker 1: well with what the Vikings can't do. I will say
Speaker 1: though they know Indie strengths by the way, well, they
Speaker 1: don't have out massive strength, but no team allows per
Speaker 1: game to wide receivers, then the Colts, I think Justin
Speaker 1: Jefferson cracks any code though I don't care what the
Speaker 1: numbers are coming in. They do have a good defense Indianapolis,
Speaker 1: I think you can. You're looking at a Vikings team
Speaker 1: that hasn't run the ball real well right now. But
Speaker 1: if you get the Cousins just justin Jefferson version that
Speaker 1: we got last week, in many of these weeks, it
Speaker 1: doesn't really matter who they're playing. And then you're asking
Speaker 1: Matt Ryan to turn around. I think we've got Matt
Speaker 1: Ryan in our life for maybe four more weeks ever,
Speaker 1: and then we don't know what. We don't know if
Speaker 1: Jeff Saturday is gonna be in our life. Like this
Speaker 1: team is is in a Sunset mode right now. Well,
Speaker 1: Jeff Saturday undefeated coming off of bye's never been take.
Speaker 1: I'm with Dan. I think Jeff Saturday playing on a
Speaker 1: Saturday is feels like, Oh, there we go. Maybe that's
Speaker 1: why the spread is closed. I think that's probably Dan.
Speaker 1: I love I love the Vikings covering this game. I
Speaker 1: like them responding to the loss. I think it's a
Speaker 1: nice test for Kirk because I don't think the defense
Speaker 1: is gonna force you to have to score thirty points
Speaker 1: because you're playing against the Colts. But if you want
Speaker 1: to take something positive, you mentioned how Kirk Cousins played
Speaker 1: last week. I have long said in QB IndX when
Speaker 1: I was writing Kirk Cousins, these three giest quarterback in
Speaker 1: the league. Maybe hasn't been this year actually, but generally
Speaker 1: when he gets hot, he gets hot for about five
Speaker 1: weeks straight. Was that a start of a hot Kirk
Speaker 1: Cousins streak? Go put up thirty, make this game easy.
Speaker 1: There's no Kenny Moore in this game in the slot,
Speaker 1: who's a good cornerback for the Colts, and and start
Speaker 1: building towards the playoffs. I think you nailed it, because
Speaker 1: I even I think I wrote about this last week
Speaker 1: in Powering is ahead of his big game the week after,
Speaker 1: which was which is a humble break. Say what you
Speaker 1: will about Kirk Cousins, but at the end of the year,
Speaker 1: he's always gonna have about thirty to thirty four touchdowns.
Speaker 1: He's gonna throw for about forty yards, and those numbers
Speaker 1: are all a little bit down. We are so in
Speaker 1: line for a Cousin's hot streak that gets everything to
Speaker 1: where it always is by the end of the regular season.
Speaker 1: And we saw it a little bit last week. He
Speaker 1: was awesome last week in that loss, and I think
Speaker 1: you're gonna see another if you if you are speaking
Speaker 1: of fantasy football plays, if you have Kirk Cousins locked
Speaker 1: and load in your lineup, and and you know if
Speaker 1: you have Justin Jefferson, well these guys are gonna eat.
Speaker 1: You better have that buy in your playoffs if you
Speaker 1: have those two. I mean, I think I think the
Speaker 1: one thing Justin Jefferson is it gives any quarter back,
Speaker 1: but especially Kirk Cousins, immense confidence. He makes throws and
Speaker 1: aims the ball Justin Jefferson in a way that you
Speaker 1: wouldn't without other wide receivers because you trust Jefferson to
Speaker 1: catch and do something with it. And it's happening like
Speaker 1: they've had electric Sundays and they can have an electric
Speaker 1: Saturday night. And they get to starting offensive lineman back.
Speaker 1: That's a pretty big deal. Left tackle Christian Derrissa, who
Speaker 1: has been a Pro Bowler, and their starting center Garrett
Speaker 1: Bradberry both expected to be back. That's a big deal
Speaker 1: for them. Did you see it's a good defensive line
Speaker 1: Seth Walder for ESPN does a lot of analytic stuff.
Speaker 1: He's good um had a article this week five NFL
Speaker 1: breakout players, five declining stars, and he had under that
Speaker 1: list Dalvin Cook and if you pop the hood on
Speaker 1: his numbers, although the stats, the baseline stats are still good,
Speaker 1: um his you know, making what is the it's a
Speaker 1: very in vogues that now for a rush right the
Speaker 1: yards that you're expected to get what you get over
Speaker 1: that under that he went from being an elite guy
Speaker 1: two years ago to coming down a little bit this
Speaker 1: year and now he's actually below the line. Um since
Speaker 1: we eleven, yeah, since week eleven, there seven and ep
Speaker 1: a prush. I would point to the missing your offensive
Speaker 1: lineman the situation, though I don't. I don't see some
Speaker 1: big decline. Now maybe you know it's that list is infallible,
Speaker 1: so don't trust my eyes. All right, let's move to
Speaker 1: the middle game on Saturday, and we got Ravens. I
Speaker 1: mean three points. That's crazy. That means it's moved. I
Speaker 1: think the only thing I could say is maybe because
Speaker 1: they've been in more one point one score games than anyone,
Speaker 1: so they expect it now by nature to be closed.
Speaker 1: Because it's the Vikings. Cults have been a desert team
Speaker 1: all year. I would say overrated all year, that some
Speaker 1: of their underlying numbers aren't as bad as they seem
Speaker 1: to look. It looks like it's up to four, but
Speaker 1: early this morning Zeuss going through some things, it was lower.
Speaker 1: Maybe they're they've responded to your disdain already, like the desert,
Speaker 1: You've got too day. The cognizance e there like the
Speaker 1: desert is. I think the fc UM has you know,
Speaker 1: beaten down on the Vikings so hard, and I've done
Speaker 1: that as well that now people are just have lost
Speaker 1: the plot a loom, right, they're overreacting. All right, let's
Speaker 1: get to it. Ravens at Browns, we will not have
Speaker 1: Lamar Jackson, but we will have his backup. And that's
Speaker 1: a good thing really for all of us. Quite frankly,
Speaker 1: as you try to get excited about the middle game
Speaker 1: on Saturday on NFL Network, it's a big game for
Speaker 1: the Ravens. They're trying to keep up with the Bengals.
Speaker 1: They've all but clinched the playoff spot with nine wins here,
Speaker 1: but getting a home playoff game is very doable for
Speaker 1: them with their schedule because it's favorable. But this is
Speaker 1: a tricky matchup. They're so healthy right now. I think
Speaker 1: it's been a little overlook because Lamar Jackson is out.
Speaker 1: Huntley is a huge upgrade from Anthony Brown. You could
Speaker 1: argue it's as big a gap from Huntley to Brown
Speaker 1: as there is from Lamar to Huntley. So it's very
Speaker 1: important that Huntley is playing in this game. I think
Speaker 1: if you're Ravens fan, the running game look better with j. K.
Speaker 1: Dobbins back. They certainly look better with Ronnie Stanley back
Speaker 1: at left tackle. Suddenly they look great. Oh, by the way,
Speaker 1: on the back end, Marcus Williams and All Pro safeties
Speaker 1: back Kyle Hamilton's their first round pick returned a couple
Speaker 1: of weeks ago, Klaas Campbells playing great upfront. I think
Speaker 1: it's a really good defense, and I think it's gonna
Speaker 1: be tough for Deshaun Watson and this running game, which
Speaker 1: has been a little haphazard. With Deshaun Watson back to
Speaker 1: move the ball on this Ravens team, Huntley being there
Speaker 1: makes me like the Ravens in this well, they the
Speaker 1: Browns are down to their third center. I mean that
Speaker 1: started in the preseason when they lost on the opening drive.
Speaker 1: Back when Deshaun Watson was playing they lost their center
Speaker 1: in that game. They're done down to the third. He's
Speaker 1: not a natural center. They're trying to run Nick Chubb
Speaker 1: out of a hat a shotgun where that he just hasn't.
Speaker 1: He's not quite working with DeShawn Watson. I would say
Speaker 1: this that if you look at the Ravens ever since
Speaker 1: they traded for Roquan Smith, um, it's totally affected Patrick Queen.
Speaker 1: Like their linebackers have been dominant. They become second in
Speaker 1: points allowed since then, best team in the run again
Speaker 1: to the run in the league right now, and the
Speaker 1: type for first on stopping third down. So I don't
Speaker 1: like any of that. And the under dogs in this
Speaker 1: game three. I think that's simply because Lamar Jackson is
Speaker 1: not starting. If you want to, I wonder of Huntley playing.
Speaker 1: I know, I know Watson was better last week than
Speaker 1: he couldn't have been worse than he was in his debut.
Speaker 1: But they are a disjointed offense right now. I mean
Speaker 1: that's they just seem out of sorts and and I
Speaker 1: just don't I think that the Ravens are just I
Speaker 1: just trust the Ravens in every possible way to take
Speaker 1: care of business because I think Huntley has been really
Speaker 1: good when he's been in there. At least he's not
Speaker 1: been a liability. Yeah, we'll see what with Watson, if if,
Speaker 1: because it's kind of unprecedented, right, I'm trying to think
Speaker 1: like another big name quarterback obviously for much different circumstances.
Speaker 1: But you know, I think Joe montanamists almost two years
Speaker 1: way back in the day off of that I think
Speaker 1: was a Leonard Marshall hit in the playoffs. Um, But Watson,
Speaker 1: we don't know if he gets back to the guy
Speaker 1: that he was on the heyday with the Texans, and
Speaker 1: it's certainly gonna take time. I will say one thing
Speaker 1: about their offense, a positive thing, like I would say
Speaker 1: by stock In, David and Joku. Now with Watson, you
Speaker 1: kind of saw that immediately, Um, that there is something there,
Speaker 1: and I think you're gonna see a lot of a
Speaker 1: lot more of a Joco this year. I could see
Speaker 1: him being a breakout guy down the stretch. But yes,
Speaker 1: he was better Watson, but still just you know, obviously
Speaker 1: not quite right. I would ask this because I get
Speaker 1: I think we understand there's rust all that. So I've
Speaker 1: never heard the term rusty more than with DeShawn Watson
Speaker 1: over the last two weeks. But if he's still this
Speaker 1: guy three weeks from now, how long do you expect
Speaker 1: this to be this way? Like there's nothing more you
Speaker 1: can do. But I think you hit it when you
Speaker 1: said the shotgun runs. They're changing their offense to make
Speaker 1: Watson more comfortable. He's not comfortable. It's hurting the running game.
Speaker 1: He's not confident. He's not playing with confidence. His interception
Speaker 1: last week wasn't a bad thrower decision. He was just
Speaker 1: like a second and a half late on it. He's
Speaker 1: that speaking with confidence either. I know you shouldn't. I
Speaker 1: shouldn't be reading this much into it, but watching his
Speaker 1: press conferences is depressing. He just he just doesn't seem
Speaker 1: like he wants to be there. It just seems like, uh,
Speaker 1: he's not. He just has no confidence in who he
Speaker 1: is and and that makes sense to me. And he's
Speaker 1: not confident the way on the field either, and especially
Speaker 1: his numbers under pressure. He's got a seventeen point eight
Speaker 1: passer rating, two interceptions, three sacks, and twelve yards. He's
Speaker 1: seven for nineteen when you put him in the under
Speaker 1: when you put heat on de Shaun Watson it's like
Speaker 1: he's not seeing the field real well, he's holding the
Speaker 1: ball too long, and the offense they've lost their identity.
Speaker 1: What more can you ask the quarterback to do than
Speaker 1: give your offense identity. Yeah, you know, but you're not.
Speaker 1: We're not rooting for Deshaun Watson. But or maybe you are,
Speaker 1: but well, i'm not, I'm not. I'm not. I'm hoping
Speaker 1: the end of season right now. I understand. I understand um,
Speaker 1: but I wouldn't be nervous about anything that happens with
Speaker 1: his play really this season. Now when he goes to
Speaker 1: a full off season program, through training camp, through preseason,
Speaker 1: and then if we next September and he's still looking
Speaker 1: very scattershot, not like the same guy, and you're not
Speaker 1: liking his body language in the press conferences like, oh
Speaker 1: this guy million dollar quarterback that we we kind of
Speaker 1: sold our reputation for a little bit here and now
Speaker 1: I want to point to like Peyton Manning who missed
Speaker 1: an entire year with a very serious injury. You'd have
Speaker 1: excuses for him to come in and be cold when
Speaker 1: he was hot right out of the gate. It's like
Speaker 1: one of the greatest quarterbacks where But that's what that's
Speaker 1: what Cleveland thought they got to. I hope you're not.
Speaker 1: Cleveland thought they got a great quarterback and a good quarterback, right,
Speaker 1: and that's a yeah. Well so Peyton Manning is like
Speaker 1: an all time saying he progress the next few weeks
Speaker 1: that I think you got worried about it long term
Speaker 1: and j K. Dobbins had a big return fifteen for
Speaker 1: one twenty, but it was a little sad watching that
Speaker 1: breakaway run. Clearly he's not he's not healthy. So I
Speaker 1: would only say about there was a lot of like
Speaker 1: optimism about Dobbin's back and helping them. Obviously he's a
Speaker 1: work in progress himself. UM as he comes back from
Speaker 1: um all the issues he's had physically. All right, we're
Speaker 1: taking a break. We're taking a break. We will be
Speaker 1: back and hitting the other UH Island games. Sunday Night
Speaker 1: and Monday Night football. Stay right there? Are you ready?
Speaker 1: It's a Saturday triple header only on NFL networking along.
Speaker 1: First the Colts battled the Biking, then the Ravens space
Speaker 1: the Browns, and the Dolphins take on the Bills in
Speaker 1: prime time, back to back to back. It's a Saturday
Speaker 1: Showdown triple header. Saturday, starting in one only on NFL Network.
Speaker 1: That right, welcome back. It is now time to we
Speaker 1: have the draft coming up. We have a very special
Speaker 1: guest helping us out at the top of the draft
Speaker 1: and looking forward to that. But first let's finish out
Speaker 1: the Island games as we call them. Let's go to
Speaker 1: Sunday Night football. The German travel to FedEx Field to
Speaker 1: face the Washington Commanders to seven five and one teams
Speaker 1: and it is stupid, uh And I talked about it,
Speaker 1: gotta have it Sunday. I looked at the schedules. I'm
Speaker 1: not gonna say Washington's gotta have it, but the g
Speaker 1: Men need this game. They have one win in six weeks. Greggy.
Speaker 1: And if you go after what happened against the Eagles
Speaker 1: last week, and as disappointing as the tie was against
Speaker 1: Washington the week before at home, if you got your
Speaker 1: butts banked here, it's over, Johnny, Who do you disagree? No,
Speaker 1: because I'd mean, I'd come on, look at the results
Speaker 1: in the past almost two months. They would have chance.
Speaker 1: Because the NFC is so strange with the Seahawks and
Speaker 1: you know, yeah, I think they're a bottom eight team
Speaker 1: in the NFL or so like in terms of how
Speaker 1: they're playing right now and certainly in terms of talent,
Speaker 1: and that's what stands out to me. They're a team
Speaker 1: that wins with scheme and not with talent. And I
Speaker 1: think playing the same team twice in a row if
Speaker 1: you're the Commanders, helps that out. And I think the
Speaker 1: Giants needed that game when they played each other a
Speaker 1: couple of weeks ago, and they had it because when
Speaker 1: I watched that game, I thought and I picked the
Speaker 1: Giants in that game and ended up being a time
Speaker 1: I remember thinking, do not pick the Giants again in
Speaker 1: this matchup because the talent disparity when the Giants are
Speaker 1: on offense and that front for Washington is on the
Speaker 1: field and they might get Chase Young back. This week
Speaker 1: is a massive mismatch and so I just don't see
Speaker 1: the Giants scoring a lot of points. And I think
Speaker 1: the only way they win is if they forced two
Speaker 1: or three tight Taylor hein Nik turnovers, which is possible.
Speaker 1: But other than that, Washington didn's a better team. Yeah,
Speaker 1: I mean to your point, in like, this is the
Speaker 1: Giant schedule after they play Washington, the Vikings, that's tough.
Speaker 1: The Cults who knows what goes on there. And then
Speaker 1: you got the Eagles again, and the Eagles Giants game
Speaker 1: from last weekend was as big a separation between two
Speaker 1: teams with winning records that I can recall. I mean,
Speaker 1: it was outside of maybe that Dallas Minnesota wipe out
Speaker 1: from earlier in the juice because it was so clear
Speaker 1: over and about fifteen sixteen minutes, and it exposed the
Speaker 1: Giants as a team that simply went earlier in the year.
Speaker 1: If they're in a manageable game situation, and Sa Kuon
Speaker 1: Barkley was looking like rookie year Sa Kwan Barkley and
Speaker 1: Daniel Jones makes enough throws and key spots, you're gonna
Speaker 1: win tight games. Will you bury them in a hole
Speaker 1: like what happened last week? They had no way out.
Speaker 1: There's no weapons really around at Jones at this point
Speaker 1: in Sae Kuon Barkley is not the guy he was before.
Speaker 1: The better running team in this is Washington. They've been
Speaker 1: more yards per attempt than any any team in the
Speaker 1: league and a bigger time of possession than any team
Speaker 1: in the league since Heineke has been in there. And
Speaker 1: so it's not really they're not putting it all on
Speaker 1: heine which I like because he gonna kill you a
Speaker 1: couple of times a game, but will also make a
Speaker 1: couple of dazzling throws. He's just sort of that dude
Speaker 1: that's gonna be a roller coaster. But it's not all
Speaker 1: on him. They're a really good running team right now,
Speaker 1: and I think the Giants defense is tricky to go
Speaker 1: up against in certain ways. They probably want to apply
Speaker 1: a lot of pressure, but right this version of the
Speaker 1: Giants is just such a lesser operation. And I was
Speaker 1: really excited about the Giants. That excitement has faded. They
Speaker 1: Taylor heinekey, Yes you said it. He's up and down.
Speaker 1: He's a middling type quarterback, but he saved their season
Speaker 1: with that fourth down conversion at that Life Stadium two
Speaker 1: weeks ago. And don't don't fag he While the Giants
Speaker 1: got their butts beat in uh by the Eagles last
Speaker 1: week and went through again the toll of a long
Speaker 1: season in a December game and see Quan being way
Speaker 1: less than and now they gotta, you know, plan for
Speaker 1: this game. Washington had its by so they had a
Speaker 1: chance now not only study the game tape of the
Speaker 1: Giants game, they hit. Thereby they get healthier, then come
Speaker 1: back and get a Giants team that's obviously doubting themselves.
Speaker 1: They haven't won a game in a month the Giants now,
Speaker 1: so it's you know, I think it does set up
Speaker 1: really well for the Commanders, who are six one and
Speaker 1: one since week six. I don't think they're an elite team,
Speaker 1: but I think they are certainly at this point a
Speaker 1: better team than the Giants. And this one is when
Speaker 1: I feel pretty strong about and go watch what happened
Speaker 1: to Andrew Thomas and Evan Neal against the Eagles pass
Speaker 1: rushers last week. That's what I don't like about this
Speaker 1: game either. Thomas has had a great year. He gave
Speaker 1: up one sack in that game. He he was okay,
Speaker 1: But the rest of the group, you're right, is troubling
Speaker 1: and the interior of this Washington line is awesome. What
Speaker 1: one positive for the Giants is since these oglari return,
Speaker 1: he's been their best defensive player and Thibodeaux is playing better.
Speaker 1: So I do think you have two good at edge
Speaker 1: rushers to maybe force one of those Hyak mistakes. But yeah,
Speaker 1: if this, if this thing is just lined up and
Speaker 1: play even Washington's way better. Yeah, and Barkley. If there
Speaker 1: was one thing that came out of getting blown out
Speaker 1: by the Eagles, they got to get Barkley out of
Speaker 1: that game. Um, but he's gonna, he's practicing, he's got
Speaker 1: an issue. But the thing is they're caught in a
Speaker 1: really bad spot. Anytime your star player is dealing with
Speaker 1: anything neck related and he's a you know, a battering
Speaker 1: ram running back who's you know, everyone's trying to destroy
Speaker 1: and they need him to touch the ball thirty times
Speaker 1: to win this game. None of this feels like it's
Speaker 1: passing the smell test. And oh, by the way, Washington
Speaker 1: has the second lowest e p A per rush in
Speaker 1: the league. So yeah, somebody's very confident in how this
Speaker 1: matchup will unfold. All right, thank you, Grave Digger Heroes.
Speaker 1: I'm back again. Another win last week keeping pace with
Speaker 1: Greggy three back. Time to play uh football matchup between
Speaker 1: the Commandos and the Giants. You guys know, I've never
Speaker 1: believed in this Giants team. They're not very good. They
Speaker 1: got really lucky in the first half of the season.
Speaker 1: Their lucks around out, So it's time for the Commanders,
Speaker 1: do you know, go ahead and started to take commands
Speaker 1: of this wild card race. Lock it up? Yeah, very good,
Speaker 1: well done. I guess I don't I understand what Nick
Speaker 1: saying that he kept pace in the sense that he
Speaker 1: didn't he kept paced. Yeah, last week before that he
Speaker 1: fell behind paid. He's also keeping to your time code demands.
Speaker 1: Stand with these, with these clips and suggestion, they are
Speaker 1: less cinematic in scope now. But I would say I
Speaker 1: don't want to rein in Nick in that way. I
Speaker 1: don't think if he needs to go walking through fields
Speaker 1: again to deliver the content he feels is elite. Please
Speaker 1: do something. Don't squelch his creativity, and don't put that
Speaker 1: on me. I don't don't put that evil on me.
Speaker 1: Mark what I want? Nicky? He said, can we keep
Speaker 1: it under a minute here? Sometimes talk about us to
Speaker 1: make sure we understand. Yeah, well we're not understanding more
Speaker 1: rage the message. There was a boat, you know, floating
Speaker 1: a little bit and I had to had to bring
Speaker 1: it in a little bit. But I don't want it
Speaker 1: to curtail. You can be funny our podcast saying this,
Speaker 1: You could be creative without it going too low. You
Speaker 1: can also do shows to go about a hundred and
Speaker 1: forty five minutes if you need to. So it's it's
Speaker 1: your game. Let's do it Monday Night Football. We don't
Speaker 1: spend too much time in this game though, the Rams
Speaker 1: four and nine at Packers from lambeau Field. If there
Speaker 1: is intrigue, well you know, I know ESPN and everyone
Speaker 1: connected with Monday Night Football is going to sell as
Speaker 1: hard as you know. Baker's first game since that Thursday
Speaker 1: night miracle. So you do have that that gives the
Speaker 1: Rams at least the little juice at this state stage.
Speaker 1: And then for the Packers, I don't know, if you
Speaker 1: like watching Aaron Rodgers play football, which despite everything else,
Speaker 1: I really do enjoy watching Rogers, you get that in
Speaker 1: prime time maybe some elements there, and depending what else
Speaker 1: happens this weekend, Let's say, you know, the Seahawks fall,
Speaker 1: that those NFC East teams are falling hard. With the Giants,
Speaker 1: they they've run the numbers, well, they've certainly got to
Speaker 1: have it. I don't think the Packers can do this
Speaker 1: or will do this, but if they won their last
Speaker 1: four games to get to nine and eight, there's a
Speaker 1: realistic chance that that gets you in the playoffs at
Speaker 1: anner not I'm just trying to sell the game, and
Speaker 1: I think they'll win this game. There'll be an eight
Speaker 1: point They're an eight point favorite. And quietly, I think
Speaker 1: their offensive line, which was an issue early in the season,
Speaker 1: since they put Elton Jenkins back at guard, even without
Speaker 1: Bok try potentially on Monday Night, they've kind of figured
Speaker 1: it out. And when you protect Rogers and you can
Speaker 1: run the ball a little bit, you would think that's
Speaker 1: gonna be enough against Baker. But I mean, they're definitely
Speaker 1: not running the table. I'm not going down that road
Speaker 1: with you, but I would say that there is an
Speaker 1: air of optimism now because of what Christian Watson has become.
Speaker 1: It's it's it's like I think there was, you know,
Speaker 1: we were days away from maybe we just need to
Speaker 1: put ord In Love in there and put Aaron Rodgers
Speaker 1: on the shelf because it's more valuable to see what
Speaker 1: you have and will Aaron Rodgers be back. I at
Speaker 1: this point, I'd rather say, like, keep Aaron Rodgers in
Speaker 1: there and allow him to build chemistry with Christian Watson
Speaker 1: going in the next season, because I agree, you keep
Speaker 1: the guy in there that you're paying three years in
Speaker 1: a hundred and fifty million dollars, like that was always
Speaker 1: a little bit like there's a lot of melodrama, not
Speaker 1: just with Rogers himself, but the way people talk about
Speaker 1: Rogers week seventeen. But if they win this game, they'll
Speaker 1: be mathematically alive heading into Miami next week, so that
Speaker 1: you're obviously when that chatter was coming up about Love,
Speaker 1: things were very grim, and it was like, do you
Speaker 1: want Aaron Rodgers to like tear his knee up or
Speaker 1: something and go into the off season with that It
Speaker 1: was just shelved him and get a look at Love.
Speaker 1: I mean it was grim when they were down sixteen
Speaker 1: three to the worst defense in the league in Chicago
Speaker 1: to they got out of it. Oh yeah, I know,
Speaker 1: but just mean like it looked it wasn't a great
Speaker 1: point in their season. Would you be would you be
Speaker 1: stunned if he finishes the season on the heater Rogers?
Speaker 1: Now I wouldn't. I wouldn't be stunned, But I don't
Speaker 1: see that with this team. I'd be more I would
Speaker 1: be much more surprised if Baker Mayfield does like I
Speaker 1: still think you can limit him in terms of his
Speaker 1: short game. He throws it well down the field, middle
Speaker 1: of the field. Can he get like the easy passes
Speaker 1: that keep an offense moving. I think, um, the biggest like,
Speaker 1: now that we have a little distance from that Thursday
Speaker 1: and I come back, the biggest thing that I take
Speaker 1: away from that was such a hugely important game for him.
Speaker 1: Obviously we were talking two days earlier, what kind of
Speaker 1: value would he even have for teams looking for a backup.
Speaker 1: I think obviously that showed teams, oh, you want to
Speaker 1: have that guy in the building if you want to
Speaker 1: jump start. And maybe it also you know, showed him
Speaker 1: like I, Okay, this is this can still be fun,
Speaker 1: and maybe I can go sign with a team that
Speaker 1: has a so so quarterback and eventually work my way
Speaker 1: back into the lineup and take like a Taylor Heineken
Speaker 1: type route to a starting role. So I've got a
Speaker 1: team with a older quarterback with the neck back injury
Speaker 1: that seems like he'll be an injury uh risk and
Speaker 1: uh a great coach. Well it seems perfect right. Well yeah,
Speaker 1: I like that's why they brought him in, not just
Speaker 1: for it to save this last season, but he just
Speaker 1: number two because things. Everyone has short memories. He can't
Speaker 1: now like Crater Monday night and then have a bad
Speaker 1: rest of the season because then this as exciting as
Speaker 1: that game was, it probably it will dissipate some of
Speaker 1: this buzz around him. Finish. He has to finish in
Speaker 1: a decent manner, but it does give give us the
Speaker 1: game some juice. And Brian gudakanst our friend, our German friend,
Speaker 1: the general manager um from Germany. He was he was
Speaker 1: asked about Aaron Rodgers, who's turning. I'll wait, Mr grave Digger.
Speaker 1: I like the early good stuff. It was raw, it
Speaker 1: was less produced, but you could you could hear the
Speaker 1: hunger in his voice. Another person that gets a theme
Speaker 1: song around here? Are you just outwardly begging for the song? No?
Speaker 1: You You asked if I wanted one on the last show,
Speaker 1: and of course I'd say you don't know if I
Speaker 1: asked in a serious way. But now that you've brought
Speaker 1: her up, yeah, it's happening. Nothing. That was sort of
Speaker 1: Mark's way of asking, like the Reddit board to do
Speaker 1: it for managers getting one wants a song, everybody please
Speaker 1: give it, give him a song. I am not in
Speaker 1: any of the submissions. We will will go through the
Speaker 1: tone in your voice, through the submissions, personalities around yourself
Speaker 1: and have forty two nicknames, and I simply want a
Speaker 1: theme song n podcast at gmail dot com and the
Speaker 1: subject Mark wants a theme song? What's in that Gmail account?
Speaker 1: I wonder. I don't know. I haven't checked it in
Speaker 1: a lot. I can only imagine what's going on. And
Speaker 1: I'm just saying, you could have just come to us
Speaker 1: privately and said I really want a theme song, and
Speaker 1: we absolutely rolled this out. You absolutely would have not
Speaker 1: lifted a finger if I came to the two of
Speaker 1: you privately asking for a theme song. Now it will happen,
Speaker 1: and it will happen against your will, all right, which
Speaker 1: you will be forced to enjoy and deal with, which
Speaker 1: is how I like. I would have liked to be
Speaker 1: a part of the meeting where market comes to us
Speaker 1: privately and asked for that there. I wanted to be there.
Speaker 1: I think that would have been healthy. But I like
Speaker 1: that you're doing it in real time and putting a
Speaker 1: gun to the podcast head. Well you forced my hint,
Speaker 1: all right, let's get Switzerland over here watching YouTube. You
Speaker 1: know when you say that no one finds it likable
Speaker 1: on either side? You know what, people don't really like Switzerland.
Speaker 1: That's what Jessica is from Switzerland. People like Switzerland. People
Speaker 1: are happy there Switzerland. And if you slashed it, if
Speaker 1: you're thinking, my goal in this podcast is to come
Speaker 1: out outwardly likable, like where have you been? Fair point?
Speaker 1: Who is from Switzerland? Yes, yes, that's right, that country
Speaker 1: redeemed itself. Roger Federer one of the nicest guys around.
Speaker 1: You know, Roger, I mean everyone loves him Monday Night
Speaker 1: and all my friends are jerks. Hide is from Switzerland.
Speaker 1: Are we getting to the draft? Now? Let's do it
Speaker 1: all right, Let's get to the draft, and let's welcome
Speaker 1: in a friend man that's not afraid to take a
Speaker 1: side because he has moral fiber. He'd never say I'm Switzerland.
Speaker 1: He would say this is how I feel. I'm gonna
Speaker 1: say it with my chest. He's Kevin Patrack coming at you. Well, well,
Speaker 1: well it's about dang time. It's been our resident Lions
Speaker 1: fan from way back in the day. Yes, hirate my
Speaker 1: team for your own purposes. I understand that little And
Speaker 1: I don't even get a lousy letter or call letter.
Speaker 1: I ripped all your posters off the wall. You just
Speaker 1: whoop in have all the fun. We've been dying for
Speaker 1: years and years years and years, and then you three
Speaker 1: come in for the fun times. You're just speculators here. See,
Speaker 1: we got our little neighborhood. It was in dire straits,
Speaker 1: cleaning up the block, getting rid of the burned out buildings.
Speaker 1: Oh and then the speculators come in when it's all
Speaker 1: cleaned up, just raising the prices. So you're saying we're
Speaker 1: gentrifying the Lions fan base here exactly without saying a
Speaker 1: little fun. And the worst part, you didn't even reach out.
Speaker 1: Come on, I'm right here. Wait, hold on, Patra, hold on, Well,
Speaker 1: the whole what got email, not a slack nothing. The
Speaker 1: whole thing is when we interact with you, we want
Speaker 1: a feisty Patra. So our strategy was was absolutely perfect.
Speaker 1: You've come on, you bring a lot of fire. That's
Speaker 1: what we asked for. And so you actually should be
Speaker 1: pleased with our strategy. Perhaps we stuck by the Lions,
Speaker 1: most of us did. When they were one in six,
Speaker 1: the buildings were still pretty burned out back then. If
Speaker 1: we're gonna get blamed for them going on a losing
Speaker 1: streak when we picked them, then we deserve credit. We're
Speaker 1: bringing a lot of money into this Lion's economy, somebody
Speaker 1: to go back and look at all the team of
Speaker 1: eight scills that you guys have done, because they've been
Speaker 1: trash after the first one. Okay, Cardinals and Panthers are
Speaker 1: both good, and then after that it's been tough. Yeah,
Speaker 1: you've got a point. I'm just saying. So you could
Speaker 1: have called me and let me hey, we're gonna thinking
Speaker 1: about doing this. Hey, what do you what are your
Speaker 1: thoughts here? Uh? The move would have been to clear
Speaker 1: it with you. You're saying no, I don't even need
Speaker 1: a clear I just said you could say, hey, we're
Speaker 1: gonna do this. Hey, would you like to come on
Speaker 1: and let us know what the positives and the negatives
Speaker 1: of this, uh, this ride we're going to take. Well,
Speaker 1: you're here right now. Let's hear it. How's it feeling
Speaker 1: to be Alliance fan? It doesn't feel like it's come on? Alright, alright,
Speaker 1: let's let's let's take the temperature down in the room
Speaker 1: to the party. Let's take the temperature down in the room. Here.
Speaker 1: We we did we did fail you, Kevin, and we
Speaker 1: never want to do that. But now we we are
Speaker 1: on your side, we are on the and we just
Speaker 1: want to know what it's what's it like right now
Speaker 1: to be allians fan uh um, cautiously optimistic. Okay, interesting
Speaker 1: like the direction. But we've been here before. Um you
Speaker 1: know if I don't, you guys probably weren't following the nineties,
Speaker 1: the Wayne Fons Lions. I can remember Wayne Funds see
Speaker 1: sawing optimism. He was going to get fired one year,
Speaker 1: and then they would make a mini run and almost
Speaker 1: make the playoffs, and then then he wouldn't get fired.
Speaker 1: And then you know you had Barry Sanders, Loomas Brown
Speaker 1: from and more optimism, Robert Porchet on the edge. There
Speaker 1: was pieces that you could convince yourself that they could
Speaker 1: be turned it around. You were a small child though
Speaker 1: back then that was a long time ago. Don't antagonize
Speaker 1: and we're just getting things calmed down. No, no no, I'm
Speaker 1: just saying like, this is new, this is new in
Speaker 1: your adulthood. Get there, let me get there. My point
Speaker 1: is we've had these Okay, we can see a bright future.
Speaker 1: We got aman Rah, we got Aiden's plan better. There's
Speaker 1: pieces that you can see, but will they take the
Speaker 1: next step. The easiest part of the NFL is going
Speaker 1: from the seller to the basement. Now, can you take
Speaker 1: this next step to the first floor and eventually get
Speaker 1: to the penthouse. Those are much harder steps to take, understandable.
Speaker 1: I hear that as a Jet fan, I hear that
Speaker 1: you need to see that that next step to really
Speaker 1: feel like you've made it. And we're gonna get We're
Speaker 1: gonna get to the Jets and lines and in a minute,
Speaker 1: because the draft is opening, and um, Kevin, would you mind,
Speaker 1: and again, apologies for everything and basically every yeah, um,
Speaker 1: but we'd love for you to sit in on the
Speaker 1: first round of the draft with us, could you would?
Speaker 1: Let's do it, alright, First pick goes to Mark cler
Speaker 1: all right, well, uh, it's a good week of football.
Speaker 1: I'm gonna go with the game that I most want
Speaker 1: to see. That's how this works. Uh, Titans at Chargers,
Speaker 1: which would be taking place, you know, from our work office.
Speaker 1: And uh, this Chargers team hadn't been last week, I
Speaker 1: wouldn't have taken this because the Tennessee Titans are a
Speaker 1: spiraling nose diving operation at the moment um, so they're
Speaker 1: in like a survival mode scenario. I like that about it.
Speaker 1: But the Chargers after Sunday night, I feel like it
Speaker 1: was a turning point for this team. And I know
Speaker 1: it's the Chargers, so it's like they'll probably I know,
Speaker 1: I know, but I just would say this that I
Speaker 1: think that Brandon Staley really, for the first time in
Speaker 1: his two year coaching career, has is that a point
Speaker 1: where he can create genuine momentum around his overall program
Speaker 1: because last week was one of the first times where
Speaker 1: the Staley defense made an absolute mockery of the high
Speaker 1: powered Dolphins, and it looked like it just worked. It
Speaker 1: was the way he used Michael Davis, just the fact
Speaker 1: that that should have been the plan he used, he
Speaker 1: did it effectively. You got it. On the flip side,
Speaker 1: you have justin Herbert after months of you know, consternation,
Speaker 1: it seems like this offense was so pent up that
Speaker 1: he was injured, He wasn't himself. People are starting to
Speaker 1: talk about him, he's maybe not the guy we think
Speaker 1: he was. And then he went and did what he
Speaker 1: did on Sunday night. It completely revived my faith on
Speaker 1: both sides of the ball. What the Chargers could be.
Speaker 1: Will I be bitten for this likely? But I think
Speaker 1: they're obviously hitting the Titans at a really good time
Speaker 1: while their defense, you know is built to stop the pass,
Speaker 1: and the Titans are obviously a run first team, so
Speaker 1: that's a big time test for them to stand up.
Speaker 1: I know the Titans haven't run the ball well lately,
Speaker 1: but they got a little better for most of that
Speaker 1: Jacksonville game till it till it fell apart. I think
Speaker 1: what was a little lost in the Herbert game was like,
Speaker 1: how much of this is just Mike Williams, Like justin
Speaker 1: Herbert has been great all along? How many of those
Speaker 1: great throws that Herbert made would only have been caught
Speaker 1: by Mike Williams. And I don't just mean on this
Speaker 1: charges roster, of course, on this roster he expands the
Speaker 1: types of throws Herbert can even make. The best throws
Speaker 1: were to Mike Wins. I mean in the entire NFL.
Speaker 1: He's one of the best boundary ball is up in
Speaker 1: the air, you go gotta get it deep down the
Speaker 1: field or for a first down if you're out running.
Speaker 1: He's one of the best in the league at it.
Speaker 1: And we haven't gotten to see him that much, but
Speaker 1: he's peaking right now and he makes all the difference
Speaker 1: for me. And I don't think the Titans have a
Speaker 1: cornerback physical enough Kevin patrack to to stand up to
Speaker 1: Mike Williams. They don't have the secondary. Clearly, The question
Speaker 1: is will the Chargers defense off offensive line, I'm sorry,
Speaker 1: uh stand up to the charter Titans pass rush. That's
Speaker 1: where the that's the key to this game for me
Speaker 1: is the Titans d line first, the Chargers. Oh, the
Speaker 1: Chargers on line played pretty well the other day, and
Speaker 1: Justin Herbert can make throws while getting hit. But if
Speaker 1: Simmons is in there crushing the middle, then that's the
Speaker 1: That's where the Titans are gonna make their hey by
Speaker 1: not giving him him to find those deep pastors because
Speaker 1: Tennessee secondaries one of the worst in the NFL, helps
Speaker 1: stout Corey and and Dinko Attre on the other side,
Speaker 1: looks like he'll probably be back. Trail On Burke's is
Speaker 1: not practicing as of Wednesday. I'm not sure what the
Speaker 1: Thursday report was. Um, they also had Robert Woods not
Speaker 1: practicing Wednesday, and none of this sets up well for
Speaker 1: the Tennessee passing game. Jumping up here, so you're gonna
Speaker 1: again put a lot on Derrick Henry's plate. What else
Speaker 1: is new? I wanted to say one more point about
Speaker 1: herbert Sunday Night game, which was just brilliant and shut
Speaker 1: up a lot of people, uh that we're saying certain
Speaker 1: things about the two quarterbacks involved in that game. My
Speaker 1: favorite throw was actually the one who made to Keenan Allen.
Speaker 1: That still doesn't make sense. That was so good a
Speaker 1: sideline throw probably about ten twelve yards that you watch
Speaker 1: it on replay. You watch it in real time, and
Speaker 1: it looked like he threw it through the defender. And
Speaker 1: then you should show the replay and it only looks
Speaker 1: slightly um less possible as it gets into Alan's hands,
Speaker 1: to the point where Alan turn around, it's like pointing
Speaker 1: out him like, oh my god, you just did that.
Speaker 1: And then Herbert's pointing back in me, Yeah I did
Speaker 1: do that. You did it too, buddy, And like the
Speaker 1: vibes are good. I think it does set up well
Speaker 1: for the Chargers. But also bringing Grave bigger here justin
Speaker 1: the um this is you know, we talked about Crossroads
Speaker 1: game they went down the wrong road, uh, and talked
Speaker 1: about this on the Power Rankings with Colleen. The Chargers
Speaker 1: are a team that you could totally see coming off
Speaker 1: They went down their own road, A good road. Oh,
Speaker 1: let me go help out the Titans. And then the
Speaker 1: Titans trip them and push them in the dirt, and
Speaker 1: they use this game to get on the right cross road,
Speaker 1: and then the Chargers are left on the other side.
Speaker 1: The Titans need, need, need to have it, get it.
Speaker 1: Um My confidence level and the Titans is pretty low,
Speaker 1: especially if Traylon Burke's doesn't play. But I do think
Speaker 1: the Chargers run defense is not that good and they're
Speaker 1: susceptible to what the Titans do well. But for the
Speaker 1: Titans to get a win in this game, the Chargers
Speaker 1: are gonna need to charger like they're gonna need to
Speaker 1: get some luck. The Titans guys haven't been like making
Speaker 1: better plays than the opponents in recent weeks. He saw
Speaker 1: such great catches. But like Za Jones and Evan Ingraman
Speaker 1: that Jacksonville game last week, I've seen the Chargers do
Speaker 1: things like that. Mike Williams and Keenan Allen Justin Herbert
Speaker 1: make incredible plays for the Titans to win. The other
Speaker 1: teams got to shoot themselves in the foot a couple
Speaker 1: of times, and I don't I mean the Chargers have
Speaker 1: notoriously done that to themselves a lot, So I guess
Speaker 1: both teams will have like a lose off. Whoever doesn't
Speaker 1: beat themselves the most can win this game. I mean,
Speaker 1: only one team in the league is giving up more
Speaker 1: passing yards per game than Tennessee. I like that with
Speaker 1: Keenan Allen, Mike Williams, justin Herbert Triage. I feel like
Speaker 1: it's a guy to have a game for the Chargers absolutely,
Speaker 1: I mean they could they Here's the thing is, they
Speaker 1: look at the schedules. I mean, they could think that
Speaker 1: they can afford a loss because their next three they'll
Speaker 1: be even more heavily favored. But I think if they
Speaker 1: can get past this game, they're going to make the playoffs.
Speaker 1: They have the second easiest remaining strength of schedule. This
Speaker 1: is the toughest game they have left. If you can
Speaker 1: win this, you can. That's what I mean that it's
Speaker 1: such a momentum builder for them. And I think that
Speaker 1: it's Brandon Stale is like, who who you know? You've
Speaker 1: got that Sean Payton sent things sitting out there. It's like,
Speaker 1: shut all that up. And I know Graver and all
Speaker 1: the other Titans fans have looked at the remaining schedule
Speaker 1: if you lose this game, things start to get very scary.
Speaker 1: When you look at the path to the playoffs in
Speaker 1: the a f C South, You're gonna need another team
Speaker 1: in the mix that we're gonna get to to continue
Speaker 1: to play well. But it opens the door for something
Speaker 1: catastrophic for Tennessee if they lose this game. Let's move
Speaker 1: to the second pick of the draft. And here he
Speaker 1: is Kevin Patra, the lifelong Lions fan, and here I
Speaker 1: am tug Boat, the longtime Jets fan. So Lions Jets,
Speaker 1: and I do feel Patrick that this is a double
Speaker 1: gout to have a game for both teams. Um, the
Speaker 1: team that wins is gonna be feeling very confident about
Speaker 1: their chances of making the dance in January, and the
Speaker 1: and the team that loses understands they have a big
Speaker 1: uphill climb to find a way in Absolutely the winner,
Speaker 1: you know, the winner might go to the playoffs. Jets,
Speaker 1: I think have a great shot if they win. Lions,
Speaker 1: you know, still you have some work to do, but
Speaker 1: they could win out if they win this game. This
Speaker 1: is the from the Lions perspective, this is the toughest
Speaker 1: game they've had since since Dallas and they got whopped.
Speaker 1: There um going on disrespect for the Vikings, but I agree,
Speaker 1: I mean Vegas would agree with me, so I'm fine there.
Speaker 1: I think that this is the toughest match up because
Speaker 1: the Giants Jets defense is so damn good. Even if
Speaker 1: Quinnin doesn't play. Now, if he does, that's huge advantage
Speaker 1: for I don't think he's playing with that calf injury.
Speaker 1: That's those things can be tricky. That would be so
Speaker 1: if he doesn't. If he doesn't play, I think that's big.
Speaker 1: But I still think that they got enough horses up
Speaker 1: front to do some damage. I mean, you saw, but
Speaker 1: Buffalo was able to do. I mean we saw Dallas
Speaker 1: was able to do before that, and New England obviously
Speaker 1: got after golf and the shutout. So playing on the
Speaker 1: road for the Lions is gonna be turnovers and the
Speaker 1: Jets can force some turnovers. Saw us on Amanra is
Speaker 1: gonna be awesome to watch. I think I hope they
Speaker 1: travel him. We'll see. But I think for the Lions
Speaker 1: have to win this game if you have any hope,
Speaker 1: and it's a prove it's approve of game mentally beyond
Speaker 1: the playoffs. I think this is the type of game.
Speaker 1: All the press clippings are coming out. Dan Campbell's Gray
Speaker 1: love the Lions. Look at what they're doing. What a
Speaker 1: cute little team. Win the game, win a big game
Speaker 1: that you need to keep your playoff hopes alive. If
Speaker 1: you come out and put a stinker up and golf
Speaker 1: throws three interceptions, just burn all the press clippings. Burn
Speaker 1: them all. Get ready for I mean, Patra is a
Speaker 1: I think we all get it. We've rooted for teams
Speaker 1: that have long suffered. But I wouldn't say that the
Speaker 1: Lion's successes turned Patra into a sort of flowery, overly
Speaker 1: happy individual necessarily. I love the idea of Johnson, Well, yeah,
Speaker 1: I love the idea of Ben Johnson going against Robert
Speaker 1: Sala's defense. I think that Ben Johnson is someone that
Speaker 1: no one knew about last summer and now it's like
Speaker 1: he's become one of the better coordinators in the league.
Speaker 1: And I think he ran circles around the Vikings last week,
Speaker 1: and that you were playing a terrible defense. I think
Speaker 1: part of what was going on there was like that
Speaker 1: offense matched up so well that Jamison Williams touch Almo
Speaker 1: wass insane. I think Kevin on it, They're like, I
Speaker 1: don't think the Lions offense as good as it's been
Speaker 1: this year. I don't think this is a great matchup
Speaker 1: um against the Jets in this spot, and I would
Speaker 1: feel way more confident if Quinnin Williams was playing. But
Speaker 1: I still think, yes, they can get pressure on Golf.
Speaker 1: And I think if if Sauce does what he does
Speaker 1: all season, which is just you know, neutralize the players
Speaker 1: that he's covering, so that's either gonna take st Brown
Speaker 1: out or DJ Shark DJ Reid, who has been another
Speaker 1: big surprise and a great player for the Jets this year.
Speaker 1: I think it's gonna put Golf in a situation where
Speaker 1: he's got to look elsewhere and then all of a sudden,
Speaker 1: the internal clocks going off and the pass rush is
Speaker 1: getting home. I like the Jets keeping the Lions in
Speaker 1: a you know, around twenty point zone. Now, then you
Speaker 1: gotta look at the Jets and can the Jets score
Speaker 1: enough points. We know Detroit's defense is getting better, but
Speaker 1: it's still not anything close to an elite defense. We're
Speaker 1: probably gonna have Mike White in this game, even though
Speaker 1: it looks like he has a rib injury. They're gonna
Speaker 1: have him play through it. They only have two touchdowns
Speaker 1: the Jets in the last two weeks on offense. So
Speaker 1: can the Jets score twenty plus points? Right? It's week
Speaker 1: US on weakness when the Jets have the ball in
Speaker 1: terms of their offensive line versus the Lions pass rush.
Speaker 1: But the Lions pass rush is trending up. The Jets
Speaker 1: offensive line, which I think was holding the fort well
Speaker 1: enough for most of the season, has really collapsed the
Speaker 1: last few weeks. It's been tough matchups. I am looking
Speaker 1: forward to see what Ben Johnson kind of pin points
Speaker 1: on this Jets defense, because the Jets defense is very
Speaker 1: solid throughout. To me, it's their linebackers and their safety
Speaker 1: play maybe over the middle of the field, and that's
Speaker 1: aman Ra st Brown and you gotta protect golf. They
Speaker 1: haven't looked quite the same when they've been on the road. Uh,
Speaker 1: it's it's gonna be a bad weather game. Like are
Speaker 1: they a Dome team, Kevin Patrack, Are they Detroit Dome team?
Speaker 1: I love it? No, No, I just haven't think Golf
Speaker 1: hasn't hasn't had a big game in a in a
Speaker 1: crappy situation where he wasn't playing a bad defense or
Speaker 1: in bad weather. Okay, I'm he's you know, he's always been.
Speaker 1: He is what he he's always been, top twelve fifteen quarterback.
Speaker 1: That's fine, that's what he's gonna be. And when he's
Speaker 1: buffered by playmaking and an offensive coordinator who's willing to
Speaker 1: get creative and a good, good offensive line in a
Speaker 1: run game, he can move the ball. But when that
Speaker 1: stuff breaks down, and we we saw him get whooped
Speaker 1: by the Patriots on the road earlier this year, what
Speaker 1: show me? I think one thing I'd like to say, though,
Speaker 1: I think this is Aidan Hutchinson's chance to put a
Speaker 1: I am the defensive rookie of the year. We do
Speaker 1: at this point, I'm not feeling that I saw us. Yeah,
Speaker 1: I'm not feeling that. I'm telling he feels like he's
Speaker 1: in the mix, and personally, I've seen that out there.
Speaker 1: I don't think you've got a reason to be like him. Though,
Speaker 1: If he has three sacks against so so offensive and
Speaker 1: he changes the game and gets a forced fumble, I
Speaker 1: think this is the game. If he wants to win it,
Speaker 1: that he's got to go do it. And maybe Sauce
Speaker 1: gets picked on a little bit by Aman Rock. He's
Speaker 1: played one of the last month, the first month two months,
Speaker 1: even though he had some stats were not great. And um,
Speaker 1: we've been talking up golf on this show the last
Speaker 1: week or so now, but you're right about this. It's
Speaker 1: the seat you have to close strongly. Have three road games,
Speaker 1: including back to back games at New York obviously in
Speaker 1: this game at Carolina, so you know we're gonna learn
Speaker 1: about golf if he could travel there against better defenses.
Speaker 1: And UM, my last point on this one, and I
Speaker 1: think that's a very close game, Patra. I think this
Speaker 1: goes down to the final possessions. Um, Robert sal has
Speaker 1: done an incredible job with this team this year for
Speaker 1: the Jets. And Uh, after Sunday's game, when when you
Speaker 1: know you saw maybe doubt could be creeping into the room,
Speaker 1: he again like pushed a button that I that I'd
Speaker 1: like to see. This is what he said about after
Speaker 1: the loss to the Bills. Uh, and the Jets of
Speaker 1: you know, lost four or six. Now let's listening. I
Speaker 1: think I speak for everyone and that we missed an
Speaker 1: Now we're gonna see these guys again. So I just
Speaker 1: think we are I just like it. They believe in
Speaker 1: solid they believe in the messages he sends. And I
Speaker 1: think he's gonna have the Jets ready and pumped at
Speaker 1: the meadow ends on Sundays like two Coach of the
Speaker 1: Year candidates going head to head like that. That's all
Speaker 1: narrative driven, so it works. Yes, Justin, I've struggled in
Speaker 1: the lock competition. I've missed five straight. No you haven't,
Speaker 1: so that's impossible. This a coin would do better than that, right, Okay,
Speaker 1: I've outsourced my pick this week because I just can't
Speaker 1: put it in my own hands. The lovely Sean Kelly
Speaker 1: Lovely has made my pick this week. Dan. I hate
Speaker 1: to do this to you, but I'm riding with the
Speaker 1: team of a t L. They gotta have it. I'm
Speaker 1: locking up the Lions. It's fine. So the guy that's
Speaker 1: missed five straight games picked the team playing the Jets.
Speaker 1: I'm supposed to be upset about the word. Don't put
Speaker 1: this stink on us, justin? Come on, um, all right,
Speaker 1: last pick of the first round goes to Greg Rosenthal.
Speaker 1: All right, I'm gonna take the best afternoon game remaining.
Speaker 1: It's the Tony Romo game. It's Bengals. It's Bucks the
Speaker 1: Bucks not very fun to watch, but this is a
Speaker 1: big game and I am loving why watcheen the Bengals
Speaker 1: week after week. We think that Tee Higgins and Tyler
Speaker 1: Boyd could both be back for this game, which would
Speaker 1: be massive. Uh, because you look at the Bucks defense
Speaker 1: right now, probably without Vita Vea, probably without Jamal Dean,
Speaker 1: who has been their best cornerback. Now they do get
Speaker 1: two or three starters back in the secondary, but that
Speaker 1: just sort of speaks to what this Bucks defensive season
Speaker 1: has been. It's like starters going in and out all
Speaker 1: year and they've been good, not great. And I feel
Speaker 1: like you have to be great on defense to slow
Speaker 1: down the way Joe Burrow is playing right now unless
Speaker 1: something crazy happens like the Browns game where you lose
Speaker 1: your two starters in the first series. So I feel
Speaker 1: great about them putting about thirty points just make it
Speaker 1: more miserable for the Bucks. And that's why I'm locking
Speaker 1: up the Bengals like you could. You could score seventeen
Speaker 1: points and beat one of the worst offenses we've seen
Speaker 1: all year in the Bucks. I mean, I think last
Speaker 1: week was a watershed moment in terms of high embarrassment
Speaker 1: for a Bucks coaching staff that I think has been
Speaker 1: a massive disappointment on both sides of the ball and
Speaker 1: not a lot of accountability there. And it's They're a
Speaker 1: tough team to watch. And I love the idea that
Speaker 1: the Bengals, week after week, no matter who it's I
Speaker 1: it's the Titans, will go be as physical you as
Speaker 1: you and beat you up. If it's the Chiefs, will
Speaker 1: find a way to win and score enough points to
Speaker 1: do that and do it in a different way last
Speaker 1: week against what they They're just to me are the
Speaker 1: team in the a f C that is on the
Speaker 1: rise like they were a year ago. Joe Burrow has
Speaker 1: been insane over the last month and a half. And
Speaker 1: what's not to like about the way they match up
Speaker 1: week after week with anyone? What's the problem in beating
Speaker 1: Tampa Bay? I see none. I do see a problem. Um.
Speaker 1: I know you can't just say Tom Brady anymore because
Speaker 1: there's too much mounting evans of this team is just
Speaker 1: not very good. But they are on the road. Te
Speaker 1: Higgins has a hamstring and that was handled very strangely
Speaker 1: by Cincinnati yesterday. I think last week, I think he
Speaker 1: played one snap. Ty Boyd busted up his finger on
Speaker 1: the first possession of the game. They're at practice. I
Speaker 1: mean they're not out. Yeah, we you You just hope
Speaker 1: those guys are themselves and they they're able to play. Um,
Speaker 1: Trey Hendrickson is likely out there. Yeah, what about blanking
Speaker 1: on the tight end? Uh, Hay didn't hurt. He's out
Speaker 1: as well, so that you know they're there. Joe Mixon
Speaker 1: obviously we've had the concussion issues. There are reasons to
Speaker 1: think that maybe this team could be limited because of
Speaker 1: health issues. But yeah, I think it comes down to
Speaker 1: Patrick for me. Um, do you think at some point
Speaker 1: that the Bucks turn it on and and score points
Speaker 1: in this Brady Evans thing ever gets worked out? At
Speaker 1: this point, you're just hoping against hope because everything is
Speaker 1: telling us it's just not gonna happen. I'm hoping we
Speaker 1: can get rid of the Bucks. I'm so tired of
Speaker 1: the Bucks. Thank you Primetime games, having to watch him
Speaker 1: every week. Blah blah blah. It's it's just inefficiency on offense.
Speaker 1: Nobody's on the same page. They can't block worth of dayg.
Speaker 1: Brady is terrified to take a hit. The defense misses
Speaker 1: more tackles than anybody than in recent memory. It's just
Speaker 1: not a good operation. I don't know what Byron left
Speaker 1: which he if he calls one more screen I screen passed,
Speaker 1: I might burn something down. It's just like get together
Speaker 1: and have like zoom calls talking about their zoom, their
Speaker 1: screen pass. No burning in Detroit, though, Patro we're trying
Speaker 1: to refurbish this neighborhood a profit. No, I'm just saying,
Speaker 1: like the burned out buildings, that's no longer the case
Speaker 1: in Detroit. It's just not it's it's it's it's not
Speaker 1: fun to watch. It's just like any dire situation. Uh,
Speaker 1: let's throw a screen pass to Chris God. When I
Speaker 1: think that'll work, it doesn't. It's just there. I don't
Speaker 1: understand the Evans Brady thing. It's like they now decided
Speaker 1: to hate each other all year and this is just
Speaker 1: playing out like is there some drama we don't know about,
Speaker 1: because it's just ridiculous. Get down there. The defense might
Speaker 1: be even more disappointing because they are just awful and
Speaker 1: it's not. I don't think it's gonna be close. I
Speaker 1: can't believe Vegas has this has three and a half.
Speaker 1: I just can't believe like that we're still asking, will
Speaker 1: it they had some point turning around. This is just
Speaker 1: who this team is. I worry a tiny bit that
Speaker 1: they're short passing attack actually could work against this Bengals defense,
Speaker 1: which sometimes plays off the weaknesses. Is at cornerback there
Speaker 1: without Hendrickson, which we hadn't mentioned previously on this show,
Speaker 1: But that's their best defensive lineman. But DJ Reader is
Speaker 1: the new Vita Vea like he is the best big
Speaker 1: run stuffer pocket pusher out there in the business. So
Speaker 1: I'm not feeling good for tom Brady and this one.
Speaker 1: And uh, I do just want to send a shout
Speaker 1: out to my son who's nicknamed Mini tom Brady at school.
Speaker 1: He is flying right now, well not as we tape this,
Speaker 1: but as he's listening to Japan and I said i'd
Speaker 1: send him a secret message at some point in the podcast.
Speaker 1: He likes listening to the podcast. So sorry, the Bucks
Speaker 1: are gonna lose this game, walker, But Mini tom Brady,
Speaker 1: you're the man, and have a great trip, alright. What
Speaker 1: a dad Dad of the year. Another great dad is
Speaker 1: Kevin Patrick and Patrick I hope that this appearance on
Speaker 1: some level shows um as an act of contrition from
Speaker 1: the show that we we did not ask to move
Speaker 1: into the neighborhood before we did. We should have consulted
Speaker 1: the real estate council. We would never make a mistake
Speaker 1: like that. Again, better late than never, I guess. Wow.
Speaker 1: Man leaving on a good foot here, Patcher. I love you, buddy.
Speaker 1: All right, Kevin Patrick, coming at you. Thank you. We'll
Speaker 1: be right back after this. All right, welcome back. It's
Speaker 1: time for the Sunday Drive presented by Toyota and Greg.
Speaker 1: Pinch yourself because it's you're picked. I him pinching myself
Speaker 1: because I'm locking in Tony Romo early or late and
Speaker 1: Kevin Burkhart and Greg Olson late. That's that's living right
Speaker 1: in the holiday season. That's Cowboys Jaguars early fun game
Speaker 1: right now. I loved watching Trevor Lawrence this week. That
Speaker 1: was the best game of his career. Some of the
Speaker 1: throws he made during a stretch against the Titans were
Speaker 1: just unconscious and people be like, oh, well, it's the Titans.
Speaker 1: I don't care. Like the the improvisation and that he
Speaker 1: made on some of those plays, and then to stick
Speaker 1: the ball in tight windows and then does the guts
Speaker 1: to even try some of the throws, like the deep
Speaker 1: one that day Jones dropped that was the best throw
Speaker 1: of the game. Man, you're just starting to see it,
Speaker 1: and you're seeing him play with incredible confidence, and you're
Speaker 1: hearing him talk with incredible confidence to just that he
Speaker 1: really felt like the Denver game in London was a
Speaker 1: turning point and that he's he heard what everyone's been
Speaker 1: saying and he realized like that was the moment he
Speaker 1: wanted to stop letting his team down. And he's just
Speaker 1: playing freer because he realizes like it's not gonna get
Speaker 1: any worse than that. And you can just see it
Speaker 1: because the talent was there all along and now I
Speaker 1: think he's just letting it fly. And this Cowboys defense
Speaker 1: hasn't been as good I would say over the last month.
Speaker 1: They lost Anthony Brown is starting cornerback. That shouldn't crush them.
Speaker 1: But I don't think they're unstoppable. I think this will
Speaker 1: be a good offensive game. That comment he made about
Speaker 1: the London game against Denver, it was a turnover that
Speaker 1: that haunted him at the end, and that was so
Speaker 1: characteristic of what we had seen in the first couple
Speaker 1: of months and last year too, where it's like a
Speaker 1: chances to win the game, and he just talked about
Speaker 1: the fact that he want that. That flipped a switch,
Speaker 1: and I think that matters for a young quarterback. And
Speaker 1: he's surrounded by good coaching this year and it's been
Speaker 1: such a last year was such a train wreck for him.
Speaker 1: So this really is almost like players on the team
Speaker 1: have said, we kind of feel like this is his
Speaker 1: rookie year because last year was just washed away and
Speaker 1: the growth we've seen over the last month has to
Speaker 1: be the most optimistic thing that's happened to the Jaguars
Speaker 1: since we've ever done the show, but really ever for
Speaker 1: the Jacksonville because you've got a guy now making throws
Speaker 1: and doing things that were like a play away from
Speaker 1: going to the super Bowl, So that who was your quarterback?
Speaker 1: Then where's your quarterback? Just say this is organizationally, You've
Speaker 1: got a coach and a quarterback now. I I think
Speaker 1: this is a tricky one for Dallas. I mean, I
Speaker 1: don't really look at the Houston game as a problem
Speaker 1: for the Cowboys. What I agree with you, he's doing
Speaker 1: a little Tim Allen home approvement there to agree with
Speaker 1: you that was a little I didn't know. I don't
Speaker 1: know what that was. But there are times in the
Speaker 1: show where suddenly off in a different universe doing something
Speaker 1: completely disassociated from No, the Cowboys are here, They're not.
Speaker 1: They're not playing very well quietly recently, and even I
Speaker 1: think some of that. There was some cover up, some
Speaker 1: lipstick on the pig, if you will. That fourth quarter
Speaker 1: against the Colts. Uh that game they were going back
Speaker 1: and forth with the bad Indie team and prime time
Speaker 1: and then Houston, let's face it, they you know, Houston
Speaker 1: kind of said, hey, we're gonna let you take this.
Speaker 1: We're gonna I know, we have first and goal from
Speaker 1: the one second and goal from the one yard line
Speaker 1: with a three point lead with three minutes to play,
Speaker 1: but you know we're gonna do We're gonna just completely
Speaker 1: implode in our play calling. Give you the ball back
Speaker 1: and then stop playing the didn't touch the ground, Jeff
Speaker 1: Tristill going in the wrong direction. That you're right, save that.
Speaker 1: And now I don't think this is not Sometimes this
Speaker 1: is the way we look at it as people just
Speaker 1: fought football. Oh yeah, the Cowboys could go to Jacksonville
Speaker 1: and think, oh, we'll be the Jaguars, but they know
Speaker 1: they're watching the tape and they're saying, oh, man, this
Speaker 1: team can play and watch Jacksonville sneaky when Duval gets
Speaker 1: pumped up. That's a pretty good home field advantage they
Speaker 1: have there. So I think the Cowboys are in for
Speaker 1: a real fight here. I think this is a one
Speaker 1: score game. And everything we are seeing about, um, everything
Speaker 1: that we're seeing about Trevor Lawrence points to Yes, this
Speaker 1: is happening. It's happening. He's he's making this leap. He's
Speaker 1: even beating the You can't even write to making the
Speaker 1: leap article on Trevor Lawrence next summer because I think
Speaker 1: he's doing it now and justin like, this is one
Speaker 1: of the gotta have a team's Obviously, the Jaguars right
Speaker 1: now are sound the alarm it's got to have it alarm.
Speaker 1: They are, well, that's aggressive. They're five and eight, and
Speaker 1: he's like, oh, why do they gotta have it? Well again,
Speaker 1: like I'm saying, you look at the Titans. Of the
Speaker 1: Titans lose this week, the Jaguars win, it's a one
Speaker 1: game difference in the standings. They play each other in
Speaker 1: week eighteen, and oh, by the way, we saw what
Speaker 1: happened last week. Jacksonville has the tiebreaker, so if they
Speaker 1: win in Week eighteen, all they have to do is
Speaker 1: tie the Titans and they could steal this division. And
Speaker 1: all of a sudden, Trevor Lawrence is starting a playoff game.
Speaker 1: These are night and this is nightmare fueld that I'm
Speaker 1: not trying to pump into your heart justin, but I
Speaker 1: already know it's already in there. You're worried about it.
Speaker 1: So they all kind of hinges on the Jaguars kind
Speaker 1: of stealing quote unquote this game. And I think Doug Peterson,
Speaker 1: who's a Super Bowl winning coach, is saying that exact
Speaker 1: same message, like it's their boys, but we gotta go
Speaker 1: get If they do all that, it's because I think
Speaker 1: they're the better team than the Titans. Right. Another two
Speaker 1: organizations heading in very different directions of this game, and
Speaker 1: we should mention that the Cowboys lost Terren Steele. They're
Speaker 1: starting right tackle for this season. Since we last talked,
Speaker 1: he's had a really nice season, but they are getting
Speaker 1: Tyrone Smith back. It sounds like maybe this week at
Speaker 1: left tackle, and you're gonna have Jason Peters not at
Speaker 1: his normal position, right tackle. So just some big changes
Speaker 1: for them. You said, Jason Peters, he retired five years.
Speaker 1: He is back, he is unbelievably. Tyler smith S somethod
Speaker 1: we saw him his his hamstring was exploding in training camp.
Speaker 1: That's just saying keep an eye in there. And they
Speaker 1: lost Anthony Brown there starting corner of the previous week.
Speaker 1: Hold on also in the Coults Can you mentioned scored
Speaker 1: thirty three points in a quarter, And I do like
Speaker 1: what Dak Prescott did on that final drive to win
Speaker 1: last week. Like they can be very explosive at times.
Speaker 1: The first three quarters of that game. Not so hot
Speaker 1: all four quarters last week. I'm just saying seven out
Speaker 1: of eight quarters again, hear you. Literally the two worst
Speaker 1: teams in the league again though, like they're slump is
Speaker 1: different than other times its slumps. You can have the
Speaker 1: Cowboys sometimes I don't trust them. I don't know what.
Speaker 1: I can't believe. I'm here sitting here defending the Cowboys
Speaker 1: and you're not. Because that's a massive character switch. It
Speaker 1: doesn't define my character the cow of course it does not.
Speaker 1: I don't That's That's not how I meant that something's
Speaker 1: going on. Just like it's like I can break here.
Speaker 1: What's up? I don't know? All right, that was the
Speaker 1: Sunday Drive presented by Toyota. All right, let's get to
Speaker 1: the next game. I don't know. Why is this happening
Speaker 1: on on national television. Let's let's dig into the next game.
Speaker 1: I am up. I'm just Switzerland. Pittsburgh at Carolina. I
Speaker 1: just like when Mark says it's on national television, like, well,
Speaker 1: it's just there's only three channels here, NBC, CBS, like
Speaker 1: we're on Sunday. When they gets assumed that they know
Speaker 1: what is where. People are listening to the podcast for
Speaker 1: what it's worth, and we love them all. Very good,
Speaker 1: very good. You've done it again, Greg, Pittsburgh at Carolina. Oh,
Speaker 1: sound the alarm again, because the Panthers gotta have it,
Speaker 1: got to have our Now we're in the future. The
Speaker 1: Panthers are five and eight. The Panthers are looking to
Speaker 1: do kind of like if you look at the a
Speaker 1: C South the NFC South, their mirrors of each other
Speaker 1: in some ways, because everyone was expecting the Tides just
Speaker 1: to take care of business and win that division. Everyone's
Speaker 1: expecting the Bucks take here of that division. But guess
Speaker 1: what those two teams. They don't look very good right now.
Speaker 1: In the Buck's case, they haven't looked good all season.
Speaker 1: Uh So the Panthers have a chance here, but they
Speaker 1: have to take care of business this week. And I
Speaker 1: think that they will because I think the Panthers our
Speaker 1: team playing with a lot of confidence, just the way
Speaker 1: they bullied the Seattle Seahawks on the road last week,
Speaker 1: through their running game going over two yards on the ground. Um,
Speaker 1: not asking Sam Donald to do too much, and and
Speaker 1: and leaning on what worked and then having your defense,
Speaker 1: uh carry them home from there. Um. The Panthers against
Speaker 1: the Steelers team, can he picket in or out? I
Speaker 1: don't know. I like their chances here. So they're splitting
Speaker 1: reps the Steelers at quarterback this week between Mitchell Drabinsky
Speaker 1: and Mason Rudolph. Never understood the splitting reps thing in
Speaker 1: the middle of the regular season. You gotta know who
Speaker 1: you're starting, right, They're gonna play them both. I guess
Speaker 1: Trabinsky through a not interceptions last week, that they're thinking
Speaker 1: of giving Rudolph a shot. My initial instinct was the
Speaker 1: same as yours, Dan in terms of the Panthers winning
Speaker 1: this game, especially going against the Steelers rush defense that
Speaker 1: got steamrolled last week really against Baltimore. But then it
Speaker 1: kind of reminded me of that Steelers Ravens game where
Speaker 1: everyone picked the Steelers in that game, even though it's
Speaker 1: like a coin flip game. And of course the Steelers lost,
Speaker 1: and now everyone's gonna be picking the Panthers this week
Speaker 1: from what I've seen, and yet I still think it's
Speaker 1: a coin flip game. The Steelers have plenty of good
Speaker 1: players here, and they're just like two ugly type of teams,
Speaker 1: and it wouldn't surprise me if Mason Rudolph comes in
Speaker 1: and actually plays fairly well. It's not like having Donald
Speaker 1: is some great quarterback advantage. No. I think that's the
Speaker 1: thing is, like we saw Sam Donald basically played around
Speaker 1: like they were just doing everything that could not really
Speaker 1: put the game in Sam donald chance. When they got
Speaker 1: a net goal line situation and had them throw four times,
Speaker 1: it went terribly. I I think if you can if
Speaker 1: you can put Sam Donald in his situations where you've
Speaker 1: got T. J. Watt and other people making life tough
Speaker 1: for him, it throws Caroline off. They run the ball
Speaker 1: so well though, That's what I love about when they
Speaker 1: get in these grooves where they're hammering people on the ground,
Speaker 1: you start to believe in the Panthers. If they can
Speaker 1: if they can stay in that kind of font, that
Speaker 1: kind of mode, I think they have a chance here.
Speaker 1: I do think it's interesting that that Derek Brown said
Speaker 1: that bearded face Sam Donald because we noticed his beard.
Speaker 1: He said that that version, the bearded faced Sam Donald
Speaker 1: is a lot more chill than the clean shaven Sam Donald.
Speaker 1: So you never know what you're gonna get with this
Speaker 1: version of Donald. It does, it's the I think it
Speaker 1: matches where he is in his career. Now. That's a backup, grizzled,
Speaker 1: backup beard. Um, and I support it. Um. I don't
Speaker 1: did they I'm interested Donald having to throw the balls.
Speaker 1: I don't even know were they hiding Donald? There was
Speaker 1: a running game working so well last week that is like,
Speaker 1: we're not gonna mess with this, and why would they?
Speaker 1: They just ran the ball repeatedly against Seattle in the
Speaker 1: fourth quarter because I don't think the plan is let's
Speaker 1: have him go throw the ball forty times and take
Speaker 1: our foot off the gas on the ground. No. I
Speaker 1: don't think so either, But I I just push them
Speaker 1: back a little bit that they were hiding, and I
Speaker 1: think it was just working. So we'll see what it
Speaker 1: looks like when t. J. Watt is coming at him.
Speaker 1: But yeah, they're gonna have They're gonna have some real
Speaker 1: momentum building here if they can beat the Steelers. And yes,
Speaker 1: they'll be keeping an eye on what's going on with
Speaker 1: the Bucks and the Mason Rudolph thing. How many years
Speaker 1: do we have to be subjected to people from inside
Speaker 1: the Steelers building telling us that Mason Rudolph is someone
Speaker 1: that you know, deserves his chance. How many years are
Speaker 1: we in the how could that be the plan? Like?
Speaker 1: How many years has been going on? Four years? Five years,
Speaker 1: five years? Half a decade? Like do they not know yet?
Speaker 1: I think they just feel like give him a chance? Um, Mark,
Speaker 1: you are up? All right? I'll go Eagles at Bears?
Speaker 1: Why not? I mean yeah, I mean that I'm surprised
Speaker 1: of still sitting here at this point. I for me though,
Speaker 1: it's this Eagles team. I just did. I enjoy watching
Speaker 1: them so much. What they did against the Giants was
Speaker 1: just absolute and a total detonation. And they're just so powerful,
Speaker 1: they and they're they're the opposite of like the teams
Speaker 1: that have to do one thing to win. Like the
Speaker 1: Panthers we just talked about, they can hurt you in
Speaker 1: so many different ways. And some of the throws that
Speaker 1: hurts has made like you know, like I doing the
Speaker 1: QB and next early in the season was like, oh yeah,
Speaker 1: it hurts his mobile And people aren't watching Eagles, you
Speaker 1: don't realize how much he's grown as a passer. And
Speaker 1: I think that applies also to Justin Fields doing that
Speaker 1: art that column. No one gets more hate on a
Speaker 1: weekly basis than people saying Justin Fields is not a
Speaker 1: top twelve, not a top ten type of figure. At
Speaker 1: this point, he's just a runner. It's like if you're
Speaker 1: watching Bears games. His arm is changing, it's developing, he's
Speaker 1: making throws. And I think that the quarterback matchup alone
Speaker 1: makes this so juicy because the Eagles, for all their strengths,
Speaker 1: when they've gone up against QB rushes, they have been
Speaker 1: they've ranked last and success rate in the league this
Speaker 1: year against that and QB runs in essentially yards per carrious.
Speaker 1: So it's there's a chance for Justin Fields to do
Speaker 1: Justin Fields type things, and he's gonna have to have
Speaker 1: a chance in this game because their defense is a mess.
Speaker 1: That's why it's kind of the perfect match of the
Speaker 1: Eagles get to try to work on something that they
Speaker 1: struggle at. They have played better run defense overall over
Speaker 1: the last month after bottoming out against Washington, They've been
Speaker 1: about average over the last month since then. But it's
Speaker 1: different playing justin Field, So you get to try to
Speaker 1: play maybe the most challenging running quarterback in the league
Speaker 1: right now, justin fields try to slow that down in
Speaker 1: a good running game with Montgomery, and they've actually called
Speaker 1: some pretty creative plays in their offensive line. But you
Speaker 1: probably don't have to really worry about losing the game
Speaker 1: or anything like that because you're going up against the
Speaker 1: Bears and you're gonna put thirty on the great to
Speaker 1: be a team that's just like, we know we're gonna win.
Speaker 1: We're just gonna work on a few things in this game.
Speaker 1: Are you hearing some of this uh chatter out there
Speaker 1: about Jalen Hurts and maybe he shouldn't be getting as
Speaker 1: much credit because it's the system and the team more
Speaker 1: than the player. Do we have do we have the sound?
Speaker 1: By the way, we have Jordan my lot of left
Speaker 1: tackle for the Eagles, responding to Michael Parsons the great
Speaker 1: Cowboys pass rusher, who um was going down that road?
Speaker 1: Uh and kind of maybe pushing back on Hurts being
Speaker 1: a superstar quarterback. Here's what my lot I had to
Speaker 1: say in response. Yeah, I'm gona worry about the Chicago
Speaker 1: bas this week, mate, worry about his industry two or
Speaker 1: even pig a lot. I don't know how part of
Speaker 1: my language. Just just worry about you got this week.
Speaker 1: That's how we're doing here. I'll gon't worry about any
Speaker 1: of us, Tomas. Anybody said, that's just how we fund
Speaker 1: this business. You've got Chicago Bears, Chicago Puss, not the
Speaker 1: Chicago Mica Parsons. Every team needs a feights the Australian.
Speaker 1: That's my takeaway. Friend. It helps if these like six
Speaker 1: eight and three d seventy pounds and moves like like
Speaker 1: a track athlete. Uh yeah, I don't see anyway is there.
Speaker 1: It's hard to imagine barring something unforeseen and unfortunate. Um,
Speaker 1: the Eagle's not putting up like camera. The Bears are healthier.
Speaker 1: For what it's worth, they got back I think two starters,
Speaker 1: maybe three, the secondary Brisker and Gordon. There there two rookies,
Speaker 1: so that will help them put up a fight. But no,
Speaker 1: they have no pass rush, and yeah, you mentioned it
Speaker 1: hurts thrown with anticipation. It's like every week. Did you
Speaker 1: want to add to that. I'm sorry no, I think
Speaker 1: I was excited to hear the snake sound to me.
Speaker 1: All Right, well, I'm gonna go. You know, you pick
Speaker 1: these games out to get one that's gonna be. I'm
Speaker 1: thinking hopefully a little bit more of a wipeout Chiefs
Speaker 1: of Texans. I actually found the Texans enjoyable a lot
Speaker 1: to watch last week, and I'm glad they didn't show
Speaker 1: it totally shoot down the concept of running back the
Speaker 1: Mills slash uh drisk All two quarterback platoon, which I
Speaker 1: think threw Dallas off. I mean I mentioned on Sunday
Speaker 1: it threw everyone off because I was trying to figure
Speaker 1: out on Twitter what's going on here? Why are they
Speaker 1: doing this? And like no one quit what there wasn't
Speaker 1: an injury. Was just like, we're gonna use both and
Speaker 1: when Driskills on the field, we're obviously gonna run it.
Speaker 1: I don't know if any of that will happen this
Speaker 1: week against the Chiefs. I kind of would like to see, though,
Speaker 1: Kansas City go out and have a really crisp game
Speaker 1: on offense. Um, I mean they're having to do things
Speaker 1: differently game to game Mahomes that, you know, I don't
Speaker 1: really when Mahomes has a it wasn't a bad game,
Speaker 1: but he made a couple of bad throws last week.
Speaker 1: He also did some incredibly circus act like wonderful things.
Speaker 1: So that's sort of like the worst version of the Homes.
Speaker 1: I don't really mind that at all. I think it's
Speaker 1: just like it would be nice to go see Kansas
Speaker 1: City drop a hammer on someone as they go down
Speaker 1: the stretch. Run here. Yeah. I got a note uh
Speaker 1: from our friend at a t N lock ups this
Speaker 1: week reminding us of the win lost totals that we
Speaker 1: did and you know, some some we've been right, some
Speaker 1: we aren't. Mark's over four and a half. Texans is
Speaker 1: on the line this week officially will be eliminated here
Speaker 1: without a win, and Dan I had the Chiefs I
Speaker 1: believe over maybe I did, I can't even remember at
Speaker 1: this point, and they'll officially get over there over. It's
Speaker 1: crazy to think back the ten and a half was
Speaker 1: like the line for Kansas City so even though they've
Speaker 1: had some up down West all the summer hype around
Speaker 1: that division that well, and we didn't know what the
Speaker 1: Chiefs would be, you know, minus Tyreek kill, et cetera.
Speaker 1: They've they've worked that out, um and you know what
Speaker 1: you mentioned. You know, the Chiefs are due to just
Speaker 1: drop a hammer on someone. They did last week. They
Speaker 1: were winning twenty seven nothing in the second quarter against
Speaker 1: the Broncos and then somehow let the Broncos get back
Speaker 1: in that game. And defense never had multiple opportunities in
Speaker 1: the second half to take the lead in that game,
Speaker 1: believe it or not, before Mahomes and company regrouped and
Speaker 1: got that um extra score. Did you do Smith Schuster?
Speaker 1: That kind of put that game away. But you didn't
Speaker 1: come out of the game being like, oh, yeah, Cheeves
Speaker 1: they are They're fully formed right now, son, Can you
Speaker 1: trust the defense? It's not gonna be a problem this week.
Speaker 1: Damian Pierce now is out for the Texans. Who's one
Speaker 1: of the only watchable guys in that offense. I don't
Speaker 1: have any interest in watching Houston ever again this season.
Speaker 1: I'll only do it from a professional standpoint. Otherwise, this
Speaker 1: team can go away to figure out what they are
Speaker 1: and at Nico Collins is unlikely to play. Brandon Cooks
Speaker 1: probably won't play. So like if you're Davis Mills or
Speaker 1: drisk All, like who's who's on the field with you,
Speaker 1: Chris or I don't know? It's act I doubt don't
Speaker 1: have any uh fantasy implications because no one could have
Speaker 1: possibly had him in their line of plastic. But he
Speaker 1: went ten for one fifty. I do like that the
Speaker 1: Chiefs and this is a good game for it can
Speaker 1: finish games running the ball a little better this year. Pacheco,
Speaker 1: I think can do that. And this is a game
Speaker 1: where it's like, don't don't ask Patrick Mollhams to throw
Speaker 1: at thirty five times. You don't need to another quote
Speaker 1: unquote or quote star close quote in decline in the
Speaker 1: Seth Walder piece that you were pushing back on Greg earlier.
Speaker 1: Um Brandon Cooks who his pop the hood numbers in
Speaker 1: terms of his route running and impact this season, it's
Speaker 1: not just the necessarily the quarterback play, it's his ability
Speaker 1: to gain separation. And you wonder, I don't want to
Speaker 1: call the man out because I don't know the man,
Speaker 1: but where's his effort level out after that post trade
Speaker 1: deadline tweet. Is he really you're getting the best of
Speaker 1: Brandon Cooks? So even if he's not there, like what,
Speaker 1: he hasn't given them anything. He's literally their team captain.
Speaker 1: And then they stripped of it. That's pretty rare to
Speaker 1: just like I don't know if they see off the
Speaker 1: chest like I think you got new Jersey. Yeah, you
Speaker 1: have to go give that back to the people back there,
Speaker 1: and they have to take they have to sew it off.
Speaker 1: I don't know what they did. They sew it off
Speaker 1: Gregg in the past life definitely a seamstress. Oh well,
Speaker 1: this is easy. I just sew it off. I just
Speaker 1: couldn't think of the word of it. I still don't know.
Speaker 1: Just detach it, I don't know. Detach undo, the undo,
Speaker 1: the sew job. All right, let's move to I gotta
Speaker 1: grab a late game. So, I mean again, do I
Speaker 1: need to keep watching the Patriots every week? I kind
Speaker 1: of do. It's my job. It's more frustrating when it's
Speaker 1: in prime time. Um, but I on a Sunday, sure,
Speaker 1: So I'll take the Patriots? Who Um do I have
Speaker 1: them as they gotta have it? I mean I think
Speaker 1: so this is very important that I don't have it,
Speaker 1: but they're they're the most gotta have it in the league.
Speaker 1: I feel like they don't get it. What are you?
Speaker 1: Where are they? My point is, I think they'll lose
Speaker 1: this game if I had to guess, But if the
Speaker 1: season's over, if they lose it, they got the Dolphins,
Speaker 1: Bengals and Bills next. Yeah, okay, let's do it. Let's
Speaker 1: give it to him. Yeah, I think seven and six
Speaker 1: coming off a fairly ugly win on Monday Night. Great
Speaker 1: job by the defense, of course, um getting after it,
Speaker 1: punishing Colt McCoy um. Now they get the Raiders, and
Speaker 1: we obviously know everything about the Raiders as a tragic outfit.
Speaker 1: Last time we saw them, they were their whole season
Speaker 1: was bursting into flames. That said, I hit it again,
Speaker 1: hit it again, because the Raiders do gotta have it
Speaker 1: because they have eight losses. I still think. I still
Speaker 1: believe not in the Raiders, but I believe that nine
Speaker 1: wins can get you a wild card spot. So reason
Speaker 1: had man that loss was a killers was a killer.
Speaker 1: It was all set up. That's why was on one
Speaker 1: with that, because they seem to be well set up,
Speaker 1: but then they blew that game, uh, in crushing fashion.
Speaker 1: So here are two teams that aren't obviously overly impressive
Speaker 1: for different reasons, but they're both in the mix of
Speaker 1: Patriots actually right now sit in the seventh spot. I mean,
Speaker 1: the Raiders are owing four this season in games where
Speaker 1: they have led by thirteen points, and that obviously well
Speaker 1: that's a terrible mistake to have. But like that Rams collapse,
Speaker 1: that's who the Raiders are, and it's I literally I
Speaker 1: don't think they got to have anything. I get where
Speaker 1: you're coming from with the you know, you went out
Speaker 1: and maybe everything else happens to you mathematically have a
Speaker 1: nice January. But the idea that I'm stilling wrong. I'm
Speaker 1: not saying that they I believe them as a playoff
Speaker 1: team at this one have it. They didn't have it.
Speaker 1: I'm not getting anything wrong. I just I don't think
Speaker 1: you're saying that. I just I simply am not paying
Speaker 1: attention to the Raiders playoff chances at this point at all.
Speaker 1: Wake me up if if things change, So this is
Speaker 1: this could be a very different Raiders team, though both
Speaker 1: Darren Waller and Hunter Renfro appear to be on track
Speaker 1: to come off. I R and play against the Patriots,
Speaker 1: and I think this Raiders offense, even though they've had
Speaker 1: some hiccups, are a reminder of what the Patriots are
Speaker 1: missing because they're cohesive. They're an old school nine eighties
Speaker 1: with a fullback, power running attack. They're better than average offense,
Speaker 1: you know, with a mid level quarterback, whereas the Patriots
Speaker 1: are a terrible offense with a mid level quarterback. In
Speaker 1: my mind, I think mac Jones is better than what
Speaker 1: they've shown, and they've got terrible vibes. That game on
Speaker 1: Monday night was the most depressing game that a team
Speaker 1: has won, and I don't know how long or at
Speaker 1: least a Patriots team as one. That game convinced me.
Speaker 1: That game convinced me this team is done for because
Speaker 1: they're having to try to convince each other and themselves
Speaker 1: that they actually support their coaching staff when they're openly rebelling.
Speaker 1: And they happen to win that game because they were
Speaker 1: playing the Cardinals, a team that's an even bigger mess.
Speaker 1: But I don't know if they win any more games.
Speaker 1: I think they could go and four down the stretch.
Speaker 1: I know the defense and they might get Christian Barmower
Speaker 1: back is good enough that they'll they'll win this game
Speaker 1: on their own. It's it's certainly possibly never, But I
Speaker 1: think they lose this game. Yeah, we've never seen a
Speaker 1: Belichick led team with this much in house angst. And
Speaker 1: it's interesting that it's McDaniels first Belichick, except that also
Speaker 1: isn't because both of these teams are hard to watch.
Speaker 1: They are. And I can't even really get on mac
Speaker 1: Jones at all for showing frustration his career being thrown
Speaker 1: down the two. Yeah, that he's been putting a very
Speaker 1: bad spot here. And uh, the one thing you cannot
Speaker 1: do when you're a play callers, you can't be getting
Speaker 1: the plays in late. You put at the entire team
Speaker 1: in a tough situation. I can't even imagine trying to
Speaker 1: do that. So I'm not saying like it's easy. It
Speaker 1: must be incredibly stressful to be a play caller on
Speaker 1: the sideline and you have to like keep on firing
Speaker 1: things out in the headset with a clock running. But
Speaker 1: it looks like Patricia might be in over his head
Speaker 1: in that realm as well. And that's what you saw
Speaker 1: um Jones pushing back against. Actually, I thought Joan has
Speaker 1: made some nice plays on Monday Night when given the
Speaker 1: opportunity and one off platform, I thought he showed some things.
Speaker 1: I think he's playing with more confidence obviously than he
Speaker 1: was earlier in the season. And you could put that
Speaker 1: on Bell Chick too. I don't think Bill check is
Speaker 1: having a great year. Uh the way he handled things
Speaker 1: with Zappy Bailey or Billy Zappy who wasn't I don't
Speaker 1: remember anymore. But now mac Jones doesn't have to worry
Speaker 1: about that, and you could tell he I think he
Speaker 1: wants us to be his team in his offense, UM,
Speaker 1: but it feels like he's being held back at this point.
Speaker 1: He doesn't want it to be with this coaching stuff.
Speaker 1: Though line has collapsed, the running game has collapsed. I
Speaker 1: think the Raiders defensive line is playing much better. I
Speaker 1: think it's a tough match. I think I really think
Speaker 1: the Raiders are favored in this game where they should be. UM.
Speaker 1: All right, let's take a break and we will finish
Speaker 1: the draft. Raiders are favored by one. Are you ready?
Speaker 1: It's a Saturday triple header on NFL Network. First, the
Speaker 1: Colts will just then the Ravens space the Browns, and
Speaker 1: the Dolphins take on the Bills in prime time back back.
Speaker 1: It's a Saturday Showdown triple header Saturday, starting in one
Speaker 1: only on NFL Network. All right, let's close this thing out. Greg,
Speaker 1: you got tupics. That's not fair. That's how this works.
Speaker 1: That's that's the game. Well, just to surprise people, I'm
Speaker 1: gonna not leave the Broncos game for last. Let's just
Speaker 1: get it out of the way. It's kind of like
Speaker 1: you're at the dinner table. There's one vegetable maybe your
Speaker 1: mom put out there. If you as as a child
Speaker 1: that you're just like, let let's pish it first and
Speaker 1: get to the good stuff. Let's get rid of this.
Speaker 1: And that's Cardinals. That was That's what I do, or
Speaker 1: I did as a kid, and that's what my daughter
Speaker 1: Alice does too. She always eats the stuff she doesn't like. First.
Speaker 1: Let's I'll give you this different parallel luxuriant lucky charms,
Speaker 1: a great cereal. Even no matter what age you are,
Speaker 1: you eat all the oats first, and you leave all
Speaker 1: the mushrooms in the milk to the end. And then
Speaker 1: it's then there's mushrooms in my lucky mushrooms marshmallows just
Speaker 1: like the grossest food I've ever imagined mushrooms and milks.
Speaker 1: Not sorry, Greg, where were you? I mean, I don't
Speaker 1: apologize the Cardinals. Broncos is the soggy lucky Charms without
Speaker 1: the marsh material of games. Totally pointless. I watched. Doesn't
Speaker 1: have to happen, Yes, I contractually I think so. But
Speaker 1: who's complaining? Like if you wrestle, also would be happy.
Speaker 1: He's like hurrying back to get off concussion protocol. He's
Speaker 1: back at practice. It looks like he's on track to return.
Speaker 1: But it's like, I think he'd be happy just canceled
Speaker 1: the game. He doesn't want to see Brett ripping out there. Um,
Speaker 1: but I think he'd be fine with a week off here. J. J.
Speaker 1: Watt would be disappointed. He's really getting a lot of
Speaker 1: airtime because Hard Knocks doesn't know what else to do.
Speaker 1: They're just like hanging out with Heart with J. J. Watt.
Speaker 1: We should talk about what's going on with the car.
Speaker 1: Their general manager, Steve Kim, has taken a leave of
Speaker 1: absence now uh connected to a type of medical issue
Speaker 1: or a personal issue that we don't have more. Red
Speaker 1: also said they legally could not give details. They put
Speaker 1: that in the statement, which to dry your own conclusions,
Speaker 1: and uh, it does you know that this happening days
Speaker 1: after Kyler Murray blows out his knee And if you
Speaker 1: just if you just go through everything that's happened with
Speaker 1: the Cardinals um since last since the offseason, it's outrageous,
Speaker 1: all the drama around Kyler. Obviously, you had multiple officials
Speaker 1: and coaches involved off the field shenanigans that led to
Speaker 1: them not even shenanigans, crimes um or um inappropriate behavior
Speaker 1: that led to them leaving the team. You had the
Speaker 1: team itself flopping, You had DeAndre Hopkins getting suspended, and
Speaker 1: then you have Kyler blown out his knee and now
Speaker 1: Come disappearing. And when we talked about it on the
Speaker 1: Tuesday Show that, uh, Cliff Kingsbury is is this the
Speaker 1: end for him? And I was like, I wonder if
Speaker 1: maybe he gets a little bit of a past the
Speaker 1: rest of the year and then they he gets one
Speaker 1: more shot. Man. I don't feel that way at all
Speaker 1: now because I think who knows with Kim, but it
Speaker 1: would make sense now the Come has stepped away and
Speaker 1: Kyler is out for a year at least, and the
Speaker 1: team stinks and has not done anything in years since
Speaker 1: Kingsbury has been there that they just it's time to
Speaker 1: blow it up. Yeah, I think I think it's heading
Speaker 1: in that direction. And it's funny because our friend Jason's
Speaker 1: Almalt leads off our show, is a Cardinals fan, and
Speaker 1: yesterday he texted me because you know, I'm a Call
Speaker 1: McCoy guy. And then they got David Blow. They picked
Speaker 1: him off the Vikings practice school up Press exactly, so
Speaker 1: the newsletter is coming back into action. They got Call
Speaker 1: McCoy and David Blow in the QB room and so
Speaker 1: it's Alwalt said, listen, man, it's it. I know things
Speaker 1: seem a little even with the Cardinals right now, but
Speaker 1: you've got to come over here and support them. That's
Speaker 1: it's you're new team to pick up. And so I thought, well, listen,
Speaker 1: I left the Titans bandwagon according to Justin's fans over there,
Speaker 1: and uh, five minutes later, I mean maybe five or
Speaker 1: ten minutes later, the steam time thing happened. So it's like,
Speaker 1: I don't think I should keep doing this anymow. And
Speaker 1: now they're going to lose to the Broncos. Yeah, but
Speaker 1: you know the other way to look at it, Mark
Speaker 1: is that this team could not really get worse at
Speaker 1: this point. So even like one win the rest of
Speaker 1: the season, you're back in business. Baby, Well consider it.
Speaker 1: I just I told him. I just said sorry basically.
Speaker 1: So I want to see Nathaniel Hackett's evil gateigue get
Speaker 1: one win. I don't know if you noticed he changed
Speaker 1: facial hair about a month ago and now has sort
Speaker 1: of an evil looking good greg Williams. Yeah, one one
Speaker 1: happy moment, they'll get it. This Randy Gregory back, by
Speaker 1: the way. That's good. And speaking of Greek tragedies, which
Speaker 1: is the Cardinal season, you know, Russell Wilson finally moving
Speaker 1: the ball with regularity and mounting an epic comeback and
Speaker 1: then getting knocked out literally at the one yard line
Speaker 1: is sums up everything for that team. Alright, one more game, Greggy,
Speaker 1: let's go so excited. I got the best rivalry in football.
Speaker 1: It's Falcons and Saints. I have covered approximately eight percent
Speaker 1: of these games over the last ten years on this podcast,
Speaker 1: and I missed it in Week one. And you might say, oh,
Speaker 1: who cares? That ended up being a really crazy, fun
Speaker 1: game where Jamis Winston comes back from a couple of
Speaker 1: touchdowns in the fourth quarter. Ago It Weirdly, UH is
Speaker 1: pretty influential in this NFC South race because if the
Speaker 1: Falcons had that, they would be in first place. This
Speaker 1: is a gotta have a game, obviously for the Saints,
Speaker 1: but definitely for the Falcons to try to get back
Speaker 1: in the mix. Saints would officially be eliminated by the
Speaker 1: way with the loss here. The Falcons, I think they
Speaker 1: could do something under Desmond Ritter. I know they're underdogs
Speaker 1: in this game, and I know the Saints are returning
Speaker 1: everyone suddenly, like Pete Werner, Marshall Lattimore, like everyone is
Speaker 1: coming back for their team this week. I think Desmond
Speaker 1: Ritter and this Falcons team have a little more verve,
Speaker 1: a little more hood spat, and I think the be
Speaker 1: able to exert their will on the ground against the Saints.
Speaker 1: And if anything could get Dennis Allen in trouble, and
Speaker 1: there's some talk from the top columnists in the in
Speaker 1: the City there Jeff Duncan this week that Sean Payton
Speaker 1: would be open to a return, which is hilarious because
Speaker 1: he would have to get Dennis Allen fired for that
Speaker 1: to happen. If anything's gonna get Dennis Allen fired, it's
Speaker 1: losing to these Falcons, Peyton wanted to come back, what
Speaker 1: wants to come back? They're like, yeah, okay, I guess
Speaker 1: uh to see them get healthy. But they're like my
Speaker 1: version of the Raiders for you Mark, or just like
Speaker 1: I don't care. I know this has got to have
Speaker 1: it the game, but they've been so disappointing all year
Speaker 1: long that I just I struggled to get Falcons. I
Speaker 1: feel like that rookie quarterback making his starting debut, you
Speaker 1: gotta there's a little juice there, obviously, But these are
Speaker 1: the two South teams that, like, you know, the Panthers,
Speaker 1: you could talk yourself into a little bit more. These
Speaker 1: teams just feel to me a little bit more on
Speaker 1: the side of the road in a ditch. And well,
Speaker 1: I differ a little bit, like I agree. I think
Speaker 1: the Saints they you know, the car's going on the highway,
Speaker 1: you open the door, you kick the Saints out. That's
Speaker 1: where they are. But the Falcons um if Desmond Ritter
Speaker 1: provides a spark, I would have liked to see him
Speaker 1: in there earlier, because Mariota just seemed to cost them
Speaker 1: in similar fashion week after week, and Ritter is someone
Speaker 1: that Lancer Line, our friend and draft nick compared to
Speaker 1: Alex Smith and and um very intelligent, quick processing quarterback.
Speaker 1: He doesn't have a super strong arm, and he's not
Speaker 1: necessarily a running quarterback, but he is mobile and so
Speaker 1: it's like he kind of fits that offense. I think
Speaker 1: they picked him for a reason. And I just think
Speaker 1: that Arthur Smith is quietly one of the better kind
Speaker 1: of QB coaches out there. I mean, I think Mariota
Speaker 1: is just Mariota, but I I think that they I
Speaker 1: don't know why they waited so long, but if this
Speaker 1: is a team that when they run the ball, well,
Speaker 1: I don't like their defense, but if Ritter can just
Speaker 1: not turn the ball over and add a little bit
Speaker 1: here and there, they're an interesting team to me, much
Speaker 1: more still than watching the Saints. Well, and very possibly
Speaker 1: tied for first. If they win this game and the
Speaker 1: bucksls the Bengals, they're tied for first. Gotta have it,
Speaker 1: ye got that division? Man? I mean, I feel like
Speaker 1: twenty seven teams had to have it in this show.
Speaker 1: I think I think it was. It was started as seven.
Speaker 1: I believe it started seven. And then once we start
Speaker 1: just including everyone that anyone thetically alive. I kind of
Speaker 1: highlighted seven teams where it felt like it had a
Speaker 1: little like juice to it, But then once you you
Speaker 1: get like the Saints involved, it's like, oh, yeah, that's
Speaker 1: technically true. The Raiders. Yeah, I guess technically Saints fans
Speaker 1: don't want to hear it because they want this season
Speaker 1: to be over. But if they won this game, and
Speaker 1: like I said, the Bucks lost, they're went back. Yeah.
Speaker 1: But I mean, I'm just saying it's this is the
Speaker 1: kind of stuff that just stars. They're just facts. Facts. Yeah,
Speaker 1: that's true. That's factual content coming from Greg ros And
Speaker 1: maybe the Falcons get that. Our quarterback just quit on
Speaker 1: us bump, you know, yeah, went to went opportnity QB
Speaker 1: opportunity leave bump. I just noticed the entire NFC South's
Speaker 1: exactly gutive twenty four to negative thirty two points on
Speaker 1: the season point differentials. It looks like if there, I mean,
Speaker 1: every once in a while, ever a few years, there's
Speaker 1: a team there's a division where just their very inclusion
Speaker 1: in the postseason cheapens the entire thing. And that's what's
Speaker 1: that's what NFC Salth is going to give us. An
Speaker 1: FC South is getting there too. We could have an
Speaker 1: eight and nine years, but I can talk up into
Speaker 1: the ether and then that's a I mean, let's face it,
Speaker 1: both these teams are probably playing Saturday, right, Saturday opener? Yeah,
Speaker 1: not against each other. Get them out of the way,
Speaker 1: or maybe they have to split them up because otherwise
Speaker 1: it really we're gonna get an a f C South
Speaker 1: champion and an NFCY South champion Saturday Sunday, which we
Speaker 1: just gotta work. Maybe just for the London game time
Speaker 1: here if you're in the States, he's just it's like
Speaker 1: Falcons commanders from London, six am kickoff. Okay, that's fine,
Speaker 1: all right? Anythink else? Anybody want to add? Now? What
Speaker 1: a what a time to be alive holiday season? How
Speaker 1: about Patrick? He was pretty fired up. I love that
Speaker 1: he hasn't changed. I knew I would have bet on
Speaker 1: any I don't have any possessions, but things that I
Speaker 1: owned that he would have been upset with us, And
Speaker 1: yes he was and I and I like that. I
Speaker 1: liked his honesty. I didn't like as much. I thought,
Speaker 1: maybe you know, it's his his heart. I thought it
Speaker 1: would have been warmed by this Lions team. But I
Speaker 1: think he's still waiting for the bottom to fall out.
Speaker 1: But that's I think we patras patra and that's what
Speaker 1: our friend Freeland, who was a die hard Lions fan too.
Speaker 1: She's not ready to fully give over either. I get it.
Speaker 1: There's still six and seven and they've just been beaten
Speaker 1: down for twenty years that they were enjoying it but not.
Speaker 1: But they're not seven, but they were one and six.
Speaker 1: That's a little different. That's and they were never the
Speaker 1: team of a t L before. We've brought the magic. Well,
Speaker 1: let's go Lions. This week, I said, I've taken a
Speaker 1: leave of absence like Marcus Mariotta. I am on paternity
Speaker 1: leave from the team of a t L with the
Speaker 1: Jets uh involved, But I still there will be. I'll
Speaker 1: look at this way. Even if the Jets lose, there
Speaker 1: is a bright side, the Lions playing relevant January football
Speaker 1: potentially gotta have it. It's charitable of you. I don't
Speaker 1: want it to happen. You're going down Detroit heat it
Speaker 1: all right? Thank you for watching, listening, see us on
Speaker 1: Sunday Night and the Friday Fun Show. He the call
Speaker 1: s