Speaker 1: To you Around the NFL Podcast, America's number one export
Speaker 1: to the UK. Welcome to another edition of the Around
Speaker 1: the NFL Podcast. My name is Dan Hansas, coming to
Speaker 1: you from a room filled with some heroes, a virtual room.
Speaker 1: Mark Sessler, Greg Rosenthal, what's up, boys? Yeah, you know,
Speaker 1: we love the UK, but we we love all the
Speaker 1: international listeners that are out there. Australia's you know, I've
Speaker 1: been coming strong lately, Canada, all of Europe, Sub Saharan Africa, come,
Speaker 1: come with us on a journey. This is such a
Speaker 1: it's become a Greg trope. Every month or so, Greg
Speaker 1: picks out. This time it was five or six nations,
Speaker 1: but normally it's one nation that he'll pander too for
Speaker 1: two or three shows in a row to collect, you know,
Speaker 1: fandom from said nation. And I see completely through it.
Speaker 1: And I'm sure any you know, sentient listener will see
Speaker 1: the this is way on Mark's radar. Remember how Maddie
Speaker 1: got about the Canada thing. This is well because it
Speaker 1: was both of you jumped on one of those you
Speaker 1: give yourself away in what you notice in others. You
Speaker 1: have all these sort of internal thoughts here and it's like, no,
Speaker 1: I appreciate our listeners, and you have no you have
Speaker 1: nothing happening internally in terms of caring for others, So
Speaker 1: you're giving the way it's utterly absurd, Like I'm just
Speaker 1: saying the UK. So sometimes I feel bad. I feel bad.
Speaker 1: It's like there's more than just those Brits. We love
Speaker 1: the Brits, but there's there's more. Well, I'm sure they'll
Speaker 1: survive there, you know, it's they've not been mentioned for shows.
Speaker 1: You know that we've gotten this far al right. Of course,
Speaker 1: the Around the NFL podcast is presented by the United
Speaker 1: States Marine Corps because we love America too. We get
Speaker 1: the whole world. We just want to put our arms
Speaker 1: around the whole world and give it a hug with football,
Speaker 1: especially during these trying times for Earth. The whole thing
Speaker 1: with COVID nineteen, and unfortunately it has now officially impacted
Speaker 1: the season. The Steelers and Titans scheduled to play on Sunday,
Speaker 1: I've been postponed and definitely so it's up to the
Speaker 1: schedule makers to figure out how to make that work.
Speaker 1: And now we just cross our fingers that there are
Speaker 1: no other issues COVID nineteen related to other teams that
Speaker 1: might be connected to the steel to the Titans who
Speaker 1: had multiple positive tests, and it has continued to The
Speaker 1: numbers continued to grow as the week has progressed all
Speaker 1: the way into Thursday, which prompted, of course, the decision
Speaker 1: to postpone as opposed to playing on Monday or Tuesday. Greg,
Speaker 1: where's your p scale on COVID nineteen? Right now in
Speaker 1: the NFL season, I think all the rules they have
Speaker 1: made sense, and this is them following the rules. So
Speaker 1: if this happened once every month that they had to
Speaker 1: move a game around and it wasn't a gigantic outbreak.
Speaker 1: Right now, I think it is it. It's five players
Speaker 1: and a few more on their staff. I don't know
Speaker 1: that you have to expect it. It's still happening everywhere
Speaker 1: around us. You know. One is, your pants are totally dry,
Speaker 1: no problem? Uh ten pants soaked? Got to get to
Speaker 1: the bathroom. Hopefully have a change where you at one
Speaker 1: to ten. I'm gonna say five, just because it's more
Speaker 1: like a global thing that the postponement of football games
Speaker 1: and the larger scheme isn't got me, you know, not
Speaker 1: too much p about that. I've got I got bigger concerns.
Speaker 1: Why you always do that, you always try to like
Speaker 1: if they move a game around every month, I'm not
Speaker 1: I'm personally not that worried. If they're doing everything they
Speaker 1: can to make them say they are, so I'm not,
Speaker 1: I'm not doing How about I'd put it higher just
Speaker 1: be you know, for me, it was, it was. It's
Speaker 1: a gloomy development because the first you know, the training
Speaker 1: camp into a non preseason, you know, rush to week one,
Speaker 1: week one and week two, week three. Great, then this happened.
Speaker 1: So I I guess, like to Greg's point, they're following
Speaker 1: all these protocols and it has worked that this still occurred,
Speaker 1: and so it becomes a more raging wild card for
Speaker 1: me than it was. So the pants or the underpants, Um,
Speaker 1: I'm wearing a bathing suit actually right now off camera,
Speaker 1: but that's you know, there's it's damp, it's damp, but
Speaker 1: but it is so yeah, right, And to be fair,
Speaker 1: it it didn't really work that well because at least
Speaker 1: one and multiple Titans players played that game with the virus.
Speaker 1: Um so that's that's a problem. My favorite because we
Speaker 1: missed Chris Westling. We wish he was with us right now.
Speaker 1: My favorite pre marriage West thing was every once in
Speaker 1: a while he'd turn up for a podcast like looking dapper,
Speaker 1: dressed to the nines. He'd be wearing maybe some khakis
Speaker 1: and a collar shirt with a pullover sweater, just an
Speaker 1: outfit you haven't seen a lot and be like, Wes,
Speaker 1: why are you so dressed? I was like, oh, all
Speaker 1: my clothes are dirty and I haven't had a chance
Speaker 1: to do the laundry, so I had to get my
Speaker 1: fancy clothes out. Thank God for Lakisha. Uh yeah, I
Speaker 1: loves all right. Here we go week for one less game,
Speaker 1: unfortunately because of what we just discussed, but still plenty
Speaker 1: of pigskin to dig into here on the Around the
Speaker 1: NFL podcast. And you know how we do it on
Speaker 1: the Thursday show. It is draft style and picking first
Speaker 1: Greg Rosenthal. Wow, feels like a no brainer given your
Speaker 1: fan leanings. But you take the podium and make your announcement.
Speaker 1: It doesn't matter who I'm rooting for. The Patriots Chiefs
Speaker 1: with Tony Romo on the call is the game of
Speaker 1: the week anyways. I mean, this Patriots team is fascinating
Speaker 1: and they're so different. Their defense is not playing well,
Speaker 1: but on paper they kind of have the offense that
Speaker 1: can take advantage of this Chief's defense. Right now, the
Speaker 1: Chiefs are struggling against the run. They're very good against
Speaker 1: the past, So what do you do? You you bringing
Speaker 1: the Patriots offense that is so diverse in terms of
Speaker 1: their running game. And oh, by the way, they take
Speaker 1: Damian Harris off of I R. A lot of people
Speaker 1: expected him to start at running back for them. James
Speaker 1: White is now back with them, uh in practice, so
Speaker 1: we'll see if he returns to the field this week.
Speaker 1: And you think about what their offensive line is doing
Speaker 1: right now, it sets up well for that strategy. That's like, well,
Speaker 1: you gotta shorten the game against Patrick Mahomes. I always
Speaker 1: thought that's kind of a sucker strategy because you know,
Speaker 1: like losing shorter is still losing. You have to outscore them,
Speaker 1: you know, in the number of possessions. That's sort of
Speaker 1: presuming you're a worst team than the Chiefs. But I guess,
Speaker 1: I guess that's okay. Most teams should presume they're a
Speaker 1: worse team than the Chiefs right now. I would just
Speaker 1: I mean, the Chiefs those score quickly. I mean, it's
Speaker 1: not like if you go and pull off a six
Speaker 1: and a half minute drive. If you're the Patriots, that
Speaker 1: that's really gonna lessen what Kansas City can do. I mean,
Speaker 1: how many games have we seen them explode for twenty
Speaker 1: one points in eight or nine minutes. I mean, it's
Speaker 1: just that's who they are. At the same time, I
Speaker 1: like the match up of New England, like last week,
Speaker 1: it was such a tell Bill Belichick talking about Darren
Speaker 1: Waller all week. We didn't get a lot of that
Speaker 1: this time around, but you know, you can tell he's
Speaker 1: always gonna try to erase some shut down Tyree Kille
Speaker 1: over the years when they so there you go. I mean,
Speaker 1: but they're always just gonna be one person he's gonna
Speaker 1: try to eliminate and you go from there. But I
Speaker 1: was watching a Belichick game from back in and to
Speaker 1: Gregg's point on offense, he was using three or four
Speaker 1: running backs in Cleveland. When I thought it was just
Speaker 1: one with memory, he was using three, four, five guys.
Speaker 1: So he's been doing this for a long time. And
Speaker 1: the way they adjusted against the Raiders last week tells
Speaker 1: me that they will completely from a mental side, they
Speaker 1: are the perfect match and showdown with Andy Reid and
Speaker 1: what he's doing with that cheats offense. Some incredible stuff
Speaker 1: happened against Baltimore. Here's the difference, Uh, this week and
Speaker 1: last week of the Patriots. You shut down Darren Waller
Speaker 1: and you're in good shape against the Raiders. And Matt
Speaker 1: money Smith on our Power Rankings program this week, pulled
Speaker 1: up some tape that I loved that shows again how
Speaker 1: Bellichick is so great at this. He knows the game
Speaker 1: better than anyone. That they were double team. They were
Speaker 1: double teaming the check down for Derek Carr because they
Speaker 1: know that's where Derek car looks almost immediately, especially if
Speaker 1: Darren Wallers is having troubles. But you can, good luck,
Speaker 1: good job you. Let's say, hypothetically you take Tyreek Hill
Speaker 1: out of the game. What's made the Chiefs such a
Speaker 1: special offense is that that's just one piece of a
Speaker 1: superstar STU on the Kansas City offense. And what you
Speaker 1: have with Clyde Edwards, Hilaire, Uh, Travis Kelsey, Nicole Hardman
Speaker 1: making plays, Uh, Sammy Watkins. You have so many choices
Speaker 1: for Mahomes and you know he's gonna find it. So
Speaker 1: I think I think that is the difference there. And
Speaker 1: then the other point of it is for me, guys?
Speaker 1: Is that and Greg, I I had my fund in
Speaker 1: the off season the Patriots aren't special anymore. Well, this
Speaker 1: is the game, Greg, where if they go into Kansas
Speaker 1: City and uh beat the Chiefs, I'll throw up the
Speaker 1: white flag in before leek of October. If they can
Speaker 1: do that, then I'll know that this is still team
Speaker 1: that absolutely is in the mix in January. I don't
Speaker 1: think they're there. I think the Chiefs are gonna have
Speaker 1: their way because I don't think the pay Roots are special.
Speaker 1: But let's see, I agree with you. I think this
Speaker 1: game came too early for them. I think there's a
Speaker 1: chance the Patriots evolved into a really dangerous team. I
Speaker 1: don't think they've expanded their offense enough. And then, oh,
Speaker 1: by the way, this is the worst defense they've had
Speaker 1: going up against the Chief teams. So Mahomes is struggled
Speaker 1: in the past relatively against Belichick, and it's very relative.
Speaker 1: But right now, Stephen Gilmore struggling. Like Stephen Gilmore had
Speaker 1: the worst two games of his season to end the
Speaker 1: regular season last year. He has given up a lot
Speaker 1: of plays This year. He has a number of penalties,
Speaker 1: but he has penalties on plays where he knew he
Speaker 1: was beat so Gilmore struggling. They're giving up a lot
Speaker 1: of plays through the air. They've just been an okay defense,
Speaker 1: I would say below average defense. Chase one of it
Speaker 1: is playing well, but it's tough if you don't have
Speaker 1: a pass rush, I don't care how good your secondary is.
Speaker 1: And if you're not, you know, getting into situations where
Speaker 1: they're in third and long and they can blitz, then
Speaker 1: they just don't have many guys other than one of
Speaker 1: Itch who's fine, that can beat you. And if you
Speaker 1: give Patrick Mahomes time, it's just you're right, Dan. It's
Speaker 1: just like choosing the way you want to die. And
Speaker 1: one of the reasons they had to switch to that
Speaker 1: run heavy attack against the Raiders was they didn't have
Speaker 1: a wide receiver in that game with more what they
Speaker 1: had won with more than thirty yards. They do not
Speaker 1: have a lot of weapons New England at all. That said,
Speaker 1: the Chiefs defense has been one of the most generous
Speaker 1: against running quarterbacks this season, and some of that trail
Speaker 1: back last year, so it sets up well for Cam Newton,
Speaker 1: you know, and plus these Patriots. They got little Ernie
Speaker 1: Adams tucked away in his cave somewhere coming up with
Speaker 1: something right now. Well, no, it is because it's like
Speaker 1: we forget about him, and it's like, what, wait, suddenly,
Speaker 1: how did Bill Belichick with an undermatched roster pull off
Speaker 1: this upset In Kansas City? There's always Ernie Adams with
Speaker 1: this little glasses sitting up in a room to buy
Speaker 1: some plan right now while we're talking away that we
Speaker 1: have no idea what they're gonna do. You would think
Speaker 1: if Ernie Adams was truly the architect behind the Patriots dynasty,
Speaker 1: they would do them better than putting them in a cave.
Speaker 1: I mean, put them up in a some place, a
Speaker 1: cape cod or something. Get Mark, Now, you don't even
Speaker 1: do something. You don't put him in the lord him.
Speaker 1: You keep him in the dark because he's just standing
Speaker 1: with his little computers. Well, that's not how it works here.
Speaker 1: And one more thing before we move on, Let's give
Speaker 1: some love to the Chiefs defense, because it's always all
Speaker 1: about the Chiefs offense. And that's fair because it's uh
Speaker 1: an iconic level offense led by the best quarterback in
Speaker 1: the world. However, Uh, this Chief's defense held Lamar Jackson
Speaker 1: over a hundred passing yards the Raven on Monday Night.
Speaker 1: The UH leading receiver for Baltimore was J. K. Dobbins,
Speaker 1: who had thirty eight yards and a safety valve role.
Speaker 1: Uh they kept Lamar got his yards on the ground,
Speaker 1: but it also they didn't let him run wild. They
Speaker 1: did a great job of that. The Chiefs defense is good.
Speaker 1: I'm not saying it's close to what the offense is,
Speaker 1: but it's good and it's a deadly combination. Stagnolo's got.
Speaker 1: The history against Belichick hasn't really done, you know, great,
Speaker 1: I would say in Kansas City against the Patriots. But
Speaker 1: he's a game plan coach and sometimes he can come
Speaker 1: up with a game plan that the other team just
Speaker 1: has no coming for. That was the case last week.
Speaker 1: I've come he's a champion. It sounds like you're getting
Speaker 1: when Eli hoisted the trophy along the competitive Alright, Mark Seso,
Speaker 1: you're up next now. I teased earlier in the week
Speaker 1: that you had to be ready because your favorite team,
Speaker 1: the Browns, are playing the Cowboys, and in the draft
Speaker 1: format of this program, could you risk letting them drop
Speaker 1: because the old zeuser might need to make a football
Speaker 1: decision on Sunday and take that and risk the loss
Speaker 1: of our friendship. So right now you still control the
Speaker 1: board and the narrative. You're up. Well, you hinted at that,
Speaker 1: and I took the hint seriously, and I also, you know,
Speaker 1: I think this is legitly a good game. Right here,
Speaker 1: Cleveland goes into Dallas, and for me, what I want
Speaker 1: to see is, I think this game tells us a
Speaker 1: lot about first year Browns coach Kevin Stefanski, because you've
Speaker 1: won two in a row by playing Brown's football like
Speaker 1: nineteen sixty four. You've got the only two the only
Speaker 1: team in the league with two backs the two hundred
Speaker 1: plus yards and Nick chov and Kareem Hunt. They've been great.
Speaker 1: And now you go into Dallas and the only thing
Speaker 1: is if you watched what Seattle did Tyler Lockett, dk
Speaker 1: metcalf against the Dallas secondary, aren't you tempted to unleash
Speaker 1: the ball? Unleash Baker Mayfield after two games where he
Speaker 1: really hasn't you know? He's been not want I don't
Speaker 1: want to use the word game manager, because I think
Speaker 1: he's played well, but they have been a run team.
Speaker 1: Why do you not air it out against the secondary
Speaker 1: that got absolutely flamed and has been flamed week after week.
Speaker 1: It might be the game that helps Odell Beckham get
Speaker 1: back in a really good mood. Jarvis Landry my questions
Speaker 1: if you can trust Baker Mayfield to have that kind
Speaker 1: of game. I mean, we just haven't seen it this year.
Speaker 1: He was really clean against the Bengals, but it hasn't
Speaker 1: been these sort of Matt Ryan four hundred yard performances.
Speaker 1: This may be the game that begs the breakout because
Speaker 1: I don't really trust Cleveland's secondary, even if they have
Speaker 1: Denzel Ward to shut down what I think is the
Speaker 1: best group of wide receivers in the league in Dallas.
Speaker 1: I'm with you. I think Baker the last two weeks
Speaker 1: he reminds me it's like his postgame interviews. It's like
Speaker 1: this buttoned up Baker. The way he's playing the game
Speaker 1: isn't doesn't. It feels like the real Baker is underneath.
Speaker 1: He's being held down. They're barely throwing the ball fifty
Speaker 1: times in two weeks is outrageous and the way to
Speaker 1: take advantage of this Cowboys secondary, which they don't understand
Speaker 1: what's going on, Like Mike Nolan is running his graduate level.
Speaker 1: All these crazy blitzes and different coverages, and every fifth
Speaker 1: play there's some huge bust And so you look at that,
Speaker 1: you're right mark on film and you think we attack, attack, attack,
Speaker 1: And I think you'll only get so far running it
Speaker 1: as heavily as they have. They have to get a
Speaker 1: little more out of their passing game. So it's a
Speaker 1: big show me game for Baker. I was curious what
Speaker 1: you guys thought about the Browns in Week three because
Speaker 1: I watched the game, and Chubb jumps out obviously because
Speaker 1: he's a star and he's a closer. I didn't think
Speaker 1: they played that well against Washington and and and they
Speaker 1: took the they were trailing in the fourth quarter, and
Speaker 1: they got the big plays, and they got the gift
Speaker 1: of some Dwayne Haskins interceptions. But it's the Cincinnati game
Speaker 1: of prime time. Was a fun game that got them
Speaker 1: back on their feet. I was expecting them to kind
Speaker 1: of trounce uh Washington, and it was way closer and
Speaker 1: less impressive than I thought it would be. So I
Speaker 1: think this is a game, and I know the Desert
Speaker 1: people like the Cowboys a lot as well, uh that
Speaker 1: they're gonna have to play better. And I'm on the
Speaker 1: same page as both of you guys. To do that,
Speaker 1: you're gonna have to have more balance, especially when you're
Speaker 1: playing at Dallas offense, as good as they are. If
Speaker 1: the Cowboys and Dak Prescott go up, let's say four
Speaker 1: teen three, and you can't lean on the two headed
Speaker 1: monster in the backfield. Is your passing game ready for
Speaker 1: that challenge? Well? Nor should you. I mean you have
Speaker 1: Audell Beckham, you have Jarvis Landry, you have a great
Speaker 1: group of tight ends. You can throw to your Kareem Hunt,
Speaker 1: you can throw to Nick Chubb two. I mean you've
Speaker 1: got to diversify that. I am with you on the
Speaker 1: Washington game. I think what happened a little bit. They
Speaker 1: had a terrible third quarter. I liked it. They stuck
Speaker 1: to who they were in the fourth quarter, came back
Speaker 1: and got the win. They didn't completely lose themselves, which
Speaker 1: you saw a lot last year and over the last
Speaker 1: twenty five years. Frankly, but this is an acid test
Speaker 1: for their offense. So Dan, I think you're right, you
Speaker 1: need to see more. I would say I watched a
Speaker 1: little miked up Week three action with Baker Mayfield, and
Speaker 1: he wasn't the guy is in front of the press.
Speaker 1: He was all lit up and talking to people left
Speaker 1: and right. So I don't think that he's quite I
Speaker 1: don't think we completely have like a body snatched scenario
Speaker 1: here from Baker Mayfield. So personality they they have though
Speaker 1: with the Cowboys often. I mean it's been a lot
Speaker 1: of rust letting rest cook talk this year. How about
Speaker 1: letting that cook. I mean you could tell Jason Garrett
Speaker 1: is no longer on that staff when they start a
Speaker 1: game throwing the ball six straight times and he's throwing
Speaker 1: it fifty times. They have three receivers on pace for
Speaker 1: more than yards. Michael Gallup might be the best receiver
Speaker 1: in this game. I mean he is so physical, he
Speaker 1: is so fast. He is playing as well as Amari
Speaker 1: Cooper as well as Odell Beckham. Certainly like the way
Speaker 1: he can get catches at the catchpoint, like in a
Speaker 1: tough situation, aation. I really love what I'm seeing out
Speaker 1: of him. When Ceedee Lamb can be your third receiver,
Speaker 1: that's that's a great situation. Wilson scoring two touchdowns out
Speaker 1: of the blue, I mean they've got their loaded. Yeah,
Speaker 1: that guy was a fantasy nightmare for people, But good
Speaker 1: job by him. And yet with the Cowboys, like, here
Speaker 1: we are again. They're one and two, they're very they're
Speaker 1: non side kick away from oh and three, and the
Speaker 1: defense is a has been a travesty so far, and
Speaker 1: you just you just wonder whether all that summer of
Speaker 1: hype again was talking about an eight and eight team.
Speaker 1: I mean, they've allowed what about eighty points, seventy eight
Speaker 1: points and close to I believe, eight hundred yards of
Speaker 1: total offense in the past two weeks alone. They just
Speaker 1: they need to be so much better than they are
Speaker 1: right now. They get Tyrann Smith back this week, but
Speaker 1: you're right, the defense is harder to figure out. They
Speaker 1: have the guys on the defensive line, Jalen Smith, that linebacker,
Speaker 1: you know, that should be the identity of this defense,
Speaker 1: and he's struggling. He really misses Layton Vanderesh next to him.
Speaker 1: So again, it's a game. I think you're gonna have
Speaker 1: to score if you're the Browns. All right, I am
Speaker 1: up next in the draft, so I will go with, Oh,
Speaker 1: it's gonna be a great late Sunday because not only so,
Speaker 1: you're gonna put gonna have two screens up, so I'm
Speaker 1: gonna have Pats Chiefs Romo Nance on the big screen,
Speaker 1: and then on my monitor, I'm gonna have Bills at Raiders,
Speaker 1: and uh, I think the Bill can look behind it
Speaker 1: your text scenario over there in handsas manner. Yeah, it's
Speaker 1: a little peek behind the curtain here in a pandemic essential.
Speaker 1: But yeah, the Bills are kind of musty TV right
Speaker 1: now because of the way they're playing in the game.
Speaker 1: They're coming off against the Rams, which was just wild
Speaker 1: when you watch that game, how they jumped out ahead,
Speaker 1: how things flamed out and then the recovery and uh.
Speaker 1: And I got some heat from Bills fans because I
Speaker 1: thought it was a little fraudulent to get super pumped
Speaker 1: up about Josh Allen his final touchdown drive when he
Speaker 1: was essentially bailed out by a suspect pass interference call.
Speaker 1: But also that's not necessarily fair because he did convert
Speaker 1: that third in twenty and then got them on a
Speaker 1: on a second, third and forever, which he was responsible
Speaker 1: for with a face mask, but still getting them to
Speaker 1: fourth and eight, which set up the uh the p
Speaker 1: I call, and then he made the past across. So like, yeah,
Speaker 1: I mean, look what Josh Allen's done. He's still doing
Speaker 1: the stuff that occasionally drives you crazy, but everything he's
Speaker 1: just such a they We entered this year like, oh,
Speaker 1: if he could take the next step the Bills, he's
Speaker 1: taking three steps. I mean, let's face it, he's a
Speaker 1: guy that is to be game planned and feared for.
Speaker 1: Uh And now you go to the Raiders at at
Speaker 1: the what do they call it, not the black Hole
Speaker 1: at the Death Star? The Death Star which is which
Speaker 1: is a Star Trek reference, of course, and it's just like,
Speaker 1: I don't know, uh no, I know market Stars, but
Speaker 1: I just think the Raiders are frisky. They're gonna be
Speaker 1: frisky in their building this year. It's another test for
Speaker 1: this Bill's team now at three and oh, to continue
Speaker 1: to stack stack wins against the Raiders team where you
Speaker 1: don't really know which team is going to show up.
Speaker 1: You love this Bill's team, Mark, I mean, you can
Speaker 1: just enjoy it. You say, you know, walk your wife,
Speaker 1: you know, take a premature victory, laugh about Josh Allen.
Speaker 1: You know, nothing could go wrong the rest of this season.
Speaker 1: Enjoying I mean premature, premature. I mean, I'll roll with
Speaker 1: him week to week with the way he's playing. I mean,
Speaker 1: I guess, should I be getting more excited about Derek
Speaker 1: Carr and the Raiders. Who, Hey, you want a chance
Speaker 1: to beat New England, how about don't turn the ball
Speaker 1: over three times, and one of them in the end
Speaker 1: zone when Derek Carr's dropped for a safety, loses the
Speaker 1: ball and it ends up being the game ceiling touchdown
Speaker 1: for New England. The Raiders are an interesting team. You know,
Speaker 1: we all know about Darren Waller, I love Josh Jacobs.
Speaker 1: We've talked about it week after week. But they are
Speaker 1: not a team that's gonna go in and beat teams
Speaker 1: like Buffalo in New England with a lot of mistakes.
Speaker 1: They just aren't. And and and if you want to
Speaker 1: scout against their offense, you've got three plus decades to
Speaker 1: look at what John Gruden's done on all because it's
Speaker 1: not really changed a bit. Well it's good though, I'm
Speaker 1: not worried about I mean exactly when it works, it works.
Speaker 1: When it works, it works. But you can't go and
Speaker 1: put the ball on the carpet three times. They totally melted.
Speaker 1: They totally a little flu But part of it is injuries.
Speaker 1: And uh, I think that's a huge story in this game,
Speaker 1: Like most of these games this year. UH, the Raiders
Speaker 1: are missing both of their rookie wide receivers. We know
Speaker 1: Ruggs is out, We'll see about Brian Edwards, but that
Speaker 1: removes a lot of the speed that they were really
Speaker 1: expecting to have. They haven't had Trent Brown in a while.
Speaker 1: The right tackle and his replacement, Denzel Good was a
Speaker 1: big part of that problem, was a big part of
Speaker 1: those fumbles. Mark, and so you look at that matchup
Speaker 1: and then you you think about can we keep up
Speaker 1: scoring against the Bills. Devin Singletary is a guy to
Speaker 1: watch this week. I Mean, everyone got excited about Zack
Speaker 1: Moss before the season, but he he has no Devin Singletary.
Speaker 1: Singletary just has the vision and the moves that that's rare.
Speaker 1: Like he's not that fast, he's not that sudden, and
Speaker 1: yet he is so effective. I think it's because he
Speaker 1: just sees the field well. He's like a young, smaller
Speaker 1: Frank Gore and man, he can run well. And uh,
Speaker 1: the Raiders to me, Tony Romo was talking all last week,
Speaker 1: Oh wow, they have great effort. That's fine, they don't
Speaker 1: have the talent on defense. This is not a good defense.
Speaker 1: To Mark's point, to alright, the talent isn't great on
Speaker 1: the defensive side of the ball, but they were moving
Speaker 1: the ball against the Patriots in New England early on
Speaker 1: in that game. Uh, and just weren't playing clean enough football.
Speaker 1: You can't go to Foxboro and be putting it on
Speaker 1: the carpet and getting drawn off sides on fourth and
Speaker 1: two and all that stuff. You just gotta be sharper
Speaker 1: to be the Belichick team. But uh, I love this
Speaker 1: game because it's a nice test. It's a litmus test
Speaker 1: for the Bills. How good are the Bills Because they
Speaker 1: can go on the road here and not have their
Speaker 1: best game and lose, and it's fine, there's three and
Speaker 1: one and they'll go on. But if they go there
Speaker 1: and just whip up on the Raiders, it's like, Okay,
Speaker 1: we might be actually dealing with a potential superpower in
Speaker 1: the a f C. Uh So I'm excited to see
Speaker 1: how that goes. You want to lock that game up.
Speaker 1: By the way, we just talked about how did you
Speaker 1: how did you know that doubt from Josh locking up
Speaker 1: the Bills? Bills Nations, stop Bill's mafia, stop coming at me.
Speaker 1: I just locked you all right, there you go. They're
Speaker 1: still gonna come after you. Okay, alright, moving on to
Speaker 1: snakes to the old Zeuser. Alright, so I beautifully set
Speaker 1: up my late afternoon with two really solid games, so
Speaker 1: now I'm gonna take a game of intrigue early. I
Speaker 1: also don't have the Jets on my plate dirty out
Speaker 1: of the way on Thursday, so nothing to make me depressed.
Speaker 1: I'm gonna love this Sunday. So let's go with the
Speaker 1: two and one Colts at the Chicago Bears, the undefeated Bears,
Speaker 1: that Soldier field with Nick Foles now as the starting quarterback.
Speaker 1: And let's let's face it, like nobody bought into the
Speaker 1: start of the season to the Bears when they were
Speaker 1: two and oh, and even last week, you know, they
Speaker 1: get to three and oh. But the Falcons are just
Speaker 1: like a morgue of a football team right now, and
Speaker 1: it's just really sad, and they don't know how to
Speaker 1: close games. So a little bit of fortitude there. But
Speaker 1: you know, I think that Nick Foles makes this team
Speaker 1: kind of interesting. Now you spot them three wins, so
Speaker 1: he takes over a team now that's three and oh,
Speaker 1: and I don't think they're by any stretch a you know,
Speaker 1: a real difference maker or a team that's a Super
Speaker 1: Bowl contender in the NFC. But you can't discount them,
Speaker 1: especially with fowls have shown us in the past, so
Speaker 1: you have foals and the other side of it is
Speaker 1: the Cults, who to me are very interesting because you
Speaker 1: don't really know. We talked about this on Sunday's Last
Speaker 1: Sunday's podcast. Greg, don't really know what to make of
Speaker 1: them so far. They have that kind of old style
Speaker 1: Philip phil Rivers loss in Week one, and the last
Speaker 1: two weeks the schedules lightened up and they've taken care
Speaker 1: of business and been kind of a ball control, defense
Speaker 1: oriented team. Where do you stand on this one, Greg?
Speaker 1: I like the Cults because I like them up front,
Speaker 1: but you're right, I don't know who they are offensively.
Speaker 1: That's especially true because they didn't have to do much
Speaker 1: against Minnesota and the Jets. This is a game though,
Speaker 1: where you like the Colts offensive line to win the
Speaker 1: battle against the Bears as best players Khalil Mack, Achem Hicks,
Speaker 1: Robert Quinn. They've been a little up and down this year.
Speaker 1: The Bears defense has been good overall, but I think
Speaker 1: you look at that side of the ball in the
Speaker 1: trenches and then you flip it over to the Colts defense.
Speaker 1: You got the forest bucking, you're playing outstanding. This could
Speaker 1: be a team with two top five lines. Like Philip
Speaker 1: Rivers has never done so little to win two games.
Speaker 1: He's loving life and that the football heads tell you
Speaker 1: you'll win the game and the trenches Cessla. That's the
Speaker 1: Indianapolis Colts ways. Listen to those I listened to those
Speaker 1: football heads, especially when they when they sound like that. Greg.
Speaker 1: I needed the Bears to become something different than the
Speaker 1: Mitch Drabinsky lad Bears. It's just my personal bias. I
Speaker 1: found them dull um. I still don't know if I
Speaker 1: need this much Cordarold Patterson in my life. I'm not.
Speaker 1: Maybe I need to be higher than on David Montgomery
Speaker 1: than I am. But I tell you what, Nick Foles,
Speaker 1: it wasn't just he came in and beat them. They
Speaker 1: overcame a lot. He threw a bad interception in that game,
Speaker 1: they had some weird calls, they punted a couple of
Speaker 1: times out of the gate. Then he got hot, and
Speaker 1: it really reminded me of the Nick Foles when he
Speaker 1: gets that little magic wand touching his head. Suddenly bang,
Speaker 1: he becomes this completely different players. So the Bears arrow
Speaker 1: up on their intrigue. But I'll tell you what, I
Speaker 1: like the way this Cults uh matchup lines up for Indianapolis,
Speaker 1: and I have to do this. I have to lock
Speaker 1: up the Indianapolis Cults in this game because I just
Speaker 1: cannot imagine an undefeated Bears team. You know what, I
Speaker 1: thought the same thing last week with the Bears when
Speaker 1: they played the Falcons and the Genius for three and
Speaker 1: a half quarters and they got me. I almost locked
Speaker 1: this one up two Mark. I think it's a really
Speaker 1: solid lock because I think the Colts, especially what they've
Speaker 1: shown on defense, and again small sample size, he got
Speaker 1: a factor in the opposition, but statistically they're the number
Speaker 1: one defense in the league right now. And if Rivers
Speaker 1: can just play smart with Jonathan Taylor, I think they're
Speaker 1: gonna win a lot of games. And the Bears kind
Speaker 1: of like what I was saying with the Bills situation
Speaker 1: this week, if the Bears lose their they're gonna be
Speaker 1: all right. Like they're the sense of I'm not saying
Speaker 1: they have less sense of urgency, but like this feels
Speaker 1: like it sets up well for the Colts to go
Speaker 1: get a w the Bears go home, or they're they're
Speaker 1: still at home. They're like, all right, we're fine with
Speaker 1: three and one, and the Cults are somebody. Now we
Speaker 1: start to talk about as an a f C player,
Speaker 1: cults are thin, though, you know, I'm curious how this
Speaker 1: offense does against a good defense. Now, they're not just
Speaker 1: missing Marlon Mack and they miss him because Jonathan Taylor
Speaker 1: is not quite seen holes. He's having the problems a
Speaker 1: lot of rookie running backs have. The games just moving
Speaker 1: a little fast from there without Paris Campbell, there without
Speaker 1: Michael Pittman. So we we were very excited about this
Speaker 1: young group of playmakers around Philip Rivers. Three of the
Speaker 1: most important ones aren't there right now, so that they're
Speaker 1: a little more limited. And that's why I'm with you, Mark,
Speaker 1: I think the Cults are gonna win. I thought about
Speaker 1: it too as a lot, but I think gonna be
Speaker 1: white knuckling this one. This just feels like a low
Speaker 1: scoring close game that the Colts getting, you know. And yeah,
Speaker 1: and Dan's talking about his multiple TVs and all this
Speaker 1: other stuff at his house and how fun it is
Speaker 1: to be watching like five games at once. When I'm
Speaker 1: doing that, and I'm you know, at the same time,
Speaker 1: I'm dealing with a lock that's heading in the wrong direction.
Speaker 1: You know, Sundays can get real, they can become a
Speaker 1: bubbling mess. So I need to be happy, enjoy it,
Speaker 1: I know. But according to Dan, that means I have
Speaker 1: no sense of urgency at this point, and I'm just
Speaker 1: sort of walking into a loss. So I'm not worried
Speaker 1: about your urgency level. It doesn't really affect this game.
Speaker 1: But yeah, I I understand why there could be stress
Speaker 1: and locks. We've sat next to you for years in
Speaker 1: that newsroom. Mark. When the lock is on the line,
Speaker 1: there's it gets real for you. So I hope, I
Speaker 1: hope it works out. I'm a competitor. You are, You're
Speaker 1: one of the great, but you're Michael Jordan when it
Speaker 1: comes to NFL locks for meaningless competitions, you are Michael
Speaker 1: Jordan's in. Well, there's like four or five of us
Speaker 1: participating at all, so you know someone has to be
Speaker 1: Time now for a road to victory presented by the
Speaker 1: United States Marine Corps up next draft, Mark Sessler, all right, well,
Speaker 1: you know this game is not something I would have
Speaker 1: probably picked a couple of weeks ago, but I'm gonna
Speaker 1: go Detroit, New Orleans. I am impressed with what Detroit
Speaker 1: did on defense against the Cardinals. You know, we were
Speaker 1: all talking about the Cardinals as the team that had
Speaker 1: arrived and fulfilled the hype, and I think that there's
Speaker 1: a lot to that team. But Detroit, after getting really
Speaker 1: lacerated a couple of weeks in a row, got a
Speaker 1: little healthier in their secondary. Intercepted Kyler Murray three times, gentlemen,
Speaker 1: four first rounder got to pick what it should have
Speaker 1: been for your right, so they really I thought they
Speaker 1: threw Kyler Murray off his access a little bit in
Speaker 1: that game, and so they're not a team however that
Speaker 1: rushes the passer at all and said they don't even
Speaker 1: choose to And that sets up well for Drew Brees,
Speaker 1: who gets you know, Michael Thomas is working this week.
Speaker 1: He's back at practice. Uh. In theory, the offense could
Speaker 1: be completely different with him back in there. So this
Speaker 1: is I just want to see, like with all the
Speaker 1: panics surrounding the Drew Brees and the Saints in general,
Speaker 1: you know, and Sean Payton sound at you know, Sean
Speaker 1: Payton gets agitated when people talk about him or his team,
Speaker 1: and it sounds like he's been agitated and responding to
Speaker 1: some of the criticism. So I didn't get fired up
Speaker 1: Saints team and against the Lions here. I love it
Speaker 1: when he gets fired up at his own coaches. I mean,
Speaker 1: he seems a little agitated about his defensive coordinator, Dennis
Speaker 1: Allen saying that the blown assignments they had last week
Speaker 1: was like watching a high school team. I mean, you know,
Speaker 1: that reminds me of Sean Payton with Greg Williams. It
Speaker 1: reminds me of Sean Payton with Rob Ryan. It's like
Speaker 1: it used to be one of my favorite recurring segments.
Speaker 1: Sean Payton throws his defensive coordinator under the bus. And
Speaker 1: maybe now it's back for a new season. They need
Speaker 1: their starts to play better. Cam Jordan's hasn't done much.
Speaker 1: Marshawn Lattimore uh is not playing at the high level
Speaker 1: he did as a rookie. So there's some frustration in
Speaker 1: New Orleans. It makes it fun. I agree. I totally
Speaker 1: agree this frustration. There. There's a sense in building that
Speaker 1: they are way better than what they've showed so far,
Speaker 1: and uh, you know, I still think this is a
Speaker 1: team that's gonna be okay. I I in my power rankings,
Speaker 1: I dropped them down near the bottom of the top ten.
Speaker 1: But that's still that shows that I think that the
Speaker 1: team that's ready to be a big push, that they're
Speaker 1: gonna be okay. And I think it starts here. I
Speaker 1: think the Lions. Yes, I was impressed as well that
Speaker 1: their defense showed up and contain not just Kyler Murray
Speaker 1: through the air with the three picks, but also on
Speaker 1: the ground where he had a bit I think twenty
Speaker 1: nine rushing guards. I mean he almost he took Jeff
Speaker 1: of Cuda Soul on that one touchdown scram within a
Speaker 1: Kuda showing some resiliency, jumps that route and gets a
Speaker 1: big interception that sets up points. So respect to the
Speaker 1: Lions and Matt Patricia, who man, Matt Patricia needed that win,
Speaker 1: that he was staring down the barrel potential. He just
Speaker 1: the one eleven in their last twelve games. Right, It's
Speaker 1: like that is not a streak that Matt Patricia can say, yes,
Speaker 1: but look back on my multiple playoff wins from years.
Speaker 1: He needed he needed that. He absolutely that was a
Speaker 1: much needed win. But I don't think he's gonna follow
Speaker 1: it up with another w I think with especially if
Speaker 1: we got Michael Thomas involved Drew Brees. Everyone is obsessed
Speaker 1: with how far he's throwing the ball, but he was
Speaker 1: moving that offense last week. The defense is gonna wake up.
Speaker 1: Watch out for Cam Jordan to have a monster. I'm
Speaker 1: the leader of this defense team. And when you put
Speaker 1: it all together, it's time to get up. Let's Saints
Speaker 1: get straight, get right. The Falcons absolutely took my soul
Speaker 1: in this uh, in this game UH last week. The
Speaker 1: Saints are gonna get right, get behind good coaching and
Speaker 1: a good roster. It's good luck. I like it. I
Speaker 1: like it. I do want to bring up a new segment.
Speaker 1: I want to introduce to the show. Um, and that's
Speaker 1: something I'm gonna call Mark, Are you still ready to
Speaker 1: die on Taysom Hill? And that's to say, it's a
Speaker 1: question till that. That's pure straggling. It's tough for that.
Speaker 1: They Taysom Hill fans out there right now. Well that's
Speaker 1: the whole thing. It's like people like Taysom Hill when
Speaker 1: he you know, made bad games fun and he he
Speaker 1: operated as a completely unpredictable uh. Skill position, talent andlike
Speaker 1: we've seen before. And then it's like just it's very
Speaker 1: Twitter middle school for everyone to turn on him. No
Speaker 1: the minute. The minute he you know, makes a big play,
Speaker 1: it's like the big mistake, it's like, oh, suddenly, like
Speaker 1: everyone knows the secrets on Taysom Hill. We're revealing who
Speaker 1: this player really is. I'm still completely in the camp
Speaker 1: of Taysom Hill. This guy is going to do things
Speaker 1: that we've never thought of before. Down the road, Greg,
Speaker 1: I still like Taysom Hill. They'll dye in on Taysom Hill. Okay,
Speaker 1: that still he's on top of Taysom Hill. Yeah, he
Speaker 1: hasn't really done anything to make the offense better through
Speaker 1: three weeks, and he may have cost him the game
Speaker 1: in week three, but he could still be I'm not
Speaker 1: I I like that you're having fun with Mark and
Speaker 1: getting them fired up here, but I think he could
Speaker 1: still have moments of this offense. Maybe he won't have
Speaker 1: eight touchdowns again or whatever. But Drew Brees needs to
Speaker 1: calm down. If he's behind the scenes chirping that Taysom
Speaker 1: Hill shouldn't be involved with this offense. Not that I
Speaker 1: know he's doing that, but can't you see it? I
Speaker 1: was like, are you breaking some news there? Can't you
Speaker 1: see a closed door meeting? All right, Greg, it's up
Speaker 1: to you. I'm going Chargers Bucks. I am intrigued about
Speaker 1: this quarterback matchup. I mean, it's got you know, one
Speaker 1: guy who might go to Canton, but it's got another
Speaker 1: guy justin Herbert, who I'm enjoying watching. Yeah, probably wow,
Speaker 1: I think he I'm joking. I mean, he's the greatest
Speaker 1: of all time, but you know what you're gonna get.
Speaker 1: Herbert has been a pleasant surprise to me. I love
Speaker 1: the way he moves. I can't remember a six six
Speaker 1: quarterback this athletic. It almost feels like this is happening
Speaker 1: in every sport. Like there's taller tennis players like Nick
Speaker 1: Curios who are just more athletic than ever. There are
Speaker 1: taller NBA players who are just more athletic than they've
Speaker 1: ever been in. Herbert moves so well. I know he's
Speaker 1: only an inter two taller than Cam Newton, for instance,
Speaker 1: but he's sort of movement skills and some of the
Speaker 1: plays he made a very natural feel in the pocket,
Speaker 1: getting outside, rolling to his left and just flicking at
Speaker 1: sixty yards down the field. That is some Aaron Rodgers stuff,
Speaker 1: and he's made them really fun to watch. I don't
Speaker 1: know if they're a great team, but I think that
Speaker 1: he'll make this game entertaining. I'm happy with this pick.
Speaker 1: I mean, I think some of the taller athletes are
Speaker 1: being made up by much shorter sportswriters. This show includes
Speaker 1: at least two of them, and you know, that's just
Speaker 1: the way humanity works. But I love the fact that
Speaker 1: you know there's there's two plus decades separating these two players,
Speaker 1: and I know Tom Brady is thinking about that. He's like,
Speaker 1: I'm not gonna go lose to a rookie here, although
Speaker 1: he's not on defense. The problem, I think a little
Speaker 1: bit for the Chargers is the injuries are piling up.
Speaker 1: You've lost Chris Harris. I mean, yeah, you still have
Speaker 1: some you still have some genuine talent up front, but
Speaker 1: it's not the way that they were, that's not the
Speaker 1: way they plan to come into the season. You're just
Speaker 1: you're down a lot of guys and you're basically started
Speaker 1: with the rookie quarterback. I mean, that's that's a the
Speaker 1: Chargers wanted to win games. We talked about it's like
Speaker 1: seventeen to sixteen. The Bucks want to win games thirty
Speaker 1: to twelve. And you know they don't have Chris Godwin.
Speaker 1: That's an issue. Um, you know, they've got injuries of
Speaker 1: their own on offense. But I still think that the
Speaker 1: Tom Brady and Mike Evans chemistry that did not take long.
Speaker 1: Those two are on the same page. I mean, that
Speaker 1: was very straight. That was a the strangest stat line
Speaker 1: I could ever remember was Sunday for the Bucks against
Speaker 1: the Broncos. Mike Evans two catches for two yards for
Speaker 1: two touchdowns. So while they aren't necessarily lighting it up
Speaker 1: at least against Denver, yes, you could tell there's a
Speaker 1: comfort level between those two players that you can look
Speaker 1: at week two also, I mean they've had they've had
Speaker 1: their moments. Ye yeah, I think that it's interesting looking
Speaker 1: at the Bucks on a week to week. They've definitely
Speaker 1: made into incremental gains on offense. But even last week
Speaker 1: they I think they had about fifty total yards and
Speaker 1: three points in the second half against Denver. So they're
Speaker 1: not all the way there, but the defense is. And
Speaker 1: you just got to kind of give credit organizationally to
Speaker 1: them understanding what they needed to do in the offseason,
Speaker 1: keeping Jason Pierre Paul and dom Kin, Sue uh Shaq Barrett,
Speaker 1: keeping them all in the building knowing they had Devin
Speaker 1: White and Lavante David and just have this fearsome up
Speaker 1: front seven And I thought it was interesting with Arian
Speaker 1: said after Sunday's win that when they got Tom Brady,
Speaker 1: they were like, Oh, Tom Brady is our savior. He's
Speaker 1: the guy. Now it's gonna take us to the super Bowl.
Speaker 1: They viewed it and his quote was he was Brady
Speaker 1: was icing on the on top of the cake. That
Speaker 1: that was how they view it. They think this defense
Speaker 1: is that what's gonna take them deep, and based on
Speaker 1: what we've seen both this year and how last year closed,
Speaker 1: I think they're gonna be a lot of trouble and
Speaker 1: they certainly have the look right now, especially if the
Speaker 1: Bucks offense continues to grow as a team that's gonna
Speaker 1: be near the top of the standings late into December. Yeah,
Speaker 1: we talked about them, Scory. Remember you're making fun of
Speaker 1: me for saying they were going to score forty points
Speaker 1: on the rag. I think it's what I said, which
Speaker 1: was an absurd thing. Someone twenty years younger than you
Speaker 1: should say, but I stand by it. I with you, Dan,
Speaker 1: This offense is gonna get better and better week after
Speaker 1: we've been good. Though it hasn't been good. It's a
Speaker 1: mediocre offense. There twenty four yards per play there there
Speaker 1: below that. I think in net yards per tempt they
Speaker 1: don't have. I don't think he has good chemistry with
Speaker 1: Evans right now at all. He's not really sure what
Speaker 1: he's gonna do. Scotty Miller is a little banged up
Speaker 1: Godwin's and and it almost doesn't matter, Like they don't
Speaker 1: need to have a great offense. They are kind of
Speaker 1: embodying what everyone said about the Bucks a year ago.
Speaker 1: They're just like, you know, if Jamis Winston didn't turn
Speaker 1: the ball over four or five times every game, they'd
Speaker 1: win a lot of games. And like that's the Bucks.
Speaker 1: They'll get better. But you're right, it's a defense. It's
Speaker 1: the Bowls of Sons. Give your boys some love, Dan,
Speaker 1: Todd Bowls. I mean, he's not my my boy. I
Speaker 1: like Todd Bowles. He was an unsuccessful head coach for
Speaker 1: the Jets, but he's a perfect defensive coordinator, just like
Speaker 1: he was in Arizona. And I'll just say this. Greg.
Speaker 1: On the last week on the Around the NFL podcast
Speaker 1: Flagship show on Sunday Night, when we recap all these games,
Speaker 1: you had mentioned the lateral play Keenan Allen to Austin
Speaker 1: Ekeler that nearly led to a miracle win for the Chargers.
Speaker 1: That was I can't believe that that did not Was
Speaker 1: it happened? It was it, and it's it's it's it's
Speaker 1: such a Chargers thing. It's such a Chargers thing. There's
Speaker 1: only a handful of franchises that would let the game
Speaker 1: end that way. Maybe Herbert was a little late on
Speaker 1: the throw that led to Keenan Allen how to catch
Speaker 1: it and flip it in one motion, which led to
Speaker 1: the accuracy issue on it. But it was way closer. Oh,
Speaker 1: it's such Oh my god, let's move on, Greg. It's
Speaker 1: snakes to you. Some teams, man, they know how to
Speaker 1: twist the knife on the fans. Alright, Kate. Week four,
Speaker 1: these are these are two teams that need to win badly.
Speaker 1: It's the Vikings and the Texans. And you know how
Speaker 1: about a team that likes to twist the knife on
Speaker 1: their fan. That's that's the Minnesota Vikings. I choose this game,
Speaker 1: even though they haven't won, because there are two playoff
Speaker 1: teams from a year ago that really you to win
Speaker 1: bad and I'm not ready to dig dirt on the grave,
Speaker 1: at least not of the winner of this game. Oh
Speaker 1: and four, though, is a tough hill of the climb
Speaker 1: out of I like the Texans in this game because
Speaker 1: of Deshaun Watson, because of what he showed uh last week,
Speaker 1: and because he's playing this Vikings defense. Even though Minnesota's
Speaker 1: offense has had some moments this year, the defense really hasn't.
Speaker 1: I mean the defensive line, especially on the interior. I
Speaker 1: think the Texans will be able to run a little
Speaker 1: more in this game, and I think the Texans passing
Speaker 1: attack has gotten a little better each week. They have
Speaker 1: four receivers that they can go to their None of
Speaker 1: them are amazing, but you don't need to be amazing
Speaker 1: to take advantage of this Viking secondary right now. And
Speaker 1: so it comes down to like who do you trust,
Speaker 1: Kirk Cousins or Deshaun Watson. I'm taking Watson. Well. I
Speaker 1: trust Watson as well, and I trust him not dealing
Speaker 1: with you know, Pittsburgh's front front seven like you did
Speaker 1: last week. I just he looked to me. I was like,
Speaker 1: is this guy having any fun in this offense? Because
Speaker 1: he has just taken a lot of punishment and they've
Speaker 1: been on they haven't been as productive. The one thing
Speaker 1: that when when Will Fuller is the kind of guy
Speaker 1: that you can trust for about seven games a year
Speaker 1: before like a hamstring blows up. But he really I
Speaker 1: really like him when he's in there. I think he's
Speaker 1: a difference maker. I'm not sold on the rest of
Speaker 1: the attack right now, though, I am I wrong on this.
Speaker 1: I just Houston defenses in the league. Well that's so,
Speaker 1: I said, Yet so sell so sell me now, I mean,
Speaker 1: because you're running out of time to sell us on anything.
Speaker 1: If you're the Houston Texans. Yeah, well we are at
Speaker 1: a point now. Last week we were in the games
Speaker 1: for the Texans and Vikings. That was the cornered animal
Speaker 1: game for both of them. We present that as the
Speaker 1: game where it's a frisky team, a team that should
Speaker 1: be good, that got out of the gate slowly and
Speaker 1: when you put an animal in a corner, you better
Speaker 1: watch out. Well, after two more losses for these teams
Speaker 1: oh and four, there's no coming back from so we
Speaker 1: will call this, they go from the corner, animal cornered animal.
Speaker 1: This is the road kill game. Folks do grow look
Speaker 1: away children, because whoever loses this game is scrape them
Speaker 1: off the side of the road. Animal control, do what
Speaker 1: you must. I don't know who. Maybe it's a state trooper.
Speaker 1: I always wondered who has to handle that because it
Speaker 1: seems like gnarly work. Uh, it's all over. Your season
Speaker 1: is over after four weeks. So that's why I think
Speaker 1: this is a fascinating game, because neither of these teams,
Speaker 1: to me, are truly oh and four teams, their teams
Speaker 1: that had either schedule problems or some personnel issues on
Speaker 1: the Viking side where they can't get things straightened out
Speaker 1: in time, and now all of a sudden, there against
Speaker 1: each other. So the road kill game. Someone's alive, someone's dead,
Speaker 1: and there's some drama there, some football drama there. I
Speaker 1: like seeing Mike Zimmer snap at a reporter yesterday. I mean,
Speaker 1: I think that they're feeling it. Both these coaches and
Speaker 1: teams were feeling inside this building. So you lose this one, Dan,
Speaker 1: and you're right, you're not much better than a squirrel
Speaker 1: that was squashed by a you know, a big mac truck.
Speaker 1: Let's hear that again. I'm just curious, but that would
Speaker 1: sound like gross. Look away, that's the road kill game.
Speaker 1: All right, steaks couldn't be higher, could not mark y'ar
Speaker 1: up next? Alright. I know this might not be the
Speaker 1: popular pick in terms of like to uh two Titans.
Speaker 1: There's one team I really like in this though, the
Speaker 1: Eagles visiting the Niners. And I'll tell you what Kyle
Speaker 1: Shanahan is telling you right now who he is. You
Speaker 1: want to give me seven or eight backup players, I'm
Speaker 1: gonna go into New York two weeks in a row
Speaker 1: and drop sixteen or seventeen a bombs and last week
Speaker 1: against all right, that's fine. But the Giants people thought
Speaker 1: were a little frisky, and a lot of people a
Speaker 1: week go over saying all this Niners team, are they
Speaker 1: gonna get away with all this? You know, all their
Speaker 1: guys are gone, their starting quarterback when you're starting quarterbacks,
Speaker 1: and that's a fair complaint. They don't punt the entire game.
Speaker 1: They literally never allowed the Giants to really show a
Speaker 1: sign of life in that. And suddenly Nick Mullins is
Speaker 1: back in our life and he is absolutely looking. He
Speaker 1: gets to the point where Shanahan has to answer questions
Speaker 1: this week and say, no, there is absolutely no chance
Speaker 1: that Nick Mullins is gonna upstage and up unseat Jimmy
Speaker 1: G for the starting position here, because Nick Mullins looked
Speaker 1: as good as Jimmy G has in a while. I'm
Speaker 1: just saying, I think that this isn't a really important game. Also,
Speaker 1: and you guys, I'll let you guys handle the Eagles
Speaker 1: drama this, but look at the Niners schedule coming up
Speaker 1: after this game. You got the Dolphins, but then after
Speaker 1: that is a rough stretch of the Rams, Patriots, Seahawks, Packers,
Speaker 1: and Saints. That's like a double playoff runs. So you
Speaker 1: need these games against these wanting, desperate teams, and the
Speaker 1: Eagles feel like a desperate team to me right now, gentlemen.
Speaker 1: For the Niner side of it, absolutely great job taking
Speaker 1: care of business. The Giants and the Jets are the
Speaker 1: two worst teams in football, and you need to win
Speaker 1: those games, and they did, and you having good they
Speaker 1: want them buy a lot and they want them with
Speaker 1: like kill backups. That's those games when you of good
Speaker 1: coaching and you have depth on the roster. So good
Speaker 1: job by them, and now you start to get hopefully
Speaker 1: you start to get healthy. You lost some guys unfortunately
Speaker 1: for the year in that terrible little stretch of a
Speaker 1: week there. But I you tip the cap to the Niners.
Speaker 1: But then you also wonder, okay, now, what happens when
Speaker 1: you start playing against real NFL teams. That's the only
Speaker 1: thing I'll say about them in terms of couching it
Speaker 1: all due credit for them for do you consider the
Speaker 1: Eagles a real team? I think the Eagles because they're
Speaker 1: a desperate team as well. Right now, I think this
Speaker 1: will be a great test for both teams. I think
Speaker 1: it's a good game. I think it's fascinating. But the
Speaker 1: Eagles aren't playing They're playing like a real defense. I
Speaker 1: like Malik Jackson. The pass rush is totally healthy, by
Speaker 1: the way, and they should be fine, but the the
Speaker 1: offense is terrible. I mean, Carson wentzays double the amount
Speaker 1: of turnover worthy plays according to PFF than any quarterback
Speaker 1: in the league. And by the way, he doesn't have
Speaker 1: any receivers healthy again for this game. Not only is
Speaker 1: ray Or gone and Dallas Goddard's gone now de Sean
Speaker 1: jack Sin's a little banged up too, so we're kind
Speaker 1: of like right back to where we were in the
Speaker 1: playoffs a year ago. And I think as much criticism
Speaker 1: as Wentz is taking, you have to look at Doug Peterson.
Speaker 1: I mean, think of it about this matchup. Would anyone
Speaker 1: in the world rather have Doug Peterson calling plays than
Speaker 1: Kyle Shannon? Do you think Kyle Shanahan would ever let
Speaker 1: a team have twenty nine yards per play thirty three
Speaker 1: weeks into the season. I'm not you know, I'm not
Speaker 1: trying to like be harsh on Peterson, but it's a
Speaker 1: full offensive system that's collapsing right now, and you don't
Speaker 1: see the great offensive coaches allowing that to happen. And
Speaker 1: there are a lot of Eagles fans who like to
Speaker 1: point out the Eagles record since frank Reich left the building.
Speaker 1: Frank Reich has gone to Indianapolis, is one of the
Speaker 1: best offensive minds in league. And right now Peterson searching
Speaker 1: because there aren't easy throws out there for one to either.
Speaker 1: And quickly on top of that, I mean the Winz thing,
Speaker 1: it feels like you've had a quarterback that has played,
Speaker 1: you know, touched m v P type level play, has
Speaker 1: passed under this coaching staff. Now he looks mentally broken.
Speaker 1: I mean it looks like a guy that needs like
Speaker 1: a month off. I mean, at least legitimately a week
Speaker 1: off to regather himself. I'm not sure that's how that
Speaker 1: works with starting quarterbacks, but this coaching staff is a
Speaker 1: part of that. What Like they asked Doug Peterson what
Speaker 1: is going on with Carson Wentz and he basically said,
Speaker 1: I don't know. Well, you need to know. You've got
Speaker 1: to figure this out. Well, that's part of the problem
Speaker 1: with sports, right, like you, Carson Wentz was an m
Speaker 1: v P level guy. He's played at or near that
Speaker 1: level in the time since the A C L tare
Speaker 1: in And I believe he was great for stretches last
Speaker 1: year with a with a supporting cast that wasn't there.
Speaker 1: And there is something wrong with him now and and
Speaker 1: it's it's tough. I mean, it's kind of a what
Speaker 1: do you do? Though, It's like you say, you say,
Speaker 1: it's Carson Wentz's fault, Okay, you don't want to put
Speaker 1: it all on him. Now it's Doug Peterson's fault. I
Speaker 1: don't know. All I know is Sanders is streaking down
Speaker 1: the field wide open, and Carson Wentz overthrows him and
Speaker 1: cost the team a touchdown. Is like, that's Doug Peterson's fault. Now,
Speaker 1: Sometimes I feel like it's a little easy just to
Speaker 1: put it on the coach a combination. You know, he's
Speaker 1: not the Wentz isn't thinking clearly though, and that that
Speaker 1: relationship between Peterson and Wentz is like what you give
Speaker 1: Peterson credit for when things are going well. His mind
Speaker 1: is so cloudy. You can see on this last week
Speaker 1: where he just predetermined he's going to throw it to
Speaker 1: Deshaan Jackson no matter what, even though there's a guy underneath.
Speaker 1: They do a lot of the r p O s
Speaker 1: right now, and a lot of it I think is
Speaker 1: Wentz making bad decisions when when there looks like there's
Speaker 1: a positive running play available and he holds onto it
Speaker 1: and there isn't anyone open throwing the ball. So I
Speaker 1: think that is partly coaching and unless it's just like
Speaker 1: when's having a total collapse, I think it's a combination
Speaker 1: of both. All right, I'm up right. The old zuser
Speaker 1: third person George Kittle back in that game though you mentioned,
Speaker 1: uh you mentioned some people coming back. George Keettles on
Speaker 1: our in Our Lives Sunday Night Football, Deebo Samuel back
Speaker 1: at prat this He's got a couple of weeks before
Speaker 1: we coun see him again. But they are getting healthier.
Speaker 1: Thank you that time. I've been caught by surprise for
Speaker 1: some reason. All Right, my choice will be let's go
Speaker 1: Seattle at Miami. Uh. Don't see a really great option here,
Speaker 1: so I'll just grab that game. Uh, just because that
Speaker 1: means I get to watch Russell Wilson good. So Russell
Speaker 1: Wilson is on pace for seventy five touchdowns. So in
Speaker 1: a depressed draft class, if I have a chance to
Speaker 1: take that guy and watch him, I will. Uh. They
Speaker 1: have issues though, And I don't know what Jamal Jamal
Speaker 1: Adams status is after he he tweaked his groin at
Speaker 1: the end of the game against the Cowboys. But their
Speaker 1: defense has been terrible with Jamal Adams as well. So
Speaker 1: if you take him out of the mix or put
Speaker 1: a compromise version of him on the field, you wonder
Speaker 1: how are they ever gonna get stops? Well, you know,
Speaker 1: the Dolphins present the challenge because as much as we
Speaker 1: want to just disregard Miami as they stank and Ryan
Speaker 1: Fitzpatrick's there. He's funny. Look at all that chest cabbage.
Speaker 1: Then he that he can light people up if you
Speaker 1: if you give Ryan Fitzpatrick uh time, he will find receivers.
Speaker 1: So everyone is going to pick the Seattle Seahawks to
Speaker 1: continue rolling and get all excited about them. But at
Speaker 1: the same time, would I be totally stunned if this
Speaker 1: is a game that's very competitive in Miami in the
Speaker 1: fourth quarter because of all the issues with Seattle's defense,
Speaker 1: I would not be stunned at all. Yeah, I think
Speaker 1: the Dolphins have done a good job coaching up what
Speaker 1: they have, and they're a team I think, you know,
Speaker 1: if Brian Flores is like Bill Belichick, this team is
Speaker 1: going to be different in November December than they than
Speaker 1: they are to start the season. But I just don't
Speaker 1: see the talent, Like I just don't see enough playmakers,
Speaker 1: even in a game where they control the lead. It's
Speaker 1: like they sat on that lead a little bit against
Speaker 1: Jacksonville because they knew that they could stop the Jaguars
Speaker 1: and against Seattle like good luck. Russell Wilson reminds me
Speaker 1: so much of Ben Roethlisberger at the same age around
Speaker 1: thirty two thirty one. I thought Roethlisberger, who was like
Speaker 1: a Hall of Famer already in my mind, went to
Speaker 1: another level because like his his mind, Dan uh, you know,
Speaker 1: caught up with his physical skills. And now it's like
Speaker 1: Russell Wilson is so three steps ahead of the defense
Speaker 1: mentally and he's still got all of his physical skills.
Speaker 1: It's like that's meeting up in the middle. And I
Speaker 1: don't know how you stopped that right now. I mean
Speaker 1: you're going back to like when Bruce arians had enough
Speaker 1: trust and big bend to let him just call series
Speaker 1: at the time, you know, so that and there's not
Speaker 1: a lot of quarterbacks that are in that situation. So
Speaker 1: I like that comparison Seattle's offense. Uh, you know what
Speaker 1: it kind of reminds me of. I don't know if
Speaker 1: you guys ever dealt with these, but when you were
Speaker 1: like in your twenties and you'd go to like some
Speaker 1: park and there'd be a bunch of bros with one
Speaker 1: of those like giant sling shots that you put the
Speaker 1: water balloons in and shoot them like three hundred yards
Speaker 1: across the park and like hit some girl in the
Speaker 1: head with the water balloons. Was like what I just
Speaker 1: want to do? You not, I have never been that
Speaker 1: sling shots that you could shoot like water balloons or
Speaker 1: other objects, but it was meant to be safe. But
Speaker 1: I just commercial of that at like three am ones
Speaker 1: it existed. It existed, and I literally saw a girl
Speaker 1: get nailed on the head with it. It was not
Speaker 1: it was not a pretty picture. But um, their offense
Speaker 1: just is so different than it used to be. And
Speaker 1: they have two legit star wideouts and I don't see
Speaker 1: how Miami hangs in this game at all. How far
Speaker 1: the sling shots go? Are we talking like fifty yards
Speaker 1: or like what was the max? It was like a legit.
Speaker 1: First time that I saw it was on a college
Speaker 1: campus and was one of these campuses where there's like
Speaker 1: eight giant green lawns in a row, and there was
Speaker 1: like some girls on a towel, like three lawns over,
Speaker 1: which was like legit hundreds something yards away, and these
Speaker 1: guys kept aiming and hitting like it was when parents
Speaker 1: are dropping their kids off. So it's hitting kids and
Speaker 1: little brothers and moms and dads, and it finally hit
Speaker 1: these people sunbathing and sounds like early nineties campus life
Speaker 1: was like every was like, all right, go to the quad,
Speaker 1: we'll do some frisbee and then we'll do the balloon
Speaker 1: launch and then everybody back to the dorm to watch
Speaker 1: Real World. It was very soft early nineties Franks like
Speaker 1: I was on the M d M A back at college,
Speaker 1: so I didn't have this experience. I greg it was
Speaker 1: a different experience than too Late, and trust me, it was.
Speaker 1: We weren't wasting time sitting on blankets playing Hackey Sack.
Speaker 1: Let's uh, let's move on at uh snakes to the
Speaker 1: old zeus Er. Let's check in where where Lamar Jackson
Speaker 1: is after Monday night? Not own? You're kidding me, Bro,
Speaker 1: I know that was a total team meltdown. We talked
Speaker 1: about it on the podcast earlier this week. You can't
Speaker 1: just put everything on the quarterback. But when you're the
Speaker 1: m v P, uh much as expected, and he did
Speaker 1: not rise up to the occasion. So now he gets
Speaker 1: the Washington football team, which is playing now without number
Speaker 1: two overall pick Chase Young, who has a lower body
Speaker 1: injury I believe a groin. So good news there for
Speaker 1: Lamar and bad news for Washington. But they could still
Speaker 1: get after a quarterback even without Chase you wonder, and
Speaker 1: I don't know if Washington is the team to do this.
Speaker 1: And I don't want to put disrespect on Ron Rivera's name.
Speaker 1: He's a he's an accomplished defensive coach. But do you
Speaker 1: take this stuff? You take the tape from Monday night?
Speaker 1: Did you learn anything from that? What what clearly had
Speaker 1: flummixed the Ravens offense? Was it clearly just the games
Speaker 1: games situation that got them where you got ahead of them,
Speaker 1: which I don't imagine the Redskins, excuse me, the Washington
Speaker 1: football team are going to be scoring a lot of points.
Speaker 1: So maybe this is completely out the door, or is
Speaker 1: there something you could take from it to slow them
Speaker 1: down after what Kansas City did. That's what I'll be
Speaker 1: watching for. I think you can take some broader strokes
Speaker 1: of how to rush them. I don't know if they
Speaker 1: this was mysterious, that who you need to keep the edge,
Speaker 1: that maybe don't go totally after him, just kind of
Speaker 1: lay back and and make him make decisions. But who
Speaker 1: are the Washington football team right now? I mean, there's
Speaker 1: supposedly they're right. I mean, they lost Chase Young, but
Speaker 1: they also last my matt Ionidas for the season, and
Speaker 1: so I would say he might be there second or
Speaker 1: third best defensive lineman. You still have Jonathan Allen and
Speaker 1: Deron Payne and and Sweat like they have players, but
Speaker 1: they're not nearly the same without those two guys. I
Speaker 1: think Scott Turner has actually done a pretty good job,
Speaker 1: you know, scheming up this offense, but Haskins is a
Speaker 1: beat or too late, and the talents not there. Um Like,
Speaker 1: there's been plays. I think that can work for Washington,
Speaker 1: and I like Scott Turner so far, but Haskins he
Speaker 1: needs a bounce back game because he seems to be
Speaker 1: losing a little faith from his coaches. And I would
Speaker 1: say that game against Cleveland was as bad a game
Speaker 1: any quarterback has had this year this season. It was
Speaker 1: because Dan you you sort of you were right. I
Speaker 1: think that you thought that, you know, Cleveland could have
Speaker 1: lost that game. But then then Washington lost Chase Young
Speaker 1: and their defense was not the same after that, and Haskins,
Speaker 1: you know, willingly through some of the worst interceptions I've
Speaker 1: seen in the past, you know, twenty years watching football.
Speaker 1: It was like he just seemed completely out of his element,
Speaker 1: and the Browns defense caused I don't think they caused
Speaker 1: that opinion. No, I mean, yeah, that seems harsh. They
Speaker 1: were just you know, some bad reads. They were really
Speaker 1: ugly because I just feel like he's not there um
Speaker 1: neck up right now, like the Cleveland didn't cause those
Speaker 1: by what they were doing to him. I just don't
Speaker 1: He's not crazy accurate though, He's not crazy accurate or athletic.
Speaker 1: So you have got for a first round pick quarterback,
Speaker 1: let's put I think he's probably better than all of
Speaker 1: this if you if in time. I do, but you
Speaker 1: can see he has anticipation. But you're right, Mark, I
Speaker 1: think actually he is a type of quarterback that has
Speaker 1: to win from the neck up, and that in a
Speaker 1: long term view is the kind of player that he
Speaker 1: is that can read through the progressions. And you see
Speaker 1: that he does do that a little bit. He's like
Speaker 1: a little bit more of a a safer, not as
Speaker 1: exciting quarterback. But then it just seems like there's five
Speaker 1: or six plays where he just throws it up and
Speaker 1: he doesn't see what's what's happening. What we call cessler
Speaker 1: a bit of a a premonition here that Kyle Allen
Speaker 1: is playing in this game. In the second half because
Speaker 1: the clock is officially ticking on Haskins. Earlier this week,
Speaker 1: Ron Rivera said there will be a cut off point
Speaker 1: for Dwayne Haskins and that that is damning when the
Speaker 1: coach is saying that this is early in the season.
Speaker 1: He's still a very young quarterback. But all it does
Speaker 1: is remind you that Ron Rivera had nothing to do
Speaker 1: with Dwayne Haskins coming into this building. Ron Rivera's tasked
Speaker 1: with rebooting the entire machine. And usually when you have
Speaker 1: that responsibility, you're gonna do it with your own quarterback.
Speaker 1: It seems like Haskins is doomed. And oh, by the way,
Speaker 1: Rivera went out of his way to bring in Kyle Allen,
Speaker 1: a quarterback that while he is hardly Patrick Mahomes or
Speaker 1: even half of that, uh is someone that he knows
Speaker 1: and knows his abilities. Uh So you imagine he's not
Speaker 1: gonna have any issues tapping him to come in. You
Speaker 1: can totally, can't You see the Ravens being at as
Speaker 1: hell and putting up, you know, twenty eight points in
Speaker 1: the first half, and with the Washington offense not moving,
Speaker 1: it's Kyle Allen time in a blowout and then an
Speaker 1: announcement coming shortly after on Tuesday. For Rivera, it all
Speaker 1: seems like it's in the stars right now, I can happen, right,
Speaker 1: I like I like Scott Turner too, but Andy Reid,
Speaker 1: like completely beguiled Patrick Queen, the rookie linebacker for Baltimore
Speaker 1: and much of that defense. I don't think that Washington
Speaker 1: is going to offer that kind of challenge. There's also
Speaker 1: this like Washington Baltimore rivalry with this game right big
Speaker 1: time once every four years. One of the great ones
Speaker 1: is Washington fans. There's also there's also of the Baltimore
Speaker 1: Washington Parkway. I think it's called I don't know which is.
Speaker 1: I mean, I only took the train when I area,
Speaker 1: so I don't know that the actual highway name. But
Speaker 1: like they don't. There's a legit dislike between these sports
Speaker 1: and entities in both towns, right and the Ravens Now,
Speaker 1: I've had the edge there for a while. And Ron Rivera,
Speaker 1: I'm not saying there tanking, um, but take a time
Speaker 1: out at the end of these games. He kind of
Speaker 1: just let these games two weeks in a row. He's
Speaker 1: had to answer some questions and he literally said, like
Speaker 1: I am worried about guys not getting hurt. It's like
Speaker 1: you're only down two scores with seven minutes left two
Speaker 1: straight weeks. I don't know. All right, Mark, all right,
Speaker 1: let's see here. Where are we gonna go? I like you,
Speaker 1: I'm caught off guard. Um, you know what I'm gonna do.
Speaker 1: And this is simply for scheduling reasons, because I don't
Speaker 1: have a four o'clock game. I'm gonna go Giants at Rams.
Speaker 1: I also feel like that could be one where you
Speaker 1: kind of soft track it and maybe I, you know,
Speaker 1: get a little get a little son in the yard
Speaker 1: that's kind of like a wrong place that's not doing,
Speaker 1: that's not doing. The listeners proud they you know, they
Speaker 1: want they want aggressive watching. I will watch it aggressively. Greg.
Speaker 1: Thank you for setting me straight. That's why Greg is
Speaker 1: the old boss. I cannot get away with that here.
Speaker 1: I mean, imagine if Greg wasn't here to to set
Speaker 1: us on the right path. This game scares me. You
Speaker 1: got Aaron Donald against Giants offense, the Giants running back situation,
Speaker 1: I mean DeVonta Freeman thrown in there, thrown into the
Speaker 1: fire right away. They've got Dion Lewis they're just not
Speaker 1: a balanced offense. I think McVeigh is fired up after
Speaker 1: that Bill's game. And one thing I like about McVeigh
Speaker 1: is he if they if the Rams make a mistake
Speaker 1: of any sort, he basically just says it is absolutely said.
Speaker 1: I did a terrible job of putting us in really
Speaker 1: poor situations against the Bills when they got down early.
Speaker 1: And you know what's lost in that was the real
Speaker 1: Rams team and the one that h that they can
Speaker 1: be is the talent the team that climbed back into that.
Speaker 1: I still think this is one of the more intriguing
Speaker 1: offenses in the league. Um, nothing about last week changes
Speaker 1: that for me. They if more anything, it was some
Speaker 1: of the stuff that happened on defense would have me concerned.
Speaker 1: I mean, to your point, Dan that Josh Allen that
Speaker 1: they got lucky, a little bit luckier or whatever it
Speaker 1: was football god stuff with the call at the end
Speaker 1: Josh Allen got against the Rams. Defense got them matter
Speaker 1: some jams too, and there's a third and twenty two
Speaker 1: play a couple of items like that where I mean,
Speaker 1: that's that's a Ram secondary. You want to trust more
Speaker 1: than that. So this Rams team, to me, she has
Speaker 1: no reasons not to go in here and handle this
Speaker 1: with very little concerned with very little concern, because I
Speaker 1: think they're gonna flex their muscles in a bit of
Speaker 1: an angry contest after coming out of a game they
Speaker 1: thought the other they should have bought the other New
Speaker 1: York team last week, and they don't like what happened
Speaker 1: at all. I feel like good, good defenses right now
Speaker 1: are gonna lose the good offenses. There's only four or
Speaker 1: five defenses I think that really matter and can can
Speaker 1: clamp you that. I don't think the Rams are going
Speaker 1: to be that team. They need to play good situationally,
Speaker 1: and they need to count on Jared Goff doing his
Speaker 1: top ten quarterback thing. That's what he's doing right now,
Speaker 1: just this time. Um, he's got a nice little running
Speaker 1: game going. Darrell Henderson has some juice. I mean, the
Speaker 1: cam Akers injury and might end up being a little
Speaker 1: bit of a blessing because Wow, Henderson just feels like
Speaker 1: the game's coming a little slower to him this year.
Speaker 1: He's making the right reads and he has major juice.
Speaker 1: That is a fun backfield with Malcolm and they were
Speaker 1: talking about him doing that last year, like at the
Speaker 1: combine two combines ago and it never really happened. And
Speaker 1: now he's got like a hundred plus yards two straight games,
Speaker 1: and everyone wants to talk committee. It still will be
Speaker 1: a committee, but this off it's it's the removal of
Speaker 1: this one lead back that takes up one eighth of
Speaker 1: your salary cap and you have to base the whole
Speaker 1: Their whole offense is different. Now they're using like his fullbacks.
Speaker 1: That's how bad that contract was. He's still taking up
Speaker 1: an eighth of their salary cap. Yeah, to score twenty
Speaker 1: nine straight points in Buffalo, which the Rams pulled off,
Speaker 1: wiping out three and then give up third and two
Speaker 1: and then third in giving up you know, big yardage
Speaker 1: to set up that p I that that is a
Speaker 1: gut punch loss. And the Giants are the perfect team
Speaker 1: for them at home. This game is over by the
Speaker 1: end of the first quarter. I mean, this is not
Speaker 1: going to be competitive. And that's why you have to
Speaker 1: look in the mirror with the locks game, because if
Speaker 1: you can lock up anything and there are there are
Speaker 1: shows and over there and they just they just lock
Speaker 1: up anything they want and they'll say, oh yeah, the
Speaker 1: Rams over the Giants is my lock of the week.
Speaker 1: Oh screw off. You can't lock this game up. But
Speaker 1: there is no game that's more certain in terms of
Speaker 1: outcome to me than Giants at Rams Week four. I
Speaker 1: don't like the Giants chances if I haven't made myself
Speaker 1: clear on that. All right, I think we got that, uh, Greg,
Speaker 1: all right, I think I got a couple of picks
Speaker 1: the Giants. There was that too much? I know. Well,
Speaker 1: let them tell you that I believe in Daniel Joe
Speaker 1: Owns and that he's coming off one of the worst
Speaker 1: games he's had. Uh. Here's another reason to be depressed
Speaker 1: if you're a Giants fan. The four tackles were drafted
Speaker 1: in the top fifteen picks this year. Three of them
Speaker 1: look pretty great right now. I know it's only three games, um,
Speaker 1: but Andrew Thomas is not looking great for the Giants.
Speaker 1: He's been struggling and it doesn't help that the other
Speaker 1: three one of yours, McKay Beckton. You know, the Browns
Speaker 1: have a nice looking tackle here. But they might have
Speaker 1: they might have missed, they might they might have missed.
Speaker 1: In New York. I'm going to the prime time I'm
Speaker 1: going to the prime time games. Packers Falcons. I've heard
Speaker 1: some talk. It's like, oh, why the Falcons in prime time?
Speaker 1: This is? This is They're a fun team to watch.
Speaker 1: I mean, I know, like defense isn't I guess. But
Speaker 1: if you watched Bears Falcons, and if you watched Falcons
Speaker 1: Cowboys and you had nothing at stake in the game,
Speaker 1: which you know, which I didn't. I worked for the NFL,
Speaker 1: I was fully entertained. You got a great quarterback in
Speaker 1: Matt Ryan, and you great drama and like, how can
Speaker 1: they possibly lose this game? What a mismatch? When the
Speaker 1: Packers have the ball. This Falcon's edge rush, which has
Speaker 1: been bad for as long as Quinn's been there, and
Speaker 1: we talked about it every obfouson and it's maybe worse
Speaker 1: now than it's ever been. So you just don't expect
Speaker 1: Rogers to face a lot of heat in this game,
Speaker 1: and that should make for a fun Monday night. You know,
Speaker 1: they can sell this game. I could sell it. What
Speaker 1: do you think, Mark? You know my favorite play from
Speaker 1: the Falcons game was this amazing um moment where Matt
Speaker 1: Ryan just like willingly flung the ball out of bounds
Speaker 1: and it nailed a neiled one of these like sitting
Speaker 1: um cameraman like cameraman guys right off the end zone,
Speaker 1: like sitting with his neil, his knees all bent, and
Speaker 1: he had like a ten tho dollar lens and he
Speaker 1: was just completely removed from reality. The bravest men in America,
Speaker 1: by the way, the guys that sit uh criss cross
Speaker 1: apple sauce is the accepted turn now with their ten
Speaker 1: thou dollar camera as these like thorough bread sprint at
Speaker 1: them on like end zone fades. It's pretty impressive that
Speaker 1: they have the guts that just hang in there. I
Speaker 1: enjoyed that. But then you know, there was also the
Speaker 1: Matt Ryan that started the fourth that fourth quarter, that
Speaker 1: critical fourth quarter over seven. You know, then then that
Speaker 1: kind of opened the door for Folds to shake out
Speaker 1: of a little mini funk and turn into magic folds.
Speaker 1: And so I agree with Greg that this is an
Speaker 1: interesting matchup because the Falcon's offense is amazing. I think
Speaker 1: Calvin Ridley is everyone. They might get Julio, but you
Speaker 1: know what with Calvin Ridley, like he is a total luminary.
Speaker 1: I mean, I you know, I hate people to talk
Speaker 1: about their fantasy team, but I reluctantly drafted him, and
Speaker 1: he is kicking people's butt week after week, would like him.
Speaker 1: They didn't. You read the zeus or Calm that he
Speaker 1: was gonna be joining the Superstar Club. Missed, I missed that.
Speaker 1: That that data from you. That's on me. Unfortunate, that's
Speaker 1: on me. But fourth time you've referred to yourself in
Speaker 1: the third person, it's all there is a pointed it out.
Speaker 1: But we're never going was ready, it was time. We're
Speaker 1: never going back to the someone else calling him by
Speaker 1: his name. Hell, this is an easy matchup two for
Speaker 1: the Falcons offense. They're they're playing a defense that's also struggling.
Speaker 1: I mean, there's not really much the Green Bay defense
Speaker 1: is doing well right now, um even their best players
Speaker 1: and Aius Smith maybe not quite as many big plays,
Speaker 1: but it's more of the run defense and in the
Speaker 1: back end. Like there should be points there. Really, there
Speaker 1: really should be plenty of points for the Falcon I
Speaker 1: guess I'm just saying it would have been really fun
Speaker 1: this game was played in Atlanta. When the Falcons collapse
Speaker 1: in the fourth quarter, you would get that Aaron Rodgers
Speaker 1: come back. You would have the back and forth action
Speaker 1: earlier in the game. But I think at Lambeau. I
Speaker 1: don't think we get to see the Falcons collapse because
Speaker 1: I don't think they get to the point where they
Speaker 1: can collapse. I like the Packers. I I don't know.
Speaker 1: Do you think the Falcons still have a soul after
Speaker 1: what happened the last two weeks? These are two in
Speaker 1: terms of early losses back to back. I can't remember
Speaker 1: another team that. There's never there's never been a team
Speaker 1: that's last two games in a season similarly, much less
Speaker 1: back to back. You're right, but they did come out
Speaker 1: last week and then started off well, I don't know
Speaker 1: that's what they do. And you know what, to the
Speaker 1: point of is this gonna be a fun game to
Speaker 1: watch Aaron Rodgers in primetime at Lambeo, even though there's
Speaker 1: no fans there. That's worth the price of you and
Speaker 1: Matt Ryan playing pretty great too. I mean, this is like,
Speaker 1: wipe out what's happened and just watch it on its own, enjoyable.
Speaker 1: All right, up next, Greg, it's snakes to you, Okay, Um,
Speaker 1: what is still left? How about the Jaguars Bengals. I'm
Speaker 1: I'm intrigued by this game. Everyone thinks this is the
Speaker 1: spot for Joe Burrow to get his first win. Makes sense.
Speaker 1: He has not played um a defense as forgiving as Jacksonville.
Speaker 1: This could be the first game where Joe Burrow theoretically
Speaker 1: gets protection. I think Joe Burrows, coming off his best
Speaker 1: game in Philadelphia really was sharp. He's shown if you
Speaker 1: protect him, he is gonna be on time, on target,
Speaker 1: and make good decisions. The deep ball isn't quite there.
Speaker 1: They're still condensed like that. It holds up a little bit.
Speaker 1: So he doesn't have like the big arm of an
Speaker 1: Aaron Rodgers, certainly, but this is a game you would
Speaker 1: expect him to go up and down the field, and
Speaker 1: he's hungry for a win. He said it this week,
Speaker 1: he said, we we absolutely need to win this game.
Speaker 1: I think they know their favored It's that I came
Speaker 1: the last time the Bengals were favored to win this game.
Speaker 1: You're locking locking it up? Is that easy? I actually
Speaker 1: think that Jaguars are gonna win this game. Well, what
Speaker 1: do you say? Yeah? Because the Burrow and you know
Speaker 1: they have to do a better job predecting Brow. He
Speaker 1: got the snot knocked out of him by the Eagles,
Speaker 1: including one shot. And I know you guys know what
Speaker 1: I'm talking about where it would have put ninety nine
Speaker 1: point three percent of humans into a hospital. And I
Speaker 1: know he got up because he's tough and he's a
Speaker 1: world class athlete. But you continue to get this kid destroyed,
Speaker 1: He's gonna end up on the I R on the
Speaker 1: other side of We didn't get a chance to talk
Speaker 1: about it as a group, but obviously very disappointing performance
Speaker 1: by the Jaguars on offense against the Dolphins last week
Speaker 1: on Thursday Night football. Uh, we're gonna chalk that up
Speaker 1: mark as just a bad week or a sign that
Speaker 1: this is going to continue to be an up and
Speaker 1: down offense. Well, I think it's an up and down offense.
Speaker 1: And I think that Minshew, you know, for all my
Speaker 1: you know, I still am a I'm still a minshu Vin,
Speaker 1: but he may be an up and down quarterback where
Speaker 1: you're gonna because because if you want to look back
Speaker 1: at last year, he had some of those games. Now,
Speaker 1: I don't know. I mean, I think that a lot
Speaker 1: of it had to do with DJ Shark not being
Speaker 1: in the lineup. They have a great connection and that
Speaker 1: changed a lot. And you know, Thursday night football is weird,
Speaker 1: and I don't I'm not writing off Minshew at all.
Speaker 1: But I think he's capable of that kind of game,
Speaker 1: the same way he's capable of surprising us, you know,
Speaker 1: the first two weeks. So I Flora's cook him up.
Speaker 1: Flora's cooked him up. Is lu on a Rumo gonna
Speaker 1: cook him up? He gonna scramble him? I don't know.
Speaker 1: But they're getting they're getting DJ back to I think
Speaker 1: that's a big part of this. And you know, like
Speaker 1: I liked them to be frisky. Um to me, can
Speaker 1: you do what the other teams done to borrow who's
Speaker 1: to your point and has had forty two pressures in
Speaker 1: the past two weeks. That's not cool. I mean, you're
Speaker 1: gonna you're That's how you get a quarterback at the
Speaker 1: end of the year, no matter how much promise that
Speaker 1: person had. I mean, they're seeing ghosts and they're they're
Speaker 1: not making good reads and they're learning bad habits. If
Speaker 1: you if that pressure continues, like it's outs like Jonah
Speaker 1: Williams and for like beefy male strippers that don't have
Speaker 1: any work because strip strip places aren't open at this point.
Speaker 1: A mail strip places are also hard. You're talking about steakhouses, sure,
Speaker 1: luxury steakhouses. Um it, I know it cost him sleep
Speaker 1: Minshew missing that deep throw down the right sideline. I
Speaker 1: think it was the con ley which would have potentially
Speaker 1: changed that game completely. That's just the stuff, you know.
Speaker 1: Everybody misses it throw every once in a while. But
Speaker 1: the difference with for Minshew is that seemed like a
Speaker 1: setting at home against Miami where he puts together another
Speaker 1: nice performance and it's like, Okay, look at us. We're
Speaker 1: we're in October now, and this guy's doing it week
Speaker 1: after week. The fact that he laid down there makes
Speaker 1: you puts the doubt back there. It's like, okay, is
Speaker 1: he just this guy up and down and that is
Speaker 1: not the guy that the Jaguars are gonna stick with
Speaker 1: if they have a high draft pick, uh come next spring.
Speaker 1: So yeah, I think this is a good test for
Speaker 1: him to see where he's at, because you don't want
Speaker 1: to stack good game two good games too bad games. Uh,
Speaker 1: it's pretty good. It's not a bad draft pick. This
Speaker 1: snaps for the Bengals defense, this is always this is
Speaker 1: my corner. I don't know if you guys know this.
Speaker 1: It's it's the which defense played in an incredible amount
Speaker 1: of snaps the week before and are gonna be tired.
Speaker 1: It's the Bengals defense snaps and the Jaguars have been
Speaker 1: very rested for this game. I mean that it's a
Speaker 1: good case. I mean that Eagles Bengals game. I mean
Speaker 1: it's it went on for so long and for some
Speaker 1: reason I was tracking on this TV over here. It's
Speaker 1: like this. This feels like, um, like a double feature
Speaker 1: that is of no interest to the person watching it.
Speaker 1: Why is this? Why is this still? Then they both
Speaker 1: get to overtime and basically say we don't have a
Speaker 1: lot of interest in closing this out in overtime was finished.
Speaker 1: I don't think I've watched the worst overtime and that
Speaker 1: mark closes out all right, I'm gonna go with the Well,
Speaker 1: there's only one choice left, so it's essentially I don't
Speaker 1: want to call it the what's what do they call
Speaker 1: the last man in the draft? Mr? Irrelevant? Yeah? I
Speaker 1: think the Panthers have in this pick almost every week? Yeah,
Speaker 1: Mr Irrelevant, Yes, I guess this would this would be
Speaker 1: I don't agree that this is irrelevant because you know,
Speaker 1: there's some interesting history to this coaching matchup Cardinals Panthers.
Speaker 1: Cliff Kingsbury Matt Rule. We all saw the stories floating
Speaker 1: around that Kingsbury, like me, thinks a lot of Matt Rule.
Speaker 1: That Matt Rule called him up when Baylor knocked out
Speaker 1: Texas Tech in the game, and it got Kingsbury fired.
Speaker 1: Look where they are now. I think there two of
Speaker 1: the more interesting coaches in the NFL, and I'm twelve
Speaker 1: coaches just making the leap to the big game with
Speaker 1: the big salaries it for them. Look at that. I
Speaker 1: think they were making plenty of money before, they're making
Speaker 1: plenty of money now. But there's a reason they're making
Speaker 1: this money. These jobs. I'd put like like four zeros
Speaker 1: on that and like houses and cars. We don't know
Speaker 1: about undocumented. But if if we want to talk about
Speaker 1: the game, um, I think that I want to see
Speaker 1: how Kyler Murray and the Cardinals respond after last week's affair.
Speaker 1: And I think that on the Panthers side, you're starting
Speaker 1: everyone's like, oh, they'll go to and fourteen this year,
Speaker 1: then then the change will happen. Like every other Matt
Speaker 1: Rule team, I don't care about the record. I don't
Speaker 1: think it'll be great, but I think Teddy Bridgewater is
Speaker 1: having a good season. Overall, the offense without Christian McCaffrey
Speaker 1: is functional, and the defense has got a little bit
Speaker 1: better each week. A lot of coaches love Mike Davis,
Speaker 1: so I don't know what the tone of voice there is.
Speaker 1: I mean that was that was a celebration of hiss
Speaker 1: from scrimmage. Okay, I thought it was just like bordering
Speaker 1: on potentially a little snarky. But I will assume that
Speaker 1: it wasn't. But I don't know. This to me is
Speaker 1: an interesting matchup. I will be this is what I
Speaker 1: won't go to sunbathe in the yard. Right the Panthers
Speaker 1: have been weirdly, uh predictable, like we kind of thought
Speaker 1: before the year, this is gonna the The offense actually
Speaker 1: will be a little frisky. It'll be better than you think.
Speaker 1: Their twentieth in d v O A right now, So
Speaker 1: that sounds about right, like Teddy Bridgewater, you could do
Speaker 1: a lot worse. I actually think he'll he'll play better.
Speaker 1: He's been good. I wouldn't say he's great, but he's
Speaker 1: in that like twenty five probably of quarterbacks that's around
Speaker 1: where he is a pff. That sounds about right to me.
Speaker 1: He's going down the field more and their defense is bad.
Speaker 1: I know they made some plays last week. Brian burns
Speaker 1: Um made a number of plays, and your boy dj
Speaker 1: uh move the sticks. Dan, I should do a podcast.
Speaker 1: He loves Jeremy Chin, their safety, who made some plays
Speaker 1: last week too. So they got a couple of players.
Speaker 1: But I'm not really to buying into the defense being good.
Speaker 1: There's still thirtieth right now in efficiency. And you would
Speaker 1: think if the if the Cardinals are rolling offensively and
Speaker 1: DeAndre Hopkins has missed a couple of days of practice,
Speaker 1: this should be a game where they mix up that tempo.
Speaker 1: I'd love how they do that. They speed up and
Speaker 1: they slow down better than any team. Uh, you would
Speaker 1: think the Cardinals offense can go win this game on
Speaker 1: their own two But then, like who who would have
Speaker 1: thought that? They would have been stymied by the Lions.
Speaker 1: I haven't been that impressed with their passing game yet
Speaker 1: this year. It's been a little erratic, and especially if
Speaker 1: nuke Um isn't a or or he doesn't play, although
Speaker 1: he did finish that game out, so you would expect
Speaker 1: him to play that. Yeah, it's a bit of a concern.
Speaker 1: Teams that are lacking firepower and their wide receiver room
Speaker 1: messed up on Robbie Anderson. I include the Jets at
Speaker 1: the top of that list because I never quite understood
Speaker 1: the rush to get him out of the building. That's
Speaker 1: on Joe Douglas because Prashad Perriman has not been an
Speaker 1: upgrade for them so far. Robbie Ederson has been very
Speaker 1: good in Carolina. He's been a guy he always he's
Speaker 1: always been a guy that stays healthy. That he had
Speaker 1: been hit with a tag that he takes, plays off
Speaker 1: and is maybe a little bit limited as a route runner.
Speaker 1: But I think he's really helped their offense. And uh,
Speaker 1: if you remember he not at the level of Cam Newton,
Speaker 1: but another situation where he was just kind of sitting
Speaker 1: out there, he ended up signing a very team friendly deal. Uh,
Speaker 1: and I think he has been a big lift to Bridgewater.
Speaker 1: Well haven't you always, like, as a Jets fan, had
Speaker 1: people whispering to you that he was not the first
Speaker 1: guy that the Jets what we're thinking about wanting to,
Speaker 1: you know, give big money to on a multi year
Speaker 1: deal because he had some sort of I would call
Speaker 1: some knuckle point knucklehead moment he was. He's a he's
Speaker 1: been a knucklehead in the past. He had an arrest
Speaker 1: that was very ugly. Um. But at the same time,
Speaker 1: he was always a guy that could make big plays.
Speaker 1: And when his when his salary got to the point
Speaker 1: where anybody could have had him um, and I think
Speaker 1: he signed two years twenty million. Uh. It just jumped
Speaker 1: out to me that, uh A, the Jets didn't have
Speaker 1: didn't think that he was someone that could help him
Speaker 1: at that price and be that there wasn't one other
Speaker 1: team that thought, Okay, maybe that was maybe Mark to
Speaker 1: your point, I think there was off the field issues
Speaker 1: that just scared teams off. I think that this is
Speaker 1: another Matt Rule difference is that Matt Rule and Robby
Speaker 1: Anderson knew each other very well and there's a lot
Speaker 1: of trust between them. And I think Matt Rule, like
Speaker 1: when he came on our show in the summer and
Speaker 1: just openly defended Teddy Bridgewater when we were trying to
Speaker 1: throw some Bridgewater yard per attempt stuff at him, I
Speaker 1: think he's a player's coach and when he likes you,
Speaker 1: he's he's gonna put everything in you. And Robbie Anderson
Speaker 1: is there are players like this. If you're getting the
Speaker 1: wrong system you're gonna have issues if you're in the
Speaker 1: right system. Everyone's asking why everyone what everyone else didn't
Speaker 1: sign Robbie Anderson big came for the Cardinals. Everyone talked
Speaker 1: about like this, look at their schedule and go six
Speaker 1: and oh while they lost that Lions one. Now in
Speaker 1: the NFC West, you cannot fall behind by losing to
Speaker 1: kind of these mid level teams that if they want
Speaker 1: to keep up in that division, you gotta win games
Speaker 1: like this. All right, there you go. That is the
Speaker 1: preview of week four. Reminder that Sunday night we will
Speaker 1: recap all the games that we just previewed today and
Speaker 1: if you've missed it, make sure you check out our
Speaker 1: Thursday night mini pod where Cecila and I breakdown Jets
Speaker 1: Broncos speaking of a road kill game. Uh, showdown at
Speaker 1: the Meadowlands. Uh so, plenty of content to enjoy. Uh.
Speaker 1: This is Dan hands A signing off for the Quiet Storm,
Speaker 1: the Old Boss or Crnicky Hollywood behind the Virtual Glass
Speaker 1: until Sunday m m m HM. As