Speaker 1: Be Around the NFL Podcast, the only podcast We're the
Speaker 1: most talented person only does the intro. Welcome to another
Speaker 1: edition of the Around the NFL Podcast. My name is
Speaker 1: Dan hans As. I come to you from a virtual
Speaker 1: room filled with heroes, Mark Sessler, Gregg Rosenthal and yes,
Speaker 1: Chris Westling. What is up, boys, may Anne? Oh? What's
Speaker 1: the what's the laughter? Why are the smiles? We will
Speaker 1: have none of that in week fourteen smiles. It's all business.
Speaker 1: We're strictly football and we have no senses of humor.
Speaker 1: I'm laughing at Matt money Smith's very factual suggestion that
Speaker 1: the only the person with the most talent is the
Speaker 1: person doing that little sound bite. I wonder if you
Speaker 1: added the four of our talents together, would we be well,
Speaker 1: we wouldn't have as many jobs as Matt money Smith.
Speaker 1: If you added the four of us together, Well, you
Speaker 1: are the number one Matt money Smith van in Los
Speaker 1: Angeles now because you are a daily listener to who
Speaker 1: is draw Time show as well. But I'd like to
Speaker 1: think that, you know, being attached to our show has
Speaker 1: lifted his brand I'd say seven to tenfold. We would
Speaker 1: like to think that. I'm not sure that's true, but
Speaker 1: we we would like to think that well I do.
Speaker 1: Welcome to everyone, Welcome everyone to the yes Week fourteen
Speaker 1: recap episode. We're going to go through every game that
Speaker 1: was played on Sunday and listen. They can't all be beautiful,
Speaker 1: they can all be gorgeous. In fact, if I had
Speaker 1: to come up with a one sound effect that would
Speaker 1: neatly sum up the Sunday slate today, it would be this,
Speaker 1: Am I wrong? Now? They weren't. They weren't competitive. They
Speaker 1: look great on paper, but they didn't. It didn't doesn't
Speaker 1: usually work out that way. You know, we will see
Speaker 1: we're taping this and we'll see if the primetime game
Speaker 1: save us. Those were the best matchups on paper. Going in.
Speaker 1: I was driving around with Luke and that exact sound
Speaker 1: effect played randomly in a commercial on the radio, and
Speaker 1: he was like, what does that sound effect mean? I
Speaker 1: now have a new, um more clear explanation to offer.
Speaker 1: It means Week fourteen, Sunday. All right, let's get into it.
Speaker 1: We'll start obviously, now, every team after this week is
Speaker 1: going to have three games to play, which means the
Speaker 1: playoffs are really starting to come into focus. Uh, we'll
Speaker 1: start Today's show by digging through the NFC and what happened,
Speaker 1: because there was a lot of change right to the
Speaker 1: very top there. It's hard. He's back. He was floating
Speaker 1: in the football and his cart touchdown touchdown. He catch
Speaker 1: it over to our Sean Jeffrey Mike Reece w I
Speaker 1: P with a call Yes, Jalen Hurts NFL starting debut
Speaker 1: was supposed to be a blood bath. Instead, Hurts ran
Speaker 1: for a hundred yards through a touchdown pass which you
Speaker 1: just heard, and helped lead the Eagles to eight Studying
Speaker 1: over the Saints, Greg, we'll get to what this means
Speaker 1: for the Saints in a moment, and it's not good.
Speaker 1: But what did you see from Hurts in the Eagles offense?
Speaker 1: I saw a guy whose legs and decisiveness gave them
Speaker 1: a little life. I mean, the Eagles are barely alive
Speaker 1: in the NFC East. We'll get to that for one
Speaker 1: more week. But the fact that after fifty five games
Speaker 1: of the Saints not allowing a hundred yard rusher, Jalen
Speaker 1: Hurts goes over a hundred and oh, by the way,
Speaker 1: Miles Sanders goes over a hundred, and I think the
Speaker 1: Eagles rushing game got a little boost from Jalen Hurts
Speaker 1: because of the read act, you know, the read option,
Speaker 1: and also just having to account for him so many
Speaker 1: times in this game on third and four, third and five,
Speaker 1: Hurts just picked it up with his legs. He made
Speaker 1: good decisions throwing the ball most of the day, and
Speaker 1: in the first half, when you know you're watching these
Speaker 1: two teams and you're thinking, wow, these two quarterbacks have
Speaker 1: pretty similar styles. It was a knockout. The Eagles offense
Speaker 1: was moving the ball up and down the field. The
Speaker 1: Eagles offensive line kind of dominated this game. That was shocking,
Speaker 1: and the Eagles defensive line played great too. It was
Speaker 1: a pretty thorough beating despite it only being a three
Speaker 1: point final score. When's the last time a quarterback and
Speaker 1: a running back in Philadelphia both ran for a hundred yards.
Speaker 1: I was watching this one pretty closely, and I just
Speaker 1: felt like I kind of kind of, even for the
Speaker 1: few snaps that we saw Jalen Hurts and some of
Speaker 1: these other games, that there was just a little bit
Speaker 1: of a different energy. And that's maybe one of the
Speaker 1: unexplainable things in football and sports. But um, you know,
Speaker 1: some of us wanted this change to happen earlier. I
Speaker 1: get why it was complex and why it didn't, but
Speaker 1: the Eagles are not dead, and it is not impossible
Speaker 1: to look ahead at this UM Washington Philly game in
Speaker 1: weeks seventeen and wonder if it could still, just like
Speaker 1: these TV people like to do, put a little NFC
Speaker 1: East matchup flex it into that week seventeen night game.
Speaker 1: It could be very important. Philly obviously still on the
Speaker 1: ropes at four eight and one Washington, and we're gonna
Speaker 1: get to them obviously a little bit later, up to
Speaker 1: six and seven, so Philly has to do something really special.
Speaker 1: I guess I didn't see enough from Jalen Hurts to
Speaker 1: think that this is about to be some type of
Speaker 1: Cinderella run. But this was obviously something they needed because
Speaker 1: they'd gotten so stale with Carson Wentz and on the
Speaker 1: same side of things, This is a tough loss, This
Speaker 1: is a bad loss. This is a loss that drops
Speaker 1: them to ten and three. It ends that long winning streak,
Speaker 1: and with a Packers win, there now tied record wise,
Speaker 1: but the Packers have the tiebreaker on the Saints. So
Speaker 1: right now the Saints have lost the number one seed
Speaker 1: West in the NFC and Taysom Hill. I talked about
Speaker 1: this in our Thursday show. I thought this is a
Speaker 1: big start for him, uh, in terms of put planting
Speaker 1: that seed in Sean Payton's mind, because we knew Drew
Speaker 1: Brees is gonna come back, but we didn't know how
Speaker 1: he's gonna play, and we still don't know. But this
Speaker 1: is not probably the performance that Taysom Hill wants to
Speaker 1: leave with his head coach going down the stretch right.
Speaker 1: Not a dosa stress start by any means, but some
Speaker 1: little things taking sacks in the wrong places, overthrowing or
Speaker 1: throwing behind receivers on third downs, key plays that he
Speaker 1: couldn't come up with that ended up being um factors
Speaker 1: in the in the outcome of the game. And like
Speaker 1: you said, if we were gonna put that little birdie
Speaker 1: in Sean Payton's mind, it's not gonna happen after that one. Well,
Speaker 1: and they he's probably gonna start next week against the Chiefs.
Speaker 1: So everyone in the NFC is looking at this. It's
Speaker 1: not just it's not just Green Bay who's you know,
Speaker 1: Packers are very excited, but the Seahawks and the Rams
Speaker 1: gotta be looking at list that they're not out of
Speaker 1: it either they're only one back, especially thinking that the
Speaker 1: Saints have are gonna now have an uphill battle, certainly
Speaker 1: not insurmountable to beat the Chiefs next week. Drew Brees
Speaker 1: sounds like he's iffy and Hill, you know, they didn't
Speaker 1: score in the first half, um for for the longest time,
Speaker 1: and they had five first downs in six drives. And
Speaker 1: you know when he gets a fourth down key, you
Speaker 1: know spot late in the game against an Eagles defense
Speaker 1: that lost Darius Slay, Rodney McCloud and DeVante maddox three
Speaker 1: basically their best three players in the secondary. He holds
Speaker 1: the ball too long, which has been a problem for him.
Speaker 1: He fumbled, which has been an even bigger problem for him,
Speaker 1: and that kind of, to me was the key sequence
Speaker 1: because the Saints defense, after playing a rough first half,
Speaker 1: stood up, gave the offense a chance to come back,
Speaker 1: didn't quite happen. I don't think Hill has been a
Speaker 1: disaster by any means, but I don't think he's shown
Speaker 1: nearly enough. There's certainly no controversy this year. They need
Speaker 1: Drew Brees back, and I'm sure they'd love to get
Speaker 1: him back in the regular season to get some snaps
Speaker 1: before whatever type of postseason run they have. That was
Speaker 1: Taysom Hill's tenth fumble of the season, and it was
Speaker 1: a huge one. They were down three points um in
Speaker 1: upon the opponent's territory with a chance to tie or
Speaker 1: take the lead, and once Hill loses that fumble was
Speaker 1: the fourth fumble he's lost this year. The defense then
Speaker 1: lets down, gives up the touchdown, and that was more
Speaker 1: or less it. There was a a late touchdown uh
Speaker 1: for cosmetic purposes, and then a near recovery on an
Speaker 1: onside kick. But the right team won this game, and
Speaker 1: the Saints, obviously, if they end up playing on the
Speaker 1: first week of the postseason, they will look at this
Speaker 1: game and kick themselves. Uh. Speaking of the Green Bay Packers,
Speaker 1: Rogers takes the snap in shotgun, looks around, scrambles to
Speaker 1: his left. He could take it himself to the ends.
Speaker 1: Touchdown nowh Wayne Larry w T MJ with the call
Speaker 1: I Love Gold. Aaron Rodgers ran for a score and
Speaker 1: threw three more touchdown passes to lead the Packers to
Speaker 1: win over the stubborn Detroit Lions at Ford Field. The
Speaker 1: wind combined with the Saints lost to the Eagles, moves
Speaker 1: the Packers, as I said, into the number one seed
Speaker 1: in the NFC. It also clinches the division for the Packers.
Speaker 1: So another big time year for the bearded boy on
Speaker 1: the sidelines and Aaron Rodgers, who just may have I
Speaker 1: don't want to say sewn it up because there's still
Speaker 1: three weeks to play. But on the day when Patrick
Speaker 1: mahomes Is statistical line takes a dip with the three interceptions,
Speaker 1: today Rogers has another just awesome performance. He started the
Speaker 1: game with tense straight completions. He hooked up with Davante
Speaker 1: Adams for a touchdown for the eighth straight game, UH,
Speaker 1: and was just in total control. He's playing the game
Speaker 1: at such a level of mastery right now that you
Speaker 1: can't help but admire it. So the Packers get another win,
Speaker 1: and they are stacking wins, and they are in position
Speaker 1: now UH to have that by if they could just
Speaker 1: keep winning until the regular season runs out. I love
Speaker 1: the Packers getting some production out of a Shawn Gary.
Speaker 1: That's been something that's happened now each and every week.
Speaker 1: Like you'd like to see them blow out a Lince team.
Speaker 1: Chase Daniel ends up coming in for Matthew Stafford and
Speaker 1: had a touchdown and nullified on a pretty courageous attempt
Speaker 1: and that would have been his first rushing touchdown of
Speaker 1: his whole career. And it was right after he threw
Speaker 1: an absolute dime on a under pressure on third and long.
Speaker 1: I was like, what is happening here? Is Jase Daniel
Speaker 1: gonna make this interesting? Didn't? Didn't happen? Um, But I
Speaker 1: like that the Packers are getting more production out of
Speaker 1: Shawan Gary because they need their pastors. To me, that's
Speaker 1: kind of their ex factor. And uh, you know, today
Speaker 1: against the lines isn't the best test, but they got
Speaker 1: it done. I mean, Stafford looked like he really banged
Speaker 1: up those ribs pretty bad and loud. DeVante Adams we
Speaker 1: talked him a little bit on the preview show that
Speaker 1: I don't know what what else to say about him. Today,
Speaker 1: eight straight games with a touchdown broke the franchise record
Speaker 1: held by Don Hudson, who is not played football in
Speaker 1: quite a while. So that that record has been out there, well,
Speaker 1: I don't know what you guys said on the pregame show,
Speaker 1: but I'm sorry for DeAndre Hopkins because Davante Adams and
Speaker 1: Tyreek Hill or the or the All Pro receivers this year.
Speaker 1: In my opinion, Dante Adams, it's like George Kittle last year.
Speaker 1: He takes the fight to you. Every game. He beat
Speaker 1: you in every way. He beat you at the catch
Speaker 1: point after the catch, He's reliable, he gets in the
Speaker 1: end zone. Um. I just love the way he's playing
Speaker 1: with so much confidence. And I really believe that this
Speaker 1: Aaron Rodgers has had some great, all time great seasons,
Speaker 1: this might be his best one. He's been practically perfect
Speaker 1: this year. He has been practically perfect. Was like, I
Speaker 1: put that with any like ahead of any Peyton, Manning
Speaker 1: or Brady season, which they until the New York Giants
Speaker 1: found him in January. Right, But I'm I'm just counting
Speaker 1: the regular season. But it is awesome. He would have
Speaker 1: my m V Popo. He had it coming into this game.
Speaker 1: I don't think it's anywhere close to over because three
Speaker 1: weeks is an eternity and Mahomes has been incredible. But
Speaker 1: he's got the game and he has been just about
Speaker 1: perfect with his throws. Wes, you you nailed it. I
Speaker 1: believe it was West last week when you said that
Speaker 1: the Packers have surrounded him with just enough talent. If
Speaker 1: it was it, maybe Robert Tonyan wasn't there or envs
Speaker 1: did it make made a couple less plays, or Davante
Speaker 1: Adams got banged up a little bit more, Alan got
Speaker 1: Alan Lazard there, you got Aaron Jones healthy. Now it's
Speaker 1: not a it's not like a bounty of gifts like
Speaker 1: Patrick mahomes Hays, which I think you have to factory
Speaker 1: when you're talking the m v P conversation as well.
Speaker 1: But it's enough and then he he maxes out all
Speaker 1: those guys. Robert Tonyan has nine touchdowns the most. Much
Speaker 1: better line though, like a great line, like a top
Speaker 1: three or four offensive makes a big difference. Very fair.
Speaker 1: He has nine nine touchdowns, the most by a Packers
Speaker 1: tight end since two thousand, two thousand one? Who was it,
Speaker 1: Bubba Franks correct the top, Good job by you, Greggy Yes,
Speaker 1: and Matthew Stafford he hurts his ribs uh. A tough
Speaker 1: thing for Detroit because they were fighting hard in this game.
Speaker 1: They fell behind early, pulled even a fourteen fourteen, but
Speaker 1: then the Packers just almost used their power of will
Speaker 1: to just kind of take themselves to the finish line
Speaker 1: and then get the w so big big win for
Speaker 1: the Packers, who are ten and three. They went thirteen
Speaker 1: and three last year. So the bearded boy Matt Lafleur,
Speaker 1: even I can do this math. They are twenty three
Speaker 1: and six, Wow, in two seasons the regular season so far.
Speaker 1: Week sixteen Packers Titans is one of the bigger games
Speaker 1: left on this little slate of games. We haven't say
Speaker 1: like for the doubting of them. I doubted them last
Speaker 1: year like that, I just didn't see them as the record.
Speaker 1: I don't have those feelings this year because I think
Speaker 1: the NFC is weak and they could beat anyone in
Speaker 1: that conference. Alright, So we talked about the top of
Speaker 1: the NFC playoff picture. Let's see who's fighting for the
Speaker 1: sixth and seventh seeds down below. Starting with a trip
Speaker 1: to Tampa. How about a gun Brady takes the snap,
Speaker 1: past protection, looks up field, throw up deep ballfield, Scott
Speaker 1: Miller touch touch top um, Scotty run. Part of the
Speaker 1: cards drained off w f U s with the call
Speaker 1: Scotty Miller. Remember him. If you have a nice little
Speaker 1: season and then go get Antonio Brown and you forget
Speaker 1: all about him, Well, maybe it's time to get Scottie
Speaker 1: Back involved the slotman helped Tom Brady break out of
Speaker 1: his deep ball slump, and a nightmare performance by Viking
Speaker 1: singer Dan Bailey helped the Bucks get their season back
Speaker 1: on track to fourteen win. Uh. Nice game from the
Speaker 1: defense here, boys, Tampa Bay. I know, Greg, you've been
Speaker 1: talking to bolls of sons all year, but I thought,
Speaker 1: in addition to the offensive struggles, the defense had been
Speaker 1: in a little bit of a funk. Not here. They
Speaker 1: sack Kirk Cousins six times. The last one produced a
Speaker 1: fumble that basically ended this game in terms of a competition. Uh.
Speaker 1: And after a rough start in the first quarter for
Speaker 1: the defense against the run, I mean, this is a
Speaker 1: great run defense, as we know. And the Vikings put
Speaker 1: up seventy one yards in the first quarter alone, and
Speaker 1: you're thinking, oh, and Brady's airmailing passes the grand and
Speaker 1: Chris Godwin and you're thinking they slept walk through the
Speaker 1: bye and they came out of it still looking like
Speaker 1: a mess. But then they kind of got it together.
Speaker 1: The Miller touchdown was big. Uh. They got things calmed
Speaker 1: down with Dalvin Cook who still crossed the hundred yards,
Speaker 1: but it seemed like it was gonna be a much
Speaker 1: bigger day. And then, like I said, I mean this
Speaker 1: was we see it. We saw it in Week one
Speaker 1: with Steven Gaskowski. Hell, it happened with the Jets with
Speaker 1: Sergio Castilla today. Sometimes these kickers, you could tell, the
Speaker 1: moment just crushes them and they couldn't kick a twenty
Speaker 1: yard or if they had to. And that's what happened
Speaker 1: to Dan Bailey in a big spot. He misses all
Speaker 1: four of his kicks, an extra point and then three
Speaker 1: field goals. Uh. Two of them very makeable, the third
Speaker 1: one along kick but essentially costs them, you know, ten
Speaker 1: points and took them out of the game. I know
Speaker 1: Zimmer likes Bailey, and Bailey has been having a pretty
Speaker 1: good season before the last well before the last two weeks,
Speaker 1: he's been pretty good for them. But I don't know
Speaker 1: how you stay you move ard with him when you're
Speaker 1: trying to get a playoff spot and your kicker just
Speaker 1: basically cost you a game. He said, such a weird career.
Speaker 1: At one point he was the guy that Justin Tucker
Speaker 1: had to take his throne, and then he went through
Speaker 1: a bad spot where Dallas released him because he seemed
Speaker 1: to lose some leg strength, comes to Minnesota, struggles right
Speaker 1: off the bat, and then it's like a nice sweet
Speaker 1: spot in Minnesota where he starts nailing all his kicks again.
Speaker 1: He's had four different seasons where he's only missed two
Speaker 1: field goals. Justin Tucker can't say that you got you
Speaker 1: got that all those Bailey stats off the top of
Speaker 1: your head. I mean, what's going on here? Hey, Dan
Speaker 1: is not the only one who knows kickers well. I
Speaker 1: to ask, like, Dan, what happens with the you know
Speaker 1: this very This kicker club is a complex um environment.
Speaker 1: It sounds like some kickers aren't necessarily just allowed in
Speaker 1: because they're a kicker. Dan Billy, I would imagine, is
Speaker 1: posted up to the bar in the past and you know,
Speaker 1: whistle Dixie about his skills. But after a daylight today,
Speaker 1: is the club nice to him or do they? You know? Like,
Speaker 1: it's kind of like your friend, if you're kind of
Speaker 1: a materialist and your friend falls on tough times, you
Speaker 1: kind of look past them to the other cooler friends.
Speaker 1: What happens with someone like Bailey in this situation. In
Speaker 1: the case of Bailey, as a veteran that's been around
Speaker 1: for a long time he has admission to the club.
Speaker 1: When things are going really well, he's gonna be in
Speaker 1: the champagne room. He's gonna have bottle service. Everything's gonna
Speaker 1: be cool. After last week when he struggled some, he
Speaker 1: got kicked out of bottle service and was just belly
Speaker 1: up at the bar, and after today, we we had
Speaker 1: to ask him to leave, not for for good, but
Speaker 1: you know, we can't be having that. You can't miss
Speaker 1: all four of your kicks when your team's fighting for
Speaker 1: a playoff spot. And you know, the Vikings are team
Speaker 1: that I was high on as a team that was
Speaker 1: gonna make a run to the playoffs. They definitely started
Speaker 1: to get me nervous the last couple of weeks, even
Speaker 1: though they were still winning. And now you know, after
Speaker 1: today's game, things that it's gonna be stacked up against him.
Speaker 1: They gotta win out most likely, and I don't know
Speaker 1: based on what we've seen in the last three weeks
Speaker 1: to have a lot of confidence about that. But man, Vikings,
Speaker 1: It's Vikings fandom is tough. It's one of the toughest
Speaker 1: fan bases uh to have to deal with your team
Speaker 1: because bad things happen. But that the Curse of the
Speaker 1: Vikings kicker. It is absolutely real. You just go through
Speaker 1: the years. It feels like every three to five years
Speaker 1: there's a calamity that costs them a season or or
Speaker 1: a super Bowl trip. Uh, and it's happening again. This
Speaker 1: was a game no one's gonna forget this one in Minnesota.
Speaker 1: I mean, they had forty minutes time of possession, which is,
Speaker 1: you know, an overrated Statins like guys like Mike Zimmer
Speaker 1: love it, except you're just shortened the game for you
Speaker 1: to lose. They had eight possessions in this game, Like
Speaker 1: that's half as many as the forty Niners had. For instance,
Speaker 1: in their game, they moved the ball pretty well, but
Speaker 1: ultimately Kirk Cousins gets sacks six times. The Vikings don't
Speaker 1: have any sacks. JPP has had a nice season. He's
Speaker 1: had a nice career. I mean he I've always loved
Speaker 1: watching him play. He has all effort all the time.
Speaker 1: You can't run a screen against him. And this season
Speaker 1: especially feels like he comes up with one monster play
Speaker 1: every week. And he had it with the forced fumble
Speaker 1: late and he almost just grabbed that out of kirk
Speaker 1: Cousin's hand. Fumble and West Mark Dan Bailey is like
Speaker 1: Whiskey Pete. Okay, he's you know, he's over in the corner.
Speaker 1: There once was a day where after the game, he's
Speaker 1: the guy everybody wants to be around. He's holding court,
Speaker 1: he's got all the jokes flying, everybody's having a grand time,
Speaker 1: drinks are flying. Whiskey Piece the place to be. And
Speaker 1: then you know, flash forward ten years down the line.
Speaker 1: Whiskey Petz is just telling about the good old days,
Speaker 1: never shuts up, and all he's doing is drinking whiskey
Speaker 1: all day and drinking whiskey all night. Nobody wants to
Speaker 1: be around him. Drinking outside my club is what he's doing. Also, West,
Speaker 1: he was born January. You can't. You were coming at
Speaker 1: me a little bit on the kicker knowledge, So I
Speaker 1: had to drop his birthday for you. You googled his birthday.
Speaker 1: We're supposed to give you credit for that. My producer
Speaker 1: sent me private. Does he have any nick names on
Speaker 1: Pro Football Reference that you while you while you're on
Speaker 1: the page, Whiskey pet It is all right, Let's move on.
Speaker 1: Let's move on and check in on another team fighting
Speaker 1: for a wild card spot. Snap to Murray backing up
Speaker 1: in trouble, throws it back at the end zone. Arnold
Speaker 1: jumps up into the air and catches it for a touchdown.
Speaker 1: There are four Giants in the area. It looked like
Speaker 1: Murray might be just throwing that ball away when pits fly, baby,
Speaker 1: what does that mean? Ron Wilfe is like reached a
Speaker 1: point as a broadcaster where he doesn't need to make
Speaker 1: sense and we all just like, oh, well, that sounded
Speaker 1: cool and fun when yeah, that was Wilfy with Dave
Speaker 1: Passion k t a r Kyler Murray connected on that
Speaker 1: floated that scoring past the Dan Arnold and Hassan Reddick.
Speaker 1: My goodness had a franchise record five sacks and three
Speaker 1: force fumbles as the Cardinals moved back into the NFC playoffs,
Speaker 1: bought with seven win over the Giants. Mark Daniel Jones
Speaker 1: returned to the lineup for the g Men, but he
Speaker 1: did not look like he was ready for Riddick, Reddick
Speaker 1: or the Cardinal Yeah. I'm not sure he did he
Speaker 1: dress for work today. It's unclear to me he He
Speaker 1: couldn't have been worse in this spot, um it was.
Speaker 1: It was a real, I thought deflating event for the Giants,
Speaker 1: who were one of the stories of the week. Sacked
Speaker 1: eight times, as you mentioned, five by Hassan Reddick, who
Speaker 1: I think you know. Hearing him after the game, he
Speaker 1: was he was signed, stunned that that happened. It was
Speaker 1: a franchise record. But it was Marcus gold and they
Speaker 1: got it going early. Daniel Jones, up to his old
Speaker 1: tricks um had a strip sack Marcus Goldham returned at
Speaker 1: thirty yards. Now that that was where I wondered if
Speaker 1: New York was gonna hang tough in this game, because
Speaker 1: they had a deep and Giants territory. They held Kyler
Speaker 1: Murray to a goal in the in the offense to
Speaker 1: a goal line stand, but then the turnovers kept coming.
Speaker 1: Dion Lewis for the Giants lost to kick return fumble,
Speaker 1: a weird play where the ball was sort of inadvertently
Speaker 1: kicked out by a defender, which is unreviewable, but that
Speaker 1: led to the Dan Arnold touchdown from the from the
Speaker 1: replay right there, and then Daniel Jones had a second
Speaker 1: lost fumble and it was kind of it. It allowed
Speaker 1: I thought the Cardinals enough time to kind of get
Speaker 1: warmer on offense. Uh, early on it looked like Kyler
Speaker 1: Murray had been confused as Allah Russell Wilson to some
Speaker 1: degree by some of these Giants disguise blitze blitzes and tactics.
Speaker 1: But the offense, you know it for the New York
Speaker 1: just a total disaster. They're one of the worst fourth
Speaker 1: quarter offenses in the in the league. They went in
Speaker 1: um in in tough territories to begin with, Daniel Jones
Speaker 1: had fifteen net yards passing at half um it looked
Speaker 1: like it and to the point where Joe Judge basically
Speaker 1: told the Fox crew, Yeah, we're looking to potentially just
Speaker 1: put Colt McCoy in this game. And Daniel Jones got
Speaker 1: a little banged up, and Colt McCoy did finish, but
Speaker 1: coul McCoy had been warming up during parts of the
Speaker 1: second half, So you know, I don't think it's gonna
Speaker 1: lead to a quarterback switch because McCoy came in and
Speaker 1: was no more visible necessarily, but that, you know it,
Speaker 1: it reminds you that these NFC East teams, um the
Speaker 1: records reflect a lack of completion roster wise, and this
Speaker 1: Giant's offense, which I thought, you know, the ground game
Speaker 1: got going in recent weeks. You could kind of trust
Speaker 1: that and Wayne Gollman looked like a much better version
Speaker 1: of previous years. Wayne Goldman's not today. Uh DeAndre Hopkins
Speaker 1: did enough for the Cardinals. Dan Arnold, who shows up
Speaker 1: every week for that team with big plays, helps Kyler
Speaker 1: Murray who ran the ball ten times today and so
Speaker 1: he got going and they that was a part of
Speaker 1: their offense. I wouldn't say it was as killer as
Speaker 1: it's been in the past, but they didn't shy away
Speaker 1: from it. So they're hanging on uh by dear life
Speaker 1: in that NFC. But the NFC is not like the
Speaker 1: a f C. I could see a seven and nine
Speaker 1: or eight and eight type team grabbing that last wild
Speaker 1: card spot. Of these inconsistent operations don't get on a
Speaker 1: hot streak. Well they got They got the Eagles and Rams.
Speaker 1: You win those first two, you're in. There was some
Speaker 1: criticism that Daniel jones hamstring wasn't Eddie and that's why
Speaker 1: you see Hassan Reddick at five sacks, you see eight
Speaker 1: sacks because he shouldn't have been playing. Well. It's also
Speaker 1: a terrible offensive line. I mean, I think it's it's
Speaker 1: all mixed in there. Did he look spry and healthy
Speaker 1: um not necessarily because his mobility is a big part
Speaker 1: of his game. He didn't see that today. But the
Speaker 1: offensive line also, I thought, gave him very little room
Speaker 1: to operate. I mean, they were This is not a
Speaker 1: Cardinals team that does that every week. So it's it's
Speaker 1: it tells you that New York's line is a big
Speaker 1: old hot mess. I mean, the Giants got flexed into
Speaker 1: primetime next week against the Browns. And the fact that
Speaker 1: Jones was not healthy in this game, and Joe Judge
Speaker 1: said he didn't have regrets playing Daniel Jones in this game,
Speaker 1: but it's something they're gonna have to monitor. Their season is,
Speaker 1: you know, on the brink at five and eight here,
Speaker 1: and they're gonna need They're gonna need a couple of
Speaker 1: wins here, including potentially the one against Cleveland. So is
Speaker 1: Colt McCoy potentially the answer behind center McCoy against the
Speaker 1: Browns and prime times day night week fifty you gotta
Speaker 1: be kidding me. Give good, Give the Cardinals some credit.
Speaker 1: I know Jones isn't healthy, but to go three nine
Speaker 1: yards to one fifty nine to have a total, full
Speaker 1: scale beat down, we haven't really seen this out of
Speaker 1: this Cardinals team against anyone. UM. That's as surprising a
Speaker 1: result as I think we had today. The way that
Speaker 1: they were playing to just totally dismantle. The Giants get
Speaker 1: some credit and they're the favorites now. All I'd say is,
Speaker 1: when you watch this, like, tell me if you think
Speaker 1: it looked like a beat down from the first quarter
Speaker 1: through fourth. In terms of the Cardinals offense, I just
Speaker 1: I just don't totally yardage aside. I just struggle to
Speaker 1: buy them um going forward. But it was a better
Speaker 1: It was a better showing than it's been of late.
Speaker 1: It was a must win for the Cardinals. They got it.
Speaker 1: The Giants fall at a first place in the NFC East.
Speaker 1: Let's talk about the team that sits there all alone.
Speaker 1: Pocket collapse. Throw a pick right down the side like
Speaker 1: a cabra. Curl gets a block for James Smith Williams.
Speaker 1: He's still going five touchdown touchdown Washington. Second defensive score
Speaker 1: of the game for Washington. Cameron Curl jumped the route,
Speaker 1: gathered the Nick Mullins pass, took into the house. Washington's
Speaker 1: second defensive score in the game and over the forty Niners. Yes,
Speaker 1: Washington now sole possession of first place in the NFC
Speaker 1: East of three games to play Mark. Chase Young was
Speaker 1: also a monster in this game. He had the other
Speaker 1: defensive score this football team defense wins games. Chase Young
Speaker 1: I thought produced one of the best rookie autings I've
Speaker 1: ever seen by a rookie defender. I mean, you could
Speaker 1: kind of feel this coming at some point for him.
Speaker 1: He just took over the game. And I think it
Speaker 1: started early on a play which was real. It showed
Speaker 1: how kind of mentally tuned in he is too. With
Speaker 1: Nick Mullins kind of hanging around in the pocket, Chase
Speaker 1: Young watched justin school come at him and basically said,
Speaker 1: I'm not going to rush the passer and then bang
Speaker 1: eyes off of Chase Young. He's left alone. He darts
Speaker 1: at Mullins and dropped him to the turf, and it
Speaker 1: was you know, they brought it up and showed it
Speaker 1: on replay a couple of times because it was a
Speaker 1: really interesting, uh approach. He then blew up Jeff Wilson
Speaker 1: on a forced fumble that gave washing the ball at
Speaker 1: San Francisco's. At one point, like Nick Mullins had a
Speaker 1: weird shuffle pass, Chase Young like bent his body to
Speaker 1: tip it down to the ground, and then the touchdown came,
Speaker 1: the fumble recovery touchdown for forty seven yards. And he
Speaker 1: did not look like a defensive lineman to me running
Speaker 1: down that sideline. He looked more like a big old
Speaker 1: running back with wheels. I mean, he's just the next
Speaker 1: level athlete. He took them completely out of this game.
Speaker 1: But because it's the Niners, that kind of fought back,
Speaker 1: and at one point Alex Smith Um suffered a calf
Speaker 1: injury right before half, so Dwayne Haskins came in. Um
Speaker 1: did Dwayne Haskins thing. I thought he looked okay on
Speaker 1: an opening about seventies something yard drive where they went
Speaker 1: for a field goal. Um that helped them out, but
Speaker 1: then the offense kind of fell apart. They're just not
Speaker 1: the same offense without Antonio Gibson. They aren't, and they
Speaker 1: weren't as able to be as creative. Today. The Niners
Speaker 1: gutted this out. I mean, I look at this Niners
Speaker 1: team and we've forked them and they're gone. But this
Speaker 1: is a team plane in Arizona Stadium with the Cardinals
Speaker 1: logo and name in the end zone. I just think
Speaker 1: it's been as much of bad luck the team could
Speaker 1: face in one campaign. The Niners have. Washington's defense is
Speaker 1: super legit, and I would give them a chance to
Speaker 1: win this division if they can get anything out of
Speaker 1: their offense and if Alex Smith is healthy. We're talking
Speaker 1: about Jimmy Garoppolo and whether Kyle Shannon wants to move
Speaker 1: forward with him. I think they got to redo that
Speaker 1: quarterback room. Nick Mollins is just it's one thing to
Speaker 1: like lose everything that they've lost, and then you come
Speaker 1: into the game and you lose Devo and you lose
Speaker 1: Devo right away, and then you lose most and you're
Speaker 1: playing this Washington team ultimately, like They're offense was no
Speaker 1: different than Washington's offense. Washington had the ball fourteen times
Speaker 1: and scored nine points. They had ninety five yards and
Speaker 1: thirty five dropbacks. So it's like he's not he's I
Speaker 1: think he's a good backup. Actually, I think he's played fine.
Speaker 1: I really do. Nick Mullins has started like sixteen games
Speaker 1: and never thrown for less than two hundred and fifty yards,
Speaker 1: and any one of them, it's the turnovers um and
Speaker 1: it's like, I think he's productive, but he doesn't protect
Speaker 1: the ball. But it's the same thing less last week
Speaker 1: with Debo out, they never really got um into the flow.
Speaker 1: Monster came back, but you know, they're just it's it's
Speaker 1: one thing after another with this team. That's like he
Speaker 1: got four or five guys getting injured every game. Mm hmm.
Speaker 1: This Washington team, they're they're in first, but how depending
Speaker 1: on how you know serious. That's Alex Smith injury. And
Speaker 1: even with Alex Smith, I mean his numbers were even
Speaker 1: worse than Haskins. Smith dropped back twenty times, had fifty
Speaker 1: seven yards and got sacked and threw a pick. So
Speaker 1: they made life tough. And I think they're going to
Speaker 1: find a way to get into the playoffs, if you know,
Speaker 1: if I if you had to pick one, but they
Speaker 1: are limited. This is the game I'm least looking forward
Speaker 1: to on game past. Twenty nine drives in this game, well,
Speaker 1: it's no like this was my anti um. I wanted
Speaker 1: it going in, but there was ten minutes left in
Speaker 1: the second half while every other game was in halftime.
Speaker 1: I thought to myself, what has what has going on here?
Speaker 1: You can sell that one with Chase Young because I'll
Speaker 1: watched quite a bit of this game and and that
Speaker 1: was as close as you see the Lawrence Taylor exactly.
Speaker 1: He's beautiful in a week without in a year without
Speaker 1: many great defensive rookies, and even you know, Chase Young
Speaker 1: was you know, not productive for a long stretch. I
Speaker 1: think he went two months without a quarterback hit or
Speaker 1: a sack. This type of game might be enough if
Speaker 1: he finish his strong to go get that rookie. I
Speaker 1: think he's healthy now, this hipp in through, I mean
Speaker 1: he looked, he looked healthy. Breaking news here, this from
Speaker 1: the New York Times. Following years of protests from fans
Speaker 1: and Native American groups, the Cleveland Indians have decided to
Speaker 1: change their team name, moving away from a moniker that
Speaker 1: has long been criticized as racist. Three people familiar with
Speaker 1: the decision said Sunday, why do I bring it up?
Speaker 1: Because the move follows a decision by the Washington football
Speaker 1: team in the NFL and July to stop using a
Speaker 1: name long considered a racial slur. Uh. And obviously this
Speaker 1: has all been part of a larger national conversation. A
Speaker 1: lot of things have changed. Twenty The Indians now joined
Speaker 1: the Redskins in the dustbin of history. About that all
Speaker 1: it tech was Washington been threatened with losing five million
Speaker 1: dollars worth of endorsements, and they're now having like an
Speaker 1: ownership battle behind the scenes, that is in the courts,
Speaker 1: and now they're in first. I think, I think, I
Speaker 1: think they they're keeping that name. They're they're gonna be
Speaker 1: the football team forever. All right, let's move on. Let's
Speaker 1: now move over to the a f C. Starting with Yes,
Speaker 1: the number one seed over in that conference. Left footed
Speaker 1: punter taken by Hardman. First time he's gonna returned today,
Speaker 1: and he's got an edge at the hard in midfield.
Speaker 1: Forty five party, two blots, duty to l fifteen time
Speaker 1: far gets reporting pass. Chet has taken into the end
Speaker 1: zone touchdown Chance City punt return for a touchdown, the
Speaker 1: first in the career of a Cole Hartman to go
Speaker 1: with this kickoff returns for touchdowns. Mitch holtus with a call,
Speaker 1: w d a f I mean, how crazy is it
Speaker 1: that the Chief's offense they have a guy they call
Speaker 1: the jet and it's not even Tyree Kill that doesn't
Speaker 1: see there Nicole Harden and sixty seven yard punt returned
Speaker 1: the final touchdown in a run of thirty straight points
Speaker 1: for the Chiefs, who clinched another a f C West
Speaker 1: title in a thirty three thirty three to twenty seven
Speaker 1: went over the Dolphins in the same building where they
Speaker 1: claimed Super Bowl fifty four. Uh this February, Gregg, the
Speaker 1: Chiefs started and finished slowly in this game, but that
Speaker 1: surge in the middle was just too much. Yeah, reminded
Speaker 1: me so much of the playoffs last year where they spot,
Speaker 1: you know, an opponent ten points, but you felt like
Speaker 1: it might could have been more. Miami missed a kick
Speaker 1: and DeVante Parker dropped a potential touchdown. You know, you
Speaker 1: have those up. Maybe it was seventeen nothing. You somehow
Speaker 1: forced Patrick Mahomes uh into three turnovers. One of them
Speaker 1: he just dropped the fumble. But you know he throws
Speaker 1: three interceptions, and you still lose. Like you do all
Speaker 1: these things right, you have them scrambled. They thought they
Speaker 1: were gonna come with the blitz. They didn't really early
Speaker 1: in the game. They they're doing a good job, and
Speaker 1: yet you lose going away, um because it's Kansas City
Speaker 1: and and I know, like Mahomes maybe lost a little
Speaker 1: in the m v P race, but he still made
Speaker 1: I would say four plays in this game that I mean,
Speaker 1: you just like Marvel at that were just unreal throw
Speaker 1: I mean, I know, I know he didn't he had
Speaker 1: the turnovers, but he also put up three D ninety
Speaker 1: yards and just had some unreal plays, right, And this
Speaker 1: game is most likely thirty seven to ten if Hardman
Speaker 1: doesn't fumble when they're going in for a score after
Speaker 1: that safety, and then things changed. And give credit to
Speaker 1: to Ah and the Dolphins who showed a lot of
Speaker 1: fight here and they're a team that is easy to respect.
Speaker 1: But the thirty seven sometimes makes me think that the
Speaker 1: Chiefs have have reached that level. And their twelve and
Speaker 1: one obviously this year and they uh they when they
Speaker 1: go twelve and four thirteen three last year won the
Speaker 1: Super Bowl, when their last eight games, uh that they
Speaker 1: they can get bored. And then when when they get
Speaker 1: when they get a little bit of a scare put
Speaker 1: into them, like a tend nothing score in this game,
Speaker 1: they wake up. They just kick ass for about an
Speaker 1: hour and a half real time, and then once they
Speaker 1: get into that zone, like Greg you had mentioned on Thursday,
Speaker 1: it's it's time for the Chiefs to blow out a team.
Speaker 1: I think it's because some of their their focus wanes
Speaker 1: a little bit. Sometimes this is just a wild theory,
Speaker 1: but it kind of checks out when you watch a
Speaker 1: game like this. I agree because if you think of
Speaker 1: the two moments where they went into the I mean, look,
Speaker 1: they're trying hard their professionals. Of course they're intense every game,
Speaker 1: but the two spots where it was like, oh, this
Speaker 1: is the big game for the Chiefs going in. UM
Speaker 1: that come to mind to me was the Ravens in
Speaker 1: week two or three and the Bucks game where they
Speaker 1: both come out and they blow the doors off when
Speaker 1: they are needing to be at their very best. They are,
Speaker 1: and Miami fans are probably saying, but we didn't have
Speaker 1: all of our players, and that is totally worth um
Speaker 1: pointing out. Not only did they lose Myles Gaskin, who's
Speaker 1: been great for them when he's played right before the
Speaker 1: game with COVID nineteen, they didn't have Kyle van Noy,
Speaker 1: who was Defensive Player of the Week last week. They
Speaker 1: didn't have a land In Roberts, and then they lose
Speaker 1: Devonte Parker uh and Jachim Grant in this game he
Speaker 1: had he like to have played fairly well. This was
Speaker 1: a game I appreciated having Tony Romo on the call
Speaker 1: because I think he helped point out the ways that
Speaker 1: to have played. Well. I'm not saying he was like great,
Speaker 1: but he does a lot of good things for a rookie.
Speaker 1: And so this wasn't a discouraging game, I don't think
Speaker 1: for two of you men. And he yeah, he left
Speaker 1: like he had a nice game before that, and yeah
Speaker 1: he heard his he heard his shoulder and if that's serious,
Speaker 1: that's really going to hurt him to uh in the
Speaker 1: fourth quarter, So that that was rough. When it came
Speaker 1: to the Dolphins, you could point to Miami, though, is
Speaker 1: the team that um has people that gave Mahomes issues
Speaker 1: in the past when they faced New England. Some of
Speaker 1: those people are in Miami and they gave him trouble today.
Speaker 1: I mean, I think it's very easy to decipher the
Speaker 1: difference between these two teams and the tears between them.
Speaker 1: But um, this is what Miami does every week. Sometimes
Speaker 1: it works, sometimes it doesn't. But they cause all sorts
Speaker 1: of problems with people that most people hadn't heard of
Speaker 1: a year or two years ago. So I you know,
Speaker 1: I stick with what kind of I was saying on Thursday,
Speaker 1: I think they're really well coached. I said they were
Speaker 1: up for anything. Anything means um playing well and then
Speaker 1: losing too, so that that is something that they were
Speaker 1: up for today. But um, I literally anything for anything.
Speaker 1: It's like you, you don't come in with a heart
Speaker 1: agenda and they you know, but I I do, Um,
Speaker 1: I do think the future is very bright. Every week
Speaker 1: they seem to game plan well for the team that
Speaker 1: they're playing, not just hey, we're gonna stick everyone into
Speaker 1: what we do the same thing every week. They seem
Speaker 1: flexible in that front. Um. I had some hope that
Speaker 1: they were going to hang around in this thing. But
Speaker 1: the chiefs man when they hit that gas pedal, like
Speaker 1: you're saying, Dan Night's out, It's all over, goodbye West.
Speaker 1: Um I like talking eighties baseball with you. Uh, it's
Speaker 1: so great to have a lefty quarterback back in the league. Bloomers.
Speaker 1: Sisson was one of my favorite players ever. I'm sure
Speaker 1: he has a special place in your heart as well.
Speaker 1: And now I think part of what I like about
Speaker 1: two is not just that he's a lefty, because there's
Speaker 1: been plenty of crummy lefty quarterbacks. It doesn't it has
Speaker 1: to be more than that. I just like his throwing
Speaker 1: motion and aw fluid he is. It reminds me of
Speaker 1: like Will Clark. Remember that beautiful, sweet lefty stroke of
Speaker 1: Will The thrill sometimes with lefties and there's a little
Speaker 1: bit of lefty jealousy. Anybody that's played sports um can
Speaker 1: attest to. It just looks better and it just looks
Speaker 1: so good coming out of to his arm. He's just
Speaker 1: he's such an athlete and a great thrower of the football.
Speaker 1: Well Clark baseball's greatest red ass. He was to be
Speaker 1: a total jerk. He's a red ass, which is different
Speaker 1: but in the same category. In the thirty for thirty
Speaker 1: to describe his red ass as he'd go and play
Speaker 1: you in poker and not even care if he want
Speaker 1: or not, just as long as he could tell you
Speaker 1: at the end of the game that he beat your
Speaker 1: ass in poker, even if he lost money. He just
Speaker 1: wanted to win, just sore. Like, what is a red ass?
Speaker 1: Look it up right, A j Perzynski a great red ass.
Speaker 1: It's like our our cock the cockney section of our audience.
Speaker 1: Apparently Pete Rose a red ass. Any any other thoughts
Speaker 1: on this game? West? Did you attract this one at
Speaker 1: all I did, and I would push back a little
Speaker 1: bit on saying that to have played well, to have
Speaker 1: played well in the second half, I thought he was
Speaker 1: not ready for prime time in the first half, and
Speaker 1: that was when they had a chance to really stomp
Speaker 1: on the Chiefs. When the defense was making all those plays,
Speaker 1: it looked to me like one team had a great
Speaker 1: offense and the other team was still learning to find
Speaker 1: its sea legs. And that's not to say that the
Speaker 1: two is not gonna grow every week. In fact, he
Speaker 1: grew throughout the game, and that's a very promising sign.
Speaker 1: But I thought that the difference in the game was
Speaker 1: that the Dolphins offense wasn't ready to compete in the
Speaker 1: first half. No, when Parker dropped that touchdown, I thought, like,
Speaker 1: they're not gonna win this game. They gotta play close
Speaker 1: to perfect. And uh, when you're when you're leading receivers
Speaker 1: are Lynn Bowden and Mac Collins and you're leading running
Speaker 1: back is DeAndre Washington and you're eight and five and
Speaker 1: in the playoff race, it's like, okay, I mean, just
Speaker 1: let's let's try to win some games that Congratulations for
Speaker 1: being competitive and move forward. Maybe big game against the
Speaker 1: Patriots next week for the Dolphins. It feels like two
Speaker 1: of us like improves because he seems that these sort
Speaker 1: of halves revanishes when he's kind of like fancy free
Speaker 1: and they're just kind of go and for it. Well,
Speaker 1: he's not. He's physically gifted, and so that is a
Speaker 1: tough thread. I think. Not to cut you off, sorry,
Speaker 1: mark Um. I just mean like, if he's relying on
Speaker 1: going through his progressions in his eyes and stuff like that,
Speaker 1: that's like advanced stuff for a rookie to have to
Speaker 1: try to like really look great. And everyone is talking
Speaker 1: t J. Watt, Aaron Donald, Myles Garrett. Defensive player of
Speaker 1: the Year. Xavian Howard now has nine interceptions and five
Speaker 1: picks in the last five weeks. That's pretty damn and
Speaker 1: the best was insane, insane good uh to pull off
Speaker 1: what he was doing. That was one on one coverage
Speaker 1: against Tyreek Hill and he came up with that pick
Speaker 1: all right. Uh. In other playoff matters in the a
Speaker 1: f C, they'll sweep it right side of Jonathan Taylor,
Speaker 1: Huett down the far sideline, out springing everybody ten five
Speaker 1: Jottthan Taylor touchdown in d Y A sixty two yard
Speaker 1: run for the rookie otta Wisconsin, this longest rush of
Speaker 1: the season, and now the colt lead A to seventies.
Speaker 1: Mattie Taylor w f N I Johnny Taylor have a day.
Speaker 1: The rookie running back rush for two scores, including that
Speaker 1: sixty two yard breakaway dash and the Colts win over
Speaker 1: the fading Raiders in Vegas. Indie was dominant on offense
Speaker 1: in this one, piling up nearly three hundred yards by halftime,
Speaker 1: finishing with over four hundred fifty yards total and the
Speaker 1: win that keeps them tied with the Titans the top
Speaker 1: the a f C South with three weeks to play um. Meanwhile,
Speaker 1: for the Raiders, that's three consecutive lackluster performances, two of
Speaker 1: them losses. Probably should have lost the Jets game as well,
Speaker 1: and uh the Raiders. They look a lot like the
Speaker 1: John Gruded team that limped to the golf course last December,
Speaker 1: and it seemed like this year was gonna be different,
Speaker 1: but I don't think it is. Jonathan Taylor is interesting.
Speaker 1: When Cam Newton got COVID, came back and and really
Speaker 1: hasn't been the same quarterback he was earlier in the year.
Speaker 1: Jonathan Taylor comes back from COVID and plays lights out.
Speaker 1: He played way better in the last few weeks than
Speaker 1: he did before he had COVID. What's up with that?
Speaker 1: So you're coming up with the theory that the COVID
Speaker 1: helped him. I have does look better. He is running like.
Speaker 1: It's not a hard theory, it doesn't sound like, but
Speaker 1: it's percolating in West's mind. It could be like he's
Speaker 1: just decided, Okay, I've just had a life and death experience.
Speaker 1: Let's just forget all these things that don't matter at all,
Speaker 1: push all these self doubts out the window, and go
Speaker 1: play like I know how to play. How different they
Speaker 1: are when their ground game is doing what it's doing.
Speaker 1: I mean, they scored on seven of eight drives before
Speaker 1: they you know, took a knee to end the thing. Um,
Speaker 1: Philip Rivers, I think in the last four or five
Speaker 1: weeks has produced maybe three of his best games, And um,
Speaker 1: it gives you some hope. I mean, my I was
Speaker 1: ready to count them out because of their offense seems
Speaker 1: so limited, but suddenly t Y Hilton has risen from
Speaker 1: the dead. So you know, there's a couple of factors
Speaker 1: that play here. I mean, they're gonna win eleven games there.
Speaker 1: They don't feel quite like an eleven and five team.
Speaker 1: I'm with you, but they do deserve they they they
Speaker 1: are a tough offense I think to prepare for, and
Speaker 1: they definitely have players on defense, and they're gonna win
Speaker 1: eleven games. Like signing Philip Rivers, I'm ready to say
Speaker 1: is an unqualified success. What else were you gonna do? U?
Speaker 1: I could have signed Cam Newton, for instance, and it
Speaker 1: probably would have been a huge mistake. Uh, And a
Speaker 1: lot of people thought that the Cult should have winn
Speaker 1: that direction. And yes, I think Rivers and I was
Speaker 1: one of many people that had some reservations whether this
Speaker 1: was gonna work. But he has been, for the most part,
Speaker 1: very good for them. But the Jonathan Taylor situation and
Speaker 1: hem Himes, who's a nice guy in the mix as well,
Speaker 1: that's so important for them. I mean, I view them
Speaker 1: obviously is a tear below. The true contend is I
Speaker 1: think that I like the Titans better than them, but
Speaker 1: maybe the Cults are have more balance ultimately, but the
Speaker 1: Titans are just a little bit of a higher ceiling
Speaker 1: for me. But it wouldn't surprise me if either of
Speaker 1: those teams end up winning the division. Um so I
Speaker 1: like the Colts. I just they're hard team to kind
Speaker 1: of fall in love with. Yeah, they showed up though,
Speaker 1: Between them and the Titans, it's like who's healthier that
Speaker 1: well that week? Right, They're They're both they both have
Speaker 1: really tough Week sixteen games on the road where the
Speaker 1: Colts are at the Steelers and the Titans are at
Speaker 1: the Packers. Now, a million things can happen, but the
Speaker 1: other you know, spots on the schedule all look pretty doable.
Speaker 1: Those teams are both going to the playoffs, though, and
Speaker 1: I've sort of I'm not saying it hurts the end
Speaker 1: of the regular season, but I'm I'm not so sure
Speaker 1: seating matters that much, you know, but there's no home
Speaker 1: field advantage the opponent get Like, I'm not, you know,
Speaker 1: it's not you have a nice moment you win a division.
Speaker 1: But whether the Colts are the five or the sixth seed,
Speaker 1: or whether the three or the four seed, is it
Speaker 1: really going to make a big difference in their playoff
Speaker 1: on who the hell knows. Interesting thing happened on the
Speaker 1: Colts offensive line early in this game. So Anthony Costanzo,
Speaker 1: who sprained his MCL on his knee. A couple of
Speaker 1: weeks back. He returned to the lineup, leaves the game
Speaker 1: after a series. They put in a person named Chaz
Speaker 1: Green as his replacement, and I mean some people, and
Speaker 1: I mean no disrespect to the Green family, but sometimes
Speaker 1: you just know it's not gonna work out. Chads Green
Speaker 1: is not going to be a great blindside protector for
Speaker 1: Philip Rivers, and indeed he wasn't. In fact, he was
Speaker 1: so bad in his one series that they pulled him
Speaker 1: out of the game. So Frank Reich said, uh, Quentin
Speaker 1: and put Quentin Nelson at left tackle for a little
Speaker 1: bit until Costanzo came back in the game. Uh what
Speaker 1: what were you had? You had a Chaz Green take
Speaker 1: there was Oh, I mean, this is the guy Adrian
Speaker 1: Claiborne took down eight sacks on it. He's proven by
Speaker 1: he's the guy who's single handedly sabotaged the Colts all
Speaker 1: fence last week when he had to play well, the
Speaker 1: Cowboys fans still call that the Chazz Green game. It
Speaker 1: was that Falcons game, Yeah, where he just that was it.
Speaker 1: There's first string, their second string, third string, and then
Speaker 1: there's Chaz green String, which is off the roster. No,
Speaker 1: Kenny Moore had an incredible Odell Beckham Jr. Like interception
Speaker 1: in this game. And they Cults defense in general, that's
Speaker 1: one of the things that they do well. They forced
Speaker 1: three more turnovers they have twenty two this season. So yeah,
Speaker 1: they ball hawk a bit on defense, and rivers can
Speaker 1: carve you up if you protect them still and t
Speaker 1: wise getting hot and if the running game gets going. Okay,
Speaker 1: talk split with the Titans beat the Packers, beat the Raider.
Speaker 1: They've ultimately done what they needed to do, uh to
Speaker 1: get to the dance. All right, What was he gonna say?
Speaker 1: What's what's Mark smiling about? Greg's Greg's just I appreciate
Speaker 1: Greg's zeal for these playoff races where this is the
Speaker 1: point of the year where there are three or four
Speaker 1: teams are gonna make the playoffs, that I've not been
Speaker 1: his vocal this time around. I just simply don't buy
Speaker 1: in any level. Cults are one of them. I think
Speaker 1: they're tough, but um, Greg seems to be more into
Speaker 1: the who gets in? How does it happen? Mathematically? They're
Speaker 1: all special and like some of them to me are
Speaker 1: special in a different way, and some of them are
Speaker 1: not special at all. Right now, if you if you
Speaker 1: feel good about putting the Browns in the playoffs, and
Speaker 1: you probably should, and you feel good about the code,
Speaker 1: you don't feel good about that, but I mean, if
Speaker 1: you're gonna look at it mathematically, you should. What do
Speaker 1: you mean the nine and three? Well, because you're on
Speaker 1: a big lock off Monday night. What a night. That's fine.
Speaker 1: They're gonna get beat on Monday and they'll be okay.
Speaker 1: Nine and four just can take a loss and survive. Browns,
Speaker 1: Colts slash Titans the other wild card that leaves one more.
Speaker 1: So it's gonna come down to the Dolphins, the Ravens
Speaker 1: and you. I mean, the Raiders are deep in the Raiders,
Speaker 1: and the Raiders play two of those teams. I think.
Speaker 1: I think they play the Dolphins and someone else and
Speaker 1: your Patriots. And when Rosenthal is just happy he didn't
Speaker 1: have to do the recap with anyone else you could
Speaker 1: do with his own little private hive on Thursday night,
Speaker 1: So good for him. Um, all right, let's talk about
Speaker 1: the Titans. He's waiting for Greg to return fire. Nothing
Speaker 1: gonna run Henry at right yard Tick Hall thirty ten
Speaker 1: five and zon Ulli Bulldozer Titan, the Jullie Bulldozer like
Speaker 1: Mike Keith, of course, the Great Mike Keith w g
Speaker 1: F X Derrick Henry ran for two fifteen and two
Speaker 1: touchdowns and the Tennessee Titans dominated Jacksonville. That's twelve straight
Speaker 1: losses for the Jaguars. Stank mark. When Henry gets into
Speaker 1: the end, gets into the zone, the zone that he's
Speaker 1: in now, and it's usually in December. There's no one
Speaker 1: in football quite like him. No, and it seems too
Speaker 1: and some of these games happen in the first half
Speaker 1: and you can tell right away, um that he's in
Speaker 1: that zone, that he's dialed in, and a team like
Speaker 1: the Jaguars has literally no chance. I feel like I've
Speaker 1: watched this Titans game could happened today about six times
Speaker 1: because it's the same thing. It's one or two magical
Speaker 1: shots to a j Brown, it's a lot of Henry
Speaker 1: and it's simply over. By halftime. You've left the team
Speaker 1: that you're playing so flummixed. And I think in this game,
Speaker 1: the defense, um, they shut down James Robinson early. They
Speaker 1: made life real tough on Mike Glennon. Mike Glennon was
Speaker 1: pulled for Gardner Minshew. Gardner Minshew brought a little life
Speaker 1: to the offense. The running game got going, but they
Speaker 1: were way too deep in a hole for any of
Speaker 1: that to matter. I mean, this was a game where, um,
Speaker 1: the Jaguars basically I thought eight minutes into this thing.
Speaker 1: Now I watched every minute of it, but um, you know,
Speaker 1: I would have bet everything inside of my house, um
Speaker 1: that they were going to get waxed. And they were waxed.
Speaker 1: And I mean it's not excessive, but I am a
Speaker 1: Spartan sort of more of a Spartan type personality, so
Speaker 1: it would be doing me a favor on some level
Speaker 1: just to push all these objects out into the streets.
Speaker 1: Someone comes by picks them up, but we have to
Speaker 1: probably rebuy some stuff. Anyways. I would just say that
Speaker 1: when you're talking about the cults, like, honestly, if someone
Speaker 1: has a cults fetish, I would be much closer with that.
Speaker 1: On the Titans. I just think the Titans when they
Speaker 1: are on are unstoppable. Then they'll have a game, you know,
Speaker 1: a week from now where all these other issues crop
Speaker 1: up and they don't get an up flow early and
Speaker 1: you can nip them. But this team powerfully like in
Speaker 1: terms of pure offensive power, I think can lay it
Speaker 1: to anyone in the a f C. And the only
Speaker 1: concern I'd have to be with the same kind of
Speaker 1: game script we saw against the Chiefs last year. But
Speaker 1: I mean, Henry is is an m v P candidy
Speaker 1: to me. I'll say it every week. I just think
Speaker 1: he is. Henry is four d and sixty eight yards
Speaker 1: away from joining the two thousand club. He's going to
Speaker 1: do it. I think UM for four sixty eight divided
Speaker 1: by three um somebody somebody, it's like or something. He
Speaker 1: needs a hundred and it's somewhere here that is obviously
Speaker 1: within range. And I would not rule out because West
Speaker 1: when this guy gets going, and it's this time of year,
Speaker 1: and it's a good Titans team, so you're running the
Speaker 1: clock a lot, running the ball out to run clock
Speaker 1: and try to close out games and teams tired and
Speaker 1: beat up in December. He is such a weapon this
Speaker 1: time of year, this time of year, and on a
Speaker 1: team with a J. Brown and really Corey Davis has
Speaker 1: stepped up this year on pace for about a thousand
Speaker 1: yards UM. But a J. Brown like to open that
Speaker 1: game with that one handed catch was just phenomenal. That
Speaker 1: guy seems to get better every week. I still go
Speaker 1: back and forth among Terry mclau and A. J. Brown
Speaker 1: and DJ Metcalf over who's the best receiver in that
Speaker 1: draft class, because they're all three absolute studs and they
Speaker 1: changed their offense. Is the Titans offense is pretty loaded?
Speaker 1: It is because and they're also different, which I think
Speaker 1: helps that there's really not many power running teams like them,
Speaker 1: and there's certainly not two guys on the outside, not
Speaker 1: it's not like these little guys in the slot. Humphries
Speaker 1: I think is now out for the year. Actually it's
Speaker 1: two guys on the outside, one of which Corey Davis,
Speaker 1: as you mentioned, came into the game with more more
Speaker 1: numbers than A J. Brown this year, which I think
Speaker 1: would surprise a lot of people that Davis has been
Speaker 1: that good. He's not the number one receiver, I don't think,
Speaker 1: but for him to go one thousand, one thousand, they're
Speaker 1: tough to prepare for. It was Henry's fourth game with
Speaker 1: at least two hundred yards and two scores. That's that's
Speaker 1: an NFL record that he had previously held with Hall
Speaker 1: of Famers. Listen to these names, Jim Brown, Barry Sanders, Ladanian, Tomlinson.
Speaker 1: He's a Hall of Fame level player. Now he just
Speaker 1: needs a longevity and I guess that's the that's the
Speaker 1: hardest part. But two thousand yards you put that on
Speaker 1: the resume too, and we are flying west history here
Speaker 1: and he put him back in there. They put him
Speaker 1: back in there to get the two hundred. That kind
Speaker 1: of thing where he's getting these twenty six carries, thirty carries.
Speaker 1: He's he seems indestructible, but I don't know that worries
Speaker 1: me a little bit. Also, he's running over a hundred
Speaker 1: yards and nine straight road games, Like, who does this?
Speaker 1: This is crazy? All right, Let's now dig into some
Speaker 1: more grizzly affairs on the schedule talks White Fanker, Carlos
Speaker 1: will Dislee comes across in the right flat, makes the catch,
Speaker 1: turns up field and welcome back Uncle will touchdown Seahawks three.
Speaker 1: Now she got all over the jet. Yes. Russell Wilson
Speaker 1: threw four touchdown passes, including that dart to will dis Lee,
Speaker 1: before giving way to the legend Gino Smith. Gino Smith
Speaker 1: revenge game. Late in the third quarter, the Seahawks laugh
Speaker 1: their way to a forty the three win over the
Speaker 1: Jets at the stadium formerly known as the Clink. We
Speaker 1: knew this game would be a shameless blowout, but that
Speaker 1: almost doesn't give it enough credit for the total absence
Speaker 1: of the competition in this one. This was not an
Speaker 1: NFL game. This was This was um the Seattle Seahawks
Speaker 1: against you know, our ladies, a perpetual misery, you know,
Speaker 1: based in Hoboken, like there was. This was not a
Speaker 1: real game. And uh and and get credit to Pete
Speaker 1: Carroll for understanding that. So that's why he got Russell
Speaker 1: Wilson out of the game. In the third quarter, Jamal
Speaker 1: Adams chased Sam Donald out of bounds behind the line
Speaker 1: of scrimmage, which gave him eight and a half sacks,
Speaker 1: which gives him the record for defensive backs in a season.
Speaker 1: Then they got him out of the game. It was
Speaker 1: basically a glorified exhibition for Seattle. The only thing missing
Speaker 1: was the fans to enjoy it all. You could tell
Speaker 1: the Seahawks players certainly did. So they keep pace with
Speaker 1: the Rams and they have a trip to Washington next
Speaker 1: week and then a big showdown with the Rams in
Speaker 1: week sixteen. The only tension here was was Pete Carroll
Speaker 1: gonna let Gino throw it there in the red zone.
Speaker 1: I had to flip it over to see what was
Speaker 1: gonna happen. Like branded on third and goal at the ten,
Speaker 1: I was like, come on, let Gino cook. I mean
Speaker 1: he went, he went four for five thirty three yards.
Speaker 1: You know, they went out the field. Let him try
Speaker 1: to get a touchdown his revenge for by the way,
Speaker 1: like utterly flopping as a second round pick. I don't
Speaker 1: know what the think him in the head coach going
Speaker 1: back and forth publicly ever ever since. You know, I guess, yeah,
Speaker 1: he wouldn't want to revenge on Rex. But Rex is
Speaker 1: ancient history obviously there, So like a game like this,
Speaker 1: I don't know how much to take out of him
Speaker 1: for Seattle. All I can tell you is that, uh,
Speaker 1: you know, it's a nice little, uh get right game.
Speaker 1: There is an issue there on the offensive line. Brandon
Speaker 1: shell Um he returned from a high ankle sprain in
Speaker 1: this game, but then he left at halftime and didn't return.
Speaker 1: Carol said that Shell tweaked at a couple of times. Uh,
Speaker 1: So you have to watch that in terms of them,
Speaker 1: because the offensive line hasn't always been that been there
Speaker 1: for them, and the Jets, of course are now oh
Speaker 1: and thirteen. Jacksonville seems committed to this, so it might
Speaker 1: take going sixteen to get the number one overall pick,
Speaker 1: which is obviously not ideal. I've looked at the schedule
Speaker 1: for both teams. Uh My, my greatest hope, I guess
Speaker 1: is the Jaguars have the Bears. The Bears are playing
Speaker 1: better in the last couple of weeks. But when I
Speaker 1: looked at this a couple of weeks ago, I said, Okay,
Speaker 1: could the Jaguars, especially if your boy Minshew is as
Speaker 1: great as everybody thinks, can can they knock off the
Speaker 1: Bears and Trabinsky? Uh? To finish two and fourteen doesn't
Speaker 1: seem impossible. You know, you need to get on the
Speaker 1: Minshew bandwagon. He gives them a better chance to win,
Speaker 1: and you can. You can, you can lasen all the
Speaker 1: little slights that you wish, but he's gonna give you
Speaker 1: what you want so that you have a quarterback that
Speaker 1: you thought the Jaguars playing this week good. What happened
Speaker 1: to that narrative? Well, I don't think the coaches are tanking.
Speaker 1: I mean, we've I think we've established like the front
Speaker 1: office could probably say, we'd like to see this person.
Speaker 1: But you think Doug Maron's thinking, I want a tank
Speaker 1: so I can get fired to the next coach can
Speaker 1: get a great quarterback. Like I was saying, that's why
Speaker 1: it wasn't a tank. There wasn't a tank situation. I'm
Speaker 1: just saying, now, Minshew, I'd see the same for Adam
Speaker 1: Gates though, that Adam Gaze just simply isn't talented. I mean,
Speaker 1: Adam Gaze isn't part of some deep state plot to
Speaker 1: tank the Jets and then you know, receive offshore money somewhere.
Speaker 1: Maybe he is. That's the Jets are tanking by keeping
Speaker 1: but Joe Flacco on the bench. Let's let's see their
Speaker 1: best quarterback in New York. Why did we need to
Speaker 1: see three games of Mike Glennon to prove that he's
Speaker 1: still Mike Lennon. Well we didn't at least the see Hey,
Speaker 1: if I was a Seattle fan, they I think there
Speaker 1: is a difference between their defense right now, and I
Speaker 1: know it's the Jets, but it's like the Jets just
Speaker 1: put up a ton of yards and points against the Raiders,
Speaker 1: who are a dog defense. This, This is the type
Speaker 1: of thing that dog defenses don't do. They just throttle
Speaker 1: one of the you know, the or steaming the leagus.
Speaker 1: I think they are making some progress on that side. Well.
Speaker 1: They lead the the league in Saxons week nine going
Speaker 1: into this this week. Yeah, I mean it's not coming
Speaker 1: from places you'd expect. It's not your your number one
Speaker 1: dominating edge rusher, but they've they've found a way to
Speaker 1: make it happen. All right, So if Minshew is indeed
Speaker 1: a big upgrade, can you guys give me one win
Speaker 1: at Ravens Home Bears at Colts? Can give me one?
Speaker 1: That's a tough slate. They did beat the Colts in
Speaker 1: week one and they know him well. Um, but I
Speaker 1: think the Bears, you're right, is their best bet there?
Speaker 1: Yes or no? Can you give me a win? What
Speaker 1: do I have to go? I'll not given it to
Speaker 1: you at Ravens Home Bears at Cults. I mean, I'm
Speaker 1: arguing that Gardner Minshew is the best option for them
Speaker 1: and a ten year backup. I don't think he can
Speaker 1: win games alone. Um, They're gonna need a lot to go, right,
Speaker 1: I mean, they haven't allowed less than twenty one points
Speaker 1: since like Week one or something. So their defense is
Speaker 1: the bigger issue, not just which quarterback starts. I mean,
Speaker 1: the Jets are gonna take this thing home unless the Patriot.
Speaker 1: The Patriots week seventeen feels like the only way that
Speaker 1: they're getting they're possibly even gonna get one. Enjoy all
Speaker 1: your little Jet digs its slights, because it's gonna change
Speaker 1: sooner than you think. We're not digging on the mark.
Speaker 1: I think we've been like totally respectful to the Jets.
Speaker 1: That's during a tough season. I don't know who you're talking.
Speaker 1: Who are you talking to yourself? Enjoy it while you can.
Speaker 1: Let's move on and receiver in motion to the Montgomery
Speaker 1: crack turns into it? Can you not to outside to
Speaker 1: the fifty nobody's gonna get up twenty fifty ten Fick
Speaker 1: skipping into the episode Dinner, Montgomery first step eight r
Speaker 1: gallip for six hen the Pears lead the Texans. How
Speaker 1: their first step for the game offfectively, Oh Jeff Johnny
Speaker 1: at w BBM, David Montgomery set the toe, owned the
Speaker 1: long t d run, and Mitchell Robinsky through three touchdown passes.
Speaker 1: His first matchup opposite to Shawn Watson as the Bears
Speaker 1: stomped the Texans thirty seven, ending a six game losing streaker. Greg,
Speaker 1: I know the Texans are missing many of their playmakers
Speaker 1: at this juncture, but did did Mitch really I'll play,
Speaker 1: did that happen today? Sure? I guess, I guess it
Speaker 1: was a good pick by Ryan Pace. I mean, I
Speaker 1: take it back all that back. They have scored a
Speaker 1: ten straight touchdowns in the red zone the Chicago Bears.
Speaker 1: How about that. I wouldn't have expected that. I mean,
Speaker 1: this was more about the Texans defense, but absolutely, Uh,
Speaker 1: Mitch and Naggie were on some twenty eighteen stuff where
Speaker 1: where guys were open, and they moved the ball very well.
Speaker 1: I didn't think Watson actually played pretty well um for
Speaker 1: a while in this game, despite the score. But he
Speaker 1: was just holding the ball waiting for some receiver to
Speaker 1: come open. And uh, you know when Chad Hansen as
Speaker 1: your number one. Brandon Cooks was a late scratch for
Speaker 1: this game. So remember how we were like, well, you
Speaker 1: know this Texans receiver cords. You know, they don't have DeAndre,
Speaker 1: but they've got four pretty good guys. That was like
Speaker 1: three weeks ago. They don't have any of those four guys.
Speaker 1: They're all gone. The Bear sack Watson seven times, including
Speaker 1: a safety by Khalil Mack. You know, on the same
Speaker 1: day that Rosenthal was burying Khalil Mack on Twitter, so
Speaker 1: maybe that was a response was it was a bad job.
Speaker 1: I just noted he hasn't been that productive here with
Speaker 1: the quarterback hits and sacks. I wish I had added
Speaker 1: Robert Quinn into that mix. It's just they have the
Speaker 1: highest paid defensive end, you know, tannem in the league,
Speaker 1: and I think they have a combined fifteen sack you know,
Speaker 1: quarterback hits and sacks. Quinn has three and and Mac
Speaker 1: had twelve. But Mac had a nice forced fumble early
Speaker 1: in this game which kind of set the tone. He
Speaker 1: got the safety. His best game in a while. Alan
Speaker 1: Robinson played one of the best games of his career.
Speaker 1: He was awesome. And the Bears are not of it.
Speaker 1: They play the Vikings and next week. If they hadn't
Speaker 1: blown that Lions game in horrific fashion, they'd be seven
Speaker 1: and six and tied for that last spot right now.
Speaker 1: But that Bears Vikings game is basically an elimination game,
Speaker 1: and one of those two teams next week is going
Speaker 1: to get to seven and seven and and still be
Speaker 1: in the mix whether we like it or not. I mean,
Speaker 1: this is what they were meant to be. And I'd
Speaker 1: start with someone like David Montgomery that everyone I know
Speaker 1: that's a Bears fan has been telling me how great
Speaker 1: he is, and um, it's like, Okay, he's been productive
Speaker 1: the last couple of weeks, But here's a little bit
Speaker 1: of a flying anointment. Your head coach didn't give up
Speaker 1: play calling here. I mean, it's Bill Laser making these calls.
Speaker 1: They have been better and Montgomery hasn't done better. He has,
Speaker 1: but it's like, but, like, is it a great selling
Speaker 1: point that the coach you brought in to run a
Speaker 1: high powered offense it becomes becomes high powered for the
Speaker 1: first time in like seven hundred sundowns since he stopped
Speaker 1: calling his plays. It just seems like a little bit
Speaker 1: of a stuff. Navigational points. Take what you can get.
Speaker 1: At this point, I mean, they were going to get kick.
Speaker 1: You know that was gonna be the last It still
Speaker 1: might be the last three games of Matt Naggy. But
Speaker 1: whatever gets it done. If it's you're playing against the
Speaker 1: Houston Texans, who have been the worst run defense all
Speaker 1: year long. You're right that that helped, but no, he
Speaker 1: he really has run. I thought he was like getting
Speaker 1: to be a capital B bust and he's run well
Speaker 1: the last four weeks. He's made people miss um. He's
Speaker 1: made some good reads. The low point I think of
Speaker 1: a pretty low Texan season was Romeo Cornell telling the
Speaker 1: sideline reporter coming out a halftime that they were lucky
Speaker 1: to only be down twenty three to Mitchell Robinski's we're
Speaker 1: lucky to be down um. And since people like to
Speaker 1: do this, and we brought up Khalil Mack who won
Speaker 1: the trade. Everybody wants to always know who won the trade.
Speaker 1: I don't know. So the Bears in that famous trade
Speaker 1: with the Raiders back in twenty eighteen, I guess it
Speaker 1: was they got Khalil Mack awd round pick which became
Speaker 1: Cold Comet. They got a seventh round pick in that
Speaker 1: was alignment named Arlington Hambright, and then they gave up
Speaker 1: a first round pick in twenty nineteen that became Josh Jacobs.
Speaker 1: They gave up a sixth round pick that became I
Speaker 1: guess it was traded away. Uh. They gave they got
Speaker 1: a first round pick Damon Arnette cornerback the Raiders, and
Speaker 1: the Raiders also drafted Brian Edwards in the third round
Speaker 1: eighty one overall. So like, and then the Bears gave
Speaker 1: Cleil Mack a massive extension. So who won that trade?
Speaker 1: Wes so far? Who knows? Who cares? It feels like
Speaker 1: it's I mean, it feels like it's neutral. Feels like
Speaker 1: I feel like the Bears did because they had a
Speaker 1: you know, Mac was the key in them having a change.
Speaker 1: Like he did everything they needed to do the first
Speaker 1: two years of those that deal. If not for double Doink,
Speaker 1: he's taking him to the super Bowl. But it was bad,
Speaker 1: it was bad. He's taken I mean that was the
Speaker 1: first round game. You think the Mitchell Drobiski is going
Speaker 1: to the super Bowl? Why not He's taking to the
Speaker 1: next round of the playoffs? About that, because yeah, I
Speaker 1: don't know, I'm not buying that. If Mitchell Trobinsky is
Speaker 1: one double Dog from the super Bowl given an extension,
Speaker 1: he's still young, he had he has played a little
Speaker 1: bit better, and uh, like I said, it's they not
Speaker 1: only do they have the Vikings, but they have the Jaguars.
Speaker 1: After that, the Bears are not quite out of this
Speaker 1: if they could somehow beat the Vikings. I mean, Travisky
Speaker 1: has is building himself, um not unlike the Colt McCoy's
Speaker 1: of the world. Like a ten year career. I mean,
Speaker 1: he won't be a starter, but he'll make excellent money
Speaker 1: and there'll be some seasons where he doesn't play at
Speaker 1: all and lives in a gigantic house in like Outer
Speaker 1: Indianapolis or um Los Angeles. It could be a beautiful future.
Speaker 1: You're kind of like our beat guy Mark for who's
Speaker 1: going to have ten year backup careers? Well, I mean
Speaker 1: it's a very attractive concept, very attractive concept Outer Indianapolis
Speaker 1: these days, I want to be the emergency act and
Speaker 1: it is. Would Chargers win Mike Badgley with the game
Speaker 1: winning field goal? Now good for money, k Y s R.
Speaker 1: Because all season long, when there's been big moments at
Speaker 1: the end of the game, there's some shenanigans with game
Speaker 1: officials or something otherwise that gets messed up and he's
Speaker 1: unable to make a clean call there and he's able
Speaker 1: to do it. Charge with special Charger special teams get
Speaker 1: the glory in this from Michael Badgeley built the forty
Speaker 1: three yard kick as time expired. The Chargers bounce back
Speaker 1: from that humiliation last week against the Patriots with the
Speaker 1: road win over the Fouth and said, I don't even
Speaker 1: get music. That's that's how Seton's charges some of the
Speaker 1: parent season has become. Los Angeles put itself in position
Speaker 1: for the game winning kick because Michael Davis picked up
Speaker 1: Matt Ryan with thirty six seconds to play. Greg I
Speaker 1: bet this one felt good for Anthony Lynn. They had
Speaker 1: to have, especially after all the focus um on his
Speaker 1: game management struggles which probably reached and the deer at
Speaker 1: the end of the first half, which one of the
Speaker 1: one of one of the biggest fiasco's I've ever seen.
Speaker 1: They just left points on the field, so to get
Speaker 1: a win in a game where it looked like Justin
Speaker 1: Herbert had just given it away a moment after Matt
Speaker 1: Ryan had just given it away. In the final four
Speaker 1: minutes alone, the Falcons were in field goal range, Ryan
Speaker 1: throws an interception, Herbert gets the ball back, throws an interception,
Speaker 1: and then Matt Ryan gets him back into field goal
Speaker 1: range and throws an interception right back, and then Herbert
Speaker 1: without Keenan Allen on the field does move it down
Speaker 1: the field with one of the prettiest throws you'll see
Speaker 1: to set up that field goal. So it's nice for
Speaker 1: the Chargers to have nice things. Finally, that was embarrassing
Speaker 1: at halftime. That was tough to paint the picture. It
Speaker 1: was twenty two seconds left third and one inside the
Speaker 1: ten I think goes about at the eight yard line,
Speaker 1: and they come out of a time out and they
Speaker 1: and they run the ball with no time out and
Speaker 1: and then there's no there's confusion and they and they
Speaker 1: don't decide what they're gonna do, and it takes too long,
Speaker 1: and then they run the field goal kicker onto the
Speaker 1: field too late, and so there's twenty two seconds left
Speaker 1: at the eight yard line and all they got was
Speaker 1: a gain of no you know, no gain out of it.
Speaker 1: They never got the field goal attempt. They never got
Speaker 1: a chance. It was it was tough. This was after
Speaker 1: Anthony Winn had taken over special teams duties. Sure well,
Speaker 1: I'm still real to his credit, that was this was
Speaker 1: easily their best special team's day of the year. They
Speaker 1: had a nice kick return and they could get the
Speaker 1: kick game winning touchdown. Here are these this does this
Speaker 1: team not employ the same department that thirty one other
Speaker 1: teams appear to employ that tell you like do this
Speaker 1: with a minute and a half. I don't actually like
Speaker 1: Greg in your ear, I don't know changed the play
Speaker 1: because Lynn acted like you can't run in that situation,
Speaker 1: as if he like didn't know what was happening. But
Speaker 1: even then, your team needs to be well coached of
Speaker 1: like what happens right here, twenty two seconds is plenty
Speaker 1: actually um to run a play then run the field
Speaker 1: goal team on if things go wrong, and they would
Speaker 1: just were totally unprepared. Um, but hey, the Falcons were
Speaker 1: even worse. There's no points after halftime. Ryan got picked
Speaker 1: off three times. He had eight interceptions the whole season.
Speaker 1: He got picked off three times in a row in
Speaker 1: the second half. If you ever watched that Belichick Saban
Speaker 1: HBO documentary, don't imagine that will be queued up immediately
Speaker 1: for this evening. But there's like a three minute uninterrupted
Speaker 1: clip of Belichick gathering like fifteen players around him and
Speaker 1: quizzing these like freaked out offensive lineman on situational football,
Speaker 1: and they are not They're not breaking that hud until
Speaker 1: everyone gets it right. And it's all these little things
Speaker 1: that get under your skin every week. Greg, all right,
Speaker 1: it is time. It is that time was Sunday Night
Speaker 1: where one handsome bald man is replaced by another. Nick
Speaker 1: Shook jumps on now and he will take the baton
Speaker 1: from the great Chris Westling West, any parting words for tonight,
Speaker 1: leave the show in good hands with my boy, Nick Shook.
Speaker 1: I appreciate that you can hear the confidence and the
Speaker 1: gravitas in West's voice. Chris, thank you. You are a
Speaker 1: warrior and we love you. See we all right? All
Speaker 1: right now with Shook on board, let us hit the
Speaker 1: final two games ahead of Sunday Night football. Very high kicked.
Speaker 1: Spencer settles underneath it at the seventeen avoids. One tacker
Speaker 1: runs into a blocker and now he's loose. Spen. Here
Speaker 1: we got Spencer foot race midfield forty thirty Spencer five
Speaker 1: touchdown Denver, oh Y. Spencer got things going for the
Speaker 1: Broncos with a long punt return for a score, and
Speaker 1: Drew Lock was well, you know, locked in, throwing four
Speaker 1: touchdowns in a thirty two to twenty seven win over
Speaker 1: the Panthers, who have dropped seven eight Shook Drew Lock
Speaker 1: played like a guy who wanted broncos By back in
Speaker 1: his corner for another off season. Yeah, he had a
Speaker 1: nice little second half there to really pushed the ball
Speaker 1: on the field and help the offense put some points
Speaker 1: on the board. But I'll tell you what, man, there
Speaker 1: were a couple of times there where they tried to
Speaker 1: give it away. I got a credit their defense for
Speaker 1: playing pretty pretty solidly in the first half and limiting
Speaker 1: what Carolina could do and really frustrating them while allowing
Speaker 1: Drew Lock the time necessary to build a little bit
Speaker 1: of a lead. You know, at one point it was
Speaker 1: nineteen to seven. He hooked up with kJ Hamler for
Speaker 1: a couple of long touchdowns. It's nice to see him
Speaker 1: get involved as a rookie. But um, yeah, I mean
Speaker 1: it was a return to the promise that you would
Speaker 1: see out of Drew Lock. I mean a fantastic stat
Speaker 1: line seven two or eight yards, four touchdowns, a passer
Speaker 1: rating year one fifty. Uh. That's what you want of
Speaker 1: a guy who you think is supposed to be your
Speaker 1: quarterback of the future, which he has not looked like
Speaker 1: um for a good amount of this season prior to
Speaker 1: this week, So you could call it a lucky draw
Speaker 1: with Carolina. But Carolina has been a scrappy bunch for
Speaker 1: the majority of this season, so it's not like it
Speaker 1: was just a an easy game to play. Uh, and
Speaker 1: he did well well. I get I get worried about
Speaker 1: these late um December games where a quarterback of high
Speaker 1: suspicion um goes nuts and then everyone inside the organization
Speaker 1: starts to think like maybe we need to dig back in.
Speaker 1: But it is, you know, like any any signs of
Speaker 1: life from Denver's offense. UM is intriguing, just because we
Speaker 1: had such high hopes of what happened with Teddy Bridgewater
Speaker 1: here at the end though, I saw a lot of
Speaker 1: comments from Rule about he took a delay of game
Speaker 1: penalty and then he he rushed for on a he
Speaker 1: rushed on a third down right before the two minute warning,
Speaker 1: and it kind of deep six them when they when
Speaker 1: it's not how Matt Rule wanted to organize those final
Speaker 1: few minutes of the game there. Yeah, and then on
Speaker 1: fourth downy he had a one yard pass to to
Speaker 1: Curtis Samuel fourth and eight. That's not going to get
Speaker 1: the job done. So it was a tough day for Teddy.
Speaker 1: I know, statistically it looks fairly solid thirty or forty,
Speaker 1: but there are a lot of times there, whether it
Speaker 1: was the pressure that Denver was bringing or just decision making,
Speaker 1: he just didn't look like he was a situation where
Speaker 1: and he looked like he was comfortable. Um for most
Speaker 1: of the game. Wasn't in much of a rhythm for
Speaker 1: most of the game, even though you know they managed
Speaker 1: to make it close to the end. Um, it was
Speaker 1: just it just wasn't his best outing I think of
Speaker 1: this year. And it's kind of like, you know, we
Speaker 1: talked with our our editor David Ealely, Um, you know
Speaker 1: known Panthers fan, Uh, they are going to be in
Speaker 1: the market for i think a quarterback in the draft
Speaker 1: in the first three rounds going forward. It's it's this
Speaker 1: is not a long term plan for them. But that
Speaker 1: was that I think based on his contract, he was
Speaker 1: the actually the lowest paid veteran quarterback, like with a
Speaker 1: multi year deal. I think that was always the plan
Speaker 1: and if he surprised them, um, then they could change.
Speaker 1: And he has guaranteed money, almost all of it into
Speaker 1: next year, so he's gonna be there next year with
Speaker 1: someone else. But he's played much more poorly over his
Speaker 1: last four games. This has been a trend. Uh, he's
Speaker 1: been struggling. He's had the Panthers have had the ball,
Speaker 1: a ton with the ball with the chance to win,
Speaker 1: and the man they almost like they never win. They
Speaker 1: were three and two at one point and they just
Speaker 1: it's been kind of a snake bitten season four. Whether
Speaker 1: they leave it up to Joey Slide to try to
Speaker 1: hit a record breaker field every week every week exactly,
Speaker 1: or they end up, you know, with the ball in
Speaker 1: Teddy's hands and he can't excutes one thing or another.
Speaker 1: It's kind of annoying though, because you do see the
Speaker 1: potential of Joe Brady's offense is just has to execute
Speaker 1: it better. They set the groundwork. No one was you know,
Speaker 1: it was disappointing how it's gone, but they've set the groundwork. Yeah,
Speaker 1: for sure. Mattie Rule was pretty pumped up. A bit
Speaker 1: could have been coach speak, but he was pretty pumped
Speaker 1: about Teddy Bridgewater entering this season. I would think if
Speaker 1: you asked him privately, he would tell you he's a
Speaker 1: little disappointed how this played out, because I don't know
Speaker 1: if the salary they got him at a good value
Speaker 1: for obvious reasons with Teddy's background, Um, but I think
Speaker 1: they thought maybe they were going to get a little
Speaker 1: bit more maybe, but I think the first half of
Speaker 1: the season, if anything, I mean, you couldn't have said
Speaker 1: he was below any expectation, so that it's really, yeah,
Speaker 1: he's last. He's kind of taken on water a little
Speaker 1: bit down this Their offense has been watchable, much more
Speaker 1: so than I think I thought are many others did
Speaker 1: going into the year. The wide receivers have been good.
Speaker 1: Christian McCaffrey missed his tenth game in eleven games. Quad
Speaker 1: injuries suffered during the bye week, aggravated it in Wednesday's practice.
Speaker 1: That has been a major issue from me. He's gonna
Speaker 1: missing almost the entire year after having that record breaking season,
Speaker 1: So that needs to be uh talked about. Two when
Speaker 1: you're talking about Teddy, because he thought he was going
Speaker 1: to have the best running back in the league on
Speaker 1: the side and he really hasn't. All right, let's roll
Speaker 1: on snap to Dalton throws it writes a slant the
Speaker 1: Cooper at the goal line and he's got it for
Speaker 1: the Cowboys touchdown. Brad Sham the Sham God k r
Speaker 1: l D. This was not an Andy Dalton revenge game.
Speaker 1: There's no revenge to be had for Dalton against the Bengals,
Speaker 1: but I'm sure it felt good for the veteran QB
Speaker 1: to throw for two scores, including that connection to Maury
Speaker 1: Cooper and a thirty seven wins shook. The Cowboys looked
Speaker 1: like a defeated team on Tuesday night. They showed some fighter. Yeah,
Speaker 1: you know, it always helps when you run into the Bengals,
Speaker 1: who were quarterbacked by Brandon Allen. Um. You know, they
Speaker 1: didn't have all that much fight in them themselves. They
Speaker 1: didn't help themselves at all either by foaming the ball
Speaker 1: away three times in the first two quarters. They had
Speaker 1: three toll turnovers in the game. But they dug themselves
Speaker 1: a hole and it kind of made things easier for
Speaker 1: Andy Dalton. You know, that's not like the pressure was
Speaker 1: really on him. Their first score of the game, their
Speaker 1: first touchdown of the game was a fumble return for
Speaker 1: a touchdown by Alton Smith. So, um, it was ten
Speaker 1: nothing before kind of before you knew it, and he didn't.
Speaker 1: Dalton didn't really have to do much of the work
Speaker 1: to get there, and then you kind of let the
Speaker 1: Bengals just you know, trip over themselves a few times.
Speaker 1: I mean, they're still a couple of years away, and
Speaker 1: they're much worse without Joe Burrow, and he was really
Speaker 1: elevating them before he got hurt. Tee Higgens had a
Speaker 1: little bit of a rough day and five catches before
Speaker 1: down RDS, we had a couple of drops and it
Speaker 1: was really like the type of drop that it wasn't
Speaker 1: a contested catch is just like his mind wasn't completely there.
Speaker 1: He just wasn't fully focused on hauling the past. And
Speaker 1: I think that's where the Bengals are at this point.
Speaker 1: So while we thought the Cowboys were also at this point,
Speaker 1: the Cowboys are still the more talented team. And when
Speaker 1: you get two teams that run into each other like
Speaker 1: that and maybe they have a little bit of a
Speaker 1: source of motivation for you know, to get their backup
Speaker 1: quarterback a win in the place that he used to
Speaker 1: call home, this is usually the type of result you see.
Speaker 1: And it was just the difference that the marginal victory was.
Speaker 1: It was multiplied by those turnovers, those mistakes that the
Speaker 1: Bengals made. So it wasn't necessarily the most unwatchable game,
Speaker 1: but it was a very lopside game for the majority
Speaker 1: of it, and every time, you know, I get you
Speaker 1: got three games on it once. Every time I would
Speaker 1: turn and watch a player two, I just found myself
Speaker 1: chuckling it at what was going on in the field,
Speaker 1: usually when the Bengals had the ball, because it was
Speaker 1: just like, oh, man, like the end of the season
Speaker 1: cannot come fast enough for this. I know this is
Speaker 1: I think it's because of COVID is a big part
Speaker 1: of it, but man, it feels like it's been week
Speaker 1: seventeen for some of these teams already for a couple
Speaker 1: of weeks, like football seasons like that, Like it's long,
Speaker 1: the winter comes, there's injuries like they take up you
Speaker 1: know they get, but it's come early. I mean, this
Speaker 1: is why you're making the big bucks shook coming in.
Speaker 1: I know you saw Cowboys Bengals on the schedule, and
Speaker 1: you say, they're gonna give me this game and I'm
Speaker 1: gonna have to make it sing and I'm going to
Speaker 1: because I'm Nick and Chuck. It's funny. I was talking
Speaker 1: with Elia yet about game assignments and I was like, well,
Speaker 1: and in the early window, it's uh, I'm gonna go
Speaker 1: down to Cincinnati and catch that Dalton revenge games. The
Speaker 1: guys in the podcast, right, he does he play ball
Speaker 1: with you? Or is he? Is he doing tough managerial stuff? No? No, no,
Speaker 1: we played ball. What it is is, I'll pick the
Speaker 1: lead game that I really want and then I go
Speaker 1: bounce back with what you guys want, and I just
Speaker 1: take on like three games at once and we just
Speaker 1: roll with it. Yeah, I mean that you can put
Speaker 1: everything on Nick Shook's shoulders. Humor me for a second.
Speaker 1: The Cowboys, and let's give Cowboys a little bit credit
Speaker 1: because we were all talking about on Wednesday and even
Speaker 1: Troy Aikman was crying in a soup about this. But
Speaker 1: what happened to the Cowboys? They're not even trying the
Speaker 1: seasons of his grace and then they can at least
Speaker 1: get off the mat and beat up on a team,
Speaker 1: which I wouldn't even have assumed they could have done that.
Speaker 1: Uh so they did do that there four and nine.
Speaker 1: They have three games left. Listen. I'm not saying I'm
Speaker 1: in on the Cowboys. I'm just saying Home forty Niners winnable.
Speaker 1: The Niners are, you know, not having a good year.
Speaker 1: Home Eagles. I mean, let's not go crazy about the
Speaker 1: Eagles at Giants. So you let's say you win out.
Speaker 1: Unfortunately Washington has the tie breaker on you, so you
Speaker 1: need to win out and then hope Washington collapses. And
Speaker 1: I think that's the path, not even collapses. Just I
Speaker 1: guess you did the Washington six and seven, so they
Speaker 1: got to lose out. That's where the Cowboys are right now.
Speaker 1: I mean, I feel like a nuclear bomb was dropped
Speaker 1: on that path some time ago. I understand the optimism,
Speaker 1: but I do if Washington hadn't one today, then you'd
Speaker 1: have something. But too bad. They gotta win out. Washington's
Speaker 1: gotta lose out. It's that simple, that's it. I'm not
Speaker 1: sure this Cowboys team wants to play an extra game.
Speaker 1: You'd have to sell me on that first. And then
Speaker 1: as I gained by the Brandon Allen Bengals, even though
Speaker 1: it's thirty to seven and I haven't watched this game
Speaker 1: at all, just looking at that, and I'm gonna say,
Speaker 1: you know, they they got a little lucky. It was.
Speaker 1: It was as bad as it looked in the score,
Speaker 1: in the in the stat sheet. His parents were in
Speaker 1: the stands. They kept cutting to them. You know, they're
Speaker 1: wearing their number eight Bengals masks. That was sad for him,
Speaker 1: But then they have a paper bag on their head.
Speaker 1: That'll be the people a section over because of social distancing. Dan.
Speaker 1: If you if that actually happens, not the whole Washington collapse,
Speaker 1: but the Cowboys winning out, you know what you're setting
Speaker 1: us up for, right an entire off season of the
Speaker 1: Cowboys are for real. They're getting back back super Bowl
Speaker 1: favorite again, which we've gone through for the last two years.
Speaker 1: That's happening either way. It doesn't matter how the season ends.
Speaker 1: People will be talking up the Cowboys bounced back team
Speaker 1: that's come back. Oh Dack's back, and oh what a
Speaker 1: great draft. And it's hard to get a read on
Speaker 1: what they even were last season. It's like it's like
Speaker 1: Mike McCarthy just paid extra for a pff elite account.
Speaker 1: They're really gonna go far. All right, let's move on
Speaker 1: to Sunday Night Football. Sunday Night back the other way
Speaker 1: for Bucklow. Aaron Johnson was star touchdown pills Ron Johnson
Speaker 1: with the pick six of Ben Roethlisberger. Of course, Mike
Speaker 1: Arrico with the call for NBC. It was the turning
Speaker 1: point of the night for the Buffalo Bills, who pretty
Speaker 1: much coast from there to fifteen over the Pittsburgh Steelers,
Speaker 1: who have now followed eleven consecutive wins to start the
Speaker 1: season with back to back losses and that now puts
Speaker 1: them behind the Chiefs as the number two seeds in
Speaker 1: the a f C. And on the Bill side of
Speaker 1: things shook more of the same from last week. A
Speaker 1: lot of good vibes came out of their game last
Speaker 1: week when Josh Allen was lights out against the Niners,
Speaker 1: and this is more of a total team effort by
Speaker 1: the Bills. Yeah, no doubt. The defense creating turnover is
Speaker 1: getting stopped in this and really from the final moments
Speaker 1: of the first half all the way through the end
Speaker 1: of the game, a key interceptions you end of the
Speaker 1: game to kind of undercut any comeback hopes for the Steelers.
Speaker 1: And then of course Josh Allen, like you said, just
Speaker 1: lights out again and you know he's got to be
Speaker 1: thanking the heavens for that offseason trade for Stefon Diggs,
Speaker 1: who absolutely torched the Steelers defense specifically and that keys
Speaker 1: sequence at the end of the second quarter into the
Speaker 1: third quarter when they ran out I think it was
Speaker 1: twenty three. I answered that they scored. Um, you know,
Speaker 1: it really does wonders when you have a number one receiver,
Speaker 1: but especially when you have a number one receiver who
Speaker 1: can hit you in all levels of the field. And
Speaker 1: Stefon Diggs that did that. Um, you know, his yards
Speaker 1: after catched had to be astronomical. I haven't seen the
Speaker 1: exact numbers, but he was great with you know, getting open,
Speaker 1: finding soft spots in the zone and also picking up
Speaker 1: the extra yards and really kicking this offense from first gear,
Speaker 1: struggling to get out of first gear all the way
Speaker 1: into fifth gear and rolling. And if they play like
Speaker 1: this going forward, I mean they're They're a team to
Speaker 1: definitely watch. It definitely be a tough, tough matchup for
Speaker 1: other teams. I love that seven minute drive to end
Speaker 1: the game. I love stuff like that. I mean, when
Speaker 1: when a team can do that against an number one
Speaker 1: defense and just finished the game with the ball in
Speaker 1: your hands. Get Mark Sessler, you know, to the recap,
Speaker 1: we're all rooting for the Bills to be moving the
Speaker 1: ball at that time. But that's like, to me, that's it.
Speaker 1: That's the NFL. Like, that's the point in which your
Speaker 1: team has basically just exerted its will. And in the
Speaker 1: second half, the Bills had two thirty one yards the
Speaker 1: Steelers at eighty. This game is totally on the Steelers offense.
Speaker 1: I know Josh Allen will get a lot of attention,
Speaker 1: but it was the mismatch of the Bill's defense versus
Speaker 1: the Steelers offense that really was decisive. I'm with you.
Speaker 1: They had thirteen drives. If it's it's no less tedious
Speaker 1: than it was four years ago in the studio. But
Speaker 1: thirteen drives. One of them went over thirty four yards,
Speaker 1: seven of them went under ten yards. It this is
Speaker 1: not a balanced offense. And this is weeks in a row. Um.
Speaker 1: And I don't know who body replaced James Conner with,
Speaker 1: um little Jimmy Connor who's never played a football game.
Speaker 1: But I mean, they can't they can't establish the ground game. Um,
Speaker 1: you throw in Deontae Johnson. Drops, they had drops in
Speaker 1: their last outing. Um, they just seem had to sink.
Speaker 1: And I get I get that they've transitioned to a
Speaker 1: quick strike if you want to call it that offense
Speaker 1: with Big Ben, But UM, I don't think it's really
Speaker 1: what suits the Big Ben that we knew of old.
Speaker 1: I mean, it's what he has to do now. But
Speaker 1: teams are adjusting. I mean, if you can't like what
Speaker 1: you can't take them seriously on the ground and like
Speaker 1: their defense played absolutely awesome, I thought in the first half.
Speaker 1: But you're gonna break a defense when you can't respond.
Speaker 1: They had their four drives in the second half, three
Speaker 1: of them were three and outs. Maybe it was every
Speaker 1: man tennis star Jimmy Connors, who's who's now the running back.
Speaker 1: He's about sixty six, which would you know check out
Speaker 1: for the way anybody in the backfield for the Steelers looks.
Speaker 1: But it's it's very depressing, uh to watch the Steelers
Speaker 1: right now on offense because as when this quick, quick
Speaker 1: shot attack isn't working, it just feels like such a
Speaker 1: waste with all the skilled players on the field with
Speaker 1: uh Deonte Johnson, who I know is having issues with drops,
Speaker 1: but you know, James Washington, Juju Smith, Schuster and Chase
Speaker 1: Claypool has become an afterthought in this offense all of
Speaker 1: a sudden. Oh, by the way, during this run where
Speaker 1: they're struggling to win games now, so yes, when it works,
Speaker 1: the Steeler's offense out of his hand, quickly, get the
Speaker 1: ball in the hands of the receivers and they make plays. Uh.
Speaker 1: Nobody had anything to say, but there there seems something
Speaker 1: almost pathetic about it for large stretches of this game,
Speaker 1: and it makes you wonder if if the Steelers offense
Speaker 1: has the ability to pivot and not obviously go back
Speaker 1: to the way they were five years ago at Ben Roethlisberger,
Speaker 1: but to create some balance in the passing attacks so
Speaker 1: it's not always the same thing over and over, because
Speaker 1: it really is a drag over and over, these little
Speaker 1: five yard passes, these slants, these screens. It's just nothing
Speaker 1: explosive about it. Yeah, you know what Bill Walsh built
Speaker 1: an offense around that. You know, it's almost forty years ago,
Speaker 1: well not the not the version of the Steelers and
Speaker 1: they had a great running game, and they had a
Speaker 1: great running game. Yeah, and the problem with that too
Speaker 1: is that they're simply not executing on those short passes,
Speaker 1: like you know, the drops. So there was Eric Ebron
Speaker 1: last week, Deance Johnson this week, and in a couple
Speaker 1: of weeks prior. It's it's completely short circuited their offense.
Speaker 1: And you're right, Greg, they don't have a running game.
Speaker 1: You know, we thought last week, but they didn't have
Speaker 1: James Conner, so that's why they couldn't run the ball.
Speaker 1: They had James Conner tonight and they still couldn't run
Speaker 1: the football. They haven't been able to run the ball
Speaker 1: for a while. It's putting too much pressure on their defense.
Speaker 1: Like you said, Mark, they had a fantastic first quarter
Speaker 1: and a half and really the whole first half, and
Speaker 1: they gave up on under yards and gave up three
Speaker 1: points to Josh Allen. I mean, that should be enough
Speaker 1: to carry you through where you have a chance to
Speaker 1: win the game, and then Big Ben puts it on
Speaker 1: a platter with the pick six and and puts them
Speaker 1: in a hole and they never get out of it.
Speaker 1: I mean, from they just started an avalanche. I know
Speaker 1: that this is something that a lot of people have said,
Speaker 1: and I know maybe it was an overreact and last week,
Speaker 1: but the Steelers have not looked like a one seed
Speaker 1: or a two seed for a while now, and things
Speaker 1: aren't gonna get any easier for them down the stretch
Speaker 1: heading into the playoffs. I wonder if we're seeing the
Speaker 1: beginning of a meltdown. Really, they haven't been the same
Speaker 1: team since the COVID Wednesday game. It's been three weeks. Right, Well,
Speaker 1: they're they're in an interesting spot. They'll get the Bengals
Speaker 1: and we'll see what happens with the Browns game, like
Speaker 1: whether you know, we'll see what happens with the Chiefs.
Speaker 1: I don't think a two game losing. I don't like
Speaker 1: count them out of it. I don't think they can
Speaker 1: I think they can rebound. Their defense has to be
Speaker 1: so dominant though, And now when you when you don't
Speaker 1: have Hayden Bush has been gone a while, Vince Williams
Speaker 1: and Dupree. I mean that's now four of your key guys.
Speaker 1: It's not just like one or two. Now, hopefully you
Speaker 1: get you know, Hayden and and Vince Williams back. But
Speaker 1: I think about the Patriots when they lost two in
Speaker 1: a row and everyone thought they were kind of dogs
Speaker 1: and they won the Super Bowl that year. Think of
Speaker 1: the Broncos when they lost too in a row in
Speaker 1: mid December and they won the Super Bowl. The people
Speaker 1: kind of thought they were dogs. So it's possible, but
Speaker 1: that one seed feels like so far away and and
Speaker 1: there now in the in the lower tier of like
Speaker 1: they are going to have to figure some things out
Speaker 1: and get lucky along the way and and win road games,
Speaker 1: which is tough. I mean, the problem was the the
Speaker 1: undefeated record shown a spotlight on them, and we have
Speaker 1: certain thoughts about an undefeated team that's you know, deep
Speaker 1: in November, early December, and then you have the chief
Speaker 1: sitting out there in these comparisons that highly annoyed Steelers fans. Um.
Speaker 1: I think to Greg you you mentioned Nadier like earlier,
Speaker 1: like tonight has to be the peak um world of
Speaker 1: doubt for Steelers fans, wondering if like so many other
Speaker 1: very promising Steelers teams, um ultra tough, rugged able to
Speaker 1: work themselves out of a corner or two, but will
Speaker 1: it end um in January? Like so many other Steelers
Speaker 1: teams under Mike Tomlin, ware good but not great. And
Speaker 1: you've got we're watching another team in the A f
Speaker 1: c uh looks just ten times more powerful in Kansas City. Yeah.
Speaker 1: And the Bills, I mean, the Bills are I think
Speaker 1: I think Chiefs fans have to look at the Bills
Speaker 1: is like that's the that's the team that scares you
Speaker 1: the most. And they basically won the A f C
Speaker 1: East tonight. By the way, I mean that that's not
Speaker 1: that's not a small thing. The Bills are not. The
Speaker 1: Bills are gonna win this division. Now, that's a big deal.
Speaker 1: That is a huge deal. We talked about the cleil
Speaker 1: Mack trade and who won that trader earlier tonight. It
Speaker 1: is one of the best trades. It could go down
Speaker 1: as one of the greatest trades of all time in
Speaker 1: terms of helping both teams. The Vikings send Stefon Digs
Speaker 1: to the Bills, the Bill send a first round pick
Speaker 1: to the Vikings, the Vikings draft justin Jefferson. Everyone wins
Speaker 1: in that situation. So the Bills are hot, they're peaking
Speaker 1: at the right time. And now we wait and see
Speaker 1: what the Steelers are gonna do, how they pivot off
Speaker 1: this kind of cold de stact. They've parked themselves into
Speaker 1: very interesting and we didn't get a very I mean,
Speaker 1: it was cool out um, the Steelers going down. There's
Speaker 1: some interest there and the Bills on the rise. But man,
Speaker 1: we're hoping for a good game Sunday night to salvage Sunday.
Speaker 1: We just couldn't get it. We just we searched for
Speaker 1: it all there was more teen's messy. Well, it's up
Speaker 1: to you, Mark, I mean, you know, Baker and the
Speaker 1: people on the field, like, yeah, they matter a little bit,
Speaker 1: but I would mostly. I mean, if someone has to
Speaker 1: play an actual on field role, I think Nick Shook
Speaker 1: would be the better person to pick them myself. What
Speaker 1: am I gonna do? Listen, miss the ten yard field goal.
Speaker 1: We've we've discussed, we've discussed the mystery of what happened
Speaker 1: to me with the Browns, but the greater we haven't
Speaker 1: never really we've alluded to it, the non mysteries, the
Speaker 1: fact that I would never stay in a chance with
Speaker 1: those guys after spending many, many on field hours with
Speaker 1: those guys. No, not a chance. Interesting. Interesting. We're gonna
Speaker 1: get to the bottom of that one day. Nick Shook's
Speaker 1: mysterious departure from the Browns um real quick the Raiders
Speaker 1: five defensive coordinator Paul Gunther. I was gonna make note
Speaker 1: of that during the game because Greg had teased he
Speaker 1: thought a big change was coming, but then wouldn't say
Speaker 1: what it was and when it when it say it
Speaker 1: was the head coach or the quarterback, So I thought
Speaker 1: maybe it'd be the ball boy or something. But it
Speaker 1: was it's Paul Gunther who goes so I guess everything
Speaker 1: is on Paul, poor Paul g Uh. And we'll see
Speaker 1: if they can respond from that. And before we go,
Speaker 1: let's check in on the locks. Greg An other w
Speaker 1: for Rosenthal. He picks the bucks and locks him up.
Speaker 1: Chris westling down goes West. He took the forty niners
Speaker 1: who did not did not get it done. And then,
Speaker 1: of course, yes, if the game itself isn't enough a
Speaker 1: lock off for the ages, the old Zeus er Uh
Speaker 1: is getting behind the Baltimore Ravens mark and and this
Speaker 1: is what I call the kiss of death, Erica get
Speaker 1: behind the Cleveland Browns. At least she's getting before aleven
Speaker 1: minutes into the game. Right, Well, I think eric is
Speaker 1: on a hot streak potentially. I don't know why you'd
Speaker 1: be doubting our producer or anyone here, like I think
Speaker 1: she's capable of sky high achievements. I don't know. I
Speaker 1: never doubt Erica as a producer, but as a picker
Speaker 1: of locks and fantasy teams, you know, and real teams.
Speaker 1: Then it gets a little all right, good stuff, great
Speaker 1: to hear from West again. We'll be back on Tuesday, uh,
Speaker 1: with our recap of the big Monday night football game
Speaker 1: and look ahead to week fifteen? How about that? How
Speaker 1: about that? Sessler? I will absolutely um, if the Browns
Speaker 1: get torched tomorrow night, I will look forward to Tuesday
Speaker 1: with the way I would look forward to like an
Speaker 1: axe being thrown from a hundred yards away into the
Speaker 1: center of my head. I don't I'm not going to
Speaker 1: be excited for that conversation, but I'm sure everyone will
Speaker 1: handle it with um grandiose uh, you know manners, So
Speaker 1: will be fine. Mark, have you been have you been
Speaker 1: like taking victory laps? Have I been missing something here? No?
Speaker 1: I never have. That's not in your character. I mean,
Speaker 1: if they won the Super Bowl, I will, I've told
Speaker 1: you I will set on fire. But even then it's
Speaker 1: not just it's not decided. Even if they win, it's
Speaker 1: never decided with them. Did anybody did any of our
Speaker 1: listeners reach out to your shock about you know, the
Speaker 1: thing that you're doing with a girl, the thing with
Speaker 1: a thing. They're all good people, and I also, like
Speaker 1: I said, keep my Instagram private so there might be
Speaker 1: like requests sitting there unanswered. But whatever, very good. All right,
Speaker 1: let's get out of here. Is Dan Hanson signing up
Speaker 1: for Nick Shook, The sciss Or, the Old Boss and
Speaker 1: Ricky Hollywood in the Shadows where he stays in the
Speaker 1: shadows there and you always wonder what's going on in
Speaker 1: there once. She doesn't pop in until Tuesday.