Speaker 1: Be Around the NFL Podcast. How's all higher b M
Speaker 1: I than QB all. Welcome back to another edition of
Speaker 1: the Around the NFL Podcast. My name is Dan Hansus
Speaker 1: and I am joined by room filled with heroes, Mark Sessler,
Speaker 1: Chris Westling, Greg Girls, what's up? Boys? Your hand motions
Speaker 1: are really going crazy? I forgot about that. Alright, we're
Speaker 1: looking at me. You're the last one that get into
Speaker 1: gets introduced. But then west as has become his trademark,
Speaker 1: chimes in with and then you that's a that's a
Speaker 1: bad sign for the show. I think it's good to
Speaker 1: keep listeners on their toes. You start expecting the same
Speaker 1: exact thing every week, gets a little stake. Well, Greg,
Speaker 1: what happened there? Honestly I know how the show is
Speaker 1: opened like sixty two times in a row and you
Speaker 1: that's how what happened? Uh? This is the Sunday edition
Speaker 1: of the Around the NFL Podcast, the flagship show of
Speaker 1: the regular season for US, A big show ahead of
Speaker 1: us today in a Sunday that unfortunately was marred by
Speaker 1: injuries to some key players. It could affect how everything happens.
Speaker 1: Everything is, everything's always you know, floating. You never know
Speaker 1: what's gonna happen in the NFL. But when injuries entered,
Speaker 1: the fray changes things quickly. Am I right? Christoph Wesley? Absolutely,
Speaker 1: it's a truism in football. Yes, absolutely, so a lot
Speaker 1: of stuff to get to today. We're gonna get to
Speaker 1: one of the great shootouts in recent history of the NFL.
Speaker 1: I think I'd go go on a limb and say
Speaker 1: that when a hundred points are scored between two teams,
Speaker 1: that's what happened to the Superdome, the Saints Giants, a thriller,
Speaker 1: the Cincinnati ben Gals. Wow, still undefeated, who saw this coming?
Speaker 1: Let's face it, undefeated and one of those key injuries
Speaker 1: came out of that game against the Steelers. Will get
Speaker 1: to that, and of course, our friend, the unofficial fifth
Speaker 1: member of the Around the NFL podcast crew, Colleen Wolfe,
Speaker 1: will join us drop by in the studio. Connie Fox
Speaker 1: says she's known to outsiders this podcast. That's about it.
Speaker 1: We did have I won't get into too many details,
Speaker 1: specific details, that we had a meeting with a shadowy
Speaker 1: league figure um who insinuated. So you call her Connie Fox.
Speaker 1: That seems maybe a little bit sexist, and we were
Speaker 1: like whoa, whoa, whoa chill out Shadowy League figure SLF
Speaker 1: Fox has nothing to do with like, well she's a
Speaker 1: Foxy's No, that was her name in high school, nickname
Speaker 1: that she went by. That she told us, and now
Speaker 1: we're repeating absolutely, there's no controversy. They're trying to boil
Speaker 1: one up. Enough oversight, they're trying to like put us
Speaker 1: into some type of controversy. It's good you set the
Speaker 1: record straight right here. Nobody will have any of our
Speaker 1: questions at all. So, yes, that's everything that's going on.
Speaker 1: We got a lot of games to get to. I
Speaker 1: believe the number is twelve, right, I believe it's what
Speaker 1: they're twelve. Twelve nailed it, So why don't he get
Speaker 1: into it? And we'll start with the shootout at the
Speaker 1: super Dome. Drew Brees tied an NFL record with seven
Speaker 1: touchdown passes, and Kai four Bath hit a fifty two
Speaker 1: yard field goal as time expired, lifting the Saints to
Speaker 1: a oh my god, fifty two to forty nine win
Speaker 1: over the New York Giants, and, as as I said,
Speaker 1: one of the great shootouts in recent NFL history, a
Speaker 1: game that on two occasions the Saints went up fourteen points,
Speaker 1: only to see the Giants come all the way back.
Speaker 1: The Giants actually took a lead in the fourth quarter
Speaker 1: on a pick six. Um It wasn't even I was
Speaker 1: gonna say one of Drew Brees rare mistakes in the
Speaker 1: game that that wasn't on him. It was a It
Speaker 1: was a catch in a strip that led to the
Speaker 1: fumble recovery. It wasn't even a pick six recovered. Nailed
Speaker 1: it again, Giants in the league. But then here comes
Speaker 1: the Saints one more time. C J. Spiller touchdown catch.
Speaker 1: That's number six for touchdown passes or seven. And then
Speaker 1: the winner comes Greg on a punt punt return face
Speaker 1: mask drills the fifty two yard or in same game
Speaker 1: with the Superdome. The Saints alive, so alive, we bury them.
Speaker 1: We four, They've won three in a row. Their schedule
Speaker 1: is easy street. Uh. Moving forward, I remember we threw
Speaker 1: out that idea after they won that Thursday night game,
Speaker 1: and we we kind of poo pooed it. And now
Speaker 1: you look at them. Their offense has looked like the
Speaker 1: Saints offense for the last couple of weeks. You've seen
Speaker 1: this building. Now the Giants defense and Steve Spagnolo. They
Speaker 1: have no pass rush, they can't do anything, so that
Speaker 1: should be taken into account. But you said, you know,
Speaker 1: maybe this is one of the great shootouts in the NFL.
Speaker 1: Street there's no doubt, the most passing touchdowns in a
Speaker 1: single game ever. You know, Drew Brees tied the single
Speaker 1: single mark and they broke the combined mark. Eli, Manny
Speaker 1: and Drew Brees together. Eli meant, what happened with Eli
Speaker 1: should not be lost. Three fifty yards over three d
Speaker 1: fifth yards, six touchdowns himself a career high mark. Well,
Speaker 1: I mean, and it was I think it was a
Speaker 1: week ago on Sunday night when I was saying, you know,
Speaker 1: the Saints defense is coming around, and maybe it's time
Speaker 1: for us to realize that it took Rob Ryan time
Speaker 1: to get his young players involve. Well, forget about it.
Speaker 1: I mean, you've just given up forty nine points. But
Speaker 1: it's also sometimes these weird shootout games have nothing to
Speaker 1: almost do with who the teams are. They just they
Speaker 1: kind of unfold this way. In this case, with the
Speaker 1: way the Saints have been played all year, it does.
Speaker 1: And the Giant, I mean, these are the worst defenses
Speaker 1: in the league, so it makes sense that that's what
Speaker 1: I want to know. Last year, when the Steelers and
Speaker 1: Colts had that great shoot out, it was the best
Speaker 1: quarterbacks game I'd ever seen. Was this great quarterbacking or
Speaker 1: the two worst secondaries in the NFL, because that's what
Speaker 1: the secondaries have been so far this year. It's hard
Speaker 1: to say, I mean, but you I don't want to
Speaker 1: take credit away from Drew Brees what he did or
Speaker 1: what Eli did. I mean it was there was a
Speaker 1: point in this game where it was probably midway through
Speaker 1: the third quarter, where they had combined nine touchdown passes
Speaker 1: and seven incompletions. So, yeah, there's some terrible defense here,
Speaker 1: but these are also and I know West You're not
Speaker 1: going to hear it, but I'm gonna say these are
Speaker 1: two Hall of Fame quarterbacks forming an incredible level in
Speaker 1: a in a big stage and bringing the best out
Speaker 1: of each other. Um as far as I had an
Speaker 1: idea also right around the time I saw the staff
Speaker 1: that nine touchdowns, the seven and completions that this should
Speaker 1: have been a loser goes to Canada match between Steve Spagnola,
Speaker 1: the Giants defensive coordinator, Rob Ryan the Staints defensive coordinator,
Speaker 1: and Canada being the home of a CFL team where
Speaker 1: they could be a linebackers coach. Sure, I think that fits.
Speaker 1: I mean it's fitting for Rob Ryan at this point,
Speaker 1: I'd give him that award. Vince McMahon was the commissioner
Speaker 1: that would happened. How about Sean Payton just putting it
Speaker 1: to his old charge, Steve Spagnola. I mean people don't remember.
Speaker 1: I'm just saying people don't remember this thieve Spagnolo era
Speaker 1: because it was a disaster and he left there not
Speaker 1: a well liked guy, necessarily by his players or by
Speaker 1: his ex boss, and to put something on him like that.
Speaker 1: Basically super Bowl forty two never happened because of this game.
Speaker 1: This This game provided more joy I think to the
Speaker 1: fans in New Orleans and the Thames that they expected
Speaker 1: to get from this entire season. These are two teams
Speaker 1: that if the you know, playoffs started now, like the
Speaker 1: Saints are in the mix and the Giants are still
Speaker 1: leading their division, just shows you how mediocre the NFC
Speaker 1: is at the bottom. I got to deliver a couple
Speaker 1: more stats about this game, so it's a great all
Speaker 1: times stats game. The game yielded more than one thousand
Speaker 1: total yards, sixty feet downs and over eight hundred yards passing.
Speaker 1: This is like Mark, you versed your brother in super
Speaker 1: Tech Mobile in ninety two. No, not at all. I
Speaker 1: would destroy him regularly and he would he would attest
Speaker 1: to that. I mean, I was kind of just a
Speaker 1: general statement, but we can get it. I was else.
Speaker 1: That was one thing I did well in life was technoballs.
Speaker 1: You play with the Browns, I'll play with any team
Speaker 1: I wanted. I wanted thirty two team championship with the
Speaker 1: Browns with a couple of neighbors. And this was a
Speaker 1: Browns team went three and thirteen in real life, So
Speaker 1: that's coaching. We used to have tournaments where we would
Speaker 1: have offensive and defensive coordinators. We're sounding like, that's so funny.
Speaker 1: We're sounding like the guys that used to talk about
Speaker 1: Strata matic. Now, yeah, when you talk about like anys
Speaker 1: Nintendo entertainment system, you brought us there. I did, and
Speaker 1: it was my fault. Super Tech Mobile was a great game.
Speaker 1: So yeah, I mean, what do we What was that?
Speaker 1: I was just gonna say a good call on the
Speaker 1: big Odell Beckham game. Tobe. Wasn't that one of the
Speaker 1: headlines from the future going. He actually was better than
Speaker 1: I predicted two touchdowns and two hundred yards. He actually
Speaker 1: only got a hundred and thirty yards, but he had
Speaker 1: three touchdowns. He looked a hundred percent in Mark. I
Speaker 1: have to I'm gonna put it in the end Around
Speaker 1: this week, if for no other reason, just to make
Speaker 1: sure you see it, um, because I know you read
Speaker 1: the end Around every week religiously with on a Friday
Speaker 1: afternoon read it. The Fox telecast showed his pregame exercise routine,
Speaker 1: which now you know he obviously knows the cameras on him.
Speaker 1: At one point he did a forward role in the
Speaker 1: end zone and then came up pretending to be shooting
Speaker 1: a gun like a detective and like a seventies uh
Speaker 1: television series. I mean, listen, I think we all agree
Speaker 1: that he's an absolutely phenomenal player and in growing and
Speaker 1: growingly tedious with every week. Signetti, I'm parting you up.
Speaker 1: Beckham Jr. Signetia would love to have O'Dell Beckham Jr.
Speaker 1: Right now. So what I mean, are either of these
Speaker 1: teams is going to be in the playoffs. I'll just
Speaker 1: throw it out there right now, because both teams are
Speaker 1: still in the Saints are now in legitimate good position
Speaker 1: to have a shot at this or four and four
Speaker 1: to make a run at the wild card potentially, and
Speaker 1: the Giants at four and four, they're still like right
Speaker 1: in the mix of the NFC NFC East. But we
Speaker 1: don't West. We don't think either of these teams are
Speaker 1: very good, right, I mean, they're both mediocre, but I
Speaker 1: think Greg, you know, Greg mentioned it earlier, the NFC
Speaker 1: so mediocre throughout really, then FC is the stronger conference
Speaker 1: right now. Cowboys were loving this game. It's another another
Speaker 1: loss where just the winner of the NFC East doesn't
Speaker 1: look like they're gonna get more than nine wins this year.
Speaker 1: At least the Cowboys can feel like, Okay, we're in
Speaker 1: it for another week, you know what. I don't want
Speaker 1: to hear that with the Cowboys, and we'll get to
Speaker 1: them later. But you can't lose like nine games in
Speaker 1: aro own be like, hey, I'm feeling pretty good about
Speaker 1: the chances. At a certain point, you stink, Yeah, they stink.
Speaker 1: All right. Let's move on now to a big a
Speaker 1: f C North showdown the Cincinnati Bengals the Pittsburgh Steelers.
Speaker 1: Heinz Field, We talked about this on Thursday, Greg. If
Speaker 1: the Steelers couldn't win this game, a C North is over,
Speaker 1: it is. Andy Dalton took off a pair of fourth
Speaker 1: quarter picks, hitting a J. Green for the go ahead score.
Speaker 1: The Bengals at the end of the game sixteen ten
Speaker 1: win over the Steelers West. The Bengals just locked up
Speaker 1: the a f C North and the Steelers have lost
Speaker 1: Levy on Bell the even bigger story. I don't think
Speaker 1: it's mathematically over, but yeah, I think essentially the f
Speaker 1: C North belongs to the Bengals, and you have to
Speaker 1: admire their ability to to kind of withstand the pressure
Speaker 1: that the Steelers brought. For the first time all year,
Speaker 1: the Bengals offensive line lost the battle of the line
Speaker 1: of scrimmage. The Steelers got consistent heat on Dandy Dalton
Speaker 1: and they didn't do much for three quarters. And then
Speaker 1: when the game was on the line, Dalton responded after
Speaker 1: throwing two fourth quarter picks and led the game winning
Speaker 1: drive similar to what he did against Baltimore where it
Speaker 1: was really his worst moment of the year and then
Speaker 1: he ends up driving for the game winner. He did
Speaker 1: it here today. And yet all of this as great
Speaker 1: a win as it was for Cincinnati and tough as
Speaker 1: is for Pittsburgh. It seems secondary to them losing levy
Speaker 1: On Bell for the season. Just as we're going up
Speaker 1: to tape this, Ian Rappaport reports he's gonna he has
Speaker 1: a severely torn mc L and he is expected to
Speaker 1: miss the season. And that is just a brutal loss.
Speaker 1: And that doesn't sound good when when the insiders are
Speaker 1: getting the word that it's not just the terror of
Speaker 1: your mc L, a severe tear. I mean that sounds
Speaker 1: like a long rehab process. Will probably he's gonna end
Speaker 1: up on I, R and and West. I ask you,
Speaker 1: is this a crushing loss for the Steelers in the
Speaker 1: sense that they're no longer a title contender without levy
Speaker 1: On Bell. I believe that to be the case, because
Speaker 1: I believe as great as Todd Gurley is, levy On
Speaker 1: Bill is probably the best all around running back in football.
Speaker 1: He's so patient, he has such great vision, such a
Speaker 1: great receiver. And then D'Angel Williams is all right, I
Speaker 1: mean savage five point five yards per carry in situations
Speaker 1: where levy On Bell has been unavailable this year, so
Speaker 1: he's a good backup as fur as backups go. But
Speaker 1: Leby on Bell is just so dynamic. Then again, just
Speaker 1: thinking about this game, like everyone I expected, you know,
Speaker 1: Ben Roethlisberger's back. This isn't an easy matchup, but they're
Speaker 1: gonna score some points. Again, I mean, they scored ten
Speaker 1: points today. It's a little unfair. They had a really
Speaker 1: methodical opening drive touchdown that seemed a little too easy
Speaker 1: for them, and the life went out of the stadium
Speaker 1: when Levan Bell got injured. They just couldn't do anything
Speaker 1: on offense after that. I mean, also, you're asking big
Speaker 1: Ben after coming off a knee injury and not that
Speaker 1: he rushed back, but there's no way is he a
Speaker 1: hundred didn't agility. It's gonna take some time. I I
Speaker 1: don't count the Steelers at all out of another murky
Speaker 1: a f C playoff race, and it is it feels
Speaker 1: like when we say that a f C North is
Speaker 1: sealed and it's November one, that weird things happen in
Speaker 1: that division. But there's a lot of dumb predictions where
Speaker 1: we have. But the Bengals would have to comprehensively crumble
Speaker 1: and the trip the Triplets in Pittsburgh, which I think
Speaker 1: is potentially the best in the league have been on
Speaker 1: the field together for what about twenty five minutes this season,
Speaker 1: and they're not not gonna happen. It's not gonna happen again.
Speaker 1: You know, let's let's talk about the Bengals with here,
Speaker 1: because now they're seven and oh, this is a game.
Speaker 1: I think a lot of people expected them to get
Speaker 1: picked off here and once again they don't. And maybe
Speaker 1: even uh more reason for optimism is Andy Dalton did
Speaker 1: not play a great game. This is probably his worst
Speaker 1: game of the season. Definitely was his worst game. And
Speaker 1: yet instead of a full on crumble west he had,
Speaker 1: he led them down the field and got the game
Speaker 1: winning touchdown. So even in the day that was a
Speaker 1: down day statistically, still progress for the Flaming Ginger Man.
Speaker 1: I would not call this progress for Andy Daltons. I
Speaker 1: admire the team's resilience, but this wasn't a good performance
Speaker 1: by him. This was a good performance by a j
Speaker 1: Green in the defense. And maybe they get a little
Speaker 1: help from the running game in the offensive line, and
Speaker 1: that just speaks to the point that this is a
Speaker 1: team that Andy Dalton's carried them some weeks, but it's
Speaker 1: a complete team in the defense, I think quietly gotten
Speaker 1: a little bit better each and everything this season. They
Speaker 1: got on to his perfect back today for base packages
Speaker 1: and had a huge impact. He's the guy who knocked
Speaker 1: Livy on Bill out of the game. And I know
Speaker 1: it's a division game, but they get the Browns on Thursday,
Speaker 1: they at the Texans at home. After that, they's two wins.
Speaker 1: They are looking at most likely nine and oh heading
Speaker 1: into deep November, which is just it's an amazing thing.
Speaker 1: West Uh, your favorite day of the year. Everyone knows.
Speaker 1: It's the first wild card game on a Saturday in
Speaker 1: January known as West Abens because it's always it's seemingly
Speaker 1: always the Bengals in that game getting picked off. You
Speaker 1: go to a local bar and you you drink and
Speaker 1: you celebrate. Uh. The p scale, Now here's the scale.
Speaker 1: One dry pants, you're a grown up, no issues. You're
Speaker 1: feeling you gotta go to the bathroom. Go to the bathroom.
Speaker 1: Ten your pants are soaked with pe. All your underpants
Speaker 1: are so went through your underpants into your regular pants.
Speaker 1: You gotta go change your clothes because you're soaked with pete.
Speaker 1: Where are you standing? You know, last time you checked
Speaker 1: out was about a nine point eight. I think I'm
Speaker 1: at about an eight point four. Now, oh dropped, How
Speaker 1: is that possible? They weren't impressed. Of all, They're not
Speaker 1: gonna be played on that first Saturday. If nothing else.
Speaker 1: The West of this committee, you know, the Parent teacher
Speaker 1: association that plans it, you know, bakes the cookies, does
Speaker 1: all sorts of things. They're gonna have to meet and
Speaker 1: officially move the holidays later. Well, I don't feel like
Speaker 1: the Patriots are going to lose a game, and you
Speaker 1: know that's a good point thousand thirteen Payton Manning showed
Speaker 1: up Sunday night. So then you're saying you're county on
Speaker 1: them being the three seed and they still play in
Speaker 1: that game, that's fair and they get bombed out by
Speaker 1: the six. The West, I feel like he's, you know,
Speaker 1: kind of hoping more than using his football mind. He
Speaker 1: doesn't need to worry about this holiday at all. There's
Speaker 1: still three hundred and sixty three other days a year
Speaker 1: that West could go to a local bar, and he will,
Speaker 1: but none and Wes you'll explain to Mark, but there's
Speaker 1: nothing quite as special as that off day on Saturday
Speaker 1: watching his old Cincinnati team that he said, I don't
Speaker 1: want you in my life anymore. Going up in Flames
Speaker 1: a special day and if the day I've been able
Speaker 1: to rely on for the past. Putting in the Bengals
Speaker 1: on Saturday this time, this is a different Bengals team
Speaker 1: than they were on Sunday morning last time. I think
Speaker 1: I schedule around West of this at this point, like
Speaker 1: West just gets that day off and he'll work the
Speaker 1: other playoff day. It's totally preposterous, all right, Moving on,
Speaker 1: Let's go down to Big d Russell Wilson, get clutch Russ,
Speaker 1: danger Us they call him. And by the way, Russell Wilson,
Speaker 1: I saw your Instagram page dressing up as Batman with
Speaker 1: Sierra and renting out the Batmobile. Dude, get in control
Speaker 1: of your situation. You don't need your woman running your
Speaker 1: entire life. I'm sorry. By the way, t D, I
Speaker 1: know you're not. You're shaking your head. I'm not even
Speaker 1: I've never been a fan of that relationship. I think
Speaker 1: it's weird. I think he's just trying too hard. And
Speaker 1: that was that was that was dismal. Yeah, hold on,
Speaker 1: he rented out the Batman. But it's a car, it's
Speaker 1: a very it's a version of one batmobile. Just she's
Speaker 1: in total control of the situation. Let's face it. Russell
Speaker 1: Wilson let a clutch sixteen played drive, setting up the
Speaker 1: game winning field goal in the Seahawks sent the Cowboys
Speaker 1: to their fifth straight loss, this time the thirteen to
Speaker 1: twelve set back at Jeral World West. Have the Seahawks
Speaker 1: started their expected surge or do you still see problems
Speaker 1: for the defending NFC champions. It's a tough question because
Speaker 1: they did not play well. They had their usual litany
Speaker 1: a fourth quarter misques. Uh. It really started late in
Speaker 1: the third quarter when Greg Hardy had a deflected passing
Speaker 1: an interception. They get a field goal blocked, they have
Speaker 1: ill time penalties, they have they have a fumble. It's
Speaker 1: just Marshawn Lynch runs out of bounds. He's a veteran.
Speaker 1: He should have stayed in bound to kill the clock,
Speaker 1: and they they escaped to be because Matt Castle was
Speaker 1: a horrible quarterback. That end sequence between that Mack Castle
Speaker 1: had in the game, which is probably you know, the
Speaker 1: part of America that didn't watch the whole game ended
Speaker 1: up watching that last sequence that was about as ugly
Speaker 1: a four plays in a row as any quarterback could
Speaker 1: have it. To the Seahawks credit, they clearly knew who
Speaker 1: was quarterbacking against him when they decided to roll Russell
Speaker 1: Wilson out for a play that would kill the clock
Speaker 1: instead of throwing to the end zone. They just wanted
Speaker 1: to leave Matt Castle with a minute instead of two
Speaker 1: minutes for a field. Well, it was the play, okay,
Speaker 1: So take us through that that sequence because it was
Speaker 1: the rollout where he took the horrible sack, right, I
Speaker 1: mean he held onto the ball forever a couple There
Speaker 1: was the incomplete pass that they thought was a fumble
Speaker 1: for a touchdown. Yes, the fourth down play was really
Speaker 1: just Doug Free was beaten quickly. He couldn't have done
Speaker 1: much about that, but it was just about as as
Speaker 1: ugly as it gets after a performance. Were back. Castle
Speaker 1: had a lot of nice throws the week before, but
Speaker 1: this week Jerry Jones said after the game he thought
Speaker 1: Matt Castle played well enough to win this game. He
Speaker 1: said that four in the fourth quarter. Who said that?
Speaker 1: He also said Brandon Waden is the most beautiful quarterback
Speaker 1: in the end, I was gonna say, we gotta choose
Speaker 1: our words carefully. This is an owner of a team.
Speaker 1: But I will say, Shara at a certain point, everything
Speaker 1: he says is completely out of touch with reality. I mean,
Speaker 1: there's everything, whether it's been their offensive line or Brandon
Speaker 1: Weeden or Matt Castle or every running back they for
Speaker 1: every running back, it's basically it's but mcfannon is carrying
Speaker 1: this team four yards rushing. I mean, you know I
Speaker 1: I hear you. He's totaled thirteen yards, would have had
Speaker 1: a hundred thirty eight if not for a stupid illegal
Speaker 1: shift penalty second straight week. That he's really the entire
Speaker 1: offense best three point two yards per carry player in
Speaker 1: the league. It's hard to rush for more than three
Speaker 1: yards of carry when the other team has no respect
Speaker 1: for the quarterback. I am. I'm more surprised about the
Speaker 1: Seahawks offense in this game, and the Cowboys defense is
Speaker 1: getting better and better each week. But I thought the
Speaker 1: Seahawks offense had had possibly turned a corner against San Francisco,
Speaker 1: and I thought Marshall Lynch and looked a little better
Speaker 1: at the previous two weeks. I think it's concerning you
Speaker 1: only put thirteen points up and Russell Wilson was lucky
Speaker 1: he only had one pick in this game, he could
Speaker 1: have had a couple more on some errand throws. They
Speaker 1: also could have had twenty points pretty easily, and an
Speaker 1: offensive line that came under a lot of fire didn't
Speaker 1: allow a single secon it west. How did Dez Bryant
Speaker 1: look in his return? He clearly wasn't like a peak
Speaker 1: form and Richard Sherman shadowed him around the field as
Speaker 1: he's been doing against top receivers. Sherman easily won that battle. Uh.
Speaker 1: To be fair to Daz, Matt Castle was throwing the
Speaker 1: passes and he said as much after the game. I
Speaker 1: mean he didn't he didn't call mac Castle out, but
Speaker 1: he acknowledged that the vast adjustment is ridiculous. And by
Speaker 1: the way, you can watch these Sunday shows on YouTube
Speaker 1: under the NFL playlist. Just throwing that out there, shameless plug.
Speaker 1: There was a lot of buzz. I didn't get a
Speaker 1: chance to watch this game too closely, but a lot
Speaker 1: of buzz on Twitter. Richard Sherman playing at an extremely
Speaker 1: high level, whether the quarterback was good or not, but
Speaker 1: him shadowing now the best receivers in the league. Maybe
Speaker 1: that's the last piece of the equation when talking about
Speaker 1: who's the best corner in the league. Earl M has
Speaker 1: tweeted after or said after the game. I've never seen
Speaker 1: a nerd bawl out like that. NERD called Richard Sherman
Speaker 1: a nerd. Four passes defense, and I believe one of
Speaker 1: those catches was the first catch against someone Sherman was
Speaker 1: covering in three games. Maybe you don't get a positive
Speaker 1: from PFF all we can all have. Oh and no,
Speaker 1: there's no way Richard Sherman orders UM dominoes on his phone,
Speaker 1: of course not. I don't even know what you refer to.
Speaker 1: Commercial that's on all the time, uh, in which he
Speaker 1: you know he's ordering, he's putting the little pizza pizza modicon.
Speaker 1: I want to go back into check check his feed
Speaker 1: to just call out false advertising. He has never done that,
Speaker 1: prossing out one more potential sponsor. We don't need them
Speaker 1: smash cut to damage check doing like a backstroke through
Speaker 1: Big Max and dollars falling upon him. Don't worry about
Speaker 1: the round the NFL podcast and we are better. It's Sunday.
Speaker 1: I'd bitterness. Let's move on the Tampa Bay Buccaneers. Oh man,
Speaker 1: So they blew the big lead last week UM against
Speaker 1: the Redskins, and they blew another one. Here they were
Speaker 1: up twenty three against the Falcons. The Falcons come all
Speaker 1: the way back, but in the end the Bucks finished.
Speaker 1: This time in overtime. They kick a field goal then
Speaker 1: hold on for a victory over the Falcons. Greg you
Speaker 1: called this game the full Jamis Winston experience. It was
Speaker 1: this season for him has been a lot of good.
Speaker 1: It's been a lot of bad, and it's been enough
Speaker 1: for you to believe he's going to have a good
Speaker 1: future as a starter. And that was what you saw
Speaker 1: in this game. You saw some ugly throws that should
Speaker 1: have been intercepted. You also saw some plays, like an
Speaker 1: overtime we're watching on YouTube, third down play to Charles Sims.
Speaker 1: He has to complete that or elst the game's over.
Speaker 1: Third and ten. He completes another past he moves the
Speaker 1: ball down the field. Then you get to the goal line.
Speaker 1: He has a potential game winner and he just short
Speaker 1: arms it and so they kicked the field goal and
Speaker 1: the game is not over quite then. So it was
Speaker 1: good bad, had a little bit of everything. But I
Speaker 1: like that he just keeps going out there. He makes
Speaker 1: the Bucks fun to watch. That alone is a victory
Speaker 1: that the Bucks are watchable. Oh, we did not think
Speaker 1: that would be the case at all, And you know
Speaker 1: you pointed it out Greg last week that against the Redskins,
Speaker 1: had the game ended differently, the storyline would have been
Speaker 1: Winston because he's put together a couple of it's not
Speaker 1: the whole game. You're right, there's a couple of weird
Speaker 1: things happening, but there is progress. I would be very encouraged.
Speaker 1: I was a Bucks fan. I thought he was outstanding
Speaker 1: a week ago. He was not outstanding. On Sunday, Matt
Speaker 1: Ryan easily outplayed him. I'm not sure what to take
Speaker 1: from this game because the Falcons had almost five hundred
Speaker 1: yards of offense. Uh, they outgained the Bucks by a
Speaker 1: couple of hundred yards. Matt Ryan was sinsa, you know,
Speaker 1: really just Razor sharp the whole day. Like a lot
Speaker 1: of people are against the Bucks defense, but they had.
Speaker 1: They lost the turnover battle four to nothing. They lost
Speaker 1: three fumbles in the first half tour. You know, one
Speaker 1: was on a center exchange, one was on a bad snap.
Speaker 1: It was just one was on a play where Julio
Speaker 1: Jones just had the ball taken from him. So it's
Speaker 1: just a flukey sort of lost for the Falcon. So
Speaker 1: all the Falcons good luck from earlier and you're kind
Speaker 1: of even doubt that was exactly what I was thinking
Speaker 1: watching this game, that everything that went right for them
Speaker 1: the rest of the season went wrong. It was just
Speaker 1: a lot of unforced theres. They look like the better
Speaker 1: you know we I think Mark, you brought it up earlier.
Speaker 1: Today things changed so quickly. Things you assume in October
Speaker 1: looks silly by the end of November. And there was
Speaker 1: a time where we said, well, obviously that the Falcons
Speaker 1: of the Panthers, we either win the division the other
Speaker 1: takes the wild card. But are there any concerns that
Speaker 1: the Falcons are a team that could really start to
Speaker 1: slump into a situation where they could fall out of
Speaker 1: the playoff mix. There's a concern their schedule is very favorable.
Speaker 1: But I've thought all and coming up, and you know,
Speaker 1: it's is cold Vikings Bucks. It's like it doesn't get
Speaker 1: that much harder. I mean that that is harder. Some
Speaker 1: of those games aren't easy, But they're a team. I
Speaker 1: don't think you can count any game as well. They're
Speaker 1: not They're not that talented on defense, they have no
Speaker 1: pass rush, uh, and the passing game has been up
Speaker 1: and down. The defense it plays well together, but it's
Speaker 1: not a good There's always teams like that. Remember the
Speaker 1: six and old Josh McDaniels Broncos, for he's running through
Speaker 1: the mile high, pumping his fists after beating Belichick in
Speaker 1: the in the in the Patriots, and then they fall
Speaker 1: off a cliff. The difference with the Falcons, though, is
Speaker 1: you've got a franchise quarterback and you have Julio Jones.
Speaker 1: Like what we're they're good is not a fluke, that's true.
Speaker 1: And Julio Jones, after some quiet games, had a hundred
Speaker 1: and sixty two yards in this game in twelve catches.
Speaker 1: Just in every single throw is the exact same fifteen
Speaker 1: yard in breaking round to Julio Jones. And they just
Speaker 1: couldn't stop at the whole game. Tomorrow a lot of
Speaker 1: confluence of a lot of weird things happening tomorrow is
Speaker 1: the two thousand fifteen NFL Draft, The season never happened.
Speaker 1: Stay with me. You own the first pick in the draft.
Speaker 1: Do you guys take Jamis Winston or Marcus Mariotta? Mark first?
Speaker 1: Mariota Mariota Greg, come on, be a hero, be brave.
Speaker 1: Side with Jamis. I'm gonna go with Winston because that's
Speaker 1: what I thought we went into it, and now I've
Speaker 1: seen enough to think I like. I like what I've seen.
Speaker 1: He's a little The only thing that worries me is
Speaker 1: just some passes, just misbelly. After Week one, though, I
Speaker 1: thought Mariota would run away with the question you distasked.
Speaker 1: And it's interesting where we are right now, absolutely moving on.
Speaker 1: The International Series in London ended with a laughter as
Speaker 1: the Kansas City Chiefs put the clown suit on the
Speaker 1: Detroit Lions win at Wembley Stadium. Greg, the Lions committed
Speaker 1: their worst sin sint yet in this last season. They
Speaker 1: made Alex Smith look interesting. Well, it wasn't that interesting.
Speaker 1: It was three. What they made is the Chiefs look
Speaker 1: like a juggernaut. I mean, the Lions are so bad.
Speaker 1: I just can't believe how bad they are. People want
Speaker 1: to blame Joe Lombardi, fire everybody. The defense has gone
Speaker 1: from a top five defense to a bottom five defense.
Speaker 1: Alex Smith ran for seventy eight yards, almost all in
Speaker 1: the first half. That's interesting. That is interesting. He was sharp.
Speaker 1: He's been sharp. A couple of weeks. If you had
Speaker 1: only watched the last two weeks, so you would think
Speaker 1: the Chiefs are a playoff team. I mean, they dominated
Speaker 1: the Steelers. I know it was Landry Jones, but their
Speaker 1: defense was great and the offense really controlled that game.
Speaker 1: And then this game was an even bigger laugh for
Speaker 1: the Lions. They're they're a miserable wreck. The best thing
Speaker 1: they can do, the best thing and they can do
Speaker 1: is resist the urge to go with an interim coach.
Speaker 1: Leave Jim Colboy in there and ensure that you get
Speaker 1: the number one pick. Oh well, that guy's a horrible coach.
Speaker 1: Speaking of things changing, by the way, but eleven games
Speaker 1: last year, I don't I don't think we can say
Speaker 1: he's that horrible of a coach. He gone, who would all? Right?
Speaker 1: Games online? Your team is driving for a fourth, the
Speaker 1: other guys score. Who would you who's better? Who's worse
Speaker 1: than him? In game management? I'd have to think about that.
Speaker 1: Andy Reid Smith's he's in that club, though. I think
Speaker 1: it is West's point. I'll say something to you know,
Speaker 1: you you got rid of the offensive coordinator, replace them
Speaker 1: with Couoner. You know, the gentleman has climbed into someone's
Speaker 1: window and try to climb in their bed with him
Speaker 1: a couple of years ago. So well, it's been ten years.
Speaker 1: The guy that he was like the best friend in
Speaker 1: Growing Pains, it's like, oh, where's Kuda? Actually it was Bohner.
Speaker 1: Couder was the guy who worked on cars and dukes
Speaker 1: of Hazzard. The funny thing watching this game was the
Speaker 1: first drive that wasn't finished my point, go ahead Pains
Speaker 1: was your main point, and nailed that, But I'm gonna
Speaker 1: nail another one. Couder enters the building all right, in
Speaker 1: a in a more you know, a more heavy role,
Speaker 1: and you also get the online coach out of there.
Speaker 1: You think, oh, I'm your Abdullah. They're gonna work him in,
Speaker 1: this guy that we fell in love with back in August.
Speaker 1: One touch today, what's going on in Detroit? They hired
Speaker 1: called Well specifically to fix Matthew Stafford, and he's regressed,
Speaker 1: there's no doubt. And last week you could have made
Speaker 1: the case. Stafford played pretty well in that game, except
Speaker 1: for the fact that free rushers are coming at him
Speaker 1: all the time. Today, he did not play well at all.
Speaker 1: He panicked, He made terrible throws, under pressure. The free
Speaker 1: rushers were still coming through, especially in the second half
Speaker 1: once it was allowed. I want to see a source report.
Speaker 1: Whose fault in Detroit is all? All these free rushers
Speaker 1: will call? Will throw Stafford under the bus? Will Stafford?
Speaker 1: I think we know the answer. One of the coaches
Speaker 1: say that the idea now was to simplify things in
Speaker 1: pair pair back the playbook for Matthew Stafford, who didn't
Speaker 1: seem like he's you know, grasp. Well, there's your tech
Speaker 1: moable reference. It's the first technical words four plays. Yeah, exactly.
Speaker 1: How about this big mac Mike Mike mccagan picks up
Speaker 1: the phone, the gestioneral manager and calls up Detroit and
Speaker 1: says first round pick for Matthew Stafford, who says no.
Speaker 1: I I don't think the Lines would agree to that.
Speaker 1: I think the Jets would say no, really, how does
Speaker 1: the Lions do you? Lions have a shot at the
Speaker 1: number one pick. You can get your franchise quarterback, can
Speaker 1: get rid of Stafford's ridiculous salary. Right, yeah, I mean
Speaker 1: you would still make it. No, but you would have
Speaker 1: done two first round pick. That's what I'm saying. It's
Speaker 1: a rebuild and you get Stafford out the door anyway,
Speaker 1: That's what I'm saying. The Jets would say no, not
Speaker 1: the Liners. As a Jets fan, would you want Matthew
Speaker 1: Stafford now that my quarterback? It's it's made just ripped up.
Speaker 1: You're talking about we just said they had simplified the
Speaker 1: offense form. You'd have to come in there and learn
Speaker 1: a new offense. In the medder of the year, I
Speaker 1: know that's that's problematic. By better in the offseason, we're
Speaker 1: talking about the insane a f C playoff race. At
Speaker 1: three and five, the Chiefs are one game really out
Speaker 1: in the lost car right, and they're like a lot
Speaker 1: of Unlike a lot of these teams that can try
Speaker 1: to convince themselves that they're somehow legit, the Chiefs have
Speaker 1: something which is a defense, and they had their offenses
Speaker 1: played very well the last couple of weeks. Sir Kendrick
Speaker 1: West looks like very good back. I'm not gonna I'm
Speaker 1: not saying they're good. I'm just saying they have something going.
Speaker 1: If they still have Jamal Charles, I would get I
Speaker 1: would get into this narrative. So I thought they had
Speaker 1: a bad schedule that they had to go through early
Speaker 1: on and they could have gotten strong and maybe been
Speaker 1: sneaking up on people with that. Jamal and dan If
Speaker 1: West is gonna run for nineties seven yards and Alex
Speaker 1: Smith is gonna run for seven in the eight every
Speaker 1: week you've got Jamal. That's interesting. Moving forward, Justin Tucker
Speaker 1: connected on five field goals, including his ninth career winner,
Speaker 1: to lead the Baltimore Ravens to win over the San
Speaker 1: Diego Chargers, a game that went back and forth, back
Speaker 1: and forth West. The biggest story to come out of
Speaker 1: this game wasn't the outcome, however, these teams in both
Speaker 1: mediocre at best, but the injury suffered to your boy,
Speaker 1: the boy of your stable of all time, Steve Smith.
Speaker 1: He looks so explosive on that play too. Got the
Speaker 1: ball and took off running and looked like he had
Speaker 1: a chance to take it in. Uh Sniper, Sniper got
Speaker 1: him right right in the Achilles went down and he
Speaker 1: get He ended that game fourth in the NFL in
Speaker 1: receiving yards per games. So he's playing at the highest
Speaker 1: level he's played in half a decade. When this goes down,
Speaker 1: it's a shaming. What were you thinking as you see
Speaker 1: him coming off the field where you're feeling almost a
Speaker 1: little emotional. I mean, this is this guy wasn't your guy?
Speaker 1: And when you saw that, it's a rare time when
Speaker 1: you're watching someone and thinking that that probably is the
Speaker 1: last play of his career. It's it's hard to maintain
Speaker 1: that kind of perspective when you're trying to cover a
Speaker 1: couple of games and keep up with everything. You know
Speaker 1: he's got the towel over his head when he has
Speaker 1: to be carried off the field, and you immediately think,
Speaker 1: I hope that's not the last player I ever see
Speaker 1: out of his career. And you wrote the post after
Speaker 1: the game, John Harball suggested that he has some kind
Speaker 1: of inside info that Steve Smith's coming back, and the
Speaker 1: report from Yahoo why they wouldn't trade Steve Smith was
Speaker 1: because they feel pretty strongly there's a chance he's coming
Speaker 1: back for two thousand sixteen. I've heard that thrown out there,
Speaker 1: that wouldn't this make him more likely to come back?
Speaker 1: And I was thinking, well, but he isn't That why
Speaker 1: you retire is that you don't want to be trying.
Speaker 1: Mere mortals do, but not a guy with the biggest
Speaker 1: chip on the shoulder in NFL history. Well, the only
Speaker 1: thing that we've seen guys come back just as fresh
Speaker 1: from knee injuries. In some cases Achilles is at his age,
Speaker 1: that's a long rehab and that's really not he is.
Speaker 1: And that is the one injury where the the medical
Speaker 1: technology in the last ten years has come leaps and
Speaker 1: bounds and now it's like a six month inc Isn't
Speaker 1: that what Crabtree had Steve Steve Smith in Baltimore last
Speaker 1: year was very good, slowed down down the stretch. This
Speaker 1: year got off to another great start. We really want
Speaker 1: to see him come back next year and have his
Speaker 1: Andre Johnson season. I also want to let him go
Speaker 1: out like a warrior injured, he goes out how he wants,
Speaker 1: but I don't want to. I don't want to depressing
Speaker 1: Steve Smith. Season is when I'm going to second. But
Speaker 1: you know, if if there's one guy that we want
Speaker 1: to have faith in, it's gonna do what we did
Speaker 1: Canics don't expect it would be him. The pity that
Speaker 1: you're laying on Steve Smith and that's what's gonna drive
Speaker 1: him to come back, I hope. So you know who
Speaker 1: should there's blood and guts all over me. We should
Speaker 1: be pitying the rest of us who have to cover
Speaker 1: Ravens games this year. I mean, he had more than
Speaker 1: double the amount of receiving yards. Is the next closest
Speaker 1: receiver on the team who's camar aching more that way?
Speaker 1: More than double, almost triple. They're gonna be tough to watch.
Speaker 1: They win this game and then the Chargers as baddleless
Speaker 1: as this us for the Ravens to Lusty Smith. They
Speaker 1: not only lost this game and again a wide opening,
Speaker 1: they lost Keenan Allen king dunlopped their left tackle, Corey Legit,
Speaker 1: Chris Watt, and Ladarius Green all in this game. This
Speaker 1: doesn't even seem remarkable because this happens to Chargers every week.
Speaker 1: I was saying to the game they ought to get
Speaker 1: rid of the golf court, that they come out and
Speaker 1: just use a double decker bus. Just get everyone off
Speaker 1: the field and bring out your dad. They have had
Speaker 1: some terrible luck. It's I know, I know that you've
Speaker 1: mocked the Chargers fans, Dan over the not for the
Speaker 1: Charger fans, but why would you mock the Chargers and
Speaker 1: they weren't even know Dan is simply not signing up
Speaker 1: for the idea that they're the most passionate fan base,
Speaker 1: and you can that stadium is half filled. I just
Speaker 1: feel bad for for that team right now. Well, they
Speaker 1: may have a new coach. I think after the season,
Speaker 1: if you want to put together your list of hot
Speaker 1: seed coaches, I think McCoy suddenly finds himself on the list.
Speaker 1: Before we bring Collie and wolf in. Connie Fox as
Speaker 1: she's known by some, and it's been clarified why she's
Speaker 1: called that. Just a few other ideas for sponsors for
Speaker 1: the podcast that they're listening. Apple, I feel like that
Speaker 1: would be a nice picture. That would be the Steve
Speaker 1: Jobs movie. Loved it, although they don't love it, so
Speaker 1: I didn't love it. Okay, the good move Nike. I'm
Speaker 1: wearing a pair of their their kicks right now. Great products.
Speaker 1: They're very independent, They're looking for small projects. Just do it,
Speaker 1: Just do it. Chase Bank, great bank, deep pockets, a
Speaker 1: little bit underdog, underdog financial institution. I go to Chase
Speaker 1: Dick's Sporting Goods. Like the name not the top of
Speaker 1: my list. Okay, what about one more cornhole? Like the
Speaker 1: leading corn hole manufacturer, whoever it may be. Cornfintry dot
Speaker 1: Com is the first corn hole business in America. It's
Speaker 1: in Cincinnati Bank. So there you go. We'd be sponsoring
Speaker 1: them basically if you are more that one sounds more believable.
Speaker 1: If you are a shadowy league figure with any of
Speaker 1: those companies, come at CD. I'm sure he'll get the
Speaker 1: deal done. All right. With that said, let's bring in
Speaker 1: our friend. There is our friend in the around the
Speaker 1: NFL awkward Iso cam. Yes, Hello, Hello, what's up? Colleen?
Speaker 1: Hey Dan? How's it going? Colleen Wolf? Of course the
Speaker 1: NFL Game Day Blitz Now, NFL Now Game Day Blitz. Yes,
Speaker 1: with Dave dem Check in the gang. You do a
Speaker 1: lot of work on Sundays over there, like seven hours. Right,
Speaker 1: it's a long show. Yeah, but you know what, it
Speaker 1: flies flies by a lot of games, a lot of
Speaker 1: things happening. I bet Cessler was on the couch on
Speaker 1: today's show. Do you think you fit in? Yeah? He
Speaker 1: always fits in. We need more of you guys on
Speaker 1: the show. I think, okay, we'll work on that. Colleen
Speaker 1: back as she is. This is her other regular gig
Speaker 1: on Sunday. She sits in on some games, So why
Speaker 1: don't we get into some more games. It's great to
Speaker 1: have you it's great to be back. And by what
Speaker 1: we get it, you work for the NFL with the shirt.
Speaker 1: Come thanks just in case you've got got extra money
Speaker 1: for that. I'm just waiting for my Danish still from
Speaker 1: the fork meters. I haven't gotten it. WHOA that got awkward.
Speaker 1: Let's move forward. We'll start with the Minnesota Vikings, who
Speaker 1: got a thirty six year old thirty six yard field
Speaker 1: goal from Blair Walsh his time time expired, lifting the
Speaker 1: Vikings to win over the Bears at Soldier Field Colleen.
Speaker 1: Another shaky day for Teddy Bridgewater this season, but he
Speaker 1: connected with his new favorite target when it counted. Mos Yes,
Speaker 1: Stefon Diggs Grave Digger. First of all, I love it.
Speaker 1: It's but this guy. I mean, he was a fifth
Speaker 1: round draft picked. I didn't expect him to play the
Speaker 1: way that he's playing now. And they desperately need a
Speaker 1: guy like him. When they have guys like Cornarrel Patterson
Speaker 1: and Charles Johnson and Mike Wallace who are doing anything,
Speaker 1: they need him to really step in, step up, and
Speaker 1: he did. Now that they have Adrian Peterson doing Adrian
Speaker 1: Peterson like things that help. Here's the thing with Dicks too,
Speaker 1: and this would be a reason to be even more excited.
Speaker 1: The Bears obviously had done their work and prep for him.
Speaker 1: I think he had four yards receiving at halftime, and
Speaker 1: it's because, like what happens with actual good receivers, even
Speaker 1: when they're they get stopped initially, they find ways to
Speaker 1: get open. He ended with ninety yards the big touchdown
Speaker 1: to win it. This guy's a real player. Yeah, he's
Speaker 1: been so good so quickly that you wonder why the
Speaker 1: Vikings didn't have him active the first few weeks in
Speaker 1: the season. Not their best receivers. Quiet he get taken
Speaker 1: in the fifth round of the draft. You've got seven
Speaker 1: first round picks, only one of them doing any tell
Speaker 1: us why Mark, Why wasn't he These things happen, I
Speaker 1: mean scouts for human beings that you know they're on
Speaker 1: the road, they're hired, you know it should never happen.
Speaker 1: They don't get everything right. This game was the Vikings
Speaker 1: entire season. That they looked poor for most of the game,
Speaker 1: and that they find a way to win an ugly
Speaker 1: game against the bad team. They could not be less
Speaker 1: impressive at five and two than they are, but it
Speaker 1: really doesn't matter because they can try to figure things
Speaker 1: out as they go, and they've got a nice little record. Now.
Speaker 1: I asked Bucky Brooks on the couch, why, like, why
Speaker 1: is it that Norv Turner's offense seems to almost have
Speaker 1: taken a step back this year, and he his opinion
Speaker 1: was that they have to actually focus on the ground
Speaker 1: game this year. That it's Adrian Peterson. Obviously is Adrian Peterson,
Speaker 1: but they were just basically throwing the ball at Hunt
Speaker 1: at the end of last year, and they don't seem
Speaker 1: to be the same team at five and two, they're
Speaker 1: the least impressive five. He always just says every team
Speaker 1: should run the ball more like he was saying that
Speaker 1: that was the problems account for Adrian Peterson and the
Speaker 1: best running back in football. That maybe it's thrown some
Speaker 1: of what they had the end of last year off
Speaker 1: a little bit. It's not heat at all of us
Speaker 1: found it to be sort of a shot. Maybe you're
Speaker 1: talking out on the couch and it would be good
Speaker 1: double shift for the couch for good. Make it sound
Speaker 1: like it's a punishment would be great. The more time
Speaker 1: to go through of points and get you know, your
Speaker 1: points out your points, good good good points by everyone
Speaker 1: and Jay Cutler's last game before his mega trade somewhere
Speaker 1: in the NFL, maybe Houston, right, Greig, Yeah, And I
Speaker 1: thought it might be Matt four Days last game too,
Speaker 1: but now he left with an ankle injury and that
Speaker 1: could complicate things. And if he's in this game, I
Speaker 1: believe Jeremy Langford had the costly dropped that basically gave
Speaker 1: the ball back to Chicago and let them win the game,
Speaker 1: and gave the ball back to Minnesota let them win
Speaker 1: the game. It's weird, but Jay Cutler like actually has
Speaker 1: been playing that bad. He hasn't been baking really terrible mistakes. Yeah,
Speaker 1: that sentiment is very it's been prevailing this season that
Speaker 1: everyone's like, hey, guys, am I allowed to say this
Speaker 1: that Jay Cutler is not because he hasn't been I
Speaker 1: mean the season. I'm balanced. He's been probably in them
Speaker 1: right in the middle of the pack of quarterbacks. Right
Speaker 1: if they do want to trade him, I mean, they've
Speaker 1: set it up well with three pretty good weeks from Cutler.
Speaker 1: But Connor Or wrote a piece where it really has
Speaker 1: a lot to do with Adam Gaze, who Coulor finally said,
Speaker 1: I want to do the things the way you did
Speaker 1: with Peyton Manning. Now do we buy that? I don't know,
Speaker 1: but he has looked more functional. Count on Mark to
Speaker 1: spin it back to the o C. He has well,
Speaker 1: he has a kendred spirit and Connor who believes it's
Speaker 1: all these magical, you know, thirty seven year old offensive
Speaker 1: coordinators that he's wildly millionaires who he spends like his
Speaker 1: entire week with. So there is some impact on on
Speaker 1: his play. I mean, I think it says that Gaze
Speaker 1: they've got good coordinators in Chicago, that they really do.
Speaker 1: The coordinators are like your manic pixie dream girls. Yeah,
Speaker 1: I don't. I'm not sure that the listener would know
Speaker 1: what that means, but I would agree it's a certain character.
Speaker 1: If it's a certain character in a movie, it's a
Speaker 1: female character in which she's not an actual human being.
Speaker 1: She really just exists to help the male protagonist um
Speaker 1: see the light and learn to enjoy life. But she's
Speaker 1: basically like the idealized in the dream girl. Nat Only
Speaker 1: Portman and guarded Stage got it. Yes, Nathan or being
Speaker 1: of the Onion I believe is credited with it. We
Speaker 1: should We should at least not act like it was
Speaker 1: an original thought, But let's move on. Let's get out
Speaker 1: of this uh and talk about Mark's Cleveland Browns and
Speaker 1: Mark by the way, first time. Mark watched the game
Speaker 1: on assignment for the Browns, completing his return to fandom,
Speaker 1: and it's fitting that the game was another stomach churner.
Speaker 1: The Browns jumped out to a big lead on Sunday,
Speaker 1: but the Arizona Cardinals kept their cool reeled off twenty
Speaker 1: seven unanswered points on the way on their way to
Speaker 1: a thirty four to twenty win. Mark, the Cardinals don't
Speaker 1: have to be perfect when Carson Palmer was playing at
Speaker 1: this level, right Yeah? I man, forget the Browns. They
Speaker 1: are apparently offering half their team up for trade at
Speaker 1: this point. The bigger story is the Cardinals. I mean,
Speaker 1: they had four turnovers and really put themselves in a
Speaker 1: hole in this game. And that's the only reason that
Speaker 1: Cleveland was in this in this fight was bad. Teams
Speaker 1: need turnovers to hang with a team like the Cardinals,
Speaker 1: But when you are as talented as as as Arizona is,
Speaker 1: they just found a way to overwhelm Cleveland in the
Speaker 1: second half exposed weaknesses. It was not Carson Palmer's best game.
Speaker 1: Because this should not They should not have been down
Speaker 1: as much. Early. Palmer had two deep throws, one to
Speaker 1: Floyd and one too off Fitzgerald that were overthrown. They
Speaker 1: just it wasn't as crisp as we've seen him in
Speaker 1: other games, and it didn't matter in the end. They
Speaker 1: just absolutely took control of this thing. I think Arizona
Speaker 1: is the right pick for Team of a t L
Speaker 1: for what they did today six and two. Now, the
Speaker 1: fact that they don't have to be even at their
Speaker 1: best to be able to take care of the teams
Speaker 1: that are, I mean, that's a sign of a good
Speaker 1: team that that that does that type of work. Although
Speaker 1: we just talked about that coming off a Monday Night's game,
Speaker 1: that they keep not playing at their best, that they
Speaker 1: keep having the struggle and make things harder on themselves.
Speaker 1: They've lost a couple of these games, and now they've
Speaker 1: been in a couple of these games against bad teams.
Speaker 1: So they do need to stop doing that at some point,
Speaker 1: to struggle yards every week. Well you know what I'm saying. Well, yeah,
Speaker 1: but among among the teams in the NFL, who can't
Speaker 1: you say that about the Hatreds, Broncos, the Broncos ter back.
Speaker 1: You didn't have a good game until Week eight and
Speaker 1: that yet they're still undefeated. Yeah, but they've struggled like
Speaker 1: the Cardinals. By the way, a lot of bad job
Speaker 1: by some of our listeners today, nothing worse than premature
Speaker 1: honking in the first first quarter. Whoh your team of
Speaker 1: a t L not doing so great. Part of it
Speaker 1: is just the card does have had the easiest schedule
Speaker 1: in the NFL, so I think you have to take
Speaker 1: that into account. We talked about schedule all the time.
Speaker 1: So I'm just assuming it is gonna get tougher and
Speaker 1: they're gonna have to play better those weeks. They've obviously
Speaker 1: got the tools they I mean, they put this kind
Speaker 1: of performance up without John Brown. What's J. J. Nelson
Speaker 1: all about. That's who came in for him, and he
Speaker 1: looked pretty good. Runs about a four to forty is
Speaker 1: incredibly tiny and if there's a defender within the area,
Speaker 1: he doesn't catch the pass well. He he looked better
Speaker 1: today and he he played the John Brown role, got open,
Speaker 1: made a couple of big catches. Brown was active, but
Speaker 1: they just didn't play one of those sat on the sideline,
Speaker 1: and I think if you know things have gotten real hot,
Speaker 1: maybe they would have put him in, but I think
Speaker 1: that arians knew that this was not in doubt. Once
Speaker 1: they started to cook, like after halftime, you really could
Speaker 1: tell that the tide was turning. They know the Brown's
Speaker 1: defensive struggled against the run. They give Chris Johnson thirty
Speaker 1: carries when they have It's surprising to me when you
Speaker 1: have David Johnson and Andrea Ellington combined for four carries
Speaker 1: and and Chris Johnson. Wah, you know your coach is
Speaker 1: in love with you When you lose two fumbls and
Speaker 1: you still get thirty carries. I don't know why you
Speaker 1: would be giving Chris Johnson thirty carries. He's still a
Speaker 1: thirty year old running back. You want to keep it
Speaker 1: as fresh as possible. When you got some options, Why
Speaker 1: that was what they wanted. Today they've turned him into
Speaker 1: a pack corse. I mean one thing about Cleveland, and
Speaker 1: this is why they're a disaster. They spent six months
Speaker 1: telling you, you know, we're this, We're this tough team
Speaker 1: that got this offensive line. We're gonna use to draft
Speaker 1: picks on offensive and defensive lineman in the first round.
Speaker 1: They run for thirty nine yards and Josh mccounters. They're
Speaker 1: leading rusher, and they basically Duke Johnson, who is the
Speaker 1: most interesting player in the backfield, vanished in the second half.
Speaker 1: I have to two Browns things to run by you here, Mark.
Speaker 1: First of all, you and I have a sandwich prop
Speaker 1: who gets the three wins first? The Browns or the
Speaker 1: Calves lost that well, the Browns have now used up
Speaker 1: all their head start and they're both at two wins.
Speaker 1: And I believe the Calves of three games this week.
Speaker 1: So I think i'land's lucky that they play Thursday night,
Speaker 1: and they're not lucky because they play the Bengals. But
Speaker 1: if everything that's wrong for the Calves, then maybe Cleveland
Speaker 1: guts there. I have essentially lost. Just let the Cleveland
Speaker 1: pull up there. They're one good team. The Cavaliers now,
Speaker 1: I'm happy for them. I'm not rooting against the I
Speaker 1: said this sandwich. No, the sandwich is out. And here's
Speaker 1: one other. While Collegen looks up the Cavs schedule. One
Speaker 1: other idea, Mark, we talked about. You know they were
Speaker 1: at The Browns were out of the league for three
Speaker 1: years of the nineties before they came back with the
Speaker 1: twenty year anniversary coming up, Why don't we do this?
Speaker 1: Leave the league for three more years, come back in
Speaker 1: two thousand nineteen. As a third iteration, the second iteration,
Speaker 1: just wipe it away. It never happened fresh start. I
Speaker 1: like it. We discussed it earlier. I think what it
Speaker 1: does is it wipes out what is two decades of absolute, ugly,
Speaker 1: treacherous nonsense. Well, and then you reboot and you start
Speaker 1: over again. If they trade their entire roster, you might
Speaker 1: get that chance. You miss out on Gary Barne just
Speaker 1: prime right now. You know, want to put that off.
Speaker 1: You gotta come with a harder cell than that. I'm
Speaker 1: happy for him, But Colleen the Wolf, Connie Fox, are
Speaker 1: Cleveland Calves up beating they have to this week against
Speaker 1: the Sixers? By the way, Cleveland's not beating the Bengals
Speaker 1: on Thursday night. So and by the way, Josh McCowen
Speaker 1: got hurt in this game, right, so Johnny Mans album
Speaker 1: might just get this next mccownt McCown will play. He
Speaker 1: is I'll get the guy is finished. He is tough.
Speaker 1: All right, Let's move on. The Houston Texans set a
Speaker 1: single game franchise record with seven sacks on their way
Speaker 1: to win. Over there. I'm gonna say it, and it's
Speaker 1: back the Tennessee Titoons. Mark. Let's give the text and
Speaker 1: some credit. They haven't quit on their coach despite last
Speaker 1: week's epic embarrassment. I don't have a lot to I
Speaker 1: don't even know how to set you up for this game,
Speaker 1: but throw it out there. Someone had to win this game,
Speaker 1: and you know, Houston's defense took over Brian Brian Hoyer.
Speaker 1: This is the weird thing. I watched him and if
Speaker 1: you watch the full game, it's like, oh yeah, he
Speaker 1: definitely is not the future at quarterback on any level,
Speaker 1: but he has I believe fourteen touchdowns picks in the
Speaker 1: offense this year, So I what it baffles me that
Speaker 1: they ever settled on Ryan Mallett is the better option
Speaker 1: with what we've seen at this point, but still you
Speaker 1: have no quarterback. They can't run the ball. This is
Speaker 1: another game where the running game was an absolute disaster
Speaker 1: for Houston. It was all about the defense because the
Speaker 1: Titans without Mariotta, they are what they were last year.
Speaker 1: They're unwatchable on offense. They're one of the worst offenses
Speaker 1: in the league, and they need Mariota back right. It
Speaker 1: makes you think so much more about Mariota's absolutely that's playing.
Speaker 1: The post was that if you're a Titans fan, you
Speaker 1: have to surrealize how good of a choice Mario you have.
Speaker 1: Order from Mariota were pretty similar to the last eight
Speaker 1: quarters it started. It started going pretty poorly for him
Speaker 1: his last couple of games. I don't know, it's just
Speaker 1: the talent around them is Yeah. I think the link
Speaker 1: is that he was getting killed just like Mettenberger was
Speaker 1: getting killed today. I mean, Mettenberger is not a good
Speaker 1: quarterback at this point. His play has fallen off a map,
Speaker 1: but he cannot You've got guys in your face all
Speaker 1: game long. Mettenberger's falling off at all. He's the same
Speaker 1: guy he was last year when he couldn't win a
Speaker 1: game and couldn't move the offense. And if he could
Speaker 1: draw up a quarterback to get thirteen combined hits between
Speaker 1: two players J J. Watt and Whitney Merciless, it would
Speaker 1: be Zach Mettenberger with a slow delivery and no pocket.
Speaker 1: Let's call grag Let's call it like it is. That
Speaker 1: was a direct shot from West to you, not just
Speaker 1: and I like Greg in the NFL Juster too, and
Speaker 1: I I'm not about to write anyone off after a
Speaker 1: season and a half number one, but he's not he's
Speaker 1: not progressing in the offense. There's a positive way to
Speaker 1: look at it. By the way, if you're a Titans fan,
Speaker 1: I'm sure there are quite quite a few out there
Speaker 1: you almost want the season to go into the tank.
Speaker 1: Is a lot of people don't like Ken wizzen Hunt.
Speaker 1: They don't like the offensive scheme. And you get to
Speaker 1: reboot the machine and get a healthy um Marcus Mariota
Speaker 1: next season, and maybe a three and thirteen insures that,
Speaker 1: whereas maybe a six and ten you might get stuck.
Speaker 1: With wisdom, they've lost sixteen of seventeen games, but then
Speaker 1: you're starting a whole new offense. I mean, that's that's
Speaker 1: that sounds nice, but that's what the Titans have been doing.
Speaker 1: You know, the Titans just did that to get Ken
Speaker 1: wizzen Hunt. It's not like that solved anything. If you're
Speaker 1: you want to look on the bright side. They just
Speaker 1: lost a game to the soon to be first place
Speaker 1: Houston Texans after Monday. When you think about that division,
Speaker 1: how awful it is. They were annihilated by the Dolphins,
Speaker 1: they just cut mallet and now they're three and five
Speaker 1: and they're just I mean, right there, we boxed theirselves
Speaker 1: into a corner, forking the Jags and Texans. Now the
Speaker 1: Titans are out there in the way. We gotta go
Speaker 1: with the division. We get the committee together, Colin, do
Speaker 1: you want to join us again? This time to get
Speaker 1: to Danish. But you gotta get there early because the
Speaker 1: Danish goes quick. I told you that. Yeah, wait until
Speaker 1: you see what folks do Monday. And I think you're
Speaker 1: gonna want to fork the whole division. Let's won't back down.
Speaker 1: How about this. We gotta at least consider the Titans
Speaker 1: now at one in six, working the whole division. Now,
Speaker 1: let's see what we gotta fork the whole thing. Oh,
Speaker 1: someone had a good idea, by the way, someone say yes,
Speaker 1: fork the whole division. And then the winner of the division,
Speaker 1: we give the money to the charity from the winner
Speaker 1: said that? Did we say that? Yeah? Never mind? It
Speaker 1: was a brilliant idea referencing ourselves. But I always I
Speaker 1: don't wanna. I don't know. Let's see, let's see what
Speaker 1: happens with the cults. I'm under all right, Yeah, alright,
Speaker 1: moving on the St. Louis. The St. Louis Rams wrote
Speaker 1: an increasingly familiar formula on Sunday, suffocating defense, impact play
Speaker 1: some Todd Gurley add it all up at twenty seven
Speaker 1: to six win over the Stinky I guess Stink San
Speaker 1: Francisco forty Niners. A game that exactly what you kind
Speaker 1: of would imagine from this game to be, which was
Speaker 1: Todd Gurley looking special. I wrote in our recap piece
Speaker 1: where what's it called again? Greg? What's our our weekly
Speaker 1: what we Learned? What we Learned? Piece? Simply been the
Speaker 1: title for four years from Yes, well Greg could help
Speaker 1: me out there? Your special Rams? Oh no, no, no, no,
Speaker 1: no no, our weekly recap, the thirty four things we
Speaker 1: learned or whatever it is. I have seen the future
Speaker 1: of the running back position in the NFL. It's Tip Gurley.
Speaker 1: This guy is special. He went through the middle of
Speaker 1: the Niners defense on a seventy one yard touchdown run
Speaker 1: where he was again it was it was very good blocking,
Speaker 1: but he just has that gear that very few players have.
Speaker 1: Special to watch and and that's really all you needed.
Speaker 1: They were down three too at the point of this run.
Speaker 1: And if you're watching on YouTube and NFL now you
Speaker 1: can see it, uh that the game was over at
Speaker 1: this point. It was eight three after this run. They
Speaker 1: did get the two point conversion because the Niners are
Speaker 1: that bad on offense, and I don't know what else.
Speaker 1: At this point, Jim Tomsila has gotta worry about his
Speaker 1: job and he's got to think to himself. I know,
Speaker 1: blame Gabet's not good. There's a lot of evidence of that.
Speaker 1: But how much longer can I run Colm Kaepernick out
Speaker 1: there without risking this team quitting on me? Kaepernick average
Speaker 1: four yards in attempt over forty one passes in this
Speaker 1: game and just looked completely out of out of his
Speaker 1: element once again. And you included in your post the
Speaker 1: clip of Kaepernick, you know, about to take the snap
Speaker 1: and he's got a wide receiver out on the sidelines saying,
Speaker 1: excuse me, Tory Smith, I am wide open. There isn't
Speaker 1: a single human being around me. Doesn't even see it.
Speaker 1: He's freaking out too. There's not much more he could
Speaker 1: do to get Kaepernick's attention. And there's a receiver on
Speaker 1: the other side too, And and it seems like a
Speaker 1: funny play that it's almost unfair to make fun of him.
Speaker 1: But this is the precise reason why I think Colin
Speaker 1: Kaepernick is struggling as a quarterback is his awareness is
Speaker 1: awareness of everything going on around him at or thirty
Speaker 1: other quarterbacks are going to notice that in that situation
Speaker 1: and throw it to him. He just never he's never
Speaker 1: made the leap as a quarterback and grown. Um the
Speaker 1: running back. The running game for the Niners is terrible,
Speaker 1: Mike James, uh and um, there was a character named
Speaker 1: Kendall Gaskins Mike Davis and I'm not familiar with Kendall's work.
Speaker 1: They combined on ten yards and the Hayin plane might
Speaker 1: be coming back because Reggie Bush and by the way,
Speaker 1: Edward James almost don't, Oh my gosh, that's an awful
Speaker 1: act together. They have concrete, unprotected concrete that runs around
Speaker 1: the uh you know, the barrier between the stands and
Speaker 1: the sideline. Last week, Josh McCown ran onto the concrete,
Speaker 1: slipped into the wall, banged his chest and shoulder. In
Speaker 1: today's game, Reggie Bush blew out his knee. I mean,
Speaker 1: two weeks in a row. Maybe the fire. There's all
Speaker 1: sorts of issues going on inside the end. Perhaps now
Speaker 1: at a want to look too much into it. But
Speaker 1: there's only one owner in this California thing that's actively
Speaker 1: trying to get out of the city, and the stadium
Speaker 1: has turned into like the final level of Super Mario Brothers.
Speaker 1: It's a total disaster minefield. It could be the you know,
Speaker 1: we're joking. It could be the last play of Reggie
Speaker 1: Bush's career, and there's no guarantee that he's going to
Speaker 1: get a chance to play again. And ultimately he felt
Speaker 1: like he was a little bit at the end of
Speaker 1: the line this season. This is a guy who when
Speaker 1: he came to the league and even the impact he
Speaker 1: had early on with the Saints, one of the biggest
Speaker 1: stars in the entire NFL and ultimately a disappointing career,
Speaker 1: I think, but had his moments, especially with your team,
Speaker 1: the Saints, Greg in Miami. I think that changed my
Speaker 1: perception of it. Then when he ran for a thousand yards,
Speaker 1: which is averaging, talked about underwhelming career. Yes, Todd Gurley
Speaker 1: five best five games start in NFL history for a rookie,
Speaker 1: missed two games and barely played in a third, is
Speaker 1: on pace to break Eric Dickerson's rookie rushing record. All
Speaker 1: you liver or livered. People who couldn't couldn't say after
Speaker 1: three games he is great. Maybe we'll give him five
Speaker 1: years and then you'll finally be on board. Without great
Speaker 1: to maybe it'll take him dragging this Rams team to
Speaker 1: the playoffs, just like I predicted it for the season.
Speaker 1: They're starting to beat the bad teams. We said, Okay,
Speaker 1: is this Rams team any different than they're gonna take
Speaker 1: care of business against some of these back they're taking
Speaker 1: care of business because they are as ugly as possible
Speaker 1: and throwing the ball. And we've also given up twelve
Speaker 1: points in two weeks. I mean they have a legit
Speaker 1: def Well, that's yeah, that's you're right. It has nothing
Speaker 1: to do with Trey Mason. But they're the most exciting. Yes,
Speaker 1: well also because one of them would step up a
Speaker 1: good couple of minutes. The most exciting running back in
Speaker 1: the league. What was the last time scored a touchdown?
Speaker 1: Like I'm actually remembering here, here's August good last two weeks,
Speaker 1: nineteen first downs and nineteen punt that's hard to do.
Speaker 1: It's the year two thousand and fifteen, and Kendall Gaskins,
Speaker 1: as you mentioned, was their leading running back with five
Speaker 1: of yards or six yards and their two leading receivers
Speaker 1: today were Jerome Simpson and Quentin Patton. It's not good.
Speaker 1: It's not good. By the way, again, another reason to
Speaker 1: watch our show on YouTube. Greg's reaction to West seating
Speaker 1: or saying that the St. Louis Friends backfield is the
Speaker 1: most exciting. The hand motions it's wild. Well like any
Speaker 1: West trying to give in on a point. He included
Speaker 1: some technicality, whereas he's not really saying West does build
Speaker 1: in those back doors the back door man, it was like,
Speaker 1: no comment. We uh, we should move on and we
Speaker 1: will talk about did you have something else to say?
Speaker 1: Let's move onto the black hole where Derek Carr threw
Speaker 1: for four through four touchdown passes in Latavius Murray went
Speaker 1: over the one yard mark for the second time the season,
Speaker 1: leading the Raiders to a thirty four to twenty win
Speaker 1: over Yes, the New York Jets, who have now lost
Speaker 1: two in a row. And uh, by the way, don't
Speaker 1: look now, but the Jets and the Raiders both four
Speaker 1: and three. When you look at that a f C
Speaker 1: wild card picture which is increasingly muddled. Now the Raiders
Speaker 1: have to head to head tiebreaker over the Jets. So
Speaker 1: that could be huge in a couple of months. If
Speaker 1: the Raiders continue to look like a team that we
Speaker 1: should take seriously. And I'll say it again. I said
Speaker 1: it last week, the Raiders of the team that we
Speaker 1: you know we four teams. When we four teams, that
Speaker 1: says we don't think there's any chance they make the playoffs.
Speaker 1: And guess what, the Raiders they look real good. And
Speaker 1: Derek Carr's a major reason why. Uh he threw for
Speaker 1: three thirty three yards, uh not forty three touchdowns four
Speaker 1: touchdowns and you know you you add it all up
Speaker 1: if he's gonna play at that level. And even with
Speaker 1: Durrell Reeves on the opposite side of the field and
Speaker 1: Rivers did a nice job holding a Mark Cooper in check,
Speaker 1: he's still finding us. He got um Michael Crabtree going
Speaker 1: for a hundred yards and a touchdown, which you would
Speaker 1: think would be hard to do in two thousand fifteen.
Speaker 1: He got Latavius Murray in the mix. Taiwan Jones. I mean,
Speaker 1: this offense has some weapons and they were making plays
Speaker 1: right all year with the Jet's defense look terrible. Give
Speaker 1: craftree uh some credit. He's looked good all year. He's
Speaker 1: one of the better free agent bargains of the entire year.
Speaker 1: And uh, I think we owe an apology, especially Westling,
Speaker 1: if we're gonna start battling tonight to Reggie Mackenzie. We
Speaker 1: buried Reggie Mackenzie more than we could ever bury anyway.
Speaker 1: I'm just saying he's built a team that has developed.
Speaker 1: Apologize young. I don't really expect an apology. He's made
Speaker 1: for the match shop trade. Reggie Mackenzie, buddy. We we've
Speaker 1: been saying the job that he needs to be fired.
Speaker 1: He should have been fired last year. That's what we
Speaker 1: said all that and right now they're a young team
Speaker 1: on the rise that has allowed to be excited. I
Speaker 1: think any GM could have drafted a Maori Cooper or
Speaker 1: Khalil mack He deserves a ton of credit because everyone
Speaker 1: passed on Derek Carr, and he identified him as a
Speaker 1: franchise quarterback. And that's the most important move that any
Speaker 1: GM can make is locating the French passer. And maybe
Speaker 1: that's where the apologies, because I think there were doubts
Speaker 1: about Derek Carr in this room, and I think that
Speaker 1: Derek Carr has turned into it looks like a really
Speaker 1: good young passer. And that's the difference for all bad
Speaker 1: franchises and good franchises. Do you have the quarterback and
Speaker 1: they might actually have the quarterback. It's not crazy to
Speaker 1: think that this team could win nine or ten games.
Speaker 1: And on the you know, on flip side, we were
Speaker 1: watching the Jets today and Ryan Fitzpatrick is a patch.
Speaker 1: Is a one year patch, right, and then incomes Geno
Speaker 1: Smith and the trouble begins and I'm done with the
Speaker 1: Geno Smith business. This guy needs to not be on
Speaker 1: any football team, especially not New Well, let's let's just
Speaker 1: let's go through it. First of all, Ryan Fitzpatrick on
Speaker 1: the first series of the game goes into a QB
Speaker 1: slide or not a QB slad. This is gonna because
Speaker 1: he's been doing this a lot, gets hit and suffers
Speaker 1: ligament damage in his thumb. He'll have an MRI I tomorrow.
Speaker 1: He could end up missing significant time, which is bad
Speaker 1: news for the Jets. Gino Smith pressed into action. Uh
Speaker 1: did have moments in this game, and this is really
Speaker 1: the some of them, right, this is the Geno Coaster experience.
Speaker 1: Game was the best part of the Jets team though
Speaker 1: by far. Righteah you can make excuses for Geno Smith
Speaker 1: all season long. I just I think this is the
Speaker 1: Jets need to find another quarterback right away. All right,
Speaker 1: let me just get to this point. You know, Gina
Speaker 1: Smith played pretty well in a backup role today, but
Speaker 1: it is still you were complaining about him the whole game.
Speaker 1: He makes This is why he's the Geno Coaster is
Speaker 1: because he makes him plays. He kept him somewhat alive
Speaker 1: for most of the game despite them being heavily outplayed
Speaker 1: on defense. But he makes the mental and physical errors
Speaker 1: and holding onto the ball too long, not sensing what's
Speaker 1: going on in the pocket, not getting out of bounds
Speaker 1: on a long run, and taking a crushing shot to
Speaker 1: his chest. That kind of stuff that just leaves you
Speaker 1: scratching your head and you don't want that guy leading
Speaker 1: your team. I think he's okay as a backup, but
Speaker 1: if he's going to be the starter for the Jets
Speaker 1: for a period of weeks, you could kiss the playoffs
Speaker 1: good by. He's gonna make That's all I'm saying. I
Speaker 1: just I think this is guy. He's too inconsistent. He
Speaker 1: has these ceiling moments. But the last two minutes of
Speaker 1: the Jets the last two drives. Offense was a disaster.
Speaker 1: But this is typical of what's going to happen in
Speaker 1: New York this week. The Jets didn't get a stop
Speaker 1: until five minutes left in the game. They literally did
Speaker 1: not stop the Waters number one right, exactly the rate
Speaker 1: of the Jets got what was it, eighteen yards seventeen
Speaker 1: yards running on fifteen carriers from Chris Ivory. But all
Speaker 1: the talk is gonna be well the lost fitz Patrick
Speaker 1: last Gina. It was as bad a defensive performance as
Speaker 1: you could ever possibly Tackling was bad for the first
Speaker 1: time in this all this season. Tackling was terrible, especially
Speaker 1: on that Tyler and Jones touchdown as four missed tackles.
Speaker 1: They have an issue then that they have this gifted,
Speaker 1: young defensive line, but they still can't put pressure on
Speaker 1: the quarterback or at least get sacks out the quarterback,
Speaker 1: and that's leading to issues that when the when the
Speaker 1: secondary is not playing at a high level, and it
Speaker 1: wasn't today. Antonio Carmara used an expletive to describe his
Speaker 1: play after the game. Marcus Williams, they took a gamble
Speaker 1: tie bowls and it blew up in their face is,
Speaker 1: who's a decent third backup corner type of guy. They
Speaker 1: put him into a safety role and he got absolutely
Speaker 1: shredded by Michael Crabtree in this game. So that didn't
Speaker 1: work out. So the secondary is not going to be
Speaker 1: at the top level and you're against a good quarterback
Speaker 1: and that's what Derek car is playing like. They're in trouble.
Speaker 1: I mean, there was a lot to get nervous, but
Speaker 1: even Latavia's Murray, everyone in the world was predicting he
Speaker 1: wasn't gonna do anything. He was running through this Jet's defense.
Speaker 1: It was just not a good effort. Yeah, over words
Speaker 1: again for him. But you go into this game and
Speaker 1: you think, like this Jets defense and Todd Bowles, the
Speaker 1: Raiders don't have a chance at all. Now the Raiders
Speaker 1: are four and three. Dann's team loses thirty four storty
Speaker 1: four to twenty. My team loses thirty four to twenty.
Speaker 1: There will be drinkings win a tough game on the road.
Speaker 1: That that's tough for West. I mean, this is an
Speaker 1: offensive team though this is there. Oh, they are an
Speaker 1: explosive offensive defense for Oakland's not and they're one of
Speaker 1: the hottest teams in the league. The Raiders are and
Speaker 1: next week they go from up and coming team that
Speaker 1: surprised us to legitimate wild guard Denner. They go into
Speaker 1: Pittsburgh next week. They can really make an even bigger
Speaker 1: statement then, and people are telling on Twitter, you know,
Speaker 1: people like to have their fun when the Jets lose
Speaker 1: and whatever. Guys, I will say this. You know, people
Speaker 1: are like, they're time to unforked the Raiders. There is
Speaker 1: no unforking. Yeah, and whether we whether we like to
Speaker 1: or not, is a different conversation. But we just don't.
Speaker 1: Once we fork a team, at that time we have
Speaker 1: made the decision. They have no chance of making the playoffs.
Speaker 1: But in this case, it's starting to look tricky. Greg
Speaker 1: has a big donation go into the Oakland Bay area
Speaker 1: young Republicans. How about the open Save our Team fund?
Speaker 1: Maybe this is gonna be like the script to a
Speaker 1: Disney where they win the Super Bowl and keep the
Speaker 1: team in town. You can do it there. You're gonna
Speaker 1: your charity donation is gonna keep the team. I'm saying
Speaker 1: they're they're gonna win the Super Bowl. Well that'll keep
Speaker 1: them in Oakland. What's gonna happen? Are really more of
Speaker 1: like a vessel to raise his profile. So that would
Speaker 1: make philanthro paste. This is it more about getting the
Speaker 1: you know, the acclaim for being a philanthropist. Right, Okay,
Speaker 1: so let's move Colleen. Why don't you stick around for
Speaker 1: Sunday night football. Let's talk about it. It was a
Speaker 1: game that two undefeated teams and you're thinking, oh, this
Speaker 1: is gonna go down to the wire. Alan, Chris is
Speaker 1: gonna be all pumped up. But guess what, it didn't
Speaker 1: work out that in a way at all. It was
Speaker 1: a one sided affair. Peyton Manning went T nine for
Speaker 1: three forty yards, no interception, throwing the ball like it's
Speaker 1: two thousand thirteen. C J. Anderson goes over a hundred
Speaker 1: yards with a touch. Who saw that coming? And even
Speaker 1: more shocking to me, the most shocking stat line of
Speaker 1: the entire season. Aaron Rodgers, the greatest quarterback of life,
Speaker 1: throws for seventy seven yards. You could do the math
Speaker 1: awe ten win for the Broncos over the Packers. It
Speaker 1: is the Broncos who remain undefeated and looking like one
Speaker 1: of the very best teams in the NFL. And Greg,
Speaker 1: you know, we were saying downstairs while we were watching
Speaker 1: this game. If the Broncos could even get average play
Speaker 1: on offense and average played from their quarterback position, it's
Speaker 1: time to look at them differently. Is not a float
Speaker 1: underfea the team, but a potential Super Bowl contender. This
Speaker 1: is one of the most significant results of the season.
Speaker 1: I don't think that's stepping out on a limb because
Speaker 1: the score doesn't indicate what a boat race this is.
Speaker 1: The Broncos just played the Packers team that's a little
Speaker 1: bit healthier, five hundred yards to a hundred forty total yards.
Speaker 1: If you put the Patriots up against the Texans each week,
Speaker 1: you would not expect it to be that one sided
Speaker 1: of an NFL game. So the Packers did a good
Speaker 1: job to even keep this close. But Denver did exactly
Speaker 1: what they wanted to do on offense. The run game
Speaker 1: looked like a Carrie Gary Kubiak running game. Peyton Manning
Speaker 1: went down the field, and the Denver defense played even
Speaker 1: better than you would expect against this Packers offen I
Speaker 1: mean it was, it was unbelievable. We have just start
Speaker 1: to ask if this Broncos defense is one of the
Speaker 1: best we've ever seen. Yeah, and Aaron Rodgers. They made
Speaker 1: him look shaky. He had as good at half a
Speaker 1: season as any half a sea is in that we see,
Speaker 1: I mean there's plenty. Rogers previous low in the game
Speaker 1: was one two and it was seventy seven tonight, so
Speaker 1: that was significantly lower than any game he started and finished.
Speaker 1: And I think if you're the Broncos and you sat
Speaker 1: down over the bar and tried to dream up a
Speaker 1: best case scenario game for you're coming out of the bye,
Speaker 1: they couldn't have done this in the wildest dreams. You
Speaker 1: find the running game, Peyton Manning throws better than he
Speaker 1: hasn't a calendar year, and the defense shuts down the
Speaker 1: best quarterback in the league. I mean, we should not,
Speaker 1: we cannot overlook, and we're giving a plenty of time,
Speaker 1: but just again, like Aaron Rodgers, we've had conversations and
Speaker 1: and we've written breathlessly about how this is guy playing
Speaker 1: quarterback at the highest level it can be played. And yes,
Speaker 1: we're starting to maybe see somewhere on the offensive machine
Speaker 1: in Green Bay because of the guys that they're missing.
Speaker 1: But to do what they did make Aaron Rodgers look
Speaker 1: like Colin Kaepernick, and that I get carried away, well, well,
Speaker 1: just from a statistical standpoint, that tells you that we
Speaker 1: might be watching something special. To what Cecil was saying
Speaker 1: was like, if you have a great front four, you
Speaker 1: can get to the quarterback very easily, if you have
Speaker 1: a linebacker, linebackers that can cover, and maybe the best
Speaker 1: secondary and football what's missing there? No nothing, But I
Speaker 1: think it's you know, this is unusual because we don't
Speaker 1: see the Packers ever have a game like this. But
Speaker 1: to me, it has more to do with with the
Speaker 1: Broncos than Green Bay. Although green Bay's offense last couple
Speaker 1: of weeks has not been what we expect, and then
Speaker 1: they ran into a buzz salt and they're clicking on
Speaker 1: no cylinders. And at the risk of filling the boss's
Speaker 1: head too much, he's the one who preached a couple
Speaker 1: of weeks ago that the Broncos this could all turn
Speaker 1: around and if Peyton Manning gets it going, they are
Speaker 1: a suitable head is you can feel the air fluving.
Speaker 1: I also said after Week one, I think this Broncos
Speaker 1: defense is before Week one that had the chance to
Speaker 1: rival those Saks defenses of last anything else you said
Speaker 1: you'd like to bring up Yeah, what's it like to
Speaker 1: never be wrong? Right? I just love that they got
Speaker 1: the running games going here too, because Gary Kubiak, We've
Speaker 1: been waiting and waiting and waiting for that, and we
Speaker 1: saw how Peyton threw was just throwing interception after interception,
Speaker 1: a hundred and sixty yards on the ground. Ronnie Hillman
Speaker 1: two touchdowns. You have c J. Anderson another touchdown. That's
Speaker 1: what they need to do, and that's what they're doing.
Speaker 1: How about Peyton Manning. This guy he was throwing the
Speaker 1: ball like a guy that doesn't have a dead arm,
Speaker 1: that that isn't coming off six of the worst games
Speaker 1: of his career. He looked like Peyton Manning. Well. The
Speaker 1: one thing that Peyton Manning fans could hold on to
Speaker 1: the last three weeks is he had two or three
Speaker 1: really good throws every week. We talked about that. It
Speaker 1: was just the decision making and the consistency, and he
Speaker 1: just wasn't hitting a lot of them. But he would
Speaker 1: have two or three wild plays where we're like, wow,
Speaker 1: I mean that's a nice thirty yard you know, deep
Speaker 1: out down the field. It's not like it hasn't been there.
Speaker 1: If just for all this to come together now, has got,
Speaker 1: you would think is going to give them so much
Speaker 1: confidence in terms of moving forward what type of team
Speaker 1: they can be. That's that was one of the reasons.
Speaker 1: What's one of the reasons to believe in this team
Speaker 1: is the players around him. I mean, to Marrius Thomas
Speaker 1: isn't any worse. Emmanuel Sanders is than any worse. In theory,
Speaker 1: the running game could be pretty good with Gary Kubia
Speaker 1: well and any and in in Kubiak's offense, anytime you're
Speaker 1: rushing for a hundred and sixty yards, the quarterback is
Speaker 1: putting a much better position. And that's not what gets
Speaker 1: not been the case for Manning for almost all season.
Speaker 1: But he did look different tonight. He did his throws
Speaker 1: were much different. There receivers in in Green Bay. I
Speaker 1: think this matchup highlighted the kind of struggles they could
Speaker 1: have in the NFC playoffs against for instance, Seattle and
Speaker 1: some of the really physical cornerbacks. I mean, this Denver
Speaker 1: secondary is incredible, and right now Randall Cobb Davante ad
Speaker 1: I mean that that group isn't really getting the job done.
Speaker 1: I mean, I don't think they're probably getting open to well,
Speaker 1: They're they're starting to look a little flawed their defense too.
Speaker 1: You give up eight and fifty yards to Peyton Manning
Speaker 1: and Philip Rivers and back to back games. Alright, So
Speaker 1: that's it. That was a really comprehensive professional rundown of
Speaker 1: the week. That was congratulations, guys. Some of that bitter
Speaker 1: stuff maybe not quite as professional as other parts of
Speaker 1: the show. Well, they're always parts of the show that
Speaker 1: aren't professional. About the p I thought was good? Oh yeah, yeah,
Speaker 1: that was super proud. Well we're asking Wes his pants
Speaker 1: if they were soaked, Pa, if they would try You'll
Speaker 1: have to listen to the show is important, Colleen. You've
Speaker 1: said it all. You've done it again. You've come in
Speaker 1: here and hit a home run. Thank you. We'll see
Speaker 1: you next week. Connie Fox And that is not an
Speaker 1: inappropriate name for Colleen. It was a high school Yes,
Speaker 1: that was my high school nickname. So everybody get off
Speaker 1: of their back PC Police and Shadowy League figure, am
Speaker 1: I right? I am all right? Just think kids, kids,
Speaker 1: it's like you can't make fun of anything. You know
Speaker 1: what happened with men? Well men, you know what I'm saying.
Speaker 1: What is happening? I don't know. We will be back
Speaker 1: on Tuesday with our Monday We're gonna have our Monday
Speaker 1: Night recap, Thursday night football preview and all that good fun,
Speaker 1: so make sure you tune in for that. But for now,
Speaker 1: that is it for the Around the NFL podcast stand
Speaker 1: a heads of signing off for The Quiet Storm, The Mail,
Speaker 1: Matt Connie, Fox, The Boss, and TV Behind the Glass
Speaker 1: till Tuesday, m