Fantasy Football Daily - 2022 Take Talk Episode 20

Episode Date: November 9, 2022

Brett Whitefield (@BGWhitefield) and Steven ORourke (@callmesteveo7) get into the Colts' hiring of Jeff Saturday as HC, how Justin Fields is opening some eyes,  and the NFL Playoff Picture at the half way point. --- Support this podcast: https://podcasters.spotify.com/pod/show/fantasy-points-podcast/support Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

It's time for the Fantasy Points podcast brought to you by FantasyPoints.com. Top level fantasy football and NFL betting analysis from every perspective and angle, from numbers to the film room with a single goal to help you score more fantasy points. Hello everyone and welcome in to the Take Talk podcast. I'm Stephen O'Rourke and as always I'm with my co-host, Brett Whitefield and Brett, it's official. I'm scrapping saying the episode number. We were flirting with like not knowing anymore and it's official I don't know 100% and we're getting to we're just hitting the numbers are getting a little bit too high. So we're scrapping it.

Yeah, which is which is good. It is. It means we're established. It also is a little suspect because like we technically work and we kind of do math for a living and we can't even count to 20. But sometimes sometimes it is just the easy. easiest, like, things that can trip you up. I see other podcasts out there, Steve. They're, like, on episode 277.

I know. So, four, 21. We can't even count to 20. We're like, ah, we lost count. Ah. Oh, well. Listen, like that math brain power is used in other areas throughout the week that, like, on days like today when we're doing this is when I, like, when I turn that off for a

second. That's such a good point. because on podcast days, I don't know if people out there know this, but men have like a quota of how many words they can say in a day before their brains melt. Right. So podcast day,

especially because I usually have meetings after the pod. Right. My word quote is gone by like noon. So when my wife comes home for work and wants to talk my ear off, I'm just silent. Yeah. And she's like, oh, podcast day. I was like, yeah, sorry.

I can take in information. but you're not going to get much back from me. Yeah, exactly. So I just give her this stoic look. Like I'm just really, really deeply thinking about what she's saying. So. Which I am, but. So, Brett, we've, you know, we just said we've done about 20, 21 podcasts.

What if I. Hold on. Now we're going to guess. We're in the middle there. Either way, we're right around there. But that to say, we're still green. We're younger, right? Now, what would you do if, like, tomorrow, Spotify called us and offered us $20 million for us to launch this podcast on their network?

That would be insane, wouldn't it? Yeah, that would be nuts. You'd be like, this isn't real. How in the world, like, no, I don't think I can do that because I have no experience in doing that. Oh, not me. I would say, heck yes, let's ride. You would, but in the back of my head, I'd be like, I'd be like, I don't know how we got here, but this is, you know what? We're going to run with it.

Well, the funny thing is, is that, that similar situation just happened this week. Oh, God, I already know what you're going to say. With Jim Ursay's, well, deep thought out, non-analytical based coaching search. The Colts decided they're going to hire Jeff Saturday, former center Jeff Saturday, to take on the position after, you know, Frank Reich was fired. After having a, he had a great playing career, but his coaching career leaves something to be desired. He has coached 36 football games. And Brett, you're probably saying, well, 36 games.

At least, you know, that's like two seasons in the NFL. That is two seasons in the NFL. But it's also three seasons in high school. Three seasons. He's coach a sun's team or something? Three seasons high school coaching. I think it's like the, like somewhere around the mid-100 ranked Georgia high school football team. Jeff Saturday coached 36 games as their head coach from 2017 to 2020.

He went 2016. 20 and 16 as a coach in high school, and now he is a coach in the NFL. Because that makes sense, right? Steve, that's the best transition you've pulled off yet on the pod. You're not here talking about being green. That was smooth as butter, brother. When I said when we were talking about the podcast number and I said established,

I was like, this is it. I'm like, I found it. I found my segue. I'm like, this is it. It felt like it was a real, it was a real, I'm surprised you didn't see the light bulb turn on above my head as it happened. It didn't hit me, it didn't hit me until you said, well, we just saw this happen in the NFL. And I was like, oh, no, I know what he's doing.

But that's excellent. But like, that's kind of what it would be like. Like, you and I, like, you've been, you've appeared on podcast before. I've, I have not, but like, we're both pretty green into this. Like, yeah, we have, you know, we're continuing to hone in our craft and hopefully we'll, you know, we continue to grow and, you know, learn new things. And that gets us to a level where we're much, you know, we're much more established. And we know, and we really have an idea of what we're doing and we feel confident in the direction of everything. I just like, but like, that's like, just like, just like, that's like, just.

Jeff Saturday. I mean, I just, I don't get it. It's, and it's especially, because it both goes that, like, if we said that, like, if that happened to us, there would be many other people that are like, hold on, we've been doing this for 10 years. And we have, you know, all of these accolades or whatever. And they didn't even like, we didn't even get a call about it. We didn't even get a chance. It's the same thing where there are so many established coaches. And that, like, are much more deserving of this and here we are with jim ursay you know who is one of the more definitely one of the more interesting owners in the NFL and just i mean coming out and saying no it's a good thing that he doesn't have all this experience he's not bogged down by the analytics of it all

oh god like which again it's just that's saying analytics has become like this weird tag to toss onto a coach that you can either, that like half, half of the media uses to praise them and then like half of them don't. And then half the NFL is like, ah, it's those dang analytics guys. It's just, people don't even know what analytics are. I know. It's ridiculous at this point. But there's a whole side rant about that.

But again, all this to say that Jeff Saturday is the interim head coach for the Indianapolis Colts. and we'll be coaching the team this week, who they also, they just announced that they're having, I can't remember his name, but they're a 30-year-old coach who's never called plays before

is going to be the offensive play caller for their team this week. Because they have no one on the staff that has any experience calling plays in the NFL. Like this is just, It just continues to be this hilarious, hilarious mockery of like what's going on. I mean, Steve, let's, I mean, I have a lot of thoughts about this. We can get to those.

But like, let's just call a spade a spade. What the Colts are doing is something we call tanking. Yes. It's pretty clear. They don't care. Ersei does not care about any of this. The reality is, is he wants his team to lose the rest of the games so that they can draft the quarterback and they can stop playing QB roulette like they have been since the day

Andrew Luck retired. I mean, they've had four different starters in four consecutive years. Yeah. To start the season. Obviously, there's been backups in there that have played as well, Ellinger being the guy right now. But this is a tank job and it's a clever way of doing it because it makes it look like you're trying with unorthodox methods, right? So that's...

Does it make it look like they're trying? I mean... Well, Ursa can sell it because he's... Oh, he's not bogged down by the analytics. The analytics of what? He's never coached a game before? How are those analytics? He doesn't use the analytics because they haven't been able to crunch the numbers

for all the high school teams yet, so they don't have. Like, it's just so, it's so funny. Steve, do you think that, like, because there was rumors Saturday was out there, not this past game, but the week before for the Ring of Honorer celebration. You think, like, him and Ercei were just kind of, like, shooting the crap, and Erce was like, man, what do you think's going on? And Saturday was just like, you know what? I think Frank Reich probably stinks, and you should fire him.

And then Erse said, listen to him. It was like, hey, Jeff, I just fired Reich. Do you think maybe you want to be the coach? Actually, it's funny because I asked that question to my buddies the other day. It was like, it's like the chicken and the egg situation. It's like, which came first to Jeff Saturday? apply for this position or did Jim Ursay just call him up and say like hey you want this and he's like yeah of course yeah I thought my coach because you you have to do it Jeff right there is no yes

or no take my take my money Jeff please so here's a question I have um because they named didn't they technically name him interim head coach or did he get that's that is how is that how is that legal though like how do you just name a guy interim head coach when he wasn't like you can so you can just from now on name anybody interim head coach that and then like it sounds like it like if the lions if the lions had hired dan campbell could they just like slapped interim head coach was that actually is jim ursay actually doing like a thing like is this the like the next evolution of things is like if you just introduce coaches as interim it buys you more time because people are like well he's not a real head coach yet he's still the interim head coach well well irsa's the owner he doesn't need time but

yeah but yeah before he needs time before like like fan base turns on so so what is this though is this a trial like are they letting Saturday audition for this job long term or is this just a hey dude we we need you to finish the tank job that we're trying to pull off that you like what like What is it? I don't even like... These are all great questions. I mean, if you go by how Ursa was speaking in the press conference, like, it sounds like it's more of a lot.

Like, this is not just like a end of this, like, we'll see what happens at the end of the season kind of thing. Like, the way he was talking about him, he, like, he was justified, it sounded like he was justifying the higher beyond this year. Because like, wouldn't that be, I mean, you'd still get. flack for it but like if that was your plan i mean you can't i'm sure you can't just outright come out and say you're tanking but like wouldn't it be like hey we have had discussions with jeff and you know we feel like he has a vision for this but we want to see where he's at at the end of

the season and we'll reevaluate that like wouldn't you say that then if that was kind of the case of like we just we need I don't know it's it's all bizarre and I don't like I don't think we've ever seen anything like this yeah I don't I really don't know either man

oh man but like the moves the moves all makes sense now though yeah well the fascinating thing about this to me Steve is it sounds like Chris Ballard is

is in the clear right And they're going to retain him, which is insane. Like, what that tells me is, is Reich, or I'm sorry, Ballard was successfully able to, to convince Erce that all these QB decisions were, were Reichs and Reichs alone. Right. Which, I mean, there's rumors that, you know, I mean, not really rumors, but like that's always kind of been the feeling for the most part.

Yeah, your head coach probably should pick your quarterback, especially if it's not a draft pick. Like if it's just, hey, we need you to pick, like, we need to bring in a quarterback. Who are you comfortable working with? Right. Yeah, you probably let your head coach have a lot of say in that. I mean, not probably. It's pretty, pretty well-known fact. I mean, the Wents one obviously was Reich.

Yeah, that 100% was. And I think, like, Mara, I don't actually, I don't think the Rivers one was, right? That Rivers did they didn't really have a lot of options. They paid Rivers like 25 million for that season, though, by the way. Which is pretty wild. Yeah. So Ballard, though, I mean, we've talked about this on the pod, Steve, like regimes. I say regimes, because it's not just head coach, it's not just GM, but the combination of the two together,

they typically get two decisions at quarterback before they're put to the hot seat. Right. So to see one get fired and not the other one is strange, especially when they've made like four QB decisions together. Right. As a, as a collective. The roster's been pretty good over the years, but they have never been able to get it over the hump. Part of that is QB, of course, but like, that offensive line was one of the best in the league two years ago, and now it's, like, literally terrible.

Deuteriorating. You go through Ballard's draft history, too. He's made some okay picks. Like, obviously, Quinn Nelson was a great pick, but, like, that was a slam dunk. Yeah. That fell into his lap. the best player in that class at six overall. You do that every time.

Yeah, he was a no-brainer pick at the time. Or at least he was a no-brainer prospect of like whether he's going to, you know, make it produced at the next level. Actually, let's just do that. Let's go through his draft history. 2017 was his first draft. I don't think a single player from that draft class is still on the team. Actually, no, there isn't one.

Marlon Mack was the last. He gone. So obviously those are. didn't work out. 2018. Who was their first round pick that year? Millie Cooker. Yep.

Quincy Wilson was a bust as well. Corner from Florida, second round pick. Terrell Basham, third round pick. I don't even think he made it out of camp that year, did he? I mean, he bounced around up until really like this year or last year with Buffalo. Yeah.

No, that's a different Basham. A different Basham. That's Carlos Basham. You bash him. Yeah, so that year just not good. The next year they had the, that was the Nelson, Shaq Leonard,

Braden Smith year. They do still have Grover Stewart. Oh, do they really? Oh, yeah, he's a monster in the middle this year. He's played really,

he's played really well this year. I mean, he's got six and a half career sacks in five seasons. It's, I mean, it's okay. I mean,

he's a, it's okay. His, at least in the last, like, two years, his claim to fame has been just just plugging the run game.

Yeah. Next year, Quentin Nelson, Shaq, aka Darius Leonard, Braden Smith, were good to start the draft. But then it got bad. They had four second round picks that year. The other two were used on Kimoko Toure, who is no longer with the team. And then Taekwon Lewis, who's like a big end. He's an okay, functional player, but he's not special. Yeah.

You definitely want more out of a second round pick. next year more bad rock yusin gone ben banagou i think he's still with the team but he's he's an edge defender he's got like two career sacks paris campbell obviously injuries finally is seeing the field and producing a little bit yeah yeah a little bit he's still you know this is his fourth year and he has less than 700 yards receiving in his career right bobby okarike decent player carrie willis decent player other than still just not not very no bang for buck though um pitman the next year was their first not a first round pick but he was their first pick in the second round jonathan taylor um good player

obviously after that julian blackman pretty good easen no longer with the team Danny pinter i don't think he's with the team either right i don't think so no yeah so again just kind of weird One thing I do love about Ballard, though, is he has prioritized, like, impact positions. I will say that. Every year he's drafting wide receivers, edge defenders, yes. Defensive backs. Like, he gets it.

And they haven't really been in a position to draft a quarterback because they've been picking too late. Right. So I'll give a little credit. His draft has been okay. He's had the right ideas. It just hasn't necessarily worked out. and I mean he's kind of just lived off of really it's all of his claim to fame and all of that is really living off of that 2018 draft the is that the no yeah the Nelson Darius Leonard Braden Smith yeah and he me Heinz is in there too

like I think like he kind of lived off of that one or in all of his lore of everything was off of that draft after that like you said it's nothing It's not a draft history that you say, like, we need to keep this guy around. Yeah. Actually, this is crazy. Guess what draft pick of his has played in the most NFL games? What draft pick of his? Is it Isaiah Rogers? No.

I was just like, that honestly might be. He was a seventh round pick in that 2018 class. Oh, is that your Franklin? Yeah. Yeah, that was. That actually was a pretty good pick. He's still in there at lineback. He's starting this year.

Yeah, he's started for a while. He's been a special teams guy for them too. But all this to say is I just find it surprising that they canned Reich in the middle of the season, and then they're openly saying Ballard safe. There's just, obviously there must have been some disconnect there with Reich where Ballard was able to Vince Ursay was all their issues were, were Reich and not him, and just give me a new head coach, and

I'll be good to go. So they picked Jeff Saturday. Makes sense. Yeah, of course. It makes total sense. Yeah, I just, I like, it'll be, I mean, at this rate, they'll definitively not, probably not win a game the rest of the year, or maybe they'll pull one out.

Like, that's he, like, they lost 26 to 3 last week to the New England Patriots and at no point was was Indianapolis like ever really competitive their defense played well their defense played well but the offense had there was nothing there like they were not producing anything at all and I don't see that really changing that much because Sam Ellen Sam Ellinger is not I mean unfortunately he's just not an NFL starting quarterback Yeah, of the remaining games, they basically have three that are, I would consider, loseable.

Texans, I mean, loseable as in they win. Right. Texans to end the season, Raiders this week. And then what do they have? Steelers, week 12. Every other team they play has at least five wins right now. A lot of them are six and two. They play the Eagles.

It would be very fitting for this year and just for everything if Indianapolis did somehow beat Las Vegas this week. But like, I mean, again, but think about it. Like, they have a play caller who's never called plays in the NFL before. And before this or like before getting promoted to offensive play caller, I'm pretty sure it was just a special teams coach. Really? I mean, he's 30 years old. He can't have that much experience. Who is this?

Is it Bubba Ventron? Hold on. I'm going to pull it up again because I forgot his name. Because they don't list an offensive coordinator on site. His name is Parks Frazier. Okay, he was the past game specialist slash assistant quarterbacks coach for the Colts. And he just, he will be the play caller against.

the Raiders on Sunday. I don't even see this guy on the, oh, I see him now. It's either going to be really good or really bad. Yeah, right. This kid's, like, he's either going to go from being talked about as, like, you know, all right, it went about as we expected, or it's going to be like, he's next in line for, he's getting looked at for offensive coordinator jobs. Yeah.

Yeah, I mean, it's just Isn't that how Jim Bob Cooter kind of had a similar rise, didn't he? We're like, came out of nowhere and was all of a sudden calling plays for an NFL team. Yeah. Yeah, very similar. It was a quarterbacks coach. Yeah, kind of got. I mean, she was Ben Johnson in Detroit, kind of the same thing.

True. Like shared or was working with Campbell. Well, yeah, shared slash working with Campbell last half of last year. Yep. And so like that, but again, like at least Campbell was like working with it. And Jim Bob Cooter was he calling, he was calling plays. His first time calling plays was in Detroit. So at least he had called well there who had had who has had extensive offensive

offensive experience in the NFL. Parks Fraser has Jeff Saturday who, I mean, commanded an NFL. offense in a little bit as a center like he kind of worked in tandem with pay in they had a very good relationship but um it does definitely doesn't have any experience developing offensive schemes against opponents every week Jeff Saturday in Parks Fraser sounds like like a cast of a sitcom it sounds like a buddy comedy like yeah like I bet you could you could probably go to someone and say like, oh yeah, the characters and stepbrothers, Parks Frazier and Jeff Saturday.

And they'd be like, I think that was who it was, right? That was a name. Joe Triviani and Chandler Bing. Yeah. Jerry Seinfeld and George Costanza. Yeah. It's just Park, Parks Frazier and Jeff Saturday. And like, again, a glare, kind of a glaring issue,

but it's just two, it's two white guy names. Say it how it is. Like, it's two very, like, white guy names. which again is another whole issue with this entire thing because for the NFL who's you know preached diversity and all this and coaching to have something like this happen is it's not a good look good for her say doesn't look good for the NFL it's a little disappointing in that respect too that you know for guys that have spent spent their life you know toiling away and trying to get to this position to see a guy like Jeff Saturday and a kid like Parks Frazier get like these opportunities that a lot of guys have been waiting and working for for years is unfortunately it's just unfortunate yeah I mean like in that respect too but well I mean one I was I was wondering that's why I made the comment about the interim tag because like does that mean they get to sidestep Rooney regulations and

stuff like that but to be fair to Jeff Saturday this Nothing we're saying means he's not qualified for the job. We honestly don't know. That's the thing. We just don't know. I don't know anything about Jeff's football IQ. I don't know if he's, maybe he's been, you know, preparing for this moment for a while. We have, like, we honestly have no idea.

This is, yeah, that's true. It's true. It's just bizarre having had zero NFL coaching experience whatsoever. For sure. That has to be, I mean, no college coaching experience either. Yeah. exactly it's got to be at first and i'm i'd feel pretty confident in saying it might be the last time we see that yeah i know that like in nfl circles it seems like players really do well

with these types of guys though former players just you know true um so i wonder if maybe like i'm just reading way too much into it but maybe they're having some locker room issues i don't know. Maybe just there wasn't their level of respect for for the staff that they felt like they needed to get from these players. So you bring in a former player like they immediately have to, especially because he's borderline Hall of Famer, right? I mean. Jeff Saturday? Yeah. Yeah, I would say. He's a of honor guy for the Colts. So, you know, maybe it buys them some, some respect and kind of helps them get a better look at the roster that way. I'm not really sure. But there has to be something to that, I feel like that led Ursae to this decision.

But Erse will also Ursae. So let's move on though. I was just thinking the same thing. I wanted to talk a bit about Justin Fields. This week to Chicago Bears, they played a really competitive game against the Miami Dolphins and they end up losing that game by a score of 35 to 32. and my I was like watching those I didn't do that game live but as I you know got into charting it and some other things I various things stuck out to me that were I thought were impressive and I ended up deciding you know what I need to go back and actually do a

snap for snap evaluation of this offense as a whole of Justin Fields and I came away really really impressed For the first time in Justin Fields' tenure in Chicago, I thought as a collective, they were all on the same page. So Fields looked good to me. The play calling, though, Steve, actually supported him for the first time. It was nice. And I feel like what happened is the Chicago Bears have looked at what the Philadelphia Eagles have done with Jaylen Hertz. They've looked at what the Miami Dolphins have done.

done with with two a and they they're trying to mimic some of those things now it's not the same like fields doesn't have waddle and hill we know that but there's still some things they can take away from that quick passing game that can really help fields hurts you know has a lot better weapons as well but there are some things that you can take from that playbook that is really helping hurts be successful yeah and they finally applied those things this week and i was very impressed from top to bottom and Honestly, like, if Equanimia St. Brown doesn't drop a fourth down catch or fourth down pass to end that game, there's a really good chance the Bears walk out of there with a win. Yeah.

Or at least force that thing to overtime. I'm against a pretty impressive opponent. So I think things are looking good for the Bears, but I don't know, Steve. What was your general? I want to get into the X's and O's of it as well, but I want to get your take first. What did you think when you watch that game? Yeah, so I definitely thought that. Like you said, they finally curated an entire game of play calling just geared for it to work for him.

Like they had been flirting with it, kind of the last couple weeks where they were starting to do a little bit more of, you know, putting him in motion, rollouts, things like that, design quarterback runs. They were starting to flirt with it a little bit the last couple weeks. But this week, like you said, it really did feel like it finally. they went they committed they went all in and they wanted to make it work for him and i mean he like his numbers he was 17 for 28 uh 123 yards and three touchdowns through the air seven and then on the ground he had 178 rushing yards um but they i mean he had a couple deep balls that were almost completed i think it wasn't there one right at the end of the game the what the playbook

before the equanimity of St. Brown drop, wasn't there a deep ball to Claypool that you could argue could have been called past interference? Am I remembering that? Oh, yeah, Claypool was getting hugged around the waist. Yes, that was it. It was a monster thrown.

It was right on the money. It was a little underthrown, to be fair, but. And that's why Claypool got drugged down, actually, because he had to turn around all the way to catch it. Right. But still, I mean, this is what you're seeing in the NFL now. Guys are thrown deep and they're willing to underthrow the ball to get those pass interference penalties. And Fields just didn't get one on that play.

Right. So like, yeah, two plays in a row where he, you know, put his team in a position where they could have gotten into a field goal position and at least tied the game. Yep. But again, all that to say that, like, he just looked in control. looked comfortable. It looked cohesive. It seemed like everybody was on the same page, working toward the same goal. And it was, it was exciting because this is what, this is the explosiveness that everybody has been kind of waiting for. And like we've seen like small peaks of here and there with him. Like it finally all came together for a game where he can be a

game breaker and it like his legs are an extremely useful asset he is such a powerful runner he looks so fluid when he runs for his size he's insanely fluid and he and fast freaking fast i think i think he finished with like three of the top five um like recorded speeds uh by next gen stats this week wow like it's crazy for a quarterback like on one of his long runs like his ability to to turn the corner on guys when you think like when it and just kind of destroy an angle like is incredible yep yeah and one of the things we literally are always talking about on this podcast especially when it comes to some of these newer offenses that have figured out how to maximize their QBs that might be limited in some regards is putting the defense in conflict and

I've always wondered why the Chicago Bears don't do this more, but they did it this week. They came out with a game plan, and their goal on every single snap, Steve, was to put the defense in conflict. Whether it was, you know, a really robust screen game, they run a ton of RPO's, a ton of read-op, like read-option tags

on almost every run, some really nice design trick plays. I don't know if you saw the Colquemette little end-around jet sweep they did with him. Yep. Really nice. The Colcomit. I like that play because so many offenses use that motion now to set that up like a split A split block on a zone on a zone play and like so many I mean I get it.

It's a tight end but like it has been like not only have they put on tape but like they've had the rest of the NFL put on tape that like nobody hands it off to them. Like it like it's in play and it's an option but like it never happens because it's a tight end. And it's such a smart wrinkle to throw in because you have the rest of the NFL giving you the giving tape to the defense for that too. The only other team I remember doing that is the Baltimore Ravens. Actually, Kelsey's ran that play a couple times too. But other than that, the Baltimore Ravens have done it a few times with Andrews over the years. They did it with Hayden Hurst when he was there. Do you remember when Hurst was a Raven?

Yep. They drafted those guys the same year, actually. They ran, now, Hearst isn't nearly as athletic as Kemet or Andrews, but, you know, they would run that little jet pop with Hayden Hurst. That's the only other time I remember people doing that. I thought it was brilliant, though. I loved bringing him right back into playing Wildcat to get that first down. Yeah. On the very next play, he comes up and takes a QB sneak, Cole Komet, that is, not Fields.

But they added a bunch of sprint outs and boots. and just every single play had the intention of we are going to force you into conflict, whether it's play action or even they're running in speed option. Like you don't see that in a fell of time. That's not, a lot of these plays, sometimes they don't work. Sometimes they go for two or three yards. But the point of the matter is you're putting things into the defense's mind that's going to make them think down in and down out that wouldn't have made them think before.

Right. So now when you give them a look, they're contemplating between two different things. And it was especially effective considering the dolphins love the floodline of scrimmage. They didn't play hardly any too high in this game. Maybe what? I can probably look it up really quick. Yes, two snaps of too high coverage, this entire game. Everything else was single high or zero.

They ran a lot of zero. So they love the floodline of scrimmage. So putting the defense in conflict is even more important, right? Because Chicago, they love to run the ball. and they wanted to emphasize the short passing game. Well, if you've got six, seven, eight defenders right in the box, you're not going to be able to hit the short passes. You're not going to be able to run the football unless you do something special.

And I felt like it was special. Fields made some really good throws in this game, and especially on the run. Yeah. They were running just straight sprint outs, like no play action, just get the ball in sprint. He delivered some money throws. It was working. I don't know why they went away from it, actually. He has a cannon of an arm.

Oh, can't. Which, like, you've seen, you've seen Kansas City do it more often this year, too. They, with Mahomes, they do a lot of those sprint outs this year as well. I've known, like, you know, and it's because Mahomes is so good at throwing on the run, and he has a cannon and can fit it into tight spaces. Justin Fields is, I mean, he's not totally Mahomesian, but he has the arm strength and the speed to, like, utilize those sprint outs in a way that, like, maybe three quarterbacks can really do it at the level that they can.

I love the sprint outs with the combo of playside boundary out route and backside cross-it route. Yes. Because the sprint out, what it does for those listening is it changes the angle of delivery that the ball comes in. So the separation needed to complete that out route is totally different if he was in the pocket. Yes. Because the ball, it's almost like throwing to your buddy in the street. You know, you're literally just throwing a pass that's right in front of you at that point.

Right. It completely breaks the cornerbacks angle on the play where he would traditionally be in that passing lane, but he's not anymore because you created, you changed it with the sprint out. Same with that deep crosser. Yeah. Where that linebacker might be or safety might be hinging on that deep cross. Well, now because the sprint out, you're actually created a different throwing window. And it allows the guys to get separation, even though they might not have normally had separation. Now, you can't run on every play.

Traditionally, the NFL does not like running those types of plays because they become half-field reads only. Yep. And you're limiting your options. And so it basically turns into either I hit this guy for a quick first down or I'm forced to run or throw the ball away. Yeah. So that's why you don't see a lot of teams running. But when you have freaks like Patrick Mahomes, Josh Allen, and Justin Fields, it's a great play to run. I've seen the Eagles do it with Hertz this year as well.

Very effective. The thing with Fields, that you and I have talked about too, is he struggles post-snap reading coverages. This is not a personality flaw or anything like that. We see this from college QBs coming to the NFL all the time because the college game is so different because you're not, they're not really taught to read coverages post-snap in college.

So that whole, like Trevor Lawrence, Justin Fields, Zach Wilson, Mack Jones, we haven't seen enough of Lance to really know. but all four of those guys struggle with the same thing. They're a little bit slow processing. Fields is definitely struggled with it this year. And by giving him this repertoire and this playbook of constant conflict in one read, he's literally making one read on a lot of these plays. Yeah.

It really simplifies it for him a little bit. And guess what? We're doing now. We're building his confidence. So now when he does have to read the coverage and let it rip on a timed go ball, it looks a lot prettier than it looked earlier in the season. Right. By the way, did you see the throw in the fourth quarter where he missed Cole Commet by a foot over the middle?

Commet was like in triple, like he was guys draped all over him and Fields almost fit the ball in perfectly. It would have been a massive play in that game. But Fields wasn't attempting that throw though early in the year. He didn't have the confidence. And now he's just letting a rip. Like he's starting to feel it. And also like you said, it's the early, like if you look at their first, let's see, four, five, six, seven, eight, nine, ten, their first ten throws with fields.

You have two hitches, five screens, two go routes, and a drag and a flat route. our first 11 passes. Yeah, and that flower out was off. It was a play action boot the other way too underneath. So like all confidence building passes. Like, which, you know, that's what it is for fields right now is it is developing that confidence because he hasn't had that week over week because, I mean, there's been no consistency in the offensive play calling.

Last year was a mess. Like, they're finally understanding that we need like, we need to, like, we need to get to a point of like just continuing to just get them comfortable with completing passes and then we can build on top of that we can start to you know do more difficult concepts or at least like more complicated route trees things like that by just starting with the hitches the go routes the screens the easy for sure the eat like and not necessarily easy not that go routes are necessarily easy to throw. But like, I mean, for a guy like him with arm strength like that,

like a go round is a comfortable throw for him. Yep. Yep. And the last, last thing I just absolutely loved is they were, it's like it finally clicked for them that this guy has Lamar Jackson potential with his legs. But he's a, guess what, Steve? He's a better passer than Lamar Jackson.

So we've seen what Lamar Jackson can do. imagine what Fields can do if they get the play calling right. But man, just a lot of their play designs this week, they had a bunch of designed QB runs that were inverted concepts. So the run blocking was for him. It wasn't for the running back. The running back is part of the Reed still, but he might have a one-man blocking scheme for him out on the edge

where Fields is getting basically the bulk of the blockers for him. these inverted looks, you know, whether it's counterbash or even just straight up, they had some outside zone inverted type looks, that stuff is going to be huge for that offense because he can move the ball that way. He's a very effective runner. So definitely loved what I saw and it makes the, you know, we'll get to this in a little bit, but it makes the NFC picture interesting because I know the bears are sitting at 3 and 6, but and they're not even really trying to win,

but they might play spoiler down the stretch, I guess, is what I'm saying. Because I think it's possible their best offensive football is ahead of them. And they've got a really nice opponent this week in the lines. Yeah, who traditionally, I mean, in my lifetime, I don't know if I've ever seen them defend a running quarterback well. No matter who the defensive coordinator is, no matter who the head coach is, I feel like it's always been like when a running quarterback comes to town or they go see one of the running quarterback like good luck because yep and the be I mean because it is the lions this year have played a lot of man a lot of single high safety a lot of cover zero like which that's exactly like that's exactly what Chicago wants

because that makes their their lives of game planning just a little bit. easier because then it's like yeah if you see if you see a bunch of backs turn to you go like don't like don't force it like use your legs yeah for sure um i'm sure in a perfect world chicago would love if detroit sat back and played too high so so they could run the ball with montgomery and herbert but right they'll take you know cover one and cover zero to get fields going as well. Yeah, it seems like the lines have been kind of changing, playing a little bit more too high the last couple weeks.

But actually, I think against the Packers, they played primarily Zone, if I'm not mistaken. Which, I mean, it'll be interesting to see another team that, you know, even though the Packers aren't good, but now went from, because of the NFC picture, like went from, you know, the seasons lost to like wait a minute two games out like your two games out of the wild card like this isn't that crazy yeah that's how crazy nfc is is that you know all it takes is getting to two wins and giving yourself a little bit of confidence right now to get you got two or three wins get yourself a little bit of confidence and all of a sudden like you can convince yourself that the team can make a playoff push whether they can or not that's a whole other issue but like it at least like it's so

wide open that you can convince yourself of it. Yeah, unrelated. So the Lions, weeks, basically until their by week, they were second in how often they played man coverage. Sounds about right. And since, since their by week,

they are down like middle of the pack. So they've completely flipped their philosophy there, which obviously anyone with a brain could see that needed to happen. Yes. Like literally anybody who's, ever while who's watched four snaps all they have to do is watch a drive yeah that's that's like that should that's like everybody that should be everybody's takeaway that said though zone or man i still think fields has his way with his feet in this game especially though those r pos are they're

going to screw with the lines pretty badly so i mean that's like honestly the bears i mean again the lines are playing more zone but the bears just have to go to week one and watch the tape that the Philadelphia Eagles put out against the lions. Yep. And just kind of copy the dolphins. Yeah, just kind of copy that game plan of, hey, you can do single field reads of RPO's and just like you said, like you said, just putting defense in conflict. And the Seahawks. Oh, I mean, yeah.

Just naming all of them. Those three teams. Anyone from the beginning of the season against them. But, yeah. I mean, yeah, Fields has a chance to build on this week. And like you said, they are one and four in one score games this year. Like this is a season that, you know, save for a couple of plays, which we can, like the one score thing. I feel like a lot of games are one score games.

Now there are as many blowouts. So like the one score regression and things like that. And like at least from just like the naked eye seems to be kind of like losing. point a little bit. But like the Bears are one and four and all that to say the bears are one and four in one score games this year. And so like you can make the argument of there are a couple of plays away from being like five and four right now.

Yeah. And like now with an offense and a quarterback that seems to that seem to be clicking and seem to be moving in the direction now that like Justin Fields is a guy that can that can make a play that can flip a one score game. Like he's a game breaker that can just. do that with his legs, with his arm. Now it's just a matter of the coaching staff continuing to put him in a position to succeed because he, like, he isn't there yet where he's doing full field reads and he's

probably not there yet where, you know, he's dictating the offense fully. Like, it starts with the coaching staff. And that's like, I think he can get there. But it's year two and he's with, he's with his second offensive coordinator. you're like it's going to take some time to get to that point. But his coaching staff showed signs that they, like they had been showing signs that they were getting it. And it felt like this was the game where it all clicked.

And they fully realized what they have in Justin Fields and how to utilize someone who is a very, like a very special talent in the NFL, a guy that stands out like amongst all the world class athletes that are out there. Yep. Well, let's do this then, Steve. let's um so before we we get off here i wanted to talk we're like halfway through the season officially yep you want to talk a little bit about the playoff picture and specifically Steve i don't want to spend a lot of time talking bills chiefs eagles Vikings we spent a lot of time on the pot already talking

about them the past few weeks even titans and ravens we spent a good amount of time but let's talk about those teams that they're in the mix let's talk about who we think is going to probably make the playoffs for sure whose season is over as well we can get into that a little bit too um the nfc is interesting because there are see one two three four five three win teams and so it feels like it's easy to say hey the ari cardinal season is over the bear season is over but if you say that about them that means you have to say that about the rams and the saints and the packers and it's like huh are we willing to go that far again they're like the wild card the the seven seed wild card in the NFC is the 49ers at four and four.

Like even Carolina, like Carolina and the, in the lot, Detroit at two wins, both of them have two wins. Like not fully out of it. Like they still like, there's still like two, two and a half games out.

That's kind of, that's kind of wild. Like it's crazy. Like this season in the NFC, the AFC has, you're starting to see like, the water and the oil settle in the glass. It's starting to fully separate.

You can see the line of division between like the two tiers. In the NFC, it's just a hodgepodge of whatever. After the top of the upper elite teams, it's just like a, it's just a mishmash of middling teams that all have a chance to, I'll have a chance to still be in it and still get in. Yeah, man, it really is crazy because if I told you the Buccaneers at 4 and 5 were leading that division, that'd be wild.

Like, no one would believe that. Right. Like, Tom Brady is in the playoffs as of right now. As roughness the season as they've had. Which, like, if you haven't watched games, you're like, yeah, of course. If you have paid attention, it's like how? The bucks have been an absolute mess this year. The crazy thing, though, is Steve,

is like say the Falcons go on a tear and end up taking command of that division, that still doesn't eliminate the Buccaneers from contention because the seven seed is in a bad spot right now with the 49ers at 4 and 4. They're still competitive. Right. Like, that 7 seed could literally go to anybody at this point.

And it's crazy how that 7 seed, the difference in draft position as well could be like huge for a team that like you know if they make the playoffs at you know whatever eight nine wins you know they lose

potentially like three to four spots in the draft yeah they could lose I think they could lose actually more than that, right? Yeah, I mean, potentially because the AFC, like the AFC, they're, I mean, granted, they're, no, there's seven seats at five and three. So like the AFC, after that, you have two other teams at five wins, the Patriots and the Cincinnati Bengals, both at five and four are the eight and nine seed on the bubble. After that, you drop to a bunch of three, two, and one win teams.

Yeah. And most of those three, three, two, and one-win teams, out of the group that's in there, you've got Texans with one-win, Steelers, Raiders with two wins, Jaguars, Broncos, Browns, Colts with three wins, the Browns are really the only one out of that group. It pains me to say because I wanted the Jaguar, I wanted the Jaguars to deliver something. but the Browns are really the only team in the group that I would say has the potential to even leap up into that, to leap up out of that tier and potentially into like the playoff conversation. All right, let's do this.

This could make for good dialogue. Yes. Pick a team in the NFC right now that you have to make a case to make the playoffs that's not currently in the playoff picture and tell me why. and I'll play devil's advocate. Boy. See, the Falcons at four and five. You have the commanders at four and five. Then you have the Rams at three and five.

Then you have the Saints, Packers, Cardinals, Bears, all at three and six. I think it's safe to say we're probably out on the lines in Panthers. I would like, if I were going to make the case for a team, the easy, I mean, the easiest case in my, opinion to make is the falcons and that's partly just because of like who they get to play down the stretch. Ooh. And having the division that they have like literally, like there's not a team in this eight to 50 to 16. They're like I do feel like so bad.

So I disagree. So this is fun. So take your claim. Stick your claim on the Falcons. Why? Why the Falcons? Because they're just because they're schedule? I don't know.

Yeah. Honestly, like, yes. that's purely what I'm going that like basing that off of it's just like what is their schedule do you got it up that's what I'm going to pull up right now just because I'm going like they have their division is garbage so they go so they have a bye week this week am I right yep yep yep yep yep yeah by week this week then they go no they play the panthers tomorrow night sorry yes that's right panthers they go panthers bears commanders Steelers saints ravens cardinals buccaneers that's my case for them is that they get to play the good god like the panthers are i mean yeah the panthers

are just not a good team they don't play a single team with the winning record the rest of the year as of right now uh the ravens oh sorry i magically erased that one from my brain that's fine it's fine because you that's have you having to pick one out of nine so it's fair if you missed If you missed one, it's okay because they're the only one. Like that's literally just my case for it is that their defense is playing well. They can control games with their run game. They like get it. They like they can control the pace of a game.

And like I just see I think that they're, I think they can beat the Panthers. I think they're better than the Steelers. I think they're better than the Saints. Yeah, like that's my case is literally they just have a very, very weak schedule the rest of the way and they're already at four wins. So but then that like that also could put them in a position where now they're winning their division because the Buccaneers are also only at four wins. That division's a travesty. Yeah, this is wild. That that schedule is crazy easy.

Do you see, you thought. All right. So I didn't, I didn't think it was going to be that easy, but you thought you're like, well, I'll have a case here because it can't be that bad. What it is. The case against them is they have Marcus Mariotta and Arthur Smith. That's the case against them. Them being four and five with Mariotta,

isn't that in a way a case for Arthur Smith? I mean, they're one defensive linemen for getting how to carry a football away from having a winning record. Like they're literally like, a man just forget dropping the baby uncontested away from beating the chargers last week after they lost the chargers 20 to 17 with the um you know it looked like the chargers were driving down at the end austin heckler fumble the football Atlanta falcons pick it up defensive linemen races around the edge there's a guy there's no one behind him there's a guy like three yards in front of

about to contest him and he just drops the football. Chargers recovered. Justin Herbert drops. What happened to falling on the ball, by the way? Just fall on the ball. You're a defensive lineman. Don't be a hero. Because, man, it's the thick six.

It's the lore. The thick six. You're celebrated for an entire week when you convert one of those. Like, if you're like the glory of putting your team in field position to beat the Chargers. But like, they're like, they're, almost like isn't that isn't that i i know that we've questioned arthur smith but is there a point where we say like he at least like he made he may not know how to fully game plan for the for the offensive weapons that he has but he still knows how to win games or at least knows

how to get his team to win games all right i'm going to make my case for my team okay i'm going with the rams and i i have basically dismissed the rams from this point on but they're three and five and they still despite everything I hate about the Rams including their head coach I think he's a boob but despite all that they still have the best offensive player in the game in Cooper Cup and the best defensive player in the game in Aaron Donald

if anybody can write the ship it's got to be a team with that kind of talent has to be now listen I think it's like maybe a long shot for all these teams we're talking about right now. I think top to bottom of the 49ers have a significantly better roster than both the Falcons and the Rams. So do I think either one of these teams actually pulls it off and creeps in? Probably not. But if I had the stake a team, I would say the Rams because of the talent. They also have Jalen Ramsey and the multiple talented pieces, Bobby Wagner. They have good safety play.

I just think that talent wins in the NFL and they have a lot of talent, despite, you know, how crap they've started. Their schedule is easy and it's also hard. So this week they get the Cardinals, then they get the Saints, but then they have to play the Chiefs. That's probably a loss. But then they, you know, they get the Seahawks twice, which the Seahawks are pretty good. Those are tough games, but they still get the Raiders, the Packers, the Broncos. So they have like four-ish, five-ish easy games left and then a couple, a handful of hard ones. But if they just win the ones they're supposed to, Steve, they should be in the the mix, right?

They win those five easy ones and then pull off maybe one of the home game against the Seahawks that puts them at nine wins in the season. They'll be in the mix at the end if they pull off nine wins. Yes, they will. Honestly, nine wins probably puts a team in the seventh spot this year, if I had to guess. Yeah. So, I mean, do I, I definitely don't want them to do this because I want the lion's second, first round pick to be as high as possible.

but I think if there's a team in the NFC not currently in, I'm going with the Rams, just purely based on talent. Also, I think Stafford is a better QB than Jimmy Garoppolo. I think Stafford is a better QB than Marcus Mariotta. So I'm just, I'm siding with talent here. But, yeah, what do you think of the Rams? I don't think. I, like, they were one of the teams that I was like, absolutely not.

Because. Of course. Let me add, I'm going to give you, I'm going to give you stats for two players. And you tell me which player you'd rather have as your quarterback. All right. Okay. One is through seven games. One is through eight games.

The first one is through eight games. 68% completion percentage, 1900 yards, eight touchdowns, eight interceptions, an A dot of six. While throw rate of 4.2% turnover worthy rate of 4.9%. That's player 1. Okay. Player 2% completion percentage, 2,000 yards, nine touchdowns, nine interceptions, 5.8a.a. Dot, 0.7% while throw, 3.4% turnover worthy throw. What was the wild throw on that one? 0.7. 0.7? Yes.

Point seven? Yes. Are these played seven games, you said? Yes. Okay, so the first one's Matt Stafford. Yep. The second one, seven, who's played seven games? Point seven?

Yeah, point seven? Are you sure? Point seven on wild throw rate. I mean, unless our data that we produce is horrifically wrong, which I can stand by the while rate and turnover of the rate, because we're like you're the one that goes through and verifies those like explicitly. 0.7%. Only thing. Only one I can think of is Matt Ryan, but.

Yeah, but aren't those stats? You're really similar for two players other than the wow throw rate. Wow. Yeah. They are. They are. Like pretty similar. One man is expected to lead their team to the playoffs.

the other just got benched for a sixth round rookie. Now granted, so we've talked about the circumstances in Indianapolis, but still, he got hurt, but he got benched for the rest of the year. That, like that, Matthew Stafford is having a not great year. The only reason I have any belief whatsoever that L.A. can make it because I don't really think. I think that offense is so sluggish. They have no run game. They have they've up until this point had no deep passing game.

They've had one truly reliable, or one, two truly reliable receivers. Their defense can, their defense can hold all day, but like that offense is just so one-dimensional. And it's, they lost the spark of the deep throw that it had last year to where now, like, drives are just so, so, sluggish like they could they have no pop they're so like it's so easy no urgency either yeah it's just so easy for them to falter on a drive because they're not picking up chunk yardages they're just kind of pick they're just picking away at it six seven yards at a time like that that that's great and like cool long drives that kill clock but it also leaves you susceptible to you can get two first downs but you're still punting.

Like, the only reason I think they might have a chance is that Van Jefferson is back and he's starting to ramp up into more snaps and he at least offers that team a little bit of speed that they haven't had at all this year. And I'm hoping that maybe he can open up the offense, just a hair. All right, I got two bones to pick with you. One, I'm going to be super petty and provide a minor correction to what you said. Okay, go. You said a sixth round rookie, Sam, Sam,

Ellinger? Elinger's not a rookie. Oh, he's not a rookie. That's right. Six-round draft pick, though. So I'm petty. Yeah, not a rookie. You're right.

He's second year. Yeah, so Matt Ryan got benched for a vet who could be a stud. You don't know. A vet. He hadn't thrown an NFL pass before this year, I don't think. I told you I was being petty. Oh, you're right. You're right.

He's not a rookie. Secondly, Matt Ryan, you produced a lot of raw stats for me. Matt Ryan, yeah, he's got comparable stats of Stafford, but he's also dropped back to throw way more times per game. I think he actually has more attempts than Stafford than, and Stafford's played one less game, or one more game, I mean. Sorry.

Yes, he has 12 more attempts in one less game. Okay, so that turns out to probably seven-ish more attempts a game. So you would expect better numbers, perhaps. I know, but that's, you know, I know that weird data guys it we look beyond that. Yeah. Not everybody does that. A lot of people do look at just raw stats.

Yeah. I think you're right, though. The Rams are going to have a tough time. I just, like I believe in their defense, like you said, I believe in their defense as well. I think they have a ton of tail on that side of the ball.

And, you know, they play, like, we've talked about this a little bit ad nauseum too, but just how they play such a soft zone. It's terrible. Still, like Aaron Donald's, still a game wrecker and their defense does hold up.

It's just the problem is that their defense is on the field a lot. And I just don't trust. I just don't trust their offense. I think that Matthew Stafford has looked weary at times this year and is just, it hasn't. And who knows if that elbow is what's going on with that. But just like he just hasn't looked as good this year. Yeah.

Which, you know, he was starting. to kind of show signs of it like in the latter part of last season like he exploded early in the year but then kind of faded a little bit at the end where his defense started picking him up and having Cooper Cup as a safety valve and he was making a ton of plays

but now you're starting to see like teams are focusing on Cooper Cup Cooper Cup isn't you know getting hit on a lot of those like 17 18 yard like the depth of target throws because he's running because he has to be used as like the checkdown, the reliable first read because they don't have anyone else to scheme a past game around.

Like they've, I mean, Alan Robinson is, you know, at this point, he is what he is. It's not, it's just not happening for whatever reason, whether it's, you know, whatever it is. But the often, again, run game is completely non-existent and their offensive line is giving Matthew Stafford zero help. And that's, again, that's another. And one of the big things is that Stafford just doesn't have the time to throw. And he's just getting beat. He's just getting beat up.

And it feels like the Stafford years from during the Patricia era in Detroit. True. He was just getting beat up so much that like eventually with how long he's played with how many hits he's taken, he's like, it feels like we're one or two games away from starting to see maybe some like tick-tack injury. pop up with him. Yeah. Agreed.

My favorite thing about Matthew Stafford is the meltdowns are so predictable. Like you'd be watching Amir's like, oh, there's an impending Stafford meltdown right now. Here comes to pick six. Yeah, pick six or just untimely three and out. Right. You know, like defense makes a stand, got to get points. And he literally like three balls into the dirt punt. You know, it's like, oh my gosh.

It's just, it's so predictable when it happens. But all right, let's move on. We have a short amount of time to wrap this up, and we haven't talked to AFC. Yep. So let's do the same thing. Pick a team that's not currently in the playoffs. And there's probably some better options here. Actually, there is better options here.

Yeah, definitively is. That you think could squeeze in. You go ahead and start first. How about that? Okay. Well, it's right up to bed. There's probably three, right? three that you would agree with?

I mean, can we just talk about? New England? Sure. Yeah, there's like, there's three teams that are, the other ones are not really in play. So you would say New England, Cincinnati, and Cleveland. Yes. Would be the three.

Cleveland, strictly because they have Deshaun Watson coming back week 13, and they've been competitive in just about every game so far, they're three and five. If they could squeak out a couple more wins before Watson gets back, that puts them in position to go on a run. It's still unlikely. Yeah, because I'm still not. Watson comes back week 13, is it against Houston?

Yeah. Is that week 13 that it is? Because he was 10 to 12 games. Yeah, that's right. Yeah, they purposely made it against Houston because the NFL's not rigged at all. Yes. It's all scripted. But, you know, so they've got four games or three games before then.

And, like, Jacoby Percette has played well this year. like he's had some clunkers but the majority of his games he's managed well enough because that's what he is he's a game manager in the non-derogatory way but also still mildly derogatory like he can make almost any throw he commands the offense nick chub is great their run game is great and that's what they lean on and i mean like with with the sean watson coming back and a secondary that like does have a lot of talent and a defensive line that does have a lot of talent and you've seen sparks and splashes of plays happening it just hasn't been put together yet and that like if they if they get to sean watson back and this defense can figure some things out miles garrett is healthy like

this was i mean because this was a team that you know barring or without dashan watson or with to Sean Watson was supposed to be a contender. Like this was built to be a contending team. And so, like, I think that they have a, like, they are, you know, the long, they would probably be the longest odds because they are three and five. So they're two guys back as opposed to being a half game back, like Cincinnati and New England. But I just, I think that they're just a talented team that has the, has the potential to turn it

around because of their defense and then, you know, with getting to Sean Watson if he, I mean, which there's no guarantee with that either because he hasn't played football in almost two years. Or at least he played in one game against the Jaguars in the preseason and looked miserable. Yeah. Like that's the case for him is that the talent and the pieces are there and they're getting an upgrade at the most important position halfway through halfway through. the rest of the season. Yep. Agreed. I don't think I have anything to add.

The case against them is it just keeps going the same way it has with the defense. And Deshawn Watson comes back as Rusty takes him three games to get settled in. All of a sudden, it's week six or week 17, week 16, and they're out of it anyway. That's like, I mean, the case against them is they need to beat the dolphin, two of the three, they probably need to win two of their three next games. It's the Dolphins, Bills, and Buccaneers. Yes. Dolphins is a winnable game.

It's a Jacoby Brissette revenge tour game. Yeah. The Buccaneers is definitely winnable. The Bills might even be winnable now with Josh Allen kind of being lame at the moment. So. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah.

But that is the case against them is they got to get two more wins before Watson comes back to make this an actual threat. Yeah, got to get to. Otherwise. It's going to be a next year thing. Yeah. So, all right, Bengals, go. I'll start with the Bengals. How about this?

So Bengals. I mean, I don't know where to start with the Bengals. So the Bengals are, they looked like the classic, you know, Super Bowl hangover team for a while. Yep. But they seem to have shaken off the cobwebs a little bit. Yep. They've kind of pulled out. Even with, you know, Jamar Chase being on the shelf, let's see.

They've won three of their last four. Their last losses against the Browns, week eight, I believe. Which, for some reason, Joe Burrow can't beat the Browns, so that's okay. Yeah. Well, the nice thing for the Bengals is one of the teams they have left to play is the Browns, and that's one of these teams they'll be competing with. but they don't have, I wouldn't say they have an easy schedule, but it's not a hard one either. Coming up, they've got the Steelers, they get the Titans, the Chiefs, the Browns, the Bucks, the Patriots, the Bills, the Ravens.

That's really tough down the stretch. That's the case against them is they finished the season, Buccaneers, Patriots, Bills, Ravens, who could all be playoff teams. So they also have the Titans in there and the Chiefs. So that's really the case against them. them is the schedule is tough they're still without jamar chase for a couple weeks at least i think like the most optimistic timeline was week 11 that's the other that's the other case against them is that remove the remove the carolina game because the five touchdown joe mixing game not going to happen

every week just not going to happen um and carolina's defense is just okay their offense played terrible. They went three and out. They went three and out. It felt like almost every drive. So Cincinnati had ample opportunities to put the ball in the end zone. But I just like, when they played the Browns, without

Jamar Chase, that offense looked really, really sluggish. It looked like they lost a lot of their steam without Jamar Chase. And so that's my other case against them is that when they have a biweek this week.

But just going forward as they play teams that are better than the Panthers, like how does the offense look without Jamar Chase and can they, can they score enough? I mean, really can they just score enough points? Because their defense has played really well this year. Yeah. Their defense is like their defense is top five in pass a rating allowed against them. They have really. between their secondary just playing really well and

Tray Hendrickson getting pressure and like their defense is playing very well very well as a unit there's no which is what we said about Cincinnati coming into the year is that it was going to be a team that just needs to play or a defense that just needs to play well because they don't have any stars necessarily they just have a lot of solid NFL players and it started out a little bit rough but it's really rounded into form like after probably the first three weeks where now their defense is very very staunch and plays well and is going to give their offense a chance to you know if they can put up 24 points a game 21 24 points a game they have a really good chance to yeah to be competitive it's just that i i do worry about

their offense without jemar chase because when we saw it against cleveland it looked Cleveland's defense is underperformed, though. I still think it's a really good unit. Agreed. So I'm not surprised that Cleveland shut them down. I'll say this. The goal for them has to be, so I think they can beat the Steelers and the Titans without Chase.

I think they have enough gas to do it. Yes. The Chiefs, the Chiefs Week 13 has got to be the realistic target to get Chase back on the field. If they get Chase back on the field for that game, that changes the math a little bit. assuming they beat the Steelers and the Titans. Yeah, because that's got to be the goal because it gets tough from there. They need them back for that game and then the Browns the week after that.

But if they can string together some wins here, they've got a chance to go on a little streak. You know, I. Yeah, which, you know, Tennessee having a winning record there, but Tennessee also has struggled against the past this year. So, like, that gives, kind of gives them a chance to, win that game because, you know, even though they won't have Jamar Chase, Tennessee opposite them has not looked very good against the past this year. Yep.

And last one is the Patriots. Yeah. And I don't really think they have a chance to be honest. They have a good record and a good head coach. They have a pretty good defense, but I just don't see the offense having enough gas. I could talk about the Patriots defense forever. I love their defense so much. It's so much fun.

They have so many good players and guys that just like always step up. It's just so much fun to watch. Their offenses, I just don't believe in what their offense is doing. And like Mac Jones has looked lost ever since he's come back. And so like that's really the case against them is that I don't think Mac Jones can lead them to the playoffs. Yep. Six of the remaining games are against teams with winning records as well. Brutal.

Some of which are, I would say, have been pretty dominant this. year, including obviously the bills twice. They get the bills twice. They also have to play the Bengals and the dolphins and the jets. The crazy thing about the Patriots, though, is they kind of control their own destiny because they have so many division games left. What is that? They have bills twice, dolphins, jets.

Yeah, four division games left. If they won all four of those games, they'd probably be in first place, correct? Yeah, probably. I guess not technically speaking. It would come down to like. like overall record, but their division record would give them any sort of tiebreaker. Tiebreaker, yeah. So, yeah, in a way, they control their own destiny.

But I think the sledding is tough. They also have the Vikings in there who are seven, six and one. There's a row of finishing the season. Yeah. Goodness. Good luck. Good luck. It'll be fun because I think like Belichick and that, like I said, I love that defense.

I think that they have so many guys that can be utilized so many different ways. It'll be fun to watch Belichick scheme against a lot of these like more explosive offenses. Yep. But yeah, I kind of think that of those three teams we talked about, the Bengals are probably the realistic one to get back in the playoff mix. And that would be to leapfrog the Chargers. I still think the Chargers fall off at some point, although they keep winning games. Yeah, injuries are stacking up, but 10 years of one-win regression is starting to go their way a little bit. yes yes or one score

sorry one score game regression yep um let's see anything else stef i know i have a heart out here in a few minutes but i was just say any final thoughts no i think we covered it all i think we should we're getting more efficient yeah we are we are we are we definitely are maybe maybe we're cutting out some of the the unnecessary fluff talk in dialogue it's like the five to ten minutes at the end of each segment that we're starting to weed out, I think. Yeah, that's probably a good way. So, yeah, if you do like three or four topics in a day, that cuts out 20 to 40 minutes of podcasting.

Yeah. It's pretty substantial. Adds up quick. And you know, Steve, we didn't even get to TV roundup. I wanted to have another TV discussion. We'll do this maybe on Friday. Oh, that's a good one because with Lord of the Rings being done, and door coming to a close, Game of Thrones.

I mean, watch that. Yeah. that's a good i need to do that and or's phenomenal like i don't know if i'm going to make it till tonight when my wife gets home to watch it so because it came out today so uh but man yeah it's a lot of good tv stuff to talk about so we gotta we gotta hit that a lot of good stuff it's just it's mid-season we're reaching just like peak

there's just so much stuff to talk about there is there is and at the same time there's not because it's it's been a weird year. But yeah, we'll get back with you guys on Friday for guests Friday. Not sure who the guests will be yet. I got a couple irons in the fire. We will get someone on. But yeah, until then, you guys take care.

Thank you so much for listening. I am your host by Whitefield. This is my co-host, Stephen O'Rourke, and we are out. Thanks for tuning in to this edition of the Fantasy Points Podcast. Remember to subscribe. rate and review on your favorite platform and come join the roster at fantasy points.com.