Fantasy Football Daily - 2022 Take Talk Episode 29

Episode Date: December 14, 2022

Brett Whitefield (@BGWhitefield) is back! He and Steven ORourke (@callmesteveo7) take a look at Week 14 as well as the results of Brett's picks from the week. --- Support this podcast: https://podcasters.spotify.com/pod/show/fantasy-points-podcast/support Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

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It's time to 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 today, we're going to start the way we ended Friday. We're just going to dive in to Brett's takes from last week. And that's how we're going to go through the show.

I think that we decided that that's the best way to just run through today's show is talk about who had the bad takes, who had the good takes, and use it as our way to run through the games as well. So Brett, how did you feel you did with your takes on Friday? Well, real quick. Also, welcome back. We did miss you on Friday. So welcome back.

I know you guys missed me. you guys were desperate for for my attention to the point where you both were you know texting me like oh no you're not going to be on the show we need help we can't do this on our own please please send us a list of takes so we have something to talk about that sounds like that sounds like chris and i if i've ever heard it that sounds like chris and i for sure uh yeah no that didn't happen but in fact i think they would have done just fine but i did think like I tossed it out like, hey, this might be a cool thing, but you feel free to shoot it down, and they ended up running with it.

So they did that. They did a great job as well. I was very pleased with the work that was done without me. It's good to know that I can actually take a vacation this summer, and, you know, you guys won't miss a beat, so that'll be. Yeah. Everything won't come crumbling down. Yeah.

Yeah. Which, you know, I had no doubt, honestly. But I just want to say, though, that, like, I'm fire. it up this morning. So like I've talked about a bunch and you know this, but I take Brazilian jih Tjitsu very seriously. I train a lot, work out a lot. And normally though, I'm a night trainer. Like I train at night. We have like our, my academy has school, you know, night class. They have classes pretty much all through the day. But so I usually go to like the 630 class, train for, you know, three hours. And then that's, that's that. Well, having four kids, Steve,

that's not like the easiest thing to do in the world. And so we've been trying to pivot a little bit away from the night classes, trying to do so like Saturdays and Sundays I train in the morning. And then today I added the 6 a.m. schedule or 6 a.m. class to my schedule. And normally I work out every morning at 6 a.m., not jiu-jitsu stuff, but like, you know, weights or some type of, you know, plio, whatever. But I went and trained this morning at 6 a.m. with the boys got a good class in, drilled some technique,

and then we did like six, six minute matches at the end. And I've never felt better at 9.30 in the morning than I do right now. It's literally incredible. I am full of energy, ready to take on the world. I've got a bunch of sick kids in my house. It is that time of year, man. Yeah. It is great.

It is here and in full effect. No, I agree with you, though. I am not for the same reasons as you. you, I am not training to the level that you are. I'm at the point where I'm happy to be walking normally again, but that's a story for another day. But I'm fired up too. I started doing yoga, which has been great for me.

That's helped improve my energy, all of that. I hate to say it, but it actually does. It works. And I enjoy it. But just also, I've normally this time of year, you know, week 14, week 15, you start to kind of hit, you know, a brick wall. But man, I'm not feeling it this year. I am just energized, rejuvenated.

I'm excited for the rest of the season. Like everything is just like clicking on all cylinders. I'm excited about all. I'm excited about all of it. I'm happy. You know what, Steve? I think we got to give the NFL a little bit of credit for that. Because I feel you on that.

I'm not at that point yet. Not even close, actually. I feel great. Normally like this is it. Like this week, right heading. into like that first week where there are no buys. Yeah. That's where it's like, oh man, all right. Like we're almost to playoffs, like just a little bit, a little bit more of a push. But like this year, I just feel like really excited.

I'm really excited to see what happens down the stretch. I think there's a ton of interesting storylines. I think there are a ton of interesting teams. I think a lot of things can go very different ways. I think like there are teams that are still enigmas at this point in the season. And And I think that's what makes this season more exciting. I think what we were complaining about at the beginning of the year about how we felt like the NFL was boring has like materialized into it being more interesting later on. Yeah.

Because of like these teams still like two thirds of the way through the season trying to like figuring out who they are and what they are. I completely agree with that. And we did say that that would happen. We were saying like, hey, some of the stagnant feeling and boring feeling right now is going to contribute to this crazy end of the season, this symphony, so to speak, that's going to be awesome. I agree. But I'm just, the NFL has done a better job, I feel like, of scheduling games this year. Like they, and I'm not talking about matchup specific, but like, for example, no buys during Thanksgiving.

I know that they've been trying to do that the last few years, but like you really felt it this year. And the reason that's a good thing for what we do is because they break the week up for us. So Thursday, there's three games. So even though it's a full slate, it's like you're not getting that full slate on Sunday. So it still feels like a by week. And then, you know, ending the buy weeks with a six-team buy-week situation. So this week felt like a breeze. Like we were, we set records this week for how fast we got through all the games.

And then now heading into, was this week 15. we've got a three three the game Saturday situation. So that's another opportunity where that work window is opened up for us. So you're breaking up what we have to do to another day, which it sounds simple, but it helps. So because we chart, I guess we technically have like six or seven processes across every game. Three games.

So that's like 18 to 21 assignments or whatever. We get to have done before kickoff Sunday. That's going to make the week feel smooth and fast. Right. And then Christmas, same thing. They got 10 games or so on Saturday. It's a full slate or no, nine games Saturday. Right.

Three games on Sunday. And then a Thursday and Monday night game. So even though it's Christmas week and you hate working on Christmas, it's going to feel way better than other years past where we've had to work on Christmas because the way they broke it up. Even this week, there's three games on Saturday. Yeah, yeah, true. Yep.

And then pretty much after. that after Christmas week we're in the home stretch two weeks left and that's that's usually on the time see like you get to now that there's 18 weeks you get to week 17 the the feeling of dread actually sets in it's like I was exhausted and tired but now I'm like oh man this sucks the season's ending right right oh no what are we going to do the first week you're not charting you kind of miss it and you're like man I want to be on that grind again like oh yeah absolutely but that's right what that's usually what I jump right into the college tape and start doing my prospect evaluations but right um anyways i i know it seems boring for us to talk about it but i do

think the the listeners they do like to see an inside view of what we do on a day-to-day basis and how the scheduling affects us so right right as to why yeah why we do things on wednesday instead of you know like a lot of recap and a lot true like mondays or tuesdays this is true we do it we do it wednesdays this is true well sweet so let's dive in to Brett's takes. Yeah, let's do it. I'm going to be miserable to

to exist with today because I just have to just take victory laps. And I know it ended four and two for me out of six takes I gave you, but one of those,

I'm not even counting. I think I'm counting this as a four in one week because Kyler Murray leaving in the first quarter of a football game is like you can't really take anything away from that game.

If Kyler plays the whole game, it's different. Yeah, any chance they had of beating the Patriots went right out the window. Yep. But going line by line. The first take I gave was that the Detroit Lions would beat the Minnesota Vikings by at least seven points. Yeah. So not only would they cover, they'd actually win by a full touchdown.

I thought this was bold when I wrote it because of, I think, perception that I've heard. But you guys both agreed with me. I was surprised by that. especially you being the Minnesota truther. I know you have the Detroit Lion blood in your veins, but I thought maybe you would have pushed back on that a little bit more, but you guys both fell in line with that one. And it was,

I think it was exactly what I thought it was Minnesota's past defense has been horrid. Like the previous couple weeks, the Lions offense had been continuing their trajectory. upward like in continually getting healthy and it just like out it was one of those things where you have to just like do a blind eye test with it and just throw them up throw the teams up without the names show their stats and just pick from pick that way instead of like allowing the 10 and 2 influence and the lions being under 500 like that didn't tell the story.

that like there's so much there was so much more about those teams than just their records going into that game for sure in the story was just two teams heading on different two different trajectories uh to finish out the season right now yeah and the lines have obviously been surging um and i feel comfortable talking about them on the pod now because they are playoff relevant again i know it's so i don't have to like you know be shy about it but um so they've been surging and the vikings dude they hold on for dear life and they're they hold on for dear life and they're they hold on for dear life and they're every game they play. It's actually remarkable, dude. It's, you kind of feel bad because Kurt cousins and that offense, even with their run game has faltered lately, which I think has also influenced what they've been, you know, what's happened or, you know, their trajectory as a whole. But their offense just goes. And it's the, it feels like the first year where they don't have just even a middling defense. Like their defense is really bad. And I know like they're 10 and 3.

The record's been good. But if they could have a defense that plays at the middle of the pack, they can go on a run. It's just that I don't know where to start with their defense. It just seems like there's so many issues at every level of it. It reminds me of where the Lions defense was like week three, four, five. Like so many miscommunications, Steve. it's actually embarrassing for them.

Because it's, I mean, they don't have a ton of talent back there. Like Patrick Peterson is old. Like he, he's lost his best trait, which was his freaky athleticism. Yeah. He's lost about 5% of that, which takes him from a really good corner to probably just a slightly above average corner. I still think he's a very, he's a functional player. But if you put him against Jameson Williams and DJ Chark and St. Brown, guys are all very great athletes.

He's not, he's not contending with those guys. Right. And that's just an example of one. team they have to play. So, and Peterson's probably their best corner right now. I mean, Cam Danzler is one of the slower starting corners than the NFL. And that's that the side opposite Peterson has been a rotisserie of like just different guys. It's, I mean, dancer came back for the first time in three weeks. And before that, they were putting Bynum in. They, you know, they were just, they were trying. There's like also a safety and slot point like, they were trying anyone and everyone at

that position. And yeah, so Dantzler being back, I think could be helpful, but he still is like you said, as you were like, as you were saying, he's still not an elite corner by any way, shape, or more. No. No, he does some things well, but he doesn't have that, that top end speed to really, like, he can't really play man and even like, playing deep third sometimes he gets crushed because like guys are just going to outrun him. Right. He doesn't have the makeup speed to get beat. And so that's you're seeing a lot of with them is like they're having all these miscommunications which is leading to a bunch of busts but they're also just getting beat a lot too deep and i think of a lot of smart players like harry smith missing the game was huge for them he's a like there's a good argument to be made that that coverage bust doesn't happen the jamison williams touchdown and the first drive

for the lines there's a good argument to be made that that coverage bust doesn't happen if harry smith is in the game but at the same time they've given up a bunch of other busts so I don't know. This Vikings past defense, though, is very reminiscent of the early season Lions defense. And then meanwhile, the Lions did what they did without their top two corners, essentially. So I know Cousins went off for 425 in this game. Now, some of that was a little garbage timey. Like, I think he had over 100 yards in garbage time where they had a significant deficit. But, I mean, they were all they, they, they were only throwing the ball. Yeah. They're midway right after the lions went on their,

drive to score in the third quarter. Like that'll, the Vikings basically passed the whole way home. Yep. I think it was. Yeah, Lions went up 2813 right at the beginning of the fourth. Yeah. I don't think Minnesota ran the ball again after that, actually.

Yeah. And so Cousins was racking it up. It was a 15 point game at that point. But, um, Lions defense, though, they did this.

I know they gave up a ton of passing yards, but I mean, having to check Justin Jefferson without your two best corners. And Jeff Akuta, who really didn't play in this like a half because he had the flu. And then Will Harris,

who sat the game out with an injury. You know, you expected Jefferson to go off. And what they did to counter that is they stopped Delvin Cook dead in his tracks. Right. It's not like the third time this year that they've stopped an elite running back

from doing anything. It was, so Dalvin, it was Sequin a couple of weeks, ago and Aaron Jones before that. Like, yeah. So everyone's talking about the improved lines past D and past rush specifically, but the run D has come a long way, Steve. From, you know, the days of Miles Sam, you're shredding them and, uh, who wasn't

the Seattle game that broke a long one? Wasn't Kenneth Walker. It was Rashad Penny. Yeah, Rashad Penny. Yeah, they've come a long way since those days. They were given a massive runs early in the season. I mean, it was like giving up, if it was a third and eight, you, you, we're just like, okay, how are they going to get the first down here?

Because they can do it either on the ground or through the air. And the lion's defense is the perfect reason why. And I see this. I see it on Twitter. I see people talk about it. And this is fantasy relevant. This is relevant for, you know, I think sports betting. This is relevant all the way is you'll see a lot of people right now,

especially because we're getting into fantasy plays. playoffs. A bunch of people are going to start putting up stats of like, look at this guy's fantasy playoffs run. And it's going to include the lions. They're going to put how many people, like what the average fantasy points per game for a receiver is against them for a quarterback. I'm begging people. I'm begging people to not look at full season of work for most teams. Yep. Like that, you can't do it. Look at, you have. You have. to look at the season almost in i think in thirds i think you have to look at the season in thirds good teams win two thirds of their season and then the other third whether they bottom out

even if they bottom out like that still leaves you at like you know 11 and 11 and 6 10 and 7 and you're okay but like don't look like don't be swayed by these like over the whole season numbers take a second and look at what they've done the last couple weeks because this defense has been a top 10 defense since about week nine. Yeah. It was crazy is the lion's offense is so good that they don't even need, they don't need the defense to be great. They just need the defense to not be the worst in the league.

It's like they can live with like 25th best defense and that and they're still going to win most of their games. And yeah, they have the 25th over the course of the entire season. But like this is why they've won like quite a few games here. Like in their five and one. stretch they've won what three games four games by multiple scores yep like that's exactly like we all every we i think we all kind of talk or me and you especially but a lot of people kind of alluded to it of like if we could just pair this lion's offense with how they're moving with a with a good defense they could

go on a run average it's average defense Steve that's all they need is yeah yeah yeah we're looking for like a 20 15 to 20 defense in the NFL and you're getting top 10 production out of them right now like that's why that's why they're beating teams by 11 13 you know that they've won their last three games by a combined total of 50 points yeah there I don't I can't remember a alliance team that's done that in the past in fact there's only one other team that has a better three game stretch than the lines and that's the bills I think the bills had a three game starts where they won by like 62 or something so yeah it's pretty pretty nuts now it just comes down to you know Minnesota is Minnesota is pretty much in the playoffs unless they

completely bottom out for the entire season they are they're in I think yeah they're good but I it's one of those things where we need we almost need the lines to get in this year we need we need them to make the playoffs and finish out this run to end the season because, like, I don't think you can tell this, like, what this season is without them making the playoffs. I think they're an integral team to how this year plays out the rest of the way. Oh, yeah. Yep. And then on the other side, Minnesota needs to figure some things out because, like I said,

their offense is humming. They need to figure out a little bit in the run game. and I think part of that is that, you know, it stinks that you're missing, your starting center and your starting tackle in this game. And you saw that at times with pressure and end and run blocking. But they just need to get that defense back to at least where they were making, you know, at least creating turnovers. Like that's what that was getting them by in the first couple weeks.

Their defense still wasn't great, but they were forcing turnovers. Those turnover stopped happening. And their defense is just getting marched. up and down the field on. Yeah. For the Lions, too, this offense was already good. And now they're basically healthy, or healthy-ish for the first time all season, including Steve, DJ Chark, who is a guy they signed to do what he's done the last two games.

Now, early in the season, it wasn't pretty. Him and golf were on the same page. He Chark didn't look 100% healthy. You and I saw it in training camp. Yeah. There were multiple practices. Steve, for the listeners, where they would run a screen past a chart, but they wouldn't actually let him run the ball.

They'd have somebody standing there to catch the ball, and then he would run it. So he would just kind of do the footwork and the motion of the screen, but then somebody else would carry out the rest of the play. And Dr. Edwin, our guy at fantasy points, our injury doc, Dr. E, he actually warned me, gave me a little precursory warning in training camp when I was talking about it with him. And he's like, yeah, you know, ACLs are. tough like there's a chance he's like i don't expect him to be a hundred percent right until late in the season he actually said that he called it and charke basically went from a guy that every

lion's fan in the world wanted out of town like you're paying this guy 10 10.5 million bucks so like wait a second now you're adding a healthy jtitcher shark who clearly is explosive again with st brown with reynolds with um jameson williams with caliph raymond like they're going to run that same five wide receiver group back next year and this offense is only going to get better but anyways i digress dj shark is healthy he looks great he's adding an element to the lion's offense they didn't really have they weren't hitting just true deep balls really and that was and it was almost there like if you watch yes it was close if you watch the early games in the year there were there were always at least i'd say two shots to

chart each game from like one to four and they just missed on all i think they hit maybe one of them but they just missed on almost all of them. It wasn't like a horrendous mistake. Gough was just off. Chark was just, chart dropped the ball. Like it was just timing things, little things were off.

Those are starting to come together. Like that timing, that connection, it's starting to come to fruition. And like you said, you've seen it. He has, is that back to back over 100 yards?

Just under. I think back to back like 98 and 94. Yeah, you're right. He was just unders. But still, like that's production. And he looks the part again is the big is the important thing there.

The eye test. Yeah. Yes. Like he's flying around the field, making play. Making great catches, by the way. Yeah. Oh, yeah. His hands were a little suspect early in the year too.

And he's been snagging some beautiful, beautiful catches. Yeah. There needs to be a bigger conversation we have about golf. We probably don't have the time to do it on this, this pod because we do want to get through all of these six games. But this is, they're in a weird spot. I think it's going to be a good end of the season, like, conversation we can have. Because I'm excited to see how the rest of the season plays out. But if it continues going this way and he continues to do this,

like especially like next, especially the next two weeks playing Carolina and New York who have, you know, New York has a great defense. Carolina is a defense has athletes and can make plays. if he like continues this run and especially continues it through these next two games, I think we may have to dive into it after this season because it's going to be a very, very electric debate and just conversation in general. I agree. All right, let's move on from the Lions.

This is a sight of game for the record. All three of us were right on this game. Easy, peasy. Yeah. The next one I want to talk. about is that I said the Jaguarians would go on the road and not only cover against the Titans, but they would beat them outright. You guys both disagreed with me on this, except Chris is claiming he flipped by the end of that conversation. I listened to it back. I didn't hear a full flip.

Are we granting Chris a flip, Steve, or are we saying he was on your side? I mean, selfishly, I'm going to say no, because I don't want to be the only one wrong. Well, the Jackson were Jaguars. Yeah. This one, I'll give you credit. You were, you nailed this. I was on the fence and felt like, of the two teams that, of the two teams that got their cans kicked in the week before, I thought Tennessee would be the team to recover. But I, I forgot the how good, Trevor.

Lawrence has been this year. Yes. And he returned to form as well in this game. But the Jacksonville Jaguars, they go on the road, which was, I think, a big part of why everyone picked the Titans in this game is because it was a home game. They go on the road and they beat the Titans by two touchdowns. And it wasn't even, it was not even as close as that.

Like this was a stomping. This was an absolute curb stomping by them. Trevor Lawrence balled out again. probably his best actual top-to-bottom game of the season. I know that comeback he had a couple weeks ago against was at Baltimore was a good game, but he had some... Start to finish. Yeah, start-to-finish.

This was his best game of the season. Yeah, I agree. Evan Ingram was good. Zay Jones was back. Christian Kirk played his role. Like, all the receiving parts came together. And you know what was so impressed about this? The Titans have been pretty good against the run of late.

Yeah. they shut down the Jacksonville run game, but it didn't matter. Lawrence persevered through that. They got it done. And the reason I really picked the Jaggs this game is they have the perfect offense. I'm sorry, they have the perfect defense to stop the Titans right now. They're big, athletic, and fast. And Titans do not have any good athletes in that offense right now, except for Chig,

Acquo, who did have a good game, actually, I believe. Yeah, six for 45 and a touchdown. Yeah. Chig. He looks promising as your rookie, but I just thought if there was a team that Jackson would be able to rebound against after getting shalacked, it would be this lackluster Titans offense that's fueled by a running game that, you know, you can quickly make go away if you, if you get a lead. And that's exactly what happened. Jackson will get out to a lead. Titans had to go away from Henry, who was cruising early in this game. Yeah, he was.

And then it pretty much was the route was on from that point on. Yeah, so this was an exciting one because it wasn't even close. Like, I didn't have to sweat this one at all. I mean, from the beginning. I mean, from the beginning, Trevor Lawrence came out firing. If you, like, if he can get that Evan Ingram the rest of the season, I mean, Jaguars could go out of run. They still, like, they're a net zero point differential for the season.

before the Detroit Lions game, they were plus 12 point differential. Like the Jaguars aren't a bad team. We've made the comparison too between those two teams. Like the Lions and the Jags are in similar places. The Jags are supposed to be like a year ahead of the Lions and their rebuild. Yeah. And so there's a lot of similarities there actually.

They're like the AFC version of the Lions. So yeah, I mean, they've done some things for sure. Evan Ingram, he shows Flashes, man, where he just looks so good. So athletic. I mean, I saw someone say it on Twitter. I can't remember who exactly. But I thought it was funny where someone put that Evan Ingram was Kyle Pitts before Kyle Pitts was Kyle Pitts.

It's kind of true. I mean, Ingram. I mean, obviously Kyle Pitts is like, and he's like an inch taller, a little bit faster. Like he had just that another step of. of physical traits as well as just a little bit more of a step in football traits. And that's why he is what he is. But before he came along, Evan Ingram was touted as like the guy that could be just straight up a big wide receiver,

play him as a big slot. Like it wasn't that long ago that we've talked about him potentially as being similar to that. For sure. And Ingram, like, honestly, it's just been injuries. him. Like, he's been a good player when he's on the field. It's just been injuries for him. Yeah. And then he gets knocked for his hands a lot.

True, true. But, by the way, who's number 47 for the Titans? 47 is Adams, Andrew Adams. Is that right? Okay. Former Lion Andrew Adams? Hold on. Yeah, I'll take a look, but I believe

it's Andrew Adams and he's there. He comes in for like their dime packages on third down. and plays in the box. I'm just wondering why. So, like, you have a super athletic tight end like Ingram. He looks like a receiver on the field. Yeah.

Especially because he wears number 17. Even in the Lions game, I was like, I kept confusing him and Zay Jones. Yeah, right. We got to get to a point in the NFL where, like, you have a corner that's big enough to play those guys when they line up on the outside. It just seems like free. It's like free production. you put it you flex even evan ingram out into like the ex position and you they're putting either

a linebacker or a safety on them and i'm just like why do you why are we still doing that yeah there's been enough athletic tight ends in the league to know that you can't do that like you you have to have a corner and the jacksville does have some big corners all of their corners are pretty big actually their entire team yes so why are we putting i said i flipped that i said Jacksonville Jaguars. I'm not very smart. The Jaguars cannot cover the Jaguars, but the Titans got to have a bigger corner that they could have put out there on Ingram. I just don't get it. You know, I would probably take a different matchup than, you know, a below average athletic

safety or a linebacker. And that was the matchups they kept getting too, and Lawrence made him pay for it. So. And Lawrence was, Lawrence was putting balls on guys. Yes. Yes, he was. He, again, looked amazing. That back, it was like the back shoulder wheel to, was it to Ingram on that one? Where Lawrence is rolling to his left, fires to the wheel. Yeah, that was Ingram. Yeah.

He was making throws like that and throws that, you know, everybody has been waiting to see. And we, like, we knew it was in him and we'd been, you know, we had seen flashes and this was a game where he started putting it all together for an entire game. Yeah. And that's what the Jaguars offense can be when he's rolling and playing the way of like, of the like top eight quarterback trajectory that we all want him to be on. Yep. All right.

None of these two teams really have anything playoff noteworthy because like Jacksonville's probably out, Tennessee. even though they're flailing right now. I mean, there's no one close in their division. As I was saying, it would just come down to if Tennessee went on, if Tennessee just slid and Jacksonville went on a run. That happened.

Yeah. Not to that, not to that degree anyways. I mean, probably not. The Jaguars are what? Three games back? Five.

Four? No, they're only two games back, actually. That's what I mean. They're five and eight, and Tennessee's seven and six. Jags have the Cowboys, the Jets, the Texans, and the Titans. So basically, if Tennessee loses one of their next three games and Jacksonville wins all three of them, which isn't likely.

Right. I know that's the problem is that the Jets, Jacksonville, I think, could match up well against, but Dallas would be a tough. matchup. Yeah. Although Dallas almost just got clanked by the Texans, but whatever. Just a flute game, I think. That's what I think, too. I think it's just, you know.

Deck looks a little, man, but, um. But he's not going to play. He's not going to play like that consistently. Right. You know, like that's an aberration. He had a bad game. And they still want. He's any, and they still went 98 yards to win.

So they're fine. Yep. All right. Let's move on to the next. one. So I, this is probably the one I was, I was most confused about that you guys disagreed with me. And it was the, uh, the Ravens going into Pittsburgh and winning that game. So this is another one. I said, not only do the Ravens cover, but they win outright against the Steelers. And then I put bonus, please discuss why are the Steelers favored in this game? They shouldn't even be favored.

And I know home home team underdogs are rare in the NFL. but I was surprised I thought you guys would both kind of fall in line with me even though I know you've been a little suspect of the Ravens all season and Chris even more so yeah maybe it was Chris yeah maybe Chris has been super suspect so I I was very surprised that you guys both were on the opposite side despite that but the Ravens came out on top

they go into they go into Pittsburgh and they win by two points this was an ugly freaking game both both quarterbacks who started the game left the game at some point. I think they both got concussed, actually, right? Yeah. Yeah, they both got concussed. I think Huntley played a quarter longer than Pickett did.

Yeah, I think so. Trubisky was just, holy crap. Some of the worst quarterback tape you'll ever watch was from this game. And then, you know, Baltimore was basically just like, we know we're lacking at quarterback today, so we're just going to run the football. Right. And they ran the ball 42 times.

Right. They, like, they didn't even try to play around with it. They, like, and it's funny because, like, when Huntley's in, they're already on the fence about throwing the ball. So, you know, other than just, you know, gadget. So you play, either play action or screen. So it's like, other than that, they're hesitant to throw the ball. So it's funny that they go even further in that direction when Huntley goes out. Yeah.

And what's crazy is, like, the draw. off from Lamar to Huntley is big, but it's probably not an ocean. I think Huntley's a good quarterback. I think he's probably a functional NFL player. But then from Huntley to Brown, that's like, that is an ocean. And they didn't even try to throw, they threw about five times with Brown. He played almost an entire half. Yeah, Huntley's probably one of the better backups in the NFL if you're, as far as like

replacement value and who can get you a win in a, you know, in a situation like this. And he's probably going to get paid this off season if I'm not mistaken. there could be a bidding war for him. I could see that absolutely happening. Yep. But yeah, this game would pretty much as I expected it to. I know T.J. Watt didn't play.

Oh, Chris did make me aware that you guys did not know at the time Watt wasn't going to play. Yes. I wrote this take knowing what. Like when I sent it to you guys, I already knew Watt was out or probably out. So that was part of the reason.

Yeah, I hadn't seen that yet. And that would have influenced because like half of what we talked about was like the difference in Pittsburgh's defense with and without Watt. Yeah, yeah, yeah. So that, throw that out the window. Yeah. That's like that's like the Cardinals one for us of like.

Yeah. But either way, I still like the game was ugly and I don't even like T.J. Watt. I don't know how much T.J. Watt would have necessarily influenced the game because of how much they ran the ball. Like he influenced- He is a good run defender, but I don't know if he like, I don't know if he moves the needle as much.

True. Yeah, it's really that interior D-line of Pittsburgh that kind of got hand, they got their butts handed to them. They were just getting moved. I mean, the Ravens' offensive line was moving the Steelers D-tackles wherever they wanted. And that was the difference in the game. You know what's crazy is I'm pretty sure Waa ended up playing, though, didn't he?

I think he played, but then, like, it was like a Nakuta situation where very low snap count. Yeah. Yeah, I think so. Because I thought I saw him on a couple snaps. That's why I still was confused by that, but I think he might have been right where he played limited snaps. Yeah, it didn't, uh, ended up not mattering. The Baltimore just had their way in the run game and kind of, Trubisky also gifted them three picks.

Yeah. Good job, Trubay. They were of the really bad variety, too. There's some picks you don't necessarily blame on the quarterback. Then there's some that are like, eh, well, that was a bad, bad throw, inaccurate throw, got picked off. Then there's bad decisions. That's basically what these were, which is like, what are you doing?

This might be Trubisky's last season. It's crazy. A lot of the tape he's put out there in the last. couple weeks whenever he gets in has not been good it's he's getting worse though that's the thing that's so puzzling that's why i'm feeling like this could be it for him like like if maybe kenny picket stays out for a week and he gets a full week of prep to play this to play this week this week but right now you can't play tribusky again i know right i don't think you can't do they have another quarterback?

They had? No, they didn't. They still have Mason Rudolph? Yes, they did. Actually, yes, because there was a story about how Mason Rudolph has gotten like one first team practice rep or like one one non-scout team rep like the last couple weeks. And he's had to like beg Trubisky and pick it for it. I'm playing.

I'm playing Mason Rudolph this week if picket can't go. This is Pickett's second concussion this year, right? Or third? Yeah. Second, second. So protocol, I think, is going to be a little tighter for him to get out of. I'm not saying it can't happen. Are they a Saturday game or a Sunday game?

Do we know? They're a Sunday game. We should know for sure. Yeah. I don't want to speculate on medical so much because I'm not a doctor. But it does seem like he'll have a tougher time getting out of protocol this go around. Either way. Yeah, I would play Mason Rudolph.

Steelers are cooked for this. I mean, they're done. Yeah. They're like any sliver of a chance they had is gone. Any sliver of a chance to make the playoffs, I should say, is pretty much gone. Yeah. And the Ravens, I don't know. Like, obviously without, obviously without Lamar Jackson and without Huntley, they're a completely different team.

But still, you just, I, they're not making an inspired push toward the end of the season here. No, no, they're not. I worry about, I like, don't feel confident in them to win a playoff game right now. They're probably going to make it. They're still first in their division, which is crazy. That's the thing. They're probably going to make it, but if you're looking at the division, who do you feel more confident in right now, Cincinnati or Baltimore?

Oh, Cincinnati is a Super Bowl contender, but they have a gauntlet of a schedule here down the stretch where Baltimore is going to just coast into winning that division probably. It's true, but it's like funny because even then, I think we talked about the playoffs, what, two weeks ago? Yeah, probably. Yeah. And like since then, I think I've never felt more confident in Cincinnati to go on a run and be obviously one of the last four teams. I think obviously one of the last four teams in the AFC remaining and potentially heading like they

they're a top three team in the NFL right now. Yeah. So I think for that for like for them it feels like okay when the games you should compete in the games you know, compete in the games that should be close and just focus on getting yourself healthy to the playoffs. Because they're a team that can go on the run.

Whereas like Baltimore needs to figure some things out. I mean even even when Lamar Jackson was in like they have some fundamental things they have to figure out if they plan on winning a playoffice terrible it's so bad it's it's just i mean has mark andrews always been this bad at catching a football no no this is wild i don't know what has happened to him this year but he looks completely like his catching motion is like he's trying every time it looks i i've seen it more than once this year in a game where it looks like he's setting a volleyball to catch a ball. Like a little push feature?

Yeah. It's like, what do you think? And that's been a big part of it. Is Mark Andrews, person who like took over this time of year last year is, I don't know, he's he's kind of disappearing. He has not been what he has not been as advertised, especially like the last four weeks. Yeah, it makes you wonder if he's possibly dealing with something that's not really getting reported. And it may be because it's, he looks like a completely different player from last year.

Yeah. We should, we should bring. So my, my wife, for those I don't know, she is kind of a football genius as well. I say as well. Like I just totally called myself a genius. That's pretty funny. No, I was actually talking about you, Steve. She's a genius as well as you.

I totally should have just played that, yeah. So in fact, she's done a little charting for us. She's a past game specialist. But Steve, fun fact about her, she's actually a volleyball player as well. So we should get her on the pod.

She's been wanting to come on the pod, by the way, to talk, you know, past game and, you know, past concepts and stuff. So we should get her on the pod to talk about catching techniques

and how similar they are to setting a volleyball. Because that's a really good. observation by you. That's exactly what it looks like. It does. Pushing his hands out there. Like he's trying to set up. I saw it this. I think it was last week I saw it.

And then I was going back and watching film from earlier this season. I saw it again earlier in the season. When they lost to the Giants, he did the same thing where he's like in the end zone. He just like looks like he's volleyball setting it to another guy. It's like, no, you catch the ball, man. That's for you. That's for you. Stop playing beach.

volleyball in the summer there mark he made he made that throw for you you don't have to get it to someone else but yeah they they need him to bounce but dude he's killing my fantasy team and you're in that league you traded them to me actually so you should know my team was rolling i see dude i started i think like 11 and 1 and i'm i'm like backing into the playoffs because well injuries cooper cups hurt andrews decided he forgot how to play football um yeah those are my probably my two best players is the 10-in- Premium League. I have Borough and Hertz, I think. So that's kind of carrying me.

That helps. Yeah, but, anyway. Yeah, just like not a guy who at this time last year, I mean, was unguardable, is now bringing down the offense because when your number one receiver, which is what he is,

when your number one receiver starts playing like a number three receiver, your whole offense is going to come to a screeching halt. Especially when your number two is three, four, and five aren't NFL football players. Right. When everybody's playing like two tiers below or is two tiers below where you're starting them. So like Andrews is playing like a three and then their two is a five and their three is a six. Like it's just your offense is going to come to a halt. And that's where you just start trying to spam, you know, like you start.

spamming like hey lamar jackson just go make a play and then he gets hurt and then it's huntley go go go make a play and now you've kind of screwed yourself because you're in a you're caught in a position where you need to start winning it you need to continue winning games i have a fun question for you we don't have a lot of time talking about it but better receiving course steve the ravens right now or the two thousand twenty one week one Detroit Lions team. That was in that, yeah,

so that's before we know. I'm on Rob breakout before Reynolds ended up joining the team. Right, that's right. It was like, Caleb Raymond and Tyrell Williams and Rashad Parramette. Yeah. Better.

Who is the better? I mean, honestly, I mean, honestly, who's better? The lions are better. Really?

That week one, because Hawkinson, Hawkinson is, like, right, if you're like right now, Hawkinson plays about at, like, Mark Andrews is what Hawkinson is. That's what he is. Andrews has so much more talent in his body than that. But that's what he's playing like right now. He's playing like, he's playing like Hawkinson.

You're not wrong. You're not wrong. He's playing like Hawkinson. And then after that, I mean, shoot Tyrell Williams probably starts for this Ravens team right now if you where is Tyrell Williams he's got to be on I mean I don't know where he is but someone's I are somewhere yeah right as he lost his entire year last year so who knows like health wise but week one week one potentially healthy Tyrell Williams starts for this Ravens team right now I

think wild whew all right cool we can move on all right so we've gone through those three games so I started the 1 p.m. slate 3 and 0 feeling

great feeling cocky as well looking good I was starting to talk a little trash in the company chat to you guys because I was I was 3 and 0 you all were 1 and 2 and then we get to my worst take of the day which was probably the worst

thing I was all time I don't I said the Bucks will beat the 49ers and their defense will force three turnovers. Yeah, none of that happened. What actually happened was a complete dismantling of the box. I kind of forgot this game was in San Francisco also, to be honest. That's my bad. Not that it would have mattered at all.

I don't know if... that you still pushed for like that's i like that but i don't think that that influences the game that 28 points worth listen steve i got to i got to justify myself a little bit so the end of was it the week 13 game with the bucks yeah that's where it's the same where brady balances this incredible comeback actually the first one of that nature in nfl history mind you yep you saw that look in brady's eye We haven't seen that look all year where it's like he felt like he was the baddest mother effort on the planet. And when Brady has that look in his eye, he destroys people. And I thought I was convinced that it was the return of Jesus Christ on the earth.

Like I thought Tom Brady was the Messiah and he had returned. He had kind of taken the first 12 weeks off, but he had been back. And so I've seen a lot of people in the media be on the wrong side of burying Tom Brady. Yeah. Yes. And I didn't want to be that guy. Not that I had to even comment on this game, but I did think Tom Brady was back. The Bucks were back.

Evans, Godwin, Julio, the rookie KDott and have starting to play better. Their offensive line was still bad, but kind of making it work. Rashad Valle was breaking out. Defenses looked good. but dude nothing worked on this day it was the ugliest game of the season probably yeah and so let me counter that with from your standpoint what went wrong what is going wrong like is I mean I I come away from I want to give you the floor but I come away from this game feeling like this is more what the bucks are and what they have been all season than anything else but just

As like a season, from a season standpoint and just how things have gone so far. Like, what is wrong with the Tampa Bay Buccaneers? Because I, they're the, honestly, out of the NFC South, I think they're the last team I want to see in the playoffs. And by last team I want to see, I don't mean that as in like other teams should be scared. I mean, like, I don't want to watch them play football anymore. I don't want them watch them play football anymore after week 18. Man, it's so tough because I think the reason I keep, we've been kind of on the opposite side of this. I've been waiting for the bucks to break out where you've been kind of saying, no, I think this is what they are.

Like, I think they're just cooked. And when you have Brady, Godwin, Evans, Julio, Rashad White, Fournette, K. K. Otten, who's playing well, Russell Gage. Like, they're loaded on offense, but their offense doesn't work. and so I've been waiting all season for this to eventually click and then be like, okay, that's it. And we've seen Brady do this where like he's kind of coasted through the season. And then actually the year they won the Super Bowl. That team wasn't very good until like week 12.

And also in week 12, they hit the gas pedal. They found their stride. And then they were just smoking everybody from that point on. And I, so I guess I've been waiting for that. I've been duped into thinking that's going to happen because it doesn't make sense to me that this offense could be so bad. but literally nothing is working. They can't run the ball. They can't protect Brady.

And the receivers are failing Brady, to be honest with you. These big time guys are failing Tom Brady. I'm not going to say he's been perfect either. But like go watch the first half of that game. Brady was freaking dealing, man. Yeah. I mean, go watch. I think we chart him for four wild throws in the first half.

Yeah. Like, I mean, it's. And three of them were dropped. They run routes with a different intensity. And it's not. in a good way. Compared like from the beginning of the season, just as the season has progressed,

like you just see less urgency, less care, less everything from the Tampa Bay receivers, it feels like. Like Mike Evans is legitimately one of the best separators in the NFL in the last couple of weeks. He's not separating. And when he does,

he drops the ball. Yeah, yeah, the drops have been concerning. He looks completely like a shell of himself. Godwin. Godwin looked like he was coming alive and then he was terrible in this game.

Right, right. He looked like he looked like a guy, like a shell of himself, like a guy who was still recovering from an injury. Like he looked more like beginning of the season than he did the last couple weeks. I just like, I don't like their best separator lately has been Scotty Miller and he doesn't play that often. Like that's scary to skate. It's scary to say. Wrong route a lot.

But like Scotty Miller has been their best, like has been one of their best receipts. receivers and that's not a good thing. That's not because Scottie Miller's breaking out. It's because he's playing how he normally plays and the other, the rest of the team is, I don't know, not caring. And I,

like, it's Byron Left Witch, isn't it? Do you think it is? I think so, because when they get in, like, no huddle situations,

especially towards the end of the game, like that offense clicks all of a sudden. Right. I got to assume it's Byron Left, which I don't understand though how Brady with his resume is letting someone else call play. I don't know that that's true, by the way. I don't know that Leftwich is calling plays.

It could be Brady. We're just assuming it's left which it seems like that's what everyone assumes. Just because of the disparity between two-minute, like there's two-minute drills and then the rest of the offense. It is extreme. I, so that's probably a big problem. I don't want to absolve Brady of any responsibility. He hasn't been good in many moments this year.

But, like, especially like the second half of this game, they're down three scores. the wheels came off for him where he's just chucking it up but what do you expect him to do? He's trying to get his team back in it. Both those interceptions were basically because of that. And then their defense completely fell apart. Like Brock Purdy, like I thought coming into this game,

Purdy, this was a perfect opportunity for the Bucks to beat a team that they're clearly not as good as because of Purdy. The Purdy went out there. He did exactly what he was asked to do. He pulled a Mike White, Steve. He didn't do anything. crazy. He took the open throws, was a functional player. They had the run game going, which the Bucks run defense this year apparently just decided to suck. They've been one of the best in the league

for the last three years. I know they're just like, ah, screw it, we're going to be bad this year. That's really hurt them too. But I thought Purdy was going to cost the 49ers in this game, and he looked fine. He actually probably looked better than Jimmy in a lot of instances. I mean, take, like, replace the name. If you threw Garapolo on the back of his jersey, like, you'd be fooled for at least three quarters of the game. Like, again, he's just, he's like Mike White. He just stands in the pocket. He doesn't, he stays in structure.

He does not try to be more than what he is. And he just plays efficiently. Yep. Like, again, like, there's no such thing as a quarter, there's no such thing as a quarterback proof offense. But San Francisco, with the weapons they have, is this close as you can about as close as you can get to ironically steve we're seeing this offense produced in two other places right now new york and miami both of those

quarterbacks mike white and tua have limitations of their own right now too is obviously the biggest the best pedigree of the collection of quarterbacks we're talking about right now but like you're seeing it with these other teams where they're just working because because they have the weapons. Because they have the weapons and the scheme, the play design. The play design is excellent. An efficient, yeah, an efficient and well-thought-out play scheme, play design. And that's like, and they've just, they've clearly the, like, LaFleur in New York and Shanahan

in San Francisco and McDaniel over in Miami, like all three of them, think of who they pick, think of who they put as their backups. like Jimmy Garoppolo and Brock Purdy, Mike White, Teddy Bridgewater, all guys who at the end of the day are not guys who go out of their way to try to make, they're not a tribisky. They're not trying to make like, they're not going to escape out of the pocket. And I thought Purdy would do that because that's what Pretty did in college a lot. Purdy, and no, granted, he played Iowa State and routinely found himself in precarious situations

where he had no NFL talent at receiver and he was playing against teams that score a lot of points because he's in the Big 12. So I do, I feel like maybe pretty pressed a lot in college because he had to. But, man, like his tape suggested that he was going to be a wild card in this offense. But Shanahan reined him in.

Right. And he's not just to run the offense. And he's talented enough to do that. And that's why I think we need to give credit to these coaches because. Yeah. Even guys that maybe we didn't think fit that scheme, they coach up to make fit that scheme. And like,

it's just, it's a, it's a great way to team build. and it's paying off for San Francisco where all of a sudden, you know, and we're getting ahead of ourselves, he had a good game. But, like, you know, people are talking about, like, hey, Brock Purdy taking this team into the playoffs may not be the worst thing in the world. Right. If they can keep them like that guy, yeah.

If he can just keep the ship steady and let the people around him do what they can do, like, hey, San Francisco, no matter what, it's a, terrifying team. They're still scary. Brock Purdy, like, with that defense, like, 21 points is your goal. Like, if you get to 21 points, I would say, like, with the way this defense is playing, odds are you're going to win, like, odds are most of the time, you're going to win that game. Yep.

And in crunch time, with their run game, they're going to bleed the clock on you to death. So Purdy is more mobile than Garoppola, which. really helps him. Is it crazy to say that like it stinks that debos, the debo went down and it stinks that Elijah Mitchell went down, but I don't know, like having a fresh McCaffrey taking almost 100% of the carries, like he looked good. That Mason kid looks good. Yeah. Like they've, again, like McAfree looks good and it seems to be picking up some steam here heading toward the end of the season, which I bet feels great for him because normally he's probably worn out by this time of the year but he's you know he's got a little bit a little bit of an extra step now because he hasn't had as heavy of a workload and he could

you know they can ride his legs to to push toward the end of the season too yeah for sure um wrap it up this game main takeaway Tampa's I think they're done they're gonna get into the playoffs probably but they're going to lose quickly um I can't even maybe like what Washington maybe they could be if the like if you're a Lions fan right now because they're going to have the three seed or the four seed right if the Lions get in at seven they're going to play Tampa Bay in the first round of the playoffs what would they not no they would play lines would play the two seed it'd be the four versus the five oh you know it would be like the cowboys are going to draw Tampa yeah which is a revenge game from the earlier

in the year. Yeah. Yeah, that would be nice. They didn't have a deck Prescott for that game. But yeah. Tampa, they're not, they're not beating. No, no, Dallas is not going to be the two seed. No, Tampa would be the Lord. Dallas is the first wild card. Yeah, yeah, I got you. I got you. The whole biweek, one byweek thing is really screwing me up. Like, I'm, I can't.

Two, seven, three, six. Two, seven, three, six, four, five. Gotcha. I wish the lines were going to get a matchup against the fucking ears. That would be insane. Who, so who, is there anyone Tampa can beat that's going to be in the NFC playoffs? Who's, what's,

do you have Tampa Bay's schedule pulled up? No. Oh, but who can they beat to like win a game of that, of anybody that's, um, I mean. Seattle maybe.

Which they, I mean, they beat them a couple weeks ago in Germany. And that's, I mean, that could be a, that could be a shooter. out game because the Seahawks

defense is kind of on their... Yeah, they play a lot of Yolo. Yeah, and they've been getting a little bit worse. And, you know, Bucks, offense, I don't know, give them a bad defense. Maybe they bounce back. But what about, like,

Washington? I think Washington's defense can shut down Tampa Bay. Yep. New York. That could be a good, like, they could beat New York. But I also don't think New York is in the playoffs at the end of this. I think they had a great season, and I think they're kind of just like trending back toward the mean, which is fine. They were never supposed to make the playoffs, but I don't think they're in it at the end of it anyway. But I mean, Seattle is probably the only team that could be.

All right. Let's move on. We have basically one more game to talk about. We're not going to get into Cardinals Patriots much because that game. because Kyler going down, there's really not a lot to talk about there, but Andy was gross. The only thing I have to say about that is like, Belichick, it's crazy because he should be maligned for how this offense is,

but he also should be praised that this team has a winning record with what that offense is. Yeah. Like, it makes no sense. Like, Patriots might make the playoffs and they have no business being there. That offense is terrible. Patricia is terrible at calling an offense. I continue to really enjoy

watching the Patriots defense though and yeah, they're a fun watch. They're a bunch of, they're just so multiple and they have a lot of guys that just fly around and it's fun. And that's all that other than that games,

who cares? Yes. All right. So the last game that we're talking about is the dolphins going into the Chargers. I wrote to you guys. The Chargers will eke out a close one at home against the dolphins.

Herbert returns to form. Keenan has a monster game. This game brought me to four and one on the week, and I think you guys collectively bad. You think what? And I said this game brought me to four and one on the week, and it also brought you guys to collectively bad. Yeah, this is, I'm...

The only thing I was wrong about is this game wasn't actually that close. Yeah. It was, but it also wasn't. It wasn't, but it wasn't. Miami's offense was nothing. Tua was terrible. Awful, really bad. So what, like, I'm curious to hear, I'm curious to hear from your, like, from what you saw, what you think.

Like, this is two weeks in a row now that Miami's offense has been beaten, like, beaten up. And Tua's looked bad. 49ers. So they played the 49ers before this game. That's a great defense. They also played that game without Taryn Armstead. True. But like nothing, but from last week to this week,

nothing changed from Tua's standpoint, from how he performed last week to how he performed this week. I think he was off target on, he was still off target he was still rushing throws he was still missing guys he was not getting through his progressions at all he was rushing it what do you think like what do you think is happening with this offense to where like they look completely i mean it's that it's what we just said off target throws rushing it not getting through his progressions he looks a little shell shocked almost like he's scared to get hurt looks he's playing very timid not throwing with

anticipation. He has to see it to throw it. There's a lot of things going wrong there. Furthermore, the reason I went charging this game is Justin Herbert's just been, he's coming alive. They're getting healthy, which they haven't been healthy all year. And again, like, that's what I get for this week, both the Jacksonville and the Chargers, like teams that I've touted their quarterbacks all year. And then I go and pick against them. and then they both completely proved me.

They both completely shut me up. I kind of deserve that outcome for that to happen. Yep. Herbert was fantastic in this game. Like truly fantastic. Keenan Allen did have the monster game. He had 12 catches for 92 yards. The 92 yards doesn't look big,

but he had, what, eight or nine first downs? It was like, it was ridiculous. Every time they needed to move the chains, it was like Keenan Allen, boom. Yeah. I also didn't think Williams is going to be full go in this game either. That was a pleasant surprise. And this is what this is off at, like, this is why we, like, can't, we haven't fully, like,

left an evaluation up for San Diego. It's not San Diego. Los Angeles. Is that this team is totally different with Keenan Allen and Mike Williams. Like, yeah, like, okay, they're also guys that can't fully separate, but they're guys who are elite at what they do. Like, Mike Williams is. elite at the catch point and Keenan Allen is one of isn't like is an elite route runner and that's how

they win and they hit two deep balls in this game right it was amazing like oh wow we can throw deep again we have Mike Williams in the field right and Mike Williams you know he's the famous like if he it's not a 50 50 ball with him is more like 80 20 70 30 and like that but that's what this offense is and can be for like for the rest of the year and I think they mean shoot they're seven and six they're right there in it to make a run on the playoffs and i think they can and they will and again they are a terror they're a scary team to face up in the playoffs especially when like you hear that ray sean slater might make might might make it back this year like this is a this is a team that we all everybody talked about as a super bowl contender at the beginning of the year and

hey, it may have taken 13 weeks, but they're starting to round into form if Justin Herbert keeps having his weapons available to him. What's the status on Bosa? Is he done, done, or is he got a chance to come back, too? Good question. Yeah, while you're looking that up, I mean, if they can get Bosa back and Slater, like you're adding two elite talents. I know they'll probably be a little rusty because of the time off,

but adding two elite talents to a team that's playing pretty well right now, that could be very, very nice for them. Yeah, Chargers look good, man. They're optimistic Bosa can return. His original prognosis was 8 to 10 weeks. weeks. Okay. That was after a week three groin injury. He had surgery to repair it. They said eight to 10 weeks, you know, we're going on a week, you know, 12-ish weeks. So his, his clock probably, they probably start his clock to return to the team. I'd bet probably this week or next week.

Yeah. The charges are currently the last team out in the AFC. Yeah. They're contending mostly with the Jets in New England there. I think. I don't think that they'll catch Miami. Although the way Miami's been playing, you never know. But, yeah, I kind of think they're going to get in, Steve. Like, New England, they're not a good football team. I know their defense is excellent, but their offense is, like... Their offense sucks.

It's so bad. I should actually probably look at who New England plays to end the year. You get the Raiders this week. That'll be an interesting game. Bengals, you would think they'll lose that. So Raiders, Bengals, dolphins. So one of those teams has to lose there. Yep.

And then Bills. So Patriots got a tough ride. Chargers. Chargers have Titans, Colts, Rams, Broncos. Okay, so Chargers are getting in. Yeah. Chargers are getting in, Patriots are going to fall off. That's good.

It's good. I think the Chargers deserve to get in. They've overcome a lot this year to be where there. It's been a lot of adversity, a lot of adversity. And they've been obviously one of the most talked about teams with all the Herbert discourse that has happened over the course of the season. That's finally put to bed, anybody that ever had any debate that Herbert was not. an absolute monster.

I don't know. I don't know what you were watching, but. The thing that thinks for him is, like, he's always going to be compared to Burrow, because the same draft class, but, I mean, Burroughs freaking awesome, too. They're both allowed to be awesome.

They are both awesome. And I think, like, it's one of those things where, if you, like, swapped both those quarterbacks, neither team loses a beat. I think they're the same exact teams, because I think that Burrow and Herbert are about the same, talent-wise. Yeah, they do things a little bit differently, but for sure,

the high-end talent is there. Like, they're excellent quarterbacks, so. But, all right. I mean, Miami going the rest of the season. This is, I mean, it's two weeks in a row. It's two playoff caliber defenses. They've done, I mean,

they've done it against other playoff caliber teams, but I mean, it's, it is mildly concerning. If they, if they, If they lose to Buffalo this week, they got to put up the alarm signals. That's going to be concerning. And obviously, they're probably going to lose the Buffalo. But that'd be three in a row, three losses in a row for Miami. They would fall right in the line with the chargers-ish.

Because they'd be, what, eight and six then? No, they're eight and six now, right? No, they should have had a buy week, right? sorry are they eight and five yeah eight and five so yeah they'd be eight and six if the chargers win they'll be eight and six if new england wins they'll be eight and six if the jets win they'll be eight and six so that could be a crazy yeah crazy setup um but man they they got buffalo green bay new england new york so that's gonna be really interesting to see how they finish out but if they lose this week go lose three in a row for the second time this season that's

going to be awkward. It's interesting because, I mean, like, even then, the Chargers defense is talented. Like, they haven't put it all the way together this year, but they're a talented defense. San Francisco, obviously, is both very talented and one of the best defenses in the NFL. And then they still have to play Buffalo, who's a very good, very talented defense. And who held, I mean, there was a two injury last time they played. But, you know, their other defense kind of held. their weapons in check. New England is a very good defense. They play a lot of very, very good

defenses down the stretch. And it's just going to be interesting to see how they fix, how they fix this issue with Tua and how they get the offense back on, you know, back in timing or like, you know, having good timing, working well together. Because you can't count on a, you can't count on the, you know, Tyreeks scoring a fumble recovery every week to get you points. Because if you take away that fluke touchdown, I mean, Miami scores a touchdown. Yeah. So like. You know what's crazy, Steve?

And I've said this a few times early in the season. But Miami's offense really has not scored the amount of points you would think they have based on perception. I mean, you've been the most bearish on their offense, probably out of anybody in the NFL community. you've been the most bearish and the like the slowest to give any sort of compliments to the Miami offense it's true I've been like and I think that man you stood pat I don't think you ever really gave it gave into them but like some of what you were saying some of what you were thinking

is starting to come to fruition two has thrown 40 completed 46% of his passes in the last two weeks they now have eight games Steve in the season where they've no sorry nine let me see one two three sorry eight eight games where they've scored less than 21 points or less yeah that's mind-blowing right to comparison to another team who has a great offense the lions they've scored more than 21 points and nine in all but three games yeah that's a massive dichotomy there like And, like, two of their games, I, like, don't even count because of the amount of weapons they had out on offense. Like, they were running out a skeleton crew on offense. So, like, the performance against New England and the performance against Dallas, I mean.

Yeah, they're down St. Brown, Chark Swift. Reynolds was beat up. I mean, it was rough. Swift was out. Like, you know, they were running a skeleton crew out there on offense. So, like, take those things away. to take those things away. And like, look at the Chiefs offense. The Chiefs offense continues to roll. No matter what happens, that chiefs, even if, even if when Mahomes throws multiple

interceptions, that, that offense keeps rolling. But when Miami, when Miami gets stopped, they get stopped dead in their tracks. Yep. Yep. And seeing it two weeks in a row against two defenses that is more of what they'll see in the playoffs and towards the end of the season compared to, you know, when they did get to play Baltimore and all of their miscommunications and the lions and all their miscommunications at that time of the year. Like, it's just, it's just going to be interesting to see which of the, which version of the Miami Dolphins shows up and for the rest of the season. And if, you know, into the playoffs, if they make the playoffs.

because those three divisional games down the stretch aren't easy. Well, they play three excellent defenses to close off the year with the Bills, Patriots, and the Jets. That's what I mean. Yeah, it's going to be, man, that's what I'm saying. If they lose this week, the alarm should really be sounded in Miami because that's, that would be very concerning. All right, Steve, let's get out of here.

Let's do it. We've acquitted ourselves well. We'll be back Friday. and we'll give him some more fun talk. I don't know about a guess yet. We're probably going to try to line someone up, but it might just be Chris. That's right.

The Jets beat the Dolphins 40 to 17 earlier this year. I forgot about that. Yeah, that was I think the Jets' worst loss of the season. I'm over here trying to get off the pot, and Steve's like, here, let me look something up. Oh, sorry. All right. But, yeah, let's get out of here.

Friday, I think, yeah, no matter what, we'll have some good preview talk in some way. Yeah. Because the season's heating up now. Yes, it is. It's heating up. And we get a good Thursday night game this week, right? Yeah, solid Thursday night game.

So we could even review. Decent Saturday slate. Yeah, Niners Seahawks this Thursday. So we might be talking to review too. We don't often get to review a game on Friday morning, but we might be reviewing a game on Friday morning. Yeah, something that's worth talking about, like, not just for antics and hilarity.

Yes, yes. But for actual, you know, like season shaping results. Yep. All right. Let's get out of here. Thank you to the listeners for listening, always supporting us. Thank you to Steve for being a great co-host in my stead when I'm not here. And even though I took the massive dub this week going four and one and my picks.

Yeah. It's all right. It's all right. I still love you. I still think you're a genius. All right. I'm Brett Whitefield. This is my co-s 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 FantasyPoint.com.