First Things First - Bears beat Eagles, Drake Maye shoulder concerns, Must-Win Week 4, Brou’s MVP Ballot, Nick’s Tiers

Episode Date: September 30, 2026

(0:00) Drake Maye’s shoulder concerns, Who’s to blame for Cowboys loss? (27:05) Must Win for Week 4 (40:33) Brou’s MVP Ballot (46:24) Nick’s Tiers (01:07:27) Is Drake Maye’s shoulder a problem? (01:22:32) Should more players in the NFL flop? (01:28:45) Cool Stats (01:52:01) Will the Cowboys bounce back? (02:01:13) Danny’s Top Ten (02:09:41) Were the Eagles exposed vs. the Bears? Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

For 50 years, Canadians have wondered what the names of IKEA furniture mean. Like Natopa, the guardrail for children's beds. Natopa means giving your favorite person room to grow. It means their safety and your piece of... No. In Swedish, Natapa means night monkey. IKEA, 50 years of Swedishness at home. Look, he's wearing little pajamas.

So cute. Hi, New York. It's a show that is excited after a pretty good day off. I gotta tell you. I got a lot of tasks. Yeah, too many. I had so many tasks this morning. You're still doing tasks?

This morning. I get hit with the... Did you ever power wash the... Power wash? What? You have a power washer? I'm out here power. How about this?

I'm power washing our front steps. I live... I'm not like you guys living in the nice, fancy suburbs. I'm in the heart of the city. You have power wash... Power washer or you have a hose attachment? Power washer. I'm power washing the front steps.

I think I'm finally done pouring in sweat. Neighbors like, hey, made my steps dirty. Got a power wash those two. Wow. There's a domino effect because guess what happens after I do that? All the houses are connected. I am damn near starting a business. First thing first.

Work is a nice excuse to get out of the households. Battle of undefeated team Raiders and the Chiefs. Who is facing a must win. Meanwhile, baseball playoffs underway. Did the Yankees make a World Series statement last night? And whose season is going to end tonight? Maybe we get an appearance from our Chicago Cubs expert, Danny Parkins, later in the show. And finally, we were off yesterday, but the committee met deep into the night.

Talked about power washing, talked about football, a special episode of tears. Indeed. Alongside Chris Broussard, I'm Kevin Wilde. Yeah, right, the leader of tears. Also, well, I mean, Commissioner Emeritus of the committee, but I don't know if I'm the leader of tears. Also, even though, because we missed it yesterday, Bruce Ballot.

And Brew's Ballot. Interesting ballot. This one was fun to do. Oh, I'm excited for it. We are starting, the Birthplace of America, kind of. You know, we're there early. Start in New England.

where Drake May isn't saying there's a problem with his shoulder, but he's also not saying that it's totally fine. Greg Bedard says, quote, people in the building are befuddled by the way he's talking about it. Here's Mike Vrable on Drake's shoulder and Drake on Drake's shoulder. Take a listen. Not to my knowledge anything that would have put him on the injury report or any sort of treatment.

You know, I think that has anything to do with executing and playing better football and realizing that that's the biggest thing. contributes to win it. Is there still something that's lingering? Anytime I'm out there and I'm, you know, dressing the uniform on the field, I'm going to play 100% and give it my all. So that's kind of what I'm to say. Is it something that you're managing every day? I mean, anytime that you come out from a game

and you're sore, you're going to, you know, everybody's dealing with, you know, things from the game. So I wouldn't say that it's anything in particular. I think just getting back out there and realizing that's getting ready for this week of practice. Before you go, I just want to say, apology accepted. What do you mean? Because I said I was keeping my eye on this weeks ago. Yeah.

And now the whole NFL world is saying, Huh, looks like we got to keep our eye on it. Well, no, the whole NFL world's not saying. In fact, his coach directly is saying he's not keeping his eye on. He's definitely keeping it. No, his coach is saying the opposite. Listen, I thought this might be a little combative before you did that. Now I'm worried it's going to be actually combative because...

Zero chance it's combative. I think, no, I think you might get annoyed with me. I was, but I, I think Drake is intentionally creating an excuse. Oh, my. And I know you're, I will, this is why I was worried you were going to get upset. Because you can be like, oh, no, he's saying that I just got to go out there and play. It is very easy. Is this somewhere on the shoulder?

No, shoulders fine. He's not saying that. His coach is saying that when his coach has asked about it. His coach is very clear. He's not on the injury report. He's not getting treatment for it, which is why when you said you were going to keep your eye on it and I said I won't be keeping my eye on it, it is because the NFL keeps its eye on this stuff for us with the team mandated injury reports.

Tom Brady was on the injury report for his right shoulder every week for seven years. So to that point, yes. Doesn't that feel like a little gamesmanship from Bill Belichick? So yes, because you are allowed to do it in one direction. There is real penalty for doing it in the other direction. If someone is dealing with just regular nicks and knacks and you put them on the injury report, that's totally fine. But someone who is dealing with something that is demanding treatment,

even if they don't miss any practice, and you don't put them on the injury report, you get in a lot of trouble, particularly... So you just get treatment? you have to go on the injury? If you are, well, no, Brable said everyone's getting their regular treatment. But if you have anything

that could in any way hamper your performance, you are supposed to be listed on the injury report. Other than, again, the regular especially now with the gambling and especially for the quarterback. He has not been listed on it. He was listed on it before the Super Bowl

because he had gotten hit. He had treatment. it is very telling to me that Vrable is having none of this. It is very telling to me that, in my opinion, folks are grasping for something that is shocking, I will admit, how poorly Drake May has played. But if we were to run a rip of Drake May's interceptions this year, I think you might find one where you're like,

I'd seem like he, that didn't get enough, on that ball, as opposed to bad decisions. So I have the scorching hot take of, I don't think the Patriots are breaking major NFL rules by having an injured quarterback's throwing shoulder that they are not disclosing. And I also don't think Drake May right now is getting treatment as an injured player.

And if he is injured and they're not giving him treatment, that's negligence of the highest proportion. So I think this is excuse making for a player that is struggling. That's what I think has happened. Okay. I don't think he's willing to lie. That's what I think. And I think he's hurt,

but I don't think he's willing to cross over and say it's injured. So if I was the reporter, I would say, hey, Drake May, is there anything wrong or anything hampering you with your, liver, and Drake May would say no. Anything wrong or hampering you with your small intestine? And Drake May would say no. It's like anything hampering you or wrong with your shoulder. He's like, you know, every time I go out there, I try to do my best. I don't think he's just going to give a flat no. Now, maybe that's a character flaw of him. But the way I'm reading it is he's not willing to just say no, because I think something is funky about his shoulder. So then why aren't they treating it?

I don't know, I don't, for you honest with you, I do not know a what's considered a regular treatment, what's considered injury report treatment. I don't know that. Maybe you know better than I do. I think it's something beyond just your typical. Yeah. Like I don't know what day. Brayble flatly said he just goes through his regular pregame routine. They are not, it is, it would be beyond negligent if your year three star quarterback is playing. this poorly, he believes he is dealing with something.

And the team isn't treating it. It'd be idiotic. There's no team in the league that's that dumb. Yeah. Yeah. I don't know. I don't understand the treatment. I'll show you three plays.

And this is why I was like, I don't know, I forgot when we got into the argument about I'm keeping my eye on the shoulder because he was asked about it pre, like, this was game one. I was like, huh, that's weird. That just made, that, my. I mean, that happens. I totally agree. I'm just saying from Lamar underthrew.

From my point of view, from watching every Drake May throw, that was weird. This one yesterday was a... That's an overthrow. I'm talking about there's underthrows and accuracy issues. This was an underthrow. There's a Pop Douglas overthrow. I thought that one got tipped, you said. I hope it was tipped, but if they're saying it's not tipped, these are the three

throws that really stick out when I'm like, huh, last year these throws, these throws, didn't look like that. You can say it's anecdotal, it certainly is, but these are the three throws that hit my radar of like, this guy doesn't look right. And again, it's all fuzzy because he's not on the injury report. I've bemoaned the fact that

like we saw Paul Skeens, never went on the DL this year, but people had like, look at his velocity, look at his spin rate, it all went down. He's hurt. He's like, not hurt. I'm going to pitch throughout the whole year, but we sense that something was wrong. That's all I have. I'm just saying it looks like something

is wrong. Okay. Let me clear this up. I will get mad at Brew for the first time. He's not hurt. If anything is hurt, it's his feelings. It's his confidence. It's his psyche. That's what the coach seems to think.

He said this. I wouldn't say there's a problem with my shoulder. That's a statement. I wouldn't say there's a problem with my shoulder. He said I don't think that this has anything to do with executing and playing better football. And when talking about being sore, I wouldn't say it's anything in particular. And Nick is right.

If he is injured and forget the Patriots being like gamesmanship and cheating and all that, this would be downright idiotic, as I said earlier, because he is your future and you're not treating it. If he goes to them and says, my shoulder's still a little bit. You don't think they're doing anything with it? And why wouldn't he do? Look, Drake May would love to use his shoulder as an excuse. If I was in that position and I'm playing poorly,

as badly as he's been the last three games, it would be, I'm sure he'd be happy if he could say, you know what, this is my shoulder. This is nothing else. This isn't defense is figuring me out. This isn't, I don't have any, the receipts. receiving core is worse than it was. This isn't, I'm facing better

competition this year. This is my shoulder. I'm sure he would go to them and say that. I'd be looking for an answer myself, but he hasn't. He's not hurt. He's just not playing well. I just don't, it is again, maybe I care more about

this than most, but I do want to hammer this point home. If you're right, KW, the Patriot, are in such massive violation of one of the NFL's oldest rules. Coach Manjini, when he's here, tells the story about how Brett Farv never missed a practice, never missed a game in a period of time he was coaching him. And then after the year in an interview referenced the fact that he was dealing with an elbow,

and the league went back and find Manjini personally, like 50 grand, because he wasn't listed on the injury report. When I text you this weekend, or not this weekend, I just needed to give takes. It was Tuesday. It was around the time of the show. The list of, and I'm trying to pull it up now, the list of people the Patriots had on the week one injury report,

it was a dozen names long. So is part of this story, which is a little bit of a knot, is part of Vrabel's answer, not friction with Drake May, is part of Vrable's answer, perhaps, a C-Y-A of like, uh-oh. No. Like, Drake has to self-report how he feels. He's not self-reporting it. So when you ask me if his shoulder, I'm saying I'm not aware of anything.

No, Vrable has to, listen, to be fair, Vrable has to say he's not injured because Rable didn't put him on the injury report. My point is this. There is no advantage to the Patriots not listing Drake May if he's, hurt. It's not as if he is a receiver that has a turned ankle that people don't know about, so therefore he can't run certain routes. Your quarterback's throwing shoulder, him being listed as a full participant at practice, which he would be, with a shoulder without one, gives the opposition no advantage. So I am taking them at face value, and I am also going to say,

Drake May started to look like a player that was losing some confidence before that hit in the Denver game before we ever heard. He was having a tough run by his own standards before the hit in the Denver game in the playoffs. Team was winning.

He was having a tough go of it. The playoffs are hard. That has continued this year. And you're reading of he doesn't, you know, he just, he, you know, he was honest, He's honest, Abe, I cannot tell a lie. I don't, that's not my read of it.

My read of it is that in the first turmoil of his up to a few weeks ago, brilliant young career, there has been real scrutiny. He knows better than to blame it on an injury, but doesn't necessarily hate the fact that people are like, maybe he's injured. Because that is better than maybe he has got figured out, maybe last year was a fluke, maybe his confidence is shattered. And so his lack of a full-throated denial like he would is your liver okay, I think serves his PR interest.

And the fact that his coach is not simply saying, put him on the injury report, and we'll just tell everybody, yeah, he's still dealing with something? To me, he's telling. All right. So before we move on, just because I know it's a little bit of, like, what's on the injury report, if you had like the all-seeing serum and you were able to like look at Drake May's shoulder, do you think it is 100% not hurt? I think it is in the, I think it's in the same condition as shoulder was in at this point last season.

Okay, Brud, do you see, I don't think that. Brut, do you think he's healthy? I mean, 100%, maybe at this, who's 100%? That's why I said at this point last season. I think it's fine. I don't think he's, I also don't think that he's, hit he took in Denver is a hit that after six

months of no football and not getting hit is like it altered the trajectory of his career. No, I think there's, again, I think it's multifactual. I think there's a lot of reasons and the shoulder is one of the reasons. And to dismiss

the shoulder, I'm just not willing to dismiss the shoulder. Well, then they should... I just think, look, he had one great year that makes him no different than Caleb, Jaden. Heck, Justin Herbert's second year was better than Drake's second year, even though Drake was second. You could argue. 38 touchdowns to 31.

I mean, I think fewer interceptions. Either way, team was a career. Yeah, it was a good career. But my point is, he, to me, one great year does not a great quarterback make. Those guys are consistent. And he has yet to prove, like the rest of those guys, that he can be consistently great. Eagle is looking to pick up the pieces after a 20-point loss to the Bears in Chicago. Philly goes two for nine on third down and even bail on a push push.

Here's Suryani on the loss. We all have to own that loss right there. I don't think anybody coached well. I don't think anyone played well. It was a true team loss. And when it's a true team loss, I have to look at myself first. Like we weren't ready to coach. We weren't ready to play.

And that ultimately starts and ends with me. All right. You're a new Eagles fan. I'm not a fan. I picked them to go to the Super Bowl. There's a difference. Because LeBron plays. That's not true either, Rue.

Did that play a small factor psychologically, subconsciously? Who knows? You're a new Eagle supporter. Yeah, sure. And in the supporter welcome kit, Nick Seriani is in there as well. So a new Nick Siriani supporter. I am not that. Did the 20-point loss shake your faith in the Eagles who you now support?

Again, I picked them to go to the Super Bowl. That was, I think, the first NFL game of my life where one team utterly dominated the other, and I am fully convinced marrow deep that if everything about that game were the same and the head coaches were flipped, the result would have been the exact opposite. that if Ben Johnson was coaching a full-strength Eagles team,

and Nick Siriani was given his third-string case Keenham quarterback with that defensive personnel, all of that, that we would have been discussing a 27-7 Eagles win as opposed to a loss. I thought I have never been a Siriani believer. We know that. The numbers are the numbers, his resume is his resume. I still haven't ever been able to fully embrace what the resume is, Because for whatever reason, I haven't.

I thought the sequence when Jalen went out was one of the most mismanaged, it was worse than anything Schottenheimer did, to not have the wherewithal to recognize. Listen, we're going to run Sequin, and then I'm telling Andy Dalton, we're going to take the play clock down to one, and we're going to use a first half timeout. Yeah. And then we're going to run Seaquin again, and during our timeout, I'm going to tell one of our blocking tight ends, if he doesn't get in,

I think your ankle's going to turn. And I think you're going to go on the ground and we're going to buy an, you could have ran one play and bought five minutes to get Jalen Hertz back in that football game. Instead, you not only didn't do that, you allowed a pass play to be called, and you lost control of the entire game in that moment. He doesn't call the defense. He doesn't call the offense. He had a hard time in that game controlling his own personal,

emotions, and it's never felt to me like he and Jaylen are exactly on the same page. That is not typically a recipe for success. For this Eagles team, it has been. They have been able to overcome it in the past, but that was a garish coaching effort

that, yeah, shook my faith a little bit. Well, look, he did not know, as nobody knew if Jalen actually had a concussion. Now, seeing the play, I didn't think that's something where he would have got a concussion, but for all he knew, we might be without Jalen the rest of the game.

And Dalton is obviously an established pro who at one time was a legitimate starter. So you shouldn't be afraid to throw the ball with Andy Dalton. He just made a terrible play. But the bottom line is this. Look, I didn't pick them to win the division. Obviously, I picked the Cowboys. Right now that division is up for grab, so they still have a shot. But my shake is not my faith in them is not.

not shaking as far as them being able to make the playoffs. All right. I still feel like Dallas can win this division. But the fact is, even when the Eagles look good, there are moments and games like this. Yes. Because Jalen Hertz, their star quarterback, is not consistently great. He's situationally great. That's a good take.

That's what he is, right? I mean, the end of the Titans game. He was situation called for it. he was great. Wasn't great throughout the game. And that's why their offense is what it is. And I think what they should do, Nick, now, what I will criticize Siriani or the new OC for,

Sequin is running the football well this year. I know he's always been prone to big runs. You know, so you say, well, yeah, but he had five carries where he got 11 yards total. Then he popped one. That's what he does. He's averaging over five yards of carry this year. He was running the ball well in that game.

and they kind of went away from him. What I think they should do, especially because their defense isn't, thus far, is not as good as it has been. The biggest reason I picked them football-wise, LeBron notwithstanding, was I thought they could have the best defense in the NFL.

That has not been the case. To your point, they've been top five the last two years. They're 16th right now, after facing Jaden Daniels, okay, Cam Ward and Case Kingdom, and their 16th in points allowed. So I think they should run Saquan a lot. That should be their steady diet or the running back

and then call on Jalen to be situationally great when we need it. I buy that. Okay. We have time. Yeah, we are good. We have a winner in the Cowboys' Blame game for their last second loss of the Ravens. Brian Schottenheimer, congratulations.

Come collect your prize, a stern talking to from Jerry Jones. Here's Jerry Ann Chattonheimer. And what happened at the end of the game in Rio. There is no explanation you're satisfied with. None. Let's be sure that we all understand that. They don't have one that they're satisfied with. We made mistakes during that time.

There's no question about it. I didn't do very good in the last 28 seconds. I heard our chance to win that game. And I'll be better. And I'm better than that. I'm better than I performed in the last 28 seconds. Your reaction, bro. smart for Schottenheimer to take the blame one your owner put it on you and it's you take it all instead of the players so now the players are like going to rally around him and we know they like him already so that was fine i think jerry remember how he talked before the game like he was raving about the raven so i actually think inside like me i saw some things it was terrible at the end of the game but i saw some things that would make you be like okay the defense can be me

which is enough if we have this great offense because we talked about they stopped the cab or the Ravens twice on fourth and one once at the goal line and all that. So I think that Schottenheimer taking the blame is smart. And, you know, Jerry, I mean, he's not in trouble. You know, the guy who might be in trouble is Christian Parker, the defensive coordinator who I had high hopes for. The way he covered that last seven seconds was obviously poor. first two games, not a good job. He better improve and better improve fast. And Nick, I think offensively,

because you showed on Monday the video of, what was it, a minute, down to like 28 seconds. I feel like they felt, their approach was, we want to run the time off the clock so that the Ravens have nothing left when we score. I feel like that's why he was taking so much time. you know, we've seen teams do that before. And ironically, the thing that we're trying to avoid

is the thing that killed him, even though they only left seven seconds. Yeah, I mean, I... Someone, my buddy, David Baker, made the exact same point. He's watching the show text us. He's a big NFL better. And he said he thought DAC was intentionally trying to run the countdown. I'm not even saying that was the right thing. Right. And so I...

The fact that you think that might have happened, David thinks that maybe it was, if that's the case, that's awful by the you're down three and at the 20 they were at the 22 yard line and they only had one timeout themselves like a touchdown was not at all a foregone conclusion and so the and the best chance

at getting a touchdown in my opinion would have been for them to be able to for the defense have to guard the run or the pass equally which if there's a minute left and you're running a play, then the defense's like, hey, they can run the ball here, guys. It's second and two, all this. But once you're down to 28 seconds,

and another team is one time out, you're like, all right, they can maybe run it one time. So I think that would have been a mistake. I appreciate that Schottenheimer is taking the blame. The thing we will not know is whether it was him or the special teams coach that made the decision kick it out of the back of the end zone. That, to me, all of this could have been mitigated had they not had the fear of,

something that's literally not happened once this year. Yeah. We're at zero kick return touchdowns. We're at zero kick returns taken inside the 15-yard line. All last season, all 272 games, there were six kick-return touchdowns. I understand that it's like, well, no one's ever, you know, done the seven-second thing. We've only had touchbacks come out to the 35 for three seasons. Like, seven seconds is impossible if the touchback comes back to the 20. Well, you know what I mean?

You can't get far enough in one play that takes less than seven seconds. But at the 35, it's just one play. Like the Chief's 13 seconds thing, their first play got them to right around the 35-yard line. You know what I mean? And so it was, we've seen that done. That was the strategic, there were some errors in real time. live bullets, stack missing the past, them taking too long. The two minutes between touchdown and kickoff when everyone comes together and says kick it out

the back of the end zone, that's one that is a really, really grievous thing. It feels like that's the last time that happens. Like they were the guinea pigs. League-wide? Yeah. Like, remember what happened, Cowboys Ravens from now on? That's the case study. All right.

Raiders chiefs, all of a sudden, is this a must win? Top of the AFC West. That's next on first things first. on FS1 and the Fox Sports Channel on Sirius X-M. Hey, check out the podcast. It's been great, and Gianna's YouTube channel is just flying off the shelves. Gianna's personal channel? No, she works on our channel.

Oh, I thought, because her personal channels got a lot of good videos of her cat. Really? Yeah. Yeah. I didn't know that. Personal channel? Yeah, exactly. It's just all terrible.

Everybody goes search for it. Text me your hand. Check it out. Greg Jennings is here for the most controversial segment in all of sport that grows more literal by the week. It's must win. We're starting in Las Vegas battle of two 3 and O teams, Chiefs Raiders. Nick and Danny Parkins will be in the building. Brew, you are the two-time and reigning must-win champion.

Did you hear that great? Greg didn't know that. Greg, you didn't know that? He didn't know I'm running. He's been dominating. People are on the internet. The only in, and. I'm looking like Will Chamber.

Listen, Bruce dominated this season, must win. I was very lucky to get a win. The only seat that has not gotten the coach and Greg's. Yeah. No, listen, it's not your fault. Well, you coach gets two of those three else, but all right. You've got to pass.

I'm going, baby. Go pass. Bonus take. I'm starting with a bonus take. What a way to start? Must win for Greg. He's representing him and coach. And they haven't even won a, a point,

let alone a whole segment. Not even a point. So he better produce this time. All right. Secondly, must win the real take for the Raiders. Are you for real? Are you for real? Because nobody believes it.

You got two pretty good wins. The Chargers, even though they look like they're not that good. It's a good win. You beat them about two touchdowns. And obviously, you know, last week's win looks good. All right. The Saints. But if you beat the Chiefs, now you have put the league on notice.

All right. Oh, wow, they are for real. And for Kirk Cousins. Oh. We know what Kirk's story is. When the games don't matter, you look great. Oh, yeah. You know, in Atlanta, last year in Atlanta, won the last four games after everybody was no low expectations.

When the expectations are high for Kirk, he has struggled. Expectations this season, nine touch. down's nothing. Now, oh, three and oh, you could be the starter all season. We might make the playoffs. Let's see what he can do. Must win for Kirk, Greg, and the Raiders. Yeah, sorry, bro. And HUBB, I apologize to. Nobody, nobody expected the Raiders to be 3 and 0. Nobody really truly cares that the Raiders are 3 and 0 because it's like, okay, good job, Raiders. What you said, let's see if they're, but the Chiefs, the Chiefs. Now, this is a must-we. because you can't you can't obliterate the Broncos week one then play an overtime game and have a great game and Patrick Holmes is starting to feel and look a little bit more like himself then go to Miami and get a 14 point win and now we're talking about them feeling good looking good they're scary they're oh my gosh here comes the chiefs are they the best team in the national football league and a let down against the Raiders you can't do it you got to win this is a must win for the Raiders I think for the Raiders I think for the Raiders

For the Chiefs. Oh, gosh. He had the sing song. Oh, gosh. It's like coming off the pommel horse. Yeah, you didn't stick the Landy. But you pointed it out. So we got to stick the Landy.

Just fair. Sorry, Greg. This is, I don't know if you guys been following local news in Las Vegas, but we look at Allegiance Stadium as one of the newer stadiums in the league, one of the nicer, newer stadiums in the league, which is why it was so surprising that the race, surprising that the Raiders are asking the taxpayers of the great city of Las Vegas, Nevada, pony up some money because they want to renovate it. They want to add.

Yeah, they're already trying to. Yeah, for real. They want, like, I think, either $150 or $350 million to add some stuff to it. Which is why I would say this is a must win for the taxpayers of Las Vegas, because why would you renovate or pay money to renovate a stadium that you don't own? Because the owners are coming to town this week. What coach has won the most games in this stadium? I mean, he's got to, is Antonio Pierce?

Is it, is it, is it Gruden? Oh, it's Andy Reed. He has the most wins of any coach in this stadium. He only gets played there once a year, twice when they host the Super Bowl. It's a three-way tie? It's a three-way. He can take the lead this week with a win.

You thought you said he's most. He did. He did. He did. He's tied for the most. He did. He's tied. He didn't say tied.

It is, I was showing the graph. after Sunday, he will have the most. Is that Josh McDane? Patrick Mahomes has the second most wins of any quarterback in this stadium. Again, he only gets to play there once a year. And so if the Raiders can't beat the Chiefs this week, win their 3-0, when they have more better vibes, better feelings around this team than they've had in 20-some years,

I don't know when they will. So it's a must win for the Raiders and for the taxpayers of Las Vegas. I like that. like taxpayers, Raiders, Drew gets the points. Next up, Rams in Philadelphia. I didn't fumble at all. Stappert. How did I fumble?

O'N four versus Jalen Hertz, but they haven't been easy. Last game, the Rams are setting up to win it on this field goal, but it's blocked in the Eagles win yet again. Greg, the board is yours. Who is this a must win for it? Rams got to have it. It's a must win for the Rams. It's sitting at one and two.

They're in that NFC. West, we all know how tough that division is. But you're talking about a team that's been turning the ball over. Like, you get a takeaway, you get a takeaway, you get a takeaway, you can't do that with the Eagles. The Eagles don't even get takeaways. They're the only team in the National Football League that haven't generated a takeaway. If you protect the ball and you put up points, you know they can't score in the second

half. That was your dilemma against the Broncos. No issues there. You've got to get it done. Point stop, period. This is a must win for the ring. So must win for Aaron Donald. He didn't come out of retirement to be one and three.

Miles Garrett was so happy to leave Cleveland. Cleveland's two and one. His new team's one and two, but Miles Garrett's not been a part of it. Miles Garrett's been hurt. Aaron Donald came back to make an impact to try to chase another ring. Fall to one and three.

Also, Aaron Donald has been good. Like, he is not part of the problem, but he has not been dominant. and the smarter numbers, how often a guy gets double-teamed and the pressure-forced rate, those numbers show teams as of this moment are not treating him like he's old Aaron Donald.

He's not getting doubled on every play the way he was. So I think an Eagles team that appears to be in a little disarray, an Eagles team that, I think it's fair to say, is yet to play an B-plus or better game this year. Like, again, you said it earlier. The Washington game, the Titans game were ugly wins, but they were wins. Monday night was a disaster. The Eagles come in, not even playing that well and beat you're like, why night?

I was chilling. I was on the beach. I was hanging out. Must win for Aaron Donald. It is a must win for the Rams because they are in a tough division. They already have a loss. Oh, thank you. Oh, gosh.

I know that. But Philadelphia, not in a tough condition. Two starting quarterbacks injured. Cowboys can't stop a nose bleed. They got time. Rams, it's now. Interesting strategy. Just mail it in.

Just tennis. Tennis style, like, oh, I'm down. I'll get your next set. Savvy decision. Just because I respect it, Brew gets the point for the strategy. I'm getting pissed of me. I just love it.

It's gamesmanship. It's gamesmanship, Greg. That was smart. He's like, oh, division. It was sad. Guess who's in the NFC East? The Cowboys, the Giants and the Commanders. Wow, this one's worth three.

Wow. I'm going to come up this blazer. This one's on a platter for somebody. This one is a meatball down the middle of the plate. Patriots at Bills. Bills undefeated. Patriots be fuddled. We don't even know if the coach likes the quarterback.

That's the newest rumor that had to be put out, the fire, whatever it's called. Last time here, week four, wow, Patriots were one and two, bills were the powerhouse, someone said, hmm, we're a destiny tie. Next thing you know, I'm in the Super Bowl. Who is this a must win for?

It's for me, right? I go first. Yeah, you go first, so Greg, this is a great opportunity. And it's worth three points. This is worth three points. It's anybody's ballgame. I would imagine this cost me the fair victory, but I care more about the audience getting cogent analysis

than the silliest win. It's a must win for the Patriots team doctors. Because it would appear there is something of a growing disconnect about the health of your quarterback. Now, is that a media creation? Is that cope of a fan base that can't deal with the fact that he's not playing well? Is it the own quarterback trying to grasp for straws himself? I don't know. Maybe it's all true.

Maybe that hit that happened in the AFC championship game, 10 months ago that didn't knock him out of the game where he practiced everything going into the Super Bowl, didn't miss any of the offseason, and nobody thought he was unhealthy going into week one. Maybe that hit totally altered his ability through the ball. If that's the case, Pat's team doctors, you've got a few days to start making him feel better.

And if not, you've got a few days to develop a plan to start making him feel better. Because if we are going to chalk up Drake May being statistically, one of the two worst quarterbacks in the NFL all season to a pretty run-of-the-mill hit he took back in January, they got to start addressing it because that's, you know what? I'm going to go out on a limb and say he might get hit in this game.

Could get hit throughout the rest of the year. They have to have a plan to deal with it. Must win for the Pats team doctors. Wiles, let me take you on the ride. Love it. Three weeks ago to the day, three weeks ago to the day, after the show, 5.41 p.m. right out there in the hallway, the lobby.

I'm leaving, feeling good, thinking I've done a good job. I see Dusty getting ready to get on his little scooter, had his helmet on, his chin strap, everything. He says to me, Bruce, you feeling okay? He's like, yeah, I'm good. He said, you're sure? You're not under the weather or anything? I was like, no, I'm good.

And he drove off on his little scooter. and I started feeling terrible. I was like my performance this day on the show was so bad that Dusty thought I was sick, that Dusty thought I was playing hurt. It is a must-win world for Drake May because half of the football world is saying he must be hurt. His shoulder must be killing him.

He didn't win for Drake. It's not a tough spot. Tough spot. Tough spot. This ended. It's over. It's a must win for the bills. Oh.

Oh, I like this. Yeah, it's a must. I don't want to hear nothing, Blue. You had your turn. Now it's my turn. It's a must win for the bills. All of that excuses of, oh, I don't know if my shoulder is hurt or I'm injured or I haven't heard. He's not in the training room.

We're not going to find out if your shoulder feeling better this week. If we're the bills, we're going to make everybody continue to question whether or not what's wrong with Jake May because we don't care. And you know what's something else we did? We opened up a new stadium. And one of the reasons why we opened up a new stadium so everybody in here can get them some. We must protect this house. Wow. Three and no after this week.

Must win for the bills. Let's go. Matter of fact, I'm my wilds, if you don't give me this point, you're going to let him scary. Greg, Greg, great. Don't be bullied. Who's three and oh after this week? At home, the bills. At home, I said that.

Three and all. Are they three? I mean, I am right. We must protect this house. Let's go, coach. Again, we are in show biz, part biz, part show. And when you get a story like Brew, but you get the answer I'm looking for from Greg.

Let's go. Greg gets his first picture. Let's go. I don't know. about that. Josh Allen had three turnovers, said he didn't deserve to win the game, but he did.

Now, does he still deserve to be on Brew's Ballot? Let's find out in a week four episode of Brew's Ballot. Interesting week. We're obviously very early. To be honest, at times it was like tough finding

five guys. Really? Although I found myself debating between, like, is the quarterback or the running back more valuable certain teams, all right? So here we go. One of those teams. I went with the quarterbacks though. At number five,

first quarterback, Jerry Goff. Huh. Real? Now, Jamir Gibbs is not only rushing the ball pretty well, but he's doing a lot on the reception. But golf is just, you know who I compare him to, Nick, and unfortunately, this might go over the heads

to some of the younger viewers. He's like, I like Alex English from the NBA. He just puts up great numbers. And the team can't defend. Can't defend, right. Undersated, just, his numbers are ridiculous. Eight touchdowns, he's the only quarterback in the league with more than five. Five touchdowns or more and no interceptions.

116 pass rating. He just puts up numbers year in, year out. All right, at number four, Big Fall for Josh Allen. All right, I mean, four turnovers was? I mean, come on. Team had five, he had three. Yeah, three turnovers. He only has five passing touchdowns this year.

Now, he's got six rushing touchdowns, five of them from two yards or closer, and four of them from one yard. So those aren't easy. I mean, as we saw some guys, the Ravens got shut down, but yeah, I mean, Cook could have scored a few of those. But Josh falls.

Look, he's still having a great year, but he falls. At number three, Nick, you'll be happy. I'm not. Patrick Mahomes. I'm not happy. Wow. That's where he should be. Number three, this is the first time back on Bruce Ballet.

Yeah, first of all. You think he should be higher? Yeah, I think he should be in the top two. I'm curious who is number two. Well, number two, this dude is lighting it up. If you're not a quarterback, you better be his story. Okay, I was, I was checking ass in. All right, you know what?

I'm okay with it now. I thought there was going to be, I thought it was. all quarterbacks. That's why I said Patrick should be top two. Okay. That's Bruce Battle keeps you guess. The running back receiver, you got to be his store. And so far he's been in store. At least eight receptions, 120 plus yards in every game.

He's with Drew Locke and Darnold, who didn't look like himself last week with two interceptions. All right. And that number one. He does look like himself. He does throw the piece. I can see a tie here. No, there's only one person. This is up.

tied with who? The Prince. The Prince. Prince has been good. He had two good games. He was real good last week. The middle game. Can't remember who they were in.

The Broncos. He threw a bad pick in that game. That's fair. But, I mean, these guys, I think, are, golf to me is the only one you can argue with. Yeah. But it's tough. But Purdy is, no, yeah, no argument there.

from anybody. Can I ask Greg a question about JSA? So I forget who it was. It was a former player talking about JSN and basically like doubling. And some of the response was out of the the offense they run makes it so difficult to double him. It was kind of a diss. Yes, correct. It was I think it was a wide receiver. Yeah, it was basically like if he's so great, why is he not getting guarded the way they tried to guard Justin Jefferson

or chase or whatever it is. And then some of the film people were like, well, it's actually that type of offense. It's hard to double him. I'll be honest. I didn't totally understand it. But it is noteworthy to me that I thought Rashid Shaheed would be a big weapon for them. He is not.

He's like 50 yards receiving. Cooper Cups in a different portion of his career. He really is. They're, I don't want to say their only, but everything about their offense runs through him. Every team knows it. And he is still thoroughly unstoppable. How is that happening?

Why is that? They're going to give him all the opportunities. This is very reminiscent of a few years ago when everybody watched Dallas play. New CD Lamb was the driving force of that offense outside of that. They didn't really have a running game, which Seattle, they have an okay running game right now. But it's like you can't.

It's because you continue, you trust that he is going to win. and whether it's Drew Locke, Sam Darnold, they're going to get their best player the ball. And this is one of those things that I watched the National Football League, and I'm like, get him the ball, feed him the ball. Houston with Nico Collins when he's available, feed him the ball. If you have a dominant player,

I don't care how they decide to cover you, whether it's double, whether it's man-to-man against some of the best defenders in all of football, the odds are a good pass with a really good and great receipts. they're going to win. And so that's what they're doing. They're exhausting every bit of who he is and they're winning because of it.

It's been unbelievable. Fresh episode. I'm glad you had him. I was concerned. Next. You shouldn't know. I mean, JSC. I thought Gibbs could have taken golf spot.

And I agree with KW. The prince. The prince could have a prospect of the princess. We were used to. Live from New York. It's a show it's got its eye on all sorts of injuries. all around the NFL. A lot of stuff.

I can't wait to get Greg's take. Greg's take is so good we were going to discuss it in the commercial break. I said, nope, let's save it for the show. He's ready to go. I would have taken almost anything over this last commercial break. What happened? I'm trying to be nice. You guys are on your phone.

Gen Z. Oh, hey, let me like this. I'm trying to like be present. I get it. So you guys are on your phone liking stuff. That's fun. That is your role. But you're typically

be pithy and entertaining. Buddy, I save it for the show. Today, are the Eagles in trouble? They lost to Case Keenham. Jaylen did not like being in the blue tent. Meanwhile, I can't wait to hear Greg's take on this. Should more wide receivers flop? Greg Jennings' take in his stone face.

I don't know what he's going to say. Not the right way to play, but do anything. Look, this is a hard-and-esque move. I don't think that was a flop. That wasn't a flop. That was, we'll discuss. I think they were just tangled. No, I think that was intentional, but I don't find it as morally reprehensible as the, I just got shot.

He should have been caught. The whip in your head back. We call that the SGA. Like, they were tangled up before. On purpose. I think they just. Let me get you up to speed on what's been going on last night, even though we had the day. off in an old hollowed-out Chipotle, an elite committee of analysts, savants, and people who don't

clean up after themselves after someone else makes dinner, fought and toiled and burned the midnight oil to deliver the best segment in all of sports. It's an honor and it's a privilege. It is time now for Nick's Tears. Indeed it is, and I fear that this will be the final edition of Tears this year. that features all 32 teams. Oh, it's time. Because for the first time this season, at the bottom of the tiers,

is the facing elimination tier. Yeah. Titans and Dolphins. Honestly, probably kept your on here too long. I could call it now. You know, but the committee's got rules. You cannot be eliminated without facing elimination. Yeah.

Titans, I, listen, Titans back to back weeks. real chances to win. You know, it took Jalen Hertz with a great drive. Last week, Cam Ward, got him down inside the 10, down five points. I've never been less confident a team's going to score a touchdown than I was on my title. My nephew's over. He's a big Giants fan. He's a little kid.

He doesn't take losing that well. I was not worried at all. I was like, no tantrum's coming here. This isn't going to work. Dolphins have a good offense for the first half. That's what they've done in all three games. and then, but they're deep. They're bad teams.

Speaking of bad teams, might just be bad. Looking for reasons, blaming people, figurines, they might just be bad. The Chargers, set it all offseason.

I don't love the roster. I'm not as in love with the quarterback as some, but the roster as a whole, I didn't love. Hasn't looked good. Mike McDaniel, amazingly, hasn't been quite the same without the fastest receiving court

in the history of football. The bucks have been bad for 12 games in a row now. I picked them to win the division. I picked them win 11 games. I thought they could turn it around. They also have had opportunities in each of their games, their own three, and now they're starting to undraft the free agent quarterback Jalen Daniels. And the Packers.

This is a lot of evidence. They're bad. Not a lot of evidence. They're good. Glimmer of Hope. Cardinals, Jets, Commanders. Commanders, Marriota has played well when he is done. been out there. The defense is going to be, you know, shoddy all year we get that, but the

defense did get a pick six to win that Seahawks game. I guess Jaden might play this week. Seems like a bad idea, but the offense is moving. Meanwhile, Gino is cooking. This is the Gino I thought the Raiders were going to get last year. He's playing. He is playing really well. Sauce Gardner finally won in America. Aaron Glenn's feeling okay. Like, it's glimmer hope there. And the Cardinals, we talk about how great the Niners look. The Cardinals were in that game despite Purdy being great throughout it. They got a week one win, like glimmer of hope for these teams. Sorry, KW. Tough watches. What is that? Oh, I said, yeah, you're right. Thank you. I don't know. I can't believe I did that. Thank you. Good looking out.

Sauce did get a win in America, but he's on a different team. Thank you. I appreciate that, I was like, what did you write to me there? We'll get to the cults in a moment. The tough watches. Patriots, Giants, Browns. I understand the Browns won two in a row. And to be fair, in week two, Deshaun actually did play well.

That was not the story of their week three game. It was like two yards in the air per pass. It was more about what the defense did. They're two and one, give them credit. The Giants, again, they're two and one. That offense under James has looked truly awful in all seven quarters that it's played. And the Patriots have scored the fewest points on a per possession basis of any team this century other than the Zach Wilson. He is.

He is. He is. Right. Thank you. They have 30 points on 29 possessions. And so they're just. There is blood all over the ball. Yeah, yeah, it is true.

I don't know if they're on every possession. You got to whip the blood off. Squint and you see it. You squint and you're like, is that Sauce Gardner on the Colts? It is. They traded two first round picks for him. Listen, Colts are like, hey, we played the Ravens. Then the Chiefs, took the Chiefs to overtime, and then the Texans.

We're one and two. Yeah, we'd like to be two and one. We probably could be, you know, one, one and one almost tied against the Chiefs. You can see the idea. Jonathan Taylor's still excellent. We'll Daniel Jones getting back into form. You can squint and you can see it. The Texans.

O and three, we've been there before. We've been O'N3 under D'Amico. We were O'N3 in 2018 under Bill O'Brien, made the playoffs both years. Willa Anderson has been unbelievable. The rest of the defense has been a little disappointing, if I'm being totally honest. And the Falcons, pinnics looked great.

Now, we'll see if he can keep that up, or if that was a Packers thing. We know Bejohn's great. Drake London, the best 5040 receiver in league history? Yeah. Yeah, I mean, like the, no, it's not 5.0, but I, but I mean, it doesn't matter. He's seemingly unguarded.

I thought they were going to have no pass rush at all. They've manufactured one this year. And so you can, you can see how these teams could be really good. They're manufactured it against the Packers. Yeah, that is true. That's fair. I feel like this one, KW. Keeping my eye on it.

Love it. Yes, I agree with these besides the Steelers. Panthers, Saints, Steelers. The two league leaders in passing yards are Tyler Shuck and Bryce Young. Yeah. Keeping my eye on it. Yeah. Aaron Rogers slinging it all over the field last week.

Keeping my eye on it. Again, I'm not saying I'm ready to believe in it. No, keep eye on it. But I'm keeping my eye on these teams. The first two are one and two, but he's not. could be two and one, and that division, seven wins could win the NFC South. And the Steelers right now are in first place in the AFC North. Now, it's a four-way tie, but they oddly have the tiebreaker.

Keep my eye on it. KW, what is this? What is it? It says it on the screen. Tears? Yes, that's what it is. What is it not? It's not the standings.

It's not the standings. Don't be like, well, this team, that's that. It's not the standings. They're both 3 and 0. I get it. And that's why they're above half the league. But it's not the same. The Raiders are thrilled about where they're at.

And Kurt Cousins is throwing three touchdowns in every game they've played. And Brock Bowers is about that maybe break the all-time record for targets in the game against the Chiefs this coming weekend. I get that. And Brian Flores is just casino blitzing, like old-school madden, every play, and it's working. Is it sustainable? I don't know. Did the Vikings get worse at quarterback when Kyler came back?

Maybe. But so I'm not ready to fully buy in. But 3 and O is not nothing, even though it's not the standings. They're above average teams. Are they great teams on this? Reason for concern. Eagles, Lions Cowboys. Eagles is they haven't played in.

When's the last time we came on here like, man, the Eagles looked great in all four quarters of that game? It might be the Super Bowl. It honestly, like, now they've won. They're in that same stretch. They're, what would it be, 13 and 8? So they win a lot. But this year, they're yet to play a great start-to-finish game. They're yet to even, you could argue, play a good start-to-finish game.

And the defense has been disappointed. Even in the Super Bowl, that fourth quarter. You know, like, good points. Yeah. The, I think it's on the board. The Lions this year don't win a single game. they don't score 30 points. And I think that's how much trouble that defense could be in.

And for the Cowboys, yeah, there's, oh, the offense is cooking now, and the week one's far behind. You're still one and two with really every opportunity to have won in week three, and you know showed in week one, all reason for concern. You can see the vision. The Graham's vision is very easy to understand. have a bunch of star players and have them be awesome. Like you know what they, but they need those star players there.

Miles Garrett's got to come back. Pook and Nakua, which is a ominous injury because McVeigh seems frustrated by it. You see what it is. The Bears vision is coming into focus all of a sudden where it's like, wait a minute. The defense, which after week one, we thought was just awful, back-to-back weeks has played excellent. Now, the first of those weeks, 500 flights were canceled out of O'Hare, so who knows what that means. This past week, though, that defense was great. And Ben Johnson is, I think, this week going to try to win with his third different quarterback.

He's already one with Caleb, one with Keen. I mean, I think Baygent might start. And they're spraying the ball all over the field, see the vision. Strong September's, four two-and-one teams, four teams all of whom believe we are going to be in the playoffs, and four teams all of whom believe, you know what? We like what we do on both sides of the ball, whether they should or shouldn't. The Bengals feel like the defense. is better. The Ravens always feel good about both sides of the ball. The Jags defense,

one of the most underrated, I think, in the league, and the Prince is the Prince. And the Broncos are like, Devens is always good. And then when the defense isn't good, that oddly actually makes our quarterback good, because it means we're losing. Then he gets good. Great September is, I think, for all three of these, four of these teams. Top to bottom, excellent. And this is where I'm going to take a line at some of the Bill's narrative, which is really always just Josh Allen, propaganda-ish. They have a great defense. line. Not a good defensive line right now, a great defensive line. Greg Rousseau has been as impactful as any defensive player in the league. Their second round pick, Dion from a couple years ago or this

year, Dion Walker's been excellent. We know Ed Oliver's a great player. It's not a perfect team. The back end can get got, but to offset that you have the pass rush, they have a great O line, they have a great running back, they have a great quarterback. They can win a game against a supposedly good team when they turn the ball over five times. Seahawks, We talked about them last week. They were due to lose a game. I'm not going to kill him for one bad defensive performance. They had won 12 in a row.

Deep in their bags, Purdy and Shanahan. Shanahan's scheming it up. Purdy's throwing the jumpman pass on the sideline. They were in a spot, brew, where they could have taken knees to win a game. They're calling passes to George Kettle. Like they are, Shanahan's having fun. Purdy's playing great. But atop them, once again, the standard.

Best team in the NFL, with the best player in the NFL, and the best coach in the NFL. That's only going to get better as the year goes on. They are, once again, they're the league leaders in yardage differential. Mahomes, according to PFF, which I usually don't like, but this one I did, has been perfect on deep passes. The defense is, you know, grounding in the form, and Kenneth Walker is best running back in the league. It's week for tears.

Greg? Look, I always love, I'm with Brewing. He says this all the time. I always love the names of the tiers. Very fitting. It's hard for me to accept not the name, but the Packers just sitting so low. I almost wanted to talk about the Packers.

I'm not. We'll see what that reinforcement. It's a little bit of a bonus tape. We'll see what that offensive line. They might just be bad. How much higher? One tank. We'll.

Yeah, just flip with the Jets because they barely beat. Well, I mean, they did beat the Jets. They probably better. They did beat the Jets. So, I mean, it's just hard for my eyes to accept that they're at. We'll see what the offensive line looks like. But the team that want to talk about, you kind of alluded to them. It's the Colts.

You believe in the Colts? Well, of course. Look, of course. I'm with Daniel. Now, I'm not saying this is not a flawed team. They definitely have, defensively, they have a lot of work to do. What if they added Salskart? You know what?

We should get it. I would give up two first-round-trakes-win. Got it. But when I look at the teams that you have them on the tier with, like they're one and two. The Houston Texans are on three. They haven't won. I said we.

They just beat them. The Falcons had a great showing against the Packers, who you have down at the bottom. That's their singular win. And when you look at the coach, you talked about them going to Arrowhead and playing them to a tie almost. losing the game, obviously, and then week one, we saw what happened.

But then you start to look at the rest of their schedule, and it's like, okay, this team actually can figure it out, and they have time to figure it out with that offense, without Alec Pierce, with understanding who they are in terms of running the football. And if we put up their schedule in these offenses that they're about to get ready to play, these are winnable games. And I know I'm projecting, but this team, this is not a. totally bad team. They just had some bad showings, but is it, what would you want?

If the concern about the cults is a bad defense, these would be the offenses you want to go. Yes, 100%. And so you have an opportunity to kind of reinsure who you are defensively and solidify who you want to be offensively. And then get into the teeth in the season. This team, I believe they're going to be competing for a playoff spot for sure. So I think those are great takes, which is why in three or four weeks, they might be higher up the tiers. It is rich tapestry.

Yeah, but I still don't take. It's like a time capsule. It's a time. We bury it in the back of the studio. Exactly. This piece of paper gets buried in the back of the stage. People are going to pull it up in 100 years. What was going on?

Week four. Yeah. As Greg said, titles always excellent. Another great showing by Maxwell. Shout out to him. My bad. I always get it mixed up. I knew it was an M.

Maxwell was very. I knew it was an issue. Sorry, Marshall. Maxwell Marshall is not the same thing. I get it mixed up. The Bengals down. The Bengals down just one tier. I'm surprised.

You're starting to like the Bengals. The defense, not quite as good as I thought it was. We saw a bad Tampa Bay team put 27 on them. And they held the Titans, but Titans aren't very good. And last week. Steelers killed. Yeah, I mean, a Steelers team that scored three points against the hapless, sorry, well, it's Patriots. All right.

So they, I mean, you give up 20, 30 points to the Steelers. That's not good. Burrow is playing well. I don't feel like he's been as dynamic as, you know, sometimes in the past, but he's playing solid. But they got no run game at all. They're one of the worst run teams. Which is surprising because Chase Brown's good player.

Yeah, and you have to worry about the past so much, but they have one rushing TD all year. So I still have them as a player, that second best team in that division, but I would move them down just. Yeah, I mean, if it's move them down, and I think that's defensible. I also feel like, man, if Burrow just doesn't make,

I thought it was a really bad mistake by him. Like to, because it wasn't, it's one thing when a quarterback fumbles because he just gets blindsided or somebody swipes the ball, out of his hands. He was being wrapped up and he could have just taken the L, so to speak. He was fighting to make a play and that's how he lost it. Point is, they very easily could be sitting here 3 and O. And meanwhile, the other three teams on the tier, their losses are maybe not the Ravens,

but the Jags and the Broncos are more dramatic losses, so to speak. Go ahead, kid. Now look, there's a bit of a viral moment. a few weeks ago with Danny Parkins talking about 500 flights. Oh, yeah. We're canceled. We're canceled.

And speaking of like viral. Moments and flights? Yeah, there's a woman on a flight a few years ago at this point. She comes up to the front and she points in the back and she says, that's not real. I don't know if you've ever seen this. It's a viral meme about a plane.

That's what I feel a little bit about the Viking. Because all the Viking stats might not be real, like the lady on the plane, because so many flights were canceled out of O'Hare and that game was so low scoring. So maybe that skews everything. That being said, and we know defense fluctuates, Brian Flores' defense is out here balling. So here's the Vikings defense this season. Their first and everything second in points. First in sacks, completion percentage. But again, it was one really bad game and game against your Packers.

Defense fast starts. You start 3 and 0 with under 14 points allowed in the last five years. Well, there's those Vikings again. Different quarterback, same defensive coordinator. And that Vikings team finished 14 and 3. And they've just been good against the divisions. I know we remember them being in the last place. They weren't in last place last year.

Very controversial. Best record division game since 2024. It's the Texans at 10.3. The bill is at 9 and 3. and the Vikings at 10 to 4, and they've already beaten the Packers and the Bears. So I know it's 3 and 0, and it's a little bit, I know you think it's like the lady on the plane.

No, it's not. No, I do think the defense is real. The problem is I also think the offense is real. And here's their offensive numbers, you know, which kind of counteract the defensive numbers. It showed me a lot of first. I'm showing you a lot of last. I know, but it may be.

And the one spot where they're high in points comes from that pack. where the defense set them up three times on short fields. And so I, listen, it's early for Kyler, but five quarters into his Vikings tenure, I haven't been overwhelmed. And that's before the new GTA comes out. So I'm just a little, I'm a little concerned about the Vikings offensive. And Justin Jefferson banged up now.

Now they have Jordan Addison, we'll see. Dolphins next. What? Yeah, that doesn't get right. Vikings dolphins next. No, they should... Hawkins look pretty good because of the cheap. That's it, okay, man.

It's fine. How worried should Patriots fans be about Drake May? Well, very. Maybe more than very. My name is Siaiaa, and I live in the most beautiful place on earth. Seven months ago, I blew up my life, and a lot has shifted since then. Everyone is moving forward. I'm still working on that.

And that's me. Welcome to Ice Cove Where are the Penguins? That's Antarctica We're the other one North of North Stream all episodes Available on CBCJM

I'm gonna get to it Do you have any game circle On your calendar this season? All of them All of them circle It's something that's double circle too though Chris Haynes

Doing a great job with Jalen Brown Every game is circled The Celtics game, perhaps, November 10th in Philly, January 21st in Boston, maybe double circle. Perhaps. What are your expectations for Jalen this year, bro? I think he's, look, I love Jalen. I think he's going to be great. I just think it's a question of, I still am intrigued by how they're going to use everybody.

Like who's going to kind of take a step back? We know he's got a lot to prove individually. So does Maxie? No. No. I don't think he takes. I think it's, I assume it's LeBron. LeBron is best built to and he showed he could do it in L.A.

And be very effective. So I think LeBron should. But it's weird though, because LeBron's also far and away their best passer. Right. And that could be, but that could, if his scoring is, if he's at 18 points and like LeBron's scoring dropping, but his like his time with the ball on his hand raising is, I think, their best best. Just like he put, I don't even know if he asked that to have the, I think just like he played in

LA. It wouldn't work. I don't know how much he loved. Yeah, that's the question. How much he loved that. That's the question. Just a handful. Like, LeBron, can you go for 40 tonight? The big games. Regular Wednesdays, no. But every case on Saturday nights, yeah, I'll go for 40.

All right, back to the NFL. Drake's shoulder might be shouldering some of the blame. He won't say there's a problem with the shoulder. Also, won't say, it's totally fine. Here's Ravel on if he's aware of anything shoulder-related and Drake. Not to my knowledge, anything that would have put him on the injury report or any sort of treatment.

You know, I think that has anything to do with executing and playing better football and realizing that that's the biggest thing that contributes to winning. Is there still something that's lingering? Anytime I'm out there and I'm, you know, dressing the uniform on the field, I'm going to play 100% and give it my all. So that's kind of what I'm to say. Is it something that you're managing every day? I mean, any time that you come out from a game and you're sore,

you're going to, you know, everybody's dealing with, you know, things from the game. So I wouldn't say that it's anything in particular. I think just getting back out there and realizing it's getting ready for this week of practice. And just moments ago at his press conference, he said his shoulder doesn't affect the way he throws the football and, quote, doesn't affect my decision making. Okay. I just added that in the last half hour. Greg, your reaction to that sound and this sort of new season.

info from Drake. So I'll start with Drake as a player I don't want to hear that. I don't want to hear you giving excuses that are reasons

if you will of why somebody might suspect you're playing at this level. If you are injured and you walk into the building, you walk into the building, everybody knows you're injured, you're going to be on the injury report, you're going to be

in the training room, you're going to be getting treatment. If you are hurt, it is now on, and people may know, may not know, it is then on you to either get treatment that everybody know, and then you would end up eventually being placed on the injury report still. None of these things are happening. And so if that's not happening, I don't really want to hear you talking about any injury. If we're playing in the game, Wiles, and we're getting ready to play, and you're looking at me as a teammate,

and you're like, great, you good, you good? And I'm like, yeah, yeah, I'm good. What you mean? I'm good. But then the next day, you get, you get, we've done playing the game the next day, I hear you on the radio, or you hear me on the radio, and I'm like, I mean, it's not a whole lot going on,

but I mean, I kind of feel my ankle from time to time, you know. I thought I asked you, are you okay? This is Vrable. Like, he's going to always check in. It's the quarterback of your football team. And so when I think about what he's doing and what he's saying, it's just this mind. It's like mental for him right now.

And when I watch the film and I really want to put together some things, and I didn't do that today, but I will. A lot of this was showing up last year, and we overlooked it. And I'm not going to even say we. I did because he was having so much success. But I started looking at a lot of his dropbacks and like second window throws and whole shots, just some of the mistakes that we've seen this year or are alarming to us.

And the same things showed up on tape last year. He just had so much success. and dare I say wilds and I have not been on board with this Oh don't say it Greg Greg not you Don't do it The opponents were drastically different

And I'm not You know I have not subscribed to any of that talk And watching the tape I'm like Was it the fact that They were playing Like some of the worst teams And I gave him a pass

Because he was young and he was developing And he was having success And you've got to start someone Can I, the opponent's thing, look, I don't want to have to, like, fight out of the corner of the opponents. The teams were terrible. The defense, the past defenses were not always terrible. A lot of the, and it led to a lot of wins, and of course it's complimentary. But to me, Drake played the top six past defenses six times.

He played the bills twice. So against the bills, they were. The bills were averaging 157, giving up 157 yards. Drake threw for 273 one game. The Vikings didn't play. The Browns were given up 167 yards. Or 157. 167 for the Browns.

He threw for 282. The Saints 179. He threw for 261. The Chargers 179. This is the playoff game he played poorly. He threw for 268. Texans 183, his horrible game, he threw for 179 and three touchdowns. And then the Broncos were 187, but he only threw for 86.

And God knows how many flights were canceled out of Denver that day. So, like, the wins, I go like the teams were bad. And that's why he was winning. But it's not the past defenses weren't all bad. He was thriving against all year against good pass events. He was thriving. So, okay. I mean, those, those, I, as you guys said to me when I mentioned offhandedly the other day,

like the bills had the number one past defense last year. And you guys were like, did they really, though? Or was it that teams could run on them? So they, they, that when you say last year's saints are on that list, that doesn't strike me as like a defense that was striking fear in the heart of people. I did the top six. But I also not. But I'm also not that interested in.

I'm also KW. I'm also not that interested KW. I'm also not that interested KW and like you aren't. Relitigating last year. I don't think it's that relevant. I think what's relevant is this is obviously a player with a lot of talent. I saw that in high school. You saw that in college.

You saw that where he was drafted. It is a player who has had a lot of in a short term. And can we stay here a little longer, Christina, because a lot of success in this league is relatively for his first two years. You know, made a Super Bowl, almost won an MVP. And now, I felt you started to see some cracks during the run to the Super Bowl. And whatever cracks did or didn't exist in the run to the Super Bowl, something has happened during this year where it is not, oh, okay,

he's not quite the player he was last year. There's a little schedule, a little regression, whatever it is. He has been, by any metric, truly one of the three worst quarterbacks in the sport. and I am having an about face almost. I do think he's hurt. I think his feelings are hurt and I think his confidence is hurt. And I think he is right now mentally

a shell of where he was at last year and it shows up on every snack. So I agree with that. I think and I think that the head coach is acutely aware of his quarterback, which is why I take, it seriously that the head coach is very adamant. The quarterback is not physically injured right now.

To why I haven't put him on the injury report. But Vrable has always coached him up in almost a parental way on the sideline in some of that stuff. And I think we are seeing that maybe Vrable's EQ brew knew last year, hey man, I've got to make sure this guy stays emotionally level or centered or whatever it is because he can get down on himself. Yes. And it could spiral. And that's what I think's happening.

I think right now Drake May is playing likely the worst football he's ever played in his entire life. And it's the hardest it's ever been. And there's the most scrutiny. And he doesn't know how to pull himself out of it. And that's how, despite the fact that we have seen him throw 40-yard bombs in the rain, there's a little blood on a football and it flips out of his hands. Like that to me is the story, not a hit he took in the AFC. championship game 10 months ago.

Yeah, I agree with you. I definitely don't think he's physically hurt. I do think he's lacking confidence. And you said in the first hour, you think this whole, I won't fully just dispel the notion that my shoulders hurt. If he, you said he's kind of

leaving that out there, maybe there's a possible excuse. I think that's a terrible sign. If that indeed is true, and I hope he's not doing that, I think that's a terrible sign. And I would, I and ask you, Greg, I would imagine that does not play well in the locker room. If you think a guy's kind of half stepping on, you know, leaving it out there, yeah, I might be hurt, you know, for why he's playing poorly.

I would think the players, particularly receivers, might be bothered by that or players in general. Yeah, there's a lot of players in the locker room that could have a feeling about their body or whatever. that this, it wouldn't be this major of a deal. The quarterback, however, whether his confidence is high or low, it trickles down through every, on defense, because now defensively they feel like, well, we got to show up because he's not, I don't think Drake is the same type of player.

I don't think he's mentally locked in. If he's acting like this and he's down on himself, like, and no one can get him, the most damning thing that I see, when we play this footage is when I see Vrabo in the middle of a game taking two arms

and going over to his quarterback and almost I just, are you good? We got you. I just need you to put it together. You're okay. It's almost like he's trying any and everything he can

to encourage the fact that you have, we believe in you. I need you to believe that it's still in there and show us on the field. And for Brable to put his arms on that terribly injured shoulder. Exactly. I mean, maybe that might be why.

Maybe that's what messed it off. Maybe that's the, maybe Brable did it. Yeah, maybe Brable caused it. The thing that I'm worried about Greg, and there's two ways. It's almost better if it gets worse, believe or not, if this, like, media storm gets worse. And he's just, like, an injured fighter. Like, hey, man, start throwing the ball. because when you watch the games,

and I don't know if you've seen this, there's a mix of lack of confidence where he needs to see it. He doesn't want to make a mistake. And then... Too much. I'm going to run and blindly throw like that. I'm like, what are you doing?

And I don't know, I told somebody, maybe Parkins upstairs. I was like, it reminds me of like a guy with like a tank top, a muscular guy with a tank top in the club. I'm like really trying to show off. I'm like, buddy, you've got to, got too much confidence and not enough

at the same time. And you're making it awkward for everybody. So I don't know. I would like him to care less and really start slinging it against the bills. But if he's like, I'm very scared, I'm like, I can't have one more interception than it's, I don't know what happens. We get Mack Jones.

Yeah, well, I think Nick is, I think you're spot on about his mentality being hurt, his confidence, being bruised, everything, because it's showing up in his plate. Like, his footwork his bad right now, all of it. And it's like this is not totally what we saw last year, maybe because they were having success,

and he was having success, and he just simply had confidence. Listen, it's also why this is, as much as I love the NBA, particularly playoff basketball, it's why professional football is the world's greatest sport, is because, and why the guys who consistently thrive at the highest level year after year deserve so much, respects. Because I truly believe KW.

If he doesn't make that one throw at the end of the Seattle game, everything could be different right now. It's why I don't think it's injury related. Because I think that if he just doesn't make that bad throw and they kick a field goal and they beat Drew Locke in overtime and it's like, okay. Everything. And then I feel like we would potentially be seeing a different player entirely. But that did happen.

he didn't recover from it well the following game even though they won and then week three went as poorly as it can go and now we're here and now he's having to answer questions about nonsense reports about he and his coach not liking him potentially reports about an injury this that he's doing

also by the way young quarterbacks don't take the 200 grand a year to do the weekly radio interview even as an old radio guy it's not worth it watch what happens when we smack the bills around in their building though Did it last year at one and two. Buckle up. More first things first.

If you don't, it's tough. Start Saturday, strong big noon kickoff live from Minneapolis, 10 a.m. Eastern. Then you get Michigan, Minnesota. Big noon Saturday on Fox, all part of Fox tober Fest. One of my favorite fests. Now entering the no bull zone, sponsored by Credible. Great rates, none of the bowl. This segment actually has quite a lot of bull.

Broncos wide receiver, Pat Bryant, sold a DPI that wiped out. an interception, basically won the game for Denver. Here he was admitting to a flop. It was a little pass interference. I did sell it just enough, you know what I'm saying, to get the flag. But he definitely gave me a little nudge that I felt. And I felt like I couldn't get the ball,

so it was either the ball or the call. Once they give you that push, it's either a legal contact or pass interference. I know that's the biggest thing. Going across social media right now, I can't even open my social media without seeing the video. But, I mean, it's something that a lot of, of people do in this league, so kind of

use it to my advantage. Okay, Greg, the question is, is wide receiver flopping a savvy strategy? I hate that I'm even about to admit this. I love this. Yes, it is a savvy strategy,

and I hate it, and they need to nip it immediately. I'm going to go personal. I never one time I played 10 years. I don't know how many routes I ever run, ran. Not one time running any route against any DB did I ever think if I can't get this ball, oh shoot, let me, let me flop. Not, it was not even a fathom of it. I couldn't even

imagine myself even fathoming that thought up and to see guys doing it now. Like, I would have no problem if guys did it in what we saw with CD Lamb. Like, it's a, it possibly can be a You got to grab a guy, not let them pick it. Cool. Okay, whatever. I don't think CD was trying to get a call. No, I don't. I think it was a bad call.

I think CD was trying to stop an intercession. He was playing defense and then got like the double bonus out of it. Exactly. See, he was like, you're not getting it. And then he got lucky that he got the call. Again, I don't know that. That's what happened on that one. That's what I was like, I can't let you get both hands up on this.

No. But for me, it's, okay, if you're going to call, if you are a, a ref and you throw that flag you can call the defensive pass interference. There needs to be somebody that calls down. The eye in the sky. The eye in the sky that says, you know what? That's a flop. That's a penalty. It needs to become a penalty

immediately. A penalty? And then they're offsetting penalties and you replay the down. Because you cannot start letting receivers flop. You can't do it. Yeah, I mean, it never crossed my mind either. in the high school after that's a lot of flopping. We was built different. Exactly.

No, I agree with you. It is savvy. I'm not mad at the guy from Denver. You won the game. Exactly. I'm not mad at him at all, but I agree. The league needs to be like,

all right, we got to stop this. I don't even remember seeing much flopping by receivers in the past. So they got to cut it out right now and it'll stop because, look, it's clearly. that it will stop, bro. Oh, if they start penalizing it, it's not a penalty.

No, but if they start penalizing it. So really quick, every week there is a point of emphasis in terms of what the refs are going to focus on for that week. This needs to become, it needs to be implemented, but then this needs to become a point of emphasis. We got to watch this flop and stuff, and we can't allow these receivers to start doing this, or we're going to have a problem.

So listen, I agree entirely, and I think across sports, there should be a very punitive on the book's penalty for acting for attempted tricking trickeration of the record. We talked about it during the World Cup that that actually does exist in soccer. You can get a card for simulation. That the NBA put it on the books about a flopping fine, and that in theory that it could be an offensive foul, but they never legislated it. it turns people off entirely. Nobody likes it.

So I agree with that. They're not going to add a rule midseason. They might make a point of emphasis on. I also think, right, I also think pass interference as a whole needs to be looked at in how it is legislated. It's the most punitive penalty in the game. we far too often nowadays see that one of the most effective plays for certain teams are underthrown deep balls. Balls that a DV is in perfect position for if it's a good pass, but it's underthrown,

and therefore you're just, you know, you're just screwed. I do think there should be a judgment call on pass interference that's a spot foul and pass interference that's a five-yard penalty like illegal contact. I think that would be good. Or even 15. Or 15. Like something. There are different grades of it.

And last but not least, I absolutely think that there should be, if we can find guys for names on eye black and socks, you certainly should be able to find guys for in-game flopping. And I think there is, Jalen Hertz had to go to the tent because I think he was selling that call by staying on the ground long. Like I didn't blame him for staying. on the ground long, but I thought he was trying, he didn't know the flag had come out.

He's like, I'm going to stay on the ground a little bit longer. That's savvy, but the tax on that is you got to go to the tent. Yeah, I thought he was trying to fix his helmet. Okay, maybe. But I think that's why they sent him to the tent was because he was on the ground so long. You're right.

There needs to be a version of that for the flopping receiver. Like, there's a tax associated with him. Live from New York, first things first overtime. Danny Parkin's looking great. Thanks. Today, are we confident the Cowboys? We're going to bounce back against the Texans.

Very tough Texas matchup. Meanwhile, a special Wednesday edition of Top 10 Tuesday. Oh, featuring the Bears Locker Room. My goodness. Sell tickets for that, why aren't we? I'd buy them. I would, too. And finally, I would.

Oh, you would not. I would stream. I would stream it. I would just watch it the whole day. Just the Bears' locker room doing pump-up speeches. And, of course, cool stats. What a day today. Chris Versa, Kevin Wilde, Nick Wright, and Danny Parkins.

Wait until you see him. Watch this. Boom, I told you. That's a great outfit. Thank you. Graeme pink. Parkins, you took the whole team golfing yesterday. Well, yeah, the OT producers.

That's great. What a guy. I mean, we had some fun, and, I'll be honest, I played really well. Did you really? Did he win? I did win, and I felt a little bit badly about taking money off of Robbie. But I, yeah, no, I know, I know. I can't gamble. I didn't.

I gamble with the regulation. You know what? And I put the money on the wall. It's taped on the wall. I don't ever put it in my eye. You got to be like, Mike, you got to be like Brable talking about Gregnachio.

Also, I did not do that. Also, I got to tell you, kind of, you know, the main O.T producer, Christina Napoli, is in Los Angeles. I know. You just wait for her to lead down so you take everyone else golf in there?

She was in. Some believe. All the season, Bidde. I'm sorry. I know you're out. I know you're out of the country. Oh, are you gone? Oh, my goodness.

I have front-nows tickets to the Yankees game. You kidding. You're going to sound? Happy accident. Get me back. Come next time. He's got those next season tickets. All right.

We are headed back to Chicago where the Bears had a 20-point victory behind Case Keenham. And, of course, Ben Johnson's brilliance. Here's Ben Johnson. We want to protect Soldier Field as much as we can. And, you know, our guys think about that a lot. But we got to get them something to be excited about. And so to see our offense take the field to start the game and go down to score a touchdown, I thought that that got the spark going.

You know, our special teams unit played really well throughout the game. And then defensively getting some key stops, the takeaways. You certainly could feel the crowd come alive every time a big play was had. What did Ben Johnson and the Bears prove? to you, Danny. Quite simply that Ben Johnson is one of the best coaches in football already, and he's not here to make friends. Like, I, what I am about to tell you guys, I am just positing it.

It is a theory. I have not texted and asked Ben Johnson about this. He has not said it. No one has reported on this. Great. Great tease. But he is on the record, and he said it at a press conference last year, and he said it on this show last year.

He does not like the tush push. He really dislikes it. Remember we talked about it? He loves explosive plays. He's not a fan of the tush push. I personally believe, and this is what I cannot report with any kind, I personally believe that the Case Keenum, QB sneak, was a signal to Nick Siriani that you can quarterback sneak without the tush push.

This is a 38-year-old quarterback who has not had a rushing touchdown since 2019. And he runs both guards away from the play. Mike Mart's play from the year 2000. The tackles, like, where are the guards going? He sneaks right between him. Outsmarting them a little bit. I'd be scared to do that. Very smart play.

It is a crazy smart play. It is a crazy smart play. And I just, I believe it that he put that in the game plan this week because he's going up against the guy that does the tush push. And he thinks the tush push is a little bit Bush League. I just believe that from Ben Johnson. But that may be. Jalen scored on a race.

regular QB sneak. No, no, I'm not saying it was because of anything that happened in the game. I think it was I saw the Eagles on the schedule, and I want to show that there's other ways to do these QB sneaks and all of that. I just, he, the, the, the mat with floor stuff last year. Like, he, he takes notes. He's willing to, oh, you're on the McVeigh tree, you're on the Shanahan tree. I'm not part of that crew.

I'm kind of an outsider here. I just, I think he has, we know he has an ego and an aggressiveness. And I really do think that he is operating at the highest level of the sport. I'm going to show you guys one more play. And this is not about ego or twisting the knife. But I've never seen this in the NFL. Maybe you guys have. This is on their third touchdown drive of the game.

It's a Kyle Munung guy six-yard run to the left on third and one. And you're like, all right, what's going on? The Bears run to the right more than any team in football behind Darnel Wright, the All-Pro right tackle, and Jonah Jackson. If we show the All-22 the behind angle of this, this is a run to the left. That is their right tackle and right guard lining up at left tackle and left guard. That is very, very unique. I have never seen it in college, but I have never seen that in the NFL.

I know you're allowed to do that. I missed it. This was pointed out on Twitter. I retweeted the guy's account. I apologize for not giving them a shout out now. So that is very unique and fancy. and I think smart. Like, that is objectively smart in that instance.

And I'm certain, I can't say I'm certain. My guess is the Eagles in real time didn't realize. You know what I mean? What was like, wait, left tackles is the right tackle, right type is the left tackle. So I just, I think he is operating at the Kyle Shanahan, Sean McVeigh level of offense. They average 27 points per game and 375 yards of offense under Ben Johnson. against the Eagles of Vic Fangio top five defense on paper.

They scored 27 points and had exactly 375 yards and they did it with Case Keenham. He is just a tier one elite head coach. He's a great coach. This was a great performance. He proved nothing. I thought that case was ironclad. I was glad.

Case Keenum. The week before they had three points with their superstar quarterback. Did you not hear about the flood? out of O'Hare and the rain? I mean, my goodness, he's not the first coach to win a game with a backup quarterback.

Case Keenom is three and one in his last four games as a start. Oh, my God. He's a smart backup. All right? What did David Blow prove against a better defense, Seattle, with Marcus Marriota playing quarterback for the commanders? I mean, seriously, Ben Johnson's great.

Don't get me wrong, but this proved nothing. David Blow against the Seahawks, who are They were on a winning streak that they were going to history. Better defense than Johnson-Faced. I'm sorry, David Blow's sample size. I'm not saying he's as good as been judges.

I'm saying this game proved nothing. He did a good job. So I knew he was a good coach and play caller, but this doesn't lift him to another level. Great point. Do it for a few more games and we'll see. A few more. So, well, hold on.

I mean, listen, I do things. think one of, for me, he did not prove this as far as you could win this case in court, but he did prove it for me in this one game. I will think for the rest of their, I would be stunned if this, my opinion on this changes at any point the rest of their coaching careers. I'd rather have him than Nick Siriani. That to me, that, like, I, I know, I know you're, I just said me. That's why I'm not.

But everyone's like, yeah, obvious. No, I, seen. Sirianni's got a great record. And he has had more success up to this point of his head coaching career than Siriani had up to that point of his coaching career. Again, it's very early, and will Siriani had massive success in the ensuing years. But it's not like he's behind. First year, would they win 11?

Got to the playoffs? Got to the playoffs and lost playoff game. That's what I'm saying. Same. So, again, he's not like behind the pace, is my point there. I understand, like, I'm not saying, that's why I said I can't prove it in court, KW. I'm not trying to make you believe it. I'm just saying for me personally, I watched this game and I said,

if you flip-flop the head coaches, the Eagles blow the Bears out. If Ben Johnson got the Eagles personnel for that night, and Nick Siriani got Case Keenham and the Bears personnel for that night, I think we have the exact opposite result. Instead, the Bears dominated the Eagles. So that, there is that. The other piece of it that we have to, be fair on is head coach of the whole team.

It's not, yeah, score all those points, but if the defense is going to be terrible, this is now two weeks in a row. Granted, one of them was with 500 flights canceled out of O'Hare. Now you're ready to talk to Sallon. No, no, but I'm actually not ready to talk to Den Salon. I'm talking about Ben Johnson. You're the head coach of the whole team,

and for the second straight week, your team's defense allowed single-digit points. That is, you know, that to me, that is significant, Not so much the Vikings games that Vikings offense struggled against everybody on a yards basis and everything. But the Eagles offense, while herky jerky has been getting into the mid-20s every week, either of the previous two weeks. So that to me is noteworthy. And I, my big question on Ben Johnson is, is his massive ego going to be the X factor that propels him?

Or a stumbling block. Because what you just showed, let's just assume you're correct. Yeah. That he's like, I'm going to show the reverse tush push. That's probably not time well spent. We saw in the playoff game when it was, whatever, freezing cold. And he's like, I'm going to throw the ball. I didn't take into account the weather.

He wants to win his way. And so, correct. But I also think that that, but then the next second play, Danny, showed is, you know, a little too cool for school, but objectively smart and was effective and really good. I don't know if the team seems to be buying into the cult of personality. Like the locker room, the locker room, like he is the star of the movie, even more so than Caleb.

That's not always good, but that was the case with Sean McVey. Sean McVeigh was out here doing interviews showing people that he has that didactic memory or whatever it's called. I can remember this play. Certainly when Jared Gough was his quarterback, he was the star of the movie. And he got undressed in the Super Bowl and then it's like, oh, maybe I should get some, I take a little bit of a backseat.

See, I don't think he ever took a back seat. I don't think Sean McVeigh ever took a back seat. He's got a quarterback. The Matthew Stafford and Aaron Donald? Again, he had Aaron Donald and the Super Bowl he got undressed in. I don't think Sean McVeigh's personality has ever changed. I think he's been. He's not, I don't think he's like Johnson.

No, he doesn't seem to, no, he's not as, um, arrogance may be another, he's not as prickly, but I just, I, he has been, the star of the Rams the last decade has been Sean McVey, at least in my opinion. And so it can work. It doesn't always work. It can work. I'm just curious to see how this moves, but I thought, do you disagree with this KW? This was the, the, the high,

of his head coaching career? He certainly made Case Keenham look amazing. And during the game, like, wow, it sure is easy to get yards on this. Guys are wide open, not even a lot of contested stuff. That being said, I will lean towards, you know, the Cowboys game when they want to get too clever and they get called.

It's like, no, the ref's fault. Like when they're called. When he was the Bears OC? Yeah, talking about. No, when he was the Lions. When he was in line-in-o-C, that was a little too clever. The play that Danny shows is great if there was like, oh, you know. Lined up wrong.

We're lined up in the neutrals. I'm not used to be in order. It's all great when it works. Listen, I mean, in that game, they're up 7-0. They get the takeaway, and then Roma Dunesay drops the ball on third down. Go for it. Everyone in the world is saying, kick the field goal. He goes for it, doesn't get it.

They get zero points on the board. The aforementioned Robbie, who, you know, played okay on the golf course, tweeted, you literally. you live by Ben Johnson, you die by Ben Johnson. I'm comfortable living by it. I think he's excellent. That's the point, Danny. Everyone's comfortable living by it.

Are you uncomfortable dying by it? No, but I'm saying he helped him that Packers game in the playoffs last year, and then he said he made a mistake in that Rams game last year. He's saying things there's going to be more good than that. Yeah, he is a huge net positive. I will take whatever bad comes with it because I think the good drastically outweighs it. We weren't on it, and I know we have to get to super cool pack stats. Just 60 seconds.

Just cool stats now. Okay, well, it's into. Wait until you today. But we weren't on yesterday, so I didn't get to ask you this. And I'm genuinely curious. Did Monday night move you at all on your evaluation of Ben Johnson, not the fancy play caller, but Ben Johnson, the head coach? Slightly.

That being said, the Eagles have one of these stinkers early in the year. not usually defensively against bad quarterbacks. They gave up 34 points to a 1-and-4 Giants team, and Cam Scadaboo scored three touchdowns. It was like Jackson Dart's big coming-out moment. Like, they kind of, I think they, I mean, a little, a little bit, but I do think a part of it, and this is on Siriani, it's like Case Keenham coming up.

Like, oh, take a breath. Okay. But he's, but he looks great. I'm not ready to, you know, call the guy who knocks on the door for Canton, like a lot. A lot of people are. Like, hey, Ben Johnson, the first active coach. I agree with that, but I thought this was the best moment of his head coaching career.

I thought it was better than the playoff win. I thought the playoff win was Caleb doing amazing stuff. I thought this was a coaching master class, and that's where I agree with Danny. That was before I saw he did the right guard, right tackle time. I missed that. I couldn't believe that point. Now time for Danny to put on leather. Time for some cool stats.

We're getting a lot of letters to the first things for. mailbox said what happened to pack stats? No, pack stats are now just cool stats. A little bit of a rebrand. Here's Danny and his gloves with some cool stats. Danny, I saw some of the cutouts near the printer. Yeah. Any truth to the rumor that Case Keenum is making an appearance

on the Cool Stats briefcase. Well, you're gonna have to wait a second to find out until I opened the briefcase, wow. Because that would be cool. It's a very timely briefcase, but you guys know what else is cool? What's that? Taking a stank. And I'm going to make you guys take a stand on this one.

Case Keenham's on there. Case Keenham, yeah. Right there. Yeah, of course. It's a rich tapestry of tears. It's a rich. The Chargers. The Chargers logo should have never been open.

You put a Beinhurst logo on there? That's a cool place. This guy put a Pinehurst logo on there. All right, go ahead. Highlight of my ear. All right, I want you guys to take a stand on this one. Yeah. Broncos defense against Brock Purdy.

Pretty simple. Brock Purdy. Up at the top. Papa Brew's MVP ballot. Oh, this is good. Third best passer rating through three games in the last five years. Broncos past defense.

They've played Mahomes, Stafford, and Trevor Lawrence. Third best passer rating against in the NFL. I'm gonna come out here and say that Brock Purdy gets the better of the Broncos defense, but I'm genuinely curious if that would, it's not about who wins the game. Who will win that matchup? Purdy against the Broncos defense.

I like Purdy. Um, Mahomes, understandably, was rusty in that game. Better in the second half. Purdy has just been the best quarterback in the league this year. And he's obviously, you know, I mean, Miami, yes, but they face the Rams. Um, I think Purdy, I'm going with Purdy on this. If Brock Purdy and the Niners don't score at least 31 points, Mahomes has to move past the home.

It's just, uh, um, I'm going to go with the Broncos defense in this one matchup, and this is, to be fair, a bit of what's good for the goose when it comes to the schedule stuff, and how we talk about Drake Meck. I do think there is an element of Purdy's ex, like, unworldly stats in the last couple weeks in particular that are defense-related.

He's playing great. He'd be at top of my MVP ballot too, but Dolphins Cardinals defense in the last two weeks and then I don't know what we make of the Rams in Australia. And I think the Broncos, it's just you go from easiest to one of hardest could be, I think he would, let me put it like this.

I think he would have more success in this game we're in week 12, where he played a few more good defenses along the way. So I like the Broncos. Off to a cool start. All right, good. Well, you guys know what's not cool. Oh, no. I didn't know we were doing nice quick.

I get to the side. It's cool. I'm not doing wilds. You know that. Coping. Heard a lot of coping from Kevin Wilds on the show today. If Drake Bay doesn't look good, they don't have to win. He just has to look good against the Bill's defense. One to six touchdown to interception ratio for Drake May. Bill's worst touchdown to interception ratio of any defense that has started 3 and 0. They are ripe for the taking here.

I have breaking news. What's that? What's that? Significant breaking news. Do with this what you will. Is this? The New England Patriots just released a Wednesday injury report. On the injury report with a full participant at practice,

with a right shoulder is Drake May. Wow. Keeping my eyes on. So, KW. The, a month ago. Drake May full right shoulder. right shoulder. So I now that he has been listed will keep my eye on it as well.

I don't know what happened in that game. Now, everyone else who was listed with an injury for the pads, either didn't practice or were limited. Drake practiced in full as he has all season. But he's actually on there, which is what I was step one of getting my attention on the injuries is you have to be listed on the injury report. He's been listed on the injury report.

Take that for what you will. victory lap as I we were on a text chain texting far too much for an off day and I said I am in the worst possible position as a Patriots fan and a broadcaster saying aha I told you I was right Drake May is injured and our season's going to be ruined I win horrible there's real if Drake doesn't look good. And it's a combination of bad decisions and accuracy issues, let's call them. What? Go. When Shohei Otani started to struggle, there was like, hey, is your elbow okay? What's going on? Sit down. There's some of that that I'm worried about. That he gets benched? Not benched, but like, I, Not performance benched like a hockey goalie,

but I don't know. He's not Shohei Otonic. That was what I was thinking. If he doesn't play, if they, if he plays poorly and they feel like, you know what, the shoulder really is hurt and they sit him down? I'm fine with that. Oh, you are? Yeah, I think this is fishy.

I really do. I still don't think he's really hurt. Well, the shoulder didn't get hurt in this game, right? I mean, you're saying it was hurt. I mean, yesterday they thought everything was fine. I don't think it's fishy, but I don't know if they're, just appease any mentally or if there's really something. I was going to say, you know what's cool?

Sports talk in the dark. What else is cool? What? Ponce de Leon. Yes. I don't know if that's true. Historically, I'd have to look it up. He was searching for the fountain of youth.

I knew that part, but a lot of, well, listen, whether it's a myth, it's fact fiction, he was, oh, probably. I don't know, I don't want to smirch the guy, but I had to. That arrow, I would probably lean towards or some problem. Sorry, I don't know if he's totally cool.

That's a good point. Aaron Rogers is also searching. Speaking of questionably problematic. Aaron Rogers. I met the searcher for the founding youth. I was pretty shocked based on how Aaron Rogers looked against CINC. Not because I thought Sincis's defense was great, even though it had been playing well.

They'd been playing well against C.J. Stroud with no Nico Collins. The Bucks gave the ball away. that time. But Rogers looked great and he was hitting the open man and he was thrown it deep. Their next five opponents, none of them are ranked as a better defense than the Browns, who are 18th in the NFL. They average about 27 points per game, cumulably. Their next five opponents, it's the Browns, Colts, Bucks, Saints, and Browns. Any chance Rogers keeps this up? Like that game he just had against Cincinnati. Oh, I would say no. Yeah. The game he just had against Cincinnati is the best game he's had in a couple of years.

Just, okay, they scored 30. They're not playing good defenses. You know what's crazy because I looked this up after he had so many passes. I think he's had more, he's like sixth in attempts. He's got more attempts than guys like golf. There's more attempts than Mahomes. There's a lot of snaps and throws. Yeah, I think last year he was pretty high on attempts. Yeah, it was, it was the quick passing game.

It was an extension of their running game. The most notable thing to me about the Steelers game last week, as knows those Rogers played, was Jalen Warren had an amazing game and had a 90-yard run wiped away. And so Mike McCarthy deserves credit in that regard. That offense looked better than it did at any point last year, even when they won the division. You know what?

Cool segment. Cool segment. Do we have Top 10 Tuesday coming up? Yeah, Greg's going to be a part of Top 10. Holy God. Top 10 Wednesday. You're going to have to tune in. We're confident the Cowboys.

Spoilers. Are bouncing back and stay tuned for Top 10 Tuesday on a Wednesday with Greg Jennings. Next. Big edition. To the O.T. tomorrow, Parkins picks, frenemies, chips on the table. Oh, that graphic. Almost too much content for one show, but we'll make it work. Speaking of the O.T., we're back. Me and Greg Jennings.

Let's go to Dallas, Greg, where the Cowboys are gearing up for their Sunday matchup against the Texans, looking for a bounce back after that. Very avoidable loss in Rio. Here's Brian Schottenheimer on how the end of the game went down against the Ravens. Take a listen. When you talk about, you know, finishing the game, you know, which I really think, you look at our two games that we've lost. You know, Joe, we haven't finished.

And I was a big part of this one. I'll take accountability for it. It's football and life. It's what happens. But I heard our chance to win that game. And I'll be better. And I'm better than that. I'm better than I performed in the last 28 seconds.

All right, Greg. Everyone's going to like a head coach taking accountability for mistakes. Players will like it. His owner said that he basically needed to. But are you confident that the Cowboys can bounce back? Am I confident? Not. If I'm pausing this much

and I'm thinking this much, I'm clearly not confident. Do I think that they could be better? Yes. This week is why I'm not confident because they're going up against a very desperate group in the Houston Texans, a team that they haven't won a game. There's a lot of things that they want to improve

not only offensively but defensively, which is their calling card. And so knowing that the Dallas Cowboys just haven't obviously they've struggled defensively, but they haven't been what we expected and what they've been advertising pre the football

season. Like if we go back to what they were last year versus what they have been thus far this year, it's night and day difference. Like, the team that we believe them to be top five won the top offenses and all the

they just simply haven't been that. And if their defense was going to make a step or not, we still had them books for being one of the better offenses in all the football and they just haven't delivered on that side of the ball. It's an interesting way to read it because I kind of look at it as I can't really explain why the Cowboys offense wouldn't be good. Like by the end of the year, assuming health, DAC, CD, Pickens, Giovante, continuity of system, everything they've invested in that offensive line. I know the left tackle situation. But like I would expect their offense to figure it out.

not against the Texans defense. But on the flip side of it, if Houston doesn't have Nico Collins, and I know there is some optimism, but it is not a guarantee yet that he plays. Houston's offense has no answers without Nico Collins. This is just very rudimentary way to look at, but Indianapolis's defense, they got cooked by Baltimore and Kansas City, held the Texans to 17. The Bengals defense, cooked by Tampa and Pittsburgh, held the Texans to six. Those are the two games without Nico Collins. In the game where Nico played against Buffalo, they scored 31.

If Nico Collins isn't out there and Dallas's defense doesn't limit C.J. Stroud and the Texans, well, then the Cowboys D is just broken. And so I would expect them to look okay if Nico Collins doesn't play. And so that was going to be my rebuttal, but they're playing the Cowboys defense.

But Indy's defense. And I get that. But when you're playing a team that has struggled against, like, high potent offenses. Like, in these defense, first two weeks, I mean, you gave up thousand yards. I mean, it was historically bad. But then you figure it out as you're playing a must-win game against a division rival, you're going to show better because you know them.

They're a familiar opponent. When I watched this Dallas Cowboys team, defensively, this has been going on for a long time. We thought it was going to be addressed to a degree, and it just hasn't. Ben, if you are the Houston Texans, you're like, okay, no Nico, we're going to turn around and be physical. We know if we run the ball against this outfit, which everyone seems to have had success, then we can at least get some traction in terms of what we want to look like and what we want to do offensively. All right, let's go to New England here where we just got news, actually, that Drake May is listed on the Pat's injury report. Full participant, but giving some credence to Wilds keeping his eye on Drake's show.

shoulder. Article from Chad, Graff of the Athletic, had a disturbing headline, if you're a pass fan. Is Drake May just Mac Jones 2.0? Chad writes, the most shocking part of May's struggles to start the season is that it has felt well a little Mac Jonesian. The way each May dropped back in the second half Sunday felt like he could lead to disaster is how things felt at the end of the Jones era and it yields a terrifying thought only three games into this season.

Is Drake Mae just Mac Jones 2.0? Is he regressing similarly after one incredible early career season offered so much hope? What do you make of Drake May's struggles and bonus question? What do you make in the fact that he's now on the injury report, albeit a full participant? Well, I'll start with the injury report. I'm not shocked that he's now on the injury report being that he was kind of eluding to his shoulder having some issues. And so naturally, as a head coach, a team organization, you better put him on the injury report. I will just say, though, like real quick.

and then we'll get to the heart of the discussion. I do wonder if the legal now look at it. Yeah, they're definitely going to look at it. He didn't get hurt last week. He's saying it. Why wasn't he on the injury report earlier in the season? So I don't think this story is over. But what do you think of the struggles in its entirety?

The struggles, they're up top. They're above the neck. When you watch him play, you watch a guy. And we are now looking at a guy, and we're saying, oh, man, he doesn't look confident. The only time we look at individuals and deem them to be not confident or lacking confidence is when we can see it. So only imagine what he's feeling. We would not be saying that if he's running off the field and he's kind of shaking his head and he's tapping guys on giving guys a five, I got you.

I got it. I'll bounce back off. We wouldn't be saying that because we optically, it wouldn't be appearing that, man, he's kind of down on himself. everything about Drake May at the podium on the field, on the sideline, his playing, it says, I'm struggling. I'm in a slump. And the only person that can get him out of the slump is himself. Because, you know, the coaches are trying what they, all they can.

His teammates are seeing it. They're identifying it in the huddle. Everyone's seeing it. He's watching film. and he's questioning, why am I, why did I make that? The interception he threw to Travis Hunter. Yeah. We thought the week one interceptions were,

it's like, who are you? And I can only imagine, I've been in a game where I've had some drops, and I'm like, what am I doing? I watch the drops and I try to figure out why I dropped it or how I dropped it. But at the end of the day, I know, that's not who I am. He has to stop believing. that this is who he is, or this is what he will continue to be. It is now seven straight bad games from Drake Mae, dating back to last year.

And the noise is only going to intensify. It's only going to get louder. Now that he's on that injury report. Because that is going to, like he got a couple of questions about it in this last interview. That will be the only questions that he faces the next time he speaks. And they play the bills. They're a pretty significant underdog. The division, it can get laid early if you lose this game.

You fall to one in three. You lose to the bills. People are now questioning the severity, the realness, anything around the circumstances surrounding your injury. And you come home and your next two games are the Raiders and the Jets. He loses to Buffalo and then he has a three and out against Vegas. Boobirds are coming. This is Boston.

Like you have a opinionated head coach. you have a tough media, you have big time expectations, you have big time shoes to fill. I think Drake May is wildly talented. Like, I believe he will bounce back from this in his career. Like, I do not think this is a Carson Wentz situation. One season as an MVP candidate and then never a legit guy again.

But I am, this is going to become one of the biggest stories in the NFL based on that injury designation if they lose to Buffalo. Do you need to see him play well against Buffalo? Yes, yes. Even in a loss. He needs to play well. He needs to play well where that game against Vegas is going to be stressful for him.

Top 10 Tuesday on a Wednesday. Listen, if your head coach goes the snaky leg in the locker room after the game, you've got a spot on the list. I don't make the rules I just enforce it. It's coming up. The O.T. Welcome back to the O.T. Special edition of Top 10 Tuesday on a Wednesday with the new schedule out here.

Greg Jennings gets to be subjected. to my perfect list. There will be no objections, I assume. Okay. We might not even have any time. We shall see. A lot of movement, though, this week, as always, early in the season. Let's get to number 10.

The Los Angeles Rams. I got to be honest, I didn't think they were going to spend a week this season outside of the top five. But it is a product of circumstances. They lost last week despite outgaining the Broncos by over 220 yards. But there is no Miles Garrett right now. There is no Pooka Nakuwa, and you've got a tough game in four. Philly. I think you will win that game in Philly, but you never beat them. So I think that this is, they could be out of the top 10 entirely next week. Weird spot for the Rams. Coming in at number

nine, my Chicago Bears. Back-to-back weeks of the defense looking really good. Shout out to Dennis Allen. We acknowledge defensive coordinators here on the OT. But the story is Ben Johnson and the offense. Greg, this is pretty amazing. First 19 games that he's there, they average 26 and a half points at 375 yards of offense. Hey, no big deal. I've got my third string quarterback, hasn't played in a few years. I'm playing against the top five defense. I'm playing against Vic Fangio.

I'm going to give you my average. I'm going to give you 27 points and 375 yards of offense. Ben Johnson in his bag against the Eagles on Monday night. Coming to number eight, the Jacksonville Jaguars. I get why Jacks fans may be thinking you should be higher. You were not ranked last week. When you beat teams, you blow them out, and you destroyed the Patriot. Patriots seem like a broken team, but Jags do it again.

They easily could be in the top five next week. Liam Cohn is fantastic. Trevor Lawrence is playing great. Shout out to the Jaguars. Coming in at number seven, the aforementioned Denver Broncos. Week one feeling more and more like an aberration is what I would say about Denver right now. The shot yourselves on the foot against the Chiefs came back. I did not know that they had that level of offensive explosion in them with what they did against the Rams.

very, very good sign. They erased that 16-point deficit like nothing, just immediately going for two early both times. Loved it from Denver. Good spot for them. The Minnesota Vikings. They're 3-0. I think if the Bears played the Vikings 10 times,

I think the Bears would win 7 out of 10. But the Vikings got him this year, so for now they get to stay ahead of them. And here's a cool thing about Brian Flores' defense this year. Greg, you'll enjoy this. 14 sacks, 13.7 points per game allowed. When you're getting as many sacks as points per game, pretty good defense. Defense is for real.

Yeah, defense is for real. Can't believe Brian Flores is in head coach in the NFL. Coming in to number five, the Baltimore Ravens. Zay Flowers, has he, A, proving that hamstrings can be a short-term injury. And, did he finally figure it out? Sometimes we get guys who get the contract and then they don't justify it. Or he's like, man, we really, I thought that they overpaid, Zay Flowers. He's been spectacular this year.

Their next three games, by the way, Titans, Falcons, and Browns. I expect the Ravens to stay in the top five. Coming in at number four, the Kansas City Chiefs. You give Patrick Rahomes a run game, and we know that they're going to keep winning. It was a whole home, 14-point victory and a cover against the Dolphins. Did allow a 17-play touchdown drive. Going to be fascinating. Raiders not in this top 10.

Raiders undefeated. Raiders can be in the top 10 next week. If they beat the Chiefs, huge game in the AFC West. I'll be in the building for it. Coming in at number three, first time in a long time, that the Seattle Seahawks do not occupy the top spot. When they lose, they turn the ball over multiple times. Their four losses, the last two seasons,

all of them come with multiple turnovers. They turn the ball over multiple times against Washington. They could not convert or keep Washington out of the end zone, couldn't hold them to field goals. Marriota kept scoring touchdowns, lost the shootout. I'm not going to drop them too far. I'm not going to panic. But when they turn the ball over,

that's when they can lose. Coming in at number two, the San Francisco 49ers. Brock Purdy would be at top my MVP ballot too. I don't have one. Only Brew does. But they are cooking. Greg, we just look at what they're doing on the offensive side of the ball.

It's been fantastic. I mean, pick a number. Yeah. Third down, points, yards per play. He's been sacked zero times. And that is an offensive line thing. It's a Purdy thing. It's a Kyle Shanahan thing.

But that's how you know the offense is cooking. The quarterback is just not being in danger as he goes back to pass and he can operate the offense at a crazy high level. But coming in at number one, the Buffalo Bills. You beat a desperate Chargers team when you turn the ball over five times. Like, did you look great? No. But you got your first interception last week.

Josh Allen's amazing. The ability to still win that game when you're not playing well. You jumped up from the two spot to one off of the win. Was it the most impressive performance? No, but sometimes when you can win by eight and you can win on your quarterback's bad games, I'm going to keep you atop the list. Again, I assume a perfect top ten.

So it's not a perfect top ten. I was curious to why you had the bills won, but you kind of explain that. It was not the most impressive game, but I do think that they have the most impressive start to the season. I think they have the best player. And if they win that game playing that poorly by that many points, I'm going to give them

the top spot. And they're my Super Bowl champ for the year. The 49ers man, they have, again, haven't played the caliber of teams that the bills have played. But the fashion of how they're getting it done, like we talked about them

obviously in Brock Purdy and what we thought that they wouldn't be or would be. And he's been as advertised, if not more than advertised. But the team that I'm shocked that's not on this list, that was I checked last week, and they were on the list. They were like sixth.

It was the Bengals. And I'm like, is it? They lost the Rogers. They lost to a Rogers that went back in time. That went literally bananas. And we were shocked about how great that offense looked, not only just him throwing the ball, but schematically what Mike McCarthy was able to do.

And we know their defense. But them losing a division rival. to a division rival on the road, I don't see how you you've knocked them completely out of the top 10 for that. So I'm going to be honest with you. If it was top 11 Wednesday,

they would have been 11. I rank it deeper than 10. And I go through all the things and I think, okay, Cincinnati, we talked about this because you were in after week one, Bengals bucks. It felt like it was more giveaways than

takeaways, more giveaways from Tampa than takeaways by Sincy. And I picked the Bengals to win the AFC North. But their offense hasn't gotten going completely yet. They beat Houston without Nico Collins. And then that defense got shredded by Jalen Warren and Aaron Rogers and an offense that had looked broken. So it made me feel like the first two games were a little bit more of a mirage. And it's just, it's on my radar that this last game is the more representative and meaningful data point for Sincol. Okay. So the Rams have, I I believe six turn over, three picks, three fumbles in three games. And they're still 10.

Without their best player. It is also like tiers, not the standings. You're right. Listen, not having your best players is a huge knock on the Rams. I think if the Rams played the Bengals tomorrow, the Rams would win. I think they're a better team. And it's my list. I mean, there we go.

That part. Say that part. What's true? They were up 16. It was up 16. Nothing. It lost to a team that we feel like, where is their offense? The Rams will show you where it is.

Hey, that was not a great loss for the Eagles. Big problems in Philly, meeting size problems, small problems. We'll discuss. All right, so in case you missed it, the Eagles went into Soldier Field Monday. They were hoping to leave 3-0. The only three they recorded was in the giveaway column. You get it. 153 yards and a pick for Jalen Hertz.

Bears' defense held Philly to 7.0 in the second half. Bears exposed the Eagles here, Greg? They didn't expose. This is who the Eagles have been. Okay, but if that's who the Eagles are, this is like we, as much as the Bears put on a show, they did put on a show. This is not a knock against the Bears,

but in terms of Philly and how they've been performing, they don't perform in second halves. They fall asleep. They get gritty wins. They find ways to win games or be in games that they shouldn't really be in. Right. And make games of games that, what are you doing? We saw that a couple weeks with the Titans.

This is who they are. And it's odd. They don't perform in the second half. They did it against your bears. Even being down, you can say whatever you want to say. say Jalen Hertz has to shoulder a lot of it. So does Sean Mannion. Jalen Hertz was bad.

He was bad. He was flatly bad. Again, having to throw the ball and shoulder the load, you can say whatever you want to say, Philly, about me and talking about Jalen Hertz, until he's able to do it on a consistent basis. And I know he's got wins, he's got Super Bowl appearances, he has a Super Bowl ring. But what are we continually talking about? talking about.

Well, his, his touchdown at the end of the first half was a very high IQ play. Absolutely. Brilliant. But, man, I was not scared of him, and I still don't think the Bears' defense is very good. And I've watched a lot of the Eagles this year. I didn't think they looked very impressive against Washington or Tennessee or Chicago. Like this, they just happened to be two and one. I think that this is a, I picked against them with the Rams last year. I did it in the playoffs.

I did it the year before. I love the Rams in this spot, especially if the Rams get good Pooka Nakua news. I think the Eagles run game right now, while it had good moments against a bear run defense that's bad, I don't think you can just rely on Sequin on the run game right now. I think the offense has some seriously fundamental problems.

Vic Fangio will get the defense right. That was one of the worst past defense games I've seen from them. I think that they'll be fine on that side of the ball. But I do not think the Eagles have looked good through 12 quarters of football this year. This is a team that I did not have making the postseason. Me neither. You didn't either?

Yeah, I didn't either. Oh, yeah. But I mean, I had the Giants win in the division. You did. Well, we'll see. The quarterback got hurt. Yeah, the quarterback got hurt. There you go.

They threw one week the Giants practically won the division. That's how it works, right? That's your reason. That is my escape. We're back tomorrow with more on DOT.