First Things First - Dodgers win World Series, Bills beat Chiefs, Patriots are ‘back’, Caleb Williams prove anything?

Episode Date: November 4, 2025

(0:00) Bills beat Chiefs, Dodgers win World Series (27:30) Patriots beat Falcons, Time to worry about Packers? (43:43) Commanders lose Jayden Daniels during loss to Seahawks (48:43) Bills have best Super Bowl odds, What does losing to the Bills mean for the Chiefs?  (01:10:06) Bengals defensive struggles, Did Caleb Williams prove something in this win? (01:24:52) Cowboys vs. Cardinals picks (01:28:19) Bills ‘validated belief’, Stock Up Stock Down (01:51:48) Joe Alt Out for season, Bears beat Bengals  (02:05:46) Steelers beat Colts, Are they dangerous? (02:10:54) Expectations for Cowboys vs. Cardinals? Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

No two pitch. Kirk, bounces one, up the middle, bits to the back, Wittles. Live from New York, it's a show is congratulating the Dodgers and specifically Brew for yet another perfect prediction.

You're just on fire with these. And congrats to anyone in our audience who took my advice Friday when I didn't take my own. Oh, what is this advice? I told them Yamamoto at Friday, he was 16 to 1. 16 to 1. 16 to 1 on Friday to win MVP.

I told people to bet it. Nope, because I was picking the Blue Jays. And you had the Dodgers originally. No, and he blew it. He picked the Dodgers and the Blue Jays and six is the problem. You get it, Brew. Brew's on fire. The Bud List is on fire.

Do you watch our walk-in video? All three of his Bud-List editions. I didn't know. That's why we got rid of Cowboy Brew. No. My wife, you know what she bought me for my birthday? A cowboy hat. Get out of town.

Yeah, cowboy hats. Not true. She said she brought me a cowboy hat. I think she thinks I wear it on the show. She doesn't watch the show. She's working. I think she thinks I wear it on the show. We can't make Wilde's laugh.

Wilde is playing hurt today. Look at it. It's all the winning the Patriots are doing. Yeah, I'm not used to it. First hour, first things first. Today, Bill's win and are now Super Bowl favorites. What statement did Josh make to the NFL? Meanwhile, the one.

about the one quote from the Patriots that will make you think we are back to our dynasty like like ways and yes it involves cheating and finally upset of the week Packers lose Coach Mangini wins wow it's a time to stress about green Bay it's time to stress about you guys in the upset alert standings I won't yeah you got one point coach got 15 and a half point they have a size of a size of all I'm gonna just start so don't don't get upset about the scoring system scoring systems a little bit out of whack. It rewards outright winners.

If you can get two wins and the season's over. I'm just saying baseball had to look at their rules. Football looks at the rules. Basketball looks at the point. No, but KW, you almost hit a 12-pointer. You had a close one. I'm just saying it's a little out of way. I mean, coach and Greg won four.

Out of way. I'm just telling you. First hour, the first thing is first. We're starting with a Buffalo stampede. Josh Allen almost perfect. sets a Bill's record by completing 88.5% of his passes. Also passed Cam Newton for most rushing TDs by QB. That's an awesome record.

Pretty good. And he's got it. It feels early too. Yeah, that's half this record that early is old. Well, he gets celebrated. Jaylon Hertz does. We got to change rules. He's also now the favorite for MVP.

Here he is post game. They're the pinnacle of what you want your franchise to be. They've been that for the last eight years. You know, anytime you get a chance to play, you know, the best, and you can come away with a victory, you're going to be feeling pretty good. You know, there's a lot to be happy about. But like I alluded to earlier this week, it's never as good, never as bad as you think. So got some stuff to clean up. Well, you know, we'll watch this one tomorrow and get rid of it.

Okay, what did the bills prove in a pretty dominating victory? More dominating than the score. Sprinkle this. Yes. No, I like, no, absolutely. It was a miracle that the Chiefs were within a touchdown at the end. Like the only real downside of that game for Buffalo was Sean McDermott kicking that field goal at the end, which gave the Chiefs a slight, slight chance and makes you a little nervous about his game management come January.

But what do the, what do the bills prove? They once again proved and confirmed that they are the Chief's biggest and, in my opinion, only AFC threat. And they have been, ever since the Bengals decided to stop fielding a defense, they have been the only, for me, real threat to the chiefs in the AFC. And Josh was sensational. You said the completion, he set a Bill's franchise record. In the same game that Patrick set his own career personal reverse of a record, lowest ever completion percentage.

And unlike the playoffs, in the regular season games, not only of the Bills won, Josh has outplayed Patrick thoroughly. We can show you the numbers. It's jarring. They score nine more points a game, or eight, and the numbers are eight touchdowns to nine turnovers for Patrick, 14 to three to Josh,

and a 30-point gap in passer rating. And so fair is fair. Because as everybody knows, before Danny came on the show, I was the show's bills guy, because you guys didn't believe in them, I did. So Josh Allen's earned it. he deserves it, I'll drop a banner for Josh, consistently outplaying

homes when it matters the list. We all know it. Every, when it matters the least, and I, listen, I fell from the banana. Is Josh supposed to feel good about that? I don't know. It just isn't what it is. It feels a little sarcasm. A little.

And it's why it's, it's such a shame that the bill's young players and their secondary, because you heard Josh, just like the standard, you know, all this stuff. Those other guys just were a little too a bullion after the win. Because Cole Bishop, who I think was on Bruce making the leap list in the off season,

he had a great name. Unbelievable. Unbelievable. And then after the game, he gave the Chiefs a little peek behind the curtain. One of the motions on third down, film study. So I'll play versus the Chargers, where he spit it out there pretty quick. So being able to know he's potentially going to throw that ball, just chasing the motion, being able to anticipate the ball might go there.

You might think that's something. What about this from Harrison, the rookie who was, well, finding, this is about Xavier Worthy, finding a difference in his posture and his effort for real, when he knows he's not getting it when it's a run. So just applying what I saw from the film room and taking it out onto the field, there that tells, there are tells that everybody gives. It's just about finding it.

What are you doing, Bill? Thanks, by the way, to Tyler Dunn of Go Long TD, who got that Harrison quote. But Brew, those are the types of. quotes you give after you climb the mountain when you've won your Super Bowl. Like, this is how we did it. So shout out to the bills. That's five straight. They are the first and only team ever to lose four straight Super Bowls.

They are now the first team ever to win five straight Super Bowls. And listen, they gave us a little bit of the blueprint. Josh kicked Mahomes' ass. The bill, it was a miracle. The Chiefs were only down seven. I was wrong. I lost a lot of money on the game. I thought the Chiefs with a vanilla game plan to be able to win.

I was wrong. And so that's what they proved. And credit to everyone where it's due. And thank you for the self-scout Bill's secondary. We appreciate that. And we might use that in January. What are they doing? All right, first of all, Kyle Van Nuoy on the show last week.

Did you hear that? What? You guys aren't a threat at all. No. Nothing. No. 13 wins, 12 wins. MVP, no threat.

Correct. All right. Use that as fodder. That's just a little something there. I said last week, if they did, don't win their good team, good playoff team, no chance to get into the Super Bowl. They've proven to me that they are a legitimate Super Bowl contender. And I get it.

Had they lost everybody else, you know, would have felt like, oh, they're still a contender. But I would not have really given them a chance to get to the Super Bowl. I'm giving them that chance now. And I do feel, and I get it, Nick, obviously, they win in the regular season, they lose in the playoffs. They beat them by 18 a couple, you know, a few years ago in the regular season. And so this wasn't even the biggest win. But I think they could beat the Chiefs. I'm not predicting it.

I'm just saying they could beat the Chiefs in the playoffs. Like they have the personnel. And I get it, the Chiefs were a little banged up on the offensive line. The bills are missing some defensive players and stuff. But I think their style of play, it's interesting to me. I feel like the bills have gotten a little better on the offensive line. Offensive line was really good last year. This year, it's like great.

Run game really good last year. This year is great. It's the best in the league. And I feel like the Chief's defense, while still very good, has gotten a little bit worse against the run. So maybe that, I mean, they're obviously closely matched teams. So I think that them being able to run so well, obviously with James Cook. But of course, Josh Allen is always a threat. I think that can give the Chief some problems.

It clearly did yesterday. Cook was the first 100-yard rush in about a year. year against the Chiefs. And then defensively, I was shocked defensively. That's where I got the game dead wrong. I thought the Chiefs would be able to just move the ball at will and they weren't. And there was every reason to kind of feel that way, unless you just put a lot into the Carolina game for Buffalo last week.

But, I mean, the pressure, they got Mahomes pressured on like 52% of his dropbacks. He didn't play well against the pressure. Obviously, they shut down the run game. I mean, Chiefs don't have a great run game as it is. and look, can they get that type of pressure on Mahomes in the playoffs when the offensive line is healthy? If they can get close to that, like, you know, 40%, 35%, something like that, then maybe that could make a difference.

I thought they did a good job. You probably saw you guys there was stuff going around on Twitter. Oh, Bosa, Joey Bosa didn't rush Mahomes and implying stuff was fixed. they were playing, if you guys didn't see that, there was a... Oh, the fourth and 17 when Bolsa got fooled. But, no, Bosa was thinking stuff was, yeah, a screen and stuff. Like, I thought they did a good job of like, that was an obvious example of them making sure they stayed in their lanes. The last...

Yeah, lane integrity. Because Mahomes obviously is great at scrambling. And so I think they kind of took that away from him to some degree. The bill's defense game... Listen, the Super Bowl against Tampa, they got, oh, sorry, you go wild. No, that's exactly what I was going to say. Yeah, go ahead. It obviously wasn't a, it wasn't a playoff game, but the times that we have seen Mahomes faltering the playoffs, that is the recipe.

Whether it's Tampa, Philadelphia, he got hurried or hit 15 times. He was getting hit out of bounds. Like, not late, but it was just, hey, we're around at all times. That's the only way, like, having a clean pocket and like, we're going to play it straight up. And listen. It's not going to work. So a point of that and then on the shots. The Super Bowl against Tampa, he was pressured 52% of the time.

They got blown out. Super Bowl against Philly, the second one. He was pressured 53% of the time. They got blown out. Yesterday he was pressured 52.6% of the time. And yes, like Mahomes, Mahomes did take some shots. He also, and I'm the biggest Patrick Mahomes guy on TV. The histrionic and the acting and the faking like he got hit in the head,

I mean, run the tape dust. I mean, it's embarrassing. for an MVP to, you know, just to have somebody his hand graze his helmet. And, I mean, it just can't wait. Oh, you know, I was so disoriented watching the game. I thought that was Patrick. There's just one out of.

My bad. I mean, let's just see it. I've seen all-time great. Oh, my God. Do similar. Oh, my goodness gracious. Hold on, look at this. Oh, my God.

This is. I mean, this is late. I mean, concussion protocol, I suppose, might be. I mean, my goodness gracious, but listen, credit words do, they played a great game. They deserved to win. And for Bill's fans out there that want to see me in pain while I put on a brave face, I lost an enormous amount of money on that game. My friend Nacho is a big Bill's fan.

I mentioned him a lot on the show. He's also a bigger gambler than me. So I, you know, I was like, oh, gambling. Went up and weight class a bit. Tough one. Got to pay him in crypto too. Sucks. I will say quickly, if I may.

when they were up, what was their biggest league? 15. 15. Yeah. 28. I felt like they could actually blow them out. You know, I would have been feeling real, real good for the bills. Had they, you know, been able to blow them out.

Yeah, but it ended up being fairly close. Bill's in Miami on Sunday. As for the other side of the ball, the Chiefs, join the Panthers as the only five and four teams in the league. You love that. You love it. They're five and four. We've been ripping the fans. Question I wanted to ask if I was in a bad move.

What? What is going to be Chiefs Panthers. Which team is not really five and a year? Mahomes. First time he's ever completed less than half of his passes. Here he is post game. We've had great moments. We've had bad moments.

We've got to be more consistent as a team. I've got to be more consistent at quarterback. We've got to be able to battle. I mean, we've kind of been in a lot of these tight, close games in our history, but they're not going our way now. How can we deal with that adversity? How can we be better and learn from it? I mean, you only learn from so many losses.

I mean, you got to learn from it fast. And it's going to be an uphill battle when we get back. But I think our guys are up to it. Okay, here's the AFC playoff picture as it stands today. Greg's Colts, number one. In the hunt, the Chiefs currently on the outside looking in, really, both of you guys teams. I don't know if UW is number two.

Are you starting to worry about KC, even though you're not a big, worrier. Absolutely not. Not whatsoever. And I am, I was very cautious and intentional in not mentioning any of the injuries and giving the bills credit for what they did. But I think now it's instructive to one of the reasons I'm not worried. So they were by the basically second half of that game without three of their starting five offensive linemen and they're starting running back. All of those guys, every single one of those guys is expected to be back after the buy. Josh Simmons,

actually got back in the facility today. He wasn't heard. He had the family issue, kind of mysterious personal matter, but he's back now. So I think that initially absolutely helps. That playoff picture helps a lot as well in that there's nobody really behind them that can jump them. Now, I'm not saying Baltimore can't get in, but Baltimore who's behind them would get in as the division winner. And so they need to catch Jacksonville, who I believe in, but other people don't. Or two teams they play three times, the Chargers and the Broncos.

And I am, I'll be the last man on the, I don't believe in the Broncos ship, but I'm going to stay on that ship in this weekend and them eking past Davis Mills didn't change my opinion on that. And getting two against Denver makes me feel like sitting here today, they're going to win the division,

that they're not going to sneak into the playoffs. They're going to run Denver down. And I think this quarterback's face versus quarterbacks coming up is part of the reason for my optimism. They're five and four. I would right now expect them to finish 12 and 5. And so they have faced the who's who

of NFL quarterbacks so far, aside from Stafford, really. And now what they have left is the DAC, who is excellent, but the defense is awful. Justin Herbert, who, you know, is when they face him, will be without evidently the most important player

on the team show all. That's in Kansas City, that game in Brazil. That game is in Kansas. Yes, that's in Kansas City. And then, again, I think CJ's a good player. I don't think the Texans have a good offense. And so that gives me even more confidence that they got.

Listen, we knew the first nine games for Kansas City leading into the by were the brutal part of their schedule. The hope was to go seven and two. The expectation was they'd go six and three. They finished one game below, you know, what the Vegas expectation was. So, no, I'm not worried about the Chiefs missing the playoffs. And I don't think they have to have home field, particularly when it looks like home field could go to either the cults or a second year quarterback. And I think Patriots are really good, but just guys, the second year quarterback in Knicks or Drake May, for that matter.

And so, no, I'm not worried. It's not panic time by any stretch. But it's time for a little trepidation. Oh. I think just because Nick, the room for error is sliding away. Yes. Right? Like they and they are one in four against teams with winning records.

So I know, I mean, they've looked great at times, but when you get down to it, they're one and four against teams with winning records. Don't you in your mind really think they're two and four though because one of those, because you're not counting the Ravens win and the Ravens with Lamar is a team? Of course I believe in the Ravens, but even two and four. Sure. That's not great. Okay.

And so, and now four of their last nine are against. teams with winning race. Now you got Denver twice. My guess, because I'm assuming the Chiefs will probably have to play both of those games tough. I think one is week 17 maybe. But I think they'll split with Denver. I think they'll split with Denver.

Well, then they won't win the division. They have to sweep Denver to win the division. I agree with you that I think they'll just get into playoffs and I don't think they need to win the division to get to the Super Bowl. But I think they'll probably split with them. I think they'll probably end up splitting with the Chargers. I don't see the Chargers

sweeping them this season. Indy, after what we saw yesterday, you would think they'll win that game. But hey, we'll see. So I just think that's like I said, if you look at their schedule it's not as tough as it has been, but the room for air is slipping away. And you're

right, Jacksonville, I mean, you're going to get one team from the AFC North most likely. Jacksonville could be, because you're getting two from your division. It's Denver Chargers Chiefs Jacksonville. Three of the four are going to make it. And one of them is going to be left without a seat. Can I address the elephant in the room? I don't know what it is. If you think it's the Patriots, I don't. No, I'm not talking. Okay, go ahead. The Patriots and me too. Tackle the turn the tide. Rough day for the tackle

I thought you might mention that. So here's the thing. Just gone. Obviously it's not gone, but I, as powerful of a force as the tackle that turned the tide is, there is a, there is a little. There is a force obviously more powerful. And that forces the, I don't even know what you're talking about. What's so funny is, Wilde set me up for this. Wilde set, no, T7 got killed by Kyle Van Nuys,

so just wait a moment. I don't know. Wilds without knowing it set me up perfectly for this, because I didn't know how I was going to get into it, and then you just, you're such a great teammate. Because there is a force more powerful. And that is. And that is, turn the tie? Yeah, and that is destiny.

Wow. And it is the ultimate destiny. of this NFL season, that, and it had the Chiefs won against Buffalo, it wouldn't have been possible for this to happen realistically, that the final game that is ever played in Highmark Stadium is a Chiefs' Bill's playoff game, potentially with the Super Bowl on the line, a Super Bowl appearance on the line,

and that the final moments of that forsaken stadium is the Chiefs once again beating Buffalo to steal from the city of Buffalo the only thing other than wings that they really have to their name which is the four consecutive Super Bowl appearances and had the Chiefs won

there wouldn't be a Chief's playoff game in Buffalo and now there can be and so I will again like even the tackle that turn of the tide can't stop Chief's Bill's Ultimate Destiny which is one final playoff game in Buffalo to close that stadium out.

A little bit close to my turf there. What do you mean? I'm mowing my lawn a little bit. How? I'm kind of the doorstep of Destiny guy. My apologies. Just a little bit. It's time for our daily update of the athletics playoff predictor.

Okay, thanks. My favorite, 73% chance to make the playoffs, the Chiefs. Yeah, the athletics playoff predictor, I love it. You give a little more oomph to it than I do. Because the Vegas playoff predictor today has the Chiefs as the second most likely to win the Super Bowl. That's gambling. Well, yeah, I like that. No disrespect to Mike Silver and Robert Mays.

But I... This is the athletics playoff predictor. Heading to the world of baseball. Dodgers celebrating at their parade today after one of the most thrilling World Series victories ever. Yamamoto wins MVP after notching two wins and the save in game seven. It was an epic world series. So it's a tough question to answer, but we'll try. What was your number one takeaway?

It is tough because it was phenomenal. And I love playoff baseball, but this was just incredible. You couldn't, and throughout that game, because it was mostly a one score game, you know, at times it was two. But I was just saying to my wife, I was like, this is as close as you can be. Like they're going seven. There's one run separating them and then they get to extra innings.

It was just incredible. But to me, Yoshinubu Ayamamoto. That's what stands out to me. I mean, he was fantastic to not only win game six which are back against the wall, but then to go in and win game seven. And the 11th inning when Vlad starts off with a double. And then they get men on first and third with one out. And he hit a batterer too.

You know, like everything could have been working against him. He threw, what, 96 pitches, I think, in game six. And here's the deal. His ERA this World Series against that great hitting team. And I talked last week about how the Blue Jays had the best batting average in the regular season, best in the playoffs, best in the World Series, obviously. his ERA was 1.02 in 17 innings. Blake Snell, a great pitcher in his own right.

His ERA against the Blue J, 6.9. Shohei, a great pitcher in his own right. ERA 7.5. Glass now is okay, 3.3. But as a team, their ERA was 4.8 without Yamamoto. And so for him to have a 1.02, ERA against that team. And it just took me back to, you know, I mean, no, this is rare, obviously.

I think the second, what the first pitcher since Randy Johnson to win three games in the, yeah. Yeah, and Baumgartnery games in 14 had a similar performance, but it wasn't back-to-back days. Where he won game one, game five, and then had a five-inning saving game seven. But that was, I can say this, against my royals who were not quite the potent offense, Toronto. You know what I mean? Toronto is. I mean, they had guys the lower part of their order getting tons of hits. So his pitching was just lights out and that was what.

And what was the biggest reason I picked the Blue Jays? Because. Thought they were better. Well, yes. But what was the weakness of the Dodgers? The weakness of the Dodgers was the bullpen. And then in game seven, they're like, how about we use four pitchers and they're all starters? Yeah.

How about we don't go to the bullpen and, you know, inoculate ourselves from that? So listen, Yamamoto was unbelievable. I'll never get over, not betting on him to win MVP after telling people to do it, but so be it. What people will never really get over, and this is to me my biggest takeaway, is Blue Jays fans in that I do not think there has ever been a team that close,

that many different times to winning the World Series and not winning it. And I said that on Twitter over the weekend, and people responded, oh, you're forgetting about the Rangers who were one strike away multiple times in 2011. Trust me, as a Royals fan who fades the Cardinals, I'm not forgetting about that.

I knew, but that was singular moments, which is like, oh, my God, we can win the World Series right here. If you're a Blue Jays fan, the seventh most painful thing is that you lost an 18 inning game. Game six, you have the World Series at home in your building and you have a chance to steal it. You have second and down to, second and third, one out.

And a ball is hit, and you're like, oh my God, is it going to be tied? Oh, game over. That's it. And then game seven, you're two outs away, and a guy who's hit one home run in the last six weeks takes the lead. But then despite that, bases loaded one out. base is loaded one out and IKF is out by literally an inch in as close of a play

as you'll ever see and he almost stumbled real hard he did stumble and IKF I'm not going to kill him on the lead because smart people have disagreed about what was good or it was bad whatever he is as close as you can get and then after that

you have a ball is hit and you're like wait I think we're going to win because those two guys are going to run into each other and the center fielder that Dave Roberts inserted right before the inning, he saves the game and then an inning later

Vladdy hits a bomb or earlier that inning, pardon me, Vladdy hits a bomb that you think wins it. Like I just, as a sports fan, I can't imagine a half dozen different instances where it's like, We won the chain. And in the final, the Moogie play, KW, Rani Jazzarelli, who's a great baseball writer,

said this is one of the first in years golden pitch moments, which was either team can win the World Series on this pitch. That where, you know, where you're down a run in the bottom of the ninth or extras with men on base, where the World Series can end in either direction. direction on this pitch and it ends on a broken bat to Mookie. I mean, I just, if you're a Blue Jays fan man, I don't know how you get over. It's an amazing world. 143 days until baseball season opens up.

Coming up next, are the Patriots bending the rules to their advantage? KW loves this story. That means we're fully back. Wait, why are we playing the Prince's music? That's next on FS1 and the Fox Sports Journal on Sirius XM. We just got new intel. Our podcast is number one. I saw a lot of the rankings that say we're not number one,

that there's all these other famous people are number one. But John said no, we're number one. Also our YouTube channel, number one. Yeah, I heard that too. Yeah, so, but still, support it. It's amazing. Get on board. Welcome back to first things first.

Greg Jennings is here. Patriots held on to win their sixth in a row behind yet another solid outing from Drake May. Now, New England currently in first place, Stefan notched his 900th reception with Cardi in the building. our Taylor Swift, as I mentioned several times, it's just resplendent. Yeah.

And we actually, with trade deadline coming up, we actually have some breaking news from Dusty. There is Benny Tray. Wow. I have received the rights to the Royal Trumpeteers. Previously was a Jacksonville bit, but Jacksonville not totally relevant, but we wanted to keep the trumpeteers.

Okay. That will now be a Patriots thing. But the Prince that was promised is still Trevor Lawrence, to be clear. Yes. But you get the Royal Trumpeteers, and what do I get? You will get the tackle that turn the tide. I'll have my full enthusiasm behind that. Yeah.

And then when the sports media ombudsman happens for the Budlist, I will no longer say whether you like it or not. That's right. That's the trade. That's the trade. That's the trade. It really didn't get any. That's the trade. It's good for the show.

Which is why I will begin using the Royal Trade. Royal Trumpeteers for of course the doorstep of destiny, the newest and most sensational bit that we have. So hit the music for the doorstep of destiny, please, gentlemen. We're back. All this is a fair trade. Six in a row, I told you guys. I told you. I told you.

So I've got two full screens. Thank you. Welcome. Happy to have you on the team. Two full screens, Greg, that I want to get your reaction to. Happy to have you. First, we just updated this full screen about Drake. I don't even think Drake May played outstanding.

But it turns out outstanding is just the floor now. 200 passing yards and 100 pass a rating. Longest streaks since the merger in 1970. Prime Aaron Rogers. Drake May, another MVP Rogers. Prime Brady, prime Peyton Manning, and prime Patrick Mahal. No one has had a longer streak in NFL history without having Greg Jennings on their team. That's just a fact.

Great take. That's just a fact. That's a great take. Just looking at it. That's just a fact. There is some confusion. Now, what exactly is the doorstep of destiny going to? Yeah.

People don't totally get it. I'll be honest with you. Bit of a work in progress. We've got it kind of out ahead of ourselves. Well, let's go to our old favorite, the athletic playoff predict. Oh, Jesus, man. If you can zoom in there, I don't actually think we can. First round by 28%.

We have the best chances to have a first round by out of any team in the league, Greg. Wow. So all of a sudden, it's. It's like, oh, is this frisky little team going to make the playoffs? Oh, are we going to win a playoff game? Like, hold on. Are we getting a first round by? Yes, according to the athletics.

No, according to the athletics playoff predictor, they actually say there's a three out of four chance you don't get a first round by. However, you have the best chance of anyone. Just to be fair. If you want to be three quarters, half empty, sure. So I am. Should I go or are you going to keep going? Well, wait, I'm looking for compliments right now.

This is compliments. No, no, no. Listen, I see I would be shocked if they don't win at least 12 games at this point. Let's go. Come on. Like you just, all they have to,

to win 12 games, you just, you have six games left against terrible teams. Or I'm sorry, five games left. Two against the Jets, a Dolphins game, a Giants game,

and a Bengals game. Well, Bengals, it's tough to score 50 points. Right, but, no, but so if, if you go, say you go, Oh, we've got the Ravens too.

Say you go four and one against the awful teams. Can you go one and two bucks, bills, ravens? And that's how you get to 12 wins. Now, so I do think, and I wrote it down, the one seed is in play. Now, it should be noted. You guys were, you're not the one seed right now.

You were the one seed after week 13 in 2021. And so like that, now that was obviously the win game and, you know, destroyed Mack Jones' his whole career. But it... How's he doing? Well, his Patriots career. So, no, I do think, Greg,

that they are as as good a chance as anybody of being the one seat. I agree with that. So I do think they're legit. Wow, thank you. I really like what the Patriots are. You're not done. You want to continue? No, I'm looking for compliments. Oh, yeah. Well, all compliments over here. Look, when you watch this team, I think one

of the things that you will love is when you look at this team, obviously, they're solid defense. I don't know if we are really highlighting what Drake May is doing, not just from a statistical standpoint, but from an efficiency standpoint, because his completion percentage, obviously, they lead the NFL in completion percentage as an offense. They have the fewest inters or incompletions in all of football, like per game. Like that lets me know, For a second year guy to make that jump to run that offense, he's not throwing the ball 30 times a game. So when you ask him to, okay, shoulder this, deliver for us.

You know what he does. He delivers. And so I'm just impressed by what he's been able to do with a decent skill set of guys around him, not overly talented, decent. Yeah, pretty good. I like Stefan Diggs, I've always enjoyed them. I think he brings a lot to that offense. They don't have great skills. They do not have great skills position guys across the board.

And so when you don't have that, you're asking your second-year quarterback to be what we hoped you to be when we drafted you. And he's delivering. So I love where they're at. I second a lot of what Greg said. You want to just because it's going to get boring. No, I got something to say. It's going to get boring. It's like, should we just advance to the Super Bowl talk?

I want to bring it back to earth. The question says are the Patriots officially back? And I'm surprised that you allowed that question to even be on the board. Why? When you have six Super Bowl wins this century, overall, but this century they all happen to happen in, back is winning a Super Bowl. Whoa. Back is not being relevant again.

Back is not winning the division, being the number one. seed. We saw Washington get to the NFC championship game last year. Are they back? No. I mean, so look, I love what Drake May is doing for all the reasons Greg said. I love Mike Vrable. You know, I covered him in high

school when he was a player. I love Josh McDaniels as the offensive coordinator. And so everything is moving in the right direction. But as Nick point alluded to, 2021, you were the number one seat at one point. Y'all made the playoffs.

Matt Jones, you were calling him the baby goat, and I liked him. Now, Drake May is legit, I fully believe. But at that point, Matt Jones had beaten out Cam Newton. I get it, it wasn't Prime Cam. But that said a lot. Hey, well, this rookie beat out the veteran Cam Newton and made the Pro Bowl.

And so you thought you were back then. So I'm just saying, just bring it down a notch. Respectfully, I understand that we're all about Super Bowls, but I wouldn't want to swim in your lane. I'm not going to sit here and say that we're S-Bob when we haven't been deemed S-Bob. That question kind of makes it. But I'm not going to.

I feel like I'm overstepping. If you, I want to be in the S-Bob conversation. They're not S-Bob. I'm waiting for you to give them the blessing. I'm waiting for you. No, I'm not going to do that. Nah, I'll save the cheating bit. Okay.

Oh, you want to cook on that. Well, we were a kid. Did have you follow this story? Greg? Yeah. So there's a pivotal play. The Pennix got the snap too quickly. Rahim Morris afterwards said, you know what? Great situational football. They were clapping, which you're not allowed to do. Rabel said it was Clapgate. And I read this and we looked at it and it's like, we don't think it's actually has any. Did you see anybody? I watched every view, all 22. Every, I never saw it. I clap. The reason we're back. Right there on the line. It's cheating.

We're not right there on the line. We're not cheating, but we'll be up the line. Gentlemen, can you play us out, please? No? Okay, sorry, I thought that was a no. Excellent. We'll see you after we beat Tampa. Offset of the week, Packers were 13-point favorites

at home against Carolina. They ended up scoring 13 points. Panthers moved to 5 and 4. Packers 5, 2, and 1. Mangini and Greg, an insurmountable league. Unupset of Ler. We probably have to change the rules. Here's LaFleur on what bothers him the most about the loss. What's going to bother you the most about it?

Everything. I mean, that was, you know, give Carolina credit. They played the perfect game in terms of they were able to run the football and keep it away from us, keep a lid on their coverages so we couldn't get explosive plays. And ultimately, you know, we couldn't finish in the red zone. One of five in the red area is not going to be. going to cut it. We had the two turnovers, missed field goal. So I think if you look at it, we had errors in every phase of the game. And I don't care who you're playing in this league.

If you do that, you're going to lose games. Okay. Should Packers fans be worried? I'd be a little worried. The NFC is not the AFC. It's not that there's eight teams that are, you know, at all viable. And one of them is the Jags who just had their lands and titles stripped by Kevin Wilde's because Wilde said they're no longer even though they're in the playoffs. The NFC has a bunch of teams, including the one that just beat in. Because what are they second? That well, so right now?

Well, you're talking to the NFC North. They lead the NFC North. Right. And so we can show you the NFC playoffs situation right now. Right now they're fourth, but they're also like look at who's in seventh. A team, they're a half game up. And that tiebreaker is not going to matter because they're not going to have. the same records lines don't have a tie.

And so, and the bears are out of the playoff picture. They're a half game up on them. You then add Greg to it what the Packers schedule is. And you're like, oh man, they only have one layup left. The Giants, every other team they play is fighting to be in the post season. And so five divisional games, your non-divisional games are the Eagles, the Broncos, the Ravens,

and then the Giants game like that, I'd be nervous if I were Green Bay, who as Bruce said, is S. Bob and was, you know, a lot of people's Super Bowl pick. So if I'm the fans, I'm not nervous. I would be a little frustrated with this team because I'm trying to figure out who are we? And what I would suggest is for them to just kind of take a page out of Aaron Rogers, past Aaron Rogers, and just relax a bit. Because there's a lot riding on the shoulders of Jordan Love. We saw that even yesterday. Based off what we saw last week when there was a showdown in Pittsburgh against Aaron Rogers

and that Pittsburgh Steelers team, the performance he put on display was like, if we get this, we're great. We're going to be rolling high. But the level of inconsistency, when others aren't able to step up and make plays, you need this guy to do it, Jordan Love. And he just has found a way to, for some reason, be as inconsistent as they come. And it's frustrating because we see the flame when it's full blown. And then the next week, like Sunday, we see it when it's not. And as a fan, as one who's played with Brett Farr, one who's obviously played with Aaron Rogers, it was always on.

It never would. There was never a switch. But here it's like there's like there's two joint loves. You know, kind of. A little bit. One is J-Lo and one is Jay-N-No. Yeah, it's really. It's true.

It's interesting. You showed that schedule. Part of me, look, I don't think you want to play a tough team every single week barring the Giants. You know, who. Giants are done. They're done, but I'm just saying you've got to show up. But I wonder, when you look at their, look at what they've done already.

They've lost to, and the Carolina is better than we've given them credit for, but still, they lost to Carolina and the Browns and tied the Cowboys. So those are three mediocre at best or bad teams, but they've beaten. At that time, we thought Washington was pretty good. Obviously, Detroit, obviously the Steelers. Part of me wonders, will it be good for them to play some good teams? Because they are, Greg, but Greg, like, for them to get up for games, that was a total no-show yesterday. I mean, I don't want to take anything from Carolina,

but that was a total no-show. The Packers entered as the fifth best rush defense in the league. So you don't run on them. And yesterday, Carolina ran for like almost 170 yards. Rico Dowell had 130 yards rushing. That's a no-show. That's not somebody was better than us or whatever. They didn't go in with the right mentality,

find themselves in a football game, and couldn't turn it on. I think the same thing happened against the grounds. And J-Lo, Greg is right, like, and you guys know I love J-Lo, but he is frustratingly inconsistent. Or even if you look at his numbers yesterday, he didn't have any touchdowns, but they don't look that terrible, but it was, we watched the game. Like, this was just ridiculous. I don't know what that. That's first down. Like, I don't know what he was thinking there.

He just makes some plays that make you scratch your head and wonder when it really, you know, gets down to it in the playoffs, is he going to do something boneheaded and it hurts you? And I know we got to go. But I thought LaFleur's answer there on the home media, that was from Green Bay Packers.com, was incredibly instructive. That coach nailed this.

When coach said they are four, five, and one as big favorites. So they have five outright losses as big favorites in the last 10. They could be looking ahead to the Eagles. When Matt LaFleur is like, it says in that interview, it doesn't matter who you're playing. Bro, you're playing a team. that came into the game with four wins. You came into the game with five.

Like, I think it's very clear. Like, they looked at it, the way Vegas looked at it, the way I looked at it, which is, oh, the Packers are way better than this team, and I think you saw it play out. It's the Packers' largest upset loss, according to Rob Domowski, since the merger. Well, yeah, you don't lose his 14-point favorites in this league.

Commanders lose by 24. Lost Jaden Daniels in the process, who maybe shouldn't have been the field to begin with. Here's the headline from the Washington Post. It was 38 to 7. Why the heck was Jane Daniels even in the game? That's a good question. Here's Dan Quinn. Obviously like the hindsight you don't want to think that way where you know an injury could take place. You know, obviously we're more conservative in that spot to you know run and hand off and not have reads to go but just the end result. Mickey, I'm bummed. Do you think Jane should

have been in the game, bro? I mean, look, we've seen starters in games that are blowouts like this. So I'm not going to kill Dan Quill. I didn't love the play call for sure, you know, the RPO and, you know, you've got to put him in harm's way. But I kind of look at it like, I mean, Jaden is obviously injury prone. Like he's already in a year and a half had the ribs, the hamstring, strained knee, and now this. And so I don't want to say, I mean, he could have got hurt on. any play. So I'm not, I get it. You could have taken him out, but we see starters. I'm sure

you were in plenty of games where it's a blowout and you just keep your starters. So I'm not going to kill Dan Quinn on this. Yeah, he should have been in the game. Like, it's easy for us when a player gets hurt, we said it with Chris Godwin. Yep. All right. Was that last year? Yeah. Last year. We said it last year with Chris Godwin. When guys get hurt, when they're trying to fight. Do you understand when you are a player, you're not saying, coach, you can put somebody else in, we're not going to come back. That's not your mentality. The moment is third down. You are grabbing your helmet, strapping your chin strap up, because you expect to go back out there and try to do something. Now as a coach, the mentality becomes, okay, we got to put something good

on tape. We can't just allow this game to trickle into the following week. We're three and five as a the commander's word. They're trying to fight to remain a threat in the NFC, which is running away with a lot of other teams that are having success and we're going in the opposite direction. The best chance we have to do that is with our starting quarterback. To give us something to go, even if we don't win this game,

we have to build some type of momentum for the following week. And that's all teams try to do when they're in those type of situations. But Jaden, he's probably the first one to grab his tell him and they want to go out there and compete. So I don't have a problem with it. He should have been in the game. In high insight, because he got hurt, we're saying shouldn't have been in the game. It was out of reach.

But no, every player wants to still play. Yeah, the problem isn't that he was in the game late. The problem is that this is probably not that shocking. And this is the worst take to have because nobody wants to have it and nobody wants it to be right. But this was the worry with Jaden Daniels. coming out of college. And you can't, I understand it's a fluke or it's unlucky, and that all might be true. You can't convince me that, I'll use the other extreme, that if Josh Allen is tackled that way,

that happens to his arm. You can't convince me. And this is not a, I feel sick for the player, but I would have been very anxious about having my franchise quarterback be. 190 pounds. And now he's played 26 games to Bruce Point and has had suffered injuries to four totally different parts of his body. And the hamstring is unrelated to these things because that's, but the other, but the sprained knee is not.

The cracked ribs is not. And I don't think that arm is. I don't think that's unrelated to his frame. And that is the commander's fans right now can cope, if you will, by putting it on Dan Quinn. But I think the bigger story is like, gosh, darn it. Is this the second time we got a transcendently talented dual threat quarterback that is life? And this is going to be always the concern in the back of your head, which I think it will be for Jaden.

I don't like it. I'm not sure. I hate it. But I'm not, if you were to tell me, hey, you know, this happened to a quarterback this week. Would he have been high or low on your guesses going into it? Just sucks. It just, it's not a skinny guy sport, man. It's not.

Commanders host the Lions on Sunday. And their seasons over. Their seasons over. Do the bills deserve to be Super Bowl favorites? That's next on first things first as we round at the top of the hour. Live from New York, it's a show that's all in on the athletics playoff predictor. All in. Well, I feel bad because I was playing on going to the Patriots first playoff game.

And now you're going to have to wait a week. You're at home by. Oh, my God. If the only thing standing between the Chiefs and a trip to the Super Bowl is a trip to Foxborough. Oh, my God. Be careful. Listen, I respect the Patriots all year. We'll sign up for that today.

I told you, Cardi's our Taylor Swift. Second hour, first things for us. Today, it's a time to say that the bills are the best team in the air. F.V. Vegas sure does. Meanwhile, are the Cowboys on upset alert tonight? What's brewing in the Cardinals QB room? You had a good take the other day. Soft benching. Yeah. I mean, that's, I don't even know if it's a take as much as it's obvious fact. I like, soft. It's a must win. Kyler could play and they're like, no, Jacoby. It's going pretty well to have you. There's a few soft benchings going around. Jay J.J. McCartney.

Brock, brother. Brock. Brock can barely walk. He was gutsy to get out there. But right now, we're headed back to Buffalo. Chiefs loose. Mahomes pressured all night, completes less than half his passes. Chiefs have won a little more than half their games. Here's the KC QB. We got to learn from it, but it's kind of like, you've got to do it now.

Like there's no easy game coming up, and there's no more chances that we can really take losses. So I mean, you got to learn from it fast, and we've got to be better as a team. Offensively, we've got to be better, especially on some of those big drives. had in the second half. And I think we'll just continue to push away and learn down this by week. And then come back and be ready to play our best football coming off of it. What does this loss mean for Kansas City? A lot for seeding, potentially, not much for anything else.

And so listen, I was dead wrong about the game. I bet the game. I included the chiefs in picks. Not because I thought the chiefs were going to change their general philosophy. with the Buffalo in the regular season, which is be very vanilla offensively and try to use it as an opportunity to win, but also gain as much information as possible. I thought they would do that, but I thought even in doing that, they'd be able to move the ball because the Bill's defense had been so bad. I either underestimated the Bill's pass rush or overestimated the Chief's offensive line even while I was missing people or a combination of the two led to what has been the only consistent way through an eight-year career to make Patrick look bad, which is consistently get pressure without sending blitzes. It's what happened in the Super Bowl against Tampa.

It's what happened in the Super Bowl against Philly the second time around. It's what happened last night. And very quickly, you can get the most talented quarterback I think any of us have ever seen look very human. And I thought, you know, I mean, that was the worst completion percentage game for Patrick's career. It was a minor miracle. They had the ball down seven. I'm not talking brew with 20 seconds left. I'm talking about it was seven minutes left.

Right. And a chance to, all right, go get the tie and see what happens. And three plays into that drive or four plays into that drive. a pick he didn't have to throw. Like Patrick was hurried and off all game. There's no denying it. But does that, do I think any of that is going to apply when these teams play in the postseason?

Not really. And do I think that the chiefs are in real jeopardy of missing the postseason? Absolutely not. I do think it's going to be a fight to win the division. And it's going to be, for my purposes, Greg, a really fun fight because it's going to really come down to, am I right or wrong? about Bo Nix and the Broncos. If I'm right about them and the chiefs sweep the Broncos,

they control their own destiny for the division. Beat the Chargers when you play them again at home, sweep the Broncos, you're fine. And if I'm wrong, then they're going to have to do it as a wild card, which they've been on the road, but they've never not won the division. And so I still believe the chiefs at full strength of the best team in football. I think Buffalo last night beat them up pretty badly and, you know, deserve the victory. Yeah, look, what does this mean?

Yeah, you're spot on as it pertains to seating, it matters. But the reality of it is, is you're looking at a chief team that now is going to go into the by week and look at this schedule and look at every opponent, it has to give them their best shot. Because they know they're going to take every opponent's best shot. But now there's no possible way you can chalk or check mark a division win against any opponent. I don't care if it's the Raiders. I don't care. I know you feel this type of way, but you can't go into those games feeling like,

because you don't know what other teams are going to do in the division where you're sitting. You can't take any game for granted because a single game for granted. A bad loss kills you. And when I watched this team last night or yesterday, one thing is one thing that stands out to me is they have got to figure out a way to get some type of. type of a running game. Some type of a running game.

That's where the bills have been terrible and they couldn't take advantage. Some type of running game because everyone knows, even fourth and 17, everyone believes and feels, I don't care how you feel about Patrick Mahomes, watching that game, you feel like, okay, if there's anybody that can get this, it's him. But when you watch them play,

you feel real good when he turns around and he hand that ball off right now. If you're the other team. Because you don't feel like they have anything going behind Patrick Mahomes. that's the one thing that will change how defenses have to play them. And for Patrick Mahomes, right now, does he need help? No.

Would he like a little bit more help? Of course. Any quarterback would. And if I'm Andy Reed, I find a way to do something, whether it's via trade, whether it's how I don't know how we're calling these run plays. But I got to get more production in the run game because it just, I know we said Xavier Worthy and Rishie Rice and all these weapons opened everything up but that running game

just having a semblance of running game will help them tremendously. That's interesting. I think two things. One, and Mahomes alluded to it, the room for error is dwindling badly. Like, they don't have much room to, look, four, obviously four or five wins,

six wins will get you in the playoffs. But I'm just saying they don't have any room for error anymore. So that's number one. Two, I am wondering, look, they've looked great, and I've thought in the previous weeks, they're the best team in football. But they are one and four against winning teams with winning records. If you want to throw in Baltimore, two and four, but that is also, and we'll, you know, I talk about their defense improvement, and it has, we don't know how good it is or we'll get.

But at that point, it had not yet turned the corner defensively. So that was maybe a different Baltimore team. team. But they also, Nick, last year they were 11 and 0 in one score games. And everybody talked about them eking out these games. This year they're 0 and 4 in one score games. So I'm wondering, like we'll see because four of their eight games remaining are against teams with winning records. Let's see how good they are.

They got a lot of tread out of beating Detroit, which is legitimate, obviously. They also got a lot of tread out of beating Baltimore because Baltimore had fall under one. We didn't know what Baltimore was at that. But they have lost recent. Like when they lost to Jacksonville, it was surprising because they had Xavier Worthy back. So it was like, wow, okay. Now they've lost with Xavier and Rashid. You know, that's when it was like really clicking.

And then they just lost yesterday to that. So it's a good test for them. I still feel they'll make the playoffs for sure. But it's getting a little, you know, things are getting tight. I want to go on the record here. If they finish worse than 12 and 5, I'll be disappointed. 12 and 5. So that's one loss.

That's one loss. It's one. And if you, I don't know if we can show the quarterbacks where the teams they have remaining. And I think that is that they, the left side of the screen, you played aside from Stafford, basically all of the best quarterbacks in football. But they lost to Trevor. No, no, no. Again, number one picker. On the right side of the screen,

they play, in my opinion, two legitimately really good quarterbacks and Dak and Justin Herbert, but those teams are now diminished. And then I think that they, again, I'm just going on the record. I think they're going to go 12 and 5, which is why I still think they're going to win the division.

Wow. So we'll see. That would be amazing. I don't, oh, I mean, okay. Just one. I mean, they haven't been great, They've had weeks where we, oh, they're back. They look great.

Since the tackle the turn the tide, they're five and two. Right, they're five and two with a loss to Jacksonville, kind of a weird one, and a loss to a great team in Buffalo. I don't think they play any team, no disrespect to the cults we'll get to in a moment, as good as Buffalo the rest of the way. And so, yeah, I mean, they're, like, if they, five and two, if they go five and two, the next seven, they wouldn't get to 12 and five. I understand that. But that's where I think they're going to finish. Okay. As for the bills.

Well, the odds makers absolutely loved this win. Buffalo is now number one in Super Bowl odds, number one in AFC odds. That's not league. That's the AFC. Yeah. No, they're both. They're number one to win for the whole.

Yeah, Super Bowl and AFC. And MVP. Josh. Now, I guess people really like that game. It's just the Bills Chiefs. Yeah. Do the bills deserve this much faith, bro? Well, look, I think they should be favored in the AFC.

Obviously, the Chiefs, you know, we've seen this how many times? Four times. But I still think they should be favorite right now in the AFC. And then the league, at first you question it, but the NFC, we saw the Packers, we know what they look like. Detroit's been, you know, has some bad losses. The Rams are really good, but they're not scary, in my opinion. So there's no team in the NFC. And Philadelphia is tough to repeat and even get back to the Super Bowl.

So I guess that's fine. But definitely, I think, in the AFC, they've done enough. I know they've only played, you know, I think they're one-in-one against winning teams, lost to the Patriots, but beat the Chiefs. They have the superstar and Josh Allen. They've got right now the best running back in the league, James Cook. So with that offensive line, yeah, I think it's fine for having them favorites. Yeah, I don't mind it at all.

To your point that you were just alluded to, you got one of the best quarterbacks in the game. Offensively, we look at them and we talk about, well, they don't have a number one receiver, but you got a two-headed monster at tight end that really supplements for what you don't have at the receiver position. I mean, we witnessed Dalton Kincaid and what he was able to do now that he's healthy on that field, giving them that type of assurgeons. What I need to see out of this team that will solidify it for me. And again, I don't mind that they have the favorites, the odds are in their favor. Defensively, I need them to see more consistency.

Not even necessarily even against a run defense. In the past defense, what they were able to do yesterday at the specific, Cole Bishop, what he did yesterday, if they are going to be a team that can make a deep run and upset a team like Kansas City in the postseason, you got to have play like that from a safety like Colbishop. Like the past defenses that he made yesterday, the just instinctive playing that he was doing, it was very reminiscent of a young Harrison Smith

that I had the pleasure of playing against and with alongside in Minnesota. If he, and second year guy, but what I saw on him, I got to watch more, But if they can get that type of production and then some type of run stopping, yeah, why not? Well, listen, I've thought all year long that the two best teams in the league were the Chiefs and the Bills. You know, they picked them to go to the AFC championship game against each other each the last two years. I'd pick them to go to the Super Bowl if that was possible.

So while I think having the Chiefs favored over the Bills is foolish, they just played and the Bills beat them handily, so I don't take issue with it. I do want to ask you about a couple quotes, one of them from Cole Bishop, because I think one of the best things that bills have going for them right now is maybe they could make it through a whole postseason, not have to play the Chiefs. Maybe I'm wrong. You know what I mean? The Chiefs aren't going to go 12 and 5. They're going to go 10 and 7 be the 7 seed and, you know, and get knocked off before they get to

Buffalo. But if they are to play the Chiefs, I don't understand why Cole Bishop and the rookie Harrison said these things. Here's Cole Bishop talking about the defense on Patrick. One of the motions on third down, just kind of film study. Saw a play versus charges where he spit it out there pretty quick. So being able to know he's potentially going to throw that ball, and then he talked about a play against Xavier,

just chasing the motion, being able to anticipate that the ball might go there. And then Harrison talking about Xavier specifically, finding a difference in his posture and his effort for real, when he knows he's not getting it when it's a run. So just applying what I saw from the film room and taking it out to the field, There tells that everybody gives just about finding it. That's by the way, courtesy of Tyler Dunn and his great substack, go longtd.com. I personally would not be, like, especially the Hirsten quote,

that seems like something you'd want to keep to yourself. I agree, 100%. Like, 100%. If it's a tell. 100%. Look, there was a time where you guys a quick story. We played the Atlanta Falcons. I might have shared this with you guys before.

And I came in and I saw something on film. And I'm like, guys, I don't care what you looked at all week. I got it. At two yards, they're in either cover four. At four yards, it's automatically cover two. It was, I watched every single game, every single snap. I knew it. I didn't have to see nothing that the safeties did.

I told everybody in our unit room, we went out there, we torched them. Never said anything to anybody. That was the playoffs, though. Had we saw that, had I saw that in the regular season, knowing how good they were, knowing we had the potential to possibly face them in the postseason, which we did, I would have never said that. I would have never disclosed it. And I disclosed it to the Falcon's defense.

Right. What if you had played them in the playoffs each the last four years and they'd beaten you every time? And it was because it was a different game playing in the regular season and postseason. So when you're dealing with young guys, this is what you're going to get. And that's why I will give them a pass. Because if they're studying film and they're feeling like, man, I'm just, I'm doing what I'm asked to do. This is why I'm a professional. I'm watching film.

I'm identifying tales that allow me. me to play with a freedom that I don't have to actually identify all these other tales. I know what that was. I saw that on film. I'm going to trust it. That's why I say when I watched Colbishop, and I didn't even know he said this, when I watched him play, he was playing with a level of, like, saviness and understanding that was like, no, I know what I know what to expect right now.

He wants to play the quick game. He was all over it. I love what I saw. They can get that type of play. totally different. Yeah. I agree. I'm trying to kill the kids either.

I just like I think it's a mistake. Yeah. I don't think it's, I think they mean well, but I think it's a mistake. You didn't, I took that on its face of like Xavier worthy not giving up on place,

but just. But now Xavier. Right now I'm going to correct. But I guess that's not like a, that's one-on-one, isn't it? Look like you're going to get the ball? Well, it is.

A lot of advanced film study. A lot of people study. other people and they forget to self-assess oneself. And you got to always understand that if I'm watching, if I'm identifying tales of someone else, what are some what are some tales that I may be sharing or putting on display for others? I do want to fly football just for the record. Okay, good. Just the kid that's like very like all like this.

He's getting the ball. Greg, rough day for your guy. Daniel Jones turned back the clock on his microwave and his career. I knew you thought he was him. Three passes to the Steelers, lost two fumbles. Here's the stat line. Through the ball 50 times. Yeah. 342 yards against the Steelers.

A pass rating down at 64. Greg, did the five turnover day shake your faith in Daniel Jones? So it did not shake my faith. We can't have that. Number one, can't play that way. Can't have Daniel Jones throwing the ball 50 times. Can't be in that situation. When you have a guy like Jonathan Taylor and you give him the ball 14 times,

I understand he only averaged just over three yards of carry. You got to feature him. He has to be the reason. He's the catalyst behind this offense. Daniel Jones has been playing great. Yes, was he pressured? Was he under the rest? All these things.

And it was a terrible game. I'm not going to excuse it. I do believe this is not what we're going to see moving forward. What I will say is if you are an opponent and you are playing against the Indianapolis Colts. This is how you beat them. Because if you can get to Daniel Jones, it's not just about pressuring him

because he's, he's always been under pressure. You have to get to him. If you get to him, he's been known to fumble the ball, when he gets stripped sacked, throw interceptions, different things like that. I'm not worried about it because I believe that he's, he's in a place in his career where he doesn't believe that's who I am because of what I have around me.

And so I believe in that. and I believe in him. I'm not, I mean, we've, Daniel, we've been through worse. Yeah, that's true. You aren't right about that. He's interesting because I don't feel like, like this is typically a game where whether it was Donald or Gino a few years ago, we would have said pumpkin mode. But I have to give him this credit.

The start to his career was better than those guys. Like he was a perennial starter. he did have a good rookie year. He did have the year in New York where he led him to the playoffs. So he wasn't as bad as Darno early in his career. So I'm giving him more rope, if you will, before I say pumpkin mode.

But this is why I think they're a good team, a playoff team, it looks like right now, but not a threat to win the AFC. Because if a team makes them, now their offensive line is one of the best in the league, so I'm surprised they got mashed the way they did yesterday. But if a team takes away Jonathan Taylor

and makes Daniel Jones have to beat you, I don't think he's going to be able to do that far enough into the playoffs to get to the Super Bowl. Also, I note that he's just been called Daniel Jones in this segment and not Danny Dimes. And it's because yesterday he was, of course, Danny Nichols, all five turnovers. Well, I don't know what was your favorite, Greg, of the five.

I mean, there's a strips sack turnover. There's another strip sack turnover. And then, of course, there's the three picks. I don't even know, because we're late on time, if we have time to show all of it. And are you really, come on, deep down, you thought this magic act is coming to an end, didn't you? There we go.

You were watching. You were watching. Oh, no, no. You were watching this, and you were like, oh, is it going to come this quickly? Uh-oh. This bad? You wanted to continue to believe, but deep down, you knew it couldn't possibly be real.

It was, it feels like so pure and innocent. Like, this is what it's supposed to be. What are you talking about? Just knock them on. But in your heart, you're like, no, this is sleight of hand. This can't be. This, I know better than to think the, the Daniel Jones led cults have. of a better offense than the 07 Pat's,

than the 2018 Chiefs, than the greatest show on turf, that Daniel Jones deserves a spot on Bruce's ballot. You knew that could- Take it all away. That couldn't be reality. Whoa! You knew it had to be make-believe.

It's great. Just excellent yet again. Normal segment, but we are not huddling. Welcome back to first things first. We're starting with the Bengals. They can light up the scoreboard. They can't play defense. Chapter 25. How many times have I done that newsread?

I guess 24. Exactly right. Here's Jamar Chase and Chase Brown. They're not happy. I'm going to stay in my lane. I don't want no defense to play come and chew me out about what the fucking done. We just got to play complimentary football.

Like, we put the ball in the end zone and go up a point at the end, finish the fucking game. Like, just end it. Like, that's it. Like, that's what we need to do. Just end the fucking game. Brewery reaction.

I'm not a fan of curse word, so I apologize for the staff of the show. I get the frustration. My goodness. They have scored 80 points in the last two weeks and lost. How much time was left when they gave the ball to Caleb? 35, 40 seconds. There's three touchdowns in the last like 100 seconds. Less than a minute, for sure.

You just like, can you hold them for 40 seconds or whatever. And obviously they can't. So I get the frustration. I mean, Greg, you might have to speak to how that sits in the locker room. I think Chase, Jamar Chase, had the standard answer of, look, I don't want people, players coming to me, like catch the football or run the right routes or whatever. So I guess that's probably standard. But I get the frustration on the running back chase is Chase Brown's part.

So I don't know if you guys remember early in the season. and I put Jamar Chase on the Bud's list, Bud list, and I said he has to be more. He can't stay in this lane. We don't need to hear about it, but he can't just stay in this lane. You think saying something else?

Well, it's, we hear about, sometimes we hear too much about these, come to Jesus meetings or these, these players only meetings. They, they are producing offensively. And it's something about, whether they need to practice against their defense in practice,

instead of letting the scout team do it, let's give them some good looks. Let's give them these looks as receivers that they're going to have to go up against. As a quarterback, there's ways you can go about it. And if you are truly all about trying to win, you will exhaust everything. And I get the frustration. I have been there. I get the frustration. I'm not saying that you can't be frustrated.

you don't have a right to be frustrated. Yes, but there's still so much season left. And you know you can win these games if you just get some more out of not only yourself, but others as well, specifically on that defense side of the ball. But, yeah, same old Bengals. Yeah, I mean, I mean,

and listen, it would be disingenuous for Bengals fans or commentators to act like the season was lost because Joe got hurt. No, it was not. Yeah. They would be cooked with or without Joe Burrow because since they've gotten flacco instead of browning,

they are getting, we can show you the numbers, peak Joe Burrow level production, which does beg. Oh my God. Fair question. It does it begs. It has to be. I don't know what the question is.

I don't need to know. You know what you guys are telling me. I haven't even said the question. What, you guys know, the question's going to be. It's a fair question is going to be, does Joe Black have a lot left for the take? Maybe that's the question.

It's weird. Or the question is, the question. The question is some of, not all of, some of the credit we have taken away from Jalen Hertz for his All-Star team. And from Brock Purdy for the Avengers, were we doing that while looking at the Bengals and being like, man, Joe Burrow,

Mount Rushmore quarterback, and should we now when we see 41-year-old Joe Flacco, who's eaten at TGI Fridays by himself having the time of his life quickly? Locked in.

Locked in. Going out week after week and throwing for 320 and 33 points a game and saying, maybe. Maybe Higginson Greg, it's a compliment of the power of wide receivers. Browning did it a couple years.

Two years ago, we saw Browning do it. I mean, I'm just, again, I don't need, it's not a, it's not a take I'm giving. It's a question I'm asking. Then let's move on. It's not an official take. It's not a take. I would never sit up here and say Joe Burroughs is a system quarterback. That's ridiculous.

No, no, no, no. I would never sit up here and say, I would never sit up here and say Joe Burrow could leave the team and you replace him with a 40-plus-year-old who was bad for the Browns and they wouldn't miss a beat. I wouldn't say that, but I do turn on football on Sunday and see it. Yeah. I don't say, I wouldn't say it. I'm a borough guy.

He's not saying that. I'm just... Just so happened that Joe Burrow threw for 470 yards. Yeah. It just looks a lot like last year's Bengals is all I'm saying. Except the... Not saying it. Thank you, Wiles.

You get it. I wouldn't say that. I'd look ridiculous. No, Joe Burrow is one. That's quarterback. Now Jalen Hertz, system guy. Exactly. Of course.

Oh, Jaylen hurts. On the bare side of things. Caleb had three touchdowns, caught one too. Here's his record this season. This might be a little dirty pool if Danny was out here. You can't take out two of the games now. Well, how about two in the games against terrible defenses? He's cooked some up and then the rest he doesn't.

So that's what I'm asking. Did this game change your view on? or it was like, hey, you're the Bengals. If Joe Burrow played his own team in the scrimmage. And we should also include after the Bears blew this, and then Caleb made a huge play at the end. Like if people didn't watch, it was an amazing final drive for Caleb. It changes nothing for me.

Nothing. Now, look, Caleb is on the right track. I don't know where that track will end, but I think he certainly is on track to being like a good, solid quarterback. The question is, can he be a great, he's expected to be a great, transcendent quarterback. I'll just stick to great. I'm kind of come off transcendent.

But I saw nothing yesterday to move me in terms of, oh, oh, he's going to be a superstar. I saw nothing. Because he was great, but it was against the freaking Bengals. But if he wasn't great, wouldn't it have moved you negatively? Yeah, it would have been a problem. Yeah. But, I mean, he. did the same thing against Dallas and then had, what, four straight bad games?

Like, you saw it, seven touchdowns, no picks against the two worst defenses in the league, five touchdowns, four interceptions in the remaining, what, five, six games. But, Brew, didn't that, isn't one of the knocks on Caleb too high and too low, a little emotional within the game? To me, that last drive spoke a lot. It did. Because that would have been a worse loss than the Hail Mary loss to blow a 14-point lead with two minutes left to that team. And for him to rally them and they score a touchdown, I thought it was a huge moment.

It was nice, but does it convince you he's going to be a superstar? No, but I thought he was going to be good. But he's showing me enough to think he's going to be good. It's a positive step. It was a good game. But, I mean, I want to see it. He's done it twice. I thought Dallas.

Oh, he's cooking. All right, here we go. And then he has a bunch of 70 passers. I do want to see more. However, I'm more with Nick on this one because I do think for Caleb's psyche, forget how we view him, for his own psyche. You need to remind yourself that I can do this. That even when my team needs me the most and they need a drive,

they need heroics, if you will, I can still come through. Now the game was in hand and then for some odd reason, they found themselves on the outside looking in. And he found a way to make enough plays. And he did it. And when you're on a team that is kind of teetering on the brink and you look within your division and then in your conference and you see like, man, we don't have a margin of error

to lose a game like this, find a way to win it. When last year, just last year, every game like this, they found a way to lose it. And unlike the Cowboys game where it's just a route, They needed every single one of those 47 points. The Devons allows 42, and they win. Like, that to me is something. It's not nothing.

And, oh, go ahead. I'm just, I hear you guys. And I agree with a lot, like, it is a step in the right direction. Justin Fields cooked against this bingled team. I'm just saying. No, no, no. That's true. Again, I oddly feel better about this than if it was 4721.

Like the fact that they needed it. And then my face. favorite imprompt to 30 second biweekly segment. 2024 quarterback redraft today. Today, this moment, right now we're doing it. If you ask, if you asked football, if you ask football world, Drake May goes one. Easy. Who goes two?

Today, we know everything we know this moment. Caleb's back to two. I don't know. I think a lot of people are looking bow neck. Those people must not. I still think Jaden would go. I think it's, I still think. I still think he would go second.

It's, okay. The injuries. It's at least a debate. This morning it's a debate. It's more, but yeah. It was not a, but week ago. Took three, four touchdowns, and another guy is in a hospital.

Right, that's what I. Congratulations. No, but I'm, the reason I bring it up is, I think that is a very going to be continually fluid conversation. And it had just been people, I think, tried to stamp that Jaden, that Caleb over Jaden, forget, Drake May, that Caleb over Jaden, Jaden was a huge mistake by Chicago.

And this morning, I think all of a sudden, you'd have very split opinions. That's the point. That's the point I'm trying to make. I think some people would take Bo. I'm not saying I will, but Bo Nix over Caleb this morning. Sean Payton and his family. He's six and two. Okay.

He's something. I mean, that we... I know you penciled in two wins, but the guy... There's seven and two, actually. Oh, even better. Steelers down the Colts moved to five and three. They force six turnovers, Danny Dimes at five. But they only won by seven points.

Kind of odd. Here's Mike Tomlin. It's a fine line between drinking wine and squashing grapes in this business. It's nothing dramatic, you know. It's really not. Greg, are you starting to believe in the Steelers? Wild's absolutely not. No, wow.

Absolutely not. Like, I'm just not. This is why, like, watching that game yesterday, with all that went wrong with the Indianapolis Colts, with all those turnovers that Daniel Jones did have, and to still be right there to potentially have a chance to try to win this game, try to tie it up. Like, I get it.

The Steelers, they got after Daniel Jones. Yeah. They showed flashes of, man, they can get to the quarterback. T.J. White is alive. This defense, oh, my goodness, they can stop the run. do some things, but how consistently can they do it? And is it sustainable or is it enough if we don't give you five more opportunities offensively?

Because if memory serves me correctly, you have a team that you root for that when they played them, they gave, was it five turnovers? It was five turnovers. We were driving to win the game. My point. And so you can't win games when you're playing against teams who aren't going to turn that ball over like that. I don't believe that New England, if they were to play them again, I don't think you get five turnovers.

And if you play the English coach, I don't think you get six turnovers. So can you really win those games without? I give them credit for winning, but I don't trust this team because if they don't get those turnovers, they don't win these games. I think you guys are being a little harsh on the Steelers. And look, I got Baltimore winning the division. Why? Steelers just missing the playoffs.

Because I think Baltimore is that good. And the Steelers are what I thought they were. but, I mean, they forced those turnovers. The Danny Dimes and Drake, they had just give them the ball. Aside from the muffed punt, they were forced to. Yeah, I mean, they hit hard. That's what the Steelers do. The Steelers, this is, I should have picked this as an upset alert, obviously.

But, I mean, this is why Mike Tomlin's never had a losing season. He has consistently, year after year, gotten them to win some games. They shouldn't win. That's right. They haven't had a great quarterback in year. and Rogers is playing the best they've had in years. I'm just saying they are what I thought they were, about a nine-win team, maybe 10 wins,

and we'll finish just outside of the playoffs. But I'm not going to, like, they got two of the best wins in the AFC. So you don't believe them in the match. Well, no, I've never believed in them. I mean, as far as winning. But I'm just saying, the Patriots and the Colts are two of the best wins.

Just very quick. I think you guys, you guys can all be right on not believing in them. It doesn't actually matter that much. Here's the point I'm trying to make. Believing in them is a conversation about, like, can they do damage in the postseason? Yes. For Brew's purposes and the Ravens purposes, it's simply an arithmetic question, which is how many wins are they going to get? Yes.

And so whether it was a fluke or not, that's a super damaging win to Baltimore. Because that's a win. If you guys were right, the Steelers had no business getting that they got. And now it's, you know what I mean? And so the spread stays two games when I think most people thought it was going to be down to one. That's the problem for Baltimore. Cowboys, Cardinals tonight, we make our predictions. And was Kyler Murray benched?

Or are we expecting an A game from the Cowboys? That's next. A games, A games, A games. Start your Saturday strong. Number two, Indiana Hoosiers. Mendoza leads Indiana up against Penn State, big noon kickoff at 10 a.m. Then it's Indiana Penn State. only on Fox.

Welcome back to First Things First. We're talking about a Monday night football game. Three strange storylines of this game. Storyline number one. Last week, Jerry Jones told the Wall Street Journal that he's spending most of his time, not most of his time, spending some of his time on $100 billion worth of natural gas investments.

And that's why he's not fixing the Cowboys defense. Strange story number one. Strange story number two, USA Today. Headline. Did the Cardinal subtly bench Kyler Murray? Strange story number three. This is from John Machota today because the trade deadline is tomorrow. Jerry actually has made a trade. Who is it?

We don't know. He declined to share who was involved in the trade, but we'll immediately have him on the field and it will address some of the things that have been our shortcoming. I don't know. It's a super impactful player. No one else. We haven't even heard from the other side of the trade or agents or anything. Yeah.

Who knows? Maybe it's someone huge. Trey Hendricks. Yeah, I would doubt that. Wow. Listen, I think the Cowboys are going to roll tonight, and so I don't expect the Cardinals slide up the Cowboys defense. I also think the most interesting thing is the soft benching of Kyler Murray. And I think that if you are a Jets, Browns, Raiders, or maybe Steelers, if Rogers retires, fan, you should,

you know, be watching the Cardinals once Kyler gets back on the field because he's going to be playing for one of them next year. I think his time in Arizona is done. And I think that a trade this off season is inevitable. And the fact that they are not having him play in the stadium, he feels the most comfortable. He loves it. 9-0 in Texas Stadium in his life is a sign this coaching staff is done with him.

See, I think benching him, though, lowers his trade value. You want him out there showing. some signs of life, you know. So, and I think Cleveland's been there, done that with Deshawn, you know, who, you know, so I don't think they'll go after him. But, yeah, I mean, if it is a soft benching, that says a lot, you know. But tonight I got the Cowboys winning. I'm a little hesitant because every time I think, yeah, I think the Cardinals are,

I actually think they're a well-coached team. I just don't think they have a quarterback. And Brissette, we saw he, they almost beat was a Green Bay. There's also old school. He liked when Gannon punched the player. That's what the coach would have done to me. I mean, we could take that back in the day. But I think they'll cowboys.

Yeah, I'm going with the Cowboys. I like what they've been doing offensively. And when I look at the Cardinals, when you start to have questions and you're not firm in the direction that you want to go, especially at the quarterback position, that leaves me to believe that there's going to be some chatter still happening in the locker room. It translates to the field. Cowboys win tonight.

Jacoby Brissette, former Patriot, great. I don't think the locker room was ever really behind Kyler Murray. I'm with you there. It's been the story of like, okay. So you're going with? Yeah, I'm going with the Cardinals to light up this defense. The defense doesn't put anything on tape. I wouldn't mind seeing that.

Okay. We made every critical area you needed to at the right time to lose it, perfect storm. Defense played incredible. We got to put a game like that. We got to put 35, 42 on the board, and close the game out. I'm from New York. It's the show that's happy for you. Thank you.

But good, better, best. I, do you like that? You guys are two down on Caleb. I'm not. They scored 47 and he had a comeback in the final minute. Wait, it was the Bengals. We just watched Justin Fields look like a Hall of Famer against them. Gets that same team.

And I like, I'm just saying, are you convinced he's going to be. a superstar because of what he did yesterday. I was convinced well before that came yesterday. I just like, I'm a simple guy, I think. I would like like, like bears on three, one to three bears. You love walking. I don't like these like, no, I got a full karaoke session in there. It's like too much.

If that were Drake May, you'd be in tears. Drake may just goes pass on three. Let's go. A breaking news. Ben Johnson will be on the show on Wednesday. Oh, good. I like that. You know what?

He's doing a great job. Yeah, gone on it. Look at this guy. Yeah, I thought so. Thought so. Might change your two. First, over time. Starts right now with Alan Aday's work.

We're headed back to Buffalo. I get it. Where the win propelled Josh and the Bills to Super Bowl faves, AFC faves, and MVP favorite status. The loss dropped Mahomes to third in the AFC West. Here he was after the game. We've had great moments, we've had bad moments. We've got to be more consistent as a team.

as a team. I got to be more consistent than a quarterback. We've got to be able to battle. I mean, we've kind of been in a lot of these tight, close games in our history, but they're not going our way now. We've got to learn from it, but it's kind of like you've got to do it now. Like there's no, there's no easy game coming up and there's no more chances that we can really take losses. So, I mean, you've got to learn from it fast. Here's what was Mahomes afternoon, Danny. Two real stats jump out. One pressure percentage, 53% of the game when it's 22%. normally and his completion percentage was the lowest of his career at 44.

What was your number one takeaway from the game? That the bills validated my preseason belief in them. I picked Josh Allen to be the MVP and the bills to win the Super Bowl and they finally looked like it. You're questioning why I wasn't dropping them in my rankings and I was like, I just, I thought it was a two game blip and that they were really, really good. And I said on Friday show, I was like, I want to see what the bill's defense can do.

Like, do they have it in them? Like, because if they won the game 41-38, it would be like, okay, that was really exciting, but they still had this fundamental flaw on the defensive side of the ball because they had been beating up on bad teams. But that performance, the Chiefs had scored 28 or more in five straight games. And we can show you what Mahomes was doing. You just showed his numbers in the game. What Mahomes was doing coming into that game.

Fourth in completion, fourth and pass-series. Why does that say previous five games when you know what it should say? Tangle the turn the tie. Who did that? Is that a you thing? Since the- Troy, just so you know, it's not cool.

I'm glad that, I'm glad that you, good job, not cool, Troy, pack your stop up. Troy, I'll defend you here because I have a new idea. No, don't. Danny, nobody is, bigger fan of yours than me. This is going to be awful. If it's what you did on the walk-in, it's going to be bad. I'm just telling you now. Probably too late now. Let's let the audience decide. Do you prefer tackle that turn the tide that resulted in a loss of Jacksonville and the worst

game of a homest career against Buffalo or T3 man. See tackle that meant absolutely nothing. Yeah, like I said. What? T3 man. T-T-T-M-A-N. Yeah, nobody like that. The third man. The tackle that meant to save you from this. Oh, just because you get traded the trumpeteers. The three man sounds like a wrestling character. It doesn't work. It doesn't work. I'm sorry.

The show that brings out a magician and a literal core step. T3 man is just not too far. Giana has had second embarrassment for you. Step too far. Gianna, you have to. Somebody's got to throw their bodies in front of that. I got to be honest. I don't work.

I like you taking a stab at it, but... I told you, buddy. You should have just said it. You shouldn't have labeled it. You should have just said it. You tackle that. Here's a thing, Danny. I'm just saying the bills were awesome.

Yes, like they are, and I know you hate this. I loat it. I can do it. Go ahead. They were awesome. And Josh outplayed Patrick like they do every. single year in this spot. And we can try to twist our minds around to be like, but this one's different like we do

every single year. We can pretend like last year the same things weren't said or the year before because this is the ledger of Josh versus Patrick in the regular season. It's the last five years. It's not only that Josh is 5 and 0 if we show their stats, but it's the numbers are. Josh in these games looks like legitimately the best quarterback in football. They look great. And Patrick in these games looks bad.

Not bad by his standards. Not worse than Josh. Bad. The Chiefs don't average 20 points. Mahomes' passer rating is 75. He has more turnovers than touchdown. That's just wild. And yet, every year come the playoffs,

the Chiefs don't beat the Bills because their defense is great in the playoffs. They beat the Bills because they take the Bills' absolute best defensive game plan imaginable that they give them the blueprint on every year in the regular season and then come out in the playoffs with adjustments to it. That is simply what has happened. Now, I thought the Chiefs were going to be able to roll out a vanilla offensive game plan and move the ball at Willow and Buffalo. So I was dead wrong about how this game was going to go. But the idea that this game is an indicator that if these two teams meet in January, it's going to be different than it's been every January where the Chiefs take the lessons they learned in the regular season and apply them in the postseason.

I don't know why we would think that. I didn't say that. That's just like I agree with you that in January, the chiefs will get the benefit of the doubt because of their history in January. Point conceded. The thing is, though, we didn't know if this 2025 Bill's defense was capable of doing that. Now we do. Like, if the chief's plan was, let's go beat Buffalo with a vanilla game plan, that was a bad idea. Because they're the eight seed right now, and they could lose to Houston.

I don't expect them to, but they could because it's the NFL and weird things happen. And the Chiefs wake up today in eighth place outside of the playoffs. You heard Mahomes, that's just dangerous. Maybe they'll get an injury. Maybe they'll have a kick blocked. Maybe they'll drop a touchdown pass. Maybe they'll have an injury at the wrong time. I don't believe that the Chiefs just go into the game against Buffalo and they're like, let's just not try hard.

With the gameplay, I don't believe it. If you guys can put that graphic with Mahomes versus Allen back on, that is, those stats, Nick, show that they do go in with a vanilla game plan. I mean, for Mahomes to have a 75 passer rating in what, five games, like that clearly is we're not sharing our best stuff. What I want to ask you, though, is being that they're in the position they're in this year, Five and three, seventh seed going into the game. Do you think that they still had that kind of approach where it's like,

we're not going to show them anything? Listen, so two years ago, the Chiefs went into this game. Last year it was weird. It was different because Chiefs were undefeated. They had a huge margin of error. Two years ago, the Chiefs went into the game, I think, eight and three, and came out of the game. I might have the years wrong.

went into the game the four seed in the AFC and came out of it with the fifth best record in the AFC. A year before that, the Chiefs went into the game with the chance to put, basically in Buffalo season. They were six and six, drop them to six and seven. And I still thought it was we want to win, but we are not firing all our bullets. And your point of they don't have the margin of error or if they woke up today as the eight seed, I flatly, and this is not directed to you, this is to everyone, could not care less about if the playoffs started today's stuff, because they don't.

Because like there is, if there was a world where it's like, hey, we don't know how many games the season's going to be, and at any given time good out could be like, playoffs start, then you would always want to stay into the top seven. But I am, we talk about S-Bob stuff all the time. The Chiefs are more than any team. post-patriots in modern NFL history, ESPA, and they are, they clearly have a pattern of,

we are against the teams that we believe we have to go through in the postseason, which at this point is really just Buffalo. We are going to keep things in reserve for the playoff game. And I don't, I don't. Well, that's just dangerous, man, because now that game's probably going to be in Buffalo if it happens. And so, and I know. Well, and they got a fight on their hands.

I mean, I think they'll make the playoffs. But I was saying earlier, Danny, the Chiefs are one and four against teams with winning records this year. And they got four their last, what, nine, eight games against teams with winning record. So we're going to, and to your point, they're, they've lost, what, two of their last six games, which isn't there. They're five and two post-tackled the turn.

Yeah. But that's includes the Giants games. Right. But, I mean, they got a tough road ahead of them. You want a final word? No, I just have a question. If we have one more minute, Christine, before we get to stock up, stock down. You're saying it's dangerous.

My question would be is, why would you, wouldn't it be more dangerous to be like, guys, this is the year? We're going to roll the dice and show, we have seen, just like Jerry, Jerry Hirston said, I saw on film that Xavier Worthy, you know, indicates whether he's going to the ball or not. If the chief saw on film leading up to this week, oh, my God, that young safety, Cole Bishop, he has an indicator that is it stone dead on. Would you have, if you were running the team and you had a kill shot opportunity, would you have said, okay, fire that gun this week? or we're going to hold that in reserve because we believe this is an inevitable game and as far as this game being in Buffalo,

maybe, but if the bills could finish with a better record than the Chiefs and a head-dead tiebreaker and if they don't catch the Patriots, it might not matter. And so, like, would you, if you had, I wouldn't say it to the media.

I went to said that I found the guys tell to the media, but I would have taken advantage of it. I just don't believe that you can just be giving away regular season games. I don't think the last five weeks when the Chiefs looked like the greatest show on turf, they were doing it with vanilla game plans. I think they were trying to score a bunch of points. I think they were trying to win that football game.

I think they were trying to score points, and they didn't do it. All right. Let's head to Cincinnati for checking on the stock market. This game featured three touchdowns in the last 103 seconds and ended with either a great play or horrible tackling from Cincinnati. And here to sort it out is this week's edition of stock up and stock down. The stock is up. on Caleb Williams and his undeniable talent.

There's no question that Cincinnati's defense is a part of it. And there's no question that these guys are going to mock me for the chart here and the staff. Is this fantasy points? Here's the reason it's fantasy points, neck. Here's the reason, okay? I understand that, listen, I don't even have him on any of my fantasy teams.

But when you are the first person in NFL history to do something, it shows why people like me believe in the talent. First player in NFL history with three or more passing touchdowns, 50 or more rushing yards, and two or more catches. It's never been done before. Yeah, that's right. It's the two catches is done. Stop.

No, thought it's cool. What do you mean? Stop it. The guy had two catches for. Because who cares about the catches from a quarter of that? He's an undeniable athlete. He's an undeniable talent. He has three game go ahead fourth quarter drives in the last five games.

His fourth quarter pass rating is the best of any quarter that he plays in. In their last six wins, he has a fourth quarter go-ahead drive in four of the six of them. The kid is getting better, Brew. He is. It's undeniable how good that his ceiling is limitless. He's not there yet. I think you're going a little far. Look, nice step in the right direction.

But five words just to bring it down a notch. Carson Wentz and Justin Fields. That's five words. Because they look this good against that Bengals defense as well. And I wouldn't even bring those guys up if he had done it against somebody other than the Bengals and the Cowboys. Seven touchdowns, no picks in those two games. Like about a 127 passer rating. And then in the other six games, he's got five touchdowns, four picks.

I'm just saying like it wasn't stepping the right direction. You play who's in front of you. But don't expect me to throw a parade because he looked great against the hapless Cincinnati Bengals. I had a parade planned. I settled for stock up, stock down. It's very tough. The bills had nothing that they could gain against the Chiefs. Caleb has nothing to prove against Cincinnati.

We're playing the games. I did say, and I texted you guys during the game, this was a good test for him when he got the ball with 40 seconds. So that was good. I was good. I was given that. That's the part of this that I'm a little surprised by your take on. Because we were, Wilde has the chat on mute,

But the rest of us were in a group chat on Sunday. It's a fun chat. And Danny was mid meltdown as the bears were melting down. And then Brew, you texted big moment for Caleb. He then came through in a way none of us thought was going to happen. Like Danny, you thought they were going to get him in field goal range. That's right. And then the kicker was going to miss, which felt very bearsy.

And they end up scoring a touchdown. And that to me, for a guy who has been, I think one of the fairest criticisms of him has been, he is too much of an emotional roller coaster to have the entire team take that stomach punch of the onside kick recovery, which just never happens. And then giving up the touchdown. And for him to be calm, cool,

and collected driving on the field, I thought that was the best moment of his career. Danny, just question. Were you worried about the Bears special teams in defense for giving us? up 42 points. Listen, the defense, their secondary is so injured. It's one of the worst special teams games I've ever seen.

You gave up a return touchdown to open the game, had a big return negated by a hold, missed the field goal, and allowed an onside kick recovery. It's like an impossibly bad special teams game. Richard Hightower. That was a trap. Why? Well, how is it a track? Because like, what are you going to do?

You're playing the Bengals. They score a lot. Then I'd flip it and be like, well, it's a talent. Yeah. I didn't walk into it or did I walk into it? What goes up? Stock down, yeah. Must go down.

Stock down. Yeah. Something's off with your Packers, Brew. And I don't know exactly what it is. The data here is just point scored 13 against the Panthers. And I understand Jordan Love is not a part of their run defense, which got gashed by Rico Dotto. And I understand that McManus, their kickers, getting booed at home. And a million things happened in this game.

And for the most part, Jordan Love was good. Well, let's go on a journey with me in the middle of Stock Up, Stockdown. Jordan Love has three interceptions this year. Let's watch all three of them. The first one is against Cleveland. This is the worst pick of the season. Arguably the worst pick of the season. It's the only way they can lose the game,

and they end up losing the game to the Cleveland Browns. I have no idea why it happened, how it happened. You just threw it right to the opponent, and that should never happen to that spot. They were a massive favorite, and they lose. Hence the nickname. Jay-No. Jay-No.

Right. The next one is against Cincinnati. It hits two different bangles in the hands. We just talked about the Bengals defense. Takes points off the board. They're in the red zone. It's early. They end up winning off one bangle, off the next bangle.

It's third and five. It's not the worst pick I've ever seen, but it had no chance of being completed. And then we go after the bengals won. Goes a few weeks without to this pass yesterday. Into the wind is what Packers fans would say. But this is triple coverage on first down. A team meeting. A team meeting.

Totally unnecessary. unnecessary. There's a guy wide open in the flat. I have no idea what he could possibly see. And it's just hard because then there was the one that ends up being dropped that was comical. And I know Dobbs steps out of bounds and he takes himself out of the play. He just, he's good enough to beat you until he's good enough to beat himself. And I just cannot trust this guy when in year five, these are the mistakes that he's still making. No, look, I mean, there is something about J-Lo that he makes some bone-headed plays. Right?

There's no ifs, ands, or busts. And that's what he's got to get out of. I don't know what in the world was going on yesterday with him or the team. I would put it here. It's immaturity. On his part. In year five? Yeah.

I mean, it shouldn't be there, but unfortunately it is. But that's what it is. And on the team's part, they clearly took that game lightly yesterday. You know, and you can't have that when you're trying to win a Super Bowl. So I admit that J-Lo yesterday, it was just one J-No moment after. Listen, it's why after the Micah Trade, I called him the most interesting person to leave this year. Because if he is just steady, they can absolutely make the Super Bowl. But to your point, Danny, he's one of the most untrustworthy, really good quarterbacks in football.

That's what I would call him. He is really good. He is one of the really good quarterbacks in football and one of the least trustworthy of that group. Okay. All right. Last one, and we're spending on a positive. Stock up Steelers defense. I know, and this is opponent pass a rating, so the lowest it's been in five weeks.

I know you could say this is Daniel Jones turning into a pumpkin. But the Steelers defense is a who's who of names we know. They are spending more money on the defense. side of the ball than any team in football, and they have a first ballot Hall of Fame coach who is known for his defense, who consistently has them in the regular season as a top 10 defense. And one of the best offenses through eight weeks that we had seen in NFL history that was on graphics with the 18 chiefs and the 07 Patriots and the 09 Saints and the 24 Lions went in there, and they forced six turnovers. I was wildly impressed with what the Steelers defense did given who they were playing, and if they can get this version of Aaron Rogers with any semblance of that version of that defense, they'll be dangerous in the AFC.

Wow. Wilds, I mean, you don't want to be killing them all day. They're dangerous until you do a draft of teams you want to play in the playoffs, and I would pick the Steelers first. They actually beat your team. For the record, we gave them the ball five times, and it wasn't like, oh, my gosh, what a play. It's just coughing up the ball. Hold on. Against you guys, it was a lot of coughing.

offing up the ball. These are forced turnos. This was Danny Dimes. Well, yes, Danny Dimes having a pumpkin game. I don't think. So if you run this game 10 times, you think this happens? How many times? I don't know.

That looks like prime T.J. Watson me beating a very good offensive line, beating a good tackle. Get into the quarterback. I'm just not as. If you listen to Mike Tomlin's full press conference there, I'm not so wasn't like over the moon for this. And I don't think Tomlin's not ready to like have a parade in Pittsburgh. But I mean, we do have a way we kind of settle games.

Like who's better? We have a way to settle that. How do we settle it, Bru? You play each other. I agree. They played the Patriots. They played the Patriots game and the Colts game. There was 11 turnovers from the defense.

They won by two touchdowns. It's weird. I'm saying it's weird. I agree. I'm just saying Rogers has been better than most of us expected. the Steelers defense has been worse than all of us expected. If they could somehow get. They're not scary.

I mean, well, you guys, you can say they're not scary. I am, if the, if the divisional winners are Patriots, Steelers, Colts, if those are three divisional winners, I don't know how teams would draft who they want to play in that list. Drake May in his first playoff start, Daniel Jones in the Colts or, you know, if this, again, if you're saying if the Steelers make it Rogers, like I, I'm not sure as, if it I would personally sign up to play the Steelers. Not me personally, Kevin Wild. You'd rather play the Steelers than the Colts.

And who do you think the Colts would rather play? You guys are the Steelers. I think the Steelers would love to play. The fact that they shut down Jonathan Taylor, I thought, was impressive. Yeah. If you're going to neutralize, he had 45 yards, I think, and he was over 100, average in over 100. So, look, something.

It's not a stock I'm, like, interested in. Okay. To be honest with it, you're trying to sell it. It's like a buy and hold. It's not going to make or break. break your portfolio. You're not retiring off of it, but it's a steady part of a portfolio. I'm gonna get it to AI.

Coming up next, more on Caleb Williams. What did he prove in a statement win? We discuss. Yeah, good enough, Caleb. On overtime. Welcome back to FTF, Diana Rossini, Greg Jennings out here. And we have breaking news. Chargers left tackle Joel Alt is going to need surgery on the ankle injury.

He's suffered against the Titans yesterday, which will unfortunately end his season. So we'll talk Caleb and Jaden in just a bit. This is a huge blow for the Chargers. Justin Herbert's been the most pressured quarterback in football. They were undefeated. They still are undefeated in games that Joe Alt starts. Obviously the Slater injury. Then their third string tackle, Pipkins has been in and out of the lineup with injury.

I feel like there's a breaking point in how many offensive line injuries you can sustain. And this is a huge one for the Chargers. Yeah, especially somebody like Joe who, you know, started the season with the understanding I'm going to play. right tackle, then you move him to left tackle, and then he creates that stability, as you mentioned, when he is in the lineup. We saw what it looked like in the games that he missed. And it's unfortunate because we all want to see Justin Herbert and this Chargers team make a deep playoff run if they are capable of doing that, which that doesn't mean that they

still can't. But losing a guy like this that solidifies who you are up front, even with the injuries that you already have, is a big blow. You always hear one player doesn't make a difference, right? That's kind of like the safe way to say every player is important, not for the Chargers. He is the most important person on this team outside Justin Herbert, right? They're 4 and O when he finishes the game. They're two and three this season.

You don't even need to be an expert in football to see how different the Chargers play when Joe Alt is in there. And just the confidence of kids, Justin Herbert, knowing he's safe, he's getting protected out there by Joe Alt. So it's really, it's such a big blow, especially knowing who's in their different. division, right? The pass rush that they've got to face. Kansas City's in this thing. The Denver Broncos are in this thing. I just think this is going to be a really tough challenge for the charges to figure this out. We're really going to see what Justin Herber and Jim Harbaugh made of and how they're going to figure this out. And the trade deadline coming up here in less than 24 hours, they're already making calls for an offensive lineman for Slater. And now they're

going to have to make more. So we'll see how this shakes out. Good luck. Yeah, there's not a guy that's going to be available that can replace him. Straw that broke the camel's I think won too many injuries for them. But let's get back to the reaction from a massive Sunday yesterday. Want to play a game? Yes, yes. Did your quarterback throw for 280 yards and score four total touchdowns and rush for over 50? No, anybody?

No. Mind it. It was Caleb Williams. Led the Bears to a 47, 42 victory over the Bengals, the game winner to Colston Loveland. Here is Ben Johnson, friend of the show. He'll be joining us on the OT on Wednesday. Take a listen. Hold up second. Oh, no, no, I found it.

Five right there. In this league, guys. If it is close in the fourth quarter, if it's close in the fourth quarter, we better at a . I know that they can have their eyes rolled at that, and I know that this is not a perfect team, and I know that that was Joe Flacco and the Cincinnati Bengals.

But, man, I am happy Ben Johnson is the coach of the Bears, because they got something going there. Are they going to win the Super Bowl? No. Are they going to make the playoffs? It's a coin flip at this point. But the improvement that they are showing, and we are only halfway into year one

of the Caleb Williams-Benzhen-Johnson marriage and the vibes have changed, and they also have had plenty of injuries, especially on the defensive side of the ball. I am very bullish on the near-term future and the long-term future of this pair. Yeah, this is the best coach. that we've seen in the Chicago Bears organization in a really long time.

Since Lobby Smith. This is the difference, right? I think we obsess over Caleb's game to game improvement. I think we're focusing on the wrong thing. I think the stock is up on Ben Johnson and the Chicago Bears team collectively. It's still going to be up and down for Caleb. But in a league where we want to see improvement immediately every week, and we want to see him be a superstar quarterback,

I just think that the program that Ben Johnson, Ben Johnson has instilled already and installed in this team. It's working, right? It's working. It may not be as fast as everybody wants it, but it's only week nine headed into week 10, your November. So there's, I think they're ahead of the game in terms of where they were just even just two weeks ago.

They've got the ground game going. That's what they've been focused on. It's quite obvious. And they're, they're doing it without Swift as well. Yeah, look, it was a good win. Really good win for this bear's team. A lot of what you guys are talking about is, is what every one. was hoping to see Ben Johnson stepping into a head coach role.

How would that look? How will it translate in terms of not just being a play caller? We're seeing that. We're seeing the growth of Caleb. When you need him to make a play, we saw him make a play. It was ugly because they were in control of this game, lost control of it. And then you draft a quarterback at that spot for these reasons right here.

And it was great because as a Mishander, it was cool to finally see they had a tight end. Colston Loveland. I thought that this would be kind of the role that he plays in this offense and you see a glimpse of what he can be as an asset

in the passing game for a young quarterback that is and Caleb Williams. I think he needs to be a lot more involved. Hopefully this is a sign of what's to come. If it is, they have more and more options starting to arise. So let me, Let me ask you this, Greg.

Caleb Williams has now played 25 games. Not a huge body of work. To your point, there's a lot of like, is he ahead of schedule, behind schedule, a lot of comparisons to Drake May, Jade and Daniels, all that stuff. But it's 25 games. It's not that much. But he already has seven go-ahead or game-tying drives in the fourth quarter. I've watched every snap of this guy's career at least one time through.

It is very apparent to me, and the numbers do back it up. But like, it's just obvious if you watch it. he has like that thing, that it factor, ice in his veins, whatever. He gets better and cooler and calmer and collected in the fourth quarter. How much does that matter from a pass catcher, a player, a teammate perspective? So I think it matters quite a bit. And I've said this about Caleb when I first started watching him. He just seems more comfortable when he doesn't have to think a lot.

And you, a novice fan would think, well, wait, when the game's on the line, you got to believe that the quarterback is thinking quite a bit. Well, naturally, your play call completely shrinks. You got to go with what's working with the defense is showing, what you feel like you can check into, and it's just go out there and play, hit the open guys. If it's there, take it. If it's not, use your legs.

And that's where he thrives. So in moments like this, when we saw him yesterday, this is where there's no extra thinking. There's no ability for him to then overthink. You can build on that, especially with a head coach like Ben Johnson, because he talked about the process and it's going to be growing pains,

but this is what you want to see in the direction you want to see him trending. The thing you're praising him for is the thing we were knocking him for a bit last year, right? The off-script plays, that instinctive athleticism that we heard so much about coming out of the draft. And I think you're right.

When the pressure's on, he's just going with what feels right and the natural athlete is coming out. What stood out to me, though, for the Bears and why you should be confident in this team more is a lot of self-reesome. inflicted wounds, right? Yes, it's the Bengals at Joe Flacco. I get it. But the fact that they were able to figure out a way to win, it's not always going to be pretty. And you heard the

coach talk about it. You can't take these wins for granted. You saw New England yesterday, right? A lot of self-inflicted wounds with Drake May. They figure it out. And when you figure it out, you start trusting each other more, right? And you start having more confidence in what you can do. That if you do get yourself in trouble, someone will step up and take care of business. And I think they prove to themselves that they can get themselves out of their own way a bit. You want maybe the most self-serving graphic that I've ever put on TV before? Please do it. This is very, you want it, Greg?

Of course. The first player since 1983 with two passing touchdowns, 50 or more rushing guards and two catches. Caleb and Sweetness. Caleb Williams. And it hasn't happened since Walter Payton in 1983. You just gloat my friend. I'm just saying. Don't.

I'm just saying. Have your moment. Paul Horning did it too in the Hall of thing. Walter Payton did it in the Hall of Fame. Caleb Williams, Future in Canton, Greg. Slow down. I'll see you there, 2038, 2040. What do we think?

Probably like 2045. I'm not ready to say that, but I will say this. To your point, Diana, like a lot of these games that they lost last year, this would have been in that lost column of games that they found a way to lose last year. Oh, I was thinking about the Hail Mary against Washington when Joe Blacko lined up for it. They're finding a way to win. And when you find ways to win this game, you mention something, it doesn't breeds confidence. It breeds this idea of we're not the same as last year. We understand we've been

in these situations. We know what it takes and what's required of us to come out on the other side. And when you do it, it trickles into win after win after win after win. So we'll see. All right. Let's go to the game last night, Guy in Caleb Williams' draft class. Commander's fall 38 to 14. Seahawks look dominant. But this is a blowout. They're down 31 midway through the fourth quarter and Jada Daniels leaves the game with an elbow injury. Here's Commander's head coach Dan Quinn about the injury and the loss. Obviously I'm just gutted by it and just bummed. Yeah, we didn't have any replays on it and the one that he was on injured is, you know, usually a runner or a throw to the flat. It's not a scramble. So it wasn't

a designed read or play, you know, into that spot. If we run it, you know, 50 times, it's either handoff or a throw, you know, I'd say 50 times. So it's a, uh, Yeah, it's a bummer, man, in the big way. A bummer and a mistake. A bummer and a mistake. Thank you. Yeah, and he came out and admitted today. He said it's making him sick, thinking about what he did, obviously keeping his scrambling quarterback,

because he already got two legs that are injured in the game too long. I think the best people to talk about this situation with is backup quarterbacks and Chase Daniel. one of my colleagues on our podcast was saying as a backup quarterback, you always know when it's your turn to go in. He's like, and if I'm on the backup quarterback, I'm thinking I'm starting the fourth quarter like, what are you doing? This isn't a three-score game. It's a, you know, there are four scores out.

What are you proving? And when I talked to some people in Washington about perhaps what that philosophy was, it was to try to get the offense confident and in rhythm. Like, that's what it was about. You got to do it. It wasn't just sacrificing your quarterback out there. is to compete and to attempt to build on something. So yes, you take that risk and look, we see what happens when you do that.

It's easy to Monday morning quarterback. It is. I will say I'm always talking about this in the moment. Thursday night, Ravens are up three scores late against Miami, and they're turning around and handing the ball off to Derek Henry. I'm like, why? For what? And it apparently was so he could have like a 100-yard game.

I'm like, what is it, 1995? How is that relevant? To me, the risk of injury, and I know a guy like me, saying that to a guy like you has to feel ridiculous to a guy like you. I get it. But to me, the upside of get in a rhythm or put something good on film versus the downside of maybe Jaden Daniels' season being over is just not worth it. Yeah, and you just don't think that way as a player, as a competitor, even as a coach in the competitive moments in the confines of a game, you're thinking, how can I turn on the tape on Monday

and have something positive to then point to? That's all it is. When you are, getting demolished and they were in that game. Not a whole lot was going their way offensively and or defensively. You're trying to establish some type of rhythm going into the following week. So when you do sit down and turn that tape, which you know the game is in hand, we are going to lose this game. But I want there to be something positive that we can hang our hat on going into the following week of practice and our next opponent to say, you know what, guys, we did do some things good. We were able to establish this. We were able to establish that. It all is for not when the injury happens because you start to think high insight at 2020, like, man, we should

have took them out. You don't think that way as a player, as a coach, because your competitive drive is the only thing firing in that moment. And most people, most coaches even, aren't thinking I got to protect my players. Devil's advocate real quick. Let's say Jaden Daniels scores on that play. Do you really think the commanders are feeling better today? You know, like, like, Jay, he's in the NFC championship game last year. He's the rookie of the year. We know he's awesome. They still lose by 21.

Like, you think it feels much better? See, it's, it's easy for me to say no because I know they lost. But if they score, if they score and then we don't know what happens afterwards, that's the, that's the part that's unknown. The game was open. Naturally, as a competitor, if I'm out there and you're asking every bit of me 100%, let's go, line it up. This poor fan base that saw RG3, though, right? They're so sensitive to this. Today they're waking up like, not again. What do we make into that Steelers win over the Colts? We'll get into it coming up. All right, welcome back. The Steelers routed the Colts, but then it was they won by a score.

But it was a weird, weird game and it's massively important one for the AFC playoff picture. for six takeaways by the at times much maligned Steelers defense. Rogers, 200 yards passing a touchdown. 2720, like I said. Rogers, though, after the win, not too happy. Take a listen. We got to look in the mirror and play better on offense because that's not good enough any face.

Me, run game, catching the football. Defense played incredible. We got to put game like that. We got to put 35, 42 on the board, and close the game. out. So good tape for coaching staff when you win a game and you got a lot to work on. The Steelers

are the most interesting team to me so far through half of the season. Because I thought they were going to be a top five defense with an old quarterback. Yeah. Right? And through the first half of the season, Rogers is like top five in touchdowns and the defense has been awful.

Yeah. But then the defense plays up to their money yesterday. Forces six takeaways against the best offense. And then the offense kind of spuddle me. If they could marry the two, like if they can get the version of Aaron Rogers that they've gotten, which has been objectively good enough, not great, but definitely good enough with the defense that they've been paying for, they can be really dangerous. And maybe a wide receiver before the trade deadline, too.

Give them a little extra skill player out there if they can get something done. I know they're making lots of calls. Look, when this defense stops the run like they did and when the Colts play outdoors, you know, That Steelers home field advantage played out, right? Because if you think, Indy had so much success in their playing indoors. Yeah, you're right. Just to be back outside was certainly the advantage for Pittsburgh. But this is the blueprint for the defense.

This is what they want to look like. And what I thought was really interesting from talking to people in Pittsburgh over the last week or so. It wasn't like Tomlin was rallying the troops on the defensive side of the ball. Nobody was panicked at all. So much so people on the offensive side of the ball were asking, why aren't they getting mad at them? They just have a belief in confidence. and look, when you get this many turnovers, it's helpful. And this is exactly what they need to do.

And to point to what Aaron was saying, if they can just get going and you put them together, they're going to be good. I don't think there is a franchise that I've come to know and watch that wins ugly more than the Steelers. It's just what they do. Like if there was a style that they wanted ugly, because they know that that's going to give them the best shot to, in partly because of what you were kind of alluding to.

They've always had the defense. They never had the quarter, the guy on their center since Ben Rothensberger. They never had that guy. So it was like they had to keep games closed. They had to keep it. Kind of like what the Denver Broncos are doing. That's what they would do. And so when I see games like this, it's their brand.

I don't mind that Aaron Rogers didn't, in that offense, didn't have a great game because I don't expect them to have stellar performances weekend. week out. However, defensively, they better start looking more like this moving forward or I can't believe in this team because I don't think the offensive style of the offensive production that we have seen when we do get to see it is sustainable. And listen, you've heard coaches for for decades and generations of football say the leading indicator of wins and losses is the turnover margin, right? So like this graphic I'm going to show you here is not completely revolutionary. But in their wins this year, I mean, 23 sacks and 14 takeaways in their losses, four and two.

11 of those in two games. Well, right. But like the Bears had 15 takeaways in their four game winning streak. So again, that's not entirely unique to Pittsburgh, but they are built to be like that column on the left more consistently. And they haven't. Yeah, but their schedule is not fun. That's the problem, right? Correct.

They have to look the way they did on Sunday in order for them to have success because the version of that defense that we saw the last few. weeks. If they're going to put the game in the hands of Aaron Rogers right now, I'm not sure it's going to be good enough. He's good. He's just not great. I don't know if he can carry it all. They need the defense. They signed him knowing that the defense was the backbone of this team. They were okay with the fact that he was older, right? And that's why they had, you know, no insecurities or concerns about him because they just needed him to go out there and manage it. And that's what he can do very well right now. But without this defense, they're going to be dead in the water. And it starts up front. If they can pressure the quarterback like they did

yesterday, the age in their back in with some of the older guys and that's secondary, it doesn't matter because they're savvy enough to still cover and to make plays. But if they don't get pressure, which they haven't been able to do like yesterday, they were. They bend a lot. They're going to be in trouble. Due to that Colts offense, though, I was very impressed. Cowboys got a big game tonight. Oh, yeah. A better win big. All right. So the Cowboys got a We've got the Cardinals tonight. Dallas only a three and a half point favorite back in prime time. There's always some sort of drama when it comes to the Cowboys.

Diana, Greg. Diana, your expectations. First of all, do not ask me about this Jerry Jones trade. I don't know. I don't know if he's making this up. I don't know if he's referencing Micah. I don't know what it is. I'm trying.

I'm calling everybody. They better blow this team out of the water. They're at home. They've scored 40 points or more every time they've been in home practically. this should be an easy win for a team that really needs to bounce back on defense specifically. I don't know, Diana. If it's one thing the Cardinals don't do, they don't get blown out. Defensively, they are pretty good.

Obviously, the Cowboys need to win this game to stay pace in their division and in this conference. But I think they'll get it done. But I don't expect them to blow this team up. I know the Cowboys are the bigger brand and they're the offense and we focus on them. Are we positive Jacoby Brissette is not better than Kyler Murray? Like, are we positive? Like, no. We have more time for the show.

I'm just saying. No, like, we're not positive for that. Let Jacoby go into Dallas against that defense and cook. I'm with you there. Those questions are going to start to get loud. They should already be. Trade out on tomorrow.