First Things First - Giants upset Eagles, Concerns for LeBron, Chiefs favored over Lions, Nick’s Picks & Upset Alert

Episode Date: October 10, 2025

(0:00) Giants beat Eagles, LeBron James to miss 3-4 weeks with sciatica (27:42) Chiefs favorites vs. Lions, Cowboys 3rd-straight A-game on the board? (41:01) Patriots vs. Saints, Chance New England has a letdown game? (46:07) Upset Alert and Nick’s Picks (01:07:33) Undefeated Mac Jones, Can the Chiefs keep up with the Lions’ offense? (01:20:57) Jayden Daniels vs. Caleb Williams, What would another loss mean for Williams? (01:26:07) Eagles in trouble, Must-Win for Chiefs, Parkins’ Picks (01:48:46) How much optimism should Giants fans have?  (01:59:41) Lamar Jackson out, Can the Ravens turn things around vs. the Rams? (02:07:54) Did the Bears choose right with Caleb Williams & Ben Johnson? Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

It's a show that has half a face of Novakane, but still feels the pain of Jalen Hertz criticism. It's the first hour of first things first. A lot of slander. There's no slander, but there's a lot of controversy on the show. Gianna, we should do a, put it a poll. We don't do polls. We don't know on Levitart. That's like when you do guest appearances.

All right, well, then I don't know how we do it, but I just want to know if the audience put it in the comments on YouTube. Is Kevin Wilde's an Eagles guy? an Eagles guy. Yeah. That's different. Okay. Are they my team? No.

Do I rock with you? They're your in. Do you have more than one team? Yeah. Okay. They're one. Are they your second. Are they your second place team?

I like that. It depends. It's every week. Who's winning? It's fluid. Exactly. Lyons. A lot of things are fluid.

Like the 49ers, they look good. First hour of first things first. Today, ooh, Philadelphia hurts. Rough night for the city of the city of. brotherly love as the Eagles and Phillies lose on a heartbreak. One team season is over. And the Phillies. Meanwhile, Chiefs Lions, does Patrick Mahomes deserve to be favored against the best offense in the league at Jared Golf? And finally, what's the hottest segment in all of sports? It's upset alert.

Brew, we both, we're on fire right now. You guys are both on one game winning streak. And I got a biggie this week. Do you really? If it hits. Oh, really? I don't even know who Drew picked. What is it?

Also, Nick's picked. What? Black, off. Flacco over the pack? He's going. No, of course not. That would be worth 17.

That will cover. I don't know it will cover. All of a sudden, Jamar Chase has an illness. Oh, really? Sick? Like, yeah, I mean, he's probably going to play. Like, vomiting sick?

I don't know. 14 is a thing. 14's a big number. But you only get one point for covering. That's the thing. It's not enough. We're starting with the Eagle has landed with a thud. Giants double up the champs 3417.

Philly loses their second game in a row. Jalen had gone 305 passes without an interception. That streak ended. Here he is after the game. I got to be better. Gotta be better. I take on the shit for it. You know, a lot of autonomy and a lot of

opportunity there with the ball in my hands and given those situations I have to be wiser and more detail with it so always looking inward first you know looking inward on the things that I can control and you know I see a lot of opportunity in this okay hurts last night first four drives looking good Sequewan got off quickly rest of the game no points completion percentage was not not terrible, but obviously, interception and pass a rating is 63. Well, yeah, I mean, I think that's a good reason why I don't care about it.

That is 12 out of 19. That's 62%. That'd be fine. And, yeah, I don't really care that much about completion percentage. You're correct. Why is it? No, I was saying group. All right.

Is the Eagles offensive struggles on Jalen Hertz? It is more on Hertz than any other player on the team. Now, we can put, you know, the majority, of it on the OC, but I think here is a fair statement about an offense quarterbacked by J. Alan Hertz. He is extremely limited in certain areas as a passer. And because of that, if you don't have a real whiz of an offensive coordinator, like they had with Steichen, who by the way left there and then went 15 and 13 with Gardnerman, and Anthony Richardson, and has now got Daniel Jones, you know, hovering around Bruce Ballot,

or a dominant all-time running game like they had with Sequin, you are going to suffer some of these droughts that the other talent on your team would indicate you shouldn't. Ben Solac, who, congrats to Ben, he's on paternity leave, but still's putting out good tweets. Ben had this stat, and I think Hertz throwing 10 to 19 yards down field, that intermediate. 11%. It's the lowest rate for a starter in 15 years. And this is, you know, I bring up the Russell Wilson comps more about career trajectory than about style of play. But the Eagles offense has devolved somewhat into checkdowns and, you know, his version of a moon ball. And yesterday, Brew, he didn't hit those either. So I thought the end of the first half was butchered a bit.

I thought that that was something situationally that was not good. That is, to me, when you don't have timeouts, that's just got to be on the quarterback. And he didn't do it well. He missed a touchdown to Devante. Great quarterbacks miss passes. Week one, we saw Patrick miss a pass. I'm not going to kill him for that, but that's a, that's a, That's a tough miss.

And then that, they may win the game if he hits. I know it's still early. It was early in the third quarter. But now you're at 24. Of course. The game takes on a totally different feel if he hits it. And then the game ended up a blowout. But this next play, they're down 10.

And A.J. Brown is open for a touchdown. He's open. Wide open. And it's zero blitz. So you know there's not safety help. And instead, he goes there and now the game's over. So it's from game being very alive down three to game being over. And so I just, they haven't been a great third down team as of late.

We can show brew their league ranks in things. And it is, it was very important for you, KW, last year, that we not give all the credit to Saquan. That it's, hey, Jalen helps Saquan be great. Well, to me, the flip side of that coin is we can't now just be like, well, Sequin's not the same player. That's why the offense isn't good. And so, and the offense, it's not that the offense is mediocre, brew. The offense is horrible.

And so, yeah, I think a lot of it's on the quarterback. Look, if when the offense is struggling, if you want to put most of the blame on the quarterback, certainly in most cases, it's fair. because if the offense is cooking, even if the quarterback isn't like the only guy or the main guy, he gets a lot of credit. This is a little different because the offense was cooking last year and people still were questioning Jalen. Most notably his best receiver, H.A. Brown. But, yeah, I think that's fair. I do put a lot of blame on Petulow and I'll get to a couple of other people.

But Jalen, I would say this to Jalen. And it might be something you have to do in the off season. But he has become from the time he entered the league to now, he has improved his passing so much. I know he threw it fairly well at times in college and stuff. But he is really improved as a passer. Sure. But I would say that next step is to improve that intermediate game.

Because you're right. Like even at his best, a lot of times it's, the dink and dunk, the checkdowns, or the long bombs, and that he does well. If he had that intermediate game, I think that would just open things up for him. So he definitely is to blame. I was going to show the miss on A.J. Brown and the things you mentioned, or Devante Smith. But also, look, Sequin, and I put a lot of this on the offensive line, I don't think Sequine's watch. But he's got to take some of this.

He's 3.3 yards of carry. he has actually had two seasons with the Giants where he averaged less than four yards of carry. And it wasn't like he didn't play. He played 13 games one year, 14 another year. But they were after super high use of years. So like he can be, I've always thought about him within games. He can be kind of, you know, just three yards here, two yards, four yards, one yard.

And then he breaks a 60-yarder. But it also, if you look at his year, in his career is kind of been like that as well. Maybe, unfortunately, for the Eagles, this might be a down year for him. Before you go, Wild Skies, at the Sequin kind of comp or idea, and I wish I would have looked up an actual boxer to use this as a comp. Because I don't think he's washed either. But I do think sometimes you see a boxer in his prime have a absolute 12-round war.

And the next fight, he is not the same. And then, you know, a year later, he's back to being who he is. And that, to me, is kind of a clumsier, but a better comp. I don't think it's that, okay, Sequan's career the rest of the way. But I think that amount of touches, and you're seeing it for maybe the offensive line as well. I read this afternoon, Josh didn't fact check this, so I'm just reading it. So I could be wrong. But the Eagles as a team last year ran the ball more than 700.

times. And that everybody's a little beat up. That, you know what I mean? They're this big physical bully ball, you know, team and that everybody is, you know, the offensive line, all of it. And Sequin, to me, would be a part of that because he is not, we're six games in. He's not the same player at the moment. Last year, Brew, he had 176 yards against the Giants.

His last four games, he's got 178 yards. And there's an article on ESPN that was, he was about, basically. basically rest and that Saquan talk to other great running backs. Like you really need to sit down. And when you see these other guys working out, it's like that's not you. You really need to chill out. No, no question. I would put this on Petulow too.

You can try to get Sequin the ball in the passing game. Like he's had 15 touches, fewer than 15 touches the last two games, first time since he's been an eagle. So if he's not running it well, especially with Hertz checking down, like get it to Sequin. I think he had three targets each of the last two games in the passing game. So maybe that's a way you can get him going.

And let me just say this too. AJ Brown, I just think, because I'm going to put a little blame on him too. You're not helping anybody with this little attitude in the locker room. And I know he was smiling like I'm being, you know, I'm not causing anything. But when you say there's no meeting and, And then tweeted out after the fact I didn't know what they were talking about.

Yeah, we met it, which whatever. I'm just saying like. They're like passing each other in the parking lot, that counted as the meeting. Well, I thought yesterday, I thought maybe it was them meeting out on the way out of the facility. They just bumped in each other. That's what AJ made it sound like. The reporting of it was that that ended up being two hours. So I don't, so I don't.

Look, they could have, I mean, it's not implausible that they're standing at the, The car is just talking and it goes on for an hour and a half, two hours and a half. It's a long time. Like throw me the ball more. But your bigger point that AJ is not being helpful with this, I agree. Can I, KW. Yeah. You are the Hertz guy.

Yeah. And I'm not trying to attack you. I know you're all drugged up on Novakane and everything. How do you feel? moderately optimistic. Okay. Because here's what I want to see, and I don't know if we have the answer,

maybe we can ask Greg when he comes out. The Russell Wilson has the moon ball we got, because it's sort of like an arm strength thing, and the dink and dink and dugs. Do we think that Jalen can't make those throws? Like he doesn't have the arm. I've never seen him do it. At any point in his career,

he's never thrived at it. I just don't know if it's, but I need to know why. You can do it here and there. I mean, he's done it here and there, but just a consistent diet of it. It's bad. Over 10 yards is at like 36%. He's number 30. Well, it's just, I just, we are, there is going to be particularly in New York,

and I know we're going to get to the Giants here, you know, they're on a Jackson Dart sugar high. But there is, they need to write the ship in this regard as far as, when if they don't, when you look at the Eagles because a lot of my questions, which I can be pilloried for if it's fine, but it was, hey, the passing game's going to have to be better than last year because the running game won't be as good and the defense won't be as good has happened.

How will Jalen look when they are not playing from ahead in every second half, every game, you know what I mean, for four months? So far, he had the one game. He was great against the Rams. and then it's been a little hit and miss. The NFC East quarterback hierarchy discussion is about two more good Jackson Dart games away from getting in a very uncomfortable place for you, KW.

Get out of town. I'm just telling you what it's going to be. Well, you wouldn't put him ahead of dart ahead of Jane. Of course, I don't even know that I think Dart is necessarily going to be a great player. What I'm saying is DAC is on MVP ballots. Everybody loves Jaden Daniels. Those two teams, success seems to come from those two players.

Right now, Hertz is considered at the moment. I don't even want to say weak link. But the offense isn't working. He's a part of it. They're four and two. Okay. Right? There's a lot of handringing for a team that's four and two.

Right. I will give you that. And I would say the offense is terrible. The offense, because everything's 29, 28, 30, except points, which is 17. Which is, yeah, so which is below average, but. But I wouldn't put it in a terrible catch. No, but they're, hold on. If you're 17th and points in 29th and yards.

I'm not saying it's great. I'm not saying we should throw a parade. It's been a bad offense, right? It's been, it's been unsatisfactory. Okay. That being said, they're four and two. And every team has had a bad game. Detroit had Green Bay.

No, no, no, though. And right now there does not look to be a great team in the whole league. No. Right? Well, who? I don't know. Who? You saw the Patriots.

Okay. Sorry. They're a way. They lost to Nick's ratings. Yeah, I mean, yeah. I mean, you got it. Week one, we throw away. Oh, they're four and one?

We also had a bad game against the Steelers. Outside of that, we're doing pretty good. On the giant side, Jackson Dart running and throwing with confidence. Oral arming. No. Yeah. Oral arming? All right, that's pretty good, KW.

Skadaboo added three touchdowns, several head butts. Here's Jackson Dart. I understand that like the most important thing for everybody, is winning. And, you know, as competitors, that's how we feel, too. And I feel like this city is starving for that. And, you know, we are starving for that. You know, we hate losing. It's the worst feeling in the world. So we try to, you know, we just try to do our best to, you know, regardless of what, you know, outside noise is, is we try to keep, you know, everything internal between us. And, you know, I have all the confidence in the world of every single player in this

on this team. Brew, what did the Giants prove to you last night? That guy and the other young guy, Cam Scadaboo, prove that they have the heart, the toughness, the guts, the charisma, the it factor to ignite a team in a city. Like, it was great. Can we throw the third rookie in there, Abdul-Carter? Yeah, yeah.

That whole rookie class could be transforming. And that's not even to mention last year's. Malik neighbors. So, but I am not, like you said about Dart, I'm not going to, after three games, one of which he was bad last week against the Saints, I'm not about to be like, oh, they definitely got their quarterback. It looks like they could because he does look good. And it's only, it's three games positive or negative. If it was three bad games, you wouldn't be like, oh, he's, you know. So I'm just going to be a little cautious and patient on that.

And Scadaboo, who I really liked him in college a lot. And I hate to say he just, the way he plays, you wonder, man, how long is he going on last? That's a fair question. I mean, I love the way he plays, but that doesn't have a long shelf life. And he's not a huge guy. I mean, bro, look at him behind over your shoulder. I mean, he's outside out. That's my choice.

But as you said, look, all the young guys and you threw in a couple more plus these two, the future could be right. And lastly, I think this. I think if they, if Dart continues to play well, Scott Dubu does his thing here and there. If they win six or seven games, but there's a good vibe, I think Daible and Joe Shane,

the GM, keep their job. Well, that's, I think that is probably correct, and that led to the only bad moment of last night for the Giants. And so let me, which is the, I'll get to that in a second. Let me say, yeah, well, I mean, let me talk about Jackson Dart. If you guys remember, we were talking draft, Dart was, I said that if the Steelers were going to take a quarterback, Darts the guy I would take and not Shador.

Like, I liked Dart coming out of school. Again, but I liked him in what I thought was a weak quarterback class. In fact, I thought the Steelers could take him where they were drafting me, and I didn't look at him as like, you know, a surefire thing. I think he is right now electric. I also think he's going to get himself hurt. if he doesn't throttle it back. Scataboo has to play that way.

Scataboo is the reason he fell in the draft was because he's not that fast and he has one way to play and that's fine he's a running back. That is not fine for your quarterback and I thought yesterday he was on 10 did get himself hurt. Dable then I think,

and I think Dable's going to get in trouble for this for trying, for screaming, going in the blue tent, screaming at the doctor. And I mean, that, that, can't happen. And Daibel has since apologized for it. And, you know, you have moments, but I think he knows, like you, like you were saying, Brew, like, this is the way I keep my job is when a game

like this and that could be out there. The whole team was on 10. Correct. But here is where I will put some criticism at Davel's feet that I think is fair. After this moment where he clearly feels on edge if Dart can't be out there. The very next possession, he calls these plays. And I know Dart's legs are a factor and useful.

But this guy's not sliding. This guy, we had already seen him launch himself like a missile head first out of bounds that he'll probably get fined for. That part concerned, I mean, that's insane. It was great play, but it's categorically insane.

And he's also not as big is Josh out. No, no. But with that said, him doing that without neighbors or Slayton and was really throwing some great balls.

You know, he got no stats for it. But the PI in the end zone was a perfect pass that I think would have been caught if there wasn't the if Keeley Ringo did committed one of his 17 terrible plays of the night. And so I worry about DART with this

style, but they have some juice and they're fun. And when you look at them holistically, they have a great left tackle. Great in Andrew Thomas. I think, moving forward, they will have a great receiver and neighbors. They have potentially a couple great pass rushers

and Brian Burns and Abdul Carter. Scataboo is, I think, a good running back. I think he's a better story than running back, but fine. If Dart is good, you've checked off all your most important pieces of building a real football team, which is very exciting for the New York Giants. Tough schedule coming up.

Well, they do get the Eagles again in two weeks. That's good. I mean, right now it is. Head to the hardwood, where LeBron will miss three to four weeks due to sciatica, excuse me, basically nerve pain around your lower back buttocks and legs. We'll be first opening night he's ever missed. How concerning is this for the Lakers, bro? Well, it's just one of the few first signs of the age here.

I mean, I know anybody can get Skyatica, but it is... It's an old guy in. Yeah, it's more common older than this. You're in your 40s and your ass hurts injury from sitting down. Yeah, so I think it's concerning in that regard. And I know LeBron hasn't been able to work out as hard or as often in the off season as he would have liked.

And so that's frustrated him a little bit. So these are just signs. Like even if he comes back in three to four weeks from this, in a few weeks it could be something else. That's why no one's ever played 23 years like he's doing now. So this could be a year. And the difference with LeBron, all the older players have felt, if not sciatica, something where they just couldn't keep going.

The difference with him is that when he does play, he's still excellent. Like, you know, he's not averaging 12 points a game. He's a 24-point score. But for the Lakers, if it is, if the age finally hits him, even if he's playing well when he's there, but he's not there as much. That's it. Like, with a healthy LeBron playing great, I don't think they are the, they're not the favorites in the West.

They're a legit team in that contending mix. Without him consistently playing great and being there, then they're not, they're a playoff team, I think, with Skinny Luca playing well, but that's about it. That's their ceiling. Go, KW. I echo what Bruce said. I also have an announcement to make. Wow.

I might go, and I'm not a big LeBron critic in the grand scheme of things. No, no. No, not at all. I might go O for season on LeBron criticism and just go pure appreciation. And I always found that tweet. Who always sends that tweet? Kevin O'Connor. Shoot, because I like Kevin O'Connor.

I always found that tweet to be a little. Don't you appreciate him Right People don't know the tweet It's basically You know we Don't even Don't do whatever it is

Like don't take LeBron Don't take LeBron for granted Yeah But this It's probably right And I'm like you know what This is this might be the final run And I remember I was looking at like

Tickets this year I'm like oh shoot I got to take my son Russell and Billy to see LeBron This might be it So I'm going to go O for LeBron criticism Now do they have a chance At winning the championship?

No even with him like I think that's more of an indictment on Luca if you feel that way. I disagree with you. That you think they can make a run to the championship? I think that I think that... Does that count as a criticism? No, no, no. Because it's about...

No, I think that if you have Joker, Janice, Luca and a functional supporting cast, you're a contender. I don't believe the Bucks right now have a functional supporting cast. I think the Lakers

have a functional supporting cast. So to me, whether or not the Lakers are or aren't a contender, to me, is more about what caliber of player you consider Luca than LeBron at this point. Because when you think, Luca got there with Kyrie and Lucas got to a conference finals with nobody and got to the NBA finals with Kyrie and nothing. It's Kyrie, but that wasn't like a super team around it. On the LeBron front. So he's reevaluated in three to four weeks.

Right. Doesn't he's back in three? to four weeks. The glass half-full version of this is the best thing for the Lakers won a championship is LeBron plays 50 games anyway. Maybe less. Right, maybe less. And so I don't necessarily think him missing games early is actually bad for them. Maybe it also gives Austin Reeves an opportunity to get his mojo back after a bad postseason. You know what I mean? Which I think he would. Which I think he will as the second option. I think that part's good. I also think that

this is as a basketball fan and obviously LeBron's fan this is sad because he's never missed one of these moments. He has never missed a playoff game. His team has been scheduled to play on Christmas Day

19 times. He has played in 19 games. He has had up to this point 22 opening nights. He has played in 22. There has never been a mark your calendar moment LeBron's team is playing and he hasn't played.

And now there is. And you know what I mean? And that is a reason, Bruce said, no one's made it to year 23. Only seven guys ever have played an age 41 season and only Kareem averaged 10 a game and he averaged 10.4. Like LeBron is already kind of breaking all of these

he's the oldest everything is going to be LeBron. and this, you know, this does suck as far as what it means for the leg because I agree with through. If he's fully healthy and 90% of the player he was last year come to playoffs, they're viable. But that's, we have no way of knowing. And it's, you mentioned the criticism, and I'll be quick. That, in that sense, LeBron's a victim of his own greatness. Like if he was averaging 15 points last year and 15, you know, people would, it would be more

of a fair, well, oh, let's celebrate this great player. everywhere he went. But he's still in the mix. He still like beat your team in the playout. You know, so there's... People are looking at him as almost as if he's still in his prime to some degree. He and Steph had an all-time duel Christmas. Yeah.

You know what I mean? And so, like, I think he scored 37. Steph scored 40 maybe. Like, it was great. And so, yeah, he is still held to a great player standard. Last few years, 71 and 70 games played. Can the Cowboys have yet? another A game for Chris Fessar.

That's next one of first and Fox Sports Radio on series X-X-I. I don't say I never give the Cowboys any love. I'm giving them a while. A-games, A-games, A-games, A-games. Ooh. Turn into the podcast if you want to hear just insane takes. We're going to rename the podcast. Crazy takes, it's going to be called.

I thought that was what your side practice is. No, mine's called. No, my podcast is called The Truth About Jalen Hearts. part seven. Okay. It's just nonstop. Today, you know what? I'm guessing not going to be an episode.

I don't know. He's four and two. This way. You tell me. Here we go. He's four and two. We got him back. Well, you got him.

You got him. You're supposed to go undefeated. He basically was for a while, five super six. NFL challenge. You download the app and win your share of $10,000 in cash prizes. It's excellent.

Let's check in on the Lions. They're headed to Kansas City. Chiefs favored by almost a field goal. Greg Jennings is here. Lions haven't lost since week one against the Packers. Chiefs trying to avoid a two and four start. Here's Patrick Holmes. It's extremely important. I mean, there's no way around it. This is a really good football team that we're going to play. They play extremely hard and they have a mentality. They're going to come in and win a football game. And so we have to match that intensity. We've got to go out there and prove it on Sunday.

And so we've got to start off with a great week of practice and then come in with the mentality. and we're going to find a way, no matter how it looks, that we're going to find a way to get a win. Nick, do you think the Chiefs deserve to be favored? They've ever been home underdogs twice. Yeah, I'm actually surprised this one went the other way. Well, yeah, but they haven't been home underdogs since the tackle that turned the tight. Oh, I forgot about that.

I didn't know that. And so, you know, there is that piece of it. I guess technically they have been actually the Ravens game, but the America didn't recognize that the team, the offense is back. And we saw it in the Ravens game. That's fine throughout the Ravens game. game that Jags defense has been what's carried them all year. They moved the ball at will.

They scored 28. Patrick made a big mistake and they lost the game. They made a lot of un-chiefs-like plays on special teams, the penalties, the interception, but the offense is back to moving the ball at will. I think it will only be better. And I have a question for the group because I don't want to be here Monday angry. We all are aware of the Lions injury report, right? Yes.

We're all aware that the corners are banged up. and the safeties are banged up. Beating the Lions still is a great win, right? Is there any score they have to reach or it's just, just beat the line? It's a great win. 3-0 is impressive. A few years ago when Travis Kelsey missed that game, the Lions beat them. We're not going to do that.

I am. I definitively did not do that, and I can't. My Super Bowl championship rings are blocking my hearing on that, Greg. I did not, I did not, I absolutely did not make an excuse there. But I'm just asking. So, yeah, I think the Chiefs right now are going to, at home, take care of business by at least two and a half points because right now I like the matchup of the Chiefs' offense against the Lions defense. And so, yeah, I think they do deserve to be favored against what everybody thinks is the best team in football right now. No, they shouldn't be favorite.

Now, they're the Chiefs. They can win. But I think the only reason to favor them is just looking at the history. It's Patrick Mahomes. They're great. you know, historically, we're going to favor them at home. But right now, look, I think that Jags defense is good, but I think its best thing is taking the ball away.

It can be moved on, you know, run on and thrown on, but they've gotten a lot of takeaways. But, I mean, Detroit is clicking four straight wins. I know some of them haven't been great teams, but still, four straight wins, golf is clicking. Dan Campbell is not like, I'm sure he's going. into this feeling like, of course, we just want to win, but we want to make a statement and not just to the Chiefs, to the whole league that we are here and we are back.

And so I, look, Rashid is not yet back with Xavier, who was at one point questionable this week, like that helps, you know, but especially against that depleted backfield for Detroit. But yeah, I think the way Detroit has been playing, the fact that the Chiefs have already lost at home, it's not like you can say, oh, they won't live. lose in Arrowhead and Detroit beat them in Arrowhead a couple years ago. And so, yeah, I think Detroit should be favored. Yeah, I'm with you. No, they shouldn't be favored, the Chiefs being the no. However, I do understand it. And I don't, I don't agree with you in terms of their being favored because of their history. I think that's a piece of it. But I think more so

it's what you said. Like their offense, we're starting to see them turn that page on how that offense looks. And I think when you look at that and you see a defense that is hampered with injuries, you're like, okay, Chiefs at home, they just suffered a big loss to the Jags Monday night, prime time. Patrick Mahomes was a huge reason why because of that interception, pick six, you kind of feel like they're going to come out with something to prove against an opponent that everybody, to your point, is saying the best in the league. However, Detroit has been here before. They've played with a plague of injuries on that defense all last year. And if this were the playoffs, I would have greater concern. But regular season, there is something that Dan Campbell

has the ability to do that most coaches don't. And that is not allow his team to have a low regardless or despite the opponent that they're playing. I think they're going to be locked in. And I think that, but I also the, I mean, you guys joke. I'm dead serious. about tackle the turn the tide, but it also is that, you know, they played 20 quarters, so and that was 10 quarters in. It has been, maybe it's coincidental. Mahomes has been a different guy since then. And those, that right-hand column is like the Mahomes, we all got used to the first six, set five years of his career, as far as the prolific passing, the passerating, the yards per attempt, the deep ball coming back,

thanks to the emergence of Tyquon Thornton of all people. Whatever it takes. Right. And so, he's the good. And the, here is why the other reason, just from a gambling perspective where we move on, KW, that I'm not surprised. Vegas is back all the way in on Kansas City. Did you see the Super Bowl odds this morning? Yeah, this is something.

The Chiefs now have better Super Bowl odds than fill it. The Chiefs are fourth best Super Bowl odds. The bills are plus 475, deservedly. And what's baked in there is. they're a big favorite to be the one seed right now, and the Chiefs obviously right now are staring at a wild card potentially as their path. But for them to be right there with neck and neck with Green Bay

and just barely behind Philly, and the favored over a Lions team that is one of the only teams ahead of them, that to me speaks to that at least the gambling public is just like last year the gambling public wasn't in love with the Chiefs team that never lost but didn't look that impressive. The gambling public seems to react to just the Chief's offense. Does the offense look good even if they lose a game? That gives them more faith in Kansas City than winning ugly games like they were last year.

Cobboys at Panthers Sunday at one on Fox. Cowboys had back-to-back A-games from Professor Brousard. Brew, what would a third straight A game mean for Dallas if they impress you against the Panthers? Well, first of all, what would be an A game? Obviously a W. Okay, you're telling me. I thought you're asking. 30-ish points?

I'm actually thinking more than 30. We put their GPA. 2.6G. 30-ish points and 20 or less for Carol. Carolina. And I'm going to give Carolina a little. Yeah, yeah, yeah. And it's an A game.

I mean, a win is a win. If they win by a point, fine. But in A game, that's what that has to look like. And if they are to do that, then you know what I say? I need a fourth straight A game because next week they got Washington. On Fox. That would be the game where you really make a statement. They win this game.

They're supposed to beat Carolina. They beat Washington. Now they actually are in play for that division. With Philly looking, you know, four and two just lost their last two games. Washington has played well when Jaden's there. If the Cowboys beat them, now, okay, they're a playoff threat for sure and actually a threat to win that division. See, for me, like, a third straight A game would be impressive

because that means, to your point, and how you have laid out what the A game would look like and what need to happen for it to be considered a game, the defense will have to have played relatively good, meaning stifling that offense in Carolina and then DAC being DAC and what we've seen. I think they're capable of that. And if they get that done for a third straight week,

I don't need necessarily the fourth week because going into this season, you would have deemed them as a tomato can. Yes. And so now on the board. Exactly. And if you beat Carolina, that doesn't mean it's off the board.

But what it does mean is I'm better than what everybody expected me to be. And now they're going to have greater expectations of me when the next week comes, when we do have a team that you feel like, oh, let's see what they really are. They feel like we can beat anybody right now because of the performance that they were able to capture and put on tape against the Green Bay Packers. So for me, it would be very impressive for this group to have a third. straight, solid, offensive and defensive performance. It would be great.

Yeah, and so the, if they have to, your definition of an A game brew, which is they score in the 30s and the Panthers are held 20 or below. Yeah, some like that. Then they're not a tomato can because that's what they are doing too. If you blow out the tomato cans, you might not be a great team, but you're, you know what I mean? You're not a tomato can. And so I, but I had the exact same analysis as you, which is this is, this is, this is, you.

a nice little precursor. And the Cowboys, if Coach Manjini were here, he'd be warning us about, you know, them thinking what we're thinking, which is our big game is a week from now against Washington. So they have to be careful of that. Carolina, you know, is feeling, I guess, better about itself, coming, you know, getting a win.

And so the, it somehow blew out Atlanta. Right. And so that game against Washington on Fox, America's Game of the Week, would be a very instructive game for both of those teams because there's two possibilities with Philadelphia, right? They write themselves. This is a blip.

They had won 20 out of 21, and they're going to go 13 and 4, 12, and 5 and be fine. If that's the case, then Cowboys in Washington, there might only be one playoff spot available for the two of them. And so that becomes so important. The other one is that Philly is an early supernatural funk. They're going to lose a few more.

Then Cowboys, Washington is to potentially be really in the divisional race. Either way, it will feel like a total missed opportunity if they go into that game, two, and one instead of three, two, and one. They've got to go handle business. Can I bring the Cowboys down a little, a peg? They haven't yet beaten the good, their best outing is a tie. But against your Super Bowl pick. Right.

It was a good game, but you're tied. They beat the Giants with Russ, all right, not Jackson Dart. They beat the Jets. And then if they beat Carolina, I mean, I'm just saying like, let's not, they're not out of, they're still tomato can adjacent. Oh, even if they blow out. Well, let's see, right, but if they blow out. Because they got blown out by the bears.

Well, the bears might be good. Who are darned. That's the problem. That's the problem. The NFL this year is, there are four teams, maybe five, that we know are horrible. And then everybody else about the same. It's just the lions. It's a weird year so far.

The lions are good. Well, let's see. The Lions are the only team. They beat the. But the Lions are, it was a regular season game. I know it was week one, but it was still a regular season.

But the Packers are good. The Lions are the only team that have like a quality. Who else has just like a one like pretty good loss? You would say the bills. The, you would have a team. You want. It's not.

quality yet. Yeah. That's yes. Right. The Chiefs have nothing but good losses. Just too many of them. It's true. Chiefs might lead the league in excellent losses.

Yeah. What are the Patriots doing now that they are in the foyer of destiny? That's next on first things first on FS1. Patriots in New Orleans Sunday at 1. Drake trying to build on the momentum from the win against Buffalo. Take a listen. I think it's something you can build off for sure. I think the guys, you know, obviously builds confidence.

I think that's what coach always preaches, you know, kind of getting wins, the win column builds confidence. But you got to flush it and keep going and worry about, you know, it's any given week in this league. You know, you're learning that really fast. Is there any chance the Patriots have a letdown game? Absolutely. Like, listen, the Patriots hadn't won back-to-back games since 2022.

They haven't won three straight since the wind game. in 20, how long ago that was. And they are not a good enough team yet to where any road game, you can just be like, all right, pencil them in. And what, listen, what I will say about the Saints, in fairness to them is, one, Rattler's been fine. He has not been the problem. He hasn't been great, but he has been taking care of the ball.

At least he's been fine. And the Saints' losses have been week one nail-biter to Arizona. and then San Francisco, Seattle, Buffalo. And then they finally played a team kind of of of their tier in the Giants, and they got a win. They had a really tough stretch of games in September. They got blown out in two of them. They were right there with San Francisco and right there with Arizona,

and they beat the Giants. So, yeah, like, I do think that part of becoming the team that you think, and by the way, I think the Patriots can be, which is a playoff team, is avoiding letdown spots like this, but I absolutely think I absolutely think it's on the board. They are definitely on upset alert. Definitely.

You hear me? Yeah, I heard you. I mean, for everything, young team really feeling great about itself, coming off a great win on national, you know, the standalone game. Yeah, they've won three, not only two straight, three of their last four.

Like, they really feel like they've arrived. All right. And New Orleans isn't a horrible team. Like, Rattler's been playing. Hold on, Rattler's been playing well. You got, you're like this. Chris Olivae, Rashid, those are pretty good receipts. Like, I'm just saying y'all should win.

You got them. But they better not waltz in there like, what you're doing? You got them winning that division? No, but I'm just saying, like they, you better not waltz in there thinking it's going to be easy. Green Bay did that in Dallas and found themselves into a dog fight. Greg, can I read you a quote that I think you'll like from an anonymous Patriots player? It's not anonymous, but tell me who it is. I know they're.

record might not show it, the Saints, but they're very skillful up front and in the back end. To be honest, it might be a bigger test than last week. Oh, who said that? Stefan Diggs. Veteran leadership. Oh, that's just a shot at his old team.

That's what that's. No, no, it wasn't. It wasn't. Oh, okay. The full quote doesn't read. Maybe it was, but it didn't read like that full quote. Maybe it was if it was galaxy brain,

but it just felt like real veteran leadership that I thought you'd like, Greg. So, can they have a moment of let down, yes, I don't believe it happens. I just don't believe it happens with this team right now because the same way we can make all the reasons align to why they could have a let down because they just are coming off a great win and they haven't had a win against the bills like that with a quarterback playing like that at that level. And since Tom Brady, all the things, right, they feel like they are, they're capturing something right now. They're

They're literally changing what was the last couple seasons into what is expected to be in the Patriots way of life, in the Patriots way of playing ball in that organization. They have one of the better young quarterbacks than all of football. He believes it, and I believe everybody else is starting to understand it and come to know it. When you have that, you have to take care of games like this. Rable will have this team ready to play. To the point of Stefan Diggs making that statement, maybe it's a slight shot.

Like I've been on teams where I leave and I say things, whatever. Yes, it's a slight shot. But there is some truth to it because if we want to prove that we are the team that was deserving to earn that win that we just had, we don't have a letdown at all. We take this team just as serious. You're nervousness, one to ten? My nervous.

I mean, I don't think the players are overconfident. I do think the fan base is. Right. I'm asking your nervousness for the game. Minus 1,000. Okay. All right. You think you guys are a really good team?

I think we will smash the Saints. Okay. Now, will we? I don't know, but I think this game could be like, ooh. Okay. Like how the Colts treat tomato cans. Wow. Okay.

Yeah. Who that? You hear that? Who that? You hear that? Oh, hottest segment in all the sports upset alert and Nick's picks coming up right after the break. Live from New York, it's a show that's wondering if Russell Wilson's pass was tipped and why the New York fans were so mean to him. Well, I mean, they were, listen, it is a great day for the Giants.

It's a great day for Daibble. Daible having that level of stress and meltdown over the fact that he was going to have to play a guy. he named the team starter five weeks ago was unreal. You didn't, this isn't a fan who won the lottery you could throw a pass. You set the roster. Right.

This is. You also could have made James your backup. It was definitely something. I'm like, he wanted no parts of us being in the invasion. Get him out! Get him out! You told me he was okay. Second hour, first and first today.

Can the Chief's offense keep up with Jared Gough and the Lions? Meanwhile, who is on upset alert? Brew has promised an interesting pick. Can't wait to see what it is. Perhaps it's from one of these. He's going to upset somebody on the same. Wow. And, of course, another edition of Nick's picks.

But right now, we're going back to New York. Giants toppled the Eagles Monday night. Jalen Hertz through his first interception and over 300 passes. Seekwon started the game fast and then sputtered. Giants treated the game as a platform to make memes. Here's Lane Johnson. We have things that we talk about and then, you know, a lot of it goes out there. The execution isn't there.

We get behind the chains. I get very predictable. I feel like we've been very stagnant offensively. And yeah, so we put the defense in the bind really past two, three weeks. So, you know, it's frustrating. We got to be able to keep the defense guessing, not be predictable. Not be predictable. And yeah, like you said, we have spurts.

But there's nothing that's consistent. Brew, you famously coined the phrase supernatural funk. Is the supernatural funk back? It's not here yet, but it is, it's on deck. Oh, wow. It's in the on deck circle. This is very similar to 2023 when they had the supernatural funk in that I said it before. But that team, when they were running to that 10-and-run record, every win afterwards was like this year.

Well, and not playing well. What's wrong with the Eagles? Even though they kept winning. They had beaten the Chiefs, the Bills, the Dolphins when they were good, the Cowboys when they were good, the Rams. Like, they were beating the top teams in the league. Same thing this year. They beat the Chiefs. They beat Tampa Bay.

They beat the Rams. Dallas, which actually now may be pretty good. Like, they're beating good teams, yet everything was a complaint. It just didn't feel right. So that's similar. Obviously, they didn't have Sequin at that time, but they had two great receivers. They had Jalen. And DeAndre Swift had a really nice year.

Over 1,000 yards rushing was a pro bowler. The major difference is that defense was just bad. That was 30th ranked defense in the league scoring wise. This year's defense, I actually think is good. They are 19th in the league. and, you know, 19th, ranked 19th in scoring defense.

But I think some of that's because the offense isn't giving you anything and they're on the field more and things like that. But the defense is the thing that I would say, okay, that's a big difference.

But if the defense gets worse, you got some guys that are injured. Well, they've got two guys in their secondary that are bordering on unplayable. Yeah. Keeley, Rangel and Dori Jackson are just really hurting them.

Quinion Mitchell, obviously went out in the game. Cooper Dijing can only do so much. and they don't have the pass rush that they had last year or a couple years ago. Yeah. So for me, I'm not necessarily concerned about this being a supernatural funk, but the inner turmoil, it's real. Like the, if we just listen to Lane Johnson and him saying, we're predictable, what was

unpredictable about them last year? Nothing. Nothing. We knew We said that. Sequant said as much. We knew exactly what they were going to do. It was a matter of line up and stop us.

It's just not working right now. So naturally you start to go and point fingers at everything that is really nothing. Because you're doing the same things that you were doing last year. We wanted Jalen at times to throw the ball more. They did that occasionally, not a whole lot because they established a run. That's what was working. They came out. The number one consensus statement was they got to get Seiquon going in this game last night.

Got it. They did that. First two plays. First two plays, I'm like, oh, man, he's going for over 100 today. And then nothing. So, like, this team, a lot of their funk comes from inside their own locker room, them pointing the finger and not just being all accountable in shutting their mouths and playing football. Stop caring about what we say and what everyone outside that you, that that locker

room has to say about what it looks like if we win and if we lose. Just play ball and stay as a United Fund. This is one of the most divided teams in all the football and they're one of the better teams. Are you putting that at the feet of AJ Brown? I'm sorry? Are you putting that at the feet of AJ Brown? Whoever continues to speak, AJ Brown saying, I don't recall. I think they're pretty, I think they might be united about A.J.'s concerns. Like, Lane John.

That, so, yes. And that might be more problematic. Because Lane Johnson sure seems to be echoing some of the same concerns. Like, I don't think. So it's just a Petulow problem. And AJ's sort of the spokesperson. I don't know. I don't know that it, I think it is the same problem,

AJ talked about last year. And we can, I don't know who we want to blame it. I'm not trying to start an argument. They are frustrated with the lack of precision in the passing game. I think that's, I think that's what it is, which is why, because I'm going to take this in a slightly different direction, it's why, and they spammed the tush push the way they did last night in what was, would have been on different days a story. Like if they hadn't blown the game, the one of the stories of the game would have been

the four straight tush. pushes, which of course have four straight fall starts, but we can't officiate the play. So it's fine. Just let them do it. And KW, I'm worried for your Eagles for a reason. Okay. Because obviously, we all know that in the AFC, we'll look back on this season and say the seminal moment, came against the New York Giants right before halftime with the tackle that turned the tide.

And I worry for Philadelphia that in the other direction, this kind of spitting in the face of football purists will look at it as the sneaks that started the slide. I'm just telling you. I'm just telling you. I mean, I don't know, guys. Let's see. Going into where they said, hey, we have Sequin Barclay, Lane Johnson, Jordan Maelotta. There's no other way we can score from first and goal from the two other than this play. They had the lead.

They were rolling. They hadn't turned it over. After that, didn't go so well. It did feel more desperate than it has in the past. It did. And I didn't feel like, like, even on, through that sequence, you saw Devante Smith, saying run it. A.J. Brown at some point was like, what, what's up, man?

Like, can we do something else? Can we get a different formation? Like, there's just not a collective united front. So when you have that, you're going to have issues. And somebody got hurt on it. The whole thing was weird. It was bad last night. That was bad last night.

And do we have time just real quick for our upset alert? Because this was the fourth straight game where they just couldn't put together two halves. Yeah. That's the, you can just roll through them dust if we have time quickly. It is four games in a row. So against the Rams, the great comeback. The first half was atrocious, great second half. The next week against Tampa.

First half was great, horrible second half, but they won. Last week against the Broncos, they finally lost. The yards are fine-ish, but the rushing made no sense and they couldn't score. That's almost like, I think fourth quarter is really bad. Right, and then this week, again, you can't run the ball, you turn the ball, like they, it's been since the Chiefs game that they had, you know, two normal halves, so to speak,

like it's just weird. That stuff's weird. You don't like sneaks that started the slide? You know, it feels like you're getting very slogan-oriented. I like it. It's time now for the hottest segment in all of sports. It's upset alert. We're going to take a quick look at the standings.

Standings and we had a brew with the back win. Brew with a six and a half pointer last week to get on the board. Only to be upped by wild with an 11.5 pointer to get on the board. And then coach kind of let you guys. down, Greg. That I feel like should have an asterisk. Yeah, I should have definitely had a In fairness, Greg, have you gotten any right this year? Or are all your points from coach?

Okay, you do. Greg, you do, though. I'm just saying. What are you got? Definitely gotten something right, though. Did you not think I had any right? An upset alert? Have you at week?

This year? Yeah. Oh, okay, he's right. He's right. Are you? I thought you were joking. No, I was being serious. I thought coach had carried the team.

My apology. They each got one right now. I think coach's gotten two, he's gotten one. Go ahead. Yeah. Okay. I think that's right. You guys have 18 points.

All right. Well, just in case you, I don't want this to feel like in, what would you call erroneous pick? Oh, here we go. This guy. However, it's a good pick. Don't fly too close to the sun. I'm going with Detroit. It's a fair pick.

Over. Yeah. Your. Chiefs. And look, I'm not going to read too much into it. Detroit's just a better team. Right now, as it stands, Detroit's the better team. The number suggests that. And if you want to look at their numbers, I'll show you their numbers. This is who they are. They lost to the Packers, and since that loss to the Packers who were rejuvenated, Michael Parsons, I was excited, everybody was excited. This is who Dan Campbell reminded his team we were. And this is, and this is

what the chiefs are going to have to deal with. Now, understanding what they don't have defensively, what they may not have defensively, but this is a team that has a no excuse mentality. And so going on the road into Arrowhead, there is no motivational talk needed, there is no stats needed in this game. It's a lineup and whoever shows up is going to be the better team. I think in this game, Detroit has a lot of other guys, especially all of the guys. offensively that can step up and make plays that we haven't been calling their names.

James and Williams, where have you really been in his offense? And they've been clicking with those numbers. So does he have a great game? He has a potential to. They can run the ball. They can pass the ball. Jared Gough, if you can't get to him, that's problem number one. I don't think that the chiefs will be able to get to them and disrupt him.

Obviously, we know that Spags is going to bring him on the Blitz. If I'm the Detroit Lions, I'm preparing for that. Jared golf against the blitz all last year, he ate it up. So I expect them to go in there with the mindset of we are the team to beat. They are no longer a team that we feel like we're inferior to. They have to show us that they are on our level. And we're going to prove it. That's a fair pick.

Yeah, it's definitely a fair pick. Yeah. All right. You said you're going to upset someone on the set. Yeah, I'm going to upset. Arizona over Daniel Jones and the Indianapolis Colts. That's right. Now look, he doesn't even believe it.

Indiana Jones called by Kyleor Flurry. I am assuming Kyler's questionable. He's going to play. He better play because I don't think they can beat him. Reset has had his moments, but I don't think they can win this game without Kyler. But Kyler, we know he can be up and down on it. Marvin Harrison, Jr., playing better lately.

And honestly, I feel like this is Arizona season. This game, they've lost three straight. I know at two and four, you're not out of it, although that's a, that division. But the way they've lost would be hard of it. They've lost three games by five points. Heartbreaking fashion, all of them. Like last minute, kit field goals, everybody,

opponent or something like that. And then, of course, Tennessee was just unbelievable. It won't be heartbreaking this week. Oh, wow. If they lose this game, I just feel, like morale-wise, it's just going to be, they're going to be done. And so I think they're coming out with everything they have and they pulled this off. The thing is, look, Indianapolis, Jonathan Taylor's been great leading the league in Russian,

but Arizona's defense is good and they're good against the run. And so if they can keep Taylor in check, then I think now you, and I'm not saying Jones's pumpkin mode or anything, but I think I'm put it on him. Can he go win the game? He's only thrown for six touchdown passes this year. So can he go win the game? I think that's what Arizona is going to make them do. And I'm going with the card.

And I also, Indianapolis, I like them a lot. I don't envision them as a five and one ball club. Five and one? It's a fuzzy rationale that you just don't envision them. But I totally agree. It's all about field. Of course, shoot. Last year was just five and one.

I don't necessarily agree with this, with this pick for this game, but I do agree that part of the handicapping is like, is this team really going to be five and one? I mean, five and one is like, okay, that's the, we're well into the season now. You're five and one. Yeah, they might be the real deal. You know what?

I'm just going to stay hot. Fux and Connie Philop Football. I'm going back to the well. San Francisco 49ers over the bucks. Wow. That is a big. It's, first of all, Kyle Shanahan has won his last three games against the Bucks. I think that Robert Sala is going to have something for Baker and Abuka, figure that out, take away what they're great at, and that sort of neuters the buck's offense a little bit.

And then, of course, it's the quarterback. Mack Jones. I love it. He's leading the league in passer radio. Wait, wait, no, he's not. Oh, no, I'm sorry. What are you talking about? He's not even close.

He's leading the league in being undefeated. He's not really He highlighted passer rating because the bucks are allowing the sixth highest. I thought he was leading league in cool place. It's not even close, bro. I was confused by that. That's not even talking to it. It's my novocaine's wearing off.

Six highest pass rating allowed against the bucks. So I believe in Mack Jones. Secondly, CMC, this is actually something you mentioned that you want the Eagles to do with Seekwon. Most reception. This season, Puka, JSN, Justin Jefferson, Buka, Aman Rossi, McAfrey. Just become more of a receiver. And the Bucks allow a lot of open passes to the running backs. And finally, this is an odd one.

I thought the password rating thing was confusing. Get a load of this. We got to sit with this one. Last three season, better record on the road than at home. This is a double whammy. So San Francisco is actually better on the road. And the Tampa Bay, since they're at home, actually disadvantage. Wow.

So I'm still rolling with Mack Jones. One caveat. Oh, this one caveat. Injured. Well, yeah. Didn't practice. Yeah, I know, which is one of the reasons this is an odd pick. The whole reason you want to believe in the Niners is for a quarterback who's, I believe, has an injured shoulder.

I thought it was oblique. Okay, maybe the shoulder. Perhaps the shoulders are either way. That could. Here's the thing about Mack Jones. His Achilles heel, trademark. Not his actual Achilles heel. His Achilles heel?

Alabama Mac. I'm undefeated at Alabama. I set the college football completion project. I'm an amazing quarterback. Once he gets a little limited, he actually makes better decisions. He won't do wild stuff. Okay.

It's like having a restrictor plate on a NASCAR. Okay. You still have this? So that's my pick. Now it's time for the second hottest segment in all sports. Nick's picks. Thank you.

Here's the fact of the matter, though. Segment's not that hot right now. Nope. Shut up, Greg. One and two last week. Wow. One really good pick with the Patriots. One coin flip with the Eagles, they had control and they didn't,

and one horrific pick with the Raiders, they got annihilated. We're just, again, Nick's picks right now really mirroring the Chiefs. You believe at the end of the year it's going to be the best, but currently a game under 500. And so I didn't win it last year. Lost to the most flukey team of all time, but game in second. So I realized something. I've been overthinking this.

I've been trying to be in Q, like, give me this half point. You know what I'm doing this week? Going with quarterbacks I trust. Smart. Quarterbacks I trust laying a field goal or less. Do I trust the quarterback? Are they playing a bad team? Or do I just really trust the quarterback?

Doesn't matter the team they're playing. Yes, yes, and yes. First pick. Dallas minus three. Even the biggest Cowboys critic on one of them on TV of the past in Chris Broussard. You know what he always says about him? Oh, you know, they can always beat tomato cans. Tomato Can alert.

Caroline Panthers going to play them. Like three points. They're going to score 30. How many points do you think Bryce is going to score? You can't reach high enough on the scoreboard best 24. I'm just telling you. Can I ask you a question about? Yeah.

I'm surprised. I don't like this game because I feel like it should be like. It's a trap to trick. Listen, that's I thought the same thing too. And that's why I'm seven and eight. I'm overthinking this. I'm like, oh, it's a trap game. Everybody's gonna do it. I trust the quarterback. I trust the offense. I don't trust Carolina at all. Their tomato can't play in three points. Cowboys noise three. Next one. Another quarterback I trust playing a quarterback I don't. Bank show three point favorites against back Jones. Road splits, all this nonsense. I don't care.

The only thing that mattered that you told me was the court, the, Their backup quarterback who's in for their injured, quarterback is also injured. Bakeshow is cooking. The offensive line is finally healthy. Now, they're without some weapons, I understand that. But that Niners defense is not gonna be able to slow down Bakeshaw. I'm laying less than a field goal, and I'm in Tampa.

San Francisco going all the way west to east. Nobody likes to do that. We don't even have enough air traffic controllers these days. Last one. Whole world's on Detroit, and the line keeps moving towards Kansas City. What's up with that? Everybody loves the lions plus the point.

Yet it was one and a half, then two, now two and a half. I'm getting a bad number, doesn't matter. Vegas knows what I know. Mahomes against this banged up secondary that come Monday after the Chiefs score 37, you guys are gonna be like, well, that wasn't the real Lions. Brian Brandt was out.

This guy was out. He scored 37 and three quarters against Baltimore. You didn't care at all. Nope, of course. In Baltimore. By the way, by the way, the last time, Chris Collins, and Mike Torrico saw Patrick Mahomes was that Giants game.

Now I don't know that Chris Collinsworth is literally going to say the tackle that turned the tide. I guarantee you, he says. I gotta tell you, Mike, this looks like a totally different offense than the last time we saw him. Yeah, because Xavier Worthy's back and there was the tackle that turned the tide. Three quarterbacks I believe in, all lay in a field goal less. Dallas minus three, Tampa minus three, Chiefs minus two and a half. That's a three and oh week.

Get my mojo back. Get ready for the stretch run. What KW? I just don't like it. I don't like you a betting against Robert Sala. Betting against Robert Sala? Hey, very savvy. Coming up next.

Who's gonna really light up the scoreboard? The best offense in the NFL or the Chiefs? That's next. Hey, quick version of no huddle. And we're just going to start in Kansas City. Sunday night, it's a battle between Mahomes and Jared Gough. Who's been really spectacular this year. Let's take a look at the quarterback.

stats. Jared Goff, teen points. He's got 35 points per game while the Chiefs are averaging 25. Again, this is the full year, not just tackle the turn of the time. Yeah, but even with the full year, Mahomes averaging what, 50 more yards and has one less touchdown? Yeah, because we added the line of three rushing touchdowns for Patrick Mahler. Well, he's also had to. Well, yeah, of course. Yeah, I wish he had Jamir Gibbs too to carry but he doesn't. Passer rating. Goffs get the passer rating.

Yes. Golf's been unbelievable. Golf's been great. So do you think the Chiefs can keep up with the Lions' offense? Yes, because I don't think we're – listen, I do not think the Lions are scoring 40 again. Not again the rest of the year. I mean, this weekend I don't think they're scoring 40. I think the Chief's defense, while not as good as it was two years ago, I think the Chief's defense is a good defense

that did not play its best game against Jacksonville. And the Jacksonville numbers are a little off because seven of the points came on the pick six. But regardless. I felt like that was almost a touch, like Trevor. Oh, yeah, that's fair. If you want to look at it like that. It was an extraordinary way. Yeah, no, no, no.

So if we reverse it, that's fair. But my point is, I think the Chiefs defense, a little chip on their shoulder. Chris Jones, definite chip on his shoulder. And by the way, I thought Chris had an unbelievable press conference talking about that moment and, like, learning from it and what happened. It's just, it's one of the reasons I like him. thoughtful kind of considerate guy. And I do think that what we have seen from Patrick, again, it's less to me about the defenses he's faced and more about is he comfortable in the pocket.

And what we have seen over the last two weeks is Mahomes for the first time in a couple years trusting his protection and because of that, sticking in there and letting things develop downfield. The report with Tyquon Thornton is expanding by the week. And I also think Kelsey has been had a little more juice this season than he did last season. And I don't think he's not vintage Kelsey, but a little more juice.

And so I think this is a game that is, you know, 31, 28 in that range. And so yeah, I think the Chiefs absolutely can keep up with the Lions offense. Look, I do think the Lions will win the game. But can the

Yeah, they can, especially with Xavier Worthy. You know, when I thought, oh, he might not play. I would have said no. But yeah, with him playing, I definitely think they can. And I agree, Mahomes has played better of late. He's been fine all season. Just since tackle the turn of the time. No, because honestly on that, and I hear you, and I'm open to that.

But I wonder, did that juke move by the guy that ran the pick six? Yeah, Levin Lloyd on the pick six. Did that juke of Patrick? Because Patrick's a good football player. Like, he usually will make a tackle. He got jukeed out of his socks. Did that erase the tackle to turn and time? I'm serious about that.

Let's see it play out. That's all I'm saying. I mean, he got the ball back right after that scored a touchdown. Yeah, but they still lost the game. I mean, so I'm just wondering that. But no, look, I think they can hang with them. I don't think they'll win this game, but yeah, the offense is capable. Look, no, no.

You don't think that it can. No, I don't think they want to. I just clearly don't think they want to. Like, can they score points? Absolutely. But not at the clip that the Lions can. They don't want it to be a track. No, you don't want it to be a track of me.

Not with that type of offense where they can run, they can get it to their guys out of the backfield, and then they have a plethora of weapons at their disposal, that they being the Lions. like when I look at the Chiefs, they are trending in the right direction. I just don't think that they're there yet. Now, next week, when you get the addition of Rishie Rice,

Rishie Rice, then it's like, okay, see what that looks like. Now that we're going to see the full gambit, I just don't think that they're there at this moment. Again, it's kind of like what I said earlier in the week. I do believe that the Chiefs eventually are going to be around that 29, 30 points a game come to end of the year. I just don't think they're there right now

regardless of who's playing defense for the Detroit Lions. Mack Jones versus Baker, battle of two first place teams. Also the first game of the season that have had features two teams that have had all their games decided by six points or fewer.

That's right. Also, it's interesting stat, right? Bucks have the best record since 24 week 12 so pretty good since they lost the 49ers. Brew, if Mac Jones can pull

this off, what would they win over the bucks meet for him? It would be impressive. I mean, if they win and he's okay, I mean, that's impressive for this team. With all the injuries they have to be at that point, 5 and 1, with some good

victory, Seattle, Tampa Bay. That would be, and the Rams. I mean, that would really be impressive. If Matt goes out and cooks and they win, I'm just like, Brock,

take your time. Wow. Like, take your time and get healthy. No, because he's probably not 100%. Right? But get 100%. As far as if this were to become some type of controversy at some point,

I don't think at what, four good games or whatever, that that's a contract. It's with Brock's contract. With Brock having that huge contract. Now, I know it happened with Brady and Blitzel. Would you ever sit in, my question would be this. If win party is 100%, Mac still hasn't lost.

If they are, you know what I mean? I think it depends. Like, okay, let's say they beat Tampa. Yeah. But Mac again is okay. One interception, one touchdown. He's okay, but they win. if Brock is 100%

I'd put Brock back in but if it's to the point of say it's seven straight games or some eight nine straight games then or you know even if they're not undefeated they're eight and one with Max starting

that gets dicey not for the future because of the contract and I know Brady I was going to say that Belichick stuck with Brady over Bledso but that was a long that was basically the entire

entire season where Brady was cooking. I don't think you do that after four or five games. But it would get interesting. I want to, I mean, four and no, no. Five and oh. But doesn't he have to play really well? Well, not in your Brady Bletso example. It just wins.

Not like Brady was, you know, we're early 2000s. But they were losing with Bletzo. That's the difference. I mean, Brock was what, one in one? One and one. Blitzer was 0 and 2. I mean, it's not a huge difference. I mean, the high,

Bledsoe was the highest paid player in the league. No, no, he was 100 million. I would stay away from those bloodso of Brady stuff if I were going. Greg, you want to give this job to Mack Jones if he wins it? No. Okay. I love everything what Mack Jones has been doing, averaging over. He's been throwing more than 275 yards every single game and being efficient while doing it,

not turning the ball over it. Like, he's been great. However, you said this all offseason. I wouldn't pay that. guy and that guy being purdy because you felt like anybody could not not anybody but anybody with a pulse

anybody who had he's a pro bowl any pro pro pro bro don't do it he is actually so is he not so it's Tyler Huntley anybody that is

a baseline starting NFL quarterback is going to get the Kyle Shanahan inflation his stats. And it's going to, in my opinion, trick people in thinking they're better than he is. Right now we have Kevin Wilde's having

I feel like it's cruel that you were done with emotionally Mack Jones. You were never going to abandon him, but you were not... It was in a locked box. It was in a locked box. Under your closet you didn't tell your wife about. But now

you're going through old pictures. You're remembering. And I'm telling you, he's going to break your heart again because the best case for Mac because they signed Purdy is that, and now he's on a two-year contract with him actually, but is that this is enough for him to get to be able to start somewhere else one day and then he won't have Kyle Shanahan and he'll go right back to being Mac Jones, I think. But maybe he, look, maybe he learned something like Darnold, obviously. Maybe you learn something and Baker, I mean, Baker wasn't

Mac Jones level. But he learned from Leigh. Natural physical ability than Matt. Yeah, but Mac to your point. But here's the other thing, though, it is not, none of this is good for Brock. Seeing Mac Jones come in and cook. I mean, he got his money. Right.

He just has to cook. Correct. Rans of Baltimore, this could get ugly for you, bro. Everybody's all-American Matthew Stafford puts up the second most yards while everybody's get right against unit. The Ravens defense allows the second most yards per game. Here are the ranks.

Are you giving your Ravens any chance? No. No. That's sad. No. Not without Lamar, unless Lamar is coming through that. No, he was just pulled out. Yeah.

So no. They are giving up 262 passing yards a game, 31st in the league. 109 passer rating to the opponent, 29th in the league. And Stafford's throwing for 300 yards a game, you know, and 11 touchdowns. Like, if the race. Rams do not win this game, then stop calling them a contender. I know it's still relatively early, but if you coming off a bad loss to San Francisco

and you go in against this depleted ball, it's not just Lamar this. I don't know if the Rams were, San Francisco is 4-1. I know, but they've banged up. They got their backup quarterback. The Rams were as big a favorites in that game as they are in this game. Yeah, I'm just saying because of the state of the Niners,

as far as the injuries. I mean, the Rams should be looking at like, okay, this is our, I get right game. Can I put that on its head a bit? If the Ravens give up another 30 plus, then stop calling them a contender. Because Lamar is not going to fix that. Oh, no, a lot of those guys are back now.

And Matabuque is not coming back, right? So like that injury at this point. No, I'm correct. They are still injured, but it's not the seven starters that we were talking about before. And one of them in Madabuque, we just have, to pretend like isn't there anymore because he's not coming back again this year. If the, I, obviously with Cooper Rush as the starting quarterback, they are in huge trouble

against anyone, much less a good team. But the defense must show some improvement in order for Lamar to have a chance to save the day. Yeah. And so, like, I, I would be shocked if the Ravens won brew, but I don't think this is a meaningless this game if you're a Ravens fan in this regard. See if the defense can show some fight. See if you can go into the by week like, hey, you know, we did improve on some things, you know, in that last game.

That's what I would be looking for in this game. Yeah, unfortunately, this group of Ravens are putting out a product that their fans have no reason to believe in them. And neither do I. So I'm not giving them any shot. Do you think Zach Orr could be fired at the buy? You know what? Unfortunately, yes, even despite the injuries because of how it looks right now.

It's when you, you can't say, oh man, we have all these injuries yet still deem these guys to be professionals. Right. And not giving the effort. It's not looking anywhere close to what it looks like to resemble a Raven's defense. I'm sorry. Especially you're coming off a good. finished to last season defensive. Fair or unfair.

Like, they were supposed to pick up from there. That's what it is. And other teams have been banged up too, and they haven't had this type of dip. You're still. I'm with them. I mean, look, to me, like I said, the Chicago game is huge. Caleb against his fellow draft mates. Not a good record.

ALDS tonight, game five. Tigers, Mariners. Scoobel. On the mound. George Kirby. You got to feel good with Scoobie. Absolutely. I bet the Tigers in solidarity with Greg.

The total for this game is six. They're expecting a sweet or school, pitcher's dual. Love the marriage. I got to be honest, so, Greg. Wow. That both. I kind of want the big dump for the people.

I'm just being honest. Thank you. Bears at Commanders. Monday night. This is a rematch of the Hail Mary game that propelled the Commanders. and kind of sent the Bears season off track. It's also another matchup of Caleb versus his fellow draft mates.

Played J.J. McCarthy. He lost. Played Drake May last year. Lost. Played Jaden in the Hail Mary game and lost. What would another loss to Jayden mean for Caleb? Well, listen, it would certainly stymie any potential momentum the Bears had going into the buy, and it would make it make it probably impossible for folks to argue, listen, Caleb's going to be the best quarterback in this draft class anytime soon. And I know some folks, myself included, you know, felt very

strongly about that going into the draft. We don't yet have the evidence of it. But you sold some of that stock, right? I, no, the stock. No, yeah. No, hold on. I sold that he's going to, you know, be an MVP candidate by this point of his career. You know, and I thought We have seen that for the star quarterbacks that by year two, they're an MVP candidate. I thought last year the team would be better, he would be better. I still think,

I don't think the book is closed on that. I am less certain about Caleb than I once was. If that's what you mean by sold stock. You handed it in the dance. Well, yeah, I mean, it was the right thing too. You dropped the banter. I did, yeah, that is true. That's what I'm saying.

But what I also think is we have to be fair, just like we said yesterday, that if Caleb had put up the camera, Like if Caleb had put up the Cam Ward start of a career, it would have been on, we would have talked about it throughout. This season, I understand a small sample,

but one of the reasons of small sample is because Jaden missed time, which was those of us that had concerns about Jaden, were concerned about that. This season, Caleb's been as good if not better. And we can put up their numbers side by side. So if he then, the flip side to this is, what would a win mean? And a win would mean that

Caleb is furthering the distance between them as far as their play this year. And I think that's fair. Like I understand Jayden, but because the Bears had the buy, Caleb's only played one more game than Jayden has. His five more touchdowns, more yards per pass,

you know, a better completion percentage, team scoring more points, better passer rating. It's not that Jayden's having a bad year by any means, but that to me is a fair point to making this. I feel like,

because obviously the numbers are the numbers, but Jaden has something. When he's playing, Washington is a different team. And I feel like I see something, like just whether it's the leadership, the it factor, the charisma. I buy it all that. I don't see in Caleb. I'm not saying he can never have it, but I don't see that with him right now. But I think it all depends on what the game looks like.

Like if Washington wins, Jaden's okay, pretty good, maybe good, but Caleb is great. And they just lose, then I don't think it's. I think the Caleb train and momentum is still running. You're right. The team will have lost some momentum after the two wins, but that would be fine for them. If Caleb struggles and Jaden plays great in a win, then, yeah, and he's going to hear it in Chicago too.

Like, you know, from the fans and all, like that. He will hear it for the next few weeks unless they get on a roll and start winning. So that's what's at stake for him. Yeah, I'm with you guys in lockstep. about how it looks. But for me, the reason why it matters more for Caleb is because we've seen Jaden in big games against big opponents show up big for his team and be the reason why they won games and why that offense looks great.

We've seen Caleb have success. But not in big games. Not in big games. Not in an opponent, not against an opponent that's like, Okay, let me see how he looks against this. This is an opportunity because Washington is a good team. And they have a solid defense. And you have the incentive of just as a player.

When you're drafted in the same draft class, I don't care who you are. You know who was drafted before you. You know who was drafted after you. You know who was compared to you. You know who they tried to compare you to. So this is going to be ongoing for the duration of both of their careers. You got to start putting some of those feathers in your cap. Yeah.

You're Caleb. I from New York, it's the show that is going to start with a trivia question. Oh, this guy. But there's no right answer. Oh, those are the best. The best guy. Just give me one team that you're absolutely 100% positive is excellent. Is excellent?

Excellent. There's usually every year. There's like, well, I know this team. No, no, no. Right now, they're excellent. There's no team that's excellent. Not one team in the whole league. Nobody's looked excellent yet.

Lions are the closest. And they're an underdog this week. They're the close. I mean, they're an underdog to a team that's below 500. And that's the NFL. Yeah. Why we love it. Yeah.

It's a mismatch. I don't know. Some of these awful teams. The jets are awful. The jets are awful. The Giants were awful. The Titans are awful. Wait for a little Cam Ward to catch us.

Try. Here we go. Yeah. First and first overtime. Today are the Chiefs facing a must win against those excellent lions. Meanwhile, another edition of Parkins picked over 500 currently in the lead in the entire country or

at least no. It's not easy to be over comedy. He's a game up on me. He's one game up. What about Colin? I'm beating. Colin doesn't keep his, Colin doesn't keep score.

And he's just smart. And he's, he's really, Colin's gone rogue. No, I think that's actually savvy. It's a two-man race. But right now, we're going to talk about last night's game. The Eagles lost.

They didn't look great. A.J. Brown denied they had a player's only meeting. Jalen was stoic in his post-game comments. Lane Johnson in his beard, shirtless. He's a great beard. It's an excellent beard. It is.

It says the offense is very predictable. Take a listen. That's a good situation. I know that will foster a lot of conversation within our offensive group and be able to learn from Coach Scott and KP and Nick from that and kind of collaborate and see how we can grow and improve from that. The execution isn't there. We get behind the chains.

I get very predictable. I think sometimes. And so, yeah, I mean, it's frustrating when you're third in law. Yeah. Yeah. They were consistently third in long. Yeah, they were consistently third and very long. They went in eight, seven, six, seven.

They also went into this game, into this game, when they were four and one, with the highest three and out percentage of any team in 20 years. You know what? That's courtesy, Zach Berman. You know what I could have told you that as well, because sometimes I'll, like, reach down to, like, adjust the volume. and then the other team will have the ball. Where is your volume? Far away.

We're very short series in Philadelphia. Danny, do you think the Eagles are in trouble? Yeah, I do. I think they're in trouble. They can get out of it, but in the moment, like, what do they do well? The touch push. Kind of?

That's it. Kind of. Yeah. I mean, thought exercise. If the tush push was banned, would anyone have Jalen Hertz as a top 10 quarterback? Probably not. I don't know.

He's a Super Bowl champion. Yeah, you'd be a Super Bowl champion. This year. And he's not playing like a separate things, right? Even with the tush push, has he played like a top team quarterback this year? Not even close. No, that we all agree on. Where he ranks because of what he's accomplished in his career is different than how he's played this season.

I think, at least for me. Yeah, me too. I wasn't even planning to do the tush push, but you mentioned it, so I figured I throw it out there. But like, they used to be able to be, they were the best running team. Now they can't run the ball. They were one of the best defenses. Now the defense is bad. They were an average, mediocre passing team.

The passing hasn't been there. Lane Johnson was saying a lot of things last night. And he doesn't, we don't normally have Lane Johnson quotes here in the show, but he's a leader on the team. And he also later on in that press conference said, you know, we get into the game and you can game plan, but you also have to make adjustments. We haven't talked about, I haven't heard you guys mention Nick Siriani's name. Are we sure he's a good coach? Because if everyone's putting this at Kevin Petullo, Nick Siriani used to call plays. He was a wide receiver coach.

He was an offensive coordinator. Do something, man. I watch that team and I just wonder, I don't think it's a leadership void. I think Jalen Hertz is an amazing leader. But they clearly have a game plan execution issue. And at some point, that should fall to the head coach that has the best winning percentage in the history of their organization. Well, that's my question about.

I think he's a good. I don't see how you can question. in that right now. Because to me, at the end of the day, for coaches, it's wins and losses. And the dude is, they were, what, four wins the year before he got there. He has developed Jalen Hertz. People didn't even think Jalen Hertz was a starter

when Siriani took over. So I'll give him credit for that. But I do wonder about the leadership because, like you said, Jalen's a good leader. But clearly, they look rudderless. You got all these quotes coming out of the locker room. A.J. Brown, they have meetings. They talk to him.

They say we shouldn't do this. And every single game, he comes out with a quote that is just like, why? Like, what was the benefit last night of saying what meeting? I mean, I get it if it was just we were in the parking lot talking. But still, you don't have to shoot it down like what meeting. And Jaylon and Zaylon were asked about it and they didn't say what meeting. But I mean, so I do think they're in trouble. And I think that the, and I know that side of the table.

is not gamblers like this side of the table, but this is just for the context of that type of loss. A team that's favored like they were getting beat by that much is pretty rare, and the instances that it happened, it's meant one of two, recently, one of two things. Either the favored team is not the team we thought they were going to be, or the underdogs way better than expected. So the 22 Packers, that was Aaron's last year there when they missed. the playoffs. The 22 bucks, that was the scoring, not boring,

not scoring team. That way, you know what? They had gotten a lot of credit because they were the bucks but they weren't actually that year. 22 pats, they're coming off the Mac Jones, the one good Mac Jones year. I'm not trying to take a shot. Coming up a playoff year. And the Jags thing was about, that was Houston, C.J.

Strouds coming out. I already thought Houston was going to be terrible, right? So that is concerning. To be that type of favorite and to get really thoroughly beaten. And the other thing is, and this is where I just think we have to be, we can say what Jalen Hertz has accomplished is he, nobody can take it away from him. He is literally a champion.

You can, as your point, can you win a Super Bowl with Jalen Hertz? They did it. He was, he also. And he was a big part of the reason. I was about to say, I think it is fair to say he is a big game player. You know what I mean? He plays his best in the biggest moments. that is super valuable at that position.

While also saying there has been a lot of who is to blame for this for a problem that stems from, the quarterback has not thrown the ball well this year. And So lax tweet, I think is instructive on it, which is it's historic how little they are using the intermediate parts of the field. He's throwing the ball between 10 to 20 yards, 11%. it's the lowest rate for a starter in 15 years. He should not be in the late stage Russell Wilson portion of his career where it's checkdowns or deep bombs. But is that, the question I have about that, and I don't know, it's interesting, I don't know how instructive it is, is that a Kevin Petullo issue?

It's like, hey, you haven't schemed these open for me? Or do we think that Jayland just can't make those throws, which is hard for me to. What I would speculate is in the off season, Siriani, Petula, you know, they're obviously grinding tape. And they see, they probably knew already, but they see this is the worst part of Jalen's game. That's where he's the least effective. And so we're not, you know, let's lean into what he does best.

And that's probably what is. But I think you, I would take the tact of we've had to improve him in the intermediate game. Well, right, because that's probably the best part of A.J. Brown's game. Correct. And that is exactly. Catching Brown's making, he's covered. And that's also exactly where AJ was when he was wide open off the snap. And they're down 10.

And Jalen doesn't see him and looks to the side and throws a pick. You know what I mean? That was in the cover zero that flipped the game. And so I just, if you, if in order for the Eagles to have a great offense with these weapons, you either need to have Shane Steichen as the coordinator, who by the way, had great success with Gardner Menshoe, has a winning record with Anthony Richardson, is now four in William, Daniel Jones, or have Sequin run for 2,000 yards, then that is ultimately there is something about this offense being able to be down-to-down consistent that, to me, is about the quarterback, which is why I think, Danny, they're in real trouble, because I don't think the defense is going to be dominant, and I think it's fair to say at this point, Sequon's not going to have a great year. Well, that's the thing. Jalen Carter makes the defense better, but he doesn't solve all of four. the problem. Sequin should be better

because it's almost impossible to imagine him getting worse, but like what will be great? Is there a path to any part of this team this year becoming great? Right now it doesn't seem like it. I'm very optimistic. I've gotten more optimistic throughout the show. Why? Because

I think a lot of the ways that we talk about Patrick Mahomes, the way that we talk about the Ravens' defense, the way that we talk about Justin Herbert getting better, that I think these are solvable I don't think these are Jalen Hertz innate problems that can't be overcome. It's not necessarily a personnel issue.

Maybe it is on the offensive line, but we've seen that offensive line be great. So I feel optimistic. And do I think they're going to be 15 and 2? No. Do I think they're going to be in the playoffs in like a team that nobody wants to face? Yeah. What does trouble mean? Does trouble mean miss the playoffs or get to the playoffs like a coach?

I would be shocked if they missed the playoffs. As would I. But I think that they, I mean, they were the favorites or the co-favorants going into the year. They were, you know what I mean? Didn't Saquan Barkley say they were the greatest champion of all time? We talked about them as a juggernaut team that brought basically. What they talked about, we're going to be a dynasty or something. Right.

So I'm just saying that they have now just come way back to the pack. Yeah. If they have the year they had coming off the Super Bowl loss, make the playoffs and losing round one. No, it can't lose that. That would be a disaster. Right. And I think that is. But I could see 10 and 7.

10 and 7 and going to playoff runs fine. Yeah, but I think we got five more of these. 10 and 7 and you lose your first game. It's a disaster. Yeah, that's a disaster. He's not losing the first game. Well, I mean, two of the years they've been in the playoffs, they've lost their first game.

Two of the years they've made the Super Bowl. Not since the Super Bowl. Lions in Kansas City is Sunday night. Mahomes leads the team in rushing. That's not good. Which might not be great. Well, it is true though. It's extremely important.

I mean, there's no way around it. This is a really good football team that we're going to play. They play extremely hard and they have a mentality. They're going to come in and win a football game. And so we have to match that intensity. We've got to go out there and prove it on Sunday. And so we got to start off with a great week of practice and then come in with the mentality. We're going to find a way no matter how it looks, that we're going to find a way to get a win.

Chiefs are favorite. Is this a must win? game for Kansas City. I feel like how you guys define it. It is. It's must win-ish. It's must-win adjacent. Nick said all last week that when the Chiefs beat the Jaguars, they would have a house

money game against the Lions before they got Rishi Rice back. And I don't know if we remember what happened in that game against the Jaguars, but they didn't win it. So that means this game is no longer like house money. It doesn't make it must win, though. You don't go right from House Money to must win. Everybody knows. Okay.

But you're a two and a half point favorite. Yeah. If you lose, two and three, carry the one, becomes two and four. Playoffs expanded in 2020. We can show it. You start two and four. It's happening to 31 teams. I know, Brew, you're going to say these teams weren't all the Chiefs.

Six of them made the playoffs. They are S, Bob. Zero of them have reached the Super Bowl. We talk about margin for error here. Listen, I think the Chief's offense looks great. And obviously, it'll get better when Rashie. Rice comes back. But there can be other issues that come up over the course of the year. Other guys can get hurt. And so you lose this game and go two and four and you've got a game

against Buffalo and a game against Denver and a game against the Chargers. Two games against Denver. All of a sudden, the losses start piling up. It's very problematic. I thought about it that way. I was thinking the other way. What? Like a vibes must win. But I always assume they're going to make the playoffs, but I didn't. Well, no, they have a very tough schedule the whole year. They should just you lose these games early that you're not supposed to lose. And then you didn't even include, oddly, the sneaky now tough game against Indy. Yeah. Yeah, it's just, it's just, yeah.

Two and four is not good for any team in the league. When I looked at the question, I was thinking literal must win, not must win. Oh. You know, our must win. Sorry. Our little must win, sure. They need a pick me up game. Defeating our own show.

Right. Well, that's stupid thing we do. We do. But right, it would be a nice pick-me-up. To beat Detroit, oh, you're feeling good. They're one of the best teams in the league. We're back. We're, we, Rashid's back. We're good.

But literal, I mean, you took it to the literal level because that, that actually makes some sense that you do have a tough schedule. And, I mean, you can only lose so many games. So, but I, no, I expect them to lose. I wouldn't be shocked if they win, but I expect them to lose, be two and four. get Rishi back, and then kind of start rolling. And so, no, I don't think it's a must win. It is a must win, but it's a must win for the Lions.

What a cute turn of phrase, but. Make that a slogan. Detroit, win a game that matters challenge. Impossible. I understand they are everyone's champion because they are once again going to win the very important title of scoring margin and the most 40-point games, the most 50-point games. And oh my God, we all love the light show, and Detroit has taken it from Kansas City.

But we saw him last year in the playoffs, not rise to the occasion. We saw him the year before. I have a 17-point lead in the conference championship game fall apart. We saw them this year play one true contender this year and got dog-walked by them for three-quarters before they got a late touchdown to make it look a little bit better. If you then play the Chiefs when you're rolling, scoring 40 on everyone, and you lose that, game, I respect Dan Campbell immensely and the culture

he is instilled, it will be hard for those lions to think they are actually A-list. That, you know what, we are going to play back-to-back-to-back games in the divisional round, conference championship round in the Super Bowl, against A-list contenders and beat them.

And so, you are right that it becomes a math problem for Kansas City as the losses pile up, and it will start to be, if they lose this game and then lose to Buffalo, look at them like the Bengals, God, I would hate that of last year. Like, oh, they could be dangerous, but are they going to get in? But they're not going to be, nobody in the Chiefs locker room is going to be like, man, can we do it?

Right. Like, and so I think you're overstating that on Detroit side. They won 15 games last year. That came against the Vikings they won. Wow. They beat Sam Darnold in week 17. That was a huge game. It was for the division.

It was for the one seed. I mean, I would point to the win at Kansas City, but that was week one. That was a big game. But you are right. Since then. Right. I mean, they beat a lot of. I guess beating Baltimore. There been an NFC championship game.

Beating Baltimore a couple weeks ago. At that point, Baltimore. Time now for Parkins picks. Red hot. I am seeing the NFL very clearly. This is the official pick segment. I plug it in the Matrix. I see the league clearly.

I'm not going to let 3 and 0 change me. I'm not scared of picking big games. Taking the points with Detroit. Play in the wood. with the Chicago Bears. Easy, easier and easiest. I know that I'm right. All right. You're on.

You have you're, you've got too much stuff. I got too much stuff for a guy who went eight and seven. Yeah, you got it doesn't matter to me. Too much stuff. Last week, oh man. You know, Nick, an eight and a half point favorite losing out, right? I was still on the right side of it. He said that to me.

The Rams were eight and a half point. He was laying eight and a half. They lost outright. He says to me Sunday while we're watching football. I still like that pick. This guy's arrogance knows no balance. I mean, if Sean McVeigh would make some competent fourth and one decisions, a guy catches a ball, that game's completely different.

But the Bucks was easy. The Colts was hit. Nick was on the wrong side of that Colts Raiders game. Hilarious. Couldn't be me. Eight and seven, but guys, see in the NFL. Very clearly. Three and O week incoming.

We began with the Chargers. Minus 4.5 against the Dolphins. Here's the thing. Yeah, the Chargers offensive line has some problems. You know what the remedy for that is? Arguably the worst non-ravens edition, defense in the NFL. Here's how the quarterbacks have fared who have played the Miami Dolphins this year. Those are some good passer ratings.

Bryce Young and Justin Fields eight against Miami. Give me Justin Herbert to have a get-right game that is the worst passer rating against of any defense in the NFL. Justin Herbert puts up a monster. Tua can't keep up. Chargers cover the number easily. Sorry for you wilds on this one. I'm interested in this. Here we go.

Let down spot for the Patriots against the Saints. Saints plus three and a half. We don't bet teams, Nick. We bet numbers. Three and the hook. You just came off an emotional win against the bills. You got to go to the Superdome. You're laying more than a field goal.

And Spencer Rattler. Sneaky good? I don't, I don't know. Sneaky, not terrible. Doesn't turn the ball over, moves the ball down the field. Pretty significant advantage of things I like in my quarterback. Why I don't care about it? It's a Rattler.

Well, when it also coincides with not turning the ball over, it's a recipe for being a dangerous team. And as you mentioned earlier, I mean, their losses are Arizona, San Francisco, Seattle, and Buffalo. Two of those were one score games. Buffalo, the game became more than one score, but they were very competitive in that game. game. Saints, sneaky, not terrible. I know they're eliminated on Nick's Tears. Might be a mistake. Last one, Caleb, plus four and a half coming off the by against the commanders. Run defense for the Bears. A problem, T.J. Edwards coming back, I think is going to help that immensely. Again,

the number here plus four and a half is significant. And I know the book has just been written like Jaden Daniels is going to be the next face of the NFL and Caleb Williams. Is he a bust? I don't know. Or maybe the Bears have the better quarterback in this game, at least so far this year, better completion percentage, more yards, better pass a rating, better yards per attempt. It's since they played the commanders last year, I know I mentioned it to you guys yesterday, Caleb Williams has the fourth best touchdown

interception ratio in the NFL behind Lamar Jackson, Jalen Hertz, and Patrick. opted to get sacked. Yeah, but this year only seven sacks in four games. So that has been improved with Ben Johnson. So commanders, four and a half point favor, I mean, I expect the Bears to win, but 31, 27, Washington, that's a cover for the Bears with four and a half. Gentlemen, three and O, plus a team.

11 and 7 when I talk to you next. I'm not a big gambler at all. And I don't really like to weigh in on this because it's like kind of your guys' thing. I hate all of these. That makes me feel even better. I hate every one of them. You make $1. Do you like these?

Well, I like the charge is one. That's. Chargers won and you don't necessarily have the Saints winning killing me. They can. No, right. If you don't have the coin flip game, 24-21. Yeah, three and the hook.

Big. Can I just the Saints? Because here's the reality. Bears, Bears, Commanders is Monday night, so we're going to talk about that Tuesday no matter what. Saints, Patriots could be played across the street and it's not making Monday show. Chargers Dolphins could

potentially. If the Patriots win it is. It's not making the show. If they leave. I just want to get Danny on the record here. Yeah, go ahead. So by hook or crook, Justin Herbert is going to put up, I don't know, 20 some points at least,

have a really big game. We're not going to come in here Monday and be crying about the fullback being out and Harbaugh didn't call enough run place. Listen, if Quentin Johnson drops 10 passes, off in his hands. This guy. It's already. No, I expect a monster game from Justin Herbert.

Period. Full style. I expect a monster game in this spot. Miami has the worst past defense in the NFL. I like the two dogs. I think laying four and a half with the Chargers is too many forms. I like the two dogs. And Brew likes the Chargers pick and Wilde hates them all. Wilde hates them all.

How optimistic should the Giants be after a big win against the Eagles that's next on first things first? Overtime. Last night in one of the more surprising outcomes of the NFL season, the Giants didn't just beat the Eagles. They crushed them. 3417. Two touchdowns from Jackson Dart. Three from Cam Scataboo. Jackson Dart, all horror on the win. Just really proud of how the guys played. And I think that, you know, we're just trying to set a standard of intensity here each and every day.

At times there's, you know, some negativity that's surrounding here. And, you know, for us, like, some of the new guys that are coming here, like, you know, we just got here. So, you know, we don't feel like we were involved in the past. And we got a lot of winners on this team. And guys who come out every single day and work their ass off to put on a good showing on Sundays. Some of the younger people in the room, Gianna, Troy, they smirk when I said, when I said aura about Jackson Dart. And we're going to talk about optimism for the Giants here.

I don't know what else to describe what that was. Like, can we please just show the touchdown celebration? of Camp Scataboo, Jackson, because you could say, like, which one? But these guys were just, they could have gotten 15 taunting penalties last night. I mean, it's nuts. It was unbelievable, man. So we have all sorts of time to talk about the future, and I guess we can get into it. But, like, today in this moment, oh, my God, you have to be at an 11 out of 10 if you're a Giants fan right now.

Yeah, to me, the Giants put the division on notice. you know, easy wins don't exist in MetLife when they're on the field. And I think that's important. And I also think when you talk about what this team looks like, they lean on you and they chin check you on every down. Jackson Dart, you know, he's playing with precision. And when he sees it, he's hitting it. There's no indecisiveness.

And he's making the intermediate throws. And what I love about him as a whole is he looks like he's enjoying playing the game. There's a eufulness to his game. And when you talk about Cam Scatterboe, I mean, he's the enforcer, right? It's not Dexter Lawrence. It's not Brian Burr's. He's the enforcer. And now you have Theo Johnson, who I thought was a bus,

looked like a guy last night. You know, you watched this team go for 11 for 16 on third down, three for three in the red zone. And I'm saying to myself, what am I looking at right now? I literally couldn't believe the Giants are playing this well and this dominant. So, yeah, there's extreme optimism. And you're talking about a head coach of Brian Dayball,

who was playing for his job week to week. He brought himself more weeks with this one-win Thursday night. So if you're the Giants fan, yeah, good times are ahead. Yeah, a huge level of optimism. I watched this game last night, and if you weren't smiling, watching what those young men were doing and the fun that they were having, I don't know what you were watching. It was crazy, man. It was fun to see. And I think you just see a young quarterback that a fan base and organization can get behind.

And you saw when Davele was so animated and frustrated when he was in the blue tent. You understand, you kind of get a glimpse of what. Which you can't do. You can't do that. And John Meryl already came out and issued a statement being like, we will cooperate with the NFL, that is not cool. And all of our careers, we've never seen it. You play with Aaron Rogers, I play with Ben Rogers.

I've seen Ben Robertsburg with things dangling off his body, and my teeth's like, just telling me when he's ready. Exactly. Ryan Dayball ran into the tent and said, Good Lord, I don't care if it's broke. Exactly. Russell Wilson just threw ball into dirt. He said, Lord, I'm not going to die like this.

Get that man out to tent. Look, so you got to understand, too, like it's October, so there's going to obviously be a little trick, a little treat. Obviously with this offense. Can I get an eye rule on that one? Last night was definitely the treat. This is what your future can potentially look like with this young group of guys in this locker room. And mind you, this is without Malik neighbors out there, which I would say is going to help benefit Jackson Dart in his progression of growth. Why?

Because now he's going to be forced to go. through one, two, three, his entire route progression or play progression because he's not orchestrating a play that is deemed to end with the number one Malik neighbor is receiving the ball. So here's another point of just optimism for the Giants. Malik neighbor wasn't out there, but everybody who was making an impact is young. Yeah. You felt like we could show it. Look at this, man.

22 years old, 23 years old, 24, 24. The only guy who is 27 is Burns, but they got Tibido, they've got Lawrence, they've got, obviously, Abdul Carter. They've got so much young talent, and Malik Neighbors is a stud, and he'll be back eventually. So I think you can really talk yourself into. They have a core. They have a foundation. They have something to build on. But we got to pay attention to what Jackson and Dart said during our presser.

They weren't around for the ugly times. So all they knew is, all they know is road of head. You know what I mean? Because sometimes when you're birthed into an organization like I was, you know, When I got to the Pittsburgh Steelers, they were coming off a Super Bowl. So all I thought it was about Super Bowl. Now these young guys, when they got into the Giants, all they heard was about bad times. Sure.

So now they're saying to themselves, we don't have that data. You know what I mean? We don't have that trauma. What we have is what's in front of us, so all we know is winning, especially if you're coming out of college. So if you're at Brian Dayball, you have to lean on that. Continue to promote winning football. Continue to promote positivity. Continue to lean on Dart and Scataboo and Theo Johnson and the young guys.

because all they know is good times. They don't know the bad times. Like in the post game, when Brian Burns was asked a few questions, like he spoke glowingly about scataboo, about Jackson Dart, about what they bring and provide already as young players. And when you hear a guy who's made a name for himself in this league, who's made plays weekend and week out, speak to that level of extreme about young players.

You know you have something. I don't know what it is. quite yet, but you got something. Well, so I... Go. Bake show? Like... What do you mean?

It looks a little like Baker Mayfield. Like, I have no idea... Now, Baker has become a guy. Consistent. But, like, you don't have to have played in the NFL to see that Jackson DART had some level of, like, it. Like, my high school... The high school quarterback where I went to high school...

Like, he had it. Couldn't play in the NFL, but he had it with how he carried it. himself. There was something to that last night. Well, it is. He only knows what he knows, right? And so now he's playing with a sense of freedom. He's relying on his instincts. He's relying on his ballplayers. He took a lot of hits last night, too.

But that's part of it. Because when you're out there playing, you're not worried about the what ifs or how am I put my team in jeopardy if I can't go out there and play. What he's saying to himself, I just have my head coach running to the tent and say, Lord, please, Jesus, we need you. So he's being a ball player and he's responding. That's a sense of freedom. I know as I got older than you, Greg, as you get older,

you start thinking about the consequences on how you play out there. That man's not thinking about that. He's going to let it rip. And I'll add, with Brian Day will, albeit you can't do that. But when you do that to a young player and you see your coaches coming in the tent and saying, I need you out there. Are you ready? Can you go?

Do you know how much pushing that post? That's the part you can't do. Like really quick. We played the Chicago Bears my second year in the league. Probably one. And I don't know. we won. But all I know is I hurt my shoulder. Brett Farr was like, man, go go in and just get it shot up and I need you out here. The, the, just him saying I need you out here was like,

okay, okay, okay, okay. It just injected a level of value in me that I didn't, I knew I possessed, but I didn't know he knew that it was in me yet at this stage in my career. So when a coach does that and acts out like that, like you, you're all like that. Man, I'm counting on you. you go? Can you go? And think about what he saw behind him. Russell threw two in the dirt. He said, Lord, no, no. Please. Not that. And then he called more running plays. He's like, hey, I need you to be healthy. And then I'm going to put you right back in arms way, which is why I have no idea how sustainable, like that style of play is. Like my gut tells me it's not terribly sustainable. But if you're a Giants fan, you woke up today and you said, we beat the hated rival. That's the

Eagles. And we might have a franchise quarterback. That's Christmas morning. Yeah, and this is where you, if you're a Giants fan also, you're like, okay, Dave, he saw what the raw and the early young version of Josh Allen looks like. And that's when you get out over your skis a little bit. I'm not comparing the two. But you knew it was raw. You knew he was going to put himself in harm his way.

You were just going to have to reel it in. Same thing here. I'm not calling him Josh Allen. What I'm saying is, to your point, he doesn't know what he doesn't know. He's playing football. And the only way to win in his mind is to give it everything I got on every single. And also, Brian Dayball understands less is more. I'm not going to continue to pack things on this young man when he's giving us positive production.

If this kid is going out there playing San Bernardi football and we're winning and our defenses is backing them up and I'm getting guys popping off the roster that I didn't know existed. Let's go. Let's go. We'll figure it out in the offseason. Right now, we're winning. Let's continue to win. Do we have the giant schedule? Can we just throw it up real quick?

because I will say this, he was so good, Jackson Dart. I wonder if any of those losses would have been wins. Oh, that's a fair. Wait, wait, what were they doing? What did they see playing Russell Wilson? Oh, you know what they saw. They saw resumes. Yeah, but I'm sorry.

I thought you guys watched film and had training camp. But if you're a head coach on the bubble, who you're going to go with the Hall of Fame quarterback? I don't know. That guy last night looked like, oh, maybe he could have won that game against Dallas. This is kind of what I feel like I saw too last night. What I see in Jackson Dart is a guy that it just feels like when the lights are on. He shows up.

I am him. It may not always look like it in practice. It may not always be that way when we were going through OTAs and installs. Like I was trying to get my footing. You look pretty good in the preseason. When you just asked me to play football and I can just go out there and be me, you're saying I'm good? Oh, the lights bright, the lights are, and you talked about it. And the world just...

And one thing about playing this market, you know the lights, the media, air all the attention you get, can either crush you or you can stand on it. Lately, he's been able to stand on it, man. I mean, think about what this city did for Tommy DeVito. You know what I mean? Seriously. If they actually got a kid with swag to play quarter of a bag... His escattable got so many deli sandwiches named after them.

Everybody forgets about the five turnovers the week before last time. Yeah, of course. What? He could own the city. if he stacks wins like that, which is probably not going to happen. That was a hell of a night last night for the Giants. Coming up, Ravens, who tough spot without Lamar against the Rams. Weh.

All right, welcome back. Lamar Jackson has been ruled out officially for this game against the Rams and the Ravens are 1 and 4. Derek Henry, all attention turns to you to get this offense going. Here's how he assesses their chances headed into the game. We don't have the circumstances dictate our future. Just stay focused. We can turn this thing around and get what we want to get out of the season.

You know, we just got to lock in and everybody's got to do more. Hold each other accountable. Leaders lead and let it translate to Sundays. Greg, any chance the Ravens can get back on track against the Rams without Omar? No. Okay. Coming up next. Look, like, they first need to show that they want to be out there with a pulse.

Like, and what I mean is... It's like you're talking about the Eagles. A little bit last night. Right, right. But the Ravens, they just haven't shown whatever their mantra, whatever they have inside that building, Ravens, whatever we do. You might know, like, put that on a coaster. Nailed it.

The Ravens way. Exxons is the standard. Be a raven. All these different mantras that people have. Like, what is that? What does that look like? And does it only show up when Lamar is there? Because if that's the case, then your season's over.

Like, you're going to lose a lot of games if that's the case. If I can't, if you can't be without a player and still show me resemblance of who we are supposed to be or who we are telling one another that we are, then why are we even playing these games? So for me, I don't give them a chance. but I better see a fight. If I see a fight, then when Lamar comes back, yes, you can possibly win a few games here or there, but I don't give them a chance this week.

Yeah, unfortunately, for the Ravens, it's over in my eyes. And I think it starts with Derek Henry, and I think that not having Lamar Jackson out really puts the nail in them. I got a graphicer right here to show you right here. Look at week one versus the Buffalo Bills. Derek Henry had 169 yards. Four games since, 148 yards.

Yeah, that's crazy. But go all the way down. Week one, he was averaging 9.4, a tote. Now, looking right now, 3.2, you can't find Derek Henry on tape, right? And so when you talk about this Baltimore and Ravens offense, without number eight, Mark Andrews has yet to have an impact. The playbook strengths solely because Lamar Jackson isn't out there, and him, not being him, they look average in mid.

And now they're watching this team trying to figure out what they can do in the middle of a season when everybody in their division is ready to take off, right? And so it's a situation where if you're the right, Ravens, I think it's over. You talk, I don't, I don't know how they get out of this hole because when eight comes back, the season's going to be behind them and I don't know if they have enough runway to take off. Listen, I almost never do this type of analysis, but like there is the saying any given

Sunday for a reason. Like we all sat here last night and we're like, yeah, we're not giving the Giants any chance against the Eagles. Oh, I didn't say I didn't give them a chance. Oh, no, no, you said you're right. You gave them a chance. We didn't think of the edge of it. But like seven point underdogs or more have won five times this year.

And it's been recent. Like, we all can remember the games. when the Niners beat the Rams, when the Cardinals beat the Titans, when the Titans beat the Cardinals. Last night was an example. It's happened five times. So it can happen.

They're at home. It's an organization with a bunch of pride. And they might be thinking, we just got to win one without Lamar, because then the schedule does open up. But the question is how? That's what I'm saying. It's not the best analysis I've ever given.

Because I don't really know how. But like, if they can go into the buy with a win and then Chicago, Miami, Minnesota, Cleveland, the Jets, the Bengals without Burrow. They will feel like out of a by, healthy, rested with Lamar. That would be they can go on and run. That's how they will feel. Right, but I think it goes back to what we talked about the other day.

I would feel more comfortable if they would have played better against the Texas because I thought the Raymers were simply the better roster. They laid down and couldn't do nothing with the Texas. So now you're telling me they're supposed to go and play the Rams at home with Matthew Stafford, who's money good on the road, on top of going to them by a week, with two losses potentially behind you, and you got the Bears who I think are going to be better. So I just don't see.

I think that game is in L.A. Isn't, is it at home? Yeah, it's in Baltimore. Oh, it's at Ravens. Here's the thing.

Like, without Lamar being on the field, your attention, if you're the opposing defense, it goes strictly to their running game in Derek Henry. Yeah. All eyes. Those numbers that you showed,

they're probably going to be somewhere similar because all the attention is going to be, on Derek Henry. We eliminate him. We win this game. That needs to be the message if you're the Rams walking in that building. And so Cooper Rush, good luck because they get after the quarterback. All right. Let's get to one of two games this weekend between two teams with a winning record, and that is Tampa Bay against San Francisco. Both teams four and one, Kyle Shanahan. Both teams injured, by the way, but Kyle Shanahan talking about his team status heading into the game. Take a listen. The guys were totally bought into it.

We had the right guys, and they haven't worried about really anything except being as good as they can be in practice and that carrying over to games. And I think that's how it's been in these five games. Just as easily you can lose all five and be old and five. And we found a way to be four and one. And regardless of any of the games, even the one we lost, I've just been proud of how they've been going about it. So Brock Purdy is officially out. Ricky Pearsall is officially out. They are expecting to have Joanne Jennings back.

Obviously, Mac Jones is undefeated with the Niners. but on the Bucks side, it'll be no Bucky Irving again, no Mike Evans. Both of these teams are very injured and both of these teams are winning. The question is who you got. I will start and say, I've got the Bucks because I just, Baker's on some sort of magical run right now of like figuring it out. Like he really is, and it's an incredible thing. But this game, it feels to me I want to watch it because I think I might see it again in January.

And even if Purdy is out there for it, but both of these teams, the fact that they are four and one with all of their injuries speaks to, they have a potentially very high ceiling if they are healthy. Like I've just been very impressed with both teams. And this one, I lean Tampa because of the quarterback, but I think it's a very significant game. I'm not mad at that. I think for me, I'm going with the 90s.

Kyle Shanahan has been able to make do with what he has. The goal for them is running the ball and forced Baker Mayfield to stay out the clock and not the end zone. You give him the ball in the fourth quarter He becomes an assassin We've seen it. There's tape on it I think right now this is the game where CMC has to go back retro He has to dig into crate to become that guy

If he's able to do that and they run the ball With him and value him and stay ahead of the chains I can see the Niners beating the bucks Yeah, I love what the Niners are doing I love what Kyle Shanahan has been able to do And Robert Sala get out of that defense They're maximizing what they have And that's what it's supposed to look like

If you're a Raven But I'm going with Baker I just think he just gives the edge. If you just toss up the quarterbacks and I feel like it's going to come down to a quarterback needing to make a play, he's made them all. Well, can I say,

he's a healthyest. He is definitely the healthiest. Can I just say this? A little flashback from a couple of weeks ago. I don't want to get another one of these texts from Willie Cologne. This is a real text after Rams Niners when he told me that the Niners

were going to beat the Rams. He said, don't be silly. Listen to Willie. Like that is a real text message taunting me for a wrong pick on national television. And it was about the Niners. And you're a big gift guy. I'm a big gift guy. I like to paint the picture where I'm at.

Yeah. Yeah. He's like talking to me with Brock Purdy dancing. Don't be silly. There's no Willie. I've got to get you a mug or a T-shirt with that on it. So yeah. So you're going back to the well.

You can send the literally exact same text with the same gift, except you've got to make it Mac Jones. Because you're picking the Niners. Again, um, Niners, easy. All right, Niners easy. Easy. Easy. Coming up.

Caleb time. Welcome back to first things last. On one hand, Bears at Commanders Monday night is just a week six game. But if you know the recent history of the two teams, this one has more subplots than any Netflix drama. You only have to go back to January of 2024 when Washington Brass was flying to Detroit for a second interview with Ben Johnson for their head coaching vacancy, when he reportedly stopped. when he reportedly stunned them and pulled his name out of the running, opting to return to Detroit. Then in the 2024 draft, the Bears select Caleb Williams number one overall

without doing the full in-person evaluation of Jaden Daniels or anyone else for that matter. Then last year we all saw Jaden Daniels win Rookie of the Year, Caleb's struggle, and the commanders knock Ben Johnson out of the playoffs with his Lions as the one seed. The biggest piece of turmoil for the Bears last year came against Washington when Chicago was one playoff away from 5 and 2.

That play, the Hail Mary heard round the world where Tyreeks Stevenson jawed with a fan and his man ended up catching the go-ahead touchdown. The fallout and lack of accountability from Matt Iberfluse reportedly was the beginning of the end, paving the way for Johnson to ultimately take the bear's job, and it also springboarded the commanders to a storybook season ending in the NFC championship game.

And now we're here. Ben Johnson is in Chicago. Tyreek Stevenson is vowing to not be defined by the lapse in judgment, and national discourse has crowns Jaden Daniels as a star while entertaining the possibility of Caleb being a bust. What's not talked about is since the Hail Mary, Caleb has a 19 to 3 touchdown to interception ratio, fourth best in the NFL,

only behind Lamar Jackson, Jalen Hertz, and Patrick Mahomes. If coming out of a by, Ben Johnson coaches the Bears to an upset win over the commanders and Caleb Williams outplays Jaden Daniels, it will go a long way towards convincing the masses what I already believe to be true. that Johnson made the right choice waiting for Chicago, and Chicago made the right choice taking Caleb Williams.

That's all we've got. Thanks for hanging out with First Things First. Enjoy the games. And speaking of Chicago, go Cubs.