First Things First - Lakers lose without LeBron, Hakeem Olajuwon joins, Lamar Jackson returns, NIck’s Tiers

Episode Date: October 22, 2025

(0:00) Warriors beat Lakers, Thunder beat Rockets, Concerned for L.A without LeBron? (26:37) Must-Win for Ravens with Lamar Jackson returning? (40:12) Russell Wilson beefing with Sean Payton (45:45) Nick’s Tiers (01:06:07) Hakeem Olajuwon joins (01:16:04) Revenge game for Aaron Rodgers? (01:24:53) Packed Stats, Ravens or Bears more trustworthy in matchup? (01:45:57) 49ers win without Purdy, Can the Cowboys make a run without Micah Parsons? (01:56:22) A.J. Brown’s post something or nothing? (02:06:18) Are the Ravens no longer distracted?  Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Live from New York. It's a show that told you. It's a show that told you years ago. That part, this one he gets. I get a lot. He gets this one. Years ago. We were in boxes when you first said,

shh, shh. People are like, why are you saying that? That shingoon. Yes. Like, huh, the guy. This is KW? Yeah.

Can I tell you? We need that. We need the librarian to catch on. It's a great nickname. librarian is a great nickname. We got to really drive that. And I also think through, you know what? Book it. What?

Book it. The librarian book. Okay. That's good. That was good. I was about to give you real props. What? What? What? Okay. I know. I think this is like your, you are unequivocally

with no one else in the area. The Shingoon guy in the national media and he's having a moment. It's true. It's overdue. Hey, check it out. You are. And if you got book puns, please send them to first. John is there monitoring.

What was it we were debating? Can you ever be MVP? I don't know. Pubs is on fire. What do he say? He's like, we'll shelve him. He's just going to. Yeah, he's good.

Today, Luca hits LeBron Sitz Warriors win. What did we learn about the Lakers on opening night? And a note from Magic Johnson. Meanwhile, all eyes on Raymond's practice. Lamar is back. So is rude. And are they facing a must win? And finally, yet another special edition of the best segment in all of sports.

It's NFL's tears. Yes. Committee met deep into the night. Deep into the night. And the committee is very excited for today's show. Because not just because it's tears Wednesday, but the committee, historians on the committee, very excited for our.

guest today. Oh, yes. Akima. Akeem Olajuwon, who is universally regarded as one of the greatest players ever and still, in my opinion, one of the most underrated players ever. Like, I don't think people quite recognize how dominant he was. Where do you have him, seven, eight, nine, all time, all time. Yeah, exactly number 10. Exactly kind. I've talked to people within the league who put him ahead of shack. Yes. Some people say he's the best center. I'm one of the people that have him ahead of shack. Yeah. We start with

The Lakers lost, look at 4312 and 9. Guys, okay, no one's keeping track. You asked. I asked 20 minutes, no. Not enough without LeBron. Now the question we're going to ask is, what did you learn about this Lakers team? But before you answer, Brew, let's hear from J.J. Reddick and Magic Johnson. Yeah.

The trend I see is that we continue to be a terrible third quarter team to start. That was last year. That was the preseason. Got to rethink some things. And it's, you know, a two-way thing with the guys. What do they need at halftime to make sure they're ready to play? They're not ready to play to start the third quarter. Wow, that was JJ Redick on what he learned.

That's what magic. I went to the Lakers game last night and watched my Lakers get beat by the Warriors 119. Brew, what did you? I love magic. Magic is great. And I did TV with magic. Magic is great. I learned that that.

older gentlemen, very distinguished looking with the glasses on sitting next to his son. Sure. That didn't really smile much last night. They need him. I agree. They need him. Bad. Look, I don't think they are a top tier Western Conference contender with LeBron.

I agree. But without him, Luca, I think, gets them to the postseason. But they have no chance of doing anything without LeBron. They need LeBron to be maybe in that big second-tier contender group with Golden State and Houston, some other teams. But they need him because you saw last night, and obviously LeBron doesn't fix this, but they have very little athleticism on the wing. As good as Austin Reeves is, obviously, that's not his number one strength. And last night it was the Luca Donchitz show, and somewhat rightly so, because I don't think Nick,

It's not easy always to do it You can't just go out and get whoever you want I don't really like the way they've built around Luca I agree right because it's similar to building around LeBron Because both of them ball dominant can great passers great scores Shooters and defenders Shooters defenders They don't have either

They don't have either And DeAndre Aiton here's what I want DeAndre Aten to do Bro last night 10.6 rebounds He has got to He likes to like on that pick and roll with Luca, hover around the frown line to get a little mid-range jumper, which he's good at. He's not a rim run.

Yeah, but he's got to learn. I agree. He's got the athleticism. He's obviously got the size. He needs to start running to the rim. They got to be working on that. I was set to pick a little lower and then, you know, get to the rim and maybe get a lob. And that was the problem with Reeves too.

He wasn't, you know, he and Reeves had a lot of turnovers in that situation. So, but, you know, they, it's the first game. Skinny Luca was fun to watch. No, Luca's great. So first I want to say something that I'll be clowned for on the internet, but I don't care. I said it to Wilds and brew off the air. I'm going to say it to the audience.

I was sad LeBron didn't play. You're not going to get clown for that. Well, okay, maybe not. And it was because, as you kind of said, you're going to try to, you know, take in all of the opportunities. He is on his way, whether it's this year or next, out of the league.

The reason I was sad was because he's never missed a big game. Ever. His teams have played in going into last night, 332 combined, playoff games, opening nights,

and Christmas days. And LeBron has been there for 32 of them. Last night was the first one ever that it was like a big signature league moment. that he couldn't play in. And that bummed me out.

And then it also bummed me out because I watched the Lakers and I was like, you know what they need when LeBron comes back for him to be their best perimeter defender. And that's a, and that is a bad plan.

That's a pretty tall ass of a guy who's turning 41, who's in year 23, but aside from Vanderbilt, he is the guy best equipped. God love Marcos. is smart. He's not that he can be that for a couple minutes a night. Like he can't be a big part of your plan. And that is the frustration because they are in the age of Pace and Space

Wilde. They aren't a great shooting roster. And they're not a great defensive roster. And so I the, and I do think LeBron, like I think LeBron is currently, I think he was underrated after last season where he was sixth than MVP and second team all NBA going into this year what he can still do when he plays but I don't think getting LeBron back fixes

what are real problems with that roster particularly when you watched the next game or the earlier game and you saw wait does Oklahoma City have eight guys all of whom would be the best defensive player on the Lakers? Do they have eight guys? All of them

would be the Lakers best defender. And quickly, Luca did put forth effort on the defensive end last night. Yes, but he's not. But that's not where you. I'm not saying to answer to the problem. I'm just making a statement. He lost weight. That's part of why.

He could be more better defensively, so I give him credit. A little side antidote to your things. Luca and LeBron have only played 28 games together. Yeah. Still weird. They host Anthony Edwards on Friday. Well, Luca does. Yeah.

On the other side of the ball, Stephette 23, Jimmy put up 31 to get the Warriors to 1-0. Here's Draymond and Jimmy Tickalism. It's been amazing having him here and, you know, continue to build. He'll be an all-star game this year. So, you know, it's good to see him back being Jimmy Butler that this league has grown to know. Why is it clicking the way that it's clicking for you here right now? For me?

Yeah. Because the game's easy. Everybody pays attention to Steph. I got the easy job. Brew, you famously coined S-Bob, Super Bowl or busts, and then as a side hustle, you also got Lubbob Larry O'Brien or Laubo. La Bob. They've got extra all in there. Yeah. Or the Warriors

officially Larry Olbo. They are absolutely Labob. I mean, first of all, what else could they be? We are missing it all. Steph is Thub. It should be rude. Labob. Sorry about that. Go ahead.

Steph is 37. Draybine's 35. Jimmy Butler's 36. Al Horford's 39. they could be a 10-win team and be S-Bob, L-Bob, L-Bob. Because, I mean, as Apollo Creed is hit the Rocky, there is no tomorrow, all right? You are trying to win now because these dudes are so old. And look, they are 27 and 8 when Butler, Draymond, and Steph play together. Like, the question, though, is the health.

Yes. Like, if I was convinced those three were going to play. play together in the playoffs, you know, the bulk of the season and be fine in the playoffs, I still look. I think OKC, Denver and Minnesota, I'll throw them in there, are the top tier

in the West. Oh, you're leaving a team out to me. Houston. Like I think Houston and I put Houston in the next tier with Golden State and the Clippers like that whole. Yeah, I look at I think, I, so I agree with what

you're saying, but I, I downgrade them a touch further. Because I think you're going to Yeah, yes, because we, I think it is, because of the health. I mean, it's unlikely when you look at their history. That you are not getting 75 games from Jimmy Butler.

You know, I think they'd sign up right now for 60 from Jimmy Butler. He's not playing more than 60. Right. And so like, it's not like, oh, you know, anybody can get hurt. Like, you know Jimmy's not going to play the whole time. I expect that, I do expect Steph to play most of the games. I know he's dealt with injuries as well.

But I look at, I just don't think they have the horses. And they do not have as flawed of a roster construction as the Lakers do. No. But they don't have a Luca. And as great as Steph is, you know, one of the greatest players of all time. I do not feel Steph can single handedly will a team to winning on a night-to-night basis the way Luca can at this point of his career because he's 10 years older than him. And that's on a knock on Steph. That's just, right, Luke is just bigger and in his prime. What they got last night is what they need, which is someone other than Steph let him

in scoring. When that happens, this team historically, anyone else leads them, they, you know, post in this little middle era. Well, yeah, and it's through the last three years, really. They win more because Steph is still going to, and that's, by the way, not counting game Steph was out of sense. That means he got real help. So I would set it, Brew, as OKC.

I have Denver and Houston by themselves in the next group. And then Minnesota and the Spurs, before I get to the Spurs. The Bowen State? Yeah. The Spurs, to me, are a, you know, a big question. Because if Wemby takes this giant leap and then it's like, oh, they have a top five player, then that, to me, vaults them ahead of some of these other teams. I don't know where to put the Lakers

until we see how long LeBron's going to be out but I put the Warriors and the Clippers and the Lakers, the three old teams and the Lakers aren't that old, but they have the oldest player in the league and he's super important to them are in that same bucket and I just can't, I don't know how those teams are going to win four rounds. The Lakers' hope is that Luka

just goes crazy because we've seen seen him do it, but if I had to pick a dark horse in the West to come out and I don't think they will, but if I had to pick a dark horse, it'd be Golden State. But by dark horse, I think the one thing they're... But I think they've got the eighth best odds to win the title.

To win the title. To win the whole thing? In the West, I think they have the fourth of them. I think they're very good. And I've said this for years. I think they still need more size. I mean, they're starting... You think they'd be interested in DeAndre Ait.

He'd be good for them. He'd be good for them. You've been singing this song for years. As long as you've been... In gold to state, Kvonan Luni was good for them. Andrew Bogi. It was good for them. They could use the DeAndre Aiton.

They could do something with him. They don't seem to think they need size. No. This has been the last five, six years. They got Quentin Post. Yeah, yeah. Who played something. Well, I mean, and they did bring in Horford to their, but he's 39.

Right. Kevin Durant made his Rockets debut back in OKC. He ended the night with 23, but filed SGA and double OT that sealed the game for the champs. Here he was post game. Take a listen. I missed a free throw. And I filed somebody at the end, foul Shea, put him up one. I think those two players, the reason we lost.

Is that bad to you? Yeah. I got to be better. I got to knock that free throw down. I have to stay down, be more disciplined. Those opportunities to get a stop, to seal the game. They don't come around too often. So I got to take more advantage of those.

There's a one point loss to the champs. Last night, guess who made the leap too? Who, who, 39, 11, 7. And a lot of the offense at the clutch time was running through Shingoon. Should Rockets fans be optimistic? for a lot of them. Well, here's what I'll say was a revelation to me last night. The bottom row on that, which is Shingoon from three.

If he, if we, if he has added, you know, okay. He must be because he doesn't even take a lot of three years in the past. If you, in show Shingoon's three point numbers. Yeah, but he wouldn't even shoot it. In his career, he's averaged a little more than one a game. Last night he made five. He took it. And so just his.

willingness to shoot him will open things up for them. There were times in the playoffs last year, he didn't seem to want to shoot an 18-footer. You know what I mean? When they were off. He was not a jump shooter at all. No. And so that to me would make you optimistic.

I do. I watched last night I was bummed about, retroactively bond about Fred Van Van Bleet's injury. And it felt like, like, man, could they, would the spurs trade them one of their extra point guards. Like the, you know, are they a team? What Mike Tomlin said. Right.

Exactly. But it does feel like they need, because they're playing clutch minutes for Reed Shepard. And listen, it's his first game after not playing last year against that team. That's a tough ask. But it does feel like they need an extra ball handler. But I think Durant will be better than he was last night over the course of the year. That Thunder have the best defenders in the league.

And as you've talked about. The only thing that even kind of bothers Kevin Durant are physical, Lou Dort types, who bother everybody. So, yeah, I'd be optimistic. I think the Rockets are going to be awesome. I think Amun Tompton is going to be what we thought he was. Shingun's who you thought he was. I think they're going to be awesome.

I think they're very good. I think their fit is a bit, it's a little strange. And I'm going to leave this to you because he's your guy. But Shingun is their best player. Like, I don't know if there's any question about that. He's their best player, clearly. and him adding the three-point shot, which he must have worked on that in the off-season

because, like you said, for him to take eight, I don't care if he missed all of them. The fact that he took eight shows that he is confident now in that shot. And in the past, he was not an outside shooter at all. So he's their best player. They definitely need Van Vleet. That's terrible because they don't have a point guard.

Reed Shepard, I'm not writing him off for the future. He could not get any separation last night. He could not get any space from the defender. They were able to smother him all over the court. And he can't defend. And so it was like for offenses, what you want him for, he couldn't really do any of that because they were able to stay attached to him. Durant, it was at times I felt like they just had him sitting out by the three point line.

Yeah. You know, and I think that's what I'm talking about. They have to figure out how their pieces fit. They had Amman Thompson and taking corner three is wide open. he was 0 for 7 on threes. He's not a shooter. So I think they have a lot of talent. And Shingoon, is he going to play some point?

Because that's what he was doing. You can play him like Yokic. He's like a smaller version of Yokic, but is that the best for you? I think, you know, they just got to figure out how to use all the pieces. Because Durant was good at times. They had him posting a little early. He went off the dribble early. But I thought most of the second half, he was just kind of spacing the floor.

and we've talked about this for years. He should shoot more threes. He only took four. He's not a straight up catching shoot three-point shooter, as great of a shooter as he is. He likes to take a dribble or two and hit that mid-range. So they need to work that in. The good thing is he's going to give you 20-something points

just because he's such a great shooter, no matter what. They just have to figure out how the pieces fit. I like them a lot. I don't think they're going to win the West. I'm going to say, like, I think they're really good. I don't think they win the West. What if someone became available? But if they get a point guard like a Van Vleet that close to that level,

then I think that does change. You want to say something about Shingoon? No, I love him and I'm proud of him. I mean, you were. This is your time. Well, it's not that surprising because I think we were one. I think we were one in a few shows covering EuroLeague. I didn't run the numbers on how many threes he took in EuroLeague.

But from what I walked, I don't remember, I don't remember, like, draining a bunch of threes. So this was surprising. I'm not writing out. writing off the fact that this was just an aberration game. No, and oddly, the old last year. Well, we don't go from. No, no.

They'll shoot three or two, but not eight. So what was, what is weird is, and then I want to say one other things. So give us an extra minute on this, Hubbs, even if it takes away from the thunder. The only game last year he made multiple threes was opening night. He made two on opening night last year. Interesting. And whatever it was, he made his season high last year in threes, whether it was two or three on opening night and then didn't do it again all year. But this looked different, that shooting eight.

I want to say one other thing. Maybe I'm just getting emotional as I'm getting older. Oh, my God. You're going to say, you're crying again? I was sad again. Oh, my gosh. This guy is something real. Okay.

We got 81 games left. No, I was sad for Durant. Because, first of all, shout out to NBC for showing the intros, which I like, and it felt nostalgic. So maybe that's one of those. I was, you know, in my feelings of nostalgia. But hearing the Oklahoma. city crowd cheer like crazy for Stephen Adams. And then boo Kevin Durant made me feel like, man, this guy is one of the greatest players

ever. And if we lined up the 15 greatest players of all time, is he going to be the only one without a home? Well, he doesn't have for home. It's been a decade Oklahoma City. You won a title. That should have been. I mean, was it like a respectful boo?

No, no, it was, you felt the same thing. There's ice there. There's real. And so I just thought about it. We actually still love you. I mean, I don't think so, man. Look, I do think. Every other great player has a home like that we think of them at.

But a lot of that is, I mean, and I'm not blaming KD for anything. I'm just saying he left him the way he did, went to Golden State. That could have become his home. And then left there. And then everywhere else didn't work. But he didn't like, he didn't leave. there the way like Vince left Toronto or Dwight left Orlando

in that he didn't demand a trade I'm talking about Oklahoma City he hit Free Agency and left it's like if LeBron had never gone back to Cleveland yeah no they might feel a certain way but it's just weird you know what I mean that he especially after I mean it's going to sound this is like very New Englandy

but when the Red Sox won a championship you weren't mad at Bill Buckner came back and got a standing ovation it was like all is forgiven yeah the Cubs with Bartman For real. Yes. And that this, I really thought that, like, you have, you won your title.

Like post-K-D, you have the best, and it wasn't a fluke title. You're the favorites again. And so I didn't, maybe I'm an idiot. I didn't think they were going to boo him. I didn't really expect him to boo him. But they, it was back to back, Stephen Adams cheers, and then KD booze. It's like, man. I'll say, they better retire his number.

I would say, there could be no question they won. 100%. Yeah, okay. He better get his number retired. All right. But they should treat him right with that. As for the champs, no J. Will.

You could argue a statue. Yes. Yes, that's what I think. Statue. Yeah. No J. Will, but still left with a win in their championship rings. Here's the reigning MVP. You always like the mess-ups and the scripts and the mistakes always hurt more than a loss.

So we have to be humble enough to realize we need to get better even though we still won. It was ugly tonight. But I'd rather be ugly in the win than I lost for sure. So I will take it. A headache. Brew, did you like SGA's game or his outfit won? His game. I mean, look, he could pull it off.

SGA is a sharp dude. I couldn't pull that off. Well, don't tell yourself short. Brew, kids. Blue, look good in that. Blue, won't you ask him the question, Katie? Oh, sorry. Oh.

I forgot. It's just like a filibuster. No. Can SGA make a run at the best player in the world heavyweight championship about it? This is interesting to me because, and I'm going to, this is, I've said this before. I think this plays into the goal, everything. If SGA was a high flyer, forget playing like Michael Jordan. If he played like John Morant, I think he'd already be viewed as the best player in the world.

Now, you can argue that. I think Yokic is the best player in the world. He obviously better rebounder. better passers, scores as much more efficient, all that. But if SGA had this ultra-electrifying game, Kobe, Jod, Jordan, I think he would be viewed as the best guy. And look, so Nick, I went down just back, not all the way back, but starting with Kareem. The best players in the world have always had something unique about them, unicornish.

Like they're kind of the only one or one of the few that does it. Kareem had the most unique shot ever, the sky hook. Magic. Bird. Bird was white. Just looking at his head. The skyhook. Bird was white.

Bird, I mean, but seriously, at that time, white American, like, just dominate. And his game was, you know, the passes was franchise. Magic was a 6-9 point guard with incredible passing skills. Jordan, of course, a high-flyer. Kobe, similar to Jordan, high-friar. Shack, humongous. LeBron 6-9 does everything

High School Prodigy Yon is 7-footer handling the ball Yolkich point center And I think the route for him There's one guy I left out Tim Duncan Who was at some point the best way in the world But dull type game

Just one Fundamental Just one, right That's the path for Shee He's going to have to win a lot Now if they win it this year I do think people will grudgingly maybe say he's got to be the best player in the world. He broke this curse, not curse, but streak of seven straight years where nobody repeated.

He did it with a bunch of young guys. That's the path. I was also sad last night, speaking of this. Game on the line, KD on SGA. I don't think in his mind he's like. He wasn't trying to make the shot. No. He was trying to get fouled.

And it is brutally effective and it leads to winning. but man, it's kind of a bummer. But I'm like, this works. You're just going to get him up. It was a legit foul. It was a legit foul. But that was the plan. The pump fake wasn't to create space to make a shot.

It was to get exactly what he did. And I have less of a problem with that than I do with the Hardin-esque, hook the guy and then falls. This to me is smart, legit basketball. But it is a bummer. And I also think this. I also think that is a little piece of what hurts him in the best player alive debate. He is building the resume of one of the greatest players ever, and he is building, he has forced his way into the discussion.

I agree with you, I think it's Yokic right now, but the door is not closed to him. And I'll be honest, going into last year, if you would have asked me, will Shay ever be the best player alive? I would have said no. And now I'm open to it. What I think's likely is that he never gets there. Because I think by the time Yokic has deteriorated, Wimby is ascended. You know what I mean?

So I think he might be in a position like Durant was. This year. You know what I mean? If they win it this year, you don't think he'll be reviewed as that? It depends on what Joker does. It depends on what a lot of guys do. Lamar is at practice.

Thank God. Is Brew bringing out his Ravens robe? That's next on. because we're on the Fox Sports Channel on Sirius X. Welcome back to first things first. Greg Jennings looking handsome out here. Joins us World Series starts Friday on Fox. Now as a precursor to the football must win,

we're going to do a little baseball must win. Before you answer, I will give you the statistic, which I know you love. Winner of game one, when 63% of the time, and since 1995, 80% of the time. Wow, why do you know? I love it. Because you love stats.

I don't, I like you. I like what I think are, yes, I like certain stats. Can I tell you something? Yeah. It's the number one thing I would say to you to like introduce you. You like this guy loves stats? Probably, right? Yeah, I like relevant stats.

I wouldn't have picked that one, but that's- You don't think it's relevant that the winner of game one has won the World Series 80% of the time since 1995? The wild beginning of the loud card now? Well, that would make it a must win for both of them, darn near, right? Exactly. Point goes to bro. Thank you. I'm one two straight. What?

Rolling and I'm up one oh. This segment didn't go quite as point. Maybe I screwed it up. I apologize. I think this game is more important for the Dodgers. Really? Yeah, I do. Because I think that the, I think that the how hot the Dodgers were and then not playing for a week.

And then if you come in and you lose game one, it's like, wait a minute. We were mowing through everybody. And so I think it's oddly more important for the road team and the Dodgers. I don't think it's a must win for you to do. The Blue Jays just lost two straight at home to start the last series. You think they're worried about, I mean, you won a win game one, of course, but neither team is gone. You said he was going to get a point. Well, I got the point.

I got the point. I already got the point. Greg, we don't know where your rooting interest lies. Now the Tigers are out. It's all good. I'm going. I believe that the Dodgers are going to win. I'm going for the Blue Jays, but their format.

I've always hated the two three two format because the team who wins if you're the road team or the team that doesn't have the home field advantage you win one of those first two games you can close out at home I've never liked that I like the two two one one wow so blue jays get it done okay now it's time for a segment that grows more literal by the day in the football world must win bears at ravens who are favored and brew you are looking at at something that just might must make you thrilled. Lamar Jackson. Is that today?

That is. That better be today. Correct. Yes, it is late breaking. So we're starting with you. We're not going to show the Ravens defense. We're just going to stay right here. Is this a must win?

Because you've been all over the map with this one. Bears at Revens. It's an absolute must win. For so many reasons. One, you're getting your guy back. So, you know, you naturally think, okay, we got a morale boost. You've been averaging 37 points of game with him.

So you're getting him back. You're coming off the buy. Obviously, Harbaugh did the whole thing with taking the toys out of the building and all that stuff. So, you know, like that's supposed to mean something. You played your last game even though you lost. The defense looked pretty good. And just mathematically at this point, like you can't, you can only get so far behind. So this is definitely, if they lose this game, now it's just going to be, okay,

What, like, what do you kind of grab a hole of that's going to help us get back in this thing? Just quick update, shockingly, the points are still available. You, you don't, you don't, what? If we were on a track team, I got two rings. I'm a little complacent. I'm a little complacent. I got two straight. I won the last one.

That's why I was hard to three Pete. Yeah, go ahead. It's definitely a must win for the Ravens. Like, if not now, win. You got Lamar inserted back until your offense, get it done. And I know it's a must, it's a one game at a time mentality, but it's going to be hard for this team and their fan base to not look ahead because you got the bears right now. You got Miami Dolphins coming up.

You got a stretch of games that you feel like they're very winnable games. And give me my ball. Like I want my toys back. If we win, I get my toys back. Please give me my toys back. And for us, for us, we get bruised bit back. Come on, man. Let's win.

Give me that point. Okay. He came more stronger. I don't mind if Greg gets the point, but I'm going to try to level set what this game is actually about. Yeah, he's above the game. I couldn't care less.

Playing to it. He's like KD. I just want to be better. I just want to give you guys the knowledge. Forget all this point stuff. That's about now. Jimmy turn you sit back like this. I want to be better if must win the day than I was a week ago.

This is a must admit reality for Brew. Oh. This game is about more than the Ravens and the Bears season. It's about this show. Holy cow. And Brew has already tried for. For three weeks, Brew has circled this game. Yes.

As it's all going to come down to the Bears game. And then the last three days, he has slowly but surely like Andy Dufran and Shawshank been burrowing an escape hatch from that. And where it's like, now if they lose, when you look at what's going on in the AMC North, it'd still be a lot. So that is true. It is good. I'm a little, I've gotten more concerned.

Chicago's, they're not playing that great, but they're winning. Oh, you're free. So it's not going to be an easy, you know what I mean? It's easy game. But I will say this, Nick, you hit on it. Like, I expect Baltimore to win. I'll be picking them to win. But I am saying, if they lose, give Nick the point.

That division is. I mean, just give Nick to point. If the Steelers lose to the Packers, which is very possible. I mean, you're not, look, that division. The Browns lose. Please give Nick this year's AMC North. Nick is up. I'm trying to get it.

I'm trying to get it. Nick is up one nuts. Aaron Rogers revenge game. Steelers home underdogs against the Packers. This is Rogers, oddly. Second revenge game of the year. He had four touchdowns against the Jets. Now, here's an interesting graphic, Greg.

Is there a chance that Steelers Rogers might be better than last year of Packers Rogers? Passing yards about the same. He's got 14 touchdowns, only five interceptions, so that would track for more. And a pass rating slightly better. So is this a must win for Aaron Rogers? Look, we're going to just be honest about it. This is, let's stick it to the Packers for Aaron Rogers. This is absolutely a must win for Aaron Rogers.

He wants to get back. Anytime you are going to be hosting the team. that really ushered you out and allowed another, draft another player that is going to be playing. And he's been playing at a high level, regardless of how we feel about that, Blair being Jordan Love, coming into your space where you're at the top of that division,

you're playing decent as a quarterback. You've kind of resourge that franchise. You've got to win. And you have to be the reason why we are going to win this game because we saw last week the two interceptions, it really cost their team that win against the bangles. So Aaron's got to play. I look at this game totally differently.

I think this is a clear cup must win for the Packers. Love it. The Packers have not played great since week one. Even the week two Thursday night victory over the commanders has lost a little bit of its luster since we've seen more of the commanders. And that was also a weird game because it was short week and the guys got hurting it. the Packers were talking legitimately, and the media was talking Super Bowl.

The one kid on their team was talking undefeated. I'm not going to kill him for that, but they were considered an A1 contender. They have not looked like that in any game all year other than week one of the season. If you go into Pittsburgh and lose, it's like, man, that's six straight weeks of football. So, yeah, I mean, I think it's,

It's oddly a bigger game for Green Bay than it is for Pittsburgh. Both of you have bits of the truth. Oh, all right. It is a must win for Aaron Rogers. All right, this is like great. This is your old team. All right, they jettisoned you. All right, you want to, and you want to create a little distance between you and the Ravens and the Bengals and all that.

But it's also a must win, not just for the Packers, but for J-Lo. What's the narrative? You're already thinking J-Lo, he hadn't looked quite as good. The numbers are, he's not as good as the numbers. If Aaron Rogers goes in there, he's having a renaissance year and beats the Packers, or in Pittsburgh, beats the Packers, the narrative becomes, should they have kept Aaron Rogers? I don't think. Does J-Loh? It was Brett and Aaron.

J-Lo's not become. Thank you. Greg gets the point. What? Thank you. You kind of just remixed what they said. They didn't bring up J-Lo. He brought up J-Lo, he just called him Jordan Love.

Giants Eagles. Philly trying to avenge a loss of Jackson Dart, who broke out several dances and high-five to raft while beating the raining champs. Here are the stats from week six. Giants even ran for more yards. We thought that was going to be a little Sequin revenge game. And Philly turned the ball over twice. Is this a must win for 50?

Philadelphia. It's a double must win. Wow. Saving the best for last. All right, look, obviously the Eagles, AJ Brown is back up to his antics. I don't know what's going on. Let's see. I don't know what is going on with AJ.

Can we see? Is that an Instagram? Using me, but not using me. After that great win, after he got plenty of balls thrown his way, deep balls with had a great game. I don't even know what that. I don't know what that means. It doesn't feel positive.

It would have like an emoji, like a sunglasses, you know. I just don't know why you put this out. And so if you put this out, it feels negative. And you lose. Now of a sudden we're back to where we were two weeks ago. And oh, the sky is falling and, you know, you'll get an anonymous quote about, oh, we could be, it feels like 20, 23 again. And then for the Giants, it's a must win. because obviously they're coming off this historically bad loss,

and you're like jobs are on the line. Jobs are on the line, so they need a must win. It's a must win for the Eagles. Now, even with it being a must win, if they win, we know there's going to be complaining inside the locker room. If they lose, there's definitely going to be complaining inside and outside. We're going to be on them. But to get embarrassed by this team, just two weeks ago,

in the fashion of which they were able to get embarrassed. And I say able because they quit. The Giants made them quit in that game. You do not allow a team just two weeks removed to come into your house and beat you after making you quit on their turf. You got to win and you got to make a statement. And it's a division opponent. Get it done.

Last year, around week six, there was a team with a rookie quarterback and a coach on a hot seat who actually was on a big. of a run. It was like, oh, maybe it'll be a little better than people thought. And they lost a game in absolutely historic heartbreaking fashion. And they didn't win again for three months and the coach got fired. That was last year.

That was Caleb and Iber flus and the Bears. I am here to tell you the Giants must win this game or else that. I don't know if we can throw up the Giants schedule or not. That is, they are staring at months potentially before they get a win. and Daebel looking at the end of that game against the Broncos as potentially the end of his tenure. So I think the Eagles win or lose, it would appear there's going to be a level of confidence

and dysfunction. The Giants could really, that could be the moment of their season. They have to win. Believe it or not, Nick has taken home his first victory. Hey, that was good. I actually won week two. Second victory.

of the year. Congratulations. Thanks, guys. I appreciate that. I also, that's why I wanted Brew to go first on that one. Yeah. Coming up next, this wildest tweet I've ever seen Russell Wilson right. Legitimate.

Yeah. Next up first thing. Everything up. Yeah. Giants Broncos was a barn burner. Post game, a bridge burner. Sean Payton saying he was hoping to play his old QB Russell Wilson instead of Jackson Dart.

Take a listen. They found a little spark with that quarterback. I was talking to John Merron not too long ago, and I said we were hoping that that change would have happened long after our game. Then Russ, who for the record, has never tweeted anything interesting. Had a series of tweets where he was just visiting literally kids in hospital. And in between those tweets, tweeted this, classless but not surprised, I didn't realize you're still bounty hunting 15 years later through the media.

Hashtag let's ride. My goodness gracious. Your reaction. Twofold. One is, and this is maybe a bad commentary on my character. This is maybe the most likable thing I've seen Russell Wilson do in a decade. Like I've never, and I think that is because the knock on Russ. I know corny gets thrown around, but more than that, a lot of it felt fake or manufactured

or too manicured. And this felt real. Like, I don't, like, that felt like something being like, I don't like you. I don't like how you treated me. I don't like how you continue to treat me. And I'm going to break character, essentially, and let everyone know it. So I respect that from Russell Wilson. I also do not understand why Sean Payton is the way he is.

I don't get it. and I don't understand why he seems to get a pass from it. He must be the greatest guy in the world to have drinks with. Because we saw him the thing he did to hack it. And then right when he got there. And then they allow 70 points. What he did to Russ when Russ was on the team, trying to intentionally show him up on the sideline repeatedly.

what he did this weekend when's the last time a coach got a 15-yard penalty in the waning critical moments of a football game all go never in my life watching football and nobody cares and so I don't get it

and so I respect that Russ defended himself so to speak yeah I would like to give Sean Payton the benefit of the doubt like you were just it kind of slipped out and oh I it was like like Russ was just you know, shrapnel

or whatever. And he didn't mean it that way. Yeah, yeah. But I really do think he meant to take a jab at Russ. And Russ obviously felt that way. Russ could have given him to benefit it out,

but he felt that way probably because of their interactions and the way things in it. So look, I think this was good for Russ. It wasn't like he broke his character. I mean, you say he broke character, but this is not, this is,

you're defending yourself. It's not bad character. It's just. defending yourself and Sean Payton seems like you did take an unnecessary cheap shot at him. You won the game. You won a historic game. Why you have

to go at him like that? So I'm happy with what Russ did. Yeah, look, it's interesting because I was shocked when I first saw it because Russ actually said something. I was absolutely shocked. To your point, like, it

makes, he's always portrayed this image of, I'm not, I'm not, I'm not bothered by any of that stuff. It is what it is. I'm above it. Exactly. And the reality of it is we all get touched by a little something. We all hear it.

And it does bother us to a degree. And sometimes I feel like you have to respond to stop the actions and stop it from being a redundant, perpetual thing. And I think him responding will stop it. Because Sean Payton, bully, look, you can call it what you want to. I'm going to call it what I feel like it is. This is bullying. Like, he, like, bullied. He bullied Russell Wilson when he was there,

and he's trying to bully him, and he's the second-string quarterback right now, not even playing games. Like, you're not going to bully me, and I'm not even playing. I'm a punch back. So, kudos to Russ. And I also liked that Russ to me a little bit,

and maybe he didn't mean to, maybe I'm just looking at like this, also in that very short tweet, poked fun at himself. Yeah, I liked it. The hashtag, let's run. You know what I mean? Like the, and,

So I thought this was a good look for us. And I just, I'm going to, the Broncos are 5 and 2. Sean Payton has said this is one of the six or seven best teams he's ever had. A lot of people really believed in them going into this season and believe they are a very talented team. They better not collapse over the final 10 games of the year. Buckle up, Cowboys. Well, I mean, listen, with Peyton and Bo Nix,

they're, I think, two and eight if the other team scores 20. I bet the Cowboys get to 20. Yeah. So. Is that Knicks? Okay. We'll see. He needs a big week.

I do need a big week. Tears. We had a tough week. Next. And Akeem Elijah on coming out. We had a tough week. What's up, Greg? Live on New York.

The show is preparing for Wembe's debut. It's a second hour of first things. First, Rudy, you have a quick prediction on Wemby's stat line. Oh, that's a, you can be able to off the top of the head with that. I'm gonna go, I'd like it to be hired in this, but I'm gonna say 27, 11, and four blocks.

I want 34, 15, and six. I wrote 23, 14, 4 and 4. 23. That's your. With 14 remounts, four blocks, four assists, that's enough. Greg, quickly? I'm going, he's going to have a big night. 31, 12, and four.

Greg, you believe in Wemby more than Brough? Greg's the Wemby guy. Wemby guy. Today, it was all a dream. Keem Elijah on joins the show to talk about Wembe and if he's going to have a big night. Meanwhile, will Aaron Rogers rise to the moment in his revenge game against the Packers?

Right now, you're in for a real treat. Let me get you caught up to speed on what's been happening. Last night in an old Toys R Us that has since rebranded as a Spirit Halloween. The committee of Parker Brothers, Milton Bradley, and people dressed as board games. Fought and toiled and burned the midnight oil to deliver the best segment in all sports. It's an honor and it's a privilege. It's time for next year's back story. Nick came in dressed as a monopoly board today.

That is true but misleading. I was wearing a matching sweatsuit that is Monopoly like Bruce Summers wears a Nike sweatsuit. I wore a monopoly brand sweatsuit. Like a little guy on it, like go to jail. You said dressed like a Monopoly. So the whole thing is like a Monopoly board? No, you've seen me wear it before.

It's pretty sick. It's not a monopoly board, but it's like the icons and logos from Monopoly are scattered all over it. Yeah. But it doesn't look like a board. That part's incorrect. It's whatever. Right on his fan, he had a thing

and said free parking. Did you say? What did you just say? St. James, please. That would have been a better one to go. To the tears. Free party. It's out of his mind.

Yes, you are. No, just replay what you said in your head. And then you'll get it. Get it. All right. Who's eliminated? Pacific. Through your laughing too hard.

No new eliminations, which is, means the Browns for the second time this year were facing elimination and won. Maybe that's their path to victory. So we still only have four eliminations. It's getting late early. We need to eliminate some teams, which is why two teams this week are facing elimination that aren't even playing. The Raiders and the Cardinals are on a by.

They couldn't get eliminated. Really? It's possible. Well, we'll see. We've got to see what the committee decides on. But those are the teams facing elimination. Hey, they're trying. Browns, Giants, Texans.

Yeah. Browns and Texans are trying defensively. And they're actually pretty damn good to, in Texans case, great. And Brown's case really good defensively. Giants, they're trying on both sides of the ball and then invented a way to lose. But those teams have not really good. rolled over. Those teams, and I don't think you oddly want to see

either of those teams on your schedule, or any of those teams on your schedule. Look at what you've done to brew. It's just by themselves. They're their own tier, and it's because they put our guy brew in shambles. He's out here talking about

video games and Barcheese and Fuzball, and whether or not holding the, whether or not only allowed, allowing the Rams to score five times as many points as you did in the game was actually a sign that you've turned the page and things are coming up to your way.

That's what you've done to R. Guy Brew. This is for hubs and the other young folks out there. Decidedly mid. These teams are combined 17 and 16. One game above 500. All five of them do a few things kind of well, do a few things kind of poorly. And if your team loses to any of these,

five teams, you're like, man, that's one that got away. Yeah. Oh, you look at your schedule. Like, man, how did we lose? Trust me, you're like, how did we lose to the Jags? What happened there, especially post-tackle the time, turn the time? Potentially intriguing, Bears, Chargers, Bengals, Cowboys. I'm not closing the door on any of these four teams because for the Bears, it feels like

they've gone on this winning streak without their quarterback client grade. For the Chargers, they are, they have gotten Joe Walt now and you wonder if Herbert can get back to how he was playing beginning of the year. The Bengals, Joe Flacco just loves football, loves his family, loves chucking that sucker deep, and Jamar Chase and T. Higgins want to catch it, and the Cowboys most prolific offense in football. So they're all intriguing for different reasons. KW, what is this? What is it?

Well, it's not the standings. What is it not? No, it's the tears. Let's try it again. What is this, K. Oh, my gosh. What is this? Just say the tears.

The tears. What is this not? Okay. Oh, it's not the standings. Thank you. Not the standings. My gosh. I don't care that these three teams are combined 16 and five.

The Niners are in a, the Niners are in a, they are not higher despite their record purely because of the injuries. The, I mean, their two best future Hall of Fame. Future Hall of Fame defenders are both. I don't know if Nick Bose is officially future all of fame yet, but the Hall of Fame trajectory and Fred Warner's future Hall of Fame are there out. And so they are to me as impressive as it is.

They're five and two. They're not as good as they're five and two record. The Colts and the Broncos, I flatly don't think you can quite keep this up. And it's different. This is for the Colts. Greg can roll his eyes all he wants off camera. Greg agrees with me on this.

I don't think the cults are going to keep up being the most prolific offense in the history of the NFL. I just don't think that Daniel Jones to Alec Pierce is the modern day Brady to Moss, but right now they're outstripping it. I don't think that's going to sustain. And I don't think the Broncos being two touchdowns down entering fourth quarters is going to be a sustainable model. Good records. Luckily, this is not the standings. earned their respect, Patriots, Seahawks, Steelers.

What's the problem? Just continue, please. My good, okay. I don't even know what Greg's mad at. For real, I don't. Patriots, have they played a soft schedule? Yes. Have they looked though like a well-rounded,

prolific offense post-week one? Yes. The one loss they have in that stretch, they turn them all over five times. I think, while I do think they're going to, be a team that turns ball over because a young quarterback is not going to be five times in the game and Brable hasn't buttoned up. I think the Seahawks are really, they're flying under the radar, interesting team. Jackson Smith and Jigba has been awesome. That defensive line is excellent. I think

Mike McDonald's legit and Sam Darnold trying to stave off pumpkin mode, which he wasn't able to at the end of last season. We'll see if he can. And the Steelers, I do think the defense should be better than it is and Rogers has not folded. Like Rogers, Greg's all mad. I am. Continue. Oh my goodness. Champions with concerns.

Both teams started four and oh. Both teams then lost two straight. The Eagles then bounced back. We'll see if the bills do this weekend. But because they are champions, the Eagles winning last year's Super Bowl, the bills winning five of the last six September. We do expect and respect the fact that they can steady themselves, particularly because they have MVP candidate or the defending Super Bowl MVP

at quarterback and the defending league MVP at quarterback. But there are concerns, be it Philly's running game or the Bill's defense, there are concerns. Need to make a run. And by a run, I mean at least to the conference championship game, if not to the Super Bowl. Tampa Bay has won the division four years in a row post-winning the Super Bowl, have not made a conference championship game. Green Bay has been to three of the last four post seasons without making a conference championship game. And Green Bay has gone 15 years, 11 of which they're a playoff team without making another Super Bowl. These are two of the most consistent franchises in the NFL right now, but haven't gone on the deep playoff runs in the 2020s the way you would hope. Can win anyway,

the Lions and the Rams, where the Lions showed it to you this past week. They can win with defense. The Rams have been winning with defense in some part throughout the entire season, but obviously they both have number one overall pick, pro bowl level quarterbacks with legitimate weapons and excellent, albeit very different head coaches. And then atop the tiers in the rightful place, the team that is chasing history again, trying to extend this prematurely distinguished dynasty by becoming. just the second team ever to make four consecutive Super Bowls and to turn the most successful three-year stretch

in the history of the league into the most successful four-year stretch in the history of the league. It is the chiefs atop the tears. Greg, what were you so mad? Going back down to the not the standings. We're going to the coach. You know I'm going there. And if you look at the line of teams

that you have above them, you said, earned their respect. You got the Patriots who have played, I believe, two playoff teams, The bills which they won And who else? The Steelers who they lost to. Seattle's played three playoff teams

And they've won two of those. The Steelers, how many playoff teams have they played? Zero. Well, the Patriots. Well, Patriots. The Patriots are the one. The Patriots are the ones. No, no, no, no.

How many playoff teams have they played last year? Oh, you're trying to make the playoffs last year. Sorry, my bad. None. They played nobody. Okay. And we want to give them all this credit. And the coach, you talk about some,

You didn't knock them. You just said they're not the standings. But for the Patriots, you said, look like a prolific offense. Well, you have one offense in the coach that is actually a prolific and the most efficient in NFL history, basically, right now. And you don't want to give them credit. You want to knock them and say, oh, it's not sustainable. But when you look at the Steelers, you say, I think their defense is,

I don't think they're that bad. I think they will be better. But the coach, their offense, you can't keep playing this good, guys. Or guess what? He and the committee will be wrong. You can keep playing this good. They have done it through seven weeks. We will see how they continue.

They have the Titans coming up. Guess who the coach. The coaches have played three playoff teams as well. They lost to the Rams, and we all know how that game could have gone. They lost, albeit get it. The Colts are a good football team. Show them some respect. To have them this low is absolutely disrespectful.

I have them on the same exact tier. You have them outside the top 10. I have them, hold on. Is that accurate? That is accurate. That is accurate. Just barely. Just barely outside the top.

I don't care. You have them outside. The worst I will allow is eighth. And that will still be disrespectful. I haven't on the same chairs of the Broncos. I don't even, and they beat them. And game around the field. They beat them.

They beat them. They beat them. They beat them. And the Broncos were one of those playoff teams from last year. Daniel Jones might have hit. his committee ceiling? No. Okay, he can go higher?

Because he's playing out of his mind. Oh, he should. Okay, again, we don't even need to make it about Daniel Jones. This is not the mountain. Daniel Jones is actually. That's why I didn't even mention them. But you believe in Jonathan Taylor is what I'm saying. I believe in Jonathan Taylor.

I have questions about the defense. They have injuries in the secondary. Guess what they're still doing. Overcoming. And I worry that when they regress from better than the 07 Patriots all the way down to where they're just the 2020 Chiefs level of offense that if they can sustain it. And then when they regress further to where they're going to end up, which is fine offensively,

how good they'll be. I'm just telling you, last point I'll make on it. If they had, if they were five and two instead of six and one, no one would care that where they're ranked. It's only because they are right now have the best record in football that people are on TV kind of pretend. And they have looked amazing. The offenses looked great. The offenses look great.

Well, isn't that what we talk about? You wanted your chief's offense to get rolling. Oh, we're coming back. Oh, we're getting, we're trying to catch the Colts. Yeah, listen, man. I think, I think they're, I mean, you're talking. 14 and a half point. That's a big line, too.

I mean, Vegas is respecting the Colts. Well, they're playing the Titans. Well, you picked the Titans last week. That wasn't that was that game was in Tennessee, correct? And I was getting, yeah, in Tennessee getting seven. I didn't pick them to win. All right. Well done, Greg.

The Buccaneers, too high. Why do you hate the Bucks? I don't. I actually like Baker Mayfield. The buck stops here, tier five. They should be down two tiers. How in the world are they ahead of Philadelphia? To take a page from Wild's,

books. They do this thing, you know, where they play each other. Brilliant. And when they played each other, Philadelphia led from wire to wire and went up, what, 21 points in the first half. Let them have a little life in the second half, but still, it never got within a touchdown. All right? Or inside of a touchdown, less than a touchdown.

So Philly should definitely be ahead of them. I would put the bills ahead of them too. They got the better quarterback. They got the better resume recently. I don't know that this year they have the better quarterback. I mean, but Josh is a better quarterback than Baker. I mean, I think we all, Baker's not in that top four, you know, locked in that top four. They got the better tailback too.

I mean, if you want to go there running back and James Cook. So I would move Tampa Bay down. Here's the other thing about the Buccaneers. What do they do? Baker's been heroic. A lot of that coming back against mediocre or downright bad teams. Tampa Bay is ranked 16th in total offense and 17th in total defense. That is the very definition in a 32-team league of mediocrity.

Every other team on your tiers that's in the top six, because they're in the top five. So Green Bay, the Rams, the Lions, and the Chiefs. They are all in the top 10 in either offense or defense, and at least in the top. top 15 on the other side of some of these are in the top five of both top 10 in both so I mean just they don't belong in that

group of the other top five teams or your tier so I drop them down to the earn their respect. What do you like category? Well I'm just preparing for my just doing some late research. Oh you were laughing at your own thing. Yeah. I thought. No yours wasn't funny.

Yours was no. But inside you were like oh this is going to kill No, no, it's actually cogent and out. Yeah, okay. Go ahead. Unbelievable. I haven't been doing a great job. Okay.

We know. You said you haven't? No, not really. Because when you put the tiers in the shared Google Doc, I don't know the, I don't know the names. You know what I'm saying? So I just hear see the teams. So I looked at the Cowboys and I thought that they were way too low

because I view the Cowboys as potentially intriguing. Now I want them to move up but the name is pretty much perfect. They're potentially intriguing. So I'm just here to reiterate that the Cowboys are potentially

I can't move up to not the Stanix because did not first. Earn their respect, not really. They're not the champions. Need to make a run. Let's move them up there, I guess, but that's too high. I'm in a tough spot. In any event, DAC this season has just been amazing.

I always looking for like, do you do anything great? And DAC has been unbelievable in the MVP conversation. A lot of this obviously was without CD. So now they got CD and George, great. And a lot of people are like, well, wilds, what about SLT, BIW3? Great question. So hold on, wait, say it again.

Let me see if I can figure it out. Say it again. SL2T, BIW3. Since, let me read it. S, well, as you can see. Okay. SL-T-B-I-W-3. Go ahead.

Since losing to the Bears in week three. They're out here cooking. They've just been excellent. And now, finally, the defense is the big thing. So I tasked Josh, who's our esteemed researcher. I'm like, Josh, you know what I need? I need my version for the Cowboys. I need my tackle that turn the tie.

No, you don't have everything that I do. there doesn't have to be a wilds version of. I don't need a version of all your stuff. You don't need one. We can all have our own thing. I need my version of Tango Turn inside. I also need my, I told them that. And I also said, I need my version of Cowboy Brew.

No, the Rams, that the Ravens were good against the Rams. Okay. Like, they're good against the commander. You have what? You don't have any? Josh, I can't find it. Like, maybe the Dron play is like, I don't know, Mariotta was in. It's kind of strange.

The defense was. bad last week. I know, but half Jane Daniels, you know, so it wasn't great. So we, we landed on this. This is why they should be in. They need to make a run. They're about to play not prolific offenses. So if the defense is going to get right, oddly the Eagles are there, which I didn't love, but Broncos, Cardinals, Raiders, I do expect the Eagles to be good by then. Maybe this is a chance for the Cowboys defense to round into form. Okay. Ian. But you agree with where they're ranked. Well, I wouldn't mind if they moved up,

but I really like the potentially intriguing nameplate. That's the quandary of the tiers. Exactly. The names are always perfect. And you can't move them up. But, well, I just go by the tears. You just got to say, look, they should be up higher. The name you got lucky on.

Which is why the name, listen, tricky. The combination, this is why it's America's most trusted and favorite. football team rankings service, if you will. Free service we provide to America. There is a subscription tier. You don't get my takes. It's got out of his mind. You can opt out of it.

$4.99 a month. You just get the tears and I don't go with that. You did kill that second. I see why you're laughing inside. Put your credit card in on the website. Do you think Akimelajuan was watching that segment? I hope not. Like, what have I got to keep a lot.

Welcome back to first things. Her Spurs Mavs tonight, season debut for Wembe, who spent part of this summer working out with our next guest, NBA champion, Hall of Famer and Basketball icon. Hakeem Elijah, Anakeem, thank you for joining us. It's an honor. Thanks, Kevin.

I'm happy to join you guys. Hakeem, great to see you, man. Great to see you. And thank Sir Frank Rutherford, your guy, for sharing. that video of Wimby and you working out with us. Look, you've worked out with some of the greatest players of this era, LeBron, Kobe,

Janice, when you, and we're going to get into Wimby, when you work out with the guy, do you plan something specific for that player, or do they come to you and say, I want to work on this or that, or how do you do it?

Well, my first question is to ask what are they trying to accomplish? And because these are great players on their own. And I think the best thing is just to leverage their talents to see how can I add value to put already existing that they have. So with Wimby, when you asked him, what are you trying to accomplish? What did he?

Yeah, what did he say and what did you work out with work at, work at him at with him? Because when we met at the final four, and he emphasized that he wanted to work out with me, and the fourth guy said, I said, I said, it wouldn't be you got everything. And I thought he was kidding, but I was, it was serious. And my first question to him,

like, what he felt accomplished? Then he said, you know, just loved by game. Just let's work on every aspect of the game. But I said, I told me, maybe you have freedom, you know, play one, two, three, four, five. So there's no limitation in your ability. You know, so it was so great working out with him because we work on outside game, inside,

and also how to leverage his height when those smaller guys are pushing off the box. You know, instead of fighting them in the post, just face up. you can shoot over them all the day, spin off. So, I mean, it was so great to work out with someone like this because he's amazing, his talent,

and how easy he gets his done. Yeah. I've said, Hakeem, I think he has a potential to be the greatest player ever. What do you see as the ceiling for him? I mean, first of all, today's game is encouraged with big guy to go outside to shoot threes, to handle the ball, to post up. And he's the ideal icon for that kind of style basketball.

He handled the ball so well, and he can shoot the ball so well. He has the agility, the movement naturally, and the most important he's willing to learn and to improve. So I don't see any ceiling. the sky is something. I mean, he can do whatever he wants and it's small. Dream, I got a couple Wimby-related questions. First one's very simple. How tall is he?

Because it feels like people lie. He's like, is he 7-7? I would say legitimate 7-4. 7-4? Legitimate 7-4. But does legitimate 7-4 mean at least 7-4? I feel like he's only, I feel ridiculous. You think he's only?

seven four? Seven four, seven, five. Okay, all right. Seven four, seven, five, and growing. Okay, one other question on when before we open it up a little more. I believe right now we are talking to the unequivocal greatest defensive player in the last 50 years of the NBA. And the only reason I don't say all of NBA history is because Bill Russell, I can't judge it. But since the merger, you're the greatest defensive player ever.

I don't think anyone's come into the league that's really even come close, in my opinion, to challenging that other than Tim Duncan, a different Spurs number one pick, but I still think it's you. Do you think Wimby has that ability that he could become the most impactful defender of all time? But sure. In fact, we walked out at my ranch, and I put the NBA number one show blocking. you know, the history. And I told him, the only person I see that can break that record is winning for sure. Wow. Wow. Yeah.

Last night, Dream, your Rocket Squad lost to the champs, but Shingoon looks like he made a leap. He's worked out with you in the past. What do you think about Shingun's potential this year and moving forward? I watched him play this summer. The Pibber, you know, basketball. and amazing how comfortable

you know you feel handling the ball making some great passes taking big shots and even yesterday the way he was shooting in threes was amazing you know and he loves

that situation to be in a position where you need a basket he's a go-to guy for you guys I mean, you know, the way it's playing right now, the way we play this summer, and coming to this season, I'm looking forward to see how well they can raise the bar. Because it's definitely the franchise guys on that team. It came in the right, of course.

You played in the greatest era of centers ever, and you guys played down low on the block. And even though you could step out obviously with your moves and hit jump. shots and things like that. Would you, do you think you would have rather played in today's era where you would have been more outside, maybe shooting threes, or the era that you played in?

My game when I was playing, it's today's game. This is game. You know, for the big one. And I would like to put all the floor. Because my advantage against my opponent is to take him outside.

Imagine playing. against with Patrick and Shark inside. That's their game. So I have to play more like a small forward. But the coach is the woman inside all the time. But it's good to have the option. If you miss two or three jumpo, you go inside. So, yeah, you have the option.

Dream, you know, it is, the NBA on NBC just came back last night. interview with the legendary Michael Jordan and it, you know, obviously, you know, you played in the same year as Michael Jordan. You also, contrary to what some folks would like to believe, won two championships, one of which was in a year, Michael Jordan did play. And in fact, you swept the team that beat Michael Jordan

in the playoffs. So I'm just curious. And had the Bulls not gotten beat by that magic team, do you ever think about how that matchup would have gone. I know Mad Max always gave Jordan trouble. You guys did well against the Bulls and Bill Winnington wasn't slowing you down. So I know who I think would have won that championship, but I'm just curious if you ever think about if your Rockets had gotten Jordan's Bulls in the finals, how that would have gone? You know, who has been in that question all the time?

I know, the only thing we can refer back to is we play the regular season. You know, we didn't play the playoffs, but we have a season, I think Chicago, they have trouble playing against Houston. Yes. That's true. That's what the record. That's the facts. Those are the facts.

But we don't know any players, but this might change, but I'm comfortable with my team that we do some damage. Do you have an opinion on who is the greatest player of all time? Obviously, Michael joins a lot of times in that debate.

Do you have an opinion on that? No, I mean, if you look at it, you know, you have to give Jordan, you know, that is sealed that debate, first of all, his accomplishments. And the historic, like, when the NBA go globally, who was leading that shot at that time? You know, just like you say soccer with Pellet. A lot of people have not even seen Pellet play. But when you mention soccer, they say Pellet. So I think basketball, Jordan, Terry, that cow show. And that's not taking anything away from LeBron because of the accomplishment.

Well, I think you have to put them, you know, separately. Okay, well, that solves it. At the end of that debate, one of your favorite players. Akeem, thank you very much. We appreciate it. Thank you, Akim. Welcome back at any time. Thank you very much.

Thank you guys so much, man. Thanks for the company, it's also. Oh, yeah. Yeah, absolutely. Thank you, King. Thank you, Kevin. Thank you guys. Thank you.

More first things first after the break. Thank you. Welcome back to First Things First Friday. World Series begins on Fox. Otani and the reigning champion Dodgers taking on that guy, ALCS, MVP. Vladdy. Game one of the World Series. His coverage begins Friday at 7 Eastern on Fox.

And tomorrow, right here on FS1, baseball commissioner Rob Manfred joins us. Around 3.30, we're thinking. That's the only commissioner that hasn't never been on this show. I think you have, like, I haven't had any. No, no, Roger Goodell and Adam Silver on the show long, long time ago. And Commissioner Manfred is,

So the only sports commission has been on the show in the long history. Welcome back to the show, Prime Performance, sponsored by Liberty Mutual Insurance. You only pay for what you need. That's good. Mike Tomlin weighed in on the storyline surrounding Aaron Rogers game against the Packers. A little over-boned. Take a listen. Okay. Aaron's been added a long time.

You know, he's got an awesome relationship with this game. I haven't been with him for a long time, but he's been for a long time. but he's been fired up every single week. I'd imagine it's going to be the same. I'd imagine some external things are going to make more out of it than it is for him. He's playing and playing to win. That's what he does.

Okay, Greg. Are you expecting a successful revenge game for Aaron Rogers and what do you think of Mike Tom and saying, eh? Look, external things don't have to make more out of this. Aaron, that's what he does. He needs this. This is good for the Steelers because when Aaron Rogers is bothered or when he has something that is that he feels like I need to prove a point or I want to stick it to you, you get the best version of him. You tend to.

We used to. I'll say that. And I believe that they will. So I do expect for him to execute. I expect for him to play a very efficient game. Now, the Green Bay Packers are going to watch this film, and they're going to say, well, what can we do to disrupt him? And I would answer that question by saying, you got to take away the quick throws because when you watch the Pittsburgh Steelers, it's like death by a thousand cuts. He just wants to dink and dunk and potentially get you over the top.

If the Packers take that away and force him to hold the ball longer than two and a half seconds, it's over. It's over. So I do expect Aaron to still be able to do what he does. In these moments, he's typically at his best. I think, like you said, I think he's getting rid of the ball in 2.2 seconds or something like that. The only game where he's had any success when he's held it was this last game. They did lose, but some of his biggest plays were on racing.

They had absolutely. He moved well. Yeah. Yeah, he was moving around well. But look, I don't think he's going to choke or just anything like that. But I do. I look at it the other way. I think the Packers are going to have a big game because it's not just,

I know it's in Pittsburgh, but it's not just him facing his old team. It's some of those guys facing their former teammate, probably not a ton of them. But Jordan Love is there. And I think the guys are going to rally around Love. Because as I said, I get it, it's been several years now. Maybe it's not Rogers.

Oh, we should have kept Rogers or anything. But it's still a big game. for Jordan Love. This was his mentor. This was the guy who was before him. This was a guy who could have stayed there and kept playing. And so Micah, we know, is close with Jordan. Like I think the defense especially is going to come out and really try to have a great game that's going to make, you know, Aaron's struggle. And then conversely, Jordan Love has a good game on the offensive end. So I don't think it'll be necessarily because of Rogers doing, but I think they're going to get a good pass rush against him, and that's

going to make him have a mediocre to bad game. Yeah, Rogers' stats this year are really interesting. The pass rating's good, the touchdown interception ratio is good. The yards are really low. Yeah. So, he has thrown for fewer yards this year than Mac Jones,

even though Max... Max's throwing for a lot. Yeah, but Max only played five games. You know what I mean? I'm trying to say. He's thrown for fewer yards than Flacco, fewer yards than CJ. Yeah, fewer yards than... If Lackos played five, Rogers played six.

CJ, too? To be fair on the seat... Yeah, fewer yards than CJ, and they've played the same number of games, because they already had to buy. Few yards than Gino. So, like, those are... There's very few guys average in fewer yards. Right.

He's throwing for 211 yards a game, I think, but it has been efficient. You know, I'm not taking... So that's not a knock, because they're winning, and it's been efficient, but it's just been odd. the way it has worked thus far. And this is what I will say. If he is excellent in this game,

it will raise what I think the Steelers' ceiling is. Not just because that's a... And they win. Even if they lose, if he's great. No, no, no. If he's excellent and they win. Not just because this would be a great win over the Packers. But I do have questions about Aaron as the stakes get higher, does his play, rise, fall, stay the same.

And this to me is a very high stakes game. They just came off a somewhat heartbreaking loss, you know, where it looked like that he had thrown the game-winning. If they had held on against Cincinnati, that pass to Friermouth and run is the best Aaron Rogers highlight. in years. You know, the best moment, a game-winning touchdown pass for 70 yards in a shootout. And so they need the win. It also would give me more faith if he's excellent that they can hold up against a legitimate pass rush.

Because that was, if you guys remember, when they were playing, was the Vikings in London? And I said the only goal for the game should be Aaron Rogers, get out of it healthy. Because I was so concerned about their ability to hold up against. against a legitimate front, well, they've held up so far. Cincinnati doesn't have a legitimate front. The Packers are supposed to have the best front in football is with Gary and Parsons. So if they play, if he plays really well and they win, then I will start taking the Packers, or the, I keep doing that, sorry, the Steelers, a level more seriously than I am right now.

It's hard to predict it, but I would take them more serious. Greg, when you're saying, like, limit the quick passes, does Micah have a role in that? Or is Mike's job to still just go after him? Yeah, he still has to go after the quarterback. So when you have those quick passes, it frustrates pass rushers like Michael Parsons. And it causes them to kind of take plays off. So you got to play bump coverage. You got to be up in the receiver's face to disrupt that timing.

So he just holds the ball a little bit longer. But this, for me, it's their first real test, the Steelers. Like the Pist. They had, no, we didn't know who the Patriots were then. We also just gave him the ball five. You did, but we didn't know who the Patriots were early in the season. We didn't know who the Seattle Seahawks were going to be. Right.

We didn't know that. So now with the Packers, we knew who they were coming into the season. They added Michael Parsons. We actually raised them even higher. And they got the Sunday night football, prime time. Everybody's going to be watching. Like, this is why the Steelers winning got them. And this is also the, sorry, Hubs, if we could throw that back up there.

I remember us talking before the year about how after basically their opening month of games, how many games were the Steelers going to have where they had the better quarterback? And obviously we didn't know Joe Burrow was going to be hurt, so that changed some things. This is one of the games where I think most people believe the other team has the better quarterback. And next week they play the best offense in the league right now. That is true. You know, I'm sorry, correct.

That schedule is which is why they had to get off to the start they did. And it's also why that Bengals loss could be tough. And it's also why Brew will never give up on the race. And you write about that. Brew's looking at it's like, they could lose that. They could lose that. They could lose that whole.

Probably beat the dolphins. They'll lose that. They'll lose that. Live from New York, it's a show that's sitting here with the best predictor in all of sports. Perfect week. Thank you.

I have already asked Nick and Brew for Wemby's stat line for opening night. I love this question. Here we go. This guy. 28 points, 14 rebounds, 5 assists, 5 blocks. Five blocks. Oh, yeah. A 4-by 5 game.

Wow. Okay. Yeah. Unfortunately, I have no idea how we're going to score this. Did you write everything down? No, of course. He gets the blocks, you got the rebounds, you get the assists, the points. If you're in charge, I have an idea of who's going on.

No, I am, Brew, you have to back me up on this as the conscience of the show. I oddly, it's counterintuitive. I am rife with integrity on some. I'm not going to cheat anybody on anything. He had a chance to cheat last week. Yes, they tried to give me a push on my picks that was a loss, and I fixed it. Don't worry, America, I would have caught it. When I saw the scores, though, now,

Maybe you should have. Okay. First thing first overtime. Today, a fresh edition of packed stats. I brought it. I know you're thinking, stats, cool? Yes. Stats are cool and a great stat from Josh Allen.

Sorry to all my friends in Seattle. Meanwhile, Diana Rossini is here. Talk about if the cowboys can make a run and are there any moves the cowboys are going to make. The rumor mill is churning. I think they could trade for someone like Michael Parsons. someone like Micah Parsons. She talked to Jerry Jones for 30 minutes today. Oh wow.

Really? True story. We got new. That is exciting. He is accessible. He likes it. That's true. But that is exciting.

Yeah, great news. The sandwich is not out yet. The robe is not out yet. The soda pop not out yet. The purple Jordan's not out yet. Lamar, well, he is out. Oh, he is back at practice. Lamar returned ahead of Sunday's game.

against the visiting bears. The Ravens are favored by almost a touchdown. Here's Jim Harbaugh. I think the energy level changes, heck, I mean, heck yeah. Lamar's, he's our quarterback, he's a great guy, but also all the guys being out there and where we're at and what we're trying to accomplish and all those things. I mean, our guys respond with great energy,

you know, and that's something I feel great about this team in that sense. We're that way in the meeting rooms, guys are that way in the weight room, guys are that way in the practice. I was wondering, why we were doing a Chargers thing. Yeah, why would we be here talking from the Chargers coach?

That was John Harville, not Jim. Go ahead. Jim's got a lot of opinions too. Who do you trust more of the Bears or the Ravens in this game? Really? I mean, I don't know, it's not going to be any, you know, the Ravens, of course. Why? What have they done to earn your truck?

Because of Lamar Jackson. When he plays, they average 37 points a game. That's pretty good. That's pretty good stat, right? Okay. The defense is bad. Are they going to, and I am, I will admit, the defense, I have been leaning into that Rams game because that was obviously their best performance

of the year. And it was against a good offense, a great offense. So I'm hoping that that is really, I don't expect them to become a top five off defense. I'm saying, I'm hoping that. But remember last year, they went from basically the worst defense. or close to it in the league to by the end of the year they were playing among the best. I don't necessarily expect that type of jump, but I am obviously after one game, I'm not completely certain what type of defense they're going to play.

I'm hoping it's much better, but even still, I'm putting my faith in that offense in dropping. Look, I don't know if they'll go score 35 points, but I think that offense, because the Bears defense is 25th in the league, total defense and scoring. defense. So Lamar should be able to come out and have a big game. Obviously, you still got Derek Henry. And I just think if you're in that locker room, if you have not given up on the season, then this is the moment. This is where not only me saying it, they got to be saying it in their minds. We get this win. This is a decent team, Chicago. We get this win. Our division is right there. Everybody's kind of bunched up for the taking. We know what our

schedule is. We know what the Steelers schedule is. We got our guy back. Let's get it done. So, yeah, I got the much more confidence. Back to must win. And you guys have won four straight. You're kind of due, I mean, you know what I mean? The Ravens have lost four in a row.

The Bears have won four in a row. That's good for a win. I mean, unless you are like, but for real, unless you're a superb team, and I think we would agree, the Bears aren't superb. They've having a year. They might be the fight for the playoffs, but they're going to lose soon.

And in a few days, if I'm not mistaken. I think that's fair. Okay. I mean, their due argument, I can't really push back against too much, but I didn't expect a four-game winning streak. But I said, don't let the bears get hot. Are they hot, though? Listen, winning four straight when your quarterback isn't playing that well, when you are

leading the NFL and takeaways and you've discovered a running game. I'm like, I put together a little graphic brew of things that the bears do better than the Ravens that has nothing to do with Lamar Jackson. Of course, because they don't do anything better than it includes. Okay, but it's putting a lot of stock in this guy coming back from an injury. He's not going to solve their defensive problems. Like, opponent's points per game, they're still going to be a bad defense. Takeaways, the bears still dominate him.

Pass rush, the bears have been dominating them. And running back production, this. year because Lamar has played in four of these games. The Bears running back duo of Swift and Menungi is actually doing better than Derek Henry and Justice Hill. In the four games that Lamar played? Yeah, I mean, over the whole season. No, that's what I'm saying.

No, Derek Henry only had the one good game. Right. That was like 200 yards. Yes, but Derek Henry was, when Lamar was out there was struggling after that and then was continuing to struggle. They weren't giving them the ball, obviously. I feel like the argument, the Ravens, it's just, they can't be. be this bad, can they?

But don't you think, I hear you, because they have been bad. I mean, there's no denying that. But do you guys give them any, like you guys seem to, they are, they have been a great team for a long time. No, I, I do not think they are. You guys talk about them like, they're really like a legit one in five team when they have played three of the best teams in the league as far as their losses. And then Lamar was gone for the other.

So I do think they are. defensively a legit one in five team. They have. I do think that and I think that they have gotten had a little bad injury luck, game luck with Buffalo, schedule luck with who they played early on, which is

why having Lamar Jackson in an offense that was when it was playing those four games as potent as it was that's why they are truly a one in five team through six games because they weren't able to offset the fact that they have this one and five defense. And if this game were

a month, I think my answer would be the Ravens. But I think a mistake we make all the time in football is guy who missed a month is going to come back and be the guy he always is. And they never are. And Lamar doesn't, while

Lamar's missed time, Lamar, when he's missed time, it's usually been at the end of the year, those back-to-back years. We haven't seen these instances where he misses four weeks or three weeks. I know one of the games was a buy and then comes back in place. So we don't know how he's going to look in this game. And I think the only way Baltimore wins is if Lamar is excellent. Because I do think the

defense has structural problems. The Ravens defense to me feels like the Eagles offense from a schematic standpoint, but instead of having superstars all over the place, doesn't have hardly any except for Kyle Hamilton. Like I don't think Roquant Smith is a superstar anymore. Not Domde Madabouque is out for the year. And so I think they don't have a ton of talent on that side of the ball right now and schematically they're bad. And what I do buy into is, if we're into the who's do argument, Caleb is due for a good game.

Like Caleb has, they've won despite how Caleb played against the Bears and the Saints. So if Caleb plays well and the Bears can now run the ball since the by, I think the Ravens, Vegas has a lot of faith in Lamar. For them to be a touchdown favorite with Lamar coming off this injury. Maybe it's because they need it so bad, but that's a lot of faith in both.

I think the line is high. I mean, I think they can win, eat by more than six points, but I'm saying I do think that's a high line considering how poorly they've played. But with Lamar coming back, I look at it as, like when he played the first game

of the season. And you know, you obviously haven't played in months, but he's, he's been so good in the regular season, like the last two years that, you know, it's like he, he hardly ever has a bad game in the regular season, you know, now these last few years. So I do expect him to play. Go ahead. No, I was just going to say, I mean, obviously, if Lamar is Lamar, the Ravens have the huge quarterback edge. The question is where else do they have the edge? I would say running back, too. I know Swift's been playing well. Amazing. I just think the running game of the Bears. I don't think they have the better coach right now.

I certainly would take Ben Johnson. I don't think right now, I don't think they, like I understand what Harbaugh has accomplished. But right now as far as having his team all pulling in the same direction and us believing he's going to cook up a game plan, which I know isn't really Harbaugh's job. Because he's not a, he was a special teams coordinator. So he's kind of more of a, you know, his CEO coach. He has been a poor job. But right. And let me let me add one other thing before we get to pack stats.

I am, we were talking when there was a little kind of light reporting earlier today, like, hey, Lamar, maybe we'll play, maybe won't. And you just kind of said offhandedly, and I totally agree, Lamar has to play. Like, Lamar's got to play in this game. And the reason I bring it up is, even if Lamar is not 100%, he's got to play, right? Like, even if he's 75, 80%, season online post a buy. So if he is that, and he is like, hey, He can still be dialed as a passer, which he has been the last few years. But he's not going to really be a threat as a runner.

That, to me, really changes the way the Ravens will be defended. If, you know, if after the first quarter they realize Lamar had an open running lanes not taking it. And, you know, because he's nursing somewhat the hamstring, that changes how dynamic and effective he is. That's another, to me, edge for the Bears. Revenge game for Aaron Rogers. He's a home underdog when the Steelers host the Packers. 40-year-old Rodgerts going up against Michael Parsons, who had a career game last week,

and brings us to this week's edition of Packed Stats. A segment that makes statistics cool. They've always been cool. Well, I just make stats look good. Oh, wow. I brought my stats with me today, boys. Lights, camera stats. The Steelers have the rest of the

I'm just throwing a lot of catch me. This is out there. You guys could choose which one you like. Steelers have the recipe to stifle the Packers pass rush. They figured it out. Now, you might question the ceiling of an offense like this, but 22.6 is their pressure percentage allowed? Second best in the NFL over the last month.

Second fastest time to throw in the last month, Aaron Rogers. So Micah Parsons is coming off arguably the best game of his career. Packers pass rush was discovered. It's going to be a marquee game Aaron against his old team. But the Steelers have been priming, hey, we got a 41-year-old quarterback. we got to snap and throw and not allow the pressure to get home. That's the formula in Pittsburgh.

So here is my, I agree that that is exactly what they've been doing. It feels, and maybe this is recency bias to the total deterioration and implosion of the Miami Dolphins. I just feel like if that is the book on what you're going to do as an offense, unless

you have Tyree Kill and Jalen Waddle and this amazing, like, the schematic edge with the cheat motion and stuff when people hadn't seen it, that teams can just stop that. We're going to, we're going to take the risk that we're going to get beat over the top. We're going to play man coverage. We're going to jam your receivers.

And we are not going to allow you to get the ball out that quickly and throw off the timing. That's what I would imagine the Packers are going to try to do. They're going, they know they want to get the ball out that quickly. And so that to me is, there is a cost to that of trying to run that type of offense. Yeah, I think they, I mean, I think Rogers is getting it out quicker than just about anybody, except maybe Mahoney. No, second fastest. Second fastest right now.

Yeah, but I look, I think the teams they've played, Cincinnati, without Trey Hendrickson, right? Yep. Some, who else? Miami, the Jets, like, this is a different level of pass rush. And again, I said earlier, Danny, I think that the Packers are going to, going to want to win this for J-Lo, for Jordan Love. You know, they know Mike is close with him. They know he was here.

A lot of those players weren't there with Rogers, but they know he was there with Rogers. They know how big the narrative is between the two quarterbacks. So I think that pass rush coming off what they did last week, six sacks, they are going to be extra hungry. And it's really going to test Rogers. And Rogers, he even said it, he's feeling better physically. So last week, he looked great as far as his mobility. So does that, does that lead? need him to hold onto the ball just a little longer thinking he can get away from the

rest. I think for them, do you agree, for them to be the best vert team that they can be, that number on the right has to change. Like that they, I don't think you can be a great team if everything you do is quick. I think that there, unless you have, again, you have a dominant defense, a dominant running game. If the passing game is just a true supporting actor. But if the Steelers' offense is going to go through the past game, I think, I don't think they're running game needs to get better.

Again, the plan for them is to have the best defense in the NFL. Yeah, well, that's a great plan, but they're not. Everybody got a plan until they get hit. You thought that was cool? Check this out. This is actually a wild special. You didn't like the Seattle one. So here we go.

Not me, the audience. The Bill's by week actually came at the perfect time because the stat is 7 and 0. Oh, Josh Allen. Josh Allen has never, people love Josh Allen. He's never lost out of a buy. His coach, by the way, 8-0. Sean McDermott. But if the buy came at a perfect time for a Buffalo team

that you guys were giving me grief for having them still as the third best team in the NFL in Top 10 Tuesday, Danny's dozen, it's the type of thing where they can't lose this game and they won't. So can I throw this stat, which is cool, back at you? Okay. Since McDermott doesn't lose, no, It's just like judo move of a stat.

Since McDermott doesn't lose and Josh Allen doesn't lose and everyone believes in the bills really except me. If they lose this game, will you finally be like, uh-oh, Wilds is right. This team is not who we think they are. Absolutely. I mean, I don't know if you guys did this in must win. I apologize if I missed it. No, we didn't. But, I mean.

We decided that it was too obvious that the bills were going to win to do it in must win. Yeah. To do it in must win. Yeah. If the bills lose. this game to Carolina. And Carolina has been good at home and Carolina can run the ball and Buffalo's defense has been susceptible against the run. So I'm not saying blowout, but Buffalo should win this game. And if they don't win this game, absolutely. Panic time. Andy Dahl. Yeah, well,

that's one of those weird ones where they injured. Saw Flacco crush, dude. No, well, it's a weird spot where if you're Buffalo, he'd probably like, you have we rather face the starter. Like that. I mean, Bryce has gotten some good wins. I know he hadn't played great. Andy Dahl's got a game of them though. So, one or two games a year. But I definitely agree with your hypothetical that if they lose this game, if they have three game losing streak and they've lost off the buy with the

chiefs coming up, then yeah, then it is panic time in Buffalo. I don't think it is panic time in Buffalo. I think they're going to win. And to kind of build off the buy piece of it, the stat. This is the first time, not one of the only times since Josh Allen's been, Josh Allen where it felt like at the buy, oh, we need to use this by week to work on some things. Like I don't care as much that Josh has thrown some picks as of late. If that is in service of, we're going to hunt big plays a little bit more again.

Because I don't think that they are going, they have not had the defense this year that they have had in years past where you could play a more conservative style offense like they did last year. So I do wonder if Joe Brady used the by week to be like, hey, we are going to try to stretch the field with first things, first favorite Keon Coleman, a little bit more than, you know, we maybe planned going into the year. Yeah. All right. You ready for the coolest stat of the mall? Yes. Check this out.

Try to hold your, contain your excitement. It would be so cool. All right. Last one. Yeah. Never leave home without my stats. What? Dude, we can't keep on auditioning.

I'm just trying to try it all this. The Rams have the formula. Defense and Matt Stafford to have the Rams on a Super Bowl pace. If you have a quarterback with a pass rating of a hundred and nine or more and a defense that allows 17 points per game, 100% of the time you win the Super Bowl. And that is what the Rams have been doing so far through seven weeks. The 16 Patriots, the greatest show on turf, and the 89 Niners. Right now, Matt Stafford's pass the rating is

109 point something, and they're allowing 16.9 points per game. The formula for the Rams. They should have been higher the top 10 Tuesday. I'm not telling anyone how to do their jobs, and I trust and I respect the integrity of Josh and Troy are statisticians. But I would have just said, let's make it 110, even if it's not true. Like, it just feels clear. I know, we got to round up.

We got to do something. That is, I think the Rams defense brew has been the most under discussed, excellent unit in football. Whenever we talk about the Rams, it's Pooka Naku's breaking records, or everybody's Fall American Matt Stafford, or Sean McVeigh something, that defense that they rebuilt basically in two drafts. Like Aaron Donald Outt rebuilt it. First, risk, has been extraordinary.

And it's one of the reasons that I agree with kind of the general point, even if it's not your specific take, that that team absolutely is a Super Bowl caliber team without a doubt. Yeah, they've won me over as far as, like, I don't think I even picked them to make the playoffs. Because I was worried about Stafford. He didn't really play in the preseason space. He was in that immortal chamber, but he just didn't want to practice and training.

That's what it seems like it was because he looks great. I mean, he looks, you know I had him second on Bruce Ballet. I mean, but he legitimately right now has a chance to win his first MVP. Correct. And so which would be huge, people talk about. I think that would make him in the whole thing. I think that would put him in the Hall of Fame. Yeah, listen, I, you.

He doesn't have the overall. Aacolades, even with that, you could question it. But if he has a league MVP and a Super Bowl championship as a quarterback and finish his top five all time in the U.S. Numbers are high. Then he's going to be, that would, I think, be the final piece. And he does have a legitimate MVP case. His stats this year are crazy. Yeah.

Devontes fit in perfectly for them. And again, they don't even have the coolest. So, yeah, they're in that top tier in the NFC, no doubt. All right. That's our coolest segment in all of sports. Packed stats. Never leave home without them. Never leave home without them.

Also, lights camera staff. Lights camera staction. Diana received. She spoke to Jerry Jones. What's going on with the Cowboys? Find out next. Did you say lights camera staction? Yeah, I like it.

That's better. All right. So the Cowboys take on the Broncos on Sunday. Dallas coming off a huge win over the commanders. Dak is playing out of his mind. I don't think anyone's playing better football actually at the quarterback position right now than Dak Prescott. Defense though has had plenty of questions.

Are they going to make an addition at the trade deadline? Well, I mean, Michael Parsons was available. But here's Jerry Jones doing his weekly radio on 1053 The Fan in Dallas. Just because we played well and all of a sudden everybody thinks, boy, you're in the hunt. So it's time to go out and gather up all of this talent that's waiting around out here on the trees to add to it. Now that we feel good that we can be more competitive. That's not realistic. What's realistic is that if we do see an opportunity,

we are in as good a shape as we've been in in years with pigs, with financial, with our cap, when as good as shape we've ever been, if we see a way to improve our team with a player that makes sense today this year, next year, to entertain it and look at it. So Jerry loves to talk. when he says we're in as good a shape as we've ever been, that feels questionable, given that the first good defensive performance of the year came when Jaden Daniels missed the last four drives

with the hamstring injury, and they're without their top three wide receivers. Diana Rossini back with us, Greg Jennings, Danny Parkins. You buying this from Jerry? 341 yards compared to what? Over 400 yards. That's proven. At his progress.

I see the excitement. So I was at the league meetings today in Midtown and Harkins. I had a chance to talk to Jerry Jones about it. It's very similar to what we just heard there in terms of his enthusiasm about the team and just the optimism he has, of course, on the offensive side of the ball. But even talking about the defense,

I asked him if he has confidence that Matt Iber Fluse is still the right guy here because the defense is the weakest link. And he said, absolutely. He said, this is not about scheme at all, that this is about execution and that every single week, a little bit more execution, of course,

two turnovers, is going to help you. And that's where Dan Quinn had so much success. right. It was those turnovers. So the question is, what do you do? Right? You have a quarterback playing at an MVP level. You have a chance to win the division, possibly here, based on how we're seeing the rest of the opponents look at this point. So what do you do at the trade deadline? So I assume pass rush because, hey, everybody knows that's what they're missing. That would be unbelievable for content. Jerry told me, on the record, they are not going pass rush. That is not the area that they're looking for. They're going defense.

No, trust me. I push back. I'm like, well, I joke kind of like, well, why don't you just go get Micah back, you know? And look, he seems to be at peace with it with the Micah trade still. But in terms of this move that they're expected to make, I walked away from the conversation with him as they're going to look around. I just don't think they're going to make some big splash. I just don't think there's any player available that makes sense contractually and worth the picks that they would have to give up for it. Well, I'm going to speak.

as though they're not going to make a splash. Because I just don't believe that Jerry does those types of things unless it's going to hurt the team. Like get rid of Micah. But I'm looking at this question, if I'm buying, if the cowboys are going to make a run, and you talk about Jerry saying or he's saying it's not about the scheme, it's about execution. Well, it's always been about execution, but sometimes the scheme helps that. And when you're the cowboys, if both aren't being done at a high level, then you have a problem. I'm not saying Matt Ibrufus is the issue, but they struggle to stop the run.

We know who they are offensively. We know they're going to put, they're going to put up a lot of points. But if you can't stop the run, that's 101. That's like elementary when you talk about defensive posture and football. We got to eliminate the run, make them throw the ball to beat us, and the Dallas Cowboys haven't been able to do those things. So their offense is excellent. I think that legitimately can win MVP.

And I know Knicks made the point about last year's Bengals team, like Joe Burrow was amazing, but the defense, I think it's apt. Quarterbacks that have had 100 plus passer rating against Dallas this year, Russell Wilson, my guy Caleb, Justin Fields, like, they still have Mahomes. They still got golf. They still have Jaden.

They still have Herbert. They still have Hertz on the schedule. It's hard for me to imagine that caliber of quarterback still to come, and Dallas actually going on a sustained run. Yeah, you're putting it all on your offense. You've got a whole, that you're scoring 30 points and you're holding each team to 22. Like that's the only way they're going to be able to be able to.

22 would be great. And you know what would help against those type of quarterbacks? The very thing that he told Diana, he's not going out to get a pass rusher. He would disrupt that timing, speed a quarterback up, and disrupt what they want to do as an offense, helping your secondary out, helping your defensive front out. You've got to look at the pass rush situation there. And I know Jerry just loves content. Like he doesn't care about criticism, praise.

He just wants to be talked about. It would be objectively hilarious if they traded for a pass rusher to, like, hear what he would say. I mean, just think about what that would take, though, from a shot at the ego even, just like, man, we just gave up this guy because we really believe that getting these picks back are going to help us now and in the future. And we actually think we're a better team without them, right? That's their words, not ours, right? I think everyone here has agreed that the Dallas Cowboys, oh, I'll speak for myself, the Dallas Cowboys are Super Bowl contenders. if Michael Parsons is on this team, right? But they obviously don't see it that way.

And I pointed to the fact that Micah had a career day on Sunday, right? And he said, look, when I made this trade, this was the situation I knew was going to happen. Micah would have a Micah day. But guess what else happened on Sunday? We won, right? He said, except we won, and we have the picks, right? So that's how they're seeing it, you know, in their head. And maybe that's how they sleep at night.

But what happens when Micah has a Micah Day and the Dallas Cowboys get blown out because of their defense? They won't have to wait that long. We'll go to San Francisco where the still Brock Purdy list and Fred Warnerless and Nick Bocelis, you understand. They got a lot of injuries out there in San Francisco. They're five and two despite all of it. Brock Purdy limited in practice with the lingering toe injury. And the question is can the 49ers keep winning without Purdy?

And I guess I would just say briefly, yeah, for now. Like they can beat the Texans. They can beat the giants. I do, as much of a skeptic at times as I was of Brock Purdy, he's better than Mac Jones. And so I don't think they can win big without Brock Purdy. Well, make sure Christian McCaffrey stays healthy and I think you'll be just all right. You know, I mean, they're going to be depending on him and every single defense know this is coming because they've got so many different injuries. As for Brock Purdy, I mean, how frustrating this must be for him, right?

This is something they thought was going to be three to four weeks. This is not something they thought that we. eight, he's again, most likely not playing. This is, this was not in the plan, but this is a turf toe situation. They saw Joe Burrow have a really serious injury that freaked Brock out a little bit, right? He's like, I want to be patient with this. I don't want to re-injure this so badly, then I'm going to have to get the surgery and then be out for the year. So they've been really patient. He did a little workout on Sunday before the game, before the Niners played Atlanta, and he just didn't feel good. So they're like, all right, we're going to, you know, keep you on

the sideline until you feel better. So, Until he's better, this is Mack Jones. And I think Kyle Shanahan has proved, though, and perhaps maybe one of his best coaching jobs that we've seen in the last few years, coaching of the year, Canada, for me at this point, for finding a way to win games with Mack Jones, a guy that I don't think anyone thought still had it in him. And that's the part that I want to touch on.

When you don't have the personnel, and they clearly are missing the personnel on both sides of the ball, you have to supplement that. And how you supplement that is with players playing at a level and being in a scheme that can produce wins. They have coaching that is putting these players in great situations, primarily on the defense side of the ball. Offensively, we know Kyle Shanahan has always been a genius, one of the best in the game as far as play calling. But what Robert Sala has been, has done on that defensive side of the ball with your marquee players out and with backups filling in. And this team can still win with Purdy out because they have a scheme and coaching that can overcome it and a favorable schedule.

Yeah. Right. Because the thing is as the easy punch line is you paid Purdy and now you're winning with Mac Jones. So why did you pay Purdy? Right. That's the. But they scored six more points per game. Yeah.

With Brock Purdy than Mac Jones. Like it's not like Mac Jones is lighting it up. They just happen to be winning with Mac Jones. He's not making the critical mistake. There are a good example. why you pay a little bit more to have a good backup plan, right? How many teams lose? Hello, Cincinnati, right? Like, where they lose their starter and then they're scrambling to figure out, okay, we're a good team on paper, but we can't win because our backup isn't very good.

San Francisco 49ers have the backup plan and they have the head coach who can get the most out of them. As for what they're going to do at the trade deadline, right? This is a team that is making calls for a pass rush. They're another one. I mean, you might as well just name every team right now. And that. And Ray Henderson has to go somewhere. Somebody wants them. Yeah. It's just Cincinnati, doesn't want to move them. Why would they write in their in their mind? Look, Joe Flack would just want us a game like he maybe he can maybe we can do it with him. That would be not willing to give it up. I know we're talking Niners. If Trey Hendrickson finishes the year in Cincinnati when he is definitely leaving

Cincinnati in the off season, I would just be organizational malpractice. You have to trade him for something. Right. Well now with his value being as high as it as high as it would be and every team needing someone like that we're talking about the Bengals like They also could have gotten a lot more in the offseason for Trey. That's true. And they decided to keep them here. Well, the Niners can win a few more games without Brock Brady. He's got to come back at some point.

And the Eagles won and it was great. And it took one day. And then there was drama again. Yes. One whole day of no drama in Philadelphia. You get into it next. Why, Eagles? Why? You get it?

Yeah, you like that, Greg. Thank you. After a 121-yard-two touchdown game in a win, That sounds good for a wide receiver. 121 yards, two touchdowns, a win. A.J. Brown took a day. And then went to Instagram to say, using me, but not using me. Translate.

I don't know. I don't know. I know I'm supposed to speak like millennial and younger here and we communicate like with sub tweets and subposts. I'll just say this. It's always something. I'm not, maybe he's trolling us. Maybe everything is totally fine. But if it looks like a dog, if it smells like a dog, if it smells like a duck, if quacks like a duck.

Like it's just, there's always something, Diana, going on in Philadelphia, even when they win. And I don't understand it. That's normally, I would think that's a Jets thing or a Bears thing or a Bengals thing or a Brown, like a dysfunctional. I don't look at Philly as dysfunctional. But then they keep doing stuff like this. You look at Philly as dysfunctional. I mean, they won the Super Bowl. They won the Super Bowl.

They do it with problems, though. Right? I guess they're smooth. It's not like they're just hunky dory, like the Kansas City Chiefs were a few years ago where they just get through the season, they win, and they go to the Super Bowl. That's true.

We had problems last year. We had problems the year before. This is sort of what Philly does. And when I talked to Jeffrey Lurie today about that, he is well aware that this is how his team operates. I said, do you like the drama? Do you think your team is motivated by that? He says, it's not that we want the challenges

of the personalities and perhaps some egos. He's like, we like the fire. We like the fact that we're intense about it. The intensity of this locker room, we purposely make it this way. Now, that being said, A.J. Brown having two touchdowns and then going on Instagram the next day, saying using me, not using me, says to me, yeah, you're using me when you need me or in situations that I'm not necessarily that important. Why don't you use me in the situations where maybe I could get the ball earlier in the game,

and we can do more. And the offense can be more of a passing offense compared to what they've been trying to force all season long. So this isn't me sticking up for AJ. I just can see what he's saying here. And at the end of the day, this is a tale as old as time. This is a star wide receiver who guess what everybody wants the ball. Yeah.

Johnson, give me the damn ball. Jerry Rice was like this. Sure. And that's the other thing too. Just real quick, Greg. He's right. Like, he's awesome. It's not a bad idea in a game plan to give a guy like A.J. Brown the ball.

That's not a crazy thing. He said it into the camera. So as he scored the touch. I read his list. I read his list. This is what happens when you give me the ball. And so for me, this is why it is something because the social media posts, AJ, you probably should stop because they don't help anything. However, on the other hand, on the other hand, it's like he has a perspective.

of an insider that we will never have. And he understands what this offense needs. And I think he's seeing it as the Eagles are trying to give us what they want to be versus what they need to be. And what they need right now is to throw the ball. And so I got a couple of plays. I'm going to go to the big board. Whoa.

Absolutely. I like it. Now, who do we want watching this right now? Do you want AJ watching this? Look, AJ can watch it. AJ did it. He's going to be on full display. But what AJ is, his frustration comes from, like, this is who we should be because what we were last year, it's not working this year.

And so I'm going to show you some plays. The situation, fourth quarter, minute 48 to go, up six, need a feel, at least a field goal to extend, make it a two-score game. We got A.J. Brown at the top. We got Dallas got it in the slide. And why I want to highlight this is because we're going to see another play. where these two players are important. You see Dallas Goddard, the defense, they're showing blitz, covers zero. Everybody knows umbrella coverage.

Receivers know quarterback's not going to have a lot of time. Sequin has to get the inside rusher. He does that. Jalen hurts. He got to get rid of the ball. And what does he do? Slightly throws it behind AJ. A.J. gets up, shows a little bit of frustration.

Almost runs the play. I, we stop it really quick. Stop it really quick. before this play even happens, the third and nine, what we saw was them almost use a timeout because the play clock was running out. Get a timeout. You know right now if you're Kevin Petulow, Brian Fores is going to probably bring pressure again. So what do they do?

It's third and nine. You get a chance to talk about it. We move Dallas Goddard to Max Protect. We got A.J. Brown at the top. Again, pressure look. Umbrella coverage, that means it's cover zero. If we go from the wide view, we don't have enough to pick up in Max Protects, even though we get our Dallas got her tight in inside, there's not enough.

Jalen Hertz has to account for somebody. It's one-on-one with your best player. This is what you want, A.J. Brown, Isaiah Rogers. But Brian Flores does a great job because Mattelis, he's going to play the slant. Dan Rogers had no business biting on that slant, but because he just saw it to play before, AJ Brown gets them with the great body language and the rest is history. This is who the Philadelphia Eagles have to be. And this is why we're seeing these cryptic tweets because AJ Browns knows what we all have been saying.

In order for the Eagles to have success this season, they're going to be required to pass the ball in moments that require them to execute at that level. They did it with A.J. Brown. This is who they need to become for their entire offense to be electric for the remainder of the season. How ironic when last year, the first four games of the year, they were passing. They were.

And they were two and two. And they're like, we got to go away from it to start running. And now because the running game isn't working, they're saying we've got to go back and start passing. But Greg, how does this get fixed? This isn't going to stop, right? AJ's made it pretty clear. He's not happy, right?

You're the Philadelphia Eagles. You're telling the world right now, we are not trading him. Why would we trade him? He's our best player. So now you have an unhappy player that you need on offense, not getting the ball. How are they going to continue to get through the year, keeping him happy and maybe not having an offense that looks like that? Well, I don't think it's necessarily about just A.J. Brown exclusively. The problem that I do have is that with the tweet, your counterpart has.

had a very productive day as well. So in the passing game, it was on full display. And we still get the tweet or the social post. Instagram. Instagram post. So that's the issue. But how it gets fixed is you actually have to pass the ball. We've seen in games where if they don't pass the ball,

they're not winning. They've had the most success this season when they've been able to put the ball in the air and allow 11 and allow 6, to do what they do. That's their strength right now. They leaned on their strength last year, which was the running game in Saquan. This year, that is not the strength of this team.

The strength has to be the perimeter guys getting this offensive unit going, opening it up for the running game and more of their passing game, and it equates to wins. Forgive me for being a stickler here, but I still using me but not using me. They objectively use.

They did. Don't use me when you need to use me. Just use me all the time. Use me all the time. Make me part of the game plan. Yes. So he feels like he's wide receiver one, not just the guy that they need when it's tight and they need someone to score or point. He wants to be part of it all game long, not just towards the end there.

Okay. And he deserves to be. Yes. I have, this is why teams were talking to Philly about perhaps then moving him because they're like, look, you're not really using the guy. really using the guy, right? You're paying him all this money. If you're not going to use him, maybe we can trade you a player that you need on defense, Philly. And you have to think that Howie has to think about that if he thinks that can make the team better. But Jeffrey Lurie told me today, they're not moving AJ. So the Philadelphia Eagles, according to Greg Jennings,

are now a past first team. They should be a past first team. I know it's not what they want to be, but sometimes you got to do what's needed versus what's wanted. And what's needed is for the to pass the ball, specifically down the field to open up even the underneath routes, and obviously open up the running game, or at least help the running game. And you haven't even touched on the fact that their offensive line is beat up, right? This is the big part of the problem that they're dealing with, which is why the run game has looked the way it has. So the passing game is going to give them a chance and give them a shot because you've got

the stunts. Every single team in football would kill to have Smith and A.J. Brown. The crazy thing is, too, their resume all of a sudden is pretty good. Like they're five and two. They're the defending champs. They've got marquee wins. They beat the Chiefs. Everything just feels so hard in Philly.

It does. Like everything, nothing is just smooth. They never just win and we spend the week going, good for you, Philly. You're going back to the Super Bowl. Everything just feels like a bad hangover. Well, do what they did in Baltimore. Get rid of the ping pong fables. Five and deep.

Don't give rid of the toys. Does that work? Oh, it's going to. Welcome into first things last. On the surface, you would think Lamar Jackson. and absence would be the reason for the Ravens disastrous 1 in 5 start. And if that's too simplistic, it would be the rest of their injury report, littered with first round picks and big contracts. But think again, according to his story in the Baltimore Sun, the issue was ping pong.

That's right. Forrest Gump's favorite game was a distraction. And John Harbaugh decided they've reached the point of the year where it's the only thing you can do with distractions, and that is eliminate them. He has removed the Ravens ping pong tables. Now my love language is sarcasm, with a healthy mix of condescension. So my initial instinct here is, like many of you, I'm sure, to mock this. However, good ping pong being blamed for bad football is a tale as old as time, and I like to consider myself a bit of an expert on the subject. The first time I remember noticing this phenomenon was back in 2013,

when Mike Tomlin tried to salvage an O-in-4 season by removing ping pong. Another noteworthy example came in 2017, when renowned disciplinarian Tom Coughlin joined the Jaguars front office and one of his first orders of business was removing the tables. Finally, upon taking the job in Washington in 2020, Ron Rivera also prioritized the removal of table tennis. So why would three legendary coaches across different years keep turning to ping pong instead of, oh, I don't know, their play collars or blocking schemes when addressing their team's problems? To the data! The Steelers finished 8 and 4 after an 0 and 4 start. That's right. We wouldn't have everyone's favorite Mike Tomlin's

had never had a losing record stat if it weren't for ping pong's removal in Pittsburgh. Tom Coughlin heard your mocking and dismissed it, as Jacksonville went from 3 and 13 in the ping pong era to 10 and 6 in a trip to the AFC title game in the post-pong era of Duval. And Ron Rivera, he merely guided Washington to its first playoff appearance in five years

and a worst to first finish in the NFC East after removing the scourge on our society that is table tennis. So Lamar Jackson is back at practice. It's a Roquan Smith revenge game. The Ravens are at home in a must-win spot. But the real reason the bears have to worry, if history is to be our guide, is that Baltimore is now focused on the football and not the ping pong ball.

That's all I've got. Thank you so much for being with us on first things first. Oh, that was an awesome shot. Right off the camera, I could never do that again.