First Things First - Lions beat Bucs, NBA opening night, Mahomes Mountain, Can the Blue Jays upset the Dodgers?

Episode Date: October 21, 2025

(0:00) Lions beat Bucs, Can the Blue Jays upset the Dodgers? (26:36) Ravens ‘removed distractions’ from locker room (40:22) Brou’s MVP Ballot entering Week 8 (46:11) Mahomes Mountain (01:06:50) C.J. Stroud worries, Lions win or Bucs loss a bigger story? (01:20:22) Brou’s NBA Opening Night Bucket List (01:27:56) Danny’s Top 10 Teams, Lions scariest NFC team? (01:50:50) Seahawks beat Texans, Will Brian Daboll last the rest of the Giants’ season? (02:01:28) He Said, We Said, Dak Prescott proving the doubters wrong? (02:09:40) Will Saquon Barkley bounce back? Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Man, this is what it's all about. A strike away for Jeff Hoffman and the Toronto Blue Jays, the payoff. I'm from New York. It's a show that was a little bit upset that the Blue Jays won. I'm happy for everyone in Toronto, but me and my friends that I have made in Washington State, devastated. Can I tell you what I was upset about? It was a tough line.

Because listen, I picked the Mariners, but I'm happy for the Blue Jays. I'm really upset that you swung it back. Because we would have gotten Cal with a man on in the bottom of the ninth and two outs for a chance to send his team to the first world series ever. That would have, it's just the iconic moment that we were one taken pitch away from getting and seeing it. I'm shocked he did it because he's had a really nice series. Oh, absolutely. And listen, Springer is a postseason legend. And he had his moment, but I just wanted to see Cal at the plate.

I had two home runs at one game. Well, I just, I just wouldn't see him at the plate. He hit what, 66? Yeah. It's possible. Yeah. Today, Lions bounce back and Bounce Baker. Is there a chance that the bucks are actually in trouble?

Maybe. Well, some of us have been trying to. You were 100% right about it. Yeah, there are no Ravens. Ravens renovations. They're no Baltimore Ravens. To the team, no. To the locker room.

No more cornhole in the locker room. No, it's super. Super Smash Bros. was in the locker room. That's distracting. And they still lost two games, Brew. Brew's reaction to this latest article, there's a lot there. There is a lot there. And I'm sure Brew read the whole thing.

Oh, yeah. And finally, after a long absence, has Patrick Mahom played his way back on top of Mahomes' Melon after an emphatic win against the Raiders? Well. May I say something after you introduce this? Chris Bussarke, I've got more out, and Nick Roy wants to say something.

Kevin Wilde, whether he knows it or not, five weeks ago, hurt my feelings. For what? When? I did an addition of the mountain, I think, after week one. And this is what Wilds did. He's like, well, it's just there's no point of it if there's not even possible for other people to be at the top. That's true. Right, but there was always a path, and I think the mountain proved it over the course of the next.

Don't give it away. And now we're curious if we're back to equilibrium. of Patrick being in his rightful place. On Tullin Mountain. That means the light show is in full effect. What you called? You called that. He called it.

He called him Jordan. Jorness. We start with a confidence boosting win for Detroit. Depleted secondary was buoyed by subs while Jemir Gibbs ran wild on the bucks. Two 18 total. Two touchdowns. Dan Campbell, you're not going to believe this. Fired up post game.

Defense. Once a mile, four to 16 on third down, one interception, one fumble, covered 252 yards allowed Matt's outstanding we did what we had to do there's things we got to clean up but I tell you what defense you play like that you win every game that's the bottom line

that's outstanding that's the way to cut it loose just like we talked about guys I love Dan Campbell at this point what did the Lions prove last night that Dan Campbell is a heck of a coach and has created a great culture all right

they needed to come back and make a statement after that loss to the chiefs. All right. Now, they haven't lost back-to-back games in three years. October 30th, 2020, I think was their last. And that's when they were nine and eight. Since they've become an elite team, they have not lost back-to-back games. And they did it with, I'm saying their four starters in the defensive backfield were out.

But it was like five of their top defensive backs were out. Right. And so that's what I mean by the culture. Like, when you don't have your start, We've talked about a lot of teams not having players, Baltimore, Kansas, and all these teams that don't have Tampa Bay that's had injuries. And for them to go out there and hold right now, in most people's opinion, certainly going into that game, the league MVP to his worst game of the season, I get it, they had injuries.

But if Bucca played, Mike Evans was there for about half the game, to do what they did to that Tampa Bay offense, I think was impressive. and again, to me it speaks about their culture, their depth. They're not like golf is very good, but he's not Patrick. He's not J. We know he's not in that top tier where it's your quarterback kind of carrying you. He is a very good player who's part of a great team, and they showed it yesterday with their depth.

And then the versatility of the way they did it. We've seen it be David Montgomery. Last night it was Jemir Gibbs. So look, they did what they needed to do, Nick. Obviously, they're still disappointed about losing to the Chiefs, but to come out and kind of beat another top team is all you can do in that situation. Yes, and oddly, because they played this well with an even more injury ravaged team than they played the Chiefs, it almost removes some of the excuses.

Some folks were trying to make for them a week ago about, well, what do you want them to do underman defensively? We kind of showed you what people would have wanted them do. Now, holding a team to nine points is impressive, no matter this scenario, especially a team that has been as prolific offensively as Tampa's been. I thought that was a massive bounceback spot that I did not know that they were mentally going to be ready for. Now, as far as them being upset about the officiating and stuff from a week ago, I think after last night, Lions fans can feel like it were about even. Like, I mean, maybe they'll think complain.

I mean, maybe my crazy hot take for the last five years, which is the NFL is not slanted towards one team. The NFL is very hard to officiate. And if you're on national TV, you're going to have three or four calls, any game that are going to be like, wow, that seems like they got it wrong. Because to stand-alone game, everyone's focused on it. Yesterday, if you're Tampa, you're probably upset about the double review

and the interception we're showing. but Detroit thoroughly outplayed them. Detroit deserved to win that game. And had they lost, their four and three, don't have a tiebreaker head-to-head with Green Bay. Don't have a tie-breaker with Tampa, and Tampa's sitting at one loss. Now it's flipped to where I know Detroit is not right now

in first place in the standings, but because they have that tiebreaker with Tampa and because of how they've been playing offensively post-week-1. and they get Green Bay and they feel to me like they are the favorites for the one seed as we sit here today. I think the NFC West is going to beat each other up with three teams at five and two. So I think that's great. Here would be my one piece of concern for the Lions that I think we saw last night.

They are incredibly reliant, understandably on their great skill position players, most notably Jamir Gibbs, who reminds me of a guy we were talking about off the air the other day, Jamal Charles. The speed and power and as a receiver and a running back, just a great player. I think Jamal's one of the greatest players in Chief's history. And Jamir Gibbs reminds me of him a lot. Goff has to me, even though the numbers haven't shown it,

looked a little shakier this year than last year because they don't have as stout as an offensive line. and I think you saw that at times in the Chiefs game, and you certainly saw it at times last night. So that would be the one, yeah, but with them, but that was a huge win and a win where they can, to me, particularly after the illegal contact that then was Jamir Gibbs 80-yard or on the very next play, controlled the lion's share of that game.

Lions heading to their by week five and two. Gibbs ties Barry Sanders for most touchdowns for a lion through 39 games. Oh, wow. That, like, legendary. Yeah, I didn't know that. Tough loss for the bucks. Baker was off target all night. Mike Evans returned to the lineup, cut short by a broken collar bone and a concussion

in the second quarter. Bull said he'll miss most of the years. That's just horrible news. Baker completed only 56% of his passes. Here he was after the game. As a skill group, we didn't connect on some early plays. Behind the sticks, a lot of get back on track plays and allowing their defensive line and linebackers to get some pressure and pin their ears back.

And it's not fair on the old line to begin with. I thought they played really well in the first half. We just weren't able to connect early. Had some sparks, defense and special teams kept us in that ball game. And it did a hell of a job. But we just weren't able to contribute. You were sending alarms about this game, brew. Bad night or a sign of larger issues for Tampa Bay.

Well, both. Like, obviously Mike Evans is out for maybe. most of the rest of the season, if not longer. So that hurts you. And I think it was a bad sign. Look, they're going to win their division. I thought Atlanta might challenge them, but Atlanta just seems to be up and down.

Carolina's only a game back. Look, I don't think they're as good as they're not going to be Tampa Bay. But, you know, like they're improving. So I see improvement there. But they're going to win that division. But honestly, I think they are what they have been these last few years. Yeah, I really do. They're a very good team.

Fisty. I mean, like a legit playoff team without question. I don't think they're as good as the Philadelphias, the Detroit's, the Green Bayes, especially if Green Bay plays closer to its potential. And so I think, and the Rams, I would put them slightly below those four teams. They're good. So what I would say to them is they better get home field advance. You've been talking, they do have the easier.

schedule. If you look at their schedule, the next four are tough and then it's yeah. Well, New Orleans, which is not like you got to play a lot. But right, they got the three after that that are tough. And then they, you know, Eric, look, those games won't, you still got to play hard, but you should win that last row. That's the thing, Drew, all but one. So they got, to me, they have to get Nick the home field. The one seed you're saying. Well, I mean, to have a chance, real chance to win the Super Bowl, I would say yes. Or to get to. the Super Bowl, I just don't think they're quite as good as

those upper-examines. I mean, we saw them play Philly. I know they lost. That game was, you know, a 51-49 game. So I think, I don't think it's fair to say they are not on par with the Rams or the Eagles. It's hard

for me to say right now they're on par with Detroit because they just played in Detroit, beat them soundly. I know Philly beat them as well, but that, like we said, that game came down to the, right, and to the final moments. What they have working for them is they have a meaty five and two record. And that of all the league, of all the teams with a winning record,

only Philly and Jacksonville have faced a tougher schedule. So when you see who they've beaten, they have beaten winning teams. And I know it's been close. But it's not incredibly. I mean, you're right. Seattle is their best winner. And if you, I mean, throw their schedule up there again. San Francisco is five and two.

Seattle's 5 and 2 The Jets are obviously terrible Houston, the Jets And Atlanta is Atlanta's of Every league average team, right? And Philadelphia came down. They haven't played aside from the Jets

Any walkovers we feel. Houston's weird because they have the number one defense in football and just a terrible, terrible offense. So I think that works in their favor. The Mike Evans thing is a big deal and his historic streak of 11th straight,000 yard season is obviously over, but broken collarbone, he

should be back for the playoffs. And to your point about their schedule, if they can just go two and two in the next four, which is beat the Saints and then go one and two, Patriots, Bills, Rams, which I think is totally reasonable. Then you're seven

and four going into that last stretch and I think the one seed, which was my biggest reason for picking them to go to the Super Bowl was I thought they had a great chance at the one seeding people were undervaluing it. Undervaluing it. I also think that they are going to get in-season boosts by all these guys returning.

Not Evans is what I'm talking about here. Multiple offensive linemen injured. Buckeye Irving injured. Godwin. Abuka got banged up at one point. And they sustained it. So I'm not going to, when I picked them to go to the Super Bowl, five and two through this first seven, I'd have signed up for that.

Yeah, and so it feels bad because of last night. But I think they're a really good team. And I think they had a pretty bad game that with some bad breaks go against them yesterday. So I just, I don't, and you guys know how much I like the Rams. I don't think the Rams are better than them. And I don't know that Philly is too hot and cold for me to definitive. I'm certainly Philly at its best, but you might not get that. But they are, you don't want to play them.

I mean, because Baker, and you know Baker will play well in the playoffs, too. Yes. But I just don't think overall you're as good as those other teams. This is this stat that Josh gave me is the hot sauce that is slightly too hot of stats. Okay. Where it's like you have a hot sauce like that's good. And then you have some hot sauce. You're like, that's a little too hot for me.

But I kind of like it, but I kind of dislike it. If games ended with 90 seconds left, this is what you were talking about of just like playing with fire brew. It's Titans Buck. Bengals, Dolph, Saints, Jets, Raiders. It's a weird stat. And none of those other teams are any good. No, I don't know if I like it. If you can look at it through this prism of this is a great team and he knows how to win.

Or you can look at it through like, I don't know. They're the only first place team that has a negative total point differential. That matters to me. I think it's an indicator. Right. So when it comes to a point differential on a stat like this, it reminds me of a first cousin of a stat for a team that made the Super Bowl last year, which is, do you remember what was going around? Record of teams if you flipped one score games. If your one score losses

were wins and your one score wins were losses last year, that was those stat that showed you the Chiefs would have gone four and 13. And so that was, and that Chiefs, and I'm not saying this, the Chiefs of last year, that team made the Super Bowl. It's a weird, it's a weird stat. They have not blown people out and they and Baker early in the year was having these slow starts and then playing well late I just think that they are one of the only teams in the league San Francisco's proving it as well that could have this level of cluster injuries and still be five and two yeah that the the lion but the lions injuries to me are just the last it's really for them the last two weeks and they're one and one in that stretch the the bucks have been banged up from

basically the first game of the season and then getting more banged up. And I do think they'll be able to sustain the Mike Evans injury. Like that is something Baker gets credit for, building up these other receivers. Seventh-round Pekedess Johnson is playing well. Shepard. MVP candidate. Right, he thought he was. And Abuka's obviously been a great rookie.

So I think that they are still a top tier NFC. Just quickly, I saw this stat. I'll play a quick game of something or nothing out the door. Bucks are 23 and 10 with Baker with Baker not in prime time Baker's now one in seven in prime time that hits your radar Wait hold on the Bucks franchise you're saying Baker Baker starring 23 and 10 when he's not playing in prime time

He's one and seven in prime time games Here's where it hits me nothing against Baker Because Baker obviously is not worried about prime time or big games It hits me as their prime time games are probably against elite teams Of course yeah And that's where they're not the elite team that some like little team is playing. Well, that last point, that's exactly how I would have put it. Prior to this year, if the Bucks were on prime time, it meant they had to be playing.

Yes. One of the three best teams in the league. Aside from, I think they had a Thursday night game last year against Atlanta. That was a crazy like overtime finish at the end. But the Bucks post-Bradie have not been a marquee team. So if they're on prime time, it's because, good example, last year, Chiefs, the overtime game. Chiefs won the toss and Baker felt all sad. They're only playing these elite teams because the Bakers, the Bakers, the Bucs haven't been a big draw.

Bucks in New Orleans Sunday on Fox. New Orleans is going to win a game. They've already won a game. Another game. Yeah, and not this week. They're not going to beat the Bucs. They're kind of like, they're not quite, I don't think, as good as Arizona, but they're one of those teams that you don't want to take it. Yeah, but they also might be coming off their worst game of the year.

Bounceback opportunity. Yeah, and so, no, I think that the Bucks get this win, stabilize at 6 and 2 going into the buy, and then have a really tough stretch. New England, Buffalo, and the Rams is a really tough stretch. I just love that New England. We have moved from, you got the Patriots, New England.

And for you guys, are the Bucks other than Buffalo the only good team you play all year? Yes, and it's a revenge game. Tom Brady revenge game. Okay. Not even there in Kronkowski revenge game. Blue Jays headed to the World Series, courtesy of a three-run home run in the seventh inning

off the bat of George Springer, who added a little Joe Carter-esque hop as he headed to first. Vladdy wins series MVP, and he added a Kobe-esque quote to his post game. Take a listen. You know, the job is not finished. We're going to try to go to the worst shooting and try to win it all.

Like we pray for this and all the country is behind us and we're trying to the window to see back to Toronto. Game one Friday in Toronto on Fox. What are the chances that Blue Jays upset the mighty Dodgers? Look, it's baseball. I mean, so it is a fickle sport. If a team gets hot or goes into a slump, anything could happen. But I feel strongly the Dodgers win this. And look, they're going.

going for to be one of the best teams. You know, the first team to repeat since the Yankees had a three-peat 98 through 2000. So first team this century, really, to repeat. And then I look at their line. And I know, look, Toronto is full of hitters. I mean, they're almost hitting 300 in the postseason. But, you know, Shohei, Muki, Freddie Freeman, Hernandez, both Hernandez.

They got Rike Hernandez in eighth, batting eighth. I don't even think you mentioned. Oh, you said, Beth. Yeah, yeah. Yeah, yeah. Like so, and then the pitching, here's the thing in the postseason. Toronto has given up 47 earn runs in 11 postseason games. The Dodgers have given up 25 earn runs in 10 postseason games.

Is that their starters or their whole pitchers? The whole staff. So that's just one less game. So I just think the Dodgers are better all-around team. And they're playing for Destiny. So I think they're going to go ahead and win this. I'm going to go with the Blue Jays. Love it.

Love that we've got. Because you're kind of, you want to kind of go for the Dodgers, but I like you taking the underdog. Well, listen, I mean, there's, it's weird because I picked the Mariners last night, but that was purely what I, I thought it was a coin flip game,

and I wanted the team that's never been to a World Series to make it. There was no great analysis on it. I just thought coin flip all, I'll pick what I'm rooting for. This is a little different, because one thing the Blue Jays do have going for them is they should be getting Boba Shet back

who was excellent for them this year. They haven't had him the whole postseason, so that's a positive. Vladdy is obviously on fire. I think that really matters. George Springer is third in baseball history in playoff home runs. Third

in playoff history. They play more games. I mean, Dave Ruth is basically ineligible because he could only play in World Series games. But number one is Manny Ramirez. Heck yeah. Number two, is one of Springer's teammates with the Astros, Jose Altuve. And number three is George Springer.

He also is a former World Series MVP. And this year, when he'd kind of been disappointing with the Blue Jays, hit 310 for him and during the regular season, arguably was, if not the most important player, one of their most important or consistent players. And then you do have this anvil looming for the Dodgers, which we talked about all year, which is they have a really, really bad bullpen. The starting pitching's been great. And so this is the Dodgers bullpen.

It hasn't, and that includes the playoffs. Here's why I think that could matter. The Blue Jays play a style of baseball that's act kind of similar to my Royals a decade. eight ago. It's not about hitting a bunch of bombs. It's about putting the ball in play. So here's the Blue Jays ranks this year. Shout out coach Manjini in important stats that I think could get Dodgers starters out of the game. First in baseball and batting average. First and on base. First in hits and the lowest strikeout percentage. So if you can just stick around, get guys on base, even if you're not scoring big early, and get to the Dodgers bullpen,

I think it could cause real stress for them. And so I think the Blue Jays can do it. Brew, we had that stat that we were kicking around last week that the Dodgers starters are up there with like Johnson's Braves and Christy Matthewsson and like the old Dodgers, Fernando's Dodgers. 1.40 ERA 81 strikeouts and 10 starts just so the starts, not the bullpen. Is there any part of you that thinks the Dodgers pitching staff is too hot that they've got to kind of come back?

they're not going to be the best pitching staff of all time in the postseason. Well, like I said, in baseball, like Otani, who just had what we think was the best game ever, was two for 25 at one point, just a week ago. Like Vladdy's numbers over the postseason are better. Yeah, yeah. He's been over seven of the first two games and then one ALCSNBP. Yeah, I mean, so you can go into a slump or the pitcher, you know, they are a great hitting team. Toronto.

We saw that throughout this whole post. season. We've seen it in regular season. So I look, I'm going to have confidence in that staff because they have been so great. And I think you've talked about the bullpen. Dave, Dave Roberts can't be afraid to let the starters go longer. Yeah. You know, seven, eight, you know, whatever it might take.

If they're rolling, let them go rather than going to that bullpen. And go ahead, sorry. No, I'm very interested in two things. and then we're going to go because we have to get to this Ravens ping pong story. I'm interested to see if the tenor of the country has kind of turned on the Dodgers for being too good. Happens to the Patriots, it has now happened to the Chiefs. Dave Roberts is like, we're ruining baseball. Let's win four more and ruin baseball.

So there's a little bit like, ah, you guys are too good. We're going to root for the Blue Jays. The second thing I'm wondering is, is this too much, are the Blue Jays having too much fun? and have they spent too much money on the club in their locker room. They had a disco ball. I like it. And Brew referred to it as a discotheca. So I mean, that is, that shows you, Nick, how serious these teams take these

celebrations. And also, I mean, my goodness. I started tomorrow. I was like, where is that? I'd be a little worried. But they have until Friday. So, you know, 24-hour hangover is not that bad. I just, the, I don't think that America's sour.

on the Dodgers because they won in the pandemic year and they won last year. They're very likable team. They're every year. But they haven't felt inevitable. And no, because up until KW, up until last year, they were kind of known as a postseason underachiever. Yeah. Going into last year's World Series, they had made 13 consecutive post seasons and won one World

Series. Into the World Series, we were like, ah, pandemic. Right. And so if they win this and they win it easily, then I think that happens. But right now I think people are enthralled with Shohei. I was going to say, I think Otani's being a unicorn changes all that. But I just think people just want to see. I think people like the J's and it's like Bo Bichette, that's Dante Bichette's kid,

Vlad Guerrero Jr. I mean, people know that's Vlad Guerrero's kid. But like the, it's pretty obvious. It's junior. But it's just, I don't know. I think it's cool. I'm very excited for it. Ravens Renovations, can a locker room cleanup,

save the season and put brew back on the healthy track? That's next on FIS1 of the Fox Sports Channel on Sirius X-N. Also, do you guys have your passports? Toronto's not that far. Hey, check out the podcast if you get a chance. We're working on it as you speak. Also, our YouTube, we are working on it currently. Literally.

Yeah. Gianna's in a meeting. In a meeting right now. Hey, Gianna's bosses. Uh-oh. Hey, you're on the West Coast. The show's three to five Eastern. If you could just let her be three.

Three to six Eastern. Just, noon to three on the West Coast. Just leave Gianna available if you could. Welcome back to the show. Super Bowl champion Greg Jennings is here. Tough times in Baltimore, Brew. This is unbelievable. Ryan Wacker of the Baltimore Sun wrote just an excellent,

excuse me, article on what's going on with the one in five Ravens? Lots of culprits. including fun. In Luigi, maybe. Yes. Brian Wackeroying, when the team returned to Owens Mills after the loss of the Chiefs,

the toys had disappeared. The Ravens promptly removed several recreational staples from the locker room. The basketball hoop. How big is this locker? The ping pong table, cornhole boards,

video game consoles. Multiple players told the son the decision came from coaching staff who wanted to strip away distractions. Now, this article came out just today. Was it today? Yeah. Today.

But the toys were removed weeks ago. They then lost Tomb War again. Brew? Your reaction to this entire article, and it's a doozy. What a sign. What a sign? What is he talking about? The Ravens and I are on the same page.

This is none. We are in lockstep. They lost. Here, brother. Out. Okay, sorry. They go and get all the toys out of the locker room. All the fun and games gone because it's about business right now.

Yeah. What did I do? Had no idea they had done this. What a turn? What did I do? It's a great point. I took that robe, put it away. That's a great point.

The Jordans, the sandwiches, the chips, the soda pop, the sunglasses, you're going to Because it is time to put your fist in the dirt And play some real Ravens football I'm serious We are on the same page and you can talk Yes, I know they lost to Houston Houston put 44 on them

It took them a minute It took them a minute to get Okay, wow, this is a seat change up in here All right, but then what happened? They lost again. That's all right though. They held everybody's all-American. 17 points.

17 points. And I submit it may have been 13 or even 10 had Zay Flowers not giving them the ball at the 21-yard line of the Ravens. Okay? And the Rams. What the Rams do? The Rams just played Jacksonville. One of the best defenses in the league were told, taking everything away. Drop 35 on them.

All right. When the Rams played in the Indians, put 27 on them, 26 on Philadelphia, and the Ravens hold you to 17? The Ravens held you to your fewest first down to the season, your fewest total yards of the season, your fewest passing yards of the season. They are back, baby. Assuming Lamar is back.

Yeah. They are back. And the last thing, John Harbaugh, are very, smart because we know he's been kind of you know lately last several years a players coach you know players get so instead of going in there knowing I can't all of a sudden you know make be become a hard-nosed tough guy yelling screaming and all that he did it this way I'm gonna be the same guy yeah laugh and smiled but yeah I'm taking away all these toys you show up with your bags ready to play cornhole what

where are the boards that's right oh shoot I got you get the message Coach don't have to yell. You just get, okay. I love the fact that and the idea that you guys are in lockstep. I like that. However, having been in a locker room, having experienced something similar to this, this is foolish. When they took your ping pong table away at a point. Look, when you're winning all these extra things, they're not distractions.

They're just, we got to blow off steam. You got to decompress. Now we're losing. Now these are distractions. You can't have it. And it makes more sense to me why they got blasted the following week after the cheese game. Because you were treating me like a kid. And so I kind of bucked.

You talk about them having a great bounce back in the Rams game. But that following week, it made more sense why I didn't see any heart. Why I didn't see the grit following that? Because there's a level of rebellion and bucking that takes place when something like that happens. Like, what does that have to do with football? This also tells me, this also tells me, They don't really know what the issue is over there in Baltimore. Oh, oh, no.

I agree. Can I expand for a moment? Because Brew, if I may steal one of your patented turn of phrases, that was cute. But if we are being honest, Brew, this is the type of team. team, you should you don't carry hate in your heart, but you should really dislike. They are a silly, soft

team. If I told you... Going to come across the table like that means. If I told... If this story were about a different one-win team, I don't know. The Miami Dolphins. Oh, wow. That they

took the ping pong tables out. Oh, wait. We did that story. It was just ping pong. We did that story. It was just ping pong. We didn't have a basketball. If this was about a different team who one of their premier defenders after losses is podcasting.

Oof. Oh, wait. We did that story a hundred times. If this were about any team that is grasping while not being able to defend while getting run over and then and it came out. that as it was in the article, that one player Instagrammed their star quarterback playing Super Smash Brothers and said,

studying game film, it would not be looked at as a positive sign. So I just think you are looking at this through Ravens Colored Glasses when in reality, this is the type of team you don't like. They're a silly,

soft, bad team right now. They are. Right now they are. Take it easy. Yeah, that's the way. You're going to ruin the show. No, there's just a few differences. Here's the differences.

Tua versus Lamar. Okay. Miami culture, which maybe because of the weather, all that, you know, is a softer culture versus Ravens culture. Like, no, they're going to be, they're going to respond to this. And they did against the rounds. If they had had Lamar, they'd beaten the Rams. Okay.

Greg, this was, I'm going to read you another passage. A defense that has played tentatively and is scared to make even the smallest mistake and a group of veterans and rookies alike who have struggled to find joy in their work. Something that the NFL has done or the social media teams have done is rather than just make available, you know, the post-game press conference, we've gotten a lot of locker room sound. This year it feels like something has changed. So we show a lot of locker rooms down, and you can kind of get a sense, usually after wins, what the vibe of the team is like. We see, like, Patriots vibes are really good.

Dan Campbell, we showed earlier. Ben Johnson has got the Bears feeling alive. There was an element in this article that was like, people catch up to us. They know what's coming. To me, sort of like the looming red light was, this whole team needs a coaching change. That's when I listen to, who's the, I'm drawing a blank on the name of the name of? of the defensive end. Van Ness.

Van Noy. Vennoy. Kyle Vennoy. When I listened to him a couple weeks ago and he was asked directly a couple of questions about just the performance and coaching and different things and his dismissiveness to respond or to answer some of those questions at this juncture in his career and him saying I don't have a lot of time left. So we got to get with the program on both sides.

It spoke volumes to me. I listened to people like that because. Because what you would say, like, what do you want the response to be? No, he just refused. He didn't want to answer those questions when they were directing the question at coaching. You know what? I'm not going to touch that. That's above my pay grade.

When guys start saying that, they've been talking about it in the locker room. I'm not going to divulge what we've been talking about in the locker room because that's not how I. And this article talked about that offensive guys were pointing the finger at Monkin. Yep. And you're, and the, it seems, it does seem like there is a discrepancy between how talented the players believe the team is and obviously their record. And the only thing to blame that on is coaching. If you think you have a good roster. Yeah.

You know, and they certainly have a better than one in five roster. They definitely. I mean, that's unequivocal. And so the only, but the problem is the munk and stuff in the art. article felt to me kind of ridiculous. Like, we are not far removed from Todd Munkin getting there and Lamar instantly winning MVP, almost winning another one. And then this year before he got hurt, people were saying he was playing that, you know,

he was going into the Chiefs game playing. Right. So the Zach Orr stuff is tough because it seems to me reading T leaves, Zach Orr right now is one real ally and that's John Harbaugh. And that the, that it has. not been working and Harbaugh does not want to to his credit or otherwise relent on that front. That's how I'm reading.

They should be on the hot seat. If this continues, this coaching staff should be gone at the end of the year. If they lose to the Ravens, excuse me, if they lose to the Bears, what does this mean for? Look, they need to beat the Bears. I've been saying that for weeks, right, since Lamar went out. But again, in that division,

six law, you think maybe eight and nine, Are you going to say if they lose to the bears, they're not done? Yes. No, Brue, you've said. If they lose to the bears, they still have a shot in that division. Absolutely. If they lose to the bears with Lamar, aren't they just bad? Until they are mathematically a limit.

They can't be this bad with Lamar. Where is the goalpost? No, with Lamar and Derek Henry, they can't be that. But they are. They happen. Not actually not, because Lamar's been out for something. They actually are. And they lost to the Chiefs, the Lions, and the Bills.

That's three of the best teams in the league. Three teams that we would, none of us would be surprised if they're in the Super Bowl. So I'm just saying like, again, we know they had a tough schedule. I get all that. But then, if they then lose to the Bears with Lamar and Derek Henry in a must win, I think we can say they're done. It's not a must win. out of the buy. No,

it's a must win. Look, they need to win. Don't get me wrong. I'm just saying if they lose that game, I will not, I will not write them off until they are mathematically eliminated. That division, getting a tournament,

getting a tournament. That's what I'm saying. Unbelievable. Getting a tournament. I mean, I respect the faith, but if they lose to the bears, they're just bad.

It will be disappointing. Disappointed. It will be some of that. They're bad. Yes. No, I mean, but you can turn around. They turned the defense around last year. You're the best.

Y'all are acting like, is Lamar Jackson become a back? They've won one game. They've played a murderous road schedule. You know this. I don't know. I mean, the two games they lost without Lamar, I think we all understand why they lost this game. Well, except the Texans game, they allowed 40. I mean, that was ugly.

Don't get me wrong. But I'm just saying, like, without Lamar, no one would expect them to win many games. I know, but the Bengals lost their quarterback, and they're ahead of them in the rankings. And I think the Browns are also lost their quarterback, and they're ahead of them in the rankings as well. They'll be fine. Okay. Okay. They got to beat the Bears.

Well, thank you. But I'm just saying, don't expect me to come in here and just say they're done. They're losing. The Bears at home. The Bears ran run. shot over the Cowboys. All right. Did they not?

A quick edition of weird and wonderful and a special edition of Bruze Ballet. Which at this point, Lamar might be on. He could be. He is the MVP. Jamir Gibbs had a career game against the bucks. 136 on the ground,

82 through the air. MVP of the game. Because Winfield Jr. had an angle and he just ran away from him. But not this one. MVP of the game, which leads to check in on who might be the MVP of the league with this week's edition of

Bruze Ballot. Some changes. Some changes. All right. At number five, still a running back. Love it. But Jonathan Taylor. In place of Gibbs. I've been, well, Bejohn was that. I'm sorry. My bad.

And I've been torn about who on the Colts. Is it Daniel Jones? Is it Jonathan Taylor? Taylor's leaves the league with 10 touchdowns. On pace for 24 would be the most since Ladanian Tomlinson set the record of 28 in 2006. He's the only guy in the league averaging 100 yards a game. So, and I think he, look, nothing from Daniel Jones, who's playing great.

But his running is the hub of that offense. So I got Jonathan Taylor in there. Number four, Wilds. Let's go. Drake May. He dropped a couple notches, but nothing because of the way he played. He played fine. He played very well.

A couple other guys had better performances, but he was very good. If you take out Lamar, who's obviously only played four games, he leads the league tied with golf and pass rating. And we know he doesn't have the greatest weapons. Yep. Define Diggs is having the weapons golf has for sure. Yeah, yeah. Golf has, but wait do you see coming up.

Kishon Booty is doing his thing. He's a real deep threat. They made him a room. I have coming up, Greg. Okay, let's let's have Brue do. What are you guys taking shots at me? He's in your stats. At number three, Nick might be bothered by this.

We got Patrick Nal Holmes. He stays put. It's a whole season award. It is a whole season award. He leads the league in yards and touchdowns over the whole season. Well, total touchdowns not passing. All we've done is total touchdown in the last two years. And they are four and three.

Okay, they're four and three. We don't just do it since T6. Thank you. All right, the tackle that turned the tide, all right? We do it for the entire season. He's moving up. He's moving up. But he's not moving up.

He will be moving up. It's my assumption. Here's the thing. At number two, you're going to love this. Everybody's All-American. He just threw five touchdowns against the Jags, who did beat Mahomes and company post-T-6. That's a good point.

He sets the London record, right? He leaves with five touchdowns in the game overseas. And he has 17 touchdowns this year leading the league in touchdowns. Is that a thing? He did it without Pooking the Cool. The London record I've never heard of that. on the broadcast, they were making a big deal out of him. It's probably not in the NFL record book.

That's the London record. It is. They were making a big deal. His first five touchdown game since Thanksgiving 2015. Wow. That's pretty good. And at number one, look, I know he had a bad game. He had a bad game, but again, it's a whole season award.

He has been heroic most of the season. Five and two with their injuries. I do feel like this might be, this is probably. the last week he's number one. He had one bad game. Well, Drake, why did Drake May move back? Drake May's got two losses. It's a whole seat.

See, now we're moving, now we're moving into the meat of the season. All that happened was Stafford. So it's supposed to be more half. He moved Stafford up. That's all. Stafford was great. He flipped Stafford and that's all.

And I don't want to say what I'm about to say. Between what you said about the Ravens and what I'm about to say, the show is on its last leg. Don't. Certainly feels like this was made. It was made an hour ago. A little free production. A little pre-production.

I'll have Baker number one build the graphic. Baker shouldn't be number one? I think last night's performance. He was a unit. He's at one back. Drake May had a bad game. They lost to the Raiders. I know you think that was pre-season.

This was yesterday. This was like 12 hours. But it's not. But it's a season. Can I just ask one quick question? Yes, it was last game. No, I am agreeing with Drew not. In theory, this, each game,

should count for one seventh or one six no matter when it was. So that's what Brew's doing. Brew was saying that Baker had a big lead and so the lead is lessened. He also has better eyes at this moment than Drake. Did you consider Brew? Jackson Smith and Jigba. I doubt it. No.

Okay. Because he is like flirting right now with that 2,000 yard pace that we were saying if Tyree got that he would get on there. That's the only question. He's been great. Go ahead, Greg. Yeah. So look, Where's DAC? And I know you're going to say records matter.

They're 3, 3 and 1. I think that. I mean, right, like they're 3 3 and 1. If they're 8. Mahomes is on here and if records matter, they're 3 and 3. No, they're not. 4 and 3. They're not 4 and 300.

Sorry, it's a big difference. If that was 8, 8 and 1, 4 and 1 post. Is Dak going to be in consideration for MVP? So, so question for you. If DAC was 4 and 3, he'd be on here. He'd be on here. You'd probably be on it. No, don't answer for him.

I'm just telling you I knew he would be. Back is playing great. Don't get me right. He's playing great. So the tie to the Packers, the team that you. I don't look at it as the tie. I look at it as your, you don't even have a winning record. Yeah, you can't beat MVP without a winner record.

We'll take a different loss if that were a win. Not against the game against the Bears where Caleb out played him. It's the same thing with Burrow. We're headed to the mountain next. That was good. It was argumentative. Stir in the pot. I think that was great.

Live from New York, it's a show that has a stat so good. You gotta stop, man. Why? Can't promote the show? It's just all you. What's what? It's what? What do you want to say?

Did you show this yet? You just keep... You interrupted Brew's ballot to talk about your stat. No, because Bruce said Stefan Diggs wasn't good. Not he said it wasn't the top weapons. He said something you agree with. I don't agree with anything. You don't agree that the lions have better weapons in the Patriots.

He didn't say that. Yes. He didn't say that. I say he doesn't have the same weapons as a lot of other team. And I'm saying I have a stat coming up that people need to see. All right. Trust me. About Karii and Stefan and everybody else.

It's not even about it. Coming up, Baker gets cooked by the lions. The stat that you got to see to believe about this guy. That's actually unfair, but it was a Josh special. Maybe the bucks aren't that good or maybe they are excellent. Remember that stat I showed? That was a good stat. And a special new segment.

So new, we've kicked around the names. Brew, where have you landed on this? Well, for the time being, it'll change. But right now, it's just bruises. I mean, we're still mulling over. Okay. All right, bruised list of players to watch on tonight's two games as the NBA opens up.

But right now, we've got an altitude adjustment. Get it? Yeah. Week seven, officially in the books, we've hunkered down. in this nearby cave to try to determine which teams are for real and which teams are folklore. Much like this mighty Sasquatch, I will now introduce you to the mighty passquatch. Because right now, it's time for Mahomes Mountain.

Crushed it. I didn't bring the bat up. It's okay. Kansas City's own. Vinnie did a great job. Yes, he, he continued. I mean, he called everything, might be a part of our World Series coverage as well. Shout out to the great Vinny Pasquintino, Pasquot. One less RBI than Aaron Judge this year.

The East Coast Media won't tell you that. All right, here's the deal. Sad day for the mountain and an exciting day. Oh. Exciting at the top, sad at the bottom. Because what you're going to see is a lot more people than normal fell off the mountain or not climbing. Really? So we'll show you who is off.

Three guys, Lamar, Purdy, and Kyler are all. off for injury. Justin Fields is off and sadly his face might be off next week because his owner did a press conference today and basically said nobody could win with the level of quarterback play we have and shortly thereafter it looks like

they bench him for Tyrod Taylor. I'm sure those things are not related at all. Woody Johnson's always run a really tight ship over there. Cooper Rush is probably going to be off as well because Lamar should be back. Tua's going to be off the mountain for a while and might be off the dolphins at some point

soon. That's not going well. Carson wins. Dylan Gabriel, God love him. And good for the Browns for winning that football game. He has not been good at all. And Cam Ward for someone who put my hard earned money on the Titans plus seven. Was that a mistake? Indeed. But Cam Ward, can you not just drop the ball? He just dropped the ball, KW. What's going on? What? I haven't I was rooting against him against Patriots. Yeah. I'm a Cam Ward guy, but it hasn't been great. But this also means that sadly, for the first time all year, brew, we have vacancies. I hate when we have vacancies, but show the last row of the mountain, we have vacancies. Also sad, those first two guys, I never wanted them down there.

Trevor and Gino. You're two guys. Listen, this isn't pro football focused, so I oddly don't think Gino outplayed Patrick Holmes this weekend, so he drops. Spencer Rattler came back down to Earth a bit. Mac, I'm not going to drop him off the mountain because they did win, but he did not play well, KW. And Bryce, it's weird because they are winning now. He is still not playing well. I'm sorry, he's just not playing.

He has a few moments here and there. A few moments. And again, you're like, oh, that was good for Bryce. And then you have that moment. You're like, he was the number one overall pick of the draft. He's in year three. But he's out, right? And then a couple vacancies.

And then he's hurt, but he hasn't missed any time yet, so he's not all. All right. Ro six, pardon me. Caleb and CJ. They can commiserate together, maybe give each other some advice. Bo Nix. I moved him up because I'm fair

because that fourth quarter was electric. Everything before it was disastrous. Joe Flacco went from off the mountain to row six. I thought about row five for him, to be totally honest. He was out there dealing. Jacoby Brissette, I thought, played really well for you. He was under constant duress, but I thought he played well.

And Michael Pinnix, I'm going to be real honest with you here. I almost had a vacancy in row six and put Pinnock's in row seven. Pinnock has not been exactly light in the world on fire either. Now, luckily, the top 15 is a really solid top 15. But they're doing all the heavy lifting for quarterbacks across the league. Row five, Jordan Love stays where he is. Sam Darnold has to drop even in a win. It felt like the Seahawks were doing everything they coached.

to give Houston a chance just so their devens could then deny him every time. A lot of not a sharp game by Darnold. And contrary to what Danny Parkins will tell you, not a sharp game for Justin Herbert, who once they got down 21 did start dealing, what was a big part of why they got down 21, and then did have the ball down 14 with a chance, oh, we're going to make this one score game, they get zero points.

Jaden's a tough one because he got hurt. He's, I think he's played well, but the injuries are concerned. And even in the loss, I know he made the one mistake. I thought against that Broncos defense, Jackson Dart over the course of the game, played quite well. And so I bumped him up.

Top 10. Jalen Hertz back in the top 10. You could argue should be higher based on this past week. And his actual year-long stat line starts total touchdowns and turnovers is quite good, better than probably the eye test for the season. But this week,

the eye test was unbelievable. Daniel Jones and Jared Goff stay where they are. And Aaron Rogers, fair is fair. He's played well. He has played this year like a top 10-ish quarterback. He is there as well, even after a loss to Cincinnati. I don't put that loss on him. And what could have been the game-winning touchdown was one of the best plays

Aaron Rogers made in four years where he rolled out and then hit was a friar mooth for what they thought was going to be the game winner. Top six, row three. drop from the top spot bake show. Again, this is a very, very packed, you know, top three, four, five, six. So it was hard. I didn't want to drop Baker this far. It felt fair to do so.

I think he's played great. I still think he's a legit MVP candidate. Drake May continues to just be excellent. There's just, there's no addendums you need to put on that. He's just playing excellent. And that throw to booty near the end. of the first half was, I think, the best throw he's made in his career. Josh Allen had the week off. We're not going to move him.

Who's going to be at the top? Top two. Everybody's All-American Matt Stafford, fresh off of five touchdown performance in London, and Dak Crescott, who's playing the best football of his life. It, however, is not enough as we back to his rightful place atop his own damn mountain with the light show back, with the MVP favorite back, with the team being the Super Bowl favorites back,

leading the entire NFL in yards and touchdowns and only having two turnovers this year, only one of which was his fault. Patrick LeVon Mahomes the second, atop Mahomes Mountain. Greg, be honest, it feels good to see Patrick back atop the mountain. He's definitely deserving to be on top of the mountain

with that type of performance. I'm going to get straight to it. I'm going down to row, Is that six? I don't know. There's seven rows. Six, yeah, six. And talk about Bo Nix.

Oh, you want to drop him? No, I'm actually going to suggest that Bo Nix gets moved up in front of Jackson Dirk. And here's why. Before I show you any numbers, if let's say you had a guy who showed up every, from quarter one, two, three, all the time, super consistent. Lit the scoreboard up, lit the stat sheet up, and disappeared in the fourth quarter. And you lost consistently because of that. When we deem that a problem, we would say, you can't win with this guy.

Yeah. Now, what would we say if there was somebody who does the opposite? He doesn't show up. And plays for the Broncos? And he plays for the Broncos. Tim Tebow. That's what Tebow did. It is what Tim Tebow did, but he didn't do it quite like this.

When you look at the numbers that he's been putting up, like this is through the first three-quarters, this is for the season. That's 21 quarters of football that we're looking on the left-hand side versus seven quarters of football on the right-hand side, all being in the fourth quarter. I'm going to say this again, the right-hand side is strictly fourth quarter. Is the left-hand column, Greg, so underwhelming that it- It's 21 quarters of football. That's the point. That's a problem. What I'm saying is it is a problem.

However, when he shows up just in the next of time, he gets it done. It's the oddest thing. But it's like, would you rather have a guy show up? You would rather that than the opposite. Exactly. That part's true. But I'd rather have somebody who's just gone. We would.

But we're knocking him so far. down, yet he still comes through every time. You can look, if you were a boxer and you lost every round and you got the knockout and it always happened to you, we got to give you some credit. Oh, that's fair. Okay, so listen, and he does have credit. That's why he moved up from row seven. But I lied to you, Greg.

I did know you were doing Bo Nix, which is why I have this graphic credit. Oh, because here's his all season stats with ranks. Okay. Does that look like a top 15 players? Well, in any way? Is that at all the profile of a top 15 quarterback? I mean, not to me. In the fourth quarter though.

Right. And that's, again. That's what I'm, that's my point. Also, it should be noted the fourth quarter against the Jets in London. Oh, here. He didn't do. That was one game ago. Here we go.

He didn't do anything. This game, God love him for what they were able to accomplish. That also should never have been possible. What are you doing against four quarter? against the Eagles. That was great. Listen, the last three games, the Denver Broncos, Eagles, Jets, Giants, have scored 13 points total in the first three quarters.

Now I'm doing this in my head. And I've scored 50 in the fourth. It's remarkable what they've done in the fourth quarter, which is why I have him next to luminaries such as Super Bowl MVP, Joe Flacco and Heisman trophy winner Caleb Williams. He's on this. It's good company. The fact that Greg just wanted to move him ahead of dark, that's a good argument.

Like, you could move him ahead of dark. But I get it both sides. Okay. All right. Look, Aaron Rogers has been good. There's no question about it. I'm switching, though, him and J-Lo. I'm switching him and J-Lo.

Really, I'm moving Rogers down, and you want to know, well, who you're moving up? J-Lo. Okay. J-Lo has a better passer rating. J-Loh. a better TD to interception ratio. J-Lo has more yards

per attempt, more yards per game. All right. Now, Aaron's doing fine, but also that game against Cincinnati that they just lost, he played very well four touchdowns, but his two interceptions were costly. They cost them 10 points in a two-point loss.

So I'm just, and that's not even saying. A great throw that the ball just got stolen, to be fair. But one was a bad. What I said yesterday when you brought it up with. with Matt. You can say that about every quarter. Yeah. So they even out.

Now, again, I'm not, Rogers has played well. I just don't think he's played better than Jordan Love. If Jordan Love was in Pittsburgh, I think the prospects would be much higher for them than they are with Aaron Rogers. So that's just my little tweak where I have to move. Yeah, and obviously if Aaron were in Green Bay,

they'd never get rid of him for Jordan Love. I think you are. higher on Jordan Love this year than it's weird because his numbers are great. Like the past rating. And he hasn't played as well as I've expected, but I just think he's better than Robbins. I'm not saying he's got one of the most important pieces of their offense. But we'll get to see it Sunday night.

Right. They play Sunday night. No, that's a great. That's a great point. We'll see him head to head. I have been Jordan Love this year to me's numbers far. out strip how I feel when I've watched the Packers offense. Because it was, he had one turnover.

Am I, do I have that wrong? I think that two interception. The, and, but the pass rating is like 108. Yep. And so. I agree. It doesn't. We're expecting to see more out of drag.

Expecting to see more, but the statistical profile is a great one. And he's not playing poorly. No, so it's weird. So that's, listen, they, again, it's not left to right. Coincidentally, that was the toughest call. was lover Rogers as it happens. That's just coincident. Just.

It's coincident. Oh, okay. There's a lot of people would say. I know. That's his way. His ego will only let him go so far. That's his way. That's his way.

That's his way of saying, Brue, how dare you were right? No, if I thought you were right, I would have had it that way. I'm just saying my lack of ego is, my humility is enough to be like, Brew, we're kind of an agreement. You have one is 10, one is 11. I have one is 11, one is 10. It's very close. It's in the margins. Yet again, I am putting Drake May on the mountain,

moving them to the left to baker, even though. It's not left to right. I understand that. I've been here a long time. I know it's not left to right. So it's not left to right. Can I just move them? Up or down.

I want to move it to left. I love that. I got to take that one time. What's the big deal, right? It's like three plus three equals five, three plus two equals five. Yeah, that's fine. But then, but then. But why are you so?

Why are you so passionate about? I just want to move him to left. So you just think he's perfect. Just me personally, I would like to move him to the left. That's fine. So when I look at it, it's just like arranging books or something. I just like that right over there. Thank you.

So I'd like to move him to the left. Why? I like to project a little bit too. Okay, so we're going up against the Browns and Miles Garrett, a little bit stress, especially Miles Garrett around Halloween. He starts getting really into it. He's going to show up in a costume or something. I ran out of getting breath.

Drake May under pressure has just been excellent even though we do have a good offensive line so this is good this is just an appetizer to the two graphics I've been warning everybody

about that are so good that's really good yeah first he's been fantastic well first incompletion is second yeah that's really good excellent

airing it out so he's throwing the ball deep right how good is it well is it just like as good as like you know Lamar Jackson and Baker Mayfield well no

Lamar Jackson and Tom Brady 10 or more air yards throws in the last 10 years. That's really good. Yeah, we're in historic territory. Don't reveal this one yet. I'm going to tell a quick little story. The next graphic's better than this one? The next graphic.

I mean, that's an unbelievable graphic right there. This is even more unbelievable. Last year, Lamar and 2016 Brady, it's pretty great. This is more unbelievable. 2016 Brady of people was the year that he was suspended the beginning of the year. And he came back with a vengeance. Yeah. A vengeance.

Yeah. Okay. Quick, quick sidebar. Okay. One of the hardest things to do is to have a, is to come back, okay? Come back and be like, I'm actually still great. For example, Red Man released an album a few months ago, and I was telling everybody, hey, this Red Man album's good.

And people are like, oh, is it like good for like because Red Man's like from that? Like, no, it's actually one of the best albums out right now, not just because he's Red Man. Okay. That's Stefan Diggs. Oh, Stefan Diggs. The guy from the Vikings, yeah, he was good. The guy with Josh, he was good. Yeah, we remember.

No, Stefan Diggs is currently one of the best wide receivers in the NFL. That's what I'm trying to hammer home with this graphic. Okay, let me see it. Reveal. I got to see this graphic. The combination of Drake May and Stefan Diggs, the completion percentage is hovering around 89%. And then read the bottom. It's the highest by a quarterback wide receiver duo,

with 40 or more targets this century. So it's not this like nice, what? No. What? Why? What? Because KW. Last game, seven for 70 yards.

Diggs number. All right. So the combo. KW. But you say it digs. First of all, I actually. Well, it's a most malice now, but I'm trying to make a Stefan Diggs.

Y. You guys like, well, Stefan Diggs is okay. A passer rating of 100. That, just so you know, what's, can I ask your question? 150. Hold on. No, no, no. No. Just approximate. What's Drake May's pass rating for the year? Oh, is it 116. Is it 116? I would say exactly. He's 116. Which means, okay, certainly it's higher than 100. Well, so he is better targeting literally everyone else than Diggs. If his past rating for the year is 120 and his past rating when targeting his number one guy is 100, that means when targeting everyone else, it's,

Far better. That's, you should have done him in Kishon Booty. Yeah, I don't, I'm just telling you. I bet those numbers. Yes, yes. Now the completion percentage. It's because of what? The lack of touchdowns?

Thank you, Josh. It's because the lack of touchdowns. We have so many red zone targets. And it's also being juiced. Drake is getting us there. It's also being juiced by the amazing and unsustainable completion percentage of 89%. Why is it unsustainable?

He's not going to catch 89% of his targets this year. So that's what I was going to speak to. He boxed that for. reason. That is impressive. That's wild. That is absolutely impressive. And I'm not so, this has been through seven weeks. That's what I'm saying. It's not like two and three. It's not like it's not sustainable because this has been going on for seven weeks. He's playing well, but what do you? He's getting better. Stefan Diggs is like getting healthier as the season goes on. I get it. I get that and I think he is, I'll be honest, I thought your last graphic was better than that.

They're both great. I, the four, a minimum of 40 targets is not moving me as as much as I think it moved you for the highest completion percentage this century. It's every quarterback wide receiver combo that's thrown the whole century. Exactly. And that's lowered it to 40 targets. Well, it's week seven. What do you want me to do? But that's for careers KW is your stat.

It's not single season stat. That's all time. That's careers. And so that's the, but regardless, what? That's quite a different. Yeah. I mean, it just is. Career versus 40.

It's like the homes to Kelsey is nowhere. It's in a season. Josh, you know, Hubs, come down. down here and Mike Josh up right now. It's a single season. Yes, Josh, you've taken shots of me. You take a shot at Josh. I'm not taking shots at anyone.

You didn't present. Stefan Diggs is one of the best wide receivers in the NFL. I agree with you. And Drake May and Stefan Diggs connection. KW is better than any quarterback. Like Marvin Harrison, Peyton, man. That in 2025, Stephon Diggs is the red man of the NFL.

Exactly. All eyes on Big Noon. Make a break clash. Undefeated. Indiana moved up to number two because of Miami's loss. Sorry, John. Takes on UCLA all of a sudden, okay. And I want to get Kurt Signetti back on the show.

You guys wouldn't let me do it before the extension. Now he's gotten the extension of the number two in the nation. I want to have him on and talk to him about. I'm not in charge of. I would like that too. Mandatore. He's done a fantastic thing. I didn't say no.

No. No. Both Detroit and Tampa Bay were banged up. And at the end of night, both teams went home five and two, golf on target. Baker, not so much. Gibbs ran wild. What's the larger story here for you, Greg? The Lions win or the Bucks lost?

It's definitely the Lions win. When you look at what they were able to do to that Buc's offense that had been carving everybody up, reminding the world, they were without every starter in their second year. Like, they were very impressive. And for those guys to step up and not allow that Buc's team to make them. those runs that they've been able to make with Baker at the helm was super impressive, but just

bouncing back after a loss against the Kansas City team, you put those, you threw those stats up there. The last 17 teams to lose to the Chiefs were 5 and 12 in their previous games. However, a lot of those teams weren't coached by Dan Campbell, who after losses in I think the last couple

years, he doesn't lose after a loss. He wins after loss. 51 straight games. So, like, I love the way they came out. It was a little inconsistent. it wasn't the explosion of offensive points that we typically see, especially with them playing at home. But it was against a really good Bucks team who was coached really well. They have some really good players on both offensively off inside the football and deep inside

football. I love what the Lions were able to do. I agree. It was Detroit's win. Look, Tampa Bay, you want to win that game. But they're still five and two. They're still in control of that division. Because remember, they beat Atlanta.

So, you know, that's an extra game, so to speak. and Detroit just needed this. I mean, we saw all week how upset they were and how it was lingering in their head about losing the Kansas City. So to come out and get this win, now they're going into the buy, presumably they'll get healthier.

And if you look at their, now we understand it. They had a great record last year. They should have a tough schedule. But if you look at their schedule, this was a, you got to stack the wins because they could lose some of their upcoming game. I don't think they really have any,

easy games left. I mean, Minnesota, that's a division opponent that, you know, is a pretty good team. Washington, if Daniels is back, but the Giants, we saw that. They don't have any walk. They don't have any. Like, every one of those games, guaranteed wins. You have to be ready to play. So I thought this was something they needed and it was good for them.

So I, I agree, but I almost feel like Brew that you think the bigger story, though, might have been the Bucks, even though you just said that. I'm only saying because you said earlier to you, this confirms the bucks are not a list contenders. Now, maybe you, maybe. For me, it was like, confirmation of what you already previously believed. So for you,

it wasn't as jarring. But I think the Lions had to win this game. Because I do think it is something that they don't lose two in a row. Your point was it's been 51 games since they lost back-to-back games, which point you were making. And being four and three, after being the number one seed last year and not having the tiebreaker with Tampa

who would have been six and one despite being as if not more injured than you would be really damaging and we would start to nitpick the lines and say well you played the Packers and got beat bad, played the Chiefs and got beat bad and then you lose to the bucks the win over the Ravens doesn't look as good

to others, you know, to some other people and so I agree that's when the toys were still there. Yeah, I agree that the Lions needed this game, and I thought it was a great win for them when I thought they were a little distracted during the week. I am not, the biggest story coming out of the game is the Mike Evans injury and his streak ending.

People are, I think, talking about in graver terms and actually is. I expect, and I just want to ask you this quick for and move on, I expect him to play in the postseason. Like a broken collarbone, even if it's three months, he should be back right before the postseason starts. And so I think that as long as he's back, the Bucks have enough to sustain. And I still think the Bucks have a real shot at winning 13 games and being the one seat. I think they have a soft enough schedule down the stretch and they've been good enough.

But this was one of the bigger, not the biggest, but one of the bigger regular season wins Dan Campbell's had since he's been there. And I thought it was really good. Look, they've been getting a lot of production. from Tess Johnson, a lot of the others. Obviously, Mecca Abuka was coming off an injury. And Baker didn't play well last night. And so, like, you talk about that injury.

He'll be back. Jaden Reed has the same injury. He's coming back. I want to say next month sometime for the Packers. But that was a huge loss because without Mike Evans and Godwin not really showing up in the fashion that they are hoping, knowing that it's going to be a while, that's a big loss because that is a constant.

that has always been there for them. And they need Bucky Irving. They, yeah. He makes a huge difference. They finally had a running game with him. They need him. Trademark alert. Houston, we have several problems.

We're two and four, and our offense can't score points. And there are four losses, one of which was last night. The Texans have scored 19, twice, 10, and 9, and one last night was a defensive score. Brew, should we be worried about our guy, CJ? We should. I agree. We always hear about wait till they get tape on you.

Now, he had one of the best rookie seasons ever by our quarterback. He had similar issues to now. Remember their offensive line? They had guys in and out of the offensive line. Nico Collins was there. We didn't know he was as good as he is now. Tank Dell was there. It wasn't like he had this plethora of receivers.

And the run game wasn't like lights out. So he just came in. with the rookie head coach and bald. And then, I don't know, people get tape on him, whatever, but he has not been the same, not only this year, but last year, and I know, Nick, you got a graphic on him. I mean, you know what it is. Don't do it.

Well, let me, let me say this, and then the floor is yours. Let me say this in the floor. Okay, Greg, you know what's good. These six games this year, you take Tennessee and Baltimore, Tennessee and Baltimore, which we know had bad past defenses. The other four games, he's got three touchdowns and four interceptions. So he is struggling. That defense is great.

And he is not getting it done. I'm not writing him off like he can't turn it around. But for now, he's really been struggling. I want to see. Sorry. They need to be rude. Neither one of will be racing myself. Hold on.

Real quick, can I tell you something? You can say I don't mean to be rude. When I say I know what happened and you do this on TV, oh my God, I hate this. That is the definition of being a bad teammate. There we go. But I like, there are things that the way my brain works, I'm like, oh, this is a turning point. You laughed at me when I talked about the wind game.

Oh. And Mack Jones's entire career with the Patriots, that his coach emasculating him on national TV like that. There was not a single flurry in the sky. It was windy. His career was never the same. obviously famously the password around the world but the chiefs now the tackle will turn the tide in real time I told you

I'm with you I'm with you now TLTL T T T TL oh gosh get us out of this sorry Caleb The lecture that led to the loser I mean this is the The lecture that led to the losing I'm just telling you

I'm just telling you that's the it is wild It gets now That's the moment that things went south. Now, I can't explain why. I just know that the lecture that led to the losing, they had a bad offensive line last year.

They won the division. They had wide receiver injuries last year. They won the division. They are the only team this deep into a season ever to lead the league in scoring defense and have a losing record. There are seven teams in the league, right now that are allowing

less than 20 points per game. The other six are combined 29 and 13 and the worst record any of them had is the Chiefs at 4 and 3. All of the other ones are 5 and 2 and then Houston's 2 and 4. And last night

was a great example of it. That defense kept giving them chances. Yes. And they couldn't pick up a yard on 4th down. They couldn't punch it into the end zone. And I do feel Greg like in all series the franchise has let him down somewhat with that offensive line it was bad last year they traded away tonsil uh and but he also has not had the improvement correct we would hope over the

course of his year so i'm i am going to allude to the what did you call election the lead to lose okay like there there's a level of entitlement that you start operating with that's like what would make you do something like that when behind closed doors or we find out about it we shouldn't see it or you're a seasoned 10 years older champion or he was just trying to be a nice guy I think I think it was a culmination of a lot of those things however my issue and I don't think Houston has a lot of problems they have a they have a quarterback problem right now what they have they have a I think when you watch him play and I listen to him talk about what was going on after the game.

And he talked about how, you know, I think some of it can be helped by play design and just situationally putting a better play, giving a better play so we can execute. He took, he owned a lot of it as well. However, you are, you are making this point. When you know going into this season, we have offensive line issue. We know this.

Last year, I excused it. I made, even with the receivers, I, you know, I'm going to excuse it because those are valid reasons. This year, you know going into the season, we're expecting you to overcome that to be the reason why we didn't have to go and address all of those things. He simply has not been better. He's been worse. That's why I'm like, I still like him. I still think he has a chance to be a really good quarterback in this league.

Something is not registered. I totally agree. confidence. Yes. When you get hit as much, holding onto the ball, even the safety. Like, when you hold onto the ball this long and you know everybody talks about you, holding onto the ball, get rid of the ball. Like, this is, you're in your own head.

You are in your own head now. And so I just feel like if he can just somehow, even Bo Nix, he just unlocks whatever in the fourth quarter. If Bo Nix has like an irrational confidence, like more than he should have based on he's played and the when you watch CJ it's like what yeah how do you go from being one of the

talked about is one of the best in the game MVP talks last year you see the mountain yeah he's barely hanging on and and I just want to reiterate if their offense was and their offensive numbers are

skewed because of the Ravens game yeah so for the season And it looks better than it is. The Titans game, they scored 26. They had six entering the fourth quarter. Exactly. And the Ravens, the Ravens were sad because they couldn't play ping pong that week. And so they got annihilated.

That's a fact. But they're allowing 12 points a game. If you just had a mediocre offense, you'd be fine. So can they get, like, who is confident as like the DNA of the Ravens? Last night, man, again, last. last night, they scored 19 points. Seven was the, or a touchdown was the Darnold Fumble in the end zone, right? Another touchdown was in the final three minutes down 15.

Seattle turned the ball over four times. It's not good. It's really hard to have that many extra opportunities and not score points. Coming up next, a brand new segment that a fan has named Bruce Bucket List. Wow. Shout out. Yes. We're going to get a shot out.

Maverick the second. Yeah. Good job, Maverick. The second. The second. Blue Jays clinched their first pennant in 32 years. Now they'll host the Dodgers looking to go back to back. Coverage of Game 1 of the 2025 World Series begins Friday at 7 p.m. Eastern on Fox.

You know who? When I was a little kid, I used to play games of course with Joe Carter. What? Really? Yeah, he lived in Kansas City post Blue Jays career. I didn't know that. So post Blue Jays, World Series winning home run fame.

Joe Carter. Yeah, was always at my school. That's cool. Yeah. That is cool. Next segment is sponsored by Credible. Great rates, none of the bull. NBA season kicks off tonight.

Brew, Rockets, Thunder, Warriors, Lakers. All teams are in the top eight for title odds. OK, C, number one. To kick it off, just looking at tonight's games, we used to have an unnamed segment called Brew's watch list, but James the second at Maverick underscore No, Roman number two? At underscore Maverick I-I.

I-I. At underscore Maverick-I-I, came up with a sick name. Bruze Bucket List. Love it. So now, thank you at underscore Maverick-I-I. Yes. Here's the first edition of Bruce Bucket List of who you're excited to watch tonight. That's the thing.

That's why it's the perfect name because it's not who are the best players playing tonight. It's who am I most interested, most intrigued. about seen out of the four games, four teams playing tonight. Love it. Number five, Kevin Durant. Now, you know what, look, Houston, I want to see the whole team. I want to see Reed Shepard. I'm in Thompson, I think, is, you know, a guy that, you know, they need to, yeah,

they need a lot out of. Shingoon, your guy. They, if Kevin Durant is Kevin Durant, and he's 37, three of the last. last four seasons, he's either not made the playoffs or been bounced in the first round, swept in the first round, if I'm not mistaken. And so if he is still Kevin Durant with their team, I think they could win a title if he's Kevin Durant. I agree.

And so I want to see, and I expect him to be. I'm not expecting a drop off. We know he's kind of a guy that seamlessly can fit into a team because he's a shooter and a catch and shoot guy that isn't ball dominant. And here's the interesting thing, guys. He's the third member of OKC's old big original. So play in Houston. James Harden, Russell Westbrook, neither of them could bring a title there.

Can KD do it? So my only surprise here is that he's not higher. He is, of everyone playing tonight, he is the guy I'm most excited to see. Because I agree with everything you said. It was the most impactful to me move of the off season was him going there to take that because when we watched it in the playoffs last year and watch Jalen Green go three for 17. It just felt like, man, if you could just replace him with a bucket getter, they could do real damage and they replace him with one of the greatest bucket getters in the history of the league. Josh, speed research. How many games did Oklahoma City lose at home?

Last year in the regular season? Yes. I think four. So that's what I was going to ask you. I know it's a long season. Josh, tell me if I'm wrong. This is opening night. Would a Rockets win do anything for you?

That's a great, I mean, considering how good OKC was at home. But opening night, you know, we've seen times when teams get their rings opening night, and it's just a bad experience. It would be interesting. Look, I think Houston's legit. No matter what happens tonight, I'm expecting Houston to be right there in the mix at the end. All right, number four, D'Andre Aiton. Real talk.

This is wild. Real talk. because he is a guy, his numbers may probably look better than people think he is. Because his career numbers are 16 and 10. His numbers look better than the teams he's been on field he is. No, he's had his issues, but he's, look, and I get it, you can say whatever you want. He's saying the right things. He's saying I need to concentrate on defense.

I need to be a rim protector, run the floor. And I want to see, does he work well with Luca? He should think Luca is the gift, you know, from heaven to him because in the pick and roll, Luca could get him so many buckets. He is a very good mid-range shooter. If he is a good fit and plays to his potential or close to his potential, his potential was a star and LeBron can come back and be close to what he was last year,

I think the Lakers can make some noise in the way. Phoenix took him over Luca in the draft. Same draft. That's a great one, bro. All right. Number three, Chet Holman. Interesting. Wow.

You guys know, and I know Chet's your guy. I'm not even trying to steal him. I think he's got a superstar potential or certainly star potential. They got two other, one other superstar, and maybe J. Dubb, Jalen Williams, will become a superstar. Jay Duff's not playing tonight. He's injured. So Chet is now the number two guy. He was the unicorn before Wimby.

Like, I mean, obviously Wimby's at a whole other level, but he can shoot the three. He can handle the ball. blocking shots, rebound. He's still, what, 23? Like, he's got a jump in him, I think. So I want to see tonight. Number two. Also got some good coffee table, folks.

I'm in Thompson. Yeah. Look, to me, he is the key. Obviously, if Duran is Duran, that's huge. Shingu, we know what he is. They do need something from Reed Shepard. But if I'm in Thompson, who took a huge leap last year, was a great defender, scored, but really wasn't a shooter,

If he can take another leap and become like a star type player, then I don't know. I think he has more superstar potential than chat. Probably. Yeah, like the, and I'm not trying to take a shot of chat. I just, I think, I think, I'm in Thompson's ceiling is insanely high because he's such a great defender. He does everything you'd want except shoot. Now, some guys never learned to shoot.

But if you can just become, I love that team. I love that player. So I want to see if you can take the leap. But number one, Skinny Luca. Skinny Luca. Like, Luca is one of my, I love watching Luca anyway. People talk about, you know, he is ball dominant and all that. But he is such a great player.

You guys know I call him Luca Legend. Like he's the turbo version, New Age version of Larry Bird. But I want to see Skinny Luca. I'm not expecting all the dunks necessarily of his, early of his career. But he has taken some shots. the last, I mean, from the media and from fans the last two years. So it looks like he took it to heart, lost the weight. Is he going to be defending better?

Is he going to be quicker? He's still strong. Is he going to be dunking it to a little, little unintentional diss to Steph? I totally agree. Well, I was, and I talked to Dusty about it. Like, of course I love watching Steph. But look at this. These guys are all in intriguing situations.

They're more intriguing different things. I get that. And no shame, no defending MVP, but we know what he's going to be. I want to see Steph and Jimmy. I mean, they've been great together, but these are intriguing stories. Controversial bucket list. Love it, though.

Great job, Bru. Excellent. Thank you. Live from New York, it's a show that had some sort of surprise. Oh. For Top 10 Tuesday, I think, which is coming up, that Brew looked at me and said,

you haven't seen? Oh, really? And I said, no. And then he just smiled. Wow. No clue what he's up to. Have you seen it? You never seen it even?

What you're going to do? Do you know what this surprise is? Don't look. Get to read. I don't know what your surprise. Okay. I don't know you're surprised. Third hour, first things first, first thing, first.

Overtime, it's called. I'm excited though. Did any team topple the chiefs to unseat Patrick Mahomes in Danny's top 10? I keep on wanting to call it. But there's not 12 teams. I know. That's top 10 Tuesday. We're a big T show.

Too much. Top 10 Tuesday, tackle the turn of the tie. Meanwhile. The lecture that led to the losing. I did. The curious posting quotes. From Baker Mayfield, talking about the refs, didn't love it. But right now, we're talking about the Lions.

They bounced back an impressive 24-9 victory, powered by a career game from Jemir Gibbs, 228 total yards. Bucks had 251 as a team. Here's Dan Campbell. Good to get a win, you know, get back in a win call. And guys responded, which knew they would, you know. And, man, defense played lights out.

The big push will be here. You know, we get the division opponents. We got 10 until we hit the playoffs, and it's on. So it's good. Feels good to get to five and two. Did the Lions, Danny, solidify their case as the scariest team in the NFC? And I don't know if we all agreed that they were the scariest, but we're going to go with it. Yeah.

I think they clearly are the scariest team in the NFC. I mean, Philly obviously is, they're the champ, so if you're the champs, so if you want to give them that sort of benefit of the doubt, that's fine. But we know what the lion's offense is, right? Since they went into Arrowhead on Banner Night a couple of years ago, the lions are number one in many statistical categories offensively. We know what the, I think we all agree, the lion's offense is potent. The thing that they've now done a couple of times this year is shock me defensively. Like what they did against the Ravens and Lamar was shocking. And last night, I didn't think that it was possible that Baker Mayfield could throw 50 times in a game and have

200-something passing yards and one touchdown. Like, I kept saying last year that we were on a collision course between Philly and Detroit for the NFC title game. And then everyone got hurt on Detroit's defense. So I felt like we were robbed of the game we were supposed to see on the NFC side of the bracket because, and we can show it, their defense collapsed down the stretch because of injuries. That was the last seven games for the Lions defense last year. The first seven games of this year, their defense is good. Now, it's opportunistic. They play from out in front and then they get after you.

But that's a formula that Peyton Manning's Colts won 13 games a year on. So I think the team is just constructed in a really smart way that if the Lions have a good defense, they're one of the best teams in football, if not the best team in football. First of all, you love making Peyton Manning compared to you. Listen, I got a real hot Peyton. man and Jake if you can unveil in the summer. Tom Brady, it's closer than people think.

All Detroit all Detroit proved is that what I felt Tampa Bay is not in that upper tier in the NFC. They're slightly below the upper tier. And that Detroit is in the upper tier. But I don't see why you would think,

now they could win the NFC, but I don't know why you would automatically think, oh, they're better than Green Bay. because since that offense has been rolling the last few years, Green Bay shut it down. I get it. The Packers aren't really playing that well now, but they're still winning.

And the potential is right now. They are the one seed. It doesn't feel like they should be. That's where a tie is, everybody gets mad about a tie. It's better than the law. Philadelphia, look, the only reason I think you would, and I get it, they had their little two weeks, and they're always seemingly on the cusp of something happening.

But I think the only reason you would. put Detroit ahead of them is if you just feel like it's tough to repeat or even get back to the Super Bowl. So as good as they may be, they're not getting back most likely. And then I think you throw the Rams in there as well

and you know you've always liked the Rams. I have been questionable about them because I thought Stafford in the preseason that was you know, ominous or something. But he's playing great and they don't even have Pooka Nakuwa right now and their defense is good too. So I think

they're right there with those other three teams, but I don't see why you would necessarily put them ahead of it. I also don't know that this is the same lion's offense as the last couple of years because it's not the same lion's offensive line. And they've played two excellent defenses, and both of those defenses

the Packers truly shut them down and the Chiefs slowed them down substantially. I think the Lions probably played a little better than their points in the Chief's game suggests. But it wasn't prolific. And the Bucs, by the way, last night,

Gibbs had the 80-yard run. The Bucks, I think, have some, if they are frustrated with some of the officiating, I get it, the Lions were better yesterday. But I didn't watch yesterday and say, oh, the Lions' offense, you know, is the offense that it looked like it was briefly after the Packer game when they scored.

They are the best team in the league at running up the score on bad teams. They were that last year. They are that this year. They love that. But I also think it's a little revisionist, and you're not the only person that's done this, that says, ah, lions last year, they just got too hurt.

They lost that playoff game because their quarterback melted down. That was not just – The score was 45-31. Golf turned the ball over four times. Golf turned the ball over four times. In my opinion, that was a offense and defense-lawful. loss in that playoff game. And I don't know if golf turned over four times or they turned over four times. Because they also, JMO, with the season on the line, they had Jameson Williams throw a pass.

They did a lot of goofy stuff in that game. I don't know why they're scarier than the Rams. And the Rams, by the way, aren't my pick. Like my pick is Tampa. It's very hard today this moment, say Tampa's scariest. They just got beat soundly. But the Rams to me have a better defense than Detroit. They have a quarterback that is better than Detroit's. And why, I, the weapons are, when healthy, a tick below, but I think still, Puka is, yeah, I mean, Puka is exceptional. Devante is really good. And I am a little anxious about golf skittishness behind this not as dominant offensive line when he's played good defenses. And I think that's, I think that's fair.

Like I, the lions it feels, and I love Dan Campbell, but I also love Sean McVay. The Lions, it feels to me a lot like the Lions eats of the last couple years, which are overwhelming against bad teams and good against good teams, but it doesn't make them the scariest team in the NFC. Do you think it's fair to say, because the offense is definitely very good. The only time they've looked

phenomenal was against the Bears. Like the Ben Johnson type offense, you know, that we saw last year. Yeah, I mean, listen, I think that the Lions offense is still very, very good, and they're figuring out their offensive line that I expect to get better. But, like, kind of how you were talking about the bucks, you think they're going to be the one seed. Detroit's formula, like, that game last night, their defense was powered by their home crowd and the noise and feasting off of it. Their defense is the second best in the NFL points allowed at home.

First, in terms of pass-l rating allowed, at home. Like, if they get to play in a dome on a fast track with Gibbs, with Jameson Williams, with Williams with their speed and then tee off with Aiden Hutchinson. Like the formula of how they are built to succeed in that building, I just think is, I have the fewest questions about them compared to the other NFC teams that all have questions. Yeah, that's just, I guess it's just, I mean, they were the one seat last year, and they lost their first playoff game to a rookie quarterback. And I don't, I don't know if we can show, go ahead.

Well, I'm just saying that that team, yes, won 15 games and beat the Vikings in week 18, but that team, no one thought that team as the one seed was going to win the Super Bowl last year because of all the injuries that they had on defense. Nobody believed in that team at that time. They might not have believed in them to win the Super Bowl. They certainly believed in them that they were going to win that first home playoff game when they were big favorites and they got clocked. That was a bad.

And I don't know if we, Christina, have time to show their schedule just quickly. I would agree with you that going to Detroit if their path, if they get the one seat again, seems ominous. I don't think that is the path of a one seat. When I look at that schedule and I say they've already had a tough schedule, but what they did have going for them was the easiest games on their schedule, quote unquote, they've already played them. They don't play a single team left that we're saying, okay, it's just one of the teams that's scouting college quarterbacks already.

I'll be pretty shocked if they lose at home to Minnesota out of the buy. Well, sure, but would you be shocked if they lose on the road to Minnesota? Like that's a divisional game. The Giants game is the easiest one left, and we'll see what they look like there. But everyone they play is live. And so I just, I think they are far more likely to finish 11 and 6 than 13 and 4. And 11 and 6 won't be the ones. So do we all have different NFC?

Like I have the Lions coming out of the NFC. You have the Bucks coming out of the NFC? Eagles, Packers. Wow. We all have no agreement in the NFC. Wide open league. In the late game, Seahawks toppled the Texans to move to 5 and 2. Darnal was okay. Defense was better.

So let's see how Seattle fares on this week's edition of Top 10 Tuesday. Could have been Danny's dozen, but we're staying with Top 10 Tuesday making their debut, the San Francisco 49ers, atop the NFC West. And it's all because of Christian McCaffrey. No Fred Warner, no problem. No $250 million quarterback. No problem. Christian McCaffrey is on pace for just under 2,400 scrimmage yards.

It's the best start for any player since Derek Henry in 2021. Danny, would you say he's been a top three back this year? Yeah, I would say that. Yeah, yeah. I don't care of the other ones are. There's a lot of course. Just as long as he's in the top three. It's a big point of contention.

He's going to be running. He's not counting the receiving. He has three. Yeah. Coming in at number nine, you mentioned it, Nick. The Green Bay Packers staying exactly where they were from last week. I can't really bump you up after that weird game against Arizona, even though Micah Parsons was incredible.

They would be the one seed if it ended today. But like, look at it. They feel like the eighth or ninth best team. Ninth in point differential. Seventh in yards differential. 10th in opponents points per game. Like just they're very good. And their ceiling is very, very high.

But they're not consistent. They can't put it together. Maybe in a few weeks we can revisit. Actually, we'll revisit it every Tuesday. Yeah. But for now, staying at number nine. Coming into number eight, Nick's team, the Rams.

Also holding served. They blew out the Jaguars. Nicks just like the Jaguars a lot more than I did. And I do think there's a legitimate case that they should be higher. They're the only team in the NFL with a quarterback who's top five in touchdowns and a defense that's top five in points allowed. Signature wins still coming for the rent. If they should be higher, make them higher. It's a legitimate case.

You can't even blame the committee. You're in an office by yourself. You know how many personalities there are up here. I was arguing with myself for a long time. Number seven, the Bucks. That's a rough performance with rough injuries from them last night. I was shocked, like I said, that they were held to single digit with points. And Bill Parcells once said you are what your record says you are.

You also are the company you keep. And now that their point differential is negative for the season, these are the teams that they're just in front of in terms of point differential. Cardinals, Bears, Panthers, Jaguars, oh my. You beat Atlanta by three, Houston by one, and the Jess. That's five four number one overall five those put that can you put that back up those all five quarterbacks were number one picks that's crazy all have Baker Kyler Caleb Bryce Trevor I mean that's weird I did maybe didn't have put that back

up it just struck me as I don't even know what it means they were all number one overall pick just something no no no something or nothing well yeah feels more like nothing yeah after another impressive after another impressive game. The Colts continue to move up. Time for our insane Colts stat. Love it. This is ridiculous. 33 or more points scored with five or fewer turnovers through seven games. The 15 Patriots that started 10 and 0 and finished 12 and 4 last year's Lions and this year's Colts. It's a pretty good formula to score a ton of points and never give the ball to the other team. And not make the Super Bowl like those other two. Right. Right. I was like, okay. But in terms of how

They're starting. They are. It is a regular season. It is a regular season. We have a lot of critics today. Coming in number five, the Seattle Seahawks. Here's the thing. Nick scoffed last week when I picked Seattle, 3 and 0, by the way, against Houston for saying that I thought the Seahawks had a better defense than the Texans.

The Seahawks were able to win that game by eight points with four giveaways. Like, McDonald, very impressive. Jackson Smith and Jigma, legitimate superstar, Dark Horse candidate for offensive. player of the year, maybe we'll watch it. I'm just continually very impressed with like if they can win that game against that team with their C minus effort, they're a very scary team. I also had Seattle minus three. I just didn't think they had the better defense in the game.

Well, you were wrong about a couple of things this week. One and two, three and no. Uh, we'll get the clicks later in the week. And now this is picked or it's top 10 Tuesday. It's not tiers, but this is the benefit of the doubt here. We begin at number four with the Eagles. Listen, Jalen Hertz proved something to me. Best passing game, arguably of his career, can't have a better passer rating than he obviously had against the tough Minnesota defense.

But that's the reason why teams up here are going to just get the benefit of the doubt. You were a Super Bowl champ last year. You were dominant last year. It was a two-game blip. It wasn't a supernatural funk. It was just a weird two games. And now I think the Eagles are back to being scary. Coming in at number three, my Super Bowl pick, the Buffalo Bills.

Moved up in a by week. Moved up in a buy week. Wow. It's a league. Build of parody and mediocrity, and I will say this, I am applying the same logic to the bills that I applied to the Eagles. I'm assuming weird two weeks, not all of a sudden they're bad,

because last two weeks for the bills, bad. Last 38 games for the bills, last 78 games for the bills, have been really good and we can show it to you. I am choosing to believe that the bills team that we have seen over the last three years is actually the team that we're going to continue you to see. Believe me or not, I can show it to you later. Coming into number two. Thank you for a meeting, man.

I'm not the same either. The last 78th game. Well, here's the thing. Yeah. Wilde said to me before the show, he's like, I want to see your bills graphic other than just I believe they're good. So we cooked up a bills graphic. They were good three years ago. And last year, and last year before. And don't worry. No, last week they were on. They were on a buy. They dominated didn't lose. So the lines coming in at number two. I, we just talked about it off the top of the show. I think if their defense is, even if they're just great at home,

they're going to play a lot of home games. And a defense that is average to above average with what I believe their offense is, which is the scariest in the NFL. The Lions come in at number two. But yes, of course, Nick, once again, your Kansas City Chiefs at number one. Doesn't even need explanation.

It really doesn't. They are the best, and they get the benefit of doubt until proven otherwise. Danny is gone from the Chiefs might not make the playoffs. That's not what I ever said. Oh, I mean, you know, No, you flirt with it. No, we can run the tape.

It was if they lose to the Giants, they might miss the playoffs, and they could lose to the Giants because Russell Wilson might outperform Patrick Mahomes. All those things happened. All those things happened. Those things did happen. And we agreed that it was like a math equation. They were, like losses can pile up early. Yeah.

Things could get problematic. They, they won't know. Drew, what's your big surprise? All right. Look, when I first looked at this list and this probably happened to you, Nick, too, when I saw the Niners. At 10, I was like, wait, and I get it, the record is good and everything, but with the injuries, Mack Jones struggling lately. He's not.

He doesn't have a bad game. Three interceptions and no touchdowns last two games. I'm just saying, but they're winning. They're winning. Look, but I looked at the rest of the league. I was like, wait a minute. The Niners, 10th. And I looked through the stand and I was like, as you said, it is a league full of mediocrity and bad play right now.

And so I assume, and I apologize, I will take this back if these are the standings. They're not the stand. These are not the stand. I think they're not the same. So the record shouldn't matter. The record shouldn't matter. Give me the Ravens at number 10 instead of San Francisco. No.

The Ravens with Mar Jackson are number 10. I looked at all the teams. I'm like, man, with Lamar, with the defense holding the Rams to 17 points, the same Rams teams that ran rough shot over Jacksonville. I'm counting on him being back. They took the toys out of the building. It's all about seriousness now, resurrecting this team, saving this season, Ravens number 10.

I told you I was going to shock you. Yeah, you shocked me. Don't hate it. You don't hate it. I mean, I'll just say this, Brew, the Bears are going to end your team's season. That is a big game. It's a huge game. That's like FTF O T-T bowl.

It is. Bears Ravens. I like it. Your team has the same number of wins as the Titans. Yeah, no, it's it. And they need to win that game. I mean, that is the neighborhood they live in. But can we, but y'all got to admit this.

And I get it. They're one in top. Those teams have better defenses. One in six, whatever they are. But here's the thing. Chiefs, Lions. Who is the other team that builds? Those are three.

Those are your top three teams. So the Ravens lost and then with LeVar. For the record, and one of them's Rams. Okay. All right, I'll go quick because I know KW's got a good one. Because it's not the standings, I feel like people would be totally fine saying the culture good, but they're not great if they were five and two instead of six and one.

And I don't think they're better than the Patriots. So I think the, like, if I'm, I would put the Patriots, I would reorder a bit of it because I'd have Tampa higher and the Rams higher. But if I have to, I'm with you on what the Niners have earned and what they've done. I would remove the Colts and put the Patriots in the top 10 because I, you're taking the Colts aren't even in top 10. I am putting the Pats in and the only team that's on there that I, the team I feel most comfortable removing. is not the Packers or the Niners or the Rams or the Bucks. It's the Colts. I don't think what, I do not believe the Colts path

of having literally the greatest offense in the last 30 years of the NFL is going to sustain. And I think the Patriots have a more sustainable model on one I've seen work, which is soft schedule, superstar quarterback making a leap in year two. I think the Patriot, right now if the Patriots played the Colts, I'd pick the Patriots. So that's what, that's my take that.

Can I, I'm gonna talk about the bills. All right. The bills aren't who you think they are. The bills, talk about the bills and tell me what the bills have done this year, this year, that makes you think they're the third best team. They beat the Ravens on opening night. Yep.

But for all, A, the Ravens are not that good and we know that now. And every other opening night game, we're like, ah, Lions Packers, Chargers, Chiefs, just weird stuff happens. Raiders, Paters, Patriots, that's an excellent one. They haven't won a game

against a team that has won two games. They beat the Ravens opening night and it needed a lot of funny stuff to happen. They beat the Jets. They beat the Jets who haven't won a game. They might be the worst franchise in the league. Dolphins and Saints. Dolphins and the Saints. Then they lost two

games and had an early buy. I don't like an early buy either. So they're going to come out of this and play Carolina with Andy Dalton? Would you be shocked if, okay? Yes, I would be shocked. This is the last stand for the bills in the top three. If they lose to Carolina, I'll even make a pledge they can be out of the top 10.

Next week. You said something this year. I'm not going to tell you much about this year, but again, if it's the benefit of the doubt, vibe, team. Show the graphic. And this does include this year. Yeah.

I mean, they're good. I just, they're good. It's been a weird two games. They're good. And they're great offensively. Okay. All right. I mean, for whatever it's worth,

what makes them great is they have a top three quarterback a lot. And that makes you great. You have to have a truly institutional rot of talent, the way Cincinnati dealt with last year on defense, to have that level of quarterback play and not be really good. Last year, Josh Allen had six interceptions and 17 games. He has four in his last three games. Yeah, but you've got that.

You still think he's top three quarterback, KW? I think he's a very good quarterback. I'm just saying he's lost two consecutive games, and I wouldn't be surprised if they lost to Carolina. Upset alert? Perhaps. Oh, preview. Stay tuned on Friday.

Coming up next, what's on the line when the Giants faced the Eagles? Ryan Dayball sure is upset. That's always on first thing first week. He's always mad. Should be mad at himself for calling that past. Last night in a weird game that ended, frankly, this morning on the East Coast.

The Seahawks put up 27 points on the Texans. Four turnovers by the Texans. Sam Darnold had a touchdown and pick and a fumble on his own. C.J. Stroud with a touchdown and interception himself. But the Seahawks defense held the Texans to just 19 points. Both quarterbacks tried to explain the odd game and their performances. Here is Sam Darnold and C.J. Stroud after the game. Oh man.

What a weird game. When we execute, when we do our job every single play, the results kind of speak for themselves. You know, we just can't keep shooting ourselves in the foot the way that we have. And we just didn't catch a rhythm. They did a good job with just keeping the shell. And then some of those started shorts and, you know, plays like that, we just, we got to execute.

But I think it starts with me and I got to do a better job of distributing the ball better. The type of offense we're running is like, you know, like I told you all this, death by 1,000 cuts. So the question is more concerning performance from Darnold in the Win or Strz, Stroud in the loss. And I got a lot of theories as to the why with C.J. Stroud. Like, I don't think it's all on him. He had an impressive rookie year.

But I remember thinking at the time that we had overrated his rookie year a bit because it was just like, oh, he didn't turn the ball over. And then he got a playoff win against the bad team. And it was like a very solid rookie year. But I didn't think he was great. And now partly because they got rid of Tunsel, partly because they can't run the ball, partly because of the offensive line, but partly because of him, C.J. Stroud broken to me. Like he was bad last night and he was inaccurate and fundamentally looked like a

flawed player. And so we can remove last night if you want to because it was a weird game. Here is C.J. Strouds. He's played 38 games in his in his NFL career. Let's just look at his full season body work. His last 17 starts this year and last year. And it's just bad. Like that is just not impressive in any way. And where that ranks calendar year, guys who have made at least 10 starts in that period of time, this is a bottom third quarterback in the NFL. And I don't think he's a bottom third quarterback in the NFL, but I never bought the hype that he was a top third, top 10 quarterback. Right. And so now the body of work for him is just weird. So I don't know where you guys came out on last night, but I think C.J. Stroud is broken.

Yeah, I'm with you there. Look, I was one of those that had them in the top third of quarterbacks. I had them in shoot top five. To be honest, after his rookie year, I just thought he was going to be on that trajectory. And quite frankly, he's letting his team down, period. There's no other way to look at it. I don't care who you don't have because going into this season, you knew what you didn't have. You knew the receivers that you had in that locker room that was available. You knew the lack of offensive linemen that you had. And there was a sense of you got to believe that you have to be the one that overcomes it. You have to be the eraser of what we don't have because we're putting so much on your plate.

And he just hasn't lived up to be that at all. Yeah, I'm concerned because I'm with you, Danny. When you turn on a tape, he's definitely regressed as a quarterback. He's struggling to understand what defenses are trying to do to him. Defenses are blitzing him early and often. And I got a graphic for you to show you real quick versus the Seahawks pressure last night. That's what he looked like. Yeah, that's not good.

But the bottom bar is where I'm what you would, DP, you talk about he's O and 4 when pressure more than 30% of his dropbacks. Like this season, that's who he is, oh and 4. So when you talk about being a franchise quarterback, a guy that you have to depend on, a guy that's supposed to erase things on the field so you can be a better ball club, that's not him. And sure, you can point out what the office line is not doing.

You talk about the lack of receiving help. But right now with C.J. Stroud, the field, the playbook looks strunken. It's strengths. And that can't be the case when you're considered QB1. And what's frustrating right now, and I don't know if Houston knows it, they're running out of time. They're running out of serious time, and I don't think they can fix it.

Yeah. And when you have a defense that is that good, I mean, they are amazing. You can't waste that type of a defense because you don't know how good they're going to be in years to come. The one thing that I feel like he can fix. and it's not a hard thing to do that will help him out against pressure because it's not like teams are going to stop pressuring him

you got to mix up your cadence at the line of scrimmish to help yourself out because if you can get the defense to show you something give you the answers you know the answers once the ball is snapped and he's not doing that he's not using his snap count to his advantage and in year three you would think

that's something that you would easily tell your quarterback but that goes back to what you're going to you said early about his first year, we were enamored the fact that he was able to do that early in his career, that he can anticipate what he needs to do with the football, be on a time, get the ball out of his hands, and keep the offense on schedule, being a rookie. We're not seeing that right now. And so that's why you're concerned about what's happening with C.J. Strauss. Yeah, he looks lost out there. Meanwhile, across the Hudson, the Giants sitting with a fourth quarter collapse in Denver. They're trying to figure out what had happened. The Giants are now two and five.

They go to Philly on Sunday to face the Eagles yet again. Here's coach Brian Daib. Certainly a lot of guys that are, you know, that are hurting right now, some physically. But, you know, they gave everything they had and we came up short and that was a tough one. Make no mistake about it. But you got to get back on your horse and get ready to play a very talented team that we just played, you know, two weeks ago. All right, Mr. New York, you think Daibel lasts the year? Listen, he was already walking the plane.

Let's keep it a buck. I think what's interesting about the game Sunday, man, was the Broncos were able to erase three, you know, three quarters of hard work in 15 minutes. And when you're Brian Dayball and your thing as being a quarterback whisper or having that one playoff win in Minnesota, none of that matters right now. It's about the development of Jackson Dart and how you manage this team. This wasn't about bad luck. this was about mismanagement. And you're at the point, Brian Dayball being, where because of the record and because of how horrific that loss is,

you're solely dependent on Jackson Dart, and with the team knowing you're in a hot seat, are the boys going to rally behind you, or they're going to let the chips fall where they may and leave you if this thing gets ugly down the road? So he's in a weird spot. Does he last the season? Yes, because we've seen over time,

firing the coach middle season doesn't do well, a la the Jets, right? It just unravels. They can't afford that. It was a bad loss. It was mismanagement on its part. It wasn't bad luck. But there's going to be some answers that need to be had at the end of the season.

Yeah, he makes it the season. You don't want to fire a head coach that your quarterback is leaning on. And you got to believe, like, there's a lot of things that he could do better. But the development of where Jackson Dart is and where he can end up being pending what you do with this head coach, it matters right now. I don't know if this is going to be the coach long term because a lot of the things that we're seeing, he has to take accountability. Like I listen to that entire presser

and there's a lot of deflection and I just need to know that you're accountable for everything. I don't care that somebody else is calling the play. We get that, but we know you are a play caller and you are an offensive mind. And so when we see things that transpire in the game that we look at you, like, what are you doing?

Run the ball or, you know what I mean, mismanagement of different things. Just own that and then your team will follow that. It would be malpractice to fire him in season. You can't do that to Jackson Dart. No. Once you make, because, listen, I think starting a quarterback, a rookie

quarterback with a coach who's on the hot seat and then firing that coach after the rookie year is already a huge setback to quarterbacks. I call that doing a Bears. They did it to Trubisky. They did it to It's just like I've seen that story basically my entire life. You cannot do it.

And so if you think Dable's not the guy for DART, fine, do it in the off season and hit the reset on DART and it will be a setback. But do not make Jackson DART between weeks like nine and ten also learn a new coach and a new play caller and that whole thing. Like Dable could blow five more games the rest of the year like they did against Denver and I would not advocate firing him in season. Out of season, sure. But now your season's cooked.

if he's the guy to to turn Jackson Dart into Josh Allen, then Brian Dable stays. Yes. That's just kind of how it's going to work. Well, this is the thing. I thought the Giants regressed when they let Wing Martindale go

because he was a guy who, Greg, you know, there's always that one coach who's allowed in the player circle who say, hey, I know what upstairs saying, but this is how we really should operate. I had a coach like that in Russ Grimm before Mike Tommy got hired

because he was one of the original hogs. He's a hall of, framer played on the Washington Reskins office line. He was a guy that can go to a defense, go to an offense to say, hey, man, this is what we should be doing. This is how we should be playing. This is how we should be conducting ourselves. And when you lose those guys, now you've got one guy to depend on.

And when you're not efficient or competent at their job, now everybody goes tone deaf. So when you lose a key character like a Wink Martindale and the guys love to see him talk and rally around them, that's a missing piece of that organization that they got to find the next guy up outside of Brian Dayball. I got to find a lot of things. That's a loss that it would linger. Yeah. It lingers with a fan base.

Lockroom. I know you guys are great at moving on. That's a loss that lingers. It is. And when you listen to guys, even prior to these few losses, like I look at Malik neighbors and some of the things that he said in some of his press conferences, when you suffer a loss like this, you start looking at everything. And when he was talking about it's not the quarterback.

It's not the quarterback. It's not the quarterback. Well, who is it then? It's got to be somebody. Exactly. It has to be somebody. And when you start to see the antics, and I'm going to, yes, I'm calling them antics of your head coach, where he's going crazy on the sideline because he doesn't have players and his quarterback.

You have to be the still. And he just doesn't seem to be that for this team. Willie's favorite segment, he said we said. Love it. Coming up next. Let's play he said we said. Hearing the best sound from the guys over the weekend, we tell you what we think. First up, Baker Mayfield.

after last night's performance. I'm still pretty damn confused about the double review. A lot of things in that game, a little questionable, but a lot of frustration at the end of that. It might be displaced onto John Hussey in the moment, but I work my ass off, and I put a lot into this game, so when things that I don't seem are deemed fair, I'm going to let somebody know,

and that's good, bad, and different. I hate talking about officiating with my friends, I hate talking about it on TV. Like, I just think it's the lament of the loser. And, like, Baker Mayfield is not a loser. That is not at all what I'm saying. Right, I'm not making that allegation at all, and I get frustration in the moment.

But, like, you scored nine points. Like, bad calls, we all talk about it. It gets talking about on social media. But I just do not like it with coaches, quarterbacks. Like, leave that to fans and Twitter. I do not need to hear quarterbacks complaining about officials. Yeah, my issue with it.

And I typically don't mind it when you play well. When you haven't done your part and Baker missed a lot of throws last night. Yeah, he did not look good last night. He didn't look like the Baker that we've seen in the previous six weeks. And so that's where I'm like, Baker, you got to eat this one. I'm sorry. You don't deserve to be talking about the officials. I don't mind if you were lights out and you feel like you got robbed because of a sack that you got tripped

and they clearly missed it. And then they asked the player, did you triple? Listen, they missed calls. They definitely missed calls. But when you don't play well, don't do that. Yeah, I understand this anger. Beat me, don't cheat me, right? We can talk about the debacle with the replayers.

We can talk about the tripping and all that nonsense. But good offense is responding chaos. They respond with points. They didn't put up points. And when you turn it on the tape, it was turnovers, missed throws, and bad football on the offensive side for the buck. So, Baker's going to have to take it on the chin. I did not think we'd see 50 pass attempts from Baker Mayfield in only nine points.

Next up, he said we said, Dolphins head coach, Mike McDaniel. Since two leads the league in interceptions, I guess we probably should ask you, will he take all the first team practice snaps this week and will he be your starter for the next several weeks barring injury? Yeah, he's going to take the snaps this week and he's going to be our start of this week. And my expectation is that we don't throw 10 picks. Okay. Mike McDaniel.

I could call this Matt Nagy syndrome. I could call this Brandon Staleyitis. You got a lot of trauma on your heart. Okay, okay. How about Brandon Staleyitis? I've seen this so many times. Young hot head coach comes in and he's saying all these cool things. And he's like, man, this guy's a clear communicator.

He's an innovator. Everything he says sounds smart. And then the weight of the chargers just beats it out of Brandon's daily. All of a sudden, Matt Nagy, he's like, is he speaking Mandarin? Mandarin. Like, I don't understand what you're talking about up there. Like, Mike McDaniel used to be cool and confident. You used to be. And now he's not. No, listen, I love it, though.

This is directed at to it. You throw three interceptions back-to-back games, and you don't think I'm going out and tell you you suck and you're the reason why we this thing is going south. I love it. I'm glad McDaniel showed he got some cajones. Because for a long time, he was being cute in front of the mic, dodging bullets, dipping and diving. No, to it, you driving the bus and you stink.

So if you want us to get right, be better and do better and maybe this thing turns around. Absolutely. I'm with you 100% on this one. Like you typically don't like your head coach calling out your quarterback. Yeah, normally. But in this case, when you've listened to Tua, who's had these back-to-back three interception games, kind of dismiss them to a degree where it's not really all on me and we can do something. No, it's on you when you throw three picks two games in a row.

Like you just clearly have to be better. And the person that can tell you that first is the head coach because he is the play caller. You guys are, you meet every single day about these plays. And we have an understanding of how we're going to execute these plays. And you go out there and you're throwing it to the other team. I can't have it. But guys, because Tua has made mistakes in front of the media. I'm not saying.

No, no, no, no. He's like a too wrong to make a right situation. It's two things. Coaches set the standard. Players police the culture. He has to set the standard. We can't play this way. The players have to go to work and do the damn thing and be on time

and make sure this operation is complete. When you play like that and you stay away from the quarterback, guys in the locker room are like, oh, you think you're invisible. You think you ain't the reason why we're out here losing? It's up to McDaniels to call him out, and I'm glad he did. Okay. You don't see it every day. That's all I'm saying.

You don't see three picks. Talk to him. Talk to him. That's, I suppose, true. Next up, Dak Prescott on the Cowboys defense. They shut up a lot of that criticism. Came out and got the ball, had a defensive touchdown, held this group to, what, right at 20 points. It was a great performance by them, and that's what complimentary ball is.

When we're scoring and they're stopping, games should look like this. Okay, quarterback. Jack has seemingly never made a mistake in front of a microphone. I will just say this. I would not, if I was Jack Prescott, rely on the Cowboys defense. That's not what he's saying. No, no, no, I know. But he said they stepped up.

That's what they can do, that sort of thing. Like, Jaden Daniels missed the last four possessions of that game with the hamstring injury. Right. Washington had their top three receivers out. To me, that was not much. Like, I get why the quarterback is complimenting his defense, but that is not like the Cowboys defense is good. Correct.

And I think Dak is fully aware that this defense is not the greatest. But he's saying they shut up that criticism. But when they all, what he's saying is, I just, we just, as an offense, we just need you to get some stops. And you did that today. And if they can do that, if you listen to them, it's like, if they do that, this is what the outcome could be. That's a quarterback showing leadership, not throwing his defense under the bus. That's true. And we all know, including that, what that defense is not.

And that is an excellent defense. Yeah, first of all, you got to tip your hat off to Matt Evil Flues. I know you don't want me to say that out loud, but I'm going to say it. Because if you pay attention to the Cowboys defense, they normally play zone. Right. They change that up. They played, man, 50% of the time of this game, they blitz 30% of the time. Why they do that?

Because they can't get home with their front floor. When you lose a guy like Michael Parsons, you got to get home with your blitz. They were able to do that. So now, my only thing right now, if this is who you're going to be on defense for the Dallas Cowboys, you have to remain this way. You can't go back. So if you set the standard that you're going to be a blitz happy defense, there's no more zone. Let the boys eat one-on-one and send the dogs when you got a chance.

and you know the DAC on the other side is going to light it up. I know they made that zone demand primary switch, but I was also player led. So if you wanted to give Mattie, refuse all that credit, it's like, okay, you listen to your players.

You got to listen to them at some point. Okay, but you're supposed to know the correct scheme for your players. Is that not the coach's job? Is that not the coach's job? The players play, you have a scheme and you believe in your scheme, and then when your players come and give you feedback,

it is incumbent upon you to be able to step that. and do something with it. And he did. Do you guys think the Cowboys defense will be league average going forward? No, I don't. Do you? Not without us. You do?

Yes. Not without a pass. Not without somebody that can get after. Well, overshone. Let's see what they look like with overshoeing. Now you're coming home. I get over the door for you. Let's see what they look like when he gets back.

Wow. Okay. Wow. Legitimate confidence. Listen, man. Blip. Outlier performance. This wasn't about personnel.

This was about scheme. And a scheme finally matches. defense of what they can do well. You got to support it. Okay. A lot of confidence here. Out of he said, we said. Coming up, Sequin Barkley, optimism, what does it look like if he gets back on track? Eagles could be scary.

Welcome back to FTF. We just saw the Eagles win when we had been waiting for what the offense is going to look like. And they had a great passing performance, but there was not much from that guy, Saquan Barkley. Well, pro football talk writes, of the 24 running backs who have at least 75 carries, Sequin ranks dead last in yards per carry 3.3, down from 5.8 last year. And we could put it up for you on the screen through seven games each of the last two years.

These are Sequin Barclays ranks, and all the numbers on the right-hand column are worse. And that one at the bottom, no explosive runs, no 20-yard runs through seven games. Is a shocker. So, Greg, can Seekwan bounce back this year? I hope he can. I'm not confident that he will. And a large, unless they change some things up. Because I don't think their running game

falls exclusively on the shoulders of Saquan. Obviously, we know that they've had issues up front with injuries and just a mixed bag of who's going to be in the lineup. But their play design has been very stale. Like last year, I get it. You can get up there and say, line up, and we're just going to bully ball. That's not who they are this year.

You got to help them out, and they just haven't done that. Yeah, I think part of it, too, is the rest of the league has caught up to Saquan Barkler. They're not going to let him have another big year. So when you see them loading the box and having eight and really forcing Jayland Hurts to be him, and at times he has been him. But also on third down, that's why Saqon joined the Eagles. They needed a third down option.

And now because you've got some much crying on the outside, they've gone away from him. So I think it was just a matter of scheme. And I give him the ball and value him. And that's why he's not the guy we thought he was last year. I showed the stat last week. Last year, Sequin Barclay, yards before contact, number one in the NFL. This year he was in the low 30s. Dickerson's hurt.

Beckett and left in free agency. Lane Johnson's been hurt. Yeah, he was a mauler. So many guys heard on the offensive line. He's just getting hit soon. Defensive lines are living in the back. Yeah, it's a bad formula. Hoops is back tonight.

Yeah. Let's go, Nick. Man.