First Things First - Mahomes MVP case, Eagles’ funk, Vinnie Pasquantino joins, Nick’s Tiers & Must-Win for Week 7

Episode Date: October 15, 2025

(0:00) Eagles falling into repeat funk, Expect Mahomes to win MVP? (25:06) Must-Win for Commanders, Steelers, Eagles (39:09) Eagles or Bills more concerned after 2 straight losses? (44:43) Nick’s Tiers (01:07:04) Vinnie Pasquantino joins the show (01:22:33) Are the Cowboys a winning team? (01:27:32) Eagles signs of collapse, Packed Stats (01:50:14) Dianna Russini on Bill Belichick’s future, Trey Hendrickson trade talks (02:02:11) How much trouble are the Eagles in? (02:09:23) Who is good in the NFL right now? Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

I from New York. It's a show that it has a recipe for disaster because Nick Wright, Kevin Wilde's. Brew is having his first monster energy drink. It's purple, bro. And it's 24 ounces. Not my first. Well, you're first on the air. I drink about one a week.

Two, so that's one part of the recipe. Two. Brew is tweeting about Joe Missoula challenging and then destroying the Boston media in a pickup game. 57 to 4? What would have happened if you were out there in your prime, bro? Or even now. We would have got more than four points. I'm not saying we would have beat him because Missoula was a legitimate D1 college player.

But four, 57 to four. And they poured it on. I mean, you know what I mean? They were pressing the entire game. And it was the media team's co-ed. And I saw that. Right. I mean, that seems a little.

That's Missoula, though. Are you surprised? And they didn't know. Which I love about it. They thought it was a media on media game. They didn't have a chance to scout. And then Missoula told him day of, that's not what's happening. You're playing us.

I wouldn't have played. No, me neither. I'm like, no. No, you're trying to embarrass us. You're going to try to write a mean article about Missoula like you? Right, exactly. You threw up seven air balls against something. You could criticize it.

It fell right into Missoula's track. I won a media dunk contest for the Nets at the Nets Media. Nine foot rim. Back, uh, it was probably about. Eight. Okay. I did some nasty stuff. That's so if I was seven. Eighth point. It was nice.

Today, a report that the Eagles might be reentering the Super National. Oh, no. Fun. Meanwhile, Patrick Mahomes, MVP favorite. And now gets Richie Rice back. Are we ready to declare that he's winning the third MVP? I was going to take a negative turn on this. Really?

You are? No, but like, is it his to lose? his to lose. Like if he doesn't win it, is it bad? You know what I'm saying? I don't, I think he's got a couple in his. Well, he's the favorite. It's in tears. Wow.

You're more enthusiastic to see Drake, man. Ooh, there you go. Drake, May, Dack, tears. You have the Patriots moving up on the tears? I didn't even look at it. I know you didn't. And it's a problem. I saw it. I went to the rundown today.

The committee is upset with Wilde. He's upset with Wilde. I get it. You had no idea. Wilde's pre-filing stories like Brews used to have to do on deadline with the New York Times. And then sending in the, it's like sending it in before the game's over, not knowing who's going to win. We did have to do something. But you had to send alternate.

Right. I thought it was savvy. We start with the return of the funk. Eagles have lost two in a row. The offense bipolar, sometimes unbelievable, sometimes doing nothing. nothing. And now as they prepare for his Vikings game, Jeremy Fowler is reporting, quote, one player told me that this is starting to feel like the 2023 meltdown, what we refer to as the supernatural funk, all over again. Team needs to be used this week to figure out, figure things

out and avoid a full blown repeat. This week was pretty much last week. And of course, this is what we're referring to. They went one in five. A point. point differential of almost 10, eight turnovers more than their opponents, and they're allowed their opponents to score 30 points. And then played one of the worst playoff games any team played in recent memory. When it looked like they just, yeah, quit. Yes. It's like we're headed on vacation.

Okay, Brew, your reaction. If this is accurate, and I'm sure Jeremy's report is accurate, if that player really has the pulse of the locker room, then shame on the Eagles. Shame on the Eagles. Are you kidding me? A supernatural

fun. And let's take the spookiness out of it. Okay. Right? To fall into a malaise for the second time in three seasons where you are just overcome with lethargy,

where you're just dispirited, This isn't, look, if they don't win the Super Bowl, fine. Yeah. But if you go out there and play your best and get beat by a better team, if you go into a funk where you just don't play anything close to your potential and you are just kind of dejected and like, I can't think of many teams, Nick, that that's happened to, period. To happen to a team twice in three years?

And look, I believe Jalen Hertz is a great leader. But if this is true, you got to show it. You can't let this happen to your team every other year. Wouldn't this be more on Siriani? Well, I was going to get to him too. But Jalen's part of it. Nick Siriani, I think he's a good coach. But you got to pull every bit of leadership that's in your body out

and get these teams guys out as fun. And I would throw Seekwine in there too. Like, this cannot have, again, if you just get beat by some better teams, it's not your year, that's fine. But to just go into a malaise is unacceptable. That's not choking. That's like giving up or something like that. And I'm not saying they're quitting or anything, but I'm just saying what happened two years ago was hard to explain. And let me throw this in.

And I don't know if this is the case. I'm just saying if if A.J. Brown is the problem. If, then trade him. Trading. You can get a lot for him. Trading. You're not using him to its full potential anyway. And he's great.

Don't give me right. I think he's a phenomenal player. And I don't know that he's the problem. So if he's not, of course, don't trade him. But if they know, the players and the organization know. And if this is stemming from his body lane, language, his quotes, whatever it might be, not happy, you're not getting the ball, then trade. So I want to kind of piggyback off that because I think what, you know, we use the term funk. The quote here was the 2023 meltdown.

This seems premature to be comparing it to a meltdown to two-game losing streak. You know, and that was a meltdown last year because they were 10 and 1. They were looked like, or two years ago, pardon me, the best team in football. But this is also, this Eagles team, since they've been excellent, is streaky like this. Where the year they went to the Super Bowl, like incredibly hot at the end of the year, three years ago. Two years ago, start 10 and 1, fall apart entirely. Last year, start off poorly and then red hot up until two weeks ago, as far as the one loss column goes. and then, so that part's odd to me.

What's not odd to me is this. And Danny said it, I don't know what day it was. It's like, what's Philly great at right now? What's Philly good at right now other than the tush push? And it's hard to point at anything. This, when part of the funk was a defense that had been awesome fell apart. Yeah. And we can show you the defensive numbers over the last three years.

They don't have the defense to hang their hat on. In 2023, the defense, I guess it hadn't been awesome pre-funkened been okay, but then it really was terrible late. Then last year, with Fangio, it was the best. This year, it's closer to 23 than it is to last year. And they can't simply just say, all right, if other things aren't working, at least Seekwan's going to take care of us more often than not. And this is my concern for them holistically.

We did. I had Josh, Sequin last year had 482 touches. He said, hey, this century, as you like to say, every back who had 450 touches, what was their drop off the next year? And it is stark. One guy produced El-Ladani and Tomlinson, an all-time legend, as very young player, had more yards. Edge missed a bunch of the season.

That's the drop-off. Everyone dropped off. Would a lot of those guys hurt? Yes, a lot of those guys missed times. And those guys were playing in February just off the top of my head. Like I wonder if they're right. As far as how many of those guys made the Super Bowl? None of them.

Yeah. So he was also playing late. And so. And I don't know if you look at the bottom part. Seekwan's on pace for a 974-yard regular season drop off. We obviously don't, which is. And so my concern for Philly is if the defense is just going to be, okay.

And there is, in my opinion, history, I shouldn't say my opinion, history tells us, Sequan's not all of a sudden going to get a bunch better, then what are they going to be great at unless your guy Jaylen in the passing game start really clicking? But that actually seems to be the part of the team

there's the most angst about. And like that's been the part of the team that even when they were winning, they were worried about. The defense hasn't been great. People aren't freaked out about that. Saquan hasn't been really performing. People don't seem freaked out about that.

So the thing there's the most anxiety about is the thing I think that they're going to need to save them from this. Like that to me is a real concern. You know what I think. And I can't think who their backup running back is at this point. Well, they traded for Tank Bigsby, but A.J. Dillan is their main backup. Yeah, the fumble. Right. But you probably got to get him.

And nothing against Sequin because I think if he does have a down year, I think you'll be back next year. But play Dylan more. I mean, really, just because the line is still solid. So you can get the run game going maybe with Dylan. And maybe that'll open things up for Sequin as well. I have one, two recommendations. One, perfect.

I'm positive it's right. One, Galaxy Brain. Okay. I'll give you the perfect one first. And it's an old Nick Sabin coaching axiom that I would like Petulow to use. players not plays. So come right out of the gate and get A.J. the Brown immediately. I think Josh McDaniels, when we watch Patriots bills, the first play was to Stefan Diggs.

Because he knew this is a big game for this guy. I want to get this guy involved immediately. So first play, we're just going to run him a little screen. Good. Stefan's on the board. He's Fields involved. So first play here, look, it may not be what you want to run. Can you just run a play for A.J. Brown immediately? That one makes sense. Before you get to your other one?

The Galaxy. Hold on. Yeah. That what you just did there is organic. You're not like cooking the books here. For what? Right before I went on the air, scrolling Twitter, I hand to God. I think it was Siriani.

Had a quote at the press conference today. You know, some of the smartest coaches I've ever been around say, make sure you're remembering to think players not plays. Oh, I didn't see that. The Eagles literally said that an hour. Oh, okay. No, that you are dialed in. He might have gotten it from Sabin.

No, I'm sure. It's just interesting that you said it at the same thing. A great football mind. Yeah, yeah. I mean, shout out to you. But go ahead, Galaxy. That is a good big for you. Yeah.

And I don't know if this would work. And this is this one through. I'm already playing with House Money here. Sequin, are you 100% healthy? Because if you're, you've had extra. I think he is. I'm saying we've had extra rest because they played last Thursday, correct? So we've had extra rest now.

So you've already got a little. If he doesn't pop this game, I think it's fair. And again, this is the Galaxy Brain one. They're like, hey, man, do you want an extra week? What's that going to do? I don't know. He had several months in the off season. But how many 50-yard games am I going to get until I try to shake the snow globe a little bit?

That's why I think you got to bring Dillon in a lot more. You want to take the ball out of a season. Totally. I don't want to be. Obviously, Sequin is a phenomenal back, but I'm just saying what Nick, that graphic he showed made a lot of sense. Hobbs told me he's got 12 carries, A.J. Dillon. Yeah, maybe a little bit more. They haven't been using him.

So it was weird because by having Dillon, who, if you guys remember, the Packers spent a pretty high, like, I think second round pick, third round pick on him a couple years ago. Dylan was a good. Yeah, it was a good back. They called him Flodzilla or whatever. They got large squads. Right, I get it. And then trading, they treated, I think, a fourth and a fifth, something real for, Hank Bigsby.

When I saw that, I said, oh, they understand. They were trying to make sure Sequin had a light workload over the course of the year. And so I just, it is ominous to me that they're only a point and a half favorite against a Viking team that I don't, I think most people think it's like somewhere around the eighth best team in the NFC. Yeah. You know, like that is a decent team, but that, and I know they're at best. Right. And I know they're on the road. I get that.

But usually a great team, which Philly's supposed to be, that all of a sudden needs the game, is off back-to-back losses, and they're on extra arrest against a backup quarterback in Wence. Ooh, Wenz revenge game. So McCarthy's definitely, I know he practiced Monday. I think they are expecting Wins to be playing. Oddly, the Eagles might be a bigger favorite against McCarthy,

but still like the Wence Revenge Game factor, moving the line? I mean, I don't think Wince has earned that. Once upon the time, he was in route to an MVP. He's like, he took my job in my Super Bowl. He probably feels some kind of way about that old thing. All right, moving on to the runners-ups from the champs of the runners-up. Rishie Rice this morning posted a dramatic comeback video as he prepares to make his season debut

against the might-be-frisky Raiders. One-time Frisky Raiders. Maybe. I don't know. Here's Andy Reid. I know he's been working like crazy. The rule states that we can't work with him, but I know he's been working out hard.

And I think it's just a matter of getting him back in the swing. I'm not going to tell you, I've got to see it to kind of work through it. But I know he's in good shape. That's the one thing I do know. And I think that'll be important, him coming back in there and getting with Patrick and kind of getting on the same page. So here's MVP odds. Baker's also missing some of his guys, too, but Mahomes will get Rishie Rice back. So I'm going to ask you two questions.

One, do you expect Mahomes with the addition of Rishie Rice to kind of continue this MVP trajectory? Also, just listening to Andy Reid there, I forgot that he had to be. I mean, I know he was suspended, but I forgot he had to be totally divorced from the team. But so it's weird. You think he's able to just get right in immediately? Yes. I mean, because he has been back more recently than this week. He was allowed to be back in the facility, I think, a week ago.

But he couldn't practice. Got you. You know, he was able to be around the guys, like, I think two weeks ago, whatever it is. So here's- You can't throw afterwards. I don't think you can do. I don't want to be wrong on this. Just under a cover of darkness.

Like, certainly, you're allowed. You know, I think, certainly, you're allowed to some slant matters or something. I think, certainly. I think, certainly. Certainly you're allowed outside of the facility. You know what I mean? Like if they went to someone's house or something. Which they probably not doing it.

Mones out of the field at his house. Yeah. Come on over. All right. So I want to, if you think, I want to say he's on the front end. Rishu Rice is not a returning hero. Like,

this is not, if it was just he was coming back from the injury last year, then it's, you know, kind of a happier, overcoming story. He did this to himself through,

bad choices and we don't have to talk about that every time we talk about it. But now that it's over, I just want to put a pin in that. I like Rishi Rice. He's very fortunate. Right. He's a lot of, very lucky in that and now you move forward and you hope he makes better choices. I do know Patrick loves him. And I also know that if you extrapolate either the first three games of last year over an entire season or the end of his rookie year over an entire season, he looks like a legitimate number one receiver statistically. And I think that this offense is going to really hum in a way it has not been able to in the last four years, which is why I really believe Patrick's going to win it.

Wow. And this is coming from someone who has, in my possession, a Baker Mayfield at 35 to 1 MVP ticket from the offseason. because I picked the bucks to be the one seed, so I said I think Baker could win MVP. I talked about it probably more on the pod than on here. And I think Baker's obviously been awesome, and I think Baker right now has to be the MVP. Like if it were voted on today,

and if we're voted on today, I wouldn't even have had, based on today, I wouldn't have Patrick on the ballot because I don't think you can be 500 and be the MVP. So it's a little different. But Baker's been playing with a little fire on, oh, that could have been picked, that could have been picked, and it wasn't. And I imagine that will come back on him a bit. And the other thing is this, Baker is kind of the final.

I don't know if we can throw up the buck's schedule or not. If not, it doesn't matter. I can just tell you guys. Starting in December, their final six games, five of them are 1 p.m. on Sunday, and one of them is Thursday night football. he's going to potentially not have the marquee stand-alone moments. Patrick, meanwhile, obviously, is on national TV all the time. And then Thanksgiving, Cowboys, Houston, Sunday night football, the Broncos on Christmas. And I think he already has brew, if we show what he's first in, MVP-ish personal numbers, not passer rating,

but leading the league in yards, leading the league in touchdowns, second-league in touchdowns. perception ratio, those are MVP numbers. And so I think he's going to do it because I think that they're going to be back to scoring around 30 a game. And I think they're going to be all over standalone games, which helps.

Look, I mean, I had him third on my ballot. And 500 at this point, I'm like, fine, because four and two is some of the other teams. Obviously, if a team that's 500 at the end of the season, no question that quarterback can't win MVP. but I think he's certainly in the hunt for all the reasons you said he's got a great chance to do it. But I think do I expect him to is a little strong.

I certainly expect him to be right there in the race. But right now you mentioned Baker. Baker's got a nice lead. Yes. And you talked about their schedule. He's got a great chance to be the number one seed. He's got the narrative. Like the narrative is Baker.

As much as it would be great, oh, Mahomes, the light show is. back. Once he got his receivers back, he took off. A tire back to. Yeah. Obviously, my homest already has to, but Baker, just his whole career becomes part of the story. I also think, Nick, with the, you mentioned the, like, games that are at one o'clock. A lot of the voters are beat writers and stuff. So they're not seeing the games live. You know, they're at their team's game or whatever. So I don't, that might affect some of the fans and viewers, but I don't know that it'll affect, you know, the writers as much, who obviously at this point are probably staunchly in Baker's camp.

I also will say this, and I'm not trying to be funny, a lot of guys are in the hunt right now. Yeah, of course. I really think he wasn't on my ballot this week, but I really think my preseason pick J-Lo will be in the hunt. Like, I know he's had some, you know, his numbers are very good. His numbers are better than, to me, he's played. Well, he just makes a few bad decisions.

Some of them have led to, he's only got two interceptions, but his decision making has been a little bit off. But I expect that team to improve. He's got Christian Watson coming back at some point. So his receiving core is going to get better too. And if they start to win a lot of games, which I expect, I think he'll be in the hunt. As far as Mahomes, though, I think Nick has got to boil down. Like, his stats have to get better. And they have started to get better over the last few games.

But look, you talk about the tackle to turn the top. But Jacksonville was after that. And he had a 91 passer rating and only one touchdown. And pick six in the red zone. I think it's going to have to be stats because right now with just six games played, every game is in our whole, oh, yeah, but he was great against Detroit. By 16, 17 games, the individual games aren't going to be as much in our head, and it's going to be your stats.

And here you show some of his stats, but here's where it ranks league-wide right now. Those aren't MVP numbers. I don't think those will get it for him. So those are going to have to improve. I'm sure they will with Rice coming back and worthy there now. Yeah, go ahead. I think we should just do total touchdowns from now on. Well, touchdowns to turnover.

Yeah, it just feels like a stat from a bygone era. To not include the growing touchdowns matter. It just feels like I always want to see total touchdowns now on. But generally it might be three or four touchdowns for a quarter. Mahomes got four already. But I mean, but that's unusual. That's an aberration. Like even Lamar had, what, four last year?

But I know you wanted to say something else on this. Just real quick. But just because Brew invoked it, not me. But he didn't vote. The tackle. The tagrel. I heard that. Mahomes' numbers since then.

And league ranks, and that includes a third of these games. I don't have, Dust, if you can throw it up there, the last three games. He, and that includes, those are. Those are better, yes. You know what I mean? And so the, and that includes, to your point, Bru, the Jacksonville game is one third of that. And I'm not even including the second half against the Giants because it's too hard to figure. So I just think he is already playing at an MVP level and now he's getting his best weapon back.

As ridiculous as the tackle the turn the tie it is, when we do talk about MVP, we do usually draw a line. since then, you know, when we're at week 18. Yeah, we're never like, but week one, Jared Gough didn't play well. We wouldn't do that in the MVP conversation. It's like how we throw away Drake May's game against the Raiders. But this was what, four games?

Yeah, but it's been a tackle that turn the tie. Thank you. When it turned the tie. KW, do you also buy this? Like, the preseason favorites, some of them are just out. Like, Lamar is basically out. Yeah, bro.

He's out. He's out. They would have to basically run the table. He's either out or going to win it. They have to basically go 10 and 1 the rest of the way or whatever it is. Burrow is out. Josh's MVP stock has taken a hit. He's still in it, but still in it. So I just think it feels like it might be, I mean, Stafford is going to have a good narrative push as well. But the-

Let the Steelers keep winning. Roger's number. Narratively, though. No, I don't. He's not throwing for a lot of yards. His rating is good. It's going to be, but it's going to be like, you know what? If they keep winning it, he will get in the race.

But by keep winning, like, given where his numbers are right now, they would have to be like 13 and 4. They would have to be in contention for the top C and the AFC. Just like two touchdowns, 175 a game. It's like, you know. Yeah, that won't do it. He's obviously got a heck of a narrative. A good story.

Yeah. All right. Coming up after the break, a segment that is really starting to get pretty literal. Oh, my guy Aaron Rogers. Sure. Must win. Someone's got to be a Roger guy. Hey, check out the podcast if you get a chance.

Number one podcast. In the building. In the building, for sure. Definitely in the building. Take that tonal. Also, our YouTube channel is really cooking. Giannis doing a wonderful job. Number two YouTube channel in the building.

Oh, is that not as good as tonal? No, no, just kidding. Oh, check out what's right. Oh, just kidding. Gianna's give me the dirty looks. It's way better than my chair. Time now for a segment that is never literal until it literally is. It's must win.

We're starting off Steelers in Cincinnati. One of the Steelers players referred to this as the icy hot bowl. Rogers versus Flacco. Oldest matchup of QBs since Bucks Brady took on Colts, Matt Ryan. Remember he's on the Colts? You forgot about that. I can't. Is this, Brew, you won last week's must win.

So you can pass or play. I'll play. Okay, wonderful. All right. What's the question? Must win. Must win for Roger? Yeah.

It is an absolute must win for Aaron Rogers. Absolutely. Obviously, they're cooking, four and one. They have a great opportunity. If they go 5-1 and you should stop the Bengals, you got a four-game lead over the Ravens, who I expect to start coming back. You play them twice,

even if they beat you in those two games, which are going to be tough for the Ravens to do, you still would have a two-game lead if you're up four. If you lose this game, your next three games, Green Bay, Indy, and the Chargers. You could lose all three of those games. You lose this to Cincinnati. Your Ravens League could be done.

And they might not get a wild card out of this division when you look at the way the other divisions are going. And so it's a must win for Aaron Rogers. And also, quickly, must win for Mike Tomlin. You just called, you just named names. Andrew Barry, you got to go out there and beat him. Andrew Barry's with the Browns. No, but I mean, he got mad at him for trading Joe Flacco to the Bengals.

You just want to move on to the next one. Give me the point. No, Wiles doesn't. that like, Wilde doesn't like, neither one of them was thinking Tomlin. Well, he's the coach of the Steelers. Well, that's where you're wrong.

Because you're partially right. Because this is a must prove Mike Tomlin wrong. That's what my title is. And here's why it is. So he calls out, he calls out Andrew Barry. And he's mad. And there's a reason that he's mad. It's because Joe Flacco is 11 and 11 against the Steelers.

Joe Flacco knows the Steelers defense better than any veteran quarterback they could have possibly gone to get. And now he comes in there and he's ready to play. What did Joe Flacco do again? He played Green Bay twice. So when he's with the Browns, he had a 55.6 pass a rating. And when he was with Sincerey, he had a 90.9 pass a rating. He can light it up.

He can light it up with these receivers. He knows the Pittsburgh defense. That's why Mike Tomlin was so upset about it. And they have the 27th ranked past defense. It's a must prove Mike Tomlin wrong. So since we're giving away points for that. Just trying to avoid the bronze at this. You need to see the writing on the sheet.

So I think it is a must win, but I think you guys more brew than coach have the reasoning. So first I want to just quickly give Rogers. You're getting double team. Just quickly, I want to give Rogers some credit because after being sacked seven times the first two games, only twice in the last four, they're getting the ball out quick, which is what has led to his, you know, him staying healthy and the success, which is really important. but KW. Brew can't accept the fact

that the Ravens are bad. Yeah. And he still thinks about a game between the first place and second place teams in the AFC North. How bad it will be for the first place team because what it means for the dead last team.

As opposed to, if the four-win Steelers lose, then the Bengals have three wins. And the Steelers schedule is exactly what Bruce said it was, and then they play the Bengals again. And we have seen Joe Flacco in this division, relatively recently, lead a team with way less talent on offense

than this one, to 11 wins. So if the Steelers lose, it's not that you have to worry about the Ravens coming back from the dead. It's that the Bengals will be on their heels. That's why it's a must win. I like that. The Bengals? Thank you.

Are you giving the Bengals? Take that. Wait. I'm just telling you that. I'm just giving it off of Joe Flacko. I'm just telling you. The Bengals can make the play. Thank you.

We saw Joe Flackle. My whole premise was Joe Flackle. I know, but. Oh my God. You were more of a victim of the seeding. Oh, my God. Extra rest for the Eagles. Coach one up to me and Nick.

Look, going to turn their season around, even though they are four and two. We talked about in the A block how the funk might be back. One player says there. reminds them of their terrible losing streak. Coach, is this a must win for Philadelphia? No, this is different. This is a must win Carson Wentz Super Bowl.

Okay, so you forget. We all forget Carson Wentz now. First round draft pick for Philadelphia Eagles. Number two overall. He goes 11 and two before he gets hurt. He has a great season. You know, there's talk about him getting a gold jacket back then. Because everybody loved them.

And then Nick Foles goes and takes a Super Bowl. They give him this giant. contract, then the Eagles trade them to Indianapolis and take the biggest cap hit in the history of the NFL to move on from him. He gets then traded to the commanders. This is his fifth team, but he's got an opportunity now to pay the Eagles back and give him a three-game losing streak and solidify that that supernatural funk. Wow. So that was good. Just, coach, that was all good.

But here's the problem. Here's the problem. I'm sorry to do this to your coach. This is competitive segment. Did we all forget that? Or we all knew that very vividly that Carson Wentz used to be on the Eagles. He said, you all forget. We all know.

We all know. It's pretty famous story. It's a favorite story. I was just going to say that for a long time I was a Carson Wentz fan and Wilde was like Carson Wentz. Yeah. Well, now he's got a question. Well, nobody liked it. May he was like.

Well, now he's got a chance to put a little dagger in the Eagles. This is oddly. And I think the Vikings are, to be clear, I don't think the Vikings are a bad team. But this is one of the Eagles. easiest games left. After this game, they only play three games against teams that are currently below 500.

One of them's the Giants who beat them. One of them is in Dallas, a game that was nip and tuck, and one of them's the Raiders who are not as good as some very smart people thought they would be. But every other game on the schedule is somewhere from brutal

to pretty difficult. And so I agree it is a must win for, or I think it's a must win for Philly, because if they were to fall to four and three with those games remaining, then you do have to start saying, it's on the board. They missed the postseason.

And so, yeah, I think it's a must win for Philadelphia. It is available. Yeah, they're both partially right. Coach has some good logic. Here's the thing, Coach. What you said makes it a must win for Philly. I can't let my ex roll, who we just discarded.

unce ceremoniously, walk against us and beat us and embarrass us. That might spark the supernatural funk, as you said. So it's a must win because of that. But also, I'm holding out the possibility that J.J. McCarthy plays. So, because he practiced Monday. So if he plays, it becomes a must win for Minnesota.

Because Carson Wentz was 2 and 1 as a starter. J.J. McCarthy would, be one and two if they lose. And look at these numbers. Now all of a sudden, his numbers are way better than JJ's. And I get it. JJ is the quarterback of the future,

but you have a full-blown quarterback controversy on your hands if you go out there with JJ and he loses. Yeah, well, JJ's not playing. So that whole logic isn't very good. Was he questionable? They said they're only going to play when he's absolutely ready to play.

So maybe magically he'll be absolutely ready to play. Either way, it's a shot there. You took a shot. I covered every base. Don't move on. If Barbie plays, if Carson plays? Can I just say one thing? Zach Earth, when he went to the commanders

that had a giant game against them, Carson went. Okay, I know they both have Zs in their name, but nobody cares about Zachert. Coach is going on an unwanted bonus. Can I just say something? KW, look at the screen. He's like shooting after the bus.

Why does Brew all of a sudden get subtle? I like that a lot. I can't let my ex-parentatical wince. Thank you, Dust. Where is this? Come on, Dusty. And I just said that. So he just threw that up.

Oh, they're adding that on the fly. That's him saying who had, that's clearly a nod to win. And who talked about wents the whole time. Yeah, coach gets the point. But I did like that. Graphically, I liked it. That's not a must win for the graphics.

Bonus round time, everybody. Bonus round. This is, this one's worth three points. You might wonder, why do you? even prep for the first two. Strategically. This is three points? This is three points.

Wow. Bro. Bro. Wow. I thought it was too. I was not in. Two wins it. If you win this one,

it doesn't matter for the first. Brich is. I'm just preparing for the third next to you. Right. That's lost to the fair. You've got to go to the three times. That's my point, Wilde, why you have to go to the end. You have to go to the envelope.

There's lost to the parents. Now they're trying to win. They're in Dallas. Okay. Is this a must win for Washington? Yes. They're in 12th place. This is close to a literal must win.

Ooh. They've already lost a potential head to add tiebreaker with a team that's going to be hopefully fighting for a wild card in Chicago. They lose this game. They lose another head to head tie breaker. I know they get them again, but potentially. with a team fighting for one of the wild cards in Dallas. Their next three might be the toughest three-game stretch

any team has in the league all year. Their next three are in Kansas City, then Seattle, then Detroit. So you fall to three and four with that coming up. The commanders, which some people, I wasn't one of them, but some people thought, you know, last year all those close wins, a little that they were going to come back down to Earth, down to earth this year. Those people will be proven potentially correct.

They have to win this. Must win coming off a tough loss. The division seems there for the taking. The Eagles on the verge of collapse. You got to win this game to get yourself in position to win the division. And many might be thinking it's a must win for the Cowboys. Actually, it is not a must win. It is not a must win.

A lot of people with things. The division is still open. I'm just playing with your mind a little bit. Here's why it's not a must win. Okay. If they win, if they lose. Is this a filibuster? Bruce.

I'm losing my logic. He's sparkling. I'm losing my life. I'm with you. If they lose, then Jerry is going to go ahead and make a lot of it. a trade. Okay. Uh-huh.

Which is what you want. So if you win, he will think we're okay, we don't have to make a trade. So you actually, if you lose, they actually should lose. If you lose, he will go and make a trade for a defensive player. That's actually sad. And two, four and one is not out of it. No. In that division.

So they're better off with losing. They're better off. So Jerry, so Jerry goes out there and goes to this. This is all. You get that. Right. Yes. Yeah, I fell asleep for half that segment because Bruce just was, I don't even know where

it went. So this to me is you must have a great plan by Dan. So Dan Quinn was my defensive line coach at the Jets. Brian Schottenheimer was the offensive coordinator at the Jets, both on the same sap. Dan has great knowledge and worked against Brian all the time. So he's got that inside, that insight into Brian. Now, when's the last time they had a formidable defense in Dallas? When Dan Quinn was there, Dan Quinn all the time, getting to work against Dak Prescott.

So who's the guy that's got to have the plan? It's Dan because he's got insight in the coordinator and he's got insight into the quarterback. And he's been an outstanding defense coordinator throughout the course of career. And the only thing that can beat him is this explosive Dallas offense. Excellent. A lot of the answer. Bruce wins it. Yes, he had two weeks in a row.

He gets it. Two good. Good try. You arrived. You arrived. You know. It was good. I used to work with this guy.

Great job, bro. When you were like it's a win, but it's not. The key is just to have no logic. No, if one, you got to follow it. If the Cowboys lose, they win. Yeah, because it's interesting. This is like a beautiful mind. Yeah, it was really good.

But Bruges had certain something to it. Thank you. Excellent. Thank you, John. Good try, Coach. You were in second. You were a second. Who's on more trial of the Bils and Eagles?

That actually is interesting. Next on F has one. Let's look at two Super Bowl contenders preseason. Both the Bills and the Eagles started 4 and O. Both the Bills and the Eagles then lost two straight. Point differential for both teams. Now in the negative for the last two games, minus 13 for the bills and minus 21 for the Eagles. Of course it's in the negative wilds.

They lost the games. Sorry. I thought it was going to be the full year. I was like, oh, that's exactly. And their defense has been giving up a lot of points. Who should be more concerned right now? I do think it's in the negative for the season in Philly. Because there are four wins.

We're all close. So I think it's barely. I think they're like minus three for the season. It's not the case for Buffalo. I'd be more concerned if I were Philly because Buffalo has Josh. And having Josh obviously does not guarantee you make or win a Super Bowl. I think they can. But it guarantees them a floor that I understand Jalen since they've been there,

they've been to the playoffs every year since he's been the starter. But if they're talking, it reminds them of the spiral of 23. If that starts, if that spiral had started in week eight instead of week 12 in 2023, they wouldn't have made the playoffs. And so I am fundamentally concerned about Philadelphia coach because I don't think there is anything they do really well right now. And Buffalo, I still think having the second or third, depending on your taste, best

quarterback alive means there is something you do really well, which is you're passing, your offense, you know, as orchestrated by Josh Allen. So I'm more worried about Philly. Yeah, I agree with Nick. Having Josh Allen is the difference in this situation because for Philly, things have to go right. The running game has to go right. And with Sequin Barkley, he's down, I think, two and a half yards to carry. The running game right now is 25th. And then defensively, they did so many things right last year, but they're 21st in defense. So both those things were strong suits. So when you have a guy like Jalen Hertz who manages the game and makes good decisions and they can play complementary football, all three

phases contributing to it, then they're good. But when the defense isn't playing as well as it used to, the running game isn't even close to what it used to be, all that negative energy that's been bubbling over, it's going to explode here. It's not going to be subtle anymore. It's going to reach a boiling point very quickly if they lose three games in a row. Where with Josh Allen, you know you got a chance every game for him to do something spectacular. And they are going to the buy to recalibrate and hopefully fix some things. It's a pivotal time for Philly. Yeah, it's unanimous.

It's obviously Philly. I mean, like, you don't have anonymous quotes coming out of the Bill's locker room that we're on the verge of a meltdown. Like you don't see any of that. So that's one. They also have the much easier division. As good as New England is, you still got the jets and the dolphins, too. So they have an easier to division than the NFC East, which looks pretty good right now. And then they have an easier schedule.

Like Buffalo schedule is a lot easier than Philadelphia. So Philadelphia better get it together or, you know, with that schedule, with that division, they could really be in some trouble. Can I push back for one second? Please. You're the Eagles. guy. I mean, it's not like the most genius thing in the world, but just the raw talent that Philadelphia has.

It feels like Buffalo might have a talent deficit outside of Josh where the Eagles kind of have a play calling or but between Jalen Carter, you know, they've got superstars. But what happens is that creates expectation. So when you have that much talent and you're underachieving, the effect of that is even more dramatic in the building and it's more dramatic to the higher ups because it's like we have a really good team and we're underachieving where Buffalo

they may look at it more objectively to the point saying we're overachieving and I think to some degree last year I didn't have Buffalo going very deep and I thought they overachieved and we're a little bit in that space right now so expectations can also impact

that pretty dramatically this is a really interesting moment for your guy Jaylan because none of us, it wasn't intentional, but all three of us basically said in different words, well, Philly has the better roster. But Josh is so much more of a difference maker than the Eagles quarterback that we have more faith in Buffalo. I know, Brew, you're talking more schedule and situation, but certainly what coach and I were saying. This is a pivotal moment for Jalen because while it's a lot of the same people,

people don't look at that as right now, the best offensive line in the league, and Seekwan's having a tough year, and the defense isn't performing the way it was, and they need him to pull them out of it. Barring Sequin, somehow quickly reactivating what he did last year,

they need him to pull him out of it. It's on him. He's Super Bowl MVP. Yeah. It's on him. It's not like, ah, it's actually... It's not... Seekwan's job. It's not Seekwan's job. Coming up next. Oh, a new committee member. That looks like my silhouette. I'm almost positive.

That does look like your silhouette. I mean, that does look like it's my silhouette. Next on, first things first on it, this one. Live from York, it's a show that went a full day without meeting anyone from Washington. I did meet somebody online that said they were from Washington. No, not like that. Just the guy tweeted me. He said, I'm from Washington.

Nice to meet you. Yeah. Nice to meet you, buddy. I don't know if that counts. Clean that up off. nice and everybody. If you are

in the Washington. It's the second hour of first things first. Second hour of first things first. We have a brand new tease coming in according to it. Dusty. We're teasing the teases now. Dusty gets in my ear. I've just decided to do this. When Dusty tells me something, I'm going to repeat it like

a little parrot. Okay, good. Jerry lowering the bar for the Cowboys. Meanwhile, Vinnie Pasquistina, the Passquatch, joins us. Talk a little baseball. Yeah. Fresh from Royals. Yeah, fresh from the Royals, and he was in London watching the Jets.

That's how big of a Jets fan. Why is he a Jets fan if he's from Virginia? You could ask him. He's got an excuse to leave the Jets. Yeah, he's not a Jets fan at all. Vinny, get off the band. Yeah. But right now, let me get you caught up to speed on what's been going on in the universe.

Last night, while eating catered Chipotle, An elite committee of analysts, Kansas City Royals, and people who don't believe that Wemagnama might be 7-7, bro. I actually believe it. 7-7. Oh, my God. Really, what's the difference? 7-7? 7-7.

I'm just saying, like, he's too big for anybody to handle. Fought and burned the midnight oil to deliver the best segment in all of sports. It's an honor. It's a privilege. I'm struggling today, KW. Tough one. Tough one. You want some of this?

No, I don't want to... Honestly, I'm getting a contact high from your monster energy. I would like you do the... Fought toiled... Fought and toiled and burn the midnight oil to deliver the best segment in all of sports television. It's an honor. It's a privilege. It's time now for next year.

Thank you, as always, Kevin Wilde. You know, one of the most controversial parts of the tears are the eliminations. Oh, yeah. And the... committee stands by its eliminations and sometimes you know you can't make people happy sometimes people think you eliminated team too early sometimes we will wonder hey you know what's going on this we were getting why weren't that why you haven't why haven't you eliminated the Panthers yet people were saying three

weeks ago committee once again sparkling reputation and never eliminating a team too early or too late no eliminations this week wow so the same four teams that were eliminated two weeks ago are eliminated now and one again. There was one team last week facing elimination. It was my Raiders. They won. They staved it off. This week, there is one team facing elimination. It is the Browns. The Cleveland Browns are facing elimination. It seems fair. They are all there. They're a one-win team facing, I believe, another one-win team this week. They're the only ones facing elimination. I'm sorry, bro. Next row. Change is coming. Brutal. It's Baltimore and Sensi.

All time low. Change is coming. It is very hard for me to believe either of these teams coaching staffs can survive missing the playoffs. I do not think that the Cincinnati Bengals can have three consecutive. They'd be three straight years missing the playoffs. And Baltimore, oddly, if Lamar had been missed 10 weeks, then I think they could survive it.

But if Lamar just misses these two games and comes back, after the buy and they missed the playoffs. I don't think anybody's going to be like, well, Lamar missed time, therefore we get a pass on it. So I think both of these teams are going to miss the playoffs and I think we're looking at changes both these teams. And by the way, the Bengals thought they made their change last year. They got Lou Anarumo out of the building. And now he's with the culture and the culture cooking. And by the way, I liked when they got him out of the building. He's not like, oh, now the Chiefs were not ever dealing with the playoffs. Now all of a sudden Chief and I have deal with Lou Anirmo on the playoffs again. I don't like

that one bit. Next. Probably just bad. Cowboys, Raiders, Falcon, I'm sorry, Cardinals, Texans, probably just bad. Now, the reason I'm saying probably, not definitely, is the Cowboys offense is awesome. Yeah.

The Raiders, I don't know if you guys heard, massive upgrade in the offseason at coaching quarterback and they draft Ashing Jinty. It's supposed to make the difference. It's supposed to be good. Is Jinty up to four yards of carrying? Okay. Jinti's been good.

Jinti's been good. Texans have a great defense, and the Cardinals. had all these close heartbreaking losses like, well, this is a couple plays different. They're probably just bad. Would be really cool if either of these teams goes on a real run, which by the way, there are three wins and two wins, neither one of them is out of it. That would be really cool.

I don't see it happening, but the Panthers have been a legit team at home and then just awful on the road. And the Giants post the Dart Scataboo Legion of. of doom whatever thing they're trying to do. It would be really fun to see those teams potentially go on a run and make some noise. I don't think it's gonna happen, but it'd be cool. Probably not quite good enough.

So every team, there are 14 teams above this row on the tiers. So these teams, as we sit here today, it would appear might be on the outside, looking at the playoffs, 14 make it obviously. For the Vikings, I, I have, actually think they might get worse at quarterback when McCarthy comes back in. So that's probably not quite good enough. The Niners, it's an injury thing.

And just now that there were two guys on their defense, they could not afford to lose. They've lost them both now for the year. The Jags, they thought they were getting two players in Travis Hunter. Somehow, thus far, they haven't even gotten one full player in Travis Hunter. Drew called that. Yeah, and well, Coach called it for sure. He needs a player. And Trevor hasn't been good enough.

It's just, to be fair. I have not been as impressed by Washington as others. And I think the Bears, again, I think they're on the right trajectory, but probably not quite good enough. Just can't trust them. Falcons, Broncos, Chargers. These teams should make the playoffs. And the Falcons secondary is excellent,

and the weapons are great. I have a hard time trusting them. And I thought you saw evidence of that Monday night when they had the game won, and they almost threw a pick six to lose it for no reason whatsoever. The Broncos offense is hard to watch. And the Chargers, Herbert is really good, but they just find themselves in these weird spots,

week in, week out, against teams that you feel like they should be able to be in firm control of. Just hard teams to trust. Solid, serious teams. It's a conflict. We'll take it. Yeah. So like all three of these teams, all four of these teams, pardon me. They either have something excellent about them like the Colts offense, or they're just solid across the board.

The Seahawks, the Patriots, the Steelers right now, the Steelers defense has gotten better after a really slow start. The offense has been solid. Drake May has been excellent. Almost everything about the Seahawks has been somewhere from good to really good, and the Colts offense has been unbelievable. Those all four should be playoff teams, and all four should set their sights a little bit higher than that. red hot to ice cold from the last undefeated to two game losing strings both of them four and oh flying high to both of them like hold on do we have structural problems they the eagles are champions at one time over the bills are champions five times over September champions but still the banner hangs and so you they're scary teams late but for them to be that good to that dysfunctional is the wrong word but in that much of disarrays a little concerned. Really good with caveats. So the Lions caveat is it's Wednesday afternoon. They're still whining about a call that everyone agrees was correct. They're just mad

about why and how and when it was made and now all of a sudden, you know, the Brian Branch suspension. They just they're really good. That's the that's the caveat. For the Packers Brew, I'm sorry. I just don't think they've played an excellent 60-minute football game since the Thursday we got to Kansas City for week two against Washington. I agree. And for the Rams, the caveat to me is as great as Stafford is, does the whole offense run through Puka, who's already heard again? You know, like, is he the key to unlocking some of the explosiveness of it and the other caveat out them is I think Sean McVeigh actively hates his skipper. And that always worries me with a team that can win a Super Bowl. Everyone's rooting for you. Tampa Bay Bucks. If you are, other than

your team that you root for, if you're like, hey, your team's not winning the Super Bowl, who do you want to win it? I bet the Bucks get more votes than anybody on that. It also helps that everyone is rooting for you to be atop everyone's power rankings because they don't want to see this team on top of the power rankings because they are once again inevitable. Three and O Shmian, oh, it doesn't matter. Everybody knows the scariest best team in football. Vegas knows it. Sensible power rankings know it.

Of course, the committee knows it. That is the latest edition, Coach of the tears. Come on. I'm not going to like that. Come on. You're going to like it, Coach. I mean, there's things. I don't like Kansas City on top.

And I think the fact that they lost the Jacksonville a week ago and that 13 penalty. Two weeks ago. So I get it. You're excited about him, so we'll leave him on the tears. I'm not convinced that Baltimore is necessarily going to make a change at head coach. If Lamar comes back, I think that changes things dramatically, and we see a totally. Lamar going to play free safety for him? Well, he's going to score enough points to maybe a little math is playing free safety.

So I'm not, I don't have a conviction there, but where I'm going to dial in here is the Colt. I think you have them too low, and I wasn't sure what your titles were for the next set of tears, but the Colts now, they're 5 and 1. The game that they lost, the game they lost, the guy drops the ball after a 75, what should have been a 75-yard touchdown. Then he comes back and he doubles down and he holds on a 54-yard touchdown run. That's the difference in the one loss that they have in terms of points,

they're number one in points, the number four points allowed. And you've got a lot of teams above them, but I don't think you're giving them the credit that they deserve. I understand it's probably a Daniel Jones issue for you, and I get that. But collectively, they're better than where you currently have. Yeah, here's the thing. First of all, they did have one very unlucky loss. They also had a game, a win that they won because of a leverage penalty called on a 60-yard field goal.

So to me, though, they're a fair five and one. One unlucky loss, one lucky win. But you are correct. I mean, the dude dropped the ball. I understand. And they had, unlucky. And the game was over. They had lost.

And then they found out a Bronco had leaned on the center. And so they got to kick another field goal. Rules matter in the NFL. Yeah, one of the rules is you have to cross the ball with the ball. It's a little on. But you are actually at your core, correct, coach. The reason they are where they are is because of Patrick Baker, Jared, J. Lo, Stafford, Jalen, and Josh. Those are the seven quarterbacks ahead of them.

And I do just flatly trust all of those guys somewhere from a little bit more in J-Lo's case to vastly more in Patrick and Baker and others' case than I do Daniel Jones. So I do need to see a little bit more. But I called him a solid serious team. It's pretty good. Solid serious team.

A solid-series. Well, hold on. I mean, I knew you're going to do that. What is this not? Well, coach, if you want the standing, Let's go to the local holiday in there. I totally appreciate that. I just thought it was a rich tapest for years.

It is. We had to look at everything. We do look at everything. But don't, but don't just spit at me five and one. It's not the only state today. It's not the standings. Nick, Brian, on the committee. No matter how wrong the actual rankings are,

you always nail it with the titles. That's a Marshall. Is that Marshall? Yeah, Marshall is great. And the change is coming is great. But the change that's coming is I want the Ravens way up five levels. Five levels. I like it, bro.

I want them five levels up coached next to the Steelers. Wow. Because Lamar Jackson, get the sandwiches out. Get the sandwiches out. The Ravens are back, baby. And I'm not talking Super Bowl yet. No kidding. Lamar's about to come back.

The offense with Lamar was only averaging 32.7 points a game. All right. The defense now. Coach, did you watch that game last week? Against the high-powered Rams? I thought Matthew Stafford, Puka Nakua, Devonte Adams,

Kyron Williams, we're going to go in there and score at least 30, at least 30 points. I don't think they did. They had 17, Coach. And one of those touchdowns was because Zay Flowers fumbled on the Ravens 21-yard line. So take that away. Maybe they scored 10 points.

They only had three the Rams in the first half. The Rams had a season low in total yards, a season low in passing yards, and two yards away from a season low in rush yard. My point being, the defense is showing important. That was the Rams. That wasn't the Panthers or somebody. So I'm just saying, I'm not saying they're going to be a top 10 defense yet. But if they show their decent improvement and growth, we know the offense is about to cook.

They are coming back. He grades all those other teams up top higher because they're quarterback, but the Ravens just like. Exactly. You got one of the best quarterbacks. Thank you, Coach. Lamar Jackson. That doesn't matter. Thank you, coach.

And it's not to stand. So it can be the record. And AFC champion Joe Burroughs alongside him because he also is. He's heard. So is Lamar. But Lamar will be back. So is Lamar. Lamar has not come back yet, first of all.

Second of all, the Ravens have been a terrible team. We're six games in. Not offensively. When Lamar was. Somehow they only have one win. When they had a tough schedule, you know that. They lost them all. The Chiefs, the Bills and the Lions.

Yeah. I mean, come on. That's a murderous road. No, no tomato cans at all. Listen. Thank you, coach. I like that you're not ready to say the Ravens defense is going to be top 10. Because right now, they're 30 seconds.

We saw this last year. A lot of room for growth. Last year, they went from terrible. Last year, they were five and two. They're warming up. Okay. All right. You know, look, they got to beat the bears.

If they lose to the bears. Drew, but the problem is, and then after they beat, every game is a must win. After they beat the Bears, they then got to win the next one. They know. They got to win the next one. That's what I like about it. In that building, they know. Drew wanted them on the solid serious teams.

I thought coach it wasn't the standing. It's not. I thought it wasn't a solid, serious team. I'm really holding. They lost to the Lions, the Eagle. No, the Lions and the Chiefs and the Bill. And the Texans. Come on.

Yeah, without Lamar, take Lamar away. And I'm going to get the USA today. Coach and I make a good team. Thank you, Coach. I've coined a lot of phrases on this show. They've taken off. Some literally. Houston, we have a problem.

I hear it all the time. A good one. This is the classic one. DWC, defense wins championships, trademark. I saw the Texans defensive numbers, and they're not just really good. They are historically. good and it stopped me in my tracks. So you know what? If your defense is historically good

and I believe in CJ had come around, I think the Texans should move up. So here's this defense coach and Nick and the committee. 12 points a game. It's the third best by any team in the last 35 years. That's an incredible number. Yeah, yeah. 35 years. Yeah, I am just less, less moved by that in the last 35 years part. Why? Because I don't think it will stay there. Like those, every, all, we're comparing it to teams

over the course of a full season. But go ahead, it's impressive. So C.J. Stroud, I think Damiko Ryan can be like, hey man, you've had a bit of a rough go. Can you get us 12.3 points a game? We'll go undefeated. First 15 quarters in the last five. Josh, is there anything interesting that happened

in the last five besides beating up on the rae Yeah, we need something that turn the tide. I got to figure it out what happens. It's just the four, they were up six oh against the Titans and then had a good fourth quarter. Titans that turn the tide. Right, Mark it did. Teton that turn the tide. For real, I don't think anyone thinks that CJ is a below average quarterback.

Right, that's not a hot take. No. So, and he's played like a below average quarter. Right. I also don't think they think he's a 1.45 pass. Well, that's what happens when you play against the race. Ravens defense, which is getting better. Yes, thank you.

Approvement. Finally, off the by now, they got to go play the Seahawks, and the Seahawks are very strong. At the same time, Bakeshaw is having an MVP season, but Bakeshaw was able to cook up the Seahawks. The Prince was able to cook up the Seahawks. I'd love to give the Prince-law credit. They scored 12 points.

That was odd, don't give me wrong. It's more of the yardage. Yeah, the yard's in the touchdown and yourself. But I'd be happy if CJ can put up like a nice two-fif. 12 points, but you said he needs, sadly, 12 won't get. have done. You need 12.3. 12.3, you win it.

So I believe it when you're done. Yeah, I'm not. No, actually I'm not now. I'm a filibuster. In all seriousness, one of the fun things that we do on the show is like, are you good at anything? Yeah, they're great. The Texans are like, all right, well, we are historic, we have a historically good

defense. It gives you something to hang your head on. I agree with that. I agree with that. I, I apologize for the already done, except I don't because I'm very mad at you. What I do now? Oh, Kevin, you have, you know, said some tweets about Jalen arts. No.

You got to talk about Jenna. No, it's not it at all. This is not about the Eagles. This is about your ego. What? Wrecking some of the fundamentals of the show. I have the best, Blue,

lowest ego in the show. Oh, John has got a bigger ego than me. That may or not be true, but I tell you right now, the man to your left has the lowest ego on the show. You and I can compete for second. Brew just said he could beat Joe Missoula in the Celtics.

I mean we score more than four points. Can I, can we get to the point? Sorry. Brew, how are tears and the mountain, for that matter, supposed to work? What's the workflow on it? Once we see the, whatever it is, the mountain or the tears, then we make our comment who should rise up,

who should come down. And it's one thing when you, for the last three weeks, have disrespected the mountain by saying you're gonna do Drake May before you see where he is on the mountain. I just assume they're going to be too lot. At least there, you are just disrespecting me. But there's a full committee that sometimes flies in, sometimes via Zoom, that puts a lot of work in to tears.

Oh, do they? And hold on a second, please. And we were all saddened when we saw this morning, before the tears had been shared with anyone, that you had decided you were going to do this Texan spit. And there were members of the committee you guys know about, like Marshall, Yeah.

Who's the guy who does the titles. You guys heard me talk about Walter, our Archivist, who make sure things like we've never had to uneliminate anyone. The smart toaster guy. Right, exactly. We also have, you know, cast from all lots. We have a couple tough guys on the committee. My buddy, Vin, doesn't take kindly to how you've been disrespecting the tears.

Enough with the baseball. I'm just, the ask watch, official committee members. You can't come in with the stuff on your work all the time. I had to listen to you all season while I'm busy. Talk about how tickets are cheap in Kansas. It's a good deal for quality products. We just like having a lot of people at the stadium. It's a big stadium.

And I let that slide because I was busy. However, the past few weeks have been ridiculous. The work that I do on the committee. Exactly. And you're going to disrespect that? Passwatch. What time is the meeting at? Dusty.

The meeting. After powering their way to a two to nothing, seriously, the Mariners, head back home to Seattle, where I'm looking to make some friends because I'm a Mariners guy now. Game three of the ALCS, Blue Jays trying to climb back in the series. Coverage begins 7 p.m. Eastern, 4 p.m. Pacific. That's important. Tonight on FS1, Royals Vinnie Pasquintino. The Pasquatch joins us now as our special baseball.

Are you going to be our official baseball analyst? Yeah. Royals blue suit. This is awesome. Suit. It looks lovely. Yamamoto Brew gave up a home run in the first, then was lights out the rest of the way. Complete game, 111 pitches, seven strikeouts, three hits, two nothing series lead for the Dodgers.

It's been your personal crusade resource. to have guys pitch deep or the entire game. And now you finally saw it. Did you like what you saw last night? I loved it. Look, I'm glad Dave Roberts learned from the night before when taking out. Blake Snell was cooking as well as Yamamoto, if not better. And they took him out and it almost cost him the game.

Vinny, this might surprise you. I'm the oldest guy on the show. I know it probably don't look that way. I'm the oldest guy on the show. I remember when it was common, if a guy had it cooking, he was going the whole game. I mean, complete games were like commonplace. I want to know how players, like, how do players feel about this? Because there are so many nights when I'm just like, he had it going.

He took him out in the seventh inning. And I feel like even for the fans, like if I can go to, I mean, this is an extreme, but sometimes you see it a no-hit game or even a one or two hit game, like a great pitching gym. that's great. Snell had faced the minimum when they took them out of the game. Like it's rare for a fan to see that type of game in person. So how do players feel about, you know, the pitch counts

and getting guys out of there when they're cooking? Yeah, players don't love it, but we also don't have to answer for it. So when managers are looking at what they might want to do if they feel something, but then the math says you've got to do something else, at least they can go back to the math and say, okay, well, the matchup was better if we brought in a bullpen guy.

As a player, if you get the starter out and he's rolling, I'm pumped. If I'm hitting, I'm hitting and you take that guy out, I'm very, very happy. It happened in the Blue Jays game the other night when Gosman got taken out. He gave up a homer, walked a guy, done. It's 76 pitches, I think. So it was cool to see. I think the Dodgers had the least amount of starting pitcher innings this year. Yeah.

So. Well, go ahead. So my question is the flip side. Because that's if you're going, let's suppose you're 0.2. against a guy or 0 and 3. Does it, and I think when a lot of times we talk about guys pulling, pulling, getting pulled out of the game,

it's like too many pitches, arm fatigue. On the flip side, is there, has there ever been a point where you're 0 and 3? Like, you know what? I saw something. Now it's my fourth time facing this guy. No. Oh, really?

Really? Because that's what they talked about. Yeah. You would hope the more you face a guy, the more comfortable you get. But if you're not feeling it that day and he's got it going, I don't really want to face that guy a fourth time. I know that the data says the more, the third time through especially is the biggest deal.

Is the third time through the order you want to make sure you get new looks for hitters because they've seen a guy so many times? And the data does show that, but as a player, I don't feel that. So that's because it felt to me like the, I happen to be watching Dodgers Brewers with a diehard Brewers fan, oddly. and he was over the moon when Snell didn't come out. And I'm like, that's just a guy watching the team. It felt to me like that it probably gave the players a similar energy,

like in that game. And I know they ended up winning anyway, but all of a sudden it was close. They scored a run. They got the bases loaded. Do you guys in the dugout, if you see the starter was taken out, get that extra energy from it? Oh, yeah. I mean, almost as soon as you see somebody start,

start warming up in the bullpen. You see those guys start walking around. You can kind of start to smell it. That all right, this guy he's wearing, he's getting tired, and that's when you try to roll. It's because that's why bullpen games are so hard for teams to do, because you're relying on eight, nine different guys to be on that day.

As soon as somebody's off, that's where you win the game. All right, we turn our attention to the Dodgers offense. Dodgers are rolling. Otani not. Brewer's manager said, hold on. He is not struggling because he's hitting the ball hard. Nevertheless, here are their numbers. pass watch. Since game one where he started off super hot had those two home runs, batting

103, only three hits. The 12 strikeouts I find is jarring. Are you worried about Otani or is just going to pop out of this? I would imagine if they make it to the World Series he'll pop out of it immediately. He's faced more left-handers than he has right-handers, especially since that first game of the Red series where he hit two home runs. He's faced 70% left-handed pitchers. So when you face the Phillies, when you face the Brewers, you know that starting pitching for the Phillies and then bullpen for the Phillies. There's a ton of lefties. The Brewers have a nightmare of left-handed relievers that are throwing upper nines. So it hasn't been the most fun for them facing some of these guys.

But if they make it to the World Series, they've got the Blue Jays who are full of righties and the Mariners who are full of righties. So I'd imagine he'll come out of it. He wasn't great last year in the postseason. What do you – because I've been watching like what are teammates saying to him? as he comes back to the dugout. I know he had the RBI single last night, but what do you say to a guy? When your star is in a slump,

it just happens in baseball, what do you say to a guy, especially if it's big games and stuff like that? You don't say anything, or you laugh at him a little bit and tell him. The joke with you? Yeah, he joke with him. Because you know, he's your guy.

He's going to need you to, you're going to need him to get going. So he will, and they know that. So they're not saying anything to him. And for him, he gets to pitch tomorrow night. So, uh, or in the two nights. So for game four he'll be pitching, so I'm sure he can, he's the only guy who can change his attention to something else.

So here, before we move on to the AL, here's my concerns the wrong word, because this wouldn't necessarily be a bad thing. But I'm having a hard time figuring out why the Dodgers aren't just going to win the whole thing, not easily, but without a lot of resistance. Because they've lost one playoff game. And they're doing it with a guy who's a guy who's a lot of resistance. about to win another MVP, not doing anything since game one. Last year, by the way, it was very similar for Otani. It wasn't quite as this, he was struggling this badly, and he was dealing with an injury. But last year, he was awesome in the first playoff game, and then the rest of the way did that.

Again, the strikeout numbers are huge, and they won the World Series anyway. I understand the Brewers had the better record. Do you think the Dodgers are the clear-cut favorites? at this point. Yeah, I do. I mean, this is what they do. You've got Kiki Hernandez at the bottom of the lineup who's doing what he's doing to Oscar Hernandez. I mean, we're talking about Otani, but I mean, just list the guys on that team. Not to make a show analogy, but you know, you talk about the Chiefs practicing in the regular season. It's similar. I mean, they're playing a different game in terms of they're starting pitching than how they did during the regular

season. So they get to the playoffs. They're doing what works. And obviously, they're really tough to beat. One last question on Otani. Some of the articles that we've read, and we kind of make fun of it a lot of just like the emphasis placed on exit velocity. So like, you know, he's actually not struggling. He's hitting it hard to where people are. And it's just dumb luck. And like that's the way that the, you know, informed mind looks at it. Like, what's your exit velo off the bat? Do you buy into that? Like, no, man, you're not struggling. You're hitting the ball hard. That's how you convince yourself. It's the same way as if you're not hitting the ball hard and you're getting a bunch of things. you hits, you tell yourself you're rolling. So it's kind of... So it works out. It's the same thing. So if you're hitting the ball hard, you take your win in that. And if you're not hitting the ball hard and getting hits, you take the win in that. So he'll take the win in hitting the ball hard and hope that they start falling.

You mentioned, you mentioned Otani pitching in a couple days. You faced him? I have faced him. Yeah, that's what I thought. What's that like? My fun fact about myself is that the two hardest pitches he's ever thrown or against me. I don't know what he has against me. We're not rivals.

Here's the World Baseball Classic right there. That's a strikeout. There's a funny picture of me walking away from the batters box there where I'm trying to calculate the kilometers to miles per hour. It was like 166, I think. It was good at bat. Had a decent time in there until that one. That one's good.

Yeah, right there. When I look back at it, I'm just sitting there. How fast was that? 166 is a lot. This year, another 102 grounded into a double play. Got to 02 quickly. He threw me three straight fastballs. So he's got some issue with me.

We'll figure it out because I don't think he's thrown three straight fastballs ever. You typically know that he loves his off-speed stuff. So we'll figure it out one day. It's a little bit. I mean, I just did some research. It's a little bit on your scouting report. Can't hit 102. Yeah.

Well, no, I can hit it. I can't hit it. I have problems with one-o. Yeah. All right. Tonight's game coverage starts at 7 on Fox. Mariners, two games away from their first World Series.

ever. Yeah. It was in the dock. That's what I researched it. That's why. Okay. Thanks, K. W. 28 times on the road. All right, so here's some baseball trivia. Gianna, you, maybe I could be in trivia next time. No. 28 times the road team has won the first two games of a series. 25 of those teams have advanced, but there are three teams that ended up winning it. Now, Vlad red hot early on, and he's really fallen off against the Mariners, and the team has followed. Vinnie, are you shocked the Mariners are up 2-0, and Vlad is struggling. I'm a little shocked that they're up 2-0.

Just because of the way those games went, you felt like Toronto could have at least one of them. Vlad's struggling. I mean, he went off in the last series against New York. So you thought a tick of regression would come. Probably not. I mean, 0-4-7 is such a small sample of it that if he gets three hits tonight, he's a 300-hitter of this series. So you'd hope that the Blue Jays didn't care too much about beating the Yankees with some of those interviews and everything that happened. What do you mean?

It just felt like they were very, very happy that they beat the Yankees. Now, I'm all in for the celebration. I think we've talked about this. You should celebrate after playoff victories because they're important and they don't happen a lot. And I'm desperate to get back there to do it again. But you just don't want to take too much out of it. It's similar if a pitcher is pitching and celebrates too much after striking a guy out. out to end an inning. You don't really want them to go back out there because you feel like

he gave it everything he had. So it also feels storybook for Seattle with the year that Cal Raleys had. Feels like it's a story story to be told. Winning the home run derby, hitting the 60 home run. So you think the Blue Jays are in trouble? The Blue Jays are done. Let's just be honest. I don't think we want to be done. I think you want to be good teammates. Glad with Big Poppy talking about the Yankees. Did you, did something say to you, they're going a little too far, maybe? Maybe a little, but I only saw two postgame interviews, and one was the Tigers,

and it was Carrie Carpenter, and he talked about the Guardians after they had beaten the Guardians, and then one was Vlad after they beat the Yankees, talking about the Yankees. I just have, that's just a personal opinion. I've never believed, and you beat a team, and you talk about that team. You just try to, you know, get to the next one because it's such a long playoffs, but

they've also gone farther than I have, so they can do whatever they want. I'm the second-oldest person here. too much champagne, that's why. Too much celebrating. And we said it earlier. But you say daylight. I think it's important.

And maybe some of the celebrations go crazy just in the locker room. But I think it's important. How many celebrations are you supposed to have en route? Well, if you win the division, it depends because the wild card. It gets tricky. So you win the division. You win the division series two, the championship series three, world series four. So hopefully four.

But you could have six. You could have a six to four up to six. Saying you go into the season saying we want 40s or we want five or six. Five is typically what most teams say. But are there any teams that are like, no, we're not, we're not celebrating certain things. They all go over there. I don't think so. Some of the most veteran teams in the league make sure that you celebrate the smaller victories.

Like clinching the playoffs and then if you win the division. Because we played Philadelphia. They could have clinched if they had beaten us on a Sunday. And I was talking to a few of their guys just on the field of. What are you guys going to do? Because if you lose, you might have to wait to find out a few. And they celebrated. So that was just to get into the playoffs, not to win the division.

Before, can I ask one Cal Raleigh question real quick? Or you want me to save it for tomorrow? We have them all week. I don't know. No, let's do it. Because you mentioned the storybook piece of it. I think there is, you're on, listen, you were sixth in the league in RBI's. Bobby Witt's one of the face of baseball.

I think it's fair to say that the leader of the team is Salvey. And I think there is something special about that position and if the guy playing that position is also one of or your best player. That's obviously what the Mariners have. How impressive, because there's a whole Salvi judge MVP debate, and I'm not even trying to pull you into that specifically. But playing that position, having the season that he's had, how impressive is that to you as a player?

Yeah, I mean, it's insane. to do what and the fact that he's a like Cal is known that when you go through your scouting reports as a hitter you know Cal's behind the plate because he's a good game caller he steals a lot of strikes so the fact that he's manning this pitching staff which is one of the better pitching staffs in the league and doing what he's doing offensively hitting second in that order it's just it's insane it's also just insane what kind of numbers judge puts up on a consistent basis too but yeah what Cal's doing is a catcher is uh is unbelievable it's how you'd draw it up if you were to start a franchise. Before we let you go, do you have a prediction for tonight's game?

No, I need to know if the roof is open or closed because you cannot see there when it's like twilight. So if the roof is open and the sun's out, if the roof is open, sun is out, I'm taking the Blue Jays. If not, I'm taking the Mariners. If the roof is closed. I'm taking the Mariners. You're taking the mirrors. But if the roof is open. I'm taking the Blue Jays. Why? Because I think Shane Bieber spins it a little bit better than George Kirby and it's harder to see spin when the, when it's harder to see. I was going to say the same thing.

There's more of like a quiz. We're testing. You nailed it. All right. More with the past five all week. Coverage of Blue Jays Mariners starts at seven. Coming up next, Jerry Jones might make a trade to bolster that defense.

I don't. I don't know. This is what they mean. Fox. college football Friday night. You like Mahomes? Well, you're going to love Nebraska. Nebraska, Minnesota.

8 o'clock on Fox. These are always good games. Friday. They are. Welcome back to first things first. Coach me and Jeannie back with us, Cowboys. Hosting the commanders Sunday at 4 on Fox. Now, coach, granted the Cowboys haven't won a Super Bowl since I was in high school,

driving a Dodge Aries with a cassette player, later changed it out. for a CD player. Sweet. But Jerry says, hey, you know what? We've still been one of the elite teams since you changed out your tape player for a CD player.

Take a listen. With Romo and with Dak Prescott, we're either the sixth or seventh winning his team in all the NFL over their tenure, which is almost 20 years. To give you an idea if how close this thing is, yet we're disappointed because we don't have a good record of appearance in the playoffs,

which is really what it's all about. Nobody really does roll back and look at the fact that you're at the top of the league and winning percentages and winning games. That's not the way you look at it. You look at it on a season by season, playoff time a year by playoff time a year. That's as it should be.

I love it. Coach, best of both worlds there. What was your reaction to Jerry's quote that the Cowboys actually are a winning team? Yeah. There were a lot of coaches that won a lot of games that got sent packing. So I guess maybe that isn't the key component to staying at Dallas Cowboys.

Now, there's been one thing that's been consistent there, and that's the general manager, a de facto general manager. And look, it's not going to change. And I understand that he wants to buffer the fact that they haven't won significant playoff games there with their winning percentage. But it's, you just can't have it both ways. You can't move on from people who've won a lot of games because they don't win playoff games and then come back to your fan base and say, hey, we win a lot of games.

Right. By, by a pretty fair metric over the last 30 years, they have been the least successful team in their entire conference. Yes. They are, so they are the only team in the conference to not make a conference championship game. This is an old graphic I used to, which is, if you do, like, so let me, a gold medal means you won the Super Bowl, a silver medal means you lost the Super Bowl, a bronze medal means you lost a conference championship game. Now that the Lions and the Commanders, up until two years ago, were alongside the Cowboys in this group, but Lions and the Commanders both made a conference

championship game in the last two years. Every other team in the conference has been to the Final four at least once. And in fact, every other team in the conference, except for the commanders and lions, have been to the final four multiple times. And 11 of the teams, sorry, 12 of the teams in the conference have been to the Super Bowl. And I'm doing this on the fly. I should have done it earlier. Nine of the teams have been to multiple Super Bowls. So by that, by the postseason success standard, they are the least successful team.

It's 30 years. It's not in the entire conference. And there's only been one constant. Yeah. I mean, that's, isn't that remarkable? Yeah. Go ahead, bro. Sorry.

No, it's just a load of poppy cock. I mean, that's what it is. Like, that's what it is. Like, they, I agree with Nick, you're. graphic, we don't measure, it's great that you win 12 games. They had the three straight years, 12 wins, they had some other wins. Right. It's about winning the Super Bowl.

That's it. And that goes for any of the sports. Baseball is a little different because, you know, the sport is a sport of failure and sometimes the best team, a lot of times the best team doesn't win. But him throwing in, because I listened to his whole quote, where he was saying, you know, sometimes a team gets hot at the end of the season. You know, they win the Super Bowl. One, only the good teams make the playoffs.

So that's not really that true. But secondly, it's just, it's an indictment that they have won so many regular season games. It's an indictment on the organization, the culture, sometimes the coach and the players. That when you get to the big games in the playoffs, you couldn't even once get to the conference championship game. It's the most anti-Esfob sentiment that's ever existed. They're not actually S-Bob. Right. I mean, that's what it takes it away.

Live from New York, it's a show that is about to make history when the Mariners go to the World Series. Do you know they're the only baseball team to never go to the World Series? It's them and the Savannah bananas. Of course, everybody knows that. Yeah, everybody checks. Did you get that? Well, we'll see. You didn't get that?

When that video gets released. I might have said the movie. She's like, it was a team that was left. First, overtime. Also debuting a new Blazer. on you. Yeah, what do you think? I love it.

I think it's like the fourth time I've worn it. Thanks for noticing. Wow. Never on this show. I like it. I like it a lot. Thank you. Sorry.

Very much. First, overtime. Coming up, CMC, the glue holding the 49ers together. He's one of the stars of a new edition of packed stats. That's right. Now more streamlined. Wow.

Spent three hours on it today. on it today. A lot of feedback. Oh, well. I was underneath the hood. Yeah, good. Figuring stuff out. Meanwhile.

Diana Rossini joins the show. Oh, that's fun. This will be interesting for FDFDFD. She's got new Intel on Bill Belichick. Oh, wow. Have you talked to Diana yet today? Yes, I have. Is she optimistic or pessimistic about Bill Belichick?

She thinks that they are optimistic. Really? Yeah. Wow. Yeah, you're going to have to tune in. I'm going to tune in. Yeah, 20 minutes from now. I'm going to check it out.

Why don't you stay? I'm fascinated in this story. I am too. To the point where I want to float the story we're about to do and talk about that. I'm just kidding. This is a great segment. We're talking about the Eagles and perhaps the return of the supernatural funk. Jeremy Fowler spoke to an Eagles player after the loss against the Giants.

Was it just, hey, you know what? Jackson Dart and Kim. Scadaboo caught fire. No big deal. Wrong. One player told me that this is starting to feel like the 2023 meltdown all over again when Philadelphia lost five of its last six games. And the team needs to use this week, which is currently this week, to figure things out and avoid a full blown repeat. Is this panic mode for Philadelphia? Jerry Fowler is a great reporter. He is great. But that is a wild thing for a player to say. Is it not? Is it not? Not?

Yes. To a reporter, like, I mean, on the record and not with your name, but that. We're freaking out. Yeah. Say it again. We're freaking out. Yeah, exactly. This might be when we collapsed two years ago.

You're the Super Bowl champions. Like, it wasn't like a four, like a word for word quote, and obviously he didn't put his name on it. But it was just like kind of a, everything else in the article was just normal and all the things that we've talked about. Like, why should they pass more? Should they run more? What's going on?

with the health of the offensive line. And then there was this, like, oh, it might be 2023 all over again. It was jarring. And just real quick, to add to it just for the audience, bottom of the roster guys churn every year. Like, you'd be surprised how few Eagles were actually on the team in 2023. I think it's like, I think it's like 28 of the 50. So my point is. A lot of names you know.

Right. It's, not always, but it's typically it's, you know, it's your good players that are there year after year. But go ahead. Yeah. So, just the fact that that was out there is very. very weird and I'd imagine like Nick Siriani has to address it. Jalen Hertz has to address it. Like that's not just like a one day and we move on.

So can I ask you just because you're going down this road? Do you think that was the point? That's a great question. I don't feel comfortable answering. If Landon, if Lane Johnson had said it, I'd be like, oh, that is an intention. We don't know who said it. No, that's what I'm saying. I'm saying hypothetically.

Like if Lane Johnson had said that, I'd be like, oh my God. Like, yes, he is sending a message. It could be a player who made a mistake. Because I, you know what I mean? Yeah. Like, wow, I shared way too much with a reporter. I didn't realize that he was going to write that up. I am thankful that he'd put my name on it because that would be, if I did put my name on it,

it would be a massive story. Like, that quote is one of the more surprising things I've seen any players say in the NFL this year. But then it made me think about what is solvable here? What is solvable for Philadelphia? And I think most of us would agree, Seekuan Barkley and the running game? Well, I don't, go ahead. I don't know. Well, I just want to point this out.

Last year, Saquan Barclay had this historic season. Everyone knows that. But he was great at one thing in particular, and it was in conjunction with his offensive line. It took him a long time to ever get hit. Like yards before contact. He was the best in the NFL, and he was the best in the NFL by far.

This year, he is 37th. And so you start looking at it. And it's like, all right, well, Lane Johnson missed parts of two games with a stinger. Is Cam Juergen's not the same player? He had back surgery back in February. Obviously, Bechted left free agency. Dickerson, is he not the same player? He had meniscus surgery in August.

Now he's got an ankle injury. It feels like if the offensive line gets healthy, they get back to that and Sequin gets better? I don't see, I don't think so. And that's my, that's why I wanted you to, I did. I did what Wilde to you, what Wilde accuses me of doing him, which is I saw you. You peaked at the sheet. And so I didn't want to, I didn't want a front run. It's like, um, that's why you do a tribute.

That's why I sit over here. But I also write the sand street. So it doesn't matter. I have trouble with my short hand. Is the offensive line as dominant as last year? Probably not. Definitely. Does that attribute, for me, even to most of Sequin's struggles?

No. Because I think that everybody says all the time, man, being running back in the NFL, it's just 20 car crashes a game. Like, you know, they're, and he had four. And in the last quarter century, there have been eight guys who had 450 touches in a year. And the next year, every single one of them other than LT. And if we can show the production, the production dropped immensely. And now some of those guys, it's because they got hurt, but not all of them.

But that's a factor here. Listen, shout out to Lidani and Tomlinson. who's just an absolute monster. And by the way, everyone on this list was an absolute monster at various points in their career. But Sequin is on pace for like a smaller drop than most of these guys. Like he's still on pace to have a thousand yards this season. That's the extra game too.

Yeah, there's the extra game, sure. But when he caught that touchdown pass, He didn't look like a guy who didn't have burst. Yeah, but... My eye test doesn't tell me that he's, like, laboring. I don't know that he's laboring, but last year he also... He averaged one huge run a game, which is crazy. Like, that's a big number.

To average 18, 17 game season, he has zero. He has zero 20-plus yard runs. And, Brew, my concern is, I don't think that Jalen is a refined enough passer for this team to hum offensively. with a below average running game. And right, and they, Jaylins never had to play at any point in his professional career with a below average running game.

Like, because Philly's always been able to run the ball. And that's, to me, really concern it. Well, first of all, I share your concern about the gravity of that quote. Like, that, that is ridiculous. If you're six games into the season, first of all, you should, we rarely see a team ever,

have the type of meltdown that the Eagles had two years ago. So for it to happen twice in three years to the same team, that is, so that's where Jalen hurts, Nick Siriani, I would say a Sequin Barclay, Lane, like the leaders of this team need to step up and be like, hold up. Maybe this will wake them up. I don't think whoever said it, I don't think it was like they're doing this as a wake-up call.

Like, I can't wait until they see this quote. But I would think you just go to the team. If you're not a leader, maybe you go to one of the leaders and say something. But this should be a wake-up call where it's like, oh, we will not go back into what happened. If we lose games, fine. We lose games. But it's not going to be because we just go into this funk. What a drastic ball from we are one of the best Super Bowl teams ever to we might be collapsing six games.

Right. So that quote that Sequin had in like a, it was an Eagles only podcast. or, I don't know, it was an offseason year. A podcast projected a lot of confidence from Seekwan. It didn't suggest a guy that's like, ah, you know what? My legs are a little tired. So the question I would have, and I think that graphic is mostly informative about the touches. No.

But is Sequin the cause of the Eagle struggle or the result of the Eagles offensive struggling? Do you know what I'm saying? Sure. Where it's like, no one's like, you know what? But Jalen Hertz threw the ball all the way into February and just lit up that Chief's defense. And he had so many yards and it was just like gunning the ball all over the place. Lighten up the Chiefs scored 40 some odd points, even though it was a lot of defense. They had defensive scores too.

But he played so well in the Super Bowl, maybe his arm is tired. See, I got to stop what we're doing. We're saying it's on the offensive coordinator. That moment right there, I don't mean to turn the conversation. That moment right there was kind of a real canary in the coal mine. that the Eagles are in real trouble. Why? Because I'm talking about the Super Bowl?

In seven months, your heart hasn't been in that bit. You have lived, he has lived off of, like, like 2.30, buddy, not that money, many. Well, to the record, he didn't play the whole game. See, his heart, he wasn't like, he wasn't piling up the staff with 2.38 left in the game. He can't ensued confidence in it. Let me get cooking right now. Because I think that, I understand your point.

which is, you know, correlation causation, Sequin's struggles. But right, you said it, I don't know if it was Monday, whenever it was. What can they hang their hat on right now other than the tush push? On either side of the ball. And that is wild to say about a team that had more guys on the top 100 list that has all, you know, that we think has this awesome all pros, this roster. They dominated last year. They didn't squeak by last year.

And up until 12 days ago or whatever it was, they had lost once in a calendar year. Yeah. And so, and it was in a game their quarterback got hurt in. So it's just a weird, they are odd in that they always seem teetering on crisis for a team that just won a Super Bowl. I think their stuff is fixable, though. So do why. I said earlier, Danny, give A.J. Dillon some more touches. And not as an indictment on Sequin, but just to get him a little.

to rest and get you Dylan's been a good back in this league so get more touches the offensive line I think as it'll get it healthier it'll be better you obviously have the great receivers and Jalen is capable I mean I'm not going to doubt I'm not saying he throws it like Joe Burrow but he is obviously a very good quarterback and that defense has some great players on it so I do think it's fixable they just can't be in a mental funk if they can just stay even killed like most teams, like every team, you know, then they should be fine. Their talent will come to the front. All right.

Moving on to the Packers and a fresh edition of packed stats. Packers headed to Arizona this weekend to take on the Cardinals. Packers' defense came out of the gate on fire against the Lions week one. But recently, tied with the Cowboys, snuck past Flacco in the Bengals, which brings us to today's edition of Packed Stats. Never leave home without my stats, making stats cool again. Number one. That's all.

The Packers are still waiting on Micah Parsons to make an impact. The stat on the left is 32.3, but the stat of the day is 32.1. That is the Packers pressure percentage this year versus last year. They are identical. And this is the lowest pressure percentage of any team that Micah Parsons has been on is in his entire career. So Micah has given any team he's been on a better pass rush than he's given this Packers team, and he's giving them the exact same pass rush as last year. Make it make sense.

That is very difficult for it to make sense because to me this is a team that aside from the Cowboys game has been led by their defense. And I think that while Micah doesn't have the sack numbers. That's why I didn't use sack numbers. The pressure percentage is just like, are you disrupting the play with the passers? Exactly right. And so this is where, and, you know, one of your favorite things, the eye test part of it, I guess my eye test has been lying to me because I feel like the Packers up front have controlled these games.

Now, maybe they were better at that last year than I gave him credit for. I don't know. But that is a shocking stat for me because I don't, Brew, you've talked about it. Josh Jacobs hasn't been great. Like the offense. Of their last week. Right. And I know Jordan Love has good numbers, but I don't think he's been great.

To me, the best part of this Packers team this season for five of their six games has been the pass, I'm sorry, the defense as a whole. So that is a shocking stat to me. Yeah, I agree. I don't know what has happened. Like, the first two games of the season, they were great. And that was Washington and Detroit. And since then, obviously, they, you know, what, won and tied, one, one, tied, one, lost one. even last week when they just haven't played that well,

I expect them to break out of it. Micah had, what, one and a half sacks in the first two games and hasn't had one in the last three. Rishon Gary had like four and a half sacks in the first three games and none since then. He was benefiting from Micah. So I expect them to come out of it. I think Lefleur is too good of a coach,

and they're just too talented as a team. But something's gone wrong for them over these last few weeks. haven't, this seems to be a flaw of the segment when the stat is so good, you leave everyone befuddled. It's a fascinating stat. I mean, we're trying to, we're tiptoeing around it, but what you're kind of saying is like, Micah hasn't made an impact.

Correct. Which doesn't feel like. It doesn't feel right. But that's been my thing with the Packers all year. They've been streaky. They've been inconsistent. Their defense has looked amazing for little stretches. Their offense has looked amazing for little stretches, which is why some people think they can win the Super Bowl.

If they can put it together at the same time. Jerry Jones loves this stat for the record. I'm sure he does. He's going to send us a note. Yeah. And this has nothing to do with his ability to defend the run. All right, PAC stat number two. All right, here we go.

I think that's cool again. You guys scoffed. I would, the cool again part, maybe not. You know what, there was a point in the 80s where stats were. Yeah. Oh yeah. Oh, yeah. No, it's cool.

Pocker Christian McCaffrey. We're not talking about him enough. But the stat is 444, as in his number of receiving yards this year. That is the third most by any running back through six games since 2000. This is interesting. You've heard of the names of the other guys, Marshall Falk and Alvin Kamara, in terms of this volume of receiving yards. He also leads all running backs by a large margin in targets this year.

But when we talk about how have the Niners overcome all of their injuries, the running game hasn't been there, it has been because Christian McCaffrey has just simply been one of the receivers in football this year. Yeah, so he's on pace for like, what, 1,200 yards receiving something like that, which is an insane number. And it's also why I think that he,

I agree with this entirely. Mack Jones has thrown for a bunch of yards and played well in two of the games. Obviously, played very poorly. It's from a turnover perspective. I mean, he threw two picks fumbled three times. He didn't play well. But and Purdy, I thought, was up and down when he was playing.

The only constant on their offense has been CMC and where I will give him extra credit, this is the first time ever I feel we have seen a real decline in Trent Williams, who had an argument that he actually was the best player on that team since he got there. He's the oldest everyday tackle in football, and you're seeing it this year? This guy's been remarkable. And I know his yards per carry are not what his career numbers, his career high, but I think that's more indicative of teams doing everything they can to stop him and just not being able to stop.

Well, look, I'll give Kyle Shanahan credit because you mentioned his yards per carry, 3.1. So he's not running the ball well. I mean, they've always, even last year with Jordan Mason and others, they had a good run game without McCaffrey. He's not running it well, but he's not running it well, Shanahan has been like, but we're going to get him the ball in the passing game and let him do his thing and that'll help the offense. That's something they could do in Philly too.

Exactly. You know, like get Sequine the ball out in space as a receiver. A few times. Yeah, but not enough yet. I think he's had three passing targets in each of the last two games. McCaffrey's a better receiver than Seyquy. He is, but Seekoine could do more. I don't know.

Seekwan had a CMC-esque impact. I mean, Brut's a person. He did. But he is a better receiver than Seekwine. But Sequin is a decent receiver out of the back. I mean, I just remember preseason saying that like when we did all of the, like, Niners and Purdy getting paid, to me it was like, Christian McCaffrey is the most important running back in football. You can quibble on if he was the best and Sequan and Henry were coming off better years.

But in terms of an offense depending on a running back. He's like a running back in name only. One rushing touchdown this year. Yeah. But he's one of the best football players. Listen, some people said that they expected to be a top three back in the league this year and there was scoffed at in the offseason. I would not call him a top three back right now. Really?

Bijon. It's Bijon, Jonathan Taylor, and then... And him. Taylor. It's Bijon, Jonathan, Taylor, and him. It's just an unconventional way to get there because he's doing it at... Yeah, I mean... I mean...

Oh, well, Aetienne has been great. No, no. He's been better than no. Patrick Mahomes. There's another guy. No, there are other really good running backs. I just, I agree with Danny. I think that he has been the engine of the offense.

Okay. All right, last one. Keep it up. Two for two. We ready? Yeah, three. Here we go. Number three.

Making stats cool again. Hey, thank you. We're back. You said it, not me. 29 and 100 is the stat here. As in 29 points per game with a passer rating over 100. That is Dak Prescott and Drew Breeze, but to have a losing record. So think about this for a second.

The Cowboys are letting Dak Prescott down in historic fashion. If you get your offense to score 29 points per game and you are the reason for it. Your pass rating is triple digits, but you have a losing record through six starts. It's only happened twice to Drew Grease, First Ballot Hall of Famer, and Dak Prescott. Cowboys are letting down a truly great season from Dak. A couple games now without CDLand. Dak is playing well. You know, I didn't have him on Bruce Ballet because of the record. They got a losing record. So, but he's playing great. I will just say this because passer rating isn't affected by this, but I will say because their defense is so bad, they

are throwing it a lot, but you still got to have a high pass rate. Yeah, he's scoring. Yeah, he's scoring and he's, and Pickens. Pickens is looking great. He's going to get great. Yeah, and he'll probably leave the Cowboys. This is turned out, because I don't know that they're going to be able to pay him, right? This is turned out to just be a showcase for George Pickens.

Oh, I bet they do pay him. You think? Yeah, I think they do pay him. I mean, he didn't pay Micah. Obviously, he's not getting Micah money, but he's probably going to ask for 30 plus. Oh, yeah. I mean, he's been excellent. And they go and pay him that?

I've been, and they think CD might be back this week, I was stone wrong about what the Cowboys would look like once C.D. got hurt. I thought that he was, that his relationship with DAC and their ability to make things work was one of the coolest things that had happened up to this point in the year. But I thought his high ankle sprain was going to take them from his high-flying offense to a middling offense to a middling off. because they have a, I know Brew, you privately love Giovante Williams, but a middling running back room, a average-ish offensive line, and now you don't see Lee Lamb and the defense is terrible. Instead, Dax's playing, in my opinion, the best football of his career.

And it is, Pickens has been so good that you, and I'm not historically a big Pickens guy, but based on how he's played, when CD comes back, you feel like they are up there with any wide receiver duo in football. Gallup. See, Brain. Pickens won't be better with CD. Yeah. Well, I think George Pickens having time of his life.

Or the other way, it'll be interesting to see. When you're number one. Yes. It's going to be interested in that dynamic. I think you're a CD. I mean, we'll see these. No, CD's better than George. CD is.

I agree, but Pickens is. Oh, they got, they got a word around. My only beef with this, Danny, yeah, is I would take out Cowboys and I would put in Jerry Jones let DAC down. Oh, in historic fashion. I understand this. kind of contradicts the first stat about Micah Parsons, is he good? But I just feel like the Cowboys, had they just kept Micah, would be a legit team right now.

And to be clear, Micah Parsons is good. He just so far has not had the impact they thought he would. Stats are cool again. You heard it here first. Coming up next, Diana Rusini. Success. Wow. The new report on Bill Belichick and his future at North Carolina,

cautiously optimistic or purely optimistic? They are purely optimistic. During the commercial break, I'm going to get the download. Just watch the show. Yeah, that's true. Well, I just want to get in the game. Early. All right, welcome back to First Things First,

and we're going to start at North Carolina and Bill Belichick for good reason here. The Tar Heels enter their next game this weekend. They are two and three. They are in a robust 15th place in the ACC, not where you want to be. But NFL insider Diana Rossini from The Athletic is here, making her FTF debut. We appreciate that very much, Diana. So there have been so many stories and so much speculation about Bill Belichick and what is going to happen. And I was like, does he even want to be

there? What would you say is the future for Bill Belichick at North Carolina? Yeah, and I can see why people from the outside may be looking at it thinking there's no way he's happy coaching UNC after the type of performances that they put together over the last few weeks. But talking to people close to Belichick and people that are part of that football program, they tell me this is the happiest they've seen Bill in years, that he is energized by all of this. He sees it as a challenge. And probably the most important element of this in terms of the actual football program is he feels like the students are actually buying into what he's doing. They're being more physical in practice. He finds and observed that they're studying more just over the last few weeks.

And he revealed in his press conference, too. The buy-in has been the hard part, right, because of so much transition for this entire program. But I think those students are slowly realizing that he knows a little something about football. And so I think the question of whether or not he's going to be there, and if he's looking to get back in the NFL, I was so that is not the case. He is not looking to get bought out. He wants to be there and he wants to be there for a long time. How does that hit you?

Coach, you know him well. I feel like you do not believe anything I'm saying. I certainly don't. I believe you would believe what you're saying. I'm not sure I believe it. Yeah, I don't want to be cynical. We went 14 and two back to back years and won back to back Super Bowls and he wasn't happy during that time. So I'm not sure if, you know, the success that they've had there so far is making him as as as happy as he says.

but this is a recruiting business. And so you need to project as positive vibes coming out of the building, especially in a college environment. And I'm sure that that's what this is about is projecting those things. But there's been so many other stories that have come out of there that say maybe it's not as fun a place to be as as whoever is projecting. It's obvious. There's lots of distraction around it, right? It's all we talk about.

We very rarely talk about the UNC football program. We talk about Bill's dating life. We talk about even some of the athletic reporting that we did recently, that there have been some agents that have accused Mike Lombardi, the general manager of perhaps being too cocky when dealing with different players. Michael Lombardi cocky? And I don't think anyone read that and went, hmm, you know, like that is the truth. And I'm sure Michael Lombardi would probably admit that he's guilty of that at times.

I'm not sure where the cockiness is coming from. from, but he believes in something. And I do think that the noise is loud, but I've been told if you're around the program, if you're there every day, you'll get a sense that they are trying to build towards something. I think one of the issues, though, is because recruiting is such a big part of this, when he came in, he had that cachet of being so successful in pro football and all the success, and this was going to be the 33rd team, and this was going to be a segue to pro football, and now they haven't had that success. So what do you go out and recruit with now? What do you go out and say, this is what you're going to get from the program.

And it's not just the recruiting outside the building, it's the recruiting inside the building. All those kids are there. You've got to keep them. It's not like the NFL where they're under contract. They can leave at any time with the transfer portal. So I'll just be curious to see how happy all those kids are. I disagree that the cachet wears off. It's Bill Belichick.

How many people that have had connections, you've had a connection to Bill Belichick, who are still able to have some of the advantages? of that, right? So I don't think anyone's ever going to look at Bill Belichick and go, he can coach football. No, no, no, that's what I'm saying. He's fantastic at that, and the kids will learn a lot, but it's hard.

It's really hard. And if you're putting that type of effort and time into it and not seeing the results, I think there's going to be a lot of other places where the kids say, hey, maybe I'll go there and try to make my way. I'll just say this. That first game, Michael Jordan was there. Lawrence Taylor was

there. Mia Hamm was like, oh my God, Carolina football. This is an event. And they scored on that opening drive. And it's like, all right. And then nothing's been good since. Like I can't imagine Michael Jordan go into a game in four weeks. Yeah. Went to watch a 15th place team. That's the cachet I think that could be leaving. So Lawrence Taylor at Meltlife Stadium. He's now back with the Giants. Yeah, yeah, exactly. He's all in on Jackson Dart. Exactly. He left UNC. And no, no, you're right. Like it's definitely faded. The excitement, the juice of it all. I mean, just remember that first game. Yeah. We all watched because we were all interested in

we all had curiosity, can this really work? They are putting out the messaging that that is where they want to be. And they believe it. They believe he's there next year. He's in it for the long haul. They are telling recruits. They are telling these high school students that they are going to be here. And this is going to be a program that may not look like the program you want to be part of right now, but it's going to get better.

All right. Let's get back to the NFL here with Diana Rusini in studio. We are three weeks away from the NFL trade deadline. But we've already seen a couple of trades, including an in, in-division quarterback trade with Joe Flacco going from the Browns to the Bengals. It's fascinating that there are multiple trades. It's fascinating that they've happened early already, Diana. But what's the biggest name?

Who are some of the biggest names you expect to get traded? Yeah, so about three weeks out, right? Teams still trying to figure out who they are, what they are, right? Because you have some that know they're going to go to the postseason, but some, we need these next three weeks to figure it out if they're going to be buyers or cells. But the big name right now is Trey Hendrickson. And that probably has more to do with the situation in Cincinnati and also, the needs of other teams, right?

So many teams right now are looking for pass rushers and would love to have Trey Hendrickson. And you look at the situation with Trey and Cincinnati and how that contract played out. If you guys recall, the night before he was going to report to training camp where veterans were supposed to show up, they had a deal in place. He thought he was going to show up. And the Bengals changed it in the last hour. And then that's when he stayed away from the team and they were eventually able to strike up this deal. So I think from from Trey Hendrickson's perspective, he is going to tell you to he's blue in the face.

He is a Bengal. He wants to be there. He's just about winning and wanting to be around that team. But when you get into the business of it, you could see while maybe he probably would want a new chapter. And there are teams like the San Francisco 49ers who are calling and watching to see if this could perhaps be an opportunity for them. Because he won't be a Bengal next year based on how the contract went. They just added money to this year. He's a free agent.

So this is like a mercenary deal. He would make any team in the NFL better. I'd imagine 15 teams might call on. Yeah, think about how many teams need them right now, right? Yeah. I'm sure how he's looking at that situation. And like I mentioned, John Lynch has been looking at it for the last few weeks. The Dallas Cowboys could use a Trey Hendrickson.

Would they be able to do it? The Colts, they could be a team that would look to invest. And I think if things go south, Cincinnati should, further south, Cincinnati should seriously consider it. You just wonder, will they move quick enough and actually be able to make a deal with somebody else? because it makes sense he's not going to be there. You mean quick enough, like the business side of the Cincinnati Bengals? Like, can they get their ducks in a row fast? Yeah.

For for Trey, it'd be great for him to be able to go some other place that's competitive. And for Cincinnati, it would make sense if they're completely out of it, which I don't think they feel they are at this point. So like you said, teams are figuring it out right now who they are. Are they in it? Are they not? The expanded postseason makes a lot of more teams think that they can be in it. Who's a team or two that you think?

If they're going to make a move and if they do, they'd be a contender. The team that I'm going to be surprised by that they're even in this position are the cults. The surprise team of the season. No one saw this coming. I picked him to win the division. I knew someone at this table is going to claim it, right? I don't want to mention it. You're one of those.

Do we have proof of that? Who about? It was on television. It was on television. AFC Southman. But look at Chris Ballard right now and he, first of all, Chris Ballard must be going up to Daniel Jones every day. Like, thank you. You know, this offense is.

done such a great job of figuring out who they want to be, what they want to be. And Shane Steikins obviously has done a phenomenal coaching job. But Lou Anirumo is back to doing some of that magic on the defense. But he needs players. Otherwise, he's going to look like the Lu Anuromo we saw in Cincinnati the last year or two, right? So they could use a corner. They're dealing with a bunch of injuries. Look, you talk about interdivision trades, like Ligerius Sveed for the Titans.

I mean, I think that that would be a home run for the cold. It's, you know, obviously the Tennessee Titans are in a position where they're definitely picking up the phone right now. They're definitely one of the teams looking to sell. Yeah, their fourth and points allowed in 22nd against the pass. And the level of injuries that they've had in the secondary, it's rough. It's just so hard to go get corner help even at the trade deadline because everybody's so desperate to have them. If they can do it, that'd be great. Yeah, they've got about $6 million to spend in terms of the cap right now for finding help, which not really a great number either.

Getting the defense to catch up to the offense would be big in a very winnable division for them. And a wide open AFC as it stands. So Dallas made all the news with trading away Micah Parsons. And then Jerry said, but we're going to keep making trades. They're going to make trades? They're going to trade for Micah Parsons. Oh, wow. Breaking news.

Put it on the bottom line. If we could throw out all the rules, that's what they should do, right? Because you take a look at where they're struggling. It's just, it's so obvious. If the Dallas Cowboys don't trade away Michael Parsons, they are. an NFC Super Bowl contender. Like they are that different of a team with Micah Parsons in that unit because of what we're seeing now and all the struggles that they're having. So what do they do? So I talked to someone from Dallas right before the show to just see, all right, is this

Jerry just playing the game, trying to keep the name? And the response was pretty basic of if there is a trade available for us where we think we can make the team better, we're going to do it. We're going to go after it because we've got the picks. Historically, though, you look at Dallas. They made it, they made two trades in this offseason. They don't really do this, right? They're collecting these picks. They're not a type of team that's going to move quick on this to do it. I'm sure they'll make calls. They'll take calls.

But this is also Jerry yelling out to everyone in the NFL. Like, hey, give us a call. Maybe we'll strike a deal. It's just be interesting at what price they'd be willing to pay to get that help. And, you know, they got the picks and he's been touting the picks for a long time. And then if he goes in and has to give away both those picks for someone lesser than Michael Parsons, it's going to look really bad. And almost everyone is lesser than Micah Parsons. Yeah.

I was going to say, how do you even win that? Like, no matter who he treats for, you're going to go, like, it's not really that great. And the Jacksonville Jaguars are another team I'm keeping an eye on. Okay. Because if you just look at the foundation of what they are about now, they all come from that Rams way of doing of who cares about them picks, right? Bleep them.

Yeah, bleep them picks. Right? And they believe that they can win this now. Like, they're already in it all in at this point. It's nice that they believe. Right? Which, look, they have a right to at this point. So I think if you use some of that philosophy and a policy,

to this trade deadline. I don't think they're afraid to make moves. So they're a team I'm keeping eye on. I love that we're getting more trades. I think it's just it's good for sports. It's good for sports conversation. The trade deadline in baseball was always a big thing. The trade deadline in basketball at types of like signing and free agency in basketball is a big thing. We need more trades in the NFL. Yeah, I think you've younger general managers, right? I had someone say to me once, oh, it's because a lot of these GMs and head coaches played mad in their whole lives. That's why I like trades. Now that they're in these positions, they're just playing Madden again. I'm like, oh, that's and I'm sure ownership loves to hear that.

But yeah, I just think the philosophy has changed. It's way more NBA now. She's done a lot of reporting, too, on the state of the Eagles. How much of a disaster is it in Philadelphia? We get into it next. First next first. All right, welcome back. We begin in Philadelphia, though they will be in Minnesota,

taken on the Vikings on Sunday. A lot of things coming out of Philly. Nick Siriani went on WIP radio and addressed the narratives, the concerns surrounding his team, after back-to-back losses. Here's Eagles coach, Nick Siriani. How do we know that this two-game slide isn't the 20-23 slide? How do you know it's not the 24 slide? I understand where you guys are at. I don't know if this will ease your fears and I don't expect it to. But we're doing everything

we can as coaches. It was great to have a kind of a mini-buy to be able to do some things there. And I know the players are doing everything that they can do to help themselves. get better fundamentally, better as players, and everybody has that mindset. There's a hunger mindset. So in case anyone needs a reminder, the Eagles won the Super Bowl last year. That's 2024, finishing 16 and 1. That's pretty good. 2023, the exact opposite. Started 10 and 1, finished 1 and 6.

It is insane to me as a longtime follower of the NFL and media, how bad the vibes are for the defending Super Bowl champions off a two-game losing streak. It shouldn't be this apocalyptic, but how much trouble, Diana, do you think the Eagles are at? I know. What a different kind of hangover, right? Yeah. We were ready for maybe tired players, right, dealing with all the celebration of the offseason. And everyone always says it's a real thing.

Coach, you know most about it, right? It happens. But the type of drama, sometimes it makes you wonder if the Eagles prefer it. Like, they want the chaos. They're like that couple that likes to fight all the time to maybe make up and maybe making up in this situation would be a Super Bowl. But my concern here, like if it's out of like big doms, Like three big doms right now. Wow.

I'm concerned. A lot of big doms. And the reason why I'm concerned about it is, yes, people are making these comparisons to 2023. And it actually starts to add up when you start digging in on why people are saying 2023. Let's just start with the play caller, right? If you remember, they went outside the Philadelphia Organization for Shane Stuyken. Then they went in-house. They went with Brian Johnson.

Then they went out-house with Kellyn Moore. Then they went in-house. this past season with Kevin Petulow. And it seems that these two seasons now, something's not right when they stick with their guy with that perspective of something very similar to a Nick Seriani. So that's one part of this.

Then you have just the drama. Coming off a Super Bowl as well, you've got high paid skill players. You've got big egos. You've got guys that want the ball. And the biggest problem right now from a football perspective is their O line. I talked to someone with the New York Giants about it,

of just, you know, taking a look at that film after that game, what stood out? It's like, they're hurt. Like, Lane Johnson is hurt. There's something going on up front that they're not the same. And I'm not sure if they're going to be able to come back from that. This is the giant saying. This is me saying, like, I'm not sure if they're going to be able to fix it the way we saw them get through some of those problems that we saw last year.

Yeah, I don't know what the 2024 slide he's talking about this. So they started two and two, but they never lost two games in a row. And they started two and two and they wanted to be a past first team. at that point and really that's not where Jalen Hertz lives. And they kind of figured that out and they moved away from that. And they started bludgeoning people. Yeah, and went on the run that they had. The issue for me is that the things that they've done very well,

they don't do very well right now. So Saquan Barkley is almost two and a half yards less per carry than he was. They're not running the ball effectively, collectively. And defensively, they've gone from one of the top defenses in the league to middle the pack to lower third. the league, so they don't have that. So now you look to the quarterback, and he's not really the guy that's going to carry the load like you would want from a franchise quarterback. So that's not an answer. You've got receivers that were already frustrated, already that was slowly bubbling over.

If they go and lose three in a row now, it's not going to be bubbling over anymore. It's going to be a lot more apparent how unhappy everybody is. Yeah, because they're unhappy when they win, right? Like there's so many factors when you play in Philadelphia. We've talked about a million times on every network and every show. The fans, the media, the criticism, they were 4-0 and people were mad. AJ Brown is tweeting and no one seems happy. And I think a lot of it has to do with the glory of winning the Super Bowl. I think sometimes the struggle of dealing with success is also part of the problem.

A lot of these players come from places where they weren't winning, right? A.J. Brown was coming from Tennessee. Saquan Barclay came from the New York Giants. This is all they wanted. They poured that all in. Now they're different men. They're different people. They got a taste of it all.

And that changes the dynamic of a locker. And it changes how they stay focused on what's the most important thing. And that's to win together. And after we won our first Super Bowl in New England, we ended up missing the playoffs the next year. And there is that element of successes like a martini. It relaxes you. And you go into that next season.

And you think that you can show up sometimes. And that's going to be good enough. But you've got to do all the things that you did really well the year before. You got to do them better because everybody's studied you. Everybody is getting their measure you're they're measuring their game against you. So there are no lighter games. Nobody takes your game off because you're the measuring stick and it's a long run to the Super Bowl, a very short off season. And then the pressure of trying to repeat is is really difficult because the level of intensity that you're getting back is that much higher.

Yeah, my theory on it is along the lines of what the giant source told you. Like, Their defense should get better over the course of the year. It's a young defense. Vic Fangio's great. I think Jalen Hertz is what he is. A.J. Brown is great, but he told us after the Super Bowl, he was more interested in beating a cornerback than winning a Super Bowl. That's what gave him pleasure. They should be a great running team.

They just should be with their quarterback, with their line, with their running back. But if we could put it up, Seekwan Barkley last year, yards before contact, he was the best in the NFL, by far. This year, he is 37th. So what's the reason for that? Why are guys hitting Saquan Barkley earlier? Maybe it's Cam Juergens isn't the same after the back surgery. Mackay Beckton is not there anymore, right?

Leaving in free agency. Dickerson with the meniscus surgery and now the ankle injury. Like, it's just possible that the offensive line is banged up. It's possible. I think what you're forgetting about 24, what Nick was referencing to. Remember he was getting a lot of scrutiny? Remember he was flipping on the sidelines and, you know, the sky was falling because Nick wasn't a good leader.

And they were, E.J. Brown was just as mad last year. Like, I think that's what. He read the book on the sideline. Yeah, the book. At least wait until the playoffs to read the book. I missed the book. It was always bubbling, right? And so now here they are three weeks out from the trade deadline.

Teams are, of course, looking, waiting, watching, hoping. The Eagles are saying, no, we're not trading him. We'll see if that changes over the next three weeks. And they are only a, if you think about it, four and two, two-game losing streak, they're only a one and a half point favorite in Minnesota. What if Carson Wentz? Carson Wentz Revenge Games. The situation.

I'm going to try to do the impossible coming up. Who is good in the NFL? Welcome back to First Things Last. Sometimes in life the simplest questions are the hardest answer. Anyone in a marriage knows how difficult, what should we watch tonight can be? As someone who does this for a living, I was floored when I struggled to answer the very simple question of, who in the NFL is good. So I decided to look into it and what I found made me feel a lot better about my struggles.

This year has been crazy. I can transitive property this for you with examples like, the Carolina Panthers beat the Atlanta Falcons 30 to 0 only for Atlanta to then scored 34 the next week in a win against Washington and then beat Buffalo on Monday night football. Or the Giants lost to the Saints on a Sunday and four days later blew out the Super Bowl champion Eagles. But a deeper dive into the data shows that every team had at least one loss by week 5, the first time that's happened since 2014.

We know the NFL always produces close games, but this year there have been 28 games decided by three points or fewer, the second most through six weeks since 2000. In terms of upsets, in the last two weeks alone, four different teams have won outright as an underdog of seven or more. What we thought we knew? We don't. If the playoffs started today, the Chiefs and the Ravens wouldn't be in. In fact, the top four seeds in the AFC are the Colts, Steelers, Chargers, and Patriots.

The Colts would be the one seed. They had the 25th best Super Bowl odds before the year. So where does that leave us? Maybe if we have no idea who is good, we should go with the most sure thing in the NFL the last seven years. Maybe if the team that's been to seven straight AFC title games, five Super Bowls with three rings, and appears to be rounding into form, while the rest of the league has this many questions, the only answer is the obvious one. Until proven otherwise, this year the Chiefs get the benefit of the doubt,

and the rest of the league has some work to do to earn it. That's all for us today on First Things First. Thanks for hanging out with us. We'll be back tomorrow.