First Things First - Ravens beat Bears, World Series Game 3, Broncos beat Cowboys, Chiefs must-win vs. Commanders?

Episode Date: October 27, 2025

(0:00) Ravens beat Bears, Packers beat Steelers, Eagles ‘back’? (26:51) Brou grades Cowboys after loss to Broncos, Do the Patriots deserve more respect? (43:33) Time to believe in the Colts? (50:49) Aaron Rodgers & Steelers concerns, Ravens erase all worries?  (01:10:33) Eagles tush push controversy, Panic time for Caleb Williams?  (01:23:58) World Series Game 3 picks, Must-Win for Chiefs vs. Commanders? (01:30:19) Bears ‘embarrass’ Danny Parkins, Stock Up Stock Down (01:52:38) Bigger story Packers win or Steelers loss? (02:03:20) Eagles offensive concerns gone?  (02:12:20) Will the Chiefs blow out the Commanders? Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Live from New York. It's the show that honestly has no idea what's going to happen in the next two hours. Let's go! We planned several things. I'm going to tell you right now we have too much going on. Yeah. There is too many. I don't know if there's a segment all show without some bit.

It might be too much, bro. And I don't know what our hit rate is going to. I don't know either. Some of them are just going to miss. But true story because Trevor Lawrence is no longer relevant, we don't have the bugle guys anymore. We lost them. Hold on. First of all, he disowned Caleb.

The Jags are all by. We don't need to go after him. But for the record, if the playoffs started today, they'd be in it. Oddly, the chiefs would not be. By the time they'd write. First hour, first things first. Today, four touchdowns for Jalen. Sequin rushes for 150.

Have the champs found their groove. See how I did that? It's like a groove. It's like a nod to the funk, but it's like, it's really a deep. Wow. Meanwhile, well done. Blue J score 11 in game one. Yamamoto throws a complete game.

In game two, game three tonight, who has the edge? We make our prediction. Wilde's prediction is confusing. It's honest is what it is. That's fine. I appreciate the honesty, but it's confusing. Yes. You haven't made a pick?

No, he did, but we picked game three. It's weird. It's an odd one. And finally, Cowboys get destroyed in Denver. What grade does Professor Broussard have in store? I can't believe I fell for it. Oh, yeah, they were your upset. They were my upset alert.

Who was your upset alert, you know? His was worse than mine. Whose was his? Buffalo. Oh, you know, that was coach. No, coach was Buffalo. Oh, Greg, Greg picked Carolina. You read the seal.

I believe in Aaron Rock. Yeah. This was not the weekend for upsets unless you were going fading Kirk Cousins. Did you do well? I did better than Danny. Okay. That's all that matters. Danny went from 3 and 0 to the bagel.

We got to start the show. Oh and 3. Yeah. Wow. We're starting with the return of the Ravens. There's a bad day for Dan. As we await the return of Lamar, Huntley and Henry provided plenty of offense as Baltimore Bounce the Bears.

There's not a good bro by Caleb there. Here's Derek Henry. Surprise, surprise. Good better than the loss, I'll tell you that. We didn't have it. But, yeah, it's probably everybody. All the hardware, like I said, preparation this week. It was great to put all the work in at the preoffs with a big room.

Brew, are your Ravens back? The box! Hubs wearing his Raiders gear. The box. Yes. I know what everybody wants. I know what everybody's expect. They want me to throw on the robe, put on the Jordans, kick my feet up.

That's what we like. And demand that Danny Parkins and the Chicago Bears fix me a sandwich, get me some chips and a soda pop. You don't want me. Dirsty. But this is more than fun in games to me. This is serious business. This bit is about helping, encouraging the Ravens to get to the Super Bowl. The bit is S-Bob.

So I'm not quite ready. I'm not quite ready yet. So I will use my cogent analysis to gauge where the Ravens are as they continue to grow and win. and improve. And then when the time is right, I will give an audacious, full-throated celebration of my Ravens. Okay.

Until then, I will go a little bit, because it was a good win. Yeah. I will do a little and put the glasses on. Okay. But like the Ravens, playtime is over. As they got rid of the toys in their building last week, playtime is over.

And from this point on, it is all about T7. Don't see, everybody can't steal it. It's all about T7. Now, what is T7? You don't know what T7 is? Well, I really don't know. T6 is the tackle that turn the tide. T7 one ups it.

Of course. The toy toss. The toy toss. that transformed the tacklers. The tackle. Because the defense. The offense was fine. The offense was fine.

The average in 32 points a game with Lamar Jackson. But the toy toss that the veterans led it transformed the tacklers. And now in the last two weeks, this is Ravens defense. Let me see this graphic. Look at the first five weeks games of the season. giving up 35 points.

This is a straight embarrassment, right? Russian passing the whole nine yards. Last two games against Matthew Stafford, everybody's All-American, and Caleb Williams, who once upon the time, was the sixth best quarterback in the league, according to Nick's tears. Look at that. 16 points a game, less than 90 yards rushing. I'm telling you,

you're back. The Ravens are back. And gradually, as they continue to, get ready to go to that Super Bowl, I will unleash the entire budget. Okay, I liked every piece of that except for you taking a page out of Wilde's book and just having to one up me. Does we all have our own things?

I mean, the tackle the torn the tide being loud lumped in with the toy toss that transformed the tacklers. There you go. I got you, bro. I mean, I was paying a 10. I got a lot. It's sweet one. And so I would like.

would like to make you feel, at least for a brief moment, even better than you currently do. Because you're not the gambler on the show. I am, and you don't care as much about Vegas odds as I do. But Vegas is all the way back in on your Ravens. Here is a collection of Ravens' odds as of this morning. The favorite to win the division at 2 and 5. It's a bad division.

A minus odds favorite to make the playoffs. The fifth best odds to win the conference and the eighth best odds of any team in football to win the entire thing. This despite the fact that they are two and five. I know it's stunning to you, and I know we're going to talk Patriots later, but as far as winning the conference

and winning the Super Bowl, better odds than the six and two first place, maybe MVP-led, England Patriots, which speaks to Vegas believing if the Ravens get in the tournament that they are super dangerous. They will be hot.

In theory, well, they'll probably have to be unless Pittsburgh has just a full-all meltdown. I am, however, as much as I would like you to feel nothing but great about yesterday, my real takeaway on yesterday, and I know we'll spend more time on this with Danny in a couple hours, was that game was more about Chicago being a mess than the Ravens being fixed. And the fact that we saw

Tyler Huntley, what do you start, 14 of 15? And they do that to that Chicago defense. The fact that Caleb did throw that pick when they had played poorly for three quarters, but had a chance to kind of steal the game, if you will, I know they would have to go 90 more yards, but It felt like this was an opportunity after they had just barely hung on for the first three quarters, got the ball back down three, and Caleb throws that pick. I did not look at yesterday as all the Ravens problems have been solved, and Lamar will be back soon. And in part, that's because I have no idea when Lamar is going to be back because John Harbaugh has no idea when Lamar is going to be back. And we'll talk about that more later as well. But I think that Vegas and Brew Wilds are a little, a tad bit over their skis about a team that is currently still behind the Houston Texans and has the same record as the Las Vegas Raiders.

2 and 5 Baltimore at 2 and 6 Miami Thursday night. If Lamar plays and you win that game, that's a Friday robe game. I got a few. I feel it. Okay. That's a sneaky trap game. Miami? Well, the only thing about, look, Miami is, I'm assuming Lamar is going to play.

Yeah. I think you're. But if Miami is a broken team, but then all of a sudden they score 34 points, I think we're So you don't think the defense is, I'm not saying they're top 10 defense in the leagues, but I think they've improved. Well, they certainly. Greatly improved. So I, so then.

And we'll get better like last year. It's just the adverb there that I would maybe take issue with, the great league. with the Great Lee. I think they are definitely improved. But the question is, did they go from the 32nd defense to the 26th, which will not be good enough, or the 32nd defense to the 19th with which Lamar should be good enough to get him in the tournament? Yeah.

And so, like, that's the question. And I honestly don't know because you and I feel differently about that Rams game. That Rams game, to me, they left the Rams. Stafford missed some passes in the Red Zone that were not based. based on Baltimore's execution. No, you miss some stuff, but still. I mean. No, and so that's just it's, and then to me, yesterday was a lot about, man, that was a wildly

disappointing performance from Chicago. Yeah. And now part of your optimism has been they're going to have time to get it right over this next month. Because their schedule does light up. So soft after this. Chicago was averaging 25 points a game and had no one's ever held them this year other than Baltimore under 21 points.

So there's something. I mean, the next four. A bunch of wins until I hate to say. Yeah, look at that schedule. They got the Patriots, the Packers, and then twice against the Steelers. Well, I listen, I think the Bengals and Steelers games are hard. They're divisional games. But the rest of this row, they play, you could arguably,

four of the five or six worst quarterbacks in football right now. Two is hot. Well, this is a little trap game. I mean, listen, Tua just had a great. Yeah, 24 hours ago, we would have said to a was on the cusp of a benching. I know. And then obviously Dylan Gabriel and Justin Fields are whoever the quarterback is at that time.

55% chance to make the playoffs according to the athletic playoff. Yeah. All right. Head to Pittsburgh. All week, Aaron Rogers said it wasn't a revenge game. And he was right because it was J-Lo who looked like he was waiting for tonight. Oh! 20 straight passes to his receiver's arm.

Here's Jordan Love on facing Aaron Rogers. There's that added level of pressure. You know, I knew coming in this week, this is going to be a very hyped up game and very talked about game for A-Rod coming back and playing against the Packers for the first time. And, you know, obviously us going up against each other. So you know that. And like I said at beginning of the week, my mindset was just trying to come out here and focus on getting that win. Trying to block all that extra stuff out and just be the player I need to be and focus on what their defense does and find ways to take advantage of that. All right, here's was the tail of the tape brew.

Jordan Love, better completion percentage, way more yards, 360 to 220, more yards per pass, three touchdowns, no interceptions, and a pass rating of 134. It was that monster game that we were speculating could Aaron have? J. Lo had the exact one. It was Brian Guttencuse was like, thank goodness. What do you make it, Jordan Love out playing Aaron Rogers? So what I expected.

It's what I fully expected. And J-Lo was my pre-season pick for MVP. So you guys know I think he can ball. I understand he has some things he's got to improve on, but I think he is a very good quarterback on his way to becoming a great quarterback. And so yesterday, I actually think yesterday, maybe even subconsciously, was huge for him. Oh, yeah.

Right? And I mentioned it in the butt list, like, officially take. taking the torch from Aaron Rogers. And, you know, not that he and Aaron have a rivalry or anything, but that was your predecessor. Just like he, Rogers followed Brett Farr of the Hall of Famer. You're following Aaron Rogers and you're supposed to be their third straight, great quarterback. And I think yesterday will really do something for him mentally. And in the game, Nick, I mean, we know he also tied Favre's record for 20 straight completions in the game.

That's huge with a franchise like that. But I thought there are, even though he's only got two interceptions this year, there have been a few J-No moments. Of course. Where he's, they haven't picked it off, but they could have. He probably could have four or five interceptions. Right. Our friends at Pro Football Focus call those turnover-worthy plays.

Yeah, there you go. And so yesterday, unless I'm mistaken, I don't remember him having a J-no moment. I thought everything was pretty clean. He made some great plays. Now, his tight end is fantastic. Tucker Kraft. Yeah, and he helped him out on a few plays. But he just got Christian Watson back.

That was his first game back. So the receiving court, which is already solid, is getting better. Jaden Reed's still not back. Josh Jacobs hasn't fully, they haven't fully gotten the run game going. He's been all right. But I thought Jordan Love was fantastic. And it was an official passing of the torch. Yeah, listen, I think you should.

Of your Super Bowl was Ravens Packers. Yes. You're more emotionally invested, I think, in the Ravens because they've been your team the last few years. But from the weekend, the team whose performance, I think you should feel far better about is the Packers. The team that looked far more like a Super Bowl team and a team that has, you know, dealt with some what I would call

uneven performances to the tune of only one loss and one tie. and now had... They were their number one scene right now. They had the best record in the NFC going into yesterday, which was weird. It was by virtue of the tie. And now they just played, in my opinion, the best game they've played since week one by far.

And for Jordan Love to cut... They were down significantly at the half. And the Steelers were killing them in special teams because Boswell can't miss, and then the Packers had missed two field goals. For J-Lo to come out and have to. have 20 consecutive completions over the course of the second quarter through into the fourth. For 300 plus yards and three touchdowns, Rogers hasn't done that since his last MVP season.

So four years ago, I watched it and I said, man, this feels like if you remove the Cowboys playoff game, is this the best game of Jordan Love's career? Certainly on the short, short list. Now, I understand some of that is because, contrary to their culture and their names, the Steelers' defense is terrible. But Jordan Love looked awesome yesterday. And that is, the thing is this, I actually don't think they need him to be awesome to be able to win the conference. I think they need him to avoid the Jay-no moments, the way you've put him. But when he plays like that and the defense looks the way it did particularly in the sense,

second half. Rogers made the one huge play off script. Other than that, I thought that, and I know it says 25, but that one touchdown late was not meaningless, but close to it. They're down 16 with two minutes and 10 seconds left. They get a score. I thought the defense played really well. That's when they look like the conference favorites. And the flip side of the game, KW, is the Steelers are running an offense

that assumes they have a great defense. Correct. Yeah. And instead, they have a terrible defense. Do you want to see how bad it is? I thought it was bad. I was like, oh, this defense is bad. You saw Flacco light them up. The Patriots gave them the ball five times and they were still in the game.

I didn't realize it was historically bad. The last five seasons, I don't know how bad. Recent history. Recent history. So look at the final win-loss record there. Ravens finished 8-9. They give about 278. Titans finished 7 and 10.

They get up 274. Seals are giving up 273. We don't know what their final record is going to be, but both of those teams missed the playoffs. Aaron Rogers is holding up his end of the bargain. See, I disagree. You don't think so? So let me give you the counterpoint to that.

Because he is being efficient, but no explosiveness whatsoever. So how about this? Have you had a 250-yard passing game? One, here are the quarterbacks who have not. Rattler, who just got benched. Dillon Gabriel, who's about to. Jaden, who's missed a bunch of time, and Kyler, who's missed time. How many do you have against the Bengals?

Less than 250. I think 238. And so I don't think you can be cut. You can't ever gain. Dosty said 249 against the bench. Oh, I didn't know. Okay. I knew he was close.

Okay. I didn't set the threshold at two because it was one yard more than its most. It just felt like, you know, it's a... It's accurate. And it's legit number. 200-50-yard. Because 250-yard passing every game put you on pace with the old schedule of exactly

a 4,000-yard season. So if you throw it for 4,000 yards, it means you average 250 yards per game historically. Now you have to do a little less. But regardless, my point is you're one of only five teams or five quarterbacks that hasn't had a 250-yard passing game, and you're giving up more yards passing. than any team in the last five years except for two. So that's my point. You're just at a competitive delta every week in the moving the ball through the air.

But if that's what I feel like I'm Aaron Rogers, like, guys, this is who I am. Correct. I'm not blaming Aaron. I'll give you some leadership. No, I'm not blaming Aaron. This is not me killing Aaron because I think he's done his job. He's been fine. They also don't have a running game.

Correct. And so no run game, no defense is all on him. I just want to be clear on this before we move on. because I've been very hard on Rogers for things I think are fair. Aaron Rogers has held up his end of the Steelers Rogers partnership. He's held up his end of the bargain. I'll play smart, like you said. We'll have a professional operation.

I won't turn the ball over. I'll make a couple nights, you know, like wow plays a game. He's held up his end. Tomlin, with the most expensive defense in the history of the NFL, they have not held up their end, and that's why they're in this boat. Because the Steelers usually can defend and run the ball. Correct. They're not doing either.

Host the Colts next week, so that could get ugly. Their schedule gets tough. Their schedule gets tough. Head to Philadelphia. Jalen Hertz and the Eagles hosted the Giants and reminded the world why they're the world champs. Jalen through 4 TD. Saquan had his first game over 150 yards. Well, actually, exactly 150 yards on the ground.

Here he is after the game. Every week's not going to be how you wanted to be some talent, but you can't lose face. You got to come in. in and continue to stick to the routine, continue to build. And sometimes that's how it goes. But you'd rather be going like this than the opposite way. I feel like we've got things rolling in a run game today. And we can build on that.

But most importantly, whether it's in a run game or passing the ball, we won. Did you feel maybe even a weight lifted off your shoulders a little bit? Like, yeah. Yeah, you know, I would lie to you. If I said I didn't, it wasn't like, finally. Before November, these touchdowns have come in bunches for Jaylen. 20 or more total touchdowns, two or fewer turnovers. Jalen Hertz 19 Russ and 2015 Brady.

It's in the last 35 years. Are the Eagles officially back? I added officially because Eagles back, I don't know. Are they officially back? I got to. I like that. For the most part. If you had just asked, are the Eagles back?

I would have said yes. but since you add it officially, I have to give a little bit of a qualifier. Listen, Jayland's numbers are insane. Because it's 200 yards per game, but then, as you said, 20 touchdowns, one interception and I think one fumble, so two turnovers total, a 1-18 or 11-14 pass-a-rating, something nuts. It's just been crazy. In the last two games, I think he has 9 in completions and 7 touchdowns.

It's just very low volume passing aside from a game ago or two game, one game ago, I guess when it was. But of course they're back without any equivocation when they get that Sequin. Yes. And that is, and so Sequin yesterday was, and we can show it to you, the Sequin of last year, compared to, and going into yesterday, he averaged 50 yards a game. Yesterday he tripled it. Going into yesterday, he averaged 3.3 yards per rush. Yesterday, he tripled it. Going into yesterday, he had zero explosive runs.

Yesterday, he had two, including one, to start the game that set the tone for the whole thing. So that part made them back, you know, look back. And everything is this, KW. They're the defending champs. And they didn't like how much the Giants celebrated. And I don't begrudge the Giants for celebrating the way they did. I think when you're a rebuilding team, particularly when you're a, team that's perpetually rebuilding.

You need to take your small victories. But there was an air of the Raiders taking the lap around Arrowhead. Oh. And the chiefs remembering it. Okay, the next time we play you, we're playing ring around the Rosie on the field. And the Eagles, so I thought that was a nice statement by Philly. And the fact that it came without A.J. Brown, in, you know, in one pocket makes them all the scarier.

and the other pocket maybe leads to more weird AJ Brown Instagrams. I don't know. I agree. I think one of the questions of this game is, is A.J. Brown a story of this game? And I don't know. But the question is a story. Now, is it a story? I don't know.

The question is definitely a story. Brew, Sequin said last week, and this quote has stuck with me, because we're always trying to parse out, hey, do you really mean that or are you just saying that? like Aaron Rogers, not in a revenge. I'm like, yeah, but it kind of is. Saquan said it is not the 2,000 yards. I feel fresh. It's not aware and tear issue.

And I think a lot of us is like, all right, but it certainly seems like it. He says it's not. Now I wonder if we do, imagine a world where he's 100% right and it's just other things, although it's a nice, it seems like the easiest excuse

or just reason. Rationale. Rational. He's 10th in total yards right now in the league. He's 15th in yards per game. He's got four rushing touchdowns, two receiving. If he's able to pick this up and he's just turned it around and he's going to get better like we're seeing a lot of units get better, then I think they are officially back, not just back,

but I would have a certificate, a notary republic, and an embossing symbol. One of those embossing things. Look, no matter what type of season he has, I do not. not think he's washed. No. Like a lot of people might have looked at his first several games and said, oh, he's, he's done. He's not the same. Because we've seen running backs Peter out at his age or whatever.

I'll think he'll come back next year and have a great year if he doesn't have one this year. But that said, I don't expect like this to be, okay, this is, it's last year's Sequin the rest of the way. And I don't think it's all on him. I think it's a different offensive line, obviously. And I wish, and Nick, maybe there's places I can find this. could tell. I would, I wish there were stats like on how quickly he's hitting the hole versus Lash.

I don't know if that even exists. But the speed with which he's hitting. You can get stats on the spin rate of a baseball one second after a home run. But there's nothing on. No, but what there would be, what there are stats on is how big the holes are. Yeah. And this line isn't as good. I think that's a bigger.

And he's also getting hit. Like, remember last year he was getting two, three yards. after the front line is right yeah before he got contact right so that's the other thing I don't have it in front of me but I would bet any amount of money his yards before contact are down considered

way down it was like a shoot I had it last it was three or four yards it was in double the amount of the average run negative runs this year compared to last yeah Eagles on a buy this is what else right that's the other thing six and two studied themselves brutal

opening eight games yeah going into the by getting ready for Lions. Packers. Oh, Packers then Lions, right? I don't know. Packers, that'll be... The Packers, you're right. My apologies. That's going to be a great. Packers on Sunday night football. We're on the segment, but that's great.

What grade will Professor Brousard give the Cowboys? And one of the we're ever done coming up after this segment, which will also be odd. They're all going to be weird out. On the FIS one in the Fox Sports Channel on Sirius XM. Packers, then Lions

back to back. Okay, you say it there. to pitch. Popped up, left side, Yamamoto goes the distance again. World Series mastery. Yoshinobu Yamamoto, game two of the World Series against the Blue Jays, has thrown a complete game retiring the final 20 that he faces. Brew, this is exactly what you asked for. Ties the series at one, complete game. Game three is Tonight, coverage begins at 7 on Fox. First back-to-back complete games, and snakes fans know this. Yeah, since Kurt Schilling.

Kurt Schilling, 2001, legendary snakes. 2001. So that's 20. 40 years. First back-to-back postseason complete games. No, look, it brings me back to my earlier days when it was fairly commonplace to see guys go complete games. And I think, Nick, you've been talking about if the Blue Jays win, it'll be because the Dodgers bullpen.

And I thought one of the ways the Dodgers can counter that is if you can get Snell, Yamamoto, whether it's a complete game or to go eight or something like where you don't have to go to that bullpen. And Yamamoto's been phenomenal. Don't worry, coach. We got Scherzer on the mountain tonight. Phenomenal. We all.

Everybody loved it. Yeah, coaches, a big Blue J-Pin's. We got Scher tonight. Don't worry about it. Coverage against at 7 on Fox. We're going to head back to football. Oh, my goodness. and we're headed to New England, where the Patriots won their fifth game in a row.

Dispatching of the Browns, even though Miles Garrett had a career day. I told you I wasn't too worried about him. Guy had five sacks, wanted to get more. Started complaining they took them out. Drake made in mind three touchdowns, currently second best record in the AFC. But odds to win the AFC behind the chiefs, the bills who we beat, the Colts who look unbelievable, the Broncos who are fine, the Ravens who have two wins, and then it's us. It's as if teams don't believe that we are.

currently on the doorstep of destiny, as I have been mentioned several times. It's been a long time since we've been this good, so we don't quite have everything down yet. But we're back on the doorstep of destiny, and everyone thinks, coach, oh, it's a nice story. Oh, Drake May, he's from a basketball school. Isn't it nice he can throw the ball really far? And then you look up, oh, my goodness gracious, is Drake May doing legendary stuff? Dust, can we see the graphic of streaks of having 200 yards passing and 100 passer rating? Now, Dusty just got in my ear and said, this graphic is so hot. We can't even get it on.

It's like 2018 Mahomes, a Brady year, I think. Just say what it is, Kate up. It's crazy. It's burning my eyes. Two Aaron Rogers years, a Brady year, 04 Payton, 18 Mahomes had seven, and Drake 25 Drake May. Yeah. So it's not all Drake May necessarily.

He's on a legendary pace. Coach, I know what you like. Balanced football. Do you like that? Complementary football. The Patriots have the seventh best scoring offense, the fourth best scoring defense. Complete team, coach, and Dusty,

can we show the vibes, the chemistry, or no? Is that also too hot? Ooh, coach, you know what I really love? Great coaching. No, oh. Every team has these. High five. Brable's like, want my jersey?

And Will Camel's like, yeah, sure. Coach, I think this team is on the Dorsup of Destiny in their real way. There's something special happening in New England that is beyond just a team that is six and two. Here is the great thing about New England and the great thing about having Mike Rabel there is Mike was there and experienced all of that success. Mike understood the things that led to the dynasty that they had for so many years and was an important part of that. But he also went away and he got involved with other systems, whether it's Ohio State or Tennessee. Loved it. He got the other influences.

So it just wasn't that exposure. And now he comes back and he's able to tap into what was there as well as bringing other ideas. And you saw that with the introductions. the first time they had individual introductions. Big difference from, I think, 2001 was the last time they had it, but a different way of doing things. And then you insert Josh McDaniels and Josh's effect on Drake May is, to me, tangible. And it's like having, you can say what you want about him as a head coach,

but he has that experience. And he can run the offensive side and allow Mike to do things defensively that maybe he wouldn't be able to with a much less experienced offensive course. coordinator. Wilde, you are spoiled. I know. We're all the way back. Some franchises, Nick and I talked about it, he waited his whole life for a dynasty. It was a rough for you. And I'm not saying they're about to be a dynasty, just quarterback, just have the quarterback. A good, maybe great franchise quarterback. I mean, it's been what, six years since Brady or whatever it is, seven years. But it's been rough. We had a brief risk. No, but it was really bad.

It was bad, but to get, right, to get Drake May, who, regardless how this season ends, looks like the absolute truth. And look, I'll give, as you said, Josh McDaniels, Vrable. I'm going to give Stefan Digg some credit. Great. Because he did, when he got to Buffalo, he helped unlock Josh Allen. And he's doing the same thing here with Drake May. And Drake May himself, I think, would Booty is making him like a very good receiver. He's what he's average, about 17, 18 yards of catch.

He's catching everything. Yeah. So look, to do what he did, and I said it, I did not think he cooked against the Browns like that. I thought they would win. But for him to put up 32 points, Joe Burrow put up 17 against this Brown's defense. Jay Lowe, Jordan Love, 10 points. Aaron Rogers, 23, 2 of 6 points. So for him to go out there and do that was very impressive.

So listen, I do think, I want to make a patch. point than a very quick Browns point. Pat's point is this. I do think they deserve more respect. I think right now they are the third best team in the AFC. I think that the Colts and Chiefs? Let me rephrase it. Third scariest team in the AFC.

I would go Chiefs, Bill's, Pats. And I understand that the people get mad at me about the Colts. We'll talk more about the Colts in 15 minutes. The Patriots with that head coach and I believe that if you're a superstar quarterback, year two is not too early. Like, you can go

Going back 40 years, Dan Marino's best year ever was year two. Tom Brady went to the Super Bowl in year two. Patrick Mahomes won league MVP in year two and won the Super Bowl in his second year starting. So it depends on how you want to look at year two. Russell Wilson, year two, won the Super Bowl. Joe Burrow, year two, in the Super Bowl. Omar Jackson, year two, one league MVP. I buy all that.

And so I do think the Patriots have as good of a chance as only, almost anybody of having the honor of losing the Arrowhead Invitational. And that is awesome. Like, I'm very excited for them for that. I also, can I, can I make, can I make a Browns point real quick? Just very quickly because they're largely irrelevant. Unless you're trying Shador Sanders time. Well, so it is.

That's what it is. So first of all, it's not sports media on Budzman, but I would like to tell fellow media member Dan Orlovsky, Dano, you're off the hook, buddy. We have a, you are no longer the, championship belt holder of worst sack safety in NFL history. That takes the cake. That is the worst safety in the history of professional football.

We saw it, and I don't know that it was a worst throw yesterday. Now, Dust told me we don't have our graphics right now. We do have our graphics right now. Well, avert your eyes because here's Dylan Gabriel this season. They're about to be on a buy. And then they have Jets, Ravens. The defense might be good, but might still be awful. leaders, Niners, Bears.

If the Ravens are alive, then the Browns with that defense and even semi-competent quarterback play have to say, well, we're not dead either, even if we all think they are. I was not a sure guy coming out of school. I did not think he was a first round pick necessarily, but you've got to see if he's better than that guy because he's been brutal. And if there's ever a time to try it, now would be the time. Just counterpoint. I mean, ninth best defense, total yards per game, rushing yards, second best.

He was going up against a stellar defense. I understand. But KW, he has not been. A stellar. That hasn't been every game. The only concern I have, and I don't want to put this necessarily out in the universe, but the way that he's getting sacked is a problem. Oh, Drake.

Drake May getting sacked. They're 29th and sacks allowed. I don't love the fact that they're 29th. ninth in penalties either. The penalties are bizarre. But the sack thing could derail the doorstep of destiny more than anything if he keeps getting hit at this rate.

You don't have to believe that. We'll have you guys back next time. Thank you very much. The debut of the doorstep of destiny quadrant. I don't know. I don't know. We're still working. We're still working. All right. We're going to head to

mile high where the cowboys fell flat. Dak threw for less than 200 yards, two picks, no TDs, while Bo Nixon, the Broncos lit up one of the worst defenses in the league. Here's Jerry on fixing that defense. Take a listen. Well, I don't know what's realistic. Could one better player, if we didn't pay too big a prize to have a better player on defense, could it possibly help? And I'm not trying to be cute, but that's why you'd go get him is that you'd think it could help your defense. One player. We one player away on defense.

I think we're not. I think we're more than that away. But what we're closer to than it looks in my mind is executing better on defense. All right, Brut. So as far as the Cowboys, they're three, four, and one. The report card has been pretty good overall. What grade are you giving the Cowboys this week? I know you guys aren't teachers and professors.

No. But you've known. students who were just kind of screw-ups almost from day one. You know, like early on elementary school, they have the class clown. They never do their homework. You know, the dog ate my paper, whatever it is, right? And then they'll have a stretch,

maybe three, four weeks where they're all of a sudden doing their homework. They've ate some pop quizzes. They're paying attention. They're raising their hand and they have the right answer. And you start to think it's clicked. Finally, they've got it. And then they go back to their old ways. It was a tease.

And that's what the Dallas Cowboys are. I don't know if they're a full-fledged tomato can, like I called them a few weeks ago. But they are an absolute tease. Coach, they are never just bad enough where you just write them off last year, but that was based on injury. right? Usually

they're just good enough to get your hopes up. Oh, here we go. And even Jerry's still talking about, I like the way we're executing. We're close. We're close. And he's talking about trading for a defensive player to make the difference. And so

they are a tease and so this week's grade, that was very disappointing. A T for T. That's going to mess up the GBA. How do we even factor that in? How do we calculate the D's? We have a report card.

I like that. Is that less than zero? That is, it's not enough. I will not give me enough. They did play a good team, but I'm done with them. I'm done with them. Go ahead. I don't think you can be totally done with them because of how potent this offense is.

And this is the problem with being so lopsided is if you're superheroes can't be superheroes and that's going to happen. There's going to be some games where you're off or you're just not clicking the way that you normally click. And you run into a defense like Denver, and they lead the league in sacks, and they can create problems that other people can't create. And then you get into the situation we saw. What's been frustrating to me is I thought about this time we would see some jumps defensively. And with just understanding how things work, with the fits, with working together, that there'd be some progress.

And unfortunately, that hasn't come. And now with Jerry talking about going to get a guy at the trade deadline, No, that ship has sailed. You traded away Micah Parsons. You made that decision. And then to try to sell the fan base on the fact that you're going to go get a guy like Michael Parsons at the trade deadline.

When you had Michael Parsons and you moved on from him, you can't have it both. Of course you can't. Well, the talk was Crosby, or at least he was... That's idiotic. You had Micah. Right, but... You had that guy.

You're absolutely right. If they could get Max Crosby, though. And it would be an admission. We know they blew it with him. But if you can rectify it by getting Max Crosby, you don't think you'd do it? No, I do not. At what cost? I mean, it's going to be a ton of money, but not quite as much as it would have been for Mike.

Oh, I think it would be close to as much as it would be for Mike. No, Crosby re-uped recently. You wouldn't have to pay him immediately, but you'd bring it. probably, they're not going to, I don't even, I'm not trying to dismiss what you're saying, brew, because that is the rumor. You didn't create that. But it's nonsense. They're not, they're not trading for an impact pass rusher, because the whole idea was,

we traded away our impact pass rusher to add four players, which was really adding two players, but regardless. And it was, it was an all-time egregious error. Here are the Cowboys defensive ranks this year. We've seen this team for five years. I mean, not great. Be fine defensively. And I was told that actually, when you really grind Jerry's special all 22,

Micah was maybe a net negative defensively because he was such a, just a liability against the run. And here's where Dallas, even the offense, doesn't get off the hook. And this is an oldie but a goody, brew. It's the same MO of the good Cowboys teams, beat up on tomato cans, lose to the legit teams against teams of losing record. 3 and 0, 40 a game, you know, beating them by 13, against teams 500 or better, 04 and 1.

The offense still fine, by the way. 25 points per game is. Yeah, you should be able to win. Right, you should be able to win some of those games. More than that. And allowing 34. So it is trading away Mike, and by the way, Micah Parsons shows up nights like last night,

and Chris Collinsworth is like, here's all the different ways Micah Parsons just wrecked this football game. And so I just don't get it. Cowboys host the Cardinals next Monday. Look, be four-four-one. You know what you're going to say? Four-four-four-od.

Tyler's never lost in AT&T Stadium. He is very good. Through the doorstep of Destiny twice. The Colts. Greg Jennings is not here, but we're still talking Colts. They moved to 7-1. The best team, according to the standings. Not the standings.

This is the standings, though. That's fine. Three touchdowns for Jonathan Taylor. Three TDs for Daniel Jones. Six total touchdown? No. Caught one. Nick, was this enough to make you finally believe in the Indianapolis Colts?

Let me tell you what I do believe in. I do believe in Jonathan Taylor. Yes. And I think Jonathan Taylor has actually a stronger case to be included in real MVP consideration than Seekwon did last year. Really? Yes, because Jonathan Taylor has actually a stronger case to be included in real MVP consideration than Sequin did last year. Really? Yes.

Taylor doesn't have the quarterback or the receivers or the defense that Sequin did. And if we show you Jonathan Taylor's numbers, also last year, Sequin had an amazing year, but Derek Henry had 90% of the year. Yes. This year, Jonathan Taylor's on pace to win the rushing title by 500 yards and score 10 more TDs than anybody else. So I do believe in Jonathan Taylor, but do I believe, and I kind of, and I'm mostly

believe in Shane Steichen. But do I believe that Daniel Jones can keep this magic trick going? I do not. And I understand we all want to believe. And you watch it long enough and you say, wait, it feels, it feels real. And there is a childlike nature almost where You're like, logically, I know it's not real, but I watch it week after week after week. And if you see it long enough, you tell yourself, well, maybe. If I just suspend disbelief, maybe there actually is something mystical going on. Maybe Daniel Jones could go to Arrowhead and win the AFC title or host the AFC title game. and win the Super Bowl.

And then you are snapped back to reality and you say, it's a fun show, but I know that's not real. And that's the idea that Daniel Jones is going to go through maybe Lamar, certainly Josh, young star Drake May, and then end boss Patrick Mahomes to make the Super Bowl.

So no, It's an amazing story and very entertaining. Yeah, very much. High octane every weekend. I'm like, wow. But I do not believe, coach, that this is the best team in football. Yeah, I didn't come away from the game yesterday thinking that things had changed. They played the Titans who's arguably the worst team in the league with an interim head coach with a rookie quarterback who's struggling, you know, mightily.

So I would have gone the other way had they struggled against the Titans and said, this is more magic than reality. I would say, though, Daniel Jones, in watching him at the Giants, he was about as tough as any quarterback I've ever seen. I've rarely seen someone take the beating that Daniel Jones took and be able to come back and play to even play the way that he did. So there is a Jalen Hertz type quality to Daniel Jones, I think, and with this formula seemed very much in line with the Eagles type.

formula and I do think Jonathan Taylor is having a year that could carry the team further than than expected. They've already done further than what was expected, but Daniel Jones, I think can be efficient enough to be as much a part of the formula as Jaylon Hertz was. First of all, that that was excellent. What? My analysis? Yeah, no.

That, because that is. I didn't, was there something here? I didn't even know. I thought you just saw me. I was so caught up in what Nick was saying. Thank you. I mean, that is the question. Because everything, and I know they don't have like the elite receivers.

They got a nice little core receiver. Nice receiving. Right, but it's not, you know, the Bengals or something like that. Make some amazing catches. Yeah, no, maybe they're making names for themselves. But they have the great running back and then a lot of really good players. And it's hard to believe that Daniel Jones is going to make this jump. obviously Greg has believed in him

saw something in him. For Greg, it's not really a jump. Greg thought it was already good, really good. I did, look, you did see things with the giant. His rookie year coach was good. And then he started getting, you know, they had a bunch of offensive coordinators, different head coaches.

And he had a number of those guys throughout his career there. His first year with Dable was really good. Didn't throw a lot of touchdowns, but ran, you know, ran played a good playoff game. And maybe with Stuyken, I don't think he'll ever be like a top five quarterback or anything like that. But maybe with Stiking, he is, say, the next Sam Darnold. And we have seen him be really good in a playoff game. He was great in his first when we beat Minnesota and then struggled in the next one.

But look, they've only, they've beaten two winning teams, Denver and the Chargers. But they've done to the tomato cans what they should do. Like they crush them. They don't just beat, yeah, they crushed them. Here's the thing, and you shouldn't worry about them from a chief's perspective. But two things I would look at, they could be the number one seed. Yes. Because their schedule, I mean, we know they're in the not a tough division,

and they don't have, you know, many great teams left on their. Kansas City and Seattle are the toughest game. That week 12 off of a buy, very instructive. Well, and not be interesting. interesting in how they approach. Because the second thing I was going to say, Lou Anirumo, their defensive coordinator, who we know is played well against the Chiefs when he was in Cincinnati.

So it'll be interesting, coach, to see how they play that game. If you were in their shoot, like Aniruma, I imagine you would not show the Chiefs a lot of your stuff defensively. Is that fair to say? I would imagine they're going to do what they can to beat the Chiefs

because they're in a different spot than where Kansas City is. And Nick talks about it all the time, where a lot of times during the regular season, they're doing things knowing that they're going to be in the postseason, where Indianapolis is still trying to gain the confidence that they are in a lead team. So to get a win like that at that point in the season could be a moment for them, and from a momentum perspective, very powerful. Starting to see it a little bit. But you don't, but you don't.

I'm a Patriots guy, but I don't. You don't, you don't. Not, I don't totally believe. But part of that I was like, well, looks like you. Looks like you had a huge thing of yarn in your mind. Live from New York, it's the show that is trying their best not to personalize and make the intros all about themselves by saying it's the show that's on the doorstep of destiny and the Patriots look like they're headed to San Francisco. So you're trying not to personalize the intros by making the intro about how you're feeling specifically? I'm trying my best.

Great job. Second hour, first things first. Today, Jordan Love out duels Aaron Rogers. But is the Steelers defense going to be their Achilles heel? Not actually. I just use that as a term as something that's going to sink you. Meanwhile, World Series Game 3 tonight, Glassnow versus Max Scherzer. We do for a classic battle.

But right now, Ravens Defense, Brew, you called this. It looks like they're back. Back-to-back games, keeping their opponents under 20. Plenty of offense via Henry and Huntley. Here's Harbaugh. It was happy. It was a happy locker room. Yeah, it was a happy locker.

It was a joyous locker room, you know. And it was also kind of a poised locker room, too. It wasn't like out of control. You know, we haven't won a championship or anything else. We won a game. We won one game. A game that we needed to win. Do the Ravens erase all concerns?

Coach, they're calling it T-7. He's just the toy toss that transform the tacklers. the tacklers. Wow. The Ravens defense. That's good. You should trademark now.

I want a T-shirt right now. Look, I said this a few weeks ago. I meant it. They are still S-Bob. Of course. Right?

But I'm saying, Nick, like their start has been so bad that if they just make the playoffs, I think in a lot of senses, it'll feel like it was a great, you know, even if they get beat. To go from one in five to, you know what I mean? But I'm trying to push back on that

because that won't be like success. That will be a step backwards. Like they are supposed to try be in the hunt in the mix to win that Super Bowl. So look, I feel incredibly confident about them making the playoffs, winning the division. They do control their own destiny because they're two games behind the Steelers and they play the Steelers twice. Oh, you mean that they went out?

Yes. You know, yeah, yeah. But if they beat the Steelers twice, then it's like, you know, they, I mean, like I said, they control their own destiny. And their schedule is lighter. They do have New England, which will be tough. They got Green Bay. Obviously, that's going to be tough. And their division is going to be some tough games.

So I'm not saying it's easy, but I expect the Steelers to lose several games. They have a tougher schedule than the Ravens. You expect a five-game winning streak. Definitely beat Miami, Minnesota, Cleveland. You expect a five-game winning streak? Yeah, yeah. You know what? I mean, look, they, I'm not saying, I don't say,

I can't say I expect them to win out. But they certainly could win out until they get to New England and Green Bay. Now, that might not be enough. They can only probably lose one more game, maybe. It's so interesting that you're talking about SB, because you feel John Harbaugh's emotions there. We didn't win a championship or anything, but that sense of relief to get off that losing streak.

And that's huge. And to get off it with the knowledge that Lamar is coming back, that's huge to Patrick Ricard, their big fullback with back. And the way that they're talking where they said, look, we're 1 in 0 now. And I think that's the way that you have to frame it if you're Baltimore, is that what's happened has happened, but we're significantly healthier than we were. We just won a game.

We're going to get Lamar back. And all they need to do is just keep stringing together these one and oh weeks. And forget about what's going to happen five weeks from now. Just get the next one. Because they're really, they haven't shown that they're good enough to think anything further than the next game. And you feel, you felt it in the locker room. And you've got the cavalry coming with Lamar coming back. This could change dramatically form here.

Before you go, Nick, quickly. Show this graphic on the defense. How much stock do you put in their defensive improvement from weeks, the first five games to the last two? I'm not saying they're a top 10 defense now. I'm just saying they're showing improvement. Yeah, so the way that we would always try to look at it is in blocks of four. So the first quarter of the season, second, now we've got 17 games now, but it was what was trending. And the fact that over the last two games, it'd be interesting to see four versus four there.

but over the last two games, they're trending in the right direction. And that's what I was talking about with Dallas is I wanted to see the trend because once you get a certain block of stats, it's hard to climb that high in the rankings. But you can see significant progress from your defense, even though it may not show dramatically in the overall rankings. All right. I want to talk about something I think is a bigger picture concern for Baltimore

that is far bigger than even this season and whether or not they make the playoffs. And that is why John Harbaugh and Lamar Jackson are never on the same page about Lamar's injuries. Because the Ravens are going to get in a lot of trouble. I don't really think that... You think? I'm certain of it.

I mean, they're going to get fun. So if people don't know what happened, here's what happened. The Ravens said Lamar was a full participant at Friday's practice. Saturday came out he was missing the game. They then retroactively were like, actually limited participant. Because when we said he was full, we meant he did. to all of our the scout team reps that is specifically

not allowed. In fact, it is written in the CBA if a player who's typically a starter is fully participating as a scout team player, you have to list them as limited. Everybody in light of the NBA scandal going on jumped on the gambling piece of this

which is they were six and a half point favorites and all of a sudden they're one and a half or two and a half point favorites. They covered both anyway. That was not the story. The story is John Hart is always on one timeline with Lamar Jackson injuries and Lamar is on another one. This is all courtesy of the Baltimore banner, credit to great local independent journalism, but this isn't like anonymous quotes.

They just went through the transcripts. 2021, Lamar Jackson hurts his ankle. The next day, John Harbaugh is asked about him playing in week 15. I'd say he has a chance, just one of those things where it's an ankle sprain. He starts feeling good and everything's all right. We'll check him out, probably pregame. He's in all the preparations and all of that. We'll see where we're at.

That was going into week 15. Lamar did not play again that season. Harbaal, when asked about it, after the season, says, Lamar felt like he was going to be back. The first week he thought he had a chance. The second week, he assured me, he said, I'll be back, I'll be back. He did not play again.

The next year, Lamar hurts. his knee. John Harbaugh says, it's not season-ending type of knee. We'll get more tests tomorrow, let you know how long it's going to be. We'll see even go back this week. If not, he'll be back sometime after that shortly. Then they make the playoffs despite being on a losing streak. Schefter reports league sources, which keep in mind, Lamar has no agent.

So whenever there's Lamar reporting going on, it's from the team because Lamar doesn't have an agent league things. Shepter says, everyone thinks Lamar is going to play in the playoff game. Lamar doesn't play in the playoff game. And then Lamar tweets, hey, guys, I got a grade two, almost a grade three PCL. You don't have to read the whole thing, but Lamar, it was shocking when he did it. And we thought it might be contract-related. Now, this time, here is John Harbaugh.

Why are you optimistic going into the buy? Our quarterback is going to be back. That's probably a big one. John Harbaugh, then after going on Friday. Full practice today for Lamar. So that's good. And we'll see where we're at going forward. I postulate the Ravens listed him as a full participant to put added pressure on Lamar to play.

They were not trying to game a gambling line. And you can be like, oh, they're trying to get a competitive edge. The competitive edge works in the other direction. You don't get an edge on the bears by making them think Lamar is playing. And so there is a clear disconnect. So when you guys say Lamar is definitely back Thursday, I don't know that. And I don't know why the head coach and Todd Munkin seem to consistently think Lamar is healthy enough to play. And then Lamar is not healthy enough to play.

I'll be quick, coach. I'll defer to you. my only, this is disturbing or bizarre, I just say bizarre. And I remember all those years thinking, okay, he's going to be back. Now, I fully expected to play Thursday. If he doesn't play Thursday, I will kind of be like, this is crazy just like the previous years where, coach, I'm wondering, is he one of those guys that has to feel like I am 100%.

I'm not going out there if any little thing is bothered me. But, Bruce, even if he's that, shouldn't Harbaugh, that by now? He's the only coach our ball's ever had. From a competitive advantage standpoint, there is actually actual value in saying he's going to play because you have to spend reps

of practicing against Lamar Jackson. So if you're prepping for him, you've got to do different things. You've got to get a spy. You've got to figure out the things he does best. I'm sorry to interrupt. Can I ask you this, though? From a competitive edge, what would give Baltimore

a bigger edge? The Bears thinking Tyler Huntley's playing and then oh my God that's Lamar Jackson's music or the opposite. The bears thinking like if anything if they thought it was Huntley maybe they relax a little they think it's going to be easy and then Lamar comes out if you think it's going to be Lamar

you guarantee the bears have their full attention all week at practice like I think it works the opposite in the sense of it's just trying to waste the other team's time like that's usually what it is because you've got to do reps you've got to do cars you've got to do tape you've got to do all these things from a coaching staff standpoint and a player standpoint to study the starting quarterback,

and it wastes a ton of time. That's why sometimes they'll do things like on an extra point, we'll line up some gadget formation on an extra point, just so someone has to waste time practice. But don't you think Harbaugh thought Lamar was going to play Sunday when he said on that on Friday? I think Lamar, or I think that John is always optimistic that he's going to play and he's going to be optimistic, you know, aggressively. Now, I got fined $25,000. one time because I didn't list Brett Farr's injury the correct way where he had a high ankle sprain and he practiced all week and I said he was a full participant. He was and then he went out and he lit it up and threw five touchdowns which I thought no problem. A year later they find

me $25,000 because they said I didn't list the injury properly and I said if I had said he had an ankle sprain wouldn't people have you know if I had said this this other thing and then he threw five touchdowns wouldn't that be way worse but they didn't care so I would imagine this fine if that was... I think they might lose a draft pick. What? That's, I mean, that's what the CBA says. When you're getting fined

that amount of money for something nothing, that small thing that I did, that the guy was, the guy did participate. That has been a full participant in Friday practice plays Sunday. So it just just to just a

show a scenario. Full participant, we had video of him going and Dussie was getting my ear. Like another, you know, he'd give me updates. I'm like, Lamar's going to play. He's got his helmet on. He's moving around, although it wasn't like super athletic. At the tail end of Friday's

practice, the very tail end, he goes he may, oh, it doesn't feel great, goes home. It doesn't feel great. Then you're, then you know you have a game on Thursday and you're like, uh-oh, you know what? I'm going to sit this one out. No, it makes sense if he plays Thursday. But hold on, real quick, that is not at all what happened. When you have to list it was

post-practice. But at my house it happens? Well, no, that's like Chris Jones leaves. So Chris Jones Sunday morning leaves to go to a funeral. They then have to update his status for the game as questionable, personal reason. But what you're describing... But he would have still been a full participant in practice. Yeah, and I want to just make this very clear. What you're not...

No, what you're describing is not what happened. He did not spend a single rep in Friday's practice with the starters. Right. Everything he did Friday was what the third string quarterback does, run scout team. And then the Ravens listed him as. full, which told the entire, so I think... No way that's an honest mistake. I mean, Harbaugh, after the game,

blame the PR to park. From a gambling perspective, that's a, that's a big, that's a big deal. And gambling now is so much different than it ever has been. So, that's... You look the guy like Lamar Jackson is a full participant in practice, and he doesn't...

And he didn't practice. And didn't practice. That's... And I don't... My focus is not the gambling angle, but I think that's why the NFL is going to hammer it. That is what makes it so bad. Also, our group chat, Brew was destroyed. Drew was like, well, there it is. I thought they were done.

There's no question. I thought they were losing it. They're in Miami on Thursday. Aaron Rogers, non-revenge game saw the Steelers defense get gashed 454 yards as Rogers old squad, put up 35 points on his current squad. Also, lots of Packers fans at Heinz Field. Let's catch up with Rogers. That's good job.

I've heard that chant for 18 years. Packer fans travel really well. First time in a while, I've used silent count for a home game. That's a credit to those Packer fans. Coach, are you starting to worry about Rogers and the Steelers after this loss? Ironically, I'm not worried about Rogers, but I am worried about the Steelers defense. I thought this was going to be not very good between Aaron Rogers. and Arthur Smith.

I thought there were going to be a lot of problems. But to Aaron Rogers credit, he's been a really good teammate. He's been a really good member of the Steelers. It hasn't been about him. He hasn't created issues. There hasn't been bickering between him and the offensive coordinator. That part to me is amazing. And I'm really happy for him and for Pittsburgh.

But defensively, this is back-to-back game where they've given up 30 points, including to Flacco, who had been there for what, 15 minutes? So that's the highest paid defense. And then statistically where they rank, it just, it doesn't, it doesn't look like like that's getting much better either. I know they had the run of the five-sac games, but this is nowhere near on brand with the Steelers that we're used to seeing. Even though everything with Rogers, as worked out, I'd argue, much better than I expected. Yeah, overall, this is what I thought they were. Like a good team that I don't remember.

I think I picked them as a wild card. You definitely because you were debating between them and Cincinnati. Okay. Oh, no. You ended up going Cincinnati. It was 51 49 the whole time. So nine. But you thought it was going to be the other direction, right?

Like you thought when you're saying it's what you thought they were going to be. Yeah. I thought they would be a nine or 10 win team but barely miss out on the playoffs because of Rogers. Yes. Not the defense. And we know their calling cards have been defense and running game. And neither of those is playing well. But Rogers is playing solid.

They do need, they could use another receiver too. I mean, D.K. Metcalf obviously great. If you had another receiver, I think that would help him out. But Rogers is playing well. But the team, and then I mentioned their schedule. You know, when the Raven schedule gets a lot easier. The Steelers, when they got Detroit coming up. I don't know if they'll put it up on the screen.

You see, you got Detroit. You got obviously the Ravens twice. Buffalo, still the Chargers, the Colts, the Pac or Colts. Yeah, they only have two teams that are out of it in Miami and Cleveland, and one of them is a divisional game. But you thought going into the season that this team was going to be anywhere near this bad defensively? No, no. I thought the quality of the team would be roughly this.

But I thought it would be reversed. I thought the defense would be playing well. the run game would be okay and Rogers would be kind of holding him back a little bit. But he's been, he's been very good. So listen, I agree with you guys in large part. Here's the thing. Rogers, from the biggest criticisms of Rogers last few years have been some play, but mostly the intangible stuff.

He's been excellent on that. And I really thought his moment, brief moment on the field, because NFL, I think it was NFL film, Somebody has the audio of him talking to Jordan. I thought it was really touching is maybe too strong, but really great. And like when they both said, I love you to each other, I was like, I totally believe that. And so I thought that was really cool. And I do think he has been even keeled.

Like I give him credit for that. And he is, I think he is doing as well as a 41-year-old not named Tom Brady could possibly do. He's not turning the ball over. He still makes a couple. Holy moly, look at that pass plays. He had that first... Yes, the big play yesterday. But he's yet to 250 yards passing

because he's just not going... You saw him yesterday when it's like, oh, man, the quick hitter stuff isn't working. I'm going to have to hold on to the ball a little bit longer. And he's not mobile enough and the offensive line can't hold up. But the real problem, coach, is what you said. This is... And I've said this for a year now.

When you pay a quarterback, the idea is, hey, you're going to have to do more with less. Like when you're on a rookie contract, we get you a bunch of toys, but once you get paid, you need to do more with less. When Mike Tomlin's your head coach, in theory, you shouldn't need the highest paid defense in the history of pro football to have a really good defense. They gave that to him anyway, and I like Tomlin a lot.

I think Tomlin is a great coach holistically. But for the defense to be this bad with that many stories, players on it and a defensive-minded coach is unforgivable. Like it just like that can't happen. And that's, I never would have thought at the start of the season that we'd go this far into the season without an Aaron Rogers major story of some sort of turmoil he created. And then we'd have back-to-back 30 plus games by the Steelers defense and they'd be, what, 30th and he quit McAfee.

He's been, I mean, he's been a mission, he's been good. Which is really a huge thing. huge thing. Like that's where a lot of his controversy was created. Would you believe that Daniel Jones is going to light up the Steelers' poorest defense next week? Probably. Yeah, I would believe. I mean, it probably looks like that.

Caleb concerns. Why would I be worse things first? Just said Staniske. Start Saturday Strong. Number one, Ohio State Buckeyes. Taking on Penn State at the shoe, 10 a.m. Eastern, big noon kickoff live from Columbus. Then it's Penn State, Ohio. date only on Fox.

Welcome back to first things first. Power packed Monday show. We are not huddling for this segment. Sorry. Dudwatch. Caleb, no touchdown. One horrible interception. You just ticked Nick off.

Bears only score 16 points. I would, I. What? We're a long way away from him being on the top of my home's mouth. He was never on the top. Near the top. He was near the feet. He was far too close.

Are you panicking? Close. Why would I? I paint. Nick's already done. Why would I this is

Danny Parking's problem, everybody. Tune in to first overtime about 35 minutes. I'll tell you this much.

Maybe I should see. I watched football yesterday at Danny's beautiful house up in your neck of the woods up in

Schenectady or wherever you guys live. And he was in shambles. And I was like, man, must be rough being the

Caleb guy in the show. Couldn't be me. Here's what would say. So the numbers are the numbers and we can show them to you. They're not good. And that's his ranks for the season. Now, Brew does know. I do like yards for attempts. That's one of my favorite quarterback stats and he is top 10 in that. Here is the real problem though. And this is not fair. But if you remove one game, those are his numbers. And that's even just the

cap. Oh, just lighting up the cowboys. Yeah. If you just remove lighting up the Cowboys, which you know, if I'm going to be fair, we're going to talk about Bo Nixon a bit. I'm not putting a ton of stock into Bo Nix lighting up the Cowboys, so fair is fair. And speaking of Bo Nix, and here is what is bad narratively. This would not be my rankings.

But if right now, if Fox Sports or the athletic or whomever did, we're going to redraft the quarterbacks from two years ago. Oh, Drake's in Chicago. I think this would be the majority opinion. Drake Mayn, first quarterback,

taken. Jaden Daniels second quarterback taken. And I think everyone would have one of those two guys first. Like it would be one two to one those two. And right now this moment, I disagree with this, but I think the majority opinion would be Bo Nix 3. I don't think that's controversial. No. I at all. Yeah, that's what I'm saying. I think the majority opinion would have that. And then Caleb 4. It was, that was a, I don't agree with Brew that the Ravens defense is just, all of a sudden fixed. And so, yeah, I think that was a brutal performance in a big spot for Caleb. He, and I said this a while ago, but coach, to me, he looks like a great athlete trying to

play quarterback. And I know he was phenomenal, obviously, through high school and college. But it never looks easy. even when he makes a great play, it just doesn't look smooth. Like I'm not even going to say the great quarterbacks. Like most quarterbacks. Most, with Caleb, we talk about things you don't talk about

with other quarterbacks, the operation, you know, getting rid of the ball and stuff like that. Hitting open guys. Yeah, it's just like. And so that's what stuns me. Like even when it's going good for him, it still looks difficult. And so it'll be interesting

He and Ben Johnson And I'm not suggesting They're making a quarterback change I don't see that anytime soon But they obviously liked the backup I mean they gave him what the $10 million deal And I think Ben Johnson wants a guy that's on time But Ben Johnson took the job to work with Caleb

Right which I get and he And look maybe I mean there is improvement I'm not writing him off I may be writing him off as a star But yeah, I did not want to be overly loved by Nick. I mean, the Prince that was promised, discounted. Right, right. I don't know.

Caleb Williams on Mahone Mountain discarded. If the playoffs started today, then he drops them, by the way. Throws those dudes out. Yes, absolutely. Now, the Bears were just on a four-year winning streak, right? Yeah. Last time that happened was 2018. He is the quarterback of the team.

Yeah. Okay, so there's some progress there. He's been sacked half as many times, or 50% less than he was the year before. That's real progress. On the pick that they showed, the wide receiver's running the in-cut, and he runs it up the field instead of shaving it down, so he allows the defensive back to undercut him. So yeah, that's a, that's a Caleb issue, but the wide receiver doesn't do a very good job of doing his technique either and allows the defensive back to undercut it, which shouldn't happen. So he should take some accountability for that too. So is it

perfect? No, but there's been some good things with this team overall. And, and, and, and, you should take and the idea of throwing it away, he's in with a new head coach, a new coordinator, a new system, and there's been some positive. So to write him off at this point. And Drake May's had a pretty big bonus here by getting who he got paired up with this year, too. I don't know if we would have had that same draft reshuffling where he's ahead of Jaden Daniel. I mean, come on now.

Well, I mean, Ben Johnson is supposed to be this genius. I know. I know. And he's like Ben Johnson. How many games into it? Every time it goes like Caleb does something, then they cut to Ben Johnson. Ben Johnson's body language has been worse than Caleb's this year. He just looked so upset.

Yeah. And just disappointed. He looks disappointed. Well, yeah, he's got a team that was on a four-game win streak, losing their team that was on a four-game losing streak. You're going to be a better about that. With their backup. With their backup. And the receivers should run the route better.

Bears at Bengals next week who lost to the Jets. He better win next week. Eagles put up 38. A.J. Brown is on the sideline. Jalen Hertz is in the end zone. Four touchdown. Sequin went for 150. What is your number one takeaway from this win? Nick, we can start with you today.

The NFL's got to fix this, man. You can't, you can't have. This wasn't great. You can't. It is one thing for the tush push objections to be. it's not a football play, it's boring, it's bad TV. Because the pushback on that, no pun intended is, get better at it, get tougher, learn how to stop it, all of it.

What you can't have is teams figuring out how to stop it, and the refs being like, nope, doesn't count. So this is as obvious of a fumble as exists. And I understand the rule is, once forward progress is rule. down you. There's no reviewing, all that stuff. But this is where it becomes a little Calvin ballish with the rules of, you know, heads you win, heads I win, tails you lose. Jalen Hertz is allowed to continue his forward progress while surfing the pile, which is why it's so unstoppable. And what they're saying is the defense is not allowed to take advantage of that. And I thought Brady

nailed it on the call. You cannot treat that like it's the goal line. The Drew Brees goal line jump and put the ball over. It didn't matter if the ball got stripped because the play is over the moment as the goal line. That's not this. And so I, it is, listen, Brian Dable freaks out all the time. I thought he got a tough whistle yesterday, but I would have lost my mind on this. There was at no, at no moment is Jalen Hertz close to down and at no moment is close to stopped. And when they played the audio, it's not like, oh, inadvertent whistle.

The whistle came late too. And so I'm not saying this would have changed the game. The Eagles were way better than the Giants yesterday. No, but it was 7-7. And so I just don't understand. You can tell me, Coach, the false starts are hard to see with the naked eye. This is not.

And it's baffling to me the lengths that they seem to have trouble officiating this play. Nick is as obsessed with the tush push as people are as obsessed with Kansas City getting all the calls by the official. You are you are push obsessed. And that's their only takeaway from the game. My takeaway from the game is we have a formula that works. When Jalen Hertz. Oh.

Less than 30 times. What happens? Oh, I'm sorry. 20 attempts, 15 completions, four touchdowns, 179 yards. It works. And then you've got Sequin, you know, he was able to finally get back to form. I think the other interesting thing is with no A.J. Brown, suddenly this offense clicks the way it clicks. As we move closer to the trade deadline, is there the possible addition by subtraction?

Is there some, you know, do you look at this and think maybe all this noise isn't worth the upside or the potential upside? Coach A for effort, but it's like this. Oh, I'm sorry. Yeah. Sorry, I got to work out of it. I'm not trying to get better at it. Yeah, look, the AJ Brown thing you bring up is interesting. Because if we really look back, and AJ is a phenomenal player.

I loved him back when he was in Tennessee. Like, I mean, he's, you know, before he was like this household name, he is a legitimately great player. But if we look at a lot of there, issues, they are kind of, he starts them. Like last year, nobody was really thinking about Jaylin not being able to pass until he said that. And so I would love, and it sounds like from all the insiders that they're not going to trade

him, I would love to keep him. But if I could get like close to equal talent, oh, there's not going to be player for player, be draft picks. Just draft. Then I don't want just for draft picks. I mean, I don't know if how. Because you're a s-Bob. Right, your S-Bob.

But if I could get a couple of really good players or something like that, I might look at it, you know, because Dotson is okay. I mean, obviously, Devonte can be a number one receiver. Dotson's okay. But I would want to get another really good receiver. He might not be as good as A.J. Brown, but I would have to get another really good receiver. But my takeaway was just Jalen. You know, like he is having a great year.

we got this graphic. These are all career highs in, he's career highs in all of these categories. It's coming up at some point. But these are touchdown passes, intercept, like here we go. Passer rating, completion percentage, 15 to 1, that's passes, not fumbles or total touchdowns. And TD percentage and interception percentage.

So all of those are career highs. He is throwing the ball. incredibly well. But coach, I tend to agree. Keep it at about 28, 29, per game. Under that magic number. And listen, to be clear, we talked Eagles earlier, and I gave them

their flowers, and I think the biggest story of the game actually was Sequin. Was that a blip for the year? Was that a return to form? I agree with that for Philly. But unlike the Chief's ref conspiracies, there wasn't a vote in the offseason amongst

owners, where 23 owners said they wanted the chiefs to be officiated differently. That did happen in Philadelphia. There has not been now three separate times where Dean Blandino or Mike Pereira during an Eagles game has to come on and say they got this wrong while Tom Brady is aghast at the false starts or this.

And unlike the false starts, KW, this was not hard to see. This was... It'll be gone next year. It'll be gone. No, but it's not so much about it. and the coffin. And to me, that's fun.

My question is for the moving forward this, moving forward this season. No, just moving forward this season, are the referees going to allow the, because are they going to let the defense continue to play while the offense is allowed to continue to play on that play? Because so much of it is, like it's Jalen at times disappears into a scrum

and then there's a second push or whatever. If during that second push, he loses the ball, that should be the cost of doing business of that play, and it's not officiated that. He's not going to lose the ball again this year, though. He lost it again. He lost it early. That's twice now.

He's going to be like, you know what? Now it's like this. But then it won't be as effective, KW. Dodgers on Upset alert, Game 3 of the World Series tonight on Fox coverage starts at 7. Game three of the World Series tonight, coverage starts at 7 on Fox. Opposite storylines so far in game one and game two. Game one, Blue Jay's offensive explosion, 11 runs.

Game two, Yamamoto comes in, throws a complete game. Tonight, Glass now, steady versus Scherzer. This is going to be. Who went nuts. Now, more than steady this post. No, he's been killing. A point seven. To me, that's steady.

It's right. Yeah, steady. But you're going with the old vet, Scherzer, who really did show up in the ALCS. We're going to do a round of who you got. Coach, we're going to start with you. We've got ties to the Blue Jays. You've been rude to the Blue Jays.

All year. Yes, yes. Last knock and really throw it. My wife was at the ALCS. And a nice little gift for all of you because I know you're all. Oh, I'll put it on. Oh, I like this.

You get the gold one because you will not show a good highlight of Toronto Blue Day. Wow. I like that. Tonight that's different. Wow. This is nice. No, this is for you three. Because I've been wearing mine all season long.

Yeah. I like it. In support of them. Kevin, you got to actually put it in there. He's not going to put it wrong. I know. They're not going to put it on there. I know.

It's so hurtful. I got you. I can't. And this is the challenge that I face all season long is they won't put it on regardless of how well Toronto does. And tonight we're going to see the same thing. Scherzer at 41. He's got a little bit more magic left in him. And then we talked about Glass Nile, but he's had problems with Guerrero and Springer.

So they're going to light it up. All right. I'm with you, Coach. I think Scherzer has a final great moment. And I think Scherzer goes six innings one run. Six innings one run. I love it, Nick. I love it.

I'm going Blue Jays. Wow. Coach, I would love for you to come in here with a smile. on your face tomorrow. But I think Scherzer had that moment. I mean, it's possible. It was last week. Yeah.

And I got the Dodgers. They're at home. They evened it up, you know, in Toronto. They're coming home. I think they take command of the series tonight. I got a report from my predictions analysis. Remember how I said Aaron Rogers was going to have a great game, epic game. Yeah.

I misread my predictor. Got the wrong old guy. Oh. It's actually Scherzer. Even though I'm picking the Dodgers, I am going with the Bull Jays. Tonight or? No, he's picking the Blue Jays tonight,

but the Dodgers for the series. But here's the problem, KW. You have the Dodgers in six. Yep. This would be 2-1 Blue Jays. So you are basically trying to pull off a four-game parlor. Where it's Blue Jays, Dodgers,

Well, the only way to be correct on both is if the Blue Jays win tonight and then the Dodgers win next break. You said, minute. Coach softened you up with the game. No, he had this in the dock. Really? Oh yeah, we can't change. Like that.

Also tonight, Chiefs at Commanders. Now they are double digit favorites, so they should win. But here's the question. Is it a must win? Take a look at the AFC West Stand. All of a sudden, the Broncos are six and two. They're number one. Chargers are five and three.

They're two. Chiefs are four and three there. They're down there with Hubs as Raiders. Well, not quite, but. Well, might as well be. Mixed Raiders to a little bit. Yeah. Are you viewing this as a must win game for the chip?

Must win. Sneaky must win. Must win. Playing Marcus Marriota, revenge spot. Everybody's in on the revenge spot, by the way. Look, the NFL, the league tweeted out. Last time Merrick's Marius and faced the chiefs, through a T-D pass to himself.

What kind of magic does he have coming tonight? He is... What year was that? He was a playoff game, coach. That was three Mahomes. That was three Mahomes. The last playoff game before Patrick Mahomes saved my life.

What year? 2017. Marriota also the only... One of the only starting quarterbacks in the league Mahomes has never beaten, but he's never facing. And no, the chiefs are

double-digit favorites at home against a backup quarterback. and I'm not closing the door on the number one seat. They face the cults this year. Yeah. And so I'm not closing the door. They're still favorites for the division, but you lose this game.

The division is a long shot, and the one seat is dead. So yes, this is a must win for the chiefs. Luckily, they're going to annihil it. We're going to go right away to Picks. Okay. I've got, oh, the Picks will part. Everyone's going to pick the Chiefs.

You don't know that. I do know that. You should have let them answer those questions. I'm doing what Dusty told me to do. This is a bad job by you. Start popping the graphics there, Dust. Yeah. Do you agree it's a must win, coach?

It's an absolute must win. I looked at the quarterback. I looked at Dan Quinn. I was looking for anything where I could pick against the Chiefs, and I couldn't find it, and this is a must win to stay in the mix. Does you say buy a million? No, he wasn't supposed to put that on the graphic. That's a bad job, Dust.

I did write in the dock, Chiefs by a million. That was facetious. I am not on the record. I don't think he won't. A million. You won't hold me to it. Go ahead, Brew. No.

No way. No, you're right. No way. I was trying to think this might be the most shocking game of the season for me if the Chiefs don't win. And I know there's been some shockers. But I can't imagine. And I'm going to wipe out the commanders with Marcus. This is a must win and must win early because I'm more interested in the World Series

Series and I want to solo. Oh, yeah. Chiefs take care of business early. Chiefs take care of business early and we get to watch the Scherzer Jim. Obviously, that'll be great. Chiefs. Chiefs in the dock.

Chiefs overall. You know what? Uh-oh, looks like it's Bullington Board material and commanders still. It doesn't matter. I'm telling you right now it does not. Eagles. Next.

It's the show that is back. Slowly but sure. Clearly, getting back to feeling themselves a little bit. And honestly, you were correct for most of these predictions so far. I don't want to guess you up too much, but the first thing first bowl went your way. Danny Parkins here, of course, today. Finally. Ravens are back.

Are the Eagles also back? Yes. But is this the last call for the Tush Bush? Also yes, but it's probably going to end in the playoffs or maybe San Francisco. Meanwhile, world series game three tonight. see a classic duel between Max Scherzer and Glass Now. But right now, coverage starts at seven. Ravens roll the listless Bears team.

Listless. Listless. That's Danny. A lot of times I take some creative liberties with the script, but that's basically the impression that Ben Johnson gave. That the performance was without list? Yes. Without list.

Here's a happy Harbaugh and a disappointed Bears coach. Oh. He was happy. It was a happy locker room. Yeah, it was a happy locker. It was a joyous locker room, you know. And it was also kind of a poised locker room, too. It wasn't like out of control.

You know, we haven't won a championship or anything else. We won a game. We won one game, a game that we needed to win. Give Baltimore a lot of credit. You know, they came out and they played a physical brand of football, just like you would expect. You know, they were hungry. They were determined.

And truth be told, I expected a little bit more out of our squad to counter that. So did I, Ben. So did I. Burry surprised the Ravens routed the bears without Lamar. I'm just going to say this. I remember. The only thing I remember from last week is Danny saying, you better not show up Monday if they lose to my bears with Lamar.

And I don't have a ton to say. I just want to hear how you can explain. I want to hear you explain away. Because these guys know when it was announced that Lamar wasn't playing, I was like, He was out. It's over. I mean, obviously the Bears are going to win. See you next season.

And so I got to hear how in the world you can explain this away. It's going to be a struggle. First of all, thank you for your kind text. We don't text that often. That's nice. Yeah, but Bruce sent me a text. He goes, you shouldn't show up for work. I woke up this morning, and I considered it.

Frankly, I considered not coming in. So what's the question? Surprised Ravens routed the Bears without Lamar? Yeah, there is such thing as a stupid question. I mean, of course, I'm shocked. But more than surprised and more than shocked, I'm embarrassed. I'm a little embarrassed.

And yeah, Nick got to watch the game with me, and that was not the best version of myself. I was, I was, I mean, I was, I was playing make believe with his older son just to like get away from that room. I'm not terribly proud of how I acted during that game. No. But I will also just say this like, great show today. I'm watching and, you know, I'm new part of the First Things First family and you guys have welcomed me with open arms. And I try, I want to fit in.

And you have banners. Yeah. And you have a doorstep. Of destiny. Yeah, of destiny. and you have T6 and now you have T7 and apparently there was a magician, which I'm not sure I fully understood.

I mean, magic actor. I was so confident when I saw the news that Lamar was out. Brew. Oh, no. This is true. I prepared a bit.

Oh, wow. I prepared... Nothing worse than a bit that... It's a bit within a bit. A scale. Yeah, well, here's the thing. Oh, don't... I got a robe.

We have a bro. We have a bear's room. He was going to steal your bit. I was going to steal your bit. I was going to put on a bear's robe. And it gets worse. Because I don't have as much juices you guys to like spend on the budget. You have sandwiches in there?

Pizza. I was going to have you make me a pizza. Shout out Lou Malnobis. And this is the worst piece of it. Because I was prepared fully to mock you for the ping pong. We bought a. I don't buy a ping pong table. There's a ping pong table out sprue.

I was like, I heard about you. I've used the OT's allotment of a bit budget. It's not good. It's all used up in one game because I'm sorry, Joe Flacko lost. Mac Jones lost. Carson Wentz lost. Backup quarterbacks are supposed to lose. Andy Dalton.

Andy Dalton. Yeah. Lost. And then there was Snoop Huntling. Kurt Cousins. Yeah. And then there was Snoop Huntling. out playing Caleb Williams thoroughly.

Well, see, that's... So, yeah, I'm a little shook. I'm a little shook. It wasn't about Snoop. I mean, he did fine. That was great. He got a great win. He was really good.

Good for him. It was about your boy. Not being able to exploit. And I do believe the Ravens defense has gotten better. Yeah. But it hasn't become elite. I would say so. Right.

It's getting. Hopefully it'll be elite. by the end of the last stretch of the season. But for Caleb not, he threw for a bunch of yards. I'll give him that. You did throw for a bunch of yards. Zero touchdowns, one interception.

Nick has already just kicked him to the curve. Hold on. He was earlier. Earlier he was talking about how it's your guy and he's so glad he's not his guy. No, I mean, it's just I don't, I'm not the one that has to answer for this today. Danny is, but Danny, here's my concern and then I give it to you.

Okay, fine, thanks. Because while I'm not the Caleb guy on the show, I am a Caleb guy. Are you, though? I mean, certainly. I mean, I don't watch it anymore. I'm not, I'm obviously never going to live down, putting him on the mountain as a college play. Not a Caleb guy. It's brought up all the time.

And so I still have a, you know, real ties to him. And I still want to believe. But what, do you agree with this? That if the athletic did one of their, you know, like GM surveys that they did. do if they did one of those today. Yeah. And it was redraft the quarterbacks. Yeah, Drake May, Jaden Daniels, Caleb wins.

See, I think, I think today. They would take him over Bow Nix. Stop. I wouldn't. Stop. I would not put Bo Nix ahead of him. But I think today, it's certainly, Jaden, Drake and Jaden would be the unanimous one and two. Yes.

Like Caleb would get no first or second votes. And I think it'd be a coin flip who got the most third. third place votes Bo or Caleb, and that's a problem. And we talked about it earlier. You mentioned it. There are touchdowns that Bo just, it looks nice and easy. It's a nice play design. Bow drops back and throws the ball.

And Caleb is at times spectacular and at times less than. Bruce said nothing looks easy. Would you agree with that? Everything looks difficult. Even when he's cooking a little bit, you know, it cooks a little bit, but it just doesn't. No, but it doesn't look smooth. It doesn't look easy. I agree completely.

He can make plays that I really do think only a handful of guys can make, like physically, right? We've talked about sometimes he looks, that's a Patrick Mahomes play or a Josh Allen play. And then he makes plays that Brock Purdy, you know what I mean? It's just like these are the ones. In a Super Bowl. I'm just saying, he misses the layups. and they, listen, they played seven games. That was their third game where they've had more than 10 penalties.

Like, sometimes they can't get the plays in, or they're late to get into the line of scrimmage, or their fall starting, and it's just, it's all rushed. The interception to Adunze was, that throw was so late. Like, it was late, he patted the ball, the running back was wide open in the flat, it was just a miss, it was a terrible play. I still think that Caleb is going to be very good.

I still think Caleb is very talented, and not at all a finished product. But this graphic isn't great. Like I saw you just remove the Cowboys game entirely. I'll just do since the Cowboys game because it's all against defenses that I would expect them to beat. It's against the Raiders, commanders, Saints, and Ravens.

And man, it's not good enough. It is simply not good enough. And it's just not fair. You gave me the Caleb guy. I want this whole TV thing to work out. I'm like, I'm going to be the Caleb guy. Fame and fortune, long TV career. And now it's crumbling.

He's got Drake, Maine. You got Drake, Maine. You got Lamar. I got several guys. Well, you have Drake. Well, I got Drake. I got Mac Jones. But yeah, but the Super Bowl champion.

I was wondering. You left him out there. No, you have Drake and Donald. Sam Darnell. Not necessarily. Let me say this quickly. And I don't want to get off the subject. I would argue, just an argument for Jaden, Daniels,

in that mystery or that draft, make-believe draft. Over Drake Day or something? Well, the one thing I would give, because I think you could easily take Jaden over Drake. The one thing, though, I'll give Drake is just the durability. Like that, and I know last year he had, but Jaden just has, you were right. I mean, hopefully you're not right.

You know what I mean? Up to this point, the questions about Jaden's durability have been real. But here's what so you. To me, that's the one, they both be great in their different times, but that's why, right. Here's what's really interesting about the quarterbacks from that draft, those four guys were talking about. The guys that didn't believe in them, the reason they didn't believe in any of those guys have popped for all of them, except for Drake at this point. Yeah. For Jaden, it was frame and durability. For Bo Nix, it was lack of real upside. And that really has shown all year until the last five quarters. He's obviously been spectacular.

And for Caleb, it was what Brew was talking about, which is playing on schedule. Yeah, playing on schedule and making the routine look routine. I do think that it's really weird because if we'd have said, hey, bears, will you take four and three, through seven games. It would have been like, not over the moon, but absolutely. And certainly when they started O and two, you'd have been like, sign me up for four and three. I still think that's all there, man. I mean, Cincinnati and the Giants and the next two, six and three is on the board.

Caleb gets better incrementally. The sacks are plummeting. Like, there have been things that have been improving. But I just wish we could watch one of these Caleb games other than the Cowboys game and be like, that's the guy that we've seen, and that hasn't happened. That would be nice. We're going to head to Colts. You guys want some pizza?

Yeah, I do. Colts moved to 7 and 1. Best record in the EFC. The Colts offense scored 270 in the first eight games. Brew. That's third best in Colts history. It outpaces any season start by luck in Payton. It's that offense that brings us to our first bite at Stockup, Stockdown.

Thank you, sir. Stock up. Jonathan Taylor, and it's obvious. Those are the rushing yard. total over the last five weeks and they're going up and up is good. But Jonathan Taylor is making the case to be the first running back or non-quarterback MVP since Adrian Peterson. Thought it was worth checking in on AP's pace through eight games and Jonathan Taylor's pace through eight games.

That's of course Adrian Peterson in the MVP season. He's destroying it. 12 touchdowns is nuts. Yards, yards per carry and yes, three times. as many touchdowns. I know Daniel Jones and it's become a quarterback award and people will just say, well, just give him offensive player of the year.

If they're the one seat and he shatters AP's numbers, give it to Jonathan. Listen, I don't think, I think that Daniel Jones has almost no shot at the award. For the same, like he is going to fair or not deal with what Purdy dealt with when Purdy had insane numbers, but CMC had that year. Nobody last year, even though Jalen Hertz had finished second

MVP two years prior. Nobody last year was talking about him for MVP. I do think, Brew, that if the cults go 15 and 2 and they're the one seed, I think Jonathan Taylor has a real shot at

league MVP. Yeah, no, no question about it. And I think like, unless Jones goes on a tear and Taylor comes back to Earth, but they keep winning, that's the only way I kind of see Jones winning because I had been wanting to get as they kept winning one of their players in

my bruised ballot so I had to really figure out which one I thought was more valuable and it's not only that the run for them sets everything up but he is breaking tackles he is spinning and making guys miss like it's not just oh there's this huge hole and he I mean we knew he was a great running back anyway but he is really seemingly taking it to another level I think he's on pace for 29 total touchdowns, which would be two off Lidane's timelessnesses. And if you remember, Adrian Peterson finished that year ridiculous. He had over 150 yards and four of the last six games. And hit 2,000.

And hit 2,000. He was like gunning for it, wasn't it? Well, no, it was how they got in the playoffs. They had to go on a winning streak late. It was Christian Ponder, was the quarterback. And his 2,000 yard season got him in the playoffs. KW? Yeah.

You are the Jonathan Taylor guy. Well, yeah, go badgers. Yeah, you were Jonathan Taylor. Yeah, he is. He's always been the Jonathan Taylor. I don't think I've heard you mention his. No, when we were in boxes. When we were in boxes, he said,

Boxing. We'll take Clive Edward DeLera. Correct. Take Jonathan. He's right. He said the Chief should have drafted him. He's right. You get them.

You get unstoppable. I know. Can you imagine? All right, little stock up, little stock down. Yeah, next up, stock down. You guys have mentioned in it, the tush push, it's going to be banned next year. But until I see it, you put zero for 20-

Yeah, exactly. Zero push attempts will happen next year. And you guys were like, oh, it's of course going to go away. Until I see this rugby play voted out of football officially, I'm going to just still talk about that as a hypothetical. But it's kind of amazing that it can have issues with officiating before the play, like what came out to light in that Chiefs game, where no one knew how to officiate false starts and jumping and the whole thing.

Then it happened again in the Rams game. And then I know you showed this, but I still haven't heard an explanation. I do not understand how we can. can show the one from yesterday how this isn't a fumble. Like, if you can't officiate the play before it happens or while it's happening, that that isn't a turnover, get this rugby play out of football. Get it out of here. Peru.

Well, look, I have not been a guy that's been against the tush push. I've actually liked it and been more on the, you know, level of no one else. It's not unstoppable for anybody else. So obviously the Eagles just do it better. but as this year, you know, they were using it more. I don't want to see it a lot. Nick would talk about, well, what if a team did that auto? You know, I don't want to see it very often,

and we've started seeing it more this year. And then now you just can't officiate it. Like, whether it was the false starts or Jalen yesterday. And usually, even when he doesn't necessarily put the ball forward like he did yesterday, there is always kind of a second. There's a second book. There's a lot of times where it's like, oh, they might have stopped them. And then there's this other push from them and they get it.

And so it's just too hard to officiate. So can I can I just give a counterpoint real quick? I don't think it's that hard to officiate. I think they do a poor job officiating it. I think that this play right here is not hard at all to officiate. You just don't blow it dead. I'm forward that way. You don't think, I do think some of the false starts.

We're watching them in. extra slow motion and it's like, oh, but I think live, it is hard to pick some of those. Except what's odd is they have post. Other team. Yeah, post the, I forget which game it was. Yeah, with the game, oh, it was the, obviously, Chief's Eagles was the one where Brady pointed out their false starting. The next week, Ruff's called a false start. I think it was the Colts.

I don't remember. The Eagles round, right? No, no, I'm saying it was a non- Eagles team. Oh, oh. And they called the false start. And the fumble yesterday was obvious from the beginning. And I agree with your point, Danny, which is they consistently get the benefit of the extra push or your point brew. And so that's fine.

But in that case, there has to be a downside to it. And I don't know that I agree with you, KW, that Jalen Hertz all of a sudden is just going to stop reaching the ball forward. Like on this play, he correctly surmised, I'm not going to get the first down without reaching the ball forward. And it was fourth down. This is my favorite one. Stock up. Stock up. Drake May.

He deserves it. Drake May is going to start a playoff game this year. I don't know if that is universal agreement or people are like, yeah, of course, that's obvious. Maybe he's going to win the Super Bowl. Your home, I know it's obvious. But, like, he, the offensive line still isn't good. The guy's running for his life back there. Miles Garrett's amazing, but I think consistently Drake May,

I think if we ranked their offensive line, it would be below average, and if we ranked their skill position group, it would still be average to below average across the league. And the fact that in his second year, Drake May is doing this as consistently as he's doing it, yes, I am remarkably jealous, given what we just talked about with Caleb Williams, but he's been remarkable.

He deserves where he is in the MVP outs, and he's going to start a playoff. Can I say something about the skill position group? It's a little bit like we're dealing with like Michael Pittman, where it's like, ah, he's not that good. Like, all right, well, he's putting up the numbers and like putting up the highlights that make him look good. Stefan has been amazing.

Bouté all of a sudden is a great deep threat. He just doesn't have maybe enough as much cash as, you know, Hollywood Brown or, or, well, no, I think, I mean, Hollywood Brown. He's making the little name. I'm just trying to like someone with like, good marketing. Yeah. How good marketing?

Right. First round picks is what you mean. Guys we have first round pick pedigree. I think I agree with Danny. I disagree with you. I don't think Stefan Diggs been amazing. I think stuff on Diggs's been solid. I don't, I don't.

He's catching like 80, like the numbers say. The connection between May and Diggs has been great. The overall production, I would put a touch, a step short of amazing. That's not. But that's, but that's why Drake May deserves the credit. Correct. I think Drake May has been. phenomenal. I think that

he has been a pretty clear cut through eight weeks top five quarterback in the NFL this year. And that's like that's all you can hope for. And this just speaks to your point, brew. Josh McDaniels does make it. He does some spectacular stuff, but some stuff just

simple. Yeah. I'm just shocked he hasn't had a hiccup game in the last seven. That's Josh. He was bad in week one and since then he's just been excellent every week. I think that's a Josh McDaniels thing. Yeah. All right. Final stock down.

The Steelers defense, they're not getting what they paid for. They spend more money on the defensive side of the ball than any team in the NFL. It's not particularly close. That is yards per play allowed. And that is Cincinnati and the Packers. And I know the Packers' offense is supposed to be great, but it has not been consistent. And they basically allowed Jordan Love to pitch a perfect game there. I can't imagine what Aaron Rogers is thinking.

I go to Pittsburgh to go with Mike Tomlin. and he always has a top 10 defense. I'm holding up my end of the bargain. And the defense is the thing that's letting down Pittsburgh here. It's crazy what's going on there. I am, they paid a lot of older players. That is certainly. And they, you know, some of us,

I anticipated Jalen Ramsey wouldn't be that good. I think you saw that coming. I didn't anticipate that T.J. Watt wouldn't have the impact that he's had. I didn't anticipate that the running back, or the running backs, their lineback would have the problems that they have. But Brew, I do think this is a very fair criticism of Tomlin. That the defensive performance falls strictly under his purview,

and the defense was, I think it's now fair to say, horrible in week one, they were able to escape with a win against the Jets, horrible last week against Cincinnati, and horrible last night against Green Bay, that's three of their seven games. No, look, I obviously agree because the defense hasn't been good. But, and I don't really want to see this because obviously I've got the Ravens in the division. But I'm not just like I felt about the Ravens this last year.

That's their culture as defense. They're going to get it together. Makes sense. I would expect them to improve, maybe not become top 10, but improve to the point where they're not losing games the way they have been with that defense. We've got the Colts next. So it'll be a spot. This thing battle stock up, stock down. The stock up stock down bowl.

Coming up next, what did the Packers and Jordan Love prove in their victory? Last night, Jordan Love and the Packers took on Aaron Rogers and the Steelers. Sunday night football. Rogers said it was not a revenge game. It was just happy to be out there playing his old team, see some old friends. Going into the matchup, didn't exactly believe it. Then he didn't seem so happy after the game, obviously, losing 35, 25. 25, here's Rogers on the environment, the emotions, and yes, the results.

I think setting feelings aside and being okay with criticism, any position, any player, and being honest about what we need to do to improve, and then we can't beat ourselves. I think in the three losses, there's been times we've had opportunities and we've heard ourselves with turnovers or just negative plays. So we got to cut those out. We've got to get on the same page on offense and defense and keep the faith. Coach Mangini and Willie Colon out here. So, guys, the question is, bigger story.

Packers win or Steelers' loss. And I said on Friday, whoever won the game, I'd be very impressed with them. Because I just thought it was a fascinating matchup. Well, you were more concerned about the dramatics of it. I was. And I told you my concern earlier. You were correct. Yeah, you were correct.

The Steelers' defense was a problem. will say that Packers team, man, I've said they're streaky and they're inconsistent, but they're good is really good. They went into that half down 16 to 7 and they came out and won that game 3525. And Jordan Love basically played a perfect football game in the second half. And if you look at what Jordan Love did in the second half in that game, he was 16 of 19, 214 yards, 20 straight completions over the course of the end of the second quarter through the end of game, nearly a perfect passer rating. And I was like, wow, that's, that's good Jordan Love.

That's the streaky good Jordan Love. But then if you zoom out just a smidge to this season, Jordan Love in the second half, these are back to 1992 when Farve took over as the full-time quarterback of the Packers. That's in line with the MVP seasons of Aaron Rogers and Brett Farve. Like, listen, there's bad tape out there of me saying that Caleb Williams is better than Jordan Love. Big yikes on that. That one.

Like Jordan Love is impressive. He was impressive. And if the Packers can get any version of that, they're going to be dangerous. And yes, right now they are the one seat in the NFC. So for me, the story is how good the Packers good could be. So I'll say the Packers coach. Yeah, for me, it's not the Steelers loss.

It's how the Steelers are losing. OK. And it's problematic. So the last two games now, they've given over 30 points in both games, including over 30 points to Joe Flacco, who had been Cincinnati. for 15 minutes and they have the highest paid defense. They have the oldest defense.

Yet this defense isn't on brand with what we think about when we think about the Steelers. If we can pull up their numbers, this, this to me is the issue. Points per game, 22nd, yards per game 30th, pass yards per game, dead last, opponent pass TDs, tied for 20th. I really thought we were going to be talking about Aaron Rogers and Arthur Smith and them not being on the same page. And there was going to be some headlines where Aaron said something or implied something or there was a press conference or whatever it was. That's where the storyline was going to be.

And that's what was going to be holding back the team. But it's not that. It's the defense, which doesn't seem that they had a streak of those five-sac games. But this isn't the Steelers defense that we're just so used to seeing and expecting. Yeah, I agree with you. I think the biggest concern for me is obviously the Steelers from this standpoint. They've lost their fear affecting. When you watch who they are and what they've been over the last couple of years,

this was a team where most teams like, we pray we can get our quarterback healthy out of the building when we play the Steelers because I dominated their defenses. But right now, you're talking about offensively, you know, they only score six points in the fourth quarter. You know, the Packers are able to jump out there and throw up 21 points. I think what scares me about this team right now, if your focus is get to January, After watching these last two weeks, I don't know if they're making it to January. This is a team why I thought was going to have a place at the table, and it doesn't look like that right now.

You go from 4-1 to 4-and-3, and you don't have any answers on defense. Offensively, they're stagnant, and they don't have the explosive plays that can carry them throughout the game. So I'm worried about them on both sides of the ball, honestly, not just defensively. But at least on the offense, I feel like we all understand why. I mean, I got a 41-year-old quarterback in his first year. They're like, why is the Steelers defense bad? I don't get it. Because their brand is being able to get after the quarterback.

They haven't been able to do that. And then miscommunication on the back and it pops off the tape. The fast defense has been really bad. And just the fundamentals of football they're not good at. They don't tackle well. A Mike Tomlin coach team. Yeah, but at the end of the day, sometimes it's not about the coach. It's about those guys on the field.

Coach can only do so much. You have to show up and do your job, and they just haven't been able to do it at a high level. And the other thing that typically happens is when you have an older team, as you get to the middle part of the season and it keeps going, there's more injuries, there's more fatigue. Those teams tend to decline as the season goes on. Now that group can light up again when they get the playoffs and the amount of games are smaller and those guys that are older and really talented can push through that where you see something different from younger teams where you hit this midseason part and they start growing, they start jelling

they see improvement. And that's a concern because of the age as well. It just seems to me that if the defense can become what it's been when they had fields and Trubisky and Duck Hodges and all the guys that we talked about. How did Mike Tomlin have a winning record with that quarterback? If they can just get that level of defense, they are going to be dangerous. Well, that's why I'm not overly worried about the defense because I do think they have enough talent on that side of the ball to rally. It's just a matter of you talking about playing the coach who are seven and one next. I mean, it could get ugly fast for them. And then you're talking about the charges who are five and three backing that up. So you're talking about

this team losing four games back to back to back, right? So if they're going to, There's a time to hit the panic button. For me, after this game, it has to be right now. Because of the next two games, you've got to get this defense to figure out what's going on and why they're not playing the brand of football that we used to see him. In the NFC, I will just say too, that version of the Packers that we just saw, they can beat a lot of people. Oh, yeah.

They can beat a lot of people. But guys, tough news that I know hits very close to home for both of you, former Jets Center. Nick Mangold passed away Saturday night after a long battle with kidney disease. a first round selection of the New York Jets in 2006 out of Ohio State. Mangold was one of the best offensive linemen of his era, a seven-time Pro Bowler forever enshrined in the Jets ring of honor. So we have his first NFL head coach, Eric Mangini and former Jets teammate and friend. Willie Cologne, gentlemen, so sorry for both of your losses.

And I know you both have memories that you wanted to share. So coach, the floor is yours. Yeah, so in my first year and our first draft, We not only wanted to get really good players, we wanted to get good people. And I didn't want to know about the player until I knew about the person. We wanted guys who were smart, who are tough, who are hardworking, competitive, selfless, and football was important to him. And Nick checked all those boxes.

But when you draft a guy, you think you're going to get one thing, but you're not sure until he gets in the building. So then Nick gets in the building, and he's all of those things, but he's so much more. He's a great teammate. He's great in the community. He's great with the fans. He got drafted in the first round, but you would think he was a rookie free agent the way that he carried himself.

And I was in Baltimore when we drafted Jonathan Ogden. And I remember going out to one of those first practices and saying, wow, this guy is really different than everybody I've looked at. And it was the same thing with Nick. When he went out to his first practice, it's like, wow, this guy's really different than everybody else I've been looking at.

And he was special in terms of his talent as well. And I have three boys. And if my boys can grow up to be the type of man that Nick mangled was, I'll be very proud. And Nick is going to be, he's going to be missed by everyone. Yeah, this is tough, man. I didn't just lose a teammate. I lost a brother.

You know, when I arrived to the Jets in 2013, Nick was the first person that gritted me in the weight room. And this is a guy who wore the C-O-Wore. the sea on his chest with a, I mean, a level of pride that it just exuded. I think it's, it's tough for me personally because I talked to him a week ago, you know, and I, and I was able to hear the Nick Mangold I wanted to hear. He was in good spirits. We started off joking like we always do. And I was just asking him, like, how did we get here, man? Like, what happened? Because it felt like it kind of just ran up on all of us, obviously when he, you know,

announced that he was looking for a donor. And he laid it all out there. And I think what I think was haunting me now was when I got the phone with him, I was going away this weekend and when I was coming back, I was going to see him. I had put it down on the calendar. I was bringing them a gift. I was bringing the guys

and we're going to just put our arms around them and hug them and just be by his side. I got the news Sunday morning while I was working out. And it just blindsided me. And coach hit it right on the head. You know, he's a father of four. As proud as he was as being a jet

and representing the green and white, he loved being a dad, man. He loved being a dad. He loved his boys. He loved his wife. He loved his kids. And he loved dad life. And he made me dad life.

He was a dad before I was a dad. And he made me look forward to being a dad, how he carried himself and how much he talked about his kids. And he loved his wife. And it hurts. It hurts because when you lose somebody who not only had your back, when I was at my weakest point, I was an injury prone guy when I was with the Jets, I was, you know, a lot of times I was rolling out there on one leg. But I was going to give it all I got. And he would just look at me like, I got you, bro.

You know, I got you. And when you lose somebody like that who impacts your life, not only on the field, but off the field, any charity event, anything I had going on, 7 or 4 is right next to me. And, you know, it's just tough. And I think for a lot of people out there who knew Nick and loves Nick, just reach out to the family, be there for the family. Because they don't want that. They're really going through it. And, you know, it's just tough. Very sorry for both of your losses.

And we'll continue, like you said, to keep Nick's wife and four kids. the countless teammates and friends and our thoughts as they mourn this devastating loss. Nick Mangold was 41 years old. The one to pitch popped up, left side, Yamamoto goes the distance again. World Series Mastery, Yoshinobu Yamamoto, game two of the World Series against the Blue Jays, has thrown a complete game, retiring the final 20 that he faces. An absolute gem from Yamamoto. World Series game three.

Tonight in LA, coverage begins 7 Eastern on Fox. Series now tied one-in-one after the offense explosion from Toronto in game one. And then that complete game that you just saw on the Dodgers side in game two. Gentlemen, time for an old-school edition of who you got. I picked the Dodgers beforehand. I think they're the most talented team. So I'm not going to try to split this and be like, but I think the Blue Jays in this game. And then the Dodgers.

So I am just saying Dodgers. Oh, you're proud. We got props. You got props, coach. Oh, okay. Wow. Say it with your chest then. I mean, I think his chest is saying it quite literally.

Okay. We have a Toronto Blue Jays Homer. It was, you know, I thought last game, it was a nice, a nice game for the Dodgers. Nice game for the Dodgers. Yeah. And then I think tonight, Mac, Max Scherzer is going to have his moment. Turn back the clock moment. Another moment.

He was great. And when you look at Guerrero and Springer, they both played really well against Glass. now so I expect another offensive explosion by Toronto. Yeah, I'm going with the Dodgers. I'm sticking with the Dodgers. You're not persuaded by the night at all. This magical chain is not bringing over? It's persuading me a little bit.

Yeah, I think Yamamoto going to distance really help the Dodgers. They got a rested bullpen. If Glass now can get 80 to 85 pitches out of them, we'll see what happens. But I think it's up to the big three. Comes down to Otani, Freddie Freeman and Betts. If they can get cooking, man, Dodgers roll. It's really nice. You got some Toronto haters on the floor.

Listen, if Toronto wins the night, you bring me a chain. I'm happy. Actually, Nick is on the right side of this. My pick can be bought. Yesterday, the Eagles made up for their loss of the Giants two weeks ago with a 3820 thrashing of their division rivals. Hertz great again, 15 of 20, 179 yards. Four touchdowns, Saquan Barkley showed up with 14 carries in a season high, 150 yards, a touchdown both rushing and receiving.

Here's Seekwon after the big game. I feel like we got things rolling in a run game today, and we can build on that. But most importantly, whether it's in a run game or passing the ball, we won. And that's the only thing we're really searching for. Did you feel maybe even a weight lift it off your shoulders a little bit? Like, yeah. Yeah, you know, I would lie to you. If I said I didn't, it wasn't like, finally.

Yeah, I can relate. I think that a lot of us were waiting for that, and I know you certainly were last week, Willie. So did this officially erase your eagle? concerns? Yeah, this is the Eagles team we've been waiting for and we finally got it. I think there was questions that needed to be answered. How was this office going to look without AJ Brown? Great. Jalen Hurst, 179 yards for a touchdown. Could Seekwan produce with a banged up office line? Yes, 14 rushes, 150 yards and a tutte. Defense popped on the tape. Zach Braun had a good game. Nicole Dean added the edge and brought the physicality

back to the defense. So for me, the concerns are gone. Now it's about rolling on. And I think right now it's not, don't look back. I don't care if AJ Brown comes back. Run. Run. the ball. That's who you are. You already obviously displayed it yesterday. Keep it going. Yeah, this is the formula that works. And when you look at what Jalen Hertz did, there were 20 attempts, 15 completions, four more touchdowns. You're not going to have that type of production every single game, but it doesn't have to be the Jalen Hertz show for this to be really successful. And I do think the absence of A.J. Brown and how effective this offense was does bring up some questions and does bring up some questions leading up to the trade deadline.

Is this a situation where people could start thinking addition by subtraction? It's hard to imagine that because he is such a talented player, but all the drama tends to stem from him. It was stemming from him last year, it's been sending from him this year. So you see this type of output when he's not there and you wonder what effect does that have from an administration? administrative standpoint as they look at the chemistry moving forward. Yeah, I mean, Diana Rossini said on this show that people are monitoring the

situation. It has been reported that other teams are interested if the Eagles will put AJ Brown on the trade block. But I was watching that thinking they scored 38 points without AJ Brown, who for me is a top five-ish receiver in the NFL. He's right in that conversation. Top eight for sure. Yeah, top eight for sure, depending on your, you know, your style preferences there. So like, and this year has been so weird. I mean, we're two weeks removed from me doing this long essay on the show. I'm like, is anybody good? And, like, who is good in the NFL?

Because every team had flaws and issues. Chiefs and lines. Well, right. Yeah. And that's where I, but I mean, even the Chiefs right now, if the season ended today, wouldn't even be in the playoffs. Because they've had their blemishes, right? And I'm with you on the Lions for sure.

But they too have had moments where their offense went to the Lions only score 17 in that game. I didn't expect to see that. Like, the Eagles, to me, always deserve. the benefit of the doubt because of how dominant they were last year. And they're the champs. And they're the champs, exactly. But so if you can start putting together games like that where it's like, oh, Jalen Hertz just had a perfect passer rating against the Brian Flores D's fence in Minnesota.

And then they can come out the next week and Saquan – and Saquan Barkley can do that. And it's like, okay, so we can beat you this way. Now we can beat you that way. The Eagles are very dangerous again. And it's hard to argue against having a great player. It's hard to argue for moving on from AJ Brown. I can't see it.

But their chemistry does matter. And Willie can talk about this, that the locker room dynamics, they matter. And sometimes if there's one person who's pushing in one direction, and he is extremely talented, and he is extremely vocal, that disruption can be enough to offset some really positive things that are going out in the rest of the building. And if I was in that locker room,

I would simply go up to AJ. and if he started crying about not getting the ball for whatever reason. I'm like, hey, man, don't rock the boat, right? We're finally playing a brand of football that we're all comfortable with. And the goal is to get to January and win another Super Bowl. You need a run game to be successful in the playoffs, right? You need a quarterback who's confident at his job and not looking to the outside to kind of maintenance superstars.

You need a guy who you know when he's time to lead, he can lead without feeling like, hey, if I don't get this guy to ball, he may check out on us. You need all those distractions off the table if you're serious about being a contender for another Super Bowl. And AJ is always the culprit, unfortunately. I like him as a ballplay. I think he's an alpha dog.

I love that on my team. But there's issues like the coach is saying. But he was on the team with some issues, and they won the Super Bowl. Yeah. Like, this is not a situation. But look at the distraction it caused. Right. But, like, what was the cost of that?

But what did he say after the Super Bowl? He said that he prefers to destroy other teams' cornerbacks than win Super Bowls, basically. That is a paraphrased version of what he said three days after the Super Bowl. And to Willie's point, he would try to talk to him. And I think guys have probably tried to talk to him. But he pushes it out. He pushes it out publicly so that the discussion is no longer in the locker room. It's in the stratosphere where everybody else is talking about him now.

But it's problematic. Does that conversation matter if they won a Super Bowl last year with that conversation happen? Yes, because at this point, you have a quarterback. who we know what's his recipe to success. When he throws the ball 35 times and lower, they win. They're a damn good outfit. When he starts getting up into 38s and the 40s, then he gets a little unhinged.

And that's because AJ wants the ball more. And if you're a serious outfit right now, like we all think the Philadelphia Eos are, you have to say to yourself, at this point, we got to put that behind us. Wherever he wants to go, let him go. But we got to move forward and move ahead. And I think that is, I will be floored if they trade him,

but I will also just say it's going to be tough to look at them and say like this team's going to beat them on this Sunday. Like it obviously can't happen. It's happened twice this year. But all of a sudden, like you look at the Eagles and their resume is like, oh, they're the what, two seed? Yes. They're the defending champs. They're atop the NFC East. They had a two-game blip and now they're rolling.

Like it feels to me like other than the conversation and the noise, the football part of it seems like they've righted the ship. Same thing for the chiefs. To Willie's point, and everyone's expecting them to keep rolling tonight. No Jaden Daniels. Some players coming back for Washington. Can the Chiefs roll? You get into it. We're just under three hours to kick off.

Commanders taking on the Chiefs at Arrowhead. No Jaden Daniels for Washington, but Debo and Terry McLaurin are returning for the commanders, which is a big one. Chief's 10.5 point favorites. Gentlemen, you willing to guarantee a Chief's blowout tonight? Yeah, the potential is very high. This could be over by half time. I mean, watch the World Series.

Right. I mean, I'm not, I won't be surprised at Chiefs Road, the commanders. No, no Jaden Daniels. I think you're talking about the one thing that commanders have to do offensively is somehow play ball control offense, keep Mahomes on the bench and try to run the ball and limit his shots at the football. That's Patrick Holmes, that is. But overall, I think the Chiefs is just too much for the commander. Getting Debo back and McLaren back is huge, but it's not as huge without the other component.

Jay Daniels. Hopefully Marcus Marriota can take advantage of those. I don't love guaranteeing blowouts. And I think as soon as you start thinking those terms, especially if you're the opponent, that's when upsets happen. I don't imagine this is going to be an upset. The Chiefs take him lightly.

It could be a lot closer into the fourth quarter than it needs to be. Yeah, I'd be surprised if the Chiefs were in a look-ahead spot for the bills next week, like the old trap games. They lost too many games early to have. to have that. So I certainly expect a blowout, but if the early portion of this season has taught us anything, anyone can beat anybody. Anybody can get it. Anybody, that is the NFL. That's true. So anyone can get it. So I will not guarantee the blowout, but she's are probably going to win. And then we'll be watching your blue jays today. Yeah, see it out loud. Wow. Wow. In the World Series, they're terrible.