First Things First - Ravens beat Dolphins, Bills vs. Chiefs, WS Game 6, David Ortiz joins, Upset Alert & Nick’s Picks

Episode Date: October 31, 2025

(0:00) Ravens dominate Dolphins, What would Josh Allen beating Patrick Mahomes mean? (26:51) Are the Ravens back? (32:05) David Ortiz joins (43:59) Upset Alert and Nick’s Picks for Week 9 (01:07:29) Kyle Van Noy joins  (01:22:35) Dodgers vs. Blue Jays Game 6, Chiefs vs. Bills predictions (01:27:13) Dodgers vs. Blue Jays Game 6 Picks (01:28:04) Parkins’ Picks (01:49:32) Dolphins fire Chris Grier, Surprised Mike McDaniel is still with Miami? (02:01:03) Colts vs. Steelers preview, Can Daniel Jones outplay Aaron Rodgers?  (02:10:15) Need to see a bounce back game from Caleb Williams? Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Live from New York. It's a show that saw someone in the makeup room who said, I'm back. At the same time, that person is actually not back because they're not at the desk. Here we go. What was that? Well, I'm glad you asked. That was a stuffed animal. Just toss in some toys.

That's all. Tossing a few toys because nothing transforms some tacklers like a good old-fashioned toy toss. Y'all mocked me. You ridiculed me. No one mocked me. You laughed me to score. But six points, six points, the fewest points that they have scored all.

season tied for it. A week after the dolphins put 34 on the vaunted falcons defense that you were praising yesterday. All right. Say it with me, gentlemen.

T-7, the toy toss that transformed the tacklers. Yes. The first hour of first things for today. That's your whole bit already. As predicted, an emphatic victory in Miami.

How scared should the NFL be of bruise ravens? Meanwhile, countdown to Cheech Bill's Bill's which QB will have the monster game. And finally, which favorite will turn into a bumpkin on this week's edition of Upset Alert with a bonus edition of Nick's picks alongside Nick Wright. I'm Kevin Wilde. Versaard is all the way back. You can't quite see your Jordans on the table, but they are on the table. There they are.

Are you ready to start the program? Bring it away. We're starting with the Ravens. Once upon a midnight dreary. The Ravens dominate the dolphins. Lamar has four T-Dives. The defense held. The Dolphins to six points as mentioned.

Here's Lamar and Mark Andrews. I just wanted to get out there with my guys to text the game. You know what? Unfortunately, I couldn't. But it's just great to be back, man. Like I said, I get a dog. That's a two-time MVP for a reason. And, you know, he looked incredible tonight.

I know that we're just going to continue to get better and better and better. And, you know, eight leading the charge, you know, we're a dangerous team. A dangerous team. Someone has been saying this the whole time. First five games, 35 points, last three games, 13. The yardage, 80 yards fewer, five takeaways compared to two, the pastor rating went from 110 to 80. How scary do your Ravens look?

No, I thought. Several layers. We've got, oh. Are we back all the way, though? I said a few weeks ago that the bit was on hold until further notice. Yeah. And I know everybody wants the robe and all of that. But while we are back, we are not all the way back.

We are supposed to demolish the break dancers in South Beach. Yeah. All right. So as the Ravens gradually work their way back to Super Bowl contention, I will gradually bring out all of the bits. Oh, thank you. I like that. I like the restraining.

Not yet the robe. the Jordans, I have the glasses. What about chips? Well, here's the deal, Nick. And I don't know what you're going to say about this game, but this is what I'm going to say quickly. Please. Honestly, I'm happy with the win.

It was a blowout. Yeah. But it wasn't the Ravens A game. I actually feel very much about that game last night, like I felt about the Chiefs game on Monday when they beat the Washington, similar score, 28 to 7, this was 28 to 6.

First half, like the commanders I thought outplayed the Chiefs. I actually thought Miami outplayed the Ravens. All right, Ravens had some timely takeaways and, you know, they bent but didn't break on defense.

And then the second half after Lamar got, you know, the rust off. They took, they ran away from him. Derek Henry got going. But here's the thing. even with their B or B minus game, they still went into the Dolphins house and demanded a Cuban sandwich.

All right? I'm not the chips yet. The chips will come later, maybe in Cleveland in a couple weeks. Minnesota next week, the chips and the soda pop. But the sandwich, they demanded. Yeah. All right, and this is,

wow. They smell delicious. This is going to be dinner tonight. I can't wait for this bad boy. From Versailles, Cuban Bakery. Yes, they demanded Cuban sandwiches. Okay. So, yes.

So listen, well done, Brew. I'm glad to have you back. It's good to be back, boy, believe me. And I think Brew is. Much better than a hospital. I think Brew is more back than the Ravens. Oh. Because I saw a lot of the same things you saw.

Now, listen, Lamar, the Russian. I was worried about, I think lasted for a half. And then he was awesome. And even the first. If a half. Yeah, exactly. And even if, even in the beginning of the game, he was fine. But you could see what didn't, to me, feel like regular full-blown Lamar.

But by the end of the game, it did. But the real question about the Ravens moving forward was not going to be, were they going to get MVP level play from Lamar? because even if they didn't yesterday, we would expect they are going to throughout the season. The question is, how good is the defense going to be? And I saw a lot of what you saw, Brew, which was a first half where the defense, to me,

looked as shaky as it did at any point all season. And we can show you the first half numbers. It's jarring how much Miami dominated that first half. a 1-16-yardage differential, more than doubling them up, the third biggest by any team in a loss this year, and because Miami is falling apart at the seams, and because Miami's not well-disciplined,

and because Miami's poorly coached, they didn't take that at halftime. Like, man, guys, we're right there. They took it as that. We lost, we blew it. And they played the second half as such. But in that, Miami got the ball within the 30-yard line, six times in this game

and a seventh if you include the outrageous call on the tripping window and in the first half it went field goal fumble which was a force fumble I give you credit then the fourth and one false start into a missed field goal then the drive with the tripping

penalty that took it outside of the 10 yard line then a field goal then the cartoonish fourth down slot fade to Achan Yeah it looked like that was eight I think A chance fall I mean it was obviously I'm going to Put it on the play caller because you can't call a slot failure to a 5-9 guy.

Who lose really a running. Right. And so I'm not trying to rein on the Ravens keeping their season alive and Lamar by the end of the game looking awesome. Another game with an insane stat line, nearly as many touchdowns and incompletions. But I didn't see this transformation defensively. And what I've seen in the last two weeks defensively is the Ravens haven't turned the ball over in the first 40s. four and that has gone a long way because in the last two weeks they've actually been outgained by the opponent like the bears had 377 and the dolphins basically equaled him yesterday so that would be

the pause that I would have that's why there's no robe yeah that's fair yeah we're getting there okay this is a huge improvement huge improvement huge and I mean they were giving up 30 something points of game brew you know I've become a fan of the athletics uh playoff predictor I've got great Oh, I bet it's, can I guess the percentage? Did you look at my... I swear I haven't looked. Go ahead. The odds of winning the division or making the playoffs.

They're probably about the same. I think this is of making the playoffs. I bet they have them at 61%. 71%. Wow. Steelers at 32%. Okay, so yeah. So they're basically saying it's probably a one playoff team division.

That's why it adds up. 71%. You're almost all the way back. Well, I've never doubted they're going to make the playoffs. I mean, really. Now, if they had lost to Chicago, I mean, even though that was without Lamar, so maybe I wouldn't have doubted them. But I have felt strongly that the Steelers will come back to the pack and that with their schedule, the Ravens will gradually get better with Lamar coming back. And so the question for me is I want to see them get to a level

where they can contend to win the AFC and then a Super Bowl. So I'm not, I fully expect them to win the division. to catch the Steelers before they even play. Oh, that was Danny's thing yesterday. I mean, I think that would involve a bit of a Steelers collapse in addition to the Rangers. It's only one game at this point. Well, the-

You're going to lose against the Colts. Isn't what, four and three and three and five? It's four and three and five. So two losses. Yeah. So, I mean, it's certainly on the board. Vikings Browns, Jets, Bengals coming up for you. And we've got Kyle Van Nuoy coming up.

So you can maybe. break out the rope for that or still just sunglasses? We'll see. I'll be patient. Okay. Meanwhile, we'll head to the dolphin side of things. They lost the game and their GM, Chris Greer, fired this morning. He had 26 years with the team GM since 2016. Shefter reporting that Mike McDaniel's job safe for the rest of the year. Here he is on his team getting booed last night.

And we're not talking about Halloween. Take a listen. Yeah, it sucks. That sucks. All of that does. But, you know, I think it's a pretty consistent formula of, you know, fans enjoy winning. And so our expectation is that we have to do the work and do the right things for for fans to enjoy the experience. And unfortunately, we didn't do that tonight. So we got to get back to work to give them something to cheer about.

Okay. Where do the dolphins go from here? Well, it's all moot as long as that guy's your quarterback paying him that much money. Just can't win that way. And I, this is not Monday morning quarterbacking by me. Some of the most vitriolic arguments we've had on this show have surrounded Tua. And the fact that I did not care that he led the league in passing. I did not care that the dolphins briefly looked like a potent offense.

And to me, this is where at times the stats can lie. and that I felt that Tua was temporarily propped up by Tyreek being in the midst of one of the greatest stretches any wide receivers ever had, an amazing number two or excellent number two in Waddle, and what was a very innovative offensive style that the league didn't have a ton of tape on and hadn't caught up to yet with all the sneak motion and the different cool play design stuff that I still think Mike McDaniel actually. actually is really good at. I still think from a play design perspective, and I think you saw it last night, I think Mike McDaniel's excellent. Now, that doesn't mean you're going to be an excellent head coach, and we'll get to him more, or, you know, more later. But to me, this is about the quarterback, because the quarterback got paid like he's a star. The quarterback, to me, does not have the arm strength, the size, the mobility, or the leadership of a franchise quarterback.

What does? Accuracy. That's it. He's accurate. And if everything is perfect, he can be elite. If it's blocked up perfectly, if the route run perfectly, if you have the right call against the right coverage, he can throw it to, he can put it where he wants to put it before the receiver gets there and it can look awesome. But as soon as anything breaks down, that happens.

And I said when they paid him, like, okay, now you are evaluated, Mike McDaniel and Chris Greer. as if you have a franchise quarterback because you guys are saying you believe you do. And if you have a franchise quarterback, this is unacceptable. The problem is they don't have a franchise quarterback. And so it becomes fruit of a poisonous tree in that regard. Like that's the original sin is getting high on your own supply that two is actually a star. Ouch.

Fourth and two, we just showed it here. But can we bring that back up to us? It's fourth and two. This game is still in the balance. They could be tied at half time. And I saw this play lined up and I say, you know what? This doesn't look like it's going to work. But you know, I have faith in Mike McDaniel, of course, is smarter than I am.

Like, all right. So if you show this again, watch Kyle Hamilton once the ball sails over his head. Kyle Hamilton, I hope we saw it. He gives like a nice little, nice try. Oh, we don't, we didn't include it. We give him a nice, he gives a nice little try. And then at the end of the half brew, this is just a raw Hail Mary. It's just a Hail Mary.

And he throws one out of bounds, and I didn't understand why he didn't throw the first Hail Mary. And then he self-sacks here. That's because we all know his injury history. He can't take a shot. Well, it's two things. I think he did that a couple times. The self-sack is because he can't take a shot.

He threw it short the first time. Yeah. So it would be a Hail Mary, a realistic Hail Mary for him. Right. No, he threw it out of bounds. I know. That's what I'm saying. He did it.

They were. He was trying to get eight yards. Oh, I thought he's throwing away. So the Hail Mary could happen. No, I, again, because I think there was four seconds left at the start of the previous play. And I think the plan was get a quick six yards out of bounds. So with one second left, I can throw a Hail Mary. I think that's what it was.

Make it a 50-yard Hail Mary versus a 60-yard Hail Mary. Exactly right. And they just eats it. It just felt like looking at the AFC East, and not to make this a Drake-May thing, you're never going to be better than Josh and you're probably not better than Drake May. So if the best you can do is the bronze medal, it's time to get a new quarterback.

That's easier said than done, though. So the first Chris Greer, he was there 10 years of GM, three times they made the playoffs, didn't win a playoff game. He drafted Tua. And he's been with the organization for like 20. Yeah, for 20, 25 years, something like that. I don't know if it was his call,

owners call, but it goes on his record drafting Tua, and then giving him the four-year, $212 million contract, which the Tua was coming off of that year where he led to league in passing, and I think he obviously was good. That offense

was spectacular with Tyreek Hill, but just the injury, and this is not a second guess, we were saying this on the show. With his injury history, he had only played one full season to that point. I just thought that was a bad decision.

And he had only had one great year. He had been okay, but he still wasn't beating good teams. He had one great year. So those are the decisions that got Chris Greer-Friar. And Mike McDaniel may be a, I think he is a very good offensive coordinator, whether or not he's a great head coach. We'll see he might get another shot and maybe he could become that. But I do think this season after this year in Miami, he has to go.

They need to clean house. But with Tua, all this talk about what you said moving on from him, benching him. I don't think that's like viable. Look, everybody's tradable, I guess, at some point. But with his contract as it is, all right, I think the best thing for Miami to do is you have to play him and hope he plays well, try to find somebody that works well with him. So he's either your quarterback or you can trade him. unless they're going to go the Denver route with Russell Wilson.

I think that's the route they have to go. Probably. I don't think anybody's trading for that contract. No, I think you would have to, Seth Walder, I think, is the one. Yes. No, Seth Walder put out, yeah, put out a potential to a trade, and it involved the Dolphins attaching picks. Yeah.

So it was Tua and a second and a third, I think, for a seventh rounder. So it was essentially all give, I'll give you. you know, picks to get off the money on it. Like, it's that or it's a massive dead cap hit. The dolphins, I tried to flag this two years ago when it was like, oh, wow, the dolphins are in the same territory as the bills and a couple, I think the Ravens were as well, as far as like most cash spending, you know,

borrowing the most from future years cap. They really were in a week and win right now mode. And they were never close. They were never close. They made the playoffs twice with McDaniel. And credit to him for making the playoffs, but they were never close. Tough one. Just to be optimistic, because I like to throw an optimistic spin.

We are in the golden age of quarterback, new destination, all of a sudden has a resurgence. Between Baker, Sam Darnold, Gino a little bit. Gino had a resurgence and now it went back down. Daniel Jones. Yeah. So if maybe Tua and goes somewhere brand new and is great, maybe Mike McDaniel has like a solopath and he pops again as an OC. I promise I'm not trying to start anything. I think Tua could, in a situation similar to the one Jimmy G had in San Francisco, I want to use Brock.

Because Brock's better than Tua. But where it's like solid offensive line, a great head, you know, schematic head coach, you know, consistent system like that. I do, again, if everything's perfect, he can look great. And certain quarterbacks don't look, they just look fine if everything's perfect. But it's what is different from him, those other guys, is the size and the injury history. Right. Makes him such a unique. And his injury history.

Right. It makes him completely unmoble, immobile. Like you saw yesterday a couple of times he just went down, which I get. Which he has to. Right. But that really Dolphins last playoff win was 25 years ago. It's insane.

It's the longest drought in the league. Moving on to Buffalo, where the Bills will host Patrick Mahomes and the Chiefs. Mahomes versus Josh part 10. Or if you just like the regular season, part six. Here's Josh's resume against the Chiefs, 4 and 1 in the regular season 0 and 4 in the playoffs.

What would another win over Mahomes mean for Josh Allen? absolutely unequivocally nothing. And I can prove it to you. I'm going to show you guys an iconic moment of a defending MVP with an all-time great for his sport, the best type of win you can have against the team that always beats them. Run the tape, dust.

Just do it. I mean, you're down two, overtime. Steph Harden, bang! You guys remember that play? Of course not. You know why? Because he lost to him the previous year,

that year, the year before and the year after that. Was that like a Christmas game? This is a double overtime James Harden Rockets as the defending MVP against the full strength, Steph KD, Clay Thompson Warriors, a three-pointer at the buzzer

to cap off of 44 and 15. And none of us remember it because when you say Hardin v. Curry or Hardin versus those rockets, you don't think, well, he did have some great regular season games, guys. It's that they played almost every year in the playoffs and the same team won every single time. Now, this is what I will say, Brew.

If Josh ever gets over the playoff hump, retroactively these games will matter. Yeah. You know, like, if he, if at the end of their careers, the playoff record is five to two, Patrick. Yeah. And the regular season record is five to two, Josh. Then it starts to have a little more meat to it. But as long as it is, it's a bagel for Josh in the postseason, it's going to be hard to put real stakes for him in this game.

I agree with that. So I think when we're looking at the playoffs, even if they win, people are still. if they meet in the playoffs, you're still going to favor the Chiefs. But I do think, the more I think about this game, it does have big meaning for the bills. Oh, I agree with that. Because I think if they beat the Chiefs,

they will solidify themselves as a legitimate Super Bowl contender. Because I won't say they have no chance to beat the Chiefs in the playoffs if they meet. If they lose to the Chiefs, I'll think about them what I thought last year. You're a good playoff team for sure. They're going to make the playoffs, but they're not going to get to the Super Bowl.

They just don't have enough. So I think that's what I'm going to learn from this game because, look, the Chiefs, unlike a lot of the previous years, the Chiefs need this game to some degree for their playoff race. The Chiefs are not like overlooking this game. Like, I mean, they never overlook the bills. They can't hold stuff back. But yeah, like they need to win this game. And the Chiefs are playing great football. but they're playing their best football of the season.

Yep. And so if the bills can beat them with the cheese playing this well, you just got Rishi Rice back, they're going to try to keep working him in and getting him going. And so if the bills can beat them and their defense can step up and slow down this Chief's offense, that will say a lot to me because we've said it. They don't have really any great wins yet.

This would be a great win and tell me, okay, they are a legitimate top-tier super-year. Bowl contender. What do you think about this concept? Because I was reading Barnwell's article with the trade deadline coming up, a little one step backwards, two step forwards. If the bills lost this Sunday, would they look and say, all right, we have a clearer picture of what we need to move forward. So Barnwell said that he safety tackles, wide receiver. If all of a sudden, like, you know what, we can't match up with Rishi Rice and Hollywood Brown, Xavier worthy. We have, you know, Keon Coleman's not really there. Maybe we need to go get Brian Thomas

Jr. Let's go all in. Maybe we'll go get Alave. Well, it's just, it's an interesting. No, that would be smart. Rinkle of like, we lost, but you know what? We came out of it better. Well, listen, and the, by the, the bills last year, obviously added Amory Cooper. They've added people at the deadline before. I know this isn't the specific point. I do think anybody that had Brian Thomas Jr. dancing in their head, the sad Travis Hunter injury, I think, ends the idea that Brian Thomas Junior could be available. That's a good point. But I said on, what podcast was it?

Oh, what's right with Nick Wright? People should check it out. I said that the move that would scare me the most would be the bills trading for A.J. Brown. And so I know people are talking about the Patriots may be trading for him, but I wonder if the Patriots feel like we're already ahead of schedule. Like we don't need to, you know, that we don't need to trade extra draft resources for a player because you guys need more depth because of the misdrafts from previous years. The Bills are, we have not talked about it because the focus has been on the Ravens and Harbaugh.

But McDermott's under as much pressure as any coach in football this year, as far as getting over the hump. And so I do think that if they get, we'll get to it later, I think this could get ugly for Buffalo. Really? I think this is the worst defense that the bills are bringing into a game against Mahomes since Allen and Mahomes have been going against each other. It is still in the top 10, though, scoring. I know, but I think that's probably last week. I also think it is, it has, they have the worst run defense in football.

Now, Pacheco's out and I don't think they're going to run the ball that much, but the Chiefs, I think the Chiefs have a chance to put a big number on Buffalo. If they put a big number on Buffalo, I think Buffalo, I think Buffalo, is then going to have to stop and say, all right, how close to contending are we really if we don't make a significant? When you say ugly, you mean maybe missing the playoff? No, I thought you meant that. No, no, no, I'm saying Sunday afternoon the game could get ugly. 38.

It might not be the worst thing for them, no, because like you said, maybe that forces them to go out and get a top tier receiver. Yeah. One of the talking about Clay's Campbell. Or back, defensive back. World Series game six. Tonight on Fox, David Ortiz joins us next. Talk about showcase chances of keeping the Dodgers alive. That's next on FS1, the Fox Sports Channel on Sirius 6-7.

We get to watch Wilde's blush like a school child. We're headed back to Miami, four touchdowns for Lamar, over 100 yards rushing for Derek, three takeaways for the defense, six total points for the dolphins. Coach, from what you saw are the Ravens back? I don't know if they're 100% back, but there's a lot of encouraging things from the last five days of victories. The fact that they were able to win without Lamar, the progress the defense has been made, as made.

Lamar coming back and it's not really what you want in the first half, ideally offensively, but at the end of the day, they put up 28. I thought it was going to be 35 to 42, so I'm a little disappointed. It wasn't a bigger margin. I really thought that the margin was going to be. I thought the margin was going to be bigger than the defense was. It feels like they could have pushed it there. Yeah, I'm not saying.

But yeah. It seemed like they just start running the ball. Kind of pulled back a little bit. And you heard them talk about the change that they made. And I know the toys are one factor, but just the mentality of what's happened in the past, with the injuries, with the slow start, that's in the past. And now we're moving forward. And a lot of teams will say that. It feels like they have actually moved forward.

And the relief that we saw when they beat the Bears, that's not necessarily the team that they were going to this game. There was much more of a sense of true purpose and much more similar to what we're used to seeing with Baltimore than what we've seen this season. Yeah, and I like too that Derek Henry ran 19 times. That's the most he's run this season with Lamar. And I get some of that they got behind.

so maybe they weren't giving Henry the ball. But early in the first half, like they ran it a lot with him. So I like them leaning in. Hopefully they're leaning in to giving Henry the ball. And you saw in the second half, he had kind of worn that defense down and really got going and had over 100 yards. And Lamar, look, we all know he's got to get it done in the playoffs. Regular season quarterback.

And I get Henry, the presence of Henry does help him. Regular season quarterback. And, I mean, Mahomes is obviously better situation. But I mean, you don't see much better than him in the regular season. I mean, he throws, he's got in five, his passer rating this year, and it's five games, which is a solid sample, 136.7 passer rating. He's got 14 touchdowns in five games, which would be over 17. That's like a 48 touchdown pace, one interception, nine yards per attempt, and 73% completion.

Even though he was rusty yesterday for at least the first quarter or so, like he just is so easy for him it looks like in the regular season. I'll be honest, outside of kind of the chiefs, you know, where he seems to struggle a little bit or at least it's a bumpier ride for him. Otherwise, it's just smooth sailing it feels like for him when the regular season. Well, listen, we do become numb to these crazy statistical games. And they're odd because it's never a bunch of years. yards.

Right. But it's always super high completion percentage, crazy touchdown compared to incompletion numbers. And he's now, like last year, it was what, 41 touchdowns to four picks. You just said this year he has 14 touchdowns through five games. Was he have two picks? One pick. Oh, okay, one pick, just the pick in the Chiefs game. So that ratio is he's going to, when he's not rusty or hurt, he's going to be excellent.

Like we know what level of quarterback play the Ravens are going to get moving forward. I have to be honest, I didn't like what I saw from the Ravens defense. I thought the first half of that game, Miami moved the ball at will, and it was their own, it was one awful call and then their own mishaps that was the reason they only had six points. And as you see often with bad teams, they weren't able to emotion. emotionally overcome the missed opportunities. That's what it felt like to me, that they went into halftime, like, you've got to be kidding me, we're down eight. Like, we should be tied or ahead.

They moved the ball inside the Ravens 30-yard line six times in that game. It would have been seven without the fake tripping call and to only have six points. So I still feel like. To me, that's, I totally understand that, but to be able to hold a team to 0 for 3 in the red zone. Yeah. There's real value in that. 100%. And then they were two for, they held them to 2 for 12 on third down,

well so there are two significant parts of the game that and to have a turnover differential of a plus three for for the team that's it's not perfect you don't want to moving down the field that effortlessly in a lot of situations but to be able to hold your hold your ground once they get there that's that's tough that's not easy to do okay coming up next maybe big poppy maybe not there's a chance it's big poppy there's a chance it's big poppy there's a Halloween surprise. It's a lot like the joy of sports.

Yeah. You don't know what exactly is going to happen. More first things first after the break. I only give this shirt to the back guys. There you go. It's a special. You're my dog, boy. All right.

That's why you, my dog. Matter of fact, I got a present for you, baby. I got a cigar. Oh, a cigar too. And I got one of my doll shirt for my boy right here. This is going to bring you home to the promised land. Mike Big Tao teacher. Joining us now, my dog.

Big Poppy, David Ortiz, Poppy. Great World Series so far. Thanks for joining us. Can I start talking about one of your main dogs, Mookie Betts? He's three for 23. He's really one of your guys dating back to the. Red Sox. He had that post-game press conference where he really felt down in the dumps. How do you think he pulls out of this?

Well, it's kind of crazy to see a guy like a Mookie going through the slum because the far as I can remember, Mookie is always on. Mookie is always providing Mookie. it's a key player who I admired a lot because when he first came to the Big League with the Red Sox he was always on

the wanting to learn process and he had been an incredible student of the game and we all know that basically it's a tough sport to play you know it's a tough game and we all go through that

but it seems the other day in an interview that his confidence levels are pretty low. And to be honest with you, that's not Mukki. Muki, he's the guy that he always had that positive vibe, that, you know, he's always, look at what he did. He moved from right field, being a gold glover, to play shortstop just to make the Dodgers a better team. So hopefully the next few games,

he's confident level will go back to where they normally are, and my boy just bounced back and do his thing. Bobby, you mentioned Mookie's confidence being low. When we saw them walk, the Blue Jays walk, O'Tani, five times, essentially, four intentional. Can that mess, Mooki's after him in the batting order? Can that mess with the guy's confidence as well? Good question, bro. Well, reality is that it definitely will put a little bit of pressure on you,

and your anxiety will take over some tiny, you don't know how to manage that, especially in my boy, Mookie situation. He would like to try to overdo things. I mean, Otani is the most dangerous hitter than baseball, you know, and the whole world knows that. So as a team, competing against the Dodger, you want to taste the next guy. You want to see where he at, you know. And Mookie, as right now, he seems like he is.

dancing with the wolf at the plate right now. You know, he's not, he's getting pitches to him, but he's not getting results. And that's what getting your head. That's what mess around with your confidence level when you are not seeing the result. And I guess his interview the other day has something I had to say about that.

So he just got to go out there and have fun, man. You know, to beat the mooky that we know that he can be and try not to jeopardize his confidence level. What about his interview the other day jumped out to you, Poppy? You know, I mean, he was honest based on not having result. But sometimes I would say this, sometimes you had to let the opposition continue guessing. You can just shorten your frustration because now they know that he's frustrated. Now they're going to keep on trying him.

They're going to continue walking Otani. They're going to continue putting him on the spot. And guess what? The game will find you. Believe it or not. The game will always come to you. So he's a great athlete. He's a great player.

He's a great kid. Like I say, if I'm him today, I would play the game like I used to when I was in Little League. You know, when you're getting prepared for a little league game, you're not looking at a scatter report, you're not worried about what people have to say, you're not even worried about what your uncle had to say. You just go out there and play the game and have fun. So if I'm going to try that today.

All right, well, who's having fun right now is the Blue Jays? And if you look at the whole postseason, aside from the first two games after they partied with you about beating the Yankees and maybe put it on a little too much, they've just been a machine. Like, their offense has been seemingly unstoppable this postseason. And yesterday, we had the conversation about why are the Blue Jays ahead in the series? And I said, maybe they're just better. Like, I understand the Dodgers are a super team, if you will.

But as far as best set to win a seven-game series, do you think it's fair to say the Blue Jays have been and are maybe the better team? Look, it's funny to just me that question because I was having a conversation just like an hour ago with a group of people. Here's the thing. People need to start paying attention to the teams coming out of the East Division in American League. The East Division, to me, I think, is the stronger division in baseball. If you look around every year, way before the season began, you know throughout every division, what team is going to dominate that division.

If you go to the National League West, you know the Dodgers are going to finish on top in that division. If you go to the American League Central, okay, Houston wasn't in location this time, but you know that Houston dominate that division more likely. It's different. It's like pretty much of the same everywhere you go. But when you come to the American League east,

you don't know what's going to happen. Sometimes the Yankees, sometimes are the Red Sox. So now it's the Blue Jay. all of a sudden was Baltimore, Tampa, give everybody headache every year, like you don't know. So the team coming out of the East Division, in American League,

are always tough team to be. And if you think about at this moment, what you want is the better team between the Dodgers and the Blue Jays. The only difference between the two teams is that the Blue Jers are hitting, the Dodgers are not. You don't know where the punch is going to come from

when you are facing this Blue Jays. If you look at the team during the playoff, at least seven battered every time they win, connect for hit. They don't strike out. They put the board and play. They were out good pitching. Look at what they did to a snail, twice. Snail is one of the best pitching in the game. They make his life miserable because this is the thing that they know how to put the ball in play.

Everybody's going for the long ball. They just try to do damage, wearing you out, putting travel. on the basis. That takes the focus away from the pitchers. I mean, they have so many way to hurt you. Pappy, who has the advantage the second time you see a pitcher? So Yamamoto pitch, a complete game, saw all the Blue Jays. At the same time, the Blue Jays saw him for a full game. How are their approaches different? Who has the advantage tonight? Yamamoto have probably the best stuff in the game, to be honest with you. That's why the guy has been capable of, you know,

pitch complete game twice. I can't remember what was the last time I saw that. His stuff is in a different place. But the Blue Jays, they don't strike out. Even with a complete game that he pitched the last time, they strike out seven times. You would think a guy with the stuff that Yamamoto has pitching a complete game, you're talking about 12, 15 strike out.

He only strike them out seven times. What that tells you, they put the board in play against and even him being that filthy. So I would not be surprised if the blue you get to him tonight. Love it. Wow. I like it. Wow. I like a little insight there.

Poppy, I mentioned Otani in the game three when he got walked all those times. He's 0 for seven, though, since that game. game. One, do you expect him to break out of that slump? And two, before you go, can you call Wilde's your big dog? Because he's going to be a wreck if you don't call him your big dog before you go. I'll tell you what, though. Othani coming out of a slump is something that can happen from day to night. O'Tani might be the only player I can see going from looking bad with a bad. pitch to go and hit three homers. I tell you what, me to get on a slump, I will figure it out, but it's kind of hard for

the batter to go from hitting ground ball, a striking out, popping ball up to heat three homer. He's, he's one of the kind. So to me, I don't really know when Otani is on a slump or not, even if he's awful, whatever. because the guy the way he knows how to get it done I mean probably Barry Bonn might be the only guy I can remember

I mean Barry Bonn never was in a slump but he's the closest thing I mean to it so tonight I would be surprised if the Blue Jay pitch to him I would not let him be me

Wow he's not I got a stealing bases. He's got a seal. I mean, he tried a couple of times. He got caught. So I will make his life miserable at the play and try to have to pitch. And he comes to pitch with basis slaughter and I'm winning by three.

Here, go to first bailoutani. Let me try the next guys. But I would not pitch him at all. I mean, if I'm trying to win, would you pitch to him? No. No, it feels. I don't care of an over seven slump. Wilde wants to change the rule.

No, I feel like he wants to make it to wear your second intentional walk you get a double. No, here's my point. Literally, some of the best baseball, Poppy, you had some of the most iconic baseball moments in playoff history. If they're like, you know what, four, put them on, and you get robbed by all those moments. Dave Roberts comes in and steals a base. That's what you do. I want to see baseball. I want to see baseball.

All right, you're, Poppy, you know what? My dog. There it is. Might have. There it is. You made his day, Poppy. You don't know you made his day. Have a great game.

Game six tonight. Coverage starts on Fox at 7 o'clock. Thank you, Poppy. Have fun. Thank you. More first things first after the break. I'm New York. Just wishing you a happy Halloween.

While eating candy corn. It's stuck on your teeth, bro. Cany corn. Miles is addicted to this candy. I like candy corn. And Kurt loves candy corn. I love candy corn. Show the bag.

Just show the bag real quick because this thing was full on Tuesday. I love Brock. I'm a Brock's fan. Second hour of First Things First. Today, Kyle Van Nuoy joins the show after a huge win in Miami. Maybe Nick can say you thought the defense didn't impress them. I'm telling the truth. Guys, it's an interview.

It's not a PR thing. We're going to tell him the truth. Just doing the ball up. I will see what he says. I bet he has high standards. You guys even meet in Baltimore? High standards? What are you doing?

Meanwhile, we preview game six of the World Series. Toronto on the verge of their first championship since I was in high school in 1993. And we got some good intel from Poppy. Yam Motors, they're going to get to Yama Motus. They're going to get to Yomoto. That's what he says. Very interesting.

But right now, we're headed to Buffalo. Chiefs are favorites against a Bill's team. that is looking up in the AFC East standings. Currently, again, one of my favorite tidbits, 37% chance to win the division according to the athletic playoff predictors. The bills? Oh, I'm surprised that it's that low.

Yeah, I answer. Yeah. Well, I think they, I don't know if they're baking in that they're going to lose this game. Well, I mean, they're certainly baking and they have a chance to lose this game. Yeah. Would a loss to Mahomes bring on panic time

for the Buffalo Bills? So it will be panic adjacent. Now this is a team that has been six and six in the regular season and then got hot late. It's when they changed the offense. Right. That's when they change the offense. So it's not as if they've never had rocky starts. But this would be a little different in this regard.

Even the year they were six and six, there was no team in that division that you looked at like, man, they might win 13 games. You know what I mean, that they might go out and run away and hide in the division. And the Patriots, because they're good and because of the schedule, do have that chance. Also, I thought when the chief started O&2, that this was going to be a golden opportunity for Buffalo to get something they have not had since Jim Kelly was there, which is home field advantage. And Josh Allen, I know this was a story when Mahomes had never played a road play. game, so he had never won a road playoff game.

But Josh Allen's played four road playoff games and his 0 for four. The bills as a franchise have not won a road playoff game since Jim Kelly. And so if they lose this game and their chance of winning the division drops even lower, that would guarantee all road playoff games, much less what I thought they were going to have was potentially all home playoff games. So all of that combined with the fact, coach, that I think this is the way. worst defense they've had in the last five years since they've been contenders. It would be panic-ish, not as far as missing the playoffs, but as far as their S-Bob and

their ability to win a Super Bowl. Yeah, I don't think anybody in the building is really looking that far ahead where they're trying to factor in, do we get home playoff games or not. It's just too far. Maybe the owner is doing that. Maybe the GM could be doing that. But definitely not the head coach and the coaching staff. And if you lose this game, you're still in the playoffs.

You know, if the playoffs start today, not that that really matters. But you would be, and you're losing to a team that is emerging. So Kansas City's gone through its, you know, it's beautification phase. And so you're not shocked by the fact that that could happen. And looking back at our first Super Bowl run, we were five and five through ten games, just like Nick talked about, the Bills are six and six. and it just matters when you get hot. So to be five and three and to lose to a good Chiefs team,

it's not really panic mode. It's not where you want to be, but I don't think anybody should be too upset. No, that's fair. But, you know, I felt like for most of this week, this game, I've been a little, I want to see it, I'm excited about it, but I felt like, well, if the bills beat them,

they've beaten them many times in the playoff or in the regular season, but can't beat them in the, the playoffs so I wasn't putting much into it. But as I thought more about it, I do now think it has a lot of meaning now. And that is because I think this will tell us, Coach, if the bills are a legitimate top-tier Super Bowl contender or just a playoff team. And that's what I thought they were last year.

And I think they are showing so far that they are what I thought they were last year. Like their roster to me isn't. look at their weapons compared to Detroit. Green Bay has Micah on the defensive side of the ball. Matt Milano hadn't been playing as well as he had in the past. Ed Oliver's hurt. Like Philadelphia, obviously tremendous weapons. Kansas City's got Mahomes and then his receivers are really good.

It's a better. The bills. James Cook is legitimately very good. James Cook and the O line have been their biggest weapon aside from Jeff. Right. But I feel like they've got one. phenomenal superstar and Josh Allen. And again, Cook is really good.

But I just don't, their roster on paper does not blow me away. And I felt that way last year. And Josh was so good that they had a great season. And they will have a really good season. But if they lose this game to the Chiefs, I feel like it'll tell me they're good. They're going to make the playoffs. They will not get to the Super Bowl. So, yeah.

It's so hard to push it out. eight games because so much is going to change with injuries and improvements that teams make. Like we've seen improvements from the Ravens defense. We're going to see things get a little bit better and in some cases get a little bit worse. When you have the MVP of the league, just like Baltimore has an MVP of the league in Kansas City, when you've got that weapon and you've got such a good running back and the old lines playing really well, you can do a lot of damage if you get in the playoffs, even with a defense. it's struggling.

So I, listen, I will always say, as long as Josh is there, unless there another team emerges that doesn't currently exist, that the second most dangerous team in the conference is Buffalo. But they are sick of being the second most dangerous team in the conference. They want to be the best team in the conference, which they, some people think they have been and they've just gotten unlucky. I think they've never been better than Chiefs. But regardless, this is now an uphill battle when you look at the defense they are bringing

to the fight this year compared to years past, this defense is not that good. And they have consistently, we can show you their ranks, 9th and points, 12th and yards, those sound fine. You dig deeper on it. It's like, all right, you're allowing five and a half yards per play. That's, you know, in the latter half of the league, you're allowing teams to convert 40% of their third downs. Teams can really run on you, which, by the way, might be worse than it even looks,

because they've been winning games. So teams aren't running, adding to the rushing total, trying to salt away the clock. Teams are trailing most of the game and still running on you. So, like, that might be a real problem, not so much that Kansas City can exploit. And then here's the other reason, KW, that this is, I think, an important game for Buffalo.

Of all the teams right now currently in the playoffs, nobody, and we can show you the strength of victory stuff, has feasted on, like, I mean, it's demonstrative how bad the teams are the bills have beaten. Now, we can put an asterisk on it because one of those teams is Baltimore and how good is Baltimore. But everybody talks about how easy the Patriots schedule is. The Patriots, though, have a win over Buffalo, which buttresses them.

I mean, their opponents that they've beaten basically are, you know, cumulative track to be five and 12 teams. That's what a 268 winning percentage is. So if you lose to Atlanta that's mediocre, lose to the Patriot Tour good in Buffalo, and then lose to Kansas City, the question does arise when someone that you're supposed to be in the weight class

in comes to the party, can you beat them? Like I think those are all fair questions if they lose this game. Can I ask you a question, Coach? And I don't know what to make of this because it's such a huge game and it's such a game that we're all going to be locked in.

focused on 100%. But every other, I'll flip it a little bit. And I'll stay here. Team that beat the Chiefs really proved something. The Chargers, it was week one, looks like the charges are for real this year.

The Eagles went into Kansas City. They were the Super Bowl. Like, oh, it's a revenge game. Nope, the Eagles just still got it. They'll still find a way, even though it was like a gutty victory. The Jags. The Jags.

They were like, oh, look at the Jags. And look at, like, Mahomes is foul. with the 90-yard-pick-6, and remember they were feasting on, like, takeaways. Yeah. It feels like if the bills beat the Chiefs, nothing really gets proven. It's very strange, but...

See, I disagree with that. And we keep talking about, oh, they always do it, they always do it. It's not easy to beat the Chiefs. And I think it's harder to beat the Chiefs right now than when some of those other teams beat them. So as much as we want to discount them winning against Kansas City and them being able to get the better of Patrick Mahomes,

it's still significant. And we collectively may want to lessen it because they've done it in the past, but it's still significant. And it's really significant to them right now based off the fact that they haven't beat anybody with any kind of resume. I would argue that if the bills win this game, this is going to be a weird thing to say. it's the best win any team has had in the league all year.

It's better than the wins, the other wins over the Chiefs, because the Chiefs weren't whole. Like, Rishi wasn't there for any of them. Xavier wasn't there for the first two. And I, you look at the, like, I think this would be. I got to go through every game. I understand. That's why I said it's a weird one.

I think this would be, I understand it's in Buffalo, so that tweaks it a bit. But I think it'd be the best win any contender has on their docket, because right now, Vegas is telling you that right now they look at the chiefs as the clear-cut best team. I just, I think it's going to go the other way. I think that this could be, I think this could be a rough game today. I mean, that would be fascinating. It's time now for the hottest segment in all of sports.

It's upset alert. And by hot, it's like a hot day in the fall. It's like, wow, it's nice. I only need like a heavy sweater because week eight was a little bit rough. There weren't a ton of upsets. We don't make the schedules. You know what I mean? Last week was an interesting.

I mean, but these are bad. I mean, let's just be honest. Brew, I was with you on Dallas over Denver. They got beat by three scores. Levi, I trusted them. Wilds, I told you not to go with Pittsburgh over Green Bay. They got beat by two scores. Coach, everybody told Greg not to go with Carolina over Buffalo.

They got beat by 31. Mine wasn't bad. So, I mean, it's rough. And you guys have been stuck on 18 for a while, coach. Yeah. So I hope this week two. I hope this week you're nice and conservative. Go for, you know, don't go big game.

Don't bank on it. Conservatives couldn't be. You guys ready? Yeah, of course. Yeah, Carolina over Green Bay. Wow, they're going back to Carolina. Carolina with Bryce different. I like.

Really? Hold on a second. Hold on a second. So Bryce is back. And I know, it's the same old, it's the same old Carolina Panthers. Well, he's got, he had him with a three game win street. When's that happened? last seven years ago with Cam and Rivera.

Ron Rivera. So that's been seven years since they had a three-game winning streak. So there's that. Well, what about Green Bay? They've got Michael Parsons. I don't know if you guys knew that. He's the greatest player who's ever played in the whole history of the NFL. He can single-handedly win games.

He catches passes. He sells tickets. He does everything. They've got them. That means they're unbeatable, except if they play the Cleveland Browns, right? They were going to go to undefeated. They lose to them. Well, what about the next week?

They're going to play the Dallas. Cowboys, it's a revenge game. They're definitely, oh, they tied them too. So maybe they look past opponents. Let's see. Let's do it. Maybe, can we take a look at the, here's their record when they're six point favorites. They're four, five, and one. They've lost four games outright at six point favorites. Six point favorite. Last two. Here's them against the spread, two and eight. So now, who do they have next week? They couldn't possibly be looking past Carolina. They've got Philly. Maybe they're looking past Carolina. Carolina comes to town. Bryce Young's firing on all cylinders.

Packers decide maybe we don't have to play that hard. And then it's all over. This would be a 15 and a half point. I don't hate it. Greg had the same logic. Except it was dope. They got the Chiefs next week. They're looking ahead.

Coach, you get an A for guts. Has Buffalo had the same track where I did that Green Bayes out? No, that's true. You get an A for guts. All right. I respect you swimming or swinging for the fences, no chance of that happening. But, and you're not a J-Lo fan.

That's what it boils down to. You don't believe in J-Lo. I think it's more out-line. I think J-Lo's a little up and down. Just like the singer. See, you're big game hunting, and while it's my guess, my hunch, is your big game hunting, too.

Maybe, maybe not. I'm content. I know I'm in last place right now. I'm content to just chip away. Yeah, chip away. chip away. Chip away. Yeah.

In a few weeks, you'll see. Brew is right there near the top. I am going with, and I'm surprised, Coach, I mean, I guess you wanted big game. You're the Baltimore Ravens of the opposite. That's right. I'm coming and clawing back. Giants over the Niners. I don't hate this.

I mean, look, every time I've sat up here and said, I can't believe they're not favored. They're favored. I've lost, but still, I think the Giants, Matt Jones has really struggled lately. You know, he's going to be starting again. I think he's got two touchdowns, four picks or something like that in his last three games.

It's not good. Pass rating of about 75. Pressure. The numbers on that. I believe that the Giants, we know they got a good front. So they're going to put pressure on him. This game is in New York.

I think their attitude coach is going to be, let's do it for SCAT. Sam Scataboo, they're going out there after the bad injury. So, and they're a pretty decent team. They've just lost some tough games. So I got the Giants over the Niners in this one. I feel really good about it.

I worry, Brew, that the giant season ended in that Broncos game and that they are, that there's no coming back. They probably, they, Dable's probably coaching for his job. Yeah, I know. And I think some of those guys, I think, I think DART wants him back.

So. Yeah. I think this is a tough one. It's time now for the Puczatani Phila football to make his upset alert pick. Okay. People are like, why do they call you the Puxatani Phil of football? Yeah. Cover with fur? It's because I live in a log. No. Just a coincidence.

Now, I looked through all of the upsets. I didn't love any of them. Okay? But I liked this, and he's my guy, and he's getting better. Oh, no. KW, don't do what I think you're going to do. Don't. If this hits, I'm supposed to be more vocal, so it lives online.

But I'm being honest. I give you this pick with a lot of trepidation. Buddy, don't do it. This team has extra rest, but they are on the road. And I don't think this is a one-win team. Well, you're right. They should be a zero-win team, but a game was given to them. I know the Titans are at home, does.

Oh, my gosh. The Chargers are going on the road, and they are going to lose to the Tennessee Titans. Oh. So here's the thing. Titans. First, we'll start with the Chargers defense. Not impossible to run on.

Not impossible. Let's look at their ranks. They're giving up 112 yards a game. Yards per rush, round five. And Tony Pollard. Your guy could have a good game. Okay. From the Titans website.

From the Titans website. Yeah. Straight propaganda. Here's a stat that is both discouraging. It's from their own website. The best they can give you is discouraging and encouraging. It's like that, you know, dress. Which color do you see?

In the common draft era, the only number one overall pick with fewer passing. TDs than Cam Ward in their first eight games are Alex Smith. He turned out pretty good. Okay. Terry Bradshaw and John Elwood. That's a good company. Cam Ward has been playing a little bit better yet a decent game yardage-wise against the Colts. Buddy. I'm just, I don't love it. A little bit of a trap game. Oh, is Cam Ward going to give the ball to the other team? Well, is Justin Herbert since week three? I don't have it. any alliterative phrase for this. Both of them have 10 giveaways.

It's not great. It's not great. This isn't a positive. It's not positive. It's not positive for the charges. You do not believe in this at all. I believe in it at all. This is the worst sell job.

Absolutely. I was no. First of all, I'm being a, you just felt like you had to pick something. Yes. Yes. You've come on here and said there's no upsets. Oh, yes. Multiple times.

Nobody was right. Nobody will be right. I, look, I don't have a lot of rationale. I, can I give you one wild card before we get to Nick's pick? Just one wild card. Just one wild card. Okay, listen. Just one wild card.

There was a play where the new Titans coach punted the ball and Cam Ward cursed him out. Yeah. And in the post game, he was like, you know what? I should have gone for it. I think that was like a shaken by the shoulders moment. Like, man, I'm all of a sudden a head football coach. I'm going to be aggressive and let Cam Ward throw the ball around. That's why I'm guaranteeing the Titans beat the Charger.

All right. I'm going to bring the juice because, oh, be honest, that was a timeout. You make Mr. Upsets. Listen, while whatever that was lacking in energy and confidence, at least it made up for in lack of brevity. Let's hear up. I'm sure. I'm going against the spread, buddy. I'll go.

We're not allowed to go against the spread. We have to go out here. Time now. Passes for next fix. Last week, not great. And including last week was a very chalky week. except for the seven and a half point favorite Falcons that lost by 25 points to a Dolphins team

that I swore had quit and was proven last night they had. That's true. Well, they tried. The week last. Packers, nice pick by me, Cowboys disaster. Disaster, lost by 20. So I'm one and two, two games under. I need to go three and oh.

I need to go three and oh to be back above 500. Luckily, there's a three and a week. First one, Lions laying a lot of wood, eight and a half against. the Minnesota Vikings. J.J. McCarthy might be bad enough at practice that one of the best quarterback coaches in football watched him and was like one-armed Carson Wins

gives us a better chance week after week. What do we know about the Lions? They love running up the score. Love it. Jared Gough eight and O in his Lions career against the spread against the Vikings and 15 and 4 with extended rest. Lions lay the eight and a half.

Another favorite. Seattle, minus three against Washington. This is very complex. But follow me down this road. Seahawks are actually quite good, and the commanders are quite bad. You add to it the fact that the commanders are banged up, Seattle is off a buy. Meanwhile, the commanders played on Monday.

That should be illegal. Seattle got an extra week. Commanders got minus a day. And you know, KW, I don't love West Coast going, West Coast teams going east, except for, of course, Seattle? 17, 8 and 2 in the Eastern time zone in their last 28? I like that. That's against the spread, of course.

Seattle, laying the three. Don't have to worry about a weird 1 PM start. It's a night game. And then last but not least. Chiefs minus 1 1 1 1.5. Give me a break. The game matters to the Chiefs of the best team in football right now. The bills are banged up on defense.

The Chiefs don't have their left tackle or they're running back, which just means not having the running back means, They'll pass the ball more, so I actually like that. You're going to have about 35 million people watch this game, and they're going to get to see what the Chiefs in the pre. The tackle to turn the tide era really look like probably hanging about 37 points on Buffalo. Post-tackle the turn of the time. That's what I said.

He said three. Oh, they're going to show highlights from the first couple games. They'll remind people what it looked like in the pre-era, and then they're going to be like, bam, right there. Post-tackled to turn the tight era. Thank you guys. So Detroit minus eight and a half, Seattle minus three, Kansas City minus point in half. KW, you're right.

I went with all favorites this week. I don't like any. There's one dog I like. What is it? Pittsburgh plus three against Indy. No way. Mike Tomlin getting points at home. Mike Tomlin lost getting points at home last week.

I thought I saw that train coming down on the track. It's not going to happen back-to-back weeks, but I didn't have enough conviction to go with it. Kyle Van Noy coming up next after a big win in Miami that Nick wasn't impressed with. That's not. But that you did not say you were like that? I'll ask him about that. He said he wasn't impressed.

Welcome back to First Things First, joining us now, fresh off of a 28 to 6 win over the Dolphins. Who is a leader of this resurgent Ravens defense, Super Bowl champion, and great New England Patriots, Kyle Van Ney. Kyle, thanks for joining us. I obviously want to talk about Patriots' glory days, but Rue is like, you know what? It's actually more editorial relevant to talk about the Ravens.

So I thought you had a point. Let me jump in here, Kyle. the Ravens guy on this show. Congratulations on the big win last night. I got this question. The first five games of the year, you guys were allowing 35 points a game, which obviously is unravens-like.

The last three you've allowed 13 points a game. So what was going on early in the season with the defense, and then how have you guys, you know, changed that, and then these last three games turned it around? Yeah, first of all, I'm also a Pro Bowl with Raven, so don't forget about that. We got to put that in there. Don't forget that. And Brew, I'm not seeing a robe today.

And here, let me give you some love for a sec. We love the robe. We want you to keep the robe, but we're three and five. We understand that. It's coming back. Let's not get too excited. But you can't ever come with a robe and be beat up again. We can't have that.

We need you looking good. I appreciate that, man. Definitely. But I would just say the identity was we were trying to figure out early on in the beginning of it. We had guys in and out of the lineup injuries. We're never going to make that excuse. But when you lose caliber players like Nomdi, Matabike, you lose Kyle Hamilton, Roquan for periods of time. Those are some of our key pieces.

And then guys that you're leaning on, like Mike Green, Malachi Stark's rookies into huge roles. Nate Wiggins, Marvin Humphrey was out for a little bit, guys that were leaning on early that had to grow up. And that was actually beneficial to us because then you look at last night in Miami, Malachi Stark has a big pick. Mike Green has a sack playing big minutes or excuse me big time snaps. And just jelling together, you get Kyle Hamilton closer to the line of scrimmage where He's been making plays looking like a DPO Y. Obviously, he doesn't have the interceptions and forced fumbles, but you can tell every time you turn the tape on,

oh, somebody better block that man because he's about to wreck the game. And I just think we're jellin. Z-O has been doing a great job, calling it aggressive. I think him being at the helm of our defense keeping us together, just keeping a figuring out one game at a time, one play at a time. And I think the best part is we're still growing as a group. and I'm excited for the future. It's still early in the season.

You can do a lot of things with the back nine of the season. I love it. That's music to my ears. I'm glad you're familiar with the show because I have coined. Yeah, I am because you know Nick's a hater. He is a big time leader. He is a big time. I was thinking I was like, he's that familiar with the show.

He's been nice so far. But go ahead. Go ahead. Well, I have come up with something. for the defensive turnaround. It's called T7, the toy toss that transform the tacklers. Oh, you know, see, I was trying,

I was hoping to get a cosign. No, but, but I mean, so let me ask you this. First, I was hoping to get a cosign. Give me the honest feelings on it. And secondly, secondly, in a serious way, When your leader, your two-time MVP does make a move like that to get stuff out of the locker room, how does that affect the team? But first, you don't like the T-7?

No. He doesn't like it. First off, brew, let's just stick to the robes, all right? Let's not get too far ahead of ourselves. That might kill the C-Saint. That might, yeah. That might kill Z-Z. We got to relax on the nicknames, you know.

We're not there yet. We're still, let's let's let it matured. Sure. Let's get a little bit further into the season before we get there. So as a leader in Lamar Jackson, I mean, anytime he says something, you got to listen. You're going to listen. That's our leader. He should be a three-time MVP, except Nick's not going to agree with that, but he should have been a three-time MVP. He's really good at what he does. You know, he admitted it last night. He was rusty. And if he's Rusty's throwing for four touchdowns,

We'll take that. You know, I appreciate him being honest and coming out and saying, hey, it was me. That just shows the signs of the leadership he's grown since he's been in the league. And just my time being with the Ravens to where he's at now has grown tremendously. And I can be more proud of him, not as just a player, but as a man and how he's growing and matured as a leader, as a man. Just grateful to be a friend with Lamar Jackson. And I mean, I tell people all the time, I've had so many Florida teammates that I feel like I'm from Florida and I'm always representing Broward County like he is.

And so it was excited to see him be back in his element with so many other players being in Broward County standing up for him and all the different people he represents down in Florida. So, Kyle, you talked a little bit about the health of the roster and Brew talked about throwing away the ping pong. table as the line in the scene were all of a sudden team turn around. You had a quote and you're like a few weeks ago and I wrote it down and you it felt kind of like emotional. You said I don't have many chances left. I don't have time to sit and wait. To me that was like a sit up in my chair moment like oh we're just talking about the playoffs. We're talking about like getting right you know being the team at the rate we think the Ravens and it felt like you were talking about your career in a real sense of urgency to think. Did that resonate? Did that vibe resonate in the

locker room or was that just a one-off for you in the press conference? Yeah, you know, we've had conversations over these last couple weeks. I mean, let's go back to when we lose Nambi Matabike, you know, let's just talk about him for a second impact he has on in the whole Ravens program, especially our defense. I mean, just, just, not knowing his situation and him coming out that he's going to be out for the season. You just never know, right? You never know when your last opportunity is that you play the football, excuse me, a game. You just never know.

You got to just enjoy every moment that you can. We've been preaching it all year from Lamar to Derek Henry to myself to Roquan Smith. All the leaders have been preaching it. Like this group, it's his last chance together. And we understand that. And we want to grow together and we want to make the most of that. We don't want to take these chances lightly. And for me, I know I'm closer to the end.

You know, I'm not comparing myself to Steph Curry and LeBron James. But, you know, those guys talk about it as well, being at the end of their careers and how they want to take advantage of those chances each in time they get getting onto the court. I feel the same way. Aaron Rogers talks about it too. Just taking advantage of every time he steps on a football field, I feel the same way. I don't know if that's going to be this year, next year. I can play a couple more years just with the mentality I have.

But every chance that I get is, this might be it. And we're seeing for whatever it's worth, you know, front seven defensive guys having these late 30s resurgence, whether it's Cam Hayward, yourself, Callais Campbell's damn near 40, and it seems like he's just going to play until he wants to stop. Yeah, he's a dinosaur. It's unbelievable. So I do, now, listen, I understand he's a hater. I would say healthy skeptic, but regardless.

I should say a healthy hater. All in love and fun. We get it, you get it. But I want to talk to you about being a champion. and what that brings the locker room. Because if I'm not mistaken, I think it's just you and Note Boom. Maybe on the player's side that have rings, maybe I'm forgetting somebody. I'm doing it like on the defense, I think you're the only guy who's won championships.

And you, by the way, you won state titles. You won multiple titles with the Patriots. You were on a Lions playoff team in the pre-Dan Campbell era, which is like half a championship. And so if you've consistently been on winners, what is there a common thread that you've seen on the championship level teams you've been on that you see in this Ravens team? Obviously, you got to have great players and things like that, but something, you know, something that unites them. You know, I appreciate you asking me this, but you kind of know this answer watching and following the chiefs, you know. you kind of know what it looks like. So I do, you know, giving you your flowers.

I'm just, I'm just got to be a nice setup. Listen, I, listen, I watch Philadelphia and Noi get two sacks on Patrick Maloney in the AFC title game break my heart. Like, and so I have a lot of respect for it, but I just, I, it does feel to me like the, you know, whatever my criticisms of Baltimore in the playoffs are, it does feel like you guys have a group that truly does believe. We can do this. And I don't know that every team actually deep down really believes it.

And I don't know if you can put into words what that means. Yeah, you know, it's hard to put into words. But I think it goes to the work ethic and the players that you have. Every championship team that I've been on, it starts with the players, the player leadership, the players at practice. Practices are intense. Practices are hard. Then you get to the game.

everyone's locked in on their job. Everyone is focused, laser focused on the attention to detail of each play, you know, taking advantage of the tendencies the other teams have because there's so much tape now and film to watch that you better be prepared. Like teams could do a couple different things in a game, but really they're going to go back to their bread and butter. They're going to go back to their playmakers that they want to get the ball on offense. And then defensively, we're going to highlight who we've been highlighting all year. So teams know what you're going to do. It's going to be come down to who can execute better, who can play more physical,

and who can get it done when the lights are the brightest. And I love that. That's something that I've pried myself on is playing when the lights are brightest. And having a group of men to do that with, like the Ravens, you know, we're not really focused on down the line. We're solely focused on week to week because we put ourselves in a hole. You know, we got to keep it a buck. We're three and five.

It's not fun to be three and five. And we're hungry to get back to where, you know, our guy, Brew can wear a robe proudly and start chanting Ravens, Ravens, Ravens. You know. You got to tell everybody we, I can't wait to put the robe on. I'm going to wait a few weeks, like you said. We're going to be patient. That's right.

That's right. We got a grind for it, you know. I do have one more question before you go. Your two years with the Ravits have gone pretty smoothly. I mean, number one seed, your first year, last year, 12 wins, then you guys get into playoffs and have, you know, tough sledding. Do you think this adversity that you got, I mean, it's major adversity early in the season for you guys. Should you make the playoffs, do you think that this will actually be a benefit to you having gone? through this type of adversity this year?

Yeah, I think the benefits are as we've hit adversity early and we're growing from it and maturing from it. We're, I want to say all the right things. Obviously, it's not fun to go through adversity and losing. Losing sucks. But I think we've matured really well to believe in each other, to come closer together, lean on each other in a positive manner. Like the only people that are going to get out of this situation

of the players in the building. And, you know, I give a lot of props to everybody that we're still grinding. We're still, we're still climbing the mountain. We know that once we climb one mountain like we did last night against Miami, we got to fix some stuff that happened. You know, teams have been driving a little bit too much on defense early. We know we got to keep climbing.

But now we, We hit that top of that mountain and we're getting ready to go to this next mountain, which is the Minnesota Vikings. But I believe that the mountains before us have prepared us for each of the mountains that are coming up. And that laser focus, I'm excited to climb this next mountain with the group of men that we got and hope we can just lead it to where we want to be. And that's the exact right mindset because it prepares you to the ultimate mountain you have to climb, which is Mahomes Mountain, obviously. So it's exactly right. And I agree with you, Nick. They're the team to beat right now.

I do agree with you. Patrick Mahomes, Andy Reed. They're special. You got Kelsey. You got to give him props top five in receiving yards at the tight end position. Defense bags has them boys rolling. Chris Jones, always a baller, secondary losing Reed, still playing at a high level. Got to give them boys a lot of props.

Okay. But it's time for them to go down. It's time for them to go down, baby. Best of luck. Yeah, I appreciate it. Great job. Hey, we need to get you with like a super pimping robe, brew. We need to get you one.

I'm winning. Yeah, we need to get you with like the sexy one that goes from the top all the way to the floor. All right, you hear that hubs? Get on it. I'm waiting. Let's do it. Thank you, Kyle. Yes, our pimping shoes, too.

Thanks, Kyle. He's great. Loved it. That's awesome. Tonight's game six of the World Series. Winner go home for the Dodgers. Yamamoto on the mound. He had a complete game.

Actually, threw two in a row. A gym, too. Yeah. Stay tuned for our picks. Coverage starts at seven. We have some new intel. Our picks informed by Poppy's analysis in eight minutes.

It's fascinating. Coach, I'm in a weird spot. Yours one. Because I have Blue Jays in seven. For that to be correct, I need the Dodgers to win tonight. They'll be interested in your pick. Coverage starts at 7 on Fox.

It's time now for who you got, but it's not just your normal who you got, okay? This is like a trifecta of who you got. It's who you got. Yeah. And then the score of who you got and a little storyline. Great. Like how you see it happening. It's like we're basically storytellers at this point.

3424 Chiefs. Oh, wow. 24 24. 24. 21 10 at the half. 21 10 at the half. This is right now in very new.

My Holmes elicits at least two and maybe three inarticulable guttural sounds from Romo. He's just tickled with a play that he made. Oh. Yeah. Oh, yeah. Something like that. Wow.

And it is the Chiefs offense looks very. 20-20-S. So that is pre-tackle that turned the tide. That is pre-tackle that we never know when it's but that was again, that was in an era when we didn't need anything to turn the tide because everything was smoothed I was out. Exactly. Tide was out, good point.

So yeah, that's my pick. 3420 Chiefs. 34-24-24-Chiefs. So in Buffalo, they're not having a great time. It's not fun in Buffalo. They're not having a big Halloween party tonight. with superstars and going to their steakhouse.

Holy cow. This is such a fun, fun season for Kansas City. And they've led there's a bunch of games earlier, but they're having a great time. But not in Buffalo. Buffalo, this is serious. They take the game. I think they're going to take the game a little bit more,

more seriously and personally than Kansas City. So I'm saying 35, 31 for the not-so-fun Buffalo bills. Wait. Why did you make this your upset alert? The bills are dogs. What, one and a half? Oh, he just wants the point. We don't live in that world.

Oh, okay. All right. Wow. Yeah, I like that, coach. And nothing against the Chiefs or Nick, but I hope the bills win. But. Pick them. 37, 31.

37, 37, 31 Chiefs. And I think the Bill's defense is their undoing. I don't think they can keep. I think it'll be a good game. I think Josh will have success. But obviously, I think Patrick and the Chiefs will have success against that defense. I think that's the difference. So you guys both have the Chief's defense giving up 30 points?

Yeah. That would be. I mean, it is the bills. Yeah, but I get it. But 30 points is a lot of points. You got to be like the Prince to do that to the Chief's defense. Right. Prince did that.

And Mahomes help. And Mahomes helped him. Well, yeah. He didn't score 30. He's not close to John. Okay. Obviously, I have a Patriots bias to this, but I'm also obviously beloved to Kansas City. This is not a crazy high scoring game.

It's about 2417. I really believe in the Chief's defense. Okay, good. Does Josh Allen have a few wow plays? Yes. But coach, as you have alluded to, Turnovers. Trying to do a little too much. We had a piece of sound we didn't run. Oh, I'm aware of who's on the other side line. Not that he's not usually aware. Who is that? That ain't at all I can't tell. I understand he normally is aware. But I think he tries to do a little bit too much tries to put the cape on. Chief's roll. Thanks to Josh's turnovers. What's the score? He said 3417.

Oh, yeah. Okay. Roll. Roll I was thinking like, you know, a route. Yeah. Yeah. Sorry. Chiefs survive. We'll not survive. It's a late touchdown. Freak it out. It's Friday. What do you got to do on Halloween? Well, why don't you download the Fox Sports app?

You can play the Super Six Challenge. It's free. And you get a chance to win $10,000 in cash prizes. Then hand out some candy. Yeah. Make some picks. Yeah, why not? Ask some kids to help you with your picks.

All right. So here we go. We don't have much time at all. I had the Blue Jays and seven. the very beginning. I told you guys a few days ago Yamamoto is going to win game six, give us a game seven. So I have the Dodgers tonight, the graphics team make it clear. I have the Blue Jays to win the whole thing. Go ahead, quick for it. I got the Dodgers tonight. I got the Dodgers in seven, and I am just as confident as ever.

Blue Jays win because Poppy told me. You're just having both ways. You have the Dodgers. You're just having it both ways. You said Poppy told me. I'm going to read some article by a blogger. It's do a dog. I want to go home right now. We're behind and you all got to step it up. It's a pretty consistent formula of, you know, fans enjoy winning. Got to get back to work to give them something to cheer about. Give me your assessment on future all the family ambassadors.

One of the best to do it for sure of all times. So still can throw the crap out of it. Live from New York, it's the show that is looking forward to getting Parkins picks back on track. A little turbulence last week. It's okay. It happens. And I got something special to rattle him. I have here.

I have Nick TBD down on the script. Yeah, because listen. Well, we'll see. I'm going to try to rattle parking. Says the guy who's under 500. Well, but improving. Can I say something? Rough weeks for me.

Can I say something before we start the show? It doesn't work. We're not winning. I understand. No, not that. But that's true. That is true. There's a point where like,

I need you guys both to. to succeed. Yeah. I'm rooting for both of you. Is this motivation? Yeah, but you actively root against him. No. I actively root against him.

One time, one time, I just, I would like to win and have Danny do great, but since I'm doing poorly, I need Danny to do. I want you guys both to win. That's great. Good for you for Parkinson's picks to cook this week. Well, I'm trying to rattle him. Good team, 10 minutes. Unflatting.

Also, that doesn't affect the games. Oh, but right now. Patrick or treat. I get it. I like it. That was really good. Josh Allen hosting Patrick Mahomes' sixth regular season matchup. He's won four.

Here he is on playing Patrick yet again. Anytime you're playing against a good team and a good quarterback, you have to play at the top of your game in order to win a football game. So again, not that you don't go out there and try to play your best all the time. There is a heightened sense of awareness to that. of understanding who's on the other side of the football. But yeah, I mean, you want to go out there and, you know, our goal is to try to score on every single drive. All right.

This is a very specific question kind of looking past this game. If the bills lose, are you sticking with your bills to the Super Bowl take? Oh, wow. And Bill's winning the Super Bowl. Bill's winning the Super Bowl. Yeah. They were my pick. They were my pick.

Were. Of course. Can it quickly. Because there is, on this show, take integrity is like very strong. Yeah, yes. So I get that. Like if the Ravens lose next week, I'm still going to be like, look, until they're mathematically out, I'm sticking with the Ravens. Right.

But like outside to take integrity, will you really, you know what I mean? Yeah, like in real life. Will you still believe in them? Listen, I think it is very hard to make the case so far this year. that the bills have, like, proven more than the Chiefs. I do top 10 Tuesday, and I have the Chiefs ranked ahead of the bills, like for this moment and time, right? That is undeniable.

I do think this is the Bill's year. I do think this was a two-game blip. I do think their offense is still at the end of the year. We're going to look up and look like, oh, yeah, of course. James Cook, that offensive line, Josh Allen, they're going to be a top five offense in the NFL. And we'll see this week if their Bill's defense can prove something to us. Because the defense has been bad.

Right. It's been bad. And they've played tomato cans. So can they hold the Chiefs to under 28 points? The Chiefs have scored 28 five weeks in a row. Every game since the tackle it turned out. Right, including the loss to Jacksonville. So if the Bills could hold the Chiefs to under 28,

I think that would be a step in the right direction for their defense. I expect their offense to be really good. So yes, I am sticking with them win or lose. It's a regular season game against the Chiefs. But sometimes I think we miss, like, how big is this game? How big is a game when we expect the teams to make the playoffs and the legacy is secure? You said, Josh, can't, you know, nothing can be gained by beating the Chiefs.

Nothing's really lost by the Chiefs if they lose to the bills. Except for both of these teams are not off to the start that they expected, and teams in their division are off to a better start than we expected. So if the bills lose this game, they go to five and three. If they win, they are six and two. If the Chiefs win this game, they are 6 and 3. If they lose, they are 5 and 4. Let's just look at what that means for each of these teams.

So not about legacy. The top would apply to the bills. The bottom would apply to the Chiefs. If the bills win the game, they're 92% to make the playoffs. If they lose, two-thirds of the time, this is since the playoffs expanded the current format. Chiefs are basically a 50-50 proposition if they lose, And I would argue, and we'll see if you guys agree with this,

those bottom numbers, the five and three number and the five and four number, it actually would be lower for the bills or for the chiefs because they lost games to the team that are in first place in their division. It's harder to win the division, for sure. So therefore, harder to make the playoffs, because there's two ways to make the playoffs. Sure. So I look at it. So my point is it's a massive game for both teams. This is a, it is not about legacy, it is not about January.

This is a huge game for the team that loses. We're going to be like, yeah, they're probably going to make the playoffs because of pedigree, but there will be a legitimate question about them come Monday morning. Do you think that about if the bills lose, I will have no question they're still making the playoffs. I will. I will obviously assume they will also. But when you get to this point in the season and you keep stacking losses and then we can point out, who have you beaten?

That is impressive. Where is your good win? And they're not going to win their division. it's a problem. So I think it's more about because I do think that teams in the AFC right now most likely to make the playoffs,

the Bills and Chiefs I would have as two of the top three along with the Colts because the Colts record plus their division and I say that knowing one of them is going to lose this weekend. I would still say to make the playoffs. However, the reason I think this is such a critical game for Buffalo is

all your fancy Josh Allen's stats you can have. Not one of them involves a road playoff victory because he doesn't have one. He's had four shots at it. He's never gotten it done. And that that's not all against Patrick. It's some against Patrick

and it's some one against the Texans actually because he lost at home to the Bengals. And if the bills lose this game, I won't think they're winning the AFC East. I will say that

I think that the Patriots are going to be able to extend that lead in the division to where the Patriots could lose to the bills later in the year and still have enough of a margin of error. And I don't know that I believe in Buffalo's ability to go on the road multiple times, much less they would have to do it three straight times to get to a Super Bowl. We joke about this game being the Bill's annual Super Bowl, but this game this week for Buffalo is that. that massive because they don't have the margin for error that they've had within that division

that they've had previously. And I don't think that their defense is going to drastically improve over the course of the year. Like that part legitimately concerns me for Buffalo. Yeah, I look, Sean McDermott is a very good defensive coach. They do have a defensive culture somewhat there. But I, and not this is all about the Ravens, but I have much more confidence. confidence in the Ravens defensive culture and pedigree than the bill. So I agree with you.

I don't see the defense improving tremendously. But, Danny, look, I don't have the bills going to the Super Bowl anyway. But if they, I admit they are a top tier contender right now. If they lose this game, I will feel like, you know what? They're going to make the playoffs, but they're not getting out of the AFC. Like there's very little chance because I just don't think, I don't think they have a tremendous roster. They've got one incredible superstar. James Cook is legit.

We know the offensive line is really good. But when you look at their skill positions outside of Cook, like it doesn't compare it to the lions and the eagles. And even the chiefs, I mean, I think their receivers are better. They obviously have a Travis Kelsey too. So I just, I think that they put a ton on Josh Allen's shoulders. And last year he won the MVP because many, people were shocked he carried them to those heights and I think this year it would be like okay

they've come down to earth they're good they're going to make the playoffs but they need to add more players for them to win the super see but I don't think it's a skill position thing okay they they scored more points than the Eagles did last year they were they were the best offense in football last year in terms of why because Josh Allen yeah but okay so they didn't draft receivers in the first round one guy it is but with a top five offensive line in football with a running back that leads the league in rushing so far and Josh Allen. It's just not like a conventional, oh, there's Jamar Chase and T. Higgins. Oh, there's Tyree Kill and Travis Kelsey.

There's Amon Roth St. Pratt. It's not like a bunch of names that you know from like fantasy football, but Josh Allen puts points on the board. But what's letting him down right now is their defense. My question would be this. If they lose this game, what piece of evidence do we have from this year that the bills are really good? None. I think the win against Baltimore in week one is a good win.

I think that is a good win and it was a crazy game. I think it was a good one because I think Baltimore is going to make the playoffs and actually by the end of the year people will believe in them. But Baltimore was destroying them. Not destroying, but they were beating them handily. And it took a historic meltdown for Buffalo to win that game. And it also, Baltimore's played three contenders and the other two contenders beat them far more handily than Buffalo did.

Detroit beat them. sound you know it was close and then soundly and the chiefs beat them badly and so i just so now you can put the question on its head and say if the chiefs lose that's what that's that's that's kind of the point of the exercise but he but my answer to that the chiefs the chiefs would have a a totally different pedigree than both than buffalo does but they also would have a that same win over baltimore you're talking about except the chiefs was a blowout that same instead of losing to Detroit beating Detroit soundly. Like the Chiefs have things to hang their hat on even if they lose this game.

I just don't know what Buffalo will have if they lose this game. But do you really think that Buffalo has like, because like obviously no one can compete with the pedigree of the Chiefs. Yeah, no, for this. Go ahead. But I just, do you think that in the Buffalo Bills locker room there is some sort of crisis of confidence if they lose this game? No.

I see no evidence in that organization. I just don't think they'll be good enough to. win the AFC. It will be evidence to me combined with what we've seen earlier in the season that they're not good enough to win the AFC in the players. Do you I don't know what your picks are, but I assume you're going to have the Chargers beating the

Titans whether they're in your picks or not, right? Yeah. Then if the bills lose this game, then depending on whether or not the Jags beat the Raiders, they will enter week nine of the season out of the playoffs. If the

chiefs lose this game, they will enter week of the season out of the playoffs. That is absolutely correct. And I am sitting here telling you that I think it is totally fair and legitimate to have a separate way to judge the three-time defending AFC champion Kansas City Chiefs than how we would every other team in football. To have just a belief of the chiefs will figure it out that they have in a similar way. We thought the Patriots with Brady would figure it out.

And I think that they will. And so I just, I do think that if the bills, as we had in, this. This is week nine. As we finish week nine, if they go into week 10, the eight seed, it's concerning. If the Patriots are seven and two and they're the eight seed, that to me would be concerning as far as their ability to win a champion. But the bills would be the eight and the chiefs would be out of the playoffs, but you think it could be more.

No, no, the eight seats, the eight seats out. No, both is eight, eight don't make it. If the bills won. If the bills won, the, the loser of this game is out of the, is going to be the eight seats. to be the going in the next week late seat. That's what I'm saying. Whoever loses this game is going to be the eight seed when we're on the air Monday, assuming the chargers and the jags beat the tomato cans they're playing.

That's what I'm saying. And I'll all say is, like, obviously I agree with you with Petteri. It's an in arguable point. But if the bills lose the game, they're in second place in their division. Chiefs lose the game. They're in third place. Nick, you have a surprise. Well, it is Halloween.

Yeah. And, you know, my fans. family, my mom and my sister, live up in Pleasantville area with Parkins. And I got this picture sent to me today. We don't dress up for Halloween, but I don't know if you see that in the back. I don't know if we have another angle of it. It's a great picture. There's Danny Parkin. And I tried to get him to wear this on the air. Can we zoom in on that, Christina? I'd be out of happy to. Is that Chargers? It's a rocket ship. I mean, it's a rocket ship. And so I'm showing this for two reasons. One because Dan's a great dad, great family, but also I want him leaking confidence

for he gives his picks because I need a second straight O and three. You chose, you chose the wrong strategy. Okay. Now here's what painting a little picture, Kindergarner, parade, kindergarten through fourth grade at the school, hundreds of parents, hundreds of kids. I was the only parent dressed up. That's the thing. I was only in those pictures, there's no other parent in a costume. Yeah. So you really enjoy that. I love it. And they're all trick-or-treating right now. We're doing this The silly little TV show to five and three years old. I got to show up. He was an astronaut on the rocket shit.

But also, this is all related. Because as you're about to find out the audience, if you're new to the show, Danny might have a weird thing for putting on costumes. Go ahead and hit the animation and see what he looks like in a minute. Oh, yeah. I'm just telling you. It's not a weird thing. Here, I have this crazy concept that, like, sports TV?

Not that serious. We can wear costumes. Maybe we just talking sports, picking games. I'm with you. Picking winners. It's a great robe, by the way. We're going to hit the animation? Time for the Parkins.

I am seeing the NFL very clearly. This is the official pick segment. I plug it in the Matrix. I see the league clearly. I'm not going to let 3-0 change me. I'm not scared of picking big games. Taking the points with Detroit. Playing the wood with the Chicago Bears.

Easy, easier and easiest. I know that I'm right. Let's recap what might have. been the worst week in the history of picking games on FS1 or any other outlet. I've been 0 and 3 before. I've been gambling on sports since I was 15. O and 3 doesn't shake me. However, if we dig into the numbers of picking the bears, falcons, and cowboys.

Disaster. I lost by 58 combined points straight up. That is a humiliation. I don't know what got into Tua. I don't know what got into Snoop Huntley. And then my God, that Cowboys Broncos game really threw me for a loop. So I got to be honest, that's not great. And you're like, how do you find the confidence to dress up like a king on TV?

Well, 65% last year. And because am I embarrassed by being 12 and 12? No, because this guy over here is 11 and 13. Temporary setback. Still looking down. Minor setback for a major comeback America. That's what they say. He asked me for a loan.

And I'm on the loan from the winnings for. from last year. So we're moving forward, gonna get back above 500 with the picks for week nine. Colts minus three in Pittsburgh. At some point, Brew, the Steelers defense, 27th in EPA. I just had to throw EPA in there for you. It's all for you, man.

But then the simpler statistics, the best offense against one of the worst defenses. I don't think Aaron Rogers could keep up. 20 second in points, first scoring, first in yards, sixth in passing yards, sixth in rating, fourth in yards per pass. At this point, the Colts defense is going to need to see something much better than the Steelers defense to get slowed down. I love the Colts minus three.

You'll notice a trend here. Another favorite, Seahawks minus three in Washington. We're going to go a little bit more into the nitty gritty here. And that is the Seahawks have found the best deep ball combination in the NFL this year between Sam Darnold and JSN. Literally the most receiving yards on passes over 20 yards. Darnold, the second highest pass rating on passes over 20 yards. Washington, the fourth most yards allowed on the deep ball.

I expect a bunch of chunk plays, huge plays, big plays equal touchdowns with equal covering the spread. And as Nick mentioned earlier, Seahawks coming off the by. Though that's that you shared about the Seahawks and their Eastern Time Zone record over the last four years, honestly a humiliating thing to say. Okay. I just don't think Gino Smith's Eastern Time Zone. numbers are terribly relevant for this game.

I don't think it does. He loves Gino. Gino. Last one, Nick also foreshadowed this. Chargers minus nine and a half that Titans. I was thinking like, oh man, Wilde is doing this an upset alert. Is his rationale going to sway me? It didn't.

No. His art wasn't in it. His art really wasn't in it. But here's the thing about Justin Herbert. If he has time to throw, he is quite simply one of the best in football. Those are his numbers this year when not pressured. Joe Alt is back. That's a big piece of it. They're getting the ball out quicker.

Maybe Joe Walt is Peyton Manning 2.0. Maybe he is. The whole season. But that drop bar here. Titans 26th in pressure percentage. Justin Herbert's going to have all the time in the world to throw. Little blip for me last week. Three and O.

Back to the Fing. Big week last week for the favorites. I went three and O on favorites two weeks ago. You can't like these. One of them is a direct contradiction. I love the Colts. I love the Colts. Okay.

I love the Colts one, and the charges one. I'll be honest with you. I can see this game going. Can we spend a second on the Colts? Brew, do you have a, because Steelers plus three was one of my picks on the pod. I do five on the podcast three on the show, so it was one of the ones that didn't make the show. But I like the Steelers side of it. For reasons, I can explain you a minute.

Where do you stand on that game? Yeah, look, I almost picked that for my upset alert. Pittsburgh. Pittsburgh. I think the Steelers, yeah. Mike Tomlin, there's a reason he has not had a losing season. I'm not saying the defense is ever going to be top five this year, but I think he's going to get it fixed to a point where they're, you know,

they bounce back. And so I actually wouldn't be surprised if the Steelers won that game. I don't love that pick by the game. Pass the opposite side. We don't do a ton of Colts stuff, but Greg is coming on next week. If the Colts and Daniel Jones put it on the Steelers in a major way, Is that going to sway how you look at Indianapolis?

It'll sway me a little more toward that side, but I still want to see more. And they got several tough games coming. They got the Chiefs in a couple weeks. And I'm actually, I'm more interested in this game when the Steelers have the ball. Because, yes, the Daniel Jones turning into a pumpkin thing is going to loom large in my head, no matter what. He could win league MVP, and it will loom large in my head.

Like, that's just me being honest. just like it did with Darnold last year. Are you done with that with Darnold? Well, I'm not sure. I mean, Darnold's played really well as here, and he's improving. His stature is improving my head, I should say. But as big of a question as that is for me,

a question about the Colts is, how good is that defense? Because one thing they haven't had to face a bunch of is the elite or even semi-elite quarterbacks. And I don't know if Rogers is that, but I'm curious at this point, But I'm curious how that defense looks against Rob. You know who put up a lot of yards against the Colts.

Who? Cam Ward. It's a good point. That looks like a over definitely two, maybe three. I'll take it. Looks like one in week. Wilde. You just keep shooting down your upset alert like this.

I open this saying I'm rooting for everybody to win. Positive guy. Everybody wins. It's a guy who dresses up for Halloween. That's right. Coming up next is. A special more predictions is Lamar officially back with the Ravens and the playoff hunt pretty soon and World Series team six, it starts at seven.

Welcome back. We got Coach Manjini and Willie Colon out here last night. No tricks, all treat. Hashtag Christina wrote that for the Ravens and Lamar's return. Two hundred and four touchdowns, a 28 to six win over the dolphins. Here's Lamar. It was awesome. Like you said, you know, I just.

wanted to get out there with my guys. She was texting the game, you know, but unfortunately, I couldn't. But it's just great to be back, man. Like I said, get a dog. Just do or die, you know, when to go home. And usually, you know, we start off winning games. We never be behind, but right now we're behind, and we all got to step it up. All right, Willie, happy Halloween.

The Ravens officially back. Happy Halloween. I do appreciate your costume. I thought you got a lot of slack for that. Thank you. I did like you. You're just being a dad. That's right.

To me, this was a checklist game. I wanted to see him look healthy. I wanted to see him look explosive and efficient and I got that. I thought the first half he was groggy. The second half, I think that's when Lamar came into fruition. You know, he had three straight passes in the third quarter. And I think right now if you're the Ravens, you have to feel like, okay, now we're starting to cook.

And obviously, it's because of Lamar Jackson. I think defensively, I wanted to see their impact players show up. You know, Rokwan Swift had 12 tackles for the second straight week. And, you know, Kyle Hamilton caused havoc. Are they back? No, but they're dangerous. I think any time you're three and five, It brings hope back into the building.

But I think if you're the Ravens right now, you have to start stacking dubs. Right? Then you can't. Because the way to schedule. Two wins in five days. 100%. But now it's like, all right, we can't go backwards. We got to start stacking dubs.

Yeah, it was the two wins in five days. And there's also the fact that they had one of those wins without Lamar Jackson, which was significant. And a team that was riding the four game win streak. You're riding a four game losing streak. That was significant. Then Lamar comes back. It doesn't have a great first half, has a much better second half.

And defensively, what I liked is they held them for two for 12 on third down. O for three in the red zone. Both those things were good. The time of possession was again back in favor of the Ravens, where they were fifth last year in time of possession. And this year they've been 27th. So that's more in line with how they've historically played. So it's a lot of really positive steps.

and now if Pittsburgh struggles this weekend, they're one game behind the division that can easily go anyway. So I thought the Lamar side of it and the offensive side of it was like 10 out of 10 encouraging if you're a Ravens fan. He came back, you looked healthy,

he was on the move, he had four touchdowns, all of that stuff. And then the numbers at the end, it's like, okay, you got three turnovers and you held the Dolphins to six points. So it must have been a great game defensively. I don't know. I watched every play of that game.

first quarter the Dolphins had a 10-play 57-yard drive that ended in a missed 35-yard field goal. They were going for it on 4th and 1. They had the penalty, then they kicked the field goal, and then they missed it. Second quarter, they had a 10-play, 67-yard drive that ended with a turnover on downs. Fourth quarter, the Dolphins had a 12-play, 81-yard drive

that ended with a fumble. Miami was moving the ball. So I don't think that the Ravens are like all the way back. I did not think that was a dominant performance. The score was dominant, And Lamar looks good, but I did not think that that looked like a tier one team right now. Yeah, it's not great, but it's like watching baseball with a long foul ball. That's a home run, but it's a foul ball.

Like, okay, great. You had a 10-play drive and you miss a field goal. You had a 10-play drive. And you phone. So it's not perfect, but if you can prevent points at the end of a drive and you're good in the red zone, that's huge. And to hold a team to six points in the NFL regardless of who they are is a really difficult thing to do. even when they're making a mistake. Yeah, but I also think to your point, coach,

it's easy to, I guess, talk about the deficiencies on defense because they did look shaky at times. I give you that. But I think when you look at that bottom bar, you see Henry Rush for 19 yards for 119 yards and 19 rushes. That's the Ravens being back. You know what I mean? That's the swagger.

That's the identity. Running the ball, explosive players of Lamar Jackson, letting the defense kind of close out games. And we got that. So as far as momentum, yeah, the Ravens are dangerous. I mean, they're a team right now because of Lamar. and the way they're starting cooking. And I also think they're getting healthier, too.

That is undeniable. That's a big fact. Everybody's starting to getting healthy at the same time. So you got to watch out. And then the schedule piece of it is just, it's such a, it's like the 1A, 1B story of the Ravens. Because they dug themselves this crazy hole at 1 and 5. They had the buy. They have the two wins.

Lamar's back. Lamar looks good. They're getting healthy. And it just feels like a long run. It honestly feels like we should expect this team to be on a six game. to be on a six-game winning streak heading into the Pittsburgh game. And if that is the case, they will be what?

They're three and five. They'll be seven and five heading into that game against Pittsburgh. I know you can't just pencil and wins in the NFL, but they eliminated their margin for error, so they are going to be treating it that way. And think about how we've been talking about the Pittsburgh defense. So as much as we've been maligning the Baltimore defense,

Pittsburgh has the same issues, the same problems. Arguably worse. And they have a much less dynamic, quarterback than Lamar. With a much tougher schedule between now and then. So yeah, overall, you win two games in five days and you get your MVP quarterback back and he looks amazing. And he finished the game too, which was important because we know the soft tissue injuries.

I mean, he could have got tackled, did something and it could have been a reset for him, but it wasn't. So he finished the game healthy was important. And Nick made a great point yesterday when he's like, we've never seen him be injured in season and come back so we didn't know how he would deal with rust. And he did look rusty early, but by the end of the game, he did not. the second half. I think he just kicked off the training wheels. He said, I got to go. And he did. All right. So on the other side of the ball here, the Dolphins, they lose the game and then they make moves.

They fired their general manager Chris Greer this morning. He only had 26 years with the team. I guess it was about time. General manager since 2016. The reports are, though, that Mike McDaniel is going to keep his job at least through this season. And they'll reevaluate. They put up just two field goals on the Ravens defense. They are now two and seven. Fans were not happy. They were letting him hear it. Booze all night. Here's Mike McDaniel. Yeah, it sucks. That sucks. All of that does. But, you know, I think it's a pretty consistent formula of, you know, fans enjoy winning. And so our expectation is that we have to do the work and do the right things for fans to enjoy the experience. And unfortunately, we didn't do that tonight. So we got to get back to work to give them something to cheer about. So the question is if we're surprised that Mike McDaniel is keeping his job. It's certainly unconventional to fire a GM, but keep a coach.

But I advocated for this two months ago on the show. Like I just, Chris Greer has to me a pretty indefensible track record, given how long he has been there, 26 years with the organization, 10 years as the GM. And I mean, I can, the Tua contract, the state of their offensive line, the 2020 draft, He has the fifth pick. He takes two of the next pick. They had three first round picks that year. The fifth pick, they take two of the next pick is Herbert.

The 18th pick, they take Austin Jackson. Justin Jefferson goes a few picks later. 30th pick, they took a cornerback that's been on three teams. A couple of picks later, it's T. Higgins. And it's just, it's been pretty consistent. But my argument on Mike McDaniel is if he got fired today, 25 teams would want to hire him to be their offensive coordinator? Oh, hands down.

Right? I give you that. Like, and this is a little bit, you guys have to go with me here and see if you follow the logic. Like, would anyone here say that Tua is a top 10 quarterback in football? No. No. No? I mean, he's played at that level in moments and that's why he got the contract that he got.

Yeah. I know, I know in this, in this moment right now, everybody's saying that how could they, he ever gotten that contract? When he got that contract, there were very many people saying he doesn't deserve this contract. So it's a little bit of revisionist. There were some of us, though. And I've been so, all right, fair enough. So you're in that vicinity then. Because this is what the production has been offensively since 2022 when Mike McDaniel

took over with Tua. To me, that is remarkably impressive given the limitations of the quarterback. Top five, top 10 offensive production over a three year sample. And I'll be honest, Miami is my least favorite team in the NFL to watch by football. Because, and looked it up to confirm with my. eyes were telling me if the numbers backed up with my eye said they have 81 passes this year behind the line of scrimmage by far the most in the NFL it's just snapping and throwing because he's not a downfield quarterback that's always been his that's always been two of though

that's that there's nothing i know like even a year that coach is talking about when people when he got the contract in 2003 it was on rhythm quick strikes dink and dunks but if you're i'm saying if you can produce at the level that mike mac McDaniel has produced without throwing the ball the field tells me you've got a pretty good coach well well the one thing that they've got to think about and the reason i would imagine they kept him is because he has had success with tua and toa didn't have a very good relationship with brian flores and then that was talked about a lot right so he comes in now the offense is as productive as they are and two has 54 million dollars that got guaranteed in in march so that triggered for next season so that's there it looks

like it's 99 million dollars in dead money if they move on from them it's not it's not a It's not out of the realm of possibility that Mike McDaniel stays to the end of this season. And depending on what they want to do with the quarterback, who knows what happens even with a new gym? Yeah, for me, it's why wait. I will let Mike McDaniels go because I'm not judging him on his play calling abilities. I'm judging him on the program. You know, the coach and the trajectory of the Dolphins is toxic. We've heard the rumors.

We've seen things that make us go, this is not a good ball club. And the coach talked about, you know, the crux of the problem is to it. You know, you can't get rid of them in the offseason because you got that big dick cap hit. But if you're looking at the dolphins, you know, on top of them right now, this is a ball club, right, that can't move forward because they're incompetent at the quarterback position. They lack depth and they lack serious talent from a roster standpoint. And they have a head coach that seems like nobody respects or has brought into. So the need, for me, it's like you have to make the move now. Why wait?

When you already told the world, we're in reset mode. reset mode. So I wouldn't wait no more. Like you said, he'll be a great OC somewhere else. I think his time is up. It is funny though when he came in and it's always the way. You have a disciplinarian. You go get a players coach. He goes to the playoffs first two seasons. And it's it's like, oh, this is so refreshing. What a refreshing way that to run a team and he's, you've got an intellectual and all those. Well, he brought swagger and confidence. Well, I'm just saying all those accolades that went with it. And now it hasn't been as successful. and it's he's completely I get it.

I just I still, the culture, the toughness, I can't argue that part of it. But if he's a great play caller and a great offensive mind, you could do worse. In my mind, you could do worse than Mike McDaniel for the next. And two playoff losses,

one with Skyler Thompson as his quarterback and one in that freezing game at Arrowhead. Huge game, Colts and Steelers this weekend. Can Aaron Rogers keep up with Daniel Jones? That's a real question. There we go. have probably the best stuff in the game, to be honest with you. That's why the guy has been capable of, you know,

pitch complete game twice. I can't remember what was the last time I saw that. His stuff is in a different place. But the Blue Jays, they don't strike out. Even with a complete game that he pitched the last time, they strike out seven times. I would not be surprised if, the Blue Jay get to him tonight.

Great stuff from Big Poppy on First Things First with the guys earlier today. You can catch him tonight. Seven Eastern is when the coverage begins of game six of the world series on Fox. Of course, coaches Blue Jays with a three two series lead. But Yamamoto, Gousman's slated to start. Great matchup. Blue Jays could end the series tonight, coach. The suspense is killing me.

Who you got? Are you excited? I really hope you two guys are kind of pick. against the Blue Jays again so we can keep this consistent because that's been a really good formula for me. That's right. So please, you know, you know who I'm picking. Yeah. And I'm imploring you both to continue along the lines you've been going. Are you trying to call us a jinx? I don't feel like we're jinxing the Dodgers. Regardless of that. Yeah. And it feels it feels that much better when you both. I'm happy to oblige. Okay. Yeah. I'm with Dave Roberts said it in this presser. It's about Dodgers, bats versus Blue Jay's pitching. They got to be better. You talk about getting.

game four and five, the Dodgers only racked up three runs. I mean, Blue Jays had with 12 runs. So I'm sitting here saying, man, we just gotta be better. So hopefully tonight I like Yamamoto on the mound. I think I've bullpins a little leak and I were like I'm a Dodger fan. I apologize, I've converted. I know I was gonna say what happened with you? But yeah, I'm going with the Dodgers.

I also just say, series feels like it's going seven. It's been a great series. It feels. Which part of it feels like it's going seven. When they went 18 innings and barely. Yeah, that part. Buy him. Nothing about the Dodgers.

Or the two dominant wins that Toronto had in between that. It's just been a great series. It's just been a great series. They've been entertaining. It would be really great if it ended tonight. The goal is to keep the champagne on ice. That's the goal. Not in my house.

Let's see some. All right, let's get back to the NFL. Coletting to Pittsburgh on Sunday. Three point favorites taking on the Steelers. One of the starting quarterbacks is Aaron Rogers. He's got four MVP in a ring. The other is Daniel Jones. But Daniel Jones is the one who's top five in

passing yards. Colts head coach Shane Steichen was asked about his view, not on his quarterback, but of the future Hall of Famer. Take a listen. One of the best to do it for sure of all times. So still can throw the crap out of it. Makes really good decisions. So we got to do a great job, you know, with our coverages on the back end and our pass rush because he can still, you can still to it at a high level. So we just got to be ready to go. Christina and the rest of the producers just kept double checking. You sure you want this question on the bottom line?

I'm like, yeah, I do because it's funny. I just never thought there would be a time. Can we expect Aaron Rogers to keep up with Daniel Jones? What a moment in time, coach. It is really an interesting moment in time. And we were asking this question because where Aaron Rogers is in his career. But more importantly, we're asking it because we're the Steelers defense is this season. And I don't know.

I'm infinitely more surprised by how poorly the Steelers defense has played than by how well Aaron Rogers has actually fit in that offense. I didn't think that was going to happen. I thought there was going to be a lot of conflict and headlines and all the stuff that has come with Aaron Rogers. But he's been a model citizen, and the defense has been the issue. So on the flip side of that with Daniel Jones, I admire his toughness.

When he was with the Giants, he took some shots that I don't think any human beings should have taken. Multiple times. It looked like Rocky back in the fight scenes. And his toughness is incredible. And I think he does a lot of things well, even though he may not do a lot of things exceptional. Yeah. Can he keep up? Yes, he can.

But if we're being honest, Daniel Jones just has an arsenal weapons that Aaron Rogers simply doesn't act. You're talking about Tyler Warren, Johnson Taylor. You know, you talk about Pittman. and a great office line, you know, Aaron Rogers only has DK.K. Metcalf. Like, the Steelers are right now trying to shop for a number two receiver. So from that standpoint, it's like, but when you put it on eights back and you watch him deliver, he still has it. I think what fussed race to me about Aaron Rogers and its offense is they got to be better

on first and second down. They penalized way too much, and they find themselves on second and long, third and long, and then they got to lean on Boswell to get them out the building with something respectable. So they have to score for me. It's just you can't get to the red zone and not put up points. especially against the offense, who you know is leading the league in points. That's the thing. I just...

So the Colts are the best first down team in the NFL, but they're the best of so many different offensive metrics. But it's actually become a little boring to just talk about the Colts offense through the prism of this year. It is legitimately a historic start. I have no idea if they can keep it up. But through eight games, this is the list of teams that have at least seven wins, have scored at least 270 points with at least 1,000 rushing yards. See if you guys recognize any of these teams. games. The 98 Broncos, the 07 Patriots, and the 2009 New Orleans Saints.

In terms of a historic offensive start, there's no Patrick Mahomes team on there. There's no Josh Allen team on there. That's not the lions from last year that were breaking a bunch of offensive records. Joe Burrow and T. Higgins and Jamar Chase aren't on there. Like, this offense for Indy just has every answer. They can run. They can pass block. You mentioned a lot of their weapons. like outside guys and inside guys. Like Daniel Jones's numbers over the middle and outside are excellent. His intermediate numbers are excellent.

His deep number. Like, yeah. They can really, they can get the ball wherever they want to on the field. So my answer is no. I don't think Aaron Rogers can keep up because even though he's been good, this offense has been historically good on the Indianapolis side. Yeah, but I think with Daniels right now, I think for a lot of people to what coach was talking about,

I still remember him as a giant. And it feels, but it feels like I want to believe in this. this version of Daniel Jones, but I feel like eventually that's going to wear out. So yes, he's on a historic run. It looks like something out of a Marvel comic. But who has he been in a shootout with? Like who has this offense been in a shootout where we can say, okay, like we watched Detroit and Kansas City where we walked away and said, uh-oh,

Casey's back. I don't think we've had a significant game out of the Colts where we can say, okay, the cult's are legit. I feel you, and I know I'm higher on the Chargers than most. They won that game, what, 38, 24? and I think the Chargers scored touchdowns on their first three drives of the second half. And it was like they were coming.

And then the Colts just, they counterpunched. And they kept to answer. And again, I understand that the Chargers are not a tier one team in everyone's mind. But this Colts offense is just, they're just real. And I think that the Pittsburgh defense, to your point, maybe they'll get right eventually because of the talent, the money spent, Mike Tomlin, the pedigree.

They're not getting right this week. Yeah, with the impact that Jonathan Taylor has, That makes so many things easier from a passing perspective because you're consistently getting those eight-man boxes and Jonathan Taylor or Daniel Jones can come out and he's not facing a ton of split safety. That cleans things up. And when so much focus is put on the running game,

it does open up windows that other teams just can't match. Well, I'll say this. I also think the game plan for the Steelers against the Colts this Sunday is about mastering time of possession. You got to win there. You got to keep the Colts' office on the bench. And you got to have explosive plays. Hopefully we get more production out of our tight ends.

If Faramow can be healthy and be ready to go, they got to lean on him. I want to see John Smith do something relevant. Other than that, man, it's just about how can they keep Daniel Jones in his offense on the bench watching the clock. They can do that. Still has got a shot.

It's kind of remarkable that Rogers is playing this well and there are this many questions about Pittsburgh. Like, if I would have told you before the year... That's a fair. If I would have told you before the year, Rogers is healthy. The sack numbers are plummeting. He's got multiple, what, four touchdown game? I think he's got 15 touchdowns so far this year. It's like, if I told you all that, you'd be, oh, Steelers are going to be in detention for the one seed. And I would have said there's

no chance that's going to happen because there's going to be just too many, too much conflict, too many, too many Aaron Rogers late in his career type things. But he's been great. But I think that speaks to the magic of Mike Tomlin. He understands he hired an assassin. He didn't hire a guy to lead the Steelers from a cultural standpoint. standpoint. He hired an exhaust. Can he use some of that magic on his defense? Aaron Rogers doesn't always understand what his role is going to be. But I think he does now. He's 41 years old. He's been in the mix of it. He matured from when he was 40. He retired from 40. Caleb, if not now, when?

All right, so Caleb and the Bears have the Bengals and probably Joe Flacco, maybe Jake Browning, this weekend. And the question is, is this the time for the bounce back game from Caleb Williams? and I will say, it better be. I hope so. And here's the, if he doesn't, to me it's not, oh, he's a boss time to panic. But if he doesn't, we are going to run out of time to say it's going to happen this week because of how bad the opponent is. Because if you look at the last four games, he's played defenses that on paper you're like, oh, Caleb's going to cook against them and he has two passing touchdowns. Now, the Bengals are the worst of the bunch, because I do think the Ravens were pretty.

healthy and the Ravens looked good. So I do think that Ravens one at the bottom there is largely an outlier. But if we come in on Monday and Caleb had another game where he struggled against the defense that everyone destroys when he destroyed the Cowboys, I will be concerned as to like when is this going to happen and it's going to take longer than I would have expected. Yeah, listen, his his stats won't blow you away, but I do think when you turn on a tape, you do see progress. I do too. I see a guy right now who is starting to come together slowly but surely. The run game needs to be more consistent. But I also think from Caleb's standpoint, it's a matter of him finishing drives.

They stall way too much into 20, and it really hampers. Bad red zones. And I think when you put them all together, man, if they keep allowing him to use his athleticism, boots, waddles, and little things like that, he'll pop. Less mistakes, more progress. Should I've gone as Caleb Williams for Halloween? Yes. Rocket ship. Be safe out there trick-or-treating.